Mutants & Masterminds 2e

Started by MasterMischief, November 14, 2015, 03:02:49 PM

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MasterMischief

I am running two real life M&M games and would love the chance to actually play.  I really prefer 2e.  I would be open to a variety of settings, low power to high power.  Any GMs out there itching to world build?

MasterMischief

Giving this a bump.  I know it's not Pathfinder, but surely there is some love out there.

Muse

  Well, if it helps any, I'd love to play too.  ^_^;; 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

MasterMischief

Two, count them, two...willing and eager players for a creative Game Master.  Who can resist such a temptation?

wander

Not sure if it counts, but I do own DC Adventures, which is based off M&M, not sure what edition though. It came out in 2010.

Oh and I'd want to play also, if the games are super similar. ^^;

MasterMischief

DC Adventures is 3rd edition.  There are some similarities, but there are a lot of differences too.  Nothing wrong with 3rd edition, it's just not my cup of tea.

eternaldarkness

Quote from: MasterMischief on January 10, 2016, 02:50:25 PM
DC Adventures is 3rd edition.  There are some similarities, but there are a lot of differences too.  Nothing wrong with 3rd edition, it's just not my cup of tea.

See, if you were after 3rd i'd be all over it as a GM. I'll play 2nd though, if a GM shows up.

TheGlyphstone

Hm. How committed would people be to a game? I've tried a few times (eternal was there for both iterations, in fact) for an M&M game that was based around the world's last surviving superheroes leading a resistance against a massive alien invasion of Earth. It keeled over and tied really fast both times, though, from lack of people posting OOC or otherwise. Third time might be the charm.

I could be talked into a more conventional four-color capes game, but I had all that material prepared for the other game that I haven't gotten to use.

eternaldarkness

Quote from: TheGlyphstone on January 10, 2016, 08:23:43 PM
Hm. How committed would people be to a game? I've tried a few times (eternal was there for both iterations, in fact) for an M&M game that was based around the world's last surviving superheroes leading a resistance against a massive alien invasion of Earth. It keeled over and tied really fast both times, though, from lack of people posting OOC or otherwise. Third time might be the charm.

I could be talked into a more conventional four-color capes game, but I had all that material prepared for the other game that I haven't gotten to use.

Yeah, that premise was good but I think it lacked something to really get people excited and posting. I can't put my finger on what it was, but if you did it again i'd say drop the characters right into the action and make sure the initial plot hooks come to them rather than them having to find the plot-drivers. It has potential, though.

TheGlyphstone

Start en media res? Certainly worth trying, though it'd meant a bit more pre-game chatter to establish ties and relationships.

Muse

  Ooh, interesting.  :) 

  I'm very interested. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

TheGlyphstone

Alright, let me make a pitch then.

The basic concept is for a world, Twenty Minutes Into The Future, where technology has developed to the point where it makes natural superhuman abilities redundant - powered exoskeletons, anti-gravity generators, handheld energy weapons, medical nanobots - essentially a realization of Syndrome's intent for 'when everyone is super, no one will be'. Any beat cop can do the job of a superhero/ine, while supervillains are no longer distinguishable from your run-of-the-mill criminals. So they start retiring, on both sides, with fewer and fewer natural superhumans being born, until new superhumans just stop appearing entirely with only the (slowly) aging veterans of the last generation to show the Age of Capes ever happened.

And then the aliens attack. An extradimensional swarm of Bug People, they rapidly overwhelm and crush Earth's defenses by means of projecting strange anti-tech fields that shut down modern technology while allowing their own bio-tech to function. As they settle in and begin strip-mining the planet of anything and everything of value, humanity is driven underground (sometimes literally), fighting a desperate resistance movement to save their own planet. But the only people who can really turn the tide are those veteran capes; ex-hero or ex-villain, united under the shared banner of their planet and people.

It's meant to be more on the gritty side of the scale - a grim setting that makes the shiny bits of heroism stand out all the better, plus a moderate amount of Body Horror from the aliens, so I'd want to stash the game in Extreme if possible (though not at all required).

Either 2e or 3e is acceptable as a base ruleset (assuming this is interesting), using whatever the 'average' Power Level is for starting characters.

MasterMischief

I would be game for that as long as it was 2e.  If that falls through, I would be interested in a more 'generic' Supers game as well.

wander

I got a PL 10 DC Adventures guy (3e M&M?) but I don't want to hijack MM's thread at all.

If interested, they're a guy with a sufficiently advanced science ring (with a sexy Cortana styled AI) that makes him a kinda pulpy scifi hero, with a Gantz styled lifesupport suit and magitek rayguns. That can travel through space, dimensions or time with his transport ray. ^_^ He's not very tough and has lower defences, but I built him to be more a stealthy sniper anyways. Oh, he also has a mind hacking raybeam attack.  ;D

TheGlyphstone

#14
But how do you feel about the premise I've pitched? If the game is solid, your character can probably be rebuilt fairly easily in 2e rules (the time travel thing will probably have to go, but nothing else there seems objectionable at a glance).

wander

Cool concept, though not the game for my character really, as he is powered by a magitech ring, so he's not a natural super at all.

I'mma gonna bow out here, though if anyone wants to reach me about a DC game, please do send a PM my way.

TheGlyphstone

I guess that's the problem with trying to find a game to fit a pre-written character, instead of making a character to fit a game.


Sounds like the rest of you are onboard, and is everyone okay with 2e? MM definitely prefers it, and he did start the thread to gather interest.

MasterMischief

Trying to fit a pre-existing character into a story never seems to go well in my experience.  To fit well, the character concept needs to take the setting into account from the very beginning.

Sorry to be so unbending on 3rd edition.  It is a perfectly good system.  I just really don't like it.  I do not want to bog this thread with any kind of edition war, so I leave it at that.

I am totally on board with saving the world from bugs.  I am even thinking I would like to play a former villain that has joined the cause because bros before bugs!

Thinking speedster or teleporter, but not set on either yet.  Want to see if there is enough interest and what Glyph wants for concepts.

TheGlyphstone

#18
I'm fairly flexible as far as concepts go. The only real 'requirements' are being 60+ or older (at least chronologically, your character can still be physically youthful thanks to anti-aging drugs or magic or whatever), and being retired due to obsolescence. Super-geniuses find their unique inventions are equalled or outpaced by mass-produced technology, magicians fall victim to Clarke's Third, natural superhumans/mutants no longer stand out from augmented baseline humanity, etc.

Mechanically:

PL10, 150 PP. No Alien origins/descriptors.
The Temporal Movement extra of Super-Movement is off-limits (no time travel, sorry), as is the Space Travel power (no FTL). Time Control is okay though, since despite the name it's just a buffed Super-Speed. The Minions and Sidekick feats are iffy, but can be discussed if you have a really, really good concept that is super-dependent on customized disposable goons of some kind. Anything else is conditionally okay, and I'll make specific note if I see something I think will cause a problem.
Feats and Drawbacks related to social situations will want to be looked at on a case-by-case basis; a semi-apocalyptic scenario like this renders things like the Wealth feat wasted points. You can still be super-wealthy, it's just not mechanically relevant and thus won't be charged points as a background element. Having Benefit: Military Rank, on the other hand, would still be useful for recruiting and commanding resistance fighters.

The only variant rule I'll be using is inverting the usual Lethal/Non-Lethal switch - characters will be assumed to strike for Lethal damage and killing blows, but can specifically declare bruising and non-lethal attacks at no penalty.

MasterMischief

Will that change impact the cost of Immunity to Lethal Damage?

TheGlyphstone

#20
No, because Immunity to Lethal (physical/energy) and Immunity to Nonlethal (physical/energy) are already on the same cost tier for Immunity. Their respective costs would be swapped, but that makes no difference.

Though I will break out the whiffle bat if I see Immunity (Alien) or Immunity (Biological). :D

RubySlippers

No aliens, what about native Earth cultures not part of normal humanity in the comics they had Atlantians, Amazons, Magical Humans and others not technically truly alien just they grew up or from certain backgrounds.

TheGlyphstone

#22
I'm specifically banning the Alien origin/descriptor as a character who is an extraterrestrial, not from Earth, or powers derived from such. As long as you are from Earth (or a colonist/descendant of such from one of its in-system colonies, Mars or the Moon etc.), knock yourself out. The difference between a native Atlantean and a surface-human who has undergone genetic treatments and surgeries to be adapted for underwater life would be, no pun intended, entirely cosmetic, so I see no reason to limit parallel earth cultures if a player wants to have that included in the world. It's their planet too, after all.

MasterMischief

Anyone interested in playing a former nemesis to my villain?  Obviously, putting aside past differences to fight the aliens, but there could still be hard feelibgs there.  Maybe we are part of the reason the other retired.

TheGlyphstone

Eternaldarkness (cause I can't abbreviate your name to ED, that's just weird), are you going to rewrite Rulk 3.0 for a 2e ruleset, or did you have ideas for someone else this time around?