M&M3e Not-Rifts: General Interest and Setting

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Nebuchadnezzar
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M&M3e Not-Rifts: General Interest and Setting

Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

A pang of nostalgia has cut deeply enough to expose my inner adolescent, and the only salve is kitchen sink crazytown. Mutants and Masterminds can be a relatively streamlined way to play what, in lieu of calling a conversion we'll consider an homage to beyond-clunky source material. Allow me to propose a couple of settings in which I'd like to base a game, and let's see if any interested parties can reach some sort of consensus as to tone/power level.

Underseas:Magical dolphins in power armor team up with the biomancers of long-sunken Mu and the last American naval carrier group to drive dreamship-sailing pirates out of what used to be the Philippines, while expy-Cthulhu's dreams become increasingly fitful. PL ~10

Three Galaxies:The arcology Center, the transdimensional/transgalactic hub of Phase World, is home to hundreds of millions. From here, the multiverse is the players' sandbox. PL 12-14

Ohio Valley and environs: In the heart of the Magic Zone, refugees from the fall of Tolkien band with the reclusive people of Psyscape to wage a war of attrition. Slipping between Fadetowns, the characters must not only evade patrols of the Coalition States, but the forces of the "True" Federation of Magic, as they seek to unravel grim portents dimly perceived by theGrey Seers. PL 8-10

Atlantis: A High Lord has granted a mixed scouting party a long-ranging remit to travel via pyramid through the Calgary Rift. With a primary objective of performing surveillance upon the Hive-Networks of the Xiticix so as to verify they pose no immediate obstacle to Splynncryft's long-term agenda, the discovery and acquisition of new species of slave promises substantial rewards to be found at the bottom of a Bio-Wizardry tank. PL ~12

Something to consider: Sidekicks and Minions can be a good way to incorporate characters with the disregard for balance for which PB is infamous. While one character might be a Cosmo Knight or superpowered D-Bee, another can be the captain and crew of a shuttlecraft or giant robot.

Please feel free to suggest other regions, or discuss how one might represent various character concepts.
Last edited by Nebuchadnezzar on Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Schleiermacher
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Post by Schleiermacher »

Sounds interesting. I'd personally be most interested in the Ohio Valley or Atlantis concepts -or maybe something based on a civil war or insurrection in the Vampire Kingdoms.

As always I'd like to test the waters wrt. using M&M 2E instead of 3E, because I think the older edition has much more cohesive and less handwavey rules, and because I don't like the way they trimmed the skill list and made skills more expensive. But even 3E is a fun system, so I'm in either way.
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Post by Shady314 »

Ive never ran or played in any kind of aquatic campaign so Id be very interested in trying something new like that. Also I find PL10 seems to be the sweet spot since it is the default PL.

I love (and prefer) M&M3e. It's the only rules set I run anymore so consider me interested. Rifts I am not familiar with. I will check these settings out in case one ends up appealing even more to me than Underseas.

If we did play Underseas I am calling dibs on the name Ecco right now.
Nebuchadnezzar
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Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

I tend to think that 3rd edition fixed more problems than it created, and the elements that became more handwavey are generally to the benefit of a PbP game, which needs all the help it can get in not getting bogged down. If I were to in this case value a cohesive ruleset over a clean one I'd go with HERO over 2e.

That said, the source material is all about an unwieldy skill list. The 3e skills Expertise, Technology, and Vehicles cover a lot of ground, so I could see some benefit to encouraging characters to have specializations. I'm just spitballing, but maybe lower the skill cost of at least those three skills to 3 or 4/PP, and use Features to reflect a particular focus. I'm entirely open to suggestions.

Anyone new to this setting would have a hard time familiarizing themselves with it. Everything is divided amongst dozens of books, and editing is nonexistant. For a world overview check out Coalition Wars Siege on Tolkien 7 - The Aftermath. The other most pertinent books on my initial suggestions are World Books 7 and 32 for aquatic, 12 and 16 for Greater Ohio Valley, 2 and 21 for Atlantis, and the Dimension books for P. World.
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OgreBattle
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Post by OgreBattle »

Magic Zone Ohio sounds fun as does dolphin adventures. I usually think of augumented humans on Earth when I think RIFTS
Last edited by OgreBattle on Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

(I'm going in a different way than this original post, so I'll just say I'm reserving this spot for notes that couldn't fit in the OP.)
Last edited by Nebuchadnezzar on Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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OgreBattle
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Post by OgreBattle »

Are you planning on having a mechanical difference between people having their powers (ex: "I fly and shoot") fluffed as technological (cyborg with jetpack and particle rifle), psychic (burster with flight), or magic (levitating ley line walker)?
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Post by Nebuchadnezzar »

Mechanically, they'd each just have different descriptors, and would thus be subject to different Nullify effects/called shots. Note technology can be purchased more easily as Equipment/Devices, and since palladium magic has ranges more comparable to archers than snipers, it could have less access to the Extended extra. (Edit: I'll probably get rid of that. The main cost of magic is that it's harder to get a discount on effects.)

I'll compile what I've been fiddling with in the next couple of days, and insert it into the first post, but here are some bullet points and a couple example templates.
  • Human characters have a maximum starting Strength/Stamina of 4, with other stats maxing at 6.
  • Many items are priced as Equipment, with Devices reserved for items utilizing the following effects: CREATE/DEFLECT/ELONGATION/ENVIRONMENT/GROWTH/HEALING/
    ILLUSION/INSUBSTANTIAL/LUCK CONTROL/MIND READING/MORPH/MOVE OBJECT/QUICKNESS/
    REGENERATION/SHRINKING/SUMMON/TELEPORT/TRANSFORM/VARIABLE.
    Some of the more fantastic Immunity/Movement/Senses uses could go in there as well.
  • Mega Damage Weapons have 4 ranks of the Penetrating extra. Mega Damage Armor/Skin has 7 ranks of Impervious Toughness. Handheld Weapons above Damage 8 can't be used by unaugmented humans.
  • Methods of human augmentation are represented as templates. In the spoiler block are varieties of Juicer. A Crazy would cost a couple of points less, while a Borg, being largely Immune to Fortitude Effects, would cost more.
    Juicer(21-23pp): Enhanced Ability 12(Extra: Permanent): Strength 2(Max 5), Stamina 2, Agility 2; Enhanced Advantage 4(Extra: Permanent): Evasion 2, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative; Leaping 1, Quickness 1, Regeneration 1, Speed 4

    Hyperion Juicer(22pp): Enhanced Ability 10(Extra: Permanent): Strength 1(Max 5), Stamina 1, Agility 3; Enhanced Advantage 4(Extra: Permanent): Evasion 2, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative; Leaping 1, Quickness 1, Regeneration 1, Speed 5

    Titan Juicer(21pp): Enhanced Ability 12(Extra: Permanent): Strength 2(Max 6), Stamina 3, Agility 1; Enhanced Advantage 4(Extra: Permanent): Evasion 2, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative; Damage 1 (Str-based), Leaping 1, Regeneration 2, Speed 1

    Phaeton Juicer(25pp): Enhanced Dodge 4 (limited: applies only to defense of vehicles with a minimum speed 5) Enhanced Vehicles 4, Enhanced Ability 10(Extra: Permanent): Strength 1(Max 5), Stamina 2, Agility 2; Enhanced Advantage 4(Extra: Permanent): Evasion 2, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative; Leaping 1, Quickness 1, Regeneration 1, Speed 4

    Mega-Juicer(39pp): Enhanced Ability 12(Extra: Permanent): Strength 2(Max 6), Stamina 2, Agility 2; Enhanced Advantage 4(Extra: Permanent): Evasion 2, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative; Leaping 1, Protection 3, Quickness 1, Regeneration 3, Speed 4, Impervious Toughness 7, Penetrating 4 to Strength-Damage

    Delphi Juicer(18pp+cost of psychic array): Enhanced Trait 8(Extra: Permanent): Strength 1(Max 5), Stamina 1, Agility 2; Enhanced Advantage 4(Extra: Permanent): Evasion 2, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative; LeapinPg 1, Quickness 1, Regeneration 1, Speed 3

    Psycho-Stalker(36-38pp): Standard Juicer+Psi-Stalker(subtract 1 rank extended from each effect of Psychic Tracker and remove Naturally Athletic)

    Dragon Juicer(38pp): Enhanced Ability 10(Extra: Permanent): Strength 2(Max 6), Stamina 2, Agility 1; Enhanced Advantage 4(Extra: Permanent): Evasion 2, Great Endurance, Improved Initiative; Leaping 1, Protection 4, Quickness 1, Regeneration 4, Speed 3, Impervious Toughness 7, Penetrating 4 to Strength-Damage Complication: Dragon blood is necessary component of drug cocktail, and character has weekly nightmares involving dragons
The most annoying part will be messing with magic, which is no surprise. There are a lot fewer psychic abilities than spells, and considering how many of the non-super psionics will reduce down to one of a few effects, moving them over won't take all that long.

My current thought for magic is that a ley line walker's Spells could be divided into 2-3 arrays, with a given AE having the Fades extra as a halfass comparison to using spell points. I'd love suggestions on that, though.
Last edited by Nebuchadnezzar on Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:37 am, edited 2 times in total.
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OgreBattle
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Post by OgreBattle »

I'd be fine if you just made psionics and magic more like "D&D sorcerer & wizard" than two separate sets of powers. So it's more about differing origins/philosophies drawing similar powers.

I'd also suggest that you make Crazies just a tech background to access psychic powers that focus on self augmentation. So a Crazy is mechanically similar to a Battle Magus or Mystic Knight.
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