I am a big fan of the GM prep method in Masks.
[Arc Sample in the comments]
I created Hooks for all the characters recently and just did the first arc.
It is super comic-booky and I highly enjoy it and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.
Of all the different ways to prep in a PBTA game this is one of my favorites. It gives you a bunch of guidance of how to do it and takes away a lot of the awkwardness of countdown clocks.
For Apocalypse World or Dungeon World I would probably have more arcs going on at the same time – that doesn’t seem quite fitting for Masks however but in the other games you need more stuff going on.
Why do you say clocks are awkward? (I agree, but would like to hear your thoughts on it)
Tim, could you give some examples of your arcs?
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I would also love to see examples 🙂
I’d like to see your examples too!
Wynand Louw Clocks in general are a super cool tool – but only if they are “x segments until Y happens”. I am not a fan of the clocks in AW1 since they have 6 or so segments and each of them is supposed to have a part of the plan happening. That was way too granular for my taste and always stopped my creativity instead of helping it.
Okay my Arc. Keep in mind, this is mostly just copied from my notes and has stuff implied that I know/understand but won’t go into too much detail here. Some explanation has been given.
It’s an Invasion Arc about the group Future Now flooding the city with the Dark Sky drug. The drug gives you superpowers.
Future Now is the follow up organization of the ex-nazi eugenicists + transhumanists that gave our Bull her powers.
The drug is synthesized from deepsea squids with ancient atlantean methods (i.e. magic). The first test run of the drug is what gave our Delinquent his powers.
NPCs:
Future Now, lead by Clarisa Van Valkenbrough
The kids using the drugs then are called Skyers
Ghostheart: (from the villain deck) He knows that the Dark Sky drug is linked to the elder evil The Princess caged in the night and wants to stop her breaching through into reality.
Siphon: (from the villain deck) sees this as his chance to get powers and be a hero with them.
Agent Orang: The nemesis of our Legacy line. Is funding the whole thing behind the scenes to get REVENGE!
Joachim Vasquez-Romero: The Delinquent’s husband
AEGIS and Sarah Harper: Agent Harper is the therapist and case worker for our Bull and kinda responsible for the team.
My Aegis is heavily influenced by reports of police brutality in the states right now and so they are not really a friendly organization like shield but closer to HAMMER. Shoot first, then explode it, then maybe shoot anyone asking questions.
Agent Harper is fighting against that.
Setting the Board
Future Now: Spread Dark Sky all across Halcyon, especially among super poor and super rich kids.
Ghostheart: Ask Night Moves about his powers and warn of their use Siphon: Catch a Skyer and drain his powers.
Agent Orang: Send mystical relics to Jen – they are a trap and will hurt her bad
Aegis: Hunt Night Moves (the Delinquent) and question him
Joachim: Gets NightMoves involved so her can prove himself and clear his name
Making a move
Future Now: Organize powered teams and give newer/better powers to their commanders. Send them out for havoc.
Ghostheart: Take out single Skyers, leaving them comatose while looking for their suppliers.
Agent Orang: Use fundings to have Skyers move against Jaq (The Legacy) and her team .
Siphon: Gets caught and sells himself out for better DarkSky, leads one of their squads.
Aegis: Takes down Skyers with lethal force but discreet.
Joachim: Takes DarkSky himself to be able to become a hero
Endgame
Future Now: Flood water supply with unstable NightSky
Ghostheart: Use the ritual of the morning sun to burn everyone with NightSky
Siphon: In an attempt to heroically drain all the NS from his squad, Siphon draws too much and becomes the host for The Princess caged in the night.
Aegis: Strikes at the command centre of FN, not caring for collateral. Joachim: joins „heroic“ Skyer strike team
Agent Orang: Uses moment of calm after victory to explode the Legacie’s place of work and then home killing everyone inside.
Then there are other elements to what is going on in the game; mostly the Hooks for the characters and single stuff I have in my head but not written down specifically. For example the Nova caused the soon destruction of a college dorm and she is not wearing anything to hide her identity. Her parents will get sued for collateral damage as well as for everyone who got hurt in the process.
Thanks, Tim! That was very detailed and very helpful.
Agent Orang: A simian that defoliates?
Love it!
The thing is, I could create another arc to throw in there but that is not how comic stories work. You have your main thing going on for 6 issues and then another thing. Maybe create the next arc in “issue 5″ish because then you can already put in seeds for the next thing in your last session of that arc.
Meanwhile Apocalypse World has about 4 or 5 of those arcs going on all the time and way more chaos about it.
Tim Franzke I think refrain from planning to add the next arc while you are doing it-but if the opportunity presents itself during the adventure, grab it. Plant some seeds when you see the ground is fertile, and not earlier.
But don’t distract too much from the main focus of your current arc, the invasion/drug thing. That’s what movies sometimes do badly-setting up the sequel without focusing on the movie they are currently doing.
Just my thoughts, feel free to ignore them. I haven’t even done an arc in my game yet. So what do I know? 😉