Mystery Academy: My Masks: A New Generation Hack

A SINISTER SEMESTER

A couple of times I’ve run a game frame I call “Mystery Academy.” Teen characters get sent to a new and strange school. They can tell right away the school has weird secrets and hidden threats. But the kids themselves are not entirely unprepared. They have their own hidden talents- a magical gift, lost knowledge, ancestral curse, mysterious helpful voice or the like. This is something they haven’t revealed to anyone…for reasons.

The PCs have been thrown together, but now they must bond and join forces to solve the mysteries of this place. That may be the key to a richer legacy or it may protect them from the dangers of the school. That depends on the tone you want. It can be modern fantastic, steampunky, historical, or just high weird.

This concept is inspired by John Bellairs, Morning Glories, Gunnerkrigg Court, Avengers Academy, magic school manga, Moorim Academy, Locke & Key, Tales from the Loop, and a host of other sources. I’ve come up with a quick and easy hack that I think will allow you to play out these kinds of stories. You could obviously use Monsterhearts 2 for this, but that’s a little darker and more intimate than I’m looking for. Instead to keep the focus on teens I’m working with Masks: A New Generation.

HOW TO

First, we’re not using any playbooks. Write down the five labels for your character: Freak, Danger, Savior, Superior, and Mundane. Then assign +2, +1, +1, 0, and -1 to them. These five labels cover the same ground as in Masks. They have the same limits: -3 to +3. Usually you’re shifting labels so if you raise one, you lower another.

You will also write a one-sentence key aspect and a one-sentence trouble aspect. The former you can call on for a bonus. Once per session, you can mark your key aspect to boost the result of a roll by one degree (i.e. 6- becomes a 7-9). You have to explain how that aspect helps you here. Once per session you can mark your trouble aspect and automatically fail a test. This should usually be about you giving into your worst self and  cause you more problems than the group. If you do this, you mark 2 potential and add one to the Team Pool (which we’ll be calling the Trust Pool here).

You also begin with a special item—some object from your past life that contains an important memory, creates an effect, or just looks cool. For this item, choose a Label and a Basic Move. When you do that action, you can use that Label. Describe how that item helps with that. If the Basic Move already uses that particular label, you instead just gain +1 forward on it once per scene.

Finally you should write a short description of your weirdness. What power have you kept hidden? Just a phrase or a sentence will do for this. Until you actually invoke this power, you can change it as you see fit. After this you’ll work setting, backstory, and influence questions, but let me talk about Basic Moves first.

OUR MOVES

Most of Masks’ moves work as described, except that access to Unleash Your Powers is a little different. Keep in mind that in the fiction, you’re playing fairly normal teens. Things which might be possible in Masks aren’t.

If you want to use your strange talent to do something, you always roll Unleash Your Powers. The 7-9 result for that now reads, “On a 7-9 mark a condition or the GM tells you a cost or complication arising from what you’ve done. It may be that the effect is fleeting, it causes collateral damage, it draws unwanted attention, it does most of what you wanted but not all, it changes you for a time, or a similar effect.”

Once you’ve Unleashed your powers once, you can then work those abilities into your fiction for minor or cosmetic effects. Generally the use of your powers should be a serious and risky thing. You may have been told to hide them, they may seem weird to others, they might not be fully in your control. Still your talent is yours to shape; it can be odd martial arts training, pyrokinesis, visions of the future or anything similar.

Peripheral Moves also remain the same. For these read “Team” as the group of thrown together PC schoolmates. Your team pool represents the characters starting to understand and trust each other through their encounters with these mysteries. To reinforce that, we’ll call it the Trust Pool. Team Mechanics work largely the same. The group forms a Trust Pool when they enter together into a charged situation against an adversary. That might be a fight with ogres; it might be another clique of students harassing them.

When you enter into that situation, add two to the Trust pool. If everyone has the same purpose in the conflict, add one. If the group’s off-balance or ill prepared, subtract one. We don’t define anyone as the leader of the group.

When you fill in your potential track you have a more limited set of options:

• Someone permanently loses influence over you, add +1 to a label.
• Rearrange your labels; and add +1 to one.
• Add another key aspect
• Make up a custom move
• Make up a custom move
• Add a new item
• Add a new power or weirdness
• Define a Moment of Truth for yourself.

Once you’ve taken four of these, you make choose this additional option,

• Take an adult move

BACKSTORY QUESTIONS

To set the stage, players should choose two from the list of backstory questions. The GM should choose one more for them. The GM should also work through the list of school questions with the group—before the personal questions or peppered throughout. Ideally for this I'd also have an inspirational list of names for places in the school, instructors, and other students. 

About the School

• Is the school a single building, many buildings, a large mansion, a castle, or what?
• What keeps the school hidden from the outside world?
• What is the nearest “normal” place? Does it know about the school?
• How large are the grounds surrounding the school?
• What’s over the doorway as you enter?
• What are the dormitories like? Bunk beds, large common rooms, individual suites, something else?
• There are other students here. Are there many, few, a handful?
• How are different groups of students divided or kept separated?
• What’s the school’s motto?
• How large is the staff? Does it seem to be just teachers? Are there people working behind the scenes?
• What kinds of classes are offered?
• What areas are kept off limits or hidden?
• Who is “in charge” of the school? What’s weird about them?

Personal

• When your strangeness first emerged, someone was hurt. Who and how?
• You have been hunted for an unknown reason. What do you know about your pursuer?
• You lost a sibling or parent mysteriously. Who were they and what happened?
• Where did you come from before this—was it rich, poor, something in between?
• You had a dream that has been cut off by being sent here. What is it?
• A close relative or caretaker betrayed you. How and why?
• You’re naïve about the real world. Why is that? What kept you insulated?
• You were rescued and brought here. What were you saved from and by whom?
• What tragedy caused you to be sent you here?
• What’s the last thing you remember before you woke up here?
• You found a secret passage here. Where does it lead?
• You failed at something spectacularly and hope to start over here. What happened?
• When you first walked around, you saw something odd that you’ve been unable to find again. What is it?
• You have an object that matches some pattern or image here at the school. What is it?
• You dreamed of this place before you came here. What did you see?
• What skill or knowledge do you always try to show off?
• What wouldn’t you do to fit in or be accepted?
• You knew someone who shared your strange talent. What happened to them?
• You brought almost nothing from your past life. Why? What are the three things you do have?
• You have a secret and embarrassing hobby. What is it?
• You have had a premonition or vision of your future. What did you see?
• You’ve found a hiding place in the school. Where is it?
• You pocketed something strange you found here. What is it?
• Who have you seen roaming the halls at night?
• You have vague memories of coming here when you were little. What do you remember of that?
• Someone spoke of the school before you came here. Who were they and what did they say?
• You overheard one of the instructors whispering with someone you couldn’t see. Who was it and what were they saying?
• Why haven’t you shared the secret of your power with anyone else?
• You present a mask to the world. Why do you hide your real self?
• Why do you care able this group of schoolmates?

INFLUENCE QUESTIONS

Each player picks two. Give one influence to each person named.

…saved you from bully.

…looks like someone you know from your past life.

…is has declared themselves your rival here

…is related to you by blood.

…got caught along with you doing some mischief.

You trust…and told them a secret about yourself.

You have to prove yourself to…

…seems to know how to handle this.

…has been protecting you behind the scenes.

…scares you because of an incident from your past.

You stole something from…

…is your crush. You get weird when you have to deal with them alone.

You keep trying to impress…but they don’t seem to notice.

You hinted about your weirdness to…and you’re waiting to see what they think.

…is much cooler than you.

…is up to something but you can’t figure out what.

You’ve kept an important secret from…

You hurt…shortly after you got here.

You think…has a crush on someone and you’re trying to figure out how you feel about that.

…showed you kindness when you first arrived.

LAST THOUGHTS

There's still some work to do to polish this, but I think that's in a playable format. I'm going to try running this as a one-shot in the next couple of months. If you're interested in this, you can see my write-up of an earlier campaign I ran in this style (but with a different system). 

Lyceum Aegis Campaign Prep and NPCs

Lyceum Aegis NPC Prep

Campaign Types & Lyceum Aegis Campaign Prep (Continued)

Lyceum Aegis: Session Prep

Quick Board Game Notes and Lyceum Aegis Session Summary

World Pitches: New Campaign Picks

As I posted last week, several of my campaigns are at transition points. I discussed my love for these moments on The Gauntlet recently. With our 13th Age game on summer hiatus, we’re switched over to a short Dresden Files Accelerated campaign. I’ve also started a mini-campaign of The Veil for Sherri, Kali, and my nephew David while he’s home for the summer. We started that Sunday, getting through character creation and several scenes. I didn’t go much further since I’d run Mutant Year Zero in the morning and played Apocalypse World in the afternoon.

In the good (?) old days, I’d say “hey, I’m running X now.” Usually the group would go along; maybe we’d have some players switch out. But times have changed and our f2f player pool has tightened. What I run needs to appeal to everyone. I want collaboration and buy-in from those players. Once I figured that out, I tried putting together massive lists of pitches. Way too massive. I diluted the pool and common interests. The few times I did that we got a final result with shared light enthusiasm over something everyone dug. The Paradox of Plenty.

Now I limit myself to 3-4 pitches at most. That gives me a pool I can invest energy in, time to explain each one, the ability to hand around materials, and few enough games that they’ll recall each when they vote. I present the games with a caveat. If any of them are a “Hard No,” I’ll pull them from consideration and add something else. I don’t want a game on offer that someone would quit rather than play (or play under duress). I also tell them we’ll check in every six or so sessions to see where we are and if we need to wrap. After explanations and questions everyone votes secretly, even me. I break any ties. Last time Mutant: Year Zero won, but all three other contenders tied. I bring passed-over, but well-voted games for later consideration.

SUNDAY GAME

Our bi-weekly Middle Earth campaign wrapped after 27 sessions. It’s a good, four-person group. Generally we’ve aimed for more traditional games and action oriented campaigns. Both the player group and the time slot lend themselves to straight line plots. Deep mystery and angst aren’t on the table. A simple system’s preferred. I put forward four games to them:

• Coriolis
• Godbound
• Tianxia
• The Veil

That’s a diverse set. Originally I wanted Blades in the Dark in there, but since I didn’t have the hard copy yet, I subbed in Tianxia at the last minute. Godbound won by just two points. Then Coriolis & The Veil came in with a near tie, and finally Tianxia. That group generally prefers fantasy, so the final pick wasn’t a total surprise.

Godbound has both a premise and a setting. The former has the PCs gaining/ channeling/ receiving divine powers from dead gods. There’s been a centuries long conflict, leading to human sorcerers storming the gates of heaven with artificially constructed gods. That all blew up, leaving behind remnants and threats like The Night Roads. Godbound has an Exalted vibe. Players start with powers and can deal serious damage right out of the gate. They’re not gods per se, just potent.

Godbound’s setting takes up a good chunk of the book. Crawford’s built a striking world, echoing some of his earlier fantasy work. It has distinct nations, lightly defined with problems and relations. Many have a strong Earth-culture parallel. They’ve released a couple of sourcebooks for the setting. While they’re solid, I’d rather build some things ourselves.

Luckily Godbound supports that too. It has the designer’s trademark tables for generating plots and content. I expect I will combine that with a Microscope-like approach. I haven’t yet decided what level to begin at. I put together a blank fantasy map in Hexographer. I might have everyone add nations and name places. Alternately I might focus on building just a city. Then we could discover the rest of the world as we play, hex-crawl style.

WEDNESDAY

Our Wednesday group plays online. These five originally came together in the City of Heroes MMO. Several players I grew up with before they moved away. So far I’ve finished a 13th Age and a three part M&M 2e campaign with them, both fairly long. Our current Mutant & Masterminds 3rd edition campaign will probably wrap tonight with session 27. It’s a group that leans trad. Also there’s a lot of real world distractions during play. As a result I have to carefully consider multi-thread plots and mysteries. I’ve been running on this night for years, but I still haven’t developed the perfect style for them.

I choose three games, all of them PbtA. I wanted to try something new, with different approach. A couple of the players have tried these games, so it isn’t entirely alien. I offered three games, two with a highly built in structure which I think the group will dig.

• Blades in the Dark
• The Sprawl
• Urban Shadows

The Sprawl won, but Blades in the Dark came a close second. Urban Shadows followed slightly behind. Each game had at least one first place pick and one last place pick in the voting. I’d regretted leaving out BitD after Sunday’s offer, despite not having the hardcover. I decided to offer it anyway, since I figured I’d have it soon (spoiler: still don’t have it as of this writing). Cyberpunk will be an interesting switch after fantasy and superhero.

All three have excellent Roll20 sheets, an added bonus The Sprawl has an especially nice one. Some users have figured out how to build striking interactive Countdown clocks. I need to work those out. The Sprawl also a tight mission structure, more episodic than other games. That may lend itself to our game, with weird schedules in the summertime. The group also loves doing world-building so that’s a plus.

The only downside I can see will be figuring out the netrunning rules. It’s the section I’m least comfortable with right now. We didn’t have a Hacker in the two Sprawl sessions I played. We’ll see. It may just take a little prep work.

FRIDAY

Our Friday f2f group just finished our Mutant: Year Zero campaign after 16 sessions. I loved it and the players clearly would have hung on for more sessions. But we’d gotten to a great point in the Ark’s arc. I wanted to stop while ahead. The awesome player epilogues made me certain about my choice and sad to see it end. Despite the session going a good hour later than usual, I made sure we picked the next game before we left.

• Base Raiders (Using 13th Age)
• Blades in the Dark
• Coriolis
• Urban Shadows

I’d had Urban Shadows when they last picked, so I brought that back. I’d also planned to present a collaborative world-building fantasy idea with anthropomorphic animals. But I couldn’t find the materials I’d assembled for that. Instead I subbed in Coriolis. The group had also discussed doing Mutant: GenLab Alpha, but I didn’t offer that. I’ll offer that next time; I didn’t want to do it right away after MYZ.

The group chose Blades in the Dark (25 points) despite not having a copy of the book to look at. I printed the character and crew playbooks to hand around instead. Then it was Coriolis (17 points), Urban Shadows (16 points), and finally Base Raiders (12 points). Opinion and votes went across the board. While Base Raiders came in last, it got a couple of #2 picks.

I’ve read through the Blades in the Dark pdf a couple of times now. It has a lot of moving pieces and some dense playbooks sheets. I hope playing it f2f will be easier than online. Five of the six players play Pathfinder, so I’m not too worried about complexity. I’m excited run this. I love the concept and can’t wait to see it at the table. I briefly considered using a Planescape skin I read about on G+. But given the number of players and our unfamiliarity with the game, I’m sticking with the default set up.

OTHER GAMES

I had other games I seriously considered for these offerings. I only skipped 7th Sea because I’m still not sure how to solve the duelist imbalance problem. Maybe I will in the future. I strongly considered Cryptomancer, but I’d need a small, mystery-focused group for that. I looked using Dungeon World for a version of the Iron Kingdoms setting. Finally Dragon Age and 13th Age rounded out my shortlist.

What do you have coming up? What are you considering for new campaigns? 

Far Station Eschaton: A Kingdom Seed

Robert Rodger asked if anyone had done a seed for Kingdom (a top five rpg for me) based on DS9. That's a cool idea so I did up a rough version. Others may have additional approaches or suggestions. 

FAR STATION ESCHATON

Once this station stood at the far ends of known space, a jump point for the desperate, established as a watch post for the Confederation. But now things have changed. The formation of a wormhole, reaching into new areas of space has made Eschaton the gateway to a new gold rush and the epicenter of old vendettas.

Customize (pick one answer for each)

• The Confederation is [ a distant and faceless bureaucracy | a society dedicated to expansion and peace-keeping | an expansionist military force | the failing shell of a once-proud society | a puppet state at the beck and call of corporate interests]
• Eschaton was established by [ the Confederation’s military originally | the scientific arm of the empire | as a far-edge drydock and repair station | a pleasure and rec facility for patrolling vessels of the fleet | a diplomatic outpost | the HQ for a peacekeeping mission]
• The closest planet [ is under military occupation by the Confederation | is in the midst of civil war | is united in their resentment of the confederation | is a hodge-podge industrial settlement | is a backwater hive of scum, villainy and licentiousness]
• Eschaton has [ absolute control over the gateway | limited access it can dole out | control through the threat of being able to destroy the gateway | no ability to stop anyone going in or out.]
• The wormhole [ leads to a system spoken of in old records and legends | goes to a location in another galaxy completely unknown before | opens onto the hub of an alien empire | varies in its final destination]

Threats

• Corporate interests want control of the wormhole.
• The Confederation wants to militarize the sector.
• The system is being overwhelmed by the sheer number of new arrivals rushing to be the first through.
• Tensions with the closest planet have increased as they’ve made new demands.
• The field of the wormhole creates strange and unpredictable effects on the local space-time.
• The Confederation’s rival(s) claim the wormhole as their own.
• Alien forces have begun to emerge into the Eschaton’s system from the other side.
• Underground forces on the station look to seize control.
• Supplies and/or supply chains have been tightened and reduced.
• Bizarre events, psychic episodes, and reality warping caused by the wormhole’s energies.

Locations

• Bridge of the Eschaton, central point for command and control
• Docking ring, the connecting point for new arrivals and those wishing to board
• The loading bays where cargo arrives (and sometimes falls off into other peoples’ hands)
• Security core. Where personnel monitor security and attempt to keep track of threats
• Prison (brig) for the Eschaton. Most often used for the drunk and derelict, now has a larger variety of strange and dangerous criminals.
• Overflow housing for the new arrivals. Connected to a black areas where refugees attempt to hide and survive.
• Medical Bay. Smaller than it ought to be. Unequipped to handle the volume of new arrivals.
• Diplomatic station dedicated to the culture and needs of the populace from the local planet
• The Promenade. A crossroads of stores, suppliers, corporate offices, bars, and other diversions.
• The Bar. While there may be several locations where station personnel and visitors go to unwind, the Bar is the largest and most important of these.
• The Holo-Lounge. A place of education for some. Of obsession for others.
• Bay 8. Location of the special runner ship or shuttlecraft for the main crew of the Eschaton.
• Station Core. The tightly controlled center for ship operation and power.
• The Menagerie. Facilities set up for various alien ambassadors and their needs.
• Jeffries Tubes. Engineering access points used for repairs as well as clandestine travel by some.

Character Concepts

• Commander of the Eschaton
• Commander’s resentful but precocious teen child
• An exiled Psychic
• A bizarre living hologram
• A doctor exiled to this miserable posting
• The excitable security chief
• Official liaison from the local planet
• Corporate station representative
• Washed up former Captain turned con man
• Avaricious merchant
• Station Supply Officer
• Dedicated engineer
• Former spy turned religious mentor
• Space Workers Union Rep
• Confederation Military Observor
• First Contact Specialist
• Diplomat turned native
• Splintered Refuge from a Hive Mind

Names

Issac Tyrrell, Erich Strachan, Anton Phillips, Kalyn Wynter, Gema Alessandro, Maddie Avison, Shani ch'Shuni, Thara ch'Kerria, Ortal zh'Giiazn, Hjalmar sh'Nortre, Enak Vorle, Aarmar Telle, Ular Turra, Makbar Tajar, Mar'Ta, K'Kori, G'Lora, Vekma, Veirre, Khaesar, Cura, N'Freleya

Crossroads

• Do we impose absolute control over who passes through the wormhole?
• Return criminals/rebels/spies from the local planet to their home?
• Send our own missions through the wormhole to seek new discoveries
• Permit the Rival Enemy Empire to establish a formal presence aboard the station?
• Expend resources searching for the station shuttle we lost contact with?
• Crack down on the rising tide of smuggling?
• Turn to black market sources to support the station?
• Declare independence from the Confederation?
• Ration supplies to civilian interests so that the military wing of the station can maintain maximum readiness?
• Divert power and effort to establish protections from the strange space-time anomalies?
• Establish a system of democratic representation?
• Recognize the independence of the local planet?
• Rearm the station for a possible military stand off?
• Make an alliance with former enemies?

Notes

Inspired by Star Trek DS9 and Babylon Five.

Kingdom notes that when you play “with physically-separated locations…make sure it’s easy for characters to interact in person. There has to be easy transport…or you risk all your scenes turning into boring phone calls.” You’ll probably have most scenes on the station, but I can imagine jaunts out to survey the wormhole, interact with arriving captains around their ships, or visit with officials on the local planet.

You should also discuss and think about the tech level you want to have with this setting. The easiest way is to set the default at Star Trek level, but allow for players to suggest things to add or reduce to that.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS AND MODIFICATIONS WELCOME! 

Other Kingdom Stuff:

Xavier's Kingdom for Gifted Children

Kingdom: Fae & Samurai

Kingdoms of Ars Magica

Heroes of the City,

Heroes of the City AP

The Daily Sentinel AP

Battleship Orion AP

Second Wave: The Supers News Cycle

A couple of weeks ago I posted the Microscope timeline my players created for our new M&M 3e campaign. They went darker than I expected and I've been thinking about how to handle that. The game's a pastiche: using and riffing on existing superhero properties. I don't usually do that, so I've bought in fully (i.e kitchen sink-ing it). You'll see lots of classic references; that's the kind of thing which would make me roll my eyes in other peoples' session reports. 

We've done a character creation session plus two actual play sessions. We're using Roll20 and I recorded those (Session 1 and Session 2). I want to get a few more nights under my belt before I write up my impressions of 3e vs. 2e.

For the previous campaign (First Wave) I did a lot of world building: NPCs, organizations, and news reports. Since we have all the material of that 50+ session campaign to draw on, I want to do less of that this time. I still like news reports so I wrote up a few items for this week. The setting's a gritty at the outset; I hope the players will make a difference over time. They integrated analogues for real world issues I want to handle carefully (immigration and refugees for example). We haven't played that long, so I'm still trying to get a feel for the team.

News for Session Three (8/17/16)
NEW FIRST WAVE: In a short news conference held at the White House Secure Site, President von Doom announced the re-formation of First Wave, quickly dubbed “Ultimate First Wave” in online comments. The veteran superhero team has been missing for eight weeks.

“As you know, I worked closely with Vice-President Frieze, founder of First Wave. He saw the importance of his team as a symbol of American hope. Victor realized they served a vital role in the current war effort against the Neo-Soviet metahuman empire. He prepared a contingency plan: a carefully recruited replacement team should anything happen to them.”

The new roster includes Meteorite, Steel Patriot, Yes Man, Thundra, and Nocturne. New team leader The Black Knight spoke briefly to reporters “I worked with First Wave and was honored when VP Frieze first spoke to me about this plan. I only hope I can live up to their legacy.” He indicated that the new First Wave would be headquartered closer to the capitol and work closely with federal authorities to prevent Neo-Soviet metahuman infiltration and aggression in the US.

ATLANTA OUTBREAK: The CDC confirmed today that the closure and quarantine of major sections of Atlanta would have to be expanded. Aided by the National Guard, CDC agents and medical volunteers have been processing victims and attempting to deal with what has been dubbed Helstromm Syndrome. So far the outbreak of this new virus has resulted in 92 deaths and 312 comatose victims. The government has been carefully tracking travel and possible outbreaks in other regions of the country, but have reported no other incidents outside Georgia.

While the CDC and the Army Medical Corps have ruled out a bioterrorist attack, they have refused further comment. However a series of internal emails leaked by Anonymous confirms ongoing rumors surrounding the incident. In the emails, authorities claim to have traced the disease to a set of dimensional refugees smuggled out of New York City. This has added fuel to the fears of anti-“Dimmie” cohorts. So far all involved agencies have refused to confirm the report.

HONG KONG AFLAME: Explosions rocked Hong Kong for a third night as Chinese officials continued their “containments” following the one year anniversary of the Iron Tiger Crackdowns. Those operation targeted metahumans throughout the countryside last year. At the same time Chinese agencies have moved to high alert following the revelation of Neo-Soviet operatives throughout the region. As a result tensions have escalated between the two superpowers. In particular activities in Mongolia and former Tibet have drawn attention and ire in the highest circles. The remaining Soviet delegation in the United Nations has met formal protests with non-responses and mechanical vetoes. Some experts fear the global economy could degrade even further if open hostilities break out between the two. Others suggest such a conflict might ease pressure on the US, Europe, and the remaining non-Soviet occupied Middle Eastern states.

RAGNAROK IRAQ: Observers emerging from the Iraqi devastation zones have reported a wasteland, now lost to "monsters and mythic beasts." A Neo-Soviet paranormal event created the areas a few months ago. “It is clear that the blood and fluids of the 'Ragnarok Serpent' has acted as a powerful mutagen, transforming both the trapped citizenry and local ecosystem into something dangerous, toxic, and inhuman.” Doctor Patricia Mnoyoko confirmed reports that the Ragnarok Zone has continued to expand, moving further into Turkey and creating even larger waves of Kurdish refugees. Other recent reports have acknowledged Ragnarok beast attacks on shipping and aircraft in the area.

LUTHOR SPEAKS: On Good Morning America, Lex Luthor finally spoke about the thwarted attack against him last week. Unknown metahumans ambushed the industrialist and accused Cabal mastermind as he toured sites in NYC scheduled for renovation. Unidentified supers stopped the attack, leaving behind a tag associated with pro-Cabal sentiments. “I’m a businessman and a visionary.” Luthor said in the one-on-one interview. “Yes, I was part of a group of like-minded thinkers and scientists who operated behind the scenes for many years. But I was also the victim of an unprecedented terrorist attack which kidnapped a whole generation of philanthropists and experts.”

Later he spoke more directly about the Cabal’s effects, “We helped to keep the world safe and stable. Look around today, with metahuman superwars and parahuman shape-changing dimensional refugees. Do you feel safer now?” On the subject of First Wave he spoke only briefly. “I’ve had disagreements with members of First Wave, but I have to thank them. It was only due to their intervention that I was rescued from the so-called 'Phantom Zone.' Mister Miracle clearly believed we had been unjustly imprisoned, so I leave that to your viewers’ consideration.”

NYC MAYORAL RACE: The latest polls of NYC voters show incumbent Richard Grayson falling behind Wilson Fisk in the upcoming mayoral election. Grayson has come under increasing pressure to tighten restrictions on metahuman citizens and dimensional refugees. Additionally clashes between local SATF agents handling super-powered cases and federal S.W.O.R.D. officers have brought Grayson’s moderate policies under increasing scrutiny. On Friday he finally moved to shift the combined Raft/Ellis Island containment facilities over to federal authority. meanwhile Fisk has continued to focus his campaign on rebuilding and stability, appealing to local business-owners. He pointed to the dangers and destruction which have accompanied the rise of metahumans within new York. In a recent speech he alluded to the rise of metahuman gangs, made up of Dimmie refugees seizing control of criminal operations in many sections of the city. Many have accused Fisk of using “dog-whistle” politics with his “New York for New Yorkers” campaign slogan.

Sentient Meetings, Care Bears, Magical Meth Labs: Locations & Events for Magic, Inc

I ran Magic, Inc twice at Games on Demand: Origins and Steven desJardins has a generous assessment of one of those sessions. He mentions one of my favorite details; he altered his name tag as he traveled in time. Before and during the convention I sketched out a list of random places PCs might end up at or things that might happen to them as they trekked across the facility. These could be set-pieces, GM intrusions, or hard/soft moves. Anyway, here's what I've come up with so far. 

Fifty Places and Locations

1. Everyone in office desperately engaged in heated phone-game competition. Option: game eerily echoes recent events, movements, or situations related to the PCs.
2. PCs get lead on information. At location the so-called department “database” is actually 20 file directories full of spreadsheets dating back to the mid-80s.
3. A raging and ongoing battle of one-upmanship over cubicle décor. Turning violent.
4. Department undergoing yearly emotional fallout cleaning. Uses noisy heavy machinery. Have to be careful not to get too close as it draws off hope first. Offices may or may not be currently populated. Alternative: fumigation set up for this. 
5. Boss has all phones programmed with an assortment of popular and/or moronic ringtones and alarms. These go off constantly.
6. Raised floor or ceiling crawlspace conceals a secret passage or a dungeon.
7. Department staff are robots wearing ill-fitting, obvious, and/or patchwork human costumes. Will go out of their way to illustrate how "hu-man" they are. May turn Killbot if secret revealed. 
8. Department overwhelmed by catalog and fundraising sales obligations. They've lost track of whether these come from children/relatives of workers or some outside infestation. Sellers will latch on to new arrivals. The guilt force is palpable.
9. There’s a never-ending cycle of carry-ins, becoming more and more elaborate. Food has begun to pile up as janitorial services refused to deal with it.
10. Workers in office all have weird jerry-rigged VR headsets they're unaware of. 
11. Undergoing constant renovation. Workers still required to complete tasks at their desks. Tarps draped over many them. By the time the redesign has reached one end of the office, they’re beginning a new approach from the other.
12. Danger room for “Agile” development.
13. Formal Mondays, Casual Fridays, Medieval Thursdays, Carnivale Tuesdays, Cosplay Wednesdays.
14. Raised floors sufficient to hide bodies. Evidence suggests they’ve been used thusly.
15. Wizard office. Dead apprentices everywhere. Casual magic used to do the most mundane task. Glitter in the air turns out to be mage dander. 
16. Everything in this office has an RFiD inventory sticker: sheets of paper, coffee cups, shoes. Each doorway has an alarm scanner. Best if PCs need something from here.  
17. Call center has removed walls and encroached into the department. It keeps expanding. A constant droning din of conversations fills air. Like a siren song, but not in a good way.
18. Threadbare department desperately trying to survive as they engage in an unending struggle to get  purchasing approval. They will strip office supplies from any interlopers.
19. The department's a secret, not supposed to exist. The workers will try one of three things: attempt to mind-wipe the group; immediately begin dismantling to relocate; or scatter to the four winds.
20. Care Bears. One non-Care-Bear accounts person.
21. Office has an open plan, and it is vast and empty. The echoing halls go on and on. Absenteeism means that most desks are empty. The sound of keyboards clicking in the distance. Crossing requires survival tests.
22. Indoor moat. PCs need to get drawbridge lowered to talk with department or cross through.
23. Office has been contaminated: radiation, magic, moon prism power, whatever. Everyone’s working in contamination suits.
24. Furtive and paranoid staff. They’re hiding a fully outfitted breakroom kitchen  from the fire safety division.
25. Local libertarian vermin infestation.
26. Doorway leads into the middle of a dangerous team-building exercise. Instructors won't accept they accidentally wandered in. 
27. Office located next to corporate alarm panel: there’s constant drills and vendor testing.
28. Boss brings his beloved and ill-behaved blink dogs to work with him. They're ill-behaved and set upon any visitors, like the PCs. 
29. Office filled with card-board cut outs or mannequins. There’s a tape on loop playing office sounds. Alternately, it's silent when they look in but they hear murmurs when they’re outside.
30. The previous department heads have had their heads mounted on the wall. Boss very proud of the display. 
31. Giant Wicker Man set up in the middle of the office. Staff refuse to acknowledge it.
32. Strange commissary with mystery food. Pay for it in chits and get a boxed lunch of uncertain origin.
33. Department split between a giant industrial shredder destroying documents and a massive team reassembling other shredded materials.
34. Difficult to get to office reveals a Robinson Crusoe-like castaway: a drone sent down here twenty years ago to get something from the supply closet.
35. Off-the-books homemade recreation center and jungle gym built from stray furniture and supplies.
36. Office fight club. Two workers with hands tied together by USB cables are armed with staplers and sharpened rulers. Don’t talk about fight club. They enforce that. 
37. Numbers station playing over the speakers here.
38. Department on the ropes, rumors of closure. Gremlins have swooped in to scavenge.
39. Raised floor or ceiling crawlspace conceals a multigenerational horde of vermin (spiders, rats) intelligent or otherwise. Alternately, feral Borrowers.
40. Office actually has windows.
41. Doorway leads through onto a stage. Massive hall filled with an audiences. PCs expected to give an impromptu "TED"-style talk. 
42. Curse, hex, and malediction storage area. Bad leakage.
43. Office has massive electronic background noise. Workers don’t notice and can hear the PCs just fine.
44. Sentient and vampiric meeting draws in the PCs and drains their will to live. They’re required to give a presention on their project progress as well.
45. Office lies in ruins from some kind of recent battle. Perhaps there's a giant footprint. Alternately a crater at the center of the devastated room has a glowing meteorite in it.
46. Office has computer system made of a system of pneumatic tubes.
47. Abandoned freight elevator concerted into mobile lounge and bar.
48. Office completely dark. Populated by nocturnal creatures and/or personnel wearing night-vision googles.  
49. Statues at each of the desks, save for terrified data entry person. He'll direct them to the medusa office manager. 
50. Meeting room empty save for a sword in a stone at the center of the table.

Events, Travel, or Otherwise

1. Repossession of their office equipment, either taken away or infested with a ghost.
2. Team is called in for training on a process unrelated to their work. Alternately, team is called in for “Retraining.”
3. Player’s actions create a nemesis for no reason. Alternately nemesis shows up to challenge PC but they don’t remember them.
4. Find themselves billed for hours and time: for something they haven’t done, for talking to someone, for a prophetic consultation. Alternately bill is a warning from the future.
5. Cornered by an emotional vampire.
6. Arrive at their own secret going-away party.
7. Parasitic company member assigned to “assist” them.
8. Assigned a job shadow. Could be a literal shadow. Could be an ongoing dangerous distraction. Could be a useful sacrifice. 
9. Highly placed relative of a boss is assigned to their care. They're accident prone, self-destructive, and/or cursed, of course.
10. Assigned experimental office equipment.
11. PC(s) stunned and tagged by HR. Tag is large and obtrusive.
12. Paranoid internal security personnel pin them down and ask them random questions looking for contradictory answers.
13. Power Outage. Emergency lighting reveals strange signs, hidden messages, and/or a treasure map. Also they lose any unsaved work. 
14. Mood-ring name tags. These shows wearers emotion and level of agitation.
15. They're assumed to be high-power consultants. Dragged into dangerous task.  
16. PCs' travels disrupt an ongoing experiment, project, or ceremony. Think Half Life.
17. Stalked by a living chain letter/memo. Alternately a manifested email they’re supposed to sign off on.
18. Reality show being filmed. Either they accidentally walk in on it or suddenly become the subject. Alternately: experimental film. 
19. Battle between two departments results in barricades they must cross. 
20. Briefly attacked or interrupted by older/younger versions of themselves.
21. Armed security rush past the PCs several times, going multiple directions with no explanation. Later appearances see them fleeing back the other way.  
22. Drafted into the company talent show. Happening RIGHT NOW. 
23. Evil twin of a PC discovered. 
24. Potential Attention Attacks: Internet rumors spring up about them; someone calls them out on Faceless Book; they receive a reprimand for future activities; they're written up in a departmental newsletter. All of these can be reactive and happen as the PCs do things.
25. Lunch stolen. 

Fae Shadows: Changeling the Lost Hack Thoughts

Hedges & Back Alleys

As happens yearly I’m thinking about how to run Changeling the Lost, my favorite published setting. I love the way it deals with ‘survival’ in a supernatural world. While GMs can tweak it more WoD-y, at base it’s about people trying to get along despite their strangeness. There’s more than a little Monsterhearts in there.

I’ve run Changeling with three different systems: World of Darkness, Fate, and Action Cards. The original system burned me. I don’t dig that level of mechanics today. The system has highly specific rules for each power you have to go back to the book for. There’s also a discontinuity between the game’s stated ideas and the rules carrying them out. WoD proved too much, even with the God-Machine revision. On the other hand, Fate’s a decent choice. If I had to do a pick-up game of CtL, I’d use FAE. However many of my players dislike pure Fate, so it isn’t a great choice. On the other hand, Action Cards borrows from Fate, but works with my style and group. When I ran before, I did a far too literal translation. Now I’d toss all that out. But AC’s also something of a non-starter. Until I figure out how to handle AC’s card mechanics online (unique player decks, discard face up, text display, redraws, no hand management) I’ll have to wait.

Deep End or Shallows?

My last two Changeling campaigns began with the PCs emerging from the Hedge. As new arrivals, they had to figure out the rules of the world, find safety, discover fellow changelings, and resolve their past. These games revolved around secrets and self-discovery. I thought my approach was the default, but talking to other CtL GMs in our GM Jam surprised me. Everyone else ran with the PCs embedded and part of the freehold’s fabric. I want to broaden my horizons, so I’d like to make any new campaign start with more experienced, less neophyte characters.

Thorny Shadows

So I’m considering if Urban Shadows could work for Changeling. Sherri and I had a chance to play US at Origins, me once and her twice. We’d talked about a CtL/US conversion on the way up because a Gauntlet vidcast’s mention of it. Sherri came away her session much more enthusiastic about the conversion idea. I suspect we’ll need to play several sessions of a standard Urban Shadows campaign before we can do anything more serious than my twiddling here.

Urban Shadows uses PbtA, so if that isn’t your bag this might be annoying. But for this post I want to lay out some assumptions I have about CtL and talk about how I’d begin such a conversion. I’m trying to plan out hacking & reskinning projects. I’ve usually just jumped in and started kludging things together. That’s resulted in some messes as I got too close to see the big picture (i.e. my earlier CtL hack, Action Cards L5R, Scions of Fate).

Your Changeling the Lost May Vary

Some of my assumptions about the setting fit with the book, some contradict, and others add definition. They’re important considerations to me when I run CtL

• The seasonal Courts have a vital role. They help protect and preserve local Changelings from the predations of their Keepers, old foes huntiing them. The Courts and their bargains make it harder for the Keepers to enter freeholds and locate lost charges. A good deal of that power’s tied up in the concept of cycles. Power passes from Court to Court. Breaking that rhythm causes problems. Courts may be reduced in power, but destroying them’s never a sane option. That’s mutually assured destruction.
• Fetches can be bad, can be good. They may or may not know they’re mimics left in the stead of stolen persons. Killing your fetch can have long term psychological consequences. Doing that’s a risky and personal choice. Courts within a city monitor fetches they know about, but don’t do anything for two reasons: it might attract Keepers’ attention and it falls to the copied Changeling to make that decision. There are no magical rituals for killing your fetch to give you new powers. Those are awful stories told by awful people.
• Changelings are broken, brittle people. You may not immediately recognize their problems. But their durance, their time in the Hedge, changed and shattered them. They’ve reassembled themselves mentally and physically. Durances are bad. Changelings weave positive visions and memories of that experience from self-delusion, rationalization, and unwillingness to accept responsibility for awful things they did or had done to them. I know the new version of CtL allows for upbeat durances, but that doesn’t fit with how we’ve seen them.
• Changelings have a hard time getting along. They usually don’t talk about secrets or durances with other fae. But ironically only a fellow changeling can understand the depth of their experience. That’s a double-edged sword. Interactions with mundanes can be great, but there’s often an element of feeding off their emotional energy. Changelings may become acutely aware of “playing a role” in those relationships. Interactions with a Changeling offer risks for these humans. Their fate and destiny can get tangled together.
• Changeling Kiths have themes and roles. We’ve always gravitated to some key ideas about them. Beasts represent a kind of base seduction. They had to give in, become something else. They thought joining would protect them. Darklings come from isolation and loneliness. Some mechanism in their durance kept them separated mentally or physically. Elementals had a different kind of giving in from Beasts, they surrendered more absolutely. They offered submission with the hope of annihilation. Fairest believed promises. They were co-opted in one form or another. Ogres are about rage, directed about others, themselves, the world. They know they’ve been used, but could do nothing to stop that. They deny that helplessness. Wizened are created from roles and rules perfection. They have a profession and that’s their obsessional identity. Wizened have to follow procedures and that’s how they destroyed one another in their durance. .
• Clarity loss does several things to changelings. It makes it harder to take in and understand the real world. They begin to misread simple things, perhaps coming across as paranoid, schizophrenic, or autistic. Reduced clarity can make them retreat into elements of their kith. Finally it can make them forget and long to return to the Hedge and their durance.
• Changelings have swiss-cheese memories, both of their past lives and time in Arcadia. Their trip in and out of the Hedge caught those experiences on the thorns and tore them away. Memories and truth are vital: bargaining with them is a risky and dangerous thing.
• Changelings rarely travel between cities. When they leave a freehold, they leave the protection of the Courts. Some rare, rare few manage to travel through special devices and forms (like a Changeling Carnival). Communication outside a Freehold is also suspect: Keepers can intercept these things. Letters, emails, online interactions, G+ hangouts: these are all vulnerable. The Old Ones can and will catfish for their lost charges. Freeholds are isolated, constantly isolated.
• That means the Entitlements from Changeling the Lost don’t exist. There are no orders spanning across freeholds. If you wanted anything like that, you could have it represent assuming an archetype, perhaps bargaining with the world to support an image and role.
• Hobs can exist in the real world. They hide in the margins. They don’t have a proper “Mask” instead they’re hard to see head on. Hobs have a hard time directly interacting with people, so they’re mostly about theft and scavenging. They serve Keepers when they come calling as they can’t really resist. Hobs resent changelings for being something else, having a spiritual essence, and being favored above them.

Whew.

Bringing the Shadows

Let me pivot and consider Urban Shadows’ structure. 

• First, as you may already know, it isn’t “PbtA does World of Darkness.” Instead it’s much more about power & influence conflicts within a Dresden Files-like setting. There are four factions (Mortality, Night, Power, and Wild). Each faction has several archetypes, each with a playbook. For example Power includes Oracles & Wizards; Night includes Vampires, Spectres, and Wolves. Your relation with each faction has a rating, used in several moves. You advance by interacting with all four factions.The game also includes a significant debt system and PvP elements.
• The factions represent an umbrella, but the archetypes within those have individual agendas and sub-groups. Each faction also has a set of distinct moves.
• Modelling CtL directly doesn’t work. We have to make splits and create some potentially artificial distinctions. Each PC begins with a Kith and gets a playbook based on that. Kiths aren’t exclusive, so you may have more than one Ogre or Fairest in a player group. A character’s Seeming, narrowing their role within a Kith, acts more as color and narrative fluff. I have an impulse to create Moves representing each Seeming but I need to toss that away. That’s more work and goes against Urban Shadows’ approach. Instead each Kith needs to have a fun variety of moves.
• Obviously the Seasonal Courts map to the four factions. And that’s cool: each Court should have a few unique moves. But I think we need to define it further. In Changeling the Lost, each Court has several aspects under its auspices. These can contradict, creating tensions. For my version, each Court has two cabals vying for influence. These might represent light & dark sides, two different foci, or waxing & waning influence. I’m not sure. I’ll have to go back and tease that out.
• In any case, players pick a Kith, Court, and Cabal. The first and last give most of their initial move picks. The final two offer general moves members can use. So someone might be a Wizened of Autumn Ascending. Particular Cabals would be exclusive, with only one PC per.
• Corruption would be Clarity Loss. Kiths (and maybe Courts or Cabals) would have Corruption Moves.
• Other supernatural groups (Vampires, Prometheans, etc) only serve as NPCs if the players and MC want them in the story. That should be negotiated. I’m not sure if you need non-Court Changelings as a playbook choice. I don’t think so. They simply exist as an NPC pool. 
• Can players change Courts or Cabals? What would be involved with that? I need to consider if that works. I should re-examine the Courts and figure out what I want from the Cabals. Related: are the Group Advancements from Urban Shadows necessary?
• To get started on this I’ll probably begin by making a master move list. I’d like to figure out how to map those to the different CtL groups. I’ll also want to look at other PbtA games (Monsterhearts, MotW, Masks) to see if there’s anything to borrow from there. I’d prefer to not re-invent the wheel. I’d like to put an old wheel on and service it later. The pool of moves should be relatively close to base Urban Shadows, i.e. PCs have access to the same # of moves from various sources.
• Debts are important within Urban Shadows. In many cases, they should be like pacts in Changeling. Should there be a distinction between empowered and non-empowered deals? I don’t want to complicate things. Do I need another mechanic or can I make a simple but evocative one for this?

OK- that’s all I’ve got off the top of my head. I wanted to get that down so I can see if that’s too big a task or workable. I’m leaning towards the latter, but we’ll see.