We Can Be Heroes: An Introduction to the MURPG
Jan 20, 2006 22:50:19 GMT -5
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Post by dorkknight23 on Jan 20, 2006 22:50:19 GMT -5
We Can Be Heroes: An Introduction to the MURPG
"We can be heroes
Forever and ever
Or we can be heroes
Just for one day"
- David Bowie, "Heroes"
This article is intended to explain some of the intricacies of the Marvel Universe RolePlaying Game (or MURPG for short.) Two questions must first be addressed before we can understand the game: what is a roleplaying game, and how is MURPG different from other roleplaying systems (like the d20 system, the basis for Dungeons and Dragons or the Star Wars RPG system, for example)?
What is an RPG?
Dictionary.com defines a role-playing game as “A game in which players assume the roles of characters and act out fantastical adventures, the outcomes of which are partially determined by chance, as by the roll of dice.” This is somewhat misleading, since the Marvel System does not use dice, but it’s a starting point. In fact, the first clause of that sentence is a better description: “A game in which players assume the roles of characters [thus role-playing –Ed.] and act out fantastical adventures.” The MURPG is tailored for super-heroic characters and fantastic adventures in the super-heroic vein. However, the game can be adapted to use other setting or styles (such as fantasy, science-fiction, Western, etc.) at the whim of the GameMaster (or GM for short, the person in charge of the game.)
MURPG is not the only system available. The d20 system that has been used for Dungeons & Dragons (one of the most popular roleplaying games) is totally different than the MURPG system. The Core Rulebook describes this difference as being between probability-based gaming, and resource-based gaming.
Probability based games fit the definition given earlier very well. The odds of a character’s success or failure is based around the rolling of dice.
Example
GM: The Green Goblin menaces you, Spider-Man, what do you do?
PC: I’ll attack him with my webbing. (Rolls a d20) I got a 8.
GM: Sorry, but your webbing narrowly missed the goblin’s Armor Class. If you had rolled higher you would have hit him.
PC: Drat.
Resource based games, on the other hand, force the player to rely on a set amount of resources with which to perform the tasks at hand.
Example
GM: The Green Goblin menaces you, Spider-Man, what do you do?
PC: I’ll use my webbing. I’ll put 4 of my 12 stones into Ranged Combat, adding my (+6) weapon modifier, for a +10 attack against the Goblin.
GM: Unfortunately, the Goblin has put enough stones into his defense to evade your webbing.
PC: Drat.
Of course, any PC and GM worth their salt wouldn’t use the technical language in their discussion without any deeper description of what’s going on, but it illustrates the differences between the two ways of playing the game.
I go on in further detail about why the resource-based system works better for superhero-style games in the first of my Building Blue Lightning articles.
(Character Creation) Stones and (Health and Energy) Stones
So, the MURPG is resource-driven. What’s the resource? The answer is stones. But it isn’t so simple. Stones are used in two ways. The first is as a tool for character creation, where a GM gives a PC a certain number of stones that will pay for the various abilities, actions, and modifiers your character possesses. The PC will use White stones and Red stones, with 1 White equaling 3 Red. Then, in real play, the stones will be used again. In this case, the White stones will represent your Health (equal to your Durability ability) and your Red stones will indicate your Energy. I shall define Ability, Action, Modifier, Health, Energy, and a few other helpful terms, in the next section.
Think about with Dungeons and Dragons the multiple uses of the word “level.” Stones has a similar problem.
The MURPG Lexicon
(Words bolded in entries are other definitions)
* Ability: One of 5 statistics. Intelligence, Strength, Agility, Speed, and Durability. Each ability has to be at least 1, and can be purchased for any value, usually from 1-10, although some characters have been known to exceed these values (albeit rarely.) You may pay energy into an ability during play to utilize it (particularly if you don’t have an appropriate action.)
* Ability Bonus: An ability bonus allows a character to add energy up to the ability number to an action. Certain actions, like Close Combat, have inherent bonuses. Others can buy an ability bonus for an advantage with a +5 cost level.
* Ability Number: The number after the ability to indicate how high it is. The bare minimum is 1, there is no set maximum, but few get higher than 10.
* Action: Actions are both skills that Player Characters and Non-Player Characters have, and powers that they possess. Actions pay stones of energy to use, if they defeat the difficulty and the resistance they usually succeed.
* Action Box: These are where you allocate energy into an action. You are limited to 9 Action Boxes on a Character Action Display.
* Action Number: The level of power or skill you have in an action. The higher the action number, the more powerful or effective the skill is. Also, certain skills have more specialties the higher the action number.
* Advantage: An advantage is a special trick or ability that can be added to an action or a modifier. Some advantages include “2x damage” or adding an Ability Bonus.
* Campaign: This is the world maintained by the GM. Multiple Missions are often interconnected into a campaign.
* Challenge: Every Player Character is required to have a challenge, some sort of weakness, flaw, or other problem. Challenges can be as simple as having a physical flaw or defect (or looking non-human,) to psychological flaws and compulsions, to vulnerabilities to certain kinds of attacks.
* Character Action Display (CAD): The CAD displays your character’s abilities, actions, and modifiers.
* Cost Level: The cost of an ability, or the effective cost of an action or modifier, particularly if increased by advantages or decreased by disadvantages, or by innate increases in the Cost Level. For example, Flight has a +2 increase to its cost level.
* Damage: If you exceed your opponents defense with an attack you can damage then. For every 3 red stones that get past defense, you remove 1 white stone of health.
* Defense: This protects you from damage. You may shift stones of energy from your attacks into defense. You may also get free stones from equipment or modifiers, like toughness.
* Disadvantage: Disadvantages are like advantages, except they restrict your action instead of improving on it. Some disadvantages include “one target only” or “can’t improve by adding lines”.
* Difficulty Level: This represents how difficult the task you are undertaking currently is. You need a number. If you are trying to crack a safe with Difficulty: 4, Resistance: 3, you need to have a 4 in the relevant action number or ability to crack the safe (like Thieving, for example, or any skill you feel can be used to crack a safe, although the GM may apply situational modifiers if he feels its less effective.)
* Energy: Represented in red stones, this is how much energy you have. You can retain either three times your Durability ability, or double your Intelligence, if you pay double the cost for Intelligence. Energy is put into action boxes to represent effort uses to defeat difficulty and resistance. It can also be shifted to defense.
* Energy Pool: Where Energy is kept.
* Energy Regeneration Rate: Every panel, the character regenerates a number equal to either their Durability ability, or their Intelligence (if they pay double the cost level.) This energy can be used in actions to defeat difficulties or resistances.
* GameMaster (GM): He’s in charge of the game, maintaining NPC’s, and creating Missions and Issues in the Campaign.
* Health: Health is based on Durability. If you run out of health, you can slip into a coma or die. If you want, you can opt to be knocked out for double the number of panels equals to the damage you received.
* Issue: An Issue is a series of missions.
* Lines of Experience: Also called “lines” or “LOE.” They represent what the character did during play. The average character gets 1-3 lines per mission, or 1-5 lines an issue. A player records LOE on the CAD, and when they have 10 LOE in an action they may be able to increase the Action Number by 1 for that action.
* Mission: Missions are a set objective that you are currently undertaking. They are made up of pages. Numerous missions make up an issue.
* Modifier: Modifiers give you free stones. Some modifiers improve your defense, your offense, or give you free stones towards defeating difficulties or resistance.
* Modifier Number: How many free stones a modifier gives you. For example, Toughness (+3) gives you 3 free stones to defense.
* Non-Player Character (NPC): Non-Player Characters are acted out by the GM. These can be supervillains, allied superheroes, innocent bystanders, or anyone else in the world who isn't a PC.
* Pages: After every player acts in a panel, the page is completed. Multiple pages make up a mission.
* Panel: A panel is analogous to a “round” in other RPG games. When actions occur, they occur within the span of a panel. Multiple panels make up missions.
* Player Character (PC): These are the people playing the heroes. They are responsible for a single character that they play. These characters interact with NPCs that the GM controls.
* Resistance Level: Resistance is the number of stones needed to successfully defeat the action. For example, if you’re trying to crack a safe with Difficult: 4, Resistance 3, you need to put in 3.
* Situational Modifier: Situational modifiers are free stones the GM can give you to either aid you in defeating resistance, or to increase resistance. For example, a character using Acrobatics might get a negative situational modifier if he’s on a slippery roof. Another character may receive a positive situational modifier towards General Knowledge if he has a relevant specialty.
* Specialties: Specialties are aspects certain Actions have, that reflect special focus on a certain area. Limited to the Action Number. Certain skills like Close Combat, Private Investigating, General Knowledge, Thieving, Black Ops, or Social Skills might have specialties. A character with Social Skills, for example, with skill at talking to criminals might have the “Underworld” specialty.
* Wealth: The amount of money your character has at their disposal. This number can vary from -1 (dead broke, a challenge) to 10, a trillionaire.
* Weapon Modifier: A modifier that weapons give to either close or ranged combat. A gun, for example could have a +2 Weapon modifier.
The Nuts and Bolts of It: Looking at a CAD, Non-Combat and Combat Examples, and Building Your Own Character
Okay, now that we’ve got some of the jargon down, we’re going to start to actually look at a CAD in order to properly understand how a character is put together.
Name: Spider-Man
Identity: Peter Parker
Height: 5’10
Weight: 165
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Species: Mutagenic
Abilities:
Int: 7
Str: 5
Agi: 6
Spd: 5
Dur: 4
White: 4
Red: 12
Actions:
Wall-Crawling 5
(Agility bonus)
Ranged Combat 4
(Weapon modifier)
Close Combat 2
(Agility & Strength Bonus or Weapon modifier; Hand to Hand, Martial Arts)
Technology 6
(Intelligence bonus)
Photography 3
(Intelligence or Agility Bonus)
Web-Slinging 5
(Agility bonus)
Acrobatics 6
(Agility bonus)
Inventing 1
(Intelligence bonus)
Social Skills 1
(Scientific Community)
Modifiers:
Reflexive Dodge (+3)
Prescience: May chance stone allocations after enemy attack revealed
Healing Factor: Heal 1 white stone per hour. Regenerate 3 red stones per 2 white per Panel.
Wealth (-1)
Equipment:
Web Shooters: (+6) 100 stones of fluid use. If you get through defense, you web opponent.
Web Fluid: 26 canisters @ 100 stones per canister
Camera: (3 panels to setup to photograph self in action)
Hopefully this character looks at least little familiar. Let’s look at the Damage & Resistance chart (on page 80 of the core rulebook,) to see some of the things that Spider-Man can be capable of. Using his strength of 5, he can lift up to 5 tons, and can throw that weight up to 70 feet, or to carry it for a period of time (based on his regeneration rate, he could carry it for about 4 panels [2 minutes] before he runs out of energy.) He can, using his speed, run up to a mile in a single panel, or go up to a max of 75 miles/hour crawling on walls or 125 miles/hour using web-slinging. Using his agility, he can leap up to 200 feet into the air. Based on his strength, he can break through doors, car windows, handcuffs, smash walls, or break telephone poles. His technology score indicates he is knowledgeable about most human high technology (alien tech is of a higher difficulty.) To compare his abilities, the ordinary human has an Intelligence of 2 and physical abilities of 1. He is above and beyond at every level, the proportional strength, speed, and agility of a spider.
He can put the following number of stones into each action. Characters are limited to putting stones of their own energy based on the Action Number of the action, plus any ability bonus, or a weapon modifier or other modifier that might apply.
Wall-Crawling: 11
Ranged Combat: 10 (4 of his own stones+6 weapon modifier)
Close Combat: 12 (he can theoretically put 5+6+2=13, but is limited to his maximum energy of 12)
Technology: 12 (again, he could put up to 13)
Photography: 10
Web-Slinging: 11
Acrobatics: 12
Inventing: 8
Social Skills: 1
Not only that, Spider-Man has two benefits he purchased in addition to these: prescience, which allows him to reallocate stones after his enemies have spend their stones, and a healing factor, which increases his rate of healing, and regenerate 3 red for every 2 white (or 6 white a panel at full health.)
Now that we have some idea of what Spider-Man is capable of, here are two examples of him in action.
Here’s a non-combat example using Spider-Man:
GM: Okay, Spidey, you’ve been webslinging at double speed 3 (80 miles a panel,) putting 2 stones to beat resistance, and 4 into Intelligence to follow the robbers. They’ve stopped their car outside a decrepit dockside warehouse. What do you do?
PC: Okay, first I regenerate my energy, I have 4 health, and regenerate 3 red for every 2 white thanks to my healing factor, so I regenerate 6 stones of energy, which puts me back at full health. I’m going to put another 3 into Webslinging, to move at 125 miles per hour, to catch up with the thugs at the warehouse, and 3 to cling to the wall, in case I have any negative situational modifiers.
GM: Okay, you grab onto the wall, then launch yourself quickly towards the warehouse. You see the thugs in the window, rushing in, nervously expecting your return.
PC: Hey, wouldn’t want to keep my adoring public waiting.
Here’s a combat example using Spider-Man, based right off the last example:
GM: It’s a new panel. Okay, Spidey, what do you do?
PC: I want to swing in and clock both thugs.
GM: You can combine your actions for that.
PC: I can?
GM: Yeah, you can combine both Webslinging and Close Combat to swing in and hit both your opponents.
PC: Cool!
GM: Okay, how are you allocating your stones.
PC: I regenerate 6 stones from my healing factor, putting me back up to 12. I’m going to put 3 into Webslinging to move at full speed, then put in 9 from Close Combat.
GM: How are you dividing that attack?
PC: It’s a 12-stone attack, so +6 both ways?
GM: Hold on Spidey, your Spider-Sense is tingling. Since you have prescience, I’ll let you reallocate your stones after I show you what the thugs are doing. Both thugs has put 2 stones into Ranged Combat, with their (+2) weapon modifiers, this is enough to beat your (+3) reflexive dodge by 1.
PC: Okay, I’ll shift one stone from Close Combat to defense, so one attack will be +5, and the other +6. If it ties, they won’t be able to hit me, right?
GM: Yeah. So, you swing into action, your Spider-Sense helps you narrowly avoid the firing bullets, and you knock both guys out with a 1-2 punch.
PC: All these random thugs have glass jaws.
GM: Well, it’s not a moment too soon, as you hear police sirens in the distance. New panel, what are you doing?
PC: I’ll regenerate 6 stones, and use 3 of those stones to Websling the hell out of there!
See, that’s a very simple example of how things can work in a game.
Now, I’m going to discuss how to build your own character. Most characters won’t be as powerful as Spider-Man (without challenges Spider-Man would cost about 91 stones to build, the recommended amount for a starting character is 40 stones plus challenges.) However, some 40 stone characters like Daredevil, Beast, Cannonball, or the Wasp, are all very effective and very capable characters, and by adding LOE to increase your action number you can become even more powerful.
To build a character you need to understand the cost level chart.
Cost Level
1: 1 red
2: 2 red
3: 1 white
4: 2 white
5: 3 white
6: 4 white
7: 6 white
8: 9 white
9: 12 white
10: 15 white
11+: +5 white stone
I write a lot more about character building in “Building Blue Lightning.” This is just a quick example to show how to build a 40-stone character. When making an original superhero, the question you need to ask is: what do you want to do? What kinds of actions and modifiers do you need? I want to make a guy who is able to fly, throw fire blasts, and is stronger, faster, and all-around more super than an ordinary person. I’ll call my character “Hotshot.”
First up, I decide to make Hotshot a mutant (a 3 stone challenge.) This gives me 43 stones to work with. I decide that he will look human, and that he has no other noticeable challenges (just to make this fast.) I look at the D&R chart, and what is considered regular or super-human, and how effective it can be. I give him 5’s in every stat, to make him generally well-rounded, and a 3 in intelligence (he’s bright, but not a genius.) That so far has cost me 19 stones. I have 24 stones left to spend. I buy Close Combat and Social Skills, and General Knowledge at 1, each costs 2 red stones (General Knowledge 1 costs the same as Cost Level 2 because it has a +1 cost level to it innately.) He’s a high school student with some limited skills, but he’s just starting out. I want him to have a fire blast that does 2x damage, so I buy the 2x damage option to a force blast (Cost Level=Action Number+2 currently,) and I buy it at 5 (Cost Level 7 or 6 white stones.) This gives me 16 stones to spend. I also buy Flight at 5, since it costs Action Number+2 to begin with, it costs me another 6 stones. I have 10 stones left to spend. I decide to give him a 0 wealth, he’s broke but not dead broke. Now, I give him some toughness and reflexive dodge for some free defensive stones, I buy both at (+1) (Modifier Number+3, or Cost Level 4, or 2 white stones each.) 6 stones left. I think giving him infrared vision would be a cool power, so he could see invisible people. Enhanced Vision costs “the number of options taken times the modifier number” in red stones, with 3 red equaling a white. I technically have 18 red stones left, and I feel like splurging on some awesome enhanced vision (all the better to invisible or unseen opponents.) I buy the options of Infrared Vision and X-Ray Vision at 9. This will keep invisible opponents, or walls, from keeping him from seeing his opponents.
Here is my CAD for my (albeit basic and kind of quickly cobbled together) character, with details and specialties added as appropriate.
Name: Hotshot
Identity: Damien Anthony
Height: 6’2
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Red
Species: Mutant
Abilities:
Int: 3
Str: 5
Agi: 5
Spd: 5
Dur: 5
White: 5
Red: 15
Actions:
Close Combat 2
(Strength bonus or Weapon modifier; Hand-to-Hand, Aerial Combat)
Social Skills 2
(Teenager, Charm)
General Knowledge 1
(Intelligence bonus)
Fire Blast 5
(2x damage)
Flight 5
Modifiers:
Toughness (+1)
Reflexive Dodge (+1)
Enhanced Vision 9 (Infrared, X-Ray Vision)
Wealth (0)
Equipment:
Unstable Molecule Costume: (+1) to Defense
Conclusion
This primer will hopefully help players understand some of the more basic elements of the rules. I hope this helps make your learning experience easier and more enjoyable. I hope to see you on the boards.
Recommended Reading:
The Core Books: (The Core Rulebook, The Guide to the X-Men, and the Guide to Hulk and Avengers,) everything you’ll need to know will be in these books
The Guide to Spider-Man and New York: a fan-made supplement that takes up where the books left off. Other fan-made books are in the works, as they start surfacing, I’ll add them to this list
ozbot.typepad.com/spideyguide/
The D&R Charts (Courtesy of Rennyn):
www.digitalsolecism.net/marvel/Difficulty&ResistanceChart.pdf
The cost charts for abilities, and various advantages, disadvantages, actions, and modifiers, available in the game:
www.digitalsolecism.net/marvel/MURPGchart.pdf
Scrappin’: Hank and Logan’s Guide to Combat. Written by the author of this article. One of the more prevalent features of the system, combat.
murpg.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1135660429
Powered Armor For Dummies. Also written by the author. Features discussing one of the more controversial rules of the system, for building characters like Iron Man.
murpg.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=House&action=display&thread=1579
Building Blue Lightning: A Series of articles written by the author (what a surprise) on building various character archetypes.
murpg.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1130987362
How to Roleplay in the MURPG System: More on Character Development and Roleplaying.
murpg.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1151299601
"We can be heroes
Forever and ever
Or we can be heroes
Just for one day"
- David Bowie, "Heroes"
This article is intended to explain some of the intricacies of the Marvel Universe RolePlaying Game (or MURPG for short.) Two questions must first be addressed before we can understand the game: what is a roleplaying game, and how is MURPG different from other roleplaying systems (like the d20 system, the basis for Dungeons and Dragons or the Star Wars RPG system, for example)?
What is an RPG?
Dictionary.com defines a role-playing game as “A game in which players assume the roles of characters and act out fantastical adventures, the outcomes of which are partially determined by chance, as by the roll of dice.” This is somewhat misleading, since the Marvel System does not use dice, but it’s a starting point. In fact, the first clause of that sentence is a better description: “A game in which players assume the roles of characters [thus role-playing –Ed.] and act out fantastical adventures.” The MURPG is tailored for super-heroic characters and fantastic adventures in the super-heroic vein. However, the game can be adapted to use other setting or styles (such as fantasy, science-fiction, Western, etc.) at the whim of the GameMaster (or GM for short, the person in charge of the game.)
MURPG is not the only system available. The d20 system that has been used for Dungeons & Dragons (one of the most popular roleplaying games) is totally different than the MURPG system. The Core Rulebook describes this difference as being between probability-based gaming, and resource-based gaming.
Probability based games fit the definition given earlier very well. The odds of a character’s success or failure is based around the rolling of dice.
Example
GM: The Green Goblin menaces you, Spider-Man, what do you do?
PC: I’ll attack him with my webbing. (Rolls a d20) I got a 8.
GM: Sorry, but your webbing narrowly missed the goblin’s Armor Class. If you had rolled higher you would have hit him.
PC: Drat.
Resource based games, on the other hand, force the player to rely on a set amount of resources with which to perform the tasks at hand.
Example
GM: The Green Goblin menaces you, Spider-Man, what do you do?
PC: I’ll use my webbing. I’ll put 4 of my 12 stones into Ranged Combat, adding my (+6) weapon modifier, for a +10 attack against the Goblin.
GM: Unfortunately, the Goblin has put enough stones into his defense to evade your webbing.
PC: Drat.
Of course, any PC and GM worth their salt wouldn’t use the technical language in their discussion without any deeper description of what’s going on, but it illustrates the differences between the two ways of playing the game.
I go on in further detail about why the resource-based system works better for superhero-style games in the first of my Building Blue Lightning articles.
(Character Creation) Stones and (Health and Energy) Stones
So, the MURPG is resource-driven. What’s the resource? The answer is stones. But it isn’t so simple. Stones are used in two ways. The first is as a tool for character creation, where a GM gives a PC a certain number of stones that will pay for the various abilities, actions, and modifiers your character possesses. The PC will use White stones and Red stones, with 1 White equaling 3 Red. Then, in real play, the stones will be used again. In this case, the White stones will represent your Health (equal to your Durability ability) and your Red stones will indicate your Energy. I shall define Ability, Action, Modifier, Health, Energy, and a few other helpful terms, in the next section.
Think about with Dungeons and Dragons the multiple uses of the word “level.” Stones has a similar problem.
The MURPG Lexicon
(Words bolded in entries are other definitions)
* Ability: One of 5 statistics. Intelligence, Strength, Agility, Speed, and Durability. Each ability has to be at least 1, and can be purchased for any value, usually from 1-10, although some characters have been known to exceed these values (albeit rarely.) You may pay energy into an ability during play to utilize it (particularly if you don’t have an appropriate action.)
* Ability Bonus: An ability bonus allows a character to add energy up to the ability number to an action. Certain actions, like Close Combat, have inherent bonuses. Others can buy an ability bonus for an advantage with a +5 cost level.
* Ability Number: The number after the ability to indicate how high it is. The bare minimum is 1, there is no set maximum, but few get higher than 10.
* Action: Actions are both skills that Player Characters and Non-Player Characters have, and powers that they possess. Actions pay stones of energy to use, if they defeat the difficulty and the resistance they usually succeed.
* Action Box: These are where you allocate energy into an action. You are limited to 9 Action Boxes on a Character Action Display.
* Action Number: The level of power or skill you have in an action. The higher the action number, the more powerful or effective the skill is. Also, certain skills have more specialties the higher the action number.
* Advantage: An advantage is a special trick or ability that can be added to an action or a modifier. Some advantages include “2x damage” or adding an Ability Bonus.
* Campaign: This is the world maintained by the GM. Multiple Missions are often interconnected into a campaign.
* Challenge: Every Player Character is required to have a challenge, some sort of weakness, flaw, or other problem. Challenges can be as simple as having a physical flaw or defect (or looking non-human,) to psychological flaws and compulsions, to vulnerabilities to certain kinds of attacks.
* Character Action Display (CAD): The CAD displays your character’s abilities, actions, and modifiers.
* Cost Level: The cost of an ability, or the effective cost of an action or modifier, particularly if increased by advantages or decreased by disadvantages, or by innate increases in the Cost Level. For example, Flight has a +2 increase to its cost level.
* Damage: If you exceed your opponents defense with an attack you can damage then. For every 3 red stones that get past defense, you remove 1 white stone of health.
* Defense: This protects you from damage. You may shift stones of energy from your attacks into defense. You may also get free stones from equipment or modifiers, like toughness.
* Disadvantage: Disadvantages are like advantages, except they restrict your action instead of improving on it. Some disadvantages include “one target only” or “can’t improve by adding lines”.
* Difficulty Level: This represents how difficult the task you are undertaking currently is. You need a number. If you are trying to crack a safe with Difficulty: 4, Resistance: 3, you need to have a 4 in the relevant action number or ability to crack the safe (like Thieving, for example, or any skill you feel can be used to crack a safe, although the GM may apply situational modifiers if he feels its less effective.)
* Energy: Represented in red stones, this is how much energy you have. You can retain either three times your Durability ability, or double your Intelligence, if you pay double the cost for Intelligence. Energy is put into action boxes to represent effort uses to defeat difficulty and resistance. It can also be shifted to defense.
* Energy Pool: Where Energy is kept.
* Energy Regeneration Rate: Every panel, the character regenerates a number equal to either their Durability ability, or their Intelligence (if they pay double the cost level.) This energy can be used in actions to defeat difficulties or resistances.
* GameMaster (GM): He’s in charge of the game, maintaining NPC’s, and creating Missions and Issues in the Campaign.
* Health: Health is based on Durability. If you run out of health, you can slip into a coma or die. If you want, you can opt to be knocked out for double the number of panels equals to the damage you received.
* Issue: An Issue is a series of missions.
* Lines of Experience: Also called “lines” or “LOE.” They represent what the character did during play. The average character gets 1-3 lines per mission, or 1-5 lines an issue. A player records LOE on the CAD, and when they have 10 LOE in an action they may be able to increase the Action Number by 1 for that action.
* Mission: Missions are a set objective that you are currently undertaking. They are made up of pages. Numerous missions make up an issue.
* Modifier: Modifiers give you free stones. Some modifiers improve your defense, your offense, or give you free stones towards defeating difficulties or resistance.
* Modifier Number: How many free stones a modifier gives you. For example, Toughness (+3) gives you 3 free stones to defense.
* Non-Player Character (NPC): Non-Player Characters are acted out by the GM. These can be supervillains, allied superheroes, innocent bystanders, or anyone else in the world who isn't a PC.
* Pages: After every player acts in a panel, the page is completed. Multiple pages make up a mission.
* Panel: A panel is analogous to a “round” in other RPG games. When actions occur, they occur within the span of a panel. Multiple panels make up missions.
* Player Character (PC): These are the people playing the heroes. They are responsible for a single character that they play. These characters interact with NPCs that the GM controls.
* Resistance Level: Resistance is the number of stones needed to successfully defeat the action. For example, if you’re trying to crack a safe with Difficult: 4, Resistance 3, you need to put in 3.
* Situational Modifier: Situational modifiers are free stones the GM can give you to either aid you in defeating resistance, or to increase resistance. For example, a character using Acrobatics might get a negative situational modifier if he’s on a slippery roof. Another character may receive a positive situational modifier towards General Knowledge if he has a relevant specialty.
* Specialties: Specialties are aspects certain Actions have, that reflect special focus on a certain area. Limited to the Action Number. Certain skills like Close Combat, Private Investigating, General Knowledge, Thieving, Black Ops, or Social Skills might have specialties. A character with Social Skills, for example, with skill at talking to criminals might have the “Underworld” specialty.
* Wealth: The amount of money your character has at their disposal. This number can vary from -1 (dead broke, a challenge) to 10, a trillionaire.
* Weapon Modifier: A modifier that weapons give to either close or ranged combat. A gun, for example could have a +2 Weapon modifier.
The Nuts and Bolts of It: Looking at a CAD, Non-Combat and Combat Examples, and Building Your Own Character
Okay, now that we’ve got some of the jargon down, we’re going to start to actually look at a CAD in order to properly understand how a character is put together.
Name: Spider-Man
Identity: Peter Parker
Height: 5’10
Weight: 165
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Species: Mutagenic
Abilities:
Int: 7
Str: 5
Agi: 6
Spd: 5
Dur: 4
White: 4
Red: 12
Actions:
Wall-Crawling 5
(Agility bonus)
Ranged Combat 4
(Weapon modifier)
Close Combat 2
(Agility & Strength Bonus or Weapon modifier; Hand to Hand, Martial Arts)
Technology 6
(Intelligence bonus)
Photography 3
(Intelligence or Agility Bonus)
Web-Slinging 5
(Agility bonus)
Acrobatics 6
(Agility bonus)
Inventing 1
(Intelligence bonus)
Social Skills 1
(Scientific Community)
Modifiers:
Reflexive Dodge (+3)
Prescience: May chance stone allocations after enemy attack revealed
Healing Factor: Heal 1 white stone per hour. Regenerate 3 red stones per 2 white per Panel.
Wealth (-1)
Equipment:
Web Shooters: (+6) 100 stones of fluid use. If you get through defense, you web opponent.
Web Fluid: 26 canisters @ 100 stones per canister
Camera: (3 panels to setup to photograph self in action)
Hopefully this character looks at least little familiar. Let’s look at the Damage & Resistance chart (on page 80 of the core rulebook,) to see some of the things that Spider-Man can be capable of. Using his strength of 5, he can lift up to 5 tons, and can throw that weight up to 70 feet, or to carry it for a period of time (based on his regeneration rate, he could carry it for about 4 panels [2 minutes] before he runs out of energy.) He can, using his speed, run up to a mile in a single panel, or go up to a max of 75 miles/hour crawling on walls or 125 miles/hour using web-slinging. Using his agility, he can leap up to 200 feet into the air. Based on his strength, he can break through doors, car windows, handcuffs, smash walls, or break telephone poles. His technology score indicates he is knowledgeable about most human high technology (alien tech is of a higher difficulty.) To compare his abilities, the ordinary human has an Intelligence of 2 and physical abilities of 1. He is above and beyond at every level, the proportional strength, speed, and agility of a spider.
He can put the following number of stones into each action. Characters are limited to putting stones of their own energy based on the Action Number of the action, plus any ability bonus, or a weapon modifier or other modifier that might apply.
Wall-Crawling: 11
Ranged Combat: 10 (4 of his own stones+6 weapon modifier)
Close Combat: 12 (he can theoretically put 5+6+2=13, but is limited to his maximum energy of 12)
Technology: 12 (again, he could put up to 13)
Photography: 10
Web-Slinging: 11
Acrobatics: 12
Inventing: 8
Social Skills: 1
Not only that, Spider-Man has two benefits he purchased in addition to these: prescience, which allows him to reallocate stones after his enemies have spend their stones, and a healing factor, which increases his rate of healing, and regenerate 3 red for every 2 white (or 6 white a panel at full health.)
Now that we have some idea of what Spider-Man is capable of, here are two examples of him in action.
Here’s a non-combat example using Spider-Man:
GM: Okay, Spidey, you’ve been webslinging at double speed 3 (80 miles a panel,) putting 2 stones to beat resistance, and 4 into Intelligence to follow the robbers. They’ve stopped their car outside a decrepit dockside warehouse. What do you do?
PC: Okay, first I regenerate my energy, I have 4 health, and regenerate 3 red for every 2 white thanks to my healing factor, so I regenerate 6 stones of energy, which puts me back at full health. I’m going to put another 3 into Webslinging, to move at 125 miles per hour, to catch up with the thugs at the warehouse, and 3 to cling to the wall, in case I have any negative situational modifiers.
GM: Okay, you grab onto the wall, then launch yourself quickly towards the warehouse. You see the thugs in the window, rushing in, nervously expecting your return.
PC: Hey, wouldn’t want to keep my adoring public waiting.
Here’s a combat example using Spider-Man, based right off the last example:
GM: It’s a new panel. Okay, Spidey, what do you do?
PC: I want to swing in and clock both thugs.
GM: You can combine your actions for that.
PC: I can?
GM: Yeah, you can combine both Webslinging and Close Combat to swing in and hit both your opponents.
PC: Cool!
GM: Okay, how are you allocating your stones.
PC: I regenerate 6 stones from my healing factor, putting me back up to 12. I’m going to put 3 into Webslinging to move at full speed, then put in 9 from Close Combat.
GM: How are you dividing that attack?
PC: It’s a 12-stone attack, so +6 both ways?
GM: Hold on Spidey, your Spider-Sense is tingling. Since you have prescience, I’ll let you reallocate your stones after I show you what the thugs are doing. Both thugs has put 2 stones into Ranged Combat, with their (+2) weapon modifiers, this is enough to beat your (+3) reflexive dodge by 1.
PC: Okay, I’ll shift one stone from Close Combat to defense, so one attack will be +5, and the other +6. If it ties, they won’t be able to hit me, right?
GM: Yeah. So, you swing into action, your Spider-Sense helps you narrowly avoid the firing bullets, and you knock both guys out with a 1-2 punch.
PC: All these random thugs have glass jaws.
GM: Well, it’s not a moment too soon, as you hear police sirens in the distance. New panel, what are you doing?
PC: I’ll regenerate 6 stones, and use 3 of those stones to Websling the hell out of there!
See, that’s a very simple example of how things can work in a game.
Now, I’m going to discuss how to build your own character. Most characters won’t be as powerful as Spider-Man (without challenges Spider-Man would cost about 91 stones to build, the recommended amount for a starting character is 40 stones plus challenges.) However, some 40 stone characters like Daredevil, Beast, Cannonball, or the Wasp, are all very effective and very capable characters, and by adding LOE to increase your action number you can become even more powerful.
To build a character you need to understand the cost level chart.
Cost Level
1: 1 red
2: 2 red
3: 1 white
4: 2 white
5: 3 white
6: 4 white
7: 6 white
8: 9 white
9: 12 white
10: 15 white
11+: +5 white stone
I write a lot more about character building in “Building Blue Lightning.” This is just a quick example to show how to build a 40-stone character. When making an original superhero, the question you need to ask is: what do you want to do? What kinds of actions and modifiers do you need? I want to make a guy who is able to fly, throw fire blasts, and is stronger, faster, and all-around more super than an ordinary person. I’ll call my character “Hotshot.”
First up, I decide to make Hotshot a mutant (a 3 stone challenge.) This gives me 43 stones to work with. I decide that he will look human, and that he has no other noticeable challenges (just to make this fast.) I look at the D&R chart, and what is considered regular or super-human, and how effective it can be. I give him 5’s in every stat, to make him generally well-rounded, and a 3 in intelligence (he’s bright, but not a genius.) That so far has cost me 19 stones. I have 24 stones left to spend. I buy Close Combat and Social Skills, and General Knowledge at 1, each costs 2 red stones (General Knowledge 1 costs the same as Cost Level 2 because it has a +1 cost level to it innately.) He’s a high school student with some limited skills, but he’s just starting out. I want him to have a fire blast that does 2x damage, so I buy the 2x damage option to a force blast (Cost Level=Action Number+2 currently,) and I buy it at 5 (Cost Level 7 or 6 white stones.) This gives me 16 stones to spend. I also buy Flight at 5, since it costs Action Number+2 to begin with, it costs me another 6 stones. I have 10 stones left to spend. I decide to give him a 0 wealth, he’s broke but not dead broke. Now, I give him some toughness and reflexive dodge for some free defensive stones, I buy both at (+1) (Modifier Number+3, or Cost Level 4, or 2 white stones each.) 6 stones left. I think giving him infrared vision would be a cool power, so he could see invisible people. Enhanced Vision costs “the number of options taken times the modifier number” in red stones, with 3 red equaling a white. I technically have 18 red stones left, and I feel like splurging on some awesome enhanced vision (all the better to invisible or unseen opponents.) I buy the options of Infrared Vision and X-Ray Vision at 9. This will keep invisible opponents, or walls, from keeping him from seeing his opponents.
Here is my CAD for my (albeit basic and kind of quickly cobbled together) character, with details and specialties added as appropriate.
Name: Hotshot
Identity: Damien Anthony
Height: 6’2
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Red
Species: Mutant
Abilities:
Int: 3
Str: 5
Agi: 5
Spd: 5
Dur: 5
White: 5
Red: 15
Actions:
Close Combat 2
(Strength bonus or Weapon modifier; Hand-to-Hand, Aerial Combat)
Social Skills 2
(Teenager, Charm)
General Knowledge 1
(Intelligence bonus)
Fire Blast 5
(2x damage)
Flight 5
Modifiers:
Toughness (+1)
Reflexive Dodge (+1)
Enhanced Vision 9 (Infrared, X-Ray Vision)
Wealth (0)
Equipment:
Unstable Molecule Costume: (+1) to Defense
Conclusion
This primer will hopefully help players understand some of the more basic elements of the rules. I hope this helps make your learning experience easier and more enjoyable. I hope to see you on the boards.
Recommended Reading:
The Core Books: (The Core Rulebook, The Guide to the X-Men, and the Guide to Hulk and Avengers,) everything you’ll need to know will be in these books
The Guide to Spider-Man and New York: a fan-made supplement that takes up where the books left off. Other fan-made books are in the works, as they start surfacing, I’ll add them to this list
ozbot.typepad.com/spideyguide/
The D&R Charts (Courtesy of Rennyn):
www.digitalsolecism.net/marvel/Difficulty&ResistanceChart.pdf
The cost charts for abilities, and various advantages, disadvantages, actions, and modifiers, available in the game:
www.digitalsolecism.net/marvel/MURPGchart.pdf
Scrappin’: Hank and Logan’s Guide to Combat. Written by the author of this article. One of the more prevalent features of the system, combat.
murpg.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1135660429
Powered Armor For Dummies. Also written by the author. Features discussing one of the more controversial rules of the system, for building characters like Iron Man.
murpg.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=House&action=display&thread=1579
Building Blue Lightning: A Series of articles written by the author (what a surprise) on building various character archetypes.
murpg.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1130987362
How to Roleplay in the MURPG System: More on Character Development and Roleplaying.
murpg.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1151299601