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First off, DCA is the flagship book for the upcoming Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition (or M&M 3e). So if you want a copy of the M&M 3e rules before the actual book comes out (which should be sometime this year, but don't quote me on that), it's in DCA. In effect, this review will largely be a review of the M&M 3e ruleset.
Before delving into the rules, however, I'd like to discuss the physical thing itself. I pre-ordered this book, so I was able to get my hands on the .pdf file itself and, let me tell you, although I already knew how the book looked on a computer screen, I was still really impressed with how gorgeous this book is. It's a hard cover book with many members of the Justice League in the cover drawn by Alex Ross (known for drawing comic book characters like real-life paintings). There's a wide ranged of different interior art styles (due to the wide variety of illustrators), ranging from awesome art to mediocre art (especially Captain Marvel on pg. 134), but overall, the art is much better than a lot of the art found in previous M&M 2e products (with the exception of Udon; their art is extremely awesome).
As far as presentation is concerned, I find it mostly satisfactory, especially with the index. It would've been nice to see some art for the archetypes, though, but since this is a licensed product, it's understandable that they weren't able to get any actual art pieces for it (since all of the characters are from the DC universe and not just random generics). My big gripe, though, is the character sheet. I personally like my character sheets detailed and with plenty of space to write up my skills, powers, etc. While the sheet is functional, it won't tell you how your defenses are derived, since you just write the total bonus. Green Ronin did put up a two-page character sheet as well as a reference sheet for the various actions and conditions you can take, so it's actually a non-issue. (Who scans character sheets from books anymore?)
Now for the content inside. As a long-time M&M player and GM, I'm going to make references as to how certain rules are changed or differ from M&M 2e, as well as inform the reviewer with no previous M&M experience.
Chapter 1: The Basics
This chapter explains the basics on how to play DCA.
The core mechanic for task resolution is to roll one d20 plus appropriate modifiers (such as abilities, skills, or effects) against a target number set by the GM (known as the Difficulty Class, or DC). Meeting or beating the DC equals success, and succeeding by multiples of 5 confer multiple degrees of success. The same goes for failing your d20 rolls.
Not all tasks have to be rolled for, though, especially if you're competent. Routine checks allow you to use a skill or effect as if you'd rolled a 10 and can be done when you're not under any pressure (such as "not in combat").
If there is a circumstance that will make the task easier or harder, the GM will assign a +2/-2 modifier to the d20 roll (or +5/-5 for major modifiers).
Rolling a natural 20 on your die roll means you've achieved a critical success. A critical success isn't an automatic success; rather, you achieve your normal degree of success plus one more. This can turn a low-level degree of success into one greater, or it can turn a "one degree of failure" into a "one degree of success."
One of the highlights of DCA (and M&M3e) is the Conditions list. It's split into basic conditions and combined conditions. A basic condition is a single game modifier, such as Compelled, Controlled, Fatigued, and so forth, while combined conditions are a collection of basic conditions, such as Paralyzed (combines defenseless, immobile, and physically stunned). The new Affliction effect is what characters would use to build powers that place conditions on their targets (much like the GURPS 4e Advantage of the same name).
Last but not least, characters are able to push their limits with either Extra Effort or buy using Hero Points. Extra Effort let's you do things like taking an additional action on your turn, using a power stunt, or increasing one of your capabilities, but at the cost of fatigue. Hero Points are a resource that let's you do things like slightly edit a scene, improve a bad roll, or recover faster. Characters start with one Hero Point but can earn more through acts of heroism, good roleplaying, and by being set back through their Complications (more later).
Chapter 2: Secret Origins
This chapter explains how to build your character.
First and foremost, consult what kind of game the GM and the players want to run and, from there, come up with a concept for your character. The GM sets the guidelines on what you can and can't play, so if the GM says "no aliens", then you can't make an alien character. The GM also determines the starting power level (PL) for the series, which determines how many power points (pp) you get at character creation and the limits on how powerful you can be in many different aspects (such as maximum attack and damage, maximum defense and toughness, maximum skill, etc.). You can use pp to buy abilities, skills, advantages, and powers. It is in character creation where you also choose Complications, of which you must take a minimum of two (one of them being your motivation).
Just so that you get an idea of what power level means, here are some guidelines: -A "Masked Adventurers" series starts at PL 8 -A "Super Heroes" series (ala Teen Titans) starts at PL 10 -A "Big Leagues" series (ala Justice League) starts at PL 12 -A "World Protectors" series (Green Lantern, Superman) starts at PL 14
As mentioned above, your character starts with a minimum of two Complications, one of them being your Motivation (the reason why you are how you are). Other example Complications include addictions, disabilities, fame, secret identities, normal identities (no powers), phobias, etc. Essentially, whenever one of your Complications presents a challenge, you receive a hero point. For those familiar with M&M 2e, many Drawbacks have now become Complications.
Besides the numbers aspect of character creation, this chapter also talks about other aspects of your character, such as selecting a name, origins, age, appearance, costume, personality, and goals.
As characters complete adventures, the GM awards them with power points. The base reward is one power point per session, or two if it was especially challenging. At the GM's option, whenever characters acquire 15 pp, their power level increases by one.
Last but not least, there are 15 different archetypes listed at power level 10 which players can choose to get into the game immediately and tips on how to tweak each archetype. After that are two character creation examples.
Chapter 3: Abilities
This chapter is about the basic building blocks of a character. The abilities are Strength, Stamina, Agility, Dexterity, Fighting, Intellect, Awareness, and Presence. Each ability starts at rank 0 (average human) and costs 2pp per rank. Abilities modify the skills that are relevant to them, and some of them modify a character's defenses (see below).
Characters also possess defenses, traits that determine how good a character is at avoiding hazards. They are Parry (for avoiding melee attacks), Dodge (for avoiding ranged attacks), Toughness (for mitigating damage), Fortitude (for resisting body effects), and Will (for resisting mental effects). Agility, Awareness, Stamina, and Fighting modify your defenses, but they can be acquired separately at 1pp per rank. Defenses can either be roll for (if used pro-actively) or provide a DC (if used reactively) of 10 + your defense rank.
Chapter 4: Skills
This chapter is about the various skills characters can learn. There are 16 skills listed in total, but three of them require specialization (Close Combat, Ranged Combat, and Expertise). You can acquire 2 skill ranks for 1pp and you can choose to split those skill ranks towards two different skills if you wish.
For those familiar with M&M 2e, this skill list is considerably shorter than 2e's skill list. A number of skills in 2e have been consolidated, while many are now handled as specialties for Expertise. The skills that aren't consolidated are usually the more useful ones (such as Perception, Persuasion, and Stealth).
Chapter 5: Advantages
This chapter covers various perks that characters can acquire called Advantages. There are four types of advantages: Combat, Fortune, General, and Skill.
Advantages cost 1pp each, and some of them are ranked (meaning you can take it multiple times for added effect).
Combat advantages modify how various combat maneuvers are performed, such as Prone Fighting, which allows you to fight prone without any penalties. Fortune advantages enhance the use of hero points and require their expenditure in order to be used, such as Ultimate Effort, which allows you to spend a hero point to get an effective 20 on a specific check. Skill advantages offer bonuses to skills or modify a skill's use, such as Improvised Tools, which allows you to use skills without tools at no penalty. General advantages give you special benefits or bonuses not covered by any other categories, such as Diehard, which allows you to automatically stablize when dying.
For characters who have a particular fighting style, they can acquire the appropriate advantages to represent that fighting style. For example, Wrestling could consist of Chokehold, Fast Grab, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, and Power Attack.
For M&M 2e players and GMs, Advantages are simply feats. Some feats didn't make it to 3rd Edition (due to absent game mechanics), while others function differently.
Chapter 6: Powers
Powers are special abilities that normal people generally don't possess (unless you build a "technique" as a power) and are composed of effects. In order to build a power, first decide what you want it to accomplish. After you've done that, buy up any effects that match what you want your power to do. Does your power deal damage? Buy the Damage effect. Does your power allow you to fly? Buy the Flight effect. Does your power blind your target? Buy the Concealment (Visual) effect with the Attack extra. Each effect can be bought in ranks, which determine how powerful your power is (limited to your power level, if it is used to attack, defend, or impose a condition on a target).
Each effect can be modified with extras and flaws (called power modifiers). An extra expands or improves the effect in some way, while a flaw limits or diminishes the effect in some way. Area, for example, is an extra that allows your power to affect an area instead of just a single target. Fades, for example, is a flaw that reduces the potency of your power whenever you use it or keep it active.
Descriptors dictate how a power looks, what its source is, and where it comes from. You can describe a Ranged Damage effect as a fireball that you shoot from your mouth or your ability to throw a bunch of rocks around you at your target. For the most part, descriptors don't cost anything, but if you want to be particularly picky (such as requiring rocks or trash to be available in order for you to throw), you can apply the appropriate power modifiers to your power.
One effect in particular that impressed me is Affliction. Affliction allows you to impose conditions on a target, depending on how much they fail their resistance check. When you build an Affliction effect, you choose three conditions, one for each degree of failure (maximum of 3). The types of conditions you can choose per degree of failure is in a list on the effect's description. With Affliciton, you can cover a gamut of different powers, such as entangling your foes, mind control, transforming them to frogs, suffocating them, or compelling them to speak truthfully.
Chapter 7: Gadgets & Gear
This chapter covers both gadgets (gear built as powers) and more mundane equipment (acquired through the Equipment Advantage). It also covers rules for inventing items for temporary use (for inventors like Atom or Batman), Vehicles, and Headquarters. Last but not least, this chapter covers how to build constructs (automatons that are like characters but lack intelligence and free will) and provides sample stats for constructs such as robots and zombies.
Chapter 8: Action & Adventure
This chapter is about how to play the game in detail. The main sections that are covered are challenges, environmental hazards, conflicts, maneuvers, and recovery.
Challenges are simply the checks required in order to overcome challenges (kind of redundant) that are not combat-related. Some challenges involve only one check, while others involve a series of checks (called a Challenge Sequence). Failing challenges can make later parts of the adventure more difficult, while succeeding allows you to continue onward or to provide some sort of benefit as you progress through the adventure.
Environmental Hazards cover the gamut of light and darkness, heat and cold, starvation and thirst, falling, poison, etc. and how to handle each of these hazards. A handy chart of sample poisons, diseases, radiation exposure rates, and fire exposure rates provides ranks for their potency. For example, food poisoning would be a rank 1 Affliction, while nerve gas would be a rank 15 Affliction linked with Damage requiring a Fortitude resistance check.
Conflicts relate specifically to combat. I'd like to interject and point out a layout issue. In the beginning of this chapter, it talks about Action Types, but then goes to Challenges and Environmental Hazards, instead of straight to Conflicts. I feel that Action Types should be placed just before Conflicts, since the two go hand in hand. Therefore, I'll talk about both action types and conflicts together.
When combat starts, each participant rolls for initiative to determine combat order for the entire combat (d20 + Agility + Improved Initiative bonus). On your turn, you can normally do a standard action (your main action) and a move action (anything movement related). You can replace a standard action with a move action if you wish. You can also perform one or more free actions (actions that take a negligible amount of time) along with your regular allotment of actions, as well as reactions (which are done regardless of it being your turn or not).
Attacking your target is as simple as making a d20 roll and adding either your Fighting (for melee) or Dexterity (for ranged) as well as modifiers from advantages and skills. If you hit, your target must make a resistance check against a DC equal to 10 + your attack's effect (or 15 + your attack's effect, if it's damage). Success means that the attack had no effect, while failure means that the target suffers an effect. The higher the degrees of failure, the worse the effect, and usually three degrees of failure (failing by more than 10) will seriously mess your character up in some way, shape, or form. Scoring a critical success (natural 20) on your attack roll means you automatically hit your target. Furthermore, you have three options for a critical hit: your effect can be increased by 5, you can add an effect to your attack besides its original effect (DC 10), or you can do a different effect altogether, as if you were doing a power stunt (but without expending extra effort). A critical miss, on the other hand (natural 1), means you always miss, regardless of your total roll.
Each action falls under a particular action type. Standing from prone is a move action, while grabbing an opponent is a standard action. One action that stands out to me, in particular, is the Recover action. Recover allows you to remove your highest level of damage or fatigue, or allows you to make an additional resistance check against an ongoing effect. You also receive a +2 bonus to your active defenses (Parry and Dodge) until the start of your next turn. Recover can only be done once per conflict. Normally, these effects are handled with Extra Effort or by spending a Hero Point, but this action will allow for more survivability on part of the player characters, while they can still use Extra Effort or Hero Points to do cool stuff. As an M&M player and GM, I am glad to have the Recover action available, because I don't have to hoard my hero points just for survivability.
Maneuvers allow you to modify your attacks. They include Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Defensive Attack, Finishing Attack, Power Attack, Slam Attack, Surprise Attack, and Team Attack. What's interesting here is that Accurate, All-Out, Defensive, and Power Attacks used to be available to characters who took the corresponding feats in 2e. They are still available as Advantages in 3e, but the difference being that as maneuvers, the maximum trade-offs you can do are +2/-2 (Defensive Attack allows you to subtract up to 2 from your attack rolls, while adding the same number to your active defenses). If you have the corresponding advantage, however, you can trade-off up to 5 points worth (or until one trait reaches 0, whichever is lower).
Another layout anomoly I've noticed is that the subject of damage is not described in this chapter, but under the Damage effect heading in the powers chapter. Even though it's unconventional, the change makes sense in its own way, since describing how damage works is the purview of the Damage effect. Others may find this irksome, but I don't mind. But enough babbling on my part.
DCA handles damage like any other effect; the worse your degree of failure, the worse your condition. It has some differences, though. First off, the base DC for damage is 15, not 10. Second, each time someone fails their Toughness resistance check against a damaging effect, they receive a cumulative -1 penalty to further Toughness saves. Third, there is no differentiation between lethal and non-lethal attacks. In order for a character to die, they'd first have to be incapacitated (four degrees of failure). Then, they'd have to fail a Toughness check while incapacitated, which shifts their condition to dying. Finally, they'd have to fail a Toughness check while dying to die.
Due to the fact that DCA is about playing heroic characters, recovery happens quite quickly. Your recovery rates, by default, are in one-minute intervals. This allows a battered character to be back in the fray rather quickly. The GM can adjust these recovery rates to suit his particular campaign, however.
Chapter 9: Gamemastering
This is the "GM advice" chapter. Topics such as assigning difficulties and modifiers, using just the essentials, maintaining game balance, game conventions, creating adventures, assigning rewards, and creating a series. It's all basic advice and it's usable, but ever since I've read Spirit of the Century (especially the GM part), the bar has been raised significantly on how to make people effective GMs. But again, it's servicable.
Chapter 10: The DC Universe
This chapter gives a brief overview of the DC Universe timeline and its most popular locales, such as the cities (Central, Keystone, Coast, Fawcett, Gotham, Metropolis), non-U.S. locales (Atlantis, Gorilla City, Themyscira), outer space locales (Green Lantern Corps, The Polaris System), and other dimensions (such as parallel Earths, the Dreaming, Heaven and Hell). The DC Universe will be delved into with much more depth with the upcoming DC Universe sourcebook (book 4 of the DCA line).
Chapter 11: Heroes & Villains
This chapter covers the most iconic versions of the most iconic heroes and villains of the DC Universe. The hero roster includes Aquaman (both hands), Batman, Black Canary, Captain Marvel, The Flash (Barry Allen), Green Arrow, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Martian Manhunter, Nightwing, Plastic Man, Robin (Tim Drake), Superman, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna. The villain roster includes Black Adam, Black Manta, Brainiac, Catwoman, Cheetah, Circe, Darkseid, Gorilla Grodd, The Joker, Lex Luthor (includes warsuit stats), Prometheus, Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, and Vandal Savage. Books 2 and 3 will cover a total of around 300 more DCU characters. This chapter finishes with stats for supporting characters, such as civilians, public servants, underworld figures, etc., and for some animals, land, air, and sea.
At the end of the book is a glossary of the terms used, and reference tables for Toughness resistance checks, the Ranks & Measure table (in metric units), size rank modifiers, the index, and a one-page character sheet.
The Good
The game covers all of the essential components you need for super-hero roleplaying in the DC universe. Though there were very few significant changes from the M&M 3e ruleset presented here and M&M 2e, it's the many smaller changes that can have a big impact. The basic rules themselves let you do a whole lot of things and, game-mechanics aside (such as not being able to do more than one standard action per round without Extra Effort), you can essentially create any kind of character you want. Descriptors play a big part in that, as do the proper applications of power modifiers.
The Bad
For what it does, the Presence ability is overpriced. It only covers three skills (or four, if you count Expertise: Performance), and you'd get more bang for your buck if you spend your pp on the Presence-based skills (Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion).
There are also a couple of rule discrepancies. For example, the Dazed condition says that you can only take a standard action but can trade it for a move or free action, while free actions can be done in conjunction with your regular action. Both are written in the rulebook and neither one is specifically stated to supersede the other. This has created some confusion on the Atomic Think Tank forums, but I've made my choice as to my interpretation.
There are some miscalculations and errors, such as the effects table stating that Blast is 1pp/rank, while the power description states it as 2pp/rank (it's 2pp/rank, since it's the Damage effect [1pp/rank] with the Increased Range extra [1pp/rank]). I can't think of a game that is completely errata-free on its first printing, but it's just something I have to point out.
Also, as mentioned in Chapter 9, the placing of Action Types in relation to the other sections (in between Challenges and Environmental Hazards, as opposed to right before Conflicts). It just doesn't seem appropriate.
The In-Between
A number of effects and modifiers have had their point costs tweaked from M&M 2e, mostly being more expensive. Many of these tweaks were done to effects that could easily be abused, such as Summon. In 2e, it was cheap to be able to summon hordes and hordes of minions. In 3e, it's much more costly. I don't know whether or not it's appropriately priced now because I don't have any playtesting experience with summoners, but I do know that Summon is one of those effects that can easily be abused.
Characters that are reliant on skills, especially the ones that weren't consolidated from 2e to 3e, will cost more in M&M 3e than before. These include the "Batman" types.
Power creation is effects-based, which is generally great for GMs, but can be pretty overwhelming for players, especially those unfamiliar with the rules. My suggestion would be to start with one of the archetypes in Chapter 2 and go over any changes you'd like to make with your GM. Personally, I feel that half the fun is creating characters, but I'm just a geek like that :)
The Impervious extra has been nerfed to half of its effectiveness from 2e. This one is raising a lot of hiatus on the Atomic Think Tank forums. I personally felt that 2e Impervious was way too good for its cost, and one of my players (who plays a Captain Marvel-like character with Impervious Protection) agrees.
In Conclusion
I feel that this iteration of the Mutants & Masterminds ruleset is smoother and more concise overall in comparison to 2nd edition. Those that don't like the
d20 mechanic generally won't be swayed in this case. I'm not a fan of d20-based games that have character classes and levels, but I like the Mutants & Masterminds ruleset very much. It lets me create characters the way I want them to be and it plays fast.
As far as actual DCU material is concerned, this book just covers the basics. If you really want extensive detail on the DC universe sans rules, check out one of those DCU encyclopedias or start doing wiki searches. Books 2 and 3 (Heroes and Villains volumes 1 & 2) will cover many more DC characters in-depth (especially stat-wise) and Book 4 (DC Universe) will cover the DC universe in much more detail, such as the Crisis storylines, Zero Hour, Blackest Night, etc.
If you don't like the d20 mechanic and haven't tried Mutants & Masterminds but you like superhero roleplaying, I encourage you to at least check this book out. If you are a stickler for bell-curve dice rolls over flat-distribution dice rolls but want to try out a great super-hero roleplaying game, drop your dice-rolling preferences for a bit and actually try a game or two of DCA. If you don't like Mutants & Masterminds, then don't get this book. If you like Mutants & Masterminds but don't really care for the DC Universe, I still say "get this book." It has iconic characters you can relate to more, due to their media exposure, and the art will almost certainly be better than the upcoming Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook (but don't quote me on that). If you like Mutants & Masterminds and you like the DC Universe, then this is just the book for you (as will the other three books coming down the line).
The game is not perfect (I already have a couple of houserules I'm implementing, such as alternate Throwing Distance calculations and a reduction in cost for buying ranks in Presence), but I feel that it's getting better and better. I'd like to apologize in advance for this long review, but I wanted to do this game justice.
