Raymond Schwarzschild
The Nova
Male | Black | Glowing Skin | Casual Clothing | No Costume
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
Labels
| DANGER | FREAK | SAVIOR | SUPERIOR | MUNDANE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +2 | +2 | +0 | +0 | -1 |
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 |
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.
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.
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.
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.