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[The Illuminati]

Fate: Age of Scions

A Scion courts Lady Fate by Saint Heun

The world is on the brink of war.

To the south, the last great human kingdom is under siege by the marauding armies of the new vampire nation. To the west, the savage black orcs make their final preparations to assault both the half-giants of the north and the underground empire of their shorter cousins. And to the east, a long forgotten demon gate has now come back to life, flooding a vulnerable world with unspeakable horrors and nightmares.

This is the dawn of a new age. An age where the fate of nations will be decided by the blade's edge of heroes and villains -- this is the age of the Scions of Fate.

The Plot

Spoiler

Kal'Avto.

The darkness has always been here. Watching jealousy. Waiting for the time to rise.

A thousand years ago, the last scion did battle with the endless shadow -- and lost. With her dying breathe, she was able to push back the tide of horrors but sank a continent to do so, forever cursing her children.

We have not learned from that defeat.

I love this world and every day I see it sinking further into madness. The time soon comes when my song will end. A song I have heard countless times play across the lips of friends and allies.

And with each song's end, I die. With every roaring note and verse that comes to an end, I die a little more each time. And the more I die, the harder I fight.

This world may be doomed to fail and it's people corrupt to their core, but I won't let it all end without blood and tears.

-- Scion Thora, The Paragon of Salvation

I have sat wondering in ash, rotting and hungry. Wondering how it is that my beloved friends could so easily betray me for shallow promises of wealth and riches.

They should have killed me when they had the chance. And then cut off my head just to be sure.

Now with spell, sword and bow, I will cover their world in eternal darkness. They call me the Black Queen, the Grey Witch. They say I am mad because I have burned down their villages and warmed my hands in the fires.

I merely seek justice for the wrongs committed against me so long ago.

They say the gods will curse me but I fear no judgement, and feel no shame or regret. I am death who rides upon the pale horse.

And I will not stop until everyone knows my pain.

-- Scion Theresa, The Witch Queen

You are a Scion of Fate, a child of destiny! Within you flows the power to change the world. Whether that be for good or ill, only you can decide. Your life in this world is one of the few without a predetermined end. This power also allows you to alter the fate of others, turning simple NPCs into powerful companions and more.

The Character Sheet

Spoiler

Each scion begins their story by first filling in a character sheet. A character sheet contains everything we need to know about your character such as their skills, personality, significant background elements, and any other resources your character has at their disposal.

Picture: A picture of your character.
Name: A word or a combination of words by which your character is known within the world.
Description: A short sentence describing your character.
Personality: A few words describing your character's personality.

Age: How old your character is.
Gender: The sex of your character.
Height: How tall your character is.
Level: The current level of your character. For the prologue, all players will start at level one.
Fate Points: The OOC currency scions spend to help their character overcome challenges, or to buy Stunts.
Refresh Rating: Your default fate point total. Increases with your character's level.
Species: One of the playable “races” in the game.

Profession: Your character's class and their armor grade (heavy, medium or light armor).
Aspects: Five phrases picked from your character's biography that you can spend fate points on in the game for a small bonus.
Biography: Your journey/history up until this point.

Skills: Your character’s basic capabilities, picked ftom the Skill List.
Stunts: Special moves that your character can use.
Extras: Anything that’s technically part of your character (or controlled by your character) but gets special treatment in the rules.

Stress: One of the two options you have to avoid getting killed in AoS (death is permanent). Stress represents temporary fatigue, getting winded, superficial injuries, and so on.
Injury: Injuries are the other option but unlike Stress, they have a
more lasting impact. After challenges or battles, stress can quickly fade away after one or two posts (also called turns). An injury on the other hand may last until the next story arc, depending in the severity of the injury.

Relationships: The name of your friends/enemies and a short description of your relationship with them.

The Character Sheets in Action.

Spoiler

Landon, The Blade

Spoiler

"Life is a dark forest where beasts must kill to live. In such a world, it is better to be a tiger than a man." -- Landon

Name & Description
Landon, The Blade. A rough-mannered swordsman covered in scars and ragged-looking clothing.

Personality
Landon is the very model of the grizzled badass, with an overclocked killer instinct and a genuine taste for deadly violence. He thrives on being challenged and surviving difficult odds to the point that he has difficulty adjusting to situations that can’t be summed up as “kill or be killed”.

His favourite memories are of situations so tense and deadly that he was the only thing left standing on the battlefield, with foes and friends all having died in the fighting. He’s actually interested in quasi-suicidal and impossible-looking missions as ways to push himself and his skills.

Age: 89 yrs., Gender: Male, Height: 5'1 ft., Level: ???
Fate Points: 3, Refresh Rating: 3, Species: Maymoon

Profession
Ronin (light armor): A blademaster who has discarded his armor and his honour, seeing them only as weaknesses that limit his true potential as a warrior.

Aspects
- "Disciple of the Red Fang."
- "The Manners of a Goat."
- "I Owe Elder Qu'Finn Everything."
- "Smashing Is Always an Option."
- "An Eye for an Eye."

Biography
Little is know about this wild man and his aspects remain a mystery to discover as the story progresses.

Skills
+5 Fighter
+4 Duelist, +4 Brawler
+3 Shadow
+2 Renegade, +2 Entertainer
+1 Blacksmith, +1 Marksman, +1 Con Artist, +1 Prodigy

Stunts
I Have Stories to Tell. Gain a bonus to your Entertainer, starting at +2, if your drinking with someone in a tavern.
Backup Weapon. Once per battle, whenever someone succeeds at disarming you, you can switch to your backup weapon. Your opponent gains an advantage, starting at +2, that represents the momentary distraction you suffer for having to switch.
Total Badass. Once per story arc you can reduce the severity of a moderate physical injury to a mild physical injury, or erase a mild physical injury entirely at the cost of a fate point.

Extras
Twin Katanas.

Physical Stress
0/1 Mild
0/2 Moderate
0/3 Severe

Mental Stress
0/1 Mild

Injuries
0/2 Mild
0/4 Moderate
0/6 Severe

Relationships
Cynere Shadowpaw. "She's a good time with a lousy taste in men."
Zird, The Arcane. "Never trust a man with soft hands."

Cynere Shadowpaw

Spoiler

"Die with honor and you will be given a place of honor in the afterlife." -- Cynere

Name & Description
Cynere Shadowpaw. An honorable assassin with fast blades.

Personality
Assassination is her business. At the age of only 10 yrs., Cynere made her first kill. And at the age of 12, she had her first solo kill. To her way of thinking however, she's never murdered anyone. She kills only to defend herself or her friends, or to fulfill a licensed contract -- none of which she considers to be murder. Other than her love for weapons and jewellery, Cynere is only obsessed with two things: efficiency, and avenging her mother's murder.

Age: 23 yrs., Gender: Female, Height: 6'3 ft., Level: ???
Fate Points: 3, Refresh Rating: 3, Species: Aslandi

Profession
Assassin (medium armor): Swift and deadly, an Assassin protects the balance in society by taking out justice against those who view themselves as above the law. Because of this, many Assassins take their job very seriously.

Aspects
- "Infamous Girl with Sword Troubles."
- "Tempted by Shiny Things."
- "I’ve Got Zird’s Back."
- "A Sucker for a Sob Story."
- "Secret Sister of Barathar."

Biography
An assassin for hire with a past shrouded in lies and half truthes. The only thing that we know for sure is that she is the leader of her little group.

Skills
+5 Duelist
+4 Keen Eyes, +4 Fighter
+3 Con Artist
+2 Investigative Mind, +2 Brawler
+1 Smuggler, +1 Alchemist, +1 Burglar, +1 Paragon

Stunts
Warmaster. Gain a bonus to your Fighter rolls, starting at +2, to create an advantage against your opponent -- provided the opponent has a fighting style or a weakness you previously observed with your skill, Keen Eyes.
The Catwoman. You can use your Duelist skill in place of your Burglar skill for all overcome actions that have to do with stealing, provided you don’t have to bypass a lock or interact with any other security measures.
Danger Sense. You have an almost preternatural capacity for detecting danger. Your Keen Eyes skill works unimpeded by conditions like total concealment, darkness, or other sensory impairments in situations where someone or something intends to harm you.

Extras
????

Physical Stress
0/1 Mild
0/2 Moderate

Mental Stress
0/1 Mild
0/2 Moderate

Injuries
0/2 Mild
0/4 Moderate
0/6 Severe

Relationships
Landon, The Blade. "A typical maymoon if there ever was one -- loud, drunk most days, and only good for killing things weaker than himself."
Zird, The Arcane. "A coward at best but creative where it counts."

Zird, The Arcane

Spoiler

"I think that plant just licked it's lips at me." -- Zird

Name & Description
Zird, The Arcane. Wizard for Hire.

Personality
Despite his imposing and dark appearance, Zird is a half-loyal friend and semi-honest ally who enjoys studying ancient tomes as much as he enjoys exotic partners and rare alcohols.

As a supposed master of seduction (and the arcane), Zird blatantly flirts with most males or females despite his 'relationship' with Cynere. He is typically undeterred by anything short of a firm and clear rejection of his advances, or a very large husband suddenly returning home unexpectedly. Overall, he enjoys playful innuendo and being asked about his many exploits.

Age: 113 yrs., Gender: Male, Height: 6'6 ft., Level: ???
Fate Points: 3, Refresh Rating: 3, Species: Unducdecim

Profession
Wizard (light armor): A magical duelist who wields the elements and deception as a weapon. They have a spell for every occasion and excel at making sure that every fight is balanced in their favor.

Aspects
- "Former Member of the Collegia Arcana."
- "If I Haven’t Been There, I’ve Read About It."
- "Not the Face!"
- "Doesn’t Suffer Fools Gladly."
- "Where's the Nearest Brothel?"

Biography
Zird loves to talk and tells many tales, but spend enough time around him and you'll realize - if you're smart enough - that most of what he says are untrue.

Skills
+5 Sage
+4 Con Artist, +4 Enchanter
+3 Duelist, +3 Prodigy, +3 Investigative Mind
+2 Fighter, +2 Merchant, +2 Smuggler, +2 Keen Eyes

Stunts
A Scholar and A Healer. Can make physical recovery attempts using the Sage skill.
The Power of Deduction. Once per story arc you can spend a fate point (and two posts dedicated to making observations) to make a special Investigative Mind roll representing your potent deductive faculties. After that, you may discover or create an aspect for each bonus you received on that roll, on either the scene or the target of your observations, though you may only activate one of them for free. The rest will require a fate point.
"I’ve Read about That!" You’ve read hundreds - if not thousands - of books on a wide variety of topics. You can spend a fate point to use the Sage skill in place of any other skill for one roll or exchange, provided you can justify having read about the action you’re attempting.

Extras
????

Physical Stress
0/1 Mild

Mental Stress
0/1 Mild
0/2 Moderate
0/3 Severe

Injuries
0/2 Mild
0/4 Moderate
0/6 Severe

Relationships
Landon, The Blade. "I'd be angry all the time too, if I were that short."
Cynere Shadowpaw. "Who needs a fur blanket with her around."

Edited by Obsession, 23 February 2015 - 11:34 PM.

[Diabolical Rhapsody]

A More In-depth Explanation of The Character

Sheet: A

Spoiler

Character Height and Species:

A

Spoiler

Fae: Protectors of the

Green and Wild Places

Often the object of archaic local cults and worshiped as the avatars of

Mother Nature, the fae were once mortals who through their strong bond

with the world were able to ascend to a higher understanding. Through

this ascension they now live longer and have gained greater control over

nature and it’s animals.

Spoiler

 

Sylven: A diminutive species

of winged-fae, sylven stand at about 1,5 - 2 ft. tall. Once a

peace-loving species, the bug-like sylven were nearly driven to

extinction due to a surprise war with the maymoons a thousand years ago.

Since then the sylven have embraced a more war-like nature, specializing

in fiery magics that can sear flesh, melt stone and scar the minds of

their enemies.



Racial Bonus:

• Pyromaniac (passive). Whenever a sylven deals fire damage to an

enemy, they deal bonus, extra damage (starting at +2 damage at level 1).

• Sylven Defenses (passive). Due to their small size and wings,

all sylven start the game with a +1 Duelist skill. This bonus scales

with their level.

• Idle Hands (passive). All sylven start the game with a +1

Enchanting skill. This bonus scales with their level.

Dryads: Also know as "The spirits who haunt the

Great Northern Forest", dryads are beings whose bodies are made mostly

of leaves, bark and twigs. Surprisingly powerful front line combatants,

typical dryads dedicate their entire lives to the protection of wooded

areas. Dryads stand at around 3 - 4 ft. tall.



Racial Bonus:

• I Am Bramble (active). The dryad sprouts thorns all over their

body, damaging all adjacent enemies for -1 damage per turn, for 5 turns.

I Am Bramble is disabled for 7 turns after being activated.

• Face of the Mountain (passive). Whenever a dryad deals earth

damage to an enemy, they deal bonus, extra damage (starting at +2 damage

at level 1).

• Animals Love Me (passive). All dryads start the game with a +1

Shaman skill. This bonus scales with their level.

• Living Armor (passive). All dryads start the game with a +1

Defender skill. This bonus scales with their level.

Naiads: Naiads are the direct descendants of a

powerful, white-haired archsorceresses with dark skin and blue eyes. At

the pinnacle of her power, she flooded the world in order to repel the

last demon invasion. Modern naiads can switch between their aquatic form

(a fish-like form with colors ranging from red to black) and that of

their ancestor when on land (dark skin, white hair and blue eyes, and

long ears). Naiads are the largest of the fae in their aquatic form,

measuring up to 13 ft. long. In their terrestrial form they stand at

around 4 ft. tall.



Racial Bonus:

• Mermaid (passive). When in a large enough body of water, all

naiads retake their true form and are immune to drowning. Whether on

land or in water, whenever a naiads deals water damage to an enemy, they

deal bonus, extra damage (starting at +2 damage at level 1).

• Deluge (passive). All naiads can sense fresh water and incoming

rainstorms, as well as gaining a bonus +1 to all of their skills while

inside of a rainstorm. This bonus scales with their level.

• Blood of the Ancestor (passive). All naiads start the game with

a +1 Prodogy skill. This bonus scales with their level.

Unicorns:[/b] Children of the storm and winds,

unicorns are named for the singular horn resting in the center of their

foreheads. Gifted in the art of Air Magic and Healing, unicorns commonly

have bluish to green skin colors and horse-like hooves for feet. Not

including their horns, unicorns who stand at around 4 - 5 ft. tall.



Racial Bonus:

• Divine Favor (passive). Unicorns can cast twice as many healing

spells as any other species.

• Divine Retribution (passive). Whenever a unicorn deals air

damage to an enemy, they deal bonus, extra damage (starting at +2 damage

at level 1).

• Zephyr (active). Surrounds an ally with a wind shield that

absorbs damage (up to 10x the unicorn’s current level) for 1 turn. If

the shield lasts until the unicorn’s next turn it will explode instead,

dealing the remaining damage to all adjacent enemies. If the shield

breaks before then, it does no damage. Zephyr is disable for 3 turns

after being activated.

• Chivalry (passive). All unicorns start the game with a +1

Paragon skill. This bonus scales with their level.

Beastmen: Rulers of the Deserts

and Plains

Also known as the talking animals, the beastmen inhabit a wide variety

of countries and climates.

Spoiler

Aslandi: Large and powerfully

built, this feline-like species lives for the hunt. Invaluable allies in

any combat situation, the aslandi are a proud species that never let’s

anything dampen their enthusiasm for life and the hunt. Aslandi range in

sizes from 6 - 7 ft. tall.



Racial Bonus:

• Critical Strike (passive). If an aslandi’s attack succeeds with

style, they get a free attack.

• Triumphant Roar (active). The proud aslandi let's loose a

mighty roar that forces surrounding enemies to flee in the opposite

direction for 1 turn. Triumphant Roar is disabled for 8 turns after

being used.

• Carnivore (active). Activate to partially devour a corpse,

instantly restoring 1/3 of the aslandi’s maximum health points. Only

usable on fresh, edible corpses. Eating the flesh of the undead or

corrupted will poison the aslandi instead. Carnivore is disabled for 3

turns after being used.

• On The Hunt (passive). All aslandi start the game with a +1

Keen Eyes skill. This bonus scales with their level.

Tav’Salan: Lithe warriors with powerful legs and

long ears, the tav’salan are a rabbit-like species with the ability to

leap to areas twice that of their natural height. Due to their social

practices, males aren’t allowed to venture beyond the walls of the

tav’salan capital. The females however, venture far and wide and are

known for their love of music, archery and dancing. Female tav’salan

stand at around the heights of 3 - 5 ft. tall, not including their ears.



Racial Bonus:

• Hop (passive). Tav’Salan can jump higher and move farther with

each step than most any other species, giving them a bonus +2 to their

Jump ability and bonus +1 to their Move ability.

• Ever Vigilant (passive). Thanks to their sharper hearing, all

tav'salan start the game with a +1 Eagle Ears skill. This bonus scales

with their level.

• Musician (passive). All tav'salan start the game with a +1

Entertainer skill. This bonus scales with their level.

Kertenkelen: The kertenkelen are a lizard-like

species. They have long faces, scaly skin, tough limbs, and a powerful

tail. Their sense of smell and hearing are exceptionally sharp. The

kertenkelen are slow but stocky creatures, nearly matching the aslandi

in height but possessed of a bulk nearly twice that of the felines.

Kertenkelen range in sizes from 5 - 6 ft. tall.



Racial Bonus:

• Blood Frenzy (passive). Once per battle, if a kertenkelen falls

below 25% HP, they can enter a blood frenzy that allows them to attack

2x per turn for 5 turns.

• Viper’s Defense (passive). All kertenkelen start the game with

a +1 Defender skill and +1 Opportunist skill. This bonus scales with

their level.

• Leather Hide (passive). All kertenkelen have a bonus +10 health

points. This bonus scales with their level.

Kussucos: The kussucos are a species of birdmen

found throughout most parts of the world. Females are generally larger

than the males of the species, though their plumage is plainer by

comparison. Kussucos lost the ability to fly some time in the distant

past but can use their five-fingered hands to wield all manner of

weapons—when they want to. Their talons make most weapons superfluous.

The flightless kussucos are proud birds of prey that always stand to

their full height, which ranges from 5 - 7 ft. tall.



Racial Bonus:

• Faux Flight (passive). All kussucos start the game with a bonus

+2 to their Jump ability.

• Raptor (passive). Whenever a kussucos deals unarmed damage to

an enemy, they deal bonus, extra damage (starting at +2 damage at level

1). Additionally, after every fifth melee attack will trigger a free

beak strike, which counts as an unarmed attack.

• Pigeon (passive). All kussucos start the game with a +1 Alchemy

skill and a +1 Burglary skill. This bonus scales with their level.

  

Maymoons: Maymoons are the most numerous and most

successful of the beastmen, inhabiting all but the smallest, driest and

coldest areas. Maymoons are also the most contentious of all the

species, only ever uniting beneath a single banner when times are truly

dire. Maymoons are the only surviving members of the human species, a

branch of great apes known by their erect posture and bipedal locomotion

among other things. They have the largest variation in height among all

the species, ranging from 2 - 8 ft. tall.



Racial Bonus:

• Monkey See (passive). All maymoons learn at a quicker pace,

earning 10% more XP than any other species.

• Monkey Do (passive). All maymoons start the game with a +1

Investigative Mind. This bonus scales with their

level.

 

 

Edited by RP Fiend, 07 February 2015 - 07:31 PM.

[The Illuminati]

A More In-depth Explanation of The Character Sheet: B

Spoiler

Character Height and Species: B

Spoiler

Nightmare Horde: Slayers of All
Far beyond the borders of the mortal world is a place without time as we know it. A dark realm filled with the tortured souls of the dead, demons and the corpses of forgotten elder gods -- a place not meant for the living. A place of nightmares and endless torment.

Spoiler

Honey Devils: Honey Devils are some of the weaker demons found lurking within the endless nightmare. They're so weak in fact that some are able to slip through tears that occasionally form within the rift that separate the worlds. Once in our world, honey devils disguise themselves as mortals before seeking out the living to corrupt and twist. Honey devils are the smallest of the creature found within the endless hordes of nightmare, standing at around 5 - 7 ft. tall.

Racial Bonus:
• Unnatural Beauty (passive). All honey devils, despite their obvious demonic features, are stunningly beautiful and/or handsome to look at, giving them at the start of the game a +1 Con Artist skill and a +1 Burglar skill. This bonus scales with their level.
• Lords of Pain (passive). All honey devils start the game with an extra moderate physical injury slot.
• Succubus/Incubus (passive). The honey devil attempts to dominate the mind of it's victim. Using their Con Artist skill, the honey devil must overcome the target NPC's Investigative Mind skill. If they succeed with style, then they may pay a fate point to permanently gain control of that character, turning them into minions. Minions that have been abandoned by their masters will eventually die.

Pride Demons: Pride demons are the grotesque result of mortal souls that have been twisted and tortured beyond all recognition. Stripped of their empathy, kindness and humility, pride demons are sent back to the mortal world to sow seeds of chaos and corruption. To do this, they either possess the corpses of the recently slain or the body of an unwilling host. Pride demons have no physical form, so their height depends on that of the host body.

Racial Bonus:
• Phantom Traveler (active). Once per battle, a pride demon can avoid death by temporarily possessing the corpse of a defeated enemy. Once the battle is over, the body crumbles and the demon must seek out a new host.
• Nether Being (passive). All pride demons start the game with a +1 Brawler skill. This bonus scales with their level.
• Only the Finest (passive). Whenever possible, pride demons seek out the bodies of the rich and influential, giving them a +1 Merchant skill at the start of the game. This bonus scales with their level.

Black Orcs: Once a mortal has made a deal with a creature of the endless nightmare, they gain tremendous powers and influence until their contract ends. Once that happens, they can choose to either submit themselves and become possessed by a pride demon -- or flee for their lives.

Those that choose to flee are eventually hunted down and forced to undergo a cleansing ritual. The end result is a mutilated and hideous creature that resembles nothing of what it once was.

Despite their original species, height and gender, all black orcs are male and at least 8 ft. tall -- making them the biggest, meanest, strongest, and most brutal of all the nightmare creatures walking the face of the world.

Racial Bonus:
• Black Guard (passive). Black orcs are restricted to only wearing heavy armor and can only wield melee weapons. In return, they gain 25% more health points at the start of the game.
• Rage Machine (passive). The longer a black orcs spends fighting a single opponent, the more damage they deal per turn, starting at a bonus +1 and increasing by 1 every other turn.
• “Fear Me!” (active). Nearby enemies that fail to overcome the black orc's Renegade skill, flee in terror for 3 turns. Enemies that pass, miss on their next attacks or spell instead. "Fear Me!" is disabled for 6 turns after being activated.
• “I Am Fear, I Am Death!” (active). With a grand warcry, the black orc taunts all nearby enemies for 3 turns, forcing them to attack him if they fail to overcome his Renegade skill. Their first, third and sixth attacks heal the black orc instead of doing damage and increase his maximum health points by 25% for 6 turns. “I Am Fear, I Am Death!” is disabled for 9 turns after being activated. Enemies that pass, deal 50% less damage.
• Juggernaut (passive). All black orcs start the game with a +1 Fighter skill and a +1 Renegade skill. This bonus scales with their level.

Vampire Knights: Originally created by ancient necromancers to replace weaker undead, such as skeletals and zombies, these venerable wizards soon realized however that they could house one's consciousness within these undead constructs, thereby cheat death.

Since that dark time, whenever a mage or anyone of considerable wealth wished to escape the inevitable call of death, they would travel to the City of the Dead, capital of the vampire nation, and seek their salvation. Those who were found worthy were given a new body. One that never aged, or was ever sick -- perfect in every way. Forever young, and thirsty.

Racial Bonus:
• Black Wolf/Bat Colony (active). In addition to their normal form, all vampire knights have the ability to morph into either their wolf form or their bat colony form. So long as their remain out of combat, they gain special bonuses while in these forms.
> Black Wolf: In their wolf form, all vampires start the game with a +2 to their Move ability and a +1 Eagle Ears skill and a +1 Keen Vision skill. These bonuses scale with their level.
> Bat Colony: In their bat colony form, all vampires start the game with a +2 to their Jump ability and a +1 Shadow skill. These bonuses scale with their level.
• Blood Magic (active). All vampires have access to a bonus magic tree that draws on the power of mortal blood.
• Insatiable Thirst (passive). All vampires must feed on fresh blood once per day, or gain a stacking debuff that will kill them once it reaches to 3 stacks. The stacks needed before death increase with the character’s level.
• Phototoxicity (passive). Weakened by the power of light, all vampires loose the ability to cast their Blood Magic when exposed to sunlight and the ability to switch forms when exposed to other sources of light. Vampires also take extra damage from fire and light attacks.

First Borne: Agents of the Divine
The harbingers of Justice and Order, the first borne zealously hunt any and all creatures of nightmare and chaos. To do this, their creators sacrificed much of what would make them unique and thus susceptible to corruption. One of the results of this is that all first borne are exactly the same height as another of their species.

Spoiler

Pumilo: Short and stocky, the pumilo were crafted from stone and granted a life all their own by the Goddess of Creation. Today they live in great kingdoms beneath the ground where they train for the day when the nightmare spills across the land once more and their help is finally needed. All pumilo are exactly 4,5 ft. tall.

Racial Bonus:
• Stoneskin (active). Reduces all damage by 20% for 4 turns. The active is disabled for 8 turns.
• Shieldmaster (passive). All pumilo gain a scaling +2 bonus to their Defender skill while equipping a shield.
• Pumilo Ale (active). All pumilo fight better once they’ve had a drink or two, or three, gaining a scaling +1 bonus to their Opportunist skills for 4 turns, each time they take a drink. If a character uses Pumilo Ale three times in a row, they will fall into a deep sleep and be vulnerable to the next attack.
• Master Crafter (passive). All pumilo start the game with a +1 Blacksmith skill and a +1 Engineer skill. This bonus scales with their level.

Unducdecims: Physically weak, the unducdecim are the most magically gifted species on the planet. Because of this, they look down on all those that do not exclusively follow the path of magic as they do. From their floating kingdom, they guard the mortal realm from all who may endanger it -- including the mortals they were created to protect. All unducdecims are naturally 6,6 ft. tall.

Racial Bonus:
• Savant (passive). All unducdecims start the game with a +1 Spellslinger skill and a +1 Merchant skill. This bonus scales with their level. Unducdecims also have the ability to levitate above the ground, giving them a bonus +1 to their Jump ability.
• Arcane Torrent (active). Once every 10 turns, all unducdecims can call forth a massive surge of magical energy to knock and push back all adjacent enemies. Enemies hit by Arcane Torrent are damaged and stunned for 2 turns. Both the damage and the stun are based on the unducdecim's Spellslinger skill.
• Trance (passive). Rather than sleep, all unducdecim enter a meditative state for 3 hours. While in this trance, unducdecims are fully aware of their surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.

Adri’Gigas: The adri’gigas are a race of 9 ft. tall warriors who live atop the teeth of the world. Created millennia ago along side their two cousins, the unducdecims and the pumilo, the adri’gigas revel in the harsh climate, leading dangerous lives amongst savage beasts.

Racial Bonus:
• Frost Mastery (passive). Whenever an adri'gigas deals ice damage to an enemy, they deal bonus, extra damage (starting at +2 damage at level 1).
• Giant’s Blood (passive). All adri'gigas start the game with a +1 Brawler skill and a +1 Paragon skill. This bonus scales with their level.
• Shapeshifting (passive). All adri’gigas can take on the aspect of an animal, transforming into a mixed were-form that greatly enhances their base stats and modifies their height.

Fate Points & The Refresh Rating

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Fate Points: A fate point is the player’s OOC currency, used to twist fate and make the story go in their character’s favor. Players can do this by spending their FP to activate one of their character's aspects (or the aspect of another character), declaring a story detail, or by spending FP to activate stunts that require FP. Players earn FP by accepting challenges.

You can spend FP in any of the following ways:
• Activating an Aspect: Activating an aspect usually costs you one fate point. You can invoke the aspect of anything with an aspect -- even other players.
• Powering a Stunt: Some stunts are very potent, and as such, cost a fate point in order to activate.
• Refusing a Challenge: Once a challenge has been proposed, you can pay a fate point to avoid the complication associated with the challenge.
• Declaring a Story Detail: This adds something to the story based on one of your aspects, at the cost of a fate point.
• Purchasing extra Stunts: A normal starting character begins the game with 3 stunts and a refresh rating of 3. Purchasing extra stunts cost 1 refresh rating each. Characters can never have less than 1 refresh rating. (3 Stunts = 3 RR, 4 Stunts = 2 RR, 5 Stunts = 1 RR).

You can earn fate points in any of the following ways:
• Accepting a Challenge: You get a fate point whenever you agree to the complication associated with a challenge. This may sometimes happen retroactively if the circumstances warranted it.
• Have One of Your Aspects Activated Against You: If a someone pays a fate point to activate an aspect attached to your character, you gain their fate point -- at the end of the event. The advantages and consequences associated with that aspect are immediately applied to your character.
• Surrendering during a Battle: You receive a fate point for surrendering, as well as an additional fate point for each injury that you’ve received in that battle.

Refresh Rating: The refresh rating is the number of fate points you get at the start of every story arc. Your total fate points will always reset to this number, unless you gained more fate points than your current refresh rating, thanks to a previous arc. As a downside, you won’t gain any extra fate points from your refresh rating.

The refresh rating for a starting character is always 3 fate points. Players will earn higher ratings for their character by increasing their character’s level or by unlocking secret achievements. At the start of every new chapter, all characters will have their fate points reset to their refresh rating.

Aspects

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Aspects are phrases that describe some significant detail about a character.

Example: Cynere Shadowpaw has the aspect Tempted by Shiny Things on her character sheet, which describes her general tendency to overvalue material goods and make bad decisions when gems and coins are involved.

Aspects add an interesting, fun element to the character that gets them into a great deal of fun and trouble, bringing a lot of personality to the game. Aspects can describe things that are beneficial or detrimental—in fact, the best aspects are both. They are the reasons why your character matters and why we’re interested in seeing your character in the game.

Aspects can cover a wide range of elements, such as personality or descriptive traits, beliefs, relationships, issues and problems, or anything else that helps us invest in the character as a person, rather than just a collection of stats.

Aspects come into play in conjunction with fate points. When an aspect benefits you, you can spend fate points to invoke that aspect for a bonus. When your aspects complicate your character’s life, you gain fate points back—this is called accepting a challenge.
Activating an Aspect

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Whenever you’re making a skill roll, and you’re in a situation where an aspect might be able to help you, you can spend a fate point to activate it in order to change the dice result. This allows you to either reroll the dice or add +2 to your roll, whichever is more helpful. (Typically, +2 is a good choice if you rolled –2 or lower, but sometimes you want to risk a reroll to get that +4.)

You do this after you’ve rolled the dice and aren’t happy with your total. First however, you’ll have to explain or justify how the aspect is helpful in order to get the bonus. Sometimes it’ll be self-evident, and sometimes it might require some creative narrating. You can spend more than one fate point on a single roll, gaining another reroll or an additional +2, as long as each point you spend activates a different aspect.

Example: Cynere is trying to covertly goad a merchant into describing the security features of his personal vault by posing as a visiting dignitary. The merchant is giving her passive opposition with his +3 Merchant skill and her Con Artist skill is only at +2. Cynere rolls even, getting a 0. That leaves her result at +2, not enough to get the information she wants.

Activating her aspect, she declares that the long years of being Tempted by Shiny Things has taught her a thing or two about what’s in a treasure hoard and what’s not. So she’s going to impress this merchant by talking about the rarest, most prized elements that should be in any wealthy merchants collection.

The GM agrees and Cynere looses a fate point to invoke the aspect, adding +2 to her standing roll. This brings her result to a +4, which exceeds the opposition. The duly impressed merchant starts to brag about his vault as Cynere listens intently...

Accepting Challenges

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Sometimes (in fact, probably often), you’ll find yourself in a situation where an aspect might complicate your character’s life and create unexpected drama. When that happens, the GM will suggest a potential complication that might arise. This is called a challenge.

Sometimes a challenge means that your character automatically fails at some goal, or your character’s choices are restricted, or simply that unintended consequences cloud whatever your character does. You might negotiate back and forth on the details a little, to arrive at what would be most appropriate and dramatic in the moment.

Once you’ve agreed to accept the complication, you get a fate point for your troubles. If you want, you can pay a fate point to prevent the complication from happening, but I don’t recommend you do that very often—you’ll probably need that fate point later, and getting compelled brings drama (and hence, fun) into your game’s story.

Anyone in the game is free to suggest when a challenge might be appropriate for any character (including their own). GMs have the final word on whether or not a challenge is valid. And speak up if you see that a challenge happened naturally as a result of play, but no fate points were awarded.

Example: Landon the Blade has the aspect The Manners of a Goat. He is attending the annual Grand Ball in Ictherya with his friends, courtesy of the royal court. As they’re milling about, a sharply dressed young lady catches Landon sticking out of the crowd. She observes him for a while, then goes to engage him in conversation, obviously intrigued by how different he looks among all the stuffy nobles.

Landon asks her to dance and plays along, seeing what he can find out from her -- which is going to go horribly wrong as the GM suggest that, due to Landon’s aspect, Landon’s utter lack of courtly etiquette offends her pretty quickly, which leads to even further complications.

Accepting the challenge, Landon gains a fate point while simultaneously putting his foot in his mouth. As the young lady stomps away, the royal guard shows up. One of them says, “You might want to watch how you speak to the High Duchess of Ictherya, outlander!”

Declaring a Story Detail

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Sometimes, you want to add a detail that works to your character’s advantage in a scene. For example, you might use this to narrate a convenient coincidence, like retroactively having the right supplies for a certain job (“Of course I brought that along!”), showing up at a dramatically appropriate moment, or suggesting that you and the NPC you just met have mutual clients in common.

To do this, you’ll need to spend a fate point. You should try to justify your story details by relating them to your aspects. GMs have the right to veto any suggestions that seem out of scope or ask the player to revise them, especially if the rest of the group isn’t buying into it.

Example: Zird the Arcane gets captured with his friends by some tribesfolk from the Sagroth Wilds. The three heroes are unceremoniously dumped before the chieftain, who addresses them in a strange, guttural language.

Zird has the aspect If I Haven’t Been There, I’ve Read About It, and asks the GM if he can declare that he's studied this language at some point, so that he and the chieftain can communicate. The GM thinks that’s perfectly reasonable to assume, so Zird subtracts a fate point and then answers the chieftain in his own speech, which turns all eyes in the village (including those of his friends) on him in a moment of surprise. Zird look at his friends and say, “Books. They’re good for you.”

Professions

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Players are free to name and create their own professions but each profession has to fall into a specific armor type (heavy, medium or light) and are restricted to the weapons associated with that armor type. GMs get the final say on whether or not a profession will be accepted.

• Heavy Armor Professions: The mightiest of mighty, the bravest of the brave, and the master of melee combat and heavy armor. No matter what you call your profession -- a warrior, a fighter, a knight, a crusader, a paladin or a samurai -- if you're going to wear heavy armor, then you'll be relying mainly on your stout heart, brute strength, and melee weapons to subdue your enemies and protect your allies.

Wearers of heavy armor generally disdain long-range warfare, preferring instead to charge directly into the fray, swinging their weapon of choice. They can take a beating unlike anyone else and are equally comfortable wielding a wide variety of weapons, though many choose to master one weapon over all others.

• Medium Armor Professions: Agile and wily survivors, who specialize in archery, dagger mastery and getting out of sticky situations with as much gold as possible. Whether you're a ranger, a zealot, an assassin, a barbarian, a slayer, an engineer, a seeker, a rogue, an archer or a duelist, if you wear medium armor then you have the unique ability to succeed with the help of, or even in spite of, your environment.

You're an expert at stealth and surprise, moving through the shadows when you need to or vanishing into thin air thanks to some tricks you picked up here and there. Even if you rely less on traps and more on skill, you're still and acrobatic fighter that's very hard to hit.

• Light Armor Professions: You are the master of arcane lore and magical aptitude, with the power to call upon the power of fire, earth, air, water, light and shadow to obliterate you enemies. As a light armor profession, you either rely on mana or ki to perform impossible feats.

It doesn't matter if you're a monk, a necromancer, a mesmer, an elementalist, a ritualist, a runemaster, a wizard, a cleric, a druid or a martial artist, if you wear light armor then you can inflict more damage in a single strike than many other professions. What you lack in physical toughness, you make up for in versatility and the ability to harness the natural forces within and without.

Skills

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Skills are what you use during the game to do complicated or interesting actions with. Each character has a number of skills that represent his or her basic capabilities, including things like perceptiveness, physical prowess, professional training, education, and other measures of ability. Skills are the basis for everything your character actually does in the game that involves challenge and chance.

Skills are rated in steps (+0, +1, +2...). Higher is always better, meaning that your character is more capable or succeeds more often when using that skill. If for some reason you need to make a roll using a skill your character doesn’t have, you can always roll it at +0. There are a couple exceptions to this, like magic skills that most people don’t have at all.

Taken together, your character’s list of skills gives us a picture of your character’s potential for action at a glance -- what you’re best at, what you’re okay at, and what you’re not so good at.

Example: Zird the Arcane has his Sage skill at +5, which makes him ideally suited to knowing a convenient, obscure fact or doing research. He does not have the Silent Assassin skill however, so when the game calls upon him to sneak up on someone, he’ll have to roll that at +0.

Skill Trees: Empathy, Crafting, Lore, Trading, Fitness, Focus, and Combat

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Empathy: This skill tree allows your character to have the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It's a measure a character's force of personality, persuasiveness, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness. A successful check will prompt NPCs to reveal additional information or to give bonus rewards in a conversation.

• Paragon - The character can use this skill to get someone to do something or to believe in something, through reason and kindness.
• Renegade - The character can use this skill to get people to back down or threaten them for information they want. Renegade can also be used to provoke an enemy into dropping their guard for a short time.
• Con Artist - The character can make the outrageous or the untrue seem plausible. This skill encompasses acting, conning, fast talking, misdirection and misleading body language.
• Shaman - The character can use this skill to get an animal or spirit to do something or to believe in something, through sensing and/or understanding their emotions and vice versa. They can also use this skill to charm or dominate certain creatures.

Crafting: This skill tree allows your character to have the ability to create, improve, repair or disassemble weapons, armor and machinery.

• Blacksmith - The character using this skill knows how to create most types of armor, shields, martial weapons, and helmets from different materials. They can also improve, repair or disassemble these items.
• Engineer - The character using this skill can combine raw components to form various traps, pistols, rifles, machinery and torches. They can also improve, repair or disassemble these items.
• Enchanter - The character using this skill is a master of crafting magical weapons such as foci, scepters and staves. They also have the ability to infuse magic into normal items or draw existing magic out of a magical item.

Lore: This skill tree allows your character to have the ability to be a walking library.

• Sage - The skill to accurately identify unknown spells and enchantments on magical items. The Sage skill also represents the ability to analyze information.
• Entertainer - The skill to conjure up stories and legends about mythical heroes and important people, places or things from your imagination or books you’ve previously read.
• Alchemist - The skill to spot useful ingredients in the wild and brew them into healing potions or harmful poisons.
• Prodigy - The skill to operate a magical or mechanical item as if your character had the required training or understanding.

Trading: This skill tree allows your character to more effectively barter for goods and information.

• Merchant - The character using this skill can haggle for better prices when buying or selling goods. If the merchant wins, the character pays more for the goods in the store. If the character wins, he pays less.
• Smuggler - The character using this skill can tap into an information network for the purposes of gathering information.

Fitness: This skill tree allows your character to have more endurance and stamina.

• Duelist - This skill represents agility, reflexes, and balance.
• Brawler - The skill represents the muscles and physical power of a character.

Focus: This skill tree allows your character to have the ability to calmly and logically think things through, as well as heightening your senses.

• Keen Eyes - The character with this skill can see in the dark, track prey, and notice hidden things such as traps and secret doors.
• Investigative Mind - Investigative Mind describes a character's willpower, common sense, perception, and intuition. It also increases your resistance to mental attacks.
• Eagle Ears - The character with this skill can hear conversations in a crowded area or over greater distances than normal. This skill will also alert the character to hidden creatures that may be nearby.
• Shadow - Shadow describes a character's ability to hide from enemies and sneak quietly past guards.
• Burglar - The character with this skill can open locks which will allow them to enter locked rooms and open locked containers. This skill will also allow them to remove items from another's backpack or pockets.

Combat: This skill tree improves your character’s ability to deal damage.

• Fighter - This skill improves your damage with melee weapons.
• Marksman - This skill improves your damage with ranged weapons.
• Spellslinger - This skill improves your damage with magical weapons.
• Defender - This skill improves your ability to block with weapons and shields.
• Opportunist - This skill improves your ability to counterattack with weapons.

Stunts

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Stunts are special tricks that your character knows that allow them to get an extra benefit out of a skill or alter a game rule to work in their favor. Stunts are like super moves in a video game, they let your character do something unique or distinctive compared to other characters. Two characters can have the same rank in a skill, but their stunts might give them vastly different benefits.

Example: Landon has a stunt called I Have Stories to Tell. It gives him a bonus to get information from an NPC with his Entertainer skill, provided that he is drinking with his target in a tavern.

Stunts indicate some special, privileged way a character uses a skill that is unique to whoever has that stunt. Special or elite training, exceptional talents, the mark of destiny, genetic alteration, innate coolness, and a myriad of other reasons all explain why some people get more out of their skills than others do.

Unlike skills, which are about the sort of things anyone can do in the game, stunts are about individual characters. They will allow you to differentiate between your character and that of another player’s character with the same skills.

Example: Landon and Cynere both have a high rank in their Fighter ability but Cynere has the Warmaster stunt, which makes her better at creating advantages. This differentiates the two characters a great deal -- Cynere has a unique capability to analyze and understand her enemies’ weaknesses in a way Landon doesn’t.

Imagine if Cynere started a fight by testing her enemy with moves and jabs, carefully assessing her opponent’s limits before moving in for a decisive strike, whereas Landon is just happy to wade in and chop away.

Building Stunts: Adding a New Action to a Skill

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The most basic option for a stunt is to allow a skill to do something that it normally can’t do. It adds a new action onto the base skill in certain situations, for those with this stunt. This new action can be one that’s available to another skill (allowing you to swap one skill for another, under certain circumstances), or one that’s not available to any skill.

Examples:
• Backstab - Your character uses their Shadow skill to make physical attacks, provided their target isn’t already aware of their presence.
• The Fight in the Dog - Your character uses their Renegade skill to enter the kinds of contests that they'd normally need a Brawler skill for, whenever their ability to psych their opponent out with the force of their presence alone would be a factor.
• You’re Never Safe - Your character uses their Burglar skill to make mental attacks and create advantages against a target, by staging a heist in such a way as to shatter the target's confidence in their security.

Just because you have a stunt that doesn’t always mean you have to use it when it becomes relevant. Using a stunt is always a choice, and you can opt not to use a stunt if you don’t think it would be appropriate or you just don’t want to.

For example, you could have a stunt that allows you to use your Fighter skill in place of your Duelist skill when defending against arrows and other missile attacks. Whenever you’re attacked by an archer, you can choose to use your Fighter skill or simply use your Duelist skill as anyone else would. It’s entirely your choice.

Building Stunts: Adding a Bonus to an Action

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Another use for a stunt is to give a skill an automatic bonus under a particular, very narrow circumstance, effectively letting a character specialize in something. The circumstance should be narrower than what the normal action allows, and only apply to one particular action or pair of actions. This bonus can also be used to apply effects to the immediate area or inflict mild injuries.

Example:
• Arcane Expert - Your character gains a scaling +2 bonus whenever they use their Sage skill to create an advantage, if the situation has specifically to do with the supernatural or the occult.
• Lead in the Air - Your character really likes emptying gun magazines. Any time they’re using a fully automatic weapon and they succeed at an attack, they automatically create a +2 opposition against movement in that zone until their next turn, because of all the lead in the air.
• Child of the Court - Your character gains a scaling +2 bonus to any attempt to overcome obstacles with their Con Artist skill, whenever they’re at an aristocratic function, such as a royal ball.

Extras

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Extras are the powers, gear, vehicles, organizations, and locations you may want to have some rules for (if aspects, skills, and stunts don’t quite cover them on their own).

Example:
• Special magics and supernatural powers.
• Specialized gear or equipment.
• Vehicles owned by your characters.
• Organizations or locations that your character rules or has a lot of influence over.

Extras are an extension of the character, so whoever controls the character to whom the extra belongs also controls that extra. Most of the time, that’ll be the players, but NPCs may also have extras (controlled by the GM). Extras require a permission or cost to own and can have aspects, skills, stunts, stress levels and injuries if you need it to.

Stress and Injuries

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Stress is one of the two options you have to avoid losing a fight. It represents temporary fatigue, getting winded, superficial injuries, and so on. When you have stress levels you can burn them off to keep you in a fight. Best of all they reset at the end of a battle, once you’ve had a post or two to rest and catch your breath.

Physical stress absorbs physical damage, while absorbing mental stress could mean that you just barely managed to ignore an insult, or clamped down on an instinctive emotional reaction, or took magic damage.

When you decide to convert an enemy’s attack into stress, you cross off the stress box with a value equal to the damage of that hit. If the stress box is already checked, check off a higher value box. If there is no higher available box and you can’t take any more injuries, then you’re dead (assuming all of your health points are also gone). You can only check off one stress box per hit so the stress box must absorb all of the damage. What it can't absorb has to go somewhere.

If, for whatever reason, you want to forego your defense and take a hit (like, say, to interpose yourself in the path of an arrow that’s about to skewer your friend), you can. Because you’re not defending however, the attacker’s rolling against +0 opposition, which means you’re probably going to take a bad hit.

All characters start the game with two stress levels: a mild physical stress and a mild mental stress. The Brawler skill helps with physical stress, and the Investigative Mind helps with mental stress. Either skill grants one more stress box of the respective type (physical or mental) if ranked to +1, or two more stress boxes if ranked to +3 or higher.

Injuries
Injuries are the second option you have to avoid losing a fight. Every time you convert an attack into an Injury, you gain a new disability. Disabilities give your opponents advantages that they can use against you in a fight. Unlike stress, you have to take time to recover from an injury and until then, your disability will hinder you for however long your character goes without resting, which leaves your character vulnerable to complications or others wishing to take advantage of your new weakness.

Example: Og attacks Landon, inflicting 3 points of damage. Landon only has 2 health points left, so he decides to convert the damage into an injury instead. Because of a previous fight however, Landon only has two injury slots left -- his 2-damage and 4-damage slots. His 3-damage slot is already checked off, so the hit must be absorbed by a higher-value slot. Landon reluctantly checks off the 4-damage slot.

Landon describes the outcome in his post as him getting his sword up just in time to barely deflect the blow from Og’s club, which instead shatters a nearby crate. The crate then explodes and peppers Landon’s face with splintered wood, blinding him in one eye. One inch closer, and it might have been his entire face that was caved in. Landon now only has one more injury slot left, his 2-damage slot. This means that his reserves are almost gone, and the next major hit he takes could kill him...

Injuries come in three levels of intensity: mild, moderate and severe. The values for these slots start at 2, 4 and 6 respectively, and scale with your character's level (stress only comes in two levels of intensity, mild (1) and moderate (2), but is split between physical damage and mental damage).

When you use an injury slot, you reduce the damage value of the attack by the value of the injury slot's level. You can use more than one injury slot at a time but once they are used you can not use them again, regardless of how many unused points remain in the slot after absorbing an attack.

Unlike stress, you only have one set of injury slots. What this means is that there aren’t specific slots for physical versus mental injuries. If you have to take a mild injury to reduce a mental attack and your mild injury slot is already filled with a physical injury, you’re out of luck. Instead you’re going to have to use a moderate or severe injury slot to absorb that hit. The only exception to this is the extra injury slots your character will get if either of their Brawler or Investigative Mind skills are ranked to +5 or higher. These slot are reserved for physical and mental damage respectively.

Example: Cynere gets teamed up on by three thugs. With the help of a huge dice roll and some situational advantages, they manage to land a 6-damage attack on her. She’s managed to escape harm so far this fight and still has all of her stress boxes and injury slots available. This means that she has three ways to take the hit: she could take one severe injury, which will negate the 6-damage attack; or she could take a moderate injury (4-damage slot) and use her 2-damage stress box; or she could take a mild injury (2-damage slot) and a moderate injury (4-damage slot).

Cynere decides that it’s not likely she’s going to get hit for that much again, so she takes the severe injury to keep her stress boxes open for smaller hits. The GM and Cynere decide that the severe injury should be a wicked slash from one of the thugs’ swords to one of Cynere's thighs, which hinders her movement.

Mild injuries don’t require immediate medical attention. They hurt and they may present an inconvenience, but they aren’t going to force you into a lot of bed rest. On the mental side, mild injuries express things like a small social embarrassment or changes in your surface emotions.

Examples: A Black Eye, A Bruised Hand, Feeling Tired, Flustered or Cranky. Or even Temporarily Blinded.

Moderate injuries represent fairly serious impairments that require a dedicated effort towards recovery (including medical attention). On the mental side, they express things like damage to your reputation or emotional problems that you can’t just shrug off with an apology and a good night’s sleep.

Examples: A Deep Cut, A First Degree Burn, Feeling Exhausted, Being Drunk or Terrified.

Severe injuries go straight to the emergency room. They’re extremely nasty and prevent you from doing a lot of things, and will lay you out for a while. On the mental side, they express things like serious, mental trauma or relationship-changing harm.

Examples: A Second-Degree Burn, Compound Fracture, Guts Hanging
Out, Crippling Shame, Trauma-Induced Phobia.

Recovering from an Injury

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In order to regain the use of an injury slot, you have to recover from the injury. That requires two things: succeeding at an action that allows you to justify recovery; and then waiting an appropriate amount of game time for that recovery to take place. If it's a physical injury, then the action is some kind of medical treatment or first aid. For mental injuries, the action may involve therapy, counseling, or simply a night out with friends.

The action in question has to overcome the difficulty of the injury slot. At the start of the game, mild injuries have a +2 difficulty, moderate injuries have a +4 difficulty and severe injuries have a +6 difficulty. If you are trying to perform the recovery action on yourself, the difficulty is increased (beginning at +2). Keep in mind that the circumstances have to be free of distraction and tension for you to make this attempt in the first place -- you’re not going to clean and bandage a nasty cut while ogres are tromping through the caves looking for you.

What Skill Do I Use To Perform A Recovery Action?

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For a physical recovery, players can use potions (Alchemist Skill). For a mental recovery, players can use their Paragon, Renegade or Con Artist skill. Certain powerful magics have the ability to perform recovery actions for both, as well as the certain NPCs located in towns and cities (NPCs will usually require money for their services). Stunts can also be used to perform recovery actions.

Once the recovery action has been successfully completed, you just need to wait the appropriate amount of time to recover:
• For a mild injury, you only have to wait until your second post AFTER the recovery action was successfully completed. Only then can you clear your mild injury slot.
• For a moderate injury, you'll have to wait until your next post after a TIMESKIP to recover. Only then can you clear your moderate injury slot.
• For a severe injury, you'll have to wait until your next post after the start of a new STORY ARC to recover.

Example: Cynere ended up with a severe injury as a result of her previous fight. Back at the inn, Zird attempts to bandage up the cut. He has a stunt called, “Scholar, Healer” which allows him to use his Sage skill for recovery actions. Rolling the dice, Zird's total comes out to a +6 and he overcomes the injury. The recovery action is a success. This allows Cynere to begin her recovery process and once the next story arc begins, she’ll be able to clear her injury slot and get rid of her disability.

The Mark of Fate

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In addition to the normal set of injuries, every character also gets one last-ditch option to stay in a fight -- The Mark of Fate.

The Mark of Fate can only be used once every story arc to avoid permanent death or a surrender. After which, the character will have one last turn to act before they slip into a coma that lasts until the start of the next story arc. If the character is attacked before their turn to post, they will immediately slip into a coma and end that attacker's turn.

The price for this save however, is an extremely high one: permanent disfigurement. Unlike other injuries, players can’t make a recovery action to diminish the damage inflicted by a mark of fate. Whether it's an eye, an arm, or a leg -- once the mark has been placed, it can never again be removed. Your character can only learn to live with it.

A Surrender

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When all else fails, you can also just give in. Maybe you’re worried that you can’t absorb another hit, or maybe you decide that continuing to fight is just not worth the punishment. Whatever the reason, you can always choose to surrender during your post.

This is important because once the GM posts a reply, whatever happens -- happens. And if you have no more lifelines and it's a bad roll for you, then your only options at that point are to either die or use a mark of fate (if you have one).

Surrendering to another player gives that person what they wanted from you, or in the case of more than two fighters, removes you as a concern for the opposing
side. You’re out of the battle, period. Surrendering to a GM could mean any of the above, or that your character gets taken as a hostage by the hostile NPCs.

But it’s not all bad. First of all, you get a fate point for choosing to surrender. On top of that, for every injury you've just suffered, you also get a free fate point. These fate points of course, may only be used once the battle is over. Second of all, you get to avoid the worst parts of your fate by getting a say in what happens to your character.

Example: Og proves to be too much for Landon to handle, having already used several devastating attacks in the course of their short fight to injure Landon. Not wanting to suffer anymore injuries, Landon surrenders uncharacteristically to Og. Landon’s already taken both a mild and a moderate injury and gets a fate point for those two, plus one for surrendering, giving him three total.

The GM and Landon then discuss what happens to Landon after he surrenders. In the end, they agree that Og only knocks Landon out because he still has Cynere and Zird to deal with. The GM also has Og steal one of Landon's katanas and spits on him so the surrender stings even more.

Death

Spoiler

If you don’t have any health points, stress boxes, or injury slots left to buy off all the damage of an attack, that means you’re dead. Death is bad. It means that, not only can't you fight anymore, but that the person who took you out gets to decide what your death looks like and what happens to your body after the battle.

Obviously, they can’t narrate anything that’s out of scope for the story (like having you die from shame), but that still gives someone else a lot of power over your character that you can’t really do anything about. Being dead also means that you'll have to make a new character if you want to continue playing Age of Scions.

Dice Rolls and Actions

Spoiler

Why add dice to the game?
There are many good reason why, and why not. Ultimately it just comes down to a desire to mix things up a bit and add some flavour to how RPs are played.

Do we HAVE to use dice?
For the most part, no...

Wait, what? So how is this going to work then?
The basic idea is that you use the numbers on your skills and add them to the numbers on your weapon. That total is your damage. And if that damage is high enough to deal with low level creeps, then you don't need to roll the dice.

Think of the dice as more of a crit chance than anything else, adding or subtracting damage with your roll. If you can kill things in one to two hits, then why risk a roll. But if you're up against an opponent that could kill you in one to two hits, then you might want to consider rolling the dice.

It sounds like we will have to roll the dice ourselves...
Yes, that's correct.

...but won't people be tempted to cheat?
I hope not, it's just a game after all. The dice is simply there to add drama and excitement to the game by making every outcome unpredictable. Not to make the game more of an exercise. If you're going to roll perfect numbers for yourself and take the easiest route, then why bother playing?

More than that, all I can do is decide whether or not I feel as if someone is being unnaturally lucky. When that happens, I'll have to crank up the difficulty and ruin everybody's day.

Fine. Fine. So how does this game work?
First, you need this
Second, when you roll the dice, you're either going to fail, tie, succeed, or succeed with style.

• If you roll lower than your opposition, you fail. This means one of several things: you don’t get what you want, you get what you want at a serious cost, or you suffer some negative consequence.
• If you roll the same as your opposition, you tie. This means you get what you want, but at a minor cost, or you get a lesser version of what you wanted.
• If you roll higher than your opposition by 1 or 2 points (scales with level), you succeed. This means you get what you want at no cost.
• If you roll higher than your opposition by 3 or more points (scales with level), you succeed with style. This means that you get what you want, but you also get an added benefit on top of that.

Other than that, it's just a question of picking the right skill for the job and deciding how to use that skill:

• Overcome: True to its name, you tackle some kind of challenge, engaging a task or hindrance related to your skill.
• Create an Advantage: Whether you’re discovering something that already exists about an opponent or creating a situation that helps you succeed, creating advantages allows you to discover and create aspects, and lets you get to activate them for free.
• Attack: You try to harm someone in a fight. That harm may be physical, mental, emotional, or social in nature.
• Defend: You try to keep someone from harming you, getting past you, or creating an advantage to use against you.

[Officer Judy Hopps]

Hmh. Interesting.

 

I like the premise, but I don't like dice. HMMM. XD

 

I think I'll have to make a bunny-girl. Because Viera were my favorite race in FFTA.

[The Illuminati]

I don't like dice. HMMM. XD

You need to go to Vegas for a weekend. Get you nice and gambly. *_*

[Officer Judy Hopps]

I've been to Vegas...and I'm not very gambly.

 

I don't like losing what little money I have. XD

[Jod]

yay FATE, tHE HE approves

[I-Am-X]

"Skills are rated in steps (+0, +1, +2...). Higher is always better, meaning that your character is more capable or succeeds more often when using that skill. If for some reason you need to make a roll using a skill your character doesn’t have, you can always roll it at +0. There are a couple exceptions to this, like magic skills that most people don’t have at all."

 

But on that dice thing, how would you roll it at "+0" or + or - anything?

[Socrates]

Looking forward to it Naifu

[Jod]

btw tech level is high fantasy, low magic?

[Misty]

I are going to keep an eye on this one fo sho. 

[The Illuminati]

I like the premise, but I don't like dice. HMMM. XD

You don't have to play with the dice if you don't want to. It's just there to spice things up a bit.

But on that dice thing, how would you roll it at "+0" or + or - anything?

There are four dice, each numbered from -1 to +1. So the "-" is -1, the "0" is 0, and the "+" is +1. So if you got a 0, that would mean you rolled four 0's or two "-" and two "+".

That's what you were asking, right?

btw tech level is high fantasy, low magic?

High magic, high tech. With a mixture of both in certain places.

Tech/Magic level will also be closely linked with the wealth of the area. For example, in a major city you might see airships and hover crafts but in frontier towns they'll mostly use android horses and such.

[Officer Judy Hopps]

High Tech/High Fantasy? Nifty. I'll get to work soon.

[The Illuminati]

I keep forgetting to mention that DR will be my co-gm on this. He's going to handle some of the baddies for me. So don't forget to say 'hi' to him.

Edited by Obsession, 07 February 2015 - 09:35 PM.

[I-Am-X]

@naifu I guess, though, I was wondering if you had to insert a number or change the numbers at all or simply just hit roll without altering nothing, to clear my confusion

[The Illuminati]

Just hit roll. I already played with the options and settled on what you see now.

[Officer Judy Hopps]

Spoiler

Appearance:

Name: Yvanna Eros

Description: As many of her kind, Yvanna is relatively short compared to many other races while being tall for her own. Standing at only 4'11, her ears make her stand at 6'4" feet in height. Bearing a tall, steepled hat in crimson, and a skirt with a short-sleeved overcoat in similar fashion. With a tight fitting corset beneath that, her pastel colored blonde hair, and deep red eyes tend to leave an impression of amorous awe with anyone she meets. While she travels barefoot like many of her kind, the rings of gold about her ankles and wrists leave a whimsical chime about her steps, which are always in beat to the music she hums softly to herself. She is not a musician, but is instead a singer, with a wondrous voice that tells tales about her and her kin, enchanting those who might hear it.

 

Personality: Sweet, kind, warm and welcoming to any she might meet, Yvanna is a truly kind soul. Not an optimist, nor a pessimist, she is essentially little more than a realist. Accepting the world as it may be, and being one of her kind, she understands the necessity of there being a balance. The need for a sort of evenness between technology and nature, and she defends it fiercely much like most of her kind. Though, her life in nature is one that she has always known; and she possesses a distinct curiosity over the splendors of nature.

 

Age: 26

Height: 4'11, 6'4" with her ears.

Level: 1

Fate Points: 3

Refresh Rating: 3

Species: Tav'Salan

 

Profession: Red Magus, which is a peculiar kind of spellcaster who is incredibly adept in both the arts of restoration and destruction. Dealing out both damaging elemental spells as well as healing and protective magicks.

Aspects:

"A spectacular Singer and Dancer."

"A Magus that is both Elemental and Healing."

"Who needs shoes?"

"A realist."

"A bit of a sneaky brat who is too light on her feet."

 

 

Biography: Twenty-six years ago, the newly crowned Queen of the Tav'Salan proudly announced the birth of her third child. Princess Yvanna, she was christened not a few moments later. There, in halls of her beautiful home, she was raised carefully with the understanding that one day, she would likely never be queen. Despite this, she was raised with the education in the finest of arcane arts and fencing, she quickly became to be known as a potent magi. Utilizing both fields of destructive and healing magic, as with many of her kind she believed in the balance and necessity of both good and evil. Both healing and destruction.

 

She grew to become humble, as her mother required. Knowing that without the surety of nature's bounty, all would be lost. So, as a result, she protected it to the best of her ability. Even as civilization as a whole began to expand outward like a disease. Yet, as she began to see and watch the vestiges of technology and advancement from afar, she was struck with a great curiosity.

 

One night, she snuck away from the guards that protected her room.

 

Not long after, she ventured into the cities and was struck in awe by how incredible technology truly was. From flying ships to mechanical animals, life itself seemed so invariably complex to Tav'Salan ways of life. Life that worshipped and tended to nature, instead of the brash advancement of technology and history. She too however, caught the eyes of others. Rarely before had her kind ever been seen in the cities. It wasn't long before she also caught the attention of others she'd rather not.

 

Riding home one day, she was pursued by Pirates and almost captured.

 

Had it not been for her magic giving them a powerfully frightening retaliation, the kingdom of the Tav'Salan would have been gravely endangered. Not that they would have known that.

 

So terrified by such, Yvanna remained hidden with her people for three years more until her twenty-sixth birthday. When her eyes strayed towards the city once again. Curiosity always had the tendency to take part of her mind, leaving her in wonderment as to what had changed inside the city once again. Perhaps, with the gift of her song and dance, the people might be more accepting of her presence.

 

Skills:

-Hop- +2 Jump, +1 Move - Free

-Entertainer- -Free-

-Musician- -Free-

-Ever Vigilant- -Free-

-Eagle Ears- -Free-

 

Stunts:

Elemental Advantage - If Yvanna uses Elemental Magic effectively against a target. (Like Lightning bolts against an electrical target, Fire against a grassy target, etc.) The spell deals 50% more damage.

Healing Critical - In moments of great stress, akin to a critically injured ally, her Healing has an increased chance to critically be effective. Heals that success with style heal for double.

Double Casting - In a peculiar twist, Yvanna has been known to be an incredibly swift caster. Being able at times to cast two spells in the time it takes someone to cast one. This can vary, being two healing spells, two damaging spells, or even one heal and one damaging. The damage/healing dealt however, is reduced by 25%.

 

 

Extras:

-Rapier- She is the proud owner of one, and is quite skilled. Though she very much prefers magic in combat.

 

Stress: None

Injury: None

 

Relationships:

-Dorian Salttail- A peculiar, roguish figure who helped her escape her first venture into the city.

 

I think I'm done......?

Edited by The Hawk's Eye, 11 February 2015 - 10:39 AM.

[I-Am-X]

The setup kind of gives me a headache but while it may somewhat confuse me I'll just soldier on and pick it up as I go along.

Plus, I can just annoy naifu and DR to understand things better if I'm confused on something.

 

ANYWAYS, I'm tempted to make a succubus.

Oh yes

 

Are certain races stuck with certain skill trees, like succubus with the empathy skill tree, or are they capable of pick delving into other skill trees? How many non racial bonus skills can we pick? I see missy grabbing 4, with some not being from the same tree, so 4? Like could a succubus pick something non-magic or something thats not like its race, like a physical skill?

 

How many Stunts? Whats the limits? Armor/Profession, that deals with character classes in games like how she picked a red mage, right? It says mana, ki or whatever, but the skills doesn't neccesarily deal with actual attack names so what, do we just do, etc etc casts a spell? Going to be tough to sift out some aspects from potential bio. hm

 

Well, it might be described above but goddamn it I have a massive headache and someone needs to dumb it down to my level.

xD

Edited by I-Am-X, 07 February 2015 - 11:50 PM.

[Officer Judy Hopps]

I just took a guess, X.

 

That and what fit the character I'm designing the best.

[I-Am-X]

Oh, well, I'll wait until I can understand all this better before I got ahead at it.

XD