application Gamma Ray — The Nova

[Choomie]

Raymond Schwarzschild

The Nova

Male | Black | Glowing Skin | Casual Clothing | No Costume

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You’re a font of power. Channel it, and you can remake the world into exactly what you want. Unleash it, and you can do miracles. It’s wonderful…and terrifying. Lose control for even a second, and other people get hurt.

Abilities: Gravity Manipulation

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Labels

DANGER	FREAK	SAVIOR	SUPERIOR	MUNDANE
+2	+2	+0	+0	-1

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Conditions

	AFRAID	-2 to Directly Engage a Threat
	ANGRY	-2 to Comfort or Support or Pierce the Mask
	GUILTY	-2 to Provoke Someone or Assess the Situation
	HOPELESS	-2 to Unleash Your Powers
	INSECURE	-2 to Defend Someone or Reject Others' Influence

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Backstory

When did you first use your powers?

Aight bruv, I'll get into it. After the accident my dad had me posted up at the hospital. My head was throbbing, like it the front of my skull was sinking into the back of my pillow. The machines beeping was droning, and the lights were blurring all bookey. I felt like my face was melting in, and my brain was trying to fly out the front, man. I knew I hit my head but this had to be something different. Couldn't scream, couldn't talk, couldn't see. Mad scenes. My dad was smart, he knew something was up. Dad said there was banging and crashing heard fin the hall down by the elevators. He already knew what was happening. He told me everything was tossed across the room, papers, wires, the blinds all shredded, bare mess. Lights were all flickering. I mostly remember the feeling that came after that, something beyond me...felt like I was getting tapped into everything, man, I'm saying all of it. It's hard to talk about, nobody really got it except the geezer. Dad was able to even convince the Board and his mates to rework the hadron collider project to keep me alive, and stable. I miss him. He never did get it working one hundred percent...

Who was the first person you accidentally hurt with your powers?

Fair play...dad got banged up a lot the year after it all happened. Man was working non-stop with his team to improve the collider device thing, to make 'me' stable. I'm talking grueling hours, man. I guess if you want to get technical about it, dad wasn't the only one who worked on fixing me up. He was the only one who cared about me as a person, and not a science project. I miss him. When the device was still in testing, he would get knocked around by the gravity in me: falling to the floor, cups smacking him in the head, dodging thumb tacks. He took a lot of punishment, but that's what dads do, they take the beating and still put up a strong face. He got sick later, though, that's what ultimately got him.

Who, outside the team, helps you control your powers?

It was hard to make friends when we moved from Peckham to Halycon. I'm not going to lie to you, for a while my best friend was my mom once my dad got sick. That's why we moved here, to be honest. I found the mandem, they're from all sorts of places and they got all sorts of abilities. There's Coop', he's from the tri-state area. He's going to uni' to learn about music. He told me he can generate sonic booms right? Then there's Cat', she's from the West Coast and she just moved here actually. I hear Cat has this thing called 'biokinesis', something like controlling muscle spasms and nerves and all that. Cat's got a mean streak but she's in the same boat as me, new place, no friends, you take what you can get. Next you got Solomon, his family are immigrants I hear and he wants to become a bigshot lawyer. Kind of funny, he's not really...well, if he was a lawyer, he'd come cheap. Not exactly a law-abiding type. Neither are Coop and Cat. Mandem is a tough gang. Yeah, they can be trouble but they're found family. I roll with them sometimes, but they've been getting into worse and worse trouble these days. I'm starting to get worried, myself. Where was I?

Oh yeah, how they help me control my powers...they each do in their own ways. Cat is able to help me kind of figure out what's going on inside my body, helps to explain what's been happening. Solomon's what you call a 'tactile telekinetic' or so he says. That means he can use his mind to become tougher or stronger without physically changing. He's got these exercises that help you center yourself, align your body with your soul or something crazy like that, it's basically meditation and mindfulness. It helps to have inner peace when your head's an exploding sun. Coop gets what it's like to have destructive potential. He's not a good influence to tell you the truth but we approach problems the same: you got something in your way, you move through it.

Physically, my old man's device contains the black hole in my head for the most part. It stabilizes the gravitons inside, keeps them dormant. There's are settings on the device that I wear on my neck, that allow me to increase or decrease the 'seal'. That's what I call it. It's how I can keep it contained or really let it rip...allegedly. I'm too afraid to really let loose. Mentally, my mates Coop, Cat, and Solomon help me with controlling my abilities. It's nice to be able to learn how to shut out the constant noise in the city.

Why do you continue to use your powers?

If you ask me, your powers are an extension of your soul, right? It's who you are. A lot of people might say that they don't want the responsibility, but it's like...it's like a star athlete or musician, with incredible gifts, and they do nothing but work at a petrol station all their life. It's a waste! You're put on this planet to leave an impression, good or bad, and you're born with the means to do it. Part of my change was learning to control the uncontrollable, but maybe that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to own what I am and use it to change the world.

Why do you care about the team?

The team cares about me. I mean, for one they get my problem better than anyone else. They have their own gifts, their own souls, they have their struggles in all kinds of ways. We're all different, but what makes us united is our mindset, right? We're in this fight together. We want to make a difference, change the world, make it better than we left it. That's something the geezer would always tell me, leave the world better than you left it.

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Team Dynamics

When your team first came together, you destroyed your surroundings in the fight. Where was it? What did you destroy?

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Relationships

You hang out with ________ all the time to blow off steam.

You once hurt ________ when you lost control of your powers.

Influence

Your demeanor is a happy facade; give influence to 3 teammates.

Team Moves

When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if there is any fear in their eyes when they look at you.

If they say no, take +1 forward and mark potential.
If they say yes, immediately shift your Danger +1 and your Savior -1.

When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, tell them how they could stop you, if it came down to it. Give them Influence over you and clear a condition.

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Burn

When you charge up your powers, Roll+Conditions you currently have marked.

On a 10+, hold 3 burn.
On a 7-9, hold 3 burn and mark 1 condition.
On a miss, hold 2 burn and mark 3 conditions.

Spend your burn on your flares. You lose all burn at the end of the scene. Choose four flares:

Snatch: Spend 1 burn to use your powers to seize any object up to the size of a person from someone within view.
Shielding: You call up a fast, protective field to stop a danger. Spend 1 burn to defend someone else from an immediate threat; Roll+Freak instead of Roll+Savior.
Moat: Spend 1 burn to create a barrier that will hold back threats as long as you keep your attention on it. The GM may call for you to spend another burn if the barrier is threatened by particularly powerful enemies.
Overcharge: You channel the full capacity of your incredible powers to overcome an obstacle, reshape your environment, or extend your senses. Spend 2 burn to take a 10+ when you unleash your powers.

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Player Questionnaire

What kind of player are you?

Over the past few years I've begun shifting towards more freeform, narrative, "rules-lite" games like PbtA, Fiasco, even games like Dread, Mork Borg, and Electric Bastionland. I really enjoy the amount of evocative detail that can come out of these less-is-more types of stories. I've always had a vivid imagination so I get a lot of enjoyment out of those games and I look forward to meeting like-minded gamers. I like to think that I'm active and bring a strong level of activity, especially with new tools like Discord that allow for quicker collaboration.

Why are you excited for this game?

I've always loved MASKS but unfortunately a lot of PbtA games fizzle out WAY too quickly. I've come to expect a certain amount of attrition but man when you have a good group and a good cohesive game going, it's a different kind of pain to see it drop. Applying to this game has been an active education with the new site's formatting, but it's starting to come back to me (it vaguely reminds me of Wiki editing which I used to do back in the day). Oh, another thing, I love the Red Dawn movies and I actually enjoyed the remake as well.

What are your expectations for this game?

With all PbtA games I always expect a lot of pregaming, which I enjoy. I really prefer building a group together before a game starts rather than figuring out the dynamic after applications are sorted. I know that'll kind of happen here, but at least we'll have room to get things organized. The collaborative process with MASKS  is always engaging and I've always had a lot of "a-ha!" moments where backstories click and relationships write themselves.

Why do you think you would be a good fit for this game?

I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about my not-so-distant teenage years, and so when I saw this game come up I thought it would be a good opportunity since I'm already in that headspace. Like I said earlier, I'm pretty active on Discord and since this will be my only game on Baldr for the time being I don't see there being any clashes or time sinks. I also WFH so I've been able to enjoy increased activity with all my hobbies, Myth-Weaving included.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Choomie (see edit history)

[Morphling]

The "Who, outside the team, helps you control your powers?" is your chance to connect your character to the world and create a bond with someone outside of the other PCs. I would not suggest squandering the opportunity.

Some things that I wouldn't mind seeing developed further:

How has Gamma Ray's life changed since the Tangee invasion? What has he lost? What pushes him to keep fighting? How has he avoided detection?

Who else has Gamma Ray hurt with his powers since his father? What sort of collateral damage has he caused? How does he feel about it?

Who does Gamma Ray live with now? Why did they take him in? What kind of hero do they want him to be?

All in all, solid effort. I would like to see what more you can come up with.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Morphling (see edit history)

[Choomie]

On 3/14/2023 at 11:52 AM, Morphling said:

The "Who, outside the team, helps you control your powers?" is your chance to connect your character to the world and create a bond with someone outside of the other PCs. I would not suggest squandering the opportunity.

Some things that I wouldn't mind seeing developed further:

How has Gamma Ray's life changed since the Tangee invasion? What has he lost? What pushes him to keep fighting? How has he avoided detection?

Who else has Gamma Ray hurt with his powers since his father? What sort of collateral damage has he caused? How does he feel about it?

Who does Gamma Ray live with now? Why did they take him in? What kind of hero do they want him to be?

All in all, solid effort. I would like to see what more you can come up with.

Thank you for the feedback. I definitely don't want to squander the opportunity, so I went and added a trio of his peers. They're edgier, likely heading down a more criminal path, so there's a pull from both sides of Ray's life: his father's lasting impact, or the new found family that are definitely not a positive influence on his life. I don't know if they'll ever come up in the story since there are bigger fish to fry, but they're around.

 

How has Gamma Ray's life changed since the Tangee invasion? What has he lost? What pushes him to keep fighting? How has he avoided detection?

Ray's life has changed dramatically since the Tangee invasion, but some of the events in his life coincide with his own family tragedies. His father grew ill with cancer, which later claimed his life, close to the time when the Tangee forces had amassed and began influencing the planet. Irrationally, he blames the Tangee for this, mostly because he needs someone or something to focus his frustration and loss on. Ray's adopted father was his best friend; he inspired Raymond to become more than a person, to contribute and positively change society, to make a difference. Losing him took away Ray's confidence and self-worth in a way, and now he feels somewhat aimless in life.

The Tangee invasion was a dark cloud on an overcast day, when before, Ray's new life in Halycon was bright and hopeful. He feels that now life is truly trivial and we, in fact, cannot master the universe and become our best self. However, Ray doesn't want to disappoint his father. Even though he's gone, he still wants to live up to his father's expectations. It's how Ray keeps his memory close to his heart. With his father gone, and the Tangee threat ever human, it's become challenging for Ray to keep his humanity. He has power larger than himself, and now he lacks a positive figure in his life.

Ray has been able to avoid detection by way of his lifestyle and the nature of his abilities. Ray lives a low-key life. This is due to his low sense of self-worth and melancholy, as a result of his dad's recent death. He tries to hide from the spotlight and go unnoticed. He's also subconsciously afraid of his powers and what might go wrong one day, especially since his dad and his connection's to the collider team are gone. Ray's energy signature itself is also very, very difficult to track. This is due to the fact that his head mostly consists of stabilized gravitons, matter that so far only the collider project had been able to detect, and just barely.

 

Who else has Gamma Ray hurt with his powers since his father? What sort of collateral damage has he caused? How does he feel about it?

Aside from Ray's father and a handful of nursing staff at the hospital post-hadron accident, Ray has caused more collateral damage than harm to people. Ray's a light sleeper ever since the laboratory accident, and this is due to an issue that plagues him. At night, Ray's "seal" loosens and the objects he keeps in his room are prone to being rearranged in chaotic fashion. When Ray has particularly frightening, distressing dreams, the pull from the black hole is stronger. He's awakened to shattered windows, cracked walls, pieces of ceiling missing, pencils piercing brick, and so on. Nowadays, Ray prefers a view-less room with next to nothing in it aside from the essentials, save for a collection of pillows uncharacteristic of a boy his age.

Ray had a delusion of grandeur once, shortly after his father died, in which he resolved to become a vigilante. Perhaps that would be his calling. He followed a man who he noticed stealing from a big chain supermarket. In broad daylight, he confronted the man, and in a heated exchange he dialed down the seal of his black hole in an attempt to retrieve the pilfered goods from the thief's hands. Instead, Ray sent the man sailing over his head and into the tree across the street. He stayed long enough to make sure he was okay, and then Ray sprinted away from consequence, leaving the bag of groceries behind in haste.

Ray has issues with the idea of again pursuing a career in dispensing justice. He believes his dad would find it to be a noble pursuit, but his power is just too overwhelming. Since the collider device on his body is not finished, he may never reach a level of confidence on his own. Part of him is afraid that he'll enjoy his powers too much, and that it'll send him down a dark path, which may be what happens if he stays with his motley group of friends.

 

Who does Gamma Ray live with now? Why did they take him in? What kind of hero do they want him to be?

Ray lives with his mother, who is now dating a pest control technician and has been for the last year. Ray's relationship with his mother is strained, and he spends little time at home. Growing up, he identified more with his father; he represented the future, hope, something to strive to become, while his mother often represented the harsh reality of circumstance. His mother isn't a scientist, and the rift between them widened post-accident and especially post-memorial.

Ray occasional spends the night at the home of one of his friends, but the environment there isn't much better. Still, they at least understand what it's like to have superhuman abilities. Right now, Ray just needs someone who understands him and can give him real hope for a better future. Deep down, Ray wants to be that for someone else, to hand it forward so to speak. Being inspiring and brave and good, in his opinion, matters more than how strong or indestructible you are.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Choomie (see edit history)