An Avengers or JLA style supers game (Mutants and Masterminds ideally)

[Kolbrandr]

So, holy crap, a game I want to run on Elliquiy has made it to the actually being run stage finally. I figured why not thus press my luck and see if if I can get a game I'd also like to play in going.

So, the notion is that the characters are all part of their world's premier superteam (there can be other premier superteams, I mean the DCU had both the JSA and JLA after all, but basically this team stands in the top shelf of such things) as its premier heroes, getting up to the sort of high stakes shenanigans that such implies, with various other dramas and interactions inbetween such things. It's an often rare to nonexistent experience in pbp (despite having been ground for some of the most interesting and exciting stories and characters within the supers medium as far as the actual comics, tv and movies, what have you), where the best you will get is a promise of "you'll jump up in power in game!" that never pans out, ever.

I'd really like everyone involved to be playing/creating original characters, it helps my sense of personal investment into a narrative. If nothing else, I'd want to make my own OC.

I'd like a world that isn't single superpowers source origin but instead diverse (tech, magic, gods, inborn powers, etc. etc. etc.), ideally one that has some history to it as far as superbeings messing around (superheroes being active since WWII as is traditional, that kind of deal). Yes, I know, I'm running a game that's single source origin supers, but that game isn't the sort of game I'm talking about here.

I'm ambivalent on how shiny to morally grey the world would be, but I'd all the same rather not deal with some "the heroes are the real evil and they make the world worse by being heroes and they're just pawns of the status quo!" thing. That has been done enough times to have become its own extremely trite cliché.

I'm not into freeform at all, and system wise I found mutants and masterminds 2nd ed hit a sweet spot for doing supers rp that 3rd ed really dropped the ball on in a lot of ways. I'm not unwilling to do 3rd ed, I just prefer 2nd.

Power level wise, I've found that pl 13 230-240 works really well for approximating this sort of scale of play and characters, people who have a measure of being both broadly and deeply capable without being unmanageably so, and also allows for not getting into the abominations of point hacking that I'll often see at lower totals from people trying to make a concept go (and also I find gives some encouragement to GMs to say no to some point hacked abomination, after all, a character is already getting enough points to be powerful)

I know things like worldbuilding an original supers universe, creating villains, npcs, the like can be highly daunting, but there are any number of existing settings complete with statted out things you can take advantage of, slightly modify, outright steal from, etc. There's Green Ronin's Freedomverse, there's the Algernon Files world, there's even Green Ronin having done a bunch of DC universe worldbooks with stats and so forth, and more besides (though there are some settings out there I actually am pretty sour on). I'd be cool with any of those myself. There's taking a setting that's established and detailed (just not in an rpg sort of way), and throwing a lot of stats at it. I know there are various "build this character on a forum" things that help with doing that.

That said, I'm also totally cool with worldbuilding.

There's even something like calling on the players to take part in collaborative worldbuilding.

Hell, if you look at both such as I currently run and have tried to run, you may notice I have no problem at all doing a lot of worldbuilding. I'd be entirely happy to help in the setting design phase if needed.

[PhantomPistoleer]

I'd be interested in playing, but not necessarily running, a M&M2E PL13 (240pp) game.  I could see myself running a game under certain conditions. 

These conditions are:  (a) everyone agreed to certain character creation standards so as to not create wide disparity between the characters; (b) everyone agreed not to make really cheap power combinations; (c) as GM, I could have a "participating" PC; and, (d) no one got upset if I felt that their superhero wasn't superhero-y enough.

I would also ask for players to create their own enemies.

[Kolbrandr]

I haven't really had any gaming experience where the GMPC thing has ever worked out, honestly.

[Muse]

  I'd love a chance to play. 

  i don't have time to run another game right now--certainly not one of this magnitude.  And i'm not afriad of GM participation characters.  ^_^;; 

[Kolbrandr]

Weeelll, I am, so if that's the condition, I'm pretty okay to wait on this sort of thing.

[MasterMischief]

Base: should the PCs have one?  Should everyone chip in Character Points (CP) for one or does the group get one for free?

Personally, I like using real world cities as it adds verisimilitude for me.  What city would the PCs be based out of and should it be a real city or a borrowed fabrication (Metropolis) or one created by the GM?

[Kolbrandr]

I'm of the mind that it's a good idea for a group acting in that sort of role to have a base, it helps define things, though I also tend to think that anything that everyone would have to pay for by default and is basically a traditional thing for a team at that level to have, may as well be free. Otherwise you end up with potential bad feelings over someone contributing less or more to the base, or, if everyone contributes the same amount, it's not much more than a tax on the build points to get to play, in which case, it may as well be free, really. Also, that way anyone who also wants to have their own batcave/fortress of solitude/what all ever doesn't feel like they're having to pay twice for an hq. Or, group base free, individual headquarters, pay for as standard.

As for being based out of a city, I mean, it depends on the notion of the setting. I'm just as fine with the team being based out of the whole orbiting satellite station setup.

edit: that presumes such a game happens anywho. The only person what expressed interest in running has a requirement that is a big automatic no for me. (and thereby, if said person still wants to run a supers game where they play their own pc in it, please make another thread for trying to make that happen, I have zero interest in being part of that kind of thing, I'm really okay with not getting to do this if that is the trade for doing this)

[MasterMischief]

I was thinking the base would be free as well.