Supers Recommendations: My Choice: M&M

[WizarDru]

You might also like "Time of Crisis", GR's first adventure for M&M. Very much a four-colour feel, and complete with giant Nazi robots.

If you've got players who are attracted to Batman-style characters, make sure they know how to apply the Skill Focus and Talented feats. Coming from a D&D mindset, it sometimes doesn't twig with players that you can (and for skill-based characters, should) take those feats in place of a lot of skill ranks. That helps Batman-style characters afford their laundry list of skills, sufficient combat ability to take out a room full of mooks, and some toys.

Oh, I don't worry about that. My group are old-school Champions players, which became their game of choice after AD&D lost it's flava. Only one of my players doesn't have some degree of Champions experience, and three of them are currently in the 'City of Heroes' beta test, which is a big chunk of what prompted my picking up M&M.

Having now read through the Damage system and combat system, I'm even more impressed. They took just what they needed to run a combat, and little else. The alternate damage system, now that I have a feel for it, is an excellent representation of superhero damage, and should work just fine.

I ran a GURPS Supers game for about 8 years (starting with the 1st version and then migrating to the 2nd) and still remember the first time one of the former champions players used his character's fire powers to stop a group of thugs from robbing a bank with high-tech weapons. In one round, he reduced them all to ash....and then stared, wide-eyed, at the corpses that remained. In retrospect, one of my worst moments as a DM, really.

And a super-gorilla with increased intelligence? Certainly worth having.

I forsee getting a lot of use out of my HeroClix figures.

 

[WizarDru]

Glad you're enjoying M&M, WizarDru!

For the folks designing Batman-types, check out the Raven's stats in the intro adventure. She provides a decent model for avoiding lengthy skill lists but still being good at all the various skill-based stuff. In retrospect we should have included her as one of the archetypes.

Hi, Steve! Just a personal 'Nice Job!' from me. M&M is just brilliant, really. It's clearly a labor of love, and it shows. I haven't been quite so fired up to use a system in some time. It's not hyperbole for me to say that I've only been this fired up over a system maybe 4 times in over 20 years (the others? Basic D&D, GURPS, Castle Falkenstein and D&D 3e). And by 'fired up', I mean compelled to run it. I like d20 modern, for example, but it's just 'there'. M&M screams out: "Cloberrin' TIME!"

This does raise a question I have: that fellow with the ghostly revolvers who I see in several pictures (such as the one opening the combat chapter with the Pugilist)...who is that? I assume he's an archetype that had be moved for space reasons, but he strikes me as damned cool. If you ever saw the live-action 'Flash' series, he reminds me a lot of a young 'Deadly Nightshade', although he clearly could be any number of 'mystery men' type characters.

Also, feel free (if you haven't already) to visit www.mutantsandmasterminds.com for updates, downloads, errata, and such, and drop by the Atomic Think Tank forums. M&M is blessed with an enthusiastic fan community always willing to help each other out and share their experiences.

I had noticed this, after the fact. I grabbed the eratta from the site, and I see there are plenty of 'swag' to enhance my game. Makes the mouth water, it does. I definetly plan to pick up Crooks! and Crisis, as I flipped through it while waiting. The production values of M&M are very sharp and it showed that you and Green Ronin really understood what makes Superhero RPGs so fun.

Congrats on your new position, btw.

 

[Emiricol]

I'll second Kenson's suggestion of the Freedom City campaign setting. It's useful for other modern games as well. Anyway, the production values and overall value are about on par with the core MnM book's.

There's also a third party product (Super Link, they call such products) called Omlivex, but I don't have the URL for it.

 

[Kenson]

There's also a third party product (Super Link, they call such products) called Omlivex, but I don't have the URL for it.

http://www.spectrum-games.com/omlevex/index.html

I second checking out Omlevex. If you like Silver Age stuff, it's a blast (from the past). It'll have you wanting to track down the non-existent Omlevex comics to read them.

 

[Kenson]

This does raise a question I have: that fellow with the ghostly revolvers who I see in several pictures (such as the one opening the combat chapter with the Pugilist)...who is that?

That's Mr. Mystery, a character the Super Unicorn guys came up with. Doing something with him is on my "to do" list...

 

[takyris]

Ditto the props, Steve! Just gotta get my players behind the game, and things will rock.

 

[Bretbo]

That's Mr. Mystery, a character the Super Unicorn guys came up with. Doing something with him is on my "to do" list...

You tease! We've been a waitin' for a while to hear that!

Welcome to the M&M madness, WizarDru. You won't regret it!

 

[Breakdaddy]

I just bought M&M too. I will probably never be able to get my players to play it but eh, itll be a fun read. And a fella can dream...

 

[Teflon Billy]

make sure you throw in a super-intelligent ape at some point too!

Here's the one from our M&M Campaign...

In the heart of darkest Africa is a land of magic, where beasts of
legend walk the earth. The valley of the Titans.

Ancient legend speaks of a lost valley in the shadow of a volcano in the country of Zamboula. Ruling over this wild land is the tribe of apes known as the Titans. Though small in number, these apes resemble gorillas, but vary from twice to 10-times the size of mountain gorillas, and are at least as intelligent as humans - some super-intelligent, and capable of psychic feats.

Known only to a few locals who keep their secret - some say out of fear of the mighty Titans. They are each gifted with strange powers, some great and some small, and each one different, but all of them possessed of great strength almost unimaginable by mankind. In days past, they warred with humans for the rich valley and its wonders, but the Titans have always had the might to repel any invaders.

It was into this milieu that the mighty Kronus was born. Blessed by the tribe of spirits of the fiery mountain Stantalla-Bor (the nearest thing to worship the animistic but atheist Titans allowed themselves), Kronus was the ruling son, first amongst the Titans, as his father before him.

Of the mightiest bloodline, Kronus' power was unrivaled, except perhaps for Hyperion, his misshapen half-brother. Though the two were fast friends, many shook their head in sadness, knowing that the friendship would end in tragedy.

Kronus gifted a fief to Hyperion, who used his newfound influence to gather a cabal of warriors loyal to him, unknown to Kronus, who saw only the kind face of Hyperion at court, and not the ruthless face of an ambitious despot.

And though his friendship with the king was sincere in the beginning, years away from his court turned his brother's friendship to simple convenience.

As his brother grew more and more distant, Kronus paid more heed to the rumors of forbidden alliances, that Hyperion sought aid from dark earthly powers of death and decay. Sensing the king's ire, Hyperion rebuffed his many invitations.

When the invites turned into a formal summons of he and his vassals, Hyperion knew that the winds had shifted against him. In a daring act of rebellion, his forces (including the sinister allies now revealed) struck against Stantalla-Bor's tribe of
elemental spirits.

Their first assault was a ploy, with the dark earthen elementals
apparently acting alone, drawing the kings most loyal warriors to the aid of their ancient allies and symbols of royal power. But Hyperion's forces struck from ambush with the aid of the dark elementals, destroying the loyal forces and Stantalla-Bor's children alike.

Hyperion attended the ill-defended Kronus, demanding that he relinquish the throne or suffer the consequences. He refused the generous offer of exile, and was instead sold as a slave to Dr. Tamoken, a human scientist of evil genius. The forces of darkness became the symbol of the new regime, replacing the elemental spirits of the mountain lord.

Dr. Tamoken used science to master the will of the mighty Kronus, and he fought as one of the AfriCorps in the Hoon invasion. Later the AfriCorps repelled an invasion of the Republic of the Congo by Hyperion and the Titans.

Though the Titans were the aggressors, Kronus' people now regarded him as a traitor. In the fury that followed, Kronus somehow overcame his mental restraints, but was subdued by team AfriCorps. Imprisoned, he was freed through the unlikely help of the last surviving Stantalla-Borean, Tephra

The two escaped, putting as much distance between themselves and Hyperion as they could, eventually finding their way to North America...

PLAYER: Theo
HEIGHT: 9'
WEIGHT: 1600 lbs
EYES: Red

STR: 20
DEX: 20
CON: 20
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 16

BASE ATK: 9
BASE DFN: 7

DFN: 26
SPEED: 60 (7680 sprint)

SAVES:
Will: 7
Ref: 10
For: 5
Dam: 9 (5 prot)

POWERS
Growth +5 (FL: Permanent)
Super Speed (EX: Mach-One Punch, ST: Wall Run) +5
Amazing Save: Will +5
Amazing Save: Damage +4

FEATS
All-Out Attack
Move-By Attack
Rapid Strike
Leadership
Inspire
Startle
Indomitable Will

SKILLS
+9 Intimidate (6)
+9 Diplomacy (6)

WEAKNESS
Disturbing

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Exceelent choice for selecting MnM. You have wonderful taste. MnM does the best job of replicating actual comics scenarios as any game I have seen. The damage saves (as opposed to hit points) make for a faster and slightly more unpredictable fight.

Personally, I cannot say enough good things about the game as well as the creators. More than any other supers game I have seen, they have really captured the essence of a comic book RPG, which is actually harder than you may think.