I picked up the Algernon Files recently for Mutants and Masterminds. Making a role-playing product for superhero games is tricky. Most people who want to run superhero games want to write their own super hero comics. The better constructed worlds (Freedom City comes to mind) therefore, are subtly different than a normal comic.
In principal you want to have an interesting, engrossing world with dramatic events and an interesting history without actually having main characters (because those would get in the way of the player characters) or a convoluted back-story (because everybody hates how complex the published DC/Marvel worlds are).
So it's basically impossible to write a great superhero world supplement.
The Algernon Files, well spoken of on the Atomic Think Tank, makes a good effort. There are a few issues with the book. And a few lapses.
Issues
Characters are powerful. The "default" power level for NPCs seems to be around 12, villains of significance are 15+. On the plus side it allows a lot of room for characters to grow. On the negative side the few want to play in a superhero game where everyone (even characters described as "super-powered thugs") is more powerful than you are.
Characters fill roles that should go to PCs. Lots of really good characters, people who are best in class, better than the PCs good looking and loved by the public. Freedom City did a better job of handling this, the Mr. Fantastic type character (Dr. Alexander Atom) is actually just a computer program created by the deceased, by comparison "Doc Steel" is not only alive and active but immortal. And he has two immortal high powered sons...
Similar characters
A lot of characters are misunderstood outcasts with poor social skills. These kinds of characters tend to be bad NPCs. The players don't like interacting with them, their social incompetence often tends to make them the center of attention. The whole "I'm an outsider, society doesn't understand me" is irritating, but a part of solo comic book titles. It's fine for a player to have something like in their character, but it's a bit too prevalent.
There are lots of aliens . I'd have preferred to see more characters and less "I am an alien from X culture. I am defined by my being a member of X culture." Not an alien person I guess.
Lots of mages and magical groups (such as the Magi) are refereed to but never properly explained. Each time they're mentioned the Magi have to be described again, to the point that a short paragraph explaining them (somewhere in the book) would probably have been more efficient. Three of the PL16+ god characters (out of four) are magical. Since magic is really one of the weirder/weaker parts of comic book settings it seems like it would be an unusual area to emphasize.
Lapses
- Editing is poor. Some character descriptions are cut off. Some sentences are duplicated, or substantially identical sentences are strung together.
- The writing is bad [you're criticizing someone else? It is! It's serviceable but definitely below the standards of the industry, such as they are.]
- No complications. I understand the book was originally a 1st edition product, but if they went through the effort they should really have added them to the characters.
Not to say that it's a bad book. There are some strong points, mostly the characters themselves who are colorful and detailed, and several (such as the Aerie) seem like they would be interesting foils for a nacient hero group, once you adjust for power levels. As most people have mentioned Film Noir is a great character.
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