Classic Dragon Magazine Issue #112 Ares Magazine section Dire Invasion By William Tracy & 2024 Campaign Update

Last night I began to delve into some of my old school resources including a Marvel Super Heroes rpg campaign that never came about. Let me explain, when I was a young comic book fan it was all about Rom The Space Knight. Rom appeared in the midst of my middle school years & his origin goes back to the U.K.. Here it is in a nutshell;" The peaceful planet known as Galador was threatened by a fleet of ships manned by shape-changing aliens known as Dire Wraiths. Galador's ruler, the Prime Director, calls for volunteers to be transformed into cyborg warriors called ' Spaceknights'. Afterwords, they can defend the planet from the invaders." There's a great Rom entry on Comic Vine here. 

Back in Dragon magazine issue#112 from 1989 there was a Space Knight/Dire Wraith article called Dire Invasion by William Tracy from the Ares section. This article set off a campaign arch where we introduced the space knights to our game with ultimately we had two space knight PC's. These PC's were the advanced guard who were waiting for the oncoming Dire Wraith invasion. These space knight PC's were stocking weapons & personel including recruiting Transformers to thier cause for the oncoming invasion. There were crossover between the Space Knights & the Transformers because of the Dire Wraiths. 
That invasion never came. We had two of our main players & DM's move across town. While not crippling it put a kink into scheduling plans for our on going campaign back in '89. Recently our own players were using the Marvel Super Heroes Rpg:The Unofficial Canon project's The Marvel Phile's Annual#2 The Nova Corps to create a new Nova Corps PC.Our own Nova Corps PC has mentioned his own origin tied to of all things the Dire Wraiths in 2024. So is there a new invasion on the horizon? 
So I'm thinking of dusting off my Dire Invasion notes & updating them for 2025-2026 for a Dire Wraith one two punch return adventure & pre invasion.  

Marvel Super Heroes Rpg Thoughts on Marvel Comics Crystar The Crystal Warrior Saga

 So last year I covered  & reviewed The Marvel Super Heroes Rpg The Sourebook of Crystar Crystal Warrior .The warriors of Crystallium have certainly gotten airplay on our table top recently. And I'm thinking of dumping the Chaos mercenaries of Moltar & the wizard Zardeth into both our Marvel Super Heroes &  Ascendant rpg campaigns. Crystallium is a violatile Chaos/Order world in spades as the Demon Lord's forces were in retreat. You can find out more about The Marvel Super Heroes Rpg The Crystar The Crystal Warrior Sourcebook here.  

The violent elemental forces of Crystallium are perfect to be sandwiched into the Marvel Celtic Otherworld. This is especially true when Moltar and his lava warriors were allied with Morgan Le Fay. So could Morgan Le Fay make another push for the Marvel 616 universe or one of it's numerous variants?! 

There have been interactions between Crystar & members of the Marvel 616 universe notably Dr.Strange and Alpha Flight. My question becomes would Crystallium remain within the pocket universe of the Otherworld?! Somehow down deep I doubt it. 
During the Eighties within my uncle's Marvel Super Heroes rpg campaign Moltar and co clashed with the Avengers and our own group of heroes numerous time. Crystallium became the origin point for our own homegrown hero Amber who passed through the crystal portal of the wizard Argos. Argos is an almagam of both Order & Chaos. He was instrumental in the creation of the hero Amber, she was a homegrown hero who was created after being saved by Argos from certain death. 

Amber has remained on Crystallium since the Nineties and it might be time to mount a mission to save her. Her powers were elemental in nature and being able to turn back the tide of Chaos. She's kinda been on the back burner after Hanna her player went off to college. 
However one of my players and DM Paul made reference to her over last weekend. Orginally we left her in the care of Argos on Crystallium. 




 

Review & Commentary On The Unofficial Canon Project Marvel Super Heroes Marverlous Myths & Monsters Volume 6 - Otherworld

 "Welcome to Otherworld!!! The UCP is excited to present another book in the Marvelous Myths and Monsters series of books, this one covering Otherworld, Celtic mythology, Avalon, the Captain Britain Corps, all the Black Knights, and more... all by the prolific Andrew Goldstein!"

Oh, and did we mention this is the biggest book we've done yet!? This tome weighs in at a hefty 677 pages in total of Marvel RPG goodness!"

The Unofficial Canon Project Marvel Super Heroes Marverlous Myths & Monsters Volume 6 - Otherworld just came out by Andrew Goldstein. The Unofficial Canon Project is on Facebook 7 they do some incredible supplements for the Marvel Super Heroes rpg produced by TSR. We're going to reference the Unofficial Canon Project Marvel Super Heroes Marverlous Myths & Monsters Volume 6 - Otherworld as Otherworld for the remainder of this review. The Otherworld supplement is centered on Marvel Comics take on the Celtic mythology that was depicted in Mavel comicbooks. These depictions go all the way back to before the Bronze Age & these are referenced, cataloged, and depicted within the Otherworld supplement. Within this supplement we get the gods,hero,fairies,monsters, monster races, etc. and more within the Otherworld supplement. This is a massive six hundred and seventy seven pages worth of Marvel Celtic mythology has an actual break down of the material with an actual table of contents: Chapter 1 – Otherworld......................................................6
 Chapter 2 – Avalon ........................................................... 29 

Chapter 3 – Fairyland & the Fairy Courts........................ 342
 Chapter 4 – Celtic Mythology ......................................... 411
Chapter 5 – Other Great Britain and Celtic Mythology .. 587
Chapter 6 – Parallel Worlds............................................ 641
Chapter 7 – Afterward & References.............................. 672 

Otherworld covers Camelot and the Arthurian mythos in the Marvel universe. And this is especially the Arthurian mythos and how they relate to th Black Knight. These center around persons, fairy, places, monsters, foes, and friends. All of these subjects weaves in and out of Otherworld, Avalon,Marvel's Camelot, and the Fairy Courts. And all of these dance around the chapters on Celtic Mythology with the heroes, gods, monsters and more. These chapters focus on the Marvel mythological perspective. Layout, fonts, etc. all harken back to the heady days of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes rpg. And Captain Britain get's his due within the Otherworld supplement because his & the Black Knight are some of the key pillars of this Marvel supplement along with the Xmen.
But is it worth the download from  The Unofficial Canon Project Marvel Super Heroes Facebook group's free G drive folder under Marvelous Myths & Monsters?! In a word, yes. Because this supplement goes into Celtic mythological, Arthurian, Black Knight, Irish, and more material with gusto. Want to know whose who within the Formarian patheon in the Marvel universe? Do you need the magic items of the days of Marvel's Camelot?! The The Unofficial Canon Project Marvel Super Heroes Marverlous Myths & Monsters Volume 6 - Otherworld has you covered. Want to know about Robin Hood and his Merry Men in the the Marvel universe?! This book has you covered! 

Otherworld is a well written, very well conceived, and solid Marvel Super Heroes Rpg resource and campaign setting book. Otherworld is extremely useful for any Celtic themed DM & Marvel Super Heroes rpg player. I think that this is a five outta of five book.