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

Matt Forbeck announced on Twitter that he’s working on a new in-house D616 Marvel RPG due for a 2022 release! It looks like there will be an open playtest.



What’s the D617 System? “… the all-new D616 System, an accessible and easy-to-learn system for newcomers to tabletop RPGs and a natural evolution for those familiar with the most popular tabletop role-playing games on the market. Use Might, Agility, Resilience, Vigilance, Ego, and Logic to win the day, and discover your true abilities as you face impossible odds!”

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

Use the all-new D616 game system to embody your favorite Super Heroes and Super Villains like never before!

www.marvel.com

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I am looking forward to rolling a d616 and getting a 347.

If it's anything like the d66 or d666 approaches I've seen (2d6 and 3d6 each read separately, like a d100, but missing numbers above 6), I'll probably be d6 d10 d6 or something. So you could roll 346 but not 347.

 

[Greg K]

I agree with all this except the bit about Milestones. I thought they actually worked very well for a supers-style game: because they create the possibility for the players to be managing their PCs advancement, via pushing towards and/or creating their own Milestone-relevant events, somewhat independently of the fiction being created by the GM as the focus of the Action scenes. This reminded me of how, in superhero comics, the personal development often happens largely independently of whether its Electro or Arcade or Dr Doom who is this month's villain.

I did not say they don't work well in general. I said I felt that they would not work well for the type of game that I likr to run. I like the idea behind them. However, I remember feeling they could be an issue and at the lower point range feel forced. I'd have to go back and look at Milestones and see if it jars my memory (it has been several years) and then take time to articulate my thoughts if does. However, I have a three hour final due tonight and need to finish a short paper regarding my final project which is also due tonight (yay, for being back in school ).

 

[Greg K]

Marvel Heroic RP does just this, by flattening without eliminating the numerical expression of power differentials, and by given the GM an
I think that last sentence is probably a bit exaggerated - I think that sort of team-up (eg Green Arrow and Green Lantern) will push the system tolerances a little bit. Most of the characters in the Annihilation book - flagged as a "cosmic" event - are markedly more powerful (in numerical terms) than most of the characters in the Civil War books. I think this would manifest itself in play, though I'll admit that I haven't tried a game with such marked power differentials.

It may have been, but that is what I was told- the lower powered characters would generate more 1s and therefore more pp which would balance them out.
Now, I never saw the Annihilation event book (nor do I have any desire to read the source material). Cosmic can mean two diffierent things in comics- cosmic scale in terms of power level or cosmic as taking place in space (ok, I guess three things if it the title or event dealswith both). I don't the people making the comment had "Cosmic" power, pretty much do all due all characters in mind or someone like either the Hulk (Strength, Durability and Stamina at Godlike level) or Thor (Godlike Strength and Stamina plus Godlike Durability and Weather Supermacy through Mjolnir) when they made their comments.

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

It's been interesting to read everyone's thoughts on the various Marvel systems and some of the things that had me fired up have been addressed already but there were a couple of points I wanted to make:

• Matt Forbeck has worked on a ton of games so I am 100% sure he's not going to see this as a chance to being back the Brave New World mechanics and finally get them the presentation they deserve
• I think it's extremely unlikely we will see an actual d16 used. I'd expect a d20 and d6's, maybe d10's - I assume the name is a joke and a unique, trademark-friendly identifier.
• It's clearly meant to be friendly to 5E players so I wouldn't expect radical innovation here but I would be happy to be surprised.
• The paid playtest thing ... that's interesting. We've seen it with Pathfinder, sure, and with FFG Star Wars but it's odd that a big non-RPG company is taking that approach. Looks like the playtest starts in 2022 so we won't see a finished game until 2023. Well, it should be an interesting run.

 

[Greg K]

The MHRP system does do this work: powers are scaled at d8, d10 and d12 and so you can see pretty straightforwardly whether your character is at Punisher/Captain America level, at Spidey/Power Man level, or at Thor/Hulk level. And the system itself does a pretty good job of accommodating different power levels.

As a fan of 70's and early 80's Marvel, I do miss the level between Spidey/Powerman and Thor/Hulk in which Iron Man, Rogue, and a few others fell.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think it's extremely unlikely we will see an actual d16 used. I'd expect a d20 and d6's, maybe d10's - I assume the name is a joke and a unique, trademark-friendly identifier.

Be shocked if a d20 is used. It's practically a D&D trademark and I don't think it's actually helpful as a part of most RPG design. Of course I'd die of shock if an actual d16 was used (I do have one!). Fully expecting d6s and d10s here.

It's clearly meant to be friendly to 5E players so I wouldn't expect radical innovation here but I would be happy to be surprised.

it doesn't need to be radical, but hopefully it's a bit tighter and more modern in its general design than 5E is outside of combat. I expect combat will have a fairly traditional action-order approach rather than a more narrative "DM says who goes" deal like PtbA/Resistance/etc.

 

[Parmandur]

Be shocked if a d20 is used. It's practically a D&D trademark and I don't think it's actually helpful as a part of most RPG design. Of course I'd die of shock if an actual d16 was used (I do have one!). Fully expecting d6s and d10s here.

it doesn't need to be radical, but hopefully it's a bit tighter and more modern in its general design than 5E is outside of combat. I expect combat will have a fairly traditional action-order approach rather than a more narrative "DM says who goes" deal like PtbA/Resistance/etc.

The main reason to think dice like a d20 would be ysed is that they sell those duce sets in Walmart and Target, so they are very, very widely available.

 

[pemerton]

I wasn't going to reply because you have papers to write! But you've prompted me to in any event.

Now, I never saw the Annihilation event book (nor do I have any desire to read the source material). Cosmic can mean two diffierent things in comics- cosmic scale in terms of power level or cosmic as taking place in space (ok, I guess three things if it the title or event dealswith both). I don't the people making the comment had "Cosmic" power, pretty much do all due all characters in mind or someone like either the Hulk (Strength, Durability and Stamina at Godlike level) or Thor (Godlike Strength and Stamina plus Godlike Durability and Weather Supermacy through Mjolnir) when they made their comments.

There are a couple of typos that mean I'm not following this 100%. But many of the characters in Annihilation have power sets with multiple d12s. I think this would be noticeable in play alongside (say) Captain America.

that is what I was told- the lower powered characters would generate more 1s and therefore more pp which would balance them out.

Yep, that's true. It's not enough on its own - you also need the GM to throw the Doom Pool dice generated by those 1s at the more powerful PCs. In my experience it took a couple of sessions to start to get a feel for Doom Pool dynamics, and it's not a perfect mechanic, but I quite like it.

But I think a pool with d12s in it is pretty strong, and so will put some pressure on the balance between PCs. I'm conjecturing a bit when I say I don't think it would be fatal in any way, but I think it might be noticed in play. The weaker PCs, for instance, might start to focus more on establishing assets that then assist the stronger PC in actually delivering the 12+ result that saves the day.

As a fan of 70's and early 80's Marvel, I do miss the level between Spidey/Powerman and Thor/Hulk in which Iron Man, Rogue, and a few others fell.

One way the system can pick that up is via having multiple powersets, which therefore allows more dice in the pool. Eg in our supers game one player played Nightcrawler (with one power set), one Iceman (likewise with one power set) and another War Machine (with two power sets, one for his armour and one for his weapons).

 

[Zaukrie]

Putting aside mechanics......what kind of adventures happen in super hero games? How do you keep them from being all powerful all the time? I've never played a super hero game.....and am curious what kinds of stories people ran.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I wonder about if the 616 system will try to harness the synergy of popularity of the d20 system. Most of newbie players only want to learn the system of their favorite or first game. If the 616 system is not enough good, then the players will buy the books for the fluff/lore/blackground, and this is a very rich, but not the crunch. In the internet age lot of players would rather to read the fandom wikis.

I think Marvel is going to release, or they should, something like a DM Guild where 3PPs and players can publish their own ideas, for example an alternate timeline where the superheroes appeared in the 30's years and now the heroes are the third generation (but thanks high advanced science and the discovered secret of the eternal youth humans can be live more time. The sad part is the new generations can't find the better jobs because they are too many veterans who don't retire but to fund their own business).

If the 616 system is too close to d20 system then others, for example Paizo, could publish their own clone.

The 616 system has to show or offer something more interesting than the system of Mutants & Masterminds.

In the past I suggest a special leveling-up with two pillars for a d20 superheroes. One of the pillars would be the classic "+hit points, +bonus attack and bonus save check", and the second pillar is all the learn things but not linked with the battlefield, for example languanges, sciences, driving vehicles. This could allow games where the PCs are too powerful, and then one of the pillars would be "frozen", but the XPs rewards would be used for the second pillar.