diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index ffa540a..36c17a5 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ changing underneath a running server. | **Trades** | 10 ordinary jobs the department recruits from, plus induction | | **Catalogue** | 236 items — 123 gear, 62 weapons, 32 armour, 19 vehicles | | **Skills / talents** | 62 skills, 19 talents | -| **Bestiary** | 22 statblocks across folklore, horror and the far side | +| **Bestiary** | 46 statblocks across folklore, horror and the far side | | **Eras** | modern, antique, future, anomalous — the agency is old and never abolishes anything | | **Icons** | 292, all generated from `tools/icons.mjs`; no external art | | **Starter scenario** | **BLACK PLATFORM**, a six-player action starter, importable as a single Adventure | diff --git a/art/portraits/apple_man.svg b/art/portraits/apple_man.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52411f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/apple_man.svg @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ + + The apple tree man + The apple tree man — baseline, SIZ 19, 7 hit locations, natural armour 8, antique. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/grindylow.svg b/art/portraits/grindylow.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6668f9f --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/grindylow.svg @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ + + Grindylow + Grindylow — baseline, SIZ 11, 7 hit locations, natural armour 3, antique. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/hedley_kow.svg b/art/portraits/hedley_kow.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..41755a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/hedley_kow.svg @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ + + Hedley Kow + Hedley Kow — baseline, SIZ 10, 7 hit locations, natural armour 1, antique. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/knockers.svg b/art/portraits/knockers.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..73ef3da --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/knockers.svg @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ + + Knockers + Knockers — cadence, SIZ 6, 5 hit locations, natural armour 2, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/lantern_man.svg b/art/portraits/lantern_man.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c4e4c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/lantern_man.svg @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ + + Lantern man + Lantern man — baseline, SIZ 5, 7 hit locations, natural armour 0, antique. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/lost_property.svg b/art/portraits/lost_property.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3994b17 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/lost_property.svg @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ + + Lost property + Lost property — baseline, SIZ 18, 7 hit locations, natural armour 7, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/night_registry.svg b/art/portraits/night_registry.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93db86a --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/night_registry.svg @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ + + The night registry + The night registry — baseline, SIZ 13, 7 hit locations, natural armour 3, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/nuckelavee.svg b/art/portraits/nuckelavee.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ddcba9 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/nuckelavee.svg @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ + + Nuckelavee + Nuckelavee — baseline, SIZ 20, 7 hit locations, natural armour 5, antique. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/spriggan.svg b/art/portraits/spriggan.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d9cb6b --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/spriggan.svg @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ + + Spriggan + Spriggan — baseline, SIZ 16, 7 hit locations, natural armour 4, antique. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/switchboard.svg b/art/portraits/switchboard.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c228f02 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/switchboard.svg @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ + + The switchboard + The switchboard — baseline, SIZ 14, 7 hit locations, natural armour 4, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_arrears.svg b/art/portraits/the_arrears.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..79b5108 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_arrears.svg @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ + + The arrears + The arrears — baseline, SIZ 19, 7 hit locations, natural armour 7, future. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_census.svg b/art/portraits/the_census.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6376a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_census.svg @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ + + The census + The census — vesh, SIZ 13, 6 hit locations, natural armour 4, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_committee.svg b/art/portraits/the_committee.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d004993 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_committee.svg @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ + + The committee + The committee — cadence, SIZ 12, 5 hit locations, natural armour 2, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_courier.svg b/art/portraits/the_courier.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c86c6c --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_courier.svg @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ + + The courier + The courier — vesh, SIZ 16, 6 hit locations, natural armour 6, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_locum.svg b/art/portraits/the_locum.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc5ac8c --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_locum.svg @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ + + The locum + The locum — baseline, SIZ 12, 7 hit locations, natural armour 1, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_margin.svg b/art/portraits/the_margin.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0aad5f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_margin.svg @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ + + The margin + The margin — vesh, SIZ 8, 6 hit locations, natural armour 2, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_minutes.svg b/art/portraits/the_minutes.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c297558 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_minutes.svg @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ + + The minutes + The minutes — baseline, SIZ 4, 7 hit locations, natural armour 0, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_overwriter.svg b/art/portraits/the_overwriter.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc2251a --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_overwriter.svg @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ + + The overwriter + The overwriter — cadence, SIZ 15, 5 hit locations, natural armour 6, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_predecessor.svg b/art/portraits/the_predecessor.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..abb880b --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_predecessor.svg @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ + + The predecessor + The predecessor — baseline, SIZ 12, 7 hit locations, natural armour 2, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_relay.svg b/art/portraits/the_relay.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e405b28 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_relay.svg @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ + + The relay + The relay — cadence, SIZ 17, 5 hit locations, natural armour 8, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_stanchion.svg b/art/portraits/the_stanchion.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a62aa1 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_stanchion.svg @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ + + The stanchion + The stanchion — baseline, SIZ 21, 7 hit locations, natural armour 12, future. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/the_yield.svg b/art/portraits/the_yield.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7384f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/the_yield.svg @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ + + The yield + The yield — vesh, SIZ 18, 6 hit locations, natural armour 5, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/waiting_room.svg b/art/portraits/waiting_room.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf415c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/waiting_room.svg @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ + + The waiting room + The waiting room — baseline, SIZ 17, 7 hit locations, natural armour 6, anomalous. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/art/portraits/washer_ford.svg b/art/portraits/washer_ford.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6c6978 --- /dev/null +++ b/art/portraits/washer_ford.svg @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ + + The washer at the ford + The washer at the ford — baseline, SIZ 9, 7 hit locations, natural armour 0, antique. Generated by tools/make-portraits.mjs; do not edit by hand. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + diff --git a/docs/scenarios/BESTIARY_ART.md b/docs/scenarios/BESTIARY_ART.md index b4a9baa..55f612d 100644 --- a/docs/scenarios/BESTIARY_ART.md +++ b/docs/scenarios/BESTIARY_ART.md @@ -42,6 +42,30 @@ worse, lets the art disagree with the hit-location table. Change the creature. | `cuckoo_array` | Cuckoo array | Cuckoo array, A machine that has decided it is the site, huge, roughly twice the height of a man, ordinarily built, heavily armoured, plated like machinery, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, recovered technology, not of this time, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | | `long_walker` | Long walker | Long walker, It has been coming here for a very long time and is nearly arrived, huge, roughly twice the height of a man, ordinarily built, heavily armoured, plated like machinery, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, recovered technology, not of this time, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | | `auditor` | The auditor | The auditor, It has read the file and it has questions, adult human scale, ordinarily built, thick natural plating, carrying a service pistol, recovered technology, not of this time, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `washer_ford` | The washer at the ford | The washer at the ford, A woman washing clothes in the beck, and one of them is yours, small, about the size of a child, ordinarily built, no armour, bare, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, old, from long before the present day, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `lantern_man` | Lantern man | Lantern man, A light on the levels that wants you to follow it, very small, no higher than a person's knee, heavy and powerfully built, no armour, bare, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, old, from long before the present day, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `grindylow` | Grindylow | Grindylow, What is in the still water at the bottom of the lock, adult human scale, heavy and powerfully built, tough hide, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, old, from long before the present day, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `knockers` | Knockers | Knockers, The tapping in the workings, which is either a warning or an invitation, NOT ONE BODY: 5 small separate bodies moving together as a single creature, none of them with a head, arranged as a loose group, very small, no higher than a person's knee, heavy and powerfully built, tough hide, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `spriggan` | Spriggan | Spriggan, The small ugly thing guarding the barrow, until it is not small, large, standing well above a tall man, heavy and powerfully built, thick natural plating, carrying a cudgel, old, from long before the present day, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `nuckelavee` | Nuckelavee | Nuckelavee, It came up out of the firth and everything it breathes on dies, huge, roughly twice the height of a man, heavy and powerfully built, thick natural plating, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, old, from long before the present day, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `hedley_kow` | Hedley Kow | Hedley Kow, It is not dangerous and it will ruin your entire evening, adult human scale, heavy and powerfully built, tough hide, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, old, from long before the present day, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `apple_man` | The apple tree man | The apple tree man, The oldest tree in the orchard, and it has been owed a drink since 1961, huge, roughly twice the height of a man, ordinarily built, heavily armoured, plated like machinery, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, old, from long before the present day, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_committee` | The committee | The committee, It went into session in 1953 and has not risen, NOT ONE BODY: 5 small separate bodies moving together as a single creature, none of them with a head, arranged as a loose group, adult human scale, thin, wasted, not strong, tough hide, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `night_registry` | The night registry | The night registry, The filing that gets done after everyone goes home, adult human scale, ordinarily built, tough hide, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_locum` | The locum | The locum, Covering a post that nobody appointed and nobody can close, adult human scale, ordinarily built, tough hide, carrying a service pistol, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `lost_property` | Lost property | Lost property, It has been collecting for ninety years and it is not only umbrellas now, large, standing well above a tall man, ordinarily built, heavily armoured, plated like machinery, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_minutes` | The minutes | The minutes, A faithful record of a meeting that has not been held, very small, no higher than a person's knee, thin, wasted, not strong, no armour, bare, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `waiting_room` | The waiting room | The waiting room, You will be seen shortly, large, standing well above a tall man, ordinarily built, thick natural plating, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_predecessor` | The predecessor | The predecessor, Whoever had this desk before you never quite handed over, adult human scale, ordinarily built, tough hide, carrying a service pistol, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `switchboard` | The switchboard | The switchboard, It is still connecting calls and some of them are answered, adult human scale, thin, wasted, not strong, thick natural plating, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_census` | The census | The census, A Vesh counting what is on this side, and it has got to you, STRONGLY ASYMMETRIC anatomy: one long grasping limb on one side and one short bracing limb on the other, and NO HEAD AT ALL — a raised sensory ridge runs down the back where a head would be, adult human scale, ordinarily built, thick natural plating, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_courier` | The courier | The courier, A Vesh carrying something across, and it will not put it down, STRONGLY ASYMMETRIC anatomy: one long grasping limb on one side and one short bracing limb on the other, and NO HEAD AT ALL — a raised sensory ridge runs down the back where a head would be, large, standing well above a tall man, ordinarily built, thick natural plating, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_relay` | The relay | The relay, Cadence machinery holding one end of a crossing open, NOT ONE BODY: 5 small separate bodies moving together as a single creature, none of them with a head, arranged as a loose group, large, standing well above a tall man, thin, wasted, not strong, heavily armoured, plated like machinery, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_stanchion` | The stanchion | The stanchion, Something was driven through the floor here to keep the door from shutting, huge, roughly twice the height of a man, ordinarily built, heavily armoured, plated like machinery, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, recovered technology, not of this time, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_yield` | The yield | The yield, It is here for the harvest and the harvest is annual, STRONGLY ASYMMETRIC anatomy: one long grasping limb on one side and one short bracing limb on the other, and NO HEAD AT ALL — a raised sensory ridge runs down the back where a head would be, large, standing well above a tall man, ordinarily built, thick natural plating, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_overwriter` | The overwriter | The overwriter, It is correcting the record and it does not know the record is us, NOT ONE BODY: 5 small separate bodies moving together as a single creature, none of them with a head, arranged as a loose group, large, standing well above a tall man, thin, wasted, not strong, thick natural plating, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_arrears` | The arrears | The arrears, Something was borrowed from the far side in 1968 and this is the collection, huge, roughly twice the height of a man, ordinarily built, heavily armoured, plated like machinery, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, recovered technology, not of this time, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | +| `the_margin` | The margin | The margin, It lives in the space around what was written down, STRONGLY ASYMMETRIC anatomy: one long grasping limb on one side and one short bracing limb on the other, and NO HEAD AT ALL — a raised sensory ridge runs down the back where a head would be, small, about the size of a child, ordinarily built, tough hide, no weapon — it uses its own limbs, subtly wrong, something that should not be in the record, [BASE], full figure on a plain ground, neutral background, field-guide plate, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | | `pc_holloway` | Marta Holloway | portrait of Marta Holloway, [BASE], waist-up portrait, plain ground, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | | `pc_okonkwo` | Ben Okonkwo | portrait of Ben Okonkwo, [BASE], waist-up portrait, plain ground, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | | `pc_sandoval` | Rey Sandoval | portrait of Rey Sandoval, [BASE], waist-up portrait, plain ground, --style raw --s 250 --ar 2:3 --no photography, photorealism | diff --git a/packs/npcs/000003.log b/packs/npcs/000003.log index b68907d..f39e33b 100644 Binary files a/packs/npcs/000003.log and b/packs/npcs/000003.log differ diff --git a/tools/content.mjs b/tools/content.mjs index ed3b618..1f289a0 100644 --- a/tools/content.mjs +++ b/tools/content.mjs @@ -919,7 +919,254 @@ export const NPCS = [ skills: [{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:95},{fam:"persuade",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"research",spec:"",val:90}, {fam:"knowledge",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:40},{fam:"firearm",spec:"pistol",val:55}], weapons: ["pistol_med"], - tactics: "It is polite, it is correct, and it has jurisdiction it can document. POWER: THE DISCREPANCY. It names one thing an agent has actually done this case — a Quiet Art used in front of a witness, a credential stretched, a body left. That agent rolls POWx5; on a failure the discrepancy is entered and they lose 1 Coherence permanently to it, because it is now on the record and the record is real. It never lies and it never needs to." } + tactics: "It is polite, it is correct, and it has jurisdiction it can document. POWER: THE DISCREPANCY. It names one thing an agent has actually done this case — a Quiet Art used in front of a witness, a credential stretched, a body left. That agent rolls POWx5; on a failure the discrepancy is entered and they lose 1 Coherence permanently to it, because it is now on the record and the record is real. It never lies and it never needs to." }, + + /* ============================================================ + * FOLKLORE, second series + * + * Older than the department and largely uninterested in it. The through-line is + * that almost none of them can be fought profitably: they are arrangements, and + * the arrangement is nearly always cheaper than the fight. Kept that way on + * purpose — a bestiary where every answer is a gun is a bestiary with one page. + * ============================================================ */ + + { key: "washer_ford", name: "The washer at the ford", role: "FOLKLORE. A woman washing clothes in the beck, and one of them is yours", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 0, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 8, siz: 9, con: 12, int: 15, pow: 22, dex: 11, cha: 9, edu: 8 }, + skills: [{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:90},{fam:"occult",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:60}, + {fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:35},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:25},{fam:"language",spec:"own",val:70}], + weapons: ["punch"], + tactics: "She will not fight and cannot be made to. She is at the water before dawn washing something with a name in the collar. POWER: THE COLLAR. Any agent who looks closely enough to read it learns, truthfully, how they die — not when. That agent takes −20% to every roll for the rest of the session and may not be talked out of it; the knowledge is correct. She will answer three questions if asked courteously and none at all if not. Killing her is possible, trivial, and means the next person to need the warning does not get it — note that down for the debrief, because the department will ask." }, + + { key: "lantern_man", name: "Lantern man", role: "FOLKLORE. A light on the levels that wants you to follow it", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 0, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 6, siz: 5, con: 10, int: 12, pow: 18, dex: 20, cha: 14, edu: 4 }, + skills: [{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"navigate",spec:"",val:90}, + {fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:20},{fam:"spot",spec:"",val:70}], + weapons: ["punch"], + tactics: "It never touches anybody. It goes ahead at the edge of the lamps and it is always exactly as far away as it needs to be. POWER: THE SHORTER WAY. Every ten minutes of following, each agent rolls Navigate; on a failure the party is one step further into water, bog or a drop they cannot see. Three failures and somebody is in it. It is put out by being ignored for a full ten minutes, which is much harder than it sounds at two in the morning on a flat black field. Shooting at a light achieves what shooting at a light achieves." }, + + { key: "grindylow", name: "Grindylow", role: "FOLKLORE. What is in the still water at the bottom of the lock", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 3, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 17, siz: 11, con: 16, int: 7, pow: 12, dex: 15, cha: 3, edu: 2 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"athletics",spec:"",val:75}, + {fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:50},{fam:"listen",spec:"",val:65},{fam:"track",spec:"",val:40}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "It has no interest in anyone on the bank and total interest in anyone in the water. It waits under an overhang and it is patient in a way that is not clever. POWER: THE PULL. Against a target in water it attacks at +40% and a hit means grappled, not damaged; a grappled target is under and rolling CONx5 each round to keep breathing. Out of water it is slow, half-blind and frankly pitiable — the entire fight is about whether anybody is standing where they should not be. It does not pursue onto dry land and it does not need to; the canal is four hundred yards long and people fall in." }, + + { key: "knockers", name: "Knockers", role: "FOLKLORE. The tapping in the workings, which is either a warning or an invitation", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 2, species: "cadence", + talents: ["distributed", "quorum"], + ch: { str: 9, siz: 6, con: 15, int: 13, pow: 14, dex: 16, cha: 6, edu: 7 }, + skills: [{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"listen",spec:"",val:90},{fam:"navigate",spec:"",val:75}, + {fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:45},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:55},{fam:"repair",spec:"mechanical",val:50}], + weapons: ["punch"], + tactics: "Cadence, and the only folklore entry that is. They are several small bodies in the dark that behave as one miner, and they tap. POWER: THE KNOCK. Once a round they tap on rock; every agent who hears it rolls Listen. On a success the tap is a warning and they learn one true fact about the workings — a bad roof, a flooded level, a way out. On a FAILURE it is an invitation, and the agent has moved twenty yards toward it without deciding to. Left alone they are harmless and useful. Attacked, they simply stop knocking, and the party is now underground with no warnings." }, + + { key: "spriggan", name: "Spriggan", role: "FOLKLORE. The small ugly thing guarding the barrow, until it is not small", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 4, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 21, siz: 16, con: 18, int: 9, pow: 15, dex: 13, cha: 4, edu: 5 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:45},{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:70}, + {fam:"spot",spec:"",val:65},{fam:"athletics",spec:"",val:60},{fam:"melee_weapon",spec:"club",val:55}], + weapons: ["cudgel"], + tactics: "It is knee-high and pathetic right up until somebody puts a hand on what it is guarding. POWER: WHAT IT REALLY IS. The characteristics above are the LARGE form. Until the barrow is disturbed run it at SIZ 6 and STR 8, harmless and mostly comic; the change is one round and there is no roll to resist it. It guards a place, not a treasure, and it will not follow a thief past the boundary stone — so the entire encounter is decided by whether anybody puts something back. They usually will, once it is nine feet tall." }, + + { key: "nuckelavee", name: "Nuckelavee", role: "FOLKLORE. It came up out of the firth and everything it breathes on dies", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 5, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 24, siz: 20, con: 20, int: 8, pow: 19, dex: 14, cha: 1, edu: 3 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"athletics",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:50}, + {fam:"track",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"scent",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"spot",spec:"",val:55}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "The worst thing in this list that can simply be fought, and it should be run as such: no bargain, no arrangement, no questions. POWER: THE BLIGHT. Everything within ten metres withers — crops, stock, and on a failed CONx5 each round, people, who take 1 point that armour does not stop. It will not cross running fresh water and it knows that about itself, which makes every stream on the map a tactical feature. Do not let this one become a set-piece brawl in an open field; the players will lose and the loss will not be interesting. Put a beck in the terrain." }, + + { key: "hedley_kow", name: "Hedley Kow", role: "FOLKLORE. It is not dangerous and it will ruin your entire evening", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 1, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 12, siz: 10, con: 13, int: 16, pow: 17, dex: 18, cha: 15, edu: 6 }, + skills: [{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"fast_talk",spec:"",val:75}, + {fam:"sleight_of_hand",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:30},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:60}], + weapons: ["punch"], + tactics: "Include it when a case needs a complication rather than a threat. It cannot really hurt anyone and it is not trying to. POWER: THE SWAP. Once per scene it becomes an object or a person the party has already seen, and the party's own gear is what changes: a torch is a milk bottle, a warrant card is somebody else's, a set of keys is a handful of pebbles. Each swap is a genuine loss until found. It laughs at the wrong moment, always, which is the tell. Cornering it works and gets you a very annoyed goat. Everything it took turns up in a hedge within a mile." }, + + { key: "apple_man", name: "The apple tree man", role: "FOLKLORE. The oldest tree in the orchard, and it has been owed a drink since 1961", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 8, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 19, siz: 19, con: 24, int: 12, pow: 20, dex: 4, cha: 10, edu: 14 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:55},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:10},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:70}, + {fam:"occult",spec:"",val:65},{fam:"science",spec:"botany",val:80},{fam:"listen",spec:"",val:75}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "It cannot move and it does not want to. It is owed a wassail and the farm stopped in 1961 when the farm stopped. POWER: THE RECKONING. It knows what is buried in its orchard, all of it, and will say so in exchange for the debt being paid — cider poured on the roots, and somebody has to sing. It cannot be made to answer any other way; threats bore it, being nineteen feet of apple wood. If attacked it fights at DEX 4, which is to say it does not, and burning it works and ends the case with the department very cross indeed, because that orchard was the only witness to whatever is under it." }, + + /* ============================================================ + * HORROR, second series + * + * The department's own. Every one of these is a piece of administration that has + * kept going after the reason for it stopped, which is the house definition of + * the supernatural here: a filing error somebody committed on purpose, still + * being honoured. Almost all of them are worse to shoot than to answer. + * ============================================================ */ + + { key: "the_committee", name: "The committee", role: "HORROR. It went into session in 1953 and has not risen", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 2, species: "cadence", + talents: ["distributed", "quorum"], + ch: { str: 9, siz: 12, con: 17, int: 18, pow: 19, dex: 8, cha: 13, edu: 20 }, + skills: [{fam:"persuade",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"knowledge",spec:"",val:85}, + {fam:"status",spec:"",val:90},{fam:"research",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:20}, + {fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:30},{fam:"language",spec:"own",val:80}], + weapons: ["punch"], + tactics: "Cadence, and the right one for it: several bodies round a table that are one decision. They are courteous and they will hear you. POWER: RESOLVED. Once per scene the committee passes a motion about the party — that they are not cleared for this floor, that their warrant is withdrawn, that one of them was never appointed. The motion is TRUE from the moment it carries, and it carries unless an agent argues it down with Persuade or Status at −20%. It can be defeated properly: the quorum is real, and taking bodies out of the room below quorum ends every motion it has ever passed. That is the case. Shooting a committee room is also a thing that will be minuted." }, + + { key: "night_registry", name: "The night registry", role: "HORROR. The filing that gets done after everyone goes home", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 3, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 13, siz: 13, con: 18, int: 16, pow: 21, dex: 9, cha: 2, edu: 22 }, + skills: [{fam:"research",spec:"",val:95},{fam:"knowledge",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:70}, + {fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:50},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:25},{fam:"listen",spec:"",val:80}, + {fam:"anomaly_lore",spec:"",val:60}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "It only exists between the last person leaving and the first arriving, and inside that window it is doing its job properly for the first time in decades. POWER: CORRECTLY FILED. Anything left in the building overnight is put where it belongs — which is not where anybody left it, and for a person means the personnel files. An agent who sleeps in the building rolls POWx5; on a failure they wake up on the record as staff from 1961, with that year's clearances and none of their own. Reversible, by a scene of argument with somebody senior. It cannot be fought before dark because it is not there, and after dark the building is entirely its." }, + + { key: "the_locum", name: "The locum", role: "HORROR. Covering a post that nobody appointed and nobody can close", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 1, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 12, siz: 12, con: 14, int: 15, pow: 18, dex: 14, cha: 19, edu: 16 }, + skills: [{fam:"persuade",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"fast_talk",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:70}, + {fam:"status",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:45},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:55}, + {fam:"firearm",spec:"pistol",val:50}], + weapons: ["pistol_med"], + tactics: "It is helpful, it has a lanyard, and every single person on site assumes somebody else knows who it is. POWER: OF COURSE. It may assert one credential per scene and it is believed — by NPCs automatically, and by an agent unless they beat it on Insight against its Persuade. It is not hostile until challenged in front of witnesses, at which point it becomes extremely hostile and extremely plausible about it. The way to close it is administrative, not violent: find the post it is covering, and abolish the post. It cannot be sacked, because it was never hired." }, + + { key: "lost_property", name: "Lost property", role: "HORROR. It has been collecting for ninety years and it is not only umbrellas now", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 7, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 20, siz: 18, con: 23, int: 6, pow: 16, dex: 5, cha: 1, edu: 9 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:60},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:10},{fam:"spot",spec:"",val:70}, + {fam:"listen",spec:"",val:65},{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:30}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "A room, not a creature, and it does not leave. It is slow and it is enormously strong and the door is behind it. POWER: UNCLAIMED. Anything an agent sets down in the room is the room's after one round, and cannot be picked up again without a STR roll against STR 20. That includes a rifle put down to open a door, and it will include a person who sits down. It has everything anybody has ever lost in that building, which is why the party is in there — the case item is on a shelf, and getting it out is the whole scene. It never pursues past the doorway." }, + + { key: "the_minutes", name: "The minutes", role: "HORROR. A faithful record of a meeting that has not been held", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 0, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 3, siz: 4, con: 10, int: 20, pow: 23, dex: 12, cha: 8, edu: 25 }, + skills: [{fam:"research",spec:"",val:90},{fam:"knowledge",spec:"",val:95},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:85}, + {fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:30},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:10},{fam:"occult",spec:"",val:70}], + weapons: ["punch"], + tactics: "Twelve sheets in a treasury tag. It cannot hurt anybody and it is on this list because of what reading it does. POWER: AS AGREED. The minutes record decisions the party will make later in the session. When a recorded decision comes up, the agent may either take it — free, correct, and the minutes were right — or refuse it, and lose 1 Coherence for stepping outside the record. Write two or three plausible decisions before play and let the party find them. Burning the minutes works and every decision in them then happens anyway, badly. It has 4 hit points and there is no reason ever to attack it." }, + + { key: "waiting_room", name: "The waiting room", role: "HORROR. You will be seen shortly", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 6, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 15, siz: 17, con: 21, int: 11, pow: 22, dex: 6, cha: 12, edu: 13 }, + skills: [{fam:"persuade",spec:"",val:60},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:65},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:40}, + {fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:15},{fam:"listen",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"occult",spec:"",val:55}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "Nothing in here is aggressive. There are eleven chairs, four of them occupied by people who have been waiting a very long time and are perfectly pleasant about it. POWER: SHORTLY. Every agent who sits down rolls POWx5 at the end of each scene; on a failure they do not want to leave yet, and will explain reasonably why not. Three failures and they are one of the four. Standing up costs nothing and almost nobody does it, because they were told to wait. The exit is not locked. It has never been locked. Make a point of saying so early and never mentioning it again." }, + + { key: "the_predecessor", name: "The predecessor", role: "HORROR. Whoever had this desk before you never quite handed over", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 2, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 13, siz: 12, con: 15, int: 17, pow: 20, dex: 13, cha: 11, edu: 19 }, + skills: [{fam:"knowledge",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"research",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:80}, + {fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:65},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:55},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:50}, + {fam:"firearm",spec:"pistol",val:60},{fam:"tradecraft",spec:"",val:70}], + weapons: ["pistol_med"], + tactics: "Target ONE agent and use their own posting: it is the person who held their job, and it is better at it. POWER: HANDOVER. Once a round it performs a task that agent was about to perform, correctly and first. Mechanically that agent loses their action; the thing still gets done, which is what makes it hard to object to. If it is allowed to do this five times in one case the agent is redundant and the department will act on that. It stops entirely the moment somebody says out loud, in front of it, exactly what happened to it — which is in the file the party has almost certainly not read yet." }, + + { key: "switchboard", name: "The switchboard", role: "HORROR. It is still connecting calls and some of them are answered", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 4, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 10, siz: 14, con: 19, int: 14, pow: 24, dex: 16, cha: 16, edu: 15 }, + skills: [{fam:"listen",spec:"",val:95},{fam:"persuade",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:75}, + {fam:"repair",spec:"electronics",val:80},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:25},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:35}, + {fam:"language",spec:"own",val:85}], + weapons: ["punch"], + tactics: "A wall of jacks and cord in a basement that was decommissioned in 1974. It rings. POWER: PUTTING YOU THROUGH. Any agent who picks up is connected to somebody who is dead, or somewhere that is not there, or to themselves earlier in the case. The information is always TRUE and always costs 1 Coherence to have heard. It will connect the party to almost anything they ask for, which makes it the most useful thing in this list and the reason a party bleeds Coherence to nothing by the third act. Cutting the cords stops it. Nobody ever cuts the cords." }, + + /* ============================================================ + * FORWARD, second series — the far side, and what it sends + * + * Five of these eight are Vesh or Cadence, which is the point of writing them. + * The anatomies had complete hit-location tables, body geometry, species talents + * and location effects for the whole life of this project and NOT ONE creature + * used either, so none of it had ever run outside the character generator. + * + * They are also written to be worth the anatomy rather than to have it as + * decoration. A Vesh cannot be dropped by a shot to the head because it has no + * head, so a fight with one is long and has no lucky ending; its ridge is a + * vital that is hit on 3 of 20 where a human head is hit on 1, so it is not + * simply tougher, it is differently vulnerable. A Cadence has no vital at all + * and degrades 10% per body lost, so it cannot be dropped and cannot be ignored. + * tools/simulate.mjs measures all of that now; before, it could not. + * ============================================================ */ + + { key: "the_census", name: "The census", role: "FORWARD. A Vesh counting what is on this side, and it has got to you", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 4, species: "vesh", + talents: ["unblinking"], + ch: { str: 12, siz: 13, con: 16, int: 18, pow: 20, dex: 16, cha: 5, edu: 21 }, + skills: [{fam:"research",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"knowledge",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"spot",spec:"",val:90}, + {fam:"insight",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:55},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:50}, + {fam:"language",spec:"trade_cant",val:75},{fam:"anomaly_lore",spec:"",val:65}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "It is not counting for anybody here and it will not say who for. It works down a street writing in a book held in the one grasping limb. POWER: ENUMERATED. When it counts an agent — one round, no roll, it simply looks — that agent is on a list on the far side. Thereafter anything from the far side knows where they are, permanently, and the department cannot get them off it. That is the whole threat and it is not a combat one. Fighting it is legal, slow and stupid: no head means no killing shot, and the fight runs until somebody has opened the ridge, by which time it has counted everyone. Taking the book works. It will not give up the book." }, + + { key: "the_courier", name: "The courier", role: "FORWARD. A Vesh carrying something across, and it will not put it down", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 6, species: "vesh", + talents: ["unblinking"], + ch: { str: 18, siz: 16, con: 19, int: 12, pow: 17, dex: 19, cha: 4, edu: 10 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"athletics",spec:"",val:85}, + {fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:60},{fam:"navigate",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"spot",spec:"",val:70}, + {fam:"track",spec:"",val:65}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "The fighting one. It is going somewhere and the party is in the way, and it will go through them rather than around because going around is late. POWER: THE CONSIGNMENT. Everything it carries is in the single grasp limb and it will not use that limb to fight while it is carrying — so it attacks with the brace limb at HALF the rating above until the consignment is taken from it. Disable the grasp limb and it drops the consignment and fights properly, at full rating and furious. That is the trade the whole encounter turns on, and a party that works it out has a much worse fight and the thing they came for." }, + + { key: "the_relay", name: "The relay", role: "FORWARD. Cadence machinery holding one end of a crossing open", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 8, species: "cadence", + talents: ["distributed", "quorum"], + ch: { str: 14, siz: 17, con: 22, int: 16, pow: 23, dex: 10, cha: 2, edu: 18 }, + skills: [{fam:"repair",spec:"electronics",val:85},{fam:"engineering",spec:"field_systems",val:80}, + {fam:"spot",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"listen",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:55}, + {fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:25},{fam:"anomaly_lore",spec:"",val:70}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "Five bodies at five points of a room, and between them the crossing stays open. It does not attack anybody who is not touching it. POWER: WHILE QUORATE. The crossing holds while three or more bodies stand. Take it to two and the crossing begins to close over a minute; take it to one and it closes now, with whatever is halfway through still halfway through. This is the clearest use of Distributed in the book: no vital, no head, cannot be dropped, and every body taken costs it 10% of everything — so it gets slower and worse and never stops until the last one is down. Time the party's demolition against what is coming through." }, + + { key: "the_stanchion", name: "The stanchion", role: "FORWARD. Something was driven through the floor here to keep the door from shutting", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 12, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 22, siz: 21, con: 25, int: 4, pow: 21, dex: 2, cha: 1, edu: 6 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:45},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:5},{fam:"spot",spec:"",val:40}, + {fam:"listen",spec:"",val:50}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "It is a fixed object with the highest armour in the book and it cannot move at all. Nothing about this is a fight; it is a demolition problem with a timer. POWER: DRIVEN. While it stands the crossing beside it cannot be closed by any means, including the Quiet Arts. It has 12 natural armour, so small arms do literally nothing and the party will need the cutter, the demolition charge, or an idea. It hits anybody within arm's reach, once a round, hard, and it never follows. Put it somewhere the party must work beside it and let the arithmetic of that be the scene." }, + + { key: "the_yield", name: "The yield", role: "FORWARD. It is here for the harvest and the harvest is annual", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 5, species: "vesh", + talents: ["unblinking"], + ch: { str: 20, siz: 18, con: 18, int: 10, pow: 16, dex: 15, cha: 3, edu: 7 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"track",spec:"",val:85},{fam:"scent",spec:"",val:80}, + {fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:60},{fam:"athletics",spec:"",val:70}, + {fam:"navigate",spec:"",val:65}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "It comes on the same night every year and takes the same number, and the village has known this for longer than the department has existed. POWER: THE COUNT. It takes four. Not five, not three — if the party stops it taking a fourth it will keep working until it has one, and it will not leave without them. Anybody offered voluntarily satisfies the count immediately. That is the horror of the scene and it should be laid out plainly to the players before the fight, because a party that does not know the rule will simply fight, and this thing kills. Killing it means next year the arrangement is gone and nobody local knows what replaces it." }, + + { key: "the_overwriter", name: "The overwriter", role: "FORWARD. It is correcting the record and it does not know the record is us", + chosenStyle: "deliberate", naturalArmour: 6, species: "cadence", + talents: ["distributed", "quorum"], + ch: { str: 11, siz: 15, con: 20, int: 22, pow: 25, dex: 12, cha: 7, edu: 24 }, + skills: [{fam:"research",spec:"",val:95},{fam:"knowledge",spec:"",val:90},{fam:"anomaly_lore",spec:"",val:85}, + {fam:"insight",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:35},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:30}, + {fam:"occult",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"transposition",spec:"",val:60}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "The most dangerous thing on this list to a case, though not to a body. It is doing maintenance and everyone here is a typographical error. POWER: THE CORRECTION. Once a round it corrects one FACT the party is relying on — an address, a name in a file, which door the key opens, who signed the warrant. The correction is retroactive and true, and no roll resists it; the party simply finds the world has always been slightly different. Each body destroyed costs it 10% and slows the corrections. It cannot be reasoned with because it does not consider this a negotiation, and it is right not to." }, + + { key: "the_arrears", name: "The arrears", role: "FORWARD. Something was borrowed from the far side in 1968 and this is the collection", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 7, species: "baseline", + ch: { str: 21, siz: 19, con: 21, int: 14, pow: 22, dex: 14, cha: 8, edu: 16 }, + skills: [{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"insight",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"track",spec:"",val:80}, + {fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:55},{fam:"persuade",spec:"",val:60},{fam:"knowledge",spec:"",val:70}, + {fam:"athletics",spec:"",val:65},{fam:"anomaly_lore",spec:"",val:60}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "It will state the debt, in trade cant, once, and then begin collecting. It is scrupulous and it does not take more than it is owed. POWER: THE PRINCIPAL. It knows precisely what the department took and from whom; the debt is real and the file confirming it exists in the Registry. Settling it ends the encounter instantly and costs the department something the players will not want to give. Fighting it works — it can be killed — and the debt then passes to whoever killed it, personally, and it will send something else next year. Both endings are correct. Do not signal which one you prefer." }, + + { key: "the_margin", name: "The margin", role: "FORWARD. It lives in the space around what was written down", + chosenStyle: "reflex", naturalArmour: 2, species: "vesh", + talents: ["unblinking"], + ch: { str: 9, siz: 8, con: 13, int: 19, pow: 24, dex: 21, cha: 6, edu: 17 }, + skills: [{fam:"stealth",spec:"",val:95},{fam:"dodge",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"spot",spec:"",val:85}, + {fam:"listen",spec:"",val:80},{fam:"sleight_of_hand",spec:"",val:75},{fam:"brawl",spec:"",val:40}, + {fam:"anomaly_lore",spec:"",val:70},{fam:"language",spec:"trade_cant",val:65}], + weapons: ["grasp"], + tactics: "Small, quick, and almost never seen directly — a Vesh built to be a problem of attention rather than of damage. POWER: NOT MENTIONED. It can only be perceived by an agent who is NOT currently looking for it; anybody actively searching rolls Spot at −50%, and anybody who has stopped searching sees it immediately. It steals documents and it does not steal anything else. It is fragile — 2 armour, SIZ 8 — and catching it is the entire difficulty. If the party ever corners it, let them have it; the win is earned and it is carrying three cases' worth of paper it took from somewhere else." }, ]; /* ---------- the device ---------- */