Quote from: Jaeger on July 14, 2021, 06:56:40 PM

Quote from: amacris on July 14, 2021, 01:33:03 PM
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Yes, it uses two ordinary d6 and one special "Marvel" d6.

A proprietary die?

Making the same mistake as FFG right out of the gate are they?

They are already hobbling themselves by inserting characters in the RPG from the current comic line, and not focusing on the iconic characters from the successful films and classic comics.

One wonders what their metrics for success are for this thing...

That was my reaction too. 'Oh for fuck's sake, not ANOTHER game with a goddamn proprietary die!'.

If its a d6 then can be proxied with a table or stickering blank dice. Pretty easy too if can get a blank die. Great for PNP games with custom d6s.

These are DIY custom dice for a PNP board game. Print off the facings on sticker paper and apply to blank dice.



I even did it with standard dice and still works.

Though could also be the dice are just come variant on HeroQuest/HersoScape dice of the standard 111223 format.

Who knows what will be though till more info is released.

I've joked about the Ghostbusters RPG, and it DID include a 'proprietary' die... except not really. The 'ghost die' only has an effect 1 in 6 times, and can be simulated simply by rolling a d6 with one of the faces being selected as the ghost result.

Heck, you could probably buy something off Chessex that'd work perfectly well for that.

Quote from: Omega on July 15, 2021, 07:40:04 AM
If its a d6 then can be proxied with a table or stickering blank dice. Pretty easy too if can get a blank die. Great for PNP games with custom d6s.

These are DIY custom dice for a PNP board game. Print off the facings on sticker paper and apply to blank dice.



I even did it with standard dice and still works.

Though could also be the dice are just come variant on HeroQuest/HersoScape dice of the standard 111223 format.

Who knows what will be though till more info is released.

You won't need a proprietary die. You can play the game with "two red dice and one white die" just fine. The special "Marvel" die just causes different effects on certain rolls, such that (for instance) 6 1 6 has a special effect, etc.

Quote from: Ghostmaker on July 15, 2021, 08:13:13 AM
I've joked about the Ghostbusters RPG, and it DID include a 'proprietary' die... except not really. The 'ghost die' only has an effect 1 in 6 times, and can be simulated simply by rolling a d6 with one of the faces being selected as the ghost result.

The actual ghost die was a cheapo thing with the pips and ghost printed rather than engraved, so it didn't last very long. I would just use a different-colored d6 and the 6 was the ghost.

The Nerdy Show podcast used to sell a really nice replacement.

The mechanic itself was really good.

Quote from: Jaeger on July 14, 2021, 06:56:40 PM

Quote from: amacris on July 14, 2021, 01:33:03 PM
...
Yes, it uses two ordinary d6 and one special "Marvel" d6.

A proprietary die?

Making the same mistake as FFG right out of the gate are they?

They are already hobbling themselves by inserting characters in the RPG from the current comic line, and not focusing on the iconic characters from the successful films and classic comics.

One wonders what their metrics for success are for this thing...

Whether you consider the dice a mistake or not, FFG did well with their RPGs by any marks short of D&D.

I was going to say the same thing. FFG has fully encompassed the Star Wars universe with their three lines. It's a wrap.

The only thing they could reasonably do now is "Era-specific" books, or just churn out endless books on gear and ships - but in reality, they got 95% of what most GM's would ever need already done.

This new Marvel game will *never* get that far.

Quote from: HappyDaze on July 15, 2021, 06:58:54 PM
Whether you consider the dice a mistake or not, FFG did well with their RPGs by any marks short of D&D.

FFG did so well with their proprietary dice that Asmodee fired their entire RPG division and took the license away from them.

Quote from: Ghostmaker on July 14, 2021, 10:22:46 PM

Quote from: Jaeger on July 14, 2021, 06:56:40 PM

Quote from: amacris on July 14, 2021, 01:33:03 PM
...
Yes, it uses two ordinary d6 and one special "Marvel" d6.

A proprietary die?

Making the same mistake as FFG right out of the gate are they?

They are already hobbling themselves by inserting characters in the RPG from the current comic line, and not focusing on the iconic characters from the successful films and classic comics.

One wonders what their metrics for success are for this thing...

That was my reaction too. 'Oh for fuck's sake, not ANOTHER game with a goddamn proprietary die!'.

Just catching up and I'll just add yet another reason why HERO/Champions, M&M and FASERIP will remain the mainstays is; standard dice.

HERO uses nothing but ordinary d6's, M&M uses 1d20 for everything, FASERIP is percentile dice. A commonality of just about any game with any sticking power is it's use of ordinarily numbered polyhedrals (I'd bet something that used an ordinary deck of cards could also pull it off; I've seen some very interesting naval wargames that used the combo of number and suit for hit coordinates and they can also, in a pinch, sub for any dice type).

Special dice are just one more thing to lose.

Quote from: Thornhammer on July 15, 2021, 06:47:32 PM
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The actual ghost die was a cheapo thing with the pips and ghost printed rather than engraved, so it didn't last very long. I would just use a different-colored d6 and the 6 was the ghost.
...

I actually have a pristine Ghost die from that game. The game itself go too damaged in storage to salvage, but the die I have.

Quote from: HappyDaze on July 15, 2021, 06:58:54 PM
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Whether you consider the dice a mistake or not, FFG did well with their RPGs by any marks short of D&D.

Yes. But they were leaning heavily on one of the evergreen RPG IP's this hobby has outside of D&D.

Lord of the Rings, Conan, and Star Wars seem to be system agnostic in RPG land. People love themselves their favorite IP and will buy it just for the art and lore. One of the people involved in 2d20 Conan admitted as much on this very forum.

FFG funky dice + 3e WHFRP = built in fanbase. It sold reasonably well.

FFG funky dice + Star Wars = built in fanbase. It sold well.

FFG funky dice 'genesys' system + no beloved IP = Nobody gives shit. Good luck finding a game.

There is also the fact that because of the funky dice playtesting such systems can be difficult outside of groups with ready access to them. And FFG's games all have playtest issues.


I have their Edge of the empire rpg. And the fact is; it is overcomplicated for what it is trying to do.

They could have done a count success variant of d6 star wars with normal d6's, where getting a 6 or a 1 on a different colored die kicked in some effect, and been within 80% of what they were trying to do with their funky dice rules.

It would have somewhat simplified the game, made it readily easy to playtest with a much bigger group to iron out system issues, and once it hit the shelves absolutely zero of their customers would have given a shit about any theoretical extras brought to the table if they used special funky dice.

So who is betting Marvel with race/gender/sexual preference-swapped tokenized characters with funky dice is going to sell and go the distance?

Place your bets. I'm betting on the House. The Poor House.

Quote from: hedgehobbit on July 16, 2021, 01:10:48 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on July 15, 2021, 06:58:54 PM
Whether you consider the dice a mistake or not, FFG did well with their RPGs by any marks short of D&D.

FFG did so well with their proprietary dice that Asmodee fired their entire RPG division and took the license away from them.

Asmodee restructured and gave RPGs to Edge. The FFG RPG folks largely moved to Edge as well. It's mainly just a different logo but the same people, and it's all still under Asmodee.

Quote from: tenbones on July 16, 2021, 11:42:02 PM
So who is betting Marvel with race/gender/sexual preference-swapped tokenized characters with funky dice is going to sell and go the distance?

Dude, the cover we've seen has Captain America, Iron Man, 2 different Spider-Men, Storm and Wolverine. Probably the top tier in terms of popularity. Captain Marvel and GotG are super popular right now thanks to the movies, so a couple inclusions there make sense. The only things I don't recognize are the new Thor variant I haven't seen before and the dude in the background on the right. The one on the left is obviously Galactus, but I don't immediately recognize the other dude. Maybe Kang? Maybe some other cosmic entity? I dunno. I assume they'll include some of the increasingly bizarre current batch, too, but the first and only thing they've put out contains mostly heavy-hitters in terms of current popularity.

Quote from: GeekEclectic on July 17, 2021, 02:45:40 PM
The only things I don't recognize are the new Thor variant I haven't seen before and the dude in the background on the right. The one on the left is obviously Galactus, but I don't immediately recognize the other dude. Maybe Kang?

Looks like Kang. The lines, shape of the helmet, and even the hints of color match. Plus, he along with Galactus are supposed to appear in Phase 4.

Quote from: GeekEclectic on July 17, 2021, 02:45:40 PM

Quote from: tenbones on July 16, 2021, 11:42:02 PM
So who is betting Marvel with race/gender/sexual preference-swapped tokenized characters with funky dice is going to sell and go the distance?

Dude, the cover we've seen has Captain America, Iron Man, 2 different Spider-Men, Storm and Wolverine. Probably the top tier in terms of popularity. Captain Marvel and GotG are super popular right now thanks to the movies, so a couple inclusions there make sense. The only things I don't recognize are the new Thor variant I haven't seen before and the dude in the background on the right. The one on the left is obviously Galactus, but I don't immediately recognize the other dude. Maybe Kang? Maybe some other cosmic entity? I dunno. I assume they'll include some of the increasingly bizarre current batch, too, but the first and only thing they've put out contains mostly heavy-hitters in terms of current popularity.

First - I put nothing past Marvel.

Second - the characters on the cover are not the current incarnations of the characters in the books.

Third - Contrary to what you might think about the MCU, Marvel Comics in general, and the gaming populace - that is a Venn diagram of vastly different populations that generally have little to do with one another.

MCU fans don't collect comics generally. They watch movies and TV. Any roleplayers among them are an extreme minority - and if they do play RPG's it's D&D.

Comic fans that enjoyed the classic representations of those characters have long left the comic-collecting hobby. See: Sales. MOST comic collectors are not tabletop RPG players. Those that do are a minority. Of those that do - the majority of them play D&D... you'll see a pattern developing here. Comic fans that enjoy the current crop of Marvel - don't play rpg's. Of those that do... they majority of them play... you know the drill. They certainly don't like the classic renditions of Marvel characters. As a general segment of the comic-collecting audience they are an extreme minority overall. See: sales (the majority of current comic readers buy Manga not American comics.)

Roleplayers might read comics. The vast majority of them read Manga. See: Sales. When it comes to playing RPG's the overwhelming majority of players play Fantasy RPG's with D&D being the sky under which all other RPG's exist. Among the roleplaying populace ****very**** few GM's actively run Supers RPG's at their main table as their regular game (or in their regular rotations of games). I'm one of them.

Of the GM's that actively run Super's games - the *******VAST******** majority of them are dialed-in and locked on their favorite Supers RPG system of choice. MSH, M&M, V&V, HeroSystem, Champions, DC, etc. It's highly tribal and that way for a reason: Because very few Supers RPG's are commercially supported longterm. Those that engage in this flavor of TTRPG's are *die-hards* both for the genre and for their particular system(s) of choice.

At best most people interested in this offering for Marvel's game will be purely a passing thing for a casual sniff. And it won't go the distance because it's competing against all the factors above. It's a niche of a niche of a niche they're appealing to. And those in those niches are intensely loyal to their niche.