Summary
Tabletop RPGs are bigger now than they’ve ever been. Dungeons & Dragons is at the peak of its popularity, and its pool of competitors, including games like Pathfinder, is richer and more diverse than ever before. There are markets for games spanning a variety of genres, fromhorrortosci-fito thewild west.
Then, of course, there are superhero games. Superheros have been a part of popular culture for over a hundred years now, and their stories can be told well by a number of interesting systems. If you’ve ever wanted that D&D experience, but with capes and cowls instead of swords and sorcery, then you’re in luck. There are quite a few supers games, and we’ve collected several of our favorites here for you to enjoy.
Updated June 29, 2025, by Davis Collins:As Tabletop RPGs continue to grow in popularity, there is a greater appetite for a wider variety of games. Though Fantasy games still outshine others in popularity, there’s plenty of room for interesting things to be done with other genres. We’ve come back to this list to revise and retouch it, both to add some new games and make sure that everything on it is likely to be easily available to our readers.
Legends: The Superhero Role Playing Game
Tons of pre-designed powers to choose from
This crunchy little game does an amazing job allowing you to play a character with a wide variety of powers without incurring the hazards that often come from allowing players to design their own abilities.
The greatest design challenge for any superhero game is how to keep the game balanced while still allowing players as much freedom as possible in selecting, or, better yet, designing their powers. Giving players too much freedom will tempt them to design overpowered characters, but giving them too little will leave them unsatisfied with the character they create. Most superhero games are defined by their approach to this problem, beginning with Legends, whose strategy is to simply give the players so many pre-defined options that the kind of thing they want is sure to be in there somewhere.
This book gives players hundreds of powers and abilities to choose from, and there is some limited customization within each of those options. Some other games leave players freer to design their own powers, but this one does a good job keeping the crunch balanced while still giving players enough freedom to play a character they like.
Queerz! Basic Box
A powerful emphasis on compelling backstory and character
One of the best TTRPGs ever created, Queerz’s light rules have an unmatched ability to facilitate character-driven narratives. In the hands of the right GM, this is going to be the best game you ever play.
Queerz is among the best TTRPGs ever made. From the creators of the equally excellent City of Mist, this superhero game casts players as a Super-Sentai-esque team of color-coated heroes empowered by a force of cosmic love called the Rainbow Empathy to fight Justice Knights, villains who have been driven by despair and ignorance into crusading for twisted ideals.
As its name would suggest, this game wasmade with the LGBT community in mind, and holds a lot of metaphorical meaning related to that. However, we highly recommend this game to anyone interested in a rules-lite hero game. What makes it so special is the way it forces every villain to be a three-dimensional character. They all have motives that make sense to them, and the process of dealing with them always involves grappling with those reasons, and the person they are, to figure out how to get through to them.
Girl by Moonlight
Be the light in the darkness
From Evil Hat Productions, a company responsible for many excellent and simple games, comes Girl by Moonlight, a system designed to deliver superhero stories in the Magical Girl subgenre common in Japanese entertainment.
The most prototypical superheroes are the ones that originate from the United States, but there is a long history of similar stories in Japan. The game above is actually an example of this, being based around the Sentai genre, and this game, Girl by Moonlight, is for those who want to play magical girls.
Magical girl stories are about superheroes, usually girls, who use flashy powers and cool transformations to fight evil. These stories have a reputation for heroism and moral simplicity, though that element is subverted as often as it’s followed. One of the best things about this game is how it allows you that same choice between abiding by the heroic tone and subverting it. This book has four separate settings, each of which allows you to play a game with a different tone that matches a popular Magical Girl franchise, such as Sailor Moon or Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Mutants & Masterminds Deluxe Hero’s Handbook
Choose your hero
Probably the most popular superhero TTRPG out there, Mutants and Masterminds is an excellent product which does a great job allowing you to customize abilities to create a team of superheroes.
If you’ve heard of exactly one superhero TTRPG, it’s probably Mutants & Masterminds. It’s the most popular title in the genre, and for good reason: it offers everything you would expect from a superhero game.
What makes Mutants & Masterminds special is the character creation. Using a robust point-buy system, you can perfectly customize your caped crusader with the powers and abilities you imagine, whether that’s recreating a classic character or constructing your own costumed champion. The degree to which this game allows you to design the powers you want while remaining balanced is unparalleled. Inexperienced players will need a bit of guidance to ensure they’re designing the abilities they think they’re designing, but it doesn’t take too long to get the hang of it.
Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game
For the true believers
The Marvel Multiverse is one of the richest and most expansive superhero universes ever created. If you’re looking to run a game set inside this wonderful world, this is the game for you.
Mutants and Masterminds may be the most popular superhero TTRPG, but there’s no arguing that theMarvelmultiverse is the most popular superhero setting in general.If you’re one of its many fans, this game is for you. Not only does this let you play in the Marvel setting, it also gives you the choice between creating an original character or playing as one of your favorite Marvel heroes. It also has full digital support, with digital rules available and functionality on virtual tabletops.
Sentinel Comics: Core Rulebook
It Was In The Cards
Based on a popular card game, Sentinel Comics is designed to replicate the superhero comics from which the genre originates as closely as possible, with pacing tools that use comic terminology to help structure your adventures.
Based on a cooperative card game, Sentinels of the Multiverse, this TTRPG takes a narrative first approach but still has enough depth to satisfy players looking for a little crunch in their game mechanics.
It offers systems for combining your abilities either with your other abilities or those of your heroic team to create new effects. It can take a little extra work on the side of the Game Master compared to others, but it does an excellent job nailing the feel of classic superheroics while remaining both balanced and customizable.
The Hero System Basic Rulebook
A Champion TTRPG
A simplified version of the more complicated Champion TTRPG, this rulebook gives you just the handful of pages you need to start playing in a simple and time-tested system.
The Hero System might sound like the new kid on the block if you know your TTRPGs already, but it’s actually an old friend with a new coat of paint. Better known as Champions, the HERO System was a spin-off with its origins all the way back in 1990.
The full Champion system is large, and complex, so much so that it might be intimidating to a new player, which is why this book exists to simplify things for those just starting out. If you’re an experienced Tabletop Gamer, you’ll probably/ want to jump straight into the more complex version, but if not, this simple system is a great way to get you started. The full version is one of the best standalone rulesets in TTRPG’s today, superhero or otherwise.
Masks: A New Generation
Teen drama, with superpowers
Specifically designed to allow players to make their way through teen superhero stories, this system is powered by the excellent Apocolypse ruleset that’s at the heart of an enormous number of wonderful games.
When you think of what you expect from the superhero genre, you may imagine epic battles with flashy superpowers, but you’ll probably also think about how these antics complicate the lives of the heroes. Characters like Spider-Man, Danny Phantom,Rainer Miller, and Bruce Banner all pay a price for being heroes, and, while this isn’t the only game that deals in the struggle to balance life and hero work, it is specifically designed around it.
Masks specifically chooses to focus on the drama that comes with being a teenage superhero. It’s a game that focuses on building a narrative with the characters at the forefront, with the action as a backdrop. Following the formula laid out by shows likeTeen Titansand Young Justice, Masks: A New Generation is one of the most exciting TTRPGs in recent memory.
FAQ
What is the best superhero tabletop RPG?
This depends on what you’re going for. Mutants and Masterminds is the most popular system on this list, and has amazing character creation that will let you play a wide variety of heroes. However, all of the other systems here have things going for them. Either they facilitate a specific kind of superheroing especially well, like how Girl by Moonlight helps you do magical girls, or they focus on a specific aspect of a superhero’s life, like how Masks is designed to focus on the character-driven drama that comes from double lives.
What was the first superhero RPG?
The first superhero TTRPG ever to be published was the original version of Champions, in 1981. That game is represented on this list by the Hero system, which is a simplified and stripped down version of its 6th edition. Both versions are well-designed and a worthy choice for your next superhero campaign.
