Marvel Roleplaying Megathread: With Incredible (40) Power Comes...

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Marvel Roleplaying Megathread: With Incredible (40) Power Comes...

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

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

# ¿ Mar 28, 2013 13:30

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:29

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

edit: dp

# ¿ Mar 28, 2013 13:43

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

I really want to like this game, but I don't know if I can get my regular group into a game where every dice roll is a 7-step process plus 4 things you can do with PP before the roll and 4 things you can do with PP after the roll.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2013 19:54

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

They make "Animal Control" and "Plant Control" separate categories just to gently caress with us, don't they? I miss the Ultimate Powers book too.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2013 15:32

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

I think of it as "The Mantis category."

# ¿ Jul 26, 2013 20:07

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

So, still doing an initial read-through of the book, are some powers just flat-out better and more versatile than others? For example, if a given power can inflict Stress, do you need an Attack power?

Also, what kind of boundaries do you set on what people can do with Elemental Control powers, especially ones as vaguely defined as Darkforce and Cosmic Control?

# ¿ Aug 17, 2013 00:24

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

Danger-Pumpkin posted:

Oh sure, some powers are "better" than others. But "better" can be a little tough to pin down.

For example: Shape-Shifting is "better" than mimic, because A. you don't have to copy a specific power that someone else has, and B. shape-shift doesn't recommend that you create a limit to define how how the power actually functions.
Durability is "better" than Resistance, because you can use durability in far more dice pools than any one type of resistance.
Sorcery is "better" than any other power in the game, because technically you can use sorcery to create any effect that you can describe which the Watcher deems acceptable.

The same holds for some SFX abilities too. For example, Regeneration is "better" than Second Wind, because with regeneration you spend a plot point to make your stress die vanish, while second wind requires that you spend a plot point to move your stress die into the doom pool (where it will be used against you!) And Counterattack is virtually broken, allowing you to turn your reaction roll dice into stress against your attacker (which normally costs a plot point, and is incredibly exploitable!)

But "better" isn't always better, you know? More broadly applicable, or at a higher die rating, sure, but that sort of meta-gaming and min-maxing just doesn't gel with the system. This is a game about story telling, and drama, more than character advancement and reward receiving. That's why all of your XP generation is done through milestones, which are intended to represent character or event arcs, and require either/or decision making (most of the time,) and why the main things you spend XP on are fluid rewards (plot points and event assets) or mostly net-neutral changes to your character datafile (distinction/limit switch outs, replacement powersets, new milestones, etc.) Comic characters rarely "level up," so to speak, for more than a few issues, or a couple years. Most of their growth is lateral.

neonchameleon posted:

You're looking at the game backwards - quite understandable because compared to most trad RPGs, Marvel Heroic is backwards.

Trad RPGs are generally prescriptive - that is the stats define the gameworld and what the characters can do. Strength 15 will lift X kilos.

Marvel Heroic and a lot of modern RPGs are descriptive - that is the purpose of the mechanics is to represent the effects within the fictional gameworld and to resolve conflicts when no one is sure about the actual result.

Hm, this is what I get for looking at the game through the lens of the random datafile generator. I'm in the process of trying to sell the people I game with on less physics-engine gaming, and I wanted to be able to assure them that characters are balanced. (Hence my previous post; having a dozen ways to make a d8 dance on the head of a pin is just going to prompt them to say "What was wrong with rolling Strength+Brawl to punch the Joker in the face instead of all this 'narrative' crap?") And I never want to look up another benchmark chart to find out that Juggernaut has enough points in Strength to lift a Boeing 747-100B but not a Boeing 747-400.

quote:

And the limits on Darkforce or Cosmic Control are set by the fictional characters that are being represented within the gameworld.

Well, that brings me back to the question of prefab characters again; if a player rolls up or wants to play someone who uses this Darkforce thingy, but isn't sure what it means, what should I tell them? If we hash out that it's a grab bag of specific powers, I'd be missing the point of having a control power instead of an assortment of more specific power traits. Don't get me wrong, on the whole, I'm happy with winging it, but it's good to have some boundaries. I like the fact that Sorcery can do a lot of things, but it can't directly inflict stress, so Dr. Strange needs a separate power if he wants to straight-up whack somebody, and you can build a sorcerer who can do vague plot-devicey things with a power, but not wield it as a blunt object just as easily.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2013 20:21

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

If you're playing Marvel Super-Dads with Ares and Taskmaster, I'm driving to your house to play. I'll break in if I have to.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2013 13:46

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

Corsair, Cyclops (but not really), Mastermind, Banshee, Wolverine, Mr. Fantastic, Drax, Mephisto, Black Bolt, Quicksilver, Loki (who is also a mother, don't ask).

head58 posted:

Puppet Master, Purple Man,

No way. Too creepy.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2013 14:35

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:29

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; Can't post for 7 hours!

ErichZahn posted:

Licensing fuckwitery

I guess that the revenue from the game just isn't worth the administrative overhead, even if it's very small. Or more likely, the game doesn't generate enough revenue to allow even the most remote possibility that MW Productions could pull an Amarillo Design Bureau.

Solomonic posted:

Further Suggestions: The 'No, gently caress YOU, Dad' Edition:

I just realized that you could make this team and make everyone a demon. Mephisto, Blackheart, Marduk Kurios, Azazel...I bet I could dig up more if ComicVine had a "Demonic Deadbeat Dads" list.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2013 18:59

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