A few months ago, I wrote a custom playbook for Masks – the Host – and posted it on reddit. They sent me here, and my join request finally went through! I was hoping to get some feedback, since one of the players in one of my current Masks games has entertained the notion of switching to it with one of his future advances.
That same player did the art for the Host, though, at the time, we were still in the middle of his character’s arc of growth and changing playbooks wasn’t really on the table yet.
So, here it is:
I forgot! It might be helpful to include the text from the original reddit post:
“The Host is all about Hunger. They’re the incarnate experience of a teenager coming into the realization that they now want and need things beyond what they did as a child, and not all of those things are easy or healthy – filtered through the lens of a superpowered kid that has become attached to a symbiotic entity that makes them feel awesome and then demands that it be fed.”
“The GM Moves I’d suggest for The Host are –
*Give them inconvenient food.
*Make them eat in front of people.
*Remind them of what lengths they’ve gone to for food.
*Show them how pathetic they are without their symbiote.
*Ask them to give it up anyway.”
Ooh, very interesting!
It definitely creates the sense of playing as someone connected to something like a Venom symbiote.
I wonder a little if it is useable for a character like Ben 10, who is a “Host” to an alien artifact. If you let the Hunger be something more esoteric (seeking more knowledge, more species to copy into the “Omnitrix” or equivalent device) if could maybe work.
But perhaps I’m trying to stretch this too much, and it’s better to leave it more specific to Venom-style symbiotes.
Did you have other pop cultural examples of this character type in mind while creating the playbook?
Would Shinichi and Migi from Parasyte be an example of the Host?
Alexi Sargeant I’m only passingly familiar with Ben 10, but I didn’t get the impression that the Omnitrix drove Ben towards various behaviors with its nature; it just allowed him to be a hero. I could be wrong, though.
I was also inspired by possessed (demonically or otherwise) characters. Dr Fate and Etrigan aren’t perfect examples, but I had them in mind. There’s a character, Rubilax, in the show ‘Wakfu’ that is a sapient, evil dagger which tempts its holder while transforming into a big, badass sword to aid them in battle. When their wielder loses control of their powers in a terrible way, Rubilax possesses them fully, turning into a crazed monster.
There’s an arc in the Dresden Files book series where the main character has a coin with the shadow of a fallen angel in it, and it serves as his vizier, confidant, and power booster, constantly tempting him to summon its true self and become a demonic demigod. Throughout the series, you see people that’ve made the same deal with other fallen angels, and they have a ‘battle form’, where they merge with their fallen angel and become this twisted mutant with a host of terrible powers.
The anime, Kill La Kill, has a main character with a set of sapient clothing that drinks her blood and transforms into superpowered battle armor.
The ‘tech’ symbiotes I allude to in the playbook were inspired a bit by Doctor Octopus in the Sam Raimi Spiderman movies and the nanoswarm villain in Big Hero Six. They’re not perfect fits, of course. Overall, it’s one of my favorite archetypes, but one there’s sadly under-represented.
I think that the list of Hungers could be broadened. Or perhaps, better defined. I certainly don’t think the playbook is perfect yet.
Blue I’m not sure! I’m not familiar with them.
Xefas Basically the Migi the parasite latches onto Shinichi’s arm and acts as his weapon along with like boosting his brain but like in exchange he ate Shinichi’s arm and he cannot survive if he’s separated from shinichi
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