Supers

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The usual nickname for RPG settings and systems with Superpowers, especially those with Superheroes. Called "Supers" probably in part because the word "Superhero" is trademarked by Marvel and DC.

And, yes, Batman counts as Supers; very low powered superpowers, usually, but impossible-super-science gadgets (which even the Dark Knight trilogy and the Adam West version engaged in), and that level of recovery from injury both count as "Superpowers".

Some General Trends

There's a vast amount of territory covered by Superpowered RPGs, in keeping with the comic books and TV shows that birthed most of them. There are a few general trends:

  • Secret Identities:
    • As a general rule, as time has gone on, fewer and fewer superheroes have them, as the reason to have one has gone down. That being said, the usual explanation nowdays is to protect unpowered family members, which as reasons go is at least reasonable.
    • Further, as a general rule, at Marvel, there's a general feeling that "Street-level" superheroes are allowed a secret identity; those whose individual aspirations extend beyond a city are not (e.g., The Fantastic Four, Iron Man (even back when Iron Man was Tony Stark's "bodyguard", there was no question but that Iron Man worked for Stark))
    • Japanese (and East Asian more generally) superheroes either don't have them, have them a transformation as part of their powers, or have them more because the hero is an benevolent infiltrator of some kind.
  • Power level:
    • As powers get more powerful, the "relatability" of the hero goes down.
    • It's possible to make this work, by emulating mythology and going full SuperGods.
    • Live-action TV shows tend to love superpowers that don't require any expensive special effects, such as Telepathy or Mind Control. Look out for budget cheats.
    • A setting can have a very vast degree of scale of powers; DC has Green Lantern (cosmic scale science fiction) alongside Batman, where Killer Croc (mild super-strength and crocodile traits) and Mr. Freeze (who has a freeze gun and immunity to cold) are unusually powerful.
  • Unpowered Superheroes
    • They exist. They're usually impossibly well-trained and skilled, but, again, that still counts as the level of training or skill in question is usually impossible for a real person.
    • Usually exist in either lower-powered settings, or are effectively just masterminds or stealth operatives.
  • Villains and Sanity
    • How insane the villains are is something of a variable from setting to setting, and villain to villain. Some villains can be "ordinary" criminals, just some of them have powers; some villains are obsessed with destroying the universe (and haven't thought through the "but that's where I keep all my stuff!" objection), and have the power to pull it off.
    • Nowdays, more rational villains are more common then they were back in the Silver Age. There's usually some flaw in their thinking, admittedly, but mostly gone are the days of robbing banks so you could fight Superpoweredheronumberseventyeight.
  • Technology
    • Civilian technology on Earth is usually kept just barely beyond the current state of the art, to maximize "relatability". Heroes and villains can invent super-science gadget and/or own giant, supposedly innovative, companies while villains can plot to steal inventions from labs, but none of the stuff seems to actually get to market. Military technology is rarely better for the common soldier, but don't be surprised to see special projects that produce something (even if flawed or unreproducable) or them having something to throw at a superpowered threat. The most common exception, if the age rating requires it, is the proliferation of energy weapons.
    • But the Important Named Characters usually have access to stuff that's flat out impossible.
    • This leads to a certain tendency of Super-Inventers to be restricted in some way.
  • Genre
    • If you don't count "Supers" as a genre, or only partly so: While individual settings and stories can be Mundane, Horror, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, or a few others, most supers settings that get glommed together as they evolve (such as DC/Marvel or many animated ones) tend to be classifiable as Science Fantasy.

Notable subtypes

  • Street-Level: Characters, generally of low power, that fight local threats instead of global conspiracies and alien invasions.
  • Mystery men: Low power pulp heroes, especially powerless gadget wielders set before 1942.
  • Cosmic: The exact opposite of the two above; if they're fighting Dieties on a regular basis, it's probably "Cosmic".
  • Tokusatsu (特撮, literally "special effects"): A Japanese genre of masked, transforming heroes (the better to change actors so they can film those scenes on the cheap). Often includes giant robots and size changing to allow fighting a multiple scales. Examples include Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and the 1970s Japanese Spider-Man (which is a fascinating story all in itself).
  • Magical Girl: Girls change into super powered forms to (generally) fight evil. Unlike Toku heroes, magical girl forms generally aren't masked but instead have some kind of physical element to the transformation that hides the user's identity. Despite being strongly associated with Japan, Mary Marvel is the earliest proper example.

Commonly Cited Non-/tg/ or /v/ Originating Settings

  • DC Comics. Most notable heroes for /tg/ purposes: Batman, Superman, Green Lantern. Most notable villains for /tg/ purposes: Darkseid, Lex Luthor, Ra's Al Ghul.
  • Marvel Comics. Most notable heroes for /tg/ purposes: Iron Man, Spider Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk. Most notable villains for /tg/ purposes: Thanos, Galactus, Paste-pot Pete (that last for the idea "they can't all be winners")
    • The X-Men have, since their 1975 revival, and particularly since the 90s, been sort of their own continuity, almost-but-not-quite separate from the main Marvel one.
  • Various adaptions of the two above.
  • A few anime; notable Supers anime include "My Hero Academia", "One Punch Man", and "Sailor Moon".
  • The Super Hero Time programming block of Super Sentai (which was mined for stock footage to create Power Rangers) and Kamen Rider.
  • Pretty Cure/PreCure: Bucking the trend of magical girls being aimed exclusively at young girls, PreCure takes the unusual direction of simultaneously marketing itself to men with disposable income 16-35 by making the fights extremely physical. Airs adjacent to Super Hero Time and is widely considered an unofficial member.
  • Wild Cards, a setting masterminded by the same George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones.

Supers Roleplaying (Or: /tg/ Relevance)

There have been plenty of Supers roleplaying games. Here are some of the more notable ones:

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