The X-Potential
{{Short description|1987 superhero role-playing game adventure}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox RPG
|title= The X-Potential
|image=File:The X-Potential.jpg
|caption=Cover art by Mike Machlan and John Statema
|designer=
|publisher= TSR
|date= 1987
|genre= Superhero RPG
|system= Marvel Super Heroes
|footnotes=
}}
The X-Potential is an adventure published by TSR in 1987 for the Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game. It is the second in a four-part series set in a dystopian version of the Marvel universe.
Contents
The first book of the series, Nightmares of Futures Past, describes a bleak alternate future where mutants are hunted down by huge robot Sentinels and imprisoned in concentration camps. As critic James Wallis noted, in a change from most Marvel Super Heroes adventures, the player characters are not fighting crime but fighting for their lives.{{cite magazine|last=Wallis|first=James|authorlink=James Wallis (games designer)| date=June–July 1987 |title=Shop Window |magazine=Adventurer| issue=11|pages=24}}
The X-Potential is the first of three adventures set in this bleak future. It adds more details of the world, then describes the events that will happen around a large political demonstration over several days. The players are free to intervene as they see fit. At various times, the gamemaster supplies them with front pages of "The Daily Journal".{{cite web|url = https://www.legrog.org/jeux/marvel-super-heros/mx/mx2-the-x-potential-en | date=2009-05-08|title= MX2 - The X-Potential |website=Guide du Rôliste Galactique| access-date= 2023-09-23 |language=fr}}
Publication history
After acquiring the license to produce a role-playing game based on the Marvel Comics universe, TSR first published Marvel Super Heroes in 1984, and followed with many adventures and supplements. One of these was MX2 The X-Potential, a 32-page book published in 1987 with tabloid sheets and an outer folder. It was written by Mark Acres, with cover art by Mike Machlan and John Statema{{cite book|last=Schick |first=Lawrence|authorlink=Lawrence Schick|title=Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games|publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1991|isbn=0-87975-653-5 |pages=55}}
TSR published a further two adventures in the series: Reap the Whirlwind, and Flames of Doom.