teitan
Legend
Hello kiddies, here I am with a new review of our favorite four color fantasy game MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS by Steve Kenson and brought to us by the fun factory that we call Green Ronin.
I first bought this game about a week after it came out, after many, many months of anticipation that should have turned this game into a real flop for me. Ok, how often do we build up anticipation for a movie and then it is 10000% better than we anticipated it to be? That is what Mutants & Masterminds happens to have accomplished.
I have now run the game for almost a year, having started my big game in January of last year, though taking a brief hiatus for some Vampire (blech) and a return to DnD. What did I discover in that year that makes MnM the greatest game I have played? It runs so smooth with little hiccups that are easily resolved without mess or fuss. RIght out of the box you get enough material to play for years on end with a little imagination and enough time, and barring time... we now have Crooks and Freedom City for those nasty little bad guys meant to plague our brave heroes and dastardly anti-heroes lives. But let us get to the nitty gritty, the real dealy eely on this...
With this game I have been able to pull off everything any other supers game sought to accomplish in a neat little book, with no muss, no fuss. Throwing out complexity in favour of out of the box playability with maximum customization is no easy task. I spent better part of a year trying to create a supers game for our favorite little system and let me tell you, it ain't easy like yer prom date was, it was actually quite difficult but here Steve Kenson succeeded where I and various other failed like little 13 year old kindergarteners. Yes, they do exist, like alligators in the New York sewer, seen them too.
Character creation is as simple as 1,2,3 but for one slight flaw, no clear walkthrough, which would make a nice selection for the upcoming annual. everything is point buy, from skills to ability scores to powers. Ok, the thing is point buy can get rather complex, the KIng of point buy, HERO requires a calculator and about 2 hours of valuable playing time, not to mention the pre game time spent on developing a concept for Captain Chowderhead and his Funkatronic Psychedelics.
A lot of yahoos seem to have misunderstood some of the finer elements of the game, having become so used to fine tooth combs of character creation, wanting specific information on their characters. They seem to have forgotten the sheer joy of playing a game and started nitpicking one little thing that really comes down to nothing. Skill Points. SO many people are trying to fix the game right out of the box with all these skill point fixes but they are just making it harder on themselves. Think about it... Reed Richards is not great at physics, no he is great at EVERYTHING requiring Intelligence, Batman is great at EVERYTHING applied to Intelligence, Dexterity, Wisdom, Spidey has dexterity based matters right down to the core root of all things dexterous so why, oh why do we need to have all that quantified when when you finally check out that character sheet, it says the same danged thing yer pre fix sheet would have said anyway???? Ok, enough ranting on that. What this game does is amazing, simplifying concepts like skills down to super-attributes and for those characters who are just really good at one thing... SUPER-SKILL!!!!!! How nifty is that rant aside... blink blink. The game really de-emphasizes micro-management in favour of fun, and I like that. Try playing as is before fixing perceived problem that aren't there.
Hero Points are another inspired concept in this game. Sure, other games have Hero Points and they may operate in the same manner as those granted to us by Mr. Kenson, but in most games they are stockpiled for character advancement. Hero Points are a great idea, I love them, but seriously, they go to waste. Well what Steve Kenson did was seperate the advancement aspect of Hero Points and made them an integral part of the game as a way to actually affect the way the game goes, almost like a bargaining chip that regenerates every session. For advancement you get Power Points which you can use to buy new skills, advance your powers or abilities beyond your starting values.
When you accumulate 15 points you increase in power level. Each Power Level determines your max ranks in skills, powers etc. and also works as an excellent gauge of what kinds of villains to throw at your players. Kind of like Challenge Ratings, a good understanding of Power Levels can make or break a game.
The game moves faster than a SST, super sonic transport for you yahoos out there. Sometimes a little too fast, thank goddess for those Hero Points because Villains get a whole passel of 'em. The system uses one twenty sided die to resolve EVERYTHING from skill checks to combat to.. to... to... well, what else do you need. I had a great session where my players went through a mess of 100 spider-aliens in about 4 hours as well as a few "boss" fights. The city was being invaded, what can I tell ya. What other game can have yer pcs tear through such a massive crowd of monsters, have fun doing it and... and... PLAY A SUPERHERO!!! OK, maybe Feng SHui.
Damage is an easy matter to resolve, based on a damage saving throw, which is kind of like a fortitude save but different. There are two types of damage, lethal and non-lethal. Lethal is the type to kill ya, whereas non-lethal.. well if you can't figure that one out I am not going to explain it, this isn't kindergarten after all. The different types of damage take differing times to heal and have adverse affects on your rolls. You get a -1 cumulative for every hit of damage you take, lethal and non. You don't have hit points so as long as you keep rolling good or burning those Hero Points you can keep going like that cute little bunny on T.V.
One big bonus for me is that unlike certain three stat games, there isn't a catch all power (Power FLux or Dynamic Powers) than can be used to describe EVERY character I throw at the system. Whileit is a quick system to learn and use, the powers are really easy to model and you don't need to use a single generic power to describe everyone from Green Lantern to Iron Man to SUpreme (c'mon people) to Dr. Strange. Not all character sheets looke the same in this game and that is a real bonus because your player isn't look at a bunch of numbers but real powers. Power creation is very simple and expanded rules will be available in the MnM Annual 1 due early next year.
Now a little more seriously lets go over some of the flaws in the game, of which there are few. It can be too fast, the BBEG can go down to quick, which means the game really requires a lot of fudging to keep it going and your players will catch on sometimes if they are half as smart as they think they are. The Screen available for the game is a valuable time saving tool and hidey hole, or as my players call it, cheatin sheet for the GM. Players will also forget their Hero Points and/or cut the game short from injudicious use of Hero Points early on in the game.
As a GM one must go through the character creation process with the players or you will wind up with planet tossing indigents or characters that steal the light away from the other players. Understand how the powers work and how Hero Points work or you will face a lot of abuse of power on the PCs parts.
There are quite a few typos in this book and a few errors that needed clarification, including some out and out contradictions that are cleared up in the erratta on the GR website. Many of these errors are easy to spot and with simple logic easily sorted out on one's own. The books doesn't have a HUGE erratta sheet like a lot of similar games possess. That is a blessing after the messes a lot of games have become or were from the start.
The game is tidy, short and sweet. A real treat to look at and featuring great art from the likes of Sean Chen, Ramon Perez and Dan Brerton. The artwork and style of the book really lends itself to the same feel of Villains & Vigilantes or the old Marvel game, simple, direct and to the point. There is not a lot of wasted space in this book and not a lot of useless fluff. A few areas could be better organized for ease of use in play or possess better highlights for what is where. Trying to find the objects as weapons rules can be a real pain in mid-session but since they are so simple, well, they are easy to learn.
I give MnM a 5 of 5 because it met and then exceeded my incredibly high expectations, setting a new bar for excellence in a crowded genre. This game will have a long life and I look forward to each and every release in the series...
Protonik
I first bought this game about a week after it came out, after many, many months of anticipation that should have turned this game into a real flop for me. Ok, how often do we build up anticipation for a movie and then it is 10000% better than we anticipated it to be? That is what Mutants & Masterminds happens to have accomplished.
I have now run the game for almost a year, having started my big game in January of last year, though taking a brief hiatus for some Vampire (blech) and a return to DnD. What did I discover in that year that makes MnM the greatest game I have played? It runs so smooth with little hiccups that are easily resolved without mess or fuss. RIght out of the box you get enough material to play for years on end with a little imagination and enough time, and barring time... we now have Crooks and Freedom City for those nasty little bad guys meant to plague our brave heroes and dastardly anti-heroes lives. But let us get to the nitty gritty, the real dealy eely on this...
With this game I have been able to pull off everything any other supers game sought to accomplish in a neat little book, with no muss, no fuss. Throwing out complexity in favour of out of the box playability with maximum customization is no easy task. I spent better part of a year trying to create a supers game for our favorite little system and let me tell you, it ain't easy like yer prom date was, it was actually quite difficult but here Steve Kenson succeeded where I and various other failed like little 13 year old kindergarteners. Yes, they do exist, like alligators in the New York sewer, seen them too.
Character creation is as simple as 1,2,3 but for one slight flaw, no clear walkthrough, which would make a nice selection for the upcoming annual. everything is point buy, from skills to ability scores to powers. Ok, the thing is point buy can get rather complex, the KIng of point buy, HERO requires a calculator and about 2 hours of valuable playing time, not to mention the pre game time spent on developing a concept for Captain Chowderhead and his Funkatronic Psychedelics.
A lot of yahoos seem to have misunderstood some of the finer elements of the game, having become so used to fine tooth combs of character creation, wanting specific information on their characters. They seem to have forgotten the sheer joy of playing a game and started nitpicking one little thing that really comes down to nothing. Skill Points. SO many people are trying to fix the game right out of the box with all these skill point fixes but they are just making it harder on themselves. Think about it... Reed Richards is not great at physics, no he is great at EVERYTHING requiring Intelligence, Batman is great at EVERYTHING applied to Intelligence, Dexterity, Wisdom, Spidey has dexterity based matters right down to the core root of all things dexterous so why, oh why do we need to have all that quantified when when you finally check out that character sheet, it says the same danged thing yer pre fix sheet would have said anyway???? Ok, enough ranting on that. What this game does is amazing, simplifying concepts like skills down to super-attributes and for those characters who are just really good at one thing... SUPER-SKILL!!!!!! How nifty is that rant aside... blink blink. The game really de-emphasizes micro-management in favour of fun, and I like that. Try playing as is before fixing perceived problem that aren't there.
Hero Points are another inspired concept in this game. Sure, other games have Hero Points and they may operate in the same manner as those granted to us by Mr. Kenson, but in most games they are stockpiled for character advancement. Hero Points are a great idea, I love them, but seriously, they go to waste. Well what Steve Kenson did was seperate the advancement aspect of Hero Points and made them an integral part of the game as a way to actually affect the way the game goes, almost like a bargaining chip that regenerates every session. For advancement you get Power Points which you can use to buy new skills, advance your powers or abilities beyond your starting values.
When you accumulate 15 points you increase in power level. Each Power Level determines your max ranks in skills, powers etc. and also works as an excellent gauge of what kinds of villains to throw at your players. Kind of like Challenge Ratings, a good understanding of Power Levels can make or break a game.
The game moves faster than a SST, super sonic transport for you yahoos out there. Sometimes a little too fast, thank goddess for those Hero Points because Villains get a whole passel of 'em. The system uses one twenty sided die to resolve EVERYTHING from skill checks to combat to.. to... to... well, what else do you need. I had a great session where my players went through a mess of 100 spider-aliens in about 4 hours as well as a few "boss" fights. The city was being invaded, what can I tell ya. What other game can have yer pcs tear through such a massive crowd of monsters, have fun doing it and... and... PLAY A SUPERHERO!!! OK, maybe Feng SHui.
Damage is an easy matter to resolve, based on a damage saving throw, which is kind of like a fortitude save but different. There are two types of damage, lethal and non-lethal. Lethal is the type to kill ya, whereas non-lethal.. well if you can't figure that one out I am not going to explain it, this isn't kindergarten after all. The different types of damage take differing times to heal and have adverse affects on your rolls. You get a -1 cumulative for every hit of damage you take, lethal and non. You don't have hit points so as long as you keep rolling good or burning those Hero Points you can keep going like that cute little bunny on T.V.
One big bonus for me is that unlike certain three stat games, there isn't a catch all power (Power FLux or Dynamic Powers) than can be used to describe EVERY character I throw at the system. Whileit is a quick system to learn and use, the powers are really easy to model and you don't need to use a single generic power to describe everyone from Green Lantern to Iron Man to SUpreme (c'mon people) to Dr. Strange. Not all character sheets looke the same in this game and that is a real bonus because your player isn't look at a bunch of numbers but real powers. Power creation is very simple and expanded rules will be available in the MnM Annual 1 due early next year.
Now a little more seriously lets go over some of the flaws in the game, of which there are few. It can be too fast, the BBEG can go down to quick, which means the game really requires a lot of fudging to keep it going and your players will catch on sometimes if they are half as smart as they think they are. The Screen available for the game is a valuable time saving tool and hidey hole, or as my players call it, cheatin sheet for the GM. Players will also forget their Hero Points and/or cut the game short from injudicious use of Hero Points early on in the game.
As a GM one must go through the character creation process with the players or you will wind up with planet tossing indigents or characters that steal the light away from the other players. Understand how the powers work and how Hero Points work or you will face a lot of abuse of power on the PCs parts.
There are quite a few typos in this book and a few errors that needed clarification, including some out and out contradictions that are cleared up in the erratta on the GR website. Many of these errors are easy to spot and with simple logic easily sorted out on one's own. The books doesn't have a HUGE erratta sheet like a lot of similar games possess. That is a blessing after the messes a lot of games have become or were from the start.
The game is tidy, short and sweet. A real treat to look at and featuring great art from the likes of Sean Chen, Ramon Perez and Dan Brerton. The artwork and style of the book really lends itself to the same feel of Villains & Vigilantes or the old Marvel game, simple, direct and to the point. There is not a lot of wasted space in this book and not a lot of useless fluff. A few areas could be better organized for ease of use in play or possess better highlights for what is where. Trying to find the objects as weapons rules can be a real pain in mid-session but since they are so simple, well, they are easy to learn.
I give MnM a 5 of 5 because it met and then exceeded my incredibly high expectations, setting a new bar for excellence in a crowded genre. This game will have a long life and I look forward to each and every release in the series...
Protonik
