HEROES ALWAYS RETURN
I’d hoped to sink my teeth into Mask: The New Generation more than I managed to. I’d been thinking
about and planning my Masks spin on Peter Clines Ex-Heroes series and Paradigm
Concept’s Rotted Capes rpg for a few
weeks now. Here’s how I set that up:
It has been less than a year since the Outbreak, since
something caused the dead to rise. Heroes fought against the tide, only to
succumb themselves. Pockets of humanity remain, isolated and under threat. You
play young heroes, trying to protect your community of survivors. But even
though you possess great powers, you’re still kids. Older wounded heroes, adult
leaders, and non-powered survivors regard you as untrained, irresponsible, and
even dangerous.
In this setting frame, you deal with Masks’ issues of
identity and self-image. But you also have a consistent deadly threat and
restricted location. For this game, you’ll select from a limited set of
playbooks. We’ll have a couple of environmental moves dealing with Resource
Raids, Building, and the Community. You’ll get to pick projects to work on to
build up the camp and give it a fighting chance against the zombie horde and
even deadlier z-supers.
OUR PLAY
I planned to do character creation and building in the first
half of session one and then play. We did that, but I think the game was
cursed. For the first session I had a player drop just before we started.
Luckily I roped Sherri in. Then we had technical problems that ate up a
half-hour. Still we had a good time and set great things up. But for the
second session, I missed a waitlisted player until just before the session
start. I got him in and up to speed, but I felt like a dolt. To compound that,
one player lost internet just before the game so they had to bag out and another
player forgot the session. So we did the session with two players from S1 and a
new player.
I dug it, but it went well due to good players more than my skills as a
GM. I’ll need to try this setting again. We really didn’t get a
chance to engage the new moves and concepts I developed. We interacted with
the zombie threat and the world, but only a little. Below you can see the setting material, changes, and new mechanics I created.
You can see the two sessions I ran: Session One,
Session Two
PLAYBOOKS
Please choose from the following playbooks.
- BEACON
- BULL
- DELINQUENT
- JANUS
- LEGACY
- NOVA
- PROTÉGÉ
- REFORMED
- TRANSFORMED
Please note Alien, Hidden Civilization, and
Extra-Dimensional origins are off-the-table. Those change up the premise, so
I’d like to keep those out.
This set up is shamelessly stolen from the Ex-Heroes series
of novels (in turn based on someone’s supers campaign). We’ll be defining the
setting a little in play, but the following facts in the fiction are
established.
1. Six months ago, a zombie outbreak began in a major
metropolitan area. At first, it seemed a simple supervillain plan. But soon
that exploded and quickly spread to other areas. Heroes went to fight against
this menace…and died.
2. And then came back to life, turned into Z-Supers. While
normal zombies are mindless, Z-Supers are not. They’re cunning, retain many of
their abilities, and can speak. But they’re also driven by their hungers and
seemingly impossible to negotiate with. The one advantage you have is that
they’re jealously territorial and will often fight each other for dominance.
3. As cities fell and the plague spread across the globe,
researchers struggled to find an answer. While they could not find a cure, they
discovered the source. A superhero known as the Undying had been struck down in
a fight with Plague Master. The Undying’s powers, overwhelmed by the disease killing him, metamorphosed him into a new creature, the first Z-Super.
The change affected the infection and created a super-powered virus.
4. No cure has been found. No resistance has been
discovered. And now with most scientific facilities overrun, it seems hopeless.
For purposes of these sessions, a cure is off the table, something to hope for,
but not yet possible.
5. You are young heroes in Halcyon City. Heavily populated
by supers, much of it has been devastated in battles between Z-Supers. But that
mutual destruction has given you some breathing room.
6. You have taken over the Halcyon City Entertainment Center
and Sports Complex. It combines an indoor arena, stadium, and mall. Barriers
have been built around the facility and it is fairly secure. You currently have
a population of 1,451 persons.
7. Everyone knows superbeings caused this plague. Despite
acts of heroism, there’s an undercurrent of fear.
8. The compound’s run by a council of normal people, plus
one non-powered superhero who revealed their identity. There are a handful of
active Adult Heroes. They support the council and undertake large-scale, “important,”
missions. They don’t have time to deal with younger heroes. They’re a risk. So
they tell you to do minor tasks and stay in the compound. But more often
they’re dealing with their own work and can’t monitor you.
9. We’ll define names, especially if we connect those to
your backgrounds (mentors, role-models, family members, etc). I imagine there
might also be a few seriously injured or depowered supers in the compound. As
well, the line between hero and villain has been blurred. Any super might be one
or the other. I’m including The Reformed playbook in case anyone wants to play
a villain.
10. I will have some slightly changed relationship questions
for each playbook and an entirely new set of “How you came together” questions.
I’ll also have a few tweaks for some of the roles (Janus, Legacy, etc). I’ll
post those before the game. You’ll get to choose some project(s) you’re working
on and I’ll throw some incidents at you in play.
11. If you get bitten, there is an Infected move.
NEW MOVES
SCAVENGE
When you look for stuff in the rubble, Roll +Superior. On a
hit you find something valuable. On a 10+ pick 2; on a 7-9 pick 1:
- Resources for a project. Add a segment when you return.
- Gifts. Gain +1 to Comfort and Support or Fit In
- Important goods to use as leverage
- Something significant to your past life. Clear a condition or add one to the team pool.
On a 7-9 your efforts attract attention.
GUARD DUTY
When you stay on watch, you may Defend someone scavenging.
Follow the usual rules. If you get a hit, you may name someone who won’t be
targeted by the zombies. If you fail, you must name an NPC who is hit.
FIT IN
When you try to make yourself part of the normal community,
roll +Mundane. On a 10+ you manage to establish some rapport. Gain a friend,
clear a condition, or take +1 forward for interactions. On a 7-9 you connect
with some, but alienate others.
PROJECTS
Describe a project you’re working on and identify an area:
Hope, Security, Food, Tech, Infrastructure, Knowledge. Each of these begin at
-2 for the Enclave. Choose what you’re rolling on.
On a 10+ you increase the clock for this area by three
segments. On a 7-9 you add two, but create a complication. On a failure, you
still mark one but you lower another clock.
INFECTED
When you Take a Powerful Blow from a zombie and roll 13+,
you may choose to have your character infected. At the start of session, roll +Freak.
On a 10+ you’re aware of your infection and can choose how to deal with it:
running away, sharing the secret, etc. On a 7-9 you’re unaware of the
infection. On a 6-, you remain unaware. Mark a condition which may not be
cleared by normal means.
If you ever have all of your conditions marked for any
reason, you become a zombie and the MC takes your character.
PLAYBOOK CHANGES
Note that I didn’t go through and make changes to any of the
playbook moves. I’m sure you could, but at a glance most of them work. You can
make any necessary changes on the fly. These changes also assume a short game,
so I cut the number of some picks.
THE BEACON
Change Backstory Q4
to “Why have you stayed in costume, despite your lack of powers?”
Change Relationships
Q1 to “____________________ is knows how to survive, and you take every chance
you get to hang out with them.”
Change Influence
to “You are terrified and excited to be here. Give Influence over you to three
of your teammates.”
For the Beacon’s Drives, I replaced three which didn’t fit
with these: Find and rescue survivors; Earn respect of the compound’s leaders;
Save someone from a zombie attack.
THE BULL
Change Backstory
Q4 to “What scares you most about the zombie plague?’
THE DELINQUENT
No change
THE JANUS
Not a change, but Backstory Q2 should consider the new
context of the compound and post Z-society. “Why do you still keep a secret
identity?”
For Secret Identity,
change relevant section to:
“Your mundane life comes with an obligations. Choose one or
more…
Duties:
Watch-person, custodian, cafeteria, farmer, student, health-care aide,
messenger, mechanic
Home: Caring for
injured family member, younger sibling, broken parent, black marketeer relative
Social:
Significant other, best friend, close relative, mentor, ex-significant other.”
THE LEGACY
Change Backstory Q3 “How does the public perceive your
legacy now?” and Q4 to “Did you want to take on this mantle?”
For Legacy, change
the relevant section to:
“Your legacy is an important part of Halcyon City. How
happened to your predecessor(s) in the outbreak?
Name the different members of your legacy (at least two):
____________________ is depowered/injured, but lives in the
compound.
____________________ is among the handful of heroes still
living here.
____________________ is the next possible member of your
legacy.
____________________ has become a zombie...and is still at
large.
____________________ is among the normal humans and opposed
to supers.”
THE NOVA
Change Backstory Q4 to “Why do the civilian authorities want
to contain/control your powers?”
THE PROTÉGÉ
Change Backstory Q3
to “What is your mentor’s current state in the enclave (in command, hidden,
injured, something else)?”
Change Relationship Q1
to “You and ____________________ teamed up a few times before the zombie
outbreak.”
In Mentor’s Resources
change relevant section to,
“Choose up to three resources that your mentor gave you and
the team:
A hidden set of rooms, a supercomputer, communicators,
surveillance equipment, a chem lab, a med lab, a weapon of last resort,
security systems, simple robots, a food stash, a workshop, a cache of
conventional weapons and parts, a secret escape route out of the enclave.”
THE REFORMED
Change Backstory Q4
to, “Who outside of the team still doesn’t trust you?”
For Past Villainy change
relevant section to,
“You have ties a villain from your previous career who lives
in the compound. Choose a specialty and a status for them. You begin with two
obligations to them
You have ties to a villain from your previous career not in
the compound. Name them. Are they missing, turned zombie, staying alive
independently, or something else?”
THE TRANSFORMED
Change Backstory Q4
to “What do the civilians fear most about you?”
THOUGHTS FOR THE
FUTURE
- Need to have more questions and table time to develop the Compound. It’s such an important part of the setting, we need more world building of that. I should draft some established places and names with questions. For example, where do you live in the compound? (the last theater of the multiplex, the baseball field dugout, the gymnasium, food court, the furniture store, etc) Who do you trust/mistrust among the civilian authorities? (list of names). That would help flesh this out more.
- Might also help to have a sketchy or half-filled in map.
- Do I need additional individual playbook moves? For example, should there be a Bull move for rushing through a zombie horde? Or a Protégé move for impressing authorities?
- I winged the team formation questions—I need to develop them more. I want to take as a default assumption that they joined together during the crisis but before they got to the compound. Also should retool the Backstory questions even further to tie them into the setting.
- Given what they’ve gone through, should the PCs start with an additional advance or maybe even their Moment of Truth unlocked?
Thanks great bblog
ReplyDelete