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Surprise, it’s Amazon!

Lulu seems to have unexpectedly cut some kind of cross-publishing deal, so the print version of Evil Genius #1: World Domination is now on Amazon. Yeah, I was surprised too. I just got an email that they were doing it and spang, there it was. Go figure. Pity they didn’t come up with this plan […]

Ben Robbins | June 5th, 2009 | | 2 comments

Happy Birthday Dr Null

“This is Chip Chopper, high in the sky in the Channel Four Action News Copter!” “There’s a swarm of… what look like bugs, big metal bugs, crawling up out of the bay. Each one is as big as a car. They climbed right up the bridge tower, and now they’re spread out across the road, […]

Ben Robbins | February 27th, 2008 | , | 9 comments

Dr Null Adventure Paths

Hmm, so many Dr Null adventures. But, you ask, how can I use them all to maximize the pain and suffering I inflict on my players? Here are some notes for connecting the different Lame Mage releases to form a complete Dr Null adventure path. I originally posted this over on Atomic Think Tank but […]

Ben Robbins | February 11th, 2008 | ,

Three’s a Crowd

After many revised release plans, Like Father, Like Son (Trial of Dr Null) is out the door and looking for heroes to kick around. Following my own advice, I always try to have the next project underway before the last one is out. Otherwise it’s just too easy to sit around and noodle over the […]

Ben Robbins | July 30th, 2007 | | 3 comments

M&M Universal Combat Maneuver

Next time you want to do something a little different but have no idea how the M&M rules support it, try the Universal Combat Maneuver: 1) Think of an appropriate description of your maneuver, including how it’s different from your normal attack. 2) Use a Move action to perform the maneuver. 3) Take a +2 […]

Ben Robbins | April 12th, 2007 | | 3 comments

Pax Evil Genius

With the release of Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment, I think I have more M&M adventures in print than any other author. My reign of terror marches on unabated.

Ben Robbins | April 5th, 2007 |

Gone to playtesting

Generally I post whenever the mood seizes me, but January was particularly slow because I was busy finishing up the playtest draft of Evil Genius #2: Crime & Punishment. But now it's off in the hands of the playtesters, and I'm catching up on the ars ludi posts that were rattling around in the back […]

Ben Robbins | February 27th, 2007 |

M&M Field Battle Rules

The normal M&M Minion rules are great: they reflect the genre and speed up combat. But you are still left dealing with each opponent individually, which can make large battles slow and boring (particularly since the individual minions are not a real threat to most heroes, so there’s less sense of danger). The Field Battle […]

Ben Robbins | November 10th, 2006 |

M&M Damage Roll

Toughness saves in M&M may seem too passive to some. The Guardian swoops down, punches the giant robot, and then waits to see what happens when the robot rolls its save. He can use a Hero Point to re-roll an attack roll, but nothing to make sure the blow actually does any good (Extra Effort […]

Ben Robbins | October 18th, 2006 | | 10 comments

M&M PL balance: Picking up the bazooka

If you play M&M at “agent” level (lower than the usual PL 10), you are more likely to run into cases where players pick up equipment during play that breaks PL. Commander Orion is PL 5, so he’s built with +5 attack and a +5 damage Pulse Pistol. During play he knocks out a space […]

Ben Robbins | September 1st, 2006 |

Done with Death

I've been busy finishing up Death of Dr Null, but now that it's done I'm going to post some entries to discuss the techniques developed for those adventures (things like Action Shticks and Revelations) so you can take advantage of them in your own game.

Ben Robbins | August 23rd, 2006 | ,

M&M Red Flags

When I GM I am fanatical about scrutinizing new player characters to make sure they are going to play well. I want PCs to have abilities that a) encourage them to play the genre, b) won’t just eliminate interesting situations, and c) will work well with the other PCs and not overshadow anyone (all rules […]

Ben Robbins | April 11th, 2006 | | 4 comments