I got to run Masks for Magpie at PAX, and I’m really pleased with how it went.

I got to run Masks for Magpie at PAX, and I’m really pleased with how it went. I think my setup makes for a good, tweakable one-shot or intro to Masks. I’ll describe my basic setup, and where I think you can MadLibs it a little.

The Setup:

The team is asked to assist in a prison transfer. Cold Snap (from the Deck of Villainy) is being moved from prison to a courthouse cell for trial.

Act I:

Conflict with A.E.G.I.S. who, at least in our scenario, weren’t the ones who called in the team, and felt they might cause more trouble. (Esp. as Cold Snap’s backstory is being a former teen hero who went bad after losing her teammates in what the world considers and unfortunate “accident.”

Cold Snap breaks out of the armored car.

Act II:

At some point during the fight, it becomes clear that Cold Snap isn’t working alone. Her power-suppressing handcuffs were tampered with, someone is firing tranqs at the A.E.G.I.S. agents. As the fight goes on and the team Assesses, Pierces the Mask, etc. it will become clear that the person who helped Cold Snap break out isn’t trying to help her escape.

The A.E.G.I.S. agents are being targeted with tranqs, but the sniper is aiming bullets at Cold Snap (and, eventually, the team). It’s Carbine, the rogue A.E.G.I.S. agent who lethally targets dangerous heroes. She helped Cold Snap break out, because it was too hard to take her out in the prison.

Act III:

Play to find out. The players may decide to help Cold Snap escape to save her life. They may want to help A.E.G.I.S. recapture her (and try to bargain with Carbine to avoid lethal force). It’s up to them and to you.

In my game

The players initially were trying to recapture Cold Snap, though several of them felt sympathetic when she said (marking Guilty) that her team was assassinated and she was going after the perps when she was arrested. Once Carbine turned up, the team worked with the one A.E.G.I.S. agent left standing, took down Carbine, but then, their trust in A.E.G.I.S. damaged, helped Cold Snap escape to the Legacy’s home.

Customizing the scenario

Who tells the team to step in?

In our case, the message came from the city councilman they saved in “When the Team First Came Together” who asked for help on the DL, leaving them in conflict with A.E.G.I.S. when they turned up.

What really happened to Cold Snap’s team?

A nice place to tie in the Doomed’s nemesis, the Legacy’s family enemy, the “start of something bigger” from the Beacon’s answer, etc. I went with the last, and gave them a stinger of the wealthy industrialist being informed Cold Snap was loose and might be able to put the pieces together at last.

Of course, it could just be Carbine.