Hey guys!

Hey guys! Just wanted to share a few things that I borrowed from other systems that helped me run my games smoothly. So I don’t have a lot of experience in both playing and running Masks. The first time I ran it, it went horribly because I didn’t understand the system properly and combat was really confusing (I’m so used to initiative order, gah!). The second time though, I had more time to prepare and drew experience from running different games about kids/teenagers like Tales from the Loop (Tftl) and Bubblegumshoe. So what started initially as a Masks one-shot has now become a campaign because everyone had a lot of fun and my players seem pretty emotionally invested! As a GM, it’s a dream come true 😀

I didn’t prep much beyond the first few scenes, hoping the players would pave the path for me instead and I would pepper said path with problems and obstacles for them to overcome. And what really helped was structuring the session the way I would with a Tales from the Loop game (which I had more experience with).

For those who don’t know, in TfTl, you have two types of scenes:

1. Mundane/slice of life scenes – Kids interact with their families, do stuff at school, clear conditions by spending time with their anchors (a trusted adult that comforts them), do 80’s kids stuff

2. Mystery scenes – Kids go on adventures, discover clues, solve problems, etc

You also have the Game Flow:

1. Introduce the Kids

2. Introduce the Mystery

3. Solving the Mystery

4. The Showdown

5. Aftermath

6. Change

So for a Masks game, I did something similar but switched Mystery scenes with Superhero Life scenes and have them going on missions, interacting with Supers from the United Metahuman Agency (a fictional superhero organization we made up in Halcyon City), and combat. This structure worked wonderfully because we had a Janus who needed those mundane scenes to show her juggling responsibilities between being the overachieving daughter of the Mayor of Halcyon City and being Mirror, the superheroine from UMA.

And it turns out, the mundane scenes also revealed more about the other player characters! Besides The Janus, we also had The Doomed, The Delinquent, The Nova, and The Outsider. During those mundane scenes, I tend to introduce an NPC like a family member (if they have a family) or someone who cares interacting with them. Or a solo scene where they can remove their conditions. They’re all pretty short scenes but I usually give the spotlight to different players each session so some characters get longer mundane scenes than others.

We had some really emotional, memorable scenes in our first session thanks to this structure, specifically from The Delinquent during a scene between him and his father. I’ve never seen a group of players so focused while watching the scene unfold in front of them while tearing up silently. Like, even playing the asshole dad had me holding back tears and trying my best to not break character. One of my players literally said out loud after the scene “I am so emotionally invested in this,” and that made me so happy?? I’ve never had a player say that before so that really meant a lot.

Okay, anyway! The other thing that I borrowed from a different system was Bubblegumshoe’s NPC creation. So NPC’s have details such as:

1. Nature/Tag (their relationship with the PC, either like/love/hate and what they think of them)

2. Thumbnail (a short sentence or phrase to describe them and what they do)

3. Trouble (a problem that they’re facing/struggling with. E.g. The Nova’s mother is really sick but hasn’t told anyone)

4. Location (where can they be commonly found? E.g. UMA Headquarters, Mayor’s office)

I also give Influence, Drives, Moves, and Conditions for all important NPC’s, not just villains because you never know who the kids are going to trigger a move on and if they’ll end up fighting them, physically or socially. Important NPC’s meaning the kids interact with them frequently or will be interacting with frequently (a rising villain). This is obviously A LOT of stuff to keep track off but I have a problem with remaining consistent when I’m improvising so it helps to prepare these things early and have them on standby. Plus, I love fleshing out characters!

That’s all! What do you guys borrow from different systems? How does it help you? I’d love to know and I hope what I’ve shared is helpful somehow. Play more games!