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The Introduction gives us the two necessary basics: What Is A Roleplaying Game? And: What Is DC Adventures? Either question would seem to be unnecessary if one bought the game in the first place. After all, as the intro says: “What kid hasn’t thrown on a makeshift cape or costume and pretended to be Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman? “ Superheroes are indeed a part of the popular culture (mainly but not only in the US) and even people who don't patronize the DC brand of comics exclusively are usually familiar with the main characters.
As in M&M 2nd Edition, there is an overview of what's in the book, including an explanation of its format and layout, which relies heavily on text boxes for rules examples and other bits like “Under the Hood” discussions of game design. The game, of course, uses a d20 for all rolls. It's explained here that the d20 also allows for generating percentages (so if a task has a 45% chance of success, it can be done as a roll of 9 or less on the die).
This ties directly into Chapter 1: The Basics, where it's explained that most rolls are actually done as roll-high against a difficulty class (DC). Thus, the more difficult the task, the higher the DC. Characters usually apply various modifiers for skill level, characteristics, and appropriate circumstances, thus a given task roll = D20 + Modifiers vs. Difficulty Class. These modifiers are gone over briefly here and in more detail in their respective chapters. In DC Adventures, everything can be described or determined in game terms of ranks and measures. The main figures are on page 11, with weights in the Imperial system (it's mentioned that a metric conversion is in an appendix). Thus a default rank of 0 is 50 lbs., 6 seconds, 30 foot distance or 1 cubic foot. This works like the innovative Attribute Points (AP) system from the classic Mayfair DC HEROES game. A bit. The ranks are rather approximate; a time rank of 4 is anything from 1 to 2 minutes, while time rank 16 is everything between 2 and 4 days. This also means unlike DC HEROES, the ranks are not usually logarithmic and cannot add or subtract directly. If you're putting a real world measure of 500 feet together with a measure of 1800 feet, the first measure is rank 4 distance and the second is a rank 6. The real-world sum (2300 ft.) is NOT equal to rank 10, which in this game is 4 miles. Thus, you have to look carefully at the table to get a “close enough to work” figure. For instance, if a hero can move at speed rank 14 (which allows a move of 60 miles per 6-second action), the amount of time it takes to move 30 miles is 3 seconds (rank -1, the time rank just below the rank 0 default of 6 seconds). Like I said, it attempts to bring back that classic AP point mechanic, but the way it plays out doesn't exactly work the same way, so one has to make it work well enough. But for these purposes, it still engineers quick figures: Distance Rank = Time + Speed rank, Time Rank = Distance - Speed rank, and Throwing Rank = Strength – Mass rank (that is, you can throw an object a distance rank equal to your Strength/lifting capacity minus the weight of the object).
The rest of this chapter should be familiar to D20/M&M veterans. In addition to the d20 vs. DC roll, you can count a “routine” action as though you had automatically rolled a 10. An opposed action is one like rolling your Stealth versus a guard's Perception, where the higher result wins (the effective DC is the other character's roll). There is also the possibility of a graded check that measures the margin of a roll's success or failure. In these cases each five points over the DC is an extra degree of success (or under 5 for failure). There are circumstance modifiers which in this game are simplified down to +/- 2 for a typical bonus/penalty or +/-5 for a “major” bonus or penalty. One example is the “team check” where secondary characters make skill rolls to help another character; assistants add their degrees of success together and produce a +2 for team effort or +5 if there is at least three degrees of success.
In this game there is also the resistance check, which encompasses what M&M has called the “Toughness save” vs. damage as well as saves vs. environmental hazards, traps, and certain power effects. These rolls are modified by the appropriate defense (Dodge, Fortitude, Toughness or Will).
Combat and similar situations are done in action rounds of six seconds each; in a round a character can do one standard action (like attack), one move action (which can be either before or after the standard action, a number of free (miscellaneous) actions and any number of necessary reactions (like resistance checks). You can substitute a move action for your standard action, effectively doing a double move.
In the course of combat, characters will inflict and suffer any number of conditions such as being stunned by damage, or taking effects to a certain degree ('compelled' characters, for instance, are partially controlled by another character's power but are fighting against it, and the controller only gets to make a victim do one move or standard action per turn- a 'controlled' character is fully controlled and the controller gets to make the victim do actions as normal). These conditions are summarized in brief in this chapter. The conditions have always been how combat conditions were measured in the D20 games, but are more emphasized in this version.
Finally, this section goes over the use of extra effort and hero points. An extra effort is basically a “pushed” effort that can be declared as a free action and gives one of a number of benefits such as one extra action, a +1 to Strength or power rank, etc. at the cost of being fatigued and slower; further such pushes can knock the character out. Hero points can be used to simulate those truly exceptional efforts of heroes such as recovering faster, doing what other games have called “dramatic editing” on the scene or getting to improve a power or roll. One can also burn a hero point to do the same things as extra effort without fatiguing the character. How do PCs earn these points? They are rewarded by the GM on some occasions for roleplaying the character heroically and in game mechanics they are rewarded when the hero experiences a complication- sometimes one set up by the GM (e.g. the villain gets away without any dice rolls) but usually one taken by the PC in character creation. This leads to:
Chapter 2: Secret Origins - in which the hero is built both mechanically and conceptually. One is supposed to start with the concept behind the hero first. Players are also supposed to get GM feedback on what character types or superpower origins are allowed in his campaign. PC groups are supposed to start on a certain power level which here is recommended to be 10 but could be higher (Superman and Wonder Woman are considered to be at level 15). Players receive power points to build their characters; the chart on page 24 indicates that you get 15 power points per level, so a “beginning” character at power level 10 gets 150 points. In this process, your basic abilities cost 2 points per, defenses (like Toughness) are derived from a base which is then increased by 1 point per, Skills cost 1 point per 2 ranks in a skill, Advantages (see below) are 1 point per rank, and then of course you have Powers, which are highly variable in cost depending on how they're bought.
Power level also enforces a certain limit on the abilities of the characters- on the DC scale, the “mystery men” of the Golden Age or the Challengers of the Unknown are Power Level 8, the new Blue Beetle (a powerful but inexperienced hero) is an example of level 10, many of the “name” heroes (such as Batman) are level 12, and top-level heroes like Superman and Martian Manhunter are Power Level 14 or above. In game terms, your total skill modifier (ability + skill rank + advantage modifiers) cannot exceed the campaign's power level + 10. The total of your Dodge and Toughness adds cannot exceed power level x 2, same with the total of Parry and Toughness or Fortitude and Will. The total of your attack bonus and effect value with a given attack cannot exceed twice the power level. This allows for a bit more “trade-off” than in prior editions of M&M, such that for instance Superman (PL 15 in this game) has a Strength of 19 and an Attack rating of 8. It is mentioned though that a disparity of more than 50% between two related traits needs to be approved by the GM. It's also mentioned that of course villains aren't really subject to these limits, although power level still serves as a measurement of their threat.
Next Chapter 2 details the idea of complications - disadvantages that could be anything from Kryptonite to plot elements such as feeling isolated from normal humans because of one's powers or origins. In character creation a PC is obliged to take at least two of these but can take any upper number desired. However, since their mechanical purpose is to earn the hero his hero points, only the ones that come up in a session are actually worth hero points for that session- even Superman doesn't have to deal with Kryptonite in every comic. (The book calls this a 'pay as you go' approach as opposed to the 'up-front' rewards of, say, HERO System, where Complications give a set number of building points that are counted only during character creation and gain the PC no further benefit after that point. This approach also resembles FATE's central mechanic of agreeing to suffer negative 'Aspects' in exchange for the Fate Points one needs to power positive Aspects.)
Afterward the chapter goes over the more obvious parts of your new character's background, like hero name, “real” name, how he got his powers, personality traits, etc. Then there is a brief discussion of character advancement- generally an adventure rewards 1 power point per session, sometimes 2 if things went very well or the heroes had to face an especially difficult challenge. The general guideline is that the series 'power level' effectively increases by 1 for every 15 points of power point rewards, such that the GM allows the PCs to adjust their power limits accordingly.
Then there's a sample of 15 character archetypes for a starting Power Level 10 game, basically the same as the ones from previous editions of M&M, with the necessary adjustments. Finally this chapter has examples of building two other sample characters, a skilled vigilante called “The Rook” (which actually refers to a raptor bird, not a chess piece) and a female powerhouse with the ironic name “Princess.” These are not DC Universe characters and are in fact iconic characters for the new edition of M&M (although in this book they're based in Gotham City and Metropolis respectively).
Chapter 3: Abilities shows how the basic abilities are used, and also how they differ from the stats in previous editions of M&M. Mechanically they work the same way, but DC Adventures (and by extension, Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition) is in effect a “True 20” superhero game: Whereas previous editions used the D&D scale where each 2 points above 10 gave +1 to rolls with that stat, this edition just uses that bonus (or penalty) AS the stat. Thus, if a D&D Strength 12 gives +1 to damage and Strength-based task rolls, DCA just lists that Strength level as 1. As in other D20 games, having an ability reduced below -5 (or in D&D, 0) has incapacitating effects; in game terms the ability is debilitated and the character cannot perform tasks with that ability, which usually means he is paralyzed, incapable of thought, or incapable of defending himself. If Stamina is below -5, this means the character is dying and must make Fortitude checks to avoid death (with the -5 modifier). Some targets may automatically lack one of the abilities, like an object or robot that has no Stamina or plant that has no Agility. This is not recommended for a player character, but if feasible the GM might allow the PC to be built without one of the abilities. This is worth 10 extra power points as if the ability were bought down to -5, but in this case the ability cannot be damaged or affected at all because the character never had it in the first place.
The abilities themselves have also changed somewhat. There is Strength, but also Stamina (formerly D&D Constitution), Agility, Dexterity (the distinction being whole-body coordination vs. manual dexterity), Fighting (a general rating for your character's ability to hit or avoid getting hit in combat, sorta like HERO System's OCV/DCV, but not differentiated into two stats), Intellect (Intelligence), Awareness ('what some might call “wisdom”') and Presence (Charisma/Interaction skills).
The aforementioned defenses include Dodge (based on Agility) against ranged attacks or 'reflex saves', Fortitude (Stamina-based) against poisons and similar attacks to the character's health, Parry (based on Fighting) for defense in melee, Toughness (Stamina) for direct damage saves, and Will (based on Awareness) against mental attacks. Most of these defenses can be increased on a 1 per 1 point basis up to the PL limits, the exception being Toughness, which can only be increased above base Stamina rank using Powers or Advantages, reflecting that enhanced resistance to damage is usually either a superpower or some special ability.
Similar to the new D&D and SAGA Star Wars, these defense ratings are the bases for the defense class or DC for certain categories of attack, where for instance using a ranged attack on a target goes against a base of 10 plus the character's Dodge rating- thus the attack DC is (Dodge + 10), where a character who bought Dodge 5 thus gets Dodge defense class 15. The defense categories are Dodge, Parry and Will. Then you have the concept of resistance check, which is the opposite- the target has to use his trait as an active roll to beat the DC of a certain threat (the primary example being a Toughness check to resist the damage from an attack that successfully hits). Dodge and Will can also be used to make resistance checks in some cases, for instance using Dodge to avoid a block trap.
This section also lists the initiative rating as one of the abilities, although this is usually a d20 Agility check with modifiers (specifically the Improved Initiative advantage).
Chapter 4: Skills details exactly how skills work, starting by category. Interaction skills attempt to modify a target's reactions, and thus require some ability to communicate, which in addition to any language barrier makes the skill attempt difficult or impossible against the unintelligent or those lacking one or more of the mental abilities. Manipulation skills require some ability in fine motor work and thus are not normally usable without certain physical abilities (namely Agility) tools, or Precise powers (like modified telekinesis). Skill format is in terms of Name, Ability (the one that provides a modifier to the skill check), Trained Only (if a skill cannot be used untrained, that is, without any skill adds), Interaction (if it's an Interaction skill), Manipulation (ditto) and Requires Tools (if the skill requires tools). Most of the skill descriptions include sample DC for given tasks. There are only 16 base skills, including Close Combat (a specialization in Fighting with a given weapon or mode of unarmed combat) and Expertise (basically any professional skill that isn't covered by other skills).
Chapter 5: Advantages covers the miscellaneous abilities that HERO System games might call “Perks” or “Talents” and D20 games call feats. They usually cost 1 point per, though some come in multiple ranks. They come in the categories of Combat (modify combat moves), Fortune (modify the use of hero points), Skill (modify skills) and General (all other). Important Advantages in this system include the Combat advantages (which in combination are used to simulate martial arts styles), Equipment (which gives 5 points worth of gear per rank in the Advantages, as per the later Gadgets and Gear chapter) and Sidekick (a regular companion built on advantage rank x 5 power points).
Chapter 6: Powers gives us the all-important superpower generation system. While various powers are listed in this chapter, the book says that a given power is made up of one or more effects, each possibly with its own modifiers that increase or decrease the cost of each effect. A modifier that makes the effect more effective (and more expensive) is an extra while one that reduces effectiveness and cost is a flaw. There are also flat modifiers applied to the total cost.
As in HERO System and subsequent games, powers are built on the basis of descriptors, or the special effects of a given power; this means that a Damage effect based on fire will have different special effects and different means of countering than a Damage effect based on martial arts, even if they're mechanically identical. Effects fall into certain categories or effect types- these are Attack, Control, Defense, General, Movement and Sensory. Most of these are self-explanatory, with Control being a broad category of effects that “grant the user control over something”, Sensory either enhancing or deceiving the senses (based on sense types also defined here) and General simply being anything that doesn't fit in another category.
In most cases you have to make an effect check to use an effect, which works much like other D20 checks, including the need for an opposed check if the effect can be somehow resisted or opposed. Each effect works under parameters with the basic parameters being Action (is the effect done as a Standard action, Free action, etc.), Range (Personal for self-only, with other categories as per the rules) and Duration (from Instant to Permanent). The master list of effects, using Name, Type, Action, Range, Duration, Resistance check (if required) and cost per rank, goes from pages 84 to 85.
At this point you get into the actual effect descriptions, with example 'powers' placed in sidebar text. Some of the differences between DCA and prior versions of M&M are evident right off the bat. For instance, the first effect listing is for “Affliction.” In M&M 2, there were a whole bunch of various attacks imposing certain conditions as per the D20 rules, like confuse, nauseate or mind control, and were thus called Confuse, Nauseate and Mind Control. Most of these effects that impose conditions other than basic damage are now summed up under the Affliction effect, which is normally Close (touch) range and 1 point per rank. Thus examples of such are written up as example powers- for instance Mind Control is listed next to the separate Mind Reading effect (since it's a logically associated power) bought with the extras Perception Ranged (works on any target you can perceive), Cumulative (allows you to add degrees of effect together) and Resisted by Will, total 4 points per rank. Under the power description, the first degree of effect (barely missed save) makes the target dazed, second degree (miss by 5) means the target is compelled, and third degree (miss by 10 or more) means the target is fully controlled. The Affliction effect itself is rather vague about what each degree means in a particular case, although the power examples (such as Dazzle) are more useful. This means however that extrapolating from effects to powers not described may take some judgment calls.
Even so, Affliction is a primary example of how the system works, since it starts with a cheap (1 point per rank) effect that operates according to degrees (like the already established M&M Toughness save-versus-damage system) and adjusts its point value depending on how useful it is. Most of the really expensive effects have the broadest application. For instance “Magic” as a power is defined here as simply Damage (1 point per rank) with Ranged (+1 point) for 2 points per. The sort of extra powers that comicbook wizards like Zatanna are capable of are Alternate Effects (bought into a suite or 'Array', like the HERO System Multipower). There is a Variable power that starts at 7 points per rank which lets you arrange (rank x 5) power points as a sort of “omni-power” or HERO Variable Power Pool. Even then the authors stress that this is “a 'last resort' in power design, and the GM should treat it as such.”
On page 124 you have the full explanation of the general modifiers in addition to the specific modifiers applicable to certain effects. These have certain permutations. Because most of the effects have a very low base cost, it's possible for flaws to make them cost less than 1 point per rank. When this happens, the game uses fractional costs - once an effect costs 1 per 1, flaws create a ratio, such that a normally 1:1 power with -2 in flaws (for instance) has a ratio of 1:3, so that one point buys three ranks of the effect. It is also possible to buy a power with partial modifiers, so that for example, a bomb effect could have its full ranks at ground zero and an Area attack, so that part of the power is bought as Area Damage and the rest of the Damage ranks are bought straight. Then you get the flat modifiers which are applied straight to the cost of a power after the various extras and flaws are put in and also after the cost is multiplied by ranks bought- the primary examples of flat modifiers being the aforementioned Alternate Effects/Array system. Also recalling HERO's Multipower system, the Alternate Effects can either cost 1 point each if they can only be used one at a time (like The Legion of Superheroes' Ultra Boy) or you can get “Dynamic” Alternate Effects that cost 2 points each so that they can share the maximum effect rank with other Dynamic Effects in the Array (in this book, the Green Lantern Ring has several powers, including a 'Force Manipulation' Array for various effects like straight Attack, energy object creation, etc. allowing a Green Lantern to divide effect ranks between them).
Chapter 7: Gadgets & Gear describes those bits of equipment that aren't considered innate powers or effects with the “Removable” Flaw (like the Green Lantern Ring). In game terms, such equipment-based powers are called devices. “Normal” items are just 'equipment.' The key differences are: A device is considered part of the character (Mechanically, if Green Lantern has powers bought through a Power Ring, then even if the Ring is removable, the ring IS part of the character); a device grants capabilities beyond mundane equipment (a normal sword is equipment, a sword that can cut a tank is a device), and a device, as part of the character, is never lost permanently (or if lost, obliges the GM to let the PC re-arrange his character points spent on the Removable power) - “If an item is integral to the character's concept or abilities, it's probably a device.”
In this regard the chapter mentions the battlesuit, which even more than a Green Lantern Ring is a central focus to some superhero concepts, since the entire costumed identity is its own power set. In addition, standard superhero costumes (like Reed Richards' 'unstable molecules' fabrics) may have their own abilities, like withstanding the superheroes' own powers, that qualify them as devices, though the book says they are usually considered equipment since that function is so ubiquitous in the superhero world. Next the chapter mentions Invention rules, which allow a PC to create his own inventions (one-shot or jury-rigged devices) with the Inventor advantage; this requires Technology checks for both the design phase and the creation, each at DC 10 + the invention's point cost. These rules are also used for magical characters, except that magical inventions use the Expertise (Magic) skill and the Ritualist advantage.
As mentioned above, there is also an Equipment advantage used by many characters, granting 5 power points worth of gear per rank of the advantage. Here the rule for a PC is that you pay points for adventuring equipment, that is, items that are part of the characters' roles as heroes. For example, Bruce Wayne doesn't have to pay points for having a mansion or cars in his secret ID (beyond having the Benefit advantage to represent wealth), but Batman does pay to have a Batcave and a suite of vehicles (which in his writeup are bought as an Array). Likewise, his utility belt is equipment, but mechanically it is an Array (in this case the items are called Alternate Equipment). In keeping with the game's style, equipment does not keep track of ammo, fuel or other such realistic considerations “except when the Gamemaster wants to make things interesting”.
This chapter also goes into how equipment works in game terms. It is built with power effects, but equipment items are NOT powers, unlike devices. This means you can't usually make anything other than “real” items (which depending on the setting means items normally available), they don't stack their bonuses with other bonuses (Superman doesn't use bulletproof vests), they normally don't exceed normal operating limits (you can't 'push' a handgun or use extra effort with it; and if an item like a car can be so pushed, it always takes the strain, not the character, which means it can break down), and equipment can be more easily removed or destroyed than a device, which is assumed to have some level of 'dramatic immunity'. This also means they're more subject to 'real-world' rules. The equipment examples that follow are subject to mundane hazards such as magnetic fields in the case of electronic gear. General equipment (as opposed to stuff like Batman's utility belt items) is usually bought as a one-rank Feature advantage per piece of gear. More combat-useful items, like weapons or the utility belt, are built according to the standard Equipment rules, costing 1/5 of the regular power cost.
This chapter is also the one with the vehicle and headquarters rules. Vehicles have their own stats, of which Strength, Toughness and Defense are analogous to character abilities, Speed is bought as per a movement effect, miscellaneous bits (like a car alarm system) are bought as Features, and the primary stat is Size, which determines the vehicle's base Strength, Toughness and Defense. This is on a scale where the base Size is a Huge vehicle for no extra points (the size of an SUV or tank) and the vehicle's base abilities are Strength 8, Toughness 9 and Defense -4. Vehicles the size of cars or motorcycles are actually worth a cost break- they're also not as durable. Vehicles can also have more exotic powers, such as weapons, bought at the standard 1/5 ratio for equipment-based powers. Headquarters are built along similar lines, except that they obviously have no Strength, Defense or Speed, and the base Size is house-level, with “Awesome” Size costing 6 points and something like “(a) small town (or) sprawling installation”.
Finally, this chapter includes rules for building constructs like robots or zombies, although these are considered characters (or mechanically bought as the Minion advantage or Summon effect) and not equipment. They are built much like other characters, except they do not have the Stamina ability because they are not alive. They also lack either Strength and Agility (being immobile artificial intelligences) or Intellect and Presence (being automatons). It is possible for such characters to buy these abilities up (except Stamina) but starting at a base of -5. Commanding a construct is a move action.
Chapter 8: Action & Adventure basically explains how stuff happens in the game. The action/combat rules are much like other D20 games. Combat can start with a surprise round, in which characters who fail a Perception check or are surprised for other reasons are considered both stunned and vulnerable (half Defense values), although the ambushers only get one standard action (like an attack) against the targets. Otherwise, combat is organized by initiative check (Agility check plus Improved Initiative advantage, if any), rolled once per conflict. Characters can perform one standard and one move action (move up to your Speed rating in a given mode, or an action like drawing a weapon) or two move actions. “You can also perform as many free actions and reactions as the GM allows.” Free actions are miscellaneous things like dropping the concentration on a power, while reactions occur (natch) in reaction to another event, like some powers. Finally some things (like resistance checks) are considered “no action” - they happen automatically and do not require a commitment from the character.
This chapter also uses the term challenges to refer to events where characters have to make action checks but are not in fights or other direct conflicts. Examples include things like having to do an extended investigation on an escaped criminal, or jumping a chasm. Failure in some of these challenges involves imposition of conditions on the character, which leads directly to review of the environmental “hazards” like being in the dark (provides concealment), contracting a disease (usually represented by Affliction or Weaken effects, which of course can be fatal if they target Stamina), and radiation (which if not treated as a disease can often be a source of new mutation powers!).
Again, the chapter refers to an actual combat between characters as a conflict, although there's a gap of a few pages before it goes back to concentrating on combat rules. In this version of D20 rules, a natural 1 is still a miss and a natural 20 is still a threat that could cause a critical hit if you roll to hit the target again and hit his normal DC. Standard damage is still determined as per M&M rules as a save vs. the attack's effect value; normally a critical hit increases the save DC by +5. Alternately it can impose a special “bonus” effect like blood in the eyes or whatever the player describes and the GM allows. And of course some of the concepts here, like defense ratings and resistance checks, were already brought up in earlier chapters. Chapter 8 gives a master list of the various actions a character can take in a conflict, and whether each counts as a standard, move, free, or “no action.” Some of these can also be modified into maneuvers; e.g. an “accurate attack” allows you to take up to 2 points off your effect value to add that number (up to +2) to your attack roll.
On that score, damage works much as it did in the other versions of M&M but is even more abstracted and dependent on the use of game conditions. Characters recover from standard (physical) damage conditions at the rate of one condition level up (from incapacitated) per minute of rest. Dying is fairly hard; other than getting knocked below -5 Stamina, the only way to die in normal combat conditions is to get hit after being incapacitated, which means the enemy is actively trying to kill you when you're down. Unlike M&M 2, there is no real “Killing” or lethal damage type. Likewise there are no such things as hit location rules. The book advises that truly serious injuries like a maimed limb or head trauma be treated as either conditions or temporary complications, meaning that the GM can invoke the complication at a later point and the PC gets a hero point for it. This is fitting the genre. Not only is it rare for comicbook heroes to die, when they do, it is usually temporary. As will be shown later.
Chapter 9: Gamemastering gives tips on how to run a game of DCA as a GM. For instance they give probabilities on random tasks, under the “55% Rule” (all other things being equal, a DC 10, or needing to roll only 10 or more on a d20, yields a 55% chance of success). Using this as a base, you know how much to raise or lower the DC to reflect how difficult a task is supposed to be. Or, if a given die roll achieves an anticlimactic result, or the rules don't exactly cover the situation, the GM is encouraged to just “fake it.”
Other than going over the basic mechanics that were already introduced in previous chapters, Chapter 9 reviews basic but still necessary advice like how to say No to your players- and even how to say YES to your players. In situations where the PC is trying to do some stunt with his abilities that isn't exactly covered in the rules, DCA is a very forgiving system, since the use of extra effort and hero points are specifically intended to allow for those “off-the-book” uses of powers that aren't listed on the character's sheet (such as the rituals and 'improv' spells used by Zatanna). Among this necessary advice is mention of where a RPG “doesn't translate” to the genre (players generally HATE letting villains escape).
In terms of actually designing adventures, the GM is encouraged to build them around the actions of the antagonists, since superhero stories usually are built around the heroes' reactions to what the bad guys are trying to do. The hero point mechanic comes in here also. Since PCs only get these actions via suffering complications (either the ones on the character sheets or GM plot devices), it's actually encouraged to make the heroes suffer setbacks at first so that they are armed with more points for the final fight- which thus naturally makes the plot play out much like it does in a comic book script.
That leads to the subject of XP awards, where the book's rule of thumb is that heroes receive 1, maybe 2 power points per session. This is important given that the game's power point scale for character creation is that each 15 power points equals one power level. Thus, if most PCs have earned 15 power points, the PL limit of the campaign should have to go up by 1, increasing characters' maximum capabilities. This is an important subject given that the DC Universe game sets Superman as the effective upper limit at PL 15. The book says that the GM may wish to increase the threshold for increasing the campaign PL to 20 or 30 points, or even cap the upper limit. It's mentioned that the writeups for Superman, Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are actually at a point value in excess of a PL 15 character built “straight”- the text mentions them as examples of how a setting can have its power level capped but still allow opportunities for advancement. Otherwise the book mentions the concept of rewards in-game, such as financial donations, fame and reputation.
That in turn leads to how to expand a set of adventures into an actual series (what some of us would call a campaign). This is important in that a game set in Gotham or Bludhaven isn't going to have the same feel or the same subjects as a game set in Paris, Metropolis, or 30th Century interstellar civilization. Likewise the tone could be “light”, “dark” or “greyscale.” (An earlier sidebar details how to adjust the game's combat rules to make them more or less lethal in order to suit the campaign tone.) In this book the example series are the greyscale “Legacy of the Bat” (Batman has disappeared and the PCs are Gotham crimefighters trying to fill his shoes), the light “American All-Stars” (World War II heroes, who in this setting are brought together by Uncle Sam himself), “A League of Their Own” (another 'legacy' series, except with a new Justice League) and “Arena: Alliance” (a high-powered series dealing with the now-resurrected concept of multiple Earth dimensions).
The next two chapters are about the setting itself, and are thus the primary difference between DCA and the official M&M3. Chapter 10: The DC Universe admits that “odds are good if you picked up this book, you’re already familiar with at least the basic elements of the setting “ and that while a MUCH more extensive history could be given it would require a whole library of books. Thus the chapter just goes over the basics. As presented here, the foundations of the DC Universe are largely the result of the Guardians of the Universe (founders of the Green Lantern Corps) including deliberate or accidental manipulation of many races. That included the damping of many “chaotic” magical forces. Even so, several sorcerers existed on planet Earth, including Arion of Atlantis and Merlin of Camelot. Then the book skips to “Modern History.”
After very briefly touching on the superheroes of the 20th Century, Chapter 10 looks over various locals of DC Earth, ranging from Fawcett City (whose 1950's values and look were revealed to have been the result of an epic spell) to Hub City ('voted “the Worst Place to Live in the United States” a record five years in a row'). Other locales include Atlantis, Themyscira (home of the Amazons) and the planet Oa (headquarters of the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps). Furthermore, there are now a large number of parallel worlds in which minor characters like Kamandi and the Infinity, Inc. team. Of course, if one hasn't kept up with the comics in the last few years, one might ask, “Didn't DC have that big Crisis on Infinite Earths thing where they got rid of all those alternate Earths and histories?” Well, they went back on that. More on that later. But in terms of the game, this means that your DC Adventures game is automatically considered to BE one of those parallel dimensions in the “DC Multiverse”, so one doesn't have to worry too much about canon.
Which leads to Chapter 11: Heroes & Villains. These are writeups of fourteen major heroes and fourteen of their archenemies and other foes. The book says that each writeup is an “iconic” version of the character that does not include all the numerous variations of said character throughout DC publishing history. But in examining the text, it's clear that the histories are based on the more recent canon (prior to Final Crisis and Blackest Night). Thus while some old-timers (and recent adaptations) consider Dick Grayson the iconic Robin, this book presents both Grayson as Nightwing and Tim Drake as the latest Robin. However, it also shows Barry Allen (the classic Silver Age Flash) as the current Flash (when Wally West was presented in that role for years after Barry died in Crisis on Infinite Earths) and Hal Jordan once again as the Green Lantern of Earth (let's not even get into that). In most of these cases, even though the “successor” characters like Wally still exist (just as they've found ways to keep the Golden Age Flash involved in adventures with the other speedsters), the mainstream DC Universe seems to have “reset” to a state resembling the basic character roster it had before the first Crisis.
This leads to a bit of a problem when using a “licensed” universe like DC or Marvel. These established properties offer some point of familiarity, but that familiarity is undermined by the writers' need to keep shaking up the extended fictional universe, especially in the case of DC with its frequent “retcons.” In this case, many of the retcons are actually going BACK to the more “classic” state of affairs before Crisis on Infinite Earths, as mentioned above. The main issue is that DC and Marvel characters are literally corporate heroes: Not only are their existences determined largely by the need to sell more books and DVDs, the existence of someone like Superman goes far beyond the lifespan of the original creators, and thus the challenge for the current writer is to make the character worth using without going outside what is expected of him. Needless to say, this is the same problem faced by any GM using these characters, unless you dispense with using them- which seems to defeat the purpose of operating in a “public” setting like the DCU, unless you take a page from Chapter 9 and make the absence of the iconic characters the starting point for a “next generation” setting.
The good thing about having these particular characters in a RPG corebook is that they're already the prime examples of both standard and exotic character concepts for superheroes, so you get a better idea of how to build such concepts in the new M&M system (especially since M&M 3rd Edition itself only includes the two character creation examples early in the book). Thus, Billy Batson changing into Captain Marvel and vice versa through a magic word is considered an example of “Power Loss” complication with all of Cap's abilities going away along with most of his attribute points. Powerful magicians like Zatanna and Circe have a discrete list of favored powers supplemented by the Ritualist advantage or “stunts” using hero points and/or extra effort. Kryptonite, of course, is a complication for Superman, acting as a potentially lethal Affliction. And so on.
After the writeups you get brief stat blocks for “Supporting Characters” like police, criminals, and civilians, along with a few examples of animals. Then there's a Glossary, a “Damage Resistance Matrix” (cross-referencing a defender's save result versus the damage bonus of an attack to determine the degrees of success), the game measurements table in metrics, the OGL, an Index and then a basic character sheet.
SUMMARY
Reviewing the DC Adventures Hero's Handbook is simultaneously separate from and indistinguishable from reviewing the new edition of Mutants & Masterminds. M&M always did intend to present itself as a “four color” superhero RPG, and now it officially is one. The new edition is that much more user-friendly and capable of expressing the range of action one sees in a superhero comic, with a power creation system on par with that of HERO System but (thanks to the hero point mechanic) considerably more flexible with simulating stuff “off the character sheet.”
All that, of course, is important for simulating high-level heroes like Superman in particular. The problem with actually using the DC Universe as the setting for a game is that, as I've mentioned, it is HIGHLY subject to change, usually for commercial reasons, and to such an extent that it's hard to keep up with. Indeed, the main reason I quit collecting comics (along with the expense) was that it's sort of like keeping up with soap operas. IF all the shows on ABC daytime, possibly including The View and Live With Regis and Kelly were using interlinked plot lines. Moreover, the inevitability of change makes me wonder if it's worth it to even follow a particular plotline knowing the results aren't going to last.
But I suppose that's one reason we buy RPGs, especially ones based on a property, so that we can create our OWN versions of the source material that we can invest in without having to worry about what the “canon” is. For those who do care, the DC Adventures Hero's Handbook has not only a proven and improved game engine but gives a superhero universe that goes back to the basics that long-time comics fans grew to love.
For a year or two, maybe.
Style: 4
As a sourcebook to the DC Universe, this book does a great job of presenting the current comicbook state-of-the-art.
Substance
The DC Adventures Hero's Handbook is an even more streamlined version of the already-streamlined D20 system of Mutants & Masterminds, making it an even better fit to its four-color superhero genre.
