After the over-preparing I did for Issue 1 of Masks, I decided to go the opposite direction for Issue 2. I had a vague Idea where I was taking the story line so I only had 4 Small Bullet Points for Issue 2, they were:
- Shinobi Shaw meets with Cythor and Star Chyld
- Fabian gets in trouble at school Hurts Marc Hopper -Drug (RUSH) is involved.
- Star Chyld still having visions of Mobious
- Beast – Obsidian Scene.
I started the session once again talking about the cover of the Issue. I knew Fabian was going to be an antagonist and Dr. Eternity was going to be involved as well. I decided to go out on a limb. A dramatic cover was going to have a member of the cast on the ground in another team members arms while Fabian stands over and Dr. Eternity over them all. I figured the Nova was the best bet his powers rely on him taking conditions and he still had a few leftover from the last session. So Star Chyld was on the Ground being held by Obsidian. It was a great image the players loved it, now I had to figure out how to get there.
I started with the last bullet point first. Obsidian is a transformed someone who doesn’t fit in and can never look like everyone else. Beast was supposed to be Obsidian’s mentor but I hadn’t had a scene with them yet. So we started there. Beast was asking about the team leadership and how Obsidian was fitting in. Obsidian being a teen was playing aloof, noncommunicative and uninterested in what Beast had to say. Obsidian basically ended with “I’m here because I won’t be accepted anywhere else. I either make it work or I have nothing.” Not what Beast wanted to hear. I didn’t have Beast push the issue instead I just let the scene end.
The next major scene took place at Star Chyld’s locker. I let the players frame the scene. Star Chyld was trying to show off the new handheld (Guessing Nintendo Switch) he picked up with his dad’s credit card, trying to prove that he’s cool. This is where I had an idea. The players early on talked about wanting to embrace the cliqued teen angst and drama of the High School setting, so I decided to go After School special and see what happens. In the locker, another player notices a strange envelope, inside was 5 tabs of RUSH, the postage stamp type drug we established in Issue 1. In Issue 1 Star Chyld took the drug so I wasn’t sure what they would do in response. They all got conspiratorial, Star claimed it wasn’t his no idea how it got there and they were going to hide it and get rid of it. The Delinquent, Cythor said he’d take care of it, and as he grabbed the envelope, Fabian Showed up grabbed the new Handheld Star Chyld had and acted impressed. I was trying to convey that Fabian was a jerk yes but still just a high schooler trying to impress and maybe in a strange way make friends. The group wasn’t having it, however, and unpleasantly told Fabian to take a hike. Before he left he whispered to Cythor “Hey if you want to cut class and take a couple of those let me know” indicating he saw Cythor pocket the RUSH.