Tag: Alexi Sargeant

The B-Team of Salvatores from a recent session, GM’d by Leah Libresco. Pictured: Katya/Red Cent (The Reformed), Craig/Glow-rion (The Delinquent), Kevin/Sir Percival of Capstone (The Beacon), and Aislin (The Bull)!

A dramatic, family-focused Masks session last night. Fletcher Loxley (The Beacon), met his grandfather Errol—still alive and the director of F.A.T.E.! They collaborated to kidnap Fletch’s mind-controlled parents, in a scene involving snipers, a rocket car, and a Moment of Truth. Fletcher changed playbooks from the Beacon to the Legacy!

Panic (The Doomed) went home to Greenville to come clean to her parents, only to find her doppelgänger Sapphire usurping her life! The team captured Sapphire and Panic had a sweet moment with her mom Maribel—but Panic’s Doom inched closer as she sprouted Rime Court horns!

Sonia (The Soldier) used a Moment of Truth to reconnect Aislin and Furnace to the mystical Kiln. Her alliances and enmities with the various Forge scientists grew more complex. And she dealt with facing Panic and Sapphire by blasting them both, planning to sort it out later!

Halfpenny (The Transformed) got himself exorcized, lessening Mr. Hunt’s hold over him. His transmuting and telepathic powers shifted in the process, leaving him unable to return to his mundane form but able to turn his arms into strange materials and communicate with squirrels.

Torq (The Nova) didn’t blow anything up (though he needed it to be explained to him why Panic minded Sapphire usurping her family). At session’s end, the team was bruised, battered, and prepping to leave this plane of reality on a quest to rescue Baron Devastation.

A final ChristMASKS Love Letter, for Halfpenny the Transformed (a former Protege, who also has Doom Track). This one has the hardest miss I’ve ever written for a love letter or any custom move. Let’s see what happens!

Dear Halfpenny,

The time has come, you’ve decided, for auld acquaintance to be forgot.

You’ve learned what you can from Mr. Hunt, but this thing where he controls your body for fourteen minutes, forty seconds of each day is getting old. Time to kick him to the curb. What’s the worst that can happen? (Oh, you poor, naïve soul.)

The Forge has been working on a way to assist you with your Bad Penny problem. The procedure is relatively simple: Two circles of salt and flame are ignited, one around you and one around the card of Mr. Hunt’s that Sonia delivered to Dr. Nix. Once the wards are secure, Candelabra will also set the business card on fire. In theory (in theory!) this should weaken Mr. Hunt’s hold on you, as he’ll also be pulled to his card and (hopefully) caught in that ward. Then the Forgeling can attempt to exorcise his remaining grip and free you.

Only Nix and Candelabra are here. You worried about what dangers your teammates might be exposed to if they watched. You alone decided to eat the Bad Penny. You will face these consequences alone too. If this works, you can speak to your team freely without worrying about Hunt for the first time in a long time. If this doesn’t… well, it’s best they don’t have to see whatever happens to you, you think again, trying to silence the nagging thought that you’re making an even bigger mistake than before.

Nix looks you over. “Pray this works, Halfpenny. Your situation is untenable. If this fails…” she trails off, then walks briskly to an observation station. “Candelabra, update.”

“Ready to light.” The intense young girl steps away from the flickering barrier she’s erected around you. It doesn’t look like much, especially given your inhuman strength and bulk. But you’ve seen Candelabra work her magic before. You feel the telltale shiver of the Penny reacting to what’s going on. Is Hunt…afraid? impatient? Either way, you’ve had enough of him living rent free in your body. You give Candelabra a final thumbs up, then hunker down. You wanted to have a clever quip here, but your throat has gone dry.

Candelabra lights the circle. Your vision woozily shifts, and once more you’re in that boxing ring with Mr. Hunt glaring at you from the other corner…

(But, of course, there’s no way to know how your transformed body will react to all this magic. Perhaps you’ll find yourself even more monstrous by the time the ritual is done.)

Roll +your +1 forwards on the Bad Penny, that is, +3.

On a hit, Mr. Hunt’s presence within you is curbed. A part of him remains within your mind, but much of him is banished to…elsewhere. Clear a Doomsign.

On a 10+, you manage to ask Mr. Hunt a question as this goes down. The GM will give you an honest answer. Then choose one complication from below.

On a 7-9, choose two complications.

—The nature of your transmuting flesh shifts radically. You can do freakier things, like coat a whole arm in metal or form spiky protrusions, but you can no longer shift back into your mundane Felipe form.

—Your animal telepathy kicks into overdrive. Now you realize that you can reach out to mammals…but being around them when they’re excited can cause painful feedback that makes you risk losing control of your powers.

—Wherever you go, coins are attracted to you as if by magnetism. They propel themselves towards you and embed in your flesh.

On a miss, things go very badly. Mr. Hunt was wilier than you thought. Instead of him being exorcized, you are booted from your body and find your mind floating in the ether, unmoored. Mr. Hunt has full control over the body that, once, was yours.

What is it like being a free-floating spirit in the in-between? What does Halfpenny see or experience there that is most disturbing? Mark an appropriate condition. Then make your doom track thrice. Then tell me how you get in touch with Panic psychically to plead for help.

Happy New Year, Felipe Farthing. Hope you get the chance to see it.

XXOO,

Your Gamemaster

P.S. What, you expect more love letters? Not a chance. Go on, get out of here! There’ll be adventure enough on Saturday.

A ChristMASKS Love Letter for Sonia, the former Bull turned Soldier.

Dear Sonia,

In Darkhavia, the winter holidays are a time of chilling ghost stories, children cowering in fear of shaggy beasts with whips and sacks, and the omnipresent threat of severe punishment for misdeeds. Of course, that’s pretty much how things are year round there… Enjoying your new citizenship? Well pull up a blanket and try to get cozy. It’s going to be a very Darkhavian Christmas.

Viscount Consternation, current ruler of Darkhavia, has come to Capstone with two goals in mind. The first: throw his weight around with F.A.T.E. to teach them there’s a cost to kidnapping Darkhavian citizens.

The second: make it clear to everyone at the Forge that his care for Darkhavia is so deep and so magnanimous that he will rise to the defense of even someone who deserves it as little as you do.

That’s fine by you, of course, since you have a plan to recruit the recovering Invictus junkies at the Forge to humiliate Viscount Consternation. These kids are all jonesing for superpowers, right? Why not recruit them to the Forge’s cause and fire them up for the fight against the Rime Court. Of course, you know that Consternation can’t comply with this plan, because Nix says it will take Baron Devastation to grant fire powers to more Forgelings. But forcing Consternation to confirm this publicly should knock him down a peg, and help underline the need to bring Devastation back. That’s the idea, anyway.

Roll +Soldier, that is, +1.

On a hit, choose someone at the Forge to join your conspiracy. The GM will tell you what important resource or intel they bring to the table.

But if this works, Consternation will be looking for revenge. On a 10+ choose two, on a 7-9 choose one.

He doesn’t find a way to take his humiliation out on:

You, Sonia

Dr. Nix

Furnace and Aislin

On 6-, he turns the tables and Nix joins in (for cover, she says). Still couldn’t she have distanced herself without stooping to breaking that promise/betraying that trust? What happened and what condition do you mark?

Hope your little scheme turns out to be worth it. Merry Christmas, Sonia Ignacio.

XXOO,

Your Gamemaster

P.S.: You haven’t been forgotten, Halfpenny. There’s still room in your stocking for a little loose change…

A ChristMASKS Love Letter for Panic, the former Delinquent, now Doomed. I’m incorporating the advance she took (move from another playbook: Kirby-Craft) and some consequences for her recent arrest and escape.

Dear Panic,

Ho ho ho.

Well, you’re sprung. But you were locked away from your cloak for a little while. As soon as you get combobulated, you notice two important things: your right arm and the whole right side of your torso is cold to the touch. And there are tiny little horns starting to poke out of your forehead! Your immediate worry is about how to explain this to Uncle Cas and the rest of your family. Fortunately, your bangs are able to cover the horns…at least for now.

When you fish your phone out of the bag of belongings Kevin and his team snagged, your heart drops. There are sixteen missed calls and nine voicemails from Uncle Cas.

Dreading facing your guardian, and remembering that he’d said he’d have to tell your parents if you got arrested again, you decide to first check in at the Sanctuary. Edith is pleased to hear how you helped so many kids who’d been ensnared by the Rime Court to possibly get free. (In your telling, you minimize the fact you’d handed them over to the Forge.) But she is distraught by the ever-growing effects of your curse. She thinks the teleportation powers you discovered are not safe to rely on. “You’ll just turn faster that way, Elodie. But if it’s transportation you need, the Sanctuary can provide.”

With Edith’s help, you summon a ship made of bones.

Tell us about your bone ship. What does Panic call it? And what’s the exotic fuel source you’ve chosen for it?

Then, it’s time to talk to Uncle Cas. You have a plan: come clean about the prison thing, and let him know you’re actively planning to tell your parents (and, most frighteningly, your mom) about your superhero exploits. You talked to your aunt about it and everything! Surely that should be good enough for him, right? You can even show him your bone ship and offer to bring him along to Greenville.

Roll +Mundane. [If you don’t know this, I can tell you soon.] On a 10+, you mostly get what you want. But choose one complication. On a 7-9, choose two.

You frighten Uncle Cas with your powers and the danger you’re in. Mark your doom track.

Uncle Cas’s distressed emotional reaction to your situation rattles you. Mark a condition.

Demonstrating your bone ship summoning without Edith’s guidance leads you to overexert yourself. Mark your doom track.

On a miss, Uncle Cas is teary-eyed but stern. He wants you to understand how in over your head you are. Choose one of the above complications, and the GM will shift your labels. Cas shows a copy of the letter he’s already mailed to your parents. If you want to break the truth to the Greenville family your way, you’ll have to beat the postal service there.

Well, no bones about it, Panic. Christmas is a time for family.

XXOO,

Your Gamemaster

P.S.: Stay tuned, other Salvatores. I hear jingle bells on their way. Jingle. Jingle.

Another Merry ChrisMASKS love letter I’ve sent out to a player, the Beacon named Fletcher Loxley (who recently upgraded his codename from Captain Bowmaster to General Bowmaster).

Dear Fletch,

All right, big shot. You’re alive and out of jail. And you’re a general now, apparently. But what will you do when the battle comes home to you?

Fletch wakes up at Kevin’s parents’ garage, and gets a confused recap of the rescue mission from Kevin—and Craig (?) and apparently Katya was involved but also Red Cent turned up (?!) and something big happened with the mayor… but the biggest thing Fletch hears is something disturbing about his parents. What happened in the mayor’s office after he jumped into the painting? Fletch races home to find out.

Back home everything seems…weirdly unchanged. Bart is reading the paper, Evelyn is making spaghetti. But it all seems a little too normal, like that one film of your grandfather’s, “The Stridebridge Husbands.” Tell us about some very usual details here that now strike you as disturbing.

Of course you want to get to the bottom of this…but also a part of you doesn’t, since your parents seem totally unstressed and fine for the first time in a while and your dad isn’t even taking issue with your superheroing. Roll +Savior and -Mundane, that is, +1.

On a hit, ask the GM a question that he will answer honestly. Then tell us how you uncovered the answer.

On a 10+, take +1 forward on one of your parents. How are you preparing for facing off with them in one way or another?

On a 7-9, you get your answer, but it costs you. What aspect of normal life can’t be the same for Fletch anymore? Why is this important to you?

On a miss, you give away a teammate’s secret while attempting to investigate. How? Whose secret? Mark an appropriate condition. What grand gesture are you now planning to make it up to them?

Merry Christmas, Fletcher Loxely.

XXOO,

Your GM

P.S.: Waiting to find out if you’re on the naughty or nice list, other Salvatores? Sit tight, you’ll know soon enough…

I wrote the following Merry ChristMASKS Love Letter and sent it out today. I used the mechanic of bonuses for answers rather than stats because none of us have access to the players’ playbooks while traveling over the holidays. The love letter follows the former Outsider, now the Nova, at his new school situation. One of his classmates is Bernice/Candelabra, a worryingly intense little girl from the Soldier’s organization:

Dear Torq,

Well, well, well. Once again, you have been plucked from imprisonment by your resourceful friends. I guess you must be feeling like you dodged a bullet. Flush with luck and untouchable by the cares of the world. Little do you know what new challenge awaits you in your civilian life: A group project book report!

That’s right. The good sisters at St. Rose of Lima’s Caritas schooling program have paired up students to read a work of edifying non-fiction and deliver a book report or creative presentation on it to their classmates. As luck would have, Cody Nicholson and Bernice [fake last name] are assigned to collaborate.

Answer the following questions honestly and take +1 for each “Yes”:

Is Torq is able to focus on the assignment, given everything else going on in his life?

Is Torq is able to collaborate well with Candelabra, given her eccentricities?

Is Torq able to frame their report or presentation for an audience of humans, given their alien worldview?

Tell us what book you’re reporting on. Then, roll +any relevant bonuses. No matter the result, describe something about the report or presentation.

On a 10+, choose two. On a 7–9, choose one:

Shift labels as you choose, moving Mundane, Superior, or Savior up and another label down. How did this project affect Torq’s self-image?

Take Influence over Candelabra. How did you two bond during your group assignment?

Take Influence over Sr. Lucia Marie. How did you positively surprise her with your work?

On a 7–9, also tell us how the book’s material was particularly difficult or upsetting for Torq and how he dealt with that.

On a miss, tell us how Torq manages to bungle this report, and why this failure is important. Mark an appropriate condition. What foolhardy action is he now planning?

Merry Christmas, Cody Nicholson.

XXOO,

Your GM

P.S.: Don’t worry, other Salvatores. Santa hasn’t forgotten you. And Christmas is a season, not a day…

Yesterday’s Masks RPG was a doozy. Not one, but two Moments of Truth, plus the team faced the menace of the Calamity Crew, a black ops team of collared supervillains dispatched to bring them in…with several members nursing personal grudges against them.

Panic (The Doomed) discovered that her missing classmate Nadia was actually the speedster supervillain Spatterdash, locked up in a F.A.T.E. prison. Panic used her Moment of Truth to spring Spatterdash, and other kids she thought were being held in unjust conditions.

Halfpenny (The Transformed) learned to shift between his monstrous and human forms, but also faced consequences of signing over control of his body to the sinister Mr. Hunt for 14min, 40sec a day. He learned that, controlled by Hunt, he’d authorized an attack on a teammate’s mom!

General Bowmaster (The Beacon) raced to City Hall to save his mom, the deputy mayor. He bonded with his dad along the way, but when they arrived his mom seemed hypnotized, and Bowmaster leapt into the sinister painting that was responsible—only to be captured by evil forces!

In the Calamity Crew ambush, Sonia (The Soldier) traded blows with Chopbuster, only to realize to her chagrin he was Jim Keaton (a man she’d paralyzed) in an experimental power suit. Fleeing the fight, unleashing her powers, she turned utterly into flame—and was snuffed out!

Torq’s (The Nova) reality-warping Moment of Truth sent the Calamity Crew packing, though not before he learned that Uproar was an alien whose homeworld had been wiped out by Torq’s own former homeworld. It seemed like the Salvatores, minus 2 members, had a hard-won victory…

…But you can’t fight F.A.T.E. forever, and the law caught up to our heroes, with every single PC captured at the end of the session. Who will save them? The team of ne’er-do-well side character we’re playing in the next session, GM’d by Leah Libresco! Wish us luck!

A wild session of our campaign. The team hosted a press conference, fought zombies, picked a fight way above their weight class, and worked on unraveling some mysteries. And new art for Sonia (The Soldier) and Torq (The Nova) debuted!

The plot turned on Panic (The Doomed) trying to help her brother regain his lost powers. The plan involved calling a press conference to convince people he hadn’t lost his powers at all. Of course, zombies attacked, led by General Decay on a WAR SKELEPHANT.

Sonia burned through the zombies, and Torq decapitated General Decay (the head was still alive/undead). So the horde was defeated. But then the Lady of Lauds (patroness behind Panic’s brother’s powers) showed up. She was unimpressed. Halfpenny (The Transformed) decided to fight her.

Oh, and did I mention that Halfpenny also has a deal with Mr. Hunt, the sinister entity in his head, to let Hunt control his body for exactly a hundredth of each day, in exchange for Hunt training him to shift between his normal and monstrous forms? He totally made that deal.

Anyway, the Lady vanishes after a few dramatic blows and tantalizing hints. The Salvatores pick up the pieces (and set up a cliffhanger with some accidental teleportation). What awaits our fearless team next time? (Pictured: the whole team, illustrated.)

Our latest Masks session was a MUSICAL EPISODE. The team attends a meeting of Parents Against Invictus to scope out the mayor. But who’s that, bent on kidnapping the mayor? None other than…The Conductor!

The Conductor had the power to compel people to sing (and by doing so, exert control over them). General Bowmaster (The Beacon—w/ new art!) was hesitant to fight him because his persona strongly resembled that of Bowmaster’s grandfather in the film The Phantasm of the Orchestra.

GB sang an Italian opera number about his conflicted feelings. Halfpenny (The Transformed) sang a Sinatra-esque duet with the Bad Penny he swallowed about the struggle for his soul. Sonia (The Soldier) sang—to the tune of West Side Story’s “America”—of her worries about her powers.

All those songs were essentially improvised by my wonderful players! I had a couple songs prepped for the NPCs, including a Red Cent song to the Tetris theme. Ultimately, The Conductor was defeated, but the Salvatores remain suspicious of the mayor—and, now, vice versa.