There are some important things to think about and answer concerning the main characters’ team. Many of them are facilitated by the “when our team first came together” and backstory questions, but they still warrant some consideration. So, *why this team*? Why do this bunch of kids—not the most experienced or powerful superheroes in the setting, most likely—step up and stop this villain? Why do they do so *together*? How do they even know what’s going on enough to get mixed up in it? You don’t need *one* answer to each of these, also. You probably need to continually answer and re-answer these as you go, considering the characters’ situation as it evolves. [Corley](https://jdcspot.blogspot.com/) adds: > *Do not, repeat, do not let people get away with not being superheroes. Somehow, I don’t know how, people show up to Masks games and then are like “No, I don’t have a costume, no, I don’t really want to fight the bad guys,” etc. If you are getting that vibe from a character setup, hammer on “why they care about the team”. They will always say something like “well, character X is my best friend,” and then you say “you could be X’s best friend without being on a superhero team with them, right? And if they have like, a cold or something and can’t go fight supervillains, you’re still gonna be on the team. So why do you care about* the team*?”* The next tier of questions about the team concerns how the members of the team interact and feel about each other. Obviously, this is a continual question, too. I like to approach it by thinking not just about screen time that each character gets, but screen time for each *relationship* in the team. If a team consists of four characters, that’s six dyadic relationships to give screen time to—not too bad, really! Just make sure that there are chances for each pair to work out together, hang out together, and find surprising connections with each other. When you ask a player “who are you doing that with?” and they say “You know, Zero Point and I haven’t gotten to do a lot together yet…” you know that they’re helping you with this. [Corley](https://jdcspot.blogspot.com/) adds: > *Masks GMing, at its throw-away-the-playbooks core, is an “OH YEAH?!? How about NOW?!” game. Sometimes you get a Transformed who says “I think I’m okay with my monster body?” and the GM’s job is to say “Oh yeah? Your crush jumps in fear when you turn the corner unexpectedly. The local authorities are talking about locking ‘things’ like you up. You’re becoming contagious to other people around you. Your sainted grandma wants to do an exorcism. Here’s a supervillain who wants to purify the city. Here’s another who wants to make everyone in the city like you. HOW ABOUT NOW?! YOU LIKE IT NOW???” And if the Transformed says “I’m a monster, I hate my body!” then you say “Oh yeah? Here’s a little kid who’s not scare of you. Your mom is nervously going to the School Board to argue that you should be allowed to go to public high school. Your crush is HOT for it. Here’s a villain that is set on purifying the city of ‘things’ like you. A grown up firefighter says you’re a real hero because you rescued that family. HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW?!? HUH?? HUH??” You do this for all issues of all character forever because that’s teenage hood.* This is good stuff, but I want you to particularly think about it as it relates to the team and the relationships inside the team. [Corley](https://jdcspot.blogspot.com/) adds: > *Absolutely, positively let people min-max their labels, they are inviting you to punch them in the stomach when they let something get to +3 or -2. All adults have influence over all player characters, and the trigger for Influence is "when they tell you who you are or how the world works", which adults do to teens unthinkingly, all the time. Your mom will Influence you when she says "your'e such a nice, thoughtful girl, you always take care of your friends" when your Savior is already at a +3 and suddenly, FUCK, it's not enough that you take care of your friends, you HAVE TO, shit!!! You end up either trying to resist your Mom's influence (perhaps requiring you to do something careless with her or your friends) or you mark Insecure or Afraid and that's a big problem when the next supervillain shows up. (Locking your labels is fine, by the time you're doing that you're well on your way to adulthood so being Real Good and Very Secure about a few things is okay.)*