To the Moon, Heroes!

To the Moon!In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Far Beyond the Stars” there is an imaginary sequence involving science fiction publishing in the 1950s. The magazine’s editor presents the cover for the next issue and asks which of the pool of writers wants to write a story to go with it. The genesis for “To the Moon!” this week’s Astonishing Adventure, reminded me of that. We had a piece of art, seen on the adventure’s cover, featuring Tesla Girl and some kind of formless green blob fighting heroes on the Moon. M&M developer Crystal Fraisier asked me if I wanted to write an adventure to go with it. Who am I to argue with the time-honored traditions of pulp publishing?

Naturally, I knew the adventure needed to involve: 1) Tesla Girl. 2) The Moon, and 3) Some kind of formless green blob-thing. What happened is pretty much summed-up in the adventure’s introduction:

“Sometimes life as a superhero means dealing with government corruption, making hard choices between right and wrong, and keeping the truth from your loved-ones for their own protection. Then there are those times when your day is all about fighting animal-people, tracking down some stolen super-monkeys, teleporting to the Moon, and stopping an unruly—albeit brilliant—little girl from unleashing an ancient alien slime-ball to eat an entire city full of people. This adventure is one of those times.”

“To the Moon” gave me the opportunity to revisit a few personal favorite bits of Earth-Prime setting: namely Farside City, the hidden human offshoot civilization on the far side of the Moon, and moon monkeys, those blue-furred teleporting scamps that first showed up with Chase Atom’s buddy Cosmo, an homage to Gleek, Blip, and all of the other great space monkeys of our time. Turns out they go great together with a precocious but anti-social girl genius with a fascination for steampunk and Victoriana. Of course, the heroes have a few challenges to overcome before they even come face-to-face with the main antagonist of the adventure. Although it wasn’t entirely planned, those challenges turned out to involve a lot of “wildlife,” especially sharks, for some reason.

The adventure was also a fun opportunity to come up with a way to make a particular foe an interesting challenge for a team of M&M superheroes in game terms. No spoilers here—you’ll have to read, or better yet, play, the adventure—but sufficient to say I’m pretty happy with it, and I think it plays well. Crystal even had me tone it down a bit, so thank her, heroes! If you do run or play in “To the Moon” I’ll be curious to hear how the finale of the adventure goes!

By my count, “To the Moon” is our fifteenth offering in the Astonishing Adventures line. If you were playing Mutants & Masterminds and completing an adventure every week, they could keep you busy for almost four months—and we have still more adventures to come! We just recently had an online meeting of the M&M “bullpen” to pitch and workshop adventure ideas, and there are some really fun ones warming up in the wings. Meanwhile, if any of this summary sounds intriguing, head right on over to the Green Ronin store and then … To the Moon!

Astonishing Adventures: To the Moon! Is currently available in both the Green Ronin Online Store, and on DrivethruRPG

Green Ronin Patreon Roundup!

Patreon is an online platform that creators can use to run subscription services for all kinds of content. As a creative bunch of people, a number of the Green Ronin Publishing staff have their own Patreons, where they provide more of the kind of amazing game-related material and expert writing that Green Ronin fans have come to love. As gamers look for more ways to connect with favored game lines and game creators, we thought this was a good time to do a roundup of the various Patreons run by Green Ronin and its staff.

Mutants & Masterminds on Patreon!So, let’s start with the big news: Green Ronin has launched a company-supported Mutants & Masterminds Patreon! With amazing content by Crystal Frasier and Steve Kenson, this is the place to get a regular fix of official M&M material. Currently the Patreon focuses on projects that are too small or too niche for a full-sized book on them to make sense, but that fans are still clamoring for, such as updating 1st– and 2nd-edition characters. This Patreon is brand-new, so if you like being on the ground floor of new projects, the time to join is now!

One of the questions we’ve been asked quite a lot since the M&M Patreon was launched is if Green Ronin is going to do similar subscription services for other game systems, such as Fantasy AGE, Modern AGE, Blue Rose, Sword Chronicle, and so on. While we don’t have any announcements to make on that front yet it’s safe to say all options are being considered, and the more successful the M&M Patreon is, the more excited we’re going to get to expand this experiment.

That said, if you want more Patreon options now, many of the Ronins have ongoing subscriptions available already.

Our Publisher, Chris Pramas, has a Patreon of his own, where he gives us a tour of his (vast) gaming collection. The Curated Quarantine Patreon is a series of multiple posts per week, each looking at one game from Chris’s shelves. Each post talks about the history of the featured game, how and when Chris first interacted with it, and often gives some crucial context of the product’s place in the history of tabletop games. These are rare behind-the-curtain looks at the games one of the icons of the industry has in his own collection, and his thoughts on what makes them interesting.

On the other hand, if you want even more superheroic RPG content you should absolutely look at Steve Kenson’s Icons Roleplaying Game Patreon. Launched at the beginning of January 2021, this is a way for the award-winning designer of Mutants & Masterminds and Icons to produce and share short articles and other content (character write-ups, adventure ideas, and so forth) about Icons, the game he publishes through his own company, Ad Infinitum Adventures. It’s obviously a must-join for fans of Icons, but it’s also a great opportunity to see designer notes from one of the sharpest game creators in the industry.

Speaking of M&M designers, veteran creator Crystal Frasier also has a Patreon, where she focuses on presenting new gaming material and essays. Her creativity is boundless, as seen even in just the titles of her backer levels (Crystal glitter, Crystal shard, Crystal stone, and Crystal jewel). In addition to making blogs and game articles available to backers, Crystal does polls to give her backers a chance to help guide the direction of the Patreon’s offerings.

You can also find our Expanse RPG developer on the platform. The Ian Lemke Patreon features his posts on RPG content and designing a new game. At various levels of support, you’ll get exclusive updates on what he’s currently working on as well as news, notes, map sketches, and links to his stuff and previews of his blog postings to Grand Pooka’s Grimoire. At higher tiers you can also get sneak peeks at characters, setting material, and adventures, a look behind the curtain at design documents, rules, and pages of projects as they progress and access to his personal Discord channel where you can ask questions about his projects, offer your own input, and ask him anything about the RPG industry. At the highest level, you even get free copies of his self-published pdfs.

Finally, I have my own Owen K.C. Stephens Patreon. It focuses on my essays about game design, writing, and the game industry in general, and offers new game content. Right now, that game content is mostly focused on 5e, Pathfinder 1st and 2nd edition, and Starfinder, but a few bits of Fantasy AGE material find their way into my writings as well. I also occasionally post videos, and backers at higher tiers get  a pdf each month with all my free content from social media, including every Tweet and FB post with game- or genre-related content.

If Green Ronin Publishing or any of our staff launch more Patreons in the future, we’ll be sure to update our Roundup.

Danger Zone: Fast Food Restaurant Available Now!

Danger Zone: Fast FoodThis week we’re releasing a brand new Danger Zone, The Fast Food Restaurant!

Atop a rushing subway car, trapped in a raging apartment fire, crushed beneath the animated oaks of a possessed parkland… Superheroes face as much danger from the world around them as they do from their most nefarious villains.

You want your justice with a side of fries?

Evil doesn’t take a break and heroes never know when they’ll need to stop a robbery during their day-job shift at the local burger joint or taco stand! What villainy lurks in the walk-in freezer, and can they calm an irate customer before she goes over their head to the district manager… or a supervillain?

Danger Zones helps you bring your world alive by describing 30 different urban backdrops for superheroic action, from the classic warehouse to the neighborhood coffee shop to the hospital they’ll need to recover when the adventure is done. Every location includes a map, as well as useful information on how to use that setting’s unique features in a cunning plot or superhero slugfest.

To help populate your urban jungle, Danger Zones also provides a catalog of colorful characters, ready to come alive in your Mutants & Masterminds, Third Edition campaign!

Danger Zone: Fast Food Restaurant is now available in the Green Ronin Online Store, and on DrivethruRPG!

Join the Mickey Mastermind Club! with our Official Patreon

Green Ronin on Patreon!

Art by Jeff Carlisle.

Green Ronin have launched our first official Patreon, providing new game material for Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition! You told us you wanted even more villains for Mutants & Masterminds and we listened, reaching back into the archives to revitalize a ton of fan-favorite villains from previous editions who haven’t yet appeared in the current version of the world’s #1 superhero roleplaying game. Our first series of updates are everyone’s favorite band of sanctimonious kid psychics, the Psi Family!

Professor Psi has been a longtime rival of Dr. Atom and the Atom Family, and his children were a constant thorn in the side of the Silver Age team. Now that a new generation has been born, he’s become more determined than ever to prove the superiority of psionic humans and pave the way for a world where he and his progeny stand over mankind! And to give you a taste of what you can expect, we’re sharing a preview of the first release, the telekinetic powerhouse Argent, right here!

Patreon Preview!

Check out this FREE PDF preview of Argent!

Every single week, you’ll get a brand new villain updated and ready to play in your 3rd edition M&M game, with villainous teams released as series so you won’t miss your favorite members. While we’re starting with the Psi Family, a classic from Freedom City 2nd edition, we’re not limiting ourselves to that single book, and we’re eager to hear what you want! Need the two-fisted Contenders updated for your heroes’ next bout in the Circuit Maximus? Want to see the Golden Age Crime league for your historic campaign? Let us know! Every month we’ll release a poll asking you what we should convert next, and we’ll look at the comments to decide what to put up for vote!

But M&M is more than just villains, and the more people contribute to the Patreon, the more time we can justify dedicating to it every month. We’re already halfway to our next Power Level, where Steve Kenson and I will begin releasing monthly articles zooming in on fun elements of Earth-Prime you can use in your campaigns, like individual stores and businesses, colorful personalities, urban legends, and criminal groups. The next goal after that DOUBLES our weekly releases—that’s two villains every week at no extra cost!

And of course the Patreon is a chance for our fans to make their own mark on Earth-Prime itself! If you donate enough, you can join in on monthly developer chats to ask questions and get advice. And if you pledge at our top patron tier, you become a part of Earth Prime as we name-drop you somewhere in an official Mutants & Masterminds release as a bystander, business owner, sidekick, scientist, hench-person, or other colorful figure within our world! If you’ve ever wanted to own that comicbook store in Freedom City or run a mercenary league in Emerald City, now’s your chance!

The Patreon is just beginning, but it marks a new era in providing hyper-focused material to gamers that zooms in on your interests and needs without needing to pick up a full book! We hope you’ll join us and enjoy!

Our Live streams are back in the new year!

Hello friends!

Troy Hewitt here, community nerd for Green Ronin Publishing and the disembodied voice for our two live streams, Mutants & Masterminds Monday with Crystal Frasier and Steve Kenson, and the Fantasy AGE live stream ThursdAGE! With Owen KC Stephens.

Mutants & Masterminds Monday! ThusdAGE!

We’re entering the new year with our tech dialed in (sort of?), our content planned (definitely), and an excitement for our 2021 streaming plans that is off the charts (Absolutely)! With some crucial dev milestones around the corner for some of your favorite Green Ronin Titles, it becomes increasingly important for us to connect with the people playing our games directly. Truth be told, our streaming efforts are really a chance for us to reserve time each week dedicated to direct conversations, to hear your feedback, share our progress, and most of all, have some fun.

With Mutants & Masterminds Monday, Crystal Frasier, (lead developer of M&M) and Steve Kenson (creator of M&M) get together to suffer my ridiculousness every Monday at 2:00 PM Pacific. It’s as fun as you would imagine it to be- hanging out with Crystal and Steve is a pretty phenomenal way to spend your Monday, no lie, and with the addition of today’s announcement of our Mutants & Masterminds Patreon things are heating up like wow.

For those of you that have been keeping track of our weekly program, now 30 episodes strong, you’ll no doubt remember Crystal Frasier’s note-taking as a regular theme and why is that important? Well, she listens. She listens, and she cares deeply about the M&M developing story, and even more so about the people who are playing. While the Patreon will be a welcome boost to Green Ronin’s bottom line, it also comes at the request of so many Mutants & Masterminds enthusiasts, that considering the months of content Crystal has already planned, well, let’s just say you are going to want to watch today’s stream for all the details.

And you can do exactly that- you can get a front-row seat to our live streams, always free, always on Monday, always at 2p Pacific, on FacebookYouTube, and if that weren’t enough? Today we’re giving Twitch a shot!

What’s next? 60 second adventures on TikTok?! Not likely. Or is it?

Who can say! Now listen, I’ve got to get things ready for the inevitable tech hardship I’ll bring to today’s livestream. Come and check it out for yourself, but only if you like fun, useful M&M tutorials and advice, and listening to Crystal and Steve, two world-class fantasy world-building, hero slinging, funny joke-making, super storytellers in this universe and SEVERAL others.

And me! Your disembodied boy, Troy. We look forward to the next 30 episodes, one hour, one Monday at a time, but only if we can spend it with you. See you there?

Will we see you there?

As always, questions, comments, and compliments about our streaming efforts can be emailed directly to us: Letsplay@greenronin.com