Mages and master minds II

Its been a long time coming but I've finally got a little time for it.

Mutants and masterminds

Mutants and masterminds is in my opinion one of the best game systems out there. Primarily designed as a superhero game the system is incredibly versatile, allowing players to create virtually any power they can think of and maintain game balance. How do they maintain game balance with such incredible variety you ask, simple, everyone is a superhuman and therefore rediculousely powerful, thus making small differences in power level almost meaningless. 

Speaking of power level the game has that as a built in limiting factor. A character cannot possess more ranks in a power than his/her power level thus stopping players from overdoing one aspect of their character and then bitching about it when a mildly intelligent opponent exploits one of their many weaknesses.

Mutants and masterminds is based very loosely on the d20 system (that's d&d folks) but only requires one actual d20 to run. Its got a few contreversial changes from regular gaming, such as the removal of hit points from the game. The character now has a save against damage (which is now a static value) instead of hit points and depending on how well or badly the victim of an attack rolls their save decides the result of an attack. this can actually add a level of realism to the game, with truely pathetic attacks rarely managing to so much as annoy a heavy hitter, while allowing a lucky (or unlucky save) shot to do some damage.

There is very little in the way of roleplay rules in the game however, no morality compas, no mechanics for social situations beyond a few skill checks. I consider this a boon and a hinderance depending on the player. On one hand role play runs little to no risk of becoming 'roll play' by being over burdened by rules and mechanics. Some players, however, do need a little push to get them actually role playing rather than playing a character sheet, and morality rules tend to help these players along. 

All in all I enjoy Mutants and masterminds as a game system, but the more serious a game becomes the less appropriate this system seems to become. In my opinion it seems better suited to more light hearted or over the top games, rather than a hard RP sessions with little action and more interaction.

Organisation and aftermath

Something I never really thought about before is how much stuff needs to be put on hold while you organise a big event. One of the things I had to put off recently was my college course, which requires several papers to be written, all of which are a kind of mini exam, with an essay at the end. I just finished my most recent one, which required a weeks extension, and I still wasn't happy with the finished product. It has also caused me a great deal of stress, something I once thought myself immune to.

I've also had to quit a game I was enjoying because of college, I've a project to do as well as all the normal stuff so I won't have as much free time as I used to. All in all my organisational skills (such as they are) are being put to the test this month and I'm not enjoying it. Of course I have my new PSP to keep me company :) .

Honeymoon madness

The fligh to Istanbul was too early. I mean seriously what madman decided anything should happen at 7am on a monday morning? Seriously though the first flight was great, especially the food. It was cooked for a start. And there were choices. The layover was just a tad to long (see 13 hours). Fortunatley the second flight was much shorter.





The first day was spent mostly sleeping with a short break for dinner before more sleeping. Day two was pretty relaxed but we had to go to bed early so we could be up for our baloon flight at 4:40 in the morninig. Typically the flight was then cancled due to bad weather. We went to the open air museum instead. That was pretty cool but I'm not entirely sure how many churches one place needs.



On the fourth day we went on a historical tour around the local area and then on a 45min hike over some hills and through a valley. It rained during the hike and during a tour trough a cave complex but it was otherwise sunny. We had lunch in a mountain. Seriously, IN a mountain. The food here is awesome, except for the bread, cause I can't eat it.



Day five. We went on a real hike, through the rose valley (didn't notice any roses though). It was great. Two hours of scrambleing over, and under, rocks. We lost some of the group because they couldn't keep up :) . Lunch was had by a river, food was great, stupid bread.



Day six. Finally went Balloning today. I highly recomend the experience to anyone not absolutley terrified of heights. We flew into a tree. Then we went shopping... not much to say there really. We did find a silver smiths that makes jewlery based on designs you supply, and he does it over night.

Day seven. More shopping. Also a great deal of being lazy.

Day eight. We shall rise at 4:15 (and I thought coming here was bad). Not much else to say as I'm pre-empting this day in the post.

Kippure

This is a link for a map to Kippure. Just to familiarise yourselves with it.
Actual directions will be made available on the day. Possibly with maps.

Wedding stuff.

The wedding ceremony will be held at the

Civil Registration Service,
Sir Patrick Duns Hospital,
Lower Grand Canal Street,
Dublin 2

On friday the 15th at 2:30pm.

Location A (bottom right corner)

After that we will be going for a few drinks with those of you not accompanying us to Kippure. Drinks will be in the nearest pub we can find (organised aren't we) for about an hour (thats 3:00 - 4:00). 

At four we will be heading on to Kippure estate. I think a few people are a little confused about the weekend as we are having the party on the Sunday in Siobhán's parents house, which everyone is invited to. Shiv's parents live at

77 limekiln rd,Walkinstown. Two doors down from Andrews.

and the festivities start around 2ish.

Location A (Bottom centre, R112 is lthe walkinstown roundabout)

About twenty or so of us are going away for the weekend, we'd have liked to invite more(ie. everyone) but money restrictions kept the numbers down. If you haven't been explicitly told your coming to Kippure the chances are your not. Those of you who are unsure feel free to give me a call.

Swords vs guns.

In a high realism game I'd normally never let a player parry/block a gun with a sword, mainly due to the unlikely hood of intercepting the bullet but also because of the forces involved. I'm going to reconsider this for characters with preturnatural awarness and/or speed. The reason is explained in the following links.

Sword vs handgun

Sword vs machinegun

Coolest thing I've seen in a while.

My weekend.

Weekend was fun, Starting on friday evening went to tai-chi, dragged Shiv along for this one, which was a little annoying as it seems like she has more talent for it than I do. After that we all went back to appartement and got a little drunk.

Saturday. Shiv had friends over to sort her half of the wedding. I had to cook. That afternoon we went out to celebrate warpspeed's birthday, starting with a surprise party in his place and then progressing on to the pub. (Frank Ryan and Son's, awesome pub).

Sunday. Went to Kipure to check out stuff for no apparent reason. was fun, went on a hike, found a dead body(dundun dunnnn)....

... it was only a sheeps body though, but it had been dead for a while. Only bones left. Was also amused at watching Shiv's parents climb over a fence.

Nothing else of interest has happened.