marvel mod

[kmc1987]

just thinking about the intestacy and the amount of nerdism needed for this mod
for the future moder who makes this one a future high five

[WilliamMcGuire]

I plan on doing the research for a Marvel/DC/Charlton one so, pray for me.

Just a Marvel one should be pretty straightforward as you already have hard data from the publisher as to how all the characters relate to one another from a power level perspective in the form of Encyclopedias and such.

[KColl]

Yeah, it and the DC mod are going to be complicated to complete for sure.

[lazorbeak]

just thinking about the intestacy and the amount of nerdism needed for this mod
for the future moder who makes this one a future high five

The modder who makes this will die without leaving a will?!? :eek:

I want to make a small-scale bronze age Marvel mod (circa 1978) to avoid dealing with a billion characters and the insufferable "comic book time." Not sure I'll have the free time for it, but maybe over the holidays.

[Rick Arnold]

That's what I'm aiming at. A smaller Marvel mod that focuses on Spider-Man and Daredevil with their galleries, while expanding outward slowly from there -- adding the Punisher, Heroes for Hire and other NYC 'street heroes' before moving upwards to the Fantastic Four and Avengers. And then moving outward from NYC. Atleast that's the plan.

[Ockbald]

I really recommend you choosing a "era" (just like you would in a wrestling mod) to make marvel.

I'm not talking about "golden age" or "silver age" either.

For instance, Marvel back in the Civil War days is different from "Heroic Age" marvel, "Dark Reign" marvel, or even the current "Fearless" marvel.

This is why you can't just go to Marvel.com and grab characters stats and make a mod; They flunctuate between arcs. Cyclops and Wolverine are portrayed as uneasy but loyal friends in Dark Reign, and outright dislike each other in the current "Fearless" story.

I have interest in doing a Dark Reign marvel mostly because I enjoyed the entire storyline but hated Siege, plus they killed my two favorite characters off for pure shock value, gotta change that :p.

Plus this makes it much easier since you will only have to create a handful of characters, since not all marvel characters were active in each of said major arcs.
Silver Age marvel has big arcs like that too, like the Infinity Gems (Even though some classify it as something more akin to Bronze Age, it still reads pretty much like a silver age story)

[Rick Arnold]

I didn't choose a specific story arc, but I've settled on mid 80s Marvel. Infact, I used the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG as a base for stats -- it's not perfect mind you and is just a rough layout, but it should prove to be a decent start.

[Hobgoblyn]

Seems like it would be content with being less than perfectly accurate with the setting.

Just like how every time Marvel creates a new TV show or how they translated the comics into movies or launched Ultimate Marvel.

Pick one franchise in it and then create the characters that are of most interest to you from that franchise-- and feel free to be less than perfectly accurate with their stats and relationships, as long as it is generally close to the character's essence.

There are also probably some issues in how comic books work that the game probably won't be able to mimic.
For instance, Peter Parker's friends tend to turn into powered villains when his relationships with them go sour.

Other characters fluctuate between ally and enemy fairly frequently.
Then, of course, there is the issue of power creep where when a hero's power goes up, the villains most connected to him also tend to rise while others simply become discardable.
And how the villains are quite a bit weaker individually when they work as a group of six or seven than when they are fought one-on-one.

[Ockbald]

Seems like it would be content with being less than perfectly accurate with the setting.

Just like how every time Marvel creates a new TV show or how they translated the comics into movies or launched Ultimate Marvel.

Pick one franchise in it and then create the characters that are of most interest to you from that franchise-- and feel free to be less than perfectly accurate with their stats and relationships, as long as it is generally close to the character's essence.

There are also probably some issues in how comic books work that the game probably won't be able to mimic.
For instance, Peter Parker's friends tend to turn into powered villains when his relationships with them go sour.

Other characters fluctuate between ally and enemy fairly frequently.
Then, of course, there is the issue of power creep where when a hero's power goes up, the villains most connected to him also tend to rise while others simply become discardable.
And how the villains are quite a bit weaker individually when they work as a group of six or seven than when they are fought one-on-one.


Hence why is important to focus on a arc.

In a arc, relationships and power levels are consistent.

If you try to see outside of it, it gets messy, since comics have several different writers.

For instance, in Secret Invasion days, Hercules had his own comic book.

Later on, he started to show up in Mighty Avengers...Acting and talking completely different from his book.

If one were to focus on the Mighty Avengers and their story arcs, then they would have to make Hercules close to them, instead of making his personality based on the Hercules on going. Or maybe, for the sake of simplification, make his personality like the on going and adding him to the Mighty avengers anyway.

[kmc1987]

I think looking at the marvel universe as a kid would be the best way to go at it, Like the most basic/famous storyarcs friends/enemies. That would cut down on mod time for sure.

going all TEW on the marvel universe would lead to the death of the moder and the better way is to go EWR on it.

Wouldnt DC/Marvel crossover mod create alot of weird happenings, IE characters from both worlds who can travel time/space/dim/blah/blah/blah/blah

hoping the marvel mod will have the "Days of Future Past" future to fill my love of terminator

[Ockbald]

I think looking at the marvel universe as a kid would be the best way to go at it, Like the most basic/famous storyarcs friends/enemies. That would cut down on mod time for sure.

going all TEW on the marvel universe would lead to the death of the moder and the better way is to go EWR on it.

Wouldnt DC/Marvel crossover mod create alot of weird happenings, IE characters from both worlds who can travel time/space/dim/blah/blah/blah/blah

hoping the marvel mod will have the "Days of Future Past" future to fill my love of terminator

Actually there is some actual crossovers that give excuses why the crossovers are happening.

My favofire is the one with the Justice League x Avengers, that would make a great mod and the modder wouldn't have to inclue everbody, just the characters relevant to the story (And that alone was a freaking bunch)

[lazorbeak]

I really recommend you choosing a "era" (just like you would in a wrestling mod) to make marvel.

I'm not talking about "golden age" or "silver age" either.

For instance, Marvel back in the Civil War days is different from "Heroic Age" marvel, "Dark Reign" marvel, or even the current "Fearless" marvel.

This is why you can't just go to Marvel.com and grab characters stats and make a mod; They flunctuate between arcs. Cyclops and Wolverine are portrayed as uneasy but loyal friends in Dark Reign, and outright dislike each other in the current "Fearless" story.

I have interest in doing a Dark Reign marvel mostly because I enjoyed the entire storyline but hated Siege, plus they killed my two favorite characters off for pure shock value, gotta change that :p.

Plus this makes it much easier since you will only have to create a handful of characters, since not all marvel characters were active in each of said major arcs.
Silver Age marvel has big arcs like that too, like the Infinity Gems (Even though some classify it as something more akin to Bronze Age, it still reads pretty much like a silver age story)

What's the "Infinity Gems" arc? If you're talking about the Infinity Gauntlet, not only is that not from the silver age, that's not even a bronze-age story: it's from the early 1990's. Actual bronze age arcs would be the Korvac Saga in the Avengers, or the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix saga from the X-Men.

Seems like it would be content with being less than perfectly accurate with the setting.

Just like how every time Marvel creates a new TV show or how they translated the comics into movies or launched Ultimate Marvel.

Pick one franchise in it and then create the characters that are of most interest to you from that franchise-- and feel free to be less than perfectly accurate with their stats and relationships, as long as it is generally close to the character's essence.

There are also probably some issues in how comic books work that the game probably won't be able to mimic.
For instance, Peter Parker's friends tend to turn into powered villains when his relationships with them go sour.

Other characters fluctuate between ally and enemy fairly frequently.
Then, of course, there is the issue of power creep where when a hero's power goes up, the villains most connected to him also tend to rise while others simply become discardable.
And how the villains are quite a bit weaker individually when they work as a group of six or seven than when they are fought one-on-one.

Since we haven't even seen the editor, I think it's a bit early to predict what we can't do, but I agree that it's more about getting a Wolverine who acts like Wolverine than it is to make sure Wolverine's relationships and powers are all set based on Uncanny #219 and not Uncanny #273.

[LittleMac]

I think the best way to do it would be to just choose a very recent status quo and start from there. The Heroic Age sounds about right, since not a lot of characters are off the table (this is pre-Human Torch death) and you could even flub a little and have two Captain Americas.

If anyone who is working on a mod needs help with writing bios, profiles, dialogue, etc, I'm actually a huge comics nerd, chock full of trivia, and an actual writer! :D

[KColl]

Excellent.

Now we have a release date for the mod editor, can't wait to see how easy it is to use.

[Ockbald]

What's the "Infinity Gems" arc? If you're talking about the Infinity Gauntlet, not only is that not from the silver age, that's not even a bronze-age story: it's from the early 1990's. Actual bronze age arcs would be the Korvac Saga in the Avengers, or the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix saga from the X-Men.

I could have sworn that it was published by the end of the 80's.

So it's an early modern age comic. This puts things in perspective...

[lazorbeak]

I think the best way to do it would be to just choose a very recent status quo and start from there. The Heroic Age sounds about right, since not a lot of characters are off the table (this is pre-Human Torch death) and you could even flub a little and have two Captain Americas.

If anyone who is working on a mod needs help with writing bios, profiles, dialogue, etc, I'm actually a huge comics nerd, chock full of trivia, and an actual writer! :D

Or you could pick an early "event" date where the universe is smaller- Coming of Galactus in '66, Gwen Stacy's death in Spider-Man, etc. I mean just for comparison's sake, in 1966 Marvel put out 9 original comics a month. Plus you get all the fun of writing incredibly corny Stan Lee dialogue!

[LittleMac]

Right, but then you don't get the entirety of the post-Giant Size X-Men (so no Wolverine!), most modern Avengers, Hercules, Venom, etc etc

If you're going to do a Marvel mod I don't see why you wouldn't go all the way aside from the effort that would need to be involved! Obviously there's room for period-piece type Marvel mods, but I hope there's a modern day one in the works from someone!

[lazorbeak]

Dunno what you mean by "Modern" Avengers, but the whole point would be that it's far more feasible to build a stable mod with a smaller number of characters. And Hercules debuted in 1965.

[Ockbald]

Right, but then you don't get the entirety of the post-Giant Size X-Men (so no Wolverine!), most modern Avengers, Hercules, Venom, etc etc

If you're going to do a Marvel mod I don't see why you wouldn't go all the way aside from the effort that would need to be involved! Obviously there's room for period-piece type Marvel mods, but I hope there's a modern day one in the works from someone!

Don't know about you, but I would love to play an "Old School", 66's marvel mod, and one in the 80's with the X-men already debuted and going strong for some time.

As for me, I really want to make a Annihilation mod, the Rise of Nova Prime, Annihilus and the negative dimension, the death of Quasar, the rise of Phylla-Vel, Drax the Destroyer and Cammi (I miss her! I liked her dynamic with Drax) and all the good stuff.

I really need to study how will schemes and storylines work on this game, I may do all the other cosmic events tied in a package, or maybe just "era" like mods.

[LittleMac]

Well, I'm not saying throw in every single minor mutant or whatever that's ever appeared. However, it shouldn't be hard to sift out who is and is not important for a mod set in modern day. Wolverine is important, Anaconda - not so much.

@Ockbald: I think, at the very least, the 80s one would be fun to play around in. Personally I think the Marvel Universe as it stands today is the most interesting it's ever been as a whole and hope that modders don't just ignore it in favor of times where the more "popular" stories were.

Edit: Per this stress test: http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=510917&highlight=stress, I bet we could come up with 900 Marvel characters that matter the most, hahaha.

Edit 2: You wouldn't even need to be a slave to continuity, per se. Just pick which characters matter the most. While I think Heroic Age is a good starting point, there were some notable characters missing at the time, like the Scarlet Witch.

[pantaloons]

Using the ATD system a enormous Marvel (or DC, or anything really) mod could be made, with different moments in the timeline being represented by different timeframes in the ATD system.

[KColl]

As for me, I really want to make a Annihilation mod, the Rise of Nova Prime, Annihilus and the negative dimension, the death of Quasar, the rise of Phylla-Vel, Drax the Destroyer and Cammi (I miss her! I liked her dynamic with Drax) and all the good stuff.



Given that Marvel cosmic has been the best thing for a long time in Marvel, those are interesting storylines for sure.

[KColl]

Well, I'm not saying throw in every single minor mutant or whatever that's ever appeared. However, it shouldn't be hard to sift out who is and is not important for a mod set in modern day. Wolverine is important, Anaconda - not so much.

Edit 2: You wouldn't even need to be a slave to continuity, per se. Just pick which characters matter the most. While I think Heroic Age is a good starting point, there were some notable characters missing at the time, like the Scarlet Witch.

Yeah, I agree. The trick isn't picking a certain period of time (just cherry pick storylines to use), but picking the most important characters and deciding when you like them best (for example Spidey in black or normal costume, Stark or Fury or Hill in charge of SHIELD etc, etc).

[LittleMac]

I'd do it like a Marvel MMO: What's the most recognizable? So obviously Fury would be in charge of SHIELD, Spidey would be in his regular costume (though certainly the black suit would be an alter ego!), I'd probably put the X-Men in both Utopia and Westchester, etc etc

[basketball45231]

I am planning to do a "Best Of" Marvel and DC mod. It will be what the characters are most known as. The only big changes for me will be putting the Xmen and their villains in San Fransisco to spread out the game world. Picking one time to do it would be very hard since so much happens in any one month or year.

I will be starting by building the universes, places, and general character stats. As different people release popular specific stats Ill add them into my mod to make it better. I think figuring out who is stronger or smarter will take a lot of time.

[Steelcalavera]

DC would certainly be a lot harder to capture considering all their varying universes, retcons etc however in saying that the New 52 being only a few issues in this might be a really good starting point.

Depending on how the mod database works if you can keep adding to your already existing mod I think it would probably be easier to pick one title start at issue one and add them in as you go along rather than trying to figure out where everyone fits in.

For example, Fantastic Four roster really dosen't change a great deal from the early issues however there are plenty of rogues and various baddies that you can add as you read through, much the same with The Avengers, they have a massive Roster but adding them as you go along would make things easier

[shamelessposer]

Or you could pick an early "event" date where the universe is smaller- Coming of Galactus in '66, Gwen Stacy's death in Spider-Man, etc. I mean just for comparison's sake, in 1966 Marvel put out 9 original comics a month. Plus you get all the fun of writing incredibly corny Stan Lee dialogue!

I think "period" mods are really the way to go, because it's easier and more fun to go with the what-if model than to spend all of your free time tediously (and incorrectly) trying to create a perfect model of an entire universe's continuity as it stands this month.

In fact, I'ma go ahead and list off a bunch of fun-sounding premises for Marvel mods!

The Night Gwen Stacy Died July 1973 - This is more of a meta thing, really, but it's probably worthwhile to have a mod that takes place at the outset of the Bronze Age of comics.

All-New, All-Different! May 1975 - Setting a mod the same month as Giant-Size X-Men #1 essentially allows you to create your own X-Men team. If you're willing to throw a heaping pile of retcon on top of it, you can take this opportunity to mod in the initial failed, dead Krakoa expedition team (seen in Deadly Genesis) and allow players to mix and match characters for their own alternate team of X-Men. As a bonus, this all comes years before the cast gets bloated and awful, and you can instead live out all of your be-Chris-Claremont fantasies!

Secret! Wars! May 1984-April 1985 - Throw the characters into the chaos associated with the Secret Wars, or, more interestingly, its aftermath! This is maybe the most exciting era for Marvel, because John Byrne was on Fantastic Four, Chris Claremont was still on X-Men, the Avengers had a fun, if dysfunctional lineup, and Spider-Man? Spider-Man got the black costume that would come to be known as Venom.

[Ockbald]

I think "period" mods are really the way to go, because it's easier and more fun to go with the what-if model than to spend all of your free time tediously (and incorrectly) trying to create a perfect model of an entire universe's continuity as it stands this month.

In fact, I'ma go ahead and list off a bunch of fun-sounding premises for Marvel mods!

The Night Gwen Stacy Died July 1973 - This is more of a meta thing, really, but it's probably worthwhile to have a mod that takes place at the outset of the Bronze Age of comics.

All-New, All-Different! May 1975 - Setting a mod the same month as Giant-Size X-Men #1 essentially allows you to create your own X-Men team. If you're willing to throw a heaping pile of retcon on top of it, you can take this opportunity to mod in the initial failed, dead Krakoa expedition team (seen in Deadly Genesis) and allow players to mix and match characters for their own alternate team of X-Men. As a bonus, this all comes years before the cast gets bloated and awful, and you can instead live out all of your be-Chris-Claremont fantasies!

Secret! Wars! May 1984-April 1985 - Throw the characters into the chaos associated with the Secret Wars, or, more interestingly, its aftermath! This is maybe the most exciting era for Marvel, because John Byrne was on Fantastic Four, Chris Claremont was still on X-Men, the Avengers had a fun, if dysfunctional lineup, and Spider-Man? Spider-Man got the black costume that would come to be known as Venom.

All of these are awesome ideas for a mod! Really hope someone else picks those up.

[shamelessposer]

All of these are awesome ideas for a mod! Really hope someone else picks those up.

I might, might get around to doing the Secret Wars one, but before I can even consider it I need to first do a lot of work on mods for my first love. And by first love I mean DC. Off the top of my head, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Reign of the Supermen, post-Infinite Crisis and post-52 all sort of demand to be made.

[CPower2012]

An Ultimate Marvel mod I think would be much easier to do than main universe. Much fewer characters and less comics to use for research. Pre-Ultimatum would surely be ideal, considering they've killed off half the superheroes since then.

[Hive]

If I get the time and, more importantly, the game turns out to be something I enjoy, I will do a Marvel mod that begins roughly around X-Men #1, with X-Men being split into two teams (if that's at all feasible to do). This was when I started reading Marvel regularly back in the days, and I loved everything about it then. It was also when Carnage showed up in Spider-Man, but before they started ruining him with fake parents and clones.

[LittleMac]

I can dig this.

The All-Winners Squad 1940s Focus on the Golden Age of Marvel, not just the ones being published but everyone eventually retconned into it, too. The Twelve, Wolverine, Mr. Sinister, the Lost Generation, etc.

A Day Unlike Any Other Sept 1963 The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man are barely established, Charles Xavier has just founded his school for gifted youngsters, and Loki, the brother of Thor, has enacted a scheme that just might bring a team of the Earth's mightiest heroes together. It's a world where just about every hero is still a rookie. You could found the Avengers with a different line-up! Maybe the Avengers don't stop Loki, but the Fantastic Four do! This is essentially the beginning of the wider Marvel Universe.

Heroes Return Nov 1997 The Avengers and the Fantastic Four have just returned from a pocket universe to a world that's had to live without them. Spider-Man's just coming out of the Clone Saga. The Thunderbolts are active and plotting. The X-Men are enemies of the state. It was a pretty exciting time, with everyone active and getting fresh starts!

[KColl]

I'd do it like a Marvel MMO: What's the most recognizable? So obviously Fury would be in charge of SHIELD, Spidey would be in his regular costume (though certainly the black suit would be an alter ego!), I'd probably put the X-Men in both Utopia and Westchester, etc etc

I think that's the best strategy to take. Although one thing you could do is 'promote' some heroes to greater pushes than they've previously had (make them team leaders of their own teams or add them to the Avengers), or add completely new teams.

Another wild alternative is come up with a storyline like Age Of Appoclyapse where heroes are on the back foot and their numbers decreased. Or one of the alien races or Thanos have turned Earth into a prison planet and the remmaining heroes are the only alternative.

[Hive]

Another wild alternative is come up with a storyline like Age Of Appoclyapse where heroes are on the back foot and their numbers decreased. Or one of the alien races or Thanos have turned Earth into a prison planet and the remmaining heroes are the only alternative.

I'm hoping it will be possible to add stuff like that as alternative timelines. I would love to have Age of Apocalypse, Days of Future Past and a whole bunch of timelines from The Exiles as alternate realities.

[LittleMac]

Oh, that would rule. I wanna add Earth X, House of M, Mutant X, some What If worlds (definitely the Wolverine as Lord of the Vampires-verse), and man - Captain Britain was MADE for this.

I think that's the best strategy to take. Although one thing you could do is 'promote' some heroes to greater pushes than they've previously had (make them team leaders of their own teams or add them to the Avengers), or add completely new teams.

You could do the 50-State Initiative! Which reminds me: The Great Lakes Avengers NEED to be in.

[ThexEffect]

I love marvel/DC and all comics, watch most movies.. but probably know nothing about the series lol. Only little things here and there, I trust the majority here know what they're talking about, and hopefully I can build my knowledge on the subject once I get the game/mods and read some info on the mods.

[James Casey]

Heroes Return Nov 1997 The Avengers and the Fantastic Four have just returned from a pocket universe to a world that's had to live without them. Spider-Man's just coming out of the Clone Saga. The Thunderbolts are active and plotting. The X-Men are enemies of the state. It was a pretty exciting time, with everyone active and getting fresh starts!

In terms of the X-Men, this was one of my favourite time periods. Onslaught and OZT made for a great few years.

[LittleMac]

In terms of the X-Men, this was one of my favourite time periods. Onslaught and OZT made for a great few years.

That's not a very popular opinion... but I agree. I liked OZT and even liked Maggott, Marrow, and Reyes.

[Hive]

and even liked Maggott, Marrow, and Reyes.

:eek::eek::eek:

[LittleMac]

Okay, well I like Cecelia Reyes.

[Ockbald]

:eek::eek::eek:

To be fair, only Maggott was really, really weird.

They tottaly misused Marrow.

[Hive]

To be fair, only Maggott was really, really weird.

While I can easily agree that he was the worst by far (right now, I can think of no X-Men EVER being worse than him), the others weren't exactly stellar creations either. In fact, this was a turning point of sorts that marked the beginning of a dreadful run of new X-recruits that lasted for years. Long gone were the days of awesome additions like Psylocke, Gambit, Cable, Bishop and AoA Blink... has the tide ever been turned again at all? I haven't followed the comics for quite a while...

[Comradebot]

Why is no one talking about the best X-Man ever.... Beak?


Your superpower is you have brittle bones and look like someone spent a lonely night with a vulture and you were their offspring. Sounds to me like we have a "superhero" capable of being the CBH equivalent of TEW's Heidenreich Challenge... except Heidenreich actually had a decent look and charisma.

[Ockbald]

While I can easily agree that he was the worst by far (right now, I can think of no X-Men EVER being worse than him), the others weren't exactly stellar creations either. In fact, this was a turning point of sorts that marked the beginning of a dreadful run of new X-recruits that lasted for years. Long gone were the days of awesome additions like Psylocke, Gambit, Cable, Bishop and AoA Blink... has the tide ever been turned again at all? I haven't followed the comics for quite a while...

Well there's the Young X-men which are much better than those.

[lazorbeak]

Why is no one talking about the best X-Man ever.... Beak?


Your superpower is you have brittle bones and look like someone spent a lonely night with a vulture and you were their offspring. Sounds to me like we have a "superhero" capable of being the CBH equivalent of TEW's Heidenreich Challenge... except Heidenreich actually had a decent look and charisma.

I prefer Stacy X. Not only did she have "pheromone" powers and have a background of "former prostitute," she also had hideous, scaly skin for no reason.

Agreed with those defending Marrow- liked the character, sad that Morrison and company pretended she never existed because he just wanted to tell his own stories and stopped doing research at around X-Men #200. Reyes and Maggott were pretty awful, though.

[Comradebot]

I prefer Stacy X. Not only did she have "pheromone" powers and have a background of "former prostitute," she also had hideous, scaly skin for no reason.

Agreed with those defending Marrow- liked the character, sad that Morrison and company pretended she never existed because he just wanted to tell his own stories and stopped doing research at around X-Men #200. Reyes and Maggott were pretty awful, though.

I thought you may have a point... then I remember what your name is here on the GDS boards. Call me skeptical of your Beak defense. :p


Though Stacy X does still fill that "useless" niche. It's amazing how some characters can have no superpowers, but folks like Beak have a "superpower" yet it makes them useless while the unpowered folks are utter badasses.



I do, however, look forward to seeing if someone can take a Beak or Stacy X or Longshot type and have them face off with, like... Galactus.

[lazorbeak]

I thought you may have a point... then I remember what your name is here on the GDS boards. Call me skeptical of your Beak defense. :p


Though Stacy X does still fill that "useless" niche. It's amazing how some characters can have no superpowers, but folks like Beak have a "superpower" yet it makes them useless while the unpowered folks are utter badasses.



I do, however, look forward to seeing if someone can take a Beak or Stacy X or Longshot type and have them face off with, like... Galactus.

If it makes you feel any better, Beak is my least favorite Exile, and it's not even a close race.

Excited to see the demo this week!