On Friday, Marvel announced its plans to publish a new tabletop roleplaying game called the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game. Normally, I’d be pretty excited about this because I’m a lifelong Marvel fan and roleplaying gamer. I learned how to read with Spidey comics, and I played the classic Marvel Super Heroes RPG from TSR till my boxed set fell apart. But instead I’m absolutely gobsmacked by it because I’m the new game’s writer and co-designer.
I’ve been sitting on this news for what seems like forever, and I’m so relieved to finally have it out there so I can talk about it–but I can’t actually talk too much about it yet. The Playtest Rulebook isn’t due out until next spring, and Marvel likes to keep tight wraps on details until it’s ready to reveal them. The best thing you can do to learn about the game is read the press release closely. Oh, and enjoy that amazing cover by Iban Coello.
Still, I want to clarify a few things that I’ve gotten a number of questions about since the announcement:
- The game features rules for playing existing Marvel characters and for creating your own characters. You can mix and match in your games as you like.
- We have been playtesting the rules for the Playtest Rulebook, but we have plenty of volunteers for that stage of the game’s development at the moment.
- We are not looking for additional writers for the game at the moment.
- We are not looking for submissions for the game at the moment, and I cannot actually look at these, so please don’t send me anything.
As for my credentials for working on this game:
- While I was in college, one of my first jobs in the gaming industry was demonstrating the original DC Heroes RPG from Mayfair Games at game stores in Chicago and Milwaukee, back in the summer of 1988.
- I’ve worked on more tabletop RPG projects than I can count over the past thirty-three years–including things for a number of supers RPGs–and a bunch of them won awards.
- I wrote two editions of The Marvel Encyclopedia for DK, plus Marvel Avengers: Battle Against Ultron and large chunks of The Avengers Encyclopedia and Captain America: The Ultimate Guide to the First Avenger.
- I co-designed WildStorms: The Expandable Super-Hero Collectible Card Game.
- I wrote, designed, and published a supers RPG I own called Brave New World back in 1999.
- I wrote for the Marvel Heroes MMO and the Marvel Super Heroes Squad Online MMO.
- I designed the Marvel Heroes Battle Dice mass-market game.
- I was part of the design team for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, the most recent TTRPG to date.
You might say I love comics and games and that I’ve been lucky to work on lots of things that tie the two together (like the year of Magic: The Gathering comics I wrote for IDW). You would be right, and I’m grateful for it. Thanks to everyone for all the congratulations you’ve been sending me over the past few days. I’m working hard to make this new game live up to your expectations.
Marvel will release more information about the game when it’s ready. Meanwhile, I’m having a great time working with the team there, who are all excited about the game and have been fantastically supportive throughout the process. It is, as it says in the press release, a dream come true–and one we’re finally starting to share.
