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One of the theoretical advantages of tie-in media is being able to coordinate releases across multiple mediums. Shadows of the Empire for Star Wars is a famous example, releasing books, soundtracks, video games, comics and even a sourcebook for the classic West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game around the same time. With Deadpool & Wolverine this summer’s big Marvel movie release, the time is ripe for the Marvel Multiverse RPG to get some books featuring two of its most popular mutants. The X-Men Expansion came out at Gen Con with Wolverine on the back cover, much to the joy of fans itching to play storylines thanks to X-Men ‘97. Deadpool gets a comic book/adventure/profile collection of his own called Deadpool Role-Plays The Marvel Universe. Cullen Bunn, no stranger to combining RPGs and comics thanks to his The Sixth Gun collaboration with Savage Worlds, created a book that’s one part comic, one part RPG adventure and one part deep cut profile collection. Marvel sent along a review copy for this article. Do the three parts add up to a wonderful whole? Let’s play to find out.
Deadpool acts as both author and quest giver of this particular adventure. Someone is recruiting mercenaries in the Marvel Universe and sending them on jobs from which they never return. It’s up to the players to investigate the mystery by infiltrating the weird underworld where supervillains get their goons on his behalf. The story takes the players to some unusual locations that walk the line between satirical and serious but always fascinating. Even if a GM doesn’t want to go anywhere near an adventure centered around Deadpool, this book has some great setups that could be scooped out for original adventures.
It also is laugh out loud funny. Comedy is hard in general and making an RPG supplement funny is an impressive bit of work. The comic has some great bits that are aimed at RPG fans and Bunn maintains Deadpool’s arch voice once it switches to being an adventure module. One of the best meta references is where Bunn via Deadpool mentions he filled the roster of pre-generated heroes with a bunch of deep cut characters he loved without having to worry about choosing popular options. That makes this adventure a good choice for original low level characters since the included roster won’t really be missed if they are swapped out.
Although this has a relatively low price point. It does require the Marvel Multiverse Role Playing Game to play. It’s not a Quickstart or a Starter Set but the adventure could be a kickoff to a campaign that’s a little more self aware than the usual superhero game.
Spoilers for Deadpool Role-Plays The Marvel Universe follow. The Bottom Line for me is this: Deadpool Role-Plays The Marvel Universe is the strongest adventure for the RPG yet thanks to being an entertaining read. It’s full of elements that work well together but could also be dropped into any Marvel campaign, serious or silly.
The two scenes of the investigation really struck me as fun parts of the Marvel universe that would make perfect sense in a Deadpool comic. The first is a recruitment fair where the various villainous organizations have booths to get fresh faces for their goon squads. That’s fun enough but the adventure also discusses which organizations think they are the coolest and which ones actually are the coolest. The comedy here is cut by a gruff Wolverine who is also on the trail of the disappearing mercenaries though he’s paired with a “disguised” Doop (literally in a fake mustache). This was one of the most fun interactions I’ve had in any Marvel RPG with players alternating between fanboying out and trying to step to Wolverine.
The trail leads to a dingy underground fight club in a crashed SHIELD Helicarrier run by a sleazy crime boss. It’s played for laughs here with a random opponent chart that includes an entry on Abomination because it worked for Shang Chi. But this part is the one that could just as easily fit into a more serious campaign as the type of neat location that blends the real world with the more exotic elements of the Marvel universe.
