Masks: "good enough" for wylderkin?

M

Mirificatio

Newbie
Is a mask, by which I mean an inflexible mask held on by indirect means such as an elastic band, a decent way to represent a wylderkin character? Your opinions and experience, please.

I would expect that the animal upon which the wylderkin is based would make a huge difference. My snake-kin (debuting Friday... so excited!), being based on a non-mammal, may not be expected to have much expressiveness in his face. In fact, for the sake of the first event, I'm banking on it, because an inflexible mask is the best I can do for now. A dogkin of some sort would probably be expected to be expressive, because people anthropomorphize dogs so much, anyway.
 
Such a mask is a great way to represent a wyldekin. Although I am all about having the facial expressions and having them as realistic as possible, I have found that nothing beats being able to throw on or off a mask. The 'half masks' that cover from forehead to upper lip work great. Now, depending upon the area in which you LARP, you may find them a bit more hot than you'd like them to be - of course you could just take off the mask behind a tree to get some fresh air. The great thing about them is that you don't have to worry about rain or the next morning faded look most face painting tends to get.
 
My Wylderkin and Sarr each have different types of masks. My Sarr is soft foam and covers from forehead to nose and cheeks, down to my upper lip. My mouth is exposed and the mask moves with my face. My vulture covers nose to chin but leaves my forehead exposed so that I can get more expression from my eyes. The only part of me that can be seen with my raven is my eyes. The beak articulates so that adds something but I have to use head position and body language for expressiveness. My platypus will have only the duckbill, leaving my mouth and eyes/forehead thus leaving more of my face exposed than the other three do.

BTW There is another snake-kin yours would love to meet: Kainen (played by Jesse H, the owner of CT chapter). His mask is leather and completely covers his face allowing no expression at all to come through except in the eyes. It's very convenient to remove during holds to cool down. He works the mask well and it really adds to the character. As long as you can work with the mask, any mask will do.
 
Not quite "any" mask. A masquerade-style mask is generally not an acceptable representation of a wylderkin, at least not by itself. With makeup and other accessories to augment or compliment a very detailed one it COULD work, but if you just wear a half-mask and nothing else, I'm going to assume you're a human wearing a mask for some strange reason in-game.
 
It all depends on the mask of course.

In Ashbury we once had a player who wore a good mask but no make up on the exposed part of the face or the exposed arms, and more than once people said to her IG "Hey, take that mask off so we can see who you really are."

So while a mask by itself can be enough, it all depends on what creature you are trying to play as well.
 
Ezri said:
Not quite "any" mask. A masquerade-style mask is generally not an acceptable representation of a wylderkin, at least not by itself. With makeup and other accessories to augment or compliment a very detailed one it COULD work, but if you just wear a half-mask and nothing else, I'm going to assume you're a human wearing a mask for some strange reason in-game.
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I was referring more to any "style" of mask. Obviously a wylderkin needs make-up/costuming/accessories to supplement a mask.
 
Fearless Leader said:
In Ashbury we once had a player who wore a good mask but no make up on the exposed part of the face or the exposed arms, and more than once people said to her IG "Hey, take that mask off so we can see who you really are."
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Nothing personal, but right around the third or fourth person who said this to me, I'd assume that the game was made up of a bunch o' snobbish LARPers (which, in itself makes my mind do wiggly things trying to comprehend) and would head to another game.

Now, offering them some makeup to complete it would be a different story.
 
markusdark said:
Fearless Leader said:
In Ashbury we once had a player who wore a good mask but no make up on the exposed part of the face or the exposed arms, and more than once people said to her IG "Hey, take that mask off so we can see who you really are."
Click to expand...

Nothing personal, but right around the third or fourth person who said this to me, I'd assume that the game was made up of a bunch o' snobbish LARPers (which, in itself makes my mind do wiggly things trying to comprehend) and would head to another game.

Now, offering them some makeup to complete it would be a different story.
Click to expand...

This player was spoken to very politely OOG by several people (I was one), explaining what was needed to play a Wylderkin (then Scavenger). No snobbery of any kind was foisted upon this player. The ones who asked for the removal of the mask in the above scenario were IG and thought the player was a human wearing a mask. I don't think there was any confusion over the OOG or IG attitudes.
 
Telokh_Amdo said:
markusdark said:
Fearless Leader said:
In Ashbury we once had a player who wore a good mask but no make up on the exposed part of the face or the exposed arms, and more than once people said to her IG "Hey, take that mask off so we can see who you really are."
Click to expand...

Nothing personal, but right around the third or fourth person who said this to me, I'd assume that the game was made up of a bunch o' snobbish LARPers (which, in itself makes my mind do wiggly things trying to comprehend) and would head to another game.

Now, offering them some makeup to complete it would be a different story.
Click to expand...

This player was spoken to very politely OOG by several people (I was one), explaining what was needed to play a Wylderkin (then Scavenger). No snobbery of any kind was foisted upon this player. The ones who asked for the removal of the mask in the above scenario were IG and thought the player was a human wearing a mask. I don't think there was any confusion over the OOG or IG attitudes.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I was one who assumed she was a human wearing a "masquerade" style mask, and asked her why she was wearing it. I did not realize she was actually a wylderkin.
 
Here's what has me a bit confuzzled. Under disguises, it mentions that you can only wear a 'zorro' type mask and not a monster mask so as not to be confused with another race. Are animal masks not considered monster masks?

I mean, if I saw someone approaching with a cat mask on, I'd assume that they're a Sarr and not someone off to a fancy dress ball. I just figured that any animal or monster mask was off limits unless playing that creature.
 
I'm not so sure that snobbery is really the issue if folks are interpreting a "bare" mask as exactly that in game; someone wearing a mask in game is definitely not inconceivable, right? Then again it wouldn't be unreasonable to look past the half-way costume if the player was known to be a first-timer. Making a mask with no prior experience at all is daunting when it will stand up next to the efforts of mask-making veterans, let me tell you.

So, the solution: The impression I'm getting is that this is a world wherein a regular old person (say Kevin the electrician from Pennsylvania) wearing face paint is, in game, a high ogre or a dark elf or somesuch. He's not a human wearing face paint, and nobody will suspect he is. So, how do you make sure it's obvious to everyone that a mask is not just a mask? Add face paint!

Thankfully, I planned to do so already, so for my purposes at this last minute I don't have to change all that I've already done.
Thanks for the perspective, folks. It will at least be useful for a dose of confidence walking into this event.

@Telokh_Amdo: I would very much like to meet Jesse H's Kainen, compare notes, that sort of thing. There will be a racial packet waiting for me at the event to help me get an in-campaign perspective, but of course every single wylderkin is unique in their own ways. Any chance Jesse might be going to an event outside the CT chapter? CT is a bit of a hike from my home in the Lehigh Valley.
 
markusdark said:
Here's what has me a bit confuzzled. Under disguises, it mentions that you can only wear a 'zorro' type mask and not a monster mask so as not to be confused with another race. Are animal masks not considered monster masks?

I mean, if I saw someone approaching with a cat mask on, I'd assume that they're a Sarr and not someone off to a fancy dress ball. I just figured that any animal or monster mask was off limits unless playing that creature.
Click to expand...

The mask used by this player was made of leather, with a slightly extended nose piece that was meant to be a beak. It didn't actually look like an animal which was part of the confusion in a addition to the lack of makeup.
 
Mirificatio said:
@Telokh_Amdo: I would very much like to meet Jesse H's Kainen, compare notes, that sort of thing. There will be a racial packet waiting for me at the event to help me get an in-campaign perspective, but of course every single wylderkin is unique in their own ways. Any chance Jesse might be going to an event outside the CT chapter? CT is a bit of a hike from my home in the Lehigh Valley.
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Jesse H often attends events at HQ and NJ. I wouldn't be surprised if he hit a few LV games when they open next year. as far as travel time, I live in York and am really looking forward to LV opening as it will be the closest chapter to home for me. There are others on this board from the Allentown area who you should probably try to hook up with, at least on line.

Jesse H's screen name here is Sunnfire. Drop him a PM if you'd like some input on your snake.
 
Telokh_Amdo said:
The mask used by this player was made of leather, with a slightly extended nose piece that was meant to be a beak. It didn't actually look like an animal which was part of the confusion in a addition to the lack of makeup.
Click to expand...

Ah, well, NOW that I know everything, I'll get on offa my soapbox. Kinda breezy up here anyways...
 
Mirificatio said:
Any chance Jesse might be going to an event outside the CT chapter? CT is a bit of a hike from my home in the Lehigh Valley.
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I couldn't help saying that I would be very surprised if you didn't see JesseH at some event in nearly every chapter on the EC. I played NH, CT, HQ, and NJ last year... and one person I saw with almost disgusting frequency was, well, that man... :D I don't even want to know how many thousand miles that silly looking yellow thing he drives has on it...
 
He even managed to drag himself out to Ohio...

Not that we saw you there, slacker.
 
The only problem about seeing his Kainen mask is that Kainen is currently in a golem, and Jesse doesn't have a silver snake-mask yet. He's just been airbrushing himself silver and painting scales on his face.

He brings his regular stuff with him though, in case the golem gets broken. He'll probably let you take a look at it in the parking lot.
 
Assuming the finding a job thing works this summer I'm looking at June possibly! :) I'd love to make you guys my 9th...
 
The mask may be re-forged for a future event, but it got such a nice reception that I think version 2 will be much the same as version 1. I got my buddy Tormy (who played Talin, the rogue with the flask on his arm) to build a base layer of plaster gauze onto my jellied-up face. Then I added cardboard to build out the nose, covered with more plaster gauze to make it sturdy and hold it in place. Then Tormy, who had some experience with Sculpy, used it to add the green layer. He got the idea of actually pressing the black netting that a pair of Koosh balls came in directly into the Sculpy, which made for a great scale texture. After baking the mask, I glued the elastic waistband of the gym shorts (which I used for the hood) to the back with Gorilla Glue. The elastic gets tied in the back of my head to hold the mask on, then the hood gets tucked under the edges of the mask.

My complaints with this current mask:
The netting shrank a bit in the heat of the oven, so it lifted out of the Sculpy in places. I think this can be compensated for by scrunching a little extra netting into the concave surfaces, and embedding it more deeply in the Scuply around the mask's edges.
The eye-holes are a bit small. While I somewhat like the reduced vision (snakes rely more on scent, vibrations, etc), the eye-holes could stand to be expanded a bit on the next iteration.
The hollow nose is a bit funky. After eating a chicken-salad sandwich for lunch Friday I was burping chicken salad smell into my mask's nose cavity all day and breathing it back in. The material of the mask is very porous, so I can breath through my nose despite it being completely covered, because there is an opening for my nostrils into the hollow space. That is a nice feature in some ways, and I may keep it in the next iteration despite the recycled gut-gas issue. Maybe I'll put a few activated charcoal granules in there.

Thanks again, Tormy, for all the help! And thanks for your input, everyone. I'm looking forward to bumping into Kainen eventually.
 
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