I've been mulling over this one for a while and still don't feel comfortable but I can't figure out why. Hopefully, more eyes will bring better insight.
Several Movement powers as well as movement powers (flying, running, swimming, teleport) with high ranks, seem to have a primary goal of 'changing scene'. They take you from one location to another in the ongoing story without really serving much other purpose. You're in a different dimension/time/planetary system/locale according to the needs of the story. In some cases, it may be instantaneous to get from point A to point B, or it may take a while. They all really work at the 'speed of narrative'. This is a lot more obvious with the Movement powers.
My thought is to make another Movement category of 'different place' with a similar point cost to the other abilities in that category. The descriptors could change but the effect is overall the same.
Further, and this is more of a stretch- do these particular Movement powers really need to have a cost associated with them? How often do GMs come up with plots that wouldn't go anywhere without them? 'Welp, I guess you can't progress any further on this adventure because you're lacking the ability to go into this far off realm.' Hopefully, never. Or at least without giving them the ability to find a way to do it- which itself is likely an adventure. Does that in turn give the players a point penalty to allow the GM to tell a certain kind of story? Or is that a point cost to tell the GM that they want that kind of story and it calls upon the GM to then tell that kind of story in order to justify the cost?
M&M3E and 'change scene' powers
M&M3E and 'change scene' powers
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FuzzyBoots
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Re: M&M3E and 'change scene' powers
So, if I understand correctly, you're proposing alternate versions of Flight, Burrowing, Speed, etc that don't provide a tactical advantage (e.g., letting you move 100 feet as a Move action to easily keep ahead of the thug with the bat) but will let you just assume that you make it somewhere in time (e.g., you arrive at the bank within seconds of hearing about the robbery over the radio)?
As regards use of the various Movement powers, I think that often the difference is opportunity costs. If you have to stop to build a Dimensional Portal, or to quest for one, the bad guy on the other hand will have more time to prepare. You might see it as something like a player having high skill levels, letting them succeed in one round instead of rolling over and over again to get a high enough value (in 2E, "Taking 20" for example), or needing to descend a building's steps and then run back up the steps on the other side instead of using Swinging to go from one rooftop to another.
As regards use of the various Movement powers, I think that often the difference is opportunity costs. If you have to stop to build a Dimensional Portal, or to quest for one, the bad guy on the other hand will have more time to prepare. You might see it as something like a player having high skill levels, letting them succeed in one round instead of rolling over and over again to get a high enough value (in 2E, "Taking 20" for example), or needing to descend a building's steps and then run back up the steps on the other side instead of using Swinging to go from one rooftop to another.
Re: M&M3E and 'change scene' powers
Well, kinda.. 
I'm going from a more narrative perspective than it sounds like you are. Certain purchases allow the GM to tell different kinds of stories. Characters that buy languages signal a story choice for the GM. Does the GM chose to ignore the expenditure or do they create elements in the story that use that languages, justifying the cost? If the GM chooses to ignore the expenditure, that instead signals to the player that they made a less than optimal choice.
Giving the GM the ability to tell stories where arrival in scenes at a certain time also has a pp cost. In the standard rules, that is extremely expensive. The ability only has value when the ST chooses the allow for it. The GM is ultimately responsible for defining what is acceptable within the game world. The players is ultimately responsible if they decide to sit down for it.
I'm suggesting that giving the GM the ability to have certain NARRATIVE elements in the game should be significantly cheaper than ones that give a MECHANICAL ability to the player.
I'm going from a more narrative perspective than it sounds like you are. Certain purchases allow the GM to tell different kinds of stories. Characters that buy languages signal a story choice for the GM. Does the GM chose to ignore the expenditure or do they create elements in the story that use that languages, justifying the cost? If the GM chooses to ignore the expenditure, that instead signals to the player that they made a less than optimal choice.
Giving the GM the ability to tell stories where arrival in scenes at a certain time also has a pp cost. In the standard rules, that is extremely expensive. The ability only has value when the ST chooses the allow for it. The GM is ultimately responsible for defining what is acceptable within the game world. The players is ultimately responsible if they decide to sit down for it.
I'm suggesting that giving the GM the ability to have certain NARRATIVE elements in the game should be significantly cheaper than ones that give a MECHANICAL ability to the player.
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CaptainKaulu
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Re: M&M3E and 'change scene' powers
The Luck Power Profile suggests that Editing the Scene to arrive in it on time is a Feature, with the power's rank determining how many times per adventure it can be used; subject to similar limits as the Luck advantage, but separate from it. (Separate from Luck, I guess, to make up for how it's inherently less flexible than general Edit Scene.)
I'd allow adding the Affects Others extra to get the whole party "there on time."
I'd allow adding the Affects Others extra to get the whole party "there on time."
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Hellstormer1
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Re: M&M3E and 'change scene' powers
Not sure if this helps, but here I go...
As far as games and campaigns in relation to Movement powers the players have, and no being able to progress in a plot "unless" they have a certain Movement power.....this requires the forethought of the GM before the game/campaign begins. A GM can have some ideas about the story they want to tell in the game/campaign (series?), but they really need to know what their players can and, more importantly, cannot do before they begin telling that story. Then the GM plans ahead.
If the GM wants players to move from point A to point B to progress the story of the game, if the players do not have a means of traversing this distance, be it on land, sea, underground, space, or across time or dimension....the GM can provide a means to do so through a third party, like an NPC, company, mysterious organization, etc. Even better is if you plan ahead and introduce this third party early on, perhaps even in the first game, and set this third party up to be expected to show up again on occasion.
On the other hand, if you did not plan ahead and this event occurs, you could have a random NPC that none of the players have met before show up and offer a means of traversing to the next location. I would explain this NPC later on as something like a time traveler who hints that he knows things about future events, and purposely shows up to give the players what they need to keep going when they couldn't. When the players begin asking too many questions the GM doesn't want to answer (or hasn't planned for yet, lol), this time traveler simply says something like "c'mon guys, you know the rules of time travel! I can't do that", then proceeds to leave or just blink out and disappear.
If the setting is not scifi enough, a fantasy setting could have this third party agent be someone(s) receiving their knowledge from divine or demonic sources, and a modern-ish setting could make it an agent from a vague organization that is simply "in the know".
As for whether the Movement/Travel powers should have a cost......I'd judge it by the players' characters they come up with. If one wants time travel, space travel, or dimension travel, while my story plan may not involve these at all, if the setting is broad enough, I can introduce a villain and a subplot just to have them make use of those powers on occasion and make them relevant. And I WOULD do this, because personally, I like those powers, and I'd enjoy seeing them used by players (knowing darn well that they'll probably use them to avoid my best laid plans *sigh*).
Something else I've seen while roaming around the M&M subreddit recently, people talk about whether something is allowed or not, and replies constantly say to ask the GM for limitations on what is or is not allowed, not just PL-wise, but also in relation to what powers/effects are allowed as well. SO, as the GM, if you wanted, you could disallow these Movement/Travel powers all together due to them not being relevant in the game story, and maybe explain that such abilities would be ultra-rare in the setting, if they exist at all. That way, the players would have to rely on more mundane means of transportation, and might sink points into some vehicle they can use to get around the world without blipping in and out from opposite dies of the planet or universe.
This help at all?
As far as games and campaigns in relation to Movement powers the players have, and no being able to progress in a plot "unless" they have a certain Movement power.....this requires the forethought of the GM before the game/campaign begins. A GM can have some ideas about the story they want to tell in the game/campaign (series?), but they really need to know what their players can and, more importantly, cannot do before they begin telling that story. Then the GM plans ahead.
If the GM wants players to move from point A to point B to progress the story of the game, if the players do not have a means of traversing this distance, be it on land, sea, underground, space, or across time or dimension....the GM can provide a means to do so through a third party, like an NPC, company, mysterious organization, etc. Even better is if you plan ahead and introduce this third party early on, perhaps even in the first game, and set this third party up to be expected to show up again on occasion.
On the other hand, if you did not plan ahead and this event occurs, you could have a random NPC that none of the players have met before show up and offer a means of traversing to the next location. I would explain this NPC later on as something like a time traveler who hints that he knows things about future events, and purposely shows up to give the players what they need to keep going when they couldn't. When the players begin asking too many questions the GM doesn't want to answer (or hasn't planned for yet, lol), this time traveler simply says something like "c'mon guys, you know the rules of time travel! I can't do that", then proceeds to leave or just blink out and disappear.
If the setting is not scifi enough, a fantasy setting could have this third party agent be someone(s) receiving their knowledge from divine or demonic sources, and a modern-ish setting could make it an agent from a vague organization that is simply "in the know".
As for whether the Movement/Travel powers should have a cost......I'd judge it by the players' characters they come up with. If one wants time travel, space travel, or dimension travel, while my story plan may not involve these at all, if the setting is broad enough, I can introduce a villain and a subplot just to have them make use of those powers on occasion and make them relevant. And I WOULD do this, because personally, I like those powers, and I'd enjoy seeing them used by players (knowing darn well that they'll probably use them to avoid my best laid plans *sigh*).
Something else I've seen while roaming around the M&M subreddit recently, people talk about whether something is allowed or not, and replies constantly say to ask the GM for limitations on what is or is not allowed, not just PL-wise, but also in relation to what powers/effects are allowed as well. SO, as the GM, if you wanted, you could disallow these Movement/Travel powers all together due to them not being relevant in the game story, and maybe explain that such abilities would be ultra-rare in the setting, if they exist at all. That way, the players would have to rely on more mundane means of transportation, and might sink points into some vehicle they can use to get around the world without blipping in and out from opposite dies of the planet or universe.
This help at all?
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