Mutants & Masterminds no hit points?

[Brutorz Bill]

Ok I got the Gen Con preview and have seen the tidbits on the Green Ronin website. I am indeed interested, but...
I'm still a little confused by the "streamlined d20 system" mechanic. From the preview it seems there are no hit points and no actual damage amounts in combat. For example how much actual damage would Protonik's Energy Blast do? I understand the damage table and such but that does not seem to readily convert to other d20 products.

While this system will work for an M&M specific Campaign and does seem to create a more stream-lined "comic-bookish" mechanic, I see trouble coming for someone (like me) who would want to use the M & M powers/characters for other d20 settings. Say I wanted to use a team of M&M Super-villians in my Judge Dredd Campaign? Would this be directly workable or is extensive tweaking required? Will the rulebook contain more mainstream d20 items such as Hit points and attack damage amounts? Or am I misinterpreting the previews altogether?
To me the heart of coolness with d20 is being able to use different things from different books and if M&M doesn't have (even if it's just in the appendix) hit points and damage amounts, I will be less likely to purchase it.
Thank you for your time.

 

[Ranger REG]

To me the heart of coolness with d20 is being able to use different things from different books and if M&M doesn't have (even if it's just in the appendix) hit points and damage amounts, I will be less likely to purchase it.
Thank you for your time.

If you believe, I dare you play a Street Judge character in a typical D&D game. Hehehe.

It appears the M&M is more of a game than a toolkit, as opposed to 4CTF Superhero product.

But the heart of d20 is the ability to play various games using the same core rules system with little or no difficulty, as well as little or no relearning. After all, you can't put a Jedi in D&D. He'll end up killing himself (by expending his own hit points) as he uses his Force powers.

Check out the M&M health system and decide how to convert them to other health systems out there (HP or VP/WP).

 

[Teflon Billy]

You all might want to take a look at GURPS. It really is modular in the way you seem to be looking for (just porting stuff over from one genre to another)

 

[RangerWickett]

But you can use a Jedi in D&D fairly easily. His force powers do subdual damage to himself. It's a very simple conversion, and though it might not be wholly balanced, it's workable.

From what I recall of the M&M preview, though it looks fun to play on it's own, no I don't think you'd be able to just add the rules to, say, an existing D20 Modern game. My apologies for tooting my own horn, but I'm fairly confident Four-Color to Fantasy works well if you want to add super powers to an existing game, and though I'm of course not familiar with the full rules for D20 Modern yet, I think the conversion should be a relatively easy one. Similarly, if Judge Dredd D20 is very similar to the Star Wars/Spycraft/D&D/Wheel of Time/Call of Cthulhu rules, adding in the super powers from FCTF should be a synch.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

GR has said on their forum they will have rules in the book for using HP and VP/WP- IIRC.

FD

 

[am181d]

Salutations,

GR has said on their forum they will have rules in the book for using HP and VP/WP- IIRC.

FD

I've spoken to the Green Ronin guys and this is in fact correct. Alternatively, I suppose you could reverse-enginner the conversion and eliminate HP from all those other d20 games...

 

[Kenson]

As other folks have pointed out, Mutants & Masterminds doesn't use hit points (or multi-die damage rolls) as a default, because we wanted quick, streamlined combat that felt like the superhero comics. However, there is information on using hit points and damage rolls in the game, if that's your preference, and the conversion is relatively painless. Those who are so-inclined could use it to transfer M&M characters over to other d20 games, if they wanted, without too much trouble.

I disagree with the idea that M&M isn't a "toolkit," because it IS designed as a toolkit for any sort of super-powered campaign, just like D&D is a toolkit for any sort of fantasy campaign. However, folks looking for a source for super-powers for their D&D characters (or Spycraft characters, etc.) are probably better off with Four Color to Fantasy from what I've seen so far. M&M is optimized for superhero game play, not 100% compatibility with, say, D&D or d20 Modern.

-----
Steve Kenson
Author, Mutants & Masterminds Superhero RPG
Coming in October from Green Ronin Publishing!
www.greenronin.com

 

[trancejeremy]

You all might want to take a look at GURPS. It really is modular in the way you seem to be looking for (just porting stuff over from one genre to another)

Ugh. Playing gurps is like sleeping with Whoopi Goldberg (or Roseanne Barr). Some might really like it, but it would make most people sick. Or you'll end up like Tom Arnold.

I've found that most d20 games, as long as they use the hp system, are fairly compatible with each other. I've mixed and matched stuff for CoC d20, Deadlands d20, Weird Wars, Fading Suns d20, Sov. Stone.

Much much better than Gurps. That might have a common sill set (more so than d20), but they don't try to balance it at all.

 

[Warchild]

As other folks have pointed out, Mutants & Masterminds doesn't use hit points (or multi-die damage rolls) as a default, because we wanted quick, streamlined combat that felt like the superhero comics. However, there is information on using hit points and damage rolls in the game, if that's your preference, and the conversion is relatively painless. Those who are so-inclined could use it to transfer M&M characters over to other d20 games, if they wanted, without too much trouble.
-----
Steve Kenson
Author, Mutants & Masterminds Superhero RPG
Coming in October from Green Ronin Publishing!
www.greenronin.com

I love the idea. We have been using a Death Save in one of our grittier fantasy campaigns (instead of hit dice or damage rolls) and we liked it immensely. I think it is perfect for supers gaming. Actually our Death save and your damage save were almost an exact duplicate (Hey!!!).

AT first i wasn't so hot on the idea of a classless supers system. But after looking at the options out there (and toying with my own D20 supers, of course), I really think the only way to truly model the vast menagerie of heroes out there is a "build your own" type of level system. That or a Hero class that lets you mix in other more mundane classes. But i am getting very interested in M&M!

I do have one question, though. Does M&M have a background mechanic. Something like Alien, Mystic, Robotic, or mutant. That helps form the basics of the character?

 

[Kenson]

I do have one question, though. Does M&M have a background mechanic. Something like Alien, Mystic, Robotic, or mutant. That helps form the basics of the character?

There is a mechanic for choosing the source or "special effect" of your character's powers, whether they are alien, mutations, mystical, technological, etc. in origin, which ties in to how certain powers and effects work in the game (such as a super-power that's able to duplicate or neutralize only mutant powers, for example). Otherwise, background is wide open for you to choose however you like.

-----
Steve Kenson
Author, Mutants & Masterminds Superhero Roleplaying Game
Coming in October from Green Ronin Publishing!
www.greenronin.com