19 thoughts on “Looking for advice at running adult heroes using Masks.”

  1. What draws you to Masks, but inspires you to aim for adult PCs?

    The reason i ask is that Masks really supports playing a group of heroes who are coming to terms with their identity. One of the main mechanics in the game comes from the shifting of labels as others tell the PCs who they really are or who they ought to be and the PCs either accept or reject that feedback.

    Being harmed, such as in combat, is represented by the rules in light of its emotional impact, and “healing” that harm is mechanically resolved by acting out in response to the emotion.

    Generally, the teen / young-adult heroes in Masks are expected to be undergoing those questions of identity and purpose that the mechanics of the game support.

    In fact, part of the experience system is locking down those labels, as the PCs become increasingly fixed in their self-identity.

    The powers of each PC in Masks take a back-seat to their identity; they provide flavor and fictional position within the scenes, but the scenes are primarily designed to see how stress, authority, and camaraderie affect the fledgling heroes.

    If you want to play a group of adults who are similarly questioning their identity, Masks might support it well.

    If, on the other hand, you want a gaming experience that focuses on the heroes’ super powers and combat scenes, you may find another system would better support your plans.

  2. Andrew nailed it. 🙂 Masks is all about figuring out your place in the world and how others perceive you. I guess if your adult heroes fit that mold then use it…otherwise find another system.

  3. Basically I love the system, the storyline implied by the playbooks and the setting is perfect. I have tried other superhero RPGs before but this one nailed what I wanted more than others. However, my players are not comfortable playing teenagers (most of us are in our 30s and get put off from children in danger) so this is why I’d rather discover what struggles an adult superhero goes through that can still apply in Masks. Should I just give everyone 5 advancements? Should I give everyone 10 advancements and make up 5 more? I feel like the game is strong enough to support the future of the characters you create.

  4. Chris Mudd if it is the kids part that would bother you and your players do young adults. College instead of high school. Rather than “my parents will be mad if I bail on my shift at family business” do “how I pay rent if I skip my shift?” And other recoloring of the teenager hang ups. The young adult still captures finding yourself, but avoids most of the “but they are kids!”

    Basically this works as college is basically an extended adolescence which is really what Masks is built around (it is a game about adolescents/young adults growing up who just happen to have super powers, not a game about superheroes).

  5. Chris Mudd I’d definitely say it’s not a matter of “leveling them up” through advancements; rather, the focus of the game just has the process of growing up solidly at its core. I think that if yoi were to take out most of what makes Masks Teen-focused, the game just wouldn’t really work anymore.

    I think that the suggestion to use young adults, shifting from the 16-17 age range to, let’s say, 21-25, is spot on. It keeps the “growing up and transitioning to your adult life” aspects that really makes Masks tick, but possibly moves it i to your players’ comfort zone.

  6. I had the same sort of thoughts about kids in danger (as my son is now older than Spider-Man was in Homecoming). BUT, some of the classic inspirations for Masks (the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans, season 2 of Young Justice) involved heroes who were college aged, which is young enough to still need to figure yourselves out, but old enough that players don’t have to feel weird about it.

  7. I have to agree with the suggestions here! Changing the focus from “who am I?” to “How do I adult?” is a really good idea. I’ll have to think on this a bit more, but I appreciate all the great suggestions. The Janus, Legacy and the Beacon feel like the hardest transition since they start feeling the ‘youngest’ if that makes sense, but I think we can figure it out.

  8. Every time this comes up, I say exactly what Steffi Kyle says: 20 somethings.

    Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, they’re all about adults but the shows run like Masks games. Focus on 20somethings, and emphasize the emotional turmoil of being the kind of hero their loved ones, family, friends, mentors, etc believe they can be. It will work great.

  13. Henry de Veuve Chris Mudd Note that Worlds in Peril is a PbtA Supers game while Masks is a PbtA ‘I’m Growing Up’ game where the characters just happen to wear their underwear on the outside and stop bank robberies; they have very different feels in my experience.

  16. My initial response is also “don’t.” But I’m going to actually play Devil’s Advocate and say, why not try it. Like you say, the system kinda nails it in terms of superheroes, and even though it’s about teens, it still is just so good at telling dramatic stories where super powers are just part of it.

    Some thoughts:

    Don’t “level them up” with advancements. Just give them a Label or two that are already locked at character creation. Or lock all of them, and when a move would “shift a label” give them a condition or make them give Influence instead.

    Established heroes would still probably not work so well, but playing a new team in a world where superheroes are established and/or registered might be more appropriate.

    Let them use the adult moves as well as the basic moves. Might take some real judicious thought to which one they’re trying to use at different times, but could be interesting. Really examine the difference between Wield Your Powers and Unleash Your Powers. Are they Provoking Someone or Persuading With Best Interests? Especially with 20-somethings it could be really interesting to examine when they’re acting like grown-ups or acting like kids.

    Influence can be just as big a deal for adults as it is for kids. Just because labels might shift or not doesn’t mean you don’t care what people think.

    So as to my initial response of “don’t do it,” my follow-up response is “why the hell not?” Give it a try. Play to see what happens.

  17. Thanks for the insight, 70s Batman ;). I like the idea of locking a label to represent adulthood, I may also give them their choice of an adult move as well. Or maybe a choice between the two. Holy good ideas!

  19. Chris Mudd, honestly I don’t think Adam’s approach would work that well. You’d be chopping off part of what makes Masks really sing (locking a label was an important moment in my character arc; you want to lead to that, rather than start), skew the game in an unbalanced way (adult moves are much more powerful than the others – for a reason, you learn to behave like an adult and really solve problems), and your characters would still have behaviours and problems that are typical of teenage years, enforced by the rules (like the buyoff from conditions).

    If you wanna use Masks, the option of running it with young adult PCs in their 20s would work very well without the need for any “extra” work.

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