Gamemaster Advice for Mutants and Masterminds Third Edition

[Drakeburn]

I need some advice on how to run a game of Mutants & Masterminds.

I've had a lot of bad luck with the games I've started in the past which is my fault, and I would like to know if there is any advice for being a Gamemaster for Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition.

[JustIgnoreMe]

In no particular order:

Forget the dungeon. A starting M&M character can potentially see the future, walk through walls and generally wreck any kind of dungeon-style adventure.

Make sure you and your players are on the same page. Have a session zero where you discuss what kind of game it's going to be: Superman, Punisher and Ambush Bug do not work well together, especially not in the plot of Watchmen.

Don't be stingy with Hero Points: they're part of the game for a reason.

Plot ideas need to be more than "This thing happens, how do you react?".

[smuchmuch]

Be extremly, extremely, extremely carefull with PC builds before the game start and don't hesitate to put your foot down and say 'no I will not accept this power even if it's legal by the rules as i feel it would complicate things/make the game too unbalanced' if you feel it's really necessary. It's not exactly a big secret that, even if 3e is a little lbetter than previous edition in that reguard, the price of the extreme versatility in character creation of the system is that it is very easily broken like a twig.

If both you and your players are rather inexperienced to the game I recommend encouraging some rather simple builds, like one effect by power rather complex things with links and containers and whatnot.

M&M is /NOT a tactical game when it comes to combat, so if you were used tot hese kind of games where a distance of few feet matter forget tactical grids and eyeball the environement as your Pc get to it (usualy by tearing and being punched through walls :p) and think more in term of broad general line of sight (because that can still matter) and very broad distances and just 'what would be there'
It is however a good idea to have a decent build for your NPCs before they appear, at least their PL, basic stats, saves and toughness and powers.

Remember combat can be quick in M&M, sometime it's over in a single round, sometime it last five and still going. The roll of a dice can be pretty weigthy here and hero point with their ability to force rerolls can be very important. So dodn't feel too bad about using the occasional GM fiat, you'll be giving your player points as compensassion to make up for it anyway.

As JustIgnoreMe said (so don't ignore him), it's important to settle with your Pcs what kind of tone and themes you want for your game before starting. Are you going for some good old silver agey four colors with flying inteligent ape with jetpack and the last son of the plkanet Crouton flying around savign falling journalmist every Sundayor dark and broody and more 'realistic' or 'edgey' modern game ? Do you wnat something street level, justice leaguish save the world or demi god who punch planets with their bare fists ?
Technically the rules are more made for our colors but they can be adjusted for a lot of kind of games, adjust the PL accordingly. PL 10 is the usual starting thing (and what all example in the book are build as)

Another thing is how willing you are to glance over things like say, investigations or social maneouvering.The book is build so they can be pretty much handled and forgotten with a simple roll but detectives and 'charismatic' exist as superhero archetypes and if have players who want to play those, nothing stop you to do some 'talk to a shadowy informant on the pier' or 'verbal sparring with the villain with ngood publicity at a fancy party' scenes (for example) with a few extra rolls to let them have a moment to shine.

Make sure the Pcs have complications and don't hesitate to use them and even integrate them as part of your plot if you can. They're free plot hooks for you and hero points for them.

[tensai_oni]

Be extremly, extremely, extremely carefull with PC builds before the game start and don't hesitate to put your foot down and say 'no I will not accept this power even if it's legal by the rules as i feel it would complicate things/make the game too unbalanced' if you feel it's really necessary. It's not exactly a big secret that, even if 3e is a little lbetter than previous edition in that reguard, the price of the extreme versatility in character creation of the system is that it is very easily broken like a twig.

This. A lot of broken powers are either very easy to notice on character creation stage (for example someone having an area attack with a blast radius of the whole planet) or no longer possible by rules, but something may slip through the cracks and not always because it was a deliberate decision by the player to break the game.

If something like that happens, offer the player an option to rebuild the character. As in, remove the power and put the power points elsewhere.

In general M&M is a game where everyone has to be on the same page and cooperating with each other when creating characters. There are systems where everyone can create a character "in vacuum" and then bring it to the table and as long as it's RAW, it's fine - but M&M is not one of those systems. And I'm not even talking about party roles, but making sure people are on roughly similar level optimization-wise.

Oh yeah and speaking of optimization - players should have attacks and defenses roughly at the power level cap (assuming tradeoffs when appropriate). This doesn't apply to NPCs of course. In fact a villain on the same power level as players won't last long, they'll have to be a few PLs higher if it's a single enemy and not a group of them.

Assuming you are playing vanilla M&M (as in a superhero game): the game will strongly revolve around the player characters, their backgrounds and especially complications. And of course you can and should make your own plot and characters, but don't forget about complications. They are there for a reason, so use them.

[Anonymouswizard]

Echoing the 'look over the player's powers before the game starts', but another thing to keep in mind is to make sure all your characters are on the same page and you don't have a Powerhouse and a Do-Anything Wizard in the same group (I retired a character in the M&M campaign I was in that just ended because I was just more versatile than everyone else in the party and could theoretically take them in a fight [although it wouldn't be easy]). Especially keep an eye on arrays, while they're awesome and I recommend using them when thematic to squeeze out a few extra points for other powers and skills they significantly increase versatility in ways that can make it hard to catch up*.

I also recommend banning Variable if it's your first time. Depending on the exact power it's being used to model either you or the player has to do a lot of additional preparation to have a bunch of fast-grab powers.

Beware Summon, not only is it a massive point multiplier, summons=more actions=(more power+longer combats). I've had an interesting character idea banned because it's combat strategy relies on summoning a bunch of PL5 ghosts to fight for them.

Don't let players ignore skills. 20 points should be plenty for most characters (although when playing I habitually spend 30PP+ on skills), but generally someone should have a good rating in the following skills: Perception, Insight, and Investigation. If nobody does tailor such challenges so they're harder but not impossible.

Also, be generous with the Hero Points. I've played in two M&M games, in one you had to specifically act out your complications to get them, and complications were assumed to be the narrowest possible. In the other complications were interpreted loosely, I got a lot of millage out of 'does not think like a human' for my robot, and you got additional Hero Points for being badass or funny. The second game was significantly more fun and dynamic, as instead of most players having one or two Hero Points in most sessions you could generally count on getting three or more, and it made Hero Points being spent a lot more. Also don't be afraid of players asking 'do I get a Hero Point for having X complication?' and just look at the situation, it can be hard to track everyone's complications.

On the optimisation line, it's not strictly required for PCs to have attacks and defences at the PL cap (I spent many sessions below by a couple of points on both due to needing points elsewhere), but it effectively means they're operating at a lower PL in combat.

* The downside of arrays is that you can't use multiple effects from them at once, but this isn't a problem when it's 5 different attacks or even switching between two passive power sets.

[smuchmuch]

pecially keep an eye on arrays, while they're awesome and I recommend using them when thematic to squeeze out a few extra points for other powers and skills they significantly increase versatility in ways that can make it hard to catch up*.

I recomend at least forcing powers in an arry to be somewhat themticaly linked. And genrally different uses of a smae power or similar powers rather than jsut a very loose descriptor that allow a ridiculous number of Alternate powers in the same array ('magic' and 'cosmic powers ' are words that make me twitch hen I see them over an array of ten or more powers. no I dodn't care if it's "cosmic", cosmic powers can be broken in two or three diiferent arrays, thanks.)



also recommend banning Variable if it's your first time. Depending on the exact power it's being used to model either you or the player has to do a lot of additional preparation to have a bunch of fast-grab powers.

Beware Summon, not only is it a massive point multiplier, summons=more actions=(more power+longer combats). I've had an interesting character idea banned because it's combat strategy relies on summoning a bunch of PL5 ghosts to fight for them.

To be fair, I didn't mention summon on purpoise as an example of broken powers because what was really broken about it (the ability to sumon hordes of minions) have been seriously nerfed (+2 pp PER RANK for EACH extra minion) to the point where it actualy feel it is now broken the other way (it make some superhero archetype like duplicators kind of impossible to really recreate) and the auto daze on minion when summoned. t<o make a very b roken summon you /really have to sink a lot of points into it which is conspicuous
But yes, it's still a power to watch to watch closely, after all as it does make things more complicated.

I feel complelty banning variable is harsh but I can see why it would be sound advice for a novice GM
At the very least, I recomend making sure of forcing flaws ("limited: physical powers" only for example) and drawbacks on it to limit the range of powers and abiltiies it can be used to gain and limiting the number of ranks your player can take in it at 4 max (20 pp that a rank 1à blast but with no extra, and most utility power sot hat's already pretty good).

Be carefull of autofire on high rank damage powers.
(Especialy when used in conjonction with advantages like accurate attack(i think it is this one if memory serves ?) which allow to tradde off defense for extra bonus to attack (and since it's a tradde of it can go over PL int hsi case), and even more when used in combo with power attack.)
It's not the worst thing but don't be surprised if on a lucky roll it can easily one shot a villain at least one or two PL than the heroes. i'm not saying it'll alway happen, to be clear, but i've seen it a few time.

On the issues of defense and toughness goign up to caps... it's not necessary per se 'and in fact I'm all for people stoping maxing Pl caps like it's an obligation.. but the fact is it's easy to get knocked out cof combat on a bad roll otherwise.) I feel a good guidline is you defenses and toughness should be at minimum around two third of PL at mnimum. But that's just a persoanl guideline.

Finaly.. that's more of a personal advice but having seen it happen too many times in PBp games where a few players got frustrated because some set of powers that they spent quite a bit for never seemed to get any use...don't hesitate to tailor chalenges around your hero specific strnegth and weakness, and even crunch wise don't alway use dmage effect to trun things in to a slug fest. If you have asay a robot with all the immunities commonly associated (fort immunity or at least life support), why not have say poisonous gas leak as a fort resisted afliction ratehr damage be the focuss fo one scene for once ? If you have a speedster, why not a chalenge where things need to be transported very fast around the city, A ghost who passes though a hostage takeover, some infiltration is needed, etc...