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Invincible RPG: Reviewing The Quickstart With A Comic Artist & An Author
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<blockquote data-quote="Egg Embry" data-source="post: 9769812" data-attributes="member: 6808965"><p>A tabletop roleplaying game based on <strong><em>Invincible</em></strong> by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley is crowdfunding on <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game/" target="_blank"><strong>Kickstarter</strong></a>. <strong>Skybound Entertainment</strong> and <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/11437/free-league-publishing?affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank">Free League Publishing</a> are partnering to translate the <a href="https://www.skybound.com/invincible/comics" target="_blank"><strong><em>Invincible</em></strong></a><a href="https://www.skybound.com/invincible/comics" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://www.skybound.com/invincible/comics" target="_blank">c</a><a href="https://www.skybound.com/invincible/comics" target="_blank">omic book series</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/4ny6OmO" target="_blank"><strong>Amazon</strong></a><a href="https://amzn.to/4ny6OmO" target="_blank"> streaming series</a> into <strong>Year Zero Engine</strong> RPG. In the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/invincible-rpg-talking-superheroes-with-a-comic-artist-an-author.715603/" target="_blank">first part of this series</a>, I reached out to comic book artist Steven Cummings and comic book author John McGuire to talk about <strong><em>Invincible</em></strong> the comic and their experiences with superhero RPGs. In this article, we’ll review the Invincible engine and the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/537067/invincible-superhero-roleplaying-quickstart?affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank"><strong><em>Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Quickstart</em></strong></a>.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]418882[/ATTACH]</p><h3><strong>INVINCIBLE – SUPERHERO ROLEPLAYING QUICKSTART</strong></h3><p>To support their <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game/" target="_blank"><strong>Kickstarter</strong></a><strong>, Free League</strong> launched the free PDF <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/537067/invincible-superhero-roleplaying-quickstart?affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank"><strong><em>Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Quickstart</em></strong></a> at <strong>DriveThruRPG</strong>. Designed by Adam Bradford of <strong>D&D Beyond</strong> and Tomas Härenstam, lead designer on the <strong><em>ALIEN RPG</em></strong>, the <strong><em>Blade Runner RPG</em></strong>, and <strong><em>Dragonbane</em></strong>, this book gives you a 36-page sample of the setting, characters, and gaming engine to get a feel for the world and enjoy a short <strong><em>Invincible</em></strong> adventure. <strong><em>Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying</em></strong> uses the d6 dice pool variant of <strong>Free League’s <em>Year Zero Engine</em></strong>. When attempting an action, gamers roll their dice pool. Rolling a single 6 is a success, additional 6s provide stunts to improve the result. If the gamer fails their action by not rolling any 6s, they can push and re-roll their dice. When they push, they get to re-roll all dice with 2s, 3s, 4s, or 5s and keep the new results. For each 1 on a push, their character takes a point of stress, which reduces their resolve (non-physical hit points). In addition, the character will pick up stress through combat and other challenges. Hit points and resolve measure the character’s health, and reaching zero in either measure can break the character.</p><p></p><p>In order to understand how these rules compare to other superhero RPGs, I asked <a href="https://johnrmcguire.com/" target="_blank">Joh</a><a href="https://johnrmcguire.com/" target="_blank">n McGuire</a> (author of <a href="https://johnrmcguire.com/the-crossing/" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Crossing</em></strong></a> and <a href="https://johnrmcguire.com/the-gilded-age/" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Gilded Age</em></strong></a> as well as <a href="https://johnrmcguire.com/in-our-dreams-awake/" target="_blank"><strong><em>In Our Dreams Awake</em></strong></a><strong><em>, </em></strong>of which I am co-author, and the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ioda/in-our-dreams-awake-3-a-dreampunk-comic" target="_blank">third issue is on </a><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ioda/in-our-dreams-awake-3-a-dreampunk-comic" target="_blank"><strong>Kickstarter</strong></a> now) about his experiences with the <strong><em>Year Zero Engine</em></strong> versus other roleplaying engines:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The quickstart rules address actions, powers, and elements of the adventures, but they do not cover character creation. Despite that, the book provides enough detail to understand how characters work. Characters take one of eight roles – Blaster, Brains, Brawn, Controller, Defender, Leader, Striker, or Wildcard. There are six attributes – Fighting, Agility, Strength, Reason, Intuition, and Presence – with ratings between 1 and 12. For rolls, you’ll chose an attribute or a power and roll the number of d6s based on the attributes rating, which can be modified by the GM. As mentioned, 6s are successes and re-rolls risk stress.</p><p></p><p>For gameifying actions and powers, I asked <a href="https://stekichikun.wpengine.com/" target="_blank">Steven Cummings</a> (freelance comic book illustrator on <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/creators/419/steven_cummings" target="_blank"><strong>Marve</strong></a><a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/creators/419/steven_cummings" target="_blank"><strong>l Comics</strong></a> titles like <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/37075/star_wars_the_mandalorian_season_2_2023_2024" target="_blank"><strong><em>Star Wars: The Mandalorian</em></strong></a><strong><em>, </em></strong><a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/39366/star_wars_ahsoka_2024_present" target="_blank"><strong><em>Star Wars: Ahsoka</em></strong></a><strong><em>,</em></strong> and <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/26592/champions_2019" target="_blank"><strong><em>Champions</em></strong></a><strong><em>,</em> </strong>and <a href="https://imagecomics.com/creators/steven-cummings" target="_blank"><strong>Image Comics</strong></a> for <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/wayward" target="_blank"><strong><em>Wayward</em></strong></a><a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/wayward" target="_blank"> comic book series</a> with author Jim Zub as well as tabletop roleplaying games like <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/2627/palladium-books/category/5190/rifts?affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank"><strong>Palladium Books’</strong></a><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/2627/palladium-books/category/5190/rifts?affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/2627/palladium-books/category/5190/rifts?affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank"><strong><em>Rifts®</em></strong></a> and <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?artist=%22Steven%20Cummings%22&affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank">others</a>) about the innovations of one of the earliest superhero RPGs, 1984’s <strong><em>Marvel Super Heroes Role-playing Game</em></strong>:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]418884[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><h3><strong>CONCLUSION</strong></h3><p><strong><em>Invincible’s</em></strong> core comic book series ran for over a decade. The animated series based on the comic is scheduled to run for at least five seasons. Both versions of <strong><em>Invincible</em></strong> have been nominated for awards. <strong>Free League</strong> and their <strong><em>Year Zero Engine</em></strong> games have won so many tabletop roleplaying awards, it’d be a separate article to list them all. With well-received source material and a beloved game engine, <strong><em>Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying</em></strong> is already a hit on <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game" target="_blank"><strong>Kickstarter</strong></a>. Based on the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game" target="_blank">quickstart</a>, the game will live up to the potential of the series. But why play a superhero roleplaying game? <a href="https://johnrmcguire.com/" target="_blank">John McGuire</a> chimed in:</p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="https://stekichikun.wpengine.com/" target="_blank">Steven Cummings</a> summed it up this way:</p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]418885[/ATTACH]</p><p>Check out the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/537067/invincible-superhero-roleplaying-quickstart?affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank"><strong><em>Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Quickstart</em></strong></a> on <strong>DriveThruRPG</strong>. The <strong>Kickstarter </strong>for the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game" target="_blank"><strong>Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying</strong></a> from <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/11437/free-league-publishing?affiliate_id=814082" target="_blank"><strong>Free League Publishing</strong></a> and<strong> Skybound Entertainment </strong>runs until October 16 2025 3:00 PM EDT.</p><p></p><p><em>Egg Embry worked with John McGuire and Steven Cummings on different comic book projects. Egg participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, Kobold Press Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, Kobold Press, and Amazon.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Egg Embry, post: 9769812, member: 6808965"] A tabletop roleplaying game based on [B][I]Invincible[/I][/B] by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley is crowdfunding on [URL='https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game/'][B]Kickstarter[/B][/URL]. [B]Skybound Entertainment[/B] and [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/11437/free-league-publishing?affiliate_id=814082']Free League Publishing[/URL] are partnering to translate the [URL='https://www.skybound.com/invincible/comics'][B][I]Invincible[/I][/B][/URL][URL='https://www.skybound.com/invincible/comics'] [/URL][URL='https://www.skybound.com/invincible/comics']c[/URL][URL='https://www.skybound.com/invincible/comics']omic book series[/URL] and [URL='https://amzn.to/4ny6OmO'][B]Amazon[/B][/URL][URL='https://amzn.to/4ny6OmO'] streaming series[/URL] into [B]Year Zero Engine[/B] RPG. In the [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/invincible-rpg-talking-superheroes-with-a-comic-artist-an-author.715603/']first part of this series[/URL], I reached out to comic book artist Steven Cummings and comic book author John McGuire to talk about [B][I]Invincible[/I][/B] the comic and their experiences with superhero RPGs. In this article, we’ll review the Invincible engine and the [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/537067/invincible-superhero-roleplaying-quickstart?affiliate_id=814082'][B][I]Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Quickstart[/I][/B][/URL]. [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="1200px" alt="Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Pages 01.png"]418882[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [HEADING=2][B]INVINCIBLE – SUPERHERO ROLEPLAYING QUICKSTART[/B][/HEADING] To support their [URL='https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game/'][B]Kickstarter[/B][/URL][B], Free League[/B] launched the free PDF [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/537067/invincible-superhero-roleplaying-quickstart?affiliate_id=814082'][B][I]Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Quickstart[/I][/B][/URL] at [B]DriveThruRPG[/B]. Designed by Adam Bradford of [B]D&D Beyond[/B] and Tomas Härenstam, lead designer on the [B][I]ALIEN RPG[/I][/B], the [B][I]Blade Runner RPG[/I][/B], and [B][I]Dragonbane[/I][/B], this book gives you a 36-page sample of the setting, characters, and gaming engine to get a feel for the world and enjoy a short [B][I]Invincible[/I][/B] adventure. [B][I]Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying[/I][/B] uses the d6 dice pool variant of [B]Free League’s [I]Year Zero Engine[/I][/B]. When attempting an action, gamers roll their dice pool. Rolling a single 6 is a success, additional 6s provide stunts to improve the result. If the gamer fails their action by not rolling any 6s, they can push and re-roll their dice. When they push, they get to re-roll all dice with 2s, 3s, 4s, or 5s and keep the new results. For each 1 on a push, their character takes a point of stress, which reduces their resolve (non-physical hit points). In addition, the character will pick up stress through combat and other challenges. Hit points and resolve measure the character’s health, and reaching zero in either measure can break the character. In order to understand how these rules compare to other superhero RPGs, I asked [URL='https://johnrmcguire.com/']Joh[/URL][URL='https://johnrmcguire.com/']n McGuire[/URL] (author of [URL='https://johnrmcguire.com/the-crossing/'][B][I]The Crossing[/I][/B][/URL] and [URL='https://johnrmcguire.com/the-gilded-age/'][B][I]The Gilded Age[/I][/B][/URL] as well as [URL='https://johnrmcguire.com/in-our-dreams-awake/'][B][I]In Our Dreams Awake[/I][/B][/URL][B][I], [/I][/B]of which I am co-author, and the [URL='https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ioda/in-our-dreams-awake-3-a-dreampunk-comic']third issue is on [/URL][URL='https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ioda/in-our-dreams-awake-3-a-dreampunk-comic'][B]Kickstarter[/B][/URL] now) about his experiences with the [B][I]Year Zero Engine[/I][/B] versus other roleplaying engines: The quickstart rules address actions, powers, and elements of the adventures, but they do not cover character creation. Despite that, the book provides enough detail to understand how characters work. Characters take one of eight roles – Blaster, Brains, Brawn, Controller, Defender, Leader, Striker, or Wildcard. There are six attributes – Fighting, Agility, Strength, Reason, Intuition, and Presence – with ratings between 1 and 12. For rolls, you’ll chose an attribute or a power and roll the number of d6s based on the attributes rating, which can be modified by the GM. As mentioned, 6s are successes and re-rolls risk stress. For gameifying actions and powers, I asked [URL='https://stekichikun.wpengine.com/']Steven Cummings[/URL] (freelance comic book illustrator on [URL='https://www.marvel.com/comics/creators/419/steven_cummings'][B]Marve[/B][/URL][URL='https://www.marvel.com/comics/creators/419/steven_cummings'][B]l Comics[/B][/URL] titles like [URL='https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/37075/star_wars_the_mandalorian_season_2_2023_2024'][B][I]Star Wars: The Mandalorian[/I][/B][/URL][B][I], [/I][/B][URL='https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/39366/star_wars_ahsoka_2024_present'][B][I]Star Wars: Ahsoka[/I][/B][/URL][B][I],[/I][/B] and [URL='https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/26592/champions_2019'][B][I]Champions[/I][/B][/URL][B][I],[/I] [/B]and [URL='https://imagecomics.com/creators/steven-cummings'][B]Image Comics[/B][/URL] for [URL='https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/wayward'][B][I]Wayward[/I][/B][/URL][URL='https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/wayward'] comic book series[/URL] with author Jim Zub as well as tabletop roleplaying games like [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/2627/palladium-books/category/5190/rifts?affiliate_id=814082'][B]Palladium Books’[/B][/URL][URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/2627/palladium-books/category/5190/rifts?affiliate_id=814082'] [/URL][URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/2627/palladium-books/category/5190/rifts?affiliate_id=814082'][B][I]Rifts®[/I][/B][/URL] and [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?artist=%22Steven%20Cummings%22&affiliate_id=814082']others[/URL]) about the innovations of one of the earliest superhero RPGs, 1984’s [B][I]Marvel Super Heroes Role-playing Game[/I][/B]: [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Quickstart Cover.png"]418884[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [HEADING=2][B]CONCLUSION[/B][/HEADING] [B][I]Invincible’s[/I][/B] core comic book series ran for over a decade. The animated series based on the comic is scheduled to run for at least five seasons. Both versions of [B][I]Invincible[/I][/B] have been nominated for awards. [B]Free League[/B] and their [B][I]Year Zero Engine[/I][/B] games have won so many tabletop roleplaying awards, it’d be a separate article to list them all. With well-received source material and a beloved game engine, [B][I]Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying[/I][/B] is already a hit on [URL='https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game'][B]Kickstarter[/B][/URL]. Based on the [URL='https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game']quickstart[/URL], the game will live up to the potential of the series. But why play a superhero roleplaying game? [URL='https://johnrmcguire.com/']John McGuire[/URL] chimed in: [URL='https://stekichikun.wpengine.com/']Steven Cummings[/URL] summed it up this way: [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Starter Set.png"]418885[/ATTACH][/CENTER] Check out the [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/537067/invincible-superhero-roleplaying-quickstart?affiliate_id=814082'][B][I]Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying Quickstart[/I][/B][/URL] on [B]DriveThruRPG[/B]. The [B]Kickstarter [/B]for the [URL='https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game'][B]Invincible – Superhero Roleplaying[/B][/URL] from [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/11437/free-league-publishing?affiliate_id=814082'][B]Free League Publishing[/B][/URL] and[B] Skybound Entertainment [/B]runs until October 16 2025 3:00 PM EDT. [I]Egg Embry worked with John McGuire and Steven Cummings on different comic book projects. Egg participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, Kobold Press Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, Kobold Press, and Amazon.[/I] [/QUOTE]
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