<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 24pt;">Playing the Game</span></div><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"><hr/><br/><strong>Experience</strong>: In general terms, characters in M&amp;M can expect a slow but fairly steady trickle of Power Points.  Since part of the intent of the game is to let me see how M&amp;M works when done largely 'by the book', I'll be following its advice on awards: completing a significant hunk of 'adventuring' is likely to net 1 Power Point for everyone involved.  Particularly brilliant performance or tricky opposition might raise the award to 2.  There's no hard-and-fast rule on how often these awards happen - the recommendation is one "per session" of tabletop play, which is always hard to translate into PbP play. ;D<br/><br/>What this means is that you should not expect <em>rapid</em> improvements in your characters' capabilities... but investment in Advantages or low-cost powers is likely to be quite accessible, while developing new alternate powers as part of an array should be entirely feasible.  Boosting Abilities would be a little slower, and major new powers would require a lot of saving-up to access - which seems appropriate for the genre!<br/><br/><strong>Hero Points</strong>: These are the primary 'do something special' option in the M&amp;M system, and the frequency with which they're earned can do a lot to affect the feel and style of the game.  I'm entirely new to running M&amp;M, so don't be surprised if I take some time to find my feet with this!  But in general terms: if your characters do genuinely heroic things, there's a good chance they'll get a hero point in reward.  And since action scenes involving superheroines are likely to be heroic, you shouldn't find it too hard to find an opportunity to pick one up.<br/><br/>Another source of Hero Points can be a Complication coming into play.  Heroines have their own individual ones (though it's quite possible to share a 'personal' Complication: supers bonding over similarly-tragic backstories involving a specific supervillain or criminal organisation is a trope of the genre), but it's also possible in time for a team to acquire commonly-held Complications (e.g. some super-teams have a distinct tendency to acquire foes who hate absolutely everyone who puts on the uniform).<br/><br/>A key point to mention is that Hero Points do not build up infinitely.  At the start of every new adventure, Hero Points are reset to <strong>1</strong> for every character.  There's no cap to how many you can have stored up during a given adventure... but as soon as it ends, all unspent ones vanish.  It's entirely up to each player whether they burn their Hero Points as quickly as they get them, or save them up for an epicly-inspiring burst of awesomeness in a grand finale.  Just beware that there's no advantage to having a heap of them in reserve when I declare that the adventure has reached its end!<br/><br/>Since it's easy to lose track of quite what Hero Points actually do, here's a summary:<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Hero Point Uses</div><div class="spoiler_body">Generally, you can spend Hero Points as a reaction ("something happened; I immediately spend a point to let me do <em>this</em>") and can spend as many in a round as you like.<br/><br/><strong>Edit Scene</strong>: Ask to add something to a scene.  The more credible this is, the more likely I am to agree.<br/><br/>E.g. if you're fighting a supervillain in a chemical laboratory, you can probably find an array of interesting bottles ready to hand.  If your character knows about chemistry, the odds are that the laboratory will contain things that could be combined to make a potent defoliant with which to counter the villain's plant-based powers.  A Hero Point would have the relevant chemicals just happen to be clearly labelled, in reach, and easily grabbed.<br/><br/>Common options are things like a road sign being within reach (to grab as a weapon or shield), a first aid kit being visible in a shop or nearby vehicle, or a police patrol car happening to catch sight of a super-fight and start closing off a highway without the supers needing to take time out to organise a roadblock to protect civilian traffic.<br/><br/>If I've already mentioned something as present, you probably don't need to burn a Hero Point on it (though you could use one to change its location, or do something like upgrade the police in that car to veteran officers with advanced firearms training).  And I <em>do</em> reserve the right to decline a request to edit a scene.  If I refuse a request, you <span class="bbc_u">keep the hero point</span> - so feel free to ask!<br/><br/><strong>Heroic Feat</strong>: Spend one Hero Point to gain a single use of a single rank of an Advantage for which you are eligible.  E.g. spending two Hero Points at once could grant a heroine a single use of Takedown at rank 2, allowing her to attempt to blitz through a crowd of Minion-grade foes in a single round.  Similarly, a Hero Point could let a character make <em>one</em> purchase at one Wealth grade higher than they could normally afford.  Given the breadth of Advantages, this use can cover virtually anything: perhaps you want that NPC to find you to be 'her type' when you try to make a good first impression - spend a Hero Point to add a tier of Attractive for a single use!<br/><br/><strong>Improve Roll</strong>: This must be declared before the GM declares the results of the first roll you make - but it will usually be clear when you rolled badly!  This spend lets you reroll 1d20, and then pick the better of the two results you get.  But beyond this being 'just' a re-roll, you get to add 10 to any result in the range 1 to 10: this guarantees that your new die's result will be in the 11 to 20 range.<br/><br/>You can only reroll your own dice.  You cannot reroll a die that has already been rerolled via Luck.<br/><br/><strong>Inspiration</strong>: Feel stuck?  Spend a Hero Point to ask me for advice, a sudden flash of insight, or something else of the sort.  This is probably best used for things like "how <em>do</em> I escape the shark tank?" rather than "would she like it if I bought her a coffee?", but it's up to you.  ;)<br/><br/><strong>Instant Counter</strong>: buy yourself a chance to counter an incoming attack / effect / threat as an instant reaction.  This doesn't guarantee that you have a viable means of doing so: it just gets you the chance to come up with something your character can do to help in that particular situation... but having a <em>chance</em> to dodge an incoming sniper-round because you spotted the laser-dot at the last instant is probably preferable to simply being hit before you can react.<br/><br/><strong>Recover</strong>: instantly dispel a <em>dazed, fatigued,</em> or <em>stunned</em> condition - without taking an action.  Can also be used to convert <em>exhausted</em> into <em>fatigued</em>.  This is most often used in conjunction with Extra Effort: spending a Hero Point while making Extra Effort instantly negates the <em>fatigued</em> condition that would normally be incurred.<br/></div></div><br/><br/>I'll also add a summary of what Extra Effort does, since it is distinct from (but somewhat related to) Hero Points.  Extra Effort is <em>always</em> accessible to player characters, but causes fatigue whenever it is employed.  It can be employed at any point during a round (though some uses only help during one's own turn), but can only be employed once in any given round.<br/><br/>At the start of the turn after your heroine used Extra Effort, she incurs a level of <em>fatigue</em>.  If she was already <em>fatigued</em> then she becomes <em>exhausted</em>.  If she was already <em>exhausted</em>, then she becomes <em>incapacitated</em>.  Yes, heroes can make themselves pass out as a result of trying to do their absolute best!<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Extra Effort's Uses</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>Action</strong>: Gain an extra Standard action during your turn.  It can be exchanged for a Move or Free action, as usual.<br/><br/><strong>Bonus</strong>: Gain a +2 bonus to a single skill-check.  If it is already in receipt of a bonus, improve that to +5.  Similarly, it can be used to reduce a penalty by one tier (from -5 to -2, or -2 to 0).<br/><br/><strong>Power</strong>: Increase one of your power effects by 1 rank until the start of your next turn.  This <em>cannot</em> be used to boost a permanent power.<br/><br/><strong>Power Stunt</strong>: Temporarily gain and use an Alternate Effect.  This lasts until the end of the scene, or until the power's effect expires (whichever comes first).  But you can't Power Stunt a permanent effect into existence!<br/><br/><strong>Resistance</strong>: Gain an additional (and immediate) resistance check against an ongoing effect - e.g. another roll to resist being mind-controlled.  If you are compelled or controlled and your new check fails to free you, the fatigue for Extra Effort will only hit you once the mental compulsion ends (i.e. you can't Extra Effort yourself into passing out, as a way to bypass someone hijacking your brain).<br/><br/><strong>Retry</strong>: Rarely, a power requires Extra Effort to re-use after a certain degree of failure.  This simply grant another shot at using it, and doesn't guarantee success.<br/><br/><strong>Speed</strong>: Increase your Speed by 1 rank until the start of your next turn.<br/><br/><strong>Strength</strong>: Increase your Strength by 1 rank until the start of your next turn.<br/></div></div><br/><hr/></div>