It's October 20th, 1987, and New York City is reeling. The aftershocks of Black Monday's stock market crash still resonate through the city's towering skyscrapers and bustling streets. Amid this turmoil, the city's protectors are scattered and beleaguered. The once-imposing Avengers Mansion lies in ruins, destroyed in a ruthless assault by the Masters of Evil. The X-Men grapple with the harrowing aftermath of the Mutant Massacre, their relationship with the city now entangled in a web of mistrust. The Fantastic Four's roster is in flux, missing two of their founding members. Even Spider-Man, the ever-vigilant guardian of the city, needs some bed rest after a grueling confrontation with Kraven the Hunter.

But the Big Apple never sleeps. An explosion rocks downtown Manhattan, signaling a new threat to the city. As the citizenry flee for their lives, Spider-Man swings into action, his resolve unbroken despite his recent trials. As he approaches ground zero, he's forced to wonder: are enough heroes left in the five boroughs to safeguard the city they call home?

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Marvel Action Hour is an episodic campaign for the classic Marvel Superheroes RPG. Players will take the role of established Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain Marvel. These episodes will be based on Bronze-Age comics, so you can expect four-color action that isn't afraid to take on the occasional social issue in a comic-book way.

Our first episode will be Mutagen Formula, based on the Marvel Champions scenario of the same name. Don't worry if you've played through that before. There will be plenty of surprises for everyone.

Players won't need to stick with the same heroes for every episode. For Mutagen Formula, I'm looking for characters who were active in 1987 and aren't the cosmically powered type. Thor and Dr. Strange are more powerful than I'm looking for. Shang Chi is probably too low-powered. As long as you stay somewhere in that range, I'm not too worried about "balance" between heroes. Just pick someone you'd like to play.

The Marvel Superheroes RPG is out of print and unavailable for purchase even as a PDF. That said, there is still an active and passionate community for the game, and finding digital copies is not difficult if you Google around. You can also find a free retroclone called FASERIP on DriveThruRPG, and many free character write-ups are available online.

You're still okay to play if you don't know your Marvel chronology well. I'm not trying to limit this game to grognards, and I don't expect everyone (anyone?) to remember what happened in the comics in 1987, especially since many players on this site had not yet been born. ChatGPT is a fun way to catch up on the era, but anything you need to know will be in the game. The character write-ups in the MSH Advanced Set are circa 1986, which is why I chose to set the game close to that year.

It would be awesome if someone wanted to play Spider-Man, as the campaign features a few of his nemeses, but it isn't essential.