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| The Bad Guys: an M&M Superlink Sourcebook |
$4.99 |
| Average Rating:3.8 / 5 |
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This book fulfills all it's goals...It's a good book FILLED with villains, each of which has a unique "air" to him, and seems worth using.
A lot of work was clearly put into making these guys neat...And they have nice teams, too...
Vampire Girl is working as the "Mystic Guide" for our team...<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Good villains, of all power levels, with unique plots.
I liked the dark humor...HK-47 and Black Whirlwind would love these guys...
Everything from PL8-PL20...For all games...<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Hm...there weren't enough PL10 villains who I could use...Some of the best ones are high PL...
Art wasn't the best in the world...but it gives good mental images...<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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Words fail me, avoid at all costs.
Bad art, poorly written, and just plain dull to read<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Virtually everything<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>
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Creator Reply: |
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As you can see from these reviews, this book gets a lot of strong reactions--people seem to either love it or hate it. I strongly recommend looking at the demo before you buy it, to see which category you fall into. |
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First of all, WOW! The publisher has really worked hard to maximize the different ways this product can be used by providing different versions for use on-screen, printer-friendly and so forth. And since I bought this product it's already been updated once.
The goal of this product was to make a lot of bad guys without a lot of new material, just using what's in the M&M book. And that's been done very well. The author's introduction makes it clear what sort of game world these villains come from, and so some head-scratching designs (like the not-funny clown villain) are explained there.
An explanation is not really an excuse, though. There are a fair chunk of these villains that are extremely specialized to a slightly light-hearted and/or self-consciously "sick" sense of humor and aren't easily translated into other worlds or tones. I'm not saying these bad guys should be taken out - on the contrary! I think that there should be multiple versions of these bad guys to be used, perhaps just with a few sentences for each version in a sidebar of some kind, as the M&M sourcebooks themselves do.
Another great strength of this product is the scenarios provided for each villain. Even for villains identified as "short-timers" - they come in for a rampage or a caper and then they're gone forever - are given a handful of well-fleshed-out ideas for GMs to steal.
Finally, attention is given to villain teams and organizations. These are well-done and well-themed.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Great PDF features, great scenarios, great teams, good villains in general. Awesome to see someone just use the M&M books "straight" as much as possible.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Some villains don't seem appropriate for all worlds and are difficult to translate on your own.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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Despite a weak presentation this is the most useful Superlink-product I ever bought. There are at least two unusual and inventive outlines for adventures with each villain, each outline at least half a page long. The villains themselves are much more inspired by real-world pop-culture and politics then by comic books and you don't have the feeling that it is a recombination of the same old cliches. (Although a few cliches like the misunderstood Indian are present.) The art is good enough to give your players an impression of their foes, although there exist 2 very different styles within the pages.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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This is probably the best role playing game supplement I have ever seen. The author's rare understanding of human nature shows in his ability to create complicated and interesting "villians". He uses his knowledge of history and his remarkable feel for cultures (both from different parts of the U.S. and from around the world) to give them diverse and engaging backgrounds that explain how they became who and what they are.
At the reduced price I paid for this I should probably feel guilty practically stealing something of this quality. The section on the company Executive Solutions and the eight or so paranormal mercenaries they hire out are worth the 6.95 alone.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Villians both usable and inspired.
Excellent adventure suggestions.
Writing so good I have been showing parts of it to non-gamers as entertaining short stories.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: That I am still waiting for "More Bad Guys" (Ok thats not much of a gripe. Work this good takes time.)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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Sofar, I've not been impressed with this book. It had potential but the shortcomings of it seem to outweigh the positives. There are a few gems in here, but you've gotta sift a whole mess of coal to get at them.
It looks like the authors were trying to create their own gaming universe, but bad art, bad editing and bad chacacters seem to be the order of the day. It's like the first wave of Image comic characters. All flash. No substance.
I'm not mad that I purchased it, just disappointed at what it could have been.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: 1) SOME of the art for this book is not crap. It could very well show up in a comic.
2) I Like the fact that every one of the characters have plot hooks and suggested possible adventures.
3) I like that all of the characters presented aren't above the default starting power level for M&M.
4) The book has both a Table of Contents and an Index. I love this, BUT (see dislike #1)<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: 1. While the book contained a Table of Contents and an Index, it lacks PAGE NUMBERING. This is a major major problem.
- The layout could definitely use some work. The book is done in simple two-column format with no embellishments.
- The art for some of the characters is bad. Some of it VERY bad. Some attempts at photo-realistic art falls flat in the B&W format.
- The characters are just odd. It seems like a good deal of thought went into some of them but with no frame of reference (ie. Game World), they seem to be islands unto themselves. And some of them are just lame.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>
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Creator Reply: |
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Oops!!! My apologies about the missing page numbers, folks! Page numbers are now prominently displayed at the bottom of each page of the newly revised version (and thanks for pointing that out, Mike, I had honestly missed it).
About the campaign world, let me quote from the book's Introduction: "There isn?t one. I wrote these characters with the intention of making them as easy as possible to drop into whatever campaign you want. The only common assumptions here are that superheroes exist and that the campaign is set in the present day.
I have included no secret history of the world, no single explanation of what superheroes are, when they appeared, or where they come from. We won?t learn who the gods are, what alien races rule our corner of the cosmos or what Secret Masters (if any) have been manipulating mankind?s history from the beginning. Because the more I tell you about these things and the more tightly I tie these characters into them, the more it will distort the shape of your campaign, shifting its focus away from your vision and toward my own. It?s better just to give you stuff that I know you can use."
I really want to be clear about this up front, before you decide whether to buy my book. I wouldn't want to disappoint you. |
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This was bad. Really, really bad.
I admit that part of my bias is personal taste but I honestly felt as if the characters were not all that exciting. The art was nothing short of abyssmal and whereas the writing was not great, the writing was not stellar, either.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: I like the fact that the author attempted to put out a product in a market that sorely needed some excitement. The PDF market does not have enough Mutants and Masterminds products and at least the author took the initiative to try.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I did not like the stale characters. I hated the horrid artwork. (I would raher have seen no artwork and left things to my imagination.)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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Creator Reply: |
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A word of caution to prospective buyers:
As you can see from the reviews, this product inspires strong reactions, both positive and negative. Some people seem to love it, some have the opposite reaction. To see which category you fall into, I strongly recommend you view this preview before you buy.
http://members.aol.com/thomsonjr/TheBadGuysDemo.pdf
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If you love super heroes and comics, you're gonna love Mutants and Masterminds. If you love Mutants and Masterminds, you're gonna love this book. It is a must for your M&M library! Buy it!<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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Short version: great writing and ideas, art and layout not so good. In all, buy!
Longer: The villains are all original and well thought out, you won't find any versions of well known comic book villains with the serial numbers filed off here. Many are a bit on the weird side, but never crossing the line into silly.
The writing is witty and light hearted, despite the often grotesque subjects. This is an enjoyable and easy read.
The art is bought from several sources and lacks consistancy. "Bad guys" also uses plenty of art from LPJ Designs Image Portfolios, available on this site, and I can't say I'm a fan of their stiff and posing style. Layout is a bit too basic, and lacks all attempts at flair. Frankly, it looks as if it's set in a word processor.
Bottom line, though, is that this is a great product, very usable, plenty of good ideas and a pleasure to read. The art and layout are minor drawbacks to an otherwise excellent job.
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This is an awesome M & M Superlink supplement! Highly recommended for anyone in using NPCs for their campaign! I really liked the artwork and the character descriptions. Definitely worth investing time and money!
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This is a solid product with a few minor flaws. The flaws are as follows:
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Some of the artwork just isn't that great
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There's tons of whitespace and the layout needs some work. The layout modeled in 'The Algernon Files' is probably the best MnM character layout I've seen. The whitespace does leave room for notemaking on a print copy and each character starts a new page. It's a matter of taste.
- A few powers seem to break the rules as I understand them. For instance, the Ice Queen has Force Field and Energy Field at her maximum PL. This strikes me as redundant.
On the good side:
The villains are well thought out with GREAT backstories and adventure hooks. There is no lack of originality here, at least in terms of stories and origins. They tend to be a bit dark and grotesque, but I think it's fair to say that if the demo put you off, then you won't buy the product. Unlike many products, Thomson's villains should slip into any campaign with a great deal of ease. Everyone else claims this, but Thomson delivers. I can see myself using the vast majority of the villains in this PDF without any problem.
Almost all of the villains are good and some will provide absolutely memorable sessions for the MnM game. This product, despite its flaws, stacks up well against print products like Crooks and the Algernon Files, especially when the price is considered.
I'm looking forward to 'More Bad Guys'.
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