Mutants and Masterminds

Okay, so I posted the summary of my solo game of Mutants and Masterminds and I have to say it was good fun.

First impressions
As a fan of superheroes and comic books, the initial summary I heard of the game was intriguing and the more I heard the more I wanted to play. After getting hold of the pdf of the rule book I was even more hyped about playing. Definitely lots of reminiscing about favourite heroes from this.

Gamebook
Very very pretty. There were times I felt I was reading a comic book rather than a rulebook. It was also fun playing "spot the superhero homage"; there are defiantly a fair few scattered through the book for those that know their heroes. Nicely laid out and not hard to follow.

Character creation
Little bit number crunchy - defiantly have a calculator on stand by or lots of sheets of paper. After that, its pretty straight forward. You can follow the templates given for generic types of superhero or splash out and make your own or even attempt to recreate your favourite icon. You start with basic abilities which you can raise or lower depending on your character (though you're a super so you're probably going to raise them). Next you move onto skills and there is a huge range to chose from to develop your character further. Then you get powers. Its amazing when you get to the powers section how you start looking and working out what powers belong to which heroes you know about but that might just be me. All of this is bought using the same power points pool so you see what I mean by number crunching. But if even a number noob like me can get it right, you shouldn't have too much to worry about.

Game mechanics
Only one d20 needed. You roll and then add the appropriate modifier. For example, the hero Ghost Shot is trying to sneak up on a demon. She rolls an 11 on the d20 and adds her stealth bonus which is 5, giving her a total stealth of 16. The demon rolls a 14 and adds his notice bonus of 5 to give him 19 and therefore spots Ghost Shot before she can shoot him in the back (which no doubt will resolve in a huge fight). Its a simple mechanic system that is easy to get the hang of. Ranks on powers are something you need to remember to keep an eye on when using them though, especially in combat.

Overall
Its fantastic game and system that I would be happy to play again or even run. A few of my friends have expressed similar sentiments. Defiantly something to pick up and have a look at and possibly try, especially if you like comics, superhero movies or just like the idea of flying around and saving the day. Or conquering it. After all, what is a world without supervillians?