I've got this character that's a "city shaman." For a while, I've had this "war mask" that I made with a gas mask, some nylon rope for hair, and some face paint. I even ended up making a RL version of it to show the GM what my character was wearing (for those interested, Chillicothe, Ohio, has a Christmas Supply/Military Surplus store that sells $10 gas masks). It's worked out really well, because as it turned out, the mask looks a little Predator-esque, which prompts me to use Invisibility a lot. And putting on the War Mask leaves no doubts in my teammates' minds as to how I intend to carry a situation.

Here's the thing. Obviously, not all the situations my character encounters are going to fall under the category of "War." Stealth missions, for instance. Or a couple weeks ago, the group had just pulled off a job, and took one of the vehicles they'd stolen for it out to the Ash Dunes and lit it up. They then proceeded to dance around the fire in a celebratory fashion (how this wasn't the shaman's idea, I don't now. Also, I kept referring to my character as "dancing naked around the fire," and I'm not sure if anyone else at the table caught it). Clearly, I should have had a mask for that occasion.

My question for DumpShock is, what other sorts of masks would you create, if you were playing a city shaman, and what would the mask be like? I'm hoping for masks that reflect general situations, and not specific actions. Having a mask I wear whenever I cast Manipulation spells would be just like having a fetish for a limited spell (which I've already got for a lot of spells). Also, before anyone gets this filthy, I've already kind of ruled out using a gimp mask for any of these masks, just because it would look too similar to the gas mask.

A King Mob mask (from The Invisibles) for initiations (and adventures satisfying the ordeal requirement).

I've been seeing a lot of those hospital masks around. I would be completely not surprised to find that a more reusable version has been manufactured for the 2060 world, and in an assortment of styles and colors. Combine that with some big, wrap-around shades and you have a fairly complete mask that would actually not be too uncommon to see in any cyberpunk civilian population.

In order for anyone to tell you what sort of masks you should have your character wear, we would have to know why your character wears a mask in the first place. Clearly, he isn't wearing a mask simply to conceal his identity or one mask would work.

Among many native American tribes they would wear masks in order to acquire the traits of the creature or being whose mask they wore. I would suggest that you do some research into whatever mythos your character believes. Or make up mythical characters to make masks of since Shadowrun's magic system allows even made up religions.

Once you know who you want your different mask to be, it becomes easier for you to imagine what those masks should look like. At least, that's what I would do.

First, I dig the mask idea. It would be especially great in groups with newer players or as a chance for more reserved players to loosen up.
Also:


Wouldn't you be better served in this situation by taking things off instead of putting on another mask?

and i here i thought i was alone in dedicating a portion of my life to destroying Santa.

heh, i see i wasn't the only one who saw that and thought it was odd.

although, mind you, i'm sure there are many people who wouldn't mind a gas mask for christmas =P (actually, ironically, i have a brother-in-law who literally did want a gas mask for christmas; he was doing a lot of building/remodeling type stuff i think, and all the crud in the air was making life difficult for him... )

Christmas supply/military surplus store? Do they sell "Jolly-seeking missiles" or T.O.W. missiles?
"Chestnuts are roasting, I'm gonna open fire!"
Futurama rocks!

I think I've just been rendered speechless. That's a fucking fantastic idea.
Dude, CircuitBoyBlue, you win major points for this idea.

I would definitely go for a chrome skull mask of some kind. It could be a half mask, cut vertically, that would be sweet. Or it could be missing the jaw, or it could just be the lower jaw. All classy. Maybe it would be rusty steel or iron and not chrome to fit more with the street shaman idea.

You also can never go wrong with a tradgedy/comdey type mask. Maybe you could carve it out of a railroad tie to make it more street-ish. An Oni mask would fit into the same category, too.

You might be able to do something cool with a motorcycle helmet. Decorate it or somesuch. You'd get some roleplaying points for lowering the visor dramatically when it's time to fuck shit up.

The Blue Lady of Miami is something ofa Dumpshock classic.

You're telling me! I started a thread about one of my favorite things, Shadowrun, and people started discussing Grant Morrison and Futurama. This is awesome; 3 of my favorite things. Dumpshock never disappoints.

I like the rusted chrome idea. A lot. I also really like the hospital mask idea. The hospital mask seems to have a more obvious, definite use. I know I said I didn't want to peg a mask to a specific type of spell, but Heal is as much of a situation as a spell, I think. I bet we all know pretty well that after some runs, it can be very nerve-wracking waiting to get healed, and every little bit helps when trying to get the spirits to look favorably on your recovery efforts. But the fact that rusted chrome doesn't have as obvious a use is an advantage in and of itself, because it means there's a lot more possibilities to it.

Thanks a lot, everybody! That's two great ideas. Wait, more, if I can figure out a cool way to make a mask out of a motorcycle helmet (the visor idea tickles me pink).

One of those old black thieves' masks comes to mind.

As do the theatrical sad/happy face masks mentioned earlier.

Even various forms of veils.

you could also start up the SARS mask thing again.

I dont know if anyone knows him, but the character Finn from 2000ad magazine wears a stylised beast mask and is a magic user, i always wanted to play a pagan magician based on him and thought the mask was pretty cool, i will try to post a good pic.

Huh, don't remember seeing any of those on the street, though plenty of people were wearing unmodified surgical masks.

i'm pretty sure they were a much bigger hit in the west than in the places where (a few) people (on occasion) wore them.

During the scare, a pretty big percentage (50% or more) of the population wore them, at least on the street of the Central district of Hong Kong annd on the MTR (Hong Kong's subway)

Consider this stolen for as a contact for my next character. It's just to perfect.