Not to be confused with James Robinson's Elseworlds mini-series, Golden Age is the first of several genre specific sourcebooks for Mutants and Masterminds. As the title implies, this book is all about designing characters and adventures in the time period that spanned 1935-1955.
Chapter 1 gives a brief publishing history of Golden Age comics. While much of what's in here isn't new to any longtime fan, this is more meant to be a brief intro for those young whippersnappers who may be wondering what all the hubbub is about. The most notable characters, series, and creators from that time are discussed, as are some of the prevailing trends and fads of the day.
Chapter 2 delves into the real world history of the time period. It starts off with a brief overview of the WWII and the Korean War. It then seques into the history of the period as whole and the moods found therien, and how those moods can be incorporated into a campaign. The bulk of the chapter deals with the actual life of that period, discussing society, economics, technology, entertainment, and the like.
The author, Christopher McGlothlin, is a history teacher and that really shows with this chapter. It really gives a good deal of insight into the era, which is perfect for making characters who lived during that time, or to illustrate the differences between then and now.
Chapter 3 is all about the special quirks on making Golden Age characters with the M&M ruleset. For example, the Computers skill is going to be very, very rare. It discusses suggested power levels (6-8 for your howling commandoes and mystery men, 10-12 for your strange visitors and spirits of vengeance), era appropriate feats, discussions on suitable powers and devices, and finally, a list of equipment. The equipment list is all general, by the way, as theirs little mechanical difference in game terms between a Panzer and a Sherman tank.
The chapter finishes up with a collection of archetypes of varying power levels. Included with each archetype are notes for customization, providing several ideas and numerous variations; with the provided characters, you can play just about every prominent Golden Age character.
Chapter 4 is for the GM, as it's all about how to run a Golden Age style game. The first section deals with the various Golden Age tropes and how to incorporate them (or not) into a game. The next section gives a brief discussion of post-modern views of the Golden Age, such as the kind found in series like Sandman Mystery Theatre. The last section gives stats for all manner of npcs, such as girl reporters, sidekicks, and Allied and Axis soldiers. This section also has stats for Hitler! Comics have had a long tradition of star-spangled heroes punching der Fuhrer in the mush, and this provides a way for the player characters to due the same. This chapter finishes up with a handful of era-appropriate villain archetypes, with the same notes for customization that the heroes had.
Chapter 5 deals with how the Freedom City setting experienced the Golden Age. A brief timeline of shows the major events of the city during the period of 1938-1955. Following that, full stats are given for two WWII era superteams- the Liberty League and the Allies of Freedom, followed by several notes of other heroes of the day.
Then- we get to the villains. Several stats for Nazi super-soldiers are given, then stats for about four Japanese super-villains, with notes for other non-Axis villains of the day. The villains are cool, but I had hoped for more standard super-villains. However, we get plenty non-Axis Golden Age baddies in a separate sourcebook, Freedom's Most Wanted.
The chapter rounds out with ideas for Golden Age FC games, and making legacy characters for Modern Age games.
Chapter 6 is an introductory adventure, designed to get players into a Golden Age game. Notes are given on how to run it both as a standard piece, set in the era, and how to run it as part of a time travel adventure.
The last part of the book is an appendix with rules as how to run conflicts between a few superheroes and military units. It boils down many rounds of combat into a few simple rolls. Very neat, and it gives you opportunity to see how someone like Capt. Marvel would fare against a squad of hated Nazi SS. Granted, he'd kick ass, but his lets you know how much ass the given hero or heroine kicks.
Of course, no talk of an M&M product would be complete without a quick discussion of the art. Well, the art is good. The problem is, it's not as uniformly good as previous products have been, as there are a couple of clunkers. However, there are some really fantastic pieces of art to take this back to the standard M&M average.
To sum it up, this is a good sourcebook. However, how good you think it is is going to depend largely on what you think of Golden Age comics in general. If you don't plan on a Golden Age game or time travel adventure, this won't do you much good, especially seeing as how many of the new feats have little to no use outside of a 1940's game. On the other hand, if you DO like Golden Age stories, then this book has a lot of good information, and since a lot of it is about historical info as opposed to game mechanics, it's useful even if you're running a supers game using rules other than M&M. Add in a few ideas for how to run a military game in the style of the old war comics, and you have a solid sourcebook that does justice to a great time period of comics history.
It's as if millions of virgins cried out in frustration and were suddenly silenced.
if you know what he means...