Marvel RPGs #10 - "Energy Stones"

The is the third and final Marvel RPG. The Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game was released in 2003 by Marvel, not a third party gaming developer. That was perhaps mistake number one.



Mistake number two was making this a diceless game. The last diceless Marvel RPG was not well received by the fans. This mechanic is almost WORSE. At least in the last Marvel RPG there was a random element - cards. In this RPG, there is no random element at all. It's resource allocation - putting colored "stones" into attack, defense, and energy categories (plus or minus situational modifiers).

I'll give them credit - they weren't afraid to put out something completely different. They really tried to recreate the "feel" of a comic book - even using terms such as "panel" and "page" to define time. But the rules fail as a RPG on almost every level.

The books themselves look nice (there were only ever three of them). They cram a lot into a slim book. Ultimately, however, this system is too flimsy to make for a fun RPG game. Compared to the D100 system, this RPG is a laughable imitator.