RPG Spotlight!
Mutants and masterminds!
Enjoy comics? Superhero movies? The Crunchy rulesets of the 3rd edition era of OGL? This one might be for you. Mutants and masterminds is so much more than that though. This game appears at first sight to just be the “D20 superhero game” It has several of its own systems built into it that make it stand out from the crowd of these styles of game that are well designed and make the game a breath of fresh air.
What you need to play:
- Core Rules
- A small group of friends
- Some dice
- A pen or pencil and some scratch paper or printed character sheets
- A healthy dose of imagination and desire to be the heroes (or villains, or antiheroes, some other medium of superpowered mutant/alien/being of phenomenal cosmic power with benevolent, Malevolent or just goals of your own)
- (optional)A map or tabletop if you want visual representation.
Mutants and Masterminds comes to us from Green Ronin publishing (https://greenroninstore.com/collections/mutants-masterminds)
One of the first system it uses that can arguably be applied to other systems is the degrees of success vs. a simple pass/fail. I have always enjoyed the degrees of success because I feel like it endorses some creative and interesting uses as a GM. You are able to apply interesting complications for things that barely succeed or more fun benefits by succeeding overwhelmingly well.
The next thing that I enjoy is the fact that there is not a basic HP system. Instead, there is a stamina system and defense system as well as some dodging systems that is a bit more functional for a genre that styles more towards a cinematic/bombastic combat. There is always some kind of roll to resist being hit and functions with the degrees of success mentioned above.
Group vehicles and HQ’s! Another super nifty feature that lets the group build something together to have a base of operations (Like a Batcave, Hall of Justice, Avengers HQ etc., etc.) As well as build nifty vehicles giving you both options for nifty locations for scenes and encounters for players to build in their imagination (or yours) As well as car chases, helicopter chases, giant destructive vehicles for your bad guys (or your sketchy group of protagonists). All of these things give a world a huge amount of character and recognition that can stay with you and your players fun gaming stories for years to come.
Finally, another thing that I enjoyed about this game (As well as modern vs fantasy type systems) Is that it allows for incredibly interesting and expandable characters. So many genres can be covered with a powers/supers system so if you can only get your group to agree on one system while M&M may not be the simplest it might be the best one if you want to switch from say modern to sci fi to cyberpunk to fantasy.
Who might not like it: Players that do not want something too rules heavy might be scared away by this system. While I absolutely assert the creative mind of that player will absolutely love this game. The barrier to get started though could be a rough road.
So if you interested in getting your gaming group to give something new a shot I would highly encourage giving Mutants and Masterminds a shot. As a GM I always try to do my best to help players with the system and rules in the interest of telling a better story and making sure they are enjoying the game. This might be a little more work to do that but if you can do that, I think the experience with this particular Role-playing game is one of the most rewarding.
Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope my fellow gamers and Role players find this review helpful!
Relevant links:
Green Ronin link for the game
https://greenroninstore.com/collections/mutants-masterminds
Some neat content and adventures available at DriveThruRPG:
https://apenaquillandadatapad.com/M&M-modules
Mutants & Masterminds Deluxe Hero’s Handbook
Mutants & Masterminds Game Master’s Guide, Revised Edition
A more in-depth description of the system from YouTube(This is not a short video):