M&M and pulp heroes...eek

[Albert_Fish]

I want to do a Pulp game. i am uing the Dungeon magazine and Forbidden Kingdoms. To create super hero characters ( like The Shadow) i have thought aobut using the Mutants and masterminds rulesset. Unfortunately M&M does not use a normal damage system. how much damage should some of the pwers do? is there a better way to simulate super powers?

if i use M&M should i use the M&M character creation rules ( startingheroes at 1st level) or what?
HELP!

 

[Piratecat]

If you use this, DEFINITELY use the 1PP=3 skill points variant described in the oficial errata. It'll help quite a bit!

 

[mistergone]

Here's a case where I would actually suggest you stick with what you already have. Just make up some power-like abilities.. aren't there some rules for mental powers in Forbidden Kingdoms?

 

[DanMcS]

Coincidentally, the group I play in just started a pulp game using mutants and masterminds. I don't know comics or pulps, really, but according to our GM, a comic geek, MnM works great for pulp games. He says ours is a little higher powered and more comic-booky than an authentic pulp, though.

Our characters are PL 7, but powers are limited to +5. Skill points are 1 pp/3 skill points.

Our heroes, headquartered in a huge dirigible, went off to Africa for our first adventure to find that the Nazis were attempting to capture the power of a genie for their nefarious schemes.

My character is a pilot/inventor who made himself a pair of mechanical bird wings. We also have a ghost, a panther-totem guy from central america, and a big dumb boxer. It's great fun.

PL 10 is apparently standard starting level for superhero games. If you want to have a lower powered game, just go with PL 4 or 5. At 5, your heroes would be 75 point characters, so not too powerful, and you could rule in a limit on powers they could have, to maybe 1 or 2 less than their power level.

If you want to use MnM stuff with a more regular d20 system, with hps and such, I think there are variant rules for that in the book.

 

[Voneth]

For Pulp, you will also want to restrict the levels of Super Attributes (especially if you make skills cheaper) and certain powers.

For my space opera game, I cap the super atts at PL 2 and powers like Incorpreal need to be banned or restricted in some fashion to keep things balanced.

 

[teitan]

I think MnM would make an interesting pulp level game, but would restrict it to PL 5 or 6, 8 for Doc Savage and that just for his gadgeteering etc. I was going to use D20 Modern for my next pulp campaign, but maybe I will use a low powered MnM. Use the gritty rules from the sidebar definitely though

Jason

 

[Laslo Tremaine]

I've been playing in a pulp game that's been going for about a year now. We started off using White Wolf's Aeon (which we were all pretty unhappy with), and then switched to Mutants & Masterminds when it came out.

We have been very happy with M&M. We started our characters off at power level 4 and are just about to level them up to 5. We're also using the 3:1 skill point option.

The game is fast and fun. The rules really facilitate play. I can't recommend using M&M enough.

Here's the character that I am running. He's a hero of the working class, strongman, and more recently, globe-trotting adventurer!


Joe "Knuckles" Kowalski
Power Level 4

-=CHARACTERISTICS=-
Str: 20
Dex: 14
Con: 20
Int: 10
Wis: 14
Chr: 14

-=SAVES=-
Dmg: 7
Fort: 5
Refl: 2
Will: 2

Defense: 16
Initiative: +2
Hero Pts: 3

-=ATTACKS=-
BAB: 4
Melee: 9
Ranged: 6

-=WEAKNESSES=-
Quirk: Won't hit a lady

-=FEATS=-
Connected (working-class/underworld)
Heroic Surge
Improved Grapple
Leadership
Moveby Attack
Rapid Strike
Toughness

-=SKILLS=-
Climb: 8
Diplomacy: 8
Gather Info: 7
Intimidate: 8
Sense Motive: 6
Survival: 4
Taunt: 7

-=POWERS=-
Super-Strength: 1

 

[SparrowThirteen]

M&M has a "Hit points" variant in the core book, if you want to do pulp with Hit points, that might want to take a look at that. I believe this is in one of the early chapters.