Masks: A New Generation
A giant robot is smashing down Main Street. Your best friend tried to kiss you. Your mom thinks your grades need work. Your mentor thinks your team is bringing you down. Oh, and your costume is ripped. Just another day in Halcyon City... Masks: A New Generation is a superhero roleplaying game in which a team of young heroes fights villains, saves lives, and tries to figure out who they are—noble paragons? Dark avengers? Or regular kids? All against the backdrop of Halcyon City, the greatest city in the world.
Originally created by Brendan Conway
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How to play Masks: A New Generation
Masks makes use of the same rules-light engine as Apocalypse World, Monsterhearts, Dungeon World, Urban Shadows, and Epyllion to create stories about young superheroes in the vein of Young Justice, Young Avengers, and Teen Titans.
Frequently asked questions about Masks: A New Generation
Explore Masks: A New Generation Classes
The Bull
Gruff, tough, passionate, big-hearted. The Bull’s a heavy hitter with big feelings. They get into a lot of fights, both interpersonal and superheroic, especially thanks to their signature move, The Bull’s Heart. A lot of the time, they’ll be Angry. They’re a big, gruff wrecking ball, and you should have fun smashing them into things.
The Delinquent
Rebellious, joking, attention-seeking, manipulative. The Delinquent is the class clown, or the punk with the stash of weed, or the rebel without a cause. They’re the spoiler, most often just because they can be more than out of any particular desire. They trick other people, they mess with people, they cause problems.
The Janus
Stressed, responsible, dual, heroic. The Janus is two people in one, and their struggle is about balancing that paradox. You have your regular life and all its responsibilities on one side, and your superheroic life and all its madness on the other. And ultimately, you don’t want to give up either one—but they both pull and pull at you, building up the tension until you feel like you’re going to snap. That’s okay, though. Your story’s all about that tension, and overcoming it, especially thanks to the people around you.
The Legacy
Capable, impressive, burdened, famous. The Legacy comes from a long line of superheroes, meaning they have a superheroic family, either biologically related or connected through their shared legacy. Their story is about the support of that family, and the pressure of carrying on the family name. They have many benefits and advantages that the other PCs might not have—the name of their legacy itself probably carries weight with the city— but at the same time, the expectations and responsibilities placed on them are even higher.
The Nova
Powerful, unrestrained, vulnerable, destructive. The Nova is power incarnate, capable of affecting the world and changing reality on a level their teammates can’t possibly match—but that power comes with enormous risk, both to the Nova and to the world around them.
The Outsider
Strange, curious, naïve, arrogant. The Outsider isn’t from here, but that won’t stop them from creating a life for themselves right here on this planet. At least, for now. But can they find a place here? Will they even want to, once they get to know this world more? Or will they answer that siren call, and go home?
The Protege
Focused, well-trained, driven, unsure. The Protege is defined by two things: their training and their mentor. A Protege has a level of skill and preparation beyond nearly any of the other PCs—even the Legacy wasn’t necessarily as well-trained as the Protege. The Protege might have innate powers, sure, but they were also guided in how to use those abilities and more by their mentor. That also means they’re devoted to being a superhero in a way that none of the other PCs may be—a Protege made at the start of play has been training for quite some time to get into this life.
The Transformed
Troubled, titanic, grotesque, lamentable. The Transformed used to be human, without any powers or superhuman elements, until something happened and they were changed, obviously and permanently. They might be a cyborg, or a strange monster, or made of electricity—just so long as they’re strange and inhuman, with no way of hiding it. The Transformed’s story is about what you do with your new life and form, and how you react to the way other people treat you now.
The Beacon
Hopeful, excited, understanding, human. The Beacon is the most directly mortal and least strange of all the playbooks. They haven't been shaped by anything else they could choose to leave this life behind, if they wanted. Which is exactly the point. They're here because they want to be here. They want to do this. And that gives them a purity compared to the other characters.
The Doomed
Tragic, melodramatic, powerful, driven. The Doomed is a character best served by long-term play, even though their story is about time pressure and not knowing how long they have left. They’re the only character who starts with a clear-cut enemy—their nemesis—and a dangerous timer on their character’s lifespan. They’re also the only character that explicitly faces death by the end of their story. As a result, adding a Doomed to your campaign inherently adds a level of drama, gloom, and danger to your game—death, while not a constant element, is now on the table.