Mutants and MastermindsThis game page is in memory of my good friend Edgar Torres who passed away in 2005. He loved this game and I started playing it with him a short time before he passed away. Because I did not play for long the information on this page was just research that I did prior to us playing.Wikipedia – a free online Encyclopedia has a great source of info. What is Mutants and Masterminds?Mutants & Masterminds, or M&M for short, is an adventure roleplaying game in which you, the players, take on the roles of fictional superheroes having thrilling adventures in an imaginary world. One player, the Gamemaster, takes on the job of creating that world and the stories for the other players to take part in. Together, you create your own tales of heroic action and adventure, like your favorite superhero comic books, television shows, or movies. You don't need any expensive computers or video game systems to take part though. You just need a books, some friends, and plenty of imagination. TimelineMutants & Masterminds was published in 2002 and the setting, which was once known as Century City, became Freedom City and was published in 2003. A second edition of the Mutants & Masterminds system debuted at GenCon in 2005, and saw wide release in October of that year. The SystemMutants & Masterminds's game mechanics are based on the OGL (Open Gaming License) d20 System, designed by Wizards of the Coast, and is played in much the same way. There are however, a few differences pertaining to character creation and how damage is handled, such as the removal of character classes, hit points, and attacks of opportunity. The following information is provided under what M&M considers "open game content". Power LevelsM&M characters are not class-based nor do they technically have class levels. Instead, they have a "Power Level" (or "PL"), and typically a character begins at Power Level 10 instead of Level 1. This allows a character to begin as an already established superhero with incredible abilities. The power level represents the maximum rank of any combat abilities or super-powers a character can purchase. Each power level grants a character an allotment of points to purchase attribute levels, base attack and defense bonuses, saving throws, feats, skill ranks and super powers.
AdvancementIn M&M, characters are awarded Power Points (aka Experience points ) that can do many beneficial things for the character. As described above, Power Points (abbreviated pp.) are used to purchase powers, feats, skills, abilities, and devices. The specific nature of Power Points was changed drastically with the second edition (2e) of Mutants and Masterminds. In the first edition, when a character accrues 15 pp, they advance a Power Level, thus raising the caps on power and skill ranks, as well as on power bonus stacking. There were options to keep the Power Level the same while increasing total number of points (and many sample antagonists in the Game Master setting have more points than their Power Level would suggest), but these have been incorporated into the 2e rules. Under the second edition, Power Points and Power Levels are independent, the latter being set by the Game Master as a function of the campaign. The 2e concept of Power Level determines only the maximum bonus that any power can give, and does not imply that a character does or does not have the points required to purchase enough levels in any power to reach this limit. Though the two are described as being entirely independent, the Mutants and Masterminds manual recommends that the Power Level be increased by one with each 15 Power Points awarded. Hero PointsLike many other super-hero role-playing games, M&M uses the idea of a Hero Point. Hero Points allow an unlucky player to be able to hold their own in a battle, thus reducing the amount that luck plays into the gameplay. A Hero Point can do several things, like allow the reroll of a failed check at a crucial moment, or change a tremendous hit of lethal damage into stun damage. What could have killed a character can temporarily knock him out of the picture instead. Some powers and super-feats allow players to do additional things with Hero Points, such as use powers they ordinarily wouldn't have (the Versatile power, debued in the sourcebook Crooks! ; in the 2nd edition, this is a default ability, and any character can spend a Hero point to gain a temporary power). I did find some top notch characters converted into a Mutant and Mastermind templates. Batman |