Character Creation Thread - jait :)

Anything that you want The Watcher to know about your character, please copy it over to your character creation thread, rather than relying upon him to track down info in any other public or private thread.  He has taken on a populous game, so the easier we can make it for him, the sooner we can get up and running.  Many thanks. :)
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 02:55, Thu 20 May 2021.

Hey!

As I'm tearing through the core book to learn this system (no experience with Masks or Apocalypse World or PBTA, so this is all new to me), I can at least pitch a handful of concepts I'd be more than happy to play.


ARANNA (Probably The Transformed)
A former state-level champion gymnast.  She would have been olympic caliber except there were problems at home and her reaction to those problems weren't very healthy.  She often refers to it as "losing her shit", that her psyche was fragmented.  But that's not the real truth of it.  She--literally--turned int a cluster of spiders: one of the major massive fears in her life.  The mental health breakdown led her to withdraw from the state team, despite olympic tryouts on the docket.  She is a world-class athlete with some low-level vibration-awareness, the ability to create biological "shards" which she can throw, like throwing knives.  Sometimes, they even carry a paralytic agent.  But her biggest power is simply becoming a wave of spiders, arachnids, centipedes, etc.    One other key element...  if she is ever badly injured, she can go into luster-form and "absorb" spiders, centipedes, arachnids from the surrounding area, to help heal herself.  It's not fast (but it's quicker than laying in a hospital bed), and when she's whole and human again, there are biological changes.  Her eyes might be different colors, her hair might be kinky instead of straight, she might have weird blotches of rosacea.   The more spiders she absorbs, the further away from her original form she gets. And there's just no going back.  She's a patchwork girl.   She doesn't fear spiders anymore.  But she's very well aware that anybody suddenly faced with a wave of spiders is likely going to lose their shit, too.
If the setting permits it, the idea of a patronage from a "spider god" would work well for an origin

OVERWATCH (Probably The Beacon)
A total geek boy who desperately wanted a boy he simply could never have.  He did some things he wasn't proud of... like cyber-stalking.    He found that he just got the mind-set and mentality of combat video-games.  So, when the event (undefined) happened and he was given the opportunity to live out his dreams, he flinched.  He wasn't a fighter in real life!   Overwatch has the ability to create a "telepathic" network to share information at the speed of thought.  Communication over great distance is awesome, but most people don't give him the chance because telepathy is scary, and he can't force his way into people's heads.  But he is awesome at processing massive amounts of data in real-time, and can collate things like positions and conditions of those in the network collaboratively so provide a real-time psychic HUD of the landscape with markers for enemy locations (or suspected areas), which has proved useful in crisis situations like finding trapped people in collapsed buildings...
The concept was developed from the idea of the hunter's mark in world of warcraft


AL-RAZZIA (probably the Legacy)
His father carried the mantle but it has been passed on to him, after his father retired.   Michael  has the ability to give physical form to elements of someone's thoughts.  It's not telepathy as he doesn't have any insight into it.  But he can direct them to think of the most beautiful place they'd ever seen or their worst nightmare... and then use their thoughts to give that visual or physical form.  He was taught that it is duty to help people excise their demons by giving them form and doing one-on-one battle in "chivalric" combat.   But his father was overcome and Michael has grave doubts about the whole one-on-one thing.  There are fears that people have that are so much bigger and more threatening than.  He believes he needs allies, that this sacred duty need not be borne alone.


CHIMERA  (The Janus or The Delinquent)
They were supposed to twins, but an accident during early pregnancy caused one of them to die.  And the other one... well, she absorbed her twin.  Daughter to a Super, herself, Stacy's parents kept waiting for her powers to manifest, but by the time she'd reached puberty, they'd accepted that she was just a normal girl.  She had a fantastic imagination and a great sense of intuition, but they were all within normal, mundane limits.  What her parents didn't know was that Stacy is able to manifest a "shadow" and send this incorporeal creature away to gather information,, see things, etc.  This shadow is Stacy's twin sister, the other-half of her.  Shes kept it secret from her parents, buy she knows, because they talk to each other.  And Sonja--the shade--can actually grasp and move small objects...  a new development.


SHELLA (No idea what playbook would work here)
As a child, she had a serious autoimmune problem which basically made her allergic to everything.  Her parents spared no expense in searching for treatment and eventaully, they hit upon the jackpot.  But like most of these kinds of origin stories, there were side-effects.  Shella secretes a biological agent--sweat--that hardens into a near-impenetrable exo-shell that must be burnt off on a regular basis.  When she's encased in the shell, she's nearly invulnerable, and she'd strong as hell--because nothing can crush the shell.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 05:39, Fri 14 May 2021.

These all seem very interesting. I think I've heard of Spiders-Man before...

I wonder whether Aranna is really the Transformed if she can maintain a normal-seeming human form on a day-to-day basis rather than always being monstrous. Granted, I have seen a character like that before and she worked out fine, but it might dilute the focus somewhat. She sounds like she might be the Doomed instead, with the doom of losing her identity completely. Just my two cents though.

What is Al-Razzia's mantle exactly? Some sort of ancient order or just a special lineage?

Chimera would make a great Janus, I think. :) She might be famous among the superheroes and others in the life for being normal - the perfect cover (while it lasts).

As for Shella, hmm... really depends on the themes you want to explore there. Transformed seems like the obvious one, though? By the way, about how long can her shell last under normal conditions?
This message was last updated by the GM at 05:40, Fri 14 May 2021.

Any of those characters would work!  I hope the game lasts long enough that we get to see all of them. :-)
This message was last updated by the GM at 05:40, Fri 14 May 2021.

Thanks for the comments.

I'm real loose with playbooks because I'd read the core-book for all of five-minutes.  :)  Really, I don't care too much.  There's some playbooks I'm not interested in.

I could totally see Aranna as Doomed.  The concept was a challenge I gave myself... to use the spider-theme while staying pretty far away from Spiderman.  no webbing, no spider-sense.  I've used her once or twice in a couple of mutants and masterminds games, but those games never seem to get past the first in-character scene.  So, she's never had more than an introduction.

Al-Razzia is a riff off of Dani Moosntar's ability, only it takes concentration and effort to manifest.  And once whatever it is has manifested...  there's probably got to be some effort to dispel it.  Maybe not so much for dismissing a screwdriver, but dismissing a manifestation of The Hulk...    Big lesson: don't bite off more than you can chew.  But Michael is uber-commited to the act.  Its' almost religious for   for him.  I'd imagine he has aspirations (probably parental wishes) to go into psychology...

Hm.  Chimera.  I seem to recall the original protagonist of the short-lived comic-book series "DP7" having a power like this.    I might consider combining Chimera and Overwatch to make Stacy useful on her own.  Still a non-combatant.  And I would want to scale back some of the group-buffs she provides.  Or maybe when she's in network mode her mid is so dispersed that that's when Sonja gets to get out of the body...  Oh. I kinda like that.


As for Shella, I'mma gonna spend a bit more time with the book.    She might be a bit of a play on Alpha Flight's "Flex" (I think it was him with the impenetrable force field).  Since it's sweat,... working out or getting stressed sucks.  But the shell is susceptible to fire.  plus, I'mm sure we can work out other factors, including the passing of a sufficient time for it's dismissal.


Thanks again for the comments.  I really love the character-creation process, the refining of concepts.  Loving the story-lead-in in the playbooks.

I'm gonna sleep on it then decide who to work on tomorrow...
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 05:40, Fri 14 May 2021.

Very cool character concepts! Personally, I really dig both Aranna (similar to Araña?) and Stacy.

I agree with Counterforce about Aranna: the Doomed sounds fantastic for her, with its freaky powers, built in death timer, and desperation to find a way to survive it. Also, Marvel has a concept called the Spider Totem, which is connected to all the spider-themed heroes and villains. Could have that be her patron god-like entity. Could even rewrite it to suit your purposes, since we're in our own Marvel universe.

Chimera really reminds me of a horror movie about a shadow witch connected to a woman. Had some really cool powers involving having a physical presence in darkness, but being ethereal in light. At one point the witch was shot at, but the muzzle flash kept shedding enough light to make her ethereal enough for the bullets to pass through her. It was neat stuff.

Keep in mind that the Playbooks represent what challenges you want your character's story to be about (right now, since you can change playbooks later). The Doomed is about preventing a disaster embodied by a Nemesis. The Janus is about balancing a super identity with a mundane one. The Beacon is about proving why you deserve to be on a super team. The Transformed is about figuring out how to come to terms with everyone seeing you as a monster instead of as a person. The Nova is about having a power so strong you might lose control of it and hurt the people around you. All that stuff. They're pretty much just containers for an archetypical superhero problem.

As for characters being combatants or non-combatants, I wouldn't worry too much about that. The way this game works, "combat" can come in many forms, and each of those possible conflict types can be dealt with in many different ways. Like, Overwatch may not be able to punch the Hulk out, but he could probably Directly Engage a Threat by talking him down. "Damage" in this game is negative emotional states rather than broken bones, and your ability to accomplish certain game mechanical tasks is based on how your character sees themselves and how the world sees them.

What I'm saying is that "combat" is a super abstract concept, and that you just need to make the character you wanna make, and they'll find ways to contribute to any scene naturally.
This message was last updated by the GM at 05:40, Fri 14 May 2021.

All right.  I think I'm still most enamored with the spider character.  I'm gonna go with a second-generation Egyptian heritage.

Name: Kanika El-Sais
Codename: Basaq   (literally "spitter" in Arabic)

Spider-totem?!  Oh, that's awesome.  I admit that i stopped following much of any comics around circa 1998 or so, so I totally missed this element being introduced to Spiderman.  It totally fits!   I see the spider-totem maniefsting (if it even has) as the Egyptian Goddess, Neith.  Neith's associations definitely fit with a more warlike Aspect of spiders.

In looking over the Doomed playbook, I see a lot there that synchronizes effortlessly.  I'll start working on it and put out hooks to others as I go...

Looks:

• Middle-Eastern (Egyptian), Dark skinned, haunted eyes.
• Unassuming clothing, favouring loose clothing for easy movement, or athletic style clothing.  Typically favouring tans, browns and blacks (unconsciously mirroring the colours of the spitting spider).
• Costume  No clue.  Is it safe to assume that the clothing she wears transforms with her when she goes to cluster-form?

Powers
Well, damn.  This covers the basics really well.

• Body Transmutation
• Superhuman strength & speed
• Psychic constructs  (specifically the shards/paralytic shards)

The whole "reconstitutes her body" thing doesn't quite fit, but then, it's also not really a thing I see roleplaying.  It's the thing that  happens off-screen.  So, I'm hoping that's still acceptable.   Hm.  It does seem to dovetail nicely with the "overexerting yourself" element of the Doom Track.  And the change in body form could well be a good representation of the doom sign...

Labels
Initial: Danger +1, Freak +1, Savior +1, Superior -1, Mundane +0
This message was last updated by the GM at 05:41, Fri 14 May 2021.

You may want to read up a little bit on the Spider-verse comic arc or watch the Into the Spider-verse animated movie.  Basically the idea is that the Spider-man/woman/pig/robot of every universe gets called together to fight the same thing.

Your transformed Spider works great as a Spider-totem.  The canon one that was mentioned is Spiders-man, a hive of Spiders that think they're Peter Parker.

We should coordinate since I'm playing a Spider-person too.
This message was last updated by the GM at 05:41, Fri 14 May 2021.

Loved into the spiderverse!  I've watched it a couple of times (and me watching movies more than once in a short period of time is a rarity!)

I'm so bloody enthused at the idea of building ties with other players!  So hellyeah!
This message was last updated by the GM at 05:41, Fri 14 May 2021.

Based on what was said earlier, there is no need to stick strictly to the default ability sets. They are ultimately just suggestions for what would seem to fit the playbook's themes, and many actual Masks games like this one let you go crazy with them so long as you don't make a cosmically-powerful Beacon or something.
This message was last updated by the GM at 05:41, Fri 14 May 2021.

Oh good!  'Cause I really want the gymnast/acrobaticst be a part of her repertoire.  Also, a bo-staff.  Because that just seems cool to me!

I'm really liking the vibe I'm getting from the Doomed playbook.  And I'm totally okay if Kanika buys the farm--so long as she has a good story in the process.  I definitely want "a brave face" though because I don't wanna play doom and gloom all the time.  But then, so many people who are terminally depressed never actually show it...  Her story-arc is about accepting her doom, I suppose.

I've got a nemesis worked out that i think'll work, but I need help/suggestions on the sanctuary.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text, but here's where I'm at so far.

Labels:
Danger +1, Freak +2, Mundane +0, Savior +1, Superior -1

Nemesis
My namesis is Carmilla Black (Scorpion), who's adopted parents were brutally killed.  She believes her biological mother is the chief scientist of Advanced Idea Mechanics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion_(Carmilla_Black)

Conditions
[_] Afraid (-2 to directly engage a threat)
[_] Angry (-2 to comfort or support or pierce the mask)
[_] Guilty (-2 to provoke someone or asses the situation)
[_] Hopeless (-2 to unleash your powers)
[_] Insecure (-2 to defend someone or reject others' influence)

Backstory
When did you first learn of your doom?
Upon Kanika's first transformation to her cluster-form, nearly an eighth of the cluster was destroyed.  When she reformed, there were some substantial changes to her physique.  Her eyes were green--no longer brown-- and there were strange spiral patterns of rocacea along parts of her thighs, and she suddenly seemed to be double-jointed.  The idea of losing her self-identity scares her silly.

Where did you get your sanctuary?
Her sanctuary is a walled off "hidden" room in her family's basement.  It's actually the space underneath the houses front stairs.    As a toddler, she mistakenly locked herself in the room--the seed of her childhood fear of spiders.  The room isn't in use anymore;  her father boarded it up and painted over it.  But years later, Kanika discovered it was accessible from a crawl-space under the front porch.  It's the place she goes when she wants to be alone.  More importantly, it's the place she went to "reform and regenerate" from her injuries.  There are still a lot of spiders there....
I'm not terribly enthused by this... though the attributes (meditation space, healing equipment & arts, music, food) work for me.  Really, any sufficiently dark space preferably underground with lots of arachnids is a good thing.


Why do you oppose your nemesis?
Kanika and Carmilla used to be friends and teammates on the state gymnastics team.    Basaq was on-scene for the brutal murder of Carmilla's parents--one of her first outings as a "hero".  Basaq failed to save Carmilla's parents.

Carmilla holds Basaq responsible and has vowed revenge.  Neither Kanika nor carmilla know the others identity.   But Kanika isn't entirely certain that her presence didn't make the situation worse, she fears she might, actually, have been responsible for Carmilla's parents death.  As a result, she and Carmilla grew more distant (because children don't know how to deal with sudden, traumatic, grief like that).

How Carmilla became Scorpion?  No idea.  But Scorpion is out to make Basaq pay.


Who, outside of the team, is crucial to defeating your nemesis?
Open to suggestions

Why does the team matter to you?
When Basaq does things alone, she makes mistakes and mistakes cost lives.  She's really afraid of causing another death or injuring others...  But there's this well of anger and fear that she taps into and sometimes acts without thinkign or restraint.  There's safety in numbers, even if it's only social/emotional support.

When Our Team First Came Together...
We paid a high cost for victory.  What was it?
To be determined

Relationships
You told SOMEONE all about your doom and the danger you're in.
You'd love to kiss someone before your door comes.

Influence
Teammate-1 (Seems likely Ghost-Spider is a good fit!)
Teammate-2 (UNDEFINED)

Doom
Doom Track: [_][_][_][_][_]
What Brings My Doom closer?
overexerting myself & facing danger alone
I'm particularly intrigued by the "facing danger alone" because there's a suggestion that there might be a sort of deathwish there.  She desperately needs friends and teammates but also gets caught in the "I don't want to be a burden" trap.  She also secretly believes that her doom is inevitable and that, ultimately, she's going to face it alone, anyway...

Doomsigns

[_] Dark Visions: Mark your doom track to have a vision about the situation at hand. After the vision, ask the GM a question; they will answer it honestly.
[_] Infinite Powers: Mark your doom track to use an ability from any playbook, one time.
[_] Portal: Mark your doom track to appear in a scene with anyone you want.
[_] Burning Bright: Mark your doom track to ignore one of the GM’s stated requirements when you call upon the resources of your sanctuary.
[_] Bolstered: Mark your doom track to use an Adult Move one time

<RED> don't know which to go with at this time...

Sanctuary
the Sanctuary contains: A meditation space, healing equipment, art music & food.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:36, Sat 15 May 2021.

Maybe the sanctuary should be bigger, like a full cellar that's been out of use that she converted into her own little hidden home under the house.

As for your nemesis, Scorpion is a great character. I learned about her a while back from running a game of my own, and dropped her into the world. I'd recommend having a chat with our own Skorpio, as there could be the very strong possibility of a connection there.

Who could help you outside of the team? Why, have you spoken with New York's greatest expert on the very same genetic recombination that afflicts you? His name is Dr. Curt Connors, and he has a great deal of experience helping those with unfortunate spider-related mutations. :D

Ah crap, I missed that we have a Skorpio on board here.  I guess I need to spend some serious time pawing through everyone else's character-creation threads.

Oh no, I see fantastic opportunity in having Skorpio and Scorpion in the same game, since  I think their origin stories can connect and give our Skorpio a nemesis at the same time. Like I said, a thing to bring up rather than a thing to rethink.

I've pitched that possible opening to Skorpio in her character-creation thread.

I can see all sorts of potential too.

Was scorpion always popular or did something happen recently in marvelverse?

No idea.  I just google searched for "natural predators spiders" or something similar, and liked Scorpion more than Chameleon or Centipede...

Why, is Scorpion getting some sort of resurgence?

Your prospective nemesis' A.I.M. connection could be interesting. We seem to have a fair amount of potential links to them.

How did you want to work in influence with me?

I"m easy ether way...  Obviously the spider-motif is a big plus and engenders some... trust? kinship?  I think Kanika would look to Gwen for guidance and reassurance.    The very fact that she might not be alone in this would be a huge relief.  Though, of course, they're still vastly different.

Ghost-Spider
Hey, you might as well be the person Kanika told about her doom--her utter fear of losing herself if she pushes herself too hard...

Gwen is an eerily perfect person for that considering how many dimensions she's dead in.  Sounds good to me.

Does having this relationship mean we'd be on the same team.  Because, yeah, while I totally see Basaq looking to Ghost-Spider for leadership and support, having two spider-theme girls on the same regular team-slate feels a little like overkill.

I kinda feel that having two spider-themed girls on the same regular team is overkill.    In fact, There's also a lot of fast, tough, strong fighter types in this game.   I'm thinking maybe I should explore other options.

There is a pretty skewwed ratio of 3 girls for every guy in this game, so I'm wondering if It might suit things better for me to pursue a male character of some sort.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:05, Wed 19 May 2021.

It wouldn't really work to have a Relationship with someone who isn't on your team, since those bonds are supposed to be key to interaction and the ebb and flow of Influence. Speaking of, it'd be good practice for Ghost-Spider to have Harry Osborn as an NPC she has a relationship with, and fill the Relationship slot with another PC on her team.

I thought the relationship flags were supposed to be with other PCs.  Having it with a NPC kinda defeats the whole ebb and flow thing, doesn't it?

Mind you, that's mechanics.  I can't imagine that there's anything preventing or discouraging a character from having relationships outside of mechanics?  So, what happens if Basaq confides about her doom to Ghost-SPider--who's not on her team?  It doesn't make a difference?  So, by inference, then...  Basaq can tell anyone, so long as they're not her team-mates, and it won't have any appreciable impact on mechanics.  That seems really weird to me.

No, I'm not trying to be an asshole.  I'm trying to figure out the boundaries of the mechanics.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:01, Wed 19 May 2021.

In the specific example Ricochet gave it would involve a (probable) villain npc for my relationship, which keeps the story exciting probably.

I think Basaq and Gwen are different enough to be on the same team.  Figuring out teams is going to be tough with this many players, must be overwhelming for the GM.

An NPC with an established relationship with a character should be welcome as it helps with story hooks - my experience with that is from other RPGs but it can't be that different in Masks right?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:20, Wed 19 May 2021.

Like I said, I don't mean we shouldn't have relationships to NPCs. We absolutely should, and should write them down somewhere visible to the GM so they can come into play. I wrote mine down on my character sheet. We can have as many relationships as we want, and more is definitely better. What I mean is that the Relationships, capital R, are a game mechanic intended to tie PCs together.

Now, we can also have as many Relationships as we want, and the ones listed in our playbooks are examples rather than hard requirements or limits, just like our Abilities. And just like everything else in the playbook, they're written to lean towards the playbook's archetype.

Again, it's less a restriction and more a means of creating stronger bonds between the heroes.

I"m saying "oh look, another acrobatic, trong fighter girl."   Meh.


As cool as Basaq is, I didn't look too closely at what all other characters were on-board here.  I think I'm probably better off exploring other options.

I think we're in need of a male character.  And another energy manipulator.

Hm.  Oh!  A young Peter Wisdom!  That could be fun!

If you need a character name change, just let us know...  :)

Ah, yeah. I was more addressing Gwen, but you're right about there being a lot of overlap, even ignoring playbooks.

Personally, I'm still super interested in your Chimera idea.

Did you say "super" interested???  * rim shot * ;)

All right, here's a start on the Chimera concept.

Mike Petrovna / Midnight

Mikhail Petrovna is the son of Laynia Petrovna (Darkstar), born when Layna was working for X-Corporation in Los Angeles.  Michael manifested his powers at puberty.  He'd always been a precocious child with a vivid imagination, sometimes talking with his "imaginary friend" for minutes at a time.  He got over that after a few too many scoldings or strange looks from adults.   But secretly, he continued to have long exchanges with Mila.  She often provided insight in the form of "shared secrets" from her nightly sojourns when he was asleep....

Mike can manipulate shadows (but they must exist--he cannot create them), and can create constructs of a certain size and volume (to be determined).  He can cast his senses to any existing shadows within his visual ranger.  He can cloak himself in shadows.  By surrendering to his "little sister", his dead chimeric twin, he can travel between shadows.  But she determines what she relays to him when she returns...

I'm interested in exploring the unknown-father issue.  If Laynia is dead, then the whole adoption issues holds some interest to me too, but I"m not sure that'll work with the Legacy playbook.  I"m not married to the playbook, but it did support the shadow-control thing...

Obviously, we'd need to work out who Laynia is in this reality, who the other members of the Darkforce Legacy are... (Cloak & Shroud are mentioned in Laynia's wiki entry at: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki..._Petrovna_(Earth-616) )  But I'm not against adding in others.  There aren't that many shadow-manipulators in the Marvel Universe, apparently.


Name: Michael Petrovna
Codename: Midnight?
Playbook: Legacy
Look: male, darker-skinned, comfortable clothing, functional costume, no insignia
Powers:
Shadow control constructs, shadow cloak stealth, shadow senses,
"Mila" can shadow-portal...
Labels: Danger -1, Freak +0, Mundane +1, Savior +2, Superior +0/+1
Conditions: [_] Afraid, [_] Angry, [_] Guilty, [_] Hopeless, [_] Insecure

BackStory:
Working on all of it...
When did you officially become a part of your legacy?
What’s the greatest accomplishment of your legacy?
How does the public perceive your legacy?
How does your legacy tie into your reasons for being a hero?
Why do you care about the team?

When the Team First Came Together... all things considered, we did well and impressed an established hero: TO BE DETERMINED

Relationships
You once got caught doing something with TO BE DETERMINED, that shames your legacy.
You trust TO BE DETERMINED and told them an important secret of your legacy

I have no idea what Darkstar's legacy would be, nor what secrets it might hold...  so, that's something to work on...

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:07, Thu 20 May 2021.

I was going to nitpick about the surname "Petrovna" (which is a feminine patronym/middle name in most cases), but technically surnames like that are not totally unheard of. When a masculine patronym (e.g. Petrovich) becomes a surname, it is kept unchanged for both genders (as opposed to a more typical Russian surname being, say, Kragov/Kragova depending on the gender). I suppose that rule might apply for a feminine patronym that was turned into a surname too? Can't find anything one way or another.

In other words, the name looked weird to me as a native speaker at first, but it may actually be fine. Feel free to disregard that. :)

And I suppose it is significant in that the father is unknown, so she had no real choice but to give him her surname.

Very interesting, though. One thing that confuses me - he can travel between shadows, but the sister is in charge during those journeys and determines what he sees?

It kinda sounds like this is a Rick Jones/Captain Marvel switching situation, which is awesome and I don't think we've seen enough of. Is that what we're looking at?

Thank-you both for the commentary.  It's really helping.


Ricochet
I had to look this up, as I kinda lost track of Rick Jones after he started teaming up with Captain America.  But i get the reference now.

I'd envisioned her as a projection that only manifested when Michael was asleep... But perhaps this "taking over the physical body" is a new thing...  Oh, yeah.  That has a lot of fun story-potential... especially if they have very different personalities and tastes...   I like that.


Hm. I think maybe I'll switch off to the Protege playbook.  That would move Laynia from mother to mentor. I like a lot of the actions, and it seems to embody more of the story I can envision for Mike.



Counterforce:
Actually... I think I'm going to switch playbooks to protege, so I don't need to force the familial link to Laynia.  She's his mentor, not his mother.  And that allows me to go with a more middle-eastern ethnicity which is my current base preference.

So... Michael Khayyam, protege to Laynia Petrovna (Darkstar).


Michael does not have conscious control over shadow-walking (nor is he yet aware he can do so).   But Mila, his chimeric twin, has used this power since his early childhood.

What his sister does with his body - and how that looks - isn't yet defined.  I'm currently envisioning her as a shadow-form, separate and distinct from his body (so, an extension of his "constructs"), but only able to manifest when he's not conscious.  Her moving between shadows is in addition to the powers that Michael has access to.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 19:44, Thu 20 May 2021.

Midnight as a Protege, not Legacy

Michael Khayyam / Midnight
Michael manifested his powers at puberty.  He'd always been a precocious child with a vivid imagination, sometimes talking with his "imaginary friend" for minutes at a time.  He got over that after a few too many scoldings or strange looks from adults.   But secretly, he continued to have long exchanges with Mila, his "little sister", who was sometimes more real to him that reality..  She often provided insight in the form of "shared secrets" from her nightly sojourns when he was asleep....

<Orange>Mike can manipulate shadows (but they must exist--he cannot create them), and can create constructs of a certain size and volume (to be determined) from those shadows.  He can cast his senses to any existing shadows within his visual ranger.  He can cloak himself in shadows and he can "scry" through shadows (there are limits)...

When Mike is unconscious, Mila may come out to play... she can do everything Mike can, but she can also shadow-walk, cast herself between shadows (but they have to be within visual range of each other).  If the shadows she is in disappears, she discorporates and her consciousness returns to Mike's body "housing".  Recently, Mila has also taken physical control of Mike's body when he's asleep...

Name: Michael Khayyam
Codename: Midnight
Playbook: Protege
Look: male, darker-skinned, comfortable clothing, functional costume, no insignia
Powers:

• Shared Abilities: Shadow constructs, shadow cloak stealth, shadow senses
• My Abilities: Shadow-teleport (as Mila), Shadow-scry (far-sight via shadows)
• Mentor's abilities: Shadow-teleport, Shadow-force-bolt, flight

Labels: Danger -1, Freak +0, Mundane +0, Savior +2, Superior +2
Mentor:  Embody Savior, Deny Danger
Conditions: [_] Afraid, [_] Angry, [_] Guilty, [_] Hopeless, [_] Insecure

BackStory:
When and why did you choose to train with them?
Simple, actually...  Michael wrote to her, sought out someone with similar powers to help him learn.  He'd always intended to help others, and this just seemed a logical step.  His (single) mother was perhaps apprehensive, but after a few incidents when it became clear that he was going to pursue the life of a costumed vigilante, whether she approved or not, she reluctantly support him.

How did you first meet your mentor?
It took an enormous letter-writing campaign to finally catch Laynia's attention.  Ironically, it ended up being that Michael helped to stop a cell of a human trafficking ring...  he did most of the leg-work and investigation then passed the information on to his local authorities, but further investigation showed that some of those being trafficked were mutants... and that allowed justification to call in some of the big guns.  His exposure and levelheadedness finally got him the interview and agreement to train with Laynia.

Why did they agree to train you?
He showed promise, he seemed to be honest and they actually hit it off.

Who else, outside of the team, knows about your training?
Working on it...

Why do you care about the team?
It's a natural progression.  And these people are going to be his peers, the people he'll work beside, fight with and against and--most likely--build a family with.

When the Team First Came Together...
We stuck together after all was said and done. Why? How’d we keep in contact?
TO BE DETERMINED

Relationships
You and TO BE DETERMINED teamed up a few times before the rest of you came together.
Your mentor is cautious; they asked you to keep an eye on TO BE DETERMINED.

Mentor Resources
Pick 3: A hidden base, a vehicle, a supercomputer, communicators, surveillance equipment, false identities, badges of authority, a chem lab, a med lab, a teleportal, a weapon of last resort, security systems, simple robots
Will take this to the team...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:39, Sat 22 May 2021.

Laynia's personality:
(from https://www.writeups.org/darks...russian-superhero-2/ )




So that seems to supports the Embody Savior, Deny Danger approaches.

With a connection to the Darkforce Dimension, it sounds like you might have an excuse to make a connection with Gateway, since he's got connections to Limbo. Not quite the same thing, but spooky dimensions are like right next to each other, right?

Wonderful connection to other characters and Marvel element in general. :-)  You don't need to do anything else for now.

Who else, outside of the team, knows about your training?
It's not a real secret.  He's probably done the sidekick thing now and again.  So, Darkstar, obviously, but I imagine any of the folks she associates with regularly.   Mike hasn't gone very far outside of his original city-of-origin (I'm gonna say Chicago) and Los Angeles, where he trains with Laynia.

Here's a question. How much do the rest of us know about Mila? What's her relationship with the team?

Related but slightly less obviously so, when you say she can shadow walk, do you mean she teleports from one shadow to another and never needs to enter the light, or she can cross from one shadow to another so long as they're touching?

If the latter, I can imagine Otto fiddling with things in the lab and then just mindlessly stretching out an arm to give her a shadow to slide along across the room.

Oh, and the conversation about your Mentor's Resources should probably go here, since the When Our Team Came Together should just have our answers to the Team questions and our Relationships question explicitly wants a single post containing our Influence info.



And Gwen mentioned simple robots. My big question here is: what does Darkstar have access to that she could give away? All our gear from her would certainly be Darkstar-themed, so the simple robots wouldn't be Otto's designs (yet, but with a little tinkering he could certainly improve on them, yes).

I love communicators. Especially in sci-fi, where we can fiddle with them to do things they aren't supposed to do. Ah, Star Trek, you have prepared me for this moment.

I'm equally excited about supercomputers and cute robots, but after reading up on Darkstar, I get the impression that isn't really her jam.

Which brings me to another question: what is Darkstar's condition in this universe? In 616, she's died twice, turned into a crystal that's been passed across several other wielders while her personality slowly started to present itself, and the spirit of her personality is currently possessing the body of a mutant wraith monster. Wondering what she's about over here, which should give us a better idea as to what resources she has at her disposal.

EDIT: Lastly, my First Came Together question lets me declare an invention I made that benefits the team, so if need be, I can have provided something like the simple robots or surveillance system (or surveillance robots, since that's been Otto's recent thing in 616 until his demise).
This message was last edited by the player at 00:46, Wed 16 June 2021.

Here's a question. How much do the rest of us know about Mila? What's her relationship with the team?
I want to play up the idea of Michael's discomfort with her actually being an autonomous entity.  However, I don't see an angle on this where she could be kept a secret and not arouse suspicion or fear or distrust in the team.  So, it's probably better to have her as a known entity, albeit presented as a extension of Michael's powers.

I see Mila as being able to teleport from one shadow to another, but the two shadows have to be within direct linear visual range.  It's probably much less taxing if there's an existing shadow, because... why leap when you can walk?  So, she'd take that arm-shadow.  Mila doesn't talk much.  A lot of creepy sitting and watching, wide-eyed.


Oh, and the conversation about your Mentor's Resources should probably go here, since the When Our Team Came Together should just have our answers to the Team questions and our Relationships question explicitly wants a single post containing our Influence info.
Oh.  I saw the message wanting one-post in the Relationships & Influence thread.  I didn't see that in the When Our Team First came Together thread.  I presumed that was because the GM wanted us to discuss things there.



what does Darkstar have access to that she could give away?
Whatever we want her to.  This is an alternate world, right?  We can give the NPCs whatever background we want to.   In this world, it's possible that Darkstar has continued relations with X-Corporation or the X-franchise.  Or maybe she continues to have backing from Russia?  I just don't feel it matters so much.

The resources she makes available need not be specifically darkness-themed.   It's a reflection of her influence and pull with whatever her backing is.   I kind of doubt her affiliations are going to play a big part of the game.

Darkstar is a white knight, through and through. She's also Intelligent.  With that in mind, I lean towards the supercomputer.  Because these are kids, and they don't have the investigational prowess honed by decades of working in this field.



Which brings me to another question: what is Darkstar's condition in this universe?
I'd rather avoid all the crystal embodiment crap.  That's way too convoluted.   I would see the big divergence in her not being involved in the Weapon XII first mission and therefore NOT being killed by Fantomex.   Ideally, it makes sense ot have her continuing to work with C-Corporation, although having relocated to a US-based branch, if it makes a difference.

How does Mila feel about being presented as just part of her brother? And can she talk, or is she only capable of pantomime, like Peter Pan's shadow? Or should I be thinking more like Shadow Sora from Kingdom Hearts, where she's a physical being with matter and presence, but just very shadowy?



I'm pretty sure that thread is just to answer the When Our Team First Came Together questions, so I'm trying to keep my posts in those threads to just that content and wait for everyone to post their answers the correct order. Easiest to just build on what they provide, improv-style.



It could matter a lot, depending on how much the GM wants that perfectly dangling opportunity to have an adult use their Influence on us. :P Even though you may not be on the same team as Counterforce, we're part of the same school, and Darkstar's time with Russian super teams could make a great connection and possibly foil to Counterforce's origins. Could be something to talk about outside of designated superheroing hours.



However her resources are presented should be at least present as a potential hook for later. If X-Corporation wants to keep an eye on us and is using those devices to do it, or suddenly something happens to Darkstar and her gifts are the only link we have to find her, that could give us entire adventures to springboard off of.

Not to mention the potential for doing weird stuff with the tech. There's a huge difference between getting stuff from Tony Stark vs getting stuff from Professor Xavier's Shi'ar girlfriend (as opposed to his Scottish girlfriend, who has even different cool tech). If I'm gonna be playing the team's tinkerer, these are things I gotta know for when I post my thought bubbles to tell you what I'm doing as I'm doing it. :D



Beautiful! I promise not to mess with the safe search filters unless I want to.

I'm not familiar with Kingdom Hearts.   Yes, Mila can talk.  She has the same vocabulary and intelligence level as Michael. What she has that's different is a physical body made up of congealed shadows.  She's an egregore or a tulpa modelled with shadows.    So, she may be autonomous, but she is an extension of her brother.   If Michael dies, she dies.

If he goes unconscious... well, that's where things get questionable...  because she initially manifested when he was asleep.  In fact, I think that still makes sense for remote-viewing and remote-scouting and the like.  If she's out exploring, then he's zonked out.

I'm pretty sure that thread is just to answer the When Our Team First Came Together questions,
Once again, I didn't see a direction to do or to not do.

If I'm gonna be playing the team's tinkerer, these are things I gotta know for when I post my thought bubbles to tell you what I'm doing as I'm doing it. :D
It's just not interesting to me.  If it matters to you, then feel free to make it up.  But Laynia isn't a disembodied set of powers shoved into a crystal and parceled out to everyone else because the powers are cool,  but the authors wanted a different personality.   As far as I'm concerned, beyond the white-knight syndrome, DarkStar available as a blank slate.

I'm enjoying this discussion and I am hoping to eventually try and contribute.  As long as you  are debating, the game is moving forward (even if it doesn't always seem like it). :-)