I’ve been a fan of Marvel comics since the early 1980s. I have fond memories of collecting issues of Fantastic Four, Iron Man, G.I. Joe, and, of course, The Transformers. Even before I became a “proper” collector, I had stacks of well-worn issues of comics shoved into the drawers under my bed. At night I would pull a few out and reread them, to the point where certain issues are burned into my mind even today. Like this panel from the first issue of The Transformers.
Naturally, I was excited when I got a chance to work on the official Transformers Role-Playing Game. And now, I’m able to check off the box for the other half of that wishlist: I have officially worked on a licensed Marvel product!
I was asked to write Revenge of the Super-Skrull, an official adventure specifically designed for the Roll20 platform. As a quick shill, you have about a week to pre-order and get it for 10% off!
This was such a cool project to work on. I mentioned being a Fantastic Four fan, so when it was suggested I could use Kl’rt the Super Skrull in an adventure, I jumped at the chance! It also made sense with the Secret Invasion TV show and new comic event all happening around this time as well (although my adventure is a bit of a different spin on those events). I even got to sneak in a reference to my favorite 90s Marvel imprint, Marvel 2099….
I didn’t have any direct contact with Marvel — I worked with a liaison — but honestly it was one of the smoothest experiences I’ve ever had working on a big-time license like this. They typically rolled with my ideas and gave me improvements on them, and when there were a couple of canon points the team and I were unsure on, they came back with solid references and access to do our own research. Of course working with the Roll20 team was fantastic as well, but it helps that I’ve been long-time friends with about half of them. All in all, I’m very proud of what the whole team accomplished, and I can’t wait to see the final product!
Whew! That’s a project I’ve had to sit on for quite a few months now, and I’m glad it’s finally out in the open! But there’s still more to talk about this month!
News Roundup
I mentioned this on Twitter/X/whatever it’s called now, but I’m going to reduce my posting, and at some point I’ll stop posting there entirely. The best place to stay in touch is this newsletter, but aside from that I’m on dice.camp, and I’ve started up a BlueSky account.
I’m writing another essay for the Everyone’s Gone to the Movies series. This one is about Fantastic Flops, and I’ve written an essay about the criminally underrated movie Speed Racer. The campaign’s nearly funded, but there’s only a few days left, so if you’re interested, swing by and check it out!
I was invited again onto the Red Moon Roleplaying podcast… this time, as a player! We did a very silly, very dark game of They Came from Bridgton Rectory! set during the Russian Revolution. I played the drunk scoundrel brother. It was a load of fun, and I appreciate having the opportunity to play once in a while.
My Media
Working on Revenge of the Super-Skrull got me back into reading a variety of things on Marvel Unlimited, including the Miller/Janson run of Daredevil which I somehow never read before. I’ve also been rereading the Larry Hama G.I. Joe from the beginning, which is such a fun and weird comic. But rather than talking about comics I love, I want to bring up a game I bought on a lark that turned out to be really fantastic: Post Mortem LA: Lucha Muerte.
It’s from the Mysterious Package company, and it’s basically their spin on Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. You get a box full of stuff, but the central pieces (to start) are a map, a directory, and a “pulp novel” of numbered entries. Like Consulting Detective, you try to find people and locations, dig up a three-digit number, and then read that numbered entry in the book to (hopefully) progress your investigation. But it’s more than that.
For one, there’s a fair bit of choose-your-own-adventure in it, too. You can pick your path in a few scenes, something missing from a lot similar games. Also, there are five “evidence bags” that contain props useful to the investigation, which adds a lot of physicality to a game that would otherwise be all paper and imagination. Finally, the writing and design are excellent. It doesn’t shy away from the problems of a Latine population in 1940s LA, nor does it fall into harmful stereotypes. The information about lucha libre is accurate to my knowledge as well (to be honest, that’s the reason I picked it up, even though it’s technically the third game in the series). And while it took me about four hours to play, it had the perfect balance of prompting advice and letting me figure things out for myself.
The downside is that it’s only one case, and once you play it, you’re done. But unlike escape room games you can play it in a way where you don’t destroy or damage anything, so I was able to pack it all back up for a future time where either I’ve forgotten the details, or I can run it as a gamemaster for my friends.
I’m seriously considering getting the other two Post Mortem LA games, but I can confirm you don’t need to play them to enjoy this one. I highly recommend Lucha Muerte if you’re a fan of Philip Marlowe, Mexican wrestling, and intriguing murder mysteries.
Whew, that was a lot to cover! I’ll see y’all next month!