So we are looking to start up a second game (probably bi-weekly) in addition to our weekly DnD games... it came down to either Shadowrun or Mutants & Masterminds. We picked M&M, mainly because one of the potential players didn't like SR, although everyone liked comics to some degree.
Anyways, I've ordered the Advanced Powers book, as well as the core book. Are the other books worth picking up?
How about the setting books, Paragons or Freedom City, anyone use them for a campaign? Personally I'm inclined to run it as a variant DC or Marvel Universe, since its only a casual game and that way everyone has a touchstone to the universe already.
Has anyone used the "Era" books, Iron Age or Golden Age? How tied are they to a particular campaign setting?
Any tips for an experienced DM about to run his first M&M campaign?
Paragons isn't so much a setting as a genre book: it's how to do something similar to the 'Heroes' TV show in the M&M rules set.
The Advanced Powers book is a good tool to understand how powers work in the M&M rules set. I hope you didn't order that thinking it would have a ton of new powers in it like other such books in the superhero RPG genre, because it doesn't. I think there might be one actually new power and one immunity catagory in there; the other 'new powers' are mainly ways of showing new GMs how to make those powers using the stuff already in the main book. I still think it's a very valuable book because of it's designer notes and in-depth look at the rules.
I would definately get Freedom City.
If you're going for the Marvel/DC flavor, then be sure to check out MDSNowman's stuff on the M&M message board. He did a ton of conversions of D&D and Marvel characters to M&M, proving to me that the system can handle pretty much anything since most of those PC's aren't over PL 13.
To add to what was said, if you get the "Ultimate Powers" book, you can pretty much use it in place of the entire chapter on powers in the Core Rule Book.
As Wayne mentioned, there aren't necessarily a lot of new powers, but a ton of ways to parlay the Core book powers in interesting ways. The explanations are cleaner, and design issues corrected, and things like power arrays have more options and cleaner design. Steve Kenson won an Ennie for it.
Freedom City is one of the best Superhero RPG settings available, particularly in terms of detail. Many of the following supplements (Agents, Golden Heroes) have additional Freedom City chapters, but the product stands on it's own.. It also has a stock of villains for thr setting.
EDIT: The other source books are NOT tied to Freedom City, BTW. But they will contain one large chapter, about how the source books theme plays into Freedom City. For example: Golden Heroes has a timeline of Freedom City's Golden Age, and some NPCs to run in that era. Same with the Agent Book; it has organizations (good and bad) that exist in the Freedom City Universe, but it's one big chapter, the rest of the book is not campaign specific. Same with Hero High, a portion is dedicated to the Freedom City Universe, most is not.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Paragons isn't so much a setting as a genre book: it's how to do something similar to the 'Heroes' TV show in the M&M rules set.
Huh. I guess that makes sense that you would need special rules to properly model having super powers but not actually using them in fights, and instead having people fall off really high bleachers or get stabbed anti-climactically.
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
To add to what I was saying, my advise to a newbie:
There are two tons of options with powers. Hero is parlays itself in many different ways, but M&M2E is no slouch in any respect with the amount of options you can come up with.
That can be daunting and hindering to a new GM. Especially if the players want to push the envelope the first time out.. with something like a Green Lantern Power Ring, for example.
I wouldn't necessarily underpower them from the standard 100 to 120 starting points.. But I would suggest to them that they make characters like the old X-Men. Not the background necessarily, but the old X-Men generally had one power, which they could sometimes apply in different ways, and skills. Stick to that, and the first GM attempt will go smoother. It also keeps the power arrays simple until you get the hang of seing how the numbers inter-relate.
Watch for certain powers in character creation. Transformation ala Firestorm is a classic pain in the GM's ass. Also ESP/Mind Reading and Clairvoyance have a tendency to make your life hard.
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Anyways, I've ordered the Advanced Powers book, as well as the core book. Are the other books worth picking up?
If I had to pick two, the core book and Ultimate Power would be the only two.
How about the setting books, Paragons or Freedom City, anyone use them for a campaign? Personally I'm inclined to run it as a variant DC or Marvel Universe, since its only a casual game and that way everyone has a touchstone to the universe already.
If you're going to use a variant DC or Marvel verse, then Freedom City and Paragons aren't really needed.
Has anyone used the "Era" books, Iron Age or Golden Age? How tied are they to a particular campaign setting?
The 'era' books are a mixture of stuff usable in the Freedom City setting, and general tips on setting a game during that era (WW2, in the case of Golden Age, for instance) or using that particular theme (high school / teen hero games, for Hero High).
Even if you are planning on a DC or Marvel game, you might find info from Agents of Freedom useful for a SHIELD or Suicide Squad sort of game with intrigue and special forces, for example.
Any tips for an experienced DM about to run his first M&M campaign?
Play one session using the basic characters in the books, to get a feel for the game play, before letting the players go nuts designing their own characters. Learning the pitfalls and rewards of using Arrays or Alternate Power feats or Shapeshifting or Magic while still trying to learn stuff like damage saves and defense and how trade-offs work and grapples / bull rushes / overruns is just asking for a massive, massive headache. Don't punish yourself, let the first session be a 'getting your feet wet' situation.
You can even work it into the storyline. The characters they play in the first session could end up dying horribly (or seeming to...) at the end of the session and then they can create their own characters, only to find six sessions later that their 'old characters' didn't die, but became Brood or something and now they have to fight them!
M&M works hard to get rid of the 'many attacks' problem that can slow down high level D&D or games like Villains & Vigilantes or GURPS Supers. The way to 'get around' that is powers like Duplication or Summon or Animate Objects, which can be a *nightmare.* The game errs on the side of allowing you a lot of freedom in character design, and with no effort at all, a player can whip up a character who is just absolutely obscene (a 'Multiple Man' who can make 5000 dupes, for instance). It's up to the GM to say, 'uh, no.' in such cases, and a somewhat-reasonable player will say, 'okay, just kidding, how about five dupes, and my character will be named 'Six-Pack'?'
While this 'erring-on-the-side-of-giving-options' design choice does make more work for you as GM, it also allows you to create characters like Thor, who can affect weather over a continent, or Superman, who can lift a hojillion tons or fly at Ludicrous Speed, without 'breaking the bank,' character-point wise. To some GMs, this freedom represents a lack of balance, and is a very bad thing, since it will lead to arguments with their ornery power-players. To others, it's liberating and their players would never stoop to such rascally behavior. For the rest of us, in the middle of that continuum, every power and option is a tool in the box.
If Duplication leaves me biting my lip, I can say at the beginning of the game, 'Play whatever you want, just don't use Duplication, 'cause it skeers me and will slow down the game and piss everyone else off when you're pondering whether Dupe 23 is going to take a standard action, Aid Other to add to my defense, Bluff and try to pass on the benefits to me via the Setup Feat, or go for a Combined Attack with Dupes 7, 12, 18 and 22.'
I highly recommend the Mastermind Manual, but for a more advanced audience. It offers suggestions on how to create new Feats and Skills. It also has suggestions for bringing things like Hit Points and Attacks of Opportunity back into the game…if you are into that sort of thing.