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Masks: A New Generation
Publisher: Magpie Games
by Rob B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/13/2018 11:28:21

I recently finished running a fantastic game of Masks. It is a great system, especially for short to medium length campaigns. I think longer campaigns might be tougher though, due to the mechanics of character advancement. Some of my observations about the game:

1) The gamebook doesn't include the player classes (playbooks). You can download them for free from Magpie Games or maybe here as well. You can also find some decent handouts with all the moves of the game. Print them out and give them to the players.

2) The hardest thing for me (gaming since the 1982) was the notion of the GM "moves" only after a player fails a roll. I made several that were not readily evident (complications I decided to add from those results)...other times I chose immediate GM moves, if applicable. I should have made it clearer when they discovered something later on that it was a result of a failed roll previously (like failing to do research on a villain in fact triggering a future event (the villain was alerted to the snooping)).

3) The game rewards failure with character advancement. The more unlucky your rolls, the quicker the advancement. This nudges players to do what they are weak at. For example, one hero was a newly sentient robot ("Newborn" playbook from the Halcyon City expansion) who had terrible social skills and was often the one who acted as a "face" for the group. Whereas other games simply punish you for failing, Masks also gives you tangible rewards for failing. I think this is a great way to both push players out of their comfort zones if they've settled into specific character types, as well as in acting as their own obstacles by being suboptimal. I think there is something even deeper here...This is cool. Great idea.

4) Don't work against the game. The game is about teen superheroes. It is designed mechanically around that very idea. In our game there was a moment when half the group was feverishly working to build a device to trap their arch nemesis while the other half of the group were trying to resolve social conflicts surrounding school life (about an upcoming school concert, lol).

5) I read the best advice I have ever seen written for GMs in this book. It instructed GMs to be a FAN of the players and their characters. This is brilliant advice. Sometimes GMs can be trapped into the advisary role.

It is a great game! After I bought the PDF I decided to buy the hardback. Now I hope someone else will run it so I can play in a character!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Masks: A New Generation
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Character Sheet - MPMB's fully-automated Printer Friendly character generator
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Rob B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/17/2017 16:16:43

A superb character sheet. Please consider donating so this DMs Guild creator can keep it up!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Character Sheet - MPMB's fully-automated Printer Friendly character generator
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