Mutants & Masterminds

[Messageboard Golem]

Bring four color action to your tabletop with the Mutants & Masterminds RPG! This full color, 192-page hardback contains everything you need to enter the world of comic book heroics. Mutants & Masterminds uses the Open Game License from Wizards of the Coast, optimizing the rules for superhero play with point built characters and a modular powers system that lets you build exactly the character that you want to play. As suits the genre, combat is fast and furious and everything in the game can be resolved with a single d20. The book also includes an adventure that introduces Green Ronin's Freedom City setting and a selection of Hero Archetypes that let you jump right into the action. Featuring a stunning cover by Wildstorm/DC artist and Ninja Boy creator Ale Garza and interior art from such comic industry talents as Dan Brereton (The Nocturnals), Sean Chen (Wolverine, Iron Man), Cully Hamner (The Authority, Green Lantern: Mosaic), and Kevin Sharpe (X-treme X-Men, GI Joe), Mutants & Masterminds raises the bar in RPG presentation while delivering an innovative system sure to please gamers and comic fans alike.

 

[GameWyrd]

"The World’s Greatest Superhero RPG!" – so announces the front of Green Ronin’s Mutants & Masterminds.

Brave words.

I decided to put Mutants & Masterminds to the greatest test possible. I dropped the hardbound collection of glossy colour pages into the lap of a friend of mine. He has the unnatural ability to ‘parse’ rules and mechanics faster than any computer, he has a vast and extensive range of fan-boy knowledge about superheroes, their artists and comic book series but who was not only suffering burnout from his long experience of comics and suffering burnout from superhero roleplaying in particular. He had time to look through Mutants & Masterminds because just a few meetings ago he’d cancelled his own superhero game on us. I told him Mutants & Masterminds was a new d20 superhero roleplaying game and he didn’t look impressed. I mentioned that Green Ronin had bravely forgone the d20 logo on the book so they could get better control over the game mechanics. He still didn’t look very impressed. Do you know what? This nameless friend of mine flicked through a couple of pages of the book and then put it down. I had the sense he was just humouring my request that he look at it. He put the book down but picked it up again later. He picked it up again, then again and then suggested I ought to try running the game. In fact, the suggestion that someone should run Mutants & Masterminds was made several times that night. So much for being burnt out on superhero RPGs? Heh?

I think Mutants & Masterminds is that good.

Ditching the d20 logo was the way to go. In a stroke it broadens the appeal of the book. In a stroke the rules can be specially targeted to a superhero game. I’ve seen some brave attempts to get classes to work in superhero games but I’ve never been convinced by the presence of prestige classes in the genre. Classes tend to get boiled down to archetypes in hero games anyway. In Mutants & Masterminds character classes are kicked out. Gone. So is alignment. Attacks of Opportunity go too – they’re an easy target for any scalpel being taken to the d20 system. Hit Points aren’t immune to scalpels either. They’re gone and not replaced by wounds and vitality either. Hmm. What else? Mutants & Masterminds is actually the first d20 game that I can think of which works by rolling a d20. In the core rules presented in the Player’s Handbook you have to roll d20s and other dice too. Mutants & Masterminds uses a single d20 and tries to cut out all the extra noise.

It’s a gorgeous book. Ever flicked through a comic and just soaked up the general ambience? You can do that with this roleplaying game. The paper quality is high and the bright colour looks great on it. The layout design is top-notch too. The illustrative sidebars that quickly become the now boring norm don’t make an appearance here; instead there’s an inch thick skyline soaked in a colourful but neutral hue (dark purple, gentle green, rose) that runs at the top of the page but not from edge to edge. Trust me. It works. We can all thank Super Unicorn for their work on the design. Then thank them again.

I haven’t even mentioned the artwork yet. Guess what? It’s great! You’ll find full page, full colour illustrations of the game’s heroes at the start of every chapter. It’s a particularly powerful effect because the other page of the start of every chapter is just a wash of blue-grey with the name of the chapter just under half of the way down. There are, of course, comic strips in the book. The same heroes are used again and again. I’m sure these characters must appear in a full- fledged series of their own somewhere because they seem so richly detailed but if it’s true then I can’t find hide nor hair of it.

The list of skills is intuitive even if you’ve not been primed with the usual d20 suspects. Whatever the case the skills are all explained in their own chapter and you don’t need any other book. Since there are no classes there’s no major hurdles to overcome if you want to create any new skills yourself. Bonus.

There are feats though. Heh. If the world ends then I expect the cockroaches will still hang around. If the RPG world ends then I wouldn’t be surprised to see feats mysteriously appearing other books. There are always feats. Mind you, feats are particularly suited to the superhero genre. Mundane people don’t have feats, heroes do. Character generation handles feats in the same way as skills and super powers. You pay power points for them. Feats sit nicely between the two; between the low power of skills and the high power of, eh, super powers. Super-Feats manage not to confuse the issue. Darkvision and the ability to change between your hero costume and your mundane identity are examples of Super-Feats; they’re like super powers but not quite.

Super powers cost different amount of power points to buy and you can buy multiple ranks in them. A force field is cheap, astral projection is not – but then you need to be sure you’ve bought enough ranks in your force field so that it can stand up against the all-to-common energy blast. The list of powers runs over the page and halfway down the next. There are enough powers. After the list of powers along with their cost per rank the rest of the chapter runs through the exact details of each and helpfully points out tempting options and useful clarifications along the way. For example, along side the Flight power you’ll find the optional rules for flight manoeuvrability.

If you can’t find the power you want – and I think half the fun of the genre is inventing new power shticks – then there’s a thorough set of instructions to help you invent your own. Rather the instructions help you invent your own power and apply it correctly to the game rules as to keep everything balanced and that’s the sort of thing that I want.

The characteristics chapter seems to be a mixed bag of stuff. You’ll find the rules for hero points here but also tables for super-strength lifting values and that sort of extra.

There’s a whole chapter on devices. If a hero game is going to cut out a chapter and save on space it’s likely to be this one but since Mutants & Masterminds is all about being the greatest superhero rpg ever it’s not likely to do such a thing. Devices include such things as weapons, battlesuits, vehicles, constructs (golems) and even headquarters itself! Why not? Let’s all design headquarters with training simulations, defense systems and a swimming pool while we’re at it.

The start of the book suggests GMs will get to grips with the rules by quickly reading the character generation and then jumping straight to the combat rules. I’m not a fan of having the combat section dominate RPGs since I think it tends to bias how the game’s played. Perhaps the note in the front of the book but the actual chapter being left until later is the compromise that works. The combat section does help you get to grips with the rules and tucked back here near the end of the book no one can accuse it of leading players into equating rpgs with dice-bound brawls. Combat is a little tricky but it’s vastly improved by not having to deal with hit points and by only needing to roll a single d20. Combat’s trickier than in other genres because heroes throw into the mix super-healing, super-speed and other complicating powers. If you’re familiar with the d20 system then you’ll not be confused. It’s the same basic approach but without Attacks of Opportunity. It’s not all about "biff" and "pow" though; the types of damage include poison, disease, radiation and more.

The Gamemastering section keeps the level of quality in the game high. It would be better if it was called Gamesmastering but that just comes down to personal taste. The chapter exhibits a real understanding of the superhero genre; terms like "four-colour" and "grim & gritty" are mentioned explicitly. I started to expect to find a debate on the evolution of comics and how the silver age gave into the dark-age. Extra merit goes to the GM section for its discussions on the styles of play. You will get your money’s worth from of Mutants & Masterminds. If you want to do a X-Man style game then you can, if you want to do a New Titans game then you can, you could do a Watchmen style, Dark Knight or even Dark Horse style of game if you want and I even though you might be cutting some bits out of M&M to do so – they’re all possible. The discussions in the GM section lead naturally on to the creation of villains and super-villains as well supporting cast.

There’s an adventure in the book too. It’s there for people who just can’t wait, who want a sample adventure to set the tone for them or even for those people who just like pre-written adventures. For the rest of us it’s an excuse to see yet more pretty art and see what the author picked as an adventure worth adding to such a top class book.

The appendix (and do check out the smoking gun picture which starts this off) is home for a whole gallery of rogues. This is where you’ll find stats for pre-made villains and they’re a scary bunch. There is a multi-paged character sheet and a multi-paged detailed index. A detail index! Huzzah. There are even two pages of colour templates of hero characters that should be photocopied, cut out and stuck onto card in order to make paper minis. Photocopy this page or go to the Green Ronin website and download the printable version of this page. If I catch anyone cutting the actual page up and blemishing this 10/10 book then I’ll set Ben Grimm on them myself. Finally the book ends with an extremely useful summary of the rules.

"The World’s Greatest Superhero RPG!" – that’s what it says on the front cover. The front cover is probably right.

* This GameWyrd review was first published here.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Mutants & Masterminds is Green Ronin’s new superhero RPG. It takes advantage of the Open Game License, while giving the d20 logo a miss. This allows the game to be complete on its own, so it doesn’t require the D&D Player’s Handbook like other d20 "games" like Deadlands d20 or Spycraft. This was a canny move on the part of Green Ronin. They’ve not only designed the definitive d20 supers game (logo or not), they’ve made it stand-alone.

Before I move on to the actual contents of the game, I’m going to pause to say a few words about the art and graphic design of this book. I’d just say one word, "Wow", but that would be insufficient. Mutants & Masterminds is, simply put, one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, RPG books ever published. It not only handily beats out Silver Age Sentinels (yes, even the color limited edition), but more impressively it beats out the D&D Player’s Handbook itself and even the new d20 Modern rulebook. Green Ronin hired real comic artists to illustrate the game and it shows. Nocturnals fans will be thrilled to see Dan Brereton’s contributions. Sean Chen (Iron Man, Wolverine) also impresses. All of the art is in full color and there is not one clunker in the bunch. The design of the book is also a delight. Every character in the book has his own logo. I’ll say that again for his emphasis: his own logo! That kind of attention to detail is lacking in most RPG books and M&M has it in spades. Another great feature is the spread of fold up figures (a la cardboard heroes). All you need to do to have "minis" of any character in the book is photocopy these pages onto card stock and assemble the standees. Brilliant!

OK, so the book looks amazing, but how is the game itself? Let me put it this way. I was expecting a great adaptation of the d20 rules, but I got a great game, period. One thing I should mention up front though is that this really is a rulebook. It’s similar to the D&D Player’s Handbook in that it presents a lot of rules and very little setting (what there is in the intro adventure; more on that in a bit). That’s fine by me but may be a bit of shock if you are used to the White Wolf approach.

The heart of the book is the character creation rules. These really are the measure of a good supers game. Can I create the superhero I want with the rules framework I’m given? The answer is yes. Mutants & Masterminds uses a point-based system, broadly similar to that in Champions. The ability scores are the same as D&D, but you don’t roll for them. Each one starts at 10 and you spend your points to buy more (up to 20, after that, you buy super stats). Those familiar with other d20 games will note that the skill and feat system is basically the same, but you pay 1 point per skill rank and 2 points per feat. There are also super feats, like All Around Sight and Scent.

I should point out that there are no classes in Mutants & Masterminds, though there are 12 hero archetypes that let you get right into the game (my group used these when we played the intro adventure). There are levels, though they are called Power Levels here. Each level gives you 15 power points to build your character and the default starting level is 10, which allows you to build a suitably heroic character. You do have to pay points for your attack and defense bonuses, but your level controls this (you couldn’t, for instance, spend a huge amount of points cranking up your defense as a starting character; +10 is max for Power Level 10). You don’t gain experience points, but rather power points. You can spend these power points right away, but when you get 15 you go up a level (since going up a level increases your max scores in a lot of things, it seems like a good idea to save some points)

But what about the powers? This is where the rules truly shine. Champions has always been a very flexible system, but figuring out costs with ads and disads could be very tedious. M&M streamlines this process quite a bit by building everything into the power description entry. Each power is described, and given a power point cost per rank (usually from 1-9). You then buy ranks just like skills. However, the cost per rank can be modified by Extras and Flaw, and you can also buy Power Stunts for many powers. Extras increase the cost per rank by 1 and make the power better in some way, Flaws reduce the cost by 1 by making it worse. Power stunts are feats (so they cost 2 points) that add an unusual ability to your power. For instance, you can take Whirlwind as a Power Stunt for Super-Speed. This lets you run really fast in a circle to create a whirlwind that lifts objects like a tornado. The combination of extras, flaws, and power stunts makes the powers very flexible, and the best part is that your options are all laid out in each power entry. If you look at Time Control, for instance, you can immediately see that you have two Power Stunts, three Extras, and one Flaw to choose from. That makes buying powers very easy indeed.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that you want more options. This is where the Creating Powers section comes in handy. It gives you a simple system for building new powers. This is how you build something like Iron Man’s armor. This section also handily lays out the Extras and Flaws in alphabetical order, for easy reference. There are similar rules later in the book for the building of gadgets. There’s another neat little subsytem for building Headquarters.

Combat in M&M is similar to that of D&D, but with a few key changes. The biggest of these is that there are no hit points in Mutants & Masterminds (though there is an extended sidebar explaining how to play the game with hit points if you prefer). Characters have a fourth saving throw called Damage that is used to shrug off hits (there are also two flavors of damage, stun and lethal). Basically, whenever you are hit (by a fist, energy blast, or whatever), you make a damage save. You may take no damage, get scuffed up a bit, or get taken out of the combat. My group was a little hesitant about this system but it worked beautifully in play. Combat was fast and furious, just like the comics. While my players were worried that one bad die roll at the beginning of a combat could take a character right out, in practice the use of Hero Points made this a non-issue. Hero Points are just what you’d think, a resource that lets you reroll dice, get rid of some damage, or improve your defense. Unfortunately (for the heroes, that is) the bad guys get Villain Points!

After all the rules, there are a couple of chapters just for the GM. One gives some good advice on running superhero games, and provides some stats for typical minions and "normal" NPCs. Then there’s Major League, the introductory adventure. This takes place in Freedom City, the subject of the first M&M sourcebook (due out in January). The adventure is short but fun. My group finished it in one session, on a weeknight no less. The appendix provides six villains, from the Atomic Brain to Remlok the Rover. How could you not love a character called the Atomic Brain? Each villain gets a whole page, with a lengthy history and a cool illo. You may recognize Kalak the Mystic from the preview on Green Ronin’s website.

The back of the book has several nice flourishes. First, a five page index that’s quite comprehensive. We found it made finding things a breeze in play. Second, key charts are collected together for handy reference. Lastly, there’s a two page character sheet, very nicely done (this is also available at Green Ronin’s website).

All in all, Mutants & Masterminds is an extremely impressive package. It has flexible rules that make the d20 System work for supers, while retaining enough familiarity that any D&D fan should be able to pick up the game easily. Even if you don’t like the d20 System, you should check out M&M. While true to its roots, it also transcends them in some important ways. Not only that, but Mutants & Masterminds sets a new standard in art and graphic design. The only bad thing I can say about it is that I wish there were more! Freedom City can’t get here fast enough.

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

Mutants & Masterminds is a d20 Superhero RPG from Green Ronin.

Mutants & Masterminds is a 192-page hardback full colour book. Margins and font size are standard. There are occasional chunks of white space in the book. Chapter headings take up a whole page and are additionally accompanied by a full-page graphic. The artwork itself, as is to be expected, is comic-book style with powerful use of colour and action-packed images. For the style, the quality of art is good to superb. Writing style and editing are good.

Introduction:
Covers character concepts, what you need to play, and a glossary of important terms, as well as a brief mention that Mutants & Masterminds can be set in the campaign setting of Freedom City, a setting to be released in a forthcoming sourcebook. Goes on to give character creation basics and 12 hero archetypes for quick character creation based on actual superheroes - e.g. Cyclone, Inferna, Lady Hex, and Silver Shrike - with some guidelines for modifying the basic template to suit the individual character. There is also a sidebar that helpfully outlines the major rules changes from a standard d20 RPG:
* No classes - the character is constructed using abilities and powers, etc.
* No alignments
* No extra dice - only a d20 is used
* No attacks of opportunity
* No hit points - uses a Damage saving throw ruleset to determine the effect of damage.
* Hero Points - points that can be spent to increase abilities and influence die rolls.

Power Level:
This section describes character level and the powers available at each level up to 20th. The Power Level table also shows Power Points, Attack and Defense Bonuses, Skill and Power Ranks, and Hero Points at each level. The unusual aspect is that normally characters start at Level 10. Another table shows the benefits that come by giving your character certain weaknesses . There is also advice on gaining and spending power points to increase in abilities, power levels above 20th, and even ignoring the power level system, just allocating players a certain number of power points to spend on their charcter's powers and abilities.

Abilities:
Much the same as standard d20 rules, with some new rules for 'super-abilities' (those beyond 20).

Skills:
Again, much like standard d20, with some obvious omissions (e.g. alchemy) and additions (e.g. taunt) as well as some modern skills such as drive, computer, pilot, etc. Two interesting sidebars - the first gives an option for making attack and defense skill-based, the second makes Wisdom (in its Willpower guise) the base ability for Concentration checks. There is also some advice for creating new skills.

Feats:
Again similar to standard d20, but with only standard and super-feats (superhero feats, such as ultra-hearing) available. There is also some advice on creating new feats and converting super-powers to super-feats.

Super-powers:
The next 45 pages or so give a range of super-powers. Super-powers either work automatically, or work much like a skill check without the attribute modifier if it affects others (also, like skills, you can improve the power rank of the character's super-power). Each power has a different cost (i.e. super-powers are limited in use by the number of power points a character has), time requirement, range, duration, and associated saving throw. Most powers also offer a choice of increasing the power's effectiveness (e.g. Transmutation becomes shapeable transmutation) or weakening the power (e.g. the 'Spinning' super-power makes you dizzy), and some have some power stunts to make them even cooler. There is some discussion of the power source that provides the super-hero with super-powers and several pages of advice at the end of the chapter for creating your own super-powers with benefits and flaws.

Characteristics:
This chapter looks at the character history and background, personality and wealth, as well as more miscellaneous aspects such as travel and carrying capacity. Hero POints are discussed, which can be spent to re-roll, improve defence, eliminate stun hits, recover, ignore fatigue, overcome injury, escape death, or give inspiration. The chapter ends with some examples of weaknesses that can be taken to boost power points.

Devices:
Covers a gamut of information on technology such as weapons, armour, vehicles, constructs, headquarters, chemicals, costumes, and sensors. The chapter ends with some advice on creating and naming devices.

Combat:
Familiar enough to those with d20 experience to be very easy to pick up, but streamlines the rule system by taking out such things as attacks of opportunity and hit points. Hit points are replaced by a very simple system involving a Damage save. Failing a damage save can lead to becoming injured, stunned, or disabled, dependent upon the amount by which the victim fails. Damage causes a reduction on future Damage saves, making the character more likely to succumb to unconsciousness or disablement. Death is only really reached if the character keeps trying to act after being disabled. Various useful sidebars offer optional combat rules such as a defence roll (an opposed roll), a massive damage option to make combat more deadly, knockback (where a powerful connecting attack causes the victim to spectacularly fly backwards through the air), an optional hit point system, and some advice for speeding up combat. There is also some discussion of environmental factors such as gravity, radiation, etc.

Gamemastering:
This section gives advice on the type of game a GM might want to run, assigning difficulties, maintaining game balance, changing the rules, and rewards. It also gives more in-depth advice on creating adventures, campaign settings, villains, and minions.

Major League:
An introductory adventure for 4-6 10th-level superheroes, where the characters must attempt to discover why Freedom City's most famous crimefighting superheroes, the Freedom League, seem to have turned to crime themselves. The adventure also has stats for the members of the Freedom League, and introduces the main campaign setting that future GR M&M products will be set in.

Appendix:
This gives a rogue's gallery with some interesting villains, an index, some cut-out cards for use as in-game character representations of the NPCs introduced in the book, a character sheet, and some quick-reference tables.

Conclusion:
This is a very smooth mutation of the d20 rules using the OGL, cutting out some of the aspects of the d20 rules, whilst streamlining others to suit the superhero genre. One of the strengths and weaknesses of the product is that it does not provide a specific campaign setting - this allows for flexibility but doesn't take advantage of some of the famous superhero names to maybe attract a wider audience than RPGers. What it does provide in spades are regular ideas and advice for changing the feel and the rules to suit what the GM wants from her superhero game, from four-colour superman style to grim and gritty modern vigilante anti-heroes.

M&M takes a step forward with the use of the OGL. I wonder if aspects such as class, attacks of opportunity, and hit points, missing from M&M, will also be missing from 4e when it eventually arrives. It might be worth running a game or two of M&M even if you're not into superhero RPG's, just to get a feel for whether these rule changes improve the game for other genres. I liked the simplicity of the ruleset, felt it covered everything a rulebook should (note that this is a rulebook, not an accessory), the presentation was appropriate, and the advice allowed the GM flexibility and the players, choice.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

this is a great game. I have read most of the Mutants and Masterminds book and all I can say is they did an awesome job on this game. For those who like the D20 system, Marvel RPG and GURPS will love this game.

The look
The book is a hardbound book, and has a very sweet looking artwork. The artist was if I remember done by Ale Garza of Ninja Boy fame. The pre-made characters and the artwork inside just make you so ready to
leap into the Superhero rpg.

The character creation
Very easy. There is some things different from the normal d20 games.
There is no classes, No Alignments, No extra dice ( only need 1d20), no attacks of opportunity, no hit points ( I think this is quicker and better use for this type of fast paced game), Hero Points. Hero Points
is used to create your character. This is buy Abilities, Skills, Power Ranks, Feats, Super Feats and Additional Attack Bonus & Defense Bonus. This allows for a totally customized character. You can gain more
character points by selecting a few weaknesses and also by lowering your
abilities score (you start with a base of 10) The usual power level is 10 for the character, but it doesn't have to be that high. I will probably start off a game with 3rd level, allowing some progression. Or you can start off with 1st level and let my players have a very weak group but that has potential to grow into a great being of
power.

Powers
Huge list of powers and also a write-up of creating your own powers, if you have an idea of how you want your character to be.
The powers come up with not only the base power buy also extras and flaws, that allow you to up the ability and also but your own limitation upon it.


Damage: Damage is based on a Savings throw, the save is 15 + Attack's damage bonus. They have different stages of damage, Stunned, Disabled, Unconscious, Dying and your favorite Dead!!! Two type of damage, Stun and Lethal. If you want to keep the person alive then that is what Stun damage is for, I don't think all the powers
have this ability, and the Lethal, meaning you are attempting to get this person to stay down, permanently.

Overall, I think it is a really well done work and I think it will be something to keep our eyes on. I just wish Marvel got a hold of this book and offered to allow the people at Green Ronin to use their characters. Oh well. great Job overall

 

[Psion]

Mutants and Masterminds

Mutants and Masterminds is a superhero RPG by Steve Kenson (author of the stylish and well done Shaman's Handbook and other excellend d20 system products) and published by Green Ronin.

Those familiar with my thoughts of d20 System based games and supers games know that I feel that under the constraints of the d20 System and Trademark licenses, I do not feel that d20 can do a fair shake on supers games. However, Mutants and Masterminds does not bear a d20 logo, but is published under the open game license. This could give the author the freedom needed to create a viable supers genre game and still provide some familiarity for fans of the d20 system.

A First Look

Mutants and Masterminds is a 192-page hardcover book with full color interior art. The book is priced at $32.95 U.S. This is comparable to Wizard's of the Coast's Book of Vile Darkness, but pricier on a per page basis than most other books of a similar size and format.

The cover of the book depicts a comic style action scene featuring a few of the sample characters presented in the book. The cover of the book is by Alé Garza.

The interior art is color and done in a classical supers-comic style. Interior artists include Axel Ortiz, Corey Lewis, Cully Hammer, D'Alexander Gregory, Dan Brereton, Dennis Calero, Greg Kirkpatrick, Jacob Elijah, Jake Parker, Kevin Sharpe, Noel Jacob, Ramón Pérez, Rob Haines, and Sean Chen. The interior art is generally very good and includes a full page illustration at the beginning of each chapter. The illustrations revolve around the exploits of a set of iconic characters created for the book, and many of the illustrations are styled as panels from a comic.

The layout and use of graphics is very stylish. For example, the book has an illustration demonstrating different degrees of "cover" in a similar fashion to the D&D 3e PHB. However, Mutants and Masterminds' version is illustrated as a panel from a comic book seen from the vantage point of Cyclone, the iconic "Iron Man" clone. I thought this was very cool.

The interior text density is generally very high, with a small body text font, close line and paragraph spacing, and conservative header fonts. However, the chapter headers have a full page illustration and a whole page that has nothing on it but the chapter title and subtitle.

A Deeper Look

Mutants and Masterminds is based on the d20 system reference document, but does not use the d20 logo, and therefore is not required to include some features that are common to d20 system products and is free to make several innovations in the system. Mutants and Masterminds uses this license, and there are a number of fundamental differences in the basics of the system from the core d20 system.

The first major difference appears in the character generation chapters. Mutants and Masterminds does not use classes. There is a "power level" which has some of the same role as classes, but not others. Characters do not receive skills, attack bonuses, save bonuses or other abilities by a schedule according to their power level.

Instead, all characters receive a number of power points that they buy all of their abilities with. A character has 15 power points per level. The default starting power level for characters is 10, providing 150 power points. Ability points cost 1 point per point of ability score. Attack bonus is purchased at 3 points per +1, defense bonus at 2 points per +1, and skill ranks at one point each. Each feat cost 2 points. Powers have a cost that varies, and are purchased in ranks similar to skills.

In departing from the heavily structured nature of d20, the balance between power point costs between different categories becomes an immediate concern. One of my most immediate thoughts when examining the power system is that you don't seem to get a whole lot of mileage out of skill points compared to other items on the list, and the sample characters later in the book bear out that skill-based characters seem rather weak compared to characters that plough their points primarily into powers and skills.

In addition to providing the basic power points for the character, the power level provides limits for the character that very closely resemble the limits for core d20 system characters. Attack bonus, defense bonus, and power ranks are limited to the character's power level, and skills are limited to the character's power level plus three. The book states that as an option you can simply ignore these limits and let the characters buy whatever they want. However, bypassing this limitation seems questionable since there is not a diminishing returns scale to inherently limit characters and prevent some abuses.

Mutants and Masterminds limits ability scores to 20. Any greater abilities are handled as super-powers which add directly to attribute modifiers for these scores, but otherwise are handled according to the cost conventions for powers.

Feats and skills are very similar to format and arrangement to the d20 system, with a few additions conventions and modifications for the genre. For example, power stunts are a specific type of feat that let you use certain powers in specific ways.

Powers are similar to skills in that they are purchased in ranks. However, powers have a cost per rank that varies according to the supposed utility of the power. For example, a force field power that is simply useful for defense is one point per rank, but the potent time control power costs 9 points per rank.

Each power has a number of specific modifications that can be included in the power that modifies what can be done with it and its price. Each extra increases the cost of a power by one point per rank. Flaws likewise reduce the cost. Many powers also list specific power stunts that can be applied to them.

In addition to the listed extras, it is possible (and cost effective) to bundle powers together. If a character has a given power, additional powers may be purchased as extras at a cost of one less than the full cost of the power. The only real drawback of doing so is that it must share the same source of power than the power it is associated with. Certain effects than undermine a character's source of power can strip all of a character's powers at once that are so associated.

There are some inconsistencies in the powers, however. For example, some effects that are listed as power stunts for some powers are listed as extras for others.

In addition to powers and classless system, there are a few other new aspects of the Mutants and Masterminds system. One of the major points is that Mutants and Masterminds uses only the twenty sided dice; none of the other polyhedral dice are used. To facilitate this, there are major changes in the way damage is handled. However, these methods utilize the d20 core mechanic.

Damage is handled by means of a new saving throw category, the damage save. Whenever a character successfully attacks an opponent, the attacker applies to appropriate damage roll (such as a strength check for a melee attack, or a power roll for a power) against the target's damage save. There is no ill effect if the damage check fails by 10 or more. Failing by 5 bruises or injures the target, stunning the victim and applying a penalty to future saves. Beating the targets damage save results in an unconscious or disabled effect, depending on whether the attack is stun or lethal.

While this system does away with the abstractness of HP, it seems like the stun or lethal "hits" would require as much or more tracking.

Combat is refined in Mutants & Masterminds, stripping out some items like attacks of opportunity. Similar to AEG's Spycraft, Mutants & Masterminds does away with standard and move equivalent actions and replaces them with half and full actions. There are a variety of optional rules in the chapter, covering comic book conventions like knockback, as well as permitting you to utilize the standard HP mechanics if that is what you prefer.

Another mechanic aimed at emulating the supers genre is the Hero Point mechanic. All characters gain a hero point at every odd power level. The hero points are restored to full at the beginning of every adventure. Hero points can be used in a number of ways, such as rerolling dice rolls, increasing the character's defense for a short time, recovering stun hits, taking an action when disabled without dying, and so forth.

As with many supers and point based system, Mutants & Masterminds provides bonus power points to characters who take on a specific weaknesses. The weaknesses are fairly broad in nature, and each provides 10 extra power points, and the book suggests you limit the players to one or two weaknesses. This is a significant boon if your characters are only 1st level, but at the recommend power level of 10, this is a small benefit. That being the case, it seems that disadvantages will not have the disproportionate importance in Mutants & Masterminds that they have in most point based systems that provide points for disadvantages.

The book provides some loose guidelines for adding new powers and skills. There are also device design rules, which are essentially an extension of the power rules; devices are treated like powers with an extra flaw: device. It is also noteworthy that "gadgets" is a power separate from the device rules, that allows the character to emulate a specific power with the expenditure of time.

The gamemastering chapter contains some bog standard advice for designing and running superhero games, with an eye towards genre conventions, and also provides rules for the environment and standard NPCs. Of some interest, there is an event table that is almost identical to the one presented in Villains & Vigilantes RPG years ago. I found this to be very interesting as I used that very table in my own supers games with other systems (DC Heroes and Champions/Hero System). Steve Kenson reveals that the inclusion of this table was a mistake on his part, as it was integrated in the game from some handwritten notes that he did not recall were derived from V&V.

The book also contains a selection of source material. The beginning of the book provides some hero archetypes for quick play. The archetypes are essentially pregenerated characters, though some of them have a variety of options that the player may select. The archetypes have a feel that strongly resemble 80s and 90s era Justice League of America and Avengers characters in power and feel. There are close analogs of Iron Man, the Human Torch, Mr. Fanastic, Zatanna, Superman, Psylocke, the Thing/Hulk, and the Flash. Unfortunately, it appears that many of the characters don't add up right by the power point system.

There is a sample adventure in Green Ronin's upcoming Freedom City setting and sample villains that also emulate the style that the heroes do. A complete index is provided, as well as a few pages of standup counters that you can copy and cut out featuring images of the sample/iconic characters.

Conclusion

Mutants & Masterminds does a fairly decent job of capturing the high powers super genre that it seems to be going for, and with a few adjustments could handle other levels of superhuman campaigning. By forgoing the d20 logo, the game avoids many of the issues associated with adapting the d20 system to supers, but there are enough familiar elements that d20 veterans will be at something of an advantage. The variations in the system seem interesting and playable

That said, I do see some limitations to the system. My primary concern is that the power point costs don't seem balanced enough to allow an open buying scheme to work, and skill-intensive characters would be at something of a disadvantage in the game; I would feel compelled to rework the power point cost structure before playing it. Further, there seem to be a lot of minor errors and inconsistencies in the book.

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[CFP]

Mutants and Masterminds

There have already been several reviews written from the point of view of a first reading and/or overview of this book, so I'm going skip over the usual analysis and write from the standpoint of someone who has used this product for about a month.


Character Creation

M&M's point based character creation system is relatively simple, but quite comprehensive. There is an exhaustive list of well thought out powers and rules for creating your own (though this is rarely needed.)

For a lot of people (myself included) a Super-Hero RPG has to do one thing: Enable them to recreate their favorite comic book character as a playable hero in the game. I have to say that this is one area where Mutants & Masterminds really excels. I have yet to discover a character that cannot be created using the M&M system.


Flexibility/Usability

As an experienced GM, one of the greatest things I've found about the M&M system is that it is insanely easy to tinker with. In fact there are several sidebars in the book containing great suggestions on alternate ways that various rules and concepts can be applied. Want to play a more 'mundane' game? Simply decrease the cost of skills and limit 'Powers' to 1/2 the Power Level of the character. Want a more gritty-realistic game? Here's an easy way to add penalties for injuries.

There is also a LOT of ideas contained within M&M for those who want a flexible, simple, fast system that can be converted to many different styles of play.


Ease of Play

M&M plays FAST! There have been several alterations from normal d20 system rules that really speeds up play, combat in particular. In fact M&M is more of a truly 'd20' game since that is the only dice you need to play. Damage is a fixed quality (though a highly modifiable one) and is opposed by a 'Damage Save' made by the person being struck.


Conclusion

Mutants and Masterminds is a thorourly enjoyable game, a pleasure to both GM and play.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack

Sizing Up the Target
Mutants & Masterminds is a super-hero role-playing campaign setting from Super Unicorn and Green Ronin Publications. It’s designed by Steve Kenson and illustrated by an incredible array of talent too long to list here. It retails for $32.95, which seems pricey for such a thin book, but trust me, you’ll get your money’s worth!

First Blood
I’ve had this book sitting on my review list for almost three weeks. I don’t normally like to let a review product sit that long, but I have to be honest. I was a little jealous. Like most American boys my age, I cut my teeth on comic books. I thrilled to the adventures of Superman™, Spider-Man™, and Hyperguy (not ™). Over the course of 21 years, I must have spent well over $50,000 on stapled collections of colored paper, most of which doesn’t survive to this day.

In 1983, already an avid role-player, I was introduced to Villains & Vigilantes, a super-hero role-playing game (I daresay the first superhero role-playing game, but I may be wrong about that) produced by Fantasy Games Unlimited. It wasn’t much in the way of role-playing, being more a set of rules for portraying super-powered individuals who fought equally-powerful villains, but in those days, that was all you really needed for a good super-hero RPG.

Of course, when Wizards of the Coasts’ d20 system came out, all manner of people began jumping on the super-hero bandwagon. From the well-done freeware PDF Paragon (by D. Jon Mattson) to the handsomely-designed Four Color to Fantasy (from Natural 20 Press), it seemed that everybody had a good idea for handling super-heroes under the d20 system. While most of them were pretty good, I just didn’t feel that any quite captured what I was looking for, so I began designing my own.

Then Mutants & Masterminds hit the stands. It’s good, real good. So there is my dilemma. How could I give an unbiased review to a product which was everything I had hoped that my own system would have been? So I let it sit. I read through the book a few dozen times. I playtested it by designing characters and putting them through the paces. I tried everything I could to break the system to justify a poor review, but in the long run, I was convinced of only one thing. They’ve got a hit on their hands.

To begin with, Mutants & Masterminds does not use the traditional class and level system that d20 relies upon. In fact, it is not a d20 product. It doesn’t bill itself as such. It does, however, draw upon elements of the OGL and does have Open Gaming Content. It is also close enough to the d20 system to be easy to learn for anyone familiar with that line of products. Mutants & Masterminds does use a level system, but it’s so sleek that you’ll hardly notice it at all.

The differences are slight, but significant. There are no classes, no alignments, no hit points, and no Attacks of Opportunity. Also, the game is designed so that you need only a 20-sided dice to play. That’s it. No six-siders, four-siders, eight-siders, 10-siders, 12-siders, or 100-sided dice. Elegant in its simplicity, yet so detailed that you will marvel at the system mechanics.

Characters are designed using a point-buy system developed expressly for Mutants & Masterminds. Since this is designated as Product Identity, I can’t discuss it in-depth, except to say that those of you who have been looking for a replacement for the class-and-level system used by D&D need to seriously consider looking into this book. Everything from basic ability scores and Base Attack Bonus to skills and feats is bought through a system of Power Points.

So what does this mean? Well, the ultimate in flexibility, basically. You can build absolutely any type of character you can imagine with this system, limited only by the number of points the GM allows you to use in creating the character. The only limits on the system are those the GM places.

A selection of archetypes is provided, which serve both as character examples, and quick-start kits that a player can customize to create their own hero. These are great for those new to role-playing or for the harried GM who needs stats for a super-speedster NPC (for example) that has happened on the scene suddenly.

What are super-heroes without super powers? Don’t worry, Mutants & Masterminds provides plenty of powers for you to play with. Over 100 are provided for you in the book and with the system of flaws, extras, and power stunts, that number rises considerably. Still not enough? Okay, how about an entire seven-and-a-half page section on designing your own powers? Follow these rules and you can be sure that the powers you create are balanced and ready to add to the campaign.

Need a few extra Power Points? Select a weakness. Whether you’re just plain unlucky or you have a really bad allergy to radonite, there’s something in here that will apply to the character you have in mind.

Ah, but what if you’re more the gadgeteer-type, constantly designing and redesigning your power armor and mega-beam blaster? No problem. There’s an entire chapter devoted to devices; whether it’s a robot helper or an armor-plated hover tank, you can design it and modify it through these rules.

I mentioned that the system doesn’t use hit points. Instead, it utilizes a concept that I think is more suited to the super-hero genre. When you get hit, you make a damage saving throw. If you succeed, no problem. If you fail, the amount by which you fail the save determines what happens to you (from merely stunned to unconscious or disabled). Of course, there are rules for those of you who want a grittier experience (more lethality, ‘cause it’s really hard to kill someone in Mutants & Masterminds; after all, how often does someone die in the comics?) or for those who want to use a hit point system instead of the more abstract damage system introduced here.

The book rounds out with some information on GMing a supers campaign, a sample adventure, and a small rogues’ gallery of villains to pit your heroes against. It is littered throughout with fantastic, full-color, comic-book-style artwork that is not only pleasing to the eye, but also chosen to illustrate certain concepts of the rules. The vast majority of the illustrations feature the character archetypes detailed at the beginning of the book.

Critical Hits
The big draw for Mutants & Masterminds is the flexibility of the Power Point system that is utilized for character creation and improvement. It permits players to build characters that are exactly they way they wish and to develop those characters without restrictions. This is the way that super-hero games should work! I am pleased to say that during my playtests, I was able to recreate every Villains & Vigilantes character from my old campaign perfectly!

The selection of super-powers is broad enough that I found myself having to design no new powers during these recreations, even for some of the truly weird and abstract powers that we had developed over the years. Mutants & Masterminds handled the variety of abilities without a hitch, the system of flaws, extras, and power stunts insuring that I was able to faithfully reproduce every hero without having to bend the rules. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that most were balanced to one another as well.

Critical Misses
In the end, only one thing seemed to be missing from the system. There are no rules for handling alien or other non-human races. Aliens are a staple of the genre and I feel that this oversight warrants a mention here. It’s simple enough to fix, of course, but the point is that I shouldn’t have to fix it. Hopefully, a future supplement will provide templates for aliens that populate the Mutants & Masterminds campaign world.

Coup de Grace
As much as I hate to say it (for personal reasons), if you are a fan of super-hero roleplaying, this is the book that you must own! The artwork, from cover to cover, is eyecatching, the system is simple enough to fit the genre, yet familiar to anyone who has ever played any d20 System game, and the mechanics are free-flowing and elegant. Even if you don’t intend to use it for super-hero RPing, if you just hate the class-and-level system that is all the rage, this book will provide welcome relief.

<sigh> I hate you, Super Unicorn and Green Ronin. I hate you for making this wonderful book. Blast your skill at producing quality RPG products! You’ve foiled my plans for dominating the super-hero RPG industry! Blast you for making me look forward to future supplements with eager anticipation!

To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.

 

[Khur]

Most of the gamers I know were (or are) into comics of some type. Whether it's Clamp Japanese comics, gritty independent titles like Preacher, artistic graphic novels like Ronin or Black Orchid, or mainstream stuff from Marvel, we all like superheroes. Mutants & Masterminds attempts to bring that relationship into the d20 arena (though it's not the first attempt) as the "World's Greatest Superhero RPG". They say it ain't bragging if it's true, but we'll see if M&M is a real game shop hero or just some nut job in a cape.

One thing every super guy or gal needs is a fancy, slick costume that fits his or her powers well. M&M fits that bill. This book is simply the best-looking roleplaying product I've laid eyes on. The layout is professional, the art is not only expertly rendered and colored, but it's also right on genre, and the paper and printing are perfect choices. Only d20 Star Wars comes close in clever and relevant use of visual elements and typography--this book is beyond typical fair even from industry leaders. Just so everyone knows, this book could have weighed in at a much higher page count with less-skilled design work--only the forced justification of the prose runs counter to the ideals of beauty and page-bloat prevention.

Unfortunately, the game design in M&M doesn't start out with such a bang. The archetype characters all have statistics flaws in their calculations that make it so they're not even good examples of how to create a character. Green Ronin has provided all of these characters revised in a PDF on their website, but it's a shame the book went to print with such a problem (and other similar, if smaller, faults).

If that foible can be ignored, the game just gets better from there. Steve Kenson took the d20 character development system and revamped it for superheroes. Each character has a "power level" (10 is the recommended starting level) and "power points" to spend on any ability, and the total given to any one attribute is limited only by power level. Power level limits attack and defense bonuses, skill ranks, power rank (the potency of super powers), but not how many feats a hero has. Feat prerequisites do that job.

The system is quite an ingenious development on the d20 system, and the reason why Mutants & Masterminds doesn't bear the d20 logo. Thanks goodness Green Ronin decided to go that route and grace us with their system, pushing the envelope of d20 possibilities even further. One notes, however, that a power level 1 character is actually weaker than a 1st-level D&D character--15 power points don't go very far when you have to buy ability scores, skills, feats, and other abilities, even when the system has a way to gain extra power points for character creation. Enter weaknesses.

Weaknesses are tragic flaws a character possesses. This is hardly new in the roleplaying arena, but it definitely fits the genre. Regrettably, M&M only lists nine possible weaknesses, though the weakness "Quirk" opens the door to a variety of other potential flaws. Further, weaknesses are inflexible, all worth +10 power points--yet, some things are just more of a disadvantage than others.

Mutants & Masterminds is good at giving choices, though. Even the weakness section of the book explains how a clever GM can (and should) make up weaknesses, or allow players to do so. Tasty chunks of this sort of advice are found here and there in sidebars and occasionally in the main text or devoted section. Modify to your heart's content, because Kenson has certainly given you the tools and insight into the process. Throughout this super-heroic tome we find similar attitudes towards super powers, feats, and skills.

There's really little need to devise skills (as Kenson notes), however. Sticking to the task of being a stand-alone roleplaying game, the skills section of the book starts out with explanation on how to use skills. This is old-hat to d20 veterans, but essential in making M&M what it really is--a product that requires no other to use. So, there's no mystery why each part of the book delineates d20 rules as they apply to superheroes, with a few relevant additions.

Back to skills, though, there are some less-than-relevant additions to the skill list. (Perhaps Kenson should have followed his own advice.) Take Science, which is so clearly a Knowledge skill it basically uses much of the same text. The difference between the two is that another Science check can be made (perhaps) after some research. Other additions (like Taunt) are really uses for existing skills (like Bluff).

Many of the new feats have more relevance, considering the genre, while others are cleverly crafted from their d20 SRD counterparts, and still others leave a huge question mark over one's head. Aerial Combat, a new feat, gives the caped crusader some better skills while fighting in flight and Minions (modified Leadership) gives that pesky villain all of his annoying thugs, with the option to get bonuses to leadership via Intelligence (the genius leader, begging the question, what about he who leads by fear? Add the Strength modifier to the Minions score?). Questionable feats include things like Attack Finesse (Weapon Finesse without any limitation) or Chokehold, which merely allows one to choke a grappled opponent--shouldn't that be a possible maneuver without a feat? These minor problems don't mar the rules here, and the addition of super-feats, feats that are "definitely superhuman", rounds out the possible powers for a character well.

Where would the game be without super powers? Well, it'd be in another genre, but M&M serves up the godlike potency on a plate, with all the condiments. In fact, as it should be, one of the largest sections of the book is devoted to powers, and boy did they pack it in. Not only has Kenson managed to create a very comprehensive list of powers, he gives suggestions for new ones, how to alter existing ones with negative (flaws) and positive (stunts) effects, and tools for calculating how a power works. Knowing full well that no mortal can make a list of powers that satisfies every comic-book taste, a whole, wonderful section is devoted to power creation--complete with samples.

Some of the powers, however, don't to consider the full range of possibility implied by their use. Protection (and its derivative power, Armor) is too effective. A considerable Protection power renders one virtually invulnerable to any form of attack, while even a moderate one is good enough to bounce bullets off of a character's chest. Shape Matter allows one to reform matter, including the material bodies of construct characters (like robots), but it can't be used to damage such creatures. Gravity Control lets a character to encumber an opponent to the point of immobility, but pushing the gravity to the point of crushing a victim isn't considered (though it probably could be added with some careful thought). Still, Kenson has done a titan's task of producing such a wide-ranging list of super abilities.

M&M doesn't stop there, however. It contains rules for devices of all sorts, and essential tool for many heroes (and some campaigns, no doubt). These mechanics really work for most devices, and they're simple. The only basic problem was the suggestion that even mundane equipment cost power points if the hero has "regular" access to it. While balanced, forcing a character to pay any power points for, say, a quarterstaff (much less 3) is silly. Does that 15-power-point woman on the street have to cough up those points for the .38, and license to carry, she's got in her purse? What about the thug with the shotgun? Charging power points for a super-science (or another "super-powered") device is still fair without such contrivances. Most GMs are smart enough to know where the line is drawn. Scrutiny of the device rules, however, reveals more insidious problems in the mechanics that aren't obvious at first read.

Vehicles have speed according to rank, tactical (in feet per round) and travel (in miles per hour or mph). The problem here is that the tactical speed is incredibly low for all vehicles--a super-science craft that can travel at more than one million mph only goes 100 feet per round (or 11.36 mph) at tactical speed (or a whopping 45.45 mph at "top speed", which multiplies the speed by a factor by 4). Further, the system modifies driving skill checks bases on speed factor (cautious speed, cruising speed, high speed, and top speed) not actual speed (as d20 Modern's system does). Thus, it's just as hard to control a donkey cart with a normal speed of 30 feet per round, when it's going at top speed (120 feet per round) as it is to control a fighter jet or corvette stingray at top speed. While it is arguable that certain vehicles have greater or lesser handling (which, if true, should be a feature of the equipment in question), there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that speed is a killer. Yet, in Mutants & Masterminds, not only is speed not a killer, characters take damage from collisions (unless they're specifically hit by a vehicle) only if the vehicle they're in is destroyed by the collision. It seems impossible, but this oversight is actually worse than d20 Modern's manner of handling crash damage to passengers.

Armor is used to reduce damage in M&M, but it is handled badly as an offshoot of the Protection power, at least from a game design point of view. Plate mail in this game can deflect and completely prevent damage from every conventional weapon listed as an example in the game, barring exceptional strength or a critical hit. That's right, the armor that was discarded by militaries everywhere when gunpowder became widespread deflects everything--at least riot armor comes close to this level of usefulness. The real problem here (form a game, rather than realism, point of view) is that it becomes terribly frustrating in a game when your character can't hurt someone, no matter what. Armor (including the super-powers Armor and Protection) provides just this possibility. It is also this model that prevents easy transfer to other d20 genres, because powerful armors (sic plate mail or better) virtually require super-human damage or sheer luck to bypass. Armor as damage reduction advocates in the d20 community (that includes me) may do well to take this example into consideration--a more balanced system is needed, perhaps coupling deflection with damage reduction or a rule for minimum damage on a hit.

Ignoring how armor can break the system (acknowledging that it works on a super-heroic level), combat in M&M includes one of the most innovative things in the d20 field to date--a groundbreaking damage system. This method of injury assessment manages to cleanly work without hit points in a manner that simulates combat and damage in a very satisfying way. Each attack has a damage bonus, which is used in a formula to create a Difficulty Class to resist the damage. A target struck by an attack makes a "Damage Save" against the attack and the margin of failure determines how badly the target is injured, if at all. Despite the system's intent to model super-heroic reality, which it does very well (without the armor problem), it works to mirror our own reality in which you can hit something and do little or no real damage. At the same time, it doesn't become as cumbersome or as abstract as the typical d20 hit point system (including the wacky non-lethal system of d20 Modern). Kenson was thoughtful enough about his new system to include options like how to deal with "impossible" damage saves, pulling punches, massive damage, a fantastic knockback rule (besides the problem of taking no damage from impact with another object when knocked back), massive damage, and "realistic" options for impairment due to damage. In fact, for the hidebound, M&M includes a way to translate all of the rules back into hit points. The only possible flaw in the damage mechanics is that healing is handled in a way that isn't clear in some places (do you recover from the disabled condition and then heal any remaining hits, or do hits still heal at the same rate regardless of the disabled condition?) and feels too fast (Heal one stun hit per minute, no matter what? Heal one lethal hit per hour of rest? Take only one day to recover from disabled?). This latter point can be modified per suggestions on realism in M&M, though, and it probably suits heroic play.

The combat is "simplified" as well. Gone are things like attacks of opportunity and multiple attacks based upon high base attack bonuses, while a few things are added. The former change was meant to speed combat and encourage heroes (and villains) to engage in fisticuffs with armed opponents. Fair enough--I was never a big fan of attacks of opportunity to begin with--but the latter rule change begs the question, "What the heck were you thinking?" Unless I missed something (and I checked again and again), the only way for a character to get multiple attacks is to have access to a feat (like Rapid Strike, which is the Flurry of Blows monk class ability from D&D), to use a weapon or power that grants multiple shots, or to use more than one weapon. Why no multiple attacks based on a high attack bonus? It has the dual features of being a mysterious choice and a bad one.

Perhaps less important, but strange nonetheless, is the fact that Kenson chose to make it so a character who moves all-out in a round (4x speed) loses his or her Dodge bonuses to Defense (AC). Not only does this rule make no sense on a realistic level (moving targets are harder to hit), but also it's hardly heroic. Perhaps I don't know my d20 well enough, and this is a standard rule, but I can't find an example of it anywhere else.

Combat otherwise works like familiar d20 combat. Kenson has made some minor tweaks to the rules for attacking objects based on the Damage Save idea, and these changes work better than typical d20 systems. Further, M&M gives some suggestions for collateral damage (a comic book favorite) based upon the flavor of the game (four-color virtually ignoring such damage and the possibility of hitting bystanders, while gritty games calculate where every missed shot lands). A small section on mental combat, using Wisdom in place of Strength and Dexterity, rounds out the focus on combat very well--much better than typical D&D psionic combat.

With mixed success, rules for the effects of the environment were adjusted somewhat for the idea of the Damage Save (that is, there's no hit point or subdual damage, so how does the environment affect a character?). Cold and heat are simple and smooth, with a few failed saves leading to unconsciousness and dying. Similarly, falling, poison, disease, and even radiation are given with easy mechanics. Yet, it appears that M&M characters cannot die of starvation or thirst, and an optional rule in suffocation refers to permanent Intelligence damage based on Constitution loss--but suffocation causes no Constitution loss.

Not to leave any possibility unexplored, M&M is topped-off with some advice and tools for game mastering--good stuff, down to a few tips for adapting the worlds of certain other, unnamed comics creators. The suggestions for considerations for sculpting your own unique setting are brief, but indispensable for those new to such things. Finally, M&M ends with a starting adventure for 10th-level heroes, which is a rousing battle for justice and the truth in a mysterious set of circumstances (with a few differing options on what the truth is from which the GM can choose). Counting the villains of this scenario and the book's gallery of villains (suffering some of the same problems as the beginning archetypes), there are thirteen potential foes included in the rulebook.

Besides the great and well-rounded content, this work will see a lot of support, not only from Green Ronin (which already has several books on deck and Freedom City on shelves), but also from other publishers. The important sections of M&M are Open Gaming, and Green Ronin has a generous program with which other publishers can claim compatibility with Mutants & Masterminds. Thus continues one of the great traditions in the Green Ronin production stable--support for the gaming system and legal arrangement that made M&M possible.

Mutants & Masterminds is as sleek as any costumed powerhouse, even with its flaws. The only unfortunate thing about those failings is the problems they may pose for less experienced gamers. Those with a broad d20 palette are unlikely to be daunted. Regardless, M&M stands as a colossus among ordinary mortals compared to many other products released in today's market--truly a great work. It has spirit, courage, a good heart, and (not to forget) one heck of an outfit. With the support it's sure to see from both its parent company (Green Ronin) and the d20 community, it may just become the standard for d20 supers (and here's hoping it does). Whether or not this new champion on the scene is the world's greatest superhero RPG is debatable (but likely). That it could earn this title is certainly a possibility--it has the stuff to be a real gaming hero.

(4.5 nudged to 5 for innovation--one of the worst things about M&M is its unfortunate name abbreviation. Here's hoping Mars candy doesn't cry trademark violation!)

This review was originally written for Gaming Frontiers on 05/21/03.

 

[Legion]

Legion's Review Disclaimer

This is a fabulous book. Hands down, it's simply terrific. I don't know how to be more succinct than that but it is. Just thumb through it. How can you ignore it?

The Good

1) Hardbound, full color, glossy heavy 'feels right' paper. The entire structure of the book is one of the best I've seen. I think the only comparable product that does it better is WotC Call of Cthulhu. Everything else doesn't come close.

2) Artwork. The illustrators and choices are fantastic. You like manga? There's art to please you. You like gritty, shadow edged hard lines? In there too. Four color art with a Kirby feel to it. Right there. The cater to everyone and fit it all together quite nicely. The art director should get a special pat on the back for this one.

3) Content. At first you think it's a bit thin for it's $32 price tag. Then you get into it and realize. Ain't no way! It's dense, jam packed with richness. Everything you need, everything is right there. I don't really thing there is any power or ability you couldn't find in the book. It's well written, (see the Bad below) and flows very nicely. It's organized well, though I'm not sure that the short chapter two couldn't have just been combined with chapter one, but that's just an unnecessary nit pick.

4) How does it play? So far like a dream. I was a little worried that the with the way defense and powers worked that you'd have problems every actually hitting a character let alone damaging a character but I've found that in play it actually mimics the comic book 'full issue fight scenes' very well. Often times it is difficult to hit characters, which you see in comics all the time, but when you do hit, there's usually impact - unless of course you're a brick but, hey, now your nit picking again.

The Bad (yes, believe it or not there are a few, well, sort of.)

1) Character creation. For the most part it's fairly intuitive but I think it really could have used a very thorough example of character creation. There are some nuances (such as extras, stunts and combinations thereof, that can get really tricky.) And yes, this may be a little more advanced but it's key to unlocking some of the beuty of how verstaile the system is.

2) There are a number of mistypings or misinformation that conflicts, as if it was edited in one place but not caught in another. Again, this is definitely a nit pick but it could have been cleaner requiring less errata. But, hey, I'm not holding fault here, that's why it still gets a five star rating. It's just that darn good.

The Mysterious

Okay, the mysterious are my little bells I have that say, 'wait a seco....' It should be noted that these are simply observations. They aren't judgements or place any relevance on the rating I gave. They were just, as I said, little bells that went off.

1) Hero Points/Exponential Ratings/Wealth: Up until now I considered Mayfair's DC Heroes the greatest Superhero game of all time. My players still talk about the campaign I ran almost 15 years ago. (No age cracks.) When I was reading M&M it wasn't just the names of these things, it was the concepts that sort of made me say "HUH?" I don't know if it's true but my guess is that Steve Kenson was a huge fan as well. And this is NOT an issue with me. Remember the old adage, good poets borrow, great poets, well you know. I think this is one of the things that helped solidify to me how great M&M was going to be. If something works why try and reinvent it.

That's it. In a nutshell. If you're a comic book fan, if you like roleplaying superhero campaigns, I can't recommend this book enough.