Many comic book universes have undergone a revamp that updates heroes and clears out any complex continuity. The New 52, Rebirth, All-New All-Different Marvel: the list goes on. Now we see the pre-eminent super-hero game get a similar treatment with Green Ronin's Freedom City 3rd edition for the Mutants & Masterminds game. Is this the perfect jumping on point, or do changes make things difficult for users? Read on and find out!
Coming to Freedom City from a perspective of someone who used the old edition so much it's falling apart, I can still find lots of reasons to buy this book. The first section is totally devoid of secrets and I can hand it to my players as a sort of guidebook if I need to, which is amazing. It involves a complete timeline of events in the Alpha-Prime universe that folds in information uncovered in a host of books published since second edition (noticbly Golden/Silver/Iron Age and Worlds of Freedom books) giving a reasonable 300 years of a superhero universe timeline that you can model/steal/adopt as necessary. It also ties some things together and updates various characters so they feel more of a tight unit.
City books are always a complex prospect for the superhero GM. Given that most superhero settings are homebrew, it's often about what is adaptable, in which case this book wins in spades. A number of well thought out lair maps, villain profiles and conspiracies, it's a very well held together book that you can dip in an out of when you need it. It has tons of pictures of the sort of people you might not have thought too hard about before sitting down to run (Prison wardens, Local politicians, Club owners, Charities, Reporters) which means in play you can just turn to a picture and go 'this person' which adds a weight to unpowered NPCs. Little touches like that really help.
As a veteran M&M player, I found the villains section has a few problems. If you've been playing the game since the second edition came out near on a decade ago, some of these characters have grown in separate ways. An example without spoilers: There's a character called Toyboy who has featured in my game as a corporate villain and evil genius. In the book however he's gone a different, more occult, route. So the content is definitely less usable to me. The utility will largely depend on how involved the continuity of your particular universe is. Some of these characters have undergone a much needed update. I can't wait to run another game with modern takes on people like Doc Holiday. There are also a number of new and legacy villains in the book, which I'm glad take the place of existing characters. If you have a long running game, then new ways to expand on existing concepts are always welcome.
For people new to the setting, the same section is going to be a revelation of good concepts and ideas, all of which come with a series of hooks or mini adventure ideas for involving the villain in the characters lives. This allows you to plan a game that is relevant to the player characters pretty quickly, which lends that 'lean heavily on backstory' comic book feel.
While a few missing/hard to find bits of information may disappoint a few long time fans of the game's univers (Where is Malador? What happened to Sonic?), this book is a much needed and fun update. If you're looking to start a new issue #1 or reboot of an ongoing title, it's worth getting hold of.
contributed by Benjamin Jackson
Coming to Freedom City from a perspective of someone who used the old edition so much it's falling apart, I can still find lots of reasons to buy this book. The first section is totally devoid of secrets and I can hand it to my players as a sort of guidebook if I need to, which is amazing. It involves a complete timeline of events in the Alpha-Prime universe that folds in information uncovered in a host of books published since second edition (noticbly Golden/Silver/Iron Age and Worlds of Freedom books) giving a reasonable 300 years of a superhero universe timeline that you can model/steal/adopt as necessary. It also ties some things together and updates various characters so they feel more of a tight unit.
City books are always a complex prospect for the superhero GM. Given that most superhero settings are homebrew, it's often about what is adaptable, in which case this book wins in spades. A number of well thought out lair maps, villain profiles and conspiracies, it's a very well held together book that you can dip in an out of when you need it. It has tons of pictures of the sort of people you might not have thought too hard about before sitting down to run (Prison wardens, Local politicians, Club owners, Charities, Reporters) which means in play you can just turn to a picture and go 'this person' which adds a weight to unpowered NPCs. Little touches like that really help.
As a veteran M&M player, I found the villains section has a few problems. If you've been playing the game since the second edition came out near on a decade ago, some of these characters have grown in separate ways. An example without spoilers: There's a character called Toyboy who has featured in my game as a corporate villain and evil genius. In the book however he's gone a different, more occult, route. So the content is definitely less usable to me. The utility will largely depend on how involved the continuity of your particular universe is. Some of these characters have undergone a much needed update. I can't wait to run another game with modern takes on people like Doc Holiday. There are also a number of new and legacy villains in the book, which I'm glad take the place of existing characters. If you have a long running game, then new ways to expand on existing concepts are always welcome.
For people new to the setting, the same section is going to be a revelation of good concepts and ideas, all of which come with a series of hooks or mini adventure ideas for involving the villain in the characters lives. This allows you to plan a game that is relevant to the player characters pretty quickly, which lends that 'lean heavily on backstory' comic book feel.
While a few missing/hard to find bits of information may disappoint a few long time fans of the game's univers (Where is Malador? What happened to Sonic?), this book is a much needed and fun update. If you're looking to start a new issue #1 or reboot of an ongoing title, it's worth getting hold of.
contributed by Benjamin Jackson
