Mutants and Masterminds

[Paganboy28]

Does anyone know of anyone who likes playing this game?

What do people think of it?

I am thinking of getting the 2nd edition.

[kamikasei]

Does anyone know of anyone who likes playing this game?

You make it sound like you expect such people to be the rarest of the rare, only whispered about, never seen.

I like it. It's a good system. The two games I've ever had last any length of time use it. It's definitely worth checking out.

[Satyr]

I played the game and I liked it. It is nothing special -too much D20 inheritence for trying out something more courageous, I guess - but it is a fun game in its specific niche. It is comparatively flexible, and fun to play. I have my problems with games that treat items just as another power and build them with the same ressources you use for your characters, but otherwise, it is a nice game.

In many ways I think that M&M is a much further and more interesting development from the D20 base than D&D 4th edition, and I wish that D&D4 would be a bit more like it.

Then again, M&M is a superhero RPG. People have tried to proclaim it as some kind of generalist system, but for that is still way too rigid. But if you are looking for a superhero RPG, and like D20 you can't do much wrong with M&M.

[The_Scourge]

M&M is sweet (see what I did there?)

Seriously though, Mutants and Masterminds is my favorite game system, it's so flexible that you can do pretty much anything. Anything from spiderman clones to a porpoise assassin that can warp between bodies of water (Murderdolphin) to a gender confused shapeshifter (Gal Lad) the possibilities are endless and really easy to pull off.

[sombrastewart]

M&M is sweet (see what I did there?)

Seriously though, Mutants and Masterminds is my favorite game system, it's so flexible that you can do pretty much anything. Anything from spiderman clones to a porpoise assassin that can warp between bodies of water (Murderdolphin) to a gender confused shapeshifter (Gal Lad) the possibilities are endless and really easy to pull off.

This is true, though you do have to be careful: there are some combinations that will jack the system up. The developers are aware of this and put notes in the book about it, and which powers and combinations should be avoided.

[Beelzebub1111]

I think the best thing you can do for a GM in this system is to have your players decide what superhero they want to be FIRST. THEN guide them through making the character. If you let them look through the book, they will break it.

[Starscream]

Definitely the best Superhero RPG I've played. Pretty easy to break the character creation system, but if the GM has a bit of common sense that won't be a problem.

And it's the only system that can be used to create a character like Superman, and a character like Batman and have them actually be fairly equal. It's also the only one I've seen that did my favorite superhero archetype, the Speedster, and made it any good.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I just bought it this month. It's the first non-D&D game I've ever bought, and it is every bit as awesome as I've been told. It's got a great deal of flexibility (I'm using it to play a low fantasy game, in the vein of Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock), is streamlined like you wouldn't believe (it only uses the d20, no other dice necessary) and doesn't even need minis!

[Raynn]

I have to agree with the previous comments, its extremely flexible but can be broken easily enough. One of my players tried simply to make a broken character, beyond wolverine level healing factor as well as great at inventing stuff and could teleport any where in the universe, at the standard PL10!

Really though so long as you have an experienced enough GM who can see when a character concept might turn out broken and be able to stear a player away from that for the betterment of the game as a whole it can be one of the best systems out there.

I highly reccomend it.

[infinitypanda]

I heartily recommend it for all reasons posted above.

[Beelzebub1111]

I have to agree with the previous comments, its extremely flexible but can be broken easily enough. One of my players tried simply to make a broken character, beyond wolverine level healing factor as well as great at inventing stuff and could teleport any where in the universe, at the standard PL10!

Really though so long as you have an experienced enough GM who can see when a character concept might turn out broken and be able to stear a player away from that for the betterment of the game as a whole it can be one of the best systems out there.

I highly reccomend it.

I had a similar problem when I ran a game. My guy abused spacial manipulation and had a high tech katana that could stop time. also within power level ten. The other player's weren't so bad. A claface, The Paper from Read or Die, and an energy blasting space-fairy...They...they weren't exactly a creative bunch.

[Ravens_cry]

Does anyone know of any (hopefully free, because I am cheap like that) online resources for steampunk and/or western adventures in M&M? I think the system could hack what I have in mind, a Wild, Wild, West style superhero game set on Mars, but I suck at builds.
Hope this isn't dragging too far off topic.

[Tengu_temp]

On breaking M&M:

Remember that this is not DND, where the players can bring their already finished character sheets with them and the DM has only to glance through them. In this game, the DM must oversee the character creation and point out parts he finds iffy or not fitting. It helps that the books already state which powers have the potential to be broken.

And I'd say it's still more balanced than any other open RPG I've seen.



Then again, M&M is a superhero RPG. People have tried to proclaim it as some kind of generalist system, but for that is still way too rigid. But if you are looking for a superhero RPG, and like D20 you can't do much wrong with M&M.

There are two types of settings M&M is not fit for:
1. Very gritty settings where just one bullet will kill you almost for certain.
2. A dungeon crawl with the Christmas Tree effect in full power, where you constantly find/buy large amounts of better and better magic items.

Beyond characters belonging to one of these two, I've never seen a character that couldn't be built with at least a decent dose of accuracy in M&M.

[leden]

I absolutely recomend it! I personally fell in love with it at first sight, it's great for superheroes but i've used it succesfully for an anime like game, a realistic mistery game and a samurai vs ninjas kind of thing (which was cool as hell, well, hell is kinda hot but you get the point :smallcool: )
Nevertheless I agree with the easy-to-break part.

[Zom B]

I loved it. I only got to play one session but it was the 3rd ed version. I played an incorporeal hero named Phasm that could create quasi-realistic illusions and pass through objects and go visible/invisible. His weakness was his physical body. If he ever touched it, he would get sucked back into it (he was ejected from it by someone aiming to steal his spirit, but his spirit (the superhero) escaped before the ritual could be complete.), and the BBEG has his former body possessed by some evil spirit...so Phasm can't fight it.

[Tengu_temp]

There is a third edition of M&M?

[Dust]

I love M&M as well, and would only TENTATIVELY call it my favorite system.
Here is why.

- Without a considerate group of players, there will be toe-stepping and role-overlapping, which this system does not handle well at all.

- Without a GM who can spot munchkinny power sets, you will quickly realize that certain characters are unplayably overpowered and need a remake.

- Without clearly expressing the genre of the game you'll be playing (ie; Watchmen universe vs 40's Superman), your players will often attempt things that are outside of the mood you're trying to set. Once, the party magic-user used his Animate Objects power to bring to life a large section of collapsed ceiling, which he named Roofus. Roofus stayed with us for 6 game sessions. This was in a dark and gritty 'street-level' campaign.


On the whole I completely recommend it, as well as picking up the Ultimate Power book.

[Dust]

Does anyone know of any (hopefully free, because I am cheap like that) online resources for steampunk and/or western adventures in M&M? I think the system could hack what I have in mind, a Wild, Wild, West style superhero game set on Mars, but I suck at builds.
Hope this isn't dragging too far off topic.

Post this on the Official Mutants and Masterminds Forums (http://www.atomicthinktank.com/), and you'll get a wave of extraordinarily helpful responses like you won't believe. The Atomic Think Tank and the GiTP boards are the go-to places for game knowledge, in my books.

And sorry for the doublepost.

[Tengu_temp]

Without clearly expressing the genre of the game you'll be playing (ie; Watchmen universe vs 40's Superman), your players will often attempt things that are outside of the mood you're trying to set. Once, the party magic-user used his Animate Objects power to bring to life a large section of collapsed ceiling, which he named Roofus. Roofus stayed with us for 6 game sessions. This was in a dark and gritty 'street-level' campaign.

That's just too awesome.

[Satyr]

There are two types of settings M&M is not fit for:
1. Very gritty settings where just one bullet will kill you almost for certain.
2. A dungeon crawl with the Christmas Tree effect in full power, where you constantly find/buy large amounts of better and better magic items.

We might have different definitions of "very gritty", but I found that even in its very core competences, the system has its problems. Like "Firearms will never, ever hurt you when you look out for that kind of stuff." And the system is generally a bit ham-fisted and too abstract for many genres.
I think we had this discusion a few weeks ago, and i stand by my opinion: M&M is not a bad game at all, but only in its niche. Outside of it, it is a lot like comparing a nice set of bright colored bricks with a toolbox with pretty much endless raw material.

By all means, that doesn't mean it is a bad system, but don't try to turn it into some kind of universal answer to any genre. It doesn't work that way. It works fine in its niche, but outside of its element the system's weaknesses are showing.

[Tengu_temp]

If you want to make firearms a threat, just play a very low PL game where they're not subject to the cap, or give them much higher damage.

Just like you stand by my opinion, I stand by mine - there are very few settings that don't work in M&M. It can certainly represent ones that have a lot of action very well, which means at least 90% of RPGs.

[Satyr]

If you want to make firearms a threat, just play a very low PL game where they're not subject to the cap, or give them much higher damage.

Sorry, but houseruling it out is not a good answer. You could probably houserule any system to do about everything, but that's not an argument about any kind of quality (Not even the lack of quality; you can hardly blame again that it works well in its genre).
And yes, I like a game where characters are extra crispy powerful and yet can still be shot by a panicking soldier with an assault rifle.
I orignally used Mutants and Masterminds for a campaign where the PC's where Greek Gods (in Retirement, after they don't have much to do nowadays) who have to cooperate to find out who or what has start to kill gods and other supernatural beings. For this premise, the characters had to be powerful (they were gods after all) and it was also necessary that gods could have been killed with purely mundane means, and purely mundane means could pose a threat to someone like Ares.
It didn't work out that well, even though the characters were almost archetypical super hero concepts (a big bruiser, a speeder, a gadgeteer and a genius). We shifted to Gurps after two sessions, rebuild the characters and never looked back. Even though it was the first Gurps game for two of the players.
Do you consider "Ares, Hermes Hephaistos and Athene arguing a lot while they try to find a lead on who killed Zeus" to be very gritty?

[Ravens_cry]

Post this on the Official Mutants and Masterminds Forums (http://www.atomicthinktank.com/), and you'll get a wave of extraordinarily helpful responses like you won't believe. The Atomic Think Tank and the GiTP boards are the go-to places for game knowledge, in my books.

And sorry for the doublepost.
Thanks, I will be sure to check that out!:smallsmile:

[Tengu_temp]

And yes, I like a game where characters are extra crispy powerful and yet can still be shot by a panicking soldier with an assault rifle.

There are many ways to do that in M&M:
1. Enforce defense/toughness tradeoffs. Everyone is hard to hit, but when they're hit it's going to hurt.
2. Limit toughness improvements other than the Defensive Roll feat. The characters start to become really vulnerable once they're caught off-guard.
3. Play at a low PL. Even low PL characters can possess epic powers, because non-combat powers usually are not limited by PL.
4. Note that this is a more gritty setting and give guns higher strength. It's incredibly easy to do. In fact, it's not even a houserule - you can make guns Devices, not Equipment, and Devices don't have set stats.

[Terraoblivion]

To supplement what Tengu said, i would like to point out that one PL meaning 15 PP is only a guideline and not a hard and fast rule. In fact they specifically point out that the GM can change this number, if they want their players to be weaker but more diversified and weaker in combat, but with powerful noncombat abilities makes just as much sense. A PL 5 game with 30 PP per PL is a lot more lethal for the same non-combat abilities and general competence.

[Twilight Jack]

The longest running and most successful campaign my gaming group ever ran was Mutants and Masterminds. Hell, my avatar here on the GitP boards is based upon my character from that game.

It has its pitfalls as a system, but it's the best system I've ever encountered--hands down--for emulating superheroic action in the comic book genre. The way the system is constructed, the game actually feels like a comic book.

A few caveats:
The GM must take a strong hand in the character creation process. The system is easily broken if that's what the players are looking to do. It's the responsibility of everyone at the table to agree on the game they're looking to play and stick to the conventions of that concept.

This is not a game for people whose primary goal in roleplaying is the advancement of their character's power. Even though the system is based on the d20 of D&D, it's not well-suited for killing monsters and taking their stuff while increasing in power. Your character starts out as a superhuman and should probably expect to remain at about the same basic level of power throughout the campaign. Spiderman could lift about 10 tons when his comic began, and he lifts about 10 tons now. Occasionally, he manages some temporary increase in power, but it's always short-lived. You may play the same character, starting at PL8, for ten years. You may earn plenty of power points (the currency with which you build/improve your character) over that time, yet never reach PL9. The overall PL of the game only increases if the GM says it does, so the basic limits of your character will never exceed those granted by PL8. If one of your primary sources of gratification in a roleplaying game is that sense of advancement, M&M ain't your cup of tea.

Although the system doesn't limit you on your attack/damage and defense/toughness tradeoffs, the GM is well advised to apply some limits. A good guideline is 1/2 the PL in either direction. In other words, if you're playing a PL 8 game, the characters may not be built with a greater than +4/-4 tradeoff. The biggest bruiser in a PL 8 game is limited to a +4 to-hit/+12 damage. The baddest-ass martial artist is going to hang out at +12 defense/+4 toughness. If you let folks shoot the moon on these trade offs, be assured that they will find ways to juke certain aspects of the system.

[Beleriphon]

Keeping in mind that the setting books, Warriors & Warlocks and Mecha & Manga add a fair bit of extra rules suggestions about how to apply conventions of sword and sorcery comics and manga to Mutants and Masterminds. There are other like Golden Age, Iron Age and Agents of Freedom (super spy/ SHIELD sort of ideas) to change the way the game plays for other styles of comics.

The one thing to keep in mind that M&M is, and always has been, advised a comic book game. Its not designed for realistic play, but it can certainly cover all types of comic book styles without much effort.

It also allows for action movie styles of play. Don't expect a realistic special forces type game if you want soldiers, but you can certainly play a game where your players are members of the Howling Commandos, or any of a variety of Steven Segal/Chuck Norris/Arnold Schwarzenegger/action here type special forces movie.

Even in a fairly mundane type game you'll play John McClane rather than your local neighbourhood police officer.