Paradox - The Harbinger // John Hardey - The Bull

[SkeleKing]

  

 

Paradox

THE HARBINGER

HERO NAME: Paradox
REAL NAME: Isaac Cross
LOOK: Male, mixed race (hispanic-white), simple clothing, hi-tech costume
ABILITIES: super speed (Time)

LABELS

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

 

BACKSTORY

• How did you travel from the future to the present day?

So you know about the disaster that the Tangee wanted to avert where the timeline collapses in on itself in a universe ending event? It's real. I'm from a place where reality was collapsing into a temporal singularity. All events in time began to converge at once, and chronological distortions in space-time began to appear. We call these distortions by a myriad of names, time-quakes, chrono-storms, I prefer to call them paradoxes but I'm sure you would understand better if I called them "time-portals". We were able to use one of these paradoxes as a final desperate attempt to go backwards in time and save reality. That was how I ended up here.

I wasn't the only one to make the attempt. At least I don't think I was, but I don't know where or when the others are, or if they're even there at all. All I know is that I'm the one who arrived at this point in time.

 

• What keeps you from returning to the future?

It is exactly because I am here that I cannot return to the future. This moment is where space-time is not converging into a singularity, therefore there are no paradoxes for me to travel through.

 

• Why don't you have perfect recollection of the future?

Passing through a paradox is not an easy thing to do. Its the rawest form of non-linear time that you can imagine, where you experience all possible events and timelines all at once. Now that I am in your present, my future is a vague and nebulous concept full of things that may or may not have happened. So yeah, my head is a bit of a jumbled mess right now.

 

• What is the most important part of your future that you want to avert?

The Tangee are still around, and they're just as dogmatic as when they started their invasion. Even in the face of the end of reality itself, they still refuse to work with us. I'm not even sure if they understand the concept of cooperating with other species. Time is collapsing in on itself, but there were still some areas (usually with the help of Tangee technology) that still experienced linear time even if they were destined to eventually flicker out as the power source becomes depleted. But the one event that I want to avert most are the loss of the artifacts of Doctor Foresight.

There were several Foresights throughout the history of Halcyon City, all of whom had some kind of device that could see the future even if it was for brief moments. Naturally the Tangee couldn't allow the resistance to have access to them so they confiscated them, maybe even destroyed them. If we can get to them first, it would give us a major advantage over the Tangee.

 

• Why must you join this team specifically to achieve your mission's goals?

This is the team that would play a major role in the future that is to come. If I have any hope in stopping the end of time, this is where I need to be most.

 

 

WHEN OUR TEAM FIRST CAME TOGETHER...

We averted a disaster from the future's history books. What was the disaster? What effect do we hope it had on the timeline?

 

CONNECTING THE DOTS:

You're from the future, but your knowledge of the past is spotty, intermittent, confused, jumbled. You're doing your best to put together the clues and your broken memories, though, so you can figure out how this world and its people become the ones you know.

When you push yourself to remember the version of someone who exists in your future, mark a condition and roll + Memories. On a hit, you connect who they are now to who they are in the future; choose the role that they fulfill in the future; and the DM will tell you about their future self. On a 10+ ask a follow up question. On a miss they are not at all who you thought they would be; the GM will choose their role, or tell you that as far as you know, they don't exist in the future.

Monster:

Traitor:

Corruptor:

Martyr:

Builder:

Leader:

Your memories start at -1, and goes up 1 (to a maximum of +3) for each name above.

When you write a name above, they gain influence over you if they did not already have it.

At the start of each session, roll + Savior to find out how your investigations into the timeline have been going. On a 10+ you found a strong lead; choose one figure above or one aspect of the future world you can remember; and the GM will reveal to you in clear detail on the path that leads to their future form. On a 7-9, you found a lead; choose one figure above or one aspect of the future world and the GM will tell you what lead you have to learn more about their path. On a miss, you're lost in the present; the GM will tell you how things are so different here, and shift your labels according to how you feel.

 

INFLUENCE:

____________ turns away from the hero's path, according to your history books. You have to prevent that from happening.

You've always looked up to ______________, but it's too awkward to admit it to them now that you've met them in real life. Keep it cool, keep it cool.

 

MOVES:

Stick to the Mission

When you defend someone or something critically important to the future (tell us why), you may mark a condition to shift down one Label and shift up Savior before the roll. If you do, you cannot choose to clear a condition for the defend move.

21st Century Studies

When you assess the situation, you may always ask "What does the future say about this moment?", even on a miss. You take a +1 ongoing to act on the answers.

PLAYER QUESTIONS

• What kind of player are you?

One who is cooperative and would like everyone to have fun. I might make mistakes, but I promise to do my best.

• Why are you excited for this game?

I play in another Masks game. I'm still new to Masks and PbtA games in general, so I'm interested to see how another GM handles the system.

• What are your expectations for this game?

A collaborative story telling experience with lots of in-character drama, focusing on the lives of teen superheroes trying to do the right thing and facing impossible odds in an alien occupied city.

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

I'm a consistent poster, willing to share the spotlight and get along with everyone. If I end up doing something wrong, I'll do my best to do better.

 

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by SkeleKing (see edit history)

[Morphling]

Some things I wouldn't mind seeing developed further:

Are there any figures from the future that Paradox knew personally? In what way is his memory of them distorted? What kind of hero do they want him to be?

Who is Paradox staying with in his time in the present? Why did they take him in? What kind of hero do they want him to be?

What about the present is most alluring? What about the future does Paradox miss the most?

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

[SkeleKing]

• Are there any figures from the future that Paradox knew personally? In what way is his memory of them distorted? What kind of hero do they want him to be?

Aside from [player characters]? There's Doctor Bill Tyson, chief temporal science officer. I literally wouldn't be here without him. He was the one who figured out how to contain and use a paradox for our own needs. He was the leading scientist on the understanding of time before the Tangee silenced him... N-no, he was a collaborator with the Tangee before he defected to our side... No, that's not it either. Or is it? If he were here I think he'd want me to use my head before I took action, to work out how to get the best possible result.

Next there's August, a Roman centurion... a soldier from the future... a common man turned hero... was he my dad? I hope he's not that last one. I remember him being driven, where the ends justify the means. I'm sure he'd want me to prevent the cataclysm at any cost. I don't know if I can do that, go as far as he can. How would that make us any better than the Tangee? But maybe morality isn't a luxury we can't afford when facing the end of existence.

There's one more, someone I barely remember who was incredibly important. It's like that feeling you get when you wonder if you've left the stove on, a ghostly tingle in the back of your mind of something that may or may not be. Let me think. His name was... Isaac Cross? My older self. But if he actually was there at the end, that would mean...

 

• Who is Paradox staying with in his time in the present? Why did they take him in? What kind of hero do they want him to be?

I'm sure there was a plan for my trip into the past, but I don't remember what that is. There may have been an advance team sent to before the Tangee arrived to stop the cataclysm before they arrived, and to lay the ground work for the second wave of time travelers should they fail, but I don't know how to contact them or even if that's true or not. I've been looking into heroes and villains like Timeline and Miss Fortune, if there were others that came before me then maybe they were altered by the paradox like I was.

For now I'm placed in the foster care system, feigning amnesia. I've been keeping my identity secret, I can't have any Crosses in the past confused over how they've managed to gain a new family member out of thin air. There were far too many people misplaced during the invasion, as the government agencies that are responsible for restoring the status quo after superpowered battles are no longer functioning normally in Halcyon and a lot of city records were destroyed. This includes a number of misplaced minors whose parents have either died or cannot be found, putting a heavy strain on child welfare services.

My guardian is Natalie Turner, and I live with almost a dozen other kids my age and younger. Its crowded, but from what I understand child welfare wasn't doing that great even before the invasion. Fortunately tight living spaces and taking responsibility for younger kids isn't anything new to me, and I got pretty lucky with Natalie. She does what she can the best that she can, she focuses on the little things that makes life better for the people around her and she encourages us to do the same. I think she'd disapprove of my heroing though if she ever knew about it. Standing against the Tangee is far too dangerous. None of them know what's really at stake.

 

• What about the present is most alluring? What about the future does Paradox miss the most?

It's got to be linear time, hands down. You have no idea just how swoop it is to experience the present one sequential moment at a time. Let me try to explain: imagine if I were to drop an apple. You experience the fall of the apple as linear time, you observe the sequence of events from the moment the apple leaves my hand to the moment it hits the ground. Non-linear time has no handy reference points like "apple in hand" or "apple on ground", if you were to observe the apple drop in non-linear time you would see a long trail of apples leading from my hand to the ground. Put simply, non-linear time is not defined by singular points in time but rather the path that is taken where everything is connected and occurs at the same time.

Expanding on that, you would also see its path from when it was an apple blossom winding its way to my hand to the end where it sits and rots on the ground. In the most extreme case of non-linear time, you would the apple trail branching off as all possible paths it could have taken is revealed. The apple may have fallen and rotted away, eaten from the inside by worms, chopped to bits and baked into a pie, or maybe even become an apple tree someday. I'm sure it must be fascinating to be the observer and see all the paths of the apple, but spare a moment to think of how the apple must feel.

What do I miss? That's hard to say. Reality was ripping itself apart at the seams so the future itself was pretty hard to love. I think I miss my memories the most though. I'm sure I had friends and family there, but every time I try to remember the names and faces shift and change. I can't remember them like I should.

Edited March 17, 2023 by SkeleKing (see edit history)

[SkeleKing]

  

 

John Hardey

THE BULL

HERO NAME:
REAL NAME: John Hardey
LOOK: Male, White, Casual Clothing, Simple Costume
ABILITIES: Superhumanly tough, incredibly strong, and uniquely skilled at fighting (Mass Altering)

LABELS

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

 

BACKSTORY

• Who changed you?

I volunteered. I engaged in a lot of protests and demonstrations against the occupation of Halcyon City, and of course the Tangee crack down on that shit hard. Pretty sure I've racked up a long record of "civil disobedience" for all my jail time. My aunt practically begs me not to go against them, but I don't know what else to do. I'm just too damn angry over what they did to us.

Anyway, that's when I met someone I call "The Recruiter". He promised me a path to power, a way to hurt the Tangee in the way that matters. All I had to do was show up and wear a mask. It sounded too good to be true. If people could just hand out superpowers, then origin chasers wouldn't be a thing. But then I figured that if I could hurt the Tangee somehow, what did I really have to lose? So I got a mask and showed up.

Everyone was wearing them, like they were trying to relive the time when we had heroes. They subjected me to all kinds of tests, trying to find which procedure wouldn't outright kill me I guess. Eventually they settled on blasting me with particles of an alien metal, one that could produce mass altering force fields. It hurt like a bitch, but I didn't die and by the end of it I could transform my body into that alien metal.

 

• How did you escape from them?

I should have realized that it was too good to be true. They had no intentions on letting me leave my test pod, not while I still had free will. Wish I could say I went beast mode and started tearing shit up, but I can't. Someone else was doing that. I don't know what happened, whether it was some other test subject that got loose, or the Tangee discovered them, or some other third party but they left me alone to deal with it. It was long enough that I shrugged off whatever mental stupor they placed me under and I was able to increase my mass enough to break out of my pod, then I got the hell out of there. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I just ran through every barrier, charging through wall after wall, and by the time I got through the other side that place wasn't standing.

I still don't know what happened, and I don't care. My goal hadn't changed. I was going to bring all my anger on the Tangee, and this time I had the power to do it.

 

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

I lost my family during the invasion, so I live with my Aunt now. She doesn't want me to do anything reckless, just keep my head down and stay out of the way. But I can't do that, I can't ignore what they did.

 

• Why do you try to be a hero?

Hero? I'm not a hero. I'm just someone with a grudge. During the invasion the Halcyon bridge was damaged and falling apart. Captain Steel was there holding the bridge up like all the times before, so that the people on the bridge could be rescued. The Tangee didn't care. They used that time when Steel was vulnerable to abduct, and the bridge collapsed. I lost my family that day. Now they covered up that crime, upping their propaganda to make it look like they're the heroes, saviors of humanities future, and people just go along with it. But I can't. I can't accept that they can get away with it. I can't look the other way and keep my head down. I have to do something, and now I can. I can't win against them, they've already proven that. I don't expect to win. I expect to make them hurt before I go down.

 

• Why do you care about the team?

They're idiots. They think they can do what a whole city of heroes couldn't. But they aren't bad people, and I don't want anything to happen to them. If the Tangee want to get to them, they're gonna have to go through me.

 

 

WHEN OUR TEAM FIRST CAME TOGETHER...

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

 

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 rivals.

Love:_____________

Rival:____________

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

INFLUENCE:

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

 

MOVES:

Thick and Thin Skinned

Whenever you have Angry marked, take +1 ongoing to unleash your powers.

Physics? What Physics?

When you unleash your powers to barrel through an insurmountable barrier, roll + Danger instead of + Freak.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by SkeleKing (see edit history)