New Marvel RPG coming in 2022

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Plot twist: It's the D6 Legend system from the DC Universe rpg!
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They could do some interesting cross-promotional stuff with it. Whenever they introduce a new character into the comics (good guy, bad guy, whatever), they could include a page with the rpg stats.
 
Someone says they managed to confirm the playtest would be about the cost of a comic book these days (5.99USD) I've no idea where they got this from though. But it might fit with things similar to the Marvel Saga RPG 1:1 RPG game books that used normal playing cards before the release of the full game with its custom cards. No clue. Wait and see is where I'm at.
A single issue, or a trade collection? The press release itself calls the playtest, "MARVEL MULTIVERSE ROLE-PLAYING GAME: PLAYTEST RULEBOOK TPB".
 
A single issue, or a trade collection? The press release itself calls the playtest, "MARVEL MULTIVERSE ROLE-PLAYING GAME: PLAYTEST RULEBOOK TPB".
I've no idea, they just said it was confirmed to be that price (If they manage that I'd be seriously confused about how they managed that.)
 
I also spend enough of my life working with in-development software that I have no interest in doing it in my free time.

Random fact: I no longer do playtesting for games for free, let alone pay for the privilege of editing others work, after an experience I had back in the day. I had been playtesting a game and had had a conversation with one of the authors online, and was shocked to find in the next edition of the playtest to find everything I said used as a historical document in the book. No attribution, no payment, and apparently as a playtester I should be good with that.

Ironically, the book was never published, and many times I’ve seen people trolling for a leaked copy from a playtester. On one occasion the fellow who used what I wrote popped up, chastising everyone who was asking for a copy, saying he didn’t get paid and that it was unfair to read other people’s work that they weren’t paid for.

i kind of wanted to print out the playtest portion with my writing, then fly to his country and show up at his door with it in hand and say “Oy, mate, time for a hypocrisy-induced beatdown!”
 
My gut tells me 616 will use 3d6. We'll see. I think Forbeck indicates this is a real attempt at an in-house game. Can you imagine the possibilities of MCU stars playing Marvel Multiverse on stream?

I can't imagine wanting to watch MCU actors play an RPG, but that's also just not really my thing.
 
As much as I want to tell myself that I’ll wait to see what the general opinion of this game is before I dive in, I know that I’ll end up buying it as soon as it’s out.

I’ve bought every official Marvel game (yes, even Marvel Universe) and I know there’s no way I’ll be able to stop myself this time, either.
 
As much as I want to tell myself that I’ll wait to see what the general opinion of this game is before I dive in, I know that I’ll end up buying it as soon as it’s out.

I’ve bought every official Marvel game (yes, even Marvel Universe) and I know there’s no way I’ll be able to stop myself this time, either.

Same. I own the first four. Only ever ran the first two. Never had a desire to run the Stones game, but would have happily ran Marvel Heroic.

This has got me wanting to run some kind of Marvel game soon, though. :grin:
 
The demographics of comic-collectors vs. RPG players have shifted a lot.

Marvel comics sales are geared toward a relatively tiny demographic compared to what they previously enjoyed during the Shooter-era, where the average RPG gamer likely collected comics or at least comics were in their orbit.

My gut feeling is those populations have inverted. I suspect the majority of D&D players have nothing to do with Marvel comics outside of watching the MCU. And because of the modern conceits of Marvel comics as evidenced by their sales, they've lost a LOT of their old-school collectors, while younger comic aficionados are into Manga (likewise as evidenced by sales).

Forbeck has his work cut out for him. He will definitely attract a lot of attention from people that love the new-shiny, but as evidenced by Supers RPG GM's on this forum (and others) - they tend to fall in pretty much tribal camps that set a ridiculously high bar to overcome.

My opinion is simple: Marvel isn't *really* serious to do what it takes to make an RPG from the Marvel IP to the degree of what it will take to really take off. Nor do I think Forbeck will have the capacity to drive it from the material he has to work with. At best, maybe he'll get to leverage the MCU. But modern Marvel is a complete shitshow narratively.

Meanwhile I suggest people merely look at the Resources section of this forum and look at all the fan-based stuff people have done with MSH, and it's *stunning* in terms of depth.

My comicbook knowledge is second-to-none. I say this as someone that has worked in comics and collected comics for decades and I have tens of thousands of comics in storage from the very start of the modern Marvel era in the early 60's to around 2010'ish. So when I say these guys have written material that stretches beyond my own memory - some of the most obscure shit, statted and ready to consume, and properly contextualized(!!!) it leaves me in glorious *awe* at the MSH fandom. And it's not just one fan-project - it's most of them. The Books of Magic, the Asgardian, Asian mythos, etc. etc. It's insane levels of work. None of which you'll ever see from "modern Marvel" - some of which would clash with their narrative agendas.

Not to mention Mutants and Masterminds, ICONS, and don't get me started on the V&V fans... all pretty strong communities. I would be very surprised if it gains any traction outside of a very small sliver of players. And this is with the full understanding Supers is a pretty small niche of dedicated RPG players within the RPG spectrum on its own.
 
The demographics of comic-collectors vs. RPG players have shifted a lot.

Marvel comics sales are geared toward a relatively tiny demographic compared to what they previously enjoyed during the Shooter-era, where the average RPG gamer likely collected comics or at least comics were in their orbit.

My gut feeling is those populations have inverted. I suspect the majority of D&D players have nothing to do with Marvel comics outside of watching the MCU. And because of the modern conceits of Marvel comics as evidenced by their sales, they've lost a LOT of their old-school collectors, while younger comic aficionados are into Manga (likewise as evidenced by sales).

Forbeck has his work cut out for him. He will definitely attract a lot of attention from people that love the new-shiny, but as evidenced by Supers RPG GM's on this forum (and others) - they tend to fall in pretty much tribal camps that set a ridiculously high bar to overcome.

My opinion is simple: Marvel isn't *really* serious to do what it takes to make an RPG from the Marvel IP to the degree of what it will take to really take off. Nor do I think Forbeck will have the capacity to drive it from the material he has to work with. At best, maybe he'll get to leverage the MCU. But modern Marvel is a complete shitshow narratively.

Meanwhile I suggest people merely look at the Resources section of this forum and look at all the fan-based stuff people have done with MSH, and it's *stunning* in terms of depth.

My comicbook knowledge is second-to-none. I say this as someone that has worked in comics and collected comics for decades and I have tens of thousands of comics in storage from the very start of the modern Marvel era in the early 60's to around 2010'ish. So when I say these guys have written material that stretches beyond my own memory - some of the most obscure shit, statted and ready to consume, and properly contextualized(!!!) it leaves me in glorious *awe* at the MSH fandom. And it's not just one fan-project - it's most of them. The Books of Magic, the Asgardian, Asian mythos, etc. etc. It's insane levels of work. None of which you'll ever see from "modern Marvel" - some of which would clash with their narrative agendas.

Not to mention Mutants and Masterminds, ICONS, and don't get me started on the V&V fans... all pretty strong communities. I would be very surprised if it gains any traction outside of a very small sliver of players. And this is with the full understanding Supers is a pretty small niche of dedicated RPG players within the RPG spectrum on its own.
I largely agree. That's what I was alluding to above: I don't think the Marvel IP is great right now for anything outside of movies and T-shirts. Maybe I'm wrong, though, and maybe people are just dying to play a new officially licensed Marvel RPG. A lot to be said for newer gamers to the hobby not having to do the work of hunting up old systems, or conversions for current systems.

That said, maybe the game will be GREAT and live on with fandom long after Marvel pulls the plug? Who knows?
 
I largely agree. That's what I was alluding to above: I don't think the Marvel IP is great right now for anything outside of movies and T-shirts. Maybe I'm wrong, though, and maybe people are just dying to play a new officially licensed Marvel RPG. A lot to be said for newer gamers to the hobby not having to do the work of hunting up old systems, or conversions for current systems.

That said, maybe the game will be GREAT and live on with fandom long after Marvel pulls the plug? Who knows?
I'm 99% sure this is going to go nowhere.

The more I think about it, Forbeck is probably a very obvious choice for the project. He's never impressed me with his designs - but he's a steady freelancer that isn't controversial in any manner and has been in the game long enough to not offend anyone from Corporate Monoliths. It doesn't surprise me in the least since they're going in-house, that they got someone with his credentials.

He'll do his thing, it'll get some novelty attention, then everyone will go back to what they were originally running with their Supers. There will be a tiny group of people new to playing Supers and this will be their first experience and it will stick, and they will form this new tiny fandom because they will know nothing else. And so the Nerdzerker cycle continues.
 
Well... I think at this point it's a mistake for them to release a RPG based on the comics. I think they should have just based it on the MCU instead.
 
Well... I think at this point it's a mistake for them to release a RPG based on the comics. I think they should have just based it on the MCU instead.
It’s okay, because the MCU has a recursive effect that makes the comics just like them and boils an amazing and colorful roster and history down to “who has a movie out this year?”
 
Don't they own the rights to the Faserip system? They could update the graphic design and character elements and call it a day.
No. Wizards actually owns FASERIP.

It was a different deal than what Mayfair and DC did, where DC owns MEGS and could re-release the system and decimate all competition.
 
I actually won’t poo-poo this project like tenbones tenbones is. The problem with the last two (even three) Marvel games is that they were aiming for a niche within a niche demographic. SAGA was a card game. The stones game used stones. Heroic was emulating a comic book and not actually comic characters themselves. If this is played right and uses a basic traditional system like FASERIP, it could be successful.
 
I actually won’t poo-poo this project like tenbones tenbones is. The problem with the last two (even three) Marvel games is that they were aiming for a niche within a niche demographic. SAGA was a card game. The stones game used stones. Heroic was emulating a comic book and not actually comic characters themselves. If this is played right and uses a basic traditional system like FASERIP, it could be successful.
Well I'll hold out my 1%.

You otherwise are restating my claim, heh. I think I've been involved or at least have read most if not all the Super-related threads on this forum and others many of us haunt, and the systems that are not Marvel Specific have their adherents but the fact of the matter is Supers is a pretty niche segment. And the more systems that have proliferated have only cemented those communities because by dint of design and needs of the genre - Supers requires both mechanical and narrative material to really make it work and a GM that can really sell it. Most GM's that run Supers have a pretty solid idea of what they want and what they don't in a system after lots of trial and error.

Very few systems make this cut.

1) At minimum you need a very flexible and robust system that is capable of exceptional levels of scaling. I'll go even further - Supers is the genre that is the *benchmark* for scaling system design. If you can do a full-blown Supers RPG system that covers the spectrum of Supers play, then you're onto something that puts you in a rarified field of design. It demands the designer *really* understands genre and has the design chops to pull it off with fidelity.

2) Narrative material. Marvel has this in buckets. The problem here is the primary material Marvel/Disney will be pushing will likely be the modern era of Marvel which is complete trash. If they go MCU - then they'll be somewhat safer, but that is limiting the potential context of the game for the future dramatically.

3) Marketing. This is the toughest part because it will be working directly against the first two. Because of the niche player market that exists for Supers - they are already fairly solid in their camps because the genre is that niche. So they have to appeal to the rest of the RPG fanbase that otherwise already has opportunities to play in many many established Supers games with relatively robust communities online/offline (depending on where you live). This mean marketing has to be so good that it pulls GM's away from running D&D (mostly) or other non-Supers games to running whatever they come up with - and for longterm value, they're going to have to produce something as good/better than whatever it is their group currently plays. Or at least good enough to get into the rotation after a few sessions.

Let's not forget that a lot of Marvel fans feel largely dislodged by the direction of Marvel/Disney. So they'll lose potential customers based on that alone.

That's a gigantically tall order from someone that isn't known for producing noticeably remarkable design-work. Backed by a company that has gutted its own fanbase for their primary product, in the pursuit of an ideological agenda, and are hemorrhaging money for no reason other than their own ineptitude. This smells like a fishing trip into hell for someone in Marvel to pretend they're doing something to justify their existence. Marvel doesn't even care about its own comicbook IP, why in the world will they care about an RPG based on them?

It will be semi-interesting to watch, but I'm not banking on it.
 
No. Wizards actually owns FASERIP.

It was a different deal than what Mayfair and DC did, where DC owns MEGS and could re-release the system and decimate all competition.
And MEGS is a system that is *fantastic* and it's a crime that it's largely extinct in terms of modern published RPG's.
 
Don't they own the rights to the Faserip system? They could update the graphic design and character elements and call it a day.
That's what I was gonna say. I was thinking of running a couple sessions of Spider Man and his Amazing Friends (the early 80's cartoon) and revisited FASERIP. It's a sweet, solid system with an impressive amount of good fan material covering every corner of the universe. I probably sound like a grumpy grog but a new system would have to knock it out of the park and smash expectations to do better than FASERIP.
 
I just like seeing supers games on the market. I also tend to like licensed games, for the most part. There are some I don’t particularly go for, like FFG Star Wars. Sad that the property I love most I can’t even love the game.
 
I've become pretty enamored with the Mutants and Mastermind's setting. It's a beautiful homage to DC and Marvel in the best way (and it leans heavier on DC's optimism way more than Marvels conceits).

It's so good even my die-hard MSH players are wanting to give M&M3e a serious go.
 
I remember seeing once that the rights for MSH were caught in tangle between Marvel, TSR (while they still existed) and somehow Jeff Grubb himself. I have no idea if any of that is true - it probably isn't - but would go to explain why the Marvel Forever site has somehow managed to stay open quite so openly and for so long despite neither TSR nor Marvel having a reputation for having a light touch when it comes to protecting their IPs.
 
I've become pretty enamored with the Mutants and Mastermind's setting. It's a beautiful homage to DC and Marvel in the best way (and it leans heavier on DC's optimism way more than Marvels conceits).

It's so good even my die-hard MSH players are wanting to give M&M3e a serious go.
DC is optimistic? Man, I've been reading the wrong runs...
 
DC is optimistic? Man, I've been reading the wrong runs...
Apparently me too. Mind you, I can see that in older Superman and Flash titles a lot. (I mean Superman really is about hope, but not the crappy way movies lately have portrayed that.) Anyway, I'm rather limited on my reading from the big two anything anymore--mostly just Spider-man and trying to follow whatever team book, Ms. Marvel is on. Admittedly Marvel's past focus on verisimilitude which they've given up on it seems, means slightly darker than DC used to be, but not by much. Now? I've no clue, though what DC I've run into has been very dark.
 
Apparently me too. Mind you, I can see that in older Superman and Flash titles a lot. (I mean Superman really is about hope, but not the crappy way movies lately have portrayed that.) Anyway, I'm rather limited on my reading from the big two anything anymore--mostly just Spider-man and trying to follow whatever team book, Ms. Marvel is on. Admittedly Marvel's past focus on verisimilitude which they've given up on it seems, means slightly darker than DC used to be, but not by much. Now? I've no clue, though what DC I've run into has been very dark.
For my part, it's not that DC comics are 'dark' or 'gritty' (No matter what Snyder likes to do to them), but rather have a more serious tone, Marvel tended to have more 'filler' comics between arcs of massive melodrama, where there would be more character moments, rather than action and adventure or mystery.

Of course, I also tended to stick with Teen Titans, various Batman books, and the X-Men and various spinoffs back in the 80's and 90's, so.. It's all my perception anyway.
 
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