Marvel Super Heroes (role-playing game)
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Marvel Super Heroes (MSH) is a role playing game set in the Marvel Universe, first published by TSR under license from Marvel Comics in 1984. In 1986, TSR published an expanded edition, entitled the Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Game. Both editions were written by Jeff Grubb, and both use essentially the same game system.
The basic game was designed to let players assume the roles of superheroes from Marvel Comics, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and many others. The simplest version, found in the 16-page "Battle Book" of the Basic Set, contains a bare-bones combat system sufficient to resolve comic book style superheroic fights.
System
Attributes
Almost all game mechanics are resolved by rolling percentile dice and comparing the results against a column of the colorful "Universal Results Table". The column used is determined by the attribute used; different tasks are resolved by reference to different attributes. All characters have seven basic attributes: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche. (Players sometimes refer to this set of attributes, or the game system as a whole, by the acronym "FASERIP".) Fighting, naturally, is the attribute used to resolve hand-to-hand combat, whereas Reason is used to resolve (say) building a gadget or figuring out a puzzle.Attribute scores for the vast majority of characters range from 1 to 100, where normal human ability is 6, and peak (non-superheroic) human ability is 30. However, the designers minimize use of the numerical figures, instead preferring colorful adjectives in the Marvel Comics tradition, such as "Incredible" (scores from 36-45) and "Amazing" (46-62). A "Typical" (5-7) attribute has a 50% base chance for success at most tasks relating to that attribute. So, e.g., a character with "Typical" fighting skill has a base 50% of connecting with a punch. As an attribute increases, the chance of success increases, roughly by 5% per 10 points. Thus a character with an "Amazing" (50) attribute has a 75% chance of success at tasks relating to that attribute.
Many situational factors can affect these base chances: e.g., the target of a punch might attempt to dodge, in which case, if the dodger makes a successful roll against his or her Agility, the attacker's chance of hitting is decreased by 10-30%. Additionally, the higher the roll, the greater the success: a roll 30% higher than the minimum needed for success usually yields a special, beneficial result. For example, a roll of 81% for our Typical puncher results in not merely a punch, but a "Slam" which can knock down the opponent. Such special successes were referred to as Yellow or Red results, reflecting the colors used on the game's Universal Results Table.
Additional rules in the "Campaign Book" of the Basic Set, and the subsequent Advanced Set, used the same game mechanic to resolve non-violent tasks. For example, if a superhero needs to figure out how to operate a piece of alien technology, the hero would have to succeed at a Reason roll, where the chance of success is modified by the complexity of the device.
Superpowers
Beyond the seven attributes, characters possessed superpowers, such as Spider-Man's wall crawling, or Mister Fantastic's elasticity. The powers function on a mostly ad hoc basis, and thus each character's description gives considerable space to a description of how his or her powers work in the game.Each character had an origin, which put ceilings on a character's abilities and superpowers. The origins included: Altered Humans (normal people who acquired powers, such as Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four), High-Tech Wonders (normal people whose powers come from devices, e.g., Iron Man), Mutants (persons born with superpowers, such as the X-Men), Robots (created beings such as the Vision and Ultron), and Aliens (a blanket term used to cover non-humans, including extra-dimensional beings such as Thor and Hercules).
Talents
The game also featured a simple skill system, referred to as Talents. Talents had to be learned and covered a wide range of knowledges from Archery to Zoology. A Talent raised a character's ability by one rank when attempting actions related to that Talent. For example, a character uses his Agility score when attempting ranged attacks. A character with an Agility of Excellent would normally roll on that column when attacking with a rifle. However, if he had the "Guns" Talent he would treat his Agility as the next higher power rank (Remarkable). The referee was free to determine if a character would be unable to attempt an action without the appropriate Talent (such as a character with no medical background attempting to make a pill that can cure a rare disease).Resources and Popularity
Characters also had two variable attributes: Resources and Popularity. These attributes were described using the same terms as the character's seven attributes ("Poor," "Amazing," "Unearthly," etc.). But unlike the seven physical and mental attributes which changed very slowly, if at all, Resources and Popularity could change very quickly.The first of the variables, Resources, represented the character's wealth and ability to obtain goods or services. Rather than have the player keep track of how much money the character had in the bank or with him, the Advanced Game assumed the character had enough money coming in to cover his basic living expenses. The Resources ability was used when the character wished to purchase something out of the ordinary like a new car or house. For example, the referee might decide a character with Typical resources would probably be unable to purchase a brand new sports car, but with a Yellow Resources roll might be able to afford a used car in good condition. The game books note that a character's Resources score can change for a variety of reasons, such as winning the lottery or having a major business transaction go bad.
The second variable, Popularity, reflected how much the character was liked (or disliked) in the Marvel Universe. Popularity could be used to influence non-player characters. A superhero with a high rating, like Captain America, might be able to use his Popularity to gain entrance to a club because the general poplation of the Marvel Universe admires him. If he were to try the same thing as his secret identity Steve Rogers (whose Popularity is only Typical), he would probably be unable to do it. Villains also had a Popularity score, which was usually negative (a bouncer might let Doctor Doom or Magneto into the aforementioned club simply out of fear). There were several ways Popularity could change. For example, if Doctor Doom defeated Spider-Man in front of the general public, Spidey's Popularity would go down for a short time. But if everyone's favorite web-slinger managed to foil one of Doctor Doom's plans and the word got out, he would enjoy a temporary Popularity boost. Since mutants were generally feared and distrusted in the Marvel Universe, these characters start with a Popularity of 0 and have a hard time improving this attribute.
Character creation
The game was intended to be played using existing Marvel characters as the heroes. The Basic and Advanced Sets both contained fairly simple systems for creating original superheroes, based on random ability rolls (a la Dungeons & Dragons). Compared to point-buy systems in other superhero role-playing games (such as Champions), the random system in MSH made it difficult to create characters based on a player's desires. Instead, a player is given a random set of powers and makes what he can of this character.The Ultimate Powers Book, by David E. Martin, greatly expanded and organized the game's list of powers, making a comprehensive survey of comic book-style super-powers. Players were given a wide variety of body types, secret origins, weaknesses, and powers. The expanded version of the book is available for free on the Web.
Karma
The game's equivalent of Experience points was Karma, a pool of points initially determined as the sum of a character's three mental attributes (Reason, Intuition, and Psyche).The basic system allowed players to increase their chances of success at most tasks by expending points of Karma For example, a player who wanted to make sure he would hit a villain in a critical situation could spend however many Karma points were necessary to raise the dice roll to the desired result. Additional Karma points were distributed by the referee at the end of game sessions, typically as rewards for accomplishing heroic goals, such as defeating villains, saving innocents, and foiling crimes. Likewise, Karma could be lost for unheroic actions such as fleeing from a villain, or failing to stop a crime: in fact, in a notable departure from many RPGs (but strongly in keeping with the genre), all Karma was lost if a hero killed someone or allowed someone to die.
In the Advanced Game, Karma points could also be spent to permanently increase character attributes and powers (albeit at a steep cost, typically 100 Karma points to increase an attribute by 1 point). The Karma system thus united two RPG mechanics -- "Action" or "Hero" points (which allow players to control random outcomes), and character advancement (e.g., "experience points") -- in one system. Though this system could frustrate both referees and players (the former because a player willing and able to spend Karma could effectively overcome any challenge at least once; the latter because advancement was glacially slow compared with most other RPGs), it had the virtue of emulating two central features of super-hero comics, namely, that heroes almost always win, even in highly improbable circumstances, and that heroes' power levels remain mostly static.
Later Marvel RPGs
Before losing the MSH license back to Marvel Comics, TSR published a quite different game using their SAGA System game engine, called the Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game. This version, written by Mike Selinker, was published in the late 1990s as a card-based version of the Marvel role-playing game (though a method of converting characters from the prior format to the SAGA System was included in the core rules).In 2003, after the gaming license had reverted back to Marvel Comics, the Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game was published by Marvel Comics. This edition uses totally different game mechanics than any previous versions, using a diceless game mechanic that incorporated a Karma-based resolution system of "stones" (or tokens) to represent character effort. Since its initial publication, a few additional supplements were published by Marvel Comics. However, Marvel stopped supporting the game a little over a year after its initial release, despite going through several printings of the core rulebook. Some fans continue to create material for it, however.
Game Products
The original Marvel Super Heroes game received extensive support from TSR, covering a wide variety of Marvel Comics characters and settings, including a Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe patterned after Marvel's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. MSH even received its own column in the (at the time) TSR-published gaming magazine, Dragon, called "The Marvel-phile", which usually spotlighted a character or group of characters that hadn't yet appeared in a published game product.
| Publisher | System | Marvel # | TSR # | ISBN | Label | Year | Orig. Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSR | MSH | ||||||
| 5371 | ISBN 0394540204 | Unpainted Metal Miniatures Set # 1 | 1984 | $ 11.00 | |||
| TSR | MSH | ||||||
| 5372 | ISBN 0394554248 | Unpainted Metal Miniatures Set # 2 | 1984 | ? | |||
| TSR | MSH | ||||||
| 5375 | ? | Unpainted Metal Miniatures Set # 3 | ? | ? | |||
| TSR | MSH | - | 5376 | ISBN 0880384735 | Unpainted Metal Miniatures Set # 4 | 1986 | $ 12.00 |
| TSR | MSH | - | 5377 | ISBN 5551656632 | Unpainted Metal Miniatures Set # 5 | 1986 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | ||||||
| 6890 | ISBN 0880387505 | Deluxe City Campaign Set (box) | 1989 | $ 18.00 | |||
| TSR | MSH | ||||||
| 6896 | ISBN 0880388889 | The Uncanny X-Men Campaign Set (box) | 1990 | $ 18.00 | |||
| TSR | MSH | ||||||
| 6900 | ISBN 1560760877 | Marvel Super Heroes Basic Set (revised edition) (box) | 1991 | $ 20.00 | |||
| TSR | MSH | ||||||
| 6906 | ISBN 156076404X | Lands of Dr. Doom (box) | 1992 | $ 20.00 | |||
| TSR | MSH | MA0 | 6871 | ISBN 0880383682 | Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set | 1986 | $ 15.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MA1 | 6872 | ISBN 0880382929 | Children of the Atom | 1986 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MA2 | 6874 | ISBN 0880382937 | Avengers - Coast to Coast | 1986 | $ 12.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MA3 | 6876 | ISBN 0880384131 | The Ultimate Powers Book | 1987 | $ 12.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MA4 | 6889 | ISBN 0880384832 | Fantastic Four Compendium | 1987 | $ 8.95 |
| TSR | MSH | ME1 | 6879 | ISBN 0880385472 | Cosmos Cubed | 1988 | $ 5.95 |
| TSR | MSH | ME2 | 6880 | ISBN 0880385685 | Ragnarok & Roll | 1988 | $ 5.95 |
| TSR | MSH | ME3 | 6882 | ISBN 0880385839 | The Left Hand of Eternity | 1988 | $ 7.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MH0 | 6850 | ISBN 0880383453 | Marvel Super Heroes Basic Set (original edition) (box) | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MH1 | 6851 | ISBN 0880381256 | The Breeder Bombs | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MH2 | 6853 | ISBN 0880381272 | Time Trap | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MH3 | 6855 | ISBN 0880381299 | Murderworld! | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MH4 | 6859 | ISBN 0880381310 | Lone Wolves | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MH5 | 6857 | ISBN 0880381329 | Cat's Paw | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MH6 | 6862 | ISBN 0880381981 | Thunder over Jotunheim | 1985 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MH7 | 6864 | ISBN 0880382252 | The Last Resort | 1985 | $ 6.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MH8 | 6866 | ISBN 0880382279 | Fault Line | 1985 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MH9 | 6867 | ISBN 0880382287 | Gates of What If ? | 1985 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC1 | 6852 | ISBN 0880381264 | Judge's Screen | 1984 | $ 6.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC2 | 6854 | ISBN 0880381280 | Avengers Assembled! | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC3 | 6856 | ISBN 0880381302 | Adventure Foldup Figures | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC4 | 6858 | ISBN 0394545761 | Pit of the Viper (incl. Adventure Foldup Figures) | 1984 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC5 | 6861 | ISBN 0880381930 | Project Wideawake | 1985 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC6 | 6863 | ISBN 088038199X | New York, New York | 1985 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC7 | 6865 | ISBN 0880382260 | Concrete Jungle: Official Character Roster | 1985 | $ 6.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC8 | 6868 | ISBN 0880382295 | Weapons Locker | 1985 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MHAC9 | 6870 | ISBN 0880382783 | Realms of Magic | 1986 | $ 12.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MHR1 | 6905 | ISBN 1560764031 | X-Forces Mutant Update (box) | 1992 | $ 15.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MHR2 | 6907 | ISBN 1560764058 | Webs: Spider-Man Dosier (box) | 1993 | $ 15.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MHR3 | 6908 | ISBN 1560764066 | Avengers Archive (box) | 1993 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MHSP1 | 6860 | ISBN 0880381841 | Secret Wars I | 1984 | $ 6.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MHSP2 | 6869 | ISBN 0880382686 | Secret Wars II | 1986 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MLA1 | 6892 | ISBN 0880388323 | After Midnight | 1990 | $ 8.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MLA2 | 6895 | ISBN 0880388749 | Night Moves | 1990 | $ 8.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MLA3 | 6897 | ISBN 0880388935 | Night Life | 1990 | $ 8.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MLBA1 | 6893 | ISBN 0880388412 | Mutating Mutants | 1990 | $ 5.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MSL1 | 6899 | ISBN 1560760664 | X-Terminate | 1991 | $ 6.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MSL2 | 6901 | ISBN 1560761008 | Warlord of Baluur | 1991 | $ 6.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MSL3 | 6902 | ISBN 1560761016 | Space of Arthros | 1991 | $ 6.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MSL4 | 6904 | ISBN 1560761032 | Stygian Knight | 1991 | $ 6.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MT1 | 6885 | ISBN 0880387181 | All This and World War II | 1989 | $ 7.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MT2 | 6886 | ISBN 0880387416 | The Weird, Weird West | 1989 | $ 8.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MT3 | 6891 | ISBN 0880387777 | The Revenge of Kang | 1989 | $ 8.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU1 | 6878 | ISBN 0880385405 | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - Abomination through Dreadnought | 1988 | $ 13.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU2 | 6881 | ISBN 0880385766 | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - Eel through Mad Dog | 1988 | $ 13.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU3 | 6883 | ISBN 0880386010 | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - Mad Thinker through Sentry | 1988 | $ 13.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU4 | 6884 | ISBN 0880386177 | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - Serpent Sociaty through Zzzax | 1988 | $ 13.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU5 | 6887 | ISBN 0880387661 | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - 1989 Characters Update | 1989 | $ 15.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU6 | 6894 | ISBN 0880388668 | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - 1990 Characters Update | 1990 | $ 15.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU7 | 6903 | ISBN 1560761024 | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - 1991 Characters Update | 1991 | $ 15.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU8 | 6909 | ISBN 1560764074 | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - 1992 Characters Update | 1992 | $ 15.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MU9 | ? | ISBN 156076600X | Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe - 1993 Characters Update | 1993 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MX1 | 6873 | ISBN 0880384026 | Nightmares of Futures Past | 1986 | $ 8.00 |
| TSR | MSH | MX2 | 6875 | ISBN 0880384034 | The X-Potential | 1987 | ? |
| TSR | MSH | MX3 | 6877 | ISBN 0880384816 | Reap the Whirlwind | 1987 | $ 5.95 |
| TSR | MSH | MX4 | 6888 | ISBN 0880384284 | Flames of Doom | 1987 | $ 5.95 |
| TSR | MSHAGB | ||||||
| 8021 | ISBN 0880382996 | Adventure Gamebook #1 - Amazing Spider-Man - City in Darkness | 1986 | $ 2.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAGB | ||||||
| 8022 | ISBN 0880383003 | Adventure Gamebook #2 - Captain America - Rocket's Red Glare | 1986 | $ 2.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAGB | ||||||
| 8023 | ISBN 0880383011 | Adventure Gamebook #3 - The Wolverine - Night of the Wolverine | 1987 | $ 2.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAGB | ||||||
| 8024 | ISBN 0880384352 | Adventure Gamebook #4 - Doctor Strange - Through Six Dimensions | 1987 | $ 2.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAGB | ||||||
| 8025 | ISBN 0880384260 | Adventure Gamebook #5 - The Thing - One Thing After Another | 1987 | $ 2.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAGB | ||||||
| ? | ISBN 0880384379 | Adventure Gamebook #6 - The Uncanny X-Men - An X-cellent Death | 1987 | $ 2.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAGB | ||||||
| ? | ISBN 0880384387 | Adventure Gamebook #7 - Amazing Spider-Man - As the World Burns | 1988 | $ 2.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAGB | ||||||
| ? | ISBN 0880385332 | Adventure Gamebook #8 - Daredevil - Guilt by Association | 1988 | $ 2.95 | |||
| TSR | OOOAGB | ||||||
| 8468 | ISBN 0880383054 | One-on-One Adventure Gamebook #8 - The Fantastic Four vs. Doctor Doom - The Doomsday Device | 1986 | ? | |||
| TSR | OOOAGB | ||||||
| ? | ISBN 088038459X | One-on-One Adventure Gamebook #9 - Daredevil vs. Kingpin - The King Takes a Dare | 1987 | ? | |||
| TSR | OOOAGB | ||||||
| ? | ISBN 0880385189 | One-on-One Adventure Gamebook #11 - Doctor Strange and the High Priest of Set - Prisoner of Pharaoh's Tomb | 1989 | ? | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 6926 | ISBN 0786912278 | Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game (box) | 1998 | $ 24.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 6927 | ISBN 0786912286 | X-Men Roster Book | 1998 | $ 17.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 6928 | ISBN 0786912294 | X-Men: Who Goes There? | 1998 | $ 8.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 6929 | ISBN 0786912308 | A Guide to Marvel Earth | 1998 | $ 15.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 6930 | ISBN 0786912316 | Avengers Roster Book | 1998 | $ 17.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 6931 | ISBN 0786912324 | Avengers: Masters of Evil | 1998 | $ 8.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 11320 | ISBN 0786911320 | Fantastic Four Roster Book | 1999 | $ 18.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 11330 | ISBN 0786913304 | Fantastic Four: Fantastic Voyages | 1999 | $ 8.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| 11340 | ISBN 0786913401 | The Reed Richards Guide to Everything | 1999 | $ 16.95 | |||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| Wolverine vs. the Brood Queen | 1999 | ||||||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| ? | |||||||
| Adventurer's Guild - Series 3 - Throne of Huangdi | 1998 | ||||||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| ? | |||||||
| Adventurer's Guild - Series 4 - Avengers: Live Kree or Die! | 1998 | ||||||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| ? | |||||||
| Adventurer's Guild - Series 5 - Pages of Doom | 1999 | ||||||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| ? | |||||||
| Adventurer's Guild - Series 7 - Smoke and Mirrors | 1999 | ||||||
| TSR | MSHAG | ||||||
| ? | ISBN 0786914092 | Marvel Team-Up Roster Book | ? | ? | |||
| Marvel | MU | MVL11028 | |||||
| ISBN 0785110283 | Marvel Universe RPG (hc) | 2003 | $ 24.99 | ||||
| Marvel | MU | MVL11035 | |||||
| ISBN 0785110356 | Guide to the X-Men | 2003 | $ 19.99 | ||||
| Marvel | MU | MVL11158 | |||||
| ISBN 0785111581 | Guide to the Hulk & the Avengers | 2003 | $ 19.99 | ||||
| Marvel | MU | MVL11305 | |||||
| ISBN 0785113053 | Guide to Spider-Man's NYC | 2004 | $ 19.99 | ||||
| Marvel | MU | MVL11353 | |||||
| ISBN 0785113533 | Guide to Wolverine | 2004 | $ 19.99 |
External links
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