The Cursed RPG

By

Michael Evans

Cursed RPG rough version 5

The Cursed RPG written and game designed by Michael Evans 2007The Cursed RPG Logo created by Edwin Homes-Lauder 2009Editing Assisted by Richard Chilton, Edwin Holmes-Lauder, Richard Hovey, and Katrina Hovey. They found a lot, for every mistake still in the book they found at least twenty.

Play testers Group oneRichard Chilton, Edwin Holmes-Lauder, Richard Hovey, Lisa Jimmo, Greg McNamara, andOwen Robicheau

Group twoSean (Furby) Casey, Amanda (Bob) Curwin, Amanda Evans, Josh (Shiro) Hubbard, Jessica(Casper) Roy

This Document may be copied and printed in part or whole for non-commercial use.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Special Thanks...1

Introduction...1

How to Use a D20 for Just

About Everything...1

The Feel of the Game...2

What’s in a Name?...2

Types of Cursed...2

Things to keep in mind...4

About the Book...7

Chapter 2 Character Creation

Cheat Sheet 9

Stats 10

Skills 11

Skill Descriptions 12

Combat Skill Descriptions 16

Classes of Cursed...18

Common Cursed Bonuses18

Shaman...20

Becoming a Shaman...21

Shaman Penalties...21

Shaman Bonuses...21

Shaman’s Opinion of Other

Cursed...23

Mystic...25

Mystic Penalties...25

Mystic Bonuses...25

Mystic’s Opinion of Other

Cursed...27

Psychic...28

Psychic Penalties...28

Psychic Bonuses...28

Psychic’s Opinion of Other

Cursed...28

Sorcerer...30

Becoming a Sorcerer...30

Sorcerer Penalties...30

Sorcerer Bonuses...30

Sorcerer’s Opinion of

Other Cursed...31

Summoner...32

Summoner Penalties 32

Summoner Bonuses...32

Summoner’s Opinion of

Other Cursed...34

The Blessed...35

The Blessed Penalties...35

The Blessed Bonuses...35

The Blessed’s Opinion of

Other Cursed...37

Changelings...38

Fey-stolen ...38

Spirit-found...38

Demon-stolen...39

Changeling Penalties...39

Changeling Bonuses.39

Fey-stolen Bonuses..40

Spirit-found Bonuses40

Demon-stolen Bonuses41

Demon-stolen’s Opinion of

Other Cursed...41

Spirit-found’s Opinion of

Other Cursed...42

Fey-stolen’s Opinion of

Other Cursed...43

Magical Spells and Psychic

Phenomena...44

Magic...44

Casting Time...44

Lending a helping hand44

The Good and the Bad of

Spell Casting...44

Satisfaction and Strong

Emotions...45

Spicing up Your Spells46

Location, Location,

Location...46

Losing Your Mojo...47

Hiding the Hidden...47

Keep Your Mind in the

Game...47

What’s in a Name...47

Will Save, but I Don’t

Want to....48

Rules for Creating New

Spells...48

Spells/Powers...49

Shaman Rituals...51

Spells for Other Magical

Cursed...54

Psychic Powers...70

Glamour...74

Giving Your Character

Character...75

Bonuses...76

Penalties...81

Corruption, Mental Illness,

Deformities, and Other Detriments

to Horrific Acts...84

Overcoming Corruption

and Taint...85

Gaining Experience...85

Spending Experience...86

Chapter 3 Rules

Weapon Damage...88

Armour...88

Hit Location...88

Bleeding and Crippling

Damage...88

Fire, Electricity, Freezing,

Drowning, and Chocking..89

Critical Hits and Instant

Kills..89

Knockout...89

Pinning, Grappling, and

Snatching...90

Surprise Attack...90

The Effects of Damage on

Skills...90

Hurt Points...90

Rules for healing...91

Two Handed Fighting...92

Strength, Speed and

Endurance...92

Tastes Like Death; Fun With

Drugs...94

Tolerance and Addiction...95

Idea Roll...96

Option for Live-Action Role

Play...96

Chapter 4

Playing Well With Others..97

The Fey...98

The Half Fey...100

Elves...101

Dwarves...102

Orcs...103

Angels...104

Demons...105

Nephilim...107

Watchers...109

Undead...110

Ghosts...110

Avengers...111

Vampires...112

Ghouls...113

Lich...114

Changing Breeds...115

Dragons...116

Nature Spirits...117

Loa...118

Sin Eaters...119

Hunters...120

Living Spells...121

Aliens...122

Alpha-Draconians...123

The Greys...124

The Torkep...125

Nordic Aliens...126

Light Wings...127

Dark Wings...128

Unusual Others...129

Immortals...129

Men in Black...130

Organizations and secret

Societies...131

The Order...131

The Illuminati...132

Brotherhood of the

Serpent’s Fang...133

The Agency...134

The Beautiful Ones...135

The Keepers of the

Darkness...136

The Brotherhood...137

Sumeria Resurrected...138

The Knights Templar..139

True Discordians...140

Places to go When Your

Cursed...141

Fearie...142

The Astral Plane...143

The Spirit World...144

The Goblin Market...146

The World Wide Web148

The Land of Dreams...149

Other Realms of Note150

Hell...151

Stonehenge and great

standing stones...152

Haunted Houses...153

Ley Lines and Nexus

Points...154

Appendix...155

Chapter 1Introduction

Special Thanks

First off I would like to thank mysister Amanda. Among all the horriblethings she did to me as a child, nothing hadas much of an effect on me as introducingme to role playing games. I would also liketo thank my parents, who when they foundout I was getting into role playing dideverything in their power to try and stop me. When that didn’t work they let me enjoy it.

I would like to thank my wifeStephanie who, while having the commonsense not to actually get involved with roleplaying, did everything else in her power toencourage me and help me with this book.

I would like to thank my gaminggroup, especially my best friend RichardHovey, who got everyone revved up andexcited about this game, even me. I wouldlike to thank Richard Chilton for pointingout the mistakes he found (for every one lefthere there where probably twenty he found)without making me feel stupid about it. Iwould also like to thank both Richards formaking the sex rules the most revised rulesin this book (I will not tell you where theyare, you will have to keep reading to findthem). And I would like to apologise toGreg McNamara for everything thathappened to his family and thank him forinadvertently convincing me to keep theworking title: The Cursed RPG.

Introduction

Throughout history they have beencalled many things. Shamans, medicine

men, wise women, witches, wizards,sorcerers, prophets, heretics, The Cursed.

The world of The Cursed is the sameas our world; the streets are the same, thestores are the same, it’s the characters thatare different. Most of the characters werenormal once, before they received "the gift." The gift is the ability to sense beyond thenormal into the realm of the mystical. Somecan see the world of spirits. Others whowere taken from our reality escaped theother world. Some were born with the giftof magic in their souls. Then there are thosewho spent years learning control and alterthe natural laws.

About This Book

This book is the first of two mainbooks. This first book is everything playersneed to begin playing Cursed RPG. Thesecond book contains the creatures andsecrets of the world of The Cursed. Thisfirst book consists of four chapters. Eachchapter covers different aspects of the game.

Chapter 1 basically introduces you tothe basic concept of the game. It gives alittle detail of the world, and the storybehind the writing of the game.

Chapter 2 is the rules for makingcharacters. Everything you need to knowabout how to make your character is in thischapter such as stats, skills, class, extrabonuses and penalties, to gaining andspending experience points.

Chapter 3 is the rules for the system. Combat damage, healing, and other rulesneeded to play are found here.

Chapter 4 is basic information your

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character may know. The first two sectionsare from an excerpt from an in game book(the book only exists in the game). Thebook was written by a famous Changelingwho calls himself the Mad Hatter. The bookis call “The Mad Hatter’s Guide to NotGetting Eaten.” It was written and produced(published would be the wrong word since itjust appeared one day and anyone with acopy couldn’t tell you how they came about getting their hands on it) in 1996.

There were only a hundred copiesknown to exist and few know whathappened to them. It is almost impossible tofind a complete version of the book, butsections of the book have been copied andwildly distributed, such as Playing WellWith Others. What is in this chapter yourcharacter may know with a lore checkdifficulty level of Easy, but not all theinformation may be correct, this is comingfrom a man calling himself the Mad Hatter.

The Mad Hatter cannot be foundunless he wants to be, so it may be difficultfor your characters to question him on anyinformation he has written about.

The third section Places to Go WhenYou’re Cursed is a pamphlet that tends tofind its way to most Cursed. No one is surewho wrote it or why, but many Cursedtreasure their copy for the information itprovides.

From Supernatural to Mystical

I recently changed all the use of theword supernatural to mystical in this bookbecause it suits the mood better. It is an ideaI heard in a series of novels (EstherDiamond series, you should go out and readthem) where there is no such thing assupernatural, all things are natural somethings are just mystical. So, if a spell says it

will not work in front of a mundane witnessit means a non-mystical human.

Gender-Based Pronouns

I am using the he/him/his pronounthroughout this book when one is neededbecause I find it easier to remember. This isnot meant to discriminate or offend, I’m justlazy. The use of the masculine pronoundoes not mean there are no female Cursed.

How to Use a D20 For Just

About Everything

A D20 is used for almost everythingin The Cursed RPG. For the few times youneed another die, for whatever else you mayneed, it might not be worth it to go out andbuy the other dice (but if you are playingthis, chances are you are already a hardcoregamer and have enough dice to sink abattleship). If you are just getting into thehobby of role-playing games and don’t havea full dice bag yet, don’t worry. To simulatethe D4 with a D20, just roll the D20; if itlands on 1-5 then it counts as a 1, if it landsbetween 6-10 then it’s a 2, if it landsbetween 11-15 then it’s a 3, and between 16-20 is a four. For D10s it’s easy roll the D20and divide the number by 2, round up.

The Feel of the Game

The world of The Cursed is like thisworld. It is a dark place at time, withrandom and organized crime affecting thelives of innocent people. A lot of people areunemployed, stretching to make ends meet,or already out in the streets. There are warsand terrorist attacks. Add in the magicalelements such as demons and cults

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performing horrible acts and the world canseem a little bleak.

But the world of The Cursed is notall darkness and gloom. There are moreparents out there that love and wish toprotect their children than abuse them. Mostcops are not corrupt, and most religiousleaders are normal, healthy people, who mayget normal urges but would never imaginevictimizing anyone. There are people whotruly wish to help others and the magicalelements add a new spectrum of wonder andexcitement to the world.

This game is about contrast. Youplay a person who has had his world turnedinside out. The character has been thrustinto a world he was convinced did not exist. His old friends and family would not, couldnot, for the most part, understand what he isgoing through. Everything that you weretold could not be real is now an every dayoccurrence. Your character has fallen offthe map, and here be monsters.

Unfortunately for your character,most people only see the effect it has on himnot the cause of the effect, which means,most of the time he needs to hide the effectthe mystical world has on him. It’s difficultto hold down a job at the local pizza placewhen cultist, monsters, and demons frombeyond creation keep coming in to kill you,and don’t even order anything. This is agame meant to be both serious andhumorous, dark and light, a game of themystical and the mundane.

A note about secrecy and stayinghidden from the mundane world. Sometimes the best place to hide is out inthe open. It is one thing to say anythingmagical must never revel itself, but that isnot likely to happen. Throughout historythere have been those who have claimed tobe great practitioners of the mystic arts.

People such as Merlin, Count St. Germain,John Dee, Aleister Crowley have claimed tobe powerful magicians. Many have believedthese people while many other discountthem as frauds and charlatans. In the worldof The Cursed, many of the famousoccultists have actually been Cursed whodecided to hide in plain sight. The mostpowerful resource the mystical has to keepitself hidden is that humanity truly does notwant to believe in the mystical and will go togreat length to disbelieve their own eyes.

It is the exploration of the mysteriousand fantastic in the mundane world that isthe core theme of this game. It is about themystery behind the everyday world we livein. Sometimes it is horrible to behold, butsometime it is beautiful beyond imagination. Either way, the basis of the game is to learnwhat is behind the metaphorical wallshumanity built to protect ourselves from theunknown. The characters must break out ofthe prison humanity built for itself.

Types of Cursed

1) ShamansShamans were probably among the

first of The Cursed, chosen by the spiritworld to be their emissaries. Shamanshonour the spirits, help the dead find theirway, fight of darker spirits to help humanity. Shamans were always set apart from society,respected but feared in the past, they are nowthe crazies that will start arguing withthemselves, acting out for no reason, seeingthings that no one else sees. Many end up inasylums if they are not careful.

2) MysticsMystics are users of magic, but not

ones that studied for years to control arcaneforces. No one is sure where the power

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comes from. Some believe that they haveotherworldly lineage, other think it is thenatural reaction to the unnatural aroundunborn enfant while in the womb, and otherbelieve that the magic simply choosescertain people from birth as a representative. Whatever the reason, the power comesnaturally to the mystics, but withoutguidance they can barely control the magicthey have at their disposal.

3) PsychicThe Psychics powers are not

mystical, but come from within. They canread minds, move objects, start fires and domany other amazing feats. Some psychicsevolve naturally while others are created, butall are a force to be reckoned with.

4) SorcererSorcerers are people who have spent

lifetimes learning the arcane arts. Mostbelong to esoteric orders that seek outpromising young apprentices, or are masterswho teach a very select few the ancientways. Very, very few sorcerers are selftaught. The thing to remember is thatsorcerers were never meant to wield magic,they had to have gotten the power fromsomewhere.

5) SummonersSummoners, like Shamans, gain their

power from otherworldly beings. UnlikeShamans, Summoners don't serve theseforces, but instead enslave and manipulatethem.

6) The BlessedThe Blessed gain their powers from a

higher power. Through prayer and devotionthe blessed receive the ability to performmiracles. It doesn't matter which God the

Blessed believes in, as long as their faith isstrong and pure they can alter reality with it. This group has the hardest time gettingalong with the other Cursed, in fact, theyseldom get along with other blessed. Because of their strong devotion, they tendto see other Cursed as misguided at best, andactively siding with dark and unnaturalforces against humanity at worst.

7) ChangelingThere have long been stories of the

Fey stealing away babies and replacing themwith either sickly Fey children or woodenstock that look so realistic that no one cantell it isn't a real corpse. There have alsolong been tales about these childrensometimes coming back, changed. Thesestories are true, and they are the changelings. It’s not only the Fey who steal children, anychild stolen from the mortal world andreturned are known as Changelings. Havingbeen taken from the mortal realm to moremagical places affects these children, givingthem strange powers. Unfortunately, it alsokills a part of their soul.

What’s in a Name?

Throughout this book The Cursed aresplit up into seven classes of Cursed. Theseclass names are subjective and are forplayers’ use more so than the Character's. Seldom do The Cursed collaborate and agreeon terminology. Sorcerers will refer tothemselves (and other do as well) aswizards, mages, and thaumaturgist as often,if not more so then they would callthemselves a Sorcerers. Summoners willoften be referred to as warlocks or sorcerers. There is no set vocabulary in Cursed for themystical. It seems as if every magicalsociety, if not every Cursed themselves, has

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its own terms for everything mystical thatdiffers from every other magical society.

Classifications in Cursed are oftenblurred. There are certain stereotypes thatexist for the various types of The Cursed,but sometimes a non-typical member of oneclass of Cursed will have more in commonwith members of another class than withthose of his own kind. Style varies greatly,even among classes of Cursed. Forexample, a Voodoo priest, a type of Shaman,might feel more comfortable with aSummoners who summons nature spiritsrather than demons, then they would be withdruidic Shamans.

The typical member of a specificclass may have certain preconceptions ofother classes, but that should not limit howyou play your character. A mentor willcolour his disciple’s outlook, and theprejudices of the teacher may rear up fromtime to time, but class means little to thecharacter, only to the player. It’s the actionsand mentality that are important to thecharacter. A stereotypical Shaman willalways be at odds with a stereotypicalSummoner, but in Cursed, the characters areseldom typical.

There are many names for everythingmystical in the world of The Cursed andwhat you call anything is generallydetermined by the people you associate withand who taught you. Basically, don’t get toobogged down with the labels, they don’tmean much in game, not everyone will knowthem by the name in the book.

Things to Keep in Mind

While play-testing the game, one ofthe play-testers said I should look at mygame from the point of view of threequestions. What do I want out of the game

and my players? How will I achieve this? How will I punish transgression from mygoal? These questions were pointed out inJohn Wick’s RPG House of the Blooded.Here I have tried to answer these questionand hopefully this will help to create theatmosphere I was hoping for while makingThe Cursed RPG.

What do I want from this game/ the players?

There should be more to the gamethan players killing mindless villainousNPCs. It should be about how an actualperson who somehow found they had thesepowers react. Can they balance the realworld and the magical one?

It should not be a world where thesetting creates the characters, but a worldwhere the characters create the setting. ThePowers that Be should not controleverything so that characters are either madeto fit into the mould of the established worldor are created to go against the presetsetting.

There need not be any grand groupsor organizations that secretly hold completesway over the world that the characterseither work to enforce or bring down. Theremay be small secrete organizations, but theyare either out for a something much less thancomplete global conquest. Even larger onesare only out for a small niche, not the wholeworld in its palm, with the exception of theIlluminati. Most of these group will havelittle or nothing to do with the character,other than as possible help or hindrance insmall matters that the characters areattending to, usually. The mystical do nothide because some overlord or ancientorganization tells them to, lording over themwith ancient laws written in stone. Themystical keep their heads down because they

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are out numbered by normal humans, whowhile no match for the mystical one on one,could devastate them by shear force ofnumbers. Where, if some one threatens tobring the attention of the world on themystical they get punished by the mysticalmasses not because of arcane laws, butbecause everyone else has the commonsense not to be that stupid.

The world of The Cursed RPG hasno set power groups, no set belief system, noset vocabulary for mysticals at large. Theworld of The Cursed RPG is a world were afew lost souls who find out that they are abit more than human try to find their placeamong the normal humans, the mysticalbeasties, and others just like themselves. There are no grand masters. Any secretsocieties with actual arcane knowledge andgrandiose plans usually number in no morethan a few hundred to a few thousandworldwide (except possibly the Illuminati,but their plans are so large scale andconvoluted that even if the characters weresmack dab in the middle of them, theywould never notice). Not every characterhas a thumb on the pulse of power, not everycharacter knows everything about themystical world. In fact, the game shouldhave more of a feel of the unknown. Mostof The Cursed do not know much about themystical beyond what they have seen inmovies or read in novels and comics. Mostof what the character know is probablyeither completely wrong or only half right.

The characters should not solveevery problem with pure magical might orexcessive fire power. The characters shouldhave a more realistic take on a fantasticsituation. The character should behave like a human, and will do anything they can tosolve a problem with as little violence ordeath as possible. Characters should behave

like people. The best solution for all of thecharacter's problems should not be to justkill it. It is a hard thing to kill anothersentient being. Murder is something that,while a person may think about it and evenhave fantasies about doing it, a healthyhuman will avoid it at all cost. Killing asentient being kills a bit of a person's soul,and that should be reflected in the actions ofthe characters. In the world of The CursedRPG, even most of the monsters and baddiestry to avoid killing if possible. Vampiresusually only drink enough blood to survive,werewolves who can not control thetransformation will usually go offsomewhere where they can not do peopleany harm. Even demons would rathercorrupt and taint souls rather than killpeople.

How will I reward players for workingtowards the goal?

The reward for players playinghuman characters is more experience. Aperson playing a character who goes aroundflaunting his powers and killing wheneverhe feels like to make his character's life easymay be playing a fictional character in aroleplaying game, but a person playingsomeone who hides his power even if it ismore difficult and will try to go to anylength short of dying to avoid killing isplaying a more realistic human in a roleplaying game and should be rewarded forexceptional role play. It is easy to play apower flaunting killing machine, because itlets the player do everything he knows hecan not in the real world. It is much harderto play a character that would react morerealistically to the situation. That is not tosay that a real person who finds out that hehas magic powers wouldn't be tempted touse them. He may abuse the powers quite a

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bit, until he starts to face the consequences. Many people would be tempted to abusethem, but fear the repercussions, or fearwhat they may become.

Another reward for playing a humancharacter is the potential for great games andgreat memories. It is one thing to just gointo the lair of a vampire who went madwith power and started killingindiscriminately and slay him. It could be awonderful experience to be able to go in andfind a way to show him the error of hisways, to reconnect him with his humanroots.

This may not be the way everyonewants to play. If the players want characterswho fling magic and kill everything ratherthan thinking things through then they can,but there will be repercussions.

How will I punish the players for notworking towards the goal?

The main deterrent for the players isthe Corruption/ Taint rule. This rule isbasically the morality rule. Effectively, it isa measure of how detached the character hasbecome from humanity. Witnessing andcausing great trauma and stress cause asense of detachment from humanity. Itcauses feeling of either superiority orinferiority. The more a person feelsseparated from humanity the more separatedhe becomes from his own humanity. Hismind deteriorates as does his body. The lesshuman he feels, the less human he is. Eventually the mind recedes into itself andthe character has a harder and harder timeexpressing himself to the outside world. The more this happens, the sicker the mind

gets, the more trauma and stress he seeks tocause others in a twisted, unhealthy way toreach out to the world that recoils from him. The more the world recoils the farther intohis sickness the twisted soul recedes. Eventual, without help, he loses everythingthat makes a person truly human.

This rule depends more on the whythan the what. Killing in self defence withno other option may cause Corruption, butthat can be easier to overcome thanslaughtering a room full of criminalsbecause you see them as evil. Killing in selfdefence means that you had no other option. You feel that a life has value, but you preferyours to continue. Premeditated killingmeans that you see the lives of those youtake as being insignificant, as less thanhuman. That attitude means that you feelyourself above humanity, as somethingworth judging it. Many people may feel thatothers are not worth being allowed to live,but will not actually do anything about itpersonally, because deep down, most knowthat all human life is sacred and equallyvaluable.

Blessed can be played differently,depending on what God he worships. Hecan sacrifice a person to his god withoutgaining taint. He will feel guilty afterwards,but it is the Will of God. He is as willing todie for his god as he is to kill for his god,and see his sacrifice as being worth no lessthan his own life. If he ever kills someonefor any reason than for his god, then not onlyis he likely to gain taint, but he may verywell lose his powers.

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Chapter 2Character Creation

Character Creation is simple inCursed RPG. You have five stats: Body,Health, Mind, Social, and Soul. These statsdetermine how many skill points and magicalskill points a character starts out with. Statsare also used to calculate secondary statswhich are Hit points and Willpower.

Your starting money is also

determined by your stats. You start out with50 - sum of your stats (unmodified) times1000 dollars.

When doing calculations for yourcharacter, such as secondary stats, skills, andanything of that kind always round up to thenearest whole number.

Character creation cheat sheet

1) StatsYou have five base stats which are Body,Health, Mind, Social, and Soul. The value ofthese are either determined by a roll of 2D4per stat or 10D4 divided amongst the 5 stats. Secondary stats are Hit Points and Willpowerwhich are determined by the base stats.

2) SkillsEach character gets an amount of skill pointsequal to the sum of their unmodified basestats divided by 2 then add 15. ((Sum ofunmodified base stats) / 2) + 15. Thesepoints get distributed among the skills youwant your character to know. More ranksequal better at the skill.

3) Choose Class of CursedNow you decide what type of Cursed youwant to play. Each class has its own benefitsand flaws. The class also determines the type

of magic or powers the character has accessto.

4) Spells/ PowersNow you get to pick the spells, rituals, orpowers your characters can use. Each class(except the blessed) get the sum of their Mindand Soul stat (modified by class) plus fifteenpoints to put among the spells, rituals, powersyou want your character to have. Rememberonly certain classes can learn certain types ofpowers.

5) Freebie points, bonuses, and penaltiesNow you can add a little extra to yourcharacter. You get 15 points to spend eitherboosting stats, skills, or spell, rituals, orpowers (depending on whichever you use), oryou can get extra bonuses. You can also takeflaws for more points.

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Stats

Your character’s stats are generatedby either rolling 2D4 five times and puttingthe numbers rolled in the stats you want orroll 10D4 and use the number rolled aspoints to distribute among your stats. Askthe GM which method he wants to usebefore making your character.

No stat can go beyond 10permanently. Some types of Cursed getbonuses to stats, but these bonuses cannotraise a stat above 10. Any stat of over 8 ismystical and leaves a noticeable mark.

These marks can be somethingobvious like odd colored eyes or overlymuscled body to something less concretelike an unreal aura about the person. Themark is always connected to the stat and isdifficult or impossible to hide. A player andhis GM should work together to figure outwhat mark a character should receive.

What works for one character willnot necessarily work for another. The markshould mirror the character’s personality. Atypical summoner whose soul reaches 9 mayhave his eyes turned pure black to show howthe darkness has taken him to some degreeor another. Black eyes for a Blessed whoreached a soul of 9 would probably not beappropriate.

The stats are:

Body - This stat is used to determine yourcharacter’s physical strength and flexibility.With a Body stat of 10 your character gains2 points of natural armour and gains 10more hit points. This bonus is cut in half (1point of armour with and extra 5 hit points)if a score of 10 is reached through artificialmeans such as a spell.

Health - This stat determines how fit and healthy your character is. This stat helpsdetermine how well your characterwithstands sickness and poison. It alsohelps to calculate stamina and hit points.With a health of 10 your character isimmune to physical damage from all but themost potent magical diseases and poisons. The character will still suffer side effectssuch as euphoria, hallucinations, andunconsciousness. A character cannotoverdose on normal drugs. Characters witha natural Health 10 do not have to worryabout addiction, but still builds up atolerance as he normally would. This bonusdoes not work if the stat of 10 is reached byartificial means such as a spell.

Mind - This stat tells how intelligent thecharacter is and how much common sensehe has. This stat also helps determine thecharacter’s willpower. With a Mind of 10your character gains +5 ranks in Riddle skill. This bonus is reduced to +3 if a score of 10is reached through artificial means such as aspell.

Social - This stat tells how likeable andpretty the character is. This stat tells howeasily a person can make friends andconvince others to follow him. With aSocial of 10 your character gains +5 to allSocial based skills. This bonus is reduced to+3 if a score of 10 is reached throughartificial means such as a spell.

Soul - This stat help determines thecharacter’s willpower and his control overmystical power. With a Soul of 10 yourcharacter gains +5 to Magic skill. Thisbonus is reduced to +3 is a score of 10 is

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reached through artificial means such as aspell.

There are two secondary stats thatuse the five previously mentioned primarystats as their base. These stats are:

Hit Points is a secondary stat that is derivedfrom adding your character’s Health andBody together plus any addition modifiers(possible bonuses may be taken later duringcreation). Hit points determine how muchdamage your character can take. At 0 HitPoints your character is unconscious. Yourcharacter is dead when he reaches a negativeamount of Hit Points equal to your

maximum Hit Points (ex. Your character has6 Hit points then when he reach -6 HitPoints he is dead, if he has 8 Hit points thenhe is dead at -8 Hit Points). Any time yourcharacter’s Body stat or Health stat changes,it effects your character’s Hit Points.

Willpower is the average of your Mind statand Soul stat. Willpower is used to ward offothers’ control over you. This stat is thepower of your soul to resist outsideinfluences and how hard your mind isagainst coercions. Any time the average ofyour character’s Mind and Soul stat changesso does your character’s Willpower.

Skills

Each character gets skill points equalto the sum of his unmodified stats divided bytwo then add fifteen (15). The skill points areplaced into skill as ranks. These points mustbe put into at least three different skills. With these beginning points each pointequals one rank, no matter how many ranksare already in that skill. Later on (incharacter creation and later) the cost of skillranks will increase depending on how manyranks the character already has.

For a skill your character is trained in,his skill is equal to the ranks they have in theskill plus half the appropriate stat plus D20roll or:

Skill = rank + ½ stat + D20For untrained skill (skills your character hasno ranks in), his skill is half the appropriatestat plus a D20 roll minus 2 or:

Skill = ½ stat + D20 - 2Some skill cannot be used untrained. Somesituational modifiers may apply. Playersmust choose at least three skills in which toplace their points at character creation.

The numbers needed to succeed at whatevertask you are trying to do are:Simple tasks - 5Easy tasks - 10Average tasks - 15Challenging tasks - 20Difficult tasks - 25Hard tasks - 30Nigh impossible tasks - 40

How well or poorly you do dependson degrees or success or failure. Degrees ofsuccess and failure are measured inincrements of five above or below a targetnumber. Each increment of five is onedegree of success or failure. For exampleyour target number was 15 and your skillcheck was 27 you would have two degrees ofsuccess (the first degree of success was from15 to 20 and the second was from 20 to 25,all other numbers are cast off.). A successmeans the character just succeeds and everydegree of success means you do a better jobat the task. A failure means you just failed,and every degree of failure means your

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character does even worse of a job. A roll of 1 almost always fails no

matter what and a roll of a 20 almost alwayssucceeds, in a normal situation. If a roll cannot be made with twenty-five plus the ranks acharacter has in the skill plus or minus anymodifiers then the player can not roll to see ifhis character succeeds. The exception to thisis rolling dodge in combat, because even afailure to get out of the way may decrease thedamage taken.

If a roll of a natural twenty is the onlyway a character could make a check then hejust makes it on a roll of a 20. If a roll of 20is more than what was needed then add anextra degrees of success except in combat.

The exception to the rule of 1 alwaysfails and 20 always succeeds is if thedifficulty of the roll is against anotherperson’s roll rather then a static difficultylevel and both roll a 20. If this happens, thensuccess or failure is determined normally.

Skill descriptions

Each skill will be listed with theappropriate stat and noted if your characterneeds to be trained in it to use it. Thedescription will follow.

Arts (Soul)Your Character is good at some sort ofartistic expression. This could be singing,dancing, acting, writing, sculpting or anyother form of artistic self-expression. Thisskill can be chosen multiple times. A type ofart must be chosen each time this skill istaken.

Computers (Mind, Trained only)This skill allows your character to do morethan just turn on the computer and playsolitaire. Without this skill your character

cannot do more than the simplest task on acomputer and even that will take at least threetimes as long as someone with even one rankin this skill.

Concentration (Mind)Your character can keep his focus no matterthe distractions. This skill is used to cancelcontinuous effects your character casts or tobreak illusions (see spell section). Psychicsand Blessed also use this skill to make smallalterations in reality; see magic section.

Debate (Social)Your character knows how to argue. If theopponent you are trying to debate with willlisten, this skill will allow your character tosway the target’s opinion.

Double Talk (Social)This skill included Fast talking, innuendo,and con jobs. With this skill your charactercould sell ice to an Eskimo.

Drive (Body)Evil Knievel's got nothing on your character. If it has wheels, your character can drive it.

Finance (Mind)This skill gives your character knowledge andunderstanding of all aspects of business andfinance. This skill is used for any situation inwhich an understanding of how money worksis needed. This skill includes taxes, stocktrading, investments, and anything elserelated to currency. This skill also allows thecharacter to know exchange rates of differentcurrencies and detecting counterfeit money.

Fly (Body, Trained only)People said it couldn't be done, the WrightBrothers proved them wrong. Since thenpeople like your character proves that not

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only can people fly, but can make it seemmore natural than the birds.

This skill allow your character to usethe theories of thrust, propulsion, andaerodynamics in order to fly planes, jets,helicopters, hot air balloons, ornithopters,enchanted brooms, or anything else thatmaintains travel off the ground. You havethe knowledge and reflexes to handle thepiloting of anything going through the air, orthat was meant to be there at least.

Handyman (Mind, Trained only)Carpentry, plumbing, electrical work yourcharacter knows his way around it. He couldmake a living by flipping houses.

Language (Special, Trained only)Language is an odd skill. Each language isit’s own skill and you can get only up to 5ranks in it. With one rank your characteronly knows a few words and maybe a handfulof useful phrases which he oftenmispronounces. At rank 2 to your charactercan usually manage to get by. At rank 3 yourcharacter can, for the most part, beunderstood and understands the languageexcept when your character gets excited. Atrank 4 you understand the language wellenough, but some play on words will be overyour character’s head, and your character willspeak with a noticeable accent. At rank 5 youhave mastered the language and often speak itbetter than someone born to the language. Your character automatically gets rank 4 inhis native language.

Law (Mind)Your character knows how the law works andcan work it. This skill does not just meanyour character knows all laws, what it meansis you understand how the legal systemworks, how contracts work, can find

loopholes in the fine-print, and understandwhat the fine-print means.

Literacy (Special, Trained only )Literacy works like languages except

there are three ranks in it. At rank one youcan barely read anything more than twosyllables. At two ranks you can get byreading most novels in the language and onlyhaving to ask what one or two words areevery now and then. At rank three yourcharacter can read anything written in thelanguage. In order to get rank 1 of Literacy ina language, you must have rank 2 in thatlanguage skill. In order to get rank 2 inLiteracy in a language you must have rank 3in that language. For rank 3 in Literacy in alanguage you must have rank 4 in thatlanguage skill. Your character automaticallygets rank two in read of his native language.

Lore (Mind, Trained only)You must choose a topic when taking thisskill. For example: Fairy, Demon, Angel,Elemental, Spirit, Conspiracy, MagicalAnimals, and anything else you can think of. This skill represents what you have learnedand can remember. The more specific thetopic, the lower the difficulty level for thecheck about the topic, but the higher thecheck for related topics. If the topic you arelooking up has nothing to do with the loreyou have then it cannot be used for that topic. For example, if your character had Faerielore, then a check for something aboutFaeries may have a difficulty level ofAverage, whereas, for someone else’scharacter who has Magical Creature Lore, thesame check would be difficulty level ofChallenging or Difficult. Whereas a checkabout mystical creatures using Faerie Lorewould be difficulty level of Challenging orDifficult where it is only Average for

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someone with Magical Creature Lore. FaerieLore could not be used to find out anythingabout the Men in Black.

Magic (Soul, Trained only)Your character's got the gift, but without thisskill that gift is useless. Changelings,shamans, sorcerers, summoners enter playwith at least 1 rank of this skill; see classeslater in this chapter.

This skill is used to recognize spellsbeing cast if the character knows or has seenthe spell being cast before. Difficulty level isone difficulty level higher than the spell if thespell is know or two difficulty levels high ifonly seen. Also it is used to determine ifyour character can learn a new spell (seeSpending Experience at the end of thischapter).

This skill can also help determine if aspell is still in effect. The person checkingthe spell must know how to cast the spell orhave seen it done on several occasions. Thedifficulty of the check is one difficulty levelhigher than the spell if the spell is known ortwo if the spell was only seen. If the effectsare not visible then they must look for signsthat the spell effects are still active.

The difficulty levels for determiningwhat spell is in effect, and if the spell is stillin effect, is for the listed difficulty levels ofthe spell. Sorcerers have the same chance ofusing this skill as everyone else.

If the spell was affecting somethingsentient and it is now pretending to still beunder the effects then it is a Double Talkchallenge vs Magic skill to see if they reallyare still under the effect. The target rolls hisDouble Talk skill against the character’sMagic skill.

This skill can be used as a cheapmagic lore as well. It will not giveinformation on specific individual creatures,

but it will give basic information on races,groups (such as classes of Cursed) or types ofmagic (as in what is commonly possible forcertain types of Cursed to cast).

Mechanic (Mind, Trained only)If it can be driven, your character can fix it. He's been fixing vehicles since before hecould walk.

Medicine, Holistic (Soul, Trained only)This skill is the mystic use for plants andherbs, not the pseudoscientific garbageprinted on the labels of the products sold atgrocery stores (those with this skill know theproper use of these products). This is notscientific at all, but a mystical practice that ismuch rarer to truly have. For the morescientific uses of herbal medicine the ModernMedicine skill would be used, but that type ofholistic medicine rarely works. This skillallows your character to treat illnesses andinjuries using ancient techniques. This skillis usually not dangerous except when used byuntrained people or even trained people usingsupplies they are unfamiliar with.

If an attempted use of this skill, by aperson trained in this skill, fails by twodegrees of failure or more then a second rollmust be made. If this second succeeds thennothing happens, if it fails however it causes1 point of damage for every 2 degrees offailure from the first roll. Every 2 degrees offailure from the first roll give a -1 to thesecond roll.

If this skill is used untrained, the bestresult is that the target is stabilized if the rollwas successful. If the skill was useduntrained and failed then the roll must bemade a second time and if failed again thenthe target gains another point of damage pluseach degree of failure is another point of

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damage for the target, otherwise nothinghappens. Every degree of failure in the firstroll gives -1 to the second roll. The onlypractical difference between Medicine,Modern and Medicine, Holistic is thatMedicine, Holistic cannot be used to performsurgeries.

Medicine, Modern (Mind, Trained only)This skill allows you to treat illnesses andinjures using modern treatments andtechnologies. You must have at least 10ranks in this skill to perform surgeries. Failing this skill trained by 2 degrees offailure means another roll is needed. If yousucceed then nothing happens. If the secondroll is failed it causes one point of damage forevery 2 degrees of failure. Every 2 degrees offailure from the first roll give a -1 to thesecond roll.

Any attempt to use this skill untrainedwill most likely cause more damage. Ifattempted, you roll normally and the best thatany successful roll can do is to stabilize thetarget. If you fail an untrained medicinecheck another roll is needed. If you succeedthen no addition damage is done. If you fail,you cause one point of damage to the targetand each degree of failure is another point ofdamage. Every degree of failure in the firstroll gives -1 to the second roll.

Perception (Mind)This skill essentially lets your characternotice things. This skill is used to find lostobject, when looking for clues, or trying tospot something that would be hard to see orat a great distance, or hear what is on theother side of a door, among other things. This skill is used when trying to noticesomething using any of the five senses.

Performance (Social)

Where art allows your character to expresshimself through manipulation of variousmaterials and media, this skill allows yourcharacter to express thoughts and feelingsthrough word and action.

Riddles (Mind)Your character likes riddles and solvingpuzzles like trivia questions, word problems,and soduko puzzles. This is also the skillused to do research. You use this skill todecipher what references and connections tolook for when trying to study a subject beingresearched.

Sciences, Hard (Mind)Your characters know about the hard sciences(physics, chemistry, biology). You mustchoose a type of hard science your characterknows about. Your character can use onefield of science to help with another field ofscience. If your character uses a hardsciences skill he has (ie. Biology) for a hardscience skill he does not have (ie. Chemistry)using this skill gives him a -2.

Sciences, Soft (Mind)This is the scientific study of humanbehavior. This includes psychology,anthropology, archeology, and similarschools of study.

Slight of Hand (Body, Trained)This skill allows someone to perform stagemagic, pick pockets, and pick locks amongother small dexterous sneaky actions.

Socialise (Social)This skill allows the character to mingle incrowds. They fit in at any sort of socialgathering. This skill is used to make goodfirst impressions or to try to pick up a date.

This skill can also be used to

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intimidate people. If your character has thisskill and a Body stat of 5 or more then add in1/4 the Body stat on top of your Social statwhen using this skill to intimidate people. The target for using this skill to intimidate isthe target’s Will roll.

Sports, Aggressive (Body)This skill includes the more rugged andphysical sports such as rugby, hockey,football, etc. This skill can be used for suchthings as climbing, swimming, grappling,pinning someone, and dodging (dodging withthis skill give a - 2), but it is more aggressivelooking than when using graceful sports forthe same thing.

Sports, Graceful (Body)This skill includes the more graceful sportssuch as acrobatics, gymnastics, figure-skating, etc. This skill can be used for suchthings as climbing, swimming, and dodging(dodging with this skill gives a - 2), but it ismore graceful looking than when usingaggressive sports for the same thing.

Stealth (Body)This skill allows the character to movequietly without being noticed. It allows thecharacter to move through dark areas or areaswith many things a person could concealhimself with. It also allows him to movethrough a crowd without anyone being able topick him out.

Tech (Mind, Trained only)Your character knows how technology worksand can fix, adjust, or improve just aboutanything that requires electricity.

Trivia (Mind, Trained only)You know a lot about a specific topic. Unfortunately this is a generally useless

topic, but it may come in handy at somepoint. You must choose a topic when takingthis skill. Example topics are B-movies, star-trek, sci-fi, comics, music. The more specificthe topic, the lower the difficulty level for thecheck about the topic, but the higher thecheck for related topics. For example, yourcharacter is at a Star Trek convention and hewants to show up a really annoying trekkiegoing on and on about random trivia of theoriginal series. If your character has StarTrek trivia then the difficulty level may beAverage, whereas if it was more specialized,say, original series Star Trek trivia, then thedifficulty level would be Easy, whereas if itwas more broad such as Sci-fi trivia, or StarTrek, the Next Generation lore, the difficultylevel for original series Star Trek lore wouldbe Challenging or Difficult.

If the Trivia is too unrelated to adifferent topic then it can not be used. StarTrek lore can not be used for information onBattlestar Galactica, for example.

Combat Skills

In Cursed, combat is done in the sameway that skills are used only rather thanhaving a set number to roll against, you rollagainst your targets rolls. For instancesomeone is attacking your character with afencing sword and gets a 27 on his LightSword skill (determined the same way anormal skill check is determined) you can usedodge to get out of the way. You must roll27 or higher on a Dodge skill check to dodgehis attack. If you succeed then your opponentmissed your character and it goes to the nextplayer’s turn. If you fail, then your characteris hit and damage is calculated.

Damage is calculated by adding oneto half of the attackers body stat to the sum ofdegrees of success plus weapon damage for

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melee and thrown attacks or one plus degreesof success plus weapon damage for firedattacks (fired attacks means a mechanismpropels the projectile, not the character’sphysical strength). Armour may decrease thedamage taken. See rules on armour inChapter 3. Or:

For melee or thrown attacksDamage = 1 + ½ body +degrees of success +

weapon damage (also see armour rules inChapter 3)

For fired attacksDamage = 1 + degrees of success + weapondamage (also see armour rules in Chapter 3

Combat skills can be used for nodamage. In order to use a combat skillwithout doing damage a Concentration roll isneeded with a difficulty level of Average,with a negative of half the character’s Bodystat to the roll. This will allow the characterto control the force he is putting into the roll. Projectiles fire skills have extra rules. These projectiles are fired by mechanicalmeans and move faster than the averagehuman can move. If the projectile is beingfired by a simple firing mechanism (bow andarrow, crossbow) then a character with aBody stat of 8 or less (without bonuses)would divide his Dodge skill and D20 dodgeroll by half before calculating if he dodged. If the character has a body stat of 9 or 10 orhas a bonus that allows him to move as if hedid then his Dodge skill and D20 roll isdivided by a quarter. If the projectile is beingfired by a more complex and powerfulmechanism or explosive kinetic energy (agun) then a character with a Body stat of 8 orless (without bonuses) would divide hisDodge skill and D20 roll by three quartersbefore calculating if he dodged the attack. Ifthe character has a Body stat of 9 or 10, orhas a bonus that allows him to move as if hedid then his Dodge skill and D20 roll would

only be divided by half.

Combat skill descriptions

Dodge (Body)Your character knows how to get out of theway. In a fistfight or melee you are hard tohit.

Fist Fight (Body)You can throw a punch. You also know howto use your body like a weapon. Good forgrappling and pinning someone.

Heavy swords (Body)You could show Conan a thing or two. Youknow how to use heavier swords.

Improvised Weapon (Body)Frying pans, chair legs, beer bottles, stopsigns these things and many more becomedeadly weapons in your character’s hands. Ifit was not meant to be used as a weapon, butis heavy enough to use in melee combat (notranged) then it falls into this category.

Knife (Body)Whether stabbing with them or throwingthem, you know your way around a small blade.

Light Swords (Body)Dashing and gentlemanly, you know how touse swords such as rapiers, short swords, andfoils.

Other melee (Body)Any weapon used in close quarters nototherwise mentioned would be included intothis skill.

Parry/Disarm (Body)Any melee attack they can throw at you, you

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can throw off. This skill does not work onevery attack. Things like fire, electricity, andacid can not be parried or disarmed. Neithercan bullets.

Projectile, Fired (Body)Fire arms, crossbows, bows, etc. This skillallows your character to use mechanicallyfired projectiles.

Projectile, Thrown (Body)Darts, knives, javelins, flaming logs (long

story), etc. If your character can pick it upand throw it, this is the skill to use.

Weighted Weapons (Body)Axes, maces, clubs, if it’s meant to bash,your character can use it in a fight.

Whips (Body)Your character idolized Indiana Jones somuch he made his parents get him the hat andbull whip and he has put it to good use eversince.

Classes of Cursed

There are seven classes of Cursed(Shaman, Mystic, Sorcerer, Summoner,Psychic, Blessed and Changeling), but theseclasses are more for player reference thanCharacter reference, since such labels aremeaningless to most of them, they are all inthe same boat, as it were. But for players,the different classes are important because itdetermines bonuses and penalties yourcharacter starts out with and the spells andpower list they can choose from. All classesare different, some more than others, butthere are some similarities.

A note about the classes. Many ofthe class bonuses will give a numericalbonus for a skill. Unless otherwise noted,these numerical bonuses are bonus ranks inthe skill.

Cursed Bonuses

1) Mystical SensesAll Cursed can sense the presence of

mystical creatures and phenomenon. Stronger auras can be sensed from fartheraway, but they cannot pinpoint its location

or distance. This bonus does not helpidentify the mystical but allows the characterto follow the flow of power. Often timesthis is more of a nuissance than a help.

With this bonus, it is like being blindand feeling a heat source but being unable totell which direction the heat is coming from. The farther you get from it the colder youget but you can not tell exactly where it is orwhat is causing it.

2) Protection from Undeath andLycanthropy

That's not to say they can't be attacked by the undead, The Cursed justcan't be transformed into the undead (likevampires and werewolves. One of the fewexceptions is becoming a lich, but TheCursed must perform a ritual willingly to doso. There are other ways, but they are muchmore rare.

3) Push the boundariesThe Cursed are infused with magic,

which means they can alter reality. TheCursed can make small alterations in reality,

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or makes small tugs on probability lines. With a roll of Magic ranks + ½ Soul stat +D20 (or Concentration ranks + ½ Soul stat +D20 for Psychics and Blessed Characters)with varying difficulty levels depending onhow much they are trying to do.

It is only a small matter to Create afire just big enough and lasting long enoughto light a cigarette or piece of paper, or tomake a small breeze that does little morethan possibly create a cool entrance, or totug on the probability lines to encourage thewoman at the bar to talk to the character (notseduce her, just start a conversation). Theselittle things take 3 seconds (a round) ofconcentration, and would be a difficulty ofEasy. Larger things are a higher difficultylevel and take longer, and if it mimics anexisting spell or power it cannot be done

using this power. As a general rule of thumb, if the

trick seems like a parlor trick learned from abook for beginners or intermediates stagmagicians, then it is fine, if it does morethan that, it probably won’t work.

What Will Follow

The next few pages will be thedescriptions of the classes of Cursed. It willgive a few other commonly used names formembers of the class, a brief summary ofthe class, what the penalties of that class are,what the bonuses of that class is, and thestereotypes the typical member of the classhas about the typical members of the otherclasses.

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ShamansA.k.a Witch doctor, wise man, witch, spirit talker, vodoun priest, obsolete fool

Shamans live in two worlds, theworld of flesh and the world of spirits. Sincethe world was young there have been thosewho walked between both worlds, existing inboth but belonging to neither.

It is a shaman’s job to serve bothworlds. The shaman serves the spirit worldby helping keep a balance between the realmof spirit and the physical realm. The shamanusually aids the spirits by performing ritualsof cleansing, or performing rituals to thankthe spirits or offer the spirits his body tointeract with this world for a short time. Spirits will often grant boons for suchservices.

Deals can also be made with spirits. Shamans will often take on strange tabooswhich can last for month to years, or maybehis entire life. If these taboos are broken thenthe shaman loses face in the eyes of the spiritworld. He is spiritually tagged and everyspirit recognizes the signs of a broken tabooand none but the most corrupt spirits willdeal with the shaman until he makes amendsto the spirit he broke his taboo with. Somespirits never forgive a slight though. Sometaboos may be to never wear unnatural fibers,not shave for a year, use no chemicals toclean with; some taboos can be much harderand more serious and deadly.

Shamans are healers and sometimesthe spirit world becomes corrupted by ourworld and it is up to the shaman to cleansethis taint. Sometimes the spirits become sotainted that they can never go back to the waythey were and must be destroyed. If thishappens then it is also the shaman’s job todestroy these corrupted spirits before they cancause too much unnatural damage and throwoff the balance even more.

The shaman serve his people byhonoring and making deals with the spiritworld in exchange for good health andfortune for his people. Shamans treat the sickand injured through use of holistic medicineor by cleansing or battling corrupted spiritsthat cause the ailment. The final serviceshamans perform for his people is helpingthem to the other side. Death is a necessarypart of life and if the Shaman is unable toprolong the person’s life he will help theperson prepare for death as much as possible. Shamans also help the restless dead findpeace.

In the past, shamans were respectedand feared. People honored them whenneeded and avoided them when not, for themost part. In the modern world, however,people have lost faith in the non secular andshamans are usually seen as insane and areeither shunned by society or locked awayfrom it. Even after all this, a shaman knowshe has responsibilities and will perform themto the best of his abilities.

But remember, there must always becompensation. The way of the spirits is theway of balance. There is always a cost forevery service. Everything must balance inthe end. That is not to say that a shamancannot do something from the goodness ofhis own heart, but that every favor given is afavor owed and every gain comes with a loss.

In the description of some of theshaman’s bonuses and rituals it mentionsthings like pure places or natural places. Anywhere it says anything like this it means aplace either taken back by nature andrelatively left alone by man, or places thatman have never been.

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Becoming a Shaman

They say the first step is the hardest,and this is especially true of shamans. Inorder to become a shaman one must die first. When the shaman-to-be has a near-deathexperience (whether intentional or not) andhis soul leaves his body, he is met by a spiritguide. It is the spirit guide’s duty to explainall that is expected of the shaman, thehardships he may have to endure and that hewill never again be truly a part of mortal

society. The spirit will not sugarcoat this, theshaman must be fully aware of what willbecome of him if he makes this deal. If thedeal is made, the guiding spirit becomes theshaman's totem spirit and the shaman is givena permanent taboo, the first of many. Thetotem spirit will teach the shaman what heneeds to know to carry out his duties, andwhat his rewards will be.

Shaman Penalties

Shamans must honour at least onetaboo to connect himself to his totem. ThisTaboo is a life long Taboo. Taboos need notbe difficult to fulfill, but it does make theshaman stand out. All Shamans get -1 toSocial stat. This negative does not countwhen dealing with the spirits.

If a shaman breaks a taboo he loses

the favor of the spirit world. He still retainsthe ability to interact with the spirit world butloses all bonuses and powers gained fromspirits, and none but the most corrupt andwicked spirits will deal with the shaman untilthe shaman makes amends with the spiritwhose taboo he broke.

Shaman Bonuses

1) Spirit SightWhile performing specific rituals, or

while under the effect of certain drugs, theshaman can see and hear the spirit world asvague shadows. Also, spirits can see throughto this world as a vague shadow, but shamansglow brightly for them. Once a spirit sees ashaman, the spirits can then communicatewith the shaman. Only shamans (andpossibly other Cursed with a power to allowit) can see or hear a spirit trying tocommunicate with a shaman. This lasts aslong as the shaman is under the effects ofcertain drugs or with certain powers.

Only alcohol or natural drugs willallow the shaman to see the spirit world.

Shamans are immune to hallucinogenic ormind-altering effects of these drugs andalcohol (though they may still suffer fromslurred speech and lowered reflexes andreaction time). Synthetic, man-made drugswill not allow the shaman to see the spiritworld.

The shaman can look into the spiritworld without the use of drugs or alcohol orwithout performing a ritual. To do this, theshaman must first make a Magic skill rollwith a difficulty level of Challenging to getinto the proper set of mind. After that, theshaman must make a Concentration roll witha difficulty level of Challenging to actuallypierce the veil between worlds. The shaman

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can see the spirit world for about five minutesfor a successful Concentration roll plus fiveminutes per degree of success for theConcentration roll. To stop seeing the spiritworld, the shaman must make aConcentration check with a difficulty level ofAverage.

2) Spirit PossessionOne of the most common services

shamans provides for spirit is to act as aconduit for the spirit to interact with thematerial world. This power allows theshaman to let a spirit to take control of hisbody. After the spirit is through with thebody, it will repair any damage done to thebody. The downside is that generally thespirit determines when it leaves unlessguidelines are agreed upon beforehand. Thespirit can use any powers it has in theMaterial realm while possessing the shaman. Shamans know the difference between spiritsand demons and get a + 5 to save againstdemonic possession.

3) Awaken the SpiritAll things, be they animate or

inanimate, have a spirit. This is not to say allthings have a soul (a common mistake), butdeep down all things are aware. A shamancan awaken the spirit in an object or beingand communicate with it. An awakenedobject will strive to become the utmost ofwhat the object can be.

To awaken the spirit, the shamanneeds to perform a short ritual taking two tothree minutes. A check is made at 5 + ½ soul+ D20 with a difficulty rating of Challenging. More ranks can be put into this ability, treat itas if it is a spell. The spirit is awaken for anhour plus one hour per degree of success. The shaman can put the object back to sleepwith the same roll at a difficulty level of

Challenging.While awakened, shamans (or those

who can talk to spirits) can communicatewith the object. The object is aware of itssurroundings, even when it is not awakened. So if a shaman awakens a table that had adead body on it, the shaman can question thetable. However, the object has a muchdifferent perspective of what is and isn’timportant. For instance, the table could givethe exact weight of the body on it, but haveno idea of gender or skin colour, since neitherof these qualities are important to a table(neither is whether or not the person is alive,usually).

4) Create FetishFetishes are object imbued with either

the essence of a spirit or a spirit itselfmaking it a magical item. The itemscontaining the essence of a spirit can be usedto contact the spirit whose essence itcontains. This fetish can be used by anyShaman to contact the spirit, and the spiritcan instantly appear where the fetish is. Thefetish can also be used by anyone with theSummon or Commune spell to use the spellon the spirit as if the caster had a piece of thespirit.

The item itself must be a physicalrepresentation of the spirit that put a bit of itsessence into it; the object must be at least aninch cubed. Iron can not be used for therepresentation. There is no roll for thecreation of this fetish, the spirit must simplywill a portion of its essence into the object. Itis considered very impolite of the shaman toask a spirit to do this without being very closeto the spirit. This type of fetish creates a linkto the spirit that could be used by anyone whorecognizes what it is. Using the Identify spellon a fetish of this type only tells the casterthat it is a magic item that binds something to

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it.A shaman can also place a spirit into

an object. The spirit will sleep within anobject and that object will gain one or moreof the spirits powers. Most spirits ask forgreat services or taboos from the shaman inexchange for this. The spirit is released fromthe fetish and the object becomes a normalobject again when the object is destroyed, thetime frame agreed upon is up or the shamanbreaks his end of the deal. If the later, seeShaman Penalties for what happens to theshaman.

5) Natural HealerShamans have a long tradition as

healers. They can fight off corrupt spiritscausing illness and can ask the plants andherbs what medicinal usage they may have. All shamans get a +5 ranks in HolisticMedicine.

6) Totem SpiritAll shamans get a totem spirit. The

shaman can always reach out his voice andcall his totem guide to him. A shaman willusually only do this if absolutely necessary. The totem spirit is under no actual obligationto come as soon as called, but most will dotheir best to get to the shaman as quickly aspossible.

7) The Spirit WayShamans must learn the way of the

spirit in order to help them and make dealswith them. After the shaman makes the dealwith his totem spirit, the totem spirit beginsteaching him the ways of the spirit. Allshamans get +5 to Spirit Lore. They also geta +2 to Law skill. They also understand thelanguage of the spirits.

8) RitualsThe shaman deals with the spiritual

world through magical rituals usually taughtby the shaman's totem spirit. All shamans get+1 ranks in Magic Skill.

Shaman's Opinion of the Other Cursed.

Mystics - Looking at the mystic is likelooking into a distorted mirror. Like us,mystics were chosen. Like us, mystics giveup much for this power (which is somethingthat the others, unfortunately, don't see). Butrather than making deals with spirits theymake deals with the magic itself. They arelike our little brother.

Psychics - Psychics are unnatural. All otherCursed use external forces to effect the worldaround them; however, psychics get all theirpower from within. There is no exchangewith them, they do not keep a balance yetnothing seems depleted. Everything musthave a price, yet the psychic never seems to

pay, at least not yet.

Sorcerers - It is difficult to trust sorcerers. While we had to toil and fret over thedecision to become what we are and give upan important piece of our humanity, and theythrown it away so willingly. Another thing isthat we took on a great responsibility withour power, but they seem to think of theirpower as a toy without worrying about theconsequences. Also, sorcerers tend to bevery secretive and deceitful by their verynature.

Summoners - Stop these loathsome fiendswhere you find them. They cannot be trusted.

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Unlike us, and more than any other group,they only take, and take, and take, and nevergive anything back. They steal power fromthose we trust and serve and bow beforethose that are our enemy. They turn awayfrom humanity and traded away everythingthat makes them a human being in exchangefor a few parlor tricks. Do not trust thesesnakes.

The Blessed - On one hand we admire theblessed’s wish to help humanity, on the otherhand we fear their obsessive, one-sided viewof the world. We have seen the carnagecaused by their "help."

Changelings - We weep for the lost ones. We know that not all of those who weretaken come back when they return.

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MysticsA.k.a natural, mage, wizard, witch, shaman

Magic lives. Magic grows. Magicdies. Magic calls. It is the mystic that heedsthe call of magic. Magic permeates all that isand the mystic can tap into this latent power.

Mystics have a strong connection tothe natural world and creatures of magic,much like the connection Shamans have tothe world of spirits, except the obligations arevery different.

Mystics hear the whispers on thewind. Mystics see the mysteries in themundane. From childhood, mystics stand outas being different. This sense ofotherworldliness tends to cause others toalienate the mystic. Mystics are often seentalking to things no one else sees. Thought tobe very imaginative children, they are usuallytalking to magical creatures who don't wantto be seen, or even the to the voices on the

wind. Mystics see and hear more than themundane masses ever could and from ayoung age mystics learn it is best to keep thishidden world hidden.

The magical world is both beautifuland dangerous, and being the only peoplearound to witness it often makes the mysticfeel very isolated. It is often because of thatsense of isolation that mystics are usuallyextremely happy to find someone whounderstands them, and young mystics arequick to befriend other Cursed just to havesomeone to talk to about what they are goingthrough. This often leads to mystics beingused and betrayed by unscrupulous Cursed. Another method mystics use to expressthemselves without appearing crazy is tobecome artists (painters, poets, and writers).

Mystic Penalties

From birth there is something oddabout the mystic. Maybe there is an odd hueto his eyes, maybe it’s the way he looks into

the distance knowingly like there issomething there only he can see. Whateverthe case, the Mystic gets a -1 Social stat.

Mystic Bonuses

1) Catch a GlimpseThe mystic is so in tune with magic

the GM makes a secret Perception check forthe mystic when in the presence of illusionsor magical invisibility to see through itwithout consciously trying. The mystic usesthe greater of his Mind stat or Soul stat to dothis. The difficulty rating for this isChallenging.

2) A Friend of MagicAll magical beings see the mystic in a

friendlier light than they would otherwise. The mystic gains a +2 to any social rollsagainst magical beings. Also, beneficialmagic cast on the mystic gets a +2 andharmful magic gets a -2.

The beneficial rituals would beCrossover (if the mystic could somehow havethe ritual cast on him), See Across the Veil (if

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the mystic could somehow get the ritual caston him), Spirit’s Blessing, and Visions (if themystic could somehow get the ritual cast onhim) and harmful rituals would be AngeredSpirits, Voodoo Doll, and Zombie. TheBeneficial spells would be Armor, AstralProjection, Bind to Your Word, Blessing,Commune, Control (if the mystic is casting it,if it is cast on him it is harmful), Divination,Fly, Heal (yes being healed is beneficial evenif the side effects are not), Identify (if themystic is casting it, if it is cast on him it isharmful), Improve Self, Necromancy (if themystic is casting the spell. If he is the spirit,he is no longer a mystic and does not stillhave this bonus), Reverse the Clock, Stasis,Summoning (if the mystic is casting it, if it iscast on him it is harmful), Teleportation, andUnaging. The harmful spells are Curse,Transfer Souls, Trap the Soul, and Zombie. Glamour is taken on a case by case basis,depending on whether the effects used on theMystic is beneficial or not. Psychic powersare different than magic and therefore are notincluded in this bonus.

3)A Friendly ChatMystics have an affinity to nature.

Nature seems willing to talk to mystics, andsometimes mystics can even understand. This bonus gives the mystic the ability tounderstand what the world around him wantsto tell him. The mystic has no control overthis bonus, it simply happens when the GMneeds it to in order to advance plot or setatmosphere. Sometimes when the windblows through the trees, a dog starts to bark,crows caw, the mystic hears what they aretrying to say. The mystic can hear it, not withhis ears, but somehow, deep in his core, he

can understand. This happens often to amystic before he starts to develop controlover his magic power. Usually the Mystic areforced to ignore the sensation; by parentswho do not understand, by teachers whosimply see a problem child, or by otherchildren who don’t understand and make themystic an outcast. Even if the child is notforced to stop listening to nature, this powerseems to dim around adolescence, when themystic starts to develop his gift of magicalpower. A Perception check with a difficultyof Average is needed to spot and understandthese messages when the GM deems it theright time..

4) SpellsMystics are naturally in tune with

magic and connect with it on a deeper levelthan even they truly understand. Young, pre-adolescent mystics can do small tricks andbend the rules of reality slightly, but can notmaster spells. It is during adolescence thatmystics are able to figure out the formulasand cants for actual spells. Some start tolearn at the very beginning of puberty, otherslearn at the end, while some start learningsometime in the middle of when their body ischanging from child to adult. At some pointduring the formative years the mystic hears,deep within himself, instructions on how toshape and form the magic into patterns. It isas if the magic itself is teaching the mystic.

Once the mystic is capable, he cancast spells. Also, Mystics get the Benefit"Natural - Magic" which means they can useMagic skill untrained, or if trained, get +2 tomagic rolls. They can also learn commonspells (spells from this book) without ateacher, since the magic itself teaches them.

Mystic's Opinion of the Other Cursed.

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Shaman - We are brothers in this tangledworld we share. Neither chooses this lifefrom the beginning but we both make themost of it. I sometimes envy the shamanssince they had a choice in the matter, butsince it was this or death, I try not to hold itagainst them.

Psychic - I pity the psychic. I was born intoa world of beauty and wonder, whereas thepsychic is trapped within himself. Igenerally don't trust psychics that are createdsince created psychics are made by and usedby organizations to hunt down and either"study" or destroy others like us.

Sorcerer - I sometimes feel a combinationof joy and pity for sorcerers. On one hand,sorcerers want to be so much like us theysacrifice years to study the ways of magic. On the other hand, what comes naturally tous the sorcerer has to struggle so hard for. Of course this also makes us weary of them,far to often we have been tricked by

sorcerers into becoming test subjects fortheir experiments.

Summoner - We can sense magic, see,touch, hear, smell, and taste magic. Summoners are tainted with dark pacts. They have a foul smell. I do not trust theseCursed ones.

The Blessed - How could one with so muchpotential be so blind? The blessed don'teven truly know what calls to them, but wedo, it’s the same thing that calls to us. Unfortunately by putting a label on it,putting a face to it, by giving it righteousfury, they pervert it. The blessed to oftenbecome the enemy to that which they serve.

Changeling - We cry for what the lost oneshad to give up. Incomplete souls wonderingthe world looking for a place to belong. Wewill often try to help a changeling long afterwe realize that there is nothing that we cando for them.

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PsychicA.k.a psionist, medium, mind mage, telepath, freak

Witches, warlocks, wizards, they arepassé, obsolete. Carrie, Firestarter, X-Men,X-Files, we are where its at. We're the nextwave of human evolution and we're here tostay.

Unlike other Cursed, psychics don'tuse external forces to alter reality; theirpower comes from within. Mind over matteris the motto of the psychic.

Sometimes the powers manifest

naturally, which causes no end of troublewhile the new psychic tries to control his newpowers. Others are created. The createdpsychics are luckier than the natural psychicin that they generally get some training. Whichever type of psychic he is, all psychicsare a force to be reckoned with. Even themost basic of their powers can cause mayhemand panic among the masses.

Psychic Penalties

Every time a power is used there is a15% chance of becoming mentally fatigued. When fatigued every power and skill usingMind gets a - 2 and there is a 20% chance togain a temporary insanity, lasting about anhour, based on how the power was used. Thepsychic becomes rested after about an hour of

relaxation. The fatigue is cumulative. If the

psychic reaches a negative from fatigue equalto twice his Mind stat he passes out for halfan hour times the amount of times he becamefatigued.

Psychic Bonuses

1) Powerful MindThe development of psychic powers

awakens dormant parts of the brain, and as aconsequence, psychics find their mentalprowess is increased. All psychics get +1Mind stat.

2) Will of IronThe awakening of the dormant parts

of the brain also strengthens their mentalresilience. All psychics get +2 to will savesvs. controlling effects.

3) PowersPsychics do not learn spells. They do

however get psychic powers.

Psychic's Opinion of the Other Cursed.

Shaman - These guys smoke the peace pipethen talk about ghosts and shit. Lame. Theseguys are so outdated that even other wizardslaugh at them.

Mystics - At times these guys are almostcool, at other times they are almost as bad asthe Shamans. They got a lot of cool tricksbut I'd rather trust my mind than their magic.

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Sorcerers - These guys spend all their timein dark basements wearing black robesreading from strange and blasphemous books. Sounds like my old D&D group.

Summoners - These guys are out and outfreaks. They are tainted with so much darkpower it gives me a headache just being inthe same room as them.

The Blessed - I can't stand these holy-rollers. The worst of them hunt us down as hereticsand Satan worshipers, whereas, the best ofthem won't shut up about how I'm going tohell.

Changelings - These guys are creepy. Youcan see the unnaturalness in there eyes, andtheir minds have been infected by their time"elsewhere."

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SorcerersA.k.a mage, wizard, hedge wizard, arcanist, occultist, creepy guy in the robe

They have dolls with needles and theyknow ancient names. Sorcerers have spentyears studying arcane secrets. Unlike theother Cursed (except summoners), sorcerersare the only group that chooses to becomeCursed.

Sorcerers tend to be secretive, mostbelonging to powerful secret societies thataccept only the brightest and best. Even in

the secret societies, few are taught the secretsof the sorcerer.

Most sorcerers are chosen just beforeor during adolescence since this is the ageone has the most potential, and it takesdecades before an apprentice learns theslightest magic. Sorcerers tend to be themost careful of The Cursed.

Becoming a sorcerer

Sorcerers are an anomaly. Sorcerersare not like the other Cursed, whose powerswere granted to them from other sources,which means a sorcerer must have taken thepower from somewhere, because normalpeople cannot cast spells. A secret to all but

the sorcerer, there is an initiation ritual. Theritual tends to differ somewhat from group togroup and sorcerer to sorcerer but the ritualalways involves the initiate to ingest some ofhis master’s blood, which contains the powerto cast spells, and binds the two together.

Sorcerer Penalties

Sorcerers are not naturally cursed,therefore it is one difficulty level moredifficult to cast spells than it would be forother Cursed. Also, since sorcerers are

chosen from the brightest and best, they musthave an unmodified Mind stat score of atleast 4.

Sorcerer Bonuses

1) Know the MagicSorcerers know magic. They have

spent so much time studying magic that allsorcerers gain +5 ranks in magic skill. Also,it is one difficulty level easier to learn newspells.

2) Brightest and BestApprentices must undergo years of

study and training to become a sorcerer andas a result all sorcerers gain +1 Mind stat.

This cannot bring the sorcerer’s Mind statabove 10.

3) Secret KnowledgeIn the years of training, a sorcerer

learns many secrets, sometimes more than herealises. This bonus gives the sorcerer anextra hint when trying to solve a problem. This equates to a free re-roll on all riddleschecks, but at one degree higher. Also, withthe same roll, a sorcerer can see details

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missed by most and can sense whensomething or someone has a strongconnection to himself. The Sorcerer is notcapable of telling how the person or object isconnected to him.

4) Library and TutorsAll sorcerers had to learn the magic,

most were chosen and taught. This meansthat Sorcerers usually have a teacher whomight allow the student usage of the teacher’slibraries (if the student doesn't already haveone themselves). With a successful socialroll (½ social stat + D20) with a difficultylevel of Average the sorcerer gains thebenefit of having a library. This makeslearning new spells one difficulty level easierand allows an untrained use of Lore skill if

time isn't a factor. The library can also beused as a trainer for mental skills, like theLibrary bonus. Even if the student has hisown library, this bonus can be used toconvince the teacher to help with informationhe may have.

If the student has his own Library, thisbonus can be used for a second untrainedLore roll if the Lore roll of the student’sLibrary fails to turn up any usefulinformation, but cannot help with learningskills or spells.

This bonus only counts if thesorcerer’s mentor is still alive.

5) SpellsSorcerers can learn the same spells

that mystics can learn.

Sorcerer's Opinion of the Other Cursed.

Shamans - Archaic relics of a time longpast. The world of spirits and the materialrealm have become too divided for this formof magic to be useful enough to bother with. Sure, they have a few parlor tricks, but theyare nothing compared to us.

Mystic - Sometimes the world is so unfair. What we sacrifice years for, they get fornothing. But there is still much to be learnedfrom them.

Psychics - Annoying upstarts. Thesechildren started springing up overnight, nowthey think they are experts on the paranormal. Freaks and mutants are what they are.

Summoners - While we can appreciate thethirst for arcane power, these Cursed gave uptoo much for so little actual power. I guess ifthey were smart enough to see this in the firstplace, they would have probably become oneof us.

The Blessed - Zealots and fools. Theblessed slaughtered thousands of innocents ina "quest from God." They are like blindchildren running around on a cliff. Unfortunately, they sometimes land onsomeone important.

Changeling - Poor bastards. So much takenaway, so much wasted, so much potential forus.

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SummonerA.k.a warlock, sorcerer, caller, dark one, eww gross

Foul Cursed who trap and forcepower from spirits and traffic with demons, atleast according to other Cursed. TheseCursed have little power themselves, most oftheir power comes from magical beings, they

either make deals with or force to serve them. Summoners deal with dark forces and thiscorrupts their souls. While many summonersare not out and out evil, the majority areselfish at best, monsters at worst.

Summoner Penalties

Due to the corrupting forcessummoners deal with on a regular bases, itcauses deformities in the body of thesummoner. All summoners start with aphysical or metal deformity or disorder. Itcould be some form of madness, horriblescarring, twisted or gnarled limb, or anythingthat causes the body or mind to be twisted.

Except for the most severedeformities these changes in the body don'tgive negatives to Body stat, but they make the

summoner seem unusual. Between thedeformities and the eerie feeling summonersgive off, they get a -1 to Social stat. Thiscounts as 1 point of Taint. Also, because oftheir corrupted soul, summoners give otherCursed the feeling that something evilapproaches when they come near.

There are rumors of non corruptedsummoners who only deal honorably withangels, Seelie fey, and good spirits.

Summoner Bonuses

1) Dark WillThe summoner is constantly battling

wills with creatures that existed since thedawn of time. Because of this constantstruggle, the summoner gets a +2 towillpower rolls.

2) WardsThrough experience and teachings the

summoner has learned the value of wards. The summoner gets +5 skill in Wards.

3) SummoningLike their name implies, summoners

know how to summon things. Thesummoner gets a +10 to summoning skill.

The summoners also get a +5 to deal withcreatures they summon.

4) True NamesEven more than other Cursed, the

summoner knows the value of true names. With a successful Riddles skill check,difficulty of Challenging, a summoner candetermine a part of a true name of a creaturethe Summoner has had a chance to study foran hour or so. Every degree of success givesthe Summoner another part of the true name,and every true name has four parts. With thefull true name of a creature without a soul, itmust obey any order given with its true name. With the full name of a creature with a soul,

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the summoner has a + 20 against the creature. An entity hiding or trapped within somethingelse will have at least a part of its namehidden.

5) Partial NamesEven partial names have power. For

each part of a true name summoners get a +5when dealing with that creature. Summonerswith part of a true name can do a researchcheck (either appropriate lore or library checkat difficulty level Challenging, or riddlecheck at difficulty level of Hard) to find outmore pieces of the name. The checks takeabout an hour, and even if the summonerdoes not have the Library bonus he is stillassumed to have enough informationgathered over time to do the research (he justdoesn’t get to roll his Library check and musteither have the lore or use riddles). ASuccess gives you one more piece of thename, any degrees of success will give you a+4 to research for the next part of the name.

If any part of a true name cannot befound by the sixth time the summonerattempts the research then the summonercannot find that part of the true name fromthe resources at his disposal. In order tocontinue trying to research that part of thetrue name new resources will be needed. Itwill take approximately $1000 worth of newreference material to continue the effort (GMcan raise the price as much as he wishes, butit should be no cheaper than $1000).

6) Creating TalismansWhile the summoner has little power

of their own, they do know how to summonmagical creatures and have them imbue itemswith some of the creature’s powers. There isa will roll (plus all summoner bonuses) vs.the creature’s will roll, or the summoner cansimply make deals with the creature. Most

mystical creatures cannot do this on theirown, the summoner acts as a conduit betweenthe object and the item being imbued with themagic.

Any object can be used as a talisman. It works like an average magical objectcreated by the Enchant Object spell. Only thesuccesses from the power being put into theobject count towards the power of theexplosion if it is destroyed.

Most mystical creatures do not like tobe forced to hand over their power tosummoners. If a mystical creature is forcedto put its power into a talisman, the GM candecide that the creature attempts to curse theitem. If the creature attempts to do this thecreature and the summoner have a battle ofWills. If the power mimics something any ofthe other Cursed classes can do (other thanthe blessed miracle), the summoner gets a+10 to his will plus a +2 for every degree ofsuccess he received from forcing the creatureto put the power into the talisman. If thepower put into the item is more powerful thanwhat any of the Cursed can do (other than theblessed miracle) then the summoner gets +5to his will plus a +1 for each degree ofsuccess for every degree of success hereceived from forcing the creature intoputting the power into the talisman. Even ifthe creature willingly put the power into theitem, if it is more powerful than any of theCursed can do (except for the blessedmiracle) he can attempt to curse it will a Willroll, but the summoner get a +15 to his Willroll.

A cursed item can do damage to theuser, usually 1 to 4 points of damage (1d4determined at item creation), every time it isused. It might cause bad luck for up to anhour (-1 to -4 roll 1D4 at item creation). Another possibility is that somethingannoying, but not necessity deadly happens to

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the character every time the item is used,usually giving the same penalty as bad luckand something embarrassing happens, such asthe users mouth foams with soap bubbles orhe gets vertigo bad enough that he can onlymove at walking speed. Unlike other curseditems, these talisman do not force the user tocontinue using them.

7) Devil's AdvocateSummoners need to be very careful in

how they word their deals with magicalbeings. As a result, summoners gain a + 5 toLaw skill.

8) Converse with the DarknessThe Darkness is neither good nor is it

evil. Few people other than summonersrealise this, however. The Darkness watches,the Darkness listens, the darkness waits, andsometimes the Darkness suggests. TheDarkness has no ill or good will towardscreation or that which exists in it since it is,was, and always will be and is generallyunconcerned with the fleeting moment that isreality.

All summoners are capable ofconversing with the Darkness itself. The

summoner simply find an area without lightand concentrate his power (with a Magiccheck with a difficulty level of Average) andhe can speak to the Darkness.

While the summoner must speakaloud to the Darkness, he hears the responsedeep in his soul. The Darkness never givesstraight answers, if it answers at all. Untainted summoners sometimes feeluncomfortable speaking to the Darkness, notbecause they see it as evil, but because it is soalien in its thinking.

9) A Little knowledge is a DangerousThing

While summoners are not powerfulspell casters, they have to know a littlesomething about it in order to cast wards andsummon creatures. Either from a fellowsummoner or from something summonedaccidentally, the summoner has been taughtthe very basics of magic at least and gain a +1 rank in Magic skill. The spells asummoner can learn are Banish, BindFamiliar, Bind to Word, Commune, Control,Humanculus, Lair, Necromancy,Summoning, Transfer Souls, Trap the Soul,Ward, Zombie.

Summoner's Opinion of the Other Cursed.

Shamans - Fools. They see the potentialspirits have, but instead of taking that forhimself he enslaves himself to them. Nowonder these primitives are dying out.

Mystics - Hippy bastards. That which youtake for granted we take by the balls. Theywill never understand since they never hadto make a sacrifice for their power.

Psychics - And they say we're messed up. Most of these guys are crazy and half of

them are on a leash being controlled bygroups crazier than they are.

Sorcerers - I can kind of get these guys. Like us they were tired of always being leftbehind, but unlike us they wasted so manyyears doing nothing but licking the boots ofthe guy above them and kicking the face ofthe guy below them just to waste even moreyears studying useless information.

The Blessed - I HATE these guys. They

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banish our minions when they are found,they burn us when we are found, all thewhile doing the same thing we are doing. The only difference is they say they get theirpower from God and we admit where we getour power from.

Changelings - Changelings are frightening. Not for the power they have, but as awarning. What has happened to them canhappen to us if we let our guard down.

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The BlessedA.k.a Paladins, holy one, bright one, the inquisition, self-righteous bastard

These holy men have devoted somuch of themselves to prayer and sermonthat god took notice. The blessed are bothpriests and holy warriors. It doesn't matterwhich religion he follows as long as there isno question in the blessed faith. God protectshis followers. Unfortunately, this blind faith haslead many to wage bloody war on the otherCursed and normal people, all in the name of

their faith. Though most blessed have onlythe best of intentions, few can work withother Cursed, even other blessed.

There are blessed who worship dark,evil gods. These blessed get different powersthan mentioned here. Blessed who worshipdark gods are not intended for use asPlayer Characters.

Blessed Penalties

The blessed's power comes from theirfaith in God. If that faith should ever waver,his power is gone. However, since theblessed are so devout it is nearly impossibleto convince one of the blessed he is wrong. When faced with something that absolutelychallenges his faith, a will roll with thedifficulty of Challenging is needed. If thisroll is failed then the blessed is at a -3 for allrolls and can not use mystical abilities untilhe can see or do something to reaffirm hisabsolute faith. The terms of the blessed’sfaith should be worked out before game, butall blessed do what they do for god and thebetterment of mankind.

While dealing with someone with thesame beliefs as the blessed, he gets a + 2 toall social rolls; however, when dealing withsomeone with different beliefs he gets a - 5 toall social rolls.

This is on a case by case for eachbelief. Everything the blessed believe, theybelieve to an extreme. There are few thingsthat a blessed do not feel strongly about.

Also, the blessed do not get spells tocast, they are simply conduits for God (or theGods, whichever God or Gods they may be)and do not control the magic. They do notget points to put into spells since they do notget spells.

The Blessed Bonuses

1) God Sustains meThe blessed only needs to eat a fourth

of what they should normally need to eat. Also the blessed can withstand harsherweather conditions than normal people. Theblessed gain + 5 to save vs. starvation orenvironmental hazards. They also only needthree to four hours of sleep a night to be fully

rested.

2) God Steels my SoulAll blessed get a + 1 to Soul stat.

3) Act of GodOnce per game session, the blessed

can call on their connection to his god. With

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a successful Concentration, using his Soulstat rather than his Mind stat as the base stat,with a difficulty level of Challenging, the godof the blessed will alter the world to theadvantage of the blessed. The blessed haveminimal control over the change, whichmeans he can choose which aspect he wishesto change. He must pray for up to a minuteout loud and mention what he wants changed.

While grand acts such as God partingthe red sea for Moses is an example of thisbonus, acts of god are not always sograndiose. For example, a blessed who isabout to be beaten by a gang prays to his godand suddenly police sirens go off. The gangis scared off and the cop turns out to be anold friend of the blessed, so there are noofficial questions being asked.

Yet another example is that theblessed has no money and hasn’t eaten indays. He preys for sustenance and happens towalk by as a restaurant is giving out freesandwiches as a promotion could be anotherexample.

4) SanctifyThe blessed can bless water and

objects and make them holy. Holy water andobject cause 3 points of damage per turn ofcontact with mystical evil, those heavilytainted (three or more points of taint), orthose infused with “dark powers” (forexample vampires and werewolves).

5) Protection From EvilEvil and demonic forces find it hard

to tempt the blessed. The blessed receive +10 willpower when dealing with mysticallyevil creatures (other Cursed do not count

unless significantly tainted), those heavilytainted (three or more points of taint), orthose infused with “dark powers” (forexample vampires and werewolves).

6) Call down the Holy SpiritThe blessed can call down the holy

spirit to bless someone. This works like theBless spell. They get +5 to this bonus (5 +D20 + ½ Soul) and can spend more pointsinto this later like a spell. This power onlyrequires a quick three to six second prayer.

Using this power on someone who isnot of the same religion as the blessed makesit one degree of difficulty harder to do, and touse it on someone who actively blasphemesagainst the blessed’s religion raises thedifficulty level by three. This power can beused on a group, but the penalties for using iton non-believers and blasphemers arecumulative for everyone in the group.

7) Divine PunishmentThe blessed can also call down the

wrath of God on an enemy. This works likethe Curse spell. The blessed get +5 to thisbonus (5 + D20 + ½ Soul) and can spendpoints into this like a spell. This power onlyrequires a quick three to six second prayer. This power is two degrees of difficulty easierfor anyone who blasphemes against thereligion of the blessed but is one degree ofdifficulty harder for a true believer of thereligion of the blessed.

8) Becoming a Better PersonSince the blessed do not get spells,

they get an extra 10 creation points.

The Blessed's Opinion of the Other Cursed.

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Shamans - Misguided fools at best,dangerous heretics at worst. Most of thesepeople seem to want to help, and they mayhave been chosen by God, they justmisinterpret what they have seen.

Mystic - Witches. They dance naked withdemons and tempt good people into evil actsto damn their soul.

Psychic - This is what happens whenhumanity becomes too decadent and secular. These people are horrid mutations who thinkthey are on par with God.

Sorcerers - Heathens and heretics. Theywillingly turn their backs on the light. Forwhat? Power, glory? Don't they know Godis the Power and the Glory?

Summoners - They bathe in the filth that isSatan. They are everything we are against. They are the enemy and must be destroyed.

Changelings - These poor unfortunatebastards are the reason we wage war againstthe mystical, so no more must suffer likethese lost lambs have suffered.

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ChangelingsA.k.a the stolen, the lost, the returned, the broken

The lost children stolen from theircribs in the middle of the night. Sometimesstolen by capricious fey, replaced with eithera fey child or sometimes stock, a woodenbody so lifelike that no one can tell it isn't areal corpse. Sometimes a child finds his wayaccidentally across the veil to the land of thespirits. Sometimes the child is stolen bydarker forces. The horrors visited on a childstolen by demons are unimaginable. Usuallythe children stay lost, but sometimes theyfind their way back. Changelings never come

back whole. The experience kills off part oftheir soul. The experience leaves thechangeling without any true emotions. Theycan fake it with the best of them, however,anyone who really pays attention can tell thehollowness of their laugh. Who took thechild determines what the child will generallybe like.

It is not only children taken(sometimes they take youth and young adults)but it is mainly young children taken.

Fey-Stolen

The children taken by the fey andcome back often seek out beauty. Theyfollow artists of all types. They are usuallyskilled artists, but cannot be great because oftheir lack of emotions. These fey-stolen alsohave a distorted sense of morality. Rewards

for kindness are often disproportionatelygreater, as is punishment for wrongdoing. While usually seeking to do good, these fey-stolen often see right and wrong differentlythan most people.

Spirit-found

It is almost as if these changelingswalked out of the old stories of a child beingraised by animals. They were raised by thevery essence of the natural world. It isdifficult to cross between the worlds, butthere are still a few places that the boundariesbetween worlds are thin enough toaccidentally walk through.

The spirits see most of humanity asbeing too corrupt to allow into their world,and generally kill most humans on sight. However, if the human is young enough thatthe child can still be taught the natural ways,they will spare it and teach it, usually. Thespirits do not take the children, and therefore

do not leave something in its place, but theact of crossing between worlds does changethese poor souls. They are still changelingsand have the same benefits and flaws as theother changelings.

The spirit realm is ancient and wise,these changelings often come out actingsimilar to the spirits that took them. Onemoment they seem ancient and wise beyondtheir years, then the next they are as naiveand confused about the world as a toddler. When the children who find their way to thespirit world come back, they are usuallyhorrified and appalled by how disconnectedthe mortal world has become from the spirit

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realm.The spirit-found often gravitate

toward natural places. Those that stay incities try and bridge the gap between the

physical world and the spiritual one. Thesechangelings get along best with, and are oftenmistaken for, shamans.

Demon-stolen

While most pity and mourn the childstolen by demons, more fear their return. While demons are cruel and evil, few demonshave the imagination of children. Demon-stolen who return do so filled with hatred and

rage. These changelings can hide theirmalevolence and seem perfectly normal,which makes them all the more dangerous.

The demon-stolen are not meant tobe player characters.

Changeling Penalties

The experience of being stolen awaykills a little piece of the child's soul. Alongwith having no real emotions, they get - 1 totheir soul stat. Also, being in a differentrealm changes the changeling's body as wellas the soul. The changeling may haveunusual colored eyes, maybe his ears are toolong and pointed, it could be anything, butthere is something different about him.

After so much time with mysticalcreatures, the Changeling takes on some ofthe weakness of these creatures. Fey-stolenare uncomfortable around cold iron, demon-stolen avoid religious icons as much aspossible, and spirit-found are susceptible toheavy pollution and often develop respiratoryproblems. These weaknesses are mostlypsychological.

Changeling Bonuses (All Changelings)

1) Magical UpbringingSince all changelings were brought up

in highly magical environments, allchangelings understand magic, at least betterthan most people. All changelings get + 5ranks to Magic skill.

2) Unearthly CharismaEven though changelings have

something unusual about their appearance, allchangelings are oddly alluring. Allchangelings get a + 1 to Social stat.

3) MagicalAll changelings can learn the same

magic as sorcerers and mystics (except forthe spirit-found who can only learn shamanrituals).

4) Getting to Know YouYou can learn a lot about someone

(thing) by being raised by them. Allchangelings get a + 5 to Lore skills relatingto those that took them.

Fey-stolen Bonuses

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1) GlamourFey-stolen changelings can control a

watered down version of Fey magic calledGlamour. Glamour that the fey-stolen learnis both a type of mind-control and a muchmore powerful version of illusions, they arereal until disproved. Cold iron will cancelGlamour. See Glamour in the magic section.

2) Friends of NatureFey-stolen changelings are friends of

nature and nature is their friend. In a naturalenvironment nature itself will help out thechangeling. Animals will come to thechangeling’s aid and even plants will animateto help out. This requires a Social roll (½

Social stat + D20) with a difficulty rating ofAverage. This ability lasts for 20 minutesplus 10 minutes per degree of success or untilthe help is no longer needed. It only takes afew seconds to use this power, long enoughto call out for help.

3) InspireWhile fey-stolen cannot create true art

because of their lack of emotions, they caninspire great works from others. With wittyremarks and playful actions these changelingscan give a bonus of + 5 to any art skill. Fey-stolen must be careful though, too muchinspiration can burn out a persons creativity.

Spirit-found Bonuses

1) See the SpiritsSpirit-found changelings can

concentrate to see and hear across the veil tothe spirit world in much the same way ashaman can with rituals or drugs. To see thespirit world, the spirit-found needs to make aConcentration skill roll with a difficultyrating of Challenging. Some places maygive negatives to this roll because of agreater separation between the spirit andmaterial worlds, or because of wards.

While a spirit-found changeling isusing See the Spirits, the changeling can send his voice across the veil. This bonuslasts for half an hour plus half an hour perdegree of success. Spirit-found canunderstand and be understood by all spirits.

2) Awaken the worldA spirit-found changeling can

awaken the spirit in an object and talk to itlike a shaman. To awaken the spirit, thespirit-found needs to perform a short ritual

taking two to three minutes. A check ismade at 5 + ½ soul + D20 with a difficultyrating of Challenging. More ranks can beput into this like a spell. This bonus lasts foran hour plus one hour per degree of success. The spirit-found can put the object back tosleep with the same roll at a difficulty levelof Challenging

3) Create FetishA spirit-found changeling can place a

spirit into an object like a shaman can, thuscreating a magical object called a fetish. The spirit will sleep within the object andthat object will gain one or more of thespirits powers. In exchange, most spirits askfor great services or taboos from the spirit-found changeling, much like they wouldfrom a shaman. The spirit is released fromthe fetish and the object becomes a normalobject again when the object is destroyed,the time-frame agreed upon is up, or thespirit-found changeling breaks his end of the

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deal. All spirits can tell when someonebreaks a deal with a spirit and do not usuallydeal with the offender until restitution ismade.

*Note* While the spirit-found changelings

can be possessed by spirits like anyone else,the spirit will not repair the body to the stateit was in before the spirit possessed it. Shamans are the only ones they will do thisfor.

Demon-stolen Bonuses

1) Prince of liesThe demon-stolen changelings are

natural liars. They get + 2 on all deceitfulskills. This includes Performance anddisguise.

2) HellfireHellfire is sickly green and freezing

cold to the touch. A demon-stolen can callforth balls of Hellfire that they can throw attheir enemies. Hellfire adds 4 points ofweapon damage. This is a double edgesword, however, because it deals 1 point ofdamage to the Changeling using it. Thispower can be used in one round.

3) Know your ownA demon-stolen can tell on sight if a

person is being possessed by a demon. Theyalso get to roll their Double Talk skill at adifficulty level of Average or against theopponent’s Double Talk skill, whichever iseasier, to know when they are being lied to.

4) Untainted, Sort OfA demon-stolen is immune to being

tainted since they have literally been throughhell and back. Their souls are black as night,but it will not show through.

Changeling's Opinion of the Other Cursed

Demon-stolen Changeling’s Opinion of the Other Cursed

Shamans - Misguided fools, they serve thewrong side. The earth is a dying ball of mud.Our masters will march through this world. The air will turn to poison and the waters toblood. Where will their precious spirits bethen? Trampled under the feet of ourmasters, that’s where.

Mystics - They are useless and worthless tous. They claim to be the embodiments ofmagic. Ha, our masters are the embodimentsof magic; brutal, furious, dark magic. Whenour masters get here, they will boil the

mystic’s blood and sear their flesh, but ourmasters will not allow them the sweetembrace of death. When they know thetorment we suffered, they will truly knowwhat it is to be in the presence of beings ofpure magic.

Sorcerers - Presumptuous fools. They thinkthemselves special because of the secrethandshakes and foolish garments of theirfraternity of secret casters. They were noteven given their power, they had to steal it. Some are smart enough to pay heed to our

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masters, others are foolish enough to presumethey can command them, while a few havethe common sense to avoid our mastersaltogether. No matter though, they will burnbefore our masters in the end. We shall enjoytheir suffering, laughing the whole time,knowing it was their greed and lust for powerthat damned them, even if they were carefulenough not to get caught up in a deal with ourmasters.

Summoners - UPSTARTS! These foolsbelieve they are powerful enough to enslaveour masters or steal our place as the masters’favourite slaves. One day they shall pay fortheir pride, and we shall ensure they geteverything coming to them. Oh yes, theyshall pay for their pride a thousand fold, wewill make sure of that.

Psychic - These silly little children make melaugh. They see the world we truly inhabit,see the power of magic, yet they would ratherturn to their own mind or to their weakscience rather than accept gifts from ourmasters. How silly, how sad.

The Blessed - Impudent fools. Because thegreatest most powerful of them managed tosucceed in defeating Legion, with effort hecould barely muster, once, more than twothousand years ago they think they can holdtheir own against us and our masters. We

shall hide under their noses, lull them into afalse sense of security, then one day, in a darkalley, they will feel our claws rending them topieces, feel the thorns of betrayal, feel thelashes of abandonment. Then we shall drinkdeeply of their blood and eat ravenously oftheir flesh. They shall know the suffering oftheir master as we drag them, screaming, tohell, but their torment will not end in threedays, but will continue for years, a thousandfold and a thousand fold more. They will beour lunch.

Fey-stolen Changelings - I feel a smallamount of kinship to these changelings. They suffered from masters almost as wickedas our own. The difference is that ourmasters never hid what they were and theirmasters wore such beautiful masks it dazzledthem enough to hide the cruelty of theiractions. Like us, the fey-stolen have beentruly twisted by their experiences. Unlike us,they have managed to hide behind pretty littlelies told to them by those that took them, andthat’s why we hate them.

Spirit-found Changelings - These silly tree-huggers sicken me. It isn’t fair that we had toendure what we had to and they werewhisked away to paradise. I say kill themand send them to our masters; show themwhat they missed.

Spirit-found Changeling’s Opinion of the Other Cursed

Shamans - I pity these children, they stumblearound, lost, with no clue what is needed tobe done. The frightening thing is that I mayhave become one of them if I was not savedand shown the proper path. We should takepity on these lost children and show them thetrue way of the spirits when we can.

Mystics - These children can be fun to playwith, but more often, have lost too muchfrom keeping so much hidden inside. Weshould help them when we can.

Sorcerers - I do not trust these children, they

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spend too much time building impenetrabletowers of secrets and lies. They think theybuild them as defense, but in fact, theymerely build prisons for themselves.

Summoners - Do not trust these children. All they understand is theft, corruption,destruction, and death. They traffic with theenemies of this world and that makes themour enemies.

Psychics - I weep for these children. Theyrun from the world around them and findhiding places within their own mind. Theycannot see the damage they do to themselves.

The Blessed - Be wary of these children. They mean well, but they have an appropriateexpression; the road to hell is paved with

good intentions. Their good intentions tendto blind them from the evils they commit.

Fey-stolen Changelings - Like us, they wereraised by creatures of the natural world madesupernatural. Unlike us, those that havetaken these poor children are unaccustomedto change and are incapable of maturing andlearning. This leads to the fey-stolen havingdifficulty with these concepts. Fey-stolen arenot our enemies as the fey are not theenemies of the spirit world, but be carefulputting your trust in them.

Demon-stolen Changelings - Mourn thechild taken by demons and destroy whatcomes crawling back from hell. They are nolonger human and they are nothing like us.They are agents of destruction now.

Fey-stolen Changeling’s Opinion of the Other Cursed

Shamans - Kooks with a martyr complex. While I admire the fact that they are friendsof the environment, they play too close to thegates of Arcadia for my liking.

Mystics - Pretty, fun, fragile. I enjoy playingwith them, but they can seldom keep up.

Sorcerers - Watch your backs around theseguys. They have lust in their minds andmurder in their hearts, and they get manyother things wrong as well.

Summoners - These guys make me laugh -from a distance. They play with things bestleft alone, and often go up in a pretty ball of

fire. Just make sure you are not to close orthey’ll drag you into the explosion with them.

Psychics - Boring.

The Blessed - They crush what they fear,they fear what they do not understand, andthey do not understand anything. Beware,they serve iron.

Demon-stolen Changelings - Do not trustthe spawn of hell.

Spirit-found Changelings - They are ourallies, of sorts. Be wary and be helpful.

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Magic spells and Psychic Phenomena

The Cursed can be a tragic lot. Misunderstood and separated from the restof humanity, they walk through the mundaneworld as if it were smoke. Most trydesperately to hold on to some connectionthey had with their old life, only to see it slipfrom their grasp. Some manage to hide whatthey have become well enough to pass asnormal. As compensation for thisostracization, the universe grants TheCursed a measure of power. For some it islittle compensation. For others, it is worththe sacrifice and even more.

In this section, magic and otherpowers of Cursed will be detailed.

Magic

Shamans perform rituals to honourthe spirits, others use runes, bloodletting,and ancient formulae for their magic. Thereare many ways to cast magic, but all havesome similar characteristics. The onlyexceptions are the Blessed and Psychics. Inthis section, any time the word mage is used,it refers to a magic casting Cursed. That isany Cursed except Psychics and Blessed.

Casting Time

All magic takes time. Casting magictakes about a minute per difficulty level ofthe spell, unless otherwise stated. The timeit takes to cast a spell can be decreased bythirty second increments. Every thirtysecond increment that the spell is decreasedgive a -5 to the spell roll. The length of timeneeded to cast a spell can be lowered to aminium of three seconds (one round).

Lending a Helping Hand

If one of The Cursed is casting aspell, other Cursed can help him cast it togive the caster a bonus. The caster must rollfor the spell and if the mage helping knowsthat specific spell then he automaticallygives a + 2. If the helping mage doesn'tknow the spell he can make a magic roll atthe difficulty of the spell and if he makes theroll he gives a + 2. However, if the helpingmage fails the roll then he gives the originalmage a - 2.

Anyone with the Magic skill can helpcast a spell, even non mages. There is nolimit to the amount of helpers casting thespell. It is dangerous, however, to put toomuch power into a spell. Psychics cannotget help to use their power because magic isusing external forces and Psychic powerscome from within an individual.

The Good and the Bad of Spell Casting

If a spell fails by two degrees offailure or more, or a 1 is rolled for the Spellcheck, the mage must make a Magic skillcheck with a difficulty level of Challengingwith a -5 for every degree of failure. If thesecond roll is passed, nothing happens. Ifthe second roll fails something unintendedhappens. This something could be anythingfrom the wrong spell being cast, anexplosion of arcane power, realityweakening in the area, to the creation of aliving spell.

The same thing happens if the spellcheck is passed by 5 degrees of success ormore. In that case the Magic skill check isdifficulty level of Challenging with a -5 forevery degree of success above 5 degrees ofsuccess, and if the second roll fails the spellwill go off perfectly but there will be another

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effect. This does not apply to psychics. They do not draw on external forces and donot have to worry about drawing in morethan he can control.

A Concentration check before thespell can help control the power being putinto it. If the mage makes the concentrationcheck he can decided how many degree ofsuccess will go into the spell and if he rollsmore than that, they will not count. Inaddition, if the Concentration checksucceeds and you fail the spell it doesn’tmatter how many degrees of failure you get,it will not cause a backlash, it just won’twork.

Premature and Unsatisfied

It is possible to stop a spell mid-cast,but it is dangerous. A Magic skill roll isneeded to control the power that is alreadyinvested in the spell. The Magic skill rollhas a difficulty level of Challenging with a -5 for every 30 seconds spent casting thespell. If the Magic skill roll succeedsnothing happens and the spell dissipates. Ifthe roll fails, there is a backlash like a failedspell.

Satisfaction and Strong Emotions

There are ways of increasing anddecreasing the power of the spells yourcharacter casts. Strong emotions canincrease the energy of a spell cast. Anyemotion (joy, fear, love), if strong enough,will do. There are varying degrees ofstrength of emotion; a child getting a newtoy is small (+ 2), someone suffering roadrage in lunch hour traffic is moderate (+ 4),and a woman being asked to marry the manshe loves would be high (+ 6).

Sexual release will also increase the

power of spells. Self-satisfaction gives theleast (+ 2), experienced partners (or groups)gives a little more (+ 4), and the sexualrelease of a virgin without sexual intercoursefor the first time is high (+6 after which itonly give +4 until he actually hasintercourse), and sexual intercourse with avirgin (a virgin sacrifice) gives the most (+8), if both (or more than one) is a virgin thepower is even greater ( + 12); a virgin issomeone who has not experienced sexualintercourse with a partner. Sexual releaseonly counts for humans. These only countwhen the person experiencing sexual releaseis not under a magical compulsion toperform. For every additional participant inthe sexual encounter +2 is added to thebonus up to an additional +6.

To gain these bonuses, both fromhigh emotions and sexual release, the magemust make physical contact with the personexperiencing it. If two or more mages arefighting over the bonus then it comes downto all mages participating in the dispute toroll D20 + ½ Soul stat, highest gets thebonus.

These bonuses are from naturalemotions or sexual release. Chemically ormystically (or psychically) enhancedpleasure or emotion provide half the bonus.

These bonuses (from both highemotions and sexual release) can be storedfor later use. To store this power, an item atleast a square inch made of precious metalmust be used; The Cursed must makephysical contact with the item at the time ofrelease (and the person he is gaining thepower from, if he is not involved) and makesa Magic skill check (or Concentration skillcheck for Psychics and Blessed) with adifficulty level of Average. If the check issuccessful, the power can be used at a latertime with a Magic skill check (or

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Concentration skill check for Psychics andBlessed) with a difficulty rating of Average. The power is a one time (all at once)use item. The maximum amount of thesetalisman that can be made is one per strongemotion or per sexual release. Themaximum bonuses per day from sexualrelease is 1 then roll ½ Body + D20 atdifficulty level Average and you get an extraone for succeeding and an extra one forevery degree of success as a maximum perday for males, double this for females.

Your character can only use onetalisman per round (a round is 3 seconds,long enough to throw a punch and readyanother, or do something simple), and canonly use a certain amount of talisman perspell (14-Soul), because the stronger the soulthe less help it wants.

Spicing Up Your Spells

Another things that would givepower to a spell is putting a bit of flair intoyour ritual. There are four parts to setting upa ritual and for each part you get a + 1 toyour spell. The first is setting upatmosphere, second is props, the third iscostume, and the fourth is setting the mood. Some examples are a Summoner burningproper incense conducive to what he issummoning (atmosphere), dressed in blackrobes (costume), using symbols of dark gods(props), and playing Blue Oyster Cult in thebackground (setting the mood). Anotherexample is a new age Sorcerer performing aritual in a secluded clearing in the woods(atmosphere), skyclad (costume), dancingaround a bonfire (setting the mood), burningherbs with traditional connections to thespell being cast (props). A third example isa Mystic brewing up a curse standing over acauldron (atmosphere), dressed in either

black robes, or a plain black dress with apointed hat (costume), throwing oddlynamed herbs and poisons into the boilingcauldron (props), while reciting the names ofsaid herbs and poisons and the intent of thespell (setting the mood).

No one is truly sure why these thingswork but there are two very popularopinions on why they do. The first is thatthese things open up the mind and soul tomore fully accept the power flowing throughit to perform the ritual. They believe that itis the human inability to believe in thepossibility of the mystical that limits his useof magic. The second theory is that magicjust likes a good show. Psychics andBlessed do not get bonuses for performingrituals.

Location, Location, Location

Certain places allow the mage todraw on ambient magic. To be able to gainthe bonus, the mage must be at the site andmake a Concentration check with a difficultylevel of Average. These bonuses cannot besaved for later.

Standing stones such as Stonehengecan give off a +1 to +5 bonus to magic fornon-shamans, non-fey-stolen changelingsand non-spirit-found changelings and giveoff an additional +2 for shamans, fey-stolenchangelings or spirit stolen changelings. The bonus seems to change without rhymeor reason.

Haunted places are always places ofpower, no one is sure why, maybe the ghostor entities haunting the place gives off agreat deal of power, perhaps ghost are drawnto places of high magic. Whatever the case,mages can usually get between +1 to +3bonus to their spells, add another +2 for thespell Necromancy or ritual Show the Way.

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Ley lines, or Dragon Roads, are linesof magic energy that stretch along thesurface of the earth. They are invisible andintangible, but The Cursed know when theyare standing near enough that they can drawpower from it. They can be anywhere froma few metres long to hundreds kilometreslong and between one to four metres (aboutthree to twelve feet) wide depending on thepower. They generally give +1 to +4 bonusdepending on how strong they are. Nexuspoints are where the ley lines intersect. Thisgives off a great deal of power. The bonusis the total of all the ley lines that intersect atthat point. If there are three or more linesintersecting, the mage does not even need toroll a Concentration check to use the bonus. The most ley line ever found intersected atone time was five. Ley lines move overtime, so nexus points move.

There are other places that will givebonuses that were not mentioned here, it isup to the GM’s digression if a place give abonus or not and how much of a bonus. Psychics do not get any bonus from latentpower in the area.

Losing Your Mojo

There are things that decrease themagical energy. First is pain. The morepain a body experiences, the more magic thebody naturally draws from the environmentto try to heal itself without any consciouseffort from the person. That means that theinjured person’s body will also draw magicfrom spells. Small cuts and bruises willdraw little energy (- 1), larger cuts that drawsome blood will draw a little more (- 2), abroken bone will draw even more (- 4),massive damage will draw a lot of power (-6). If the psychic is the one in pain then hereceives the negatives. If he is not, then he

does no receive the negatives.Most people seem to think death

releases a great deal of magic into the world. This is true, in a fashion. Death does releasea lot of power, but it draws the power fromthe world of the living and releases it to theworld of the dead. All mages within a fivemetre radius (about fifteen foot radius) ofsomeone dying get a -10 to their spells for24 hours, except for the shaman ritual Showthe Way, or the spell Necromancy whichboth gain a + 5. This does not effect apsychic, unless he is the one that dies, inwhich case he loses his powers and that isprobably the least of his worries.

Hiding the Hidden

Spells need not be overtly cast. It ispossible for a mage to hide the fact that he iscasting a spell. With a successful Magicskill roll of one degree of difficulty levelhigher than the spell, the mage can cast thespell without signs of casting.

The attempt must be made to hide aspell at the beginning of casting and the rollmade before the attempt to hide it. If theattempt to hide the spell fails, the spell willnot be cast but the mage will not notice untilafter the attempt. Rituals cannot be hidden.

Keep Your Mind in the Game

It is possible to do other things whilecasting a spell. It takes a Concentration skillcheck with a difficulty level one higher thanthe spell cast to do something else as themage cast the spell. This Concentrationcheck must be made every turn (two to threesecond time interval) the mage wants to do asecond action while casting. This includestalking to someone.

If the Concentration check fails,

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something happens. What happens is up tothe GM, but it is like failing or succeedingcasting a spell by too much.

What’s in a Name

True names hold great power, as anysummoner can tell you. In order for one ofthe Curse who is not a summoner to learn atrue name, he must spend at least a monthresearching whatever it is he wishes to knowthe true name of. This process can also becostly since the material needed for theresearch are ancient and rare books, butanyone with the Library bonus is assumed tohave enough to work with. After a month ofresearch, the researcher must make a Riddlescheck at a difficulty level of Hard. If thecheck fails, then the person knows that hedoes not know it and must spend at leastanother month doing research, unless hefails by 3 degrees of failure. If he fails by 3degrees of failure or more, he not only getsthe wrong part of a name, but believes hehas gotten it correct. If this happens he willnot be able to get the rest of the name.

Each additional month gives a +2 tothe riddles roll, and failed attempts count asextra time researching. If the checksucceeds, the researcher has found one partof the true name, any degrees of success givea +4 to researching the next part. There arefour parts to every true name, so it will takeat least four months to find a full true name. If a part of a true name cannot be found afterthe fourth attempt, then it can not be foundwith the current resources. The mage mustget new resources worth $10,000 to$100,000 (roll 1D10 and multiply by10,000) in order to continue research intothe true name. Each part of a true namegives the non-summoner a +3 when dealingwith the named creature. A full name gives

a +20 against anything without a soul, or a+15 with a soul.

Will Save, But I Don’t Want To

If a spell or psychic power has a Willroll as part of the difficulty level the targetcan not just let the spell or psychic poweraffect him, unless the target also knows thespell or psychic power. If the target does notwant to resist this spell or psychic power,but cannot use it, then the caster rolls a Willroll against the target’s Will stat alone(rather than the target’s Will + D20). If thetarget has the spell or power then he maychose to let the spell or power affect him. The caster must successfully cast the spell oruse the power for this to be an issue.

Creating New Spells

To create a new spell the mage musthave at least 10 ranks in Magic skill. If thecharacter has sufficient ranks in the Magicskill then the player and the GM mustdiscuss the effects and limitations of the newspell. When creating a spell, your characteris also learning it. A character can onlycreate a spell he can learn. Keep in mind thereason that there are no combat spells is thatI think that they take away from what thenature of the game is meant to be. Includingsuch spells is at the GM’s discretion.

The next step is to determine thedifficulty level of the spell being created. Aspell with a small effect on game play likeArmour or with severely strict limitationslike Teleport would probably be Average. Spells with a larger or more useful effect,like Commune would probably beChallenging. A spell that has a great effecton the game, like Zombie, would probablybe Difficult.

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For example, John the mystic istrying to create a spell to make plants growfaster so he can replenish his stock for hisrituals. His player and GM decide that thespell should make a plant grow at the rate ofone week in one hour on a success and anadditional week worth of growth in an hourper degree of success. They also decide thespell lasts for one hour plus one hour perdegree of success. The GM figures this is asimple spell with little actual effect on thegame so he decides that the difficulty levelfor this spell should be Average. Thedifficulty level is up to the GM and there areno set rules for determining difficulty levels.

It takes the character three to sixmonths (1D4+2 months) of research andexperimentation to create a spell. Thecharacter must spend at least 40 hours aweek researching the spell. Each researchattempt must be at least 2 hours long withoutinterruption, but after the first 2 hours it goesin intervals of 1 hour without interruption. Returning to the example above, the GMrolls and determines that the spell will take 5month of research. John is busy in his labdoing research and experimenting on somehouse plants when the phone rings andinterrupts him. He had only been workingfor about an hour and a half so that wholetime is wasted. Now after the call John goesback to work and this time goesuninterrupted for about five and a quarterhours. The quarter of an hour is of no helpbut he now has five hours worth of researchand experimentation done, the next time hesets to work he will have to spend at leasttwo hours on the work or he will not benefitfrom it.

If the character does not spend atleast 40 hours a week researching andexperimenting, all his work goes down thedrain unless he has built up a surplus of time

from weeks past. Enough to make up for thelost time of the current week. As in theexample from above, John the mystic hasbeen working for eight weeks on this spell. The first week he spent 46 hours working onthe spell, the second week he spends 41hours, the third week he spends only 40hours just like week four and five, on weeksix he spends 42 hours and on week sevenhe is back down to 40 hours. So he has 9hours saved up. Big things happen to Johnon the eighth week and he only spends 36hours on the work to create his new spell. Since he has a reserve of 9 hours, he cantake the 4 hours he needs from that and stillkeeps going, but he only has a 5 hours safetynet. To determine how much time thecharacter manages to spend working on thespell the formula is 10+2D20- any timespent doing anything else but working,sleeping travelling from work to home andback for weeks nothing plot wise happens tothe character. If the character is involvedwith plot, the player and the GM will haveto determine how much time the characterdevotes to the creation of the new spell.

At the end of the research andexperiment phase the player rolls a Magicskill check at one difficulty level higher thanit would normally be for the character tolearn it at. If the check is made, the playerspends 4 xp and gains the first rank of thespell and can teach it to others. If the Magiccheck fails then the research starts fromscratch.

Up to 4 mages can help in creating aspell. The time needed per week is cutdown to 30 hours a week for one or twomages, and 20 hours a week for having threeor four mages. In order for this to work, allthe people involved must be workingtogether at the same time, every time, for theduration of creating the spell. The greatest

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advantage to having more than one personworking on the creation of the spell is that itonly takes one of the people to make thecheck to have the spell created and be ableto teach the others.

Spells/Powers

While all the powers that The Curseduse may seem similar, they are all different. Shaman’s rituals are prayers to the spirits; specific ways to honor and ask the help ofthe spirits that result in similar results. Spells are ways to call on and focus thehidden mystical forces of the universe. Psychic powers are the hidden capabilities ofthe mind. Powers that few have been able tounderstand, let alone tap into. Glamour isthe ability to pull the strings that bind allthings, both mundane and mystical. Magicuses external forces to cause changes in thecaster’s environment, psychic powers comesfrom the power of the mind, the Magic skillwill not help your character recognize apsychic power and anything that effect spellsspecifically will not effect psychic powers.

All spells (and psychic powers) aretreated like skills. All spells use the Soulstat and psychic powers use Mind stat. Allspells and psychic powers are trained only. Most spells and psychic powers have aspecific difficulty level and it will say so inbrackets beside the name of the spell andpsychic. Like skills, a roll of 1 always failswhile a roll of 20 always succeeds.

Every Cursed (except the Blessed)get magic or power skill points equal tofifteen (15) plus their modified (by class)Soul plus Mind stat. A Cursed can cast anyspell on another person as well as himself

unless the description says otherwise. Spells and powers continue to work

indefinitely, unless a duration is noted in thespell description. To stop a spell, asuccessful Concentration skill check isneeded at the same difficulty level as thespell.

Some spells require mystic writ. Mystic writ are arcane symbols that drawpower and focus it into a spell. Spells thatrequire mystic writ require a surface formarking on and something to mark on thatsurface. Mystic writ is commonly used insummoning, communication and protectiontype spells. Each spell that requires mysticwrit requires a specific mystic writ for thatspell alone so if you already have the mysticwrit set up for summoning, it cannot be usedfor any other spells, such as wards. It willbe noted in the spell description if mysticwrit is needed.

Anyone with Art painting, drawing,calligraphy, or similar styles that logicallycould help with the markings of mystic writcan make an Art check with a difficulty levelof Average. With a success, the mage gets a+2 to the spell with an additional +2 forevery degree of success when casting spellsrequiring mystic writ.

Mystic writ does not disappear afterthe spell is cast. The same mystic writ canbe used over and over again as long asnothing happens to it. If the same writ isused more than once then the same bonus (ifany) is given from the writ. It takes about 30seconds to draw the mystic writ without anart bonus, but to get the art bonus, it takes atleast a minute to draw it.

There are no spells which allow amage to travel through time.

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Shaman Rituals

*Note* Any of these rituals can be ignored ifthe Shaman deals directly with the spirits. However rituals are often easier than making deals with spirits because as long as theritual is performed correctly, it will work.

Angered Spirits (Challenging)With this ritual the Shaman stirs up

angry spirits that have been wronged,usually by the target, and sends them tocause mischief for the target. Small thingsgo wrong more often than usual with up totwo degrees of success. Small things gowrong much more frequently and largethings start to bother the target at three orfour degrees of success. Grave misfortunefollows the target at five or more degrees ofsuccess.

The details of what happen are up tothe GM, but the game mechanic for thisspell is the target gets a -2 for a success and-2 per degree of success to all rolls until thecurse is removed (with a successfulConcentration check from the caster) or it isbroken (there is always a loophole in allcurses that if the condition is met the curseis broken, or there are other spells that willstop the spell) or the duration runs out. TheDuration for the spell is one week for asuccess and one additional week per degreeof success. It the Shaman gets four or moredegrees of success, the spell is permanentuntil undone by the caster, another mage, orthe terms of the curse are met (there mustalways be terms for the target to break theritual himself). If the target is under theeffect of a Blessing spell or Spirits Blessingritual, each degree of success for the Cursespell cancels out a degree of success of theBlessing spell or Spirits Blessing ritual.

The casting of this ritual cannot be

modified with spells, shaman rituals, orother powers such as Spirit’s Blessing,Blessing, Angered Spirits, or Curse.

Banish the Corrupted (Challenging)Sometimes a spirit is too corrupted to

be cleansed. In that case it must bedestroyed, and that is what this ritual is for. This ritual deals 2 points of damage to acorrupted spirit plus 2 points of damage perdegree of success, if the spirit isn’tdestroyed, it will at least be frightened offwith a successful roll. This is a verydangerous ritual because if the Shaman failsby 2 degrees of failure or more, the corruptspirit becomes obsessed with destroying theShaman.

Call Out As a Friend of Nature(Challenging)

With this ritual, animals see theshaman as a friend. This ritual takes only 6seconds (2 rounds) to cast and is mostlymade up of pushing back ones fear, talkingcalmly to the animal and presenting his handfor the animal to smell. If the spellsucceeds, the animal will smell the hand andlick it. The animal will not bother you. Theanimal gains the ability to understand thebasics of what you say (take me to food, takeme to water, protect me from them; that ispretty much what they can understand. Youcannot be more detailed than that.).

Cleansing the Spirit (Challenging)Sometimes corrupted spirits become

completely destructive forces. This ritualallows the shaman to heal the spirit before itbecomes too destructive. Through chantsand the burning of special herbs or incense,the shaman can heal a spirit whose

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corruption has not become complete. If it isa corrupt spirit that is causing illness orinjury in a living creature, this ritual usuallyhelps.

This ritual can make a secluded,natural place rarely if ever visited by humans(other than shamans or spirit-foundchangelings) into a pure place.

Crossover (Hard)This ritual allows the shaman to send

his soul across the void. This is a verydangerous ritual that requires the shaman tobring himself to a near-death experience andmany shamans do not come back from this. The shaman must go to a pure place andpartake of a deadly concoction that willnearly kill him if done properly.

If this ritual fails by 2 degrees offailure or more, the shaman dies. If theshaman succeeds, he is brought to a roadthat forks. The two forks in the road are theHigh Road and the Low Road. The HighRoad leads to the spirit realm, where thespirits of the nature dwell, and the LowRoad leads to the land of the dead. Bothspirit worlds are full of danger and ifsomething happens to the shaman's body orthe connection between his body and soul,he may be lost there forever.

Know the Hour (Average)One of the shaman’s greatest

responsibilities is to maintain order andbalance, not only between the spirits and hispeople, but balance in the material world aswell. For balance, death is necessary. Thisritual allows the shaman to tell if the targetis living beyond his allotted lifetime. Deathusually takes people who were meant to go,but sometimes mistakes happen, more oftennow with the advancement of modernmedicine. A soul that remains in its body

longer than it was meant to starts to growcorrupt. This ritual allows the shaman tomake sure this doesn’t happen. The ritualitself consist of talking to the target for atleast half an hour about the target’s life (foranimals, the Shaman must awaken its spirit).

This rituals can be used on ideas,institutions, or buildings as well, but thedifficulty level is raised to Difficult. Toperform this ritual on something non-living,the shaman must talk to someone connectedto the target of the spell and knows a lotabout it.

Rain Dance (Challenging)This ritual asks the spirits of the

weather to change their celestial dance in adifferent direction. The effects of this ritualare not immediate but take time so that theyseem natural. A huge storm can be called upbut the spirits of the weather move in certainways. One thing must lead to another. Tothe observer, the change in weather mayseem unusual, but natural. The effects willnot cause storms to suddenly flair up withoutwarning or disappear out of the blue. Scientific observation show unusual, oddlytimed atmospheric conditions taking placewhich, while odd, seem perfectly natural,causing the change in weather that theshaman was looking for. Though it is calledthe Rain Dance, any weather can be createdand changed with this ritual.

See Across the Veil (Average)This ritual allows the shaman to see

and hear the spirit world. Usually all that isrequired for this ritual is minor intoxication,minor revelry, or fasting. The effect lasts forabout an hour plus one hour per degree ofsuccess. This spell can be canceled with asuccessful Concentration skill.

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Show the Way (Challenging)One of the jobs of the shaman is to

help those who are crossing over into thenext world make the transition moresmoothly. If successful, the shaman willhave an out of body experience and findhimself on a dark road beside his target. With the power of this spell the shaman canlead the target to his final destination. Theroad is long and dangerous, but as long asthe target follows the shaman they will bothbe safe. Once the shaman has finally leadthe target to his final destination he will findhimself back in his body safe and sound. Ifthe target leaves the shaman, the shamanmust find his way back to his body, but themagic no longer protects him. This ritualmust be performed within six hours of thetarget’s death.

Spirit’s Blessing (Challenging)With this ritual the shaman asks the

spirits to watch over and guide a target. Small things start to go right for the targetwith up to 2 degrees of success. Those littlebits of good luck happen more frequentlyand large blessings start to happen with threeor four degrees of success. With five ormore degrees of success most people thinkthat the target must have a horseshoesomewhere on their person (to say itpolitely).

The details of what happen is up tothe GM, but the game mechanics of the spellare the target gets a +2 for a success and +2per degree of success to all rolls until theblessing is removed by caster (with asuccessful Concentration check), it iscancelled by other spells, or the duration ofthe spell elapses. The spell lasts for oneweek plus one week for every degree ofsuccess. If the target is under the effect of aCurse spell or Angered Spirit ritual, each

degree of success for the Spirit Blessingritual cancels out a degree of success of theCurse spell or Angered Spirit ritual.

The casting of this ritual cannot bemodified with spells, rituals, or other powerssuch as Spirit’s Blessing, Blessing, AngeredSpirits, or Curse.

At 6 degrees of success this ritualstarts causing bad luck for those around thetarget. All within a (degrees of success ofthe spell - 5) x 2 metres get a -2 to all roll forevery degree of success above 5 on the targetof Spirit’s Blessing. If two people with 6+degrees luck/curse bubble come withincursing range of each other the two spellswill cancel each other out one success forone success, while they are within range ofeach other. For example if little Billy has 7degrees of success in this ritual and big Johnhad 9 degrees of success then when the twoof them came within range of each otherlittle Billy would have no success and bigJohn would have 2 degrees of success whilewithin range of each other.

Summoning (Challenging)This is actually a spell (see the spell

section for mechanics), but shamans arecapable of learning it. This spell calls amystical being from wherever it is andtransports it instantly to where the shamanis. In order to summon a creature, theshaman must either have its name (a truename would be easier, but the name it goesby works as well), or have a piece of thecreature (enough to be able to extract DNA). This spell requires mystic writ.

Visions (Difficult)This ritual is performed much like

Crossover except there is less danger to theshaman, he must fail by 3 degrees of failureor more before he dies, plus his soul remains

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in his body. Also, the caster simply needs tobe alone. If the ritual succeeds, the spiritsgives veiled messages to the shaman aboutwhat is most vexing him. It takes asuccessful Riddle skill check with adifficulty level of Challenging, with a + 2for every degree success from the ritual, ifthe visions can't be solved by the player.

Voodoo Doll (Challenging)With this spell, a small doll filled

with straw, secret herbs, and a piece of thetarget, the shaman can cause pain or pleasurefrom a distance. This spell binds the targetand a doll together mystically so that what isdone to one can be felt by the other, which isusually only a problem for the living target.

Pins poked into the doll will causethe target to feel pain where the doll waspoked. Massaging the doll will give thetarget the sensation of being massaged. Thisspell will not cause the target’s death, but it

can be used to make the target miserable.

Zombie (Difficult)This ritual was created by a voodoo

priest in Haiti. It’s more of an alchemicalformula than a ritual and has been adaptedby other Cursed. In fact, even mundanehumans can cast this ritual.

This ritual allows the Shaman tocreate a zombie that will follow the wishesof the creator and may be passed downthrough the family line. This ritual makes apowder that must be ingested by the victim. Soon after ingesting the formula the victimfalls ill and dies. After a few days the victimrises from the dead, totally subservient to theShaman. Zombies do not hunger, do notdesire beyond wishing to serve their master,will not tire, and will not rot. Zombies areslow moving and simple minded, so ordersmust be simple, up to 5 words.

Spells for other Magical Cursed

*note* When the word mage is used in thissection it is referring to all magic using cursed except shamans and summoners. If asummoner is able to cast the spell, it will sayso in the description.

Armour (Average)This spell gives the mage an ultra

thin, transparent armor. The armor has 1armor rating and 5 hit points for a successplus 1 armor rating and 5 hit points for everydegree of success.

Astral Projection (Challenging)Where Shamans can send their souls

to the spirit realm, mages can send theirconsciousness to the astral plane. There isless risk of death while performing this spell

than performing Crossover. When in theastral plane death is easy to come by.

While in the astral plane your body iscomatose and you are connected to it by asingle silver strand of thought. If the cord iscut or broken, you may never find your wayback to your body, and if that happens, yourbody will eventually die. If you die in theastral plain you die in the material world aswell. If something happens to your bodyand it dies while you are in the astral plane,you will be stuck there until you can find areceptacle for your consciousness. Thereceptacle must be human and soulless (likean unawakened clone), or at lest without aconsciousness (like a mages body when he isin the astral realm, but the silver string mustbe cut).

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Banish (Challenging / Will Roll)*note* This spell requires mystic writ

This spell can be cast by summoners

This spell repels mystical creaturesfrom an area; extra-planer creatures are sentback to where they came from. If the magesucceeds the spell roll then he must make awill roll vs. the creatures will roll. For everydegree of success in the original spell checkthe mage gets a +2 to will roll.

Mystical creatures from the sameplane of existence are repelled for a radius ofseven meters (about twenty one feet) plusthree meters (about nine feet) per degree ofsuccess from the area that banish was cast. This does not work on Cursed.

Creatures banished from a plane ofexistence cannot return to that plane ofexistence for one week. Also, in order for amystical creature, other than one of TheCursed, to enter the area where Banish wascast at, he must make a will save vs. the willroll the mage made when he cast the spellfor one week after it was cast . Even if themystical creature can enter the area, he is at -2 to all rolls and additional -2 for everydegree of success the mage got when castingBanish.

Bind Familiar (Challenging)*note* This spell can be cast by summoners

This spell can not be used withEnchant Object spell.This spell is permanent, the Undospell or a magic eater will not affectit.

This is the spell that started all thestories of demons taking the form of blackcats to aid witches. The mage needs ananimal to use as a host for his familiar. Catsare popular, as are dogs, rats, ravens,

spiders, parrots (since parrots can mimichuman speech, thus allowing the familiar totalk). The next step is to find an entity thatcannot enter this realm on their own. This isa specific race, not a random entity, but nosource has ever given a name to this race. The mage then strikes a deal with the entity,allowing the entity entrance into this worldusing the animal as a conduit in exchangefor a portion of the entity's power.

The mage casting the spell does nothave to be the one to whom the familiar isbound, this could be cast for another person,but the target must be capable of usingmagic (this does include the blessed). Theanimal's spirit is destroyed if it was alive, acorpse of an animal can be used as long as ithas not been dead more than an hour at thetime the spell is started. The entity takesover the body of the animal and is trapped inthe animal with limited access to its power. Surprisingly, most of the time the entity is sohappy having access to this world that theydon't seem to mind the limit on their power.

Over time the entity can gain accessto more of its power in its new form. Thefamiliar can communicate telepathically toits mage master but unless the animal iscapable of speech, the familiar cannot speak. The animal is not truly alive, and does notneed to eat, drink, or breath. For somereason, however, it still requires sleep.

As for the mage, he gains a + 2 to allspell rolls and can see, hear, smell, touch,and taste and cast spells through his familiareither when both agree to it or when themage wins a will roll vs. the familiar's willroll. If the familiar dies, the spirit is releasedback to its own dimension and the mage is at- 3 on all spell rolls for a year. If the magedies, the animal the entity was possessingdies and the entity is returned to its owndimension with - 3 to all magic for a year.

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This isn’t as big a problem for themage as one might think. The entitiespossessing the body are amazingly adept atnot dying. They seem to be able to knowwhere not to be, so they never seem to die byaccident or caught in crossfire, they seem tohave to be specifically targeted to be killed.

A familiar gets the same stats as theanimal it is possessing except for Mind stat,which is at 4 and Soul stat which is 4. Thefamiliar gets 15 points to raise stats or getspells, skills, and bonuses. At least 5 pointof this 15 must be spent in skills. The skillscould be things the entity remembers frombefore it was bound in this world, or skillsremembered by the animal body. Thefamiliar gets one experience point for everyten the mage whom he is bound to gets. Thefamiliar buys everything with these pointslike a character does except he only pays onepoint for the first rank in any spell anddoesn’t need to be taught it, he is simplyable to cast it again. The familiar can onlybuy spell a mystic or sorcerer are capable oflearning, except Bind Familiar.

Bind to Your Word (Challenging)*note* This spell can be cast by summoners

No Will roll is needed since bothmembers agree to the terms, even ifthey both do not understand they areentering a magical contract.

With this spell the mage binds twopeople, usually the mage and another person, to an agreement. This spell takes longenough to stipulate each participants side ofthe agreement and the consequence of whathappens to the participants if either or bothbreak their word. The spell is completedwhen both sides agree and do something tosymbolize the agreement like sign a contractor shake hands.

Once the deal is sealed, bothparticipants feel the magic bind them to theiroath. If one of the participants breaks theirend of the deal then the consequences occurimmediately unless the consequences forbreaking the oath takes time to build up. Ifone participant breaks his word, then theother knows that the first broke his end ofthe deal, and knows that they are free fromthe deal. If both break the oath at the sametime, both have to deal with theconsequences. Summoners can learn thisspell, and untainted summoners will usuallyuse this spell when dealing with goodsummoned creatures. This is more to showthe creature that the summoner is willing touphold his end of the agreement rather thanto make sure the summoned creature doeshis.

This spell binds the two to the spiritof the agreement, not the letter. This spell isoften used to argue that magic is sentient.Otherwise how would it know what wasmeant in the agreement? Others state thatthis spell simply binds them to the idea ofwhat was agreed upon.

Blessing (Challenging)*note* If this spell is used with Enchant

Object spell, only the person usingthe object gets the blessing and onlywhile the object is carried on hisperson.

This spell bestows good luck on thetarget. They become more likely to win atgames of chance. Plans go more smoothlythan imagined. Small things start to go rightfor the target with up to 2 degrees ofsuccess, those little bits of good luck happenmore frequently and large blessings start tohappen with three or four degrees of success,and with five or more degrees of success

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most people think that the target must have ahorseshoe somewhere on their person (to sayit politely).

The details of what happen is up tothe GM, but the game mechanics are that thetarget gets a +2 for a success and +2 perdegree of success to all rolls until theblessing is removed by the caster (with asuccessful Concentration check), iscancelled by other spells, or the duration ofthe spell elapses. The duration of this spellis one week for a success plus one week perdegree of success. If the target is under theeffect of a Curse spell or Angered Spiritritual, each degree of success for theBlessing spell cancels out a degree ofsuccess of the Curse spell or Angered Spiritritual.

The casting of this spell cannot bemodified with spells, rituals, or other powerssuch as Spirit’s Blessing, Blessing, AngeredSpirits, or Curse.

At 6 degrees of success this spellstarts causing bad luck for those around thetarget. All within a (degrees of success ofthe spell - 5) x 2 metres get a -2 to all roll forevery degree of success above 5 on the targetof Blessing. If two people with 6+ degreesluck/curse bubble come within cursing rangeof each other the two spells will cancel eachother out one success for one success, whilethey are within range of each other. Forexample if little Billy has 7 degrees ofsuccess in this ritual and big John had 9degrees of success then when the two ofthem came within range of each other littleBilly would have no success and big Johnwould have 2 degrees of success whilewithin range of each other.

Clone (Difficult)*note* If this spell is used with the Enchant

Object spell, either a certain piece of

DNA must be used to create theobject, but no more DNA is needed(in which case it can only be used tocreate that creature) or some DNAmust be used every time the object iscloned (but the object can be used toclone more than just one creature). Whichever method is chosen it mustbe chosen when the object isenchanted and cannot be changed. Either way, the object can only beused once a month. Also, the rawmaterials are still needed to createthe clone.This spell is permanent, the Undospell or a magic eater will not effectit

This spell is both time consumingand difficult to cast. The components arethe base material the body of the creature ismade up of and a piece of the target, enoughto have some intact DNA. This spell takes amonth to cast and must not be interrupted,but the caster can take small breaks to eatand sleep. This spell creates an exactduplicate of the target from the instant thesample was taken, so taking a sample from adead man is useless. The clone will be asalive and sentient as the original target, butthe clone lacks a soul. This spell is oftenused with Transfer Soul, Stasis, and Lair sothat the clone remains in the Stasis spelluntil the original mage dies, upon his death aStasis delayed Transfer Soul is set off andhis soul is sent to the clone ending Stasis. Itis normally used in a place the mage has castLair. Firstly because it is easier to cast there,and secondly Lair ignores the distancebetween the two bodies (important as thebodies would normally be out of range).

Commune (Challenging)

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*note* This spell requires mystic writThis spell can be cast by summoners

This is like the Summon spell andonly works on mystical creatures, includingThe Cursed. Except rather than forcing thetarget to appear before the mage, the magesimply talks to it by opening a pin holebetween the dimensions large enough forsound to travel through. This spell is saferand easier than Summon, all you need is alittle information about the target. This spellwill work for a target in any dimension,including the same one as the caster.

If this spell is cast through a Ward itallows the target of the Commune spell touse powers through the ward. Only thecreator of the Ward can cast Communethrough the Ward.

Control (Difficult / Will Roll)*note* This spell can be cast by summoners

This spell grants control over anothersentient being. The mage must have thetarget's true name (or at least a part of itstrue name) or a sample of the creature(enough to be able to extract DNA). Aftersucceeding the spell roll, the mage mustmake a Will roll vs. the target's Will roll. The mage has control over the being for onetask for a success and one task per degree ofsuccess of the spell, not the Will roll. Unfortunately the character has no way toknow how many successes the player got,but can tell when the spell is weakening, soonce they are within one or two tasks left(the more successes the higher the safetymargin is) they feel the spell is too weak tosafely continue and will either recast thespell or deal with the consequences. If atask is repetitive or otherwise would not endthen the compulsion to obey lasts for one

hour plus one hour per degree of success. The mage only has one week plus one weekper degree of success to command the target.

Curse (Challenging)*note* If this spell is used with Enchant

Object spell, the person whoactivates the object is the victim ofthe Curse spell. Until the curse isbroken, or the object is destroyed, thebearer can not stop keeping theobject on his person.This spell can be cast by summoners

This spell plagues the target with badluck. Machines will break down while thetarget uses them, the target loses at games ofchance, plans fall through. Murphy's Lawsgoes into overdrive for the target. Smallthings go wrong somewhat more often thanusual with up to 2 degrees of success, smallthings go wrong much more frequently andlarge things start to bother the target at 3 or 4degrees of success, and grave misfortunefollows the target at 5 or more degrees ofsuccess.

The details of what happens are up tothe GM, but the game mechanics for thisspell are the target gets a -2 for a success and-2 per degree of success to all rolls until thecurse is cancelled by the caster (with asuccessful Concentration check), undonewith other spells, the curse is broken (theremust be a condition for the target to breakthe curse himself) or the duration of the spellelapses. The spell lasts for one week for asuccess plus one week per degree of success. It the target is under the effect of a Blessingspell or Spirits Blessing ritual, each degreeof success for the Curse spell cancels out adegree of success of the Blessing spell orSpirits Blessing ritual.

The casting of this spell cannot be

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modified with spells, rituals, or other powerssuch as Spirit’s Blessing, Blessing, AngeredSpirits, or Curse.

Divination (Challenging)*note* If this spell is used with the Enchant

Object spell, the user of the objectdoes not get the bonus to Riddle rollunless he also has the Divinationspell (or similar power or ritual).

This spell grants the mage insight. With this spell, the mage can see patterns inseemingly random things such as the ordercards are drawn, the way, and what numbers,are rolled on dice, or the way animal gutsspill when the animal is hung up and gutted. The pattern shows all possibilities,which is too much for the human mind tocomprehend. Successfully casting this spellallows the mage to see and focus on thepiece of the pattern showing the mostrelevant and likely outcome for what themage is trying to divine. When the pattern isseen, it takes a Riddle skill check with adifficulty level of Challenging, at +2 forevery degree of success from the spell tofocus on the part of the pattern the mage istrying to find out and understand what thepremonition means. Only the mage castingthe spell can make the Riddle skill check. The answer is always vague.

Enchant Object (Average)This spell allows the mage to place

one or more spells into an object, thuscreating a magical item. Spells in anenchanted object never wear out, they canonly be activated or deactivated andreactivated by a successful Concentrationcheck.. On a success one spell may beplaced in an object and for every 2 degreesof success another spell can be placed into

an object. A mage doesn't need to put all thespells available into the object, but he doesknow how many an item can hold. Afterthis spell is cast the mage has a week to startputting the spells into the object. AfterEnchant Object spell is cast the mage (or adifferent mage) must cast the spells to be putinto the object on the object, the difficulty ofthe spells being put into the object is adifficulty level easier than casting normally. If a Will roll is needed for the spell then theperson casting the spell into the objectmakes the Will roll.

A concentration skill check at thedifficulty level of the spell being activated isneeded to activate or deactivate an item. Ifthe item is worn (ring, shirt, even a buttonon a piece of clothing) it must be deactivatedto put on or take off or it deals damage to thewearer equal to one point of damage perdegree of success in the Enchant Objectspell and the spell still activated combined.Enchanted objects can be used by anyoneeven mundane humans (if it is explained tothem how it works).

For reasons no mage can figure out,iron is harder to enchant than any othermaterial. The difficulty level for enchantingan object made of iron is 2 degrees moredifficult, and cold iron is 3 degrees moredifficult. If the Enchant Object spell workson the iron or cold iron item, the difficultylevel of the spells being put into the item isthe same difficulty level as putting a spellinto any other item.

Unless completely destroyed the itemrepairs itself. If the item is destroyed itcauses an explosion of 2 points of damageper success and 2 points of damage perdegree of success for each spell embedded in the object, including Enchant Objectspell. This explosion deals its damage toeverything without cover in a range of 2

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meters per success plus 2 meters per totaldegree of success radius. For exact rules ondestroying magical items, see the GM book.

For spells with effects determined bydegrees of success (such as Improve Self),the degrees of success are determined by thedegrees of success when the spell is beingcast into the object, but is not affected by thedegrees of success of the original EnchantObject spell. If the spell being cast into theobject fails, it becomes a cursed item. Theobject will connect to whoever uses it firstand will find its way back to him until hisdeath, or the curse is broken. The nature ofthe curse is determined by the spell thatfailed.

If Enchant Object spell is placed onan object to be enchanted (Enchant Objectspell has already been cast on it) it becomesa magic eater and will cancel all magicaround it. It will devour a number ofdegrees of success from all surroundingspells and magic in magical items at a rate ofthe sum of successes and degrees of successfrom both Enchant Object spells in theobject per second in a range of 2 meters forthe successes of both Enchant Object spellsplus 2 meters per total degrees of success ofboth Enchant Object spells. For the purposeof a magic eater, psychic powers andshaman rituals also count as magic. Anenchanted item that has another spell in itcan not become a magic eater. No one hasbeen known able to create magic eater thatcan be turned off or controlled using any ofthe variations that Enchant Object has.

Magic items on the user’s bodycannot usually effect the user when he isseparated from body. A Magic item will notaffect the mind self of a mage in the AstralPlane or the spirit self of a shaman in theSpirit World if the item is left in the physicalworld. There are a rare few exceptions, but

they must either have been created that way,or it was the outcome of too much magicbeing put into the item. Magic items thatcross over to another plane of existence isnot one of the commonly known variations.

A item that was changed by Glamour cannot be enchanted while it is Glamoured. Once the Glamour is removed it can beenchanted. Enchanting items can not bechanged by Glamour.

An enchanted object can be usedthrough a Ward if the mage who created theWard is also the mage who either cast theEnchant Object spell in the first place or castthe spell being used through the Ward in thefirst place, or both. If the mage was not theone who cast the Enchant Object spell or thespell in the object being used, it will notwork. An enchanted item cannot passthrough a ward unless all spells used tomake the magical item were cast by themage who cast the Ward spell.

Some spells react differently whenused with Enchant Object spell. If the spellbehaves differently then it normally would itwill mention in the notes of that spell whatwill happen when it is used with the EnchantObject spell. If a spell requires mystic writ,the mystic writ must be added to the object,unless otherwise noted in the spell. Onlymagic spells can be used for Enchant Object,not Psychic powers or shaman rituals.

There are a few variations you canmake to magic items to make them a bitdifferent from the run of the mill magicitem. These variations will raise or lowerthe difficulty level of this spell. If thedifficulty level goes over Nigh Impossible,then just keep adding 5 to the target numbersneeded to cast the spell for each additionaldifficulty level. A mage with this spelllearns one variation for every rank he gets inthis spell. These variations are:

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Trigger - A concentration check is notenough to activate the object, there issomething else needed to be said or done toactivate it. ( + 1 difficulty level)

Trigger Only - The trigger is the only way toactivate the item. ( + 2 difficulty levels)

Cursed - Either something was intentionallymade wrong in the spells put into the objector there is an added problem associated withthe object. ( - 1 difficulty level)

Always Active - The spells are always ineffect and cannot be turned off. Unlike mostmagical artifacts, the spell casts in the objectdo not effect the bearer, but the object itself. The object then convey the effects of thespell onto the bearer. With this variation thebearer is not harmed when removing orputting on an activated object. ( + 2difficulty levels)

Personal Global - With this variation a spellthat would normally affect a target effects allpossible targets within a twenty foot area, (+ 1 difficulty level)

Random Magics - Rather than puttingspecific spells in an object, the item hasrandom effects when activated. The effectsare chosen by the GM and are rarely what isneeded at the time. This uses up a spell slotin the item. ( - 2 difficulty levels)

One Time Use - The item can only be usedonce, then the item is consumed or broken. The consuming or breaking of the object isthe trigger and will not cause an explosionunlike other magical items. ( - 2 difficultylevels)

Works Better For ... - With this variation the

item was meant to be used by a specificgroup, be it undead, shaman, blessed,Catholics, whatever. When a member of thespecific group uses the item or power in theitem keyed to the specific group (the creatorcan choose if one power or all work better)then the item acts as if the creator got 2degrees of success more when putting thepower in the item than he actually did. Theitem can still be used by someone who isn’tof the keyed group, but do not get the bonus. If the item was not meant to be intelligent, itgets a 10% chance that it will be intelligentand see the group it was keyed for as beingsuperior to everyone else. If the item wasmeant to be intelligent then it has a 10%chance to believe the group it Works BetterFor is superior to everyone else. ( + 2difficulty levels)

Works Better On ... - With this variation theitem was meant to be used on a specificgroup, be it undead, shaman, blessed,Catholics, whatever. When the item or thepower keyed to the group is used on thespecific group (the creator can choose if onepower or all work better) then the item actsas if the creator got 2 additional degrees ofsuccess putting the power in the item. Theitem can still be used on someone who isn’tof the keyed group, but does not give thebonus. If the item is a weapon and thewhole item is keyed to work better on agroup the 2 degrees of success bonus adds todamage, but not to hit. If the item was notmeant to be intelligent there is a 10% chanceit will be and obsessed (either for or againstthe group it is keyed to, which is determinedby the powers) with the group it is keyed for. If it is intelligent there is a 10% chance itwill become obsessed with the group it iskeyed to. ( + 2 difficulty levels)

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Only For ... - This variation causes the itemor the power keyed to the group (the creatorcan choose if one power or all work only forthe group) to only be usable by a specificgroup, be it undead, shaman, blessed,Catholics, whatever. Unless it has TriggerOnly or Constantly Active, a Concentrationcheck is still needed to activate it.

This variation does not give bonusdegrees of success for the group using it andcannot be stacked with Works Better For ...variation. If the item was not meant to beintelligent then it gets a 15% chance that itwill be intelligent and see the group it waskeyed for as being superior to everyone else. If the item was meant to be intelligent then ithas a 15% chance to believe the group it wasintended for is superior to everyone else. ( +4 difficulty levels)

Only Works On ... - This variation causesthe item or the power keyed to the group(the creator can choose if one power or allwork only for the group) to only be usableon a specific group, be it undead, shaman,blessed, Catholics, whatever. This variationdoes not give bonus degrees of successexcept if it is a weapon in which case it gets+ 2 degrees of success for damage, but canbe used as a normal weapon against otherthings. This variation cannot be combinedwith Works Better On ... variation. If theitem was not meant to be intelligent there isa 10% chance it will be and obsessed (eitherfor or against the group it is keyed to, whichis determined by the powers keyed to thegroup) with the group it is keyed for. If it isintelligent then there is a 10% chance it willbecome obsessed with the group it is keyedto. ( -2 difficulty level)

False Aura - This variation gives a falsereading to anyone trying to cast Identify on

the item. It either reads as having a differentpower than it actually has, no power at all,or more powerful than it actually isdepending on what the creator wants it to do. If the caster of Identify gets double theamount of degrees of success than he wouldnormally need, he gets an accurate readingof the item, but the creator gets theinformation about the caster if the creator isstill alive (see Identify spell). This is amajor reason this power is put into an item. ( + 2 difficulty levels)

Better Usage - This variation simply allowsan object to do what it is meant to do, but toa mystical level. For instance, glasses thesee through illusions, or a mirror that showsthe soul of the person looking into it. Thisvariation takes up a spell slot. ( + 2 difficulty levels)

Intelligent Item (self-aware) - The item isintelligent and self-aware. It will have somemeans of communicating, eithertelepathically or verbally ( to have both willincrease the spell’s difficulty level byanother + 1). The personality is determinedby the creator, at least at first, it may developa completely different personality over time. ( + 2 difficulty levels)

Intelligent Item (semi-aware) - While theitem is aware of its surroundings, it is notaware of itself as an individual item, just asa tool and knows whom they are meant for. These items are not truly intelligent, but areable to somehow find their way into thepossession of those who are meant to havethem. Excalibur is an example of this typeof intelligent item. ( + 1 difficulty level)

Keyed to Destiny - This trait makes the itemimportant to the fate of a society, country, or

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the world (a group the size of a city orsmaller will be a + 1 difficulty level, a groupthe size of a country will be a + 2 difficultylevel, and effecting the world will be + 4difficulty level).

There are two levels of this variation. The first level of this variation, the creator ofthe object has no control over how the objectwill be keyed to destiny (except what groupthe object will effect) or if it will be for goodor evil. After creating the object, the creatorwill have prophetic dreams about what theobject’s destiny and it’s use. This levelgives a + 1 difficulty level. The second levelallows the creator to decide whether it willbe for good or ill that the object will be usedto the effect of those it is keyed to, it alsoallows the creator some control over how itwill actually effect destiny. This give + 3difficulty levels. This variation adds powersto the item that the creator have no controlor knowledge of until it is used to advancethe destiny the item is meant for. If thisvariation is added to an object that has eitherversion of Intelligent then it will knowwhom it was meant for and will find it’s wayto it that person, otherwise, destiny waits forit to reach someone who it can use to fulfillthe objects purpose. Those who recognizethese things recognize these objects as a toolof destiny.

Fly (Difficult)This is one of the most noticeably

mystical spells a mage can learn. With thisspell the mage can allow a target to fly. This spell works much like flying ahelicopter. It creates forces, controlled bythe target, that will raise, lower, and movethe target forward and backward. The targetcan fly at up 1000 meters (about 3000 feet)in the air and at speeds of up to 100 kph(about 60 mph) but unless the target has the

Fly skill, he cannot easily control his flightat more than a walking speed.

This spell also protects the targetfrom any detrimental effects that such speedand heights might cause a human body. Asuccessful Concentration skill check isneeded to stop flying.

This spell lasts until cancelled with aConcentration check Hard. Until the spell iscancelled, the mage always remains at leastseven and a half centimeters (about threeinches) off the ground.

Heal (Difficult)This spell allows the mage to heal

himself or others. The spell triggers thetarget’s immune system and the body’sability to repair itself. One health level isrestored on a successful roll plus one healthlevel per degree of success. This spellcarries a great danger, there is a 5% chanceper health point regained from this spell percasting that this spell will cause cancer inthe target.

Homunculus (Average)*note* Summoners can cast this spell.

This spell can not be used withEnchant Object spell

With this spell the mage can create aservant. The servant must be created by themage out of something such as clay, Lego,pieces of old toys, carved from stone,whatever. It must be no more a foot tall andmust resemble a human. If the humanculusis spotted by a non-Cursed, non mysticalhuman doing something it should not beable to do, the servant loses the spark of lifethat animates it. The human must believethat it is not capable of this. This spellrequires mystic writ. Humanculus stats are:Health: 4 Body: 4 Mind: 4 Social: - Soul:-

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Identify (Average)*note* If this spell is used with Enchant

Object it is only on long enough tolook at one target. It will not remainactive until turned off. The AlwaysActive variation will not work withthis spell.

All Cursed can sense magic, but fewcan accurately pinpoint it. That is where thisspell comes in handy. Identify heightensthis sense, allowing the mage to pinpointdetails of the source of power, or see if thereis mystical power in an item or creature.

First the mage must concentrate onthe source (Concentration skill checkdifficulty level Average) then cast the spell. If the Concentration check and spell issuccessful, then the caster can see the magicof one target he looks at or one source ofpower he feels.

If the target is a source of power hefeels then on a successful roll the mage cantell how far away the source is within 10yards -2 yards per degree of success. At thefirst degree of success the mage can tellwhich direction the source is, at the seconddegree of success the mage can tell if thesource is sentient or not, the third degree ofsuccess tells the mage what the source is, asin fellow Cursed, undead, magic item, etc.,and the fourth degree of success tell themage exactly what it is (i.e. type of Cursed,type of magical creature, exact spell, exactitem and nature of the enchantment on it).

If the target is something the mage islooking at, and is the size of a car or smaller,then he can see any magic that is on thetarget; it is clearly visible. For example, ifthe target is a person, the mage could tell ifthe target is mystical, and also if there arespells cast on him. The mage could alsoidentify any magic items that are clearly

visible such as a jacket or hat, but notsomething completely in his pocket or underclothing. If the target is something the mageis looking at and is bigger than a car, forexample, a building, the mage could see ifthe entire building was magical, or a place ofpower. He could also see, but not identify,magic on parts of the building clearlyvisible. Identify can not be used to scan anarea, however. One target must beconcentrated on at a time.

If cast on an object or person ratherthen just a source of power, the first successtells if the target is magical. TheConcentration skill check is still needed.

At six degrees of success and higherthe magic becomes so powerful that thesource, if sentient, can tell the same thingabout the mage at the same rate -4 degreesof success. This spell takes about 3 roundsto cast.

Illusions (Challenging)*note* If this spell is used with Enchant

Object spell, the illusion can not bechanged. Every time the object isused, it will project that illusion.

This spell allows the mage toconvince the target that he either sees, hears,touches, tastes, or smells (or anycombination there in) something that isn'tthere. A successful roll is needed for asimple trick to one sense, for a complexillusion or a second simple trick one degreeof success is needed. For a basic, simpleillusion, that effects all the senses you needthe successful roll and four more degrees ofsuccess. For a complex illusion that effectsall five senses you need the successful rolland nine degrees of success.

The illusion can be controlled andmanipulated if the mage make a

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Concentration check of Average for everychange. If the situation can be monitored, anillusion could be a safe way of meeting in anotherwise dangerous situation.

Once an illusion is seen through andis actively disbelieved with a concentrationcheck of Challenging plus five for everydegree of success in the illusion, or is utterlyproven to be false (like biting into a rockmade to look like an apple) it is dispelled. Ifsomeone knows it is an illusion but does notactively disbelieve it, the illusion willcontinue to exist. Many mages have usedthis spell to pass on messages or warningthrough the ages. If combined with Stasisspell and both spells are increased onedifficulty level then the illusion will happenevery time certain conditions are met, suchas a ghostly voice issues a warning everytime a specific door is opened.

Money has a special type of magic. People believe in it, people need it, peoplelove it, people worship it. This magicprotects money from illusions. It isimpossible to make exact copy of any formof accepted currency. Illusions can makecopies of common currency that could foolthe casual observer, but will not fool thosewho work closely with money, or counterfeitmoney detection methods.

Improve Self (Challenging)With this spell the mage can raise

one primary stat by 1 for a successful + 1 forevery degree of success, or one secondarystat by 1 plus 1 for every three degrees ofsuccess. No Cursed can have his primarystat raised beyond 10 (Body, Health, Mind,Soul, Social), or above 8 for normal humansbut a secondary stat can be raised towhatever the bonus will take it to. If thisspell is cast directly on the persons body andis in effect for more than 24 hours then this

spell starts to tear apart the body causing 1point of damage per degree of success perday. Only one Improve Self spell can effectany one stat at one time, but a character canhave Improve Self spell on any or all of hisstats at one time.

Lair (Challenging)*note* This spell can be cast by Summoners

This spell can not be used withEnchant Object spell.

This spell helps align the mysticalenergies in the area to be more harmoniouswith the mages magics. This must be donein a private place in which no one else, oronly those of like mind to the mage, hasaccess to. This spell makes spell castingeasier by one difficulty level in the mage'sLair. The mage is always aware of thegoings on in his lair, and if a spell has amaximum range, it is ignored if the target isin his lair.

This spell can be worn away by thepresence of those of different philosophiesand magical view points. For every halfhour someone who is of opposing magicalstyles are in the mages lair, a degree ofsuccess is worn away. If an opposing mageis in the lair and there are no more degreesof success to be worn away, the spell fails.

For like mindedness, the GM mustconsider how the mage uses his magic. Forinstance, a sorcerer who spends much of histime summoning creatures and forcing themto do his will could have a typical summonerin his lair with on ill effect (to the lair spell). Now a mystic who is bubbly and playful andlikes to use his magic to play pranks or teachlessons could have a changeling who haspicked up the many of the fey’s personalitytraits in his lair, but if the typical summonerentered this mystics lair, the spell would be

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eaten away in no time.This spell can be reinforced. Once

every phase of the moon, the mage mayrepair damage done to the spell caused byintruders. The mage must cast the spell and,if successful, the degrees of success will beadded to the old spell to the point thedamage done is repaired. For example, letssay the mystic’s lair from the earlierexample was invaded by the summoner. Ifthe spell had four degrees of success and thesummoner stayed for an hour, knocking off2 degrees of success then leaves. The mysticcan cast the spell again during the nextphase of the moon. If he does so, and getsthree degrees of success then only two willbe added, since that was all that was lost.

Necromancy (Challenging)*note* This spell can be cast by Summoners

This spell allows the mage to calland speak to the dead. The mage musteither know the name of the target (or aname the target went by) or have a piece ofhim. The spirit must answer one questionhonestly for a success plus one question perdegree of success and they are the first fewquestion. The mage never knows when thespirit is no longer compelled to speak thetruth, and the spirit can leave when nolonger compelled to be honest but does notneed to leave when it is over.

With too many degrees of successthis spell carries a great deal of danger. Forevery four degrees of success the spirit isdrawn closer to this realm. The spirit willdraw on the life force of the mage and willage him rapidly one year for every fourdegrees of success.

Reverse the Clock (Challenging)*note* This spell is permanent, the Undo

spell or a magic eater will not effectit.This spell requires mystic writ.

This spell allows the target to growyounger. If cast successfully the target agesin reverse for 1 year for a successful roll plus1 year per degree of success, the characterages in the normal amount of time, but it isin reverse. Failure produces some signs ofrapid aging, but these things are superficialand wear off in a week per degree of failure.

Sleep (Average/ Will roll)This spell forces a target to go to

sleep. When the spell is cast properly themage and the target must roll will checks. The mage gets a plus two (+2) to his willroll for every degree of success. If the magesucceeds at this spell, the target falls asleepwithin 1 minutes of the spell minus tenseconds for every degree of success themage beat the target by in the Will check toa minium of ten seconds. The target willsleep for thirty minutes plus thirty minutesper degree of success. It takes about 1minute to cast this spell. The mage must beable to see the target at the time of thecasting. The mage can be watching thetarget on camera from a distance, but themage must be watching the target live, notrecorded from earlier or it will not work. Ifthe target takes damage then he is awakened.

Stasis (Challenging, Will roll)This spell freezes a target in time

until certain conditions are met. This can becast on a sentient being, an object or a spellso it won’t go off until the conditions aremet. If used against a sentient being, thetarget can get a Will roll verus the Will ofthe caster, but the caster gets a +2 to his Willroll for every degree of success he got in this

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spell. The target can no more or be effectedby time until the end of the spell. The targetcan, however, be damaged by acts ofviolence.

Summoning (Challenging)*note* This spell requires mystic writ

This spell can be cast by SummonersIn order for this spell to be used withEnchant Object spell, the object mustproject, or create the mystic writ inthe appropriate area and of theappropriate size for the spell. Also,either a piece of DNA or name mustbe used at the creation of the object(in which case only that creature canbe summoned with this object) or apiece of DNA or Name must be usedevery time the object is used (but theobject can be used on any mysticalcreature). The choice must be madeat the creation of the object and cannot be changed later.This spell is permanent, the Undospell or a magic eater will not effectit

As this is the Summoner's claim tofame, of course they can cast this spell. Others can cast this spell, but theSummoners are all about this spell. Thisspell calls a mystical being from wherever itis and transports it instantly to where themage is. In order to summon a creature, themage must either have its name (a true namewould be easier, but the name it goes byworks as well), or have a piece of thecreature (enough to be able to extract DNA).

Most mages summon creaturesinside of wards so it is trapped when it getshere until a deal or dominance is establishedto protect the mage, few entities like being

summoned. This spell requires mystic writ. Normal, non-mystical people are capable ofcasting this spell on occasion.

Teleportation (Varies)*note* If this spell is used with Enchant

Object spell, the object can onlyteleport the user to one fixedlocation. The location which theobject teleports the user to can not bechanged later.This spell is permanent, the Undospell or a magic eater will not effectit

This spell allows the mage casting itto cease being in one location and begin toexist in another. The place being teleportedto must be known to the mage. If thelocation is a place the mage has the spellLair cast on it then the difficulty level isEasy. If the mage knows the place well thedifficulty level is Average, if it is a locationthat the mage has only been to a few times,the difficulty level is Challenging. If thelocation is a place the mage has only seen inpictures then the difficulty level is Hard. Ifthe mage has never even seen the placebefore, then the spell cannot take him there.

This is an odd spell since it takesabout 3 rounds to cast with an AverageConcentration skill check to cast on the run. Aside from being so quick to cast and easyto cast on the run, the other oddity about thisspell is the stipulation that it cannot be castin front of mundane witnesses. That is tosay it cannot be cast if it is obvious that thecaster is teleporting. The mage can cast it inthe middle of a busy street, as long as no oneis really paying attention to the mage. Ifsomeone is watching the mage, not justglancing at another shape in the crowd, butactually paying attention to the mage, then

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this spell cannot work. If the mage is beingchased and ducks behind something andeither lose the pursuers, or could havelogically hidden somewhere, then the spellwill work. Also, if the mage is being videotaped and no one is watching him he can stillcast the spell, but if someone is watchinghim while he is on camera then it will notwork. If the mage teleports from a crowdwhen no one is really paying attention, thenit’s like he was never there, no oneremembers seeing him before he vanishes,and if he teleports while being videotapedthen the tape goes back to the last time heappeared on it and erases him from the tape,like he never walked onscreen in the firstplace.

The spell will also not work if theplace he teleports to cannot be reached bythe mage without magic or if there arewitnesses there. His room in a house that iscompletely locked up he could get to,because he could have unlocked and re-locked the doors when he got there, as longas no one else was in the room, but he couldnot get into a bank vault that is completelylocked up, nor can he just appear in themiddle of the dance floor in the localnightclub in a crowd of people there. Hecould however show up in an unoccupiedbathroom stall.

Other Cursed or mystical creaturesdo not count as witness. This spell can becast on another Cursed, but not someonewho is in no way a mystical creature.

It is rumoured that this spell neverhad such requirements before, but an easierand less conspicuous version of the spellwere created by a mage looking to hide thefact that wizards and witches were hidingamong humans and stop the humans fromfinding and burning them. It is said that hemade this weaker version of the spell to

distribute and convinced or silence all theother Cursed that knew the original versionof the spell so that no one else would be ableto use it and threaten to let the normalhumans know about the spell. There isanother school of thought that says themagic itself decided to limit this spellbecause it was too dangerous for people tohave it. Most Cursed don't like the secondtheory because if that’s true then magic ismore than just a tool, more than just an endsto a means, it means the magic is at lestsomewhat sentient, and may have plans forits practitioners.

Distance is not a factor in this spell,but the location must be on the planet themage is on and it must be in the same realm.

This spell will take anything that theperson is holding. It is possible to takelarger objects such as cars or trucks, but notsomething as large as a building. Suchattempts can make the casting of the spellsmore difficult because large objectsdisappearing and reappearing somewhereelse are more likely to be noticed than justone person, and hence, cancelling the spell. The caster can also take other mysticalcreatures with them, but can not sendsomeone somewhere if the caster does notgo with that person.

This spell is not interrupted ifwitnessed by an animal (other than amundane human). Animals can be takenwith the caster as well.

Transfer Souls (Challenging/Will roll)*note* This spell requires mystic writ

This spell can be cast by Summoners

This spell allows the transfer ofpeople's souls and minds (the targets keeptheir Mind stat and Soul stat, but get thestats of the other target. They may gain

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Pretty Face / Nice Personality depending onthe attitude of the individual) , it can alsotransfer a soul and mind trapped with Trapthe Soul into a body.

If the mage is casting it on two otherpeople and he is not involved in the transferthen the will roll is against the victim withthe highest Will stat and gains a + 2 from thesecond victim. The mage must get at least 2degrees of success for this spell to bepermanent. Otherwise, the two souls willdetach from the body and find the body (orobject) that it was in before the spell wascast after a week. This spell normally has arange of within sight. This spell requiresmystic writ.

If a target of this spell learns totransfer souls as well and tries to get hisbody back then he gets a +2 to the spell rolland the will roll, even if the person whooriginally stole the body is not the one whois currently in the body. When the soulleaves the body, it leaves a fragment behind. This fragment remembers the original souland wants to be reconnected. If someone istaking back his own body and succeeds thenonly a success is needed for it to bepermanent. If the original soul passes onbecause the body he was in at the time diesthen the soul can not get the body back, butcan get a +2 to possessing it if he canpossess bodies.

This spell can be used on bodieswithout souls such as clones or shamansusing Crossover or Show the Way or bodieswithout minds like someone travelingmentally in the astral plane. If used on atarget that the soul or the mind is not in thebody but connected mystically, theconnection is cut and the soul or mind islost.

Trap the Soul (Challenging/ Will roll)

*note* This spell requires mystic writThis spell can be cast by SummonersTo use this spell with EnchantObject, the enchanted object can notcontain the soul. The user must haveanother receptacle to hold the soul.This spell is permanent, the Undospell or a magic eater will not effectit

It is believed that this spell was afailed attempt at immortality. The effect ofthis spell is to take the soul and mind (thetargets keep their Mind stat and Soul stat.) of a dying person and place it in an object. Many intelligent magical artifacts arecreated by this spell.

If successful, the target of this spellhas his soul and mind ripped from his bodyand the body dies. This spell only works onliving things, it will not work on the dead. The soul is then tapped in some non-living,non-thinking object. If the object hasmoving parts the soul can move them. If theobject has a means of communication (i.e.,radio, voice synthesizer) then the controllingsoul can use that to communicate with,otherwise, it can speak through a whispered,barely audible, disembodied voice whichsounds like it is coming from the object.

The soul remembers everything fromwhen it was alive, and if the soul was aCursed, it can still use its magic, but it mustsucceed at a Magic skill check with adifficulty of Challenging (Psychics mustmake a Concentration skill check with thesame difficulty).

The soul will remain trapped in theobject until it is either destroyed beyondrecognition (otherwise the object repairsitself, over time) or the mage that trappedthe soul releases it with a successfulConcentration skill check. If the mage that

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cast the spell dies before the trapped soul isreleased the only way for the soul to be freeis to destroy the object.

Unaging (Hard)*note* This spell requires mystic writ

This spell can not be used withEnchant Object spellThis spell is permanent, the Undospell or a magic eater will not effectit

This spell is incredible difficult toperform, and failure can result in death orworse. This spell causes the body to ceaseaging. If the spell fails by 2 degrees offailure or more then another roll is made. Ifthat roll succeeds then the mage becomes alich, otherwise, the mage dies. This spellcan only be cast on performing mage. Thisspell cannot be canceled.

Undo (Average)This spell undoes a spell that is in

effect. On successful roll this spell cancelsout a degree of success (or the spell outright, if the spell being canceled justsucceeded) of the target spell. Each degreeof success eliminates another degree ofsuccess of the target spell until one of thetwo spells run out of successes. This spellwill not work on spells that the effects arepermanent such as Trap the Soul, or Clone,unless the Undo spell is cast while thepermanent spell is being cast. The magecasting this spell must know what the spellthey are cancelling out is. This spell takes 3seconds (1 round) to cast.

Wards (Challenging)*note* This spell requires mystic writ

This spell can be cast by SummonersIn order to use this spell with

Enchant Object spell, the object mustproject or create the mystic writrequired for the spell in theappropriate area and of theappropriate size for the spell. Thespell will only last for as long as themystic writ is still there.

What this spell does is create abarrier against the mystical. Most magiccannot cross the ward (the spell of the magethat created the ward can cross), neither canmystical creatures such as demons, undead,nor fey. Magic items can not be broughtacross the ward, except for those created bythe mage who created the ward (talismancreated by a summoner who created theward can be brought across because they areconsidered created by the summoner). Weak mystical like The Cursed can cross theward, but are hurt by it. 1 point of damageplus 1 point per degree of success is dealt tothe Cursed crossing the ward, or per turn ifthe Cursed remains over the ward, butCursed can sense a ward before he wandersinto it, so he can't be lured into it, at leastonce he knows what that feeling is. Themage that created the ward is not harmed bycrossing the ward, but once the mage crossesthe ward the spell is canceled. A successfulConcentration skill check is needed tocancel the ward if the mage does not cross it.

If all portals (i.e. doors, windows,cracks) in an inclosed area are warded thanspell and mystical creatures can not getthrough or even damage the structuresurrounding the area through their ownmeans (but can use mundane items todamage it). If a new hole is created in thestructure and is not warded then the structureis no longer protected by the ward. Theexception to entrances not warded notbreaking the protection is if there was no

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ceiling on the structure in the first place. The top does not need to be warded in orderto protect the structure, but those mysticalcreatures that can fly or teleport can enter (itwill still stop magic from entering the areafrom outside).

Wards must be in as close to aperfect circle as possible, unless used toward a portal such as a door or window. When used to ward a portal then the wardmust adhere to the shape of the portal. Themystic writ used for the ward of a portalmust be within 2 centimeters (5 inches) ofthe edge of the portal.

When the Ward spell is used toprotect a portal it covers the portal no magicor powerful mystical can enter the portal,and weaker mystical will be harmed. If allportals on a wall are warded than that wholewall is protected. If all portals leading out ofa building are warded the whole building iswarded.

A normal ward made in an enclosedlocation such as a cave or room will go frombarrier to barrier (floor to ceiling, wall towall) and will not cross between eitherbarrier. If there are holes in the barriers thatclose off the ward than the ward will seal offthe openings with the power of the ward. Orthe ward will travel into the next enclosure. For example, if there is a hole in the ceilingthe size or larger than the mystic writ so theward would go through it will go to theceiling of the room above. If the hole weresmaller than the Ward or was off to one side than the hole, or any part of the hole ver theward will be capped off with a ward so theroom above will not be effected. If the hole

above the ward left the ward go into anunenclosed area than treat the ward like it ismade in th open.

If a Ward is cast in the open than theheight of the Ward is three times thediameter of the Ward. It caps off somewhatrounded, like a glass of water about tooverflow with water. For example, if themystic writ for the ward is 2 meters (6 feet)than the height will be 6 meters (18 feet).

If the area being protected is morethan 10 meters squared (30 feet squared)then the mage casting the ward gets a -5 tohis spell check for every 3.3 meters squared(10 feet squared) in the area being warded.

Weather Control (Difficult)This spell give the mage power over

the weather, to an extent. The mage cancause great storms to appear, or disappear asthe case may be, but not instantly. When themage cast this spell, it causes theatmospheric conditions to change to allowthe change in weather as soon as possible.

Zombie (Difficult)*note* This spell can be cast by Summoners

This spell can not be used withEnchant Object spell.

This spell is exactly the same as theShaman ritual. Technically a Summoner canlearn to cast this spell as well, but so cannon-Cursed, non mystical people which iswhy most consider this more of analchemical formula rather than a spell.

Psychic Powers

*Note* Unlike spells, psychic powers can be used instantly and requires only thought. In

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order to use a psychic power, however, thePsychic must first successfully make aConcentration check at the same difficultylevel of the power. If the Psychic tries to usea psychic power but fails the concentrationthen the action fails, if it succeeds then thepsychic power check is then needed.

Also, many powers require eyecontact. Eye contact for these powers can beignored if the psychic has at least 20 ranks inthe power and takes a -15 to his roll.

Animal Ken (Challenging)This power allows the Psychic to

communicate with animals. That is, it allowsthe animals to understand what the Psychic issaying and allows the psychic to understandwhat the animal is trying to say through itsvocal and body language. A successful useof this power allows ten minutes ofcommunication, plus five minutes per degreeof success. In order to have this power thepsychic must be an animal lover.

Astral Projection (Average)While many mages can travel to the

Astral realm, it is truly the domain ofPsychics. It is easier for them to get there,plus while there all there powers andConcentration checks are a difficulty levellower, but will only work on targets that arealso within the Astral Plain.

While in the astral plane your body iscomatose and you are connected to it by asingle silver strand of thought. If the cord iscut or broken, you may never find your wayback to your body, and if that happens, yourbody will eventually die. If you die in theastral plane you die in the our world as well. If something happens to your body and it dieswhile you are in the astral plane you will bestuck there until you can find a receptacle foryour consciousness. The receptacle must be

human and soulless (like an unawakenedclone), or at lest without a consciousness(like a mage’s body when he is in the astralrealm, but the silver string must be cut).

Bio-Regeneration (Difficult)This power allows the Psychic to heal

himself or others. The power triggers thetarget’s immune system and the body’sability to repair itself. One health level isrestored on a successful roll plus 1 healthlevel per degree of success. This powercarries a great danger, there is a 5% chanceper health point regained from this power thatthis power will cause cancer in the target. Ifthe Psychic is healing someone other thanhimself then physical contact is necessary.

Clairaudiance (Challenging)This power allows the Psychic to

extend his hearing to distant locations. Witha successful use of this power the Psychic canhear what is going on in an area anywhere inthe world he knows as if he were there, for upto one minute plus one minute per degree ofsuccess.

Clairvoyance (Challenging)This power allows the Psychic to

extend his sight to distant locations. With asuccessful power check, the Psychic can seein an area anywhere in the world that thePsychic knows as if he were there for up toone minute plus one minute per degree ofsuccess.

False Memory (Challenging/ Will roll)With this power the psychic can

implant a false memory of the psychic’screation into the mind of the target. Thispower adds up to five minutes for a successplus one minute per degree of success of afalse memory created by the psychic into the

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mind of the target. Every degree of successgive the psychic a +2 to the Will roll. Thetarget has no idea that a memory has beenadded this way unless the psychic tells him.

To use this power, the psychic mustmake eye contact with the target. If thepsychic wins the power check he must makea Will roll against the target. Unless thetarget has this power, he can not completelyforgo the Will roll. If the target is willing,but does not have the power then the Will rollis against the target’s Will stat.

This power is either usually used withthe power Stolen Moments to coversomething up, to mess with the sanity of thetarget, or to give instructions or messages tosomeone when it is to dangerous or timeconsuming to explain. If the original memoryis not suppressed then the target canpotentially remember both memories as ifthey both happened, and just as clearly. Themind makes the false memory just as hazy orclear as it would have been if it reallyhappened. This makes it very difficulty todistinguish between the really memory andthe fake, especially if the fake closelyresembles the actual memory.

Mind Control (Average/Will roll)This is probably one of the Psychics

most frightening powers. With this powerthe Psychic can gain complete control overhis target. If the power check succeeds thenthe psychic rolls a will check against thetargets. For every degree of success thepsychic get a +2 to his will roll with asuccessful use of this power, the Psychicgains complete control over the target for 5minutes plus 5 minutes per degree of success. The Psychic must make eye contact with thetarget.

Mind Reading (Average/ Will roll)

This is both one of the most basic,yet, incredibly useful powers a psychic mayget. With this power there are few secretshidden from the Psychic. If the power checksucceeds, then the Psychic rolls against thetargets will roll. For every degree of successin the power check he gets +2 to the will roll. With a successful roll the Psychic can readthe surface thoughts for a about thirtyseconds (10 rounds). With every degree ofsuccess the Psychic can either continue toread surface thoughts or get one randomsecret from the target. If the Psychic wantsspecific secrets he must get three degrees ofsuccess. The Psychic needs to make eyecontact to start reading a persons mind, butcan continue reading surface thoughts untilthe duration stops, to start reading the targetsmind again eye contact must be made again.

Premonitions (Challenging)This power allows the Psychic a

glimpse of the future or the past. Sometimesthis happens in cryptic dreams, andsometimes Psychics need to use divinationtools such as tarot cards, tea leaves, spilt guts,what have you. After the use of this power ittakes a Riddle skill check of difficulty levelof Difficult, with a +2 for every degree ofsuccess from the power to understand whatthe premonition means. The answer isalways vague.

Psychopomp (Average)*note* Will roll is needed to control the

dead.This power allows the Psychic to

communicate with the dead. The Psychicwith this power can sense the presence ofpowerful spirits of the dead in the area andwith a little concentration (Concentrationcheck with a difficulty level of Easy) thePsychic can speak across the veil for one

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minute for a successful roll plus one minuteper degree of success.

While communicating with the dead,the psychic can attempt to control the spirit ofthe dead. In order to control the dead, thepsychic must force his will on the ghost. Thepsychic makes the command of the deadspirit and the two enter into a contest of will(the psychic gets a +2 to his will roll perdegree of success in the use of this power).

Pyrokenesis (Challenging)This power allows the Psychic to start

or control fire with his mind. It can be use toincrease the heat, move the fire in a directionit wouldn’t normally go, or put it out to namea few examples.

Read Auras (Challenging)This power allows the Psychic to read

the auras of objects and sentient beings. Auras of sentient being tell mood andcreature type (i.e. normal animal, normalhumans, Cursed, undead, fey, etc.), and theaura of an inanimate object tells magicalpower, if it has an emotional connection tosomeone (and if the person that has theconnection to object is close then the Psychiccan see lines connecting the object to theperson). The aura of a place can tell thegeneral atmosphere of the place, i.e. a happyplace, a sad place, a frightening place, and ifsomething major happened there then thePsychic can see shadows of the event. Thispower lasts for five minutes plus five minutesper degree of success.

Stolen Moments (Challenging/ Will roll)With this power the psychic can

repress a target’s memory. This power canrepress five minutes of memory with asuccess plus one minute per degree ofsuccess. Every degree of success with this

power give the psychic a +2 to the Will roll. The psychic must have eye contact with thetarget to use this power. This power does notcompletely erase the memory, but suppressesit.

In order to get the memory back asuccessful use of hypnosis (Soft Scienceskill) or Mind Reading power is needed. Thedifficulty level for hypnosis is Difficult witha negative five to the roll for every degree ofsuccess the psychic got with Stolen Momentspower. The difficulty level for Mind Readingis Difficult with a negative five to the roll forevery degree of success the psychic got withStolen Moments power.

Telekinesis (Challenging)This power allows the Psychic to

move objects with his mind. With asuccessful roll the Psychic can lift 10Kilograms (about20 lbs.) plus 10 Kilograms(about 20 lbs.) per degree of success. Thispower lasts for thirty seconds per degree ofsuccess.

If the psychic is using Telekinesis totake something from someone who is notexpecting it, and only has a light hold of theobject, it is taken. If the psychic is taking anobject from someone who is expecting it thenwhether he takes it or not is decided with agrapple check. For the grapple check, boththe psychic and the target get to roll eitherFist Fight skill or Sports, Aggressive (whichever is higher for the individual character. They do not have to use the same skill, buteach character must use one or the other,which ever is high for that character). Thepsychic uses his Mind stat rather than Bodystat. If the psychic is fatigued he receives hisnegative to this roll as well.

This power does not do damage incombat. This power also does not work onincorporeal targets or celestial bodies.

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Telemechanics (Challenging)This power allows the Psychic to

open his mind up to machines and allowthem to tell him how to properly use andmaintain them. In order to have this powerthe Psychic must be a technophile. Thispower cannot be used on magical devices, atleast it cannot be used to find out how to usemagical properties of such devices.

Telepathy (Average/ Will roll)This is two-way communication of

the minds. This power is against the target’swill roll. For every degree of success, thePsychic get +2 to his will roll If the Psychicdoes not know the target well, i.e. casualacquaintance with the target, then the targetreceives a +5 bonus to his will save. Unless

the target has telepathy as well, he cannotwillingly let down his guard completely. Ifthe target wishes to communicate with thePsychic with telepathy then the target canforgo his roll and the Will check will simplybe against half the targets Will stat. If thetarget and the Psychic know each other well,then distance is no issue for this power. If thetarget and the Psychic do not know each otherwell then they must be within seven meters(about twenty one feet) of each other perdegree of success. This power will remainactive for five minutes for a successful useand five minutes per degree of success. Ifboth parties have Telepathy then it will lastuntil one participant successfully makes aConcentration check to turn off the power

Glamour

The Fey are not just magicalcreatures, they are the physical manifestationsof magic, or so they claim, and a smartperson learns quickly that it is foolish toargue with the Fey.

Glamour is their magic, it is theirskills, it is their movements, it is what theyare. Changelings kidnaped by the Fey oftenlearn watered down versions of Fey Glamour. Typically the Glamour used by Changelingscan be broken down into two groups, Illusionand enchantment. Both types of Glamourhave a difficulty level of Challenging.

Glamour illusions are extremelypowerful, they actually change an object fromone thing to another until the illusion isdispelled. A leaf turned into a dagger will cutas well as any knife, bark from a tree turnedinto armor will protect as well, and a rocktransformed into an apple is an apple tilldispelled in some way. One could eat theapple but it has all the nutritional value of the

original rock, which is one reason Fey foodshould not be eaten. If someone ate part ofthe apple and the Glamour was dispelledwhat was eaten will remains an apple until itcompletely leaves the body. This form ofGlamour cannot create something fromnothing so it may be more accurate to say it isa form of transformation spell that has thesame rules as an illusion spell. This form ofGlamour can also keep the object lookingnormal but give it new properties, such as theleaf to a knife example earlier, theChangeling can keep it looking like a leaf butall other properties are that of a knife. Ittakes only a 3 rounds to use this power.

This power can only be used to createsimple objects, without moving parts. Also,it can only create chemicals that areminimally flammable or explosive. Theflammable material will only create a smallfire and the explosive will only do amaximum of 2 points of damage.

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Money has a special type of magic. People believe in it, people need it, peoplelove it, people worship it. This magicprotects money from illusions. It isimpossible to make exact copy of any form ofexcepted currency. Illusions can make copiesof common currency that could fool thecasual observer, but will not fool those whowork closely with money, or counterfeitmoney detection methods.

A item that was changed by Glamour can not be enchanted while it is effected bythe Glamour. Once the Glamour is removed

it can be enchanted. Enchanted items can notbe changed by Glamour.

The enchantment Glamour thatChangelings learn is a lesser form of mindcontrol. It will make the target forget what hewas doing and join in any revelry or frightenthem off. Victims of such tricks seldomremember what happened but from then onfind themselves daydreaming more. Thispower takes a few minutes of setting themood (such as singing and dancing) for theeffect they want to use.

Giving Your Character Character

So you’ve rolled up and assigned yourcharacter’s stats, you’ve picked yourcharacter’s skills, you’ve decided what typeof Cursed your character is, and chosen yourcharacter’s spells or powers, is that it? No,there are still a few finishing touches to makeon your character.

Lets start out with money. To figureout what your character has for savings yousubtract your total unmodified stats from fiftythen multiply by one thousand ( (50 -unmodified stat total) x 1000). Charactershave a job, or go to school and have studentloans or allowance. Unless your characterhas certain bonuses or penalties yourcharacter is assumed to have responsibilitieshe must fulfill at certain times in order togain money, and if he does not fulfill theseresponsibilities at the appointed times thismeans he will lose out on money, and if ithappens to frequently he will probably losehis job, student loan, or allowance as the casemay be. Without any bonuses or penalties itis assumed that your character is makingenough to pay rent, basic bills and utilities(groceries, phone, heat, lights, rent, etc.), andhas $150 a week spending money.

Now you have 15 points to spend onyour character. These points can be used toraise stats, skills, and spells/powers. Statscost points equal to two times the currentunmodified stat point to a maximum of ten. For example, say you want to improve yourPsychics Mind stat if it is already 5 (4 naturaland + 1 for being a psychic) then it will costthe psychic 8 points to go to the next level. Ifthe Psychic wanted to improve his Soul statand it was 3 then it would cost 6 points to goto 4. To improve stats you must go up levelby level.

Skills and spells/powers cost onepoint per skill point or spell/power point untilthe skill or spell/power reaches ten ranks. From eleven to twenty the price is two pointsfor one skill point or spell/power point. Fromtwenty-one on the price is 3 points for onepoint of skills or spell/power.

Another thing you can spend thesepoints on are extra bonuses. Extra bonuses cost between 1-4 points depending on howuseful it should be in play. GMs can alter the value depending on how they plan onrunning their game.

You can gain more points by taking

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extra penalties. These penalties give youbetween 1-3 points, depending on how muchthey will effect the character in play. GMscan alter these values depending on how theyplan on running their game. A max of 5points in penalties is recommended. If the

player isn’t playing out the penalties thatrequire him to role-play them out, you shouldeither take them away or reduce them andmake him pay it off in experience. Allunused creation points are lost, they cannotbe saved or transfer to another character.

Bonuses

Closer Look (2 points)Like the mystic, your character can

sometimes see through illusions and magicalinvisibility. When within the range of sightof illusions or magical invisibility the GMmakes a secret Perception roll with adifficulty level of Challenging. Thisincludes Spirits that are close enough tomanifesting on the material plane that theycan communicate with Shamans or Spirit-found Changelings. This does not tell thecharacter what it is they are looking at, justlets them see what is there. This does notwork on magical auras naked to the humaneye and does not help with the Identify spell.

Cunning Linguist (4 points)A cunning linguist learns languages

faster than most. For a cunning linguistthere are only three ranks for each language(rank 1 and 2 are combined and rank 3 and 4are combined) and each language skill alsoincludes that rank of read skill. A characterwith this bonus starts out with rank 3 in hisnative language. This cannot be taken withthe penalty Illiterate.

Fast (1 point)Your character has worked his body

to incredible feats of speed, at the cost of abit of strength. The character can run fasterthan a character whose Body stat is up tothree points higher, and even run faster thana character with Fit bonus who has a Body

stat of one higher. He can only lift as muchas a normal person with the same Body stat. This bonus can not be combined with Unfit,Fit, or Strong.

Fey Friendship (2 points)The good news is with this bonus the

Fey like your character, the bad news withthis bonus the Fey like your character. When you take this bonus you must chooseeither the seelie court or the unseelie court. With the court you chose, your charactergain +2 on any social dealings, and yourcharacter gain a + 1 to social dealings withthe other court. If you chose this bonustwice your character is at +3 to all socialdealings with any Fey regardless of court. With this bonus, all Fey see your characteras a friend, some more than others possibly,but your character is a friend to all Fey, andthis will probably get your character intotrouble.

Fit (2 points)Your character is in good shape for

his Body stat. Your character is faster andstronger than the average person with thesame Body stat. The character with thisbonus runs as if his Body stat were twohigher, and he could lift as if he had a Bodystat of two or more, depending on what hisBody stat is. This bonus also raises thecharacter’s endurance. With this bonus thecharacter adds thirty seconds (10 rounds) per

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point of Health stat to run all out or carry hismaximum weight load and fifteen seconds(5 rounds) per point of Health stat forholding his breath. This bonus can not becombined with Unfit, Strong, or Fast.

Ghost Talker (1 points)With this bonus The Cursed

character can sense the presence of therestless dead and with a successfulperception roll with a difficulty level ofAverage the character can see and speakwith the dead in the area.

Happy Home Owner (1 point)Either your character managed to pay

off his mortgage, or he inherited the familyhome after it was completely paid off. Yourcharacter now own his home with one billout of the way. While your character stillhave to pay bills, utilities, water andproperty taxes, your character does get anextra $75 a week spending money.

Happy Little Accident (3 points)Good things happen to your

character. If your character is flat broke andhungry, he will usually find enough moneyon the ground to get food. If your characterare trying to solve a mystery, your characterwill usually stumble upon an important clue. With a successful luck roll (Soul + D20)with a difficulty level depending on thesituation, good things happen for yourcharacter. If you abuse this bonus however,fate has a way of making people pay. Youcan not take this bonus if you have Unlucky/ Poor Bastard.

Higher Endurance (1 point)Your character has trained himself to

have more endurance. With this bonus thecharacter adds 15 seconds per point of

Health stat to his ability to run all out orcarry as much as he can. He also adds thirtyseconds (10 rounds) per point of health tohow long he can hold his breath. This bonuscan not be combined with Lower Endurancepenalty.

In the Know (2 points)Your character knows people in the

know. This bonus can be taken multipletimes and every time it is taken gives theyour character a contact in different fieldssuch as police, crime, or media.

The contacts gained through thisbonus can get information and do favoursfor your character, based on the contactsfield of expertise. Simple requests like aminor detail not known to the public butwon’t get the contact into any trouble if hissuperiors found out he gave it to yourcharacter would not need a roll. The moretrouble the person could get into for givingout the information or the harder the favourhe higher the difficulty level to convince thecontact to do it. The roll is Socialize if yourcharacter has the skill, or half Social plusD20 if he doesn’t.

Library (3 points)Your character are well read and

have a vast collection of books, tomes,grimoires, scrolls, and the like. The librarybonus allows your character to makeuntrained lore checks if your character havethe time to look it up. The difficulty levelfor learning a spell or Mind-based skill isone level lower. Plus libraries areconsidered a teacher for learning mentalskills that are trained only (normallysomeone must teach the character for at leastthe first skill point for trained only skills).

Look Ma, No Hands (3 points)

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Normally, when a character ismissing or no longer able to use either bothlegs or both arms he cannot use skills thatrequire the use of those limbs. With thisbonus, the character has gone throughspecial training and can now use other bodyparts in place of those limbs. He can nowuse skills that require the limbs in questionas if he were only unable to use one of thelimbs.

Lucky (2 points)Fate smiles on your character. Once

per game event you may re-roll a die andkeep the better of the two. This bonus canbe taken up to 3 times. If taken multipletime it gives that many re-rolls per gameevent. These rolls can be used all on thesame roll, some on the same roll, or all ondifferent rolls. You can decide to re-rollafter you roll the die, even after you find outif the roll was a failure or a success, but itmust still be the same turn, once it movesonto the next persons turn you cannot re-rollthe roll. You cannot take this bonus if youhave the Unlucky / Poor Bastard penalty.

Natural (2 points)When you take this bonus you must

choose a skill that one must normally betrained in to use. With this bonus thecharacter can use that skill untrained, it willcost only one experience to get training in itand the character will be at +2 whileperforming this skill when trained in it.

New Dog, Old Trick (3 points, Fey-stolenChangelings only)

Fey use Glamour for everything,Changelings get only a limited use of thispower. With this bonus, Changeling cansubstitute the use of Glamour for one thing(usually a spell, but it could be a skill). The

player may choose one spell or skill and rolltheir Glamour instead of the spell or skillroll. This bonus can be taken multiple time,each time a new spell or skill is chosen.

In order for the changeling to learn aNew Dog, Old Trick after character creation,the player must make a roll like he waslearning a spell or trained skill. The roll is aGlamour roll. The -2 for using a skilluntrained does apply for both skills andspells. The difficulty level to learn a skillthis way is Challenging. The difficulty levelof learning a spell this way is a difficultylevel higher than the spell.

If the roll succeeds then thechangeling learns the skill or spell as a NewDog, Old Trick. If the roll fails, then thecharacter must make another attempt at anadditional -2. The changeling gets -2 forevery time the roll is failed. If the roll isfailed five times then the skill or spell cannot be learned as a New Dog, Old Trick.

In order for a spell to be learned thisway, the changeling must see it done a fewtimes. The exception are spells or powersthat only certain races can gain, or spells thatrequire a trainer no matter what. It ispossible for other abilities to be learned withNew Dog, Old Trick if the GM allows. Ifthere is no difficulty level for the ability,then it is up to the GM to create one.

Parents Know (2 points)Your character’s parents know about

magic and the mystical. They may havetaught your character about it or yourcharacter taught them, but your character’sparents know what your character is andexcept it. This could be replaced withspouse knows, significant other knows,roommate knows, boss knows. Basically thisbonus means that someone who plays asignificant role in your character’s life (but

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is not another PC) know about yourcharacter and the world of the mystical. Again that person may not truly understandit, like it, or even care, but your characterdoes not have to come up with any crazyexcuses for why your character is hiding theonly talking dog in the basement while thearmies of darkness are looking for him, butyour character’s roommate may kick the dogout anyway. Just because someone knowsthe truth doesn’t mean he wants to getinvolved.

Photographic Memory (3 points)A character with this bonus

remembers everything he has read, listenedto, or looked at. If the character evenglanced at something there is a good chancehe will remember it. A roll of ½ Mind stat +D20 is needed to remember things that thecharacter was not particularly payingattention to at the time. The difficulty levelfor this is Average. There may be positiveor negative modifiers depending on just hownoticeable the thing was that the character istrying to remember. *note* I meant to havethis bonus in the book all along, but I forgotit until my last revision.

Rich (2 points)Your character may be from a wealth

family, or maybe your character won thelottery, either way your character does nothave to work and gets an extra $150 a week. This bonus cannot be combined with WellOff, Struggling, or Flat Broke. At charactercreation, with this bonus, your character’sstarting money is multiplied by ten.

Spirit Talker (1 points)With this bonus your character can

open himself up to the spirit world as aShaman can. Spirits see your character in a

similar way they see Shamans through theseparation of worlds. Unfortunately yourcharacter does not gain the ability to performrituals (but he can help a Shaman perform aritual) nor can your character open himselfup to a spirit for possession like a Shamancan (they will not repair any damage done tothe body during possession). Anotherdrawback is that spirits don’t feel ascompelled to help the character as theywould a Shaman.

For the spirit talker to see into thespirit world he must either be inebriated andmake a concentration roll of Average. Ifsuccessful, the sight lasts until sober again.

If the spirit talker want to see thespirit world while sober, a magic roll with adifficulty level of Difficult is needed to getthe spirit talker’s mind in the right frame ofmind. Next a Concentration roll with adifficulty level of Difficult to actually piercethe veil. This sight lasts for five minutes fora successful Concentration check plus fiveminutes per degree of success from theConcentration check. To stop seeing thespirit world, a Concentration check with adifficulty level of Average is needed.

Strong (2 points)Your character has worked his body

to incredible feats of strength, at the cost ofa bit of speed. The character lift much morethan the average person of the same Bodystat, and even lift more than someone who isfit. The character also deals an extra pointof damage when his Body stat is used tocalculate damage. But with all thecharacter’s training going towards strength,he can only run at the speed of an averageperson with the same Body stat. This bonuscan not be combined with Unfit, Fit, or Fast.

Stubbornness (varies)

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This bonus adds to your character’sWill stat. Stubbornness can be purchasedmultiple times, but the cost for it changes Itcost the same as a skill on character creation,but cost double like all other bonuses withexperience.

Suck It Up Princess (2 points, can be takentwice)

Your character is too stubborn to die. Your character automatically reduce alldamage by 2. If this bonus is taken twicethen, by saying something along the lines of“suck it up princess” and making asuccessful half Social stat plus D20 roll withthe difficulty level of Average it negates 2points of damage from someone elseretroactively, like they just thought theywere hurt worse than they actually were. This can only be used on someone else afteran attack dealing 3 or more damage. Andmust be done on the following turn of thecharacter that has this bonus.

Take a Punch Like Nobody’s Business (2points can be taken up to three time)

With this bonus, the character gainsextra hit points. Every time the bonus istaken the character adds one third (1/3) ofhis Health stat (round up) to his hit points. If the character’s Health stat raises to a pointthat one third is a new number, he getsanother hit point.

Ties that Bind (2 points)Your character can feel the pull of

fate, at least slightly. With a successfulRiddle check with a difficulty level ofAverage (the roll is made by the GM) yourcharacter can sense when someone orsomething is going to play an important partof his life. He will not know how thissomeone or something will effect his life,

just that he or it will.

True Sight (4 points)Your character automatically see

through illusions and magical invisibility. This includes Spirits that are close enough tomanifesting on the material plane that theycan communicate with Shamans or Spirit-found Changelings The magical beings thattry to cast the illusions must succeed at aPerception roll with a difficulty level ofAverage to realize that your character seethrough the magical trickery. This powerwill often make your character a target forall mystical creatures, since they can’t hidefrom your character or trick your character,the next easiest thing to do is kill yourcharacter.. This does not tell the characterwhat it is they are looking at, just lets themsee what is there. This does not work onmagical auras naked to the human eye anddoes not help with the Identify spell.

Tutor (2 points)Your character has a teacher. This is

good because your character has someonewho can teach him magic, etiquette, andgive good information. The downside isyour character may have to answer to him,or try to convince him to help.

Two Fisted Mojo (4 points)Your character can make two attacks

in a turn, if your character have two weaponsthat can be wielded one handed each (ex.knives, guns, fists) with much less negativesthan normal. Normally the penalties forusing two attacks at once is -2 to the firstattack and -5 to the second attack. With thisbonus there is no negative for the first attackand -2 for the second.

Untainted (4 points, Summoner only)

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Unlike other Summoners, yourcharacter has no taint. This is becauseunlike other Summoners your character doesnot force his will on good or neutralcreatures summoned, and your characternever makes deals with evil creatures, butmay force them to perform services for thegreater good. If your character ever startmaking deals with extremely evil creatures,truly abusing his powers, or your characterbegin to overly force his will on those hesummon (other than truly evil creatures),this bonus is null and void and yourcharacter gain the Summoners beginningpenalty (you do not get the points backwhich were spent on this bonus). Thisbonus can only be taken at charactercreation.

Well Off (1 point)Your character has a really well

paying job. Your character must work aboutthe same amount as everyone else, but hegets an extra $150 a week spending money. To go from Well Off to Rich in game wouldcost 2 xp rather than 4 xp. That means yourcharacter trade in the Well Off bonus forhalf the cost of the Rich bonus. You stillneed a good reason for your character to goup in bonuses, and the GM must allow it. Atcharacter creation, with this bonus, your

character’s starting money is multiplied byfive.

When Nature Calls (3 points)Like the Mystic, your character has a

strange affinity to nature. He could havebeen born with the gift, or it could havestarted when he joined the ranks of TheCursed, or it could have something to dowith him getting drunk and dancing in thefaerie circle with the fey all last night. Whatever the cause, your character can nowhear nature speaking to him. This bonus isonly a one way communication though.

In order to see and understand thesemessages a Perception check with adifficulty of Average is needed, when theGM deems it the right time..

Whispers in the Darkness (3 points)Like the Summoner your character

has a strange connection to the Darkness. Your character simply find an area withoutlight and concentrate his power (with aMagic check with a difficulty level ofAverage) and he can speak to the Darkness. While he must speak aloud to the Darkness,he hears the response deep in his soul. TheDarkness never gives straight answers, if itanswers at all

Penalties

Curious (1 point)While everyone has a touch of

curiousness (Why is the sky blue? How dobirds fly? What is the strange noise comingfrom down the dark ally way right at me?)The character with this penalty must try tounderstand everything. If it is not obviouslydangerous they will examine everything,asks questions that should not be asked, and

generally make a nuisance of themselves,and usually make it a dangerous situation,just to understand what is going on, why,and how. If it is an obviously dangeroussituation then a Will save with a difficultylevel of Challenging is needed for thecharacter to stop himself from doingsomething stupid just to try to figure outwhat is going on, why someone or

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something is doing what it is doing, or whathappens if they press the big red button forexample.

Flat Broke (2 points)Your character have no job. Your

character is either homeless or sponging offsomeone else. Your character get about $75a month (that is all, no extra for bills andsuch). This penalty cannot be combinedwith Well Off, Rich, Happy Home Owner,or Struggling. To buy this penalty from FlatBroke to Struggling would cost 2 xp ratherthan the 4 xp to buy it off outright. To buythis penalty off, like any other penalty, takesa good reason and GM approval. Atcharacter creation, with this penalty, yourcharacter loses half his regular starting cash.

Haunted (1 point)Either your character did something

to the wrong entity, or something wicked hastaken a liking to your character. Either way,there is something following your charactermaking his life difficult.

Heed the darkness ( 3 points)There are dark forces out there

looking to corrupt and destroy,unfortunately, your character seems to be aneasy target for them. Your character gets a -5 to control attempts and will saves againstpossession against evil mystical creatures. Your character also gain taint easier, onepoint of taint for every three points ofcorruption rather than five points.

Illiterate (1 point)Your character starts the game not

knowing how to read any language. Hemust learn his native language like any otherlanguage.

Inevitable Happening (3 points)Something major is fated to happen

involving your character. This could endwell for your character, but most likely not. Either way, fate has something in mind foryour character and will lead your characterto it, unfortunately for your character, fatenever takes the easiest roads. Death is theonly escape for The Cursed with thispenalty, usually. Sometime not even deathwill keep your character from his destiny.

Lives at Home (2 points)Your character still live at home.

Your character must obey his parent’s rulesor get kicked out. This really limits hisfreedom.

Long Dark Path (1 point per level)Everyone has a dark place in their

mind they go to when they are mad or upset. A place where they can imagine up horribleacts of revenge. Most do not act on theseimpulses and imagined situations, but somedo.

In his past your character hascommitted some horrible act for all thewrong reasons, and a piece of his souls is alittle tainted. With this penalty yourcharacter starts out with one point ofCorruption per level of this penalty. Forevery five points of Corruption (unless Heedthe darkness is taken then it is every threepoints of Corruption) your character gets apoint of Taint and the negatives that comealong with it.

Lower Endurance (1 point)Your character can not maintain

physical activities for as long as the averageperson. With this penalty the charactersubtracts 6 seconds (2 rounds) per point ofHealth stat from his ability to run all out or

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carry his maximum weight. He alsosubtracts fifteen seconds (5 rounds) perpoint of Health from how long he can holdhis breath.

Pretty Face / Nice Personality (2 points)With this penalty your character

either gets his Social stat from his looks orstrictly from attitude and is either an awfulperson or really annoying; or he has a greatpersonality, but is ugly as sin. If the score isbased off of looks then he gets his full Socialstat for situations in which looks are all thatcount, or dealing with extremely vain peoplewho don’t care about personality, otherwise,the Social stat is reduced by a third (roundthe calculated negative up), which effect allrolls made off of it. If the score is based offof personality then use the full score in asituation in which looks are not important,such as over the phone, over the internet, orwith old friends. The score is reduced by athird (round the calculated negative up) inany situation in which looks are importantsuch as first impressions and dealing withreally vain people. In all other situations hisscore is reduced by a quarter (round thecalculated negative up).

Pretty Stupid for a Smart Guy ( 2 points)While your character may be the

smartest boy Mensa ever tested, he doesunbelievable stupid things. Common senseisn’t common in your character, when a badidea comes into your character’s head, or isgiven to your character and sounds like itcould work, you must roll a will save with adifficulty level of Difficult to resist notdoing it. If the player is playing hischaracter like this anyway, the GM shouldfeel free to give the character this penaltyfree and make him roll every time, and needto buy it off if he wants to play his character

normally.

STFU (1 point)STFU is the abbreviation of what a

character with this penalty will hear often. With this penalty, what the character saysoften comes true. Unfortunately it onlyworks when the character says somethingbad. When the character says somethinglike “it can’t get any worse”, “I’m sure thatnoise wasn’t the serial killer coming to getus”, or “we are all right as long as no oneaccidentally opens the airlock and we getsucked into space” the character enter abattle of wills to see if the universe waslistening.

The player rolls the a will check witha difficulty level of Difficult. If the check ismade then nothing happens, if not theuniverse hear the character and the worsthappens. Also, if the character is in asituation that could get bad, like an ambushor a situation were something unlucky couldhappen and it would be extremelydetrimental to the character then the playerrolls a battle of wills with the universe witha difficulty level of Difficult. If the check ismade then the person doesn’t feel compelledto predict the incident before it happens. Ifthe check is failed then the character sayssomething before it happens, GM may haveto give the player the gist of what is comingup so he can say something.

Shared Problems (3 points)When your character comes across

someone with a 1 or 2 point penalty, he willmirror that penalty as long as he is aroundthe person.

Struggling (1 point)Your character make much less than

the average. His job still pays the bills, but

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your character only get $50 a week spendingmoney. This penalty cannot be taken withWell Off, Rich, or Flat Broke. This penaltycan be combined with Happy Home Owner.

At character creation, with thispenalty, your character loses ten percent ofhis regular starting cash

Twisted Tutor (2 points)Your character has a tutor.

Unfortunately, this tutor has been givingyour character false information, abusing hisposition of power over your character, orasks too much of your character for theservices he renders, but he has somethingover your character. Perhaps he knows yourcharacter’s true name, maybe he know asecret your character would do anything tokeep, or perhaps your character doesn’t evenrealize that he is getting the short end of thestick. With this penalty, there is a 50%chance that any lore checks, that was taughtto him by the tutor, your character makeswill give him false information on thesubject. Also, the tutor will contact thecharacter at odd times needing help.

Unarmed (2 points)Your character is unable to use on of

his limbs. If your character starts with thispenalty (as opposed to gaining it for freethrough game play) he is considered to havebeen trained to compensate for not havingthe limbs and has the lesser of the penaltiesfor missing limbs (see Chapter 3 Destroying

Body Parts for information on penalties formissing limbs). This penalty can only betaken once per limb.

Unfit (2 points)Your character is out of shape for his

Body stat. Your character can not lift asmuch weight or run as fast as he should beable to. Your character moves as if his Bodystat were two lower than it is and he can noteven come close to lifting what he should. The character deals one less damage whenhis Body stat is used to calculate damage. This penalty can not be combined with Fit,Strong, or Fast.

Unlucky / Poor Bastard (2 points)Things never go right for your

character. It seems Murphy wrote his rulejust for your character. Once per game eventthe GM can make you re-roll a die and makeyou take the worst of the two. This Penaltycan be taken up to three times. You cannothave this penalty if you have the Lucky orHappy Little Accident bonus.

Weirdness (1 point)The world is full of strange and

unusual things, unfortunately, they all seemto come looking for your character. This isnot always a bad thing but a two headedtalking dog happens to chance by and start aconversation with your character may drawunwanted attention.

Corruption, Mental Illness, Deformities, and Other Detriments to

Horrific Acts

Corruption/Taint is the measure of acharacter’s ability to feel guilt, sympathy, orany emotional connection to the rest of the

human race. The higher one’sCorruption/Taint score is the moredisconnected the character becomes from the

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human race. Every traumatic eventexperienced and evil act committed takes itstoll on our psyche, soul, and in some casesour body. Every time your characterwitnesses or experiences a traumatic eventor commits a horrible act you make a Willroll for your character with a difficulty leveldepending on how scaring the occurrence isto your character’s mind.

Being mugged or randomly jumped,or witnessing such acts, or being involved inthe act has a difficulty level of Average forthe will roll. If you see someone getting hitby a car, accidentally murdered, or witnesssomething you previously thought wasimpossible, accidentally murder someone,including monsters your characters know areintelligent, the difficulty level isChallenging. Being tortured, watchingsomeone being tortured, including monstersknown to be intelligent, or being the one todo the torturing, will have a difficulty ratingof Difficult. Watching someone beingmurdered in cold blood, or killing in coldblood has a difficulty level of Hard, and anything worse is difficulty NighImpossible.

If the Will roll is passed, thecharacter feels guilt over what he has done. He may have nightmares for a while, or evenstart drinking, depending on how evil theact, but he will keep that connection tohumanity. If the Will roll is passed fourtimes for doing or witnessing the same typeof event your character become desensitizedto it, but it must be similar cases not justsimilar difficulty levels. If your characterbecome desensitized to something he gains apoint of Corruption, but will not gain anymore for committing that act Your characterwill, however, be drawn to commit an evengreater perverse act, it takes a successfulWill roll of one difficulty level higher than

the act you became desensitized to in orderto keep from escalating the acts of evil.

If you fail the Will roll yourcharacter gains a point of Corruption, andfeels not guilt over the act. Every five pointsof Corruption lead to a deformity, or Taint. After getting five points of Corruption fromfailing this roll for the same reason cause thecharacter to become desensitized to that act. The character reacts the same way as acharacter who has become desensitized bypassing four time, compelled to commitgreater acts of evil. A Will roll with adifficulty level one higher than the act thatcaused the desensitization is need in orderfor the character to refrain from committingworse acts.

The deformities from Taint areusually mental, but if the event happened toyou or a great deal of magic, or physicaltrauma, was involved, then the deformitiesmay manifest physically. Any mental illnesscan be a mental deformity, when a characterincurs such a deformity, the GM shouldchoose one appropriately according to theevents that lead up to it. These Taints makeyou stand out in a crowd and are verydamaging to the soul. For every Taint thecharacter gains he also gets - 1 to Social statand Soul stat. After about three or fourTaints the GM should review whether or notthe character is still suitable to be played,since by then he is probably a homicidalmaniac. Evil acts are addictive, which iswhy killing and robbing should be avoided,even if the target is a monster. Anothergood reason not to kill monsters is they arehard to kill and don’t like it when peopleattempt it.

Sometimes it is appropriate to lowerthe difficulty level of and act depending onthe circumstances. If the only way to save asmall child is to kill a werewolf that is in the

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middle of a rampage, then that act should alower difficulty than it normally would befor the same act.

The Blessed does not gain taint whenhe acts in the service of his god or thebetterment of mankind. He does what hemust. He realizes that every life is worthjust as much as his. He realizes that he isnot the one who decides when a person’s (ormonster’s) time is up, it is god. No matterthe circumstance, the blessed feels guilt overevery life he has to take, or may have totake. Many blessed have nightmares andsome take to drinking (though they do notbecome alcoholics and can function withoutalcohol) when they are not on a missionfrom up high.

It is when a blessed acts of his ownaccord to end a life that he gains taint. If heacts out of hatred and or a desire forrevenge, he is no longer doing god’s work. Not only will this cause the blessed topossible become corrupted but will lead to aroll to see if he can keep his powers. TheGM should speak to the player of the blessedif he (the GM) believes that the actions ofthe blessed are of less than pure intentbefore the blessed acts.

Overcoming Corruption and Taint

With Psychological help one canovercome trauma suffered. With the use ofScience, Soft skill someone can overcomeCorruption and even Taint. A charactercannot use Science, Soft skill on himself,

but if he goes to a trained professional(someone with at least 10 ranks in Science,Soft), the professional can help.

To overcome trauma and removeCorruption, or even full blow Taint, takestime. To remove a point of Corruption takethree successful sessions. A session is a fullhour (give or take five minutes) ofpsychological counselling. In order for it tobe successful a Science, Soft roll is neededat difficulty level of Challenging. Failuremeans it was no help. If the roll was failedby a degree of failure or more then it willalso negate the next successful check, thatsuccess will just build back some trust in thepsychologist's abilities. To get rid of a pointof Taint four successful sessions are neededto break it up into five points of Corruption,then they are dealt with like normal points ofcorruption.

Only one session will work in a dayall other attempts after the first session ofthe day are wasted. If another point ofCorruption is gained while trying to breakup a point of Taint, or trying to get rid of apoint of Corruption then all success for thatpurpose is lost and it must be started overagain from scratch.

The latest point of Corruption istaken out first and it works backwards. If apoint of Corruption is taken off, anydesensitization built up from that Corruptionis lost and the character can now gainCorruption from that act again.

Gaining Experience

After the character is created, you’reprobably wondering how to improve him. The answer is through experience points.

Experience points are gained through role-playing. One experience is gained byshowing up to game with a character sheet,

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role-playing your character well, flaws and all(I’ve heard a lot of people say that experienceshould not be gain by exceptional role-play, itshould be a reward in and of itself. If youbelieve this, why are you sitting at a tablepretending to throw fireballs at each otherrather than volunteering at the hospital?),providing proof your character has gainedsome insight into the workings of the worldaround him. If the GM feels truly generous,he can reward really good ideas, whether theywork or not, and when a player or players(while in character) make a truly enjoyable

and memorable experience.All that being said, I believe that the

hard-working should be rewarded and theguilty should be punished. I thinkExperience should be taken away forexcessive metagaming. That is, if yourcharacter benefits from knowledge hewouldn’t have but the player would, thereshould defiantly be negative consequences. A character should not lose more experiencethan he would have gained if there was no metagaming. And if a player doesn’t showup, his character should not gain experience.

Spending experience

Experience is spent learning newthings and improving the character. Eitherlearning new skills, new spell, increasingstats, gaining new bonuses, or getting rid ofpenalties. For improving stats, theexperience cost is the next level of stat if thestats were unmodified multiplied by 3. Forexample, say you want to improve yourPsychics Mind stat if it is already 5 (4 naturaland + 1 for being a psychic) then it will costthe psychic 15 points to go to the next level. If the Psychic wanted to improve his Soul statand it was 3 then it would cost 12 points togo to 4. To improve stats you must go uplevel by level. No stat can be improvedbeyond 10. A stat can only be raised by 1 pergame week.

Skills that can be used untrained costone point per skill rank until the skill reachesten. From eleven to twenty the price is twopoints for one skill rank. From twenty-oneon the price is 3 points for one rank of skills.

For your character to gain the firstrank in a skill that can be used untrained ittakes about two weeks game time for yourcharacter to train himself, or a week if yourcharacter has a trainer. For skills that require

training to use and spells or powers, to get thefirst rank your character must have a trainer. After a month with the trainer, and asuccessful skill roll with either a difficultylevel of Average for skills or the difficultylevel of succeeding with the spell or power. For learning spell use your character’s Magicskill. For learning psychic powers use yourcharacter’s Concentration skill. The -2 forusing a skill untrained does not apply.

The exception is that a psychic doesnot need a trainer to gain a new commonpower (one from this book), and a Mysticdoes not a trainer for a common spell (onefrom this book) but all the rest of therequirements must be met for learning thespell, but a trainer does give them a +2 to theroll to learn the spell or power. If the rollfails then you have two choices, either pay 4points for the first rank or its back to squareone for learning the skill, but no points werespent. If the roll succeeds then it costs twopoints for the first rank, but it cost the sameas a normal skill for all the rest of the points. The first step is the hardest, they say.

After learning the first rank of a skillyour character can gain two rank in a skill per

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week for a skill that does not require trainingto use and one rank per week in a skill thatdoes require training to use. The maximumamount of skills and spell/powers that acharacter can learn in a week is the averageof Body stat and Mind stat.

In order to gain a bonus, it cost double

what it would cost at character creation, andthere must be a good reason to gain it. Tolose penalties (except for class penalties,which cannot be bought off) it cost doublethe points that were gain from them, andthere has to be a significant amount of workfrom the character to get rid of them.

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Chapter 3System Rules

Weapon Damage

In a fight, the better the weapon themore deadly it is. Weapons do a specificamount of damage if they hit no matter whathappens, it could be a graze or it could be afull on hit. Here are the damages the variousweapons automatically do on impact.

Light Sword 1 damageHeavy Sword 2 damageWeighted weapons 2 - 4 damageKnives 1 damageGuns small 2 damageGuns medium 3 damageGuns large 4 damageRifle 3 damageShotgun 4 damageHeavy Artillery 6 damageBows 2 damageBows Composite 3 damageCrossbows 3 damageWhip 2 damage

Projectiles fire skills have extrarules. These projectiles are fired bymechanical means and move faster than theaverage human can move. If the projectile isbeing fired by a simple firing mechanism(bow and arrow, crossbow) then a characterwith a Body stat of 8 or less (withoutbonuses) would divide his Dodge skill andD20 dodge roll by half before calculating ifhe dodged. If the character has a body statof 9 or 10 or has a bonus that allows him tomove as if he did then his Dodge skill andD20 roll is divided by a quarter. If theprojectile is being fired by a more complexand powerful mechanism or explosive

kinetic energy (a gun) then a character with aBody stat of 8 or less (without bonuses)would divide his Dodge skill and D20 rollby three quarters before calculating if hedodged the attack. If the character has aBody stat of 9 or 10, or has a bonus thatallows him to move as if he did then hisDodge skill and D20 roll would only bedivided by half.

Armour

Where weapons are used to causemore damage, armor is used to absorbdamage. First off, armor adds bonuses tothe wearer’s defense, second armors takesoff a portion of the damage, sometimes. Ifthe attack fails regardless of whether thecharacter has armour or not then the attackdoesn’t even do any damage to the armor. Ifthe attack fails only because the characterwas wearing armour then the armour takesthe full damage. If the attack succeeds byless than double the armour rating of thearmour then the armour takes half thedamage. For example, Tim needs to roll a15 to hit John (because of John’s dodgecheck and armour), and John has armourwith a rating of 4 and Tim gets an 18 thenJohn takes half damage and the armour takeshalf . If the attack succeeds by more thendouble the armour rating then the target getsthe full damage. You must have armour onthe spot that is being hit to gain theprotection. Once the armour reaches itsdamage capacity it no longer functions forthe body part it was covering.

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Type of Armor Armor Rating Damage capacityLeather 2 10Wood 2 10Light Metal 3 15Light Riot gear 3 15Heavy Metal 4 20Heavy Riot gear 4 20

Initiative

Initiative determines who does what when. In most situations it doesn’t matter andplayers can describe what their characters are doing when they are trying to do it. However, sometimes it become important todecide what order things are happening in,such as combat. In cases in which it isimportant to have a strict order of who goesfirst, second, third, etc. then players mustroll for initiative. To roll initiative take halfBody stat and add that to a D20 roll. Theorder goes highest to lowest, unless someonewith a higher initiative wants to wait forsomeone’s action who has a lower initiativebefore they do something. In this case thecharacter with the higher initiative now goesafter the character he waited for.

Hit Location

If you are trying to hit a specificlocation such as an arm, leg, or head you geta - 5 to your roll. If you are aiming forsomething smaller the negative gets higher. If you are just trying to hit someone anddon’t care where roll a D20. On a 1 or 2,it’s a head shot, on a 3 or 4 it’s the right arm,on a 5 or 6 it’s the left arm, on a 7 or 8 it’sthe right leg, on a 9 or 10 it’s the left leg. Otherwise it’s a body shot. If the characterbeing shot at is missing the limb rolled, re-roll until an appropriate body part is hit.

If the character that is attacking has10 or more ranks in the combat skill he isusing he is doing more than flailing around. The player does not have to roll on hitlocation, it lands on the main body, unlesshe was aiming for something else, if itconnects. This character still gets the samenegatives for aiming for a specific part of thebody that everyone else gets.

Only damage to the head or mainbody are particularly fatale. Only a quarterof the damage to a limb goes to the main hitpoints, but the full damage is done to thelimb for calculating bleeding, crippling, orloss of limb. If the limb is taking bleedingdamage, the full bleeding damage is takenfrom the main hit points.

Bleeding and Crippling

Damage

If the shot is a body shot or a headshot, for every point of damage taken perattack there is a 5% chance of internalbleeding or serious external bleeding (asapposed to superficial bleeding which causesno additional damage, but may cause a smalltrail of blood). Bleeding damage is equal 1plus 1/5 of the original damage whichcaused the bleeding every round untiltreated.

If the hit lands on an arm or leg,there is a 75% chance that rather thanbleeding it causes the limb to be crippledinstead (if the character would sufferbleeding damage from the wound on thelimb roll to see if it is crippled instead).

A limb is crippled permanently whenthe internal damage starts in the limb and thedamage to the limb is equal to ½ thecharacter’s hit points.If the limb is treatedbefore the character losses the equivalent of½ of his full hit points from the wound (this

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lose will not effect the character any otherway) then the limb can be saved. When alimb is crippled permanently it cannot beused, but it can no longer be damaged.

If the limb is the head there wouldbe severe brain damage, half the character’scurrent Mind stat and max Mind stat. In thiscase the wound would heal and the head canbe damaged again, but the brain damage ispermanent.

Destroying Body Parts

In order to cripple a body part it mustreceive damage equal to at least ½ thecharacter’s max hit points. In order todestroy a body part damage equal to thecharacter’s max hit points must be dealt. Acrippled limb is still attached, but does notfunction. If the body part is destroyed it isno longer attached to the body, it was eitherblown to pieces or severed. Either way, it isno longer there.

The loss of a limb (either having itcrippled or lost) severely affects skills thatrely on the body as the base stat. Before thecharacter has a chance to adjust to themissing limb, (before he can undergo trainto compensate for the damaged limb, likephysiotherapy), his skills relying on hisBody stat are halved as are the rolls on theD20. After the character has a chance torecover the skills go to normal, but the D20roll is reduced by 1/4. If both arms aremissing or both legs are missing, thecharacter cannot use any skills that requirethe use those limbs (note Fist Fight can beused with just legs). For all other skillsbased off Body the D20 roll is halved.

Fire, Electricity, Freezing, and

Drowning and Choking

Damage caused by fire is determinedby the size of the blaze and exposure time. A small flame causes 1 point of damage perturn exposed, a fire the size of the torchcauses 2 points of damage per turn ofexposure, a good size bonfire does 3 pointsof damage per turn of exposure, and aninferno does 4 points of damage per turn ofexposure.

Electricity is similar to fire in thatdamage is determined by severity ofexposure and time exposed to it. A smalldose like a wall socket does 2 points ofdamage per turn of exposure. A larger doselike an electrified fence does 4 points ofdamage per turn exposed. A large dose likea downed power line or subway rail does 6points of damage per turn of exposure. Theproblem with electricity is that it will holdyou and you must make a Body stat checkagainst a difficulty level of Difficult per turnto get away from the source. Also, everyturn a character must make a Health check(½ Health stat + D20) to remain consciousevery turn the character is exposed. A smalldose is difficulty level Easy, a medium doseis difficulty level Average, and a high doseis Challenging.

A character can hold their breath fora length of turns equal to one quarter of hisBody and Health stat. If the character ischoking he gets a Health check, half Healthstat plus D20, with a difficulty level of Easyevery turn he is choking. If the roll ispassed, then he stops choking. If the rollfails, after the character runs out of breath,he takes two (2) points of damage. The rollscontinue every turn until either the roll ispassed or the character chokes to death.

Critical Hits and Instant Kills

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If a natural 20 is rolled during anattack roll (and you hit) it is considered acritical hit because you hit a vital spot. Inthis case add 1/4 of the damage, round up, tothe damage dealt. You may re-roll the to hitroll, if this second roll is successful thedamage added is ½ rather then 1/4. If thesecond roll is a natural 20 then the damageadded is 3/4 rather than ½ and you have canroll again. If the third to hit roll is successfulthen the damage is doubled rather thanadding 3/4 damage. If the third roll is anatural 20 then, unless a natural 20 wasneeded to hit, it is an instant kill. If a natural20 was required just to hit the target then thethird hit isn’t a instant kill, but does allow afourth roll to be made. If this last roll is aNatural 20, then it is a instant kill shot. PCs,and major villains are immune to instantkills. Some creatures are immune to criticalhits and are therefore immune to instantkills.

Knockout

In order to knock someone out theattacker must be using a blunt object. Theattacker must make a successfulConcentration check so they don’t over do it. The difficulty level of the Concentrationcheck is Average. The attacker then makesan attack roll. If both rolls are successfulthen the attack only does the damage of theweapon, it doesn’t even cause the one pointof damage for a successful attack, but youcalculate the damage normally because theattacker receives a 5% chance per point ofdamage the target should have received toknock out the target.

If the Concentration check is failedbut the attack roll succeeded then everythingis calculated normally, including bleedingdamage and critical hits and instant death.

Once everything is calculated, as long as theattack did not instantly kill the target, dividethe damage in half, rounding up, and that iswhat the target receives for the damage fromthe attack. If the Concentration checksucceeds or fails and the attack roll fails thenit doesn’t matter since nothing happensexcept maybe the attacker loses the elementof surprise.

Pinning, Grappling, and

Snatching

Grappling someone, pinningsomeone, and snatching something fromsomeone are three different actions, but inthe game they all use the same mechanics. In order to do any of the three will bereferred to as a grapple check, for ease ofcommunications.

To do a grapple check, all partiesinvolved rolls either a Fist Fight skill checkor a Sports, Aggressive check, whichever ishigher for the individual characters. Not allcharacters involved have to roll the sameskill, each chooses which is better for them. The highest roll is the winner and if it is theattacker then the target is grappled, pinned,or had something snatched from him. If thewinner was the target then he got away.

Surprise Attack

If the target of an attack is unawareof the attack then the target only gets what isrolled on the D20 plus armour for hisdefense. Since he is unaware of theimpending attack he cannot use his skill todefend himself, just luck.

The Effects of Damage on

Skills

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The more hurt you are, the harder itis to do things. If the damage your characteris suffering from is less 1/4 his total healthpoints then he is fine. If the damage isbetween 1/4 and ½ then the characterreceives a - 2 to all skill rolls, that includescombat skills and magic or power checks. Ifthe damage your character has is between ½to 3/4 then the character receives a - 4 to allskills as mention before. If the damage isbetween 3/4 and 0 then the character mustmake a successful Concentration check withdifficulty level of Challenging, with the - 4. If that Concentration check succeeded thenthe skill check can be made at - 4. Anythingless then 0 to negative amount of hit pointsthe character is unconscious.

Hurt Points

Sometimes you want to getsomeone’s attention violently, but don't wantto actually cause damage. Also, sometimesyou hurt yourself accidentally, for a fewmoments. This is where hurt points comein. They work off your character's hitpoints. Insignificant pain, like stubbing yourtoes or a paper cut would be under hurtpoints because they hurt a lot at the time, butmoments later the pain is gone. An unarmedattack can be made to do hurt points insteadof actual damage, as can an attack from ablunt object if a successful Concentrationcheck is made at a difficulty level ofAverage to ease up on the blow.

If an attack is made to do hurt pointsrather than hit point damage roll the attackand dodge normally and if the attack issuccessful then calculate the damagenormally, but rather than doing hit pointdamage it is the equivalent in hurt points. 5hurt point equals 1 hit point damage. This

means that someone can reach 0 hit pointsfrom hurt points and be knocked out or evendie, but hurt points should be notedseparately because it heals faster than hitpoint damage. 1 hurt point is recoveredevery thirty seconds (10 rounds).

If a character is stumbling around inthe dark, trying to travel in a cluttered orhard to manoeuver terrain, or is doingsomething in which they could easilyaccidentally hurt themselves a GM can makethe player roll his dodge skill. If an accidentcould logically happen the difficulty levelwould be Easy. If an accident is likely thenthe difficulty level is Average, If an accidentis almost a sure thing then the difficultylevel is Challenging.

Damage is calculated like it wouldfrom an attack if the Dodge roll is failed,except that it goes to hurt points and not hitpoints. The GM does not always have tomake the player roll, just when it seems veryappropriate or for dramatic purposes.

Rules for Healing

As long as there is no internalbleeding, wounds will heal on their own. Without proper help wounds heal veryslowly. Wounds will heal at 1 point a weekwithout proper care. If they make the rolluntrained then they do no additionaldamage, but do not really help any. Formore information on untrained healingattempt see the Medicine, Modern andMedicine, Holistic skill descriptions.

If someone trained in one of themedical skills tries to help, but the roll isfailed by 2 degrees of failure means anotherroll is needed. If you succeed then nothinghappens. If the second roll is failed it causesone point of damage for every 2 degrees offailure. Every 2 degrees of failure from the

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first roll give a -1 to the second roll. If theroll is succeeded then the wounded personwill gain back 2 health points + 1 for everydegree of success per week. A roll is neededevery week for this care.

A person cannot perform medicalprocedures on himself successfully. Ifsomeone tries then it is like he is doing ituntrained except he receives a - 5 to his roll. These healing times only count if thecharacter is resting the whole time and doingnothing more strenuous than walking aroundat a normal pace with a light load with restsevery half hour or so. If the character isdoing more than the healing takes twice aslong, the healing that should be done in aweek is cut in half. For healing without helpthat means 1 point of damage heals everytwo weeks.

If the character is suffering frominternal bleeding, to stop it someone otherthan the character bleeding, preferably onewith medical training or else they willprobably do more harm to the target, mustmake a medical skill roll with a difficultylevel of Difficult to stop it, that is unless theperson trying to stop the bleeding has aproper set up then the difficulty level isAverage. If the roll is failed by less than 2degrees of failure then the person trying tohelp knows he failed and can try a secondattempt, if the roll is failed by at least 2degrees of failure or more then either theperson thinks he stopped the bleeding orcaused more damage (flip a coin, heads hedoesn’t know, tails he does the same damageas a healing check, but at least he knows hedidn’t stop the bleeding). If the roll is madethen the bleeding stops. If someone withouta medical skill attempt to stop the bleedingthen it is the same as a heal check and theywill not stop the bleeding.

Two Handed Fighting

It is very difficult to attack someonewith both hands. It is hard to take aim withguns in both hands. When a character tries,there is a -2 to the first attack in a turn and -5 to the second attack. The player mustdeclare that two attacks are being attemptedbefore an action is taken on that person’sturn.

Strength, Speed, and

Endurance

A character’s strength and speed aredetermined by his Body stat, whereasendurance is based off of a the character’sHealth stat. The basics of the strength andspeed rule is that the higher the Body stat thestronger and faster the character. There arealso bonuses and penalties that allow thecharacter to be faster or stronger (or both)than many others with an equal Body stat.

There is Fit bonus which allows thecharacter to run faster and carry more weightthan someone of equal Body stat. The Unfitpenalty makes it so the character is slowerand can not carry as much weight thansomeone with the same Body stat. Fasterbonus allows the character to run even fasterthan someone who has the Fit bonus, but thecharacter can only lift as much as a characterwith the same Body stat with no bonuses forstrength. The Stronger bonus allows thecharacter to lift more than a character withthe Fit bonus, but only runs as fast as acharacter with the same Body stat withoutany bonuses for speed.

These bonuses and penalties can notbe combined and are discussed more in thecharacter creation section. Two charts willfollow for approximately how much weight

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a character can lift and/or how fast acharacter can run depending on his body statand any penalty or flaw he may have thatwould effect either. There will be twonumbers or each stat. The first number iswhat the character could achieve without aroll (beyond that a Body check with adifficulty level of Average is needed), andthe second number is approximately themaximum he could do at that Body stat. Forthe actual numbers, see the charts below,just remember that these are approximationand the GM can if he wishes allow thecharacter to do a little more at a higherdifficulty level. To run all out, the charactermust be carrying no more than one quarterof the smaller amount of weight allowed,and to carry his max weight allowed, hemust move at one quarter the lower speedfor his Body stat. If he is trying to run allout with more than one quarter the weight oris trying to carry more weight at more thanhalf the lower speed raises the difficultylevel of the Body check from Average toChallenging. If the character is running all outor carrying his max weight all he can do isrun or carry. The character must stop andcatch his breath if he all out runs or carrieshis max load for a round. He must stop tocatch his breath for one third (1/3) of theamount of rounds he was running all out orcarrying his max weight with a minimum ofone round. In order to be able to move andact in the round the character must bemoving half his max speed with a quarter ofhis max weight or carrying half his maxweight at a quarter of his max speed, anymore will cause him to need to spend at leastone round catching his breath.

If a character carries too much hecannot move as fast or do much. If acharacter carries between 3/4 to the

maximum weight capable of carrying he canonly move at 3/4 of his max speed andcannot do anything other then lift and carrythe weight. If the character is trying to carrybetween ½ to 3/4 of the maximum weightallowed he can move at ½ his speed and donothing but carry what he has or move at 1/4of his speed and still act. The amount oftime a character can hold this up is the sameas if he were running all out.

Endurance is easier. The averagecharacter can push himself either running allout or carrying his maximum load at a slowpace for fifteen seconds per point in hisHealth stat. If he pushes himself he canraise it to thirty seconds per point in hisHealth stat, it requires a Health roll with adifficulty level of Average. A character canrun at half the speed, or carry half hismaximum weight for thirty seconds perpoint of Health and it can be raised from thatto a maximum of one minute per Health statwith a Health check difficulty level ofAverage. A character can hold his breath forthirty seconds (10 rounds) per point in hisHealth stat without problems and can hold itfor up to a minute per point in his Health statwith a Body check with a difficulty level ofAverage.

A character with the Fit bonus can gofor twice as long where as a character withthe Unfit penalty has his endurance cut inhalf. A character with Fast bonus can runfor the same amount of time as someonewith the Fit bonus but can only lift for aslong as a normal person can, just like acharacter with the Strong bonus and liftsomething for as long as a person with Fit,but can only run as long as an averageperson. A person with either Strong or Fastcan hold his breath as long as a person withFit bonus.

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In the chart below is the approximatespeed the character can run and amount ofweight the character can lift for his Bodystat. Across the top is the Body stat. Thefirst chart shows the speed a character canrun and still act, the second and third show

how fast a character can run and carry. Inthe second and third chart the first number ishow fast or how much a character can liftbefore needing a roll. The second number isthe average maximum a character can run orlift even with a Body check.

Speed in km/h and still act

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Unfit 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5 13.5

Normal/Strong

7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5 13.5 14.5 15.5

Fit 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5 13.5 14.5 15.5 16.5 17.5

Fast 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 29

Speed in Km/h while all out running

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Unfit 40860 40923 15/18 17/20 19/22 21/24 23/26 25/28 27/30

Normal/Strong

15/18 17/20 19/22 21/24 23/26 25/28 27/30 29/32 31/34

Fit 19/22 21/24 23/26 25/28 27/30 29/32 31/34 33/36 35/38

Fast 22/25 24/27 26/29 28/31 30/33 32/35 34/37 36/39 38/41

Maximum weight capable of lifting in lbs

2 3 4 5 6

Unfit 10/40 15/60 20/80 25/100 30/120

Normal/Fast 80/120 120/180 160/240 200/300 240/360

Fit 160/200 240/300 320/400 400/500 480/600

Strong 230/250 345/375 460/500 575/625 690/750

7 8 9 10

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Unfit 35/140 40/160 45/180 50/200

Normal/Fast 280/420 320/480 360/540 400/600

Fit 560/700 640/800 720/900 800/1000

Strong 805/875 920/1000 1035/1125 1150/1250

Tastes Like Death; Fun with

Drugs

There are four major types ofpoisons: weak poisons, medium poisons,strong poisons, and deadly poisons. Weakpoisons will usually just leave the targetdisorientated or sick (this included alcohol). Weak poisons usually don't kill someoneunless they take a lot in a short amount oftime. Then there are medium poisons, whichcan kill with a large enough dose, but willmore likely leave the target severely sick fora few days. Arsenic is a good example ofmedium poisons, it is generally used overtime because it just makes a person sick untilit builds up enough in the system to becomedeadly. Strong poisons are usually muchdeadlier and if lucky will only make thetarget severely sick. Deadly poisons are veryhard to survive, luckily these poisons areextremely rare. Ricin, made from the castorbean, and Sarin, a nerve gas, are examples ofdeadly poisons.

There are four ways to introduce thepoisons into the system. The slowest way iscontact. This means that the target mustsimple touch some of the poison to have itabsorb into his system. It takes a very strongpoison to work its way into someone’ssystem through contact. It usually takesabout an hour to two hours for contactpoisons to start showing any signs of takingeffect and about three to four hours to peak,or have full effect.

The second slowest is ingested. Forthis method of poisoning, the target must eator drink the poison. Once the stomach startsto break down the poison it starts to takeeffect. It usually takes about half an hour toan hour to start to take effect and peaks, orhits full effect, at two to four hours.

The next way to poison someone is toinject someone. There are three ways toinject poison into a persons body, through hisfat, through is muscle, and through his blood. The fat takes the longest to reach his system,but it is also the easiest. It takes aboutfifteen minutes to start to work through thefat and about twenty to thirty minutes topeak. Injecting into muscle takes less timethan fat. It takes about ten minutes to startworking through the muscle and aboutfifteen to twenty minutes to peak. Injectinginto the blood is the fastest way to deliver thepoison through injecting. It takes about oneminute to start working when injected intothe blood and about three minutes to peak.

The fastest to introduce the poisoninto the system is to inhale it, to breath it in. This method usually takes about fifteen tothirty seconds to start working and aboutthirty seconds to a minute to peak.

If a poison is meant for a certain typeof introduction into the system and isintroduced in a way that would introduce itfaster than there is a -2 to the save for everystep it skips, for example a poison meant tobe a contact poison is breathed in would give-2 to save for going through ingested, -2 forgoing through injected, and -2 for being

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inhaled. If it is going through a way that itcannot be introduced, for example injectedthrough contact, it will not work. Somepoisons can only be introduced in certainways, and if introduced in any other way,either faster or slower, then it will not work.

When poisoned, the target gets a savevs poison which is ½ Health + D20 + anybonuses. The save for a weak poison isEasy, the save for a medium poison isAverage, the save for a strong poison isChallenging, and the save for a deadlypoison is Difficult.

If the save is made then the target isalright. If the person fails, but only by afailure to one degrees of failure then theperson will be either disoriented or sick(disoriented if weak or average, sick if strongor deadly poison), if failure by two to threedegrees of failure then he suffers severesickness to death (sever sickness for weak tomedium poisons and death for strong ordeadly poisons) and four degrees of failure ormore means death.

Every time another dose is takenbefore the last dose in out of the targetssystem the target gets a -2 to his save vspoisons. With enough doses in a shortamount of time even a weak poison can kill.

Drugs work the same way, exceptthat rather than being deadly, it just haswhatever effect on the target it was meant to,unless it is taken in the wrong way or there isan overdose. When a drug is supposed to betaken in a specific way and is introduced intothe system in a faster way, it becomes apoison. Also if the save vs drugs (the sameas save vs poisons) is failed by five degreesof success or more, it becomes a poison.

Poisons can be treated if the targetreceive medical attention before he dies.

Tolerance and Addiction

Tolerance to drugs and poisons canbe built up over time . To build a Toleranceto a drug or poison a target must have itintroduced into his system on severaloccasions in a short amount of time. Thetarget must have at least a quarter of a dose(a dose being the full amount needed to havethe desired effect), to a maximum of half adose, several times in a relatively shortperiod of time.

If the drug or poison is introduced toa target's system within a day of the drug orpoison safely leaving the system five timesconsecutively the target receives a +2 to saveversus the substance. Every time a sample ofthe substance is introduced into the target'ssystem within a day of safely leaving hissystem he receives a +2 to save vs thatsubstance. If given more than a half dose asave is needed but if passes works towardbuilding a Tolerance. Whatever doesn't killyou has to work harder next time.

Tolerances weaken over time. Everymonth that goes by that the target doesn'thave the substance introduced into hissystem he losses a +2. After a month, inorder to continue gaining a tolerance, thetarget must take the substance three times ina row to start gaining more pluses to thesave, as long as he still has a bonuses. If hehas no bonus to the save vs the substancethen he must start from scratch.

With tolerance comes addiction. Themore one has of a substance the more oneneeds. Every time a +2 to save vs a drug orpoison is earned there is a cumulative 5%chance of becoming addicted. If a characterbecomes addicted, he feels a needs for a fix approximately every 6 - 12 hours. If he goesmore than 24 hours without a fix he becomesirritated and irrational. After 36 hours hestarts to detox, he becomes sick, unable to

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hold down food, will do nearly anything toget another fix, his Body and Health stats areeffectively halved. This could go on from 24to 72 hours, maybe more depending on theseverity of the addition. The effects ofdetoxing take about 4 hours per +2 gained tothe save to the substance with a minimum of24 hours. After detox the body does notneed the substance anymore, but there maybe lingering desire in the mind.

Idea Rolls

This is for people who may not be assmart as the character he plays. If you’recharacter has a Mind stat of 6 or higher thenit is likely that your character can thinkthrough riddles and problems better than theplayer. The idea roll is half mind plus D20roll. If the GM feels the solution should beeasily solved then the difficulty level wouldbe Easy. If the GM feels the solution shouldbe more difficult or a few small pieces aremissing then the difficulty level should beAverage. If the GM feels the solution shouldbe fairly challenging, or one or two majorfacts are still not known then the difficultylevel would be Challenging. If the GMbelieves the solution would be too hard atthis time or too much of the puzzle ismissing then the roll will not work.

This roll does not give the exactanswer, but if the roll is given and passed,the GM tells the player some of theconnections that the character would havemade if the player missed it. It the character

has Pretty Stupid for a Smart Guy then thedifficulty level is raised by two.

Conversely, if the player of acharacter who has a Mind stat of 6 or higheris going to something, or avoid doingsomething that the average horse wouldrealise was completely stupid the GM canmake the same roll of the player. If everyplayer but the player of said character realisethat it is a stupid idea then the difficulty levelwould be Easy. If only two third of theplayers think it is a bad idea then thedifficulty level would be Average. If only athird of the players think it is a bad then thedifficulty level would be Challenging. If thecharacter has Pretty Stupid for a Smart Guythen the difficulty level is two degreeshigher.

Optional Rules For Live-Action

Play

To play this game in a live-actionversion, all you need is a deck of cards ratherthan dice. Take out the jacks, kings, queens,and jokers. When a roll of a D20 is calledfor, rather than roll a die, draw a card. Redcards are 1-10, for black cards add 10 to thevalue of the card. If a D4 is needed the red1-5 is a 1, red 6-10 is 2, black 1-5 is 3, andblack 6-10 is 4. For percentiles just drawtwo cards, the first is the tens place (10 being0) and the second card is the ones place (10being 0).

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Chapter 4

Playing Well With Others

Other Mystical and Alien Creatures

(an excerpt from The Mad Hatter’s Guide to Not Getting Eaten)

So, you have become one of thedamned souls cursed to walk between theworld of the mundane and the world ofmagical. Excellent, we could use morefodder. Seriously though, this world is fullof wonder and beauty and excitement thatyou probably never dreamed possible. Thenagain, you know what they say about beauty,and the Chinese saying about exciting times.

I bet you thought humans were theonly sentient race our there. I bet youthought we were the top of the food chain. You felt secure that there was nothing outthere that was smarter, tougher, moretechnologically or spiritually superior to mandidn’t you? Well, I’m here to burst thatbubble. Sorry, but this information might

just keep you alive longer than a week, so Ihope you can forgive me. Well, humanity isnot the biggest, baddest, kid on the block. We are not the superior race, we were noteven the first sentient race. What we do haveis numbers. We outnumber almost everynasty out there combined. That, I believe, isone of the only reasons we still exist as arelatively free race.

There are many dangers The Cursedmust face, from failed and overpoweredspells, other Cursed, normal life, and magicaland alien creatures. Now I’m going to tellyou about some of the mystical creatures youmay encounter. These are just a few of thecreatures out there to kill you. Good luck,and try not to make a mess going down.

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The Fey

First off are the Fey. The first thingto know about them is never use the F word,the F word is Faerie, they hate to hear us sayit, that’s why we have so many other termsfor them. Fey are magic, Fey are Glamour. The Glamour that we Changelings use is awatered down version of Fey Glamour. Anything Fey do is glamour, magic orotherwise. Fey are only limited by their viewof the world. They can do anything theythink they can, but if they do not think theycan, they cannot. Fey are notorious for theirinability to learn anything new.

Fey tend to dislike religion, and willusually shy away from religious icons. Theyalso cannot stand iron, but cold iron is puredeath to them. Iron weapons (and even steelif there is a high enough percentage of iron init) will hurt the Fey and merely touching coldiron will harm Fey and break their Glamour.

Most Fey favor natural places, butsome do make their home in the city, butArcadia is their true home. They will usuallyuse their Glamour to either seem human orbecome invisible, but there are ways ofseeing through Glamour, Fey hate it whenpeople see through their Glamour.

The Gentry come in many shapes andsizes, but we Cursed usually break themdown into four categories that they hardlyever fall into neatly. These categories areCommon Fey, Tiny (or Victorian) Fey,Noble Fey, and Monstrous Fey. The Fey arealso divided into two courts, the Seelie courtand the Unseelie court. A third group (notreally a court, but just as powerful) exist,they are the monstrous fey. Wait, I canpractically hear you scream, “I thought theywere a type of fey, not a political group”. Ican only really answer that with, “Hey, theirthe fair folk, they do what they want, it

doesn’t always make sense”.Fey society is structured very closely

to a feudal society. The common fey are thecommoners of Fey society. They aregenerally short by human standards (betweentwo and five feet tall), although, withGlamour, they can disguise themselves asnormal size humans. Gnomes, Brownies,and Pookas are examples of Common Fey. Common Fey have the second-most magic,or at least, seems to be the second-mostlikely to use their magic.

The Tiny Fey, or Victorian Fey asthey are sometimes called, usually standbetween a few inches to a foot tall. TheseFey were rarely seen until the Victorian age. During the Victorian age these fey becamesynonymous with the word Faerie for mostpeople, hence the name. These Fey are moreplayful, or ill-tempered than other Fey. These Fey are either very pretty or very ugly. They tend to limit their use of Glamour toillusion, transportation, and hiding. Pixiesand Sprites are examples of these Fey.

Noble Fey are the lords and ladies ofFaerie. They usually stand between four tosix feet tall. They are beautiful, free andblameless as the weather. They are usuallyfair skinned and fair-haired. They cancompletely dominate ones will with theirGlamour as easy as most people drink a glassof water. The Noble Fey weave spells like afine tapestry, every breath they take is magic.

The Monstrous Fey tend to standbetween five feet and nine feet tall. TheseFey are usually as ugly as the day is long andmean to bout. In most cases the best way todescribe these brutes is big, dumb, and ugly. When not terrorizing something smaller andweaker than themselves they are usuallybeing used for brute physical labor or as

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guardians. Monstrous Fey usually only usetheir Glamour to instill fear, increase theiralready immense physical strength, orinflicting harm on their enemies.

The two courts of the Fey are theSeelie court and the Unseelie court. TheSeelie court is also known as the bright courtand the Unseelie court is known as the darkcourt. It has been said that the Seelie court isthe good court and the Unseelie court is theevil court. This is unfair, and is mainly saidbecause the Seelie court is made up ofbeautiful Fey, whereas the Unseelie court ismade up of the uglier Fey, for the most part,there are exceptions, and the Unseelie courtseem to have less respect for life than theSeelie court. A better way to describe thedifference between the two courts is sayingthe Seelie and Unseelie courts are like amonsoon and a hurricane, both are beautiful,and both are fearsome, and both are asnatural as the rain.

The Seelie court is often referred toas the court of summer and the Unseelie areoften referred to as the court of winter. Thisis because the Seelie court is usually seen aswarmer and brighter and the Unseelie courtas colder and darker.

The monstrous fey are usuallyreferred to as the mountain folk, at least, by

those that know of the fey. They live in themountains that surround Arcadia. They arenot associated with darkness or light, butusually with death itself. Not as a subtlemetaphor as the Seelie and Unseelie, but asbrutal killing machines.

In Faerie itself, the courts separate theland. Seelie on one side and Unseelie on theother. The mountains surrounding Faeriebelong to the monstrous fey. Most fey livein their own land and only visit our world,however there are always exceptions. Whether they fled, were exiled, or leftwillingly (not as a group, but individually,incase there was confusion), it doesn’tmatter, there are always some found here. Inthe real world, the fey organize themselvesby the same court system, except that theSeelie usually rule from the spring equinoxuntil the fall equinox and the Unseelie courtrules from the fall equinox until the springequinox. The monstrous court will just findthe darkest and most unfavorable place, thetype of place unfit for habitation, and claim itas their own. The noble fey who somehowfind his way out of Faerie seldom live in thecity, there is too much iron. The rest willhide among city-dwellers as often as in thewoods.

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The Half Fey

As long as man has walked the earththe fey have been fascinate by us. Therehave been many times this fascination leadthe fey to take us as pets, and sometimes aslovers. Many times when the fey took thehuman as a lover something unique wasborn, but there were also cases where thebirths produced beings similar enough to be

its own species, such as elves and dwarves. These races are commonly known as the halffey.

Then there are the orcs. Orcs seem tobe a corruption, or from their point of viewcleansing, of a large group of elves. They donot seem to come from this world, or eventhis reality.

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Elves

The elves are beautiful, the elves aregraceful, and, in my opinion, the elves arejust as dangerous as the noble fey whospawned them. They think too much liketheir parent race for my taste. I don’t mindthe whole save the earth attitude, that’s agood thing in my book. It is the whole‘humanity is a race of children that need tobe taught the true way’ attitude that scare me.

Elves are beautiful but weird looking. An elf’s face is oddly angular, his skin ispale, his body is oddly lean and graceful. Hisears are elongated, they start where ahuman’s ear would, but stop near the top of

the elf’s head. His eyes are slitted as are thepupils of his eyes, much like a cat, andusually coloured extremely light blue, lightgreen, or golden yellow. An elf’s hair isoften blonde, Light green, or light purple. Tolook at an elf is to become awestruck. Allhalf-fey can look human, an elf looksbeautiful even when they look human.

Elves love nature. Most of the elvesI’ve met have been in professions whichallow them to be near or live in nature. Thator among environmentalist groups such asGreen Peace.

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Dwarves

Dwarves are short, corse, and angry. They are the most human looking of the half-fey. These half-fey stand around three and ahalf feet to four feet tall with shouldersnearly as broad. They have a very muscularbuild, they almost look like a brick. Maledwarves almost always have a long beardand nearly all dwarves have long thick hair.

Dwarves tend to avoid living amonghumans, preferring to live in cavernous citiesunderground. Dwarves are miner,metalworkers, and jewel crafter. They preferthe cool caverns under the earth, with onlythe rocks and precious metals for company tothe crowded cities of man. The dwarves

don’t seem that fond of men, or fey, or half-fey, or anyone other than themselves. Thenagain, anyone who is unfamiliar withdwarves would think that dwarves don’teven like each other. This is mainly becausedwarves tend to be rude and crude. Theylove to drink, they love to sing, and they loveto fight. Dwarves usually respect anyonewho can hold their own in both fighting anddrinking, anyone but the orcs. Dwarves hateorcs, even more than the elves who spawnthem. I’ve heard of the rare example ofdwarves and orcs working together, but onlyheard stories.

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Orcs

Brutish and nasty are two words thatcome to mind when someone talks aboutorcs. Loyal and honorable, however, areusually the last two words, but orcs display acertain amount of both to those they respect. No one gets left behind is the motto for orcwarriors, wether dead or alive.

The orcs are not native to this world. They are half-fey and are somehowconnected to the elves, but not the elves ofthis world, or our version of Faerie either. No one really knows when the orcs came toour world, how they got here, or where theyactually came from. When asked, most orcssimply say the walked through the door andended up here.

Orc religion is an interesting matter. They claim no faith of this world but worshipthe creator of their world which has no namebut refers to himself as John. They claimJohn is impervious to all but one thing, andno one knows what that one thing is. It issaid, among the orcs, that a band of foolishgods, those John created to help createcreation (try saying that five times fast)learned his weakness. They decided to tryand use his weakness to kill him and take hispower. The attack apparently surprised Johnso much that he swore. The curse was sopowerful it melted the band of gods into goo. From this goo emerged the god of the orcs,Orgslogroph. At least that is what he is referto as. His full name is the obscenity thatJohn said that could kill gods.

This new god was destruction itself. Nations apparently fell before it. The elvesof that world apparently had great magic that

they thought would kill destruction itself so agreat army of ten thousand elves road out toface this new god. Apparently their magicwas not enough to kill him, but it did holdhim at bay, for a while. As the battlecommenced and the elves seemed to gain anupper hand, the god took a breath and saidalmost its full name. Apparently, for milesaround the site of the battle no plant oranimal can thrive, and the elves that went tobattle the god have been changed, cleansed,the orcs say, into the orcs of today. The useof almost its entire name tired out the godand it slept. The orcs, his new children, hidthe god and wait for him to awake and sayhis full name and destroy their wholeuniverse. Luckily the orcs that are hereclaim to feel no kinship to this world and donot care about its inevitable fate one way oranother. So yeah, that is their religion, andpeople have called me mad. Well, at least itisn't Scientology.

Apparently in a race that worshipsdestruction there is no room for genderbiases. All orcs are not equal in their society,but an orcs worth is measured in his or herfighting ability. Also, from the time an orccan walk they are trained in combat.

The funeral proceedings for orcs arerather unusual. The orc leader will cut outthe heart and liver of the dead orc and eat itraw, this is to keep the spirit of the dead orcfighting with his companions after death. Then the body is set on fire so it will not rotaway like garbage but burn brightly in onemore outburst of life.

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Angels

Children of Fire, the First Born, therehave been many names for these beings. First off, they are not little kids withfeathered wings nor are they the spirits of thedead sent to protect people. Angels were thefirst creation of the gods. In their naturalform they appear as pillars of fire withflaming wings. The number of pairs ofwings an angle has generally denotes theangels general standing and power. Angelswith one pair of wings are generally of thelowest choir (angels’ ranks are called choirs)and those with eight pairs of wings aregenerally the highest choir.

Angels have no soul, and manyenvied humanity for that. It was this envythat led to one sixth of the heavenly host,with strong enough willpower, to revoltagainst heaven. These angels lost the battleand have been cast out, fallen from grace,and have become demons. At least, that isone version of the story, but there are othertheories. These fallen angels are not the onlytype of demons, but we’ll get into that more.

Even though Angels have no soul andcan be controlled with the use for their truename, there seems to be some sort of

protection clause built into them. Angelscannot tell anything about heaven exceptwhat has already been told in religious text,except that all religious texts have beenseverely edited.

God once struck down an entire hostof angels, or most of them at least. God oncesent down to earth, when man was young, ahost of angels and charged them to watchover humanity. These Watchers did as theywere told. As they watched humanity, theygrew enamored with humanity, they fell inlove with humanity. Eventually they showedthemselves to us and even started taking usas mates. Unfortunately the offspring weretwisted, evil, monstrous creatures known asNephilim. They ripped through theirmother’s wombs and hid in dark placeswhere none could get to them.

As punishment, and to make anexample to the rest of the heavenly host, Godstuck down all but a few of the Watchers. As a result, the Watchers that survived lostalmost all their angelic powers, but can onlydie by the act of the gods. Over the years,however, the remaining Watchers havegained other powers.

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Demons

There are two types of demons. Oneexists in the void from beyond existence. They existed in the void before creation andwish to return all things to that void again. The second type is the one sixth of theheavenly host that fell from grace. Both arehorrific, both have power beyond humancomprehension, and both wish only todestroy.

The Fallen look like the angels theyonce were and are generally easy to mistake,except for the sense of malice they give off. They were once part of the heavenly host butfell from grace and bound to hell. Hell is atwisted prison designed to torment thesedamned creatures in ways befitting theirbetrayal. The Fallen were not always evil,some say they were jealous of our free willand turned against god. Then again, somesay that god needed an enemy, an examplefor the rest of creation, and Lucifer and therest of the one sixth of the heavenly host whobecame demons volunteered. There aremany other theories about the fall of thesecreatures, but the fact of the matter is no onebut the Son of Morning seems to know whythey turned against their brothers, and he willnot tell.

While evil, the Fallen are not cartoonvillains and do not just do things becausethey are bad. Quite often they will performgood and righteous deeds, but these are onlyto further their malicious plans. Never trusta Demon.

The Fallen are not the onlyinhabitance of hell. For one, the Fallen tendto trick souls on the way to the afterlife offthe path and into hell. They also, onoccasion, steal children and raise them intorment and hatred to be like them. And thegreatest portion of the population of hell are

the demon born. The demon born are whatmost people think of when they think ofdemons. They are the incubuses andsuccubuses and imps and all the demons thatwere never given names but are thought ofwhen the word demon is used.

The other type of demon, those thatwere before the creation of everything, thereis little know about them. They cannot trulybe said to exist for they are not part ofcreation. Their very presence bringsdestruction. Only a handful have ever beenreported entering the world, and little wasleft of where they entered after they left. They wish only to destroy and kill. Well, Iguess saying they wish anything is wildlyinaccurate since in order to wish impliessome semblance of sentience. The creaturesfrom beyond creation (sounds like a 50's B-movie, doesn’t it?) have no intelligence aswe know it, at least from what I have beentold. I have been lucky enough not to haveencountered one yet.

On the rare occasion that they enterths world, their very presences spreads deathand destruction. But they also apparentlyhelp it along with violence and strangepowers. When they enter, they create bodiesfor themselves. They best way to describethe bodies they create is to say it looks like itwas put together by something that had heardabout biology as a passing thought. Thesecreatures are all claws and fangs and hair andlegs and arms and mouths and eyes andorgans, but not constructed in a manor thatbelays any understanding of the functions.

Fangs with no mouths, mouths filledwith claws, eyes deep in mouth or the endsof legs, legs from necks; these are someexamples of how they create their bodies. Again, I do not know from experience, I have

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only heard it from the survivours, or usually,what is left of the ghosts of those that seenthem.

Summoners would be wise to leave

these things in the darkness beyond existencefor they cannot be controlled, they have notrue names.

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Nephilim

The Nephilim are the unwholesomespawn of angels and man. It is said thatwhen man was truly young that god sent achorus of angels to watch over us. When hedid, god told the angels to watch us, do notbed with us (for those of you who may notknow, that means have sexual intercourse,god probably should have explained that tothe angels). The angels watched us andprotected us, and, unfortunately for allinvolved, they fell in love with us. Theangels started to bed with human women(see above if you forgot the term already).

Well, if you study biology, you knowthat two completely different species can notinterbreed, however, if you know aboutmagic, you know that is often not the casewhen dealing with powerful magicalcreatures. This as well, probably, shouldhave been explained to the angels, becausenot long after bedding our women (youshould really know what that means by now)the human women became pregnant. Someof the angels got nervous, they were told notto bed our women and now the proof wasabout to be born. Others rejoiced, theybelieved that once god seen how much anangel and a human could love one anotherand they could raise a child of both celestialand secular origins to love god just as much,then god would forgive them and sanctifytheir unions.

Well, none of the angels or thehumans knew what to expect as the first ofthe Nephilim burst forth from their motherswombs. The births were brutal, bloody, andviolent. The mothers all died horribly duringbirth and the spawn were destructive, hatefulmockeries of their celestial parents. Theangels were so wrought with grief, sorrow,and self-loathing over what had happened

that they called to god to undo what had beendone.

God had the angels gather theNephilim to him and he destroyed them allthere, or so he thought. It seems severalmanaged to escape into the four elements,fire, water, air and earth. The Nephilimgained dominance over their chosenelements. What happened to the parents ofthese abominations? Well, the chorus ofangels were known as the Watchers, almostall were wiped out by god, those thatsurvived were stripped of their angelic natureand made to wander the earth for eternity.

The Nephilim Have since had a hateon for all of creation. They corrupt anddestroy wherever they can. They truly loveto corrupt man and nature, they love to turngods work from him. While they arepowerful, they are loners, hating everyoneand everything, even each other. They alsofear god finding them and wiping them out,which are the two things keeping them frombeing but real major pain in the butt.

Please keep in mind I have never metone of the Nephilim, all this informationcame from a paladin of the Christian church. I asked him if this story didn’t prove that hisgod was fallible, unlike what they wouldhave us believe. I mean twice god messedup. Once, giving the angels a chance to matewith humans and secondly, for missing someof the Nephilim. He said that the angels hada choice and chose wrong and that theNephilim were a punishment for goingagainst the will of god. I pointed out that inhis story, god chose them to go to man, andif he was all knowing he would have knownabout the outcome already, and that no wherein the story were humans told not to sleepwit the angels. And that is when he hit me,

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which goes to show, it is a bad idea todiscuss theology with one of the holy

workers.

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Watchers

As I was saying earlier, there was achorus of angels that god sent to watch overus. Eventually they became seduced by usand with us spawned an abomination thatstill plagues the world. God then wiped outmost of them and the rest were stripped oftheir divine rank. They were given mortalbodies and an eternity to think about whatthey have done. I don’t really know muchabout these guys, but I’m sure it would bebest to try to avoid them.

I am told that they resemble mortalmen, but build like a Greek god and standbetween seven to ten feet tall. While theywere stripped of their divine rank, they havegained other powers over the years. Don’task me what they can do, I have no idea. Apparently every Watcher is different andthey all have different powers and abilities.

Most of my sources say that most of theWatchers do not hold a grudge against us,but I find it hard to believe.

Whether or not they are our enemy orally, there are not many left, maybe twenty orthirty at most, but I doubt that many. I heardrumours that most of them can disguisethemselves as human, even hide their powerfrom our (the magically inclined) senses. Ifthat is true, then there could be more outthere than anyone realises and I could havewalked past at least half a dozen of them onmy way to get a coffee this morning.

At least these guys, from what I’mtold, have stopped mating with humanwomen. The monstrous Nephilim still stalkthe earth and there seems to be no love lostbetween the Nephilim and their once angelicparents.

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Undead

Death is a natural part of life,however, sometimes people don’t move onlike they should. Sometimes anger or regretis too powerful to allow a person to cross

over and the person is cursed to roam theworld until they can overcome theseemotions or they are forced from this realm. Here are the a few undead you may run into.

Ghosts

Sometimes the dead leave traces ofthemselves. Ghosts are the soul and mind ofthose who pass on. If something is leftundone then a portion of the person’s soulremains to see it accomplished.

These missions can include avenginghis death or the death of someone thedeceased truly cared about, finish a life’swork, or solve a problem that consumed theperson when he was alive. Ghosts areintangible, but can develop powers to whichcan effect the material world, this makes

them hard to fight. There are three main ways to deal

with a ghost. One is to help it overcomewhatever it is that keeps the ghost here; thesecond is to force it to move on throughmagic, and the third is to ignore it. Ignoringit, however, is only possible if you are in noway connected to the ghost, otherwise it willcontinue to harass you. Ghosts can last forcenturies and can sometimes get confused. Sometimes they forget why they are still hereor that they are even dead.

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Avengers

Sometimes a need for revenge is justtoo strong, when this happens the soul of thedead can revive its own corpse; or create anew one from dust, dirt, and excessmaterials, which it transforms into aduplicate of its original body, if his originalbody was destroyed.

Of course, in order to do this the soulmust find its way back into this world, whichit does by making a deal with an animal thatexists between both the world of the livingand that of the dead; usually a crow or a cat,but there are other options. Once his soul islinked to this world the next step is to findtheir body.

Once the Avenger finds his body, herestores it to what it was before it died. If the

body was destroyed, then the Avenger willdraw as much of the remains in the area(dust, meat, and/or bones) to it then moredust, dirt, and extra material. It will thendestroy it all and reform it into an exact copyof his body before death. Once therestoration is complete, the soul then returnsto the body; most of it anyway, theknowledge of what it is, how it came to bereanimated, and any other informationgained between the time of death and thetime of resurrection remains with the animalwhich becomes the guide for the Avenger.

The new body can’t be destroyeduntil the Avenger completes the task thatcaused it to come back from the dead in thefirst place, or the animal guide dies.

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Vampires

Cursed to walk the night, never to seethe light of day, to feed off the life source ofothers. There are a few ways to become aVampire, but the easiest way is to have aVampire drain you of all your blood and giveyou some of his. Well, not you; if yourreading this you’re probably one of us andcannot become a Vampire, but for normalpeople the draining of blood thing willalmost always work. There are other ways,but they aren’t important right now.

Vampires are not exactly like they arein the movies. They are bloated and ghastlylooking, at least at first. It takes years for

this to go away. They can, however,regenerate damage quickly. Some can turninto a wolf, a swarm of bats, and even mist.

They cannot cross running water (i.e.rivers and streams, but lakes and oceans arefine), they are repulsed by religious items,hate garlic, and need to sleep in at least ahandful of soil from their naive land. Inorder to kill a Vampire you must drive astake through its heart into the groundunderneath, or cut off its head and burn thebody and head separately, making surenothing escapes the fire. To be really sure,do both.

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Ghouls

These loathsome creatures seem to bewhat happens when one almost becomes aVampire. Ghouls are the lowest form ofundead. These undead are rottingscavengers, usually found in graveyards,eating the remains of corpses they find.

They lack most of the powers Vampires haveand are easier to kill. Ghouls tend to makehomes under graveyards, often creatinglabyrinth like cities underground and seem tohave their own language.

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Lich

These are mages who attempted tobecome immortal and failed. They appear tobe mummified bodies, stiff and slowmoving. They are capable of casting thespells known in life and can continue to learn

new spells and improve the ones alreadyknown. They tend to become reclusive andspend almost all their time studying lost andforsaken lore, they can be great sources ofknowledge if they can be convinced to help.

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Changing Breeds (The Half-Dead)

Werewolves are the most common,but there are others. The Changing Breedsare an odd type of undead. In their humanform they need to breathe, eat, sleep, and candie, in a fashion. In their monstrous formthey feel no pain, eat, but do not hunger, andheal damage at an incredible rate. Thereason they are considered undead is becauseeven if they die in their human form, oncethe next full moon raises, they rise as theirmonstrous selves and when they changeback, it is as if they were never harmed. TheChanging Breeds do not age and anycosmetic changes (hair cut, tattoos, piercing)are gone after they change to their monstrousform and back again. They look exactly asthey did when they received the curse exceptfor the signs of the beast. While theChanging Breed cannot procreate, they arethe only undead able to perform sexually.

You can tell one of the ChangingBreed by the marks of the beast. They allhave the sign of the pentagram on the palm

of their left hand. There are many othersigns that they may have, but the pentagramon the palm is always present.

The Changing Breeds are slaves tothe moon. When the moon is full, theychange into the beast. There are often othercatalysts, but the moon always holds powerover the Changing Breed. It is possible forthe shape change to take control of the beastwhile in its monstrous form, but it takesyears of practise and great will power.

There are many ways for an ordinaryperson (not one of us) to become one of theChanging Breed. The surest is to be bittenby one in its monstrous form and survive. It’s usually the surviving bit that keeps theChanging Breed population low. There aremany other ways to become one of them justas there are a few ways to kill them, but themost effective way is using silver weapons. Silver hurts a Changing Breed in itsmonstrous form, and if you can kill one in itsmonstrous form with silver, it stays dead.

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Dragons

Well, enough about the undead. Letsmove onto something infinitely cooler;Dragons. The first thing to know about thesepowerful creatures is that they arethaumavoire, that is, they eat magic. Theydo not need to eat food of any sort, let alonemeat, let alone people. The second thing tolearn about these awe-inspiring creatures isthat the fact that they do not need to eatpeople will not stop them from eatingsomeone who is annoying them.

Dragons can live for eons, they mayin fact be immortal. Newly hatched Dragonsare born knowing the common language ofthe land and the language of the Dragons,along with a few other skills that may or maynot prove necessary. Any skill they do notknow, they will learn quickly.

Dragons are creatures of magic andare born with skill in magic akin to Fey’sGlamour, except that the Dragons versiononly includes magic. The first trick a youngDragon learns to do is change shape. Dragons can learn to change into anythingfrom a bunny to a blue whale. When theDragon changes size, the weight changes to

match. Dragons can only change themselvesinto living things.

As thaumavoires, Dragons needmagic, so most tend to live along ley lines ornear Nodes. Ley lines are currents ofmagical energy that travel along the surfaceof the earth and Nodes are where two ormore ley lines intersect. This is the reasonthat ley lines are often called Dragon Roads. While Dragons can do nothing with finishedspells, they can eat the magic a wizard isputting into a spell he is casting in thepresence of the Dragon.

Dragons are natural hoarders. Noone knows why, but Dragons seems to havean overwhelming need to collect gems,precious metals, and magical items. Dragonstend to amass vast treasuries, which they hatepeople trying to steal from, a lot. OlderDragons tend to become more reclusive andhate being disturbed. Dragons hoardknowledge as well as treasure, whichsometimes may make it worthwhile todisturb them, but it is a good idea to bringsomething valuable to trade with the Dragonfor your life, and the information.

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Nature Spirits

These are the spirits that Shamansmost often deal with. Nature Spiritsrepresent the spiritual concept of animals,plants, and sometimes people. The spiritworld is a fluid and ever-changing place. Sometimes it will correspond with the realworld location the Shaman’s body was left,and sometimes it will resemble nothing ofthis world. The aspects of the spirit worldchanges to suit the needs of the spirits, muchthe same way Faerie works for the Fey.

Everything that exists in the spiritworld is self-aware; the animals, the plants,the stones, everything, but you must be ableto understand the speech of the spirits inorder to interact with them. Most of thespirits can be understood no matter whatlanguage the human it is interacting withunderstands, but some either can not or couldnot care enough to speak anything but thelanguage of the spirits.

Nature Spirits are representations ofspiritual aspects of that which theycorrespond to on this world. Mosteverything has several spiritual aspects so,for example, two monkey spirits could lookexactly the same but be a representation of

two completely different aspects of monkey. Yeah it’s confusing, aren’t you glad your nota Shaman? My apologises to all theShamans out there.

Anyway, most Nature Spirits eitherlook like that which they represent, a human,a cross between human and that which itrepresents, or that which it representssuperimposed with a human form and canswitch between these at will. Some tricksterspirits can also take on other forms. Man,I’m really glad I’m not a Shaman.

Some Nature Spirits can see into thematerial world, if they concentrate. They seeour world as if it were shadows in murkywater, more an optical illusion than real. Shamans shine like a beacon when the spiritslook through and see them. A few can crossover on their own to the material plain ontheir own and there are places that exist inboth worlds which allow crossing over. These places usually only exist in bothworlds simultaneously for a short durationunder very specific conditions. However aNature Spirit enters this world, it continuesto have access to its powers.

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Loa

Now the Loa are another type ofspirits that shamans can deal with. Theyexist in their own world somewhere betweenthe spirit world and the astral plane. The Loaare the spirits of concepts or ideas, sort of across between a spirit and an Ideal. Whilethey are neither good or evil, they do tend tobe darker or lighter than their spirit cousins.

It is usually vodoun priests and witchdoctors that deal with Loa. The world of theLoa tend to be harder to reach than the spiritworld by most, with the exception of a fewplaces such as Haiti and Louisiana. Ihonestly don’t know if that is the reasonvoodoo is so popular there or the voodootwisted the realm and made the world of theLoa easier to reach there. Whatever the case,most places that voodoo has taken deep rootsis usually a place it is easier to reach theworld of the Loa rather than the spirit world.

As I said earlier, the Loa are spirits ofideas. There are Loa of magic and of thehunt, Loa of love and of the shadows (whichI have been assured by both shamans andsummoners alike are not connected to theDarkness that summoners are connected to).

There are Loa of the forest and Loa of theair. There are Loa of the concepts of animalsas well and three Loa lords of death. Whilethe Loa are different than spirits, they are noless powerful, and when they are called tothis world, they can do amazing things.

The Loa tend to be pickier about whothey deal with than the spirits are. Whilemost spirits like to deal with shamans, theyusually will deal with most anyone who cancontact them and treat them with respect. The Loa, however, will usually only dealwith shamans, they will do everything intheir power to work against other mages whotry to deal with them unless they mage earnsthe Loa’s trust, and that takes a lot of work. The Loa are also much less forgiving thanspirits are when someone does not fulfil theirend of a bargain made with them. Theperson gets marked spiritually like theywould normally as an oath breaker to thespirits, but the Loa will hound them andtorment them, sometimes, they will evendrag the transgressor to the other side forpunishment.

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Sin Eaters

Some believe that Sin Eaters are oneof us, just extremely specialized, othersbelieve that they are some sort of mutation ofthe soul, others believe they are a completelydifferent race, left here to be cared for by thehumans they will one day feed off of.

Sin Eaters eat sins, hence the name. They can see guilt, regret and emotionalanguish like they are worms burrowingthrough the victim’s heart. The Sin Eatercan extract the worms by placing his hand on

the target’s chest and concentrating. The SinEater then devours the sins. If the target hasmultiple sins the Sin Eater can only eat onesin at a time, starting with the freshest. Thetarget forgets the sin that was eaten, but theSin Eater remembers. The Sin Eater has noidea what the sin will be until eaten, unlessthe target confesses it to the Sin Eater. Thetarget will forget the act of having the sineaten within a few minutes.

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Hunters

No one knows how the Hunters cameabout or what they truly are. What is knownabout them is they are the natural predatorsof the mystical world. They are born normalpeople and do not display any unusualcharacteristics until puberty. When they hitpuberty the need to eat more and more tosustain themselves, until, within four or fiveyears, normal food holds no nutrition forthem. They must eat the flesh and drink theblood of mystical beings. Unfortunately, thatincludes us. Luckily, we are consideredweak mystical and seem to have anunpleasant taste compared to a werewolf orvampire.

The Hunters strength raises andlowers depending on what it is fighting. Ifthe Hunter is fighting a werewolf it has thephysical strength of a werewolf, if it isfighting a dragon it has the physical strengthof a dragon, however, if it is fighting anormal human, it is only as strong as ahuman. Also, mystical beings, including us,cannot kill or even truly hurt a hunter, only,

possibly, slow it down. Only normal, non-mystical means can hurt or kill a hunter. Even if a mystical being uses a mundaneweapon, such as a gun, it will not hurt or killthe Hunter.

Hunters are one of the most fearsomeenemies you can come across. I once saw aHunter get its head ripped off by a vampireand I saw the skin on both sides of thewound reach out and pull the head back onplace and reattach itself and the hunter keepfighting. The vampire would have been agoner if it wasn’t for the fact that thevampire’s human cohort hit the hunter in theback of the head with a golf club and killedit.

The bad news is that these things areout there and they need to feed off of us, ormysticals and we count as mysticals. Thegood news is that these things are extremelyrare. There may be one Hunter for everyhundred thousand people in the world,maybe, hopefully less.

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Living Spells

Sometimes spells go horribly wrong,sometimes they go beyond anyoneexpectations; either way can lead tointeresting and unexpected results. One ofthese results are Living Spells. Every spellcast uses a piece of the caster’s essence asthe framework of the spell. Sometimes awizard puts to much of his essence into thespell and it becomes more than it wasintended to be, that is what a magicalbacklash is. Sometimes the framework isstrong enough to support the spell beyond itsintended use, and it continues on its own. Sometimes it is an essence not strong enoughto form a body, with just enough self-awareness to continue to sustain itself like ananimal. Sometimes it is strong enough toform a body out of dust, dirt and whateverinorganic material is around. It will breakdown what it has collected and reform it intoa living body. It usually takes a Living Spella few hours to form itself.

The body could be anything from aninsect or arachnid, animals, or even havehuman form. Usually the more powerful theLiving Spell the more complex a body it cancreate, but that is not always the case, and aLiving Spell can become more powerful overthe years, but generally cannot change itsbody. The type of body and appearance isusually based off of the spell. A fire spell

come to live might have the body of a fireflyor a moth, it could have to body of asalamander, or it could be a redhead withpassionate eyes and a fiery temper.

The personality of the Living Spell isusually a combination of the wizard orwizards that cast it and the spell involved. When first created, the Living Spell’spersonality is very similar to that of thecreator or creators, but over time the LivingSpell develops its own personality.

Another way a Living Spell can comeabout is if there is a great amount of magiccast in one small area, like a magicallaboratory. These Living Spells are muchmore powerful than the average Living Spellbecause normally they have access to thespell that birthed them and a few powersrelated to that spell, but if it is born fromseveral spells it has access to many morepowers.

On top of the powers gained from thespell that created it they also have the skillswhich would come naturally to them if theyhave an insect or animal form, or some of theskill the wizard or wizards who created themhad at the time. Living Spells do not age andcan usually learn a great number of skillsover time, no matter what it’s form. Insectand animal Living Spells can learn tocommunicate as a human over time.

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Aliens

Ok, now I know your just getting useto all this monsters and magic stuff is real,and it is a lot to swallow. I mean, all thisstuff existing here on earth or in alternaterealms of reality without you ever knowing itis hard to believe. I know, I was once new toall of this myself, but there is more. We arejust one in a few hundred billion (I’mmaking up the number there, in case youwere wondering) planets capable of life outthere. Yes, it is true, we are not alone. There is life out there more advanced than

our own. Some of them are friendly, someof them not so much. Many have come toour backwoods little mud ball floatingthrough space and stopped by for a littlevisit. Some would blast us back to theprimordial ooze that we came from. Somewould have us advance intellectually so wecan become a part of intergalactic society. Some would study us for their own ends. Some just needed a place to land and refuel. Here are a few alien races out there.

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Alpha-Draconians

Alpha-Draconians are an ancient raceof reptilian warriors. They can be anywherefrom fourteen to twenty two feet tall andweigh nearly more than a thousand pounds. They look like giant winged velociraptors.

From what I understand they were thefirst race capable of interstellar flight,approximately four billion years ago. Theyhave established their main colonies inAlpha-Draconis, but they claim that earth istheir home, go figure. Where they camefrom is unknown but it is said they comefrom an alternate universe or dimension. Perhaps they are exiles, but they seem to beunder the impression they are here toconquer and rule, which they seem to havedone rather well, especially in the Orin,Rigel, and Capella systems, from what Ihear.

They are warriors and geneticists. They conquer what new races they find andgenetically manipulate the new race to keepit docile. They believe that they are meant tocontrol and dominate this galaxy. They ruleby fear and strength of arms. They believelove is a weakness and if a race is weakerthan them then that race is meant to beenslave. This belief is drilled into theDraconian from birth when the mothersabandon the young and if it survives it israised by the warrior class.

The Draconian seem to hate

humanity. Whatever the reason for this is,the Draconian seem to hate us for anythingother than a snack, and Apparently ourchildren taste the best. Again, these guysseemed to have infiltrated organizations invarious world governments but, by the wordsof my informants, they don’t seem to doingas good a job at it as the grey. These tworaces seem to butt heads often in theirmanipulations of the world governments,causing friction between variousgovernments and even various governmentagencies in the same country.

These Draconian are alien in speciesand in thinking. They are ruthless andrelentless when dealing with their own kindand worse when dealing with others. Theyare self-centered and self-serving. Why theyhaven't invaded and conquered earth isunknown, but I heard rumors that we mayhave powerful allies, or at least enemies thatdon't wish to see us destroyed yet. I heardrumors that they are somehow related todragons, but then again I hear a lot of crazyrumors. They don't seem to have thecapability for magic, which leads me tobelieve that it is just a dirty rumor, but theydo sometimes seem to possess some psychicpowers. Keep away from these bastards ifyou can, if you can't, try to point somethingbig and powerful at them instead, like adragon or the fey.

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The Grey

You all heard about them, you’veseen them in movies and in the tabloids. Their image is iconic to extra-terrestrial life. They have been good guys and bad guys infiction, but the truth is worse. These guysdon’t care. They don’t care about you, theydon’t care about me, I don’t think they careabout themselves, at least not on a individualbases.

Tales of them abducting animals andpeople and experimenting on them are true. I have no idea what they are up to, but the arelooking for something. They have advancedtechnology and have been trading some withseveral of the world government in exchangefor being left alone to do their experiments. From what I can tell they don’t really meanany ill will towards us, but they take humansand experiment on them with no regard forthe sanctity of life. No wonder these guyshave been mistaken for fey throughouthistory. They are just as bad as the fey, andthat is saying a lot.

I don’t know, no one really knowsexcept possibly the grey, where they come

from. Some say they come from a distantplanet, some say the future, some say theyare the original inhabitants of the astral plain,some say they are a race of Ideals. All that isknown is that the grey do not actually travelthrough space, but travel through the astralplane and brake out into reality with theirflying saucers.

The grey are powerful psychics, theirships, most of their technology, theircommunications all run on, enhance, orsimply recreate their psychic powers. Manyof the government created psychic, and Isuspect a lot of the “naturally occurring”psychics were created using grey technologygiven to, or taken by the government. TheRoswell crash gave the US government agreat lead in the alien tech race, but little ofit, from what my reliable sources say, isunderstood.

In short my friends, if you see a grey,just run. Run fast, run far. Oh, and coveryour ass. Keep an aluminum hat handy aswell.

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The Torkep

Well, what to say about these guys? Ok, first off, they are the most pacifistic raceI have ever seen or heard of. They haveadvanced technology, but could not figureout how to hit a guy with a stick. Actually, alot of their technology is even moreadvanced than the Grey, but can not be usedin any violent way what so ever.

I guess I should give a briefdescription of the Torkep. They look similarto the Grey, except taller and orange. Whichis why many who know of them jokingly callthem the Orange. Adults stand anywherefrom five foot six inches to six foot sixinches. They are incredibly thin, with shortlegs and long arms ending in three longfingers and thumb. Their eyes are large andcompletely black and they have small slitsfor noses about where a nose would be on ahuman and a small mouth under that. Theirheads are large and oval shaped. Prettymuch like the Grey except taller and orange. They also tend to develop strongpsychic powers, but not to the extent of theGrey. Some have suggested that the Torkep

and the Grey are somehow related species,but the Torkeps I met have denied it (thenagain, wouldn’t you?). These guys do travelthrough space though.

When the Torkep first arrived here,they went to the government of the USA tomake a peaceful deal with them. Allowanceto land on the planet in exchange foradvanced technology. Well, this took placein March of 1942 and the US governmentthought that advanced technology meantheavier weapons. When the Torkep failed toproduce such weapons the US governmentthought they were either holding out formore in the deal, working with the Nazis, orplanning to invade just after the war andconquer us all.

Things did not go well after that. TheTorkep is still weary of dealing with anyoneconnected with any world government,which is a shame because they have a lot tooffer. They still come to the planet and willgive little bits and pieces of technologicalwonders to trustworthy individuals to help usalong, but are afraid to give us to much.

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Nordic Alien

Well, these guys get their name fromthe face they look like they just flew in fromSweden. They look human with light blondehair and unusually blue eyes (usually,sometimes they have pink, red, green, orviolet eyes, if they aren’t pure black; theireyes seem to be the varying feature). Theyare tall and very attractive. I would havethought them to simply be changelings, butthey have no magic powers. They are,however, powerful psychics (well the ones Ihave met are, and the ones I’ve heard aboutseem to be).

These guys could be said to be theEuropean version of the Grey. Were theGrey are the most likely to take you in NorthAmerica, it seem to be the Nordic Aliens thatyou will most likely meet in Europe. Apparently the Nordic Aliens must havemade the same deals in Europe that the Greymade in North America, because it is theGrey you will most commonly run into (not

that many commonly run into any spacemen)in North America and it is the Nordic Aliensgenerally seen in Europe.

Now, I don’t know if it is true or if itis because the Nordics resemble humans somuch, but it is commonly believed that theNordic aliens are the cosmic good guys. Ihave met a few and they don’t seem that bad,but I could be prejudice myself. They seemto be studying us, but not as aggressively asthe Grey. They do not seem to be interestedin interfering with our society, just studyingus (and according to some, mating, but Ididn’t see any of that when I ran into them). They seem very similar to the Grey is someways and very different in others. They areeasier to get along with than the Draconians. Other than the Torkep, they seem thefriendliest race to have found their way toour backwoods little planet. That being said,they still creep me out a little.

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Light Wings

Not all those who come from spaceuse advanced technology or psychic powers,some use magic. The light wings (I do notknow what they call themselves) are onesuch race. The light wings are tall humanoidcreatures with hair and eye colours varyinglike those of humans. The only real unusualaspect are the large, white, feathery wings ontheir backs. These aliens are probably thereason people think of angels as beinghumans with wings.

The light wings have been fighting awar for millennia with the dark wings, a racefrom the same planet, possibly a differentrace of the same species (I’ll talk about themlater). The battle has been brought here, andthroughout history, the two races have beeninteracting with humanity. While the lightwings do not go out of their way todiscourage the belief they are angels, they

rarely claim to be angels. Usually, they willdismiss questions about themselves off-hand(which is really annoying when trying tolearn more about what they are and wherethey come from).

While the light wings may not bedivine, most have great and vast magicalpower and knowledge. They have incrediblelibraries of mystical lore they carry in oddglowing crystals they “read” magically. They travel through space in huge, cigarshaped living ships. They visit earth lookingfor some resource (again, they gave onlyvague answers when asked about it) thattheir war with the dark wings have left themrunning low on. If you meet one of the lightwings, while they may not give out muchpersonal information, they do love to discussphilosophy and magic. They also seem toreally like apples.

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Dark Wings

These aliens, much like the lightwings (mentioned earlier) use magic ratherthan advanced technology or psychic powers. The dark wings are a tall humanoid race. Their skin colour tends towards dark grey toblack, their hair is usually dark brown orblack and their eye colour varies from red,orange, purple, yellow, or black. Protrudingfrom their back are large, leathery wings. Although they have been mistaken fordemons throughout history, they seem nomore evil or destructive than the light wingsI have met.

These aliens seem to come from thesame place as the light wings, they even usethe same cigar shaped living spaceships asthe light wings. Both the dark wings and thelight wings are equally secretive about theirpasts and origins. Advanced magicalknowledge and power is another trait the twoshare, but the dark wings are much morelikely to teach their magic to humans, rather

than just their theories behind the magic. Many time when people were accused ofdemon worship or trafficking with devils forknowledge of the dark arts (when theyweren’t just accused of it for political orfinancial gain) they were caught dealing withthe dark wings.

Great power can be gained fromdealing with the dark wings, and they don’task for a whole lot in return. Sometimes it isa ritual at certain times of the year (mostlydancing and chanting around a fire),sometime magical lore or a spell they mightnot know, sometimes they ask to retrieve anitem that would be difficult for them toacquire such as a copy of the King JamesBible (hard to go into a bookstore lookinglike a demon), a water pistol that shotstransdimensional webbing (don’t ask), or alock of Billy Idol’s hair. Basically, nothingthat difficult to acquire but it is usuallyunusual. They also seem to love apples.

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Unusual Others

My next two subjects I wasn’t sure ifthey fit into the creature category or thegroup category. I finally decided on

considering them creatures because therewasn’t much diversity among them.

Immortals

Immortals were once normal people,but have been changed. At least most ofthem were normal people at one point oranother. Some of them were made Immortalby magic, some by science, and some byforces unknown to anyone. While it seemsevery Immortal is different, they all have afew characteristics that are similar. First offthey have stopped aging, secondly, they heal

incredibly fast, and third, like us, they cansense the mystical, and lastly, they can die,but it takes a hell of a lot of work and eachone has a specific vulnerability that is theonly way to kill it. Immortals are extremelyrare. If one in every thousand people aremystical then about one in every thousandmystical people would be an Immortal.

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Men in Black

I know what your thinking, this hasgot to be in the wrong spot, Men in Black isa group, a secret society, not a race. Well,it’s really hard to say. They are not like whatsome movies and cartoons want you tobelieve, they are not the heros. In fact, atleast one of these groups (most evidencepoints to there being at least two differenttypes of Men in Black) are demonic innature.

Both groups seem to be out for thesame thing, silencing anyone who would leton about the world unknown to the masses Itis unknown why they wish to keep themystical under wraps. Unfortunately thistends to make us an enemy if we get a littlecareless, luckily, the two groups seem to beat odds with each other and tend to trip eachother up when both are involved in aninvestigation. Now, it usually has to bepretty big news to get both groups involved,which will bring in more unwanted attentionfrom other groups, so hope you never have todeal with a mess that big.

One group seems to be nothing morethan thugs, threatening witnesses of mysticalevents into keeping their mouths shut. Thatis, until the mysticals come out. That is

when years of training and the high techgadgets come out.

Members of this group claim to befrom all sorts of government agencies, butcan never be linked to anything. They arelike ghosts, no paper work, no histories, nopersonalities. They all dress in the standardblack suits, black sunglasses, black gloves,driving black Sedans. They all look alike,like they were all at least brothers, if notexactly the same person. This group of Menin Black are believed to be loyal clonescreated by the Illuminati.

The other type of Men in Black seemto be an organization of demons. This groupseems to do the same thing as the other Menin Black, threaten witnesses, hunt down othermystical creatures. The difference is thatthese guys are definitely not human. Somewitnesses claim to see them hover inches offthe ground rather than walk, other accountsclaim they have glowing red eyes, but allaccounts mention the smell of brimstonecoming from them. No one knows whomthey work for. There are rumours that theIlluminati doesn’t know whom they workfor.

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Organizations and Secret Societies

Our world is full of secret societiesand mystical organizations. Much of whatyou read in the tabloids are true, to an extent. The secret societies exist and many of thecrazy conspiracy theories are true. Most ofthe people behind these things are the oneswriting the stories, blowing them up,

embellishing them, making the truth sounbelievable that no one would believe iteven if it was happening right I front of theirfaces. Here are a few of the groups that holdsway over our world. They may not rule theworld, but who am I to step on someone elsedream?

The Order

The Guardians, the Sentry, the Order,whatever you call them they are the firstthing every new wizard should learn about.

First off, this group has no name, sowhatever you call them is wrong. They havea higher purpose, a calling that transcends aneed for a name, a name means nothing tothis group, they know who they are and sodoes everyone else, and that’s all thatmatters. No one knows were or when thisgroup started, but what is known is that theyare the law of the mystical world, they areincorruptible in their mission.

You can always tell one of the order,you just know it when you see them. No oneis even sure if they are or ever where human. Some say that something comes to certainpeople (some say people so good they arenearly saints, others say people so wickedthat the devil doesn’t want them and this istheir last chance to redeem themselves) andmakes them an offer and if they accept it,they become a new member of the order. Other say that a person is copied, the newcopy eats the original, and the thing becomes

a new member of the Order.What people don’t know about the

Order could fill libraries, what people doknow about the Order is that if you break ourlaws, you may have to face them. And theyare a frightening lot to have to face. Themajor problem is that we, as a collection ofmages and mystical creatures, do not haveany set laws and that makes many wonderhow someone could break them.

Now, don’t go thinking that theseguys will save your ass every time you get ina situation you can’t handle. They aremighty, but they are few. My sources saythey are anywhere from a hundred to athousand world wide. They usually onlyshow up at the most dire time the worldfaces. They right the most foul wrongs. Itusually takes something that is normallyuniversally considered ultimate evil to gettheir attention. If they do come in and saveyour ass, thank whatever god may be outthere because if they are there saving you,then you were in way over your head (wetheryou knew it or not)

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The Illuminati

The Illuminati is like the evil twin ofthe Order. It’s like a large twisting snakethat has a choke hold on the world. It isalmost impossible to see where it begins andends it is so convolutedly wrapped up initself and the world around it. Secrets are thebread and butter of the Illuminati. Some saythat the secret masters are trying to take overthe world, some say they already have. Some say that all the world’s problems arecaused by either the Illuminati’s attempt tocontrol the world, or concur an enemy, otherssay it’s for their own amusement. Somebelieve that the Illuminati is one group,others say it is several, while others say thatit thinks it’s several, when in fact they are allthe same group. It is said the more poweryou think you have in the Illuminati the lessyou actually possess, the more you know youhave the more aware of the pawn you are.

Since its beginning as the BavarianIlluminati on May 1, 1776, the Illuminati hasbeen the central point for nearly everyconspiracy theory, both real and imaginary. It is difficult to tell what is true and what isfictional when it comes to this group. What Ido know, or at least have seen evidence tosupport my beliefs is that there are severaldifferent groups claiming to be the trueIlluminati, all of which are warring amongstthemselves, and are dragging the world intothe battle with them.

All the serious contenders for the titleof the true Illuminati have great stores ofsuper science and magic. They all have theirhands in politics the world over and aheaping helping of the corporate piethroughout the world. Everything else is justrumours, but most of what makes up theIlluminati are crazy, half-baked rumours.

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Brotherhood of the Serpent’s Fang

For these assassins, killing is both anart and a way of life. This internationalcartel of killers began in Bamberg, Germanyin 1812. It was founded by a talented mysticand killer Adrian Ackart. He spent yearsdeveloping his powers to make himself aformidable assassin, and brought togethertwelve of our kind’s greatest killers at thetime. It did not take long for this group togain a strong reputation locally, or for thatreputation to grow larger still. It has sincebecome a world wide organization.

Nowadays, most members (there arerumoured to be between one hundred andtwo hundred worldwide) are normalmundane humans. They are all exceptionallywell trained killers with talents beyond thenormal, but still human. It seems only thetop level are mages as well as killers. Thecurrant leader of the Brotherhood of the

Serpent’s Fang is Jacob Ackart, the great,great grandson of Adrian. Of course, thereare rumours the Jacob is Adrian. Some sayhe is immortal and creates new identities andsetting up the new identities as the newleader, others say he takes over the body ofhis heir and maintains his immortality thatway.

No one seems to know if theserumours are true because no one knowswhere the Brotherhoods of the Serpent’sFang’s headquarter is located. Some say it isstill in Bamberg, others say it is constantlymoving, while others believe it is run fromanother dimension. Members get their orderthrough an intermediary messenger. Allmembers have a tattoo of a dagger with aserpent for a handle, the serpent is turned tolook outward.

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The Agency

Ok, I doubt there is anyone whodoesn’t know about Roswell and Area 52. Well, that is the start of the Agency. Well,Project Bluebook was actually the start, butthat was started partially because of Roswell. Project Bluebook was a governmentagency started in 1952 to investigate aliensightings and other paranormal phenomena. There was a fair bit of hysteria over thingslike that at the time (and probably for goodreason, many things develop during coldwars) and it wasn’t the big joke you mighthave thought it would be. Officially theynever found any evidence of aliens or otherweird things (which I’m guessing may not bethat true, I’m sure there are one or two weirdthins out there for them to find), so in 1969 itwas “officially” shut down (don’t you lovehow this official government stuff works?).

What actually happened was thatseveral of the higher ups in government atthe time decided that Project Bluebook wasto important to get rid of, but to dangerous torisk word leaking out of everything theyfound. These higher ups decided that ProjectBluebook outlived its usefulness as agovernment agency so they shut it downpublicly but started funnelling funds throughdoctored “official” projects into what theyre-dubbed The Agency. After a while themoney trail became so convoluted and thechanging of regimes, the Agency broke offcompletely from the government (while stillbeing funded by them, and they still are inpart) and started organizing itself.

None of my contacts can tell me

when the Agency became independent of thegovernment, or when it became aninternational power house. I believe it wasthe mid eighties that the Agency gainedcomplete independence. In the early ninetiesI think is when it went from being anAmerican only organization to recruiting andsyphoning funds from other countries andgovernments. It has also managed to investand ingrain itself so deep in commercialfinances (alien technology released over timemakes for big business) that the money isnearly impossible to follow.

While these guys may have noallegiances to any one particular government,they exist for one major reason, to protect theworld from threats both alien andparanormal. They exist to save humanity. They mostly deal with alien threats, but ifthey hear about a nest of vampires, or packof werewolves, or group of insane wizardsthreatening the populace of some defencelesscity, they will swoop in and try to save theday. They have the best trained operatives inthe world, some of the most advancedgadgets, and some pretty impressive magicsat their disposal. They have spent theirexistence dealing with things that mostpeople, even some of us, don’t want tobelieve exists. They do not just jump the gunand go in guns a blazing, the do a good dealof intelligence gathering before they go intoa situation, unless it is a dire need to wipe itout quick, so don’t worry to much aboutthem mistaking you for the bad guy. Well,that is unless you are.

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The Beautiful Ones

Ok, these guys are out and out crazy. This group was created by fey-stolenchangelings who were not only crazy enoughto think that fearie was paradise, but believethat it is a noble goal to recreate it here onearth. This group has grown and drawn inmany Cursed, mainly changelings, mystics,and blessed. Not many summoners havejoined their ranks, which would normally bea plus for any group, but the reason mostsummoners don’t get in is because the darkcreature these foul mages deal with corruptthe soul and body of warlocks and thebeautiful ones will usually try to destroy thetainted creatures.

The whole belief of the beautifulones is that this world is a horrible ugly placeand that they must make it beautiful, at anycost. They will destroy old buildings if theydo not met the standards of beauty (whether

or not there is someone living in it). Theywill shard and burn clothing they deem ugly(again, usually while the person is stillwearing it). They would slaughter the uglypeople of the world. They will abolish theugliness of this world and bring aboutparadise.

I don’t know about you, but I don’twant to live in a world with only one visionof beauty. That takes all the mystery andwonder from the world. These guys arecrazy and dangerous, but luckily they are notstupid (well, for the most part). They do notjust rampage against ugliness, they watch it,they follow it, they study it, looking for thebest time to strike. Why is this lucky youask, because that means there is time to stopthem if they can be found. Be careful ofthese lunatics, they believe in what they do.

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The Keepers of the Darkness

“From hells heart I stab at thee”, Jackthe Ripper’s words summons up the attitudeof these maniacs quit well. This group ismade up of the foulest, most reprehensiblemen and women to walk the earth. Mostevery cell is lead by one of the blessed whodedicated himself to the darkest, most foulbeing in creation (and many from beyond).

Through sorcery, faith, and sciencethese madmen seek to bring about the end ofall creation. They have dolls and needles,they know ancient names, the have tomes ofblasphemous lore, and they have killerrobots. They kill with pleasure, torture withlust, and scheme without remorse. Thisgroup is evil to its very core. They trafficswith beings beyond the comprehension ofmortal minds. They have no respect for life,human or otherwise (not even their own).

This group holds a lot of sway withthe underworld, in both sense of the word. They control large parts of drug traffickingtrade, prostitution, illegal weapons. Basically if it will lead to chaos, destruction,degradation, and death, the Keepers of the

Darkness like to have a hand in it. They alsoboast several powerful Necromancersamongst their ranks, and seem to enjoyenslaving and tormenting the departed aswell as the living.

These people have no moral qualmswith the mass slaughter of innocents or thedeath of one person. A member of theKeepers of Darkness will sacrifice his ownpeople, even sacrifice himself, for the causebecause nothing is more important than theend of everything. Members have nomisguided delusions that they will be spared. The worst part is, they all believe in whatthey are doing with an unnerving fanaticism.

If you find yourself in the middle ofone of their plots to destroy everything, thendo whatever you can to get away. If you candisrupt their ritual, great, if not, just run. TheKeepers of the Darkness work in cells of halfa dozen to two dozen. While they all havesimilar goals cells work independently of oneanother. They rarely co-operate or shareinformation.

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The Brotherhood

This group has been called manythings, Satan’s Children, the Dark Brood,amongst other things, but when they arereferred to as the Brotherhood in hushedtones, then those who know about these sortof things know who are being talked about.

This group claims to get their ordersdirectly from Satan, they say they were handpicked by Lucifer himself, and they may beright. Most of the members of theBrotherhood are not capable of using magic,but they are all mystical, and they were allnormal humans at one point or another. Their powers all seem to be different. Everyone of them seems to have a differentattitude, a different style, they rarely worktogether, but they all receive their ordersfrom another worldly source. They are nevercontacted directly, but get signs to what theirmissions are to be, it might be a misreadsign, a trick of the light, a strange oil stain onthe ground, anything, but apparently they can

all read the signs.The one main similarity this group

shares is that they are all irredeemably evil,and all follow their orders to the utmost oftheir abilities. An old axiom among thisgroup is that it is sometimes better to serve inhell, at least they have job security.

Now the odd thing about the group isthat they tend to kill criminals, and savevictims. No one is sure why. Some thinkthat Satan is trying to redeem himselfthrough monsters, others think he isamassing an army to storm heaven and this ishis recruitment phase. Whatever the reason,make no mistake these guys are evil and takegreat joy in torturing and killing, it’s justthey usually target other bad guys. Thevictims “saved” tend to be more traumatizedby the rescue than the crime they were savedfrom. Also these guys tend to be very lucky,I guess it’s true that the devil does look outfor his own.

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Sumeria Resurrected

This group is insane like only the richand powerful elite of society can be insane. They worship beings so foul that reality itselfshutters at their presents. They gather at darkSabbath and perform unwholesome rituals,perverse orgies, and sacrifices of both humanand animals, and treat it as if it is some sortof social club.

This is a group of wealthy and high-powered demon worshippers. Most of thelower levels of this group (and many whothink they are higher up than they actuallyare) are perfectly mundane people who thinkthat the rituals performed by this group arejust for show. Most outsiders that know ofthis group think that it is a group of hedonistswith too much money and not enoughrespect for human life that isn’t theirs.

In reality the higher levels of thisgroup worship dark beings, demons frombefore creation. The top level, the foundersof this organization who have been aroundsince ancient Sumeria, are seeing to it thatconditions are right for their masters’ arrival. They are gathering power from theirfollowers and perfecting rituals that will

allow those from beyond into our world. They have created rituals that can

combine a small part of the essence thatmake up the things from the nothingness andbind it into a human vessel. This ritual theyuse on some of their “elite of the elite.” Itgives the member great power beyond that oftheir mortal ken, strange powers unique tothe individual (from what I’ve seen, but I’veonly seen less than half a dozen, which is adozen more than I ever wanted to see). Thepowers that they receive can be vast, butevery time they use it, it seems to warp theirbodies and destroy their minds. They seemto become crazed monsters rather quicklyafter undergoing the ritual.

This group serves madness and deathon silver platters. Their leaders do not needdolls and needles and worship things farmore frightening than those with ancientnames. They come from a land and timeknown for its sin, debauchery, and darkmagic and long for a return. If you hear ofsomeone referring to the Sumerian Club donot walk away, run as if that which the devilfears is on your ass.

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The Knights Templar

The Knights Templar, or PoorFellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Templeof Solomon (I can see why they shortened itto Knights Templar, that other one is amouthful and a half), arose in the aftermathof the First Crusade of 1096. It is said agroup of holy warriors (Whether or not theywere the blessed or just normal chumps isuncertain) came upon an artifact of suchreligious significance that it bound them toGod and the holy land more powerfully thanthe church ever could. The Knights Templarhad two goals. The first was to protect holypilgrims on their travels to the holy land andthe second was to protect the religious iconsthat found their way into collection. Theywere very good at these two goals andcontinued for nearly two centuries, amassinga great amount of wealth along the way.

The Templars amassed wealth andpopularity throughout Christendom as stoutand unwavering warriors of the faith, and asa separate religious entity as that of theCatholic church. I think you can imaginehow much the church liked this, but theTemplar’s standing was too good. That isuntil the Muslims took back the holy lands.

In the early 1300s the church asked the Kingof France, who was indebt to the Templars,to help in investigating trumped up chargesleveed against the Knights by a disgruntledformer member. The french king jumped atthe chance to bring down the Templars to gethimself out of debt.

Several high ranking members of theKnights Templar were arrested and tortureduntil they confessed to the false accusation ofheresy and blasphemy. Well, the really badones were false at least. They may havebroken a few laws, but hey, who’s perfect? The Knights Templar were then forced todisband. Well, they made it look like theydisbanded, but the Knights Templar wererich enough, powerful enough, and, rumourhas it, knew enough secrets to survive out ofsight.

The Knights Templar is still a groupof warrior priests that protect holy pilgrims,but now they do so in secret. Rumour has itthat they hide something so valuable andprecious it could shake the very structure ofthe church to its core. Some say they havethe holy grail, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

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True Discordians

They worship Eris, goddess of chaos. They seem like disorganize rabble, more sothan a religious following, but then again thatis what they are going for. They follow thegoddess and their holy texts (PrincipiaDiscordia is only one, but the most famous)to the utmost. They do not follow it word forword, but read between the lines and followthe meaning. All of their holy texts areserious religion hidden within jokes, and thatis how they worship. To outsiders whohappen to stumble upon it, it seems likesilliness, insanity, and a bad joke, but it iscompletely serious to them.

The True Discordians see the worldas a flawed and broken place. They see thepeople of this world blinded by the curse ofGrey Face, too afraid of change and too fullof uncertainty to venture out of their towersof ignorance and too stubborn toacknowledge that these towers are built oncrumbling cliffs about to fall to the bloodydeaths of their inhabitance. The TrueDiscordians see it as their job to show theworld how unbalanced and uncertain theirworld really is so they can tear down theirflimsy lies and build something true andsubstantial. The True Discordians seethemselves as the guardians of humanity andthe architects of the new world, if they have

to kill off a few thousand people in theprocess then it has to be done, an irony thatis not lost on them.

True Discordians tend to bring downorganizations from the inside. They willinfiltrate the organization, putting molesinside and tear it down from the inside out. The do this with governments, education,cooperation, and even secret organizations. They have tried several times with theIlluminati, but their organization is soconvoluted and wrapped in secrets that theycouldn’t do much damage. They hide withinjokes, they hide in plain sight, they think theyare the saviours of the human race, and theydon’t care how much blood they spill, watchout for these guys.

Now I hope I didn’t give you thewrong idea. They are not an organizednetwork, but several groups with the samebasic beliefs. Not every Discordian is ablood crazed killer, not every group ofDiscrodians work with (or even know of)each other, but all work towards the samegoal, to bring down the established regimeand start a better new world order. The onlything that is required to be a true Discordianis the belief in what they are doing and thewillingness to put it into some sort of action.

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Places to Go When You’re Cursed

Now that you are no longer a normalhuman any more, now that you can see somuch more than your mortal ken, what doyou do? Where do you go? Well, hopefullythis little pamphlet will help. Here are a fewplaces we damned can now get into. Just

remember, danger lurks around every cornerand there are still more things in heaven andearth, and the astral plane, and the spiritrealm, and in Faerie, etc. that can not bedreamt of in your philosophy.

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Faerie

Faerie is a beautiful, lush, greenparadise ripped right out of a nightmare. Faerie, only one of it’s many names, is theland of the fey. The land, water, evenweather obeys the rules of the land. Faerie isa massive land mass (probably close to thesize of North America) that is completelysurrounded by mountain so high andmenacing it boggles the imagination ofmostly all that gaze upon it.

Faerie is made up of rolling hills,grassy meadows, dark forests, and is sobeautiful it could break the heart of the mosturbanized, anti-natural man alive. Though itis beautiful beyond reason it is also filledwith danger. There are things that prowlFaerie, animals, creatures that almost seemedto have walked out of the dreams andnightmares of artists and lunatics.

There are three major divides ofFaerie. The east is the domain of the Seeliecourt, the west is ruled by the Unseelie court,and the mountains are controlled by themonstrous fey. With strong arm, passion,and grand sense of justice, Lord Oberon andLady Tatiana rule the Seelie court. Withstrong arm, grand passion and a twistedsense of justice, she who is known only as

the Queen of the Unseelie rains supreme inwestern Faerie. With brute force, graveanger, and unrelenting hunger, the mountainsthat surround Faerie is ruled by Gorvandor,the largest and meanest trolls ever to walkfearie.

The fey are free to come and gobetween Faerie and the mortal world as theyplease. There are seven known roadsbetween Faerie and the mortal world, three inthe land of the Seelie, three in the land of theUnseelie, and one in the mountains. It hasbeen said there are many more lost roads thatexist, but no proof that they exist. The roadsin and out of Faerie do not always connect tothe same place in the material world. Theyusually go to where ever the Fey wish to go. Sometimes they connect to faerie rings ( rings of mushrooms ), sometime to faeriemounds (strange mounds of earth ),sometimes to path lost in overgrown weedsor fallen leaves. The roads usually only openwhen the fey wish to travel to the materialworld, but on occasion they open on theirown. There are many a tale of travellerswandering down a lost path and findingthemselves in Fearie with no help of the fey.

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The Astral Plane

When the mage gets to the AstralPlane he finds himself on a long dusty road. On either side of the road is blue. There isno land or anything at all, shapes cansometimes be seen in the distance. There isno connection between the Astral Plane andthe material world on the road except for amicroscopic hole and a nearly invisible silverthread that connects the mages mind andbody.

If the mage travels along the road fora while, the road will eventually branch out. Some roads lead to odd multi-colouredbubbles, others are dead ends that lead outinto the blue, and some roads just keepgoing. Sometimes astral travellers will runinto each other, sometimes the traveller willrun into Ideals. Ideals are physicalmanifestations of thoughts and ideas. WhileIdeals are sometimes encountered on theroad, they are usually encountered in theblue.

The multi-coloured bubbles foundalong the road, usually eight to ten feet indiameter, are entrances to astral realms. Allastral realms are different and getting in isusually a lot easier than getting out. Generally, to get in the traveller simplywalks into the bubble. The exit, however, isusually nowhere near where the travellerentered. Inside astral realms can be the sizeof a city block to a whole world. Somerealms have a physical exist while other

require the travel to complete somechallenge, and most of these will not beobvious and will have very little to tell youwhat is needed to do. Realms are almostalways populated by something. Sometimesthat which populates the realm is basicallyhuman, sometimes they are intelligent, butlook nothing like humans, sometimes it isonly beasts that populate the realm. Astralrealms are not only found along the road,there are several out in the blue. Some astralrealms connect to the material realm or thespirit realm so it is possible to enter the anyother realm from the Astral Plane. Most ofthe realms of the Spirit Lords have entrancesin the Astral Plane as well as the SpiritRealm.

Wandering off the road can bedangerous. If the traveller steps off the roadinto the blue they are dragged, somehow, faroff the road. Eventually he find himselffloating in blue. It is hard to tell if thetraveller is walking, floating or moving at all. Sometimes there are island of land in theblue that can be a few feet to hundreds ofsquare miles. Ideals are usually found in theblue. The only way back is to find yoursilver cord and follow it back, but if thetraveller is not careful he can snap his cordand than it is nearly impossible to find hisway back to his body.

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The Spirit World

When the Shaman crosses over to theSpirit World he finds himself on a pathhalfway up a great mountain. Where hestands he can choose one of two ways totravel. The path to the right travels up themountain. Grass and trees can be seen alongthe mountainside when looking along thispath. The left side travels down themountain. It is desolate and covered inshadows.

The right path is known as the highroad, it leads to the Spirit world. This is thespiritual representation of our world andcorresponds to our world closely in aspiritual sense. When the Shaman gets to thetop of the path he finds himself in the samespot in the spirit world that he left his body. If the place was a natural place than thelandscape is even greener and more lush thanthe actual place he left his body. If the placehis body was left was heavily developed orpolluted, like a city, than the land is moredesolate than in normally would be, but isstill green and natural. The Shaman canconcentrate and see the material world thatcorresponds with where he is in the SpiritWorld, but it is like looking at shadowsthough smoke or murky water.

In the spirit world everything isaware, animals, plants, stones, everything,but you must know the language of thespirits to be able to speak with them. Somemay not use spoken language but everythinghere can communicate. The Shaman usuallyneeds to focus like he does to awaken spiritsin the material world to talk to most thingshere.

There are many individual realms inthe Spirit World, much like the Astral Plane,and like the astral realms, it is usually easierto get in than to get out. Unlike the astral

realms, the entrances of the spirit realms arenot shiny bubbles. They can be anything likethe space between two trees that cross eachother, the mouth of a cave, a ring ofmushrooms, the hollow of a tree. Spiritrealms also differ from astral realm in thatspirit realms seem somehow more spiritualwhereas astral realms seem to be createdform wisps of thought. The difference ishard to describe unless one has experiencedboth. All of the realms of the Spirit Lordshave at least one entrance in the SpiritWorld.

The left path is known as the lowroad. As the Shaman travels down the lowroad the mountain becomes more desolateand void of vegetation. Eventually theShaman comes to a long road. Barrenwasteland is all that can be seen on eitherside. This is the road a Shaman using heritual Show the Way find himself on. Theroad is long and out in the desolatesurroundings is an entrance to hell.

Demons are forbidden to step foot onthe path but can trick people off the road,then that soul is fair game. Also, souls thatwere not strong enough to stay in thematerial world, yet not ready for the greatbeyond can be found along the road. Afterwhat seems like hours the traveller on thispath, a traveller can see a grand castleshining like a beacon in the desolatedarkness. This is what people who have anear death experience is talking about by thelight that people feel compelled to walktoward, for few can truly remember theexperience.

When the traveller gets to the greatpalace and enter it, he find himself in a greathallway there in a carpet that runs the lengthof the hall and several great pillars on either

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side of the carpet are spaced out several feetapart. At the end of the hallway is a pair oflarge thrones and beyond the thrones amassive gate. The throne on the right, thegrander of the two, sits a man on a longblack hooded robe. Sometimes he appears asan old man, sometimes he looks like askeleton. He is Hades, Spirit Lord of death. On the throne beside him is a figure with thebody of a man and the head of a dog. He isAnubis, Spirit Lord of dogs and the guardianof the great beyond.

When the dead reach the two on thethrones it is the job of Anubis to cut out theheart of the deceased so his sins can beweighed. While this does not actually hurtthe person, it does usually frighten them. This is part of the reason the Shaman ismeant to accompany the soul of the departed,to help ease the worry of what is going to

happen. Once the heart is removed it is given

to Hades who then weighs it. If the heart islight of sin then the departed is allowed topass beyond the gates to its final destination. If the heart is too heavy with sin then the sinis burned out of the soul. Flames engulf thesoul, fuelled by the sins it is burning away. The fire last only for seconds, but feels likean eternity. The soul must then wait toreturn to the material world in a new body totry again, cleansed of the mistakes of the lasttime. The Necromancy spell does not alwayswork on a soul who is beyond the great gate,nor will it work on a soul who is alreadyreincarnated, but it will always work on onewho has not made it to the halls ofjudgement or who is waiting to bereincarnated.

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The Goblin Market

Chaotic, enigmatic, profitable; theseare all good ways to describe the GoblinMarket. Anything can be bought or soldhere, for the right price. Anyone who canfind their way to the market (whether or notthe market was where they intended to go) isconsidered a customer, or, if it can get theproper licences, a vendor. While the marketis run by goblins, anyone can become avendor, if they are willing to pay the price,which changes from person to person,situation to situation.

There are a few rules that must befollowed while in the Goblin Market,punishment for breaking them are horrific. First off, you must have a vendor’s licence tosell anything in the Goblin Market. Secondrule is no one can force another to buy theirproduct or service. Mind control is foundout instantaneously, other methods takelonger to find out, but are always found out. Thirdly, no killing customers or vendors. Fights can and very often do break out in themarket, but it will not be allowed to get tooout of control. If someone is killed in theGoblin Market, the killer, even if it was self-defence, will find out there are fates worsethan death. Fourth, no kidnapping customersor vendors. Basically, if someone orsomething walked into the market of theirown accord, then they are free to walk outagain. These last two rules are so thateveryone feels safe in the market, if peopledidn’t feel safe the customers may stopcoming and buying, which would lead to alot of angry goblins. Fifth rule is stealing ispunishable by fates worse than death. Basically, you’d be better off getting caughtkilling than stealing at the Goblin Market.

No one really knows where theGoblin Market really is. Some think it is in

the middle of Arcadia, others say theoutskirts of Arcadia, some believe it is nowhere, others believe it is everywhere, takingup all the empty and unused space andcombining it into one area. All of thesethings are inconsequential, what matters isn’twhere the market is, it’s how to get there. There are thousands of doors throughout theworld, and on other worlds as well; perfectlynormal doors most of the time, that, whenthe Goblin Market is open for business andthe person using the door knows what he isdoing, usually (although there are manystories of hapless wanderers stumblingthrough the wrong door and finding theirway to the market) is transported to theGoblin Market. There are many exits, but,no matter which one is taken, you always endup walking out the same door you walked in.

The Goblin Market is an open airmarket in a huge courtyard. The market issurrounded by a great wall filled witharchways, or perhaps more accurately, it issurrounded by archways occasionallyinterrupted by wall. There are thousands ofarchways that are the gateways betweenworlds. The weather is always sunny andbeautiful, during the day, and the few plantsthat are there look well taken care of. Timepasses in the Market as it does on earth, butthe sun or phase of the moon has no ill effecton any that would normally be effected bysuch things.

The first thing you see when youenter the Goblin Market is a sign that comesabout waist high to an average human adult,with the rules of the market magicallytranslated into whatever language the personlooking at the sign is most comfortablereading. If you can not read, you will hear a

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voice in your head reading the rules to you. There is no excuse for breaking the rules,and the goblin’s will not listen to anyonewho tries.

Pretty much anything can be found inthe Goblin Market, from legendary artifactsto amazing super science devices. Whilegoblins are not the only vendors in theGoblin Market, they are the most common,so here are a few facts about them. Goblinsare masters of crafting both magical artifactsand high tech devices. Of course Goblin

devices have a nasty habit of blowing up,luckily Goblins are near immortal and otherthan cold iron, each has his own weaknesswhich is the only way to truly kill a Goblinwhich has never been know to be explosions. Their customers, however, are usually not solucky, remember, buyer beware. Goblins aregreedy, and many have been known to selltheir own mother (the hardest part is gettingthe proper licences). Goblins seem to alwaysknow the value of everything and almostalways get the better end of the deal.

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The World Wide Web

The World Wide Web, or internet, isactually a plane that intersects the astralplane and the spirit realm, which connects toevery computer connected to the internet. The web looks like a giant city built on aspider web. At the centre of the web isAnansi, the spirit lord of spiders. Anansi is aclever and chaotic trickster spirit who lovesto trick people into do what he wants orgiving him what he desires, and essentially,that is the nature of the internet.

Anansi is the king of all stories andonce tried to hoard all the information in theworld, which failed. However, when henoticed the humans building more and morecomplex machines to store knowledge andwisdom, he soon found a way to connectthese deposits of information into hisdomain. With arcane secrets andtechnological knowledge acquired fromsome goblins in the Goblin Market, Anansipieced the idea of how to connect computerstogether (through his domain giving himaccess to all the information, of course) andthus created the internet.

Sections of the web are set up likeamusement parks which are online games,others are like libraries, which are sites forknowledge, some like galleries, and manyother things. At each intersection are houses,these houses correspond with computers inthe real world. In order to enter them, or do

anything inside requires codes (and requireskill in computers to activate).

Because of pacts made betweenseveral mages, Anansi, and a goblin namedDurenbul, there are sections of the web thatcan only be accessed by computers with aspecial magical chip. These chips can onlybe made by Durenbul. In order to get tothese sections you must go through acomputer with this chip in it.

This realm is inhabited by spiderspirits that help maintain the web. Thesespiders can access any information on theweb at a moments notice. They speak alllanguages used on the web, which includecomputer languages, and may be willing tomake deals for information. Viruses alsoroam the web. They are usually monstrouslooking abominations that range from beingannoying to being deadly. There are alsoanti-viruses patrolling the web, looking todeal with anything that looks out of place,which probably includes you.

Since this realm exists between theboarders of the spirit realm and the astralplane that means that Shamans can get therewith the ritual Crossover, Psychics can useAstral Projection, and mages can use thespell Astral Projection. These rituals,powers and spells cannot take you directlythere, you must go to where you wouldnormally go and find your way there.

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The Land of Dreams

There is a realm in the astral planethat connects to every thinking creature onearth and is known as the Land of Dreams. The dreams of this world strengthen thisrealm. While everything that dreams isconnected to this realm, not everyone can getthere. There are paths to this realm in theastral plane and in dreams of everyone. Thepath in ones dream is hard to find, thoughthere are those that find it accidentally. There are rumours that paths to the realm ofdreams exist in hidden in the real world.

The Land of Dreams is a vast countrysurrounded on three sides by great mountainsand the fourth is water. The landscape isgreen and beautiful with rolling hills andlarge flat planes. There are about half adozen cities of considerable size and manysmall towns and villages. To the farthestnorthern point is an impossibly large castle

known as the palace of slumber. This iswhere Morpheus, the Spirit Lord of Dreams,resides. Few but the nobility are allowedentrance into the palace. The land, the veryweather is subject to Lord Morpheus’ mood. When he is calm and happy, the weather issunny and the crops bountiful. When he isangered storms rage and the land shakes. Morpheus seldom leaves his palace andseldom sees visitors.

It is a serious crime in the Land ofDreams to harm a cat. If you are foundguilty of willingly harming a cat thepunishment is swift, brutal, and usually fatal. It is a bad idea to harm a cat becausesomehow or another it always seems to befound out. Many believe that this rule isbecause of an ancient pact betweenMorpheus and Bast made when they werelovers.

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Other realms of note

There are many realms that connectto the Spirit World, the Astral Plane, Faerie,the material world and more. Some areconnected to two, three, or all planes ofexistence in some way or another. Forexample the realm of Aphrodite, Spirit Lordof love, lust, and desire has entrances in thespirit world, the mortal world, and it is saidthat there is a door to Aphrodite’s palacesomewhere in the palace of the Seelie court.

Every type of animal has a SpiritLord (except man) and nearly every SpiritLord has it’s own realm. The MonkeyKing’s realm is the top of a large mountainrange, Wolf is a sprawling forest. No one issure where Bast (Spirit Lord of Cats) resides. Some believe that her realm is hidden to allbut her loyal cat followers, others believe she

shares the Land of Dreams with her formerlover Morpheus.

There are many realms that exist thatare not connected to one of the Spirit Lords. The great Library, for example, is connectedthe both the Astral Plane and the Unseeliecourt. When you enter it, you find yourselfin a massive building the size of four or fivecity blocks. Here is stored all written worksever created. It is inhabited by Ideals thatlook like the quintessential librarians. Theyare humourless, quiet, sever looking men andwomen. They allow no book to leave thegreat library, nor do they allow harm to cometo any of the books. There are thousand ofAstral and spirit realms that exist, and thepaths to them can change.

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Hell

Hell exists to punish the third of theheavenly host who turned against theirbothers and have fallen from grace. It isunknown why they turned, but these demonsare now anchored to Hell and must endurethe special punishment made just for them. Hell is dark. Hell is frozen. Hell iseverything that the fallen angels are not andthey must endure here where everything is atwisted distortion of what they were,showing them how lost they truly are. Thefallen angels were not evil when they werepunished to Hell, but have become twistedwith their time there.

It took millennia for the fallen to findtheir way out of the pits of Hell, buteventually they did. They found their way tothe material world, the Astral Plane, even topart of the Spirit World. Unfortunately forthe fallen, their bonds to Hell are to strongand they can not stray from their prison forlong, so since they cannot escape theirpunishment, they wish to destroy everything

and be free once and for all.Hell is dark, but while there one can

see everything perfectly well. Hell is cold,but there are flaming pits of sickly greenishfire. Hellfire freezes the soul and spirit. This is the hellfire that the demon-stolenchangelings call forth. Even demons hate it,they cannot stand to be near it. Hell iscavernous. It is like being in the belly of aplanet, which is why people attribute it tobeing in the centre of the earth.

The fallen are not the onlyinhabitance of Hell. There are human whothe demons have stolen and twisted likethem, these are the changelings. Also,demons are known to trick and trap humansouls on the way to the afterlife as well, onoccasion. Demon born also inhabit Hell. Demon born are the twisted experiments ofthe demons, and are what most picture whenthey think of demons. They vary greatly inappearance, but all demon born are evil andcorrupt creatures.

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Stonehenge and great standing stones

While Stonehenge is not the only setof standing stone of its kind, it is the mostfamous. There are examples of them all overthe world. Who built them and why seemsto be a mystery. No one is really sure whatthey are for, but the common theory amongthe mundane populace is that it is some sortof calendar. Some among the magicalcommunity think there may be something tothis theory because the amount of magicalenergy gets stronger and weaker at certaintimes. Those arguing against the calendartheory point out that the times the magical

output changes is far to random for it to be acalendar.

It has been theorised that thesestanding stone must be somehow connectedto the Spirit World because the magicalenergy they give off is most beneficial toShamans and Changelings. This gives thosewho believe it is some kind of great calendaran argument that it may be a calendar for thespirit world, where time runs differently thanit does here. Every set of standing stoneseems to favour Shamans.

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Haunted Houses

Sometimes when a person’s time hascome to an end they are just not ready to passon, sometime their soul remains behind. When they have something they need tofinish, if they were murdered, or if they werejust too stubborn to stay dead, sometimesthey come back as ghosts. Most ghosts donot even realize they are dead and justcontinue to do what they always did,sometimes they repeat the last moments oftheir life. Ghost are not always active, theyusually only have the energy to manifest inthe real world for a limited time at specifictimes. Sometimes ghosts are aware they aredead and are angered by this and lash out atthe living.

Ghost are not the only cause ofhaunting. Poltergeist, demon and demonborn, and other entities and even excessivemagical build-up can cause haunting. Poltergeist are psychic phenomenon,untapped psychic power people are unawarethey have that manifest against the latentpsychic. Weak demons or demon born whocannot fully manifest in this world but can

exert some influence in this world will oftenstage haunting to drive members of ahousehold to madness. There are entitiesthat feed off of human emotions and aredrawn to places where great tragediesoccurred and will re-enact them. They areintangible, and exert little control over thematerial world. Large build-up of magic cancause strange effect, much like Poltergeists.

Deaths caused by haunting are rare,most of the entities and phenomenon thatcause haunting are not powerful enough tokill. They have been more cases of hauntingcausing suicides than people being killeddirectly by the haunting.

It is not only houses or building thatcan be haunted. There are cases wheresections of forests, lakes, roads, and such endup haunted. Many graveyards have ghosts,spirits who stay with their bodies rather thanwhere they died or where ever was importantto them in life. Almost all ghosts are boundto a place or an object that was important tothem in life, but a rare few are powerfulenough to wander the world.

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Ley Lines and Nexus Points

Also know as Dragon Road andnests, because dragons can often be foundtravelling along these lines of energy andnesting at the points where they intersect. They are lines of magical energy that stretchacross the surface of the earth. Where theymeet are called Nexus points. Since there isso much magic along these lines a lot ofweird stuff tends to happen along the leylines, and especially at the nexus point. They

seem to be some sort of magnet for theunusual and unexplained.

Over time the ley lines will move,which means that nexus points will move aswell. Dragon seem to be able to somehowcontrol this and will prevent or speed thisprocess up depending on their wishes. Noone but dragons seem to be able to do this,which is another reason they are known asDragon roads.

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Appendix

Glossary

Below are some terms which may be helpfulto know before reading through the rest ofthe book.

Bonuses - These are exceptional things aboutthe character. There are class bonuses,which every member of a certain class getand bonuses that the characters can chosefrom later that round out or make a charactermore unique.

Character - A fictional being in the gameworld.

Character points - Points given out at thebeginning of game to round out thecharacter. These points are spent to improvethe character, to show how the characterdeveloped before he entered the game.

Class - What type of Cursed the character is. There are seven base classes (with severalsubclasses to come later). The character’sclass determine his strengths andweaknesses, and to a minor effect, hisattitude and outlook.

Corruption - A measure of how much mentalstress is adversely effecting a character.

D4 - A four sided die.

D10 - A ten sided die.

D20 - A twenty sided die.

Degree of difficulty - How hard it is toaccomplish a task. This ranges from Easy toNigh Impossible. Each degree has a

numerical value attached. The difficultylevels are discussed in the Skills section. Itis possible for something to be harder thanNigh Impossible and still be accomplished.

Degrees of Failure - Every five points underwhat would fail a skill, stat, magical spell, orpsychic power check is a degree of failure. For every degree of failure, the morespectacularly the character fails the actionattempted.

Degree of Success - Every five points abovea success on a skill, stat, magical spell, orpsychic power check is a degree of success. The more degrees of success, the better acharacter did accomplishing the task.

Experience points - A numerical value givento the experience and learning a charactergained through interacting in a game session. These points can be used to improve acharacter over time.

Failure - Failing at a skill, stat, magical spell,or psychic power check.

GM - Game Master. The GM is the personwho creates the world, the plot of the story,and plays all the extra characters (NPCs) thatinhabit the world that the characters of theplayers (PCs) must interact with.

Initiative - When determining who goeswhen, players must roll initiative. Todetermine initiative each player adds half hischaracter’s Body stat to a D20 roll and theorder goes from highest to lowest.

Modifiers - Anything that would enhance orhinder the characters chances at succeeding.

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They are given numerical value to determinehow much they effect the outcome.

Natural 1 - When a 1 is rolled on a 20 sideddie for any checks it is considered anautomatic failure (exceptions are in the skillsection).

Natural 20 - When a 20 is rolled on a 20sided die for any check it is considered anautomatic success (exception are in the skillsection).

NPC - Non-player character. A characterthat is played by the GM which the player’scharacters (PC) must interact with to advanceplot or achieve their goals.

PC - Player character. A character played bya player other than the GM.

Penalties - These are drawbacks forcharacters. There are class penalties, whichevery member of a class has and penaltiesthat the character can chose from to roundout or make a character more unique. Penalties give extra character points to builda character with.

Power check - The skill check for using apsychic power. It will be referred to by thepower being used.

Round - A measure of time in game. Around is usually three seconds of time for thecharacter.

Skills - Activities that your characterperforms often enough to gain familiaritywith them. Numerical values are given tothem to determine the amount of time andeffort put into practising these activities.

Skill Check - Any time you need to tell ifyour character succeeded or failed at someattempt at using a skill, it takes a skill check.

First you find out how many ranks yourcharacter has in the particular skill, then addhalf the appropriate stat, then add the resultof a D20 roll (this is covered in Skillssection). Skill checks will usually bereferred to by the skill such as a Magic Skillcheck or Lore check.

Skill points - the amount of points acharacter has to put into his skills at thebeginning of the game to show how muchtraining and effort went into learning theskill before the character started play.

Skill rank - The rank is the numerical valuethat determines how adequate or inadequatea person is at certain activities.

Spell check - The skill check for casting aspell. It will be referred to by the spell beingcast.

Stats - These are the major statistics thatmake up your character. A numerical valueis determined at random to dictate how wellyour character measures up against othercharacters in each stat.

Stat Check - Sometimes your character has todetermine if he can handle a situation there isno skill for. This requires a Stat check. Tomake a Stat check you take half yourcharacter’s appropriate stat and add it to aD20 roll (just like a Skill check, except yourcharacter has no skill ranks to add). Statchecks will be referred to by the stat beingchecked such as Body check or Mind check.

Success - Succeeding at a skill, stat, magicalspell, or psychic power check.

Taint - Both a Measure of how much mentalstress is adversely effecting a character and ameasure of the drawback it is causing thecharacter.

Turn - When multiple players are attemptingto have their characters perform an action atthe same time each player takes a turndescribing what he is doing.

Will roll - Whenever a spell or power wouldcause someone or something influence over

the mind of another the two (caster andtarget) enter into a will roll. Each player(GM included if one of the characters is anNPC) adds his character’s Will stat to a rollof a D20. If the caster wins the spell orpower works. If the target wins, the spell orpower fails.

Skill List

ArtsComputersConcentration DebateDouble TalkDriveFinanceFlyHandymanLanguage

LawLiteracyLoreMagicMechanicMedicine, HolisticMedicine, ModernPerceptionPerformanceRiddles

Sciences, HardSciences, SoftSlight of HandSocialiseSports, AggressiveSports, GracefulStealthTechTrivia

Combat Skill List

DodgeFist FightHeavy swordsImprovised Weapon

KnifeLight SwordsOther meleeParry/Disarm

Projectile, FiredProjectile, ThrownWeighted WeaponsWhips

Shaman Rituals

Angered SpiritsBanish the CorruptedCall Out As a Friend ofNature Cleansing the Spirit

Crossover Know the HourRain DanceSee Across the VeilShow the Way

Spirit’s BlessingSummoningVisionsVoodoo DollZombie

Magic Spells

ArmourAstral ProjectionBanishBind FamiliarBind to Your WordBlessingClone

CommuneControlCurse DivinationEnchanted ObjectFlyHumanculus

IdentifyIllusionsImprove SelfLairNecromancyReverse the ClockSleep

StasisSummoning TeleportationTransfer Souls

Trap the SoulUnagingUndo

WardsWeather ControlZombie

Psychic Powers

Animal KenAstral ProjectionBio-RegenerationClairaudianceClairvoyanceFalse Memory

Mind ControlMind ReadingPremonitionsPsychopompPyrokenesis

Read AurasStolen MomentsTelekinesisTelemechanicsTelepathy

For Character Sheet go to http://thecursedrpg.angelfire.com/Character_sheets.pdf

Charts for Speed and Strength

Speed in Km/h and still act

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Unfit 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5 13.5

Normal/Strong

7.5 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5 13.5 14.5 15.5

Fit 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5 13.5 14.5 15.5 16.5 17.5

Fast 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 29

Max Speed in Km/h

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Unfit 40860

40923 15/18 17/20 19/22 21/24 23/26 25/28 27/30

Normal/Strong

15/18 17/20 19/22 21/24 23/26 25/28 27/30 29/32 31/34

Fit 19/22 21/24 23/26 25/28 27/30 29/32 31/34 33/36 35/38

Fast 22/25 24/27 26/29 28/31 30/33 32/35 34/37 36/39 38/41

Max Weight capable of lifting in lbs

2 3 4 5 6

Unfit 10/40 15/60 20/80 25/100 30/120

Normal/Fast 80/120 120/180 160/240 200/300 240/360

Fit 160/200 240/300 320/400 400/500 480/600

Strong 230/250 345/375 460/500 575/625 690/750

7 8 9 10

Unfit 35/140 40/160 45/180 50/200

Normal/Fast 280/420 320/480 360/540 400/600

Fit 560/700 640/800 720/900 800/1000

Strong 805/875 920/1000 1035/1125 1150/1250

We are The Cursed of the world. Forgotten gods in mortalsuits. May they never remember us.

Everything they tell you are lies. There are monsters outthere. Magic is Real. There are places beyond this dimension. The world is stranger than you think. But there are no grandorganizations ruling from the shadows, no secret society thatuses nations as puppets. The world is run by human hands,now we must find a place in it and hope they don’t notice us.

In Cursed RPG you play a human who has not onlylearned the truth that the world is not as sane or structured aspeople want to believe, you play a human who can bend realitywith his will.

In this book is everything necessary to play The Cursed RPGincluding• Complete Rule System• Character Creation Rules• Seven Classes of Cursed• Descriptions of Monster, Other Realms, Organizations,

and Secret Societies

For Creature stats, more Bonuses and Penalties, Variant Classesof Cursed, and other Extras go to http://thecursedrpg.angelfire.com.