Jemal
Adventurer
Alright, so here's the official recruiting thread after my poll of 'what would people like to play'. #1 of my options was Mutants & Masterminds 3e, with a lean towards some more standard super hero fare, which reminded me of an old campaign idea I never really got to try, so here we go :
What if you could have a life YOU designed? Be who you wanted, have the wealth.. fame.. looks.. hell, even super powers(!) that you wanted?
Each of you was a relatively average person right up until your death, at which point you were met by an ancient, powerful being who offered you a chance at a new (and improved!) life, on an alternate earth. It explained to you all the rules, benefits, and drawbacks of the deal, as well as the 'alternative' .. but you won't remember any of these details, just the broad strokes outlined here. When you awaken, you'll be living a life of your own design, with the understanding that when the time comes, you'll remember and be forced to pay up or face dire consequences. (This will be represented by a 'Dark Pact' complication on your sheet).
NOW, normally I used to open a game up to submissions, and then pick the 5-8 best from the 20 or so applicants, but with how much things have slowed down, I think it's safe to say that pretty much everyone who wants in will be able to join, soo...
The character creation part of the game will be a bit.. 'meta'.. i'm hoping you all enjoy it though, b/c it's an idea I've wanted to try for a while. You'll be designing your character.. in character. That's right, your CHARACTER is designing what you'll be reborn as. You've been given rules and a 'point limit' based on what you were willing to 'exchange' for it (Though as mentioned previously, you won't remember what that was). Who you were before the deal doesn't matter unless you want it to. You could just be adding stuff to who you already are, completely remaking yourself (gender/race/age/etc changing), or anything in between (Heck, you could even be 'you' irl changing into the character).
Despite the fact that you didn't 'exist' in this new world before now, anything you take will be represented in the new world appropriately, so if you have Well Informed / Eidetic memory, you'll be magically filled with information on THIS world, not your old one. Likewise, if you are supposed to be Famous, then you and everyone else will be implanted with memories of what you're famous for. If you have contacts, minions, allies, etc.. same thing, everyone involved will be instilled with the memories of how you met, why you're friends, etc. You can write these stories or leave them open ended.
Your characters are all in a room, with the rules, designing themselves. None of you knew each other before meeting in this room, all you know about the others is that you all recently died, and all accepted similar deals from your mysterious 'benefactor'.
You can discuss amongst yourselves who you want to be, ask questions of each other or your benefactor, or just keep to yourself.
Once you've all finished, you'll all be transported to your new lives.
Character Creation + Jemal's common/standard house rules for Mutants & Masterminds, tested over 10+ years and 100+ games
*NOTE: Normally, I have a lot more things I limit / alter for either balance or just thematic reasons, but given the premise of this campaign is essentially wish fulfillment, I'll be a lot more accepting of weird / out there ideas or combinations.. there's no need to explain why you have powers X, Y, and Polka-Dot when the answer is 'a wizard did it'. That being said, DO keep in mind that your character is designed as their own REAL LIFE wish fulfillment, not just to be an efficient killing machine in a game. (Though, granted, that may be the extent of some sociopaths desires for themselves...
) I'm hoping a large chunk of this game will be Roleplaying as your characters <try> to enjoy their newfound prosperity before it all inevitably goes horribly wrong (Which of course it won't.. right? Everything will be fine don't worry!)
Rule #1 Fun Before Power: Try to avoid characters designed for invincibility or quick wins. As is relatively well known, this system is easy to break, the fun part IMO is making a character who does what you want it to without being broken. That being said, if you really want to, then read on...
Rule #1b: I play with MAD rules. (Mutually Assured Destruction): Be fully warned that I know this setting inside out, and can easily twist it to my whims.. PLUS I'm the GM so I can make stuff up if I want! I base how OP/broken my NPCs are on the current players, so.. just keep that in mind.
PL/PP :
I generally allow people to trade off PP for PL if they wish to play a more focused/powerful character (Thor/hulk) or a more skilled but weaker character (Batman/Black widow).
There will be no 'set' PL/pp, you can each chose your own option : PL 8 (180pp); PL 9 (165pp); PL 10 (150pp); PL 11 (135pp); PL 12 (120pp). And yes, this choice will have some impact on your Dark Pact.
In addition, you will each have an extra 10pp to be spent on things that must be RP centered, things your character has always wanted.. Wealth, Status, Looks, languages, etc. importantly, it must be entirely non-combat related, and you need to list these on your sheet as 'RP assets" b/c those particular assets will factor into certain future events.
Abilities: We all know Presence sucks, I've tried various ways of improving it, the most successful / balanced thus far has been each rank of presence provides a free advantage chosen from the following list : any Fortune advantage(Except luck), Animal Empathy, Attractive, Benefit, Connected, Contacts, Daze, Fascinate, Languages, Skill Mastery (Social skill), Startle, Taunt, Teamwork, Well Informed.
Advantages/Powers:
I don't like Minion/Sidekick/Summon b/c they tend to make combats unwieldy, and/or can be overpowered. If you'd like to have anything like this, please discuss with me your plans so we can decide if it's good for the campaign. (Non-combat minions/summons, for example, should be fine)
There are a few other things I may keep an eye open for, but that's dependent on what people plan on doing with them, and I'll be much more open for this setting than i normally would be.
Movement : Flight speed is Rank -1, so rank 1 flight = fly at normal walking speed of 30.
Lethality : If anybody fails any save by 4+ degrees, something very bad/permanent happens.. Toughness = dying condition, Fort/will= circumstantial based on effect.
Complications : Since you designed this life yourself as a sort of 'paradise', it's entirely feasible that you may have no complications. I will not be requiring any complications other than the Dark Pact (Which all of you must have), but if you want to add some, you may have up to 3 others. I would, however, suggest at least a 'motivation'.
--
This isn't needed for your character creation, but is just a common house rule I use that i felt you guys should know about.
Elite / Boss Foes: Important Enemies have special ' templates' I add to them that give abilities beyond regular characters. I won't tell you everything, but one important one players should know is:
Shield: To prevent important enemies from going down to lucky early hits, Elites & Bosses have a special 'shield' that prevents them from failing any save by a certain degree based on the # of bruises they have.
For Bosses, it's 1/2 the number of bruises they have (rounded up, min 1 degree). SO, if a boss has 0-2 bruises, they can't fail any save by more than 1 degree, 3-4 bruises = 2 degrees, etc.
For Elites, it's # of bruises (So 0-1 bruises = 1 degree, 2 = 2, etc)
So you have to hit them a couple times before you can seriously debuff / knock them out. This is in addition to the GM's ability to give the hero a Hero point in exchange for rerolling a dice against them.
--
What if you could have a life YOU designed? Be who you wanted, have the wealth.. fame.. looks.. hell, even super powers(!) that you wanted?
Each of you was a relatively average person right up until your death, at which point you were met by an ancient, powerful being who offered you a chance at a new (and improved!) life, on an alternate earth. It explained to you all the rules, benefits, and drawbacks of the deal, as well as the 'alternative' .. but you won't remember any of these details, just the broad strokes outlined here. When you awaken, you'll be living a life of your own design, with the understanding that when the time comes, you'll remember and be forced to pay up or face dire consequences. (This will be represented by a 'Dark Pact' complication on your sheet).
NOW, normally I used to open a game up to submissions, and then pick the 5-8 best from the 20 or so applicants, but with how much things have slowed down, I think it's safe to say that pretty much everyone who wants in will be able to join, soo...
The character creation part of the game will be a bit.. 'meta'.. i'm hoping you all enjoy it though, b/c it's an idea I've wanted to try for a while. You'll be designing your character.. in character. That's right, your CHARACTER is designing what you'll be reborn as. You've been given rules and a 'point limit' based on what you were willing to 'exchange' for it (Though as mentioned previously, you won't remember what that was). Who you were before the deal doesn't matter unless you want it to. You could just be adding stuff to who you already are, completely remaking yourself (gender/race/age/etc changing), or anything in between (Heck, you could even be 'you' irl changing into the character).
Despite the fact that you didn't 'exist' in this new world before now, anything you take will be represented in the new world appropriately, so if you have Well Informed / Eidetic memory, you'll be magically filled with information on THIS world, not your old one. Likewise, if you are supposed to be Famous, then you and everyone else will be implanted with memories of what you're famous for. If you have contacts, minions, allies, etc.. same thing, everyone involved will be instilled with the memories of how you met, why you're friends, etc. You can write these stories or leave them open ended.
Your characters are all in a room, with the rules, designing themselves. None of you knew each other before meeting in this room, all you know about the others is that you all recently died, and all accepted similar deals from your mysterious 'benefactor'.
You can discuss amongst yourselves who you want to be, ask questions of each other or your benefactor, or just keep to yourself.
Once you've all finished, you'll all be transported to your new lives.
Character Creation + Jemal's common/standard house rules for Mutants & Masterminds, tested over 10+ years and 100+ games
*NOTE: Normally, I have a lot more things I limit / alter for either balance or just thematic reasons, but given the premise of this campaign is essentially wish fulfillment, I'll be a lot more accepting of weird / out there ideas or combinations.. there's no need to explain why you have powers X, Y, and Polka-Dot when the answer is 'a wizard did it'. That being said, DO keep in mind that your character is designed as their own REAL LIFE wish fulfillment, not just to be an efficient killing machine in a game. (Though, granted, that may be the extent of some sociopaths desires for themselves...
) I'm hoping a large chunk of this game will be Roleplaying as your characters <try> to enjoy their newfound prosperity before it all inevitably goes horribly wrong (Which of course it won't.. right? Everything will be fine don't worry!)Rule #1 Fun Before Power: Try to avoid characters designed for invincibility or quick wins. As is relatively well known, this system is easy to break, the fun part IMO is making a character who does what you want it to without being broken. That being said, if you really want to, then read on...
Rule #1b: I play with MAD rules. (Mutually Assured Destruction): Be fully warned that I know this setting inside out, and can easily twist it to my whims.. PLUS I'm the GM so I can make stuff up if I want! I base how OP/broken my NPCs are on the current players, so.. just keep that in mind.
PL/PP :
I generally allow people to trade off PP for PL if they wish to play a more focused/powerful character (Thor/hulk) or a more skilled but weaker character (Batman/Black widow).
There will be no 'set' PL/pp, you can each chose your own option : PL 8 (180pp); PL 9 (165pp); PL 10 (150pp); PL 11 (135pp); PL 12 (120pp). And yes, this choice will have some impact on your Dark Pact.
In addition, you will each have an extra 10pp to be spent on things that must be RP centered, things your character has always wanted.. Wealth, Status, Looks, languages, etc. importantly, it must be entirely non-combat related, and you need to list these on your sheet as 'RP assets" b/c those particular assets will factor into certain future events.
Abilities: We all know Presence sucks, I've tried various ways of improving it, the most successful / balanced thus far has been each rank of presence provides a free advantage chosen from the following list : any Fortune advantage(Except luck), Animal Empathy, Attractive, Benefit, Connected, Contacts, Daze, Fascinate, Languages, Skill Mastery (Social skill), Startle, Taunt, Teamwork, Well Informed.
Advantages/Powers:
I don't like Minion/Sidekick/Summon b/c they tend to make combats unwieldy, and/or can be overpowered. If you'd like to have anything like this, please discuss with me your plans so we can decide if it's good for the campaign. (Non-combat minions/summons, for example, should be fine)
There are a few other things I may keep an eye open for, but that's dependent on what people plan on doing with them, and I'll be much more open for this setting than i normally would be.
Movement : Flight speed is Rank -1, so rank 1 flight = fly at normal walking speed of 30.
Lethality : If anybody fails any save by 4+ degrees, something very bad/permanent happens.. Toughness = dying condition, Fort/will= circumstantial based on effect.
Complications : Since you designed this life yourself as a sort of 'paradise', it's entirely feasible that you may have no complications. I will not be requiring any complications other than the Dark Pact (Which all of you must have), but if you want to add some, you may have up to 3 others. I would, however, suggest at least a 'motivation'.
--
This isn't needed for your character creation, but is just a common house rule I use that i felt you guys should know about.
Elite / Boss Foes: Important Enemies have special ' templates' I add to them that give abilities beyond regular characters. I won't tell you everything, but one important one players should know is:
Shield: To prevent important enemies from going down to lucky early hits, Elites & Bosses have a special 'shield' that prevents them from failing any save by a certain degree based on the # of bruises they have.
For Bosses, it's 1/2 the number of bruises they have (rounded up, min 1 degree). SO, if a boss has 0-2 bruises, they can't fail any save by more than 1 degree, 3-4 bruises = 2 degrees, etc.
For Elites, it's # of bruises (So 0-1 bruises = 1 degree, 2 = 2, etc)
So you have to hit them a couple times before you can seriously debuff / knock them out. This is in addition to the GM's ability to give the hero a Hero point in exchange for rerolling a dice against them.
--
