'Marvel'.

Roy · Post by **Roy** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 3:22 pm

So I was looking at the MW game list for once, and I seen a game tagged 'Marvel'. Now I never actually read that thread so I don't know anything at all about that particular game and this isn't about that. It is only relevant insofar as it brought that name to my attention in this context.

So what system is 'Marvel'? What are its pros and cons? Obviously, it's a superhero game but this is the first time I've seen it come up anywhere, including here.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:41 pm

There's an old Marvel system and a new one, published within the last eight years.

I didn't particularly like it as you had to think up every little thing you might do with your special effect ahead of time, even worse than Champions.

-Crissa

Absentminded_Wizard · Post by **Absentminded_Wizard** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:26 am

Apparently, Marvel Super Heroes used percentile dice cross-referenced to a table for task resolution, while Marvel Universe was a diceless game. Unfortunately, everything I know about the mechanics of these games I just learned from Wikipedia.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 7:00 pm

Actually, AW, you missed an important note in the wikipedia entry. There're actually 3 games. The old TSR FASERIP (aka column-shift) Marvel, The WotC/TSR SAGA Marvel (card-based) and the more recent Marvel Comics published Marvel Universe Role Playing Game (MURG as per wiki)

I've played a fair bit of FASERIP - it was a light system with fairly quick resolution that did comics-style superheroics alright so long as you could deal with the heavy-handed genre enforcement of the karma mechanics; didn't look too closely for realism (first aid to normals, different movement scales for inside and outside maps) and avoided the really broken powers (probability manipulation, darkforce, spider man's whole set).

I own a set of SAGA marvel - which seemed to have neat resolution mechanics on my first read through about a decade back, but has currently sat untouched on my shelf for so long that the rubber bands holding the box shut have melted into glue that makes it difficult to access. Although I have vague recollections of some positive buzz from back then - nobody I know has ever played it for more than one session. If I recall correctly the biggest issue is that it was pretty tightly bound into the Marvel Comics universe - as that universe was at the time the game was published. And while that's not necessarily a bad thing for a *Marvel* Super Heroes game, that just hasn't been the type of superheroics that myself and the groups I game with have been interested in.

As for the newer MURG, I have zero experience with if.

hogarth · Post by **hogarth** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:11 pm

Josh_Kablack wrote: I've played a fair bit of FASERIP - it was a light system with fairly quick resolution that did comics-style superheroics alright so long as you could deal with the heavy-handed genre enforcement of the karma mechanics; didn't look too closely for realism (first aid to normals, different movement scales for inside and outside maps) and avoided the really broken powers (probability manipulation, darkforce, spider man's whole set).

I didn't care for it very much because of the binary nature of attacks and defenses (e.g. a Remarkable (30 pt) attack will never hurt someone with a Remarkable (30 pt) defense, outside of spending Karma or getting a critical success). Boring.

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:37 am

That was one of the big improvements Marvel SAGA had over FASERIP. The biggest drawback is it is very difficult to strip the "Marvel" part out of the SAGA superhero game.

I've done it, running a mortals game based on White Wolf's Romeo and Juliet, but it just didn't quite feel right.

codeGlaze · Post by **codeGlaze** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:36 pm

Incoming thread necro-jacking:
The Marvel Superheroes site has a d20 conversion. A friend of mine is looking to pick up his Marvel game again and asked me if it was worth trying to use that.

So why not ask you guys too?

My opinion is that it's clearly just a quick conversion sheet, nothing too in depth. But then again, the system is pretty simple ... so what ever.

CCarter · Post by **CCarter** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 3:07 am

Looks like mostly crack-smoking insanity with numbers in the conversion changing scales crazily. Like, going from Monstrous to Unearthly Fighting in FASERIP gives you +5% to hit IIRC, whereas here its a boost of 10 points of BAB (plus free combat feats). There's no guarantees any converted characters are going to be viable with the way Con bonuses to HPs are then multiplied out, and so on.
FASERIP characters on their own are quite unbalanced, but the conversion process outlined here is going to just break hilariously.

Oh also the tables here only go up to Unearthly (100), while the FASERIP stat scale actually goes up to 5000.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 1:10 am

I'm just curious. Wouldn't M&M 2e or Champions work better for a supes game? Making Marvel heroes for M&M is really easy and Champions isn't that much harder.

darkmaster · Post by **darkmaster** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 2:47 am

Well I'm not sure if better is the right word, certainly different. That said, M&M 3e has a sister publication called DC Advantures which is just the M&M 3e rules on the DC Universe. There's no marvel counterpart, but that's likely due to some contract stuff. So, if one company felt confident enough to put their brand on the game, I don't see why it shouldn't be plausible to do the same with the other. It'd take a good bit of work.

hogarth · Post by **hogarth** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:10 am

darkmaster wrote:Well I'm not sure if better is the right word, certainly different.

No, better is the right word. That d20 Marvel "conversion" is terrible and pointless.

darkmaster · Post by **darkmaster** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:17 am

I was assuming they meant the games that were being talked about earlier in the thread. In hindsight probably safe to assume he was talking about the conversion. Yes M&M or Champions would be better.

codeGlaze · Post by **codeGlaze** » Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:31 pm

darkmaster wrote:I was assuming they meant the games that were being talked about earlier in the thread. In hindsight probably safe to assume he was talking about the conversion. Yes M&M or Champions would be better.

Being 'the rules guy', this GM had me over to help him make sense of Champions when he first started planning the game. We both liked it but with our crop of players at the time he decided to use Marvel because it was essentially rules light, which simply made life easier when the two of us had to teach it to them.

That being said, we could probably pick up our copy of Champions again, or even find M&M. Because our reboot group, or rather continuation group, is smaller and filled with... more rules savvy individuals.

Although I'd be the one shouldered with wriring up conversion rules or a conversion guide... which potentially might never happen.

Thanks for the input, guys.