Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="MancerBear" data-source="post: 2553831" data-attributes="member: 855">Green Ronin's Mutants & Masterminds 2eI haven't done a game review in quite some time, but I've been so impressed with Mutants & Masterminds 2e that I had to put pen to paper, so to speak.I was involved in the playtesting of the first edition of Mutants & Masterminds, and thought at the time that it was the best supers game around, even with its flaws.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't become involved int eh playtest of the 2nd edition.  What I am glad to see though, is that some of the suggestions that didn't make it into the first edition, certainly made it into the second edition. Physically the book is quite impressive; a 251 page hardcover with cover art by Ramon Perez.  The interior design is also excellent, with chapters having individually coloured margins for easy identification, and an overall high standard of art.  Some art is reprinted from the first edition, but that doesn't detract from the overall presentation.One of the things I really like about this edition are the little boxes scattered throughout the book entitled 'Under the Hood'  which gives an insight into the reason why certain decisions had been made, as well as designer notes and tips.The book is divided into the usual chapters which I'll detail below. The introduction provides the standard information regarding what a role playing game is and what you need to play, as well as a description of the basic core mechanics of M&M.  This is very elegantly explained and leaves no room for doubt.  This is followed by an example of gameplay, and finished with a list of important terms.Chapter 1 provides the basics of character creation with a step by step description of the steps taken.  It is then followed up by 13 character archetypes that can used in play immediately with minor personalising touches. Power points and power levels are explained and the chapter concludes with two examples of hero creation.  There are one or two places where the creation examples are a little unclear, but all in all it's very good.Chapter 2 details abilities, the generation technique, and benchmarks.  A new addition to this edition is the ability to raise your ability scores above 20.  In the first edition, any ability score above 20 needed to be purchased using Super Attributes, each of which had different point costs according to their versatility.  Ability points are now all the same price.  Another major change has been the removal of Strength and Dexterity bonuses affecting your chances to hit and avoid an attack.  A great move in my book as it brings into line the cost of Strength and Dexterity with the other abilities.Chapter 3 details skills.  The skills list has been seriously cut back, with some skills disappearing, and others being folded into one skill.  I like this a lot, but what I like more is the fact that each point you spend on skills gives you 4 ranks worth.  This is a fantastic change from the first edition; as far as I was concerned; skills were never as effective as powers and should not have been given a similar point cost.  Once again, skill benchmarks are listed, giving you a good idea of what how many ranks in a particular skill mean.  Each skill is adequately explained, with lots of examples on how they are used in play.Chapter 4 is where all the fun begins, with Feats.  The Feats list from the first edition was fantastic, but there was some confusion between a normal feat and a super feat.  Now, feats are just that, something that anyone can have.  To make matters more interesting, their cost has been reduced to 1 power point, and some feats can have more than one rank, making the feat more effective; all excellent additions to the game.  Each feat is detailed and seems to be quite well balanced as a whole.  Feats have been broken up into 4 broad categories; combat, fortune, general, and skill feats.Chapter 5 brings us to the section on powers.  A whopping 61 pages of them!  All the usual suspects from first addition are here, as well as new ones that Steve has released periodically.  My favourite has to be Anatomical Separation.  I was disappointed, though, to see the demise of the Gadgets power, which I still feel has a place in the rules. Many of the problems plaguing powers have been rectified, descriptions simplified, and an overall streamlining has been put into place.  Gone is the option of having powers as an extra to another power, which was just a point rorting system as far as I'm concerned.  Now we have Alternate Powers, where you can use one, but not the other.  Very elegant I feel, though it still suffers a little bit in the areas of trying to make some alternate powers fit, but that's just an individual problem, I'm sure. The powers section concludes with a section on Power Feats, Extras, and Flaws, all of which are used to individualise and further define your powers.Chapter 6 provides a lot of help advice on rounding out your characters details, such as name, appearance, origin, etc.  This chapter really does provide a lot of support in this area, as well as giving the mechanics for both Drawbacks, and Complications.  Drawbacks replace the Weaknesses from first edition, and have been further refined so that they no longer  provide a flat 10 point bonus, which led to players taking the least disadvantageous weakness and claiming the full 10 points for  it.  Now, Drawbacks can be refined by frequency and intensity, giving you bonus points according to your selection.   Complications are the little problems that affect your character throughout his career, such as secret identities, love interests, etc.  These don't give any bonus points, but they do give extra hero points when they are introduced into the adventure by the game master. This is one addition I truly love.  Couple this with the change that a PC no longer gains his full allotment of Hero  Points at the start of an adventure, but has to earn them through setbacks in the adventure, really opens up the story  potentials for both the players and the game master.Chapter 7 details devices and equipment.  Devices are the sorts of toys supers like to play with, where equipment is the sort of stuff that anyone with the right amount of money can purchase.  This leads me to the Wealth option in the game.  Just like in the first edition, Wealth is an optional ability that the game master can choose to ignore in his campaign, but if the gm does use it, Wealth becomes important in the creation of Devices.  The chapter also details a list of common equipment, headquarters, vehicles, and constructs.  As a side note, Headquarters now cost a team of heroes points, which in the old system was free.Chapter 8 explains combat in full detail.  This is a fairly self explanatory chapter, and apart from a few typos causing confusion, is very easy to follow.  Actions are explained in detail, as is each combat move.  Combat is quite similar to most open game license products, with some slight changes to the names of various manoeuvres.  Damage is explained in quite some detail, and hasn't changed from the first edition of requiring a Save to resist damage.  For me, this was the crucial aspect of the game, truly making combat and damage far more comic-booky.  Add to that the streamlined knockback rules and I'm a happy puppy.Chapter 9 is where all the Game Mastering advice begins.  This chapter deals with handling players, how to adjudicate off the cuff, saying no, and more importantly, saying yes to players, and adventure creation and design.  Fairly straight forward advice, but always useful to reread every now and again.Chapter 10 brings us to world-building.  This chapter is chock full of advice for designing and running your own campaigns and  worlds, with a concise history of the various comic book eras, and suggestions on how to create the same feel in your  campaign.  It includes everything from character origins, to organisations and laws, providing information and examples.Chapter 11 gives advice on creating villains, as well as provideing archetypes for 14 different villain models that can be plucked right out of the book and set against your players with minimum fuss.  This is followed by a list of normal NPCs, animals and monsters.  This resource was largely missing from the previous edition, and is a welcome addition for me.Finally, the book is rounded out with not one but two adventures.  The first one, "The Heist" is an adventure that has been previously available at the Mutants & Masterminds website.  I was a little disappointed with this, as I was hoping for two completely new adventures.  The second adventure though, is completely new as far as I'm aware, and provides a lot of action for players to learn the basic aspects of the game.I read this book from cover to cover the moment I received it, and feel that overall it is a fantastic addition to the superhero roleplaying genre.  I congratulate both Steve Kenson, the creator, and the playtesters, on a job really well done here.  They have taken a supers game that was already great, and turned it into something truly fantastic.  Apart form the normal printing typo hiccups, the book is excellent, easy to follow, and truly a pleasure to read.Well true believers, I really only have one thing to say, as quoted by Steve Kenson himself, "Make mine Mutants & Masterminds” (2nd edition, of course).</blockquote>

Verification