I ran/played Superworld in the past. We used a couple of different settings, from the Wild Cards world, the Marvel Universe, and even a custom made one. In most cases the setting is fairly close to the modern world, with a sprinkling of superheroes thrown in.
Generally, how you plan such a thing is in essence, similar to how you would plan just about any other RPG.
1) The GM creates a setting. Most of the time this is the real world with some supers and magic added. Occasionally, this is a historic era, an alien wold, or an alternate dimension (I once had a group go back in time, where the archer PC hero met up with Robin Hood).
2) The players create their characters. They come up with a concept, and then spend points to build the character. One neat option introduced by V&V years ago, is to write up yourself as a character, and then give yourself superpowers. This not only adds an ego trip element (most people who play super RPGs have some wish to fly, lift trucks, etc.), but also helps to flesh out the campaign. It adds a whole new dimension to the campaign when characters not only need to put out the burning building, but do it fast enough to be home in time for dinner.
3) Adventures typical revolve around a NPC villain committing some sort of crime, and the heroes trying to stop him. With super villains, the crimes can take on a larger than lie quality. For instance, instead of robbing a bank, a villain might try to steal the entire bank. Other types of stores, like natural disasters, rescues, and even stopping street thugs or reforming punks are all possible ideas.
As for Superwolrd,
It works. But it is a bit clunky. Going with soltakss' example, the mind zap would be resisted with the appropriate trait (POW if a mental attack, AP/HP if a physical one).
Powers are really written up to about the same level of detail as in champions (SUPERWORLD is basically BRP with Champion styles powers thrown in on top). It DOES work. But frankly, so do a few other superRPGs, and most of them work better. Much like GURPS, the benefits of the BRP system, such as it's realistic style, are at odds with the genre. With Super campaign we don"t want reality, we want the reality of the comics. So when "Mr. Invulnerable" falls off the roof of a 10 story building, we don't want him to go spat from 30d6 damage-we want to see him stunned, and a bit hole in the asphalt.
SUPER RPGing in general can be a lot of fun-just as log as the players realize that it isn't a dungeon crawl. One fun group I ran, involved the players writting up kids who end up getting superpowers. We set that in our home city (always a good choice) allowing the group to use local landmarks and such.
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