Free D20 Supers!

[Osseum Adam]

Hey all,

Just addressing a little point brought out in this thread about PS-Games in the Netherlands...

They have in fact carried from Osseum almost near the entire Green Ronin line, so naturally my concern in hearing about this (thanks Nik) is making sure that those wanting to actually buy the games from our distribution partners have access to them.

We are working to make sure that all the markets have access to the games as often as possible, and I am personally pursuing this particular one.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention...

Now back to your original thread---

 

[Nikchick]

How long has M&M been in development? Kinda curious...

Lessee, we've had playtesters under NDA since mid-January, and I know Steve had finished large portions of the game (and the Freedom City setting book) before that.

When we agreed to get Steve to do this game for us, the market was completely different, that's for sure. HERO was languishing under Cybergames and considered dead, Silver Age Sentinals was planned as a TriStat game only, The Foundation had been released to much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Natural 20 had announced its supers capstone/toolkit, GODLIKE had a d20 appendix, but GR announced Mutants & Masterminds when there seemed to be no other designed-specifically-for-D20 superhero games in the works.

The market, she is crazy, no?

Nicole

 

[Lizard]

The market, she is crazy, no?

Why do I see this as being said by some drunk in a movie?

"The market...she is a woman! A cruel woman, who will kiss you and then stab you, and leave you to bleed and die as the rats in the gutter crawl over your exposed intestines and lay their eggs in your heart(1) but whom you love even as you gurgle out your final breath..."

(1) Yeah, I know rats don't lay eggs. It's a METAPHOR. Or a simile.

 

[Kenson]

How long has M&M been in development? Kinda curious...

Initial work on the game started at the beginning of this year, with the bulk of the first draft done around the end of March or so. Then came several months of playtest and revision, resulting in a final draft that was completed about a month ago. So I'd say Mutants & Masterminds has been "in development" for about six months, give or take a few weeks, and there will no doubt be some fine-tuning during the editing process. We're taking our time because we want to get it right.

For what it's worth, the demo games I ran at Origins went quite well and the players seemed to enjoy the game quite a bit. I was able to teach 6-8 people how to play and run them through a short adventure (with two fights and a couple of investigative/roleplaying scenes) in the space of two hours or so, which means that M&M is as fast-paced as I wanted it to be (but it's always nice to have outside confirmation )

I think gamers should definitely check out the OGL material for Wild Talents; Mr. Mearls knows what he's doing, and I'm sure he'll turn out some cool d20 rules for it (in fact, I'm looking forward to seeing them). But I also think that folks should take a look at all their options and find the one they like best. Isn't the embarassment of riches we're experiencing in a d20 market a part of the license, too? ('Cause there has been a lot of cool stuff along with all the crap.)

Keep an eye on the Green Ronin website (http://www.greenronin.com) for updates on Mutants & Masterminds. Sufficient to say for now that I'm very pleased with the professional way Green Ronin is handling the game.

Have fun!
Steve Kenson

 

[Cergorach]

Just addressing a little point brought out in this thread about PS-Games in the Netherlands...

They have in fact carried from Osseum almost near the entire Green Ronin line, so naturally my concern in hearing about this (thanks Nik) is making sure that those wanting to actually buy the games from our distribution partners have access to them.

They have!?!?
I need to have a serious talk with those guys in the morning! Argh!

*starts making list*
I need this, and this, and this... And just have to have this... oh and this...

Thanks for clearing that up!

@Nicole Lindroos
Thanks Nicole (for giving a shout to Osseum)! You just made my day! No more excuses, i have to have it all ;-)

@Steve Kenson
Thanks a lot for the info, there seems to have gone a lot of work into this game, i'm looking forward to it!

 

[NLP]

Keep an eye on the Green Ronin website (http://www.greenronin.com) for updates on Mutants & Masterminds. Sufficient to say for now that I'm very pleased with the professional way Green Ronin is handling the game.

Is the game going to be supported with a regular product line or is it going to be the rules book, a city book, and maybe a villain's book and then that's it?

Since superhero games are comic book-based, it seems logical to me that those types of games need more support material than many other genres. Comic book fans are use to seeing something new and different every month. It seems like many companies are putting out d20 superhero games, but I haven't heard much about the support material. Just as in D&D, the game is only fun to play when there are modules to adventure in, campaign plots to unravel and enemies to defeat. Without a steady supply of those the game becomes nothing more than another d20 combat engine.

 

[Nikchick]

Is the game going to be supported with a regular product line or is it going to be the rules book, a city book, and maybe a villain's book and then that's it?

It seems like many companies are putting out d20 superhero games, but I haven't heard much about the support material.

Well, Mutants & Masterminds is meant to be a full-featured superhero line, and so far we've got Steve's core rules, Freedom City, and at least one adventure contracted and on the schedule, with another couple of tentative supplements being negotiated. I guess how deeply we get into supporting it with additional books really depends on the reaction we get to the initial releases, but I'm personally anticipating a good reaction when people see what we've got going on. I would love to see M&M become huge enough to support a regular release schedule of something new every month. Assuming we're not deluded and the fan base goes along with that, there's no reason to think we can't make good with the support material.

Nicole

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Ummm...

Is it unknown that Morrus - who, of course, runs EN World - is getting ready to publish a d20 supers game? That's what Khan was referring to. Basically, while I have no problem with Mr. Detwiller's posts, I can see what Khan was getting at - it seemed like a jab at Morrus on his own site.

 

[Vigilance]

Re: Ummmmm

The point of this forum if for publishers to speak out. You're specifically allowed to release press releases on this forum as well.

How was Mr Detwiler "taking a jab at Morrus" by speaking out and offering a press release?

Seems like that's the point.

 

[enrious]

Re: Re: Ummmmm

How was Mr Detwiler "taking a jab at Morrus" by speaking out and offering a press release?

Saying, "Why pay for D20 supers when you can get one of the best D20 author's work on the subject for free?" on a forum where the host has announced plans to release a d20 supers product is like standing on the sidewalk outside of a grocery store telling everyone you're giving away the same groceries for free at your store.

Not very polite (and IMO unprofessional) to do it outside your competition's sidewalk.

There were far better ways for Detwiler to have expressed himself.