I admittedly am fiddling around with the dynamic of the playbook a bit, primarily due to me being more familiar with the game and comfortable screwing with things.  ^^;

The intent so far is that the team - at some point - knows that Horizon is slipping off to do her own thing when she's not supposed to be.  That's the "secret identity" they're helping her protect; not the persona itself, but that she even has a side gig at all.  Whether they want to help her with that is up to everyone else and how it all ends up being framed in-context.  There's a difference in how they might take her behavior if she lies to them and says she needs to go do some solo hero business, or if she just bails on them when they expect her to be around.  It might even be that someone on the team has a beef with her and uses their knowledge of her sneaking off as blackmail to keep her in check.  Part of the whole Janus theme of character is trying, and usually failing, to manage that double-life.

After sufficient trust has been established (this may be immediately at the start of play depending on what the "How We Came Together" circumstance is handled, or it might come later), Horizon would confide in the group why she's sneaking off and such, but might not actually reveal her civilian identity all the same.  Again, the "Moment of Truth" for her playbook hinges on revealing herself.  It may end up being the case that some or all of the team figure it out themselves, but it's not something Horizon would willingly surrender of her own volition.  When it comes to the Janus Team Moves, it would always be done in the context of Horizon being in-costume and gradually revealing more about herself as a person rather than a hero.  Basically digging into how she sees herself, how her life's being decided for her, whether she feels able to trust the team, etc.



Of these options, I'd lean more toward Scenario 1, 4, or 5.

Putting us all together into the same high school may not be possible given the state of characters like Hellfish, for instance.  It depends on whether this version of Halcyon City has lots of mutants and weird physical supers casually as part of society like a "My Hero Academia" sort of setting.  Or, on the other end of that line, someone like Horizon probably wouldn't be going to the same public school as everyone else; her family's pretty rich and they intend for her to go into a form of public service, so she's probably attending a specialist school.  Someone like Fencer may not even be in school at all.

1, 4, or 5 allow more wiggle room in our characters randomly encountering the problem or getting swept up in it, if they're not normally inclined to take a heroic approach by default.  I kind of like the sound of Scenario 4; minor enough to qualify for a bunch of teens to handle, good chances for someone important to be in the crowd (for better or worse), and lots of room for each of us to approach the problem in our own way.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:01, Sat 07 Aug 2021.

Hellfish looks 99% normal until he's fighting (or immersed in salt water); while I'm borrowing a little flavor from the Transformed, he's definitely primarily a super-powered human rather than an actual fish demon. (He's a big wiry ginger.) I think the more salient point about schools is that we've got diverse geographic and economic backgrounds. When he's not skipping, I imagine Jack attends a pretty low-SES school in a run-down campus not too far from the Harbour's industrial area.



Technically, I'm the one who gets to figure out what we defeated; that's the Bull's question on the "When the team first came together..." As I've mentioned more than once, a lot of the team building happens through those questions. It's probably worth thinking about which of us (if any) knew each other beforehand, but those questions are designed to create an origin story.

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Seems like a good place to start! I'm sure they've bonded over their experiences (between that initial event and the start of play), and they're potentially good foils for each other in that Hellfish is very hard to actually hurt (accidentally or on purpose), but Dynamo Girl's more able to hurt him (on purpose) than pretty much anybody on the team if he goes off the (...sorry...) deep end.

Naturally; these are just broad pitches to help give ideas.  Better than all of us just dumping the whole responsibility onto one person and expecting them to come up with something we all like, right?

Sounds good, Hellfish, let’s run with it :)  After hearing John/Jack’s story Daisy would feel protective of him and would be ready to unleash a zap-ocalypse on the bubbleheads!  Not like she presumes to be his bodyguard (he wouldn’t need that prolly!) but more like, I understand what you’ve been through and I’ve got your back, no questions asked.

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As for the “team comes together” scenarios, there are any number of ways we could be involved!  As an example, for the HS field trip maybe two of us are students on the buses (could even be coming from different schools), one is ordering a smoothie from a streetside cafe, another is already getting beat up by the villain, while the last one rides in on the bumper of a fire truck just to see where it’s going!  Our involvement needn’t be limited to “something bad happens and we all volunteer to be heroes” :)

I think once we decide on the broad premise of the situation that brought us together, we can each decide how our characters came to be involved and then paint the picture by answering the questions on the playbook.  Our Bull gets to make up the bad guy, while I get to describe the sort of destruction we caused, and so on ;D

Oh, forgot to mention; I was looking through my collection of MASKs books earlier and realized I actually do have two of the additional new playbooks; the Brain and the Soldier.  In case anyone was interested?  Not sure if they mesh with what we've got going so far, particularly with The Soldier specifically being designed as a young agent of A.E.G.I.S.

But aside from that, are we ready to start getting into the nitty gritty of how we all met?


This message was last edited by the player at 00:20, Sun 08 Aug 2021.

I'd maybe let the GM pop in before we move on to the next step...but I think that's where we are.

Athenry, thanks for the clarification.  I think I understand where you're going with that; I'm on board.

I agree with the Athenry on the 1, 4, 5, If these are options under consideration.

Naechtweard, If YahtzeeNinja doesn't want the Rival spot.  I'll give it a shot, seems like you and I both have supernatural elements in our backgrounds, and maybe we knew each other before you were taken and I went to Alaska.  Might have been rivals on the swim team.

I might be altering my concept. I'm pretty uninspired the last couple days, I need to shake some cobwebs out somehow and come up with something that sparks me much more...

Hello! Sorry, I managed to fracture a vertebra in my neck, which has limited by ability to read long bits of text.

I think we should aim to avoid a "main character", so I'd avoid having Journey be the lynchpin of the team. One thing that could sort of emulate that in a lesser way is if Journey brought the team together, but they're still all broadly equal.

I love the idea of Astro Team being the city's big superteam, so we can definitely use that.

Crimeny!  That's nothing to apologize for at all, and by all means take all the time you need!

Yeah, definitely dashing the prior concept. It just never really sparked for me, was feeling really forced. Fortunately, I don't think I was too deep in the prior idea!

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Name: Bryce Darcy
Alias: Minerva

The Brain
Look
woman, White, tight and trim body, geeky clothing, adaptive costume

Abilities
robotic sidekick (Noctua)

Backstory
How did you first reveal your genius to your friends or family?

Bryce was always at the top of her class. The top of the top. She grew up the child of a pair of up-and-coming young parents in The Nest, aspiring to give their daughter the best. And it succeeded. Bryce was naturally a genius, even in her youngest days. And not just intellectually. She was the captain of her youth soccer team, the head of her scout troop, president of student government, the top of everything she tried. And without even really needing to try. Her superiority has simply always been obvious.

Why did you decide to use your intellect for the benefit of others?

From a young age, Bryce's parents made it clear that helping others was important. Especially helping the less fortunate- and who isn't less fortunate than her? It's the place of people like her to help those society has cast away, to make change for the better. And where Bryce is so, so much better, she has to give more than anyone else. It's her duty. A sort of genetic lottery version of noblesse oblige.

What accident or misfire taught you some sense of humility or responsibility?

Bryce didn't even realize it was dangerous until AEGIS agents showed up and seized her computer. She'd been constructing an AI. A computer program that would make assessments about people, their needs, generate models, and go out and seek more information. Pulling records together, knitting the disparate sources of information it could find into singular records. It was going to help predict what people would need and allow it to be delivered. Bryce only realized the danger it posed after it assembled the material necessary to enter an encrypted AEGIS database using materials culled from shopping profiles.

Who helped you realize you need other people?

After her work was seized, Bryce's mother talked to her. They had a long heart-to-heart. Making Bryce realize that, for all her intellect, all her superior ability, sometimes it was going to be important to get another person's point of view. Outside views to help her see things from other angles. And where no one gets on AEGIS' radar without having some sort of potential... Maybe the best thing to do would be to find other people with superior abilities.

Why do you care about the team?

Bryce is in an uncomfortable position. She... Needs other people. She's not the best automatically, no longer the biggest fish in the pond. She doesn't really know how to be a superhero- and it's not something she can simply apply her incredible intellect to figure out. So she's learning.

I think everyone should be able to edit their character sheets now!

Ouch! Hopefully it mends quickly (or, failing that, the pain eases quickly).

@YahtzeeNinja--Glad the cobwebs shook out! Bryce should be an interesting addition.

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The last thing I'd like to poke at is whether any of us knew each other before the team shaped up. It seems like we've got a few children of privilege and a few characters who grew up rougher. Whether they knew each other as extraordinary individuals or not, some previous encounters there would help nudge us toward sticking together after the precipitating event.

I think knowing one another would be an interesting wrinkle, as shared histories create shared stories.

What do we want to do about naming conventions (for RPOL handles)? Mundane names? Hero names? Both?

I like the alias' being the primary and the normal names in a bio line?

HC, do you have any order you want to do questions in?

Re: Shared History
One of the Janus' relationship entries focuses on that, actually.  "____ knew you from your civilian life first".

So someone on the team met Isabella while she was out and about on her non-hero hooky and doesn't currently know she's a superhero.  Super awkward.  ^^;  It could really be anyone since all the other members of the team have mundane origins before they turned Super.  As herself, Isabella works part-time at a cafe (haven't decided which neighborhood yet) so it's very easy for any of the team to have come across her casually as a regular customer, for example.

In terms of shared history otherwise, as Horizon she's a well-known figure as a young up-and-coming hero, so the rest would certainly know her or might've encountered her prior in that context.  For someone like Bryce, she might see Horizon as her foot-in-the-door to get in with the Astro Team herself since they're right in the thick of the whole "improving peoples' lives for the good of all" thing.  Being able to join Astro Team or an organization affiliated with them would be a great opportunity to use her brainpower for good in a safer environment.

Re: Naming Conventions

Seconded.

Re: Shared History

So this strikes me as a potential point to connect and would help fill in a gap in Bryce's backstory. Maybe Isabella works at a coffee shop somewhere in The Starlings where Bryce goes to get coffee/snacks/hang with friends. Bryce deduces that Isabella is Horizon, and that means she's useful as an in to get on a super team, as well as (eventually) toward the Astro Team?

This would somewhat interfere with Isabella remaining a mystery to everyone, though. How do you feel about it, Ath?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:08, Sun 08 Aug 2021.

Eek, I hope you get well soon, GM!  You can take it easy on the super-heroics for a little bit :)

Good to meet Bryce/Minerva!  I feel you about not feeling a spark for a character, Yahtzee!  I’ve come up with plenty of character concepts over the years that were neat and interesting, but that I just couldn’t find the inspiration to actually want to play :P  The best character is the one you enjoy playing, so I’m glad you found that :)

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Re: Character connections

• Bryce and Daisy are both good students from the Starlings, so I imagine we’d attend the same school (Hildebrandt HS) and be at least acquainted.  They are different, however, because it sounds like Bryce is naturally great at everything and popular, whereas Daisy gets good grades from working and studying hard and struggles socially, especially after her incident and being sent away to camp for a year.
• Daisy is a big fan of super-heroes, so she definitely knows about and idolizes Horizon as the role model hero-girl she aspires to become.
• Daisy is a regular at the Jolly Pirates Arcade at the mall, so there’s a chance to have met any other mall regulars there.

This works for me, all things considered.  Having Horizon's identity already being compromised by The Smartest Person actually makes plenty of sense on its own, especially if Bryce was already long in the process of using technology to analyze her surroundings.

The question becomes what Bryce has done with the knowledge since she learned it.  Did she keep it under her hat and doesn't let Horizon know at all?  Did she approach her out-of-costume and inform her what she figured out, leading to the two having a more direct connection long before the team comes together?  Does she help Horizon in leading a double life?  Regardless, Horizon would insist that Bryce maintain her secret from the rest of the team until circumstances forced otherwise.

Bryce doesn't strike me as the blackmailing sort, so I doubt she'd try and leverage her knowledge of Horizon's activities against her.  Correct me if I'm wrong there.  I can see them becoming friends after the revelation though, especially since both can sympathize with the whole "born with great powers and thus great responsibility" situation.  It might be that Horizon intentionally worked to get Bryce onto the team in order to help her achieve her goals as well; she wants to use her smarts to make the world a better place, Horizon has the connections to help that happen, and they both get to prove themselves by helping the team succeed.  And if they're friends with Bryce keeping/aiding Horizon's double-life secret, then Horizon would especially value Bryce as someone she can confide in.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Sun 08 Aug 2021.

Yeah, it sounds like maybe they're at the same school, but don't really exist in each other's orbits. Like, it's not like Bryce and Daisy would share any classes. Bryce hasn't been in high school classes since she was in grade school!



"It's only blackmail if you interpret it to be. I'm asking you for a favor."

I think Bryce could definitely help Isabella lead a double life, especially considering Isabella is helping Bryce do the same thing. Of course, Bryce isn't working nearly as hard at keeping it a secret- but Isbella is less likely to get hit with a laser while making a triple chocolate caramel mocha frappe.

I like the idea of them being friends. I want to get Bryce a little bit away from the 'cold, calculating' thing. She's definitely filled with hubris, but she's also a pretty popular teenage girl. I actually like the idea of her being pretty girly.

I'm now at the stage of character creation where I cycle through a dozen different avatar photos. Sit back and enjoy. Kick your feet up.

I thought I might offer out my relationship lines for anyone. I think they'd be really interesting for anyone to take, especially because I'd really like to hive-mind some thoughts. The Brain is an interesting playbook, I'm finding. The moves and backstory assigned lean hard into the hubris theme, but the Relationship lines both directly counter that. I'd really like to hear people's ideas for ways to make that conflict play out. I have some of my own in mind, but half the fun of this is letting other people lean into your ideas!

So, any takers?

You told ____________________ about your shame and asked them for their confidence.
You wish you could be a better hero, more like _____________________.

Third for Hero name as handle, mundane name as bio line.



I feel like, for the second question, the obvious answer is Horizon but the more interesting answer is our Doomed (Contact?). It feels like Bryce might have a particular kind of admiration for somebody whose powers are literally destroying them, but they use them anyway.

Anybody could work for the first question? Five is actually a very nice number for a team because it makes it easy to avoid just pairing off. I don't think we have any of the "give everybody/nobody" influence playbooks, so we ought to be able to create a nicely tangled web.

I'm still not leaning in any particular direction for a rival for Hellfish...because I just can't see it being based in antagonism, I'm holding it a little in reserve to make sure we don't leave anybody out on an influence island.

Being a "rival" doesn't necessarily have to be an antagonistic relationship, all things considered.  It could be a case of friendly rivals where the two enjoy competing with one another and trying to one-up the other.

Alternatively, it could be a one-sided rivalry; for example, Horizon might work in that case if Hellfish looks at her situation as her complaining about nothing.  "Oh no, you were born with cool powers and your rich and influential family set you up on easy street, woe is you" might be an understandable sort of reaction someone like him would have.  Hellfish has a far more dire situation when it comes to being forced into a life path without his say-so.  ^^;

I think a one-sided rivalry with Bryce could also work well. Bryce approaches problems totally differently than Hellfish- their playbooks demand it. And Bryce is thoughtlessly arrogant to the point of hubris; she is so assured of her own superiority that questioning herself doesn't even cross her mind most of the time. I could see her being pretty dismissive- or coming off as dismissive- toward basically everything he does in a way that irks him.

Bryce, of course, would have no idea that she's in a rivalry. Not because she loves Hellfish- because she doesn't even understand the idea that someone could think there's competition between them.

I also think I need to pick a different hero name. Minerva doesn't quite feel right, though implicitly comparing herself to a god is... Good.