Chapter One: Heroes......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Primary Abilities........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Secondary Abilities....................................................................................................................................................... 9 Special Abilities.......................................................................................................................................................... 10 Character Creation ...................................................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter Two: Game Mechanics...................................................................................................................................... 19 Time Scale – The Turn ............................................................................................................................................... 19 Difficulty Class........................................................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter Three: Combat................................................................................................................................................... 21 Combat Basics ............................................................................................................................................................ 21 Initiative...................................................................................................................................................................... 22 Combat........................................................................................................................................................................ 23 Melee Combat............................................................................................................................................................. 25 Ranged Combat .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 Critical Hits................................................................................................................................................................. 29 Defensive Maneuvers ................................................................................................................................................. 31 Advanced Maneuvers ................................................................................................................................................. 32 Other Combat Issues................................................................................................................................................... 33 Movement................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Chapter Four: Life, Death & Health ............................................................................................................................... 36 Healing........................................................................................................................................................................ 36 Effects......................................................................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter Five: Adventuring ............................................................................................................................................. 38 Karma ......................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Popularity.................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Contacts ...................................................................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter Six: Equipment.................................................................................................................................................. 49 Weapons ..................................................................................................................................................................... 49 Ammunition................................................................................................................................................................ 52 Vehicles ...................................................................................................................................................................... 55 Other Equipment......................................................................................................................................................... 64 Building Things .......................................................................................................................................................... 66 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................................ 69 Powers ........................................................................................................................................................................ 69 Talents ........................................................................................................................................................................ 97 Special Qualities ......................................................................................................................................................... 99 Index......................................................................................................................................................................... 101 Chapter One: Heroes A hero is an individual who uses his talents and abilities for the good of others as opposed to his own good. In the MARVEL SUPER HEROES Role-playing game the players take on the roles of heroes in the Marvel Universe. A hero who is being controlled by a player is called a Player-Character or PC. One that is being run by the Judge, including most opponents and supporting characters, is called a Non-Player Character or NPC. Abilities Characters in the MARVEL SUPER HEROES Role-playing game are defined by their abilities. These abilities determine their chances of performing certain actions in the game. There are different types of abilities: Primary, Secondary, Powers, Equipment, Talents, Special Qualities, and Contacts. Some of these abilities are assigned a rank and rank number to define their levels of power, while the others are defined in other ways such as bonuses. The Primary abilities have been modified from the MARVEL SUPER HEROES Original and Advanced sets but may still be familiar to those playing the previous versions: Strength, Agility, Endurance, Intelligence, Psyche, Intuition, and Charisma. Almost all other characters in the Marvel Universe share these Primary abilities – they are a measuring stick of how well a character can perform certain acts. Primary abilities are also called fixed abilities because while they may be improved over time, they do not normally change from adventure to adventure. All primary abilities have a rank, a bonus, and a rank modifier. Secondary abilities include Vitality/Wound Points, Karma Points, Popularity, Resources, Speed, and Combat Level. Vitality/Wound Points, Popularity and Karma Points are sometimes called Variable abilities because they may change within the course of a single adventure. All normal individuals and most characters the players encounter have Secondary abilities. Secondary abilities may be defined by discrete values. Special abilities are other notable qualities that are not common to all characters (such as the ability to digest ABS plastic), and indeed may be unique to a particular character. Special abilities include Powers, Equipment, Talents, Special Qualities, and Contacts. Special abilities may use ranks, rank numbers, bonuses, or other types of discrete values. Ranks, Bonuses and Rank Numbers Abilities are often defined by a word (Poor, Good) known as ability’s rank. In the MARVEL SUPER HEROES Original and Advanced set, a Universal table was used to determine if an action was successful based on the difficulty of the action in comparison to the ability rank used to accomplish the action. In the new MARVEL SUPER HEROES Role-playing game, Bonuses are now associated with Primary ability ranks which modify many dice rolls used to strike a foe or accomplish a Difficulty Class. Table 1-1 below depicts Ranks, Rank Numbers, and associated Rank Bonuses. Table 1-1: Ability Rank Descriptions Rank Rank Number Rank Bonus Shift 0 (Sh 0) 0 -5 or N/A Feeble (Fb) 2 -2 Poor (Pr) 4 -1 Typical (Ty) 6 0 Good (Gd) 10 +1 Excellent (Ex) 20 +2 Remarkable (Rm) 30 +3 - +4 Incredible (In) 40 +5 - +6 Amazing (Am) 50 +7