The Puppet

A Dark Master has a hold over you––whether that be

through a debt, blackmail, a deep connection, or some
combination thereof. At the end of the day, no matter
your own feelings, you answer to them, and they want you
on this team. Now, despite everything, these heroes are
starting to give you hope of something more… But are
they worth the risk? Will they accept you when they find
out who you really are?
Hero Name

Real Name

Look
● ambiguous, man, shifting, transgressing, woman
● Asian or South Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, Middle
Eastern, White
● neutral eyes, empty eyes, guilty eyes, steely eyes, sad eyes
● concealing costume, practical costume, casual costume, no costume
● strange birthmark, collar, excessive or odd scarring, scuffed knees
and elbows, unassuming appearance

Abilities
You’ve been trained and manipulated into being the perfect follower; You
know how to be discreet. Consider how your powers might influence, or be
influenced by, your Dark Master. Choose up to two.

❑ Elemental Control
❑ Cybernetic Enhancements
❑ Impossible Fighting Skills
❑ Super Strength & Speed
❑ Self-Enlarging/Shrinking
❑ Advanced Weapon Training

Moment of Truth
Betray the team, or face your Dark Master’s wrath.

Betray the team.

Nothing good lasts forever, and at the end of the day, the Dark Master has
their hooks in you. You don’t want to hurt your team, but right now, you
don’t have a choice. Take hold of something dear to them, knock them
off-balance, hit them where it hurts, and get away with it. There’s no
denying what this is: a betrayal. Maybe there’s some way to salvage your
place on the team when they see what you’ve done, but it’s going to take a
lot to get them to give you another chance…

Face the Dark Master’s wrath.

You can’t hurt them. Not here, not now, not in that way. Thrash against the
chains that bind you. Risk it all to give them the edge they need. Protect
them from anything your Dark Master has sent their way. You can always
say it was a ploy to gain their trust, right? No matter how convincing you
are, though, the Dark Master is surely going to have something to say
about this…

Team Moves
When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if they’ll
stay by your side no matter what. If they say yes, mark potential and clear
a condition. If they say no or are ambiguous about their response, mark a
condition or immediately act out.

When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, tell them a

truth to make up for your lies. Give them influence, and mark potential.

Advancements
❑ Take another move from your playbook
❑ Take another move from your playbook
❑ Take a move from another playbook
❑ Take a move from another playbook
❑ Unlock your Moment of Truth
❑ Someone permanently loses Influence over you; add +1 to a Label
❑ Rearrange your Labels as you choose, and add +1 to a Label
❑ Take Mentor’s Resources from your Dark Master (from the Protege’s
playbook)
__________________________________________________________

When you’ve taken five advances from the top list, you can take advances
from the list below.

❑ Unlock your Moment of Truth after it’s been used once

❑ Confront your Dark Master; if you survive, change playbooks
❑ Take an adult move
❑ Take an adult move
❑ Lock a Label, and add +1 to a Label of your choice
❑ Retire from the life, become an NPC antagonist, or become a paragon of
the city

Labels
(at character creation, add +1 wherever you choose)

Danger -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3

Freak -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3

Savior -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3

Superior -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3

Mundane -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3

Conditions
❑ Afraid (-2 to directly engage a threat)
❑ Angry (-2 to comfort or support or pierce the mask)
❑ Guilty (-2 to provoke someone or assess the situation)
❑ Hopeless (-2 to unleash your powers)
❑ Insecure (-2 to defend someone or reject others’ influence)

Backstory
● Who were you before you met your Dark Master?
● How did you gain your powers?
● Who, outside of the team, did you hurt while working for your Dark
Master?
● Where do you go to get away from all the pressure?
● Why does the team matter to you?
When Our Team First Came Together…
We nearly messed up big time. What disaster did we almost cause, and how
did we narrowly avoid it?

Relationships
I find _______ really charming, but I have to be careful about how close I get
to them.
_______ saw something they shouldn’t have, and is suspicious of me.

Influence
It’s hard getting close to people when you have ulterior motives. Give no
one influence.

Puppet Moves
(choose two)

❑ You Don’t Belong Here: You have an alternate, villainous identity to carry out
your Dark Master’s bidding. Whenever your team encounters your
villainous identity, roll + Superior.

On a hit, you’ll manage to get through the encounter without revealing

anything too damning about yourself or your Dark Master. On a 7-9, pick
one option from the list below.

- You leave behind something that could come back to bite you later
- One teammate notices something you and this identity have in
common
- You end up having to get out of dodge before accomplishing
anything, rather than risk being revealed

On a miss, choose one:

- You cause more damage than you intended

- You do something that greatly displeases the Dark Master
- You reveal your true identity to a member of the team
- You reveal your true identity to an important onlooker
❑ They Actually Trust Me: When another character tries to pierce the mask
against you, trigger this move.

If you have influence over them and their move hits, you can mark a
condition to give an answer to one question that’s only partially true, or a
complete lie.

If you do not have influence over them and their move misses, you can take
influence over them to make their move a full hit, and answer the
questions honestly.

❑ You Don’t Have Any Friends: When a teammate spurns or rejects you, shift
Danger up and any other label down. When a teammate takes advantage
of their influence over you, give them -1 forward and describe how you
planned for this moment.

❑ I Take Care of Myself: When you strike out on your own to investigate, you
can always ask an extra question on an assess, even on a miss.

❑ I’m With You: When you spend Team on a teammate’s roll, declare if you’re
doing it as a ploy to gain their trust, or if you’re just trying to help, no
strings attached.

If the former, mark a condition to give an additional +1 to your teammate’s

roll.

If the latter, roll + Mundane.

On a hit, the team is refunded. On a 7-9, your teammate holds 1 for a free
pierce the mask question against you. On a miss, the Dark Master takes
notice of your softening emotions towards the team, and there will be
consequences.

❑ Every Thorn Has A Rose: You can choose to take +2 to defend or comfort or
support a teammate who has influence over you. If you do so, you must
always choose to expose yourself to danger on a mixed success for a
defend, and you do not get the extra benefit of a full hit on a comfort or
support.
Dark Master
You’ve been coerced into swearing an oath to a Dark Master. Who are
they?

Dark Master: _______

Nemesis. Your Dark Master has it out for one of your teammates. Decide
who, then collaborate on the other questions.

Teammate: _______
● How did your teammate come into conflict with your Dark Master?
● Is your teammate yet aware of their feud with your Dark Master?
● What does your Dark Master have to gain from taking down your
teammate, or the team as a whole?

Ties That Bind

You have your reasons for swearing an oath to your Dark Master. The two
of you have Ties, connections you believe to be true and important.

Choose at least two Ties at character creation.

❑ They taught you how to control your powers

❑ They were there for you when nobody else was
❑ They have access to somebody you love
❑ They are family, adopted or otherwise
❑ They saved your life
❑ They can cause you physical harm at a moment’s notice
❑ They can take control over your body
❑ They gave you your powers
❑ They saved the life of somebody you love

As long as you have at least one Tie with your Dark Master, they cannot
lose influence over you. When narratively appropriate, the GM may ask you
to mark down a new Tie.

Cutting Ties
When you come to a revelation about your Dark Master, you may roll to
reject a Tie as if you were rejecting influence from an NPC.
On a hit, you may strike out a Tie by choosing to remove influence. Write
next to it why it no longer gives the Dark Master a hold over you. Each time
you do so, mark potential, clear a condition, or shift your labels, your
choice.

Examples of struck-out ties:

They are family, adopted or otherwise I found out they kidnapped me from
my real parents
They taught you how to control your powers I proved I didn’t need them at
a crucial moment
They saved your life I overheard them insulting me terribly to a colleague
Playing The Puppet
Conflicted, lonely, loyal to a fault, and misunderstood. The Puppet is so
close to a life they think is beyond their reach. They are living a lie, and
they know at some point the jig will be up. As the Puppet, you have to
contend with deep conflicts between protecting yourself, protecting the
people you love, and giving somebody what you think they are owed. Fear
controls you more than the Dark Master ever did, and no matter what you
choose, there will be consequences.

You have to be very careful how you present yourself to your team. If you’re
found out, they’re unlikely to be understanding. If you slip up too much, the
Dark Master will take action. You’ve known for a long time that
relationships are conditional, and at the end of the day, everybody wants
something from you.

You have a mission, and you’ve been prepared by the Dark Master to
undertake it. However, you’re tempted by something more. You went into
this knowing who to trust, but now you’re not so sure… At the end of the
day, are you going to risk it all for a meager chance at forgiveness and
freedom? At least with the Dark Master, you know what you’re in for…

Notes on Your Moves and Extras

They Actually Trust Me allows you to circumvent a pierce the mask against
your character. This can be pretty important against nosy teammates with
high Mundane, in order to prevent your cover from being blown.

You Don’t Have Any Friends represents a pessimistic, self-preserving

outlook. Every time a teammate scorns you, it fuels your justification for
betrayal. You expect your teammates to turn on you, to accept you only
conditionally, and you’ve put measures in place for that inevitability.

I’m With You assumes an internal conflict about your intentions. It doesn’t
work so well for a character that is more firmly on one side (that being
their team’s or the Dark Master’s).

It is important to choose Ties to your Dark Master that really matter to

your character, or the inner conflict of The Puppet will fall short. Crossing
out a Tie is a big moment for your character, and you should treat it as
such.
GM Notes
● Remind them of what they could lose
● Reveal how the Dark Master has manipulated them
● Show them what they’re missing out on
● Give them conditional love
● Make them choose between the Dark Master and their team

The Puppet is all about their relationship to the team, and to their Dark
Master. The Dark Master should feel powerful and imposing, but that
doesn’t mean they can’t come off as loving and kind––what’s important is
that any love or praise from them is conditional. Include opportunities for
The Puppet to see how the Dark Master has manipulated them, and test
the team’s capacity for forgiveness and good faith. While the Dark Master
can take a background role for periods of time, never go too long without
showing their presence–– checking in on and directing The Puppet,
interfering with the team, or revealing their between-panel machinations,
for instance.

How The Puppet ends up as a character is largely dependent on how the

team reacts to them. That being said, you can still make conflict with the
Dark Master tempting by appealing to The Puppet’s yearning for freedom
and their conscience. In turn, you can make siding with the Dark Master
more tempting by leaning on The Puppet’s Ties, and inserting doubt in
their relationship with the team. Have the Dark Master offer something the
team cannot, and vice versa.

Playbook inspirations/examples: Cynder (Spyro), Rose/Huntsgirl (American Dragon: Jake Long), Terra (Teen
Titans), Kovu (The Lion King 2)

Playbook created by Biz, bizzybee#9144 on discord.

If you enjoy this product, please consider supporting the work through itch.io (biztheunicorn) or ko-fi (biz707).

Feel free to reach out to the creator through discord or by emailing them at yinyang707@gmail.com