In 1984, TSR, Inc. first published the MARVEL SUPER HEROES ROLE-PLAYING GAME, a progenitor of this one. If you've played the original game, you may wish to convert your Basic or Advanced characters to the new system. The method below will work for your own characters. Established heroes may not entirely match their statistics in this game, but they will be close enough for enjoyable play.

What is the Saga® rules system?

Roles, not rules. Saga is a roleplaying system designed for those who want to concentrate on action, storytelling, and character building instead of rules and die rolls. Diceless roleplaying. Since players each draw a hand from the single Fate Deck and play their cards as they wish, they have more control over the game-and their heroes' fate-than ever before.

A streamlined system. Saga handles technical aspects of roleplaying, such as time, movement, and magic or powers use, with a freeform method-straight forward enough for novice players, but flexible enough to challenge even roleplaying veterans.

Player involvement. All actions in the game, from attacks to the use of magic or other special powers, are performed from the heroes' point of view, freeing up the game master to move the plot along and keep the adventure exciting.

Flexible. Whether you want an action-packed, fast-paced game, a high-magic campaign, or a character-focused epic storyline, Saga can easily adapt to suit the needs of every group. In addition, each Saga game comes with instructions for translating your characters from one of TSR's other rules systems into your new game.

To update a character, translate Strength and Agility using the table below. Substitute Reason for Intellect, and Psyche for Willpower. Convert all powers by giving each an intensity; talents become skills using the intensity conversion below. Note that since the scores in the older game followed different scales, their scores translate differently from each other.

To determine the character's Edge, add together Endurance, Karma and Popularity. If the total is less than 70, the character has a 1 Edge. If it is between 70 and 189, the character has a 2 Edge. If it is between 190 and 260, the character has a 3 Edge. And if it is greater than 260, the character has a 4 Edge.

Divide the character's Fighting by 10, rounding down. The character gains that many Agility or Strength linked skills like Martial Arts and Boxing, modifying ability codes appropriately.

Add Intuition and Reason together and divide by 20, rounding down. The character gains that many Intellect- or Willpower-linked skills like Biochemistry and Intimidation, modifying ability codes appropriately.

Some power conversions may require guesswork on your part. For example, defense against physical attacks is derived from the character's Strength in the new system. Characters with Body Armor listed gain the damage bonus listed in the ARMOR sidebar. If the character's natural armor rating is higher than the character's Strength, the difference becomes the character's Body Armor.

FEATS convert into actions. Strength and Endurance FEATs become Strength actions, Agility and Fighting FEATs become Agility actions, Reason FEATs becom Intellect actions, and Psyche and Intuition FEATs become Willpower actions.

A green FEAT is an average (8) difficulty rating, a yellow FEAT is a daunting (16) difficulty rating, and a red FEAT is a desperate (20) difficulty rating. Each -1 Column Shift (CS) adds 1 point to the difficulty rating, while each +1 Column Shift subtracts 1 point from the difficulty rating. So a hero needing to make a yellow FEAT with a -3CS must score a 19 (16+3) to do so.

Callings don't have a direct analogue in the old MARVEL RPG. Hindrances can usually be found under Limits and Background in the MARVEL character sheets. The Contacts listing isn't used in the MARVEL SUPER HEROES ADVENTURE GAME.