I’m looking for ideas on how to represent a character defined by their rejection of a villainous legacy or mentor… something like how Stephanie Brown became Spoiler as a heroic foil to her father, or Cassandra Cain’s relationship with father David (I think Stephanie proposed a “difficult parents club” at some point).
Both of these examples are un-powered individuals who could be played as a Beacon (indeed, Brown is listed as inspiration for that playbook), but the Beacon doesn’t really focus on the right aspects of their stories. Whereas the Legacy and Protégé do focus on the relationship with an adult figure, but they’re both the wrong kind of relationship… while not always working smoothly, both seem to expect a mostly-positive relationship rather than outright hostility.
Thoughts? The character I’m looking to model has powers, but they’re relatively subtle… minor real magic masquerading as sleight of hand, that sort of thing. The Delinquent would be a pretty good match in terms of the moves, but likewise lacks the right focus and flavour…
The reformed? We had a character that was escaping her supervillain father and used that playbook well
Sounds like the Reformed to me, yeah.
There is the Scion(?) coming in the next supplement that is the child of a villain.
Right. “Reformed” is essentially a criminal who’s trying to, well, become a hero; they aren’t necessarily a “Legacy,” too, but can be in the story (or the other-playbook advances). “Scion” splits the difference, sort of an anti-“Legacy” who is noteworthy for rejecting their parent’s evil-doing.
The reformed is probably the right answer, but in the game I ran we had a protege that worked pretty much like that to really good effect.
He was the son of this Deadshot/Punisher violent 90s antihero who was serving a life sentence for assassination.
He’d have to visit his mom in the Spike at first (of course she broke out later) and by the end he dramatically rejected her and became a beacon.
“Reformed” isn’t really what I’m looking for, though… that playbook is for an actual ex-villain, with all the moves and flavour being about having a dark past, and friends in low places, and about holding the heroes accountable.
What I’m looking for is a proper hero… maybe not a totally clean background (for someone raised by a villain), but someone who defines themselves by their opposition to an adult figure who should have been a role-model… maybe a suggestion of anger and betrayal, that this figure proved so flawed.
Hmm… I’m thinking my best bet might be to blend bits from “Protégé” and “Innocent”… they both sort of approach what I’m looking for, and collectively they have some moves that fit nicely (“making amends”, “growing into power”), and some others that probably work with a bit of bending (“venting frustration”, “heroic tradition”).
I think Legacy is actually more workable than you think. It focuses on the pressure of having expectations from other sources without necessarily getting benefits. There’s nothing in the playbook that requires you to like your legacy members, or for them to like you. And remember the “legacy members” can be antagonists of your legacy as well as members of it. Just flip the script: the playbook takes on a whole new meaning when “___ is the greatest opponent your legacy has ever faced” is a hero, not a villain.
Your original post assumes the Legacy have a mostly positive relationship with their legacy members, but I think that’s a preconception based on that being mostly what we see in fiction. But if you can alter that preconception, the story you’re talking about is focused on the pressures of dealing with a past and the NPCs connected to that past that want to control you. That’s exactly what the Legacy does.
Some of the moves won’t make as much sense, but most of them still work fine. Words of the Past is just as relevant when talking to your legacy’s greatest opponent (now your heroic mentor) as to the villain who trained you. You could take moves from Protégé or Reformed as advances to add more depth later. And the “athletic perfection…” line of powers allows for a powerless type character.
You might be right… if I re-focus it more on a single individual (rather than several different members), it could work.
Certainly, there are Legacy moves which are perfect for the character – notably, “I know what I am” works as well for an independent character as one strengthened by their heritage, and “The legacy matters” is neutral as to the nature of the relationship. “Word of the past” is a funny one, but okay, yeah, it could apply to a non-legacy hero… and I suppose situations may arise where a young hero needs to seek guidance from their villainous former-mentor, particularly if that’s a matter of family.
And the “whenever time passes” move could be inverted such that taking action against the legacy is considered positive… a hit on the roll might mean that the ex-mentor is temporarily out of action (rebuilding?), while a miss suggests you’ve done something to really provoke them…
I need to muse on this a little more, but I think you’ve given me the answer… Legacy should cover most of what I’m looking for, with only relatively small tweaks to the playbook…