The Marvel Multiverse game feels out of step with modern tabletop RPGs

Why do we enjoy superhero stories? While reading an excerpt of The Avengers, I kept asking myself this question. Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game. It is an aspirational love? Is it a desire to learn from their lives and be able to better emulate their achievements? Do we instead admire a better human being? Over 120 pages are spent on the new playtest document, which lays out rules and details for a system that feels almost like it’s third option. This is when you read comics to find the right action figures for your display case. The game’s characters feel static, unmoving and sterile, and the game too heavily leans into fan service and gimmicks.

The game was created by Matt Forbeck (New York Times bestseller), who along with Mike Caps, John Nee designed it. It promises complete access to Marvel Comics Universe. It’s far from the first attempt. The granddaddy of RPGs, TSR, began the tradition with 1984’s Marvel Super HeroesIt was followed up with Marvel Super Heroes Adventure GameIn 1998. Marvel published its first issue directly in 1998. Marvel Universe Roleplaying GameIn 2003 Margaret Weis Productions was able to obtain a license Marvel Heroic RoleplayingIn 2012.

Image: Marvel Worldwide/Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Multiverse RPG’s predecessors took different tacks when translating the high-action and often pulpy nature of comic stories to the tabletop — in one case using a deck of cards instead of dice – but none managed to capture a long-running audience. Despite Marvel’s near chokehold on popular culture, Forbeck and his team have not been guaranteed success. The current RPG scene boasts plenty of systems facilitating caped crusaders — New Generation of MasksOr Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game are two recent standouts — which have succeeded alongside dedicated communities keeping old workhorses such as Mutants and masterminds thriving.

Marvel Multiverse RPGIt is an extremely mainstream game in every way, including its design and mechanical bones. Anyone familiar with Dungeons & Dragons will immediately recognize the structure, a familiarity that feels intentional. The massive number of 20-sided players is what any game that aims to be mainstream will want to attract. You can see who the game is trying court by looking at its information-rich character sheets.

After a fairly solid introductory chapter that explains RPGs and how they’re played, the book starts making a lot of weird assumptions. While a section about safety rules emphasizes the need for establishing baseline expectations in a session zero, it doesn’t provide any details on specific tools that players have to enforce those boundaries. There’s a lot of “players should feel free to express” talk that seems to leave the onus on individuals to voice discomfort, which runs against the whole point of modern safety tools.

Game masters, called Narrators in this system, will feel equally left out because the playtest rulebook explicitly hopes they are “a seasoned role-player who has rolled lots of dice before.” One short, introductory adventure is included, and it’s more of a glorified combat tutorial. Any scenarios that go beyond this will need to be created without any help from the rules. The rules also provide tips for creating enemies and stat blocks. The future versions of the rules will provide resources for aspiring Narrators, and allow them to expand their roster of punchable villains beyond just a few Hydra grunts.

This is one of the most popular mechanics. Marvel Multiverse RPG is the d616 system, a cheeky reference to the comics’ setting on Earth-616. If an action seems to be in danger of conflict or is dangerous, the players will roll three 6-sided dice. Then they’ll compare their results with a set number to decide if it was successful or unsuccessful. The differently-colored Marvel Die grants access to “fantastic” results and other bonuses when it lands on the Marvel brand’s logo, which replaces the one-pip face. That resulting one also counts as a six, except when the other two dice also show ones because that’s a dreaded botched roll. You don’t want a botched roll.

Image: Marvel Worldwide/Marvel Entertainment

If you’re confused by what should be a fairly straightforward system, don’t feel bad. This eyebrow-wiggling nudge to fans comes at the cost of muddying the player’s one mechanical lever used for attacking, defending and accessing their superpowers. It is easy to see the clarity in the roll, even if there are critical misses or failures. It’s hard to build meaningful tension if players have to think about whether this collection of ones and other numbers is really good, really bad, or just a prompt to start doing math.

To the game’s benefit, its rank system shows real promise. They work in the same way as traditional RPGs, granting access to powerful traits and advanced abilities until the squad completes some missions. They also pull a clever double duty by framing characters’ growth across an entire campaign. Players can choose to start anywhere on the rank ladder’s 25 rungs, establishing their heroes as fresh-faced newcomers or someone who has crushed a Sentinel or two. The group can then set a growth ceiling and effectively limit the scope of their adventures to the single borough of Hell’s Kitchen or the furthest reaches of the universe. That limit can always be increased later, escalating the danger and bringing hinted threats to the story’s foreground.

In the back of this playtest document is a comprehensive list of abilities that can be used to enhance your skills. Grouped by origin, they create a progressive structure meant to be unlocked over time — this imitates a fledgling hero’s gradual mastery of their own abilities and acumen. However, the exercises feel a little speculative as only the available materials barely give a glimpse of what these heroes have to do for the protection of this world. You can make your own Avenger and Spider-Person. But how will that affect their actions? You can find rules that explain how to determine the damage threshold for walls and who must pick up which vehicles. They also describe how fast you will lose while gliding.

Melodramas are stories about superheroes that involve heightened emotions and loud declarations, as well as desperate actions. These heroes constantly bicker, confront, support and confide in one another, especially in a multiverse as large as Marvel’s. Their actions sometimes have dire consequences, encapsulated in Uncle Ben’s well-heeled adage about power and responsibility. The current version of the game doesn’t reflect a world where the collective efforts of the few push back on evil’s machinations. It barely holds its characters accountable for their actions — heroes can “hold back” on any attack, leaving any victim just above the threshold of death. This weird moral loophole might be explored further in the full game, but what’s currently available misunderstands what gives these stories teeth.

I’d love to see Marvel Multiverse RPG Build the kind of toolbox that allows players to create their own tools Into the Spider-Verse, Logan, Or Inmortal Hulk — the kinds of stories that delve into a well-known mask searching for the person who wears it. Roleplay shouldn’t be limited to reenacting stories using action figures. The game will allow its participants to take on the role of superheroes, if they are truly inspiring us towards greater heights.

Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game – Playtest RulebookThe game will go on sale at retailers starting April 20. Marvel Entertainment gave us a preview copy to show the game. Find out more. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.