Author Topic: Masks Kickstarter  (Read 5306 times)

Felderburg

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Masks Kickstarter
« on: October 04, 2015, 04:28:20 PM »
I saw a post in this forum about most superheroic things on Kickstarter being comics or films, so I figured I would post about this. I found it through the artist's webcomic (http://www.supernormalstep.com/) and it looks neat. It's a tabletop RPG "about a team of young superheroes forging their own identities in Halcyon City, a megapolis packed with heroes."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1277034820/masks-a-new-generation
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Lord Nightmare

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2015, 06:04:07 PM »
"But I don't WANT to play a young superhero. I want to play a veteran. Or a Villain."

I wanna know how they'll respond to that statement.

Aggelakis

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2015, 06:30:04 PM »
"But I don't WANT to play a young superhero. I want to play a veteran. Or a Villain."

I wanna know how they'll respond to that statement.

Go play Champions. Or XYZ other veteran options.
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Ohioknight

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2015, 08:11:50 PM »
Mutant and Masterminds 2nd edition
rulebook: http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Masterminds-Edition-Steve-Kenson/dp/1932442529

or it's available online (apparently and openly for free??? per Google)

Freedom City Sourcebook (BY FAR the best RPG world ever written for Superhero/villain roleplaying IMHO)

http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Masterminds-Freedom-Steve-Kenson/dp/1932442537

Or PDF from Green Ronin:
http://greenroninstore.com/products/freedom-city-second-edition-pdf

Hero High supplement
http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Masterminds-Hero-High-Sourcebook/dp/1932442812/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443988936&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=hero+high+supplement+green+ronin 20$ used
or the PDF for 8$:
http://greenroninstore.com/products/hero-high-pdf

Hero High is a young hero tabletop RPG set in Freedom City's school for Superheroes
(think Professor X's school run by Batman)

Should give you exactly what you need for Young Hero RPG



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Aggelakis

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2015, 08:29:26 PM »
Or you could play the game in the OP because you're not required to play any specific thing, and some people might be interested in it. (like me)
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Lord Nightmare

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2015, 10:03:53 PM »
If your go-to for the question of "What if I want to do X" is "Play another system", already you've failed as an advertiser.

When it comes to PnP systems, each one should (and usually does) have facets for when someone wants to play something outside of the intended purpose. DnD has darker splatbooks for when someone wants to run an evil campaign and conversion tools for playing an enemy monster/race as a PC. Champions' open-endedness allows for a large array of characters to be made and campaigns to be run, the same with GURPS and Mutants and Masterminds. The reason I don't play the latter two systems is because I'm not a fan of mechanics and how they work in those systems, the same reason I don't play 4th and 5th edition but will still use story elements and enemies from them in ADnD 2nd and Pathfinder. They leave the game open enough to be adapted into other forms and games and as a result are still one of the most well known in the tabletop community.

What intrigues me about Masks is that it's putting a lot more effort behind teamwork, going for more explicit bonuses for coordination rather than implied. So what I would do, as a writer, would be to keep the system somewhat open-ended so that it can easily be adapted to most systems (or have adaptations FROM other systems) in the event they're adamant about playing a teenager OR eventually release splatbooks regarding heroes with more experience, villains and how to create one for your game, "shopping catalogues" for those who have heroes that use tech or want to create bases and whatnot.

It's not a matter of being forced to play, it's a matter of wanting the freedom to do something within reason and if the game allows for it and believe me that WILL be the deciding factor for players. It's a reason some of the more restrictive games don't sell at my store.

Ohioknight

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2015, 10:13:45 PM »
Or you could play the game in the OP because you're not required to play any specific thing, and some people might be interested in it. (like me)

Didn't mean to imply it as a requirement, I was just trying to list out how to play a young hero pen and paper RPG

(you have to use M&M 2nd edition with Hero High if you want no translations and Freedom City is valuable to have the complete system including villains or veteran heroes but obviously you can use any combination with some work).

I didn't realize the game in the OP was available because I thought it was a kickstarter -- sorry.
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Aggelakis

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2015, 10:23:04 PM »
The pdfs for the base rules are available upon pledging, and it's based on a pre-existing ruleset from a line of non-superhero games. :)

They're kickstarting to get the physical stuff out, expand the game, and the flesh out their lore book.
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Nyx Nought Nothing

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2015, 11:23:35 PM »
Mutant and Masterminds 2nd edition
rulebook: http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Masterminds-Edition-Steve-Kenson/dp/1932442529

or it's available online (apparently and openly for free??? per Google)

Freedom City Sourcebook (BY FAR the best RPG world ever written for Superhero/villain roleplaying IMHO)

http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Masterminds-Freedom-Steve-Kenson/dp/1932442537

Or PDF from Green Ronin:
http://greenroninstore.com/products/freedom-city-second-edition-pdf

Hero High supplement
http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Masterminds-Hero-High-Sourcebook/dp/1932442812/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443988936&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=hero+high+supplement+green+ronin 20$ used
or the PDF for 8$:
http://greenroninstore.com/products/hero-high-pdf

Hero High is a young hero tabletop RPG set in Freedom City's school for Superheroes
(think Professor X's school run by Batman)

Should give you exactly what you need for Young Hero RPG
i have the first and third edition. Never even thought to look for the second edition. Nice sourcebooks though, i may have to look into those.
So far so good. Onward and upward!

Ohioknight

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2015, 11:56:05 PM »
i have the first and third edition. Never even thought to look for the second edition. Nice sourcebooks though, i may have to look into those.

The source books are incredible -- best reason to stick with 2nd edition (I've no idea why they dumped all that fantastic material for 3rd) -- there is NOTHING to compare to Freedom City -- I think it's even a better pastiche world than Buseik's Astro City and the source books cover Golden, Silver, Iron, and Bronze age scenarios with different eras of Freedom City in the 40's 60's 80's 90's before Present day ... 2005ish
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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2015, 03:20:19 AM »
The source books are incredible -- best reason to stick with 2nd edition (I've no idea why they dumped all that fantastic material for 3rd) -- there is NOTHING to compare to Freedom City -- I think it's even a better pastiche world than Buseik's Astro City and the source books cover Golden, Silver, Iron, and Bronze age scenarios with different eras of Freedom City in the 40's 60's 80's 90's before Present day ... 2005ish
The third edition rules don't look much different from first, so why wouldn't the second edition sourcebooks work with third? A few powers/abilities might need slight tweaking, but then i've played games where we adapted the settings and stats from the source game to completely different game systems.
So far so good. Onward and upward!

Aggelakis

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2015, 07:49:54 AM »
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1277034820/masks-a-new-generation

This Kickstarter is finishing up at about 9PM Pacific tonight. Can't lie: I'm super excited they're so close to their comic book stretch goal. I bumped my pledge up a bit to cover their stretch-goal pieces; the extra lore books sound like fabulous additions.

I feel like a kid waiting for the last bell on the last day of school. *dances in seat impatiently* GIVE IT TO ME ALREADY!
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Inc42

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Re: Masks Kickstarter
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2015, 06:04:19 PM »
I forgot to post in this thread, I backed this project after finding it here. I got the playtest documents and ran a couple sessions with friends and we had an absolute blast.

Here is my warning on what has been released so far: the power system is very open ended, it is supposed to be. While other games I've played give you specifically what you can do, or at least guidelines, this gives you things like "Gravity control". No specified limits. As the GM I encouraged our players to set limits for themselves, because it is more fun when you have that amazing moment and can break them, but I said I would not be strict on it because the rules were not. So while most of our group has self set limitations they must follow, our one guy known for being a power gamer and break systems is playing the Trickster set, which allowed him to pick two powers from a list, he chose Illusion Control and Emotion Control. So what ends up happening is he is always invisible, and always has 500 illusions of himself, evil clowns, the other team members, whatever, each fully interacting with the environment, while he makes the bad guys suicidaly depressed. He ends up stealing the show, and drags the fun level down for everyone but him, so now we have to retcon and force limits on him taking the fun level down for HIM.

I am hoping that the next version of the playtest, due sometime this month, addresses this some.