Marvel: 1963

[tangent]

All,

A little over a week ago I put out a call to folks for help on an idea I had for a new comic mush. With help from amazing folks like @faraday @ixokai and @TNP I'm happy to say we're opening up for beta testing.

Anyone who signs up for a character will be able to keep that character after opening, and some RP will be carried through if all parties are willing. See the theme blurb and the link to the wiki below.

It is a confusing time in the world, both politically and socially. Wars and rumors of wars are fought and hinted at throughout the globe. Fear and paranoia of mutants is tacitly, or sometimes openly acknowledged by those in power. Over the past few years the emergence of costumed vigilantes has caused further stress on a nation and world that seems unfit or unwilling to handle the complex problems they face.

Marvel: 1963 is a roleplaying MUSH set in the Marvel Universe. While not strictly a year-one game, our story takes place in 1963 during the height of the Cold War, the escalation of Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement, and at the beginning of the superhero craze and mutant paranoia. The hallmark of our game is the story telling; we invite players to run plots and want to incorporate the results of those scenes in our overall story arc. Our current focus is on New York City, though we plan to expand as our playerbase grows.

Players are not limited to Marvel's roster from the early 60s, but are able to pick the nearly limitless options from their entire catalog of characters with adaptations to make them fit in the generation that changed the world forever.

http://marvel1963mush.wikidot.com/

[Lithium]

@tangent Kudo's for putting it in a different time zone. To bad it's going to be the same mess of FC's > OC's that all these games turn into.

[ixokai]

@Lithium said in Marvel: 1963:

@tangent Kudo's for putting it in a different time zone. To bad it's going to be the same mess of FC's > OC's that all these games turn into.

Why do you say that?

[Lithium]

@ixokai Because it's the one constant I've seen with every comic book game that allows FC character's. FC's always end up more important/powerful than the OC's.

[ixokai]

@Lithium said in Marvel: 1963:

@ixokai Because it's the one constant I've seen with every comic book game that allows FC character's. FC's always end up more important/powerful than the OC's.

So you're just assuming this based on nothing at all to do with this game specifically?

[Lithium]

I'm assuming it because out of the nearly 30 years I've been MU'in it's a constant. I've personally never seen a single game not end up like that when it has FC's from the comic books. FC's become important because they /are/ FC's, they are 'Feature Characters' so they are 'Featured' more than OC's are. OC's aren't Features.

[ixokai]

@Lithium said in Marvel: 1963:

I'm assuming it because out of the nearly 30 years I've been MU'in it's a constant. I've personally never seen a single game not end up like that when it has FC's from the comic books. FC's become important because they /are/ FC's, they are 'Feature Characters' so they are 'Featured' more than OC's are. OC's aren't Features.

I've no idea. This isn't a genre I have ever really played. I played one super-ish game before, it was OC only, a long time ago. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I find it weird to be prejudging things just... because you think so.

I mean, every WOD game (my usual genre) ever is going to go down into a burning wreck of drama and megalomaniacal trauma. 25 years(you beat me by a few, gotcha) of MU'ing tells me that. But I still play on them from time to time and they are sometimes quite fun and defy this expectation. And then they do something else insanely stupid that blows them up.

More then one has surprised me though and not done what's been done before. Deciding its gonna fail before it actually fails seems weird to me.

[Lithium]

@ixokai Don't get me wrong, I am not wanting it to be that way just that whenever I've seen an FC comic game come up, people want to play with the FC's, not with the OC's, because it's the FC's everyone is familiar with and wants to link their story to.

It's basic power fantasy type of thing, writing their own story into the FC's and really, there's nothing inherently wrong with doing that.

It's just been done, to death, and it follows almost a formula.

I hope it is different, but right now it's got two things for it: 1, 1963 I'm not sure most people who MU even remember that time period. So it'll be an odd thing to try and RP. Two it's going to try and mesh characters who didn't even exist into that time period which is going to cause two levels if disconnect.

OC's are going to be a third level of disconnect and that's a lot of disconnect to try and overcome.

I don't want any game to fail (Except Haven but that's another thread entirely) but I /fear/ it's going to turn out that way.

Also: FC's means the same crowd of interested people, which means the same temperament and same mood and same drama.

That's all.

[Coin]

@Lithium said in Marvel: 1963:

@ixokai Don't get me wrong, I am not wanting it to be that way just that whenever I've seen an FC comic game come up, people want to play with the FC's, not with the OC's, because it's the FC's everyone is familiar with and wants to link their story to.

It's basic power fantasy type of thing, writing their own story into the FC's and really, there's nothing inherently wrong with doing that.

It's just been done, to death, and it follows almost a formula.

I hope it is different, but right now it's got two things for it: 1, 1963 I'm not sure most people who MU even remember that time period. So it'll be an odd thing to try and RP. Two it's going to try and mesh characters who didn't even exist into that time period which is going to cause two levels if disconnect.

OC's are going to be a third level of disconnect and that's a lot of disconnect to try and overcome.

I don't want any game to fail (Except Haven but that's another thread entirely) but I /fear/ it's going to turn out that way.

Also: FC's means the same crowd of interested people, which means the same temperament and same mood and same drama.

That's all.

My only gripe with this sort of argument is that you keep saying there will be a disconnect when there won't be. Not for the people who are interested in playing there and who want to. It will probably end up being a much smaller game than other comic book/superhero games, but the people who want to play there will probably enjoy it.

I was poked at by one of the staffers to see if I wanted to go play there and I am considering it, but to be fair: I don't really like the sixties as a roleplaying setting. I might do it anyway, though.

Maybe I'll play Pete Wisdom and he can finally smoke to his heart's content without people being whiny babies about it...

[Lithium]

@Coin You're right that there will be people interested in playing it, there's people out there for any game you can imagine. I am not saying there won't be, but there still will be a disconnect the same reason that dark ages games are never as popular as modern times for oWoD and whatnot. It's also the reason why certain killer games from days of yore struggled for a while to get a solid player base and it /still/ happens today.

When you change what people are used to and comfortable to playing it creates a disconnect. That's not to say that disconnects cannot be overcome, great storytelling, good people, and any number of other things can make up for it but disconnects are discouraging because they are a barrier to entry.

I'm not trying to bash the game before it's even launched, I am only pointing out what I /think/ may probably happen.

That's it.

It's a lot to overcome. I'd love to see the Marvel world brought to life in a game, the 60's is interesting also, but I'd prefer it if the FC's weren't available for play and people created their own characters and stories. If there was ever a universe that had room for OC's, it's Marvel's.

[Coin]

@Lithium said in Marvel: 1963:

It's a lot to overcome. I'd love to see the Marvel world brought to life in a game, the 60's is interesting also, but I'd prefer it if the FC's weren't available for play and people created their own characters and stories. If there was ever a universe that had room for OC's, it's Marvel's.

I'm not sure why Marvel has more room than DC or other universes.

In any case, I think the niche theme will probably help the people who do play focus on characterization and how to interpret characters.

But I am also a really big fan of alterante realities and stuff, so maybe that's just my jam.

[Kanye Qwest]

@Coin
Because mutants, I guess. There's a plausible and near-inexhaustible cast of blank spots for mutants in the Marvel universe.

[Arkandel]

@Kanye-Qwest Is there a shortage of experiments gone wrong creating superheroes in the DCU?

[Coin]

@Kanye-Qwest said in Marvel: 1963:

@Coin
Because mutants, I guess. There's a plausible and near-inexhaustible cast of blank spots for mutants in the Marvel universe.

DC has metahumans, which are essentially "mutants". Random people with random powers. They just don't necessarily come from a genetic mutation (or even the same one, when they do).

I guess you could consider DC's metahumans the ﭏₒ to Marvel's ѡ; i.e. they're both infinite, one's just more infinite than the other? Which, for the purposes of this discussion, is... kind of stupid for me to have spent that much time searching for those two symbols on charmap. Srsly.

[Kanye Qwest]

@Coin Pity upvote since you spent all that time researching.

[Coin]

@Kanye-Qwest said in Marvel: 1963:

@Coin Pity upvote since you spent all that time researching.

I'll take it.

[tragedyjones]

I've yet to see an awesome OC on a superhero game anyway.

[Arkandel]

@tragedyjones Awesome is purely in the eye of the beholder.

[Lithium]

@Coin said in Marvel: 1963:

@Lithium said in Marvel: 1963:

It's a lot to overcome. I'd love to see the Marvel world brought to life in a game, the 60's is interesting also, but I'd prefer it if the FC's weren't available for play and people created their own characters and stories. If there was ever a universe that had room for OC's, it's Marvel's.

I'm not sure why Marvel has more room than DC or other universes.

In any case, I think the niche theme will probably help the people who do play focus on characterization and how to interpret characters.

But I am also a really big fan of alterante realities and stuff, so maybe that's just my jam.

There's a /huge/ difference in power between FC's and what is available for OC's in the DC universe. Superman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, they are huge power wise and there is no chance for an OC to be the same power level as them. Even the rest of the Justice League has nothing to really step up with except for possible Captain Atom and a few others... which are just more FC's. Not even gonna touch Batman here.

Marvel's got some pretty powerful beings, but they're not on Earth most the time, so the big bads aren't always flying around and doing things every day. The most iconic for Marvel are people like Captain America (or used to be), The X-Men, Fantastic Four, and spider-man who are powerful but not unapproachable by OC's.

So in the DC universe OC's are generally even /worse/ off than Marvel when it comes to having OC's be relevant. The power gap is less a thing for Marvel OC's on most games (Strong people in Marvel toss around 100 tons, not counting a few outliers. Strong people in DC toss around hundreds of thousands of tons).

That's what I mean.

[Arkandel]

@Lithium Is there a reason OCs can't be created who are as strong as Superman in the MU*'s continuity?