Using Marvel Rivals Game Modes In Your Marvel Multiverse Sessions
Plus a Thor profile...
Last month saw the release of the Marvel Rivals Timestream Adventure, and along with that one-shot module came a small bevy of mechanics for translating game modes from Marvel Rivals into tabletop-ready forms. Now, I’m sure there’s plenty of people who’d get a kick out of simply running those game modes at their table apropos of nothing, but what I’m gonna do today is suggest some potential scenarios with those very mechanics at the heart of them for you to use in your games.
The best thing about these mini-games is that there is an objective and easily actionable goal involved in all of them; whether it’s controlling a location, escorting a payload, or a combination of both. It should prove really easy to put your own spin on everything I suggest here and reskin it so suit your needs. So, here are three scenarios that you can use to break out these Marvel Rivals game modes during your Marvel Multiverse campaigns!
DOMINATION: DOOMSDAY DEVICE
The heroes have interrupted the activation of a doomsday device within the walls of a compound belonging to a supervillainous organisation. In a scramble, the agents of the organisation rush to complete the activation, but they must be stationed at their computers around a central command console in order to do so. The heroes must keep the enemies away from the computers to delay and ultimately halt the activation process or risk a catastrophe of cataclysmic proportions.
This kind of plot point would suit teams like the Avengers and the X-Men best, but could be scaled down to something a little less substantial for a street level team or scaled up to something of galactic significance for a cosmic team like the Guardians of the Galaxy.
CONVOY: PRISONER TRANSFER
A high profile super criminal is being transported to a maximum security prison under the watchful guard of the heroes and the local law enforcement. Just as the convoy begins its journey, it’s attecked by criminals loyal to the prisoner, or even other super criminals making good on a longstanding alliance or debt. The heroes must keep the criminals and other villains from getting too close to the convoy while it moves toward its destination or risk a breakout on the city streets.
This is the kind of thing that can work at any Rank, but would pose the greatest challenge to characters at Ranks 2 or 3 like the Defenders or some of the newer Spider-Heroes. Events similar to this have occurred in both the DLC missions for Insomniac’s Spider-Man with Hammerhead and the Maggia, and in the opening sequence of Spider-Man: Miles Morales with Peter and Miles chasing down the Rhino. With their profiles from the Spider-Verse Expansion, you could even recreate those moments at your tabletop!
CONVERGENCE: SABOTAGE
The heroes have caught wind that a team of supervillains have taken a particular interest in a piece of technology that, while currently intended for benevolent purposes, could be retooled into a devastating weapon. Hoping to get ahead of the problem, the heroes set a trap, baiting the villains into an attempted theft. When the villains take the bait, it’s a race to ensure the tech remains unperturbed and out of the villains’ hands.
This could work at any Rank too, but would definitely have a lot more stakes with either an established team or as the culmination of an arc within a homebrewed campaign.
Now, obviously these needn’t all be things that you plan for or plan around, but can be the kinds of things that can occur naturally in the course of a campaign too. Should such an occasion arise, where something happens that reminds you of some of the scenarios described above, then that might be an opportune time to bust out the mini-games. They can help to lend even greater stakes to a story by shifting the players’ persepctives of the situation from the standard roleplaying game encounter to something more in line with a competitive video game.
I stopped playing Marvel Rivals a while back, and I understand that there have been whole new game modes added in the time that I’ve not been playing. Here’s hoping those game modes get the Marvel Multiverse treatment as well!
Speaking of which, I mentioned back in my review of the Marvel Rival Timestream Adventure that the text of the book references an as-yet-non-existent Marvel Rivals profile for Thor. So, I wrote one up! Until such time as they do release an official Thor profile for Marvel Rivals, hopefully this will suffice.
Anyway, have you used these new game modes in your sessions yet? If so, how did it go? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know how it went!
Also, last week saw the release of the Quickstart rules for the Justice League Unlimited Roleplaying Game, which I actually copy edited. If you wanna check it out, you can find the Quickstart rules here, and the Gamefound page here.
It’s a traditional D20 system much like Dungeons & Dragons but with a more narrative focus than what you get from 5E, though it also shares some DNA with MMRPG in its approach to structuring superhero gameplay and character creation. If that sounds like your kinda thing, then definitely check the game out.
And as a last remark: The blog has officially received over 10K views as of the start of this week. Thanks to everybody who’s subscribed, everybody who’s been following shared links, and anybody who’s popped in from a doomscrolling session. I appreciate your continued support and I hope to keep providing you with quality material in the future.
Till next time, have fun out there!
Theese seem potentially easy to port into current campaigns as reskinned encounters, interested to see how they run.