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16:29, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Checking interest for a few M&M 2e ideas.

Posted by RosstoFalstaff
RosstoFalstaff
member, 119 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 17:25
  • msg #1

Checking interest for a few M&M 2e ideas

So I recently closed down a two year long game. It was fun and a lot of people worked hard on it, and though I didn't have time to run a multi-group game and felt it was time to move on, I am willing to get back in the saddle sooner rather than later. So to begin with, I have a few ideas and I want people to give me their opinions on what they'd like to see, if any of these ideas appeal to them.

A) Street level mystic game, somewhere between PL 5 and 8, focused on dealing with mystical and supernatural threats that ordinary people can't handle. Run-ins with the law, family curses, blood magic, and a strong incentive to world-build together to make a setting where everyone is a part of something greater

B) The same as above, but set in the Freedom City universe. Flexibility and a large part of "the world can't know" goes out the window in terms of setting, but there's a greater superheroic feel to the game, with a large number of mystical legacies, organizations and enemies already built in

C) A game much like my previous one, a "kitchen sink" M&M game allowing aliens, science experiments, goofiness and seriousness, super-spies, demons, mystics and everything in between. It would focus on only one group, maybe two but much more focused. Possibly in a setting I've previously used or possibly a whole new world

D) A Freedom City game! I always love me some Freedom City, great setting if you're looking for the more playful and light-hearted fare with the occasional opportunity to get serious. Among the "games" I'm willing to run are:

-Claremont Academy, a school for the superpowered youth south of Freedom City
-A new Freedom League, moving in to cover day to day city heroing while the larger Freedom League works out of their satellite. Potentially could even disband the old team and this be a period of reconstruction
-Freedom Knights, the darker side to the League, a group of street level (but not necessarily too low power) heroes fighting criminals and sometimes the overzealous police to protect the not so nice parts of town
-Project Freedom, supercriminals given a new chance to redeem themselves by AEGIS and the Freedom City mayor, working off their prison time with daring suicide missions
-Nevermore, set in the 80s and running to 1993 (when a large amount of the heroes in the city were killed off in the Terminus Invasion), a team run by the Raven (then retired) that works in secret to protect Freedom City during the Moore years (when superheroing was outlawed), from terrorists, newly ultra-violent criminals, the collateral damage unconcerned FORCE-Ops and the mayor's new police hit-squads (warning you will all die or be forced to retire by the end)

E) A Freedom City game but different enough that it gets its own entry here. A "Tyranny City" game, the Anti-Earth version of Freedom City (good is evil, evil is good) following a team of "criminals" who oppose the tyrannical dictatorship of the Praetorian, the Tyranny Syndicate, and any other superpowered menaces. Working in the shadows, keeping on the run, living in a world where being a good person is an aberration that gets you killed. A few varieties of options here:

-The game is set in the present day with the Tyranny Syndicate ruling Tyranny City with an iron fist. The players could play "alignment-switched" versions of Freedom City villains or make their own.
-The game is set in the late 70s and continues through the 80s, beginning with the team being formed to attack The Scarab, a hero whose death in Freedom City's history marked a turning point for a more cynical world. The team would instead be assassinating the Anti-Scarab, an evil reincarnating Egyptian sorcerer-king, and then playing (filling in really) the history of Tyranny City  up until the assassination of the Praetorian by the Tyranny Syndicate in 1993.
-An even more ambitious plan, turning back the clock all the way to the 30s and playing out the Golden Age of Tyranny City. I must admit I have almost no idea who an alignment swapped world works with Nazis . . .

F) Either a homebrew or Freedom City game where the players make a team in the Golden Age (1930s/40s) or Silver Age (50s/60s) and then play out the continuity of that team all the way through (hopefully) the years that follow, retiring or swapping out characters as players choose. It's ambitious and would require a lot of assistance from the players involved

So I'm open to any thoughts anyone has, whether you've played with me before or not!
This message was last updated by the user at 23:53, Fri 10 Nov 2017.
Aidhogan
member, 55 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 18:05
  • msg #2

Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

I really like the way your A reminds me of the Laundry Files series by Charles Stross. Are you planning on any of that tongue-in-cheek noir feel? I'd dig it.

The Claremont option for D is attractive mostly because I've started in at least three stabs at similar settings in MM2 that collapsed in under a month, but it is attractive. Project Freedom moreso! But you'd need to be extra careful in your RTJ process; intraparty conflict is core to the narrative structure there, and that needs a ton of player collaboration.

I like E for themes, but I've only ever been lukewarm about the M&M settings as a whole, so digging into the already-scripted history is kind of a turn-off. definitely more drawn to the modern run.the
OakMaster
member, 87 posts
"Choose you this day
whom ye will serve..."
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 18:09
  • msg #3

Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Would you consider a more significantly non-contemporary setting, similar to something such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_1602 ?
RosstoFalstaff
member, 120 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 18:15
  • msg #4

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

OakMaster:
Would you consider a more significantly non-contemporary setting, similar to something such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_1602 ?


Possibly. Are we talking purely Mystical or simply transplanting superheroes to the past?
Knight_Vassal
member, 378 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 19:58
  • msg #5

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

In reply to RosstoFalstaff (msg # 4):

 Not terribly familiar with the whole system of M&M. Must say running a team throuģh from Gold to Iron Age sounds fun at the very least.
CrazyIvan777
member, 210 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 20:12
  • msg #6

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

A, B, and D all sound good to me (And Claremont is the way I'd love to see 'D'). Not a huge fan of antiheroes or villain games, but the rest sound pretty doable as well. Big M&M 2nd Ed. fan!
Rothos1
member, 490 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 20:14
  • msg #7

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

I like the Claremont idea personally.
OakMaster
member, 88 posts
"Choose you this day
whom ye will serve..."
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 21:58
  • msg #8

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

RosstoFalstaff:
OakMaster:
Would you consider a more significantly non-contemporary setting, similar to something such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_1602 ?

Possibly. Are we talking purely Mystical or simply transplanting superheroes to the past?

The latter.  One of the most interesting supers games I have played in was set in somewhere around that time.  The Good Guys not only had to battle the Bad Guys, but they needed to be subtile enough to not attract unwanted attention from the Inquisition...  :o

I've seen many supers games set in the 1900s or 2000s, but very few set in a less contemporary setting.  So many fascinating possibilities...  :)
This message was last edited by the user at 21:59, Fri 10 Nov 2017.
Zadian
member, 139 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 23:29
  • msg #9

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Which version are we talking 2 or 3? I'm more used to 3e. If 2e I'll have to reacquaint myself with it. I like D with the new freedom team.
(Due just realized after I posted that it said 2e on title post)
Either way I'm interested in whatever version that wins.
This message was last edited by the user at 11:36, Sat 11 Nov 2017.
RosstoFalstaff
member, 121 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 23:53
  • msg #10

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Thinking 2e
AxiomBlack
member, 29 posts
Fri 10 Nov 2017
at 23:56
  • msg #11

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

A) or C) both sound amazing.

D) in the academy could be fun. A nice easy unifying element to keep things collected. A framework.
brichter
member, 3 posts
Sat 11 Nov 2017
at 01:49
  • msg #12

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Ok - since you asked...

I’m sitting here with my son after evaluating a Gracie Jiu-Jutsu studio, and I had an idea...

Why choose?

Start a campaign in Clairmont, in the Freedom City setting...

The PCs are entering freshman, PL 5
They advance 1 PL per year and graduate at PL8

They become heroes in Freedom City at PL 8 and progress from there.

You could “invent” some mystical connection between the characters.

In terms of flavor, I like the mystical / borderline horror game idea.

Just my 2 cents.
Aidhogan
member, 56 posts
Sat 11 Nov 2017
at 16:26
  • msg #13

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

In reply to brichter (msg # 12):

That sounds a little overoptimistic for a PbP. You'd never see the structure happen before it collapsed, I think.
brichter
member, 4 posts
Sat 11 Nov 2017
at 16:35
  • msg #14

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

In reply to Aidhogan (msg # 13):

Well, it is true that I am an overoptimist.

Alternately... compress the high school adventures into four separate distinct years with a single defined adventure... fence it in a little time wise... maybe a month or two Real Time... quick advancement...

A long preamble, if you will...

Or, of course it could be just an unworkable idea. :-)
AxiomBlack
member, 30 posts
Sat 11 Nov 2017
at 17:55
  • msg #15

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

It's one of those ideas, I think, that would be amazing for a tabletop game.

But I agree with Aidhogan, it's ambitious for PbP. Just as an issue of posting time and and the natural way play-by-post can crawl versus real time roleplaying, the game would probably run it's course a year or two from now RL somewhere between PL 6 and 7 :p

That or the adventures and the individual PL's would move so quick and fast that they could hardly be said to be there at all.

Ultimately, I think it's a neat idea but probably faces practical challenges via the medium.
RosstoFalstaff
member, 122 posts
Mon 13 Nov 2017
at 15:09
  • msg #16

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Alright, so that may or may not work, noted.

Out of the Freedom City ideas, are there any people feel particularly do and/or don't work?
CrazyIvan777
member, 213 posts
Tue 14 Nov 2017
at 00:09
  • msg #17

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Claremont and New League both sound real good. I prefer superhero campaigns that aren't so dark-and-gritty or antiheroic, myself. YMMV!
AxiomBlack
member, 31 posts
Tue 14 Nov 2017
at 01:45
  • msg #18

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Claremont sounds good. I also like the idea of the street level mystic game which you could probably set in Freedom City if you wanted.

But an academy game could be a lot of fun and really bakes in a nice unifying framework.
RosstoFalstaff
member, 123 posts
Thu 16 Nov 2017
at 02:33
  • msg #19

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Alright I'm seeing a lot of interest for Claremont so I'll go ahead with that one

A question for those interested though, do you care about the 3rd edition canon for the game (updating the setting from 2005 to 2017), and if so I'll need to do what I can to compile the current information. Otherwise I'll just assume everyone from the previous 2nd ed canon is still good, with some stuff updated (it's Claremont so which heroes are currently active is less important I suppose)
Aidhogan
member, 59 posts
Thu 16 Nov 2017
at 04:43
  • msg #20

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

In reply to RosstoFalstaff (msg # 19):

As long as you make clear what's going on in the setting, I'm impartial to that.
Togashi Kenshin
member, 37 posts
Thu 16 Nov 2017
at 05:30
  • msg #21

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

Sounds interesting. I think a Golden Age or Silver Age game would be good, we have many games in many systems about Justice League style teams and X-Men style teams but relatively few that would be about Supers in the trenches of WWII or fighting Commies during the Red Scare. It could be a take on how superpowers would affect combat and allow for ahistorical things to happen if for example the Nazis succeed at producing superhumans before everyone else.
OakMaster
member, 90 posts
"Choose you this day
whom ye will serve..."
Thu 16 Nov 2017
at 06:38
  • msg #22

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

In reply to Togashi Kenshin (msg # 21):

+1 Non-contemporary setting  :)
CrazyIvan777
member, 215 posts
Fri 17 Nov 2017
at 04:42
  • msg #23

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

I'm more than good with the 2005 setting stuff (mainly because I don't have the updated version! :D )
RosstoFalstaff
member, 125 posts
Sat 18 Nov 2017
at 19:44
  • msg #24

Re: Checking interest for a few M&M ideas

thank you for all your input, I went with a Claremont game (and might create more, watch Players-Wanted)

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