Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

[VR Dragon]

I am just curious why you play or have interest in this Genre of RPGs? What is it about the stories, adventures, characters, etc or whatever grabs you where other game settings or genre don't so much or at all?

 

I hope to get a better understanding so I might be able to spot a Super Hero Gamer experienced or not even broken in yet.

[Certified]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Role playing games are supposed to be about collective story telling. Granted you have a GM who guides things for the most part but from when I first started playing RPGs that was part of the sales pitch.

 

Comic books also seem to fall into this category. The shifting writers over they years or the occasional guest writer is part of that but you also have the collective universe itself. With dozens of other writers working on very different stories and although they may not always overlap they are still working to shape the same world.

 

When we talk about genre in RPGs with few exception most games give you here is the world here is how you fit into it. With superheros it's here we all are, how do we fit together? Background stories are wildly divergent with everything from martial artists and mystics to aliens and alternate dimensions. In most RPGs it seems when you start getting a bit too creative something will shut you down.

 

"No, I'm sorry it doesn't work like that." or "That concept is out of line with the setting."

 

With a superhero RPG most of the time no matter how weird you can fit in any background. Now of course there are exceptions, some settings have singular events that are the root of all supers, some GMs hold a tighter hold on the games scope but for the most part you can get as creative as you want and still make things work.

 

Well I think I'm done rambling for the morning. Thanks for the interesting question, helped to wake me up.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

I like to game. It's the genre that the people I game with enjoy as a majority.

 

Personally, I don't much like this genre. Which isn't to say I don't have fun gaming (I do or I wouldn't game), but when asked what kind of game I want to play Supers is the bottom of the list.

[Narratio]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

I prefer grand strategy board games, or figure war gaming. But when asked to RPG I'll select a super hero campaign. I can identify with the genre easier than fantasy. My fantasy RP campaigns gradually turn into medieval settings with just a hint of monsters and magic.

 

I find a superhero RP to be just more fun than any of the others.

[clsage]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

I am just curious why you play or have interest in this Genre of RPGs? What is it about the stories, adventures, characters, etc or whatever grabs you where other game settings or genre don't so much or at all?

 

I hope to get a better understanding so I might be able to spot a Super Hero Gamer experienced or not even broken in yet.

 

First, as Ghost-Angel has said about himself, I'm a gamer. I like to

game and so....

 

Second, I grew up (till age 10 or so) as an avid reader of the Silver

Age comics (DC mostly, I didn't quite "get" what Marvel was all about

till I was older ). So there is a real soft spot in my heart for the

genre. Especially as I was mostly playing alone at that age (lived on

a farm, not many other kids within walking distance to play with, etc)

I developed the beginnings of a solid 'in my head storytelling'

technique and that carries over to my gaming.

 

I have to say that, while I enjoy supers roleplaying, I might put it a

bit below number 1 on my list of prefered gaming. But a good storyline

and style can often bring it back to the top of the list....

 

-Carl-

[Cygnia]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

It's all about the tights...

[Hermit]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Cuz it's kewl...

 

Errr, I mean, in an increasingly complex world in which the word justice seems to have an increasingly obscured meaning, and the common man feels more and more marginalized in a society where he is supposedly the norm, it is only natural to yearn for a sense of empowerment, quite literally, in which his often surprised desire to improve not just his lot, but the world around him, can now be acted on, if only in the world of his imagination. One often feels a call towards activism, and in the superhero setting this call is not only encouraged, but rewarded on many levels. Complexities can exist, but they are mutually agreed upon option for the most part, and in a matter of fiction, a creator can look upon his creation and announce with jove like confidence, "This would be a good man" for more than powers have been defined, the mind, the very soul of the character is as developed or not as he wills, and this is treasured, for in the real world, no man can fully know the soul of another, even if he be lucky enough to know his own.

 

There is, of course, also the call of the mythic. Those that desire grandeur, bigger and greater things, to pretend they are legends of old, but without losing the morality and ethics they themselves may hold to (Or wish they were strong enough to hold to in real life). No blood thirsty Achilles here, no brutish Hercules, no, not even a selfishly lecherous Zeus, but rather beings of comparable power can be played that hold to higher virtues still... if we so desire, and a mutually crafted mythos is made. One can use it to right tragedies, tell high and low drama, and yes, indeed, dabble in farce as pleases one.

 

One should also not forget, one can draw from numerous over genres in this. Science Fiction? By all means, embrace the wonders and terrors of technology that may, through superheroic or villainous form either be the savior or bane of your imaginary world. Fantasy? It is fantasy, albeit a modern mythos as said above. Western themes, the power of an individual to enter a town, and force the town itself to change ,and for the better, abound. Mystery, horror, and satire, all these are but hues that players and GMs alike may bring into the canvas of their campaign should they will it. Only the limits of their talent and imagination could ever render such a chance monotone.

 

It is escapism, and yet also can be an intensely honest time, for like light humor used to test the waters to see how others might react to true feelings, one may decide to safely ask the heavy questions under the protective shield of a mask and cape.

 

 

That, and because it's kewl

[Plex]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Good is good and bad is bad. Eventually good triumphs over evil, though good can be dumb.

 

The superhero genre is fascinating. It has all these people with tremendous powers and most decide to try to benefit their fellow man even when they might not deserve or warrant it. It would be easy for the super powers to say enough and take over the world and run it as they see fit, but the great ones do not. (Unless you look at the justice Lords.) They are like the Greek gods; tremendous powers, but their humanity, or their love of humanity, drives them. At the same time it is easy to explore different current events in a storyline for the game. Or you can shift gears and easily do alternate universes where the heroes might not be so good, but you can always work back to the world you started from.

 

Besides, it resolves fantasies about actually being able to fly, be the fastest man alive, chase bad guys through space, the ability to overcome your weaknesses and become greater. That things are fair and just, that the good guy does win and evil pays for their crimes.

[Blue]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

A flashback to my misspent youth. It's the adult version of my childhood which I spent running around pretending to be a superhero along with my brother and his best friend. Some of the best times of my life.

 

RPGs as adults tend to be more of an intellectual exercise at times, but there isn't a single one of us at the table who don't feel a giddy thrill from being the one to drop Dr. Destroyer.

[John Desmarais]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

I am just curious why you play or have interest in this Genre of RPGs? What is it about the stories, adventures, characters, etc or whatever grabs you where other game settings or genre don't so much or at all?

 

I hope to get a better understanding so I might be able to spot a Super Hero Gamer experienced or not even broken in yet.

 

I like the (typically) clearly defined "right" and "wrong" that the genre offers and the very wide open nature of plausible character concepts.

[Theron]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Most of my old gaming group were comic book guys. It's a point of mutual commonality. Comics were kind of our default choice, especially since there was one player who hated fantasy stuff and another who had a lot of odd religious qualms about playing anything but.

 

As a GM, it's the genre I'm best at running.

 

Of course, my current regular group actually plays D&D more or less exclusively and there are a couple of guys who've never been into comics, so I'm not sure I'd even want to play a superhero game with them (I've had some very unhappy experiences playing supers games with folks who weren't at least 50% into the genre).

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Cause it's kewl

 

 

What Hermit Said

 

 

QM

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

The aforementioned Kewl.

 

I enjoy playing characters that are larger than life - epic high fantasy and supers are about the largest than life you can get (my two favorite genres).

 

I enjoy playing in a game with more Good guy vs bad guy and less shades of gray. Supers lends itself to this well.

 

I like playing and GMing in long games - years or decades long - and the only source literature that has decades long characters is comic - okay some book series run something like that - but no other medium has had a continuous run the way comics do with Superman, Batman, JLA, Spider-man, Fantastic Four, the Avengers. So the tropes of the genre help keep a game going for long periods.

 

I like playing cross and multi-genre games, and comics can fit them all, take specific elements, or encompass completely. Where else can you have a supermage, a cosmic entity, an almost subhuman brute and a guy who can breathe water on the same team without anyone batting an eyebrow. (or a Norse God, a symbol of a country, a super scientist and a mage) (or an Amazon, a superpowerful alien, the world's greatest detective).

[Enforcer84]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Because I love wearing tight costumes and punching people.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Why do I like playing Super Hero Games? Because Hero Games puts out lots of super stuff!

 

Actually, I'm typically the GM for our group, and that's one genre that all the players agreed upon. I'm not one for fantasy genres, preferring a world more modern-day. Throw in supers with the wide array of powers available, and the players can do all the wild, wow-type stuff they want.

 

I tried Pulp, but nobody was into it. Likewise an attempt at a modern-day spy/agent game.

[Balabanto]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Because I've always loved superheroes since I was five years old and started collecting comic books.

[GestaltBennie]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

I loved superhero comics, and when the opportunity came to play a game where I got to create siuperheroes and live out their lives, I couldn't wait to sign up.

 

Beyond that, see Louis Armstrong's answer to the queston "what is jazz".

[Bloodstone]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

^---- Comic Book Geek.

 

'Nuff said!

[The Main Man]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

1) It was the first kind I played, which seems to factor in a lot for players. Start a player with D&D and they will probably prefer fantasy. Start with White Wolf and they will probably prefer modern day occult.

 

2) I have almost always been into superheroes.

 

3) I too have deduced that it is kewl.

 

4) I have found that it is the polar opposite of anything like World of Darkness.

 

5) Your mind: the ultimate special effects budget!

 

6) The larger than life melodramatic action of it all; pulp kicked up a notch.

[Spence]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Like many have already said. I play for fun and the good guy/bad guy morality is fun to play. I exist with too much grey in my day to day life, why do I want to simulate it in a game?

 

I have also run Pulp with the same black/white good/bad setup with great success.

 

I have found that many people just like the idea of being the good guy and thrashing the bad guys.

 

Its fun.

 

Or as Hermet said “Cuz it's kewl...”

[The Main Man]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

I loved superhero comics, and when the opportunity came to play a game where I got to create siuperheroes and live out their lives, I couldn't wait to sign up.

 

Beyond that, see Louis Armstrong's answer to the queston "what is jazz".

 

Where can I find this?

[Cold Steel]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Why Not?

[assault]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Because who wouldn't want to be Superman?

 

I have played plenty of genres, of various degrees of grittiness and seriousness. I don't have a particular preference for one over another. At the moment the dream-like and faintly absurd nature of four-colour superheroes suits my overall mood better than others.

 

I actually became a comics geek as a result of playing Champions. I hadn't read comics for years and years before that. I've made up for lost time though...

[GestaltBennie]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

Where can I find this?

 

It'sa famous quote. When asked what jazz is, Armstrong said: "Man if you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."

[The Monster]

Re: Why do you like to play Super Hero Games?

 

I'm kind of with Ghost Angel - supers is about my least favorite of the major Hero genres.

 

Why I like it? Because anything goes as far as character concept and power construction.

 

I prefer pulp - which in many cases boils down to very low-power supers, because you can theoretically have just about the same range of character types as supers, especially if you extend "pulp" to include all the '30's stuff like jungles, space opera, mystic powers and the like. The difference to me is that in pulps, a thug with a normal gun can still a significant threat to a hero. Also, the heroes' power is much more limited in general, forcing them to be less flamboyant and (IMO) a bit more clever.