November 28, 2025 • 31 mins
Today TWIG’s special Interview, Mike “The Birdman” sits down with the Guardians of the Globe…err, we mean our friends at Free league Publishing to talk about INVINCIBLE: THE RPG
Based upon the Robert Kirkman comic book series and the Amazon Prime animated series, Invincible: The RPG is developed by Adam Bradford and Tomas härenstam and brings this brutally inventive universe together. The trio talk about game development, power scaling and what makes a superhero game so hard but fun to develop for.
Are you a teenage hero, a street defender or maybe working for Cecil himself, are you ready to become…
INVINCIBLE!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game/description
Show Notes:
Your Geekmasters:
Mike "The Birdman" - https://bsky.app/profile/birdmanguelph.bsky.social
Alex "The Producer" - https://bsky.app/profile/dethphasetwig.bsky.social
Feedback for the show?:
Email: feedback@thisweekingeek.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thisweekingeek
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thisweekingeek.net
Subscribe to our feed: https://www.spreaker.com/show/3571037/episodes/feed
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-geek/id215643675
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Lit2bzebJXMTIv7j7fkqq
Website: https://www.thisweekingeek.net
November 28, 2025
Based upon the Robert Kirkman comic book series and the Amazon Prime animated series, Invincible: The RPG is developed by Adam Bradford and Tomas härenstam and brings this brutally inventive universe together. The trio talk about game development, power scaling and what makes a superhero game so hard but fun to develop for.
Are you a teenage hero, a street defender or maybe working for Cecil himself, are you ready to become…
INVINCIBLE!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game/description
Show Notes:
Your Geekmasters:
Mike "The Birdman" - https://bsky.app/profile/birdmanguelph.bsky.social
Alex "The Producer" - https://bsky.app/profile/dethphasetwig.bsky.social
Feedback for the show?:
Email: feedback@thisweekingeek.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thisweekingeek
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thisweekingeek.net
Subscribe to our feed: https://www.spreaker.com/show/3571037/episodes/feed
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-geek/id215643675
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Lit2bzebJXMTIv7j7fkqq
Website: https://www.thisweekingeek.net
November 28, 2025
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The path of the Warrior blinds down with many roads.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Some use their fists and others their wits.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
However, Mike the Berdinant and the rest of Twig use
a power unlike any other I've encountered.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
I want them to teach me this new power in
my quest at this weekend geek dot Net, Hold.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
A good.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hello. It's time for another special feature.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Hey guys, what's going on you are listening to this
weekend geek dot Net. I'm your host, Mike the bird Net,
And well, the year is starting to wrap up here
at Twig. We've had some really fun interviews over this
last year. We've talked with people from the tt RPG industry,
We've talked with people from the.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Video game industry.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
And while I want to end the year off well,
I probably got one more of these left in me
to talk about a different ttr RPG. But this one
kind of landed at my doorstep at a funny time. So,
as you guys know, I occasionally chat with people over
at Free League. We actually talked with one of those
guys earlier this year, Thomas, and we talked about the
Alien Evolved RPG, which is now currently shipping and It
(01:12):
is pretty awesome. You can look forward to seeing more
about that in our holiday gift guides, which you'll hear
probably next Friday and the following Friday, on the fifth
and on the twelfth. But that's not what we're talking about.
I'm finally not talking about Zeno Morphs.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm actually talking.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
About a new IP to me and a new tt
RPG which is currently it just ended its Kickstarter It's
gonna be coming out next July or so, and that's
the Invincible RPG. That's the the comic book series by
Robert Kirkman. The Amazon series is currently available, with a
new season coming out in March. The stories of Mark
(01:48):
Grayson and his father Nolan, and well, if you've seen
the memes of Think Mark Think, you know exactly what
I'm talking about. But it's a ridiculously cool superhero are universe,
and to me, it's very very new and preparation for
this interview, I've marathon the first two seasons of the show,
(02:10):
let's just say I didn't expect to be as hooked
as I am. I'm literally going to my local bookstore
after this interview to see if I can find the
compendiums I'm excited. So, without any further ADEO, I want
to welcome two people who are developing this for FREELEA
one is the co founder of Free League and we've
had him on the show before. But a new guy,
(02:30):
a new challenger, if you will, is going to be approaching.
So I'm gonna be talking with Adam Bradford. He is
one of the people who worked on D and D Beyond.
He's done stuff for Cortex Prime and Marvel Thomas. The
guy needs no introduction, Alien Blade Runner, Mutant, Year zero
and Dragonbane. Gentlemen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Thank you very much for having us.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, guys, this is really exciting for me, just the
fact that you had a really successful kickstarter and again
off airs chatting with Adam. I never would have expected
the Invincible IP to work with the year zero system,
but the more I look at it, like this actually
kind of works. So I'm gonna so whoever wants to
pick up the ball and kind of run with it here,
(03:14):
Why the Invincible IP? Why Free League and why the
year zero system? Why does this synergize so well?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You want to pick that up, Adam and I can
talk to the system then you yeah, yeah, absolutely, When
we started the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I so Thomas and I were actually having lunch at
gen Con, you know these legendary lunches that people have
at these big conventions, and so I think it would
have been four years ago, maybe maybe five time flies,
but we were just you know, talking in general about games.
(03:50):
I was effusively talking about how much I love Free
League you know games and all of the products and
how great the company does. And I just said, hey,
you know, I love superheroes. Have you ever thought about
doing a superhero game? And Thomas was basically saying that,
(04:10):
you know, definitely would love to do one. And he said,
but we haven't found the right ip yet, and I said, oh,
I've got, you know, just the right ip that I
think would work so well for it. And uh and
you know, basically ask if he had heard of Invincible
and at the time he had not, and uh, but
you know, it was my favorite comic series from the
(04:32):
time it came out twenty years ago at this point,
just you know, followed it all along its original run
and I just just really love it. Thought it would
be a great fit. And so, you know, a few
years later, we were you know, talking about something else again,
and then Thomas said, hey, you know, I watched this
(04:53):
Invincible show. And then pretty much after that he went
and I think, did what you're you're about to do
U and grabbed all the compendiums and read the comic
you know, really quickly. But he was pretty hooked on
it too. So yeah, so then you know, approached approach
Skybound after that.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, I had sort of the same same reaction that
you did, Mike, just sort of not expecting to be
as hooked as I as I was. So so I
saw everything that was then available on the animated series,
and then I got a hold of all on three
of these huge compendiums and and just went through them
all and and uh. And then we started talking to Skybound,
(05:34):
who who is the publisher of the comic book, And
we had worked with them a little bit before on
some Simo Stalin hag projects, the Electric State RPG. They
earned the publisher of his some of his art books,
so we sort of knew them a little bit and
that made things easy, and we approached them and talked
to him about this and managed to agree on on
(05:56):
on this and for me, it was such a g fit.
I mean, like like Adam mentioned I've been wanting to
do a superhero RPG with the Yuzero engine for forever,
for a very long time. I think one of my
first RPGs was the original Marvel Superheroes by TSR back
in the day, so that sort of always stuck with
me as something that I'd like to do something, you know,
(06:17):
a superhero game with the years of engine. I had
some ideas that've been sort of just bancing around with
my head for years, and this just turned out to
be a great fit and a great opportunity to do that.
And I think now it's not just any superhero game,
it's the Invincible game, which as all of those superhero
tropes and things that you love about superheroes, but it
(06:39):
also has his own special vibe and sort of turns
things a little bit in a different direction, with which
I think makes the game unique. So yeah, it's a
really cool project.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
So what does the collaboration look like for something like this,
Because like Adam, you obviously have a huge kind of background, Thomas,
you do too, So when you're adapting a world like
like Invincible, because it has shades of Marvel, shades of DC,
shades of image but like you were mentioned, it does
have its own identity. I was actually saying this to
Adam off their Year zero seems like a weirdly good
(07:13):
fit because while a character like Invincible Mark Grayson could
take an awful lot of damage and then somehow, oh
look he's broken, you know, like he reaches those that
D sixty six thing that you don't want to happen,
and then other characters like say war Woman or Dark Wing,
(07:36):
they get hit the wrong way, it's not gonna go
so well for them. So what did the collaboration look
like just to adapt this very unique comic universe to
Year zero?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I mean we worked a lot, We bounced things back
and forth, I think. I mean, there was a lot
to do, not only just adapting the rules as such,
but also just you know, there's so much to describe
and develop in terms of character powers, the world. And
I think Adam, did you know most of if not
all of the you know, heavy lifting that on that end,
and then it came to mechanics that's sort of what
(08:10):
I love to do. That there was a lot of
back and forth on that front, and there it just
felt that I mean, since the user engine tends to
work well with sort of harsher environments and a bit
of a survival type gaming style. I think for the
Invincible Superhero franchise that works pretty well since it can
(08:33):
get pretty bloody and it's it's so I think that
was actually a good match. But even so, the main
challenge was to adapt our levels. I mean, normally have
an attribute scale of like one to five in year
zero for like normal people, and here you have to
have superheroes with incredible powers, and how do you sort
(08:53):
of balance that, And that is a challenge for I
think every superhero game RPG ever made, and that's something
we really worked a lot with and it's still working
with and I think we're landing now in a really
good place. I mean, there was a free quick start
available that that was I think worked pretty well, but
we also learned quite a bit since then, so we're
developing it further. So now I think we're close to
(09:16):
a place, but I think it really really works. So
we're excited to share the whole beta PDF for the
rule book pretty soon in a probably before the holidays
for the end of the year with backers, So that's
going to be that's gonna be great to see what
they think.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
So yeah, and I'll add to that, you know, just
really quickly. You know, I think one of the things,
because being such a huge superhero fan and playing games
like this for gosh, approaching you know, forty years or
however long it's been, I've played, you know, all of
them that I'm aware of anyway, you know, I've played
(09:53):
you know, every superhero game out there. And you know,
I think one of the most challenging things for a
superhero game to really nail is uh, you know what
I'll just say, scope of you know, figuring out how
much detail you want to go into, how much you
want to you know, handwave, you know, and and and
(10:14):
where where is that sweet spot in between? And I
think for both Thomas and I, uh, you know, I
think that uh, you know, uh, my favorite superhero game, uh,
you know, until this one that we're trying to make
now has been you know, that Marvel Superheroes game, because
and I think to a large degree it really got
(10:35):
scope right. That probably was the thing that it had,
you know, going the best for it. And uh and
so I think that you know, there's uh, there's definitely
some heavy inspiration there. Uh and and people that are
familiar with that game, can can kind of see that,
you know, we're wearing it on the sleeve there. But uh,
but I do think that, uh, you know, trying to
get that scope was really important for Invincible, uh, in
(10:57):
order for that to be able to work for uh,
you know, Dark Wing getting completely clobbered, uh and Invincible
taking that that clobbering. But but you know, keeping coming
back there. And so I'm u as Thomas said, We've
we've gone through so many iterations. You know, we started
this uh project, you know, quite a while back, and
(11:19):
so we've been working on it for some time. And uh,
and I really do think that we're we're getting into
a really good place and and you know, towards that
sweet spot now and uh and that's really exciting to see.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
So now that you've got this book coming out, I said,
you've got your beta rules coming out and hopefully just
a couple of weeks with everything coming out next year.
You guys had a very successful Kickstarter. When the Kickstarter,
like like I said, like you started getting more stuff unlocked,
like a bigger Rogues gallery, more guest characters kind of
showing up. What are some of the things we can
(11:54):
expect like, who are some of the characters that are
going to be shown up?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I said, I'm only in season.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Two, so be careful spoiled here for me, be gentle,
but get me excited. To you, I'd love to hear
what is coming for this because this is a universe
that seems like it would lend itself well to additional
Splat books. But also having the Guardians of the Globe
already set out and stated, but also knowing it's more
than just doc Seismic, the Mauler Twins and Angstroam stuff
(12:22):
like that. What are some of the cool things we
can expect to see in the book itself?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I don't think your best today.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yeah, yeah, I think you know, I'm trying. I'm trying
to be really careful because of the spoiler warning there. Yeah,
but but but yeah, it's uh, you know, because I've
lived and breathed this stuff for so long now that
it's it's kind of like, you know, time as a construct,
and I don't know, you know, which character came in
which place. But uh, but but what I will say
(12:51):
is we're really excited. One of the things that you know,
initially we weren't sure whether we were going to be
able to do it or not. But but we've been
able to is to include what is called Invincible Universe characters.
And so if you're in the second season the show,
several of those characters probably haven't quite made their appearance yet.
But but ultimately, you know, the the universe of Invincible
(13:17):
has been expanded. Outside of the core comic series, which
ran for one hundred and forty four issues, it tells
a single, you know, comprehensive story. But then as you're
referencing the Guardians of the Globe, they kind of end
up doing an expansion similar to Justice League and Limited
you know where it's like, you know, it goes. So
(13:38):
the Guardians get a little bit bigger, and they introduced
some new characters that we have been able to integrate
into the game. There were some separate comic series of
even you know, one of them was called tech Jacket,
and he became a really popular character in the fan base.
And so, you know, because of unlocking that stretch goal
(13:59):
in the Kickstar, we've been able to integrate those characters
into the game. And so I you know, worked on
statting out the profiles for that, and you know, it's
just a complete geeking out moment there of being able
to think about those things because you know, it reminded
me of creating characters in the old you know, Marvel
(14:20):
Superheroes game that you know, you would just dream like, Okay,
how would you make this image character? Because you know,
there wasn't an Image game back then, you know, And
so this was like, you know, kind of treading that
new ground of being able to you know, capture some
of those great characters. But but yeah, we're really excited
to be able to integrate those kind of things. And
(14:40):
I do think, you know, we we've got so many
plans for things that we would like to do for
future supplements, so you know, nothing we can talk about yet,
but we're really excited about everything that we could potentially
explore with that.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Like when I was like, again, as I'm starting to
read and as I'm starting to look at the expanded
universe of Invincible, one of the characters that really caught
my attention was battle Beast. Like, I'm a freelancer on
Star Trek and I know Battlebeast's voice by Michael Dorn
and I was like, yo, that is so awesome. And
then in the episode where Battlebee shows up and he
(15:17):
mops the floor with those guys. I'm like, when I
started prepping for the interview, if Thiss like I could
base an entire campaign around this, like I want to
know more about his.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
And Skybound kind of has has started to do that,
which which is really fascinating. So there is a Battle
Beast series that just debuted, you know, probably six months
ago or something, because because we're in issue six of
it right now, and and ultimately with that that moment
in the show that you're referencing where you know, he
(15:49):
mops the floor and then he literally teleports the way
and just says like, yeah, this was not I was
not impressed with this. I'm out of here there and
uh and once he leaves there, there's literally like this, Uh,
you know in the comics series, uh you you know,
don't see Battle Beast for a very long time. Well,
you know, now they're going back and exploring, Okay, once
(16:11):
he teleported away there what happened with Battle Beasts. And
so that's been a really cool process to see new
Invincible content coming out for the first time in several years.
And I've absolutely loved, you know, what I've seen in
these first six issues, and we've already incorporated you know,
they've expanded some of the Battle Beast's lore in these
(16:32):
six issues already, and we've already incorporated that into the game.
So so that that process is really, uh, you know,
fascinating to see that unfold like that too. So one
of the questions I'd love to ask you both, because
obviously this would have to be a collaboration. You've Marvel,
you've referenced the Marvel Heroic role Player. What the game
(16:52):
about you phase rip?
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Either way, how did you guys get the scale right
for because like when you're back in the day, you'd
have that sliding scale of trying to like who has
like a green power, yellow power, et cetera. And here,
obviously Monster Girl is quite different from Rexplode or Atam
(17:14):
or Atamy versus like kind of robot, Like how is
developing the stats for these guys? Like how did you
guys manage to find the right balance with that? And
who are who was the hardest character to get mechanically
right without being either ope or like they're gonna walk
into a fight and get frigging pasted.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, no, that that is that is a big challenge
and I think, you know, that's something we discovered pretty
early on that that is definitely a big challenge and
but a fun one. And I think what we've been
doing is that we I think had the idea from
early on to expand the scale. I mean, like I mentioned,
your zero typically has back and one to five attribute scales,
so we wanted to increase that just to signal that
(17:54):
in this game, you're you go way beyond your normal,
so the scale is different. But then also you sort
of introduce the logarithmic aspect to this, that that's some
where you go up from like a six to a
seven to an eight. It's not just a you know,
you're one pretty major level stronger than on the on
(18:17):
the step below. So one reference that I had when
I started working with this was actually a very different
game Twila two thousand that we do, which is a
fairly semi realistic military type RPG. But I wanted to
feel like when you face like someone fairly normal, it
is this like omnimn it should be like facing a
(18:37):
tank in twel of two thousand, it should feel like that.
That's sort of what going going into this is what
we tried to do but then yeah, of course balancing
a little bit so that even if you're a Rexplode
or someone perhaps a little bit less powerful, you still
have to be able to play a meaningful part in
the game. So that's just balancing all of that, right,
I think, is what we've been working on, and right
(18:59):
now I think it's together. I think for the most
difficult character to adapt, I think one that we struggle
with quite a bit is Adam Eve right Adam.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, so Adam Eve is, you know, and and that
is among the fan base, that is a you know,
big topic that constantly comes up because you know, on paper,
her powers are you know, kind of ridiculous. You know,
she can do theoretically so many things. And I think
(19:29):
that that's the important part that we've kept in mind
is just like Thomas is saying between Rexplode that you know,
might not again on paper, feel as powerful. I think
the important thing, and this happens in virtually every Superhero universe,
is you know, Captain America on paper is nowhere near
as powerful as the Hulk, but the number of times
(19:51):
that he has defeated the Hulk in actual direct combat
is pretty staggering. When you go back through and look
at this, you know, and so it's like, how does
that happen? And you know, I love it, and uh,
you know, some of the older Marvel games they had
something called Edge that they used and basically Captain America
had this huge edge score, you know, and so that
(20:11):
that was the equalizer. And and I think that you know,
for us, at the end of the day, it comes
down to their their role in the plot and how
the story is told is similar that even though you know,
Rex on paper has a less impressive you know power
maybe than than Adam Eve, in this case, they ultimately
(20:34):
kind of you know, they they are teammates. They are
our colleagues, you know, on you know team teams starting
out and everything. And so I think, I think that
that's the the thing is that they can both hold
their own, uh in the stories that are being told.
And and really that's what we wanted to make sure
of was that, you know, yes, if you have dark Wing,
(20:55):
who you know, at least the original dark Wing had
no you know, super natural abilities, superpowers, he you know,
he could still hold his own against some of these
other characters, and you know, he he had his role
to play in those fights and so balancing between is
always a challenge, But I think at the end of
(21:16):
the day, you want the players that are playing these
heroes to feel like they are impacting the story in
the same way that those characters do in the comics.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
So with all that in mind, like we've talked about
all the major established characters, but what does character creation
look like for something like this? Because obviously the Invincient
universe has a wide scope of abilities from like I said,
Autumn with with like Adam eves like energy and matter manipulation, rexplode,
(21:47):
kind of being like Gambit by way of Timu, stuff
like that. Like, I'm like, literally, as you two were talking,
I'm thinking, what is my character going to look like?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Here?
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Already have kind of an idea for an an indigenous
them spiritual character with like ghost powers.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So what does character creation and generating your.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Powers look like for something like this to scale with
everybody else?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, I mean, I think one concept that Adam introduced
early on was we have like hero ranks, so you
can sort of choose what level you want to have
your group on, going from Team Upstarts at the lowest
level to Street Defenders Global Guardians, which is sort of
the effault level and then Cosmic Champions, which is basically
(22:37):
those superpowered mega heroes that go across space and fight
like galactic threats and things. So that was a good,
great starting point to have, so you can sort of
where you want to place your campaign or your game on,
what sort of general power level do you want to
be at, So that won't that's the starting point. But
then we also wanted to of course, yeah, this game,
(23:02):
I think even though it's the Invincible RPG and we
want to explore that universe, we also wanted to be
a vehicle and a tool set for creating your own
superhero stories, you know, in the Invincible universe or in
any universe if you like. So it's a very comprehensive,
i think character creation system where you create your civilian
(23:24):
side of your character, of course the superhero side. And
there's like i think at this point, sixty nine different
powers and then many of those common different levels and
with different like boosts and limits that modify them. So
there's a wide range of our statutes from and then
add to that there are talents which are a bit
less powerful, but that if you like a small edge drawbacks,
(23:47):
there is that and then there are ways to develop
your character's personality in a different way drives them. Of course,
they have key relationships both the other heroes and the team,
but also to civilians like NPCs that you have to
manage your sort of civilian life. So there's I think
a pretty wide range of tools, a pretty wide scope
(24:09):
for character creation, even things like developing your team base,
getting at like a team vehicle, things like that. So
there's a I think you really can go to town with
creating your character and also your hero team. So I
think there's a lot there. Do you want to add
anything to that.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, I think that, you know. The The other part
there that that we thought early on was going to
be really important is that there are a whole lot
of options that players can pick up here. And sometimes
inspiration in the first place is one of the toughest
challenges for a player to come up with, especially if
(24:48):
they've you know, just come in from work, they're sitting
down at the gaming table and they didn't have time
to give it thought, you know, before in And so
we also have archetypes and that that's a really important
part here, and we almost thought about those in video
game terms as load outs essentially that you know, hey,
you can have one of the archetypes is called the
(25:11):
metamorph and so you know, if you play a metamorph,
if you if you want to play a shape shifter
like Mystique or you know, possibly you know Martian Man
from Invincible, you know that kind of thing, then you
can essentially just go to this archetype, making that character
creation a whole lot easier because it's going to suggest powers,
(25:35):
it's going to you know, suggest allow you to roll
talents that would be appropriate and applicable to that kind
of you know, kind of iconic archetype in the comic space.
And so, you know, I think that archetypes are a
great way, and you know, you can always customize. So
if you don't quite like what you see there with
(25:56):
the archetypes, so even for the character concept that you
brought up, it could potentially be going to an archetype
like the Shaper and making a few tweaks to really
make it fit that concept best.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, good point the archetypes there,
because they really there's like sixteen of them, which is
quite a lot, but they because there are so many
options in character creation, it can really help when you
want to, you know, get to the table quickly and
have or just have something to starting point. So that's
that's a good point.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Yeah, Like, like, the more I hear about this, the
more excited I'm getting, because like I've played a couple
of superhero games, like I've played the TSR one. I
played one game of the Cortex one, which by the way,
doesn't get nearly enough love. I've played the new Marvel
six one six game by Matt far Back, and I
(26:49):
really enjoy that one. But this one, I said, I
like the idea, Like, here's a bunch of art types.
But if you don't, here's like sixty something powers. Figure
it out and not gonna lie while you guys are chatting.
All right, Cool, I've got this idea worked out. Awesome,
I can make my character and I just have to
find an artist to draw this.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
This is Yeah, It's rare to get this excited for
an ip that I'm so new to. But then again,
you guys have really picked like the perfect time. We've
got the Invincible Versus Fighting game coming out next year
and I didn't get into the the beta, and damn it,
but the new season of the show is coming out
in March. There's new comics coming out, like literally, like
(27:30):
I said, I'm gonna go get the Companions. But now
that Adam mentioned Battle Beast, I guess I got six
issues of comics to go find later on today. So
this is exciting, guys, Like, I'm really looking forward to
seeing this, and you guys said there might be more
cool stuff in the pipeline you can't talk about yet,
but I will be back. I'm gonna get my own
version of Cecil and Donald and we are gonna talk.
(27:52):
But regardless, I'm excited for this guy. So thank you
for taking time out of your days. I know for Adam,
it's probably Turkey.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Day today, so thank you again.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
And not quite but you know, all the preparations go
on for like a week round here, so.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
Yeah, you guys take that haliway ridiculously seriously. And then
Thomas is Thursday. But yeah, guys, again, thank you so much.
We are gonna be talking again, like once I get
a once I get my hand on hands on the
rules for this and I can start creating stuff. I
think we're gonna have another conversation, looking forward to seeing
(28:28):
this come out next year. When are when are pre
orders expected to open next year because now that the
Kickstarter is over, I presume late pledges are probably done too.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Late pedges are actually still available, so that's there. Yeah,
you can actually make a late pedge right now, and
then there's going to be more more of a regular
pre order closer to the release, which is going to
be sometime late summer most likely.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Fantastic guys.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Well, once again, thank you so much for joining us
here on this weekend gieg. I wish you guys all
the success in the world, and I too cannot wait
to be well. See if I had a title card,
it would pop up here, but I don't, but you
know what I'm going for. So guys, that was my
interview with Adam and Thomas. This game sounds awesome, Like.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Seriously, the Invincible universe is not.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Something I expected to like this much, but you guys
know how I really don't sleep, and the fact that
I'm able to stay up all night in Marathon Invincible.
I'm gonna be getting the fighting game. I'm going to
my local Compic store to pick this up today. This
is exciting. I haven't been typed about a game like
this in years, and it's kind of refreshing, not since like, well,
I guess the Aliens evolved really had me excited. But
(29:42):
this is cool, Like honestly, I'm looking forward to it.
Freely has been really good to us, so we'll be
talking about this for sure next year. And this is
something I've added into my Holiday Gift Guide as new
and upcoming, so when that comes out, hopefully things are
still available.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Please check this out. There's gonna be lots of information.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
There's a lot some people on YouTube talking about this
right now, so go give this a check out. Go
to Freelya's website, just type in Invincible RPG. You'll find
out more and just listen to people. I said, this
is gonna be awesome. So anyway, guys, I'm gonna get
out here. I have a lot of books to read
between now and Holiday Gift Guide, So I'll be back
with Alex doing the final live show of the year,
(30:21):
which will be taking place probably on Monday, if not
Sunday of this week, and then we are in Holiday
Gift Guide prep and we also have the Game Awards
from Los Angeles coming up the week of the tenth,
so we'll be talking about that and then our last
big holiday gift guide you can look for on December twelfth.
Your last minute holiday needs be the video games, movies, television,
(30:44):
or something weird for the cap. That's what we're gonna
be talking about. So anyway, guys, I am going to
get out of here. I've been Mike the Birdman saying,
be excellent to each other and we will be back
right here on This Week in Geek dot Net.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
At no point and you're rambling incoherent response, were you
even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought?
Speaker 5 (31:07):
Thanks for listening to this episode of This Week in Geek.
Hungry for more, check out our website at this Week
in Geek dot Net. You can subscribe to the podcast,
browse our Twitter and Instagram, and leave your thoughts on
today's topics. If you'd like to give us some feedback,
send us an email at Feedback at this Week in
Geek dot Net. Tune in next time, and remember.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Lower your shields and surrender your listenership.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
We would be on a if you would join us.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Good night,
The path of the Warrior blinds down with many roads.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Some use their fists and others their wits.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
However, Mike the Berdinant and the rest of Twig use
a power unlike any other I've encountered.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
I want them to teach me this new power in
my quest at this weekend geek dot Net, Hold.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
A good.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hello. It's time for another special feature.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Hey guys, what's going on you are listening to this
weekend geek dot Net. I'm your host, Mike the bird Net,
And well, the year is starting to wrap up here
at Twig. We've had some really fun interviews over this
last year. We've talked with people from the tt RPG industry,
We've talked with people from the.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Video game industry.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
And while I want to end the year off well,
I probably got one more of these left in me
to talk about a different ttr RPG. But this one
kind of landed at my doorstep at a funny time. So,
as you guys know, I occasionally chat with people over
at Free League. We actually talked with one of those
guys earlier this year, Thomas, and we talked about the
Alien Evolved RPG, which is now currently shipping and It
(01:12):
is pretty awesome. You can look forward to seeing more
about that in our holiday gift guides, which you'll hear
probably next Friday and the following Friday, on the fifth
and on the twelfth. But that's not what we're talking about.
I'm finally not talking about Zeno Morphs.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm actually talking.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
About a new IP to me and a new tt
RPG which is currently it just ended its Kickstarter It's
gonna be coming out next July or so, and that's
the Invincible RPG. That's the the comic book series by
Robert Kirkman. The Amazon series is currently available, with a
new season coming out in March. The stories of Mark
(01:48):
Grayson and his father Nolan, and well, if you've seen
the memes of Think Mark Think, you know exactly what
I'm talking about. But it's a ridiculously cool superhero are universe,
and to me, it's very very new and preparation for
this interview, I've marathon the first two seasons of the show,
(02:10):
let's just say I didn't expect to be as hooked
as I am. I'm literally going to my local bookstore
after this interview to see if I can find the
compendiums I'm excited. So, without any further ADEO, I want
to welcome two people who are developing this for FREELEA
one is the co founder of Free League and we've
had him on the show before. But a new guy,
(02:30):
a new challenger, if you will, is going to be approaching.
So I'm gonna be talking with Adam Bradford. He is
one of the people who worked on D and D Beyond.
He's done stuff for Cortex Prime and Marvel Thomas. The
guy needs no introduction, Alien Blade Runner, Mutant, Year zero
and Dragonbane. Gentlemen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Thank you very much for having us.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, guys, this is really exciting for me, just the
fact that you had a really successful kickstarter and again
off airs chatting with Adam. I never would have expected
the Invincible IP to work with the year zero system,
but the more I look at it, like this actually
kind of works. So I'm gonna so whoever wants to
pick up the ball and kind of run with it here,
(03:14):
Why the Invincible IP? Why Free League and why the
year zero system? Why does this synergize so well?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You want to pick that up, Adam and I can
talk to the system then you yeah, yeah, absolutely, When
we started the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I so Thomas and I were actually having lunch at
gen Con, you know these legendary lunches that people have
at these big conventions, and so I think it would
have been four years ago, maybe maybe five time flies,
but we were just you know, talking in general about games.
(03:50):
I was effusively talking about how much I love Free
League you know games and all of the products and
how great the company does. And I just said, hey,
you know, I love superheroes. Have you ever thought about
doing a superhero game? And Thomas was basically saying that,
(04:10):
you know, definitely would love to do one. And he said,
but we haven't found the right ip yet, and I said, oh,
I've got, you know, just the right ip that I
think would work so well for it. And uh and
you know, basically ask if he had heard of Invincible
and at the time he had not, and uh, but
you know, it was my favorite comic series from the
(04:32):
time it came out twenty years ago at this point,
just you know, followed it all along its original run
and I just just really love it. Thought it would
be a great fit. And so, you know, a few
years later, we were you know, talking about something else again,
and then Thomas said, hey, you know, I watched this
(04:53):
Invincible show. And then pretty much after that he went
and I think, did what you're you're about to do
U and grabbed all the compendiums and read the comic
you know, really quickly. But he was pretty hooked on
it too. So yeah, so then you know, approached approach
Skybound after that.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, I had sort of the same same reaction that
you did, Mike, just sort of not expecting to be
as hooked as I as I was. So so I
saw everything that was then available on the animated series,
and then I got a hold of all on three
of these huge compendiums and and just went through them
all and and uh. And then we started talking to Skybound,
(05:34):
who who is the publisher of the comic book, And
we had worked with them a little bit before on
some Simo Stalin hag projects, the Electric State RPG. They
earned the publisher of his some of his art books,
so we sort of knew them a little bit and
that made things easy, and we approached them and talked
to him about this and managed to agree on on
(05:56):
on this and for me, it was such a g fit.
I mean, like like Adam mentioned I've been wanting to
do a superhero RPG with the Yuzero engine for forever,
for a very long time. I think one of my
first RPGs was the original Marvel Superheroes by TSR back
in the day, so that sort of always stuck with
me as something that I'd like to do something, you know,
(06:17):
a superhero game with the years of engine. I had
some ideas that've been sort of just bancing around with
my head for years, and this just turned out to
be a great fit and a great opportunity to do that.
And I think now it's not just any superhero game,
it's the Invincible game, which as all of those superhero
tropes and things that you love about superheroes, but it
(06:39):
also has his own special vibe and sort of turns
things a little bit in a different direction, with which
I think makes the game unique. So yeah, it's a
really cool project.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
So what does the collaboration look like for something like this,
Because like Adam, you obviously have a huge kind of background, Thomas,
you do too, So when you're adapting a world like
like Invincible, because it has shades of Marvel, shades of DC,
shades of image but like you were mentioned, it does
have its own identity. I was actually saying this to
Adam off their Year zero seems like a weirdly good
(07:13):
fit because while a character like Invincible Mark Grayson could
take an awful lot of damage and then somehow, oh
look he's broken, you know, like he reaches those that
D sixty six thing that you don't want to happen,
and then other characters like say war Woman or Dark Wing,
(07:36):
they get hit the wrong way, it's not gonna go
so well for them. So what did the collaboration look
like just to adapt this very unique comic universe to
Year zero?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I mean we worked a lot, We bounced things back
and forth, I think. I mean, there was a lot
to do, not only just adapting the rules as such,
but also just you know, there's so much to describe
and develop in terms of character powers, the world. And
I think Adam, did you know most of if not
all of the you know, heavy lifting that on that end,
and then it came to mechanics that's sort of what
(08:10):
I love to do. That there was a lot of
back and forth on that front, and there it just
felt that I mean, since the user engine tends to
work well with sort of harsher environments and a bit
of a survival type gaming style. I think for the
Invincible Superhero franchise that works pretty well since it can
(08:33):
get pretty bloody and it's it's so I think that
was actually a good match. But even so, the main
challenge was to adapt our levels. I mean, normally have
an attribute scale of like one to five in year
zero for like normal people, and here you have to
have superheroes with incredible powers, and how do you sort
(08:53):
of balance that, And that is a challenge for I
think every superhero game RPG ever made, and that's something
we really worked a lot with and it's still working
with and I think we're landing now in a really
good place. I mean, there was a free quick start
available that that was I think worked pretty well, but
we also learned quite a bit since then, so we're
developing it further. So now I think we're close to
(09:16):
a place, but I think it really really works. So
we're excited to share the whole beta PDF for the
rule book pretty soon in a probably before the holidays
for the end of the year with backers, So that's
going to be that's gonna be great to see what
they think.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
So yeah, and I'll add to that, you know, just
really quickly. You know, I think one of the things,
because being such a huge superhero fan and playing games
like this for gosh, approaching you know, forty years or
however long it's been, I've played, you know, all of
them that I'm aware of anyway, you know, I've played
(09:53):
you know, every superhero game out there. And you know,
I think one of the most challenging things for a
superhero game to really nail is uh, you know what
I'll just say, scope of you know, figuring out how
much detail you want to go into, how much you
want to you know, handwave, you know, and and and
(10:14):
where where is that sweet spot in between? And I
think for both Thomas and I, uh, you know, I
think that uh, you know, uh, my favorite superhero game, uh,
you know, until this one that we're trying to make
now has been you know, that Marvel Superheroes game, because
and I think to a large degree it really got
(10:35):
scope right. That probably was the thing that it had,
you know, going the best for it. And uh and
so I think that you know, there's uh, there's definitely
some heavy inspiration there. Uh and and people that are
familiar with that game, can can kind of see that,
you know, we're wearing it on the sleeve there. But uh,
but I do think that, uh, you know, trying to
get that scope was really important for Invincible, uh, in
(10:57):
order for that to be able to work for uh,
you know, Dark Wing getting completely clobbered, uh and Invincible
taking that that clobbering. But but you know, keeping coming
back there. And so I'm u as Thomas said, We've
we've gone through so many iterations. You know, we started
this uh project, you know, quite a while back, and
(11:19):
so we've been working on it for some time. And uh,
and I really do think that we're we're getting into
a really good place and and you know, towards that
sweet spot now and uh and that's really exciting to see.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
So now that you've got this book coming out, I said,
you've got your beta rules coming out and hopefully just
a couple of weeks with everything coming out next year.
You guys had a very successful Kickstarter. When the Kickstarter,
like like I said, like you started getting more stuff unlocked,
like a bigger Rogues gallery, more guest characters kind of
showing up. What are some of the things we can
(11:54):
expect like, who are some of the characters that are
going to be shown up?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I said, I'm only in season.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Two, so be careful spoiled here for me, be gentle,
but get me excited. To you, I'd love to hear
what is coming for this because this is a universe
that seems like it would lend itself well to additional
Splat books. But also having the Guardians of the Globe
already set out and stated, but also knowing it's more
than just doc Seismic, the Mauler Twins and Angstroam stuff
(12:22):
like that. What are some of the cool things we
can expect to see in the book itself?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I don't think your best today.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yeah, yeah, I think you know, I'm trying. I'm trying
to be really careful because of the spoiler warning there. Yeah,
but but but yeah, it's uh, you know, because I've
lived and breathed this stuff for so long now that
it's it's kind of like, you know, time as a construct,
and I don't know, you know, which character came in
which place. But uh, but but what I will say
(12:51):
is we're really excited. One of the things that you know,
initially we weren't sure whether we were going to be
able to do it or not. But but we've been
able to is to include what is called Invincible Universe characters.
And so if you're in the second season the show,
several of those characters probably haven't quite made their appearance yet.
But but ultimately, you know, the the universe of Invincible
(13:17):
has been expanded. Outside of the core comic series, which
ran for one hundred and forty four issues, it tells
a single, you know, comprehensive story. But then as you're
referencing the Guardians of the Globe, they kind of end
up doing an expansion similar to Justice League and Limited
you know where it's like, you know, it goes. So
(13:38):
the Guardians get a little bit bigger, and they introduced
some new characters that we have been able to integrate
into the game. There were some separate comic series of
even you know, one of them was called tech Jacket,
and he became a really popular character in the fan base.
And so, you know, because of unlocking that stretch goal
(13:59):
in the Kickstar, we've been able to integrate those characters
into the game. And so I you know, worked on
statting out the profiles for that, and you know, it's
just a complete geeking out moment there of being able
to think about those things because you know, it reminded
me of creating characters in the old you know, Marvel
(14:20):
Superheroes game that you know, you would just dream like, Okay,
how would you make this image character? Because you know,
there wasn't an Image game back then, you know, And
so this was like, you know, kind of treading that
new ground of being able to you know, capture some
of those great characters. But but yeah, we're really excited
to be able to integrate those kind of things. And
(14:40):
I do think, you know, we we've got so many
plans for things that we would like to do for
future supplements, so you know, nothing we can talk about yet,
but we're really excited about everything that we could potentially
explore with that.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Like when I was like, again, as I'm starting to
read and as I'm starting to look at the expanded
universe of Invincible, one of the characters that really caught
my attention was battle Beast. Like, I'm a freelancer on
Star Trek and I know Battlebeast's voice by Michael Dorn
and I was like, yo, that is so awesome. And
then in the episode where Battlebee shows up and he
(15:17):
mops the floor with those guys. I'm like, when I
started prepping for the interview, if Thiss like I could
base an entire campaign around this, like I want to
know more about his.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
And Skybound kind of has has started to do that,
which which is really fascinating. So there is a Battle
Beast series that just debuted, you know, probably six months
ago or something, because because we're in issue six of
it right now, and and ultimately with that that moment
in the show that you're referencing where you know, he
(15:49):
mops the floor and then he literally teleports the way
and just says like, yeah, this was not I was
not impressed with this. I'm out of here there and
uh and once he leaves there, there's literally like this, Uh,
you know in the comics series, uh you you know,
don't see Battle Beast for a very long time. Well,
you know, now they're going back and exploring, Okay, once
(16:11):
he teleported away there what happened with Battle Beasts. And
so that's been a really cool process to see new
Invincible content coming out for the first time in several years.
And I've absolutely loved, you know, what I've seen in
these first six issues, and we've already incorporated you know,
they've expanded some of the Battle Beast's lore in these
(16:32):
six issues already, and we've already incorporated that into the game.
So so that that process is really, uh, you know,
fascinating to see that unfold like that too. So one
of the questions I'd love to ask you both, because
obviously this would have to be a collaboration. You've Marvel,
you've referenced the Marvel Heroic role Player. What the game
(16:52):
about you phase rip?
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Either way, how did you guys get the scale right
for because like when you're back in the day, you'd
have that sliding scale of trying to like who has
like a green power, yellow power, et cetera. And here,
obviously Monster Girl is quite different from Rexplode or Atam
(17:14):
or Atamy versus like kind of robot, Like how is
developing the stats for these guys? Like how did you
guys manage to find the right balance with that? And
who are who was the hardest character to get mechanically
right without being either ope or like they're gonna walk
into a fight and get frigging pasted.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, no, that that is that is a big challenge
and I think, you know, that's something we discovered pretty
early on that that is definitely a big challenge and
but a fun one. And I think what we've been
doing is that we I think had the idea from
early on to expand the scale. I mean, like I mentioned,
your zero typically has back and one to five attribute scales,
so we wanted to increase that just to signal that
(17:54):
in this game, you're you go way beyond your normal,
so the scale is different. But then also you sort
of introduce the logarithmic aspect to this, that that's some
where you go up from like a six to a
seven to an eight. It's not just a you know,
you're one pretty major level stronger than on the on
(18:17):
the step below. So one reference that I had when
I started working with this was actually a very different
game Twila two thousand that we do, which is a
fairly semi realistic military type RPG. But I wanted to
feel like when you face like someone fairly normal, it
is this like omnimn it should be like facing a
(18:37):
tank in twel of two thousand, it should feel like that.
That's sort of what going going into this is what
we tried to do but then yeah, of course balancing
a little bit so that even if you're a Rexplode
or someone perhaps a little bit less powerful, you still
have to be able to play a meaningful part in
the game. So that's just balancing all of that, right,
I think, is what we've been working on, and right
(18:59):
now I think it's together. I think for the most
difficult character to adapt, I think one that we struggle
with quite a bit is Adam Eve right Adam.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, so Adam Eve is, you know, and and that
is among the fan base, that is a you know,
big topic that constantly comes up because you know, on paper,
her powers are you know, kind of ridiculous. You know,
she can do theoretically so many things. And I think
(19:29):
that that's the important part that we've kept in mind
is just like Thomas is saying between Rexplode that you know,
might not again on paper, feel as powerful. I think
the important thing, and this happens in virtually every Superhero universe,
is you know, Captain America on paper is nowhere near
as powerful as the Hulk, but the number of times
(19:51):
that he has defeated the Hulk in actual direct combat
is pretty staggering. When you go back through and look
at this, you know, and so it's like, how does
that happen? And you know, I love it, and uh,
you know, some of the older Marvel games they had
something called Edge that they used and basically Captain America
had this huge edge score, you know, and so that
(20:11):
that was the equalizer. And and I think that you know,
for us, at the end of the day, it comes
down to their their role in the plot and how
the story is told is similar that even though you know,
Rex on paper has a less impressive you know power
maybe than than Adam Eve, in this case, they ultimately
(20:34):
kind of you know, they they are teammates. They are
our colleagues, you know, on you know team teams starting
out and everything. And so I think, I think that
that's the the thing is that they can both hold
their own, uh in the stories that are being told.
And and really that's what we wanted to make sure
of was that, you know, yes, if you have dark Wing,
(20:55):
who you know, at least the original dark Wing had
no you know, super natural abilities, superpowers, he you know,
he could still hold his own against some of these
other characters, and you know, he he had his role
to play in those fights and so balancing between is
always a challenge, But I think at the end of
(21:16):
the day, you want the players that are playing these
heroes to feel like they are impacting the story in
the same way that those characters do in the comics.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
So with all that in mind, like we've talked about
all the major established characters, but what does character creation
look like for something like this? Because obviously the Invincient
universe has a wide scope of abilities from like I said,
Autumn with with like Adam eves like energy and matter manipulation, rexplode,
(21:47):
kind of being like Gambit by way of Timu, stuff
like that. Like, I'm like, literally, as you two were talking,
I'm thinking, what is my character going to look like?
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Here?
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Already have kind of an idea for an an indigenous
them spiritual character with like ghost powers.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So what does character creation and generating your.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Powers look like for something like this to scale with
everybody else?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, I mean, I think one concept that Adam introduced
early on was we have like hero ranks, so you
can sort of choose what level you want to have
your group on, going from Team Upstarts at the lowest
level to Street Defenders Global Guardians, which is sort of
the effault level and then Cosmic Champions, which is basically
(22:37):
those superpowered mega heroes that go across space and fight
like galactic threats and things. So that was a good,
great starting point to have, so you can sort of
where you want to place your campaign or your game on,
what sort of general power level do you want to
be at, So that won't that's the starting point. But
then we also wanted to of course, yeah, this game,
(23:02):
I think even though it's the Invincible RPG and we
want to explore that universe, we also wanted to be
a vehicle and a tool set for creating your own
superhero stories, you know, in the Invincible universe or in
any universe if you like. So it's a very comprehensive,
i think character creation system where you create your civilian
(23:24):
side of your character, of course the superhero side. And
there's like i think at this point, sixty nine different
powers and then many of those common different levels and
with different like boosts and limits that modify them. So
there's a wide range of our statutes from and then
add to that there are talents which are a bit
less powerful, but that if you like a small edge drawbacks,
(23:47):
there is that and then there are ways to develop
your character's personality in a different way drives them. Of course,
they have key relationships both the other heroes and the team,
but also to civilians like NPCs that you have to
manage your sort of civilian life. So there's I think
a pretty wide range of tools, a pretty wide scope
(24:09):
for character creation, even things like developing your team base,
getting at like a team vehicle, things like that. So
there's a I think you really can go to town with
creating your character and also your hero team. So I
think there's a lot there. Do you want to add
anything to that.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Yeah, I think that, you know. The The other part
there that that we thought early on was going to
be really important is that there are a whole lot
of options that players can pick up here. And sometimes
inspiration in the first place is one of the toughest
challenges for a player to come up with, especially if
(24:48):
they've you know, just come in from work, they're sitting
down at the gaming table and they didn't have time
to give it thought, you know, before in And so
we also have archetypes and that that's a really important
part here, and we almost thought about those in video
game terms as load outs essentially that you know, hey,
you can have one of the archetypes is called the
(25:11):
metamorph and so you know, if you play a metamorph,
if you if you want to play a shape shifter
like Mystique or you know, possibly you know Martian Man
from Invincible, you know that kind of thing, then you
can essentially just go to this archetype, making that character
creation a whole lot easier because it's going to suggest powers,
(25:35):
it's going to you know, suggest allow you to roll
talents that would be appropriate and applicable to that kind
of you know, kind of iconic archetype in the comic space.
And so, you know, I think that archetypes are a
great way, and you know, you can always customize. So
if you don't quite like what you see there with
(25:56):
the archetypes, so even for the character concept that you
brought up, it could potentially be going to an archetype
like the Shaper and making a few tweaks to really
make it fit that concept best.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, good point the archetypes there,
because they really there's like sixteen of them, which is
quite a lot, but they because there are so many
options in character creation, it can really help when you
want to, you know, get to the table quickly and
have or just have something to starting point. So that's
that's a good point.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Yeah, Like, like, the more I hear about this, the
more excited I'm getting, because like I've played a couple
of superhero games, like I've played the TSR one. I
played one game of the Cortex one, which by the way,
doesn't get nearly enough love. I've played the new Marvel
six one six game by Matt far Back, and I
(26:49):
really enjoy that one. But this one, I said, I
like the idea, Like, here's a bunch of art types.
But if you don't, here's like sixty something powers. Figure
it out and not gonna lie while you guys are chatting.
All right, Cool, I've got this idea worked out. Awesome,
I can make my character and I just have to
find an artist to draw this.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
This is Yeah, It's rare to get this excited for
an ip that I'm so new to. But then again,
you guys have really picked like the perfect time. We've
got the Invincible Versus Fighting game coming out next year
and I didn't get into the the beta, and damn it,
but the new season of the show is coming out
in March. There's new comics coming out, like literally, like
(27:30):
I said, I'm gonna go get the Companions. But now
that Adam mentioned Battle Beast, I guess I got six
issues of comics to go find later on today. So
this is exciting, guys, Like, I'm really looking forward to
seeing this, and you guys said there might be more
cool stuff in the pipeline you can't talk about yet,
but I will be back. I'm gonna get my own
version of Cecil and Donald and we are gonna talk.
(27:52):
But regardless, I'm excited for this guy. So thank you
for taking time out of your days. I know for Adam,
it's probably Turkey.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Day today, so thank you again.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
And not quite but you know, all the preparations go
on for like a week round here, so.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
Yeah, you guys take that haliway ridiculously seriously. And then
Thomas is Thursday. But yeah, guys, again, thank you so much.
We are gonna be talking again, like once I get
a once I get my hand on hands on the
rules for this and I can start creating stuff. I
think we're gonna have another conversation, looking forward to seeing
(28:28):
this come out next year. When are when are pre
orders expected to open next year because now that the
Kickstarter is over, I presume late pledges are probably done too.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Late pedges are actually still available, so that's there. Yeah,
you can actually make a late pedge right now, and
then there's going to be more more of a regular
pre order closer to the release, which is going to
be sometime late summer most likely.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Fantastic guys.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Well, once again, thank you so much for joining us
here on this weekend gieg. I wish you guys all
the success in the world, and I too cannot wait
to be well. See if I had a title card,
it would pop up here, but I don't, but you
know what I'm going for. So guys, that was my
interview with Adam and Thomas. This game sounds awesome, Like.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Seriously, the Invincible universe is not.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Something I expected to like this much, but you guys
know how I really don't sleep, and the fact that
I'm able to stay up all night in Marathon Invincible.
I'm gonna be getting the fighting game. I'm going to
my local Compic store to pick this up today. This
is exciting. I haven't been typed about a game like
this in years, and it's kind of refreshing, not since like, well,
I guess the Aliens evolved really had me excited. But
(29:42):
this is cool, Like honestly, I'm looking forward to it.
Freely has been really good to us, so we'll be
talking about this for sure next year. And this is
something I've added into my Holiday Gift Guide as new
and upcoming, so when that comes out, hopefully things are
still available.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Please check this out. There's gonna be lots of information.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
There's a lot some people on YouTube talking about this
right now, so go give this a check out. Go
to Freelya's website, just type in Invincible RPG. You'll find
out more and just listen to people. I said, this
is gonna be awesome. So anyway, guys, I'm gonna get
out here. I have a lot of books to read
between now and Holiday Gift Guide, So I'll be back
with Alex doing the final live show of the year,
(30:21):
which will be taking place probably on Monday, if not
Sunday of this week, and then we are in Holiday
Gift Guide prep and we also have the Game Awards
from Los Angeles coming up the week of the tenth,
so we'll be talking about that and then our last
big holiday gift guide you can look for on December twelfth.
Your last minute holiday needs be the video games, movies, television,
(30:44):
or something weird for the cap. That's what we're gonna
be talking about. So anyway, guys, I am going to
get out of here. I've been Mike the Birdman saying,
be excellent to each other and we will be back
right here on This Week in Geek dot Net.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
At no point and you're rambling incoherent response, were you
even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought?
Speaker 5 (31:07):
Thanks for listening to this episode of This Week in Geek.
Hungry for more, check out our website at this Week
in Geek dot Net. You can subscribe to the podcast,
browse our Twitter and Instagram, and leave your thoughts on
today's topics. If you'd like to give us some feedback,
send us an email at Feedback at this Week in
Geek dot Net. Tune in next time, and remember.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Lower your shields and surrender your listenership.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
We would be on a if you would join us.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Good night,
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