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Interest Check: Mutants and Masterminds Third Edition, Friday night after midnight technically Saturday morning CDT UTC-5. GM looking for players.

What kind of super hero comic book game should I run? What world building questions do you potential players have for me? Here are some world building questions I'd like the potential players to weigh in on: Q) Is this full-style comicness where you can play a cyborg alien sorceror from the planet Zog, or is it more...Down to earth? Q) How long have superpowers and superheroes been a thing? Q) How are they publicly received? Thanks to Hugh F for these.
Would you be comfortable with newbies to the system? I own the books but I've never had a chance to sit down and give it a go (local groups are few and far between where I live).
I'm in the same boat as Nyxeth! I got the Deluxe Hero's Handbook for christmas, but it's been ridiculously hard to find any group at all, let alone one that's okay with helping a newbie out. Original comic book worlds are best! And personally, I prefer a feel of not too grimdark and not Silver Age silliness. A nice, healthy balance. Invincible before it got all dark and dismember-y would be a good guide, I guess? World-building wise, what sort of origins and the like are allowed or not allowed? Is this full-style comicness where you can play a cyborg alien sorceror from the planet Zog, or is it more...Down to earth? How long have superpowers and superheroes been a thing? How are they publicly received? What power scale would they be on? Any distinctive or famous supers we'd know of? What's the tech level like? Is it going to be on Earth, in cities we know, new fictional ones, or a different place altogether? Would sort of characters would you prefer to run a game for? Teen superheroes just starting out and doing their own thing, low-powered vigilantes in the dark, something more high-powered like the Avengers or Justice League? Also what time are you looking to play, roughly? 1AM UT-5? Would you be okay with a GMT player waking up early to join in?
I will be editing my post above to add the world building questions for players after I post this. Thank you Nyxeth and Hugh F. Q) Would you be comfortable with newbies to the system? A) I would like to think so. I plan to refer to <a href="http://www.d20herosrd.com" rel="nofollow">www.d20herosrd.com</a> to make sure everyone is on the same page. Q) Invincible before it got all dark and dismember-y would be a good guide, I guess? A) I own most of Invincible between issues #49 and #108, when did the Invincible series get all dark and dismember-y? Q) World-building wise, what sort of origins and the like are allowed or not allowed? A) I will not allow "It's Magic, I don't have to explain." as the player's explanation to the GM for how any player character's power works. Q) Is this full-style comicness where you can play a cyborg alien sorceror from the planet Zog, or is it more...Down to earth? A) I think this is the kind of question I'd like to turn around and ask the interested players for their input. Q) How long have superpowers and superheroes been a thing? A) I think this is another question I'd like to turn around and ask hopeful players for their input. Q) How are they publicly received? A) Again, potential player responses to this question requested. Q) What power scale would they be on? A) about 90% of the population is PL 0, 99% is PL 4 or less, 1% is PL 5 or more, with 1% of that being PL 8 or more, 1% of that being PL 12 or more, 1% of that being PL 16 or more, and only a handful of individuals being PL 20 or PLX Q) Any distinctive or famous supers we'd know of? A) "Ramjet" a hill in the city is named for his last flight and heroic sacrifice. Q) What's the tech level like? A) I need the tech level to be low enough so that from a narrative stand point: problems the players can understand, and punch, have not been obsoleted by the tech level. Q) Is it going to be on Earth, in cities we know, new fictional ones, or a different place altogether? A) I want to start small as city defenders so a fictional city, named Heliurbis, will be the primary setting. Q) Would sort of characters would you prefer to run a game for? Teen superheroes just starting out and doing their own thing, low-powered vigilantes in the dark, something more high-powered like the Avengers or Justice League? A) I want "The Cape"s! Bright colorful righteous honorable optimistic idealist heroes! Q) Also what time are you looking to play, roughly? 1AM UT-5? Would you be okay with a GMT player waking up early to join in? A) I plan to log on closer to midnight than 1 AM (CDT, UTC-5). <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/wardmcalli230208.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/wardmcalli230208.html</a>
In regards to the Invincible thing...Prrrobably around when Conquest showed up, or the alternate universe war. The latest issue also doesn't really promise much in the way of hopeful optimism or bright tones, either! What PL would you be aiming for the players to be at? Ramjet! Nice name. What sort of powers did he have, what costume and attitude and the like? City defenders, gotcha. I always like that the most. Keeps things relatively contained and gives some familiar ground to play around on. Tell us about Heliurbis? Capes! Excellent. So a sort of Justice League Unlimited vibe, if you've seen it? Heroes are heroes and the villains are villainous! Are you looking for heroes that have been doing the hero gig for a while? Any particular age range? Would we be in an established group or come together through a particular event? Looking for any particular character types or powersets, or any you'd rather not have? Will I ever run out of questions? 5AM my time. I can swing it! Just bear with me if I'm groggy for a bit, hah.
Q) What PL would you be aiming for the players to be at? A) Secret, I don't want players making stat blocks for their character sheets until I have a pretty good idea what their motivations, back stories, complications and descriptors are going to be. Q) What sort of powers did he have, what costume and attitude and the like? A) Ramjet was a typical paragon, Flight, Immunity, Strength, Speed. His costume was mostly white with gold highlights and accents, but Crimson Gloves. Ramjet was fearless, he exuded hope and inspiration and optimism. Q) Tell us about Heliurbis? A) Population 7 million, Heliurbis was founded on seven hills: Banjo Hill, No need to paddle faster, sorry I couldn't resist, the city's best open air concert hall is on Banjo Hill, along with other musically focused entertainment venues. Gjetost Hill, A variety of dairies populate this hill. Intersubjective Hill, A summit about the ethical use of mind related powers is taking place here. Overjoy Hill, a scenic overlook of the rest of Heliurbis. Ramjet Hill, The central peak of the complex crater. Verjuice Hill, A variety of vineyards populate this hill. Yottajoule Hill, A variety of energy production research facilities have been built this hill. Q) if you've seen it? A) I have not. Q) Are you looking for heroes that have been doing the hero gig for a while? A) fishing that out to the players. Q) Any particular age range? A) for the players or the characters? Q) Would we be in an established group or come together through a particular event? A) I need to make a new interest check post with questions like these in it. Q) Looking for any particular character types or powersets, or any you'd rather not have? A) No variables, and I'm limiting alternate effects to sets of 3 to avoid efficiency abuses. I am concerned with how to go about providing some niche protection so every player's character feels different. No time travel, and there's probably more but I'm uncertain how to articulate it at this time. Q) Will I ever run out of questions? A) Yes. But I can not accurately predict when.
Hm. Interesting way to do it. Building from the fluff upwards as opposed to designing the fluff around the mechanics. I quite like that, and honestly that's generally how I do things anyway. And as for age range, both, I suppose. Oh, I should ask. How many players will you be taking on? Ah. I imagine with Ramjet's death there was quite the vaccum in terms of a powerful, respected and premiere superhero. Has anyone filled that gap, or tried to? Did his death have any effect on crime? If he had a nemesis, how did they react? Are there any big name villains? What about teams and groups, both for heroes and villains? What continent is Heliurbis located on?
I am highly interested in playing a third edition game with a group, my current one keeps falling through probably because I am not assertive enough as a GM. I am twenty one years old and have read the player's handbook, the GM's guide, Threat Report, Gadget Guide, and supernatural handbook. So I do know the system but I have an interest in joining one as a player. The posted time works great for me. Q) Is this full-style comicness where you can play a cyborg alien sorceror from the planet Zog, or is it more...Down to earth? A) I am thinking we don't go too over the top but I am fine with it since my current group has characters more over the top than that. Q) How long have superpowers and superheroes been a thing? A) My thoughts are that they have existed for a really long time, like millennia they just have been portrayed as gods or other things. However the actual "Superhero" type person has only been a thing since the 1950's. Q) How are they publicly received? A) I think that everyone knows they exist and people on the street level appreciate them when they are actually helping them. The government has their appointed heroes to deal with superthreats and they monitor the unlicensed ones and evaluate them if they have the potential to become official. Official ones can actually arrest people and have security clearance; however unofficial ones usually have a harder time since those they capture legally have to be released. That's sort of how I think it should work.
I'm super interested as well. I'm a night-owl, so this works nicely for me. I've GM'd various tabletop games for thirteen years, and the latest two of those have been a M&M 3e game. Since I've never had a lot of luck getting one of my players throughout the years to step up to bat, getting a chance to play in a game would be pretty sweet. Q) Is this full-style comicness where you can play a cyborg alien sorceror from the planet Zog, or is it more...Down to earth? Like the others, balance is good to allow for both familiarity and options, but I lean more towards majority Earth-origins Q) How long have superpowers and superheroes been a thing? Keenan's thoughts match mine; people with powers have been around, but we know them as mythological figures (Zeus) or tall-tales (Paul Bunyan). In my current game it's been a combination of the atomic project and greater media awareness that ushered in the 'Age of Superheroes' Q) How are they publicly received? You're going to have your fans and detractors, of course, but public opinion is going to vary on each hero. Your nightstalking vigilante masked-types are going to have fewer fans than your maskless paragon that's doing meet-and-greets and media shoutouts--until you ask around the neighborhoods that the former frequents. No government should fully trust such powers on their own turf that they don't control, and even then they should have a backup. Looking forward to hearing more!
Since this is the format we're going with, all aboard the Q&A train! Q) How long have super heroes been around? A) Probably since time immemorial, however in the public eye they've probably only been around since the start of the 20th century, I imagine in a world that supers exist things like the World Wars would of forced them to make a very large public appearance. Q) How are they publicly received? A) See below on the licensing thing, but I'd imagine if Supers exist widely in the public eye and have done so for a long time I imagine they would be generally accepted by the majority of the population, crime is down, war doesn't happen, Supers have helped solve food shortages or have made breakthroughs in medicine with their powers and so on, until there is a Super Powered war or someone does something horrific I imagine it'd remain that way. Q) Crazy backstories and origin? A) I'd say this is a case of your mileage may vary, since from my experience people do try and use obscure origins (such as being an alien) to handwave the ability to gain new powers, in fact look at Superman as the perfect example, he arguably always has a tool for the job and it is never explained beyond "Well he is a Kryptonian!". I'd say if anyone did want to pull this they'd have to cover the details of what a normal member of that species can do and whether their abilities are part of that, or they're a wholly unique occurrence. - Q) Assuming they've been around for that long, how would you say Supers have shaped the political, economic and technological landscape? Would there be a Technopath Super who effectively founded the equivalent of Apple/Microsoft and has led technological innovation for the past 10 years? Q) Would Supers be bound to their countries of origin and fight for their benefit, thus replacing nuclear weapons as a deterrent - I imagine countries wouldn't want to wage war with another that has more Supers on their side - or would they instead be part of a more global organisation? Q) Would Supers have to qualify for a 'Heroes License' or similar or face reproach from some kind of Super Power Regulation Committee? I'm imagining there would be Supers who want to stay outside of public awareness and thus work in the backstreets, having never become licensed are as such liable to being hauled off for vigilantism. (On a point, Marvel did this rather well with the Civil War arc, the whole Hero Registry thing).
Q) Robots. Are they a thing and would it be possible to play a robot paragon? Q) Has the prevalence of supers and super-made technology changed the equipment the police use, or various military organisations? Q) Are there any anti-super groups, or organisations like Cadmus or Checkmate that are geared towards safeguarding against the superthreat?
Q) How many players will you be taking on? A) As many as it takes to get 5 to show up on time on a regular basis. Q) Has anyone filled that gap, or tried to? A) Yes, tried to. Q) Did his death have any effect on crime? A) Yes. Q) If he had a nemesis, how did they react? A) Ramjet did not have a nemesis, so sayeth the laziness of the GM! Q) Are there any big name villains? A) Not yet. There's a big name anti-hero, "General Power Fantasy" who took over the world. He actually managed to take at gun point all of the world's supers out of the control of the governments of countries accountable to the United Nations. Q) What about teams and groups, both for heroes and villains? A) Yes, there is S.H.A.R.D. which is an acronym for many hundreds of S uper H uman related agencies, and departments. Taking backronym suggestions for all manners of S.H.A.R.D.s. Q) What continent is Heliurbis located on? A) North America some unspecified location in the United States' "midwest" Q) Assuming they've been around for that long, how would you say Supers have shaped the political, economic and technological landscape? Would there be a Technopath Super who effectively founded the equivalent of Apple/Microsoft and has led technological innovation for the past 10 years? A) There was no super human activity reported during The Great War or World War II, the reason for this is not known. Q) Would Supers be bound to their countries of origin and fight for their benefit, thus replacing nuclear weapons as a deterrent - I imagine countries wouldn't want to wage war with another that has more Supers on their side - or would they instead be part of a more global organisation? A) Supers are part of a global organization which uses various backronyms for "S.H.A.R.D.". The use of Supers in warfare is treated similarly to biological weapons. Q) Would Supers have to qualify for a 'Heroes License' or similar or face reproach from some kind of Super Power Regulation Committee? A) People with superpowers tend to show up on somebody's radar, they are tracked down and recruited by the Super Hero Accreditation, Registration & Dispatch or S.H.A.R.D. Q) Robots. Are they a thing and would it be possible to play a robot paragon? A) Yes robots are a thing. Yes it would be possible to play a robot paragon. Q) Has the prevalence of supers and super-made technology changed the equipment the police use, or various military organisations? A) Yes, when the police need to 'call the police' they get Special Weapons And Tactics. When S.W.A.T. calls the police they get "Superhuman Activity Response Division" of their local law enforcement to roll out. Q) Are there any anti-super groups, or organisations like Cadmus or Checkmate that are geared towards safeguarding against the superthreat? A) There's S.H.A.R.D.: for the Suppression of Hexes, Aliens, Robots & Deviants. Hexes meaning magic using supers, Aliens are self explanatory, Robots are any technologically inclined super, and Deviants meaning mutant (inborn) and mutate (changed later) supers and the like. ----- Question for the players: The Timeline: RamJet didn't emerge as a super hero until after World War II. Q) How long was RamJet's super hero career? Q) How long ago did Ramjet Die? Q) How long ago did it take after Ramjet died for General Power Fantasy to hold his bloodless coup and establish the global independent landless superhero nation? Q) How long has the world wide organization of every super on the planet independent of any governments thing... been a thing? Other stuff: Q) Please share a great many relevant backronyms for S.H.A.R.D.?
Q) How long was RamJet's super hero career?/Q) How long ago did Ramjet Die? A) Ooh boy. Personally, I think it'd be best if he hadn't died too long ago, relatively speaking. Have it still fairly fresh in the minds of the public, but not too recent either. I think that he died around a decade to fifteen years ago? How does that sound? Q) How long ago did it take after Ramjet died for General Power Fantasy to hold his bloodless coup and establish the global independent landless superhero nation? A) Say..Five to ten years. Ramjet died fifteen years ago, and GPF did his thing about..Seven years ago. Q) How long has the world wide organization of every super on the planet independent of any governments thing... been a thing? A) Worldwide? I'd say it probably cropped up around the time of maybe the second World War. Likely from a coalition and merging of various existing groups with similar goals that came together in order to do what they do more efficiently.
Saturday morning is great for me, sign me up. Im into role-playing and will be a rich and deep character in the party.
Not ready to do sign ups yet, still at the "what all do I need to do?" looking for a checklist stage.
Q) Does Heliurbis have any active heroes at the moment? How about Villains? Are they in teams, or solo? Q) What sort of..Tone would you say Heliurbis has? What atmosphere? Q) Do you intend for us to be working for/with S.H.A.R.D? Q) Is there anything in particular we can do/ask/come up with to help you out?
Q) Is there anything in particular we can do/ask/come up with to help you out? A) If you can point me out a checklist for GM preparedness I'd like to read it. Q) What sort of..Tone would you say Heliurbis has? What atmosphere? A) It's recovering from a shock. Ramjet Hill is the center of the city, ground zero of the event where the most invincible hero ever had the life crushed out of him in a final world saving act of self sacrifice. Two key points of interest that make their home in the city is the Summit of Intersubjective Hill, where every world shaking psychic and telepath, mentalist and reality bender are gathered discussion the ethical uses of their powers; and Yottajoule Hill, the world leader in energy production research and engineering, all those Technopaths Nyxeth asked about, a fair share of them are working at Yottajoule Hill. And the other 4 hills are all about various forms of entertainment: Music, Wine, Cheese and *ahem* the fourth one is Overjoy Hill. Other than that I have no idea how to even begin to answer that question. Q) Do you intend for us to be working for/with S.H.A.R.D? A) Which S.H.A.R.D.? Every super hero is working for the global agency established by General Power Fantasy when he adopted all super humans as his responsibility during his coup announcement. Q) Does Heliurbis have any active heroes at the moment? A) Yes! Q) How about Villains? A) Yes, villains too. Q) Are they in teams, or solo? A) Yes, I mean both, I mean both are both. There are solo heroes, there are solo villains, there are hero teams in Heliurbis, there are villain teams in Heliurbis. As a city with an estimated population on the close order to seven million people it can have a variety of super activity.
How do you want me to handle Niche Protection?