Marvel to Launch Official 'MARVEL MULTIVERSE' Tabletop Role-Playing Game in 2022

Count_Zero · Jun 4, 2021

Umbran said:
Well, it looks like this is being published by Marvel Entertainment itself. It is hard to yank a license out from under yourself.

True - but Marvel did do that when they canceled their previous attempt at making an internally published tabletop RPG - Marvel Diceless - with several sourcebooks ready to go - because it wasn't selling as well as the recently released D&D 3rd Edition.

aramis erak · Jun 4, 2021

Micah Sweet said:
As long as they don't go in an excessively narrative direction trying to make it work, I'll be happy. That was my issue with Marvel Heroic.

Meanwhile, the idea of using a D&D derivative mechanic is not a selling point for me.
Plus, the narrative elements are what made it the best playing of the Marvel Games, IMO, shoving FASRIP AMSH to second place.
I'd love it, tho', if they used 1d6+1d16 on a color result table similar to that in AMSH.

Count_Zero said:
True - but Marvel did do that when they canceled their previous attempt at making an internally published tabletop RPG - Marvel Diceless - with several sourcebooks ready to go - because it wasn't selling as well as the recently released D&D 3rd Edition.

If they expected D&D like sales, they were utterly delusional. If they expected to make a game that paid for itself, they should have done better market research.

Given that the preponderance of reviews were negative... there were some glowing ones, but largely, most of the fan response was "give us FASERIP, Not this [scatological expletive]!" it's probably just that it failed to gain a significant audience, failed to gain broad critical success, and was eating illustrator time...

Umbran · Jun 4, 2021

Count_Zero said:
True - but Marvel did do that when they canceled their previous attempt at making an internally published tabletop RPG - Marvel Diceless - with several sourcebooks ready to go - because it wasn't selling as well as the recently released D&D 3rd Edition.

Sure. But that was nearly 20 years ago.

Marvel Entertainment, as an organization, is an entirely different beast today. I am not sure why you would expect the same behavior.

payn · Jun 4, 2021

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
They could, but Marvel Entertainment has been exceptionally smart about making customer-friendly choices.

Soaking potential customers like this seems like a bad idea, when they could just as easily rely on conventional d6s or normal polyhedral sets -- to make it easier to get into the game -- but then sell branded dice based on every possible Marvel character and team after that. Best of both worlds.

Actually, they will probably just create an app for kids phones.

Count_Zero · Jun 4, 2021

Umbran said:
Sure. But that was nearly 20 years ago.

Marvel Entertainment, as an organization, is an entirely different beast today. I am not sure why you would expect the same behavior.

The point is, the last two Marvel tabletop RPGs, one published in house, the other published by a third party, were cancelled by Marvel internal management very abruptly.

aramis erak said:
If they expected D&D like sales, they were utterly delusional. If they expected to make a game that paid for itself, they should have done better market research.

Now, frankly, with the diceless game, while the official reason is it wasn't selling as well as D&D, the game's cancellation happened at the same time as the ouster of Bill Jemas as publisher of Marvel, so there was suspicion at the time that was the real reason, but there's never been any real confirmation. I'm not sure if there was a similar change in power at Marvel when MWP lost the license.

Can't speak for whether it was eating illustrator time - most of the art in the game books was existing art from Marvel comics at the time, particularly the Ultimates line.

J.Quondam · Jun 4, 2021

(Aside: Is there a "standard" d16? I've seen d16 in the forms of bi-pyramidal, barrel, and truncated-spherical dice. Is one of those the "standard" or is there some other configuration I'm not aware of?)

Umbran · Jun 4, 2021

Count_Zero said:
The point is, the last two Marvel tabletop RPGs, one published in house, the other published by a third party, were cancelled by Marvel internal management very abruptly.

I believe that's incorrect. The diceless game (Marvel Universe RPG, 2003) was cancelled abruptly by Marvel. The Cam Banks/Margaret Weis Productions game (Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, 2012) was cancelled because MWP found that while the product did well, it wasn't well enough to support the high license fee. Their statement was:

"...And in Marvel news… the economics of licensing a tie-in product is always something we have to weigh carefully. We brokered an admittedly ambitious license with Marvel. Our first event, CIVIL WAR, was successful and well received, but it didn't garner the level of sales necessary to sustain the rest of the line. "

I have seen no statements that this cancellation was initiated by Marvel.

Dungeonosophy · Jun 4, 2021

Earth-616

3821 appearance(s) of Earth-616 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Earth-616 222 minor appearance(s) of Earth-616 138 mention(s) of Earth-616 15 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Earth-616 155037 image(s) of Earth-616 32480 characters that originate from Earth-616 1913 teams that originate from...

marvel.fandom.com

Count_Zero · Jun 4, 2021

Umbran said:
I believe that's incorrect. The diceless game (Marvel Universe RPG, 2003) was cancelled abruptly by Marvel. The Cam Banks/Margaret Weis Productions game (Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, 2012) was cancelled because MWP found that while the product did well, it wasn't well enough to support the high license fee. Their statement was:

"...And in Marvel news… the economics of licensing a tie-in product is always something we have to weigh carefully. We brokered an admittedly ambitious license with Marvel. Our first event, CIVIL WAR, was successful and well received, but it didn't garner the level of sales necessary to sustain the rest of the line. "

I have seen no statements that this cancellation was initiated by Marvel.

But they also had books announced and ready to print - IIRC I remember people talking about books they had written, had submitted for publication, and had been paid for (particularly the Annihilation Event Book), but were not published.

Yaarel · Jun 4, 2021

TwoSix said:
Quote from the article: "Use Might, Agility, Resilience, Vigilance, Ego, and Logic to win the day, and discover your true abilities as you face impossible odds!"

Sounds pretty D&Dish based on that; renamed 6 stats and "discover your true abilities" sure sounds like level progression.

Might ≈ Strength
Agility ≈ Dexterity
Resilience ≈ Constitution
Vigilance ≈ Wisdom (Perception)
Ego ≈ Charisma (Sense of Self)
Logic ≈ Intelligence