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Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




Armadillo Bandwagon posted:

Also, none of us are familiar with The Sentry. I’m thinking of replacing him with The Hulk and just saying that Banner gave himself up. Any reasons that would screw up the event?

There is literally a free PDF devoted to that exact idea.

Edit: Since MWP's website is a disaster to navigate (sorry Cam), here is a link to where all of the previews and bonus content live.

Squizzle fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Mar 10, 2013

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Armadillo Bandwagon
Jun 26, 2007
These are words that mean things.
Thanks for the advice, guys. It was really helpful.
We started really late so we only did the first action scene and a short transition afterwards. It was a bit slower than I thought it would be, but it never felt like the fiction stalled. Most of us immediately expressed a desire to play again.

We had Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Hercules, and an original alien character named Cosmic Man.

Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye were working with SHIELD to take a restrained Grey Gargoyle to the Raft by helicopter. They were the first on the scene and thus the first to encounter Count Nefaria as well as the chained-together Tiger Shark and Armadillo. Cosmic Man arrived at nearly the same time, but he decided to hang back because he didn’t want to alert SHIELD agents to his presence.

Highlights:
Pretty much right away, Nefaria pushed the helicopter into the ocean with Hawkeye and Grey Gargoyle inside. I thought that Hawkeye would try to save Grey Gargoyle but he just didn’t give a gently caress since he realized Gargoyle didn’t need to breathe and they could just get him from the sea floor afterwards.
Hercules entered the fight by landing on Nefaria, smashing him into the landing deck, and stressing him out.
Tiger Shark and Armadillo broke their chain right at the start but were stuck together in a more ridiculous way by the second round. Cosmic Man used an opportunity to get Tiger Shark’s teeth stuck in Armadillo’s hide. This ended up with Armadillo using Tiger Shark as a weapon (using and stepping up their complication) to hit Hercules, which was the only time any of the heroes took stress.
Armadillo was completely unstressed until the very end of the fight when he surrendered due to one really well placed insult from Hawkeye.

All in all it was pretty fun. Everyone had at least one cool moment except for Ms. Marvel. She seemed to have trouble getting PP since her distinctions were pretty hard to use negatively in this situation. I used the scene distinctions that were suggested in the book (Open to the Elements and Reinforced Entry Bay Doors) but neither of them got used by anyone. If I did this again, I would try to come up with at least one that’s more obviously useful to everyone at the table.

My worries that people would hoard PP or would refuse to use small dice were completely unfounded. I used Solomonic's suggestion of capping PP at 5. Most of them were spending PP, using their distinctions against themselves, and splitting their specialty dice with no prompting at all. In fact, I was the one that was underusing my resources. The Doom Pool got pretty drat big by the end of that one scene. It grew more quickly than I expected, and I didn’t use it in the villains’ dice pools as much as I should have.

Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




Dave Chalker posted this over at the MWP boards:

davethegame posted:

What's up next for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying? We've got the Conquest supplement for Annihilation, continuing the cosmic story. Conquest picks up after the events of Annihilation, so the event actually starts with Act Four to continue your cosmic event directly after Annihilation finishes if you so choose.

This also means that there's a lot of overlap in cast of characters. Some characters have changed enough that they have new datafiles, while others involved just refer to the Annihilation version (with updates listed in the book), and of course there's new characters to be included.

So that said, we have the following full hero datafiles in the book:
  • Adam Warlock
  • Bug
  • Captain Ko-Rel (as Nova 0001)
  • Captain Universe
  • Cosmo (Distinction: Am Beink Dog)
  • Deathcry
  • Groot
  • Mantis
  • Moondragon (with dragon transformation option)
  • Nova Prime
  • Quasar (Phyla-Vell)
  • Ra-Venn
  • Rocket Raccoon
  • Star-Lord (sans cybernetics)
  • Warlock
  • Wraith

And the following characters from ANN have updates, many with new milestones to match their current situation:
  • Blastaar
  • Drax the Destroyer
  • Gamora
  • Korath the Pursuer
  • Praxagora
  • Ronan the Accuser
  • Super-Skrull

And of course, we'll have Watcher datafiles for a variety of bad guys, including (but not limited to):
  • Phalanx Select squads, including Korath, Xemnu, Shatterax, Daystar and other corrupted Spaceknights, Super-Adaptoid, Gamora, Drax, Ronan, and Super-Skrull
  • Phalanx in multiple forms, like the Sentries, Warriors, and Overseers
  • The High Evolutionary
  • Potential allies like Tyro the Technarch, or Kree Revolutionaries
  • And most importantly, mighty Ultron (in three different forms.)

There's also new power sets for turning any character into one of the Phalanx Select... including one of the heroes.

So get ready to stand up to Ultron and the Phalanx by yelling "I AM GROOT!"

Druggeddwarf
Nov 9, 2011

My first attack must ALWAYS be a charge!
Rocket raccoon, hell yeah!

Day one purchase right there!

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


He's in the standard Annihilation book, too. Wonder if they're different files, like Iron Man got?

Druggeddwarf
Nov 9, 2011

My first attack must ALWAYS be a charge!
....herald of galactus raccoon?

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth

Druggeddwarf posted:

....herald of galactus raccoon?

I'll buy every copy.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
I've been kinda out of the MHR circuit for a while; have they made physical versions of the Civil War supplements yet? I could have sworn they were going to be out something like last July, but I've not been able to find them.

JDCorley
Jun 28, 2004

Elminster don't surf
Yes, I have one. I ordered it from Amazon Back In The Day. I don't know how many of the Civil War supplements are slated for print though, I just got the main one.

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


I just noticed there's a character sheet for Eros the Starfox. I feel like the character sheet doesn't really encapsulate the character, which is to say reading it didn't make me physically uncomfortable. Great stuff on the rest, though! I like the sample mini-adventures to power a character up in particular, since you can tweak the power dice up or down as appropriate and it fits into most campaigns neatly. Have them get beat up the first time, and they're like "we're gonna need a bigger boat." Then they GET ONE.

Open Marriage Night
Sep 18, 2009

"Do you want to talk to a spider, Peter?"


How's this stack up against the DC Adventures game? I've been wanting to start a DC game, but if this is comparative, I think a Marvel game would go over better.

JDCorley
Jun 28, 2004

Elminster don't surf
DC Adventures is basically Mutants and Masterminds refined. It's a lot more 'roll to do X, did you succeed, here's what's happened'. Very straightforward, nothing bad about it.

Marvel by contrast is, from the ground up, trying to really go after the comic book experience. There are a lot of things about the game that are unique and that players won't have seen in other games. This is good if people are willing to learn, if they just want to roll for initiative again, it's not so good.

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth
Yea it's apples and oranges.

The comparison a friend of mine made was that DC Adventures is Saturday morning cartoons, focused on action and using as much as possible in your character and that whole deal. Marvel is more comic book like, you can do a whole session without a fight and still feel accomplished because of the mechanics around Stress and all. It's a game where if your party gets into a fight with each other, even just an argument, it can actually affect things.

Both are good games, but like JD said, very different things that depends on the group.

Claytor
Dec 5, 2011

jivjov posted:

I've been kinda out of the MHR circuit for a while; have they made physical versions of the Civil War supplements yet? I could have sworn they were going to be out something like last July, but I've not been able to find them.

I received my preorder copy of Fifty State Initiative about six weeks or so ago. My understanding of the situation is that at MWP tried to save money by taking on a Chinese printer, and their attempts at getting any amount of any kind of product from that printer were all unsuccessful and pushed back the print release of everything by some disgusting number of months.

Things got pushed back across the board by a little bit when, if I had to guess, they realized they were a little over-aggressive on what they wanted to put out with the staff they have on hand, but that only led to stuff like the Young Avengers/Runaways book getting bumped from something like June to September, but on the whole it seems that the main problem with a lack of product can be chalked up to the problem with the earlier printer. My impression is that once MWP takes care of the problem revolving around their books being late going to print, the main chokepoint in new product will be that there are a limited number of hours in the day in which their one (incredibly talented) layout guy is able to work.

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum

Claytor posted:

I received my preorder copy of Fifty State Initiative about six weeks or so ago. My understanding of the situation is that at MWP tried to save money by taking on a Chinese printer, and their attempts at getting any amount of any kind of product from that printer were all unsuccessful and pushed back the print release of everything by some disgusting number of months.

Things got pushed back across the board by a little bit when, if I had to guess, they realized they were a little over-aggressive on what they wanted to put out with the staff they have on hand, but that only led to stuff like the Young Avengers/Runaways book getting bumped from something like June to September, but on the whole it seems that the main problem with a lack of product can be chalked up to the problem with the earlier printer. My impression is that once MWP takes care of the problem revolving around their books being late going to print, the main chokepoint in new product will be that there are a limited number of hours in the day in which their one (incredibly talented) layout guy is able to work.

Cool. I keep wanting to get back into Marvel Heroic, and I really want some more pre-made datafiles to work with. My last campaign was all self-made heroes, and I think it'd be fun to use actual Marvel characters and see how off-the-rails we can take things.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso

Claytor posted:

I received my preorder copy of Fifty State Initiative about six weeks or so ago. My understanding of the situation is that at MWP tried to save money by taking on a Chinese printer, and their attempts at getting any amount of any kind of product from that printer were all unsuccessful and pushed back the print release of everything by some disgusting number of months.
Seriously? That's a mistake you usually only see from individuals who decided to put their personal finances on the line to live the dream of writing RPGs, not from established publishers.

Die Laughing posted:

How's this stack up against the DC Adventures game? I've been wanting to start a DC game, but if this is comparative, I think a Marvel game would go over better.
I'd say DC, being M&M based like JDC said, is a level of complexity above Marvel. I think Marvel is more focused on making the gameplay feel like a comic adventure, whereas anything M&M based is going to be more precise at statting out characters and exactly what their powers do.

Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Mar 28, 2013

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
edit: dp :doh:

jivjov
Sep 13, 2007

But how does it taste? Yummy!
Dinosaur Gum
Having played both Marvel Heroic and the M&M predecessor to the DC game, it really comes down to what kind of table experience you're looking for. Marvel feels more like a "beer and pretzels" type game. Its more on the simple side, despite the dice pool mechanic. M&M feels more like a "traditional RPG" and while it is by no means a crunchy math-stravaganza, its a big more complex than Marvel.

JDCorley
Jun 28, 2004

Elminster don't surf
I'm about to wrap up my tabletop campaign with a Kree invasion plot arc. "Rejoice, people of [INSERT PLANET HERE]. You are now under the benevolent protection of the Kree! No longer will you be vulnerable in a galaxy of monsters. Your labor will fuel the valiant Kree warriors who will protect you from [INSERT PLANET'S ENEMIES HERE]. You may now celebrate for thirty minutes before beginning your life-long servitude."

Solomonic
Jan 3, 2008

INCIPIT SANTA
Hah, nice. All who would stand against our Kree overlords stand pre-emptively accused. :black101:

Civil War finale trip report:
1 crashed helicarrier
4 destroyed buildings, including Prison 42, which fell into the Negative Zone
1 dead giant Negative Zone monstrosity
3 MIA hero "casualties"
1 violated oath of non-interference
2 Moonstone betrayals
and a Goblin in a jail cell.

All in all, a good campaign. Sadly, we won't be doing Annihilation, as I've recently parted ways with my regular group. On the bright side, I suppose that gives me a chance to finally play instead of having to GM it (assuming I can find a game - time to haunt RPoL, I guess!), so that'll be a refreshing change of pace.

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


Thanks to this new avatar, I am tempted to have the Watcher appear in our game but in the form of a giant disembodied JJJ head.

Anyone else who GMs, I've basically been racking up Doom Dice in early fights for a big blowoff, but what are some other ways to make a villain really knock some heads around that don't revolve around giving myself tons of big dice?

(druggeddwarf don't read this)

Druggeddwarf
Nov 9, 2011

My first attack must ALWAYS be a charge!

Defiance Industries posted:

Thanks to this new avatar, I am tempted to have the Watcher appear in our game but in the form of a giant disembodied JJJ head.

Anyone else who GMs, I've basically been racking up Doom Dice in early fights for a big blowoff, but what are some other ways to make a villain really knock some heads around that don't revolve around giving myself tons of big dice?

(druggeddwarf don't read this)

I hate you so much right now.

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


I'm this close to buying you a JJJ-vatar.

BTW- Next turn is on free for all right now and I swear I won't have Dr. Doom turn you into a third type of animal.

Defiance Industries fucked around with this message at 09:54 on Apr 5, 2013

Druggeddwarf
Nov 9, 2011

My first attack must ALWAYS be a charge!
I was giving Spiderman a go, but you know what, I think I will take that now.

Astus
Nov 11, 2008

Defiance Industries posted:

Thanks to this new avatar, I am tempted to have the Watcher appear in our game but in the form of a giant disembodied JJJ head.

Anyone else who GMs, I've basically been racking up Doom Dice in early fights for a big blowoff, but what are some other ways to make a villain really knock some heads around that don't revolve around giving myself tons of big dice?

(druggeddwarf don't read this)

I picked this up from a blog (towards the bottom), but split your specialties into d6's. You can add dice to the total by spending a doom die of equal or greater size, and d6's are the most common die size you'll have in the doom pool. Hell, you can even use a distinction as a d4 to immediately get a d6 to use. This is especially nasty if they have a Master specialty, which gives you 3d6 that you could potentially add to the total. Also works with anything else that gives you d6's, like area attacks.

I'm also hoping to run a game soon, so maybe you can help out with a question I have. Namely, what is your opinion on Milestones? I'm worried that the players won't hit their triggers much, and be left with small amounts of xp. Which is bad, because I love the idea of Unlockables. Wasn't sure if I should stick with Milestones, or hand out xp myself.

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


Well, it really helps if the players who don't have a real generalized milestone take one that's related to the event. I'm kinda seeing this in my game, where She-Hulk doesn't have a lot of opportunities to gain XP because the scenario we're in doesn't lend itself to lawyering or banging. I'd just say that you should try and keep them in mind when you're running a mission (something I didn't really do this time... sorry, Sion).

Solomonic
Jan 3, 2008

INCIPIT SANTA

Defiance Industries posted:

Anyone else who GMs, I've basically been racking up Doom Dice in early fights for a big blowoff, but what are some other ways to make a villain really knock some heads around that don't revolve around giving myself tons of big dice?

Keep extra effect dice and inflict stress and complications, that's always fun. Also, create scene complications that the players need to deal with, like self-destructs, out of control fires, fleeing civilians, etc. - it'll force them to split their attention between the environment and the supervillain.

Another fun trick, although it's unrelated to the doom dice per se - my players used to put each other first in the initiative order all the time and leave the villains for last (they were, not without reason, very confident in their skills at rocket tag). This ended the day they found a villain they couldn't oneshot, and as Fin Fang Foom area attacked everyone, got to choose the person to go first in the next round, chose himself, and area attacked everyone again, I could practically hear the record scratch noise.


edit: you know what's even better than spending doom dice to give people stress and complications? Spending doom dice to target their powersets. Shut down a power or activate a limit or something - I never remember to do that enough.

Solomonic fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Apr 5, 2013

-Fish-
Oct 10, 2005

Glub glub.
Glub glub.

Has anyone seen any Eddie Brock datafiles? I've seen plenty of Mac Gargan and Flash Thompson hanging around, but none of the original Venom.

Solomonic
Jan 3, 2008

INCIPIT SANTA
I haven't seen one, which is odd because most of the 'classic' characters have been statted up by the playerbase at this point. Then again, original Venom would probably just be Carnage in Breakout with different distinctions.

If you want, I can throw one together for you. Are you interested in original Venom or Anti-Venom?

Cartridgeblowers
Jan 3, 2006

Super Mario Bros 3

I think Brock Venom would be Gargan Venom without the Scorpion Powers. Add "Enhanced Strength" to the Symbiote. Change "Brutal Killer" to "Lethal Protector," "Unrelentingly Savage" to something about his reporting background. Maybe keep "Vengeful." Take away "Crime Expert." Solo 10, Buddy 8, Team 6, probably.

Then I think you're good?

-Fish-
Oct 10, 2005

Glub glub.
Glub glub.

Solomonic posted:

I haven't seen one, which is odd because most of the 'classic' characters have been statted up by the playerbase at this point. Then again, original Venom would probably just be Carnage in Breakout with different distinctions.

If you want, I can throw one together for you. Are you interested in original Venom or Anti-Venom?

Both would kick all kinds of rear end, but original Venom is my main priority.

Solomonic
Jan 3, 2008

INCIPIT SANTA

Little Mac posted:

I think Brock Venom would be Gargan Venom without the Scorpion Powers. Add "Enhanced Strength" to the Symbiote. Change "Brutal Killer" to "Lethal Protector," "Unrelentingly Savage" to something about his reporting background. Maybe keep "Vengeful." Take away "Crime Expert." Solo 10, Buddy 8, Team 6, probably.

Do exactly this for original Venom, that's perfect.

Here's a rough draft for Anti-Venom I threw together in about ten minutes:

Anti-Venom (Eddie Brock)
Solo d10, Buddy d8, Team d6

Humanitarian Vigilante
Forged By Adversity
Destroy All Symbiotes

Symbiote
Superhuman Strength d10
Superhuman Stamina d10
Superhuman Reflexes d10
Swingline d6
Wall-Crawling d6
Shapeshifting d6

SFX: Alien Goo. When inflicting a restraining or immobilizing complication on a target, add a d6 and step up the effect die.
SFX: Tentacles. Step back the highest die in an attack action pool to add a d6 and step up physical stress inflicted.
SFX: Separation Anxiety. Spider-Man's Spider Sense SFX cannot be used in a reaction against a dice pool including a Symbiote power.
Limit: Mentally Unstable. Step up mental stress received to earn 1 PP.

Leukocyte Mutation
Superhuman Durability d10
Transmutation d10

SFX: Healing Factor. Add Transmutation to your dice pool when helping others recover physical stress. Spend 1 pp to recover your own or another’s physical stress, or to step back your own or another’s physical trauma.
SFX: Anathema. Step up or double a Leukocyte Mutation die used in an action or reaction against a symbiote.
SFX: Versatile. Replace Transmutation die with 2d8 or 3d6 on your next roll.
Limit: Cleanse the Cells. Transmutation only affects organic targets.
Limit: Mr. Negative. You cannot use a Leukocyte Mutation power in a reaction against an attack involving negative energy.

Acrobatic Expert d8
Combat Expert d8
Medical Expert d8 (This one is optional - I'm trying to model the intuitive expertise that the symbiote gives him rather than any kind of formal training. If you want to get rid of it feel free)
Menace Expert d8

malkav11
Aug 7, 2009
One of the things that throws me about Marvel Heroic is the focus on (understandably enough) modern Marvel. I'm loosely familiar with Civil War and Annihilation (though I didn't really enjoy either that much) but gently caress if I know what's going on with most of the Marvel universe these days and my understanding of characters like Venom is firmly rooted in the 90s. Anti-Venom? What? Venom not being Eddie Brock? What?

I'm hoping someday there will be official or unofficial supplements to cover stuff from the era I actually read. Like X-Tinction Agenda, Age of Apocalypse, etc.

malkav11 fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Apr 14, 2013

-Fish-
Oct 10, 2005

Glub glub.
Glub glub.

Little Mac posted:

I think Brock Venom would be Gargan Venom without the Scorpion Powers. Add "Enhanced Strength" to the Symbiote. Change "Brutal Killer" to "Lethal Protector," "Unrelentingly Savage" to something about his reporting background. Maybe keep "Vengeful." Take away "Crime Expert." Solo 10, Buddy 8, Team 6, probably.

Then I think you're good?

I completely glossed over this earlier. This is perfect.

Solomonic posted:

Do exactly this for original Venom, that's perfect.

Here's a rough draft for Anti-Venom I threw together in about ten minutes:

And this kicks super-rear end. I'm absolutely using one of these next time I get to play Marvel.

Solomonic
Jan 3, 2008

INCIPIT SANTA

-Fish- posted:

I'm absolutely using one of these next time I get to play Marvel.

Glad we could help!


malkav11 posted:

I'm hoping someday there will be official or unofficial supplements to cover stuff from the era I actually read. Like X-Tinction Agenda, Age of Apocalypse, etc.

I think Cam said on the MWP forums that they're doing Age of Apocalypse after the Annihilation supplements are done. Conquest will be done pretty soon, and then there's War of Kings and Thanos Imperative, so if I had to hazard a guess I'd say that puts AoA probably around fall of this year.

-Fish-
Oct 10, 2005

Glub glub.
Glub glub.

Solomonic posted:

Glad we could help!

That Anti-Venom kicked all kinds of rear end. Used Alien Goo and a particularly good roll to take Sentry from completely untouched to taken-out in a single roll.

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


I'm getting ready to run my first in-person game. Is there a good printer-friendly version of the data sheets I can have my players use?

Solomonic
Jan 3, 2008

INCIPIT SANTA
DI, if you're using canon characters, all of the Civil War books have a full set of printer-friendly datafiles, at least if you got them on drivethrurpg. (It should be in your library next to the actual product.) For custom characters, I suppose you could just use this.

Shoutouts to Astus and the rest of the group I'm playing with at the moment, over in the Game Room. While it's fun as hell to be the Watcher and see your plans constantly overthrown in creative ways, finally getting to be one of the people overthrowing the plot is fantastic and refreshing. Also anything involving the Shocker is basically destined for greatness.

Solomonic fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Apr 23, 2013

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


Clearly should have bought these on Drive-Thru, then. Oh well, guess I can just fill in the blank one or something.

BTW your thread is now the arch-rival of my thread.

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Solomonic
Jan 3, 2008

INCIPIT SANTA
Now that I think on it, you might also try sending MWP an email (I figure they probably have a customer support address) and asking if there's a way that buyers from other sites can get access.

Defiance Industries posted:

BTW your thread is now the arch-rival of my thread.

Normally I'd say this could only end in a big crossover and all-around continuity reboot, but this isn't DC Heroic Roleplaying.

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