New Marvel Superheroes RPG

[Static UK]

Does anybody have any details on this new RPG? So far all's that I know is that it will be diceless (apparently you have a number of 'stones' for tokens). I've been told that the characters will have five stats (strength, durability, speed, dexterity, and intelligence - i think).

I actually e-mailed the Marvel products people over a month ago, and never received a reply, not even a "we cannot give you any information at this time". :(

I doubt that the game will succeed, it is about the fifth suprehero RPG to come out in less than two years I believe (Champions, M&M, SAS, plus one that's slipped my mind, d20 I think!)

[MarkusDark]

I have heard that there are 3 d20 systems out there for Supers.

I believe that Marvel is trying something 'different' in the hopes that it will take off, backing on their loyal customer base and movie franchises to help it sell. Eventhough you can recreate every Marvel superhero in the Hero system, people will buy it for the "Official" Marvel interpretation of the characters and their ranking in power. "I TOLD you that Hawkeye was more dexterous than NightingGale!" And you will have even loyal Hero people buying their products so that they can convert all of their favorite heroes into the Champs system.

As long as the character statistical levels are consistant, Marvel could produce an RPG which decides the victor by who can spit the farthest and they will still have a good return on investment.

[Hermit]

I used to quite enjoy the "Beer and Pretzels" game of Marvel Superheroes in the 80s. :) I doubt I'll be getting this one though. I have gamed diceless before, and sometimes do now, but it's nothing I need a new system for.

[TheEmerged]

New one? This sounds an awful lot like the SAGA one from here. Linkage?

[Carjack]

I'm going to be picking up this game. Not only to have it for my collection (and I'd hate to see a supers game that comes out and NOT end up in the collection), but I am a little intrigued by it. This month's Inquest is going to have a 70+ page preview of it, so it will cost me little to at least look at it at the Barnes & Noble.
I'm not terribly put off by it being a diceless game. Heck, I'm one of the lonely few who will admit to liking Marvel SAGA. (Despite it's rather vague notions of things like range and time, I thought SAGA was a very fast playing and easy to run game that caught the spirit of the comics quite well. First Marvel game I've seen that actually gave Captain America his due as the most accomplished hero in the Marvel Universe) Many have been saying that the Super's market is a little crowded with games right now. And bully for that, I say! The market has been a little thin for a long time and I like to see it fattening up a scoche.
Besides, I can put to use all those old glass beads I used for Magic counters and Mage Knight!

[Law Dog]

According to Diamond Distributors, Inquest #96 ships this Wednesday. $5.

[Yamo]

It looks interesting. I don't do diceless games, though. For me, there's just no suspense without the role that chance (through the medium of dice or other randomizers) plays. "If your rating is higher than his rating, you win" is booooooooooooooooooring. Ditto "whoever has the most rocks wins." That's just me, though.

[Law Dog]

It looks like this actually may be the first time in RPG history that this many superhero games are being actively suported at the same time.

[tenebre]

There is a sample page from the book in the new Previews.

meh. id have to convert it all to Hero anyways. So I wont bother.

[Koshka]

Originally posted by TheEmerged
New one? This sounds an awful lot like the SAGA one from here. Linkage?

OK, it's not just me.

I don't have a link, but skimmed the first few paragraphs of an online pre-review, and it sounded like SAGA with glass nuggets instead of cards. I really can't see a difference between playing 8 stones to succeed and playing an 8 of whatever to succeed. (Well, you won't be in the position of having only high cards to play for a minor challenge.)

[Dr. Anomaly]

Just an odd note here: my two favorite systems (and the ones that I play the most by FAR) are HERO (dice-heavy, mechanics-intensive) and Amber (diceless, mechanics-light). Really opposite ends of the spectrum, eh?

Anyway, what I wanted to comment on was the "Is it higher? Boooooring!" remark. With a good gamemaster and good players (ie all involved willing to story-tell & role-play) the diceless concept can work wonders.

When I first began GMing diceless about 12 years ago, I was nervous as all get-out; it felt like working without a net. If the players didn't like my decisions, I couldn't lift a GM screen, point to the dice and say, "But I rolled xxx!" I got over it, though, and it has been some of the most rewarding gaming I've ever done.

The way diceless is SUPPOSED to work, it's

your attribute + your storytelling/description vs. the other person's attribute + storytelling

Yes, a high attribute certainly gives you an advantage right out of the gate, but it's not a sure thing, not by a long shot. In the hands of the clueless or those unwilling to really storytell, it can be overly deterministic...but that's just the diceless version of "roll playing" as opposed to "role playing" in standard dice-using games.

(As an aside, a character from an Amber game I GMed years ago *purposefully* spent the minimum possible on all his attributes. His strategy: make himself appear so weak on all fronts nobody considered him a threat, and thus not worth their time to dominate and/or destory, THEN make himself successful and indespensible through role-playing. It worked, too! :) To this day, players (and characters) that never met or interacted with that character speak in awed tones of Llewellen, son of Dierdre.)




Originally posted by Yamo
It looks interesting. I don't do diceless games, though. For me, there's just no suspense without the role that chance (through the medium of dice or other randomizers) plays. "If your rating is higher than his rating, you win" is booooooooooooooooooring. Ditto "whoever has the most rocks wins." That's just me, though.

[Monolith]

Has anyone seen the Inquest issue yet? I was just wondering if the Marvel game is using the stat structure they introduced in the Marvel Encyclopedia (and carried over into Vol. 2: The Mutant Encyclopedia)?

[Thag13]

I belive that issue of Inquest is getting out today (march6)

I went my my local Books a million and the nice lady working there told me that it takes her about 13 hours of labor to get every mag out.

ill check back tommorrow.

[Law Dog]

I got mine yesterday. They are using 5 stats.
Intelligence, Strength, Agility, Speed and Durability. Ratings 1-10.

I can already see that perhaps a need that a rating of 1-12 maybe should have been used with the extra stats going between the current 1 & 2 and 9 & 10. Unfortunately, for the physical stats of Stength, Speed, and Agility, you go from a rating of 1 (normal) to a rating of 2 (athlete).

[Tom McCarthy]

- produced by Marvel Comics
- 128 page hardcover scheduled for June, $24.00
- October to bring X-Men and Avengers guidebooks, $19.99, 96 page hardcovers

Off the top of my head, those page counts seem a little light for coverage of such broad topics.

I'll be looking for Inquest today at lunch.

[MarkusDark]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly


The way diceless is SUPPOSED to work, it's

your attribute + your storytelling/description vs. the other person's attribute + storytelling


What???? Storytelling, character development and roleplaying in an RPG? And that is how things are decided?? Get out of town!

[Lord Mhoram]

Originally posted by MarkusDark
I have heard that there are 3 d20 systems out there for Supers.

Mutants and Masterminds
SAS d20
Foundation (sucks rocks)
Vigilance (electronic)
From Four color to Fantasy (sort of a superhero plug in for any genre by the Enworld press - Electronic).

I have a friend I know through the game store I work at who wants to run a superhero game, but his group is D20 only, :( so I have done some research for him.

Add to the above list
Our wonderful Champions
SAS normal
Marvel Saga

And it is a good time to be into superheroes in the gaming world.

[Tom McCarthy]

Picked up Inquest #96. Nice picture of John Stewart on the ad for next month's HeroClix mail-in.

For the Marvel Universe RPG, they've got May 7 for the book, June 4th for the X-men, and Sept. 3 for the Avengers.

[Yamo]

your attribute + your storytelling/description vs. the other person's attribute + storytelling

Yes, all that's well and fine, and vital components for any roleplaying game, but none of it includes CHANCE. There's no substitute for Fate; pure, impartial randomness.

That's what I need. I need that lack of total control that breeds true, unadulterated suspense. You can tilt the odds in your favor by building competent characters and roleplaying well, but when it comes right down to it and you're in the middle of that stressful, life-or-death situation, when everything (up to and including the fate of the world/galaxy/universe!) is on the line, nobody at the table (including the GM) really knows whether you'll succeed or fail until you try. Just like in real life. The ultimate arbiter is not Man, but Fate.

That's what gets my blood pumping and that's also one thing I've never seen a diceless game get right. I accept no substitutes.

Besides, I've seen the Inquest rules. I've never witnessed the word "stones" used so many times in my life. Whoever has the most rocks wins? The whole thing reads like an extended Gary Larson comic gag about caveman RPGs. Okay, now I'm just being facetious. ;)

[Darren Watts]

I've actually read the entire game (it's so nice to have contacts in this biz!)- the mechanic is more a question of resource management. If you put a lot of your energy into a single attack, you have little or none left over for defense or other uses of your powers. It's a wide-open system that relies heavily on the GM to make snap decisions "in the field," which I think is it's biggest flaw. On the other hand, given a very skilled GM it could be highly entertaining, much like Amber. dw

[Tclynch]

Well...I haven't read the game yet, but I have been reading about it. Based on what I have been reading ....I won't be buying it. I think Hero, M&M and SAS have nothing to worry about....;)

[MarkusDark]

Originally posted by Yamo
That's what I need. I need that lack of total control that breeds true, unadulterated suspense. You can tilt the odds in your favor by building competent characters and roleplaying well, but when it comes right down to it and you're in the middle of that stressful, life-or-death situation, when everything (up to and including the fate of the world/galaxy/universe!) is on the line, nobody at the table (including the GM) really knows whether you'll succeed or fail until you try. Just like in real life. The ultimate arbiter is not Man, but Fate.


Not to become argumentative here, but there is also the downside of this. I am a trained knife thrower. I can hit bullseyes from 40 feet away while wearing a blindfold with fans cheering. I don't miss. If I did, I wouldn't have fans. My target (be it a person or the release button) is standing 20 feet away. There are no distractions, the target is unaware, I pull back and throw... And I roll an 18???? What the hell happened? A sudden gust of wind (no that is storytelling). Or, better yet, I hit him square between the shoulders and I roll my 2d6 RKA and get 2 body 2 stun??? What? he has teflon for skin? I happen to miss ALL vital areas and the knife just hit the shoulder blade, causing almost no damage (wait, there is that storytelling again that you don't like).

I will fully agree that Fate can have a hand in things, but that fate IS the storytelling.

[ogier300]

Actually, there's a point where you just don't bother with the dice... the dice add drama to a situation. If the situation has no drama ("Okay, you're on stage doing your usual knife throwing stage act..."), why bother rolling the dice?

But if you're forced to do the knife act, because the super-villain is holding your DNPC hostage and is threatening to blow up Millenium City if you miss, and goes, to make things fun, he's making you use dull knives... then you roll.

One thing they got right in 3e, I think, was the Take 10 and Take 20 rules.

[TheEmerged]

Originally posted by ogier300
One thing they got right in 3e, I think, was the Take 10 and Take 20 rules.

If they didn't have some of the restrictions on them, I'd agree with you completley. I still agree with you 90% :D

[MarkusDark]

One person's drama, I suppose... I personally get no drama from dice rolling (hence my love of Live Action games - sans Vampire). I suppose that is why I give ungodly bonuses to rolls for well thought out plans of attack.

[Yamo]

One person's drama, I suppose... I personally get no drama from dice rolling (hence my love of Live Action games - sans Vampire).

So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you don't like HERO? Why make 100+ posts on the HERO boards, then? I'm just confused by that statement.

[MarkusDark]

I like Hero, alot. It is a system that allows for any genre to be played and there are very few constraints upon the system. However, it isn't the 'rolling of the dice' that makes it a great game. It is the adaptability of the system.

I actually hadn't played for nearly a decade as I was enjoying the Live Action of other games. However, I noticed that my creativity was beginning to slip in them a bit and, around the same time, I was contacted by a long time friend about joining him in a Hero game.

I found that I was enjoying it and that it also helped to rekindle my 'spark' for the Live Action. The game mechanics itself is unimportant to me, it is the story and drama. I could care less if I rolled an 8 or 18, but if the story is good, then I'm all for it.

I am dying to get back to a 3rd Ed D&D game that was GMed by another player to give me a break for a couple of weeks. The character development in it was incredible.

Plus, I think over half of my posts are on the Non-Gaming Discussion board anyways. ;)

[ShadowRaptor]

As for Marvel, forgive me but I will stick with their original game released in 1986 or 87 that uses percentile for official Marvel superheroes...but like all, I would play hero before that anyday. I won't be buying their new game, I will spend that money on hero books. Plus, 128 pages for 24.00 and 96 pages for 20.00 seems a lot when I can get a book of star hero, 300+ for 30.00, despite it being softcover. More bang for the buck.

[Agent X]

Seeing as how Marvel has been mainly an intellectual wasteland since the first Marvel game came out, I have no interest in picking up sourcebooks on characters that have been poorly conceived or poorly remade to suit a fickle speculator or youth market that has not returned the sort of stable prosperity you would think any company would seek.

Maybe you can tell I am a little bitter.;)

[Roth]

A have a friend who likes to play in the Marvel Universe... or at least a variation of it... We've been using hhe original MSHRPG game with some mods... and frankly it sucks... I picked up SAS (d20) and he picked up Mutants and Masterminds to see if either of those would work... Why not play hero? He's new to hero and frankly The way he and others have played all Marvel Characters are potential pcs. Thor as he is in Marvel would be Ridiculously expensive, especially the damned hammer... So perhaps we'll check out the new game, and mod it for dice use... perhaps not.

[Tom McCarthy]

I believe the new game will not lend itself to modification nearly so well as its predecessors. Spend the $8 CAN to read the Inquest #96 previewe and you'll quickly see what I mean.

[Thag13]

I've skimed the rules to the new Marvel game.

It has the makings of a good StoryTelling game. But, I think the game would rely on having a Very good GM. One that knows both the Marvel Universe and has had role-playing experence. Lots of it.

I feel this game wouldreally drag down quick if just left to newbies trying to make thier way thru this style of game.

great artwork though.

I wont be buying it. I might get a used copy. but not retail.

I do think the 5 dollar version that is in the current Inquest might merit a look for those interested.

[Law Dog]

Originally posted by Thag13
I've skimed the rules to the new Marvel game.

It has the makings of a good StoryTelling game. But, I think the game would rely on having a Very good GM. One that knows both the Marvel Universe and has had role-playing experence. Lots of it.

I feel this game wouldreally drag down quick if just left to newbies trying to make thier way thru this style of game.

great artwork though.

I wont be buying it. I might get a used copy. but not retail.

I do think the 5 dollar version that is in the current Inquest might merit a look for those interested.


After reading through the Inquest preview (which is impressively large), I'm going to have to say that I don't like what I've seen.

The mechanic, while cute, doesn't look like it would run real smooth for the GM, who would have to be running multiple villains. Also, at first glance, it almost looks like the common tactic would be to wait until your opponent declares their attack to decide how many points you want to use to defend. And with the recharge rate of power being fairly low across the board, most fights will probably start with a big initial clash followed by combatants nickel and diming each other.

And as a little side note, putting Quicksilver as the highest run speed category isn't a real good idea. To paraphrase Bent Lloyd Bentson "You are no Barry Allen, sir. I knew Barry Allen." As was pointed out in the mismatch of Q vs the Flash during Amalgam, the guy is a mach speed runner versus a lightspeed runner. I guess you could assign the Flash the highest ground-contact flight speed, but it was still an irksome point when I saw the stat. Also, some of the stats could have benefitted from more distinction between rank 1 average and rank 2 athletic.

And much like the cards in the SAGA version, I feel that the game manipulative gets in the way.

[bubba smith]

if i remember correctly the original marvel super-heroes rpg didn't work because those players didn't want to play homebrew super-heroes but ACTUAL marvel super heroes

[Shigeru]

Here's what I remember abotu playign Marvel Superheroes.

I made a homebrew character called the Driller. He had a big drillbit weapon. The Driller got stuck in some other dimentsion and when he saw the Watcher he attacked. Drillbit killed the Watcher and that was the end of Marvel Superheroes.

[Pattern Ghost]

if i remember correctly the original marvel super-heroes rpg didn't work because those players didn't want to play homebrew super-heroes but ACTUAL marvel super heroes

If you're talking about FASERIP Marvel, they had TONS of official character writeups, and they were pretty well done.

[bubba smith]

if you mean the 80's game yes

[Hugh Neilson]

When I looked at how the first published Thor and Hulk would stack up, I knew sticking to Hero was the right approach. Hulk had something like Monstrous defense (take 75 off every hit) and Thor had Excellent dense flesh (subtract 20). It was pretty clear who would be winning that fight, and it wouldn't take long.

[Pattern Ghost]

Yes, it's totally possible to judge the outcome of a fight based on one stat. :rolleyes:

Actually, the fight is in Thor's favor the first two rounds on average, and by round four, he'd better be thinking of some options other than direct hand to hand (or hammer to hand) combat. Played well, as written, Thor is the stronger of the two, so if anything, the rules are off a bit in the opposite direction. Hulk's Fighting and Strength column shifts ramp him up to problematic levels for Thor (to the point of direct HtH not working) a lot faster than in the comics, but Thor still has a lot more options.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

@bubba: Here's a big list of books full of pre-generated Marvel characters:

Gamer's Handbook(s) of the Marvel Universe (http://www.marvelrpg.net/mu/mu.html)

If you scroll down on this page (http://www.marvelrpg.net/), you can download every book written for that version of the old game. It was actually pretty neat in a lot of ways, especially given the time it was published.

[Hugh Neilson]

Keep in mind my conclusion is based on the first (to my knowledge) published stats. I think they got a lot better over time (well, Thor and the game overall), but those first published characters? No, it was pretty clear what the results would be - unless Thor decided to run away because "Yon behemoth is too powerful a mortal for Thor to defeat honorably".

[incrdbil]

Ok, place your best. How many books will this game break before its pulled? The only thing we can be sure of any marbel/DC heroes rPg game is that it won't last, so place your bets!

(My bet is maybe 6 books, tops.

[NestorDRod]

Hate to break it to you, incrdbil, but you're way late on that bet. :)

The game's been pretty much dead for quite a while, after squeezing out three books.

[teh bunneh]

Hate to break it to you, incrdbil, but you're way late on that bet. :)

The game's been pretty much dead for quite a while, after squeezing out three books.

Dang it, Nestor, why'd you have to say anything? I was gonna take him up on that bet! ;)

[NestorDRod]

Dang it, Nestor, why'd you have to say anything? I was gonna take him up on that bet! ;)

Heh, heh. Another one of teh bunneh's evil plans foiled. :eg:

<Dr. Claw>
I'll get you next time, Gadget!
</Dr. Claw>

:winkgrin:

[Pattern Ghost]

Keep in mind my conclusion is based on the first (to my knowledge) published stats. I think they got a lot better over time (well, Thor and the game overall), but those first published characters? No, it was pretty clear what the results would be - unless Thor decided to run away because "Yon behemoth is too powerful a mortal for Thor to defeat honorably".

The first edition of the game was the "Basic" set, which didn't include writeups as far as I can tell. The "Advanced" set did, and those writeups are what I'm referring to.

You're wrong, plain and simple. Have you actually played it? I did for years.

The fight would play out exactly as I described. Hulk at early disadvantage, and if the fight carries on, Thor needs to switch tactics.

Here are some numbers besides armor value:

Round 1:

Hulk has a 65% Chance (Remarkable Fighting) to land a basic hit result with 100 Damage (Unearthly Strength), He has 75 Armor to physical attacks and 50 to energy attacks. He has 215 Health.


Thor has a 94% Chance (Shift Y Fighting, due to WS with Mjolnir) to land a basic hit result with 126 Damage (minimum value of Shift X, which is due to +1 CS to his Un STR from Mjolnir), he has 20 Armor to physical attacks, and 6 to Energy attacks. He can spin the hammer to give 30 armor if he wants to. He has 320 Health.

Round 2:

Same, except Hulk is up to a 70% chance to land a basic hit, and up to 150 (or 126) Damage.
Health is calculated from your primary attributes in the game. I'm not sure if Hulk's health is intended to go up with his Fighting and Strength though. I've had GMs run Hulk, and they never upped his total health round to round.

Round 3:

Same, except Hulk is up to 75% chance to land a basic hit, and up to 200 (or 176) Damage.

Round 4:

Same, except Hulk is up to 80% chance to land a basic hit, and up to 500 (or 351) Damage.

You really don't want him to get to Round 4. So, your average Hulk fight, if you just go one on one with him, is going to be a lot shorter than in the comics, as I stated earlier.

But is it all that clear cut?

First, the Universal Table has more results for an attack than doing damage. It's a roll-over system, btw.

We're talking about Blunt combat if these two just trade blows, so let's look at that column:

A White result is a Miss.
A Green result is a basic Hit, just does damage.
A Yellow result is a Slam, and forces your opponent to roll on the Slam result table versus their Endurance.
A Red result is a Stun, and forces your opponent to roll on the Stun table, versus their Endurance.

The Slam Results are:

White: Grand Slam, knocks the subject flying away, range based on STR. (An Unearthly STR would knock someone ten areas, or about ten city blocks outdoors.)
Green: Slam, knocks the subject back one area.
Yellow: Stagger, subject is still up, but staggers back a bit, and is no longer considered adjacent to the attacker
Red: No Slam. The subject resisted the Slam.

The Stun results are:

White: Subject is knocked out for 1-10 rounds.
Green: Subject is knocked down for 1 round, but is not unconscious.
Yellow and Red: No effect.

So, there are a few variables. There are also more options in combat, like grappling, charging, etc., that can be used in hand to hand. This is just basic punching.

Basically, for these two characters, the special results that are going to come into play are going to be limited to Slams. Both have high Endurance (Monstrous for Hulk, Unearthly for Thor), so Grand Slams and any knock outs are unlikely. That said, for the first four rounds of combat, Thor has a lot more chance to land a Stun or Slam result than Hulk does.

I'll roll out a toe to toe with real dice:

Round 1:

Initiative is based on Intuition, so Thor goes first, having the higher score.

Thor winds up with Mjolnir, and rolls a 60, which is a Yellow result, a Slam. The attack does 51 Damage, and forces a Slam check on Hulk.
Hulk rolls a 63, which is a yellow result, and is staggered.

Hulk winds up on Thor, and rolls an 82, also a Slam result. Thor takes 80 Damage.
Thor rolls a 65, which is a yellow result, and is staggered.

End of round:

Thor is at 240 Health
Hulk is at 164 Health

Round 2:

Thor winds up with Mjolnir again, and rolls a 44, just into a Yellow result, a Slam. Hulk takes 51 Damage.
Hulk rolls a 79, which is a Yellow result, and is staggered.

Hulk winds up with a punch and rolls a 90, a yellow result. Thor takes 106 Damage.
Thor rolls a 48, which is a green result, and is Slammed back one Area. He could potentially hit something for additional damage. A concrete wall would inflict no damage, a reinforced concrete wall would inflict 10 damage (rebar up the butt?). We'll ignore it, since the most damage a wall might inflict is 10, and that still depends heavily on the environment they're fighting in, which happens to be a forum =P.

End of round:

Thor is on his butt with 134 Health.
Hulk is gloating about smashing puny gods with 113 Health.

Round 3:

You know, I'm not real sure what the rules are for getting back up, or if their were any. I'm going to say for the sake of argument that Thor burns his initiative getting back up, and Hulk pounces on him.

Hulk hops over, and winds up on the Asgardian with another punch, rolling a 14, a miss.

Now, had that punch landed, Thor would have been out. Of course, there were some good rolls by Hulk when he was at a lower Fighting score earlier in the combat. Had he missed one of the first two round punches, Thor would be able to soak up this punch. But this would have been the last punch he could take, and he wouldn't want to get into Round 4.

Thor winds up again with Mjolnir, and swings with a roll of 46, a Yellow result. He does another 51 damage to Hulk.
Hulk rolls a 53, a yellow result, and is staggered.

End of round:

Thor at 134 Health.
Hulk at 62 Health, and VERY angry.

At this point, Thor has to ask himself if just standing up and trading blows with an enraged Hulk is a good idea.

He'd better consider:

1. Evading, which can easily buy him time to get to range.
2. Tossing lightning bolts from range, or tossing the hammer from range. Either tactic should take the Hulk out in two hits.

Now, this fight could have ended up in a better slugfest result for Thor had Hulk missed him on one of those rounds, but at the end of the day, it's a bad idea to go toe to toe in melee with the Hulk.

I agree that Thor's Hulk tolerance should go beyond three or four rounds, but if you upped his defenses by much, you'd have to lower his damage to avoid the opposite problem of him trouncing Hulk too fast. I think for a very simplified system, they did an OK job here. Hulk's power set is horribly broken in any RPG environment, especially when he hits maximum damage (which goes in big chunks) on the fourth round of combat. His power should be tweaked to +1CS per two rounds.

On the whole, battles in FASERIP Marvel tend to have a good length, with a lot of comic book action moments (stuns, slams, etc.), provided relatively even power levels.

[Pattern Ghost]

Hate to break it to you, incrdbil, but you're way late on that bet. :)

The game's been pretty much dead for quite a while, after squeezing out three books.

To be fair, they did manage to squeeze out quite a few more than three books. Check out the link above, they're all there if you're interested. The character compilations have quite a bit of history up to 1991 or so on a lot of characters. (And after that era of Marvel... who cares? :rofl:)

[incrdbil]

Hate to break it to you, incrdbil, but you're way late on that bet. :)

The game's been pretty much dead for quite a while, after squeezing out three books.


Hmm, thats how much I keep up on those doomed to failure big license games. :)

[NestorDRod]

To be fair, they did manage to squeeze out quite a few more than three books. Check out the link above, they're all there if you're interested. The character compilations have quite a bit of history up to 1991 or so on a lot of characters. (And after that era of Marvel... who cares? :rofl:)

Oh, you're talking about that Marvel RPG.

I believe incrdbil was referring to the latest fiasco, the one using stones instead of dice (which was the original topic of this thread). AFAIK, that only got to three books before it sunk into oblivion.

I should know; I have all three... :winkgrin:

[Pattern Ghost]

Aha. Yeah, that one went by pretty quick. My local library actually has a copy. Seems like all the little stones would be a pain to keep track of for the GM.

[Hugh Neilson]

The first edition of the game was the "Basic" set, which didn't include writeups as far as I can tell. The "Advanced" set did, and those writeups are what I'm referring to.

The first Avengers supplement had lots of writeups and predated the Advanced set. That is the writeup that shut it down for me. Of course, we had Champions, so finding a different Supers game wasn't a high priority anyway, and we never looked too close at Advanced.


Round 1:

Hulk has a 65% Chance (Remarkable Fighting) to land a basic hit result with 100 Damage (Unearthly Strength), He has 75 Armor to physical attacks and 50 to energy attacks. He has 215 Health.


Thor has a 94% Chance (Shift Y Fighting, due to WS with Mjolnir) to land a basic hit result with 126 Damage (minimum value of Shift X, which is due to +1 CS to his Un STR from Mjolnir), he has 20 Armor to physical attacks, and 6 to Energy attacks. He can spin the hammer to give 30 armor if he wants to. He has 320 Health.

The writeups in question did not provide Shift Anything to Thor. I don't recall whether the hammer spin was in the writeup in question.

The Stunned/Staggered rules were a lot less detailed in the first edition as well.

[Pattern Ghost]

The first Avengers supplement had lots of writeups and predated the Advanced set. That is the writeup that shut it down for me. Of course, we had Champions, so finding a different Supers game wasn't a high priority anyway, and we never looked too close at Advanced.


I see. I got on board with Advanced. The original game is online on the site I posted earlier, though I don't think supplements are. The original was very limited in comparison.



The writeups in question did not provide Shift Anything to Thor. I don't recall whether the hammer spin was in the writeup in question.

The Stunned/Staggered rules were a lot less detailed in the first edition as well.

It looks like the blunt weapon damage rules aren't there in Basic. The rule in Advanced is that if the weapon's material strength exceeds the character's strength, then the character gets a +1 CS to his melee damage with it. So, that'd bump Thor from Un to Shift X damage.

I do agree, though, that Thor's defenses are too low, even in the context of the game. But the game's write ups were fairly consistent in relative power levels between the characters as they appeared at the time.

I know I'd have preferred a few more tweaks to Advanced over Saga, personally. Fortunately, most of its problems were pretty easily solved or handwaved.

[lapsedgamer]

I miss FASERIP.

[bubba smith]

I miss FASERIP.
whats that again?

[Pattern Ghost]

whats that again?

FASERIP are the stats for the 80s-early 90s Marvel game.

Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche.

People refer to it as FASERIP Marvel to distinguish it from other versions.

[bubba smith]

FASERIP are the stats for the 80s-early 90s Marvel game.

Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche.

People refer to it as FASERIP Marvel to distinguish it from other versions.
oh like the sound effect from themarvel super-heroes and the 1967 SPIDER-MAN SHOW now i get it

[input.jack]

oh like the sound effect from themarvel super-heroes and the 1967 SPIDER-MAN SHOW now i get it

I thought it was the sound of Spidey tearing his pants...:D

[wrestlinggeek]

FASERIP are the stats for the 80s-early 90s Marvel game.

Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche.

People refer to it as FASERIP Marvel to distinguish it from other versions.


You know, one of buddies in college, after playing this game a few times, wanted to make a character called Faserip. He would have had some sort of dimensional-portal teleporting powers. He never seemed to get around to creating that one, though.

[Mike W]

I doubt if it works. Marvel got the 80s MSH game to work. Heroclix worked. Overpower kind of worked. There have been several other attempts that just plain DIDN'T. I think this one will fall under the DIDN'T category.

[casualplayer]

The first edition of the game was the "Basic" set, which didn't include writeups as far as I can tell. The "Advanced" set did, and those writeups are what I'm referring to.

You're wrong, plain and simple. Have you actually played it? I did for years.

The fight would play out exactly as I described. Hulk at early disadvantage, and if the fight carries on, Thor needs to switch tactics. /snip/

Dude, you didn't burn any Karma. Thor can tap the Avengers Pool and probably has a pretty big store all by his lonesome. Hulk, poor, teamless Hulk would get whupped once the Karma started flying! :D

[Pattern Ghost]

True that!

[Shiva13]

The Marvel Universe RPG didn't die off because of commercial failure. Far from it. It died because its biggest supporter within the company, Bill Jemas, was removed from his position as publisher. And there were more books slated to come out that simply didn't because of it.

The Marvel Universe RPG was unique in the fact that it really focused on story first. It gave tangible rewards for important story elements to the individual character. And it did so without hamstringing individual choice. It was a good game that died off simply because of corporate politics.

[lapsedgamer]

Those new Marvel RPG books are getting to be cheap now. I got all three for less than $35.00 new. The cover prices should have aded up to almost $50.00. Used I bet you can get them cheaper. Nice art. I think they will make good resource books if I can figure out how to translate everything over to Hero. The system seems too much like Storyteller for a straight translation though. Maybe I could get a used copy of FASERIP Marvel and use it like a Rosetta Stone.

[megaplayboy]

I would point out that the last version of the Marvel Universe handbooks includes some kind of 1-7 rating for 5 or 6 different qualities(strength, power, speed, etc.), so that might actually be a handy tool for doing conversions as well.