Sell me on...Sentinel Comics: The RPG

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Also, why I've kind of ignored the RPG... I really don't like the Sentinels of the Multiverse card game. Super fiddly game. Not a fan. Even though I'm a fan of Cam Banks, I just have a huge hate for the Sentinels line of stuff.

I like the RPG better than the card game. When I first got the card game, I was blown away. Now playing it feels like an exercise in torture. Based off my experiences with the starter set, I fully intend to buy the full RPG to see how the full game looks.

Hopefully it's not the same experience (first taste is cool, later additions make it a horrific grind)!
 
It's not collectible; each hero, villain and environment deck is it's own thing that you just buy, no deckbuilding or card chasing involved. Each deck is unique and specifically tailored to the character, typically with it's own in-deck mechanic, and plays entirely differently from any other. It's completely over at the board game side of the scale, unlike something like Marvel Champions which somewhat straddles the line.

I quite like the game, but it's best played in the digital version, because it is fiddly as all hell and having the computer handle it all for you vastly speeds up play.

I agree that it's better in digital, but it's still a bloated mess at this point, IMO. I was pumped for Oblivaeon, and when I got it...I think I fought Oblivaeon once in the physical card game and never opened the box again. I've fought him a few times in the video game and I can't tell you what the fuck is going on at any given point. And I generally pride myself on being able to handle moving parts.
 
This is an odd thread ostensibly about SCRPG. I've been playing it as our regular game (2-3/month) for just about a year now. I'm happy to share my experiences with it.

It is very game-y, but that's generally a plus for our group. It is not a story game in any way, and it's really only "narrative" in the sense that it doesn't use hard benchmarks or limits of what a specific power can do. I found it much clearer and more interesting to play than MHR.

Frankly, it has lousy support at the moment for non-action scenes. Once in a while, that's an issue, but since I otherwise consider myself a Champions player, it's really not so terribly different than the "thrill" of saying, "Make a knowledge check" or "Roll Computer Programming."

My players struggle with the advancement system (they prefer traditional "power ups" as they play). Instead, SCRPG makes you more universally competent (like skill levels in Champions) without increasing the level or variety of your powers. They also give you the ability to re-make your character to have different tricks, but at the cost of replacing the old with the new. This is supposed to represent the meta of different abilities being the focus of the character at this point in the story or his/her career, but sometimes my players just want "more."

Ask away; I really like the game, but it is definitely not for everyone.
 
In case anyone missed it, I walked through creating a Sentinels RPG character over in the character-a-day thread:

I've never played the game, but after working through my copy a bit more, I'm intrigued. It seems like it has some Cortex DNA in it, a game I never really took to. In my recent read-through, it seems like it is built around escalating situations, much like my Harper-esque favorites, Danger Patrol and Blades in the Dark (and my beloved derivative, Scum & Villainy). But it seems more difficult to improv GM than Blades/S&V; it feels like the GM has to build the situations.

I still want to try it sometime. I'd kick off yet another online game, but I'd like to experience it from the player side first.
 
The ideal is definitely to build situations, and fortunately, the book gives great guidelines on how to do that, with an actual "system" for those who like that sort of thing (I do).

It would be more difficult to improv than the games you listed, but I don't think it's difficult to improv in general. Until such time as a "book of villains" exists, full supervillains with all the options would be very hard to improv, but you can get a LOT of mileage out of making up Challenges and Minions on the spot, and Lieutenants work perfectly well as "simple" supervillains.

I could not play Cortex (I didn't even *understand* it on the GM side) but I love this.
 
One of the bigger issues with improvising in Sentinels is the Threat Tracker or what have you, which is expected to be on the table from the beginning. There's a certain meta element to the game of the players knowing what the threat level is and will be.

The rest, I agree with drkrash: It's just a matter of familiarity, which is the case with most systems.
 
One of the bigger issues with improvising in Sentinels is the Threat Tracker or what have you, which is expected to be on the table from the beginning. There's a certain meta element to the game of the players knowing what the threat level is and will be.

The rest, I agree with drkrash: It's just a matter of familiarity, which is the case with most systems.
And this is why I'm not interested in it. Improv is pretty much what I do. Sure, I have seeds of ideas but I've long learned I'm not good enough to even bother controlling a table of players, but I've been lucky enough to figure out how to get a game going anyway. :tongue:
 
And this is why I'm not interested in it. Improv is pretty much what I do. Sure, I have seeds of ideas but I've long learned I'm not good enough to even bother controlling a table of players, but I've been lucky enough to figure out how to get a game going anyway. :tongue:

Completely fair. Plenty of games out there. I’d like to give it another go, myself.
 
As soon as I saw the link, I clicked it and checked it out. I swear to Galactus, I said "Huh, this looks pretty gamey."
Yeah, I referred to its play as mechanistic. I'd like to try it with someone who knows how to run it to see how it goes. I vastly prefer H&S and MSH and MSHAG/SAGA to what I've seen so far. I did roll up a character although the explanation of what each step gives you is several/many pages later--because all the steps are on one page and I spent a lot of time using hyperlinks, then scrolling back up (they needed to return to Step X hyperlinks for it.)
 
Curious if you've had a chance to read it yet?

Honestly, no.

These days my gaming bandwidth is a) "Hey! I got a new shiny!" and then b) "Welp, back to my campaign!"

That said, my original stance stands: I don't think it's anything at all you would like, mechanically. As Tim alluded to above, it's a mix of very open and loosely defined powers (not in a bad way, IMO), but very, very, game-y (which is a pro or con depending on how you feel about that).
 
Honestly, no.

These days my gaming bandwidth is a) "Hey! I got a new shiny!" and then b) "Welp, back to my campaign!"

That said, my original stance stands: I don't think it's anything at all you would like, mechanically. As Tim alluded to above, it's a mix of very open and loosely defined powers (not in a bad way, IMO), but very, very, game-y (which is a pro or con depending on how you feel about that).

(sigh) yeah, even knowing that, the allure of the visual design keeps drawing me in, honestly there hasn't been a supers game since the 80s that appealed to me aesthetically the way this one does, but rereading the thread I'm sure you are correct, it's a purchase I'd regret.
 
(sigh) yeah, even knowing that, the allure of the visual design keeps drawing me in, honestly there hasn't been a supers game since the 80s that appealed to me aesthetically the way this one does, but rereading the thread I'm sure you are correct, it's a purchase I'd regret.

It's a very colorful and pretty book.
 
(sigh) yeah, even knowing that, the allure of the visual design keeps drawing me in, honestly there hasn't been a supers game since the 80s that appealed to me aesthetically the way this one does, but rereading the thread I'm sure you are correct, it's a purchase I'd regret.

If it makes you feel better, I'm struggling with the new version of the card game on Kickstarter. The card game started off fun and then quickly slid into a nitpicky and bloated mess and I'm still like "A new version? And you streamlined stuff? Really?"

I should probably stick with my Marvel Legendary and Marvel United with a side of Marvel Champions.
 
If it makes you feel better, I'm struggling with the new version of the card game on Kickstarter. The card game started off fun and then quickly slid into a nitpicky and bloated mess and I'm still like "A new version? And you streamlined stuff? Really?"

I should probably stick with my Marvel Legendary and Marvel United with a side of Marvel Champions.
I've always hated the card game. It's bean counting. Marvel Legendary & Champions are both better.
 
This is evidently not my thread. I think the Sentinels RPG is great - gameyness and all - and SotM is far and away my family's favorite game, with hundreds of plays between us.

(We love Legendary too, but I dislike the feel of it compared to SotM and Champions (and even Marvel United). I personally love Champions, but I'm the only one in my family who does.)
 
This is evidently not my thread. I think the Sentinels RPG is great - gameyness and all - and SotM is far and away my family's favorite game, with hundreds of plays between us.

(We love Legendary too, but I dislike the feel of it compared to SotM and Champions (and even Marvel United). I personally love Champions, but I'm the only one in my family who does.)

I enjoyed running the RPG and would happily do so again. I've just known Tristram long enough to know he needs to stay away from it. He'll regret the purchase.

As for card games, Legendary is my favorite board/card game, period. I loved the Sentinels base set, but as much as I loved the ideas of the expansions, it just got sooooo bogged down for me (and more than a few of the bad guys just feel like exercises in masochism). I'll still fire up the PC version for shits and grins, but it's more because I want to enjoy it than that I do.

I really like Champions, but it's very secondary to Legendary to me. Marvel United is more of a board game, and I have the whole Kickstarter now (aside from my playmat, which should be delivering in a couple of days), and I like both the shorter play time and the IP (the Marvel universe is my favorite superhero universe and it's not close, so I get more of a thrill out of Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, She-Hulk and Wasp teaming up against The Sinister Six than I do Haka, Bunker, Wraith and Legacy doing the same against Baron Blade, Ambuscade, The Proletarian and Ermine).
 
This is evidently not my thread. I think the Sentinels RPG is great - gameyness and all - and SotM is far and away my family's favorite game, with hundreds of plays between us.

(We love Legendary too, but I dislike the feel of it compared to SotM and Champions (and even Marvel United). I personally love Champions, but I'm the only one in my family who does.)
Run it in a PBP, and show us its coolness? Might change our minds.
 
This is evidently not my thread. I think the Sentinels RPG is great - gameyness and all - and SotM is far and away my family's favorite game, with hundreds of plays between us.

(We love Legendary too, but I dislike the feel of it compared to SotM and Champions (and even Marvel United). I personally love Champions, but I'm the only one in my family who does.)
This is a continental divide in my house.

My wife loves Legendary and won't play Sentinels.

My daughter loves Sentinels and won't play Legendary.

I love both... but love Sentinels more.
 
Getting off topic, but: my two problems with Champions (neither of them very significant):
1) I don't keep decks constructed and I don't like building decks just to win (I like theme too much), so that adds to set-up time.
2) The villains are tied into specific scenarios, often *very* specific scenarios. SotM's generic "boss fights" are better that way.

Well,, wouldn't mind hearing an alternate PoV for sure

I posted my basic thoughts in #84 above, but I'll place them in context of my own play preferences. My group has played actual campaigns (i.e., more than a handful of sessions) with Champions, M&M, ICONS, FASERIP, and SCRPG. Champions is our norm, as we played it fairly consistently for over 20 years. Our group tends to like medium to high crunch. Our games tend to be a mix of long combat scenes with high soap opera melodrama, very Bronze-age in tone.

All that being said by way of explanation, we have had great success with SCRPG. As a GM in his 50s, prep time for a mechanically rich game is really fast. None of the mechanics make presumptions about using their universe (we don't use it). The fact that the game has fairly useless rules for non-action scenes doesn't bother me, as I don't get much mileage out of "make an Investigation roll" anyway. The game's emphasis on modifying characters rather than adding powers is an adjustment for my XP-loving players, but we've gone a year with the default rules and it has only been a minor growing pain.
Run it in a PBP, and show us its coolness? Might change our minds.
I'd love to, really, but I just couldn't commit to it right now. I'll keep it in mind though.
 
I'd love to, really, but I just couldn't commit to it right now. I'll keep it in mind though.

Please do, I love the card game, my interest in the Marvel Universe has kept me from picking up any games based on it (card/board) because I don't love the comics like I once did--right now I'm only reading ONE (Spectacular Spider-man) and even then, its getting harder to care about their universe with heroes becoming more villainous than the villains I was reading Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl but they're gone (sighs) I liked Sentinels enough to go "heck I'll try this out." Played the card game a LOT, and really enjoy it every time we play.

For the RPG? Right now, I don't know if I loathe it, or just don't grok it because of its mechanical focus. I like more character playing in games. Than just rolling the mechanics for stuff. Supers can be tough with that since your entertaining a group, it's hard to work in their personal lives as well unless its a small group.
 
How is this game for superhero genres more serious than the assumed tone Sentinel Comics aims for. Which is fine. I'm not looking for harrowing Watchmen level, or Frank Miller's creepy power fantasies, but how about the X Men, for example?
 
The rulebook talks about an implied Silver Age tone, but the only thing actually in the rules that suggests that tone is a priority on Action Scenes. There are no formal rules for character death, but that's not uncommon in a superhero game (and character death *is* discussed in the rules - when you hit 0 Health, you could be too stunned to fight...or you could be dead).

I am definitely not running a Silver Age game with it. We've had one character death and numerous civilian deaths. I'm presently running an occult-heavy investigation about a murder spirit that killed a team of superheroes with the occasional torture flashback.

X-Men would be no problem at all.
 
The rulebook talks about an implied Silver Age tone, but the only thing actually in the rules that suggests that tone is a priority on Action Scenes. There are no formal rules for character death, but that's not uncommon in a superhero game (and character death *is* discussed in the rules - when you hit 0 Health, you could be too stunned to fight...or you could be dead).

I am definitely not running a Silver Age game with it. We've had one character death and numerous civilian deaths. I'm presently running an occult-heavy investigation about a murder spirit that killed a team of superheroes with the occasional torture flashback.

X-Men would be no problem at all.
It's tempting!

EDIT: could it handle low power, pulp style, characters? Might seem weird, but with the new Adventure! Trinity Continuum book being kickstarted this might fill that void.
 
How is this game for superhero genres more serious than the assumed tone Sentinel Comics aims for. Which is fine. I'm not looking for harrowing Watchmen level, or Frank Miller's creepy power fantasies, but how about the X Men, for example?

The rulebook talks about an implied Silver Age tone, but the only thing actually in the rules that suggests that tone is a priority on Action Scenes. There are no formal rules for character death, but that's not uncommon in a superhero game (and character death *is* discussed in the rules - when you hit 0 Health, you could be too stunned to fight...or you could be dead).

I am definitely not running a Silver Age game with it. We've had one character death and numerous civilian deaths. I'm presently running an occult-heavy investigation about a murder spirit that killed a team of superheroes with the occasional torture flashback.

X-Men would be no problem at all.

And a full blown Iron Age style sourcebook is supposed to be coming. (In the card game, Rook City includes what is more or less a mashup of Kingpin and Ra's Al Ghul, along with Elektra, and a super powered serial killer).
 
It's tempting!

EDIT: could it handle low power, pulp style, characters? Might seem weird, but with the new Adventure! Trinity Continuum book being kickstarted this might fill that void.
It would work for this, but it is definitely not made for it. It would work if everyone was the same low power level but I think there are better games for pulp.

(And, yes, there is an Iron Age book coming, but I don't think it will be in 2021. My frustration is how slow they produce material after announcing it two years ago.)
 
It would work for this, but it is definitely not made for it. It would work if everyone was the same low power level but I think there are better games for pulp.

(And, yes, there is an Iron Age book coming, but I don't think it will be in 2021. My frustration is how slow they produce material after announcing it two years ago.)
I was thinking perhaps it might work in lieu of Adventure! I'm not sure I fancy backing the kickstarter as I'm not entirely sure I want to continue with the Trinity Continuum, plus the game deosn't release for two years!
 
I enjoyed running the RPG and would happily do so again. I've just known Tristram long enough to know he needs to stay away from it. He'll regret the purchase.

I still enjoy the card game, and I routinely play either super easy (Dr. Tachyon) or more complex: Argent Adept, I've also used the shapeshifter whose name I can't recall. Anyway, would you do a PBP to show us how it works then? :grin:
I just want to try it, really.
Or Chat via Discord/another voice program?
 
I still enjoy the card game, and I routinely play either super easy (Dr. Tachyon) or more complex: Argent Adept, I've also used the shapeshifter whose name I can't recall. Anyway, would you do a PBP to show us how it works then? :grin:
I just want to try it, really.
Or Chat via Discord/another voice program?

Definitely not a PBP. I'm not a good fit for those at all.

Doubt I could run it, either. As noted above, I really only have the bandwidth for my ETU campaign these days. Everything else is kids and work and wrestling and making comics.
 
I played through the full pre-release campaign because I friend got it fromt he Kickstart and it was still superheroes, but I really, really did not like they system at all. Part of the system is that for each predefined move you have to roll a different combination of 3 polyhedral dice. I was so fed up with the fiddly system that by the end of the campaign I just kept rolling the same 3 dice because I just could not be bothered anymore to check the ad-hoc rules and it really didn't seem to make any difference.

Sorry, was this meant to be a sell me thread?
To each their own preferences but I'd like to offer a counter-perspective.

I find the system straightforward and fun.

Characters have Qualities (skills and similar attributes), and Powers (what they sound like), each of which have an associated die size. Telekinesis: d10, Awareness: d8 etc.

Every roll is three dice: One die for a power, one die for a quality and one Status die (a die that varies depending on how far the scene has progressed or how injured the character is - Green, Yellow, or Red). For basic actions you take the middle result (the Mid die).

In general, part of the fun of this system is that you get to decide how you want to solve situations. Need to save someone from a burning car (an Overcome basic action)? Rolling Strength, Finesse, Status to rip the roof off and pull them free works. Roll Animal control, Creativity, Status to have nearby dogs leap, in and pull them free? Sure. It's a matter of what you can justify.

Abilities (the predefined moves Polar Blues mentions) are more specific and more effective than basic actions. They're a character's "signature moves".

You name them and define their flavour appropriately when creating the character. For example, one character could define "Attack using [power]. Hinder using the Min die" as "TK Crush", using the die value for their Telekinesis Power. Another could define it as "Disorienting flurry" using the die value for their Teleportation power.

For an Ability, its generally obvious which power die to roll given the way you've defined the Ability. As with basic actions, justifying a suitable quality is part of the fun. (If you can't justify one, then your quality die defaults to d4).

Like in the above example, Abilities can use the Max, Mid or Min dice. This is also generally memorable from the power's flavour - especially given that you're the one who defined that flavour to begin with.

You don't have very many Abilities to keep track of, and you're usually using a combination of the same few Abilities and basic actions at any given point, since the more potent Abilities don't become available until the yellow or red zone. That helps them remain easy to keep track of.

The dice you roll does make a difference to the outcome given the calibration of the results. For example, boosting someone gives a +1 on 1-3, +2 on 4-7 and +3 on an 8-11. eg. Rolling d12, d10, d8 is likely going to get you a different result than d8, d8, d6.

tldr: (a) The dice you roll does make a difference to the result, (b) it's generally obvious from context which dice are applicable, (c) when the choice isn't obvious, finding a way to narratively justify using a particular power or quality is a deliberate and fun part of the gameplay.

As an aside , I recently got the new Definitive Edition of Sentinels of the Multiverse and have played it a few times now. If you hated the old edition you'll probably still hate the new edition. If you kinda liked thr old edition but found it overly fiddly you may well like the new one. It's stripped back some of the fiddlier edges and plays much faster. Personally I liked the original, and I like DE significantly more - the heroes play more smoothly and it has more of those moments where things come together and you feel like a powerful hero.
 
To each their own preferences but I'd like to offer a counter-perspective.

I find the system straightforward and fun.

Characters have Qualities (skills and similar attributes), and Powers (what they sound like), each of which have an associated die size. Telekinesis: d10, Awareness: d8 etc.

Every roll is three dice: One die for a power, one die for a quality and one Status die (a die that varies depending on how far the scene has progressed or how injured the character is - Green, Yellow, or Red). For basic actions you take the middle result (the Mid die).

In general, part of the fun of this system is that you get to decide how you want to solve situations. Need to save someone from a burning car (an Overcome basic action)? Rolling Strength, Finesse, Status to rip the roof off and pull them free works. Roll Animal control, Creativity, Status to have nearby dogs leap, in and pull them free? Sure. It's a matter of what you can justify.

Abilities (the predefined moves Polar Blues mentions) are more specific and more effective than basic actions. They're a character's "signature moves".

You name them and define their flavour appropriately when creating the character. For example, one character could define "Attack using [power]. Hinder using the Min die" as "TK Crush", using the die value for their Telekinesis Power. Another could define it as "Disorienting flurry" using the die value for their Teleportation power.

For an Ability, its generally obvious which power die to roll given the way you've defined the Ability. As with basic actions, justifying a suitable quality is part of the fun. (If you can't justify one, then your quality die defaults to d4).

Like in the above example, Abilities can use the Max, Mid or Min dice. This is also generally memorable from the power's flavour - especially given that you're the one who defined that flavour to begin with.

You don't have very many Abilities to keep track of, and you're usually using a combination of the same few Abilities and basic actions at any given point, since the more potent Abilities don't become available until the yellow or red zone. That helps them remain easy to keep track of.

The dice you roll does make a difference to the outcome given the calibration of the results. For example, boosting someone gives a +1 on 1-3, +2 on 4-7 and +3 on an 8-11. eg. Rolling d12, d10, d8 is likely going to get you a different result than d8, d8, d6.

tldr: (a) The dice you roll does make a difference to the result, (b) it's generally obvious from context which dice are applicable, (c) when the choice isn't obvious, finding a way to narratively justify using a particular power or quality is a deliberate and fun part of the gameplay.

As an aside , I recently got the new Definitive Edition of Sentinels of the Multiverse and have played it a few times now. If you hated the old edition you'll probably still hate the new edition. If you kinda liked thr old edition but found it overly fiddly you may well like the new one. It's stripped back some of the fiddlier edges and plays much faster. Personally I liked the original, and I like DE significantly more - the heroes play more smoothly and it has more of those moments where things come together and you feel like a powerful hero.
Welcome to the Pub!
 
sorry, what does that second sentence mean? I know the individual words, but when they are stuck together in that order...
Nothing much, don't worry:thumbsup:!
 
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