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[Mutants & Masterminds] A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic
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<blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8164357" data-attributes="member: 30538"><p><em>"Return with us to those thrilling days of yesteryear ..."</em></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 26px"><span style="color: blue">The Cowl and Masque</span></span></p><p><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-6Z66qS5/0/4861f19a/M/cowl-M.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p><em>The Cowl</em></p><p><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-JbVnnVc/0/034f3b6f/S/masque-S.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Owen LeBrett, born in 1909, learned to hate the injustice that poisoned the world early, when his older brother Henry lied about his age to fight in the War to End All Wars and died heroically in Italy. ("Heroically" sounded so much better than "pointlessly.") Owen grew up in the shadow of his brother's sacrifice, determined to build a world worthy of it. This he did first as a reporter for the <em>New York Herald Tribune</em>, as an agent for the O.S.S., and later as an editor for the paper.</p><p></p><p>But despite all he did, it just didn't seem to be enough. The world was afflicted with Communism and gangsterism, and LeBrett increasingly felt that the only thing to do was to force it to make sense. Just what sparked the idea of putting on a mask to disguise his identity has never been adequately explained; it may have been simple pragmatism, a step taken to protect his friends and family from retaliation. But he wasn't actually close to his only remaining family, a younger sister who had married one of the Chicago Richmonds, and generally kept even his circle of acquaintances at a distance. He had a reputation as a quiet man who kept to himself, outside of his work in the editor's room.</p><p></p><p>He never bothered to give the masked identity he created in 1956 a separate name -- that came, ironically enough, from one of the younger reporters of the paper, one Francis Tyler, who'd investigated the first accounts of his activities. Once it became clear that 'the Cowl' was going to stick, he accepted it, and used the name himself. In his identity as the editor, he encouraged skepticism about the Cowl's motives, suggesting that he might simply be a masked hoodlum striking out against rival criminals, rather than any sort of hero. It seemed the best way to insure that no one ever made any connections between the two men.</p><p></p><p>1959 marked two great changes in the Cowl's life. While battling a group of drug smugglers in Harlem, he was surprised when a young colored man came to his assistance in a particularly dicey fight. The boy was injured, and LeBrett chose to take him back to his hidden fortress rather than a hospital, ostensibly because a hospital that would accept the young man was further away but actually because he was curious. As he recovered, Jimmy Graham explained that he'd lost a brother to the allure of drugs, and despised those who dealt them. The story resonated with LeBrett, who offered to take Jimmy as a pupil and sidekick, under the alias Mask. Jimmy agreed, but altered the name a bit. To explain their association, LeBrett publicly hired Jimmy as his driver.</p><p></p><p>The other change came out of the first adventure outside of New York that the Cowl and Masque embarked on, which took them all the way to Washington and led them to save the President's life from a group of saboteurs. In the course of the exploit, the Cowl was forced to reveal his identity to President Eisenhower. At first, this seemed to be no problem -- if you couldn't trust the President of the United States, who <em>could</em> you trust -- but it would have consequences that the Cowl did not foresee.</p><p></p><p>Those consequences manifested when LeBrett received the invitation to take part in the first meeting of the Institute, delivered to him in a way that made it clear that this was an offer he couldn't refuse. He was uncomfortable at the meeting, as he was just an ordinary many surrounded by eccentric inventors and a pair of demigods. He framed the way that he never brought Masque with him to the group's meetings as a way to shield his young friend from this strangeness, but there were likely other reasons that he didn't admit. Masque claimed not to be bothered by this, at first.</p><p></p><p>But the times kept on changing, and the arrival of Basilea and the Iconoclast as members of the Institute made that even clearer. The Amazon woman was confusing enough, seeming to embody everything that confused LeBrett about the way that the world was changing. But the Iconoclast was even worse, for it seemed that he could do <em>everything</em> better than the Cowl, or at least do it with more ... panache, for lack of a better term. It didn't help that LeBrett was well aware that, as he moved through his fifties, he was not holding on to the edge that he'd possessed in his earliest days.</p><p></p><p>Rather the opposite -- it often seemed that Masque, who was growing into an extremely capable man, thanks to tutoring from <em>those two</em>, was the more effective member of their partnership. All this left him surly and unhappy, and the fact that he was forgetting things -- important things -- was also becoming apparent. When the <em>Herald-Tribune</em> closed in 1966, the publisher offered him a job with one of his other papers, but LeBrett was so disgusted with the situation that he turned the offer down and retired, increasingly abandoning his civilian identity.</p><p></p><p>Masque never complained, keeping whatever dissatisfaction he felt for his supposed mentor firmly to himself, and never voiced any suggestions that the old man should consider retiring as the Cowl, too. He would have cause to regret that decision, especially after 1971. The Cowl accompanied the rest of the Institute to Vietnam, but ordered Masque to remain behind and keep the hidden fortress secure against a group of costume malcontents who'd been imprisoned a decade before. During the Battle of Vietnam, the Cowl seemed bewildered and confused by his surroundings. Officially, he died a hero's death in the fight. Unofficially, there is an account which describes him driving a jeep, apparently believing it to be his beloved Silver Bullet, at Stardust, who proceeded to disassemble it and him with a wave of his hand.</p><p></p><p>James Graham disappeared after the funeral of Owen LeBrett, though Masque assisted Basilea on a number of cases in the mid-1970s. He was no longer using any costumed identity when he fought crime at the side of Songbird in the 1980s, and was involved in a romantic relationship with her. He was last seen in 1996, leaving the apartment he shared with her and their child after an argument with Sarah Blade, and has never been seen since. He would be 78 years old in 2020, and his ultimate fate remains a great mystery.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Cowl -- PL 7</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Abilities:</strong></p><p><strong>STR</strong> 2 | <strong>STA</strong> 2 | <strong>AGL</strong> 2 | <strong>DEX</strong> 3 | <strong>FGT</strong> 4 | <strong>INT</strong> 2 | <strong>AWE</strong> 3 | <strong>PRE</strong> 3</p><p></p><p><strong>Advantages:</strong></p><p>Benefit 1 (well-off), Connected, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 6, Evasion, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improvised Weapon 2, Languages 2 (German, Italian, Russian, Spanish), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Sidekick 15 (Masque), Startle, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge.</p><p></p><p><strong>Equipment:</strong></p><p>8 points of equipment as needed.</p><p><strong><em>Silver Bullet:</em></strong> Size Huge; Strength 8; Speed 5 (ground); Defense 8; Toughness 12; Feature Disguise - 12 points</p><p><strong><em>Hidden Fortress:</em></strong> Size Medium; Toughness 8; Features Communications, Concealed, Garage, Gym, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System - 10 points</p><p></p><p><strong>Skills:</strong></p><p>Acrobatics 3 (+5), Athletics 3 (+5), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+7), Deception 7 (+10), Expertise: Business 6 (+8), Expertise: Streetwise 4 (+6), Insight 7 (+10), Intimidation 9 (+12), Investigation 5 (+7), Perception 8 (+11), Sleight of Hand 4 (+7), Stealth 7 (+9), Technology 4 (+6), Treatment 4 (+6).</p><p></p><p><strong>Offense:</strong></p><p>Initiative +5</p><p>Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 2)</p><p>Improvised Weapon +7 (Close Damage 4)</p><p></p><p><strong>Defense:</strong></p><p>Dodge 7, Parry 7, Fortitude 4, Toughness 7/2, Will 6</p><p></p><p><strong>Totals:</strong></p><p>Abilities 42 + Advantages 41 + Skills 37 + Defenses 13 = 133 points</p><p></p><p><strong>Complications:</strong></p><p><strong><em>Justice--Motivation. Secret Identity. Senility</em></strong> (after 1967.)</p><p></p><p>These abilities represent the Cowl in 1959; they began to degrade shortly after. By 1963, his STR, STA, AGL, DEX and FGT all drop by 1; by 1967 they've dropped by 2; and by 1971, shortly before his death, they drop by 3, and his INT, AWE and PRE drop by 2 as well.</p><p></p><p><strong>Masque -- PL 5</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Abilities:</strong></p><p><strong>STR</strong> 3 | <strong>STA</strong> 3 | <strong>AGL</strong> 2 | <strong>DEX</strong> 2 | <strong>FGT</strong> 5 | <strong>INT</strong> 1 | <strong>AWE</strong> 2 | <strong>PRE</strong> 2</p><p></p><p><strong>Advantages:</strong></p><p>All-out Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Takedown.</p><p></p><p><strong>Skills:</strong></p><p>Athletics 4 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+7), Deception 4 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+7), Intimidation 4 (+6), Perception 4 (+6), Vehicles 6 (+8).</p><p></p><p><strong>Offense:</strong></p><p>Initiative +6</p><p>Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 3)</p><p></p><p><strong>Defense:</strong></p><p>Dodge 5, Parry 5, Fortitude 5, Toughness 5, Will 5</p><p></p><p><strong>Totals:</strong></p><p>Abilities 40 + Advantages 8 + Skills 17 + Defenses 10 = 75 points</p><p></p><p><strong>Complications:</strong></p><p><strong><em>Justice--Motivation. Prejudice</em></strong> (Black, teenager.) <strong><em>Secret Identity.</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Again, this represents Masque in 1959, when he first began working with the Cowl. His skills, advantages, and powers improved over time, to the point where he was almost a completely different character by 1971.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Davies, post: 8164357, member: 30538"] [I]"Return with us to those thrilling days of yesteryear ..."[/I] [SIZE=7][COLOR=blue]The Cowl and Masque[/COLOR][/SIZE] [IMG]https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-6Z66qS5/0/4861f19a/M/cowl-M.png[/IMG] [I]The Cowl[/I] [IMG]https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-JbVnnVc/0/034f3b6f/S/masque-S.jpg[/IMG] Owen LeBrett, born in 1909, learned to hate the injustice that poisoned the world early, when his older brother Henry lied about his age to fight in the War to End All Wars and died heroically in Italy. ("Heroically" sounded so much better than "pointlessly.") Owen grew up in the shadow of his brother's sacrifice, determined to build a world worthy of it. This he did first as a reporter for the [I]New York Herald Tribune[/I], as an agent for the O.S.S., and later as an editor for the paper. But despite all he did, it just didn't seem to be enough. The world was afflicted with Communism and gangsterism, and LeBrett increasingly felt that the only thing to do was to force it to make sense. Just what sparked the idea of putting on a mask to disguise his identity has never been adequately explained; it may have been simple pragmatism, a step taken to protect his friends and family from retaliation. But he wasn't actually close to his only remaining family, a younger sister who had married one of the Chicago Richmonds, and generally kept even his circle of acquaintances at a distance. He had a reputation as a quiet man who kept to himself, outside of his work in the editor's room. He never bothered to give the masked identity he created in 1956 a separate name -- that came, ironically enough, from one of the younger reporters of the paper, one Francis Tyler, who'd investigated the first accounts of his activities. Once it became clear that 'the Cowl' was going to stick, he accepted it, and used the name himself. In his identity as the editor, he encouraged skepticism about the Cowl's motives, suggesting that he might simply be a masked hoodlum striking out against rival criminals, rather than any sort of hero. It seemed the best way to insure that no one ever made any connections between the two men. 1959 marked two great changes in the Cowl's life. While battling a group of drug smugglers in Harlem, he was surprised when a young colored man came to his assistance in a particularly dicey fight. The boy was injured, and LeBrett chose to take him back to his hidden fortress rather than a hospital, ostensibly because a hospital that would accept the young man was further away but actually because he was curious. As he recovered, Jimmy Graham explained that he'd lost a brother to the allure of drugs, and despised those who dealt them. The story resonated with LeBrett, who offered to take Jimmy as a pupil and sidekick, under the alias Mask. Jimmy agreed, but altered the name a bit. To explain their association, LeBrett publicly hired Jimmy as his driver. The other change came out of the first adventure outside of New York that the Cowl and Masque embarked on, which took them all the way to Washington and led them to save the President's life from a group of saboteurs. In the course of the exploit, the Cowl was forced to reveal his identity to President Eisenhower. At first, this seemed to be no problem -- if you couldn't trust the President of the United States, who [I]could[/I] you trust -- but it would have consequences that the Cowl did not foresee. Those consequences manifested when LeBrett received the invitation to take part in the first meeting of the Institute, delivered to him in a way that made it clear that this was an offer he couldn't refuse. He was uncomfortable at the meeting, as he was just an ordinary many surrounded by eccentric inventors and a pair of demigods. He framed the way that he never brought Masque with him to the group's meetings as a way to shield his young friend from this strangeness, but there were likely other reasons that he didn't admit. Masque claimed not to be bothered by this, at first. But the times kept on changing, and the arrival of Basilea and the Iconoclast as members of the Institute made that even clearer. The Amazon woman was confusing enough, seeming to embody everything that confused LeBrett about the way that the world was changing. But the Iconoclast was even worse, for it seemed that he could do [I]everything[/I] better than the Cowl, or at least do it with more ... panache, for lack of a better term. It didn't help that LeBrett was well aware that, as he moved through his fifties, he was not holding on to the edge that he'd possessed in his earliest days. Rather the opposite -- it often seemed that Masque, who was growing into an extremely capable man, thanks to tutoring from [I]those two[/I], was the more effective member of their partnership. All this left him surly and unhappy, and the fact that he was forgetting things -- important things -- was also becoming apparent. When the [I]Herald-Tribune[/I] closed in 1966, the publisher offered him a job with one of his other papers, but LeBrett was so disgusted with the situation that he turned the offer down and retired, increasingly abandoning his civilian identity. Masque never complained, keeping whatever dissatisfaction he felt for his supposed mentor firmly to himself, and never voiced any suggestions that the old man should consider retiring as the Cowl, too. He would have cause to regret that decision, especially after 1971. The Cowl accompanied the rest of the Institute to Vietnam, but ordered Masque to remain behind and keep the hidden fortress secure against a group of costume malcontents who'd been imprisoned a decade before. During the Battle of Vietnam, the Cowl seemed bewildered and confused by his surroundings. Officially, he died a hero's death in the fight. Unofficially, there is an account which describes him driving a jeep, apparently believing it to be his beloved Silver Bullet, at Stardust, who proceeded to disassemble it and him with a wave of his hand. James Graham disappeared after the funeral of Owen LeBrett, though Masque assisted Basilea on a number of cases in the mid-1970s. He was no longer using any costumed identity when he fought crime at the side of Songbird in the 1980s, and was involved in a romantic relationship with her. He was last seen in 1996, leaving the apartment he shared with her and their child after an argument with Sarah Blade, and has never been seen since. He would be 78 years old in 2020, and his ultimate fate remains a great mystery. [B]The Cowl -- PL 7 Abilities: STR[/B] 2 | [B]STA[/B] 2 | [B]AGL[/B] 2 | [B]DEX[/B] 3 | [B]FGT[/B] 4 | [B]INT[/B] 2 | [B]AWE[/B] 3 | [B]PRE[/B] 3 [B]Advantages:[/B] Benefit 1 (well-off), Connected, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Equipment 6, Evasion, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improvised Weapon 2, Languages 2 (German, Italian, Russian, Spanish), Power Attack, Ranged Attack 4, Sidekick 15 (Masque), Startle, Takedown, Uncanny Dodge. [B]Equipment:[/B] 8 points of equipment as needed. [B][I]Silver Bullet:[/I][/B] Size Huge; Strength 8; Speed 5 (ground); Defense 8; Toughness 12; Feature Disguise - 12 points [B][I]Hidden Fortress:[/I][/B] Size Medium; Toughness 8; Features Communications, Concealed, Garage, Gym, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System - 10 points [B]Skills:[/B] Acrobatics 3 (+5), Athletics 3 (+5), Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+7), Deception 7 (+10), Expertise: Business 6 (+8), Expertise: Streetwise 4 (+6), Insight 7 (+10), Intimidation 9 (+12), Investigation 5 (+7), Perception 8 (+11), Sleight of Hand 4 (+7), Stealth 7 (+9), Technology 4 (+6), Treatment 4 (+6). [B]Offense:[/B] Initiative +5 Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 2) Improvised Weapon +7 (Close Damage 4) [B]Defense:[/B] Dodge 7, Parry 7, Fortitude 4, Toughness 7/2, Will 6 [B]Totals:[/B] Abilities 42 + Advantages 41 + Skills 37 + Defenses 13 = 133 points [B]Complications: [I]Justice--Motivation. Secret Identity. Senility[/I][/B] (after 1967.) These abilities represent the Cowl in 1959; they began to degrade shortly after. By 1963, his STR, STA, AGL, DEX and FGT all drop by 1; by 1967 they've dropped by 2; and by 1971, shortly before his death, they drop by 3, and his INT, AWE and PRE drop by 2 as well. [B]Masque -- PL 5 Abilities: STR[/B] 3 | [B]STA[/B] 3 | [B]AGL[/B] 2 | [B]DEX[/B] 2 | [B]FGT[/B] 5 | [B]INT[/B] 1 | [B]AWE[/B] 2 | [B]PRE[/B] 2 [B]Advantages:[/B] All-out Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Evasion, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Takedown. [B]Skills:[/B] Athletics 4 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 2 (+7), Deception 4 (+6), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+7), Intimidation 4 (+6), Perception 4 (+6), Vehicles 6 (+8). [B]Offense:[/B] Initiative +6 Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 3) [B]Defense:[/B] Dodge 5, Parry 5, Fortitude 5, Toughness 5, Will 5 [B]Totals:[/B] Abilities 40 + Advantages 8 + Skills 17 + Defenses 10 = 75 points [B]Complications: [I]Justice--Motivation. Prejudice[/I][/B] (Black, teenager.) [B][I]Secret Identity.[/I][/B] Again, this represents Masque in 1959, when he first began working with the Cowl. His skills, advantages, and powers improved over time, to the point where he was almost a completely different character by 1971. [/QUOTE]
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