Things We Like About M&M

A place to discuss game rules, homebrew systems and the like.
Post Reply
Spectrum
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:08 pm

Things We Like About M&M

Post by Spectrum »

It's easy, sometimes really easy to take apart a set of rules and show how things are broken, oroverpowered, underpowered or just don't make sense. Hopefully, this is done out of a sense of caring. We enjoy something and want to make it better. But sometimes it's just about trying to find the silver lining.

What are some of the things that you find interesting or clever or refreshing about M&M? They don't have to be perfection but things that you appreciate.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
Spectrum
Posts: 3128
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:08 pm

Re: Things We Like About M&M

Post by Spectrum »

A few things that I really like:

Having minion rules that streamline roadbumps and meaningful enemies.

PL as an interplay between narrative difficulty as defined by GM vision of the world and player preference of character capability. This probably is deserving of a major post at some point if I can ever figure out how to word it correctly!

But my all time favorite is the complication system. Lots of systems have merits and flaw systems that encourage you to pick from a predefined list with the hope that you get a few points in return for weaknesses that never come up or if they do in ways that aren't meaningful. M&M turns that on its head. Instead, the player gives the GM hooks into the character. It is a contract, here are ways that I want you to influence play and make my game life more complicated and in turn you give me stuff to be more awesome. How cool is that?
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
FuzzyBoots
Posts: 2396
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:20 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Re: Things We Like About M&M

Post by FuzzyBoots »

  • The Toughness save mechanic - It removes the wide variety of "2d6 vs 1d6+3 vs 1d6 but 3d6 on a crit" mess, not to mention that you don't have that consistently reducing pool of hit points to keep erasing and writing in on the sheet.
  • Complications/GM Fiat - The idea of getting Hero Points for problems you write into the character, or for the GM "cheating", works nicely to me. I miss Drawbacks and their mechanical aspects, but if I had to take one of them, I'd go with Complications.
  • Hero Points / Extra Effort / Power Stunts - Lets you do cool things while having a limiting factor for why you don't do it all the time.
  • Minions - Hit them and they go down, less muss and fuss tracking conditions, wounds, etc.
  • Affliction - This is one of my areas of grumbling, as I think 3E tried to stuff too many things in the same basket, but it does provide a framework for being able to do just about anything that's non-damage.
  • Additive PL - While it's a bit more complicated than that, to a fair degree, an enemy 2 PL up from the player is the same at PL 6 as it is to PL 10 as it is to PL 20
User avatar
Ken
Posts: 3460
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 10:40 pm
Location: Sycalb, Madiganistan

Re: Things We Like About M&M

Post by Ken »

Hmm. It would be easier to list the things I don't like about M&M.

Things I don't like about M&M:
My Amazing Woman: a super-hero romantic comedy podcast.

When the most powerful super hero on Earth marries an ordinary man, hilarity ensues.
User avatar
Voltron64
Posts: 528
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2016 2:44 am
Location: Tucson, AZ

Re: Things We Like About M&M

Post by Voltron64 »

The settings and characters.
User avatar
Ares
Site Admin
Posts: 4963
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:40 am

Re: Things We Like About M&M

Post by Ares »

I like that it brought us all together.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

Want to support me and Echoes of the Multiverse? Follow this link to subscribe or donate.
User avatar
Davies
Posts: 5081
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:37 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB

Re: Things We Like About M&M

Post by Davies »

Things I like about M&M: In addition to pretty much everything that's already been said, how easily it can be modded to suit your own conception of how things should work.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Harnos
Posts: 499
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:03 am

Re: Things We Like About M&M

Post by Harnos »

Linear damage and toughness saves are much better than rolling high amount of d6s or matching dice sets. Also power level trade-off system is quite useful and simulate the genre, even though it has it's downsides.
MacynSnow
Posts: 5631
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 2:56 pm

Re: Things We Like About M&M

Post by MacynSnow »

Ares wrote: Sat Jan 02, 2021 9:53 pm I like that it brought us all together.
I'm with Ares on this one(and not just cause i'm trying to suck up to the boss, why would you ask that? :P ). I've been playing Tabletop RPG's ever since i was in Junior High(about 1988-1989 ish), and in that time i've played some rather well-built ones. But while they were brilliantly made, they all seemed to lack....something. Some undeniable element just wasn't there and it showed in how well the rpg in question endured as time went on. When i ran across Mutants and Masterminds the first time, it was still in it's infancy(1st edition, to be specific) and had just been published two months before. I picked up the Main book along with the newest issue of Dungeon magazine from my hobby store thinking that i could use it to enhance my FASERIP game. I was glad to be so wrong about something in my entire life, as this one book(which i still own to this day) brought me into a World of friendship & togetherness that still shocks me to the core when i think about it.
Post Reply