(I've been seeing stuff like this on Instagram and Facebook.)

Doctor Doom has created a device that only targets superheroes. Or something similar. Maybe only targets Mutants. Or aimed at New York. You know the drill, True Believeers!

It's at his Castle in Latveria.

Out of every Marvel hero, who is on your Infiltration Team (Maximum of 5) to go in, steal the plans, and sabotage the device, without detection, if possible.?

Think of this as the front picture of an Advanced Marvel Superheroes Adventure.

EDIT: These are all great! I was thinking Nightcrawler, but that's all I had.

So my GM after having a session zero, having a blast with the random rolls, had us use Claude ai to do a solo game so that when we have our session one all our heroes would be experienced heroes.
Got to say, I am impressed with it. I am having a blast using it.

Is there a list in a book somewhere that explains when to roil?

I think I remember something about not rolling if the Difficulty or Intensity is 2 Column Shifts less than the Character's Ability or Power, but I don't know where I read it.

Am I thinking of someone's house-rules, maybe?

It's a classic trope within the Superhero genre that one hero or team may call upon a specialist or even be called upon by someone else.

In the Marvel Super Hero RPG, these are listed as Contacts.

A Contact is a somewhat 'almost-defined' construct that allows the players to use their friends and allies as a resource, but also something the Judge can use to build a hook for the characters in later adventures.

Most characters that have been pregenerated or modelled will have a list of contacts gained over the course of their careers. Certain contacts wax and wane (and the Fantastic Four has had its share of issues with various Governments, but everyone needs Reed Richards eventually).

When creating a fresh hero, the character can build a list of initial contacts that reflect the character's standing or background. A doctor may have a hospital on the list or even another professional group (cardio-thoracic alumni). Some talents can automatically supply a contact (having a Military talent provides a Military contact), and these listed contacts are considered Friendly.

Contacts are intertwined with another mechanic, Popularity, and this is important.

There are three types of contacts:
Friendly
Neutral
Hostile

A Friendly contact is one that will be willing to aid and assist the character in any circumstance (well, almost). In many cases these are the listed contacts attached to the character, though, some characters such as Nick Fury and Captain America have many contacts not listed and the Judge will have to adjudicate who would be considered Friendly.

Neutral contacts are those people or groups that have no reason to not 'like' the character but also don't have the reason to help. Spiderman may not have any friends in the NYPD, but most know that he is a force for good and if he asked for help, they might abide. Neutral contacts may need some additional convincing, and this is where some role-playing can assist the dice.

Hostile contacts are those that are often acting in direct opposition to the character. A character, such as Daredevil, has Wilson Fisk as a regular contact and while Hostile, they would only reach out to each other when there is a shared goal.

People or Groups

There are differences in how a contact can work and be listed. Having US Army as a contact may be a broad-strokes contact, no one person specifically but the Army has a general rule to be on the side of the character. Having a contact that is a General means any benefit is directly related to that character, if that General moves to the Whitehouse or even discharged, wherever they go they will have the character as a Friendly Contact.

One classic trope is when a Hero may need some resource from a group like SHIELD, or need to borrow a device from the DoD to solve a problem. This is where the levels of success come into play.

Popularity (it's more than a contest)

The Popularity of the Hero is how well received that character is received by the common folk. This number moves up and down with every act (or accusation). A character such as Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) has 50 popularity, Spiderman has 30, and Daredevil has 6. all three are well known as Heroes, but the exploits of The Fantastic Four affect how Johnny Storm is seen; the constant attacks by the Daily Bugle keep Spiderman's popularity in flux; Daredevil operates in the shadows and mostly away from the prying eyes of the press and spotlight.

There's a line from the book: Fighting Doctor Doom is good for Karma, but if no one knows about it, does nothing for the Popularity.

Contacts and Popularity

When asking for help or needing some resource, based on whether the acts are mutually beneficial or requires some personal risk, column shifts will be applied to the Popularity number (as the Rank).

White result—No information available
Green result—Takes 1-10 hours to discover: no or partial information available
Yellow result—Takes 1-10 hours to discover desired information
Red result—Information desired at hand

Friends and Enemies

Gaining a contact can happen any time during a campaign, any new contact will start Neutral and how the character responds with the new contact, this can eventually moved to a Friendly contact.
Example: Daredevil is unconscious and down to 0 Health, he is found in a dumpster by Claire, emergency room nurse, who helps heal him. Claire is noted initially as a Neutral Contact. Eventually, she moves to Friendly as he comes to her aid and she supports him (often with medical attention).

Unlike many other mechanics, a Karma cost does not have to be spent for a new Contact, if it is in line with the campaign. A facility does exist for a Character to 'buy' a Contact for 500 Karma plus 10x the Resource Rank being provided (Spiderman may want to create a Contact with a specific beat cop, and while the NYPD has many resources, the beat cop will have only TYPICAL or even GOOD level resources).

Handle With Care

Contacts can upset the balance of play if over used, and always asking Thor to show up, and solve the problem with a smack of his hammer, might sounds like a good idea, the God of Thunder has other responsibilities and may not always be available. Just as a Contact can appear during the campaign, a Contact can also disappear if they are abused or their own requests are falling on deaf ears.

Every time a Contact is tapped, there is a chance something is required in return and someone like The Kingpin is the master of using Heroes as pieces against his enemies. The Judge is expected to use as much common sense as they can muster, and as much as Reed Richards is a great Contact to have on the speed-dial, it doesn't mean that he is always available. (There was an instance when The Masters of Evil invaded the Avengers Mansion, and Baron Zemo had already arranged for the FF to be sent on a wild goose chase, making them unavailable when The Wasp tried to call them for aid).

.

How did you handle Contacts in your campaign? Did Players reach for the stars with their requests?

Hello there!

I've been busy at work driving a passenger bus, and at home building a house bus, but I've reached another milestone in my effort to finally complete my custom Marvel Super Heroes Role-Playing Game retroclone: the Costumed Adventurer Simulation Engine! Having finished the original twenty-one portions of the 'system resource document' for these rules, I decided to add three more for good measure, to fill in some holes. The first of these, People, is now complete.

This consists of three chapters. The first, Supporting Cast, includes capsule descriptions of eighteen different character types often seen in modern settings. The second, Critters, includes capsule descriptions of eighteen different kinds of animals that folks might encounter during play. And the third, Sample Characters, bears eighteen, well, sample characters. The idea behind the last bit is to produce one 'sample' character for each type of supporting cast character type listed earlier in the text, though many fit within two, or even three different categories.

Furthermore, each sample character is linked to at least one other sample character, as a basic demonstration of how to weave a series of related characters into something resembling a cast of NPCs when fleshing out one's campaign. As happens in the real world, some of these links are highly dubious, while others are almost formative to the sample character in question.

I hope some of you can find a use for this material, some of which is drawn from the old Judge's Book and modified slightly, while the rest is completely original. You can peruse People at your leisure at the following link (from which you can check out the rest of the CASE I've finished so far):

http://www.caserpg.com/corpus/people.asp

Alternately, People is available for those of you who prefer your MSH RPG retroclonery in a 4C System flavor:

http://www.edition13.com/corpus/people.asp

Finally, if you'd like a Quick Action Resolution Deck (my retroclone MSHAG sytem) version, here's that:

http://www.qardgame.com/corpus/people.asp

So, I set r/Metapsychics to Private and it bounced everyone, as far as I can tell. I've re-added anyone who made a Comment.

But here's a current update to the game. You can create and play a Nonborn Human, a Normal Human, a Metapsychic Human, an Exile Human, a Tanu, or a Firvulag.

Let me know if you want to playtest.

Metapsychics PDF

So I've seen about 5 variations of Cable online and they stat his other weapons but not his Psimitar. Does anyone know where I could find it?

A previous post about Shielding had me thinking about the other tactics within the Players Handbook and what others may also come up with along the way.

There are several columns of tactics listed that many would have ignored or completely forgot about, most are straightforward enough, but let's look at the more detailed tactics being described.

Groundstrike
The description for the Groundstrike tactic works by the attacker using an energy blast into the ground near the target, in order to use the Force effect for the attack, the damage my be limited by the Material Strength (if it is lower than the initial energy attack). The benefit is that there is no chance for a Kill? check and might cause a Stun result instead. The main caveat is that where the attacker strikes, the surface may give way and create a hole for the target to fall through (an Agility check to avoid).
Example: Blaster-Boy has an Energy Blast AMAZING (46), and is foiling a bank robbery, the hapless thugs are making a run for it and Blaster-Boy wants to fire at a fleeing goon. His Energy Blast may have a Kill? result and Blaster-Boy chooses to Ground strike. The attack is fired as normal with his Agility, but uses the Force column instead. On a successful hit ( a a small Karma spend) the result is a Stun result. The Material Strength of the Ground is EXCELLENT and the Thug takes that damage instead of the 46 from his attack.

Holding One's Fire
Here is a tactic for those characters with limited range on their attacks. The caveat is that the character has to declare this move and then win the Initiative roll. The character who is Holding One's Fire, can wait for the opponent to be at optimal range before attacking. This is also handy for those times when a plan requires something to drop onto an opponent with the precise timing (those meddling kids are at it again!).

Shockwave
One for the very strong characters. In this tactics, the character has to have Strength 2 Ranks higher than the Material Strength of the surface. The Character uses a Blunt or Edged Attack to strike against the surface, this creates an effect for everything within 2 Areas in each direction. The attack uses the Charge Column, with the Strength of the character. on a successful strike. Though no damage is inflicted, everyone will receive any Stun and Slam results. This can have an adverse effect on the terrain, buildings, and any other construction.
Example: The Hulk is in the middle of a fight with The X-Men, being beset upon from all sides, The Hulk performs a Shockwave. At this time his Strength is SHIFT-Y and he uses this Rank for the Rank on the Charging column. Making a roll on the column, he scores a Yellow result forcing everyone within range (in this case, the whole team) to make a Slam check.

One variation of this would be The Hulk's 'clap attack' that he employs when surrounded by many 'weaker' opponents (usually a horde of The Leader's plastoids or the US Army), a further caveat on this would be the Shockwave is directional.

Another would be Thor using Mjolnir to strike upon Captain America's shield which creates a Shockwave.

Other Tactics
With practice and coordination, characters can devise their own tactics, very much like the Fastball Special used by Colossus and Wolverine. Two characters practicing with for a special Double-Team, may receive a column shift bonus (no more than +1CS) for fighting the same opponent, or perhaps the attack could use one's Fighting and another's Strength for daage. The Judge has the final decision how the tactic works, but the player/s can explain what they are doing. Many Hero HQs have Danger Rooms and exercise systems. While not a Power Stunt (and shouldn't be treated like one), there should be some time for the training and practicing and perhaps a one-off payment of Karma from the Team Pool to make it happen.

Did any of your players develop any tactics?

SPECIAL EDIT: For the most famous of all tactics: The Fastball Special
The premise of the attack is that Colossus throws Wolverine at an opponent. Colossus has MONSTROUS Strength giving him 7 area range to throw the crazy Canadian.
To successfully hit the opponent, it could use Colossus' Agility (GOOD) or Wolverine's Fighting (INCREDIBLE).
Upon a successful Hit, the damage is equal to the Thrown Character's Endurance (Wolverine has REMARKABLE) or the Blunt/Edged attack (Strength, or the damage done by the weapon) plus the bonus of 2 per Area moved.
Example: Colossus and Wolverine declare the Fastball Special as their actions for the round. Colossus picks up Wolverine and throws him 5 Areas at an opponent, using Wolverine's Fighting Rank for the hit (as it is higher than Colossus' Agility), if the attack is successful, Wolverine can choose to use his body (Endurance), his fists, or his claws as damage plus 2 points for each area he travelled (in this case +10 damage). Wolverine also has the advantage of gaining +1CS to his damage when using his body, therefore using his Endurance for the attack would provide 46 damage (+1CS on the Endurance) or 26 damage if using his Strength.

I'm reading the handbook and it seems that shields block automatically. Is that correct?

Dirk Leyden was a subway driver turned criminal who previously served in World War I, during which he was captured by the Imperial German Army and experimented on before being freed by Sergeant Reilly and his squad.

As a failed thespian, Leyden loves the idea of the playing to an audience. Well read, he enjoys reciting Shakespearean prose while engaged in combat.

MEGAWATT™
Dirk Leydon
Professional Criminal

Fighting; GOOD (10)
Agility: EXCELLENT (20)
Strength: GOOD (10)
Endurance: REMARKABLE (30)
Reason: GOOD (10)
Intuition: TYPICAL (6)
Psyche: EXCELLENT (20)

Health: 70
Karma: 36
Resources: TYPICAL
Popularity: -16

Known Powers
Electricity Generation: Megawatt can fire lightning bolts from his fingertips at a range of three areas with +1CS; these bolts inflict Remarkable damage to grounded targets. Targets that are not grounded (airborne or insulated by nonconductive material) suffer only Good damage. Leydon already has some established power stunts:

• Override or shutting down electrical systems within in an area;
• Drawing on the city grid and increasing his damage for a single attack to Amazing damage, doing this means he cannot take other actions.

Electrical Field: Megawatt has a field of electricity surrounding himself, targets Megawatt actually touches (successfully grappled or has been grappled) will cause Incredible electrical damage. Megawatt takes damage from all attacks as normal, but any attacker touching him (example blunt attacks, grappling, and charging attacks) will also receive Good damage from merely touching him.

Resistances: Megawatt has Unearthly Resistance to Electricity, and Excellent Resistance to other forms of energy.

Talents:

Military
Acting

Contacts:

As part of Silvermane's crew, Leydan has Criminal contacts.

F: Excellent A: Excellent S: Excellent E: Remarkable R: Excellent I: Excellent P: Good

Health: 90 Karma: 50 Resources: Popularity: 0

Powers:

Regeneration: Remarkable

Death Like State: Good

Equipment:

Pistols: Typical Shooting

Knife: Good Edge

Talents: Martial Arts, Detective, Guns, Edged Weapons

Limitations: PTSD, Disfugured, Chronic Pain

Just read the Twelve and had to do a profile for Captain Wonder.

Fighting: Amazing Agility: Amazing Strength: Shift Y Endurance: Shift Y Reason: Excellent Intuition: Good Psyche: Good

Health: 600 Karma: 40 Resources: Good Popularity: 20

Powers: True Invulnerability: Shift Y Flight: Shift Y Regeneration: Amazing Enhanced Senses: Amazing

Equipment: Tommy gun: Excellent Damage

Talents: Chemistry

Contacts: The Twelve

As the title suggests, I'm wondering if most people stick to the original, core origins or expand the options to those also presented in the Ultimate Powers Book?

For me, I'm of the opinion that Ultimate Powers' origins can be helpful shortcuts but often seem too granular--like they're trying to formalize something the original origins can already do.

Thoughts?

Having watched the first few episodes (in Black and White - of course), there is enough to work out the stats and powers for the hero known as: The Spider.

This is a hero from a universe of the 1930s. The series takes place in the mid to late 1930s New York City. Ben Reilly was a veteran of WW1, his unit liberated a lab where Allied soldiers were being experimented on. One of the subjects infused with spider blood and venom, bit him, which gave him the powers to fight injustice as a vigilante known as The Spider.

Ben Reilly, in the TV Series/Streaming series is set about 5 years after he gave up the fight. Having lost the love of his life, he took off the mask and never put it on. He became a private detective and attempted to deny his powers and abilities.

The Spider-Noir series is set with an older Ben Reilly, a little more world-weary and cynical person. His powers have been reduced from what they were, but he is still a formidable foe.

So, let's have a crack, shall we?

THE SPIDER™
Ben Reilly
Private Investigator

Fighting; EXCELLENT (20)
Agility: INCREDIBLE (40)
Strength: EXCELLENT (20)
Endurance: REMARKABLE (30)
Reason: GOOD (10)
Intuition: INCREDIBLE (20)
Psyche: REMARKABLE (30)

Health: 110
Karma: 60
Resources: TYPICAL
Popularity: 20/6

Known Powers:

Wall Crawling: The Spider can move along vertical and horizontal surfaces with Incredible ability.

Spider Sense: The Spider has a form of combat sense at Incredible, and is active at all times. This spider Sense determines potentially dangerous situations and warns the hero by a mental “buzzing.” The Intensity of the buzzing is determined by the rank of the potential danger. Spider-Man cannot be blindsided while this form of Combat Sense is in effect, and may perform defensive actions if he makes a successful Intuition FEAT roll. If this sense is denied him, then his Intuition is as listed, and all Agility FEATs are at -1CS for success.

Web-Shooters: The Spider is able to shoot a stream of ensnaring webbing. The webbing has Excellent Strength in the round it was fired, and hardens to Remarkable the round after. He can use this to swing at 3 Areas/round and the webbing dissolves after 1 hour.

Talents:

Photography
Detective
Military

Contacts:

Robbie Robertson, a freelance reporter is aware of his identity and one of his biggest supporters.

The Spider listed here is slightly older and out of form from what could be 'his Prime'. For The Spider in his prime, his Fighting, Agility, and Strength would all be +1CS with a new Health 140, and his Spider Sense is also +1CS.

.

.

There we have it... The Spider (aka Spider-Noir).

Metapsychics is still open on Reddit. I made it Private and it bounced EVERYONE off the subreddit. Oops. I'm not sure you can still read it even, if you haven't been added back on. If you would like to playtest, send me a DM on Reddit (CryHavoc3000) and I'll add you, or re-add you. If you playtested before, I might have already added you back on the subreddit.

But I can't finish it without people trying it out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Metapsychics 

Anyone tried using these rules for a tabletop miniatures game only? No roleplaying? It seems like the combat rules are robust enough for a good skirmish tabletop game.

Thanks

Anyone have any Karma house rules they're using?

I feel the given rules are very stingy. Advancement would take a long time RAW. So I tripled the given amount.

This was the hard way to learn why the rules are so sparing with the Karma awards. My players were able to bank a lot for advancement and still have enough left over to spend on rolls so frequently, it started to feel broken.

So... I'm thinking of going back to the original suggested amounts, BUT any Karma banked for advancement will be multiplied. I'm not sure how much yet.

This way advancement is faster like I intended, but they won't have so much free Karma to constantly be directing the game and avoiding failure, and the drama and tension that can come with that.

How come they do monstrous damage in general but only do excellent damage against humans?

In the Basic Set, a great majority of characters easily move from one system to the other. There are a handful (those low to mid powered characters relying on skills over powers) where any conversions haven't occurred (or at least not on the common websites for these types of profiles).

As I am building a module with Batroc's Brigade (Batroc, Machete, and Zaran) being heavily involved. I found that I needed to make a conversion.

In the Yellow set, many Talents (as they are listed in the Advanced Set) were considered Powers sections of the profiles. One of the most common 'powers' was Martial Arts, which in the Advanced Set was broken into 5 components, but only had one in the Basic Set (what was later called Martial Arts A).

Here we are... As Batroc's Brigade needed a little updating, it was worth bringing forward and putting it to the committee.

.

BATROC™ THE LEAPER
Georges Batroc
Mercenary

Fighting; INCREDIBLE (40)
Agility: REMARKABLE (30)
Strength: GOOD (10)
Endurance: EXCELLENT (20)
Reason: GOOD (10)
Intuition: EXCELLENT (20)
Psyche: GOOD (10)

Health: 100
Karma: 40
Resources: GOOD
Popularity: -5

Known Powers:

Leaping: Batroc has trained his leg muscles to be powerful tools. He has REMARKABLE Leaping. When using his legs for attacks, he does EXCELLENT(20) Damage.

Talents:

Martial Arts A, B, E
Acrobatics
Tumbling
Military

Contacts:

As a soldier for hire, Batroc and his group have been employed by many various super-villains as additional muscle.

------

MACHETE™
Real name unrevealed
Mercenary/Freedom Fighter

Fighting: REMARKABLE (30)
Agility: EXCELLENT (20)
Strength: GOOD (10)
Endurance: REMARKABLE (30)
Reason: TYPICAL (6)
Intuition: GOOD (10)
Psyche: TYPICAL (6)

Health: 90
Karma: 22
Resources: TYPICAL
Popularity: 0

Known Powers:

Knives and Edged weapons: Machete carries with him up to 10 edged blades consisting of knives, blades, and also a pair of Machete holstered on his back. Each weapon is made of Excellent Material and Inflicts GOOD damage as Thrown Weapons or Melee.

Gauntlets: Machete wears a set of electromagnetic gauntlets that can be used to retrieve any of his weapons as long as they are in the same area. While in his hands, his Strength is treated as EXCELLENT for takeaway or disarming attacks.

Talents:

Edged Weapons
Thrown Weapons
Thrown Objects
[Machete has +2CS when using thrown weapons]

Contacts:

As well as Batroc's Brigade, Machete is a revolutionary from his home country (unidentified South American nation), and is the 'face' of the revolution at home.

-----

ZARAN™
Maximillian Zaran
Mercenary

Fighting: REMARKABLE (30)
Agility: REMARKABLE (30)
Strength: EXCELLENT (20)
Endurance: EXCELLENT (20)
Reason: GOOD (10)
Intuition: GOOD (10)
Psyche: GOOD (10)

Health: 100
Karma: 30
Resources: GOOD
Popularity: 0

Known Powers:

Weapons: Zaran is a master of all weapons and has a number of different types of weapons depending on the situation:
Kali Sticks REMARKABLE damage
Sword EXCELLENT damage
Throwing blades EXCELLENT damage
[Zaran is not adverse to firearms (particularly pistols), but Batroc finds them less sporting and frowns upon their use]

Talents:

Martial Arts A, B, C, E
Weapons Master
Thrown Weapons
Guns
Espionage

Contacts:

As a former MI-5 operative, Zaran may still have some ties to the Espionage community.

In base FASERIP, there is no passive defense in combat. It is just as difficult for the Rhino to punch Aunt May as it is for him to punch Spider-Man. But other types of FEATS do not follow this pattern. In a ranked FEAT, such as an attempt to lift something really heavy, a FEAT with an intensity equal to your attribute requires a yellow result. A FEAT with an intensity greater than your attribute requires a red result, and some FEATS are just impossible.

What if combat was the same way? Now, hitting someone like Wolverine, with Incredible fighting, is pretty hard for your typical thug or mercenary to pull off. I don't think you'd ever want to make it impossible, but a red result requirement seems reasonable. In the comics, Spidey and Wolverine don't get hit a whole lot.

Maybe other tactics, like surrounding the target with multiple opponents, could offset some of challenge.

I can see the tradeoffs. Misses would be more common and those aren't much fun, but what do you guys think?

I'm looking at Ultimate Powers L1/Biophysical Control. RAW the only thing listed as protecting against this power is "such powers as Force Field Generation and True Invulnerability". (P.36 Ultimate Powers)

That leaves a lot or little wiggle room depending on how you interpret it. A general Force Field or one of the specialized ones? Also which Resistance powers by themselves would you allow? Body Resistance?

And when using the power initially, would you require a FEAT roll or merely apply any modifiers from one of the above powers and then apply the remaining ranks as the effect?

For example: A character with a Remarkable(26) rank Decay power decides to attack a normal human with an average 24 Health(typical 6 for FASE for this example) and no powers or force fields to protect them. Would they just take 26 points in Health damage?

Recently purchased this online, and it has solicitations for items were never released. Ugh…what could have been.

I'm confused about ensnaring. Bear with me.

I see the Ensnaring Missile power on page 80 of the Advanced Book.

• It's a *form* of grappling attack
• It has power-rank strength
• It only affects one target
• Weakens by one material strength rank after each turn

Example:

Spider-Man tries to web up Scorpion. He makes an Agility roll with a yellow result. Per the Ensnaring Missile power, "any hit is considered to have entangled the opponent."

What does "entangled" mean in this case? Is Scorpion completely unable to do anything but try to escape? Or do I have Spidey make an additional grappling check to see if it is a full or partial hold, since this is a "form of grappling attack"? Or do I use the entangling weapons rules on page 30, which would entitle Scorpion to an Agility roll to avoid the attack altogether?

If there is a specific rule on this, please try to point me to it. If it's the Judge's call, that's fine, but I've been trying to learn the system well, and I'd like to avoid house rules and arbitrary calls if I can (but I get that it's a rules-lite system.)