2019.03.06 Masks: Gauntlet Quarterly S10 (1/4)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.120 Hey everybody, this is Jim of Jim Likes Games and I have just played 2 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:08.880 masks, which is a teen superhero game from Magpie Games. It's powered by 3 00:00:08.919 --> 00:00:12.279 the APOCAS system that I really like a lot, so I'm going to be 4 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:15.720 kind of gushing on this one. I played masks. This was part of 5 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:20.160 the Gauntlet quarterly, which is a series of games that is running on the 6 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:26.079 gauntlet that kind of runs over several months but is broken down into one month 7 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:28.960 segments that different people can sign up for and drop in and out of. 8 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:32.520 So I'm in a five game runn of this and this was game number one 9 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:38.039 of five game run with in that larger mega series that goes over a whole 10 00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:42.240 quarter of the month here. So this is technically session ten of the Gauntlet 11 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:45.679 quarterly run. Now, this game was facilitated by Lowell Francis, who is 12 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:49.000 one of the CO founders of the Gauntlet, I guess I want to say 13 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:51.719 at least the online version of it. He's been running games on the gauntlet 14 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.520 since its inception. Runs very popular games that are tough to get into some 15 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:58.920 I'm really happy that I am part of this series and Loll is one of 16 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:02.799 the three gems along with me and rich Rogers, who are part of the 17 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:07.439 Gauntlet Comics Initiative that they're running on the gauntlet where we are doing kind of 18 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:11.599 comic book themed Games, a lot of superhero stuff, some stuff another kind 19 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:15.079 of adventure genres. I've done urban shadows, I've done monster of the week. 20 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:19.640 I'm going to be running a masks game set in the S, kind 21 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:22.959 of a home front thing during the war. Rich Rodgers has run some other 22 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:26.000 stuff. He's run supers, one percenters and a couple of other games. 23 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:29.400 But as we create stuff in this universe, we can kind of use it, 24 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:32.439 pull it out and stuff that's going on in one game can affect what's 25 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:34.599 going on in the other games. We can move characters back and forth and 26 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:40.680 in fact my character that I played in this game, she was actually created 27 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:45.359 for previous run of masks that I played with rich rodgers that was set in 28 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:49.280 this Gantlett city want like comics universe, and I brought her over for this 29 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:53.319 game that lolls running now. So that's pretty cool. Now I played Harvester 30 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:57.400 and Harvester is using the soldier playbook and the soldier playbook is one of two 31 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:05.040 playbooks that were introduced for the secrets of ages expansion for masks. It's not 32 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:07.719 one of the core playbooks, but it's kind of neat because that lets me 33 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:10.759 play a character who has a loyalty to an organization, kind of a high 34 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:15.240 end shield agent or something like that. Now in this case I am an 35 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:20.400 agent of Aon, which is the sword like organization that we have created for 36 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:24.919 gallet city. That is their principally to kind of deal with threats from outside 37 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.960 the Earth. So they are dealing with a lot of aliens, extra planard 38 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:34.319 beings, dimensional stuff and, as it turns out, with this particular set 39 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:38.240 of games we're getting into here, looks like probably time travel as well. 40 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:42.680 So I played harvester, the soldier. Stephen Played Sarah Sparks, who's a 41 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:47.599 legacy character kind of comes from a family of superpowered do gooders. Michael played 42 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:52.400 shadow boy, the beacon, has phasing powers, kind of like Kitty Pride, 43 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:57.360 and his brand new to the whole superhero game and is wide eyed newcomer 44 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:02.159 to superheroing. Simon Played Zan the nomad, and a ZAN is someone who 45 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:06.560 has kind of travel around the universe but now has to stay on earth because 46 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:09.639 they've contracted a disease that will be cured if they're staying on earth, so 47 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:13.800 they kind of have to be around, but they travel all around and learned 48 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.000 a lot of stuff about broader universe that the game is set in. And 49 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:23.319 Chris is torrent who is a harbinger. Now that means that they were an 50 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:28.039 adult in the future who has come back to inhabit their own body in the 51 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:30.680 past. Also like kitty bride, but in a different way. It's they've 52 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:34.800 got a day's of future pass kind of thing going on. So Chris is 53 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:38.120 character knows things about the future but doesn't know them clearly, isn't sure which 54 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:42.039 of them are going to come true which are not, and kind of can 55 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:45.520 have visions about the future and stuff like that as we play along. So 56 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:49.080 it's going to be a really interesting character. Definitely a lot of time travel 57 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.960 stuff going on with this game. At the start of our session we did 58 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:55.360 the session zero stuff, the setup questions, even though I already had an 59 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:00.840 existing character in masks. That the process where you ask questions of each other 60 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:03.560 to kind of establish some relationships, and then there's influence that you give back 61 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:08.080 and forth. That kind of lets people get leverage on you built into how 62 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:12.159 your relationships work, and so we spend some time doing all that. Michael's 63 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:15.439 character was brand new, so we had to do all of the you know, 64 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:17.639 right through the whole down the whole list of setting everything up for him. 65 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:21.519 But we got through that about ninety minutes or so. Good, soapy 66 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:26.199 mix of relationships right off the bat. So then we took a break. 67 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:30.519 We came back and lull ask some scene painting questions to frame up a school 68 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:35.319 dance that we had to protect from this goon squad made up of three hockey 69 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:41.279 themed villains who called themselves power play. We also knew that there was another 70 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:46.040 super team of teen heroes that was called Nexus, and these are all ultra 71 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:49.199 rich kids whose parents bought them power suits so that they could go around being 72 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:54.560 superheroes, and nexus was there hoping that they were going to take down power 73 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:57.839 play and get some publicity and get on TV and kind of make a name 74 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.920 for themselves. Overview of the game, we got about ninety minutes of actual 75 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:05.120 play after all of our session prep. So this was mostly just a really 76 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:10.720 fun superhero fight. was the majority of the action in this particular session. 77 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:15.920 So power play were there to kidnap flicker, who was this singer with a 78 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:21.399 boy band with some minor superpowers who this private school had hired basically to Dj 79 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:27.839 a dance for them. So powerplay busts see in through the skating rink that's 80 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:30.680 been set up and there's like a big ice castle and a doing Zamboni rides 81 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:33.720 and stuff like this. They bust in through the ice and we just mix 82 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:36.480 it up. There's punches being thrown in, powers are being used and stuff 83 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:41.519 like that. So we are cracking heads and we're getting blast in and it's, 84 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:44.439 you know, just kind of a big fun comic bookie Superhero Fight. 85 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:48.319 And as all this is going on, nexus is still changing into costume and 86 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:51.639 like doing a power pose in the center so they can do their team power 87 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:57.480 up power rangers thing, and by the time they actually engage the fight is 88 00:05:57.560 --> 00:06:02.120 mostly over. But one of them did manage to snag penalty literally right out 89 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:08.759 of my hands before I grabbed him back as Harvester, and then shadow boy 90 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.639 popped him and knocked him out cold while I was to hang on to him 91 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:15.839 with my spider arms. So the fight ended with Nexus Alpha, who's the 92 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:19.600 kind of the leader of Nexus. I went to shake his hand like super 93 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:25.199 sarcastically, and he chucked me into the bleachers. But I didn't really care 94 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.720 because mission accomplished. We got the bad guys. They got whatever, they 95 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:32.160 got a little instagram video of him judo throwing me, but we got the 96 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:35.480 bad guys. Mission Accomplished. That's what we were therefore, so I felt 97 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:41.600 pretty good about that. Oh, I mentioned spider arms harvesters. Powers are 98 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:45.240 that she's got augmented limbs. That's one of the powers that you can take 99 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:49.240 and enhanced senses. So the enhanced senses are fancy goggles that she has from 100 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:57.319 a on the organization that she's an agent for, and she has symbiotically grafted 101 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:06.399 on biotech. And she also has these alien biotech spider arms grafted onto her 102 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:11.560 into her back, the kind of come out of her shoulder blades that work 103 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:15.800 like if you've seen the spider arms from the iron spider armor, that looks 104 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:18.759 like that. And she's a built like an Olympic gymnast. She does all 105 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:21.920 kinds of callistenics and training all the time and stuff like that. So she's 106 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:27.480 in peak physical condition but an otherwise relatively normal person. But she's got these 107 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:31.360 arms that were grafted onto her by an alien experiment that kind of functioned sort 108 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:34.480 of under her control and maybe a little bit on their own. We're still 109 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:38.120 kind of learning about that and that's one of the fun things. But those 110 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:42.399 are basically her superpowers and as the soldier she can exercise a bit of authority. 111 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:46.040 That kind of comes down from Aon. So our ending fictional state was 112 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:49.319 that we ended up at our regular diner, going back over the mission and 113 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:54.879 generally celebrating. Everyone was pretty most everyone, I should say, was pretty 114 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:58.560 pleased with how things went. All in all, we're all feeling pretty good, 115 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:03.000 except that Zan the nomad decided to make the roll to have one of 116 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:07.319 their visions and they have this dark vision of the future concerning shadow boy, 117 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:09.120 which kind of freaked them out. But the rest of us don't know about 118 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:11.399 that yet. So that was kind of where it ended. was with this 119 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:15.600 dark moment, very typical teen superhero kind of thing, where one of the 120 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:18.920 characters off going Huh, I know something that the others don't and it's terrible 121 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:20.360 and I don't know if I can tell them. So that was a really 122 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.560 good end to a teen Superhero Book. It was a nice little kind of 123 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:28.120 emotional cliffhanger without being a plot cliffhanger. That was Primo. My favorite moment 124 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:35.360 from another player was Michael playing shadow boys, earnest joy at being part of 125 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:41.399 a team of actual heroes and the excitement with which he got to really slug 126 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:43.559 a villain for the first time. That was just that was fantastic. It 127 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:50.159 was really cool. My favorite gming moment was low using one of my misses 128 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:54.919 that I rolled on the dice to have nexus just snatch a villain I was 129 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.600 about to take down right out of my hands. Literally just ran by, 130 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:01.240 grabbed him away from me and there I was empty handed, and I if 131 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:05.200 we didn't get him back, they would have gotten the collar on that. 132 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:09.840 So it's such a mean, hard move. Everyone really like that missed opportunity. 133 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:15.320 Our legacy. Sarah sparks took an advance that gave her a sanctuary that 134 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:20.120 she kind of laid out to tantalized us with at the beginning of the session. 135 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:24.879 said that she had taken the advance that gave her basically like a headquarters, 136 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:28.320 and I was really hoping that we were going to get together there after 137 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:31.919 our big fight and that we were going to see that we're going to get 138 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:35.080 to do the big reveal and maybe take a couple of minutes to walk around 139 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.080 and sort of see things, maybe paint to see a little bit. I 140 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.240 like spicy fries and milkshakes and stuff like that, but I was really hoping 141 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:45.679 we'd get to see her version of the bat cave or the Baxter building or 142 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:48.360 however she is conceiving of it. But we've got four more games so they'll 143 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:50.519 be plenty of time for that, but I was really hoping for it this 144 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:54.519 evening. So you know, you don't get everything. So one thing I 145 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:58.000 noticed is that I think this is the fifth game that I've played with low 146 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:01.919 and the first masks game that I played with him. So the previous four 147 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:07.240 sessions that I played with him were hearts of wool in his really wonderful whoosha 148 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:11.879 romantic melodrama game that he is co authoring along with Agatha C who is one 149 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:16.279 of the folks that was in that noir world game that I mentioned on a 150 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.399 previous episode of just played. So the two of them are working on this 151 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:22.200 wonderful game and I played that with low but I haven't played masks and I 152 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:28.080 noticed this evening a really subtle but very cool thing that he does, which 153 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:33.240 is any time after he makes a hard move, anytime after he does something 154 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:37.840 where as MC he's got permission to put the screws to you, he says 155 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:41.240 some variation of is that fair? Is that okay? Y'All right with that? 156 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:46.120 Something like that, and I notice that today and I kind of chuckled 157 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:50.039 the little because, you know, you're the MCS, so you get to 158 00:10:50.039 --> 00:10:54.360 decide whether it's fair or not. But Not really. But it's actually a 159 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:58.039 wonderful technique that I really need to pick up on doing regularly because while it 160 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:03.000 is a check in to see if the player is buying into what's happening fictionally 161 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:07.159 and that they don't feel like they're getting hosed, it's also a check in 162 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:13.159 to make sure they understand what's going on, both fictionally and mechanically. so 163 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:20.600 by making that ask, it's giving us as players, explicit permission every single 164 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:24.200 time that loll uses one of those moves, to ask for a clarification on 165 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.200 the fiction or the mechanics, and maybe both if that's what we need. 166 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:33.200 And it is just such a great technique that probably, now that I think 167 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:39.399 of it, ought to be baked into more games, especially ones that have 168 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:45.919 fictional positioning as complex as masks, because in masks were very specifically emulating a 169 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:52.000 genre that is heavily dependent on visual representation that we don't have. So where 170 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:54.639 somebody is in relation to someone else. Superheroes move in three dimensions, they 171 00:11:54.679 --> 00:12:00.600 move very quickly, they're often in fairly complex and interesting environments and it can 172 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:03.879 be easy to lose your place in that while that's going on, especially if 173 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:07.440 there's four or five people and you all. You've got as this kind of 174 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:11.360 theater of the mind. And by asking that he's also giving permission for you 175 00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:16.240 to seek clarification on that stuff. And, if I had to guess, 176 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:22.000 as important as is that fair question is, it's that little pause that gives 177 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:26.600 you permission to ask a question so that to make sure you fully understand. 178 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:30.120 But whatever is going on that, that's a really great chamming technique that I 179 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:31.440 really admire it and I'm definitely going to pick up on it. I had 180 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:35.240 a great time with this game. I'm looking forward. I've got four more 181 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:39.519 sessions on TAP. Wednesday nights. I'll certainly be reporting on how Harvester does 182 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:43.080 along through team here, which is just called the team. So one of 183 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.960 my missions is going to be to make sure we get a better team name 184 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:50.159 before this is all over. So that's it for this episode. Thanks for 185 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:52.960 listening. If you're enjoying the show, please rate and review it where you 186 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:54.440 found it. Check out the show notes for a video of this session, 187 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:58.320 if one's available, as well as where to find the game that we played. 188 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.440 As always, you can follow me on twitter at Jim Likes Games and 189 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:05.159 buy games from me my website, Jim Likes Gamescom. Now, if you'll 190 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.120 excuse me, I'm going to go play another game.