Brand New Ultimate License - MM+General Questions

[PghDrake]

I just purchased an Ultimate license last evening. My first main intention here is to run a M&M game with my son and then with some friends if that works out -we've played it table top, I wanted a program that could help make things go a little quicker. I've used another, similar, game in the past for D&D so at least some of this one isn't completely foreign to me. Some.

I have a few questions to help get me started here, if anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it!

1) Mapping Software - from reading through the forums (yes, I actually did this) I see some different map programs mentioned from different people. Usually these are abbreviated though and I'm not sure what they actually are. I'd be looking for something that could be used in a modern setting. Streets, buildings, vehicles, telephone poles with electrical wires, whatever would be nice to have in the maps. Any suggestions?

2) M&M Games - it seems that although this rule set has been available there aren't many games on the list - and the ones that are aren't being played. I'd at least really like to sit in on a game and watch sometime if that were possible - something to just get the creative juices going and understand some of the non-obvious benefits for having this program. Just wondering if I'm missing any M&M active games out there.

3) M&M Videos - I see all the tutorials for the game but they seem to be pointed in the fantasy rule sets direction only. Are there any out there that you could point me to for M&M? I've been fumbling around in the program since last night, at first I was really disappointed thinking that the NPC area was the character generator until I figured out where the character creation window was. I could use a little help if it's available.

4) Character Importing - correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there is still no way to import characters into the M&M rule set here, like from Hero Lab? I saw mentions of it posted months ago on the forums but no recent updates. I have Hero Lab and love it, would be awesome if we could import from there....would make things unbelievably more convenient.

Thanks everyone, glad to have joined the community. In reading through the forums I've seen quite a few very helpful gamers on here which is one of the things I've always loved about gamers and games in general. Good folks abound.

FYI, quick blurbs about me - I'm 44, been playing table top games since D&D Basic (so, when I was around 11 or so), have played a wide variety of table top games but most of the more common ones now are not what I have experience with. Got back into it with M&M with my son and some friends over the last 1.5 years. I've been an avid online and video gamer since I played Neverwinter Nights in AOL chat rooms when they first invented online "dice" rolling using a random command. Worked for IGN for a while reviewing games, interviewing developers, building and managing game web sites, and representing them at E3 in LA. Looking forward to Neverwinter online (I'll be in the beta like almost everyone else) and more importantly, Elder Scrolls Online (which I will be using vacation time from work the first week it's out).

Thanks,

-Drake

[JohnD]

Welcome Drake! FG is a solid program and the community and developers are good/strong.

I can't answer your questions about the M&M ruleset, but if you ever want to observe a Rolemaster, Pathfinder or 3.5e game, shoot me a PM.

[PghDrake]

Thanks, John - exactly what I was talking about, very pleasant community members here. I may take you up on that offer once I get my feet a little more wet. Also....looks like we've been DM'ing the same amount of time. '79 is when I started as well.

-Drake

[JohnD]

No problem... my game nights are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday generally from 7:30 PM Central (GMT -6 I believe). Just drop me a PM when you're ready.

[Blahness98]

Like JohnD said, welcome!

I wish I could help, but I have not had the time to look into the M&M rule set. I own it, but have yet to have any time to play around with it..

As for your other questions..


1) Mapping Software - from reading through the forums (yes, I actually did this) I see some different map programs mentioned from different people. Usually these are abbreviated though and I'm not sure what they actually are. I'd be looking for something that could be used in a modern setting. Streets, buildings, vehicles, telephone poles with electrical wires, whatever would be nice to have in the maps. Any suggestions?

There are a bunch out there. It would really depend on how much you want to spend. There is Campaign Cartographer 3 (https://www.profantasy.com/products/cc3.asp) that would have the add-ons to do what you are looking at doing. Then there is Dundjinni (https://www.dundjinni.com/default.asp). It would also have the add-on packs that you would be looking for. Then there is AutoRealm (https://autorealm.sourceforge.net/index.php) which is a decent free fractal mapping software. There are a bunch more out there, but these are the ones that I see referred to most often.


2) M&M Games - it seems that although this rule set has been available there aren't many games on the list - and the ones that are aren't being played. I'd at least really like to sit in on a game and watch sometime if that were possible - something to just get the creative juices going and understand some of the non-obvious benefits for having this program. Just wondering if I'm missing any M&M active games out there.

I've been looking at doing the same thing, but my schedule is FUBAR, so I may never get that chance. You may be able to find someone that has a game going in the M&M area of the forum that may let you sit in.


3) M&M Videos - I see all the tutorials for the game but they seem to be pointed in the fantasy rule sets direction only. Are there any out there that you could point me to for M&M? I've been fumbling around in the program since last night, at first I was really disappointed thinking that the NPC area was the character generator until I figured out where the character creation window was. I could use a little help if it's available.

While the videos are there for fantasy sets (like 3.5e), a lot of the functionality will remain the same in regards to the M&M rule set. They may be for fantasy, but they can apply to almost all.


4) Character Importing - correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there is still no way to import characters into the M&M rule set here, like from Hero Lab? I saw mentions of it posted months ago on the forums but no recent updates. I have Hero Lab and love it, would be awesome if we could import from there....would make things unbelievably more convenient.

From what I can see, there is no quick way to import the character into FG. Hero Lab is able to output to XML, so it might be possible copy and paste the info into the specific campaign's XML. I don't know the exact layout of a character entered into FG, but you can always take a look and find out.

[DrakosDJ]

I just purchased an Ultimate license last evening. My first main intention here is to run a M&M game with my son and then with some friends if that works out -we've played it table top, I wanted a program that could help make things go a little quicker. I've used another, similar, game in the past for D&D so at least some of this one isn't completely foreign to me. Some.
Welcome to FG. I bought the ultimate licence last Feb. and was real happy when they put out the M&M ruleset.


1) Mapping Software - from reading through the forums (yes, I actually did this) I see some different map programs mentioned from different people. Usually these are abbreviated though and I'm not sure what they actually are. I'd be looking for something that could be used in a modern setting. Streets, buildings, vehicles, telephone poles with electrical wires, whatever would be nice to have in the maps. Any suggestions?
Most any program that saves as a .PNG. .JPG, or .BMP should work. As for ones with pre-made icons (cars, lampposts, etc...) there are a few like Campaign Cartographer. You might be better off starting with looking for pre-made maps though. There are quite a few for modern settings if you go looking a little.


2) M&M Games - it seems that although this rule set has been available there aren't many games on the list - and the ones that are aren't being played. I'd at least really like to sit in on a game and watch sometime if that were possible - something to just get the creative juices going and understand some of the non-obvious benefits for having this program. Just wondering if I'm missing any M&M active games out there.
The only games I've played in FG is M&M. I played in one at the on-line con and then was in a weekly game that only played one week so...

The ruleset is nice, it isn't perfect, but it is serviceable. I have a post in the M&M discussion section with some info on improvements I would like to see. Biggest complaint would have to be the lack of "persists until save" ability for conditions.


3) M&M Videos - I see all the tutorials for the game but they seem to be pointed in the fantasy rule sets direction only. Are there any out there that you could point me to for M&M? I've been fumbling around in the program since last night, at first I was really disappointed thinking that the NPC area was the character generator until I figured out where the character creation window was. I could use a little help if it's available.
They said they were working on M&M demo videos but nothing has materialized yet.


4) Character Importing - correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there is still no way to import characters into the M&M rule set here, like from Hero Lab? I saw mentions of it posted months ago on the forums but no recent updates. I have Hero Lab and love it, would be awesome if we could import from there....would make things unbelievably more convenient.
The only "import" ability is importing characters created and exported from FG itself (there are some posted in these forums). FG does allow importing D&D and Pathfinder characters from Hero Labs, but nothing for M&M yet.

I hope you enjoy FG and all it has to offer.

[damned]

I think a lot of the mapping software - particularly online tools - do have a much bigger fantasy focus. I also would look for some premade art - there are a lot of good websites out there with premade maps/art for use in your games and there are quite a few available for sale on sites like rpgnow.com

no experience with your MM questions... but it certainly is a niche ruleset at this time...

[PghDrake]

Thanks guys for your help. Since my post I hadn't had a lot of time to work on FG but I got my hands dirty again last night. I also have purchased Campaign Cartographer with the Modern update. That's another one that's going to take a little bit of time to get used to but I wasn't expecting any of this to be easy. I'll be more satisfied when I get it all figured out this way. :)

I didn't want to get stock maps, other than maybe to just test the system out with. I'm too picky about it, and I have an ongoing M&M Campaign already with some hand-drawn maps that I wanted to recreate in a good program. CC looks like it will be perfect for what I need.

Back to FG, I'm still having a few issues figuring out some of the details. I'm going to take some time today, put the headset on and watch as many tutorials as I can suffer through. Just wish there were M&M Specific videos for me.

-Drake

[Magnatude]

Just going to chime in here...

One thing you might consider with maps....
Example: basic streets. Make this basic, buildings and concrete
ADD vehicles and lamposts and other movables as if they were NPC's... makes it easier for players to pick and throw things. Debris and craters and other things like that. It may clutter a bit for the player tokens but its much easier to move a vehicle token than redrawing over your map.

So, what I've learnt from my first session is the M&M ruleset can take over all your combat, just remember to ADD the +15 for your players damage, its not included.

Basic maps... everything movable=make them as tokens (Campaign Cartographers Modern symbol set is great to pull vehicles/machines/military/police cars/// from.
(no military tanks tho, gotta make those yourself)

You might want to take some control off the combat tho you might want to add/sub for range and cover.