New Marvel RPG coming in 2022

[Gringnr]

Marvel to Launch Official 'MARVEL MULTIVERSE' Tabletop Role-Playing Game in 2022

Use the all-new D616 game system to embody your favorite Super Heroes and Super Villains like never before!

www.marvel.com

 

[PolarBlues]

"..an accessible and easy-to-learn system for newcomers to tabletop RPGs " is generally a good starting point for me, but there are still 101, or should 616, ways this can go horribly wrong.

 

[Endless Flight]

I actually like their choices of attribute names. I like that it's not D&D 5e. I like that it will have character creation rules. We'll see about this D616 system, but I actually have my hopes up. The more superhero games on the market, the better!

 

[Ladybird]

Cool. Forbeck's a safe pair of development hands.

 

[Nexus]

Another one? O.o

 

[Endless Flight]

Matt has won Origins Awards for both Deadlands and Decipher's Lord of the Rings.

 

[amoamasamat]

The Forbeck name bodes well. The six attributes correspond to the traditional D&D six, which makes me wonder if it is intentionally compatible with 5e/d20, a sort of "superpowered" add-on that would permit crossovers. Interest piqued.

But I do miss FASERIP. FASERIP forever!

 

[Tommy Brownell]

"MARVEL MULTIVERSE ROLE-PLAYING GAME: PLAYTEST RULEBOOK will introduce players to the all-new D616 System, an accessible and easy-to-learn system for newcomers to tabletop RPGs and a natural evolution for those familiar with the most popular tabletop role-playing games on the market."

I mean...that sounds like there's more than a passing resemblance to 5e.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

I wonder if it'll even have character creation rules? Marvel has been pretty consistent in wanting to people to play THEIR characters, not make their own.

Though the silhouette up front does bode well for character creation rules.

 

[Endless Flight]

Players will finally be able to take on the roles of Marvel’s most famous Super Heroes – or create entirely new ones – to fight some of the most dangerous Super Villains in the Marvel Universe!

Bolded important part.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

There better be a a goddamn random roll option for stats if we're just going to do 5e in a Marvel paint job.

 

[amoamasamat]

"...and a natural evolution for those familiar with the most popular tabletop role-playing games on the market."

I mean...that sounds like there's more than a passing resemblance to 5e.

I totally stopped reading before that, dismissing it as blah-blah ad copy. Doh.

 

[Endless Flight]

I think it just means it won’t be an off-the-rails RPG. It’ll be traditional. I don’t think it necessary means it’s d20.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

I think it just means it won’t be an off-the-rails RPG. It’ll be traditional. I don’t think it necessary means it’s d20.

I'll buy you a coke if it's not just 5e in a Marvel cosplay.

 

[Endless Flight]

Matt worked on Lord of the Rings. It wasn’t d20 but 2d6 with six attributes, defenses, skills. I just think he’ll change some stuff up to make it different but still recognizable for people who know D&D. It’s a smart idea.

 

[Ladybird]

I think the huge news is that this seemingly isn't licensed; it's a full-on Marvel product. So as well as hopefully having more sensible commercial expectations put on it, things like content approval are likely to be much easier, plus it can tap into Marvel's already very good distribution network.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

I think the huge news is that this seemingly isn't licensed; it's a full-on Marvel product. So as well as hopefully having more sensible commercial expectations put on it, things like content approval are likely to be much easier, plus it can tap into Marvel's already very good distribution network.

Admittedly it was a different time, but the one time Marvel went in-house with an RPG before died faster than the rest.

 

[Gabriel]

Pfft. It's not 2d20, so who cares?

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Pfft. It's not 2d20, so who cares?

I mean, good point. As much as I'm apprehensive about 5e cosplay, I should count my blessings.

 

[PolarBlues]

I think the huge news is that this seemingly isn't licensed; it's a full-on Marvel product. So as well as hopefully having more sensible commercial expectations put on it, things like content approval are likely to be much easier, plus it can tap into Marvel's already very good distribution network.

Wasn't Marvel Universe, yet another short-live Marvel rpg, an in-house product rather than a licenced game?

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Wasn't Marvel Universe, yet another short-live Marvel rpg, an in-house product rather than a licenced game?

The shortest lived, in fact, based on released books, at least.

 

[Baulderstone]

I think the huge news is that this seemingly isn't licensed; it's a full-on Marvel product. So as well as hopefully having more sensible commercial expectations put on it, things like content approval are likely to be much easier, plus it can tap into Marvel's already very good distribution network.

Admittedly it was a different time, but the one time Marvel went in-house with an RPG before died faster than the rest.

To be fair, that game also seemed to be almost universally disliked. It wasn't a case like Marvel Heroic, where the game actually had a solid following that got the rugged pulled out from under them when the game was cancelled due to the end of the license. With Forbeck in charge, it suggests we are going to get a more traditional system. That game Marvel put out wasn't going to last long under any circumstances.

Then again, while the issue of a license being pulled isn't an issue, it really is hard to say what the longevity of a successful RPG would be at Marvel/Disney. It could be cancelled because a new CEO comes on the scene and decides to cancel the projects the previous CEO greenlighted simply to make a statement.

The other question I have is about POD and PDF. Will Marvel have a more sensible policy than it's sibling Star Wars? If it doesn't have POD and PDF options, it will be just as dead as a licensed game once Marvel ends it. Ideally, they will support POD and PDF, so the game will still be easy to pick up long after the line ends.

Either way, FASERIP is still serving my Marvel needs at the moment. I'm hoping it will be cool but it won't be a tragedy for me if it isn't.

I'm hoping the Multiverse title means the game is going to lean into alternate universes, in a What If? fashion, encouraging people to see their campaigns as an alternate Marvel universe of their own.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

To be fair, that game also seemed to be almost universally disliked. It wasn't a case like Marvel Heroic, where the game actually had a solid following that got the rugged pulled out from under them when the game was cancelled due to the end of the license. With Forbeck in charge, it suggests we are going to get a more traditional system. That game Marvel put out wasn't going to last long under any circumstances.

Then again, while the issue of a license being pulled isn't an issue, it really is hard to say what the longevity of a successful RPG would be at Marvel/Disney. It could be cancelled because a new CEO comes on the scene and decides to cancel the projects the previous CEO greenlighted simply to make a statement.

The other question I have is about POD and PDF. Will Marvel have a more sensible policy than it's sibling Star Wars? If it doesn't have POD and PDF options, it will be just as dead as a licensed game once Marvel ends it. Ideally, they will support POD and PDF, so the game will still be easy to pick up long after the line ends.

Either way, FASERIP is still serving my Marvel needs at the moment. I'm hoping it will be cool but it won't be a tragedy for me if it isn't.

I'm hoping the Multiverse title means the game is going to lean into alternate universes, in a What If? fashion, encouraging people to see their campaigns as an alternate Marvel universe of their own.

One encouraging thing on that front is Marvel leans hard into pushing digital comics, so hopefully that won't be an issue. That being said, I was always under the impression that the Star Wars digital policy had more to do with some weird quirk of their video game licensing saying that the tabletop RPG PDFs occupy the same space.

 

[Gabriel]

I remember the buzz at the time was that Marvel had extremely unrealistic expectations for any Marvel RPG. As in, they expected it to outsell D&D and become the new industry standard.

And not intending to cast shade... I didn't like the stone system, but I did think it had the potential to be neat... Even still, there was no way in hell that one was going to outsell D&D and become the new defining RPG of all time.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

I remember the buzz at the time was that Marvel had extremely unrealistic expectations for any Marvel RPG. As in, they expected it to outsell D&D and become the new industry standard.

And not intending to cast shade... I didn't like the stone system, but I did think it had the potential to be neat... Even still, there was no way in hell that one was going to outsell D&D and become the new defining RPG of all time.

The Marvel IP is the biggest thing on the planet thanks to the MCU but, outside of movies, that doesn't seem to translate (I love the Avengers game, but Square Enix took a massive loss on it, comic sales were in the shitter pre-pandemic)...is there any reason to believe that they now have more realistic expectation for success, and that those expectations are achievable?

 

[Endless Flight]

I don’t think you’ll ever see POD with any Marvel product.

 

[Endless Flight]

One encouraging thing on that front is Marvel leans hard into pushing digital comics, so hopefully that won't be an issue. That being said, I was always under the impression that the Star Wars digital policy had more to do with some weird quirk of their video game licensing saying that the tabletop RPG PDFs occupy the same space.

It’s actually because there’s no differentiation in that license. If it’s digital, it’s a video game.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

It’s actually because there’s no differentiation in that license. If it’s digital, it’s a video game.

Right. I knew it was something like that.

 

[Gabriel]

Oh. I just clicked the link to look.

So, waiting until March of 2022 for a Playtest book, huh? And the game won't release until 2023? Probably GenCon 2023, I'd guess.

 

[PolarBlues]

Oh. I just clicked the link to look.

So, waiting until March of 2022 for a Playtest book, huh? And the game won't release until 2023? Probably GenCon 2023, I'd guess.

Yeah,right? That's like enough time for us to have a whole new pandemic.

What? Too soon?

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Yeah,right? That's like enough time for us to have a whole new pandemic.

What? Too soon?

There better be VTT support, then!

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Matt has won Origins Awards for both Deadlands and Decipher's Lord of the Rings.

Looking up his design bonafides: He's listed as a contributor for Deadlands and isn't even listed as a designer on the wiki for Decipher Lord of the Rings (I don't own that book so I can't look for myself)...but the one RPG he's got the main design credit for - Brave New World - was a very clunky attempt at shoehorning supers into an existing system.

So yeah, I'm not immediately put at ease by his name on the book.

 

[Gabriel]

isn't even listed as a designer on the wiki for Decipher Lord of the Rings (I don't own that book so I can't look for myself).

I own it. It's a bit buried right now, so even though I had intended to do some digging this weekend, I might not end up coming across it.

I thought Steve Long had done Decipher's Lord of the Rings, though. In fact, the only thing I recall reading about the design of the Coda system was that Long sort of wrote it in isolation. But Forbeck lists his credit on his website, so I guess he wrote something for it.

Edit:

My dim recollection of the story from back in the early days of the TrekRPG site was that Long said that he was just as surprised as anyone at the WotC acquisition of LUG, subsequent dissolution of LUG, and then Decipher basically picking up all the same people to be the new RPG wing of that company and do LotR and Trek RPGs. I think he said he was given a very short period of time to design a new house system to be the Coda system and drive both LotR and Trek, so he threw the system manuscript together over the weekend or something.

The only thing I clearly remember Long posted about the LotR RPG was that he didn't write it as the RPG of the movie. He wrote it based on the books and left any licensing problems to the IP guys.

 

[Endless Flight]

Looking up his design bonafides: He's listed as a contributor for Deadlands and isn't even listed as a designer on the wiki for Decipher Lord of the Rings (I don't own that book so I can't look for myself)...but the one RPG he's got the main design credit for - Brave New World - was a very clunky attempt at shoehorning supers into an existing system.

So yeah, I'm not immediately put at ease by his name on the book.

His name is in the LotR core rule book as a developer, author and editor.

 

[Armchair Gamer]

Forbeck has Author, Editor, and Developer credits on the Decipher LotR core book, but not Design.

 

[Endless Flight]

I own it. It's a bit buried right now, so even though I had intended to do some digging this weekend, I might not end up coming across it.

I thought Steve Long had done Decipher's Lord of the Rings, though. In fact, the only thing I recall reading about the design of the Coda system was that Long sort of wrote it in isolation. But Forbeck lists his credit on his website, so I guess he wrote something for it.

Yes, I believe Long designed the bulk of it.

 

[Raleel]

so

Written and co-designed by award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Matt Forbeck (The Marvel Encyclopedia, Dungeons & Dragons: Endless Quest), the MARVEL MULTIVERSE ROLE-PLAYING GAME: PLAYTEST RULEBOOK will introduce players to the all-new D616 System, an accessible and easy-to-learn system for newcomers to tabletop RPGs and a natural evolution for those familiar with the most popular tabletop role-playing games on the market. Use Might, Agility, Resilience, Vigilance, Ego, and Logic to win the day, and discover your true abilities as you face impossible odds!

so, it's going to look familiar. It's also using 6 stats that are very close to a standard array (str, dex, con, <something>, will, perception).

DTRPG has Matt's shotguns and sorcery work being the most recent published, and that is cypher. he's also got Hero, Torg, Exalted, Deadlands. He also has a small amount of work with d6 x d6, which reminds me of d616

 

[Tommy Brownell]

so

so, it's going to look familiar. It's also using 6 stats that are very close to a standard array (str, dex, con, <something>, will, perception).

DTRPG has Matt's shotguns and sorcery work being the most recent published, and that is cypher. he's also got Hero, Torg, Exalted, Deadlands. He also has a small amount of work with d6 x d6, which reminds me of d616

I have Shotguns & Sorcery, and Robert Schwalb is the sole rules credit on that one. Matt wrote the fiction it was adapted from (and presumably the none rules parts of the book).

 

[Endless Flight]

I think he got the gig because of the Marvel Encyclopedia editing/writing that he did, plus his volume of other work. He might have even helped pitch the idea to somebody there, but that’s just conjecture.

 

[Raleel]

certainly a diverse variety of experience. I wonder if the system work will come from someone else, as a lot of his work does not appear to be system focused.