Has anyone tried Masks? What did you think about it?
I'm thinking about giving it a go since I've yet to find a super hero rpg system that I like. I have minimal experience with Apocalypse Worlds so I have some idea what to expect, but I'm not sure how well it translates to capes.
Anyone have an experience with it?
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>Games is called masks
>Only one guy actually wearing a mask
What did they mean by this?
it's a metaphor, see?
And only one of appears to be wearing a cape, yet it's still cape shit. (Strangely, like four of them have hoods)
Haven't played it, OP, but I've heard it's good. I can see how the Apocalypse Engine's whole escalating tension mechanical thing would work well for capes.
I've ran a short adventure with it
It's interesting as superhero games go, the way I usually explain it is; Masks doesn't give a shit whether you're a telekinetic or a sorcerer, it cares immensely however about how getting taken down in the last fight made your character feel.
If you want a superhero game to focus more on the characters and their team dynamics then it's great. If you're hoping for super-fight simulator then don't play Maks.
That sounds kind of like what I expected.
How many players did you have for your game? What would you say is the optimal range?
Also while I understand that tracking damage is not the focus (and I think the optional Harm system rules sound awful as they place way too much importance on the Danger stat,) I've been thinking of custom ruling the powerful blow rule a bit to add a bit more consequence and drama into the game.
For example, if on a powerful blow roll you roll double sixes, you're immediately knocked out. Additionally if I specify that it's a potentially lethal blow and you roll double sixes, your character might be fatally wounded (and have to nail one or two dying rolls to survive a la D&D 5e)
I feel like it's a rare enough occurrence that it wouldn't break the game too much, thoughts?
Also if it helps discussion along this can be a general supers game thread, what system does Veeky Forums prefer?
>How many players did you have for your game? What would you say is the optimal range?
I had 4 players, I'd have said that was the amount that works best
as for your suggested harm changes it seems doable to have some means of taking someone out of a fight early, although from my perspective it's more interesting to see the characters take more conditions which then have to be resolved, most of the game's drama comes from that
What are people's favourite Masks playbooks?
I really like the Beacon, something about the idea of someone who isn't particularly special becoming a superhero purely out of desire to do so really appeals to me, not to mention the drama resulting from their goals
Personally the Janus appeals to me the most, I love the secret identity dynamic of super heroes. The drama of trying to find a balance between dual lives sounds fun.
Knowing my group they're all going to fight over who gets to be "the doomed" though
I've got a few of the playtest playbooks (Innocent, Reformed, Star, Joined, and Newborn), and I gotta say, I like the concept of the Star as a Lacuna*-style character. Then again, I like X-Statix for the fact that Milligan and Allred weren't afraid to kill off cast members, which may not translate so well to a tabletop game meant to be built around interpersonal relationships.
*Read X-Statix, you plebs. Shit's great. If you want to stay pleb, there's always en.wikipedia.org
Dude, you can't be an X-men spinoff fan and then go around calling other people plebs.
Can you play as a mercenary?
I think I'll pass.
You're a weird dude.
can you share the playtest books? I'm pretty curious about the reformed and the star
>And only one of appears to be wearing a cape, yet it's still cape shit. (Strangely, like four of them have hoods)
That's because hoods are all hip and edgycool now.
so long as you're a teenage super-mercenary I suppose
Check out Worlds in Peril; a different PbtA superhero system, with less focus on teen drama and a bit more focus on superheroing (still not as good a combat simulator though).
so what does it focus on?
Just generic comic book trope emulation, mostly based the bonds your heroes have with things, like the city or a significant other.
Worlds in Peril was neat, but its bond mechanic is more fucked up than Dungeon World's.
Playing it right now.
If you think it's a super hero RPG, you probably won't like it. Especially if you have "minimal" experience with PbtA games.
It's a game about teenagers, their relationships with each other, their relationships with adults, and self-actualization.
Your powers are secondary to your ability to relate with others in the group, and superhero battles mostly set the stage for more character-driven drama. You can use the marks you gain through that drama during superhero battles to convince your teammates to do something besides the bad decision they were about to make, so it all ties in.
But yeah, sorry dude, this is not a power fantasy superhero RPG. (I should specifically mention that the game comes with AEGIS, which is the GM's "you're doing it wrong" agent in the world; because AEGIS are adults, you're more susceptible to their suggestions so resisting is basically futile.)
Great game though.
I'm playing The Bull as a US Agent-American Dream mashup. Everyone keeps trying to make her less dangerous, though.
If you can handle a bit of teenage drama and you like superheros as a mien, you'll love it.
Also if you ever wanted to play Monsterhearts (or did and found it wanting) you'll probably love it.
I should note that if you intend to run it, you need to make it very clear to players not familiar with PbtA how the basic moves work and which basic move each playbook "relies" on. We had a couple of players who really struggled with that, and even though the labels shift really easily, playbooks are designed to allow you to move quickly back towards your default label and basic move.
There are some wild synergies in there, of course, and a Beacon-Bull romance becomes an endlessly long self-replicating Pierce the Mask session if you're not careful.
But yeah, great game.
Basically this - Masks is a game that works great if you want to run something that feels like, say, Spiderman, or some incarnations of the Teen Titans, where the personal and intergroup drama is the narrative driver, and where the fact that a monster is destroying the city is given equal narrative importance to the fact that, despite that, your mom is gonna ground the shit out of you if you get back home by 6, world-ending catastrophe or not.
It isn't the system to run, say, most Cap storylines in. For the Cap/Superman kind of games, where the villains plots are important, and personal drama is a sideline thing, I'd maybe check out the old DC superheroes RPG by Mayfair? It takes Champions and makes it a lot less nitty gritty.
>can you share the playtest books? I'm pretty curious about the reformed and the star
Not that user but this is the only link I have:
dropbox.com
>Also if you ever wanted to play Monsterhearts (or did and found it wanting) you'll probably love it.
Hey, that's me the wanted to part
Oh trust me, that's mostly what I want. I definitely would prefer a Teen Titans vibe rather than something like Justice League. More human characters still figuring out who they are who are prone to mistakes.
I think the only bit I'm wary about is the lack of real danger or consequences. I'm fine with drama and character interactions being the main focus, but I feel like there should be some stakes and risk of death too. Hence why I'm considering this custom rule:
What's interesting about Masks is that it seems to be what Mutants and Masterminds: Hero High wanted to be. That one tried to talk about all the possibilities of interpersonal drama and such, but the M&M rules don't have anything specific to back it up.
Thanks to this thread I might try to convince my old M&M group to give the campaign another go with Masks.
What would you recommend for a group who plays Pathfinder? I wanna run a supers game for the group but I'm the only one who has time to read new rules.
Is it?
I thought it's massively better because it's a core game mechanic instead of an afterthought.
Well, on the plus side, PbtA games don't require the players to read much more than their characters sheets.
Also, low prep philosophy makes it easier on the GM's schedule. Downside: low prep philosophy means you gotta be good at improvising.
Depends on what parts of pathfinder they like. If they're into character builds and grid combat it'll probably be a hard time for everyone. If the clutter of rules and sub systems was a thing people found hard to keep track of or got in the way of what they wanted to do, it might go pretty well.
On the plus side, explaining Moves as Feats that happen when you act rather than acts you do might be an easy way to get that across.
>I thought it's massively better because it's a core game mechanic instead of an afterthought.
It works counterintuitively, is controlled near-arbitrarily, and can be gamed easily for bonuses.
Otherwise, the game is pretty damn good.
I thought it worked fine, as long as you are looking at it through the lens of a comic book.
Every single time a hero catches a lucky break, one of his bonds suffers. If they don't spend time on repairing and establishing bonds, they grow increasingly distant from those they try to protect.
Where's the counter-intuitiveness?
>Where's the counter-intuitiveness?
1. Bonds represent another character's attitude towards yours, rather than your characters feelings. This means I have to reference another character's sheet to know whether I have a beef with you or not. It also means that my ability to help another character is directly tied to how much that character loves me, not the other way around. "Sorry, I couldn't save you Lois Lane, you friend-zoning bitch."
2. Apocalypse World's mechanics were so solid that they even handled character relationships in a plot-driving manner. Bonds got a little write-up, followed by "just go ahead and change them whenever the fuck you want as GM, that's your job".
3. If you don't mind your character being an abusive dick to at least one other character, you can totally use bonds for heavy bonuses. Yet nothing for the power of friendship beyond assists?
>What would you recommend for a group who plays Pathfinder
Try playing something else.
(In general.)
Mutants and Masterminds
It's D20 supers, and it is fun.
lol
Just passing through to tell you to take a look at Marvel Heroic Roleplaying and see if you think the system is cool,. it's getting a non setting specific edition via kickstarter soon that fixes most of the complaints people had before (like "shitty character creation rules" - It's a bit more complicated than that but do take a look, you might like it.)
I'll be honest I'm not sure why the gang plays PF other than we all know it. I came into the group cause I got a buddy. It'll be at least a year before they will have an open spot for me to run so I got time.
The main appeal of Pathfinder is that all the materials are easy to access online. I don't like the system but I can't fault people for using it.
OP here, before masks I'd considered M&M and there's a lot I like about it, but character creation is such an ordeal (though I understand why) and while I like the combat system it seems like fights could drag on too long.
>while I like the combat system it seems like fights could drag on too long.
this was my experience with M&M, the advice I'd give to anyone running it is to always make fights which can be ended in ways other than through the game's actual damage system otherwise it gets very boring
>OP here, before masks I'd considered M&M and there's a lot I like about it, but character creation is such an ordeal (though I understand why) and while I like the combat system it seems like fights could drag on too long.
They do kinda drag, especially with a few special abilities (duplication being the first to come to mind).
Kenson recently released a new lighter RPG called ICONs. Mechanics are quick and it only uses d6s.
X-Statix was Peter Milligan and Mike Allred, it's very worth reading.
Maybe it is, but that doesn't change the fact that the comics nerd totem pole goes something like:
>I read "graphic novels"
then
>I read superhero comics
then
>I only read superhero comics
then lastly
>I only read X-Men spinoffs
Being a consumer of the endless X-Men franchise stuff is incompatible with looking down your nose at people for being "plebs." It's like being a Call of Duty player and doing that. Maybe that one Call of Duty you like is the really good one, but even so..
Not that user, but the only people who care about the comics nerd totem pole are people who care what other nerds think of them.
X-Statix was amazing.
The only reason I bring it up is he started up calling everyone "plebs" for not reading an X-Men spinoff, which is funny to me.
I say read what you want, but if you want to act like a snob, at least do it right and read something obscure and uncommercial, like a proper snob.
What are you on about?