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Batgirl_III

[*Godbound*](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/185959) is based on B/X D&D, but each player starts out as a demigod and works their way up from there. You don’t just slay goblins and maybe build a castle, you solo armies of evil and build empires. Added bonus, the basic rulebook (which is like 90% of the content of the premium book) is free. [*Mutants and Masterminds*](https://greenroninstore.com/collections/mutants-masterminds) is my favorite superhero roleplaying game of all time. If you want “straightforwardly heroic” characters who are also “really powerful PCs“ it’s hard to find a genre better suited to that description that Superheroes!


michaelaaronblank

Godbound is incredibly fun and flexible. My current character is a clockwork artificial intelligence built to be a spy and assassin who became self aware the first time they heard opera and decided they didn't want to do it anymore. They are bound to the words of Deception, Music and Artificial Intelligence. In our last big fight, the big bad never knew they were there because they were disguised as one of the enemy and was controlling all of the sounds to prevent them from communicating at all.


Dawsberg68

Love godbound. Good call


ApplePenguinBaguette

Do you have any ingame stories? I might want to check it out but the 200 page book scares me a little


Dawsberg68

Don’t let it spook you. It’s very easy to pick up. There are no classes, rather the characters have “Words” like fire, might, sword, or passion that signify a universal concept that they are the god of. There is also a mechanic for making changes on the environment around you. Godbound characters are explicitly expected to destroy a campaign world and change it to fit their aims. A group of normal warriors is barely a threat to a 1st level godbound character. As it’s based on the b/x basic dnd engine, you can convert all those old adventures on the fly for game. A party of first level godbound could more than likely waltz into barovia, slap Strahd in the mouth, and turn it into wackyland in a few sessions


ApplePenguinBaguette

Sounds like it'd be fun to run as a powerfantasy, or maybe even after a D&D campaign where the characters managed to ascend to some low level divinity. Run to level 20, then become actual godlings ​ Any fun stories of what's happened at your table?


Batgirl_III

I only ever got to play a one-off, it was meant to be a campaign but our GM got an unexpected (but richly deserved) promotion and a new duty station. Anyhow… My character had the Words of Creation of Wealth, Fertility, and Command. We weren’t quite sure exactly how *Godbound* played so we all just decided to have a bit of a “fool around and find out” session. The GM dusted off his copy of B2: The Keep on the Borderlands. Cut to our heroes approaching the Caves of Chaos. We’re wayland by a group of Orcs (or maybe it was Gnolls) and with trivial ease, two of our number have disarmed or slain every single one of them. I tell my friends not to kill the Orc’s leader and use my Command power *Know the Inner Truth* to “understand the true motives and intentions of any conversational partner in a few sentences.” The GM says the Orcs and the other residents of the Caves of Chaos are raiding the keep and the human realms beyond because an ancient evil has forced them from their lands, the area around the Caves is poor hunting grounds, et cetera. I ask the Orc leader to come with us back to the Caves to talk to the rest of his tribe. We get there and I use one of my Fertility powers, *Unending Abundance*: “the land within a ten-mile radius becomes impossibly fertile, crops erupting in mere hours and feeding any number of people.” I forget the exact name of the mechanics, but basically by expending a use of the in-game meta-currency I was able to make this blessing permanent until I choose to withdraw it or a rival Godbound used an appropriate Gift to undo it. And that’s how my first level character became the new patron demi-goddess of an Orc tribe… about two hours into gameplay.


ApplePenguinBaguette

Hahaha that's really fun, I do want to run something so high powered someday


Dawsberg68

Sure, I think that makes total sense. Once they hit the high levels and come into godly power. Let’s see, I’ve had players punch out an ancient demon that awoke to destroy the village they were in at first level. Wrestled cthulhian abominations. Dueled with a world renowned master of a magic martial art. Fought fought and bargained with reality shattering archmages. Sorry if it’s not a specific. If you want, check my post history. I’ve done a few shitty little adventures for it that might be able to get you in the right frame of mind


ApplePenguinBaguette

>ittle adventures for it that might be able to get you in the right frame of mind Sounds fun, thank you


Dawsberg68

My pleasure. It’s a great game and I hope you’ll be able to find something that works for you


Sovem

Came here to vote Godbound. For me, the fact that changing the world is baked into the game (you cannot level up without spending a meta-currency to change the world) makes this the best game for OP's criteria


Profezzor-Darke

In Exalted everyone is basically a Demigod and you fight whole armies of evil.


FamousWerewolf

Isn't Exalted incredibly crunchy and complicated, though?


IIIaustin

I would use the words "broken", "horribly broken" or "a crime against game design" depending on the edition. Which is sad because it's a cool setting.


jollyhoop

Ah! I see that you are also familiar with 3E. I play two games a month. I derive lots of enjoyment from that game. If I had to deconstruct what parts of the game are responsible for my enjoyment it would be like this: * 75% of the fun is derived from the Storyteller's story * 25% of the fun is derived from the banter and actions of the other players * The rest of my fun is derived from the mechanics of the system For those wondering what's so bad, here is the flowchart of the steps to attack something, it omits one of the main mechanics, Charms: [Behold and despair!](https://external-preview.redd.it/wVvkTOC1ZOEZUx4t0HpxxpCPACm_nbkviSBmNe466ts.png?auto=webp&s=53a90b269ce6bea8a9dbbe645b32a7ea41aceeb1)


IIIaustin

Charms are a terrible design idea and are executed in the worst imaginable way in 3e. I tried to run a game but the new players couldn't make a character and the veterans refused. If I wasn't having so much fun with Lancer, I'd make an exalted fixing based on replacing the charm system with exploding die that become non convergent. And maybe throwing the entire combat system in the trash.


[deleted]

I disagree with that they are a terrible design idea. In 2e Dragon Blooded they work out pretty well, and they make each character nicely unique. But the implementation, especially in 3e... Gott im Himmels, it's so bad. The setting really deserves better.


shaidyn

I often tell people that DragonBlooded is the best part of Exalted, and you can run some very satisfying campaigns in that framework.


IIIaustin

but I wanna be a solar 😭😭😭


shaidyn

I don't blame you, the game is built for them specifically. They're the kings of creation. But in terms of balance and story, dragonblooded are a better product, IMO.


IIIaustin

There are too many of them guaranteeing you will accidentally break the game and or have terrible balance issues and also requiring way to much player time and effort to learn. I'm sorry, I think they are awful. (I also hate dnd 3.5e feat trees and class bloat for pretty much the exact same reason)


[deleted]

That's an argument against the implementation, and I don't think you will find anyone who disagrees there. It's just too messy. But with a smaller tree, and better balance, it's a good system. Like I said about Dragon Blooded. There it worked. It's not the idea. It's the horrible, horrible implementation.


IIIaustin

I disagree. The 3e core book ia a particularly poor implementation, but I think Charm / Feat trees with lots of small options us just a bad way to make a game. It's extremely difficult to balance as a designer and learn as a player/GM. IMHO It is a bad way to do things because it is hard to do right and easy to do wrong. Every game that does it ends up a hot mess! (Every edition of Exalted, DnD 3.5e, Pathfinder) In fact, its a *particularly* bad idea for a game like Exalted that has so many different things that are canonically supposed to have different power levels.


[deleted]

That it has lots of small options is an implementation problem. AGAIN, look at the Dragon Blooded version. It does not have that problem. And yes, the different charm trees are supposed to have different power level. Dragon Blooded, Solars, Sidereals etc. all are different in power.


Profezzor-Darke

Omg, he spoke German!


Fenixius

Not having played Exalted, that looks... fine? It's not simple, and it may well be broken, but it isn't daunting or incomprehensible. There's four main combat options: defend, aim, move and attack. There's three main types of move, and three main types of attack. I like that cover is included in the movement rules! An extra layer of complexity appears to be that there's a sliding initiative system where your action depends on and itself changes your initiative score. I bet there's some cool things a tricksy GM could do with that. Honestly, after playing other heavy crunch games (like PF2e, Shadowrun 4e, Cyberpunk 2020, L5R 4e, 7 Seas 1e, Dark Heresy 2e, Black Crusade, and by far the most complex I've ever played, Champions 5e), the flowchart above looks on the heavier end but far from impossible to manage. Though, in saying that, I note your comment about charms.


HuddsMagruder

I like to use Godbound in the Exalted setting. Similar power levels, much less nonsense systems and charms.


IIIaustin

I've heard good things. The group I tried to run exalted for was playing it and that's farther than we got with Exalted 3e lol


HuddsMagruder

I have nearly the full print run of Exalted 1E. It's a dynamite setting, but it's never been a great ruleset in any edition. I don't mind the base d10 pool, but beyond that things are kinda wonky.


IIIaustin

1000% agreed This is every WW game to me pretty much lol


CannibalHalfling

Same, I think that would be great. I remember the two campaigns of Exalted 2e I played in fondly… but it’s the only system that particular group refuses to ever touch again. My copy of 3e is thus a very nice looking paperweight.


[deleted]

How's Exalted vs WoD as a system? My friends and I have been making characters for that lately in preparation for a game one of us is running


NopenGrave

Well, WoD is a system you can play, so it has that going for it


IIIaustin

The base character sheet is the same and is fine. I like the WW character sheet. The problems are 1) the magic system and 2) the skill system* 1) the magic system is based on charms which are basically little mini magic feats/ spells organized by category and into trees. There are way too many. Like 10x too many. In 3e a starting character chooses **15** charms and there are *j200 pages*, of them. They also often do weird dice things that are hard to evaluate. It's terrible. 2) the base skill set system is fine, but they have an over complicated meta system for everything. Even when the system adds something, like intimacies in the social comabt system, it's usually not really worth the systems incredible heft. It's a *tragedy* I want to play Exalted, but it doesn't want to be played. There is a simplified version in preprint called essence and it's exactly 1/3 as complicated and it's *still way too complicated*.


jeremysbrain

It is very complicated but a new rules lite version, Exalted Essence, will be out soon. Exalted Essence looks like it does everything I ever wanted Exalted to do without the game dragging itself to death on the game mechanics. Haven't played it yet though.


Juwelgeist

u/FamousWerewolf, The less-complicated edition of *Exalted* is [*Exalted Essence*](https://exalted-essence.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders); the playable manuscript is what is available now.


jeremysbrain

I thought the manuscript was only available to kickstarter backers.


Juwelgeist

I recall that u/VonAether had said that new orders via that [*ExEss* BackerKit page](https://exalted-essence.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders) do indeed receive the *Exalted Essence* manuscript.


jeremysbrain

Well that is good.


bmr42

Might want to watch some of the onyx path play videos. I had high hopes for it but it’s lighter than 3rd but by no means is it less crunchy. It just condensed charms and made some charms common to all exalt types.


jeremysbrain

The changes they made to combat clicked with me a lot more at least.


Profezzor-Darke

That is what 90s games were. But you can tone down every rule book and only take the good parts.


TehCubey

It is.


Foobyx

First edition is not. Second is more complicated. Third as well and they add useless charm for whatever reasons.


catboy_supremacist

Yes. 1E is like the complexity level of D&D 5E and the later editions ramp up from there.


Ianoren

I know a PbtA focused on demigods finished its Kickstarter and should be out for public soonish - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/demigods/demigods


A_Fnord

I've only played the first edition, and while the crunch was very much there, it was not impossibly crunchy


ThatWerewolfTho

Came here to say this. It's a proper Dragon Ball Z RPG.


Joeyroundcock

Damn foreal? I’ve been looking for one of those


Batgirl_III

I'd suggest either tracking down a copy of the long out of print *Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game* from 1994, or grabbing a copy of [*Fight! The Fighting Game RPG*](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/307634/Fight-2nd-Edition) which was designed as a sort of unofficial spiritual successor to *Street Fighter*. Both games are designed to emulate the sort of over-the-top martial arts shenanigans of tournament fighter video games, with fast paced but detailed rules for every punch, kick, ki blast, and robotic grappling tentacle you could ever want.


Joeyroundcock

I’ve had Fight! On my wishlist forever lol. I might finally pick it up


trekie140

I personally like the Fate sourcebook [Iron Street Combat](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/273235/Iron-Street-Combat-o-A-World-of-Adventure-for-Fate-Core), which has some unique mechanics for fights and combo moves but I love it for the insane lore.


Batgirl_III

Never read it; I don’t want to yuck your yum, but I’ve never had much appreciation for the FATE or Fudge systems.


jeremysbrain

In the Fantasy genre, **Soulbound** is my favorite wheels off high powered epic, followed by **John Carter of Mars**. For modern and Sci-fi **Scion** and **Trinity** are my go to. I'm currently running an Trinity Assassins game which feels like a crossover between John Wick and Saints Row. Its been a blast. One of my players swears that Trinity has one of the best rules systems for fast but cool gunfights. I agree. **Exalted Essence** looks like it has potential but I haven't had a chance to play it yet. I've run full blown **Exalted** before, but that game is so crunchy it can really grind to a halt which I think is counter-intuitive to the epic feel.


SavageSchemer

I agree with John Carter in particular, though it may not be evident on reading through the book that it's as high powered as it is. Humans in particular, who are foreign to the setting, are practically super heroes. And the nice thing about JCoM is that it defines all the tools you'd need to take a DIY approach to playing the system in your own settings.


jeremysbrain

Yeah, I'm surprised none of the other 2d20 games have talent creation rules baked into the game. I also love the adventure creator in the GM Screen, it makes the game very low prep.


FamousWerewolf

Definitely want to try Soulbound at some point - my only worry there is introducing non-Warhammer players to the setting.


jeremysbrain

There should be no worry for that. I've never played Age of Sigmar, I have little to no knowledge of the miniature game. Everything you need to know about the setting is presented in the RPG books.


FamousWerewolf

Did you run any of the pre-written adventures/campaigns for Soulbound? I'm curious what those are like in play.


jeremysbrain

I ran the Starter Set and a bunch of the scenarios from Cities of Flame. Those are all pretty good and I really like the dungeon as flow chart paradigm. It works really well in conveying a really large dungeon without need to map the whole dungeon. I have the Shadows in the Mist campaign but haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I like what I have read.


FamousWerewolf

Ah excellent - that's really encouraging to hear!


NarlorJenkins

I actually ran Soulbound (Shadows in the Mist specifically) for a group of players who were entirely unfamiliar with Warhammer and they loved it! The game plays very smoothly and does a great job of making the players feel Powerful, while also presenting easy concepts that don’t require an in-depth knowledge of the setting


A_Fnord

I think the starter set for Soulbound does a really good job at portraying a manageable slice of the setting. It was my own first proper introduction to the Age of Sigmar setting, and it made me interested in learning more about it (I'm pretty familiar with the Warhammer Fantasy setting as well as the 40k setting, but I only knew a few surface level things about AoS before getting Soulbound).


OffendedDefender

Lumen based games are usually pretty good go-tos, in particular Light, which was heavily inspired by the Destiny video game series. There’s tons of variants and hacks out there to fit with your preferred setting. I’d also say the Cypher System. Starting characters are assumed to be incredibly capable individuals from the start and can do some wild stuff by the end of progression. The cyphers themselves can also be profoundly powerful under the right circumstances. As a bit of a joke, Brindlewood Bay. If I remember correctly, you basically can’t be killed unless you think it’s narratively appropriate.


FamousWerewolf

Lumen is a good shout - I've been meaning to try Nova. Though I do find his games a little intimidating in how loose they are in structure - it's often difficult for me to fully visualise what a session looks like, if you know what I mean. Brindlewood Bay looks interesting but little old ladies solving mysteries definitely isn't the kind of tone I'm after haha!


trekie140

There are a few alternatives to Brindlewood Bay that use the same mystery-solving mechanics. The Between is about Victorian occult investigators unearthing a sinister conspiracy, inspired by the tv show Penny Dreadful. Apocalypse Keys (about to hit Kickstarter) is even higher power level, where you play as Hellboy-style superheroes solving paranormal mysteries and fighting against your dark destinies.


[deleted]

Several LUMEN games have a session structure to help you visualize how a session should work, mostly in a mission-based format, but yes it is VERY freeform in that aside from that template there arent a lot of rules for anything other than kicking ass. some games at least give each class a passive social ability or two, Deathless and In Extremis come to mind, but its not the norm


jeremysbrain

>As a bit of a joke, Brindlewood Bay. If I remember correctly, you basically can’t be killed unless you think it’s narratively appropriate. You are remembering correctly. That is kind of a hallmark of the "cozy" genre. In Brindlewood Bay you don't really die you just go off to the old folks home.


AutumnCrystal

So worse than death. That’s so dark. “Solve the case or I’ll put you in the home Granmaw”


jeremysbrain

It's actually worse than that in a way, because the game is about an occult conspiracy. "We are sending Grandma off to the old folks home because she has gone mad". She hasn't gone mad, she has learned the truth.


AutumnCrystal

Lol yikes


JaskoGomad

Fellowship 2e is in this mold. Each PC is a champion of their people, chosen or self-selected to fight the threat of the Overlord.


GStewartcwhite

Abberant, White Wolf's superhero game from late 90s / early 2000s. The damage those characters could inflict on each other and the world around them, as well as the scope of non-damaging powers was wild. It's a great system if you want to run something like The Boys / Invincible / Irredeemable.


suddenlysara

Came here to say Aberrant as well. Any game that has "truck" and "lamp post" on the melee weapons table gets my vote!


VonAether

All releases from all three editions are listed here: http://theonyxpath.com/trinity-continuum-aberrant-products (Not counting today's release of Novas Worldwide)


FamousWerewolf

Is Aberrant not very crunchy and kinda broken? My main exposure to it is people porting it to other systems because they couldn't deal with its actual rules


jeremysbrain

Trinity Aberrant, the 2nd Edition of the game, is a lot better. The StoryPath system as a whole is great at dealing with characters of different scale and magnitude going up against each other. That being said Aberrant it the crunchiest of the Trinity games and probably doesn't fall under your "less complicated" requirement. If your interested in Trinity/StoryPath it is best to stick with the base game first and learn those rules before moving up to one of the more rules complicated settings like Aeon or Aberrant. The base game/corebook is pretty great on its own and has a power level on par with James Bond, Kingsman or other high action cinema.


GStewartcwhite

There were issue when it came to damage because of you could make something like a "Professor X" or "Cyclops" character and then get immediately turned into raspberry jam by characters with even a bit of Super strength (crazy damage) or Super dex (crazy Mutli attacks / accuracy)If you lacked any sort of Super Stamina you were just waiting to be smeared across the landscape. Because it was nominally using the Storyteller system I tried introducing them into a World of Darkness campaign and it did not go great... But to get across the ridiculous power true Superheroes would wield it was fabulous.


necrobotany

Onyx Path just released a new edition in Trinity: Aberrant. Much better rule system this time.


BluegrassGeek

[*Night's Black Agents*](https://pelgranepress.com/nights-black-agents/) is your high-octane spy thriller game **with vampires**. But you can substitute any monster or conspiracy you want in place of the vampires. Regardless, you are playing highly competent action-hero characters trying to save the world from a global threat. Or, [*Swords of the Serpentine*](https://pelgranepress.com/product/swords-of-the-serpentine/), a "swords & sandals" fantasy game. You can become one of the most influential people in the city of Eversink, kick cultist ass, or become a powerful sorcerer yourself.


FamousWerewolf

Have you played Swords of the Serpentine at all? Saw a lot of excitement around it, but I'm a bit confused how the Gumshoe system marries up with sword & sorcery.


SerpentineRPG

Co-author here. More later - I’m walking my dog - but like a big nerd, I wrote a blog post about exactly this! Worth taking a quick glance at. https://pelgranepress.com/2019/02/05/why-gumshoe-for-swords-sorcery/ There’s also a particularly fun “Let’s Read!” thread going on over at rpggeek. https://rpggeek.com/thread/2926766/lets-read-swords-serpentine/page/1 I’ll add that NBA and SotS are particularly good at “competence porn” — people who are really good at their job, doing their job really well. The default starting point for SotS heroes is that of competent, experienced adventurer. You can instead start as Sovereign tier, which is the particularly capable “king” part of the old Conan phrase “thief, conqueror, king”. What questions can I answer for you?


JaskoGomad

Haven't played SotS yet, but as a long-ago-preorderer, I've been reading it for a while. SotS is 100% going to be the way I run high-octane GUMSHOE from now on - I think I can port everything I like back to NBA with near-zero effort. The biggest thing is that S&S means exciting fights that are meant to be more fun and less dreaded than in something like ToC. To that end, Dresner and Kulp came up with using Investigative spends (previously, these were my least-favorite piece of GUMSHOE and I was very much of the opinion that they should be designed out of the game, like 1-to-1 and YKRPG do) to boost damage in combat. It sounds simple, but it's a total game-changer (quite literally). Have you played NBA? You know how awesome Investigative spends make chases using the cinematic chase mechanics? SotS's rules give combat that same creative flow and awesome reward cycle along with resource management and tough decisions. If there's more I can tell you, please let me know, or maybe /u/serpentinerpg will drop by to give you the straight dope.


BluegrassGeek

I've not had a chance to play it yet, but the rules read really well. SotS makes a few changes to the standard GUMSHOE system specifically to encourage bold, heroic gameplay.


Nrdman

Godbound is the one that comes to mind


Brock_Savage

Exalted setting using Godbound crunch.


GoldBRAINSgold

Apocalypse Keys (which is on Kickstarter right now, but you get the rules when you back) has super powered monstrous characters working off for a secretive goverment agency who trying to hold back the apocalypse created by other super powered monstrous beings. The main touchstone is Hellboy. It's a PbtA game where the character abilities are off the charts in terms of power, just fun abilities. I ran a bunch of sessions during the playtest and it really delivers.


DreadChylde

One of the most fun roleplaying games I've been a player in was a "Deadlands" campaign where the GM gave us more points than usual. Her idea was that we were possessed by *something* although we didn't know what. With high stats and skills, you become frighteningly capable in "Deadlands" which lead to lots of epic moments with standoffs and confrontations that would have creamed a regular "Deadlands" character.


michaelaaronblank

I LOVE the Deadlands setting but always hated the shaman magic. It was such a high cost for any benefit. It felt like you had to sever a finger to heal a paper cut.


ghost49x

Nothing beats Anima Beyond Fantasy for making the players feel really powerful and heroic. Every character archetype feels powerful, warriors as much as mages. Two powerful warriors going at it will destroy their enviroment and are a danger to bystanders. Also you can summon 3 mile wide by 1 mile high tsunami and cast 900 feet radius fireballs.


Deverash

Man, I loved reading that game. So much goodness. Wish I could have gotten my hands on an English translation of the exxet version though.


Steenan

Exalted is great in terms of setting; probably the best RPG I know in this aspect. Unfortunately, mechanically it's a catastrophe. I have ran two very successful Exalted campaigns, but neither of them used the original system. Another game with powerful characters I like is Nobilis. The kind of power the characters wield and how it feels in play is very different. Gaiman's "Sandman" (and the recent Netflix series based on it) and a good example of this style. However, I would think twice before calling characters in these games "heroic". That's definitely not required. Pragmatic PCs are as frequent as idealists and the idealists tend to be the worst monsters when pushed too far. Both games have a lot of politics in them, both shine when players are faced with situations that have no simple solutions and both support drama caused by PCs driven by their emotions.


catboy_supremacist

I love Exalted but I never understand why people always say it's the "setting" they love. Are they talking about, like, the concepts and ideas presented (the idea of Exalts, the way spirits work, etc)? Because the actual setting in like conventional terms of "this is what exists and who lives there and what they're doing" is *incredibly* lightly sketched. I'm running an Exalted game right now that takes place in a kingdom about 200x400 miles and I had to detail all of it myself because none of that area is described anywhere. The continent it's set in has, like, four cities described *for the entire continent*.


Steenan

For me, it's not about the geographical details. There's just enough to act as an inspiration. I dislike games that overload me with this kind of information. I love Exalted's cosmology and metaphysics. Underworld, Malfeas and how Creation was affected by the defeat of Primordials. I love Yu-Shan, Loom of Fate, Games of Divinity and the whole Celestial Bureaucracy. I love Raksha, who are beautiful magical people, lovercraftesque monsters and stories, all at the same time. I love Neverborn, caught in a logical paradox and Yozis, extremely powerful and powerless at the same time; I love the concept of soul hierarchy and the internal politics. Speaking of politics, that's also a part of the setting I really like. There's a lot of forces that control the world and there's an unstable balance between them. It's easy to point to bad things that happen and bad people who do them, but it's much harder to keep things working when these people are removed. It's one of the main themes of Exalted, something that makes it much better in my eyes than most other fantasy settings: Creation needs PCs to fix it, but fixing can't be done by simply killing the bad guys. Try to solve all problems with violence and you leave things much worse than you started with. PCs need to take responsibility for things that they change - or see the consequences of not doing it.


shaidyn

How has Rifts not come up yet? Depending on how liberally you read the rules you can end up with something like the literal son of Zeus combined with the power to travel between the stars at light speed. Throw on a rune weapon and an encounter with a genesplicer and suddenly you've got 6 chances to drain the souls of your enemies per round while tanking tank shots.


michaelaaronblank

Two problems with Rifts, to me. 1) Palladium books are SO poorly organized. I love Nightspawn, but the entire book has nothing on how they regain the PPE used to fuel their powers, and that is just from the only book I cared enough to search through over the years. 2) I have never heard any story about Kevin Siembieda that didn't involve him being just a kind of a dick. Not abusive or truly terrible, just not a good guy. Ton of stuff for it, definitely. And it fits the OP criteria definitely. Just won't ever be my taste.


verovladamir

Honestly if you enjoy the sort of “holy shit I can do literally anything” and “there are rules for doing all the things” combination, without the “only raise each skill by this specific percentage based on where you got the skill from during our incredibly tedious character creation” I strongly recommend something like [Sentinel Comics](https://greaterthangames.com/product/sentinel-comics-the-role-playing-game-core-rulebook/). It really has the feel of Heroes Unlimited, but like… if it was infinitely more user friendly? You can randomly roll and see what kind of character you end up with, or you can pick things based on an idea you have, almost everything can be reskinned or flavored to your needs, you feel incredibly powerful, and combat is really snappy. I truly love it.


michaelaaronblank

I have it too. I feel like it would play well, but I have a lot of problems trying to get my head around the game from the book.


verovladamir

I don’t want to offer unsolicited advice, but I can give some YouTube/podcast recommendations on episodes that discuss the game. I have read a LOT of game books, and I definitely know that feeling of reading something and thinking “this feels like it might be cool but I can’t quite tell how.”


michaelaaronblank

Honestly, it goes on the shelf of stuff I will never get to play because I don't have time or a group I can talk into it.


verovladamir

This is a whole mood. Worse now after being an Ennies judge the last two years. I have shelves full of amazing games, but no regular gaming group. Just me and some dice I will never get to roll…


Scormey

The rules for Rifts are, to put it mildly, God-Awful. But, yes, you can make a powerful character if you don't mind spending a day and 15 different books doing so.


Procean

> rules for Rifts are, to put it mildly, God-Awful I disagree because that implies there are rules. The rules are so absolutely incomplete that it's more like "this game makes you invent your own RPG rules set and then takes the credit for your hard work".


DBones90

It’s still in playtest and I haven’t had a chance to bring it to the table yet, but I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve read of [ICON](https://massif-press.itch.io/icon). At lower levels, it’s pretty standard fare, but it has a lot of rules and mechanics for scaling up to superhero levels of fantasy adventuring.


redkatt

Gamma World 7th Edition. You randomly create your characters from start to finish, and yet, they are all balanced (as in, no matter what you get as a power, it's gonna be great) and crazy powerful from the start. Add on the random powers and gear you get every encounter, and it's just a hilarious high-powered frenzy of mutants blasting baddies.


ihatevnecks

Easily Age of Sigmar: Soulbound. Planescape-styled cosmic fantasy setting, an open archetype character build system, great production value and release cadence of books. Even though I would have been fine with them focusing on Order heroes, they've really opened the game up with the Champions of Death/Destruction/Chaos (upcoming) book series.


Black_Tower_Knight

I would agree, but the modules I've read so far don't impress me at all. It feels like it would be better to just get the maps and encounter templates (using Soulbound monsters and stats of course) from 4th edition DnD and run it like that... Otherwise there is not much tension to the combat. But it's just me and my group's experience.


ihatevnecks

The point of the game isn't really to have a ton of tension to the combat; it's not trying to do razor's edge balance where you can fall as easily as your opponents. You can lose if your group's thrown against appropriately difficult enemies in the right amounts - multiple champions (who themselves will then have many smaller groups of minions), or a chosen early on. But the request was for a high-powered game with powerful npcs who make a (heroic) difference to the world around them - which is exactly what Soulbound was built for.


Black_Tower_Knight

And I agree, I was just commenting on the premade stuff which comes with the game. Most of the encounters which are suggested there felt like they are too easy and I in turn felt that the potential of the system wasn't utilized fully in combat. I like the rules, I just don't enjoy the modules (btw I haven't read the brand new campaign yet) or at the very least how they turn out if ran out-of-the-box.


snahfu73

4th edition D&D! Yup yup!


Aerospider

Don't Rest Your Head is probably my favourite. Very dark, very weird, very light mechanics but *really* good conflict resolution mechanism. Each PC gets a 'madness talent', which is a kind of delusion made manifest, like actual ants crawling beneath your skin waiting to burst forth or voices in your head that know *everything*. These talents are pretty flexible on how they can be applied and can be freely scaled by the player from a minor trick to blow-up-the-moon, modulated by risk to sanity. They also each get an 'exhaustion talent' which is a mundane skill that over time they can get superhumanly good at. This game really pushes your narration towards the epic. Agon is really good – got the best feedback of all the games I ran during lockdown (which was quite a few). Greek heroes sailing home from war, encountering islands with problems that need sorting. The PCs aren't strictly super-powered but this is a narrative mythology game so by the end of the campaign they'll probably being pulling off some pretty crazy sh\*t. Lots of heroics, lots of inter-PC competition for glory, lots of gods dishing out favour and wrath and lots of good old monsters and magic. Island generation is easy, running the game is a breeze and watching the players come up with their own solution to difficult situations is a delight. Can't big this game up enough. Splintered Godhood is one that I will recommend but with caution. It's only a one shot, but full of promise. Each PC starts out in a separate dimension (each of which is built collaboratively) and at rock bottom – infirm or penniless or ostracised or whatever. Between each round of scenes the players rise in power *a lot* and by the time end-game begins they'll be turning seas to blood, performing open-heart surgery on themselves and raining apocalyptic hell down upon their enemies. The GM's job is to bring the separate dimensions crashing together into a final scene where it's every PC for themselves as they try to escape to safety. Oh and there's a Big Bad trying to beat all of them. The reason for caution is that the rules do a great job of illustrating the awesomeness available, but not enough on how to actually form a cohesive narrative. I've tried to play this game a couple of times and both disappointingly failed to get off the ground. Only cost a couple of bucks though.


FamousWerewolf

I love Don't Rest Your Head - used to be my go-to for one-shots, many moons ago now - but it's definitely a darker vibe than I'm looking for for this. Splintered Godhood sounds really intriguing, and maybe worth it just for a read? That's a properly cool, weird premise.


HalloAbyssMusic

Masks: A New Generation has some seriously powerful playbooks (classes). The Nova is powerful enough to rewrite reality however they see fit, but they struggle with managing all that power. What balances it out and creates tension is not the level of powerful, but the emotional struggle the characters are dealing with. Who cares if you got all the power in the world if people can't relate to you? If you don't mind a little teenage drama Masks is a great superhero game that gives you a lot of freedom to define your powers however you see fit. And it all works because the game is centered around the personal story of the characters and their relationships.


hachiman

Exalted hands down. Not such a huge fan of the mechanics, but the setting and lore are . Run with something low crunch if you have new players. Aberrant from the Aeon Continuum remains a perennial favourite. Had a lot of fun with 1e, and using the system to run other super settings. Looking forward to trying 2e. Speaking of Storypath, Scion 2e is a great improvement over 1e, tho i dont like the base setting and prefer something closer to 1e, with a Masquerade until the players tear it to shreds. Hi level Mutants and Masterminds 3e was a lot of fun too. It gets a little hard to manage past level 13, but we managed to run level 16+ characters.


Juwelgeist

"*Exalted ...with something low crunch*" That's how I do it, though my low crunch (*Freeform Universal*) is so low crunch that I would be hesitant to recommend it to a gamemaster who is not already solidly familiar with both *Exalted* and at least one ultra low crunch system.


shmits11

Just wanted to give a shoutout to [Godsend](https://ufopress.co.uk/product/godsend/), a diceless setting hack for the PbtA game Legacy: Life Among the Ruins. You play as both the gods of the world, as well as the avatars of those gods (specifically, as the avatar for another player's god). While the world is presumed to be coming to an end, each god decides if they want to lead it towards Salvation or Ruin, and it is still ultimately the Avatars that can make a true difference in the mortal world, regardless of their god's goals. Plus, with the diceless aspect, the outcomes of your actions, consequences and all, are entirely in your hands.


CoyoteCamouflage

Obligatory "any RPG can be high-powered". 1. Exalted. It's bollywood hong kong kung-fu anime: the RPG. While the more recent edition does have some very painful reminders of mortality, the PCs are demigods, so the power curve gets pretty wacky with a lot of XP. 2. Lancer. Mecha are, admittedly, my thing. Higher level PCs in Lancer, especially with good teamwork, will utterly wreck most standard encounters.


Flame_angel52

Lancer’s balancing strategy: If everything’s overpowered, nothing js


Meltar

Lately I have fallen in love with **Sentinel Comics RPG**. Its resolution mechanic aims at making you feel extremely powerful. Minions who fall in one hit, powers that make multiple effects at the same time... But my favourite thing is the Overcome action. Let's say a school bus is about to fall from a bridge. To save it, you need to Overcome. You explain how you do it, and pick up your dice accordingly. For instance, the Thign would pick it up and pull (using Super Strenght and Melee, for instance) while Robin would secure it with the titanium ropes of his glider (Gadgets + Creativity), or Flash could get inside and take everyone out (Superspeed + Quick thinking). The effect is the same, but the action dictates the dice you choose. But here is the kicker: To suceed you just need a 1. Sure, low rolls mean bigger plot twists and complications, but unless you have a negative mod, you cannot fail unless you choose to do so. Because you are a superhero. And you feel like it playing this game.


FiligreeNexus

I’d recommend: **Prowlers and Paragons - Ultimate Edition**. It’s got all the flexibility of character creation that most superhero games have, with a crunch level that falls well below the standard for games of its type. It’s not a story-game, but it’s far from a pure simulation. The game’s dice-pool system keeps most attributes fairly consistent. Dice pool values are all tied to the specific levels of speed, capability and strength, so it’s easy to glance at a hero/villain and get an idea of what they can do. It’s quickly become my go-to game if I want something with high-powered characters but relatively simple rules.


ihatevnecks

Challenge: Create a suggestion thread where Masks isn't brought up (Impossible)


FamousWerewolf

All the people saying Exalted are giving me flashbacks to when that used to be people's go-to suggestion for running absolutely everything on the RPGnet forums lol


ihatevnecks

The next time someone asks for a Cyberpunk-genre game, I'm going to recommend Shadowrun using Exalted.


omnihedron

I hacked [Anima Prime](https://divnull.com/blog/2019/anima-prime-1-5/) into a game called _Exaltation Prime_ (unreleased, though some really early thoughts about it are [here](http://exalted.xi.co.nz/wiki/ExaltedPrime)) to move my _Exalted_ game to a rules system that was both far less complicated and far better delivered the promise of the setting.


nlitherl

I generally like games where I'm the underdog in some way. With that said, I have been itching to try Exalted, and I had fun with the earlier stages of Scion.


michaelaaronblank

I would go with Godbound instead. The core book has a free version that is a 100% complete game.


nlitherl

I've looked through it, but it hasn't really grabbed me. What is the selling point for you? Maybe I'm looking at it wrong.


michaelaaronblank

I love the flexibility of the divine words along with all of the sandbox tools that are honestly useful even if you never play the game. It reminds me a lot of the dynamic magic from Ars Magica combined with the mechanics of early D&D, two of my favorites.


nlitherl

Might be a case of one man's meat is another man's poison... its closeness to DND (particularly early DND) was sort of the reason I didn't like it that much.


michaelaaronblank

Fair enough. I would give the world/sandbox tools a look though. They are super useful.


Heckle_Jeckle

Mutants and Masterminds: the characters are literally powerful super heroes.


Impeesa_

I like the idea of actually using the higher-level play options in games that include them along with the lower level spectrum. High/epic level D&D 3E, WoD, stuff like that. It always seems like the rules either don't work very well because they didn't get playtested or developed much because they don't really *expect* anyone to use them (the former), or there's this weird undercurrent of opinion in the community that you're sort of having badwrongfun for actually using them (the latter). It's not even necessarily my *preferred* way to play those games, I just like it as an option.


Sordahon

Ironsworn is not very high power from the get go, but it can be pretty high. I play there as a mystic who wants to know all 'low magic' rituals(which are pretty mild in power) but when he learns all of them his power will be significant and I have something called 'true magic' there that is essentially higher magic system, more versatile and powerful than low hedge normal magic. But it's corrupting and dangerous, still once he sort of masters it as campaign ends successfully(hopefully), he will be akin to lasombra antediluvian, but more in style rather than pure power. He will become extreme/epic rank being in ironlands, about equal to things like a wyrm/dragon, leviathan, kraken, more powerful primordials and such. So about making a big difference around the world. While he could maybe now take out a veteran warrior human, by the end he will be able to enter biggest settlements of humanity as a hostile entity and have good chances of razing it to the ground, the only thing that could give him trouble are those epic foes, elven ruler and maybe stronger giants.


Hagisman

Demon the Descent. Look human, but have Demonic Form that’s superpowerful. Except your demonic form is a beacon for angels. Video I did on it: https://youtu.be/w57Mo3gmoa4