Introduction

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Welcome to the *Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game!*

This is a fantastic game in which you and your fellow players team up to tell amazing new stories in your own corner of the Marvel Multiverse. These tales can star heroes from famous teams like the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Avengers, or they can feature brand-new heroes of your own creation. You can even mix them up and have your own heroes fight alongside legends like Spider-Man, Captain America, and Wolverine.

It’s your game, and it’s entirely up to you!

## A ROLE-WHAT?

A *role-playing game*. If you’re familiar with games like *Dungeons & Dragons*, you already know what that is, but for those who have missed out on this kind of fun till now, let’s explain.

A role-playing game (an RPG for short) is a game in which the players take on the roles of various characters to create stories together.

In the *Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game*, the stories tend to be action-packed epics featuring super-powered heroes and villains clashing against each other in high-stakes conflicts. Just as you can find many kinds of stories told in Marvel Comics, though, you can create all sorts of different stories in your games.

The game part of “role-playing game” comes from rolling dice to figure out what happens when there’s a question about whether your hero might succeed or fail. The answer is often beside the point. The story keeps going either way. The results simply tell you which direction it goes.

## WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY

To play the *Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game*, you need:

* This book
* A group of people to play with
* A set of dice
* Some character sheets
* A pencil

### The Group

The game requires at least two players, although it can work with as many people as you can gather. The more people you add, though, the less time each of them gets in the spotlight. Many games work best with four to six players.

Most players take on the role of a single Marvel super hero out to save anything from their friendly neighborhood to the entire multiverse. Because these characters are controlled by a single player, they’re called *player characters* or *PCs.*

One of the players in each group, though, takes on the special responsibility to oversee the game for the rest of the players. They are known as the *Narrator*.

The Narrator’s job is to describe the world and situations in which the heroes wind up. This includes playing the role of every other character in the story, all the way from Mary Jane Watson to Doctor Doom.

The Narrator also serves as the game’s referee. Any time there’s a question about how things work in the game or what happens in the story, it’s up to the Narrator to make the final decision.

### The Dice

Many other role-playing games use dice of all sorts of different shapes. The *Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game* only uses the regular cube-shaped dice you can find in many board games. Because this kind of die has six sides, it’s called a d6.

You need three d6 (or 3d6) to play, ideally with one of them a different color than the other two, so you can pick it out easily.

In a perfect world, each player has their own set of three dice to play with, but if you need to you can share one set.

Official *Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game* dice sets will be available for sale separately, although regular dice will do. Just make sure that you can differentiate one of the dice from the other two so you know which one it is at all times.

### Character Sheets

If you’re making your own original hero, you should make a copy of the blank character sheet in the back of this book. (You have our permission to make copies for your personal use.)

If you want to play an existing Marvel character, you can copy the information from their profile onto a blank character sheet. Alternatively, you can just make a copy of the profile and use that, assuming you’re familiar enough with the rules by that point to know what everything on the character profile means.

### The Pencil

You need something to fill out your character sheet to mark damage and other changes to your character. A pencil with a good eraser is perfect for this. (Unless you’re going to use a fresh sheet after every play session, unerasable pens are too permanent for regular use.)

## USING THIS BOOK

If you’re the Narrator, you should read this book cover to cover and do your best to understand how the game works. If you have questions, you can check www.marvel.com/RPG for more details, as well as FAQs and deeper examples of play. Eventually, this should even include links to videos of actual games being played.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything in the game at first. While the basic rules are fairly straightforward, there’s a lot of material to absorb. Over time, as you play, your command of the game should grow stronger, and you should become more confident in running a game.

If you’re a player, you don’t have to read much more than the character profile or sheet you’re going to use during the game. An experienced role-playing gamer who wants to just jump straight in might be able to get away with simply reading Chapter 1 and having their character sheet in front of them as they play.

If you want to be a better player, you could read the entire book. At the least, you should read everything though Chapter 9. When you get to Chapter 10: Narration, that’s when the Narrator’s job takes over, and you should stop at that point. In particular, don’t read the sample adventure in the back of the book so you don’t spoil any surprises for yourself and the other players.

## PLAY IT SAFE

Players should always treat each other with respect and kindness. After all, you’re playing together to have fun, and that only works if everyone in the group enjoys the game at all times. This is just as true when you’re playing with new people you’ve just met as when you’re playing with longtime friends.

### Be Considerate

You and your group can tell all sorts of stories set in the Marvel Multiverse. However, not everyone is always going to want to be involved in the same kinds of stories, especially if it involves realistic violence or horrific elements. To make sure that everyone in your game is having fun, it’s smart to talk ahead of time about what kind of game you want to play and what sorts of adventures you want your heroes to take part of in that game.

If you—as either the Narrator or a player—want to do something potentially disturbing or disruptive in a game, you should always be sure to run it by the other players first. This can range from anything as simple as rough language all the way up to the untimely death of characters.

In doing this, the Narrator shouldn’t have to give away any surprises you might be preparing. Just talk about your plans in broad terms, highlighting anything that might be an issue. If you’re not sure what could become a problem, then it’s always better to ask.

If you’re playing with younger players, you should be especially careful about this. They might say they’re okay with something, but depending on their age you might want to check with their parents to make sure.

Anyone in the group should be able to veto a suggested proposal for any reason and without any recriminations. The game is best when it’s good for everyone.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what might bother another player, and you might not think to ask about it ahead of time. By the same token, players might not realize that something is a problem until they actually encounter it during play. It’s not uncommon for players to want to go along to get along during an initial discussion and then discover in the moment that they’re much more uncomfortable than they ever thought they would be.

In such cases, any player should feel free to call a time-out to raise the issue and discuss it. If it turns out there is a problem, you should rewind the game to before the troubling bit and restart from there.

### Session Zero

To handle issues of mutual comfort and any others that might come up, many experienced groups of role-players schedule a meeting before they start in on a new game or campaign. They call this Session Zero because it happens before the first session of actual play even begins.

Players can use this time to:

* Talk about the kind of game they want to play.
	+ Is it pure action? A high-school drama? Full of espionage and international intrigue?
	+ Are they going to use any house or optional rules? Or will they play by the book? (For playtesting purposes, we prefer you to use these rules as they stand, but you can play your game however you like.)
* Talk about the type of characters they want to play.
	+ What rank or ranks should the characters be?
	+ Are they established heroes or rookies?
	+ Do they share the same goals, or are there chances for conflicts and betrayal?
* Raise any concerns they might have.
	+ How peaceful or violent would they like the game to be?
	+ Should they have a “no killing in this game” rule?
	+ Should they declare other things off-limits ahead of time? (Sometimes it’s useful to think of this in terms of maturity ratings.)
* Create their own original characters.
	+ This can take time, especially the first time through.
	+ New players can help each other figure out the process and answer questions.

Once Session Zero is over, you should be ready to start playing your first adventure. In any case, the cardinal rule for any role-playing game is this: If everyone in the group is having fun, you’re doing it right.

## WHICH UNIVERSE?

The Marvel Multiverse is made up of an infinite number of universes separated only by the thinnest of barriers. Moving from one of them to another isn’t easy, but characters do manage it by various means.

The main Marvel comic-book universe is commonly known as *Earth-616*. Most of the profiles and other details published in this book are for characters who hail from that universe.

However, the universe in which you play your game is actually its own separate universe, one run by your game’s Narrator. Things that happen there only affect the continuity of events in that universe. Events that happen in other universes might be mirrored in your game’s universe, or they might not. That’s entirely up to your Narrator.

At the same time, each character has their own continuity. As your character’s player, you control theirs.

Most characters spend their entire lives inside their home universe. However, you can—if you like—move your character from one Narrator’s game to another. In effect, you’re transporting them from their home universe to an entirely different universe. If they return to their original game, they retain all their memories and experiences from their adventures outside of their home universe. Hopefully they survive the trip!

## PLAYTESTING

You might notice that this is the *Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game Playtest Rulebook*. It’s a preview of the *Core Rulebook*, which is slated to be published in 2023 as a large hardcover book.

We hope that you enjoy this preview of the game, but we also hope you can tell us about the parts that didn’t work for you, as well as the parts you liked best. We plan to collate the feedback from actual players like you and incorporate that into making the final version of the rules for the *Core Rulebook* better than ever.

If you have a chance to do so before you start playing the game, go ahead and visit www.marvel.com/RPG to see the kind of feedback we’re looking for. That way, when you’re actually playing with your friends, you can keep those elements in mind and make your feedback even more valuable.

We look forward to hearing from you. Feedback we receive from players like you may be used to refine these rules for the final version of the *Core Rulebook*.