Superheroes of The Trust OOC Thread (Accepting Alts)

[DM_Matt]

So I've finally decided that I have the time and inclination to GM a Mutants & Masterminds game. it will be a PL11 (though if players want I can go 10 or 12) Mutants & Masterminds Second Edition Superhero game, centered in a modified version of Freedom City (the defaults setting), but which could easily include travel to just about anywhere. The Ultimate Power supplement is permitted, but time travel abilities and nemesis are not. The intro is below:

You were having a pretty good week, having brought a personal nemesis to justice a few days previous. You turn on the evening news, secretly hoping to see yourself yet again, though feeling a little guilty about it. Unfortunately, the flood of bad news quickly knocked your accomplishments out of the news cycle. As you lay back in your chair, that which you haven't accomplished, the evils that you haven't vanquished, wash over you. As you flip through the channels, the bad news just keeps on coming.

"...In local news, Civil rights activist Reverend Jerry Johnson and his wife were found dead today in their Freedom City home...In a letter to the Daily Herald, the Supervillain White Knight claimed responsibility for the murders, saying...."

"...In what is sure to be seen as an escalation of the feud between the Cholos and the Mafia, Michael "Mikey Riggs" Rigatti, son of reputed crime boss Tony "The Tiger' Rigatti, was found with his throat torn out near his West End home. Tensions between the Mexican-American Lycan Gang and the Mafia have been running high over the past few months due to a territorial dispute. Through his lawyer Paul Shepherd, Numero Uno, leader of the Cholos, issued a statement denying involvement in the killing and offering, and I quote "his sincerest condolences to the Rigatti family..."

"...In international news, more depressing tales out of the Darfur region of Sudan today, where reportedly the superteam African Brotherhood of Peace was slain in a failed attempt to stop the Janjaweed from releasing the necromancer Barunga-Na from his extradimensional prison...Likely, this sets the stage for the first use of undead soldiers since the Protocol of Final Rest was passed as an addendum to the Fifth Geneva Convention, banning the use of the undead for military purposes..."

"...Coordinated Spontaneous Combustion attacks struck Tel Aviv elementary schools today, killing 48...Farfour the Murder Mouse has claimed responsibility for the attacks..."

"...In South London, Super-psycho Jack the Raper struck again last night..."

..."Good Evening, Hero," says an unfamiliar man on the television in a very deep voice. He looks to be a statuesque, chisled, muscular man...made of some kind of living metal. *Click* You try to change the channel. He is on the next one, too. *Click* Still there. "The world is a dangerous place, as anyone who watches the news can attest. But you have begun to do your part. To distinguish yourself. We have taken notice of you. We wish to offer you an opportunity. Heroes can accomplish great things alone, but far greater things in groups. Groups of heroes can accomplish great things, but groups with the right resources, connections, and organization can truly change the world, and turn back the rising tide of evil. It is this that I offer you. It you are willing to pledge yourself to bringing super-criminals of all varieties to justice, then at midnight, go to parking lot 17 of the Freedom Colosseum, and find a black van with the license plate 7DX510B. There will be a keypad on the side. Type your Social Security Number into it, and it will open. Go inside, and close the door behind you. Others like you will come. At 12:30, you will receive directions as to where to drive to meet us. Now, back to your regularly-scheduled programming." You regain control of the television.

EDIT: Character Creation Rules Appended...

1. Fluff in addition to crunch, please. Characters, not just builds.
2. Please list the point costs of everything you buy.
3. Almost any power origin is allowed, but I will not be adding alien civilizations to the campaign world, so if you are an alien, your civilization must be extinct or not in contact with you or earth.
4. Banned Powers: Time Control and travel, Nemesis, the Uncontrolled flaw on most powers (allowed on a case-by-case basis. I allow uncontrolled visions and the like)
5. Equipment: If it is something that you would have had, and that you will use, buy it. That being said, once your characters join the organization (we will be picking up from the end of that intro), you will have access to a certain amount of equipment each adventure, but you might not be able to choose it and usually will not be able to have any given piece of equipment at all times.
6. House Rule: Fractions. You can buy fractional ranks of ranked feats that grant benefits per rank. For instance, you can take 1.5 ranks of attack specialization (pointy stick) to get +3 to attacks with a pointy stick. You also can get skills that do not total to a multiple of four.
7. If you have access to the Mastermind's Manual, you may take Skill Challenge feats.


UPDATE: A VERY GOOD CHARACTER SHEET IN EXCEL, WITH VERY GOOD TEXT OUTPUT. YOU WILL HAVE TO COST ULTIMATE POWER ABILITIES BY HAND RATHER THAN USING A MENU, HOWEVER.

GET IT HERE

 

[Jemal]

I've been thinking of getting Mutants & Masterminds off & on for the last couple months. I've always loved the idea of Super Hero games... I've tried to do them with D&D, D20 Modern, and BESM, but this seems to be the only SuperHero system that anybody uses.. I do have a question, however.. Is the second edition the newest, and would you suggest any supplements?

I've been putting it off for lack of interested parties to game with..

just for the record, the first character I'd like to make would be a mutant code-named "Optic" who has a whole crap-load of eye/vision-related powers.. Eye lasers, heat vision, X-ray vision, Telescopic, microscopic, and obviously Extraordinarily observant.

Would such a character be feasible with this ruleset?

 

[DM_Matt]

I've been thinking of getting Mutants & Masterminds off & on for the last couple months. I've always loved the idea of Super Hero games... I've tried to do them with D&D, D20 Modern, and BESM, but this seems to be the only SuperHero system that anybody uses.. I do have a question, however.. Is the second edition the newest, and would you suggest any supplements?

I've been putting it off for lack of interested parties to game with..

Yes, Second Edition is the current version. If you only buy one supplement, buy Ultimate Power. It goes a very long way to expand and clarify the powers system. UP is far and away more useful and necessary than the others. The Mastermind's Manual has a lot of optional rules, but because it is full of optional rules, it is very GM-centric. The rest are just books of character builds, settings, flavor, etc.

EDIT: Yes, you can do that with M&M. You can pull off almost any concept. Very few are clunky due to the system. UP does a lot to expand Super-Senses, btw.

 

[Jemal]

IF I were to make such a character for your campaign, do you think he'd be acceptable, and not under or over-powered?
I should have the book and be able to post by the 8th/9th at the latest.

 

[DM_Matt]

IF I were to make such a character for your campaign, do you think he'd be acceptable, and not under or over-powered?
I should have the book and be able to post by the 8th/9th at the latest.

Its a viable concept. Whether he's overpowered, underpowered, or just right will depend on how you build him. You will probably want him to be able to do more than just have great super-senses and eye-beams though, because super-senses are relatively cheap. M&M has great built-in balancing mechanisms. In the end, every PC is made with the same number of points, and the "Caps-And-Tradeoffs" system keeps characters similarly-powered if pretty much everyone meets most of their caps, which players generally do.

 

[Jemal]

BESM d20 (the version I've played) Has a similar 'point' system, and I found the same problem making this character in that.. Super senses are cheap, and there's only so much power you can put into an Eye-Laser.

SO, I found a power in that book (Hoping for something similar in M&M) that let you have an 'item of power' which has various powers of its own (Think D&D Magic Item).

I assume M&M Has Super Suits with their own special powers (Hello Iron Man/Rhino/Green Goblin), so it shouldn't be hard to find.
THat would probly be what I'd spend the remainder of my points on.

I'm looking forward to trying this system out, and hope there's still room for me here when I DO get it..

 

[DM_Matt]

BESM d20 (the version I've played) Has a similar 'point' system, and I found the same problem making this character in that.. Super senses are cheap, and there's only so much power you can put into an Eye-Laser.

SO, I found a power in that book (Hoping for something similar in M&M) that let you have an 'item of power' which has various powers of its own (Think D&D Magic Item).

I assume M&M Has Super Suits with their own special powers (Hello Iron Man/Rhino/Green Goblin), so it shouldn't be hard to find.
THat would probly be what I'd spend the remainder of my points on.

I'm looking forward to trying this system out, and hope there's still room for me here when I DO get it..

In M&M, Devices can have any power in the game, and are discounted based on how hard they are to lose. Each rank of device gets you 5 power points worth of powers, but costs 3 points if it can be disarmed, 4 if it can only be taken from you when helpless. If them item is grafted to or otherwise part of your body, it is just a description of some other power.

 

[Drerek]

BESM d20 (the version I've played) Has a similar 'point' system, and I found the same problem making this character in that.. Super senses are cheap, and there's only so much power you can put into an Eye-Laser.

The nice thing about M&M 2nd is that you could put as much power into the "eye-laser" as you wanted. Just make it the Blast power and have it themed as shooting out your eye balls.


Is there a char sheet?

 

[Jemal]

In M&M, Devices can have any power in the game, and are discounted based on how hard they are to lose. Each rank of device gets you 5 power points worth of powers, but costs 3 points if it can be disarmed, 4 if it can only be taken from you when helpless. If them item is grafted to or otherwise part of your body, it is just a description of some other power.

ACTUALLY, That's pretty much the description of "item of power" from Besm d20, verbatim. I wonder if a lot of the powers are similar..

So I would assume then that articles of clothing would be the 4-point variety.

 

[Shayuri]

Hmmm... What about "super mage" characters? Latter-day witches wizards and warlocks?

Or perhaps transdimensional powers...