Marvel Plot Points - fan site with updates to the game.
MWP does have a mildly active forum where you could ask questions, you can find that here.
I've only ever played a demo once. I liked it, but I'm not a big supers fan.
I've tried it as a player on a french PBF,a year ago, but i'm not sure I know enough of the game to answer your questions..
It was a good game, but I hadn't time enough to continue to play
I might be able to answer questions, or ask a friend who is more familiar with the game.
When a limit is possibly triggered it goes like this:
1) If if pays PP, the player chooses to take it and shutdown the power, or...
2) If player doesn't take it, the Watcher can trigger it by spending a Doom Die, the player does not earn a PP.
Typically you want to take the PP as a player, unless you want to take the hit for the team to deplete the Doom Dice. Spider-man for example would bank the PP, then if the Watcher rolls an opportunity, he could activate it to get his web-slinging back.
Lastly, you can also tag Cam Banks on google+. He was the lead designer of MHRP. He's pretty friendly and if you can't find an answer to something he'll probably answer (he's pretty active on social media).
Yes, you can always activate a limit. It costs you a doom die. You also don't get to increase your doom pool with that opportunity.
Something to remember, having a small doom pool means the opposition is weak. You need doom pool to activate abilities, boost your rolls, etc. As Watcher you get to choose what you're spending your doom pool on.
Also, players get FIRST OPTION, meaning if they choose to set off the limit, they get the PP, which can be used for something else, or to activate an opportunity rolled by the Watcher to restore that power.
You can and should combo SFX. Doing cool stuff is fun.
I was nostalgic and excited until I realized this is not FASERIP Marvel you were discussing...
... I'll just slowly back away feeling old now...
I remember that system, only played it once and that was in the early 90's.
The new system is pretty awesome though. It wasn't an accident that it won a bunch of awards.
I got the book a couple years ago, and thought it looked interesting. I wasn't big on the one-shot system though, where there's really no character growth between games and characters begin fully formed.
Ultimately, I wanted something more long term, so I took some ideas from that and rebuilt the system from Aberrant to have a more X-men comics feel.
The characters certainly start fully formed, although fans have produced earlier, less experienced versions. So the Lee-Ditko Spider-Man is out there.
Gaining experience does power you up, but not all that much -- your dice get better, you can maybe get rid of a limit or two or acquire an interesting piece of gear. But you don't become dramatically more powerful. This is consistent with the comics, yes? Spider-Man of today is clearly more formidable than the teenage version of him from the Ditko years, but he hasn't evolved into Spider-Thor. (Absent some occasional odd episodes like the Captain Universe thing and whatnot.)
Doug M.
The rules keep everything discreet within the three story arc structure. So, spent experience doesn't carry over if you use a hero in another game after a particular story has wrapped up.
As to characters growing or changing, that is a part of some comics, particularly x-men. Many of the mutants have not only gotten better at using their powers, they have also developed new ways to use their powers or even entirely new powers. Other heroes can develop new powers, although they are often either lost or forgotten when writers change. Sometimes the gaining or loss of powers itself becomes a major character issue, such as when Spider-Man came into contact with the symbiote. These events can change a character in ways that last beyond one specific story arc, and this system doesn't reflect that capacity.
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I got the book a couple years ago, and thought it looked interesting. I wasn't big on the one-shot system though, where there's really no character growth between games and characters begin fully formed.
That's the exact opposite of the complaint I have had with several Spider-Man video games. Because they have required you to unlock certain abilities by progressing through the game, he doesn't really feel like a fully-realized Spidey until the endgame.
Evolving powers is good for original characters, but when you are playing an iconic hero like Spidey, Wolverine, etc. then you don't really feel like that hero if you start out as a vastly nerfed version of him.
The system is designed to do a very specific thing: convert Marvel story-lines into a playable format for table-top RPG's. It is not designed as a one-size-fits-all superhero game. It's not a bug, but a feature.
There are other one-size-fits-all superhero games, such as M&M.
You're right in that the game does not handle certain aspects of RPG's that we're used to, Scythia. This is intentional. The game isn't about designing your own superhero and leveling them up. It's about playing well-known characters and allowing players to interpret those heroes as they encounter challenges.
The game can (and does) accommodate character change. It just doesn't do it in the way you normally see in other games.
If you want to play your own heroes, or do a long campaign which involves expanding the characters abilities, something like M&M would be better. If you want to recreate scenarios from the Marvel universe (and allow players to make new and interesting choices in those scenarios) MHRP is probably the better choice.
You can use anything to run anything, it's just how much work you want to put into it.
I took a brutal, violent game about killing gods and used it to run My Little Pony once. No joke.
Distinctions are the baked in roleplaying aspect of the game. You aren't just supposed to toss one in for no apparent reason, you should incorporate it into the description of what you're doing.
Yes, it is assumed that almost every roll you will be using a distinction (either the d8 or d4+PP). You can certainly pay PP to add more.
Not all distinctions are equal, some are more negative than positive, this is intentional for flawed heroes, but also fuels them with PP.
I've played it a few times in one-shot game sessions. The combat system is fun, but it's not fast. You do feel like you're simultaneously creating action and dialogue for a panel of a comic book. A lot of games have said that their design goal is to get the players to be more descriptive, but I think MHRP was one of the most successful at actually building it into play.
I think the best use for the game is for one-shots. Making up heroes takes a bit of creative muscle, but you're not handcuffed by a point system. You just put dice and SFX into what you reckon the hero can do.
For example, for a dark-future Marvel "neXt-Gen" mini-campaign, I played the son of Cannonball and Boom-Boom, named Artillery, who inherited both his parents powers. He could fly at a target and explode. I think Nitro was statted up somewhere so I used his explosion power, and lots of heroes fly. It took some creativity to write up SFX that made him unique, but we were allowed to build as we played, so it came with time.
MWP didn't really walk away from the license; Marvel changed the terms. This was about the time that the Avengers movie came out, and suddenly Marvel properties were worth a lot more. MWP thought they couldn't make enough on the game to cover the change, so they had to let it go.