Mutants & Masterminds

[takyris]

I don't believe you should bother with supplements if you're starting, since the core rulebook is very complete. Once you and your gaming group are confortable enough with the rules you can try to customize with books like Ultimate Power or Mastermind's Manual.

I'd actually recommend Ultimate Power as the first supplement. At least on Atomic Think Take, it's referred to more often than the Core Rulebook when questions arise regarding how powers work. I picked up both Ultimate Power and the Masterminds Manual. I like them both, but I don't really need the Masterminds Manual (since the rules as written work well for the game I want to run). Ultimate Power, however, will be there along with the core book at every session.

That said, the core book all by itself will take care of you just fine. Ultimate Power adds a lot of clarification and touches up some powers that had problematic elements, but it's not required by any stretch.

 

[Gilwen]

To answer your question: You just need the base book to play/run MnM. That being said however....

I would highly recommend using Ultimate Power. For my games I basically ripped out chapter 5 in the main book and shoved UP into the void. That would be the only change I'd recommend starting out. The thing I love about MnM is that it's one big toolkit it just happens that the defualt setting is a supers setting.

Gil

 

[The Green Adam]

If you and your players are new to the system, I highly recommend the combo of Instant Superheroes and Ultimate Power. One lets you generate characters really quickly while the other enables you to customize those heroes to be more unique. A great one-two-punch IMHO.

 

[King of Old School]

Hijack: What's wrong with that? You need D&D to play Eberron. You need GURPS to play most of their worldbooks. You need the HERO System rulebook to play Star HERO.

None of those products have ever been standalone games... unlike Gamma World for most of its decades-old existence.

KoOS

 

[Ranger REG]

None of those products have ever been standalone games... unlike Gamma World for most of its decades-old existence.

KoOS

History aside, at what point does a game become standalone or become supplement to the established rules?

 

[The Green Adam]

Well that's all dependant on how it's marketed and produced. Safe to say, a game is stand alone if you done need a seperate book outside of the one that contains the game specific elements to play it. Case in point M&M, all the rules for character creation, superpowers, created a campaign, etc. are in the main rule book. If instead you have generating superpowers, creating adventure and such in the main book but character creation required the D&D Player's Handbook, obviously it would not classify as a stand alone game. That said, the line is greyer these days with the plethora of D20 material where you can almost play using the supplement and your memorizing of the basic rules.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

If you and your players are new to the system, I highly recommend the combo of Instant Superheroes and Ultimate Power.

I heartily second Instant Superheroes, especially if you're just starting out.

It's got just about every hero concept you can shake a stick at covered in some form or another, and even within genre archetypes they provide at least a couple of variations on the theme.

It's not needed for play by any stretch, but it is a very useful tome. Even works if you need bad-guys on the fly, although with everyone being PL10 in that book it means that you'd need a bunch of them to challenge a group of PL10 player characters.

 

[The Green Adam]

I heartily second Instant Superheroes, especially if you're just starting out.

It's got just about every hero concept you can shake a stick at covered in some form or another, and even within genre archetypes they provide at least a couple of variations on the theme.

It's not needed for play by any stretch, but it is a very useful tome. Even works if you need bad-guys on the fly, although with everyone being PL10 in that book it means that you'd need a bunch of them to challenge a group of PL10 player characters.

Still, your absolutely right and it requires very little work once you understand the basic principles of the game to add say 25-50 points to each baddie to balance things. Again that's why I love it in conjunction with Ultimate Power. If you have 5 players take 6 archtypes to make bad guys but move the points around and consult the Ultimate Powers book. Characters of the same level whose abilities are modified and atypical can surprise the PCs givng the villains a small but not dramatic advantage. Plus it makes them more memorable.

Case in point, a villain called Ghost Man. Played as a second rate villain, he did have a power he used quite well. He made other things intangible by touching them. We didn't realize that early on and thought that since we didn't have any attacks that could hit non-corporeal beings we wouldn't be able to hit him. Truth was, he was solid and nearly escaped before a friend and I noticed him put his hands in front of himself everytime he passed through a wall.

 

[GAAAHHH]

<snip>
Those are the issues I'd think about. I'm loving the game, and it's working really well for me, but if the above issues trigger immediate "Gaahh!!!" reactions, then it might not be the right game for you.

What is it about me that makes people say that?

 

[Sketchpad]

Hijack: What's wrong with that? You need D&D to play Eberron. You need GURPS to play most of their worldbooks. You need the HERO System rulebook to play Star HERO.

Although, you can run Star Hero with just the Hero rule book if you're creative