Casting Shadows

One of the most enjoyable things about this Anniversary Edition of #RPGaDAY is seeing how participants’ opinions have or have not changed since the first year of the event in 2014. This prompt in particular came to mind when we were finalizing plans to go with revisiting the first run. I and I suppose many of the people who read this blog have managed over the past ten years to track down a lot of items on our wish lists so today might reveal a lot of changes in responses, or it might show a deepening of desire.

Let’s find out!

#RPGaDAY2023 Day 16: What is a game that you WISH you owned?

My original answer and my current answer, surprisingly to me considering how my other grail quests have gone, has not changed.

I have tracked down rare sourcebooks for Renegade Legion. I have gathered complete sets of corebooks from first to current edition for most of my favorite games. I have gotten good box sets of Ringworld and Thieves World among other treasures. I have even gotten a mint box set of FASA Star Trek, which was on my list for a long time. One game, however, has consistently eluded me in my pursuit of it:

TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes.

Don’t get me wrong, I have the rules, and can play it whenever or however I want. That said, I would really like to have the box set, complete, in good condition.

Here is where things get strange. I don’t tend to play superhero RPGs. I only play them from time to time. I do, however, have a lot of superhero RPGs. I seem to derive a lot of pleasure from comparing them and from doing chargen, but I don’t often pitch games with them.

Also, as a kid, and later as a teenager when I left comics behind, I was more into DC or reprints of older lesser-known heroes than Marvel. In fact, I am certain that if I had ever seen the game to buy when it was new, I would not have bought it. I am glad that I do not have that experience to look back on and regret.

I have only ever been in the same room with the actual set once. I had a chance to play it one night with friends of friends and we had a great time. We made our own characters and tried to save the day. Fortunately, the GM, like me, had no interest in us running actual Marvel heroes. That night of play showed me a lot about the system, and I really liked what I saw. It made a big impression, and interestingly to me, when I got a chance a few years later to try DC Heroes, it had to compete with Marvel Super Heroes in the same way that Marvel comics had had to compete with DC comics for my attention years before.

So, here we are in 2023 and my library still lacks a Marvel Super Heroes box set.

Will this still be true in 2033?