Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition (2010)

Overview

Mutants & Masterminds is a superhero role-playing game written by Steve Kenson and published by Green Ronin Publishing. The current 3rd Edition, which also serves as the engine for the DC Adventures game, was released in 2010. It is highly flexible, point buy system that allows players to build any superpower they can come up with, from classic caped crusaders and vigilantes to cosmic entities and mystical sorcerers.

Description

Mutants & Masterminds' game mechanics use a highly modified version of the d20 System. All characters in this game, from heroes and villains to the average person on the street, are defined by eight abilities, basic traits each character has to a greater or lesser extent. Abilities tell you how strong, smart, and aware a character is, among other things. The abilities are: Strength, Stamina, Agility, Dexterity, Fighting, Intellect, Awareness, and Presence

Key features

The Single d20 Engine

The system is a true d20 engine. The twenty-sided die will be the only one you will need for the rest of the game. Every roll happens with the d20 as the baseline and then various bonuses and modifiers are added or subtracted.

Point Buy Character Creation

There are no random rolls for character creation. Players are given a budget of Power Points based on the campaign's Power Level. Every ability, from super strength to immortality, has a specific cost per rank, enabling high amounts of character customization and forging your unique superhero (or -villain).

Effects Based Power Design

Instead of a list of hundreds of pre defined spells or powers, the game uses Effects. If you want a fire blast, a freezing ray, or a telekinetic shove, you simply buy the "Damage" effect and apply descriptors like "Fire" or "Cold". This allows for endless creativity in how powers are themed.

The Toughness Save vs Hit Points

The game completely eliminates Hit Points. When a character is hit, they must make a Toughness resistance check. Failing the check results in cumulative penalties. A minor failure causes a "Bruise" penalty to future saves, while a massive failure can result in being dazed, staggered, or instantly knocked unconscious.

Power Level Caps

To keep the game balanced, the Game Master sets a Power Level (PL) for the campaign. This acts as a ceiling that limits the maximum total of a character's attack bonus, damage, defenses, and skills. This prevents one player from being mathematically untouchable while others struggle to contribute.

Victory Points and Heroics

Players can earn Victory Points (formerly Hero Points) for roleplaying their character's complications, such as a secret identity or a specific weakness like kryptonite. These points can be spent to reroll dice, recover from injuries, or use "Power Extractions" to perform stunts they haven't officially bought yet.

Active games and players

M&M
Mutants & Masterminds
Online
Campaign
Saving Valor City
Players
4/5
GM
1/1
Mutants & Masterminds
en English

Saving Valor City

During a solar eclipse, every hero in the city was encapsulated in a purple crystalline material, causing them to enter a stasis-like trance. The supervillain responsible no doubt had motives for bringing such foul dark magic back to the city. With one fell swoop, his sinister goal was within reach, but once the other criminals of the underworld realized what was going on, the real trouble began. Organized crime swiftly took control of the city's infrastructure. The police force has been subdued, a foreign princess is kidnapped, and the streets are littered with nothing but gunmen, troublemakers, and delinquents. While all the good guys with powers were imprisoned, it appears the bad guys did not suffer any losses. The military fought bravely but was eventually forced to retreat out of the metropolis. Shop owners are left to defend themselves against looters. Hospitals are overburdened with patients. Food supplies are running short as distributors pull away. Crops are withering and dying. Without the heat from the sun, the city is entering a localized miniaturized ice age, and nobody can figure out how to awaken their caped crusaders to defend the city once again. An amplified signal is reaching out to whoever will listen. Whether you're an engineer with a Battlesuit looking to test your inventions. An ancient warrior brought to the future through some magical mishap, trying to find his way back. An alien prince looking to prove himself worthy of an intergalactic crown. A mutant hiding from the world, ready to emerge and prove his allegiance to justice. Maybe you're a spellcaster of some sort, graduated from a school of magic, looking to protect the veil that your order guards for all eternity. Perhaps your underwater realm was disturbed by the fighting above ground, and now you're looking for answers. Whoever you are, you're about to enter a world of trouble. A ship is safest in the harbor, but that's not what ships were built for. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• This is a free online game for Roll20, played biweekly on Saturdays (10th & 24th October and so on) at 19:00 GMT for 3 hours. I'm looking for one additional player to fill the spot left by a friend who is going on a hiatus. We play the good guys, which means we turn the bad guys over to the proper authorities without killing anyone. It's an uphill battle against a foe who plays by no such rules. We try not to break the law, and we try our best not to lose our humanity. The hero group is made up of: Bystander (Crime-fighter): A completely normal guy who was forcefully given a cognitive hazard ability. Outside of physical touch, nobody can ever remember him, see him, or hear him. His entire existence is removed from anyone's mind until they once again are faced with his reality. Technically invisible and functionally immortal, if he ever dies, he will revive on the following round. His powers bring him great misfortune, as he can never pay rent for an apartment, buy food, or have a family. Bystander looks forward to the day he confronts whoever gave him this curse. Hearth (Blaster): A fire-based homunculus, whose soul was crafted by a powerful wizard from a bomb, now burns with the fire of justice. Although technically only two months old, it remains to be seen whether or not Hearth will learn what it means to be human. Especially considering she got all her understanding of right and wrong from TV shows. Hearth is looking for a purpose, and the one person who could answer this question seems to be missing. Hexadecimal (Mystic): Part-time streamer, full-time Technomancer. A sorceress with the ability to cast spells with a technology descriptor, hoping to make it big on online platforms. Lifeline (Paragon): When the real 'Lifeline' was encased in the crystalline prison, her criminal sister took up her mantle and continued her legacy. With the power of super strength, flight, healing, and the ability to copy powers from those she touches, Lifeline focuses all her effort on reuniting with her greatest rival.

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M&M
Mutants & Masterminds
Online
Campaign
Big Apple Apocalypse
Players
4/6
GM
1/1
Mutants & Masterminds
en English

Big Apple Apocalypse

Currently in motion alien invasion campaign. You'll be dropped into a devastated New York taken over by monsters. You have powers from an alien infection but theyre also killing you. Find a cure for the infection. Find a way to stop the invasion. Find hope.

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M&M
Mutants & Masterminds
...
Muskogee
Online
Skye
I'm a chill neurodivergent goth girl that wants to make friends and play fun games together !!
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DND5E
Dungeons & Dragons 5E
DND5.5E
Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E (2024)
...
Online
Phobophiliac
Grimdark veteran Steady regular
I'm Nick, I'm a 32yo male/AMAB non-binary person, with a few years of experience playing D&D 3.5, D&D 5.0, and CoC 7th. I'm a little burnt out on those (mostly D&D/high fantasy) so I'd prefer to play a different system, but I'm not against those systems if the campaign is appealing enough. I'm open-minded, intelligent, and a quick learner so picking up new systems is pretty easy for me. The systems that appeal to me the most right now are Mutants & Masterminds, Cyberpunk, Mothership, Kult, Unknown Armies, any World/Chronicles of Darkness system, or any obscure or homebrew horror system (any setting with heavy horror). My ideal group would consist of people around my age but I'll play with anyone 18+. I'm friendly and get along with pretty much everyone, and have thick skin so I don't mind banter, darker themes, or adult content. LGBTQIA+ friendly (obviously lol), female friendly, POC friendly. I'm also not going to get too antsy if we get a little derailed from play sometimes, especially with goofier groups, but I love serious play just as much. Currently looking to play weekly on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday, during evenings/nights. Saturdays are undesirable at the moment but if I really love the campaign idea I can make the time for it. I can't play Tuesday afternoons and both Wednesday and Sunday are off limits at the moment. Long term campaigns are ideal. I'm a pretty dedicated player, I rarely miss sessions. Any VTT is fine (I love Foundry), theater of the mind is also fine. I'm not a big fan of Roll20 but I'll use it if I have to lol. I have and use Discord regularly. I also would pefer not to be on cam, but I do have a webcam. However I do not want to be recorded and posted on the public internet so skip me if you're running on a stream, youtube recording, podcast, etc. Recordings for private note-taking purposes are okay but do not post them online publicly. I love creating characters (especially flawed characters) so I usually have several character ideas for multiple systems either ready-to-play or brewing, even for systems I've ever played (such as M&M 3e, Unknown Armies, Kult, etc). I'm flexible enough to stick with RAW or go full homebrew, I will always work with the DM to ensure that my character is suitable for their campaign, especially if we dive into heavy homebrew. I generally prefer not to min/max but I'm not against it, I just find flawed characters (mechanical and flavor) to be far more interesting and fun to play. I don't meta game, backseat game, rules lawyer, and I don't have main character syndrome (if anything I'm a little shy of the limelight). I can also handle bad outcomes and character death, I believe that's just part of the storytelling aspect of TTRPGs. I love roleplay, combat, exploration, puzzle solving, pretty much every aspect of TTRPGs so I'm generally comfortable with any ratio. I also sometimes to photo-manipulation/digital collage art, drawn art (digital and traditional), etc for my character, other characters, campaigns, but I'm not very good at it (yet). Usually this is for comedic effect or out of necessity. I also do art and writing outside of TTRPG play. Not interested in play-by-post or paid games, sorry.
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PATH2E
Pathfinder 2E
DH
Daggerheart
...
Online
Ben
Grognard. old school. Psionics. that's me.
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DND5E
Dungeons & Dragons 5E
DND3E
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5
...
Online
SCARYWIZARD
Interested in asynchronous text games only.  Dungeons & Dragons v3.5, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Old School Renaissance... Those kindsa games! PLAY-BY-POST ONLY; ANYONE OFFERING VOICE GAMES SHALL BE BLOCKED.
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