Marvel Superheroes character generation | Other Game Systems | Forum

Old school Marvel (pre-Saga) was my favorite game back in high school and college.  The disparity in character power depended on the rules used for character generation.  The Deluxe set was the most balanced while the Ultimate Powers Book was the least.  You could still end up Aunt Mays in the Deluxe set, but there were no Galactuses, not even Iron Men or Thors.  We really didn't try to balance the power level of the characters.  If someone felt like their character was too weak compared to the rest of the team, they would roll up a new one.  The Judge could also decide that a character was too powerful for the type of game he/she wanted to run.  That player would either have to drop some ranks down a bit or roll a new character and keep the more powerful one on the side for a later, higher-powered game.  Some players enjoyed the role-playing challenge of playing a Daredevil in a team surrounded by Spidermen.  The Deluxe set also allowed players to chose their powers within the category rolled.  The UPB was completely random.  I've made very few characters with those rules that made any sense.

Another aspect of power level is how creative the players are.  I rolled up a relatively weak character, but he ended up being very tough.  He had the power of Probability Manipulation (good and bad) as well as the talents of Martial Arts A and D.  He couldn't hurt any of the tougher villains, but he they had a very hard time hitting him and he could stun or slam anyone.

trexnco, what rules did your players use for character generation?