OOC

Question- if Emma is using her powers to directly engage the woman, does she roll +Danger or +Freak?

She would roll +Danger. One of the options when succeeding on "Directly Engage a Threat" is to create an opportunity or to take something from them, so that could be written as grappling with them or some such.

Something I read in the book that I didn't understand before is that "Unleash your Powers," which is +Freak, is not the "Use Your Powers" move. It's used for complicated tasks that solve problems and is kind of a catch-all move for using your powers that doesn't fit better in one of the other Moves.

That's my understanding anyway!

Huh. I think I get that. So normal use of powers doesn't require a roll?

If a person capable of flight is just flying around the city, with nothing special going on, then the game doesn't intend for you to roll for that. There's no question as to whether or not you can succeed at that, so you don't need to roll it. Of course the Gamemaster might have an interesting idea for why you might fail that you are not aware of, so that's always an exception.

If you're capable of flying and part of your action is to fly at full speed toward a supervillain and slam into his stomach, then you don't roll to activate the power before rolling to attack him, or anything. All of that is just contained in the Directly Engage a Threat move, which is always +Danger, whether or not you're using your powers to do it.

Woops, my bad! I had assumed Engage a Threat would have been more for a direct attack. I have a +2 in both Danger and Freak though, so it was a failure either way.

MoMo is correct on all counts! The moves in this game are meant to be descriptive and cover lots of things, but there's also a lot you can do without needing to use them. That said, keep your playbook moves in mind! It's what makes your character play different from the rest of your team.

Also, you can effectively use any moves in combat, not just directly engage and unleash your powers. With how combat works in Masks, they can all be equally effective at reaching your goals.

What are you having trouble with?

I think just understanding how everything works.

From seeing the posts, some actions lead to questions or odd results and I just keep thinking. I have no idea what people are talking about.

Did you read the file about the basic moves?

I felt the same way, Cosmic_Cube. I picked up the Masks RPG book from DriveThruRPG (using the Gamers Plane referral link, of course), and it's making more sense.

Basically, the Basic Moves are a description of the types of actions that you can take. The 2d6+x roll that is required in the description of the Basic Move doesn't always relate directly to your primary ability. It's kind of like FATE that way. Your 2d6+x roll is a success if you get a 7 or higher, and a great success if it's a 10 or higher.

Can we only do the basic moves ?
Also it seems almost like puzzle pieces where some actions lead to other actions.
I was trying to figure out how that worked.

Some actions are in fact meant to lead into others. And you have access to the basic moves as well as the moves your playbook gives you.

Some of the Moves generate additional information on a critical success (rolling 10+). For example, the Pierce the Mask move (in the Basic Moves playbook available for free from magpigames.com) lists:

When you pierce someone's mask to see the person beneath, roll +Mundane. On a 10+, ask three. On a 7-9, ask one.
- what are you really planning?
- what do you want me to do?
- what do you intend to do?
- how could I get your character to _____?
- how could I gain Influence over you?

For my F2F group we've gone with Fiction first and then figured rolls/moves as the GM states after the RP. That might help.

The Apocalypse system focuses really heavily on just "telling a story" as opposed to "playing a game." There are a lot of things that don't require rolls and also don't have an in-game mechanical effect; We're just sitting around going back and forth and telling a story. When an action has a significant chance of failure (as we/the GM sees it), then we can roll for it. Honestly, the moves should cover just about everything you want to do, so generally you'll choose which Move your Action fits into, and then those give you some effects for the results that you roll.

If you're unsure how to play, more so than in most games you can totally get by if you just roleplay your character and do everything you think he/she would do, and then the GM will let you know if/when you need to make rolls, and what to roll. You'd learn the system pretty quick.

So here's my understanding:

Whenever you directly engage a threat, if you roll a hit (7+), then you both hurt each other. That's what trading blows is. Target takes a condition and either you take a condition or you roll Take a Powerful Blow, up to the GM. There's an option for your "Choose One" when you get a hit, to ignore your opponent's damage, which effectively means "you hurt them, they don't hurt you." But otherwise, you kind of both hit each other.

I posted in the IC thread, I ruled that since she's fighting three opponents at once, she has her attention split and wasn't able to do much against you. Unless you want to take a powerful blow.

Okay! No problem, I just didn't know if you didn't understand how the rule worked, or something. I misunderstood!

Omen already feels Insecure, anyhow :(

I legitimately did not know. I've only played some Masks before and that character never directly engages.