I had an idea for a solo game or maybe a very small group game. The idea is a superhero origin story. The game would take place in a world where real superheroes are non-existent or at least unheard of in modern America. We would start when the PC gets their first power before they get their costume, too many secondary powers, or allies. You would have to defeat the first villains in a crime ridden town and cosmic threats would be non-existent or extremely hyped up at least at first.

 Along with that your power would have a tendency to malfunction or not work like you might expect when you start out no matter how you tried to control it. If you had superstrength instead of being able to hold a car and prevent it from falling off a bridge you risk your hands going through it and crushing the interior, or if you had superspeed if you went way to fast you would have enough friction to set yourself on fire, if your a fire-starter you can get hurt by your own flames etc...

 You would make up your own hero and a few members of the supporting cast and the GM would guide you through adventures. I'd be fine with doing it freeform or taking a recomendation from the player for a system as long as it was fairly easy to learn and did not require too many dice rolls per move.

 I say small group of 1-3 players cause I may consider adding sidekicks or having others play supporting anti-heroes or scientists or whatever needs doing.

 Anybody have any questions, criticism? Are you interested in playing this solo game based on what I written above?
This message was last edited by the user at 23:49, Wed 23 July 2014.

Sounds interesting. You could use supers! As a rules set or icons with icons random power generator you could get all the stats rolled up then as the adventure progressed the pc could roll for his first power and then have to use it to deal with the situation.

The other advantage is you as Gm could do the roles for how many powers each player gets so you know exactly how many powers each player will need to role from the beginning just keep that hidden from the players.

I think I'm going to let the players pick the first power and then randomly generate it from there. Also are either Supers! or Icons with Icons free? I saw a buy page for them but know PDF file on their website where the company offered to let you download a sample.

this sounds very cool, I'm in if you still have room.

I think we do. I'm still deciding between freeform and system and don't quite know how much I want to decide for the player, (like if I want to name the town or describe it). But I'll definitely keep you both in mind when I'm setting it up.

I'd be interested as well. Being the first supers in a previously mundane world and having to figure things out by your own is my favorite way to play superheroes, but these games seem to be in the minority.

The only caveat I'd probably add to your pitch is that characters shouldn't get directly hurt by their own powers. (Otherwise, the players might be tempted to play overly careful to avoid killing themselves.)

And freeform would work fine with me.

^Thanks for the interest. I'm glad the premise sounds good.

 With regards to your criticism though I understand where your coming from but I cannot agree. I'd want the players, (as well as the character) to learn how to balance the line between careful and reckless to learn how to save people. I wouldn't kill the PCs left and right but I want them to have major repercussions to learning their powers at first. For instance if your character has freezbreath they have to be careful to not freeze up a guy's entire body when they just wanted to pin him to a wall for a minute or so until the police arrive, or maybe if they have Super Speed they would not have fast perception and instead feel like they teleported until they saw a big trail of flames right behind them.

 I also think Freeform would be good but you'd have to be okay with me deciding the consequences of your actions without dice rolls. I would be fair but I understand if people felt uncomfortable with it or felt it was too controlling.

I like the sound of the concept.  Are you thinking about the supers being in the real world or a comic book oriented world?  The reason why I ask is that real world physics makes all sorts of powers have unintended consequences (like the time Superman killed Gwen Stacey).  A speedster could catch someone only to realize that they were moving so fast that the person exploded...

I'd personally only be interested in a system based game, as freeform and I aren't great friends.

ICONS appears to have an open version: http://ogc.rpglibrary.org/index.php?title=Icons

As does M&M3: http://www.d20herosrd.com/

Supers! does not (though it's only $5 for the basic version and RED isn't a whole lot more).

In reply to Wildcard (msg # 7):

I don't have a problem with repercussions to reckless use of powers - they're good and necessary. The part that I was objecting to was characters killing themselves with their powers - I think character death should only happen if there's a really compelling reason for it.

That's personal opinion, though. Either way, I'd happily join in if and when the game happens :)

^I will take a look at those systems.

I intend this to be a more comic book oriented world with some serious power limiters. I wouldn't want all the real physical consequences of the powers because I don't think it would be fun to play, it's more like pick and choose which consequences would be more fun and make the game more enjoyable. For instance I think it would be fun in the game to try to hide a speedster even if the friction leaves trails of flame on the ground, I don't think it would be fun having the perspective constantly be slow nor killing the player by imploding their body with inertia.

@Carpetshark: I don't intent to kill the players with their powers. Just wanted them to have to learn how to not kill or injure other people or show how hard it would be to hide.

FATE Accelerated from Evil Hat Productions is also a good choice and pay what you want. http://www.evilhat.com/home/fae/

http://station53.blogspot.com/ is a blog with a lot of Fate super hero stuff.

That looks good. I think I'll either use the FATE Accelerated system or Freeform. I will decide and put together this game soon.

I'd be interested as well. One issue I've always had with supers games is that they are too often super powers wearing a character's skin. This sounds like it would be more about the characters themselves, who will likely at times use their own skills and abilities to solve their problems, instead of turning to their powers all the time. I'm also a big fan of origin stories and having character become heroes, rather than starting out as heroes.

I've been dealing with college stuff and other things and am not in the mood for gming a solo game right now. Might be ready in one or two weeks.

Just let us know when you are.  A lot of us are probably waiting in the wings for this to happen.