Marvel Super Heroes
The Heroic Role Playing Game

Game Review

Review by Mike Dawson


Game: 6850, $13.50, ***
Judge's Screen: 6852, $6, **
Fold Up Figures: 6856, $6, **
Complexity: Beginner
Solitaire: None

Marvel Super Heroes is an introductory role-playing game that has gained a poor image since its release. Experienced gamers; have made fun of it, and the game has been criticized in knowledgeable circles simply because it is produced by TSR, which has been known for producing some poor examples of game design. Knowing all these things, it was really surprising to discover that Marvel Super Heroes is a well written and designed game.

There is nothing remarkable about the format of Marvel Super Heroes. A 16-page Battle Book (player's book) and a 48-page Campaign Book come in the box. The set also contains a large double-sided color scale map character cards featuring some of the most popular Marvel superheroes, and an introductory scenario titled Day of the Octopus. You also get a pair of 10-sided dice and a die-coloring crayon.

It might seem to some that the two main books are rather short for an entire system, and if this were another game, they would probably be right. But Marvel Super Heroes is so simple and concise, and its resolution system is so universally applicable to all situations, that the authors really have managed to get an entire system into a few pages.

The game system is unique-it does not resemble any other game currently on the market except Indiana Jones, and that system is derived from Marvel Super Heroes. There is nothing of "D&D in skintight costumes" here. Instead there is a very fast and flexible universal resolution system that is capable of dealing with the monstrous diversity of powers and abilities within the Marvel universe.

The treatment of powers and abilities for the characters is a little vague, and a large responsibility is put on the referee's shoulders to see that players do not create new powers that overbalance the game. The very ease with which the system allows for the creation of new powers is remarkable. Over and over again, Marvel heroes and villains are presented with powers that are not on the main list in the Campaign Book. Rather than looking at this as a defect in the Campaign Book's list, I look at it as an ability of the system to handle soft-keyed powers that are very easily custom tailored for a character.

Also on the positive side is the method used for creation of new heroes or villains. While not letting a player completely design the character he has in mind, it comes very close. Players roll to see what specific categories of powers the character has, and then can choose from several powers in that category. Provision is also made for limiting and customizing powers.

The system does have some problems. The use of adjectives for ranking statistics and powers is cumbersome and difficult to remember. Is excellent better than remarkable or the other way around? And how much better is amazing than incredible? The number values assigned to the stats and powers actually mean something and are much easier to keep in correct order.

The movement and range systems seem somewhat cramped. One gets the impression that an effort was made to keep all action on the small scale scenario maps included with the rules system and in every scenario. The distance that things can be thrown, that people can move, and the maximum range of weapons and energy beams seem much smaller than it has been portrayed in the comics that Marvel Super Heroes is trying to reenact.

The size of an area, which is the basic tactical movement scale, is set as a 4-inch square, but on all of the tactical maps published so far, the areas have been designed to follow the contours of the local geography rather than designed as a simple square overlay. This can result in tactical peculiarities in the difference between the direct distance to a target and the number of areas between attacker and target. On occasion, equal distances will have been divided up unequally, resulting in one target being further away from one firer than from another firer who is closer.

In spite of these problems, Marvel Super Heroes is a fast and fun little game that is admirably suited to the younger gamer. The writing style is consciously aimed at the young market, and this can become a bit tedious for older players. But even older gamers could find enjoyment in Marvel Super Heroes if it was considered a beer and pretzels sort of role-playing game. If you are under 14-years-old, Marvel Super Heroes is a very good place to get introduced to role-playing games, and if you are older than that, it is a way to have some frivolous fun. The system is too simple and the strictures of the karma system on behavior confine role-playing too much to maintain the interest of an experienced gamer.

One of the advantages of a simple and concise system is that it takes up a verv small amount of space, and this makes it very easy to find the reference you need quickly. The organization of the rules is very good, and the presence of the universal resolution table on the back of both books is useful for players and referee.

Aside from the adjective ranks mentioned before, the system is so easy to remember that the Judge's Screen is almost unnecessary and is certainly overpriced. The Heroe's Guide to New York is a good idea, but is too short and sketchy to make its purchase worthwhile unless you are one of those ref's who has to have a ref screen to hide behind.

The artwork on the screen is disappointing as it is throughout Marvel Super Heroes. Even the Adventure Fold- Up Figures suffer the added handicap of poor color separations and detail. The triangular, three-sided upright design of the cardboard stands is also less convenient than the more popular flat type. The Fold-Up Figures are also disappointing because rather than design a different picture for similar figures such as skrulls, A.I.M. minions, or SHIELD agents, someone decided to just do one picture and reproduce it several times. This can be confusing in a tactical situation and limits the ref's ability to pick from a larger group of figures to get the one that most closely resembles the character in the situation.

The Day of the Octopus scenario sets some dangerous precedents for beginning referees. The scenario uses the Thing, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Spider Man as the main protagonists, and they have been brought together purely by chance. When was the last time you can remember these four characters teaming up in a Marvel comic? And since when does Dr. Octopus work with cronies like the Fixer and the Beetle? And isn't the Scorpion permanently out of action? Day of the Octopus is little more than a setting for random heroes to beat up on random villains. The example of the built-in bail out for characters who cannot get things accomplished is also a poor idea. Things like that rarely happen in comics.

As a method of simulating the diversity of the Marvel universe, Marvel Super Heroes succeeds. The only problems that occur in the system are a result of the conscious editorial decision to aim the game at the youth market. The basic system could be adapted to a more adult-oriented Marvel universe game by adding more complex movement rules and eliminating the confining portions of the Karma system. If Jim Shooter, Secret Wars, and Dazzler mini-series are what you think of when you hear "Marvel," then Marvel Super Heroes will be just the thing for you.

If your tastes run more to Miller's Daredevil, Simonson's Thor, and Sienkiewicz art, then you will need to do some work on Marvel Super Heroes before it will be more than a beer & pretzels game for you.

More Role-Game Reviews

Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #6
To Game News List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com