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Originally Posted by fmitchell

Which I guess goes back to an earlier point, that PDQ, FATE, and HeroQuest primarily attempt to "simulate" stories, while BRP (among other systems) tries to model the real world in some way. (Didn't RuneQuest get a thumbs up from the SCA for their combat system.)

RQ was written by SCA members-some in high standing. So it's no wonder it good a thumbs up. RQ also suffers a bit becuase of it's SCA roots, too. In some ways it is combat by and for "weekend warriors" rather than by skilled combatants.

Originally Posted by fmitchell

One way I can see making BRP supers work is to restrict either the level or kind of powers the PCs and powered NPCs have. For example:

• All PCs have the same number of Hero Points to buy powers, and gain additional Hero Points at more-or-less the same rate. Super-powered NPCs are all comparable to the PCs, except perhaps for a Big Bad.
  
• All the PCs could strain at the limits of realistic human achievements, aided by slightly implausible technology, a la most pulp heroes or the Watchmen (minus Doctor Manhattan). NPCs could be ordinary humans, extraordinary humans, or low-powered superhumans.
  
• Only certain types of powers exist, e.g. psionics, elemental control, power rings, Superman-like abilities.
  
• All powers have a rating like T&J Super Qualities or HeroQuest Abilities, perhaps on a percentile scale; roll against a fixed difficulty to perform miracles with normals, or opposed against supers who have comparable or diametrically opposed powers.

You could do that, but IMO it is the wrong way to go. I think that a RPG rules should work in an appropriate fashion to mimic the genre or setting that it is being used for. THe setting should not be shoehorned to fit the system.

One good thing about Chaosium games like Strombringer, ElfQuest and CoC, was that Chaosium would always tweak the rules to fit the setting. Rather than forcing the Multiverse or Lovecraftian Horror into the RQ mold, with battlemagic, rune magic, cult writeups etc, each setting has it own rules designed to reflect its own reality. THat is the right way to go.

By contrast, most D&D settings shoehorn the setting so that it works with the standard D&D rules. Each world has the same classes, Tolkien (token) elves, dwarves and orc, the same magic systems, and the same magic items.

That's one reason why setting books for D&D don't wow people. With D&D one 5th level fighter has a lot in common with any other 5th level fighter. It all becomes interchangeable, and bland.

I think the way to handle things, is to mirror the comics. The GM should make sure that there are challenges for each hero, and that some things require multiple heroes to resolve.