The Multiverse and RPGs #1: Into the PC-Verse

Hello heroes! I wanted to start the new year off with a topic that has not only become near and dear to my heart, but has taken superhero media by storm. The multiverse! This isn’t a new concept in superhero stories, but it does seem to be nestling itself within the zeitgeist at the moment. It seems like there are infinite universes everywhere you look; from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Legend of Zelda, to Flashpoint, to the Jimmy/Timmy Power Hour. It’s not hard to see why this idea appeals to so many. Writers can showcase new versions of iconic characters. They can introduce scenarios that change the established status quo without consequence to long-standing canon. Fans can finally get the answer to the question, what if Spider-Man was a cartoon pig?

But what does this all mean for tabletop roleplaying games? Is it possible to bring elements of the multiverse into your games? The answer, as with most concepts, is absolutely. The multiverse is a tool you can use to keep your players on their toes, to inject new drama into your stories, and to experiment with fun concept adventures. I’ll be breaking down several multiversal threads that can improve your game over the next few essays.

I first want to talk about a concept which seems to apply to Spider-Man a lot (see Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Into the Spider-Verse.) Essentially, creators tap into the wellspring of nostalgia by having a character team up with themselves. This idea of every character being a version of the same character has always fascinated me from a RPG perspective. I remember hearing about a game at Origins Game Fair where every PC was a character portrayed by Harrison Ford (Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, Jack Ryan, and a few others) and they were assembled to stop a bunch of Christopher Lee characters. It blew my mind, and got me thinking about what sort of effort would need to go into making something like that happen outside of a con experience. I’ve worked up some advice that I will list below:

Session Zero/Player Engagement

Much like anything else in Gamemastering, preparation is key. First you need to check with your players and see if the idea of playing variants is even interesting to them. If they’re interested, great, we can move on to the planning side of things. You’re going to want to schedule a large chunk of your session zero to discuss the hero everyone is based on. Treat this base character like a group PC. Everyone should have some say in regard to their personality, powers, origin, costume, anything that makes a superhero work. You also want to make sure that this hero has a wide enough archetype that players can take their re-imaginings in a lot of different directions. This shouldn’t be a gimmick character, unless your group is planning on tweaking the gimmick to create their variants—I’m picturing Condiment King, Seasoning King, Deep-Frying King, and Potato King for some reason. I would also have each player pitch a supervillain that this hero goes up against on a regular basis, to give you as the Gamemaster characters that you can make variants of.

In my notes I would say Player A came up with Villain A and I’m going to make a variant of them from Player C’s universe. You won’t have to work as hard if this is a licensed character like Loki or Spider-Man, but it’s vital that you make sure everyone has a firm grasp of the foundational aspects of that character. Nailing this down collectively, ensures that your players can make intentional choices with their changes to the character in ways that are dynamic and true to who that character is. This helps you avoid players coming up with characters that are only connected in the tiniest of ways.

Points of Variation

Good variants live and die based on their point of difference from the original character. Encourage your players to review the foundations of the base character and work on their concept from one slight difference. Power origin is a great place to find a thematically different version of a character. If the base character is a mutant, consider a variant that gains their powers through magic or technology. Move the character into different time periods—medieval, the far future, sword and sandal, or noir are great ideas. Tell the players to consider a genre shift. If the base character is a four-color comic hero, what would they look like as a cartoon character or as a survivor of the post-apocalypse? How do their powers function differently than the base character? Are they the same person as the base character? Are there any NPCs that could be a fun switch ala Spider-Gwen? What animal would be the funniest when combined with their power set? These points of variation are excellent conversation starters that will get your players’ minds churning with possibility.

Specialization

One thing to consider, both from a character and game design perspective, is that each of these characters should have a unique ability they bring to the team up. Even though they are ostensibly the same person, you still want to be able to create scenes that individual players can shine in. This is also a pitfall to avoid in instances where all of the characters have the same power set—like in a Green Lantern campaign for instance. Encourage your players to think of something that only their variant can do and write scenes that are made easier by those abilities.

Sometimes this will be obvious, like giving magical knowledge to the variant with a mystic background and technology to the super science variant, but sometimes it’s more subtle. Perhaps one of the variants is an older, more mature version of the character that has some leadership abilities. Give that character a scene where they get to rally their comrades and help everyone play to their strengths. In terms of character design, you can help your heroes by having them each select a combat role in the group and then build their variant in that direction.

Say the base character is a genius in a battlesuit called Maceria. The base form is a blaster who focuses on ranged attacks. One of the variants can be Maceria-Noir, a hulking monstrosity of steel and steam that tanks damage like none of the others. Then there is Dr. Maceria, an experienced artificer from a fantasy realm who specializes in healing magic. Finally, there’s MAXceria, a brawler from a future where fighting robots are king and he’s outfitted his fists with razor sharp claws and karate chop action.

In conclusion, it can be very exciting for players to delve into variants, either for one session or for a whole story arc. With a little communication and good planning on your part it doesn’t even have to be that difficult to pull off. Keep checking here at USP for more multiverse content coming soon. Thank you for reading and as always may all your hits be crits.