[Interest Check] Masks- A New Generation

[Joshie]

Time for some fun times: Character building questions!

@Hyper Harlequin

So, who is he/she/it? What planet/place are they from? What attracted them to earth?

And how did they get into school to begin with? What human contact brought them in?

@Grey

Janus is all about the Hero life and Civilian life screwing each other over...

So tell me about Hana's civilian life. Why did she choose 'Photography Club' over all the other clubs? And her job as an intern is doing what, where? And does this relate to her going to college or towards a career of some kind?

@Ermine

Tell me a little about Andrea's doom. When her doom comes, what does it consist of? Why would endangering innocents and straining too hard bring her 'Doom' closer to her?

Also, what sort of deal did her ancestor make with Mephistopheles? Why would he do such a thing?

[Grey]

The Janus

Hero Name: Swarm
Real Name: Hana Salem
Look: Woman, Middle Eastern, Boring Clothes, Concealing Costume, Character Mask
Abilities: Heightened Physical Abilities, Insect Control, Venom Generation

Secret Identity
Internship, Photography Club, Parents
Your mundane life comes with a series of obligations. When time passes, roll + your Mundane to see how you’re managing your obligations. On a hit, things are going pretty well—you have an opportunity or advantage thanks to one of your obligations. On a 7-9, you’ve lapsed on one obligation, your choice. On a miss, you haven’t given your normal life anywhere near the attention it deserves; the GM chooses two obligations that are going to bite you in the butt.

Team Moves

• When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if they see you as the person wearing the mask or the person underneath. If the former, mark potential and clear a condition. If the latter, take In uence over them if you reveal yourself.
• When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, tell them a secret about who you really are. Give them Influence, and shift your Mundane up and your mask’s Label down.

Janus Moves

• The Mask (Freak)
  You wear a mask and hide your real identity. Once per session, you can affirm either your heroic or secret identity to switch your Mundane with your mask’s Label. When you reveal your secret identity to someone who didn’t know it already, mark potential.
• Game Face
  When you commit yourself to save someone or defeat a terrible enemy, mark a condition and take +1 ongoing to all rolls in direct pursuit of that goal. At the end of any scene in which you don’t make progress towards
  that goal, mark a condition. When you fulfill your goal, mark potential.
• Mild-Mannered
  When you try to use your civilian identity to deceive, trick, or slip past someone, roll + Mundane. On a hit they buy your facade. On a 7-9, choose one:
  - you’re still under observation
  - you leave something incriminating behind
  - you’re forced to make a fool of yourself to sell it
  On a miss, one of your civilian obligations rears its ugly head.

Other Moves

Potential o o o o o
Advancements

Labels
Danger: 0
Freak: 0
Savior: 0
Superior: 0
Mundane: +3
Conditions

Backstory

• Q: When did you first put on the mask? Why?
  A: "I first put on the mask... Pretty recently actually, around the time I got my power a few months ago. But I'm not gonna lie and say it was for some altruistic thing like wanting to save the world or make a difference. I wanted to feel special, and I wanted to call my own shots for once."
• Q: Why do you keep a secret identity?
  A: "Plenty of reasons, but I guess it just boils down to "no parents, no consequences, no problem.""
• Q: Who, outside of the team, knows about your dual identity?
  A: "Nobody. The less my life overlaps, the better."
• Q: Who thinks the worst of your masked identity?
  A: "Oh, the cops, definitely. During my first outing I accidentally screwed up one of their investigations while conducting my own, and that rookie mistake let the bad guy get away. Some of the pro heroes and media might qualify by extension."
• Q: Why do you care about the team?
  A: "Well, they're showing me the ropes and they're not terrible people. Besides, it's not like I'm a super competent hero on my own, ha..."

Teambuilding Exercises

When Our Team First Came Together
We saved the life of someone important, either to the city or to us. Who was it? Why are they important?
Relationships

• Doktor Faust/Andrea knew you from your civilian life first.
• You refused to tell ___________________ your secret identity when they asked.

Influence
You look up to your teammates; they seem to have this superhero thing figured out. Give two of them Influence over you.

• Doktor Faust/Andrea
• Polaris/Alex

Q/A with the GM

Q: Why did she choose 'Photography Club' over all the other clubs?
A: Freedom of expression, even if that's within school approved limits. It lets her go out there and see new things without having to constantly be explaining herself.

Q: And her job as an intern is doing what, where?
A: In my head, I always imagined her interning at the universe's rough equivalent to Stark Industries or Wayne Enterprises. Being a coffee grabber is a lame internship duty, so she's probably involved in helping with some STEM-based field (dunno which, but I'm leaning towards something biomimetics-y) or business/sales/marketing stuff, I haven't quite decided.

Q: And does this relate to her going to college or towards a career of some kind?
A: Yes. 100x yes. Her parents want her to get into a really good university so she can live out a successful life, so they constantly urge her to put herself out in the community to get those volunteer points, and to keep her grades up. She's got little to say on the topic, but it'd be a lie to say she doesn't worry about it. She's good enough at school though, which is why Schoolwork isn't an obligation.

Q: Any interesting pictures? I'm sure you have some amazing ones that you couldn't help but take, being that you had to have had your camera with you sometimes when you are out super heroing as Swarm.
A: "Well I don't bring it around anymore - the really good cameras are expensive stuff and heroing is very destructive business - but I'll admit to using the bugs for some photomacrography or getting good vantages. Also to taking shots of parahuman on parahuman combat. And crime scenes. A lot of crime scenes."

"...It's probably a good thing that I delete those last ones off my computer. People might think I'm weird."

Q: And speaking of Swarm, don't lie to me. I 'know' that you have to be pissing off your parents and your internship and the photo club. You're Swarm, and being Swarm is VERY inconvenient when it comes to time share. I'm sure you have broken curfew. I'm sure you've been late for your internship multiple times and I'm sure you've missed more than a few club meetings. How do you balance it all?
A: "Hahaha. That's funny. Well, to answer the question, the legions upon legions of drones help. They help a lot. A bunch of mindless bugs are way better than the biggest group of classmates in the world when trying to finish up a project, that's for sure. Other than that, it's just your usual combination of elbow grease, schedule prioritization, and lying plausibly."

Q: And how do you keep your parents from prying too deeply in you private life, because parents aren't idiots and if you aren't too careful, they WILL find out that you are Swarm. And based on what you already told me, that's not a good thing.
A: "Well, to be frank, I don't know if it would be a completely bad thing... But I also don't know if it'd be a good thing either. Which is what worries me."

"But that's not answering the question, is it? Usually I try to prioritize getting my parental obligations out of the way, but obviously that doesn't always work. And I've only been at this for a few months at this point! The method I've been using has been working fine, though I'm loathe to keep using it. The elaborate scheme just feels wrong."

"Basically it's this (admittedly over)complicated plan to normalize this kind of behavior. If I act suspiciously enough in more innocuous situations, I can get away with it when it counts because it wouldn't subvert their expectations. Plus, benefit of the doubt goes a long way. As long as I don't falter too much in my studies or my jobs or whatever, I should have at least a little bit of leeway for bullshit."

Q: On the point of Ian, woman are on him like stink on a monkey... which makes me ask what you think of him?
A: "Well for a guy calling himself Incubus, he's a lot more tame than I'd expected. I mean he only hit on me twice - once for each identity, even. Still don't know if I should be flattered or offended by that, but it's not like I'm a whore for boys' attention; so I just filed all that under 'stuff that definitely happened'."

"But yeah, the whole demon part's a bit troubling - that definitely wasn't the way I thought I'd get my Sunday mornings validated, that's for sure. Next thing you know I'm gonna turn out to be the avatar of Beelzebub or something."

"But back to the point, I don't really think he's a bad guy per se. He has bad powers and bad precision and bad habits and... And he's part of the team and it definitely feels like he pulls more weight than I do, so who's the girl who talks to bugs to complain?"

[Ermine]

Tell me a little about Andrea's doom. When her doom comes, what does it consist of? Why would endangering innocents and straining too hard bring her 'Doom' closer to her?

Also, what sort of deal did her ancestor make with Mephistopheles? Why would he do such a thing?

@Joshie

I hadn't thought that out yet...likely relinquishing all control of her body and mind to Mephistopheles when she gets too similar to him (and is therefore more attuned to his control power).

The deal was in exchange for quite a bit of power in exchange for what Mephistopheles referred to as the ancestor's soul. Lots of fine print later...yeah, it gets passed on ad infinitum. Why? Hadn't thought of that either, but I suppose it's important. ^//^ Probably something selfish like revenge. That's usually how it goes. Maybe he got Captain Hammered with his girlfriend.

[Hyper Harlequin]

@Joshie
She'll be named Riley while on Earth and I'll use 'shes' and 'hers' for simplicity's sake. She's currently her planet's equivalent to a school student.

Her species is native to a rogue planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, hurtling into space without a sun. The species is aquatic and managed to survive under the insulation of the planet's thick crust of ice and thrive near hotspots provided from the planet's core. Eventually their technology became advanced enough that not only could they safely fare space all the way to Earth, but they managed to control and stabilize their planet's movement to force it into a stable orbit with a cold star that burns at -200 degrees fahrenheit.

Riley was on an intergalactic class field trip to several inhabited planets. Since her species can shapeshift, they were to pose as each planets inhabitants for a time. Riley decided that humans were peculiar and fun, so she snuck off and stayed here.

School would've been the most familiar thing for her as she was also in her planet's academic system at the time she got here.

Her human contact would be a sheltered 8-year-old named Shannon obsessed with 80's and 90's culture who'll treat this like ET, Iron Giant and other such movies.

[Joshie]

@Grey@Hyper Harlequin

For simplicity sake, I shall assume Riley and Hana are attending the same school. We already know about the Photography club, but Grey, tell us about it.

Riley, what do you like best about the school? What is it called? How are you getting along with others? And what about home? Where do you go at the close of school, as I'm sure you don't sleep in the school building.

...right?

@Ermine

How old are you, Andrea? And are you attending school as well? And if so, is it with Riley and Hana? Do you even know them?

[Ermine]

Andrea's of a comparable ge to Hana, and yes (for the sake of simplicity, and 'cause it means something can go down at the school ^~^). Don't have to know them, but do we really want the super awkward meeting-up? I mean, she wants to kiss one of them and they've never even met, which is totally normal in HS and all, but she told one of them all about her doom. How exactly does that work out? I mean...it's possible, but not likely, if they don't know each other.

[Grey]

The school or the club? I'll do a bit of both just to save time.

The club I imagine would host meetings reasonably frequently (so it's actually an obligation and not just something Hana attends once a month and forgets about). I can see them arranging local field trips and taking on event photography duties around the community and school. They'd also have a bi-annual display/presentation/gallery thing and a themed monthly photocontest. I stole those last two from my high school.

The school might need to get talked about between the three of us since it's a shared setting. In general I'm imagining something a bit like Gotham Academy.

[Hyper Harlequin]

What do you like best about the school?
The attention.
What is it called?
Seems like it should be a joint decision if we're all in the same school.
How are you getting along with others?
Everyone knows that she's weird and everyone is quite confused on what to call her. But despite that (with a lot of help from the pheromone power), she is quickly gaining popularity in the school as the favorite foreign exchange student. This probably also makes her a potential target from anyone else that would like to keep their spot at the top. For the extra teenaged drama, of course.
Where do you go at the close of school?
Riley often tries to leverage her loose friendships with people at school to sleep anywhere but 'home', home in this case being the shed of Shannon's back yard. On days where she can't squat somewhere else and gets sick of the shed, she'll likely spend the night at the bottom of a local lake.

System Decisions

Real Name: Riley Müller
Hero Name: ~~~

Natural Looks: Ambiguous, strange body (aquatic), glowing eyes.
Shapeshifting Looks: Shifting, human body, vivid eyes, flashy clothing, her people's school uniform.

Abilities: Toughness and flight. Radical Shapeshifting and Pheromones. Combining these should allow for varying types of pheromones.

Team Moves
When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, take Influence over them if you show them meaningful affection, physical or emotional. They decide if it's meaningful.
When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, they tell you what you should do to fit in more. Take +1 forward to do it, and mark potential if you do.

Outsider Moves
The Best of Them: When you comfort or support someone by telling them how they exemplify the best parts of Earth, roll Freak instead of Mundane.
Alien Ways: Whenever you openly disregard or undermine and important Earth custom in favor of one of your own people's customs, shift Superior up and any other Label down.
Kirby-Craft: You have a vehicle, something from your home. Detail its look, and choose two strengths and two weaknesses. When you are flying your ship, you can use it to unleash your powers, directly engage a threat, or defend someone using Superior.
Strengths: Size-shifting, telepathic.
Weaknesses: Unarmed, difficult to repair.
Look: Instead of a ship, the vehicle is a flying suit that shifts and contorts to the body much like Riley's own body does. As such, it is easily capable of drastically shifting in size as well.

Labels
Freak +2
Danger -1
Savior +0
Superior +2
Mundane +0

Backstory
Where do you come from?
Rogue planet in a neighboring galaxy with undersea culture.
Why did you come to Earth?
Intergalactic class field trip.
Why do you want to stay here (for now at least)?
~~~
Why do your people want you to come home?
Because she skipped out during the field trip to stay on Earth.
Why do you care about the team?
~~~

Sorry that some parts are missing, I still haven't decided what kind of persona I'd like to invoke with this character so some flavor choices like hero name or explaining why she cares will be hard to do right now.

[Grey]

Don't have to know them, but do we really want the super awkward meeting-up? I mean, she wants to kiss one of them and they've never even met, which is totally normal in HS and all, but she told one of them all about her doom. How exactly does that work out? I mean...it's possible, but not likely, if they don't know each other.

@Ermine

Oh, I forgot to respond to this, and it is a very good point.

If everyone's characters don't have anything to do with each other, I think you might be able to spin the "Told X about your doom" relationship as something that happened when the group first came together? Maybe you warned one of us that you'd be in real big trouble if you overexerted yourself or something like that.

At any rate, Hana wouldn't want to mix the streams so I don't think she'd go out of her way to make friends with anyone in their civilian identities. Though I'd be down for her to know someone to know her by coincidence.

Fortunately her relationships are vague enough to work for anyone, so I guess I'll just sort that out when we get all the more complicated ones hashed out.

[Raijinslayer]

This still open?

[Grey]

@Raijinslayer The OP says it's open until we all finish character creation, so I'd say you just barely made it in time my dude.

[Joshie]

@Raijinslayer

Yep. Feel free to chip in! :)

Also, we might have one more who is considering being a Legacy... but they don't have the rules and kind of want to try it out before buying. I'm helping this individual via PM's if the person is still interested.

Don't have to know them, but do we really want the super awkward meeting-up? I mean, she wants to kiss one of them and they've never even met, which is totally normal in HS and all, but she told one of them all about her doom. How exactly does that work out? I mean...it's possible, but not likely, if they don't know each other.

@Ermine

GAH!

Very good point there. So yeah, might be a good idea if they do know each other. But as Grey said, we can hash this out as more details develop.

I have more character developing inquiries, but I shall wait for our potential two players to catch up a bit and join the fun.

[Raijinslayer]

Cool. I was thinking of a Nova character if that's still open and probably get a character sheet up tomorrow night

Edit: I'm also lacking the books myself, and while I'd but them if I could, I'm broke. Could you help me with that as well?

That being said, I so have a tiny bit of the actual rules from the game with @Ermine(sup by the way), so will that do?

[Grey]

@Raijinslayer I gotchu fam

This is completely legal because that's the developer website pls dont ban, internet police

[Joshie]

@Raijinslayer I gotchu fam

This is completely legal because that's the developer website pls dont ban, internet police

@Grey

YES! I was looking for that website. Thanks Grey!

[Raijinslayer]

WIP

Hero Name: Luxurias
Real Name: Ian Blackwood

Human look:Male, Caucasian, normal skin, fashionable clothing
Demon Looks:Male, Marked Skin(with Ash Grey coloration), Fantastical costume

Abilities:Sorcery, specifically those of dealing with the damned energies of hell, dream\desire manipulation, domination/subjugation, and control over darkness and shadows

Team Moves
When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if there is any fear in their
eyes when they look at you. If they say no, take +1 forward and mark potential. If they say yes,
immediately shift your Danger up and Savior down.

When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, tell them how they could stop you, if
it came down to it. Give them Influence over you and clear a condition.

Potential:

Advancements

Burn Counter: 0

Nova Flares

Reality Storm: You channel a destructive burst
with your powers. Spend 1 burn to directly
engage a threat using your powers, rolling +
Freak instead of + Danger. If you do, you will
cause unwanted collateral damage unless you
spend another burn

Move: Spend 1 burn to move to any place you
choose within the scene, breaking through or
slipping past any barriers or restraints in your
way. Spend a second burn to move to any place
you’ve previously been.

Constructs: Spend 1 burn to create any
object with your powers, up to the size of a
person. Spend an additional burn to animate
it independently of yourself. The construct
dissolves at the end of the scene.

Elemental Awareness: Spend 1 burn and mark
a condition to open your mind up to the world
around you with your powers. You can ask any
one question about the world around you, and
the GM will answer honestly.

Labels

Danger +1
Freak +3
Savior 0
Superior 0
Mundane -1

Conditions

Backstory

When did you first use your powers?
"Well, I've technically been using them my whole life, being the bastard Cambion son of Asmodeus -the demon lord of Lust, in case you aren't knowledgeable about that sort of thing- tends to give you a set of supernatural perks and drawbacks, but the instance where I first actively used them was when a bunch of guys tried to kick my ass cause he caught me talking to his girlfriend . . . okay, more like he saw ne making out with her in a shed, bjut I still think he overreacted a tad with the lead pipes. Anyway, I was getting beat pretty bad, but I felt more outraged and incredulous than scared. Some part me couldn't believe they had the nerve to strike at me. I usually don't pay attention to that side of me, tends to give very bad, very illegal ideas, but in that moment I kinda gave into it. Next thing I know, they're all on the ground bruised, beaten, naked, and utterly broken in spirit. Even to this day, I have no ifdea what happened to them. Anytime anyone brings it up, they shut down, and if any of them see even a picture of me, they breakdown into tears."

"So yeah, can we move on to another question?"

Who was thee first person you hurt with your powers?
"Besides those guys I traumatized? Well, I'd have to say my mom, though indirectly. You see, she liked this guy and he made her really happy and everything couldn't possibly be better, right? Then I decide to look into his mind and see what he was really like, as I didn't like him myself. Before I got involved, he was a pretty swell guy, but after I rummaged through his head? Turned into a sex-crazed lunatic within a week, unable to deal with the echoes of my presence in his head."

"Can you ask me a question that isn't a total bummer, please! This trip down memory road is getting very unpleasant."

Who, outside the team, helps you control your powers?
"Oh, that's easy. My mom has always had a way of calming down my . . . less pleasant urges. I don't know why she's able to do it, but your ass I'm forever grateful for her."

"See, that was much better. Now, keep it up And we might get through this without me bailing out."

Why do you continue to use your powers?
"Well . . . because if I don't use them, I'll never learn how to control them. I can feel myself get stronger everyday, and with that, I feel as if I have to fight that much harder to stay in control of myself. These powers aren't nice, they aren't pleasant, but I'm stuck with them, so might as well use 'em help people, right?"

"That question was a bit iffy, but I'll let it go. But I'm watching you."

Why do you care about the team?
"Well, cause they're all awesome for one, and for two, I like hanging around them. Keep me feeling grounded, keep me feeling human. Speaking of human, I've still got to show Riley the glory that is Game of Thrones. I'm sure she'll like it, maybe. If not, hey,she learns more about human culture either way. Also, need to see if I can figure out who Swarm is. Invasion of privacy? maybe. A fun game of deduction and clue hunting? Definitely. Oh, don't tell her about the game, she'll probably get mad.Andrea. . . I don't think she likes me very much. No idea why though, I've never done anything to her and I've only done sone casual flirting here and there. Do you think it's the demon thing, cause I'm thinking it's the demon thing."

"So we're done now, right? Huh, that wasn't so bad. Well, near the end it wasn't. The beginning was horrible, but overall, a decent interview. Later."

When our team first came together...
We destroyed our surroundings in the fight. Where was it? What did we destroy?

Relationships
You hang out all the time with Riley/Alex to blow off steam.
You once hurt Alex when you lost control of your powers.

Influence
Happy Facade: Alex, Riley, and Robb

[Ermine]

@Grey Actually...that would work. Yours could totally know mine from civvie form AND mask form. And mine wouldn't necessarily know both were the same person, so this would actually work without her knowing yours as the superhero team member. Mine is totally open about being what she is, after all (just not the specifics with most people).

@Raijinslayer 'Sup. Also, totes the demon thing.

[Raijinslayer]

@ErmineIan: "You know, that's racist. Like, it's a more understandable form of racism than most, but it's still racism."

Ian doesn't have a secret identity per se, it's just that he doesn't share the demon thing with most and it can be a bit difficult to recognize him in his more demonic form.

[Ermine]

Totally imagining @Raijinslayer's as Deadpool. Except...you know...not at all like Deadpool.

[Raijinslayer]

@Ermine Ian's probably closer to that whole 'never takes anything seriously' type hero with a particular interest in hooking up with any girl he sees, though that tends to never gets past the making out stage. That being said, he's likely hit on everyone in the group at least once, twice for Hana if he's met her out of costume at the school.