H&R Block discusses Batman & Spider-Man

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Superhero Economics: Bruce Wayne vs. Peter Parker via H&R Block

Random Reviews: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

Being a big fan of comic books and roleplaying games, I have always had an interest in super hero roleplaying games.  When I was younger I played the old TSR Marvel Superheroes RPG quite a bit.  I have also tried my hand at GURPS Supers, Champions, and Mutants & Masterminds.  So when the new Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game by Margaret Weiss Productions was announced at GenCon last year I was intrigued.

The new game is based on the Cortex system.  My only experience playing a Cortex based game is the discontinued Serenity RPG, but outside of the types dice used and plot point there are not a lot of similarities.  I understand it is much more similar to the Leverage RPG, but I having never played that game I can’t really speak to that.

The game mechanics are very different from roleplaying games I have played in the past.   For one thing, there are no ability scores.  Instead, the player will describe their action and assemble a dice pool based on their power sets, affiliations, specialties and other factors.  The Watcher (i.e., GM) resists these actions using either the power sets, affiliations and specialties of characters he controls, or the Doom pool if the effect is not aimed at a Watcher controlled character.  Depending on what you are trying to do succeeding  on the roll can allow you to stress your opponent, create assets you can use, or inflict complications on other characters (among other things).

Both the players and the Watcher can increase their chances of success by spending plot points (in the case of the players) or dice from the Doom pool (in the case of the Watcher).  At the start of any given session there are not a lot of plot points or doom dice available, but the game mechanics encourage both to flow freely during the course of any given scene.

Despite the complexity of assembling dice pools, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is not a rules heavy game like Champions or Dungeons & Dragons.  If you can describe it, you can attempt to do it.  It also stresses cooperation between the players and the Watcher in order to tell the story.  Depending on your group you might find this to be a blessing or a  curse.

What it does well

Because of the somewhat loose nature of the rules, characters with differing power levels can work together in a group and everyone still has a chance to affect the outcome of the scene.  Daredevil and Black Widow can be on a team with Thor and Iron Man without the first two wondering why they are there.  This is very good for simulating the comics the game is based on, which often throw these types of characters together in teams like the Avengers.

The game also does a good job at using bonuses to dice pools and plot points to encourage players to act like the characters from the comics.  For example, one of Spider-Man’s distinctions is “Wisecracker”.  If he can work it into an action, he might gain an extra die (perhaps by distracting Doc Ock with a crack about his weight) or a plot point (if he annoys the chief of police).

What it does not do well

If you are interested in creating your own superhero, this is probably not the game for you.  While there are rules for creating your own datafile (i.e., character sheet), they are just as loose as the rest of the game.  As a result, they are much better suited for “I want to make a hero datafile for Nova” than “I want to make my own superhero”.  If creating your own superhero is your goal, you are probably better off with a system like Mutants & Masterminds.

This game also will probably not appeal to someone who prefers comprehensive rules to handle any situation that might occur.  If you can’t imagine a game without drowning rules, you will be a lot happier playing Champions than Marvel Heroic Roleplaying.

Final Thoughts

I am definitely going to give Marvel Heroic Roleplaying a try.  The system is innovative and flexible—If this is what Leverage is like I can see why so many gamers were creating Leverage hacks.

While I doubt I will start a long term Marvel Heroic Roleplaying campaign, it seems like the perfect game to break out for a few sessions when my group grows tired of slaying dragons.  Although, to be fair they can do that in Marvel Heroic Roleplaying too!

Stop SOPA!

I normally don’t blog about things like the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) here.  I figure the few readers I have want to hear about RPGs, comics, or other nerdy pursuits.  Today, I felt I had to make an exception.

I am not pro-piracy.  In fact, I believe strongly in voting with my dollars when it comes to the things I like.  I want the people who make these things to get paid so that they will continue making them.

I can even understand the frustration of the people who watch their intellectual property get pirated over and over.  While I disagree with him strongly on SOPA, comic book writer and novelist Peter David sums up this frustration over at his blog.

None of this justifies a bad law like SOPA though.  SOPA assumes guilt without proof.  I don’t want an Internet where the mere accusation of piracy can get a website removed from DNS servers, effectively erased from the web.  Under the current Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) companies like Warner Brothers have issued takedown notices for files they have never looked at based solely on the filename.  Do we really want to make it easier for this sort of thing to happen?

So I urge you you to contact your congressman and tell them you are opposed to SOPA.  Sites like Stop American Censorship make it easy to get this contact information.  Congress is supposed to represent the will of the people, not that of corporate lobbyists, but it is up to us to let them know what our will is.

Stop SOPA!

Jeff Grubb on D&D 5E and the “Edition Wars”

Since I already posted my initial rambling thoughts on Dungeons & Dragons 5E, I figured it was worth pointing out this interesting post by Jeff Grubb:

A Game Divided Against Itself

Not surprisingly, Jeff brings a lot of historical perspective to the discussion of D&D 5E.  It is easy to think of the “Edition Wars” as something new and forget how often D&D has been its own worst competition in the past.

Is an ultimate edition of D&D possible?

Wizards of the Coast has officially announced Dungeons & Dragons 5E.  This probably isn’t a shocker to people who follow the industry.  The rehiring of veteran game designer Monte Cook, especially considering the tenor of his recent Legends & Lore articles, pointed to a new edition.  Recent rulebooks have also seemed more willing to experiment with the existing D&D 4E rules, reminiscent of late D&D 3E books like the Tome of Battle.

And of course sagging sales of D&D 4E products probably sped things along.  After all, traditionally nothing sells as well as the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual.

What I find interesting is that D&D 5E was announced so early in the process.  Even though it was obvious a new edition was in the works, I expected them to keep mum out of fear that they would torpedo the sales of upcoming 4E products.  After all, why would you buy books that will soon be considered obsolete?

Well, according to Mike Mearls they intend on conducting open playtests and soliciting feedback from the gaming community.  Of course this is a great marketing line, but the fact that they would risk hurting sales of these upcoming books makes me think that they are serious about getting feedback from the gaming community on D&D 5E.

The real question is whether or not this will work.  Wizards of the Coast is hoping for an “ultimate” edition of D&D that will help unite the fractured fanbase.  I’m not sure if this is even possible.  D&D means different things to different people, and when products are designed to please everyone they often end up pleasing no one.

Nevertheless I remain hopeful.  There are a lot of talented game designers behind this new edition at WOTC and if RPG blogs have taught me anything it is that there is a lot of untapped talent in the gaming community.

In any case, this new approach to creating the new edition has piqued my interest.

Thoughts on the Amazing Spider-Man teaser trailer

The teaser trailer for the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man movie is out.  Feel free to check it out below.

I have to admit Andrew Garfield makes a better Peter Parker than I thought I would.  Nevertheless, the trailer leaves me with several concerns.

My biggest reservation is that I simply think it is too soon for a reboot.   I understand that bringing back the old cast simply wasn’t feasible.  There was also no way Sony was going to let this property revert to Marvel without squeezing every last dollar they could out of it.  So a new movie with a new cast was inevitable.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  I just wish the movie didn’t go all the way back to the origin story.  A soft reboot, like Marvel did with The Incredible Hulk after The Hulk flopped, would have worked better.   Most people who are going to see this movie already know how Peter Parker became Spider-Man, and if they don’t, the briefest of recaps should suffice.

See that wasn’t so hard!

Another thing that seems odd is that it looks like the movie is going to play up the fact that Peter Parker’s parents were secret agents.  This is a part of Spider-Man’s backstory that is probably best ignored.  It complicates Peter’s origin and yet makes him a less relatable character. 

One of Peter Parker’s strengths as a character is that for all of the strangeness in his life he remains relatable.  This works because he was a relatively ordinary kid prior being bit by a radioactive spider.  Adding fantastic elements into his life prior to the spider bite eats away at this ordinariness.

Of course, maybe I am just making too much of the scenes where his father says goodbye to him and when he finds the old attaché case. 

I certainly hope that is the case.

Forgotten Realms Issue 18–Fallen Idols (Part 4 of 4)

This issue begins with an extremely nervous Foxy attempting to free Agrivar and Ishi.  Unfortunately, their jailer is a god, so Foxy gets caught in the act.

As Foxy leaves, he encourages Ishi to remain unconscious since Labelas’ Chaotic Good alignment apparently prevents him from raping sleeping women.  Foxy doesn’t notice that Ishi is merely playing possum.

Back up top, Labelas continues being a major dick to everyone.  He does his own version of “Alas, poor Yorick!” with Minder’s head and threatens to release Captain Omen’s fatal disease back to him if Omen fails to do his bidding. 

Apparently Captain Omen picked up some sleight of hand in his travels, because during his pleading for his life with Labelas he managed to palm the magical key to Agrivar and Ishi’s bonds.  For reasons unknown, the two choose to have a whispered conversation about it in front of the god.  Luckily for them, Labelas must be preoccupied or stupid because he fails to connect the dots.

Maybe Labelas is preoccupied after all, because as soon as the Realms’ Master crew leaves he begins arguing with himself.  Well, more correctly he begins arguing with the part of him who is still Vartan. 

Vartan is understandably upset by recent events, but Labelas counters that all of this internal arguing is tearing his godly form apart and that Vartan should just calm down while Labelas murders, threatens and rapes his friends.  Vartan ultimately concedes that he has no choice, and sets Labelas up for his best line in the series.

Foxy proves that Mama Cardluck didn’t raise no quitters as he attempts to free Agrivar and Ishi again.  He proves much more successful now that he has the magic key.

Meanwhile, Captain Omen continues to make the modifications Labelas demanded to the Astrolabe.  Once they are completed, Labelas launches the Realms’ Master into the sky as part of his mad plan to take down Helm and force his way back into the heavens.

Victory seems within Labelas’ grasp when team Agrivar, Ishi, and Foxy show up to take him down.  Of course they quickly run into the same problem they did the last time they fought Labelas, namely that he is a god and they are merely mortals.

Some quick thinking on Captain Omen’s part helps even the odds.  He opens up the Demiplane of Fear, figuring if it is good enough to dispose of unwanted artifacts that it should work equally well on unwanted deities.  Captain Omen and Ishi then hurl the jars containing Omen’s death and Foxy’s addiction at Labelas, hoping the god’s own magic will hurt him.

It works long enough for Ishi to kick him into the demiplane.  At first Labelas scoffs at this tactic, but soon realizes that some presence in the Demiplane of Fear prevents him from entering.  Thus a disembodied and helpless Labelas is forced to flee while Vartan floats helplessly in the void.

Agrivar is unwilling to leave Vartan behind and selflessly hurls himself into the void after the elf.  Ishi throws them a rope and hauls the two of them back to the ship.  They both promptly collapse.

At this point Ishi assumes the threat is over, but Captain Omen knows better.  The Realms’ Master is still on a collision course with the gates of heaven, and they no longer have a god of their own onboard to deal with the guardian god Helm.

Captain Omen decides the only chance they have is a blind teleport.  He activates the astrolabe, but not before Helm cuts the Realms’ Master in two!

The issue ends with the remains of the Realms’ Master strewn across a desert.  The only sign of our heroes is the head of Minder in the wreckage.

Thoughts

• IDW just collected the first eight issues as Forgotten Realms Classics.  If it sells well I imagine more will follow.  When I first started posting recaps and reviews of a twenty year old comic book, I never imagined it would become topical again.
• Not a huge fan of Labelas repeatedly increasing Agrivar’s need to drink.  I understand it is the jumping off point for upcoming storylines, but having him do it once should have been enough.
• It was nice to see the crew come together at the end.  I especially liked that Agrivar flung himself after Vartan without any thought of his own safety.
• I admit to being somewhat lukewarm on the avatar storyline as a whole, but this issue has a hell of a cliffhanger ending!