Does any know the significance of the numbers in the top right of the villiany deck?
Does any know the significance of the numbers in the top right of the villiany deck?
If you weren’t in the know, Champions #1 (tagline “Because the world still needs heroes!”) dropped today from…
If you weren’t in the know, Champions #1 (tagline “Because the world still needs heroes!”) dropped today from Marvel, as part of their NOW! imprint they’re now running. You need to be reading this if you want to run a game of Masks, because this comic is Masks all over the place.
If you’ve been away from Marvel for a while, here’s the context you need: they ran Civil War II as a sequel to the original, this time tackling policing tactics and the surveillance state through the idea of whether perfect precognition could justify pre-emptive superhero force.
The fallout of this event brings us to Champions #1. Miles Morales (Spider-man) and Sam Alexander (Nova) have left the Avengers after being told they had to fight their friends “because the adults said so,” and Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) is all sorts of disenchanted with the Avengers because they’re happy to throw down with villains but they don’t put in the elbow work afterwards to do things, like, repair train tracks or fix people’s shops and homes. So, Ms. Marvel, Nova, and Spidey decide they’re going to be the kind of heroes they think the world deserves: ones who affect lasting change and who don’t get absorbed in big baby slap fights over politics every few years.
The premise of the comic alone is crammed to the brim with Masks concepts! The adults losing Influence over the PCs, the different ideologies of the different generations. It gels so nicely. The trio pick up Amadeus Cho (The Totally-Awesome Hulk) and Viv (Vision’s daughter) to round out their crew and they get to work kicking the ass of a villainous clown who is trafficking young women. Yeah, right off the bat, through the fun character dialogue and wacky teenage personalities, this comic brings out the big guns with a villain who is not a laughing matter, not a larger than life cartoon.
On the last couple pages, Champions spells out its philosophy: this team exists because the people deserve credibility in their protectors. There has been far too much “punching down” (the actual phrase used by Ms. Marvel and its great) by people with authority, lethal force used when it hasn’t been right. She says that they’re inheriting a world where violence does the talking, but that they can do better.
And when its all said and done, the kids have themselves a trending hashtag on Twitter.
I’m telling you, Masks through and through, and a really awesome start! Go give it a read, fill your brains with more Masks inspiration!
In retrospect, this movie might be a pretty good Masks resource, because Yellow Jacket is an interesting take on a…
In retrospect, this movie might be a pretty good Masks resource, because Yellow Jacket is an interesting take on a Doomed. Minor spoilers ahead, not much you wouldn’t get from the trailer.
So, Doomed Yellow Jacket. His Doom is insanity, brought on by working with imperfect Pym Particles without the proper protection, and by a lifetime of perceived betrayal and rejection.
Hank Pym is his Nemesis, a hero from a previous generation and his former mentor, whose inventions and refusal to take him into his confidence are what set his Doom in motion.
The plot is driven by Yellow Jacket trying to take his Nemesis down, by recreating Pym’s powers in his Sanctum. He eventually pushes his Doom far enough that he can take the Burning Bright Doomsign, ignoring the “you can only create a lesser version” requirement and perfecting his shrinking tech. You also see him use the Teleport Doomsign to appear in Scott’s daughter’s bedroom; it’s not instantaneous transportation, it’s just that he was so small he could get there without anyone noticing.
He’s a villain, but he hits all the right marks. Give it a look if you want to see a Doomed who isn’t Raven!
Oh yeah, and Scott is a Protege, obviously. Interesting to see a Protege whose unique power is one that his Mentor used to have but doesn’t anymore. Might have to steal that idea. :)
Shifting labels, like from the Bull’s “Punch Everyone” move, how long do these changes last?
Shifting labels, like from the Bull’s “Punch Everyone” move, how long do these changes last? The rest of that scene? Permanently?
when executing a hack or use of gadgetry to overcome an obstacle what move would be triggered?
when executing a hack or use of gadgetry to overcome an obstacle what move would be triggered?
I’m curious how peop[e have handled conditions.
I’m curious how peop[e have handled conditions. In my few games, It seems that I am usually struggling to assign particular conditions to characters and villians within the fiction. You can only say “you punch him through a wall and he gets angry” so many times before it begins to feel a little overdone.
I attempted an alternate take on condition, with a more dungeon-world/FATE feel, where the characters had a harm track and then took a condition to “overcome” the harm. The conditions were cumulative unless someone used the Comfort/support move (and allowed players to use it on themselves). We also used conditions such as blinded, electrocuted, stunned etc in order to reduce harm as well, allowing the player to take a -1 ongoing for each physical condition in lieu of being “knocked out”. Players became a little stronger at first, but it quickly became very interesting as our speedster got blinded, crashed into a building, and then got electrocuted.
I am open to other interpretations and/or better ideas on how to properly utilize conditions in game!
Pretty sure it’s been asked before, but can you take moves that depend on playbook extras as advancements?
Pretty sure it’s been asked before, but can you take moves that depend on playbook extras as advancements? Such as the Janus’s “Dangerous Web”, which relies on your mask label; or the Legacy’s “The legacy matters”, which depends on influence over/under someone from your legacy.
Related, does the Doomed ever get more burn if they take the “Get burn and three flares” advancement and can other playbooks take “The Mask” move from the Janus playbook? I feel like “The Mask” should have been organized as an Extra since it seems kinda integral to the Janus feel.
Short chain of interesting thoughts I’ve just had:
Short chain of interesting thoughts I’ve just had:
For being such a superficially physical and self-focused powerset, Superspeed is a surprisingly good fit for a Nova. It works with all the Flares, it has appropriate scope, and a reckless speedster who doesn’t have a handle on her powers yet is a suitably frightening prospect. This lead me to:
Looking at the Nova’s Flares actually seems like a pretty good way of imagining novel uses for your powers. That’s not really where the heart of the game is, but it can help make your action scenes more interesting, and maybe help spark some ideas for players who feel they don’t have much to contribute during those scenes. Which lead finally to:
In any system where there’s an apparent gap between the scopes of PC abilities, looking at the character options with evidently wider scope and imagining how to recreate them using the options with evidently narrower scope is probably a good thought experiment to try. This is obviously easier in more narrative and less simulationist systems, but asking the question “how can I do X when I only have Y” and genuinely trying to find an answer should be a helpful mindset even in more rigid systems.
Not entirely Masks related, but I figured I’d share. I think it’s cool that this game is indirectly going to lead me to richer experiences in other games.
Currently playing a Bull in the first ever game I’m in and finished up my first session last week.
Currently playing a Bull in the first ever game I’m in and finished up my first session last week. I had some questions for you guys just so I can enjoy this game as much as possible.
1. When a Bull has a Nova on the team, how do they go about cementing that their the best at fighting? Like The Hulk and Wolverine are both scary dudes but what does that matter when Phoenix or Scarlet Witch shows up?
2. Of the different roles it seems like the Bulls creative space is most focused on defining his powers and how they work given how open ended the questions are about what they are and how they work compared to other classes. Is it okay to followup on the exact way their powers work after creation or does that read more as trying to become OP or constantly adjusting the fiction to suit your needs?
3. A lot of classes get to choose from other playbooks moves or even other playbooks abilities as advances and the Bull just gets to define more of the relationships of Bull’s heart. Is having more options in that really so powerful? Am I missing something? So far it seems like Friend is the really powerful one of those given how fast it could possibly get you potential.
4. It seems like the Bull playbook seems contextually reliant on some sort of dark past (Weapon X program etc.) given things like the gm move suggesting “Reveal dark secrets of their past” and their love relationship being defined by “__ is your love. You’ve opened up to them about the worst parts of your past”. Does it hurt the fiction to not have a more morally corrupt backstory?
First time player here so happy to take any input you guys have to give.
So, I’ve been pondering as I read the playbooks, most of them are pretty flexible with the abilities and moves, and…
So, I’ve been pondering as I read the playbooks, most of them are pretty flexible with the abilities and moves, and advancement. But one problem I’ve noticed is with the Legacy, where you only have 4 options, 2 of them (“Superman” and “Shazam/Wonder Woman” the first and third sets) are for big beat sticks power wise, one is Batman and the other I’m not sure but it’s like Raven.
It feels sort of limiting to me, compared to the others and I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of other Suite’s that could help alleviate that problem but I keep running into walls.
I’ve thought of a “Jean Grey” With Telepathy, Telekinisis, Teleportation / Flight, Illusions, and Force Projection / Force Field but even that seems borderline obstructing onto others territory.
Any suggestions?