New to the site but not to gaming or Mutants and Masterminds, I find myself interested in running a game which will be involved and hopefully a decent pace (though I understand we all get busy)

Two different ideas, with sub ideas beneath. The first involves the (assumed canon?) setting of Freedom City:

I like Freedom City (though I'd need to decide when to set it and what to use) and if I ran such a game I'd prefer a group of players who interweave well into the established setting (a mostly optimistic world which is a love letter to multiple eras of comics and favours a strong legacy lineage)

Idea 1.1: a team in Freedom City set in the current year (2017), over a decade after the time period of the 2nd ed setting, so changes would need to be made to the world. The team would either be a new independent super team, a new iteration of the Freedom League stationed in Freedom, or one of the other setting suggested teams (street team (might or might not be street level), suicide squad type team, mystical team, Claremont)

Idea 1.2: idea above but set in 2005-2007, the canonical years of the setting

Idea 1.3: A team playing in one of the other eras of Freedom, the Golden, Silver or Iron ages, or even further back

Idea 1.4: a more dedicated Claremont Academy game with school angst and the like

Idea 2 would be a homebrew setting in which case we the group would be much more flexible to create a world that suits us. Be it a lower level team, or a strong city based team or a big Justice League type team in a satellite, all I'd need there is a clear idea of what everyone wants to do. Such an idea would require more involvement on the players parts to really get the most out of the game because we'd be working together to make the game.

It all depends on how much love there is for Freedom vs. how much everyone wants to carve their own story

I love the FCU.  I think tying characters into the setting is key, if you're going to use it at all.  IME, players bring in their favorite build and barely pay any attention whatsoever to the setting.

Having them either play existing FC characters, e.g. The Scarab or Beacon, would link them directly to the history and to established villains, etc.

OTOH, a lot of players balk at this.  They think their own builds and characters are best, but as I said, they pay very little attention to the setting because--let's be frank--they're routinely applying to game with the same character that they "never get to play."

A middle ground would be to have the character invent legacies to existing characters.  That way they get to do their own build, but have to tie in key elements, and if you're playing Beacon II, then maybe SHADOW is lurking around the corner.

Certainly a good compromise. I just don't want orphan characters in a setting so rich, so tying them in somehow is key

I quite like the freedomverse myself, and an actual emphasis on having to do some work to tie into the setting would be nice. I'm not myself a fan of playing existing characters mind you.

Going full out Freedom League would be fun, and the setup they gave in Freedom City 2e and such things of the League vastly expanding their roster, Justice League Unlimited style certainly gives room to slot people in at that.

Though that suggests something other than pl 10 150 as far as point totals.

Freedom City is cool. I like idea 1.2 (and 1.1). As I understand it, the updated Freedom City setting book is due out in the next few months (the stats will, of course, be 3E, but could be converted back to 2E). I'm not sure how they are going to handle the time difference. I'm really looking forward to reading through it. I really like the Freedom City setting.

Markk: Existing characters as in not playing Captain Thunder and the like, or pre-existing as in not playing Scarab, Arrow, Midnight, legacies of characters who are not currently active?

I'd say the Freedom League has some PL 10s but yeah I get your point, a little higher (11 or 12) possibly with a sliding scale of points would be good

Elfy: WHAT they're updating it!? I didn't know!

12 on sliding scale would be cool.

And I mostly mean something like not playing Captain Thunder or the like, but it would be nice to have the freedom to make something like a Furion from Worlds of Freedom or an Ultiman or Utopian what have you. Something certainly very heavily tied into the lore, but not necessarily a legacy hero of character x or y (though anyone that wanted to do that should be able to).

I want to point out that, regarding 1.1 and 1.2, there is a difference between 'Comic time' and 'real world time'. Peter Parker, for example,  went to college for what, like 30 years or something and effectively never aged. They just kept updating the setting to keep it current.

There's no reason you can't use Freedom City as it is in the second edition book and just update the background to be more current. In other words, some characters are still doing the same things and are roughly the same age as they were in the book. Despite that the 'real world' has aged almost 10 years, the characters in the setting need not really change unless you want them to. You could sprinkle a few changes 'here and there' so the setting isn't totally static, if you wanted to.

The cover of the 3rd edition Freedom City book (or at least the mock-up -- sometimes they are just place holders while waiting for the final art) I saw shows a female Centurion-like character, Siren, Star Knight, Daedalus, and another character I don't recognize. So it seems they are going to carry some existing Freedom League characters forward while also mixing the roster up a bit.

Unless you mean using PL trade-offs, e.g. PL 12/180 trades off two PL levels for +30 points: PL 10/210, a "sliding scale" of points isn't exactly balanced for player agency.

You find characters of differing power levels in the source material, but that's a far cry from an RPG and fiction's authorial control, e.g. Hawkeye actually being relevant.

I thought the fellow more meant pl 12 with a point total that was more than 15 per level for everyone making a character, not everyone having different point totals. I'm not really a fan of the whole "trade off power level for points" thing. Like everyone gets pl 12 200 or something like that.
This message was last edited by the user at 20:59, Fri 03 Mar 2017.

I'm always up for a Supers game but I don't like to step into the role of an established character because its different than creating your own. It has nothing to do with power builds for me but the character itself, when I create a character then I know that character in and out, when I take over someone else's character then there's not really a connection for me.

Being a legacy, someone taking over the Mantle of an established hero, could be fun. Someone using that name but still people aren't sure if they are up to it, maybe the character themselves don't think they can fill that role.

The intention (not set in stone) was what badpenny is talking about, extra pp for a reduction in PL

Ach, just from personal bad experience I'd prefer same point totals for everyone, I've seen things going really really point hacky with that sort of setup.

You can build an abusive character with the standard PL 10/150 points.  So even if everyone was PL 12/200 you still have player abuse and whatever their motivation for playing is as the biggest factor.  If the player is there to "win" you can be abusive with a handful of points.

It's up to the GM to root out problematic builds and players.  It's up to the GM to make sure every player has equal agency.

It's up to every player to collaborate and not ride roughshod over the plot/other players to suit their own agenda.

I would very much like to play in a superhero M&M game with PL12 and 200 points. I'm not familiar with the Freedom City setting, but I can read up on it if need be.

In reply to badpenny (msg # 14):

Really not looking to get into a fight over it, just noting personal experience and preference.

In reply to WulfFyre (msg # 1):

I'd love to play something like this. I've been in a couple mnm 2 ed games and had a lot of fun :)

I'd like to give this a shot.

Okay well PL disputes aside, everyone's mostly wanting a game where you're the new Freedom branch of the Freedom League (who've gone to the Lighthouse)?

Or is one of the other ideas inside idea 1.1 peaking people's interest as well?

Claremont graduates/legacy heroes IE Scarab lightbearers

Yes, another Scarab & Light-bearer fan!  I'm fascinated by these two, as well.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:29, Mon 06 Mar 2017.

I'd be very interested as well unless the idea of 'only official characters' is going forwards. Tying us all into the world is always a good idea, and even more important with super hero games

In reply to WulfFyre (msg # 19):

the Freedom League one is the most compelling for me, yeah.

Well, there's plenty choice in Claremont with all the supplements done. Beyond that goes into character selection and that belongs in game.

I'd sign up for the Justice Freedom League.

I'd love to join a Freedom League game.

Well it wouldn't be only official characters but I would encourage tying into the world in a meaningful way. A random terminator clone wouldn't go as far as a regenerating robot tied into Talos/The Foundry or Daedalus or some similar idea. Beacon or Scarab or Freedom Eagle would go even further, filling in slots left open in universe

So I'm seeing mostly interest for a Freedom League game with ambivalence towards time setting so we'll do modern day.

Some helpful M&M Freedom City fans have rMailed me with suggestions on how to set up my first game so as to make it work best for you, the players so thanks to those people!

If anyone has input on the original post's ideas, please let me know

The game, please excuse the dust and construction noises