Super-Vision #10: The Very Merry Month of May

The month of May brings us May flowers, Memorial Day weekend, and the start of summer, which is also the beginning of convention season for us here at Green Ronin Publishing. We're getting everything ready to help bring those of you attending the cons four solid days of gaming excitement. In particular, you will be able to find Green Ronin at the following conventions:

• Origins (June 30th to July 3rd, Columbus, Ohio): Here we'll be offering tryout games of Mutants & Masterminds, allowing newcomers to learn how to play the game and experienced hands an opportunity to strut their superhero stuff. There's also an (unofficial) Mutants & Masterminds Live Action Roleplay (LARP) event going on Friday and Saturday, based on "film superheroes" like the recent X-Men movies.
• OGC (July 29th to 31st, Manchester, New Hampshire): I'll be attending OGC at the Radisson Hotel in lovely downtown Manchester, NH, at the end of July. If you're interested in playing a game of Mutants & Masterminds, feel free to come on by for a visit, and check out ogc-con.com for more information.
• GenCon (August 17th to 21st, Indianapolis, Indiana): At the World's Biggest Gaming Convention in Indianapolis, Green Ronin will be offering M&M demos, plus there are a number of other Mutants & Masterminds events being run by independent gamemasters. Event registration is now available at gencon.com.

Product Update

Gimmick's Guide to Gadgets has shipped and should be available in fine game stores everywhere by the time you read this. This 128-page book has everything you need for that special super-scientist, spy, or brilliant inventor. Gadgets isn't just limited to gadgeteers, either. It offers new material on vehicles, new weapons, and even magical items and constructs. Drop by your local game store or visit our online store to find out more. You can also get Gadgets as a downloadable PDF from RPGNow.

Lockdown, our super-prison sourcebook, is finishing up in layout and looking good! You can place the new privately run prison for super-criminals anywhere in your own campaign world, and the book includes notes on using it in the Freedom City campaign setting. Lockdown comes complete with maps and details of the prison and how it operates. It also gives you a selection of some of the most hardened and dangerous super-powered inmates, from the schemes of Duke Nefarious to Blackcroft's nightmares, from the fallen Golden Marvel or the forgotten Red Scare to brutal punks like Skab and Maggot. Lockdown will be available as a downloadable PDF later this month, with a print edition to follow. As a preview, let's look at one of Lockdown's unique inmates: Leroy Conte, the Golden Marvel.

The Golden Marvel

Back in the 60's, the Golden Marvel was the archetypal superhero, representing a dying breed of wholesome All-American values. He was also the first African-American hero to earn widespread media recognition, an honor that brought him shoulder-to-shoulder with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thurgood Marshall.

The Golden Marvel grew embittered after the murder of Dr. King and the arrest of various African-American community leaders. Aggravating matters was the Golden Marvel's arch-nemesis White Logos, a racist vigilante who only targeted African-Americans and Hispanics. Matters came to a head when activist Angela Davis was cleared on all counts of any involvement in kidnapping and murder of hostages at the Marin County Courthouse (her brother committed the act independently, but the authorities were desperate for Davis' head and manufactured a trial around tenuous connections). White Logos tried attacking Davis as she emerged from court, but the Golden Marvel was waiting. They fought a pitched battle, but when White Logos blasted innocent bystanders to cover his escape, the Golden Marvel lost it. He killed White Logos on national television.

The news showed the Golden Marvel's actions out of context, and the federal courts were swift to sentence him to life without parole. The Golden Marvel submitted because the laws he protected and believed in would mean nothing if he were exempt from them. Since that time, the Golden Marvel has remained a model prisoner. The campaign for his freedom died down in the eighties and nineties, but is now returning following his successful autobiography Black & Gold: The Story of Leroy Conte. There is hope the next President will show the Golden Marvel clemency but, until then, the feds transferred the fallen hero to Lockdown—far from his growing cult of personality.

There was a time when the system almost broke the Golden Marvel, but not anymore. His brutally honest autobiography was a cathartic purging of his demons, and the new Golden Marvel is committed to one day reentering society as one of its champions. The older, grizzled Conte is more reactionary and less trusting of the system that imprisoned him, but he still believes in the humanity—that people can coexist as Dr. King once preached, once they recognize each other as equals. Until that happens, however, there must be heroes willing to do the right thing.

Coming Soon...

What have we got coming up for the rest of 2005? Funny you should ask. June is almost halfway through the year, and we're going to be announcing the Mutants & Masterminds schedule for the second half of '05 soon. Keep your eyes on mutantsandmasterminds.com for all the latest news!

Masterminding: Let's Split!

This month in Masterminding, we bring you another power inspired by the Atomic Think Tank: the wacky Anatomic Separation!

Anatomic Separation

Cost: 2
Action: Half
Range: Personal
Duration: Continuous

You can split off parts of your body while remaining functional. The process of separation causes you no harm, although it can be rather disconcerting to watch. You can split off a number of segments equal to your power rank; so rank 1 might allow you to detach a hand, arm, or foot (or even your head). Rank 5 could allow you to detach all your limbs (including your head), and so forth. You choose how you separate when you acquire this power and it cannot be changed. Separating your segments, or reassembling them, requires a half action.

Your separate parts remain fully functional, so you can see out of a separated eye, manipulate things with a separated hand, and so forth. Separated parts are limited to whatever movement their form allows, so a hand can crawl and a leg can hop, for example, an eyeball can even roll, but a separated head or torso isn’t capable of much movement. You can use movement powers (such as Flight) in conjunction with your separated parts. Separate parts have modifiers based on their size, just like differently size characters. Each segment gets a half action each round, but you can only take one attack action among them, regardless of how many segments you break into. The GM assesses any suitable modifiers to your actions based on your current state of disassembly.

Separated parts have your normal saves, but any failed Damage save renders a separated part disabled. A second failed save renders the separate part immobile. When the damaged part is reattached, remove its damage and add a hit to your character. Your recover from this damage normally.

Extras

• Variable Split: You can choose how you separate each time you use your power, rather than when you acquire it. So at rank 1, you can choose to detach any one body part at a time.

Superlink Spotlight: Tomorrow's Headlines

Ronin Arts is already well known for Superlink products such as the adventure A Matter of Family, the Alien Invasion products, and the M&M Superlink Campaign Planner. With Tomorrow's Headlines, Ronin Arts launches its new Superline series of adventures compatible with Mutants & Masterminds. Of particular interest, each issue will be offered in both electronic and print formats.

Issue #1 of Superline offers four adventures:

• A New Drug: A new mood-altering drug called pleasure is hitting the streets, but it has unforeseen side effects, and the authorities need heroes to intervene before things get out of control.
• A Cold Front Sweeps Through the City: A villain named Arctic Blast and his chilly cronies attempt to steal a valuable (and powerful) artifact.
• Abduction!: Mysterious aliens abduct the heroes and take them into deep space. Can they escape and return to Earth?
• The Witching Hour: An evil coven of witches rains terror over the city! The heroes must fight the forces of evil sorcery and the witches' unliving mockmen.

You can find the new Superline series at RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, e23, and anywhere else Ronin Arts products are sold. If you pick up and play any of the adventures, drop a line to roninartspresident [at] yahoo [dot] com to say how things went! Ronin Arts is looking for feedback to shape the development of future Superline adventures and M&M Superlink products.