The Brain
The Harbinger
The Soldier
I finally got a chance to take a look at the supplemental Playbooks through my Backer-kit.
I have to say that I LOVE these three way more than the previous supplemental Playbooks that have been published. I’m having a little trouble putting my finger on why but I think it’s because these three much better represent the characters I thought I might see represented in the others. Also, these character archetypes resonate with me much better.
The Brain is great at representing Tony Stark or Hank Pym, but I also think it does a 100% better job at representing Lex /Lena Luthor than the Reformed Playbook does.
The Soldier is a Playbook I can identify with because one of the Masks characters I’ve created, a Bull, would actually be much more aligned with the Soldier than with the Bull. You can also very clearly see the parallels between this Playbook and the cinematic Captain America, who is probably my favorite MCU character. This Playbook is also great for playing a character who is more like Colossus than Wolverine. It’s amazing how a shift in attitude and perspective can totally distinguish Playbooks that could be virtually identical in other types of games.
The Harbinger sings to me merely because Bishop is one of my top five favorite X-Men. And the parallels to Bishop and Cable is obvious, as is the inspiration from DCs Impulse and Booster Gold.
I also like the new Labels they have for the Soldier and the Harbinger. The Harbinger can choose whether or not they come from a dark future they want to avert or a bright future they want to preserve and their actions force the Future to move in either direction. That’s awesome! It’s a great way to distinguish The Harbinger from the Doomed. It could have been a really easy fix to give the Harbinger an analogous “Doom Track” to represent their actions shaping and re-shaping the future. But they went with this Label instead. Very cool, very elegant solution and really makes you feel like you’re playing someone who is impacting future imperfect history.
The Solider has a label called Soldier. It represents your loyalty to, the resources of, and the training by AEGIS. You can use this Label instead of any other for your actions by spending a point from the Team Pool as long as you are acting on orders or relying on your training. The theme of this Label echoes some of the moves the Outsider has access to, representing their loyalty to their people and being on Earth for a specific mission, but once again, making it a Label instead of a bunch of moves really distinguishes who the Soldier is.
And just so I don’t leave out The Brain. They have their Shame… something they are responsible for that threatens something they care about. Also, part of the playing the Brain is a little bit of an attitude or haughtiness because you KNOW you’re better than everyone else. This is what makes me think they are great representations for character that might otherwise be Reformed. Lex Luthor for example. But even someone like Emma Frost of the X-Men could be perfectly emulated with the Brain Playbook.
On the flip side, the Brain is also THE Playbook for playing young Tony Stark, Brainiac 5 and (my favorite) Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur! This is why the Brain wins for me over the Joined playbook. Instead of powers or abilities, you chose something you are known for. The list includes things that immediately remind you of Otto Octavius, Tony Stark, Hank Pym and the like. Then they had in the list “Robot Sidekick” and my mind just edited to “Dinosaur Sidekick” and BAM! Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur can finally be played in a Masks game with no fuss, no muss!
Beautiful.
So, yeah, these new Playbooks are winning me over and I would always choose or recommend The Soldier, the Brain, or the Harbinger over the Reformed, the Star, the Joined, or the Newborn.
