From Theory to Practice
The earlier parts of this guide covered playbooks, Labels, team dynamics, adults, and villains. Now it's time to put it all together at the table. Running Masks is different from many traditional RPGs: it asks you to shift from tactical combat management to facilitating emotional drama. This page walks you through making characters as a group, building the team's shared origin, and running your first session.
The TV Show Pilot Analogy
Think of your first Masks session like the pilot episode of a teen superhero TV show. You need to introduce the characters, establish their relationships, set the tone, and give viewers (players) a taste of what the series will be like. Unlike a movie where everything builds to one climax, you're setting up ongoing character arcs that will develop over many episodes (sessions).
Session Zero: Setting the Foundation
Masks expects the players to make their characters together, at the table, with the GM. Many groups fold that into the first session itself; others hold a separate Session Zero. Either way, cover these topics before the first fight.
Session Zero Agenda
Safety and Expectations
- Discuss content boundaries and safety tools
- Establish that this is a game about emotional growth
- Clarify that failure is interesting, not bad (a miss marks potential)
- Set expectations for character interaction
- Agree on tone (serious drama vs. lighter adventure)
Setting Creation
- Use Halcyon City (or build your own city)
- Sketch the superhero history across the generations
- Define the adult heroes the team looks up to (or resents)
- Create major locations and institutions
- Decide on tech level and tone
Character Creation
- Choose playbooks (aim for variety)
- Fill in looks, abilities, Labels, moves and backstory
- Answer the team's origin questions
- Define important NPCs
- Set up starting Influence
Team Formation
- Decide how the team came together (the origin questions do this)
- Establish their current status
- Create their base/meeting place
- Define their relationship with adults
- Set initial team goals
Group Character Creation
Character creation in Masks is a group activity. Everyone builds their hero at the same table, so the team's connections and the campaign's emotional foundation grow out of the same conversation.
The Creation Process
"When Our Team First Came Together…"
Every playbook carries one question about the team's first adventure together. Once the characters are made, each player reads their playbook's question and answers it, and the answers become the team's shared origin story. The book gives a recommended order so each answer builds on the last; skip any playbook nobody is playing.
| Order | Playbook | The question is about… |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bull | a dangerous enemy we defeated |
| 2 | Nova | how we destroyed our surroundings |
| 3 | Outsider | why we didn't trust each other at first |
| 4 | Janus | someone important we saved |
| 5 | Delinquent | the major rules we broke |
| 6 | Doomed | the high cost we paid |
| 7 | Legacy | the established hero we impressed |
| 8 | Transformed | someone important who now hates and fears us |
| 9 | Protégé | why we stuck together afterwards |
| 10 | Beacon | the signs of something bigger |
As GM, ask follow-up questions and write the answers down: you have just been handed an enemy, a rescue, a broken rule, a cost, a grudge and a mystery to build on.
Relationships and Starting Influence
After the origin story, each player works through their playbook's relationship questions and hands out starting Influence. Influence is simply held or not held: someone with Influence over you is someone whose opinion you care about, and there are no points to count. Each playbook says how much to give at the start. For example:
- Beacon: gives Influence over themselves to three teammates.
- Doomed: gives Influence to two teammates.
- Legacy: gives Influence to every teammate.
- Transformed: gives Influence to one teammate.
- Nova: gives Influence to three teammates or one, depending on the demeanor they chose.
- Bull: names a love and a rival, two relationships that shape every scene they share.
Remember too that every adult has Influence over the heroes when first introduced. Holding Influence over someone gives you +1 to moves aimed at them, and you can surrender it for a sharper effect. See Team Dynamics for the full rules.
Character Creation Tips
Encourage Emotional Connections
Ask players to think about how their characters feel about each other, not just what they do together. "Why does your character look up to theirs?" is better than "What mission did you go on together?"
Build in Conflict Potential
Some tension between characters is good - it creates drama. A team where everyone agrees on everything won't have interesting stories to tell.
Connect to the Setting
Every character should have at least two important NPCs - an adult whose opinion they care about (and who will hold Influence over them) and someone they care about protecting.
Leave Room to Grow
Don't define everything about the characters upfront. Leave space for relationships and backstory to develop through play.
Goals for the First Session
The GM section of the core book sets out goals for the first session. A central one is to go through most of the mechanics, and definitely all the basic moves, so everyone sees how the game works before the stakes climb. Plan scenes that give each move a natural reason to come up, and tick them off as they happen.
| Basic move | Roll | A first-session trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Directly Engage a Threat | + Danger | Wading into the villain's robot minions |
| Unleash Your Powers | + Freak | Holding up a collapsing walkway |
| Defend | + Savior | Shielding trapped shoppers from a blast |
| Assess the Situation | + Superior | Sizing up the scene on arrival |
| Provoke Someone | + Superior | Taunting the villain into a mistake |
| Comfort or Support | + Mundane | Talking down a shaken teammate afterwards |
| Pierce the Mask | + Mundane | Working out what the villain really wants |
| Take a Powerful Blow | + conditions marked | The villain lands a huge hit |
Take a Powerful Blow is inverted: you roll plus the number of conditions you have marked, so a high roll is bad and a miss means you stand strong. Every roll uses 2d6: 10+ is a full hit, 7–9 a hit with a cost, 6 or less a miss, and every miss marks potential. Also look for a chance to bring in Reject Influence: have an adult with Influence tell a hero who they are, and let the player choose whether to accept it (the GM shifts their Labels) or push back.
Opening Your First Session
The opening scene of your first session sets the tone for everything that follows. It should immediately establish the game's focus on character relationships and emotional stakes.
Designing Your First Conflict
Your first conflict should be simple enough to show off the rules but meaningful enough to establish character relationships and team dynamics.
First Conflict Framework
The Threat
Keep it simple: Bank robbery, hostage situation, runaway experiment
Make it visible: Something the public can see and react to
Limit the scope: A few city blocks, not the entire world
Example: A villain has taken over a shopping mall with robot minions
The Stakes
Innocent people: Civilians in danger create moral imperative
Personal connections: Someone the heroes care about is involved
Public perception: The city is watching the new team
Example: One character's family is shopping there, and news cameras are rolling
The Complications
Moral choices: Force difficult decisions about methods
Team coordination: Require characters to work together
Individual challenges: Give each character a moment to shine
Example: Villain offers to release hostages if one hero surrenders
The Resolution
Victory with cost: Success but something goes wrong
Character growth: Someone learns something about themselves
Relationship change: Team bonds form or strengthen
Example: Heroes win but property damage leads to public criticism
Building Villains from What the Players Invent
Keep the first session's opposition light. The origin answers and relationship questions will hand you far better material than anything you prepare alone: the dangerous enemy from the Bull's question, the person who now hates and fears the team from the Transformed's, the signs of something bigger from the Beacon's, the adults and rivals named on each sheet. After the session, build the campaign's villains from that material, giving each one a name, a drive, a few villain moves and one to five conditions (see Villains & Conflicts).
Opening and Closing Every Session
Two short rules frame every session, starting with the first one.
Start of Session
The GM adds one Team to the team pool. The pool also grows when the heroes go into battle against a dangerous foe together, and players spend Team to aid each other or to act selfishly. When time passes, the GM empties the pool and resets it to 1 Team.
End of Session
Each player chooses one:
- Grow closer to the team: give Influence to a teammate, and clear a condition or mark potential.
- Grow into your own image: shift one Label up and one Label down.
- Grow away from the team: take Influence over you away from another character.
Some playbooks add their own end-of-session checks; the Doomed, for example, looks at whether they made progress against their nemesis.
Essential GM Techniques for Masks
Running Masks requires different skills than many traditional RPGs. Focus on these key techniques to make your sessions sing:
Spotlight Management
The Challenge: Ensuring every character gets meaningful screen time and development opportunities
Practical Tips:
- Use the "Yes, and..." technique: Build on what players give you
- Ask targeted questions: "How does your character feel about what just happened?"
- Create individual moments: Give each character a scene that highlights their struggles
- Connect to backstory: Bring in elements from their character history
- Rotate focus: Don't let one character dominate every session
Emotional Pacing
The Challenge: Balancing action, drama, and character development for maximum emotional impact
Practical Tips:
- Follow intense scenes with quiet moments: Give players time to process
- Build to emotional climaxes: Not just action climaxes
- Use downtime effectively: Casual scenes often have the biggest character moments
- Watch player energy: Adjust pacing based on table engagement
- End sessions on hooks: Emotional cliffhangers work better than action ones
Relationship Facilitation
The Challenge: Encouraging meaningful character interactions and relationship development
Practical Tips:
- Create shared challenges: Problems that require teamwork to solve
- Use NPCs as relationship catalysts: Adults who have opinions about the team
- Facilitate difficult conversations: "What would your character say to that?"
- Reward vulnerability: The rules already do this; point players at Comfort or Support and their playbook's Team moves for sharing a vulnerability
- Show consequences of relationships: Make connections matter to the story
Common First-Session Mistakes
Learning from others' experiences can help you avoid common pitfalls when starting your Masks campaign:
Focusing Only on Action
The Problem: Treating Masks like a tactical combat game
Why It Happens: Traditional RPG habits are hard to break
The Fix: Ask about feelings and relationships as much as actions
Example: Alongside "What do you do?", ask "How does this make your character feel?"
Perfect Adult NPCs
The Problem: Making adult authority figures either perfect mentors or pure obstacles
Why It Happens: Wanting to avoid frustrating players
The Fix: Make adults caring but flawed, with their own agendas
Example: A mentor who gives good advice but doesn't understand modern teen problems
Avoiding Failure
The Problem: Letting heroes succeed at everything to avoid "ruining" their characters
Why It Happens: Not realizing that failure drives growth in Masks (every miss marks potential)
The Fix: Embrace failure as a chance for character development
Example: A failed save that leads to guilt and character growth
Ignoring Labels
The Problem: Never shifting Labels, so the heroes' self-images stay frozen
Why It Happens: The system feels unfamiliar compared to traditional stats
The Fix: Have characters with Influence tell the heroes who they are; the player accepts (and the GM shifts their Labels) or rejects it
Example: Their mentor surveys the wreckage: "You're reckless. You're going to get someone killed."
Solo Hero Syndrome
The Problem: Letting individual characters solve problems alone
Why It Happens: Traditional "spotlight" thinking from other RPGs
The Fix: Create challenges that require team cooperation
Example: Problems that need multiple character strengths to solve
Rushing Character Creation
The Problem: Not spending enough time on relationships and connections
Why It Happens: Eagerness to get to the "real game"
The Fix: Give the origin questions and Influence real time; it pays dividends later
Example: Spending most of the first session on character creation and team building
Typical Session Structure
While every session is different, most successful Masks sessions follow a loose structure that balances action, character development, and team dynamics:
Building an Ongoing Campaign
After your first few sessions, focus on developing the elements that make Masks campaigns special:
Character Arcs
Each character should have a personal journey that unfolds over multiple sessions:
- The Beacon: Proving they belong and finding their unique contribution
- The Legacy: Defining their own heroic identity separate from family expectations
- The Protégé: Growing beyond their mentor and becoming independent
- The Delinquent: Learning when to rebel and when to cooperate
- The Janus: Balancing their two lives and deciding what matters most
Track Progress: Keep notes on each character's growth and unresolved issues
Relationship Evolution
Team relationships should change and deepen over time:
- Initial Bonds: Surface-level cooperation and mutual respect
- Testing Phase: Conflicts that reveal true character
- Deep Connections: Trust, vulnerability, and mutual support
- Found Family: Unbreakable bonds forged through shared struggle
Facilitate Growth: Create situations that require trust and vulnerability
Escalating Stakes
Challenges should grow in scope and personal significance:
- Local Threats: Neighborhood villains and small-scale problems
- City-Wide Issues: Major villains and systemic challenges
- Personal Vendettas: Enemies who know the heroes personally
- Existential Questions: Challenges to core beliefs and values
Make It Personal: The biggest threats should target what heroes care about most
Try It at the Table
Plan Your First Session
Using the framework on this page, outline your first session:
- Opening Scene: How will you introduce the team and establish tone?
- First Conflict: What simple but meaningful challenge will they face?
- Basic Moves: Where will each basic move get a natural chance to come up?
- Character Moments: How will each character get spotlight time?
- Relationship Building: What opportunities for team bonding will you create?
- Session Ending: What hook will bring them back for session two?
Session Template: "The team comes together when [inciting incident] because [personal stakes]. They must [main challenge] while dealing with [complication]. Success means [positive outcome] but also [cost or consequence]. This sets up [future storyline] for next session."
Map the Relationship Web
Map out the initial relationship network for your campaign:
- Draw each PC and their key relationships
- Mark who holds Influence over whom after character creation
- Include at least 2 NPCs per character (one with Influence, one they care about)
- Mark which NPCs are shared between characters
- Identify potential relationship conflicts and growth opportunities
Sharpen Your GM Skills
Prepare a few tools before you sit down:
- Emotion Questions: Write 10 questions that ask about feelings rather than actions
- Label Shifts: Write three lines an adult with Influence might say to tell a hero who they are
- Meaningful Failure: Design 3 scenarios where failure leads to character growth
- Adult NPCs: Create 2 adults who are caring but create conflict
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Players Are Too Focused on Tactics
Signs: Detailed combat planning, optimization talk, treating powers like video game abilities
Solutions: Ask emotion questions during action scenes, make success about character growth not tactical superiority, reward creative problem-solving over optimal builds
Characters Aren't Connecting
Signs: Players only interact during missions, no personal relationships developing, team feels like strangers
Solutions: Set up downtime scenes, create shared challenges that require trust, ask about character reactions to each other's actions
The Game Feels Too Serious
Signs: Players seem stressed or overwhelmed, every scene is heavy drama, no fun or humor
Solutions: Include lighter moments and team bonding, celebrate victories more, let characters be teenagers who joke around
Players Resist Failure
Signs: Frustration when dice rolls fail, avoiding risky actions, treating failure as punishment
Solutions: Point out that every miss marks potential toward an advance, show how failure creates interesting stories, make consequences about growth not punishment
Essential Resources and References
Core Materials
- Masks: A New Generation core rulebook
- Playbook sheets and the player and GM reference sheets (free on Magpie Games' site)
- Two six-sided dice per player
- Index cards for NPCs and notes
- Character relationship maps
Inspiration Sources
- Young Justice (TV series)
- Teen Titans (comics and animation)
- My Hero Academia (anime/manga)
- Ms. Marvel (comics)
- Champions (Marvel comics)
GM Tools
- NPC motivation tracker
- Influence and relationship notes
- City location maps
- Villain scheme timelines
- Character arc progression notes
Safety Tools
- X-Card for content boundaries
- Lines and Veils discussion
- Check-in procedures
- Session debrief
- Player comfort monitoring
Final Advice for New GMs
Expect a Few Bumpy Sessions
Masks feels different from other RPGs, and that's okay. Don't worry about getting everything perfect in your first few sessions. Focus on creating emotional moments and meaningful character interactions. The rules will become second nature with play.
Trust Your Players
Players often have the best ideas for their characters' emotional journeys. When they suggest a direction for their character development, say "yes" more often than "no." Their investment in the story will make your job easier and the game more engaging.
Keep the Focus Narrow
Resist the urge to create massive, world-threatening plots early on. The most compelling Masks stories are often very personal - focus on the relationships between characters and their immediate community before scaling up to cosmic threats.
Make Failure Interesting
In Masks, failure isn't about punishment - it's about growth and dramatic tension. When characters fail, ask yourself: "How does this make the story more interesting?" and "What can the character learn from this?" The answer will guide you to meaningful consequences.
Ready for the First Session
Run character creation together, let the origin questions build the team's story, hand out Influence, and plan a first conflict that gives every basic move a chance to appear. Every great campaign starts with characters who are just learning to work together.
You're Ready When You Have:
- ✓ Characters made together, with the origin questions answered
- ✓ Starting Influence handed out, and adults ready to claim theirs
- ✓ A simple but personal first challenge that uses all the basic moves
- ✓ Notes on what the players invented, ready to grow into villains
- ✓ An attitude of curiosity about what the characters will become
Masks is about the journey, not the destination. Your characters will grow, change, and surprise you, and your team will face challenges that test not just their powers but their values, friendships, and understanding of what it means to be a hero.
No group handy? Playing Masks Solo shows how to run the game for yourself, the Dice Roller handles the 2d6 rolls, and the GM's Toolkit gathers prep aids for your table.