So, what are everyone’s favorite playbooks, and why?
I love Transformed and Outsider. The feeling of not being comfortable with yourself, as well as the feeling of not belonging that the two have respectively is really powerful for good pathos.
So, what are everyone’s favorite playbooks, and why?
So, what are everyone’s favorite playbooks, and why?
Hmm, hard to narrow but the ones that have a very distinctive unique mechanic such as Beacon, Doomed, Legacy, or Janus.
I love the Nova, and the way it focuses on the dangers of being a font of raw, barely controlled power.
Outsider, although if I had to do it again (for the game I’m currently in) I’d have done things a bit differently. There’s that whole fish-out-of-water feel that makes for an enjoyable challenge. Transformed also looks like a ton of fun.
ETA parenthetical comment for clarity’s sake.
The Beacon, The Bull and The Transformed.
The Beacon gets rewarded for making fun things happen, The Bull points a spotlight at interpersonal relationships and is awesome at getting to the gooey emotional center of Masks, and The Transformed is prone to riding the real psychological meaning of labels more than most playbooks.
The Outsider seems neat, but I’ve yet to see one in play despite having played Masks with like… 15-20 different people. :/
Still haven’t gotten to play yet, but I really like The Protege. You’re handed a strongly codified and complex relationship with an adult hero on a silver platter, and it puts you into cross-generational relationships and zeroes in on your personal identity in a way I really like.
Everything about the Beacon makes it an incredible playbook. I played in a group with Brendan as the GM and we all gave him shit about how the Beacon is hands down the absolute best playbook. Those drives really “drive” the player to really make the Beacon into what it’s all about, and it’s always fun to see.
The Outsider jumped out at me as a person who defines the team. The ones I’ve seen are either hedonistic jerks, powerful pollyanas or secretive, hurt immigrants torn between the demands of a new world and an old one. It’s most likely the team ARE their best friends, and maybe some of the few earthlings they know, and their moves are “shape me, shape me, shape me, you inferior earth apes!”
I really enjoyed The Beacon for the idea of someone just going out and doing good because that’s what superheroes do. I also like Protege, mostly because I’ve always been a big Robin fan.