Mutants and Masterminds: Other Genres

[Albert_Fish]

For those of you who play Mutants and Masterminds in a genre besides that which the authors intended.

What power level do you guys play at?
What genre do you use the system for?

What sort of changes have you had to make?

Be detailed.
I am thinking of running either a pulp or low fantasy game.
I figure 45 points would be ok especially using the optional ruleof no level limits ( I.E. 45 points is 3rd leve. at third level you normally cannot haveat attack bonus above +3, in the case of the optional rule syou can increase it to whatever bonus you can afford).

How aobut you guys more familiar with the system?

 

[Insight]

What power level do you guys play at?

While I have only played a pulp-style 1930s game in MnM (as well as the superhero/modern genre), I would suggest PL 7 or 8 for a game from that era. If it's going to be mainly fighting minions, maybe 6 or even 5.

What genre do you use the system for?

I would imagine that, with a few tweaks, you could use MnM for almost anything. I toyed with doing Space Opera with MnM. I saw someone on the GR board talking about a Pirate game, and another talking about a Wild West game. MnM is really versatile, since everything is point-based. Almost what GURPS was trying to be...

 

[PJ Mason]

For those of you who play Mutants and Masterminds in a genre besides that which the authors intended.

What power level do you guys play at?
What genre do you use the system for?

What sort of changes have you had to make?

Be detailed.
I am thinking of running either a pulp or low fantasy game.
I figure 45 points would be ok especially using the optional ruleof no level limits ( I.E. 45 points is 3rd leve. at third level you normally cannot haveat attack bonus above +3, in the case of the optional rule syou can increase it to whatever bonus you can afford).

How aobut you guys more familiar with the system?

I've used M&M for a Bluffside mini-campaign. That was quite fun.
The only real weakness the game seems to have is that skills become too expensive to afford for "skill" characters. There are a handful of ways to deal with it. I just condensed the skill lists to a list of about 20 skills. Of course i ended up with a different list for my Bluffside/Fantasy campaign than i had for my regular superhero campaign. But it has worked out quite nicely!!

I've toyed with several ideas for the M&M. a Straight fantasy game would work very well. We are getting a little sick of flat D&D 3E.
Of course a Superhero in the Wild West would be real cool. Or a superhero-fantasy mix sounds nice. Too many possibilities.

 

[Robbert Raets]

Ahem...

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51009

http://www.greenronin.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3756

 

[Benedict]

The only real weakness the game seems to have is that skills become too expensive to afford for "skill" characters. There are a handful of ways to deal with it. I just condensed the skill lists to a list of about 20 skills.

Did you use the "but 3 skill points for 1 build point" house rule that seems to have arisen to combat this problem?

benedict

 

[teitan]

I have been using the standard skill point costs since I began running thegame in January and there has NEVER been a "problem" with it. It is actually very reflectiveof the genre, Batman is good at ALL Dex based skills etc. I could see the same rules applying to Doc Savage with his infinite knowledge of EVERYTHING and it keeps you from having to list, like in the Knowledges, EVERY STINKING KNOWLEDGE UNDER THE SUN and wasting points having to buy it, because that is how comic books work.

I think the "problem" with skill point costs is we are so used to having every minute detail down about our characters that we have to have everything quantified. Skill point costs are about as much a problem in my experience as the Attribute costs.

Jason

 

[PJ Mason]

Did you use the "but 3 skill points for 1 build point" house rule that seems to have arisen to combat this problem?

benedict

I tried that last night actually and it worked out okay (ran a solo), the character even ended up with more skill ranks than he would have had comparatively with my CSL (condensed skill list). But all things considered, i liked the CSL better (Hide and Move Silent is now Stealth, Listen and Spot is Perception, etc). It streamlined the skills so that there is less bookkeeping, no bother with synergies (which seemed like an uneeded crossover from core D20), and even less rolls. For some reason i just don't like the 3 to 1 ratio, i'd rather let the points system stay the way it is, because i like the extra benefits we gained from the CSL.

 

[Albert_Fish]

PJ Mason. How did you convert monsters?

what power level were the players?

ddi you even use super powers?

What power level?

 

[Voneth]

How did you convert monsters?

Download the FAZ at www.mutantsandmasterminds.com it has some guidelines.

what power level were the players?
I was doing PL 5 for my Farscape/Space Opera

ddi you even use super powers?

Yes, but supposedly for alien and psionic powers.

Some suggestions:
Limit feat purchases to perhaps 4 feats at first. A LOT of players love the idea of getting things like power attack along with multiple attack feats so they can juggle around their BAB, damage and AC to over react to the situation.

Cap Super Atts to +2, but then lower skill points to 1 for 2.

Put your foot down on "front loaded" powers like invisiblity, Incorpreal, and Dimensional Travel. Either ban them or make the PC take flaws with them to limit their use. (Get the errata for the new Gadget guidelines too.)

And keep an eye on how players develop their characters. I see that a few of them look over all the goodies in MnM and then start getting a level of this or that (mostly those front loaded powers I mentioned earlier) as their concept begins to dissovle under the weight of getting the new power of the week.

 

[PJ Mason]

PJ Mason. How did you convert monsters?

what power level were the players?

ddi you even use super powers?

What power level?

I didn't use a lot of monsters (mostly other humanoid characters - for no real reason other than thats my style), but for what i did use, Voneth is right. Those guidelines attached to that link worked plenty good for me.

I used power level 3, as i wanted them to be inexperienced, but worth their salt. PL 1 or 2 is just to darned weak though. The higher PL's (10+) in M&M are way more powerful, so you have to be careful to stay within the realms of playability, if you are concerned with such things. One level in M&M is a much bigger deal than 1 level in D&D! If you want your players to be major heavyweights, like Titans or Demi-gods, then its easy as pie to use the system without any restraints.

Yep i used powers for racial abilities (Dwarf's got Super Con +1, Elves S-Dex +1, some races got darkvision, etc), that way they had inherent bonuses, even if they had low regular stats. I had one half-elf/half-drow (a Bluffside race) that had Obscure (natural power for the character as they cast Darkness) and Incorporeal (a magical ability he developed) and 1 rank of the Sorcery power.
The sorcery power goes a real long way in modeling D&D magic, IMO. So that wasn't so hard a hurdle, afterall.