Mutants & Masterminds 2E Darksun - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Mutants & Masterminds 2E Darksun

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Oninotaki
Nov 10, 2007 13:37:01 I have really fallen in love with the 2nd edition of M&M especially in regards to running dark sun and just thought I would start a thread soley for the discussion of playing DS in d20's most popular point based character creation 3rd party system.

I will start off by listing what I like.

1st: it is super easy to represent the high level of mutations amongst humans or to create any sort of new race from wastes that a player comes up with.

2nd: the difference between devices and equipment. Equipment in M&M is
much cheaper then devices but players can expect to have them taken away at a moments notice. Devices on the other hand usually represent the 1 or 2 really treasured items that most DS characters seem to have. I think this is a great way to reperesnt the way wealth is intended to work on athas

3rd: I think representing defiling as a power flaw that can be attached to anypower with the magic descriptor is a great way to go. Defilers are "stronger" because their magic is cheaper but other characters can have access to all other sorts of flaws to put them at the same level of "extra" power if the wish.

there are more reasons but that is all I can think of off the top of my head.
What about you guys? Do any of you have experience with M&M, and if you have have you ever thought about running DS with it?
#2
decivre
Nov 10, 2007 14:42:58 I have played M&M for many styles of game, but never to replace D&D in playing a campaign setting. I have to say it is quite a unique idea. One unique feature to Mutants and Masterminds is the fact that almost any power is creatable, so in theory you could do ANY genre with Mutants and Masterminds, even dungeon crawling (the amount of work would be a bit more astronomical, as character design is more complex in M&M). I say kudos to the idea!
#3
Oninotaki
Nov 10, 2007 18:11:13 Its more complex but I think better suited to darksun which has had all sorts of issues trying to be shoehorned into D&D.

I mean its a ton easier to make any advanced being or strange unique changes that characters may go through such as sadira turning into a sun wizard or that one elf getting all Thing like.

If you wanna create some sort of desert monster the pcs have never seen before that is a lot easier too.

Magic artifacts that the pcs are only supposed to have for one session, super easy as its just a device that you give pcs and take away when it is done, and because it is all points based you can see how much the pc using it improves by.

Want Player races with multiple arms(Thri-kreen, Bhrogs, etc) that are not super broken, well thats easy just give them 1 rank of additional limbs which while useful is in no way the blender death machine that they tend to be now.

Just about anything you want to represent in your darksun game is handled better by M&M. Well Imho it is lol
#4
decivre
Nov 10, 2007 22:01:14 I think the only real reason that Dark Sun doesn't fit in D&D anymore is because of all the balance that went into 3rd edition. Dark Sun wasn't built to be a balanced campaign setting. Arcane magic was far more powerful than anything else. Defiler magic was far more powerful than preserver magic. They were balanced not by mechanics, but by roleplaying requirements in the roles they played for the world.
#5
Oninotaki
Nov 17, 2007 13:11:05 It didnt really fit in to begin with, if darksun had been its own ruleset right from the begining we most wouldnt be having the discussions we are about gladiators replacing fighters and whether or not they should be included in 3.5 version. Nor would we have people wondering how to explain ranger magic, where paladins fit in, what exactly to do with a bard, or how to get cleric magic just right. Instead it would have all been custom writtin with darksun and only darksun in mind.

Thats sort of the beauty of M&M is that while it was writtin with comics in mind comics are so broad and all incompasing that the system is an excellent tool to portray darksun. Where as D&D was originally written with medival europe in mind, and has to bend in weird ways to fit everything else in.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Oninotaki Nov 10, 2007 13:37:01	I have really fallen in love with the 2nd edition of M&M especially in regards to running dark sun and just thought I would start a thread soley for the discussion of playing DS in d20's most popular point based character creation 3rd party system. I will start off by listing what I like. 1st: it is super easy to represent the high level of mutations amongst humans or to create any sort of new race from wastes that a player comes up with. 2nd: the difference between devices and equipment. Equipment in M&M is much cheaper then devices but players can expect to have them taken away at a moments notice. Devices on the other hand usually represent the 1 or 2 really treasured items that most DS characters seem to have. I think this is a great way to reperesnt the way wealth is intended to work on athas 3rd: I think representing defiling as a power flaw that can be attached to anypower with the magic descriptor is a great way to go. Defilers are "stronger" because their magic is cheaper but other characters can have access to all other sorts of flaws to put them at the same level of "extra" power if the wish. there are more reasons but that is all I can think of off the top of my head. What about you guys? Do any of you have experience with M&M, and if you have have you ever thought about running DS with it?
#2 decivre Nov 10, 2007 14:42:58	I have played M&M for many styles of game, but never to replace D&D in playing a campaign setting. I have to say it is quite a unique idea. One unique feature to Mutants and Masterminds is the fact that almost any power is creatable, so in theory you could do ANY genre with Mutants and Masterminds, even dungeon crawling (the amount of work would be a bit more astronomical, as character design is more complex in M&M). I say kudos to the idea!
#3 Oninotaki Nov 10, 2007 18:11:13	Its more complex but I think better suited to darksun which has had all sorts of issues trying to be shoehorned into D&D. I mean its a ton easier to make any advanced being or strange unique changes that characters may go through such as sadira turning into a sun wizard or that one elf getting all Thing like. If you wanna create some sort of desert monster the pcs have never seen before that is a lot easier too. Magic artifacts that the pcs are only supposed to have for one session, super easy as its just a device that you give pcs and take away when it is done, and because it is all points based you can see how much the pc using it improves by. Want Player races with multiple arms(Thri-kreen, Bhrogs, etc) that are not super broken, well thats easy just give them 1 rank of additional limbs which while useful is in no way the blender death machine that they tend to be now. Just about anything you want to represent in your darksun game is handled better by M&M. Well Imho it is lol
#4 decivre Nov 10, 2007 22:01:14	I think the only real reason that Dark Sun doesn't fit in D&D anymore is because of all the balance that went into 3rd edition. Dark Sun wasn't built to be a balanced campaign setting. Arcane magic was far more powerful than anything else. Defiler magic was far more powerful than preserver magic. They were balanced not by mechanics, but by roleplaying requirements in the roles they played for the world.
#5 Oninotaki Nov 17, 2007 13:11:05	It didnt really fit in to begin with, if darksun had been its own ruleset right from the begining we most wouldnt be having the discussions we are about gladiators replacing fighters and whether or not they should be included in 3.5 version. Nor would we have people wondering how to explain ranger magic, where paladins fit in, what exactly to do with a bard, or how to get cleric magic just right. Instead it would have all been custom writtin with darksun and only darksun in mind. Thats sort of the beauty of M&M is that while it was writtin with comics in mind comics are so broad and all incompasing that the system is an excellent tool to portray darksun. Where as D&D was originally written with medival europe in mind, and has to bend in weird ways to fit everything else in.