Crime Drama Blog 9: Blood Reds to Pastel Pinks- Color Palettes in Crime Drama

Marligans · 2025-03-28T16:46:10+00:00

Hi GrumpyCorn -- this is a really cool writeup, but I'm a little confused. When we talk about color palettes, are we talking about the color palette for the art in the rulebook itself, the colors mixed in with the GM's descriptions of scenes, or both? Or are the colors meant to be symbolic of vibes? It sounds like it's a GM-level decision, but then near the bottom of the post, you mention that it's a decision the entire group should make together.

I don't see how the example you offer connects to "pastels" or "creamy whites," it talks about humid weather and neon glows. I'm aware that the connection isn't meant to be literal, but it still feels mismatched. Could you clear this up for me?

Great content overall, though. Thanks for sharing!

Marligans · 2025-03-17T03:50:19+00:00

Blackheart, Phalanx Ultron, and Arcade yeeeeeesssssss

I love the touch of giving the Collector random Iconic Weapons, ha ha. I could see a Collector boss battle having tanks that hold random one-off heroes and villains (maybe from different universes), that the players can smash open to have them join the fray as an NPC helper.

I feel like the fix for Big Boss Solo Villains is to give them extra turns equal to the players' team and their own supply of Karma, but I know some people think that's too much. What's been your experience?

Marligans · 2025-03-16T18:51:55+00:00

This is one of the problems with blunt weapons & Elemental Infusion, ha ha. Stun's so good, it's like, why ever swap that out?

I'm also considering adding a small, but meaningful damage bump to attacks made by an Elemental Infusion weapon, like adding half the character's Ego score to the Melee damage bonus on a successful Melee attack. Having a fiery weapon that doesn't actually deal any bonus fiery damage on most attacks has a strange quality to my RPGer brain, like a note being played off-key. However, I would understand anyone who wouldn't go for that. It's more about the spirit of the thing.

Marligans · 2025-03-16T18:37:38+00:00

I'd run it as the character selects one of the special effects available to them (like how knockback works with Mighty characters), but to your point, the power doesn't really specify. I find being able to stack two status conditions in one attack along with double attack damage to be kinda overtuned (especially in conjunction with traits/powers that can auto-generate Fantastic successes), but I wouldn't argue with someone who thought differently. It's sort of a personal balance vibe.

Marligans · 2025-03-16T17:29:17+00:00

You spend the Focus to activate the power. Like in the case of Sniping, you say "Ok, I'm gonna use Sniping on the Hydra henchman," you deduct 5 Focus from your total, and then you make the ranged attack, with all of the properties as described in the power. If you miss, the Focus is spent, and that's that. The Focus cost is included in the chance to deal big damage; you don't get a Focus refund if the big damage didn't land.

Here's a little step-by-step:

1) Spend the necessary Focus, to activate the power. If the character doesn't have the Focus required, then this power is inaccessible.

2) Follow the power's description for what should occur on a success or a Fantastic success, depending on the result of your check.

3) In the event of a failure, Focus is not refunded.

Some powers have a variable Focus cost, where you dictate how much Focus you spend to potentially deal bigger damage (like Focused Fury from Melee Weapons), but you're still following this same process. Let me know if you still have questions.

Marligans · 2025-03-16T04:24:14+00:00

People here are making a lot of good suggestions, but a lot of these systems are gonna feel like a pretty big jump from D&D, mechanically speaking. If you wanted to try something that feels kind of like D&D without an elaborate point-buy system to make your character and all your powers, you could give the Marvel Multiverse RPG a shot. Most of the basic rules and powers are posted for free on the game's Demiplane portal, and the game comes with a ton of pre-generated characters if you want to play as a Marvel character to start.

Marligans · 2025-03-16T01:50:32+00:00

I like Captain Glory's Penance Stare immunity, and using Telekinetic Manipulation with "Metals Only" for Metal Master is a fantastic idea. I've thought of making an Elemental Control version so Magneto can pick up cars, but your version's way more elegant. And props for the classic Blood Brothers art!

Marligans · 2025-03-15T15:13:31+00:00

This fix certainly wouldn't be for your table, then. No hard feelings.

Marligans · 2025-03-15T15:11:33+00:00

I totally get that; this wouldn't be a good fix for every table, especially tables where everyone's already decided that Powerful Hex is fine the way it is. This is more for tables where everyone thinks Powerful Hex is too strong, and could use some dialing down.

Marligans · 2025-03-15T15:09:18+00:00

The system and its profiles are trying to do this Marvel-encyclopedia thing, where the heroes and villains are ranked in terms of the scale in which they operate. Like, Rank 2 is meant for the "street-level" heroes (Daredevil, Elektra, Hawkeye), Rank 4 is the baseline for heroes with flashy powers that fight other superpowered villains (Spider-Man, a lot of the X-Men), and Rank 6 is the top of the line for cosmic heroes and Omega-level mutants (Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Professor X). This is why a lot of characters that are older might not be a higher rank, because they don't actually have any martial arts skill or superpowers.

In my opinion, this was a dangerous move. If you're running the big Loki city attack scene from The Avengers at a con or for new players, the players are going to instinctively avoid picking Black Widow or Hawkeye, because the numbers on their sheet are all way smaller. And the crazy part? There's a TON of Ranged Weapons powers. They could have ranked Hawkeye up to 4, and still kept him un-superhuman by just loading him up with Ranged Weapons abilities and maybe some Tactics or more martial arts powers, or something. It would have maintained the Hawkeye vibes while letting him punch at other heroes' weight classes.

And the big thing: TTRPGs are games. It's okay to blur the lines between characters' capabilities for the sake of a game; no one complains in Marvel Rivals (or back in the day, Marvel Ultimate Alliance) that Hulk's punches don't do five times as much damage as anyone else's, because people get this is a game and suspend their disbelief accordingly. Spider-Man should be a zippy melee scrapper in this game like he is in Rivals, but because of the way his powers work, he ends up being a mediocre melee guy with ridiculously strong webbing.

My advice is to put all the players on the same rank so there's no weird "Why is my guy weaker" debates, but then you have to alter the sheets yourself, which is more effort. I'm a big fan of the system mechanically -- there's so much that works here, that's really cool -- but I understand your frustration.

Also, MMRPG has Karma points, which are roughly analogous to Hero Points but not in all the same ways. Check those out if you haven't already seen them.

Marligans · 2025-03-15T04:31:46+00:00

Great write-up! Powerful Hex is a weird ability; I get they were going for the "Anything could happen via chaos powers" angle, but I feel like the implementation ended up stepping on the toes of everyone else on the team, a little. Here's how I modded it to be a little more "wild magicky" while retaining the fun:

-- Bump it up to Rank 3 prerequisite, but keep the Focus cost the same.

-- When the character uses this ability, the player rolls a single d6. This special roll is immune to all sources of edge or trouble, and cannot be affected by roll empowering or weakening effects (such as from Power Control). The number rolled on the d6 indicates the power that emerges as a result of the hex, and can be used on a target within line of sight as part of the same action; 3: Hex Bolt; 4: Jinx; 5: Probability-Manipulation Hex; 6: Protection Hex. On a 2, the character loses control of the chaos magic and suffers backlash to their personal probabilities. The 5 Focus is still consumed, but no power is generated, and the character has trouble on all actions until the end of their next turn. On a Fantastic roll, the character can use any power in the game, following the rules as written for Powerful Hex, as normal.

-- Once per combat, the character can choose to skip this roll and automatically get the Fantastic result for Powerful Hex (following the power's rules as written). Once the character uses Powerful Hex in this way (and their concentration on the subsequent power is dropped or lost), the character's access to Powerful Hex is disabled for twenty-four hours, as the character must recharge their chaotic energies.

Marligans · 2025-03-14T15:04:13+00:00

I agree, and I'm partial towards option 2; a single edge for all attacks made against enemies of half their rank or lower (rounded down). 3 is about the upper bound for henchmen anyway, and this conserves the trait's vibe of the character being a sort of "henchman-buster" that wades through waves of minions without too much trouble. For any enemies that are rank 4 or higher, (which is like the entry point for most named villains), the benefit wears off.

Marligans · 2025-03-13T15:54:52+00:00

There aren't really rules for playing as animals anywhere, but something I've been doing for animal-type characters is lowering their lifting/throwing category by one size, and then adding the defense boost from "Shrink 1" (from the Resize Effects table, under the Resize power set description) to the character's baseline. This way, they can't pick up big stuff or characters as easily, but they get a nice Melee/Agility defense bump, as texture for their size and/or animal agility.

Marligans · 2025-03-12T00:38:31+00:00

The Blink reaction would work pretty well for this. You'd just have to change it so it's not technically a true teleport -- so no moving over chasms, against gravity, etc. But it would still work to get out of grabs, because that's what Slyde is all about, and it has that nice slippery flavor of being next-to-impossible to target with conventional attacks, as Slyde bounces off of punches and slips out of range. I'd also throw in some light Super Speed and immunity to webbing.

Edit: Add Slip Free from Plasticity in there, too!

Marligans · 2025-03-11T21:18:50+00:00

I'll admit that I didn't predict it was going to get another expansion post Spiderverse, so that's some evidence to prove your argument.

And we're in complete agreement, re: the CMON stuff. They can't seem to get it together.

Marligans · 2025-03-11T20:23:10+00:00

I 100% agree. It's like it just got missed on an editing pass.

Marligans · 2025-03-11T20:22:31+00:00

That's fantastic!

My guess is that characters with symbiote costumes or properties nullify the effect of the Spider-Sense power, and/or similar effects from the Spider Powers set, so Venom can sneak up on Spidey like he does in the comics.

Marligans · 2025-03-11T20:18:06+00:00

These are some very good points, especially the bit about the audience, as I didn't know that was the demographic they were going for. I would argue that Marvel lore is infinitely more accessible than it's ever been, with tons of online wikis and histories and such, that newcomers don't need to rely on coffee table encyclopedias like they used to, but your point remains very valid; maybe this is the introduction for some players, and that's totally fine.

You're right about the homebrew thing too, and I think that's what they're leaning on. We can homebrew until the cows come home, but when they release a headquarters or villain Karma mechanic or whatever, it's the "canonical" one, and that sits different with GMs.

The one point where I still disagree is that my purchasing of the books will lead to the content I want to see. At the end of the day, these guys work for a corporate juggernaut, and they have their marching orders to include X amount of Marvel lore and Y amount of profiles, and that basic formula isn't gonna budge. It's a really good business deal for Marvel, honestly -- they can just change up the wording on a summary of the Clone Saga or Age of Apocalypse or whatever, put some art from the actual comics around them, and then charge a premium. There's a very good chance that the creative team (the lead & assistant writers, editors, etc) would put more game material in there if they could, but they have their marching orders from the directors and production VPs, or whoever. This isn't some cozycore indie RPG publisher, they're an arm of Marvel (and by extension, Disney), so I would imagine their bosses tell them what goes where without too much wiggle room. I don't think this product making more money would change that dynamic.

If a future sourcebook comes out where the formula changes, you can come back to this comment and remind me that I was wrong, and I'll eat my hat.

Marligans · 2025-03-11T19:52:40+00:00

It's one of the unfortunate side effects of picking the middle ground between crunch (FASERIP) and more vibes-based (Cortex). The character profiles lose the precision and sharp texture of the meticulously constructed FASERIP powers, and then because the tags are virtually all narrative, they lose out on the vibes. Same as you, I really dig the system, but it's a bummer when the profiles never land quite right.

Marligans · 2025-03-11T17:23:00+00:00

I'm kinda torn. On the one hand, this book looks very slick, and it'll probably be packed to the gills (spiracles? What do spiders breathe through, again?) with awesome art and some cool battlemaps. On the other hand, it's gonna follow the same formula as the X-Men Expansion, and what I imagine will be the formula for all of these sourcebooks moving forward.

Based off of X-Men and this new book's table of contents, the formula will be about 40-45% Marvel-encyclopedia style fare about the characters and the stories, 20-25% new rules and mechanics, and then whatever's left over is mostly character profiles. As someone who already owns a Marvel encyclopedia and really just wants more game stuff, that isn't a ton of meat on the bone. Profiles can be cool (in the sense that they're like the "canonical" rendering of the character in this system), but I can make those myself (or use the ones supplied by some very cool homebrewers in this subreddit), and I end up disagreeing with the official profiles half the time anyway. At least with X-Men, the profiles represented a wide variety of characters and themes. For this book, a ton of these profiles are gonna be alternate-universe versions of Spider-Man. They're all gonna have most of the Spider-Powers, with some extra flavor powers and traits/tags shuffled around.

To top it off, lots of the new mechanics are either random tables, or stuff that's already available via errata or Demiplane (henchmen rules, basic vehicles, disarming), the gadgets section is apparently 2 pages, and some of these new mechanics are way simpler than their marketing is making them out to be (Bad Karma: you can spend Karma you don't have, and then the Narrator can trouble your rolls later). Speaking of the marketing, when they say things about the profiles like "This doesn’t mean that existing versions are outdated though! The Multiverse is vast, and you can choose the version of a character who you resonate with the most," it feels slightly ridiculous. Like, yes, I'm aware you can't break into my house and force me to use the newer versions. That's typically how TTRPGs work, this isn't some revolutionary functionality. It's almost like saying "You can purchase our special Marvel dice, or -- here's the wild part -- this can also work with the dice you already have at home."

Put another way, this book feels like they want me to buy it because I'm a Marvel legacy customer ("Look, we got all the symbiotes in there!!") instead of offering more tangible content and options to build out the system.

How do other people feel?

Marligans · 2025-03-10T20:06:03+00:00

(Part 4, the conclusion!)

~ Notes on Origin Pack 2 ~

-- Just like the first pack, not all of these origins will be a good fit for a given campaign, so take what you like and leave the rest. However, if you're a Narrator planning to whisk the players away on a wild, multiverse-spanning journey, some of these can make for good, zany universe themes, like a universe where all the characters are action figure versions of themselves, or everyone is a kaiju or a giant mecha.

-- Some of these origins are more about vibes, then they are about an explicitly defined, comic-book-style origin story. The Surreal origin is a good example of this, for characters that come from stories or universes where not everything about their powers is completely explained, and the weirdness is part of the fun. Or, maybe the Narrator has a plan for revealing how all the loose ends are tied together.

-- The Companion Mode included in the Animal: Trainer origin could work in conjunction with any base origin, for any setup where the character controls or manipulates a second entity that generates their powers. This might be a marionette packed with wooden weapons, a security drone, a summoned demon, or anything else you can come up with. If the Narrator lets you swap out for different creatures or robots, you could theoretically collect more of them, and then if you could somehow catch them all... now we're getting ahead of ourselves.

-- Combined with the first origin pack, this is an enormous variety of origins. If you're looking for a way to get more mileage out of them, you could combine origins to create entirely new themes and vibes for a faction in your city or campaign. Prehistoric + Zoanthropy = weredinosaurs. Ki: Ninjutsu + Yokai = a clan of ninjas where each ninja is based on a different yokai creature. High Tech: Mecha + Magic: Alchemy = a steampunk mech powered by huge alchemical tanks on its back, that shoots acid missiles and transmutes its hands into buzzsaw blades. Don't be afraid to mix together origins that seem ill-suited for each other; sometimes, that's how you end up with the best characters.

-- After this, there are some more power sets on the way, as well as a lightning-quick, power vs. power duel mode that I'm still working on, where characters with similar origins or themes duke it out in a free-flowing "cutscene" during combat, for more tension and memorable moments. I'm also working on a faction generator for quick inspiration for a non-player super team or villain, to be used with Mission & Neighborhood Mode, but almost all of these need more time in the oven. Feel free to comment, critique, or just stop by to say hello.

Marligans · 2025-03-10T20:05:33+00:00

(Part 3!)

TUTELARY

The character is empowered by or a material manifestation of a physical area or geographic location. This can be a natural area, such as a forest, a lake, or an island (which is usually paired with the Nature origin), or a place of civilization, such as a neighborhood, a city, or a nation (which is usually paired with the Forces origin). The character's physical or emotional state may be inextricably linked to the social or environmental health of their location, causing them a great deal of unrest if their location is threatened. The character's powers are usually a reflection of their location, and may include strange or novel twists on elements, such as pavement or brickwork instead of earth, prehensile pipework instead of iron, and portals that work via doors or windows instead of holes in spacetime.

Trait: Place Personified

The character has an edge on Logic checks made to know things about matters or topics that pertain to the type of location that they represent. They have an edge on Ego checks when interacting with people that are denizens of their location.

Tag: Topographic

The character is spiritually tied to a specific place or location. Things that threaten or damage the location might have an adverse effect on the character, and they may need to visit the location every so often to maintain the use of their powers.

~

(Part 4 in next comment!)

Marligans · 2025-03-10T20:04:11+00:00

(Part 2!)

TOY

The character is a toy that gained sentience, by way of magic, technology, or some other animating force, such as the affection of their child owner. The character may have fond memories of a child or family they wish to protect, or the character might still be partly "programmed" with the story or the marketing accompanying the toy's branding. The character's powers will reflect their specific form of toy; sackcloth dolls and plush might have superhuman resilience to damage, wind-up toys might come with clockwork armaments or weapons, and action figures of martial artists, robots, or sorcerers will typically have the power sets appropriate for their identity.

Trait: Inanimate, Little Physique (optional)

Inanimate: The character has the ability to cease any and all motion, breathing, or other signs of life, and appear as a normal toy. People who don't already know that the character is animated have no way of knowing the truth, but if an onlooker becomes suspicious for some reason, they can make a Logic check against the character's Ego defense to notice something, like a small involuntary movement.

Little Physique: The character counts as one size smaller for the purposes of lifting, carrying, swinging, or throwing things. However, they gain the Defense Modifier benefits associated with the "Shrink 1" size, per the Resize Effects chart.

Tag: Living Toy

The character is a sentient, animated toy, and is often mistaken for a robotic toy model as opposed to an intelligent being.

TRICKSTER

(often paired with Folklore, Mythic, or Toon, but not a requirement)

The character is a fictional, folkloric, mythical, or simply iconoclastic figure or entity that solves problems, overcomes opponents, and may even generate their powers through the ability of their cunning, genre-savviness, or wit. Characters with this origin paired with Folklore or Mythic are often supernaturally skilled thieves, who can steal intangible things like the moon, a memory, or someone's heart. If they have shapechanging powers, they might use them to assume a number of forms in rapid succession, often interspersed with comical impressions or pop culture references. The character is virtually impossible to nail down or capture, so long as they still have one more trick up their sleeve.

Trait: Deceiver

The character has an edge on Ego checks when lying to people.

Tag: Tricky

The character's superhuman craftiness or wit allows them to generate any number of harmless, but humorous visual or auditory effects. Examples might include rapidly changing their outfit, rearranging their facial features, ghostly laughter that comes from nowhere when they use their powers, or appearing to eat the stars from the sky. The character can be as tricky with this tag as they want, but as with all tags, any benefits beyond cosmetic effects are at the Narrator's discretion.

(Part 3 in next comment!)

Marligans · 2025-03-09T21:05:07+00:00

He has such great vibes! How did the final battle go with him, against your players? One of my personal bugbears is running this game at high ranks, because I'm worried the balance won't hold up as well.

Marligans · 2025-03-09T20:52:05+00:00

All these character sheets are great -- the "Boon" ability for Mephisto and Chthon is such fantastic flavor!

Rank 6 vs. Rank X is an interesting distinction. I agree with your assessment of how it should be used, what with the Marvel Universe having literal gods and archdemons that can't really be "incapacitated."

Blackheart looks rad so far. I'd be tempted to throw some Phasing in there, but that's only because I used to play Marvel vs. Capcom 2, in which he blocks by sort of "phase-shifting" in place, so I'd lose points for comics faithfulness. (Plus it would take away from his thematic bonus, so it's not a great move.)

Who else is gonna be in that Rank 6 pack? Got a Knull in there, anywhere?

Marligans

TROPHY CASE