PREDATOR You can run on for a long time Run on for a long time Run on for a long time Sooner or later God'll cut you down Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand Workin' in the dark against your fellow man But as sure as God made black and white What's done in the dark will be brought to the light
ECHOES Version 1.1
Go tell that long tongue liar Go and tell that midnight rider Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down -Johnny Cash
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INTRODUCTION AND SETTING
INTRODUCTION
Everyone in the world has some small amount of mojo. Psychic power, arcane juice, whatever you want to call it. And that power gets tied up in exactly the places people think they put it. Marriages and christenings really do bind and name. Graveyards are sacred and spooky because people have invested their power that way. People, individually, just don’t have that much juice. But their power can be collected. Get yourself a supernatural hunger, get hold of the places where people send their power, and eat them away, and you can claim a bit of the source when you do. You can become superhumanly beautiful, smart, strong, do magic. Of course, it means that you’re on your way to being a soul-sucking predator, completely out of control, and seriously in need of being put down. All monsters eat the stuff of people. Sometimes it’s their blood, or flesh, or their eyes. Or their love, joy, and dreams. Or their homes and possessions, crops and towns. Putting down monsters like that is what Hunters do. You would know; you’re a Hunter. You and your crew find things that used to be people, and end them. It’d be nice to think that some of the monsters out there were never human - that they came from some other place, or have been hidden away from people all this time. But it doesn’t look to be true. People turn themselves into monsters. Sometimes, there’s very little in the way of choosing. Other times, every step on the way is deliberate and known. Chances are, at least one member of your crew will be infected with some supernatural hunger at some time or another. Chances are, they’ll want to fight it, keep it under control for a awhile; plenty of hunters live with a gnawing pain in their gut. And the rest of you will need to decide what to do about that, too. Where does that line go, exactly?
YOU WILL NEED
To play this game, you'll need to print character sheets, and have pencils. You won't need dice. Instead, get about four decks of cards, and remove the kings, queens, jack, and jokers – leaving in 2-10 and Aces. Shuffle all these together. 2
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SETTING
This game is set 'just off' the real world of today, in the southern states of the USA; just the other side of a funhouse mirror. While your group may have a home city, much of the action will take place in varying towns, abandoned sites, and other locations out on the road. GOING DOWN SOUTH The southern states have history, geography, and communities that can easily flow into the stuff of stories – and have. A devil went down to Georgia, and maybe cut a few deals at the crossroads on the way. There's room for monsters, there, and not just in a physical sense. There are mirrors covered when folk die, and conjure men; there are bottle trees and bayou. There are holiness churches handling snakes and there are amusement parks left to rot. There are funeral processions with music leading. There's poverty enough for plywood shacks, and folk on two sides of the same street living in whole other worlds to one another. There's room. THE FUNHOUSE MIRROR In the real world, the south is just as much a place of regular jobs, modern cities, and all of the things that might be expected to go with them. But that's not where hunters tend to end up. They end up in the backwoods clinic with a lone doctor telling them about the damn strange deaths of late, damn strange. They end up running through the abandoned cotton mill, looking for the vampire that's been terrorizing the descendants of it's slaves since the civil war. They end up in the appalachians, trying to find the wendigo that's been attacking local folks. Hunters end up in the strangest parts more often than in the most usual. THE HUNTERS THEMSELVES Most hunters aren't entirely regular, either. Most people don't see the monsters, unless it's too late. It's not that people are stupid (though a fair few are, of course). It's that their minds and their eyes are on other things, and staring into the dark looking for monsters isn't the mark of a sane mind. Unless you're already disposed to it somehow; there's former cops turned hunter, professional mystics, odd assortments of criminals, folks on the edge of crazy, road people of all sorts, people from the hills and from the wildest churches. There are also those with undeniable experiences, families lost, or otherwise pulled in and now unable to close their eyes and wish it all away. 4
WHO HEARS BUMPS
Not everyone who runs in to monsters and realizes something about what they've experiences simply forgets or signs on as a hunter. CRANKS & CLUEFULS There are always a fair number of the independently aware. Some of these can be found in the pay of monsters – either for tangible cash, odd services, or the promise of monstrosity itself. Others are interested for research purposes, on a quest to prove the existence of monsters, or the like. And on and on.... there are plenty of reactions that people have to monsters, and quite a few of them are plenty lonesome. UNDERGROUNDERS There are endless numbers of secret societies and fringe networks that have some basic idea of how the monster work. Most hunters are very wary of such sources – every network has a few would-be monsters in the ranks, and whole chapters of different secret societies have 'gone over' into monstrosity from time to time. The thing in Baltimore where an entire Rotary club turned Strega is a fairly wellworn legend among hunters. THE GOVERNMENT The government covers up supernatural activity... After a fashion. The policy at the top of the line is to “lose” cases that are plainly supernatural, directly into the hands of hunters. There don't seem to be any “military hunters”, but there are plenty of veterans turned hunters that have kept their connections, and even more hunter groups that receive very deniable support. It is typically assumed that the government has at least a few fishy projects tucked away somewhere, but nobody can agree on what or where they are. ROADHOUSERS There are highway pubs, summer campsites, and other odd corners that are known to hunters, undergrounders, and varying government agents. Each such place is upkept by some team or group that works to keep it out of the limelight. Generally, this means off the radar of law enforcement, more than being concerned with what monsters know – there are very few monsters stupid enough to attack such a site, given the retaliation that could be expected.
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FAITH & RITUAL
The majority of hunters in the south are “Baptist, I guess”. Those hunter crews that have been functioning for a while tend to include a conjurer – someone with serious faith in a body of ritual practice, who is able to enhance the group in a variety of ways. Getting regular and obviously working blessings from someone with faith tend to bend the group towards the views of the one giving out the blessing – and those that can do this are generally fervent and a little odd. So, here are a few of the bodies of ritual practices conjurers tend to fall into... HERMETICS & HOODOO PEOPLE These two forms of practice aren't religious, though they often borrow from Judaic and Christian overtones and cosmology. Their practitioners are most concerned with symbols, seals, alchemical concoctions, and the like; they often borrow from a great many sets of beliefs. The main difference here is that hermetic practice has a European cast, and “looks like” the media image of wizardly magic. Hoodoo, on the other hand, is derived largely from African and slave practices, and “looks like” Voodoo (though it isn't). HOLINESS CHRISTIAN Holiness Christians are a fairly extreme form of Christian sect, who engage in practices that include speaking in tongues, quaking, handling snakes, and drinking poison. In effect, if it's a Biblical miracle, holiness Christians seek it. THE NEW OLD FAITHS Pagans, Wiccans, and Native American faiths of all stripes have been on the boil together for quite some time, and see use among hunters. Believers here tend to find “what works for me”, smash it together with bits of the associated faiths, and just go with it. This kind of odd amalgamation can strike outsiders as disrespectful or silly... Until they see it working. VOODOO Voodoo (as contrasted to Hoodoo) is a body of religious practice. Invocations, symbols, mystical items, bodily possession by spirit entities, and many other practices are included in Voodoo. On the whole, this is likely to be one of the harder bodies of practice to play with for many, even as a pastiche. Modern media tends to portray Voodoo very poorly, if at all. 6
THE PROGRESSSION
Hunters don’t gather in serious numbers all that often, but they try to make contact with each other and share very basic stuff. The most basic bit of shared lore is ‘the progression’, which is: HUNGER LEADS TO FEEDING Someone who has been infected with a hunger doesn’t need to feed it. But eventually, they almost always will. FEEDING LEADS TO INFECTION The subject of a feeding can be hurt, die, or be infected with a hunger much like the one they were hit with. Any feeding risks infecting others. INFECTION LEADS TO CONGREGATION Those with more developed hungers have power over those with less. Over time and infection, a regular feeder will end up with a nest around them. CONGREGATION LEADS TO TRANSCENDENCE As a hunger grows in power, it can take over the holder entirely, wiping out their original will. Among monsters that gather together, some handful of those that have lost out to their hungers in this way will begin to outgrow their human state entirely, becoming unrecognizable things. TRANSCENDENCE LEADS TO APOCALYPSE The fully-transformed always seek to expand whatever form of ‘new civilization’ they are creating. The act of expansion can be slow or swift, but the ultimate end remains the same - to convert the world into a place where all humanity has no purpose except to be food for the monsters. THE ECHOES Feeding, Infection, Congregation, & Transcendence all warp the natural state of affairs and the normal flows of arcane power in the world. Around the places where this occurs, things happen. Plants wither. Animals become feral. Pregnancies, human and otherwise, result in awful stillbirths of twisted children Flickers of light appear and vanish, lightning snakes along the ground rather than leaping skywards, the slain subjects of feeding combust entirely. These are echoes, and hunters watch for them with a focus bordering on obsession. 7
GLOSSARY
Some terms that characters are likely to use... • Backer: A contact, or group of contacts, that provides a significant service. • Crew: A group of hunters that work together. • Echo: A residual effect left behind after supernatural activity takes place. This can include odd physical damage to a site, creation of haints, statues weeping blood, and many other kinds of oddities. • Haint: A 'remnant' of a person, left in a place where someone was harmed or used power. Haints are often interpreted as ghosts by witnesses. Since a monster can leave behind haints that mirror their own being, without dying, most older hunters don't think haints are souls at all. • Hallow: A hallow is a 'friendly' haint that is tied to an item; in effect, it's a ghost-in-a-bag. Learning to use each individual hallow takes time; the haint must be spoken to according to it's own odd perceptions of the world. • Hunter: Someone who hunts monsters. • Job: A 'monster hunt' is generally just known as a job. • Mojo: Any item that is signature to a person is 'their mojo'. James Dean's leather jacket, Fred Astaire's tap shoes. This is a casual use; items made through actual Hoodoo are “mojo hands”, “mojo bags”, or “actual mojo”. This often confuses newer hunters. • Monster: Any person possessed of, and using, a supernatural hunger. Depending on the hunter using the term, people that have had a hunger wakened in them, but do not feed it, might or might not be considered monsters. • Myth: In addition to the usual uses of this word, hunters believe that human faith and belief can bind up supernatural power. Vampire stories help shape the nature of blood-drinking hungers. This also means that some echoes – haints, especially – can become far stronger through legend, resulting in quasi-monsters called myths. Bloody Mary may be a myth, an echo given life. For a fun reference, see the movie Candyman; it fits almost perfectly. • Roadhouse: Any place where Hunters meet up regularly. This phrase is used, generally, in homage to the TV series Supernatural (which is a Hunter favourite, for reasons that should be obvious). • Teeth / Toothy: A casual term for supernatural hungers; saying that someone “got teeth in Atlanta” would mean that they had a hunger wakened there. Asking “Do you think he's toothy?” is asking “Do you think he's a monster?”, andd so on. 8
THE WAY OF THE HUNT
Hunts don't all go the same way, but they do tend to have at small degree of structure in common. Here's how things tend to go on a regular hunt... SIGNS AND ARRIVALS Chasing tip-offs, echoes, rumours and deaths,the hunters start poking around. They check up on the site of some supernatural event, collect a fistful of leads off in different directions, and chase them. AGENDAS The hunters start running into the stuff around the monster or monsters. This often includes meeting those that have been fed upon, as well as other investigators (police, for example), underlings and would-be monster followers, flunkies that have been paid off, and so on. Depending on the hunt, this may be a simple, smooth process of chatting up victims that want revenge. Or it might be a whole lot more confusing, especially if the monsters are well entrenched and have created more monsters during their existence. RESOLUTION At some point in this action, sooner or later, there will be a play for blood. Often, it's the choices of the hunters, finding their target or targets and working to put them down. Other times, the monsters will realize the impending threat and make the first try. And in a few cases, things will go entirely to hell in completely novel ways.
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CHARACTER CREATION
CHARACTER CREATION
A character is composed of a concept, archetype, list of traits, and details. Let's break that down a little: CONCEPT A core concept is the central description of a character. This may not be the first thing you come up with, but once you have a solid concept, everything else becomes easier. Getting a bit of a handle on the setting and the way that your group intends to play it out can help you get a concept that meshes with the context the character will work in and the others that they will be interacting with. ARCHETYPES An archetype is a “basic kind” of character – a character might be a specialist of some kind, a mystic, even a monster. Your character will have two archetypes that should back up and help define your concept. Archetypes should always be discussed with your group. Each Archetype has some special 'trick' that it can manage under the rules. TRAITS Traits are the more complex component. All traits have a two-part mechanic; a number and a notation... • Rating: A rating is the number part of the mechanic; this indicates how many cards it gives when used – how much energy it gives you. Higher ratings are more potent. • Notation: (+), (n), (-): All the traits you choose will have one of these notations. A positive (+) trait gives you more energy, and also indicates skill or mastery. A neutral (n) trait improves staying power, and that's it. A negative (-) trait gives you energy at the cost of clarity; things you call on in emotional distress, for example. DETAILS To play out properly, a character will need a name, connections... a whole life, in effect. Much of this material can be sorted out in the form of traits of varying sorts, but other parts will need to be figured separately of the mechanical act of creation. Among the most important features to consider are the attitudes the character has to monstrosity in general and to the varying branches of human ritual (both religious and otherwise).
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ARCHETYPE LIST ACE An Ace is a generalist – fairly focused in any situation, and less prone to grievous error when improvising. On your character sheet, increase each of the listed 'facedown' values by one point. Additionally, during play, whenever you play an ace, you may choose to have it count as a value equal to your current clarity. • Special: You may take this archetype twice, increasing facedown values by two points in total. CONJURER A Conjurer is someone able to bind up human belief into rituals with actual force. The rules for this are given after character creation. In general, this requires mystical gear of some sort, and aspects to back it up with; you'll want to choose faith-based aspects and gear as you go on through character creation. FACE A Face is to social situations what a Genius is to mental ones. A face has moments where they are shockingly glib, charming, and smooth – they still have downs, but their ups are much higher. When you are taking (or responding to) an action based in social ability, and playing a card in the suit of hearts, clarity does not limit the value of that card. GENIUS A Genius is someone able to master mental skills of all sorts; whether they're a lab-coated scientist or a hick that built their own satellite dish is a matter of style; both are geniuses. When you are taking (or responding to) an action based on mental ability and skill, and playing a card in the suit of diamonds, clarity does not limit the value of that card. JOKER A Joker is a character with somewhat surprising hidden reserves. The basic hand of five cards that you have at the start of any given scene is composed of four drawn cards and a single Joker. When played, a Joker counts as any desired card that is normally included in the deck. You can give this card to another as help, if you wish to do so.
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♦ MONSTER Monsters are human beings that have had some kind of supernatural hunger awakened in them. Again, the rules are fairly hefty – in effect, you'll have a number of added traits you can use to your advantage, but the sum total of those traits will also be potentially able to be used against you to drive you into deep, permanent monstrosity. SLAYER A slayer is someone that is ready for, and oriented towards, killing at the drop of a hat. When you are taking (or responding to) an action employing deadly force, and playing a card in the suit of spades, clarity does not limit the value of that card. Note that this ability is specifically for use of killing force. TITAN A titan is physically exceptional, able to throw others around suddenly and without warm-up. When you are taking (or responding to) an action based in athletic ability, and playing a card in the suit of clubs, clarity does not limit the value of that card. Note that this never applies to use of deadly force – a titan can capture, fling, disarm, and wrestle opponents in this way, but this trick cannot be used for deadly attacks.
♦
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ASPECTS
1(+), 2(+), 2(n), 3(n), 3(-), 4(-) You will choose or come up with six aspects; one for each of the ratings given above. Remember that numbers mean energy while (+), (n), and (-) indicate mastery. So, a Family Man with a 5(-) actually gets less focused and skilled when his family is on the line - but he has far more energy. WHAT MAKES AN ASPECT? An aspect should be a specific label or identity that your character carries, whether by dint of training, mastery, association, or whatever means. It shouldn't be too broad from the perspective of monsterhunting; “Academic” is enormously broad in general, but from a monster-hunting perspective, it's much less so, and would make a fine aspect. “Monster Hunter”, on the other hand, covers pretty nearly all the action of the game, and would be thus cover too much ground. A list of example aspects can be found below...
RELATIONSHIPS
1(+), 2(+), 2(n), 3(n), 3(-), 4(-) You will choose or come up with six relationships; one for each of the ratings given above. Relationships can be with: ● Individuals: An impressive or well-connected contact can be taken as a relationship. If your character knows a mafia boss, a governor's adviser, or some similar such, they may well be worth taking as an individual contact. ● Institutions & Groups: Taking a relationships with a group often mean great familiarity. This can include former membership (for current membership, you should also have a trait). It can also include a group that acts as a backer. Finally, you can take your own crew of hunters as a relationship, naming it to gain benefits whenever you aid your allies. ● Emotional states: An anger management problem is a relationship, for example – and a pretty good 5(-), at that. Most easily imagined relationships with emotional states should generally be negative values, but not all.
EXAMPLE ASPECTS
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Academic
Forger
Mechanic
Analyst
Gambler
Medic
Bravo
Gossip
Ritualist*
Burglar
Gunfighter
Sharpshooter
Chemist
Impersonator
Conniver
EXAMPLE RELATIONSHIPS X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Shyster
X
X
X
Interrogator
Socialite
X
X
X
Engineer
Investigator
Thief
X
X
X
Folklorist
Machinist
Thug
X
X
X
X
X
X
*This or some similar aspect is recommended for Conjurers.
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CHARACTER: EQUIPMENT
SPEND 8 POINTS You have eight ‘points’ to spend on starting equipment. Not all equipment costs points; the kind of stuff you just find lying around is free. If there are places that are your “home turf”, they count as items, too. Equally, a family fortune or other resource counts as an item. Signature items are anything a character is emotionally invested in; the Fonz's leather jacket is a signature item; all mystical items are also signature gear. Detailed notes on this are found after the Archetypes.Each piece of equipment is managed in two different ways, to determine the trait rating for it, and to determine if it is positive, neutral or negative as a trait. Generally speaking, you`ll usually only find a meed to list noteworthy equipment at all. CRAP, GOOD, EXCELLENT The basic quality of an item determines if it counts as a negative, neutral, or positive trait. Low-quality, crap items, are negative. Good, normal-quality items are neutral. Top-quality gear is positive. USUAL, BIG, SIGNATURE The rating of an item is always 1, 2, or 3. If an item isn’t part of your mojo, and isn’t especially big for what it is, then it’s usual – rating 1. If the item is big for what it is (that’s an awful big handgun), then it’s big – rating 2. A signature item is rating 3 – and since `signature` is where `you have emotional and mystical investments in this` belong, any kind of mystical or magical item should always be treated as a signature item.
POINT COSTS TABLE
(-)
(+)
Crap
Good
Excellent
1: Usual
-
-
1 pt.
2: Big
-
1 pt.
3 pts.
1 pt.
2 pts.
6 pts.
3: Signature 16
(n)
NOTEWORTHY OR NOT?
There's a whole world of stuff that your character likely inhabits. • Skillful Gear: If your character is a medic, they should likely have a medical bag good enough to note. If they're a researcher, the means by which they research should be put in... And so on. • Vehicle: Even a no-points vehicle is usually worth noting, if you think your character should have one. Hunters move around the scenery enough that how they get there will come up. • Wealth: If you imagine your character as independently wealthy, actually noting down “family fortune” or whatever kind of wealth applies as a possession can be a good pick. • Combat Gear: More often than not, a hunt ends in blood. Even if your character isn't especially deadly, and has few combat-capable aspects, they should still have some basic armament for when things get ugly. • Ritual Gear: If your character is a conjurer, you will want to have some kind of ritual equipment on hand. In general, matching your ritual aspect to your gear, so that they share the same value, is a good idea. • Hallows: A hallow is effectively a “ghost in a bag” that can be called upon to aid you. A hallow must be taken as a signature item to be used at all; if you have a hallow that is not signature to you, it will tend to act against you if called on (granting cards to your opponents instead). When you take a hallow, note who the echo (the 'ghost') reflects – it is possible to have an echo of yourself as equipment. Also note what kind of stuff is in the bag; the most common is a powdered mirror, as 'a ghost in the mirror' is a very common echo of feedings. THINGS IMPROVISED & NOTED ON THE SPOT Using things for purposes they weren’t meant for usually means that they end up being crap. As a thrown weapon, a bottle is crap – a chair is big crap, but still crap. In a kitchen, the knives in the chopping block might be good, but likely no better. And if you check the chart, all those items are free in terms of points. As long as players are improvising things from the scene that stay in the free range, either as stuff to grab from the environment or stuff they have along with them, there’s no reason not to let them just go right ahead.
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RULES OF ACTION
THE BASIC MECHANISM
Action in roleplaying games always proceeds with one person describing action, others responding, and then further action being declared, on and on. One character swings a weapon, lays down an insult, whatever it might be – others defend and react, then take their own actions, which get reactions in turn. This action more or less arranges itself naturally into scenes – an argument that gets ugly, a careful negotiation, whatever the case might be. RULES FORMALISE THIS This system adds rules to “back up” the natural action of play. So, a character will have resources available in each scene – traits that they can call upon. These resources can be spent to put weight behind actions and responses as play goes on, and added resources can be called upon when such actions are taken. THIS IS DONE WITH A HAND OF CARDS At the start of a scene, each participant draws a hand of five cards, and all of their traits are refreshed. If cards were not used in the previous scene, then this hand of cards can just 'roll over' from one scene to the next. If they were used, then a new hand must be drawn. TRAITS ARE HOW YOU DRAW CARDS A character is defined in numbers by means of attributes, aspects, relationships, and equipment, all of which are often just called traits. When actions are declared and responded to, they can make a trait applicable. If you whip out a gun to shoot someone – or even just to intimidate them, your gun has become applicable, and you can draw added cards for it if that action (or response) was being backed up with cards. When you draw for a trait, you might also need to adjust your clarity... CLARITY LIMITS WHAT YOU PLAY Clarity is a number that runs from five to ten. Your clarity can change from action to action; at the start of a scene, your clarity is six. When playing cards to put some 'oomph' behind an action, or to respond to one, any card played with a rating higher than your current clarity must be played facedown, and counts as being half of your current clarity (rounded down). You can also choose to play cards face-down in order to have them count as this number, if you wish – if you have a fairly high clarity, this is often a decent idea.
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ACTIONS WITH CARDS
When you take an action that you want a serious response to, each of the following components should be applied. They should generally be done in the order given, but it need not be exact.. DESCRIBING ACTION Any action should be described, even if the description is a quick one. “I take a shot at him” is just as valid as “I pop out of cover just long enough to fire a few quick shots”. STATING INTENT When you're going to back an action, it should be clear what you want to achieve – your intention. If your goal in shooting is to keep your opponent in cover and out of the fight, that's a fair bit different from wanting to kill them outright. Sometimes, intent can be assumed if it's 'same as last shot', but not as often as it seems. NAMING A TRAIT & ADJUSTING CLARITY When you've stated action and intent, you can then name one trait, be it an attribute, aspect, relationship, or item, that applies to the action and intent. When you do so, you adjust your clarity up by one point if the trait is excellent (+), leave clarity alone if the trait is neutral (n), and move clarity down by one if troublesome (-). You can only name one such trait per action, and once named, that trait is exhausted; it cannot be named again in the scene. This is also optional – if you have no trait available that matches the action, you don't name one. This is also subject to group judgement; if the group doesn't think the trait applies, it doesn't. DRAWING CARDS After naming a trait (or passing on doing so), you draw a single card and add it to your hand. If you named a trait, you instead draw as many cards as the number rating of the trait. PLAYING (TWO CARDS) Actually backing up your action and intention, finally, is done by playing two cards (no more, no less). Higher values mean that the action will be more costly to resist, either in terms of cards required to block it, or in terms of fallout - side effects coming along with resistance.
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RESPONDING TO CARDS
When you are targeted by an action that is backed up with cards, you'll need to respond. You can respond by giving in or by playing cards of your own. This is true of each person targeted; if a character insults an entire group, each player character insulted must respond individually (if a group of non-player characters is targeted, the GM might respond for each separately, for the whole group, or anything in between). GIVING IN If you're all right with the intent of the action happening as-stated – whether that means your character being convinced, taken aback, captured, or whatever the case may be – you can simply give in. If you don't have enough card to respond to the action properly, you must give in. When you give in, the intended effect happens. THE PROCESS FOR RESPONDING If you're not willing to give in, then you respond by following the same basic process as action takes, with a few changes. First, you don't need to state intent. Your intent is always assumed to be to avoid, limit, or otherwise reduce the impact of the action. CARDS ON THE RESPONSE When responding, you must play cards with a total value equal to the total value of the card on the action. If you are targeted by an action backed up by a six and a five, that's eleven – and you'll need to play cards with a total value of eleven, or give. Clarity still limits your plays. The result here depends of the number of cards you need to play to match that total. ● One Card: Reversal: If you match or beat the total of the cards played on the action, with a single card, you reverse. Not only is the action blocked, but the clarity of the actor is reduced by one. ● Two Cards: Blocking: If you match or beat that total with two cards, you block. You've stopped ● Three or More: Damaged: If you play three or more cards to cover the action total, then the action damages you. Damage is variable, depending on the action that hit you, cards you draw, and even choices you make with regard to it.... See next page.
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DAMAGE
When you take damage, you draw cards, and reveal them, keeping the two highest as your 'damage total'. If you already have cards for your damage total, you replace them only if new cards would yield a higher damage total. However, just as with playing cards for actions and response, an effective clarity applies; different kinds of actions cause different intensities of damage. • Damage From Talking & Skill: General mental and social action has an effective clarity of 5. If you draw a card with a value higher than this, it counts as a 3, and should be placed in your stack facedown if at all. •Athletic Damage: Physical action that isn’t deadly has an effective clarity of 7. The same rule for larger cards applies as for talking. • Deadly Damage: Damage from action that involves deadly force has an effective clarity of 9. The same rule for larger cards applies as for talking. • Feeding Damage: If you are being attacked with an infectious supernatural attack, the fallout has an effective clarity of 10. DAMAGE TOTAL & STATE Your current total damage indicates your state: • 7 Or Less: Off-balance: After this scene, you need a few hours to clear your head, doing things you like. Until you get it, you start scenes at Clarity 5 rather than 6. • 8 to 15: Affected: You are heavily impacted by the action. If the scene ends with you at this level, you will need to pick one of the options from the “being affected” list. • 16 to 17: Injured: You are seriously hurt. You will need to “fight your injuries” (possibly with skilled help), or you will permanently lose one point from one stat. When your damage total first hits this level in a scene, reduce your clarity by one. • 18 to 19: Out Of Action: Upon hitting this total, you are immediately down and out; unless a fight against your injuries is won, you will die. • 20: Infected: You suffer all the effects of being out of action. If you survive, you are infected with a supernatural Hunger (if you do not already have one), turning you into a monster; your existing archetype will be lost.
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DAMAGE: BEING AFFECTED
If you are strongly affected by a conflict, then when it ends, pick one
of the following: •Alter the name of one of your traits to reflect the changes to you (once per session). •Move one point from one of your traits or relationships to another. The point must go from a trait or relationship rated (+) to one that is neutral, or from a neutral one to a (-). • Become Off-Balance for the rest of the hunt. • Reduce a trait or relationship by 1. • Remove a trait or relationship rated at 1 or 2. • Reduce one of your stats by 1. • Increase your Hunger by 1. • Discard a piece of gear that is worth points, and which was used in the conflict - it is broken.
FIGHTING YOUR INJURIES
A conflict against your injuries is run in a fairly static fashion. The injury has a fixed stake (reducing a stat or killing you), draws an opening hand of as many cards as your fallout total (and doesn’t draw further), and has a set clarity (5 if you are injured, 7 if out of action). An injury never gives until it runs out of cards.
ACES IN DAMAGE DRAWS
When taking damage, the first time you draw an ace, set it aside. Drawing an ace means you’re learned something; after the conflict, pick one: • Gain a new trait or relationship at 1(neutral). • Increase a (-) trait or relationship by 1. • Gain a new trait or relationship at 2(-). • Reduce a trait or relationship by 1. • Remove a trait or relationship rated at 1 or 2
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FINE DETAILS
Some general rules that aren't part of the basic mechanic, but can help keep the action rolling... HELPING Players may always show each other their hands of cards if desired, and can give each other cards (either swapping them or simply handing some over). However, any such transfer of cards should be explained in the action of the scene. If a Genius is trying to sort something out, another player can say “my character has an idea”, and hand over the nine of diamonds (which makes it a pretty good idea). In a group that covers the archetypes nicely, swapping around card like this can be very handy.
REFLECTION
Between jobs, your character will change further. You’ll pick one of the following: • Gain a new trait or relationship at 1(+), 2(neutral), or 3(-). • Increase a (-) trait or relationship by 2. • Increase a (neutral) trait or relationship by 1. • Change a (-) trait or relationship to (neutral) or from (neutral) to (+), or the reverse. • Reduce a trait or relationship by any amount. • Increase or reduce your Hunger, if you have a Hunger, by 1. You cannot reduce it to zero. • Improve one of your pieces of equipment by one ‘step’ in draw size or value - this often indicates that you’re upgrading to a better one.
GOING IN ROUNDS When action is moving quickly and heavily, it can be useful to have all the player take turns, then a the GM characters, and back and forth like that. Going around the table can keep this even tidier, if desired, but can also limit action artificially – which has uses in a few circumstances, but not as many as one might expect using these rules. In a round, each player should have their character take one significant action, as well as helping one other person. SCENE SHIFTS The basic hand of cards, and the ability to call each individual trait, refreshes once each scene. The distinction of one scene from another, however, can be placed as desired – when a fight becomes a chase, that might or might not be a new scene; that's up to the group.
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MAGIC & MONSTERS
CEREMONY
A conjurer can perform and maintain a single ritual at any given time. If you draw a circle to repel a monster, and then give some a blessing, the circle stops being empowered. RITUALS ARE DESCRIPTIVE These rules don’t focus on a fixed list of rituals. Instead, a conjurer should have a specific tradition of mystical practice, and improvise ceremonies based on that tradition. Three traditions of practice would likely fit best: • Holiness Christians: Speaking in tongues, praying for miracles, handling snakes, drinking poison... Holiness Christians have a number of practices that, while born out of scripture, go far from the mainstream. • Voodoo: A set of religious practices, including communion with spirit beings, possession, mystical symbols, and the like. • Hoodoo: A non-religious set of magical practices, with some surface similarities to voodoo. Talismans and tokens are especially of note. Note that while Holiness Christianity and Voodoo are rare, they are also actual faiths. The degree of respect that should be shown to these belief systems in game is left up to the play group.
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THE MECHANIC When you perform a ceremony, you draw cards equal to the total of one ceremony or faith-oriented aspect and one such piece of equipment. However, instead of looking at these cards, you place them face-down in front of you (and usually place a token on them or similar to mark what they are). Anyone affected and using by the ceremony can then name the ceremony as if it were a trait, and draw some or all of these cards. For example, if the group is inside a sacred circle, and someone wishes to defend against an attack by stating that the foe is weakened by the circle, they could take cards from that stack. • Clarity changes: When calling on cards held by ceremony, the worse of the modifiers to clarity from either item or aspect is used (if only one of these was used, treat the other as being negative). So, if both the aspect and item were positive, then calling on the ceremony improves clarity. • Once per Scene: Each target of a ceremony can call on it as a trait once per scene at most. 27
HUNGER Infection Any attempt to feed can be resisted by the holder of the stat, trait, relationship, or item being fed on - if a Strega is attempting to rot your home, miles away, that’s still a spiritual conflict with you. What's actually happening is that their feeding on your soul, using the house as a conduit. If you resist a feeding, it’s a conflict that can injure you, kill you… or infect you. When you take a “20” result as fallout, you are infected with the same type of hunger that your attacker possesses (types are shown next page), though you may develop a different strain. This hunger starts at rating one, and brings some kind of unnatural trait along with it Hunger Rating Your hunger rating is a special number that indicates how monstrous you are. It has three functions... • Temptation: You may also need to “fight your hunger” in situations where temptation to feed is available to you; the GM will decide when these moments occur. This is treated much as ‘fighting your injuries’, but your hunger draws three cards per rating point. If you lose this conflict, all fallout you take must be used to make your character more monstrous. At higher levels (5 and up), the stake on the side of your hunger will often be a blackout period, where you become a total monster but recall nothing of it. At very high levels (8 or more), permanent blackout is on the table as a possibility. • Hierarchy: Your hunger can be sensed by, and can be called against you by, any creature that has a hunger of the same type and of a higher rating than your own, as if it were a (+) trait with a value equal to it’s rating. This applies to any attempt to gain your favor or to convince you to indulge your hunger. • Experience: On gaining Hunger, and each time your rating grows, you may improve unnatural traits as shown below; these are kept at the bottom of your sheet. If you reduce your hunger, you must reverse one of these improvements. 28
Rating
Traits
Special Effects
BlackoutHand
1
1
First power.
2 Cards
2
2
-
4 Cards
3
2, 1
Second power
6 Cards
4
3, 1
Weakness Matters
8 Cards
5
3, 2
Blackouts Likely
10 Cards
6
3, 2, 1
Third Power
12 Cards
7
4, 2, 1
-
14 Cards
8
4, 3, 1
Midnight
16 Cards
Weakness: If you have a hunger, you must choose a weakness from those listed with your hunger. At hunger 4+, when a signature item fitting that description is used against you in any way, the user draws cards equal to your hunger rating for using it. Flashpoints: Each of the following actions automatically increases your hunger rating: First Feeding, First Infection, First Congregation, and Each Blackout. Unnatural Traits: Each time you increase Hunger, pick one: • Gain a new unnatural trait that suits your Hunger at 1(neutral), or 2(-). • Increase a (-) unnatural trait by 2. • Increase a (neutral) unnatural trait by 1. • Change a (-) to (neutral) or from (neutral) to (+). Powers Powers are quick guidelines on new sorts of conflicts that a character with a given hunger can enter, as well as being new ways that they can apply their traits. So, if character has a “telepathy” power, they could use mind-reading as a action in conflict, or initiate conflicts in the minds of others. You gain one power from your strain at hunger 1, another at 3, and again at 5. Powers, like traits, vanish if hunger is reduced. 29
MONSTER TYPES DEVOURER Those with a Devouring hunger eat the bodies of their targets; feeding conflicts aim to permanently reduce Body or a trait indicating physique. Devourer powers are primarily very personal; they may be able change shape, but can't shapechange others. They might be able to warp the mind of a person, but not a room. Most commonly, they possess inhuman speed, strength, and resilience, fangs and claws, alternate forms. Some also have a mind-affecting, telepathic, or scrying ability of some kind. These abilities tend to be inherent, requiring neither fuel nor ceremony. Usual strains of devourer: • Vampires drink blood, and are known to have almost all the listed powers except for alternate forms. • Ghouls eat human flesh; they tend strongly towards incredible resilience, and a few can change into jackals. • Bruja devour eyes and spinal fluid; many have mental powers, and can turn into crows. • Wendigo eat flesh; they tend to have distinctive cold-based powers, and often turn into wolves. • Abarimon eat 'breath', and can often puff out poison clouds and run swiftly. • Choose A Weaknesses: Wood, Silver
DEVILS & DEVELOPMENTS
At and after very high levels of hunger (eight and above), it is possible for monsters to be transformed entirely. Such transformations almost always occur in monsters that are in permanent blackout – beings with no real trace of humanity remaining. However, at least one such rumoured transformation supposedly requires that the monster retain consciousness. The story goes that there is a loose network of devils – monsters that have found a ritual means to shift their power. Devils can supposedly gain powers from any monster type, feed by awakening hunger in others, and can choose the hunger they awaken in others. Their standard method of feeding is, simply, to offer supernatural power to others. 30
DESPOILER Those with a despoiling hunger often manipulate or seduce their targets with friendships or sex, and destroy their emotional ties to others by doing so (they 'eat' relationship ratings). Some, though, feed on sleeping targets. Their feeding conflicts can aim to reduce Heart or Acuity, or twist personal relationships. Despoilers tend heavily towards area-effect mental powers; there are despoilers that enjoy changing meetings into orgies or into brawls. Inhuman grace and beauty are also common. The more usual strains of despoiler: • Sirens eat group and team related relationships; they often have sound-related area powers. • Incubi and Succubi eat romantic relationships; they are usually inhumanly beautiful and have large-scale seductive abilities. • Baku eat dreams (acuity). They often have mental abilities and radar-like senses. • Banshee eat relationships to emotions and to those that are near death. They often have lethal mental powers to put people near death... • Dwiwonza eat relationships and traits relating to pregnancy and fertility; they often cause miscarriages as an echo of this. • Choose A Weaknesses: Jade, Iron
DEFILER
Defilers feed on the emotional investments people make into things. Their stake in a feeding conflict is almost always to cause the degradation of a signature item or place (though this is a side effect; what they want is the bit of you that's in it). Defiler powers tend to be either deathly or ceremonial; it's likely that most legends of “the undead”, including many vampire legends, are actually about defilers. The more usual strains of defiler: • Strega are witches that eat signature places and relationships to places; they traditionally prefer farms and crops over other targets. • Lyches eat hallowed and mystical things and places; most lyches can use blatant, energy-throwing powers. • Gaki eat many different kinds of signature gear; they tend to have very... picky tastes, and related powers (flower gaki, for example, are just odd). • Wights eat signature gear that they have stolen and hoarded away; it can be anything, but they need to sleep on it before starting in. • Draugr eat gravesites, and can also visit such sites to eat relationships to the dead. This can create 'echo ghosts' of the dead – which draugr control. • Choose A Weaknesses: Icons of Faith, ceremonially Hallowed Ground. 31
BUILDING A SITUATION STEP ONE: DESCRIPTION Figure out the following things about your monster: ● It Hungers For – Decide what the monster hungers for, using the types given earlier. ● It Feeds By – Decide how does the process of feeding works, and how the monster engages in it. ● It's Agenda Is – What's the primary motive of the monster? Is it trying to make more of it's own kind, secure it's territory against some threat, pursue some historical goal of vengeance or collect some item? Don't get too obscure; you'll need to live clues based on this all over the place. ● It's Turf Is – Where does it lair and hunt? This can be a simple physical locale, a lair with a surrounding turf, or a pattern, like rotating through singles' bars. ● It's History Is – All monsters have origins, and many of them have local myths. A history that can be found, and hints at the agenda of the monster, is ideal. STEP TWO: FEEDING Next, you'll want to come up with a number of instances of feeding (two or three can be enough). These will be locations and events that can be investigated. For each... ● What Happened – A quick line on what occurred in the event; who, when, where, and what has happened to the site, evidence, or corpse since. ● Leads On Agenda – If the attacks fit a pattern based on the agenda of the monster, this should be fairly easy to spot, as 'details that seem odd' but match each other. ● Leads on Turf – Feeding sites will tend to have something in common, or all be within a certain range of the lair of the creature. ● Historical Knowers – If there's a history here, someone should know it. The sheriff at the crime scene, the bum in the alley – what do they know? What will they say? ● Omens – An omen is an oddity that makes the kinds of news hunters listen to. A haunted house story, a bizarre police report... These are omens. 32
♠ STEP THREE: INFECTION? Some monsters will push their feeding in such a way as to wear down targets and force them to give in. Others will use harsher force and are more likely to kill; a few will strike in such a way that survivors are likely to be infected. Decide if this monster has created more of their own kind; for each instance, create details as for feeding – and if needed, new feeding events for the created. STEP FOUR: CONGREGATION? When monsters gather or influence one another, evidence of those meetings can likewise build up. Tutelage, nesting, and cult formations... For such things, the same details can be set up. STEP FIVE: FUTURE PLANS? Where does the agenda lead to next? How can the hunters figure this out? STEP SIX: THE HOOK How will the hunters first catch wind of the situation? This may be one of the earlier omens, writ a bit larger than the others...
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EXAMPLE SITUATION Step One: Describing The Monster I'm thinking of doing a whole weird-suburban thing. Lady in pink tuned monster, kind of thing. ● It Hungers For – Going with the suburban theme, I'd like a monster that eats homes – causes them to degrade, destroying the relationships people have with them. A crop-blighting witch, but one that lives in a happy Edward Scissorhands neighborhood. After a bit of googling on crop-blighting, I'm going to say that her kind is a Strega, a kind of witch known for that. I decide her name is Mrs. Robinson, a widow. ● It Feeds By – Well, it's going to need an excuse to get into a lot of homes. So, let's say that the lady in question is a real estate agent, who regularly checks up on clients. She waits until client families fall in love with the homes, then launches a psychic attack on each member in turn; she needs to be in the house to do it. Those that die of the attack appear to die of a stroke. ● It's Agenda Is – The Strega doesn't need any especially strong agenda; I'm just going to go with feed, make more, that kind of thing. ● It's Turf Is – I need a pattern here, since the agenda is pretty weak. So, let's say that the houses in question are all designed and built by the same architect; she handles all his houses. And since we have that... He builds them for himself; they're all visibly similar, and she gets them from him to sell by feeding on him personally. He's pretty messed up, with an inexplicably bad medical history, and is paranoid as a result. He may make a good red herring. For a lair, obviously she should live in one such house. ● It's History Is – I'm going to say that the Strega came to town from another, much smaller town, which is where she ceased to be human. She went on a feeding frenzy there, then moved out. I'm going to say, further, that she skipped out before she could get caught, but the incident – strokes, houses a bit degraded in very short order – is known to older hunters that my players will be able to contact. Plus, if the characters look for her history, they'll find her.
Step Two: Feeding: So, I've already got a basic handle on this from how the monster feeds. In each instance, Mrs. Robinson stops by the house (sneaking in or visiting), and attacks mentally. I'll write up a few variations on this with family names; some deaths, some not. Not much in leads on agenda. Turf is easier – the houses will all have an identifiable look; one should even have a for sale sign naming Robinson Realty. Where historical knowers go, a restoration crew should be at the first site visited, and happy to jaw. They'll know that the Sandalsen Houses tend to get run down pretty fast; they blame builders, but it's actually an omen. Step Three: Infection?: Mrs. Robinson has infected one of her subjects – a single man named Jacob Brundt. She pretended to a romantic interest in him, and at a dinner one night, slipped into the washroom and launched her mental attack. She left him for dead, but he got better. This, though, left behind one hell of an omen – an echo of Brundt that's been mistaken for a ghost. And that'll do for my hook, too.... Step Four: Congregation?: So, Mrs. Robinson, hearing about Brundt's survival, visited him in the hospital. She recognized him as now being like her, took him in, and gave him a job at her company. He has yet to feed, but it won't be long. Step Five: Future Plans: Robinson intends to expand her actual business, with a more open portfolio that Brundt will manage. After all, the feeding insures high turnover, and she gets some nice profit so long as restorations after feeding are cheap. Step Six: The Hook: The Brundt house has scared off the next group of people that were buying it; they've spoken out about it being haunted. This will draw in the hunters, who'll find the restoration crew. The crew will assume that they're “ghost weirdos” unless given another cover, and will happily volunteer to share some stories if there's beer in it – a deal that they will propose themselves. Some work on specific sites remains, but I've got the shape of it now.
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