Play Marvel Heroes. Simple, Cinematic Superhero RPG [Seeking 1 to 2 Players]

[Drew]

Introducing Marvel Ultra-Lite, a very simple TRPG system for creating fast Marvel-style stories with very few rules or number crunching. If you've ever wanted to play a Marvel character without stat blocks slowing things down, or create your own hero, this is the perfect oppotunity.

The entire system is built around a single 2d6 roll. No long lists of abilities. No math. No leveling grind. Players shape the story as much as their characters' abilities do.

You can have Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Silver Surfer on the same team without overshadowing anyone. Street-level heroes get more spotlight and personal drama. Superhumans get the big action moments. Powerhouse and Cosmic heroes face massive risks and mandatory responsibilities that pull them into larger threats. Everyone has a reason to choose any Scale, and everyone stays relevant.

What You Can Play

You may play:

• Any existing Marvel hero (from street vigilantes to cosmic legends)
• Or an original character built with the same rules

Mutants, Avengers, grounded vigilantes, mystic defenders, cosmic wanderers... all character concepts are welcome as long as they fit the Marvel style.

What Kind of Campaign This Will Be

Highly cinematic, fast-paced, and driven by:

• Superhero action
• Emotional arcs
• Team dynamics
• Marvel-style complications
• Villain escalation
• Consequences for power

Expect a blend of street crime, supervillain plots, mutant politics, interdimensional chaos, and cosmic incidents. This campaign is designed to feel like an ongoing Marvel comic run.

What I'm Looking For

I'm recruiting players who:

• Enjoy narrative-focused play
• Like character-driven drama
• Like cinematic combat and fast resolution
• Understand the feel of Marvel
• Are comfortable with a very rules-light, story-first system

No prior knowledge of the system is required. You’ll learn everything you need in under five minutes.

MARVEL ULTRA-LITE RPG - Complete Core Rules

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0. The Core Roll

When you do something risky or uncertain, roll 2d6.

10+ = You do it cleanly.
7–9 = You do it, but there’s a complication, cost, or hard choice.
6- = Things go wrong. The GM makes a move, and you suffer Scale Risk.

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1. Character Creation

A.) Choose Your Power Scale (pick 1)

STREET (2 Tags) - Peak human, grounded danger, intimate drama.
Examples: Daredevil, Hawkeye, Punisher

ENHANCED (3 Tags) - Beyond human limits, elite threats and mid-tier villains.
Examples: Captain America, Black Panther, Jessica Jones

SUPERHUMAN (4 Tags) - Super strength/speed/resilience, frequent supervillains.
Examples: Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel

POWERHOUSE (5 Tags) - City/realm-scale threats, battlefield dominance.
Examples: Thor, Hulk, Storm unleashed

COSMIC (6 Tags) - Interstellar combat, cosmic forces, world-level stakes.
Examples: Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer, Nova Prime

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B.) Choose Your Tags

Pick your starting number of Tags based on your Scale. A Tag is a short phrase describing a signature capability, like:

Super-strength
Spider-sense
Tech armor
Magic wards
Perfect aim
Teleportation
Optic blasts

Tags are intentionally broad.

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C.) Weaknesses (GM assigns)

You begin with a number of Weaknesses = your Tags – 1.

Examples:

Collateral damage risk
Rage issues
Secret identity
Code against killing
Power overload
Vulnerability to magic
Needs air / needs sunlight / needs tech support

Once per issue, the GM may trigger one of your Weaknesses to create a setback.

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D.) Relationship (pick 1 teammate)

Choose one teammate and create a Relationship to them:

“Trusts Spider-Woman”
“In a rivalry with Human Torch”
“Protector of Ms. Marvel”

Once per issue, when you act in line with it, take Advantage.

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2. Advantage (your main modifier)

When you have Advantage, roll 3d6 and keep the best two. You gain Advantage when:

You invoke a relevant Tag
You act in line with a Relationship (1/issue)
You use Spotlight Privilege (Street/Enhanced only)

If multiple sources would give Advantage, you don’t stack it, you just have Advantage.

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3. Spotlight Balance (the Scale equalizer)

A.) Spotlight Privilege (Street and Enhanced)

Once per issue, if you are Street or Enhanced, you may declare: “This scene focuses on me.”

Until the scene ends, you have Advantage on all rolls.

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B.) Scale Duty (Superhuman, Powerhouse, and Cosmic)

Power attracts problems. Once per issue, the GM may declare: “Your Scale Duty activates.”

If you are:

Superhuman: a major public danger demands attention.
Powerhouse: a citywide or continental crisis demands attention.
Cosmic: an existential, planetary, or dimensional threat demands attention.

You must respond, or suffer fallout (reputation damage, civilian harm, escalation, etc.).

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4. Scale Risk (what happens on a miss)

When you roll 6 or less, you suffer consequences based on your Scale:

Street: 1 mild complication
Enhanced: 2 mild or 1 moderate complication
Superhuman: 2 moderate or 1 severe complication
Powerhouse: 2 severe or 1 devastating complication
Cosmic: 2 devastating or 1 catastrophic complication

This does not apply to combat. On a 7 or better, your attack hits. On a 12, you crit and deal 1 extra damage. on a 6 or less, you miss. On a 2, you fumble so badly that you hurt yourself, taking 1 damage.

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5. Team Up (Combo)

When two heroes coordinate to take down a threat:

Both heroes roll.

If both succeed (7+), add +1 damage total to the outcome (team damage bonus).
If either misses, the Combo fails and both attacks miss.

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6. HP and Damage

Hit Points

Every hero has 6 HP.

Enemy Durability

Minor thug: 2 HP
Named villain: 2–8 HP
Arc villain: 10–15 or more HP

Damage

On a successful hit:

Deal 1 damage
+1 damage if a Tag was applied
+1 damage if it was a successful Team Up (Combo)

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7. Advancement

After a very major story beat (arc wrap-up, big sacrifice, powerful villain defeat), pick one:

Gain 1 HP
Add a new Tag
Gain a new Relationship
Raise your Power Scale (rare, dramatic)

How to Join

Reply to this post with:

1. Whether you want to play an existing hero or an original character
2. Your preferred Power Scale: Street, Enhanced, Superhuman, Powerhouse, or Cosmic (examples below)
3. If it's an OC, a short pitch for your character concept
4. Your availability; how often you can post

STREET: Peak human agility, heightened senses, grounded threats, and intimate drama. The definitive street-level Marvel hero.
Examples: Daredevil, Hawkeye, Punisher, Moon Knight

ENHANCED: A individual whose abilities surpass human limits without becoming outright superhuman. They can fight armies of normal foes and stands toe-to-toe with mid-tier villains.
Examples: Captain America, Black Panther, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage

SUPERHUMAN: Strong, fast, agile, and superhumanly resilient. Faces supervillains regularly but isn't city-shattering unless pushed.
Examples: Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel (Kamala), Venom

POWERHOUSE: Possesses immense strength, elemental powers, and/or battlefield dominance. Threats they handle are typically city- or realm-level.
Examples: Thor, Hulk, Storm when fully unleashed, Vision

COSMIC: Capable of flight, cosmic energy manipulation, and interstellar combat. A hero whose failures or successes often affect whole worlds.
Examples: Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Silver Surfer, Jean Grey, Nova Prime

[Luopo]

I'd be interested in playing the Immortal Iron Fist, Danny Rand version. I can post every day

[mdh]

Tabletop? I could build off Danny Rand and go with a street character like Luke Cage.

[Faeryl]

Tentatively posting interest. Rules-lite is probably better for storytelling, but I'm way too used to number crunchy systems so it may take time to adapt. That said, I do have several "hero" OCs I've come up with over the years, though I could not tell you their exact power levels based on the tiers mentioned at the top.
#1: Asami Nakamura; either high school or early college student (depending on age range of others) who keeps getting dragged into nonsense against her will. She doesn't want to be a hero, but The Plot insists she will be one; like it or not. She's primarily just a student, but she's also been studying martial arts as a hobby for years. Her fighting style revolves around grapples and disabling opponents. I realize this probably sounds more like just straight up wrestling (like the sport), but that's what I came up with. She's meant to be roughly peak human in strength. Nothing fancy; just her skill at martial arts. Depending on the power level desired, she could probably get additional "martial arts" abilities similar to Ranma 1/2 or the like.

#s 2 and 3 are your classic "energy controller". Yuki Shimada is, like Asami, primarily a reluctant hero, save that her powers are much more potent and very clearly superhuman. Like her name suggests, Yuki's powers are ice-based. She can shape it into any form she can think of and uses them mostly for disabling purposes. At her peak, Yuki can also control the weather; capable of summoning up massive, city-wide blizzards or even freezing (normal) people in blocks of ice for several minutes at a time.
Ashley/Cinder, on the other hand, is closer to an anti-hero. She (obviously) controls fire and uses it for destructive purposes. Unlike the previous characters, she actively seeks to use her abilities; if mainly to cause trouble. She's anti-government and (mostly) anti-hero {as in, against heroes specifically}, but with other, far more powerful beings out there ready and willing to step up and put a stop to her antics, she is content with her own little "territory" to fight in [if possible].

My familiarity with Marvel is, like most folks, primarily from the various and sundry movies. I never got into all the TV shows as I sort of fell off the Marvel Wagon after Endgame pt 2. I can post as often or as little as needed, but I have a habit of only posting when I think I/a character of mine has something relevant to say or do. I dislike "posting just to say I did". /shrug

[Drew]

We've reached the new year and I'm pleased to see that the recruitment has garnered some interest. I'll leave recruitment open for now, probably until the 16th, but then I'll have to get things started because I don't want to make the already-interested players have to wait too long.

[Drew]

I am re-opening recruitment. Seeking an additional 1 to 2 players to join the current players.

[Bravve]

I'll throw in my original character in the pot.
New to this but it seems fun.
Should be able to post at least once a day, unless something comes up

Seraphine Vox (OC)
Tags : 5 (POWERHOUSE)
Enchanted Performance
His voice and music can sway emotions, command attention, and disrupt minds.
Illusion Weaving
Creates layered, near-reality illusions visual, auditory, even sensory.
Blade of Forgotten Echoes
The black dagger steals memories, identity fragments.
Impossible Dexterity
Effortless acrobatics, juggling weapons, flawless spatial awareness in chaos.
Applause Feeds the Act
The more people who witness him, the stronger and more overwhelming his abilities become.

Pitch :
Seraphine Vox is a masked performer who turns every moment into a spectacle as he is in the center of it all. With a voice that commands attention and the power of illusions that blur truth and fiction, he moves through the world like a living performance. Armed with a dagger that steals memories from his foes to add to his collection of stories. Vox leaves confusion, wonder, and unease in his wake. No one knows who he truly is.. not even himself but wherever he appears, reality begins to feel like part of his show.

[Drew]

I like it. Here is what Vox's weaknesses will be:

1.) Fragile Without an Audience: His power scales with attention. In isolation, his illusions weaken, his voice loses compulsion, and his physical edge drops to merely "skilled." A quiet room is a liability.
2.) Illusions Require Focus: His illusions are high fidelity but cognitively expensive. Disruption, pain, or multitasking can cause them to flicker, collapse, or glitch.
3.) Truth Anchors Break the Act: Strong-willed individuals, magical wards, or anything that enforces "objective reality" can resist or unravel his illusions.
4.) Physical Limits Still Apply: Despite impossible dexterity, he is not invulnerable. Direct hits, exhaustion, or constrained environments (tight spaces, restraints) limit his mobility.

I will Invite you to the game forum. Once you have access, go to this thread and post anything. I'll then edit your character into the post. I need a character image, please, and you need to pick another character or an NPC to have some kind of Relationship with.

I have it on good authority that Agatha Harkness will also soon be joining as a Player Character.

[Juramenta]

Hello Drew,

Is the game still open for new players?

[Drew]

Not at the moment but I'll keep you in mind if we need another.