The Other
The Other is that otherworldly feeling, supernatural quality, or pervasive strangeness which is inherently indescribable, and yet unavoidable within Lynchian realities. Some characters witness the Other as a pseudophysical location or conscious being, some merely have a vague sense of its void-like existence, but most barely notice its presence at the edges of everyday life.
Attributes
The primary attributes are scored as +2, +1, +1, +0, -1.
- Focus: emotional depth and balance, intuition, preparedness, calmness.
- Grit: power, physical strength and toughness, determination.
- Presence: persuasiveness, seduction, verbal, social skill.
- Reason: intellect, knowledge, rationality.
- Weird: awareness and understanding of the Other.
Secondary attributes include:
- Stability: a rating between -3 and +3, of current mental health.
- Trust: a rating between -3 and +3, for each of the other PCs.
- Conditions: four slots of persistent afflictions.
- Minor: scrapes, scratches, and injuries that heal in days.
- Major: wounds that heal in weeks.
- Severe: serious injuries that heal in months.
- Critical: emergency injuries that require attention and heal in years, if at all.
If a character suffers a Condition of an already taken severity, the severity is increased. If a character cannot place a Condition in any slot, they fall unconscious.
Common Moves
All characters have the following moves.
Overcome
When you act to overcome a difficult obstacle, describe your approach and roll -1.
On a 10+, you succeed. Describe the immediate outcome.
On a 7–9, you succeed at a cost. The GM will offer you a difficult choice.
On a 6-, the obstacle complicates progress towards your goal. The GM describes the unfortunate outcome.
Reality Check
When...
- ...you have negative Stability and it's lowered further...
- ...you witness something shockingly unexpected, disturbing, or surprising...
- ...someone finds out your Secret and/or you must face consequences of its knowledge...
...roll +Stability.
On a 10+, after a momentary lapse of composure, you come to terms with your current circumstances.
On a 7–9, you feel overwhelmed. Describe your dramatic exit from the scene. Raise your Stability afterwards.
On a 6-, your world is crumbling. You act out wildly as the GM describes. Raise your Stability afterwards.
Make a Promise
When you desire a specific result from someone (or something), and are willing to make an exchange to see it done, name your request. The GM will describe what is required of you in return, and suggest what level of complication will come about if your side of the agreement is not fulfilled.
Get Involved
When you act directly to affect another character's action, describe your involvement, and roll +Trust to help, or roll -Trust to hinder them.
On a 10+, increase or decrease their success level.
On a 7–9, same as above, but you suffer a consequence related to your involvement. Choose one:
- Lower your Stability.
- Suffer a Minor Condition.
- Your involvement causes an unintended side effect.
On a 6-, your action backfires. Alter their success level in the opposite intended direction.
Read Person
When you empathize with someone or observe their demeanor, describe what subjective details you're looking for, and roll +Focus.
On a 10+, you get a good sense of their emotional state. The GM will share subjective insights.
On a 7–9, their emotions are vague or contradictory. The GM will describe surface-level details you pick up on.
Oppose
When you attempt to harm a target or defend yourself physically, describe your approach and weapon (if applicable), then roll +Grit.
On a 10+, you avoid harm, and deal harm equal to your weapon's damage (at least Minor). Describe the outcome.
On a 7–9, you deal harm based on your weapon, but must choose a consequence from below.
On a 6-, your action fails. The GM will choose a consequence.
- You cause a scene, drawing attention to the conflict.
- You falter. Lower your Stability.
- You suffer a Condition based on the opposer's weapon.
- Your weapon breaks, malfunctions, or is otherwise unusable.
Convince
When you speak with someone to alter their action or change their mind, roll +Presence.
On a 10+, you succeed. Describe their reaction and what they're convinced of doing.
On a 7–9, you succeed, but must Make a Promise to the person in exchange.
Study
When you study a person, place, or thing for objective details, roll +Reason.
On a 10+, ask a question that could be concluded about the subject. The GM will answer honestly.
On a 7–9, ask a question, but the GM will give a half-truth.
On a 6-, the GM will tell you an unfortunate truth about the subject.
Peer into the Void
When you seek an answer using mystical means, describe your inquiry and action, then roll +Weird.
On a 10+, the Other provides a sign. The GM will give you a related but obscure hint.
On a 7–9, the Other peers back, seemingly asking for something in return. Choose something—abstract or real—to Make a Promise in exchange for an equivalently weighted sign.
On a 6-, the Other is averse to your inquiry, making you anxious and uncomfortable. Lower your Stability.
Connection is how a character fits into the community. Choose whether you're a Local or an Outsider:
Your initial Trust in each other character starts at 0. If you know someone better (or worse), you can increase or decrease it by 1 either way to begin.
Attitude describes how a character re-energizes themselves, as a scale of extraversion. Choose a trigger for how you restore (to 0 if negative) or raise (+1 if 0 or higher) Stability:
Perception describes how a character gathers and interprets information. Choose a trigger for how you mark XP:
Judgement describes how a character makes decisions. Choose a trigger for how your Trust in others changes:
During downtime, you can Spend XP in the following ways (as XP cost):
- Swap the ratings of two attributes currently adjacently rated (±1).
- Choose a different Judgement (how you Trust others).
- Choose a different Attitude (trigger to restore Stability).
- Purchase (or reselect) a Skill from your Persona; maximum 4.
- Choose a different Perception (how you mark XP).
- Purchase (or reselect) a Skill from another Persona; maximum 4.
- Purchase (or reselect) an Advanced Skill (limit 1).
A character's Persona represents how they face the outer world, and determines:
- Backstory and place in the world
- Personal secret
- Starting basic moves
- Skill options
The unnerving fear of encountering oneself is embodied within the Doppelgänger. Certainly supernatural, deeply disconcerting, and evidently ensconced within the Other, this Persona ultimately is a mystery even to itself.
Your memory is fragmented, beginning mere years ago, in a fugue state you've only vaguely attributed to some possible injury. But something has always been there in its place: the Other is around every corner, breathing heavily within shadows, ever present in corners of a room—a convoluted, near constant companion. In the meantime, you've discovered your own talents are abnormal, to say the least.
You always have a current Form: either a default featureless human, or a copy of another person—you have no physical features characteristic of "yourself". You have a particularly deep instinct that meeting the person your Form resembles (your "twin") would be disastrous.
You have no bodily requirements: you don't eat, drink, sleep, etc. If you ingest any food or liquid, you will expel it the same way.
Secret
You've done something terrible. Whether on purpose or not, your form-shifting ability has caused you to act quickly and harshly in a critical situation. Describe its details in private.
Ritual
Describe your transformation Ritual that you perform to change your Form by communing with the Other. This is often painful, contorting your bone and/or muscle structures in disturbing ways, but can also be strangely pleasurable in the odd shifting of your body.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
When you spend a half day performing your ritual, with a personal belonging of a person to shape yourself after, Roll +Grit.
On a 10+, the communion is successful. After painful contortions of your body, you perfectly resemble the targeted person. Mark XP.
On a 7–9, your transformation is complete, but something is off. Choose one consequence from below.
On a 6-, your transformation finishes, but things are off. Choose one consequence, and the GM will choose another.
- A facial feature is slightly wrong, in a distinct way.
- You suffer a Minor Condition as the painful process persists.
- Your voice is wrong, somehow.
Uncanny Encounter
When you come face to face with anyone while in your featureless form, or the person your current Form is shaped after, roll +0.
On a 10+, they faint in shock. Upon regaining consciousness, they will be uneasy, but unsure of what they witnessed.
On a 7–9, they can't believe what they see, panicking and drawing attention. Lower your Stability.
On a 6-, they panic and lash out at you, becoming an obvious and violent obstacle. Lower your Stability.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Blank Slate
You can spend a few minutes concentrating to revert your Form to your default.
Choose a target living human as your new default Form, replacing the featureless one. You can still actively revert to the featureless with Blank Slate, as well as your new default.
Improved Shifting
You're especially well versed in shifting your form. Choose a modification to Change Form:
- Your ritual can be performed much faster, only taking an hour or so.
- You no longer require a personal belonging of the target.
Mimic Voice
When you impersonate any person's voice (regardless of your current Form), roll +Weird.
On a 7+, you convincingly sound indistinguishable from the chosen person.
On a 6-, you sound somehow unlike the person, especially obvious to those close to them.
Persuasive
You can roll +Weird to Convince someone of something dependent on your current Form.
Advanced Skills
You can purchase one of the following (10 XP).
?
Corrupt Target
You are able to Corrupt a single person, place, or thing. Corrupted entities:
- Grant +1 when interacting with the Other through.
- ?
- ?
The Enigma is the epitome of a mysterious stranger. Unsure of their own hand in the past or their place in the future, the Enigma simply exists—sometimes eerily distant, sometimes intensely present. They are able to tap into the Other with an ease and intuition that baffles all.
You have no long-term memory. Years fade away in subtle waves, though it's clear you have a life that has been lived. You've collected a hazy set of personal attributes you'd use to describe yourself, but you always feel vagrant, like you're out of step with the world. Despite this, you have found a place to call your own, and you otherwise live as anyone else does.
There is an entity, something that lurks ever present, that you feel some strange kinship with. This Other is like a dark undercurrent of lifeforce you can always sense, though direct communication has always eluded you. Instead, you have learned to channel this flow of strange energy.
Secret
You have a critical core memory, some series of images or vague recollection of someone, somewhere, as part of your mysterious origin that feels important for you to remember. Describe the imagery privately.
Polarized Stability
You have telekinetic abilities that rely heavily on your current Stability.
You are Stable when your Stability is positive (1+), causing your mind to be calmer and more focused, but physically ineffective. When your Stability is negative (1-), you are Unstable, with amplified physical abilities but loss of mental control.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Telekinesis
When you are Unstable and direct your telekinetic energy to affect physical reality, choose an effect and roll +Weird.
On a 10+, the effect happens, relative to your current Stability. Raise your Stability, and mark XP (once a session).
On a 7–9, the effect happens, but at a lesser intensity.
On a 6-, you suffer harm based on your Stability.
Telepathy
When you are Stable and direct your mental energy to affect someone's emotional state or perception, roll +Weird.
On a 10+, you succeed. Describe their experience, lower your Stability, and mark XP (once a session).
On a 7–9, the target is affected, but you have to choose a consequence.
- The outcome is greatly reduced.
- They notice your strange mental action.
- Lower your Stability.
On a 6-, you're unsuccessful. The GM will choose a consequence.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Compelling
When you Convince someone of something you know to be true, increase the level of success.
Meditate
Once a day, when you spend time contemplating your inner self, choose to raise or lower your Stability.
Miraculous Healing
Once a day, when you are Stable and concentrate on healing yourself, roll +Stability.
On a 10+, lower the severity of your lowest Condition.
Odd Opposition
When you are...
- ...Stable and Oppose defensively,
- ...Unstable and Oppose offensively,
increase your level of success.
Unstable
Once a day, when you are Unstable, you can ignore a Reality Check trigger when lowering Stability further.
Attractive, commanding, manipulative, persuasive: the Fatale is someone that knows how to get what they want, as long as someone else can be used to achieve it.
You're the heart of this community, whether others realize it yet or not. Your insight into the local residents is a gift, a beacon of understanding amongst the darkness of those very same residents. And you do no wrong—at least, to those very same residents.
You're a "people person": able to befriend or befoe others effectively on a whim, socially skilled and charismatically gifted. Your social circle is constantly adapting to your current needs and recent interests, and the ease with which you navigate the social scene is impressively bewildering to all.
Secret
In your line of expertise, you have learned many people's secrets. One in particular, however, has haunted you with its implications. It's potentially dangerous to you and your associates. Describe the details privately.
Confidants
You can have two individuals that act as Confidants, collecting information for you. Each Confidant will have their own active Promise with you. Initially, once this Promise is fulfilled by both parties, the Confidant goes on their way.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Allure
When you cajole, seduce, tantalize, or coax someone into becoming your long-term ally for a specific purpose, Make a Promise with them and roll +Presence.
On a 10+, they become a Confidant. If necessary, replace one and fail their Promise.
On a 7–9, as above, but they only become a Confidant after fulfilling an initial Promise.
On a 6-, they are unconvinced. Lower your Stability. You can't attempt to Allure them again for a week.
Direct
When you ask a Confidant to perform a task, roll +Grit.
On a 10+, they complete the task as ideally as possible.
On a 7–9, they complete the task, but run into a complication. Choose a consequence below.
- Someone else gets involved in a negative way.
- The Confidant is harmed somehow in the process.
- The task takes much longer than expected.
On a 6-, they aren't able to complete the task. The GM will describe what trouble they ran into.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Admired
Increase your maximum number of Confidants by one.
Insightful
When you successfully Read a Person with a 13+, you gain an additional insight, one that is not obvious on the surface.
Renegotiate
When you try to Convince someone to reconsider a Promise, roll +Presence.
On a 10+, the Promise is altered as you see fit.
On a 6-, the GM will describe how the Promise is complicated.
Satisfaction
When you fulfill a Confidant's Promise, mark XP, and decide to either make a new Promise with them or cut them loose.
Advanced Skills
You can purchase one of the following.
?
Track Target
You can track the current and ongoing status of a single person, place, or thing at any time. Describe how you're doing so, and the GM will keep you notified of updates to the target.
The naturally curious and generally upstanding Investigator follows clues to solve crimes both official and unauthorized. They are driven to make things better, however they see their situations being improved.
You are a person of intensive insight, insistent on unlocking as many secrets as necessary to find the truth. You're driven to uncover, with a focused mission at hand, and your personal life and skills are honed for that drive.
You also have a connection with investigative resources: law enforcement, a sleuth community, a brilliant mentor, etc. You are known among them, and have personal contacts within the group.
Secret
An unsolved crime, personal to you or those close to you, haunts you to this day. Its details can be mysterious, deadly, frightening, etc. but it must still be an open case or cold case. Describe the crime and your involvement privately.
Problem
At any given time, you have an active Problem: a question with an unknown but inevitable answer, that consumes your subconscious mind.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Change Mind
When your current Problem is...
- ...answered definitively, mark XP...
- ...abandoned, lower Stability...
...and assign a new Problem.
Connect the Dots
When you suspect a subject is linked to your Problem, propose a connection and roll +Reason.
On a 10+, you have an insight. The GM will tell you exactly how accurate your connection is, based on what you've uncovered so far.
On a 7–9, you're close to an answer, but not quite. The GM will give you a vague indication of whether you're on the right track.
On a 6-, you've lost the trail. The GM will give you information you wish you hadn't learned.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Attentive
You can roll +Focus when defending a known opponent with Oppose.
Hunch
When you arrive at a location somehow linked to your Problem, the GM will tell you so.
Observant
When you Read a Person for the first time, increase your level of success.
Request Backup
Once a week, when you call upon investigative resources or support from connections for aid, roll +Focus.
On a 10+, describe the overwhelming response to your request.
On a 7–9, support is granted, but not as substantial as you had hoped.
On a 6-, the support is declined, explained by the GM.
Trained
You are adept at using one certain type of equipment. Add +1 to any rolls utilizing it.
Advanced Skills
You can purchase one of the following.
?
Track Target
You can track the current and ongoing status of a single person, place, or thing at any time. Describe how you're doing so, and the GM will keep you notified of updates to the target.
The analytical, detail-oriented Logician acts as a beacon of logic and rationality. Their intensive approach also means that their brushes with the Other perplex them deeply enough to warrant genuine scientific scrutiny. Unfortunately for them, logic is a mere afterthought to the Other.
You are a very focused person, obsessed with details and intrigued by blanks. Mathematics and hard sciences make sense to you. Your life goal is the quest for knowledge, to understand the constant, unending stream of things to do, see, and learn.
Despite—or perhaps because of—your obsession with tangible truth, the Other's indifference to reality drives you to seek its underlying nature.
Secret
Your obsession with piecing things together has left a mark on someone formerly close to you, culminating in a great personal loss. A dramatic falling-out, a complex breakup, a dangerous adventure that went wrong—whatever it is, detail the event and how you dealt with it.
Fixation
You are often preoccupied with a Fixation: a person, place, or thing that you're driven to understand more deeply. You can fixate on only one subject at a time, initially on a weekly basis.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Research
When you test a theory using something palpable, or research a topic using written or recorded material, describe your approach and roll +Reason.
On a 10+, you successfully uncover information. The GM will detail all links between the topic and your Fixation.
On a 7–9, you only find some helpful material. The GM will give you a clarifying detail linked to your Fixation.
On a 6-, you're lost in the weeds. Lower your Stability.
Speculate
When you form a bizarre theory linked to the Other, explain it and roll +Weird.
On a 10+, you're right. Mark XP, and describe what inexplicable truth has been unveiled.
On a 7–9, you're half-right. The GM will outline strange truths.
On a 6-, you're wrong. The theory doesn't hold any truth, and you lose your Fixation for the day.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Abstracted
You can roll +Reason to Help Out someone when involved with your Fixation.
Contemplative
When you successfully Study with a 13+, ask a second question about the subject.
Deflect
Whenever you have to make a Reality Check, you can instead take harm at the lowest available severity.
Meditation
You can change your Fixation once per day, by spending a short time clearing your mind.
Obsessive
When you interact directly with your Fixation, add +1.
Accomplished, competent, grizzled, and wise, the Mentor shares their experiences and learnings from a myriad of circumstances in order to "settle the score" with some grudge, vengeance, or retribution that haunts them from their past.
You've seen things. Things others wouldn't believe—hell, it took you years to process yourself. You also have a history in the region—whether specific to the location of the scenario or not—that gives you insight into events unfolding nearby.
Your expertise has granting you great insight, as well as practically useful skills that have helped you and former allies survive numerous strange encounters. Your Connection detail (workplace or contact) is especially well equipped for supporting your means of living.
Secret
Among your many past exploits lies a particularly disturbing truth linked to the Other. Describe this truth, and outline your discovery of it, privately.
Signature Gear
You own a distinctive piece of equipment that you know intimately, and are an expert at using. This can be anything you're able to carry on you. If this gear ever goes missing, you inexplicably end up finding it again, or a comparable replacement.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Tell Tale
When you recall a past tale, briefly describe its strange or dangerous parameters and the important lesson you learned, then roll +Focus.
On a 10+, you inspire those around you with your words, increasing everyone's Stability.
On a 7–9, you manage to inspire one person you're with, increasing their Stability.
On a 6-, you're only able to recall the unpleasant, dark truths in your tale. Lower your Stability.
Utilize
Whenever you use your Signature Gear directly for a triggered move, add +1 to the result. If you then succeed (with a 10+), mark XP.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Adept Fighter
When you successfully Oppose a target with a 13+, narrate the entire outcome, with potentially lethal results.
Experienced
Once a day, you can roll +Reason when you have to make a Reality Check.
Mend
When you treat someone's injuries, roll +Reason.
On a 10+, you patch them up well, starting the healing process. Reduce the level of severity.
On a 7–9, you stabilize the injury, starting the healing process.
Supportive
When you successfully Help Out a character with a 13+, you can both choose to reset Stability to 0.
Weird Tradition
You have a specific method of interacting with the Other, related to a past event or events. Describe its details.
When you Peer into the Void using this method, increase its level of success.
Puppet Masters are powerful, manipulative, conniving individuals that keep an entourage of loyal followers nearby to enact their schemes. Little stands in their way for very long, though they ultimately depend heavily on their social standing and relationships to stay in power.
Generally, people either respect you or fear you—although the difference is often negligible for your endeavors. You choose to involve yourself (or not) into affairs if you foresee useful advantages, but have a knack for resisting others' influence or pressure to get involved without a mutually beneficial agreement.
You hold a prominent position of power, either operating in secret or openly as a member of the community. Your strength lies in the ideas you spread or stand for. Describe your duties, activities, and influence of your position.
Secret
Your personal work has involved you in some especially shady dealings. Name a contact and describe the questionable business affairs, privately.
Puppets
You maintain a group of Puppets that do your bidding. Describe their composition, properties, and typical tasks.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Pull the Strings
When you assert yourself and instruct your Puppets, choose a task below and roll +Presence.
- They bring something to you.
- They complicate a situation.
- They observe something.
On a 10+, they succeed. Mark XP.
On a 7–9, they succeed, but the outcome is not what you expected.
On a 6-, they run into trouble and fail. Lower your Stability.
Persevere
When you get into trouble with adversaries, describe how your Puppets try to alter the situation, and roll +Reason.
On a 10+, the situation cools off. Describe the diversion.
On a 7–9, the situation is changed, but not completely handled.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Get Involved
When you choose to aid, affect, support, or otherwise involve yourself in a person or group of people, describe your involvement.
Your Puppets will notify you the next time the subject's circumstances change.
Powerful
When someone asks you for help, describe your response and support you offer, then roll +Focus.
On a 10+, agree to a Promise with them, on your terms.
On a 7–9, they'll agree to a fair Promise.
On a 6-, you put your neck on the line, making a firm Promise that could quickly get you in trouble.
Strong Arm
When you fail to Convince someone, you can reduce your Stability to force them into a partial success instead.
Tenacious
When you make a Promise to someone, roll +Reason.
On a 10+, you can alter terms to your advantage.
On a 6-, terms are altered to your disadvantage.
Threatening
You can roll +Presence when you Read Person face to face.
Advanced Skills
You can purchase one of the following.
?
Track Target
You can track the current and ongoing status of a single person, place, or thing at any time. Describe how you're doing so, and the GM will keep you notified of updates to the target.
The Seer personifies an intense fascination with the Other, and is an individual that somehow embraces a deeper communication with it. They look to the void beyond for answers, truths that go beyond mortal understanding, and a sense of purpose within reality.
For your whole life, you've felt you were somehow different. Like you have an extra sense that others don't seem to have. Or you're simply more observant of what to you is obviously an undercurrent of consciousness, that others remain ignorant of. In any case, you recognize the strength in that Other, its knowledge that goes far beyond everyday reality.
You have an acquaintance in the Other, an alliance that has served you—and you suspect the Other itself—well in life. You have grown accustomed to reaching into the darkness for answers that others seem too hesitant, too ignorant, to pursue.
Secret
Not long ago, you were given a particularly terrifying vision from the Other, or some entity associated with it. Describe the vague, dreamlike visions you were shown, privately.
Touchstone
Describe a singular object—large or small—that forms a stabilizing Touchstone for you. You're unsure of its origin or ultimate importance among the universe, but its cosmic nature instills safety and comfort in you. The Other can be felt strongly near it, and you are always able to tell where the Touchstone is physically located.
If your Touchstone is ever seemingly destroyed, the Other will provide a replacement in a matter of time.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Foretell
When you seek knowledge of the future from the Other, describe your approach, then roll +Focus.
On a 10+, the Other abides. Mark XP, and choose a detail from below.
On a 7–9, the Other hesitates. Choose a detail from below, but their answer is extremely vague.
- The fate of an object.
- The likelihood of an event.
- The most prevalent danger to you.
On a 6-, the Other is unnervingly silent. Lower your Stability.
Inquire
Once a day, when you use your Touchstone to ask the Other a specific yes-or-no question, roll +Presence.
On a 7+, the Other will answer definitively.
On a 6-, the Other is unnervingly silent. Lower your Stability.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Bad Vibes
When you assess someone you suspect for having a dark secret, you suffer Minor harm that hints at their darkness, if it's present.
Sacrifice
When you Oppose and use your Touchstone as part of the encounter, you can sacrifice it for an automatic success (10+ result, Major damage). This can be made after a result of failure.
Sage Touch
When a character physically interacts with your Touchstone, you are told their inner nature, as judged by the item.
Strange Insight
You can roll +Weird when you Study a subject you've never encountered before.
Transcendental
When you successfully Peer into the Void with a 13+, the hint is highly specific, but brief.
Advanced Skills
You can purchase one of the following (10 XP).
?
Corrupt Target
You are able to Corrupt a single person, place, or thing. Corrupted entities:
- Grant +1 when interacting with the Other through.
- ?
- ?
A perplexing expert in time-space traversal, the Traveler has embraced the supernatural tendencies of the Other to affect locations in the real world. Furthermore, they seem to have some granted control over the temporal flow of our universe.
For as long as you can remember, you've had an excellent sense of direction and time. You have a knack for recalling subtle details of places, and somehow always know the time of day within minutes.
Some consider you suspicious: your frequent glances to the dark corners of a room tend to make people uncomfortable. But your survival has depended on those shadows—practically at the edge of reality—and has proven both surprising and critical.
Secret
Recently, you encountered something nefarious as you moved between locations. Describe your precarious arrival and what you witnessed, privately.
Locus
You have an affinity for "marking" locations within your mind, such that you can recall all details of a Locus as a physical point of reference at any given time. You can claim any location you're currently at as your Locus.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Pause Time
When you concentrate fully on the current moment and visualize temporal adjustments, roll +Reason.
On a 10+, all matter in your vicinity freezes in place for a number of seconds.
On a 7–9, most matter freezes. The GM will describe what remains in motion.
On a 6-, the threads of time become tangled in your mind. Lower your Stability.
Walk the Void
When you traverse physical space by stepping into the shadows, name another location that you've visited and roll +Grit. If the named location is your Locus, increase your success level.
On a 10+, after a jarring transition, you appear at the location unscathed. Mark XP.
On a 7–9, your transition is rough. Choose a consequence below.
On a 6-, your traversal is amiss. The GM will choose a consequence.
- You appear a short distance away from the chosen location.
- You appear in a very inconvenient situation at the location.
- Your appearance is physically taxing. Suffer a Minor Condition.
- Your disappearance fails. You cling to the shadows in the same location.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Cognizant
Once a day, you can reroll an Oppose action.
Conceal
When you hide a small object in shadows of the Other, seemingly outside of normal reality, describe the concealment action and roll +Weird.
On a 10+, the item is safely contained by the Other. You can retrieve it at will from the same place.
On a 7–9, the item is hidden, but you can only retrieve it at the cost of decreasing your Stability.
On a 6-, the item is lost to the void. It might return somehow, or not.
Discern
When you Study a place, increase the level of success.
Hide in Shadow
When you are unobserved and enter a secluded area, you can remain there undetected for any length of time.
Recall
When you arrive somewhere you've been before, describe a detail you remember about it.
The Troublemaker, well... makes trouble. They're thrillseekers, adventurers, adrenaline junkies, etc. that can be especially harmful if you end up on their bad side. Most people avoid them in casual situations to prevent any negative consequences, though they do offer a number of useful skillsets.
You're called a lot of things: tough guy, rebel, nuissance, punk, hellion, brat, or some other flavor of agitator—at least to those that don't "get" you. But you have your reasons for doing what you do.
You are aware of public opinion well enough to recognize your reputation among your fellow residents, but defending yourself socially has never gone well. You've grown to incorporate those frustrations—among others—into your image, and instead readily defend that.
You have a regular "hangout"—somewhere your allies and associates know to look for you at certain times of day/week.
Secret
Your proclivities for danger have involved you in a number of perilous situations, but a recent situation you stumbled into seems particularly treacherous if the details of the encounter become known. Describe its dangerous parameters and your involvement, privately.
Target
You hold grudges, and find it cathartic to take out your frustrations on individuals that have pissed you off in some way. You can designate a person as a current Target for the purpose of "stress relief".
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Bad Blood
When you directly affect your Target negatively—physically, emotionally, or otherwise—mark XP.
Vendetta
When someone pisses you off, you can mark them as your Target, but lower your Stability as a cost.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Break In
When you force your way through a lock or barrier into a restricted location, roll +Grit.
On a 10+, you easily make your way inside, leaving no trace.
On a 7–9, you gain entry, but choose a complication from below.
- You injure yourself in the process. Suffer a Minor Condition.
- You make noise or alert others to your presence.
- You leave clear evidence of your actions.
On a 6-, you fail to gain entry. The GM will choose a complication.
Incite
When you push characters in the scene to cause confusion or chaos, roll +Grit.
On a 10+, chaos ensues. The scene devolves into disarray, as you describe.
On a 7–9, it works, but barely. The GM will describe some of the chaos, and prompt you for some partial details.
On a 6-, things get out of your control. The GM will describe the ensuing pandemonium.
Intimidating
When you forcefully Convince someone of something, add +1 to your roll.
Spot Weakness
When you successfully Oppose with the intention of doing serious harm, increase the level of harm you deal.
Tenacious
Once a day, you can roll +Grit when you have to make a Reality Check.
Going beyond mere communication with the Other, and knowledge of the edges of reality, the Vessel has learned to channel the supernatural, using their own body as a conduit. For better or worse, they personify an amalgamation of mortal being and uncanny vestige.
When you were young, you were injured often. Physically, with fractured bones, frequent scrapes and cuts—all attributed to headstrong clumsiness. Mentally, with stress of external life drilling its way into your mind. Until one day, while in the oblivion of recovery, you noticed a presence. This Other made its existence clear: calm, supportive even, and seething with power.
You made a wager, so to speak. As bewildered and delirious as you were, you almost forgot the odd encounter until in a moment of panic, the Other returned and granted you a gift of strength. And though it has proven temporary with each occurrence, over time you have honed your ability to interact and draw similar benefits.
Secret
Along with the wager, the Other shared the strangely intense feeling of inhabiting nearly countless other beings. Among these other "vessel" being experiences lies a particularly disconcerting instance. Like a series of deja vu moments, this experience continually crops up in your everyday life. Describe its strangely apt details privately.
Enhancement
As a gift from the Other, you can have one active Enhancement: one of your attributes is increased by +1, infused with strange energy.
Basic Moves
You gain the following moves.
Channel
Whenever you use a move utilizing your Enhanced attribute...
- On a 13+, mark XP.
- On a 6-, the Other uses your corporal being to enact its own version of your action.
Empower
Once a day, when you channel the Other through you, select an attribute to Enhance and roll +Weird.
On a 10+, your Enhancement is successfully altered.
On a 7–9, same as above, but the Enhancement wears off once you sleep.
On a 6-, the Other refuses to alter your Enhancement. Lower your Stability.
Skills
Initially, choose one of the following. More can be purchased for 5 XP.
Enhanced Reality
When you have to make a Reality Check, you can instead roll your Enhanced attribute. If you do, clear your Enhancement afterwards.
Null State
If your Enhancement is not set, add a +1 to Overcome (roll +0).
Resist Harm
Whenever you take harm, roll +Grit.
On a 10+, reduce the severity level. If it's Minor, you take no harm.
Void Experience
When you Peer into the Void and seek an answer possibly related to an alternate Vessel experience, roll your Enhanced attribute. The response will allude to the used attribute, and likely require interpretation.
Yield to Chaos
When you give yourself over to the Other completely, state your goal and roll +0.
On a 10+, you are able to retake control when you desire.
On a 7–9, you struggle to regain a sense of control. The GM will give you opportunities to reroll for control.
On a 6-, the Other holds full control until it is done with you.
