Category: Masks: A New Generation RPG

It’s looking like a player in my campaign (the Beacon) will have to miss three sessions in a row.

It’s looking like a player in my campaign (the Beacon) will have to miss three sessions in a row.

It’s looking like a player in my campaign (the Beacon) will have to miss three sessions in a row. We are all a bit bummed about it. I’m thinking over how to handle this so that positive things come out of it for his character and for the story. I’m open to advice!

My basic idea is to chat with my player about what he’d like his character to do, in general terms, during the sessions he’ll miss. I may suggest playing to some of his current Beacon drives: Take down a threat all on his own, and Travel to an incredible place or time.

Then I’ll craft love letters based on that, probably one for each missed session. I’ll also allow/encourage the players to play a couple out-of-session roleplaying scenes (in a Google doc or something like that) for times the Beacon is able and willing to communicate with the team.

How have your playgroups handled things like this? Or how would you advise me to proceed here? Any tips are welcome!

Another “spirit of the playbook” question here.

Another “spirit of the playbook” question here.

Another “spirit of the playbook” question here. I’m considering making a Janus with the ability to shapechange into a dinosaur, opting for a set of powers that are restricted to an alternate form. What I’m wondering is if this is too far outside the realm of what the Janus is supposed to be.

On the one hand, there’s plenty of teen heroes to fit the bill without an actual mask to wear–Danny Phantom and Sailor Moon come to mind.

On the other, I can’t help but wonder how certain aspects of the Janus would function. Would the completely different form make others not even consider a secret identity? Does the Moment of Truth belie a literal unmasking or just an outing of the person behind the mask?

Or am I just thinking too hard about this exercise in creating a hybrid between Diego Brando and Old Lace from the Runaways?

A few months ago, I wrote a custom playbook for Masks – the Host – and posted it on reddit.

A few months ago, I wrote a custom playbook for Masks – the Host – and posted it on reddit.

A few months ago, I wrote a custom playbook for Masks – the Host – and posted it on reddit. They sent me here, and my join request finally went through! I was hoping to get some feedback, since one of the players in one of my current Masks games has entertained the notion of switching to it with one of his future advances.

That same player did the art for the Host, though, at the time, we were still in the middle of his character’s arc of growth and changing playbooks wasn’t really on the table yet.

So, here it is:

https://imgur.com/a/8WY5R

Is it valid for a Protege to target their Mentor with the “Someone permanently loses Influence over you” Advance?

Is it valid for a Protege to target their Mentor with the “Someone permanently loses Influence over you” Advance?

Is it valid for a Protege to target their Mentor with the “Someone permanently loses Influence over you” Advance? Or at that point, if they’re never going to care what their Mentor thinks of them again, should the character just be changing playbooks?

Share your thoughts below!

One of my players is playing the Deliquescent and wants to take the move Dangerous Web from The Janus playbook with…

One of my players is playing the Deliquescent and wants to take the move Dangerous Web from The Janus playbook with…

One of my players is playing the Deliquescent and wants to take the move Dangerous Web from The Janus playbook with an advancement. The move mentions the Mask Label. Would that mean they need to take the Mask move first or otherwise it’s off limits? Or would they pick what Stat their character’s mask would be if they had it?

Had a fun session last night. Split the party, so I printed out separate Team pools for each half of the team.

Had a fun session last night. Split the party, so I printed out separate Team pools for each half of the team.

Had a fun session last night. Split the party, so I printed out separate Team pools for each half of the team.

The boys infiltrated a superpower-granting drug rave and the girls interrogated Viscount Consternation (in what turned out to be a Hannibal Lecter-style scene, where he was a pretty big threat to them from behind bars).

And Halfpenny the Protégé not only took the superpower drug, but used his Moment of Truth to agree to train with his mentor’s archnemesis! Wild. I love it when my players surprise me.

After a few false starts, I finally get a session 2 in one of my Masks games!

After a few false starts, I finally get a session 2 in one of my Masks games!

After a few false starts, I finally get a session 2 in one of my Masks games!

Making custom moves is something I have yet to try my hand at, and notice that this group seems to be a good place to vet them.

I am planning on the players getting involved in the Rook Academy, which is Rook Industries’ bid to take over the development of young supers. It’s sort of an “evil Hogwarts.” One thing about Rook Industries in my game is that they have a marquee super-team and I want to give the players a chance to glimpse into the danger that Rook represents.

So, I considered that Rook might run a contest in the academy to recruit members into the “junior edition” of the Superior Six, loosely inspired by the Potterverse’s tri-wizard cup:

When you compete in the Superior Six Standoff:

Roll + Your weakest Label (choose on a tie).

On a hit, the ordeals of the competition taught you something. Shift the used label up and one other label down (your choice).

On a 10+, you are on the team, and choose 2.

On a 7-9, choose one:

• Learn a disturbing truth about Rook Academy

• Learn a disturbing truth about the Superior Six

• Describe one of the competitors you faced during the competition who you came to an accord with. Take influence over them.

On a miss, describe how your weak label cost you the competition, and what you learned from it. The GM shifts the used label up and one other label down.

First off, any suggestions for the move?

Second off, I need some juicy “disturbing truths” to feed the players here, and need ideas.

Has anyone else thought of using the game Superfight as an interchangeable deck of villainy?

Has anyone else thought of using the game Superfight as an interchangeable deck of villainy?

Has anyone else thought of using the game Superfight as an interchangeable deck of villainy? I haven’t actually started our campaign, yet, but I’ve started gathering a small collection of villains for use in our first couple sessions. Superfight is an Cards Against Humanity-type game, only instead of filling in the blank with the funniest answer, players have to defeat supervillains with the best custom hero. Below is an example of a villain I made after gathering mostly-random cards from the Superfight decks. Feel free to use her (that is, if you haven’t already done a T-Rex, which it feels like a lot of people like to use haha). I do have a couple more examples if anyone’s interested.

Resurrector

Modern Generation

To make humanity go extinct.

A staunch environmentalist, “The Resurrector” gave up her legal name, spent all her savings on resurrecting a T-Rex, a Greater White Shark, and a Woolly Mammoth, and now unleashes them on humanity, aiming to kill all the humans so nature can return to its “healthier, more normal” course. Wanting to participate in humanity’s destruction without being human herself, The Resurrector uploaded her mind into a set of three helmets, each of which controls an animal. The helmets can be finicky and mentally disorienting, though, so she takes turns focusing on controlling the actions of one animal and amplifying her voice through that one helmet at a time. The animals, when not under her direct control, are easily distracted, and charge at anything that taunts them. The shark has water tanks for its gills and two nimble robotic arm/legs.

Moves:

-Frighten and endanger innocents with the mindless rage of a hungry beast

-Coordinate a surprise attack by using one animal as a loud distraction

-Send the woolly mammoth on an unrelenting rampage through the streets

-Use the T-Rex’s jaws to send large and important things flying

-Show surprising and dangerous agility as the robotic shark

Conditions:

Angry

Guilty

Hopeless

Insecure

An artistic rendering of our team’s latest adventure:

An artistic rendering of our team’s latest adventure:

An artistic rendering of our team’s latest adventure:

Halfpenny (the Protégé) socking Comediennemy, Panic (the Delinquent) creating illusions of Halcyon City supers, and Sonia (the Bull) throwing Torque (the Outsider) like a javelin.

NB: This all takes place on the severed hand of a giant metal space god named Ultimatus, a leftover from one of Captain Invincible’s victories. The hand’s resting place is called Titanfall Meadow, and humans have turned it into a concert venue: musicians perform on the upward-facing palm of Ultimatus’s hand.