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Cosmic
Writing and Design:
James Dawsey, Steve Kenson,
Prof. Christopher McGlothlin, M.Ed., and Jack Norris
Handbook
Development:
Jon Leitheusser
Editing:
Glenn Hall
Proofreading:
James Dawsey, Glenn Hall, Nathan Kahler, Prof. Christopher McGlothlin,
M.Ed., Adrian Smith, Aaron Sullivan, Alexander Thomas
Graphic Design & Art Direction:
Hal Mangold
Interior Art:
Chris Balaskas, Tazio Bettin & Enrica Eren Angiolini, Darren Calvert,
Storn Cook, Talon Dunning, Alberto Foche, Tony Harris, Sean Izaakse, Mike-Lito,
Domenico Neziti, Ramon Perez, Craig Taillifer, and Eric Wight
Publisher:
Chris Pramas
Green Ronin Staff:
Joe Carriker, Steve Kenson, Jon Leitheusser, Nicole Lindroos, Hal Mangold, Jack Norris,
Chris Pramas, Donna Prior, Evan Sass, Marc Schmalz, Owen K.C. Stephens, and Barry Wilson
Christopher McGlothlin’s Dedication:
To Tom & Mary Bierbaum, Keith Giffen, Julius Schwartz,
the savior Jesus Christ, and most of all, my wonderful wife Tanith.
The Cosmic Handbook
is ©2015 Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. References to other copyrighted material in no way
constitute a challenge to the respective copyright holders of that material. Mutants & Masterminds, Super-Powered by M&M, Green
Ronin, and their associated logos are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing, LLC.
The following is designated as Product Identity, in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Game License,
Version 1.0a: hero points, power points. All character and their associated images, descriptions, backgrounds,
and related information are declared Product Identity. The following text is Open Gaming Content:
all game system rules and material not previously declared Product Identity.
Printed in the USA
Green Ronin Publishing
3815 S. Othello St., Suite 100 #304
Seattle, WA 98118
custserv@greenronin.com
www.greenronin.com
www.mutantsandmasterminds.com
MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS
COSMIC HANDBOOK
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................3
CHAPTER 1: INFINITY (& BEYOND...) ........................................ 4
A COSMIC HISTORY OF SUPERHERO COMICS .........................4
The Man of Tomorrow...........................................................................5
Failure to Launch ....................................................................................5
Back to the Future ..................................................................................5
Silvertone..................................................................................................6
Legion ........................................................................................................6
Tales to Astonish .....................................................................................6
Exile on Main Street ...............................................................................7
Fourth World ...........................................................................................7
Meet the New Boss .................................................................................8
There’s a Starman Waiting in the Sky ................................................8
Crossing Over ..........................................................................................9
It’s the End of the World (As We Know It)..........................................9
The Future Is Now ...................................................................................9
THE COSMOS: SUB-GENRE CONVENTIONS..............................9
Being Alien and What It Means ........................................................10
New Life & New Civilizations .............................................................12
Changes ..................................................................................................13
Infinite Powers & Ultimate Tests .......................................................13
Having Environmental Issues ............................................................13
Futureworld ...........................................................................................14
Machine Head .......................................................................................14
Cult Following .......................................................................................14
Difficult Concepts .................................................................................15
The War of the Worlds .........................................................................15
The Great Beyond .................................................................................16
COSMIC RULE OPTIONS............................................................. 19
The X Factor ...........................................................................................19
How Much Can the Player Characters Do? ....................................50
Who Are the Bad Guys?.......................................................................50
Putting it all Together ..........................................................................50
Series Ideas.............................................................................................52
COSMIC VILLAIN ARCHETYPES ................................................ 55
Alien Supermind ...................................................................................55
Avatar of Destruction ..........................................................................57
Imperial Champion ..............................................................................60
Space Dragon ........................................................................................63
The Devourer .........................................................................................65
Galactic Tough Guy .............................................................................67
Renegade Space Cop ...........................................................................70
Star Hunter .............................................................................................72
Time Master ...........................................................................................75
MINION ARCHETYPES ................................................................ 77
COSMIC MINIONS........................................................................ 79
Cuddly Alien Pet ....................................................................................79
Energy Beings ........................................................................................79
Shapeshifting Aliens ............................................................................79
Xenomorphs ..........................................................................................80
CHAPTER 4: THE FREEDOM COSMOS .......................................81
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COSMOS......................................... 81
The Preservers........................................................................................81
The Great Empires ................................................................................82
The Chaos of Collapsar .......................................................................83
THE SOLAR SYSTEM ................................................................... 83
Earth ........................................................................................................83
The Moon ...............................................................................................85
THE GREATER GALAXY............................................................... 87
The Grue Unity ......................................................................................87
The Stellar Imperium ...........................................................................91
Alien Races .............................................................................................97
INTERSTELLAR FACTIONS ......................................................... 98
The Argents ............................................................................................98
The Blackguard .................................................................................. 101
The Star Knights................................................................................. 104
INFINITY AND BEYOND ........................................................... 108
Interstitial Universes ......................................................................... 108
The Primals ......................................................................................... 111
CHAPTER 2: COSMIC HEROES .................................................22
STARTING POWER LEVELS ........................................................ 22
Challengers of the Cosmos ................................................................22
Cosmic Crusaders .................................................................................23
Cosmic Avatars .....................................................................................23
WITH GREAT POWER COMES
GREAT BIG ACTION SCENES .................................................. 24
Powers .....................................................................................................24
Power Effects .........................................................................................26
Abilities....................................................................................................29
Skills .........................................................................................................29
Advantages ............................................................................................30
Equipment ..............................................................................................31
ARCHETYPES ................................................................................ 34
Cosmic Buccaneer ................................................................................36
Cosmic Critter ........................................................................................37
Galactic Peace Officer .........................................................................38
Ray-Gun Hero ........................................................................................39
Space Demigod.....................................................................................40
Space Knight..........................................................................................41
Space Soldier .........................................................................................42
Star Hero .................................................................................................43
Strange Visitor .......................................................................................44
ALIEN TEMPLATES....................................................................... 45
CHAPTER 5: FREEDOM CITY 2525.......................................... 114
A BRIGHT, SHINING FUTURE................................................... 114
The World of Tomorrow ................................................................... 114
The City of the Future ....................................................................... 114
Beyond Freedom City ....................................................................... 117
The Freedom Legion ......................................................................... 118
THREATS ...................................................................................... 124
The Grue Unity ................................................................................... 124
The Unification Movement ............................................................. 124
The Tyranny Legion ........................................................................... 125
TIME PASSAGES ......................................................................... 130
In the Not-Too-
Distant Future... ............................................................................. 130
Capers from Tomorrow .................................................................... 130
CHAPTER 3: THE COSMIC SERIES ........................................... 48
Central Themes .....................................................................................48
RUNNING COSMIC GAMES........................................................ 50
Episodic or Serial?.................................................................................50
Cosmic Power Levels ............................................................................50
APPENDIX: ALIEN ................................................................ 133
ARCHETYPES & TEMPLATES ................................................ 133
INDEX ................................................................................ 137
LICENSE ............................................................................. 139
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COSMIC HANDBOOK
MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS
Introduction
The
Cosmic Handbook
is a sourcebook for the
M
utants
&
M
asterMinds
roleplaying game. It covers the some of the
most popular and most powerful types of superhero
stories... those dealing with space-faring adventure,
aliens, primal entities, science fiction, and anything else
falling into the vast cosmic realm. In the following pages
the past, present, and future of the cosmos are laid bare
so you can explore the galaxy, save entire alien races, face
down planet eaters, and discover how important a lone
human from Earth is in the battle for the soul of the uni-
verse!
Cosmic heroes uncover and put a stop to alien menaces,
keeping not just a neighborhood, city, or country safe,
but the entire planet. Often these battles play out across
the sky for everyone to see and marvel at, while other
times they’re handled in secret, so as not to cause a
panic. But no matter what, the forces unleashed during
such conflicts typically go far beyond what terrestrial
heroes are capable of handling. They keep the streets
safe, you keep the planet safe. Scratch that. You keep the
planets
safe.
while also diving into information on the challenges of
surviving in space and dealing with cosmic entities wield-
ing cosmic powers... even if that entity is your hero!
Chapter 2: Cosmic Heroes
is all about creating charac-
ters, but the information is for players and Gamemasters
alike. It includes tips and tricks for designing a cool and
effective character no matter what sort of setting your
series features. Also included is a discussion on the abili-
ties, skills, advantages, equipment, and powers common
to cosmic heroes, including rules options to adapt a few
powers for use in a cosmic series. Finally, this chapter also
features a number of character archetypes you can use as
player characters or adapt as you see fit to create a custom
hero.
Chapter 3: The Cosmic Series
provides the Gamemas-
ter with all the information needed to create compel-
ling stories for space-faring heroes to interact with. This
chapter includes sections covering themes central to
cosmic series, including aliens, invasions, space travel,
ancient mysteries, and more. It also gives the GM tips on
starting their series and keeping it fresh over time. Lastly,
there are villainous archetypes, including multiple options
for using them, along with some typical alien races.
Chapter 4: The Freedom Cosmos
looks at the Freedom
City universe. The history of the universe is covered, in-
cluding the impact of the Preservers, Earth’s history with
extraterrestrials, the other great alien empires, and how
things have been changed by the re-emergence of Tellax
the Redeemer and Collapsar, the destruction of Magna-
Lor, the rise of the Stellar Imperium, and the appearance
of new galactic organizations intent on their own goals. It
also sets the stage for your new cosmic series by shaking
up the
status quo
and giving GMs and players an exciting
new universe to explore.
Chapter 5: Freedom City 2525
revisits the future of
Freedom City first presented in the
M&M Annual.
The
setting is the far future, when Freedom City is at the
center of the peaceful Galactic Confederation. But even
in the 26th century, there are threats to peace, justice,
and freedom across the known galaxy. Fortunately, the
Freedom Legion is there to face these threats and give
your heroes a place to call home... among the stars!
Whether you and your group are looking to play in a mod-
ern-day series mainly set on Earth with frequent travel out
amongst the stars, focus on a galaxy-spanning group of
aliens finding a way to avoid imperial entanglements out
in the universe, or assemble a team of young, enthusiastic
heroes-of-the-future from across the cosmos to defend
the people of the Confederation of Planets, the
Cosmic
Handbook
has everything you need!
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
The
Cosmic Handbook
covers a lot of ground and can be
used in a number of different ways. It provides informa-
tion on the different types of cosmic series. From Earth-
lings caught up in something much larger than them-
selves (and really, larger than their planet) and thrust into
intergalactic conflict to aliens who have taken a vow to
protect life in the universe from threats from beyond the
stars.
The ideas covered in this book can be used to run a
cosmic series, or they can be used as inspiration for inject-
ing some “cosmic energy” into the game you’re already
running. Gamemasters are free to change and adapt the
material in this book as they see fit. After all, not every idea
fits perfectly well into every series.
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Beginning with the history of the cosmic superhero genre
and working its way through information for GMs and
players alike, the
Cosmic Handbook
includes archetypes
and enemies, equipment and adventures, advice and ex-
amples, as well as ideas to fuel new characters and plot
lines for your series.
Chapter 1: Infinity (& Beyond)
is an overview of cosmic
stories in superhero comics along with common story-
lines and genre tropes, perfect for GMs looking for inspira-
tion. This chapter provides context for the rest of the book
INTRODUCTION
3
MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS
COSMIC HANDBOOK
Chapter 1: Infinity
(& Beyond...)
Outer space as a wide-open frontier ripe for exploration and adventure. Strange extraterrestrial life that reflects and
comments on mankind’s foibles. Godlike power in a mortal person’s grasp. Love, Death, Hate, Life, Chaos, and Order
embodied and amongst us. Hyper-evolved beings existing at the very limits of human understanding. Ideas like these
are crazy, wild, far out, trippy,
outré.
In short, they’re
cosmic.
Long before people began chemically altering their minds to experience them firsthand, cosmic themes found a home
in the pages of superhero comic books. This section of the
Cosmic Handbook
provides you with a temporal gateway
back to the Big Bang beginning of the cosmic sub-genre, then casually space-walks you through its history and most
archetypal expressions. What a long, strange trip it’s been—the kind a true superhero fan won’t want to miss.
A COSMIC HISTORY OF SUPERHERO COMICS
By 1936, ten-cent comic books had established them-
selves as an inexpensive source of highly imaginative
entertainment—cheap and escapist things being most
welcome during the Great Depression. While taking
a break from leaping out of Wall Street skyscraper
windows or selling apples on street corners, comic-book
readers enjoyed a wide variety of colorful tales, includ-
ing Westerns, science fiction, adventure, and humor. The
medium’s Golden Age had begun, but at that early point
in its development was limited to aping the types of
stories found in the newspaper comic strips from which
it had evolved. That year, however, saw a first attempt at
genre splicing that eventually gave comic books a milieu
all their own.
That year, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster at-
tempted to save their middling-popular creation “Doctor
Occult, The Ghost Detective” (published by industry leader
National Comics) from being dropped from the pages of
New Fun Comics.
To keep the precious Depression-era
paychecks coming, Siegel and Shuster redressed the mys-
tical, trenchcoat-wearing ghost-buster in a much gaudier
costume, complete with red cape.
The new colorful wardrobe and his magical abilities made
Doctor Occult comic books’ very first costumed super-
hero. However, since this fact was little noted at the time
and didn’t save his feature from cancellation, it left the
Ghost Detective little more than a killer trivia question.
Undeterred, Siegel and Shuster held on to the idea of a
4
CHAPTER 1: INFINITY (AND BEYOND...)

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