Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition

[Reynard]

You know, the card mechanic is really like TSR's SAGA system. They used it for Dragonlance and their Marvel RPG.

I love SAGA for supers. I wish they would have come out with a generic deck to be used with homebrewed settings, as i don't much care for Marvel. But i'll definitely be mining Marvel SAGA for ideas to include.

Aside: I didn't much care for SAGA for DL, but I would have adored it for Star Wars. In fact, when "Star Wars Saga Edition" was announced, I thought they meant "SAGA Edition" and damn near did a cartwheel..

 

[Reynard]

I ran a fairly sucessful campaign using the cards option, and I really think that it did help out with the pacing and story. However, I did have one player who always played his 20 on the first round of combat, even though everyone at the table (except him?) knew that I wasn't going to let him one punch the villains like that.

I wasn't imagining giving the players a full 1-20 range so much as drawing hands of 5 or so cards from a common deck.

 

[Dr. Confoundo]

I wasn't imagining giving the players a full 1-20 range so much as drawing hands of 5 or so cards from a common deck.

Sorry - that's not what I meant. The players had 5-card hands like you'd give them... but over the span of the campaign, he got quite a few 20s, which he always used immediately, rather than waiting for a dramatically appropriate time.

I'd suggest pulling the face cards from two decks, leaving you with 80 cards to play with.

 

[pawsplay]

I know that every design really wants to be itself, but I would be just a little disappointed if it moves too far from its d20 roots. I mean, there are already plenty of other supers games out there. The d20 "family features" help with conversions and familiarizing players and so forth.

 

[Walking Dad]

... That doesn't exactly sound setting or genre neutral. I would imagine that M&M 3e is going to typically support "normal" superhero activity. I mean, all attacks default to nonlethal, and even attacking at lethal, it can be pretty tough to finish someone off.

For all who like to use M&M for a broad style of games, good news in this post by one of it's writers:

The Atomic Think Tank • View topic - Concerns regarding M&M 3rd edition

At its base, M&M3 is a leaner, more efficient means to do all things we love about Part Deux. There's also an added degree of flexibility--the updated system seems even more capable of handling other genres and styles.

 

[megamania]

Welp.... this explains the problems I have had in getting certain books.



I just started the game. have not even officially run a game even.... just campaign notes and the creation of characters.


Buggers.

 

[Walking Dad]

The DC Adventure Journals have started. As the DC game will use the same rules as M&M3, here is the link:

DC ADVENTURES Design Journal #1

 

[Aus_Snow]

Some more juicy tidbits for y'all:

Exclusive with Steve Kenson

 

[Walking Dad]

As it seems they will give only 1 diary a week, I think I can give m 2 cents about the only one we got so far:

There will be 4 books

1 Core (14 heroes & villains (total 28) included).

2 Character Books (A-K the first... will have to wait longer for Metamorpho, but this is fine, as I think J'onn (Martian Manhunter) is in the core book)

1 Setting (includes past, future, and dimensions)


What are your hopes for the first 14 heroes / villains?


---

The diary was a bit weak on the mechanics side, but this was confirmed elsewhere on the Atomic Think Tank:

Use only Ability mods (like True 20).
Will still use one d20 for task resolution.
Have done something to feats.

 

[Dr. Confoundo]

What are your hopes for the first 14 heroes / villains?

There are fourteen heroes shown on the cover that's already been posted - it'd be hard to imagine that this isn't also the list of the ones included in the book.

As for villains, that's a harder question. Some are obvious - when in doubt, pick the archnemesis (Lex Luthor, Joker, Sinestro). But if they try and include a matching villian for every hero in the book, you'll have some really odd inclusions... who do you pick for Plastic-Man or Hawkwoman?