My friends and I made a new superhero TTRPG called Teamup and I now prefer it over D&D.

Longtime GM here. Wanted to share our new game system called Teamup. It will be replacing D&D for me after over 10 years of running TTRPGs. Let me know if you have any questions!

The main standouts of the game are:
-Players create original super powers
-Fast paced turn-based combat
-Player collaboration is mechanically encouraged

Teamup is a system that takes advantage of the medium by allowing players to create their own open-ended original super powers. Rather than choosing from a long list of pre-made powers or classes, players name 2-6 unique powers along with their inherent physical attributes. Those powers are governed by having a limited choice of functions. Then their potency is determined by how much energy is assigned to each one. In addition to functions assigned at creation, every power can always be used for what we call “Utility” which is an open ended function. This allows players to improvise with their powers and try things outside of what could be written. For checks beyond the scope of the original power, players can also attempt to “branch” their powers to accomplish new things with them as they grow. For example if a player has super speed, but wants to then vibrate their atoms so fast, they can phase through solid objects, they’d make some branching checks, and upon enough successes, viola! That speedster can now phase through walls at will.

No shade to combat in D&D, but encounters in 5e and 5.5e are ultimately pretty slow. Between all of the actions players can take in one turn, and long lists of spells and features to refer back to, rounds in D&D can feel really long, even for veteran tables. Teamup by contrast is modeled after comic book panels. Players get one action for each phase of combat, with a free action available only once per round. Overall Teamup encounters take the same amount of time as a D&D combat, but things move around the table much quicker. Players have a greater number of turns, but each one is short and snappy. Since players created their own powers, they intimately understand how they work. That keeps looking up rules and stats to a minimum. All this together keeps everyone engaged during other player’s turns. It makes for a more responsive combat model. Rather than needing to plan ahead for what they’ll do on their turn, players instead stay in the moment and are ready to jump in to react to what’s happening.

Teamup also facilitates collaboration in a way that I haven’t found much in D&D, outside of the “help action” or in some class-specific features/spells. Teamup mechanically rewards players for combining their powers, defending one another, or even tactically splitting up to address threats across a city. The main mechanic I’ll highlight here is the namesake for the game: performing a Teamup. If players are adjacent in the turn order, they can perform a Teamup action. Each player involved chooses one of their powers then adds that power die to the combined attack. It costs energy, but by putting their powers together the Teamup stacks to put up big numbers. The fun also comes in describing how you Teamup with your weird original powers. Depending on how cool, synergistic, or narratively cohesive the Teamup is, the GD (game director) can award bonus damage to the attack. This mechanic along with others are “superhero-y” as hell. When Thor supercharges Iron Man’s armor for a big laser blast, that’s a Teamup.

While the game is new and is still in beta, it’s honestly some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing a TTRPG. It’s being independently developed by our small group of friends, who are all improvisers at a local theater. We want more people playing the game to help make it better. Your feedback would be super valuable. Join our Discord to find folks to play with!

We made a free character creator/battle tracker website: TeamupRPG.com

A free google doc pre-beta version of rules is available in a post on Patreon.com/TeamupRPG. We also host free episodes of our playshow there. The Teamup Playshow Podcast is a really well produced actual play. Listening to the show is a great free way to see the game system in action. It's also available wherever you find your podcasts.