DB

I wanted to start a discussion about identity because it occurred to me that in our superhero game, our Cypher system game that is, I don’t address my players who are superheroes by their superhero names.  There was a moment 30-ish sessions in or so that we’ve been playing, which has nearly been a year, and I realize that I don’t know their superhero names. To me that seems like a problem, right? Like, I should know, vaguely or generally, who these characters are, what their vibes are, and how to motivate them. That’s how you make a story together with your players! I didn’t pay that due diligence to get to know their superhero names. (At the same time though, they don’t talk to each other in character with their superhero names in mind, which contributes to the issue that these names and identities become lost.)

Do secret identities even matter? Or is it just that it’s hard to juggle two identities, two names? Should we even bother with it?

Well, it’s hard to juggle like two identities, or like two names, right? At a certain point, it gets kind of convoluted. I played a game of .dungeon and in that game, there’s the idea it explores within the world of a dying MMO, and you play as the avatars both within the game and the offline identity of that avatar. It’s really hard to maintain something like that. Sometimes you get into a character that is starkly different from yourself in many ways, which is one level of abstraction and portrayal. Then, you ask that player to abstract to a second level and add another layer on top of that—pretend to be that same pretend person who has their own online persona, which is also different in ways from their self. That ask from a player if they’re not trained in theater or in that type of role-playing is heavy! It gets convoluted.

It’s hard to maintain those connections like: “Okay, I’m gonna play these two characters—who are the same person?” That can be difficult without proper experience and preparation, and it’s really something you have to think about before a game starts. It’s some homework that both you as a GM have to anticipate, and that the players have to be informed of, and it is an aspect of a game that has to be intentionally explored. You can’t do that sort of thing without doing your homework, which may involve diligent notes about the differences between the character and their avatar. If not, that aspect of juggling those identities falls to the wayside…which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Not All Superheroes Are Two People

If you think of superheroes usually, their secret identity may be the same between caped crusader and unmasked civilian, right? Look at Marvel’s Iron Man: he’s an asshole, both in and out of the suit, who wants to generally do the right thing. I am speaking from a knowledge of the Iron Man from the movies, but both Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same person. So that’s fine, right? Tony stark will be Tony Stark.

But Some Really Are Two People

But, if you look at a character like Batman, who puts on this facade in his Bruce Wayne identity, that’s a different beast. It’s the idea of someone putting up the front to maintain something like an illusion of someone else.

I know that there’s a lot of different explorations of finding and contending with your identity. I know that Vin in the Misborn books explores some of that as well, because she is a Mistborn:  a potently magically Invested individual. And then also plays the part of a courtly maiden. Those are two different roles. In that world, there is an understanding that most Mistborn are of this royal class, so while people play politics and play court, they are also stepping cautiously because the person you offend may be a powerful magical individual! Or, they may have allies who are powerfully Invested, so people step around and carry out power plays in the dark to make statements of their own capabilities. Perhaps this is an angle that I could play in my superhero game, which takes place in a college where a majority of the students are supernaturally capable individuals.

The World of Our Cypher Game

I did some reading on identity because this whole mess came from thinking of my players and getting to know their superhero names. I’m thinking like, how much of their identity is really their superhero name? And for my game, I don’t think it’s a big part of them.

The world that they’re playing in is a world that is transitioning from the standard adventurer-oriented, Medieval fantasy sort of narrative, like a D&D type world, where it is typical for people to go out on freelance jobs and do all sorts of work. Murder and violence is not uncommon in the world. And, with that sort of vibe, if you’re transitioning to a superhero type of society, people don’t feel like they have to hide that part of themselves.

It’s almost like a continuation of like, “Oh we’re just adventurers. We’re just like doing different types of jobs. We’re identified by a different name, but we’re just adventurers. There’s no need to super focus on a secret identity, I think.”. This is mostly because they’re not pretending to be who they are dressed up as in their silly garbs. It’s not a costume, and they’re not filling a new role. It’s like a uniform for them. They’re taught that it’s something that they work in, and that’s how they do their duties. In the world, it’s a marketing tool. It’s not so much like a pretending to be someone else, which I think is an important part of the superhero narrative, but it’s not part of this one.

Inspiration from X-Men

This superhero narrative is based on X-Men. And in X-Men, I’m trying to think that, like, within those comics, or at least what I remember as a child watching the animated TV show and the movies, you refer to each other by your code names. But especially like, in the animated show and between the core members, they refer to each other by their first name. Like, there is no separation between Wolverine and Logan. There’s no separation between Scott and Cyclops. They call each other by their first name. We get to see a lot of their private lives.

With their heroics, their story isn’t so much about the relationship between superhero and civilian. It’s the relationship between superhero and other supers who have a different opinion on how your marginalized group should treat the majority who is weaker than you. It isn’t focused on the struggles of straddling between both being normal and super, because your normal is a state of survival where you always have to be ready to be super in your own safety and self-defense.

Secret Identities Aren’t Core to Our Cypher Game

So yeah, although I don’t know, my PC’s hero names, I don’t think I’ll focus on it right now at this stage of the game, because frankly, it’s not something we’re focused right now on. The interactions between them and the public is not a core pillar of our game. I think that one of the core ideals right now, are other things like, the interaction between colonizer and native peoples. We’re exploring how people want to take advantage of a new rising region with abundant resources and how some of those resources are people. We’re trying figure out the morals there.

How should you interact with these new people? Should you just bar them away?

And for those questions, it doesn’t matter so much if you’re Peter Parker or Spiderman so much as it matters how you’re going to carry yourself in this new, changing society.