Marvel Super Heroes

The system used by the original Marvel Super Heroes (MSH)roleplaying game from the 1980s. First introduced in the 1984 yellow box Basic Set and greatly expanded in the 1986 blue box Advanced Set, the rules remained largely the same in the 1991 Revised Basic Set.

The system is also known as "FASERIP", after the acronym formed by the first letters of the seven primary attributes (Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche). Attributes were defined by descriptive labels as well as numbers ("Excellent", "Amazing", "Unearthly", etc.) and the system was one of the first to use a universal table for action resolution (these were called FEATs, an acronym for Function of Exceptional Ability and Talent). Players rolled percentile dice, and looked up the "color" of the result on the table. White was generally a failure, while green, yellow and red were progressively better results.

The most notable element of the system was the meta-game mechanic called "Karma". Karma was earned by both heroic and mundane actions (defeating a villain as well as attending a charity event or taking a girlfriend on a date), and was spent on freeform power stunts or to modify die rolls.

The game strongly supported the later Silver Age ethos, and punished unheroic actions like killing. This clashed with early Iron Age anti-heroes like Wolverine and the Punisher.

The 1998 card-based Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game (which used the card-based SAGA system) and the 2003 Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game (which a core mechanic based on resource management using "stones") share a few conceptual similarities but are entirely new systems.

The 2007 4C System (also known as "4 Color" or "FASERIP") is a retro-clone of the original game, though it diverges in many areas to avoid copyright problems. 4C is based almost entirely on the Basic Set, and is missing many key rules (gadgeteering, power stunts, etc). The attributes and Power Levels in 1994's Powergame were also based on MSH, especially the early versions.

Subsidiary systems are: 4C System, Basic System / FASERIP, FASERIP, G-Core, Icons, Masks, Mutants & Marvels, SAGA / Marvel.

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