Larger Than Life (M&M Edition) Review

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and decided to pick up Xanthar's Guide to Everything and some for the Mutants and Masterminds. While looking I came across Larger Than Life: Folklore Legends of America. It's a third party product that apparently had a kickstarter that I missed. There's also a Hero System and Savage Worlds version.

Physically the book has the same dimensions as other 3E M&M releases (which are slightly smaller than typical rpg books). It's quite massive, being over 300 pages. The book is black and white and contains mostly public domain illustrations and photographs. This works well, considering the nature of the content. There is a weird printing error in my copy. Before the book begins there's a totally unrelated short piece of academia. I'm assuming the printing company messed up and mixed files.

Are you wondering what this book is? Essentially it's an American who's who. The book is divided into eras: Colonial Age, Tall-Tales Era, Wild West, and finally Post-War. There are 20 different characters that are discussed in detail. They are then statted out and a related archetype/template is presented. These vary in power level. In addition other historical figures that have a similar schtick are discussed. There's also discussion of using the characters in your games. Here's a list of the characters, their PL, and the related archetype/template.

Colonial Age

• Blackbeard, Pirate (PL 6) - Pirate 
• Peter Francisco (PL 7) - Continental Soldier
• Mike Fink, River Man (PL 7) - River Man
• Johnny Appleseed (PL 7) - Man of Nature
• Davey Crockett, Backwoodsman (PL 7) - Backwoodsman

Tall-Tale Era

• Alfred Bulltop Stormalong, Blue-Water Sailor (PL 9) - Blue-Water Sailor
• Febold Feboldon, Pioneer (PL 8), John Henry, Steel-Driver (PL 9), Joe Magarac, Steel Worker (PL not listed) - Occupational Hero
• Paul Bunyan, Lumber Jack (PL 12) - Lumberjack (also included are template custmizations for Paul's Logging Game and Babe the Big Blue Ox (PL11))

 Wild West

• Pecos Bill, Cowboy (PL 8) - Cowboy (also included Widow-Maker (PL6))
• John "Liver-Eatin'" Johnson, Mountain Man (PL 8) - Mountain Man (also includes Hawkens Rifle stats)
• James Woodson James, Outlaw (PL 7) - Bushwaker/Outlaw
• George Armstrong Custer, Cavalry Officer (PL 7) - Cavalry
• Sitting Bull, Indian Chief (PL 7) - Native American Warrior
• James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, Lawman (PL 7) - Lawman, Basic Pinkerton, Basic Texas Ranger
• Martha Jane "Calamity Jane," Canary, Scout (PL 7) - Scout
• Henry "Billy the Kid" Mccarty, Shootist (PL 8) - Shootist

Post War Era

• Uncle Sam, American Icon (PL 8) 
• Joshua Abraham Norton, Eccentric (PL 8) 
• Stackalee, Trickster (PL 8) - Trickster
• Nikola Tesla, Inventor (PL 8) - Inventor

Finally, the book ends with a timeline of important American events and bibliography.

This book is an odd one. It's definitely not a must have for Mutants and Masterminds. However, if you want something other than the the standard supers game, it could be quite useful. One of these days I'd like to do a western supers game and I believe this book will be invaluable.