Hi everyone!
I’m hoping to run Masks as an open table soon, trying to follow some of the principles set in the Alexandrian’s guide to open table gaming.
However, I’m anticipating some hiccups, and I’d love advice on how to address them. For example, Influence is an issue, since the cast will be changing a bit each session, probably. I’ve ran Masks before, but not enough to properly anticipate some problems I might see in play.
Has anyone else ran an open table Masks campaign? Any advice or suggestions, or other problems you might anticipate?
Thank you all!
Define “open table”
AD Kohler If you’ve heard of West Marches, it’s very similar. It’s a “pick up and play” method of RPGs. “Instead of having a regular set of players for each session, the GM can send an open invite to everyone participating (or interested) in the campaign.” You run the game depending on who shows up. Since you’re not guaranteed a stable roster of players, you have to adapt. In my post I included a link to the things that make an open table work.
My group is a mix of professionals, people new to the hobby, single mothers, parents, and people balancing multiple jobs. All of that makes it tough to commit to playing a game at a regular time – a game they might not even like – so I wanted to play a style of RPG that requires less commitment. At the same time, though, they were all extremely interested in the premise of Masks! So I’m trying to make it work.
The one thing that pops right up in my head is that an integral part of the game is based on the ongoing relationships between the PCs. If the roster is changing constantly it really hampers the ability of the players to develop them.
So, different players but not necessarily a one-shot? My campaign sort of started that way, but settled into a more stable campaign. My one technique was to re-use and build on ideas. I finally decided that the final campaign was a alt-universe of the starting one-shot (and one PC was, unbeknowst to the players, an alt-universe version of a PC in the first session.)
To fit together Open Table gaming and Masks, draw inspiration from a show like Justice League Unlimited or DC’s team-up comic book The Brave and the Bold. The roster changes, but each adventure should highlight or develop some element of character relationships, like how JLU’s episodes focused in on Hawk and Dove’s philosophical clash or on Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl getting over their anger towards each other. Think about making this explicit with your players: tell them this game is about emotional arcs as well as superheroics, so they should think about what sort of interpersonal story they want to tell each session they can make.
Nestor Rodriguez Totally agreed. I’ve been considering starting each session by just reframing the Influences for people who haven’t ‘met’ yet, and starting off with some introductory questions about where everyone’s at, relationship-wise. Recentering and emphasizing the importance of relationships in Masks. I hope that would work.
AD Kohler Oh, interesting! I like the idea of reusing and building on ideas. One element I was thinking of using was lots of ‘villain hideouts’ to be cleared. So it’d be fun to visit the Prankster’s warehouse one session, clear it and his dastardly plot… then later, another group visits that same warehouse, which now belongs to the Strongman! Etc.
Alexi Sargeant Definitely was going to be inspired by such excellent shows. I like the idea of making explicit philosophical clashes and encouraging players to find strong central ‘ideas’ to their relationships. I was definitely going to be upfront and explicit with my players about where the focus of Masks lies. When I talked to them about the pitch, that’s basically exactly what I said: it’s a game about exploring your identity, wrapped up in the metaphor of superheroics.
Thanks so much all for the help so far! 😀
docs.google.com – New Masks Relationships You’ll need more playbooks and new relationships! Try try try not to double up!
Adam Goldberg thanks so much!
Use a site like Obsidian Portal to keep track of the overall game. That way, players who are really into it can write up their experiences in a journal that other PCs can read. Anybody can get caught up on the overall arcs by reading others’ reports.
Some players are into this naturally, others respond to having in-character motivations to write up their journal entry, and others respond to out-of-character bribes like earning a free re-roll.
To help focus on the relationships, pull NPCs from everyone’s backgrounds and tie them together in interesting and unexpected ways. For example, if the Delinquent has a run in with cops, it’s not just a generic cop, but the Bull’s mom.
Even if people have the ability to read up on sessions they weren’t in, don’t make that knowledge required to succeed. Each session should be a stand-alone episode with its own climax and resolution. Don’t foreshadow to one group and then bring that back to an entirely different group, it loses the beauty of the foreshadowing.
Have an in-character explanation for why they’re teaming up with different groups of people. Maybe they’re junior AEGIS trainees who are given assignment missions and are being taught to work together with different groups. Maybe a few different groups of older heroes are offering a mentor program that works via lottery as part of a public relations campaign. Maybe they’re all on a super-hero reality TV show and the producers mix them up to create drama and improve ratings. Something to explain why they aren’t a close team of stable members who can always rely on one another.
Use Love Letters for PCs who missed a session to give them a reason why they weren’t there for a big fight so they can be shown to have been doing something important off camera at that time.