''Secret Wars II'' is a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

adventure published by TSR in 1986 for the '' Marvel Super Heroes'' role-playing game.

Plot summary

''Secret Wars II'' is a supplement which presents the plot and locations featured in the "

Secret Wars II ''Secret Wars II'' is a nine-issue comic book limited series and crossover published from 1985 to 1986 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Marvel's then editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and primarily pencilled by Al Milgrom. The series wa ...

" series, including relevant game statistics for each of the superheroes and supervillains that were part of the storyline, as well as the

Beyonder The Beyonder () is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Jim Shooter and artist Mike Zeck, the Beyonder first appeared in ''Secret Wars'' #1 (May 1984) as an unseen, nigh-omnipote ...

. ''Secret Wars II'' is an adventure in which the Beyonder was originally his own universe until he learned about another universe which made him realize was not the only thing that existed, so he wants to discover other experiences. ''Secret Wars II'' contains a 32-page character book including the full cast of superheroes and supervillains who could potentially be part of the campaign as well as characters who had not appeared previously in the game , such as the

New Mutants The New Mutants are a group of fictional mutant superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, generally in association with the X-Men. Originally depicted as the teenaged junior class at the Xavier Institute, sub ...

Defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: * Defense (military) * Defense (sports) ** Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film, television, and theatre Film * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The D ...

, and

Power Pack Power Pack is a superhero team consisting of four young siblings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Louise Simonson and artist June Brigman, they first appeared in their own series in 1984, which las ...

, and other characters such as Mephisto,

Eternity Eternity, in common parlance, is an Infinity, infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside tim ...

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

, and the Watcher. Also included is a 32-page campaign book outlining the plot, and a map that covers a section of New York City with some general purpose terrain maps on the back side.

Publication history

MHSP2 ''Secret Wars II'' was written by

Jeff Grubb Jeff Grubb (born August 27, 1957) is an author of novels, short stories, and comics, as well as a computer and role-playing game designer in the fantasy genre. Grubb worked on the ''Dragonlance'' campaign setting under Tracy Hickman, and the ' ...

, with a cover by John Byrne, and was published by TSR, Inc., in 1986 as two 32-page books, a large color map, and an outer folder.

Reception

Pete Tamlyn reviewed ''Secret Wars II'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...

'' #79. He comments on the plot, stating that as "there is an awful lot to it, nothing is covered in very much detail", and that "any average GM can probably write ten times better than Jim Shooter, so you may well be able to carry it off", and goes on to say: "The essence of the plot is that the heroes are faces with an enemy who can wipe out the world with a flick of his pinky, has the education of a 2-year old and wants to grow up. The heroes have to play mummy and daddy." Despite this, Tamly considers this adventure to be "an awful lot better than '' Secret Wars I''. To start with, although there are potentially even more heroes involved, you don't have to play them all at once. Only at the end do the numbers get ridiculous. And there is quite a bit of plot to it, much of it the interesting psychological stuff. You can't out-fight The Beyonder, so you have to out-talk him. Your players should be utterly shell-shocked by the time they finish this." He complains, "as the SWII plot ran for almost a year and crossed over into almost every Marvel title, the chances of your having done this are not high. TSR have cut corners to keep the package down to a reasonable size, but not having character pictures for some of the new bad guys is a bit poor." Tamlyn concludes: "Because of its structure and basis in a particular comic story you have to be running an MSH campaign to use this. It is a must for MSG addicts because of the new characters and the map, though even they might find it too heavy to use. Anyone else, forget it."

References

{{reflist Marvel Comics role-playing game adventures Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1986