[OOC] Unnamed Masks Game

[Albinobrow]

Odysseus is looking swell.

Well thank you kindly!

[truemane]

Sorry everyone, I wrote a whole response, but it got eaten by the network issues. I'll re-write it again tomorrow.

I have some notes/thoughts for everyone, but all-in-all, I think we're ready to move forward.

If everyone could start getting their Playbooks finished, choosing Labels and Moves and doing the Backstory questions.

I'll round up the last bit of workshops, and then we'll get right into "When the team first came together."

[Morphling]

Hero Name Dryad
Real Name Holly Ireland

Look
Woman, white, human eyes, mottled flesh, no costume

Abilities
inhuman might
plant affinity

Labels
Danger +1
Freak +3
Savior 0
Superior -1
Mundane 0

Who were you before?
I was the most popular girl in school, desperately trying to juggle my mother's expectations with the other student's.

When did you change? What caused it?
I changed a year ago, when I was mortally injured in a car accident and my mother gave me a plant serum to save my life.

Who, outside of the team, is helping you understand your new body?
Dr. Misty Archer, a brilliant scientist and lead on the team that developed the X-46 serum. She's nice, but I think she feels guilty about what happened.

Why don't you just try to hide yourself away?
Because I've been given another chance at life. I was going to die, and now I'm alive and, in a manner of speaking, healthy. I'm not going to waste my life wallowing away.

Why do you care about the team?
Because they can look me in the eye without showing me their pity or disgust.

Transformed Moves
I am not my body.
Coming for you.
Wish I could be.

[Dusk Raven]

One additional thought I had regarding backstory - Jonah knows Jess, and probably can find out where she lives. In theory, he ought to be able to just capture her at any time, possibly by threatening her family. And yet he hasn't... and Jess doesn't know why. Makes her a bit nervous.

One other note, but the way I kind of imagined their respective magical abilities (prior to Jess getting the Darkseed) is that... well, there's no good D&D analogue, but in Pathfinder class terms, Jonah is a master Wizard, and Jess is an Arcanist. Jonah is almost savant-like in his understanding of how magic works, and while Jess is a quick learner, her grasp of magic is definitely inferior... but she can augment it with her own psychic power - along with her new connection to the Eternal Dark.

Related, I've always thought the power options for the playbooks were... too few in number. I can make it work with three of the six available for The Doomed, but I wanted to have one of those three options be... I'm not sure, something to do with the whole magic student. Magic spells, at least to some extent. I'm also fine with it being... the kind of thing that's not necessarily useful in combat or in heroic situations, just the basics that Jonah taught her before their split.

After that's answered, I can finish the necessary questions.

[Albinobrow]

Sorry for the silence, between the crazy work hours and these forums being iffy at best, it's been hard to check in.

(hoping this gets through..)

[Kaworu]

Hi people ;-) Do you have a place for one more player? ;-) And which Playbooks are available / would be a good fit? ;-)

EDIT: *IF* there is a place for an additional player, I was thinking of, maybe, the time-travelling one? It was in some supplementary book I believe? Since we are playing with darker themes, maybe my hero would like to stop a potential dark future...? ;-)

EDIT2: Or maybe The Scion instead of the Harbringer...? Eh, choices :-P

[Dusk Raven]

I'm still here as well. Still need to figure out answers to some of the character questions, though.

[truemane]

I've been having the same problem. Between server issues and life I haven't been able to update properly.

I'll try to post tomorrow. And we can see who's still with us.

[Morphling]

I'm still with ya, FYI.

[Kaworu]

I do not wanna to be a bother but... I still do not know is there is a slot for a player available? ;-)

[truemane]

Hey everyone! I've been having some internet issues at my house last two days. So I didn't get everything done, but here's a start:

First off, find the Basic Moves reference sheet and Core playbooks here.

I have legal copies of all the books, so if anyone needs access to any of the Expansion Playbooks, PM me. I'm happy to provide privately, but don't want to post them publicly.

I do not wanna to be a bother but... I still do not know is there is a slot for a player available? ;-)

Sorry, yes! Come on in. Either of the Playbooks you mentioned would work really well. Give us a pitch/Sheet whenever you got one. Welcome!

Morphling/Dryad: I think you are ready to go. I read your workshop response, and agree with the points you made, and think anything else can be worked out during play. If you think of anything from your backstory (that we haven't talked about yet) important enough that you wouldn't want me messing with it, let me know.

Rokku/Adara 43

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1. Biggest (and maybe easiest) point is that Adara was made by the same corporation that created Dryad. And so the two might have some knowledge of each other. Holly's schooling is at the company, so is it possible they crossed paths there?

2. The addition of a "heavily armed security team" adds a nice, dark note to the world we're building. No notes on this. I just want to point it out.

3. The Newborn Playbook includes a move where you go see your 'creator or caretakers.' Who do you see as this person? It would have to be someone capable of offering the kinds of assistance mentioned in the move. Could this be a government agency of some sort? A rival corporation? A privately wealthy individual? They get to re-write one of your rules for you, so you want to pick someone with interesting values or motives, so we can really feel the push and pull between them.

4. As I see it, the story you're looking for, at game start, is that Adara is free and a person, living somewhere (relatively) safe, has decided to try and be a hero, and there is the constant and persistent threat of THE COMPANY always lurking just off-screen. Do I have it right?

5. If she's been given person status, against the company's protests, then she must already be pretty famous, yeah? That's the kind of thing that would end up in the papers and on TV, even in a world where supers already exist. And it would mean that, whoever her caretakers are, they would also need to be capable of fending off the Company's no-doubt powerful influence (on many fronts).

6. What does Adara want? Like, if she had a magic wand and could remake her life completely, what would that look like? What does she think Winning at Life is like? Does she want to work more or less? Does she want things easier or harder? We know she wants to learn more about being human and more about being a hero, but to what end? No wrong answers hers, just looking to drill down a bit into Adara's actual values.

Albinobrow/Odysseus
I really like Ulysses! It's the right mix of earnest and goofy that makes the Beacon really shine.

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I may have some other points to raise later today, but to start:
1. What's his home-life like? What stressors are there? What conflicts? In what ways does his family situation make him who he is and in what ways does it prevent him from being who he is? What aspects of his home-life make it easier for him to be a Mask, and in what ways does it make it harder?

2. Same, but school. What's stuff like at school? How does school impact the rest of his life (and vice versa)?

3. Is his older brother Jeremiah or Trevor? Or are they two different people?

Dusk Raven/Herald

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I may have a couple of small responses to your responses, but I'm on board with everything you're saying. I think the way forward here is to live in the uncertainty. IS her mother well meaning but overbearing? Or an abusive narcissists? IS her stepfather trying his best, or is he a rich controlling *******? And etc. We know what Jessie thinks, but are her perceptions accurate? Who can say.

(except for the bits that are specifically important to you, like Jonah's sincere caring for Jessie)

Does that sound good? If we can start there, then we can work out a lot of these specifics in play without risk of stepping on toes.

I'm AFK for a few hours today (it's Oscar season and my kid and I are doing a nominee binge), but I'll be back later this evening.

If we can get some initial sheets up, I'll set the When the Team First Came Together scene right away.

[Kaworu]

Okay, below is my character sheet ;-)

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The Scion

Hero Name: White Lotus

Real Name: Sakura Watanabe

Look:
• Woman
• Asian
• slender body
• casual clothing
• no costume

Your Lineage

What kind of villain they are?
Cruel mastermind

What is your relationship with them like?
Full of denial

They have an array of abilities, assets, and strenghts; what are some of them?
Superhuman martial prowess, dark sorcery, powerful allies

What abilities do you use to fight them?
Impressive martial prowess, magical aptitude

LABELS

Danger +1
Freak 0
Savior +1
Superior 0
Mundane 0

Backstory:

What is your supervillain parents?
Dragon in Red Dress, known in Japanese as Red Dragon. She got a power from Celestial Imperial Dragon (a mythological being) of martial arts and magic, but got corrupted by the prowess and became a villain. Recently, she shifted her focus from East Asia to Halcyon City, where Sakura grew up with her father.

Who told you about your parent’s true nature?
Dad of Sakura. She was aware since wery young age, as her father believed children should be fostered, but no lied to, no matter what.

Why did you turn from your lineage to become a hero?
Sakura believes it is the right path. But also, she hopes is she will overcome her mother, her family will be reunited and happy. Truth be told, she misses her mom – or at least the idea of a mothership she has in her head.

Who, outside of the team, helps you on your chosen path?
Celestial Imperial Dragon himself.

Why do you care about the team?
They are trying to do some good in the universe. Plus, they seem to have problems just like Sakura, so it is easy to emphatize with them.

Scion moves:

• They don’t deserve forgiveness
• White Lies

Respect:

• Your parent’s greatest victim: Rising Phoenix (a Japanese samurai with fire-based powers in addition to swordmanship)
• The city’s greatest celebrity: Lady Ji-Ji, a pop star with whose songs Sakura feels a strong affinity.

[Albinobrow]

I may have some other points to raise later today, but to start:
1. What's his home-life like? What stressors are there? What conflicts? In what ways does his family situation make him who he is and in what ways does it prevent him from being who he is? What aspects of his home-life make it easier for him to be a Mask, and in what ways does it make it harder?

Home life is fairly uneventful. Biggest stress is that his older brother gets into trouble and his father travels a lot for work. He's a trucker. So Ulysses feels he needs to step up and take care of things. I'd say the only real conflict is between him and his brother. Since his brother knows about his hero persona and his brother can get into trouble often there can be conflict both in and out of the house.
Again, the morals and ideals imparted to him by his parents and grandfather are a fuel for him to stand up and fight crime, and he believes (right or wrong) that his family would support him but he chooses to "protect" them by keeping them in the dark. On the other hand, by keeping them in the dark he does from time to time tell a white lie to cover things up and continue fighting crime.

2. Same, but school. What's stuff like at school? How does school impact the rest of his life (and vice versa)?

School he does well! Good student, keeps to himself for the most part. Even in school he stands up for the little guy but he tries hard not to fight in school, he knows that due to his strength and "after school activities" he can cause some serious damage. There is a school bully, Biff, which causes the most problems for him. Not as big as Ulysses but very strong. Biff pushes the boundary in hopes of fighting Ulysses because he wants to see if he will win, but Ulysses typically ignores or takes it and doesn't engage. Typically.
He is also a part of the archery club, and helps others with their technique. Still, he doesn't teach them everything he himself knows.

3. Is his older brother Jeremiah or Trevor? Or are they two different people?

Jeremiah, not sure how exactly I put in two names. I think I picked one and then changed to the other but didn't change all instances? Truly I don't know. But they are the same person, and I'm going with Jeremiah.

We can use Trevor for the name of his Grandfather. :D

[truemane]

Hey, everyone. With regret, I don't think this one's going to work out.

I'll take some responsibility, but between the forum outages and people being busy, I think we just missed the ignition point.

Thank you all for your efforts up to this point.

[Morphling]

They can't all be winners.

Had fun looking over everyone's character sheet. And hopefully I'll get to play Dryad some day in some form.

[Albinobrow]

Sad to hear it, but it's completely understandable. My work IRL has picked up significantly. So it's probably for the best.

Hopefully we can all try again another time!

[Dusk Raven]

Damn... I knew I should have posted sooner. But I just kept getting sidetracked.

Seems like I might have to run Masks myself if I'm going to see it on these forums. I had an idea, but I hadn't posted it for fear of running out of ideas. But at this point, I'm willing to give it a shot anyway.

EDIT: I also want to thank truemane for prodding me to develop this character concept further. When the time comes, she will be ready.

[Kaworu]

Good luck y'all ;-) See you in some other forum games ;-)