MHR Characters

The new game from Margaret Weis Productions is called Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (MHR from now on out) and has a lot of concepts that will be new to our group, but should be easy to pick up once you've used them a few times. This is the first in a series of posts to introduce some of these concepts and make the transition into the new game easier. First up will be a look at MHR characters...

The first thing you'll notice are NO ABILITY SCORES. unless you have super strength or agility, there won't be a mention of it on your character sheet.

Heroes (and villains for the most part) are defined by five main categories:

1. Affiliations: There’s a long-standing tradition in the Marvel Universe that some heroes just do their best work when they’re working with others, while others have a reputation of being loners or fighting crime with a partner. Many heroes are well known for fighting crime with a partner. This game represents these varying situations with Affiliations - traits that embody a hero’s comfort level, capability, and confidence with others or alone. Affiliations are the core of your action in any situation and will be important any time you are called on to roll dice. Your character will be rated in three Affiliations: Solo, Buddy, and Team.
2. Distinctions: What’s the essence of a super hero? You might think it’s his super-powers or his astonishing skills and training. But those things can change or come and go. If you want to take a snapshot of a hero’s personality, background, and attitude, you need to look at his Distinctions. Distinctions are traits with two sides. They’re catchphrases, significant personality types, and interesting backgrounds that can both help and hinder your hero in his efforts. For this game, Distinctions are used to capture the essence of a Marvel super hero - they also give you as a player a way to earn Plot Points (more on these in a later post). Your character will have three Distinctions.
3. Power Sets: A Power Set is a collection of super-powers, special effects (SFX), and Limits on those powers. Power Sets are always grouped around a common theme, source, or manifestation. A Power Set might represent innate super-powers, special gear, or any other extraordinary group of effects that can’t be represented by a Specialty or Distinction. Your character will normally have one or two Power Sets.
4. Specialties: Advanced training and skill often define a super hero more than super-powers. Specialties cover a variety of broad skill sets commonly used by super heroes in the comics, and they represent a degree of training that exceeds the standard amount that’s otherwise expected. A Specialty is rated at either Expert or Master level. Your character will have 2-7 Specialties, depending on your background.
5. Milestones: Heroes don’t exist in a story vacuum. They’re tied to the Events that unfold around them, to other heroes, to villains, and to the important supporting characters in their lives. This game tracks these story threads with Milestones. Each Milestone represents a significant decision point in your hero’s life—one that’s a culmination of choices you make as a player. At the beginning of an Event, you may choose to pursue one or two Milestones. You can use one or both Milestones provided with your datafile, or you can ask the Watcher if there are Event Milestones available - these connect you to the ongoing story of the Event, which can be a lot of fun. Once you have begun tracking two Milestones, you must complete one (earn XP - again more on that in a later post) before choosing a new one.

With the exception of Milestones, each category is defined by dice. When you want to accomplish an action, you build a Dice Pool by collecting a number of dice appropriate for the task based on your abilities. Your first die will always be your Affiliation die and will depend on your current group (or lack thereof) situation. Your next dice will be based on appropriate Power Sets and/or Specialties. You may gain additional die by tying the action to one of your Distinctions. Finally there may be extra dice included depending on the circumstances. At the most basic level of the game, you will keep two of the dice you roll to measure the level of success of your action, and one to measure the level of the effect.

Example - Captain America is going to layout a Hydra goon. He is on his own and has an Affiliation of Solo d6. He started the scene at a distance from the villain so the player states Cap is going to hurl his shield (Vibranium Ally Shield Power Set) which is a Weapon d8. Not pulling any punches, he also includes Enhanced Strength d8 from his Super-Soldier Program Power Set. Finally, Cap has a Specialty of Combat Master d10. None of his Distinctions are particularly appropriate for this situation. Captain America's Dice Pool will be d6+d8+d8+d10. Two dice will be totaled as the 'to hit' chance and one die will be used as the 'damage'. The result of the fourth die is discarded for the purposes of this simple example. Once the dice are rolled, Cap has 3+5+4+5. He keeps the 5 and 4 from the d8's as the 'to hit' number which totals 9 and keeps the d10 as his 'damage' die. The d6 and it's result of 3 are ignored. The actual outcome of the attack depend on the Hydra soldier's Reaction Roll...
      The Hydra thug as Solo d4 Affiliation. He also has Body Armor d6 and the Distinction Fanatic Killer which will give him a d8... his Dice Pool d4+d6+d8. With an average result, the hapless villain rolls 2+3+4. With no way to avoid getting hit, he uses the 2 and 3 as his 'to hit' roll for a total of 5 and saves the d8 to resist the inevitable damage.
      Captain America's attack beats the Reaction Roll and hits the Hydra goon for a d10 (Cap's 'damage' die, remember?)Physical Stress. This die isn't rolled for damage, but will be added to Captain America's Reaction Roll when the woozy guard tries to return fire...

There are LOTS of ways to modify these dice, but we'll get into that in a later post. I think this is long enough so we'll wrap up here and give everyone a few days to absorb this info. Questions or comments are welcome...