Check Out This Preview of the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game

On April 20th, the 120-page softcover playtest book for the new Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game by Matt Forbeck will be available to purchase for $9.99; the final game is due to be released next year, in 2023.

Marvel has revealed some of the playtest book, in which you use the new d616 system and profiles for Spider-Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Wolverine and more, in an introductory scenario called Enter: Hydra. The scenario involves a hostage situation at the Howard & Maria Stark Center for Galactic History.

Marvel Multiverse RPG Alternate Covers

Marvel has revealed some alternate covers for its upcoming Marvel Multiverse RPG (written by Matt Forbeck). The new covers are by Peach Momoko and Logan Lubera, and the standard cover is by Iban Coello. The game uses a new "D616" system and will be released next year with a playtest book. "“…...

www.enworld.org

The d616 system uses three d6s. Designer Matt Forbeck says "If you get a 1 on the Marvel die, you get a fantastic result and something amazing happens. If you get 6 on both of the other dice—or a 6-1-6 result—that’s an ultimate fantastic roll, which is even better."

The words MARVEL contains initials for the game's six ability scores -- Might, Agility, Resilience, Vigilance, Ego, and Logic. Each character has an archetype, such as a striker or blaster, and the archetype combines with the abilities to give bigger attack rolls.

Here's a quick look at Spider-Man! For reference a normal human stat is between -4 and +4.

​

Get a First Look at the New Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game

Plus an exclusive Q&A with game designer Matt Forbeck!

www.marvel.com

 

[dshuppert]

Edited post

 

[dshuppert]

This just all looks like they've ignored the past 20-30 years of game design and have settled on a very 90's kind of system. It's really looking bad so far.

I couldn't agree more. I REALLY wanted to like this... but, having read through the entire playtest now and even played a couple of short sessions, I have very little interest left in this. It's crunchy, slow, and doesn't feel "super-heroic" at all. This feels like a huge step backward (like 20 - 30 years)! I'll stick with MHRP. Even with all its problems, the Cortex+ system is lightyears ahead of this. MHRP played like a comic book. This plays worse than the early Palladium system (sorry to those who like Palladium. I like their settings, just not the system).

That said, a good group and GM can make nearly any game fun. Even so, none of us have enjoyed this. We enjoy crunchy systems for some games, but not games that should be fast-moving (like a superhero or maybe Star Wars game). We'll stick it out for a while and see how things develop though. As we get better with the system, I'm sure some attitudes will change.

One of our players (a 22-year-old, autistic, male) pointed out that Marvel will likely be the game that introduces many newcomers to the hobby. This is not the system you want for that. The whole 616-thing feels so forced in that it's almost funny. All the math that must be done for the simplest action will run many players off or bore them to sleep.

FASERIP ran way better than this too.

 

[MGibster]

FASERIP ran way better than this too.

FASERIP for the win! I still haven't played a superhero game I've enjoyed more than I did TSR's Marvel line.

 

[dshuppert]

FASERIP was pretty awesome!

 

[dshuppert]

Given that people really enjoyed playing many 90s RPG systems, I don't see how this is an issue by itself.

We enjoyed games in the 70s and 80s too. But that doesn't mean that we should ignore all those years of advancements in game design. That was all he was saying. If we want nostalgia, we already have a Marvel RPG from the 80s and 90s.

 

[Greg K]

I'll take Icons: Assembled, Marvel SAGA, MHR, Bash:UE, and even the original Marvel Game over this Marvel Universe game (which, imo, appears will rank among the worst superhero games being just just above Superhero 2044 and Foundation)

 

[SteveC]

I'm not going to lie: I was looking forward to this but it's starting to look like a train wreck.

The fact that characters at different power levels have trouble interacting is something that should have been dealt with. Marvel characters of different tiers interact all the time. They battle each other all the time. Looks like this will need some major work to salvage it. I just wonder why no one thought to answer these questions before people had eyes on it.

 

[ART!]

I now own a copy, so hopefully I'll have time to look at it this evening and having something to add to the conversation here...

 

[Dr. Bull]

It looks familiar, but (to me) not in a good way. Derived stats, movement expressed as an abstract number then as a secondary quantity (that probably definitely isn't just FASERIP's Areas). Numbers that are modifiers that also seem to be other numbers. Power-trees. Roll and add modifers then add another modifier. Mechanically restrictive "classes"/archetypes. That's what I'm taking from reading the feature, and while I don't mind familiar terms/mechanics in-and-of-themselves, it just all seems a bit clumsy and clunky in its implementation.

I do hope to be corrected by the final document, however!

Jamumu:

I think your assessment is spot-on. I've now read most of the playtest (April 20th), and I agree with everything you've written.

- Dr. Bull

 

[Dr. Bull]

I'm an old, old man and I was making a feeble joke referencing the names of attributes from TSR's version of Marvel Superheroes from the 1980s. Attributes from lowest to highest were Feeble, Poor, Typical, Good, Excellent, Remarkable, Incredible, Amazing, Monstrous, Unearthly, Shift X, Shift Y, Shift Z, Class 1000, Class 3000, and Class 5000. At least that's what I think it was. Spider-Man had an Amazing Agility and an Incredible Strength. I think Captain America had a Remarkable Strength which was considered peak human.

I am old as well. I think your memory is quite good. You have identified something that this new game has not: quantifiable traits/abilities.