- Posts: 1236
- Thank you received: 404
Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)
Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.
Superhero boardgames
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Michael Barnes
- Offline
- Mountebank
- HYPOCRITE
- Posts: 16929
- Thank you received: 10375
VonTush wrote:
Michael Barnes wrote: So in sum, if you think that "Spider-Man" is theme...you're dead fucking wrong and you're already headed toward making yet another game with a map of the city, crime markers that pop up, rolling dice to make a bad guy card go away, and so forth.
Bah, your game sounds boring. This "With great power", photojournalism stuff...Bah! Humbug!
Give me powers and bad guys to beat them up with. That is all I want.
You can (and should) still have all that. But if you want there to be an actual THEME, there needs to be something else.
I played a couple of different Marvel games that Richard Launius designed, one of which I was sort of working on developing and trying to get the Ares Games guys to pick up as a Marvel Heroes card game (this was before they lost the license and the licensing fees blew up through the roof after Iron Man). It was fairly standard stuff, but there were a couple of THEME pieces that I thought were lightly handled, but they added a greater feel to it being a superhero game. One is that heroes could be affected by events in their "private lives"- maybe waylaid for a mission or not able to perform up to par. Another is that some heroes naturally worked better together than others to reflect rivalries and competing agendas. So Daredevil and Punisher didn't work together so well, but Spider-Man and Johnny Storm did.
If you're going for something that doesn't really have a theme other than "superheroes/villains beating the shit out of each other", a Wiz-War style game sounds like a pretty good idea.
Or Epic Duels Marvel, which should have happened five times over by now.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Posts: 11077
- Thank you received: 8037
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- SuperflyPete
- Offline
- Salty AF
- SMH
- Posts: 10733
- Thank you received: 5119
It shouldn't be that fucking hard. Maybe I'll have to make one after Project X is done and when I'm happy with Hoodrats, which is 99% at this point. You might not believe me, which is fine, but I think I've made the best, most thematic Euro-style worker placement game ever. A shame that myself, my friends, and the people who have blind playtested it for me will ever see it. There may be nothing more enjoyable than watching a lily white D&D guy utter black and latino slang while talking about drug dealing...while placing meeples.
If Wizards can make a D&D themed euro placement game that works, how come nobody has figured out how to make a really unique, truly awesome super hero game in the last 50 years?
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
The problem is that the Marvel/DC type superhero setting comes with a LOT of baggage and expectations, and that is hard to execute in a meaningful way.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Posts: 947
- Thank you received: 878
Michael Barnes wrote: It was fairly standard stuff, but there were a couple of THEME pieces that I thought were lightly handled, but they added a greater feel to it being a superhero game. One is that heroes could be affected by events in their "private lives"- maybe waylaid for a mission or not able to perform up to par. Another is that some heroes naturally worked better together than others to reflect rivalries and competing agendas. So Daredevil and Punisher didn't work together so well, but Spider-Man and Johnny Storm did.
That sort of stuff would be great if it was in a goofy, over-the-top Silver Age setting. Someone should snatch up the rights to Freedom Force and get on it, since if you're going non-licensed Silver Age Kirby pastiche, it doesn't get much better than FF.
The idea of secret identities and personal lives is woefully unexplored no matter which way you slice it and it's an area that's ripe for exploration. You could give certain heroes a "Dark Secret" that they must guard against discovery, and if it's revealed then it's very bad for them. Hell, explore the concept of heroic sacrifice and have some secrets that confer an immense one-time bonus on the hero when revealed, but afterward the hero is eliminated from the game. And that's just scratching the surface. There are so many more interesting things that could be done with heroes rather than just fisticuffs.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
One idea I've always had for a Batman-Style game though is a one vs one asymmetrical game where one player takes a role similar to Jack in Letters from Whitechapel where they have a hidden base in a city and have to head out and commit crimes to procure materials and resources to hatch their master crime. The heroes need to use some detective style work to uncover their hidden base or connect the dots on the supplies that are being harvested and try to make predictions off hunches on where the villain will strike next and setup an ambush. Villain wins if he can complete his shopping list and pulls off the crime, the hero wins if he uncovers the base or sets a trap at where he things he'll strike next.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Legomancer
- Offline
- D10
- Dave Lartigue
- Posts: 2944
- Thank you received: 3873
Michael Barnes wrote: And I also design my game with the understanding and acknowledgement that Spider-Man is a still-current, still ongoing series so I use characters,artwork, typefaces and storylines from RECENT, ACTUAL comics...not this vague, pop understanding of the character and stories that may as well have been gleaned from the side of a lunch box or a coloring book.
The thing is, most superhero "fans" don't give a shit about recent, actual comics. There are far more people who "love" Superman or Batman who haven't picked up a comic book in years and aren't going to start any time soon. There's a reason DC still uses old red-tights Superman art on stuff even though his current, actual suit is a stupid Jim Lee designed mess. Hell, that's been a problem with Wonder Woman for decades; I know multiple comic store owners who have people wanting to buy anything WW except a comic book with her in it.
When most people think Spider-Man or such they don't think about anything Spider-Man from the past decade of comics, they think a sort of vague, amalgamated Spider-Man that is just sort of the essence of Spider-Man-ness. That's what you base the game on for success, not whatever dumb storyline is being squatted out right now that even the small audience that actually buys comics doesn't care much about and won't remember in a year.
To broaden this out, when people think superheroes they think about dudes with powers fighting bad guys. That is the core of superheroes, despite 30 years of comics since Watchmen. Part of that is secret identities, but few people other than some hardcore cape fans are going to want a sub-game involving beating Lois to a scoop or pretending that sparkling water is champagne.
Besides, everyone knows that if you really want to do superheroes in a boardgame right, it needs to be a flicking game.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Posts: 11077
- Thank you received: 8037
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- Michael Barnes
- Offline
- Mountebank
- HYPOCRITE
- Posts: 16929
- Thank you received: 10375
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.