Need help finding a good set of supers rules

[Goshawk]

Has anyone here played both Super System and Power Legion?  If so, care to recommend one over the other?  We're looking for a good supers rules set and both have come to our attention.  I'm a Champions player from back in the day, so complexity isn't a real issue, but I'd like it to be reasonably convention-friendly.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks in advance!

RH
 

[Van-Helsing]

Pulp City . . . . .

[styx]

Has anyone here played both Super System and Power Legion?  If so, care to recommend one over the other?  We're looking for a good supers rules set and both have come to our attention.  I'm a Champions player from back in the day, so complexity isn't a real issue, but I'd like it to be reasonably convention-friendly.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks in advance!

RH
 

I have read both SuperSystem 3 and the new Supersystem 4 rules, plus I have been reading Power Legion also.

Based on your post....I would say get Supersystem

The differences:
Power Legion: Simpler system, less powers, not as much detail. Gets you quick into a game and pretty much everything is on the same tier of power levels. I do understand other supplements are in the pipe to add more powers and such.

Supersystem has more powers, allows you to custom build characters a bit more. It is an older and more established system as well. Rules are not super complex but do have options in combat by doing certain moves and actions using their Action Point System which is a huge focus of the game.

[Goshawk]

Van-Helsing:  Pulp City looks interesting - thanks for bringing that to my attention.  Is it customizable (i.e., can you create custom characters?)

styx - Thanks for the info.  I'm leaning toward SuperSystem, as it sounds like it has more options that may lead to more gameplay.

I recently acquired Pulp Alley for its relative simplicity and use for a wide range of options.  Odd that I want a "true" supers game to be far more "complete" and granular.  Champions is still in me, I suppose.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Van-Helsing]

Currently no - only "Minions" can be Custom - I THINK that the next edition will have Build Your Own Supers Rules.

[black hat miniatures]

The forthcoming Super Justice rules from Red Wyvern Games look really interesting - they are still playtesting them but I played a game at Blast-Tastic! and thought they had a lot of very good ideas for modelling the superhero powers.

Mike

[sundayhero]

This new ruleset sounds interesting, especially the campaign character evolution and skills tree.

[fourcolorfigs]

I know it's taking forever, but we're doing editing passes on SS4 right now.

It's looking good! 

Power Legion looks like a great set for supers gaming, and it's something I will be checking out!  I can't just always play my own games! 

[obsidian3d]

I have played a good number of games of SuperSystem 3rd edition and it is great fun. I've introduced several people to the game with varying levels of success. The biggest trouble I have with it (which is also one of its strengths) is that without a character builder, making profiles can be quite time intensive. The dice pools can also be difficult to explain to new players. Some of the powers modify the stats, where others can grant you actual abilities, so that is also something to be aware of.

I've only (very) recently purchased Power Legion. The best way I can describe it without having yet played: it looks like a blending of Song of Blades, Pulp Alley, and SuperSystem. There are more attributes than original SoB, the varying dice feels like Pulp Alley (better power uses better dice), and a lot of the powers resemble those of SuperSystem. Like styx mentioned, there are some things missing...shape change is the one I immediately wished was in there.

I'll be sure to post up my findings with Power Legion on my blog after I've had a chance to give it a spin.

[styx]

Yep, shapeshifting, shrink and grow and a few others that I can't think of that would be nice....almost essential ones...

[Goshawk]

We'll be giving Power Legion a spin until Super System 4.0 rolls out.  It looks pretty interesting...and I particularly like the use of polyhedral dice at varying levels.

[Legionnaire]

Has anyone here played both Super System and Power Legion?  If so, care to recommend one over the other?  We're looking for a good supers rules set and both have come to our attention.  I'm a Champions player from back in the day, so complexity isn't a real issue, but I'd like it to be reasonably convention-friendly.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks in advance!

RH
 

I have read and played both rules and personally I lean towards Power Legion, even though, as some people quite rightly point out, some powers are missing (Animal Control, Shapechange, Growth/ Shrinking...) but they are in the works and might be available by end of the year.

My reasons are, that even if SuperSystem 3 is a solid ruleset and has the benefit of being around longer and "sorted out the kinks", it can take a while (if you're inclined to juggle points) to streamline your powers (something I never really felt the urge to tinker too much with) and then you might have to go back to the "drawing board" once or twice if the character doesn't pan out as you thought it would.

The benefit with PL is that it's very easy at a glance to see how capable a hero/ villain is in an area, thanks to the die-stat "D6 Strenght is athletic whilst D10 is able to lift a couple of tons", which works pretty well with their powers and skills as well. Someone with D12 in a skill is pretty much a fully fledged master in that aspect, whilst a D20 is Godlike. I very much like that mentality then I can easily quantify a concept "without the reinforced suit and the cutting edge armaments Keith is but a gifted average human being." I can see myself building well known characters quite easily with this, besides, I like the way the Gadget power works (you buy up to five Gadgets, each can have a different die in efficiency and you can spend one to imitate almost any other power but it's only good for one use. That gets away from the matter that you have to preload the utility belt before the scenario and you just happen to have the right thing at the right time!!)

[styx]

This has been the hardest part of supersystem (and also the most rewarding- love that double edge sword) that I found with Supersystem also that I was going to run by Scott to see what he thinks....

I know there used to be a basic web builder online for Supersystem 2 (3?)

Plus of late there have been some web designed builders showing up for Bolt Action and X-Wing. The technology is improving.

Bolt Action Example: http://boltaction.easyarmy.com/
X-Wing: http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/

*there are more X-Wing ones but you get the idea, just Google them*

This lets you create a list, build your team and save it is what I would like to see. I'd be willing to help beat it up (test it)....I just don't know how code works for this. Plus we could save community lists also for DC/Marvel/Indie characters to share also...

I know Rolltinder was working on an Excel but was on hold until the rules was more firmed up.

Thoughts?

[Goshawk]

Styx, I've used both of those and they're wonderful...indispensable, in fact!  Over the years, Hero Games released several iterations of its character builder for Champions.  While I could build a character easily enough on paper with a calculator, it was far easier to do it on my PC.  Dame for Bolt Action and X-Wing.  I'd love to see something like this for games like Power Legion, SuperSystem, Pulp Alley, etc. 

[fourcolorfigs]

FWIW, the end of the chargen chapter of SS4 gives you an easy, fast-building archetype system. It literally takes two minutes to build a very usable character using that system.

The other stuff requires some building. If you want a richly realized character built from scratch, you have to put a bit of time in. Once you know the system, simple builds will go fairly quickly.

Anyway, a "lighter" rule set like PL certainly presents a powerful and exciting option. As I said before, I know I will be checking it out!