Welcome!!!
Very excited about continuing the story of Halcyon City, the crazy place where all the super hero shenanigans happen!
We're very close to a full roster, though I won't begrudge someone having a last-minute epiphany and wanting to change their character to another Playbook. Pop in, let us see your avatar, and get to know each other if you haven't gamed with each other before.
One of the neat things in Masks is the "Origin Issue" that is created by all the players, based on answering the questions in your playbooks under "When our team first came together..."
The preferred order that these questions should be answered is:
Bull: We defeated a dangerous enemy. Who or what was it?
Nova: We destroyed our surroundings in the fight. What did we destroy?
Outsider: We didn't trust each other at first, but that changed. How? Why?
Janus: We saved the life of someone important, either to the city or to us. Who was it? Why are they important?
Transformed: We drew attention and ire from plenty during the fight. One important person in particular now hates and fears us. Who is it?
Newborn: The team discovered you during the incident; thanks to them, you reached the outside world and helped in the fight. Where and how did they find you? Who gave you your first nickname?
Brain: I created something lasting and beneficial for the whole team. What was it?
(Protégé: We stuck together after all was said and done. Why? How'd we keep in contact?
Thanks for the invite, Stalwart! I’m already in love with Femtite, which I guess is obvious since I drew her and her craft twice already.
Devil Diva, checking in! Very excited for this game! :D
Welcome, welcome!
While we're waiting for people to check in, here's some info on the system itself.
There are no hit points or Armor Class. If you have a power, you usually don't even need to roll to see if you use it. (But you might, if you need to wield your power effectively.)
The basic mechanic (called a "Move") is rolling 2d6 plus your Label. A "hit" is rolling a 7 or higher. Rolling a 10 or better means you did something awesome. A 7-9 usually means there's some sort of complication or the success came at a cost. A 6 or less means you missed. But, you get to mark Potential for each miss -- which is the tracker for experience. You learn through failure.
Labels are how your character sees himself or herself -- and they fluctuate throughout the game. Sometimes he'll see himself as a monstrous Freak, and sometimes she'll think she's Superior to everyone. Then on other days (and after various wins, losses, and tender scenes), those Labels will be very different.
The Labels are:
Freak, which is all about being strange, unusual, unknown, different, unique, powerful, weird, and special.
Danger, which is all about being strong, threatening, violent, destructive, badass, frightening, reckless, and mighty.
Savior, which is all about being defensive, protective, overbearing, moralistic, guarding, patronizing, and classically heroic.
Superior, which is all about being clever, faster, better, arrogant, dismissive, commanding, egotistical, and smart
Mundane, which is all about being normal, empathetic, understanding, kind, boring, simple, uninteresting, and human.
A major part of the game is switching Labels. Always always always (except during Advancements, where you can receive a +1 or +2 to a Label that doesn't require another to go down), when one Label is moved up, another is moved down. Labels cannot go higher than a +3, nor can they go below a -2. Any time a shift would increase a Label to higher or lower than those numbers inflicts a condition instead. Which brings us to...
Conditions
Conditions are negative emotional states that afflict your character.
They are, Angry, Afraid, Guilty, Hopeless, Insecure.
Conditions negatively impact your moves depending on which ones you've got marked, even if you're roleplaying your character as holding your emotions in with a tight reign. Try as you might, if you're Angry, it'll still bleed through if you're trying to Comfort someone.
The Moves
Roll 2d6 and add your Label and any other bonuses/penalties. On a 7 or higher, it's a hit. On a 10 or higher, it's a big hit. Six or lower is a miss. You can never roll with a higher bonus than +4, nor with a penalty less than -3.
This is a great resource, showing your basic moves, the adult moves you can take after a lot of advancement, and the effect of Conditions on your moves. Know this sheet. You're going to come back to it a lot at the start. I still refer to it.
The important thing about Moves is, you don't need to roll for every little thing. Only roll a Move for when the outcome is in doubt!
For example, Femtite hears about a giant robot stomping through the Financial District, when she's all the way over in the Arts District watching over the museum. She looks at the Moves, and chooses Unleash Your Powers, since that can allow her to overcome an obstacle -- the distance between the two areas of Halcyon City. That works, right?
Wrong. She already can fly; that's one of her powers. She'll get there. I don't need her to roll for that.
It's different if Femtite and Devil Diva challenge each other to a race to see who's the fastest flier. I don't know. Do you? That's an appropriate Unleash.
A special mention needs to go out to Directly Engage a Threat versus Unleash Your Powers. Directly Engage is when you're fighting something that is a threat! A random mugger is never going to get the better of you (unless something in the story says there's a risk of that happening!). The mugger, school bully, random mook, they're not threats. Just say that you take them out in whatever fashion fits your character. But when you're dealing with a real threat, and Horizon wants to unleash one of his energy blasts at a villainous cyborg, he's Unleashing his Powers, right? Wrong. He's still Engaging a Threat. However you Engage, be it with magic mojo, candy-coated fists, or heliokinetic blasts, you're Engaging a Threat.
Unleashing Your Powers is actually the last thing you use. When nothing else seems to fit.
Although most of the others are pretty self-explanatory, there's one more that bears mentioning, and that's Take a Powerful Blow. This is the reverse of all the others, where high=good. In this one, you still roll 2d6, but you only add however many conditions you have marked. On a six or less, you're fine, and get to describe how you survived the death ray/rocket fist/shockwave. On a hit, the powerful blow did something to you, and you have to react -- up to and including being removed from the scene (fleeing, being knocked out, etc.)
Shin's here and ready for more angst and teen drama with superpowers!
Steel Guardian, online.
Hi!
Hello.
I'm still debating somewhat if I want to keep running Isaiah, drop him for someone else, or drift in the background ghosting and occasionally providing setting details.
Piecing together Conflux
... CANDY GRRL... SYSTEMS ONLINE.
Azil dotting in. Will try to have a profile for my mage set up tonight hopefully if I can come up with a name. My archnemesis The Name-wanter.
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“I was like, oh emm gee. There are many adolescents such as myself undermining the authority figures and taking matters into their own accord.
“But then I wondered, what figurehead authorized the manufacture of sugary products for the purpose of experimentation on involuntary subjects? Based on my understanding, the answer is either ‘none’ or ‘a corrupt one.’
“And how am I to protect my home from the titans when they wrong each other? Without a Five Queen system of leadership, chaos is inevitable.”
Femtite’s glowing eyes flicker slightly as she accidentally voice-commands her Love Bug, The to play a song from her preferred Squirrel Nut Zippers album. She lets the instrumental play on because it is illogical not to love this joyful racket.
“On the other perspective, the titans who are teenagers, such as myself, reject their failed system of government. They act. They save…”
She pauses a moment, reconsidering her word choice.
“We saved lives.”
Just a heads up gang - had a couple of rush offshore jobs land of my lap this morning, so might be mid-week before I'm clear enough to contribute again more fully.
Hmm, with the current fairly full crew, and myself finding employment to be time consuming of late, I may not participate too actively.
That said, Inquiry/Isaiah are still around and perfectly willing to continue running one or more bases for precocious peacekeepers to live out of, and will continue being in the background and possibly willing to guest appear or cameo from time to time.
Or you can just ask me when you need some interesting background stuff or an army of killer robots or whatever.
Candy Grrl's head tilts slightly as she mulls her answer. Light glints off her pink polished Candium™ form.
<I had been aktivated by my Creator when they found me. The Hyperion High basement was my home... I hadd learned so much there: All the slogans and jingles to all candy adverrtising! Punk musik! Even assisted Creator pakking gift boxes for lucky children he wanted to help.>
Staring ahead her white pupils stark against pink iris' she continues;
<Then everything changed. My frriends [then strangers] arrived at the school. They wanted to stop Creator. They called him The Confectionist and told how he lied and used children at school as exxperiments and slaves to commit his crimes. Creator got all sourpuss and threatened to blow up all the gift boxes, full of his Bon-Bombs, but my new ffriends, they got sweet moves! Horizon stunning all the kontrolled kids, Femtite melted all the chemical candies! Indarius just majicked that detonator away! Then Caio howled loud and him and Devil Diva just wrecked The Confectionist. Even when some Bon-Bombs went off. Steel G took the boom! ALLLLLL the flavours in one TASTY team!>
The jingly slogan seems at odds with Candy Grrl’s deadpan expression;
<Conflux is superduper smart. She hacked Crea...Confectionist's komputer. Revealed his so-so sour plans: I was prototype for his candroid army. The ffirst. Instead of kidz he would use us to fight the heroes, carry his bon-bombs. No more. Now I’m one of them. A hero. Even got a cool nickname: Candy Grrl. Conflux saw I have a glitch. Creator didn’t make me perrfect. Some words I spell wrong. “Just a positronik glitch” Conflux said… Grrl was one I can’t get right but it stuck like taffy. So Candy Grrl it is. Candy Grrl I am.>
Hmm, with the current fairly full crew, and myself finding employment to be time consuming of late, I may not participate too actively.
That said, Inquiry/Isaiah are still around and perfectly willing to continue running one or more bases for precocious peacekeepers to live out of, and will continue being in the background and possibly willing to guest appear or cameo from time to time.
Or you can just ask me when you need some interesting background stuff or an army of killer robots or whatever.
Understood, Isaiah. Let me know if you want to get back more involved in the storyline but yeah, I got a lot of interest with some new players. So it's cool to have Isaiah/Inquiry take a little hiatus.
I'm planning on going a little low-key for a while, but there's always room for killer robots. I'll let you know if I need Isaiah to make an appearance.
Just a heads up gang I'm positively slammed at work - had a couple of additional jobs land of my lap today in an already busy week and need to do my team's performance review by Friday... also have our works Xmas do on Friday (at the 3rd tilt - covid allowing).
Posting might be pretty spotty until the weekend so please bot Candy Grrl as necessary.
Sorry gang - work is continues to be grind at the moment, loads on and not much post shift energy for anything else.
Hoping this weekend will see the load lighten. Meantime please bot CG as necessary.
2nd Advance =
Out of this world: When you plug into the cosmic aether and tune out of this world, roll + Freak. On a hit, you come to a new, interesting insight about your current problems and situation; the GM will tell you what. On a 10+, you can also shift your own Labels according to match your new understanding. On a miss, you realize something dangerous or terrible; the GM will tell you what, and shift your Labels accordingly.
(From the Nomad)
Heh, I drift through watching this, and think to myself 'Isaiah would actually know the answers to a number of the current problems'.
Which probably makes it for the best he isn't around at the moment.
Though I am still around occasionally, in case you ever want Isaiah to cameo for a bit, or possibly actually give an answer to a problem (though probably an only somewhat helpful one, solving your problems for you isn't how you learn... and he definitely doesn't have he equipment needed on him).
Or if Shin (or GM talking about Shin) needs information/description for [REDACTED] that might be relevant.
Heh, I drift through watching this, and think to myself 'Isaiah would actually know the answers to a number of the current problems'.
Which probably makes it for the best he isn't around at the moment.
Though I am still around occasionally, in case you ever want Isaiah to cameo for a bit, or possibly actually give an answer to a problem (though probably an only somewhat helpful one, solving your problems for you isn't how you learn... and he definitely doesn't have he equipment needed on him).
Or if Shin (or GM talking about Shin) needs information/description for [REDACTED] that might be relevant.
I imagine Isaiah's still keeping tabs, though also likely called back to his home so he can't directly - or quickly - interact with things. Nice to see you enjoying the story though!
My current idea for what Isaiah/Inquiry is up to...
Currently, Inquiry/Isaiah personally is back at Caesvol, in the early stages of what could effectively be described as 'warship intern school', a process that will take a year or two (realtime, subjectively it will be vastly longer due to VR acceleration and wanton forking).
However, Blockbuster isn't quite as dead as people think it is (yes, the floors that the team knew well are a wreck, but the two or three extra floors underneath them that weren't on the original blueprints are still running just fine), and Inquiry still uses it as a proxy to keep tabs on things, covertly feed information to a few places (including the surveillance gear Shin recovered), lobby for AI rights, and occasionally even consider direct intervention. Also still has more digital cash than you'd think.
