I have a nostalgic fondness for the old MSH 80's game, though I would personally write a lot of tweaks to the system if I were to run it today.I was poking around DriveThruRPG and came across FASERIP. Has anyone given it a try? How close does it come to the old TSR Marvel Superheroes RPG from the 80s?
Are you kidding? My Aunt May/Galactus team up worked great!The original is not for people who give a hoot about balance.
We often wondered how the hell Punisher had any Karma. I think "mysterious" deaths caused you to lose half your Karma, but most of Punisher's were very sterious.One thing I loved in FASERIP was the karma system for gaining and losing karma. If you kill, you lose ALL Karma unless it gets revealed you killed an android or some weird Marvelism - and they talked about having a team pool to offset Wolverine, for example. The other X-men soaked up his Karma penalties.
We often wondered how the hell Punisher had any Karma. I think "mysterious" deaths caused you to lose half your Karma, but most of Punisher's were very sterious.
I once rolled up a Normal Human that had one power - Alter Ego. Literally all I could do was turn from one regular guy into a different regular guy.Yeah, I cannot speak to the clone, but the original was a blast.
The original is not for people who give a hoot about balance.
Digging around on the internet, I found a PDF of the MSH Basic set published in 1984 and the Advanced set published in 1986. Punisher was a hero available for play in the Basic set, but I think they realized how poorly that concept worked for the game because he wasn't an option in the Advanced set (or at least wasn't in the boxed set books).Well, for one thing, the Punisher wasn't a hero, and, IIRC, villains had different Karma rules.
I had a lot of fun just creating characters using the random tables to see what I'd get. There was a ton of flexibility in what the powers actually did, but as Umbran said it was pretty much impossible to run a balanced game. You pretty much had to create teams of villains with specific heroes in mind for who should fight each villain. It was still fun despite the flaws.I once rolled up a Normal Human that had one power - Alter Ego. Literally all I could do was turn from one regular guy into a different regular guy.
And yet it was kinda fun to play outside of combat.
That’s not uncommon for most superhero games given the breadth of power capabilities, even if built on a balanced point-based system.I had a lot of fun just creating characters using the random tables to see what I'd get. There was a ton of flexibility in what the powers actually did, but as Umbran said it was pretty much impossible to run a balanced game. You pretty much had to create teams of villains with specific heroes in mind for who should fight each villain. It was still fun despite the flaws.
To quote Steven E. Schend from "The Marvel-Phile" column in Dragon #190 (February, 1993):We often wondered how the hell Punisher had any Karma. I think "mysterious" deaths caused you to lose half your Karma, but most of Punisher's were very sterious.
How can people like assassins gain Karma? If Karma is a reflection of a hero's status compared to the ideal hero, what if a hero doesn't care about his status? The Punisher and Wolverine certainly have no compunctions against killing. I realize that this is against the heroic nature of the game, but these people do kill. How is this handled within the game?
This has always been a sticky question to address, given the rise in vengeful, violent heroes in both the comics and other media. The answers are direct interpretations of the game rules on these matters. Keep in mind that any Judge can change these stipulations to suit the type of game they play; TSR and the MSH game will always rule against killer heroes.
Assassins in the MSH game are, by definition, villains; their crimes bring them as much Karma as heroes get for stopping the same crimes. However, villains lose only 30 Karma for killing people. The Karma gained for committing a violent crime (such as murder) is negated by the 30-point loss, and they gain zero Karma for their actions, Assassins, therefore, must gain their Karma at tasks other than killing. Characters like the Red Skull lose Karma by the ton for killing underlings, but they gain Karma in many other evil ways and these killings promote fear (and negative Popularity).
If a hero doesn't care about his status as an ideal hero, he just doesn't have the Karma to spend like other heroes. Heroes who kill (Wolverine, Punisher, Devil Slayer) gain Karma normally with many actions, but lose it all immediately upon killing. Since they don't uphold the strict ideals of the heroic tradition to protect life, they don't get the bonuses to excel at their heroic duties (Karma points). The lack of Karma also prevents new Power Stunts from being developed or new equipment from being procured; when was the last time you saw Wolverine or the Punisher perform something totally new and unexpected?
I think I pretty much stopped playing Marvel around 1990-1991 at the latest. This thread got me to thinking about how MSH would have responded the the "EXTREME-TO-THE-MAX" comics that became more common in the 90s and your quote gives me some insight into that. They really missed an opportunity to come up with a power stunt based on the number of pouches on a hero's costume though.To quote Steven E. Schend from "The Marvel-Phile" column in Dragon #190 (February, 1993):
Own it, played it, and used it as a starting point for my very own retroclone, Astonishing Super Heroes. Here are my thoughts on FASERIP:I was poking around DriveThruRPG and came across FASERIP. Has anyone given it a try? How close does it come to the old TSR Marvel Superheroes RPG from the 80s?
It works for Nick Fury....I once rolled up a Normal Human that had one power - Alter Ego. Literally all I could do was turn from one regular guy into a different regular guy.
And yet it was kinda fun to play outside of combat.
The Golden Oldie?Are you kidding? My Aunt May/Galactus team up worked great!
So I finally had some time to read through the rules further and they seem to have addressed the major issues with imbalance in the original. Instead of rolling each stat randomly which as we know produced a wide range of power levels, the GM sets the baseline power level for the overall campaign and you roll to apply 3 +1 modifiers and 3 -1 modifiers to your primary stats.Yeah, I cannot speak to the clone, but the original was a blast.
The original is not for people who give a hoot about balance.