To me that sounds like the Janus, but do whatever you want!! I think that also works well as a Beacon, maybe?

I was thinking of doing a Scion, the child of a villain. I didn't come with much of a pitch, but I tend to like heroes that are low-powered or no-powered, Batman, Mr. Terrific, Green Arrow types, and characters who are somewhat untrustworthy according to their peers. Y'know. Batman, Mr. Terrific, Green Arrow types.

I'm excited to talk with people more about what they're thinking. The Nest got my brain kind of spinning up, as I mentioned.

Janus is definitely an option with some moves that tie directly into that concept. It can work with just about any of the playbooks, though. (I think Beacon might actually be the least suitable because there isn't the sense of being separated from the community--when heroing is a choice that you are repeatedly, consciously making, it's harder to play up a sense of separation and difference. If it bothers the character that much, they could just stop.) I left things intentionally really vague at the RtJ stage because I had no idea whether people would come in with strong playbook orientations.



For those who aren't familiar with Masks, it's worth pointing out that the level of a character's super powers does not really affect agency or ability to impact the game. I've seen Beacons do much more than Novas. The game's set up to focus on the people, not the powers (even though having powers often affects the people in profound ways).

Thanks to Naechtweard!  I think the suggestion of The Doomed would probably work well for me.  Unless someone is more set on that one, I'll claim it.

Agreed on the point of the powers coming in second to characters.  When it comes to your Playbook, you should pick the one that closest suits your characterization, not your power set.  Powers can be fudged and adjusted (for example, even powers listed as being magical could just as easily be reflavored as super science).  What's most important is the character's personality, presentation, and how they interact within the game.  Those elements are far more important and used frequently in the system than the powers themselves.

---

For my character, I intended to recycle a previous MASKs hero of mine from an older game that fizzled out.  I really liked her and wanted a chance to give her another shot; she's very heavily inspired by the recent Spider-Man resurgence in terms of overall mood and is meant to play around with the "super who craves normality" trope, subverting the usual alter ego story in that she's hiding her normal civilian self from everyone rather than her superpowered self.

Isabella Hernandez; aka "Horizon"
Playbook: The Janus
Look: Woman, Hispanic, Casual Clothing, Adaptive Body Armor, Slightly Stressed
Affiliation: The Astro Team (Superheroes)
Public Recognition: High - Very well-known and easily identified while in costume.  Private civilian identity unknown.
Powers: Gravity Manipulation - Superhuman Physicality, Impossible Mobility, Energy Absorption

I'm leaning toward The Bull at the moment, though I'm not so set on it to be definitively claiming it if anybody else is interested in that direction.

If we look at the current leanings, possibly subject to change.

 Artexercise => The Doomed
     Athenry => The Janus
       Krypt => The Nova
 Naechtweard => The Bull
YahtzeeNinja => The Scion

At this point I should be working on something similar to what Athenry has provided, correct?  For the Doomed playbook that looks like answer the backstory questions and making some choices/decisions from Look, Abilities, Nemesis, Doom Closer, Doom Sign, and Sanctuary.  Or am I missing something?

I just reposted the character bio format from the previous game I'd played Horizon in.  When it comes to what's necessary here, it's best to wait for whatever our illustrious Narrator asks us for.

It sounds like we've each found playbooks to suit a character concept, so I'm thinking the next step is to fill in details straight from the playbook, right?  Pretty much what Athenry did with Horizon: Name, Look, Abilities, and answer the Background questions.  I'm working on mine now!

Once we have a basic idea of our team members we can figure out how the team came together :)

It's a good mix of types and power levels. The Nova and the Doomed are both pretty "powerful" playbooks on the superpowers side, but with costs. Add a Bull to the mix and there's likelihood of even more collateral damage. A Janus who's kind of a reverse-Legacy paired with a Scion mean we've also got plenty of connections to the city's existing super power structure. Seems like a great setup for a team, really—the kind of team that's going to be constantly negotiating its own mistakes and the pressures of established powers. (I'm excited; this is what Masks is great for.)

I'll go ahead and start working up some more specific stuff for this iteration of the Bull.

Daisy Seong, aka "Dynamo Girl"
Playbook:  The Nova
Look:  Woman, Asian, normal skin (glows when going zappy), formal clothing, fantastical costume
Powers:  Electrical absorption/control/transformation

• When did you first use your powers?
I suppose the first time would be at twelve when I was struck by lighting and didn't die, right?  That was kind of accidental, but then again my zappyness was ALL accidental for the first few years.  Bursting light bulbs, frying electronics, sending sparks to exposed metal, accidentally zapping people with a touch.  I've gotten that sort of stuff under control... mostly.

The first time I used zappyness on purpose was in the morning before school, I was running late and was about to miss the bus!  The bus was all the way down the street and was about to pull away, and I needed to get there RIGHT NOW.  That was the first time I did a zap-jump!  There was a happy whoosh, a crack-a-boom and I found myself looking at a very surprised bus driver!  Most importantly, I didn't miss the bus.

• Who was the first person you accidentally hurt with your powers?
My dad, and I've felt bad about it ever since :(  One day after school he got mad at me for some reason I don't even remember, and I got really upset about it.  When I yelled back I kind of... shot a lot of little lightning bolts at him, and everything else in the room.  It hit him like a tazer and knocked him out, and my mom had to put out fires with the extinguisher from the kitchen.  The police and the fire department came and everything!

Dad spent a day in the hospital and still has a burn scar, but he's okay now.  My parents won't admit it, but I know they're scared of me now :(

• Who, outside the team, helps you control your powers?
Christina Jolly, owner of Jolly Pirates Arcade at the mall.  One time I got a bit excited playing Street Fighter 2 at the arcade and kinda blew up the game cabinet... and the ones next to it, and the lights.  I was so scared and upset and cried a lot, but Ms. Jolly was SO nice.  She knew it was an accident and said she wouldn't tell my parents or make them pay for damages.  She asked me about my zappyness and taught me a lot about how electricity works, which has been a big help in learning to control it.  Now I go see her at least once a week to show her new things I learned to do, and she always gives such good advice and even ideas for new stuff to try.  She's the one who helped me figure out how to charge phones with a touch instead of frying them, for which I'll be forever grateful.

Ms. Jolly is the best!

• Why do you continue to use your powers?
I want to use my zappyness to do good things and to help people, but if I'm being honest I mostly keep using it because it's AWESOME!  I feel most alive when I really let loose with the zaps, though it's tough because that tends to mean things blowing up.  I don't think I've discovered even half of what I can do yet, and I'm always excited to learn new things!

Also, keeping my zappyness bottled up for too long tends to cause surprise fireworks shows, soooo there's that.  Control takes practice, so I have to keep doing it for that reason, if nothing else.

• Why do you care about the team?
They're my friends!  Friends are there for each other, no matter what.  I feel like they make me better when I'm with them, and I kind of need that.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 04:06, Fri 06 Aug 2021.

Everyone should be able to update their character sheet now!

What sort of vibe does our team have? Dynamo Girl and Horizon seem to be on a similar wavelength, but we need to work out who we are and what we mean to the city.

I feel like a good bit of that comes through the team building questions. To glance ahead, these are what we'll be figuring out after we've got our playbook questions answered (in this order, I think):


(Bull) We defeated a dangerous enemy. Who or what was it?
(Doomed) We paid a high cost for victory. What was it?
(Janus) We saved the life of someone important, either to the city or to us. Who was it? Why are they
important?
(Nova) We destroyed our surroundings in the fight. Where was it? What did we destroy?
(Scion) Someone important learned about my lineage and condemned us all. Who? Why?

As individuals, we have the final say over how our playbook's question gets answered, but there's usually a lot of bouncing ideas around and making suggestions.

Just this set of questions seems to suggest to me that our vibe is heroic but troubled. We're collectively pretty powerful and likely high profile (maybe higher profile than we want to be), and aside from a limited number of heroic allies, not especially trusted by established teams and individual superheroes.

ALIAS: Contact or Elevens => can't decide
NAME: Atka Fisher

LOOK: Man, Indigenous-Inuit, Steely Eyes, Unassuming Clothing, grim costume

ABILTIES: Telekinesis(icy glow?), Psychic Constructs(cold breath), Vitality Absorption(stealing heat?)

NEMESIS: The Qernertoq Qalupalik(nicknamed double Q, translated The Black Troll)

When did you first learn of your doom?
* After trip to Northern Alaska for Grandfather's funeral.  The night after I received Grandfather's number disk #1111.  I dreamed of the Black Troll climbing up out of the icy wasteland to claim lives.  She wished to drown the world.  Grandfather pushed her down into the ice one more time and spoke to me in the dream.  I was next in line since my father had already passed.  I was the Defense against the Black Troll.  He didn't explain why it was our family with this responsibility, but I felt the malevolence and knew that I could not stand down against the threat.

Where did you get your sanctuary?
* There were a number of items that Grandfather left me.  No one else seemed to know anything about them.  That might be a blessing for them.  When I started going through the box of artifacts, the Necklace with the stone circle and the bone harpoon head called out to me.  It was by accident that I cut myself on the harpoon and fate that I bled onto the stone.  The closest doorway was suddenly a doorway into a space beyond, a place of artifacts, meditation, and the Snowy Owl.

Why do you oppose your nemesis?
* Isn't it simple?  Lives are at stake.  The Black Troll looks to take everyone and drag them down to some spiritually watery grave, starting with the ones I love and care for the most.  Once the double Q gets through me, the ancient creature will wreck havoc.

Who, outside of the team, is crucial to defeating your nemesis?
* Outside of the team, is my lost sister Tali.  I'm not an only child.  My older sister disappeared years ago right after father passed of cancer.  She ran away and we haven't heard from her since.  It made an already strained and hard situation harder, but Mom and I are strong, or at least Mom pretends for my sake.  I wished Tali hadd been at Grandfather's Funeral, it felt even more melancholy without her.  Grandfather left her a box as well, but no one dares open it.

Why does the team matter to you?
* Being the one who listens to the victims, to give voice and power to the dead, comes with dangers when you make contact.  I know my team sees my intentions and will help me live to see the day when I can no longer fight against the Black Troll and pass this on to the next generation.  Just having the means to fight back doesn't always mean it's for the greater good.  I think they believe me, that I fight for the greater good.

DOOM CLOSER: Frightening Loved Ones, Injuring Innocents

DOOM SIGN: Dark Visions

SANCTUARY: Aide or Assistant [Snowy Owl headed old man, Anguta]; meditation space; Scattering of Ancient Artifacts // Tied Intricately to your doom, Difficult to Access

This sounds about right so far.  Seems like we've got a group of young heroes who all didn't necessarily choose that path for themselves and are dealing with a bigger future than they personally want.

Dynamo Girl - Being an otherwise normal person suddenly having extremely volatile powers, but lacking any direction/aid/means of security.  Just kind of adrift on her own and left to figure it out while everyone in her normal life suddenly can't cope with the unexpected changes.

Horizon - Pretty much had her life planned for her ahead of time with a lot of responsibility from the word go, high expectations for her future, and a ton of power that demands cautious use.  She has her entire family to fall back on for support, but they're also the ones pushing her in directions she doesn't want at the same time.  She's stood in a very long shadow and looking for some way to be herself despite it.

Contact/Elevens - Sort of in-between Dynamo Girl and Horizon; he's stumbled into new powers, a big destiny and isn't really equipped to handle any of it.  But he has no choice in the matter because running away or handing it over to someone else isn't even an option.  He has a small support network of his own, but it's directly tied to the problem itself and thus doesn't necessarily serve as relief from the pressure.

---

I can already see a lot of understanding and sympathy going amid these three to begin with since they all can find common ground in their experiences.  All of them are stuck, locked into their own paths by circumstances outside their control.  Which also makes a good cause for them to come together as a team, since they can find refuge with one another and can help balance their abilities.  For example, part of Horizon's power set is "Energy Absorption", so she could actually siphon off Dynamo Girl's excess charge on the regular.  She and Contact/Elevens can also confide in each other when it comes to dealing with their fates.

Something to keep in mind for Horizon, however, is that she'd basically be in her superhero persona 100% of the time around the team.  Her secret identity is a secret to literally everyone; none of them would ever see her out of costume, nor would they know her real name or what she looks like.

Part of this is aided in the sense that, as she's expected to join her family's legacy on their "Astro Team" group at some point in the future, Horizon's role in the party would kind of be as a mentor herself.  She'd be allowed to be on the team in order to get some personal experience of her own out in the field, while expected to guide and teach the up-and-coming heroes who need it.  Her family would basically be treating the whole matter as a learning experience for her, like volunteering as a camp counselor or the like.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:41, Fri 06 Aug 2021.

GM, I now have a character sheet but it says the GM hasn't given me permission to edit it!

---

Wow, very cool characters, everyone :D

I like y'all's thinking regarding the team so far.  I feel like the characters we have so far are all going to have something to prove, and adults who want to put us in boxes that we don't want to be in.  I'm thinking our team will tend toward rebelliousness and maybe going after problems that the super-hero establishment doesn't recognize or consider a priority.  Example: Halcyon City probably doesn't care about Contact/Elevens's Black Troll or even believe it's real, so that might be a problem nobody else is looking at!

I wonder if Horizon might have a second heroic identity that she uses with our team, that her family doesn't know about?  Perhaps that's a way to be a superhero on her own terms and follow her own ideals rather than those established by her family.  Just an idea :)

---

Thinking more on Dynamo Girl's backstory, I found what seems to me like a 'plot hole':  A suburban girl develops destructive, uncontrollable powers, starts fires and nearly kills her dad... Probably she's not going to be allowed back to school the next day and everything goes back to normal!  My idea is that her parents sent her away to a special boot-camp/boarding school for troubled young supers to keep them safe and help them fit into society.  The problem is that this place is run by an anti-superpower organization, and the curriculum is designed to suppress the kids' powers and force them to be "normal"!  Daisy's parents chose this place because they're suspicious of supers and view them as dangerous, and of course the accident only supported that belief.  They sent her to the camp so they could have a "normal" daughter :(

Daisy would accept all of this at first out of genuine concern/guilt over the danger of her powers, but would come to HATE it and oppose it ideologically.  Probably she came away from the camp (side-note: need to think of a name) with improved control over her powers, but at the cost of a lot of repression and without having the freedom to actually use them.  Let's say she recently graduated from the program and was deemed safe enough to return to society.  Now she's back but strongly discouraged from using her powers, and probably ostracized at school because rumors that she's some kind of crazy powder-keg.  Not fun!

Of course, Daisy is back to using her powers in secret, with the help and support of her secret mentor, Christina Jolly.  The mask of Dynamo Girl is now important because it's the only time Daisy can be her true self and be part of a team that accepts her.  Now she's out to prove her parents and the camp wrong, and that she can use her powers to do good for society!

Apologies for the rambling, but this is me trying to figure out my character and what drives her :)

That might be a bit much for the poor girl.  ^^;

My plan with Horizon is that her being on a superhero team of her own isn't an issue at all.  If anything, it might have even been encouraged by her family to get her some practical, "boots on the ground" experience, and she might even be expected to take a leadership or advisory role within the team itself.  On her own, Horizon is already a superhero; a well-known one at that.  Her association with the Astro Team is such that any screw-ups that occur while she's on a smaller start-up team would be swept under the rug for her in a bit of superheroic nepotism.

I should expand on what I was planning for her family as well.  The Astro Team I've mentioned so far is supposed to be a play on the Fantastic Four in terms of their overall relevancy and level of power/influence in the setting.  Big family full of superheroes, all of whom operate under the same umbrella.  While a few of them are the "fighting the monster of the week" types, the majority are more science and humanitarian heroes; the kind that use their various powers to further scientific progress, perform civilian-focused services, address natural disasters, etc.  A less combat-focused type of hero.  Overall the Astro Team family have a lot of influence, a lot of wealth, and a ton of good will from the general population.

Horizon being brought up as yet another member of the team was a forgone conclusion.  It'd be a standard practice among the family that all the younger "in-training heroes" would undergo various tiers of education to help in their upcoming career (civics training, law, the sciences, etc), get some practical experience in using their powers for the greater good (as a crime fighter, or some other non-combat end), and then eventually be cleared to join the Astro Team full time.  At the time of this game's events, Horizon would be in the middle of that period of her training; the better she performs with the party of young heroes, the more likely she is to be put on the Astro Team sooner than later.  Which leaves her in this terrible spot of knowing she can't just shirk her duties and drag her heels because that would endanger others and get the party in trouble.  But doing a good job shortens what little freedom she has left and makes it harder for her to have any individualism.

---

I like the concept of this kind of boarding school.  Depending on how prevalent spontaneous super powers are supposed to be in our setting, there might be a lot of these kind of places with varying attitudes and approaches on how to handle supers.  Daisy's parents just picked one of the bad ones.

It might even be the case that the "bad" schools, like this one, are literally bad.  As in, founded or sponsored by super villains in an effort to suppress the rise of a new generation of heroes while also sifting for potential villainous talent.  It'd be real easy for a villain to pick out a promising, easily-manipulated student from the batch and radicalize them into villainy.  The usual "they're all trying to force you to be what they want, they don't understand you, they're scared and jealous of you" sort of spiel that's very tempting to an oppressed youth.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if "Miss Informative" was on the board of trustees for that very same school, for example.

So I've been thinking a bit about the Bull playbook and the usual mad scientist/secret government program/technology oriented concept of how these people get changed...and I thought it might be fun to go a different direction and build on some of the hints of Bad Magic Stuff in the waters outside Halcyon City.

John Donovan (Jack) Murphy, aka Hellfish


• Who changed you?

These psycho bubble heads out in the harbour. Cult of Ibu Laut. Some kind of sea monster, I guess. They kept telling me it was an "honor" to be her "harbinger." They drugged me. Like, a lot. Weird potions they made me drink out of shells and all these messed up fish things. I don't remember lots of it, but they made me fight every g.d. day. Gave the bubble heads I was fighting real knives and spears. And...I don't like to think about it. 'Cause it got worse when the knives and spears weren't enough and it was just the whispers all the time. You ever catch me drinking coffee at 2 a.m., it's 'cause of those whispers. Don't wanna hear them again, and sometimes they sneak into my dreams.

• How did you escape from them?

I dunno, bro. It was an accident, I guess. Grandpa told me it was probably Captain Dauntless fighting Mindbender Mollusk. Chronicle said a bunch of ships got broken? Anyway, there was this big crash, and water started coming in. The bubble heads were all riled up, too. Swimming up from wherever that was should maybe have killed me? But it didn't, 'cause I'm tough. Passed out somewhere and washed up on the beach south of the city. Took a while for somebody to match me to a milk carton, you know? I'd been gone...a while.

• Who, outside the team, tries to take care of you now?

Grandpa Jimmy's got my back. He used to be a longshoreman and still does all this union stuff. When he's not watching TV in the apartment, he's down at the Chain and Anchor. Or doing union sh--stuff. He makes sure I got clothes and food and don't get expelled. Yells at me sometimes when I screw up. And he always knows, too, 'cause he knows everybody in the harbour. Like he's a spymaster or something. Or maybe all the old guys just sit in the bar and bitch about the kids these days, and they tell him what I been up to.

• Why do you try to be a hero?

'Cause I think it'll piss the bubbleheads off. a frown And...I don't wanna let Grandpa down. He could've just let the state take me. He's bad with kids, but he's a figher, y'know? And he'd try and whup me if I used this bubblehead voodoo to knock over liquor stores or something, and then I'd lose it and hit him back and bust all his old man ribs. So yeah. Better for everybody that I do this and stay a long way from whatever the Harbinger of the Sea Mama b.s. I got made for.

• Why do you care about the team?

They need somebody to take care of that they can't accidentally incinerate. That's me. And, uh, sometimes I guess I need people to hold me back. When I get mad, I-- Look. They can shut the whispers up and knock me down if they get to me too much. And they're easier to get along with than grandpa.

---

Other trivia: Jack was on his high school's swim team until he got kicked off. While an excellent swimmer, he's definitely leery of the bay and of salt water in general. It's not a phobia, but if anything forces him out onto a dock or pier, he's going to be walking right down the middle of it.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:29, Sat 07 Aug 2021.

Alias: Fencer
Name: Jesse von Engelhart

Look
ambiguous, White, slender body, casual clothing, no costume

Your Lineage

What kind of villain are they?
deadly mercenary

What is your relationship with them like?
actively adversarial

They have an array of abilities, assets, and strengths; what are some of them?
superhuman martial prowess, arsenal of weapons and gadgets, supremely honed skills

What abilities do you use to fight them?
impressive martial prowess, a powerful weapon

Backstory
• Who is your supervillain parent?

It actually starts way back. Way, way back. Like, princes and knights and shit way back. Great great grand-something or other. But that all came to a head around the 19-somethings when granddad Ambrose dedicated his life to the Kaiser and swore to defend him from the invading American heroes. He happened to bring a few valuable things to this- being one of the most talented swordsmen in Germany, and a sword created by some of the greatest minds in the Fatherland. He became the first Fencer, and fought every so-called hero the Allies could throw at him.

Of course, that wasn't enough to save Germany. Eventually, defeated, he slinked off in shame to his castle in Bavaria. That didn't last too long, though.

Eventually, the family fled from Germany and the Nazis. But not every member came with them. Ambrose' youngest son, Javier, abandoned the family. He began working as a mercenary, taking the skills his father had taught him and selling them to the highest bidder. A mercenary and assassin, he's fought dozens of heroes. And more than that, he's killed world leaders and complete innocents alike. Whomever needed to be killed- if the price was right.

• Who told you about your parent’s true nature?

Granddad was the first to say something. He has always hated his son and his lack of honor. When he realized he was too old to be able reclaim the family honor, he opened up to Jesse about it. The family's history in Europe. His feelings of betrayal. And the true identity of Jesse's father.

• Why did you turn from your lineage to be a hero?

Jesse was never interested in any of the family legacy stuff. Even after being told about it, he didn't really care. But he doesn't like bullies. And he doesn't like his father. If being able to turn this into something... Less shitty? If that appears, maybe he has to take it.

• Who, outside of the team, helps you on your chosen path?

Grandpa Ambrose is an old, old man. But he's still cunning and keen, and a capable coach on the arts of swordsmanship. Especially for a guy his age. He's still on the shit-list of basically every hero over the age of 50, though. And all of them aged well.

• Why do you care about the team?

The team is on my side. Not a lot of people are.

Thanks for that explanation about Horizon, Athenry, that's interesting!

This gives me an idea for a team concept... Our cast so far looks like a bunch of oddballs coming from difficult situations with little hero training, and then we have one young dynastic pro-hero, Horizon!  How could such a team have come together?  Here's a pitch:

The Young Pinnacles are a brand new super-team sponsored by Astro Team, with Horizon assigned to lead us.  To those of us scouted from the Halcyon populace this is our big break into legitimate super-society, and a chance to achieve our heroic dreams!  Horizon, however, knows the truth: this team only exists as a test of her leadership skills to take a group of weirdos and try to make something of them ;P  Horizon might likely resent this whole situation, but sees opportunity in this new autonomy to do things her own way!

Thoughts?


Yeah!  There would certainly be a range of political stances on supers, from 'Brotherhood of Mutants' super-supremacists to human-purists who view supers as freaks and abominations.  Daisy's parents are anti-super, but mainly out of fearful ignorance rather than out of active hatred.  This camp claims to 'reform' super-youths into well-behaved citizens who know how to keep a lid on their powers for the good of society, and Daisy's parents thought that sounded like a good thing.  Of course, the actual ideology behind it is more pernicious than that, teaching that super-powers are evil and shaming the kids for having them.  I would consider those running such an operation to be villains by definition, but no doubt there would be some Machiavellian and/or self-hating supervillains behind it, too!

On the other side of the coin there could be more positive versions of this, like a super-school that encourages development of powers, a la U.A. from My Hero Academia :)  That leads me to wonder what sort of super-education might exist in this setting and how that fits alongside regular school?

---

Welcome to Hellfish :D  What are Hellfish's powers, generally?  I was thinking aquatic abilities, but then at the end you wrote that he doesn't much like water, lol :P  A hero that's scared of what he's best at would an intriguing character concept, though.

Oh gosh, Fencer came in just as I was finishing writing this!  Posting this now, will read after :)

The Bull doesn't come with much variation:


It defaults to a super soldier package, and that's more or less what Jack's got. He's tall and rangy, hits like a truck, and is "right 'ard." When he gets going in a fight, his skin takes on this unhealthy blue-black tone and begins to look scaly. The water thing has to do with his origin and makes the effects worse: if he spends much time in salt water, he starts manifesting webbed fingers and toes, claws, and his eyes get all fishy. As it is, he can breathe water. He just doesn't like to, and stays away from the bay because he doesn't want to get caught by the "bubbleheads" again.

Aaaalso: I put more of that draft for Jack together in odd moments at work than I really liked. I've rewritten it in Jack's voice. A little less information, but hopefully rather more personality.



I'm not entirely sold on this. It predetermines a lot of the direction of the "When the team first came together" questions, cutting off more organic potential. It also puts Horizon (and Astro Team) right at the center of the team's interactions with HC's established supers. I think that risks nudging Horizon much more toward a Legacy or Protege role.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:35, Sat 07 Aug 2021.

Re: Horizon's Role in the Party
I do agree that the proposed pitch there does put Horizon as perhaps too important a figure in the party.  We're intended to be peers by and large, unless we wanted to use it as a potential storytelling goal; like the rest of the party not really getting along well with her because of her existing status, thinking she's just there to use them as a stepping stone in her career, etc.  Having issues with Horizon trying to be a team leader and the rest not wanting to really cooperate because of preconceptions could make for an interesting conflict for everyone to contend with.

It could always be a blend of the two as well.  For example, we could go with Krypt's pitch as a prelude; it could be the base for why everyone's gathered together in the first place.  But the team isn't really a team because they don't see eye to eye.  It takes the inciting "This is How We Came Together" event to actually make them start to come together and give the whole thing a chance.

Or, in the other direction, they could come together around an unexpected threat sort of at random (whatever we decide happens with the event) and then Astro Team and other superhero authorities in place urge the teens to become a team, at which Krypt's pitch sets the standard for how the party performs from that point on.

Re: Powers
Horizon's power set is based around gravity manipulation, though overall her presentation is very similar to Spider-Man.  Instead of web-slinging and wall-crawling, however, she alters gravitational fields to hurl herself through the sky, walk on vertical surfaces, and so forth.  ^^;  Spider-Man's always left a big impression on me and I can't help but want to emulate his style after playing the PS4 game.

So her overall set is:
Superhuman Physicality
Super strong, super fast, super tough.  Able to dodge bullets, pick up cars, handle impacts that would splatter most Humans; the usual package.  Horizon's bloodline was mutated by cosmic radiation, so this is totally normal among her entire family since her grandfather's generation with few exceptions.

Impossible Mobility
As mentioned earlier, Horizon can alter gravitational fields and pretty much ignores conventional aerodynamics.  She doesn't fly so much as change her gravitational direction and "falls" in a given direction, and she can screw with acceleration by altering inertia.  To her, physics are less "laws" and more "guidelines".  She can similarly alter the gravity of her immediate surroundings through physical contact with an object or person, but it's takes more out of her to do so.

Energy Absorption
While she was born with her powers, they do require energy to function.  Horizon is capable of absorbing various forms of energy she comes into contact with for the purpose of charging her batteries, so to speak.  She can't fully negate energy, but she can absorb enough of it to render it relatively harmless.  For example, she could be shot point-blank and absorb enough kinetic energy off the bullet to render it painful rather than fatal.  This is an active power though; it's something she needs to focus on and consciously perform, so she can be taken by surprise or overwhelmed.

I think I'm still wrapping my head around some of this, but I'll add my two cents by coming at it from another direction.

Character Feel and Team Feel.

Horizon, almost like a reverse Janus, but one of the questions is still "Who, outside of the team, knows about your dual identity?"  I'm not clear on whether we know or not so far.  If the team does not know, then are there trust issues within the team?  It changes the feel a little, The other 4 already seem like they have trust issues to begin with: haunted by Black Troll, hunted by cultists, family line of supervillains, and parents tried to summer camp the super out of them.  It also sometimes sounds like Horizon yearns for the Secret Identity portion of her life, to not be bogged down by super stuff, and on the other hand can't wait to be part of the main team and get it over with.  Whereas the Young Pinnacles is her opportunity to actually walk that line and come to her own decision about the duality.

Dynamo Girl seems like someone eager to not be mundane, but everyone is holding her back.  The Young Pinnacles is the opportunity to not hold back and to shine.  In my eyes, she's the most straightforward and perhaps even the rock that everyone else might be drawn to or build upon.

Fencer is a little like Horizon but on the other side of the spectrum.  I could see more of a "leader of the team" power struggle between Horizon and Fencer.  As Horizon is trying to prove herself, Fencer is trying to prove he's not who everyone says he is.  The Young Pinnacles is the place to distance himself from the identity that has been thrust upon him.

Hellfish is like someone eager to be mundane but bubblehead cultists are trying to push him not to be.  The Young Pinnacles is about protection and control.  Learning to keep control, having those around who can help and protect and return the favor in kind.  Almost the idea of stronger as a pack, but it was a wrong type of pack that was the problem in the first place.  Love the bubblehead moniker btw.

Contact (the choice I'm going with) seeks comradery, but even in so doing, endangers the people around him.  It's easier to be around those who have the means to defend themselves than normal folk who would just succumb to the world and its terrors.  I'm leaning heavily on the Indigenous Inuit (albeit transplanted to Halcyon City) for a good deal of my character (I'm sure it painfully obvious).  I imagine having a village/family for support is of high importance, which is what the Young Pinnacles would be for me.


It seems like there is something to do with "How the team comes together" that we are still figuring out.  If we are a bunch of teenage brats, School seems like likely place to run into one another.  Arcade or Food Court @ Glamour Hills Mall would be another spot, as the mall would likely have us all there at some point in time crossing paths and also having just "seen each others faces" enough times to recognize and maybe nod.  There's also coincidence that pushes us all into a similar area fighting some ne'er-do-wells where we just seem to mesh.  The one time coincidence route would likely push Horizon to reach out to form the team, whereas school/arcade/food court would probably be more organic.  Not sure how it works from a game mechanics perspective.

Let me know where I'm off.

Re: Horizon's Role
Horizon being a "Reverse Janus" is pretty much exactly what I'm going for.  ^^

Something to note for her future that I realize I might not have clarified properly; she doesn't resent being a superhero or eventually part of Astro Team.  She believes in the good her family does for the world and is proud of it, so she doesn't have any qualms with the path laid out before her in and of itself.  Her issue rises in that she didn't get to choose it and she's trying to figure out her own identity in what she perceives to be a rapidly closing window of time.

That's why I felt she would be better suited as a Janus rather than a Protege or Legacy: the Janus' "Moment of Truth" is all about coming to terms with her split identity and what it means to her as a person.  Horizon needs to reconcile the various facets of her life and how she's keeping everyone at arm's length; both her family and the team alike.

Re: Horizon's Split Identity
In terms of the overall setting, everyone believes that Horizon doesn't have a secret identity at all.  Only her family ever sees her without the costume, but the nature of Astro Team is such that all the adults have fully integrated their personal and professional lives together.  They don't behave as if they're "mild mannered citizens who don a mask in times of need"; because their focus is more on general humanitarian and scientific progress, there's never any real need for that in the first place.

For Horizon's playbook element of "who else besides the team knows?"; the case would be that the team alone know she's ditching out on hero duty to have a civilian life of her own, but they don't know who that civilian is.  Meanwhile, her family, the media, and the world at large have no idea she's playing hooky to pursue mundane interests (having a part time job, attending casual learning courses, whatever).  Basically the team would discover (whether she intended it or not) that she bounces off to her own personal matters, but they don't know who she is when she takes off the mask.  That also allows for them to try and find out - maybe they're curious and try to tail her, maybe they accidentally stumble across her in civilian mode and don't realize it's her while she has to try and keep a straight face, etc.  Might even lead to the amusing issue of the team liking to hang out in civilian mode at the cafe she works part-time at, while she has to pretend not to know any of them.  The team eventually figuring out who she is under the mask, be it by her choice or not, would be a big trust point for them all to establish that could help anchor her faith in them.

Basically she's just making her own life way harder than it needs to be, because teenage anxiety and poor planning.  ^^;

Re: Team Dynamics and Leadership
Horizon might be seen as the default for being the leader of the team given her greater experience and established nature, but she wouldn't lean into that unless she had to.  This is both in service of her personality and on the meta level of me not wanting to boss everyone around.

Basically Horizon's take would be "I'm the most experienced, but that doesn't mean I'm the best suited to lead" and she'd readily take the back seat to others if they wanted to call the shots.  If nobody else wanted to take the responsibility, Horizon would step up to the plate as would be expected of her.  But, to the flip side of that, she'd just as readily concede to an advisory role to let someone else in the group take charge.  It might also be worthwhile to explore taking turns as team leader as well; giving everyone their chance to take the reigns on a given mission with the rest of the team agreeing to support their decisions.  That gives us all a chance to play with different roles and the characters the chance to test themselves.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:12, Sat 07 Aug 2021.

The Janus playbook seems to pretty strongly suggest that the team knows about both identities ("who outside the team knows..."); it's hard for other PCs to help the character out otherwise. I'm going to withhold judgment until I see it in play. I feel like, if it's being played right, there's going to be constant pressure to shift Mundane down from the adults in Horizon's life.

In terms of moves, are you thinking of the mundane personality as the Mask? (I.e., is the assumed mundane identity the one coming into play for the Team moves?)

---

He's not exactly trying to be mundane, but he emphatically does not want to be controlled. After a year or so of being tortured and magically mutated into some kind of demon-fish-human thing, Jack is extremely disinterested in being part of anybody's sea monster prophecies. For all sorts of reasons, he's also pretty slow to trust and unlikely to accept much (if any) aid from established supers. It's hardly the wisest course of action, but he figures as long as he stays away from the ocean, the cultists can't find him.

Also: pinging again if anybody's actively interested in sliding into the Bull's Lover/Rival slots as we start play. I expect to be taking the defense move, so the Rival's definitely more competition than enemy, and the "Lover" need not be a romantic interest (and I wouldn't expect it to be at first, regardless). I'll nominate folks before or as we do the Team questions, but thought I'd put the question out there again in case anybody's particularly interested in that kind of collaboration.

The sponsored team thing was an idea, and it seems to have sparked other ideas, so that’s good :)  There are a lot of ways we could spin it that don’t have to be Horizon’s actual assignment or being beholden to Astro Team.  Don’t forget that we’re playing a group of willful teenagers here ;P  If Horizon were given resources and a decent degree of autonomy she could do whatever she wants with it, including not being the leader!

It feels like we’re leaning toward an event bringing us together, even if some of us maybe were previously acquainted.  I’m going to spitball some silly ideas, and let’s see if any stick!  We could all choose for ourselves how we would come to be involved:

1. A circus in the Mall parking lot gets attacked by super-eco-terrorists wanting to set the captive animals free, but it all goes terribly wrong
   
2. The high school we attend is on a field trip to a museum in Old Town, but a sudden eruption of lava from the middle of the street waylays the buses and puts students in danger
   
3. A small-time villain hijacks a food truck and gets in a high-speed chase from police through a major city center
   
4. A super-villain puts all the people in a crowded public area into suspended animation so his thugs can steal their stuff, but the power doesn’t work on us.
   
5. A stampede of mutant super-apes terrorizes Port Halcyon, smashing into the stacks of shipping containers looking for something.

I’ll volunteer Dynamo Girl to be Hellfish’s “Love” if that’s okay?  I feel like these two would bond over our experiences being held captive by jerks for an extended period of time, even if the circumstances were way different.  I’m up for it being a romantic relationship if you are ;)  It doesn’t have to be a full bf/gf situation at the start, but maybe that awkward teenage struggle of ‘liking’ each other but being unsure if it’s reciprocated and generally having no clue, lol.  Platonic pals works also, but wanted to give the option!
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Sat 07 Aug 2021.