A couple of months back I ran a couple of sessions of a superhero role-playing game that I've had sitting in my head for a while.  Called Superior, the game system combines bits from the Shadow of Yesterday (Keys), Spirit of the Century (Fudge dice, skill ranges), and Ray Winninger's Underground (World creation mechanics, psychological impact of super power use).  Sadly, the system didn't come together as well as I'd have liked, but damn if the game didn't fucking kick multiple different kinds of ass. 

The core of the game conceptually is that it treats super powers as a science fictional concern, not as four-colour superheroics.  The world is political and driven by real-world, human concerns.  Superhumans, or Enhanciles as they're called in the game, are treated as weapons on par with Sarin gas and hydrogen bombs.  The Enhanciles themselves are regular people given power that a human should never have.  The tagline that I use for the game is "Great power.  Great temptation."  When first setting up the game I referenced a lot of Warren Ellis' writing, as well as stuff from Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore's Marvel/ Miracleman, and other post-superhero works. 

After going on a good fifteen minute tear about these comics when we sat down for the first session, I realized that the players at my table were not so versed in the comic book world as I had thought.  They didn't know what the hell I was talking about.  There was confusion.  "So, we're meant to be playing superheroes, but we're not?  We have superpowers, go on adventures, and fight other people with superpowers, but we're not superheroes."  I could practically hear everyone's eyebrows arch in confusion. 

I did two things to help resolve this issue.  I drew a picture of a character that was an example of the kinds of characters players could have in the game.  Sadly, my scanner is far too small to scan the picture in properly.  I might be able to get it on here sometime, and I'd really like to as it's a drawing I'm really proud of, but not quite yet. 

I also wrote a small bit of fiction that was meant to act as an example of play.  This is what part of a session of Superior should feel like when playing.  It's not superheroes, it's science fiction.  It's Batman by William Gibson, the Fantastic Four by Neal Stephenson, Captain America by Geogre Effinger. 

I was bored tonight, had a lot of energy, and didn't have any good art board to draw on.  Thus, you get a short story called The Meetup, about two guys and a big pile of cash.  I put it behind the cut because it is kind of long, pretty violent, and definitely NSFW.