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Tricky posted:Did I say they would be having a punchfest with Vegeta? No. In fact, if you actually bother to read some of the things I have posted in this very thread, I said earlier: Yeah, sure. So, you'd agree that if what's said is "Golden Arrow just runs straight up to Vegeta, and punches him in his dumb face!", that's probably not a Directly Engage and is worth maybe going "Golden Arrow's just a normal dude, right? I think he's probably too strong/fast for that to play out in a good way; you're looking at probably eating a GM move on the basis of golden opportunity here, unless you meant there's some kind of trick to it?", instead of going "Awesome, roll directly engage to see if you're knocking him out"?
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Jun 14, 2019 20:18
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I mean, I think a better way to handle a situation like that is to say "You can this guy is really tough and a direct assault isn't going to work without something spicy. How is Golden Arrow using his trick arrows (or that gadget he grabbed, or an opportunity from an ally, whatever) to level the playing field?" rather than just saying "Okay, Vegeta punches you and you Take A Powerful Blow. What do you do?" I think you're conflating a failure of unified expectations at the table with the Beacon's ability to use basic moves. If people are working with the Beacon as someone who is approaching things in a clever direction to overcome a lack of raw strength... what's the problem? e: Whoops, parsed those quotation marks incorrectly. I think we're overall in agreement, but that's not what Heliotrope was arguing.
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Jun 14, 2019 20:25
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When do Labels reset to their original states (after being shifted left and right during a session)? I guess at the start of the next session? I couldn't find this information in the book.
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Jun 14, 2019 22:09
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lessavini posted:When do Labels reset to their original states (after being shifted left and right during a session)? I guess at the start of the next session? They don't. That's Masks' whole gimmick.
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Jun 14, 2019 22:12
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In Masks? They don't. Labels evolve over time as you shift them and they are shifted by others. Most playbooks get an advance to add +1 to a label and shuffle the totals as they like, which is about as close as it gets to a reset.
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Jun 14, 2019 22:13
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Labels never reset unless the person takes the level up that lets them rearrange them and add plus one. In terms of the dangerous Beacon, if they are getting their danger level pushed up it’s probably because they’ve been hurting street level criminals or being especially brutal to normal threats. Putting them aside with a tornado or cosmic threat makes sense… But the Beacon can almost always provoke a person to “Fight Fair”. (Remember, adults are supposed to act childish as part of your principles.) The goading could lead to a position where they can directly engage the threat… With a miss being a golden opportunity for the GM to put them back in their place. Hell, not impressing, surprising or frightening their foe could lead to them being dismissed, with the star emperor deciding to retreat to fight the nova and send in a legion of mooks against the Beacon.
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Jun 14, 2019 22:15
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Labels never reset??? That... changes... everything.
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Jun 14, 2019 22:16
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Golden Bee posted:Labels never reset unless the person takes the level up that lets them rearrange them and add plus one. Right, and I think that a nuanced take isn't a bad thing. Particularly in that even in that fail condition of the star emperor dropping a sick burn on the puny beacon and siccing an army on them... they still get to engage with the mechanics of their character. I bristle more at the thought that Beacons can and should just be noped out of being able to fight something out of their league. Particularly given that this is a superhero game and, like Halloween Jack said earlier, this is a genre where the underdog can and often does manage the impossible.
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Jun 14, 2019 22:30
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Now that I think about it, I'm a little surprised the Beacons power set options are so narrow because Booster Gold is an obvious inspiration, or should have been.
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Jun 15, 2019 01:26
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Still on Masks: don't all those emotional bits get clunky in play? I mean, Monsterhearts is similar and always ran smooth for us as it's really slim moves-wise. But Masks seems to have so many dials running in parallel (influence, conditions, team pool, team moves, etc). How have your experience been in this respect?
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Jun 15, 2019 13:17
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Halloween Jack posted:Now that I think about it, I'm a little surprised the Beacons power set options are so narrow because Booster Gold is an obvious inspiration, or should have been. Booster is the Star. Regarding monster hearts, I feel that giving players more options means you can do a lot more stuff which is intentional. You can provoke your teammates without inflicting conditions on them, or needing to turn them on. You can change who they are without shutting them down. You could also probably fighting with a lot less chance of killing them then if you were to lash out physically. It takes a while to get everything working correctly but when you do, What’s the difference between an orchestra and a garage rock band. They both do different things but one gives you a lot more modularity.
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Jun 15, 2019 18:14
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Golden Bee posted:Booster is the Star. But I may be ovethinking here, as I ran both Sagas of the Icelanders and Monsterhearts before and it was fine.
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Jun 16, 2019 14:21
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I've seen someone say this in a discussion about Masks: "I thought the Team Pool mechanics were wonky... RAW, it resets whenever " significant time passes", which can negate a lot of the playbook team moves that add it into the pool after sharing a celebration or whatnot." Thoughts? lessavini fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jun 22, 2019 |
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Jun 22, 2019 18:46
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I've never had any issue with Team. Just use the resource whenever, it's not like Masks has an action economy. You're supposed to roleplay, after all, not "farm" Team. Hell, it's easy to forget you're not supposed to do moves, you're supposed to do things narratively that then trigger moves. Team is not meant to be a pile of role enhancers the way boosts and advantages are in Fate/FAE, Team largely is a bonus for doing stuff you want to do narratively anyway. Of course, this also depends on what the GM's interpretation of "significant" time is. For example, a masks team could fight off a supervillain team, go celebrate the victory with a pizza, fly over to a different city with their hoverjet, and deal with another super villain team. In the previous sentence alone, there are 3 different points one I could theoretically reset team as a GM. After eating the pizza, while flying over to the other city, and after having dealt with the super villain team in the other city and then ending the issue. Only the last one is somewhat set in stone (unless you end the issue mid-plot thread for some reason?). As for the others? I'd argue the importance is if it's meant to be narratively connected. For example, the first supervillain team could have been a smokescreen for the supervillain team in a different city, meant to draw away heroes. The team could have been told in the 'down time' of the pizza party, via the Protege's mentor. In this case, it's a solid plot thread, and I would absolutely not reset Team just because flying over to a different city takes time narratively. However, if the team then were to deal with this issue and then returning home triumphantly, it essentially creates a lull in the narrative. A point where you'd start a new plot thread. That is where I would personally reset team. Long story short, my point is that significant time means significant. It doesn't mean "end of combat" or something of the sort.
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Jun 22, 2019 19:11
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That's a fair point. Also, in my experiences playing Masks, people will burn through the Team pool as quickly as it's gained, which seems reasonable to me.
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Jun 22, 2019 22:56
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Any word on Voidheart Symphony?
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Jun 25, 2019 03:02
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DoctorWhat posted:Any word on Voidheart Symphony? Still in development! I recently updated it with a few more arcana, another Rebel playbook, a proper game start procedure and some guidance on building vassals and castle-shards. Ongoing development will be posted at https://ufo-jay.itch.io/voidheart-symphony
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Jun 28, 2019 20:24
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Was finally able to run a full, start-to-finish campaign of Apocalypse World in which "no more courtroom drama" had to be made an explicit rule.
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Jun 29, 2019 02:59
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Saguaro PI posted:Was finally able to run a full, start-to-finish campaign of Apocalypse World in which "no more courtroom drama" had to be made an explicit rule. What’s the point of continuing without the courtroom drama?
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Jun 29, 2019 04:26
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"We don't settle things by Thunderdome in this hardhold! We settle things by due process of law, then Thunderdome."
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Jun 29, 2019 04:44
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Antivehicular posted:"We don't settle things by Thunderdome in this hardhold! We settle things by due process of law, then Thunderdome." I'm setting up a Fellowship game, meanwhile - I'm the Overlord. Any exciting general tips on how to approach it?
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Jun 29, 2019 06:45
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Antivehicular posted:"We don't settle things by Thunderdome in this hardhold! We settle things by due process of law, then Thunderdome." Thunderdome was instituted later, most of the community found the process far less confusing and angering than due process.
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Jun 29, 2019 15:05
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Ok, Masks again.. Would the Delinquent "power negation" power give me fictional positioning to temporarily negate another player's or a NPC's power under an Engage (take something from them) or Unleash move? Seems fair to me but I would like to be sure.
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Jul 1, 2019 20:38
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lessavini posted:Ok, Masks again.. Yes. It could be either one, or both, depending on how their Power Negation manifests and how to use them. If you do it by hitting pressure points in the body that disables power use, then you'd have to engage. If you do it by casting an anti-magic field in the area to stop anyone using magic inside of it, that'd probably be an Unleash. That kind of thing.
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Jul 2, 2019 02:38
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Saguaro PI posted:Was finally able to run a full, start-to-finish campaign of Apocalypse World in which "no more courtroom drama" had to be made an explicit rule.
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Jul 3, 2019 04:36
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Ilor posted:Whatever for? I'm not sure I wanna live in an apocalypse without courtroom drama. It was agreed on by the group that while it was a fun one-time deal it would get old pretty fast if it became a recurring thing. Also the player of the character who was on trial was a pretty good sport about it but also felt a bit singled out and I wanted to avoid any chance of that in the future.
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Jul 3, 2019 14:20
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Ilor posted:Whatever for? I'm not sure I wanna live in an apocalypse without courtroom drama. "I'm out of order? Ever since the bombs fell the whole WORLD is out of order!"
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Jul 3, 2019 20:28
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I see all sample villain moves are purely narrative in Masks. How about something like this: "Checkmate is all brains even in a fight. When you engage him, roll Superior instead of Danger". Is it fair game?
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Jul 7, 2019 19:16
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lessavini posted:I see all sample villain moves are purely narrative in Masks. How about something like this: Masks has far too many stat replacers for that to work, imho. Either you invalidate somebody's move pick (which you really shouldn't because most are at least somewhat specific as is) or you invalidate that villain move, which makes it pointless.
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Jul 7, 2019 19:50
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I've spent the last two days reading 180 chapters of My Hero Academia from issue 1 to issue 180. I have a shonen jump account so I'm limited to 100 chapters per day. just got to get to issue 232, which I can feasibly do this week. Then I move on to Doctor Stone. The point is that Phoenix Academy seems like a fun setting for Masks. Though, it is funny to think how different it would be to set it in America. Set it in America and you lose so much considering how little Americans care about High School.
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Jul 8, 2019 00:11
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Covok posted:I've spent the last two days reading 180 chapters of My Hero Academia from issue 1 to issue 180. I have a shonen jump account so I'm limited to 100 chapters per day. just got to get to issue 232, which I can feasibly do this week. Then I move on to Doctor Stone. Since Phoneix Academy is at least 50% Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, it seems like a natural fit? Edit: also, lol @ america not caring about high school Capfalcon fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Jul 8, 2019 |
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Jul 8, 2019 05:11
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Funny, I always thought the Xavier Institute for gifted had half a dozen or so teenagers at any one time. But the Phoenix Academy set makes it feels like a frigging campus with hundreds of students. Perhaps the X-men animation is to blame. I think I'd reduce it to a couple classes or something. This way we can explore clubs and cliques but don't get lost in the bazillion school relationships. Yami Fenrir posted:Masks has far too many stat replacers for that to work, imho. Any tip for villain moves with a mechanical oomph? Perhaps something giving villains instant advantage (-1 to rolls) against certain players moves?
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Jul 8, 2019 11:45
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There was a time when Xavier's was just the X-Men as students, I think, but more recently it's been much more populous. Or anyway, it was before Marvel decided to wipe out most of the mutants with House of M. Not sure how they're doing at the moment.
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Jul 8, 2019 13:48
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lessavini posted:I see all sample villain moves are purely narrative in Masks. How about something like this: AW does this as one of its examples, but it's for shading Read a Person into +weird, which I think is already a stat replacer for some books? It's not meant to be a challenge, just an expression of character - they're so deep into the weird weeds that you can't read them like a normal person. If Checkmate is meant to be a minor threat on par with the characters this might work? But if you want to actually have a masterplansman threaten the whole team, then you can't just hope a stat replacer or a -1 here and there will do the job, because somebody can just yell a lot, roll boxcars, and win anyway. Maybe instead: "Checkmate has planned for this. He's planned for you. You can't directly engage him when he doesn't want to be - he'll always have some counter or escape, at least until he's (angry/insecure/strike out anything that doesn't apply). "But if you can make his plan fall apart in front of him, that'll get him to successively mark (hopeless/angry/insecure/strike out anything that doesn't apply)." That makes Superior the best option for "engaging" with Checkmate by sussing out the plan and how you can disrupt it, but it leaves the door open for e.g. Impulse Unleashing His Powers to search every warehouse in Gotham at super-speed instead of solving the Riddler's ten-part rebus of evil.
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Jul 8, 2019 14:50
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lessavini posted:I see all sample villain moves are purely narrative in Masks. How about something like this: Villain moves aren't mechanical, but if you want something mechanical you can also give them a custom move. In the book it says that label swap moves should be tied to specific situations. Their example is "Leech: Powersink saps the metahuman abilities of everyone around him. When you directly engage Powersink in physical combat, roll + Mundane instead of + Danger." So you could have a custom move for a specific NPC that makes it so that PCs have to use Superior to engage instead of Danger, but it shouldn't be something that's in effect all the time.
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Jul 8, 2019 16:39
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Capfalcon posted:Edit: also, lol @ america not caring about high school In Japan, high schools are treated more like college. You have to take entrance exams and your high school placement is considered as important as your choice in university. That doesn't mean college is unimportant, of course. And, sure, there are private high schools, "good" schools, "bad schools", charter schools, etc in America. But, a lot of people in America just go to the high school assigned to their geographic region based on zoning. And, while people can see the value in a good high school, university is where most Americans worry about such things. And very few high schools have entrance exams in America. Most kind of view high school in America as a given, unless extraneous life factors arise. But, from my understanding, you could flunk the exams for every high school in Japan and end up hosed. A lot of this is because high school is compulsory in America and is not compulsory in Japan. Covok fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Jul 8, 2019 |
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Jul 8, 2019 17:40
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You could always say when you directly engage this villains, you can’t choose to avoid their blows. List restriction is probably better than giving negatives because people will use influence and teamwork to make up the difference.
Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Jul 9, 2019 |
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Jul 8, 2019 17:43
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Golden Bee posted:You could always say when you directly engage this billing, you can’t choose to avoid their blows. List restriction is probably better than giving negatives because people will use influence and teamwork to make up the difference. Another way to handle this is to make sure the villain has is strong fictional positioning. If they get on the scene and Checkmate has his goons enacting his master plan, while his force field is up, and the bank is lifting off into the sky, well, there's a lot to do before you can "directly engage." Covok posted:In Japan, high schools are treated more like college. You have to take entrance exams and your high school placement is considered as important as your choice in university. That doesn't mean college is unimportant, of course. And, sure, there are private high schools, "good" schools, "bad schools", charter schools, etc in America. But, a lot of people in America just go to the high school assigned to their geographic region based on zoning. And, while people can see the value in a good high school, university is where most Americans worry about such things. And very few high schools have entrance exams in America. Most kind of view high school in America as a given, unless extraneous life factors arise. But, from my understanding, you could flunk the exams for every high school in Japan and end up hosed. I'm aware of the cultural differences, but the idea of a prestigious private high school where success guarantees admission to the ranks of the elite isn't exactly uncommon in the US.
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Jul 8, 2019 18:20
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Capfalcon posted:I'm aware of the cultural differences, but the idea of a prestigious private high school where success guarantees admission to the ranks of the elite isn't exactly uncommon in the US. The US is just a lot sneakier about our caste system.
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Jul 8, 2019 18:30
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Looking at running Pigsmoke for a burned-out academic or two. Looking over the rules, I don't see a lot of ways that people get burnout, is that accurate? Is it crazy to start them all with two burnout so that they have incentive to make a beeline for their fulfillment?
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Jul 8, 2019 21:01
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