This reminds me: there was a Watchmen tabletop RPG. And it serves as an official prequel to the comics. Even Alan Moore himself actually approved it. I never played it, don't even own a copy, but it still blows my mind that it exists, and that the one and only extension of Watchmen Moore considers canon is an RPG.

Why does it blow your mind?

Well, isn't it obviously weird? The very idea of a Watchmen RPG is already strange, it feels like the last superhero comic you'd expect to work as basis for an RPG. It's sort of like making a To Kill a Mockingbird RPG. And Alan Moore is notorious for hating with a passion the very idea of anyone touching his work, any adaptations or spin-offs, just on principle, and yet the one he approves of is not any of the comics spin-offs from aclaimed writers, or the movie that Dave Gibbons, the artist who illustrated Watchmen, approved of and praised, but an RPG module. It's sort of like if Shakespear hated every movie, book and play based on his plays, and the only adaptation he approved of was the To Be or Not To Be choose your own adventure game.

You make good points. Perhaps Moore is a gamer? Or a wannabe gamer? Or a gamer-who-didn't-know-he-was?



(… Or just a bundle of conflicting hypocritical neuroses? :o)

My dream is Icewind Dale style game with the 80's Xmen.
They dungeon crawl through the Reavers base, Giant Space Whale with the Brood, Mastermold base, Genosha, Savage land, New York sewers etc etc.

Definitely. I love the Grand Theft Auto games but I do think the last great one was San Andreas and I also love Saints Row for laughing at itself at times.

Either way is fine with me. I definitely would appreciate being able to free roam as a superhero Marvel or DC or better yet something original would work perfectly as well.

Creating your own character, I could have really gone either way, for me that was a bonus as usually in games before the Elder Scrolls, I was just always playing a preset character. However, this feature I have realized now, is a staple in RPGs so in that regard it should be added.

On the contrary - it's totally reasonable. If you are a very talented and experienced (comic)book writer you know all ins and outs in the media you work in. So if someone writes a thing, you immediately see all its flaws (or simply traits you consider as such - after all you have your own taste). But in a media that you are not good at (and you don't have much tastes and preferences) it's far more likely that another author while making adaptation of your work will not thread on your pet corn.

Nope

Well, I think you mean it's totally explainable, rather than reasonable. ;)

Most people (narcissists non obstat) are their own worst critics. Other people who take up an idea will naturally (and almost unavoidably) reify the shortcomings that are so obvious to the original author, to the point of irritation.

I think it's a self-evident truism that Oliver Wendell Holmes observed: Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprang up.

The biggest problem for authorial proprietorship is the loss of ownership of an idea, once it is released into the public domain. George Lucas may wish to continually re-edit his work in a process of compulsive kaizen, but the fans might not appreciate four different actors playing one character (Darth Vader), for instance. The Intellectual Property has transcended the personal proprietorship of the auteur and become a public entity, with a virtual life within the shared experience of the community. But that doesn't make it any easier to lose omnipotence.

I think I could like an RPG in the vein of "old" Bioware (like the first Mass Effect, Jade Empire, or even Kotor, depending on the approach developers would like to use), with a better/more fitting combat system and superhero-themed, with choices and consequences (I mean, I think it would be cool to be in a position where we can actually kill a bad guy, or let him live and see it play out as it often does in comics, with someone dying at the hands of said villain). Superhero stories can have a lot of role-playing moments in them, just like "normal" hero stories can. The powers as well, can fit into an RPG structure nicely.

I am not so sure about the open world part, simply because I feel the quality of the content usually takes a hit, and activities tend to be repetitive in those games. Some of it could fit the hero nature of such a title, but I am not sure it would be worth the effort. Also, realistically speaking, that sounds like extremely expensive to make, and RPGs tend to be a bit more niche, with a few exceptions, so I'd really prefer a first title to at least try something smaller, kind of like the Arkham series went first in a more limited area, before expanding to the city.

Thinking of setting up a world using Pathfinder with a few house rules, like being able to spend XP to raise stats/hp closer to maximum values (but doesn't count towards your effective level). Example if you were 3rd level and rolled 2 on your d8's, you'd have 6hp+con. Spending/burning the XP could raise your HP, but no higher than the max you could have rolled to begin with. (so 6hp up to 24hp). You can only do it so much per level as well, so instead of having higher stats you might start with lower more 'average' hardcore dice rolls, like 3d6 with no rerolls.

Hmmm still thinking this all over.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a decent ARPG.

As a d20 fan I'm currently looking into Mutants & Masterminds. Additional bonus is that its still actively supported/in-print and even has a few DC universe rule books.

It's called expired license since The Punisher is a third party license to the devs of the game. They don't own The Punisher and therefor the game cannot be sold again unless the publisher/developer strikes a new deal with Marvel (aka Disney) which is doubtful to happen since The Punisher has already been rebooted in form of the recent TV-series.

Reminds me when DeadPool on Steam was pulled for a few years...

Sounds promising. If i can find a group i'll figure it out from there.