Greetings, HeroClix Masterminds!

Welcome to the first Design Insight article for Marvel HeroClix: Deadpool Weapon X! The Merc With A Mouth’s comic antics are legendary, and the design team had a blast finding ways to bring them onto the HeroClix map. The set isn’t just chimichangas and explosions though, Wolverine and the Weapon X program bring a serious edge to balance the set out. Awesome characters and stories aside, we’re here to talk design, so let’s roll right into that.

They’re The Best There Is At What They Do, And What They Do Is Roll Dice

Immediately as we dug into this set, we realized there was a significant mechanical overlap between how Deadpool and Wolverine have been represented. Between katanas and claws, nearly all representations of Deadpool and Wolverine have Blades/Claws/Fangs. Similarly, their shared healing factor makes Regeneration a frequent occurrence on their dials, with Super Senses also being a common shared power. In short, both characters are prone to rolling single d6s in HeroClix. That gave the design team a solid mechanical base to build off as we worked through this set; in essence, Deadpool Weapon X is the “single d6 matters” set. Whenever possible in the set we gave characters enhanced versions of powers that rolled single d6s, or else had effects that cared about the results of a d6 roll.

003 Wolverine is arguably the poster child of this d6-centered design, with his trait granting the use of multiple d6 powers based on the result of a d6 roll. However, most designs in this theme are closer to 031 Deadpool, with some sort of bonus tied to the result of Blades/Claws/Fangs, Regeneration, or another power that rolls a single d6.

As we worked through the set’s overarching design, the design team had no problem churning out interesting angles for d6 rolls. However, it didn’t feel like that was quite enough for the set. A Deadpool set needed something bigger. It needed something special, something we’d never done before.

Big Special Dice

Deadpool Weapon X introduces an entirely new mechanic: Special Dice. Special dice are, simply, dice that aren’t a standard d6. They might have numbering that doesn’t go from 1-6, special symbols on their faces, or some combination of the two. All special dice are tied to a character that explains their use, like Scarlet Witch here:

Scarlet Witch’s Chaos Magic special brings her Special Die to play, which has faces numbered as 1 / 1 / 2 / 5 / 6 / 6. Every time she uses Probability Control, one die in that rerolled roll is replaced with that “Chaos Die”, pushing that roll towards the extremes of its possible results. In our internal playtesting Special Dice added a real fun wrinkle to game play, so they’re something we’ll be looking forward to experimenting with in the future.

Before we go, here’s a quick rundown on some of the rules behind special dice:

  • Special Dice can’t be used unless an effect calls for them to be used.
  • If a Special Die has symbols that are neither numerals or pips, and the effect that rolled that die isn’t checking for a result with that symbol, treat that symbol as the highest numeral on a standard die of that size. (For example, the Scarlet Witch symbol on the Chaos Die above is a 6.)
  • If a roll containing a special die is rerolled, the special die is rerolled along with that roll. (For example, if another character uses Probability Control to reroll a roll Scarlet Witch has already inserted a Chaos Die into, the Chaos Die in that roll won’t revert to being a standard die.)

That’s all we have for today! We hope you enjoy rolling these new dice as much as we did designing them! Join us next time as we dig into the shared traits of Deadpool Weapon X. Until then, may all your rolls be special, even if they aren’t using Special Dice.