MASK OR MENACE

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping into MASK OR MENACE? Want to dip your toes into the setting and get a feel of whether your character will fit into it? Or maybe you're just cruising and want to play around? Then you've come to the right place!

Pick any of the following scenarios below or feel free to make up your own, but don't be afraid to throw yourself at someone else's thread, either!

And remember there's only one rule in Test Drive Meme Club: have fun!

01. The city of Heropa is what one might expect from a small, bright and cheery place, where locals are friendly enough and local shop owners might offer a free drink to welcome you to their fair city. Some of the locals might thank you for always lending your service to the nation, while others might not say anything -- but if you have something nasty to say, better not say anything at all, right?

They are, however, in the middle of something of a pickle. While Do-It-Yourself cloning kits produced by the all American (and currently under intense investigation) company Heaven Scent may sound like a bit of harmless fun, it turns out there can be some negative side effects when they’re handed out to random members of the public. Who knew? Apparently a kit or two fell into native hands and, long story short, some teens took them to the local petting zoo. And now the sheepening has begun. Masses of poorly cloned, family friendly animals have over taken the Laying of Hands On Zoo therapeutic petting zoo. Worse, these seemingly unending masses of clever charmers have chewed their way out of most pens and taken to the streets. With absolutely no fear of humans, sheep are consuming every bit of vegetation in sight, goats are climbing fire escapes and into dumpsters, tiny horses are clogging the streets and confounding traffic cops, llamas are surrounding people in the street to eat their food, and the capybaras have taken over every body of water they can get access to, from local swimming pools to lawn sprinklers. Given the heat wave is still in full swing, none of this is helping the general mood of a local people that are now wary of going into pools, stuck in traffic jams, and having their ice cream consumed by belligerent alpacas in the street.

These creatures have one weakness, though: tipping. It’s not just for cows anymore. Thanks to the cloning kits being used waaay past their suggested limits, the clone qualities have really just gone downhill. Give a hard enough shove to make them fall onto their side and the animals will start disintegrating. Right there. In front of all those screaming kids. Maybe just herding them away or using some porter given powers will cause less emotional scarring to the local population? It’s up to you how to proceed, hero. But while doing nothing is an option, beware of roving petting zoo animals coming for that free drink in your hand or into the nice air conditioned resting spot you’ve set up in no matter how much you want to avoid getting involved.


02. De Chima, Virginia, is a large city with a healthy economy, and though it's quieter than Heropa, there are still large numbers of citizens to be awed at your very presence. Look at you! Organic wonder! Science and technology are the lifeblood of this city, so you're likely to come across a good many locals taking your picture with the newest of devices. The imPort craze remains high here, and you may find yourself cornered by overzealous imPort fans, media wannabes and opportunists alike, shoving cameras in your face. Their questions are likely to be fairly mundane, however; get ready for an interview about your taste in romantic partners, personal underwear choices, favorite foods, and more!

Believe it or not, there have been some recent…difficulties between the locals and the imPort community this month. Zombies roaming the streets, fires, yet another political campaign the American public was forced to listen to non-stop radio commentary about. But in typical American spirit, there is one surefire cure to times of trouble: merchandising and public service announcements. There are Let The Dead Die wrist bracelets, Only You! Can Prevent Swear-In Fires posters, and glitter-covered ribbon pins, stickers, and car magnets supporting…well it’s not terribly clear? Supporting not-terrible things happening seems to be the general gist. But most importantly, they’re all locally produced and for sale. Don’t you want to support your local community? The mobs of sales people certainly think you do. In fact, any imPort spotted not wearing some kind of patriotic flair will be alternatively pressured to get some and treated with hostility anywhere and everywhere they go. Even the mugger you may stop in a daily good deed will throw shade at your unpatriotic butt.

Alternatively, those wearing (out of genuine support or just to make the peer pressure stop) any pins, stickers, wrist bands, or what have you will face the challenge of local news crews asking you to do a quick PSA for the people. What advice do you have to give? Remember this is live TV, so try to make it good. Or, for the more morally ambiguous, as terrible as you can. Remember kids: Inky the imPort says it’s not breaking the law if you get away with it!


03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has had its ups and downs since imPorts started reappearing. Several imPort heroes have put focused efforts into cleaning up the streets of this somewhat infamous city, while others have swooped in to help the criminal industry thrive. More so here than the streets of any other imPort city, the battle between good and evil looks more like a war of escalation than a heroic tale. That might make the less than warm welcome imPorts are given in the city a little more understandable. The emergence of locals with superpowers is hardly helping. While some of these individuals have turned to crime, many locals seem more inclined to defend their native powered drug dealer than help the non-native hero bring them to justice. Who are you to tell them how to live?

Despite the shady reputation, this still is a city filled with families and local pride. Today is a family festival in the park! Come eat cheap (possibly not FDA inspected) food, from deep fried anything-that-will-fit-in-the-fryer, to cotton candy, to turkey legs, to you get the general idea. Or join in the numerous competitions happening, such as the egg toss, scavenger hunt, potato sack race or the semi-voluntary three legged race. What makes it semi-voluntary? Well, there’s a not-so-small registration free to participate, so some of them more non-scrupulous (and according to rumors, mob backed) ‘event coordinators’ have simply started chaining random people together when they’re not looking, then refusing to open the locks until the fee is paid. Actually participating in the race after payment is rendered is entirely optional, but if you want a chance to re-coup your losses by winning the first place cash prize you may want to give it a go. Weirdly, these cuffs seem to be enhanced somehow. Blame Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, or the fifty other technological genius imPorts that have arrived in the past few years, but these cuffs are immune to porter-given powers and lock picking. If you want out, you’ve got to pay. Or beat the guy up and face possible retaliation from local organized crime. Your fate is in your hands.

For those that aren’t there for food and managed to escape the competitions, there’s still a few side activities. No Maurtia Falls event would be complete without a good bit of under the table gambling. Whether you want to run a betting pool yourself or throw down some cash on which kid will hop the fastest in a potato sack, the good people of the Falls are there for you. And offering 10:1 odds on the kid in glasses.


04. Nonah, North Carolina, is the liveliest of all cities; loud, busy and there's some kind of energy in the air that gets everyone buzzing with excitement. To be American is to be part of a melting pot, and that there's more money to be made by the thriving local industries hardly hurts. Natives may gather around new arrivals and ask both personal and broad questions about life as an imPort, what they are looking forward to, what their favorite article of underwear is. A few night clubs offer free entrance - just this once!

Of all the cities, imPort fever is always the hottest and most reliable in Nonah. Sure there's been some recent troubles, but you can’t build anything new without a few stumbling blocks along the way, right? To show their dedication to making the local-imPort community really work, Nonah has started a Follow An ImPort to Work day initiative. Whatever government assigned job you have there is, suddenly, a child there shadowing you. Well, by suddenly we mean their parents appeared, gave a whirlwind of instructions, pat their kid on the head, and then left them in your tender care. For an entirely unspecified number of hours. Could be you got a surly teenager or a fanboy tween or a gurgling baby that has no idea what’s going on. Whatever age, the government was kind enough to have automatically registered you for the event, free of charge! Or warning.

Maybe you’ll make the best of it and teach the kid a thing or two. Maybe you’ll find some unsuspecting imPort visiting from another city to hand the kid off to. Maybe you’ll realize that absolutely no background checks have been run and small children are probably, entirely unsupervised, following around criminal masterminds or serial killers at this very moment. Maybe you and your new sidekick should do something about that, or at least check to make sure the fellow imPorts you see with a kid in tow are on the up and up. The future of the next generation is in your hands.

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping into MASK OR MENACE? Want to dip your toes into the setting and get a feel of whether your character will fit into it? Or maybe you're just cruising and want to play around? Then you've come to the right place!

Pick any of the following scenarios below or feel free to make up your own, but don't be afraid to throw yourself at someone else's thread, either!

And remember there's only one rule in Test Drive Meme Club: have fun!

01. The city of Heropa is what one might expect from a small, bright and cheery place, where locals are friendly enough and local shop owners might offer a free drink to welcome you to their fair city. Some of the locals might thank you for always lending your service to the nation, while others might not say anything -- but if you have something nasty to say, better not say anything at all, right?

Today it's not just imPorts that are making a scene. Given the relatively high approval rating imPorts still pull in here, maybe it shouldn't shock locals and imPorted arrivals alike that new native metahumans are using the city to debute their new spandex and catch phrases while they try and take their own bite out of crime. You know what they say about those darn kids these days though, too much time watching TV instead of say, oh, learning about martial arts or surveillance techniques. Or that the world doesn't actually pause when they start their dramatic entrances like it does on the small screen. There are five teenagers today, each one dressed in elaborate costumes modeled after different birds of paradise (click one of these if you really need examples). And you better believe each one has a dramatic entrance speech concerning truth, Justice, and the American Way, a dramatic pose, and a polysyllabic name to go through before they all strike a team pose and shout 'Birds Of Prey, Uncaged!'

During this time the lone criminal they had swooped down to stop has long since stared running away. Early in the morning, they did this whole production to stop a litterer. Mid-afternoon, a jay walker. Finally, in the evening, they actually try stopping a mugging. Of course the thief and the stolen goods are busy getting away during their intros, a fact the robbed citizen keeps shouting at them through the whole two minute long affair.

It's up to you, dear imPort, to catch these escaping misdemeanors or thief and bring them to actual justice (or, if you're really kind, hand them over to the birds), to stop and tell these kids to get off your darn lawn, to give them hero-ing tips or a real villain to fight against, or to just keep walking and pretend this whole mess never happened. The choice is yours.

02. De Chima, Virginia, is a large city with a healthy economy, and though it's quieter than Heropa, there are still large numbers of citizens to be awed at your very presence. Look at you! Organic wonder! Science and technology are the lifeblood of this city, so you're likely to come across a good many locals taking your picture with the newest of devices. The imPort craze remains high here, and you may find yourself cornered by overzealous imPort fans, media wannabes and opportunists alike, shoving cameras in your face. Their questions are likely to be fairly mundane, however; get ready for an interview about your taste in romantic partners, personal underwear choices, favorite foods, and more!

These questions are better asked inside, however, as a tornado warning has been released for the county. No, they haven't had one here since the 90s, but you can never be too careful! With the torrential downpour currently hammering the city, some enterprising business people have taken to offering storm themed sales of food, drinks, and appliances. Is there any better way to send the rainy day than on nickle shot night at the local bar, where you cannot only get dangerously intoxicated but also ride the newest in fun and games, the Freudian Mechanical Bull? Come one come all and see how long you can stay clinging on as the bull bucks you physically and emotionally, spitting out catchy psychological phrases like 'do you think this will make your father love you?' or 'riding me for five minutes will never fix what you've done.' The bull will detect which sentences seem to get the best effect and keep barring down on that path. Sensitive about your mother? Better believe the whole bar is about to hear a lot about it.

Or if you're not up for that much fun, you can aid worried citizens in securing their homes and businesses against the possible storms. Help them board up holes in roofs, cast wards on their windows, or just point them towards the nearest insurance agent. Surely you wouldn't take advantage of them and sell them devices they don't need or learn where they keep their valuables and how to reach them at a time like this would you?...would you?

03. Maurtia Falls, Pennsylvania has had its ups and downs since imPorts started reappearing. Several imPort heroes have put focused efforts into cleaning up the streets of this somewhat infamous city, while others have swooped in to help the criminal industry thrive. More so here than the streets of any other imPort city, the battle between good and evil looks more like a war of escalation than a heroic tale. That might make the less than warm welcome imPorts are given in the city a little more understandable. The emergence of locals with superpowers is hardly helping. While some of these individuals have turned to crime, many locals seem more inclined to defend their native powered drug dealer than help the non-native hero bring them to justice. Who are you to tell them how to live?

Today is the semi-annual (that no one can quite seem to remember ever happening before) balloon festival. From dawn until well past midnight imPorts and natives alive can pay a small fee to ride in a beautifully colorful hot air balloon solo or in pairs. There is also wonder fried food and face-painting for the whole family. If this seems all a little too innocent and family friendly, don't worry. This being the Falls, there's always a chance for the morally flexible (or horribly naive) to make a little extra money. Some balloons are offering special, 100% totally free in no way catch-possessing deluxe rides to certain 'winners.' Strangely, it appears to 'win' all one has to do is agree to ride the hot air balloon over to another city, drop off one of the 'sand bags' attached to the side at a designated place, pick up a few new 'sand bags' and fly back! Those that can pilot their own balloon rather than needing a guide will be paid extra- they mean, win an extra special prize.

04. Nonah, North Carolina, is the liveliest of all cities; loud, busy and there's some kind of energy in the air that gets everyone buzzing with excitement. To be American is to be part of a melting pot, and that there's more money to be made by the thriving local industries hardly hurts. Natives may gather around new arrivals and ask both personal and broad questions about life as an imPort, what they are looking forward to, what their favorite article of underwear is. A few night clubs offer free entrance - just this once!

But you'll have to excuse the mess. See, a little while ago the city was a real zoo. Animals running everywhere, smashing store windows, eating aquariums, you know how these things can go. In fact, there are still a few stay old world monkeys jumping around, and maybe a baby gator or two in the sewer or prairie dogs in the parks. A small reward is still being offered for their rounding up.