The World (Setting) of Superfigs/Supersystem, and/or Character Roster?

[Spooktalker]

Was the world/setting of the Superfigs/Supersystem put to paper, ever? I've scanned SuperSystem 4e rulebook and its not here; its only implied. Similarly, there are a few character write-ups, but no roster. What I'm expecting is a a write-up of each faction and then a roster of bios and stats and colors for all the characters. Does this exist? 

Also, whether or not this exists, I am very interested in a anything folks want to share about their own campaigns in terms of factions and teams, alliances, feuds and enemies, plots, etc. Who were the major players, how it went, etc.

What I have to go on so far is just what's on the Old Glory store website. You get the name of the characters and factions, a sample paintjob that look more like pics from a fan's collection  than studio paintjobs, and unless I hear otherwise, I might assume the fan/painter chose the colors rather than followed a brief. A few of the tidbits you get suggest a wider world. For example, three pages of figures have their own category, "New Foundation Zero." What is New Foundation Zero and what are they up to? Not a clue in the book.

The 4e book puzzles me.  I mean I'm really having a hard time getting my mind around it. I mean, it's 175 pages! A 175 book of miniatures rules, with several detailed appendices! And the authors not only didn't think the two things I'm asking for are the two most important things to have in whole book, but they didn't think they were important enough to include, at all? They are literally thing one and thing two I want, and the actual rules are completely optional. If you had that, I would buy your book immediately. But since it's missing, I won't. It's really that simple.

I just can't understand going through all the trouble to put out a range of figures and a rules system, and then leaving the point of entry such a challenge for me, the consumer.  It's like you want to make it as difficult as possible for someone to come and play your game. I have over a hundred Superfigs figures sitting here. You are telling me that I have to use the character construction rules to create all the characters, along with bios and color designs, etc, before I can play? That is hours and hours of work you could have saved me. Hours and hours of work that each potential player needs to do in isolation of one another. I'm perplexed. Even if I through out some, or go in a wholly new direction, at least it serves as a baseline from which I deviate. I guess this isn't the first time the choices made in miniatures product management leaves me scratching my head.

[fourcolorfigs]

By the time 2014 rolled around and I was embroiled in the KS to launch SS4, I was also dealing with a lot of personal upheaval in my life. During that period, I amicably parted with Old Glory and the development and management of the SuperFigs line.
 
By that time, my philosophy for SS4 was to make the ultimate edition of the game. I worked hard with Dave Lewis to do just that. We wanted a game for all super miniature fans. It would no longer be tied directly to the SuperFigs line, as I was no longer tied directly to the line. 

Dave Lewis had at that point maintained his own, fan-based character generator that was compatible with 3rd edition. He had intended to update it for 4th, but like me, his life outside of games and gaming got busy and it never got done.
 
SS4 is the ultimate Supers miniature game. There's almost nothing you can't build with it, but the further I got away from it, the less system mastery I possessed with it. And you need that to make lots of characters. By the time I felt like I was in a good place to get back into miniature gaming, it was the end of 2016, and I realized I wanted to write and play different games. 

That's why I wrote Void Pirates, then Super Mission Force. They're the sorts of games I have been writing and playing now. Would I ever return to SS4 and SuperFigs? I can never say never, but I can't say when that would happen. Designing games is a passion project for me. Firefighting pays my bills, and when I need to escape the stuff I encounter at work, I find my creative outlets where I can. I have to work on the books and projects that move me. 

As an aside, the "official" paint jobs on the SuperFigs were done by me, my friend Aaron, and when we were lucky, Agis did some and kindly let us use the images. Anything that looks good is likely from Agis and Aaron, anything else is likely my own work. Old Glory was great to work with, but we were plowing resources into making as many SuperFigs as we could, not pro-style painting. You can certainly argue the wisdom of one choice or another, but in the end I will take the few extra figures we got made over the pro-style paint jobs we might have had to show off. 

I want to thank you for your interest in SS4 and SuperFigs. I am sorry that I don't have a ready answer for the problem you bring up. Your post does have me thinking about it again, though. I may have to crack open a copy of SS4 and knock some rust off with a build or two. Again, I can't say what might come of it, but revisiting some of those old friends might be nice. 

Thanks!

[Easy E]

Perhaps SS3 and its supplements cover this more?  I am not sure as I have Super Systems 4th edition. 

Here is what I have put together for myself.  I have no interest in a pre-made world, so the omission did not bother me at all. 

First forays:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2018/06/wargaming-on-budget-toys-for-superhero.html

More background/painting:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2018/11/on-painting-desk-nano-metal-figs.html

Some Games:
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2018/06/battle-report-super-systems-4th-edition.html

and

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2018/09/super-system-4th-edition-battle-report.html



I want to get more Super Hero gaming in, but my attention had been pulled away by my own games and publication support to do much more.  I hope this is helpful to the OP.   

Edit: I do have a hard time creating my own characters in 4th, so just use the archtypes instead.

[Spooktalker]

Thanks, Scott P and Easy E!

Scott, I appreciate the info! It isn't every day I get a response from a creator!  I hope you don't mind some follow up questions.

I hear you saying that 4e doesn't have the setting stuff because you had split with SuperFigs, but what about the previous three editions? Do they have setting stuff? I'm still trying to understand if concepts like "New Foundation Zero" and bios and stats of figures ever made it to print, or existed only in the mind of you the creator.

I'm really interested in hearing how the process worked to create the characters. Did they start in your campaigns and then a brief get sent to the sculptor, or another process? Who is the sculptor?

If you have a painted set of SuperFigs you played with, you must have statted them up, or many of them, right? What format are they? Is there a file you could share, or if they are on paper, would you consider posting pics of them? Similarly, what do you recall of the world and the factions, most powerful goodies and baddies, etc? Do you still play in that world with your newer rulesets or have you moved on from playing with the SuperFigs figs entirely?

I was digging around because you mentioned Agis, and I see his website and some posts here. There are a few write-ups there of the kind I'm looking for. First success in this quest here. http://www.adpublishing.de/html/superheroes.html He has several teams painted and written up, and says about them,  "An official Superteam straight from the Four Colour World of Supersystem!"  Are these details from his imagination or did this info come from another source? These are the teams.

• The Freebooters
• Freedom’s Five
• The Red Patriot Movement
• The Blitzkrieg Brigade
• Übersoldaten
• The Sub-Atomics

Next question, I saw on your site you have a number of different supers games like Super Mission Force, but the blurbs don't include details that help me separate one from the next. I have no idea if one is "faster" than another, or even when each was released, so I can't tell which is the "latest and greatest." You say Super Mission Force fits your style of play now, but what do you mean by this? I think you might want to consider revising the blurbs to help potential customers like me.

@Easy E, thanks, looks like some good games. It doesn't help my quest here as I'm looking for info on the SuperFigs range of figures and the world, and not the SuperSystem or applying it to other figures, but I like a good superhero adventure apart from that quest, so don't mind treating this as a side quest.

[fourcolorfigs]

Thank you again for your interest. Here is a link to a free download of the SuperFigs teams, stats, and backgrounds through third edition:

https://app.box.com/file/11849996184?s=ku0lz43nhvyrsg6lydnz

Having just scanned through it, I can tell you it's pretty complete when it comes to the SuperFigs we produced from 2001 - 2012. We did not make many (if any) more after 2012, AFAIK. It was almost ten years ago and the mind fogs over.

I will say this document needs cleaned up. There are some typos and some other conceptual things I would want to change. If I tackled this again, I would likely just stat everyone up in Super Mission Force. Re-doing it for SS4 would take a significant chunk of time and I am not sure I am up to the task right now.

Which brings me to another of your questions. Super Mission Force is my most recent Goalsystem superhero game. It plays a lot faster than any version of SuperSystem, and features quicker, archetype-based chargen that does not require much number crunching. For a while we even had an online character generator for it, but when I went from 1st ed. to 2nd ed., the kind fellow who made it did not update it. He's been busy with things outside of gaming and perhaps one day we'll get it updated, but really, it is so simple to make characters it's not essential.

I hope this helps you out! Thanks, again!

[Spooktalker]

Wow, Eureka, thank you, thank you!    This is much more than I was even hoping for when I posted initially!  This is the perfect resource for where I am with my collection. I have so many projects that with the SuperFigs currently, I'll be happy if I can get them stood up on bases, arranged in teams, and learn something about them in the process. Then sometime down the road hopefully they'll get cleaned, primed and see some paint. Having the rosters makes it much, much more likely I'll go with with the SuperSystem if/when I can get a game together, and/or maybe I'll try out Super Mission Force. Thanks for the explanation of it, that makes sense!

[Agis]

I just stumbled over this topic, sorry.

Being a big Super System fan - including the minis, the topic reignited some nice and warm memories. In fact it kicked me enough to start painting and playing Marvel United.
Thanks for being kindly mentioned above.