Mutants and Masterminds Power Profiles

Green Ronin has a cool thing going on now: "Power Profiles" - they look like this:

They're 5 page PDF's and they're 99 cents each. The one above covers fire powers, and they've done Power Armor, Mental Powers, Summoning, Weather Powers, and Tech Powers so far.

I think it's a genius idea.

The expert player may not need them, but they are very handy for the DM who may want to pull something coherent together on the fly. They also look very handy for new players who have a concept but don't have the mechanics down just yet. These little docs give them a roadmap to work from. The  armor one was of particular interest to me and I thought it was solid, more than I expected it to be in 5 pages. They are focused in on the topic of choice providing a short talk about the major powers that fit the theme, descriptors that fit it, some examples of pre-built powers that fit the theme (offensive, defensive, movement, utility), and some thematic complications that a character might want to take.

I like small inexpensive PDF's that add something useful to my game - I don't need another campaign world and I don't need more supervillains - short adventures are good, and small crunchy guides like these are just right. Comparing this to something like class books for D&D I find it to be a similar idea with a better execution in many ways. It's a more net-friendly version of the "UNTIL Superpowers Database" for 5th edition Champions, which was a big thick book full of pre-built superpowers. Some people want 'em, but not many people want to pay $30 for them, which is why I think a wide range of smaller more focused and more affordable mini-books like this is a good way to go.

The price is right and the content is useful - sounds good to me. I wasn't sure how much attention they were getting out there and just wanted to share.