Catalyst Castle

Yesterday I ran a new RPG campaign with Gareth using the Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Edition RPG. The campaign is called "Times Forgotten", and it is about an amnesiac man with super powers who travels through time in order to uncover his past and save the future. I've never kept a game log before, so I'm going to try to do it now. Let me know if this is interresting or not.

In the style of superhero comics, M&M refers to each game session as an "issue", so I'll discribe our first issue called "Awakening".


The game opened with Gareth's character waking up in an alley at exactly 5:37pm. He didn't know anything about himself or where he was, except that he remembered his name was Claas. Claas searched his pockets and even looked for tags or initials on his clothing, but found nothing. His clothes were custom. Nothing in his pockets but... well... lent. The only thing outstanding was a necklace with an odd metal pendant. It was Gareth's idea to play an amnesiac hero, so he had me actually create the character for him. He selected a few of the character's basic stats, but I designed his background and super powers, so Gareth actually knows nothing more than Claas does. After Claas was finished going through his clothing I informed him that it was exactly 5:40pm. Claas doesn't have a watch, but I continually informed Gareth of the exact time throughout the game. One of Claas' powers is a "time sense".

Claas quickly discovered another super-sense. He detected an odd "presence" emmenating from an apartment building across the street. As soon as he had crossed the street to investigate, an explosion on the top floor rocked the building. After a moment's hesitation, Claas rushed in to help save the occupants. After carrying two children out of the burning building, Claas ran back in to help more. Climbing an empty elevator shaft to bypass the burning stairs, Claas arived on the sixth floor where the explosion had occured. Claas could still sense an odd "presence" here on the top floor, but it was weaker than before. Diving into the raging inferno, he followed the beacon to an apartment where he found a young woman lying unconcious on the floor. Scooping her up in his arms, Claas ran for the stairwell. As he ran down the stairs, time seemed to slow around him. He dodged under burning rafters that fell unnaturally slow. When he stopped outside time returned to normal. Paramedics rushed the woman to the hospital with other burn victims, while someone treated Claas for smoke-enhalation and minor burns on the spot.

Claas slipped away from the crowd and took an hour to rest from his ordeal before seeking out the hospital. There he could sense the strange "presence" that seemed to be linked to the woman he rescued. Following a hunch, he followed discreetely as nurses finally brought her from the burn unit to a regular hospital room where she could recover from moderate injuries. Claas decided to wait around for the nurses to clear out before he would approached the woman, looking for answers. Before he could approach her, however, she appeared at the door to her hospital room. Glancing around to make sure she wasn't seen by the nurses or doctors, the young woman with emerald eyes and glasses snuck out of the hospital. Claas followed her outside and saw her get into a taxi. Not knowing how to follow her, he left off pursuing her and decided to wander around the city hoping that something might jog his memory. About this time Gareth began asking questions that led him to the knowledge that he was in a place called Central City, but Claas had no idea whether he was from here or not.

It grew late as Claas wandered around the city. Nothing he saw brought back any memories, but eventually he encountered two guys mugging a third man in an alley, and he sensed the "presence" he had felt before somewhere nearby. Deciding that he'd rather pursue this "presence" than help the hapless man in the ally, Claas went on his way. However, as he moved away from the alley the his sense of the "presense" grew weaker, so he decided to return to the alley. As he approached, he saw the victim fleeing out of the alley, and he saw a flickering light coming from between the buildings. Coming up to the alley he found the man's two attackers lying scorched on the ground, and he saw a figure walking away near the other end of the alley. Running to catch the departing figure, Claas found that time slowed again, allowing him to catch up to the person.

He was a young man, about 18, with red hair and green eyes, and he was giving off a detectable "presence" much like the young woman had. He greeted Claas gruffly, asking him what he wanted. Claas asked him why he saved that man, as the younger man walked towards his car parked in an adjacent ally. The young man asked why he wanted to know, and if he was a reporter. Claas replied that he wasn't a reporter, but that he was looking for answers. The young man said he didn't know anything, and told Claas to shove-off as he got into his car and began to drive away. Claas used his time-slowing run to catch up to the car as it stopped at the end of the alleyway. The young man saw him in his rearview mirror. Putting down his window so he could lean out a little bit, he told Claas again to shove-off, and then raised his hand and shot a ball of fire at him before pulling away. Not dettered, Claas tried to follow the red-headed man for several blocks, but eventually lost him near the vecinity of the city college.

Claas decided to explore the college. Although it was late now, the college was still open for night classes. As he wandered around, Claas became aware of two "presences" nearby, and also a third "presence" much like the others, but larger. As he explored, he found himself drawing nearer and nearer to the center of the much larger "presence", and also to the two smaller "presences". He finally arrived at the gym, which seemed to be the center of the larger "presence". As he peeked in through an open door, he found the gym empty except for the young woman he had rescued, and the young man he had met in the ally. They were ingaged in a heated argument and seemed ready to fight. The woman accused the man of killing people and putting other lives at risk. She told him that he needed to learn to contain his abilities. The young man acted like he didn't want to hear it. Before long, violence errupted with the young man hurling fire at the woman. Claas used his time-slowing run to rush in between them, trying to interrupt their battle and prevent them from fighting. The woman hit both Claas and the other man with a sonic blast. Claas discovered another of his powers when he went to shove the young man. His forearm crackled with blue energy, and he hit the man with tremendous force. Blows were exchanged by all three combatants, with Claas getting bombarded by both sides. Eventually, at the height of the battle, with the gym ingulfed in flames, Claas saw everything go white and then he blacked out.

When Claas came-to again, he was alone in a medieval-looking house. I informed Gareth that Claas was aware that it was exactly 9:15pm... 1000 years ago. To be continued...


So, that's how the game session went. Just to clarify a little further, this game isn't taking place in our world. It's an earth-like universe with its own history, though the progression of civilization in this world more-or-less resembles our own.

This is the first time I've played a game with the Mutants & Masterminds system. It's based on the d20 system used in D&D, Star Wars RPG, True20, and a few other games, but it has some of its own quirks. I like how many options you have for designing super powers. I'm not sure I like how some attacks work, however, and I'm a little iffy about the damage system. We'll see how it goes though.