Ronin Round Table: Not Another RetCon

Last week’s Ronin Round Table brought tears to a lot of eyes, and not without good reason. Jon Leitheusser has been the developer for Mutants & Masterminds even longer than Steve Kenson. He was the motivating force behind the DC Adventure Roleplaying Game (now available at a great savings as part of our holiday sale!) and the creator of Emerald City, not to mention some of my personal favorites like the Cosmic Handbook and the upcoming Atlas of Earth Prime. And just to finish out his legacy, he brought the iconic Freedom City into 3rd edition. No one would want to follow that tenure, so where could Green Ronin find someone asinine enough to follow that performance?

Hello, I’m Crystal Frasier.

I’m going to try and fill Jon’s shoes as the developer of Mutants & Masterminds. Some of you might know me as Omega Girl from the Atomic Think Tank forums. Others might recognize me from my writing on the Rogue’s Gallery line or various Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes from Paizo Publishing. I’ve been freelancing on a variety of RPGs since high school, and developing game material professionally for the past two years. I’m also an avid comics fan, with an active pullbox and a longstanding love of She-Hulk, the Legion of Superheroes, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’ve played and GMed Mutants & Masterminds since just after I moved to the Seattle area in 2003, and started writing for Jon about six months ago, but my tenure with superhero games goes back to my acne-tinged teenage years, when well-worn manuals for Heroes Unlimited and Champions weighed down my backpack.

I’ve always loved M&M’s versatility and simplicity. In the 2nd edition era, we delved into the various flavors of superhero comics, but also sword & sorcery and Japanese manga. In 3rd edition we’ve already explored space opera and horror in addition to four-color superhero fun. There’s still plenty of space to explore, both for superhero comics and beyond. Steve has great ideas for products, and I have a few of my own to pitch once we get moving on our current slate of projects—enough to keep me busy for the next year. Some of them you know about, like the collected print Rogues Gallery collection. Others are surprises that we’ll let Chris get into in coming weeks, so stay tuned to this channel.

It’s a cliché, but I honestly am very excited for this opportunity. The entire crew at Green Ronin are warm, creative people, and Steve Kenson is one of my girlhood crushes. This is a great chance to continue the hard work of those amazing developers who came before me, and put my own spin on one of the best RPGs on the market!