NPC Creation in the Marvel Multiverse RPG

So, the new Marvel RPG is out (or at least the open playtest is). It’s… okay. I don’t think it does anything massively innovative in the field of superhero game design, but it is serviceable and there a few interesting bits about it. It does feel superficially similar to D&D (though perhaps more 4e than 5e), but I guess that’s no bad thing if you’re trying to attract a large player base.

Being only a playtest, there’s a bunch of stuff missing that I would find useful when running. So naturally I’ve set to knocking some stuff up for it, which I’ll post here as and when I get it typed up.

First up, notes on building characters; primarily NPCs, but random character creation can be used by all.

Rank 0 Characters “Bystanders”

The Ability Score Points by rank allows for rank 0 characters (giving them 0 points to spend, so scores sit at 0 on average), however all of the archetypes start at rank 1 so there is currently no way to produce statistics for a bystander. It’s pretty easy to extrapolate something though.

The Polymath is the closest thing to an Everyman, so we can take a rank 1 Polymath as the basis and roll everything down a level.
Knocking one off the modifiers and defences leaves you at +1/12 across the board. Fight and Ranged damage should be d6/2. Health and Focus 4 apiece.

If the bystander has one of the listed professions (one of which can be generated with a d12 if necessary), they get the appropriate traits. Otherwise it’s unlikely to be important. A bystander obviously has no power set or powers.

So, for clarity, the Bystander Archetype table will look something like this:

Rank	Might	Agility	Resilience	Vigilance	Ego	Logic	Fight Damage	Ranged Damage	Health	Focus
0	+1 12	+1 12	+1 12	+1 12	+1 12	+1 12	1d6/2	1d6/2	4	4

Obviously if you’re running games with Captain Marvel and Thor, bystander stats are likely to pretty irrelevant. But if you’re intending to run largely low ranked street level stuff as I am, this might be handy.

Random Character Generation

I have enough to think about without having to come up with entirely new character ideas as well. This is where random charts can help generate some inspiration.

Origin

d8	Origin
1	Alien
2	God
3	High Tech
4	Magic
5	Mutant
6	Special Training
7	Weird Science
8	Extraordinary Origin, roll twice (will take up a trait slot)

Profession

d12	Profession
1	Criminal
2	Health Care Worker
3	Lawyer
4	Journalist
5	Investigator
6	Outsider
7	Ruler
8	Scientist
9	Soldier
10	Spy
11	Student
12	Tycoon

Additional Traits

d6/d12	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Abrasive	Combat Reflexes	Famous	Hunted	Massive	Rich
2	Audience	Combat Trickery	Fearless	Infamous	Mentor	Scientific Expertise
3	Authority	Connections	First Aid	Interrogation	Mute	Secret Identity
4	Battle Ready	Deaf	Freerunning	Inventor	Obligation	Signature Attack
5	Beguiling	Dealmaker	Fresh Eyes	Investigation	Out of Shape	Signature Weapon
6	Berserker	Debate Champ	Glibness	Iron Will	Piloting	Situational Awareness
7	Black Market Access	Dependents	Gullible	Lab Access	Poor	Short
8	Blind	Eidetic Memory	Green Door	Leader	Powerful	Sneaky
9	Bloodthirsty	Enduring Constitution	Hard of Hearing	Legal Eagle	Public Identity	Stranger
10	Clueless	Extra Career	Headquarters	Leverage	Public Speaking	Streetwise
11	Combat Expert	Extreme Appearance	Heroic	Linguist	Quick Learner	Surprising Power
12	Combat Finesse	Enemy	Honest	Loner	Regal	Vision Issues

Archetype

d6	Archetype
1	Blaster
2	Bruiser
3	Genius
4	Protector
5	Striker
6	Polymath

Power Set

d12	Power Set
1	Battlesuit
2	Blades
3	Cybernetics
4	Firearms
5	Energy Control
6	Martial Arts
7	Plasticity
8	Shield Bearer
9	Spider Powers
10	Super Strength
11	Tactical Mastery
12	Weather Control

Attributes

Roll 1d6 for each Attribute Point you have to spend to see where to put it. At higher ranks you might want to consider using 2 or 3 points per d6 to reduce the amount of dice you’re throwing.

d6	Attribute
1	Might
2	Agility
3	Resilience
4	Vigilance
5	Ego
6	Logic

Quick Villains

If you need a villain in a hurry, you don’t want to be spending ages poring through the book building a character. It can also be overwhelming dealing with the sheer amount of powers characters get at higher ranks, and you will probably be running several villains at once. So we need a simple way to build easy to run villains.

Simply pick an appropriate rank, randomly generate an archetype and some power sets using the tables above. Assume they are at half the maximum cap of each attribute. Select just one or two appropriate powers from each power set they have, and ignore any prerequisites.

Boss Villains

If you want a single, powerful, boss level villain for your players to fight, just throwing a higher ranked enemy at them might not always work well due to the way the Archetype tables work out. Instead, considering giving the boss extra health and extra actions:

• Multiply their Health value by the number of player character heroes.
• In their own turn they will only have a Move action and an Easy action, usually used to gloat. They will get a single standard Action after each player character takes their turn.

Using Goons

At higher ranks, your average rank 1 Goon might as well not be there. They won’t be able to hit a player character without a 616, and any player character can pretty much automatically wipe them out with a standard attack. In this case, don’t bother statting up the Goons or rolling dice to hit them. Just assume a Goon can be knocked out automatically with each attack used. Roll once for all the Goons attacks, counting them as an appropriate archetype rank equivalent to the number of Goons attacking for hit rolls and damage, but don’t add Attributes to the numbers.