A game that caught my interest while scrolling through the list of games presented at IndieCade 2021 was a Tabletop RPG by the name of “Anyone can Wear the Mask”, developed by Jeff Stormer. This is a role-playing game where three players play as the Hero, the Villain, and the City, and each role has their own characteristics and control. It’s a game about superheroes where every life matters and every decision counts. I, for one, am a big fan of the superhero genre, and so I decided to give it a try. I gathered two of my friends, both of whom have never played a TTRPG in their life before, and we got started. I played as the City, the role really dedicated to being the Gamemaster. I controlled who lived where, the districts and neighborhoods of the city, and the overall narrative being played out. My friend Eric was the Villain, a role where he could control the dangers of the city and the criminal underground that held power over the city. My friend Riley played the Hero, the role dedicated to saving and protecting the innocents around him. He had less overall control than the City and the Villain, but his reactions to what transpired had an effect on the people around him as he created his legacy. We had a blast playing the game. The hero of our story was a man by the name of Hillbert Billy Bob, a dude given great gifts after being bitten by a radioactive homeless man. He could throw himself at great speeds while curling himself into a ball. He was the man known as the Pinball, a force of good in the dastardly city of New Boston, a cyberpunk city where the Yakuza and Mafia call their home. While Hunjuku Japan and Big Italy had their own sections of the city, Jiggle Street and Diamond City played their own role into making New Boston what it eventually turned out to be. The villain of the story was the Kirkinator, a test-tube clone of the late Charlie Kirk who could turn others into Charlie Kirk using his blood. His goal was to turn to whole city into Kirk’s in order to carry the flame, honor the gospel, and fight for his name. The story was stupid as fuck, but we had a hilarious time playing the game. As mentioned before, Riley and Eric had never played a TTRPG before, so at first, we had a rough start, but they were both able to get into it, and we entered a flow state where ideas kept bouncing off of each other left and right. Eventually, we had a deep lore that explained everything around the city. We haven’t finished it yet, but from what we have played, we created a narrative that all three of us were invested in using the game’s mechanics, a card flip that determines what actions will take place in the day in the life of the hero. Cards drawn would influence who was in danger, what the danger was, and where it was taking place. It could take place in an area unknown to the hero, or in the hero’s backyard. The actions of the hero were influenced by dice rolls that determined whether or not the person in danger was saved. If the person was saved, the hero’s legacy increased, and he became an icon to the city. If the person died, the hero had to mourn and reflect on his failures to those he swore to protect. As we played, the decisions we made did take an effect on us, and whenever someone couldn’t be saved, we had a moment of silence. This RPG really put us into the shoes of our dedicated roles. I felt like I was affected whenever we created a new piece of lore. I changed and developed over the course of the game depending on what happened. Riley also was affected by his decisions and his role. He wanted to become a change in the city, and so his reactions to the gameplay reflected that. Eric had a fun time being the villain, and crafting lore for his character for sure helped him get more comfortable in the game space than he was at the beginning of the game. As mentioned before, we haven’t finished our run yet, but we are so invested by the story and the mechanics that we have to finish it, and we will, because this game is really good. I give it 4.5/5 stars.
