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Joval
2014-02-07, 05:39 PM
As the name of the thread would suggest, I am wondering what the playground would have to say about making a team of Power Rangers in the Mutants and Masterminds 3rd edition system. I'm sure the same basic archetype could be used for each Ranger, and their Zords.

Any input?

Doorhandle
2014-02-07, 07:22 PM
I'd take a page from B.E.S.M and have many of their abilities have limitation: allies must be nearby. Because, y'know, real super power of teamwork and all.

Fusion is a must for the megazord.

Also regardless of whether it's the players or their enemies who are super sentai, try having answers for things like "Why don't we just jump in the megazord from the start and squish him that way?*"


*The normal answer is general "less collateral damage", but may favourite answers is "the putty beast will pull a kratos on you and tear your mech apart from within."

prufock
2014-02-08, 12:53 PM
There are options for how to control the zord summoning.

1) Ask the players to work within the tropes and not summon the zords until the monsters grow.

2) Put a limitation on their zords so they can ONLY summon them to fight a monster of gigantic size, or once per day, or they have to spend a hero point.

tensai_oni
2014-02-08, 01:04 PM
Mutants and Masterminds is a perfect system for a game like that. If you're familiar with super sentai (the original franchise Power Rangers is based on), or even with Power Ranger shows other than the first MMPR, you can see that each team member has different specialties, weapons and abilities in combat. So there's no need to stick to the same archetype even, as long as they're all combat-capable.

In terms of not summoning zords to squish the enemies instantly - make it a plot point. Maybe have the monsters appear in urbanized areas where you can't just go around stompin' with a giant robot because collateral damage. The players would have to work to either lure them away from the city or defeat them on foot.

Grinner
2014-02-08, 01:46 PM
In terms of not summoning zords to squish the enemies instantly - make it a plot point. Maybe have the monsters appear in urbanized areas where you can't just go around stompin' with a giant robot because collateral damage. The players would have to work to either lure them away from the city or defeat them on foot.

Hazy recollections of the Power Rangers seem to indicate that the environment and/or the presence of innocent bystanders was never much of issue.

It's one of those things that tend to get glossed over quite a bit.

Rosstin
2014-02-08, 02:19 PM
I would make the super-powered form only a 150-190% power increase from being separated and have a significant drawback. They can beat encounters without going super, but going super allows them to beat it more easily. After going super, they're exhausted and suffer a mild penalty for a day or two, or expend an extremely valuable resource that they have a limited supply of.

Alternatively, make going super a badass finishing move that is only effective if it manages to obliterate the enemy. If they misfire by using it when the enemy is still too strong, it's much less effective and they've wasted their use of it for that battle.

The math for the super form will be very tricky to get right. I would either have it so that a) the super form is about 6x-9x as powerful as a single character (because they're sacrificing their actions to only get a single action) or each player still gets an action in the super form, and it's about 2x more powerful than a single character. I'd probably go with the second option, more actions are more fun and would make things suitably epic.

tensai_oni
2014-02-08, 02:21 PM
Hazy recollections of the Power Rangers seem to indicate that the environment and/or the presence of innocent bystanders was never much of issue.

It's one of those things that tend to get glossed over quite a bit.

That's why I said to not gloss it over and make it a plot point.

Note that I'm not advocating to go full REALISM or, worse yet, grimdark. Just a little bit.

EDIT:
@Aster Azul:

I don't really see the issue about the Megazord/however the players will call their combined robot. Just give it the Gestalt power, and possibly a higher power level than component parts. Did Gestalt exist in 3rd ed? I can't check offhand.

It will be used only for climax fights so it's not that players will sit and twiddle their thumbs around for the whole adventure. They'll have plenty of action on foot and in individual robots before the combination happens.

Rosstin
2014-02-08, 02:24 PM
That's why I said to not gloss it over and make it a plot point.

Note that I'm not advocating to go full REALISM or, worse yet, grimdark. Just a little bit.

I agree. I think that when you play a tabletop version of a show, you're always forced to confront realities that the show glossed over, by nature of following through on possibilities that were just never played out in the work. The show may never have worried about how the characters find out where the bad guys are and get there just in time, but you and the players will probably wonder.

Beleriphon
2014-02-08, 02:51 PM
I don't really see the issue about the Megazord/however the players will call their combined robot. Just give it the Gestalt power, and possibly a higher power level than component parts. Did Gestalt exist in 3rd ed? I can't check offhand.

Nope. The best solution in the Power Profiles is a summon effect.