Today we’re suiting up and sitting down for a chat with Matt Forbeck and CJ Cervantes, the designer and producer of the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game. We’ll uncover the thought processes and design choices that have made the game accessible to newcomers and exciting for seasoned gamers, talk about character development, playtesting surprises, game refinements, and more. Join us as we embark on a journey through the world of super heroes and storytelling.
In the world of Marvel, where super heroes and super villains clash in epic battles, the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game has emerged as a gateway for people eager to live out adventures in a heroic setting. What specific considerations were employed to ensure that the game was accessible to new and seasoned gamers alike?
Matt: We made this one of the pillars of the game’s development. We want to bring in not just gamers who are already playing tabletop games but Marvel fans who are RPG-curious. For new players, we kept the rules short and clear and tried to simplify them at every stage. We also decided to have the game use only standard six-sided dice. The kind you can swipe from any board game in your closet.
Veteran gamers should find the structure of the game, the way combat works, and so on, familiar. So if you play other RPG’s, you should find that the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game feels like home, only with masks!
CJ: Storytelling is at the heart of all RPGs. It’s what makes them such an incredible experience that transcends gaming. When we sat down at the table and playtested each iteration of the rules, our goal was to make them as fast and streamlined as possible. By lowering that initial barrier to entry, and making sure people were having fun telling their own stories, we felt the game would be accessible to a wide breadth of people.
On behalf of myself and everyone else who has a complicated relationship with rulebooks and learning new games, I really appreciate the thought that was put into making this easy to pick up and start having fun with.
One of the more unique characteristics of this game system is the utilization of ranks of power as a contrast to the character leveling mechanic used in many other popular RPGs. Can you tell us what some of the biggest benefits are to having a six-rank system? What is your advice for someone used to leveling up a character as they play who needs to adjust?
Matt: Super hero stories are about helping people through direct action, not kicking down doors, killing the monsters, and looting the dungeon. Heroes start out at Rank 1 for an origin story, move up in ranks as they learn more about their powers, and then stop when they hit their rank cap. That’s how you get to the kinds of adventures you want your heroes to have.
If you’re playing an existing Marvel hero, don’t worry about rising in ranks. Those heroes are already at the peak of their powers. If you’re playing an original character you created, take your time and enjoy that origin story. Each character only gets to go through that once.
CJ: By scaling the number of ranks down, it’s much easier to quantify the various levels of power and strength in the Marvel Universe. Rather than arguing between smaller increments of level (i.e. Captain America being level 15 and Black Panther being level 19), if you say both are Rank 4, or Legends, you have a much better idea of their general skill.
Since Ranks correspond to a skill/power level, and not a traditional leveling system, rank caps are meant to thematically represent the upper limit of your power. Not all super heroes are cosmic-powered super beings, and that’s OK!
That being said, we still want players to feel like they’re growing with their heroes. Much like traditional super hero stories, heroes will discover new powers in the face of adversity. Miles Morales doesn’t know he can turn invisible/camouflage until he is given a reason. Ranking up in our game works the same way. Throughout your adventures, you will rank up due to your experiences, not because you’ve hit an experience point threshold.
I love the concept of getting to craft an origin story, since that’s such a pivotal component of super hero identity. I’ve been really inspired to experiment with channeling my neighborhood vigilante fantasies – especially since it’s easy to feel a little helpless up against every day life.
What’s an element of this game that helps players feel truly heroic?
Matt: The powers really help. There are something like 330 of them in the Core Rulebook. But there’s also a wrinkle of the damage mechanic that helps.
When you have to put everything you have into attacking a villain, you need to get the best dice roll you can manage. Because that directly affects the damage, that means when you do pull off one of those epic attacks, you’re guaranteed to do some massive damage with it.
CJ: I’d say being able to wipe the floor with a bunch of low-Rank goons. Because of how we designed damage and damage reduction in the game, as a Rank 3 hero (or villain), you can walk into a room full of Rank 1 Hydra Agents and beat ‘em up without even breaking a sweat. I’ve never felt that scale of power in a game before.
For anyone unfamiliar, it’s important to call out that there was a very collaborative element to the design of this game; Marvel solicited feedback during an open playtest period and worked hard to improve the product before it was officially released. I heard that the Marvel team received tens of thousands of pieces of feedback during that period… What was your process for categorizing, considering, and implementing all of those comments?
Matt: When you have one or two people pointing out something they don’t like — out of a sample of tens of thousands — you can probably let it go. You can’t please everyone. However, when you have hundreds of people pointing out the same issue, you take it extremely seriously.
CJ: I have to give a big shout-out to Amir Osman on my team for that. He was tasked with combing through every single response that we received from our survey. We would sit down, review each batch and say “what are the trends?”. Many people are saying that the math doesn’t work; how do we make it better?
Of course, when you tweak one thing, you find that there’s something else that needs tweaking as well. We kept fine-tuning and honing the rules until we got to where we are today, and we’re very happy with the final product.
Can you share a piece of Playtest feedback that was the most surprising or unexpected?
Matt: The feedback about the archetypes that were in the Playtest Rulebook threw me the most. I had thought that people would like to have a tool like that to help them build characters of their own, but most people found it too constraining instead. So we threw it out completely. The game is much better for it.
CJ: We really liked the initial concept for the character sheet that our incredible designer (Simeon Cogswell) created. However, when we sat down at the table, some players had difficulty navigating the sheet.
I believe we went through at least 11 rounds of revisions on the final version until I was happy with the new design, and felt it perfectly fit the game and was accessible to use.
What’s something specific you did to make the game more FUN during your refinement period?
Matt: One of the best things we did was change how damage works. At first, you had to roll fistfuls of dice, which is fun but can be a lot, especially for new players. Then we made it so you only had to roll three dice, but it made the damage feel awfully samey.
Then we changed it so that you can figure your damage directly from your attack roll. You just multiply your Marvel die by your rank (plus add your ability and the effects of any pertinent powers). It’s dead simple, gives you a great range of damages, and feels fun.
CJ: My favorite new mechanic is TEAM MANEUVERS. We’ve all seen those big, epic, super hero team-up moments. In staying true to the super hero genre, we wanted players to be able to experience and live those moments as well. TEAM MANEUVERS allow players to team-up, and gain a boost by working together.
I do love a co-op moment. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as a group victory, and there are certainly some interesting team dynamics that can be manufactured when getting Marvel Heroes to work together or making your own heroes. Can you tell us about a favorite custom hero that you’ve created in the Roll20 Character Builder?
Matt: I’ve been too busy working on the X-Men Expansion to do more than tinker with it, but it’s been a great help for checking our work and making sure we’re getting the math right. Till now, we’ve had to create all of the characters by hand, but the Roll20 Character Builder makes it a lot more convenient.
CJ: Easy, CJ-Man. This was the fictional character I created during playtesting as a proof of concept for wacky character ideas. It was great fun creating him, but even easier to do in the character builder. CJ-Man is a giant, 7’ rock-person who can generate and sling hot dogs at mach speed.
HOT DOGS? I want that guy on my team, for sure. Since you mentioned it… what are you most excited about, re: the X-Men or Spider-Verse expansions?
Matt: Because the X-Men are one of the greatest super hero teams ever, the X-Men Expansion is going to feature all sorts of new rules about how to form and handle teams. It’s going to be great for helping players feel like they’re really part of a team with a purpose.
For Spider-Verse, we’re concentrating on the wilder aspects of the Marvel Multiverse, of course, but we’re also diving deep into how to set up and work with a character’s supporting cast. The way a hero interacts with and helps protect the people they care about most really ups the stakes for any adventure.
CJ: While I’m extremely excited for these titles, I’m even more excited for what we’re working on behind the scenes. I can’t say much, but I can’t wait for fans to get their hands on it.
Tease! I’ll just have to wait like everyone else. Finally, can you describe a “wow” / epic moment you’ve had while playing on Roll20?
Matt: We ran some of the first playtests of the game on Roll20, long before the game was ever announced. With the development team scattered all over the place, it made for the perfect way to try out all sorts of ideas before we shared them with the rest of the world.
One moment I’ll never forget was watching Juggernaut tear through an office building, plowing his way through wall after wall. It felt absolutely epic — and perfectly Marvel to boot.
CJ: We played the Revenge Of The Super Skrull adventure, and I didn’t realize that you can interact with various items in the environment. For example, you can pick-up cars and ATMs on the map and literally throw them. Experiencing that was a huge “wow” moment for me, and made me feel even more super.
Thank you both so much for your time. I loved hearing more about everything available and upcoming for the Marvel Multiverse RPG, and am looking forward to playing again soon!