Hey there TTRPG Network! I’m a brand new user, so please forgive me if I post or format this a little incorrectly.
My need for advice comes from a friend of mine who is running a 3rd edition Mutants and Masterminds game. He’s new to the system, but wanted to get away from D&D 5e to try something new and out-of-genre.
However, come session one, there was a combat encounter. He had followed some advice on how to run the encounter (I’m not exactly sure where from) and the fight was a curbstomp on the players side. Multiple PCs made use of Multiattack + Takedown, as well as high damage. They started out with about 150~ points, I think. Several mooks were taken out before the DM had a chance to make them a threat. His boss monster got taken out in about two rounds.
While I know throwing easy fights can be fun for players, I think the DM had plans for the encounter, and that there were missed opportunities.
As a fan of Sly Flourish, I’ve recommended using things like “monster dials”. Although I have little idea how the system works, but I have plenty of experience with TTRPGs in general. I was wondering if any fans of M&M had advice for new GMs? Any advice, general or specific, would be appreciated.
So, I’ve never actually run M&M 3E, but I was a player in a game for well over a year. So I can tell you (from a player’s perspective) what my GM did to make combat less of a pushover.
1. The GM can give players a Hero Point in exchange for a supervillain getting another chance at success. My GM would do this all the time. If a villain failed a defensive roll, we’d get a Hero Point in exchange for them taking another crack at it. This helps supervillains last more than a round or two. (In D&D terms, it’s a bit like giving Inspiration in exchange for a use of Legendary Resistance. And I highly, highly recommend this.)
2. Mooks will rarely be much of a threat. We never felt threatened by minions. (Think Superman going up against bank robbers, he’s not going to break a sweat.) The minion type enemies are basically there for a bit of fun padding, rather than a challenge. Takedown gives someone the opportunity to wipe out minion after minion, which is the whole point of those abilities. Edit: Just wanted to add, we’d often go up against a supervillain team with added minions, rather than just a solo villain and some henchmen. That definitely made the fights feel more challenging.
3. Combat should never be the only thing going on during an action scene. Whenever possible, you always want innocent people in danger. Describe minions blowing up a building, and chunks are falling into the crowd. A fire breaks out, threatening people trapped on the top floor. Bank guards get hit with a freeze ray, and unless they get medical care soon, they’ll be in trouble, etc. Even a scene with no innocent people around should have optional goals: perhaps there’s a death ray slowly powering up. Unless the heroes can take it out, Cincinnati is doomed! This gives all those minions a turn or two of getting free pot shots on the superheroes who, yeah, could take them out easily, but doing so would mean failing the basic goal of being a superhero, which is being a hero. And speaking of hero, the GM should hand out Hero Points to people who pause Clobbering Time long enough to save the taxi driver before his taxi falls off the bridge, etc.
Finally, M&M 3E is an exceptionally easy game to break. While it’s technically a game with a lot of rules crunch (complete with Build Your Own Powers), in some ways it’s more like a narrative game where everyone has to be on the same page to ensure things run smoothly. Because with a dash of system mastery, a player character can become truly unstoppable. There’s an old Reddit post about a PL10 character (the recommended beginning level) who is basically more powerful than the most powerful superhero in all of fiction. Seriously, without cheating you can basically make The Beyonder. That’s just the kind of game it is. So if none of these tips help, I suggest picking up a copy of the Basic Hero’s Handbook, and having the player follow those pre-generated archetypes, which are all but guaranteed not to break the game. They have some good ones, the Paragon is like Super Man but won’t break the game, there’s a Batman, a Human Torch, it basically hits all the favorites.
Hope this helps!
