Many roleplaying games over the years have been played with my group of friends. Some of us have been gaming together for close to thirty years! We’ve been dungeon crawlers, dragon slayers, superheroes, vampires, werewolves, mages, faeries, and yes believe it or not even toon characters! Yes, our group has fought many glorious battles, gotten plenty of booty (yeah, you know what I mean), and bonked (think Looney Tunes, where’s your mind at?) many enemies and friends. We’ve even staved off the evil powers of fatigue for many all-nighters through the power of Mountain Dew!
In the height of our youth, dark games such as World of Darkness became a group favorite. Dark supernatural mystery games are always fun. Especially with the clever (or should I say twisted) minds in my group! But no genre has stood the test of time in our group more than the superhero genre.
Between the two main GMs in the group, Alex and myself, we must own close to forty superhero roleplaying games. Superhero games are great for on-the-fly gaming! Literally any type of story can be told with a superhero game. Be it one with space exploration, dragon slaying, or a simple conversation with someone’s aunt (or better yet God) while drinking tea from an indirect-democratic China. Yes! All things are possible!
Lately my group has been trying to squeeze in as many games as possible—sometimes gaming twice a week. Our main GM, Alex, is moving states away. Many of us have left over the years, be it through adult-life responsibilities or just moving out of the area. It’s a hard transition for any group. And even harder when such an good-old friend is moving so far…
So I’ve been thinking about this heroes’ journey we’ve had together for many years and how we should part ways (hopefully for only a short time):
I’ve been told from on high that if we finish the current chronicle that we’re playing in time, we may get a chance to play a little old RPG called DC Heroes! I’m holding out hope for this! It’s the one game that we all tend to love to go back to. And also one of the first we played as a group.
I remember getting my beautiful box set back in 1989 or so. It was an amazing world and game system. And it still is! Especially with the fantastic characters we as a group have added to the universe. It’s true many characters may be clones or amalgamations of other famous superheroes (ever met the local kingpin, who ends up being a teenage mutant ninja bunny with unbreakable metal claws?), but they are our characters. Thus, that makes them cooler than Batman or Superman.
DC Heroes has a fondness in my heart because of how it bound my band of brothers and sometimes sisters into a group of enduring friendship. I remember walking into my high school library watching some of these guys and gals playing. They truly knew how to have fun! Back then, I avoided the games at lunch. I was usually too busy trying to be cool. Little did I know that all growing kids are uncool to some extent. Nevertheless, I did game. Just about every day after school (screw homework!). And DC Heroes was one of the most played games.
Back when I GMed DC Heroes, the main superhero group was called Young Justice. Yeah way way back before the cartoon! But eventually I GMed less and less, while my friend Alex became the main DC Heroes’ GM. The man has done an amazing job! He took a whole new approach to Young Justice (that’s what we end up calling our make believe comic). The games were filled with intense drama, stomach-hurting humor, and pretty cool illustrations for people’s characters. Alex has been always happy to draw player characters. Wish I could draw…
Nevertheless!
Lately there are a few cool rumors floating around the game table. One being we may play DC Heroes! There are other rumors that old friends that haven’t played with the group in a long while may come back to game with the group for a game or two. I hope these rumors come true. I wonder if we will play some of our characters that are over twenty years old? How old will those characters be? You never know with superheroes!
A good-old friend and super game master may be moving away. This is sad…
But wouldn’t it be great to come full circle with old friends for one more game of DC Heroes?
Here’s to one last hurrah! UP, UP, AND AWAY!!!
Adam Lee
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