Invincible RPG Announced by Free League

Invincible, the comic book franchise made by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, is getting a tabletop RPG by Free League Publishing. Today, Free League announced that they are publishing a Year Zero Engine superhero game based on the Invincible comics franchise. The new game was designed by Adam Bradford, a D&D Beyond founder, along with Tomas Härenstam, the lead designer of the ALIEN RPG and other games.

A Kickstarter will launch later this year, with a Core Rulebook and Starter set planned. Notably, graphic design for the project is by Johan Nohr of MORK BORG game.

In a press release announcing the project, Bradford said “Invincible is my favorite comic series, and I’ve wanted to play in this universe for many years. The way the story unfolds in a sprawling saga over the course of 144 issues – without endless retconning – lends itself particularly well to tabletop roleplaying, and I can’t wait for fans to experience their own superhero stories with the game."

“One of my very first tabletop roleplaying games was the old Marvel Superheroes by TSR, and making a superhero RPG has been a lifelong dream. I think the genre, and Invincible’s more grounded and visceral take on it, is a great fit for the Year Zero Engine game mechanics,” added Tomas Härenstam.

 

[The Soloist]

They are producing too many good games for my wallet. I'll stick with Dragonbane and Coriolis (The Dark Between the Stars).

 

[timbannock]

I love most of the Free League games, but I have to wonder: are we going to get 0, 1 or 2 supplements before it quietly goes out of print? Does it matter?

The supplement treadmill isn't something Free League seems to be interested in when it comes to their licensed titles, but given how much we got for ALIEN and a few others, clearly they are okay with doing it when it makes sense to.

IMHO, I'm almost more excited for one-and-done or very small supplement lines nowadays. As long as the game strikes the right balance of covering the important stuff in the core game (and a supplement or three), I don't need endless paid-by-the-word verbose lore dumps. Especially for licenses, which have thriving wikis that are usually more informative and better cross-referenced than we'd get in a TTRPG book anyway.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I hope the rules covering Chicken Pot Pie are good...

 

[BadEye]

I hope the rules covering Chicken Pot Pie are good...

Out of everything, this is the most important mechanical aspect of the design...I'm making sure that chicken pot pie is featured as a priority.

 

[ColinChapman]

I am genuinely intrigued, though I hope it avoids going with mats-n-minis and highly-specific movement rates, not just because I don't like 'em (which I admittedly don't) but because if there's one genre that makes 'em mostly pointless, it's supers. When one character can teleport across a city, another runs faster than a bullet train, another flies at supersonic speed, another can leap a skyscraper in a single bound, etc. having stuff like, "Moves X squares or metres." is a farce and tabletops are not big enough for the ridiculous numbers involved. Ultimately, it also doesn't make sense because supers and super teams move at the all-important speed of plot; they don't just leave Captain Slightly-Faster-Than-Normal standing there while they deal with the problem. One way or the other, he arrives when all or most of them do, so he doesn't arrive half an hour after the action has finished.

 

[Elvish Lore]

This is an auto-purchase for me.

I'm very curious how Free League's 'streamline' approach to design will be implemented here. Plus their games are super pretty. I read Invincible and like it but don't care about running a campaign in that universe; rather, I'm curious how that setting's injury and power-set ideas are implemented in a rule set.

I see some Kickstarter bashing going above so I will report that of the 100+ Kickstarters I've pledged over the years, like 90% of them delivered either on-time or close to it and in a satisfactory way. Maybe my experiences with crowdfunding are the exception but I've been mostly happy.

 

[Bolongo]

I see some Kickstarter bashing going above so I will report that of the 100+ Kickstarters I've pledged over the years, like 90% of them delivered either on-time or close to it and in a satisfactory way. Maybe my experiences with crowdfunding are the exception but I've been mostly happy.

I've backed a lot more than that, and my failure rate is only 2.5%.
Of course, part of that is drawing the right conclusions when a project flakes out, and learning to spot warning signs in the future.

 

[aramis erak]

I love most of the Free League games, but I have to wonder: are we going to get 0, 1 or 2 supplements before it quietly goes out of print? Does it matter?

Excepting the Stahlenag based three, every other one i’ve seen that was done in house got at least 3 supplements, tho i am not certain which are official for Vaesen. Most, the stores don’t keep them in stock, tho. The Stahlenag ones being Tales from the Loop, Things from the Flood, and The Electric State…,
Alien had 2 cinematic adventures, plus 2 thick splats, the next is is 2nd ed and a third splat.
T2K i have 2, and there are there are two more i don’t yet have.
Blade runner has 2, with a third in process
Coriolis New Horizon has a bunch… 6+
MYZ has 4 or 5 official, plus a ton of FL Workshop titles.
Dragonbane has 1, plus at least one in process (magic), not counting the dozen Workshop titles nor the licensed adventure.

They do pretty well at support, but not so well at getting shops to carry it.

 

[Von Ether]

Dragonbane has 1, plus at least one in process (magic), not counting the dozen Workshop titles nor the licensed adventure.

There is also an urban fantasy city book and a "Expert" book of additional Heroic Abilities and optional rules both in the works.

 

[Benji]

Excepting the Stahlenag based three, every other one i’ve seen that was done in house got at least 3 supplements, tho i am not certain which are official for Vaesen. Most, the stores don’t keep them in stock, tho. The Stahlenag ones being Tales from the Loop, Things from the Flood, and The Electric State…,
Alien had 2 cinematic adventures, plus 2 thick splats, the next is is 2nd ed and a third splat.
T2K i have 2, and there are there are two more i don’t yet have.
Blade runner has 2, with a third in process
Coriolis New Horizon has a bunch… 6+
MYZ has 4 or 5 official, plus a ton of FL Workshop titles.
Dragonbane has 1, plus at least one in process (magic), not counting the dozen Workshop titles nor the licensed adventure.

They do pretty well at support, but not so well at getting shops to carry it.

Yeah but for those us hoping for those stalenhag/ Cy_borg/walking dead content despite reassurances there would be additional releases, your picture seems to be lacking a few entries.