This is the discussion thread for a PBP Mutants and Masterminds game I'm going to start up. I hope nobody is offended by a M&M game here, but I really like these boards.

This is the alias I'll be using to GM it.

The game will be based in an alternate-world where the activation of the Large Hadron Collider was an event which changed the world unlocking the "particle potential" of humans all over the world.

Collider is ready!

I love the avatar. Looks awesome. Ian here is playing a character by the name of Collider. He's able to diffuse an object's particles and/or reassemble them afterwards. Using this he can "explode" objects he touches or throws. He can also use it to essentially teleport.

taps fingers together

Now we just need to get Craig in here...

Collider has been fully statted up. Though can't say I won't make some tweaks, i still have 3 points to spend so i might drop one defensive roll rank and go with another rank of my climbing suit, giving it more ranks of climb and protection.

character sheet (excel file)

The excel sheet was made in office 2010 so not sure it still works in the 2003 format I saved it in but it should since it's mostly "if", "sum", and "counta" formulas.

Cody, you should send that sheet to craig. I made it mostly to make sure I was not going over on points. Any field in green is an autopopulated field so no need to enter things into them.

The only problem with the sheet as far as I can see is that if you take the jack of all trades feat it means you have to redo the formulas for skills that cannot be used untrained, changing them from the "if" switch they are to what the other skills of that ability mod are.

Maybe you should put some points into his mental stats :P So he's not the world's most average minded spy. Perhaps drop his Wisdom a couple points and raise Int to 13 and Cha to 12?

Can you put text version of where the power points are going in your about section? If you put it in a spoiler tag it'll keep it from being too unsightly. It'll also be useful for a quick reference of your powers.

I think Craig is working on an density / regeneration character as a sort of meat shield who can brush off anything. I'm trying to figure out how to work him in with Collider. He has a lot of spare power points since his powers only cost about 30-40 in all maybe I'll get him to invest in some tech stuff so he can be a gear head too. So he can be the Jet to your Spike, to borrow a term from Cowboy Bebop.

I actually think I will drop his wisdom to 10, will likely put those 4 into int. As far as the xml file thing goes just go download the beta of office 2010 if you don't already have it. open office should be able to use it too, if not I can save an open office version of it.

I believe I am spending
[spoiler]64 points on powers
24 points on ability scores
18 points on skills
8 points on saves
20 points on defense
10 points on attack

Then most everything else in feats. Cant open the xml file on this computer though.

Is there still room for this game? Is there more to the premise? What is the Power Level and Power Points?

Well I was planning on just having it be 3 PCs. One of them controlled by me to assist. I've only run a couple M&M 1st edition games but it always seemed that a small group was best. We wanted to give 2nd Ed a shot as we heard the rules are a bit more balanced.

If you wanted to join I wouldn't mind at all, I can just drop the GM PC.

All of us work at a call center together so we have a lot of spare time, and I wanted to tell a fun story. The rough premise is an alternate version of current day/year were the LHC activation caused the emerging of super powers and rapid advancement in technology. This event also brought the attention of otherworldly minds, time travelers, underworld organizations, and the like so it kind of let the genie out of the bottle so to speak.

I'm planning on having the PC's beginning as an independent investigative team hired for a variety of causes. Not so much a super hero team with an awesome hide out but as just guys working the jobs they get. I'm a huge fan of the Dresden Files if that gives you an idea.

I'm hoping it'll make more sense with the first story post. I like to do PBP by;
Story post -> player posts ->GMized summary of player actions-> Story post

Power Level is 10, standard 150 Power Points. I do request nothing super-cheesy. No +0 Defense for +20 Toughness and the like.

Background post is up.

Huh, I just noticed I posted the background under the wrong alias. Awesome.

OK, so now that I am home and have the sheet with me here is the point breakdown:

These are just my points spent, this is all 150 points. As far as I can tell the limit for teleport is 100 pounds, regardles of rank. Each time the progression power stunt is taken it increases my place on the progression table for weight carried so at 6 ranks of the power trick I should be able to teleport around 5,000 pounds. is this right?

If you wanted to join I wouldn't mind at all, I can just drop the GM PC.

Yes, I would like to join in. What sort of gaps did you plan on filling with the GM NPC?

Scipion del Ferro wrote:

If you wanted to join I wouldn't mind at all, I can just drop the GM PC.

Yes, I would like to join in. What sort of gaps did you plan on filling with the GM NPC?

Right now we have Collider who's kind of a tricksy wily character. He fills the role of a blaster/glass cannon. Craig's unnamed character is a strong super tough who has permanent rank 10 density and regeneration, so there's the brick. Perhaps some kind of manipulator type character? Toss out an idea.

I figure with the background I've setup there's plenty of options for a power source. ie. particle mutation from the LHC, access to future technology, alien experiments/tech, just plain being an alien, lots of fun.

Oh, when you guys are making your characters let's use the Pathfinder skills where possible. ie. Perception instead of Spot and Listen.

And we'll convert over CMBs and CMD for grappling and the like.
CMB = attack bonus + Strength modifier + Super-Strength modifier + size modifier
CMD = 10 + defense bonus + Strength modifier + Super-Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + size modifier

Oh, when you guys are making your characters let's use the Pathfinder skills where possible. ie. Perception instead of Spot and Listen.

And we'll convert over CMBs and CMD for grappling and the like.
CMB = attack bonus + Strength modifier + Super-Strength modifier + size modifier
CMD = 10 + defense bonus + Strength modifier + Super-Strength modifier + Dexterity modifier + size modifier

Good, that will help me out since I didn't want to be spending points on both notice and search.

Oh, when you guys are making your characters let's use the Pathfinder skills where possible. ie. Perception instead of Spot and Listen.

What? I thought you were using Mutants & Masterminds.

Mastermind wrote:

Oh, when you guys are making your characters let's use the Pathfinder skills where possible. ie. Perception instead of Spot and Listen.

What? I thought you were using Mutants & Masterminds.

We are, but M&M uses the old school 3.5 based skills and grapple system which I've never been a fan of. It's pretty easy to swap in Pathfinders compressed skill system and the stream lined Combat Maneuver system. Which I've come to appreciate.

Edit: Looking it over the skill thing only combines Notice and Search into Perception. The rest are unchanged.

I do prefer the Combat Maneuvers as it reduces the frequency of "Oh that thing is big it insta-grapples me with nothing I can do."

By the way you can shoot me an e-mail at kronvet at gmail dot com if you want. I can see that all day long.

Hey Ian, I just realized if you change the flaw of your Dispersion power to touch instead of ammunition dependent it'll make a lot more sense.

Mastermind wrote:

Oh, when you guys are making your characters let's use the Pathfinder skills where possible. ie. Perception instead of Spot and Listen.

What? I thought you were using Mutants & Masterminds.

Still interested, CourtFool? If you're having trouble with a character concept the PC's will be members of a small independent investigative organization.

Durus checking in. Ready to smash a fool.

This is Marshall. I have an electricity-themed character, Dr. Rufus Mason (AKA Arc Breaker) charged and ready to go!

This is Marshall. I have an electricity-themed character, Dr. Rufus Mason (AKA Arc Breaker) charged and ready to go!

Any chance you guys could put up a character sheet like Durus's in your profiles? So I can give it a quick looksee/final review and we may be ready to go.

Profile all set!

Ok, I think all of the profiles are set and they look good. I will put up the first story post today.

Ack!

How did I miss this one, anyway i could get in here?

I loveeeeeeeeee m&m

What kind of character did you have in mind? I'm putting up the first story post today, I'll leave wiggle room for a 4th person though.

Well it looks like you have a big guy, a blaster, and a teleporter/blaster.

I was thinking a telepathic/telekinetic type

If it sounds fun for you, I think there's room for someone like that. Feel free to stat something up like the character sheets in the others Profiles. Did you read the background post? LHC First story bit is there as well.

Just to give you guys a heads up in combat when one of my guys attacks I'll be rolling your toughness saves as well so I can follow up with the result.

DO NOT EDIT any posts that contain dice rolls as it re-rolls the dice. Maybe?

I intend to join, but it'll be tomorrow morning probably before i can get the character up and running if that's okay.

I'm reading along and it looks to be an interesting pbp.

I intend to join, but it'll be tomorrow morning probably before i can get the character up and running if that's okay.

I'm reading along and it looks to be an interesting pbp.

Sure thing, like I said I left a flexible spot in there.

I'm glad you're liking what you see so far. I'm not going from any book or anything so that's re-assuring.

I love a good story and i really like the writing style I've seen so far, I'm eager to get in on the action.

The mental character was my initial idea, but i can't promise I won't come up with something else when i get to look at the book tomorrow morning, but of course I'll run it by you beforehand.

I'm a fan of how many options M&M presents for you. Can make practically anything or they have the tools to make what you want like Collider's matter charging power (ie. Gambit)

Just like I said with the others try to avoid crazy munchkin min/maxing. Otherwise the bad guys have to be cruelly optimized for squashing people too.

Yeah... I still remember that first M&M game we played, I was the telepath who just took over everything's mind. First edition might have been a little... unbalanced.

Haha of course, I've never been a fan of optimization for the sake of optimization.

There was like 6 people too... blech > . <

I had a ton of fun with the little one shot I did with Tony and Marshall where they played the Gray Lensman and The Gentleman. One had flight/super strength/blasting, and the other was batman-esque.

I loved The Gentleman. Best character concept ever.

Also, I liked playing as the Gray Lensman. Only game I've played where I've had the audacity and opportunity to huck a Jeep at a guy.

Craig is mocking me because we're playing roleplaying games while at work, haha.

Hey, I cannot think of a better use of my time there. Better than playing chess by email like we used to I suppose... come to think o it didn't we have an email 3.5 game going at micron at one point?

Intern, where's my coffee!

Still here big guy, sorry i've not got things done as fast as i had planned to.

That's ok, just delaying to keep them from teleporting off without you.

Just to give you guys a heads up in combat when one of my guys attacks I'll be rolling your toughness saves as well so I can follow up with the result.

DO NOT EDIT any posts that contain dice rolls as it re-rolls the dice. Maybe?

I think the dice rolls stay the same even if you edit. The dice roller seems to function much like one that Zach and I installed on his forums and that one kept the rol even if you edited the post and deleted the dice tag... lets try it though.

1d20 ⇒ 1 the D20 shows a 1 in preview

*Edit* editing the post, leaving dice tag in the post.

*Edit* dice still shows a 1 after edit, removing dice tag.

*Edit* adding the tag back in.

Yup, it stayed a 1 then entire time.

That's weird cause the first time I used it they would re-roll, but I saw the same thing you did when I was showing it to Marshall.

There are ways to trick the system though.
1d10 ⇒ 9
My next post will also roll a 9.

1d10 ⇒ 9

Though, really no system is perfect and as this game is much more about roleplaying than i is about the numbers, low rolls have to happen sometimes.

Quit breaking it! Lol.