Greywulf's Lair

We’ve had RPG Weeks for Dragon Warriors, the Marvel RPG and the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, but not one for my most loved system of them all – Green Ronin’s Mutants & Masterminds. This week we’re going to correct that oversight with 7 whole days of pure 100% superheroey goodness. Hold on tight!

What we’re going to do is build a complete superhero campaign setting from start to finish in just seven days. I’m going to show you how the Mutants & Masterminds rules fit in to create a solid gaming platform that’s under complete GM control every step of the way. And it’s going to be big: we’re going to be using the entire multiverse!

I’ve covered a whole ton of ground about Mutants & Masterminds already, so rather than repeat myself here’s a handy-dandy list of previous M&M blogposts to get you started.

Tutorial

• Street level combat

Opinion

• Death and Superheroes
• For every hero, a villain
• Heroes
• One Line Hero
• Random Campaign Generator
• Sean asked the questions, I answer
• Teambuilding Metalworks
• Vive la Difference

D&D Conversion

• Why convert?
• Ten reasons why
• Mutants and Racial Templates
• Mutants and Dragons
• Converting Monsters
• Power Word:Superhero

Fantasy Archetypes

• Cleric
• Fighter
• Rogue
• Wizard

Heroes

• Agent Gold
• Angelus
• Attan
• Black Friday
• Black Knight and White Knight
• Blaine
• Bolt
• c’t
• The Gargoyle
• Green Guardian
• Jonah Uglee
• Mercury
• Metal Bear
• Michael Day
• Paragirl One
• Professor Tellerman (bottom of post)
• Redhawk
• Sher kaa bachcha
• Sky
• Sunspot
• Throwback
• The Wastelander
• Whips and Chains
• Upgrade

Villains

• Identity
• Jak the Shell
• Lazarus
• Samurai Minions

Till next time!

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It’s like a spontaneous mini blog carnival I tell ya! A fair chunk of RPG blogdom (not least ChattyDM, Grognardia and noisms) are weighing in with their own personal list of favourite critters. I’m not one to miss a speeding bangwagon, so here’s my own list of Top Ten Monsters. In no particular order…..

Kobold
Kobolds might be the current poster-children for low-level 4e play, but my love for them goes way back to their D&D roots as scaly dog-headed things that chatter in a series of wuffs and barks. I love ‘em because they’re so darned adaptable; I’ve had winged kobolds, verdant kobolds (who live in forests and drop nets from trees ewok-like) and urban pickpocket orphan kobolds who speak with bad cockney accents. In my campaigns they’re like rats – you’re never far away from a Kobold, and they can survive in all but the harshest of places.

Chaos Broo
Body of Hulk Hogan, head of an animal, any animal (but goat is most common). These savage chaos-spawned brutes from Runequest are immense fun because the players never know quite what to expect as each one is different. One might have a huge crab-like claw while another has barbed tentacles which rise from his back. Another might explode on death, or split to form two more Broos. They’re easy to transplant into D&D too – just use the stats for Orcs, go wild with the descriptions, and you’re there. Fear the Broo!

Ogre
Big, dumb, strong and easy to fool. No wonder players feel such a kinship for Ogres :D They’re like trolls without all that fiddly book-keeping and can put up a fight that the players will talk about for weeks. Beating their first Ogre should be a rite of passage for all low-level characters as it’s their first chance to tackle something bigger than themselves and (hopefully) live to tell the tale.

Darkmantle
Y’know what players never do? Look up. Add a few Darkmantles into a dungeon though, and that changes quickly. Darkmantles add another dimension to the dungeon quickly and easily, giving the players one more thing to be worried about (death by strangling from above!) and well as providing them with a rather useful ally if they can somehow lure other monsters down the Darkmantle-infested corridors. Nice.

I’m disappointed that the Darkmantle didn’t make the first 4e Monster Manual (MMII, maybe?), so here’s a rather good fan conversion – their speed seems a little high to me, but other than that it’s good to go.

Kruthik & Kythons
It’s a tie for this spot as they both fill the “Alien substitute” niche for D&D. Both creatures are scary-ass different and evolve through their lifetimes, with Kythons somehow managing to be even more Alien than Alien itself. I love the idea of them hatching weapons from their eggs in particular. Kruthiks win bonus points for being in the 4e Monster Manual as a Core Critter meaning it’s likely we’ll see much more of these as adventures are written. Kythons hearken from the Third Edition Book of Vile Darkness – a notoriously difficult tome to get your grubby mits on. Excellent book, shame about the bookseller-unfriendly name. You try going to a bookstore and saying “Hi, I’d like a copy of the Book of Vile Darkness please.” without being arrested.

Otgygh
That Scene from Star Wars. Need I say more?

Manscorpion
Nothing, but nothing, screams Classic D&D to me more than a Manscorpion. In my mind they’re the pinnacle of the hybrid-composite monsters. I mean – the centaur can run fast and flick flies with it’s tail, the Drider is a failed member of a failed Elven race (how lame is that?) and the Minotaur is just a big Chaos Broo with the chaos kicked out of it. But a Manscorpion….. it’s got the lot. Armoured exoskeleton, able to survive in the harsh desert environments and a poisonous sting. In a fantasy version of rock-paper-scissors, Conan beats Dragon. But Conan versus Manscorpion – too close to call. That’s badass.

Manscorpions only merited entry into a 3e Monster Manual (II, or maybe III – I forget which) as part of an appendix boasting about just how great the OGL is. Oh how things change, eh? When it comes to 4e, it’s a case of fanbase to the rescue once more with a spiffy Manscorpion to be found right here.

Zombie
You always know where you are with a zombie. They’re moving when they shouldn’t be, and that’s just plain wrong. Kinda like Paris Hilton, only without the makeup. Zombies come in all shapes and sizes because anything can be a Zombie, though I suggest holding off on using that Zombie Gelatinous Cube. Zombie Anthropophagi are fun. “Chop of it’s head! Oh. Damn.”

A Zombie’s only purpose in life is to be hit, shot, stabbed and generally sent back from whence it came. They’re simple, uncomplicated foes. Unless of course you make the animated corpse one of the player’s loved ones – or worse yet, his family pet. But that’s just cruel GM’ing and I would never do such a thing. Nope. Never.

Air Shark
Air Shark, Air Shark, lumpy munchy Air Shark.

They’re Sharks, but they fly through the air. It’s like Jaws, only worse. Far, far worse. Air Sharks (alternately called Land Sharks, though not to be confused with the Bulette) originated in All the Worlds Monsters II, a softcover blue book dating back to the early days of D&D and co-authored by the late great David Hargrave, he of the Ardiun Grimoire fame. If you want to freak out your players, describe a horde of Orcs cresting a hill toward them riding sharks and I bet you get at least one “oh fuck” from them, right there.

Dragon
I started with scaly things, so let’s end with ‘em too. D&D wouldn’t be D&D without Dragons – it would be just called “Dungeons &” which is a silly name.

I love me some dragons of all flavours from the lowly (and awesome) Spiretop Drakes all the way up to Tiamat and beyond. My love for things Draconic waned a lot during 3e D&D because, cool though they were, Dragons were just so bloody unplayable at the table. 4e D&D changes that and does a terrific job of capturing both their raw potency and managing to make them hella cool fun to play at the same time. Add in the sheer range of draconic things (the MM alone boasts Chromatic Dragons, Dragonborn, Dragonspawn, Drakes and Wyverns – enough for an all-draconic campaign from levels 1-30!!) and there’s plenty of potential in the old scaly things yet.

So anyhow. There’s my Top Ten Monsters. What’s yours?

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I’ve a whole host of blogpost ideas floating around my cranium right now, and no real idea which one to tackle first. So, rather than pick one at random, here’s the list. Leave a comment saying which one should have first dibs, and the one with the funniest/cleverest/smartest/most heartfelt (or just plain mostest) comments will appear in the next day or so.

Over to you!

• Why 4e D&D is designed for Literate Fantasy
• Character du Your – I post an image, you provide the backstory, I stat it up
• Complete that Sunless Citadel 4e conversion PDF I’ve been promising
• Using Middle Earth as a setting for 4e D&D (no, really – it works!)
• The next DAZ Studio tutorial (suggest a topic!)
• Mutants & Masterminds, the musical
• Why the character in character generation doesn’t mean what you think
• Why Kruthiks rock my world

That’s a pretty D&D heavy list, but that’s because of a new campaign that’s about to begin. Goodbye, Arena-based adventures in Ptolus, hello Cardolan. But that’s another blogpost for another time. Want to know more? Tell me about it in the comments!

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Any questions?

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Short answer: You don’t need to.

Long answer: There’s little need to convert monsters from Dungeons & Dragons to Mutants & Masterminds simply because 95% of the stat block information is the same, so just use it as-is, right off the page. Where there are differences in game terms (most notably the skill list), just use the one that you’re given. Work out the Toughness, Defense and Damage ratings, and you’re good to go.

For example, if you’re using a monster from 3rd Edition D&D you’ve got skills such as Spot, Move Silently and Search. Don’t sweat it, and just use them rather than M&M’s Stealth and Notice. Zero conversion required. Don’t worry about breaking down the critter’s abilities into M&M-compliant Powers or bother about the points costs – just use them as they’re written, and enjoy. If it’s a monster you really, really want in 100% Mutants & Masterminds format (for example, if it’s going to be a Player Character, or you want to modify it’s abilities in some way), then go right ahead, but zero-conversion will work just fine for 99% of your needs, and why make work for yourself when the poor beastie is (hopefully) going to be dead in under 10 rounds?

M&M and D&D (both 3rd and 4th Edition) overlap where it comes to stats, ability bonuses, skills, feats (mostly – again, don’t sweat it), attack bonuses and saves, so rather than try to convert like-to-like, just use what you’re given. They’ll be good enough for the majority of your needs. Honest.

The main difference lays in the way both systems give and receive damage. D&D has Hit Points, AC and funky dice rolls, whereas as M&M uses Toughness Saves, Defense and a damage track. Thankfully, converting these numbers is simple enough to do right at the table during play.

Here’s how.

Dishing out damage

Use the attack roll as given (ie, if the monster has +2 to hit with their Axe, then that’s still +2 to hit.

For damage, half the maximum dice roll, -1, then add any bonuses due to Strength, magic, etc.

This gives you the attack’s Damage Bonus. For example, a Longsword (1d8) has a Damage Bonus of (8/2-1) 3 (ie, require a DC 18 Toughness save). In the hands of a STR 16 Gnoll it would have a Damage Bonus of 6 (DC 21). If he had a  Longsword +1, the Damage Bonus would be 7 (DC 22).

This works just the same for 4e conversions. Use the same to-hit roll, and just calculate the Damage Bonus for each Power, and you’re done.

Taking damage

Instead of Armour Class and Hit Points, M&M uses Defense and a Toughness save; attacks are rolled against Defense, then there’s a Toughness save against the Damage DC. Fail the save and (depending on how much you fail by), you’re Bruised, Staggered, or worse.

Defense is similar to Armour Class; it’s not quite the same as some things which add to AC in D&D instead modify your Defense in M&M. Most notably, in M&M armour adds to your Toughness Save, not your Defense. Shields, on the other hand, do add to Defense. This is more realistic – wearing armour doesn’t make you harder to hit, but it does mean that a hit is less likely to injure you, and shields are used to deflect attacks.

Make Defense equal to AC minus Armour bonus.

To calculate Toughness save, use CON bonus + number of Hit Die (or Level, for 4e) + Armour bonus. Eyeball the result; if the monster’s Toughness is too high or low, adjust to taste.

Example

Let’s pick on the poor 3e Goblin straight from the SRD. Here’s the relevant game stats with the numbers we can use directly in our M&M game highlighted.

Goblin, 1st-Level Warrior
Small Humanoid (Goblinoid)
Str 11, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 6

AC 15 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +2 leather armour, +1 light shield)
HD 1d8+1 (5 hp), +1 Init, Speed 30′
Fort +3, Ref +1, Will -1

Morningstar +2 (1d6) or javelin +3 (1d4)
Hide +5, Listen +2, Move Silently +5, Ride +4, Spot +2
Alertness, Darkvision 60 ft.

That Morningstar’s Damage Bonus is going to be (6/2-1 = 2), making it DC 17, and the Javelin is (4/2-1= 1) DC 16. Defense is (AC 15 – 2) = 13, and Toughness save is (1 +2) +3. Done.

We’ve one Goblin ready to roll! If we want to make him a Goblin Minion, just note the fact. In M&M this means that one failed Toughness save and he’s out of action. Simple, really.

More complex monsters might take slightly more time (due to having more attack options), but the principle is still the same – use what’s there, and just calculate the rest as needed. Why work out the DCs for every single spell and attack if they’re not going to be used. Work it out on the fly instead.

Summary

Skills, Stats, Saves and Attack rolls: stay the same

Damage: half the maximum dice roll, -1, then add any bonuses due to Strength, magic, etc.

Defense = AC – Armour bonus

Toughness = 10+CON bonus + number of Hit Die (or Level, for 4e) + Armour bonus

Till next time!

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