A to Z 10 Year Update: V is for Villains & Vigilantes

This post has been slightly altered since it was originally published on April 25th, 2012.

A to Z 2012: Gaming in the 1980s

Villains & Vigilantes

Villains & Vigilantes 2nd edition is a game of several firsts for me:

• V&V was my first non-A/D&D rpg purchase.
• V&V was the first supers role-playing game that I ever bought.
• V&V was the first game I bought at a convention.  It was Conjuration I in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  My uncle David - the one who passed down his A/D&D stuff to me - took me with him.
• V&V was the first rpg we played that had a continuing campaign with recurring characters and an evolving time; EVERY game of V&V we played was somehow connected together through characters, organizations, or some other connection.

Other super games were played by our group over the years but none of them had the staying power of V&V.  Marvel caught quite a bit of play but not nearly to the level of V&V.  Marvel did not really pick up until the Advanced set was released.  Heroes Unlimited was played a little bit but the class and level system did not match our expectations of the genre.  DC Heroes looked interesting but was a little beyond our young minds at the moment.  Champions offered excruciating detail and options but often felt like work instead of play.  GURPS Supers just really never got out of the gate because most of the group did not want to mess with "all those GURPS books".  V&V was our go to super game.  I still have my battered copy of the second edition rule book.  V&V is now back in the hands of Jeff Dee and Jack Herman and they have released version 2.1 of the rules.  I know that V&V 3rd edition is being developed now and I wonder if 2.1 is worth snagging or if I should just wait for 3rd edition?

For anyone interested, Monkey House Games has the following Villains & Vigilantes products available on lulu:

V&V 1.0 - softcover

V&V 2.1 - softcover

Mighty Protectors (V&V 3.0) - softcover

Mighty Protectors (V&V 3.0) - hardcover

Living Legends (V&V "sequel") - softcover