Marvel Universes

[Umbran]

Over time, there have been three superhero games based in the Marvel Universe - the old yellow and blue boxed sets from TSR, the Saga-style, and now the new diceless game.

I'm quite familiar with the original boxed set game. I have never seen the other two in action. So, talk to me about them. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What do they do well, and what do they do poorly?

 

[Wormwood]

We're currently playing the new Marvel Universe RPG.

Thoughts:
1. The game favors 'author stance' over 'actor stance'. In a sense, you are playing comic book writers and authors, rather than the heroes themselves.
2. The ARS system (using resource allocation rather than dice) is fairly innovative, fun and easy to play. The Panel/Page system is really cool as well.
3. The game itself needs tweaking. Incomplete, conflicting and just plain nonsensical rules abound, making house rules necessary.
4. It is definitely *not* d20. For one thing, it's not balanced (and efforts to shoehorn balance into MURPG are misguided, IMO). It relies *heavily* on GM fiat---If you don't trust your GM implicitly, MURPG won't work for you.
5. You also need to trust your GM to tell you to rewrite your character because it is too 'broken' (the system is very easy to abuse, again requiring a trust excercise to keep everyone on par).

I mentioned House Rules before. One of the biggest gripes about MURPG in the roleplaying community is that MURPG has such a poorly defined ruleset. One approach is to add rules to the system, flesh it out more, give it a stronger structure (i3ullseye does this a lot on his site, below). Another approach (favored by my group) is to remove rules and streamline the system, making it a more freeform game.

Good luck, and I hope this helped. To be honest, MURPG is the most fun gaming I've had in years, but it did require me to fully invest in the 'feel' of the game. That's not for everyone (we are losing one player because he hates the game so much).

Some links:
Marvel's site
i3ullseye's Boards
Thread on RPG.net
Another thread on RPG.net

 

[Dahak]

Not exactly on topic, but there is a rumour floating about that Marvel is trying to position itself to be bought. The believed front runner is Sony, but among the other alleged candidates is Hasbro. If Hasbro acquires Marvel, you may yet see a fourth version of a MSH RPG, d20 no less. (But don't hold your breath...)

 

[TalonComics]

Couldn't you write up any Marvel character you wanted to with any of the current crop of super-hero games out there right now? The Hero System, Mutants and Masterminds and Silver Age Sentinels comes to mind.

~D

 

[bolen]

sure you could convert anything but that does not help those of us who are lazy. A mutants and masterminds superlink product would be great.

 

[Umbran]

Couldn't you write up any Marvel character you wanted to with any of the current crop of super-hero games out there right now?

Probably, yes. But, I generally find that when there's a game out there specifically designed to do what I want, it is better to look at it first. If I want to run something in another setting, or if I find all of the Marvel games suit my needs, I'll then look at other games.

 

[Darkness]

Couldn't you write up any Marvel character you wanted to with any of the current crop of super-hero games out there right now? The Hero System, Mutants and Masterminds and Silver Age Sentinels comes to mind.

~D

Oh yeah. With a little experience, you can probably write up just about anything with these three systems.

/me goes back to statting stuff in HERO.

 

[Staffan]

Couldn't you write up any Marvel character you wanted to with any of the current crop of super-hero games out there right now? The Hero System, Mutants and Masterminds and Silver Age Sentinels comes to mind.

My own experience with super-hero games is mostly limited to a theoretical knowledge of the old Marvel Super Heroes (not SAGA, the one with FASERIP) and GURPS Supers. When comparing these two, one thing that was sorely missing from GURPS Supers was a method for expanding your powers on the fly, which MSH had in "Power Stunts".

For example, Spider-man has those nifty webshooters, right? Using them to web up folks and swing around the city are "regular" uses of his power. Using them to create a shield to block a nasty attack would be a power stunt (and has been seen in the comics). Other examples would be to use Fire Generation/Control to make a cage of fire around someone, or using a Force Field to propel oneself through the air (mimicking flying). Effects-based power systems like GURPS Supers and, from what I've heard, HERO would have major problems with this kind of thing.

 

[Kichwas]

The game which excels at expansion on the fly right now is Mutants and Masterminds with it's Hero Point system. The average PC has 5 of these that renew at critical plot moments (scene change, new adventure, per session, or whatever the GM sets). You can spend points to have more than this number of Hero Points, I have a PC with 10.

You can spend one to gain a new power for one action as a stunt or extra off of one of your existing powers. They have a number of other uses as well -die rerolls, power boosting, recovery from subdual damage, and so on.

As for the new Marvel game, it's very interesting in it's approach. It's the only RPG on the market where the results of an action are 100% determined by player choices. No randomness nor arbitrary decision making. It's like playing chess in a room full of games like Chutes and Ladders, Poker, and Risk.

The core mechanic revolves around 'allocating stones' and the number of stones you allocate determines for the most part how long it would take you to succeed -if you allocate enough you can succeed fast enough to meet the challenge. There's a bit more complexity to it than that -some basic thresholds you need to be able to meet to even succeed at all, and the setup for opposed tasks which is largely a question of who put in the most resources winning out.

The game has a lot of potential, but does need some refinement in places.

That said I have yet to play it, the above only comes from a read of it. So far I only have one player who has an interest in it other than myself.

 

[the Jester]

The new Marvel game sounds interesting but I've neither played nor seen it.

The old skool Marvel Superheroes game was fun, but I always felt it was written for 12 year olds.