Why Marvel Secret Wars (2015) Was the Best Thing that Happened to The Marvel RPG
Keeping up with continuity can be a bee-yotch! Any Watcher knows this. I have run a game for 28+ years. There is nothing worse when Marvel storylines become convoluted and irksome. Clones. Mutant massacres. Deaths and resurrections. Earth-616 versus the Ultimate Universe. Sigh! It can really screw up a good home-based RPG campaign.
In May 2015 Marvel published a new Secret Wars mini-series, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Esad Ribić, that picked up from where the “Time Runs Out” storyline running in Avengers and New Avengers ended. The storyline involved the Marvel Universe combining with other alternate universes, including the Ultimate Universe, as well as the 2099 Universe, with the merging resulting in Battleworld, a world which exhibits aspects of the various universes. By the end of the saga, all multiverses were crushed together into one universe, seemingly the best heroes merging into one planet.
I would love to know what you think about this? Did Secret Wars effect your games?
I used this opportunity to re-launch my homegrown heroes, ΩFORCE, into a brave, new world. Instead of following current continuity, I broke off into a planet where hero teams were just forming based more on the geo-political nuances of our modern world. For example, I think current Millennials (who love anything different) wouldn’t be put off by mutants. In fact, they probably would try to hang out with them. And Wakanda would probably be way more influential (and hated by European powers).
With the advent of Secret Wars, I could level the playing field and recreate the rules for what I call Earth-001. I’m getting rid of the stupid storylines, keeping the best, and adding my own flavor.
Thank you, Secret Wars 2015, for wiping the slate clean for us die-hard RPGers.
About Michael Dismuke
2 comments on “Why Marvel Secret Wars (2015) Was the Best Thing that Happened to The Marvel RPG”
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Marvel Plot Points 
I hadn’t really thought about it but secret wars ridiculous number of mini series really let’s you grab the setting and characters you want. Cap on devil dinosaur, done. A wasteland populated by hulks, no problem. And even the end showed a multitude of unique universes being born. So much possibility, hell you could do what marvel literally did and pull the coolest characters into main continuity.
Exactly! What are you going to do in your universe?