I am working on a superhero setting in which if someone is desperate enough and utterly sincere in their yearning, a progenitor entity known only as the Giver appears to grant them superhuman abilities to help them realise their desires.  This means that super-powered folks are almost never well adjusted, confident, or necessarily, heroic. A bullied child is more likely to gain powers than a community leader.

What system do you think would suit this idea best? I'm particularly interested in games that suit play-by-post well. I love FATE, but it is much too conversational (particularly during FP exchanges) to be quick to play in a forum setting. I'm currently considering Wild Talents, as it suits the slightly grim tone I'm looking at, but I'm not sure if many people know the system, so I'm not sure if I'd find players!

What system would you use for a superhero story about grey morals in a world where powers only recently arose?

The most obvious is Mutants and Masterminds 3rd edition. A large player base that understand it and like playing it: you would be inundated with people.

Personally I love the idea of Wild Talents, but it's a very difficult system for the GM to balance. And it's too 'conversational' as well. You need to to interact a lot to resolve the die rolls (or at least that's my experience). I've had good experiences tabletop, poor experiences RPOL.

Mutants and masterminds on the other hands has complex character creation, but normally plays very simply and well on RPOL.

I own M&M3e, but I'll admit that I don't love the D20 system. I'll consider it, but... It's not my favourite.

In reply to massivepony (msg # 3):

The Champions world of the Hero System has everything you'd need to build whatever effects/powers you'd like, including examples of "emotive" based powers.

6th Edition is the current one.

Character creations is a touch time-intensive, but when done you'll have **exactly** the character you want.

Power creation builds backward from "effect," so you first decide what it is you'd like to have happen, and then build the power to achieve that, instead of trying to shoe-horn pre-built effects/feats/etc together.

M&M3 is more or less a mix of HERO and MEGS (Mayfair Exponential Game System which was the basis for the DC Heroes RPG for three editions and the Blood of Heroes RPG which was the last published incarnation of MEGS). It marries the Attribute Point Benchmark system of MEGS to the effects based power system of HERO.

I will also say that I don't like that it's a d20 derivative, and I've considered switching the d20 of M&M3 for maybe 3d6 which also gives a 10.5 average roll.

Might I also plug Savage Worlds with the Super Powers Companion (SWADE Edition)? I think it would fit pretty well, plus there is a web character builder out there for any type of SW character...

DC Heroes RPG / MEGS (Mayfair Exponential Game System) is definitely my system of choice for a superhero game. It works and works well for heroic types of games, and I do not see why it could not work for more grey-shaded games.

However, one thing that is vitally important is what power level you are looking at?
DC Heroes does not do realistic street level play as well as it does other power levels.
GURPs Supers on the other hand, is fine for a realistic street level of power, but does not handle more powerful heroes nearly as well.

That answer could help determine what would fit best.


Edit: I see you have a post in the 'players requested' section, so it seems that you have already determined your answer. *L*
This message was last edited by the user at 22:19, Mon 05 Dec 2022.