Using MASKS as my first-time campaign system, and so far we’re really enjoying it!

17 thoughts on “Using MASKS as my first-time campaign system, and so far we’re really enjoying it!”

1. What would there “dodge-able moves” be?

2. Taking a Powerful Blow can be dodging, if you roll well enough.

   If you Directly Engage and elect to “avoid their blows,” you dodge.

   If you Defend something, depending on your powers, that may include dodging.

   If you’re Unleashing Your Powers, the obstacle you overcome may include dodging.

   Dodging is already built into the system in several ways. In this case, I think you need to adjust your understanding of GM Moves/Villain Moves. Remember: you make as hard a move as you like when the PCs roll a 6-, give you an opportunity, or turn to you to see what happens. As hard a move as you like; as in, your Villains act unobstructed. So, unobstructed, what is the most concrete thing that they get away with? It probably isn’t “try to hit somebody maybe,” or “throw a fireball and whiff,” right?

   The Villains’ Moves should be definitive (whether they’re huge effects or small effects — just definitive) and dodging, avoiding, rolling out of the way, etc is handled easily by several other Moves already.

3. Yeah, the villain who is super athletic/dodgy should have moves like:

   * Grapple hook somewhere tactically supreme

   * Super-sprint back to the lab and return with a new weapon

   * Tumble to a spot that puts unintended targets in the line of fire

4. Selganor Yoster Dodge-able moves for one of the villains includes shooting thick vines at PCs and a Bullet Hell type of situation (where projectiles are basically almost everywhere and you have to be able to move out of the way or suffer the consequenceeesss!) I have a couple of failsafes built in so that I don’t hurt my players TOO much, and I do want to give them a fighting chance.

5. Alfred Rudzki Hitchcock The way I read it, ‘take a powerful blow’, even on a miss, you still take the blow but it doesn’t hurt you. These are things that, if they hit you, they hurt. You HAVE to dodge them.

   Some of these things don’t require a direct engage; some villains are just angry that anyone’s there. I have a couple of villains mixed in to the bunch who are “watch the world burn” types so that my players can figure out the difference between a villain who’s a jerk and a villain who’s truly just upset at something or misunderstood and needs help getting through a tough time.

   Defend would probably work; I’m not sure about ‘unleash your powers’ because none of my players have any powers that would immediately translate into dodging.

   Re: rolling a 6- and having the villains act unobstructed… that’s exactly what I just said in my post. Under 6 and the villain hits no matter what. Maybe you should adjust your understanding of my post? 🙂 Like I said, this is my first time GMing and I’m using the Masks system after using DND for a year… some things are lost on me, sure, but I don’t appreciate the condescending tone.

   I’ll look back into Defend, that might be the roll I was thinking of. Thanks anyway.

6. Ah wait… Defend has nothing to do with dodging. Nevermind, haha.

   “When you defend someone or something from an

   immediate threat, roll + Savior. For NPC threats: on

   a hit, you keep them safe and choose one. On a 7-9,

   it costs you: expose yourself to danger or escalate

   the situation.

   • add a Team to the pool

   • take Influence over someone you protect

   • clear a condition

   For PC threats: on a hit, give them -2 to their roll.

   On a 7-9, you expose yourself to cost, retribution, or

   judgment.”

7. Deege Williams on take a powerful blow keep in mind that the damage in Masks is emotional toll. So a roll could be “I took the hit and shrugged it off” or it could be “I dodge the smashing blow but the fact he crumpled a car with it instead of me spooks me, I gain Afraid” on a less successful one. Using custom moves for dodging things could be fine but if you tweak the descriptions the first example I gave on take a powerful blow to be “bobbing and weaving you avoid the bullet hell they unleashed” for the being fine result.

8. Andrew Matiukas That’s a good explanation.

   The dodge-able moves I have set for a certain villain have two different effects… if he hits, he does something. If he misses, he gets really upset and does something else. So it’s important for me to give them the opportunity to dodge, to potentially trigger the other effect.

   Thanks for your insight/advice, I appreciate it.

9. I don’t think Alfred Rudzki Hitchcock is criticizing when suggesting you deepen your understanding of the moves. And as a brand new GM, it will go a lot better if you are humble in your reception of advice that you’ve asked for.

   There is no “Dodge” move, because avoiding blows is built into the system. It’s not a tactical system. As Andrew Matiukas said, the conditions are an emotional toll. Doesn’t matter how many bullets they get hit with or dodge, it matters how it affects them. The rest is just story. As GM in this particular game, you don’t have to wait for a perfect result of dice rolling to activate your villain’s move. You just do it. If Villain does his big move and all the PCs avoid it, then your response is to do his response move. Doesn’t matter what move they rolled or the result.

   That being said, if you want to do this, the answer is to “Write a Custom Move” for dodging the hail of bullets or whatever. And one of the results for the dodge move can be to activate the contingency reaction you spoke of.

10. Adam West I don’t know if you read my other replies, but I do just fine when people don’t take a condescending tone with me.

    And your answer doesn’t really answer my question… you say it’s “built into the system”, but not explaining where in the system. There’s no fun or surprise in just doing whatever my villain would do next… I want to have an element of surprise by having my players roll to dodge a really scary move.

    And I literally said that I have what is essentially a custom move for these moves. It’s called “rolling a 2d6 -conditions marked”, as I stated in my initial post.

11. Yeah, wasn’t being condescending — was suggesting that perhaps you had missed some nuance in GM Moves. Your own remarks about being new suggested you were open to newbie-level advice.

    At the risk of being wrong again: be sure to always consult the agendas and principles when adding new moves to the game. The agendas and principles are GM-facing rules about how you should make decisions. Ensure that any custom content adheres to those guidelines. Seriously not trying to offend. This is just, again, some “learning the game” advice I’m trying to give.

12. Alfred Rudzki Hitchcock It definitely came off as being condescending.

    I don’t catch “nuance” easily, and I don’t like having to assume how a rule works because it’s not clearly explained… by the book or the people that I ask. Most of you have only told me which moves could potentially work, but not how it would actually be a dodge roll.

    I had to read the entirety of the book and condense approx. 100 or so pages of pure rules down into 12 pages for my party, so that they had an easy grasp of the system, since they also hadn’t used it before. I didn’t spend a week rewriting a system book just to not find a clear-cut dodge move. That’s why I even proposed my initial dice roll for it, since to me, it makes the most sense – a flat “lucky” roll, minus conditions, because you focus less when you’re more emotional.

    I would appreciate explanations of the things I ask about, not people telling me I need to go reread the book… for what would be probably the tenth time at this point. And if there isn’t a clear answer for the very, very simple question of “is there a roll for letting my players dodge certain villain moves”, then just say that, instead of assuming that I’m not already well-read on these rules.

    I’ll go ahead and apologize for snapping in the first place. Sometimes I assume tone of voice online because there isn’t a voice to attribute it to. That’s my own fault and I’ll admit it. But I still don’t like the assumption that I haven’t read the book like crazy – because I have. I want to do a good job and help my players have as much fun as possible.

13. Anytime you are playing Masks and thinking “boy I really need to have an NPC roll some dice” you need to rethink what you’re doing as a GM. It’s the player characters who are chumps buffeted by the winds of fate, you are the fuckin wind

    If a player flubs a Directly Engage A Threat roll, maybe the villain is athletic and dodgy and you yell “SHE TUMBLES OUT OF THE WAY, SNIGGERING THROUGH HER GAS MASK AS SHE SLAMS A HALLUCINOGENIC GAS GRENADE TO THE GROUND RIGHT AT YOUR FEET and you HEAR YOUR MOM SOBBING WILDLY and BEGGING YOU TO LEAVE HER ALONE, TAKE A POWERFUL BLOW PATRICK?!”

    Or maybe they’re super tough and you yell “HE’S SUPER TOUGH AND SHRUGS IT OFF AND LAUGHS AT YOU BEFORE BLASTING YOU WITH HIS LASER EYES TAKE A POWERFUL BLOW PATRICK!!!”

    Or maybe the villain is super dodgy but the player hits and chooses ‘resist or avoid their blows’ you go “She BARELY escapes your mighty punches and tumbles acrobatically, back, back, looking frantically for some way to escape as you close in on her. She EVEN TRIES BLASTING YOU WITH A SHOTGUN PATRICK but you KNOCK THE BARREL OUT OF THE WAY! ‘WHAT THE HELL KIND OF NONSENSE IS THIS?’ she screams, frightened!” (You mark “Afraid” on her sheet then immediately make a condition or villain move!)

14. Steffi Kyle Thank you for the explanation. And you’re right – I think my problem is that I’ve only ever played DND, and I’m used to turn-based systems… and so are my players. I tried to help them understand that most of this is narrative and they need to just narrate their story to me. But all of us are so used to the old rhythm that we’re finding it hard to break, hah. (Is there a superhero-themed book set in the style of DND? If there is, I may use that for the ‘sequel’ to this campaign.)

    Another issue I’m having is that the system Masks uses feels simultaneously limiting AND way too free. I need me a dang regiment! I need rules! Lots of rules! Numbers! Rolls!! I need the ability to yell “ALEXA, WHAT DICE DO I ROLL TO PEE?!” and have the answer right then and there.

    I appreciate your advice, and like I said, I think you’re right – I’m going through literal (RPG) system shock. 😛

15. It’s all good, this is the place to ask the questions.

    Really, look at the instructions on how to make a villain, they kinda give you all the structure you need for this (and there IS a structure, it’s not just narrative.)

16. Jason Corley LOL your response got a chuckle out of me! I definitely needed that.

    And for the record, I don’t let my NPCs roll dice – they are all trying to go ham on my players (save for the NPC veteran heroes, all of whom my players so far want to adopt as our respective grandmas and grandpas).

    But your explanation of how to react to things helped a bit, I think. I’m the kind of person who needs to see a problem being solved in real time, rather than being told how to solve it, so actually seeing dialogue fitting the situation I have is really helpful.

    Thanks a bunch! I’ll definitely keep all this in mind when we play tomorrow afternoon.

17. Deege Williams “Is there a superhero-themed book set in the style of DND”

    The current standard for that is Mutants and Masterminds.

Comments are closed.