Author: Jason Cox

We just finished getting all caught up on Cloak and Dagger on Hulu, and I was thinking about how I would write them up in Masks. The story has been rewritten a little to fit in with contemporary society and more mature expectations, and that has moved Tyrone and Tandy away from the playbooks we might typically associate them with.

In the show, Tandy feels like “the Reformed”. She has a past life she can call on (more than one actually), and specializes in calling people out on their shit. She could also swing a Delinquent pretty clearly.

While you could call him a Janus, to me Tyrone is acting a lot more like a Legacy. This is interesting to me, because it brings the family questions down to a much more human level.

I get sick when I play first-person shooter games, and thus have never been able to play Overwatch. At the same time I love the characters and world they have developed, and enjoy all the material produced that is incidental to the game itself. With that in mind, I have been tossing around the idea of a Masks game inspired by Overwatch.

I’m not sure if it makes sense to set such a game in the pre-existing world, with the players as a kind of rising New Overwatch, or if it would be more enjoyable to establish some general understandings based on the game (notably that there was some kind of worldwide crisis to pull a group of heroes together and a scandal that blew them apart) and do some world designing with players.

I am inclined towards the second one, which almost has a solar-punk apocalypse world feel, but I also think the first one might have some appeal to new players of Masks. Any ideas or opinions?

Black Panther Thoughts on Shuri and STEAM:

Rather than the face of STEM, I think Shuri is if anything the face of STEAM. I think most people know that this stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math, though they may be less familiar with rationales for what the arts provide to that construction.

There is an unfortunate assumption that it either serves only to make STEM ideas palatable to non-scientifically inclined people or that STEM has the power to make artistic ideas a reality. What the Arts actually do is incorporate a human element. If you are considering user-centered design, whether from the aesthetic, cultural, or experiential angle, then you are required to envision and react to those potential users using knowledge that exists solidly in the artistic realm.

You can see Shuri’s appreciation for the arts in how she dresses and carries herself, and in her general practice of looking forward while still maintaining a cultural connection to Wakanda. Her designs are functional and elegant, and clearly reference designs, patterns, and uses that have emerged over the centuries in the isolated Afro-utopia that is Wakanda. You can also see this design philosophy in the nation’s buildings, styles of dress, rituals, and more or less every other aspect of life.

The various disciplines in STEAM can’t really be isolated in these constructions, so seamlessly are they integrated together. This is something of the whole point of STEAM for me, that concepts coexist to the point of complete synthesis. Essentially, STEAM ceases to exist because it is integral to thought.

This also points out part of the problem with using either STEM or STEAM within this context, which is that they are essentially Western divisions and unifications of thought. The terms (in my head canon) would be meaningless to a Wakandan, because they do not impose those separations in the same manner. Certainly, they would understand technology as an area of specialty, but to pull it apart from their history, philosophy, and people? Never.

I am just now looking at these AEGIS playbooks, and I love them already. I year to take them for a spin as soon as possible!

Thought of the day: In Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Lord is the Outsider.

I was watching Steven Universe with my wife, and thinking about how Steven grows from a child with potential into a Legacy while Conni moves into a Beacon, or possibly Protege, role. But while there is a divide between adults and kids as in Masks (Conni’s mom at one point literally denying the existence of monsters and her daughter’s ability to fight them), the overarching theme is family. The teenagers actually seem to be in an altogether different influence bracket than Conni and Steven, and characters like Jamie the Mailman and Mayor Dewey have governmental influence, but no real power over people. I think the show could be modeled in Masks, especially if the focus is moved from physical conflict to social ones, but I find myself wondering what sort of hacks would be called for.

I feel like I or someone else has made this observation before, but what the heck. I just finished watching Son of the Batman this morning, and I was thinking about how the collective Robins embody a range of Masks Archetypes (disregarding powers). In my mind, it goes Dick Grayson – Protege, Jason Todd – Delinquent, Tim Drake – Legacy, Stephanie Brown – Beacon, Damian Wayne – Bull.

I was watching some Luke Cage earlier today, and I was having some thoughts as to how the Netflix Marvel shows could be modeled in Masks. Cage is pretty clearly a Bull. I think Jessica is a Delinquent, where “psychic weapons” equates to her strength, and Patsy is a Beacon. Daredevil is pretty clearly one of the biggest Januses to ever Janus.

But one of the things I love about that show is how important the unpowered people are, how integral they are to the communities that are depicted. Foggy is clearly the better lawyer, as well as the better friend, in his partnership. Karen handles way more than she should, and she does it in a heroic style without ever trying to be a hero. Claire is amazing, any way you look at her. They are not Beacons, because they do not want what the heroes have, but neither are they really NPCs as we normally think of them in games.

Thoughts?

I kind of feel like The Innocent playbook should be applied to the Lois and Clark Superman encountering the Zack Snyder version of Superman.