I have been dying to play Masks ever since the KS.

I have been dying to play Masks ever since the KS.

I have been dying to play Masks ever since the KS. I’ve never had a chance. I’d love to run it as a 1-shot (or more) for one of my home groups, but while they tend to be into supers as much as the next gamer, they are pretty trad and I know they will be thrown off by the premise focusing on youths who are impressionable trying to find identity in a world trying to tell them what to be.

I can already hear them saying, “Being a teen/young adult sucked the first time around – why would I want to do it again!” or “Why not just play Mutants and Masterminds? It’s so much more flexible/simulates powers better/yadda yadda yadda.” Or, “Taej, are you embarrassed by how much teen tv trash you watch on The CW?” Well, maybe the last one is just my wife….

Anyway, while I do love that theme, I’m also really intrigued by the mechanics themselves. Does anyone have suggestions for a light – still supers, somehow justifying the label shifting mechanic – skin for the game that 40-something grognards who I love dearly might more readily embrace?

I was thinking something like The Incredibles/Watchmen (whoever thought of that as a pair?!), where society is kinda over supers and is trying to shoe horn them into other roles/hidey holes. But that seems a little weak.

22 thoughts on “I have been dying to play Masks ever since the KS.”

  3. Rory MacLeod It kind of sounds like the “mix of players” is non-negotiable. So the issue at hand is finding a game that’s fun for that group of players.

    Taejas Kudva What about Runaways? Masks is perfect for Runaways. Or are you looking for a theme that is NOT teens, but still uses most of the mechanics?

    How about Avengers but EU supers, as opposed to the decidedly US-centric Avengers?

  4. Rory MacLeod It kind of sounds like the “mix of players” is non-negotiable. So the issue at hand is finding a game that’s fun for that group of players.

    Taejas Kudva What about Runaways? Masks is perfect for Runaways. Or are you looking for a theme that is NOT teens, but still uses most of the mechanics?

    How about Avengers but EU supers, as opposed to the decidedly US-centric Avengers?

  5. You might also consider doing something along the lines of Suicide Squad/Thunderbolts…a team of ‘reformed’ adults, outcasts, and B-listers trying to figure out if they can be heroes. That’s a little edgier but I can see it working within the existing mechanics since so many of them are tied to self-discovery and dealing with authority.

  6. You might also consider doing something along the lines of Suicide Squad/Thunderbolts…a team of ‘reformed’ adults, outcasts, and B-listers trying to figure out if they can be heroes. That’s a little edgier but I can see it working within the existing mechanics since so many of them are tied to self-discovery and dealing with authority.

  15. Wright Johnson​ They are good guys. You’re probably right that it doesn’t hurt to ask. I still have a gut feeling that it will have more legs with a slight retheming. Maybe kind of like Mystery Men, being b-listers in the shadow of big heroes.

    I guess Daredevil and all those Defenders titles hit that society telling you who to be theme also, but with slower impact, or maybe more hardened resilience to change and outlooks.

    I was thinking of using an old Savage Worlds setting called Necessary Evil, where the good guys are gone and the old bad guys are now the underground resistance against alien invaders who succeeded. The cellular nature of the resistance, the tug of old bad guy habits, the love/hate relationship with an oppressed public. I don’t know. Maybe you’re right that step 1 is just to ask.

  16. Wright Johnson​ They are good guys. You’re probably right that it doesn’t hurt to ask. I still have a gut feeling that it will have more legs with a slight retheming. Maybe kind of like Mystery Men, being b-listers in the shadow of big heroes.

    I guess Daredevil and all those Defenders titles hit that society telling you who to be theme also, but with slower impact, or maybe more hardened resilience to change and outlooks.

    I was thinking of using an old Savage Worlds setting called Necessary Evil, where the good guys are gone and the old bad guys are now the underground resistance against alien invaders who succeeded. The cellular nature of the resistance, the tug of old bad guy habits, the love/hate relationship with an oppressed public. I don’t know. Maybe you’re right that step 1 is just to ask.

  17. Eadwin Tomlinson I’m EST. Not that I’m expecting you to schedule around that! Part of the difficulty finding a game is that Tuesday and Friday nights are usually scheduled, kids’ bed time proceedings start at 7 for the little one but lasting until 9 for the toddler, and then family activities like swimming and gymnastics lessons taking prime time on weekends. Ugh, that sounds whiny. I love it all! But it seems like the games that hit my knee-jerk, Gotta-hit-that-RSVP! buttons tend to thumb their noses at my schedule.

  18. Eadwin Tomlinson I’m EST. Not that I’m expecting you to schedule around that! Part of the difficulty finding a game is that Tuesday and Friday nights are usually scheduled, kids’ bed time proceedings start at 7 for the little one but lasting until 9 for the toddler, and then family activities like swimming and gymnastics lessons taking prime time on weekends. Ugh, that sounds whiny. I love it all! But it seems like the games that hit my knee-jerk, Gotta-hit-that-RSVP! buttons tend to thumb their noses at my schedule.

Comments are closed.