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And so, I'd heard a lot of good things about this game..this..Mutants & Masterminds. However, I had just become burned out on d20 from D&D and a never-did-quite-start d20 Modern game. And so, I passed this book up.
And I heard more good things about it. And I picked it up in the book store and flipped through it. "Nice," thought I, "but can a 192 page book really handle all the stuff I'd need for superheroes?" I yet resisted purchasing the book.
Then my friend told me even more good things about it. And I asked questions, trying to tax the system as far as I could to achieve results I wanted. And I became intrigued, yet still resisted purchasing the book.
And then the urge to run a superhero game came over me. I thought back to Mutants & Masterminds. I remembered how much I hated hit points, how much I thought that it would utterly suck for a superhero game. And then I learned that Mutants & Masterminds didn't have hit points. Still, though, said I, I have enough gaming on my plate, so I must wait until something opens up.
Finally, something opened up, so I greedily set about purchasing and reading Mutants & Masterminds. I created about two dozen characters, trying to push the system to it's limits, to break it, to find some power I couldn't acceptably reproduce.
And in this, I failed. This is one VERY good superhero RPG, I said to myself.
It has simplicity, ease of play and flexibility. Most of all, you can create a character with decent super-strength, unlike *some* so-called superhero RPGs (coughcoughGURPSSuperscoughcough). Plus, most of my group were familiar with the basic rules enough that teaching them to play requires little to no effort on my part.
Bonus.
There was one more test...could it be used to make a gadgeteer without any real rules tweaking, unlike *some* superhero RPGs out there (coughcoughAberrantcoughcough)? Surprise, there's a whole chapter for devices.
Despite the seemingly small size, this game is GREAT for superheroes. There's a decent selection of powers, enough that I haven't had to create any new ones yet for the players. There's also extensive rules for creating your own powers.
The lack of hit points (you have to make a saving throw against damage, with the possibility of nothing happening, you getting stunned or unconciousness) is an amazingly brilliant design. All in all, the game has an extremely comic-booky feel to it, and is highly customizable for a wide variety of playing styles.
Normally, I don't worry too much about the art in an RPG. HOWEVER, comic books are a visual medium, therefore, art becomes important in all aspects of comicbookdom, even RPGs. The art in this book ranges from so-so to pretty damned cool.
Best of all...no metaplot. Heck, with the exception of the adventure in the back, there's no setting info at all..you get to make all of it up!
Overall, this was a good purchase. I highly recommend it, and it gets the Nightchilde Seal of Approval.
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