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Marvel Universe RPG Core Rules PDF

This Marvel Universe RPG core rules PDF review is part of my “Best Tabletop RPGs of All Time” article. If you want to check out more TTRPGs and see how other top-tier tabletop RPGs are ranked, visit that page.

My Review – 89 / 100

Bar chart comparing game attributes: attributes on x-axis, stacked bars with black, medium blue, and light blue sections show ratings.

The version of the Marvel Universe that I reviewed is the Marvel Universe RPG core rules RPG – playtest version – as at the time of this review, the full game was not yet available. Speaking of, the full game is supposed to come out in 2022, so if you like the sound of it, you may not have to wait long.

The only thing I wasn’t 100% sure about with the Marvel Universe RPG is that this game feels like it better suites a series of one-shot game sessions, as opposed to a full tabletop RPG campaign.

Not that Marvel Universe can’t be an in-depth story building game. There just aren’t a ton of rules or directions for facilitating that, at least within the playtest rulebook.

Still though, this game gets top marks. It’s come in 4th place on my list of top TTRPGs.

Uniqueness of Marvel Universe RPG: (8/10)

There are no dice used in Marvel Universe. That alone is an extremely unique element of the game. The game’s designers wanted a very simple, straightforward, rules-light game, focused on roleplaying a superhero (or villain), and not the mechanics of the game system, itself. I think that Marvel Universe RPG accomplishes that goal.

The game is played in a series of “Panels.” It’s as if if you and your gaming group were reading and co-creating a comic book, as you game. It’s a very cool concept.

When it comes to stats, basically, your character has HP. Then, you also have energy points, called “Red Stones” that are used to do any kind of action. If you have enough Red Stones to fuel your desired action, it succeeds. There’s a little more complexity to it, factoring in Difficulty and Resistance, but that is the fundamental mechanics of gameplay.

It’s a little amazing to me that a full-fledged RPG that also represents something as large as Marvel gets by with only 2 (basically) character “stats.” However, I’m also impressed.

You can use Red Stones both on your “turn” (your character’s Panel in the comic book page), and during other character’s Panels. Though you end up using most of your Red Stones during your Panel to complete whatever action is most important to you, it sometimes helps to leave a few Red Stones for involvement in someone else’s Panel which allows you to help them, or complete other important functions during their shining moments.

You can either play one of the 42 characters from the marvel universe, or create your own. There are also tons of powers for you to use, and rules for all kinds of superhero related things (power armor, flying, etc.).

For myself, I’m pretty sure that I would have more fun playing this game by trying out each of the 42 heroes/ villains included in the rulebook for a session or two each than I would playing one character for a long campaign. The game is just better set up to sample heroes and villains than to create your own lengthy “comic book series” with them, in my opinion.

Brawling Game Type

Marvel Universe RPG also a game mode called “Brawling.” From the rulebook: “it allows players to answer age-old questions: who would win in a fight, the Thing or the Hulk? Spider-Man or Wolverine?” This is incredibly cool.

In this game mode, rather than playing out Panels as you would in the normal style of storytelling play, two players sit down and fight – without need for a game master – to determine once and for all, who would win between their heroes/ supervillains. Honestly, this is probably what anyone would want, playing a Marvel superheroes game.

Yes. Just, yes. I love it.

No Dice – Good or Bad?

The only thing I can say as to why Marvel Universe did not get a 10/10 from me in this section is that there is a reason most tabletop RPGs use dice. Though I love that Marvel Universe doesn’t from a standpoint of uniqueness, gamers who play Marvel Universe RPG will find themselves missing the random dice element present in most TTRPGs, at least from time to time.

Dice are part of what makes TTRPGs unpredictable and high-drama. When it comes down to what people actually enjoy from their tabletop games, most really do prefer dice, or a random dice-like element of surprise.

Ease of Learning the Game: (8/10)

Whenever I come across TTRPGs that are easy to teach new players, I always let out a sigh of relief. Easy-to-teach games makes it easier to create tabletop gaming groups. Simple as that.

I’d feel very comfortable teaching Marvel Universe RPG to just about any new player.

The information with Stones (Red Stones and White Stones) is a little confusing. The game’s designer did leave a lot of examples throughout the rulebook, but it’s still not always clear as to what players are supposed to do in certain situations.

I’d have liked if there were different terms besides just “White Stones” and “Red Stones” in the rulebook. When reading, you’ll find terminology like simply “Stones,” where it’s hard to tell exactly what’s being referenced.

It seems, when reading the rulebook, that when simply “Stones” is mentioned, what’s really meant is “Red Stones.” However, the ambiguity is unnecessary. This isn’t a major, major point, but it does lower the marks a bit.

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Marvel Universe RPG Presentation: (8/10)

I’ve never been a huge fan of rulebooks which feature large numbers of rule usage examples which are provided directly in-text. What I mean is, you’re reading about a rule, then you see a separate text box that gives an example of how that rule actually plays out, in-game.

On the one hand, it’s kind of nice to get clarification on rules. But the downside is that in-text examples are also distracting. It’s also annoying when you understand the rule from the instruction provided, but then there’s an (unnecessary) further explanation of that rule in a separate text box.

Besides that though, the rulebook is easy to understand. Important sections in the book are clearly marked, and the presentation on the whole is top-tier.

If you can get past the rule clarifications/ examples (when you don’t need them), then you’ll enjoy this rulebook quite a bit.

Marvel Lore: (10/10)

We’re talking about the entire Marvel Universe, here. When you play Marvel Universe RPG, you can bring in any of your favorite superheroes or villains from any of Marvel’s extensive library of amazing comic books, movies, and more.

And not only that, you can bring in plot lines from any of your favorite stories, as well. Want to re-enact a specific part of a movie you love? Go for it. Want to see who would win in an epic battle between your favorite characters? This RPG is here for you.

Combat in Marvel Universe RPG: (8/10)

When you take an action or attack someone in Marvel Universe RPG, if the number of Red Stones you use in that action/ attack is higher than the target’s defending Stones, your attack hits. Damage dealt is then determined by the number of leftover Red Stones (the number of Stones you used in your attack minus the number of Stones the defender used in their defense).

What’s a little odd to me is that 1-3 Red Stones over the defender deals 1damage. To do 2damage from an attack, you must be 4-6 Red Stones over. These numbers are reasonable enough to follow. It is kind of a bummer though that if you’re at 3 Stones over, but not 4, you miss out on dealing another full point of damage.

Combat in Marvel Universe is surprisingly simple and straightforward (especially compared to many other TTRPGs out there). This is really a storytelling game when it comes to combat, and there aren’t really “tactical” options, , but the game is so thematic and fun that its combat category still gets a high score.

Game “Flow”: (8/10)

When it comes down to it, Marvel Universe RPG is a very simple game. I mean that in a good way. There’s not a lot of substance to it when it comes to rules and game mechanics. But similar to the Cypher System in this regard, the vibe is right.

I think the game’s designer found a really good place of mixing a rules-light approach with an emphasis on “building pages in a comic book.”

I only drop the score in this category a little because (as I’ve mentioned, above) I don’t think this is a game I’d want to play for a long campaign. I do think Marvel Universe is an amazing game for one-shot gaming sessions, or short tabletop RPG campaigns, though.

I’m certain I could easily put together a group of people for a superhero/ villain gaming event using this game system. We’d probably just play a few sessions here and there, between our other ongoing tabletop RPG campaigns played using other RPGs.

Marvel Universe RPG Artwork: (9/10)

The art’s cool – I really enjoy it. Very comic book style, which is very fitting. Very dynamic. Stylistically, the art is fitting for the game’s vibe, and all the artwork fits together.

Marvel Universe also does not leave you hanging as it features a lot of artwork throughout the book. Some of the artwork is not crafted in the most modern art style though, and it’s honestly not quite as high quality as other games.

Ease of Purchase: (10/10)

Marvel Universe (as of the time of this writing) is not yet available for purchase. I do need a placeholder stat for this section though, so given that we’re talking about Marvel here, I’m just going to go ahead and give top marks. I think since we’re talking Marvel, it’s safe to assume that they’ll do a good job on this.

Price & How Many Books Do You Need to Play: (10/10)

Same thing for this section as with “Ease of Purchase” immediately above.

Fame & Availability of Supplemental Material: (10/10)

Especially since the Marvel movies started coming out over 10 years ago, the Marvel franchise is incredibly famous. It has to be one of the most well-known names in all of Western society. That being the case, you can certainly find people who will want to game with you.

Marvel Universe RPG Core Rulebook is Published By:

Marvel

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Jacob Tegtman

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed my article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.

I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.

If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.

Jacob Tegtman

5 Things Players Do That Drive Every D&D Dungeon Master Crazy!

November 2, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLpxQkh_SVI Transcription DM Pet Peeves === [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Eternity TT RPG YouTube channel, where I go over different things in the tabletop role playing universe from the game my husband and I created to D&D to different tabletops in between. So this go around, I'm gonna talk about something that I think happens in almost every tabletop role playing game. Um, of course, D&D is the biggest in the tabletop role playing genre, so they're gonna be mentioned a bit, right? Um, with any tabletop role playing game, you always have a game master, dungeon master, GM, DM, whichever, you know, you wanna call it and use it, right? And the dungeon master takes so much time creating this beautiful story. This beautiful story with all these encounters, all these puzzles, the strategy, the bosses, and all these backstories, all these NPCs. It's just... It's like you're writing a book without writing a book, right? [00:01:00] So what can get kind of frustrating when you're a DM is that your party starts making decisions that you never expect, y- and you have to think on the fly. So here's some things that your parties do that you just, you kind of look at them and you go like, "Please don't make that decision," or, "Can we get through this?" Right? So one of the things that comes up immediately in my mind is that you spend 20 minutes, 30 minutes, a hour going over, is this an ordinary door or is this a trap? And you're, you're just sitting there like, "Just turn the doorknob. Please turn the doorknob." But you can't say that because, you know, you're trying to create this cool environment for [00:02:00] your players, right? So if you are a player, keep in mind your dungeon masters are not always doing something devious. They're just, you know, they just needed to put a door there 'cause it's going into a building. Please just grab the doorknob. Go in. Okay? Um, other thing that we end up seeing is that every NPC can get treated like a final boss, right? So one thing that's really fun with being a dungeon master is that you do a lot of foreshadowing, right? So this random person that you met in session one could end up coming back in, like, session 10, session 20, and end up being your final boss of the whole campaign. You don't know. So if you don't know as a player, of course, you're gonna be like, "Well, we'll see you again, I bet." Um, so there's a lot of suspicion around every person you encounter when they could just be a normal shopkeep, [00:03:00] right? So the thing about having a high suspicion is that your players, of course, could be really smart, and that's a really good survival strategy. But it's also just another, like, "Hey, guys, come on, it's literally just a shopkeeper that wants to give you this. Like, don't l- don't look too far into it. Please just let me keep going." Eternity TTRPG has released a card game battler which emulates combat from the tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our sales page live now, packed with details. Um Other thing I'm gonna wrap back around for a [00:04:00] minute to, you know, is the door cursed or is it a normal door? When you encounter things like that, or even when you encounter an actual fight, the your players can spend, like, an hour planning how to attack this thing, planning how to attack this, like, goblin foe or whatever, and then it lasts barely two minutes because they spend all that time planning, and then they get to actually, like, encountering and you're just like, "Oh yeah, he's here to lead you here. He's helpful." Like, ugh, it shouldn't take you, as a player, hours to come up with a way to get through something, right? When it is just going to end up being two minutes of the game. Right? So one thing that I tend to talk about a lot, um, in my personal life is how we as a [00:05:00] society, like, we have gone to shorter entertainment. Like, movies are shorter, books are shorter, music is shorter. Like, I remember four or five minute songs, and now we're down to, like, two and a half minutes, right? So that's where I think, like, role playing games are headed a little bit, okay? 'Cause you can spend an hour planning it, your DM can create this masterful campaign, but sometimes we just wanna skip the boring parts. Is that so hard to ask? So moving on, now that I'm off my little soapbox. Um, another thing that we tend to do as players, and I am definitely guilty of this one, is we adopt creatures that the dungeon master isn't expecting, right? You just see this random thing in the woods and decide, "Oh, it's mine," and now the DM has to, like, weave it into the story because you decided to have it, right? So now you just, you just gotta deal with it and roll with [00:06:00] it, and dungeon masters, I'm actually supportive of, of this one, so think on your feet for it. Um, last thing that I wanna cover is that when you're dungeon master, you are thinking of, like, everything from A, B, to Z, right? Going over all the possible outcomes and you think you have them all. You think you have every idea that your players can come up with. And then you don't. Um, perfect example of this, my husband and I were doing a session of, uh, the game that he created, right? And he was DM'ing for me, and this, like, NPC went and kidnapped another NPC using her Nether Night magic, and I was trying to think, "Well, how can I track them down? What can I do?" Because we're in a paved city, obviously no tracks, like, what's gonna work? And one of the abilities that I had, [00:07:00] I inquired if it could detect any magical essence, because I knew that this NPC Nether Night was using magic to disguise themselves and get away faster. And my husband looked at me, and he was like, "That might be the smartest thing you've ever done." And I'm just like, "Okay, cool. I'm glad I figured something out." Um, but that's just a perfect example of how, um, people and your players can figure out something that, like, just works differently, right? Um, so with all of that being said, you know, DMs don't take it to heart, players don't take it to heart, but, you know, somehow we gotta keep meeting in the middle, and that's what makes a good, uh, gaming group. So let me know, as a DM, what's your pet peeve? What's the thing that has just bugged you to no end? Players, what do you think a DM should change, right? And then just [00:08:00] drop any, you know, stories, questions, anything in the comments. Like, comment, subscribe. Let us know how we're doing, and we'll catch y'all next time.

5 Halloween D&D One-Shot Ideas for Last-Minute DMs

October 30, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TicIZUlQV08 Transcription IMG_7957 === [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I go over different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universe, from D&D to the game my husband and I are creating. Um, as we all know, it is going on Halloween weekend, which is usually when we all get together with our tabletop role-playing groups and try to do a one-shot adventure. So for all of the last-minute DMs trying to throw something together for their friends, I've got a couple of ideas for you that I am just gonna rapid fire, okay? So first one, you have a haunted house that does not want you to leave. So your party is invited to investigate an abandoned mansion manor where a family mysteriously disappeared. Um, the twist in this is that the house itself changes its layout depending on the party's actions. So the rooms move, doors disappear, and the house seems to, [00:01:00] like, know the party's secrets somehow, right? Um, different encounter ideas in here is gonna be, like, animated f- um, furniture, possessed portraits, um, secret locations, and the, like, finale can be the house itself is a monster, so you have to, you know, figure out how the monster stays alive and how you can get out. Um, second one, we have the village that celebrates Halloween every night. So your, uh, tabletop role-playing party arrives at a village where everyone is celebrating a strange festival. However, nobody remembers the previous night, and the festival repeats it every single night. So you get Halloween every night. So you have different, like, strange villagers going on. You can start incorporating other, um, you know, Halloween things like scarecrows and werewolves and, [00:02:00] um, jack-o-lan-lanterns. Um, so then also finale with this one, your party discovers that the village is trapped in a curse, and you have to break the ritual before midnight of any given night that you're there. Cool. Um, third one, something is hunting in the woods. This is where we get our werewolves, our spiders, you know, all of our creepies. So travelers have gone missing near a forest, and the party's hired to investigate. So something can be following your party into there, but they never get a clear look at what is following them. So you start dealing with, like, false tracks and abandoned campsites, strange noises, and different things like that. You can even throw in environmental hazards in there, like a river, a bog, um, quicksand, that corn-- sort of stuff. Um, finale of this, a terrifying creature corners the party, and you have to choose how [00:03:00] to get past it. Um, moving on, the Last Night at the Graveyard. So local graveyard keeper hires the party to protect the cemetery during a night when the dead are supposed to rise. Um, twist with this, the undead aren't attacking randomly. They're all trying to, like, reach a certain spot, so you're trying to figure out how do you get to that spot, right? Um, you can have your skeletons, restless spirits, zombies, different kind of puzzles around the crypts and around the grave sites. Um, finale with this, the party uncovers the secret about the person buried there and why the dead are so desperate to get to them. Final one that I'm gonna try and finish this rapid fire off with is a Carnival of Curses. So a mysterious traveling carnival arrives outside of the town that you're at, and the visitors enter smiling, but nobody leaves quite the same. So the twist with this is, like, every [00:04:00] attraction is a magical challenge, and the carnival owner is collecting something from every visitor, so it could be, like, collecting their soul, their spirit, um, or you could go a bit more morbid with it and collecting, like, different parts maybe. Um, so encounter ideas with this is gonna be, like, cursed mirror maze, a rigged fortune teller, enchanted games, creepy performers like Cirque du Soleil style. Um, finale with this, the party has to defeat the carnival owner or escape the carnival itself. So that was super quick. There was five ideas for you to try and make a one-shot, hopefully before your, uh, one-shot this weekend. If not, you can always revisit this and do it anytime. I mean, why not have a fun one-shot to, like, break up what you're doing with your D&D group? So as always, like, comment, subscribe, drop different ideas down below, and we will catch y'all next time. See ya.

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3 D&D Classic Monsters that you Always See

By Jacob Tegtman • October 27, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTjh_PsRn3o Transcription Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where we talk about the world of Eternity as well as other tabletop role-playing games, D&D, and all the stuff in the genre that we can find. So this go around, ~I know it's been a little while since we posted, but ~I wanted to go ahead and just do something that I think everyone can get behind, which is talking about monsters that you find in tabletop role-playing games. ~Um, ~you're obviously gonna have your classic monsters that you see in D&D, and then we can just branch out from there, right? So reason this is coming up is that with the Sparks of Eternity Emanation, ~um, ~which is going really well, it's where you have your different classes, ~um, ~fighting each other to a duel to the end, right? ~And that's been great. It's been going great. ~We have a lot more classes in the works, but we were wondering, well, what could be next? And that's when you start looking at, like, armor, races, monsters, ~um, ~and, like, items and stuff, right? Because that's what makes a campaign happen is when you add all [00:01:00] of these things in. ~Um, ~so with that in mind, we started thinking monsters. ~Instead of having this PVP experience, we're talking, we're looking at more of a cooperative experience ~So now we're thinking classic monsters, and that has got to be the most classic of them are all is gonna be dragons, right? ' Cause you have anywhere from your dragon with the wings, fiery breath, always guarding something, guarding their pile of gold, or holding someone captive, or something like that. You're always gonna find that in any kind of mythology, lore, D&D campaign. Like, it's just... It's your classic thing. So how can we take this classic thing and switch it up a little bit? And this is where we started to wonder with our game design where to go, and we're still fleshing that out. ~Um, but I see great things in the works with it, right?~ Taking a classic thing and going a different direction. ~Um, ~other classic thing when you think of D&D monsters has got to be the mimic. ~Um, ~so that is, of course, [00:02:00] gonna be your shape-changing predator, right? You're going through a dungeon, you find a treasure chest, you think it's a normal chest, and turns out it's a mimic and it's trying to bite your face off. ~Total classic thing. Um, ~so how can we change this up? Is there a way to change up this D&D thing? ~Um, ~with that, my mind goes to what other inanimate objects can it become. Is it always gonna be your treasure chest, or could it be a table in the room? Or perhaps a weapon next to a, ~um, ~next to a skeleton, right? Because then you get this idea of, well, what if this, ~uh, ~sword just starts wielding on its own. ~Anyway, cool thought. But, you know, I just... ~It's fun to take things that you think are one way and just shift them completely, and I think that what... That is what makes the entire genre of tabletop role-playing so great is that we do take these different ideas, expand them, change them, and create something new. Eternity TTRPG has released a card game battler [00:03:00] which emulates combat from the tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities which everyone plays at the same time so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our sales page live now, packed with details. ~Um, ~other D&D classic things has got to be the beholder. ~Um, you know, ~your floating eye with random tentacles coming off of it, right? That's what I think of when I think of a beholder. And I feel like that is used so much to depict what D&D is, and when I see that, all I think is D&D. I never go to anything else. So with those thoughts in mind, we have been trying to decide does [00:04:00] the world of Eternity, Sparks of Eternity, have a monster that just defines Eternity Or do we have, you know, an art style that defines it or, you know, ~just, ~just something that makes it different. And, you know, as always, I'm behind the scenes 'cause I get to be with the game maker and see all of his, ~uh, ~gears rotating, right? ~So I see things coming. I'm very excited to share those eventually. I do see that coming down the line. Um, ~but in the meantime, drop any ideas for monsters that you have below that you want to see, that you have seen, any ideas, just something. You know, use it as a giant brainstorming session. ~Um, ~as always, like, comment, subscribe. Let us know how we're doing. Give me any ideas you wanna see for upcoming news and we'll catch y'all next time.