Whew!  I am sorry I have been away for so long.  Tell you what, I won't make any promises about more free time for awhile.  I will just post when I can. Let me get started... :-)

I didn't know that the Marvel 'gods' didn't like the numerical designations for alternate earths.  I believe they used to at least.  But that is fine.  We can continue using the numerical designations or whatever they used now in any combination we wish.

I'm guessing the world are simply named as would be human nature.  We have a more emotional connection to names than numbers.  If so, what would we call 'our' game Earth of 682?


Speaking of variant Earths, what did y'all think (in general terms) of Loki, the series?  You can put spoilers in literal spoiler tags, I guess.  I generally liked it.

My apologies for missing that Octopus has been examining the ace card.  I will compose the next reply with Octopus having great insight as to its purpose. :-)

Counterforce, I am overjoyed to hear of another Masks game, especially one from such an insightful and resourceful player. :-)

I will read what you have written (I like the brief peek so far) and possibly submit a character if I can negotiate the time.

If you want, Counterforce, perhaps a more permanent and fixed link to your game can be arranged for your game.

Oops, accidentally made thread out of this post rather than a simple reply.  The 'loose thread' should be deleted by the time y'all read this...

Counterforce, you are thinking like a Marvel character should. ;-)

Yes, stretch your powers, use your knowledge and then make your rolls.  A particularly good description and I might give you a bonus.

The thing about Marvel is that the Brain and the Bull should each have a chance to solve any challenge.  Just one might be better than the other in a given circumstance.

Besides, I like challenges where anyone might come up with an insight.  That what I liked about Sherlock Holmes mysteries (which started my love of detectives and mysteries) is that the reader had a chance to solve the mystery along with Sherlock (although my batting average wasn't that great ;-).  It made the reader an active participant rather than a passive observer (as happens in B-list Trek episodes where fictional particles are beamed through plot device technology and the viewer is reduced to a passive observer simply via unfamiliarity).

So, yeah, I love you little scamps figuring things out as best you can.

OK, I will stop here tonight.  I believe I can continue the IC thread #3 tomorrow night but I know better than to promise...  ;-)

Thanks for the offer! Not sure if a permanent link is needed at this point, but it could be interesting if we could get a sort of long-term interconnected Masks community going on this site. Though that may be getting ahead of ourselves a bit.

I'll try and post soon-ish. A little under the weather now.

Unfortunately, two of our players have stepped out: Midnight and Ghost Spider. This means two things. First off, it gives us some sad feels. Secondly, it means Team C only has three spots filled.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what we can do about that?

00:24, Today: Jubilee rolled 4 using 2d6+1.  Jubilee: Take a powerful blow.

That means I'm okay, right?

Yep!



You even get XP out of it! :D

Hmm... Is Arc still around?

I guess it's not too late to add more characters to make up for losses. Though I'm not sure what I can add there... yet. Perhaps I'll think of something if no one else does.

Arc and Gateway haven't logged in since June, dunno when we'll see them again.

Ghost Spider and Midnight have left the game.  Part of it was scheduling conflicts and free time.  But too much of it (as I am given to understand) is MY erratic schedule and a very confusing amount of character threads.  Fair enough.  I can see that.

I am grateful for what they were able to give, wish them well and let them know that they are always welcome back. :-)

And I imagine other players might leave as well before I get this game more efficiently run.  I understand that as well.  Paradoxically, every player that leaves makes the game simpler to run for me (although I would rather have the extra players).  In fact, I would suggest to any exiting player that they check back i a month or two (as I have said to Ghost Spider and Midnight as well), they might find the streamlined game they were looking for.  The choice is theirs.

I see now how the concurrent threads were confusing to many players if not all of them.  Here is what I plan to do.

The first IC thread, the Open Campus Day a year before the actual start of the game is done and dusted.

The second IC thread, where the two junior students, Bluebird and Copycat have been introduced, is still ongoing.  But I will integrate the thread into the new  fourth IC thread (more on that below) so I am taking this thread slowly until I can introduce the fourth thread and fuse them together.

The third IC thread, the one with the new gadgets, Jocasta and the Infinite Mansion isn't too far from being done.

The fourth (and new) IC thread should be up in a couple of days.  It is very simple.  ALL of the PCs are together in the Student Lounge, having just finished their classes and now free for the weekend.  This is a chance for all of the PCs to just interact (all teams are together) and role-play for a bit in this seemingly mundane circumstance.  There is something a little more going on but it will manifest after y'all get some time to just hang out.

This fourth thread will soon be the only thread going on as the other threads end.  The fourth thread will be linear for a long time, no flashbacks or future shocks.  This will make a much more conventional game and be more familiar to most players.

With two players having left, and perhaps more to follow, the Team rosters and such will probably change.  But having gone through so much to set them up the first time, I am just going to have all of the PCs together and not worry about Team membership so much for the near future.

I imagine player membership will be more fluid now than later and Team requirements will be constantly fluctuating for a bit.  Besides, with every leaving player, Team structure will be much more easier to determine later with less players.  Time is on our side.

I'm very likely to make a new character for Team C, for what it's worth. Just need to do a bit of research and brainstorming first, but I like my current idea a lot.

Boss, I think rather than more confusing scenes with 14 or however many PCs in one place, we finally get to a proper First Session for the game and open a scene for each team. IC Threads 1, 2, and 3 have already been opportunities for the PCs to roleplay and interact, which they've done quite nicely, but we've been in the game creation phase for three months now. I think it's time to get out of game creation and move forward. We can introduce more characters or rearrange teams as we go, if we really need to. If we do a fourth IC thread that's just as much a warm up as the other three, we're liable to lose more players.

That makes sense to me as well. I doubt we will be changing team compositions drastically at this point, and we may as well give the remaining members of each team a chance to work together. When it's everyone in the same place at once, it's hard to focus on anyone.

Also - to be clear about what's happening in IC Thread 3... Each of us can only close one door at a time, through the considerable effort that unleashing our powers represents? And Jocasta can't close all of them at once? I mean, I'm willing to accept it - I guess the mansion is damaged in some way, or maybe there is some other complicating factor that I haven't thought of yet. It just seems sort of counterintuitive to me, especially if the Communicards are meant to be that easy to use. But I'll roll with it if that's the case.

In reply to Ricochet (msg # 389):

Neat! I"ll post tommorow, terrible allergies today and I just wasn't up to it.

One more thing, Watcher: Can you please go into the Dice Roller and set its default to 2d6 rather than 1d20? It'd be really convenient.

Okay, so...

Assuming I go with Octopus' plan, would I get the +1 from my assessment (since I'd be acting on the information from there as well) and the +1 from his idea?

Also, mechanically, the idea in this plan is that I would try to stop two groups and Jubilee will stop two others, giving each of us a -1 penalty - correct? Or can Jocasta take care of one of the groups for us?

Since I rolled a successful Unleash my Powers, I think there are only three groups left, one for each of you. (Assuming the GM meant that Jocasta gets a full on action, even though she can't roll dice.)

Ah, good point. Hopefully that was enough. Anyway, I'd like to know since it may influence my planning... a bit.

EDIT: On second thought, I might as well go for it soon if I don't get sidetracked. It's not that important a clarification and I don't want to hold things up.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:43, Sat 24 July 2021.

Sigh.  Delayed by real-life, will reply likely Monday night.  Might have some real time to post from Monday onwards.  I will be generous in rules interpretation as I realize you are waiting on me. :-)

OK, maybe it was Tuesday before I could respond... ;-)

Ricochet,  I hear ya.  And I should have been more clear.  The fourth thread is an actual adventure.  But it will start seeming very ordinary from your character's point of view.  But there will be an actual plot which is something I admit has been too long in coming.

Counterforce, you essentially got it right in your posts.  There are four groups of Phalanx, each of which has to be stopped individually, no one Move will do it (unless a penalty is taken for each extra Phalanx cluster tried for).  Your questions about why the Infinite Mansion can't simply stop or redirect the Phalanx are very good but will have to be investigated in character.  You are right that Jocasta and the Mansion should never have been this compromised in the first place.  But as to why, well...?   Of course, at the rate you are mopping up the Phalanx, you should get your answers soon.

"One more thing, Watcher: Can you please go into the Dice Roller and set its default to 2d6 rather than 1d20? It'd be really convenient."  You can do that??? ;-)  Um, let me see if I can figure out to do that by next time unless a co-GM will save my luddite bacon before then.