Thursday, March 17, 2016

Primeval i01 : Marvel Heroic Role-Playing

3/14/2016
Primeval
Issue One
"Monkey Business"

Marvel Heroic Role-Playing

At work, my office mates are always willing to try new games, which frankly is amazing since as the Senior Game Designer at Indigo, exposing the people to more games overall helps us in expanding the creative resources we can tap.  And even better, this means me having people willing to join me as I try a new set of twelve new games this year.  
I finally had a chance to embrace one of the games that I really loved reading and was anxious to try: Marvel Heroic Role-Playing.  The sad thing about the game is, as awesome as it is, the game line has been discontinued due to the license having ended and not being renewed.  I'm just happy that I purchased a copy of the game before that happened.

For this game, I had four players:
Carl was playing Wade Wilson, the Merc with a Mouth called Deadpool.
Josh opted to try Matt Murdock, the man without fear known as Daredevil.
Nicol, on the other hand, embraced the role of Clint Barton, the world's greatest marksman, Hawkeye.
And finally, Flip decided it was a chance to explore the many identities of the enigmatic Moon Knight.
We discussed carefully what we expected in the game, especially since the group was a mix of comic readers as well as non-comic readers who saw the Marvel films, and there was always the possibility of the idea of Deadpool breaking the fourth-wall being distracting rather than fun.  We decided for a Marvel MAX feel to the game, like the Daredevil tv series, with touches of the Deadpool movie.
Moon Knight is tipped off on human trafficking happening in New York City. He visits Matt Murdock, rumored to be Daredevil, for assistance. Matt tries to hide his identity but Mr. Knight is insistent he can help. He throws a pencil at Matt, who barely dodges it from grazing his ear. For Mr. Knight, that’s proof he is Daredevil. Daredevil contacts Hawkeye, wanting him ask back up just in case. Given Moon Knight’s supposed madness, Daredevil isn’t sure if he can trust the guy.
They head to the location and find the people being forced into trucks. Hawkeye’s Hotheadedness gets the better of him and he charges the trucks. As the trucks rush to leave, Hawkeye hangs onto one. Daredevil and Moon Knight take chase on the rooftops to follow.
Streets: DARK STREETS, SLIPPERY WET SURFACES, HEAVY PADLOCKS
Down the street, Deadpool just massacred a bar filled with people looking for human traffickers that he is supposed to intercept. But he realizes he went to the wrong address! He apologizes, kills the last guy in the bar, and leaves to see the incoming trucks. He teleports to the Metro Train Bridgeway above the street to observe and notices Daredevil and Moon Knight on the flanking streets running after the trucks and wishes he had popcorn. That’s when he realizes a Gorilla with a machine gun on the same Bridgeway beside him, prepping a machine gun.

Hawkeye clambers up the truck, but slips when the driver of the truck tries to shake him off. He clings to the side of the truck. As one of the goons prepares to fire at him, Moon Knight leaps down from above to fling his throwing daggers at the guy, disabling him. Daredevil leaps for the front driver, knocking him out and causing the lead truck to block the two others from progressing. As the trucks stop, more goons rush out and fire at them, forcing them to dodge. “Hail Hydra!” the goons cheer. The slippery roads make dodging tricky, Hawkeye loses his bow and arrows.

Truck: ARMORED WALLS, ENDANGERED CAPTIVES

Deadpool grabs the machine gun of the gorilla, amused with its heft. The baboon behind him grabs hold of him and flings him at the incoming Metro Train, that carries him away. The Gorilla then open fire at the heroes. Thankfully, the trucks have Armored Walls. As the heroes deal with the apes, Deadpool lets the driver see he’s been hit by the train, making him stop the train. He goes back inside, and has the train start moving backwards, leaving the driver. As it continues, he soon reaches a car with two armed men keeping guard. He casually disarms them and discovers to his horror the man with the mask is a chimpanzee underneath the monkey mask! That’s when the Red Ghost appears before him and freezes him in place with his Freeze Ray.

As Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Daredevil’s combined efforts knock the Gorilla down, the goons begin to run off in fear. Daredevil takes chase after the apes, while Moon Knight runs after the closest goon, suspicious if they are Hydra. Hawkeye breaks open the truck to find inside the poor people have transformed into monkeys!

Red Ghost talks about a new evolution to sweep over mankind, and about standing upon a new dawn. He turns intangible and leaves Deadpool to die, not realizing the Merc with a Mouth would survive the ice prison.
When the sounds of gun shots fill the air, Hawkeye looks up to see Daredevil return. He was almost about to catch the apes when a powerful magnetic pull began to yank them off the ground. An orangutan with magnetism powers hurls Daredevil away and it is only thanks to his Reflexes that he lands safely despite not having his swingline. While that doesn’t answer the story behind the gun shots, Moon Knight returns and tells them all is settled for now.
Moon Knight chased the goon into a corner where Hydra agents were waiting to shoot. As the air filled with gun shots from other locations, Moon Knight threw his knives to disable all the gunmen in front of him. Madame Hydra emerges, telling him that the goon should be punished for claiming to be them. Moon Knight tells her he takes the matter into his own hands, walks up to the goon and snaps his neck. She deems this matter settled. He returns to the others without telling them of his encounter with the Madame. Investigating the trucks, Moon Knight finds a canister inside which may have some kind of biochemical to have caused the change. He decides to keep it to find someone to inspect it. The cops arrive, as does Captain America, who commends them for having handled the matter. Captain asks Hawkeye if he wants to return to the Avengers now, but Hawkeye tells him he’s fine where he is for now. When presented with Deadpool, Moon Knight takes Deadpool with him and leaves in his car. Daredevil notices no one is driving Moon Knight’s car.

The next day, horror fills the streets as Hawkeye sees columns of gas spreading out of various buildings. He tries to call Avenger’s Mansion but the call is answered by a chimpanzee in Captain America’s uniform. Matt Murdoch went to visit Peter Parker whom he knows is a scientist as well finds his place surrounded by emergency workers. Monkeys are being carried out of the apartment building! Matt sees a shape leap out of the windows and webswing to the rooftops and takes chase. He finds Spiderman shrinking, changing into a monkey before his very eyes! He picks up the monkey and takes him with him. Matt hears from Hawkeye and the two decide to check with Moon Knight on what’s going on. Mr. Knight welcomes them to his home where they find a horribly tortured Deadpool laughing about not really knowing about the monkey business. As they consider their next course of action, it occurs to Hawkeye to consider asking the Fantastic Four for help.

They arrive to see Sue Richards in tears. She reveals to them her family has been transformed as well and that her limited knowledge isn’t enough to make sense of the canister. She suggests they try the one other person she thinks who might know an answer.

She calls Doom. And Doom, amused at the turn of events, invites them to Latveria

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