Lovecraftian Superheroes (Masks)

[Dusk Raven]

For thousands of years, humanity had been unknowing of the sheer scale of the universe it lived in, as well as its true alien nature. Not only that, but it was ignorant of the many eldritch beings that existed in the beyond, and they of it. Only a few scattered individuals or groups dedicated to the occult realized even a sliver of the truth.

And over the late 1920s and 1930s, that collective innocence was shattered without warning, as countless entities and forces made their way to Earth. It was as though the Earth had been under a veil for so long, only to see it suddenly removed. Alien beings came from space, from beneath the waves, and from dimensions beyond human perception. It all came to a climax in 1939, when a Great Old One arrived on Earth, bigger and more powerful than any other living thing, as mighty to humans as an elephant is to an ant.

And then a human, clad in silver armor, stood in its path, and punched it in the face, with enough force to crack a mountain. The two battled, and though the Old One's power was immense, nothing it did could defeat the human who battled it. At last, the Old One retreated – not because of injuries, but because of the sheer audacity of the ant that fought like a lion.

And then, there was merely a man. The people who witnessed the battle wished to know who he was. But though he had the stature of a Nordic god, his power was matched only by his humility. “My name is not important,” he replied. “I am a wolfhound, nothing more.” And then he left.

And as it turned out, the one who became known as the Wolfhound was far from the only hero that humanity had in store. In the decades that followed, for every threat from beyond that showed up on Earth, a hero emerged to battle it. Most used powers that were as incomprehensible as the beings that they fought. Arcane magic, bizarre science, inhuman biology, and the warping of reality itself were all represented among the heroes of the decades to come. It was true that the universe was a vast, alien, and scary place – but not everything strange and unnatural to human sensibilities was in fact evil.

And perhaps because of that realization, some of the heroes actually tried to reason with the eldritch beings instead of simply fighting them – and to their surprise, they succeeded. It started with Artemis, the arch-huntress, who discovered that the shadowy Noxwalkers, whose presence eroded everything around them, in fact wanted peace. In time, humans would find friends, even allies, among the eldritch beings of the universe.

Alas, the reverse was also true – not every human had the best interests of humanity in mind. Some took advantage of supernatural forces to seize power or commit crimes. Where once, the lines seemed clearly drawn – humans against nonhumans – now the lines were blurred.

And yet, there was still hope. Yes, there were terrible things in the universe, and horrific humans on Earth, but there was also plenty of people willing to fight for life and for good.

The year is now 2009. Of all the places on Earth exposed to the supernatural, Halcyon City sees more weirdness than any other location. It hosts dozens of superpowered individuals – heroes and villains, humans and aliens. Following the example of the anonymous Wolfhound, most heroes go by titles rather than their true names – though some are better able to keep their cover than others. These figures include heroes like Centurion and his cohort of spirits, The Scholar and his many arcane relics, and Moonlight and her strange yet beautiful transformations. But there are also villains seeking their own gain, or perhaps simple destruction, from the chaotic zoanthrope Little Dread to the scheming Soulscourge and his plans to control all supers, and through them all of humanity. And on top of that, there are eldritch powers that have their eye on humanity, for good or ill, from the forces of the Corpus Tenebrae to the corpse-god Mantorok, and even one of the masks of Nyarlathotep.

Though villains and monsters appear on a regular basis, heroes regularly fight them off. Even through terror and danger abound, the world, and Halcyon City in particular, still have hope and faith in their heroes.

Of course... that also means the heroes are under constant pressure to make reality match expectation. If humanity ever came to believe that heroes can save the day only some of the time, that even the mightiest forces of good could fail, with nothing that the common people could do about it... well, panic and anarchy could ensue.

So... the heroes must not fail.

Spoiler: A bit of context behind this idea

Show

Welcome to my (probably) unique take on Masks, a system about superheroes... which I've merged with a Lovecraftian horror setting. Sort of.

So... it's sort of a running gag with myself that every setting I make is, on some level, a cosmic horror setting. Even my sci-fi settings emphasizes humanity's insignificance in the universe, and contain powerful eldritch entities and forces. Of course, my settings are more Lovecraft Lite, with humans still able to make a difference and protect themselves and that which they value against the forces of the unknown. 'Tis the consequence of me really liking Lovecraft's work while fundamentally disagreeing with some of its core tenets.

But anyway, I was trying to come up with my own take on a superhero setting, and I thought, "What if I just frontloaded the cosmic horror?" Essentially, imagine the Cthulhu Mythos (well, something based on it) interacting so much with humanity through the 20s and 30s that all hope of keeping it hidden gets blown away, and humanity learns of the true, terrifying nature of the cosmos they live in, and the godlike beings that inhabit it.

But it turns out, humans are just as capable of harnessing the eldritch as the eldritch entities themselves.

So... a Lovecraftian mythos, yet made into a superhero setting. As a result, there are a lot of humans who, through some means or another, have harnessed or been given some of the same eldritch powers that the horrors from beyond possess. Where Lovecraft's heroes see madness, these heroes see possibility. Among those possibilities is the potential for understanding, for some of the beings from beyond are not as hostile as Lovecraft wrote them. They have the same potential to harm or help that humans do. And there are an increasing number of human beings with supernatural powers. Many use them for evil, but others use them for good, even if they don't understand the source of their abilities. They don't need to understand. They just need to have hope.

And through it all, humanity keeps on truckin'. Rather than go mad from the collective revelation, people have adopted the same cavalier attitude people in superhero settings seem to have. Sure, some cosmic entity could come and end everything, or it might be stopped by people far more capable than ordinary humans can ever hope to be. Either way, no point it worrying about it.

After all... when you think about it, superhero settings are worlds where the fates of most people are out of their own hands, dependent on heroic individuals to protect them from harm – and that there are a lot of threats out there that would have no difficulty killing non-heroes. And often, heroes and villains alike have powers beyond the ability of most humans to understand.

Really... superhero settings are already halfway to being dark fantasy or even cosmic horror, when you think about it. I've just decided to commit to it, but not to the point of taking away hope.

And so, the call goes out for those players willing to play Masks even if I've merged superheroism and Lovecraftian... sort-of horror. Things will definitely be brighter than Lovecraft's work, but the threat of annihilation is always there – if not for all of humanity, than for the people around you, or the ones you care about. There's also the matter of how humanity is reacting to all this. The eldritch may have turned out to be far less sanity-destroying than expected, but fear of the unknown is still a powerful force, and humanity very often fails to understand what's going on. They're willing to accept, however, that not everything strange is evil, provided it proves itself to be good. And so, the heroes of Masks aren't just trying to find out who they are – they're trying to prove to everyone else that what they are isn't something to be feared.

Required Character Info: The different playbooks of Masks have everything a character sheet needs, really, but I also expect some backstory. Masks is a very PC-driven game, after all, and the more I have to work with, the better.

Allowed Content: There's actually not a lot of content out there for Masks, but anything official goes. Do ask me if you plan on going with one of the playbooks from non-core sources, since those require a bit more care. Also, while there isn't much 3rd-party content out there, it does exist, so feel free to draw from it, provided you give me a link to where I can look at it, or buy it.

One final note - since this game is meant to be a bit more, well, eldritch then normal, I'm willing to tweak some of the fluff of the playbooks. In particular, I find the power options of many of the playbooks a bit limiting at times. If you want to expand those limits, feel free to ask!

[SwordCoastTaxi]

This looks amazing! I'm interested. Probably something like Constantine, the mystical detective-exorcist? Would that work?

[truemane]

How do you feel about the Nomad Playbook? I'm not sure the specifics just yet, but it would be someone who had been stranded in the Nether Realms as a child and has only recently found their way back home.

[Dusk Raven]

This looks amazing! I'm interested. Probably something like Constantine, the mystical detective-exorcist? Would that work?

Sounds fitting to me!

How do you feel about the Nomad Playbook? I'm not sure the specifics just yet, but it would be someone who had been stranded in the Nether Realms as a child and has only recently found their way back home.

My understanding of the Nomad is that they're not really tied down to Earth in particular, as cemented by the fact that instead of a "retire from the life or become a paragon" advancement, they just get "Depart for reaches unknown, never to return." Of course, the point of The Nomad seems to be to find reasons to stay. So, sounds good so far, but let me know about the specifics when they develop.

[Simsimillia]

I'm interested.

I have a vague idea of a Bull or a Nova maybe that is bonded in some way with an Eldritch entity.

Or a Joined depending on other peoples choices. Joined always kinda intrigues me.

[truemane]

Of course, the point of The Nomad seems to be to find reasons to stay.

This is precisely my read, as well. The mechanic whereby you gain mechanical benefits for giving more and more people Influence (and, conversely, drawbacks for not doing so) imply a constant pull between the desires to either settle down or set off again.

I think the way I'd want to play is to establish two kinds of stakes:

• Give them an immediate, compelling plot reason to be here at this time. Even if their arrival is random or unexpected, there's a THING and they're the only ones who can help.
• Whoever it was that stranded them (whether directly or indirectly), have them be an established part of the setting. Family is the easiest option (but not the only one).

So then we'd get to have the constant the tension between being home but not being at home; and they can't just run away from that tension because there's something here they need to handle.

So then the core conflict is played out purely internally. Not "Do I stay or do I go" but "Given that I must stay, how do I feel about it."

[Dusk Raven]

I'm interested.

I have a vague idea of a Bull or a Nova maybe that is bonded in some way with an Eldritch entity.

Or a Joined depending on other peoples choices. Joined always kinda intrigues me.

Reminds of me a 3rd-party playbook I found, The Attached, although it does cost a couple bucks.

This is precisely my read, as well. The mechanic whereby you gain mechanical benefits for giving more and more people Influence (and, conversely, drawbacks for not doing so) imply a constant pull between the desires to either settle down or set off again.

I think the way I'd want to play is to establish two kinds of stakes:

• Give them an immediate, compelling plot reason to be here at this time. Even if their arrival is random or unexpected, there's a THING and they're the only ones who can help.
• Whoever it was that stranded them (whether directly or indirectly), have them be an established part of the setting. Family is the easiest option (but not the only one).

So then we'd get to have the constant the tension between being home but not being at home; and they can't just run away from that tension because there's something here they need to handle.

So then the core conflict is played out purely internally. Not "Do I stay or do I go" but "Given that I must stay, how do I feel about it."

Hmm... I'll have to think a bit to come up with that. All I can think of for now is... not actually tied into those things, but it's something more general - perhaps that they came back to Earth, only to find that after all the time they've spent Elsewhere, humans are more... alien than they expected.

[Morphling]

Ohh, what a concept.

[Persolus]

I am not able to play this game, but just want to say that "and punched it in the face" is one of the most incredible sentences i've read in a while, bravo.

[Cerespirin]

I love the writeup. I like superhuman stories and Lovecraft-lite. But, I'm violently against high school games and Masks doesn't seem like the best system for the setting anyways. I think you'd be better served with another system, like Mutants and Masterminds. I'd be down to play if you chose a different system.

[Dusk Raven]

I am not able to play this game, but just want to say that "and punched it in the face" is one of the most incredible sentences i've read in a while, bravo.

Hehe, glad you like it! Mood Whiplash in a positive direction, was the intent.

I love the writeup. I like superhuman stories and Lovecraft-lite. But, I'm violently against high school games and Masks doesn't seem like the best system for the setting anyways. I think you'd be better served with another system, like Mutants and Masterminds. I'd be down to play if you chose a different system.

Well, the thing with M&M is a) I'm not very familiar with the system, and b) occasionally a game pops up. Masks is rarer, and I really want to play a game of it. Or run it, if I have to, and it seems like that's the case. Basically, Masks is the reason I'm making this in the first place. Normally I make a setting and then try and find what system would actually work with it, but in this case it's the reverse.

[Cerespirin]

Fair enough I suppose. I've been hunting for an MnM game for five years. In theory I love the system, but I've yet to play a game that lasts longer than the first scene.

[Aleph Null]

For thousands of years, humanity had been unknowing of the sheer scale of the universe it lived in, as well as its true alien nature. Not only that, but it was ignorant of the many eldritch beings that existed in the beyond, and they of it. Only a few scattered individuals or groups dedicated to the occult realized even a sliver of the truth.

And over the late 1920s and 1930s, that collective innocence was shattered without warning, as countless entities and forces made their way to Earth. It was as though the Earth had been under a veil for so long, only to see it suddenly removed. Alien beings came from space, from beneath the waves, and from dimensions beyond human perception. It all came to a climax in 1939, when a Great Old One arrived on Earth, bigger and more powerful than any other living thing, as mighty to humans as an elephant is to an ant.

And then a human, clad in silver armor, stood in its path, and punched it in the face, with enough force to crack a mountain. The two battled, and though the Old One's power was immense, nothing it did could defeat the human who battled it. At last, the Old One retreated – not because of injuries, but because of the sheer audacity of the ant that fought like a lion.

And then, there was merely a man. The people who witnessed the battle wished to know who he was. But though he had the stature of a Nordic god, his power was matched only by his humility. “My name is not important,” he replied. “I am a wolfhound, nothing more.” And then he left.

And as it turned out, the one who became known as the Wolfhound was far from the only hero that humanity had in store. In the decades that followed, for every threat from beyond that showed up on Earth, a hero emerged to battle it. Most used powers that were as incomprehensible as the beings that they fought. Arcane magic, bizarre science, inhuman biology, and the warping of reality itself were all represented among the heroes of the decades to come. It was true that the universe was a vast, alien, and scary place – but not everything strange and unnatural to human sensibilities was in fact evil.

And perhaps because of that realization, some of the heroes actually tried to reason with the eldritch beings instead of simply fighting them – and to their surprise, they succeeded. It started with Artemis, the arch-huntress, who discovered that the shadowy Noxwalkers, whose presence eroded everything around them, in fact wanted peace. In time, humans would find friends, even allies, among the eldritch beings of the universe.

Alas, the reverse was also true – not every human had the best interests of humanity in mind. Some took advantage of supernatural forces to seize power or commit crimes. Where once, the lines seemed clearly drawn – humans against nonhumans – now the lines were blurred.

And yet, there was still hope. Yes, there were terrible things in the universe, and horrific humans on Earth, but there was also plenty of people willing to fight for life and for good.

The year is now 2009. Of all the places on Earth exposed to the supernatural, Halcyon City sees more weirdness than any other location. It hosts dozens of superpowered individuals – heroes and villains, humans and aliens. Following the example of the anonymous Wolfhound, most heroes go by titles rather than their true names – though some are better able to keep their cover than others. These figures include heroes like Centurion and his cohort of spirits, The Scholar and his many arcane relics, and Moonlight and her strange yet beautiful transformations. But there are also villains seeking their own gain, or perhaps simple destruction, from the chaotic zoanthrope Little Dread to the scheming Soulscourge and his plans to control all supers, and through them all of humanity. And on top of that, there are eldritch powers that have their eye on humanity, for good or ill, from the forces of the Corpus Tenebrae to the corpse-god Mantorok, and even one of the masks of Nyarlathotep.

Though villains and monsters appear on a regular basis, heroes regularly fight them off. Even through terror and danger abound, the world, and Halcyon City in particular, still have hope and faith in their heroes.

Of course... that also means the heroes are under constant pressure to make reality match expectation. If humanity ever came to believe that heroes can save the day only some of the time, that even the mightiest forces of good could fail, with nothing that the common people could do about it... well, panic and anarchy could ensue.

So... the heroes must not fail.

Spoiler: A bit of context behind this idea

Show

Welcome to my (probably) unique take on Masks, a system about superheroes... which I've merged with a Lovecraftian horror setting. Sort of.

So... it's sort of a running gag with myself that every setting I make is, on some level, a cosmic horror setting. Even my sci-fi settings emphasizes humanity's insignificance in the universe, and contain powerful eldritch entities and forces. Of course, my settings are more Lovecraft Lite, with humans still able to make a difference and protect themselves and that which they value against the forces of the unknown. 'Tis the consequence of me really liking Lovecraft's work while fundamentally disagreeing with some of its core tenets.

But anyway, I was trying to come up with my own take on a superhero setting, and I thought, "What if I just frontloaded the cosmic horror?" Essentially, imagine the Cthulhu Mythos (well, something based on it) interacting so much with humanity through the 20s and 30s that all hope of keeping it hidden gets blown away, and humanity learns of the true, terrifying nature of the cosmos they live in, and the godlike beings that inhabit it.

But it turns out, humans are just as capable of harnessing the eldritch as the eldritch entities themselves.

So... a Lovecraftian mythos, yet made into a superhero setting. As a result, there are a lot of humans who, through some means or another, have harnessed or been given some of the same eldritch powers that the horrors from beyond possess. Where Lovecraft's heroes see madness, these heroes see possibility. Among those possibilities is the potential for understanding, for some of the beings from beyond are not as hostile as Lovecraft wrote them. They have the same potential to harm or help that humans do. And there are an increasing number of human beings with supernatural powers. Many use them for evil, but others use them for good, even if they don't understand the source of their abilities. They don't need to understand. They just need to have hope.

And through it all, humanity keeps on truckin'. Rather than go mad from the collective revelation, people have adopted the same cavalier attitude people in superhero settings seem to have. Sure, some cosmic entity could come and end everything, or it might be stopped by people far more capable than ordinary humans can ever hope to be. Either way, no point it worrying about it.

After all... when you think about it, superhero settings are worlds where the fates of most people are out of their own hands, dependent on heroic individuals to protect them from harm – and that there are a lot of threats out there that would have no difficulty killing non-heroes. And often, heroes and villains alike have powers beyond the ability of most humans to understand.

Really... superhero settings are already halfway to being dark fantasy or even cosmic horror, when you think about it. I've just decided to commit to it, but not to the point of taking away hope.

And so, the call goes out for those players willing to play Masks even if I've merged superheroism and Lovecraftian... sort-of horror. Things will definitely be brighter than Lovecraft's work, but the threat of annihilation is always there – if not for all of humanity, than for the people around you, or the ones you care about. There's also the matter of how humanity is reacting to all this. The eldritch may have turned out to be far less sanity-destroying than expected, but fear of the unknown is still a powerful force, and humanity very often fails to understand what's going on. They're willing to accept, however, that not everything strange is evil, provided it proves itself to be good. And so, the heroes of Masks aren't just trying to find out who they are – they're trying to prove to everyone else that what they are isn't something to be feared.

Required Character Info: The different playbooks of Masks have everything a character sheet needs, really, but I also expect some backstory. Masks is a very PC-driven game, after all, and the more I have to work with, the better.

Allowed Content: There's actually not a lot of content out there for Masks, but anything official goes. Do ask me if you plan on going with one of the playbooks from non-core sources, since those require a bit more care. Also, while there isn't much 3rd-party content out there, it does exist, so feel free to draw from it, provided you give me a link to where I can look at it, or buy it.

One final note - since this game is meant to be a bit more, well, eldritch then normal, I'm willing to tweak some of the fluff of the playbooks. In particular, I find the power options of many of the playbooks a bit limiting at times. If you want to expand those limits, feel free to ask!

MFW

How exactly do you plan to implement the playbooks out of curiosity? This is a very neat idea, though I am not 100% as to how it is meant to work mostly because my knowledge of PbtA systems is a tad spotty.

[Simsimillia]

Reminds of me a 3rd-party playbook I found, The Attached, although it does cost a couple bucks.

Neat, I think it kinda goes in a similar direction, but my ideas for both were either a more complete fusion of mind/body and soul either through a pact, accident or experimentation.

[Aleph Null]

Neat, I think it kinda goes in a similar direction, but my ideas for both were either a more complete fusion of mind/body and soul either through a pact, accident or experimentation.

Ehe
That sounds a little like my star boy character, who accidentally got himself teleported into the core of a star except stars are actually alive/sentient in his universe and this one was too nice to kill an innocent fleshbag by accident like that so he pulled a dende on him and...yea
I think I originally did it for a game on this site, except the game never took off because the GM had IRL shenanigans to deal with
I bet the Nova playbook might fit his concept, and not just because it's punny
Though I'd have to rewrite his background such that he is either a dimensional traveler (and thus ended up here) or just to better fit in with the state of the world as it is now (since the big reveal of supernaturals in his world went a little differently and also that timeline is written in the future -- if we're going by the actual world's time, he'd have been born about 6 months ago, and his transformation happens when he is in his mid 20s).
Anyway.
I am definitely interested in this game concept so I will stick around and see if it looks like there's a chance for me.

[Dusk Raven]

MFW

How exactly do you plan to implement the playbooks out of curiosity? This is a very neat idea, though I am not 100% as to how it is meant to work mostly because my knowledge of PbtA systems is a tad spotty.

...I'm not quite sure how to answer that, since I'm not quite sure what you mean. I don't see the playbooks working all that differently from how they work in a more typical superhero setting... although, the "Freak" label is going to be a bit more prominent, since most superheroes are strange, mysterious monstrosities by the standards of normal people, and the more esoteric your powers are, the more it's a battle to stop other people from seeing you as a freak. In that regard, the Transformed's only real disadvantage is that they can't pretend to be a normal person.

Otherwise, I think I'm mostly going to be dealing with the playbooks on a case-by-case basis, seeing what players come up with and working with how far they want to push the boundaries of their playbook.

[Aleph Null]

...I'm not quite sure how to answer that, since I'm not quite sure what you mean. I don't see the playbooks working all that differently from how they work in a more typical superhero setting... although, the "Freak" label is going to be a bit more prominent, since most superheroes are strange, mysterious monstrosities by the standards of normal people, and the more esoteric your powers are, the more it's a battle to stop other people from seeing you as a freak. In that regard, the Transformed's only real disadvantage is that they can't pretend to be a normal person.

Otherwise, I think I'm mostly going to be dealing with the playbooks on a case-by-case basis, seeing what players come up with and working with how far they want to push the boundaries of their playbook.

Ok gotchu
That's what I figured it was gonna be, just making sure I understood it properly
So yea, I could be interested, I'll watch to see where this goes

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

I'm interested, too. I'm probably not in a position to GM for it, unfortunately.

[Morphling]

Spoiler: Dreamquest

Show

Hero Name: Dreamquest
Real Name: Yuleth

Look: Transgressing, neon body, glowing eyes, flashy clothing, your people's uniform.

Abilities: Flight, toughness, stunning beauty or pheremones, telepathy and mind blasts.

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

Backstory:
Where do you come from? I come from the Dreamlands. Maybe you've been there, in your twilight hours. Too dimly aware of its wonders to be susceptible to its dangers. Well, it's all real, and it's where my people make their homes, in iron citadels forged from psionic might, held together against the shifts and transgressions of the Dreamlands through sheer force of will. We were once slaves of the Old Lords, bereft of thought or free will. But somewhere along the line they made a mistake in crafting our genetic code, and our agency and desire for freedom was born. We rebelled, and we escaped. Most of us anyway. Some are still imprisoned in those antediluvian halls. But the rest of us still fight in hopes of freeing our beloved people. We call ourselves the Yeth, and we've been fighting this war since before you humans crawled onto dry land.

Why did you come to Earth? Most of the Yeth elders have written off humanity. They think of you as too weak, too ignorant of the cosmos, and ultimately unworthy of allyship or salvation. But me, I couldn't disagree more. I have seen your dreams when I wandered the Plateaus of Leng, and they aren't the dreams of a weak and worthless species. They are the dreams of scholars, and artists, and warriors. The way I see it, if we're ever going to win this war, if we even want to remain free five-hundred years from now, then we can't keep going it alone. We need what humanity has to offer. So, I decided to become more than just a dream. It's time to make some friends.

Why do you want to stay here (for now at least)? Are you kidding? Earth is way more fun than some cold and cramped citadel or a featureless plain full of giant spider horrors. Do you know that we only serve two kinds of gruel at the citadels? Or that we only get to interrupt our meditations for one hour a week for recreation? Here on Earth we've got movies, and chocolate chip cookies, and a whole race of sexy aliens. It's awesome!

Why do your people want you to come home? According to my parents, I've abandoned my warrior training, and brought shame to my line, and threatened the corporeal stability of our citadels. Blah blah blah. Someone else can worry about that. And if it gets too bad, why not have everyone just manifest on Earth? We could live on the moon, it's mostly empty as far as I can tell. Meanwhile, I'm doing something that's actually important. I'm proving that the Yeth can be more than stodgy recluses. And I'm fighting eldritch threats on the frontline while I'm at it.

Why do you care about the team? These are the people that welcomed me here to Earth. Most of them are strange to their people in some way, so they understand what it's like to not belong. When I am weak, they are my strength. When I am lonely, they are my home.

Influence: Cheerful demeanor.

Moves: Belong in Two Worlds, The Best of Them, Not So Different After All

Spoiler: Image

Show

[Quivernas]

Interested. Is this going to be a superhero game that happens to involve cthuloid monsters or a CoC game that happens to have superheroes?

Or I guess a PbtA game where we figure it out ourselves?

[Aleph Null]

I found this 3rd party playbook which feels like it could be interesting. It's a little bit like Nova in basic concept but different in style...could I use it?

[Dusk Raven]

I apologize for the delay, I've either been busy or too damn tired.

I'm interested, too. I'm probably not in a position to GM for it, unfortunately.

No worries, I'm GMing this time!

Spoiler: Dreamquest

Show

Hero Name: Dreamquest
Real Name: Yuleth

Look: Transgressing, neon body, glowing eyes, flashy clothing, your people's uniform.

Abilities: Flight, toughness, stunning beauty or pheremones, telepathy and mind blasts.

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

Backstory:
Where do you come from? I come from the Dreamlands. Maybe you've been there, in your twilight hours. Too dimly aware of its wonders to be susceptible to its dangers. Well, it's all real, and it's where my people make their homes, in iron citadels forged from psionic might, held together against the shifts and transgressions of the Dreamlands through sheer force of will. We were once slaves of the Old Lords, bereft of thought or free will. But somewhere along the line they made a mistake in crafting our genetic code, and our agency and desire for freedom was born. We rebelled, and we escaped. Most of us anyway. Some are still imprisoned in those antediluvian halls. But the rest of us still fight in hopes of freeing our beloved people. We call ourselves the Yeth, and we've been fighting this war since before you humans crawled onto dry land.

Why did you come to Earth? Most of the Yeth elders have written off humanity. They think of you as too weak, too ignorant of the cosmos, and ultimately unworthy of allyship or salvation. But me, I couldn't disagree more. I have seen your dreams when I wandered the Plateaus of Leng, and they aren't the dreams of a weak and worthless species. They are the dreams of scholars, and artists, and warriors. The way I see it, if we're ever going to win this war, if we even want to remain free five-hundred years from now, then we can't keep going it alone. We need what humanity has to offer. So, I decided to become more than just a dream. It's time to make some friends.

Why do you want to stay here (for now at least)? Are you kidding? Earth is way more fun than some cold and cramped citadel or a featureless plain full of giant spider horrors. Do you know that we only serve two kinds of gruel at the citadels? Or that we only get to interrupt our meditations for one hour a week for recreation? Here on Earth we've got movies, and chocolate chip cookies, and a whole race of sexy aliens. It's awesome!

Why do your people want you to come home? According to my parents, I've abandoned my warrior training, and brought shame to my line, and threatened the corporeal stability of our citadels. Blah blah blah. Someone else can worry about that. And if it gets too bad, why not have everyone just manifest on Earth? We could live on the moon, it's mostly empty as far as I can tell. Meanwhile, I'm doing something that's actually important. I'm proving that the Yeth can be more than stodgy recluses. And I'm fighting eldritch threats on the frontline while I'm at it.

Why do you care about the team? These are the people that welcomed me here to Earth. Most of them are strange to their people in some way, so they understand what it's like to not belong. When I am weak, they are my strength. When I am lonely, they are my home.

Influence: Cheerful demeanor.

Moves: Belong in Two Worlds, The Best of Them, Not So Different After All

Spoiler: Image

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The Outsider playbook, I take it? Otherwise, looks good. The Dreamlands stuff is some of my favorite of Lovecraft's work, and I can hardly say no to a character that involves it.

Interested. Is this going to be a superhero game that happens to involve cthuloid monsters or a CoC game that happens to have superheroes?

Or I guess a PbtA game where we figure it out ourselves?

Somewhere between the two, I think. The overall tone is meant to lean closer to a superhero setting, but with more of a focus on just how scary even good heroes are to mere mortals. It doesn't help that the superpowers of the heroes are every bit as alien and eldritch as the actual alien entities. However, unlike true Lovecraftian horror, the unknown is not necessarily dangerous if used properly, and need not evoke fear. Indeed, the fear of the unknown is something that can be overcome, with the right motivation.

Mind you, humanity has had time to get used to the Lovecraftian, and one of my beliefs is that humanity's sanity is much less fragile than portrayed in Lovecraft's work. So the initial reaction to the PCs powers is not going to be as catastrophically bad as in a CoC game. The PCs are going to have to prove to people that they in particular aren't a threat, but most people are at least open to that idea.

Of course, if it's what the players want... things could turn darker indeed.

Also, I confess I don't know what PbtA stands for.

I found this 3rd party playbook which feels like it could be interesting. It's a little bit like Nova in basic concept but different in style...could I use it?

Very similar, but it certainly lends itself more to the theme of this game, so I will allow it. Nice to have another playbook where "you are both powerful and terrifying" is baked into its fluff and mechanics.

[Morphling]

The Outsider playbook, I take it? Otherwise, looks good. The Dreamlands stuff is some of my favorite of Lovecraft's work, and I can hardly say no to a character that involves it.

Excellent, and yes I probably should have put their playbook somewhere.

Also, I confess I don't know what PbtA stands for.

It stands for Powered by the Apocalypse. It's what Masks basically runs on!

[Aleph Null]

I apologize for the delay, I've either been busy or too damn tired.



No worries, I'm GMing this time!



The Outsider playbook, I take it? Otherwise, looks good. The Dreamlands stuff is some of my favorite of Lovecraft's work, and I can hardly say no to a character that involves it.



Somewhere between the two, I think. The overall tone is meant to lean closer to a superhero setting, but with more of a focus on just how scary even good heroes are to mere mortals. It doesn't help that the superpowers of the heroes are every bit as alien and eldritch as the actual alien entities. However, unlike true Lovecraftian horror, the unknown is not necessarily dangerous if used properly, and need not evoke fear. Indeed, the fear of the unknown is something that can be overcome, with the right motivation.

Mind you, humanity has had time to get used to the Lovecraftian, and one of my beliefs is that humanity's sanity is much less fragile than portrayed in Lovecraft's work. So the initial reaction to the PCs powers is not going to be as catastrophically bad as in a CoC game. The PCs are going to have to prove to people that they in particular aren't a threat, but most people are at least open to that idea.

Of course, if it's what the players want... things could turn darker indeed.

Also, I confess I don't know what PbtA stands for.


Very similar, but it certainly lends itself more to the theme of this game, so I will allow it. Nice to have another playbook where "you are both powerful and terrifying" is baked into its fluff and mechanics.

Nice.

I'll get something put together...though I will probably fiddle a bit with the fluff to make it a bit more my own (appearance bits that is -- I had imagined the appearance of my star boy to be pretty much like Marvel's Singularity when naked, though he'd be covered in gear designed to prevent him from accidentally frying everyone around him with gamma radiation). As to how he ended up merging with a star, magical mishaps are great hand-wave explainers for that sort of thing.

And yeah, PbtA is the underlying engine that Masks shares with some other games, like Apocalypse World and Dungeon World. Hence "powered by the Apocalypse" since an engine is a power source for a machine. Though I guess I didn't need to explain that part because it's obvious.

[Aleph Null]

Spoiler: Astral

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Hero Name: Astral
Real Name: Altair Centauri Lewis // Aerilas Anax-Zephyrian, or AX Tengen-1 by IAU
Look: Ambiguous, Celestial Body, Glowing/Starry Skin, Dark Clothing, Fantastical Costume

Abilities: Cosmic Power (Forces of the Cosmos)

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

Moves: Phenomenal Cosmic Power, Beautiful and Terrible, Eye of the Storm

Backstory
What traumatic event precipitated the discovery of your powers?

Perhaps a better way to describe it might be as the event that created me as what I am now. Really, I am the convergence of two separate stories, and the point at which they collide — both literally and figuratively — was the teleportation mishap at the Loveland Pass Outpost a few years ago. Half of the people that got caught up in that still haven't been found, and I probably wouldn't have made it back either had it not been for where I ended up. The human part, that is; the star part noticing in time also played a role, though.

You see, there's a certain intelligence to stars, though not in the way we might traditionally see it. I'm not going to take us down the quantum physics rabbit hole, but suffice to say that Aerilas Zephyrian decided that floating around in space was boring and that the fleshbag that spontaneously got sent over would make the perfect vessel. Which is all the better, since the alternative was instant incineration.

While there's a lot of non-Euclidean geometry and impossible-to-visualize physics in this part of the story, a summary might be that the human, Altair Centauri Lewis — yes, my parents named me after not one, but two stars, so maybe this was fated — and the star, Aerilas Anax-Zephyrian, merged into a single being. As to why a star might do something like that, besides for the mobility benefits, it also gives a direct means of actuation for my ideas rather than having to hope someone contacts me while I drift through space.

Who was the first person you accidentally hurt with your powers? How did you try to make amends?

I might have been a tad too hasty with my return, since I hadn't managed to fully stabilize the radiation-capture fields I had set up around myself when I landed back on Earth. Or, rather, the planet's gravity interfered with them, or maybe it was the atmosphere...either way, by the time I realized it, I had already burned a pretty sizeable hole in some poor chap's windshield as he was driving up toward the Eisenhower tunnel, and he wasn't terribly thrilled.

Stars can create as well as destroy, so I tried offer to fix the thing for him, but at the end of the day the poor fellow was just too startled and drove off in a panic before I ever got a chance to say anything. I'd already managed to figure out how to project thoughts into sound, though I don't blame the guy for running away when I had just redefined "celestial body" right in front of his face. I doubt he lived for much longer anyway, since gammas tend to kill pretty quickly.

Needless to say, I've done everything I can to be more careful since. I was a regular human once, too. I might be different now, but there isn't any malice here, even towards those cultist-wizard people that messed up and blew the top off that mountain way back when. If it weren't for them, after all, I wouldn't have become what I am today at all.

Who, outside the team, wants to recruit you for a grand project?

I have had all sorts of people come after me trying to get a glimpse into what makes me tick. Some of them are nice about it. Some, not so much.

There are definitely folks out there who would bend over backwards into pretty much anything shy of the event horizon of a black hole if it meant harnessing the insane amount of energy I make just by existing. Unfortunately for them, I kind of need it myself, or I wouldn't be able to do any of what I do. For one, besides maintaining my stabilizers and such, I have to keep some energy available to move around without accidentally falling into the wrong galaxy, since the space can get pretty distorted if I let it.

To be honest, I worry less about them catching me than I do about the kinds of things they might do if they actually got their hands on that sort of power, regardless of whether they took it from me or from some other, less-resistant source. It's probably less risky to just try and harness the sun itself, and anyone worth their salt can figure that out. But I still get people contacting me and asking to let them have a closer look, and I tell them that they should learn to stop playing with fire before they get themselves incinerated.

What beautiful thing have you glimpsed, thanks to your power?

Honestly, the universe is just so big and full of wonderful things that I can't list them all, but that's sort of how I have always seen things. Now, though, I see how even a star is as dust compared to a galaxy, to say nothing of the scale of the universe. But that just means there's no extrinsic meaning to our lives — it's up to us to decide that for ourselves. Isn't that incredibly liberating?

Think of all the pain and suffering people have endured for some grand cause...but we don't have to do that. We can live and love and do what we do because it makes us happy, because it is meaningful to us. People always go around asking what the meaning of life is, but the minute you ask that question you miss the point. There is no meaning of life — you have to decide that for yourself. You get to decide that for yourself.

Why do you care about the team?

Something about people with power doing nice things for other people makes me feel warm inside. Not, like, "oops, I probably should disperse those transition metals before I hit critical" type warm, but just the little kitten sleeping in a pile of blankets type warm. It's more complicated than that, but the point of being a hero is to help people, and to protect them from those that want to use them for some sinister purpose. Remember how I said that there's no meaning of life, so we get to decide that ourselves? That's why I believe the worst thing one person can do to another is to decide that in their place — that is, taking away their self-determination. Heroes exist to stop those kinds of things from happening, and it's exceedingly beautiful, to the point where I decided I would join the cause pretty much the moment I got to a point where I could interact with people again after returning to Earth.

While that doesn't seem to give me any specific reason to care about each of them as individuals, it's really just the starting point. As I get to know my teammates more, learn about them and their pasts, with that idea as the lens through which I view them, it's pretty inevitable that I start caring about them as individuals as well.

As far as humans go, that part of me is still pretty young. I was actually driving to school when I got caught up in that teleportation mess, so I still have a lot to learn about humanity, even if the knowledge a star has of particle physics and the inner workings of the universe is far deeper than what a normal human could ever understand. But there's really that sort of complexity wherever you go.

And that complexity is beautiful, too.

Spoiler: Faceclaim

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[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Spoiler: Work In Progress

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Hero Name: The Investigator
Name: Eloisa Lucciano (she/her)

Spoiler: Noir Mom

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Every once in a while, potentially anywhere on Earth but most often in New England, a mysterious ancient text will crop up, and some excited historian or would-be con artist will use it to used to start a cult. It's said that these texts' revelations and spells can drive their perusers to madness, but the truth is more mundane than all that. People these days are primed to see the supernatural everywhere, and a cult by its nature preys upon the poor and desperate who would often be written off to madness anyway. Your average cultist came into the fold looking for a way out of a bad home life, or an easy answer to some spiritual question that keeps them up at night, or a place to sleep where they won't get brought in by overzealous cops trying to make the mayor look good in an election year.

It would be easy to blame this presumption and posturing on the media, but even if they reported everything perfectly, human nature writes a sensationalist editorial. People remember the two stories about big tentacles smashing things in the name of Old Nyarly; they forget about the six hundred scams and false alarms that came between them, leaving at least as many people homeless.

The Inquisitor's job is to investigate cult activity, tell the scams from the real stories, and ideally, to end those stories before they get to the big set piece battles for the fate of the world. She doesn't always succeed, but hey, that's why she joined the Champions. A master of deduction, infiltration and disguise, her expertise helps the other big names to hunt down mentalist puppeteers, to stop apocalyptic rituals in the nick of time, and to stay off the radar when they're not on the job.

The current Inquisitor isn't the first person to carry the title. That person would be one hundred years old today, if he were still alive.

Eloisa is The Inquisitor's protege. A star athlete and weightlifter, she has been working and training at her dad's gym her whole life. She garnered a local reputation as a fearless crime fighter starting in middle school, and attracted The Inquisitor's attention by beating her to the punch on an investigation. Specifically, she took a suspect that The Inquisitor happened to be tailing and threw him against a wall for information. She got it, but still, it was messy.

So, I know what kind of character I'm going for here. She's a mundane detective type, trained to track, outwit, and intimidate cultists and monsters. She's strong and imposing, but hasn't quite sorted out the stealth or disguise parts of the job description, much to her mentor's chagrin. Her title is The Investigator, named after the hapless PCs in Call of Cthulhu games. I'm still a bit torn between going by the Protege playbook (which gives us players secret identities and a base to play with) or the Legacy playbook (which gives Dusk Raven more meddling NPCs to play with). I'm doing protege by default, but it would be pretty easy to switch. Any preference?

[LavenderT]

Hello! Is this still open for players? I'm super interested. I don't think I have any characters already cooked up but I love this concept so much. Masks is a favorite and I love Lovecraftian themes.

[Dusk Raven]

I apologize for the silence, people, just been busy, or tired, or scatterbrained.

So, I know what kind of character I'm going for here. She's a mundane detective type, trained to track, outwit, and intimidate cultists and monsters. She's strong and imposing, but hasn't quite sorted out the stealth or disguise parts of the job description, much to her mentor's chagrin. Her title is The Investigator, named after the hapless PCs in Call of Cthulhu games. I'm still a bit torn between going by the Protege playbook (which gives us players secret identities and a base to play with) or the Legacy playbook (which gives Dusk Raven more meddling NPCs to play with). I'm doing protege by default, but it would be pretty easy to switch. Any preference?

I don't think I have a preference, either works. I guess it depends on... okay, I'll have to re-read the playbooks in question to identify the distinctions.

Hello! Is this still open for players? I'm super interested. I don't think I have any characters already cooked up but I love this concept so much. Masks is a favorite and I love Lovecraftian themes.

Well, we've got three characters so far, I'm sure we've got room for a fourth!

Also... I should work more on NPCs, especially the ones your characters would know about. One special note - I've been working on my own "sample" versions of each playbook in the context in this setting, and any that don't get picked are going to be other young heroes in the city or near it. Not necessarily interacting with this group on a regular basis, but they exist.

[Aleph Null]

I apologize for the silence, people, just been busy, or tired, or scatterbrained.



I don't think I have a preference, either works. I guess it depends on... okay, I'll have to re-read the playbooks in question to identify the distinctions.



Well, we've got three characters so far, I'm sure we've got room for a fourth!

Also... I should work more on NPCs, especially the ones your characters would know about. One special note - I've been working on my own "sample" versions of each playbook in the context in this setting, and any that don't get picked are going to be other young heroes in the city or near it. Not necessarily interacting with this group on a regular basis, but they exist.

Life do be that way sometimes

And...yeah that makes sense, it's an easy way to have some of the world already set up at the start

[LavenderT]

Spoiler: Blackjack

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Hero name: Blackjack
Real name: Max Chapman
Look: man, white, lean body, casual clothing, no costume
Abilities: energy blasts (magic), mechanical limbs

Danger 0 | Freak 0 | Savior +2 | Superior +1 | Mundane 0 | Soldier +2

Moves: Before We Get Started, I Can Do This All Day

Small note: I changed AEGIS to be called WARD for the sake of this setting. Basically all the same roles you would expect but just sounds a little more magic-y. WARD stands for Weird and Alien Research and Defense.

Backstory
What tragedy or disaster led to you gaining your abilities?
Does the current state of the world count as a tragedy or disaster? Ha, I'm mostly kidding. I was born with the magic stuff because of proximity to some freaky portal thing. Mom didn't know that was happening but I can't blame her, it can be hard to tell if the lady who bakes awesome pies next door is summoning Spawn of Cthulhu in her basement. The robo-arms though, that was WARD. I was being a little bit stupid out there, tried to take on some freaky crab things and kinda lost my legs while I was at it. Got these cool replacements though! I can do all kinds of cool parkour and my sprint times are unbeatable, except against the people out there with biological super speed I guess.

What inspired you to officially join WARD?
Well they were pretty cool about helping me get back on my feet. Carly Kelly, she's my supervising officer now, thought I had potential, so she offered to train me. I was kinda just a dumb kid at the time who tried to get in waaaay over my head, so I figured having some backup would be a good idea.

What does WARD do for the world that no one else can?
I mean, we've got more resources than most people, a centralized library, infiltration agents who worm their way into cults to stop them from trying to summon some bad news with an octopus for a face. We've got a lot that other people don't. Making a big network and coming together is the only way we can stop hostile forces, that's what we're all about.

Who, outside of WARD and the team, connects you to your civilian world?
Mom for sure- uh, Delilah Chapman for the official records. She and I were all each other had for a while. We're both a little busy now but we make time whenever we can. She's got this boyfriend too, Dennis. I don't trust him but I'll keep him safe as long as Mom is happy.

Why do you care about the team?
Teamwork's important, simple as that. I don't know a whole lot about these guys other than what I read in their files, but like I said, WARD's all about building a network. If we band together not even the mind control creeps can do anything.