Teflon Billy
Explorer
...and I have to say: Holy Crap! This is another shot out of the park for M&M.
First off the easy stuff: The art is--as per usual--beautiful, Genre-appropriate and exciting. i don't think there is a "dud" in the entrie book art-wise.
If you think that M&M has previously done a good job with their art then you will not be dissapointed. Even the introductory comic is good (it makes The Pugilist, who I have been lukewarm on up until now, seem really cool).
Moving on, the first section is (for me) of incredible utility. A whole chapter on Mooks; the "hired help" that supervillains have. Thugs, Combat Droids, Vampire Minions, Spies, Ninjas, Sky Pirates, cultists...and many, many more. This chapter is going to see a lot of use in my game.
the meat of the book, the CROOKS themselves are a really well-realized bunch. My main complaint about the old Champions material was that, by and large, the endless books of Villains all seemed to be filled with characters that I would have though tof myself. This book is packed with really imaginative stuff (Though the absence of a more complete writeup on Gepetto, my favorite Iconic Baddie from the core book was kind of saddening).
Standouts in this chapter (IMO) are The Nihilist, Murder Man and Butcher Boy, Beholder, Spasm, Czar and Iron Cross.
Space-wasters include the "All Wigger" graffiti artists Tag Team (no black or hispanic kid in there at all?...maybe I misunderstand the RL scene) and the "Shallow Teenage Girl" group, The Clique. I suspect others may have use for them, but they kind of fell on deaf ears here (Deaf Ears? Blind Eyes maybe? Ok...revoke my Metaphor License)
Anyway, moving on; the new rules for Villain Player Characters look cool. The feats are interesting and well-balanced, and the rules for a Legal System (something that has been a long time coming in super-games IMO) will see use in my campaign even with PC's as heroes.
Finally...I love the glimpse we are given of the META-4 Setting. I loved Freedom City; indeed, felt it was the best RPG product of any type last year, but if the META-4 setting is produced to the same quality standards that we've seen from M&M thus far I suspect it will be a lot of folks (at least those who grew up in the same era of comics I did) default setting. It's history cleverly takes into account not only real-world politcal history, but th history of the comic book industry as well.
I'll write up a proper review for EN World shortly, but I just wanted to post something about this wicked product immediately
First off the easy stuff: The art is--as per usual--beautiful, Genre-appropriate and exciting. i don't think there is a "dud" in the entrie book art-wise.
If you think that M&M has previously done a good job with their art then you will not be dissapointed. Even the introductory comic is good (it makes The Pugilist, who I have been lukewarm on up until now, seem really cool).
Moving on, the first section is (for me) of incredible utility. A whole chapter on Mooks; the "hired help" that supervillains have. Thugs, Combat Droids, Vampire Minions, Spies, Ninjas, Sky Pirates, cultists...and many, many more. This chapter is going to see a lot of use in my game.
the meat of the book, the CROOKS themselves are a really well-realized bunch. My main complaint about the old Champions material was that, by and large, the endless books of Villains all seemed to be filled with characters that I would have though tof myself. This book is packed with really imaginative stuff (Though the absence of a more complete writeup on Gepetto, my favorite Iconic Baddie from the core book was kind of saddening).
Standouts in this chapter (IMO) are The Nihilist, Murder Man and Butcher Boy, Beholder, Spasm, Czar and Iron Cross.
Space-wasters include the "All Wigger" graffiti artists Tag Team (no black or hispanic kid in there at all?...maybe I misunderstand the RL scene) and the "Shallow Teenage Girl" group, The Clique. I suspect others may have use for them, but they kind of fell on deaf ears here (Deaf Ears? Blind Eyes maybe? Ok...revoke my Metaphor License)
Anyway, moving on; the new rules for Villain Player Characters look cool. The feats are interesting and well-balanced, and the rules for a Legal System (something that has been a long time coming in super-games IMO) will see use in my campaign even with PC's as heroes.
Finally...I love the glimpse we are given of the META-4 Setting. I loved Freedom City; indeed, felt it was the best RPG product of any type last year, but if the META-4 setting is produced to the same quality standards that we've seen from M&M thus far I suspect it will be a lot of folks (at least those who grew up in the same era of comics I did) default setting. It's history cleverly takes into account not only real-world politcal history, but th history of the comic book industry as well.
I'll write up a proper review for EN World shortly, but I just wanted to post something about this wicked product immediately
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