CoH Table top RPG.

[PunkusJR]

So a close friend of mine noticed what time of year it was . . . he wants to design a Table top RPG system that will somewhat simulate CoH for me. I figure I'll ask here if anyone knows anything that would be a good start for him. Like any system that would be easy to change into CoH or anything already done towards it.

Btw, didn't know where to throw this topic. Sorry if this is the wrong place, move it if need be.

[Triplash]

I picked up a set of Mutants and Masterminds books a few months ago, that seems like a great superhero RPG. I haven't had a chance to play it yet (I live in the boonies where it's tough getting a group together) but it's pretty easy to understand and operate, and I think it really nails the idea of making your character, your way. It's got a very comic-hero feel to the action too. I'd definitely look closely at that one.

[Phaetan]

There are several options, depending on what part of the game you are considering the most important.
Varied powers and plpenty of bad guys to beat up?  Explorations of destiny, duty, and morality?  Being very strong and going into climactic battles with demigods?  Exploration and discovery of lost histories?  Doomed struggle to get a corrupt empire to protect its people against a relentless enemy force? (Goldside specialty!)

I can easily name a system or two for whatever of the above is the vital part of the game to you.

The really quick answer would be Champions, since that is the system that Positron and some of the other dev characters were first created in.

[The Fifth Horseman]

There's that defunct CoH RPG. The quickplay pack is still available: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/2979/City-of-Heroes-RPG-Quickplay-Pack?it=1&filters=0_0_10097_0_0

Also the one by Great Forge: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php?topic=5103.0

[Minotaur]

We played it quite successfully using 4th ed D&D and the psionics rules to simulate endurance.

[MWRuger]

I'm working on a home brew using Prima Power guides as a base.

I'm thinking of using some of the cards from the CCG that came out to speed up combat (Superheros RPGs, Champions in particular, really bog down in combat) and a dice counter to simulate endurance.

Not yet ready for playtesting but hopefully Coming Soon(TM)

[Harlequin565]

There was some discussion in this thread regarding the various Superhero RPGs (although it does talk about other tabletop games too!).

-H

[DJMoose]

We played it quite successfully using 4th ed D&D and the psionics rules to simulate endurance.

Having played 4th ed and used psionics, I could see how that would work with the power points.  Any specifics on how you used that?"

[PunkusJR]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll be sure to relay all this to him. And Phaetan, I think power customization, character customization, and the general feel of fights are what's important.

[Phaetan]

Are you wanting something mechanics-light or -heavy? (IE- simplified rules, or detailed ones you can really dig into and get very precise with...)

[Minotaur]

Having played 4th ed and used psionics, I could see how that would work with the power points.  Any specifics on you used that?"

Rarely for me, in that campaign I was not the guy that knew the rules, that was my first 4th ed game, I play the older versions, so I don't know exactly how it was done. I gave the GM a character (ElM/shield scrapper) and he printed the power cards.

[PunkusJR]

Are you wanting something mechanics-light or -heavy? (IE- simplified rules, or detailed ones you can really dig into and get very precise with...)

I'm thinking light. My friend is a decent GM and can probably handle something heavy, but not all his players can.

[Phaetan]

Perhaps Silver Age Sentinels (TriStat/BESM or D20 versions both available) for a robust character and power customization engine with rather light mechanics, although some crunch during the character creation if you are tweaking powers extensively.

It's out of print, but the books themselves can be found for less than the official PDFs, amusingly.

[The Fifth Horseman]

That reminds me of the skirmish mechanics published by R Talsorian Games at some point in the past. The actual game rules pretty much fit on a single page: http://boardgamegeek.com/images/boardgame/22742/bubblegum-crisis

[Phaetan]

One really rule-light superhero game I like is "Truth and Justice," which is fairly abstract, but has interesting touches, such as no hit points.  Damage results in reductions to relationships, jobs, skills, and powers, with the first one hurt having a lasting impact.  Spiderman always seems to choose to take the blow to either "Photographer for the Daily Bugle" or "Dating Mary Jane Watson..."

[Tacitala]

There's also cranking the rules heaviness all of the way down and breaking out the (now out of print, but still floating around) "Big Eyes, Small Mouth" system.  It's technically aimed at making anime based games, but with a bit of adjusting it could probably work.

I liked Truth or Justice somewhat - mainly for the fact that I kept having my character take damage in combat to her flaw "cheap date".

[PunkusJR]

After talking to him, he's tweeking mutants and masterminds. If he ever gets it done, and he will, I'll have him post a link to the rules or something. This is kinda his thing to do. He also made us //.hack and a few other things as wel.

[navyrayne]

I'd actually like to suggest Heroes Unlimited by Palladium Books, in my opinion it's a far more indepth and far deeper and more free system to Mutants and Masterminds. If you'd like to talk about it, just PM me.

[wyldhunt]

When I first heard about CoH and its mechanics, I knew it had been heavily inspired by the Champions PnP RPG which I knew very well. That said, I second Heroes Unlimited as being a wonderful superhero PnP RPG. Each of these two systems has its weaknesses, which turn out to be the strengths of the other system (e.g., tables vs formulas), however both are great.

[Sugoi]

The trick to simulating CoH as an RPG is to get the combat round done quickly.  My suggestion is the One Roll Engine system, which lets you determine who hits first, and how effectively they hit with just (like it says) one roll. 

I'm going to have to dig into the AT and Powerset data in Mids Character Builder and start designing some progression / conversion data tables for the AT/Powerset mixes.