Mutants & Masterminds began as an adaptation of Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons superheroes. … [+]
Mutants and Organs it’s for superhero stories what Dungeons & Dragons it’s for fantasy fiction. D&D allows players to experience the challenge of slaying the monster, the joy of saving the city, and everything they can expect in a fantasy novel. Mutants & Masterminds let them team up with evil supervillains, protect the innocent from evil, and create their own costumed heroes and villains.
Mutants and Organs started as a game by Green Ronin Publishing based on the Third Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. It is steps away from D&D to become its own game with each edition. The current third edition offers maximum flexibility for gameplay while retaining some very familiar mechanics.
Humble Bundle is currently offering a huge Third Edition Mutants and Organs collection on her website. It’s a great entry point to the game, whether you’re a complete beginner or a fan looking to round out their collection with some PDFs.
How to play Mutants and Masterminds
The characters in Mutants and Organs choose tasks by rolling a d20 and adding a corresponding skill and ability. Sometimes it’s against a target number and other times it’s against another d20 roll. Anyone who rolls higher is successful with every five points above the target number granting an additional level of success.
Players can also modify the score with Hero Points. They spend hero points for better dice rolls or a bit of narrative control. They gain hero points by suffering complications or playing with their character’s flaws, such as their particular identity or being vulnerable to a specific substance.
One of the great innovations Mutants and Organs is looking at character levels not as a progression but as a general statement of power. A street level vigilante here might be level 8 while a cosmic planet eater is level 20. The power level gives players points to build their character and Game Masters an idea of the types of comic book stories the group wants to show.
Basic Rules of Mutants and Masterminds
of Mutants And Masterminds Deluxe Hero’s Manual it is the heart of the system. It contains all the rules to play, build characters and some tips on how to run the game. There are even some adventures to help launch a new universe of comic book adventures.
of Mutants And Masterminds Deluxe Gamemaster’s Guide provides more in-depth instructions on how to create different stories in the comic book style. There are tips on how to modify the game so that a story set during the colorful silver age of comics plays differently than the harsh iron age of the 90s. It also includes several villain archetypes that can be dropped into almost any game for an instant antagonist at any time.
One of my favorite features Mutants And Masterminds Basic Hero Manual is that it allows players to make characters by filling out a questionnaire. The core rules offer a chance to build an accurate character by spending points or grabbing a classic hero archetype and jumping right into the game. The questions here offer a range between classic custom character types depending on how players answer.
Mutants and Masterminds Character Guides
Some of Mutants and Organs resources dig into specific character types with new options for the player and Gamemaster. Tool Guides provide high-tech equipment for gadget heroes and scientists. of The Supernatural Handbook It looks like classic threats like vampires and wizards and how they can be both hero and villain within one game.
Power profiles look at power types to give you suggestions for building characters around a specific theme. The tools within the core rules are great, but it’s also useful to have expert-crafted powers that can simply be slotted into a specific character. It helps players figure out how to make the character they want and can be a godsend for Gamemasters looking for a cool power-up to build the next bad guy.
Gamemasters will also find a lot of use in Threat Report AND Rogue’s Gallery. These books bring together collections of individual villains, villainous organizations, and threats of world domination, ready to antagonize heroes of all shapes and sizes. Even if not used whole, taking them apart to see how they are built is useful for Gamemasters learning how to run the game.
Mutant and Mastermind Placement Sourcebooks
Just like Marvel and DC have their signature cities, so does Mutants and Organs. The Emerald City Sourcebook sees a city full of heroes, villains and regular people caught in the middle. For groups who want another city in the same environment, the latest City of Liberty the book is also included here.
There are also books that look into comic book subgenres. High Hero looks at teenage superheroes and how that difficult time in anyone’s life can make life as a hero even more complicated. The Cosmic Handbook offers players a chance to embark and mingle in galactic adventures.
of Mutants And Masterminds Third Edition Humble Bundle runs until November 15, 2024.