I've been a big fan of old Sword and Sorcery comics, short stories, and video games for a long time. The biggest one being Conan.

For a long time, I've also been toying with the idea of making a Sword and Sorcery campaign, and I've been casually looking for game systems to run that hypothetical game. The most obvious one is the Conan RPG, and I've gotten these books in a bundle years ago. I've done a quick read of those books and the system didn't really interest me all that much.

I've also gotten the Warriors and Warlocks book from M&M 2nd edition, but since I have never played that edition, only about 1/2 of the book is useful to me.

I'm making this post to ask those who might have tried using M&M to run a Sword and Sorcery game advice. How can I use M&M to make the game feel like S&S comic stories, and not just generic fantasy? What restrictions should I put on powers? In short, what big advice do you guys have for me, if any?

Hi everyone I'm really hoping that you can help me get my players out of a problem as I'm not sure what to do.

For the backstory my friends and I have been playing a mutants and masterminds 3e campaign flavoured to be a R rated version of the power rangers. I am the DM and we started it as a joke but surprisingly we all had a great time with it and we've been playing for about 2 years.

When the players morph they are PL 12 characters basically and the real fun is the megazord fights I basically give them free points to build whatever they want and when a villain grows massive they get to have an enormous Kaiju battle which they seem to enjoy. They have 4 different megazord options for 4 players.

In our campaign there are 5 villain factions and circumstances have led to 3 of them combining forces and when my players failed their last mission the villains combined their resources to make a Kaiju that I had hyped up to be basically unstoppable with the idea it would never be used (you can probably see where this is going)

When it came to the battle our red ranger had to miss the session and so was injured protecting the others from a big attack. I asked the players if they wanted to do a one shot instead of taking on the battle with just 3 members but they insisted I did nerf the Kaiju (imagine a gaint man made of solid mercury) but the rolls went against the players and they were defeated with their zords being destroyed.

This wouldn't be an issue necessarily as its happened before in campaign and they have been repaired but it takes some time in world. My players always ask me not to pull my punches so next session I had the Kaiju attack a city I figured with red back they would regroup and maybe try to so some dissent into the 3 factions and cause them to break up but i couldn't have been more wrong.

Red was rping as being guilt striken that he missed the battle and that they would have won if he helped. So he came up with the plan that he would use his megazord as it was the only one not damaged in the last battle to hold off the monster while the others help evacuat the city as in this game civilian casualties can happen.

I thought this was in character and would be an easy session that he'd lose his battle but escape but i couldn't have been more wrong with what his plan was. When the battle started he asked me if he could use his hero point to remove the limiters on his zord to supercharge it (again this is not an issue I've had npcs do it before to help them) when a zord is supercharged it gets a strength and speed boost but it burns out quickly and needs to be repaired. I had to end the session then as the battle was about to start and we'd been playing for hours but then red told me his actual plan for next week to run it by me to see if it would work.

He knew he could stand toe to toe while supercharged for a few rounds but he wouldn't win so he said his plan was to get the kaiju in some type of grab or hold then supercharge the zord with another hero point which he'd get at the start of the next session to turn his megazord into a bomb killing him and the Kaiju together.

What do I even do in this situation I dont want to undercut his plan since its brilliant and well within the established rules I dont mind him winning this way at all since it was well thought out earned and in character but I really dont want him to blow up a character that he loves either. Our other players have no idea what the plan is and he's even written in character letters to them explaining his sacrifice. They wont even be able to help him since their zords are all destroyed.

Thanks for reading all this and any advice would be really appreciated

My friend and I are creating the first character for my game. His ability involves redirecting and recharging from electricity. He wants to be able to simply attack very powerfully, with a flurry of strikes. That suits me perfectly as a base for a character with an AP of 8.

I’m stuck, as I don’t understand how to implement this in the system (3E).

We created a Strength ability with a Damage effect, with various modifiers and the flaw “must be electrified” to activate it. That’s all fine so far.

Then we got to ‘Energy Absorption’, converting the electricity damage into Strength, and got stuck. Why would a character need a power if it doesn’t affect their attack? Well, we read that everyone has an innate Strength-based attack, but the description is so confusing that we couldn’t work out how it works. Do we have to spend points to create another Damage ability? What rank is it? How do we create a Strength-based attack if there’s no such extra? Does the Strength bonus go towards the effect’s rank, or towards the hit roll?

I’m new to this, and I really, really want to understand the system, but my head’s spinning.

I'm sure it's been asked 100 times, but I can't find it in the main thread or pinned anywhere (I may be stupid!), so I am sorry about that.

But as someone who's TOTALLY new to this game, can someone break down the different editions and recommend one? With reasons, please, "3 is better" doesn't help me understand which is best for my potential game.

Mutants and Masterminds 4e: Radio City

System: Mutants & Masterminds 4e

Genre: Masked Avengers, Pulp Adventure, Street Level Rebellion

Setting: The game takes place in the fictional Radio City, a modern metropolis with a history of masked heroes and dastardly villains, some of whom possessed low-level superhuman powers. This legacy of weird science adventure has led to technological advancement, the incorporation of esoteric training and thinking into the mainstream, and the consolidation of power with nation-states who happen to have especially powerful and resourceful superhumans.

Radio City is currently under the control of the megalomanic The Big Steam, an old and corrupt superbeing who has turned an imperfect but vibrant place into a dystopic, crime-ridden hellhole.

Theme: Fighting for justice in a world gone mad.

Premise: The heroes are a small but dedicated group of citizens with exceptional skills, talents, and resources who have decided to try and take Radio City back from the powers-that-be. Following the example of masked avengers of the past, they forge their own path in a modern world filled with crooked politicians, greedy billionaires, and frightening superhumans who answer to no one.

Tone: Dark but hopeful, violent but humanistic, thoughtful but fun, smart but highly improbable.

Touchstones:

Comics: All-Star Squadron (1981), Batman: Year One (1987), Daredevil, The Dark Knight Returns (1986), Hawkeye (2012), JSA (1999), JSA: The Golden Age (1995), Moon Knight, Sandman Mystery Theatre Starman (1994), The Question (1986), Tom Strong (1999), V for Vendetta (1982), The Watchmen (1987)

Movies: Batman Begins (2005), The Batman (2022), The Crow (1994), V for Vendetta (2005)

Pulps: The Avenger, Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Spider

TV: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage

Style: RP Heavy, Rule of Cool, Shared Worldbuilding, Rules Lawyering Discouraged

Note: Characters will be created using custom Archetypes that can be tweaked by the player

When: Alternate Thursday nights after 6 PM MDT, 3 hours each session.

Platform: Discord supported by Roll20.

Looking for: Mature, reliable, creative roleplayers who like collaborative campaigns with shared investment in the characters and setting. Knowledge and enjoyment of comic book superhero stories and pulp material is a big plus. If the references in the Tone section do not interest you, you might not dig this setting much. Familiarity with M&M (any edition) not required. LGBTQ+ friendly.

Content Warnings: Rated R for Violence and Language. Some heavy themes but not exploitative (no sexual assault, no harm to children); lines and veils will be discussed. Definite left-leaning bias in the setting.

Okay so I am in a game right now and really wanted to ask this question, my character looks like is going to shift into combat a summoner that fights alongside the summons, the gm gave the okay to the concept already.

Right now I only have a single partner summon that is about as strong as my character but they are going to eventually develop a pair or trio of weaker summons based on their magical weapons, but I am wondering how weaker than a player a horde of minion summons can be before they are practically useless, I have seen other players with minion summons bring them out only for them to get destroyed on their first turn, sometimes before they can even act.

Am I worrying too much? I am curious about the balance of summons.

I can't quite work out how to represent this idea, if it should just be handled purely narratively, or of it's an Immortality (Limited to Existing Duplicate) effect, or what. As the duplicates aren't carbon copies of the original as they can't duplicate themselves, but if it's the last one standing then now it is the original if that makes sense

I ran a couple small campaigns with some players who were pretty clear in their disinterest in the character creation process. They had wonderful ideas, but they felt that it was too complicated. Even with me doing my work on Herolab and communicating on their level, they still didn't like the process when they came from systems like D&D beyond and such.
I recognize there's already systems out there, such as that form that gets passed around, and it's not my intention to compete with those. I want to give GM's a chance to throw something at players that is both free, and hopefully, easy to use.

I'll be pushing updates, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

Updates posted on the subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/HeroWorkshop/

https://heroworkshop.app

I recently posted about a ghost character concept and It raises a question about a power interaction.

His ghost powers would be permanent and Innate, but I want to be able to temporarily suppress them to have a tangible, visible form.

I'm blanking on how to do this, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Looking at getting into M&M 3e.

What of the books are must buy?

I’m interested in a Batman/Spiderman level game, a Superman/Green Lantern level game, and a GOTG level game.
Also something aimed at retro or historical play would be good, WWII or the 1960s

So I know “limited” is a flaw one can take on a power which reads as follows:

Limited • -1 cost per rank

An effect with this flaw is not effective all the time. Limited powers generally break down into two types: those usable only in certain situations and those usable only on certain things. For example Only While Singing Loudly, Only While Flying, Only on Men (or Women), Only Against Fire, Not Usable on Yellow Things, and so forth. As a general rule, the effect must lose about half its usefulness to qualify for this modifier. Anything less limiting is better handled as an occasional complication.

My question is basically just: What if it is severely limited?

If regular limited is -1/rank for “about half its usefulness” what if it’s a power that can only be used once per day? Or a power that drains the hero and therefore weakens all of their powers for the rest of the day? Or a power specially geared to only be useful against one specific target? Would that count as multiple applications of Limited? Or is it minimum 1/2 usefulness but anymore than that is just self sabotage?

This is my first time making a construct character (a ghost)

And I have a simple but possibly dumb question.

I know the way to balance out point totals for this is Strength: -5, Agility: -5, and Stamina: -5 to show you lack those stats.

I also know I need protection and healing to have a proper toughness rank that can recover HOWEVER.

If I buy say, 10 levels of protection, would that build from the -5, becoming 5?

That seems right to me but I want to be sure.

A player of mine wants to make a character who has an alcohol-like poison (Impaired, Disabled) that affects targets when he punches them, in addition to the damage. Is that possible? If so, how would that be out onto the sheet and statted out?

I made a demo/review of M&M 3E / DC Adventures treating the Justice League movie as like a campaign story. It goes over Character creation, complications, power countering, power stunts, resistance checks, etc. I hope people find it helpful in introducing new players to the system.

Hey everyone,

I built a free web-based character builder and interactive sheet for Mutants & Masterminds 3e, and wanted to share it with the community:

App link: https://mm3e-builder.vercel.app/

Current features: Full interactive character sheet with PP calculation, Step-by-step hero creation workflow, Character library with local storage and shareable links, Custom power builder with extras and flaws, Export to PDF and Markdown, Roll20 micro and companion extension.

If you test it out, let me know if you run into any bugs. Any feedback is welcome!

Disclaimer: This web uses AI assistance

​

So recently few of my players left the group because of irl reasons so we have a few spots open. We are still in the early stages of the campaign so a new player joining won't be overwhelmed.

Before you DM me, know that I'm new to GM'ing and your fellow players are mostly newbies too.

Also age requirement is 20+

The Game is weekly around 6.00pm GMT Saturday.

I'm new to the game got recommend by a friend . Looking for communities maybe discord servers or something. Looking for people to play with. How don't mind teaching me a bit

Hey I'm a new GM for my group and I come from DND. In DND they have Challenge ratings that can tell you how your encounter is balanced. In this I am seeing that I pretty much have to make every enemy. Was wondering how much over on points would I need to go for a fight to feel balanced. And is it better to go a few mid level guys or one big bad. For context I'm running a party of 5 power level 8 players

Hello everyone,

I’ve been thinking about how we mechanically build Telekinetic Shields in Mutants & Masterminds 3e. The default choice for most players (and official characters) is buying Sustained Protection to boost Toughness.

Narratively, we describe this as "my character uses their mind to swat bullets out of the air or physically block oncoming blows." But mechanically, this setup leads to some incredibly stupid and immersion-breaking scenarios.

Let's look at the classic Taser Demonstration:

Imagine a PL 10 TK shield user who maxed out Toughness (+14) and left their Active Defenses (Dodge/Parry) low (+6).

1. The Machine gun: A villain shoots at him with his machine gun. Thanks to his massive Toughness roll, the telekinetic "blocks" the bullet with their mind, absorbing the kinetic energy. Total badass moment, he is unscathed.
2. The Security Guard: Next round, a regular mall cop walks up and fires a standard, low-tech Taser.

Because the active defenses are very low, the Taser darts hit them almost automatically. And here is where the rules get stupid: a Taser isn't a Damage effect—it’s an Affliction (resisted by Fortitude).

Since the player put all their Telekinesis points into Protection (Toughness), their TK shield does absolutely nothing against the Taser. Narratively, the character who just deflected a sniper round with their mind is suddenly incapable of swatting away two slow-flying, wire-tethered darts, gets shocked, and falls face-first onto the floor.

How do you guys handle this kind of situation? Don't you think that telekinetic shield/force field should boost active defenses instead of toughness ?

Leaning into Active Defenses makes you maybe more of a "glass cannon" if something actually manages to bypass your mental awareness but honestly, isn't that exactly how telekinetics work in comic books and movies? If you catch them by surprise or overwhelm their focus, they break.