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.
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