New Edition of Mutants & Masterminds Coming Soon, Playtest Launches at End of Month

Green Ronin Publishing is making a new edition of Mutants & Masterminds. Creator Steve Kenson announced the news over on BlueSky this evening, revealing that he's working on a fourth edition of the superhero-themed RPG. According to Kenson, an "Origin" playtest edition of the new edition will be releasing in PDF at the end of the month, with a limited print run coming to Gen Con.

Perhaps the most popular superhero RPG, Mutants & Masterminds is a D20-based game system meant to be used with any level of superhero story, ranging from street-level to cosmic powered heroes. The GM sets a power level at the outset of the campaign that dictates the overall power level of characters, but players can further customize their characters within that framework using power points. The game notably allows for a large variety of superhero skills and abilities, allowing players to build custom heroes with a large degree of variation.

In recent years, Marvel has gotten into the RPG business with their own Marvel Multiverse RPG that allows character creation and play as one of dozens of superheroes from the Marvel Universe. Greater Than Games published a Sentinel Comics RPG (based on Sentinels of the Multiverse) but that is on hiatus due to that company shuttering due to tariffs.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Now I am thinking about borrowing some ideas from Aberrant by White Wolf and "Brave New World" rpg. Has anybody played the "Champions Online"?

I wonder about the great challenge for the design, the power balance. There is a serious difference between being a street vigilante like Batman or Daredevl and a cosmic champion like Superman or Silver Surfer.

Other point if the Game-Master wanted to design a super-horror campaign like "Marvel Zombies", "Super-Zombies" by Dinamite Comics, "DCeased" or "Leaving Megalopolis"+"Surviving Megalopolis". Do you remember the horror movie "Brightburn"?

How will be the leveling-up? How would be earned the XPs and how can be used to become stonger?

 

[Theory of Games]

Now I am thinking about borrowing some ideas from Aberrant by White Wolf and "Brave New World" rpg. Has anybody played the "Champions Online"?

I wonder about the great challenge for the design, the power balance. There is a serious difference between being a street vigilante like Batman or Daredevl and a cosmic champion like Superman or Silver Surfer.

Other point if the Game-Master wanted to design a super-horror campaign like "Marvel Zombies", "Super-Zombies" by Dinamite Comics, "DCeased" or "Leaving Megalopolis"+"Surviving Megalopolis". Do you remember the horror movie "Brightburn"?

How will be the leveling-up? How would be earned the XPs and how can be used to become stonger?

The "balance" is in how the GM designs the actual campaign, so that each PC (regardless of power level) has some impact - not in every scene, but in the overall campaign.

No game is going to make sure all the effects are equally effective. It's like chess: a pawn will never be as effective as a queen, but a pawn can actually win the game for you. It comes down to how it's used.

Green Ronin actually produced a supplement for M&M3e that showed GMs how to incorporate the occult and horror into a campaign

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/107391/supernatural-handbook

4e is currently being playtested, so we won't have a finished edition until next year. If you want in on the playtest, I'd strongly suggest joining M&M's Atomic Think Tank site

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Supers is my favorite genre hands down. It's the one that I'm the most familiar with and I have the most knowledge of. I've supported every iteration of M&M and while I STILL like Champions better, it is a great system for supers.

If this new version is going to be rules lite and less crunchy or trying to make itself palatable to D&D players? I'll stick with 3rd edition as I have many of the books and can pretty much do what I'd like to with that version.

 

[dbolack]

Supers is my favorite genre hands down. It's the one that I'm the most familiar with and I have the most knowledge of. I've supported every iteration of M&M and while I STILL like Champions better, it is a great system for supers.

If this new version is going to be rules lite and less crunchy or trying to make itself palatable to D&D players? I'll stick with 3rd edition as I have many of the books and can pretty much do what I'd like to with that version.

It is a very similar product, not radically different, per Steve.

 

[Keith Langley]

I’m honestly hoping they go much more rules light and abstract across the board. I doubt they will, but who knows. I just can’t go back to a dense and crunchy system at this point. Gimme something where I can write down “Green Lantern,” make a few picks, and be ready to play in 5-10 minutes instead of having a 2-3 hour paperwork and math homework session just to make a character.

Steve Kenson has another game, ICONS, which is everything M&M isn’t - rules light, fast and loose. It’s on DTRPG.

 

[gurpsgm]

Well, in that case, I'm kinda glad I did not invest in a copy of the Gamemaster's Guide!

 

[darjr]

4th Edition of M&M Chat

Big Show! Steve Kenson and M&M Dev Alex Thomas stop in to talk about the new 4th edition of Mutants and Masterminds! Jacob Blackmon hosts🎙️ New to streaming...

www.youtube.com

 

[darjr]

Origin edition is a playtest and not final.