#marvel heroic roleplaying

[probablybadrpgideas]

Any enemy that the party successfully kills becomes an undead. Including undeads.

[that-house]

crazy how much more interesting game design gets once you've played more RPG systems than just D&D

[sprintingowl]

Surprising Find! The (Old) Marvel TTRPG Is Pretty Dang Good!

The 2003 Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game* is written with a weird and menacing tone. It threatens 72 hours of consecutive roleplaying. It expects you'll play it as a pvp skirmish game. Half of the book is just statted out Marvel characters that it thinks you'll play instead of an OC.

And it's still somehow an incredible rpg.

To be clear, I have played and enjoyed other superhero rpgs. A lot of the big ones try to give you the freedom to pick whatever powers you want, and they do this by being very numbersy---which is fun, but they run a little slow every time those numbers get involved.

Marvel Universe dodges this problem by having you collect rocks.

Your character in Marvel Universe is a pool of stones that you can assign to different actions. You can even spam rocks on a bunch of actions at once---trying to stop the train and conceal your secret identity and ask that guy to prom---but you're usually able to spend them faster than they regenerate, so going big and loud and heroic in one scene usually means you're recuperating in the next.

There also aren't any random elements here. The effect of your action is purely equal to the rocks you spend. No dice. No cards.

And despite this, you still feel like you're pushing against something when you take action.

It's a bafflingly elegant design, and I think could work just as easily for settings like Werewolf or Exalted.

Now, the bad news is that, to my knowledge, no one is currently publishing this game. There's some used copies floating around ebay and the like, but there does not (as of 9/7/23 and according to my limited research) appear to be a rights holder actually selling pdfs or physical books. As best I can tell, it's abandonware.

So in order to get a copy a person would have to do something like google the name of the game and see if a pdf was being hosted anywhere---a transgression against social order that I could never personally condone. Still, if you do manage to find a Legitimate Copy, it's a cool read.

And who knows? This strange rock-hoarding game could become your favorite superhero rpg too.

*There is also a Marvel *Multiverse* Roleplaying Game which was published much more recently, but it's completely different and does not involve building little cairns on your character sheet.

[prokopetz]

I would like to access your ttrpg knowledge. Do you know of a system where the players can freely swap between a collection of characters? I'm looking to run a Monty Python and the holy grail one-shot, so I want the players to be able to move between whichever knights are relevant at the time (and make gameplay continue smoothly as they die off). This can either be from each player having a set squad, or by having a "shared inventory" that each player pulls from as needed. Bonus points if it's easy enough for inebriated players to get a hold of.

There have been a number of published games that use the variant of troupe play that you're describing (i.e., a fixed pool of player characters, but no particular player character is associated with any particular player); the now out-of-print Marvel Heroic Roleplaying springs to mind, in which play consists of a series of set-piece scenes with pre-defined rosters of heroes, and each player chooses which hero to play on a scene-by-scene basis; e.g., you might start out playing as Spider-Man, then when a hero you like better enters play, you switch to playing as them instead, while Spider-Man is either taken up by another player, or else becomes an NPC.

However, I feel like for your particular purpose, that would be barking up the wrong tree. Certainly, for ongoing troupe play, this sort of formal spotlight management is practically mandatory. For a one-shot game, though, it's a lot of game-mechanical overhead for very little benefit, because the spotlighting issues that it's designed to address simply won't have time to develop. Plus, it's not a great idea to introduce novel scene-framing practices to slightly drunk players – that's the sort of thing you really want to be learning stone sober!

My recommendation for a drunk-friendly troupe play oneshot is to go with something light, ideally with descriptive traits so you don't need to know the mechanics to understand what the character you've just been handed is good at, bring a dozen or so pre-generated knights, and let the (ideally sober) GM manage the spotlight on an ad hoc basis. To that end, have you considered S John Ross's Risus? Character sheets basically read like TV Tropes articles, and it's well-suited to Arthurian parody in the Welsh tradition (i.e., the kind where each knight has weird and faintly impractical supernatural powers), which feels like a good way of meshing that Monty Python and the Holy Grail spirit with more conventional tabletop expectations.

(I can also speak from experience when I say that it's feasible to play while completely hammered.)

[uncannybamf]

#uncannybamf, an independent and private roleplay blog ( and virtually a love letter to ) KURT WAGNER or NIGHTCRAWLER pulled from MARVEL COMICS. this blog is faithfully run by whiskey. blog is 21+. this blog is primarily headcanon based with x-men '97 and comic influences (still reading the most pivotal runs). only recent comics that i have seriously paid attention to is the Uncanny Spider-Man because Kurt as a wallcrawler was just fun and it is now an unhealthy obsession. a journey in: overcoming abandonment, leaps of faith, the circus brat, swashbuckling heroics, fighting for one's people, never losing hope, accepting your differences, being the gooey moral center.

this blog is low activity.

[positivelybeastly]

🎲

🎲 - Do you have a favorite board game?

I guess tabletop roleplaying doesn't count? A GM screen is kind of a board, isn't it? :P I don't actually play all that many straight board games, now that I think about it - I have a friend at work who's borderline obsessed with them, and another friend who I do a stream with who is . . . also, obsessed with them, huh, noticing a theme here. I guess if pressed I would have to say Scrabble? Yeah, I know, really basic answer for a writer who plays Hank McCoy, but I do genuinely enjoy it!

If we're allowing tabletop roleplaying games, then I mostly play Star Wars FFG/Genesys, Star Trek Adventures, and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. :)

[blindinjustice]

BLINDINJUSTICE is an independent, mutuals only & selective interpretation of M.ATT M.URDOCK from marvel comics' SPIDER-GWEN. written by ej (22) / she/her.

THIS BLOG CONTAINS VIOLENT THEMES AND SHOULD BE APPROACHED WITH CAUTION!

DISCLAIMER 1. This blog is 18+ and I will not follow or write with anyone under the age of 18.

DISCLAIMER 2. I am not my muse. M.urderdock as the Kingpin is, y'know, a villain and not a particularly likeable person. Please don't view anything he says or does as an endorsement of him. Roleplaying boundaries are important to me, though, and I make a point to reread your rules or our conversations as I write.

DISCLAIMER 3. I won’t tolerate bigotry in any form, which includes (but is not limited to) ableism, sexism, racism, transphobia, homophobia and religiously motivated bigotry. Also, I believe in a free Palestine and in dismantling Israel, so zionism or any other imperialist beliefs. It’s also worth mentioning that I completely anti J.ason L.atour despite writing a character from his run of the comic. These rules also apply to faceclaims. If you see me writing with someone you think breaks these rules, privately let me know and I’ll escalate the situation.

PRIVACY. I'm mutuals only, so please only interact with my memes, starters, starter calls, edits and whatever else if we both follow each other. I reserve the right to be selective with who I follow back, because I'd like to keep this blog as a relatively quiet space for now.

UNIVERSE. In terms of the multiverse, this particular M.att is from Marvel’s Earth-65, which appears exclusively in Spider-Gwen comics. His nature as a multiversal variant of a typically heroic character means that this specific origin is important to my portrayal of him, but it's easy for me to write and justify crossover scenarios. In fact, because I know I write a character from a niche universe, I expect 95% of my threads will be crossovers.

WRITING STYLE. I'm naturally very descriptive. I tend to write multi-para, in third-person present tense. Also, as M.att is blind, I tend not to use visual-based descriptors in my writing, unless it's something he's aware of or can deduce with his radar sense. I also prefer not to interact with accounts that use messletters fonts.

ACTIVITY. My activity can be incredibly spotty, so you may have to bear with me at times. I can go from several replies a day to none within months. But I never expect fast replies from the people I write with. Writing, to me, is very much built on mutual respect.

SHIPPING. I ship based on chemistry from our interactions, as well as plotting. If I'm honest, I much prefer to write platonic and antagonistic dynamics over romantic ones, but I'm open to your ideas as we play them out. I don't write anything of a sexual nature though. That's just not for me, but I have no issue with people who do.

COMMUNICATION. I typically like to start discussions in tumblr direct messages, although I do have a discord that you can ask for if you like to talk on there! I'm much more active on my discord and have no issue sharing it. Just note that I can be a little anxious when it comes to talking with new people, so you may have to bear with me at times.

EXCLUSIVITY. I’m duplicate friendly (particularly if you write 616/nmcu M.att) although I probably won’t follow single muse blogs first if we write the same character. In general, I have no exclusives because I don’t personally like to ask anyone to be exclusive to me. The one exception to this rule is E.lektra N.atchios, just because my girlfriend writes her.

TRIGGERS. I currently have no triggers but I will tag common triggers as "tw trigger" as well as anything I know may trigger my followers. It is worth noting, however, that M.urderdock is a ninja assassin crimeboss and has canonically attempted suicide, so tw violence and tw suicide will be common on this blog. I won't force these upon you, but they're important to the character.

VERSES. I'm going to add information later. But for now, please know that I typically write within Spider-Gwen canon when M.att is the Kingpin (the status quo of vol 2. 12–19 in particular) but I am open to pre and post canonical threads for him too, and I'll be providing thorough verses soon enough. I'm crossover and oc friendly too and love the idea of mixing with muses from all sorts of origins!

That's all for now! I may add more as I settle back in to this blog. Feel free to let me know if there's anything major I may have missed. And I look forward to interacting!!!

[dramatisperscnae]

10. what genre do you most enjoy, whether in roleplay, or fiction as a whole? (fantasy, period, superhero, etc.)

5. is there a muse you really want to try? if yes: what’s stopping you?

[munday asks || accepting]

10: I got my start way back in the dim-and-mistys, with fantasy, both in writing and reading. My 'primary' fandom to this day is Middle-earth, though I have very seldom actively written in it [used to, once upon a time; do not anymore ^^;] Fantasy is such a broad genre, encompassing so many options. Urban fantasy if you want a more modern setting, high fantasy for that LOTR feel, low fantasy for something more akin to Discworld or [as problematic as it is these days] Harry Potter; you can blend it with science fiction to get something like Shadowrun, you can blend it with historical fiction to get some really awesome what-if stories...and, of course, you can do that with basically any genre you want, but then we look at things like Marvel and DC, which I primarily play in now, and I ask you: What is the superhero genre but a subset of fantasy? :D

5: So uh, funny story, but I have a whole list of them XD Mostly what's stopping me is the fact that I already have at least 15 technically-active muses on this blog, most of which aren't getting used but none of which I can bring myself to swap out for someone new >w> and I don't want to end up being a multimuse with 20+ muses on the list; mad respect to those that are, but I find them intimidating both to look at and to be^^; The other thing that stops me is that sometimes the muse is for a very small or niche fandom [like Arslan Senki/Heroic Legend of Arslan or Kaze no Stigma] or it's for a fandom that I take so very seriously that I know I am not someone anyone will want to play with [LOTR; seriously, I get nitpicky to the point that I don't want to deal with me. I'm not going to subject someone else to that.]

[open-hearth-rpg]

#licensedRPGs2013to14 Valiant Universe: The Roleplaying Game

I lose geek cred for the gaping chasms in my comic book knowledge. As I mentioned above, I skipped the '90s in comics, but I also missed some of the second-tier comic publishers like Valiant. I literally have no idea about this comic universe, except that 1) it looks pretty dense, 2) The guys on the Wait, What? podcast seem to think their output is solid, and 3) they have some kind of Toy Story/Quantum Leap crossover book? Maybe?

In any case licensed supers books have not done well in recent years, and those outside the Big Two have rarely gained traction (The Authority RPG, The Maxx, Superbabes). But Valiant Universe had the backing of a strong publisher who pushed the game solidly with several playable demo packs featuring different characters from the line. It doesn't hurt that the game itself looks great- with solid layout and art. As well the comic publishing landscape has changed, with greater and more diverse access through electronic distribution. So maybe it can last?

The system itself uses variable dice to represent quality (stat dice) combined with a d12 base dice. It reminds me a little of The One Ring, with larger die types in place of more dice. Powers are simple and each character has different narrative cues they can call on. There's hints of Fate, Marvel Heroic, and many other systems. The biggest innovation is the rotating role of the Lead Narrator. Essentially the LN controls the action for one complete scene. After that the LN role passes to the player on the right. That's a radical approach and the one which I've seen turning off some players. I like the idea and I’m curious to try it. The system itself feels light enough that could work. If you like story-leaning supers RPGs check this one out. If you're looking for a Valiant Comics sourcebook, this is also a good buy. My only worry is that catalyst has done nothing to support this line. Besides the original Quick Rules (and their expansions) the line simply is out there but there's no ongoing support.

[poppypendle]

I really want to play DnD again or any other TTRPG. Does anyone know the best place to find an online group?

Systems I've played:

- DnD 4e

- DnD 5e

- FFG Star Wars

- Sentinel Comics RPG

- Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

[that-house]

Hi! What's field of white flowers? Seems to be a ttrpg? I like the sheet a lot :>

It’s a high-powered sword, sorcery, and martial arts ttrpg inspired by shit like Kill Six Billion Demons and fighting games that I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. The combat system has been fleshed out for about a month and the game as a whole is almost in a fully playable state.

Mechanically it draws a lot of inspiration from ICON/Lancer and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, with a big emphasis on flavoring abilities to suit your character and heavily abstracted combat. There’s a dash of D&D (it originally was made as an improved way to handle shit like boxing and wrestling in 5e) and some Masks influence as well (tho i’m not the biggest fan of PbtA games)

Creating a character involves making a fighting game-style moveset, almost like building a deck for a collectible card game, and enemies can use either simplified character creation rules or just straight up be built like a character.

The system takes its name from the time-honored gaming tradition of having a sick fucking duel in a Field of White Flowers.

Here’s a character design I made for a playtest character:

So yeah! I’m having a lot of fun with it and while I won’t post, like, the full dev experience on here (i choose to inflict that on my irl friends) I’ll be rambling about it and occasionally explaining mechanics for a while

[probablybadrpgideas]

Do a campaign set in the marvel universe. Once you’ve done a few sessions, engage in high-stakes negotiations with disney so the characters can now only be used in your campaign on pain of lawsuit.

[whatdoiknowjr]

What Do I Know About Datafiles? The Destroyer

What Do I Know About Datafiles? The Destroyer

This is the Destroyer as I used him in last night’s Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Event.  Essentially, it’s a “Greatest Hits” version of the Destroyer, powered by a soul that animates it, and basically wrecking everything in it’s path. As a side note, the Destroyer can, as a technicality, hold Thor’s hammer, since it’s a construct and not alive  (not worthy or unworthy, just another creation of…

[vivo-morior-iterum-vivo]

Sometimes you've just got to do a quick photo-manip of Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger as Gambit for the greater good of Mutantkind.

[dicejail]

Games/chunks of games I have somehow ended up with print copies of include:

5e (all 3 core books, one adventure I'll never run, and the Ravnica and Dragon books because I am a menace to myself and society) 4e (just the tiny essentials one that you can't make characters with) AD&D 1e (just the DMG for curiosity purposes) Council of Wyrms (just the booklet with the lore bc this shit's literally unplayable) Planescape (POD reprint of the AD&D version, I need to read this still) Apocalypse World 2e Old School Essentials (advanced fantasy version) Werewolf: the Apocalypse (all editions and an absolutely obscene number of sourcebooks) Vampire: the Masquerade (Revised, I think when the game I'm in finally ends I'll never touch it again tho) Mage: the Ascension (Revised, been trying to read it for years but not succeeded) Hunter: the Reckoning (ditto) Demon: the Descent (I'll never run it bc it's too paranoid for me but I find the concept fascinating) Chronicles of Darkness (Whichever edition they started calling it Chronicles and it finally got its shit together) Werewolf: the Forsaken (2nd edition where it got good) Fate (Core, Accelerated, Condensed, and a bunch of other books) I used to have a copy of Shadowrun 5th edition but I gave it away... Blades in the Dark (Someone play this with me someday) Scum & Villainy Dungeon World Monster of the Week (This is fun, my character was basically Venom but an unlucky compsci major and an escaped lab experiment) Savage Worlds (Mostly, we used it to try to play Earthdawn once) Microscope Follow (by the Microscope guy) Light (The totally-not-Destiny rpg, except I edited it to create a version where I replaced all the non-Destiny words with Destiny words and printed it because I am a monster) Remnants (little known mecha game that I custom printed my own omnibus copy of, will never run it, will remain fascinated with it) Monarchies of Mau (you know, the alternate Pugmire core) 13th Age (Of all the words of mice and men etc etc) Over the Edge (the new one) Cortex Prime Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (at least I think that's what it's called, it's the one that ran on the previous edition of Cortex, my friends and I used it to play a Mass Effect hack) West End Games D6 System (VINTAGE) The Ultraviolet Grasslands Troika (this is bonkers, I wrote a character class once where your character is an entire group of tigers) The One Ring (It's good and very haunted) Forbidden Lands After the Bomb (you know, the thing Palladium did with furries after they lost their TMNT license) Dragonstar (it's a setting for 3.0e, it's great, I'll never play it) Immortal: the Invisible War (a truly magnificent unplayable disaster of an early 90s game, 100/10 what a mess) Justifiers (If you thought After the Bomb was a weird, niche, oddly furry pick you ain't seen shit)

I thought I had a sensible number of games but no.

No I do not.

And I've still got some kickstarters due to roll in nebulously in the future.

(...If anyone wants to talk about any of these I'm probably down.

[bramblewolfbooks]

Exceptionals in the News

So, I’ve been featured in io9/Gizmodo twice this month it turns out. Totally unexpected but all very welcome surprises.  The first was my TTRPG Exceptionals making a list of superhero games that kickass and are most better than the recent and disastrous official marvel ttrpg. Which, gotta say is making me, an indigenous man, feel really smug about being on a list saying  I’m officially better than the  Deadlands guy.  https://gizmodo.com/27-superhero-rpgs-better-than-marvel-multiverse-1848844566 Legit thou, most of these games on the list are amazing and worth your time! I personally dig "Anyone Can Wear the Mask",  "Henshin", and "Teenage Menace." Marvel Heroic was a game that gave me a starting point for how I wanted to handle exp. The second was actually for a twitter thread  I wrote about my design philosophy regarding Exceptionals, the same game   https://gizmodo.com/gaming-news-tabletop-roleplaying-tim-hutchings-kickstar-1848891153 You can find the thread itself below https://twitter.com/sahoni_stuff/status/1518320160909795328?s=21 Here is the game in question if you’re curiosity has been piqued. I really should get around to advertising it on tumblr but I’m so nervous about how it’ll be received. https://bramblewolfgames.itch.io/exceptionals