I don't know if any of you have had to deal with learning a new system after getting comfortably couch shaped in your current games.
Lucky for me I was introduced to White Wolf and D&D at about the same time, and while it was 4E not 3.5 I really feel that it kept me open for other systems.
Not so Geronimo.
Learning another system is like learning another language. I'm not kidding. I had an easier time picking up German than trying to make a character in Mutants and Masterminds. The point buy system makes sense, really it does, but damnit if it isn't hard to use. Make a super hero. Cool. Here are your points. Awesome. Now everything you get with those points costs a different amount. I can handle that. But your attributes are 2 for 1 and your skill points, you have to buy those they're not based on level and those are 4 for 1, oh and if you don't put points in 'drive' you can never Ever drive Anything for any reason. Did I mention that we're going to split the 'perception' bit of the skill list into 'search' and 'notice' yeah they're both Will based stats, they're basically the same thing but eh, we've got to make your imaginary heroes more human somehow right? How do you feel about having to buy DR, well we call it Toughness. Awesome, it's expensive as hell.
Oh by the way, you don't have hit points. This is more white wolfy in that respect. Also we're going to give you a toughness score of a low number like 5 and expect you to know what you need to roll on a D20 to save from damage. SAVE FROM DAMAGE?!
Oh my God.
Not only that but Wizards of the Coast are dicks and copy-write EVERYTHING. You can't just call something a minor action and leave it at that. NOooohoho. Everyone who ever writes a D20 system book has to change the lingo. Which is fine, until it's 1 am and your brain starts moving a little slower. Suddenly a 'swift action' makes no sense or your mouth betrays you and spouts something in D&D vernacular that confuses the GM. Or if you forget what one of the words, a distant synonym no one uses in everyday speech, actually means.
*deep breath*
On the up side, M&M is actually kind of fun.
On the really steep down side, there's not really an encounter generator. There are nowhere near enough quantifiable bits to help a new GM work out an 'issue' in their little comic book world.
Also, the encounter straight from the back of the book is STUUUUUPID.
Not stupid like, oh man that story line was lame, or what have you. Stupid as in the DM purposefully killed your character because you were new. Or maybe I'm not as great at character creation as I though I was.
Here is where I'd like to thank Sir F.W-illiam for the fun game we played. Honest to Gott im Himmel the outrage of the characters in no way reflected the feelings of the players. It's not your fault Captain Thunder sounded like a huge dick, it's also not your fault that my character hates b.s. even if it was well meant. She freaking talks to plants, her patience with the human race is very thin. Thanks brah. (^_^)
I will make that panel, you can count on it.
