Mutants and Masterminds: Iron Age

[nexus]

I know there are a few M and M fans on the boards and I've been curious about this book for awhile. Is there much that would be of use for a Champions game in it or is it mostly rules and enhancements specific to Mutants and Masterminds?

[input.jack]

Well, if youre a fan of the Iron Age genre, there is a lot of stuff in there that can be used as inspirational material.

If youre a M&M player or GM, even if you dont like the Iron Age genre (and I dont), there are still quite a few useful new Feats, equipment write-ups and so on.

If you dont play M&M, and youre not a fan of the genre, thee isnt much in there.

But yeah, I loathe the genre, and Im glad I bought the book.

[nexus]

Well, if youre a fan of the Iron Age genre, there is a lot of stuff in there that can be used as inspirational material.

If youre a M&M player or GM, even if you dont like the Iron Age genre (and I dont), there are still quite a few useful new Feats, equipment write-ups and so on.

If you dont play M&M, and youre not a fan of the genre, thee isnt much in there.

But yeah, I loathe the genre, and Im glad I bought the book.

Thanks, I enjoy the genre so it definitely sounds like it's worth a look. :)

[death tribble]

It looks at the whole Iron Age of comics, who and what and why and then applies this to Freedom City. It has templates for Iron Age characters and then Iron Age heroes and villains for Freedom City.

I liked it and am adapting the characters for Champions.

[Timerunner]

One question since I haven't bought the book yet. What exactly is the Iron Age (I know Golden and Silver Ages but that one's a new one to me)

[Captain Obvious]

One question since I haven't bought the book yet. What exactly is the Iron Age (I know Golden and Silver Ages but that one's a new one to me)

Iron Age is where everyone wears leather instead of spandex, and, if not actively trying to kill the villains, they at the same time don't care if the villains are maimed or killed.

[Timerunner]

Oh dear. My absolute least favourite era of comics.

[steamteck]

Oh dear. My absolute least favourite era of comics.


Yep, me too:help:

[nexus]

Oh dear. My absolute least favourite era of comics.


Yep, me too:help:

Fogeys ;)

:D

j/k

[steamteck]

Fogeys ;)

:D

j/k


And darn proud of it!:D

[gojira]

Iron Age is where everyone wears leather instead of spandex, and, if not actively trying to kill the villains, they at the same time don't care if the villains are maimed or killed.

And has 84 teeth.

[nexus]

Iron Age is where everyone wears leather instead of spandex, and, if not actively trying to kill the villains, they at the same time don't care if the villains are maimed or killed.

There is a bit more to it than that. It's an era when comics took a turn for more darker arguably "mature" but often cynical themes and story lines. Heroes were harder edged, villains darker and the lines between good and evil more gray. The best of the age were interesting gritty stories that dealt with issues comics often glossed over or were at least fun action film romps with some tittilating bits, the worse were bloody pandering to the lowest common denominator. Which stories were which is, as always up to the reader.

Watchmen and Kingdom Come are generally conisdered Iron Age and considered classics but then there was some real garbage (Millar and so fourths Authority...) produced too. I will not try to deny that.

[Captain Obvious]

There is a bit more to it than that. It's an era when comics took a turn for more darker arguably "mature" but often cynical themes and story lines. Heroes were harder edged, villains darker and the lines between good and evil more gray. The best of the age were interesting gritty stories that dealt with issues comics often glossed over or were at least fun action film romps with some tittilating bits, the worse were bloody pandering to the lowest common denominator. Which stories were which is, as always up to the reader.

Watchmen and Kingdom Come are generally conisdered Iron Age and considered classics but then there was some real garbage (Millar and so fourths Authority...) produced too. I will not try to deny that.

That's all true, too. No one likes to gut shoot a child molester and drop him in a sewer full of hungry rats as much as I do, but this kind of story/game can degenerate into unnecessary cruelty rather quickly.

[nexus]

That's all true, too. No one likes to gut shoot a child molester and drop him in a sewer full of hungry rats as much as I do, but this kind of story/game can degenerate into unnecessary cruelty rather quickly.

Well, anything can cross the line into self parody. Silver Age games can quickly become 60's Batman camp and fluff. Bronze can become Xmen-esque Angstfest and soap operas where nothing really changes, etc. I've played and run "Iron Age" games that never become splatterpunk and torture porn.

And of course, there's nothing wrong with any of it if the group is having fun. No playstyle is innately better, IMO, just different. In the end we're all just grown adults pretending to be super heroes. :D

[Sketchpad]

I have Iron Age and kinda dig it :) Mind you, it's not my favorite comic era, but it's not too shabby either ;) The archetypes are pretty cool in it, as are the genre conventions :)

[input.jack]

Well, anything can cross the line into self parody. Silver Age games can quickly become 70's Batman camp and fluff.



I think that you mean 60s Batman camp and fluff. In the 70s. Batman was being written by Denny O'Neal and drawn by Neal Adams. They were the ones who -really- brought him back to his original incarnation as the Dark Knight. Many of the DCAU Batman stories were modeled after their work (they created Ras al Ghul, for instance).

Adam West and friends was '60s :)

[nexus]

I think that you mean 60s Batman camp and fluff. In the 70s. Batman was being written by Denny O'Neal and drawn by Neal Adams. They were the ones who -really- brought him back to his original incarnation as the Dark Knight. Many of the DCAU Batman stories were modeled after their work (they created Ras al Ghul, for instance).

Adam West and friends was '60s :)



Sorry typo. I've corrected it.

[nexus]

I’d like to point out something more. Just because a story is “Iron Age” doesn’t mean the characters are hardcore killers or sadists. Killing is an option and isn’t automatically anathema to all things Superheroic. It does not have to be only option or particularly gory or torturous. I guess a good way to put it is that it’s given an “Action movie” attitude to superheroes. Most of them don’t set out to murder their targets, at least initially until pushed or provoked or returning lethal force with lethal force because that’s what happens in fights And must superpowers could be fairly considered lethal force except for genre conventions. if I’m strong enough to put my fist through concrete, punch you all out and you’re not as tough or tougher than concrete well… Being a superhero would be dangerous in a “realistic” (I hate using that word in posts like this; it sounds condescending and I don’t mean to be) sense.

And to be fair the four color code vs killing wasn’t totally a morality issue, it was at least in part a trope developed the kept writers from having to create new villains over and over. Not dissiing on “four color” comics, I like them too but the Iron Age and later don’t have to be pits violence and juvenile revenge fantasies. That would be like judging the Silver Age by the Superfriends. As partially a reaction to the Comics Code and sanitization of earlier comic eras, the Iron Age does/did have its excesses but there are good stories and interesting characters in there too. It’s also prone to the same types of handwaving and genre conventions as other eras just couched in more technbabble and semi plausible sounding jargon.

[ParagonAlpha]

I've always seen the Iron Age as the time when writers got lazy. They wanted to get away from the angst-filled Bronze Age and could figure out a way for heroes to be heroic and still appeal to a mature reader.

Also "The Bad Man" and "The Arrogant Man" started their own comic company and their lack of solid writing skills lead to cheap, pandering products.

Some days I wish Peter David had been made pope.

I just realized I'm old.

[ParagonAlpha]

And Nexus you rock for so many reasons....


You used the term Splatterpunk.

Your handle is also the name of one of my favorite comics from the late 80's (Yay Steve Rude!!)

You are the SMRT.

And well because I said so.

[Sketchpad]

Your handle is also the name of one of my favorite comics from the late 80's (Yay Steve Rude!!)


You know Nexus is back, right? :)

[nexus]

You know Nexus is back, right? :)

I left? :confused:

[Sketchpad]

I left? :confused:
Nope ... talking about the comic character :)

[nexus]

Nope ... talking about the comic character :)

I know, I was trying (and failing) to be funny. :D