TEXT: Core GM Reference
  Agendas
  • Make Halcyon City feel like a comic 
  book 
  • Make the player characters’ lives 
  superheroic 
  • Play to find out what changes 
  • ___________________________
  Always say...
  • What the principles demand 
  • What the rules demand 
  • What honesty demands
  • What your prep demands 
  • ____________________________
  Principles
  • Describe like a comic book 
  • Address yourself to the heroes, not the 
  players 
  • Make your move, but misdirect 
  • Make threats real 
  • Give up to fight another day 
  • Treat human life as meaningful 
  • Make supers seem outlandish, creative, 
  and cool 
  • Give villains drives to feature their 
  humanity 
  • Make adults seem childish and short-
  sighted
  • Support people, but only conditionally 
  • Ask provocative questions and build on 
  the answers 
  • Be a fan of the PCs 
  • Treat your NPCs like hammers: square 
  peg, round hole 
  • Remind them of the generations that 
  came before 
  • Think in the gutters between panels 
  • Sometimes, disclaim decision-making 
  • ____________________________
  Moves
  • Inflict a condition 
  • Take Influence over someone 
  • Bring them together 
  • Capture someone
  • Put innocents in danger 
  • Show the costs of collateral damage 
  • Reveal the future, subtly or directly 
  • Announce between-panel threats 
  • Make them pay a price for victory 
  • Turn their move back on them 
  • Tell them the possible consequences 
  and ask 
  • Tell them who they are or who they 
  should be 
  • Bring an NPC to rash decisions and 
  hard conclusions 
  • Activate the downsides of their abilities 
  and relationships 
  • Make a playbook move 
  • Make a villain move 
  • After every move: “What do you do?” 
  • ___________________________
  When you’re not busy…
  • Use splash panels 
  • Draw maps
  • Fill in the backstory
  • Use time jumps
  • Share the spotlight
  • Take breaks
  Playbook Moves
  The Beacon
  • Draw attention to their inadequacies 
  • Praise their best traits 
  • Make them pay for their audacity 
  • Compare them to the others 
  • Play to their drives 
  The Bull
  • Endanger their love 
  • Bolster their rival 
  • Reveal dark secrets of their past 
  • Attack with someone just like them 
  • Swarm with mundane forces 
  The Delinquent 
  • Put them in chains 
  • Give or take an audience 
  • Give them conditional love 
  • Show them the line 
  • Offer a helping hand 
  The Doomed
  • Mark their doom track 
  • Offer a chance to further their cause 
  • Remind them of what they could lose 
  • Push them to the brink 
  • Offer temporary relief with a cost
  The Janus
  • Bring their obligations to bear 
  • Endanger someone from either life 
  • Make their lives cross over 
  • Put more obligations on them 
  • Take away their mask 
  The Legacy
  • Remind them of their traditions 
  • Compare them to the past 
  • Make them answer their family’s 
  concerns 
  • Raise expectations on them 
  • Honor them 
  The Nova
  • Remind them of past collateral damage 
  • Reveal a terrible truth of their powers 
  • Make their powers flare out of control 
  • Stoke their conditions 
  • Introduce threats only they can tackle 
  The Outsider 
  • Draw attention to their differences 
  • Make a request from home 
  • Introduce a monitor from home 
  • Accept and support them in their 
  moments of weakness 
  • Provoke their beliefs and practices in 
  tense situations 
  The Protégé 
  • Convey their mistakes 
  • Bestow wisdom, wanted or unwanted 
  • Hold up a mirror to them 
  • Give them exactly what they need at 
  a cost 
  • Endanger their mentor
  The Transformed
  • Reject them 
  • Show how they are feared or hated 
  • Attack them with unthinking hordes 
  • Remind them of what they’ve lost 
  • See their true self 
  1st Session Goals
  • Help your players create their 
  characters 
  • Prime Halcyon City with plenty of cool 
  material and events to build on 
  • Show off who these characters are 
  • Go through most of the mechanics of 
  the game (and definitely all the basic 
  moves) 
  • Create an awesome first issue of your 
  comic 
  Do these…
  • Bring on the action 
  • Build on character creation 
  • Ask questions constantly 
  • Call out moves when they happen 
  • Offer moves when the players flinch 
  • Frame scenes with multiple characters 
  • Shift their Labels 
  • Display the adaptations to the 
  superhuman 
  • Give them a chance to talk
  Character Creation
  • Hand out the playbooks. Have 
  each player take turns reading the 
  description of each.
  • Have each player pick a playbook.
  • Ask questions during the process. 
  Keep the players talking about their 
  characters and their decisions.
  • After they have chosen names, looks, 
  abilities, starting labels, answers to 
  backstory questions, moves, and any 
  special pieces of their playbooks, go 
  around and ask them to introduce 
  their characters, one at a time. Ask 
  questions all the while.
  • Once all characters are introduced, ask 
  them to read out loud their “When our 
  team first came together...” section, 
  without answering the questions. Then 
  have them answer those questions one 
  at a time. The recommended order of 
  questions is: Bull * Nova * Outsider * 
  Janus * Delinquent * Doomed * Legacy 
  * Transformed * Protégé * Beacon
  • Ask questions of them the whole time. 
  Weave together their answers to paint a 
  picture of the incident.
  • Afterward, do relationships and 
  Influence.
  “When Our Team First 
  Came Together…” 
  Questions
  Bull: We defeated a dangerous enemy. Who 
  or what was it? 
  Nova: We destroyed our surroundings 
  in the fight. Where was it? What did we 
  destroy? 
  Outsider: We didn’t trust each other at 
  first, but that changed. How? Why? 
  Janus: We saved the life of someone 
  important, either to the city, or to us. Who 
  was it? Why are they important? 
  Delinquent: We totally broke some major 
  rules to win the fight. What rules did we 
  break? Whose rules were they? 
  Doomed: We paid a high cost for victory. 
  What was it? 
  Legacy: All things considered, we did well 
  and impressed an established hero. Who 
  was it? 
  Transformed: We drew attention and 
  ire from plenty during the fight. One 
  important person in particular now hates 
  and fears us. Who is it? 
  Protégé: We stuck together after all was 
  said and done. Why? How’d we keep in 
  contact? 
  Beacon: We found signs that this incident 
  was just the start of something bigger. 
  What were the signs?
  
  Villains
  How to Make a Villain
  Follow these steps to set up a villain, 
  whether making one from scratch or 
  writing up an existing character as a 
  villain: 
  Choose a name and generation 
  Choose a drive 
  Choose one to five villain moves 
  Choose one to five conditions 
  Villain Names
  Choose a name that’s fun and exciting to 
  you, and that signals the generation of 
  the villain. 
  Gold: Goofy, fun, light-hearted names 
  Silver: Grandiose, cosmic, epic names 
  Bronze: Down-to-earth, simple, catchy 
  names 
  Modern: Meme-worthy, “unique,” clever 
  names 
  When it’s appropriate, pick a real name for 
  the villain, too. 
  Villain Drives
  Give your villain a drive, a purpose or goal 
  that leads them to action, in the form of a 
  statement: 
  “To __________________.” Make your 
  drives point at the villain’s underlying 
  humanity. Make the drives comprehensible 
  and empathetic whenever possible. 
  Villain Moves
  Create three or so villain moves, things 
  the villain does, both in and out of fights. 
  Make them descriptive and interesting, 
  active and direct.
  Conditions
  Choose one to five conditions for the 
  villain. You choose from the PC’s regular 
  conditions list: Afraid, Angry, Guilty, 
  Hopeless, and Insecure. The more 
  conditions you give a villain, the greater 
  their capacity to stay in the fight, and the 
  more dangerous they’ll be.
  • 1 condition: Barely a threat 
  • 2 conditions: A bit of a fight 
  • 3 conditions: A threatening villain 
  • 4 conditions: A dangerous villain 
  • 5 conditions: A true arch-villain 
  You can always adjust a villain’s danger 
  and longevity by giving them more 
  conditions or taking away conditions. 
  Villains in a Fight
  Here are the core guidelines that villains 
  follow in fights: 
  • When a villain gets hit hard, by trading 
  blows or in other situations, they mark 
  a condition as appropriate. 
  • When a villain marks a condition, they 
  make a move from the condition moves 
  list immediately, before the PCs act 
  again. 
  • When you need to say what the villain 
  does next, look to your GM moves, their 
  villain moves, and the condition moves. 
  • When a villain needs to mark a 
  condition but can’t, they are definitively 
  defeated. 
  • Villains can flee or give up long before 
  all their conditions are filled—don’t 
  think they have to fight to the bitter 
  end. 
  • Villains, and NPCs in general, always 
  try to clear conditions—they always 
  choose to open up after a PC’s 
  successful comfort or support move.
  Condition Moves
  These are GM moves for villains to make 
  immediately after they’ve marked a 
  condition, and any time you’d make a GM 
  move after that.
  AFRAID 
  • Hide out of harm’s way 
  • Flee from danger or difficulty 
  • Lash out without thought at a threat 
  • Plead for mercy 
  • Throw up blocks and walls
  ANGRY 
  • Vent through unthinking violence 
  • Break the environment 
  • Shut down conversation 
  • Lash out at any vulnerability 
  • Escalate the situation dangerously 
  GUILTY 
  • Seek forgiveness 
  • Sacrifice anything or everything for 
  redemption 
  • Turn to the unthinkable 
  • Implicate others in guilt 
  • Reveal the nature of their drive 
  HOPELESS 
  • Give up without a fight 
  • Burn down the world around them 
  • Seek any light in the dark 
  • Undermine others’ beliefs 
  • Veer toward drastic and terrible action 
  INSECURE 
  • Double down on broken plans or ideas 
  • Follow the lead of someone else
  • Doubt and question their own allies 
  and plans 
  • Admit wrongful action 
  • Recede into the background 
  Super Names
  Anarch, The Antediluvian, The August, The 
  Duke of Bone, Captain Shadow, Cygnus, 
  Doctor Infinity, Dread Queen, Dream Tiger, 
  Emerald Lance, Gehenna, Ghostheart, 
  Glacier, Gravestone, Handyman, Hashtag, 
  Hourglass, Kingfisher, Knuckleduster, 
  The Lawman, Mirror Beast, Mr. 
  Everywhere, Myrmidon, Mystic Mistress, 
  Panthalassa the Sea-Sovereign, Quill, 
  Superbia, Photovore, Rime, Rockhammer, 
  Scarlet Songbird, Silent Storm, The 
  Spider, Starlyte, Steel Mask, Vixxis the 
  Timebreaker, Warpstar, Vortex, Zero Hour
  _____________________________
  Real Names
  Alexander, Amrit, Betty, Brandon, 
  Chadwick, Chun, Damon, Dipali, Dustin, 
  Faith, Hayley, Ida, Imran, Ismael, Josefina, 
  Joy, Juanita, Julius, Jun, King, Kyo, Leticia, 
  Lina, Luz, Marcos, Nadine, Orlando, 
  Patricia, Paul, Prasad, Ren, Rochelle, 
  Salman, Salvador, Sita, Sushila, Santiago, 
  Tyler, Vicky, Yi, Yuki
  Amjad, Ash, Bass, Benitez, El-Amin, 
  Fernandez, Chan, Corbitt, Dumas, 
  Gallagher, Hartwell, Espinoza, Kane, Li, 
  Locklear, McCloud, Mireles, Murray, Parr, 
  Pasternak, Rayburn, Reaves, Serrano, 
  Starling, Treadwell, Trujillo, Tyson, Wong, 
  Woodcomb, Zheng
  _____________________________
  Sample Drives
  • To bring justice to the guilty
  • To create and enforce order
  • To defend those like them
  • To defeat a hated archenemy
  • To demand attention and focus
  • To destroy threats to peace
  • To free those in chains
  • To obtain massive wealth
  • To overturn an unjust system
  • To protect their home and loved ones
  • To prove the failures of corrupt heroes
  • To rally and inspire others to action
  • To seize control of threats and dangers
  • To take vengeance for past wrongs
  • To uncover the secrets of the world
  _____________________________
  Sample Villain Moves
  • Summon robotic minions
  • Open a gate to another dimension/the 
  future 
  • Create a weapon or bomb
  • Hide behind a lieutenant
  • Threaten innocents
  • Explain their true purpose
  • Implicate or tarnish heroes
  • Steal away something valuable
  • Transform into a more dangerous form
  • Reveal the nature of a trap
  _____________________________
  
  Villain Record Sheet
  Name
  Drive 
  Conditions
   
  ❑ Afraid
   
  ❑ Angry
   
  ❑ Guilty
   
  ❑ Insecure
   
  ❑ Hopeless
  Moves
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  Description
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  Name
  Drive 
  Conditions
   
  ❑ Afraid
   
  ❑ Angry
   
  ❑ Guilty
   
  ❑ Insecure
   
  ❑ Hopeless
  Moves
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  Description
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  Name
  Drive 
  Conditions
   
  ❑ Afraid
   
  ❑ Angry
   
  ❑ Guilty
   
  ❑ Insecure
   
  ❑ Hopeless
  Moves
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  Description
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  Name
  Drive 
  Conditions
   
  ❑ Afraid
   
  ❑ Angry
   
  ❑ Guilty
   
  ❑ Insecure
   
  ❑ Hopeless
  Moves
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  Description
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  Hooks
  Pairing: Danger vs Freak
  Hook Impulse - Danger: To remind them of 
  collateral damage
  Hook Impulse - Freak: To play up their 
  strangeness and capabilities
  Pairing: Danger 
  vs Mundane
  Hook Impulse - Danger: To mistrust and 
  provoke
  Hook Impulse - Mundane: To interrupt 
  dangerous situations
  Pairing: Danger vs Savior
  Hook Impulse - Danger: To push towards a 
  fight
  Hook Impulse - Savior: To push away from a 
  straight fight, towards saving lives 
  Pairing: Danger 
  vs Superior 
  Hook Impulse - Danger: To infuriate and 
  provoke
  Hook Impulse - Superior:  To point out 
  failures of control and planning
  Pairing: Freak 
  vs Mundane 
  Hook Impulse - Freak: To isolate and drive 
  away
  Hook Impulse - Mundane: To make normal
  Pairing: Freak vs Savior
  Hook Impulse - Freak: To praise immense 
  power and abilities
  Hook Impulse - Savior: To place 
  responsibility
  Pairing: Freak 
  vs Superior 
  Hook Impulse - Freak: To call out the flaws 
  of strangeness
  Hook Impulse - Superior: To praise the power 
  and ability of strangeness
  Pairing: Mundane 
  vs Savior
  Hook Impulse - Mundane: To ask for 
  empathy and mercy
  Hook Impulse - Savior: To demand defense 
  and protection for innocents
  Pairing: Mundane 
  vs Superior
  Hook Impulse - Mundane: To require 
  compromise for connection
  Hook Impulse - Superior: To detach and 
  distance from others
  Pairing: Savior 
  vs Superior
  Hook Impulse - Savior: To highlight 
  impending threats
  Hook Impulse - Superior: To present 
  opportunities for action
  Arcs
  To build an arc, follow these steps: 
  • Choose an arc type 
  • Build out the cast 
  • Fill in the phases 
  • Create custom moves (optional) 
  • Give it a name and description 
  Arc Types
  There are 5 kinds of arc you could make: 
  • Corruption - something good, positive, 
  or helpful is made dangerous and 
  threatening 
  • Invasion - threats and enemies fight their 
  way into control 
  • Restriction - those with power place 
  constraints on those without 
  • Destruction - threats and enemies break 
  and destroy what stands in their way 
  • Restoration - the heroes push to repair 
  what damage has been done 
  Corruption
  CORRUPTION SUBTYPES:
  • Falling Hero (impulse: to commit to a 
  rigid code of ethics) 
  • Greedy Power (impulse: to wield power 
  selfishly) 
  • Stolen Innocence (impulse: to make 
  terrible decisions) 
  • Twisted Truth (impulse: to spin lies) 
  • Traitorous Ally (impulse: to betray) 
  CORRUPTION MOVES:
  • Pontificate about the true nature of 
  things 
  • Present enticing gifts with strings 
  • Offer a temporary alliance 
  • Twist the narrative publicly 
  • Make threats, subtle or not 
   
  Invasion
  INVASION SUBTYPES:
  • Aliens (impulse: to subvert or eliminate 
  those in power) 
  • Criminals (impulse: to seize territory at 
  any cost) 
  • Outsiders (impulse: to subvert or 
  eliminate those without power) 
  • Time travelers (impulse: to control the 
  actions of predecessors) 
  • Spies (impulse: to take control of 
  valuable resources)
  INVASION MOVES:
  • Pour forth a horde of soldiers 
  • Directly assault a stronghold 
  • Secretly infiltrate a stronghold 
  • Demand submission 
  • Capture innocents 
  Restriction
  RESTRICTION SUBTYPES:
  • Law (impulse: to outlaw and restrict) 
  • Military (impulse: to crack down on 
  rampant elements) 
  • Agents (impulse: to control how others 
  use power) 
  • Heroes (impulse: to uphold tradition) 
  • Corporations (impulse: to protect their 
  interests from any threat) 
  RESTRICTION MOVES:
  • Deploy surprising strength and force 
  • Offer a warning 
  • Interfere in heroic situations 
  • Create new rules and restrictions 
  • Reward obedience 
  Destruction
  DESTRUCTION SUBTYPES:
  • Defenders of the City (impulse: to draw 
  out defenders with danger) 
  • Item of Power (impulse: to smash and 
  grab) 
  • Prison (impulse: to free the restrained) 
  • Authorities of the City (impulse: to break 
  tradition) 
  • Dangers to the City (impulse: to hunt and 
  pursue doggedly) 
  DESTRUCTION MOVES:
  • Leave a trail of rubble and fires 
  • Endanger innocents with collateral 
  damage 
  • Break the bindings on a danger 
  • Destroy a public landmark 
  • Explain the necessity for destruction  
  Restoration
  RESTORATION SUBTYPES:
  • Redemption (impulse: to draw into the 
  light) 
  • Reclamation (impulse: to repel through 
  force and battle) 
  • Rebellion (impulse: to subvert through 
  chaos and mayhem) 
  • Reconstruction (impulse: to rebuild 
  despite danger) 
  RESTORATION MOVES:
  • Reveal a rebuilt threat 
  • Uncover an old secret 
  • Rally the people to a cause 
  • Destroy the forces in power 
  • Share a vision of the future 
  
  Hook Record Sheet
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  Arc Record Sheet
  Arc Type:  _______________________________________________________________________
  Cast:  
  _______________________________________________________________________
  Phase 1:  
  _______________________________________________________________________
  Phase 2:  
  _______________________________________________________________________
  Phase 3:  
  _______________________________________________________________________
  Description: _______________________________________________________________________
  ________________________________________________________________________________
  ________________________________________________________________________________
  Custom Moves: _____________________________________________________________________
  ________________________________________________________________________________
  Arc Type:  _______________________________________________________________________
  Cast:  
  _______________________________________________________________________
  Phase 1:  
  _______________________________________________________________________
  Phase 2:  
  _______________________________________________________________________
  Phase 3:  
  _______________________________________________________________________
  Description: _______________________________________________________________________
  ________________________________________________________________________________
  ________________________________________________________________________________
  Custom Moves: _____________________________________________________________________
  ________________________________________________________________________________
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Kid Friendly/7. RPGs/Ages 13-15 (Competent readers, competent writers, Able to do all basic math, can handle darker themes)/PbtA/Masks/MASKS - A New Generation - GM Sheets.pdf