Idolmaster Cinderella Girls and any and all existing characters belong to Bandai Namco Studios

Masks - A New Generation and its contents belong to Magpie Games

Introduction

The early afternoon sun peered through the windows of the high rise building, sending a brief warm to the otherwise air conditioned room of a specific idol unit and the producer that served as their handler. A calm and somewhat silent air that permeated the room. The two of them that were still in high school; one who had dyed her hair pink while the other had a blue tint to hers, sat to the side of the room, helping one another with their homework. Two other members of the unit sat beside one another on the black sofa, the decidedly blonde with the still pale skinned girl who dyed her own hair white. The blonde one in particular was holding the magazine for her friend.

"Ne, ne, what do you think, Syuko-chan. Doesn't this look cute?" The French-Japanese girl asked, pointing to the spread in the magazine.

"Hm." The white haired girl gave the question some thought, her hand held to her chin as her eyes scrutinized the page. "I mean, it's cute. But I think you look better in something else."

"Really?" Frederica's eyes widened in disbelief. "Shiki-chan said the same thing. Am I losing my touch? I thought this was cute."

"It is. But it doesn't scream Fre-chan, Fre-chan." Syuko said with a light smirk.

"And what is Fre-chan?" the blonde asked to herself, her face scrunching up in exaggerated thought. "I need to ask other people about this!"

"Yeah, yeah, you do that, Fre-chan." Syuko said, leaning into the sofa as the blonde stood up.

Suddenly, the door to their office shot open, revealing the last member of their unit. Hand held out after she had slammed the door open, with an excited look on her face. "Let's play a game!" she announced to her friends.

Frederica's own thoughts seemed to halt as the blonde turned to her closest friend, while Syuko simply raised an intrigued brow at the brunette's antics, whatever they may be. At this, even the two that were busy with their homework, Kanade and Mika, turned in their seat to see what their resident mad scientist was up to.

"What kind of game, Shiki-chan?" it was Mika who asked, a light smile on both her and Kanade's face.

"An RPG!" she proclaimed, taking a few steps into the office.

"Eh? I don't really like RPGs." Syuko replied with a small frown. "Can't we play something else, like a kart game or something?"

The brunette shook her head exaggeratedly. "No, no! Not a video game. An actual RPG!" she said aloud, showing them what she held in her other hand.

The cover had what looked like a ruined city, with a bunch of youngish looking characters, probably around their age, standing and sitting around or on top of some kind of giant robot. And the name written in English, taking up a good third of the cover, made to draw in one's attention onto it.

"Masks?" Kanade asked, reading the cover with furrowed brows and a slight curiosity.

"Yeah, it's an RPG. You know, like Dungeons & Dragons. You girls heard of it?" Shiki asked as she now stood in what amounted to the office's living room.

Both high schoolers and Syuko shook their heads, but the resident blonde slammed a fist into her palm. "Oh, yeah! I think I saw my relatives play them when we visited when I was still small."

"Huh, I thought you've never been to France, Fre-chan?" Mika asked with confusion.

"I've been there like twice!" she proclaimed proudly.

"What's this game supposed to be?" Kanade asked the brunette, still standing before them.

Shiki held the book with both her hands. "We get to be superheroes!"

"Oh, that sounds fun. How do you play?" Syuko asked in turn, leaning closer to Shiki.

"It's an RPG. So we can pretty much do anything!" Shiki explained, a foot stepping onto the coffee table. "We need a GM first!"

"GM?"

"Like a radio DJ, or a host to move our game along." Shiki said to her white haired friend. By this point, Frederica had sat back down, and both Mika and Kanade were fully facing the brunette from where they sat.

"Why don't you do it, Shiki?" asked Kanade, gesturing to the older girl.

"But I want to play too!" Shiki cried out, finally sitting down herself. "Do you think we can get the Producer into this?"

"What are you roping me in to?" All five heads turned to the man that had walked in, closing the door that was left open by Shiki. He was a little on the heavy side, though his tailored suit showed him in his best. His sun-kissed face was both foreign and familiar. He was not Japanese, that much was obvious, yet there was enough to show off his Asian heritage. His hair was cut extremely short, giving him a uniform and professional look.

"Producer!" Shiki bounded off the recliner, almost tackling the producer as she appeared right before him. "Have you ever played D&D?"

The producer have the brunette a furrowed look of confusion. "Yeah, a couple of times. Why?"

"As a GM?"

"Sometimes. What's up? You girls thinking of playing?" he asked the room, though he expected the answer from Shiki.

Shiki shook her head. "Not that, but this!" she held the book right in front of her, showing the cover to the man. "Have you heard of it?"

"Yeah, when it was still being crowdfunded. Didn't know it was released already." He told her. "You want someone to GM you girls?"

"Yeah, I want to play to! It'll be so much fun! Please? Please please please!" The brunette begged to the producer.

"I've never seen Shiki-chan like this." Mika commented, nudging Kanade with her elbow.

"I'm actually kind of interested now." She said back with a light giggle.

The producer kept his eyes on Shiki for an extended second, before he glance to the rest of the unit. "You girls also wanna play?"

"For sure! It sounds super fun!" Frederica answered, shifting in her seat.

Syuko nodded beside. "Yeah, I guess there's no harm in trying."

The two high schoolers also nodded, their own interests now lining up with the instigator. The producer sighed, but he took the offered book from Shiki. "Not today. I still have work. We still have work."

The brunette looked up with a bright smile on her face. "So tomorrow?!"

"Make sure your schedules are clear. We don't have any planned events for you girls at the moment, so just as long as you don't have any classes or lessons, or other plans. An RP session takes a couple of hours." He said to the room, before focusing on Shiki again. "I'm taking the book, so I can also learn. You explain to the rest about whatever they need to know about this."

"Yes, Producer!" Shiki replied with a salute.

The Producer nodded back, before he made his way towards his office, leaving the five girls alone in the room. Kanade and Mika joined the other two on the living space, looking expectantly at Shiki. "So, Shiki, what do we need to know?" questioned Kanade.

"Hm hm. Don't worry, the magnanimous, illustrious Shiki-chan will explain it all!" Shiki proclaimed, turning to face them in a flourish. Frederica slapped her thighs like a drum beat, supporting her friend.

Mika shook her head, bracing for the escalating antics that she was used to. "Oh boy."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

i've been holding onto this idea since i started getting into pen & paper RPGs (which was quite a few years ago by now), the idea of LiPPS just getting into some roleplay. the first iteration of this idea was just them playing some D&D. but considering how much work for one person to simulate an entire D&D encounter (and i do/did plan to actually make the dice rolls), i've always pushed it back.

then a couple of days ago i found Masks. a simple RPG system with an interesting premise. and after reading trough the core rule book, the idea shifted from them playing D&D to Masks. i've already got the characters lined up for them, so we'll be seeing them soon.

anyways, thanks for dropping by, and i hope i see you all next time!