Hey, all!
Hey, all! I’m going to start running a campaign this weekend, and we’ve decided on Chicago as our city of choice. I’ve got the city guide, but can anyone recommend some good films or shows that capture the feel of the city? Never been there, and I’d like to be as authentic as I can.
Today I learned:
Today I learned:
1. You can add custom fields to elements in Kumu relationship maps.
2. Those fields’ values can be URLs.
3. You can export a kumu map as an Excel file.
4. Once you do, it’s super easy to copy and paste all the data from one particular field into, for example, an online converter.
So naturally, I took the relationship map from a game I’m playing in (https://kumu.io/JamesE/masks-everymans-rangers), gave everyone and everything a theme song, and created a playlist of all those songs using http://www.playlist-converter.net/
Picking music took a while. Exporting and converting everything took about five minutes. Use this technology as you will! In the meantime, enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM0jLsOvs4c3TcBZ0ozThRcaC2oM2cXLu
It’s funny because her Doom is that she’ll one day run so fast that she shatters the spacetime continuum.
It’s funny because her Doom is that she’ll one day run so fast that she shatters the spacetime continuum.
Originally shared by Jamie Frost
Highlight of the day: my Doomed speedster just ran so fast that my computer crashed. #justmasksthings
If you’re looking for an adult NPC to add to your game, have you considered a therapist?
If you’re looking for an adult NPC to add to your game, have you considered a therapist? It’s a pretty textbook way to tell characters who they are and how the world works, and if handled well it can create some cool dynamics. Maybe check out The Bright Sessions for inspiration.
Originally shared by Jamie Frost
If you’re into serial fiction or superhero fiction at all, I’d recommend checking out The Bright Sessions. It’s a podcast about a psychologist and her sessions with “atypicals,” i.e. people with paranormal abilities. It reminds me a lot of The Booth at the End; the action happens off-screen and we’re told about it after the fact, the stories grow and start to intertwine as the show goes on, and the lynchpin character has her own agenda that’s slowly revealed over time. Really great stuff.
Guess what just started arriving in the mail? 😀
Guess what just started arriving in the mail? 😀
Originally shared by Jamie Frost
Quoth the raven, cosplaying as the Kool-Aid Man, “OH YEAH!”
Had a glance through the final versions of the HCHC playbooks that just dropped.
Had a glance through the final versions of the HCHC playbooks that just dropped. My opinion of most of them is largely unchanged (some refinements here and there, but nothing really paradigm-shifting that I can see), but oh my goodness the new version of The Joined is so much better than the playtest version.
Having your character’s defining relationship be with another player instead of, well, yourself is a real game-changer, and it’s done pretty darned elegantly on the whole. It’s gone from a playbook that I felt largely missed the point of the game to one that I’d really like to play. Great job all around.
So, Impossible Fighting Skills from The Protege.
So, Impossible Fighting Skills from The Protege. Have y’all seen any especially cool spins on this ability at the table? I’ve seen some clever versions of the Janus’s Impossible Mobility (superspeed, altering personal gravity, dissolving into mist), but with the fighting skills thing I’ve only ever seen ‘really good at martial arts.’ I’m curious to hear some weirder interpretations that have popped up.
For New Legends, I’ve been using a threat classification guide for AEGIS, though it hasn’t really come up.
For New Legends, I’ve been using a threat classification guide for AEGIS, though it hasn’t really come up. Figured I’d share.
~~~~~~~~
All metanomalies are given a two-character alphanumeric signifier, followed by a short descriptor. The first character is a letter which denotes the source of the metanomaly’s power, used to determine on short notice which equipment and techniques are most suited to neutralize the threat. The following list is considered in-progress.
A – Arcane. Power is drawn from mystic or otherworldly energies.
D – Dimensional. Power is native to another dimension.
E – Extraterrestrial. Power is native to another planet in this dimension.
M – Mutant. Power stems from a twist in evolution.
T – Technology. Power is based in science significantly more advanced than what is commonly available.
U: Unknown. Temporary label for new threats that have yet to be categorized.
X: Unique. Power stems from a source that does not fit into an existing category, which is not shared by any other metanomaly.
Z: Zero. Metanomaly does not have any powers that could be classified as abnormal, but they are in AEGIS databanks for other reasons.
The second character is a number which indicates the relative threat level of the metanomaly. The threat level may change over time, as it takes into account both the power and competence of the metanomaly. Past actions or trends of behavior are not taken into account.
0: Possesses no noteworthy advantage over unpowered humans.
1: Can be considered as dangerous as an armed human. Ordinary law enforcement are considered able and authorized to deal with the threat.
2: Beyond street level. Ordinary law enforcement should not approach. Single superheroes and AEGIS teams are considered able to deal with threat.
3: Significant threat. Only specialized AEGIS tac-teams and superhero teams should approach.
4: Threat to national security. Each known level 4 threat has a multijurisdictional task force headed by AEGIS devoted to monitoring and defending against it. Veteran superhero teams with special insight are on-call.
5: Existential threat. No specific countermeasures exist; in the event of a level 5 threat, every resource AEGIS has access to is brought to bear and we hope that Earth survives.
Lastly, a descriptor is appended, specifying the expression of the metanomaly’s power in order to advise which safety precautions should be taken.
Examples
Sick Burn – M2 Acid Spitter. Modern-age supervillain with a caustic wit who can spit gobs of extremely corrosive acid. Currently incarcerated, awaiting trial.
Professor Giant Robot Dinosaur – T3 Roboticist. Silver age supervillain who pilots a heavily armed size-shifting robotic T-Rex. Currently incarcerated, filming new season of show on NPR.
Ocelotl – U1 Zoanthrope. Modern hero with the agility and senses of a cat. Current member of New Legends.
A bit of fun from my weekly Masks: New Legends game.
A bit of fun from my weekly Masks: New Legends game. The team recently learned that Azurite (The Reformed)’s villainous recently-ex girlfriend is planning to lure them into an ambush, blackmailing Ocelotl (The Janus) into fighting on her side. The natural response, of course, was to ask for help, which is exactly what AO YEAH! (The DOOOMED) did, using Capeconnect, a social media network for both heroes and villains run by the enigmatic Steve. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to make use of the #halcyonian hero roster, so Sparkus Clark’s Emerald Errant will be making an appearance.
Related note, does anybody have any tips on running big combats with multiple supers on both sides? I’m guessing it’s mainly going to be a smattering of splash panels and zoom-outs and hoping for the best, but any advice would be appreciated!
I’m currently running a game of Masks on Sundays, and am considering starting up a second campaign of something…
Originally shared by Jamie Frost
I’m currently running a game of Masks on Sundays, and am considering starting up a second campaign of something different. It would be weekly, on either Tuesday or Thursday, with run time of 3 hours which I’m okay running a little long on, a start time of no sooner than 5pm EST and an end time of no later than 10pm EST. The medium would probably be Roll20 and Hangouts. Cast your votes regardless, but if you’d be interested in playing let me know your time and date preferences.
Potential campaigns are as follows:
Avatar FAE: I really like both Avatar series, and the setting is ripe for roleplaying. I ran a campaign in it once, but there were a couple of problems. The first was that I used a mishmash of Atomic Robo and Venture City, and it was too crunchy and weird; stripping it down to FAE with Aspect permissions doing most of the work should help that. The other issue is that it was too sandbox-y and I didn’t give there players much to latch onto, plus they didn’t have much hand in world building. To fix that, we’d carve out our space in the setting using A Spark in Fate Core.
Fellowship of the Mushroom Kingdom: One of the things I really like about the Paper Mario games is how they take all these characters who would ordinarily be power up pinatas and give them personalities and cultures. The sidekicks are really way more interesting than Mario! So I’d like to run a game where the PCs are nonhuman characters, like Bobombs and Shy Guys and Goombas and whatnot, who have to save the Mushroom Kingdom from a terrible threat while the plumbers aren’t around. The system would be Fellowship by Jacob Randolph.
Masks and Mechas: I like Masks, and I like giant robots, so why not combine them? The PCs would be young mech pilots, in a setting where mechs are as much a part of life as supers are in Halcyon City. This one will probably require the most work on everyone’s part to get right, because Masks requires that certain thematic elements be present and we’ll need to make sure the setting has them all.