What a fun and welcoming box set! This is the second edition of DC Heroes (1989) from Mayfair games. I’ve never encountered the first edition, but my impression of this box is as an attempt to make a fairly tricky system as welcoming and accessible as possible without, you know, tossing out the original system. Which is a clever system, based on logarithms — the same thing is under the hood of Underground. I understood it for a brief moment in time despite my deficiencies in math (but lordy, no, I did not retain it, nor do I wish to re-learn), and it struck me as a clever way to handle the divergent power levels present in a superhero game. It is, however, clearly not as user-friendly as, for instance, TSR’s Marvel RPG.
There’s a lot in the box — a brief intro pamphlet with a solo adventure, a rulebook for the GM, a player’s guide, a screen, a group adventure featuring the Justice League International, a little wheel that makes resolving rolls much easier (not quite so easy as the Universal Table in Marvel, but close). There’s a beefy dossier of characters accompanied by a stack of full-color character cards, which are a nifty, fidgety addition that doesn’t really add much to play.
The 15-page chapter on running games has some of the best advice I’ve encountered from the period — focused on collaborative play, encouraging roleplay and generally putting fun ahead of rules. One section has the header “You are the Player’s Senses” and I think that might be one of the best summaries of the GM’s role I’ve ever read. It certainly feels miles ahead of just about anything else from the period that comes to mind, with the possible exception of Rolemaster’s Campaign Law.
This box wants so desperately to be a game anyone can play. I don’t think it quite gets there, but I think the way it tried was influential — over the course of the ’90s, we’d start to see more and more supportive text in RPG books that sound like they spin right out of this GM’s section.
I don’t think I ever had the second edition, but I loved the first edition. I picked it up again a few years ago, and, yes, it’s clunky, that’s true. But still has some great things in it and excellent explanations.
Marvel, though, that’s hard to beat.
One of my very favorite RPGs !!! I have (and played) 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions and they all are good (not very different from one another, but sadly less and less pictures ; 1st ed. had the most). We played dozens of scenarios with friends. One of the best systems I’ve EVER encountered, because it streamlined everything under only one roll, with ONE single universal way of counting everything (Attribute Points / APs), and it actually worked, that was so amazing. But YES, you have to get past the a-little-too-tedious Action & Result tables, that’s a bit too much of cross-referencing, agreed. Only drawback, though. Very good system, still, with a HUGE freedom in character creation with any possible adjustments made possible to custom everything. Never tried Marvel RPG ; was it as custom-friendly ? It seemed a bit too simplistic, but I may be wrong.
Marvel is good for what it is, which is primarily to find out which of your favorite Marvel characters would win in a fight. Core rules for custom characters is weak, but they expanded it real well with the Ultimate Powers Book and the Advanced Set, but then you’re three products in and I think customs are still going to be a little underpowered compared to the canon characters.
OK, thanks for the answer. From reading articles, I kind of had the feeling that the Marvel RPG was indeed more simplistic.
In fact, about DCH RPG, after playing many different RPGs, it may be the MOST versatile and custom-friendly RPG of all. If your GM is good and experienced enough, you may customize / craft new powers from existing ones using the Bonus/Malus modifiers when buying powers / skills / gadgets, which makes (to my experience and knowledge) possibilities really limitless. I can’t think of an RPG where you can create ANYTHING, not just choosing from an existing list.
I purchased the 90s version when I was 14 since TSR essentially phased out the Marvel RPG. I tried to run a game one night and I was a very confused individual when going through everything. Maybe it was due to lack of preparation or lack of general experience. I was tempted to see if I could sell it since it was gathering dust on my shelf, but have come to terms in thinking that I could go back through the rules in my 40s to try and get a better understanding.