Check Out The Mutants & Masterminds 4E Playtest

Released last week at Gen Con, the 4th Edition of the venerable superhero TTRPG Mutants & Masterminds is here--at least in playtest form! This 240-page book, which you can grab right now on DriveThruRPG as a PDF for $14.99 or in print for $44.99 from Green Ronin's website, includes the complete game from character creation to the core game rules.

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For more than twenty years, the Mutants & Masterminds superhero roleplaying game has empowered the imaginations of countless players. Now you can help determine the future of the World’s Greatest Superhero RPG with the Mutants & Masterminds Origin Edition playtest!

This Origin Edition contains a complete playtest version of the upcoming Fourth Edition of the game. Contained in its pages is all you need to create heroic characters, play out epic super-battles, thwart the schemes of the vilest villains, and save the world—all with just a single twenty-sided die!

Try out refined power creation effects, updated hero archetypes, an adjusted rank scale, new advantage and action options, and more, all with the same fast-playing system M&M is known for. Then share your experiences and feedback with us to determine the final form of the next edition of the game.

The world needs heroes like you to help save it! The game needs you to make it even better! So create your heroes and determine the future of superhero roleplaying with the Mutants & Masterminds Origin Edition.

 

[Theory of Games]

Point-buy systems like M&M, Champions and GURPS Supers are definitely not for everyone. Just as more rules-lite games like MASKS, Tiny Supers and Wearing the Cape aren't for everyone. "Fiddly" is exactly why I chose M&M and once I gained familiarity by playing the game, it was easier than I first thought.

But play what works for you & your group

 

[humble minion]

It got so bad we had to ban power stunts if the player hadn’t already done the math. To me that’s a clear red flag for a superhero game. That’s one of the most fun parts of reading comics and dreaming about superheroes. Having it be a massive pain point in actual play kills my interest dead.

That’s a pretty fair point of view.

I’ve got mixed feelings about the implementation of power stunts in m&m in general, to be fair. It’s such a core element of the genre that you absolutely need to have them, but they can be a bit cheap and routine in practice. I’ve seen (not played in) games where the core gameplay loop seemed to be crafting the perfect power stunt to oneshot the given villain in the first round, rather than using your normal powers most of the time and only pulling out a power stunt on special occasions. Maybe stunting automatically applied Fatigued or something?

 

[overgeeked]

That’s a pretty fair point of view.

I’ve got mixed feelings about the implementation of power stunts in m&m in general, to be fair. It’s such a core element of the genre that you absolutely need to have them, but they can be a bit cheap and routine in practice. I’ve seen (not played in) games where the core gameplay loop seemed to be crafting the perfect power stunt to oneshot the given villain in the first round, rather than using your normal powers most of the time and only pulling out a power stunt on special occasions. Maybe stunting automatically applied Fatigued or something?

In M&M3E you need to do extra effort to perform a power stunt, which gives you fatigue then exhausted. You can avoid the fatigue by spending a hero point.

It's one of the long list of reasons I still prefer Marvel Super Heroes. In MSH you could stunt all the time as long as you made the roll and paid the meta-currency, karma. The more you did the stunt, the easier it was, and eventually it was just added to your sheet so there was no roll and no cost. But, importantly, there was no recalculating your power rank.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm not convinced that's a good reason to use an edition change to shift an existing game's design philosophy. Like I said, that's what new games are for.

And then if you don't change enough, people complain its not really a new game.

 

[Theory of Games]

In M&M3E you need to do extra effort to perform a power stunt, which gives you fatigue then exhausted. You can avoid the fatigue by spending a hero point.

It's one of the long list of reasons I still prefer Marvel Super Heroes. In MSH you could stunt all the time as long as you made the roll and paid the meta-currency, karma. The more you did the stunt, the easier it was, and eventually it was just added to your sheet so there was no roll and no cost. But, importantly, there was no recalculating your power rank.

I was a fan of MSH as well - up until I ran into M&M 2e. I'd have to say Power-Stunting in MSH was my least favorite thing because of how the system worked: players rarely had the Karma cost to pull a stunt off (100!) plus you had to make a Red FEAT roll to even make the stunt work (which normally meant spending even more Karma)

I like that with M&M, you just describe the stunt, pay the Fatigue cost (-1 Movement rank) and execute the stunt. Nice and easy

 

[gurpsgm]

M&M 4th? Will it be compatible with 3E material, especially my favorite 3rd book, "Wild Cards"?

 

[gurpsgm]

M&M 4th? Will it be compatible with 3E material, especially my favorite 3rd book, "Wild Cards"?

 

[Theory of Games]

M&M 4th? Will it be compatible with 3E material, especially my favorite 3rd book, "Wild Cards"?

Yes.

On the "main" M&M site, The Atomic Think Tank, there's several members currently converting their 3e characters over to 4e using the playtest materials. But again, this is just playtest materials and there's been daily (sometimes hourly) discussion about what people like and dislike about the 4e Origin Edition rules.

So far M&M's designer, Steve Kenson, has been listening to the discussions and has reworked how the Stunned condition will factor in 4e (the last podcast with he and M&M's Line Developer Alex Thomas has Kenson saying Stunned has been dropped from the Toughness check). Which I didn't like, but this whole thing is one big ongoing community discussion. Very fun actually

 

[MichaelSomething]

In M&M3E you need to do extra effort to perform a power stunt, which gives you fatigue then exhausted. You can avoid the fatigue by spending a hero point.

It's one of the long list of reasons I still prefer Marvel Super Heroes. In MSH you could stunt all the time as long as you made the roll and paid the meta-currency, karma. The more you did the stunt, the easier it was, and eventually it was just added to your sheet so there was no roll and no cost. But, importantly, there was no recalculating your power rank.

I just think about it for a second and allow it if it makes sense in the fiction. And maybe make them roll a D20 because everything is a D20 check.

 

[Theory of Games]

M&M's designer Steve Kenson and Line Developer Alex Thomas discuss 4e updates: