The new Marvel RPG, Or: Why Jared's Games Have a Shot Now :)

[Andy Kitkowski]

Maybe some of you had heard about this new game on other forums:

From this site: http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?threadid=16029

"MURPG is unlike any other roleplaying game, even other diceless ones. The entire game is built around the premise that effort, not probability, should determine outcome. So basically, players put in stones of energy to overcome the stones of resistance of a problem, like catching a falling bus or defusing a bomb. If they put in enough stones, they succeed. If they don't try hard enough, they fail. And just like in life, nobody except the {GamesMaster} is ever sure how hard enough is. That's the basic game mechanic. Heck, it's really the only game mechanic. (We do have a chart to go with it. It compares and contrasts the Difficulties and Resistances of a wide range of activities, relating stones to the real world. It's our only real chart, although there's a table of situational modifiers.) There are two kinds of stones, white stones for health and red stones for energy. You use red stones to do things, and you lose white stones if you're injured. The basic unit of time in our game is a Panel, which is defined as anything an artist can draw and a writer can write in a single panel in a comic book. At the end of a Panel, characters regenerate some of the red stones they used that panel, according to how many white stones of health they have left."

"All of the information a player needs to play is contained on their Character Action Display, which also contains Action Boxes and the Energy Reserve where they keep their stones," continued Simons. "If you want to know what you can do, just look at the Actions on your CAD. It's sort of like a multiple choice test. Pick an Action, put in some stones, describe what you want to do to the GM. MURPG is so easy, two players can get together for what we call 'Brawling' and they don't even need a GM to do it. Each player picks a character, sets out their CAD, and takes their turn at answering the age old questions like, 'Who's a better fighter, Spider-Man or Wolverine?' or 'Who's stronger, Hulk or Thor?'

"...I looked, and every game I saw had so many numbers that I began to feel like an accountant. I needed a game that had fewer numbers and a simple system with less math. More story, less luck. A hero should never have to depend on a die roll. How heroic is that? I wanted a game where story mattered as much as the numbers. A game that was like the comic books. I also wanted a game where you could be a powerful character all at once, without having to play for years, yet where advancement was based on what your character does rather than on random points. But all the games I found had too many numbers, too many charts, and most of them were so rigid that you either had to do an hour's worth of math to do something or found that you could not create the character you wanted unless you played a hundred sessions, just to build up your character to where you thought it should start! The MURPG is just what I wanted. It's fun to run! I have not felt this good about a game since I worked on Paranoia."

This part is the most telling (emphasis mine):

"If the original Dungeons & Dragons first came out today, would anyone take the time to learn how to play it, let alone if it took two books and over 700 pages to learn how to play?" Simons asked rhetorically. "We looked at collectible card games and computer roleplaying games and figure out what gamers are looking for today. When we put it all in the blender along with a couple of old issues of Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men (rare, expensive and quite tasty), what came out was this totally unique, easy-to-play roleplaying game. And then something cool started happening. Everyone who played the game loved it. Even people who didn't want to love it. People who love dice. People who hate comic books. People who had played every RPG made since Chainmail..."

Does this Marvel RPG sound like one of Jared's games? (heck even one of his FREE games?) Or, at the very least, games lke Pantheon that were blasted 2 years ago for not being RPGs. I'm hoping that this "dumbing down" (? Maybe "DeGrognardification" is a better term) of RPGs brings more people into the hobby. Maybe if enough people play, they'll be open to similar games that have existed for years alongside the mainstream RPGs.

Discuss?

[/b]

[Jonathan Walton]

Honestly, the mechanics sound very similar to Nobilis, in that it's a resource-distribution system, except with a secret difficulty set by the GM.  This annoucement actually got posted to the Nobilis list early this morning as a proof of what Ken Hite said about Nobilisque mechanics eventually showing up in other games.  Personally, I'm most excited about the possibility of GM-less play :)

Having Marvel behind any kind of non-traditional roleplaying game is one of the greatest things that could possible happen.  It means the efforts of the indie community and individual creators is starting to show up in the "mainstream" (to use the old, un-reappropriated version of the term).  

And if they get funky, it means we can get even funkier...

[Mike Holmes]

Who's the publisher? I couldn't get that from the site.

Mike

[Andy Kitkowski]

Who's the publisher? I couldn't get that from the site.

I dunno, Mike, but we should find out soon: According to this, it comes out next week!

-Andy

[Clinton R. Nixon]

As I understand it, Marvel is the publisher. They're doing a huge (72-page, I think) insert in InQuest magazine showing off the game and giving basically a quick-start version of the system.

It's not indie, but I'm damn excited, actually.

[Mike Holmes]

Yeah, Clinton. Indie-shmindie, it's a powerhouse publisher pushing something innovative. Cool.

Mike

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Sounds like something I would have done if I had done it. ;)

But man, a 72 page insert? Why do you need that much space?

- J

Edit: whoa, I *did* do something like this before. I was re-reading my Vampires game (after posting the link on RPG.net re: "clanless" vampire games) and saw something similar to this new Marvel game.
http://www.memento-mori.com/games/vampires.html

I'm suspecting a big book with a short mechanics section, the ubiquitous List of 1,001 Superpowers and full write-ups for everyone in the MU. So maybe you need tons of space after all.

[Mike Holmes]

Naw, just sample character in the main book. Who's Who will no doubt be sold separately. In fact, if they're really cagey (and we know they are), they'll sell figures with stats so that you have to collect something expensive to know your favorite character's official stats.

Mike

[Andy Kitkowski]

Yeah, what I'm really excited about is this:

"And then something cool started happening. Everyone who played the game loved it. Even people who didn't want to love it. People who love dice. People who hate comic books. People who had played every RPG made since Chainmail..."

So it seems that, unless they're lying, both gamers and non-gamers are warming to the experience of this game. In other words, the current cries on other forums of "It's not an RPG if it doesn't use dice!" and "It's a Pokemon-ized RPG" from the old-school grognards and the like will be drowned out by the sound of people having fun playing this new-style (for mainstream, anyway) RPG.

FEEL. THESE. NIPPLES.

[Bankuei]

There's a couple of things that have me excited about this game.  

First, I've loved all the various incarnations of the Marvel games, and I think that this is yet another step in the right direction.  When you have people messing with the stuff of space and time every other issue, modeling "reality" is pretty much pointless.  Second, I'm glad to see a corporate publisher is getting the idea that play is more important than "tried and true" design philosophy.  I think if this game is a success, we'll find more games willing to use alternate mechanics...And we may even find WOTC reconsidering their sales philosophy.

So far, lots of designs have stayed mired in the idea of go with what you know.  It's just like ultra realistic flight sims on the PC.  They're always for sale, and they sell enough that folks keep making'em, but not enough people want to get all into the details to learn them to become a big hit.  Meanwhile stuff that folks can pick up right away and enjoy(console games) push the industry into a multibillion dollar business.

What I think is amazing here, is that we've got folks who are concentrating on the most important thing: play.  Not marketing, not sales, but play.  Design around play, not around marketing.  It was that focus that made stuff like Magic boom.

But, and here's the big BUT:  Indie games will still be small time simply because they don't come with the "sexy-sexy" full color books, multimedia advertising campaign/assualt, and the brand name.  The benefit if this is a success, though, is that we'll see the usual indie to corporate trickle down benefit of quality and innovation, which is still better than nothing.

Of course, I'm a big comic head anyway, so I'm stoked!

Chris

[Mike Holmes]

"And then something cool started happening. Everyone who played the game loved it. Even people who didn't want to love it. People who love dice. People who hate comic books. People who had played every RPG made since Chainmail..."

I dunno, Andy, that just sounds like advertising to me, or, at best, an author gushing (I've done the same thing). The proof will be in the pudding.

That said, what they are advertising is not a typical RPG (from the sounds of it). And that's what's got me excited. Those advertisement bucks may end up helping the rest of us by validating the notion that a game doesn't have to be anything like a WOTC game to be good.

Mike

[arxhon]

FEEL. THESE. NIPPLES.

WTF??!  I'm afraid now....:-P

Those advertisement bucks may end up helping the rest of us by validating the notion that a game doesn't have to be anything like a WOTC game to be good.

True, but we knew this already, right, Mike? That's what the forge is about! Non-WOTC games that kick ass. That and talking about stuff that makes my poor old head spin (GNS, Illusionism, Premise, et al).

That said, this actually does sound like it might be an interesting and simple way to resolve things, though i must quibble with the author's assertion that

all the games I found had too many numbers, too many charts, and most of them were so rigid that you either had to do an hour's worth of math to do something

This guy didn't try very hard, obviously, and he seems to have a knack for exaggeration. Which may apply to his statement that everyone loves it. Hopefull it is actually quite simple and draws more people into the game, helping crush the stranglehold of D20....>-)

[Mike Holmes]

True, but we knew this already, right, Mike? That's what the forge is about!

Yes. I didn't mean self-validation. We're all pretty confident that we're doing good stuff here. I meant validating the idea to the general gaming public who apparently aren't so on-board with the idea of innovation as a good thing for gaming.

Mike

[arxhon]

Ah, I see. I didn't mean to come across as smarmy. My apologies.

Hopefully the general gaming public is receptive to something that isn't D20, and from what i've seen, a lot of them are mildly disgruntled, and that's always ripe pickings for the properly placed game developer. :-)

[Drew Stevens]

Ah, I love my FLGS.  It's still Febuary, and they were selling the April issue of Inquest with the Marvelly goodness.

Mmm, Marvelly goodness. :)

As to the system itself- it's a bit crunchy to read, but I've got the feeling that that's just 'adapting to new nomenclature' type stuff.  The pages are actually taken up with a pretty damn in-depth explanation of WHY the game is designed the way it is, what that structure is (stones acting as action currency, etc).  Then the rest is an adventure for either a group of X-Men or members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Also, damnit.  Something else I have to buy now. :)