Mixing and Matching

[FaerieGodfather]

So I'm running a couple of online TMNT games. And to my regret, I have been forced to back off on some of my initial plans for those games; this is my first time running or playing a Megaversal system game, and I just don't understand how the pieces fit yet. So... gone are the martial arts styles from Ninjas & Superspies with their body hardening techniques and their arts of invisibility and their chi powers. Gone are the superpowers from Heroes Unlimited until I can figure out a more sensible way of introducing them.

But... I still want to do that game.

I've already started another thread about OCCs for Human characters in TMNT, so I won't rehash that here.

My main concern, of course, is getting the Ninjas & Superspies martial arts rules to work with TMNT. I want my ninjas to be ninjas, dammit. But in Ninjas & Superspies, the only way to get that delicious version of Ninjutsu is to take an OCC that is monomaniacally obsessed with martial arts and spend all of your character options on Ninjutsu. I'd like a system where ninja turtles have ninja powers and ninja skills and enough skill picks leftover to customize a little, like the canon TMNT.

So what's a good way of working Ninjas & Superspies martial arts rules into TMNT for human and mutant animal characters?

Next concern is superpowers for mutant animals. I don't want to go heavy here, with stuff like Alter Physical Structure and Energy Expulsion. I want extra mutations, like Extra Physical Strength and Healing Factor, that go beyond the animal powers available in the book and maybe aren't dependent upon animal type so much. I'd like a system where a team of mutant animals can be identical except each one has a different superpower. I want something less restrictive than the rules in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.

Should I just go through my Heroes Unlimited books and assign point costs to all the Minor Powers I want to use? Or is there some general rule I can follow for conversion to Bio-E costs?

Are there any other sources of animal psionics, or guides to converting human psionics to animal psionics?

How well do the wizard rules in Transdimensional TMNT work for human characters?

[Nightmask]

Considering the Ninja Turtles were described as being basically Worldly Martial Artists rather than Dedicated ones yet had Ninjitsu simply consider Ninjitsu an option for a Worldly Martial Artist and just remove the bonus Martial Arts Powers they acquire at higher levels to compensate for it.

The newer Heroes Unlimited Book should have bio-E costs for most super-powers in it under the Mutant Animal Heading I believe, although many are ridiculously expensive. You could also just forget about the Bio-E and simply work it out with the individual players what powers they might want and see how they sound (given how they've got things set up the average mutant animal by the time it's humanoid-ish isn't stat-wise much better than a regular human).

[glitterboy2098]

it has been suggested by some that N&SS when first written meant for Dedicated martial artists get 3 forms (with "exclusives" like ninjitsu counting as 2 forms, thus why some exclusives mention reduced training to get another form, even when the rules as printed were not allowing that), and worldy martial artisits got 2. and that this was changed last minutes resulting in some of the oddities.

even if it wasn't the original intended set up, houseruling the system to work that way would fix the issue.. then you could have mutant worldy MA's take ninjitsu as their sole form (using up the 2 slots), while dedicated martial artists could take ninjitsu and one of the other non-exclusives as well..

[Nightmask]

it has been suggested by some that N&SS when first written meant for Dedicated martial artists get 3 forms (with "exclusives" like ninjitsu counting as 2 forms, thus why some exclusives mention reduced training to get another form, even when the rules as printed were not allowing that), and worldy martial artisits got 2. and that this was changed last minutes resulting in some of the oddities.

even if it wasn't the original intended set up, houseruling the system to work that way would fix the issue.. then you could have mutant worldy MA's take ninjitsu as their sole form (using up the 2 slots), while dedicated martial artists could take ninjitsu and one of the other non-exclusives as well..

I think that the very first printing that's exactly how it was, but the revised version reduced the number of slots available (hence why when you look at the NPC creation section it still says dedicated martial artist with 3 forms and worldly with 2, they missed that during the revision). But I don't have a first printing of the unrevised to be sure.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

when i first moved from tmnt to hu we simply mixed the two without any fuss. mutant animals were made as usual and then switched to the hu book for education and powers (they were all treated as mutants or experiments) i can't remember a single one being over powered. So you've got a mutant kangaroo with APS fire, not really a big deal. All of the kangaroo's animal abilities/powers together barely add up to a minor power. So what if Bush Fire looks like a kangaroo rather than a human. It doesn't make them any less of a hero.