IRL

One of the things that the comics do well (when they do this well) is that they have the superhero's performance closely tied to their drama outside of super life. When Peter is fighting with MJ and forgot to stop and get bagels for Aunt May, he's suddenly struggling against the Green Goblin more, because things just sort of spiral out of control on him. Tony Stark's personal life is in shambles, and suddenly he cannot remember how the repulsors work. One of the great things about FASERIP was that it had Karma, which actually created mechanisms for this stuff to directly impact your super-heroing.

I've got an idea for a mechanic called In Real Life (IRL) that would have a direct bearing on your superhero life, and emulate Karma (after a fashion).

Your IRL starts at zero. Everyone is pretty chill. No drama. But then you get a call that your sister needs your help just as the alarm goes off at First National Bank. You don your mask and ghost your sister. You take a -1 hit to IRL. At the beginning of the adventure, your GM requires you to check mind (DT 4). You fail. It was your mom's birthday. Oh, shoot. I mean, you kind of got her world peace for her birthday, but that's not going to make up for missing the luncheon. -1 to IRL. As long as your IRL is at 0, things are okay. People might be a little annoyed or a little extra pleased with you, but it's not affecting your superhero life.

But... once you get into positives or negatives, things change.

At -1 (or +1) you receive a shift to your hero points, moving either up or down one die rating. At IRL -1, your hero points (normally worth D10) drop to D8.  At IRL +1, your D10 hero points are now rolled using D12.

At -4 (or +4), you receive a -2 or +2 shift to your hero points, moving either up or down two dice ratings. 

At +10 or better, you're on top of the world. You get the +2 dice shift, and +1 bonus hero point. Go you! But... you can also hit rock bottom. At -10 IRL, you've watched your life totally fall apart. You cannot use hero points at all, and you suffer -1 edge to all of your checks. EVERYTHING falls apart. You cannot focus, you keep dropping your weapon, you cannot get your powers to work. 

I think this would be a rare thing, but I also think it could be a cool way to build a character arc that is supported mechanically. I think of Daredevil's Born Again storyline here.

Your GM would have a lot of autonomy in deciding this, and could even deal bonus IRL damage for huge events. You forgot to get the medicine for your grandfather (-1 IRL), but he ended up having a heart attack and went to the hospital as a result (oof. That's another -3). And... while you were off saving Meridian again, he kind of died (yeah. That's another -5, so you're at -9 from this one series of awful things). You're living on the edge of everything falling totally apart on you. When Uncle Ben dies, Peter Parker hits -10... and realizes he can never let himself feel this way again. It's a character-building moment because the weight of his life choices ended up costing him dearly.

I like that this sytem:

1. Emulates comics (always good).
2. Can be plugged in easily or totally ignored (always good).
3. Is very easy to manage, track, and implement (more goodness).
4. Puts a heavy focus on roleplaying and character work without adding much. Character stat blocks don't need to add this (because everyone is assumed at zero). It's something you could choose to use for your character (Rogue TOTALLY has this), or ignore (Wolverine is Wolverine whether or not he's madly in love with Jean, and whether or not she loves him back). Some characters wouldn't worry about their personal lives, because being a super is all it's about. A player who wants to curate this gets a benefit from doing so (the bonus to hero points for success), knowing that the risk of messing up is always out there for the GM to tinker with. I almost think that a character like Captain America has this turned off entirely. He's going to always put his country first, and personal sacrifices are going to be necessary. He won't let the personal disappointments of his life interfere with his job performance. That's a character-based decision right there that has in-game consequences (because he cannot get the hero point bonuses either - no matter how much good he does, it never really makes much difference - he soldiers on anyway).
5. This 'replaces' XP in some measure. Your character can 'grow' and get 'better' over time in a meaningful way without the power creep of leveling. It's more organic, but also creates a sense of change in your character over time. It rewards ongoing play.