Quote:
Originally Posted by tbone
I'm not saying that that's not the case... but in the big picture, DFRPG isn't doing anything different with roles than what other fantasy RPGs do and have always done.
So the question arguably becomes: Did 70s-era D&D begin – consciously or not – as a fantasy skin over a superhero-like base?
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I'd say "no" to this one. The lineage of D&D from the miniatures Wargame plus other influences was pretty clear. Even TFT wound up with Fighting Men (Melee) and those guys with the fireball (Wizard), which were the basic unit types in Chainmail.
The superhero stuff probably really started happening when the power curve stopped flattening after level 10 or so ("name level") and just got more awesome all the way to level 20. I don't know if that was 2nd edition or it waited until 3rd or 3.5th.
It's clearly there in Pathfinder and 5e. (Super-humans).
Superhero niches I'm not so sure about, though the tropes and protecting each individual role happens in real life specops too. Of course, they're superheroes in their own way.