Why Aren't Superhero ttRPGS More Popular? (Patreon)

A fellow ttRPG creator opined in a public thread that he did not understand why Supers rpgs aren't more popular. They thought that given the rise of Supers films, more players and GMs would want to run Supers campaigns. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

I continue to believe Superhero ttRPG campaigns are less popular than other genres (especially Fantasy) because with Supers it's harder to bring together different thoughts on 'fun' and 'appropriate' PCs into a single group harmoniously.

If everyone wants to play the X-Men, or the Justice League, it's fine. But if one player wants to be the Hulk with major anger issues and berserker rages, and one wants to be Superman as the Big Boy Scout, and one wants to be the Punisher and assassinate people as SOP, and one wants to be Legion as a powerful reality-warping psychic with multiple personalities (some villainous) and one wants to be Marshal Law who actively hunts dangerous heroes...

It's less likely to go well.

Now a LOT of this can be fixed by friendly players who all want to help everyone have fun, and a good Session 0. But that is, sadly, not the most common group in the ttRPG world. Plus, that session 0 only fixes that if what the players want is 'any supers game,' and they can shift concepts and expectations and still be happy. If, in fact, the players who want to play the Hulk and Marshal Law are basically ONLY interested in those concepts, it's much harder to find a framework that works for both of them AND everyone else.

Also, and separately, the MAJORITY of games that get extensive adventure support are fantasy games. Even if such adventures aren't for the game system you are playing or the style of game you want to be in, the vast abundance of Fantasy adventures can make it easier to run your own fantasy adventures. Conceptually it's easy to buy Sky King's Tomb and use it for the plot, concepts, and descriptions of your home Fantasy AGE game. It's harder (though absolutely not impossible) to use it as inspirations and ideas in a supers Icons or Mutants & Masterminds game.

I think that much reduced volume of adventures is the OTHER reason Superhero games are not rising in popularity even as Superhero movies remain a huge chunk of the box office, and television, and have TONS of support in comics. In fact, I suspect among ttRPG players, having more movies doesn't actually give a lot of source material to draw from. I suspect ttRPG players with an interest in Superheroes have always known where to get the comic source material, so more in the form of movies doesn't really move the needle on the level of interest among tabletop players.

Now if you find you DO want to play more Superhero games, I STRONGLY recommend you check out the current Mutants & Masterminds 4th Edition Kickstarter, running for 16 more days at time of writing. I had nothing at all to do with it, but I know the creators (they're amazing), and I got to play a session of the 4e playtest under Alexander Thomas, so I know this is going to be good.

(Mutants & Masterminds and its associated logos, art, and characters are trademark Green Ronin Publishing. Image used for editorial purposes.)

(This editorial is not covered by the OGL)