(M&M 2e) Hola. complete newb at editting looking for some help.

[thecosmicgoose]

Hola folks... hope i got the right sub-forum here.

I recently got into the new-ish system In.Fuzion from Cerberus Gaming Combine, and i kinda like it. they just put out the powers companion called the Power assembler. for the most part its based on Mutants and Masterminds 2nd ED power system.

in order to make this easier on my gaming group, i wanted to create a modified MnM 2nd ED data set that had the few price adjustments for powers entered into it. the MnM rules translate almost directly to In.fuzion for the most part, but there are one or two price differences to account for.

only hick is...i have no bloody clue how to do this. i tried fiddling with the editor but stopped when it bared fangs and hissed at me. so i thought i'd come here for advice.

what i would like to do is:
- either create a new dataset with the MnM powers imported into it, that i can then edit and adjust the costs to in.fuzion. OR, have "use infuzion costs" as a custom rules option for MnM 2nd ED.

so, any advice on how to go about doing that? including how to enter in a new/alternate cost. i apologize in advance for any hand-holding that i might need. programming frightens me.

[Mathias]

What you're describing will require using the editor to modify a copy of M&M2.

(I'm moving this to the M&M forum, so that the people most familiar with that system's editor can help you figure out how to use that.)

[Mathias]

Also, here's a community-created FAQ thread from the Pathfinder forum that has a lot of information that applies to all of Hero Lab's game systems: http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=15524

Post #4 has some videos about using the editor that may be helpful.

[Mathias]

And for what you're describing - just changing the costs of things, you're not going to need to do any programming. You'll just be changing the data in the editor.

[Duggan]

In general, there are two ways of "changing" an item already in the dataset. Both start with you creating a new power in the image of the original. For anything in the Core dataset, not Ultimate Power, you can use the "New (Copy)" option. For items in the Ultimate Power supplement, you'll have to manually copy over the contents. Give this new power a new "Unique Id", but note the Id of the old one. Edit your copy with whatever you want to change. Then, you have two options:
a) In your new power, enter the old "Unique Id" into the "Replaces Thing Id".
b) Add the old "Unique Id" to the "Preclude" tab.

Either one removes the original power from consideration. I think that the former is a slightly better option in that the program will try to automatically convert any instances of the older power by replacing it with the new on. Minor issue with that, once it's made that change, deleting your changed data file generally causes issues with any profiles that were saved since you created it (because it will be referencing the new power, which no longer exists).

Changing the costs of things is pretty straightforward generally. You'll be looking at the "Power Cost" field. If you have Ultimate Power installed, don't forget that there's a field for Core costs and one for Ultimate Power (they changed slightly in between).

An alternate method for adding new powers is to leave the old one in, and just tell your players to use the one with "(My version)" in the name or somesuch. That avoids compatibility issues. For example, that's how the alternate version of Power Attack from Warriors and Warlocks was added.