A lot of my down-time at work is spent doing things for me, and things that don't require a whole lot of precision and planning. Mainly, this amounts to writing. Lately, even though I have a research paper due on Sunday, my brain has been passively obsessed with the idea of doing a Superhero RPG. But, not just running one. I've been writing one.
When I was a lad, and Role-Playing Games were new and exciting, and TSR ruled the RPG universe, I and my cohorts came across what would become my all-time favorite super hero RPG, Marvel Super Heroes.
Why was this my favorite? Well, mainly because it was a game about Marvel characters. I had been reading comics off and on since I was about 4, and even though I could appreciate DC, Marvel was (and still is) my favorite. And in 1984, I was reading several titles that included the Avengers and all of their members, as well as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and a few others. So, the idea of playing those characters…well, you can probably guess the level of glee that inspired.
Jump forward to the early 2000’s. I’m in my 30’s and still gaming like crazy. Suddenly WotC makes their d20 engine open source, and everyone and their brother is writing new games using it. Naturally, of course, someone was going to do a supers game. And among that particular crop, Green Ronin hit a home-run with Mutants & Masterminds. My group at the time played a lot of it, and it was fun!
But, there was always something that my sense of nostalgia told me was missing...
A little while back, a friend gifted me his old copy of the yellow MSH boxed set (mine having been lost during one of many, many moves in the 90’s). And now I find myself wanting to play again. But, I like the d20 mechanics of M&M. And thus, an idea was born.
My fingers have been furiously writing out the unholy love-child of MSH and M&M. I'm calling it Mutants & Marvels. It's currently 11 pages long, details everything you need to create super heroes, and includes pilfered illustrations of Marvel characters.
I guess I could call it MSH3E. Just for kicks. It will never be sellable (though I'm sure I could make it so), and it may not even be playable. But, I'm still having fun with it. And that's pretty important, I think. When I am done working on it (which may or may not coincide with it being finished), I'll probably post a PDF here for download. If'n anyone is interested.
I have been gaming, off and on, since I was 12 years old. Now that I'm...well, MUCH older, I don't get to play quite as often as I like, but I still like to keep my hand in the game, as it were. This blog is about the role-playing games I write, the games I play, and the games I wish I could play.
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