Changing Marvel into Champions

[VictorVonDoom]

How can i change spells, powers and characteristics from the famous TSR game Marvel Superheroes Roleplay game (of 1989) into Herogames Champions?

FASERIP is used in the MSRP game:

 

Short story:

 

Fighting, Agility, Strenght, Endurance, Reason, Intelligence, Psyche are the chars to be reckonned with ; Karma: R+I+P

Health= F+A+S+E

A hero with spells can have spells from Universal spell list, Personal spelllist (shields, alter self, ...) and Dimensional Spells (spells of some Gods) A mage has a alignement (Master of Order, Druid , Master of Chaos, ...)

Hero popularity is measured in POP : lower then 0 then he is a villan

the Hero is based on 6 basic professions: Mutant, Hitech, Altered humans, Aliens, Robot

Additional hero is a spellcaster (mage): he selects his spells as they were powers from the spells and link them with energies

(UPD)

(There is a list of 50 other professions in the Ultimate guide book with also additional powers)

with that book the character can go from 1 power until 12 powers which in return can be all be magic or non magic (when magic is rolled for, magic is the basis the hero is build on otherwise he is simple a superhero)

The hero also can have up to 12 talents and up to 5 contacts

they cost nothing

 

 

I know this is an old gaming tool i am using but this is the only reference tool i have and HEROGAMES i have bought know

Am i better of with other gamingtools (like MM or SAS)? Or am i right here ?

What is the difference between the tools?

MM= Mutants and Masterminds (D20)

SAS: Silver Age Sentinels (D20)

I have no knowlegde sofar of any rules with d6 system

[proditor]

I've seen a lot of guides for converting MSH to Hero, and most of them "feel" right, but the long and the short of it is summed up pretty well on Michael Surbook's page.

 

"Probably the most important thing to remember when adapting a fictional characters the sense of scale. Some things (like STR) are easy. Did you see the character lift anything? How heavy was it? Other stats, like DEX, and SPD become a matter of taste. If you think DEX 23 is fine for your average brick (like the Thing) then a DEX of 36 to 38 is probably just right for Spiderman. On the other hand, if the Thing has a DEX of 15, then Spidey can get by with a 30 to 33 DEX.

 

Before I go further, I'd like to also point out that when writing up a fictional character, one should remember that nothing is set in stone. I could easily write up Superman on 250 points (I think). Most people would laugh, asking how I plan to squeeze super-breath, super-hearing, heat vision and so on into the character. I'm not planning on it, I say, I'm writing up the 1939 Superman. His powers? Leap an 1/8th of a mile, hurdle a 20 story building, run faster than a train, lift great weights and only a 'bursting shell' can penetrate his skin... 250 points easy."

 

I've been hitting his site in it's various incarnations for years now, and it never ever disappoints.

 

http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/index/index.html

[Killer Shrike]

I find the best way to convert Marvel characters into the HERO System is to just consider thier capabilities and convert them over into the HERO System capabilities rather than try a power by power, stat by stat conversion.

 

If you are using the old MSH (Advanced (with UPB/without UPB) or Basic?) and looking at the FASERIPs of characters you see some pretty odd decisions on the part of whoever stat-ed the individual characters. While they can be useful as benchmarks, all to often they are easily disputed.

 

 

Regardless, Fighting is not a function of characteristics perse in the HERO System, but rather is determined by a wide combination of things including Powers, Martial Arts, and Combat Skill Levels.

 

Agility can be mapped to both DEX and SPD in the HERO System.

 

Strength is obviously Strength, although a point to remember is that MSHRPG Strength = press/over the head strength, while HEROs Strength = deadlift Strength (ie, get off the ground and stagger with it). As a general rule, and this is much debated/disputed, find the lifting strength in HEROs that matches the lifting strength in MSHRPG and add 3 to 5 more Strength to it to get thier strength correct (every 5 points of HEROs Strength = double lifting capacity). Thus an Unearthly Strength in MSHRPG would probably be a 63 to 65 Strength in HEROs.

 

MSHRPG Endurance maps into CON, BODY, and STUN.

 

Reason maps into INT in a fairly straightforward fashion.

 

Intuition has no direct target in the HERO System.

 

Psyche maps most closely to EGO, but some parts of Psyche map to PRE as well.

[SleepyDrug]

If anyone is interested. Converting Marvel characters is a project of mine.

 

I have a scale I designed based on the comics directly that I feel is well balanced with the mechanics of the hero system.

 

I used 80 popular comic book characters as my "control group" to set the standard for converting characters. 40 were Marvel and 40 were from DC.

 

I can email it to anyone that is interested.

[VictorVonDoom]

I recall that there is a table on internet converting the stats

I will put it here...

 

I don't converting spells on a guess basis but i need a converting table or tool...

 

 

following links i found :

 

http://www.geocities.com/area51/dimension/4599/3_marvelchart.html

this guy created a new magic base

http://www.geocities.com/hoganmsh/mf_character_htm

he also created his own point system

http://www.geocities.com/hoganmsh/pbs_unofficial.htm

a guy created advantages needed for the game

http://www.fortunecity.com/underworld/stunt/16/chapter3.html

all other chapters can also be visited ...

he created his own MSHP

 

knowing this new material can you help me now ?

 

 

 

[Hierax]

Marvel <-> HERO Conversion

 

FWIW, here's an old and rough Marvel <-> HERO Conversion that I did several years back:

 

        http://www.hierax.com/hero/super/marvel.html

 

It needs some fixing and some of the stats may convert a bit on the high side for most champions folks taste but it should be easy enough to scale it down to a particular preference.

 

Oh yeah, it's a conversion of the 1980's Marvel Super Heroes Game from TSR. I was looking at using it with the source material from the 1986 "Advanced" Set through to the 1992 Character Updates.

[Killer Shrike]

Interesting conversion Jason. Ill have to take a closer look at this when I have more time

[Enforcer84]

Originally posted by SleepyDrug

If anyone is interested. Converting Marvel characters is a project of mine.

 

I have a scale I designed based on the comics directly that I feel is well balanced with the mechanics of the hero system.

 

I used 80 popular comic book characters as my "control group" to set the standard for converting characters. 40 were Marvel and 40 were from DC.

 

I can email it to anyone that is interested.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing your conversion system. I pretty much play it by

 

 

...ear.

 

Whoops. I used to use a 100 is the strongest scale, but recently broke that tradition. I have varied power campaigns.

Superman is an absolute beast where as Mockingbird is just above agent level.

[Enforcer84]

I used to have more conservative write ups until I saw the Great Net Book of Real Heroes and the Real Hero Writeups Page. Seeing the characters that the late, great Sam Bell posted, made my conversions seem...inadequate.

[VictorVonDoom]

that doesn't help ME much here

[tiger]

The best method I've found is find a conversion close to something you can live with and then change it.

 

You not going to find a conversion that fits perfectly into you "style" of gaming. For instance I cap Dex & Ego at 30. Just about every conversion I've seen has characters I would have around 20-25 well over 30.

 

So it's find something you like and modify to fit.

 

There are some good sites out there with writeups. Chances are you can find one on a character you like and use it as a base to make your own.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Enforcer84

the late, great Sam Bell

What happened to Sam Bell? Did he die?

[Enforcer84]

Sadly, yes. He passed away, it must have been 4 or 5 years ago.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Enforcer84

Sadly, yes. He passed away, it must have been 4 or 5 years ago.

Huh. I did not know that. I wonder what the circumstances were. That guy cranked out characters. I didnt agree with him on most, but still, it was quite a body of work.

[Enforcer84]

yeah, the last time I remember swapping emails with him was about when the Thunderbolts first came round and we were wondering about Mach 1's armor and Techno's backpack.

[Killer Shrike]

Did he die from an accident, or was it illness? How old was he?

[Oruncrest]

I posted a Marvel <-> Champions conversion a few years ago. It works pretty good for characters with Unearthly or lesser stats. The only problem with it is that the 'tables' didn't come out like they should have.

[Guest joen00b]

Here is where you can find all of Sam Bells write ups. Many people agreed his hero conversions were a tad too powerful, but I also didn't see those people going through the trouble of doing the copious amounts of write-ups that Sam did. Oh well, people tend to not agree.

 

Here is the fate of Sam Bell as written by his brother.

[VictorVonDoom]

I just need a simple conversion not a mass of info like those writeups: it is fun to see how he did it and how much time he invested in it. But at this moment i am still starting to learn the book & the rules and MSH is the only real superhero game i know from waaaaaay back. But it gives me some ideas for the powers.

 

I need to look into that conversion list abit ; I'll ask here some questions if i can't understand it...I am not a formulae guy so HERO is for me a nightmare (disadvantages: Nightmare for Calculus) btw who needs heroes greater then Unearthly?

 

 

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by joen00b

Here is where you can find all of Sam Bells write ups. Many people agreed his hero conversions were a tad too powerful, but I also didn't see those people going through the trouble of doing the copious amounts of write-ups that Sam did. Oh well, people tend to not agree.

Exactly. The sheer volume alone was impressive. They did tend towards the stat inflate IMO but at least they were something.

Originally posted by joen00b

Here is the fate of Sam Bell as written by his brother.

Wow. Thats really tragic . I had no idea. I wonder what it could have been? There's enough similarities there to make me go hmm.... Im a software developer from back east living in Cali. I just got married again. I have a serious family history of diabetes. Kind of makes you take a pause for sec.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by joen00b

Here is where you can find all of Sam Bells write ups. Many people agreed his hero conversions were a tad too powerful, but I also didn't see those people going through the trouble of doing the copious amounts of write-ups that Sam did. Oh well, people tend to not agree.

 

Here is the fate of Sam Bell as written by his brother.

Sam Bell did a fine job of translating. He wasn't trying to "calibrate" the characters to take on published characters from the Champions RPG. The major companies' most popular characters tend to be much more powerful than a standard, or for that matter, a high powered Champions character. If someone wanted them calibrated they should at least be honest and realize that their interpretation is not an attempt to portray what the characters did in the comics.