Heroic Narratives

Heroic Narratives is the name for the system I am designing for superhero roleplaying to emulate comic book and comic book movie action. Generally, rules light is not my preference, but given some specific needs of this system, it may be the best route.

The Premise

What are we attempting to do in a superhero game? All roleplaying games are simulationist at some level, but the superhero genre suffers because the simulation is not recognized at the correct level. As a genre, superheroes are more closely tied to literature than any other. In a world where the impossible is often routine, the whim of the author is often expressed in broad strokes. To achieve this, storytelling currency and flexibility is vital to making the story work.

In general, simulationist games attempt to drill down to the low level of 'realism'. The mechanics of how things seem to work to us as people are simulated with crunchy mechanics to achieve gamist realism. What they ignore is what I have recently come to believe is the key to making superhero action work: the source material.

In a comic book, the author is able to use the characters as tools to achieve storytelling goals in often heavy-handed ways. Readers enjoy the humanity of the clearly non-human characters, as well as the intricate plots and over the top action. Games can rarely accomplish this. Much of this is because the players are in control of what their characters do, and the GM has only limited ability to utilize artistic license.

The solution to this problem is shifting the burden of artistic license from the GM to the players. That is the purpose of this rules system.