Nerds like to debate their preferences within their various milieus of fandom. I am no different. I like Star Trek more than Star Wars, and Godzilla more than King Kong, and I like Superman more than Batman. I have my own reasons for these things, but relevant to this post is the Superman versus Batman debate.
Batman wears a mask to strike fear into the cowardly hearts of villains in order to defeat them. In his story, Batman is the core identity and crime fighting is the core mission. When Batman removes the mask to become Bruce Wayne, the Batman identity remains. Bruce Wayne is the facade, he is just another tool in Batman's arsenal. Batman's primary motivation is to punish evil doers and maintain his army in his war against crime.
Superman wears glasses to fit in among a world of humans in the hopes that he won't frighten them. In his story, Clark Kent is the core identity and his love for Lois and his friends is at the core of his being. When Clark removes the glasses to become Superman, the Clark Kent identity remains. The love remains, and his primary motivation is to help others and protect those that he loves.
And, yeah ... I know that this debate could be pushed in either direction, but my point is that Clark just wants to be normal. He wants to live a normal life, but is hindered by his differences. I can relate to that. Batman has given up on living a normal life. There will never be a time when all crime will be abolished and he can settle down with a nice family. He has resigned himself to that fate. I can't relate to that.
Superman has hope. Batman doesn't. Batman is darker and not optimistic, and because of that, for me he's less relatable and less fun.
Recently, I discovered an RPG called: BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! What does this have to do with my Superman versus Batman debate? Kind of ... everything.
There was a time when Batman was fun. That time was 1966.
Yeah, it was campy and silly and a lot of comic book fans say that they hate it, but the 1966 Batman TV series was awesome, and Batmania gave comic book sales a needed boost at the time. (Also, Barbara Gordon's Batgirl was created specifically for the series. Without Batman '66, Batgirl as we know her wouldn't exist.)
This Batman is not dark and brooding. He works with the police in a way that feels more like a job than his life's calling, and he has his ward: Robin. The relationship between Bruce and Dick as depicted in the 1966 TV series humanizes the Batman character in a way that I haven't seen equaled. I love everything about it!
BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! is written by Cynthia Celeste Miller and published by her company Spectrum Games. I've been following Spectrum Games for awhile, but somehow BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! has evaded my notice despite being released in 2021.
The first RPG that I read written by Cynthia Celeste Miller was Four Colors back in 2001. She was one of those amazing creators making RPG content and providing it for free on the internet. We were doing this at about the same time. (Xerospace was shared on Unclebear in 1999.) I still have a copy of Four Colors and I cherish it. (It and the free site that hosted it are long gone.)
Recently, I was watching a reviewer on YouTube and he mentioned a game called, Four Color Heroics. It seemed like Spectrum Games might be releasing the original Four Colors and that excited me very much.
Cynthia Celeste Miller is awesome. She is clearly a huge superhero fan. She wrote Four Colors, and her company Spectrum Games released another ground breaking superhero RPG called, "Capes, Cowls, and Villains Foul" written by Barak Blackburn in 2012.
Capes does what most of Spectrum Games' catalog does. It emulates a genre rather than simulating an effect. It doesn't ask, "How can an RPG emulate superpowers?" It asks, "How do comic books tell stories, and how can an RPG tell the same stories?"
Cartoon Action Hour does much the same with Saturday Morning Cartoons of the 70's and 80's. Retrostar takes a stab at 70's and 80's Science Fiction Television.
I love what Spectrum Games is doing in theory. However, in practice I have never gotten any of these games to my table. For me, there seems to be too much "crunch" for the kind of games these games seem to want to be.
Four Colors was different. It was streamlined. (Some might say, "raw." I think that it was Cynthia's first RPG.) I had been meaning to run a game of Four Colors for a long time, but never managed it. So, I was super excited about Four Color Heroics. It seemed like Cynthia had gone back to her roots.
Four Color Heroics is good. It isn't the same game that Cynthia shared all those years ago, but it's got a lot of good going on between the covers.
However ...
That's not why I started this post. I started this post because when I visited Spectrum Games' website, I discovered something that I wasn't actually looking for ... something that I never knew that I wanted.
That something is: BIFF! BAM! KAPOW!
(I'll talk more about BIFF! BAM! KAPOW! tomorrow.)
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