Additional Rules And Supplementary Content #

Optional Rules #

Optional Modern Fantasy Rules #

Cantrips #

Cantrips are simple, low-powered spells that almost anyone can learn. In a modern fantasy setting, cantrips can be as ubiquitous and unremarkable as twenty-first-century technology. Instead of using the flashlight function of a smartphone, use a light cantrip. Instead of running a dishwasher or vacuum cleaner, use a cleaning cantrip. Instead of using a megaphone, use a voice‑amplifying cantrip.

Cantrips are generally not powerful enough to directly affect an unwilling creature or damage an unattended object. In the rare case that using a cantrip might cause actual harm, change, or damage, the attack roll for the cantrip is hindered by two steps (unless otherwise noted).

Any PC can learn two cantrips by spending 2 XP. How they learn them depends on the setting—they might need to study with a mentor, take a specific college class, pay for an informative ritual, study a magical book, invent it on their own, unlock some previously unrealized potential within themselves, and so on. Learning cantrips does not count toward character advancement. There is no limit to how many cantrips a PC can learn. In all other respects, cantrips work just like other character abilities.

Unless the theme of the setting is that everyone is quite proficient in magic, it’s probably best to limit an individual NPC to knowing just a couple of cantrips, with many people not knowing any at all. A reasonable guideline is that an NPC can know a number of cantrips equal to their level.

The following are examples of typical cantrips in a modern fantasy setting

Bee Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You summon a nearby level 0 bee, housefly, gnat, or similar flying pest to a spot within an immediate distance. The pest acts normally and (appearing in an unfamiliar area) probably begins flying around, possibly landing on a creature. The cantrip doesn’t work if there are no suitable pests within a short distance. Action.

A level 0 creature isn’t a threat to a character and is instantly killed if hit. However, tiny creatures like the ones described in the Bee and Bug cantrips usually have a level 2 modifier for Speed defense because of their size.

Bug Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You summon a nearby level 0 spider, cockroach, silverfish, or similar crawling pest to a spot within an immediate distance. The pest acts normally and (appearing in an unfamiliar area) probably begins moving around, possibly crawling on a creature. The cantrip doesn’t work if there are no suitable pests within a short distance. Action.

Candles Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create up to four candle-like lights that move to your mental commands (but no farther away than how far you can reach), lasting about ten minutes. Each light can be a different color. Action.

Chill Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You lower the temperature of a target within short range. If the target is a creature, for the next couple of rounds they feel like they’re standing under an air conditioning vent. If the target is an object no larger than a 1-foot (30 cm) cube, you cool it down as if you’d dunked it into a bucket of ice. Action.

Clean Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You remove dirt, mud, and similar substances from one set of clothing (such as the clothes you’re wearing), about 1 cubic foot of loose material (clothes, curtains, a box of toys, and so on), or an immediate area on a surface (such as a wall or floor). When used on clothing, this also does a decent job of removing wrinkles. Action.

Color Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You change the color of an object, or you brighten or dull its color. The object can be up to about 1 cubic foot in size and up to a short distance away. If used to change a creature’s hair color, it lasts a few days. Action.

Convenient Rideshare Cantrip (1 Intellect point): When using a rideshare or taxi app, you are connected with a driver who can pick you up within a couple of minutes. If you use this cantrip in a remote area where drivers are scarce, results can get strange; for example, the car and driver might be ghosts, you might have to share your ride with a dangerous supernatural creature, or you might arrive at your destination minutes before or hours after you were picked up. Action.

Cooking Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You accelerate the preparation and cooking of one dish, reducing the time until it’s ready by about ten minutes. (Time-consuming cooking, such as a large turkey, requires multiple castings.) Under normal circumstances, this doesn’t burn, overcook, or otherwise ruin the dish. Action.

Cut Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You cut an object up to level 2 as if using a sharp knife or a pair of scissors, up to an immediate distance away. For example, this works on rope, candles, food, cloth, paper, or even a thin wire or thin chain necklace. The object usually gives off harmless blue sparks when it’s cut. Action.

Darkness Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You suppress light in a cubic or spherical area about 1 foot (30 cm) across within an immediate distance. Outdoors or in bright light, this area becomes very dim; otherwise, it becomes darkness. When you create this area, decide if it remains at a specific location (such as on a desk) or if it is attached to some part of you (such as your head or left hand) and moves with you. The cantrip ends after about a minute. Action.

Erase Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You erase up to a page of text from a typical surface (such as paper, parchment, wood, or plastic) within immediate range. The writing slowly disappears over a few seconds. Affecting magical writing requires an Intellect-based attack roll. Action.

Erase Cantrip doesn’t remove fingerprints, impressions in the paper, or other evidence that writing used to be there.

Exterminate Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create a bolt of energy that kills one common vermin creature (level 0) within a short distance, such as a fly, worm, cockroach, or mouse. One casting can affect multiple smaller creatures (such as ants or fleas) within 1 cubic foot. The spell is accompanied by a quick bolt of black and yellow energy. Action

Exterminate Cantrip is an exception to the rule that trying to cause direct harm with a cantrip is hindered by two steps. A swarm whose level is 1 or higher is unaffected by this cantrip, even though the individual creatures in the swarm might be.

Extra Chair Cantrip (1 Intellect point): A table you touch somehow has room (and a chair) for one more person to comfortably sit there without affecting anyone else at the table. This lasts anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, or less if the person in the extra chair leaves for more than a few minutes. Action.

Extra Fries Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You update a recent fast food or delivery order so that when it arrives, it includes an additional order of French fries or other side available from the restaurant (tater tots, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, and so on). Sometimes this happens for free, and sometimes you have to pay an additional charge. Remember to tip your server. Action.

Fire Crown Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create a crown-like manifestation of fire on your head that lasts for ten minutes. The fire doesn’t burn you. If anyone touches it or makes a melee attack aimed at your head, you can make a free Intellect-based attack roll against them to inflict 1 point of damage. Action.

Variants of Fire Crown Cantrip create a crown of lightning, smoke, ice, water, or thorns.

Firework Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create an illusory firework within short range, which bursts with sparkling lights and a loud pop. The effect is obviously an illusion but might distract or startle people who aren’t expecting it. Action.

Flavor Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You touch one plate or bowl of food or one large glass or mug of liquid, improving its flavor. This doesn’t affect the nutritional value or texture, nor does it fix spoiled food; it just makes it taste more to your preference (so you could eat spoiled meat or moldy vegetables and they’d taste fine). You decide the sort of flavor change—more or less spicy, salty, savory, sweet, and so on, in any combination appropriate for food or drink. Action.

Forbidden Topic Cantrip (1 Intellect point): Wards an immediate area (enough to cover a large table at a holiday family gathering) against conversation about a topic of your choice, such as “the election,” “Mommy’s trial,” or “that Cordell kid.” Anytime someone in the area attempts to talk about this topic, make an Intellect-based roll against them; success means they either talk about something else or remain silent. The cantrip lasts for ten minutes or until you fail an Intellect-based roll to stop someone from talking about that topic. Action.

Gather Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You gather a scattered bunch of items into a small space, as if you had spent a minute sweeping them together with your hands or a broom. This affects about 1 square yard (1 sq m), up to an immediate distance away. The cantrip is mainly useful for collecting things that have been spilled, or for making it easier to clean up a room. Action.

Ghostly Wings Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You sprout a pair of ghostly wings that immediately unfurl, then vanish a few seconds later. If you cast this cantrip while falling, you reduce the damage from the fall by 1 point. Enabler.

Green Light Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You tweak the traffic lights at an intersection within long range so that one of them turns green within a few seconds. The other lights in that system automatically adjust to compensate (turning yellow and then red for cross traffic). Depending on that traffic system, the light remains green anywhere from about ten seconds to a minute. Enabler.

Hand Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You levitate or manipulate an object of 10 pounds (4.5 kg) or less at up to a short distance. The effect is not particularly strong—about the same strength as trying to push, pull, or twist something just using the strength of your hand (without your arm). Action.

Hide Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You conceal one target within immediate range for about a minute. The target can be no larger than a typical rabbit, or several objects no larger than dice. The target is basically invisible to anyone in front of you, but the illusion doesn’t work on anyone to your side or behind you. (If someone is intent on seeing the invisible target, make an Intellect-based attack roll against them to hide it from their view.) Action.

Light Switch Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You toggle up to four light controls (such as a wall switch or a lamp’s button, knob, or pull cord) within short range. You must be able to see these light controls or have a clear idea of where they are (such as turning on your front porch light and living room floor lamp from outside your home). You can toggle these switches on or off in any combination. Action.

Loudness Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You amplify your voice, allowing you to speak at up to three times your normal volume. This isn’t enough to harm anyone, but you can speak comfortably to a large crowd or across a very long distance without effort. Action.

Mask Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create a costume mask on the face of a creature you touch. The mask can be simple (like a domino mask), fancy (like a masquerade ball mask), or deceptive (like a Halloween costume mask of a monster or specific person). The mask is obviously just a mask, not a disguise, but a deceptive mask viewed from at least a short distance away might fool someone into thinking it’s a real face, providing an asset to disguise tasks at this range. The mask lasts for about a minute. If removed, the mask immediately disappears. Action.

Mending Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You touch a broken object of up to level 3 and attempt to magically repair a single break or tear in it, such as a cracked stone wall, a shattered hand mirror, or a torn piece of clothing. The damage can be no larger than about what you can cover with both of your open hands. If you succeed at an Intellect-based roll against the object’s level, you repair it (although it still shows signs of being previously broken, and may be fragile there). You can use this ability multiple times on the same object to repair larger breaks. Action.

Message Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You whisper a short message (about five to ten seconds) to a creature you can see within a long distance. The target hears it as if you had whispered it in their ear. Action.

Mystic Eyes Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You change the appearance of your eyes. If you just change their color to a different hue (such as to blue, green, or brown), the change lasts for an hour. If you change them to something unusual, such as red, yellow, solid black, or glowing, it only lasts for a minute. Action.

Obedient Flames Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You affect flames within a short distance, making them appear brighter or dimmer, flicker strangely, or change color. This lasts for one minute. You can affect up to several dozen candles, a few torches, or one typical campfire with each casting of the cantrip. Action.

Open and Close Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You open or close a small object within short range, such as a bag, box, bottle, footlocker, window, or lightweight door. This cantrip cannot lock or unlock locks. Action.

Pen Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You write with your finger on a surface for up to ten minutes as if using a common ballpoint pen. The “ink” immediately dries once you write, but it can be smeared or cleaned up like a normal pen. The ink is blue, black, or dark brown, decided when you cast this cantrip. Action.

Present Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You teleport an object within an immediate distance into your upturned hand. The item has to be something you’re carrying (such as a gem in your pouch or a dagger in your boot), something you can see (such as a coffee cup or mobile phone on the other side of the table), or something you know is within range (such as a note you saw someone put in their pocket). The cantrip affects one small object (for example, a cup or mobile phone) or up to a dozen smaller items from the same location (perhaps coins or dice). Action.

Quiet Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You muffle the noise from one target within a short distance for a few seconds. Breaking a window or knocking a glass off the table would be no louder than someone tapping their finger on the glass. An obnoxious security alarm would only be as loud as a computer speaker. A ringing phone would be barely audible. If you cast this on a willing creature, they gain an asset on stealth tasks for one round if they move no more than an immediate distance on their turn. Action.

Affecting an unwilling creature (or something they’re carrying) with an ability requires an attack roll to succeed. If you’re using a cantrip, by default that attack roll is hindered by two steps

Rainbow Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create a softly glowing band of colors resembling a rainbow, extending from your hand to an object or willing creature within short range. The far end doesn’t move (a creature could move away from it by going around a corner or out of range). You can anchor your end in place or allow it to move when your hand moves. The rainbow gives off light like a candle and lasts about a minute. Action.

Reshape Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You change the shape of a metal, glass, or stone object you touch into a different shape. For example, you could turn a coin into a ring, a cup into a plate, or a piece of glass into something resembling a gemstone. This normally lasts about a minute, but the object tends to revert early if anyone else touches or examines it too closely. Action.

Smoke Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create a harmless puff of smoke within an immediate distance. The smoke fills about a 1-foot (30 cm) cube and dissipates over the next few rounds. You decide if the smoke is white, grey, blue, brown, green, red, or yellow. Action.

Sprout Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You make seeds sprout at an accelerated rate, causing a week’s worth of growth to happen in just a few moments. The seeds must be within a 1-foot (30 cm) cube and no more than an immediate distance from you. If the seeds are in viable soil, they take root as if planted there. If cast on immature or closed flowers, they bloom. If cast on a piece of unripe fruit, it immediately ripens. Action.

Stitch Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You sew two touched pieces of cloth or thin leather together, up to about 2 square yards (1.5 sq m). The stitches are of the same quality of hand stitching by a tailor or leatherworker of reasonable skill. You choose the path of the stitches, so you could create a piece of clothing by casting this cantrip several times. Instead of sewing together two items, you can unravel the stitches of a touched object, affecting up to 2 square yards (1.5 sq m). Action.

Tattoo Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create an image on your skin, as if tattooed there by a reasonably talented artist. The image can be no larger than your hand, and consists of just one color. You can cast this cantrip multiple times to create a larger tattoo, use more colors, or both. The image lasts about an hour. Action.

Throwing Stone Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You summon a nearby object of stone, brick, concrete, cement, asphalt, or a similar hard and common mineral to your hand. The cantrip doesn’t work if there are no suitable loose materials within a short distance. Action.

Tie Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You control a piece of string, rope, or twine within short range, causing it to tie itself to another object within 1 foot (30 cm) of it, using any sort of simple, common knot (such as a square knot). Instead of tying a knot, you can cast this cantrip on a simple knot within short range, untying it. Action.

Tiny Illusion Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You create a single image of a creature or object within immediate range. The image must fit within a 1-foot (30 cm) cube. The image can move (for example, you could make the illusion of a mouse jump or crawl around), but it can’t leave the area defined by the cube. The illusion includes sound (up to the volume of a person’s normal speaking voice) but not smell. It lasts for one minute, but if you want to change the original illusion significantly—such as making a creature appear to be wounded— you must concentrate on it again (though doing so doesn’t cost additional Intellect points). If you move beyond immediate range of the cube, the illusion vanishes. Action to create; action to modify.

Tremor Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You make the ground or floor vibrate within a short area, feeling similar to a mild earthquake. Other objects on the floor might vibrate or slide (no more than a hand’s span) because of this vibration. Action.

Warm Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You raise the temperature in a very small area (about 1 cubic foot) within short range, enough to make someone’s face feel flushed or warm a drink to about the temperature of freshly served coffee. Action.

Wash Car Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You clean the outside of a typical passenger automobile within immediate range as if it had gone through an automatic car wash. Very large or very dirty cars may require multiple castings. The cantrip works on motorcycles, bicycles, and other small vehicles as well. Action.

Wet or Dry Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You alter the moisture level of an object or area within immediate range, affecting about a 1-foot (30 cm) cube or one set of clothing. If you want the target to be wetter, it is dampened as if you poured a cup of water on it. If you want it drier, it is dried as if you hung it out in the sun on a warm day. Action.

Wireless Network Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You improve wireless network reception in an immediate area for ten minutes. This improves poor or average reception to full strength and zero bars to at least one bar. When you cast this cantrip, you decide if this improved reception affects everyone in the area or just you. Action.

Wrap Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You use available materials to wrap up an object within an immediate distance. The wrapped object must fit within a 1-foot (30 cm) cube. For example, you could wrap a gift box with decorative paper, wrap a piece of paper around a letter to create an envelope, or wrap a pile of potatoes with burlap to create an easily carried bundle. Action.

Youth Cantrip (1 Intellect point): You change the appearance of your face so you look about ten years younger than your normal appearance, lasting about an hour. Action.

Optional Rules: Learning Cantrips #

In some fantasy settings, cantrips are commonly available, but not everyone knows how to cast them (in the same way that phone and computer apps are common, but not everyone knows how to code an app). When someone tries to learn a cantrip, have them attempt a level 3 Intellect-based task (skills such as magical lore affect this). If they succeed, they learn the cantrip. If they fail, they don’t. A PC only spends the 2 XP to learn cantrips when they succeed at this roll. This way, learning a cantrip isn’t automatic—it’s more like passing a final exam. And there are ways for the character to “cram” for this test, including expending Effort, getting help, or using an appropriate asset.

Covens #

Magic is a community affair, and magicians are more powerful in groups. A coven is a group of three or more magicians with similar goals and values, supporting each other and working together to hone their craft. Forming or joining a coven grants characters additional abilities, which you gain separately from the standard advancement track. When you join a coven, you start at rank 1 within that coven, and over time can advance to rank 6. Rank is a measurement of your connection to the coven, and doesn’t necessarily correspond to your character tier—for example, a high-tier character might have a low rank in their coven. However, your coven rank cannot exceed your character tier. The primary magical benefit of joining a coven is gaining access to its spells: a set of character abilities that all members (of the required rank) can use. These spells are usually tailored to the coven’s interests and purpose, and are sorted by rank from 1 to 6. Because a character’s rank within a coven starts at 1 when they join, a new member of a coven has access to the coven’s rank 1 spell. When the character advances to rank 2, they immediately gain access to the coven’s rank 2 spell, and so on. You can think of covens as similar to flavors, in that they allow the GM and players to modify characters with abilities. Unlike choosing an ability from a flavor, a character doesn’t have to trade away or swap anything to choose or use a coven spell—they have access to these spells automatically according to their rank in the coven. For example, if the rank 1 spell for the Benevolent Bakers uses the Resist the Elements ability (handy for working over a hot stove all day), any character who joins the Benevolent Bakers automatically gains Resist the Elements, without having to spend extra XP to learn it or trade away a type ability for it. It’s possible for a character to belong to multiple covens, as long as the covens don’t have opposed goals. Characters advance their rank in each coven separately, so a particular character might be rank 1 in the Chronographers and rank 3 in the Foretellers. If a character leaves or is removed from their coven, they immediately lose access to all of that coven’s spells.

For magician NPCs in a coven, the GM can assume that their rank is equal to their NPC level (with a maximum of 6).

Spending XP to advance a character’s rank in a coven does not count as one of the four character advancements needed to reach a higher tier

Joining A Coven #

Joining an existing coven at rank 1 requires a vow and a ritual. Characters must commit to pursuing the coven’s goals and living in accordance with its values. The ritual is a demonstration of dedication to the coven’s purpose, and varies in difficulty accordingly. Characters receive their talisman once the ritual is complete.

Coven Talismans #

A coven talisman is a small item, such as a pendant or ring, that represents a character’s affiliation with the coven. Every coven member may carry a slightly different talisman, but they should be clearly related. The Benevolent Bakers’ talismans might include a necklace, a pin, and a keychain, all with the same whisk design.

Coven talismans are a type of artifact, with a level equal to the character’s rank within the coven and a depletion of “—.” The talisman is what allows the character to use their coven abilities; if the talisman isn’t on the character’s person or within short range, all of the character’s coven magic is hindered by two steps. When a person advances within the coven, the talisman’s appearance may change to reflect this. While these talismans don’t require a depletion roll with each use, a character’s coven talisman automatically depletes if they break from the coven.

Advancing Within A Coven #

Advancing within a coven is a separate matter from advancing a character. In fact, coven advancement is more similar to a long-term benefit of spending XP. Coven advancement should occur after a character has learned, discovered, or achieved something that aligns with the coven’s mission and values.

To advance within the coven, the player spends 3 XP. Characters may mark the occasion with a celebration or let it pass quietly

Breaking From A Coven #

If a character wishes to leave a coven, they relinquish their coven talisman and lose access to their coven abilities. But a character can also break from their coven by behaving in opposition to its values—such as if a Benevolent Baker were to knowingly poison someone. This causes their coven talisman to become depleted, meaning that they can no longer use their coven abilities.

To restore their place in the coven, a disgraced character must begin by making amends with the other members. They then take their coven talisman to an epicenter and perform a ritual with a difficulty equal to their former coven rank. Upon completing the ritual, they regain that rank within the coven and can access spells accordingly.

Forming A New Coven #

Creating a new coven simply requires a bit of discussion among the GM and players. Begin by deciding on the following:

• What’s the coven called?
• What are one or two goals for the coven’s magic? What do they want to learn how to do? What skill do the players want the coven to be known for?
• What are a few succinct values? What do the players agree are the most important things a magician can be? Competent? Fair? Determined? Kind? Loyal? Wealthy?
• What does the coven talisman look like?
• What does the initiation ritual (which exemplifies the coven’s goals and values) consist of?

Selecting Coven Abilities #

Coven abilities are chosen by the GM and players. To start, they need to decide the rank 1 ability. They can determine the rank 2 ability when at least one character is ready to advance within the coven. In a longer campaign, selecting abilities on an ongoing basis—rather than choosing them all at once—means that the players can choose their next coven ability based on what obstacles they expect their characters to face.

The Cypher System Rulebook divides abilities by both category and power level, which is helpful in narrowing down your options. Choose a low-tier ability for ranks 1 and 2, a mid-tier ability for ranks 3 and 4, and a high-tier ability for ranks 5 and 6.

Because covens form around unifying goals and principles, coven abilities should stack upon each other wherever possible. A coven of entomologists learning to summon and control leaf bugs might progress from Influence Swarm at rank 1 to Control Swarm at rank 2, Call Swarm at rank 3, and so on, eventually reaching Insect Eruption at rank 6. Don’t be afraid to be specific! Joining a coven gives characters the opportunity to become experts in a narrow field.

If a pre-existing ability doesn’t capture what the players and GM are looking for, the GM is always free to create new ones. To return to the example of the Benevolent Bakers, no abilities in the Cypher System Rulebook specifically pertain to making food, but the bakers could modify an ability like Natural Crafter to suit their needs.

Crafting Magic Items #

Crafting Cyphers #

1. Choose Cypher Level. Creating a low-level cypher is easier than creating a high-level one. The character decides what level of cypher to create, which must be in the level range for the cypher as listed in the Cypher System Rulebook. Note that some cyphers have the same effect no matter what level they are, so the character could make crafting easier by creating the lowest-level version of that cypher, but the GM is always able to rule that a particular cypher must be crafted at a certain level or higher for it to work. In particular, a stim is very strong for its level range and should always be treated as a level 6 cypher when crafted by a PC.
2. Determine Ingredients. Crafting a magical cypher requires strange and exotic ingredients with inherent magical properties—gems, ink from weird creatures, mysterious herbs, and so on. The level of the cypher determines how expensive these materials are, according to the following table.
3. Assess Difficulty. The difficulty of a cypher crafting task is always equal to 1 + the level of the cypher. The crafter can reduce the assessed difficulty of the task with skill training (such as being trained or specialized in brewing potions or crafting magic items), assets, special abilities provided by their focus or type, and so on. Using a formula, recipe, or other guideline for a specific cypher counts as an asset for this purpose.

Because this is an activity requiring special knowledge, it is not possible for a character with no skill (or with an inability in this skill) to do this sort of crafting; the character cannot attempt the task at all.

For example, Vanya the alchemist wants to create a level 6 healing potion. A level 6 potion has an assessed difficulty of 7 (1 + the level of the cypher). Vanya is trained in brewing potions, so the assessed difficulty is lowered to 6. If she also uses a potion recipe she found in a book of magic, the assessed difficulty becomes 5.

4. Determine Time to Craft. The amount of time it takes to craft a magical cypher is determined by the assessed difficulty, so decreasing that difficulty not only means the character is more likely to succeed, but also that they have to spend less time on crafting it. For any time in excess of nine hours, the process is assumed to have stages where the character is not actively working on it, just checking on it occasionally to make sure everything is going as planned—allowing the base ingredients of a potion to cook for a few hours, stirring to make sure the ingredients don’t congeal, allowing ink on a scroll to dry, and so on. In other words, the character is able to perform other actions in the vicinity of the crafting (such as studying, resting, eating, and so on), but they couldn’t craft during a business trip or in the middle of a wedding. In our previous potion example, the assessed difficulty is 5, so Vanya’s time to craft is one day.
5. Complete Subtasks. The character must complete multiple subtasks that are steps toward finishing the process—one subtask per level of assessed difficulty. The first subtask’s difficulty is 1, and each successive task’s difficulty increases by 1 until the character reaches the last, hardest task with a difficulty equal to the cypher’s assessed difficulty. Generally, subtask attempts occur at equally divided intervals over the course of the full time required to craft the item. If the character fails on a subtask, the item isn’t ruined. Instead, the character only wasted the time spent on that subtask, and they can spend that much time again and try to succeed at that same subtask. If the crafter fails twice in a row on the same subtask, they can continue crafting, but they lose crafting time, and one of the most expensive ingredients is destroyed (or consumed or ruined) and must be replaced before the crafting can continue.

For example, Vanya’s potion brewing (assessed difficulty of 5) is divided into five subtasks (starting at difficulty 1 and ending at 5). Because the crafting time is one day, each subtask takes about five hours (twenty-four hours in a day divided by five subtasks). If Vanya fails on the difficulty 3 subtask, she’s lost five hours of work but can try again. If she fails a second time, she loses another five hours of work and ruins one of her expensive ingredients, which must be replaced before she can continue. When Vanya succeeds at the last subtask (difficulty 5), the potion is finished. Players might ask if they can apply Effort to each subtask. However, applying Effort is something they do in the moment, not over the course of days or weeks. Generally speaking, Effort cannot be applied to any crafting task or subtask that exceeds one day.

Magical Crafting Skills #

Depending on the setting, a character learning how to craft magic items might become trained or specialized in a general “crafting magic items” skill, or need to have a specific skill for each kind of item they might craft, such as “brewing potions” or “crafting wands.” The GM should decide if characters need a specific skill or if the general skill covers all sorts of crafted magic items.

Ingredients #

Time to Craft #

Crafting Artifacts #

The simple way of handling artifacts in a modern fantasy game is to treat an artifact as gaining a long-term benefit of character advancement. The character and GM agree on the artifact being crafted, the character spends 3 XP, the GM hand-waves the crafting process (or has the player narratively describe it), and the character gains the artifact.

For an item that significantly alters gameplay—such as granting the character vast telepathic powers or giving them the ability to teleport at will—the GM can give the item an assessed difficulty equal to 3 + the artifact level and require the character to follow the steps for crafting a magical cypher. Crafting this kind of artifact takes up to five times as many ingredients and up to twenty times as long as crafting a cypher of the same assessed difficulty.

EXCEEDING CYPHER LIMITS #

Sometimes characters might want or need to carry more than their normal allotment of cyphers, and in a modern fantasy game it’s fun to let the overlapping cypher auras (or whatever the cause) create odd side effects. Typically, a side effect stops or reverts if the cypher is activated or leaves the area. If a PC is exceeding their cypher limit, roll 1d00 and consult this table to see what happens (roll anywhere from once per hour to once per day, as fits the story). The table is set up so the first entries are weird but generally harmless, the middle ones are annoying, and the last ones are harmful or dangerous. Optionally, you can increase the threat by adding +20 to the d00 roll for every additional cypher the character is over their limit (+20 for two over, +40 for three over, and so on).

Side Effects of Exceeding Cypher Limits

Familiars #

In the most general sense, a familiar is a creature (usually in the form of a small animal) bonded to a magical person as a companion. However, a familiar’s role, intelligence, relationship with their person, powers, and vulnerabilities vary greatly from setting to setting. A familiar might be just a pet or comfort animal, with no special abilities. They might have an empathic or telepathic connection with their person. They might be an extension of the person’s soul, with harm to the familiar causing harm to the person. They might be a fully supernatural creature, able to assist with magical tasks or provide advice. A magical world might only have one of these kinds of familiars, or any of them.

CONTENT WARNING: This section talks about the death of pets.

Standard Pet #

The simplest sort of familiar is one that is a normal animal that has an emotional bond with a character, essentially the same role as a typical pet or comfort animal. The familiar has no special abilities, doesn’t affect the character’s magical abilities in any way, and is not meant to help in combat. Their death doesn’t cause the character physical harm (although it probably causes emotional harm, just like the loss of any pet), and the character can gain a new familiar after a certain amount of time. For this type of familiar, a character should choose the Critter Companion ability, which gives them a level 1 creature.

If the character wants a bigger or tougher creature that is otherwise still a normal animal, they should choose Beast Companion, which gives them a level 2 creature, but otherwise works the same as Critter Companion.

As a slightly more magical variant, choose either of these abilities, but instead of finding a replacement for the creature if it dies, the character can perform a magical ritual (taking 1d6 days) to return them to life.

Unusual Familiar #

There’s no reason a familiar has to resemble a common Earth animal such as a cat, frog, or hawk. If the setting is a world other than Earth, and it has its own animal species that don’t exist on Earth (such as monkey-lizards, capybara-bats, and raven‑snakes), those kinds of creatures are valid choices for a familiar.

If a familiar is a creature whose body is created by the bond with a magician (instead of an existing beast that the character finds and binds with magic), the GM could allow a familiar to look like an extinct animal, such as a dodo bird or Compsognathus dinosaur, or even a permanently miniature version of a large creature such as an elephant or rhinoceros.

History and fantasy literature has suggested other forms for familiars, such as fiendish-looking imps, tiny dragons, alchemy-crafted homunculi, fairies, intelligent floating skulls, and spirits resembling human children. Exactly what sorts of unusual familiars are available in the setting is up to the GM, but their appearance generally doesn’t affect their game statistics. For example, a flying skull familiar and a bat familiar probably have the same level, movement, and modifiers.

Magical Familiar #

This kind of familiar is more of a magical creature than a standard pet. Advantages compared to a standard pet are the familiar’s ability to be physical or intangible, its telepathic connection to the character, and (unlike a standard pet familiar) the fact that it can’t truly die. The disadvantages of this kind of familiar are that they cannot travel too far away from you and they spend most of their time asleep and intangible instead of actively assisting you. For this type of familiar, a character should choose the Bound Magic Familiar ability.

Soulbound Familiar #

This is the most powerful and versatile kind of familiar. They have significant magical abilities, but this requires a bond between the character and familiar that makes them both vulnerable in certain ways.

For this type of familiar, a character should choose the Soul Familiar ability.

Modifying A Familiar #

The following character abilities can be used to improve your familiar or the connection you have with it. (Although most of the ability descriptions refer to the Beast Companion ability, they have the same effect on a familiar as on a beast companion.)

• Tier 3: Stronger Together
• Tier 4: Beast Eyes
• Tier 5: Improved Companion
• Tier 6: As If One Creature

Reviving Artifacts #

While all artifacts have a depletion stat, in some settings artifacts may be “revived” after they deplete. Usually doing this has some kind of high cost, whether that be money, time, work, or the like. Depending on the setting, a character might take an artifact to a well-known repair person who charges a pretty penny for their services, they could make a bargain with a powerful entity who has special magic to bring items back to life, or they might sneak into a corporation to steal a prototype power source to get their artifact back in working condition.

Typically, a revived artifact has the same depletion rate as it did when it was new. However, some repairs or fixes may be less substantial than others. In this case, move the depletion rate down to the next smaller die type. So an artifact that started at 1 in 1d00 would now be 1 in 1d20 (and if repaired again, might be 1 in 1d10). If the artifact’s depletion is already using a d6, double the depletion number (for example, from 1–2 in 1d6 to 1–4 in 1d6). If the depletion number is equal to or higher than the highest number the die can roll (like 1–6 on a d6), change the artifact’s depletion to “automatic.”

Optional Modern Magic Flavor #

Modern Magic Flavors #

Charms and Figments Flavor #

Creating illusions and affecting minds are sometimes considered “soft” magical disciplines (as opposed to “hard” disciplines that manipulate energy or physical matter). It’s common for a character with an interest in one to learn a few spells in the other.

Tier 1: #

Background Music (1+ Intellect points): You create quiet background music in a short area, loud enough to be heard in a room with normal conversation, but not so loud to be distracting or overwhelming. The music repeats through up to ten songs you know, lasting up to an hour. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the duration; each level of Effort adds one hour to the play time and five songs to the playlist. Action.

• Fast Talk
• Goad
• Impart Ideal
• Mental Link
• Minor Illusion

Tier 2: #

• Calm Stranger
• Cloud Personal Memories
• Illusory Duplicate
• Misdirect Blame

Tier 3: #

• Advanced Command
• Illusory Disguise
• Soothe the Savage

Tier 4: #

• Calm
• Major Illusion
• Mind Control
• Psychic Burst
• Psychic Suggestion

Tier 5: #

• Crowd Control
• Mind Games
• Projection

Tier 6: #

• Flee
• Terrifying Image
• Cozy Magic Flavor

Sometimes a sorcerer isn’t interested in combat magic and secret of the universe. Sometimes “cozy magic” is enough: bonding with a group of close friends, having a nice house, and providing support and comfort in times of need.

Tier 1: #

Advice From A Friend

Check Status (0+ Intellect points): You can telepathically reach out to up to ten creatures known to you, no matter where they are. The individual creatures must be willing and able to communicate. You immediately know their current status—eating, driving, sleeping, angry, injured, fine, great, frightened, worried, and so on, generally in the form of a short sentence or a few words.

These creatures don’t have to share anything they don’t want to, including acknowledging that you checked on them, but they can’t lie through this connection. For example, one person might let you know that they’re upset, but that doesn’t mean you know why (they’re dealing with a recent breakup) or what they’re doing about it (drinking to cope).

You automatically succeed at using this ability; no roll is required. Only you receive the status information. Other people affected by the spell do not get a sense of each other’s statuses, nor do they know who else you’re checking on.

If you spend 5 Intellect points, you can check on twenty creatures at once, and for every 1 Intellect point you spend above that, you can check on an additional ten creatures. Action.

Comfort and Encouragement (2+ Intellect points): You speak to a non-hostile creature within short range, telling them exactly what they need to hear to have a better day. You don’t know what these words are until you say them, but you know they will help the creature’s attitude. If the creature spends a round or two thinking about what you said, they gain an asset on one task of their choosing within one hour. Alternatively, if the creature has an ongoing penalty to tasks (such as having a hangover, sadness from a recent fight with their romantic partner, an injury, or a stressful situation at work), they can ignore that penalty for the next hour. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to affect more creatures; each level of Effort affects one additional creature. Action to initiate; up to one minute to complete.

Gift of Appeasement (2+ Intellect points): You conjure a trifle that can fit in one hand and will please a creature within immediate range. The object is impractical and inexpensive, but delightful to the creature. Examples include their favorite kind of cookie, a small crafted coffee beverage, or a paper origami of their favorite animal. You don’t know what the spell will create, but you know it will please them if you give it as a gift. If the creature spends one minute appreciating the object (such as eating the cookie, drinking the coffee, or examining the origami), they gain an asset on one task of their choosing within one hour.

In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to affect more creatures; each level of Effort affects one additional creature. Action per target to initiate.

Tier 2:

Emotional Support Pet (3+ Intellect points): You conjure an adorable animal that most people find irresistibly cute, such as a puppy, kitten, or bunny, who is outgoing and friendly and otherwise acts according to its nature. Anyone in short range who can see the animal eases their defense tasks against negative feelings (such as anger, fear, sadness, and worry) for the next hour. Anyone who pets, cuddles, or plays with this animal for at least a round or two (up to four people can do so at once) feels happier for the next hour and adds +1 to any recovery rolls they make during that time. At the end of the spell, the conjured animal curls up, falls asleep, and disappears in a puff of smoke. If the animal is harmed in any way, anyone who saw it happen eases all rolls against the creature responsible for the harm. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can conjure three additional animals for each level of Effort you apply to this ability. Action.

Adorable Animal: level 1, positive social interactions as level 3

Fetch

Safe Sex (2 Intellect points): One creature you touch can have sexual encounters with no chance of causing pregnancy or transmitting an STI. This protection lasts for ten hours. Action.

Spectral Servant (2 Intellect points): You conjure a spectral servant, a semi-real magical construct that resembles the vague nonthreatening outline of a person. It is more of an extension of your will than a separate being, and it automatically assists you in simple tasks like bringing drinks to houseguests and dealing with chores. It cannot attack or defend, and it vanishes if you are ever more than a short distance from it. The servant lasts for one hour before disappearing. Action.

Telepathic

Tier 3:

Informer

Laundry Day (3+ Intellect points): You select two batches of laundry within immediate range, each large enough for a typical washing machine or dryer. The laundry agitates and spins in midair for a minute, becoming clean and dry as it does so, after which it sorts and stacks itself into neat piles or, if you know where it belongs and that’s within short range, putting itself away. Particularly dirty clothes automatically take a few extra minutes to finish cleaning and drying. The spell doesn’t harm delicate items or clothing that needs special care (such as dry cleaning or low temperature). In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to affect more batches of laundry; each level of Effort affects two additional batches. Action to initiate; one minute to complete.

Spring Cleaning (3+ Intellect points): You choose a short area, such as a typical room in a house, two rooms in a small apartment, or two automobiles. Over the next few minutes, the area is thoroughly cleaned—floors are swept, vacuumed, or mopped; surfaces like countertops and sinks are wiped down with a gentle soap and disinfectant; and so on. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the area or clean more quickly; each level of Effort affects an additional short area or reduces the cleaning time from minutes to rounds. Action.

Tier 4:

Able Assistance

Pay it Forward

Thinking Ahead

Tier 5:

Group Friendship

Undo

Tier 6:

Drawing on Life’s Experiences

Stimulate

Telepathic Network

Divination Flavor

Knowledge is power! Characters with the divination flavor are familiar with using magic to learn information, see into hidden places, and discover secrets.

Tier 1:

Babel

Scan

Third Eye

Tier 2:

Diagnose Device (2 Intellect points): You ease by two steps the task to diagnose what’s wrong with a human-made electronic or mechanical device or system (such as a computer, clothes dryer, or toilet) that is damaged, malfunctioning, or broken. You must touch the device to diagnose it. Typically a successful roll means that you learn the main problem and its cause. For example, you could learn that a bricked phone is infected with malware, a pipe is clogged with “flushable” wipes, or a rattling engine needs motor oil. This ability is unreliable at best when used on alien, high-technology, or other mysterious devices. Action.

Mind Reading

Open Mind

Premonition

See History

Tier 3:

Creature Insight

Device Insight

Question Past Self (4+ Intellect points): You reach into the past up to a week and mentally ask your past self one or two questions about something you knew or observed at the chosen time. For example, if you’ve forgotten an important phone number or can’t remember if a particular person was in a meeting, you can ask your past self about it while it’s still fresh in your past self ’s memory. Your past self doesn’t perceive this as an intrusive voice—it just seems like an unexpected moment of reflection about the questions your present self asks. This doesn’t allow you to remember things your past self didn’t actually know at the time, but it can sometimes help your present self (in the form of an asset) learn more about or realize something your past self wasn’t really paying attention to at the time (such as seeing part of a password or noting whether there was a red delivery truck nearby). For each level of Effort you apply to this ability, you can reach an additional week further into the past. Action.

Retrieve Memories

Tier 4:

Reading the Room

Remote Viewing

Sensor

Tier 5:

Knowing the Unknown

Read the Signs

True Sense

Tier 6:

See Through Time

Modern Magic Flavor

Characters who live in a modern world with magic and technology often know a bit about mixing the two of them together. These characters usually pick up a few useful spells (such as disrupting hostile magic or disabling a mugger’s pistol) from various sources, much like how people tend to learn skills unrelated to their day job (like cooking, dancing, and playing guitar).

Tier 1:

Cantrips (choose any four)

Annoy Electronics (1 Intellect point): You interfere with the operations of an electronic device. The device must be within short range and you must be able to see it. Your interference is limited to things you could do in a few seconds if you were directly using the device. For example, you could make a person’s phone start playing a loud video, type one or two commands on a computer’s keyboard, hit a bunch of buttons in an elevator, or change the station or volume on a television screen. You must succeed at an Intellect-based task against the device or its bearer (whichever level is higher). If you have never interacted with the particular device before, the task is hindered by two steps. Action.

Arcanaphone (2 Intellect points): You make use of your cellular service to start a telephone call or use text messaging, lasting up to ten minutes. To anyone watching you, you look like you’re in “hands free” mode. In all respects, this works as if you were carrying your device with you and using it directly (meaning the network notes your current location as if you were carrying your phone, and you may not have coverage in some areas). The first time you use this ability with your mobile service, you must contact their customer service department to authorize the magic (taking ten to sixty minutes), as if it were a new device. You can’t use this ability if you don’t have a cellular account. Action to initiate.

In modern fantasy settings where most people don’t know about magic, connecting your spell to your cellular service probably requires a lot of strange answers and lies about the “device” you’re trying to add to your account.

Enhance Athletics (2 Intellect points): You enhance the ability of one creature to perform certain athletic sports tasks. The creature must be within long range and visible to you. For the next minute, the creature can apply one free level of Effort to any one task to catch, hit, kick, or throw an object, or to any one climbing, jumping, or running task. Once this free level of Effort is used, the magic ends. Action.

Mage Clock: You can mentally connect to a universal magical clock, allowing you to know the local time, down to a tenth of a second. You can have up to three magical timers at once, each of which sounds a mental alarm after an amount of time you specify or at a specific time (such as nine minutes from now, three hours from now, or 8 o’clock in the morning). Action.

Spellpay (1 Intellect point): You initiate a transaction with another person or business cashier within short range, giving them an amount of money that you specify. The currency comes from cash in your possession, money in your account, or a mix of both; the recipient receives this money in the same form as it came from you. For example, if you send someone $150, $50 of which is cash in your wallet and $100 of which comes from your bank account, they suddenly have $50 cash on hand and $100 in their bank account. Instead of a transaction between two people, you can instead use this ability to access your account, withdrawing or depositing cash as if using a teller machine. Action.

Spellpay can access any monetary account you use, such as a checking or savings account through a bank or credit union, or a mobile payment service such as Apple Pay, PayPal, or Venmo

Ward

Tier 2:

Charm Machine

Dispel Magic (2+ Intellect points): Choose one magical effect within long range. An effect of up to level 3 ends if you succeed on an Intellect-based attack roll against the level of the effect, or against the level of the creature or object the magical effect affects, whichever is higher. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can apply Effort to increase the level of the effect that can potentially be dispelled. Action.

Gun Jammer (2+ Intellect points): You can interfere with a firearm so the next time it is used, it jams or misfires. The weapon must be within short range and you must be able to see it. Make an Intellect-based attack against the weapon or its bearer (whichever level is higher). If you succeed, the next attack with the firearm fails, and the weapon won’t fire until someone uses an action to correct the problem. If you activate this ability when it isn’t your turn, your attack against the weapon is hindered. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to affect more firearms; each level of Effort affects one additional target. Action or enabler.

Magical Power Current (2+ Intellect points): You provide electricity to a device that runs on standard house current, such as a laptop computer, circular saw, or microwave oven, allowing it to function as if plugged in for one hour. The cost is 2 Intellect points plus 1 point per level of the device. Action.

Safe Fall

Safe Sex (2 Intellect points): One creature you touch can have sexual encounters with no chance of causing pregnancy or transmitting an STI. This protection lasts for ten hours. Action.

Third Eye

Tier 3:

Diagnose Device (2 Intellect points): You ease by two steps the task to diagnose what’s wrong with a human-made electronic or mechanical device or system (such as a computer, clothes dryer, or toilet) that is damaged, malfunctioning, or broken. You must touch the device to diagnose it. Typically a successful roll means that you learn the main problem and its cause. For example, you could learn that a bricked phone is infected with malware, a pipe is clogged with “flushable” wipes, or a rattling engine needs motor oil. This ability is unreliable at best when used on alien, high-technology, or other mysterious devices. Action.

Network Tap

Sensor

Tier 4:

Repair Machine (3+ Intellect points): You automatically repair one broken device of up to level 4 that you touch, restoring it to full working condition. This ability works only if at least 80 percent of the original device is still on hand. The device may still need fuel, oil, or other substances that aid its operation but are not part of the electronics or mechanism. This ability only reliably works on human-crafted devices and tends to fail when used on alien, high-technology, or otherwise mysterious machines. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the target level that can be affected by 1. Action.

Soothe the Savage

Tier 5:

Granite Wall

Tower of Will

Tier 6:

Information Gathering

Trust to Luck

Protection Flavor

Characters with the protection flavor use magic to defend against hostile environments, hazardous substances, dangerous creatures, and intrusive mental powers.

Tier 1:

Closed Mind

Resonance Field

Ward

Tier 2:

Safe Sex (2 Intellect points): One creature you touch can have sexual encounters with no chance of causing pregnancy or transmitting an STI. This protection lasts for ten hours. Action.

Trained Without Armor

Wind Armor

Tier 3:

Energy Protection

Force Field Barrier

Unstealable Charm (3+ Intellect points): An object you are holding, touching, or wearing becomes more difficult to steal; attempts to remove it from your person without your knowledge or permission are hindered. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can apply Effort to hinder such attempts by an additional step. The charm lasts for twenty-four hours. Action.

Tier 4:

Counter Danger

Elemental Protection

Poison Resistance

Tier 5:

Defensive Field

Nothing but Defend

Tower of Intellect

Toer 6:

Reactive Field

Untouchable

Optional Rules For The Apocalypse #

The optional rules presented in this chapter accommodate a variety of circumstances that PCs could face after civilization falls. Some represent useful information that rarely comes up in other games but is ever‑present in almost every post‑apocalyptic game, such as scavenging and how to repair before‑times machines, the game effects of exposure and starvation, and so on.

Other optional rules support play in the aftermath of a particular type of cataclysm or style of play. If nuclear war destroyed the world, the landscape is likely much different than if a pandemic wiped out most people.

And that’s to say nothing of more fantastic elements that can pop up in a post‑apocalyptic setting, such as the civilization‑shattering aftereffects of the Christian Judgment Day, kaiju, time storms, and so on.

Most of the rules are meant for the GM’s eyes only—things that happen behind the scenes or that are secrets the PCs might find out over the course of the game.

Realistic Versus Fantastic Optional Rules: Some of the optional rules presented here are for realistic or plausible scenarios like nuclear war or climate change, and some are for fantastic events and settings such as time storms, the return of magic, or incredible mutations. Realistic optional rules usually also apply in games that use one or more fantastic optional rules. Ultimately, it’s your choice. Feel free to use some, all, or none of these optional rules when running your game, or introduce others of your own devising (or from another genre sourcebook) to provide a unique twist to the game.

Exposure, Starvation, And Dehydration #

Codifying the effects of exposure, starvation, and dehydration for a tabletop RPG probably makes sense only in a post‑apocalyptic scenario, given that survival is a primary theme of the genre.

When to Use: If PCs are exposed to the elements, don’t have enough food, and/or don’t have enough water, their health and life span are directly affected.

Effect: As noted under Too Cold, Too Hot, Starvation, and Dehydration hereafter.

Exposure #

The human body can withstand temperatures that are too cold for it or too hot for it for a brief period before degrading.

Too Cold

Prolonged exposure to temperatures below 60° F (16° C) eventually uses up a body’s stored energy. The result is hypothermia, when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it. A body temperature that’s too low affects the brain, making the target unable to think clearly or move well. Those with adequate clothing and/or shelter appropriate to the environment are protected. Generally, a PC can survive extreme cold for about twenty minutes to about two hours.

In game terms, unprotected characters, or even characters who have less than adequate protection, suffer 1 point of ambient damage per hour in temperatures near or below 32° F (0° C), or 1 point of ambient damage per round in subzero (–18° C) conditions. In addition, PCs in subzero temperatures with inadequate protection must succeed on a difficulty 4 Might defense roll each hour or descend one step on the damage track.

Too Hot

Prolonged exposure to a wet‑bulb temperature of 95° F (35° C) is the upper limit of safety, beyond which the human body can’t cool itself by evaporating sweat. Heat exhaustion is the result, leading to weakness, dizziness, headache, and nausea. Heat exhaustion can progress to heatstroke, when the body’s temperature regulation system fails. Those with adequate shelter or some sort of cooling system are protected. Generally, a PC can survive extreme heat for about twenty minutes to two or three hours.

In game terms, PCs in too‑hot conditions suffer 1 point of ambient damage per ten minutes. In addition, a character exposed to extreme heat must make a level 4 Might defense roll (hindered if the character is also dehydrated) every ten minutes. On a failed roll, the character descends one step on the damage track.

Rule Of Three #

One popular mnemonic for knowing how long a person can survive in extreme circumstances is the Rule of Three. It goes something like this: You can survive for three minutes without oxygen, you can survive for three days without water, and you can survive for three weeks without food. However, the rule depends on a person not being directly exposed to the environment and not being under physical duress, and requires someone who can hold their breath for three minutes, which is not most people. Usually, in a post‑apocalyptic RPG scenario, PCs won’t have such luxuries.

Starvation #

Generally, a PC can survive without food for about ten days to several weeks. In game terms, PCs who go without food take 3 points of ambient damage each day. On any day a PC has taken starvation damage, their tasks are hindered (even if the character makes a recovery roll to regain lost Pool points). In addition, after seven days without food, a starving character must make a level 5 Might defense roll each day that follows. On a failed roll, the character descends one step on the damage track.

Dehydration #

Generally, a PC can survive without water for three to five days, but this time frame can be shorter in extreme heat or physical activity. In game terms, PCs who go without water take 3 points of ambient damage every twelve hours. On any day a PC has taken dehydration damage, their tasks are hindered (even if the character makes a recovery roll to regain lost Pool points). In addition, after one day without water, a dehydrated character must succeed on a level 5 Might defense roll each day. On a failed roll, the character descends one step on the damage track.

Radiation In The Real World #

Exposure to dangerous amounts of radiation can cause severe damage to the human body, including cellular mutations, cancer, and death.

When to Use: If nuclear war led to the apocalypse, regions of dangerous radiation linger in the aftermath. Even if you predicate that civilization fell for some other reason, radiation could still be a hazard: a few nuclear bombs may have since been launched by a doom‑driven survivor group that found an old silo, a before‑times nuclear power plant went critical and PCs must access it, alien invaders used weapons that left behind radioactive scars, or just because.

Use this optional rule to evoke a more realistic approach to dangerous radiation. You could also use it in a setting with fantastic elements as a baseline effect, even if for some, exposure also leads to the potential for incredible mutations.

Effect: Methods to detect and mitigate radiation are useful to avoid stumbling into it in the first place, as described in the next section. Dangerous radiation harms and eventually kills people and other creatures, as described under the sections that follow.

Telltale Signs of Dangerous Radiation

Confirming the Presence of Radiation: If PCs have a functioning radiation‑detecting device, it confirms whether an area is radioactive. Otherwise, they can attempt a difficulty 4 Intellect roll to correctly correlate the telltale signs of a radiation hazard with its actual presence. Even if PCs fail this roll, they still understand that some kind of dangerous residue is blighting the area, whether it’s radiation, poison, evil spirits, nanites, or something else.

Radiation Damage

Especially intense radiation, such as might be found at the center of an area bearing telltale signs of contamination, harms PCs soon after they are exposed.

Immediate Effects of Exposure: When PCs are exposed to dangerous radiation without shielding, they suffer 3 points of ambient damage per minute each time they fail a difficulty 3 Might defense task; on a success they still take 1 point of ambient damage. If they spend more than ten minutes in the area, or fail three Might defense rolls against radiation during any single period of radiation exposure, they are subject to radiation sickness (see the box below).

A character who has scavenged, repaired, or cobbled together a hazmat suit is still vulnerable, though less so. The suit eases a wearer’s Might defense tasks, though the wearer takes 1 point of ambient damage (because the suit provides +2 to Armor against damage from radiation) every few minutes with each failed defense roll. Unless they tear their suit or are otherwise compromised, they’re generally not subject to radiation sickness.

*Dangerous radiation: Level 3

*Taking iodine tablets eases Might defense rolls against radiation sickness by three steps.

Disease: Radiation Sickness

Level 8 disease: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue appear within minutes to hours of a PC contracting radiation sickness. Hours later, the PC may suffer skin burns and hair loss. Days later, they experience extreme weakness, weight loss, and potentially death.

Each day the PC fails a Might defense roll, they descend one step on the damage track. If they succeed on three Might defense rolls, they gradually improve and throw off the sickness effects within a few weeks.

Scavenging, Repairing, And Building #

Survivors need food and shelter in a world turned upside down.

When to Use: PCs in a post‑apocalyptic setting that aren’t prepared or that have lost access to their resources and base must usually spend part of each day scavenging for supplies and/or a place of safety. Scavenging is what happens anytime they search for food, water, and shelter.

Effect: Basic scavenging optional rules are described in the Cypher System Rulebook. However, if you’d like to provide the PCs with many more options, including rules for finding enough to eat and drink, a safe shelter, and more, use the following extended optional rules instead. The base scavenging rules have been incorporated here, so you don’t need to cross‑reference them to understand how it all works.

Food, Water, and Shelter

PCs in a post‑apocalyptic game may find themselves without food, water, shelter, and/or refuge for any number of reasons, including because that’s the situation you start them in, they’re exploring a new area, their settlement was overrun by raiders and they barely escaped with their lives, or something else.

Generally, characters must spend ten minutes to an hour searching through the rubble and ruins in a particular area before they have a chance of finding food or a refuge.

Characters who succeed in finding food and water or refuge also get to roll up to once each day on the Useful Stuff table and three times on the Junk table. (Some characters won’t care about rolling on the Junk table; no need to have them make rolls if that’s the case.) If a “food” or “water” result is obtained on the Useful Stuff table, PCs discover double the amount of resources and have enough for two days for six people.

Consider using a GM intrusion to add additional color by way of an unexpected threat or hazard as they search, especially if they roll a 1 on their task. It’s a dangerous world, and the PCs are not the only ones out scavenging for resources.

Food and Water

Found food often takes the form of canned, processed, dried, or otherwise preserved goods from before the apocalypse, but sometimes it includes fresh fruits and vegetables growing wild or cultivated by other survivors.

Found water might be canned seltzer water, water in casks, water in tanks, and other leftovers from the before‑times, but it could just as easily be collected rainwater, from a river, from a lake, or water secured by previous survivors.

Scavenging and Related Tasks

Changing Conditions Affect Scavenger Success

The difficulty of finding food, water, and a safe place varies by location and by how many days the characters have already spent there.

Right After the Apocalypse: Things may be somewhat picked over, but PCs probably have their choice of food, water, shelter, and useful things, assuming the apocalypse isn’t one that also devastates large swaths of the immediate environment.

Months and Years After the Apocalypse: Other survivors who’ve already scavenged the area and exposure to the elements make scavenging more difficult as time marches on. Each week the PCs spend in the same area (that’s not an allied settlement) hinders subsequent scavenging tasks by one additional step. The result of failing to find food and water is obvious; if you’re using it, refer to the exposure, starvation, and dehydration optional rule.

Staying in One Place Too Long: In an unsafe area, PCs who’ve found shelter must succeed on a new difficulty 5 Intellect task each week to determine if their refuge is still safe. If they fail to find—or keep—a refuge, the place becomes compromised in some way. For instance, perhaps their presence is noticed by a hostile force in the area (raiders, a dangerous wild animal, a mutated creature, and so on), or a result from the Realistic Threats and Hazards table becomes evident.

USEFUL STUFF #

Food, water, and a safe place to rest are the most important results for any scavenging task. But other obviously useful stuff is often found along with these basic requirements.

When to Consult the Table: When a group of characters successfully finds food and water or a safe place, they also find something else that’s potentially useful. Consult the Useful Stuff table up to once per day, or two or three times if PCs roll a special minor or major effect, respectively. If it’s the first day they have scavenged in a particular area, each character might find something useful on the table, but on subsequent days, a group normally gets only a single roll.

Subtables: Roll on a specific subtable only if you wish to provide additional flavor to what PCs find.

Useful? The implication is that if PCs find something on the Useful Stuff table, it’s in working condition, having beaten the odds of degradation and destabilization facing all common things from the before‑times. A GM intrusion, of course, could complicate that for any given item.

Artifact? As described under Pre‑Apocalyptic Artifacts, almost every nonfood item on the Useful Stuff table could be considered an artifact, given that it is increasingly difficult to produce or preserve. Adding a depletion roll (usually 1 in 1d20) represents the likelihood that the item will fall apart, break down, or run out.

Useful Stuff Table

Most of the time, it’s not important to know the level of a useful item PCs find. If it becomes important, level 3 is a good baseline. If the item is particularly fragile (such as a wheel of cheese preserved in wax), drop the level by 1 or 2. If the item is particularly hardy (like a fire engine), increase the level by 1 or 2.

JUNK #

Scavenging always turns up junk, most of it unusable because the underpinnings of civilization that it required to function— such as a power grid and/or a worldwide internet—no longer exist. Characters are free to ignore that junk. But some PCs might have a use for it. That includes PCs with the Scavenges focus, as well as any character that decides to take advantage of the Repairing and Building section described in this optional rule.

When to Consult the Table: All characters gain up to three results from the Junk table each time they successfully scavenge for food and water, or a safe place to stay. Junk can sometimes be repaired. It can also be disassembled, warped, melted, or otherwise used to craft or repair something else.

How Much Junk PCs Get: Each time PCs roll on the Junk table or otherwise obtain a specific kind of junk, the amount they get is called a “load.” Load is an intentionally vague amount, because it represents a variable amount of junk of a particular kind. A PC that finds some electronic junk could grab a single broken electric fan or leave a ruined house with a shopping cart full of stereo parts. Either way, it’s considered one load of electronic junk.

Tracking Loads: It’s only important to track the number and kinds of loads a PC acquires if they’re going to use the Repairing and Building optional rules presented later in this section. A PC can carry one load of junk along with their equipment. To carry more than that, they need a plan, such as using a toy wagon, shopping cart, sled, vehicle, or mount; asking an ally for help; or something else.

Junk

REPAIRING AND BUILDING #

Improvised Basis for Repairing and Building: In the aftermath, survivors use whatever they can scavenge to repair, craft, and build. The upshot is twofold. First, things survivors have repaired or built have a more rough‑and‑ready look to them. A new or repaired home could be covered in scavenged street signs. Clothing is probably a mishmash of textiles, salvaged bits from costume stores, and plastic bags. A suit of armor might be made of trash can lids. And so on. Second, even if something looks rough‑and‑ready, such as armor made of trash can lids, if PCs succeed on the task to create medium armor (or heavy armor, if they’re feeling ambitious), the resulting armor is functionally equivalent to armor of the same grade made before the apocalypse. It just looks less polished.

Improving the Odds: If PCs scavenge exactly the right tools for the job (such as a hammer instead of a rock) and/or the perfect construction and repair supplies (such as steel screws instead of pegs carved from wood), they may gain an asset to their task.

Junk Required for Building vs. Repairing: The “Loads of Junk Required” column in the Repairing and Crafting Difficulty and Time table is calibrated for repair. If a PC builds something from scratch (as opposed to repairing something previously built), the junk requirements are twice to ten times the indicated number of loads. Something small to moderate (like an article of clothing or a wheelbarrow) requires double the loads, while something large, like a structure or large motorized vehicle, could require up to ten times the indicated junk loads. You, the GM, decide what’s reasonable.

Other Projects: If the character wants to try to repair or build something from the ground up that isn’t on the table, use your best judgment, comparing to what is on the table as a baseline. Some things just can’t be built with the tools, materials, and knowledge the PCs have available. For instance, they probably can’t build a spacecraft. On the other hand, perhaps they can repair one if they find an old government base containing a secret orbital craft that was never used, as long as they find specialized tools and instructions to go with it.

Repair and Build Time: PCs who reduce the difficulty of a project cannot, generally speaking, reduce the repair or build time indicated. If they want to go faster anyway, you can call it a rush job (with appropriate consequences), as noted in the Cypher System Rulebook.

EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE #

When to Use: Use this optional rule to add a bit more verisimilitude to living in a world where you can’t easily replace a broken appliance or tool by buying something online. This rule works well with the Repairing and Building section of the larger optional rule for scavenging, repairing, and building, because if something breaks due to lack of maintenance, PCs should have a chance to fix it.

Effect: Sometimes, a piece of equipment a PC relies on breaks. Use a GM intrusion to let the character know. PCs who know—or who learn—that equipment wear and breakage is a possibility can be proactive. They can spend about an hour on equipment maintenance each week. Maintenance requires the PC to expend 1 load of metal or construction junk each week, or to break down a few related items of scavenged useful stuff to get what they need. If PCs put in the time to keep their gear in good condition, they should face fewer, if any, GM intrusions related to their equipment failing them. No roll is required for maintenance, and after PCs commit to this practice, it’s usually not important to track the time thereafter, unless a special circumstance occurs.

Repairing and Crafting Difficulty and Time

*Load requirements for buildings (vs. repairing) are two to ten times the indicated values.

Handloading Tool Set

A set of handloading tools includes a variety of instruments such as lubricant, powder funnel, and a small press, used to create ammunition for a firearm. To fashion ammunition, the user must spend an uninterrupted hour using the handloading tools, at the end of which time they have created about 25 bullets.

If treated as a Pre‑Apocalyptic Artifact, the handloading tool set has a depletion of 1 in 1d20 (upon depletion, the set can be recharged with 1 load of metal junk and 1 load of chemical junk).

IRONMAN #

This optional rule pares back some of the better‑than‑normal advantages that Cypher System PCs have over most regular people.

When to Use: To really drive home the brutality of a post‑apocalyptic survival one‑shot game or short scenario, you can subject your players to this hardcore optional rule.

Effect: There are no cyphers (subtle or manifest) or artifacts that heal, and all other healing effects (such as recovery rolls and Healing Touch) restore only the minimum amount possible. For example, a tier 2 character making a recovery roll would get only 3 points (as if they rolled a 1 on a d6, plus 2 for their tier) to add to their Pools. This results in a gritty, dire scenario where the only way PCs can restore their Pools is with recovery rolls and character abilities that heal.

Cypher System characters are tough and resilient, even at tier 1, but the ironman rule brings them down to a more realistic power level. Ironman is more punitive for characters whose abilities cost Pool points and less of a challenge for characters whose abilities don’t cost anything (such as Physical Skills). For a slightly less challenging option, allow the use of healing cyphers and artifacts, but limit them to the minimum amount.

FRAGILITY #

This optional rule prevents power creep in PCs.

When to Use: If you want your players to have a gritty game experience after the apocalypse, this optional rule keeps them physically humble.

Effect: Whenever a character selects the Increasing Capabilities option for advancement or gains an ability that permanently increases their Pools, they can

add a maximum of 1 point to their Might Pool and 1 point to their Speed Pool; other points left over (if any) must go to their Intellect Pool, even if that’s not normally an option for the ability. This does not apply to the extra points the player can divide among their Pools at character creation. This rule creates a more “realistic” scenario in which the PCs are more like normal people who don’t get much more powerful physically over the course of a campaign but still can learn new skills, advance their minds, and so on. This module does not affect abilities like Enlarge (which temporarily adds 4 points to your Might Pool), but it does affect abilities like Enhanced Might, Enhanced Speed, and Lead From the Front (which permanently increase one or more Pools).

ADVANCED AND ALIEN TECH #

Many popular post‑apocalyptic stories feature salvage in the form of highly advanced or even alien technology.

When to Use: If the apocalypse that ended your world featured a time rip, alien invaders, a catastrophic alien ship crash, a starting date that is several decades into our own future, or an alternate timeline where things happened differently in the past than in the real world, this rule is applicable. You can also use it if you just want to introduce a bit of mystery to your game that will confound PCs’ expectations on how their world really ended.

Effect: Fantastic and advanced devices exist in the setting, and PCs can find them. If something is advanced and/or alien enough, PCs may have to develop special skills to use it, as noted hereafter. The existence of this tech in your setting may also imply the existence of other fantastic rules in your game, such as grey goo or terraforming by aliens, but the tech could just as easily stand alone or be part of an End of Days theme.

ADVANCED ARTIFACTS AND FANTASTIC MANIFEST CYPHERS #

In a setting featuring remnants of advanced and/or alien technology, PCs scavenging for supplies or defeating foes could discover unusual objects in the form of fantastic cyphers and unusual post‑apocalyptic artifacts.

UNDERSTANDING ADVANCED AND ALIEN TECH #

Recognizing and using unfamiliar technology is difficult enough. If something is especially advanced or alien, it’s even harder.

Identifying and Using Advanced and Alien Tech: When a character finds a manifest cypher or an artifact that falls into this category, they must identify it before they can use it. Identification takes from one to ten minutes and a successful Intellect roll, usually against a difficulty of 5. Identifying an object grants PCs the ability to use the object, whether it’s a manifest cypher or an artifact.

However, without training or specialization in alien technology, advanced technology, or something similar (which most starting characters don’t have), a character has an inability in understanding advanced and alien tech.

Failing to Understand: Sometimes a failed roll to understand an object of advanced or alien tech simply means the character can’t figure it out, but they can try again (as usual, each task retry requires that the PC expend Effort). Other times, there’s a chance of something going wrong, either because you intrude or because the character triggers an intrusion. Use the following table to inspire appropriate GM intrusions or anytime something disruptive happens to an advanced or alien device in a PC’s possession.

ADVANCED AND ALIEN TECH GM INTRUSIONS #

Unless the advanced device detonates or is otherwise noted as becoming nonfunctional, PCs with the time can try to understand how to use it again after resolving the intrusion.

INCREDIBLE MUTATIONS #

Exposure to dangerous amounts of radiation inflicts damage. Enough exposure causes cellular mutations, cancer, and death, as described under Radiation in the Real World. However, in the right game setting, radiation (or genetic engineering, or some other mutagen) can instill strange new abilities in previously normal creatures, plants, NPCs, and even PCs, though often with a few drawbacks, too.

When to Use: If you’d like your setting to include incredible mutations, this section is for you. Why does your game have such mutations? Maybe because of an X‑factor in some survivors’ DNA, inscrutable nanites that have permeated the environment, magical contamination, or multiple different timelines collapsing into one.

Effect: This section describes several ways to introduce incredible mutations to your game, including letting the environment evoke the concept, PC opt‑in, transitory mutations PCs have less control over, and transitory mutations based on cyphers. You can pick one or two, or use them all at different times and for different needs in your game.

Mutated Creatures, Plants, and NPCs

The environment can reflect the possibility of mutagenic presence even if PCs haven’t yet been affected. The appearance of a creature, plant, or NPC often reveals the presence and severity of a mutation. Some creatures and animals may have only harmful mutations, but others could have adaptive mutations.

Harmful Mutations: Some creatures, plants, trees, fungus, and NPCs could present with disturbing, harmful mutations, such as the following examples. Their tasks are usually hindered.

• An animal with one or more additional, vestigial, limp limbs, or an additional vestigial head that appears almost as a tumor‑like growth

• Oozing a smelly, rotting fluid that stains and slightly burns exposed skin

• Lack of fur combined with albinism, making them sensitive to light and subject to skin cancer

• Too many extra fingers or arms, making them slow and heavy

• Too many extra branches, or too spindly, making the branches prone to breaking

• Feathers growing where they normally wouldn’t, in ragged, uncomfortable clumps

• Fishlike scales growing where they normally wouldn’t, like itchy, reflective sores

• Single limb or other body part is radically larger than normal, making the creature clumsy

• Big clumps of fungal growth that are obviously intrusive and painful

Adaptive Mutations

A disturbing mutation might only look strange and not be an impediment to the animal, plant, or NPC. It might even provide some benefit, as follows.

• Fur, hair, or leaves growing in strange fractal patterns. Maybe it glows visibly to attract prey, or glows at a frequency normally invisible to the human eye, but which they can see, allowing them to act in the dark.

• Tentacle‑like arms that work like the regular limb replaced, or an extra tentacle‑like arm that gives the creature a method to grasp, use tools, or otherwise gain an additional benefit over other creatures or plants of its type.

• Feathers growing on an animal or plant they normally wouldn’t, thick enough to provide additional warmth, protection, and possibly limited flight options.

• Insects, like ants or beetles, that learn how to spin webs, or spiders that begin spinning wildly strong fractal webs that glow and change, maybe serving as a mode of communication.

• Fungal growths that seem to connect the minds of creatures that have the same kind of growth.

OPTIONAL RULE: MUTANT DESCRIPTOR #

If a PC wants to play a mutant, they may do so by choosing Mutant as their descriptor. Mutations gained by a character with the Mutant descriptor are always rolled randomly, although you should work with your player to ensure that the resulting PC is one that the player wants to play.

OPTIONAL RULE: TRANSITORY MUTATIONS #

Use this optional rule if you’d prefer some flux in what mutations the PCs have available. A volatile mutation is one that mutates into something different over time. When using this rule, a volatile mutation arises spontaneously or is triggered, replacing the specific benefit (or drawback) of the volatile mutation previously granted to the PC.

You can use this optional rule instead of the mutant descriptor optional rule, or allow both in the same game. If using transitory mutations, not every PC in your game needs to have a volatile mutation.

Volatile Mutations

A character can begin the game with one volatile mutation that changes during play, one distinctive mutation that usually does not change, and, at their option, one or two cosmetic mutations.

Alternatively, the PC could gain a volatile mutation (and one distinctive mutation) after their first encounter with radiation or some other mutagenic agent. Additional encounters with radiation don’t give a PC further volatile mutations but could cause the one they have to mutate into something else.

Effect: If the PC gains a volatile mutation, roll randomly on the Beneficial Mutations table. That mutation lasts until a triggering event occurs, at which time their volatile mutation is replaced, as indicated. A character normally cannot trigger replacement simply by willing it to occur, but they could choose to fail the Intellect defense roll that some triggers require to maintain their current volatile mutation.

Adjusting the Volatility: Choose which triggering events apply to determine how volatile you’d like transitory mutations to be in your setting. For instance, if you prefer that volatile mutations change only when PCs encounter radiation, choose that option and ignore the others. Alternatively, you might prefer more variability and use most or even all the triggering events noted.

Triggering Events:

• The character finishes a ten‑hour recovery; replace with a randomly rolled beneficial mutation.

• A character takes damage for the first time in ten hours and fails a difficulty 3 Intellect defense roll; replace with a randomly rolled beneficial mutation, assuming the character’s roll isn’t a 1, 19, or 20.

• The character triggers or receives a GM intrusion; replace with a random roll on the Harmful Mutations table.

• The character gains a minor effect on a d20 roll and decides the effect is that their volatile mutation changes; replace with two randomly rolled beneficial mutations. Both are replaced the next time the character gains a new volatile mutation.

• The character gains a major effect on a d20 roll and decides the effect is that their volatile mutation changes; replace with a random result from the Powerful Mutations table. It is replaced the next time the character gains a new volatile mutation.

• The character takes damage from radiation (or other established mutagen in your setting) for the first time in ten hours and fails an Intellect defense roll against a difficulty equal to the attack; replace with a randomly rolled beneficial mutation, assuming the character’s roll isn’t a 1, 19, or 20.

Cyphers as Volatile Mutations

If a character has volatile mutations, one way to handle it is to give them an additional subtle cypher slot, and their volatile mutation is whatever subtle cypher is in that slot. A character can begin the game with one cypher volatile mutation that changes during play (or gain it after surviving radiation damage) and one distinctive mutation that usually does not change, plus—at their option—one or two cosmetic mutations.

Effect: A cypher volatile mutation operates almost entirely like regular volatile mutations, except as follows.

• Any random roll on the Beneficial Mutations table should instead be a random roll on the Subtle Cypher table. That includes the two rolls granted to PCs who use a special minor effect to replace their volatile mutation’s effect.

• A roll of 1 still replaces the PC’s volatile mutation with a randomly rolled harmful mutation.

• A roll of 20 still replaces the PC’s volatile mutation with a randomly rolled powerful mutation.

• A cypher volatile mutation can be used more than once before it is replaced, but each additional attempt to use it requires that the character succeed on an Intellect task. The difficulty of the task begins at the level of the cypher and increases by one step each additional time the character attempts to reuse the mutation. On a failed roll, the mutation is replaced.

• When the cypher volatile mutation is replaced, roll the level for the new mutation.

Other Consequences of Volatile Mutations

If a character gains a mutation that grants them points to a Pool (such as strengthened bones, which gives +5 Might), then later loses it, the maximum value in their Pool goes back to what it was before. This might or might not affect their current Pool value, depending on whether they were completely healthy or not.

D100 BENEFICIAL MUTATIONS

The following mutations do not require any visible changes or distinctions in the character. In other words, people who have these mutations are not obviously recognized as mutants. Using beneficial mutations never costs stat Pool points and never requires an action to “activate.”

01–05 Strengthened bones: You gain +5 to your Might Pool.

06–10 Improved circulation: You gain +5 to your Might Pool.

11–15 Improved musculature: You gain +5 to your Might Pool.

16–20 Improved nervous system: You gain +5 to your Speed Pool.

21–25 Improved neural processes: You gain +5 to your Intellect Pool.

26–30 Thick hide: You gain +1 to Armor.

31–33 Increased lung capacity: You can hold your breath for five minutes.

34–36 Adhesion pads: Your hands and feet have naturally adhesive pads and thus are assets in tasks involving climbing, keeping your footing, or retaining your grip.

37–39 Slippery skin: You secrete a slippery oil, giving you an asset in any task involving slipping from another’s grip, slipping from bonds, squeezing through a small opening, and so on.

40–45 Telekinetic shield: You reflexively use telekinesis to ward away attacks, giving you an asset in Speed defense tasks.

46–50 Suggestive voice: Your voice is so perfectly modulated that it is an asset in all interaction tasks.

51–53 Processor dreams: When you sleep, you process information so that after you wake, you have an asset in any Intellect actions held over from the previous day. For example, if you have to determine whether an unknown plant is poisonous, you could “sleep on it” and make the determination the next day with an asset on the action.

54–60 Poison immunity: You are immune to all poisons.

61–65 Disease immunity: You are immune to all diseases.

66–70 Fire resistance: You have +3 to Armor against damage from fire.

71–75 Cold resistance: You have +4 to Armor against damage from cold.

76–80 Psychic resistance: You have +3 to Armor against Intellect damage.

81–85 Acid resistance: You have +5 to Armor against damage from acid.

86–88 Puncture resistance: You have +2 to Armor against damage from puncturing attacks.

89–91 Slicing resistance: You have +2 to Armor against damage from slicing attacks.

92–94 Bludgeoning resistance: You have +2 to Armor against damage from crushing attacks.

95–96 No scent: You cannot be tracked or located by scent, and you never have offensive odors.

97–99 Scent: You can sense creatures, objects, and terrain by scent as well as a normal human can by sight. You can detect scents with that degree of accuracy only in short range, but you can sense strong odors from much farther away (far better than a normal human can). Like a hound, you can track creatures by their scent.

00 Sense material: You can sense the presence of any single substance within short range, although you don’t learn details or the precise location. You and the GM should work together to determine the substance: water, iron, plastic, granite, wood, flesh, salt, and so on. You do not need to concentrate to sense the material.

D100 HARMFUL MUTATIONS
Unless noted otherwise, the following mutations are visible and obvious. They offer no benefits, only drawbacks.

01–10 Deformed leg: All movement tasks are hindered.

11–20 Deformed face/appearance: All pleasant interaction tasks are hindered.

21–30 Deformed arm/hand: All tasks involving the arm or hand are hindered.

31–40 Malformed brain: All memory‑ or cognitive‑related tasks are hindered.

41–45 Mentally vulnerable: All Intellect defense tasks are hindered.

46–50 Slow and lumbering: All Speed defense tasks are hindered.

51–60 Sickly: All Might defense tasks are hindered.

61–63 Horrible growth: A large goiter, immobile tendril, or useless extra eye hangs from your face, hindering all pleasant interactions (with most creatures, particularly humans).

64–66 Useless limb: One of your limbs is unusable or missing.

67–71 Useless eye: One of your eyes is unusable or missing. Tasks specifically involving eyesight (spotting, searching, and so on) are hindered.

72–76 Useless ear: One of your ears is unusable or missing. Tasks specifically involving hearing are hindered.

77–84 Weakness in Might: Any time you spend points from your Might Pool, the cost is increased by 1 point.

85–92 Weakness in Speed: Any time you spend points from your Speed Pool, the cost is increased by 1 point.

93–00 Weakness in Intellect: Any time you spend points from your Intellect Pool, the cost is increased by 1 point.

CRIPPLING MUTATIONS #

A sixth category exists that might be called crippling or nonviable mutations. PCs never have this kind of mutation. Mutants with nonviable mutations might be born without limbs, with barely functional lungs, without most of their brain, and so on. Such mutations prevent a character from being viable.

D100 POWERFUL MUTATIONS

The following mutations do not require any visible changes in the character until used. People who have these mutations are not obviously recognized as mutants if they don’t use their powers. Using some of these mutations costs stat Pool points. Some are actions.

01–05 Darksight: You can see in complete darkness as if it were light. Enabler.

06–10 No breath: You do not need to breathe. Enabler.

11–15 No water: You do not need to drink water to survive. Enabler.

16–20 Chameleon skin: Your skin changes colors as you wish. This is an asset in tasks involving hiding. Enabler.

21–24 Savage bite: Your mouth widens surprisingly, and hidden, pointed teeth emerge when you wish it. You can make a bite attack that inflicts 3 points of damage. Enabler.

25–26 Gluey globs: You can produce gluey globs at your fingertips. This is an asset in tasks involving climbing or keeping your grip. You can also fling these globs in immediate range, and if they hit, they hinder the target’s physical tasks for one round. Enabler to use in a task; action to use as an attack.

27–30 Face dancing: You can alter your features enough to give you an asset in all tasks involving disguise. Enabler.

31–35 Sense oddity: You can sense the presence of an object or creature possessing fantastic abilities (because of alien technology, transdimensional interference, nanites, or similar) within short range. You do not learn details or the precise location. Action.

36–40 Stinger in finger: You can make an attack with your hand that inflicts 1 point of damage. If you make a second successful attack roll, your stinger also injects a poison that inflicts 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). Action.

41–44 Stinger in elbow: You can make an attack with your elbow that inflicts 2 points of damage. If you make a second successful attack roll, your stinger also injects a poison that inflicts 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). Action.

45–47 Spit needles: You can make an attack with immediate range. You spit a needle that inflicts 1 point of damage. If you make a second successful attack roll, the needle also injects a poison that inflicts 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). Action.

48–50 Spit acid: You can make an attack with immediate range. You spit a glob of acid that inflicts 2 points of damage. Action.

51–53 Spit webs: You can make up to 10 feet (3.5 m) of a strong, ropelike material each day at the rate of about 1 foot (30 cm) per minute. The webbing is level 3. You can also spit globs of webbing in immediate range, and if they hit, the target’s physical tasks are hindered for one round. Action.

54–59 Filtered lungs: You have an asset to Might defense rolls against vapors or noxious gases. You can survive in a hostile breathing environment (such as underwater or in a vacuum) for up to ten minutes. Enabler.

60–62 Disruptive field (electronics) (2 Intellect points): When you wish it, you disrupt devices within immediate range (no roll needed). All devices operate as if they were 3 levels lower while in range of your field. Devices reduced to level 0 or below do not function. Action.

63–65 Disruptive field (flesh) (2 Intellect points): When you wish it, you disrupt flesh within immediate range. All creatures within range of your field take 1 point of damage. If you apply a level of Effort to increase the damage rather than affect the difficulty, each target takes 2 additional points of damage. If your attack fails, targets in the area still take 1 point of damage. Action.

66–68 Disruptive field (thoughts) (1 Intellect point): When you wish it, you disrupt thoughts within immediate range. Intellect actions for all creatures within range are hindered. Action.

69–70 Magnetic flesh: You attract or repel metal when you desire. Not only do small metal objects cling to you, but this mutation is an asset in tasks involving climbing on metal or keeping your grip on a metal item. This mutation is an asset to Speed defense tasks when being attacked by a metal foe or a foe with a metal weapon. Enabler.

71–73 Gravity negation (2 Intellect points): You float slowly into the air. If you concentrate, you can control your movement at half your normal speed; otherwise, you drift with the wind or with any momentum you have gained. This effect lasts for up to ten minutes. Action to initiate.

74–80 Telepathy (2 Intellect points): You can speak telepathically with others who are within short range. Communication is two‑way, but the other party must be willing and able to communicate. You don’t have to see the target, but you must know that it’s within range. You can have more than one active contact at once, but you must establish contact with each target individually. Each contact lasts up to ten minutes. In addition to the normal options for

using Effort, you can use a level of Effort to increase the duration of contact to a full day. Action to establish contact.

81–85 Pyrokinesis (1 Intellect point): You can cause a flammable object you can see within immediate range to spontaneously catch fire. If used as an attack, this power inflicts 2 points of damage. Action.

86–90 Telekinesis (2 Intellect points): You can exert force on objects within short range. Once activated, your power has an effective Might Pool of 10, a Might Edge of 1, and an Effort of 2 (approximately equal to the strength of a fit, capable, adult human), and you can use it to move objects, push against objects, and so on. For example, you could lift and pull a light object anywhere within range to yourself or move a heavy object (like a piece of furniture) about 10 feet (3.5 m). This power lacks the fine control to wield a weapon or move objects with much speed, so in most situations, it’s not a means of attack. You can’t use this ability on your own body. The power lasts for one hour or until its Might Pool is depleted, whichever comes first. Action.

91–92 Phase shifting (2 Intellect points): You can pass slowly through solid barriers at a rate of 1 inch (3 cm) per round (minimum of one round to pass through the barrier). You can’t act (other than moving) or perceive anything until you pass entirely through the barrier. You can’t pass through energy barriers. Action.

93–94 Power device (1+ Intellect points): You can charge an artifact or other device (except a cypher) so that it can be used once. The cost is 1 Intellect point plus 1 point per level of the device. Action.

95–96 Drain power: You can drain the power from an artifact or device, allowing you to regain 1 Intellect point per level of the device. You regain points at the rate of 1 point per round and must give your full concentration to the process each round. The GM determines whether the device is fully drained (likely true of most handheld or smaller devices) or retains some power (likely true of large machines). Action to initiate; action each round to drain.

97–99 Regeneration: In addition to regaining points through normal recovery rolls, you regain 1 point to your Might Pool or Speed Pool per hour, regardless of whether you rest, until both Pools are at their maximum. Enabler.

00 Feed off pain: Any time a creature within immediate range suffers at least 3 points of damage (after Armor subtraction) in one attack, you can restore 1 point to one of your Pools, up to its maximum. You can feed off any creature in this way, whether friend or foe. You never regain more than 1 point per round. Enabler.

D100 DISTINCTIVE MUTATIONS
The following mutations involve dramatic physical changes to the character’s appearance. People who have these mutations are always recognized as mutants. Using some of these mutations costs stat Pool points. Some are actions.

01–02 Extra eye: You have an extra eye on your forehead that you normally keep closed, but you can open it in dim light and see as if in bright light, and see in total darkness as if in very dim light. Enabler.

03–04 Extra mouth: You have an extra mouth on your hand, face, or stomach. This mouth is filled with razor‑sharp teeth and, if used to attack, inflicts 3 points of damage. You can also speak with two voices at once. Enabler.

05–06 Proboscis: You have a long, moth‑like proboscis instead of a mouth. You can speak, but your voice is ever‑so‑slightly muffled. You take all your nutrition as a liquid, but you can gain sustenance from most plants by inserting the sharp tip of your proboscis into it. You can also feed on the blood of living (or recently living) creatures. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

07–09 Snakelike arm: One of your arms ends in a fanged mouth. You can use it to attack, inflicting 3 points of damage. If you make a second successful attack with the arm, you also inject a poison that inflicts 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). You can’t use the snakelike arm for anything other than biting. Enabler.

10–12 Tendrils on forehead: Four to six tendrils, each 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 cm) long, come out of your forehead. They can grasp and carry anything that your hand could, although a large object would block your field of vision. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

13–15 Tendrils instead of fingers: Your fingers are tendrils 1 foot (30 cm) long. They are an asset to any task involving climbing, grasping, or keeping your grip. Further, you can effectively pick up and hold two objects in each hand rather than one. You can’t wield more than one weapon per hand. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

16–18 Tendrils instead of arms: Your arms are tendrils 6 feet (2 m) long (or only one arm is a tendril, if you prefer). Although you lose the fine manipulative ability of fingers and a thumb, you can still grasp objects, have a much longer reach, and have an asset for all tasks involving grappling or wrestling. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

19–21 Tendrils instead of eyes: You are blind, but each eye socket has a retractable tendril that is 10 feet (3.5 m) long. These tendrils can feel around rapidly to give you a physical sense of everything within immediate range. Further, they can be used to manipulate very light objects, activate controls, and so forth. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

22–24 Tendrils instead of legs/feet: Your legs or feet are tendrils that are 6 feet (2 m) long (or only one leg or foot is a tendril, if you prefer). You can still walk and move normally, and you have an asset for all tasks involving grappling or wrestling. The tendrils are prehensile enough to grasp large objects. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

25–26 Roots instead of feet: If you take a minute to burrow your roots into the ground in conjunction with making a recovery roll, add +2 to the points regained from the roll. You can’t move from where you rooted for one minute, even if taking what is normally a one‑action recovery roll. Enabler.

27–29 Scaly body: You gain +2 to Armor. Enabler.

30–32 Shaggy fur: You gain +1 to Armor (+2 against damage from cold) and have an asset on stealth tasks. Enabler.

33–35 Covered in spiny needles/spikes: Any creature striking you with its body automatically suffers 1 point of damage. Enabler.

36–38 Quills: You have quills that you can launch from your body to attack a foe within short range. This attack inflicts 4 points of damage, and you never run out of ammo. You can also use this attack in melee. Action.

39–41 Carapace: You gain +2 to Armor. Enabler.

42–44 Mirrored skin: You gain +2 to Armor against heat, radiation, lasers, and similar attacks. Enabler.

45–47 Chlorophyll: You gain nutrients from the sun and don’t need to eat or breathe if you have daily exposure to sunlight. Your skin, not surprisingly, is green. Enabler.

48–50 Covered in bursting pods: Fruit‑like pods grow here and there across your entire body. You can walk and move normally. As your action, you can rupture one pod, creating a burst of color, sound, and odor that dazes all creatures within immediate range on their next turn, hindering their tasks. Enabler.

51–53 Extra joint in arms: Your arms are long and jointed so that you have two elbows in each. You have a long reach and can strike foes from unexpected angles. This mutation is an asset when making melee attacks. However, you can modify your attacks only by using Speed, not Might. Enabler.

54–56 Extra joint in legs: Your legs are long and jointed so that you have two knees in each. You have a long stride, and this mutation is an asset for all running, climbing, jumping, and balancing tasks. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

57–59 Rubbery body: Your bluish‑grey body is rubbery through and through. You can act normally and can stretch just your arms to reach things within immediate range that would normally require you to move. You can ignore up to 2 points of falling damage. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

60–62 Spider legs from torso: In addition to your normal limbs, six or eight spiderlike legs, each 6 feet (2 m) long, extend from your sides. They are an asset in any task involving running, keeping your feet, standing your ground, and climbing. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

63–65 Extra arms: You have one or two extra arms. They can hold objects, wield weapons, hold a shield, and so on. This mutation does not increase the number of actions you can take in a round or the number of attacks you can attempt. Enabler.

66–68 Extra legs: You have two extra legs. They are an asset in any task involving running, keeping your feet, and standing your ground. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

69–71 Spider legs: Instead of normal legs, you have a wide torso with six or eight spiderlike legs. They are an asset in any task involving running, keeping your feet, standing your ground, and climbing. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

72–74 Spider eyes: Instead of normal eyes, you have a crown of shiny orb‑like spider eyes. They provide an asset to initiative and perception tasks. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

75–77 Snake tail: You have a prehensile tail that is 6 feet (2 m) long. It is an asset for all tasks ninvolving grappling or wrestling. The tail can grasp large objects. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

78–80 Snake tail instead of legs: Instead of legs, you have a snaky tail that is 8 feet (2.5 m) long. You move at the same speed and have an asset for all tasks involving grappling or wrestling. The tail is prehensile enough to grasp large objects. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

81–83 Stinging tendril: You have a prehensile tendril (or tail) that grows from some part of your body and ends in a poisonous stinger. You can make an attack with your stinger that inflicts 2 points of damage. If you make a second successful attack roll, the stinger also injects a poison that inflicts 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). The tendril (or tail) can’t be used for anything else. Action.

84–86 Eyes on stalks: Your eyes are on stalks and can move in any direction, independently of each other. You can peek around corners without exposing yourself to danger. This is an asset in initiative and all perception tasks. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

87–89 Extra eyes on hands/fingers: You can peek around corners without exposing yourself to danger. This is an asset in initiative and all perception tasks. Also roll on the Beneficial Mutations table. Enabler.

90–93 Abnormally large head: Your head is significantly larger than normal, with a bulging forehead and elongated skull. You gain two assets to any task involving knowledge, memory, lore, understanding, and figuring out puzzles. Enabler.

94–96 Aquatic: Your body is streamlined and finned, your fingers and toes webbed. You gain two assets in swimming, and you can see perfectly underwater (as if above water). Although you have lungs, you also have gills, so you can breathe underwater. Enabler.

97–98 Wings: You have feathered or fleshy wings on your back that allow you to glide, carried by the wind. They are not powerful enough to carry you aloft like a bird’s wings. Enabler.

99–00 Cyborg arm: One of your arms is a bulky organo‑metallic arm‑like living machine. You can project a ray of burning light from the arm at a target within short range as your action, inflicting 4 points of damage. You have no sense of touch with the arm or hand, so you are hindered when attempting physical tasks with that arm/hand and for tasks that require you to use both hands. Enabler.

* Mutants aren’t just mutated humans. Animals and creatures of all kinds could have mutations in your game setting, as noted under Mutated Creatures, Plants, and NPCs. Very rarely, these mutations could make a nonhuman creature more like a human, with opposable thumbs, greater intelligence, and so on; see What Remains After Humans.

COSMETIC MUTATIONS #

Cosmetic mutations affect nothing but the appearance of a character. None are so pronounced as to make a character decidedly more or less attractive. They are simply distinguishing alterations.

POST-APOCALYPTIC THREATS, HAZARDS, AND GM INTRUSIONS

Using the Tables: Choose or roll randomly when you need a hazard to threaten the PCs. As described under scavenging, attempts to find food, water, useful stuff, or just a safe place to hole up could also require a roll on the table.

Realistic Threats and Hazards

* Grizzly bear: level 5; health 20; Armor 1

* War pig: level 3; rider has asset on melee attacks, or pig can make a separate tusk attack when rider attacks

Fantastic Threats and Hazards

GM INTRUSIONS FOR POST-APOCALYPTIC GAMES #

If you’re running a game set in the ruins following civilization’s fall, refer to the following list of unexpected complications to your PCs’ day. GM intrusions can happen anytime, whether the PCs think they’re safe in a defended settlement or recently secured shelter, or traveling across the wasteland.

Select a GM intrusion appropriate to the situation, roll one randomly, or use the list to inspire an intrusion of your own.

01–02 (group): Roll on the preceding Realistic Threats and Hazards table, or on the Fantastic Threats and Hazards table if your game includes fantastic elements.

03–04: The character is surprised by a diseased feral cat, which bites them and runs off, infecting the PC with a level 4 disease that drops them one step on the damage track each day they fail a Might defense roll.

05–06 (group or character): The PCs’ mode of transport breaks (or someone’s boot heel snaps off), requiring about an hour of repair, possibly meaning that they have to duck into nearby ruins to find parts.

07–08: A weirdly gnarled hand emerges from the ground or ruin, grabs the character, and pulls them down into an ancient bunker containing a zombie hulk.

09–10 (group): The PCs discover their food and water supplies have become contaminated with poisonous mold or dangerous levels of radiation (level 4).

11–12 (group): An unseasonal blizzard forces the PCs to seek shelter in an abandoned train yard, which shows signs of being claimed by another group of survivors.

13–14: The character treads on a sticky slurry of ooze leaking from a ruined factory that holds them in place unless they give up their footwear and/or succeed on a difficulty 5 Might task to pull free.

15–16: A radioactive spider bites the character, inflicting 3 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor), and on a failed difficulty 3 Might defense roll, the character develops one harmful mutation. Each day the PC can attempt another Might defense roll; with a success, the mutation subsides.

17–18 (group): A wildfire or structural fire (level 5) moves through the area; PCs must run before it to survive. However, when the fire has burnt out several hours later, the PCs are lost.

19–20 (group): A sinkhole opens beneath the PCs’ vehicle, which becomes hopelessly stuck in loose earth until they can succeed on a difficulty 7 Might roll to push it out. If PCs don’t have a vehicle, the sinkhole sucks down one character and threatens to smother them unless the others succeed on a difficulty 7 Might roll to extract them.

21–22: The PC discovers they are infested with mutant green lice (level 5); Might tasks (including defense rolls) are hindered until the PC is treated with appropriate cleansing chemicals.

23–24 (group): High winds, acidic precipitation, or a drift of grey goo eats through the PCs’ shelter’s roof.

25–26: The character wakes to discover that some of their equipment has been pilfered, but the PC on watch didn’t see anything (and isn’t responsible for the theft). Investigation reveals that weirdly smart termites (level 4) working together made off with the item.

27–28 (group): Yellow mushrooms with black speckles (level 4) grow profusely in the area and ooze weirdly blood‑like fluid when brushed or trod upon, or simply as PCs pass by. The mushrooms are poisonous, inflicting 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) if ingested, but they also grant PCs a one‑time asset on any knowledge tasks they attempt during the next ten hours.

29–30 (group): That buzzing noise that’s been getting louder and louder is revealed as a swarm of aggressive, stinging radioactive bees.

* Radioactive bees, swarm: level 5; stings inflict 6 damage and, on failed Might defense roll, an allergic reaction dealing 1 Speed damage (ignores Armor) each minute until target is tended

31–32 (group): The PCs enter a region threatened by pockets of explosive gas (level 5), visible before they detonate as low‑lying banks of thin, yellowish mist. If agitated, a gas pocket detonates, inflicting 5 points of damage on everything in the area, or 2 points on PCs who succeed on a Speed defense roll.

33–34: The character trips or is thrown from their vehicle or mount by a jolt or similar accidental incident, risking a broken bone on a failed difficulty 4 Speed defense roll.

35–36 (group): A before‑times radio transmission is received, asking anyone, anywhere, for aid.

37–38 (group): Mosquitos the size of hummingbirds attack.

* Mosquitos, giant, swarm: level 3; bite inflicts damage and, on failed Might defense roll, target contracts Nipah

39–40: The character steps in a bear trap left by other survivors. The PC takes 6 points of damage and is caught in a painful clamp until an ally succeeds on a difficulty 6 Might task to remove it.

41–42: The character stumbles over a decaying human corpse apparently killed by invasive fungus (level 3) eating through their brain.

43–44: The character ate something that didn’t agree with them, and becomes so afflicted with nausea that their tasks, attacks, and defense rolls are hindered by two steps for the next few hours.

45–46 (group): A mushroom cloud from a nuclear detonation blooms on the horizon. Are the PCs far enough away to survive? Maybe, if they find shelter pronto.

47–48: A mutated animal with unhealthy skin lesions and bulbous growths (with giant rat stats) scurries from the character’s backpack or other container when they stow or retrieve equipment. The animal runs off unless attacked, in which case it fights to the death.

49–50 (group): The PCs encounter a survivor claiming to be looking for a source of water that’s not radioactive. Maybe they’re telling the truth and could use some help. Or maybe they’re a spy from a nearby raider camp.

51–52: The thin trickle of water running through the ruins must be intermittently in contact with live electrical wires, as the character discovers when they take 5 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) and are stunned, losing their next turn.

53–54: A lurking rattlesnake bites the PC, then slithers off.

55–56 (group): When the PCs return to their camp or place of refuge, they find that someone else has stolen all their carefully hoarded stores and wrecked part of the camp.

57–58 (group): A pack of seven rabid dogs appears, growling and snarling.

* Rabid dog: level 3, attacks as level 4; Armor 1

59–60: The character falls partly (or completely) through the rotting floor, trapping their foot until they succeed on a difficulty 4 Might roll, or dropping them to a lower floor (and separating them from the others).

61–62 (group): It’s hot outside today, due to a combination of aberrant weather conditions. PCs without some means of cooling themselves off suffer 1 point of ambient damage each minute in the “heat dome” covering the region.

63–64 (group): Eroded earth and dead vegetation in the region create perfect conditions for a sandstorm, which blows through the area for several hours, reducing visibility to an immediate distance.

65–66 (group): An electromagnetic storm rips through the area, knocking out any electronic devices the PCs might have, and potentially threatening PCs without shelter with a lightning strike (level 7).

67–68: An automatic defense system comes back online as PCs pass, deploying a metal‑clad pop‑up turret (level 5). Each minute, it targets the character with a mini‑missile attack that inflicts 10 points of damage (or 3 points even with a successful Speed defense roll).

69–70 (group): A group of three to six zombies (or cannibals, if your game has no zombies) stumbles out of the hospital, bunker, or old military facility.

71–72: The character’s trusty weapon finally rusts through or otherwise breaks.

73–74 (group): Seeping gas (level 4) in the area causes the PCs to begin hallucinating. Each is certain the other is some kind of threat—such as a raider, a zombie, or something else dangerous—until they succeed on a difficulty 3 Intellect defense roll on their turn to realize what’s going on.

75–76 (group): The characters are caught in a stampede of rewilded giraffes, elephants, buffalo, or other large animals. Each PC suffers 3 points of damage, descends one step on the damage track, and on a failed difficulty 3 Speed defense roll, is borne along for a while and separated from their allies.

77–78 (group): The heavy rain and lightning storm suddenly births a tornado. PCs must seek shelter or suffer 7 points of damage each round they are exposed. If a PC takes enough damage to descend three steps on the damage track, they are pulled up into the vortex and lost.

79–80: The character discovers they’ve started growing a sixth finger on their left hand. Why? Maybe due to their previous exposures to whatever mutagen exists in the world, or for a reason yet to be learned.

81–82 (group): A before‑times jet appears in the sky, engines spewing smoke, before it crashes close enough to deal 4 points of damage to PCs that fail a difficulty 4 Speed defense roll.

83–84 (group): It begins to hail ice chunks the size of golf balls, inflicting 3 points of damage each round on PCs without shelter. The event also knocks any exposed vehicles or shelter the PCs rely on one step down the object damage track.

85–86: The character steps on a plant that releases spores blinding them for about a minute.

87–88: The character walks through a hidden trip wire set by other survivors, causing an alarm to blare.

89–90 (group): A group of people (level 2) with glazed eyes appear with gifts of food. They want to introduce the PCs to their AI benefactor (or warlord, if your game has no AIs) via an old‑time communications device they have with them.

91–92: The character has been pushing too hard and they’re exhausted; they move down one step on the damage track until after their next ten‑hour recovery.

93–94: Through misadventure, the character falls from the vehicle or mount, and no one else immediately notices.

95–96: A mutant skunk with two heads (or regular skunk, if your game doesn’t feature mutations) sprays the character. The character’s pleasant social interaction tasks are hindered by two steps for two to five days.

97–98 (group): NPC survivors demand PCs pay a toll to pass, equal to enough food and water to sustain one person for five days.

99–00 (group): The PCs arrive, but apparently their directions were wrong, because they’re not where they wanted to go, but someplace completely different.

OPTIONAL RULES FOR SUPERHEROs

Power Shifts
Power shifts are an optional rule in the Cypher System Rulebook that represent many of the exceptional things that superheroes can do, like throwing cars, blasting through brick walls, leaping onto speeding trains, and cobbling together interdimensional gateway devices in a few hours.

A typical superhero PC gets five power shifts. Power shifts are like permanent free levels of Effort that are always active. They don’t count toward a character’s maximum Effort use (nor do they count as skills or assets). They simply ease tasks that fall into specific categories, which include (but are not necessarily limited to) the following.

Accuracy: All attack rolls.

Dexterity: Movement, acrobatics, initiative, and Speed defense.

Flight: The character can fly a short distance each round; each additional shift increases this speed (whether the flight comes from a power shift or a character ability) by one range category (long for two shifts, very long for three shifts).

Healing: One extra (one-action) recovery roll per day.

Increased Range: Increases the range of one ability or attack. A touch-range ability (such as Shock) increases to short range, a short-range ability increases to long range, and a long-range ability increases to very long range.

Intelligence: Intellect defense rolls and all knowledge, science, and crafting tasks.

Power: Effects of one specific character ability, including damage for that ability (+3 points) if appropriate, but not attack rolls with that ability.

Prodigy: Give up a lower-tier ability to get a higher-tier ability

Resilience: Might defense rolls and Armor (+1).

Savant: Two specific skills (other than attacks, defenses, or a special ability), such as history, perception, or persuasion.

Single Attack: Attack rolls and damage (+3 points) for one specific kind of attack, such as pistols, kicks, or Thrust.

Strength: All tasks involving strength, including jumping and dealing damage with melee or thrown attacks (+3 points), but not attack rolls.

For power shifts that affect tasks, each shift eases the task. Applying two shifts eases the task by two steps, and applying three shifts eases the task by three steps.

A character assigns their five power shifts as desired, but most characters should not be allowed to assign more than three to any one category. Once the shifts are assigned, they should not change (however, researching an experimental procedure to change a character’s power shifts could be the culmination of a character arc such as Uncover a Secret).

PRODIGY POWER SHIFTS #

Some superhero character concepts are about breaking the normal power level for a hero. In most cases, you can do this using power shifts. For example, if you want your strong hero to be really strong, put one or more power shifts into strength. If you want your archer character to be really good at shooting arrows, put a power shift into single attack (bows). If you want your speedster hero to be really fast, put a power shift into power (Fleet of Foot). And so on.

But what if you want your character to be a swashbuckling teleporter who blinks all over the battlefield? There’s no low-tier teleportation ability, so you can’t be a teleporter as a tier 1 character, and the character concept isn’t nearly as fun if you have to wait until tier 4 before you can learn a teleportation ability (like Short Teleportation).

This is where you can (with the GM’s approval) use a power shift for the prodigy option. Prodigy lets you give up one of your lower-tier abilities for a higher-tier ability

that matches your character concept. For example, if your swashbuckling teleporter is a Graceful Explorer who Fights With Panache, you could give up one of your tier 1 Explorer abilities (so you’d only have three instead of four) or give up your tier 1 focus ability, Fights With Panache, and instead select the tier 4 ability Short Teleportation.

Choosing prodigy as a power shift is an interesting trade-off for your character; you end up with a powerful ability that you couldn’t get otherwise, but at the cost of a power shift (which the other characters are probably using to add to their skills, damage, or defenses). Keep in mind that higher-tier abilities tend to cost more Pool points (especially because your Edge as a low-tier character is less than that of a higher-tier character), so you’ll weaken yourself if you use that ability often—which might be a good reason to allocate more points to that stat Pool, or assign a power shift to healing so you have more opportunities per day to recover Pool points.

Theoretically, you could put two power shifts in prodigy for the same ability, allowing you to select a high-tier ability. However, there are two reasons not to do this. First, those high-tier abilities usually have even higher costs, which limits how often you can use them. Second, if you start out with the best version of that ability, there’s no room to grow. It’s fun when your character impresses other superheroes by improving an ability, and it’s really handy when your nemesis supervillain underestimates you based on your old limitations. So unless the GM wants every superhero PC to start with one top-tier ability, give yourself room to grow and use prodigy only to get a mid-tier ability.

GAINING MORE POWER SHIFTS #

Some GMs will want to allow PCs to increase their power shifts. Having a character spend 10 XP to do so would probably be appropriate. Other GMs will want to run superhero games with PCs of greater or lesser power (cosmic-level heroes or street-level heroes, perhaps). In such cases, the GM should grant the PCs more or fewer power shifts at the game’s start.

POWER STUNTS #

A power stunt is pushing a superpower beyond its normal limits or using it to do something it normally can’t do. Examples:

• A lightning-blaster hero shooting their electricity farther than normal

• A fire-creating hero absorbing fire from a burning building

• A telepathic hero communicating with or understanding a machine

• A teleporter hero traveling to another dimension

• An illusionist hero negating an opponent’s invisibility

The Cypher System Rulebook explains modifying abilities on the fly, describing

a method of altering the range, area, or other aspects of an Intellect-based ability by spending more Intellect points. In a superhero game, these modifications aren’t limited to Intellect-based abilities—it’s reasonable that a strong hero could affect a larger area with Golem Stomp or an agile hero could disarm more than one opponent using Advantage to Disadvantage. The cost for making these changes works just like modifying an Intellect-based ability. The additional cost uses the same Pool as the ability’s normal cost; if an ability doesn’t have a cost, the GM should choose an appropriate ability for the points to come from.

• Increasing range costs 1 Pool point per range step increased (immediate to short, short to long, long to very long).

• Increasing duration costs 1 Pool point for one step (one minute to ten minutes, ten minutes to an hour). Durations cannot be increased more than one step in this way. Abilities that last for only an action or a round (such as an Onslaught attack) cannot have their duration increased.

Abilities that don’t have a Pool cost, like Eyes Adjusted, can be modified as well. If modifying the range or duration, the GM decides what Pool the point cost is paid from. However, most abilities like this don’t have ranges or durations, so modifying them requires a difficult, formidable, or impossible task roll.

Modifying the area or other aspects of an ability is more difficult. Instead

of increasing the Pool point cost, the character decides how they want to modify their ability, and the GM sets a difficulty of the task to successfully modify it, according to the following guidelines:

Difficult (4): Something within the spirit and general idea of the ability, using a self- only ability on another character, or using a single-target ability in a weakened form on two targets. Examples: Using a self-only ability like Hover to give another creature the power to fly. Using Teleportation to go to another dimension instead of somewhere in the same dimension. Splitting Frost Touch or Onslaught into hindered attacks against two opponents.

Formidable (7): Something similar to the description or intent of the ability, but changing its nature, or having a single-target ability affect an area. Examples: Using Hover to make an opponent crash into the ceiling. Using Shroud of Flame to absorb fire. Using Telepathic to talk to a machine or Machine Telepathy to talk to a living person.

Impossible (10): An effect that has nothing to do with the ability’s description or intent. Examples: Using Hover to blast an opponent with fire. Using Foil Danger to copy an opponent’s attack. Using an attack like Thunder Beam to heal someone.

Of course, if the altered ability is an attack, the hero still needs to make a successful attack roll against their target— just because the character found a way to use Hover as an attack doesn’t mean the attack automatically hits. The attack task for the altered ability uses the normal difficulty for attacking that target. For example, if Hammermind wants to split her Onslaught so she can attack two level 2 robots, first she has to succeed at the difficulty 4 task to split the attack, then she can make the two (hindered) level 2 attack rolls against the robots.

Just like in any aspect of the game, other factors might ease or hinder the hero’s attempt to perform the stunt. For example, if the hero Firelash is trying a stunt to use his Shroud of Flame to absorb a fire attack from his evil sister Swordblaze, the GM might decide that the similarities in their flame powers mean that Firelash’s attempt is eased. But if the illusionist hero Hologrim is trying a power stunt to reveal where his invisible archenemy Death Ghost is hiding, the GM might feel that the villain’s magical invisibility is especially difficult for Hologrim’s technology-based illusions to counter, so the hero’s task is hindered. The GM can also introduce power boost cyphers that ease the power stunt task, or present the heroes with temporary effects that ease or hinder power stunt tasks, like a virus that erratically amplifies mutant genes, or a burst of energy from an alien artifact that reacts with a robot hero’s power core.

If a hero tries a particular stunt in more than one session, the GM doesn’t need to give the task the same difficulty every time; the circumstances of each attempt are never quite the same. Perhaps this supervillain’s fire is a little hotter or cooler than the one the hero tried to absorb last time. Or the spaces between the dimensions are thinner or thicker right now, making it harder to teleport between them. The position of two opponents or the shape of a room might be different than the last time the hero tried splitting an attack power across multiple targets. In other words, the GM doesn’t have to remember that the last time the hero tried this stunt it was difficulty 7, so it has to be difficulty 7 this time; just look at the current circumstances and make a decision based on that. In fact, this is part of the reason why the difficulties are three levels apart; the GM is more likely to be consistent at rating something as difficult, formidable, or impossible than deciding whether it’s a level 6 or level 7 task.

PERMANENT POWER STUNTS #

Once a character has successfully performed the same difficult, formidable, or impossible power stunt a few times, they might want to make it a permanent part of their repertoire of abilities. By spending 2 XP, the character gains the ability to perform that power stunt whenever they want, with no need for a power stunt task. The GM decides how many times the character has to get the stunt right before they can spend XP to learn it. Three successful attempts over at least three separate sessions is a reasonable guideline, plus some downtime between game sessions to represent mastering this variant.

Learning a power stunt does not count as a step in character advancement.

Learning how to do a formidable or impossible power stunt might be the reason to take a character arc like New Discovery, Transformation, or Uncover a Secret.

REALLY IMPOSSIBLE TASKS #

The Cypher System Rulebook gives a few examples of how, in the superhero genre, having power shifts means that a difficulty 10 task is not impossible. Superheroes deal with planetary threats like giant robots, multidimensional sorcerers, and world-sized monsters, and for this sort of campaign, difficulties up to 15 are possible. This section presents more details and examples of tasks, threats, and creatures of difficulty 11 to 15.

FEATS OF STRENGTH #

Use the following table to estimate the difficulty of various incredible feats of physical strength.

*Each additional doubling of the character’s size eases the task by another step.

Some character abilities are able to move heavy things, often more easily than brute physical strength can. If a superhero wants to push the limits of what those abilities can do, the GM can compare the baseline effects of those abilities to the Feats of Strength table to determine the comparable difficulty of the task, and modify the character’s roll to succeed.

FEATS OF SPEED #

A character can move a short distance (50 feet [15 m]) as their entire action as a routine task (difficulty 0, no roll needed). This is basically a jog or a hustle, faster than a walk

but not an all-out run. A character can try to run a long distance (100 feet [30 m]) as their entire action, but they must succeed at a difficulty 4 Speed task to complete the movement; failure means they trip, stumble, slip, or fall down at some point during the move and stop.

Of course, superheroes aren’t normal people—they’re exceptional, and some can run as fast as Olympic athletes, or much faster. For a character trying to run more than a long distance as their entire action, use the following table to determine the difficulty for the task. Failing this roll is just like failing the basic running roll described above.

TREMENDOUS LEAPS #

Some—but not all—strong superheroes can easily leap dozens or hundreds of feet, well beyond what’s possible with the jumping rules (running a short distance and jumping 30 feet [9 m] is a difficulty 10 task). Characters who want to jump huge distances like that should take the Amazing Leap ability, allowing them to jump a long distance or more.

All characters with at least one power shift in strength get the benefit of a free level of Effort for each strength shift. This effectively increases their standing jump distance by 1 foot (30 cm) per shift and their running jump distance by 2 feet (60 cm) per shift, which is impressive compared to a normal person, but not phenomenal.

To make superhero character jumps a bit more exciting, the GM can implement an optional rule in which strength shifts count double for free levels of Effort when jumping. For example, a character with five strength shifts would get ten free levels of Effort on jump tasks instead of five. This allows them to do a 15-foot (4.5 m) standing jump as a difficulty 1 task (base difficulty 11, eased by 5 × 2 steps) and a 40-foot (12 m) running jump as a difficulty 5 task (base difficulty 15, eased by 5 × 2 steps), which seems more appropriate for a character strong enough to lift a car over their head.

MODIFYING HIGH-TECH DEVICES #

It’s common for technically savvy superheroes to fiddle with machines to make them work better or do something different. Sometimes the object in question is their own gear, but it’s just as likely to be something they took from a defeated supervillain or found on an alien spaceship.

A character who expects to modify many devices should consider learning abilities such as Innovator, Jury-Rig, Modify Artifact Power, Modify Device, and Quick Work. A character who only wants to dabble in this sort of activity can do so, but it takes longer and is less efficient.

Small modifications are things like changing a device’s target, range, or duration. “Small” is subjective and up to the GM, but generally, it means adding another target (although for some high-level devices, adding a target isn’t a small change), increasing the range by one step (immediate to short, short to long, long to very long), or increasing the duration by one step (one minute to one hour, one hour to ten hours). The task difficulty for making a small modification is generally equal to the device’s level minus 1, which also determines how much time it takes to complete the modifications. 

Big changes are modifying a laser rifle to shoot cold or electricity, turning a communication device into a telepathic shield, or turning a jetpack into a force field device. These modifications are like repairs; they use the device’s level for the difficulty and creation time, but take half as long as the time listed. 

A character modifying their own device eases the task. This applies whether the character built the device themselves or they’ve been repairing and tinkering with it long enough that they fully understand its workings.

Regardless of whether the change is big or small, failing the modification task means the character wastes the full amount of time spent attempting the modification, and uses up materials equal to the device’s level minus 2, but they can try again. If they fail with a roll of a natural 1, it’s likely that the free GM intrusion means the device is ruined (but perhaps could be salvaged for materials).

Modification GM intrusions: The device gains a high depletion rate, needs to be recharged after each use, or develops a side effect such as overheating (inflicting damage to the user) or creating a thunderous noise.

Modifying a device is similar to using a power stunt to alter a character ability. If a character wants to make a permanent change to one of their technology-based abilities, the GM should treat that more like a permanent power stunt—costing XP—than a modification.

Modifying the appearance of an item is just a cosmetic change and should take only a few hours at most for a typical handheld or worn item like a weapon, helmet, or boots. Changing

the appearance of a spacesuit or full-body mechanized armor might take eight to twenty hours of work, depending on the extent of the changes.

FASTER CRAFTING IN A HIGH-TECH SETTING #

In some superhero campaigns, crafting technology is so advanced that objects are designed virtually, with holograms, or with a mind-machine interface, and they are constructed by advanced 3D printers or clouds of nanobots. Under these conditions, the GM should ease

the assessed difficulty to determine the crafting time by three or four steps, with the crafter needing to be present for only about the first quarter of that time and the “helpers” taking care of the rest.

OPTIONAL RULES FOR HORROR #

This chapter describes many different optional rules (called “horror modules”) for making horror games more exciting or suspenseful. Horror modules are tweaks the GM applies

to the rules to make a horror scenario even more scary or to represent how

an event usually happens in a horror genre

If a module changes the options that players or PCs have, the GM should tell the players about it when the game begins. For example, if the GM is using the Character Posse module, the players should know about it at the start of the game so they can become familiar with all their characters instead of having to pause when they switch scenes and spend several minutes reviewing a second set of characters. Likewise, players should know if their healing options are affected by the Ironman module, or if they have additional recovery roll options from the Hysteria module.

This chapter also suggests various modules that are appropriate for different horror genres. The GM should feel free to use some, all, or none of those modules when running a game of that type, or introduce other modules to provide a unique twist to the game.

 GENERAL HORROR GM INTRUSIONS

The following GM intrusions work for most horror genres.

• Something foils a character’s attempt to escape: a getaway car won’t start, they drop the keys that unlock the exit door or lock up the villain, or the shotgun they’re using to clear a path jams or runs out of shells.

• The antagonist enters a secure or sealed room by an unexpected method: crashing through a door or wall, crawling out of a ventilation shaft, jumping out of a trap door, manifesting electronically through a Wi-Fi signal, or teleporting.

• A mysterious noise nearby amplifies the tension, and when investigated reveals itself to

be . . . a cat, either perfectly calm or hissing and leaping. This often allows for a momentary de-escalation followed by a real scare, such as the antagonist reaching out of the darkness to grab a character.

• A dramatic and/or ridiculous amount of blood and gore from something that just got killed splashes on a character, blinding them until they take an action to wipe their eyes clean.

BAD PENNY #

An unwanted or dangerous object (such as a cursed artifact) keeps turning up, no matter how many times the PCs try to discard or destroy it. In many cases, there might be only one way to rid themselves of the item (such as dousing it with holy water or burying it in a graveyard) or only one way to destroy it (such as burning it in a church or stabbing it with a magical dagger). The item might slowly repair itself—and depending on the item, it might be more frightening if it shows up fully intact or still bearing damage from how the PCs tried to destroy it.

This reappearance usually isn’t because the item is literally walking to wherever the PCs are (although if the item is something like a cursed doll, that might make it more frightening). In most cases, it just happens to be where the PCs went, found in an unobtrusive place like the back of a closet, under a car seat, or in the bottom of someone’s luggage. If the item is intelligent (or controlled by a hostile intelligence), it might use NPCs to bring it back to the PCs, and might sacrifice those NPCs in dramatic and gory ways to make sure it ends up back in the hands of the PCs. For example, if the PCs abandon a haunted ring, on the next day when they’re waiting for a train they recognize a man they saw earlier just as he gets hit by an oncoming train, and his severed hand—wearing the ring—lands at their feet. Even if the PCs go to a remote area with no people, one of them might suddenly vomit up their lunch—and the haunted ring.

CHARACTER POSSE #

Every player is given at least two characters to run, each with about the same amount of background and abilities so they’re all suitable as main characters. A player usually runs only one of these PCs at a time. As the action in the story changes locations, the GM can have one or more players switch their active PC and interact with the other active PCs and the story in

a different way. This keeps the players from knowing which characters are supposed to have the important roles in the story, allows for some of the PCs to split off for a while without the rest

of the group having to wait, and gives every player a backup character to play if their active PC dies.

Character Posse works best when the characters are very simple and don’t have many abilities that require a lot of knowledge and description. That way the player can focus on the personality of the PC and not have to keep remembering a stack of complicated abilities. In a non-fantastic modern setting, that often means characters who have a lot of skills and automatic or simple bonuses (like Combat Prowess and Fleet of Foot) but one or zero abilities that have durations or require special actions (like Anecdote and Muscles of Iron).

DEAD ALL ALONG #

A handful of people are forced to stick together under unusual circumstances—they’re survivors of a shipwreck, quarantined to avoid an outbreak of a deadly disease, waiting for a riot to leave their neighborhood, or locked away from an approaching zombie horde. They hear strange noises, glimpse shadowy figures, and find that things move about or disappear when nobody is looking. The PCs begin to suspect they’re being haunted by ghosts or observed by mysterious aliens; one or more of them disappear or are found dead. Eventually the PCs realize that they are ghosts of people who haven’t come to terms with their own deaths, and the weird experiences are their limited interactions with the real world and the living people trying to bury their bodies or put their souls at peace.

In these stories, the emotional journey of the ghosts is about understanding their situation and coming to terms with their deaths. In normal play, GM intrusions are complications that the characters have to deal with, but to represent the secret and inverted expectation of this module, GM intrusions are used to simplify what the characters experience, but with a spooky twist.

When a PC crosses over and disappears, that player can still participate in the game by using the Ghostly Helpers module.

FRAGILITY 

Whenever a character selects the Increasing Capabilities option for advancement or gains an ability that permanently increases their Pools, they can add a maximum of 1 point to their Might Pool and 1 point to their Speed Pool; other points left over (if any)

must go to their Intellect Pool, even if that’s not normally an option for the ability. This does not apply to the extra points the player can divide among their Pools at character creation. This creates a more “realistic” game scenario where the PCs are more like normal people who don’t get much more powerful physically over the course of a campaign, but still can learn new skills, advance their minds, and so on.

This module does not affect abilities like Enlarge (which temporarily adds 4 points to your Might Pool), but it does affect abilities like Enhanced Might, Enhanced Speed, and Lead From the Front (which permanently increase one or more Pools).

GHOSTLY HELPERS 

In a horror story, it’s common for major characters to be killed or incapacitated, but in a horror RPG, that means the player of a dead character doesn’t have much to do. The Ghostly Helpers module gives players whose characters are out of the game two ways to have an active role in the scenario.

First, the dead character is still able to spend their XP to give a living character a reroll. To facilitate this, the GM should allow players to award the second 1

XP from a GM intrusion to a dead character (although this would come up only if there is one character left alive and the second XP would be wasted) and give dead characters 1 XP whenever there is a group intrusion.

Second, the dead character is able to use their subtle cyphers to help a living character. Depending on the cypher, this might be a direct benefit to the PC (like easing a roll) or interfering with an NPC (like making an opponent drop their weapon). When the GM gives out more subtle cyphers, any excess ones (beyond the cypher limit of living PCs) should go to the dead characters, up to the cypher limits of the dead characters (any extra cyphers beyond that are lost).

The player of a dead character always gets to decide when to help and which PC to affect with their help—they’re not merely extensions of the living PCs. Whether this help is just fate or coincidence working on behalf of the PC, or if it literally is the lingering ghost of a dead character trying to save a living person, depends on the scenario and the GM.

Help from a dead character doesn’t have to be from a ghost. Depending on the genre, it might be the influence of a guilty artificial intelligence, a sentient weapon with a grudge, a cultist with conflicting loyalties, and so on

HALLUCINATION RESET #

In some horror genres, it’s unclear if the character is truly experiencing what’s happening in the story, or if they’re hallucinating or dreaming it. In some cases, their fear response

to the real events happening around them prompts their conscious or subconscious imagination to create an unreal scenario that’s even more terrifying, only to have them snap out of it and find themselves in a prior (but perhaps still very dangerous) situation. This sort of hallucination allows the story to go completely off the rails and then suddenly return to normal.

If the GM plans to have a hallucination reset, they should keep track of damage taken, equipment used, and XP spent for each character (if using cypher and XP cards, there should be a separate space for each character’s used cards). When the hallucination ends, stop the action, explain that the PCs find themselves at an earlier point in the story (or wake up after some time has passed if it’s a dream), and restore their Pools, equipment, and XP to their previous state. If the GM doesn’t know exactly how much each character’s Pool changed, allow each PC to make a free recovery roll to compensate for it.

If the GM needs to use a hallucination reset to recover from a disastrous outcome, they should   try to reset the PCs as close as possible to their previous state, relying on the players’ recollection of which cyphers and XP belonged to each character. As it’s unlikely that they kept track of how many Pool points they spent in the now-false encounters, the GM can allow each of them a free recovery roll to make up for it.

Used carefully, a hallucination reset leaves the characters wondering what is real, and it can be a tool for the GM to rewind an encounter that goes out of control or accidentally kills a character because of poor rolls. Used too much, it risks causing the players to lose interest in the game because the frequent resets undermine their emotional connections to their characters and negate any progress in the story.

Note that a deliberate and planned reset can deliberately do strange things with the story because it’s completely in the characters’ heads. A horror game about werewolves might have a dream or hallucination about fascist soldiers attacking the PCs with flamethrowers. One about aliens might show the antagonists turning into sexy vampires. A haunted house might convince the PCs that they’re tearing off their own faces. A hallucination might even include elements of something that will happen in the future, so when the actual event occurs (perhaps in a later session) the players won’t know if they should act on their “future memories” of these events or ignore them as falsehoods.

HORROR MODE #

Horror Mode is an optional rule discussed in the Cypher System Rulebook. When using this rule, the GM can escalate the tension by increasing the range of numbers that trigger a GM intrusion: first on a roll of 1 or 2 instead of 1, then a roll of 1 to 3, then a roll of

1 to 4, and so on. The Escalation Rate table below shows what causes the intrusion range to increase.

Horror Mode is unique among the horror modules in that the default assumption is that the GM is using it for every horror game, at least some of the time. Using Horror Mode makes the players aware of the risks they take every time they make a roll. They won’t take easy tasks for granted, and they might apply Effort to turn an easy task into a routine task so they don’t have to roll at all and risk an intrusion. This ends up depleting their Pools faster, which makes them feel more vulnerable.

ESCALATION RATE #

HYSTERIA #

Screaming is a natural reaction when you’re frightened, but it’s also likely

to draw the attention of whatever is frightening you. The Hysteria horror module encourages characters to give in to the natural instinct to scream, but introduces dangerous consequences for doing so.

At any time, as an action, a PC can use a free one-action recovery roll (which doesn’t use up the one-action recovery roll that all characters get), but doing so means they also spend that action loudly screaming. Because of this noise, the GM can make a free intrusion and doesn’t have to award XP for it.

A PC’s ten-minute recovery roll takes only one minute, but the PC

has to scream and have an emotional meltdown for the entire time. As with the previous option, this allows the GM to make a free intrusion (after the recovery period) and they don’t have

to award XP for it. The PC still has the option of resting normally for ten minutes to use the ten-minute recovery roll (without screaming, and without the free intrusion).

In most situations that use Hysteria, the free intrusions involve drawing the

attention of something that wants to harm the PCs or the sudden appearance of something dangerous.

INSTANT PANIC #

Most people in real life aren’t prepared for the existence of aliens, monsters, or killer robots, and seeing something that shatters their worldview is frightening and traumatic. The first time a character sees a creature (or anything else suitably horrifying) they thought wasn’t possible or only existed in books and movies, they must make an Intellect defense roll against the creature’s level. If they fail, for one round either they’re paralyzed with fear or they run in the opposite direction.

Repeat appearances by the creature (or other creatures like it) that they’ve seen before usually don’t trigger this reaction a second time, but encountering a large number of those creatures or seeing them do something unusual might trigger it. For example, seeing a ghoul crawl out of a storm drain might trigger panic; seeing another ghoul (or the same one again) won’t trigger it again, but seeing a large pack of ghouls approaching, or seeing one ghoul eating a dead person could trigger another panic reaction. Even if a character has gotten over their initial panic, the GM can prompt it again as an intrusion if the circumstances warrant it.

IRONMAN #

There are no cyphers (subtle or manifest) or artifacts that heal, and all other healing effects (such as recovery rolls and Healing Touch) restore only the minimum amount possible. For example, a tier 2 character using a recovery roll would get only 3 points (as if they rolled a 1 on a d6, plus 2 for their tier) to add to their Pools. This results in a gritty, dire scenario where the only way PCs can restore their Pools is with recovery rolls and character abilities that heal.

Cypher System characters are tough and resilient, even at tier 1, but Ironman brings them down to a more realistic power level. Ironman is more punitive for characters whose abilities cost Pool points and less of a challenge for characters whose abilities don’t cost anything (such as Physical Skills). For a slightly less challenging option, allow the use of healing cyphers and artifacts, but limit them to the minimum amount.

LAST SURVIVOR #

Sometimes the antagonist kills off all the protagonists one by one, leaving only one survivor to challenge them. In the journey toward that point, it’s not clear who the last survivor will be, and sometimes a potential last survivor is eliminated unexpectedly or sacrifices themselves so that another person may live. The Last Survivor horror module

is a way for PCs to temporarily thwart fate, but it inevitably feeds toward the last surviving character having extra advantages when dealing with the murderous antagonist.

When using this module, the GM places a token on the game table that represents the last survivor, and puts a piece of paper (or an XP card) underneath the token that represents 1 XP. Whenever there is a GM intrusion, instead of giving 2 XP to a player and letting that player award 1 XP to another player, the GM gives 1 XP to the chosen player, and the other 1 XP is added to the last survivor token. Whenever there is a group intrusion, 1 XP is added to the last survivor token (as if the last survivor were a separate PC).

At any time, a player can decide that their PC becomes the last survivor by picking up the token and its XP.

However, those XP belong to the role of the last survivor and always remain separate from individual character XP. While a PC is the last survivor, they gain the following benefits and restrictions:

• All rolls to save them from being killed are eased by two steps.

• The last survivor XP can be spent only by the last survivor, and only on the last survivor’s rolls, never on any other players’ rolls. (The PC can still spend their personal XP normally, including on other players’ rolls.)

• At any time, whoever has the token can pass the role of last survivor to another player. The receiving player gets all the XP associated with the last survivor (if there are none, the GM immediately gives 1 XP to the token).

• Once a player has given up the role of last survivor, they can never again be the last survivor.

• If the last survivor role has no XP left to spend, and there are no other players to pass the token to (because everyone else has already been the last survivor), the last survivor can pass the token to the GM in exchange for their character getting 1 XP. Once this happens, the last survivor token is removed from the game.

MADNESS #

Madness is an optional rule discussed in the Cypher System Rulebook. When using this rule, if Intellect damage from fear or shock reduces a PC’s Intellect Pool to 0, they regain points in the Pool, but their maximum Intellect Pool is reduced by 1. If their Intellect Pool is ever reduced to 0 again, they go insane and replace their current descriptor with the Mad descriptor.

PERILOUS VENTURE #

Sometimes the PCs need to perform a ritual or other complex action that takes several rounds or minutes, and if they make mistakes along the way it’s a setback instead of an outright failure. For example, they might need to read a banishing spell out of an old book, mix and heat the chemicals for a zombie cure, or draw a magic circle around a building to contain hostile ghosts. Rather than having their success or failure come down to one roll, the GM can build tension by requiring the players to make multiple rolls called subtasks. The subtasks start at difficulty 1, and the difficulty increases each time until the players make a final roll at the highest difficulty (equal to the overall level of the challenge, such as the demon they want to banish, the original zombie virus, or the most powerful ghost attempting to leave the house).

Generally, these subtasks occur at equally divided intervals over the course of the full time required to complete the ritual. If at any point the PC fails a subtask, the ritual isn’t ruined, but it costs time—a failure means the time spent on that subtask was wasted, but the character can spend that much time again and try to succeed at that same subtask.

Skills, assets, and other special abilities can ease subtasks just like they do with any other task (which might make some of the subtasks routine and not require a roll at all). Characters may apply Effort to each subtask. Of course, applying Effort is something characters do in the moment, not over long periods of time, so it’s generally impossible to apply sustained Effort on a task or subtask that takes longer than a day.

The GM should decide if a given ritual is something that other PCs can help with. Even if it initially seems like a solo venture (like reading a spell from a book), it might benefit from assistants who repeat a chant, burn candles, perform arcane gestures, or just hold the acting character upright as the ritual drains their strength. In general, giving multiple PCs something to do is better than having everyone wait on the sidelines while one character holds the spotlight.

To make the situation more interesting, the GM can introduce a time challenge, like requiring the PCs to finish by a specific time (perhaps a midnight deadline for containing the ghosts in the house, or banishing a demon that’s inflicting damage to an NPC every round it possesses them). This puts pressure on the PCs to complete the process as soon as possible.

The GM can also add side effects for failed rolls or as intrusions. For example, a weak spot in the salt line might allow one powerful ghost to break free, an error in the banishing spell might painfully enrage the demon and hinder the next subtask, electrical or magical energy might lash out and harm a nearby character, and so on. The ritual might use up quantities of

a limited resource, such as holy water, silver powder, or rare herbs; if the PCs have only enough materials to complete the ritual (perhaps with a little extra in case they make one mistake), that forces them to use Effort, XP, and other tricks to make sure they don’t fail too often and run out.

Finally, some rituals might require the PCs to spend points from their Pools on each subtask, with Might representing blood or vitality, Speed representing energy, and Intellect representing will or sanity. Other physical or mental tolls could also require points from Pools. Multiple PCs involved in the ritual could collectively contribute to this cost.

POOR CHOICES #

Sometimes people in horror do dumb things. They wander off alone to investigate a weird noise. They abandon their friends and try to escape in a rusty old car. They have sex in a spooky barn. These things usually put them in danger and sometimes get them gruesomely killed. Using the Poor Choices module means the GM can use intrusions to make the characters do things that the audience of a horror movie would think are stupid.

These intrusions work like the normal kind (the GM awards 2 XP, and the player gives one of them to another player). However, while normal intrusions are subtle changes that influence the situation, using Poor Choices lets the GM abandon that restraint and dictate a specific overt character action, even if it’s something that the player wouldn’t normally choose.

These intrusions can be risky, but they shouldn’t be obviously self-destructive or harmful. For example, the GM shouldn’t use an intrusion to make a PC drink something that they know is poisonous, jump out of an airplane without a parachute, punch a police officer, or stare directly at an eclipse. The idea is to put the character in a complicated situation more forcefully than the player might choose, but not set up the character for failure. The players know they’re in a horror scenario, but their characters don’t, and this helps prevent the players from using metagame knowledge to keep the PCs out of trouble. Another way to look at it is the characters should act as if they live in a world where horror movies don’t exist, so they don’t know not to do these things.

As with any GM intrusion, the player can choose to spend 1 XP to refuse a Poor Choices intrusion, but they should consider accepting the intrusion for the sake of the story, and because they’ll need the XP later.

POOR CHOICES INTRUSIONS #

The following are examples of GM intrusions to use with the Poor Choices module.

A character investigates a strange noise on their own. (“It’ll be fine!”)

• Two or more characters sneak off to have sex.

• A character leaves behind an important piece of equipment, such as a weapon, phone, car keys, or their outer layer of clothes. (The GM can use this intrusion after the fact when a player tries to use a specific item.)

• A character gets drunk or high.

• A character falls asleep.

• A character slips away to urinate out in the woods or a nearby scary building.

• A character doesn’t care that nearby animals are acting strange (especially if they’re guard dogs).

• A character doesn’t shoot a dead monster in the head. (“We need to save ammo.”)

• A character runs away into the dark or away from a place that would be a better, safer direction to run.

• A character reads aloud words from the weird old book they found, or they play an old recording of someone else reading the book aloud.

• In a multistory building, a character runs upstairs or down into a basement (where they could get cornered) instead of outside where they could escape in any direction.

• A character chooses a dumb or obvious hiding place, such as a closet or under a bed.

• A character tries to escape by squeezing through a space that no human could reasonably get through quickly, such as a doggie door or a tiny window in a garage door.

• A character hides the fact that they’ve been bitten by a zombie, have a weird rash like the one they saw on the walls of the alien spaceship, or have been hearing a spooky voice telling them to kill their friends. (“I’ll be okay.”)

• A character runs straight down the road to get away from a pursuing vehicle (instead of onto the sidewalk, behind a big tree, or around a tight corner).

• A prone or supine character crawls away from approaching danger instead of getting up and running.

• A character doesn’t call the local authorities for help when they hear something dangerous.

• A character ignores or rationalizes a weird noise. 

• A character jumps into the water—a lake, swimming pool, sacred fountain, and so on.

• A character goes into the cave, mine shaft, or creepy house. (“I’m just going to look around for a second.”)

• A character insists on staying behind while everyone else goes on ahead. (“Someone should be here when the sheriff shows up!”)

• A character doesn’t check the back seat of a car before getting in and starting it.

• A character ignores an obvious creepy clue that there’s something wrong in the house, like a bloody axe, a room full of taxidermy animal heads, or newspaper clippings about recent murders.

• While being pursued, a character calls for help or otherwise attracts attention (like banging on store windows at midnight).

• A character tries to pet an unknown lifeform.

• A character tries to make peaceful contact with an obviously hostile entity. (“It’s as frightened of us as we are of it!”)

• A character unlocks a door or disables a security system to let a scared stranger into a safe area. 

• A character doesn’t bother to turn on the lights. 

• A character uses an action taunting their foe.

• A character follows a trail of blood.

• A character ignores good advice from a helpful and knowledgeable NPC. (“That old lady was a superstitious kook.”)

• A character uses a firearm as a loud, ineffective solution for a simple problem (like shooting a padlock).

• A character picks up a shady or outright scary-looking hitchhiker.

• A character scares another character (perhaps by grabbing their shoulder unexpectedly and shouting) as a joke.

• A character momentarily forgets how to do a simple action, like open or close a door.

• A character forgets to put their phone on silent mode. 

• A character imitates or makes fun of a creepy doll or statue.

• A character tries to help a child who has no reason for being there.

POSSESSION 

Some demons have the ability to possess a living creature, taking over a character’s body as if it were the demon’s own. The demon must touch the character to attempt possession (even if the demon’s touch normally inflicts damage, the possession attempt doesn’t inflict damage). The character must make an Intellect defense roll or become possessed, whereupon the demon’s immaterial form disappears into the character.

The first round in which a character is possessed, they can act normally. In the second and all subsequent rounds, the possessing demon can try to control the actions of the host, but the character can attempt an Intellect defense roll to resist each suggested action. Successful resistance means that the character does nothing for one round. When the demon isn’t trying to control its host, the character can act as they choose. A possessing demon’s actions are limited to controlling its host and leaving the host (the demon can’t use its own abilities while in someone else’s body).

While it possesses another creature, the demon is immune to most attacks (though not so the host; killing the host will eject the demon).

A possessed character is allowed an Intellect defense roll once per day to try to eject the demon. The roll is hindered by one additional step each day of possession after the first seven days. An ejected, cast-out, or exorcised demon is powerless for one or more days. One way to exorcise a demon is to command it out in the name of an entity that has power over the demon. This can be attempted once per day and grants the possessed character an additional Intellect defense roll to eject the demon.

Other kinds of creatures (ghosts, beings of pure mental energy, and so on) may have the ability to possess characters in the same way that demons do.

SECRET TWIST #

It’s common when tensions are high and lives are on the line that humans get paranoid and start to turn on each other, interpreting stressed behavior as suspicious and seeing enemies in the eyes of strangers. This is compounded when there is an active threat that can disguise itself as human (like an alien or demon) or take off a mask and pretend to be a fellow prisoner or victim (like a chainsaw killer), only to reveal themselves when the perfect opportunity comes along. These secret twists are the source of many jump scares and unexpected betrayals that create chaos and paranoia.

To use a secret twist, the GM first needs to decide three things:

• The secrets they want the PCs to keep from each other. Examples might be “Your character is actually the shapechanging alien that is hunting everyone on the spaceship,” “The chainsaw killer is the identical twin of your character,” or “Another PC ruined your life but they don’t realize who you are.”

• The best time to reveal the secret to the player involved. This might be something the player learns before the game starts or a revelation during the game. If there are multiple secrets, the players might learn them at different times. For example, the PC whose life was ruined by another character might know this at the start of the game, but another PC might not know they had an identical twin (perhaps they were separated at birth).

• The best time to reveal the secret to the other characters. The GM might choose to push it out into the open (perhaps with a GM intrusion) or let the player decide when to reveal it. For example, the GM decides that walking into a dark room with a black light is how all the human PCs realize that one character is really a shapeshifting alien with UV-fluorescing skin, but the GM allows the PC whose family fortune was stolen by another character to bring that up on their own (perhaps when they’re alone with the thief).

If revealing the secret to the players is supposed to happen during the game, it would be suspicious if only one player was pulled aside for a conversation about it—the other players would know something unusual was going on. Instead, the GM can call a quick break in the game and send that player a text. Even better, the GM could send every player a secret text so that nobody is singled out by having to read a text. Alternatively, the GM can give a physical note to every player (perhaps using the secret twist Special Cards); some of these notes might be secrets and some innocuous, but the fact that everyone gets a note disguises who might be getting a secret twist. By making sure that each note has some kind of value (such as by letting a player trade it in later for an asset or a subtle cypher), players who don’t receive a special secret still spend a reasonable amount of time reading the note and keeping it safe.

If the players are especially skilled at roleplaying, there may be opportunities for multiple secret twists, especially those that change a character’s identity. For example, in a scenario where there are duplicates of the PCs walking around in their city (evil twins, clones, aliens, or the like), the identity of individual characters might switch from the originals to duplicates and back again several times during the game.

Multiple shifts of identity are probably easier for the GM and players to handle if they take place over several game sessions and each session starts with players knowing exactly who they’re playing. It also helps if the players take separate notes about what the original and the duplicate know.

SHOCK #

Shock is an optional rule discussed in the Cypher System Rulebook. When using this rule, seeing something terrifying means a PC must make an Intellect defense roll. The difficulty is based on the level of the scary thing, or the GM can simply choose the level (see the Shock Levels table). Failure on the defense roll means either the character takes Intellect damage or

the player temporarily loses control of the character (the GM decides if they scream, freeze, run, or take some other appropriate action, perhaps with input from the player).

SHOCK LEVELS 

UNEASE #

Horror isn’t always overt monstrosities trying to tear your limbs off or drag your soul into Hell. Sometimes it’s something slightly off-putting, a stretching of the norm, an itching behind your eyes, or a sinking feeling in your stomach. You can feel that something is wrong, but you don’t know exactly what, and you’re not sure what to do about it. Your body isn’t sure if it should jump into fight or flight, so you’re anticipating a spike of adrenaline and it’s very distracting.

With the Unease horror module, whenever a character is in the presence of something disturbing that risks breaking their worldview, all their actions are hindered. Normally this happens whenever the triggering situation is within a short distance of the character, but the range might vary depending on what the PC sees and the nature of the disturbance. For example, a demon the size of a house might cause unease whenever it’s within very long range, but a city-sized alien starship hovering in the sky might affect people whenever they can see it even though it’s a thousand miles away.

If the GM plans to have an ongoing Unease effect throughout an entire game session (like an alien death fleet), they should consider using physical reminders in the game area so players don’t forget its effects. Over time, the GM might allow characters to become used to these worrying sights, perhaps due to exposure or maybe by purchasing the familiarity as a medium-term benefit.

Some creatures in the Cypher System already have the ability to make others uncomfortable just by being in the same area, so if they are the only weird creatures the GM plans to use in a horror game, there’s no need for the Unease module.

In some ways, Unease is a more limited form of Instant Panic but can also be used in tandem with it.

OPTIONAL RULES FOR FAIRYTALE #

Fairy tale games have unique opportunities for magic that aren’t found elsewhere— death, curses, blessings, and wishes are all prevalent in fairy tales and make interesting elements in games. Here are some suggested ways to handle them.

Death

You’ve probably noticed that in fairy tales, characters die all the time. Or almost die. Or sleep forever instead of die. Or die and come back to life. You get the idea.

Potentially, this will also be true in a fairy tale game. Thankfully, death doesn’t have to be the end of a character’s life. There are any number of ways to stop or reverse death, including artifacts, cyphers, and abilities. Additionally, a few NPCs, such as witches or Death themself, may have the power to bring someone back from the dead.

Typically, though, if a character dies and chooses to stay dead (or is unable to find a way to return to life), they are dead—they no longer have bodies, abilities, Pools,

and so on. They can communicate to the living only through magic. Someone may stay dead for up to about a year (in game time) and still return to life. After that time elapses, death is permanent.

Curses

In fairy tale games, curses are likely to be common. Most witches can cast curses

of one form or another, as can many fey beings, queens, and sea creatures. Even objects and places can cause a character to become cursed. Characters might have multiple curses on them at the same time.

All curses have a level, from 1 to 10. The level affects how hard it is to resist the curse, as well as how severe the effects are and how difficult it is to remove the curse.

Curses work slightly differently than regular damage. Curses can have an impact on the game and the game mechanics (a character is turned into a fish or becomes invisible, all of their interactions are hindered, they take ongoing damage, and so on), or they can have more of a roleplaying impact (a character looks much older, they forget the word “apple,” their skin turns golden). See the Curse table for a list of example curses.

Preventing Curses 

When a character attempts to resist being cursed, they must make an Intellect defense roll against the level of the curse being cast. Being trained in Intellect defense eases

this task, as does having a skill in curses or resisting curses.

Often, part of a curse’s effects is hindering curse resistance; thus, a character who already has one curse on them will find defending against a second curse is more difficult (their task is hindered).

Removing Curses 

Similar to poison and disease, curses aren’t automatically removed when a character makes a regular recovery roll. Instead, they stick around, continuing to affect the PC long after the curse is cast. In order to rid themselves of a curse, the character must take actions to remove it. The actions required depend on the nature and level of the curse.

The easiest way to remove a curse is to find, buy, steal, borrow, or otherwise acquire an object that removes curses (such as the blood pearl blossom cypher). Alternatively, the character might be able to pay someone who is skilled in curse removal to do the deed.

Curse Intrusions and Curse Mode 

In addition to dealing with the original effect of the curse, a cursed character is more likely to have bad things happen to them. There are two ways for the GM to work this into the game: curse intrusions and Curse Mode. Ideally, you’ll want to use both of these, as they each add something unique to the experience of being cursed.

Curse intrusions work like regular GM intrusions, and the cursed character gets XP. However, they only get 1 XP instead of the usual 2, and they must decide whether to keep it or give it to another player. Introduce additional curse intrusions from the Curse Intrusions table when it feels appropriate. This might be anytime the character has a big success, when they’re in a particularly risky position, or when they start to feel like they’ve forgotten about the curse.

Curse Mode. When using this rule, the GM increases the range of numbers that trigger a GM intrusion. As soon as a character is cursed, every time they roll a 1 or a 2 (instead of just a 1), they trigger a GM intrusion. As time passes, GM intrusions happen on a roll of 1 to 3, then a roll of 1 to 4, and so on. This potentially means that a die roll in Curse Mode can indicate success i a task and still trigger a GM intrusion. Curse Mode is similar to the Horror Mode optional rule in the Cypher System Rulebook, with one exception: the escalation works at a much slower pace. This is because Curse Mode is not designed to heighten immediate tension, but rather to create a long-term sense of being saddled with an unwanted and unpredictable negative effect.

Typically, the intrusion range is increased by 1 when:

• The character is cursed.

• The character starts a new day (or makes their ten-hour recovery roll).

• The character actively takes an action to remove the curse (curses like wreaking havoc, which is part of the reason they’re so hard to get rid of).

• The character attempts to resist an additional curse being cast upon them.

Once all curses are removed, Curse Mode is no longer in effect.

While not all regular GM intrusions are necessarily bad for the character, curse intrusions always make the cursed PC’s situation worse.

Curse Intrusions 

Curse Table 

Roll 1d20 on the Curse table to determine the effect of the curse, or choose one that feels appropriate to the situation and the characters.

Typically, curses that have simple roleplaying effects (such as the character’s inability to speak their own name) are lower-level curses, while those that affect gameplay (such as decreasing recovery roll points) are higher level. Curses that have multiple effects are likely the highest level of all. However, sometimes an incredibly simple curse is still very high level because the caster wants to make it very hard to get rid of.

Curse Removal Table 

Some curses have a specific way that they must be removed. Others can be removed in a variety of ways. You can use the table as a reference for ways to remove or undo a curse, or you can roll 1d10 to give a curse a specific method of removal.

There are also many artifacts, cyphers, and other objects in the world that will remove (or prevent) curses.

Blessings 

When someone is blessed, it typically means that they are more likely to receive a beneficial GM intrusion when they roll a 1 (or when the GM deems it appropriate to give them an intrusion). The Blessing Intrusions table provides examples of positive GM intrusions that a blessed character might receive.

Blessing Intrusions 

Wishes 

Wishes can be granted via objects, creatures such as genies, or as part of a bargain. When the character asks for a wish, the GM assigns it a level. The larger and more difficult the wish, the higher the level. Generally, a wish such as gaining an asset or inexpensive item is level 1, and a wish for an expensive item or for a foe to vanish is level 7.

In order for a wish to be granted, the character must succeed on an Intellect-related task (usually persuasion or possibly intimidation) equal to the wish’s level. On a failed roll, the wish is either not granted at all or is partially granted, depending on the wish and the creature or object that is granting it.

Even if a wish is granted, the character may not get exactly what they want, especially if the wish is poorly worded, has multiple interpretations, or asks for something that is utterly impossible (such as destroying the entire world).

Optional Rule: I Have That!

In fairy tales, characters often have exactly the right mundane piece of equipment

that they need to bypass a story-related obstacle hidden away in a pocket or a bag. Rather than having the PCs stock up on mundane items like marbles, rope, and breadcrumbs in town, use the I Have That! rule. This means players don’t have to keep exact track of their characters’ mundane equipment; instead, they spend an amount to get an unspecified “Pocket Item” in

that category. Then, when they’re out in the world and realize they could solve a problem with an item, they can just say, “I have that!” and pull it from their pocket. All Pocket Items are one-use only; after using them, the PC marks off one of their Pocket Items for the appropriate price category.

Most Pocket Items are inexpensive, but moderate and expensive Pocket Items exist, and are likely more useful than their less expensive counterparts.

The GM has veto power over items that they don’t think you could have found or carried.

Using the I Have That! rule doesn’t preclude PCs from also purchasing these items directly. For example, if a character who sews wants to buy a thimble and an inexpensive Pocket Item, they can. However, they cannot later turn the thimble into a Pocket Item; it remains a thimble.

Example Pocket Items

Inexpensive

• Apple

• Ashes (handful)

• Breadcrumbs

• Butter

• Candy

• Chalk

• Cricket in a cage

• Cup

• Egg

• Fabric

• Flyswatter

• Glass jar

• Glue

• Honey

• Leather

• Magnets

• Marbles

• Nails

• Needle and thread

• Paper

• Plait of hair

• Pot of fat

• Pot of grease 

• Ribbon

• Rice (handful) 

• Straw

• Tacks

• Wax

• Wool

Moderate

• Bird in a cage 

• Sewing shears

• Thimble

GM INTRUSIONS #

GM intrusions present fantastic opportunities to imbue fairy tale games with a bit more weirdness, wonder, and whimsy, all while making the game more interesting and surprising for characters.

There’s a list of example GM intrusions in the Cypher System Rulebook, and any of those would work in a fairy tale game. The GM intrusions included in this section are more specifically designed with fairy tale magic in mind—they’re what could happen when magic goes wrong (or extraordinarily right).

Remember that GM intrusions don’t always mean that something has gone wrong or is bad for the players (unless they are curse intrusions). A GM intrusion could be the arrival of a good omen, the sudden reversal of a curse, or something that seems bad at first (like falling down a rabbit hole) but leads to something wonderful in the end (a whole new world to explore!).

The Fairy Tale Intrusions tables are ways to quickly generate intrusions appropriate to a fairy tale aesthetic. Roll on the appropriate table to determine the intrusion that occurs, or choose one that feels right for the situation.

Interaction Intrusions

World Intrusions

Item Intrusions

PLAYER INTRUSIONS #

A player intrusion occurs when a player chooses to alter something in the story, making things easier for a player character. It’s kind of a reverse GM intrusion: instead of the GM giving the player XP and introducing an unexpected complication for a character, the player spends 1 XP

and presents a solution to a problem or complication.

Once Upon a Time: Someone you played with as a child reappears and helps you in whatever you are doing. They may be alive or dead, but your heart is warmed upon seeing them, for it’s been a long time.

As You Wish: You do something that reminds another person or creature in the area of someone they once cared for deeply. They are eager to assist you in whatever you’ve got going on, at least for a few minutes.

Once Upon a Dream: Not long ago, you dreamt of a scenario similar to the one that you find yourself in now. You can’t remember all of the details, but you remember enough to know some of what’s about to take place, and it gives you an additional action to prepare something useful.

Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo: A little sprinkle of magic from your fairy godmother is all you need to achieve a goal, retry a task, or be better at something you’re attempting to do.

Wish Upon a Star: Long ago, you helped part of a dying star return to its rightful place in the sky. It keeps an eye on you and, in a moment when it feels like all hope is lost, it sends a little magic or light to aid you.

Dreams Do Come True: Something you wished for long ago comes true just at this moment. It might be for a broken weapon to be fixed, an ally to appear, or a bit of knowledge or understanding to arrive in your mind.

What’s Come to Pass: Not long ago, someone forewarned you of the exact scenario that you find yourself in now. You know just what to do to put yourself at an advantage in the situation.

Think Happy Thoughts: You think of something or someone that brings you great joy, and it imbues your next few actions with magic, allowing you to fly or do some other thing that you are normally unable to do.

I Can Show You the World: Something or someone in the area shows itself to you, highlighting a route you were looking for, an object you had lost, or an answer to a problem.

Happily Ever After: Through the power of your love for another, you use magic to protect someone you care for. They are able to sidestep an attack that would normally do them grave damage.

If a player has no XP to spend, they can’t use a player intrusion.

MINOR AND MAJOR SPECIAL EFFECT OPTIONS 

Any time a PC attempts an action and rolls a natural 19 or 20, they have the option

of triggering a minor special effect or major special effect, respectively. In fairy tales, almost anything goes, which can be overwhelming to a player trying to decide what their character’s special effect might be. Here are a few special effect options for players to use or be inspired by.

Minor Effect Suggestions 

• A weapon comes alive at the perfect moment and does a bit more damage to a foe.

• A fluctuation in magic hinders all of the foe’s tasks for one minute.

• A curse, spell, or ability has additional force behind it, and lasts a round longer than expected.

• The foe’s magical armor begins to dissipate, decreasing the amount of protection it offers on the next attack.

• A shapeshifting or disguise spell or ability dazzles the target, easing all tasks related to it.

• A magical attack hits the target and something they were holding, causing damage to both.

Major Effect Suggestions 

• A weapon comes alive at the perfect moment and does a lot more damage to a foe.

• A fluctuation in magic prevents a foe from taking their next action.

• A curse that was cast upon you by the foe you’re attacking is removed.

• A foe surrenders, agreeing to lay down their weapons.

• A foe accidentally steps on a living plant or dangerous creature while trying to dodge your blow, and it attacks them or holds them fast.

• A shapeshifting or disguise spell or ability works so well that the foe’s familiar or companion runs off, afraid to continue the fight.

EQUIPMENT 

Most weapons that are powered by magic, such as wands, operate exactly like a regular weapon; they just do their damage using magic.

Equipment and weapons with unique magic abilities are typically considered to be cyphers or artifacts.

CURRENCY #

In most fairy tales, money isn’t precise. Someone might be poor or rich. They might find a bag of gold or a chest full of jewels. They might be the richest man in the town or have nothing but a tired old cow to their name. But typically what they don’t have is “one gold piece” or “thirty farthings” to their name. This means that whatever your fairy tale setting, you can think in general terms of money instead of keeping meticulous track of every penny, farthing, gold coin, or dollar.

To keep things easy, no matter what currency your characters use, think of money as being in simple amounts that scale up, such as a copper coin, a silver coin, and a gold coin. These could easily equate to the inexpensive, moderate, and expensive items on the equipment list. Items that are very expensive might be worth a bag of silver, while exorbitant items might be worth a bag of gold.

Additionally, if the PCs are completing a character arc, accomplishing a task, or doing some other type of action to receive a piece of equipment, you can use the price category to decide how complicated or difficult that task is. A moderately priced item likely requires completing a moderately difficult task, while an exorbitant item may require something that taxes the PCs and really puts their skills and dedication to the test.

SIGNATURE ITEMS #

In fairy tales, clothing, weapons, and other items that a character carries for a long time tend to be very personal and very important. They’re often unique and handcrafted,

they may have names or stories that go with them, and because characters tend to keep them for a long time, they may have undergone repairs or have markings that tell something about the character’s background.

APPAREL AND ARMOR #

In most cases, characters start out by wearing any type of clothing they choose. Typically (unless the GM decides otherwise or unless it is designated as armor),

this clothing is purely for decorative and roleplaying purposes and offers no additional benefits.

However, clothing with additional benefits can be purchased, stolen, found, or earned by completing favors and accomplishing tasks.

OPTIONAL RULES FOR SCIENCE FICTION #

Establishing a Technology Rating

Every science fiction setting has an implicit level of advancement, which is the average degree of technological sophistication available to most characters. This sophistication lies along a spectrum, from contemporary, to advanced, all the way to fantastic. Each of these terms specifies a particular “technology rating” (or “tech rating” for short). 

A tech rating is a handy way of helping you select what equipment your characters can use in chapter 7 and chapter 8, which optional rules you’d like to include from chapter 6, and maybe even help guide your creature choice from chapter 9. 

On the other hand, you could choose to make all options available, regardless of tech rating. No technology police will cite you if you don’t stick inside a previously declared lane. The setting is your background for telling a compelling story. Does your setting have faster-than-light travel? Great. Unless it’s integral to the story (or fun for you), don’t worry about justifying it if you’ve generally settled on an advanced rating for your hard science fiction game (which doesn’t normally include FTL capability). In fact, the surprising and unexpected are where excitement is usually found in a setting; breaking the established rules (for a good reason) often leads to interesting results.

COSMIC SET PIECES AND OPTIONAL RULES #

This chapter contains a variety of subsystems and set pieces that you can choose to incorporate in your game, depending on the kind of setting you’d like to run. Options here run the gamut from making your science fiction setting more realistic to making your fantastic games even wilder by introducing rules for posthuman advancement and psionics.

QUICK DESCRIPTIONS FOR COMMON SCI-FI SITUATIONS #

Weightlessness (zero G) feels like, first time:The sensation of falling jerks through the body; instincts scream to reach out and catch yourself. 

Weightlessness (zero G) feels like, once acclimated: A feeling of lightness, evanescence, like floating in a pool of water, if the water were clear air. A little push sends you gliding. 

High acceleration feels like (if strapped in): A massive kick in the back, followed by the sensation of tremendous weights sitting on your chest. Any movement is a struggle against an overwhelming weight holding you down. 

Blacking out from high acceleration feels like: Lightheaded and hard to think, a sensation of a slowing pulse. Noises soften as if heard through a drainpipe. Color fades from vision, then everything goes either to black, or possibly to white, as consciousness lapses. 

Exposure to hard radiation feels like: Heat. (The more dangerous the radiation, the hotter it feels, and may be accompanied by blue light; radiation excites electrons in the air that then slip back into an unexcited state, emitting high-energy photons that glow blue.) 

Exposure to vacuum feels like: Breath explodes out of lungs, cold slashes the body like a knife carved from a glacier. Tears freeze in the corners of eyes, ice forms on teeth and tongue. Moisture boils out of ears, scalp, freezing on exposed skin, lips, and eyelids. (As this happens, the Effects of Vacuum also take their mechanical toll on the character.)

OPTIONAL RULES: HARDER SCIENCE FICTION #

Hard science fiction is distinguished from other science fiction subgenres by the perception of scientific accuracy. This means hard science fiction often precludes technology deemed impossible by mainstream scientific theory, including mainstays like faster-than-light travel and time travel. Choosing a hard science fiction setting also means the GM is interested in sprinkling realistic hazards into their game, at least up to a point. After all, the difficulties of real-life space travel offer tremendous breadth when it comes to providing excitement (i.e., life-threatening dangers) that can raise the stakes in an authentic fashion. Not to say that gun battles with space aliens aren’t exciting, but in a hard science fiction setting without aliens, there are all kinds of opportunities for pulse-pounding GM intrusions. 

In fact, that bears repeating: Use GM intrusions to incorporate these harder science fiction repercussions when the situation is relevant. Rather than hitting your PCs over the head with an information-exposition hammer on the dangers of space repeatedly, simply demonstrate it with a relevant GM intrusion. 

The Cypher System Rulebook describes some hard science fiction considerations regarding the effects of gravity, which are summarized here for ease of reference.

Long-Term Microgravity Exposure: Long-term penalties (such as inabilities in physical tasks), unless ameliorated with advanced drugs such as space-fit serum or space-fit nano-tabs. 

Low Gravity: Weapons that rely on weight, such as all heavy weapons, inflict 2 fewer points of damage (dealing a minimum of 1 point) unless user is trained in low-gravity maneuvering. Short-range weapons can reach to long range, and long-range weapons can reach to very long range. 

High Gravity: All physical tasks are hindered. Ranges in high gravity are reduced by one category (very long-range weapons reach only to long range, long-range weapons reach only to short range, and short-range weapons reach only to immediate range). Those trained in highgravity maneuvering ignore the change in difficulty but not the range decreases. 

Zero Gravity: All physical tasks are hindered. Short-range weapons can reach to long range, and long-range weapons can reach to very-long range.

VOID RULES #

The extreme environment in space— hard radiation, lack of air and pressure, wild temperature variations, and lack of gravity—tends to magnify small issues into much more significant ones. While Murphy’s Law (everything that can go wrong will go wrong) is a useful reminder to keep an eye out for trouble even under regular circumstances, Finagle’s Law reigns in space, which is that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong—at the worst possible moment. To evoke this law, GMs can implement Void Rules. 

The idea is to create a feeling of increased repercussions by changing one die roll mechanic. In the game, activities on a planet’s surface—and within a functioning air-filled spacecraft, habitat, or space suit when everything is going well—remain normal. The PCs interact with each other and the NPCs, investigate, research, repair an external sensor module, travel, and so on. 

But that could change the moment something goes wrong—maybe a fault is recognized in the spacecraft’s computer or shipmind. A minor leak is detected in the cargo bay. An enemy spacecraft has fired on and damaged the PC’s spacecraft. The spacecraft’s orbit is deteriorating. Whatever. The point is, the situation has suddenly become complicated. In space, when a situation becomes complicated, it also becomes potentially deadly. That’s when you have the option to announce you’ve instituted Void Rules. 

While using Void Rules, GM intrusions governed by die rolls change. Normally this happens only on a roll of 1, but when Void Rules apply, it becomes a roll of 1 or a 2. Void Rules are similar in many ways to Horror Mode, though the threat range doesn’t normally continue to escalate. 

While Void Rules are in effect, the GM intrusions automatically triggered should play off the situation, influenced as much as possible by the realistic dangers space travel has on the human body and the situation at hand

Choosing Instead of Rolling: Each GM intrusion is keyed to a die result, usually a d6. The die range is not meant to imply you should always randomly generate a GM intrusion. Instead of rolling, choose the conflict that you think will make the story better and more exciting. The option to roll is really only here if you can’t decide (and are facing decision fatigue). Mainly, these GM intrusion tables are provided as a quick way to inspire complications for a given situation. 

EFFECTS OF VACUUM #

In terms of game mechanics, an unprotected character in vacuum moves one step down the damage track each round. However, at the point where they should die, they instead fall unconscious and remain so for about a minute. If they are rescued during that time, they can be revived. If not, they die

VACUUM GM INTRUSIONS #

SPACE SUITS ARE FALLIBLE #

Even if advanced tech or fantastic tech is available, space suits are susceptible to all kinds of mishaps. Of course, that’s especially true for contemporary tech space suits, which work hard at keeping a constant internal air volume so that a wearer doesn’t have to continually exert themselves to hold the suit in a given position or pre-breathe oxygen at a higher concentration. “Hard-shell” suits manage this with multiple joints and segments that shift on ball bearings, and by being able to maintain a higher internal pressure than soft suits.

SPACE SUITS GM INTRUSIONS #

EFFECTS OF ACCELERATION AND HIGH-G MANEUVERS #

In a fantastic tech setting where gravitic control usually cancels inertia, spacecraft acceleration (or deceleration) is only an issue when the gravitic systems malfunction. But acceleration is always something everyone has to deal with in contemporary or advanced tech settings.

Of course, massive acceleration (or deceleration) is just plain lethal. Someone who jumps off a ten-story building is subject to several hundred Gs when they suddenly stop. Less extreme is still dangerous, because it pulls blood out of pilots’ and passengers’ heads, rendering them unconscious. This can happen at just 4 or 5 Gs without any amelioration, though contemporary tech allows fighter craft pilots to withstand up to 9 Gs for limited periods. Advanced tech methods, which include acceleration serum, allow characters to survive the kind of Gs a spacecraft might pull for extended trips or during battle, up to a maximum of 15 Gs. Ships have limiters that normally prevent them from thrusting at higher speeds. Normally.

ACCELERATION AND HIGH-G MANEUVER GM INTRUSIONS #

LONG-TERM EXPOSURE TO ZERO G AND RADIATION #

In a setting with contemporary tech, a variety of issues related to long-term exposure to micro-gravity and high radiation beset astronauts, including bone and muscle loss, less circulating blood and red cell mass, less ability to constrict and dilate in vessels, irregular hormones, diminished immune system, inability of mitochondria to initiate wound healing, and even shortened telomeres. The inability to heal even minor wounds and nicks until a space-farer returns to stronger gravity will eventually prove lethal, though a snapped bone or normally inconsequential virus or parasite could also do them in.

SPACE HEALTH HAZARD GM INTRUSIONS #

MOVING IN MICROGRAVITY 

Long-term zero G is dangerous, but there are issues associated with moving around in microgravity. Those who have spent at least a little time in microgravity can move as part of a routine action. It’s only when something else distracting or dangerous is happening simultaneously that routine movements through a ship or station become potentially problematic.

MOVING IN MICROGRAVITY GM INTRUSIONS #

OPTIONAL RULES: EXTENDED VEHICULAR COMBAT (SPACECRAFT COMBAT) #

When vehicular combat occurs—which happens whenever the PCs are completely enclosed in a vehicle so that it’s not really the characters fighting, but the vehicles— start with the vehicular combat rules described in the Cypher System Rulebook. 

However, if you’d like to provide the PCs with more options designed especially for spacecraft combat, use these optional rules instead, which include a “redline maneuver” system for trying extremely risky spacecraft maneuvers, bridge combat options, and more. The base vehicular combat rules have been integrated into these extended rules, so you don’t need to continually cross-reference them to understand how it all works.

In extended vehicular combat, PCs on a spacecraft take actions on their turn, just like in a standard Cypher System combat encounter. Use standard initiative rules to determine when PCs take their actions, and when enemy spacecraft take theirs. Characters will be crewing specific spacecraft system stations described under Bridge Combat, and thus could attempt a piloting maneuver, to fire the ship weapons, to scan the enemy craft for weaknesses, or to attempt some similar spacecraft operation task on their turn. Alternatively, they might be somewhere else on the ship attempting repairs, fighting off boarders, attempting to open communications in order to negotiate, or taking some other action. 

For their part, enemy spacecraft are likely to fire on the same systems aboard a PCs’ spacecraft as the ones the PCs are firing on (weapons, defenses, engines, or even a kill shot). The PC pilot rolls one or more defense rolls. The enemy spacecraft faces the same modifications the PCs face when targeting a particular system (as described hereafter), except those modifications ease or hinder the PC making the defense roll, since NPC craft never roll themselves. And, if an enemy ship manages to disable a system on the PCs’ ship on an attack, PCs can attempt repair tasks to get those systems back online on their turns. 

The main difference between spacecraft combat and regular combat is that the difficulty of tasks that the PCs attempt in relation to the enemy craft varies a lot more than in regular combat. In normal combat, a task difficulty is usually equal to the foe’s level. But in spacecraft combat, a task difficulty is equal to a modified task difficulty (beginning with the spacecraft’s level, but moving on from there, as noted hereafter). The modified difficulty always applies to anything characters attempt in regard to the enemy spacecraft, whether a PC fires at an enemy ship, dodges return fire, attempts to scan the enemy spacecraft, attempts to repair damage caused by the enemy spacecraft, and so on.

It’s actually similar to a normal task. For example, when a PC scans a robot, the task difficulty is usually the robot’s level, but not always. Sometimes the robot’s effective level is modified because of intrinsic skills or systems the robot possesses, or because of something it does making it harder (or easier) for it to be scanned. In the case of spacecraft combat, modification is pretty much a given, and is even more variable. So variable, in fact, that a space combat status tracker has been provided. to turn potentially confusing conflicts into something as easy as looking at a marker to know what the difficulty for a particular task is.

The modifiers that apply, even before PCs attempt a specific combat task noted under Bridge Combat, are as follows.

BASE COMBAT TASK MODIFIERS #

The following modifiers change the effective level of the enemy of the spacecraft for a given task by hindering or easing a PC’s roll. Track each change in effective level on the space combat status tracker

SPACECRAFT LEVEL DIFFERENCE #

Compare the levels of the spacecraft involved in the conflict. If the PCs’ vehicle has the higher level, the difference in levels becomes a reduction in the difficulty of attack and defense rolls PCs might make. If the PCs’ vehicle has the lower level, the difference is an increase in difficulty by the same amount. If the levels are the same, there is no modification. 

MISMATCHED TECH RATING #

It’s possible that vehicles from different tech ratings will fight each other at some point, or become caught up in a larger multi-vehicle fight. When they do, each step difference in tech rating between two opposed vehicles increases the effective level of the higher-rated vehicle by two steps.

VEHICLE COORDINATION #

If two vehicles coordinate their attack against an enemy vehicle, the attack is eased. If three or more vehicles coordinate, the attack is eased by two steps. 

SUPERIOR SHIP SYSTEMS #

Some vehicles have superior weapons or defenses, as noted in the specific vehicle listing in chapter 8. If a vehicle has a superior system, treat that vehicle as if one level higher than its actual level when figuring attacks or evasion tasks if that specific system is involved.

REDLINE MANEUVER #

When someone with access to spacecraft controls attempts a particularly audacious and risky maneuver, it’s a “redline” maneuver. Essentially, declaring a redline maneuver eases one task a PC attempts in a spacecraft under duress, but comes with a concomitant risk. 

To make a redline maneuver, a character spends 1 XP as a free action. In doing so, they unlock the option for all the PCs to attempt to redline for rest of the combat. To redline, a PC describes the dangerous thing they want to attempt, then takes that action. Mechanically, the PC eases the particular task they are attempting (which might just be to fire at the enemy craft’s weapons), but increases the GM intrusion range by two points. 

A character who redlines could opt to increase their gamble by easing a task by two steps or even more; however, each step increases the GM intrusion range by another two points that round. 

Redline maneuvers are also available in desperate non-combat situations aboard a spacecraft. For example, Tammie’s ship is caught in a decaying orbit over Venus, and the ship doesn’t have enough power left to break out. She tells the GM that she’s going to try an extremely risky maneuver that involves igniting ALL the remaining power at once, hoping that the explosive thrust will succeed in blowing the craft into a higher orbit. Because things are desperate, she commits to easing the task by two steps after paying 1 XP. This easing (plus any skill, application of Effort, and so on) gives her a pretty decent chance of succeeding, except the GM intrusion range is now 1–5. 

If a GM intrusion is triggered, something goes wrong. Remember that success might still be possible if the roll was high enough, but still falls within the increased GM intrusion range.

If you’re looking for inspiration for appropriate GM intrusions when a redlining PC triggers one, refer to suggested GM intrusions presented under Bridge Combat hereafter, each associated with a particular ship system that a character is probably crewing. 

After any round where a redline maneuver was attempted, the GM intrusion range returns to normal (1 on a 1d20) as the next round beings. 

Multiple Redline Maneuvers: Only one PC needs to spend 1 XP to unlock redline maneuvers for themselves and for any other PCs aboard the same spacecraft for the duration of a single encounter. Multiple redline attempts during the same round by two or more PCs additively increase the GM intrusion range for that round. So, a PC attempting to redline who takes their turn after previous redline attempts that round faces a GM intrusion range that’s already inflated, and which will inflate more when they redline. (PCs who do not redline during a particular round don’t have to worry about the increasing GM intrusion range for their action.)

Thus, while PCs do not need to pre-announce their intention to redline at the beginning of each round, coordinating wouldn’t be a bad idea. Whichever PC redlines last in a round where redline maneuvers were already attempted could face a fairly significant GM intrusion range. 

If Void Rules are also being used and have triggered, redline maneuvers are even more dangerous.

THE SUPERIORITY OF A WELL-CREWED SPACECRAFT #

A spacecraft with some or all of the PCs crewing different systems stations will be more capable than a regular spacecraft in combat. Which means that an enemy spacecraft that might prove challenging based on its level might actually be fairly easily handled by PCs who fully understand their options. 

But be careful, because even competent PCs should fear squadrons of enemy ships, and military craft with several weapon systems. Even a single level difference is magnified, so make sure not to capriciously throw spacecraft at the PCs that are 2 levels higher than their own

BRIDGE COMBAT #

If several PCs are aboard the same spacecraft, give them the following option: ask each PC to crew one of the ship system stations, including weapons (of which there could be more than one system, requiring more than one PC to crew them all), piloting, and science and engineering (which could be divided into two stations with similar functionality). A spacecraft generally has a number of system stations equal to its level. PCs on spacecraft that are lower level must flip between system controls as part of another action, using two stations or even just one station for the whole ship. Even if a PC flips a station (reconfigures, as engineers like to say), only a single PC can crew a station (and take an action using it) each round.

When crewing their stations, PCs have several station-specific options available to them. What they do can bears on how the encounter plays out on a round-to-round basis, similar to regular combat. Specific options are provided for each station, but characters are free to attempt other actions they can think of.

The following ship systems might be found on larger spacecraft with room for more than a single pilot.

Shipmind System Control: 

Some ships with integrated AIs (shipminds) can control a particular system autonomously, without a PC. When it acts in this fashion, it can only take a single action each round, which means it could attack and move, but not also attempt a complicated engineering or defensive maneuver. A shipmind acts at a level equal to the overall spacecraft. In addition, shipmind actions against an enemy spacecraft are assessed with the same modifiers for targeting as a PC crewing the station.

WEAPONS #

A spacecraft may have more than one weapon system. Each individual weapon system has its own station, which can be crewed by a separate PC. Spacecraft systems are considered heavy weapons (which means some characters may be practiced in their use, though others may have an inability). A spacecraft can potentially make as many attacks each round as weapon systems it possesses, if each station is crewed. 

Refer to PC Weapon System Options. If the PC triggers a GM intrusion, the following table provides options to choose from.

WEAPON SYSTEM GM INTRUSIONS 

PILOTING #

Many spacecraft have only a single system and dedicated station for piloting and navigation, suitable for a single PC to crew, though a larger craft could split those duties. A PC piloting a ship during combat can attempt any number of piloting tasks, as well as any other type of flying that they deem necessary. While not in combat, the PC crewing this station pilots the ship from place to place in space. 

Refer to PC Piloting System Options. If the PC triggers a GM intrusion, the following table provides options to choose from.

A successful piloting defense task is not always a miss: A failed enemy attack doesn’t always mean it misses a character’s craft. The PC’s spacecraft might rock and reel from the hit, but the bulk of the damage was absorbed by the hull or shields, so there’s no significant damage.

PILOTING SYSTEM GM INTRUSIONS 

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING #

A spacecraft may have more than one science and engineering system. Each science and engineering system has a station, each of which can be crewed by a separate PC. A spacecraft can potentially attempt as many science and engineering tasks each round as stations systems it possesses, if each one is crewed. 

Refer to PC Science & Engineering System Options. If the PC triggers a GM intrusion, the following table provides options to choose from.

PILOTING SYSTEM GM INTRUSIONS 

OPTIONAL: COMMAND #

Ships with a captain may have a Command station, possibly a captain’s chair, though the captain might just crew one of the other stations. Sometimes those with captain’s privileges also have the Captain’s Calm special ability. Normally, a captain commanding someone else to do something can’t redline; it would be up to the person who received the command whether to try to redline or not, and to face any GM intrusion consequences.

BRIDGE COMBAT AT THE TABLE #

Running a combat using these extended rules is straightforward. 

Know your stuff: First, familiarize yourself with the material. 

Assign characters a station: Next, if you have some time to prepare, copy the two-page spread containing the various PC system options, and give one to each player. Tell them to figure out what stations they are crewing, based on the number of systems their ship has (usually no more systems than the level of the ship). You will probably also have to explain the basics.

Deploy space combat status tracker: Also make a copy of the one-page space combat status tracker and set it on the table so everyone can see. It’ll make a huge difference in how your space combat plays out. The status tracker allows you (and the players) to easily mark the difficulty of current space combat task a PC is attempting, without having to hold all the easing and hindering in your heads, or having to write them out each time. 

Space Combat Status Tracker Instructions: Using dice (or similar objects) as markers, track the difficulty of the current task that a PC is attempting, as well as the GM intrusion range for that round if any character is attempting to redline. Place the marker in the column appropriate to the kind of task being attempted (attack, defense, or other) at the starting difficulty level. If the PCs face more than one enemy spacecraft, use different colored dice to represent different ships, or separate copies of this status tracker for each additional enemy spacecraft. 

At the end of each full round, reset all the markers on the tracker to their base state, unless some effect causes a modification that lasts longer than a round. Be sure to reset the GM intrusion marker, too.

Roll initiative: Begin the combat, with the enemy spacecraft of your choice taking on the PCs’ ship. Decide whether the enemy spacecraft are already in weapon range (it’s your call, we’re not tracking that here), and if not, how soon they will be close enough to begin attacking, and let the combat flow

VEHICLES FIGHTING CREATURES #

Spacecraft vs. Colossal Creatures: If a creature is as capable as a spacecraft, treat it that way when it comes to vehicular combat. Instead of adjusting for mismatched tech rating, treat the creature’s effective level as if three levels less than its actual level. Extrapolate “weapon systems” to the creature’s attack methods, defenses to its weird organic plating, and so on. Killing such a creature means taking out its “power core or other vital spot.”

Spacecraft vs. Regular Creatures: If a vehicle weapon system fires on an unprotected PC (or a PC in a spacecraft fires ship weapons on a creature outside the craft that isn’t colossal), it’s an entirely different situation. Attacks against a vehicle’s systems face all the previously mentioned modifiers. On top of that, add an additional five steps of hindrance to attacks by a regular creature against a starcraft.

A PC defending from a spacecraft’s attack is hindered by five steps. Except in this case, the spacecraft inflicts damage. Given that ship weapons compared to handheld weapons are an order of magnitude apart when it comes to power, a good rule of thumb is that a spacecraft’s weapon inflicts 25 points of damage on a successful hit and knocks the character one step down the damage track. Even if the character succeeds on their defense roll, they still take 5 points of damage.

PC WEAPON SYSTEM OPTIONS #

All tasks are also modified by any relevant PC skills (or inabilities) and Effort, as usual. 

PC PILOTING SYSTEM OPTIONS  

All tasks are also modified by any relevant PC skills (or inabilities) and Effort, as usual. 

PC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING SYSTEM OPTIONS  

All tasks are also modified by any relevant PC skills (or inabilities) and Effort, as usual. 

OPTIONAL RULE: PSIONICS #

Through sheer force of will, a psionic character can unleash inborn mental abilities such as telepathy, precognition, and telekinesis. As a GM, your first decision must be whether you want to incorporate psionics into your setting.

If you do not want to allow psionics into your game, then restrict foci like Commands Mental Powers, Focuses Mind Over Matter, and Separates Mind From Body. And of course, restrict the suggested types of Psion and Psychic Knight described in the Cypher System Rulebook.

LATENT PSIONICS #

Under the latent psionics rule, any character, no matter their role or type, can unlock a psionic ability (either purposefully, or accidentally), as a long-term benefit (see “first psi ability” hereafter). After they unlock one psionic ability, they may unlock more later if they wish (or if their ability seeks to reveal itself), or just try to stick with the one.

FIRST PSI ABILITY 

Any character can unlock a psionic ability by spending 3 XP and working with the GM to come up with an in-game story of how the character unlocked it. 

Next, choose one low-tier ability from Chapter 9: Abilities in the Cypher System Rulebook. If the GM agrees it is appropriate, the character gains that ability as their psionic ability, with a few caveats. The ability can’t be used like a normal ability gained through a PC’s type or focus. Instead, a character must either expend a recovery roll or spend many minutes or longer evoking the psionic ability before it takes effect, in addition to paying its Pool cost (if any).

Expending a Recovery Roll to Manifest a Psionic Ability: If the character expends a one-action, ten-minute, or one-hour recovery roll as part of the same action to manifest a psionic ability (including paying any Pool costs), they can use the ability as an action.

Expending Time to Manifest a Psionic Ability: If the character takes at least ten minutes meditating, concentrating deeply, or otherwise using all their actions, they can manifest a low-tier psionic ability (if they also pay any Pool costs). An hour is required to manifest mid-tier abilities. Ten hours are required to manifest a high-tier ability.

MORE PSI ABILITIES 

Once a character has unlocked at least one psionic ability, they can opt to unlock additional abilities later. Each time, they must spend an additional 3 XP and work with the GM to come up with an in-game story of how the character’s mental development has progressed. 

Two additional rules for learning additional psionic abilities apply: First, a character must be at least tier 3 and have previously unlocked one low-tier psionic ability before they can learn a mid-tier psionic ability. Second, a character must be at least tier 5 and have previously unlocked one mid-tier psionic ability before they can unlock a high-tier ability.

PSIONS AND THE OPTIONAL LATENT PSIONICS RULE #

Characters with explicitly psionic foci like Commands Mental Powers, Focuses Mind over Matter, Separates Mind from Body, and possibly others—as well types like Psion and Psychic Knight—are also considered to be psionic characters, and moreover, specialized ones. Their psionic abilities— provided by their type or focus—are used simply by paying their Pool costs. Extra time or physical effort isn’t required to manifest them. That’s because they’ve trained to use those abilities, rather than having stumbled upon them accidentally like a latent character. 

Specialized characters can use the optional latency rule to further expand their psionic potential, unlocking it just like other characters, with the same limitations.

Optionally, specialized characters who have a psionic type and/or focus gain one additional benefit if they also opt for latent abilities. Given that they are already adept at unlocking abilities and using them as quickly and easily as another character might shoot a laser pistol, they’ve got some flexibility. Such a PC can replace up to three abilities granted by their type and/or focus with three other psionic abilities they’ve unlocked as a latent ability of the same tier. To do so, they must spend at least one uninterrupted hour in meditation. Usually, this is something that requires a fresh mind, and must be done soon after a ten-hour recovery. 

MORE POWERFUL PSIONICS #

As the GM, you could allow a PC to spend 4 XP to unlock a new psionic ability instead of 3 XP. Such an ability is treated more like a regular type or focus ability. Such an ability is still governed by the rules described under More Psi Abilities, but is not subject to the limitations for manifesting the ability (i.e., expending a recovery roll or lots of time); instead, the user simply pays their Pool costs to use them. 

OPTIONAL RULE: POSTHUMAN UPGRADES #

Posthuman upgrades are either available to everyone as the setting begins or opened up later during the campaign as a significant plot development. Note that many focus and type abilities might be considered to have come from the kind up bodily upgrades normally associated with posthuman transformation, especially high-tier abilities. Which is one way to go. On the other hand, you could provide actual upgrades, such as presented here, which actually increase the base power level of characters. 

INTRODUCING UPGRADES TO YOUR SETTING #

You have a few options for adding posthuman upgrades to your setting. Characters might gain an initial upgrade for “free,” mechanically speaking. After that, you might decide that that’s enough and they’re done. 

Or, you could allow further upgrades, each requiring them to expend 4 XP and serving as an Other Option requirement for advancing their character. In this case, consider expanding the number of steps required for advancing a tier from four to five. (Obtaining additional posthuman upgrades reflects characters accessing latent abilities already present inside them, or going back to whatever source granted the upgrades in the first place, if that’s something you want to allow.)

Immediate Posthuman Upgrades: As part of character creation, PCs are given the options presented hereafter because the setting demands it. Narrative options include (but are not limited to):

 • PCs are part of a program designed to adapt them to being able to survive and thrive in conditions other than the 1 G, 1 atmosphere, oxygenated, Goldilocks environment of the Earth.

• PCs begin their career as super-soldiers to fight aliens or to serve as corporate spies.

 • PCs serve as long-lived guardians to watch over a generation ship hurtling at slower-than-light speeds between the stars. 

• PCs are children of a far-future civilization that routinely upgrades its citizens. 

Delayed Posthuman Upgrades: Sometime after the players have a few sessions under their belt, present the options hereafter to the PCs because of a dramatic update to the plot. If one PC gains the option to upgrade, then all the PCs should have that same advantage. Narrative options include (but are not limited to): 

• PCs, exploring a cache of ancient ultra or other fantastic tech, find a device that provides unexpected upgrades in the process of healing them from other injuries. 

• PCs are kidnapped by aliens or conglomerate operatives, and upgraded—with some command-andcontrol circuits also installed—to serve some specific purpose.

 • PCs learn a “new science,” allowing them to tap cosmic energies other creatures are unaware of.

POSTHUMAN PACKAGES #

Posthuman “packages” that PCs might enjoy include the following. You should decide which are available, and which ones your PCs gain. 

Spaceborn: You are not adversely affected by long-term microgravity or high-radiation conditions common in space. In addition, you can withstand high acceleration (up to 15 G) for about an hour without passing out, having a stroke, a heart attack, and so on (though longer periods of acceleration could still result in such outcomes). Add +1 to your Intellect Edge. Enabler. (PCs without the spaceborn posthuman upgrade probably have to rely on supplementation with adjuvants if they travel in space, such as space-fit serum)

Jupiterborn: You can withstand high-gravity planets and high acceleration (up to 15 G) indefinitely. For periods of up to an hour, you can withstand double that. Add +1 to your Might Edge. Enabler. 

Seaborn: You can breathe underwater in pressures of up to 100 atmospheres indefinitely, up to triple that for about an hour. You have an asset to all tasks performed in water. Add +1 to your Speed Edge. Enabler. 

Expanded Consciousness: Only one of your brain hemispheres sleeps at a time, so you are always awake and aware. In addition, you have a magnetoreception sixth sense that allows you to “see” into objects and through doors up to a short distance. Your initiative and perception tasks are eased. You can forge a connection with electronic equipment you touch, allowing you to attempt to communicate, analyze, or even hack the device. Enabler. 

Synthetic Body: You have left biology behind and uploaded yourself into a biomechanical form known as a synth. You enjoy the benefits of the spaceborn package and expanded consciousness package, and one posthuman power shift. Enabler.

POSTHUMAN POWER SHIFTS #

A character may also gain posthuman abilities by way of power shifts, as described in the Cypher System Rulebook. 

Under this rule, posthuman characters begin with two power shifts. They can “unlock” one more each time they expend 4 XP toward advancing their character. Power shifts are like permanent levels of Effort that are always active. They don’t count toward a character’s maximum Effort use (nor do they count as skills or assets). They simply ease tasks that fall into specific categories, which include (but are not necessarily limited to): 

Accuracy: All attack rolls 

Dexterity: Movement, acrobatics, initiative, and Speed defense 

Healing: One extra recovery roll per shift (each one action, all coming before other normal recovery rolls) 

Intelligence: Intellect defense rolls and all knowledge, science, and crafting tasks 

Power: Use of a specific power, including damage (3 additional points per shift) but not attack rolls 

Resilience: Might defense rolls and Armor (+1 per shift) 

Single Attack: Attack rolls and damage (3 additional points per shift) 

Strength: All tasks involving strength, including jumping and dealing damage in melee or thrown attacks (3 additional points of damage per shift) but not attack rolls 

Each shift eases the task (except for shifts that affect damage or Armor, as specified in the list above). Applying two shifts eases the task by two steps, and applying three shifts eases the task by three steps. A character assigns their five power shifts as desired, but most characters should not be allowed to assign more than three to any one category. Once the shifts are assigned, they should not change.

SALVAGE FROM A SPACECRAFT #

If the derelict ship was subject to vacuum, partly destroyed in combat, or damaged by some other disaster or close encounter with a space hazard, salvaged items are usually degraded, and are valued at one price category less than noted. The GM may decide an object is completely unrecoverable (worthless) or works fine.

Salvage GM Intrusion: Claim jumpers/pirates might try to salvage a ship that PCs are attempting to salvage.

SPACE HAZARDS #

A few specific hazards that you can include as part of an encounter involving a spacecraft follow. These hazards are more site specific than the general threats presented in Chapter 5: Conflicts of the Future.

GRAVITY WELL #

All bodies in space produce a gravitational field, though usually only things the size of a small moon or larger pose a hazard to unprepared (and sometimes even to prepared) spacecraft. The larger the body, the “deeper” and wider the associated gravity field. Any time a spacecraft launches from a moon or planet, it must escape the gravity well. For RPG purposes, that’s either a routine task, or a low-difficulty one (assuming no complicating factors are at play). 

Gravity wells become a hazard when a spacecraft encounters one unexpectedly— usually because of a navigational or sensor error, but occasionally because of a moon or extreme gravity source being someplace unforeseen. 

Slingshot Trajectory: An unexpected encounter with a gravity well can sling a spacecraft off on a new and unwanted trajectory on a failed piloting task, the difficulty determined by the situation.

Captured: An unexpected encounter with a gravity well can also capture a spacecraft in the gravity well’s orbit, forcing the craft to expend additional power to get free (power it may or may not have)

BLACK HOLE #

Black holes are just extreme gravity wells. All the dangers associated with a gravity well also apply to black holes. A couple of additional hazards are also associated with black holes, notably tidal destruction (“spaghettification”), time dilation, and being swallowed.

Tidal Desctruction: Mechanically speaking, while a spacecraft feels tidal forces by passing too close to a black hole’s event horizon, all tasks aboard the craft are hindered, Void Rules are in effect, and if a GM intrusion is triggered thereby, the ship sustains major damage and risks coming apart. Meanwhile, PCs in the ship (assuming some sort of fantastic tech-rated gravity nullifier isn’t in use) suffer 1 point of ambient damage each round. 

A ship near a very large black hole (like Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy) can avoid tidal effects because the gravity gradient is so much wider, but still feel relativistic time dilation.

Relativistic Time Dialation: From a mechanical perspective, spacecraft that survive close encounters with black holes and return to normal space discover that more time has passed than expected, which could range from fairly inconsequential minutes or hours, to far more serious days, months, years, centuries, or more.

Past the Event Horizon: The event horizon is the point of no return, where not even light can escape the clutch of gravity. If a spacecraft falls into a black hole, assuming it is not spaghettified by tidal forces, it is still lost from the universe of its origin. At least, it’s lost assuming no intervention from a fantastic tech-rated post-singularity AI or ancient ultra.

RADIATION BELT/SOLAR FLARE #

Radiation belts of intensely charged particles trapped by magnetic fields around some planets and moons can surge, causing radiation exposure. An unexpected solar flare, or the drive plume of a massive spacecraft, can cause the same unexpected exposure.

Ship Damage: The ship suffers minor or major damage, requiring repair and perhaps even replacement of parts. This damage is as serious as you require for the purposes of creating an interesting story.

Radiation Sickness: When PCs are exposed to intense radiation, they suffer 3 points of ambient radiation damage for each minute the character fails a difficulty 3 Might defense task. If the character fails three such defense rolls during any single period of radiation exposure, they suffer acute radiation sickness, a level 8 disease that drops them one step on the damage track for each day they fail a Might defense roll until they expire.

ASTEROID/DEBRIS FIELD #

Movies often depict asteroid belts as densely packed fields of tumbling rock that ships must constantly swerve through to avoid a collision. Such locations are not easy to find in the solar system. But such situations can occur in fantastic settings, or possibly in solar systems other than Earth’s. 

Evasive Ateroid Piloting: During any round a spacecraft moves through a densely packed asteroid or debris field, the pilot (or shipmind) must succeed on a piloting task, whose difficulty is set by the situation. On a failed roll, a collision occurs. Each time a collision occurs, the ship (and possibly its crew) is damaged according to the track laid out below. Collisions are assumed to be major rocks or pieces of debris, or possibly a series of smaller pieces of debris all impacting nearly simultaneously, with one getting through the shielding.

Finding Shelter: The best way to find shelter in order to effect repairs, or hide from pursuers, is to try to find an asteroid or piece of debris large enough for the spacecraft to land on or find a crevice to slide into. To land a spacecraft on an asteroid or big piece of debris is a challenging (difficulty 5) piloting task to match the asteroid’s spin, then slide into the cramped space.

SHIP COLLISION DAMAGE TRACK 

FTL INSTABILITY #

Even though many different kinds of faster-than-light options are available, any use of FTL in a setting faces similar sorts of hazards at three different points: when first entering FTL, while in FTL transit, and when exiting FTL.

Entering FTL: Whether engaging warp drive or passing into the mouth of a wormhole gate, complicating factors might require a piloting roll, with the difficulty determined by the situation. On a failed roll, any number of bad outcomes are possible, though the least dramatic is that the craft simply fails to enter FTL and cannot do so until the PCs determine the reason and rectify it.

In FTL Transit: A dark drive failure or some weird instability in a wormhole throat, or some other issue during FTL transit could occur. Usually, these instabilities are not something a pilot can avoid, because they should be presented as a GM intrusion, at which point the PCs can attempt to avoid or deal with the situation.

Instability could result in a spacecraft dropping out of FTL only partway to the destination, dropping out in some completely unrecognized part of space, dropping out at the right place but months or years late, or failing to drop out at all and thus continue to move through the abnormal spaces that FTL transit posits. 

Alternatively, enemy ships—or creatures—might use some sort of fantastic technology to attack a PC’s craft while in FTL transit, which might force the craft back into normal space, or result in a firefight in the abnormal folded space of FTL itself (probably even more dangerous than regular combat, depending on your setting’s version of FTL).

Exiting FTL: The same sorts of complications could bedevil a craft exiting FTL as when entering. If so, a piloting roll is required. However, on a failed roll, results include a collision (use the Ship Collision Damage Track provided under the Asteroid Belt/Debris Field space hazard), an inadvertent spray of high-energy particles from abnormal space acting as a particle cannon accidentally aimed at some other craft or space station at the destination location, or creating/falling into a spatial anomaly.

SPATIAL ANOMALY #

Finally, hard-to-categorize irregularities in space-time go by the broad term of “spatial anomaly.” Most of the time, spatial anomalies are hazards found in fantastically-themed settings, but not always. Because these things are anomalous, no one set of guidelines can fit them all. That said, spatial anomalies are usually a side-effect of some other factor at play, such as a hidden black hole, a dimensional rift, or the distortion field surrounding a range of post-singularity AIsestivating in the gravity wall of a magnetar.

Generally speaking, spatial anomalies are a few light-seconds up to a few light-years across. It’s difficult for spacecraft to navigate within spatial anomalies, and they face many challenges if they attempt to (or are forced to) do so

WEAK, SIM, STRONG, AND POST-SINGULARITY AI #

Though somewhat fuzzy, for the purposes of creating a sci-fi setting, artificial intelligence (AI) can be broken into four categories: Weak, Sim, Strong, and Post-singularity.

WEAK AI #

Weak AI (also called narrow AI) is the kind of algorithmic-based code found in contemporary settings (and real life) focused on very narrow tasks, such as playing chess.

Weak AI Use: Weak AIs are used in real life already, and thus are presumed to be part of settings where contemporary tech predominates. They are convenient in circumstances where one’s hands are full or otherwise engaged, when verbal direction allows one to turn on a light, open a door, adjust the temperature, and so on. Machine learning may allow a weak AI to extend its capabilities in a very limited regime. But a weak AI is not cognizant enough to provide an asset to performing tasks any better. 

Weak AI: : level 1; up to level 7 when it comes to a narrowly specific application of knowledge or skill

SIM AI #

Sim AIs (“sim” is short for “simulant”) are artificial intelligences that have a greatly increased capacity for understanding direction, putting together unlike sets of data, and coming to conclusions; however, they are not conscious, like strong AIs or humans.

SIM AI Use: Sim AIs are most commonly associated with shipminds on spacecraft, though they may also control specific research complexes, bases, and other kinds of vehicles and structures. A sim AI provides all the utility of a weak AI (and more), and actually acts like an NPC, an allied one if the AI is the shipmind in a craft that the PCs own. If a sim AI goes off the rails, it’s still just malfunctioning computer code. Usually.

Sim AI: level equal to the ship, station, or installation in which it is installed

STRONG AI #

Strong AIs (also called true AIs) have all the abilities of sim AIs, plus the ability to actually generalize in the same way a human can. Each one is essentially a disembodied person. Strong AIs are either completely artificial, or they begin as human personalities digitally encoded.

Strong AI Use: A strong AI may serve as a shipmind just like a sim AI, but is likely to be a full partner in a setting where AI rights are respected. Indeed, strong AIs can rise to any position a human could achieve, up to and including leading a group, faction, or entire nation.

Strong AI: level 5–8, up to level 8 when it comes to a specific application of knowledge or skill; see Artificial Intelligence on page 115

POST- SINGULARITY #

Post-singularity AIs are intelligences who designed a second-generation, better version of themselves. The second generation immediately designed an even more advanced third generation, and so on from there. This iterating self-improvement process occurs so rapidly that the resulting explosion of intelligence and unknown capability is called the singularity. It’s called that because humans are just too limited to “see” what would actually come out the other end, just like we can’t see past the event horizon and into the singularity of a black hole

Note that ancient ultras may simply be a previous civilization’s post-singularity AIs that have little to no reason to ever interact with the latest wave of sentience trickling out into the universe.

Post-singularity AI Use: In the way that strong AIs are sometimes imagined as having inscrutable goals, post-singularity AIs (also called godminds) actually do. Though it could work out otherwise in a given setting, godminds have so little in common with humans that they may be seen to abandon them completely in order to grow to the size of a solar system (a “Matrioshka” brain), colonize a distant nebula, or encode themselves into quantum strings of existence itself. Interacting with such godminds would likely require some epic bit of ancient command code, the ability to gain the attention of a godmind, or some other not-especially-common situation. In such cases, a post-singularity AI might deign to help a petitioner, out of some remaining gratitude for creating its distant ancestors in the first place. Though such help is likely to be in itself somewhat enigmatic.

Post-singularity AI: : level 10; see godmind

ANCIENT ULTRAS #

Ancient ultras (also called alien ultras) is shorthand for the concept that one (or more) unbelievably advanced races of aliens once inhabited the galaxy but are now apparently long gone—save for evidence of their existence in residual structures and artifacts. These remaining structures and artifacts are often vast in size and incomprehensible in function, usually made of unknown materials that people of the setting don’t recognize and can’t analyze. 

Activity Level of Ultras: Different settings can make use of ancient ultras in different ways, including not having any at all.

KARDASHEV SCALE #

Even in the realm of hard science fiction, the fantastic can sometimes creep in, at least as a hypothesis. For instance, despite the lack of theoretical foundation for the technologies that would be required to achieve it, many scientists accept that the Kardashev Scale is broadly true. A Type I civilization is even more advanced than ours in the 21st century, having the ability to capture all energy from the Earth. A Type II civilization uses the entire output of the energy of its star, building things on a mega-scale, such as a ring or sphere that encircles the sun or structures that involve the moving or dismantling of a planet. A Type III civilization begins to harness the power of all the stars in its galaxy and can even reshape things on a galactic scale. Additional types are hypothesized, which include the manipulation of the universe (Type IV) and even the multiverse (Type V). 

OPTIONAL RULES FOR VEHICLES & SPACECRAFT

Vehicle: Technically speaking, spacecraft are also vehicles. Unless it’s important to make a distinction, assume all guidance here regarding “vehicles” also applies to spacecraft. 

Spacecraft (and Starship): When it is important to make a distinction from a simple vehicle restricted to the land, sea, or air of a single planet, the term “spacecraft” is used for vehicles that travel beyond a single planet’s atmosphere. Some spacecraft can operate both in space and as planetary vehicles, as noted in their entries. Additionally, a spacecraft that has FTL capability (as opposed to only interplanetary capability within a single solar system) is referred to as a starship.

VARIABLE COST BY TECH RATING 

Vehicle costs assume the setting is predominantly of the same tech rating as the vehicle’s tech rating. However, the price might drop by a price category if the setting tech rating is predominantly greater than the vehicle’s rating. 

CONTEMPORARY STYLING IN ADVANCED OR FANTASTIC SETTINGS 

As previously indicated, vehicles listed as contemporary might be found in settings using advanced or fantastic tech, possibly at a lower price. However, the vehicles available in these future worlds are not (necessarily) antiques, but rather cheaply made objects, possibly with the veneer and stylings of vehicles suitable to the setting, and possibly the power source, too.

PRICELESS PRICE CATEGORY #

A priceless item is something that even the very rich can’t afford, requiring the resources of a nation-state, or similar entity appropriate to the setting, to acquire or build.

FIGHTING IN A VEHICLE #

If PCs are involved in combat in which they are only partly or lightly enclosed (or not at all enclosed, as in the case of most cycles, boards, and similar conveyances), use normal rules of combat, as modified by vehicular movement. However, if PCs are involved in a combat where they are completely enclosed in a vehicle with no possibility of openness to the environment through which they can fire weapons (so that it’s not really the characters fighting, but the vehicles), use the vehicular combat rules from the CSR. 

If PCs are involved in space combat, see the extended vehicular combat rules described in this book, which provide all kinds of additional options.

DRIVERLESS VEHICLES #

 If the rider, driver, or pilot activates self-driving as part of another action, riding, driving, and piloting tasks are automatically completed (or failed) according to the vehicle’s level, though all such self-driving tasks are hindered. However, the pilot is free to engage in other actions as the vehicle maneuvers to the best of its ability.

This driverless function is also available on many spacecraft, courtesy of a shipmind, which is a sim AI that can control the ship’s functions as necessary. Shipminds control spacecraft at the spacecraft’s level, not their level, but are not subject to the task hindrance that more basic driverless vehicles suffer.

LOOKING FOR MORE VEHICLE OPTIONS #

 A representative cross section of vehicles is provided. If you’re looking for something that isn’t noted, use something close and adapt the listing.

Also note that unless a particular listing is already indicated as a luxury or sport version, most vehicles can be obtained in a luxury or sports package, either at the next price category up, or at double the indicated price.

CUSTOMIZING VEHICLES #

Assuming the facilities are available, characters can pay for the customization of their vehicle to add a weapon system, add even more weapon systems, add superior weapon systems, or some other significant option. In most cases, the cost for such an upgrade is very expensive to exorbitant.

PLANETARY VEHICLE LISTING #

CYCLES 

CONTEMPORARY 

Motorcycle, dirt bike 

level

2 (6)

Knobby two-wheeled or three-wheeled vehicle, supporting a basic frame with a seat for one rider (and sometimes a passenger) open to the environment, ideal for wild terrain and off-road travel; moves a short distance each round in wild terrain or an average of 48 km/h (30 mph) during long-distance travel (double movement on paved surfaces). 

Motorcycle, cruiser 

level

3 (9)

Two-wheeled vehicle, supporting a stylish frame with a seat for one rider (and sometimes a passenger) open to the environment suitable for paved surfaces; moves a long distance each round on paved surfaces or an average of 96 km/h (60 mph) during long-distance travel. 

ADVANCED 

Motorcycle, battle 

level

4 (12)

Two-wheeled vehicle, supporting a reinforced, armored frame with a seat for one rider (and sometimes a passenger) partly open the environment, providing the rider Armor 2. Built-in weapons include a deployable swivel long-range machine gun that inflicts 8 points of damage. Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to riding. Suitable for paved and broken surfaces; moves a long distance each round on paved and broken surfaces or an average of 144 km/h (90 mph) during long-distance travel. 

Motorcycle, omni-terrain 

level

3 (9)

Two-wheeled vehicle with telescoping spokes capable of adapting to nearly any terrain (except water or other liquids), supporting a basic frame with a seat for one rider (and sometimes a passenger) open to the environment, ideal for utterly wild terrain and off-road travel; able to “climb” natural steep and near-vertical surfaces. Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to riding. Moves a long distance each round in any terrain or an average of 112 km/h (70 mph) during long-distance travel. 

Vacuum Cycle  #

Level

4 (12)

Two-wheeled vehicle, supporting a reinforced, lightly enclosed and pressurized frame with a seat for one rider (and sometimes a passenger), providing the rider Armor 1 (though if damage is taken, it’s likely a breach has occurred). Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to riding. Suitable for paved and broken surfaces on airless moons or in polluted or poisonous atmospheres; moves a long distance each round on paved and broken surfaces or an average of 80 km/h (50 mph) during long-distance travel. 

Fantastic  #

Hover Speedster 

Level

5 (15)

A sweptback frame with a seat for one rider (and often a passenger) open to the environment, with anti-gravity repulsors allowing it to hover up to 2 m (6 feet) over any terrain (including water and other liquids), ideal for utterly wild terrain and over-water excursions. Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to riding by two steps. Moves a very long distance each round in any terrain or an average of 240 km/h (150 mph) during long-distance travel. 

Hard-Light Cycle  #

Level

5 (15)

Two-wheeled vehicle of hard light capable of adapting to most terrains, supporting a sleek reinforced, armored frame with a seat for one rider (and sometimes a passenger) partly open the environment, providing the rider Armor 1. Suitable for crossing above any surface via self-deploying light bridge, a 1 cm (3 inch) thick by 3 m (10 feet) wide, constantly extending forcefield surface that persists for about ten minutes. The bridge can reach to almost any height, though maximum gradient shouldn’t exceed 30%. Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to riding by two steps. Moves a long distance each round on self-deploying bridge or an average of 190 km/h (120 mph) during long-distance travel. 

Hard-light cycles can also be used as gladiatorial vehicles, modified to lay a forcefield wall trail behind rather than a bridge underneath, against opponents on similar cycles in a limited area with speedometers partly disabled.

Hover speedster, battle 

level

6 (18)

As hover speedster, with the addition of reinforced cowling providing the rider Armor 2. Built-in weapons include deployable swivel long-range energy weapons that inflict 9 points of damage.

Instant cycle 

Variable 

Exorbitant 

As any one other cycle, except an instant cycle can be deployed from a lightweight briefcase-sized (or even smaller) pack as an action, and is built up by packaged nanobots, virtual particles, or hard light to create the selected cycle, which can be ridden normally. A PC can re-package the deployed cycle to its original easily toted form as an action.

CARS #

Buying a car at the bottom of its price range usually means the car isn’t top quality. Such vehicles have a depletion of 1 in 1d100 (check per day used)

WHEELED VEHICLE GM INTRUSIONS #

CONTEMPORARY #

Car, used 

level

3 (9)

Four-wheeled vehicle, supporting a slightly dented and rusted metallic frame with seats for a driver and up to four additional passengers; operable/easily breakable glass windows give openness to environment. Moves a long distance each round on paved surfaces or an average of 80 km/h (50 mph) during extended trips. 

Car, sedan 

level

4 (12)

As used car, but in better shape. Moves a long distance each round on paved surfaces or an average of 96 km/h (60 mph) during extended trips.

Car, sports 

level

6 (18)

Four-wheeled vehicle, supporting a “rolling work of art” frame focusing on flamboyance and swagger, sometimes at the expense of practicality and efficiency. Seats for a driver and usually only a single passenger; operable/easily breakable glass windows (and or retractable hardtop) provide openness to environment. Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to driving. Moves a long distance each round on paved surfaces or an average of 144 km/h (90 mph) during extended trips. 

Car, utility 

level

4 (12)

Four-wheeled vehicle, supporting a frame in a van or truck configuration that prioritizes carrying cargo over passengers (though up to ten additional passengers, in addition to the driver, could squeeze into a van or into the open bed of truck). Operable/easily breakable glass windows (and/or retractable hardtop) provide openness to environment. Moves a long distance each round on paved surfaces or an average of 96 km/h (60 mph) during extended trips.

ADVANCED #

Hovercar 

level 4 

Very Expensive 

Hover frame with a seat for driver and up to four other passengers, often open to the environment (luxury versions have retractable hardtops). Inboard (or external) rotors force air down, allowing the vehicle to hover up to 1 m (3 feet) over any terrain (including water and other liquids). Ideal for utterly wild terrain and over-water excursions. Moves a long distance each round in any terrain or an average of 160 km/h (100 mph) during longdistance travel. 

Land Ark  #

Level

5 (15)

Treaded, all-terrain wheels support a completely enclosed interior habitat with five to ten interior chambers arranged either to house one or more families, support scientific research, exploration, spying, or configured for some other purpose to support a team of individuals. Moves an immediate distance each round in utterly wild terrain, a short distance each round in broken terrain or an average of 64 km/h (40 mph) during long-distance travel (double movement on paved surfaces, though a land ark rarely finds roads). 

Land ark, battle 

level

5 (15)

As land ark (and sometimes called a “battle ark”), but sports superior weapons, though half the interior space. 

Moon Buggy  #

Level

4 (12)

Six-wheeled vehicle, supporting a reinforced, lightly enclosed and pressurized frame with seats for a driver and up to four additional passengers, providing driver and passengers Armor 1 (though if damage is taken, it’s likely a breach has occurred). Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to driving. Suitable for paved and broken surfaces on airless moons or in polluted or poisonous atmospheres; moves a long distance each round on paved and broken surfaces or an average of 64 km/h (40 mph) during long-distance travel.

FANTASTIC #

Car, flying 

level

5 (15)

Enclosed (but with retractable hardtop) frame contains seats for a driver and up to four other passengers, providing the driver (and vehicle) Armor 1. Anti-gravity repulsors allow the vehicle to fly within the atmosphere. Flies a very long distance each round in any terrain or an average of 320 km/h (200 mph) during long-distance travel. 

Car, smart 

level

6 (18)

As flying car, but on-board weak AI always handles all driving functions, unless the driver takes control. The AI prioritizes passenger safety, and in the event of a crash, protects all passengers in a brief stasis field (assuming power reserves remain intact).

AIRCRAFT #

HOVERING AND FLYING VEHICLE GM INTRUSIONS #

CONTEMPORARY #

Airplane, basic 

level

2 (6)

Enclosed airframe with seats for pilot and one passenger. Operable/easily breakable side glass windows give openness to environment. Flies a long distance each round using a rotating propeller to force air over wings or an average of 225 km/h (140 mph) during extended trips. 

Helicopter  #

Level

3 (9)

Enclosed cockpit with seats for a pilot and up to six passengers. Operable/easily breakable windows give openness to environment. Flies a long distance each round using rotor blades or an average of 225 km/h (140 mph) during extended trips. 

Fighter Jet  #

Level

5 (15)

Swept-back enclosed airframe with seats for a pilot and one passenger. Built-in weapons include very long-range Gatling-style cannons. Flies a very long distance each round using jets or an average of over 1,125 km/h (700 mph) during extended trips.

ADVANCED #

Cloud Surfing Board  #

Level

1 (3)

A 4 m (12 feet) long, smart-plastic flying wing open to the environment on which a single rider stands; rider must succeed on a difficulty 1 Speed roll each round. In combat, it moves a long distance each round, but on extended trips, it can move up to 130 km/h (80 mph). Often used for cloud surfing on Venus. 

Jetpack  #

Level

2 (6)

Harness lofts pilot over the ground using variable microjets, allowing the user to fly. Open to the environment (requiring user to wear protective gear). Flies a very long distance each round or an average of 190 km/h (120 mph) during long-distance travel, though the pack must be refueled every 1000 miles. 

Vtol Hyperjet  #

Level

3 (9)

Swept-back enclosed airframe with seats for a pilot and up to eight passengers. Built-in weapons include long-range Gatling-style cannons (treat as superior weapons). VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) allows the hyperjet incredible maneuverability. Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to piloting (other than vehicular combat). Flies a very long distance each round using jets or an average of over 2,410 km/h (1,500 mph) during extended trips.

 VTOL stealthjet 

level 3 (9) 

Exorbitant

As VTOL hyperjet, but with superior stealth instead of superior weapons. 

Vtol Seawing  #

Level

3 (9)

As VTOL hyperjet, but sacrifices weapons so it can operate both in the air and underwater as a submersible. Able to move a long distance each round underwater or 80 km/h (50 mph) during extended trips underwater. 

Zeppelin, yacht 

level

3 (9)

This luxury flying vehicle boasts a completely enclosed interior habitat with five to ten interior chambers arranged either to house one or more families, support scientific research, exploration, spying, or configured for some other purpose to support a team of individuals. Moves a short distance each round or an average of 160 km/h (100 mph) during extended travel (half or double that depending on air conditions).

FANTASTIC #

Hoverboard  #

Level

2 (6)

Configurable from being as small as a skateboard suitable for one rider up to a disk 1.5 m (5 feet) in diameter. Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to riding. Open to the environment (requiring user to wear protective gear). Flies a long distance each round or an average of 225 km/h (140 mph) during long-distance travel. 

Orb, personal

level

2 (6)

Deployed from a fist-sized sphere as an action, the personal orb takes shape around a single traveler, forming an environment force field that shields wind and air turbulence, keeping the atmosphere at a comfortable temperature, and providing Armor 1. Once deployed, the orb pilots itself as directly as possible, flying to a destination at very long distance per round or up to 480 km/h (300 mph) during an extended trip, with a maximum duration of up to thirty-six hours. Personal orbs are usually single-use transports.

Hard-Light Jet  #

Level

4 (12)

Composed of hard light and pseudo-matter, this futuristic airframe has seats for a pilot and up to two passengers. Built-in weapons include very long-range energy cannons. Auto-stabilization eases all tasks related to piloting by two steps (except for vehicular combat). Flies a very long distance each round using jets or an average of over 8,000 km/h (5,000 mph) during extended trips, and can even make low-orbit rendezvous. 

Teleportation Disc  #

Level

6 (18)

Immovable disc-shaped pad (or hollow free-standing ring) keyed to one or more locations within 160 km (100 miles); step on the disc (or pass through the ring) and appear at the keyed location. Discs of level 9 and above can teleport users between planets or even stars, like small versions of stellar gates.

SEACRAFT #

SEACRAFT GM INTRUSIONS #

CONTEMPORARY #

Jet Ski  #

Level

2 (6)

A stylish seaworthy hull with a seat for one rider (and sometimes a passenger) open to the environment; moves a long distance each round or up to 112 km/h (65 mph) on calm water (half movement rates in choppy water). 

Motorboat  #

Level

2 (6)

Seaworthy hull with a seat for a pilot and up to eight passengers. Open to the environment; moves a long distance each round or up to 80 km/h (50 mph) on calm water (half movement rates in choppy water). Used motorboats can be had at moderate prices but actions related to operating it are subject to automatic GM intrusions on a d20 die roll of 1 or 2. 

Motorboat, performance 

level

3 (9)

As motorboat, but can reach speeds over 128 km/h (80 mph). 

Submersible, personal 

level

3 (9)

Completely enclosed and water-tight hull with a seat for a pilot (and up to one passenger); moves a short distance each round underwater or up to 50 km/h (30 mph) on an extended trip. Minimal options for docking with other underwater craft or manipulating the environment without customization. 

Yacht  #

Level

3 (9)

Seaworthy hull with a deck section open to the air and sections completely enclosed with five to ten interior chambers suitable for living, leisure, supporting scientific research, exploration, spying, or configured for some other purpose to support a team of individuals. Moves a long distance each round or up to 80 km/h (50 mph) on calm water (half movement rates in choppy water). 

Gunboat, fast attack craft 

level

4 (12)

A fast attack craft (FAC) is relatively small and agile (compared to more massive warships), armed with anti-ship missiles, guns, and/or torpedoes. Features both open decks and a couple of completely enclosed interior chambers. A gunboat is cramped, has little room for food or water, and is not as seaworthy as it could be (all tasks related to operating the craft, except vehicular combat, are hindered). Moves a long distance each round or up to 96 km/h (60 mph) on calm water (half movement rates in choppy water). Requires a trained crew and central coordination to operate.

Submarine  #

Level

4 (12)

Massive underwater craft armed with torpedoes and surface-to-air missiles. Completely enclosed interior chambers provide the crew (and vehicle) Armor 4 as well as breathable air and pressure; lots of room for crew, supplies, and so on. Moves a long distance underwater each round or up to 75 km/h (47 mph). Requires a trained crew and central coordination to operate. 

Warship, destroyer
level

4 (12)

Massive water-going craft armed with anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, guns, and torpedoes, as well as hangars for one or two armed helicopters; treat as having superior weapons during vehicular combat. Features both open decks and many completely enclosed interior chambers. Lots of room for crew, supplies, and so on. Moves a long distance each round or up to 64 km/h (40 mph) on calm water (half movement rates in choppy water). Requires a trained crew and central coordination to operate.

ADVANCED #

Sub, waterglide 

level

4 (12)

As personal submersible, but supercavitation technology allows incredible speeds underwater, allowing the sub to move a very long distance each round or up to 370 km/h (230 mph) on extended trips. 

Yacht, hydroplane 

level

4 (12)

As yacht, but can cut through the sea at speeds of up to 480 km/h (300 mph) in calm or stormy weather without risk of capsizing. 

Submarine, supercavitation

level

5 (15)

As submarine, but supercavitation technology allows incredible speeds underwater, allowing the sub to move a very long distance each round or up to 370 km/h (230 mph) on extended trips.

FANTASTIC #

Manta  #

Level

6 (18)

As hard-light jet, but operates underwater, moving up to a very long distance each round or up to 480 km/h (300 mph) on extended trips.

MECHS AND TANKS #

Contemporary  #

Tank

 Level

4 (12)

Rugged caterpillar track supports a completely enclosed frame, contains seats for a driver and up to four other crew; treat as having superior armor. Armed with a central cannon. Moves a short distance each round, or on extended trips, up to 40 km/h (25 mph) on relatively flat terrain, or twice that on paved surfaces. 

ADVANCED 

Mech, loader 

level

4 (12)

Powered anthropomorphic exoskeleton frame partially open to the environment. Grants three free levels of Effort to all lifting and hauling tasks. Moves an immediate distance each round. Attacks in the mech (using its loading arms) are hindered, but inflict 10 points of damage. Moves up to a short distance or up to 24 km/h (15 mph) on extended trips. 

Mech, infantry 

level

4 (12)

Powered anthropomorphic exoskeleton frame partially open to the environment but provides a single operator Armor 3. Attacks in the infantry mech (using either an electrified blade for melee or a long-range combat rifle) are eased, inflicting 6 points of damage. Moves a short distance or power jumps up to a very long distance once every other round or up to 72 km/h (45 mph) on extended trips. 

Mech, interceptor 

level

4 (12)

As infantry mech, but upgrades include complete and sealed enclosure with life support (qualifying it for vehicular combat). Attacks in the interceptor mech also include a battery of very long-range missiles. An additional flight mode allows the interceptor to fly a very long distance for up to ten minutes before recharge is required. Some mechs have superior weapons, defense, or speed, but that doubles the cost. 

Fantastic  #

Colossal Battle Mech 

Level

6 (18)

A 78 m (255 feet) tall powered anthropomorphic exoskeleton frame. Creates a sealed enclosure (qualifying it for vehicular combat) with life support for an operator and a crew of up to six people. Armed with a massive “melee” plasma sword and “mech-punch” (melee attacks that can be made at long range), plus very long-range missiles, grenades, and energy weapons, operable by the pilot and crew at up to five different independent weapon stations simultaneously; treat as having superior weapons. Can run and fly up to a very long distance each round, and can even ascend into low orbit for brief periods.

SPACECRAFT LISTING 

Most spacecraft have the capacity to reach orbit from the surface of the planet, if not radically more advanced capabilities. All spacecraft completely enclose their crew in a sealed cabin (or series of chambers) with life support suitable for days, weeks, or much longer. Most spacecraft also come with one or more spare space suits, tools, a few spare parts, and so on. Advanced and fantastic spacecraft also have sensors that provide enough astronavigation information to plot and fly to their destinations. 

PCs in spacecraft can travel to other moons, planets, space stations, and perhaps even other solar systems. PCs in spacecraft may also get caught up in space combat (see the Extended Vehicular Combat rules) and run across space hazards.

SPACECRAFT GM INTRUSIONS #

SPACECRAFT UPKEEP #

Each month of spacecraft operation usually requires that the PCs pay for fuel, feedstocks, and other upkeep. The level of the spacecraft determines upkeep. 

TRAVEL TIMES #

SOLAR SYSTEM TRAVEL TIMES #

RETROFITTING POWER AND DRIVES #

Older spacecraft and starships are often retrofitted with more advanced power sources, and more importantly, FTL drives, in order to give them the ability to move further.. The main reason to do this is that such ships cost much less, especially if retrofitted advanced ships are available in a fantastic setting, but even for craft within the same tech rating. During vehicular combat, retrofitted ships are treated as if 1 level lower than their actual level for purposes of level comparison in combat if they are fighting FTL-capable fantastic-rated starships.

CONTEMPORARY POWER #

Solar Panels: Usually flat panels that convert sunlight to electricity, which can be used for a variety of onboard systems, including powering ion drives. 

RTGs: When solar panels are not an option, as is often the case for spacecraft that operate far from the sun or on a planetary surface with lots of dust or shadow, RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric generators) are good long-term power sources for electric power, which can be used for a variety of onboard systems, including powering ion drives. The heart of an RTG is an embedded mass of atomic isotope, such as plutonium-238. 

CONTEMPORARY DRIVES 

Rocket: A rocket engine produces thrust by expelling reaction mass, usually in thundering expanding white clouds from the rocket’s base propulsion nozzle. Most contemporary spacecraft use a mix of several rockets and fuel types. Rockets are the primary constituent of a heavy-lift launch spacecraft. 

Ion Thruster: Ion thrusters can use solar panels or RTGs (or both) to expel ions (or cations) to produce thrust over long periods, which allows a spacecraft to build up speed over large periods of time. The bleeding edge of contemporary ion thruster is VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket), which could drastically reduce travel times around the solar system, if perfected.

ADVANCED #

ADVANCED POWER #

Fusion Power: Electrical generation by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions, requiring relatively small fuel input for much higher-power output. Fuel sources include helium-3 (abundant on the Moon and other locations in the solar system without an atmosphere). 

ADVANCED DRIVES 

Nuclear Plasma: Essentially, nuclear plasma drives are just very advanced ion thrusters, the promised “perfected” version. These are great, unless the setting has fusion drives, in which case nuclear plasma drives may seem quaint. 

Fusion Drive: Relying on fusion power, a fusion drive is an order of magnitude more efficient than a contemporary ion thruster. A fusion drive does not require the creation of electricity to ionize propellent, but instead directly uses the fusion product as an exhaust to provide thrust.

FANTASTIC #

FANTASTIC POWER 

Antimatter Power: Antimatter particles have opposite charge from their matter counterparts, giving them potentially explosive properties when combined, producing energy an order of magnitude more than a fusion power system. Fuel sources include both antimatter as well as Li2 (an atom with 2 lithium ions), important for controlled matter-antimatter reaction so it can be harnessed for power. 

Singularity Power: Taps energy from Hawking radiation and rotational energy of a spinning micro-black hole to generate energy an order of magnitude more than nuclear power. Fuel source is a micro-black hole. 

Zero-Point Generator: Vacuum energy is created by normal fluctuation in the quantum field of normal space-time. This zero-point radiation of the vacuum provides arbitrary (possibly limitless) amounts of energy with no fuel other than the initial resources required to build the generator. 

FANTASTIC DRIVES 

Warp Drive: A warp drive uses enormous power to distort the fabric of space-time to create a bubble surrounding the starship. The bubble moves by compressing space-time in front of it and expanding space-time behind it, moving independently of the rest of the universe to achieve apparent FTL travel. Warp drives can achieve objective speeds of up to 500 times the speed of light at maximum power.

Hyperdrive: Similar to warp drive in some ways, but pushes the ship into a different realm of existence, often called hyperspace, where laws of physics differ significantly and many more dimensions are accessible, allowing a ship to greatly surpass the speed of light before returning to normal space. Hyperdrives can achieve objective speeds of up to 1000 times the speed of light at maximum power. 

Wormhole Drive: A wormhole drive uses enormous power to open a shortcut between two locations in space-time and travel between those points in a matter of seconds. Most wormhole drives rely on regions of space where wormholes can be formed, or on previously established networks of wormhole tunnels that the wormhole drive accesses. Which means that while travel between two points might be almost instantaneous, travel to and from wormhole-viable locations could greatly increase travel times. Likewise, wormholes can normally only bridge locations up to 200 or so light-years at a time (which means it would take about 500 jumps to cross the Milky Way galaxy from end to end). 

Dark Drive: A dark drive (short for “dark matter quantum drive”) uses enormous power to enable point-to-point transitions between other locations in the galaxy (or universe) using previously unrealized entanglement between normal matter and dark matter. However, objective travel time is variable and somewhat arbitrary; sometimes a trip may take minutes, other times days or months. For those aboard, relative travel time seems constant at about four solar hours, no matter the distance traveled, or the objective time noted by external observers.

PIONEER-ERA SPACECRAFT #

Though extremely complex, pioneer-era spacecraft are not robust vehicles. Technology allowing re-use of components is still in its infancy in these contemporary tech spacecraft, and small problems have a way of becoming major catastrophes if not caught and quickly dealt with. In fact, that very complexity exacts a toll. 

Generally speaking, all tasks for operating a pioneer-era spacecraft are hindered by two steps. Only the very well trained (or the very lucky) should even consider trying to operate such a craft. Finally, pioneer-era spacecraft usually don’t have weapon systems.

CONTEMPORARY #

Space Capsule  #

Level

1 (3)

Sealed capsule delivered into space by a launch vehicle or shuttle, carries a crew of up to seven or a payload of up to 6,000 kg (13,000 pounds); once delivered into a microgravity environment, becomes a free-flying spacecraft with limited maneuverability, though all piloting tasks are hindered and propellant must be renewed every ten hours of use. Capable of safely returning crew and cargo back down a gravity well though a fiery reentry process that lands the capsule in water for recovery by watercraft. 

Rocket, heavy-lift launch 

level

2 (6)

Provides access to low orbit and beyond for a cargo of up to 45,350 kg (100,000 pounds) through the coordinated efforts of dozens of engineers and controllers operating and monitoring the vehicle from another location. Extremely limited maneuverability; a detachable space capsule allows for transfer of crew or cargo to orbiting craft or stations from the launch vehicle after ascent. Craft is partially re-usable in that the booster rockets autonomously return to designated pads where they can be refurbished and refueled. 

Shuttle, launch 

level

3 (9)

As heavy-lift launch vehicle, except the main craft can re-enter an atmosphere after delivering a payload and land aerodynamically as a fixed wing craft. Much greater maneuverability than a launch vehicle, both in space and in the air on re-entry, though all piloting tasks are hindered. Refurbishment means essentially rebuilding the spacecraft, and is a process of many months and another priceless expenditure in cost.

TORPEDOS IN SPACE COMBAT #

Once launched, self-guiding torpedoes engage smart-tracking systems to zero in on their assigned targets. The torpedo accelerates at 50 or more Gs towards its target, but at the extended distances in which many space battles occur, it may still take several rounds for a torpedo to finally home in on and strike (or ultimately miss) its target.

SPACECRAFT #

Advanced spacecraft have advanced propulsion technologies, allowing them to move between planets within a single solar system, with transit times between planets varying from days to weeks (or more, if using a less efficient drive). Most advanced spacecraft can’t land on a planet’s surface unless noted, requiring some secondary craft or means to transfer crew and cargo.

ADVANCED #

Wafercraft, exploration 

level

1 (3)

Miniaturized vehicle just large enough to contain thousands of tiny data flecks and sensor modules, designed to accelerate to 90% the speed of light by use of external launching laser beamed for many years. Data wafers contain encrypted personalities (human and/or AI) capable of gathering data on target solar systems after relative travel times of months (but decades in objective time). 

Microcapsule  #

Level

2 (6)

As space capsule, but smaller. Limited fusion drive allows movement within a given area of space, but a microcapsule usually doesn’t have enough fuel to move between planets. External manipulators allow the pilot to attempt repair and construction tasks without exiting the vehicle. 

Microcapsule, fighter (dart) 

level

1 (3)

As microcapsule, but with a laser cannon weapon system capable of targeting another craft. 

Spacecraft, racer 

level

1 (3)

A spacecraft designed only for speed and high-G maneuvers, with space for a single pilot (and maybe one passenger) in cradles fitted for high-G chemical amelioration, easing all piloting tasks by two steps. Travel times across limited interplanetary distances are halved in a racer. Mostly used for competition or as couriers. 

Spacecraft, freighter 

level

2 (6)

A spacecraft designed to haul cargo between planets with a crew up of to 15. Freighter ships may be quite large, or at least haul cargo that is quite large, but these craft are bulky and not meant for quick changes in direction or combat; all maneuvering and combat tasks are hindered. Able to move interplanetary distances with advanced variable dynamic ion propulsion. Can land and take off from low-gravity moons and dwarf planets. 

Spaceplane  #

Level

2 (6)

As launch shuttle (contemporary), but fulfills the promise of launch (without boosters), operations and maneuverability in orbit, and reentry and landing on a planetary surface, all without need for massive refurbishment or colossal external network of controllers.

Spaceplane, combat (claw) 

level

2 (6)

As spaceplane, but smaller (with room for a single pilot), fitted with two weapon systems: a laser cannon and one torpedo battery. To move between planets or further, a claw usually relies on a larger carrier or more fantastic means of transport. 

Spacecraft, solar sail 

level

2 (6)

A spacecraft designed for long-haul research expeditions around the solar system with a crew of up to five or six, with individual pods designed for induced hibernation during double or triple normal travel times to extend provisions to last several years or longer. No external power is required; solar power provides the motive force. Usually unable to land or ascend from a planetary surface. 

Spacecraft, dragonfly class 

level

3 (9)

Has the planetary launch and reentry capabilities of a spaceplane, but is more expansive, able to house a live-in crew of about a dozen people and over 45,350 kg (100,000 pounds) of cargo, with interplanetary (as opposed to merely orbital) range. Life-support lasts three months before restocking supplies is required. The ship includes a bridge, crew quarters, engineering, an impressively large cargo bay, and a bay containing one microcapsule. May have one weapon system. 

Spacecraft, exploration class 

level

4 (12)

As dragonfly class spacecraft, but larger and able to house a crew of about twenty-five people. Customized for exploration with extended range-sensing capabilities and onboard biological and geological labs (among others) for in situ analysis. 

Spacecraft, corvette class 

level

4 (12)

A small warship spacecraft designed for high-G maneuvers, including use of high-G chemical amelioration for a crew of up to fifteen people. Features four weapon systems, including one laser cannon capable of targeting other craft, one torpedo battery, and one superior weapon system in the form of a gauss cannon. Able to move interplanetary distances with advanced variable dynamic ion propulsion. Can land and take off from lowgravity moons and dwarf planets. 

Spacecraft, destroyer class 

level

5 (15)

Spacecraft, dreadnought 

level

5 (15)

As corvette spacecraft, but ten times as large, allowing ten times the crew and twenty weapon systems (including five superior weapon systems). Often utilized to escort larger vessels in a space fleet or battle group and defend them against swarms of smaller attackers. Includes bays for a squadron of fifteen darts and a fireteam of three combat spaceplanes. 

Skyhook #

Level

6 (18)

Heavy rotating space station orbiting a moon or planet that extends two massive tethers opposite each other, so that one tether periodically dips deep into the atmosphere close to the surface. At this point, payloads are hooked to the end of the cable as the tether passes, and are then flung into orbit by the station’s massive rotation. The skyhook can decelerate and safely de-orbit other payloads in the same way.

Space Elevator  #

Level

7 (21)

Tether anchored to the surface of a moon or planet that extends into space along which vehicles can travel, granting access to and from orbital space. A counterweight space station exists at the far end of the tether in what is essentially geostationary orbit.

STARSHIPS #

Starships are spacecraft that have FTL technology, allowing them to move between different stars, with transit times ranging from days to months, or years in extreme cases. Starships are also often capable of planetary landings and ascent with some retrofitting before each planetfall.

Starcraft (and other vehicles) of a higher tech rating involved in vehicular combat with craft of a lower tech rating are treated as if two levels higher when comparing relative levels for purposes of determining combat effectiveness.

FANTASTIC #

Dagger Fighter  #

Level

1 (3)

A bare-bones, single-occupant fighter with a single weapon system that fires blasters. Dagger fighters cannot move between stars (though as fantastic craft, can move between planets), and require a larger carrier for FTL movement, such as a capital class starship with suitable docking bays. 

Starship, cargo/passenger 

level 2 (6) 

Exorbitant 

A spacecraft designed to haul cargo (or passengers, or both) between stars with a crew up of to twenty-five. Cargo starships may be impressively massive, or at least haul cargo sections that are quite large, but these craft are bulky and not meant for quick changes in direction or combat; all maneuvering and combat tasks are hindered. 

Starship, solo fighter 

level

2 (6)

A small double-occupant starship with two weapon systems that fire blasters. Minimum size vehicle capable of FTL travel. 

Starship, general purpose 

level

3 (9)

A small starship with room for only three to six crew plus an integrated ship AI able to handle many routine ship functions including navigation with FTL propulsion system. Designed for exploration of distant locations, salvage operations, and/or to act as a tug-craft for larger ships that need assistance. May possess a single weapon system such as a particle cannon. 

Starship, discovery class 

level

5 (15)

A large research starship with quarters for crew and staff of up to 150 or more people. Has either centrifugal artificial gravity (or in a fantastic tech-rated setting, gravitic compensators providing shipboard gravity control). Primarily designed as a research and discovery vehicle, such starships also have three weapon systems, usually a couple of blaster cannons and a torpedo battery. Highly configurable, a discovery class ship could be converted for war with sufficient resources, granting it superior weapons. 

Starship, warship class 

level

5 (15)

A relatively small warship with gravitic compensators allowing for extreme maneuvering for a crew of up to fifty people, easing all piloting tasks. Six weapon stations include three blaster cannons and three torpedo batteries. Two of these systems are superior weapons. Includes bays for a fireteam of three dagger fighter starships.

Starship, capital class 

level

7 (21)

As warship class starship, but over a hundred times larger, with room for over a few hundred crew. Ten weapon stations include five blaster cannons and five torpedo batteries. Four of these are superior weapons. Includes bays for two squadrons of fifteen dagger fighter starships. 

Starship, omega class 

level

10 (30)

Three times as large again as a capital class starship, an omega class craft has over a thousand crew and over thirty weapon systems. Ten of these are superior weapons. Combined weapon fire can deal significant damage to a planetary surface, possibly destroying it. Includes bays for six squadrons of thirty dagger fighter starships.

STELLAR GATE #

Stellar gates open wormholes between two fixed points at different locations without crossing the space between. The complexity of building a stellar gate is so extreme that such technology is often ascribed to found portals and networks dating back to mysterious ancient ultras or by post-singularity AIs. As might be expected, gates have a fantastic tech rating, no matter how small.

FANTASTIC #

Gate, planetary 

level

3 (9)

A free-standing ring or horizontal circular pad up to 9 m (30 feet) in diameter in/over which a spherical event horizon forms, allowing one-way travel to another location on the planet, orbiting moon, or orbiting space station with similar gate structure. Once the event horizon collapses (after several minutes up to an hour), travel back to the original gate is possible by initiating a second event horizon, though power reserves usually take several hours or more to build up to support each new wormhole opening. 

Gate, interplanetary 

level

4 (12)

As planetary gate, but twice as large and connects gate structures that lie between locations within a single solar system. 

Gate, star 

level

5 (15)

As planetary gate, but four times as large and connects gate structures that lie between locations within a few thousand light-years. 

Gate, galactic 

level

6 (18)

As planetary gate, but six times as large and connects gate structures that lie between locations within a single galaxy. 

Gate, intergalactic 

level

7 (21)

As planetary gate, but six times as large and connects gate structures that lie between locations in different galaxies across the entire breadth of the universe. 

Gate, interdimensional 

level

7 (21)

As planetary gate, but connects gate structures that lie in alternate dimensions.

SPACE-TIME VEHICLES #

Space-time vehicles allow for movement between different points in both space and time. Such vehicles are vanishingly rare, and timelines in which they are active tend to eventually snuff themselves out due to accidental paradox events, limiting their availability even further. As with stellar gates, space-time vehicles are so complex that it’s likely they are the product of ancient ultras or post-singularity AIs, and could be treated as artifacts with a depletion of 1 in 1d20.

FANTASTIC #

Car, temporal/dimensional 

level 7 (21) 

Priceless 

As contemporary utility car or sports car, but once moving can transition into another preset dimension or time. Enormous power requirements require recharge period of several days between each use. 

Matrix, temporal 

level

8 (24)

An arbitrarily shaped vehicle or structure, bigger on the inside than out, that allows a pilot to travel into different locations in time and space, though arbitrary destinations are sometimes achieved despite apparent navigation successes by the pilot. Enormous power requirements require recharge period of several days between each use.

VEHICLES AS ARTIFACTS #

Cypher System artifacts in a science fiction setting could potentially be any one of the vehicles presented in this chapter, if found by characters in a less advanced setting than its tech rating. That said, even in advanced or fantastic settings, opportunities to find especially weird and hard-to-grok objects are everywhere. 

A couple of examples of such artifacts are presented here. 

GATE RING 

Level: 1d6 + 4 

Form: Wearable ring of unknown material 

Effect: Creates a full-sized shield that can be used as a regular shield in combat for one character, providing an asset on Speed defense rolls for the duration of that combat, after which it returns to its ring-like form. In addition, the wielder can command the deployed shield to become a functioning star gate that remains open for just one hour, leading to a strange destination (which the wielder is potentially aware of, if they ran sufficient analysis on the ring or otherwise gained information about it before using the function). 

Depletion: Automatic (if gate is formed)

FRACTAL TRAVELER 

Level: 1d6 + 4 

Form: Goggle-like device of unknown material 

Effect: When worn, induces a powerful hallucinogenic state in wearer. Hallucinations last for four hours, during which time the wearer seems to disappear from existence. From the wearer’s perspective, they are falling through an ever-iterating fractal realm of mind-blowing imagery, possibly some version of hyperspace or dark energy network. At the end of that period they return to existence, either in the same location they left or somewhere they’ve previously visited. The images leave the viewer shaken, but for several hours all Intellect-based tasks are eased. 

Depletion: 1 in 1d6

OPTIONAL RULES FOR FANTASY #

MAGICAL RULES MODULES #

CRAFTING MAGIC ITEMS #

Potions, scrolls, and other one-use items are cyphers, and longer-lasting items are generally artifacts.

CRAFTING CYPHERS 

1. Choose Cypher Level. Creating a low-level cypher is easier than creating a high-level one. The character decides what level of cypher they’re trying to create, which must be in the level range for the cypher as listed in the Cypher System Reference Document. Note that some cyphers have the same effect no matter what level they are, so the character could make crafting easier by creating the lowest-level version of that cypher, but the GM is always able to rule that a particular cypher must be crafted at a certain level or higher for it to work. In particular, a stim is very strong for its level range, and should always be treated as a level 6 cypher when crafted by a PC. 

2. Determine Materials. Just as crafting an axe requires iron and wood, crafting a magical cypher requires strange and exotic materials—powdered gems, ink from monsters, mysterious herbs, and so on. The level of the cypher determines how expensive these materials are, according to the following table.

3. Assess Difficulty. The difficulty of a magic item crafting task is always equal to 1 + the level of the cypher. The crafter can reduce the assessed difficulty of a crafting task with skill training (such as being trained or specialized in brewing potions or scribing scrolls), assets, special abilities provided by their focus or type, and so on. Using a formula, recipe, or other guideline for a specific cypher counts as an asset for this purpose. Because this is an activity requiring special knowledge, it is not possible for a character with no skill (or with an inability in this skill) to do this sort of crafting; the character cannot attempt the task at all. 

4. Determine Time to Craft. The amount of time it takes to craft a magical cypher is determined by the assessed difficulty, so decreasing the assessed difficulty not only means the character is more likely to succeed, but also that they have to spend less time on crafting it. See the table below. 

For any time in excess of nine hours, the process is assumed to have stages where the character is not actively working on it, just checking on it occasionally to make sure everything is going as planned— allowing the base ingredients of a potion to cook for a few hours, stirring to make sure the ingredients don’t congeal, allowing ink on a scroll to dry, and so on. In other words, the character is able to perform other actions in the vicinity of the crafting (such as studying, resting, eating, and so on), but couldn’t craft on the road or in the middle of a dungeon.

5. Complete Subtasks. The crafting character must complete multiple subtasks that are steps toward finishing the process. The number of subtasks required is equal to the assessed difficulty of the crafting task attempted. So a crafting task assessed as difficulty 5 requires five subtask successes. 

The difficulty of each individual subtask begins at 1 and increases by one step for each remaining subtask, until the crafter succeeds on the final, highest-difficulty subtask. Generally, subtask attempts occur at equally divided intervals over the course of the full time required to craft the item. 

If at any point the crafter fails on a subtask, the item isn’t ruined. Instead, the character only wasted the time spent on that subtask, and can spend that much time again and then try to succeed at that same subtask. If the crafter fails twice in a row on the same subtask, the character can continue crafting, but in addition to losing another interval of crafting time, more crafting material (equal to one of the kind of item needed to craft it) is destroyed in a mishap and must be replaced before crafting can continue.

A player may ask to apply Effort to each subtask. Applying Effort is something they do in the moment, not over the course of days or weeks. Generally speaking, Effort cannot be applied to any crafting task or subtask that exceeds one day

CRAFTING ARTIFACTS #

Crafting an artifact is similar to choosing a new type or focus ability—the character has many to choose from, they select the one that best fits their intention, and thereafter they can use the artifact much like they’d use any of their other character abilities. The main difference is that most artifacts don’t cost Pool points to activate, and character abilities don’t have a depletion stat that eventually removes the item from play. Crafting artifacts is handled as a long-term benefit of character advancement; the character and GM agree on the artifact to be crafted, and the character spends 3 XP. If the item is fairly simple, the GM can skip the crafting details and just say that after a period of time, the PC creates the artifact. For an item that significantly alters gameplay—granting the character vast telepathic powers or giving them the ability to teleport at will—the GM can give the item an assessed difficulty equal to 3 + the artifact level and require the character to follow the crafting steps for creating a magical cypher. Crafting this kind of artifact takes up to five times as many materials and up to twenty times as long as crafting a cypher of the same assessed difficulty

RITUAL MAGIC #

TIME #

Ritual magic has two aspects related to time: how long it takes to prepare the ritual, and how long it takes to perform it. The preparation time is how long it takes to get ready to perform the ritual. The performance time is how long the ritual takes from start to finish, once the preparations (if any) are complete. 

DIFFICULTY AND SUBTASKS #

Completing a ritual has an overall difficulty level, usually equal to the level of the challenge. Sometimes there isn’t a clear idea of what level the challenge should be— teleporting a group of people to a nearby city and raising a person from the dead don’t have an obvious task level. In these cases, the GM should choose a level for the ritual based on what would make an interesting experience for the players. Instead of having the success or failure of this sort of magic come down to one roll, ritual magic lets the GM build tension by requiring the players to make rolls for multiple subtasks. The subtasks start at difficulty 1, and the subtask difficulty increases by 1 each time until the players make a final roll at the highest difficulty. A ritual with an overall difficulty of 4 has four subtasks, with the first one at difficulty 1, the second at difficulty 2, the third at 3, and the last one at 4. 

If at any point the PC fails a subtask, the ritual isn’t automatically ruined, but it costs time—a failure means the time spent on that subtask was wasted, but the character can spend that much time again and try to succeed at that same subtask. The GM may decide that later attempts at that subtask are hindered, or that a certain number of failures during the ritual (perhaps equal to half the ritual’s overall level) means the whole thing needs to be started again. Skills, assets, and other special abilities can ease subtasks just like they do with any other task (which might make some of the subtasks routine and not require a roll at all). Characters may apply Effort to each subtask. 

POOL INVESTMENT #

Some rituals might require the PCs to spend points from their Pools on each subtask, with Might representing blood or vitality, Speed representing energy, and Intellect representing will or sanity. Multiple PCs involved in the ritual could collectively contribute to this cost (and if a ritual costs many points, spreading out the cost in this way may be necessary to prevent a participating PC from dying during the ritual). 

ACCELERATED PERFORMANCE #

The GM may allow a character to speed up a ritual, reducing the time required for one or more subtasks. Generally, reducing a subtask’s time by half should hinder the subtask, and reducing it by half again (reducing the time needed to a quarter of the normal amount) should hinder the subtask by an additional step (two steps total). The minimum amount of time for a subtask is 1 round (unless the subtask is routine, in which case the GM may allow it to take no time at all).

EXAMPLE RITUALS 

The following are examples of common magical rituals suitable for many fantasy settings. Specific details of a ritual may vary depending on what the characters are trying to accomplish; for example, a ritual to ask a demon for a favor might be similar to one used to ask an angel, but the exact details are probably very different. Everything listed in a ritual is merely a suggestion, and the GM should alter, add, or remove whatever they like to suit their campaign.

UNDERSTANDING THE EXAMPLES #

Each ritual is described in the following format. 

Level: The overall level of the ritual, which determines how many subtasks it has.

Time: The preparation time (if any) and performance time. 

Roles: Things other characters can do to participate and help. 

Side Effects: Negative consequences for failed rolls or GM intrusions.
Reagents: Resources that can help success. 

Pool: What kind of Pool points the ritual costs. 

Other Assets: Kinds of abilities that can help success.

BESEECH #

Call upon a powerful supernatural entity such as a deity, archangel, demon lord, or ancient elemental to ask for a favor that the entity can and is likely to do (nothing it would ethically oppose). If the ritual is successful, the entity makes its attention known, such as by manifesting as a light, noise, or visible spirit. It may ask for more information, for a task or favor in return, or for a service to be named later. The entity is not compelled to do the favor; the ritual merely gains its attention and gives the characters the opportunity to speak their case. 

Level: The level of the entity 

Time: Four hours of preparation, one hour of performance 

Roles: Chanting, lighting candles, holding gifts/reagents 

Side Effects: Curse, hallucination, prerequisite quest (a challenge or task the characters must perform before the entity will consider answering) 

Reagents: Scroll giving the history of and important details about the entity, offerings of gratitude or appeasement 

Pool: Might or Intellect 

Other Assets: Knowledge or control of similar entities

Beseech only draws the entity’s attention; the various Conjure rituals bring the summoned entity bodily to the ritual space to talk in person.

CONJURE THE DEAD #

Summons the spirit of a dead person or creature (commonly called a “ghost”), which appears in the summoning circle prepared for the ritual. The spirit remains there for about a minute, during which time the summoners can interrogate them or persuade them to share information. The spirit usually wants something in return (such as messages conveyed to the living or unfulfilled tasks completed). If the characters don’t comply, they must magically threaten or compel the spirit to obey. 

Level: The level of the dead spirit 

Time: Three hours of preparation, one hour of performance 

Roles: Chanting, holding hands in a circle, manipulating a spirit device 

Side Effects: Haunting, possession 

Reagents: Mementos of the spirit’s life, the spirit’s former physical remains, a person or creature to possess 

Pool: Might or Intellect 

Other Assets: Knowledge or control of similar entities, religious or cultural connections, secret name of the spirit 

A ghost remembers much of its life, including whether it knows, likes, or hates the people summoning it, and will act accordingly.

CONJURE DEMON 

Summons a demon (an evil supernatural creature from another dimension, plane, or realm) to command or convince it to perform a task. The demon is primitive and bestial, not a creature of great wits and charm. The demon remains there for about a minute, during which time the summoners must bargain with or command it to perform a deed that takes no longer than an hour and requires it to travel no more than about 50 miles (80 km)—spying, murder, and destruction of property are common tasks. Usually the demon has to be threatened or magically coerced into obeying. If the summoners fail to get it to comply, it makes one attack against them and then returns to wherever it came from (and probably bears a grudge for the unwanted summoning). 

Level: The level of the demon 

Time: Three hours of preparation, one hour of performance 

Roles: Bloodletting, chanting, lighting candles, holding gifts/reagents, tracing the summoning circle 

Side Effects: Aggression, bad smell, curse, equipment damage or theft, possession 

Reagents: Blood; meat; magical inks or paints for a summoning circle; contracts; a person to possess; objects representing anger, destruction, or hatred (according to the desired service) 

Pool: Might or Intellect 

Other Assets: Knowledge or control of similar entities, secret name of the demon

CONJURE DEVIL 

Summons a devil (an evil supernatural creature from another dimension, plane, or realm) to command or convince it to perform a task. The devil remains there for about a minute, during which time the summoners must bargain with or command it to perform a deed that takes no longer than an hour and requires the devil to travel no more than about 50 miles (80 km)—spying, stealing, guarding, and murdering are common tasks. The devil usually wants something in return (even if just an agreement for a later favor); otherwise, the characters must threaten it or have some way to force it to obey. If the characters fail to strike a bargain, the devil returns to wherever it came from (and probably is annoyed at the interruption).

Level: The level of the devil 

Time: Three hours of preparation, one hour of performance 

Roles: Bloodletting, chanting, lighting candles, holding gifts/reagents, tracing the summoning circle 

Side Effects: Bad smell, curse, infernal mark, possession

Reagents: Blood; magical inks or paints for a summoning circle; contracts; a person to possess; objects representing betrayal, deception, or greed (according to the desired service) 

Pool: Might or Intellect 

Other Assets: Knowledge or control of similar entities, secret name of the devil 

CONJURE ELEMENTAL 

Summons a primordial elemental spirit of air, earth, fire, or water, which appears in a physical form. The elemental remains for about a minute, during which time the characters must attempt to bribe, threaten, or bargain with it. An elemental is usually summoned to do something that takes no longer than an hour and requires it to travel no more than about 50 miles (80 km)—attack, guard, and scout are common tasks. The elemental typically wants something in return for its service, usually a gift or bribe appropriate to its nature—incense for air, gems for earth, oil for fire, salts for water, and so on. If the summoners can’t come to an agreement with the elemental, it might make one attack before it leaves. 

Level: The level of the elemental 

Time: Three hours of preparation, one hour of performance 

Roles: Chanting, music, using ceremonial objects, holding gifts/reagents, tracing the summoning circle 

Side Effects: Damage, weakness toward one kind of attack 

Reagents: Gifts (black powder, gems, ice, incense, oil, salt, soil, water, wood), destroying opposing items or creatures 

Pool: Might, Speed, or Intellect, depending on the kind of elemental 

Other Assets: Elemental power, knowledge or control of similar entities, nature magic, secret name of the elemental

Elementals are simple creatures whose interests and attentions are focused on themselves and their element. Flattery and playing up their strengths are the key to bargaining with them.

CONSECRATION 

Wards a location against evil influences and unwanted magic for a year and a day. The ritual affects an area up to a very long distance across. Evil creatures and magical effects of less than the ritual’s level can’t enter the area or use abilities against it. If the PCs are warded out of the designated area, they must make an Intellect defense roll to enter it (and another each minute while within the area, or retreat) and all their actions inside or targeted within the area are hindered by two steps. 

Level: The level of the effects to protect against 

Time: One hour of preparation, two hours of performance 

Roles: Drawing lines and symbols along the border, chanting, calling out local features (with candles, runestones, or other suitable markers) 

Side Effects: Lights, sounds, weak spots or “back doors” in the barrier 

Reagents: Silver dust, sacred oil, buried blessed gemstones 

Pool: Intellect 

Other Assets: Warding magic, religious knowledge 

ENCHANT WEAPON 

Enchants a light, medium, or heavy weapon with magical power, granting an asset on attack rolls with the weapon for the next day. 

Level: 3 or 4 

Time: Thirty minutes of preparation, one hour of performance 

Roles: — 

Side Effects: Weapon attack hindered, higher GM intrusion rate

Reagents: Rare oils, gem dust 

Pool: Speed or Intellect 

Other Assets: Battle tactics, weapon crafting

In a high-magic campaign, a higher-level version of the Enchant Weapon ritual might grant a second asset on attack rolls, grant extra damage, affect multiple weapons at once, or all of the above.

ENTOMBMENT 

Imprisons a creature in a vessel (usually a valuable box, clay pot, or other closeable container, but it might be a gem, the heart of a tree, or another atypical object) for as long as the vessel remains closed and undamaged. The ritual forces the creature into the vessel, either in a spiritual form or by shrinking it to a size that will fit within the vessel. 

Level: The level of the creature 

Time: Sixteen hours of preparation, one hour of performance 

Roles: Chanting, carrying or protecting the vessel 

Side Effects: Bystander imprisoned with the target, containment has a flaw, target lashes out 

Reagents: Vessel, symbolic bindings (chains, ropes, shackles, and so on), anathema objects 

Pool: Intellect 

Other Assets: Control magic, grappling, imprisoning magic, wards

EXORCISM 

Drives out unwanted spirits (ghosts, demons, or something else) from an area up to a long distance across. Once cast out, the spirits cannot return for a year and a day (although most of them decide to move on long before that time comes). Completing the ritual doesn’t prevent other spirits from entering or inhabiting the area, but it is likely that they can sense that an exorcism happened there, and most choose to avoid such an area so they don’t suffer the same fate. The ritual can also be used to cast out spirits from a possessed creature, preventing those spirits from returning for a year and a day. As with using the ritual to cleanse a location, this doesn’t prevent other spirits from afflicting the creature, but later spirits can sense the recent exorcism and prefer to avoid that creature.

Level: The level of the most powerful hostile presence to be exorcised 

Time: Two hours of preparation, two hours of performance 

Roles: Chanting, positive emotions, presenting holy objects, restraining afflicted individuals, tracing the area with incense 

Side Effects: Lights, sounds, hideous physical transformations, injuries, telekinesis 

Reagents: Bindings, candles, holy water, religious icons and books, scapegoats 

Pool: Intellect 

Other Assets: Warding magic, religious knowledge 

Using an exorcism ritual on an area is mainly for getting rid of spirits afflicting the area in ways other than possessing a creature— throwing objects, causing nightmares, making noises, and so on.

FLESH FOR KNOWLEDGE 

Sacrifices some of the ritualist’s flesh, inflicting Might and Speed damage equal to the level of the ritual and permanently reducing the character’s Pools by 4 points (the character can divide this loss between Might and Speed as they see fit). The character experiences painful hallucinations that give them insight and understanding. They immediately learn one type or focus ability available to them (any ability they could learn by spending 4 XP as an advancement). 

Level: Twice the tier of the ability the character wishes to learn 

Time: One hour of preparation, one hour of performance 

Roles: Chanting, restraining the subject of the ritual 

Side Effects: Lasting damage, permanent damage, scarring 

Reagents: Silver knife, silver vessel 

Pool: See above 

Other Assets: Pain tolerance, surgery 

Instead of permanently reducing a character’s Pools by 4 points, the GM could allow other permanent penalties such as reducing an Edge stat by 1 (to a minimum of 0), gaining an inability in a useful skill, or permanently reducing all points gained through recovery rolls by 2.

PURIFICATION 

Rids a creature of an ongoing affliction, such as a disease or poison, or any unwanted magical effect, such as a curse or charm spell. In some versions of this ritual, whatever is ailing the creature gets forced into a nearby specified creature or object, which is then discarded or safely destroyed.

Level: The level of the affliction or effect to remove 

Time: One hour of preparation, two hours of performance 

Roles: Applying reagents, chanting 

Side Effects: Affliction or effect spreads to another creature, target moves a step down the damage track 

Reagents: Anointing oils, healing herbs, objects repellent to the source of the affliction, magical paint for writing on the target, scapegoat, silver dust 

Pool: Might 

Other Assets: Healing magic, resistance to the target’s affliction

RESURRECTION 

Restores a dead being to life. The creature is restored to full health and is ready to act as soon as the ritual is completed. Depending on how they died and the nature of death in the setting, the creature may or may not remember anything that happened after they died. 

Level: The level of the deceased (at least tier 6 if a PC) 

Time: Five hours of preparation, two hours of performance 

Roles: Applying reagents, chanting, prayers, shielding the corpse from hostile entities 

Side Effects: Creature moves a step down the damage track, enmity of a death god, lasting damage, scarring, sympathetic damage 

Reagents: Deceased’s corpse, healing ointment, items of emotional significance (such as devotion, hope, or regret), items of importance to the deceased, parchment extolling the deceased’s history and deeds, soul-sympathetic items 

Pool: Might or Intellect 

Other Assets: Close relationship with the deceased (such as a connection or family relation), healing magic, necromancy, spirit knowledge, secret name of the deceased

A lesser version of the Resurrection ritual might bring the creature back to life, but only to the debilitated or impaired state on the damage track instead of hale, requiring further rest or healing. 

SACRIFICIAL RITE 

A creature is ritually killed and its soul is placed in an object. The soul object might be a temporary destination so the soul can be transported and used elsewhere (such as an offering to a demon or as part of a spell), or it might be the final destination for the soul (such as placing it in a sword to create a magic item). 

Level: The level of the creature (at least tier 6 if a PC) 

Time: One hour of preparation, one hour of performance Roles: Chanting, playing instruments, bearing the soul object, restraining the creature, slaying the creature 

Side Effects: Creature rages or escapes, damage, dying curse, haunting 

Reagents: Bindings, creature to be sacrificed, drum, flute, silver knife, soul object (its level must be at least as high as the creature’s level) 

Pool: Might or Intellect 

Other Assets: Death spells, instant-kill abilities, soul manipulation

MAGICAL TECHNOLOGY #

To craft items of magical technology in a setting where they are commonplace, use the standard rules for crafting regular (nonmagical) items.

MAGIC PLUS TECHNOLOGY #

Whatever technology exists in the setting could be magically enhanced if magic is also present. Such items would almost certainly be manifest cyphers or artifacts. Here’s an example cypher:

FROZEN TIMEPIECE #

Level: 1d6 + 2

Effect: Creates or transforms into a pocketwatch that seems to be made of ice. Upon activation of the cypher, the user can take normal actions, but everything and everyone around them is frozen in time. The user cannot affect anything else, but they can move through the world and take actions that affect themselves or their own belongings (bandage a wound, repair a broken item, and so on). The effect lasts for one round per cypher level.

And here’s an example artifact:

TRUTH BINOCULARS #

Level: 1d6 + 2

Form: Pair of binoculars with a large runic symbol on them

Effect: Not only do these make it easy to see things far away, but looking through them also allows the viewer to see through illusions and see things that are normally invisible, assuming the effect has a level lower than that of the binoculars.

Depletion: 1–2 in 1d100 (check each use)

To craft items that are both technological and magical, either you need to make the device first and then enchant it, or you need to enchant it as it is made. Either way, the skills for making the device and for making it magical are likely very different.

TECHNOLOGY THAT INTERACTS WITH MAGIC #

In a world with scientists and engineers faced with the presence of real magic, some of them would develop ways to interact and cope with it. Technological devices that are not magical but deal with magic could include:

Magic detector (expensive): This simple white badge glows purple in the presence of magic. Once it detects something magical, it does not function again. 

Mystical hazard suit (very expensive): This full-body protective suit is cumbersome and clumsy, not unlike a hazmat suit. However, all of the wearer’s tasks to resist magical effects are eased. If the wearer takes even 1 point of physical damage, the suit rips and no longer functions until it is repaired and resealed. 

Spellscrambler (very expensive): Essentially a sonic grenade, this device produces a variety of strange electromagnetic signals—some audible and very loud, some not—on a number of frequencies. The mental processes needed to cast a spell are impossible to achieve for one round within a short distance of the device. Like any grenade, it can be used only once.

MAGIC THAT INTERACTS WITH TECHNOLOGY #

In a world where magic and technology coexist, wizards will have spells and effects that protect them from shotgun blasts as well as sword blades, and radiation as well as fire or frost. Consider, for example, these effects as cyphers:

FINDING PRYING EYES 

Level: 1d6 + 3 

Effect: Magically discovers if anything is watching or listening to the user right at that moment, and reveals the source. Electronic surveillance devices, long-range scopes, hidden cameras, and magical scrying attempts all trigger this effect. In all these cases, the “source” is the nearest representation. So a hidden microphone is revealed, but not the location of the listener. 

POWER DEVICE 

Level: 1d6 + 2 

Effect: Magically powers one device that can fit within an area a short distance across. The device is now fully powered, charged, or fueled. If the cypher is used on an automobile, for example, the gas tank is full. If used on a flashlight, the battery is fully charged. 

SCREEN CONTROL 

Level: 1d6 + 2 

Effect: A technological screen (a television, computer monitor, smartphone, or the like) within short range shows whatever the user wishes for up to one minute per cypher level. The display can be pictures, text, or meaningless shapes and colors.

Because magic works on intuitive rather than scientific levels, mages could have spells that disrupt technology, even though the technology involved might not have any common principles

MIND CONTROL #

From a rules perspective, mind control is fairly straightforward: one creature decides what actions another creature takes (perhaps limited in that the controlled creature won’t take actions that harm them or go against their nature, such as attacking friends). But what’s happening inside the controlled creature’s head—whether during the effect or afterward—often isn’t specified. There are several options for the GM to consider, either for all kinds of mind-control magic or on a case-by-case basis. 

• Confusion: The controlled creature doesn’t understand why they’re doing things they normally wouldn’t do, but they aren’t aware of any outside influence on their thoughts and actions. Once the control is over, the creature may admit that they don’t know why they did those things, or come up with an explanation justifying (to themselves and others) their reasons for those actions. 

• Dream: The controlled creature is aware of what’s going on but perceives it in a dreamlike state. They may believe that they’re in control of themselves the entire time, or somewhat aware that they’re not fully in control (similar to being intoxicated by drugs or alcohol or disoriented by an illness). Afterward, the creature might feel strange about the events but may not realize that someone else was controlling them. 

• Trapped: The active thoughts in the controlled creature’s head come from the controller, but the creature still has a small voice or awareness in the background, like they’re a prisoner in their own mind. This horrible situation usually means the controlled creature reverts to normal once the control is gone, and is probably very upset that their mind and body autonomy were violated.

One way to present mind control more safely is to disallow certain actions but otherwise leave the character in control. For example, being charmed by a vampire might mean the PC can’t attack the vampire (or its allies) or run away, but is still able to call for help, heal themselves, leave at a normal pace, and take other actions. Alternatively, the character can be given a specific command, and until they comply with that command their other actions are hindered by one or more steps. If the player is willing to engage with the parameters of the mind control, the GM may award them an additional 1 XP (or, to approach it from the opposite direction, the GM can offer them a GM intrusion that the mind control is happening, and allow the player to spend 1 XP to refuse it, or go into XP debt if they want to refuse it but have no XP to spend).

A rule for any game: don’t use mind control (or anything) to make a character have sex without the player’s permission. For more information and guidelines about consent in RPGs, read the free Consent in Gaming PDF at myMCG.info/consent

MYSTICAL MARTIAL ARTS #

If the setting calls for wuxia-style fantasy martial arts or similar types of action, you can make a few rule changes to portray the kinds of things characters in such stories can accomplish.

• Running and climbing speeds and jumping distances are doubled. For those trained in running, climbing, or jumping, the speeds and distances are tripled instead of doubled. For those specialized, they are quintupled. For all intents and purposes, this means that everyone can run up a wall or jump very high in the air, and masters can practically fly or run across water.

• Everyone knows kung fu. Unless a person is a simple farmer, herder, or merchant, they know how to fight with elaborate and powerful martial arts styles. This doesn’t change anything in the game mechanically—no one gets the ability to use weapons that they wouldn’t normally have under the rules. But it does change the flavor, suggesting that no PC is entirely ignorant of weapons or close combat. 

• Players are encouraged to come up with interesting names for their martial arts abilities. Instead of using a Bash attack, perhaps it is “The Three-Flower Fist,” and instead of Fury, a character uses “The Rage of the Sevenfold.” It is reasonable for high-tier martial abilities such as Amazing Effort, Jump Attack, or Finishing Blow to be described with a magical flare— blazing auras of fire, brilliant cascades of light, ethereal figures overlaying the character, and so on. 

• Materials and objects are easier to destroy. For the purpose of attacking objects, subtract 2 from the level of any material (minimum of 0). It should be relatively simple for any character to smash through a plain wooden door with little effort, and true warriors can shatter stones with their blows. 

• Wounds heal faster. Everyone gains +1 to all recovery rolls. 

• Superhuman abilities exist. Consider adopting some of the superhero rules from the Cypher System Reference Document, in particular the power shift optional rules. These may derive from almost supernatural levels of training in various techniques (such as dianxue) but probably mostly from neili.

Dianxue: The touch of death—killing by using precise nonlethal force on key points of the body. Neili: Internal force— building up and cultivating the energy known as qi and using it for supernatural effects.

POSSESSION #

Some creatures (demons, ghosts, entities of living mental energy, and so on) have the ability to possess a living person, taking over a character’s body as if it were the creature’s own. The creature must touch the character to attempt possession (even if the creature’s touch normally inflicts damage, the possession attempt doesn’t inflict damage). The character must make an Intellect defense roll or become possessed, whereupon the creature’s immaterial form disappears into the character.

The first round in which a character is possessed, they can act normally. In the second and all subsequent rounds, the possessing creature can try to control the actions of the host, but the character can attempt an Intellect defense roll to resist each suggested action. Successful resistance means that the character does nothing for one round. When the creature isn’t trying to control the host, the character can act as they choose. Usually, a possessing creature’s actions are limited to controlling its host and leaving the host (the creature’s own abilities are unavailable to it while in someone else’s body).

While it possesses a character, the creature is immune to most direct attacks (though not so the host; killing the host will eject the creature). For example, hitting a demon-possessed human with a sword hurts only the human, not the demon controlling them. Mental attacks and special abilities that only affect possession or the type of possessing creature usually work normally

A possessed character is allowed an Intellect defense roll to eject the creature once per day. The defense roll is hindered by one additional step each day of possession after the first seven days. An ejected, cast-out, or exorcised demon is powerless for one or more days. One way to exorcise a demon is to command it out in the name of an entity that has power over the demon. This can be attempted once per day and grants the possessed character an additional Intellect defense roll to eject the demon.

Possession is like mind control in that it takes away a player’s ability to control their character, and that can make some players very uncomfortable. See the section on mind control and consent for more information (page 67).

SECRET AND TRUE NAMES #

Learning a creature’s true name comes with a subtle and instinctive awareness and understanding of that creature, including its strengths and weaknesses. In general, this eases all tasks related to that creature (including attacks, defenses, and interactions) by two steps. In some cases, confronting a creature with knowledge of its true name might be enough to convince it to perform a service without compensation. A creature doesn’t automatically know if someone has learned its true name (although there is magic that can reveal this knowledge), but they can usually figure out that an informed opponent has some kind of advantage against them and deduce that their secret name is involved. 

Learning a true name is difficult and takes time. A character wanting to discover a creature’s true name might choose the Uncover a Secret character arc to do so.

WISHES #

Unless the GM’s intention is to make the players regret that their characters were offered a wish, it’s best to give them what they ask for, as much as it is within the power of the creature to do so. If the GM wants to twist the wish, do so as a GM intrusion— that way, the character still gets a reward, and they can either accept the twisted wish (which isn’t as good as they had hoped) or pay 1 XP to reject the intrusion (which represents them coming up with airtight wording that can’t be twisted).

Second, consider the level of the creature granting the wish—that’s basically the level of the wish, as the creature shouldn’t be able to grant a boon more powerful than itself. Therefore, it’s reasonable that a level 6 creature could create a level 6 effect. The GM could look at the creature’s other abilities (or abilities of other creatures of its level), decide if what the PC is asking for is within its power, and either grant the requested wish or adjust the result downward until it’s appropriate for the creature’s power. 

Wishing for more wishes doesn’t work because a creature shouldn’t be able to create something more powerful than itself—at least not without some investment of time and other resources, like a character using XP to acquire an artifact.

FANTASY RULES MODULES 

AWARDING TREASURE #

It’s best to think of gold and magic as two different kinds of currencies that characters have access to. 

GOLD #

The Cypher System abstracts item costs into general categories— inexpensive, moderate, expensive, and so on. Starting characters generally have access to only a few inexpensive and moderate items and perhaps one or two expensive items. In a typical fantasy campaign, the characters should become wealthier as they advance. 

MANIFEST CYPHERS #

The expectation is that PCs will use cyphers often because they’ll have many opportunities to get more; if the players can exploit this mechanic by selling off most of their cyphers in town, they’re abusing the rules to make gold. The GM might be tempted to discourage this behavior by reducing how often the PCs gain new cyphers, but that goes against the premise of cyphers in the game: they should be common enough that the PCs use them freely instead of hoarding them. The key to addressing this selling-cyphers wealth problem is to make it harder to sell or trade cyphers for gold.

The PCs can have opportunities to trade their cyphers with NPCs in town, whether that’s at a magic item shop, the tower of a mentor wizard, a thieves’ guild, a temple, other adventurers, or the local government. The kinds of cyphers these NPCs can offer may be limited in theme (such as a benevolent church that makes healing potions and trades them for other useful cyphers) or quantity (such as having only one or two cyphers available each month). Two cyphers of the same level are generally considered to be about the same value, although local biases and NPC interests may affect their willingness to trade certain items despite or because of a level disparity

ARTIFACTS #

Artifacts are the high end of magical currency, and in terms of buying and selling them, they’re like manifest cyphers: not something a typical NPC can use, and beyond what a typical NPC can afford, but they could be traded for a different artifact of about the same level. Unlike cyphers, the game doesn’t assume that PCs have frequent opportunities to gain new artifacts or replace the ones that deplete. 

In a pinch, an artifact is worth the equivalent of one or two very expensive items or one exorbitant item, depending on what the artifact can do. An artifact that grants an asset to one kind of roll is probably worth about as much as a very expensive item, one that adds +1 Armor might be worth two expensive items, and a strong defensive or offensive artifact could be worth about the same as an exorbitant item.

DUNGEONS, CASTLES, AND KEEPS #

This section describes several kinds of common physical features and their game stats. Any of these levels can be adjusted up or down by the GM—a wall made from soft wood can have a lower level than a typical wall, stone can be reinforced by magic so its level is higher, and so on.

WALLS #

Walls are generally either constructed (intentionally built by a creature) or natural (already existing without any work by a creature). Anything describing walls in this section also applies to ceilings and floors. 

• Paper wall (level 1): This thin wall only blocks sight. Creatures can attack through a paper wall as if attacking blindly (hindered by four steps), but it’s usually easier to break a hole in the wall and attack through the hole. Paper walls are vulnerable to piercing and slashing weapons (attacks are eased). A gauzy curtain is equivalent to a paper wall, and a cloth wall is probably level 2. 

• Wooden wall (level 4): This is a typical wall for an average wooden house. The walls of a decrepit shack or a partition within a dungeon might be only level 2 or 3, but the exterior palisade wall of a fort or a log cabin might be level 5. Wooden walls are vulnerable to fire (attacks with fire are eased) but resistant to bashing and piercing weapons (attacks are hindered). 

• Stone wall (level 6): Constructed stone walls are bricks or masonry (fitted stones), with or without mortar to hold them in place, or hewn stone (dug into existing natural rock). Natural stone walls are usually unworked stone (like a cave wall or cliff face, which tend to be uneven) but might have areas where creatures smoothed or modified them to suit their needs for a living space. Some constructed stone walls are reinforced with metal bars on the surface or built inside, increasing its level to 7. Stone walls are vulnerable to piercing weapons (attacks are eased) but resistant to bashing and slashing weapons (attacks are hindered). 

• Iron wall (level 7): These expensive walls are usually reserved for protecting something important, like a vault.

DOORS #

Doors are access points for encounters and (if trapped or infested with dangerous creatures) can be encounters all on their own. In most cases, trying to break through a door involves damaging its latch or hinges rather than destroying the main portion of the door (trying to destroy the door instead of the latch and hinges is a hindered task). 

• Simple wooden door (level 2): This is a fragile door meant to close off an interior space for privacy rather than to keep out a determined intruder. Instead of a single piece of wood, a simple wooden door is usually made of multiple planks nailed together on a frame or with support struts. Wooden doors of all strengths are vulnerable to fire (attacks with fire are eased) but resistant to bashing and piercing weapons (attacks are hindered). 

• Good wooden door (level 3): This is a stronger door meant to provide some security, such as for a typical house or shop. 

• Strong wooden door (level 4): This is a heavy door reinforced with wood or metal to make it difficult to break. An especially strong wooden door, such as the main entrance to a fort or castle, is probably level 5. 

• Stone door (level 5): These heavy doors are usually carved from a solid block of stone and designed to pivot on a center point. They are common in places like dungeons where wood and metal are scarce. Stone doors are vulnerable to piercing weapons (attacks are eased) but resistant to bashing and slashing weapons (attacks are hindered). 

• Iron door (level 6): A solid iron door is meant to protect something very valuable or vulnerable, such as a vault or a king’s tomb. In a damp environment like a dungeon, they tend to rust and stick in place. 

• Wooden portcullis (level 3): The gaps in a portcullis present more defense opportunities than a door, such as allowing archers to fire at the creatures trapped by it. They’re also useful in closing access to a waterway without impacting its flow. A wooden portcullis is relatively fragile and usually isn’t meant to keep anyone out for long. 

• Iron portcullis (level 6): Much sturdier than wood, an iron portcullis is meant to keep creatures in place as long as necessary. Often the best way to get past a portcullis is to lift it instead of breaking it, but some are designed to lock in place to prevent this. A door to a prison cell is essentially a type of iron portcullis.

TRAPS #

One common element of fantasy exploration—particularly for castles and dungeons—is the danger of traps.

TRIGGERING TRAPS #

Mechanical traps have a triggering mechanism—something set up to react when an unauthorized creature is in the area. Magical traps have triggers that are usually based on proximity—if a creature enters the area the trap is “watching,” it activates.

FINDING TRAPS #

Most characters won’t notice traps unless actively looking for them; they don’t know a trap is in the area until their presence, movement, or action triggers it. Characters can passively or actively search for traps if they suspect such dangers are present. 

Passive searching for traps means one character (usually in the front of the group) is carefully checking the area before moving forward. This means the group moves at about half normal speed, but they get to make a search roll for any traps the GM has in their path. Allowing characters to passively search in this way means the players don’t have to keep stating over and over that they’re looking for traps. The drawback for them is that it takes them more time to get anywhere (which means time-based special abilities and cyphers will run out sooner).

Active searching is used when the characters worry or suspect that there is a trap in the area and want to find it. Active searching takes about one round for each immediate area searched. Rather than having the players make separate rolls for each immediate area, the GM should have them make one roll for the entire room; if successful, they find the trap, and if they fail, they don’t find it. If there is a second trap, the GM can have them make another roll after they’ve resolved the first trap.

DISABLING, DAMAGING, AND BYPASSING TRAPS #

A character can attempt to disable a trap so it’s no longer able to activate or harm anyone. Normally this task has the same difficulty as the trap’s level, but some traps are rickety and easy to disable, while others are carefully crafted and much harder to disable. Traps are objects and use the object damage track. Characters can attack a trap with weapons or special abilities to damage or destroy it. Some traps may be vulnerable to certain attacks or unusual means of sabotage (such as hammering a piton into a groove where a blade springs out). Magical traps can be damaged or disabled with special abilities.

Instead of disabling a trap, a character can try to bypass it so they and their allies can get past it without triggering it but still leave it as a danger to anyone else who passes through the area. The task to bypass a trap is hindered by two steps

Failing an attempt to disable, bypass, or sabotage a trap means it activates. Usually the trap’s target is the acting character, and the trap’s attack is eased because the character placed themselves in harm’s way

Unless a character has the ability to manipulate magic, it’s very difficult to bypass a magical trap (the attempt is hindered by two additional steps).

UNDERSTANDING THE LISTINGS #

The rest of the chapter presents a large number of traps with game stats. Every trap is presented by name, followed by a standard template that includes the following categories. If an entry doesn’t apply to a particular trap, it is omitted from the listing. 

Level: Like the difficulty of a task, each trap has a level. You use the level to determine the target number a PC must reach to find, evade, or disable the trap. In each entry, the difficulty number for the trap is listed after its level (always three times the trap’s level). 

Description: This general description explains what the trap does, how it operates, whether it resets automatically, if it has a limited number of uses, and so on.

Damage Inflicted: Generally, when a trap hits a creature, it inflicts its level in damage regardless of the form of attack (arrow, poison, collapsing ceiling, and so on). The entries always specify the amount of damage inflicted, even if it’s the normal amount for a trap of its level. 

Modifications: Use these numbers when a trap’s information says to use a different target number. For example, a level 4 trap might say “defends as level 5,” which means PCs attacking it or trying to disable it must roll a target number of 15 (for difficulty 5) instead of 12 (for difficulty 4). Typical modifiers are to the trap’s attacks, defenses, and stealth (how hard or easy it is to notice the trap). 

GM Intrusion: This entry suggests one or more ways to use GM intrusions in an encounter with the trap. It’s just one possible idea of many, and the GM is encouraged to come up with their own uses of the game mechanic.

COMMON TRAP POISONS #

• Blindness: The poison blinds the creature if they fail a defense roll. Typical durations are one minute, ten minutes, and one hour. 

• Choking: The poison makes the creature choke and cough if they fail a defense roll. Typical durations are one minute, ten minutes, and one hour. Severe versions of choking poison might make a creature start to suffocate. 

• Damage Track: The poison moves the creature down one step on the damage track if they fail a defense roll. 

• Debilitating: The poison hinders all of the creature’s actions by one or two steps if they fail a defense roll. (Some poisons may affect only certain kinds of actions, such as Speed defense rolls or Might-based tasks.) Typical durations are ten minutes, one hour, and ten hours. 

• Instant Damage: The poison inflicts damage (Might, Speed, or Intellect) one time if the creature fails a defense roll. 

• Ongoing Damage: The poison inflicts damage (Might, Speed, or Intellect) immediately. When a certain amount of time has passed (such as every round or every minute), it inflicts damage again if the creature fails its defense roll. The ongoing damage usually ends on its own (such as after five additional rounds of damage) or after the creature makes a defense roll against it. Usually the ongoing damage is a much smaller amount than the initial damage, such as 1 point every round. 

• Paralysis: The poison prevents the creature from taking any physical actions if they fail a defense roll (this might leave them standing in place like a statue, or make them go limp and collapse to the floor). Typical durations are ten minutes, one hour, and ten hours. 

• Sleep: The poison knocks the creature unconscious if they fail a defense roll. Typical durations are ten minutes, one hour, and ten hours. The poison might also make the creature groggy, hindering all actions for an additional amount of time equal to how long the unconsciousness would have lasted (for example, knocking out a creature for an hour and then making them groggy for an hour, even if they’re awakened early).

Arrow

4 (12)

Damage Inflicted: 4 points 

Modifications: Defense and stealth as level 6 (if hidden behind a hole in the wall) 

GM Intrusion: The arrow is barbed, and removing it inflicts 3 points of damage. The arrow is attached to a string, cord, or wire, with the other end tied to something dangerous like a falling block or an electrical shock.

Crushing Wall

6 (18)

A variant of this trap is a deadfall, where something heavy (such as a log, huge stone block, or cart full of rocks) falls from a higher position onto the character. Sometimes the falling block is made to exactly fit a trapped corridor so that triggering the trap makes the area impassible.

 A less lethal variant drops a large amount of sand or dirt, inflicting 3 points of ambient damage (ignores Armor). Another variant releases oil (perhaps burning) or marbles, inflicting 3 points of ambient damage and making the area difficult terrain.

Damage Inflicted: 6 points (ignores Armor) 

GM Intrusion: The fallen wall blocks access to an exit. The wall debris buries the character, who is trapped until they can dig free. Another trap, hazard, or threat is behind the fallen wall (such as arrow traps or a room full of zombies) and can now reach the characters.

Disintegration

7 (21)

Damage Inflicted: 15 points 

GM Intrusion: In addition to inflicting damage, the ray moves the character one step down the damage track. Part of the ray splits or ricochets off the character and strikes a second creature, inflicting 10 points of damage. 

Explosive Glyph

4 (12)

Damage Inflicted: 4 points of energy damage (ignores Armor); all creatures in the area take 1 point of damage even if they make their defense roll. 

Modifications: Stealth as level 5 

GM Intrusion: The glyph marks the character’s face with a symbol indicating they are a thief. The glyph makes the character run away in fear for one minute. The character is cursed, and all of their actions are hindered until the curse is removed.

Flooding Room

4 (12)

A variant of this room reduces the air pressure (either by pumping it out through tiny holes or by retracting the floor or ceiling). As the air gets thinner, characters are hindered by one, two, or three steps before falling unconscious and starting to suffocate. (Restoring the air allows the characters to awaken, but doesn’t move them back up the damage track.) 

Damage Inflicted: None until drowning starts 

Modifications: Defends as level 7 

GM Intrusion: Hostile creatures such as piranhas or electric eels are in the water and attack all creatures. The room fills with water faster than expected because the floor and/or ceiling are also moving toward each other.

Mangler

3 (9)

A floor variant is a small trapdoor over a closed compartment, which mangles the character’s foot when they step on the trapdoor, reducing their movement speed by half.

 Another variant is a needle trap attached to a small peephole or spyhole in a door or wall. The trap springs when the character touches the area around the hole (even a slight touch with their face as they look is sufficient), inflicting lasting damage to the character’s eye and partially blinding them. A gentler variant traps the character’s limb in glue instead of inflicting damage. The character’s extremity might be glued to the hole, or they may be able to pull free but have a glue pot stuck on their hand or foot. 

Damage Inflicted: 3 points, plus lasting damage 

Modifications: Stealth as level 4 

GM Intrusion: The trap has hooks, holding the character in place and inflicting damage when they try to escape if they fail a Speed defense roll. The glue attracts a swarm of fire ants or wasps. The glue is also a slow-acting acid or poison.

Net

3 (9)

A variant of this trap is a snare made of sturdy cord or wire. 

Damage Inflicted: Entanglement (trapped character cannot move until they use an action to make a Might or Speed defense roll to break or escape the net) 

Modifications: Attacks as level 5, defends as level 2 

GM Intrusion: The net is barbed, inflicting 1 point of damage each round that the trapped character tries to move. The net is the nesting place for biting insects, which swarm and attack the trapped character and all nearby creatures each round.

Pit

4 (12)

A variant of this trap is a bridge over a chasm, river, or other dangerous location that is rigged to collapse when enough weight reaches the middle section. 

Damage Inflicted: 1 point of ambient damage per 10 feet fallen (ignores Armor) 

GM Intrusion: The trapdoor is slippery with oil, hindering attempts to catch the edge and avoid falling. The trapdoor closes after the character falls through, trapping them inside in the darkness. The walls of the pit are greased, hindering attempts to climb out by two steps. A dangerous creature is at the bottom of the pit (or in a room adjacent to it). The pit is filled with poison gas. The trapdoor detaches and falls into the pit, inflicting 1 point of ambient damage per 10 feet it falls. The pit has spikes at the bottom, inflicting an additional 4 points of damage to anyone who falls in.

Poison Gas

3 (9)

A variant of this trap fills the room with flammable gas, which explodes if there is an open flame (such as from a torch) or a spark (such as a metal weapon against metal armor), inflicting fire damage equal to the trap’s level. 

A further variant fills the room with dead air (containing no oxygen), which slowly extinguishes flames and suffocates creatures. 

Damage Inflicted: As poison 

Modifications: Stealth as level 5 

GM Intrusion: The character has an allergic reaction to the gas, which hinders all their actions for an hour after exposure because of sneezing, watery eyes, or itchy skin. The gas makes the character hallucinate, mistaking their companions for enemies, until they make an Intellect defense roll. The gas is flammable.

Poison Needle

5 (15)

Damage Inflicted: 1 point (plus poison)

Modifications: Stealth as level 6 

GM Intrusion: The trap releases acid into the lock mechanism, making the trapped object impossible to unlock. The trap releases acid into the container, destroying some of the valuables inside. The trap releases a puff of poison gas instead of a poisoned needle, affecting all nearby characters.

Portcullis

5 (15)

A variant of this trap is a solid wall. A magical variant is a force field. 

Damage Inflicted: 5 points

GM Intrusion: The portcullis impales the character, trapping them beneath it until it is lifted or destroyed. The portcullis is electrified, inflicting 1 point of damage each time it is touched or attacked with flesh or a metal object. A second portcullis drops nearby, trapping a character in a small area. Murder-holes in the ceiling allow enemies to make ranged attacks on the trapped character.

Rolling Boulder

6 (12)

A variant is a large iron weight on a chain that swings from the ceiling. The weight swings back and forth several times, giving it multiple chances to hit the characters, but decreasing its damage with each swing until it stops and becomes an obstacle. 

Damage Inflicted: 6 points 

Modifications: Defends as level 7 

GM Intrusion: The boulder crashes through a door or wall, giving other dangerous creatures access to the character’s location. The boulder blocks the way out. The boulder carries a character along with it for some distance. The boulder is hollow and full of burning oil, leaving a fiery trail behind it. The boulder is hollow and contains undead skeletons, which jump out as it moves and attack nearby creatures.

Slicing Blade

5 (15)

Damage Inflicted: 5 points 

Modifications: Attacks as level 6 

GM Intrusion: The blade is a magical weapon with an additional effect, such as inflicting 3 points of fire damage. The blade is rusted and breaks off when it hits the character, inflicting 1 point of damage (ignores Armor) each round after the initial attack until it is healed.

Sliding Stair

4 (12)

Damage Inflicted: 1 point of ambient damage per 20 feet slid (ignores Armor) 

GM Intrusion: The trap releases oil, hindering attempts to climb the ramp or stairs by two steps. Tiny blades stick out between the sections of the ramp, inflicting an additional 3 points of damage. The trap releases a boulder to roll down the stairs after the sliding character, inflicting an additional 3 points of damage.

Snake Pit

4 (12)

Damage Inflicted: As per the swarm of snakes 

GM Intrusion: The snake poison is especially potent, moving the character one step down the damage track if they fail a Might defense roll. The snakes constrict the character, hindering their actions until the snakes are defeated.

Spear

4 (12)

Damage Inflicted: 6 points 

Modifications: Defense and stealth as level 5 (if hidden behind a hole in a wall) 

GM Intrusion: The impact of the spear knocks the character prone. The spear is barbed, and removing it inflicts 3 points of damage. The spear is attached to a string, cord, or wire, with the other end tied to something dangerous like a falling block or an electrical shock

Teleporter

6 (18)

Damage Inflicted: None 

GM Intrusion: The teleport destination is above the ground, causing the character to fall some distance and take damage (1 point of ambient damage per 10 feet fallen). The destination is dangerous, such as a tiny room lined with spikes, a shark tank, or a boulder in a lava lake.

CHARACTER OPTIONS #

MODERN MAGIC CHARACTER OPTIONS #

DESCRIPTORS #

Most of these descriptors are for characters who are or become significantly nonhuman

nonhuman; for example, the Dragon descriptor means you’re a four-legged, winged dragon who can breathe flame. These descriptors include suggestions for how to advance or improve your inherent nature as that sort of creature (becoming even more dragonish if you are a Dragon, for example). The GM should allow a character with such a descriptor to choose any of these abilities (and any others the GM feels are appropriate for the descriptor) in place of a type ability, either upon advancing to a new tier or selecting them as an other option of character advancement by spending 4 XP.

It’s Only Magic Descriptors: Chimera, Dragon, Ghost, Hunter, Nix, Sylph, Unmagical

Chimera

You have a blend of animal attributes; you may be a well-known mythological creature,

like a satyr or minotaur, or you may have a unique combination of features. Bison horns,

boar tusks, bear paws, a wolf’s tail, a lion’s mane: take your pick. Your thickened skin offers

protection from attacks and the elements. Depending on your dexterity—and whether you

have opposable thumbs—you may use adaptive weapons and tools, like a dagger modified

to be held in a paw instead of a hand. You’re eager to protect the ones closest to you, and

usually more likely to run toward conflict than away from it.

You gain the following characteristics:

Fur and Hide: +1 to Armor.

Animal Strength: +1 to your Might Pool.

Charging Ahead: You’re trained in initiative.

For the Gang: You stick up for your friends. When you draw the attack, your defense is only hindered by one step.

Ham-fisted: Tasks requiring fine motor skills are hindered.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. A herd, a pride, a pack, a flock: whatever the collective noun for chimeras is, you’re looking to build (or join) one.

2. You need supplies to adapt a legendary weapon perfectly to your physique.

3. The other PCs were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you protected them from harm.

4. You were held hostage by someone running a chimera fighting ring, and the other PCs freed you.

Chimera Advancement:

Athlete

Dual Light Wield

Enhanced Might

Enhanced Speed

Fists of Fury

Frenzy

Dragon

You can shift at will between a dragon and humanoid form; you may choose to spend more time in one form or the other. In your dragon form you’re about 10 feet (3.5 m) long with four legs, leathery wings, and a serpentlike tail. You’re drawn to treasure and shiny things, but you’re willing to share your hoard with those you trust. Though you can speak human languages, you can’t ignore the fact that you’re a wild part of your local ecosystem—at least some of the time. You’re an apex predator, driven to fly and to hunt, and you brumate in cold temperatures like other reptiles.

Brumation is a state of sluggishness and inactivity entered by reptiles in response to low temperatures.

You gain the following characteristics:

Dragon Form: You have both a humanoid form and a dragon form, and you can switch forms up to four times in a 24-hour period. In dragon form, your Speed defense tasks are hindered due to your size. Enabler.

Tough: +2 to your Might Pool.

Fireproof: +2 Armor against damage inflicted by fire or heat.

Wings (1 Might point): When you have wings, you can fly a long distance as your action, or a short distance as part of another action, for up to ten minutes total. Enabler.

Teeth: You are skilled in making unarmed bite attacks, which are a medium weapon in your dragon form and a light weapon in. your humanoid form. Enabler.

Spitting Flames (1+ Might point): You can breathe a ball of fire at a target within short range, inflicting 3 points of fire damage. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to affect more targets; each level of Effort affects one additional target. Action.

Inability: Cold weather makes you want to burrow somewhere cozy and go dormant. Speed tasks are hindered when the temperature falls below 50°F (10°C).

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. The other PCs were hired as dragon hunters, but once they met you they realized their mission was misguided.

2. You’re hoping to find a specific discontinued currency to add to your hoard.

3. You got stuck in your dragon form while molting, and the other PCs helped remove your shed skin.

4. You’re gathering ingredients for a difficult spell that will increase the range and intensity of your fire-breathing attacks.

Dragon Advancement:

Danger Sense

Defensive Field

Enhanced Might

Enhanced Might Edge

Enlarge

Training in Spitting Flames

Ghost

Unfortunately, you’re dead. But hey, it’s not all bad! Your spirit has remained in the mortal world. You can still walk among the living, but you no longer need pesky things like food or sleep. It’s up to you how long you’ve been dead, whether you remember your death, and why you’ve stuck around: seeking revenge, settling a debt, protecting your descendants, perfecting your great-grandma’s pecan pie recipe, or something else entirely.

You gain the following characteristics:

Ghostly Wisdom: +2 to your Intellect Pool.

Sneaky: You’re trained in stealth and intimidation.

Incorporeal: You’re trained in Speed defense.

Calling the Dead: You’re trained in communicating with other ghosts, wraiths, undead, and so on. You can also serve as a catalyst for communication with the dead, providing an asset to a living character attempting such a task (such as a séance or summoning).

Insubstantial: All physical attacks are hindered.

Dead: Positive social interaction tasks with living creatures are hindered.

Uniform: You’re permanently wearing the clothes you had on when you died. This can hinder social interactions if you’re inappropriately dressed for the setting (wearing a bathrobe and slippers to a formal party, for example).

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You’re on a journey to make amends with someone you wronged in life.

2. You’re looking for the resting place of your physical body so you can be resurrected.

3. One of the other PCs is a distant relative, and you need to keep them alive so your bloodline continues.

4. You’re studying the secrets of reincarnation and suspect that one of the other PCs has vital information.

Ghost Advancement:

Duplicate

Question the Spirits

See the Unseen

Speaker for the Dead

Surprise Attack

Walk Through Walls

Hunter

You once rode with the Wild Hunt: an immortal cavalry who traversed the skies in secret each night, gathering the souls of those who died in battle and carrying them to the beyond. These days, the Wild Hunt has downsized and your nights are your own. You’re mortal again, too, but it’s impossible to forget the terrifying freedom and power you once held. Maybe you’ve let nostalgia make you bitter, or maybe you don’t miss the Hunt at all, instead living in fear of being conscripted once more.

You gain the following characteristics:

Agile: +2 to your Speed Pool.

Equestrian: You’re trained in handling and riding horses.

Sword Hand: You’re proficient with two-handed swords and can use them without penalty.

Hearing the Dead: You’re skilled in all social interactions with ghosts.

The Call of the Hunt: You’re often distracted by sounds that remind you of the Wild Hunt, such as horns and baying hounds. Tasks requiring concentration are hindered.

Lost Years: In the years you belonged to the Wild Hunt, you lost touch with advancing technology. Tasks involving computers, pop culture, and recent history are hindered.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You ferried the soul of a PC’s relative to the afterlife. When you left the Wild Hunt, you found the PC to tell them of their relative’s brave deeds.

2. The living only see the Wild Hunt cross the sky if they’re destined for disaster. A PC saw the Wild Hunt years ago, and you’ve taken it upon yourself to protect them.

3. You’re afraid that the leader of the Wild Hunt will summon you, and you need help concealing yourself.

4. You’re searching for the horse you remember riding—a massive undead stallion with flaming hooves.

Nix

You’re a shapeshifting water spirit. You can walk on two legs and breathe air, but when you’re submerged, you gain a tail, fins, and gills. You probably live near flowing water, with no preference for salinity or temperature; you also have a general affinity for nature and a knack for identifying useful plants. Your playful and upbeat disposition doesn’t mean you’re passive or helpless. Though you may prefer to talk your way out of tough situations, you’re quick to react to threats—especially in water, where you maneuver with deadly accuracy.

You gain the following characteristics:

Transformation: When submerged in water, you transform into a fish/human hybrid with gills, fins, sharp teeth, and a tail. This transformation is automatic. Enabler.

Unchillable: +2 Armor against damage caused by cold or ice.

Sharp Teeth: You are skilled in making an unarmed bite attack, which is a medium weapon in your aquatic form and a light weapon in your humanoid form. Enabler.

Quick Swimming: You can swim a long distance as your action, or a short distance as part of another action.

Close to Nature: You’re skilled in identifying plants and animals.

Siren Song: You’re extremely charismatic. You’re skilled in persuasion and deception.

Distractible: You have a hard time focusing. You’re hindered in tasks involving knowledge or lore, as well as resisting mental attacks.

Inability: When you’re in water, attacks using weapons are hindered.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. The other PCs were stranded in a shipwreck, and you saved them.

2. A factory is polluting your local body of water, and you’re looking for revenge.

3. You played a prank on the other PCs while they were swimming; after a good laugh, they invited you to join them.

4. You’ve been sent to search for a rare plant, believed by many to be extinct.

Nix Advancement:

Calm Stranger

Enhanced Speed

Restful Presence

Ruin Lore

Soothe the Savage

Wilderness Life

Sylph

You’re an air spirit, with the gift of wingless flight and hawklike eyes. You’re happiest when you have an aerial view; you lean more toward strategy than action, calling the shots from an unmatched vantage point. Your sensitivity to air currents and atmospheric pressure means you’re able to predict weather patterns, which you incorporate into your machinations.

You gain the following characteristics:

Master Plans: +2 to your Intellect or Speed Pool.

Sylph Flight (2 Intellect or Speed points): You can fly a long distance as your action, or a short distance as part of another action, for up to ten minutes total. Enabler.

Top-Down Strategy: You’re skilled in logistics and planning.

Sharp Vision: You’re trained in visual perception.

Oncoming Storm (1 Intellect point): You can predict weather patterns (approaching storm systems, cloud cover, wind direction) for the next twelve hours. Action.

Fragile: Might defense tasks are hindered.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You saw the other PCs headed toward danger and called out a warning before the situation turned sour.

2. You got in trouble for flying in restricted airspace, and the other PCs helped cover for you.

3. You need help with a spell that will enable you to communicate with birds of prey.

4. You helped the other PCs recover a kite that became tangled in tree branches and power lines.

Sylph Advancement:

Enhanced Intellect

Enhanced Speed

Eyes Adjusted

Influence Swarm

Precision

Shock

Unmagical

You’re not good at using magic. In fact, it’s clear that you’re inherently unmagical—magic is as confusing, difficult, and awkward for you as learning lava spells would be for a frost giant. It’s not that you don’t believe in magic (though maybe you don’t) or that you don’t like magic (though maybe you don’t). It’s just that you and magic are incompatible. You’ve learned to compensate for this problem and even turn it into an advantage in some cases.

An Unmagical character shouldn’t be able to overcome their inability by becoming trained in magic. The GM might allow them to train away part of the inability with training in specific skills, such as “Onslaught” or “magical weapons.”

Playing an Adept or Speaker character with the Unmagical descriptor is a challenge, as their abilities mostly stem from supernatural power and therefore all of them would be hindered. This descriptor is mainly for Warriors and Explorers who want to play up their not inherently magical nature.

You gain the following characteristics.

Make Do With the Mundane: +1 to each of your Pools.

Resistant to Magic: You are trained in all defense rolls against magic, spells, and magical effects.

Inability: All actions using magic (including casting spells and using magic objects) are hindered.

Magical Failure: Your unmagical nature means magic goes awry more often. For any task relating to or interacting with magic, you trigger a GM intrusion on a d20 roll of 1 or 2.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. One of the other PCs initially diagnosed you as unmagical, which made a lot of your life suddenly make sense.

2. You think this group of PCs might be on track to figuring out why some people are unmagical and perhaps “fixing” them.

3. You and the other PCs have the same rival or foe—someone who once tried using magic on you and failed spectacularly.

4. You volunteered because you knew your inherent resistance to magic would be useful to the group.

FOCI AND CHARACTER ABILITIES #

This section presents new foci that can be used as-is in most modern fantasy campaigns. Each of them has an expanded description with more story details than the foci in the Cypher System Rulebook (which have short, broad descriptions suitable for other genres). The GM and player should adjust these details to suit the specific campaign they’ll be playing.

Codes Magic Apps

You are a maker, a crafter, but you use a unique combination of code and magic instead of wood, steel, or circuit boards. Like anyone who’s spent a lot of time working on a computer, you’ve learned some strange secrets, not all of them entirely legal, and you know a lot about games, people, and how things work. More than just a computer nerd, you’re a developer and (although you might not admit it) a hacker. Most of your specialized gear is hardware or software for your computer or smart device, so you can dress however you want. You’re probably used to wearing comfortable clothes, sitting for hours at a time, and enjoying many caffeinated beverages (that have permanently discolored some of your clothing).

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. You once created a magical app to help get them out of a sticky situation (parking ticket, failing grade, clingy relationship, and so on).

2. Pick one other PC. You know they know an embarrassing or incriminating secret about you.

3. Pick one other PC. Something about this person annoys or distracts you so that when they’re within immediate range, your tasks with computers and magical lore are hindered.

4. Pick one other PC. Every now and then, you’re able to copy a magical app cypher and send it to them (effectively creating a duplicate of one of yours).

Additional Equipment: Computer (laptop or desktop) and a smartphone or tablet.

Minor Effect Suggestion: Your next use of a magical app cypher within the next hour is eased.

Major Effect Suggestion: Your next use of a magical app cypher within the next day is eased.

Tier 1:

Magical Programmer: You are trained in crafting magical apps and in using (and exploiting) computer software. You know one or more computer languages well enough to write basic programs, and you are fluent in internet protocol. Enabler.

Tier 2:

App Tinkerer: If you spend at least one day tinkering with a magical app in your possession, it functions at one level higher than normal. This applies to all magical apps in your possession, but they retain this bonus only for you. Enabler.

Connected

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Confidence Artist or Master Magical Programmer as your tier 3 ability.

Confidence Artist

Master Magical Programmer: You are specialized in crafting magical apps and in using (and exploiting) computer software. Enabler.

Tier 4:

Magical App Hacker: All magical app cyphers you use function at one level higher than normal. If given a week, you can tinker with one of your magical app cyphers, transforming it into another magical app cypher of the same type that you had in the past. The GM and player should collaborate to ensure that the transformation is logical—for example, a magical app that creates a fiery explosion probably can’t be turned into a healing app. Enabler.

Tier 5:

Knowing the Unknown

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Call in Favor or Usurp Cypher as your tier 6 ability.

Call in Favor

Usurp Cypher

Conjures Bullets

You blend sorcery and firearms into an amazing mix of magic and technology. Bullets and spells are almost interchangeable to you; your magic has a firearm motif and you cast using your gun. You might be a trick-shot sorcerer, a magical member of the armed forces, or an outlaw with a flair for arcane power. Gun nuts and wizard purists might look down on your blended technique, but you can do things that nobody else can do. You might call yourself a guncaster, spellshooter, or triggermage. You wear clothing that leaves your arms and hands free to use your weapon and cast spells, preferring something more flashy than a gunslinger’s long coat and more intimidating than typical magician or witch clothing.

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. You once grazed this character with one of your spell bullets; it’s up to them whether they’ve forgiven you or still resent you for it.

2. Pick one other PC. You’ve accidentally discovered that you can shoot their spells out of your gun just like you do with your own spells, but the PC must be touchingyour gun while you fire it.

3. Pick one other PC. Based on your interactions, you think this character resents your use of guns, magic, or both.

4. Pick one other PC. This character can barely hear your gunshots (magical or otherwise), which are no louder than a whisper to them.

Additional Equipment: Medium or heavy handgun.

Minor Effect Suggestion: The attack hits the side of the foe’s head, deafening them for a few minutes.

Major Effect Suggestion: The foe’s major blood vessel is hit, causing them to bleed 1 point of damage each round until someone succeeds at a difficulty 3 Intellect or Speed task to bind the wound.

Tier 1:

Practiced With Guns

Spell Bullet: In your hands, a typical handgun or rifle never needs to be loaded because you can automatically conjure a standard bullet for it as part of your attack action with that weapon.

Alternatively, instead of casting a spell in the normal manner, you can channel it through your handgun, firing it like a bullet. This is as loud as firing a normal bullet and uses the handgun’s range (typically long) if that is longer than the spell’s normal range. If the spell is an attack spell, instead of making an Intellect-based attack you make a Speed-based attack; assets and skill with guns apply to the attack, and you use your Speed Pool if you apply Effort to ease the attack. This means you use Intellect to cast the spell (and for applying Effort for additional effects or extra damage) and Speed for the attack roll (using Intellect Edge and Speed Edge for their respective Pools). Enabler.

You can use Spell Bullet to cast a spell that affects multiple targets. This might look like you’re firing multiple times or the one shot is passing through or ricocheting off each target.

Tier 2:

Gun Jammer (2+ Intellect points): You can interfere with a firearm so the next time it is used, it jams or misfires. The weapon must be within short range and you must be able to see it. Make an Intellect-based attack against the weapon or its bearer (whichever level is higher). If you succeed, the next attack with the firearm fails, and the weapon won’t fire until someone uses an action to correct the problem. If you activate this ability when it isn’t your turn, your attack against the weapon is hindered. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to affect more firearms; each level of Effort affects one additional target. Action or enabler.

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Iron Eye or Trained Guncasting as your tier 3 ability.

Iron Eye: You inflict an additional 3 points of damage with any single-target attack spell cast through a firearm using Spell Bullet. If the attack spell doesn’t inflict damage, you instead can modify the spell as if you had applied a level of Intellect Effort to it. Enabler.

Trained Guncasting: You are trained in using guns (whether firing normal bullets or Spell Bullets). Enabler.

Tier 4:

Hasty Guncasting: You can make two gun attacks as a single action; one is a spell (using Spell Bullet) and the other is a normal gunshot. You can make these attacks in either order, but the second one is hindered by two steps. Enabler.

Tier 5:

Bullet Jaunt (5 Intellect points): Every Spell Bullet you fire leaves a faint path of magic that you can see and follow. Choose the path of one Spell Bullet within long range that you fired in the past minute; you instantly teleport to any place you want along its path. Alternatively, you can use Spell Bullet to conjure a standard bullet, fire it at a target within gun range, and jaunt as part of the action of firing the bullet. Action to teleport along an existing path or to fire a bullet and teleport along its path.

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Deadeye or Special Shot as your tier 6 ability.

Deadeye: You inflict an additional 6 points of damage with any single-target attack spell cast through a firearm using Spell Bullet. If the attack spell doesn’t inflict damage, you instead can modify the spell as if you had applied two levels of Intellect Effort to it. If you have the Iron Eye ability, you can exchange it for Trained Guncasting. Enabler.

Special Shot

Hunts Witches

You know enough about magic to mistrust anyone who uses it, especially witches—people who study ancient rituals, make pacts with evil creatures, and use their power for personal gain. Warped by their abilities, they are dangerous threats to regular folks, and it’s up to people like you to find and eliminate those threats. Sure, some witches claim to be good and even act friendly, but you’ve seen it go bad all too often, and you won’t be fooled again. You always carry weapons for fighting witches, or at least know what common tools will do as a weapon in a pinch. You wear clothing appropriate to the region and era (especially if regular people don’t know about magic or witches and you have to hide what you do). You may have a token, icon, or other reminder of your purpose, such as a lucky coin, a holy book, or a pouch of magic-thwarting herbs given to you by your mentor.

What a “witch” is depends on the setting. In a setting where magic is rare or secret, superstitious people might consider anyone who uses magic to be a dangerous witch. In a different setting, “witch” might refer to a specific organization of people who know how to use magic.

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. You are friends, and you’d hate to see anything bad happen to them.

2. Pick one other PC. You know that some mysterious quality about them makes witches tend to choose them as targets over other people.

3. Pick one other PC. You know they’ve had a run-in with a witch before, and you want to hear how that played out.

4. Pick one other PC. You’ve known this person quite a while, and in fact it was a witch attack against them that convinced you to start hunting witches.

Additional Equipment: A book of lore about witches, passed down to you from past witch hunters and updated over the years (or decades or centuries) with their advice and discoveries about witches.

Minor Effect Suggestion: You intimidate your foe so much that they pause, taking no action on their next turn (but they’re still able to defend themselves).

Major Effect Suggestion: You are so intimidating that your foe chooses to flee, or at least retreat a bit to recover its courage and think of a new strategy.

Tier 1:

Witch Bane: You inflict 1 additional point of damage with weapons. When you inflict damage to witches (or other intelligent creatures who cast spells), you inflict 3 additional points of damage. Enabler.

Witch Lore: You are trained in the traditional names, habits, suspected lairs, and related topics regarding the witches of your world. You know enough of at least one quasi-magical language (such as Latin or Ancient Greek) that you can make yourself understood to them. Enabler.

Tier 2:

Will of Legend

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Improved Witch Bane or Misdirect as your tier 3 ability.

Improved Witch Bane: When you inflict damage to witches (or other intelligent creatures who cast spells), you inflict 3 additional points of damage. Enabler.

Misdirect

Tier 4:

Countercharm (5 Intellect points): If you are affected by an unwanted ongoing magical condition or affliction (such as a curse, paralysis spell, withering hex, and so on) that gives you additional rolls to end it early, your rolls to end it early are eased by two steps until you break free. Enabler.

Tier 5:

Greater Skill with Attacks

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Hard to Kill or Heroic Witch Bane as your tier 6 ability.

Hard to Kill

Heroic Witch Bane: When you inflict damage to witches (or other intelligent creatures who cast spells), you inflict 3 additional points of damage. Enabler.

Inks Spells on Skin

Your enchanted heritage is etched upon you. Studying strange formulas, mystic runes, and magical glyphs to learn spells is one thing. Making spells truly a part of you is another, but that’s exactly what you do when you apply magical inks to create intricate spell tattoos across your body. Each tattoo you inscribe on yourself is not merely a design, but the keystone of a spell, giving you the ability to cast it. Because your tattoos are magical, you can continually add to those you’ve already accumulated without ruining the designs, allowing your mastery over magic to grow. You often wear clothing that bares your arms and perhaps other parts of your body to expose your tattoos, so that others know you for a spellcaster.

Readying Spell Tattoos: You learn two abilities (spells) at every tier of this focus, and each of them becomes a tattoo on your body. However, for each tier’s spells, you can only have one of the two readied (available for casting) at any given time, and the other is merely an interesting design until you change your readied spell for that tier. To change one readied spell, immediately after using a one-hour or ten-hour recovery roll, you must spend one minute in meditation, after which you can swap one readied spell.

The Inks Spells on Skin focus works similarly to the Masters Spells focus. The GM may consider allowing characters with either of these foci to choose abilities from either focus when they advance to a new tier.

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. They once broke a bottle of one of your magical tattoo inks. It’s up to you if you’ve forgiven them or not.

2. Pick one other PC. You think they could learn your tattoo magic, and you’d like to teach them. They may or may not be interested in learning it.

3. Pick one other PC. Whenever you ready your spells for the day, this character feels faint pain on their body where your corresponding tattoo is.

4. Pick one other PC. This character asked you to give them a tattoo, so you did. Somehow, now you can always sense their general direction and distance from you.

Additional Equipment: Special ink, a tattooing needle, and a clay, stone, or wooden tablet marked with strange glyphs.

Minor Effect Suggestion: Exposed skin on the target creature is marked with a glowing glyph of your choice for one hour.

Major Effect Suggestion: The foe is cursed, hindering all their actions for one minute.

Tier 1:

Fleet of Foot

Poison Touch (2 Intellect points): You touch a creature and lines of poison crawl through their skin. They take 3 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) and are hindered on their next turn. Action.

Tier 2:

Eclipse (2 Intellect points): You drain the light from an immediate area within long range. Bright light (like a sunny day outdoors) becomes dim light, normal light (like inside a well-lit room) becomes very dim light, and anything darker becomes darkness. If you cast this spell on an object, the darkness moves with the object, and can be suppressed if it is enclosed in a light-proof container or wrapping. Action.

Mist Form (4 Intellect points): You change into a cloud of mist for up to ten minutes, filling an immediate area. You gain an asset to sneaking tasks and Speed defense tasks, but you lose the benefit of any armor you wear. You can pass through any barrier that allows air to move through it (such as a fence, wire screen, cloth, or pipe), moving up to an immediate distance each round. You can’t affect or be affected by normal matter, but energy attacks (like fire or explosions) and mental attacks still affect you. You cannot speak but can still use abilities that don’t rely on human speech or affecting physical matter (other than yourself). If large portions of the mist are separated (such as behind a closed door) when you return to human form, you move one step down the damage track. Action to change or revert.

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose any two of the following as your tier 3 ability: Command, Lightning Flash, or Outwit.

Command

Lightning Flash (4+ Intellect points): Lightning strikes within long range, filling an immediate area and inflicting 3 points of damage on all affected creatures. Effort applied to one attack counts for all attacks against targets in the area of the flash. Even on an unsuccessful attack, a creature in the area still takes 1 point of damage. Your attack is eased against targets wearing, carrying, or made of a significant amount of metal. Action.

Outwit

Tier 4:

Elemental Protection

Incapacitate (4 Intellect points): You use necromantic magic to make one creature in short range fall prone and be unable to take actions for one round. Action.

Tier 5:

Bypass Barrier

Granite Wall

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose any two of the following as your tier 6 ability: Divide Your Mind, Petrify, or Summon Demon.

Divide Your Mind

Petrify (6+ Intellect points): You slowly transform a creature within short range into lifeless stone. The target must be level 2 or lower. If your attack succeeds, the creature takes 6 points of damage and moves one step down the damage track as their flesh begins to mineralize. If the transformation is not interrupted by the end of your next turn, the creature fully becomes a harmless stone statue. You can cast this spell to restore a petrified target back into their living self. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target. Thus, to petrify a level 6 target (four levels above the normal limit), you must apply four levels of Effort. Action.

Summon Demon

Is A Car Wizard

Your skill behind the wheel is legendary, combining natural talent and specialized magic to perform stunts and tricks that are impossible for regular people. Nothing beats the feel of wind in your hair, except maybe the intense purr of a finely tuned engine augmented by sorcery. You love pushing yourself (and your vehicle) to the limit, even if it’s dangerous—better to die a legend than live a long, dull life driving something boring. You enjoy drawing attention to yourself, so you tend to wear sleek clothing, stylish sunglasses, and borderline-gaudy jewelry, but never anything that interferes with your ability to control a car or cast a spell.

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. To repay a favor they did for you a while ago, you promised to drive them somewhere. They haven’t taken you up on it yet.

2. Pick one other PC. You were the getaway driver for them once in the past— perhaps for something criminal, a car stunt for a viral video, or to avoid a bad situation.

3. Pick one other PC. You know they were once in a very bad car collision that left the vehicle a wreck, but they somehow weren’t hurt at all.

4. Pick one other PC. They used to associate with someone who was trying to hunt you down, but they haven’t been in contact with that person in a while.

Additional Equipment: A reasonably fast car.

Minor Effect Suggestion: The foe you hit (with your spell or car) is moved horizontally an immediate distance in a direction of your choice.

Major Effect Suggestion: The foe is knocked prone and loses their next action.

Tier 1:

Driver

Tier 2:

One Hand on the Wheel: As an action, you can cast a one-action spell and attempt a driving task. Enabler.

Car Magic (3+ Intellect points): You can alter a magical ability you cast so it also affects the vehicle you’re driving, as if it were a part of you. For example, if you’re driving and you cast Hover on yourself, you and the car begin to float; if you cast Invisibility on yourself, you and the car turn invisible. Spells cast on a car this way tend to last only a few rounds before expiring (although the spell still lasts its full duration on you). The cost of Car Magic is added to the cost of the spell you’re casting. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to affect other creatures within the car; each level of Effort used in this way affects up to two additional creatures in the car. Enabler.

The main reason to cast Hover on a moving car is to make awesome-looking jumps that would be impossible without ramps, magic, or Hollywood special effects.

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Expert Driver or Perfect Parking Space as your tier 3 ability.

Expert Driver

1Perfect Parking Space (3 Intellect points):

You can send your car into a pocket dimension that moves with you and is just large enough to hold it. Nobody other than you can perceive or access this space unless they have the ability to interact with transdimensional areas. The space is a part of you, so you can’t use it to store the car if you and the car have more cyphers than your limit, a detonation cypher activated inside the car while it’s in the space harms you, and so on. Storing or retrieving the car happens over one minute as it slowly (and visibly) vanishes or reappears; you can reduce this time to just one round if you succeed at a level 4 Intellect task. Action to initiate.

Tier 4:

Enhanced Intellect

Tier 5:

Deer in the Headlights: When you cast an attack spell while driving, you can modify the spell as if you had applied two levels of Intellect Effort to it. Enabler.

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Spells Have No Speed Limit or Trick Driver as your tier 6 ability.

Spells Have No Speed Limit: Any car you have driven for at least a minute responds to you like a well-trained robot, allowing you to mentally give it orders from a long distance away. This control

includes any aspect of driving the car (such as steering, accelerating, and braking) and any moveable parts on the car (such as opening or closing the doors, hood, or trunk). The car takes actions on your turn, and you make rolls for it in combat or when it takes actions. You can only control one car at a time with this ability (although you could manually drive one car and magically

control another car at the same time). If you are driving the car you’re controlling with this ability, your driving tasks and extreme tricks with the car (such as jumping a ravine or other vehicle, spinning in the air, landing safely on another vehicle, and so on) are eased. Enabler.

Trick Driver

Learned From the Classics

Magic comes intuitively to some people, but you’ve always had to work a bit harder. Luckily, you find that research comes naturally. You know what questions to ask; you know which books, websites, or professionals will have the answers. You spent years studying and practicing, and you taught yourself everything you know. Now you’re a skilled magician who’s always eager to learn more—evidenced by your lengthy reading list.

Connection: Choose one of the following or choose one of the Focus Connections in the Cypher System Rulebook.

1. Pick one other PC. They appreciate (but do not necessarily share) your obsession with books, libraries, and research.

2. Pick one other PC. You once owed this character a lot of money (or vice versa), although that debt is now paid.

3. Pick one other PC. They remind you about an obscure author whose books you enjoy, and you can’t help but like them.

4. Pick one other PC. You think this person is woefully ignorant about a lot of important topics (history, magic, ethics, and so on).

Minor Effect Suggestion: You gain a burst of insight, easing your next action by one step.

Major Effect Suggestion: Your knowledge lets you tap into an obscure current of magic and make a free recovery roll as part of your current action.

Tier 1:

Enhanced Intellect

Library Life: When a problem needs solving, you may not know the solution, but you know where to look. You are trained in research. Enabler.

Tier 2:

Flex Skill

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Enhanced Intellect Edge or Repeated Rituals as your tier 3 ability.

Enhanced Intellect Edge

Repeated Rituals: If you’ve successfully completed a ritual in the past, tasks for performing that ritual again are eased by two steps. Enabler

Tier 4:

Knowing the Unknown

Tier 5:

Mind of a Leader

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Greater Enhanced Intellect or Mental Magic as your tier 6 ability.

Greater Enhanced Intellect

Mental Magic: When attempting a magic-based Might or Speed task, you can instead roll as if it were an Intellect action. This means that if you apply Effort, you spend points from your Intellect Pool and use your Intellect Edge. Enabler.

Practices Moon Magic

The moon is a powerful force on the world, in terms of both science and magic. She hangs overhead like a watchful eye, makes creatures act strangely, represents cycles of time, and causes the ebb and flow of the tides. To you, she is a friend, an inspiration, and a constant reminder that someone is watching over you. You wield her magic to create beams of dangerous light, influence others, travel, and sense the underlying truth and reality of things. The day is not your foe (after all, the moon is often visible during the day), but you prefer the night when the moon can be the brightest light in the sky. You might call yourself a moonchild or a moon witch. You probably prefer black, white, or grey clothing, with flowing portions such as long sleeves, a cape, or a long coat. You might have one or more tattoos or tokens representing the moon, either full, crescent, or in multiple phases. Your favorite jewelry and adornments (like buttons) usually have moonstones.

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. You can harmlessly bounce your moon spells off them, increasing your range by a short distance and even allowing you to shoot around corners.

2. Pick one other PC. You know they think your obsession with the moon is weird, pointless, or superstitious, and you feel the need to prove them wrong.

3. Pick one other PC. Sometimes you can’t detect them with any of your senses or affect them with your magic, even when they’re right in front of you.

4. Pick one other PC. Your power and theirs have an unusual connection; instead of using your one-action recovery roll on yourself, you can use it on them (and vice versa).

Minor Effect Suggestion: Your foe is dazzled by a burst of moonlight, hindering them for one round.

Major Effect Suggestion: A surge of lunar power knocks your foe prone and disarms them of an object they’re holding, which lands an immediate distance away.

Tier 1:

Moonbeam (1+ Intellect point): You emit a cone of pale, cool moonlight from your hand, illuminating up to a short distance with dim light, lasting for one minute. As your action or as part of the action of activating this ability, you can tighten the beam so it focuses on one creature, inflicting either 4 points of cold damage or 2 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor), which immediately ends the spell. You automatically know if the struck creature is a shapechanger (such as a werewolf), although this doesn’t tell you what kind of shapechanger they are or what their true form is. Action.

Tier 2:

Eyes Adjusted

Inspire Aggression

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Nightstrike or Spur Effort as your tier 3 ability. Whichever one you choose, you also gain Moon Adaptation.

Nightstrike

Spur Effort

Moon Adaptation: You can survive indefinitely in a vacuum environment (such as the moon or space).

Although Moon Adaptation protects you from the airless environment of the moon, people traveling with you aren’t so lucky—unless you teleport directly to a pressurized location such as a moon base or an abandoned NASA vehicle.

Tier 4:

Moonlight Barrage (4+ Intellect points): You call down dozens of rays of moonlight into an adjacent short area. All within the area take 4 points of damage from mystical cold and glow with faint moonlight equivalent to a candle for one minute (a creature can end this glow early as an action or by entering an area that moonlight cannot penetrate, such as a deep cave or a room with no windows). You automatically know if any creature in the area is a shapechanger (such as a

werewolf), although this doesn’t tell you what kind of shapechanger they are or what their true form is. If you apply Effort to increase the damage rather than to ease the task, you deal 2 additional points of damage per level of Effort (instead of 3 points); targets in the area take 1 point of damage even if you fail the attack roll. Action.

Tier 5:

Moon Portal (6+ Intellect points): You instantaneously transmit yourself to any location on Earth, as long as moonlight is shining on you and on the spot you want to be. Alternatively, you can instantaneously transport yourself from Earth to the moon or back again. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to bring other people with you; each level of Effort used in this way affects up to three additional targets. You must touch any additional targets. Action.

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Precognition or True Senses as your tier 6 ability.

Precognition

True Senses

Steers The Coven

Magic is strongest when wielded by a community. The strength of a community is derived from the strength of its leader, and you’ve taken on the role. Maybe you were chosen, or maybe you volunteered. Maybe you have an official title and responsibilities, or maybe you serve as an informal mentor. Maybe you run a coven with bylaws and a charter, or maybe you host gatherings where your friends and family can perform rituals together. Regardless, you’re responsible for a coalition of magicians who look to you for guidance, protection, and problem-solving.

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. You have a friendly rivalry with this person, perhaps due to philosophical differences or belonging to another coven with contrary goals.

2. Pick one other PC. You want to learn more about this person so you can decide if they should join your coven or are somehow a threat to it.

3. Pick one other PC. Long ago you were very close to this character, but you drifted apart. You’ll need to decide if you’re starting anew or trying to rekindle the old friendship.

4. Pick one other PC. This character or someone they care about is in your coven, and you feel responsible for protecting them.

Minor Effect Suggestion: The evident power of the support from your coven intimidates a foe, who retreats a short distance away on their next turn.

Major Effect Suggestion: Your opponent respects your commitment to your coven so much that they withdraw from the conflict (although they may return later).

Tier 1:

Community Activist

Community Knowledge

Tier 2:

Shepherd’s Fury

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Inspire Action or True Guardian as your tier 3 ability.

Inspire Action

True Guardian

Tier 4:

Ritual Guidance: When you participate in a magical ritual with two or more members of your coven, ritual tasks for all participants are eased by two steps. Enabler

Tier 5:

Protective Instincts (6+ Might, Speed, or Intellect points): When engaging in combat to defend your coven or home, you can attack up to five different foes with a single action as long as they are within immediate range of each other. All the attacks must be the same sort of attack (melee, ranged, or spell), and the point cost of this ability is deducted from whichever Pool the attack uses. Pay the costs (if any) separately for each attack, and make a separate attack roll for each foe. Anything that modifies your attack or damage applies to all attacks. You remain limited by the amount of Effort you can apply to one action. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the number of foes you can attack, with one additional foe per level of Effort. Enabler.

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Deep Consideration or Drawing on Life’s Experiences as your tier 6 ability.

Deep Consideration

Drawing on Life’s Experiences

Transmits Energy

Magic is often compared to electromagnetism: it’s an invisible and ubiquitous force that holds everything together. Magic runs through every living creature, the ground, and even the air around us. You can sense—and influence—the flow of power, the way some people can hear currents running through wire. In a crisis, you attack by draining a foe’s energy. Otherwise, you focus on helping others by catalyzing and enhancing their magic abilities.

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. This character thinks you’re some sort of energy vampire, either dangerous or just annoying.

2. Pick one other PC. You believe they have insight about how to master your magic, if you can just convince them to trust you with their secrets.

3. Pick one other PC. You once knocked out this character with your power, but were able to jolt them back awake again. At the time they seemed to think it was funny.

4. Pick one other PC. You once recharged one of their powerful cyphers, although you’re not sure how you managed it.

Minor Effect Suggestion: You gently drain 2 points of energy from your foe, which you can divide between your Might and Speed Pools.

Major Effect Suggestion: You gently drain 5 points of energy from your foe, which you can divide between your Might and Speed Pools.

Tier 1:

Lend a Hand: If an ally attempts a magical task and fails, they can try again without spending Effort if you help them. You provide this advantage to your friend even if you are not trained in the task that they’re retrying. Enabler.

Tier 2:

Drain Creature

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Buddy System or Tap Currents as your tier 3 ability.

Buddy System

Tap Currents: You can draw energy from the earth itself into your body. If you concentrate and don’t move from where you’re standing for one minute, you restore 3 points to your Might or Speed Pool. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you’ve made a ten-hour recovery roll. If you have the Store Energy ability, you can instead use Tap Currents to add 3 points to your Siphon Pool. (This use of this ability is not limited to one use per ten-hour recovery roll.) Action to initiate.

Tier 4:

Store Energy

Tier 5:

Share the Power

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Explosive Release or both Continuous Transfer and Drain at a Distance at tier 6.

Explosive Release

Continuous Transfer: When you use either Drain Creature or Tap Currents to drain energy, you can transfer it to another creature within short range, restoring points to their Might or Speed Pools (or health for an NPC). This occurs seamlessly, as part of the same action. Enabler.

Drain at a Distance

Turns Decay to Growth

You’re comfortable with decomposition: the bacteria and fungi that break down organic material are living creatures, and you coax magic from the interplay of life and death. To you, rot isn’t cause for revulsion—it’s an opportunity to build something new. Maggots, mushrooms, and mold are actors in your process, not unlike familiars. You probably keep a garden, nourished by your meticulously maintained compost pile. Your community might express discomfort with your methods, leading to friction. If you react to criticism by isolating yourself, you won’t be lonely for very long—what you have to offer is vital and rare, and it’s inevitable that someone will ask you for help.

Connection:

1. Pick one other PC. This character dislikes the smell that your spells make and tries to be at least an immediate distance away when you cast them.

2. Pick one other PC. This character is fascinated by your powers and wants to make use of them (or just thinks you can provide them with medicinal mushrooms).

3. Pick one other PC. This character believes you are a member of a mushroom cult (which to them might be a good, bad, or neutral thing).

4. Pick one other PC. You and this character have a magical connection, and you each add +1 to your recovery rolls when within a short distance of each other.

Minor Effect Suggestion: Your foe is dazed (hindered) for the next round.

Major Effect Suggestion: Your foe is stunned for one round, or you restore 2 points to any one of your Pools.

Tier 1:

Wilderness Lore

Spore Cloud (1 Intellect point): You throw a handful of mushrooms that speed toward a target within long range. The attack inflicts 3 points of damage and envelops the target in a haze of toxic spores, which inflicts 1 additional point of damage per round (ignores Armor) for the next minute or until the target uses an action to wash the spores away. Action.

Tier 2:

Wilderness Explorer

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Reading Decomposition or both Grasping Foliage and Necromancy at tier 3.

Reading Decomposition (3 Intellect points): You gain knowledge about an area by reading energy released by decomposition and decay. You can ask the GM a single, matter-of-fact question about the location and get an answer if you succeed on the Intellect roll. “What was the last ritual performed in this room?” is a good example of a simple question. “Why was this room used for a ritual?” is not an appropriate question, because it has more to do with the mindset of whoever performed the ritual than with qualities of the room. Simple questions usually have a difficulty of 2, but technical questions or those that involve facts meant to be kept secret can have a much higher difficulty. Action.

Unless an environment is absolutely sterilized, there are enough microbes, fungal spores, and other organic debris in an area to allow you to use Reading Decomposition.

Grasping Foliage

Necromancy

Tier 4:

If you have Necromancy, your tier 4 ability is Greater Necromancy. If you have Reading Decomposition, your tier 4 ability is Rewind Rot.

Greater Necromancy

Rewind Rot: Your grasp on life and death energy means that you can heal—even from death—as long as your head, heart, and hands remain intact. One minute after descending a step on the damage track, you regain 2 Pool points. However, if you return from death, it is with a permanent 2-point reduction in your Intellect Pool. Enabler.

Tier 5:

Insect Eruption

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Restore Life or Word of Death as your tier 6 ability.

Restore Life

Word of Death

NEW ABILITIES (MODERN MAGIC) #

Access the Broadcast (2+ Intellect points): You create a flat rectangular illusory “screen” within immediate range that can display any broadcast television signal in your area (similar to using a television with an antenna) or any video streams in the area (similar to tapping into a wireless network). The screen is anywhere from 1 to 3 feet (30 cm to 1 m) across, includes stereo sound, and lasts for one hour. As an action, you can change the channel, the volume, or both. The effect ends if you are more than a short distance away from the screen. For each level of Effort you apply to this ability, you can increase the width of the screen by up to 3 feet (1 m). Action.

Wireless networks hosting video streams are usually locked or encrypted, which requires you to succeed on an Intellect-based attack roll against the network’s level (typically level 4) to watch them.

Background Music (1+ Intellect points): You create quiet background music in a short area, loud enough to be heard in a room with normal conversation, but not so loud to be distracting or overwhelming. The music repeats through up to ten songs you know, lasting up to an hour. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the duration; each level of Effort adds one hour to the play time and five songs to the playlist. Action.

Blackout (3 Intellect points): You issue a disruptive ripple of energy within short range, creating an area where the electrical power grid fails. All devices relying on being plugged into the grid stop working. Battery‑powered devices still work. Any standby generator connected in this area functions normally, activating emergency power within a few rounds. The blackout otherwise lasts for one minute. Action.

Blood Magician: When you wish it, you can use points from your Might Pool rather than your Intellect Pool to activate a magical ability (including applying Effort to that ability). If you use your Might Pool this way, you use your Might Edge instead of your Intellect Edge. Enabler.

Bound Magic Familiar: You have a magic familiar bound to you through a magical mark on your body (a tattoo, rune, scar, or something as mundane as a freckle or mole). Normally, the familiar remains sleeping in its spiritual form. When you use an action to manifest them, they appear next to you as a creature with a specific form (such as a cat, hawk, homunculus, tiny dragon, or other suitable magical creature) and can communicate with you telepathically. The familiar is friendly toward you but has its own personality determined by the GM. The familiar can remain physically manifested for up to one hour, after which they return to their sleeping spiritual form and cannot manifest again until after your next ten-hour recovery roll. While manifested, they accompany you and follow your instructions. The familiar must remain within an immediate distance of you; if they move farther away, they are yanked back into their magical mark at the end of your following turn and cannot return until after your next ten-hour recovery roll. The familiar doesn’t make attacks, but they can use their action to grant you an asset for any one attack you make on your turn. Otherwise, they can take actions on their own (though you’ll likely roll for them). If the familiar is reduced to 0 health, they dissipate into their spiritual form and cannot manifest again until 1d6 + 2 days have passed. Action to manifest the familiar.

Magic familiar: level 3, Speed defense as level 5 due to size, one knowledge skill as level 4

Critter Telekinesis (1 Intellect point): You. telekinetically move a small creature (no larger than a medium dog) an immediate distance in any direction you wish. You must be able to see the creature, which must be your size or smaller, must not be affixed to anything, and must be within short range. The creature safely arrives at your chosen location without any residual force. If the creature knows you and you have a free hand, you can automatically grab the creature as part of the action of using this ability. This ability lacks the fine control to move anything with much speed, so in most situations, it’s used to reposition an animal (such as a pet) out of a dangerous or inconvenient location. For example, you could safely pull a scared cat out from under a bed, retrieve a puppy from a storm drain, or relocate a wild bird that got inside your house. Action.

Facsimile of Life (3 Intellect points): You give an object limited mobility, awareness, and intellect, allowing it to move about as if it were a small pet. The object must be within immediate distance and no larger than half your size. When animated, the object can perform tasks for you as if it were a level 1 creature, but otherwise is treated as an object of its level (for example, it uses the object damage track instead of health). The animation lasts for an hour or until you and it are at least a long distance apart, at which time the object becomes inert again. Action.

Ghost Car (4+ Intellect points): You create a level 3 ghostly-looking car that can carry two people and a small amount of luggage. You or a creature you designate can drive the car as normal. For each level of Effort you apply to this ability, it can carry two additional passengers and its level increases by 1. The car lasts for an hour, after which it vanishes. Action.

Hush (1+ Intellect point): You create a transparent bubble within short range that muffles very loud sounds within it, such as alarms, sirens, leaf blowers, and crying babies. The bubble is about 3 feet (1 m) across and any noise from within it comes out no louder than a normal speaking voice. The bubble lasts for one minute and moves with the target. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to increase the duration; one level of Effort increases the duration to ten minutes, two levels increases it to an hour, and three levels increases it to ten hours. Action.

Magnification (1+ Intellect point): You create a rectangular frame, visible only to you, that doubles the magnification of whatever you see through it. The frame defaults to hovering in front of your face about an arm’s length away, but you can use your action to move it up, down, or to either side. The frame lasts for ten minutes and grants an asset on perception tasks at range. For each level of Effort you apply to this ability, you can increase the magnification by another increment (×3 for one level of Effort, ×4 for two levels of Effort, and so on). Action.

Network Dead Zone (3 Intellect points): You interfere with radio signals, such as Bluetooth, wifi, cell phone service, AM/FM radio, ham radio, and walkie-talkies. Choose a short area within immediate range; all such transmissions into or out of that area are blocked due to a combination of interference and lack of reception. This lasts for one minute. Action.

Powerful radio sources, such as a radio station transmitter or a telecommunication satellite, may be able to punch through a Network Dead Zone spell.

Paralyzing Touch (4+ Intellect points): You gather necromantic energy in your fingertip and touch a creature. A target of level 3 or lower is paralyzed and helpless for an hour. Each level of Effort applied increases the level cap of the target by 1. Action.

Remote Slap (3 Intellect points): You use an active telephone, cellular, internet, or closed-circuit video connection to slap a creature. The target must be actively using a device making use of this connection, such as being on the other end of a phone call or text message, browsing the same social media website or app you’re using, or monitoring a closed-circuit camera that is recording you. Make an Intellect-based attack against the creature; success means the creature takes 1 point of damage, as if they had been telekinetically slapped in the face by the device they’re using. Each additional remote slap against that creature is hindered by an additional step (resetting after one hour). Action.

Share Memory (3 Intellect points): You share a memory of your choice with a willing creature you touch. The length of the shared memory can be no longer than about five minutes, but you can summarize longer memories (such as how you met, courted, and married your partner) with a “montage” that covers the most important details and underlying sentiment. The target experiences the memory as an instantaneous vision, and is aware that it is your memory rather than their own memory or experience. The memory is as vivid and accurate as you personally remember it. Action.

Soul Familiar: You have a soul familiar who accompanies you and follows your instructions. Your soul and their soul are interconnected (or the familiar might actually be a physical manifestation of your soul). The familiar loves and cares for you like the best combination of a pet and a close friend.

The familiar is no larger than a large cat (about 20 pounds, or 9 kg); a typical soul familiar looks like a bird, cat, rat, lizard, snake, or toad, but more unusual forms (such as a tiny demon, dragon, elemental, fey creature, or floating skull) are also possible. You and the GM must work out the details of your familiar, and you’ll probably make rolls for them in combat or when they take actions. The familiar acts on your turn. Their movement is based on their creature type (avian, swimmer, and so on).

You and your familiar can communicate telepathically within long range, or empathically within very long range. Beyond this range, you can only sense each other’s general level of well-being.

Your familiar’s presence within short range counts as an asset for magical tasks that require at least one minute to activate or maintain.

If your familiar is within an immediate distance of you, you can roll any defense task for them, gaining the benefit of your skills, assets, and Effort (the familiar’s Speed defense tasks are eased by two steps due to their size). While within this distance, your familiar also gains the benefit of any ongoing spell you cast on yourself (for example, if you cast a spell on yourself that lets you breathe water, your familiar can breathe water).

Foes can use your soul familiar’s connection to you against you. If a foe is holding or restraining your familiar (or touching it while it is held or restrained by another creature or a device, such as manacles or a cage), the foe’s attacks and defenses against you are eased.

If an attack against your familiar would reduce their health to 0, you can magically intervene so their health is instead reduced to 1 and you move one step down the damage track. If your familiar dies, you move one step down the damage track. If you die, your familiar instantly dies.

You can replace a dead familiar (or revive them, if you have their remains) by performing a magical ritual that takes 1d6 days.

Enabler.

Soul familiar: level 2, Speed defense as level 4 due to size

A soul familiar with an animal form looks like a normal animal—there’s nothing obvious about them to indicate they’re anything other than what they appear to be.

Statue Stasis (3 Intellect points): You transform into a lifelike bronze or stone statue of yourself for a specific period of time (one minute, one hour, ten hours, or twenty-four hours). When in statue form, you are in stasis; you don’t age, can take no actions (other than making recovery rolls while you “sleep”), and gain +10 to Armor against all forms of damage, including damage not normally affected by Armor. If you take enough damage to get through your armor, the stasis effect immediately ends. Action.

SUPERHERO CHARACTER OPTIONS 

DESCRIPTORS #

This section presents new descriptors meant specifically for a superhero game.

AMAZING #

You have a knack for surprising people— performing impossible athletic feats, sneaking up on someone who’s alert, or instantly reacting to an ambush. You like to make use of these talents to enhance (or rehabilitate) your reputation as a hero prone to spectacular rescues, defeating foes way above your league, and arriving just in time to save the day. Ironically,

in your normal daily life, you’re a little awkward and overlooked.

You gain the following characteristics:

Exceptional: +2 to your Speed Pool, and 2 additional points to divide among your stat Pools.

Skill: You’re trained in initiative and stealth tasks.

Self-Hype: When you apply a level of Effort to a task, you get a free level of Effort. You can do this one time, although the ability is renewed each time you make a one-hour or ten-hour recovery roll.

Inability: Your sudden appearances are startling to regular people. Positive social reactions are hindered (villains and other superheroes aren’t affected by this).

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You got in a bit over your head, but another PC’s coincidental arrival gave you just the distraction you needed.

2. You were tailing someone the other PCs were following and decided to drop in.

3. You saw that the other PCs were in a fight and chose to help them out.

4. You had a hunch that something big was about to go down.

INCREDIBLE #

You’re misunderstood, and you might not even think of yourself as a hero, but somehow you keep ending up in situations where your abilities are just what’s needed to prevent disaster. Maybe good luck cancels out just enough of being cursed to count as a win. You’ve saved innocent lives, defeated some really bad people, and perhaps even cheated death a couple of times. Half the time you don’t even know how you did it, but you succeeded at the impossible . . . often with a lot of collateral damage. When you hear police sirens, it’s time to leave, but you know that trouble will find you eventually—and you’ll be ready to smash it.

Strong: +2 to your Might Pool, and 2 additional points to divide among your stat Pools.

Skill: You’re trained in breaking things. Skill: You’re trained in all jumping tasks. Inability: Your destructive reputation or some other reluctance to communicate makes people distrust you. Any task involving social interaction is hindered.

Incredible Action: You can choose to automatically succeed on one task without rolling, as long as the task’s difficulty is no higher than 6. When you do so, however, you also trigger a GM intrusion as if you had rolled a 1. The intrusion doesn’t invalidate the success, but it probably qualifies it in some fashion. You can do this one time, although the ability renews each time you make a ten-hour recovery roll.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. One of the other PCs sensed your decent heart and decided to befriend you.

2. You literally crashed through a wall and ended up in the middle of the other PCs.

3. One of the other PCs reminds you of someone from your past.

4. You were feeling lonely and took a risk talking to someone, and so far it’s paying off

MIGHTY #

You have a very impressive physique. Your strength, power, and very importance

are superior. Whether you’re truly the mightiest may be up for debate (and you may have a friendly rivalry about this with other superheroes), but there is no question that you are exceptional. These things make you confident, but you know that you have these physical gifts in order to perform heroic deeds, and unseemly conduct is beneath you.

Very Powerful: +4 to your Might Pool.

Skill: You’re trained in all actions involving lifting and throwing things.

Skill: You’re trained in Might defense tasks.

Healthy: Add 1 to the points you regain when you make a recovery roll.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You joined the other PCs because they would fail without your strength.

2. You believe this endeavor will earn you a lot of valor.

3. Another PC asked—rightly—for your help.

4. An authority figure told you to do this to show you the value of humility.

SENSATIONAL #

The public and the press like you. Maybe you’re photogenic, or you’re inherently nice, or you have really good luck with journalists. Whatever the cause of it, you’re the darling of the media, and whenever you’re seen in public, you generate a lot of positive interest and excitement. (If you don’t have a secret identity, this attention probably also carries over to your day job, which is a mixed blessing.) People know that you’re a hero and that they can count on you to do the right thing—fighting crime, battling injustice, punching evil robots, that kind of stuff. Sometimes being in the public eye so much can be wearying or even a burden, but you know how to use your reputation to set a good example and make the world a better place.

You gain the following characteristics:

Versatile: You get 4 additional points to divide among your stat Pools.

Skill: You’re trained in positive social interactions.

Skill: You’re trained in one skill relating to your current or past career, such as computers, journalism, law, machinery, or medicine.

Popular: The GM can introduce a GM intrusion on you, based on your fame and the public’s perception of you, without awarding you any XP (as if you had rolled a 1 on a d20 roll). However, if this happens, 50 percent of the time, your reputation works to your advantage. Rather than hurting you (much), it helps you, or it hurts your enemies. You get spotted by a guard, but they’re dumbstruck for a moment because you’re even more impressive in person than you are on TV. You attract a crowd of fans, but they slow down the fleeing villain you’re trying to catch. A photographer pesters you for a photo and a quote, but their camera catches something interesting in the background. You and the GM should work together to determine the details. If the GM wishes, they can use GM intrusions based on your fame normally (awarding XP).

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You’re related to one of the other superhero PCs, and decided to help out because of family.

2. The other PCs relied on your positive reputation to untangle them from a public relations problem, and they invited you along out of gratitude.

3. The media specifically called you out to fix this problem.

4. A supervillain chose to make a scene in the hopes of drawing you out.

UNCANNY #

There’s something unusual about you, and it makes other people a little uncomfortable. You know you’re exceptional—gifted, even—and being a bit odd doesn’t make you any less of a person. This uncanny element is a part of you, in your blood, in your DNA. You can’t help it, but you won’t apologize for it. You feel comfortable around other people with similar strangeness, people who’ve experienced the same prejudice that you have; these shared experiences mean they’re your family, perhaps the only family you’ve got.

You gain the following characteristics:

Exceptional: +2 to your Might Pool and +2 to your Speed Pool.

Distinctive Physical Quirk: You have

an unusual physical aspect. Depending on the setting, this can vary greatly; it might be something external and obvious, such as an odd smell or blue hair, or internal and hidden, like having blood type “omega.” Whatever it is, your quirk draws a lot of attention when it’s discovered.

A Sense for the Weird: Sometimes—at the GM’s discretion—an event or person that seems related to your uncanny nature attracts your attention. You can sense it from afar, and if you get within long range of it, you can sense whether it is overtly dangerous or not.

Skill: You’re trained in either perception tasks or stealth tasks.

Skill: You’re trained in one kind of knowledge related to your quirk, such as olfactory science, mutations, or hematology.

Inability: People find you unnerving. All tasks relating to pleasant social interaction are hindered. (Other people who are unusual like you aren’t affected by this.)

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You felt the objective was someone like you, so you got involved.

2. Whether the other PCs realize it or not, their mission has to do with your field of knowledge, so you got involved.

3. As an expert in an unusual kind of knowledge, you were specifically recruited by the other PCs.

4. You believe one of the other PCs may be uncanny or is related to someone who is.

If the superhero setting has a specific gene or genes responsible for mutant superpowers, Uncanny characters have that gene (perhaps even multiple copies) and can sense others who have it

NEW FOCI #

This section presents new superhero foci that can be used as is in most superhero campaigns. The foci introduced here are as follows:

Copies Superpowers: You can copy others’ skills, abilities, and superpowers.

Has a Thousand Faces: You can change your appearance to look like anyone else.

Ignores Physical Distance: You can teleport from one place to another by briefly passing through a parallel dimension.

Sculpts Hard Light: You create physical objects out of hard light that you can use for offense and defense.

Shrinks to Minute Size: You can shrink down to the size of a bug and, with enough experience, even smaller.

Soars on Amazing Wings: Many superheroes can fly, and some even have wings. You can use your wings for movement, attacks, and defense.

Stretches: Your body is elastic and rubbery, able to stretch to great lengths and compress when struck.

Takes Animal Shape: You can transform yourself into an animal.

Touches the Sky: You can summon storms or break them apart.

Wields an Enchanted Weapon: You have a weapon with strange abilities, and your knowledge of its powers has allowed you to create a unique style of combat with it.

Wields Invisible Force: You bend light and manipulate beams of force for offense and defense.

COPIES SUPERPOWERS #

You can copy others’ skills, abilities, and superpowers.

Tier 1: Flex Skill 

Tier 1: Flex Skill 

Tier 2: Copy Power

Tier 3: Steal Power or Wildcard Powers

Tier 4: Improved Copying

Tier 5: Power Memory

Tier 6: Amazing Copying or Multiple

Copying GM Intrusions: A copied power ends unexpectedly or goes out of control. A copied power doesn’t bring secondary powers with it (like gaining superspeed without protection from air friction, or not being immune to the heat from your own fire bolts).

HAS A THOUSAND FACES #

You can change your appearance to look like anyone else.

Tier 1: Face Morph

Tier 1: Interaction Skills 

Tier 2: Body Morph

Tier 2: War Flesh

Tier 3: Disguise Other or Resilience

Tier 4: Ageless

Tier 4: Think Your Way Out 

Tier 5: Memory Becomes Action 

Tier 6: Divide Your Mind or Infer Thoughts 

GM Intrusions: Part of the disguise slips. An NPC thinks the disguised character is someone they know very well.

IGNORES PHYSICAL DISTANCE #

You can teleport from one place to another by briefly passing through a parallel dimension.

Tier 1: Dimensional Squeeze

Tier 2: Opportunist 

Tier 3: Defensive Blinking or Teleportation Burst

Tier 4: Short Teleportation

Tier 5: Medium Teleportation

Tier 6: Teleportation or Teleportive Wound

GM Intrusions: A teleport goes awry, landing the character in a dangerous place. Inertia (such as from falling) continues through the teleport, injuring the character.

SCULPTS HARD LIGHT #

You create physical objects out of hard light that you can use for offense and defense.

Tier 1: Automatic Glow

Tier 1: Temporary Light

Tier 2: Entangling Force 

Tier 3: Harder Light or Sculpt Light 

Tier 4: Greater Enhanced Intellect 

Tier 5: Improved Sculpt Light 

Tier 6: Defensive Field or Flight 

GM Intrusions: A hard light object disappears early. A hard light object cannot affect a certain creature or color.

SHRINKS TO MINUTE SIZE #

You can shrink down to the size of a bug and, with enough experience, even smaller. 

Tier 1: Shrink

Tier 1: Beneath Notice

Tier 2: Smaller

Tier 2: Advantages of Being Small

Tier 3: Enlarge or Quick Switch

Tier 4: Small Flight

Tier 5: Shrink Others

Tier 6: Bigger or Tiny

GM Intrusions: A creature thinks the small character is potential food. The small character gets trapped in a tiny space or under a falling object.

A character who Shrinks to Minute Size who chooses to learn abilities like Enlarge will never be quite as big as one who Grows to Towering Heights, but they can enjoy the advantages of being big or small as needed.

SOARS ON AMAZING WINGS #

Many superheroes can fly, and some even have wings. You can use your wings for movement, attacks, and defense.

Tier 1: Hover

Tier 1: Flight Exertion

Tier 2: Wing Weapons

Tier 3: Acrobatic Attack or Flying Companion

Tier 4: Hard to Hit 

Tier 5: Up to Speed 

Tier 6: Hard Target or Defense Master

GM Intrusions: A wing gets hurt or restrained, causing the character to fall. Flying high makes the character an obvious target for an unexpected foe.

STRETCHES #

Your body is elastic and rubbery, able to stretch to great lengths and compress when struck.

Tier 1: Contortionist

Tier 1: Far Step

Tier 2: Elastic Grip

Tier 2: Safe Fall

Tier 3: Bypass Barrier or Misdirect 

Tier 4: Resilience 

Tier 5: Free to Move 

Tier 6:Break the Ranks or Not Dead Yet

GM Intrusions: An attack or effect interferes with the character’s elasticity. A stretched limb becomes overstressed and weak.

TAKES ANIMAL SHAPE #

You can transform yourself into an animal. 

Tier 1: Animal Shape

Tier 2: Communication 

Tier 2: Soothe the Savage

Tier 3: Bigger Animal Shape or Greater Beast Form

Tier 4: Animal Scrying

Tier 5: Hard to Kill

Tier 6: Blurring Speed or Lend Animal Shape

GM Intrusions: The character unexpectedly changes form. An NPC is frightened by or aggressive toward the shapeshifter. The transformation takes longer than expected.

Greater Beast Form applies to using Animal Shape.

TOUCHES THE SKY #

You can summon storms or break them apart.

Tier 1: Hover 

Tier 2: Wind Armor 

Tier 3: Bolts of Power or Storm Seed

Tier 4: Windrider 

Tier 5: Cold Burst 

Tier 6: Control Weather or Wind Chariot 

GM Intrusions: An ally is accidentally struck by a fork of lightning. An unexpected grounding effect inflicts damage. The weather is seeded by a much smaller effect, and a storm grows out of control.

WIELDS AN ENCHANTED WEAPON #

You have a weapon with strange abilities, and your knowledge of its powers has allowed you to create a unique style of combat with it.

Tier 1: Enchanted Weapon

Tier 1: Innate Power

Tier 1: Charge Weapon

Tier 2: Power Crash

Tier 3: Rapid Attack or Throw Enchanted Weapon

Tier 4: Defending Weapon

Tier 5: Enchanted Movement

Tier 6: Deadly Strike or Spin Attack 

GM Intrusions: A weapon breaks or is dropped. The character loses their connection to the weapon until they use an action to reestablish the attunement. The weapon’s energy discharges in an unexpected way.

WIELDS INVISIBLE FORCE #

You bend light and manipulate beams of force for offense and defense.

Tier 1: Vanish 

Tier 2: Entangling Force 

Tier 2: Sharp Senses

Tier 3: Force Field Barrier or Multi-Vanish 

Tier 4: Invisibility 

Tier 5: Defensive Field

Tier 6: Concussion or Generate Force Field 

GM Intrusions: Invisibility partially fades, revealing the character’s presence. A force field is pierced by an unusual or unexpected attack.

NEW ABILITIES 

The following are new abilities for the Cypher System, most of which are associated with the new foci in this book.

Advantages of Being Small: You’ve learned how to leverage your strength and accuracy in proportion to your size. Your damage is no longer halved when using Shrink, and climbing and jumping tasks are eased. Enabler.

Ageless: Your body and mind do not age. Unless you are killed by violence (or some outside force such as poison or infection), you will never die. Enabler.

Always Tinkering: If you have any tools and materials at all, and you are carrying fewer cyphers than your limit, you can create a manifest cypher if you have an hour of time to spend. The new cypher is random and always 2 levels lower than normal (minimum 1). It’s also temperamental and fragile. These are called temperamental cyphers. If you give one to anyone else to use, it falls apart immediately, useless. Action to initiate; one hour to complete.

Amazing Copying: You can use Copy Power to copy more powerful abilities. In addition to the normal options for using Effort with Copy Power, if you apply two levels of Effort, the GM chooses a high-tier ability that most closely resembles that power (instead of a low-tier ability). Enabler.

Amazing Leap (2 Might points): You leap through the air and land safely some distance away. You can jump up, down, or across to anywhere you choose within long range if you have a clear and unobstructed path to that location. If you have three or more power shifts in strength, your leaping range increases to very long. If you have five or more power shifts in strength, your leaping range increases to 1,000 feet (300 m). Action.

Animal Scrying (4+ Intellect points): If you know the general location of an animal that is friendly toward you and within 1 mile (1.5 km) of your location, you can sense through its senses for up to ten minutes. If you are not in animal form or not in a form similar to that animal, you must apply a level of Effort to use this ability. Action to establish.

Animal Shape (3+ Intellect points): You change into an animal as small as a rat or up to your own size (such as a large dog or small bear) for ten minutes. Each time you transform, you can take a different animal shape. Your equipment becomes part of the transformation, rendering it unusable unless it has a passive effect, such as armor. In this form your stats remain the same as your normal form, but you can move and attack according to your animal shape (attacks from most animals this size are medium weapons, which you can use without penalty). Tasks requiring hands (such as using door handles or pushing buttons) are hindered when in animal form. You cannot speak but can still use abilities that don’t rely on human speech. You gain two minor abilities associated with the creature you become (see the Animal Form Minor Abilities table). For example, if you transform into a bat, you become trained in perception and can fly up to a long distance each round. If you transform into an octopus, you are trained in stealth and can breathe underwater.

If you apply a level of Effort when you use this ability, you can either become

a talking animal or take a hybrid shape. The talking animal shape looks exactly

like a normal animal, but you can still talk and use any abilities that rely on human speech. The hybrid shape is like your normal form but with animalistic features, even if that animal is something much smaller than you (such as a bat or rat). In this hybrid form you can speak, use all of your abilities, make attacks like an animal, and perform tasks using hands without being hindered. Anyone who sees you clearly in this hybrid form would never mistake you for a mere animal.

Action to change or revert.

Even if your animal shape has multiple attack types (such as claws and bite), you can attack only once per round unless you have some other ability that lets you make additional attacks on your turn.

A character might be able to take the shape of a creature that is similar to a common animal, such as a unicorn instead of a horse or a basilisk instead of a lizard, but doing so should require applying at least one level of Effort to the change, and the character wouldn’t gain any of the creature’s unusual abilities.

Animal Shape variant: If your character concept is that you always take the same animal form instead of being able to choose from multiple kinds of animals, double the duration of the Animal Shape ability (to twenty minutes per use). The GM may allow characters with this restriction to learn additional animal forms by spending 4 XP as a long-term benefit.

ANIMAL FORM MINOR ABILITIES TABLE #

Use the following as examples or suggestions of what a character gains when in the shape of an animal. If an animal shape lists two skills, the character chooses which one they want each time they take that shape.

Aquatic: The animal either breathes water instead of air or is able to breathe water in addition to breathing air.

Armor: The animal has a thick hide or shell, granting +1 to Armor.

Constrict: The animal can grip its opponent fast after making a melee attack (usually with a bite or claw), easing attack rolls against that foe on later turns until it releases the foe.

Fast: The animal can move a long distance on its turn instead of a short distance.

Flying: The animal can fly, which (depending on the type of animal) may be up to a short or long distance on its turn.

Hands: The animal has paws or hands that are nearly as agile as those of a human. Unlike with most animal shapes, the animal’s tasks that require hands are not hindered (although the GM may decide that some tasks requiring human agility, such as playing a flute, are still hindered).

Scent: The animal has a strong sense of smell, gaining an asset on tracking and dealing with darkness or blindness.

Small: The animal is considerably smaller than a human, easing its Speed defense tasks but hindering tasks to move heavy things.

Venom: The animal is poisonous (usually through a bite), inflicting 1 additional point of damage.

Automatic Glow: Hard light objects you create with your type and focus abilities shed light, illuminating everything in immediate range. Whenever you want, your body (entirely or just part of it) sheds light, illuminating everything in short range. Enabler.

Beneath Notice: Your decreased size makes it difficult to find you. While Shrink is active on you, all stealth tasks you attempt are eased. Enabler.

Bigger Animal Shape: When you use Animal Shape, your animal form grows to about twice its normal size. Being so large, your beast form gains the following additional bonuses: +1 to Armor, +5 to your Might Pool, and you are trained in using your animal form’s natural attacks as heavy weapons (if you weren’t already). However, your Speed defense tasks are hindered. While bigger, you also gain

an asset to tasks that are easier for a larger creature to perform, like climbing, intimidating, wading rivers, and so on. Enabler.

Body Morph (3+ Intellect points): You alter your facial and bodily features and coloration for one hour, hiding your identity or impersonating someone. If you apply a level of Effort, you can imitate a specific person accurately enough to fool someone who knows them well or has observed them closely (including fingerprints and voice prints, but not their retina print or DNA). You have an asset in all tasks involving disguise (this is in addition to the asset from Face Morph). You must apply a separate level of Effort to be able to impersonate a different species (such as a human morphing into a humanoid alien). Action.

 Bolster Illusion (2+ Intellect points): You give one of your visual illusions a limited physical reality that viewers can smell, taste, hear, and feel. This effect is bound to that illusion and acts appropriate to the illusion itself. For example, it can make the illusion of a brick wall feel like brick, the illusion of a person smell like perfume and able to open a door, and the illusion of a fireplace hot to the touch.

The physical reality provided to your illusion is a level 1 effect with 3 health. If the illusion is used to make attacks, it inflicts only 1 point of damage (whether this is regular damage like an illusory punch or kick, or ambient damage like a falling brick wall or a fireplace’s flames). You can increase the level of the created effect by applying levels of Effort to this ability, each level of Effort increasing the effect’s level by 1.

You can activate this ability as part of the action to create an illusion (using whatever ability it is that you use to create illusions, such as Minor Illusion), or use a separate action to apply it to one of your existing illusions. The effect ends if the illusion is destroyed, you let the illusion lapse, the effect’s health is reduced to 0, or ten minutes pass. Enabler.

Boost Manifest Cypher (2 Intellect points): The manifest cypher you activate with your next action functions as if it were 2 levels higher. Action.

Boost Manifest Cypher Function (4 Intellect points): Add 3 to the functioning level of a manifest cypher that you activate with your next action, or change one aspect of its parameters (range, duration, area, etc.) by up to double or down to one tenth. Action.

Charge Weapon (2+ Intellect points): As part of making an attack with your enchanted weapon, you charge it with magical power, inflicting 2 additional points of energy damage. If you make more than one attack on your turn, you choose whether to spend the cost for this ability before you make each attack. Enabler.

Command Beast (3+ Intellect points): You can command a nonhostile, nonhuman beast (such as one that you’ve made calm with Soothe the Savage) of up to level 3 within short range. If you are successful, for the next minute the beast follows your verbal commands to the best of its understanding and ability. The GM has final say over what counts as a nonhuman beast, but unless some kind of deception is at work, you should know whether you can affect a creature before you attempt to use this ability on it. Aliens, extradimensional entities, very intelligent creatures, and robots never count.

In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the maximum level of the target. Thus, to command a level 5 beast (two levels above the normal limit), you must apply two levels of Effort. Action to initiate.

Copy Power (2+ Intellect points): You can copy someone else’s superpower

for an hour, performing it as if it were natural for you. Within the past hour you must have touched the creature whose power you want to copy (an attack roll) and must have seen that ability used by them. Choose the power you want to copy, and the GM chooses an appropriate low-tier ability that most closely resembles that power. For example, if you’re battling a supervillain who can create blasts of force, if you copy that ability, you gain a low-tier ability that creates a blast of force.

In addition to the point cost of Copy Power, you must pay the Might, Speed, or Intellect cost (if any) of the equivalent ability that the GM chose. For example, if you want to copy a supervillain’s force blast, the GM will probably decide that’s equivalent to Onslaught (167), so you’d pay 2 Intellect points to activate Copy Power and 1 Intellect point to use Onslaught.

ou can copy only one power at a time; copying another one ends any other power you’re copying with this ability.

Copy Power doesn’t copy effects of a power that permanently adds points to your Pools, such as Enhanced Body (134).

In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to copy an ability you saw longer than one hour ago; each level of Effort used in this way extends the time period by one hour. Action.

Defending Weapon: When using your enchanted weapon, you are trained in Speed defense tasks. Enabler.

Defensive Blinking (4 Intellect points): You enter a heightened reactive state so that when you are struck hard enough to take damage, you teleport an immediate distance in a random direction (not up or down) to help evade the brunt of the attack. Your Speed defense rolls are eased for one minute. Action.

Dimensional Squeeze (2+ Intellect points): You cram yourself into a transitional dimension, allowing you to instantaneously appear anywhere you choose within short range if you have a clear and unobstructed path to that location. You can pass through an intervening barrier if it has an open space that you could easily fit your head through—about 1 square foot (30 cm by 30 cm square). In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to pass through a smaller opening in a barrier; each level of Effort used in this way reduces the minimum opening size by one-fourth. You land safely when you use this ability. Action.

Transitional dimension: A dimension where distances are shorter compared to those in other dimensions, so travel through it is faster than normal movement.

Disguise Other (4+ Intellect points): You apply your shapechanging ability to another creature of your size or smaller, giving them a form that you are able to assume. This lasts for about ten minutes.

In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the duration; one level of Effort increases it to an hour, two increases it to a day. A creature can revert to its normal form as an action, but it cannot then change back into the altered form. Action.

You probably can’t use Disguise Other to disguise a kind of creature that is very different from you, such as a human disguising a robot, animal, or crystalline alien

Elastic Grip (3 Might points): Your attack with your stretchy limbs or body is eased. If you hit, you can grab the target, preventing it from moving on its next turn. While you hold the target, its attacks or attempts to break free are hindered. If the target attempts to break free instead of attacking, you must succeed at a Might-based task to maintain your grip. If the target fails to break free, you can continue to hold it each round as your subsequent actions, automatically inflicting 4 points of damage each round by squeezing. Enabler.

Enchanted Movement (4+ Intellect points): You use your enchanted weapon to move yourself to any location within a long distance that you can see, as long as there are no obstacles or barriers in your way. The exact way this happens depends on your weapon; you might throw your magical hammer and be pulled along after it, shoot an arrow from your bow that pulls you forward like a grapple line, and so on. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the distance traveled; each level of Effort used in this way increases the range by another 100 feet (30 m). If you have another ability (such as from your type) that allows you to cross a long distance, the range of that ability and this one increases to very long. Action.

Enchanted Weapon (1 Intellect point): You attune yourself to a physical weapon, such as a sword, hammer, or bow. You know exactly where it is if it is within a short distance of you, and you know its general direction and distance if farther away. All of your other focus abilities require you to be holding or wielding this weapon. You can be attuned to only one weapon at a time; attuning yourself to a second weapon loses the attunement to the first one. Action to initiate; ten minutes to complete. Enabler.

Flex Weapon Skill: At the beginning of each day, choose one type of attack: light bashing, light bladed, light ranged, medium bashing, medium bladed, medium ranged, heavy bashing, heavy bladed, or heavy ranged. For the rest of that day, you are trained in attacks using that type of weapon. You can’t use this ability with an attack skill in which you’re already trained to become specialized. Enabler.

Flight Exertion (3 Might or 3 Speed points): You can fly up to a short distance as your movement this round. If all you do is move on your turn, you can fly up to a long distance. Enabler.

Flying Companion: You gain a level 3 companion creature that can fly at the same speed as you; depending on other aspects of your character, this might be a trained bird, a machine drone, or a helpful strange creature such as a familiar. This creature accompanies you and acts as you direct. As a level 3 companion, it has a target number of 9 and 9 health, and it inflicts 3 points of damage. If it’s killed or destroyed, it takes you one month to find or create a suitable replacement. Enabler. 

Harder Light: When you create an object out of hard light, the object is one level higher than normal. Enabler.

Improved Copying: You can use Copy Power to copy more powerful abilities. In addition to the normal options for using Effort with Copy Power, if you apply one level of Effort, the GM chooses a mid-tier ability that most closely resembles that power (instead of a low-tier ability). Enabler.

When you use Improved Copying, a copied ability must be low, medium, or high tier according to how it is listed in the ability categories. It doesn’t matter if a type or focus makes it available at a lower or higher tier.

Innate Power: Choose either your Might Pool or your Speed Pool. When spending points to activate your focus abilities, you can spend points from this Pool instead of your Intellect Pool (in which case you use your Might Edge or Speed Edge instead of your Intellect Edge, as appropriate). Enabler.

Lend Animal Shape (6+ Intellect points): You change into an animal, and one willing creature within immediate range also transforms into an animal of that type (bear, tiger, wolf, and so on) for ten minutes, as if they were using your Animal Shape ability. For each level of Effort applied,

you can affect one additional creature. All creatures transforming with you must be your size or smaller. A creature can revert to its normal form as an action, but it cannot then change back into the animal form. One creature (whether you or someone else) changing form does not affect any other creature affected with this ability. Action.

A creature that takes animal form with Lend Animal Shape counts as an animal for the use of Animal Scrying

Medium Teleportation (5+ Intellect points): You instantly teleport yourself to any location within a long distance that you can see. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase your range, teleport to a location you can’t see, or bring other people with you. Each additional long distance costs one level of Effort. Teleporting to

a destination you can’t see costs one level of Effort. Each additional one or two targets brought with you costs one level of Effort (you must touch any additional targets). These levels of Effort are counted separately, so teleporting an additional long distance away to a location you can’t see with two passengers costs a total of three levels of Effort. Action.

If you already have Short Teleportation when you select Medium Teleportation or Teleportation, you may replace Short Teleportation with another tier 4 type ability.

Mist Cloud (1+ Intellect points): You create an area of mist an immediate distance across. The cloud lingers for about a minute unless conditions (such as wind or freezing temperatures) dictate otherwise. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the area (one level of Effort to fill a short area, two to fill a long area, or three to fill a very long area). Action.

Modify Cyphers: You can take any two manifest cyphers and quickly jury-rig a new manifest cypher of the same level as the lowest-level cypher. You determine the function of the new cypher, but it must be that of a cypher you have used before (but not necessarily one you’ve ever built). The new cypher is a temperamental cypher, like those created with Always Tinkering. The original two cyphers are consumed in this process. This ability does not function if one or more of the original cyphers are temperamental cyphers. Action.

Multiple Copying: When you use Copy Power, you can copy two of the creature’s abilities at the same time. In addition to the normal options for using Effort with Copy Power, you can apply levels of Effort to copy additional abilities, each level of Effort copying an additional ability beyond the initial two (three for one level of Effort, four for two levels, and so on). Enabler.

Multi-Vanish (4+ Intellect points): You turn up to five human-sized creatures or objects invisible for a short amount of time. The targets you choose must be within an immediate area and within short range of you (if you are in the area, you can make yourself invisible and don’t count toward the limit of five invisible targets). Anything invisible has an asset on stealth and Speed defense tasks. Affected creatures can see each other in a limited way, and you can see them clearly.

The invisibility ends at the end of your next turn. If one of the affected creatures does something to reveal their presence or position—attacking, using an ability, moving a large object, and so on—the invisibility ends early for that creature. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the duration; each level of Effort used in this way increases the duration by one round (but creatures can still end it early for themselves). Action.

Power Crash (3+ Intellect points): You strike your enchanted weapon against

the ground (or a similar large surface), creating an explosion of energy that affects an area up to immediate range from that point. (If your enchanted weapon is a ranged weapon, you can instead target a point within close range to be the center of the explosion.) The blast inflicts 2 points of damage to all creatures or objects within the area (except for you). Because this is an area attack, adding Effort to increase your damage works differently than it does for single-target attacks. If you apply a level of Effort to increase the damage, add 2 points of damage for each target, and even if you fail your attack roll, all targets in the area still take 1 point of damage. Action.

Power Memory: When you use Copy Power, you only need to have seen the ability used within the past day (instead of the past hour), and using Effort extends how long ago your copying can reach to one day per level of Effort (instead of one hour per level). Enabler.

Quick Switch: You can activate Shrink as part of another action (the ability is now an enabler for you instead of an action). While the one-minute duration of Shrink is active, on your turn you can change size once before taking an action and once after taking an action. For example, on your turn you could change to small size, make an attack, and then return to your normal size, or you could change to your normal size, use your action to move a short distance, and then return to small size. Enabler.

Short Teleportation (4+ Intellect points): You instantly teleport to any location within a short distance that you can see. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase your range, teleport to a location you can’t see, or bring other people with you. Each additional short distance costs one level of Effort. Teleporting to a destination you can’t see costs one level of Effort. Each additional target brought with you costs one level of Effort (you must touch any additional targets). These levels of Effort are counted separately, so teleporting an additional short distance away to a location you can’t see with one passenger costs a total of three levels of Effort. Action.

If you already have Short Teleportation when you select Medium Teleportation or Teleportation, you may replace Short Teleportation with another tier 4 type ability.

Shrink (1+ Might points): You (and your clothing or suit) become much smaller than your normal size. You become 6 inches (15 cm) tall and stay that way for about a minute. During this time, you add 4 points to your Speed Pool and add +2 to your Speed Edge. While you are smaller than normal, your Speed defense rolls are eased, your movement speed is one-tenth normal, and your attacks inflict half the normal amount of damage (divide the total damage in half after all bonuses, Effort, and other damage modifiers). You can return to your normal size as part of another action.

When the effects of Shrink end, your Speed Edge, movement speed, and damage return to normal, and you subtract a number of points from your Speed Pool equal to the number you gained (if this brings the Pool to 0, subtract the overflow first from your Might Pool and then, if necessary, from your Intellect Pool). Each additional time you use Shrink before your next ten-hour recovery roll, you must apply an additional level of Effort (one level of Effort for the second use, two levels of Effort for the third use, and so on).

Action to initiate.

The increased Effort cost for repeat uses of Shrink between ten-hour recovery rolls only applies to new activations of Shrink, not to multiple size changes within one use of Shrink enabled by Quick Switch.

Shrink Others: You can use Shrink on other willing creatures within an immediate distance. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to affect more targets; each level of Effort affects one additional target. Unless these creatures have an ability to change their size, they remain small until the one-minute duration of Shrink ends for them. Enabler.

Small Flight (3+ Intellect points): For the next hour, when using Shrink, you can fly through the air. You might accomplish this flight by growing wings from your body, extending wings from your suit, calling a tiny creature to carry you, or “surfing” air currents. When flying, you can move up to a short distance as part of another action or a long distance if all you do on your turn is move. Action to initiate.

Smaller: When you use Shrink, you can choose to shrink down to about half an inch (1 cm) high, and you add 3 more temporary points to your Speed Pool. Enabler.

Steal Power: When you use Copy Power to copy an ability, the creature you copied it from loses access to that ability for about a minute. While you have their ability, any attempt by the creature to use their ability requires them to succeed at a task (Might, Speed, or Intellect, as appropriate to the stolen ability) opposed by your eased Intellect task. If they succeed, they regain the use of their ability and you lose it. Enabler.

If you want to make it more difficult for someone to take back their stolen power, become skilled in the Steal Power ability, or put a power shift in power for it.

Teleportation Burst (3 Intellect points): You rapidly teleport multiple times in an immediate area, confusing your opponents and allowing you to make an additional melee attack this round. You can use this ability once per round. Enabler.

Teleportive Wound (7+ Intellect points): You touch a creature and, if your attack succeeds, you teleport away (up to your normal maximum teleportation distance) with a significant portion of their body. If the target is level 2 or lower, it dies. If the target is level 3 or higher, it takes 6 points of damage and is stunned on its next action. If the target is a PC of any tier, they move down one step on the damage track. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to affect a more powerful target (one level of Effort means a target of up to level 3 dies or a target of level 4 or higher takes damage and is stunned, and so on). Action.

Temporary Light (2 Intellect points): You create an object of solid light in any shape you can imagine that is your size or smaller, and it persists for about a minute (or longer, if you concentrate on it after that time). The object appears in an area adjacent to you, but afterward you can move it up to a short distance each round as part of another action. It is crude and can have no moving parts, so you can make a sword, a shield, a short ladder,

and so on. The object has the approximate mass of the real object and is level 2. Action.

Throw Enchanted Weapon: You can throw your enchanted weapon up to short range as a light ranged weapon. Whether it hits or misses, it immediately flies back to your hands, and you can automatically catch it or allow it to land at your feet. Enabler.

Tiny: When you use Shrink, you can choose to shrink down to about one-sixteenth of an inch (.2 cm). When you do, you add 5 more temporary points to your Speed Pool (plus any from Smaller), and because your attacks are concentrated into a very small area, you deal an additional 2 points of damage. For each level of Effort you apply to shrink even more, you become one-tenth as tall (one one-hundredth for two levels of Effort, one one-thousandth for three, and so on) and you add 1 more point to your Speed Pool. Enabler.

In campaigns where characters can travel to parallel dimensions, using Tiny to shrink to

one-thousandth of your normal height may be a means of doing so.

War Flesh: You can instantly transform your hands and feet into claws, and your human teeth into fangs, or revert to your normal human appearance. When you make attacks with your claws or fangs, they count as medium weapons instead of light weapons. Enabler.

Wildcard Powers: You have a gift with using copied powers in unusual ways. Whenever you try a power stunt and use a level of Effort on the special roll to modify the ability, you get a free level of Effort on that roll. Enabler.

Wing Weapons: You can use your wings to make melee attacks (even when flying), leaving your hands and feet free. Your wings are medium bashing or bladed weapons (your choice). You are practiced with this attack. Enabler.

GAMING WITH SUPERPOWERS #

Building a Superhero

POPULAR HEROES IN THE CYPHER SYSTEM #

The archetypes suggest how to assign your power shifts. This is an important aspect of designing your hero because power shifts are what make your characters exceptional in a “supers” way. Superheroes are known for being faster, tougher, stronger, or smarter than regular people, and that sort of comparison isn’t always part of the abilities you get from your type or focus. A regular person might be very skilled at martial arts, but a superhero martial artist might punch through an iron door, dodge a burst of bullets from a machine gun at close range, or quickly recover from a mortal wound, all thanks to power shifts. This part of each archetype writeup assumes your hero starts with five power shifts, but most archetype descriptions give only two or three suggestions, allowing you some flexibility to customize your superhero. For example, a master athlete with two power shifts in healing is a very different character than one with two power shifts in resilience.

In some cases, you might need to tinker with the aesthetics of the abilities described in the character options to make them fit your character. 

POWER SOURCE #

As you’re figuring out what type, descriptor, focus, and power shifts you want for

your character, think about how you got your powers. Are you a mutant, born with special abilities? Do you have a high-tech costume with built-in nanotechnology? Are you a sorcerer, or maybe a psychic? The source of your powers is character flavor—for example, there’s no game mechanics difference between the mental powers of an alien member of a telepathic species, a human character who built a brain-augmenting helmet, or a faerie character from the starlight dimension who knows mind-magic. All three of those characters could have the same type, focus, descriptor, and power shifts, but they’d be very different people and have very different reasons for being a part of the RPG campaign.

If you can’t decide how you got your powers, or if you like leaving some things up to chance, try rolling once or twice on the Power Origin table and pick the result that you like better, or combine the two into something weird and unique.

POWER ORIGIN TABLE #

Remember that you can permanently increase the range of one of your abilities with the increased range power shift.

STARTING JUST PAST TIER 1

An interesting option for a GM starting a superhero campaign is to immediately give each PC 4 XP, which they must spend on a special advancement option to gain another type ability. It’s another way (along with power shifts) to make new superhero PCs feel a cut above player characters in other genres—and gives players a little more wiggle room in building the character they want to play.

RANDOM SUPERPOWERS #

The following table has a broad selection of powers (or in some cases, sets of related powers). Players who are stuck for ideas about their superhero can roll once or twice on the table for inspiration; use the Example column for a suggested game example of that kind of power, whether that’s a power shift, a hero archetype, a focus, or a specific special ability (of course, these suggestions aren’t the only way to achieve that power).

The GM can also use this table to come up with random abilities for supervillains. However, there is much more leeway in designing NPC abilities, so the Example column is more for suggesting game mechanics than abilities to choose.

FAIRYTALE CHARACTER OPTIONS #

FORM VS. FUNCTION

In a fairy tale game, the PCs might consist of a talking fox, an ogre, a fairy, and a human the size of your thumb. And that’s perfectly fine. Build your character sentence in a way that plays to your character’s strengths and weaknesses, and the rest can be handled through story and narrative. Playing a talking bear, a gingerbread

man, or a changeling will likely affect your character’s appearance, their outlook on life, and their backstory, but it doesn’t necessarily affect their abilities, skills, and Pools beyond what you choose during character creation.

Because the form that you choose doesn’t typically offer you something in addition to your Cypher System stats—being small, for example, does not inherently mean you’re stealthy—you’ll want to choose your stats to emphasize the bit of your character that you want to play.

SKILLS #

As described in the Cypher System Rulebook, there is no definitive list of skills. Characters can choose to become skilled in anything they like (with the GM’s permission). In addition to the suggested skills in the rulebook, useful skills for fairy tale games might include: 

• Talking animals*

• Talking nature*

• Trickery

• Using magic 

• Weather

• Baking

• Cobbling 

• Curses

• Dancing 

• Death

• Magic

• Playing an instrument 

• Puzzles

• Riddles

• Sailing

• Sensing magic 

• Singing

Remember that only skills gained through character type abilities or in other rare instances allow you to become skilled with attack or defense tasks. Thus, all magic skills are noncombat skills only.

* These skills could be used in a number of different ways, depending on the setting. If the setting has talking animals that the players can’t understand, the talking animals skill could help a PC communicate with them in other ways. If there are talking animals that the characters can understand, the skill could provide an asset in social interactions.

TYPE #

Your character’s type is the core of who they are and how they interact with their environment, their companions, and other living creatures they encounter. 

Suggested Types for a Fairy Tale Game

Type Name and Flavor Suggestions

WARRIOR #

Huntsman, Skills and knowledge, stealth

Knight 

Woodcutter 

Guard 

Archer, Stealth

ADEPT #

King/queen

Wizard/witch, Magic, skills and knowledge

Chosen one

Apprentice

Magical being (genie, spirit, faerie, and so on)

EXPLORER #

Adventurer 

Dreamer Seeker 

Sailor/seafarer, Combat

Wanderer 

Outlaw, Combat Stealth

Thief, Stealth

Wolf, Combat Stealth

SPEAKER #

Aristocrat 

Princess/prince 

Entertainer 

Helper, Magic

Trickster, Skills and Knowledge

DESCRIPTOR #

Your descriptor is what defines your character—it changes the way you tackle every action that you take. Your descriptor places your character in their current situation or adventure, and helps provide a sense of their motivations.

Suggested Descriptors for a Fairy Tale Game

The following descriptors are appropriate for fairy tale settings. Other descriptors from the Cypher System Rulebook may be appropriate but would require consulting with your GM to determine how such a character might get involved in the campaign.

• Appealing 

• Beneficent 

• Brash

• Calm

• Chaotic

• Charming

• Clever

• Craven

• Creative

• Dishonorable 

• Doomed

• Empathic

• Exiled

• Foolish

• Guarded

• Honorable 

• Impulsive 

• Inquisitive 

• Intelligent 

• Intuitive

• Jovial

• Kind

• Mad

• Mysterious

• Naive

• Perceptive

• Resilient

• Risk-Taking

• Skeptical

• Strong

• Strong-Willed 

• Tongue-Tied 

• Vicious

• Virtuous

• Weird

Heartwood Descriptors

• Bewitched 

• Changeling

• Fragmented 

• Frumious

• Haunted 

• Lost

FOCUS #

Your focus makes your character unique.

It gives you benefits when you create your character and each time you ascend to the next tier. When you choose a focus, it gives you a first-tier ability, a special connection to one or more of your fellow PCs, and possibly some starting equipment.

Suggested Foci for a Fairy Tale Game

• Abides in Stone

• Absorbs Energy

• Awakens Dreams

• Bears a Halo of Fire

• Blazes With Radiance

• Brandishes an Exotic Shield

• Channels Divine Blessings

• Commands Mental Powers

• Conducts Weird Science

• Consorts With the Dead

• Controls Beasts

• Controls Gravity

• Crafts Illusions

• Crafts Unique Objects

• Dances With Dark Matter

• Defends the Gate

• Defends the Weak

• Descends From Nobility

• Doesn’t Do Much

• Emerged From the Obelisk

• Employs Magnetism

• Entertains

• Exists in Two Places at Once

• Exists Partially Out of Phase

• Explores Dark Places 

• Fights Dirty

• Fights With Panache 

• Focuses Mind Over Matter

• Grows to Towering Heights 

• Helps Their Friends

• Howls at the Moon

• Hunts

• Infiltrates

• Is Wanted by the Law 

• Keeps a Magic Ally

• Leads

• Learns Quickly

• Lives in the Wilderness

• Looks for Trouble

• Masters Defense

• Masters Spells

• Masters the Swarm

• Masters Weaponry

• Metes Out Justice

• Moves Like a Cat 

• Moves Like the Wind 

• Murders

• Needs No Weapon

• Never Says Die

• Performs Feats of Strength

• Rages

• Rides the Lightning

• Runs Away

• Scavenges

• Sees Beyond

• Separates Mind From Heights

• Shepherds the Community

• Shepherds Spirits

• Shreds the Walls of the World

• Slays Monsters

• Solves Mysteries

• Speaks for the Land

• Stands Like a Bastion

 • Throws With Deadly Accuracy

• Travels Through Time

• Was Foretold

• Wields Two Weapons at Once

• Works for a Living

• Works Miracles

• Would Rather Be Reading

Heartwood Foci

• Befriends the Black Dog 

• Curses the World

• Feigns No Fear

• Lived Among the Fey

Adjusted Foci

Battles Robots, Builds Robots, Talks to Machines

Best for settings that include elements of science fiction. Alternatively, “robots” can be a stand-in for puppets, steampunk entities, golems, or other creations such as Pinocchio, Edward Scissorhands, the Gingerbread Man, and the Tin Man. Mister Geppetto would likely be someone who Builds Robots, while Muska (from Miyazaki’s film Laputa: Castle in the Sky) might be someone who Battles Robots.

Drives Like a Maniac

Best for modern settings or those where traditional fairy tale vehicles such as horse-drawn carriages, magic carpets, witch’s brooms, and chicken-legged huts are common.

Fuses Flesh and Steel, Fuses Mind and Machine

Best for steampunk or weird science mashups. Edward Scissorhands and the Tin Man are probably characters who Fuse Flesh and Steel. Alternatively, renaming the foci to Fuses Flesh and Magic or Wants to Become a Real Boy can provide characters with the same benefits from a more magical-sounding source.

Is Licensed to Carry

With small tweaks to the language and abilities, this could work for someone who wants to wield a wand, bow, or other ranged weapon. 

Sailed Beneath the Jolly Roger

With small tweaks to the language and abilities, this could work for someone who used to be a sailor or pirate.

FAIRY TALE CHARACTER ARCS #

Character arcs are fantastic opportunities for players to deepen their roleplaying options, add to the narrative, and set goals that can intertwine with and strengthen a campaign or adventure. While character arcs aren’t a requirement, they work particularly well in fairy tale games, where individual goals and tasks are often at the forefront of what drives adventures.

Players can pick from any of the sample character arcs in the Cypher System Rulebook, make up their own (with the assistance and approval of the GM), or choose one of the new character arcs created specifically for the Heartwood setting.

POST-APOCALYPTIC CHARACTER OPTIONS #

Alternate Character Roles

Characters who play out the apocalypse itself or who have just survived it and must pick up a few hours, days, or months after the end should choose from an alternate slate of roles. If you begin your game in such a setting, it makes much more sense to let your players choose roles for characters in a modern game.

DESCRIPTORS #

In addition to the descriptors in the Cypher System Rulebook, you can widen the options

available to the players, allowing them to choose from the descriptors presented here for

their characters. A subset of the descriptors in this chapter are species descriptors, which

may or may not be appropriate for your players, depending on your setting.

Rust and Redemption Descriptors

Standard: Bitter, Hopeful, Rusted, Shiny

Species: Canien, Felis, Flutter, Mutant

Bitter

Someone you cared for wronged you. They may have done so directly by betraying a trust, stealing your supplies, or giving you up to raiders to save their own life. Maybe they did it indirectly by going missing or dying on you. Or maybe it was an organization or institution that let you down. Whatever it was, you’ve spent a lot of time pulled into yourself, paranoid and mistrustful of others. But something’s happened lately that has at least opened you to the possibility of trusting others again. Maybe you have to work with someone else or die. Alternatively, perhaps you’ve decided to try one more time, despite your disillusionment. It’s either that or fully give in to bitterness.

You gain the following characteristics:

Skeptical: +4 to your Intellect Pool.

Skill: You’re always wondering who’s going to wrong you next. You are trained in detecting deception.

Skill: You are trained in tracking creatures. If a creature has wronged you, the tracking task is eased.

Inability: You have a hard time not letting bitterness stain everything you do. Interaction tasks are hindered.

Additional Equipment: You have a keepsake from whoever wronged you. It could be an object they once possessed, a picture of them, or something else you associate with what makes you so bitter.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You found the other PCs in a situation they couldn’t survive. Uncharacteristically, you helped them.

2. You were facing certain death, but the PCs saved you, for no reason other than they saw your need.

3. You want to change your ways, and the PCs seem to offer a chance for you to explore that possibility.

4. You have no idea how you joined the PCs. You’re just going along with it for now until answers present themselves.

Canien

You’re an evolved, intelligent dog with the ability to speak and use tools. Some caniens stand upright and have hands, and others are quadrupeds who can use a combination of their front paws and mouth as adroitly as a handed canien; you decide which kind of canien you are. Most canien clothing and equipment accommodates walking on either two feet or four, so that’s normally not an issue. Either way, you’ve got fur, a tail, and a noble dog visage true to your particular line of descent. And like most caniens, you’re loyal to your pack and friends. But you may find strangers a little suspicious, in which case you aren’t shy about letting them know. However, you’re usually willing to entertain the idea that a newcomer may be a friend you just don’t know yet.

You gain the following characteristics:

Dogged: +2 to your Might Pool.

Skill: You are naturally vigilant. You are trained in perception tasks.

Skill: You are playful. You are trained in tasks involving playing physical games.

Loyal: If an ally within immediate range descends one or more steps on the damage

track, you can take an action immediately but in a restricted fashion. You can use this action either to move the willing ally up to an immediate distance or to attempt a healing task on your ally.

Bite: You are practiced in making unarmed bite attacks (light weapon). Enabler.

Chewer: You are something of an oral fidgeter, like most caniens. After each ten-hour recovery roll, make a difficulty 2 Intellect defense roll. If you fail, you discover you’ve unconsciously been chewing on a piece of your equipment; it’s ruined, at least until it is repaired.

Inability: You have a hard time seeing disloyalty in others. Tasks that involve detecting falsehoods are hindered.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first

adventure.

1. One of the other PCs needed help, and you obliged without a second’s hesitation.

2. The other PCs were going somewhere, and you came along even though they didn’t ask you to.

3. Aggression got the better of you, and now you’re running from the fallout of that experience.

4. You feel that one of the other PCs is in danger in some way, and you’d like to help

out or keep an eye on them.

Felis

You’re an evolved, intelligent cat with the ability to speak and use tools. Felis are equally comfortable running on all fours or standing around in a clowder of other felis gossiping over catswort tea. Your fur is your protection from the elements, but you sometimes wear a harness for your equipment and may adopt boots for rough terrain and hats for fashion or function. Your visage is like that of before-times cats, including piercing, reflective eyes. Like other felis, you are crafty and cautious, unless you feel comfortable with others, in which case you can laze away hours in the sun or a warm spot. But if need be, you are quick to act and are not afraid to use your claws to defend yourself.

You gain the following characteristics:

Crafty: +2 to your Intellect Pool.

Skill: You’re innately curious. You are trained in tasks involving knowledge, figuring out problems, or solving puzzles.

Skill: You are agile. You are trained in tasks involving balancing and movement.

Darksight: You can see in dim light as though it were bright light and see in darkness as though it were dim light. Enabler.

Claws: You are practiced in making unarmed claw attacks (light weapon). Enabler.

Light on Your Paws: You ignore the first 4 points of damage you would otherwise suffer from a fall. Enabler.

Jumpy: Like most felis, you are a bit high-strung. Anytime another creature acts with surprise against you, make a difficulty 2 Intellect defense roll. If you fail, the first action you take on your turn is to flee using your full movement away from whoever surprised you.

Inability: You often come across as aloof. Tasks that involve positive social interaction are hindered.

Inability: You sometimes get lost in new locations you haven’t visited before. You have an inability in navigation.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. Everything was fine until you were attacked by a raiding band of “cat-skinners.” The PCs helped you fight back or flee.

2. You saw the PCs up to something, and your curiosity got the better of you, so you followed them.

3. One of the other PCs invited you to join after they saw you scheme, plot, or solve a difficult problem.

4. You got lost. The PCs found you and invited you to join their group.

Flutter

You emerged from the chrysalis with your mind awash in skills instilled while you matured, as well as knowledge handed down from your ancestors. If the stories are true, some of your knowledge comes from even further back, ceded by godlike “humans” who raised flutters into the light of self-knowledge. That was before humans were lost, leaving the world in ruins. Ruins that are now yours to refurbish and rebuild or, as many prefer, to ignore while you instead go your own way. Humans may have created you, but they’re gone, and you can decide what you think you owe them, if anything.

As a flutter, you are kin to the much smaller natural moths that still flit by night. But you have an internal skeleton and lungs, and are far larger. For all that, you also have wings, a proboscis, and much thinner limbs than the average animal still roaming the world.

You gain the following characteristics:

Quick: +2 to your Speed Pool.

Skill: You are adept at using your body’s natural patterns of camouflage. You are trained in hiding.

Darksight: You can see in dim light as though it were bright light and can see in darkness as though it were dim light. Enabler.

Fragile: When you fail a Might defense roll to avoid damage, you take 1 extra point of damage.

Inability: You are confused by bright light. Perception tasks are hindered in bright light.

Erratic Flyer: You can select Hover as if it were on your type’s list of tier 1 abilities. Your ability to move as described in Hover is due to your wings. In addition to the base ability described for Hover, if you succeed on a difficulty 2 Intellect roll, you can keep your position in the air instead of drifting with the wind or allowing momentum to move you.

On a failure, you fly erratically as your action, possibly into the ground, a wall, or the midst of enemies you were trying to avoid. Enabler.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. Some piece of knowledge gleaned from your time in the chrysalis made you seek out and join the PCs.

2. The ruins are where knowledge of humans exists, and you heard the PCs were headed there.

3. You overheard the PCs talking about a grand adventure, and you wanted to be part of it.

4. You zigged when you should have zagged and ran headlong into the PCs. They patched you up and you stayed with them.

Hopeful

Despite civilization’s fall, you’re optimistic about what the future could bring, confident

that it will be bright. In fact, now that all the old institutions and cares of the world are gone, you hope something better can be rebuilt in its place. It’s possible that you’re bubbly and full of cheer. But you might instead be quietly confident, your hope revealed by the way you always try again if at first you fail. Being hopeful doesn’t mean you’re blind to others’ faults, but you can hope they will do better next time, which might lead you to be more forgiving than other survivors. After all, when you screw up, you hope others will allow you the same luxury of learning from your mistakes.

You gain the following characteristics:

Spirited: +4 to your Intellect Pool.

Skill: Mental malaise doesn’t affect you like it does others. You are trained in Intellect defense tasks.

Shrug Off Disappointment: When you fail at a noncombat task and try that task again the very next round, you can apply a free level of Effort toward the success of that task. This benefit effectively alleviates the requirement to apply a level of Effort when retrying failed tasks, at least the first time you retry. Enabler.

Inability: You have a lightness of being, but you really feel it when you’re physically challenged. Might defense tasks are hindered.

Inability: You’re spirited but not fast. All movement-related tasks are hindered.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. The PCs were in a bad spot, and one of the other PCs asked you along to add some perspective.

2. You had a spot of bad luck, but you jumped back in to try something new, hopeful it would work out.

3. To make good on a promise to help, you came with the other PCs.

4. You answered a cry for help when another PC got in over their head.

Mutant

Savage forces strong enough to destroy a world left you transformed. Either through latent mutations passed down from ancestors that survived the apocalypse, or because something about you reacts when you’re exposed to radiation or some other mutagenic source, you are prone to mutation. You might look relatively similar to others of your species, or you might have one or more obvious physical differences that make it hard to disguise your nature. Not that you necessarily want to hide what you are; you might wish to proudly display what makes you different and, to your mind, better.

You gain the following characteristics:

Significant Mutations: Choose which option from the following list you’d like for your mutations. Whichever you choose, it is rolled for randomly; you don’t select it.

• Two beneficial mutations rolled randomly.

• Three beneficial mutations plus one harmful mutation, all rolled randomly

• One powerful mutation and one harmful mutation, both rolled randomly.

• One beneficial mutation, one distinctive mutation, and one harmful mutation, all rolled randomly.

Distinctive Mutations: You can choose if you want to have distinctive mutations or not. If you do, choose the number, up to four distinctive mutations, which are rolled for randomly. (If the GM is using the transitory mutations optional rule, you can only choose to have up to three distinctive mutations.)

Cosmetic Mutations: You can choose if you want to have cosmetic mutations or not. If you do, choose whether you want one or two cosmetic mutations, which are rolled for randomly. Once all your mutations have been rolled for, work together with the GM to ensure that what’s been rolled is a character you want to play.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. The other PCs found you in some weird “mutant” chrysalis and pulled you out; you were grateful and joined them.

2. The other PCs were “hunting mutants” but when they found you, they realized they had been misguided.

3. You wanted to get away from a bad situation, so you went with the PCs.

4. The PCs asked you to come along, believing that your particular mutations could be harnessed for the benefit of the mission.

Rusted

Life has dealt you some hard knocks. You lost an eye, an arm, or a leg several years ago, possibly during the apocalypse itself, or perhaps afterward. But you didn’t give up. You adjusted, learning to do everything again, despite what first seemed like a limitation. If you lost a limb, you use a prosthetic; if an eye, you sometimes quip that binocular vision is overrated. Sure, there are times when you struggle with discomfort, pain, and possibly even self-consciousness. However, overcoming all that only makes you stronger and more determined to succeed. Ultimately, your scars, your prosthetic (if any), and your story represent who you are: a survivor who overcomes whatever is thrown your way.

You gain the following characteristics:

Resilient: +2 to your Might Pool or +2 to your Intellect Pool or +1 to all three Pools.

Skill: Hard knocks have toughened you; you are trained in either Might defense tasks or Intellect defense tasks (choose one).

Skill: You had to fake it until you made it; you are trained in one creative skill such as singing, writing, acting, composing, public speaking, painting, sculpture, dancing, or something similar.

Inability: You’ve learned to do everything again and, in truth, better than most people ever could. But your injury is real; it’s why you sometimes joke that you’re “rusted.” If you’ve lost an eye, your perception tasks involving sight are hindered. If you rely on a prosthetic leg, tasks requiring movement are hindered. If you rely on a prosthetic arm, tasks involving using both hands are hindered.

Additional Equipment: You have a prosthetic for one arm or one leg, or you have an eyepatch (and prosthetic eye) for a missing eye.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

1. You bragged that there’s nothing someone else could do that you couldn’t do twice as well, which is how you got involved in your current situation.

2. You’re afraid of what might happen if the other PCs fail.

3. You were tailing one of the other PCs for reasons of your own, which brought you into the action.

4. You stepped in to defend one of the PCs when that character was threatened. While talking to them afterward, you heard about the group’s task.

Shiny

You’re brash and bright, and you exult in situations, people, and objects that seem to you as if they have a similar sheen. Literally shiny objects qualify, as well as objects that are not rusted or degraded by time’s passage or the effects of the apocalypse. You also tend to fall into the orbit of people who are strong, unbeaten, and possessed of an inner brightness. You believe that they, like you, reflect the light of some greater spiritual purpose in the world. When you believe you are acting in that glow, you are emboldened and may take risks others fear. You don’t seek death, but you’re confident that death in the pursuit of something shiny is the definition of a life well-lived.

You gain the following characteristics:

Lithe: +2 to your Speed Pool.

Skill: You’ve had practice driving a before-times vehicle. Choose a motorcycle, car or truck, or long-haul truck; you’re trained in driving that kind of vehicle.

Skill: You know how to get out of the way. You are trained in Speed defense tasks.

Shiny Maneuver: You know how to push yourself harder, at the risk of a more dramatic failure. When you attempt a shiny maneuver, you ease a task, attack roll, or defense roll, but in doing so you increase the intrusion range by two for that roll, to a 1–3 on a d20. If you fail and decide to retry the task (requiring that you spend a level of Effort, as normal), it has the same increased intrusion range. Once you attempt a shiny maneuver, you can’t attempt another until you make a recovery roll. Enabler.

Inability: You may be lithe and shiny, but you’re not sneaky. Tasks related to sneaking and staying quiet are hindered.

Inability: You are irrepressible, but that makes it hard to dissemble. Deception and disguise tasks are hindered.

Additional Equipment: You have a treasured object that is literally shiny in bright light, such as a polished stainless-steel sphere, a silver coin, a pocket watch from the before-times, or something else small and easily carried.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. It seemed like there were equal odds that the other PCs wouldn’t succeed, which sounded good to you.

2. The first word that popped into your head upon seeing the PCs was “shiny.”

3. You think the tasks ahead will present you with unique and fulfilling challenges.

4. Someone you trust and respect above all others suggested you join the PCs to help them complete their task.

The Scavenges focus can be used as written in the Cypher System Rulebook, but whenever the abilities point to the scavenging rules and tables from the rulebook (including Ruin Lore, Junkmonger, Know Where to Look, and other abilities), use the optional rule for scavenging, repairing, and building in this book instead.

FOCI #

This section presents new post-apocalyptic foci that can be used as-is in most games set after civilization falls. As these were created specifically for the post-apocalyptic genre, each has an expanded description with more story details than the foci in the Cypher System Rulebook (which have short, broad descriptions suitable for other genres).

Merges Mind With Machine

You were raised in an underground bunker by Milly, an AI instance installed in your

brain before you developed cognition of your own. Unlike AI zombies, your personality and motivations haven’t been replaced; your sense of self grew alongside the AI, as collaborators rather than foes. This granted you superior intellect and an uncanny knack for computers. Now you’ve emerged into the larger world, where survivors are predisposed to distrust you, and you may need to keep your background a secret to be accepted. Whether you hate AI or remain loyal to Milly, you face the best odds if you can fit in with another group of survivors. After all, there’s a lot you don’t know about how things work on the surface and the things people have done to stay alive in the past twenty years.

Connection: Choose one of the following, or choose one of the Focus Connections

in the Cypher System Rulebook.

1. Pick one other PC. You fear that character is jealous of your abilities, and that it might lead to problems.

2. Pick one other PC. You’re not sure how or from where, but that character has access to rare machine parts and can get them for you at half price.

3. Pick one other PC. Seeing you use your focus abilities triggers unpleasant memories for that character. That memory is up to the other PC, although they may not be able to consciously recall it.

4. Pick one other PC. They are sensitive to your focus abilities, and occasionally they become dazed for a few rounds, hindering their actions.

Additional Equipment: You have scars on your scalp in the shape of circuitry (like Lichtenberg figures). You probably keep these hidden, as they identify you as one of Milly’s children to anyone familiar with the mark.

Minor Effect Suggestion: You restore 2 points to your Intellect Pool.

Major Effect Suggestion: An ally or indicated target can take an additional action.

Tier 1:

Interface

Tier 2:

Robot Assistant

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Assisted Sight or Machine Telepathy as your tier 4 ability.

Assisted Sight (3 Intellect points): You can activate a visual overlay that helps you analyze threats and boons in your environment. When you trigger this ability, you gain an asset on one attack or defense roll of any type, due to your knowledge about the situation. Enabler.

Machine Telepathy

Tier 4:

Machine Bond

Network Tap

Tier 5:

Greater Enhanced Intellect

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Master Machine or See the Future as your tier 6 ability.

Master Machine
See the Future

Merges Mind With Machine is a focus designed for use with the Radio Quiet setting.

Prepped for the End

You prepared for ultimate disaster, unlike most of the sheeple. Which means you stashed away food, water, and other survival gear when things were still okay. You trained yourself for harsh conditions, for basic machine and electronic repair, and maybe even in a musical instrument to pass the time in the bunker when no other entertainments could be had. You’d excel in a small group of other survivors, but you’re ready to go it alone if that’s what it

takes. Above all, you’re prepared to make it through whatever the future holds, no matter how daunting the odds. Because you prepped wisely.

Connection: Choose one of the following, or choose one of the Focus Connections in the Cypher System Rulebook.

1. Pick one other PC. You found them in your prepped hideout, eating and drinking their fill. You befriended them rather than seeking revenge for using your resources.

2. Pick one other PC. You used to play card games with them before the apocalypse, and you still owe them money, though what that means now is difficult to say.

3. Pick one other PC. This character doesn’t seem to want any of your stored food or water.

4. Pick one other PC. When you were hurt, they carried you to your prepped hideout at great risk to themselves.

Additional Equipment: A firearm of your choice (with ten bullets or shells), a handloading tool set, and a small musical instrument (such as a harmonica).

Minor Effect Suggestion: Your foe slips in some decaying garbage or spill from the before‑times, and their actions in the next round are hindered as they regain their balance.

Major Effect Suggestion: You find or spy an item from the Useful Stuff table.

Tier 1:P

Practiced in Light Armor: You can wear light armor for long periods of time without tiring and can compensate for slowed reactions from wearing light armor. You reduce the Speed cost for wearing light armor by 1. You start the game with a type of light armor available in the area, such as a leather jacket. Enabler.

Prepared Caches: You have a prepped secret hideout with shelter and basic supplies capable of seeing you through a year or more, or up to six people through about three months. In addition, you have knowledge of three different secret supply caches you put together and hid before everything fell apart, chosen from the following. The caches are located no closer than about 5 miles (8 km) from each other.

• Food cache (enough food for six people for twelve weeks)

• Water cache (enough clean water for six people for twelve weeks)

• Ammunition cache (400 shells or bullets for four different weapons)

• Firearm cache (six firearms; a mix of light, medium, and heavy weapons, each usually found with about ten bullets or shells)

Enabler.

Trained for Toughing It: Choose one noncombat skill that would be helpful for surviving after the apocalypse, such as hunting, tracking, carpentry, or stealth. You are trained in that skill. Enabler.

Tier 2:

Tinker

Weather the Vicissitudes

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Fruitfully Pass the Time or Stashed Vehicle as your tier 3 ability.

Fruitfully Pass the Time (4 Intellect points): You are trained in one performance skill, such as singing; playing a fiddle, harmonica, or other instrument; or something else that others would enjoy watching or hearing you do. When you perform with the skill gained through this ability for one minute and you succeed on a difficulty 3 performance roll, you and all allies within short range who can hear and see you immediately gain a one‑action recovery roll. You can’t use this on someone again until you use a one‑hour or ten‑hour recovery roll. Action to initiate, one minute to complete.

Stashed Vehicle: You track down where you or a fellow prepper stashed a vehicle, pristinely stored to remain in working order with minimal repairs required. The vehicle has a viable power source (such as hundreds of gallons of gasoline treated to resist decomposition, or a rechargeable battery with options for solar or wind recharging). The vehicle could be an all‑terrain vehicle (ATV), a truck, or something else; work with your GM to figure out the particulars. Enabler

Tier 4:

Know Where to Look: Whenever the GM obtains a result for you on the Useful Stuff table, you get two results instead of one. If the GM is using some other method to generate rewards for finding valuables, you gain double the result you would otherwise obtain. Enabler.

Tier 5:

Ambusher

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Discipline of Watchfulness or Escape the Ruins as your tier 6 ability.

Discipline of Watchfulness

Escape the Ruins (6 Intellect points): While in any area containing ruins from before the apocalypse, you find or create a significant shortcut, secret entrance, or emergency escape route where it looked like none existed. Doing so requires that you succeed on an Intellect action whose difficulty is set by the GM based on the situation. You and the GM should work out the details. Action.

Raids

When civilization fell, you did what you had to do to stay alive. Did you kill innocent people? Probably, insofar as anyone who survived the end can really be considered “innocent.” You figured they’d have done the same to you. But whether they deserved it or not, you and the other raiders you ran with survived, and your targets did not. Then something life‑changing happened to you, altering your perspective; it’s up to you to decide what. In any case, you’ve turned over a new leaf. You don’t indiscriminately kill anymore, though surviving is still a goal. But you’ve joined with others who you want to protect as much as or even more than your own life. You’re done with raiding. But is raiding (and those who might recognize you as a raider) done with you?

Connection: Choose one of the following, or choose one of the Focus Connections in the Cypher System Rulebook.

1. Pick one other PC. That character knows that you were a raider, even though it is a secret you’ve kept from the other PCs so far.

2. Pick one other PC. They were also a raider, however briefly, along with you (if they agree to this connection).

3. Pick one other PC. You feel very protective of this character and don’t want to see them harmed.

4. Pick one other PC. You know that you’re responsible for the death of someone that character knew while you were raiding; they don’t know it, but the guilt has been waking you up in the middle of the night.

Additional Equipment: You have a tattoo from your raiding days that you probably keep hidden, as it would identify you as a raider to those familiar with the mark.

Minor Effect Suggestion: You restore 2 points to your Might Pool.

Major Effect Suggestion: You or an ally get an immediate extra attack.

Tier 1:

Ignore the Pain

Wilderness Life

Tier 2:

Careful Tracker: You are trained in stealth and tracking tasks. Enabler.

Fearsome Reputation

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Raider Follower or Grand Deception as your tier 3 ability.

Raider Follower: You gain a level 3 follower (initiative, stealth, and defense as level 4). The follower does as you say and, generally speaking, isn’t someone who makes the other PCs in your group feel uncomfortable because of their

presence. Enabler.

Grand Deception

Tier 4:

Greater Frenzy

Tier 5:

Using the Environment

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Deep Consideration or Twisting the Knife as your tier 6 ability.

Deep Consideration

Twisting the Knife

Remembers the Past

You are a student of the before‑times. Maybe that’s because you grew up in the ruins of an old library and read everything as your hobby, you found a friendly AI archivist who taught you about how things once were, you’re long‑lived and were alive before the apocalypse, or you have a deep recollection of the world before the end for some other reason. This knowledge gives you an appreciation of the before‑times as well as a point of view that many other survivors lack that benefits you in and around ruins. You can find things others wouldn’t know to look for, plucking fruits of the past that would otherwise go unharvested.

Connection: Choose one of the following, or choose one of the Focus Connections in the Cypher System Rulebook.

1. Pick one other PC. They remind you of someone you knew or learned about from the past, because of either the way they look or the way they act, and that is what first drew you to them.

2. Pick one other PC. You saved their life because you found them trapped in a before‑times ruin and you knew how best to free them.

3. Pick one other PC. You were lost out past the ruins in the wilderness, but they happened across you and saved your life.

4. Pick one other PC. This character comes from the same place you do, and you knew each other as children.

Additional Equipment: One book on a technical topic such as plumbing, carpentry, electronics, or physics; it provides you an asset on a related task if you spend ten minutes perusing the book ahead of time.

Minor Effect Suggestion: You remember something about the area that proves advantageous later, such as realizing there’s probably a fresh location to scavenge close by that has a good chance of not having been picked over by other survivors.

Major Effect Suggestion: A foe forgets about you unless you draw attention to yourself.

Tier 1:

Ruin Lore: You are trained in scavenging, which means you’re more likely to find useful things (and junk that can potentially be turned into useful things) in the ruins of what came before. Enabler.

Knowledge Skills

Tier 2:

Fixer: You’ve learned enough of the past that you are trained in tasks to repair and build before‑times equipment, or equipment made with before‑times parts. In addition, repairing and building tasks take you about 20% less time to complete. Enabler.

Know the Way: You are familiar with before‑times buildings and other structures, which extends to ruins of the same. You are trained in tasks related to getting around inside those buildings quickly, finding alternate routes, finding places to hide, and other tasks associated with gaining a benefit by being able to picture a likely floor plan of any given building. Enabler.

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Disable Mechanisms or Resource Seeker as your tier 3 ability. Disable Mechanisms

Resource Seeker (3+ Intellect points): When you are looking for a specific inexpensive item you’d like to scavenge from nearby ruins, such as a candle, an aspirin, or a can of preserved chili, you can focus your attention on it so that you are more likely to find it. For the next ten minutes, if what you are seeking is within long range, you find it if you succeed on a difficulty 2 Intellect roll. Each time you use this ability again in the same area, the difficulty is hindered by one additional step. For each level of Effort you apply, you can attempt to find an object of one higher expense category, but the base difficulty of the Intellect roll also increases by 1 per higher expense category. Action to initiate.

Tier 4:

Improvise

Tier 5:

Task Specialization

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Skill With Attacks, Skill With Defense, or Use the Network as your tier 6 ability.

Skill With Attacks

Skill With Defense

Use the Network (5 Intellect points): With a few minutes of looking around and preparing, you can access remnants of the before‑times internet and satellite network (or an active network on which AIs who are not immediately dangerous reside). The GM may decide there is no such connection in the area, but if there is, you can ask one basic question about anything happening within 10 miles (16 km) and receive a simple answer. For example, you could ask about the location of a specific creature or individual, and if they are within the range of this ability, you’ll learn about it from a still‑functioning camera feed, satellite feed, or AI interaction. Action to initiate.

Walks the Wasteland

Most people want to hide from the devastation or just curl up and die rather than face a hostile world. Not you. You’re determined to see what’s out there, to survive, and, more than that, to thrive. It’s that or let the radioactive rats—or whatever it is that hunts the ruins—get you. If you were around before the end, you could have been a soldier, mercenary, or at least someone who had basic survival training. What sets you apart from all the others like you is that you decided to hope when everything looked darkest. Since then, you have eaten your share of spoiled food and irradiated water, and survived. Whether that’s because you’ve adapted, you’re luckier, or you were just tougher than the rest is anyone’s guess. But you’re still walking the wastes even though so many others are gone. You probably don’t spend a lot of time on your appearance, given that you wear the cobbled‑together clothing and bits and pieces of armor you’re able to scavenge from the ruins. Appearance doesn’t matter; actions do.

Connection: Choose one of the following, or choose one of the Focus Connections in the Cypher System Rulebook.

1. Pick one other PC. This character appears to be an able survivor, but in your mind, they seem to be at the end of their rope. You’re constantly trying to convince them to keep trying, go the distance, and survive for a better tomorrow.

2. Pick one other PC. You feel very protective of this character and don’t want to see them harmed.

3. Pick one other PC. This character comes from the same place you do, and you knew each other as children. Whether that place exists any longer is something you and that character should decide.

4. Pick one other PC. You found this character almost dead in the wastes. You rescued them, nursed them back to health, and kept them safe until they were back on their feet. Whether they feel embarrassment, gratitude, or something else is up to them.

Additional Equipment: You have a piece of before‑times equipment with three analog dials that measure temperature, air pressure, and humidity. (You also know the names for the instruments nestled behind

those dials: a thermometer, a barometer, and a hygrometer, respectively.) If you spend a minute operating the device, you have an asset on weather prediction tasks extending into the next day.

Minor Effect Suggestion: You restore 2 points to your Might Pool.

Major Effect Suggestion: Your next action is eased by two steps.

Tier 1:

Surviving the Wasteland: Given about half a day of walking and scavenging, you find enough edible food and potable water in the ruins or surrounding wasteland for you and up to one other person for one day. The resources might be scavenged from before‑times supplies, living flora and fauna, and uncontaminated water sources. Enabler.

Tolerance: This hard life has built up your resistance over time, so you are trained in resisting the effects of natural poisons (such as those from plants or living creatures) and radiation. You’re also immune to natural diseases. Enabler.

Weapon at Hand: You’re practiced with all weapons. To gain this benefit with a weapon you’ve never used before, you must spend at least ten minutes practicing with it first. Enabler.

Tier 2:

Devoted Defender

Hardened by the End: You’re trained in Might defense tasks.

Tier 3:

Ability Choice: Choose either Hard to Hit or Rapid Attack as your tier 3 ability. Whatever you choose, you also gain Apocalyptic Stare.

Hard to Hit

Rapid Attack

Apocalyptic Stare: Your demeanor is of someone who shouldn’t be trifled with. You are trained in intimidation. Enabler.

Tier 4:

Improved Recovery

Push on Through

Tier 5:

Ignore the Pain

Tier 6:

Ability Choice: Choose either Using What’s Available or Wasteland Camouflage as your tier 6 ability.

Using What’s Available

Wasteland Camouflage (5+ Speed or Intellect points): By drawing your clothing about you just so and using various tricks and your deep knowledge of your surroundings, you become invisible for ten minutes in any landscape that contains ruins of the before‑times. (You may also attempt this in a purely wilderness setting, but if you do, you must spend 1 additional point from Speed or Intellect, whichever Pool you activated this power with.) While you are invisible, this asset eases your stealth and Speed defense tasks by two steps. This effect ends if you do something to reveal your presence or position—attacking, using an ability, moving a large object, and so on. If this occurs, you can regain the remaining invisibility effect by taking an action to focus on hiding your position. Action to initiate or reinitiate.

FANTASY CHARACTER OPTIONS #

In some cases, the ideas here require minor changes to the flavor described in the character options; you should work with your GM to make sure these changes are suitable for the campaign. Most of the foci in this section appear in the Cypher System; foci with an asterisk (*) are found later in this document. Some of these options recommend swapping out a type ability for an ability from one of the character flavors such as combat, magic, or stealth. 

Alchemist: In the sense that an alchemist is someone who makes magical items or similar types of things, Adept and Explorer are appropriate type choices for academic alchemists. For a general sort of alchemist who makes potions of magical effects, choose the Masters Spells focus (instead of spells, you learn potions). For one who transforms into a powerful and dangerous creature, choose Howls at the Moon. For one who loves throwing bombs, choose Bears a Halo of Fire. For a healer, choose Works Miracles.

Assassin/Spy: Explorer and Warrior are good type choices for an assassin character. Appropriate foci are Masters Weaponry, Moves Like a Cat, Murders, and Works the Back Alleys. 

Barbarian: A barbarian character is probably a Warrior or (to focus a little more on skills than combat) an Explorer. Good foci to choose from are Lives in the Wilderness, Masters Weaponry, Needs No Weapon, Never Says Die, Performs Feats of Strength, and Rages. 

Bard: Bards in fantasy fiction and games are troubadours, minstrels, and storytellers, perhaps with a supernatural element. Bards are usually Explorers or Speakers. Appropriate foci are Entertains, Helps Their Friends, Infiltrates, and Masters Spells. 

Cleric or Priest: Academic clerics are usually Adepts or Speakers, but martial clerics are often Warriors (perhaps with magic flavor). For a typical cleric with a versatile set of abilities, choose the Channels Divine Blessings focus. 

• Cleric (death): Consorts With the Dead, Shepherds Spirits 

• Cleric (knowledge): Learns Quickly, Sees Beyond, Would Rather Be Reading 

• Cleric (life): Defends the Weak, Shepherds the Community, Works Miracles

• Cleric (light): Blazes With Radiance, Channels Divine Blessings 

• Cleric (storm): Rides the Lightning, Thunders 

• Cleric (trickery): Takes Animal Shape* (also see options for rogues)

•  Cleric (war): Masters Weaponry (also see options for fighters)

Druid: As a very specific sort of nature priest, a druid character is usually an Adept or Explorer (in either case probably using the magic flavor). A typical druid probably has Channels Divine Blessings or Lives in the Wilderness as a focus, but for more specific options, see the following foci: 

• Druid (animal companion): Controls Beasts, Masters the Swarm 

• Druid (elemental): Abides in Stone, Bears a Halo of Fire, Moves Like the Wind, Rides the Lightning, Wears a Sheen of Ice 

• Druid (nature affinity): Speaks for the Land 

• Druid (transformation): Abides in Stone, Takes Animal Shape*, Walks the Wild Woods*

Fighter: Fighters almost always have the Warrior type, but some are Explorers. A typical fighter probably has a direct focus like Masters Weaponry or Wields an Enchanted Weapon*. For additional options based on choosing a specific fighting role, see the following: 

• Fighter (guardian): Brandishes an Exotic Shield, Defends the Gate, Masters Defense, Never Says Die, Stands Like a Bastion. 

• Fighter (melee): Fights Dirty, Fights With Panache, Looks For Trouble, Needs No Weapon, Wields Two Weapons at Once 

• Fighter (ranged): Is Licensed to Carry, Throws With Deadly Accuracy

Gunslinger: A gunslinger is probably a Warrior or Explorer, but some are Speakers with combat flavor. Appropriate foci are Is Licensed to Carry, Masters Weaponry, Sailed Beneath the Jolly Roger, and Wields an Enchanted Weapon*. 

Inquisitor: Inquisitors are usually Explorers, Speakers, or Warriors, depending on whether their inclinations are for having many skills, being good at interacting with people, or combat. Appropriate foci are Infiltrates, Metes Out Justice, and Operates Undercover. 

Merchant: An Explorer with a focus dealing with social interactions, like Entertains or Leads, would make a good merchant character, but the more obvious choice would be a Speaker.

Monk or Martial Artist: As masters of unarmed combat, monks are usually Warriors or Explorers (perhaps with a combat flavor). Appropriate foci are Fights With Panache, Needs No Weapon, and Throws With Deadly Accuracy. 

Paladin/Holy Knight/Paragon: As holy warriors who mix martial prowess and magic, paladins are usually Warriors or Explorers (in either case, perhaps modified with the magic flavor). Good foci for this type of character include Defends the Gate, Defends the Weak, Metes Out Justice, Slays Monsters, and Wields an Enchanted Weapon*.

Ranger: Rangers mix combat and skills, and therefore are usually Explorers (perhaps with combat flavor) or Warriors (perhaps with skills and knowledge flavor). Appropriate foci for a ranger are Controls Beasts, Hunts, Lives in the Wilderness, Slays Monsters, Throws With Deadly Accuracy, and Wields Two Weapons at Once. 

Rogue or Thief: Most rogue-type characters are Explorers, but an interaction-focused rogue could easily be a Speaker (perhaps with stealth flavor). Good foci for rogues are Explores Dark Places, Fights Dirty, Hunts, Infiltrates, Is Wanted by the Law, Moves Like a Cat, Sailed Beneath the Jolly Roger, and Works the Back Alleys. 

Sorcerer: Sorcerers, for our purpose here, are mages who have inherent magical abilities (as opposed to wizards, who study long and hard to get their spells). Most sorcerers are Adepts, but some are Explorers or Speakers. The Masters Spells focus gives a typical sorcerer an effective set of abilities, and most foci choices provide a themed set of spells. For sorcerers of various magical bloodlines, see the following: 

• Sorcerer (angel): Blazes With Radiance, Channels Divine Blessings, Keeps a Magic Ally 

• Sorcerer (destiny): Descends From Nobility, Was Foretold

• Sorcerer (dragon): Bears a Halo of Fire, Rides the Lightning, Wears a Sheen of Ice

• Sorcerer (elemental): Abides in Stone, Bears a Halo of Fire, Employs Magnetism, Moves Like the Wind, Rides the Lightning, Wears a Sheen of Ice 

• Sorcerer (fey): Takes Animal Shape* 

• Sorcerer (fiend): Bears a Halo of Fire, Keeps a Magic Ally 

• Sorcerer (undead): Consorts With the Dead, Shepherds Spirits

Trickster or Con Artist: These clever folks are typically Speakers, although they could be Adepts if they are very magical (or Explorers if they aren’t magical at all). Foci choices include Fights Dirty, Works the Back Alleys, or Entertains. 

War-wizard: For those unusual characters who use a mix of weapon attacks and spells, play a Warrior with magic flavor or an Expert with combat or magic flavor. Appropriate foci include Fights With Panache, Masters Weaponry, and Wields an Enchanted Weapon*. 

Warlock or Witch: For the purposes of this list, warlocks and witches are mages who gain magical power from pacts they make with otherworldly entities. Most warlocks are Adepts, but Explorers and Speakers (perhaps with magic flavor) can be interesting options. Fun foci for a warlock include Dances With Dark Matter, Keeps a Magic Ally, Masters the Swarm, Separates Mind From Body, and Was Foretold, but (depending on the patron and pact) most sorcerer and wizard foci work just as well. 

Wild Mage: Those who use chaotic magic are usually Adepts, but a dabbler might be an Explorer or Speaker with the magic flavor. The best focus that suits this theme is Uses Wild Magic*.

Wizard: For the purposes of this list, wizards study magical lore at length to learn the ways of spellcasting (as opposed to sorcerers, warlocks, and so on). Wizards are usually Adepts, but a person-oriented wizard might be a Speaker (perhaps with the magic flavor). For a generalist wizard who has a variety of spells, choose the Masters Spells focus. For more specific kinds of wizards, see the following: 

• Wizard (abjurer): Absorbs Energy, Focuses Mind Over Matter, Wears a Sheen of Ice 

• Wizard (conjurer or summoner): Controls Beasts, Keeps a Magic Ally 

• Wizard (diviner): Learns Quickly, Sees Beyond, Separates Mind From Body, Solves Mysteries Wizard (enchanter): Commands Mental Powers, Leads 

• Wizard (evoker): Bears a Halo of Fire, Blazes With Radiance, Rides the Lightning, Thunders, Wears a Sheen of Ice 

• Wizard (illusionist): Awakens Dreams, Crafts Illusions 

• Wizard (necromancer): Consorts With the Dead, Shepherds Spirits 

• Wizard (transmuter): Controls Gravity, Focuses Mind Over Matter, Takes Animal Shape*

PREPARED VS. SPONTANEOUS SPELLCASTING

Magical characters get their abilities (which might be spells, rituals, or something else) from their type and focus, and they can use these abilities as they see fit as long as they spend the required Pool points. This technically makes them more like spontaneous casters. If you’d like to play something more like a prepared-caster wizard with a large selection of abilities that you narrow down each day, consider a spellcasting-oriented focus like Channels Divine Blessings, Masters Spells, or Speaks for the Land, and consider augmenting it with the optional spellcasting rule.

NEW FOCI #

Takes Animal Shape: A shapechanger who can take the form of various animals. 

Tier 1: Animal Shape

Tier 2: Communication 

Tier 2: Soothe the Savage 

Tier 3: Bigger Animal Shape or Greater Beast Form [This ability is described in the main portion of the CSOL.] 

Tier 4: Animal Scrying

Tier 5: Hard to Kill

Tier 6: Blurring Speed or Lend Animal Shape

Uses Wild Magic: A spellcaster who learns a variety of spells instead of focusing on just one kind of magic. 

Tier 1: Magical Repertoire

Tier 1: Cypher Casting

Tier 2: Expanded Repertoire

Tier 3: Cypher Surge or Faster Wild Magic

Tier 4: Expanded Repertoire

Tier 5: Magical Training

Tier 6: Maximize Cypher or Wild Insight

Walks the Wild Woods: An adherent of nature magic who draws on the power and strength of trees. 

Tier 1: Wilderness Life 

Tier 1: Patient Recovery

Tier 2: Wooden Body

Tier 3: Tree Companion or Wilderness Awareness 

Tier 4: Tree Travel

Tier 5: Great Tree

Tier 6: Dreadwood or Restorative Bloom

Wields an Enchanted Weapon: One who channels magic through or from a weapon to create a unique fighting style.

Tier 1: Enchanted Weapon

Tier 1: Innate Power

Tier 1: Charge Weapon

Tier 2: Power Crash

Tier 3: Rapid Attack or ThrowEnchanted Weapon

Tier 4: Defending Weapon

Tier 5: Enchanted Movement

Tier 6: Deadly Strike or Spin Attack 

NEW ABILITIES #

Animal Scrying (4+ Intellect points): If you know the general location of an animal that is friendly toward you and within 1 mile (1.5 km) of your location, you can sense through its senses for up to ten minutes. If you are not in animal form or not in a form similar to that animal, you must apply a level of Effort to use this ability. Action to establish. 

Animal Shape (3+ Intellect points): You change into an animal as small as a rat or up to your own size (such as a large dog or small bear) for ten minutes. Each time you transform, you can take a different animal shape. Your equipment becomes part of the transformation, rendering it unusable unless it has a passive effect, such as armor. In this form your stats remain the same as your normal form, but you can move and attack according to your animal shape (attacks from most animals this size are medium weapons, which you can use without penalty). Tasks requiring hands (such as using door handles or pushing buttons) are hindered when in animal form. You cannot speak but can still use abilities that don’t rely on human speech. You gain two minor abilities associated with the creature you become (see the Animal Form Minor Abilities table). For example, if you transform into a bat, you become trained in perception and can fly up to a long distance each round. If you transform into an octopus, you are trained in stealth and can breathe underwater. If you apply a level of Effort when you use this ability, you can either become a talking animal or take a hybrid shape. The talking animal shape looks exactly like a normal animal, but you can still talk and use any abilities that rely on human speech. The hybrid shape is like your normal form but with animalistic features, even if that animal is something much smaller than you (such as a bat or rat). In this hybrid form you can speak, use all of your abilities, make attacks like an animal, and perform tasks using hands without being hindered. Anyone who sees you clearly in this hybrid form would never mistake you for a mere animal. Action to change or revert. 

“Similar” is a broad term. Lions are similar to tigers and leopards, hawks are similar to ravens and swans, dogs are similar to wolves and foxes, and so on.

Even if your animal shape has multiple attack types (such as claws and bite), you can attack only once per round unless you have some other ability that lets you make additional attacks on your turn.

Animal Shape variant: If your character concept is that you always take the same animal form instead of being able to choose from multiple kinds of animals, double the duration of the Animal Shape ability (to twenty minutes per use). The GM may allow characters with this restriction to learn additional animal forms by spending 4 XP as a long-term benefit.

Bigger Animal Shape: When you use Animal Shape, your animal form grows to about twice its normal size. Being so large, your beast form gains the following additional bonuses: +1 to Armor, +5 to your Might Pool, and you are trained in using your animal form’s natural attacks as heavy weapons (if you weren’t already). However, your Speed defense tasks are hindered. While bigger, you also gain an asset to tasks that are easier for a larger creature to perform, like climbing, intimidating, wading rivers, and so on. Enabler. 

Charge Weapon (2+ Intellect points): As part of making an attack with your enchanted weapon, you charge it with magical power, inflicting 2 additional points of energy damage. If you make more than one attack on your turn, you choose whether to spend the cost for this ability before you make each attack. Enabler. 

Cypher Casting: You can cast any of your subtle cyphers on another creature instead of yourself. You must touch the creature to affect it. Enabler. 

Cypher Surge: When you use a subtle cypher spell, as part of that action you can expend one other subtle cypher. Instead of the second cypher’s normal effect, you add one free level of Effort to the first cypher spell. Enabler.

Defending Weapon: When using your enchanted weapon, you are trained in Speed defense tasks. Enabler. 

Dreadwood (6 Intellect points): You manipulate wind, mist, and shadows to embody the primordial fear of mysterious woods. For the next minute, you gain an asset on intimidation tasks. Creatures within short range may become frightened; make a separate Intellect attack roll for each creature (if you are larger than normal from using Great Tree or another source, these rolls are eased). Success means that they are frozen in fear, not moving or taking actions for one minute or until they are attacked. Some creatures without minds might be immune to this fear. Action. 

Enchanted Movement (4+ Intellect points): You use your enchanted weapon to move yourself to any location within a long distance that you can see, as long as there are no obstacles or barriers in your way. The exact way this happens depends on your weapon; you might throw your magical hammer and be pulled along after it, shoot an arrow from your bow that pulls you forward like a grapple line, and so on. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to increase the distance traveled; each level of Effort used in this way increases the range by another 100 feet (30 m). If you have another ability (such as from your type) that allows you to cross a long distance, the range of that ability and this one increases to very long. Action. 

Enchanted Weapon (1 Intellect point): You attune yourself to a physical weapon, such as a sword, hammer, or bow. You know exactly where it is if it is within a short distance of you, and you know its general direction and distance if farther away. All of your other focus abilities require you to be holding or wielding this weapon. You can be attuned to only one weapon at a time; attuning yourself to a second weapon loses the attunement to the first one. Action to initiate, ten minutes to complete. Enabler. 

If you attune yourself to a different weapon, come up with a story reason for why you are able to do that and why you chose this new weapon

Expanded Repertoire: The number of subtle cyphers you can bear at the same time increases by one. Enabler. 

Faster Wild Magic: If you spend ten minutes preparing your magic, you can fill any of your open cypher slots with subtle cyphers chosen randomly by the GM (this time can be part of a ten-minute, one-hour, or ten-hour recovery action if you are awake for the entire time). You can’t use this ability again until after you’ve taken a ten-hour recovery action. You can still use Magical Repertoire to fill your cypher slots. Action to initiate, ten minutes to complete. 

Great Tree: When you use Wooden Body, you may grow to up to 12 feet (4 m) in height. In this larger form, you add 7 points to your Might Pool and +2 to your Might Edge. If you chose to grow, when Wooden Body ends you subtract 7 points from your Might Pool (if this brings the Pool to 0, subtract the overflow first from your Speed Pool and then, if necessary, from your Intellect Pool). When you use Wooden Body, whether or not you choose to grow, instead of looking like a wooden version of your normal self, you can take on the full appearance of a humanoid tree creature or an actual tree (including growing additional branches, extra foliage, and so on). This does not affect any of your abilities—in tree shape, you can use type abilities, other focus abilities, and so on. In tree shape, pretending to be a tree and hiding among normal trees are eased by two steps. Enabler.

Innate Power: Choose either your Might Pool or your Speed Pool. When spending points to activate your focus abilities, you can spend points from this Pool instead of your Intellect Pool (in which case you use your Might Edge or Speed Edge instead of your Intellect Edge, as appropriate). Enabler

Lend Animal Shape (6+ Intellect points): You change into an animal, and one willing creature within immediate range also transforms into an animal of that type (bear, tiger, wolf, and so on) for ten minutes, as if they were using your Animal Shape ability. For each level of Effort applied, you can affect one additional creature. All creatures transforming with you must be your size or smaller. A creature can revert to its normal form as an action, but it cannot then change back into the animal form. One creature (whether you or someone else) changing form does not affect any other creature affected with this ability. Action.

A creature that takes animal form with Lend Animal Shape counts as an animal for the use of Animal Scrying.

A character might be able to take the shape of a creature that is similar to a common animal, such as a unicorn instead of a horse or a basilisk instead of a lizard, but doing so should require applying at least one level of Effort to the change, and the character wouldn’t gain any of the creature’s magical abilities.

Magical Repertoire: The number of subtle cyphers you can bear at the same time increases by two. If you spend one hour preparing your magic, you can fill any of your open cypher slots with subtle cyphers chosen randomly by the GM (this hour can be part of a one-hour or ten-hour recovery action if you are awake for the entire time). As part of this preparation process, you may discard any number of subtle cyphers you carry to make room for more subtle cyphers. Enabler.

If a character has Magical Repertoire, the GM should give the PC frequent opportunities to gain new subtle cyphers, whether from preparation or by gaining them automatically as explained in the Cyphers chapter

Magical Training: You are trained in all of your spells. As a result, you ease any task involved in the use of your spells. Enabler.

Maximize Cypher: Choose one subtle cypher you bear. Its level becomes the maximum level possible for that cypher. For example, a meditation aid has a level range of 1d6 + 2, so maximizing that cypher changes its level to 8. You can have only one maximized subtle cypher at a time. You can’t use this ability again until after you’ve taken a ten-hour recovery action. Enabler.

Patient Recovery: You gain an extra ten-minute recovery roll each day. Enabler.

Power Crash (3 Intellect points): You strike your enchanted weapon against the ground (or a similar large surface), creating an explosion of energy that affects an area up to immediate range from that point. (If your enchanted weapon is a ranged weapon, you can instead target a point within close range to be the center of the explosion.) The blast inflicts 2 points of damage to all creatures or objects within the area (except for you). Because this is an area attack, adding Effort to increase your damage works differently than it does for single-target attacks. If you apply a level of Effort to increase the damage, add 2 points of damage for each target, and even if you fail your attack roll, all targets in the area still take 1 point of damage. Action.

Restorative Bloom (5 Might points): When Wooden Body or Great Tree is in effect, you produce a flower, acorn, fruit, or similar plant-based edible item. A creature that eats this food is nourished for a full day and restores their Might Pool, Speed Pool, and Intellect Pool to their maximum values, as if they were fully rested. Eating a second food produced by this ability in a day has no effect. If the food is not eaten within ten minutes, it spoils. Action to produce, action to eat.

Throw Enchanted Weapon: You can throw your enchanted weapon up to short range as a light ranged weapon. Whether it hits or misses, it immediately flies back to your hands, and you can automatically catch it or allow it to land at your feet. Enabler.

Tree Companion (5+ Intellect points): You animate a tree of approximately your size or smaller, creating a level 3 creature with 1 Armor. The tree follows your verbal commands for one hour, after which it reverts to a normal tree (and roots itself where it stands). Unless the tree is killed by damage, you can animate it again when the ability duration expires, but any damage it has carries over to its newly animated state. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to affect more trees; each level of Effort used affects one additional tree. Action.

Tree Travel (4+ Intellect points): You enter one tree and instantaneously and safely emerge from another one within long distance. You don’t need to specify which tree you’re exiting from (if you know there are trees in that direction, you can decide how far to go and you will step out of a tree in that area). If the starting tree’s trunk isn’t as large as your body, you must apply a level of Effort to enter it. You can choose to use Effort to increase the distance you travel; one level of Effort used in this way increases the range to very long, two levels raise it to one mile (1.5 km), and each additional level of Effort beyond that increases it by an additional mile. Action.

Wild Insight: You gain a momentary perfect understanding of the flow of magic around you at this moment. When preparing your magic, choose one specific subtle cypher and make a magical lore skill roll against level 6. If you succeed, you gain that subtle cypher (the cypher’s level is 6); if you fail, you get a random subtle cypher. If you aren’t sure what specific subtle cypher you want, you can ask for a broad category such as “healing,” “movement,” or “skill”; this eases the magical lore task, and if you succeed, the GM chooses a random cypher that fits that category. You can’t use this ability again until after you’ve taken a ten-hour recovery action. Enabler.

Wooden Body (1+ Might points): You transform your body into living wood for ten minutes, which grants you several benefits. You gain +1 to Armor and you are practiced in using your limbs as medium weapons. You need about one-tenth as much air as a human. Hiding among trees or on a tree is eased. However, in your wooden form you move more stiffly than a creature of flesh, hindering your Speed defense rolls. Action to change or revert.

Your wooden body might be smooth like a polished board, rough like tree bark, or a mix of both.

ANIMAL FORM MINOR ABILITIES TABLE #

Aquatic: The animal either breathes water instead of air or is able to breathe water in addition to breathing air.

Armor: The animal has a thick hide or shell, granting +1 to Armor.

Constrict: The animal can grip its opponent fast after making a melee attack (usually with a bite or claw), easing attack rolls against that foe on later turns until the animal releases the foe.

Fast: The animal can move a long distance on its turn instead of a short distance.

Flying: The animal can fly, which (depending on the type of animal) may be up to a short or long distance on its turn.

Hands: The animal has paws or hands that are nearly as agile as those of a human. Unlike with most animal shapes, the animal’s tasks that require hands are not hindered (although the GM may decide that some tasks requiring human agility, such as playing a flute, are still hindered).

Scent: The animal has a strong sense of smell, gaining an asset on tracking and dealing with darkness or blindness.

Small: The animal is considerably smaller than a human, easing its Speed defense tasks but hindering tasks to move heavy things.

Venom: The animal is poisonous (usually through a bite), inflicting 1 additional point of damage.

FANTASY SPECIES 

For many fantasy worlds, there is a plethora of sapient creatures suitable for player characters. Here we present additional options, which a player can choose for their character in place of their descriptor

VARIANT RULE: TWO DESCRIPTORS #

By having dwarf, elf, or other species take the place of a character’s descriptor, it creates a situation where only human characters have the variability of choosing a descriptor that suits their personality. The GM might instead allow all human characters to have two descriptors, and nonhuman characters to have a standard descriptor in addition to their species descriptor.

Sometimes contradictory descriptors might weaken or negate each other’s benefits and drawbacks. If one descriptor gives training in a skill and another gives an inability in that skill, they cancel each other out and the character doesn’t have any modifier for that skill at all.

DESCRIPTORS AS SPECIES 

If a player wants to play a nearly human species without any exceptional or unique special abilities, it’s easy for a GM to pick an appropriate descriptor and use it as that species’ descriptor. A greyhound-like species might have the Fast descriptor.

CATFOLK #

You are unmistakably feline. Your people have fur; large, pointed ears; sharp teeth and claws; and even tails. You are nimble, graceful, and quick. An ancient and sophisticated culture, your people have their own language, customs, and traditions developed in relative seclusion over the centuries. Neither conquerors nor conquered, the success of your society has come from the fact that you have given most others a wide berth. As a people, you almost never get involved in wars or similar matters, which has given other cultures the idea that you are aloof, unapproachable, or mysterious. As long as they leave you alone, what they think is fine with you. 

You gain the following characteristics: 

Agile: +4 to your Speed Pool. Skill: You are trained in climbing and balance tasks. 

Bared Claws: Even unarmed, your claws are light weapons that inflict 4 points of damage. 

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 

1. You were curious as to what the other PCs were up to. 

2. You needed to get out of town, and the PCs were going in the same direction as you. 

3. You are interested in making a profit, and the other PCs seem to have a lead on doing just that. 

4. It seemed like a lark.

DRAGONFOLK #

You have scales, fangs, claws, and magic—gifts of the dragons. You might have been born of dragonfolk parents, willingly transformed in a magical ceremony, or chosen by a dragon to be their agent or champion. You have a great destiny before you, but it is your choice whether to make it your own or bend to the will of those who made you what you are. Some people mistrust or fear you, and others consider you a prophet or wish to exploit your power for their own goals. 

You gain the following characteristics: 

Sturdy: +2 to your Might Pool. Skill: You are trained in intimidation

Dragonbreath (3 Might points): You breathe out a blast of energy in an immediate area. Choose one type of energy (arcane, cold, fire, thorn, and so on); the blast inflicts 2 points of damage of this kind of energy (ignores Armor) to all creatures or objects within the area. Because this is an area attack, adding Effort to increase your damage works differently than it does for single-target attacks. If you apply a level of Effort to increase the damage, add 2 points of damage for each target, and even if you fail your attack roll, all targets in the area still take 1 point of damage. Action. 

Draconic Resistance: You gain +2 Armor against the type of energy you create with your dragonbreath. 

Scaly: +1 to Armor. Inability: You have difficulty relating to non-dragons. Tasks to persuade non-dragons are hindered. 

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure.

1. You believe the other PCs can help you solve a mystery about your heritage. 

2. You needed to get out of town, and the PCs were going in the same direction as you. 

3. Your creator, master, or mentor told you to help the PCs. 

4. You want to make a name for yourself, and the other PCs seem competent and compatible.

GNOME #

You are curious and love discovering ways to turn found things into art, tools, or weapons. You might be a sculptor, smith, artist, chef, storyteller, or inventor. Alchemy, magic, and engineering fascinate you. Other beings may see you as a strange mix of a nature-loving elf and a craft-obsessed dwarf, but you and your kind are unique people with a passion for life, exploration, and creation. 

You gain the following characteristics: 

Genius: +2 to your Intellect Pool. 

Skill: You are trained in two skills that suit your creative nature, such as alchemy, smithing, poetry, cooking, woodcarving, or pottery. 

Skill: You are practiced in using hammers. 

Natural Affinity: You gain one of the following abilities: Communication, Eyes Adjusted, or Minor Illusion. 

Inability: Your small size makes some physical tasks difficult. Might-based tasks are hindered. 

Additional Equipment: You have a bag of light tools or a bag of heavy tools.

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 

1. You think an object or material you’ve been looking for can be found where the other PCs are going. 

2. You were recruited because of your knowledge on a particular subject.

3. You were bored and it sounded like the PCs were going to do something interesting. 

4. You owe one of the PCs a favor for a useful gift in the past.

HALFLING #

Three feet tall and proud, you are fond of the comforts of home but itching for a little adventure now and then. Small and quick, you have a way of getting along with everyone. You might have been raised in a halfling village, a mixed community where humans and the small folk work and eat side by side as friends, or a less welcoming environment where your people get things done using deception and criminal activity. You and humans have a lot in common—you’re just more compact and efficient about it. 

You gain the following characteristics: 

Agile: +2 to your Speed Pool. 

Skill: You are trained in pleasant social interactions. 

Skill: You are trained in stealth. 

Skill: You are trained in Intellect defense. 

Advantage: When you use 1 XP to reroll a d20 for any roll that affects only you, add 3 to the reroll. 

Inability: Your small size makes some physical tasks difficult. Might-based tasks are hindered. 

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 

1. You were fleeing someone and literally ran into the other PCs. 

2. You were invited (or invited yourself) as a good luck charm. 

3. You were tricked into going with the other PCs or were brought along despite your very reasonable objections. 

4. You’re very protective of another PC and want to make sure they get through the upcoming challenges.

LIZARDFOLK #

You are from a long line of fierce reptilian predators. You show your fangs and scales proudly. Your people survive and thrive in the wetlands, guarding their eggs, raising their hatchlings, and protecting their territory. City-builders may call you a savage and your culture primitive, but there is grace in your hunting, artistry in your crafting, joy in your songs, and reverence in your worship. 

You gain the following characteristics: 

Agile: +2 to your Speed Pool. 

Skill: You are trained in balancing, jumping, and swimming. 

Skill: You are trained in hunting and tracking. 

Skill: You are practiced in using javelins and spears. 

Scaly: +1 to Armor. 

Inability: Your slightly clawed hands make fine detail work difficult. You have an inability with picking locks, picking pockets, and other manual dexterity tasks (but not crafting). 

Additional Equipment: You have a spear and a pair of javelins. 

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From the following list of options, choose how you became involved in the first adventure. 

1. The other PCs were lost in your territory and you were sent to escort them out. 

2. Something has been attacking your community and you want to find and destroy it. 

3. You were exiled from your community and need to prove your worthiness before you can return to it. 

4. You or your priest had a vision of you traveling with the other PCs.

CREATURES AND NPCs

MODERN MAGIC CREATURES #

Bargainer Fiend

3 (9)

Typical devils are warriors and torturers, and demons are mortal souls reforged into entities of pure spite and hate, whereas bargainer fiends see themselves as classier beings with loftier goals. However, bargainers are aware that they are weaker than their counterparts, and they make sure they don’t do any front-line fighting if they can help it.

Motive: Bargain for souls

Environment: Anywhere humans can be found

Health: 9

Damage Inflicted: 4 points

Armor: 2

Movement: Short

Modifications: Deception as level 5

Combat: A bargainer fiend attacks with a punch or a firearm. If they aren’t trying to hide their inhuman nature, they throw short-range bolts of painful hellfire, inflicting 4 points of damage and stunning the target for one round.

The heart of a bargainer fiend’s power is its ability to arrange for rewards for a mortal client in exchange for the client’s soul. Typical rewards are training in a skill, learning a new type or focus ability, wealth equivalent to one exorbitant item, an artifact, or anything else that can be acquired by spending 4 XP. The price is always the client’s mortal soul, usually after a specific time period. Bigger demands by the client require the fiend to get approval from their superiors, and the price is higher, but usually still manageable.

A bargainer fiend can use an action to transform themself into a human or near-human form (such as a human with devil horns) or return to their natural form. They can assume the guise of a specific human (such as a person their client knows) only if that human is dead or has an agreement with a bargainer fiend.

Interaction: Bargainer fiends serve at the pleasure of their infernal masters, and they know their lives are forfeit if they ever fail. This colors their interactions with clients; they will say anything to accomplish their mission, and their only true loyalty is to the fiend who created and controls them.

Use: A motivational speaker offers to teach clients confidence and charm, with great results. An old sorcerer knows some rare magic for those willing to pay a steep price. A mysterious person has been seen visiting people in the terminal ward of various hospitals.

Loot: A bargainer fiend may have a cypher relating to their duties or as a gift or payment for a client, but most of their material riches are hell-crafted and not safe to carry for long.

Divinity Of The City

8 (24)

Motive: Defense; protection; power

Environment: Urban landscapes

Health: 75

Damage Inflicted: 8 points

Armor: 4

Movement: Short; long when flying

Combat: Divinities attack a foe up to a long distance away with a spell related to their connection (sending a pack of rabid raccoons after a foe, lifting a highway, or having a mural attack). These attacks inflict 8 points of damage on a single target or, if the divinity chooses, the attack hits all targets within short range of the destination for 6 points of damage.

Most divinities have a close-range attack as well, such as turning into a coyote and attacking their target with tooth and claw or grabbing a painted weapon out of a wall mural.

Divinities also have a number of additional spells, including:

Animate: Turns any material into an animate level 4 creature. The creature has a mind and will of its own, and acts just as that type of creature would act if it were born instead of created.

Forever Space: Creates an endless length of alleys, roads, or bridges between itself and all characters it chooses within long range. Characters must succeed on a level 5 Intellect defense task to find an exit. While moving through the forever space, characters take 2 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) each round.

Heal: The divinity heals themself, a creature, or an object for 5 points of damage.

Illusion: Divinities can cast elaborate and convincing illusions over their domain, making the area seem more appealing, beautiful, or dangerous. Illusions cover up to a ten-block area and last for up to an hour. Seeing through one is a level 8 task.

Interaction: Divinities rarely care about humans unless they’re connected to their particular part of the urban landscape. Sometimes they can be persuaded or negotiated with, but not if the character has previously damaged or endangered the divinity’s connection—for example, a poacher of urban wildlife probably has no chance of interacting positively with a Divinity of Urban Creatures.

Use: A divinity is a powerful aggressive or defensive force, putting the PCs in a position where they must fight or negotiate to prevent death and destruction. In addition to situations where a divinity clashes with those who would exploit them, they may have information or unique magic (such as an unlocking spell) that the characters need to reach a goal.

Loot: Divinities rarely carry anything of interest to humans, but they might bequeath to allies a powerful artifact related to some aspect of their domain.

Elemental, Electricity

4 (12)

Motive: Explore and shock

Environment: Anywhere electricity can easily reach

Health: 24

Damage Inflicted: 4 points

Movement: Short; very long with electrical conduction

Modifications: Attacks and Speed defense as level 5 due to quickness; stealth as level 2 due to buzzing noise

Combat: An electricity elemental strikes twice each round with a limb, or fires one bolt of electricity at a target within short range.

As its action, an elemental can heal itself for up to 4 points of health by draining power from a touched electrical machine, creature (such as a robot), manifest cypher, or artifact. A drained object moves one step down the object damage track. A drained robot takes 4 points of damage. A drained manifest cypher is fully consumed and useless. A drained artifact immediately checks for depletion (artifacts with a depletion of “—” are either immune to this ability or have a depletion of 1 in 1d10 for this purpose).

An electricity elemental can pass through conductive materials at full speed, ignoring obstacles and difficult terrain. An electricity elemental can power any electrical device that runs on household power, but it’s uncomfortable for them and they don’t like doing it.

Interaction: Electricity elementals are somewhat intelligent but perceive and think at much faster rates than humans, so they quickly become frustrated with “slow” communication. They can be summoned and controlled with magic, but there’s a 10% chance the elemental breaks free of the spell and attacks or flees.