Marvel Multiverse Review: A Capable RPG That Loses Its Way

Marvel Multiverse best suited to players who have experience with TTRPG mainstays like Dungeons & Dragons, but fans should temper their expectations.

The Marvel Multiverse Roleplaying Game is a well-made RPG that clearly draws on industry titan Dungeons & Dragons. Marvel Multiverse's design and core mechanics will not come as a surprise to anyone who's played tabletop RPGs already, but its small tweaks on a tried-and-tested formula are welcome. At the same time, a laborious power system makes gameplay surprisingly unfriendly for Marvel fans curious about dipping their toes into RPGs. By the same token, MM's lack of progression and a few questionable design decisions are bound to disappoint RPG fans in search of a crunchy superhero game like Champions or Mutants & Masterminds.

Marvel Multiverse has all the trappings of a book designed to ease new players into the genre, beginning with the typical RPG description and the playstyle before drip-feeding the player with mechanics. For the most part, Marvel Multiverse's rules are well-designed and presented. The game utilizes a unique dice-rolling mechanic that helps distinguish it from competitors charmingly called the d616 system. The player rolls 3d6 and adds their relevant modifiers, trying to beat a target number as in many classic RPGs. However, one of these d6s is a Marvel Die, which is more important than the other two. The Marvel Die lacks a 1, instead having a special symbol that serves as both a 6 and a critical, known as a 'Fantastic result'.

Fantastic results are an elegant tweak on criticals from other RPGs. A Fantastic Success causes a 'yes, and' effect. In combat, this is often a success with more damage. For many powers, A Fantastic Success triggers a particular effect. In other cases, the player's skill succeeds and they discuss some other benefit with their Narrator. The Fantastic System is a fantastic way to get players into an improv-focused mindset and gives them a more active role in an action's outcome. A Fantastic Failure is a 'no, but' effect. The player doesn't succeed, but they and the Narrator can work out some mitigating factor or plot twist in their favor. The Marvel Multiverse book gives the example of a character missing a punch, only to stumble through a doorway out of harm. This makes failure fun and helps maintain the illusion of being a competent, capable superhero. Overall, the Fantastic System manages to be more nuanced than a binary pass-fail due to frequent Fantastic Results, all without bogging play down.

Marvel Multiverse continues this mix of active engagement and straightforwardness in combat. Much in the vein of D&D and similar games, players' turns consist of movement and an action, which is usually an attack or a power, but Marvel Multiverse puts a spin on things. Every character has a reaction. Unlike in D&D or Pathfinder, the scope of reactions is broadened widely. Players can interpose in attacks against allies, move behind human shields, resist being grappled, attack in a fastball special, use the game's many, many reaction powers, and more. This makes combat active for all players at all times, as most characters can contribute something outside of their turn.

If combat has a downside in Marvel Multiverse, it's a symptom of a game-wide problem. Marvel Multiverse explicitly puts progression on the back burner. Players choose their powers at the start of the game and stay with them for a long time. The sheer variety available can keep things fresh for players, as can a skilled Narrator creating new tactical situations. That said, it could be very easy for a player to find one optimal action and reaction, and use them ad nauseum throughout most combats.

This is a greater problem for Marvel Multiverse as a whole. The game expects players to pick a starting Rank – ranging from ordinary people at 1 to cosmic heroes like Captain Marvel at 6 – and not progress much from there. Even if players go from Rank 1 to Rank 6, that's only five points of progression over a whole story. In most campaigns, characters will rank up far fewer times than this. Marvel Multiverse passionately defends this approach, encouraging players to enjoy the game for its storytelling and heroism rather than the thrill of advancement, but this will pose a problem for experienced superhero RPG players looking for crunch. Other superhero RPGs like Mutants & Masterminds encourage gradual progression despite frontloaded character creation. This appeals to mechanically-minded players who enjoy tinkering more with rules as they play. Progression is a core part of the appeal for many RPG players, especially in a game with as few narrative mechanics as Marvel Multiverse.

At the same time, infrequent advancement doesn't exactly ease the blow for Marvel fans who are inexperienced with RPGs. Marvel Multiverse's character creation drops the ball on simplicity at the last step. Most of the character creation process in Marvel Multiverse is straightforward and enjoyable. Players choose an Origin and an Occupation for their character. These are far less rigid than races and classes in other games and reflect almost anything players might want from the Marvel multiverse. Most traits walk a line between mechanical and narrative, giving clear benefits while keeping things open for the player and Narrator to build off of. Likewise, Abilities are straightforward, with players allocating points to set six ability scores – spelling out MARVEL – to levels between -3 and a maximum set by their Rank.

Marvel Multiverse loses this straightforward character-building in its powers, arguably the most vital part of a superhero RPG. Every character has powers, including mundane ones without superhero origins. They pick a flat number of options from a sprawling chapter, grouped into themes clearly inspired by iconic Marvel archetypes like Spider-Man characters or Captain America and his successors. There is no quick and straightforward way to select powers. The names are given in their thematic and mechanical groups, but the mechanics are given in an alphabetical list. Creating even a Rank 1 character's powers is an arduous process of seeing something interesting-looking at the top of the chapter and then flicking through the many, many options to see if it actually fits the. Names are also often unclear, with some being references or in-jokes that give little idea as to their mechanical effects. Marvel Multiverse lacks the flexibility of Mutants & Masterminds while ensuring that character creation is a lengthy process that might turn off new players.

Marvel Multiverse tries to encourage players to use or modify pre-existing characters rather than create their own, but this misses the mark for many RPG players, including Marvel fans looking forward to creating their own superhero. Even if players use pre-existing heroes to learn the core mechanics, their first time creating a character will be a lengthy process full of cross-referencing. This isn't a good way to ease players into TTRPGs as a whole.

If there's one area Marvel Multiverse nails for new groups, it's practical guidance for the narrator. In one chapter, Marvel Multiverse manages to cover the basics of setting up a game, running adventures, managing NPCs, and handling combat. Admittedly, these occur in a strange order, with the most practical advice for new Narrators coming after tips on dealing with the multiverse or character death. It also unfortunately outsources most of the work of safety tools other than a brief run-down in the introduction. At the same time, Marvel Multiverse does encourage Narrators to talk with their players about boundaries and comfort levels before springing things like mind control and false memories.

Marvel Multiverse is worth exploring for Marvel fans who know what they're doing with RPGs, but it lacks the in-depth mechanical playground of Mutants & Mastermind or the straightforward mechanics and narrative focus of a game like Masks. Marvel Multiverse best suited to players who have experience with TTRPG mainstays like Dungeons & Dragons and a desire to do something superhero-themed, but falls off when dealing with any other extreme.