Let's Talk About Supers RPGs (Especially Ones Good For Cons)

As someone who still owns Mutants & Masterminds 2e, is there anything in 3e that people feel is dramatically improved? One of the things I always liked about M&M is that once bonuses passed +10, you replaced it with another d20.

I always felt it kept things interesting and die rolls relevant.
 

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As someone who still owns Mutants & Masterminds 2e, is there anything in 3e that people feel is dramatically improved? One of the things I always liked about M&M is that once bonuses passed +10, you replaced it with another d20.

I always felt it kept things interesting and die rolls relevant.

Define "dramatically". I personally thought replacing the attributes with just the modifiers saved a step in process since there was almost no purpose in the actual attributes.

While I'm not sure the actual result worked, in principal replacing all the special-case attack powers with Affliction was conceptually sound (the problem was that since conditions were by their nature split into three piles, within the piles not all were created equal. This was a problem with the 2e powers too, but there you could twiddle with other things about how the powers worked to somewhat balance out the problems).

There were other things I thought were virtues, but I'm even less sure I'd call them dramatic improvements.
 

If you're looking for something very simple to play (or you're just interested in Supers RPGs in general), I would suggest looking at Super-Action Roleplay by Four Color Studios. The writer (Scott Pyle) has done a lot of different skirmish games in the supers genre (as well as working on the original Necessary Evil book for Savage Worlds) and SAR looks like it could play very quickly in a convention setting.

If anything, you might find a new super RPG to peruse!

- Vilegrimm
 

I am going to be running a one shot of Marvel Multiverse this weekend to give it a whirl. ny suggestions or advice? For reference, the PCs will be the FF and I will be running the Mole Man adventure.
 

I LOVE Brave New World in that 90s way. My favorite thing about it was it was the first game I remember where you chose to do cool stuff (stunts? tricks?) AFTER you rolled, rather than the old school punitive mechanics for trying cool stuff. It is pretty dated now and I always have hoped there would be a reboot.
I don't know if you've seen, but... they explained the disappearance of the Alphas after the Bicentennial Battle in Chicago. When I read it - it blew my mind.
 

Ran a short introductory/test session of Marvel multiverse tonight. We got a late start because of Demiplane/Roll20 integration issues for one player, but once we got that settled were were able to play. The PCs were the FF and Giganto had erupted from the city streets. We made some skill checks, did some punching, and deduced the poor creature was being manipulated! We did not have a big fight, though, so my experience is still a little limited. But even so, the system seems to run smoothly. I am excited to have a second session and rev the engine a little more.
 

Especially for a con I’d probably want something simple and easy to understand but with interesting mechanics to make it worth playing, or maybe a media tie-in. I’d therefore recommend Stalwart, Triumphant, or the new Invincible Quickstart.

If you’re just looking for simple supers goodness, I would definitely recommend Icons or Tiny Supers. The latter isn’t designed to model every possible hero or villain but is a tight light tactical engine, almost like Heroclix in RPG form.
 
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Having played Spectaculars at a con, I'd heartily recommend it. It's an elegant system, really know how to deliver comic-book-style gaming and it comes with a ton of cards, tokens &c that add to the fun.
 

For con games, I have usually resorted back to TSRs Marve Superhero Games. For One Shots, though (slightly different as I may know the players), I tend to use Twilight 2000 4th edition with some homebrewed superhero rules.

I just like the lethality of it.

When folks say they want to emulate the comics, I'm wondering "which comics?" - because there's such a very wide delta. I'm looking to emulate something in between Alan Moore's Captain Britain run...and perhaps Warren Ellis' Planetary. Be default this has some other themes. (Being superpowered often ain't enough)
 

So I finally had a chance to write up some potential pre-gens for my bumbling villains con game and want some feedback. I am using the Marvel multiverse RPG and have a friend helping building them at rank 2 or 3 (I have not decided yet).

Here they are:

Killbot Komando: Formerly just a minion for the notorious 90s technovillain Alt-Man, KK accidentally achieved sentience when hit with the Y2K virus. KK operated as a assassin for years before being reprogrammed by the hero CyberKnight. Although the newly integrated “no killing” firmware update remains in place, Cyberknight was disappointed to discover that Killbot Komando remains a criminal mercenary.
Powers/Skills: Basically a Bullseye or Deadshot clone who is extremely skilled at gunplay; a robot so resistant to harm and things that would kill humans.
Weaknesses: cannot kill (shoot em in the leg!); susceptible to hacking and other cyber attacks
Motivation: upkeep is expensive and illegal, but can’t go back to Alt-Man, so needs lots of money for repairs etc.

Jumpin’ Jack: A three time loser who has been henchman to most of Bastion City’s least successful would-be costumed crime lords, Jack Porter had a mid-life crisis and decided to stop being a henchman and become a supervillain in his own right. He acquired the powerboots of a villain called Leapfrog, gave the gear a paint job, and started his career as Jumpin’ Jack at the age of 53.
Powers/Skills: agility based fighter; able to leap tall buildings in maybe 3 or 4 bounds
Weaknesses: Wears and armored costume but is otherwise a normal guy; also has a lot of history with the various crime leaders in the city; no one respects him; Leapfrog wants his gear back?
Motivation: Money is nice but what jack really wants is respect as a supervillain

Menajorie: Marjorie Dobbson is a mutant with the ability to shapeshift into different creatures, but her power is limited in two ways: first, whatever creature she turns into has exactly the same mass as her human form; and second, she can only change shape into weird hybrid animals (like an owlbear, or a sharkhorse, or a clamchimp). She tried to become a superhero but her powers were so bizarre people feared and rejected her. In an “I’ll show them” moment, she changed her ways to crime, but she isn’t really “evil” in any meaningful way and tries to avoid hurting people.
Powers/Skills: she is basically a very limited Beast Boy
Weaknesses: her powers can give her attacks and mobility but can't really do anything overtly magical or extraordinary.
Motivation: Mostly she is just mad about the way people treat her for how her powers work, but like everyone else in the word, she has to make rent and car payments etc.

Disassembler: A telekinetic, Rodney Lambert was never good at building things as a kid, but he sure could take them apart. Once he mastered his powers in late adolescence, he became a criminal mostly to pay for the vices he enjoyed( gambling, partying, women, etc). Over time, his vices took control and now he is stuck in an ever worsening cycle of debt to the various crime bosses of Bastion City. He uses his powers mostly for robbery, as he is something of a coward.
Powers/Skills: Disassembler has telekinetic powers that allow him to take apart anything made of multiple components. He can’t break anything solid, and he cannot put anything back together. Note that just because he takes something apart does not mean he has any control over what happens next (so if he took apart a police helicopter in midair it would rain its pieces and passengers down on the street).
Weaknesses: heavy debt, a coward, and does not want to go to prison for murder; limits on powers as noted
Motivation: keeping loan shark villains from killing him or forcing him into servitude; party

Nooka: Hundreds of years from now, in the aftermath of a global nuclear war, the mutant chimp Nooka stumbled upon an ancient laboratory beneath the ruins of Bastion City and was hurled back to the present by a closed timelike curve opened today by the would be villain Chronoptimum. Unfortunately, the unexpected arrival of Nooka destroyed the time machine and killed Chronoptimum, which has trapped Nooka in this alternate past. Nooka is brilliant but simply does not respect the modern era, knowing what it is destined to become, and chose life as a supervillain simply because modern social niceties make no sense to him.
Powers/Skills: Nooka is physically powerful, intellectually brilliant, and can shoot radioactive beams out of his eyes to weaken those subject to radiation poisoning.
Weaknesses: Nooka does not understand modern society nor respect its -- but has fallen in love with pre-apocalyptic comforts like clean water and pixie sticks. He also cannot pass for human at all, and is considered a “monster” by authorities and heroes.
Motivation: Nooka is driven by disdain for the “soft” modern world that has signed its own death warrant.
 

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