In August 2016 we presented two offers featuring Mutants & Masterminds 3E, the 2011 Third Edition of the World’s Greatest Superhero RPG from Green Ronin Publishing. First, we revived our March 2014 Mutants & Masterminds 3E Bundle, with the rulebook and major supplements. And we added a second, all-new companion, M&M 3E Power Boost, with many recent supplements that extend your campaign to the cosmos and beyond.
First published in 2002, M&M started as an OGL D20 product. Designer Steve Kenson (ICONS) creatively modified and expanded the D20 System to reflect the unique demands of a superhero game. Character generation, character advancement, damage, and saves are all different from the traditional D20 system.
And the superhero RPG that Green Ronin Publishing likes to call “the World’s Greatest” is more than a system. It offers two well-developed settings, Freedom City and Emerald City, and you can easily create your own setting, as many fans have already done — including Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who licensed his Wild Cards shared-world fiction series (inspired, it’s said, by Martin’s own 1970s Superworld campaign) as an M&M RPG supplement series published by Green Ronin. You can even publish your own setting through Green Ronin’s “Super-Powered by M&M” Trademark License, which allows third-party publishers to use “product identity” text. (Remember the OGL?)
1. MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS 3E
[core rules and major supplements]
For those new to Mutants & Masterminds, this collection, revived from March 2014, presented the complete 2011 Third Edition rulebook and major supplements. There were three titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $38), all presented as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:
- Mutants & Masterminds Deluxe Hero’s Handbook (retail price $20): The full-color, 320-page Third Edition of the M&M rulebook, with all the game systems, a huge variety of powers, ready-to-play archetypes; introductions to the Emerald City and Freedom City settings, and two brand-new adventures.
- M&M Gamemaster’s Guide (retail $17.50): Guidelines for creating challenges for superheroes; how to help players create their characters; worldbuilding tips; and how to modify your game to suit your players’ styles. This book works well for any superhero game.
- The Sentinels (free): Presented as a convenience for our customers, this collection includes game stats for ten heroes who protect Emerald City. Use the Sentinels as ready-made player characters or as villains.
Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price powered up and also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with three more titles (retail value $38):
- Threat Report (retail $16): Profiles of dozens of new supervillains who endanger Emerald City and the world.
- M&M GM’s Kit (retail $10): This 48-page booklet helps you quickly generate detailed player heroes and NPCs. Start with one of 20 archetypes, then roll through the tables, making the character ever more distinct and stylish.
- Emerald City Knights Adventure Series (retail $10): This seven-chapter introductory campaign starts with the Silver Storm, a mysterious world-changing event. The Storm tears through Emerald City, leaving in its wake your super-powered player characters — and new villains to test them.
Several of these titles include free character datafiles for use with the Hero Lab character creation program. The Hero Labs program isn’t necessary to use these books — but it’s pretty cool.
2. M&M 3E POWER BOOST
[recent supplements]
This all-new collection of recent supplements from Green Ronin expanded your M&M 3E campaign into the galaxy and other dimensions. There were three titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $36):
- Power Profiles (retail price $20): 700+ ready-to-use super-powers of 30 types, plus new power options, extras, flaws, and variants.
- Gadget Guides (retail $16): Like Power Profiles, except for strange and wondrous devices.
- Player’s Guide to Emerald City (retail $10): A rain-soaked campaign city in the Pacific Northwest, transformed by the Silver Storm that unleashed a flood of new super-powered threats.
Those who paid more than this offer’s threshold also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with three more titles (retail value $45):
- Secrets of Emerald City (retail $15): Continuing from the Player’s Guide in the Starter Collection, this guide gives Gamemasters the down-and-dirty on the City of Destiny. Includes a full-color Emerald City poster map.
- Cosmic Handbook (retail $15): Become a galactic guardian for the Star Knights, the Grue Unity, or the Primals themselves.
- Supernatural Handbook (retail $15): Wage a secret war by night as part of ARCADE (the American Research Center for the Arcane Defense of Earth).
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to the charity chosen by Green Ronin owner Chris Pramas, the Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum. The Flying Boat Museum recalls that nostalgic era, 1937-45, when Foynes, Ireland became the center of the aviation world. The port of Foynes was the fulcrum for air traffic between the United States and Europe. The famous “flying boat” seaplanes carried a diverse range of people from celebrities to refugees. The Foynes Museum recalls this era with exhibitions, memorabilia, and a full-sized replica B314 flying boat. “I visited the museum in July and met its director,” says Chris Pramas, a devoted World War II buff. “It’s an interesting place dedicated to a unique part of aviation history.”
