Here’s my initial thoughts. I can play this character as a variety of playbooks I think (Relic, Outsider, Doomed, Soldier), but as I am a busy college student, I only wrote up the questions for my top pick, Relic. Will alter playbook depending on other people’s characters and whatnot.
Kiln (Relic) What time did you come from and how did you get here?
I come from an island, hundreds of years ago, that has since disappeared under water. (I think nowadays you call it Global Warming?)
I was badly hurt in battle and was dying. Researchers tried to create a healing pod using leftover ancient technology, but it backfired. They must have messed up the wiring or something, but I got sent here instead. Pretty cool that they managed to jury rig a time machine, but now I’m stuck here, without a good way to get back. Injustice seems the only thing that hasn’t changed. What did you fight and why are you willing to fight it still?
There have always been people with power who will try to pick on the weak. Someone has to have the courage to stand up for what’s right. If I started doing otherwise now, how could I face my friends back home? Who outside the team is aware that you’re not from our time and how do they feel about it?
There’s probably a file with my name on it somewhere in AEGIS. They certainly aren’t happy that I won’t tell them where the healing pod time machine is. It is my only connection to home - I don’t want them to break it or anything. I’ll probably let them look at it if I can’t fix it by myself, but until then, I can’t risk it. What do you love most in your new Age? What do you miss most from where you came from?
I love the variety of everything. Getting to see new things and try different foods - it is all so exciting. However, I really miss my friends. Also we have a spice that we always use in cooking, and nothing I find here comes close to it. I miss that familiar taste a lot. Why do you care about the team?
The team is my anchor to this time. They may be weird, but I am too, so we fit together. Besides, they remind me of my friends back home - A little strange, all very different, but all fighting for the same goal.
While I like the idea of Kiln time traveling the slow way, I think the fast way makes more sense. One of the key parts of the relic is they are searching for a way back home. And while time travel obviously exists in modern times, it feels kinda roundabout. Also, that would eliminate the need for Kiln to be protecting their ancient tech/looking for more of it was simply a healing pod that was now just a reminder of home, Vs it being their only reliable way to get back home.
So the pod did cause them travel through time the fast way, though how is unknown.
One of my abilities is witchcraft, which I thought I’d lay out my thoughts on what that means, given the vagueness of “witchcraft.”
I am continuing my blatant plagiarism (I’d get sent to Phoenix Academy’s office of academic integrity). My witchcraft includes spatial storage (katana space), which is mainly used for weapons. (I tried to use this on the first day and messed up the gesture. Whoops). Second is a spell that summons a fiery explosion that can be tossed, dropped, or held.
Those who know, know that there are other things I can draw upon, but I don’t want to overbalance compared to the team. So we’re chilling with explosions and convenience. How does that sound to folks?
That sounds good to me. Speaking as a player, I feel you should use the power however you think it ought to work. The balance that matters to me is story spotlight, not whose power makes the biggest boom or has the most applications. Go nuts with Kiln and make them a unique and fun character.
Yes. The glory of “Masks” is that powers are window dressing to give you clues as to how to describe how you do things that MAKE YOU FEEL.
Can Joe throw a bicycle? A motorcycle? A car? A private jet? Sure. What’s important is what he feels about it when he takes a condition because he rolled a 7.
Now, story integrity is a bit different. If you feel comfortable with using a power at a given level, then cool. If it feels a stretch for the character, then use restraint. Joe can’t throw a cruise liner.
I have a lot more insight into Kiln’s character and background after we watched George Pal’s Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961). Myth, magic, and super-science all blended together. Inspirational!
