For thousands of years, humanity had been unknowing of the sheer scale of the universe it lived in, as well as its true alien nature. Not only that, but it was ignorant of the many eldritch beings that existed in the beyond, and they of it. Only a few scattered individuals or groups dedicated to the occult realized even a sliver of the truth.
And over the late 1920s and 1930s, that collective innocence was shattered without warning, as countless entities and forces made their way to Earth. It was as though the Earth had been under a veil for so long, only to see it suddenly removed. Alien beings came from space, from beneath the waves, and from dimensions beyond human perception. It all came to a climax in 1939, when a Great Old One arrived on Earth, bigger and more powerful than any other living thing, as mighty to humans as an elephant is to an ant.
And then a human, clad in silver armor, stood in its path, and
punched it in the face, with enough force to crack a mountain. The two battled, and though the Old One's power was immense, nothing it did could defeat the human who battled it. At last, the Old One retreated – not because of injuries, but because of the sheer audacity of the ant that fought like a lion.
And then, there was merely a man. The people who witnessed the battle wished to know who he was. But though he had the stature of a Nordic god, his power was matched only by his humility. “My name is not important,” he replied. “I am a wolfhound, nothing more.” And then he left.
And as it turned out, the one who became known as the Wolfhound was far from the only hero that humanity had in store. In the decades that followed, for every threat from beyond that showed up on Earth, a hero emerged to battle it. Most used powers that were as incomprehensible as the beings that they fought. Arcane magic, bizarre science, inhuman biology, and the warping of reality itself were all represented among the heroes of the decades to come. It was true that the universe was a vast, alien, and scary place – but not everything strange and unnatural to human sensibilities was in fact evil.
And perhaps because of that realization, some of the heroes actually tried to reason with the eldritch beings instead of simply fighting them – and to their surprise, they succeeded. It started with Artemis, the arch-huntress, who discovered that the shadowy Noxwalkers, whose presence eroded everything around them, in fact wanted peace. In time, humans would find friends, even allies, among the eldritch beings of the universe.
Alas, the reverse was also true – not every human had the best interests of humanity in mind. Some took advantage of supernatural forces to seize power or commit crimes. Where once, the lines seemed clearly drawn – humans against nonhumans – now the lines were blurred.
And yet, there was still hope. Yes, there were terrible things in the universe, and horrific humans on Earth, but there was also plenty of people willing to fight for life and for good.
The year is now 2009. Of all the places on Earth exposed to the supernatural, Halcyon City sees more weirdness than any other location. It hosts dozens of superpowered individuals – heroes and villains, humans and aliens. Following the example of the anonymous Wolfhound, most heroes go by titles rather than their true names – though some are better able to keep their cover than others. These figures include heroes like Centurion and his cohort of spirits, The Scholar and his many arcane relics, and Moonlight and her strange yet beautiful transformations. But there are also villains seeking their own gain, or perhaps simple destruction, from the chaotic zoanthrope Little Dread to the scheming Soulscourge and his plans to control all supers, and through them all of humanity. And on top of that, there are eldritch powers that have their eye on humanity, for good or ill, from the forces of the Corpus Tenebrae to the corpse-god Mantorok, and even one of the masks of Nyarlathotep.
Though villains and monsters appear on a regular basis, heroes regularly fight them off. Even through terror and danger abound, the world, and Halcyon City in particular, still have hope and faith in their heroes.
Of course... that also means the heroes are under constant pressure to make reality match expectation. If humanity ever came to believe that heroes can save the day only some of the time, that even the mightiest forces of good could fail, with nothing that the common people could do about it... well, panic and anarchy could ensue.
So... the heroes must not fail.
Spoiler: A bit of context behind this idea
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Welcome to my (probably) unique take on Masks, a system about superheroes... which I've merged with a Lovecraftian horror setting. Sort of.
So... it's sort of a running gag with myself that every setting I make is, on some level, a cosmic horror setting. Even my sci-fi settings emphasizes humanity's insignificance in the universe, and contain powerful eldritch entities and forces. Of course, my settings are more
Lovecraft Lite, with humans still able to make a difference and protect themselves and that which they value against the forces of the unknown. 'Tis the consequence of me really liking Lovecraft's work while fundamentally disagreeing with some of its core tenets.
But anyway, I was trying to come up with my own take on a superhero setting, and I thought, "What if I just frontloaded the cosmic horror?" Essentially, imagine the Cthulhu Mythos (well, something based on it) interacting so much with humanity through the 20s and 30s that all hope of keeping it hidden gets blown away, and humanity learns of the true, terrifying nature of the cosmos they live in, and the godlike beings that inhabit it.
But it turns out, humans are just as capable of harnessing the eldritch as the eldritch entities themselves.
So... a Lovecraftian mythos, yet made into a superhero setting. As a result, there are a lot of humans who, through some means or another, have harnessed or been given some of the same eldritch powers that the horrors from beyond possess. Where Lovecraft's heroes see madness, these heroes see possibility. Among those possibilities is the potential for understanding, for some of the beings from beyond are not as hostile as Lovecraft wrote them. They have the same potential to harm or help that humans do. And there are an increasing number of human beings with supernatural powers. Many use them for evil, but others use them for good, even if they don't understand the source of their abilities. They don't
need to understand. They just need to have hope.
And through it all, humanity keeps on truckin'. Rather than go mad from the collective revelation, people have adopted the same cavalier attitude people in superhero settings seem to have. Sure, some cosmic entity could come and end everything, or it might be stopped by people far more capable than ordinary humans can ever hope to be. Either way, no point it worrying about it.
After all... when you think about it, superhero settings are worlds where the fates of most people are out of their own hands, dependent on heroic individuals to protect them from harm – and that there are a lot of threats out there that would have no difficulty killing non-heroes. And often, heroes and villains alike have powers beyond the ability of most humans to understand.
Really... superhero settings are already halfway to being dark fantasy or even cosmic horror, when you think about it. I've just decided to commit to it, but not to the point of taking away hope.
And so, the call goes out for those players willing to play Masks even if I've merged superheroism and Lovecraftian... sort-of horror. Things will definitely be brighter than Lovecraft's work, but the threat of annihilation is always there – if not for all of humanity, than for the people around you, or the ones you care about. There's also the matter of how humanity is reacting to all this. The eldritch may have turned out to be far less sanity-destroying than expected, but fear of the unknown is still a powerful force, and humanity very often fails to understand what's going on. They're willing to accept, however, that not everything strange is evil, provided it proves itself to be good. And so, the heroes of Masks aren't just trying to find out who they are – they're trying to prove to everyone else that
what they are isn't something to be feared.
Required Character Info: The different playbooks of Masks have everything a character sheet needs, really, but I also expect some backstory. Masks is a very PC-driven game, after all, and the more I have to work with, the better.
Allowed Content: There's actually not a lot of content out there for Masks, but anything official goes. Do ask me if you plan on going with one of the playbooks from non-core sources, since those require a bit more care. Also, while there isn't much 3rd-party content out there, it does exist, so feel free to draw from it, provided you give me a link to where I can look at it, or buy it.
One final note - since this game is meant to be a bit more, well, eldritch then normal, I'm willing to tweak some of the fluff of the playbooks. In particular, I find the power options of many of the playbooks a bit limiting at times. If you want to expand those limits, feel free to ask!