Well they don't know that. And not no boys, just no boys alone. Her parents are out and about all the time, but they had quite enough trouble with her siblings while they were still living at home...
I'm not saying she's neeever broken the rule, but she doesn't have a reason to break the rule for Eli.
Anyone got something they would like to do with Vick? He's kinda small potatoes compared to atoms or thor girl, but he's still available.
-Posted with Wayfinder
I wanna finish up my introduction to the city, then I'd be down #
Heh. Now I really want to see a practice sparring match between Hashtag and Wingblade.
But I'll hang back and see what develops, especially between Thor Girl and Vick. ;-P
It wouldn't be what most people consider a fair fight. Though most of it would be Vick knowing he couldn't *hurt* her himself, so he'd need to trick her into taking herself out. And with her strength and skills just getting clipped would likely send him down for the count.
No, I meant practice, as in, Wingblade offering lessons to Hashtag.
Especially since I think it'll begin sort of like Fight Club: "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."
Which would end with him making a fool of himself. :)
A great trickster, but not so great scrapper.
Wingblade: "I want you to hit me as hard as you can"
Hashtag: *does so, breaks his hand*
Sorry for the wait guys, update will go up in the next hour or so as I'm updating games. Club went about two hours longer than anticipated.
I'm reading over most things one more time before letting out the next post, and wanna address something real quick.
Atoms, I'm fine with you being uber powerful, but I'm gonna retcon your Blueshift Part 1 from saying the Defenders as a team couldn't take you, into "The Defenders couldn't contain you without going 'lethal.'
A bit different, but I would like to have you *not* be able to take over the world at your whim. Also, loved the development of Blueshift. Next time you advance, I think switching playbooks to Nova would fit better with the way you're developing things.
You okay with marking that as a to be continued Bioshock? I don't think the timeline works out to having that seen be interrupted by Haxor.
Yup, I agree one-hundred percent! The dance and stuff takes place in the interim period between our study date and Haxor+ attacking. Question: Eli doesn't know Shayera is Wingblade before the dance, but does he know after? Or is part of this scene going to be the truly awkward realization of the other's identity? Eli doesn't have a costume (yet).
I just posted, with an explanation why Eli shouldn't recognize Shayera as Wingblade (and also just assigned an 80s theme for the dance).
Wingblade is probably going to know about Eli, though, unless you can disguise your scent.
Okay, just so I've got this straight: the dance is still coming up. Eli's not going to know that Shayera is Wingblade before asking her out, so there's no revelation of secret identities after this fight. But she'll immediately recognize Eli, and depending on how things go, may or may not know about his powers when he uses them on her to ask her out.
Eli doesn't know Bran is Bronwyn, but Bronwyn will recognize Eli is Bioshock. We've sort of established that Bronwyn knows something about his powers, but not necessarily to what extent. Maybe she only knows about the enhanced physical capabilities and not how he enhances them. That way, she can't warn Shayera about his powers, and Eli doesn't end up eviscerated.
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That about sums it up. High school isn't complicated at all, is it?
;-)
I'm reading over most things one more time before letting out the next post, and wanna address something real quick.
Atoms, I'm fine with you being uber powerful, but I'm gonna retcon your Blueshift Part 1 from saying the Defenders as a team couldn't take you, into "The Defenders couldn't contain you without going 'lethal.'
A bit different, but I would like to have you *not* be able to take over the world at your whim. Also, loved the development of Blueshift. Next time you advance, I think switching playbooks to Nova would fit better with the way you're developing things.
That's already what I was intending :)
Not all The Defenders were fighting him that day (with at least Whip' and Matrix staying on the sidelines), and ultimately it was a spar/play fight/wrestling match and not a real no-holds-barred confrontation. The idea was just making The Defenders aware that this supposedly newbie hero, Atoms, is actually really quite powerful, and maybe more powerful than any one individual on the Team. In the future, and in a real bout between them, The Defenders would be prepared and equipped with anti-Atoms tactics and gear. For example, if I had written what would essentially be 'Origins of Blueshift Part 3', where Atoms brings The Givers to Earth, a fight between him and The Defenders would go a little like this:
1. Earl Grey immediately teleports Atoms as far away as he can, forcing Atoms to fly at lightspeed back to the fight
2. Haden and Tectonic put up barriers around the team, with Tec's rock covering Haden's energy
3. When Atoms returns, he attempt to phase through the rock, but gets rebuffed by the energy barrier
4. By the time Atoms gets through both barriers, The Defenders have bought enough time to setup a device that generates a strong magnetic field, distorting Atoms' form and forcing him to focus on keeping himself together instead of using his powers
5. Atoms is effectively contained
As for playbooks~ I was eyeing Outsider at first, since that playbook represents a ruler of a foreign power. But with that taken, maybe Nova or even Bull ;) We'll see~ I try to keep plots n' stuff fluid, so we'll get there when I get there~
I've been having a hard time writing around your character being so uber powerful', so I kinda have been just sitting back. I feel it's boring to be so perfectly strong and unbeatable. I mean, I feel the same way about superman, and that guy at least HAS a relatively easy to exploit weakness.
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It can be a challenge dealing with wildly imbalanced power levels, that's for sure. However, it happens so frequently in superhero comics that I think it's great that this system has made an effort to allow it. Without stuff like hit points and damage rolls, a team can be made up of a few massively powerful individuals and some that are not. The Beacon is built to be a, "do I deserve to be here?" character.
Remember, in the comics and TV shows, the villains are rarely thwarted by raw power. If they could be, then there'd be no reason for the rest of the team to show up, and you're right, it would be boring. But most of the time, while the powerhouses are getting thrown around and blasting planet-breaking energies at the threat, the plucky teammates with the oddball powers (or none at all) are doing the real legwork to bring about the bad guys' downfall.
Atoms and I have discussed the "unbeatable" concern before, and I think I've devised a few ways to make the game 'challenging' with him without everyone else receiving a massive power up.
I intend to keep this game at a 'teenage' angst level for the most part, with a few forays into the serious and intense.
If anyone has concerns they'd like to voice to me, you can message me privately. Just remember we're all here to have fun, and no one should really be pointing at someone else and say "Your fun is wrong."
Oh, I wasn't trying to say his fun was wrong. I was trying to say that it's making 'why would your character even bother doing anything when Atoms is there, or could be there instantly' happen.
Like, for example. Why is my teleporting special when he can travel at light speed? For the distances that I can cover, light speed's fast enough that he would be wherever I am at pretty much the same time. It invalidates 50% of my character's abilities.
I built this character to roleplay 'why does your character do good when everyone expects him to be bad', not 'why does your character do good when it's not necessary anymore'.
Alright, so something we need to go over.
Deputy Atoms has decided its in the best interest of the game to bow out at this point. This is mainly due to me, let me assure everyone, and how I've been trying to handle his increasing power level by throwing people of equivalent power levels at him, which resulted in eveyone else feeling a bit underpowered or not useful.
For that I apologize.
I've talked it over with him, and am opening the discussion chat for...well....discussion. He said he'd be willing to come back and play if everyone agreed to it, and I'm sure he means all the players. He doesn't want his character concept ruining someone else's fun, so that's the condition he gave me.
As for concerns about power level discrepancies, I've consulted a new community I've joined recently and received some wonderful advice on how to challenge everyone, and no one player could handle all the tasks and all the responsibility.
I'm planning to use organizations from your past and enemies old and new, and put you guys on stealth/spy mission of sorts. While some elements may just come to blows with other supers, other more delicate situations will need to a much more careful touch. Atoms and Bran will be great for shows of strength, while Hashtag, Wingblade, and Bioshock would be great at the subtler routes.
I'm hoping to let each character make the best of their abilities, and with the time I had to plan I'm decently comfortable in saying that everyone from the supermen to the robins should have an important role to play.
But I digress, what are you all feeling? I invited Atoms to chime in as well, but not sure if he will. If he decides to pull out regardless, I hope you all are still eager to see where this game goes.
I'm personally in a position where I feel like my niche is nice and safe. Sure Atoms is also super-strong (I have Bran/Bronwyn eyeballed at about Spidey-Strength so Atoms is substantially stronger iirc), but that's only a part of Bran/Bronwyn's shtick, and the magic spear/transforming mythology stuff feels like plenty to hang my helmet on.
But honestly I have seen that his power level seems to be exerting pressure on other narratives to account for his greater power in how they view being superheroes: Wingblade's and his race, Hashtag's concerns about being made superfluous, even when I added Balor to the scene, part of how and why I did that was to add a threat that could go toe-to-toe with Atoms while still playing to some of my and Wingblade's strengths. His powers have sometimes seemed to be an outsized presence on group scenes.
I don't know if any sort of depowering (like if the defenders asked him to voluntarily wear an inhibitor of some kind while they study the true nature of his abilities) or evolution/reshaping of how his powers work could possibly carve out more space for some other heroes to feel like they contribute more, but that or some of your thoughts for future missions/antagonists could easily assuage my concerns.
All in all, I do have reservations, but believe that if people's worries are being considered that it would be fine by me for him to remain/return.
I'm personally happy for Atoms to continue to play. That said, I'll admit that I've had some slight personal misgivings, but they haven't been founded on anything in the gameplay itself. I'm new here, and I didn't feel it was necessarily appropriate to be challenging the status quo since it seemed to be working for everyone else, but since the floor has been opened, it's worth discussing.
Regarding Atoms' power level - the powers themselves are interesting, and in a system that encourages outside-the-box thinking, it doesn't feel fair to limit their diversity and application. A switch to the Nova playbook is appropriate, given that the powers themselves are rather vast. However, I question why Atoms has such impressive control over them, especially at the rate he discovers even more applications for them. My understanding is that, in Masks, the PCs aren't supposed to have complete control over their powers; if they did, it would defeat one of the core elements of the game. With perfect control over the powers included in the game and an assumed ability to discover and apply the most extensive use possible, the world breaks in half. The Nova playbook's personalized narrative emphasizes the difficulty and importance of controlling extremely potent energies, and the catastrophic consequences when that control is lost or neglected. It would be doing Atoms a disservice to ignore the potential for him losing control.
I would love for Atoms to keep playing, if he feels comfortable doing so. But is it possible to turn things down a notch or two? Not necessarily to be less powerful, but to play a game we can all be a part of? Plenty of Masks characters have extracurricular activities; Bronwyn has track, and all of us are part-time vigilantes. But Atoms is, quite suddenly (from the reader's perspective, not necessarily the characters') the leader of a growing political movement with national (possibly international?) scope. I'm not saying that wouldn't be a cool game to play in, but that's not really what was being advertised in recruitment.
It's good that we can have this discussion now, and I don't think it's at the point where Atoms should feel like he'd be better off leaving the game rather than "ruin the fun". If anything, I think this is a relatively minor issue that has only compounded by being allowed to grow unchecked and undiscussed, and I think that's unfair to Atoms if anyone. So far, aside from a couple stepped-on toes, most of the issues here haven't even really had time to manifest in gameplay proper. I for one am not at all concerned about Atoms' power level. For example, blowing up all the rockets, while impressive, is about the most Atoms can do in that scenario. If he were to directly engage the threat, Haxor would be dead outright. I still see plenty of opportunity for Bioshock to contribute meaningfully to a team with Atoms on it. I'm even interested in incorporating some of the Blueshift elements into the game. Who knows, maybe Eli would even join up! DM Default, you've already stated that you intend to keep the focus on the teenage angst, and that's good enough for me. Atoms has plenty of that to work with, along with everything else, and I see no reason why he can't continue to play and have a good time along with the rest of us.
Tl;dr Consider me a full-throated vote for stay. As a quick summary of constructive notes: keep the focus on team-level dynamics and high school teen drama, and just be less in-control of the cosmic-scale powers.
I'll be clear and blunt, so I do apologize if I come off as rude.
I'm bored. So totally, cringe-when-I-see-a-new-post bored. Every time Atoms takes the spotlight, he TAKES THE SPOTLIGHT and I have to spend 3 weeks and several thousand dollars funding a manhunt to find where the hell the spotlight ended up afterward. I've tried to interact with everyone, but I am unwilling to narrate my character on the level of power that I see with this character of his.
When you're Dr. Manhattan, inscrutable, unstoppable, and unkillable, then you're not a player character: You're a force of nature. Forces of nature are not played, they're plot elements. They're villains and things that a protagonist struggles against. When you ARE the force of nature... Absurdity such as "I wonder what kind of ice cream I should pick up on my way home from destroying this earth-shattering meteor with one punch?" begins to occur.
It overshadows and obliviates any meaning to 'lesser' character's contributions. Wheres the drama in saving four people from a runaway car when someone in your group can save 40 people from their cars simultaneously? Or their primary concerns are on a geopolitical level, not a high school one. (Which, by the way, is a HUGE freaking difference in scale) Most of us worried about the school dance coming up. Atoms: Can the Defenders even BEAT me if they all try at once?
Atoms hardly feels like a teenager. He feels like a fully adult Dr. Manhattan with a guilt complex. He doesn't go to school, he doesn't *do* anything that's the focus of Masks, other than using the system for mechanical purposes.
Not saying that Atoms is a poorly designed character. I can see the level of time and attention spent into mastering the rules of the system and the passion that went into creating the narratives that he is sharing. However, I think that the character took on a life of his own and grew beyond the scope of the setting we're working in.
I don't blame him, nor do I have any problem with the player; I'm sure we've had plenty of positive interactions on this site. I am an author, and I know VERY acutely how this can happen and by the time you're aware it's going on its own you have no choice but to hang onto the train and try to enjoy the ride.
My only suggestions on fixing it would be to do a retcon: reduce the scope of his power, regress his age and maturity some, and let him actually have things on a lower power level he cares about, and not in a godly way.
So anywho... I'm sorry.
I'm salty, to use modern vernacular. I think I'm probably the only one who feels this acutely drained of enjoyment. To be honest, I was considering quitting the game if this continued.
I have a power outage situation thanks to Hurricane Irma (I'm all right, just in the dark), so I need to save phone battery, so I'll be brief:
I vote Atoms stay, but a shift in focus back to the smaller, teenaged/high school drama would be in order.
I'll elaborate further when the lights are back on, but I've earlier said a few things about the varying power levels and how I'm not at all opposed to having some real powerhouses on the team. There's drama in feeling overpowered as well (just like Wingblade has a measure of resentment in being saved repeatedly), but it's good drama for the characters to feel that way, not the players.
It seems like everyone has at least noticed the power level difference, and how it is affecting the narrative. To put forward an explanation, it is mostly my fault that it seems so pronounced. If you look back, any challenge I put in front of you guys (minus that terribly planned splitting up arc) it ultimately boiled down to "can you beat this really tough super?"
Not the most creative, I know.
When you put a challenge of who can deal the most damage, of course Superman and Wonder Woman are going to be much more suited than The Question or The Flash.
Not only that, I was heavily relying on the narrative to determine damage and conditions, enforcing some rules while ignoring others for convenience.
Part of my preparation has included studying the ruleset and going over different ideas for more interesting challenges, ones that are not solely reliant on punching someone really hard.
I believe with these changes going forward, sticking to the rules and mechanics to determine fights rather than mostly narrative, the feeling of inadequacy will diminish.
These are my thoughts at least, and so I toss my digital hat into having Atoms stay. If there are unhappy players, it is the DM's responsibility after all.
And Wingblade, hope you're all right. It is terrible weather this year, but I hope it doesn't escalate.
Stay safe!
As an alternative (and I'm betting this was discussed), perhaps he could create a different character? I like the player, and I know there is a mechanic for retiring your character in most of the playbooks, so that might be a way to go?
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Thanks for the concern, but all the storm did was make a mess and kill the power for a few hours. I got off light.
I'm debating about what more to add to this discussion.
I guess I'll mention that I'm having a lot of fun with this game so far, and that I want it to keep going. I'm not opposed to Atoms being the powerhouse that he is, and I've not had a problem as a player with the power he's exhibited. I notice that he's taken a massive injury and has described him as feeling pain -- I'm interested in seeing where this is going.
I'll chime in to the voices and agree that Blueshift, while a very interesting concept, is something that should be developed slowly over the course of the game, or maybe reserved for the time when Atoms decides to retire from the life. But something of the scale of Blueshift seems to be should be up to and in the control of the DM.
Alright all, got some news.
Deputy Atoms and I exchanged a few messages, and the short of it is he has decided to withdraw from the game. He's told me he's had a lot of fun playing Deputy Atoms, but he had a vision for Atoms and how he would progress as the game went on, and has decided that it would be better if he left if his plans were getting in the way of other player's fun.
I have asked if he'd like to continue with another character, but he confided in me that he invested a lot of time and energy into Atoms, and doesn't feel like playing a lower power version or different character.
The core of the issue, as far as I understand it, is a mix of the narrative control I allow players and the freedom the Apocolypse System also gives to interpretation. Normally, power limits and other potentially chaffing issues are clearly defined, but in this case they were not and were allowed to grow to a point that it seemed to rub other players the wrong way.
===================================================
So, some things to cover before moving forward.
How set in stone is everyone's character concept? Are there key issues or aspects of your character that you would defend to the point of leaving?
Though Atoms is leaving under what I would consider good circumstances (he informed me timely, was willing to discuss, and read other player's input of the situation before making a final decision) do you guys want to continue? If so, do you want a day or two to process such a major player leaving? And should we look for a sixth player?
Atoms has decided against commenting directly in the discussion thread, and if you decide to message him privately, please be courteous to him as he has to me.
This seems like this was all my fault for complaining... @_@
I would like to continue. As for his concept, I think he's pretty solid. The upper scope of his illusions had been reached, and that was focused on a single person.
I really don't feel like you stepped over the line fwiw Hashtag, though I am sad there wasn't a compromise that everyone would be excited by.
For myself, I'm ready to get going on the game - I think we could probably progress well with the five of us.
As far as intrinsic parts of Bran/Bronwyn I've put some thought into it and I can say that track, Marco, Mary-Beth, Bronwyn's secret id, her ability to transform into Bran, her ability to transform back to Bronwyn, even having powers at all are on the table for interesting plot hooks/consequences, (though some of those I'd want to try to fix in game of course)
=============================================How set in stone is everyone's character concept? Are there key issues or aspects of your character that you would defend to the point of leaving?
Though Atoms is leaving under what I would consider good circumstances (he informed me timely, was willing to discuss, and read other player's input of the situation before making a final decision) do you guys want to continue? If so, do you want a day or two to process such a major player leaving? And should we look for a sixth player?
Atoms has decided against commenting directly in the discussion thread, and if you decide to message him privately, please be courteous to him as he has to me.
Absolutely in favor of continuing. I'm not sure about adding another player at this point -- it might be best if we explored the relationships we've got so far, then think about adding fresh blood if it looks like we could use it.
There's several ways to handle Atoms' departure, but maybe you could invite him to post a farewell, or at least give you some guidance about how he leaves.
Then maybe step back for a moment and let our characters process it with a few posts.
===========
To answer your question about key issues or aspects that I'd defend, I would say Whippoorwill, but I'm not worried. Everyone has treated her with respect so far, and I'm extremely grateful for that. She's one of my favorite creations, so I truly appreciate everyone's willingness to accept her as a major superhero.
To echo the others, I'm sorry that this is the way things have gone, but it's Atoms' choice.
I'm also interested in continuing. I see we currently have two votes for no new player, so I'd like to let you know that I've shopped the game to a friend of mine just to see if they're interested. I did that as soon as I saw that there might be a potential opening, so I apologize if I jumped the gun. Either way, I'm all for continuing now and not lengthening the pause any more than necessary. If my friend decides they're interested, that's something we can discuss a little bit more when they have a concept to put forward.
At this moment, I can't think of any inviolable aspects of Eli/Bioshock that would contribute to my leaving. I've got some vague ideas for things I'd like to happen; get a real costume, explore possible addiction to his own powers, and some development with the MantiCorps plotline. But we're still pretty much at the undifferentiated stem cell stage, and I don't foresee things like power-level getting in the way of things. There's plenty of built-in advancements for adding abilities, and I've got a couple of ideas for that when it becomes time for them.
You know me Default. I'm here til the wheels fall off.
Seriously though, I think I have a good idea as to Skuld's powers: She's the daughter of Thor (although given what happened at the start of the fiction I wrote for her, it might be interesting if she just thought/believed herself to be Thor's daughter, and is actually an experiment or something like that.
For now though, she is really just a brawler who relies on her massive strength and divinely crafted armor to get her through battles. She can control the air, but not weather, like her father.
Much like with Tycho and his ability to alter memories, I see her heliokinesis as something that she will pull out sparingly, as I don't think she really has control over it, and is a bit afraid of it.
Also, if it hasn't been made clear, I wish Atoms' player well and hope to game again with him soon.
Alright, will hopefully continue with the game tonight after I get this Hamlet essay done and turned in. Been mulling over how to keep things moving, and believe I've got a solution.
If you don't see an update tonight, expect one tomorrow.
Yay, Hamlet!
I mean, yay, we're continuing the game!
Woohoo!
I'm assuming that the essay, unlike if Bronwyn's friends wrote it, will not be about who's calling who a ho :p
Just confirming, these displays don't show us where Blink and Whippoorwill actually are, do they?
Nope.
I noticed today that I think our team's web of Influences are a bit unclear - I hadn't realized we all had influence over Thor Girl due to her cheerful nature, for example, and it doesn't look like some of my outgoing influences have been jotted down either, so I figured it'd be good to compare notes as we get this arc underway to make sure we're all on the same page!
I am influenced by: Thor Girl (who seems to really understand this god thing) and Bioshock ('cause of my friendship with Eli) from character creation, and Wingblade (due to our interactions during the prologue).
I influence: Thor Girl (due to her cheerful Outsider nature).
Let me know if I've missed any!
You're right, it appears those were never settled.
I'm feeling stymied by circumstances surrounding my Influence granting ("they seem important for what you have to do"). I'm going to grant Influence to Hashtag and Wingblade on that account, but also grant to Bran because he "knows" Bronwyn.
I influence: Thor Girl (do you want to be called Thor Girl or Skuld in the fiction?) and Bron/Bran.
I'm going to resolve that question with a bit of follow-up fiction for my earlier piece after the current scene, but to make a long story short, she refers to herself as Skuld, but the media has dubbed her "Thor Girl" and so since that is what the humans call her, that is what she will go by, although when writing more-or-less from her perspective, she will think of herself as Skuld.
I hope that makes sense.
Short-form answer: feel free to call her by either, since she is fine either way.
To everyone who's interested, there's currently a Bundle of Holding deal for PbtA systems including Masks. For $25, you get PDFs of Masks, the second edition of Apocalypse World, and a bunch of other cool games like Epyllion (baby dragons saving the world from a threat the adults don't take seriously), Headspace (a cyberpunk cell fights evil corporations with a neural link that lets them share skills and forces them to share emotions), Night Witches (female Soviet fighter pilots in WW2), and more! To top it off, a portion of the proceeds are donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, who are currently fighting actual Nazis in our country through education and activism.
Also, just realized that I never supported out hurricane victims. I'm glad you're alright!
I can confirm that Night Witches is fantastic, haven't tried the other ones.
Nails in the hand! Brutal!
Night Witches sounded interesting, in the "who was crazy enough to make a game out of this?" kind of way. I'm glad to hear good things!
It's the game that really got me into the Apocalypse World Engine!
It helped that I had heard of the Night Witches before (though only by the name Nachthexen, so I didn't realize that's what the RPG was about when I first saw it on the shelf).
Very fun, but uh.... grim. I recommend as many actual Russians in the party as possible to get the right level of black humor about how horrible everything is to keep it from getting too bleak.
I've got some dialogue for Bran, but wouldn't want to force a retcon if I've been incapacitated (or what have you) by failing to absorb dangerous unknown energies.
What's your preference for situations like this GM, go ahead, post in spoilers, or embrace patience? :)