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× Talk about the latest and greatest AT, and the Classics.

Superhero boardgames

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15 Sep 2014 17:40 #187111 by Bull Nakano
There's a sentinels brawler coming out that got some good buzz from gen con demos.

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15 Sep 2014 17:49 #187112 by Michael Barnes

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.

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15 Sep 2014 17:55 #187114 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Re: Superhero boardgames
Strange Synergy is very likely directly inspired by Wiz-War. It plays somewhat like Wiz-War, only you get a team, the special abilities are fixed once you start (instead of cards that you draw and play), and the map is boring instead of a neat dungeon labyrinth.

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15 Sep 2014 19:12 - 15 Sep 2014 19:13 #187120 by SuperflyPete
Marvel Heroscape is the only supers game worth playing as far as "board game". I still posit that Legendary is the best superhero themed table game of all time, but not because it's that good, while it is good, but rather because all of the other suck hot, sweaty, unshaven balls. Balls that are covered in Michael's skid-marked boxers, no less. :)

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?
Last edit: 15 Sep 2014 19:13 by SuperflyPete.

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15 Sep 2014 20:41 #187128 by wadenels
Replied by wadenels on topic Re: Superhero boardgames
Most fantasy adventure / dungeon crawls are superhero games in an alternate setting. Your cleric can cast revive or repel undead? That's some superhero material right there.

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.
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16 Sep 2014 00:08 #187136 by SebastianBludd

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.
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16 Sep 2014 01:13 #187139 by VonTush
Replied by VonTush on topic Re: Superhero boardgames
Those themes would be interesting in a strategic level game, but I think when most people think Super-Hero the more tactical side pops into their mind. To make those themes work my gut says it starts to become a procedural and mechanical style game, not to say that it couldn't be, but I think its a long-shot. It is also stuff that takes away from from the traits that pop into a person's mind when they think SuperHero - Costume and Powers and "Pows" and "Boofs" and "Pops".


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.
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16 Sep 2014 08:33 #187140 by Legomancer
Replied by Legomancer on topic Re: Superhero boardgames

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.
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16 Sep 2014 09:22 #187141 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Re: Superhero boardgames
I can see it now. HULK FLICK!!!

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16 Sep 2014 10:06 #187143 by Michael Barnes
Wow. That sure didn't look right zoomed out on an iPhone screen...
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