Masters of the Universe RPG Reveal at Power-Con 2020

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3:00pm – 5:00pm Pacific Time, UTC -7
Masters of the Universe Tabletop RPG Reveal
Panelists: Adam Bradford, Cam Banks
Special Guests: Felicia Day, “Masters of the Universe: Revelation’s” Tiffany Smith, “Masters of the Universe: Revelation’s” Phil LaMarr
Join the hosts and some very special guests to discover an exciting new adventure from the all-star team behind some of the world’s most iconic tabletop digital tools and games.
RAFFLE PRIZE: five random attendees will each win a copy of the 2021 Legends of Grayskull Game Handbook!


Well, Cam Banks leading the panel tells me it's going to be a Cortex game-- sorry, for any He-Man fans who don't like the system-- so I'm really excited to see where they go with this.

I remember when I was trying really hard to get this license, and we were told it wasn't going to be avaialble at any price because they had a brand new live-action feature film coming out later that year. That was 2008. Ha.
 
There's a d20/Pathfinder fan conversion page somewhere out there, I've seen it, though I can't find it at the moment.
 
Can anyone give a quick summary of Cortex? I recognize the name but have zero experience with it
 
Can anyone give a quick summary of Cortex? I recognize the name but have zero experience with it


It's the house system of Margaret Weis productions that uses die steps and is highly abstracted/narrative - variations were used for Marvel Heroic, Smallville, and the Leverage RPG. IIRC Cortex is taken largely from the Sovereign Stone iteration
 
It's the house system of Margaret Weis productions that uses die steps and is highly abstracted/narrative - variations were used for Marvel Heroic, Smallville, and the Leverage RPG. IIRC Cortex is taken largely from the Sovereign Stone iteration
Thanks. That's completely outside my gaming sphere.
What a shame.
 
Thanks. That's completely outside my gaming sphere.
What a shame.

On the other hand, get the reference books from Dark Horse and your favorite high-powered science fantasy or superhero game, and you've got everything you need to roll your own and don't have to worry about the licensees getting it wrong. :smile:

EDIT: And the 'special guests' suggest they might be tying this in to the forthcoming Revelations Netflix series, and I'm sorry, but I don't trust Netflix, I don't trust contemporary corporations, and I don't trust Kevin Smith. :smile:
 
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It's the house system of Margaret Weis productions that uses die steps and is highly abstracted/narrative - variations were used for Marvel Heroic, Smallville, and the Leverage RPG. IIRC Cortex is taken largely from the Sovereign Stone iteration

Worth noting that it is no longer owned by MWP. Fandom (people who make D&D Beyond) is the owner of the system now.
 
Don't think so. Fandom just bought out Cortex specifically and brought on Cam as the creative director for it (which makes sense, as Cam is like synonymous with the system at this point).

Looking more into it, it went: Cam licenses Cortex from MWP because MW wants to get out of rpg development to focus on writing novels/film deals stuff, then Fandom came and bought the whole thing from them later.

I imagine it wasn't so much "went under" as "other things I'm doing make more money".
 
I think Mutants & Masterminds is the best game to use out of all the current ones I can think of, if there were to be a d20 involved.
 
On the other hand, get the reference books from Dark Horse and your favorite high-powered science fantasy or superhero game, and you've got everything you need to roll your own and don't have to worry about the licensees getting it wrong. :smile:
Wait, there are reference books for Masters of the Universe and I am just finding out about that now? The main reason for my interest in a licensed game is because they generally do a good job on the lore I need to run it. Is it still in print? Hell I could run MotU in Savage Worlds.

There is a free overview game here which tells you the basics of the system
Thanks! The system doesn't get me excited from a quick read-thru but I will reserve judgement until I play the damn thing; it could end up being the most awesome experience ever for all I know. The explanation of gaming dice tells me that the target audience is people with zero RPG experience. Which is fine.
 
Wait, there are reference books for Masters of the Universe and I am just finding out about that now? The main reason for my interest in a licensed game is because they generally do a good job on the lore I need to run it. Is it still in print? Hell I could run MotU in Savage Worlds.

The Character Guide and World Compendium is out of print at the moment, but it's available in Kindle format (albeit split into two volumes). The same goes for the Complete Guide to the Classic Animated Adventures (detailed synopses of every Filmation episode).

The real nice thing about the Character Guide and World Compendium is that it divides up each entry by the various canons, so they're not privileging one interpretation or mushing everything together into incoherence.
 
The Legends of Grayskull tabletop RPG has been officially announced.


Comic Book said:
Players around the world will be able to wield the power of Grayskull in an upcoming tabletop roleplaying game set in the world in Eternia, the setting of the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra games. Mattel announced Legends of Grayskull: The Masters of the Universe Roleplaying Game, a new tabletop RPG that will use the Cortex Prime system, at the virtual Power-Con event earlier today. Legends of Grayskull is the result of a multi-year licensing deal with Fandom (the makers of the popular D&D Beyond platform) and is part of Mattel's reboot of the Masters of the Universe franchise, which also includes two animated series on Netflix, a comic book, and a feature film.

"Fans will be able to play as familiar Masters of the Universe characters, use those characters as a base and customize to their desire, or create entirely new heroes or villains," Fandom VP of Tabletop Adam Bradford told ComicBook.com in a recent e-mail interview about the game. "The recent Masters of the Multiverse comic series reinforced that there are many Eternias and many versions of He-Man and his allies or Skeletor’s forces, as well as new and diverse champions of Grayskull protecting their own Eternias. Legends of Grayskull will embrace the diversity of the multiverse and leave creativity wide open for fans to find the power in the ways they want." Examples of the characters you can play in Legends of Grayskull can be seen throughout the article.

The Cortex system that powers Legends of Grayskull is a flexible system that has been adapted for use in a variety of different media franchise settings, ranging from superhero franchises like the Marvel Universe and Smallville to more grounded worlds like that of TNT's Leverage. Bradford noted that the Cortex-driven Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game provided a solid foundation for adapting the world of Masters of the Universe to tabletop. "Capturing superheroes and their various superpowers was central to the award-winning Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game several years ago, and Masters of the Universe characters, when you come right down to it, are super-powered heroes or villains," Bradford said. "Those base power sets gave us a solid foundation to capture the feel of Masters of the Universe character powers."
 
Never owned a He-Man or She-Ra doll or saw any of the cartoons for more than a moment of two. What is/was the premise of He-Man and/or She-Ra? And are they related or lovers or what?
 
Never owned a He-Man or She-Ra doll or saw any of the cartoons for more than a moment of two. What is/was the premise of He-Man and/or She-Ra? And are they related or lovers or what?

Prince Adam...

z05tKhD-_400x400.jpg

is the prince of a hyper-masculine Barbarian Kingdom

He has a magic Sword that when he waves around transforms him into his secret identity "He-man" , who looks the same but wears leather straps and a fur bikini bottom'

Capture.JPG

While trying to keep up his secret identity, he fights Skeletor (-in-his-closet)...


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...who lives in Snake Mountain and wants to steal his magic sword, and Skeletor's henchmen, such as Beastman...

he-man-gif-14.gif


She-Ra is his sister from another Dimension

she-ra-season-4-original.jpg
 
I had a lot of He-Man figures and I loved them. I'm still not sure if I'm excited about the reboot or not.
 
It depends on which continuity you use too, which can be confusing if you are new. When the figures were originally released they included comics which were the original continuity. In those, He-Man was the champion from a small village and Skeletor was a sorcerer trapped from another dimension.
 
It depends on which continuity you use too, which can be confusing if you are new. When the figures were originally released they included comics which were the original continuity. In those, He-Man was the champion from a small village and Skeletor was a sorcerer trapped from another dimension.

Yeah, I loved those stories. Teela was a warrior goddess who rode a unicorn
 
 
The Legends of Grayskull tabletop RPG has been officially announced.

Starting with a supers base is certainly the fight idea.

Never owned a He-Man or She-Ra doll or saw any of the cartoons for more than a moment of two. What is/was the premise of He-Man and/or She-Ra? And are they related or lovers or what?

Twins. Which, in Star Wars, would also mean love interest.

Yeah, I loved those stories. Teela was a warrior goddess who rode a unicorn

Those early stories are REALLY great.
 
In the 2002 animated series, it was revealed that before his disfigurement, Skeletor was actually Keldor, King Randor’s maternal half-brother and Prince Adam’s uncle (GASP!).

A633E99C-0D64-445F-8DBB-84DCE4A9D2DD.jpeg
 
People are always retconning my childhood.:cry:

Allegedly the action figure comics were planning to reveal the same thing before the whole thing went tits up and got rebooted as more straight forward sci-fi (or whatever happened to kill my interest as a kid).
 
My parents didn't let me have He-man toys as a kid. Because Satan.

My wife was taught that He-Man, Smurfs, D&D, etc were all EEEEEEEVIL.

First time she was hanging around as we played D&D was REALLY eye opening for her.
 
My wife was taught that He-Man, Smurfs, D&D, etc were all EEEEEEEVIL.

First time she was hanging around as we played D&D was REALLY eye opening for her.

Yup. I'd forgotten about the Smurfs, but it fits. I think people forget that the Satanic panic of the 80's wasn't all about D&D. A lot of other toys (and for me, many cartoons) we're strictly verboten due to the influence the devil may wield through them.
 
I've been watching the demo, and it looks to be pretty close to the Marvel flavor of Cortex.
 
So what does Skeletor want with the magic sword? What is his goal?

And what would an original PC do in a setting that revolves around Skeletor wanting He-Man's sword?
 
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