The Only Constant

I've stated several times in the past that I don't think I could ever run a satisfying superhero RPG because of certain hangups in the genre.

I have also made fun of myself in the past about how wildly my tastes and preferences can swing.

So, naturally, I impulse-bought the third edition Mutants & Masterminds: Deluxe Hero's Handbook this morning, read it over the course of the day, and wrote a short adventure for it I intend to run after I finish my current Cthulhu adventure.

Hey, what can I say? After spending the past month+ steeped in Lovecraftian horror, I decided I wanted a little break. A creative vacation, if you will. So I went from the slow-burn, cerebral mind games of Mythos adventures into some rock 'em, sock 'em superhero action! I think the desire for a change of pace is part of what gave me the momentum to get over my hangups with the genre.

Another helpful tool to break down those preconceptions was the game itself. I've had a ton of respect for Mutants & Masterminds ever since I heard about it, but I never got into it, myself. Then, on a whim one day, I picked up the True 20 corebook. I loved that system, and swore that if I ever wanted to get into a D20-based RPG again, it'd be True 20. Incidentially, True 20 is based on Mutants & Masterminds (not technically true, but close enough). Sure enough, I love this latest edition of M&M as much as I loved T20, if not moreso.

Another piece of the puzzle was my friend Joey. On Sunday, after a short session of my typical Lovecraftian stuff, I gave the stage to Joey and let him walk us through a demo of a 2nd edition M&M game he'd been working on for some time. Though I didn't care much for all the tired d20-ness of it, I personally did have a lot of fun, and so did everyone else. More to the point, it was great just being superheroes punching out bad guys instead of being so serious in the past several horror games. So I thought, "maybe it's time to roll with this into something else!"

And so, just like that, I've gone from being dead-set on running a Lovecraftian horror campaign set in my hometown to wanting to punch out some supervillains and roll up some caped crusaders. Now don't get me wrong; I'm quite certain I will return to True North (the aforementioned Upper Michigan-based horror campaign) very soon, but first, I think I'd like to explore this little tangent, see where it goes, and have a little fun!