Questions about M&M?

[Caspian Moon Prince]

I am thinking of picking up Mutants & Masterminds, but I have a few questions that I haven't seen answered yet.

1) What is the highest power scale that M&M resonably works for? Let's just say I wanted to create someone that could toss moons around in space. Would M&M allow this? I've never really like supers at that high of a level..but I'm wanting to see the full scale it allows. Also, what level of power does M&M work for the best?

2) Once learned reasonably well, how quick is it to run M&M, or to create villians and heroes? My superhero rpg game of choice has been DC Heroes (now Blood of Heroes), because after the slight learnng curve it I barely had to look at the chart and I could easily build a hero or villain.

Thanks for your input!!!

 

[d4]

1) What is the highest power scale that M&M resonably works for? Let's just say I wanted to create someone that could toss moons around in space. Would M&M allow this? I've never really like supers at that high of a level..but I'm wanting to see the full scale it allows. Also, what level of power does M&M work for the best?

i would say M&M can work at that high of a power level. although the core rulebook doesn't really go into much detail above Power Level (PL) 20, there is a villain in one of the setting books (Omega from Freedom City) who is PL24, so the possibility is there. there is also a 3rd-party Superlink product about "cosmic" level heroes and villains, if you wanted more detail.

as far as the power level it works best at, in my opinion think of things such as the X-Men movies or the Justice League animated series. it handles the "typical" power level of supers very, very well.

2) Once learned reasonably well, how quick is it to run M&M, or to create villians and heroes? My superhero rpg game of choice has been DC Heroes (now Blood of Heroes), because after the slight learnng curve it I barely had to look at the chart and I could easily build a hero or villain.

in my experience, it is very fast and easy to play, especially if you have prior d20 experience. combats are fast, fun, and exciting.

if i've already got a strong idea of what i want a character to be capable of, i can design an NPC in around 5-10 minutes, tops. also, i've never had an idea that i couldn't build in M&M yet. the power system is simple, yet amazingly flexible.

 

[takyris]

1) I believe that M&M can work for any power level -- once you get to PL20, you can do some fairly freaky-powerful world-affecting stuff. I think that it works best in the 8-12 range, personally, with 8 working well for low-powered, high-skilled people like Daredevil and Batman (when he's not fighting Darkseid with Supes) and 12 working for higher-powered stuff. It can still work past that, but I think that most PCs get specialized enough that they stop being good comic-book people and start being really focused, powerful people.

2) I can create a decently complex character without the book, and I can do it fairly quickly. Once you understand the character creation concepts, creating characters is pretty fast. And play is even faster.

 

[Emiricol]

I was going to reply, but d4 & Tak said everything there is to say. Anything else would be fanboy raving. So - yeah, what he said.

 

[Rokonin]

I have a question:

Does the core book contain things like a DM's section with adventure or setting examples (besides Freedom City)?

 

[Caspian Moon Prince]

i would say M&M can work at that high of a power level. although the core rulebook doesn't really go into much detail above Power Level (PL) 20, there is a villain in one of the setting books (Omega from Freedom City) who is PL24, so the possibility is there. there is also a 3rd-party Superlink product about "cosmic" level heroes and villains, if you wanted more detail.

How powerful is Omega? With his stats, how strong is he? If he uses energy powers, how powerful are they?

This will probably help since he is off the "normal" level which seems from above to be 20.

 

[d4]

How powerful is Omega? With his stats, how strong is he? If he uses energy powers, how powerful are they?

well, his job description reads "Destroyer of Universes", if that gives you any idea.

put it this way: a group of "average" (PL10) heroes is going to need a plot device to defeat Omega.

 

[d4]

Does the core book contain things like a DM's section with adventure or setting examples (besides Freedom City)?

there is a short chapter on gamemastering in the book, but there's not a lot. there is a sample adventure in the core rulebook (Major League) and a free PDF adventure on GR's website (The Heist), but both of these are nominally set in Freedom City.

note though, that other than the sample adventure, there's no setting information in the core rulebook.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

How powerful is Omega? With his stats, how strong is he? If he uses energy powers, how powerful are they?

Thanos sans Infinity Gauntlet.

 

[takyris]

Does the core book contain things like a DM's section with adventure or setting examples (besides Freedom City)?

It does have some setting information -- not information about other settings in particular, but information about getting the kind of setting you want (ie, is this a grim and gritty world, a four-color world? Do your heroes fly across universes, travel around the world, or patrol the rooftops of a single city?). It also has some good information about general GMing -- some of it is the kind of thing you'll see in any roleplaying book, but some of it pertained specifically to superhero-style campaigns, and how they can be different from normal campaigns (as I recall -- no book in front of me right now).

Only one adventure, although there are some sample villains and a few other potential adventure hooks thrown in there for you.