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<blockquote data-quote="DMScott" data-source="post: 1753028" data-attributes="member: 11734">Yeah, that's an example of how game mechanics can be balanced statistically and yet not lead to &quot;fun balance&quot; in play. The first time I ran an M&amp;M game, I had two players with straight-from-the-book PL 10 characters (one used the Superman-style template, the other was a Battlesuit) and put them up against a rampaging PL 13 brick type. I wanted a long running battle, sort of &quot;stop the Hulk before he wrecks the city&quot; scenario, and I got it - but I was really surprised how fragile the two heroes were when hit with PL 13 attacks, they spent a lot of hero points to finally beat the bad guy. A small edge like having attacks three points more effective than the other guy's defenses has a huge effect on gameplay.There are also differences in the way various powers mitigate damage, and I don't think the caps are properly thought out yet. M&amp;M is still a young supers game, and nobody gets it all balanced the first time.I really liked M&amp;M when I first got it; I still like it, but I'm more aware of its strengths and weaknesses now. I find M&amp;M is best suited to an occasional one-off game, where one person designs all the characters (and thus ensures they're all reasonably capable, and well-matched against the bad guys), and nobody is too attached to their hero so if one goes down in a heap at the first punch, everyone can laugh it off and move on to the next fight. The fast play means you can get a lot of action into an evening, and make sure everybody has a chance to shine, but the vagaries of the dice make it hard to portray a character consistently over multiple sessions. Even Protonik is occasionally going to roll a 1 on his damage save and get put down by a henchman, and that happens too often to really be enjoyable in a campaign.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DMScott, post: 1753028, member: 11734"] Yeah, that's an example of how game mechanics can be balanced statistically and yet not lead to "fun balance" in play. The first time I ran an M&M game, I had two players with straight-from-the-book PL 10 characters (one used the Superman-style template, the other was a Battlesuit) and put them up against a rampaging PL 13 brick type. I wanted a long running battle, sort of "stop the Hulk before he wrecks the city" scenario, and I got it - but I was really surprised how fragile the two heroes were when hit with PL 13 attacks, they spent a lot of hero points to finally beat the bad guy. A small edge like having attacks three points more effective than the other guy's defenses has a huge effect on gameplay. There are also differences in the way various powers mitigate damage, and I don't think the caps are properly thought out yet. M&M is still a young supers game, and nobody gets it all balanced the first time. I really liked M&M when I first got it; I still like it, but I'm more aware of its strengths and weaknesses now. I find M&M is best suited to an occasional one-off game, where one person designs all the characters (and thus ensures they're all reasonably capable, and well-matched against the bad guys), and nobody is too attached to their hero so if one goes down in a heap at the first punch, everyone can laugh it off and move on to the next fight. The fast play means you can get a lot of action into an evening, and make sure everybody has a chance to shine, but the vagaries of the dice make it hard to portray a character consistently over multiple sessions. Even Protonik is occasionally going to roll a 1 on his damage save and get put down by a henchman, and that happens too often to really be enjoyable in a campaign. [/QUOTE]

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