Swarm the Janus / Wulfgar the Bull

[KingGoblin]

 Joshua Cole AKA "Swarm" THE JANUS

HERO NAME: Swarm
REAL NAME: Joshua Cole
LOOK: White man, boring clothing, concealing costume, hood
ABILITIES: Heightened Physical Abilities, Insect Control, Supernatural SensesInsect Sense - He can sense insect locations, and with concentration can see/hear/taste/feel what they do.

LABELS

DANGER	FREAK	SAVIOR	SUPERIOR	MUNDANE
+0	-1	+0	+1	+3

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

POTENTIAL

Every time you roll a miss on a move, mark potential.

MOVES:

The Mask

You wear a mask and hide your real identity. Choose what Label you try to embody while wearing your mask:

◼️ Freak ⬜ Danger ⬜ Savior ⬜ Superior

Once per session, you can affirm either your heroic or secret identity to switch your Mundane with your mask’s Label. When you reveal your secret identity to someone who didn’t know it already, mark potential

Mild-Mannered

When you try to use your civilian identity to deceive, trick, or slip past someone, roll + Mundane. On a hit they buy your facade. On a 7-9, choose one:

- you’re still under observation

- you leave something incriminating behind

- you’re forced to make a fool of yourself to sell it

On a miss, one of your civilian obligations rears its ugly head

Game Face

When you commit yourself to save someone or defeat a terrible enemy, mark a condition and take +1 ongoing to all rolls in direct pursuit of that goal. At the end of any scene in which you don’t make progress towards that goal, mark a condition. When you fulfill your goal, mark potential.

 

SECRET IDENTITY:

Your mundane life comes with a series of obligations. Choose a total of three obligations.

(Schoolwork, Football Team, Popularity)

When time passes, roll + your Mundane to see how you’re managing your obligations. On a hit, things are going pretty well—you have an opportunity or advantage thanks to one of your obligations. On a 7-9, you’ve lapsed on one obligation, your choice. On a miss, you haven’t given your normal life anywhere near the attention it deserves; the GM chooses two obligations that are going to bite you in the butt.

MOMENT OF TRUTH:

The mask is a lie, and some piece of you has always known that. Doesn’t matter if others can see it. You’re the one that can do the impossible. Mask off. Costume on. And you’re going to save the damn day. Of course, you better hope nobody nasty is watching…

TEAM MOVES:

When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if they see you as the person wearing the mask or the person underneath. If the former, mark potential and clear a condition. If the latter, take Influence over them if you reveal yourself.

When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, tell them a secret about who you really are. Give them Influence, and shift your Mundane up and your mask’s Label down.

 

BACKSTORY

• When did you first put on the mask?  Why?

One of my friends got taken by the Tangee.  I didn't even know she was a...  Was different.  She was just Emily, your average kid, like me.  More like me than I realized, I guess.  Then...  She was suddenly the enemy, apparently, captured trying to help people.  Emily wasn't some monster, wasn't going to end the universe, or whatever the Tangee think.  She was just a girl from homeroom, whose dad was always away on business, and who sat at the same table as me at lunch, because she was dating Shaun, with the football team.  I am not even sure about her powers, just that she could fly and glow and stuff, and I only know that because she was trying to help some people out of one of the homeless shelters after a bunch of supervillains showed up, and then she was gone.  I was there, too, because my house got kind of disintegrated, she was actually helping me as much as everyone else.  And they took her, but didn't seem to care about the villains, left them on the street.

Since then, I found out she was part of something called CLOAKSS, and she was at that shelter for a reason.  Since then, I started to ask myself how much more I could have done, if I had been using my powers, if I saw the villains coming, if I hadn't been just scared and dirty and focused on myself and my family and...  I kind of beat myself up over that, even though I don't know if things would have gone differently if she knew they were coming.  I don't know that I wouldn't have been grabbed.

After that, I found CLOAKSS, and got connected with A.E.G.I.S, although they don't have any information on me.  That they will admit.  I think.  Truthfully, I don't know if anything I do can make much of a difference, but I don't think I can just sit by and not try.

Come to think of it, Shaun hasn't been coming to practice recently.  And I wonder about Emily's dad.  I try not to ask questions, best not to know anyone outside my cell.  Even if I know.  You know?

Never know who's listening.  Someone has to.  Why not me?

• Why do you keep a secret identity?

Are you kidding?  The Tangee are the most obvious answer, I suppose, but who wants to be known as 'that bug guy?'  Even if the Tangee weren't at literal war with superhumans, I think I would still want a normal life.  I might not even be wearing a cape if the world were different; back when there were real superheroes flying around, someone like me would just be that strange bug guy at best, no match for any villain out there, but too freaky to be open about having these powers.  Useless as a hero, a health risk to anyone who tried to hire me.  Not that I am a health risk; if anything, I could keep all the bugs away from wherever I..  It doesn't matter.   I would be banned from athletics, unable to get a normal job.  A social pariah.  I keep a secret identity because, honestly, I am ashamed.  The Tangee are really more of an excuse than anything else.

• Who, outside the team, knows about your dual identity?

I want to say nobody, but that's not exactly true.  My mom, Belinda Cole, saw my costume once when she was doing laundry, she went into my closet.  I assume she told dad (Claudius Cole).  My little sister, Liza, knows I talk to someone on the computer late at night, and sneak out sometimes, but I think she just thinks I have a secret girlfriend.  I'd rather it stay that way.  My handler with the CLOAKSS knows, although I don't even know who he is, and I don't like that, but he needed some way to get in contact with me, and I didn't have anything set up that wasn't traceable back then.  Not even a burner phone, although I guess even that would be easy for DAGGR to trace.  So, probably everybody, but I haven't actually told anyone who isn't already very very involved; I want to keep these two lives separate, you know?  The people who know probably hopefully won't talk, because if I am taken, well, they are in as much danger as I am.  Except my family.  Which worries me, and makes me want to give it all up, but I'm not sure I can at this point.  You know?

• Have your parents ever confronted you about your dual life? If not, why not? Are they worried about you, excited for you, hopeful about what you can do? What kind of hero do you think they want you to be?

They have not.  I don't think they want to make it obvious they know; like, plausible deniability if anyone is ever taken?  I am not really sure about it.  Like I said, I am pretty sure my mom knows.  But we haven't spoken about it, she hasn't caught me going out, and doesn't ask what I am doing after school.  It's more like she doesn't really want to know.  I did notice that they both read the news more, especially when anything involving supers comes out, but they don't really make it obvious.  I guess that means they approve?  Or at least think it would be more dangerous to tell me to stop?  I don't know.  I do wonder sometimes if the gene or whatever that made me like this is hereditary, if there is more in our family tree that they didn't tell me and my sister about.  Heck, for all I know, they may be part of CLOAKSS, or something.  Heh.  Perhaps Dad is my handler.  No, that would be crazy.  But seriously, I don't know.

• Who thinks the worst of your masked identity?

Other than the Tangee?  Eh, I've kept a relatively low profile so far, but nobody really likes big swarms of flies and cockroaches, so probably everyone.  Had a fight in a Burger King once, they got shut down after; not really my fault, but whoever owns that probably thinks I ruined their business.  They had a whole colony of rats and stuff getting fat off their dumpster, living in the walls, nibbling on the burgers, though, so screw them.  They shouldn't have been serving food to the public anyway.  I haven't ruined anyone's life or anything, so I don't think anyone else is out to get me.

I mean...  That's not all entirely true.  There is this one guy, you probably know him as Eyebot.  I actually know him as Jack Weller, but don't tell anyone.  Jack somehow learned to make robots, like, really advanced ones; I don't know how, but he has a bunch of tiny ones and some of them can fly, they can combine to make him a super-suit, stuff like that.  I think he got them from his dad, since they look a little like the robots HeadDrive used to use, before he got disappeared.  Jack's dad disappeared at about the same time.  Anyway, Jack is also a jock, but not the nicest one, like me.   I'm quarterback, he's just a running back.  He, ah, wants my position, but can't play as well as he thinks he can, so he doesn't have it.  Anyway, one day, I was out with my bugs, Eyebot was out with his robots, and, well, I stopped him in one of his robberies by sticking roaches in his circuits until his equipment fried.  Killed like a thousand bugs, but my minions are more expendable than his, you know?  I saw his face with my bugs, he somehow got pictures of mine.  So it's kind of like mutually assured destruction; we fight every chance we get, but can't touch each others' civilian identities, because if one of us gets captured, it's pretty good money to bet that they'll sell out the other.  That said, I notice he does an even worse job blocking tackles on the field, and I never let him touch the ball, so it isn't like we don't fight there, too.  Stupid 'pranks' in the gym room, occasional rumors about him cheating on his girlfriend (which is true, although I can't tell normies how I know), things like that.  He got lice once, my shorts caught fire in the locker.  You know.  Stupid little pranks.  They aren't harmless, though, just because they are stupid.  And I am probably to blame as much as he is, but, well, he is a jerk.

• How do your three obligations manifest most frequently? Are any of them tied to a person (a teammate or the coach of the soccer team, a teacher pushing you to excel, a girlfriend who shares your popularity)? And come to think of it, why are you so popular?

OOC:  I changed it to football team.  Seems more jock-ish, and probably easier to understand the popularity for that.

Well, between practice, studies, and social obligations, I would already have too much on my plate even without heroics.  It's almost a blessing, the whole world coming to an end thing, because it cuts down on some of that.  I mean, people ask less questions when you miss a practice when you can use roving bands of villains as an excuse, and there aren't as many dances and bonfires and such as there would be otherwise.  But still, they get in the way, and I can only miss so much before people notice that I am always gone when Swarm is out, and vice-versa.  As for why I am popular, I am the quarterback of our football team.  Of course I am popular.

That would go away if it came out that I had powers, of course.  I am faster, stronger, and more agile than I should be, and even when I am holding back to look normal, well, I still do well enough that if I missed too many workouts people would notice.  I can't afford people to notice.  I have to be seen working hard, to justify being good enough to hold my position on the team, I have to get good grades, to stay on the team, and I have to be on the team, be quarterback, be someone everyone can look up to, to stay popular.  Imagine how everyone would hate me if they knew who I really was.  If I weren't popular, I would just be...  Swarm.  The Bug Kid.  I don't know how else to say it.  I just need to keep that going, you know?

As for specific people...  Well, anyone in the school could pretty much ruin any of those.  Coach Alex could take away my position, bench me, or even kick me off the team.  Jack/Eyebot could and does try to do a lot to sabotage me.  Mr. Grecko, my chem teacher, hates me, and is looking for an excuse to fail me, although I think that he gets some pressure from the school to let the quarterback pass; which might be why he hates me, come to think of it, even though I do Ok work in his class.  I don't actually have a girlfriend, but I used to date several.  Mindy McEvers might still be obsessed with me, I don't know, but she's been with Jack recently, so that's probably over with.  She hasn't been texting me in the last little bit, so she probably moved on.  You know, just normal high school concerns, I guess, except with bugs and evil aliens and terrorists tossed into the mix.

• Why do you care about the team?

Because they know who I am, and they don't pull away.  I mean, they know Swarm, and they work with him, and they are supers too, so they don't seem to judge Joshua.  If that makes sense.  Like, I am afraid that if my school or football friends found out, they wouldn't be my friends anymore.  They would either see me as a freak, or a savior, or an asset, or something, and I wouldn't have any friends anymore.  The team, they probably see me similarly, but I am still a friend, too.  It's lonely, leaving up walls, only showing part of yourself to the world.

WHEN OUR TEAM FIRST CAME TOGETHER...

We saved the life of someone important, either to the city or to us. Who was it? Why are they important?

 

RELATIONSHIPS:
_________________ knew you from your civilian life first.
You refused to tell ________________ your secret identity when they asked.

 

INFLUENCE:
You look up to your teammates; they seem to have this superhero thing figured out. Give two of them Influence over you.

 

PLAYER QUESTIONS

• What kind of player are you?

One who has no idea how to answer this question.  I am the type who likes to share the spotlight, who wants to see other players shine, and make stories together.  I tend towards caution, but I like having characters rush out and do things, too, so I don't know about that.  More and more I am liking games that don't have strict rules, where the story is more important, and where failure just moves the game along.  I like to think I am easygoing, and try to say 'yes, and...' rather than 'no.'

• Why are you excited for this game?

Because I like the idea of MASKS, and I like the idea of games where the players are the underdog, where the world has opponents that are much stronger than they are, and where even if they win, they might still lose.  I like that this is grim, and hope it works that way without turning into a bunch of murderhobos living out sociopathic fantasies of being the biggest, strongest warlords and jerks in the world.

• What are your expectations for this game?

That we will be faced with unwinnable odds, with scenarios we can't possibly overcome, and real consequences for failure or for acting like two-dimensional jerks.  Like, I kind of expect this game to end with the bad guys winning, but a heroic failure, a story where we do our best to save the day and just aren't likely to actually do it.  Where we are heroic, if not necessarily the big heroes that defeat the big bad evil.  I'm looking forward to getting to know Joshua/Swarm, and the other players. 

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

I hope because I have a similar goal to the other players, and that I have a grasp on what the game will entail.  Because I am more interested in the story than in eventual glory, and I want to see the other players shine.  Mainly, because I look forward to just seeing where this all goes, and trying to add something to the whole.

Edited March 4, 2023 by KingGoblin (see edit history)

[Morphling]

The question "Who thinks the worst of your masked identity?" is your chance to come up with an NPC tied to you, and you should take it. Think J. Jonah Jameson and Spiderman. Come up with a name and describe what they do to undermine or belittle you.

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

Have your parents ever confronted you about your dual life? If not, why not? Are they worried about you, excited for you, hopeful about what you can do? What kind of hero do you think they want you to be?

How do your three obligations manifest most frequently? Are any of them tied to a person (a teammate or the coach of the soccer team, a teacher pushing you to excel, a girlfriend who shares your popularity)? And come to think of it, why are you so popular?

 

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

Edited March 2, 2023 by Morphling (see edit history)

[KingGoblin]

I edited in the answers to the questions into the background questions.  Added some as questions, clarified the 'worst of your mask identity' thing by adding a nemesis, changed sports to football to make the popularity more clear.

[KingGoblin]

I figured I would make a second application, for hedging bets.  It is close to the wire, so I understand if there isn't time to review it.

 

 Misha Morozov THE BULL

HERO NAME: Wulfgar
REAL NAME: Misha Morozov
LOOK: Shifting woman, calloused hands, baggy clothing, no costume
ABILITIES: A literal werewolf. 

LABELS

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

POTENTIAL

Every time you roll a miss on a move, mark potential.

MOVES:

Punch Everyone

Whenever you charge into a fight without hedging your bets, you can shift your Danger up and any other Label down.

There when it matters

When you defend someone, on a hit you can hold 1 instead of choosing one from the list. Spend your hold when they are in danger later to arrive on the scene ready to help.

 

THE BULL'S HEART:

You always have exactly one love and one rival. You can change your love or rival at any time; give the new subject of your affections or disdain Influence over you. Take +1 ongoing to any action that impresses your love or frustrates your rival.

Love: Vladimir, my little brother.  We call him 'Dimi.' He's a year younger than me, and, well, kids are cruel.

Rival: Rose Thornton.  Dimi's got a crush on her, but she is poison.  Makes fun of him, makes him do things for her, she's just horrible.

Choose a role you commonly fulfill for your love or rival: 

◼️ Defender: When you leap to defend your love or rival in battle, roll + Danger instead of + Savior to defend them.

⬜ Friend: When you comfort or support your love or rival, mark potential on a hit. When your love or rival comforts or supports you, mark potential when they roll a hit.

⬜ Listener: When you pierce the mask of your love or rival, you can always let them ask you a question to ask them an additional question in turn, even on a miss. These additional questions do not have to be on the list.

⬜ Enabler: When you provoke your love or rival, roll + Danger if you are trying to provoke them to rash or poorly thought out action.

MOMENT OF TRUTH:

This is what you do best. You let loose, all the pent up strength and rage and glee, and you break whatever stands in your way. You are a walking demolition crew. What can stand up to you? Nothing. Not buildings. Not structures. Not enemies. Nothing. Of course, now the people who changed you know exactly where to find you...

TEAM MOVES:

When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, make them your love or rival immediately to mark potential. If they are already your love or rival, take Influence over them and mark potential.

When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, give them Influence and hold 2. Spend that hold to help them as if it were Team in the pool.

 

BACKSTORY

• Who changed you?

It was Gods Damned Diego Martinez.  "Diablo," is what he wants to be called, but when he and his gang were hassling me, I called him 'Donnie,' and, well, it didn't end well. 

Basically, since everything went to hell, I was going to take the bus home from school but it broke down.  I made the stupid decision to walk home, since it was only a couple dozen blocks, and Donnie and his gang saw me walking by and took it as an invitation.  They grabbed me, pulled me into an alley, and had me surrounded.  I figured there wasn't much to do at that point, I was going to be robbed, beaten, probably assaulted, no matter what I did, so I got mouthy.  Cursed them out in Russian, what little of it I know, and Donnie started squaring up.  It's actually a little funny, I don't know many curse words in Russian, so I mostly just called him a tiny monkey and said his mother makes bad perogi, but since he didn't understand, it worked. 

Well, for a certain definition of 'worked,' I guess.  Anyway, his guys said I shouldn't talk to Diablo like that, I said he looked more like a Donnie small-prick, and then there was lots of hair, lots of screaming, and blood, mostly mine.  They all ran away before the cops came, or the villains, or the Tangee, or whatever, so I lived, but I woke up in the hospital with my mom and dad and little brother.  My mom screamed at me, between hugging me and making sure I was alive, so I wasn't in real trouble, but I guess I got the virus or whatever.

• How did you escape from them?

I didn't, really.  Turns out usually when Donnie goes all hairy, people die, so they assumed I did too.  When I finally got out of the hospital (a miraculous recovery, they said, way too fast, but it turns out I didn't have the x-gene or whatever, they had me tested), I saw Donnie and his guys around.  He actually apologized, before trying to intimidate me into joining his gang.  Being his girlfriend.  Whatever.  Anyway, after, he said he could smell it on me, and knew I was like him now.  Seemed a little scared; like, usually, when he bites people, even if they seem fine from just the injury, they die.  I didn't. 

Anyway, we hung out a little, he told me he has always been like that.  He thinks he may have gotten it from his dad, but nobody knows who that was, so it seems to be as good a guess as any.  When Donnie got pushy about making me join his 'pack,' or whatever, I pushed back; big guy like him never had to learn how to fight, little girl like me took self-defense classes and was used to fighting her much bigger, stronger brothers, so when all things were finally equal, he didn't stand a chance.  Donnie doesn't mess with me anymore.

• Who, outside the team, tries to take care of you now?

My parents, of course, and my big brothers, even my little brother, although he can't do much.  I guess they can't, either.  They know about the virus or whatever, and they help by keeping me locked up during full moons, but most of the time it isn't a problem.  On the bright side, I have medical proof now that I am not a superhuman.  So, there's that.

Also, DAGGR got in touch when my little brother's internet searches got tripped by some algorithms, so they got me in contact with the team. 

We live in a pretty bad area of town, as you can probably guess from my backstory, but Mr. Smithson, the wrestling coach, was always pretty fatherly.  Probably because being one of the few girls on the wrestling team makes him want to look out for me, but I don't know.  He is the one who got me to take self-defense classes at the Y, which, coincidentally, he also taught as a side-gig.  Krav Maga, specifically, which is less useful in wrestling, but is more useful when fighting amorous werewolves.

Um, otherwise, I don't know?  Most people are pretty friendly.  There's a reasonably supportive Russian community in town.  I don't know that they would take care of me or anything, but being the children of immigrants means I always had some sort of support system.  The church we go to is full of them.  Just, you know, people.

• Why do you try to be a hero?

I guess, because the world is messed up, and someone has to.  And, well, I may not be the best Christian out there, but I think God must have made me like this for some reason.  It can't just be to make things worse.  I have to help people, because people need help, you know?  I've always been strong, but now, I am stronger.  Monsters pick on the weak.  If I am strong, and I don't defend the weak, wouldn't I be a monster?

• Why do you care about the team?

Because they need me.  They trust me.  They are creepy and they know my secret and they are all probably going to be killed horribly by the Tangee, but they've got my back, and I've got theirs.  I don't know, I guess they are a part of my pack?  Sounds corny, it's probably the dog in me, but I feel better when I am working with a team, and they are my team.

WHEN OUR TEAM FIRST CAME TOGETHER...

We defeated a dangerous enemy. Who or what was it?

 

RELATIONSHIPS:
_______________ is your love. You’ve opened up to them about the worst parts of your past.

_______________ is your rival. They tried to control you at a crucial moment.

 

INFLUENCE:
You’re selective about who you let in. Give your love and rival Influence over you, but that’s it.

[Morphling]

To be completely upfront, my first impulse was to throw this application back, since a lot of the Bull's playbook is about having a mysterious and threatening backstory which isn't fully represented here. However! After giving it more thought, I figure I as the GM can always introduce mysterious and threatening elements myself, so I think we're fine.

Note that at least at the beginning, the Bull's Rival and Love are meant to be PCs. You can switch them to NPCs during the game if the narrative demands it, but to begin with, you should leave those two slots blank.

Some things I wouldn't mind seeing developed further:

What about Wulfgar's past or the accumulation of her powers seems strange or uncertain? What about herself does she still not understand?

When did Wulfgar become a werewolf, and in particular was it before or after the Tangee invasion? Why has she decided to risk themselves by battling the Tangee?

How has Wulfgar's family dynamic changed since they became a hero? What kind of hero does her family want her to be?

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