MARVELS: Streets of New York
New York City. A glittering labyrinth of steel, glass, and shadows. The very pulse of the city beats in rhythm with millions of hopes, struggles, and secrets. Every day brings with it a new tale waiting to be written, a new twist around every corner. Here in the big city, where ordinary men and women walk in the shadow of masked giants, life is rarely as it seems, though. Beneath the lights of Broadway, where the glow of Times Square fades into the gloom of the boroughs, the city becomes something else—a battleground where power is the only language spoken.
On the streets of New York, crime doesn't just survive—it thrives.
The story of the Bronx isn't just one of history and culture, but also of power. Tombstone, one time common thug turned fledging crime boss, runs his operations out of Harlem, turning the area into a stronghold of violence and intimidation.
Brooklyn is the epicenter of dangerous ambition. Madame Masque, the deadly and calculating woman with a face of gold, proves she's not just a player, but a force of nature pulling the strings behind the scenes as the borough becomes her criminal playground.
In Queens, grittiness is the law of the land. Hammerhead, a ruthless gangster known for his unbreakable skull and even tougher demeanor, has claimed a mansion in the heart of the borough as his personal fortress from which deals can be made in blood.
Staten Island bubbles with tension. The Maggia, a collection of crime families who once thrived in Little Italy, have now taken hold on the island—turning it into a quiet nexus for smuggling, racketeering, and power plays.
Manhattan. From the bustling avenues of Midtown to the sleek corridors of Wall Street, this is where the city's heart beats strongest. At the center of it all is Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin himself, whose reach extends far beyond his imposing Tower.
In New York, every alley tells a story. Every building, every block, every dark corner has a role to play in this tale of never-ending struggle for power. Here, crime runs rampant, and the law is just another game to play.
Welcome to the real Streets of New York, where heroes fight to keep the darkness at bay, and the villains are always one step ahead.
# Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood….
Hop a flight to Miami Beach, or to Hollywood….
But I'm taking a Greyhound, on the Hudson River line…
Hop a flight to Miami Beach, or to Hollywood….
But I'm taking a Greyhound, on the Hudson River line…
…I'm in a New York state of mind #
Marvels: Streets of New York is a roleplaying game based loosely in the Marvel Comics universe - specifically, in that universe’s version of New York City, and even more specifically, at the street level. The heavy-hitters of this world – the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men – are all still very much still around, battling intergalactic conquerors and supernatural terrors and unraveling global conspiracies… but that’s not where our stories take place. This game is focused on the city itself, the heroes and villains who populate it, and the conflicts, crises, mysteries, romances, power struggles, team-ups, betrayals, falls and redemptions that happen in the Big Apple.
# In New York
Concrete Jungle, where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
These streets will make you feel brand new,
Big lights will inspire you,
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York… #
Concrete Jungle, where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
These streets will make you feel brand new,
Big lights will inspire you,
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York… #
The Marvel iteration of New York is one of the most lively cities in all of fiction, vivid and dangerous and oozing with character. And unlike the likes of Gotham City, it isn’t tied to a specific character, or even a specific mood– on any given day, you might see a rooftop duel between Daredevil and Bullseye along the blocks of Hell’s Kitchen, get caught up in some wacky hijinks with Squirrel Girl in Central Park, find a human trafficking ring shot to pulp by the Punisher in the Bronx, kick a few bucks to the Heroes for Hire to clear out a gang hideout in Harlem, and get saved from a collapsing construction site in Queens by your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, all before making it home to turn on the Yankees game and open up the latest copy of the Daily Bugle.
From a game perspective, while the Five Boroughs and their dozens of individual neighborhoods should give everyone plenty of sites to see and people to meet, keeping things contained in the city should also encourage more interaction and collaboration, since crossing from one hero’s “turf” to another is usually as simple as walking a few blocks.
# New York isn't New York without you, love
So far in a few blocks, to be so low
And if I call you from First Avenue
Well, you're the only motherfucker in the city who can handle me #
So far in a few blocks, to be so low
And if I call you from First Avenue
Well, you're the only motherfucker in the city who can handle me #
Players can pick and play as any relatively “street-level” Marvel hero or anti-hero. By ‘street-level,’ we mean any character whose usual sphere of influence doesn’t expand outside of New York itself. Captain America might only be able to punch through a wall, but he goes on globe-trotting adventures and fights global threats all the time, so he’d likely be out. Meanwhile, someone like Jessica Jones could theoretically be a world-level hero, but she almost never operates outside the city.
This game also takes a fairly loose approach to canon, but re-imagined or OC characters are not allowed. While the exact details of a character don’t need to adhere to one particular iteration, the character should still be recognizable as their canon counterparts. You are welcome to pull from the 616 or Ultimate comic books, the MCU, the various animated series, or some amalgamation of them, as long as its basis is in some version of official Marvel lore.
# New York's alright if you like drunks in your doorway!
New York's alright if you wanna freeze to death!
New York's alright if you wanna get mugged or murdered!
New York's alright if you like saxophones! #
New York's alright if you wanna freeze to death!
New York's alright if you wanna get mugged or murdered!
New York's alright if you like saxophones! #
Something’s always going down in the big city, whether you’re ready for it or not. In that spirit, the GMs will sporadically generate events that will happen in the various Boroughs. Some of these might be quick one-and-done emergencies like a runaway train or someone like Rhino going on a tear, some of them might be more involved mysteries like tracking down a serial killer, others might be long-running metaplots such as the never-ending power struggle between the city’s various crime lords. Players will be encouraged to participate in these events, but not required- if one event doesn’t spark your imagination, maybe the next one will.
