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News & ArtsThursday, February 4, 2010
Games / Nerd A Stroll Down Nerd-Memory Lane
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 4:05 PM
The weird thing is: Apparently, it was a really good role-playing game.
The genius behind Marvel Super Heroes is its universal results table, an extremely elegant way both to present and to adjudicate any action a character might attempt in the game. Although a character's seven attributes (Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche) did have a numerical value associated with them, that value played minimal role in the game mechanically. Instead, it was an attribute's adjective — Good, Incredible, Amazing, etc. — that was more important, since each one was associated with a column on the results table. The greater a character's attributes, the more likely a chance of success in any action governed by it.
If you ever played (and entirely forgot about) this game, this post, and the huge comment thread of reminiscences that follows the post, will really take you back.
2
I liked playing the Marvel system when I was younger, but the game was full of some serious flaws. Like the experience point system. It was based on merits; you got so many for stopping a robbery... more for saving the world, etc. The trick was though that you would also lose experience for not doing these things when presented an opportunity to do so. It ended up meaning that if you had an appointment to visit your Aunt May at her birthday party, you would lose more experience than you would gain if you skipped the party to stop a robbery in progress.
The movement system could use some work too. The average hero ran at a stunning 5mph. Still... good times...
The movement system could use some work too. The average hero ran at a stunning 5mph. Still... good times...
3
I played it quite a bit and it was definitely fun at the time. However, the very attribute system that Paul mentions as being great was actually a huge flaw in the game's design - mainly when it came to heavily armored heroes/villains. For example, if someone had "incredible" ranked armor or resistance, then only attacks that did greater than "incredible" damage could hurt them. If it did less, then it could throw them around, but never damage them.
As a result, one game my friends and I were playing essentially had to be abandoned because we were fighting Juggernaut, and none of us could do any damage to him. We finally just had to sit back and watch him destroy the place.
But we still had fun playing our favorite comic book guys.
And now I shall return to my nerd closet.
As a result, one game my friends and I were playing essentially had to be abandoned because we were fighting Juggernaut, and none of us could do any damage to him. We finally just had to sit back and watch him destroy the place.
But we still had fun playing our favorite comic book guys.
And now I shall return to my nerd closet.
4
I seem to recall playing a game similar to this (but maybe before this one), where you chose a major power and a minor power and a major weakness and a minor weakness.
Mine was a guitar playing superhero who was vulnerable to the Bay City Rollers. Naturally the evil geniuses found out about my weakness and drove my hero crazy by playing BCR on an endless loop.
Mine was a guitar playing superhero who was vulnerable to the Bay City Rollers. Naturally the evil geniuses found out about my weakness and drove my hero crazy by playing BCR on an endless loop.
5
I played this just a few times (my high school/college RPG group was primarily AD&D but would experiment w/ other gaming systems for variety) - mainly what I remember is impressing my friends with my portrayal of Daredevil (The Man Without Fear!).
7
Oh-my-god! The summer after my parents became born-agains! The summer of the Secret Wars comic series! The summer Zach Rexrode and me called ourselves The Wrecking Crew and Zack drop kicked a twelve-year-old who ruined our fort we made out of wooden forklift pallets! The last time I thought of this I was ten-friggin'-years-old, thought just saying the word drop-kick was cool, and pouring the first cement of the rebellious road of my life.
8
That game was fun, although too random for some hardcore roleplayers.
However, what was AWESOME about it was the "Ultimate Powers Book" supplement, which took the original game's ten-or-so powers and multiplied it by a hundred. And it was still random so you could have a group where one character had the power to turn seawater into gold, snuff out the sun, and teleport to any place on Earth instantly, while another character had to make do with Prehensile Hair or the ability to change color.
Good times.
However, what was AWESOME about it was the "Ultimate Powers Book" supplement, which took the original game's ten-or-so powers and multiplied it by a hundred. And it was still random so you could have a group where one character had the power to turn seawater into gold, snuff out the sun, and teleport to any place on Earth instantly, while another character had to make do with Prehensile Hair or the ability to change color.
Good times.
9
This game was pretty cool but could never hold a candle to Villains and Vigilantes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villains_an…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villains_an…
10
Not a terribly complicated game (but there was an advanced edition). If anyone is interested walking (or web-swinging, or flying, or teleporting) down memory lane, I sold a bunch of my old Marvel Super Heroes stuff to Gamma Ray Games on Pine. It's probably still there and likely reasonably priced.
11
Wow, I got chills down my spine when I saw the picture of the box. Aw, the memories. I had a character who could turn his body to diamond and focus light.
12
When me and my friends first started playing MSH, I played Rogue a lot and eventually I just started absorbing everyone's powers permanently (i.e., turning everyone into ex-Ms. Marvel/binary). I think there was somthing in the rules about Rogue's psych decreasing a level every time she did it but I didn't give a shit, I absorbed a ton of superheroes and grew pretty fucking powerful until the GM sprung some monsterous unable-to-absorb villain on us.
Good times! Fun game!
Good times! Fun game!
13
Stardog: I may have been the person who bought your Marvel Superhero stuff and is running it right now.
15
I snubbed this game back in the day, preferring Champions, but that was probably a mistake. It was more fun to create characters in Champions/Hero System than actually playing.
16
Heh, one of my friends had a character in this who could do some mutant thing like "manipulate biological functions"--and he was a doctor in New York City. *AND* it was "unearthly" level in the game, so I'm sure some of you recall the scope and scale of this power.
This doctor could manipulate any life form's biological functions (at a very short range) as easily as Professor X could manipulate and read minds. In other words, pretty Goddamn powerful. In the hands of a doctor, a trained medical worker that's cleared his full MD? Unstoppable, nearly.
But we were 12-13, so this doctor basically made people puke with Unearthly force, punch themselves in the face, and shit their pants with Unearthly magnitude.
This doctor could manipulate any life form's biological functions (at a very short range) as easily as Professor X could manipulate and read minds. In other words, pretty Goddamn powerful. In the hands of a doctor, a trained medical worker that's cleared his full MD? Unstoppable, nearly.
But we were 12-13, so this doctor basically made people puke with Unearthly force, punch themselves in the face, and shit their pants with Unearthly magnitude.
18
When I was eleven or so, we played the advanced MSH ruleset with the Ultimate Powers Book every day after school. I rolled a sentient vegetable with the Nemesis power (copy one power from anyone within range) at Monstrous rank. I modeled my character after Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot, and I had some truly ridiculous adventures, culminating in becoming the herald of Galactus, whereupon I became the Silver Carrot.
Great game.
Great game.
19
Have a look at www.classicmarvelforever.com
The community there have kept it going with new ideas and supplements
The community there have kept it going with new ideas and supplements
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