2023 Day 11: Masks
I am slightly cheating this year by making characters for three different PbtA games but they are so different from each other that I think it’s valid. (The others are Fellowship and Brindlewood Bay.)
Masks is a superhero game that focuses on the relationships between your young heroes and between them and other people (but mostly villains and older heroes). It is specifically set in a world where there have been previous generations of heroes who are still hero-ing. They are your mentors and those who keep you in your place. They have expectations. And Villains have them too. Recurrent villains will exist because you won’t kill them. Similarly, they are less likely to kill you than they are to rant at you for being misguided.
And because it’s about relationships, the game doesn’t really care about your power levels. In fact, the core book has both the Nova (extremely powerful) and Beacon (enthusiastic human) playbooks. The playbook moves similarly vary between More Powers, manipulating stats and influence and non-combat abilities.
And it also clearly sets its tone: this is about superheroes in a comic. Act like them.
Cover for Masks: A New Generation
As standard for PbtA, Masks has playbooks, basic moves and playbook moves. Roll 2d6 and your trait (or something) and get a full success, partial success or failure. The largest change is that your traits (“Labels”) constantly shift as you are influenced by events and other people. You don’t take wounds, you mark conditions which can impair you until they are fixed. And characters can have Influence over you, which means they constantly give PCs the choice between being doing what they are told or being redefined by the other person (represented mechanically by changing your labels).
The different playbooks (the splats) cover emotional themes rather than power sets, power levels or role in the team. It’s true that the Beacon is normally the leader but that’s because of emotional resonance rather than anything else, and most have multiple directions you can take. You don’t even need to stick to your own playbook: when you get experience you can take different options and several of them allow you to borrow moves from elsewhere.
And finally: failure. Because you don’t go blow-by-blow, every failure tells a story. But failure also is what builds up into advancements. Learn (gain experience) by failure. Great mechanism and one found in a few games thankfully.
Note: I first read masks using the mobile version. It’s got great navigation which makes it easy to check rules. It’s less good at navigating the playbooks however (something I also note is not great in the normal PDF but with less scrolling). So pretty good as long as you are not actually creating characters.
Sammy/Rainbow Hunter
Masks, as an exploration of adult emotions and choices, is a good choice for exploring gender issues. I looked at a few options: The Outsider, Doomed and Transformed can all change their own body but their moves and themes didn’t really give the right kind of weight to that. So I chose Janus, which doesn’t normally have physical changes between forms, but does use dual identities (life/hero). There isn’t a listed mechanical way to flip genders for the Janus, but it is listed as an option for your Look. And you can always just ask the ST to rule it possible.
The first part of fleshing out Rainbow Hunter is to answer the Backstory questions for the Janus.
When did you put on the mask? Why?
I think Sammy uncertainly nicked a costume from a play. He was probably a stagehand at a school play or maybe a carnival. And the costume just made sense. Becoming a hero developed from there as an excuse to wear a different persona, a female persona. And it’s not strictly necessary, but I would like there to have been a moment when Sammy was hit by something and he became a she when in uniform. Probably a wish from a … a villain I think. If this was a game I would go into more detail about the villain.
Why do you keep a secret identity?
Sammy has no trust that his schoolmates and family will understand. He doesn’t have many friends anyway, and we know that children (even older children) can be unforgiving with their barbs. And his parents probably don’t understand why anyone would be uncomfortable in their own skin.
Who, outside of the team, knows about your dual identity?
I’ll say that one of the girls (Allie) at school probably saw something. She’s a bit more mature than the average teenager so isn’t blabbing, but it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have opinions which she may voice at some point.
Who thinks the worst of your masked identity?
I will assume that one of the older hero teams is right-wing enough to get upset about blatant LGBTx stances. It doesn’t help that she has failed a few times. (Probably not fatally, but caused delays leading to property damage and traumatised victims.)
Why do you care about the team?
Because they accept her, it feels safe.
When our team first came together… we saved the life of someone important to us.
I’m going back to the older team mentioned above. One of them was trapped and hidden in the ruins. Rainbow Hunter found him and the team helped him out. Not sure why he’s important to the team directly, I would probably check other backstories. But he’s probably a parent to one of Sammy’s schoolmates (who is neither a superhero nor particularly pleasant).
And there’s a couple of relationship questions to the team which I can’t answer without other PCs, and two of the team will have influence over the Janus. Which seems appropriate.
Look
Shifting. Ethnicity I’m leaving blank for now. Mundane clothing: boring clothing. Flashy costume. Character Mask (hides the haircut).
Abilities
Supernatural senses. Substance Mimicry. And general all round physical prowess.
Labels
These mostly start fixed. The Janus is mostly 0s, but with Mundane at +3. This doesn’t mean the Janus is great at Mundane skills, just at feeling like a Mundane. It’s good for empathetic moves.
Moves
The default move allows the Janus to switch Mundane with a chosen label once per session, and I will choose Freak. The main use of that is to Unleash Your Power, i.e. to push your powers to the max. Because I think the “nothing, nothing, nothing EVERYTHING feel” of that suits the character.
Mild mannered lets me change into Sammy to deceive, trick or slip past somebody.
Game face gives an ongoing +1 in pursuit of a goal, and penalises you for not making progress in every scene. It’s pretty dramatic, and great for someone who wants to be seen to be helping.
And the next move will probably be “I am what you see” which turns discussions about identity into healing.
Secret Identity. Sort of a move. Sammy has three mundane obligations. One of them is Athletics club - he’s getting attention now that he has powers helping him, even if he lacks focus or experience. Household chores is definitely another. And let’s go back to the theatre - maybe he has actual paid work as a theatre usher, but it’s seasonal work.
And I think that’s a good place to leave it. Sammy/Rainbow Hunter is not the strongest member of the team but might end up as the heart. Which will be all the more tragic when they reveal themselves to be a confused teenage boy.
Rainbow Hunter part 1
Rainbow Hunter part 3