Barking Alien The Blog is about to go through a minor change in focus.
It has recently come to my attention that while I am nigh-obsessed with Star Trek and other Sci-Fi settings, one of the genres I GM best is Comic Book Super Heroes.
I've always been a big super hero fan and indeed it was comic books that got me into D&D in the first place (more on that in an upcoming post). Even before I first encountered RPGs I was creating and drawing my own comic books characters and making little comic books of my own with crayons and drawing paper.
With the release of the RPG ICONS by Steve Kenson, the DC Adventures RPG by Green Ronin (also Steve Kenson) and Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition (man that Kenson guy gets around), I've decided to focus a bit more on the supers genre and some game ideas for it that I've had in the past as well as new ones I've considering now.
This looks like a job for...Fun!
AD
Barking Alien
Sounds Gr-r-reat!
ReplyDeleteI left my own supers' blog turn to dust. No one read it anyway. So, I can't wait to see where you go with yours. It is an underappreciated genre of role-playing, I think. Surprising, since you consider the popularity of all the recent super hero movies lately.
Ciao!
GW
Actually its one of the things that has always confounded me.
ReplyDeleteWhat's more numerous and popular, superhero movies, tv shows like 'Smallville', Sci-Fi Movies and shows or Fantasy movies and shows? Heck, name a recent film other than the 'Rings' trilogy and maybe 'How to Train Your Dragon'.
Meanwhile, everyone is playing D&D. I just don't get it and probably never will.
AD
Barking Alien
Yeah, its alright for them to put on that magic chainmail and hack through a few dozen goblins...
ReplyDeletebut, just try to get them to put on a cape or ask them to brush some concrete dust off their shoulders after they've smashed through a wall to deal with some villains...
does no one feel the exhilaration & excitement of having multi-calibre bullets bounce off one's chest?
Where's the love?
Ciao!
GW
Hey, Adam!
ReplyDeleteIt's Kurgan, from RPG.net. Been trying to get ahold of you. Would appreciate if you could check your PMs over there and drop me a line. :)
Regarding your comment above, "Meanwhile, everyone is playing D&D. I just don't get it and probably never will," I'd honestly have to suggest it's all about marketing. D&D is what new roleplayers are taught is the game to play. A few get exposed to other, quality stuff and begin branching out, but many get caught in the hype and end up putting some WotC's kids through college with their purchases. They've invested a lot in it, their friends play it, it's the one they learned first. Hard for some to get away from that, regardless of whether somebody they know is whispering, "Dude, screw D&D, you've gotta check out Jorune!" in their ear. :) Sad, but I believe quite true.
As for Superhero RPGs, my favorite back in the day was DC Heroes. Loved the game mechanics. Was definitely a lot of fun to play. Tried everything else, from Superhero2044 to Marvel, but that was the best, even over V&V. DC ultimately ended up becoming Blood of Heroes (along with a debate over who actually had the rights), but I never got to try it out. The new craze, of course, is Wild Talents. 2nd Edition just hit the shelves (finally! Took 'em several years). Dying to give that one a try. But you're right, Superhero roleplaying is a lot of fun, and sadly underrated.