One thing that the Masked PAWS Beta Quickstart has that I wish all Quickstarts would include is enough information and instructions to allow me to experience character creation. I learn a lot about whether or not I will enjoy a game based on character creation and so many Quickstarts leave it out. Character Creation begins on page 26 (the very generous Quickstart clocks in at 36 pages, or 41 with sample characters.)
The first step in character creation is to select a species. I'm going to stop right here and take a moment. I said in my plug for Masked PAWS in my previous post that you could ignore the anthropomorphic animal stuff if you really wanted to. I also said that I thought that doing so would be a mistake. But my point was that the flavor and tone of the game can be removed from the game's mechanisms and a play group can pretty much do any kind of team superhero stuff that they want with the system.
Why Are Some Players Intimidated By Superhero Games
Have you ever set with a superhero RPG book in front of you and attempted to make a character from scratch? It's hard. There are a million different superheroes. Where do you start? When I sat down to do this with Masked PAWS, I had no idea what I was going to do. But, wait ... maybe the anthropomorphic animals angle is more brilliant than it first appears?
Step One: Choose A Species
Masked PAWS isn't throwing me to the wolves (pun intended) and asking me to invent a superhero from scratch. It's asking me to pick my favorite animal. My favorite animal is the Owl. Already, I am off and running. A character concept is forming. The page is no longer blank. The greatest hurdle in superhero character creation has already been circumvented by one simple choice from the designer—Anthropomorphic Animals. Brilliant!
Heh ... okay, the Quickstart is limited to four species examples and no bird types are there. Sigh. There is an example character named Thunderhawk that is of the species type Wingrakes. If I get the full game, I am sure that's where my character would land. I'm not going to sweat it. Looking at the examples, I see that Musari (small scavengers—mice etc. and also racoons) get Wits +2, Endurance Rank 2, Perception Rank 2. That sounds good for an Owl to me. I'm choosing Musari but I'm calling myself an Owl.
Step Two: Assign PAWS
PAWS are your ability scores. Physical (P), Awareness (A), Wits (W), Social (S). All players begin play with a 2, 1, 0 and -1 in their PAWS. Before I assign these numbers I want to think more about my concept. I was thinking about Owl puns and I was thinking Night Owl but changing it to Night Cowl. I have the ability to walk in shadows and move from shadow to shadow. That sounds kind of magical. I'm going to want to take the Arcana skill which is based on Wits. The rules say that even after modifiers for species no skill can start higher than 3. There is no such cap mentioned for the PAWS. I'm going to go ahead and assign my 2 to Wits, 1 to Awareness, -1 to Physical, and 0 to Social. My final scores after applying my Species bonus of +2 Wits are: Physical [-1], Awareness [1], Wits [4], Social [0].
Step Three: Assign Skills
I have ten points for skills with a max of 3 ranks to any one skill. I know that I want Arcana, but I am also thinking ahead about my secret identity and what Night Cowl does in real life. I decide to base my secret identity on Simon Cowell. (Cowl makes me think of Cowell.) I know that he's a judge on America's Got Talent or whatever, but I remember him most personally from American Idol. I decide to make my Simon Cowell a music teacher. Obviously, I can't call myself Simon Cowell. I try to think of a pun for Simon and I can't think of anything, but Simon makes me think of Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks. I decide that Night Cowl is secretly music teacher Theodore Owl. (The last name Owl is a little on the nose, so I change it to Owlsen.) With this in mind, I take a look at skills.
As a music teacher I decide to put 2 ranks in Performance to help with that. I also want to put 2 ranks in Arcana. I need to put a few ranks in Athletics to compensate for my -1 Physical, so I put 2 ranks there and I put the max 3 ranks in melee combat because I figure I have learned a thing or two since becoming a superhero. That 9 of my 10 ranks assigned. I put the last rank in Insight. Done. Easy Peasy. (Oh, man! Easy Peasy would make a great superhero name for my next character!)
Step Four: Choose Power Set
All characters have a single power that is defined through a Benefit, a Weakness, and a Bond. I decide that the power set that most fits my concept of those available is Morphing. I decide that my power: Shadow Walk manifests by my actually transforming into shadow.
Step Five: Answer Power Story Questions
Benefit: The Night Cowl can become shadow and disappear from one place to appear instantly in another within his line of sight. (As an Owl, Night Cowl can see pretty far in the dark, but not so well in the daylight—see weakness.)
Weakness: The Night Cowl's shadow powers need shadows to work. Strongest in low light and darkness, almost completely useless in full daylight. (Which as an owl, Theodore tries to avoid anyway.)
Bond: The Night Cowl can transform willing persons to shadow and take them with him, but this requires practice with the person in question. He can't just do it with anyone—at least not easily, and if the person is unwilling, he can't do it at all. Night Cowl can transport teammates with him through the shadows to surprise enemies.
Can I say just how brilliant that I think it is to call these Power Stories? Each power tells a story. It's genius to frame this that way to get players thinking in that mindset. (I love this game!)
Step Six: Hero Name and Alias
Already done! The Night Cowl aka Music Teacher Theodore Owlsen. And that's it!! The character is done!! I did a search for anthropomorphic owl characters to find an image for this post and was surprised to discover that owls and music are a common combination. Isn't that fun! The image that I ended up using is the cover of Absolute Batman: The Court of Owls graphic novel that I modified to put the Disney character Professor Owl inside the lenses, replacing Batman.
Revisiting The Elephant In The Room
I mentioned in my last post that I thought that some players would resist playing anthropomorphic animal characters. But look at how The Night Cowl practically created himself! I chose owl and everything just flowed from there. Sure, it was a bit punny, but I love puns! I once ran a Mutants and Masterminds game where the heroes fought an enemy with fire powers called the Fire-Man (who looked like the guy from the Village People) who had a street gang of fire powered female minions called the Fire-Hoes.
I thought it was HIGH-larious. It went over like a lead balloon. So, I get that this might not be for everyone. But, look at Spider-Man. His arch enemy is Doctor Octopus. Are spiders and octopi natural enemies? Of course not. But, spiders and octopi both have eight legs. I'm sure that Stan Lee thought that it was funny. Having a sense of humor. Having fun. That's what comic books are supposed to be about. At least they are for me.
The anthropomorphic animal approach for me, made this whole process easier, more fun and more intuitive. I have no idea why this hasn't been done before. Masked PAWS is my most anticipated game of 2027!!
Please back the Kickstarter HERE. You can find the Masked PAWS beta Quickstart Guide HERE.
Regards,
Jeff
