Masters of the Universe Thread

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Endless Flight

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I am excited about upcoming the animated show(s). Can someone please give Masters of the Universe a decent RPG treatment already? After a quick Google search I get the impression I am not alone in wanting this. Here's hoping Evil-Lyn gets a sexy reboot befitting a regal evil sorceress, pic related.

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I will second the MOTU RPG. Just as long as it's not FASA.
 
There was a MotU RPG but I’ve read it was awful. Like the kind you never want to know existed.
 
There was a MotU RPG but I’ve read it was awful. Like the kind you never want to know existed.


I've never watched the cartoons: what would one even do in Eternia if you're not playing He-Man himself and fighting Skeleton Man every week? Everything I have seen makes it seem like another one of those settings where everything revolves around one dude.
 


I've never watched the cartoons: what would one even do in Eternia if you're not playing He-Man himself and fighting Skeleton Man every week? Everything I have seen makes it seem like another one of those settings where everything revolves around one dude.


The original cartoon is near unwatchable as an adult I'd say, although I loved it as a kid. The movie was campy fun though, maybe that could be more the inspiration?
 
The original cartoon is near unwatchable as an adult I'd say, although I loved it as a kid. The movie was campy fun though, maybe that could be more the inspiration?

I actually bought the complete series and started re-watching it for the first time since I was a kid. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I would have thought.

Dumarest is right in that He-Man is pretty centric to the setting (a problem with a lot of licensed settings) but between the cartoons and comic books, there's a LOT of villains, including some that never got the Skeletor/Hordak spotlight...and it's basically Fantasy Superheroes, so you have a lot of room for character creation (He-Man, Ram Man, Mekanek, Stratos, Zodak, Roboto, Moss Man, Man-At-Arms...and that's not even getting into the She-Ra stuff).

Cartoon Action Hour had a serial numbers filed off setting that basically removes the central He-Man figure if that's a big concern.
 
The best part about the cartoon is the introduction. The actual episodes are horrible.

Depends on the episodes. With 130 episodes being produced by a very broad writing staff, you're going to get a tremendous swing in quality. I think the best still hold up pretty well, the majority are somewhat cheesy fun, but the worst can be really obnoxious. But my love of the Matter of Eternia is deep and strong, so I'm not exactly an impartial judge.

Be sure to check out the 2002-3 reboot if you get a chance, though.
 
They should do a new He-Man movie with Kevin Hart as Prince Adam, Dwayne Johnson as He-man and Vin Diesel as Skeletor.
 
I never got into the cartoons, it just didn't have the edge of Thundarr the Barbarian. I do appreciate it's iconography and I did enjoy the live action movie with Dolph Lundgren.

Best of all is the documentary The Power of Greyskull which takes a behind the scenes look at the creators of the series and the interplay between the fiction and the toy range. The passion of those guys is just fantastic, I think any roleplayer or individual with a creative urge and love for escapist fiction can really related to those guys.
 
I didn't care for the cartoon that much to to be honest but I loved the action figures and the comics that came with them. Oh and the awesome artwork. Oddly enough, I still ended up watching a lot of the cartoon as a child but Prince Adam and Orko were cringe-inducing buzzkills.

Best of all is the documentary The Power of Greyskull which takes a behind the scenes look at the creators of the series and the interplay between the fiction and the toy range. The passion of those guys is just fantastic, I think any roleplayer or individual with a creative urge and love for escapist fiction can really related to those guys.
Yea that was a great documentary and made me wish we could have seen the grittier Masters of the Universe as depicted in the awesome artwork.
 
I have my worries with Kevin Smith's Revelations show. It's supposed to feature Teela, an admittedly minor character from the original series, which although had a special connection in the story, never really went anywhere with it. Although in the original time line she and He-Man/Adam are supposed to have a kid, who turns into He-Ro, the next generation.

There's almost no information on the Mattel reboot.
 
I haven't watched any of the new TMNT cartoons, I skipped She-Ra, I've never seen a full episode of the new My Little Pony, or the Teen Wolf reboot, I haven't watched any Scooby Doo cartoons since the 80s (though I did enoy the live-action films), Im not even curious about the new Thundercats, and I completely missed the Rainbow Brite reboot. In fact the only recent remake I've been saying to myself that I should try out is Voltron, and it's still pretty low on my qeue. And I stopped being a Kevin Smith fan a LONG time ago.

So I've got no investment in a new MOTU cartoon. If the right people end up telling me it's good, I may check it out, but otherwise, I don't really see it as having any relation to my memories of a show I watched when I was 3-6 years old.
 
I haven't watched any of the new TMNT cartoons, I skipped She-Ra, I've never seen a full episode of the new My Little Pony, or the Teen Wolf reboot, I haven't watched any Scooby Doo cartoons since the 80s (though I did enoy the live-action films), Im not even curious about the new Thundercats, and I completely missed the Rainbow Brite reboot. In fact the only recent remake I've been saying to myself that I should try out is Voltron, and it's still pretty low on my qeue. And I stopped being a Kevin Smith fan a LONG time ago.

So I've got no investment in a new MOTU cartoon. If the right people end up telling me it's good, I may check it out, but otherwise, I don't really see it as having any relation to my memories of a show I watched when I was 3-6 years old.
I find all of it to be garbage. Except Thundercats. Its not high art or anything. But much better than I expected. Lots of interpersonal conflict, that make sense. A grittiness, I wasnt expecting. Example, Panthro was fighting an old enemy. He pushed him into a dimensional portal holding him there as the portal closed cutting off his (Panthro) arms.
 
Almost forgot. Willey Kit and Kat are done way better. Then the biggest change for the better. Snarf is just an animal and can not talk.
I have some issues with the 2011 reboot, but those two are not one of them. But on the whole, I rather like it.
 
I find all of it to be garbage. Except Thundercats. Its not high art or anything. But much better than I expected. Lots of interpersonal conflict, that make sense. A grittiness, I wasnt expecting. Example, Panthro was fighting an old enemy. He pushed him into a dimensional portal holding him there as the portal closed cutting off his (Panthro) arms.


IIRC, Trevor (aka Devil on here), of Me, Myself, and Die , does one of the voices in the new Thundercats
 
Oh, ThunderCats 2011 was also rated PG, so it did more mature things with the story.
 
That was licensed through Spinmasters, who actually had the Marvel license, and that’s the design they went with for 5 Minute Marvel.

I suspect CMON’s vision for He-Man will be different.
 
Well, I'd expect any rpg to be a pretty light system. "Power," should be the main stat, maybe you could have Battle Power and Magic Power but the main thing is your power level. Power levels run from 1 - 10 with each level costing twice as much as the first. Every character gets a special ability and a magic or technological item from a list. Alignment would be who's side you are on and what your rank is. The ranks would be goon, lieutenant, captain, and MASTER. I'm thinking player characters would start with lieutenant level heroes. Roll under power on 2d6 to succeed. Battles determined by total successes on side. Losers are captured or flee.

He Man Master of Greyskull: Battle Power 11, Transformation, Battle Cat, Power Sword
Man At Arms Master of The Kingdom: Battle Power 10, Engineer, Commander, Tech Armor, Wrist Blaster, Power Mace
Teela Captain of The Kingdom: Battle Power 9, Commander, Dodge
The Sorceress: Magic Power 11:
Skeletor Master of Snake Mountain: Magic Power 10, Staff of Power, Spell Casting
Beastman Lieutenant of Snake Mountain: Battle Power 7, Leaping and Climbing
Trap Jaw Lieutenant of Snake Mountain: Battle Power 7, Bionic Arm and Jaw
 
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