ODAM Gameplay Rules (BETA!)
- 1. OF DREAMS AND MAGIC
- 2. Thank you for participating in this ODAM beta test. This is a very exciting time for us and your feedback is valuable. Within this beta kit you will find an introduction to ODAM’s setting and unique rule set. In addition we have included a short sample story containing three sample characters that are fully prepared to be used by your play group. We hope that you will enjoy reading this kit, and playing this system, as much as we have enjoyed developing and using it these past five years. In the back of the beta kit you will find two questionnaires - one for the Dreamweaver and one for the players. Your open and honest feedback will be a vital part of us completing development and ensuring that ODAM is the best game experience it can possibly be. Thank you again and never forget: Magic is real and dreams matter. ODAM Publishing LLC John Borgese Matthew Tarulli Credits Developed, Written and Designed by: John Borgese & Matthew Tarulli Art: Mateusz Katzig, Phillip Simpson, Patrick Tsao, Playtesters: Crista Ceribello, Gilbert DuRapau, Jonathan Edwards, Diana Muniz, Joleen Rega, Anna Svetlov, Chris Uhlig Special Thanks: Jonathan Edwards, James Ceribello, our families whose support has been essential and eternal, “the girl in the diner,” everyone who has ever downloaded, read, backed, listened to or commented on anything we’ve done, and anyone who’s ever had a dream. You are not alone. Our time is coming. © 2014 ODAM Publishing LLC Visit us at www.odampublishing.com Or say Hi at www.facebook.com/ODAMPublishing
- 3. 3 “Every night it’s the same damn thing. I get all panic stricken, toss and turn until I’m thoroughly frustrated, then before I know it, she’s leaning over my bed. Being afraid of my nightmares never seems to keep me from passing out, and once I do, it’s only a moment before I’m aware it’s a dream. I know it is because I feel her hair grazing my cheek as she leans over my bed. I lie perfectly still with dread in my belly because I know once I open my eyes, I’m going to be greeted by a pale, willowy teenage face, framed in long dark hair. She’ll claim to be my sister, even though I’m an only child. Yet even knowing she’s there every night, I still can’t help but flinch when I open my eyes and find her staring blankly a few inches from my face. She’s going to tell me something’s wrong with “Mom” and “Dad”. We’ll walk out of my bedroom and find two undead corpses eating at the dinner table downstairs. They’ll silently dine on empty plates and “Sis” will cackle about how ‘they don’t look so well’. The whole scene is just hysterical to my dream sister. She’ll just keep on laughing as dear old mom and dad silently rise from the table and with alarming speed turn to grab me. I’ll nearly jump out of my skin with a yelp, then try not to tremble visibly as they seat me at the table. Once everyone is seated, Sis will begin giggling and only stop to assure me that I’m going to ‘loooove’ what comes next. I never do though. I’ve yet to see what happens next. I always snap awake in a cold sweat with a pit in my stomach thinking of my dream “sister” and the malevolent gleam in her eyes. Every night it’s the same damn thing. That’s why next time when I feel her hair on my cheek, I’m going to open my eyes just to be sure I don’t miss when I punch her in the face. And once Sis goes down for the count, I’ll be ready to deal with the two creeps downstairs. One more notch in the belt – another nightmare down, and a new dream on the horizon. Every night it’s the same damn thing.”
- 4. 4 Of Dreams and Magic is a game where magic is real, and dreams matter. Anything is possible in dreams and the same would be true in our world if not for the oppressive force of the Doubt. The Doubt looms over mankind, forcing people to disbelieve anything that isn’t normal or mundane. Most people believe magic is nothing but fantasy, and dreams are little more than wishful thoughts. Anima, however, see things differently. In ODAM players assume the role of Anima - people who see past the Doubts’ influence. By experiencing dreams, Anima weaken the Doubt, allowing them to create magic in the real world. Unwilling to concede, the Doubt will endless-ly pressure Anima, even going so far as to use the Anima’s own nightmares against them. To do this, the Doubt will turn nightmares into physical manifestations called Reavers. The conflict between Anima, the Doubt, and the Reavers who serve it is the centerpiece of ODAM but by no means the only story element. By way of dreams Anima may experience any number of varied settings or “Dreamscapes” where the Anima can as-sume the role of anything from a dragon-slaying knight to a cybernetically enhanced soldier. Due to this, any type of story from a heart-warming tale of a family’s love, to an exciting space adventure full of alien threats can be covered when playing ODAM. Our dreams are limitless and now the stories we role-play can be as well. Beta Information The following pages provide all the needed information to play through the sample story “A Beast at the Door”. This kit includes three parts: basic truncated rules from the ODAM core rulebook, the story module “A Beast at the Door”, and a simple feedback questionnaire. Lexicon • Anima - People who have cast off the Doubt and can now wield magic. • Animus – The dream identity assumed by an Anima to defeat the Doubt. • Archetype – The types of dreams an Anima can make real. • Artifact - A physical item that is carried over from a dream into the Waking World. • DCMA - The Doctor Connor Marlowe Agency; the first organized Anima group that acts as both a governing body and a law enforcement agency. • The Doubt - Oppressive force that prevents man-kind from knowing that magic is real and anything is possible. • Dreamwalking - The act by which an Anima puts their body to sleep so they may traverse the world as their dream-self. • Magic - Powers Anima learn based on real-world traditions. • Reaver – The living embodiment of an Anima’s nightmare. • Remnant - A specific effect from a dream that an Anima can recreate in the Waking World. • Shaping - The act of an Anima affecting the Waking World through Dreamwalking. • Sleeper – An Anima slang term for people still con-trolled by the Doubt; non-Anima. • Waking World - The Anima’s term for our world/ reality. • Void - A former Anima who has succumbed to the Doubt.
- 5. 5 Character Composition Characters tend to be the centerpiece of most stories and thus it is both crucial and productive to record as much pertinent information about them as possible. For the pur-poses of playing Of Dreams and Magic, everything from a character’s appearance to their relative ability at performing tasks is given a value and recorded on a character sheet. While every character is more than a series of numbers and statistics, these values help define a character and their place in the world. The main aspects of a character that are measured on a character sheet are their Attributes, Skills, Traits, and Techniques. More arcane aspects of their character such as their Archetype, Nightmare, and Animus will be listed on the sheet as well. All of this information combined serves as a snapshot of not only what a character may do, but who they are. Attributes Attributes are a measurement of the inherent qualities of a character. In ODAM, there are six attributes which are rated from 1 to 10. A character’s attributes significantly affect how well they utilize any relevant skills. • Strength is a measurement of pure physical power and the level of intensity that can be applied to all physical feats. It affects how much a character may carry or lift, and is also factored in unarmed and melee combat. • Agility measures the flexibility, grace, accuracy, and speed of a character’s physical movements. Agility plays a role in physical forms of expression, like dancing and in a character’s Reaction score (which is used to respond to outside influences). • Endurance describes how much activity one’s body and mind can handle. It is used for the cre-ation and regeneration of Stamina for a character, resisting mental influences, and fighting through pain and exhaustion. • Intelligence accounts for one’s capacity for learn-ing, reasoning, and understanding. Intelligence plays a vital role in the use of knowledge-based skills such as Academics. • Charm is the measurement of a character’s appear-ance, personal magnetism, and persuasiveness. It plays a heavy role in all social interactions and skill use. • Perception is a measurement of one’s intuitive recognition of their environment and surrounding situations. It is used to generate the Reaction score for a character, and is an important statistic for searching and ranged weapon use. Generated Attributes In addition to the 6 basic attributes, there are some at-tributes that are not assigned a number by the player, but are generated either from existing scores or a preset value. Examples of such attributes are: • Stamina is a mutable value representing exactly how much energy the character possesses and the amount of non-lethal punishment they can take. Stamina starts at a base value of fifty. The charac-ter’s Endurance is then multiplied by five, and the result is added to the base value to determine their Stamina score. • Health is a number used to represent the amount of lethal or traumatic damage someone can take before they die. Health is set as a standard number by species. The Health value for a human is 100 points. • Reaction is a measurement of how quickly a char-acter notices and responds to outside stimuli and is rolled to determine a character’s position in the order of actions within a phase. Reaction is gen-erated by adding the character’s Perception and Agility attributes together. • Conviction is a numerical measurement of how much will a character possesses with regards to fighting the Doubt’s influence. This number will frequently change, diminishing as the character exerts themselves against the Doubt, or raising when they become inspired by victory over it. • Nightmare tracks how willing the Doubt has be-come to use a character’s nightmares against them. As characters defy the Doubt, their Nightmare will rise causing negative effects referred to as Echoes to befall them. Additionally, whenever the Nightmare score increases, there is a chance that the Anima spawns a Reaver. • Doubt records how strong of a hold the Doubt has managed to reassert over the Anima. If an Anima acquires ten Doubt points, their Animus is perma-nently subsumed and they turn into a Void. • Armor shows how much protection from physical damage a character possesses. This value is nor-mally zero and is generated if necessary by adding the Armor rating of any outside sources such as equipment or magic. • Resistance shows how much protection from magical damage a character possesses. This value is normally zero and is generated if necessary by adding the Resistance rating of any outside sourc-es such as equipment or magic. • Rank is an overall rating of how experienced an Anima is at breaking the Doubt. • Shaping is a generated attribute demonstrating an Anima’s proficiency at breaking the Doubt to
- 6. 6 create specific effects. An Anima’s Rank dictates their Shaping score. Rank 1 Anima have a Shaping score of 7. Rank 2 Anima have a Shaping score of 12. Skills In ODAM, almost everything a character can do or know is represented by base skills and advanced skills. There are nine base skills in ODAM. These base skills are rated from 1 to 10, measuring a character’s understanding of the funda-mentals of those base skills. Advanced Skills are more specific, detailed, and focused than the nine base skills and are used to showcase more de-veloped knowledge or abilities. Advanced Skills are an exten-sion of base skills, meaning one cannot know an Advanced Skill without first knowing the applicable Base Skill. Since Advanced Skills have more depth and require more training or study to truly master, Advanced Skills are rated from 1 to 40. This rating measures a character’s ability in that skill from basic understanding to absolute mastery. Listed below are the nine base skills, and several exam-ple Advanced Skills that extend from them. • Technology - The ability to effectively use and un-derstand technology. Downloading and installing an app, conducting a thorough internet search, and shooting a video on your phone would all use the Technology Base Skill. Example Advanced Skills: Computer Hacking, Programming, Cell Phone Spoofing • Social - Both the ability to socialize and the un-derstanding of social situations, the Social base skill covers all manners of interaction from mak-ing pleasant conversation at a business dinner to the fine art of seduction at a local pub. Example Advanced Skills; Flattery, Seduction, Intimidation • Creative - A measure of a characters artistic ability as well as their capacity for expression. Painting, stage performance, writing and similar activities all fall under the Creative base skill. Example Advanced Skills: Mystery Writing, Guitar, Fashion Design, Ballet • Fighting - Covers all manner of general unarmed combat, whether punching, kicking, or hitting someone with a bar stool. Example Advanced Skills: Boxing, Wrestling, Tae kwon do, Jui-jitsu • Weaponry - Accounts for skill with hand-held weaponry, excluding any form of firearm. Example Advanced Skills: Nightstick, Longsword, Spears, Throwing Knives • Firearms - Shooting and maintaining modern guns of all types. Example Advanced Skills: Handguns, Sub-machine Guns, Assault Rifles, Shotguns • Athletics - An overall measurement of practice in, and understanding of, athletic endeavors such as competitive sports, gymnastics, and strength training. Example Advanced Skills: Pitcher, Quarterbacking, Gymnastics Coaching • Manual - A measurement of the ability to perform any operation using tools with the hands such as electrical repair, replacing a flat tire, or stitch-ing a wound closed. Example Advanced Skills: Carpentry, Plumbing, Model Assembly • Academics – The general level of a character’s education or study. Example Advanced Skills: American History, Occult Lore, Surgery, Global Politics. Ability Score An Ability Score is the total summation of how good a character is at taking a specific action. An Ability Score takes multiple factors into account, such as the value of a base skill, the value of its advanced skill (if necessary) and the most rel-evant Attribute applicable at the time of use according to the Dreamweaver. Because of this, each base skill and advanced skill lists an Ability Score utilizing each of the six Attributes for ease of use. Traits Traits are specific defining components of a character that are not learned. These details of a character’s make up do not depend on a skill and can range from physical aspects such as having mismatched eye colors, to social characteris-tics like possessing a Disarming Smile. Traits are categorized as either physical, mental and social. Traits may be naturally gained or have a supernatural origin. Techniques Techniques represent specific feats or tricks a character is capable of due to their level of proficiency in an appropri-ate skill. These specific techniques can be passive or require active use. Every technique has a skill requirement and may carry additional requirements such as a specific attribute rat-ing or a specific trait.
- 7. 7 Animus When an Anima first defeats the Doubt in their dreams, the identity or role they assumed during the process becomes known as their Animus. This Animus, or dreamself, can then be recalled when needed in the Waking World, granting the Anima extraordinary abilities. Archetypes An Anima’s archetype tells what kind of dream their Animus comes from. Each Archetype represents a specific setting or concept which immediately identifies what type of magics the character will have access to. Exulmus, Dreams of Transcendence Anima of the Exulmus archetype have broken the Doubt by transcending the limitations of their known world and doing or becoming the impossible. An Exulmian Animus will have come from a setting that is extremely similar to the Waking World, with the significant difference being what the Anima themselves was capable of. This can lead to an Animus that is a superhero flying over the city skyline, a mu-tant capable of throwing cars, or even a high school kid who’s a powerful telepath. Astea, Dreams of Fantasy The Astea archetype covers any Anima whose Animus comes from a place so wildly different from the Waking World it could only be considered fantasy. This is often a place where the rules are totally different and magic is com-monplace. Their powers could be the sorcery of dragons, or the bestowed power of a mythical deity. Vellora, Dreams of Vision To be of the Vellora archetype is to have an Animus that comes from dreams based on a possible future, or evolution, of our own Waking World. This can lead to magics ground-ed in impossibly advanced science or alternate futures. An Animus from such a dream could have battled aliens across the stars, or seen the human body become host to incredible cybernetics. Arliman, Dreams of Nightmare Unlike other archetypes, Arliman does not clearly indicate the actual setting an Animus came from. Instead, being of the Arliman archetype indicates that the Animus has come from an actual nightmare. The negative traits that fuel most nightmares take center stage regardless of setting. This can produce many varied kinds of Animus , but they will al-ways be of a dark nature. From their dark dreams they might conjure dreadful powers much like a Reaver, or even become a monster themselves.
- 9. 9 Of Dreams and Magic not only presents a unique set-ting, but also supplies a set of rules to help groups of play-ers tell their stories. The two main components of ODAM’s rule-set are the Over/Under Die System and Competitive Advantage Points. The Over/Under Die System provides a controlled method of die rolling so as to ensure that a character’s tal-ents and abilities are the star of the story rather than the luck of the dice. The Over/Under Die System allows players to feel the thrill of over-achieving and the distress of under-per-forming while also keeping the results in line with their char-acter’s abilities. This allows the storyteller (referred to as a Dreamweaver) to have confidence that any scene or chal-lenge they write will not be undone by pure random chance. In ODAM, all die rolls are made using two ten sided dice. One die, referred to as the “Over” die, represents how far above (or Over) a character’s base level of ability they can perform. Similarly, the second die (the “Under” die) rep-resents how far beneath (or Under) a character’s base level of ability they can perform. Competitive Advantage Points (or CAP for short) work in tandem with the Over/Under Die System to allow players to measure their level of success rather than simply knowing if they succeeded or failed at a given task. CAP measure the amount of advantage a player has gained over a competitor or situation. They allow a player to be more proactive and involved in the actions their characters take and the results achieved by these actions. Ability Tests Any time a character takes an action where the out-come is in question or the specific level of success requires defining, an Ability Test (also referred to as an AT) must be made. To make an Ability Test, a player rolls their Over die and Under die simultaneously to achieve a result that ranges from -9 to +9. It is important that these dice are distinguish-able from one another (such as being different colors) and each die is identified as the Over or Under die before being rolled. When making an Ability Test, the numbers on the face of the Over die are POSITIVE, and the numbers on the face of the Under die are NEGATIVE. To determine the result of this roll, the player simply combines the two values (one positive and one negative) and the result is referred to as their Over/ Under. Keep in mind that if the number on the Under die is larger than that of the Over die, your Over/Under will be a negative number. Example: Tom is asked to make a Technology (Intellect) Ability Test. Tom has declared that his white ten sided die will be his Over die and that his black die will be his Under die. Tom rolls a 7 on his white Over die, and a 3 on his black Under die. Tom then combines these values (7 and -3) to determine his Over/ Under for this Ability Test, which is a 4. Had Tom rolled a 3 on his white Over die and a 7 on his black Under die, the result would be a -4 (3 + -7). Once an Over/Under has been generated by the die roll, this number is added to the appropriate Ability Score chosen by the Dreamweaver to achieve a final Ability Test Result (ATR). Example: Continuing the previous example, Tom has rolled his dice and generated an Over/Under of 4. This Over/Under is added to his Technology (INT) Ability Score, which is 15. This produces an Ability Test Result of 19. After the Ability Test Result is calculated, this ATR is compared to the difficulty of the test to determine how suc-cessful the attempted action was. Difficulty When a character’s only opposition is the inherent dif-ficulty of what they are attempting to do, the difficulty for that Ability Test is a set number. In these cases, there is not a second party attempting to stop, slow, or prevent their suc-cess, and the only challenge is to see if their ability is strong enough to succeed at what they are trying to do. Examples of Ability Tests that use a difficulty are try-ing to re-build a carburetor, practicing running a marathon route, or shooting a firearm. The number that is chosen as the difficulty represents the general ability level one must have to complete the chosen task consistently. Example: Marco is practicing a 3 minute heavy bag drill in the gym. The Dreamweaver decides the difficulty for this task is 8 - keeping your punches consistent and accurate over 3 minutes takes some ability, but can be done by someone without ad-vanced training. Marco’s Fighting (Strength) ATR is a 9, which is then compared to the set difficulty of 8. Shatters and Chokes Normally, the values of the Over die and Under die are combined to produce an Over/Under. But what if the Over and Under dice turn up the same number? When this happens, there are three possibilities. If both dice show a ten, a “Shatter” has been produced. This represents a character going above and beyond their normal level of ability and achieving fantastic success. When a shatter is rolled, the Over/Under for that roll is a 12. Conversely, if the Over and Under dice both show a one, the character has choked - a disastrous result which sets the Over/Under for that roll to a NEGATIVE twelve (-12.) Finally, if the face value of the Over and Under dice are the same, but not a one or a ten, the character has performed exactly in line with their ability and their Over/Under is zero.
- 10. 10 Defensive Ability Test When a character’s attempt at doing something is be-ing contested by another character, the difficulty is not a set number. Instead, it is determined by a Defensive Ability Test made by the target. A Defensive Ability Test is in most ways identical to a normal AT, with the exception being that it’s ATR serves the sole purpose of setting a difficulty for another character’s Ability Test. This demonstrates how a character’s active op-position is determining how difficult a given action is. Example: Marco has decided to step up his training and start sparring with his gym-mate Brian. When squaring off, Marco makes a Fighting (Strength) Ability Test against Brian. Brian then makes a Defensive Ability Test to set the difficulty for Mar-co. Brian makes his Defensive AT and gets an ATR of 12. This means the difficulty for Marco’s Fighting AT is now 12. Most of the time, a character’s Defensive Ability Test will use the same skill as the ability being used against them, but this is not always the case. For instance, if one character has only the Fighting Basic Skill, but gets into a stand-up fight with a boxer, that boxer would be using their Boxing Advanced Skill. Similarly, a Defensive Ability Test in a sword fight may make use of a character’s Shield Advanced Skill rather than their Longsword Advanced Skill. Chance Test A chance test is a special test made to determine if a particular event has taken place. For this purpose, both the Over and Under die will represent different values in an ef-fort to yield a result between 1% and 100%. To do this, the Over die will represent the tens column and the Under die will represent the single digit column. These values are com-bined to produce a percentage value. This value is then com-pared to the chance of the event in question taking place. If the value is equal to or below the percentage chance of the event taking place, then the event has occurred. If the value is above the percentage chance of the event taking place, the event has not occurred. Generating Cap CAP is a unit of measurement that measures how well a character has performed at an Ability Test. CAP is generated by comparing the final result of an Ability Test to the difficul-ty for that test. When these two numbers are compared, any positive difference between the ATR and the difficulty is converted to CAP and awarded to the character making the Ability Test. Bonus CAP In addition to the positive difference that is converted to CAP, bonus CAP is awarded in accordance to the following chart. Example: While sparring, Marco and Brian have both made their relevant ATs, with Marco’s ATR being a 15 and Bri-an’s ATR being a 12. Marco has gained 6 CAP from this ex-change: 3 for the difference and 3 bonus CAP for winning. Had Brian’s ATR been 15 and Marco’s 12, Marco would only gain the 1 bonus CAP for losing by less than five. Spending CAP After a player has generated CAP from an Ability Test, they may then spend this CAP to show how their efforts paid off. Players will spend their CAP on two things: base success and CAP Adjustments. Technically speaking, the results of an action do not actually take place until the player spends CAP to purchase base success. If a player decides to spend their CAP, it is always spent after making an Ability Test. It is not required for the player to have actually gained CAP on an AT in order for them to spend CAP after it. Base Success Base success indicates that a character has accom-plished just enough of their intended action for it to be con-sidered successful. For example, a character may make an AT to swing at a pitch thrown their way. Purchasing base success will ensure they hit the ball (their intended action) but will not indicate if it’s a single or a home run. For any particular Ability Test, it is the Dreamweaver’s discretion to decide exactly what base success represents. Regardless of the nature of the Ability Test that is being attempted, or its level of difficulty, base success always costs three CAP. This means that by beating a difficulty, a charac-ter is automatically granted enough bonus CAP to achieve base success. Example: Marco has gained 6 CAP on his Fighting AT. Marco decides to spend 3 of his CAP to achieve a base success. Since he is sparring, the Dreamweaver decides that this base success means that Marco has landed a punch. Bonus CAP 3 CAP 2 CAP 1 CAP Ability Test Result > Difficulty Ability Test Result = Difficulty Ability Test Result < Difficulty by 5 or less. Difference between ATR and Difficulty Ability Test Result < Difficulty by 6 or more. 0 CAP
- 11. 11 CAP Adjustments The CAP system is used to allow players and Dreamweavers to not only determine success or failure at an attempt to use an ability, but also to measure how success-ful the attempt was. This is done through the usage of CAP Adjustments. CAP Adjustments are used to explain exactly how a character uses his or her advantage in a situation to obtain a desired result. While every Ability Test requires 3 CAP to be consid-ered a basic success, Ability Tests can have a myriad of dif-ferent CAP Adjustments, each with different costs. Most of the time, the Adjustments that can be purchased on an AT is determined by the skill being tested or the equipment that is being used to conduct the test. The six most common kinds of CAP Adjustments pre-sented in ODAM are: • Strength Adjustments alter the base result of an Ability Test’s magnitude – how “strong” of an ef-fect is created. • Duration Adjustments make the results of an Ability Test last longer. • Speed Adjustments reduce the amount of time it takes to perform a base success. • Damage Adjustments cause attacks to do more damage. • Range Adjustments extend the physical range that a success can cover. • Weapon Adjustments represent unique effects created when landing an attack with a specific weapon. These CAP adjustments usually have a cost from 1 to 5 CAP each. As long as CAP is available, multiple Adjustments can be purchased when spending CAP, and the same Adjustment can be purchased multiple times unless the Adjustment in question (or the Dreamweaver) states other-wise. Example: Tom is attempting to find his personnel files on a laptop his HR Manager has left unattended. Tom makes a Tech-nology (INT) Ability Test, and has produced an Ability Test Re-sult of 19. The Dreamweaver sets the difficulty of this Test at 16 - while the files are foolishly not password protected, the HR Manger uses a strange naming scheme, and Tom’s character does not know when the manager will return. The Dreamweav-er also tells Tom that it would take 5 minutes of searching to find his file. Tom compares his Ability Test Result of 19 to the difficulty of 16, and is awarded 3 CAP. Additionally, since Tom has won this roll (his ATR is greater than the difficulty) he is granted a bonus 3 CAP, giving him a total of 6 CAP. For this Technology (INT) Ability Test, a base success costs 3 CAP, leav-ing Tom with an extra 3 CAP to spend. Prior to the AT being made, the Dreamweaver decided that Tom can choose to either speed up his search at the rate of 1 minute per CAP (a 1c Speed Adjustment), or he can choose to dig deeper into the files to gar-ner more information(a 3c Strength Adjustment). Tom’s char-acter is really only interested in how large of a raise he’s being considered for, and is more concerned with not getting caught than anything else. Tom decides to spend his extra 3 CAP to be able to find this information in 2 minutes instead of 5, with each CAP purchasing the Speed Adjustment which reduces the amount of time spent searching by 1 minute. Tom gets the info he wanted, closes the file, and exits the office with no one the wiser. Had Tom decided to instead spend the 3 CAP to discover more information, he would have seen that he won’t be getting a raise at all, since his name is at the top of the list for the next round of personnel cuts. Yikes! Declared Adjustments There is a modified type of CAP Adjustment that may also be purchased – a Declared Adjustment. Any Adjustment labeled as “Declared” has an additional stipulation to its use beyond its cost. A character must declare their intent to use a Declared Adjustment at the same time they declare their intended ac-tion. This represents a character building advantage towards creating a specific effect, rather than capitalizing on the ad-vantage he has already built. When initially stating the intent to use a Declared Adjustment, any CAP previously generated by the relevant AT is normally lost unless the Dreamweaver decides other-wise. Once a character has stated they intend to use a Declared Adjustment, they may not change to a new Declared Adjustment without losing all of their previously accrued CAP. Non-declared Adjustments may still be used, but have their CAP cost raised by one until the Declared Adjustment is purchased or canceled. Phase Regardless of the type of story being told, measure-ments of time are necessary to keep track of events. This becomes especially important during combat or other com-petitive scenes. For scenes of this nature, ODAM uses a basic increment of time call a Phase. A Phase is a non specific mea-surement of time, generally ranging between approximately 5 to 15 seconds. This range can be altered significantly to satisfy the needs of the Dreamweaver. This mutability allows for better control by the Dreamweaver to narrate the story in the most appropriate manner possible. Phases are broken up into 3 basic parts used to help keep track of the order of events during crucial portions of the story. Part One: Reaction Order The first part of a phase is the establishment of Reaction Order. The Reaction Order notates what order the actions of a phase occur in. To do this, characters will be using their Reaction Score to make a unique form of Ability Test. Any time where the sequence of events is significant and in question, a Reaction Ability Test is made to start a new phase. Making a Reaction AT is similar to a normal Ability
- 12. 12 Test, with the differences being that CAP is not generated and the ATR is not compared to a difficulty. Instead, the ATR is compared to the Reaction ATR of all other participants in the phase. A Reaction order is then established by declaring the highest Reaction ATR as first, followed by the next highest ATR being declared second, and so on until all ATRs are as-signed a position in the Reaction order. Once a reaction order is determined, it remains the same unless there is a need to reestablish the order of events. A new combatant entering a battle is a good example of why Reaction would be re-tested. Part Two: Declaration of Actions Once Reaction order is established, all characters must declare all their intended actions for the phase, starting with the character who has the lowest position in Reaction order and working up the list, ending with the character who had the highest position in the Reaction order. Before declaring any actions, a character may choose to delay their actions. If they do so, they may choose any position below their own in the Reaction Order. This remains their position until the end of the phase. Part Three: Resolution Finally, all actions being taken are resolved according to Reaction order, starting with the character that has the highest position and ending with the character that has the lowest position. Resolving a character’s actions can include making any applicable ATs or accounting for the effects of any untested actions being taken. Once all actions are re-solved, and each character has had their turn in the Reaction order, the Phase is considered over. Action Types Different situations call for specific types of actions, and each type of action has a different set of conditions when it comes to making Ability Tests and spending CAP. There are two types of actions pertaining to the time required to complete them. Instant Actions are just as they sound - instant. An instant action takes place at a specific moment during one phase. If necessary an Ability Test is made at the moment the action takes place, CAP is gained from that Ability Test, and then that CAP is immediately spent to determine the success of the action. Any CAP gained by the AT but not spent is lost. Persistent Actions take place over the duration of a phase and can possibly continue on into subsequent phases. This allows a player, when necessary, to make an AT and have the CAP carry over from phase to phase. CAP does not have to be spent immediately. Instead, it can be built up through a series of ATs over several phases. A persistent ac-tion is considered to be ongoing throughout the entirety of the phase from the moment the action begins until it is con-sidered completed, or ended, upon resolution of its relevant Ability Test. Both action types can also possess one of the following three subtypes. These subtypes pertain to the actions’ level of difficulty. Tested actions requires an AT to determine their out-come. Untested actions are considered so easy or basic as to not even require an ability test. These actions still require some effort or focus. Because of this, untested actions count towards any multiple action penalties incurred in a single phase. Anything from opening a door to reloading a weapon my be considered Untested. Free Actions are considered to be so simplistic that they require no AT and barely require the concentration of the character. This means that the action is close enough to effortless as to not impact the outcome of other actions taken within the same phase. Multiple Actions If a character wishes to take more than one action in a single phase they may do so. Splitting your attention this way is challenging and causes each Ability Test taken during that phase to be subject to a penalty. This penalty is -5 for every Tested or Untested action declared and is applied to any AT taken in that same phase. ATs taken in the same phase must be made against a different target, or use separate abilities. When making mul-tiple ATs, CAP is gained, accrued, and spent separately for each. It is important to also remember when declaring mul-tiple actions that the Dreamweaver must decide if it suitable for the character to even do so being that the most significant limiting factor is time. Any given phase is only a few seconds long so regardless of incurred penalties, there simply may not be enough time to do everything desired in a single phase. Combat All great stories revolve around conflict of some kind, whether it be a young woman trying to make a life-altering decision, two rivals fighting to gain the affections of a lover, or nations clashing in a great war. In most stories, these conflicts are resolved through some sort of direct competition – many times violent. In or-der to resolve these violent contests, ODAM has a system of Combat Rules that are used to adjudicate over many types of possible physical conflicts. Engaging/Disengaging Whenever two or more characters are making persistent Ability Tests against each other, they are said to be Engaged. Any Ability Tests taken while engaged are assumed to be di-rected towards the other participants that the character is currently engaged with. Any time characters are involved in hand-to-hand or melee combat, they are said to be engaged with one another. While engaged in combat, a character may not travel far distances or avoid CAP being accrued against them by other engaged characters. You may attempt to disengage in lieu of making an
- 13. 13 Ability Test against the combatant you are currently engaged with. Disengaging allows any party currently engaged with you to immediately make an Ability Test against you. This test represents their attempt to either keep you engaged or press their advantage. This Ability Test’s difficulty is set by making a Defensive AT using your Reaction score rather than the ability you had previously been engaged in using. After making the Ability Test, they may also spend any CAP they have available. They may spend 3 CAP to cancel the disen-gagement and force the conflict to continue. If you successfully disengage, you may move as you would normally be allowed in your phase, any CAP built against you in the previous engagement is cleared, and you may make any additional Ability Tests declared that phase. You may not, however, decide to re-engage in the same en-gagement you just disengaged from. Damage The ultimate goal of any kind of attack is to cause damage to an opponent. The base damage and damage ad-justments done by an attack are determined by the weapon or method used. When damage is done it is immediately re-moved from the opponent’s Health Total. In ODAM there are two types of Damage - Physical and Magical. Physical damage refers to any type of damage created by natural means. Whenever the source of damage is native to the Waking World it is considered to be physical. Magical damage refers to any type of damage created by unnatural means. Whenever the source of damage is not native to the Waking World it is considered to be Magical. Armor There are many situations where a character may pos-sess a piece of equipment or be the recipient of a magic ef-fect that offers them protection from potential physical harm. This may be the case for a modern day law enforcer wearing a bullet proof vest or a medieval knight wearing a magic ring for protection. Regardless of the forms they take, these pro-tective items that reduce physical damage are classified as armor. Every armor item has an Armor value which contrib-utes to a characters Armor Rating. This value is a numerical representation of how much physical damage is ignored from each individual source. No damage source may be reduced below zero in this manner. Additionally, any armor that only covers certain parts of the body only provide their damage reduction to the areas that are protected. For example, a Flak Jacket may possess an Armor value of 20. This would indicate that any Physical damage from a single source is reduced by 20 before being applied to the target’s health. However if an attack were to strike the wear-ers leg, the Flak Jacket would provide no damage reduction. Resistance While functionally identical to Armor, Resistance offers a means of protection against any magical sources of dam-age. It is important to note that the type of damage done is irrelevant so long as it’s source is of an unnatural nature. As a general rule, any damage created by breaking the Doubt is considered a magic damage. For example, an Anima who conjures a blade and stabs a target is dealing magical damage because the blade only exists because of a break in the Doubt. Alternatively, should an Anima telekinetically lift a blade and stab a target, that target will suffer physical dam-age because the source is a blade that already existed in the Waking World. Attack Priority Sometimes situations in a conflict may cause a character to be more discriminating with their attacks. While generally attacks made as a result of CAP expenditure have their ex-act effects decided upon and narrated by the Dreamweaver, there are certain situations where a character may want more specific control over their attacks. The most common circum-stance is an attack to a very specific location on a target. A bowman may decide for flare or necessity that only shooting their target in the eye will suffice. In this case the character is targeting such a specific area that they would need to use a Declared CAP adjustment such as Called Shot: (15c) Declared Adjustment: Called Shot - Target is struck in the exact chosen location Gaining the CAP to accomplish this goal is no simple feat. There are times where such extreme precision is not necessary, rather a simple prioritizing of target areas is whats called for. For example, a medieval knight may be facing down an armored troll. He sees that the monster is wearing a crude, thick chestplate and decides he shouldn’t bother wasting his efforts trying to cut his way through it. To represent this, the character is considered to be using Attack Priority. For the purposes of Attack Priority, a Normal target is one of comparable size to the attacker. Using Attack Priority will have the following effects depending on the size of the area it is being using on. Minor Area – Any area less than half of a total Normal target is considered minor. In this case using Attack Priority on a minor area increases the CAP cost of base success and all CAP Adjustments by 3. Major Area - Any area more than half of a Normal tar-get is considered Major. In this case using Attack Priority on a major area increases the CAP cost of base success and all CAP Adjustments by 1. To continue the example, the medieval knight has cho-sen to use Attack Priority on the trolls arms, legs, and head – essentially choosing to attack anywhere other than the trolls chest. The Dreamweaver decides that while smaller than a
- 14. 14 Wound Penalty 0 -2 -5 -10 -20 81-100 61-80 41-60 21-40 0-20 Current Health normal target, the area the knight is using Attack Priority on is still more than half of one, so it is considered Major. This means that any attack the knight spends CAP on will now have a base cost of 4 instead of three. Any additional adjust-ments purchased will also cost 1 more CAP than normal. The good news for the knight is that now any attacks he makes will be sure not to clink ineffectively off the trolls breastplate. Evading There are times when a character may need to avoid an incoming attack yet possesses no applicable Ability score to use. This could be due to circumstance, such as a knight not having his trusty sword or due to a functional need such as dodging a shoe thrown by an older sibling. In these cases, a Defensive Ability Test may be taken using the character’s Reaction Ability Score. Using this method of evading pre-vents the character from being considered engaged with their opponent. Movement During a phase a character can move a single meter as a instant free action. A character may choose to run during a phase in order to move an additional distance but this counts as a untested persistent action. The character may move a maximum additional distance in meters equal to their Agility score within a single phase. A character can choose to forsake all other actions and run as fast as possible during a phase. Doing this prevents them from taking any other actions, but allows them to move an additional distance equal to double their Agility score. Health and Wound Penalties Getting injured in combat does more than simply de-creasing a character’s Health total. Enough injury can bring additional penalties to any AT the character may make. These penalties represent the distracting effects of pain as well as the physical limitations some injuries create. The following is a chart showing the penalties incurred at certain Health to-tals. These penalties replace one another. They do not stack. Healing A character losing health represents that character taking a noticeable and significant amount of damage and as such restoring health is a slow process. A character who spends their recovery time strictly resting will naturally re-cover one point of health per day. This recovery time must be spent while under a suitable amount of medical care - a stab wound will assuredly require stitches and antibiotics, while a broken bone may require a substantial amount of time spent in a hospital. Multiple Targets Combat is not always a one on one affair. There may be times that a group of characters must team up to face a supe-rior foe, or a character finds himself surrounded by enemies. When facing off against multiple enemies, the only way to accrue CAP against each enemy is to take multiple ATs. For the purposes of determining the proper multiple action penalties, each AT made against a separate target is considered a separate action. Defensive Ability Tests against Multiple Tar-gets Defending yourself against multiple targets is challeng-ing. To represent the increasing difficulty of dealing with multiple attackers, each time an additional Defensive Ability Test is made beyond the first in a phase, a -5 penalty is ap-plied for each Defensive Ability Test already taken. Example: Eric has finally said the wrong thing to the wrong person at the bar he frequents. Having offended multiple peo-ple throughout the night, three bikers decide they’re going to teach Eric a lesson. They all make Fighting (STR) Ability Tests against Eric. Eric is fully aware of all three bikers and is pre-paring to defend himself against their attack. Eric’s Defensive Fighting (AGI) AT against his first attacker is made normally, the second is made at a -5 penalty, and the third is made at a -10 penalty. Eric can only focus enough to use the entirety of his ability to fend off one attacker, and each subsequent attacker finds it easier and easier to build CAP against Eric. Unarmed Combat One of the most common forms of violent conflict there is, Unarmed Combat makes use of the Fighting Base Skill and its Advanced Skills. The Fighting Base Skill covers all the basics of unarmed combat - being able to successfully throw a punch, avoid in-coming blows, and keeping yourself at a proper range are all covered by the Fighting Base Skill, while the fine details of a specific discipline such as boxing or karate would fall under their own Advanced Skills. Unarmed strikes, regardless of the skill being used, do damage against a character’s Stamina rather than against their health.
- 15. 15 When a character’s Stamina is reduced to 0, then the damage is applied to Health instead. Listed below are the basic statistics for an unarmed strike. Advanced Skills or Techniques may have different strikes that produce different effects. Unarmed Strike Requirements: Strength 1 Damage: Strength Score (1c) Damage Adjustment: +1 Damage (3c) Strength Adjustment: Knockout Chance Grappling Beyond using simple unarmed strikes, another basic option in unarmed combat is to grapple with an opponent. Grappling an opponent allows a character to physically hold on to an opponent and prevent that opponent from disen-gaging. Certain Advanced Fighting Skills may have special Techniques that require a grapple to be initiated before be-ing used. Being grappled may also prevent certain Advanced Fighting Skills from being used. It costs 3 CAP to initiate a grapple. Breaking a grapple costs 3 CAP and may be done after taking the appropriate AT. Knockout Chance Regardless of the reason for its occurrence, when a player takes a Knockout Chance Test, they make a chance roll to determine if they are rendered unconscious. The base chance to be rendered unconscious when tak-ing a Knockout Chance Test is 1%, plus 1% for each point of damage received by the triggering attack or mechanism. Melee Combat The usage of any sort of melee weapon falls under the Base Skill of Weaponry and its associated Advanced Skills. A melee weapon can range from something as simple as a pool cue or a broken beer bottle, to a weapon requiring special-ized training to wield effectively, such as a rapier or a nun chuck. For this reason, every melee weapon has a set of re-quirements. If you do not meet these requirements, you can still use the weapon, but you will not be able to effectively leverage its threat rating. Threat Rating Just as it sounds, the Threat Rating of a weapon mea-sures how much threat the weapon poses to an opponent when being used. Many factors make one weapon more threatening than the other - its size, how easily it can inflict major damage, and the overall danger the weapon itself pres-ents all contribute to the weapon’s threat rating. If a char-acter meets the requirements for using a weapon, they add this Threat Rating to all ATs made using the appropriate skill while wielding the weapon. Weapon Effects Beyond just dealing damage, each individual weapon may cause specific effects such as a baseball bat increasing the likelihood of a knockout or a dagger causing a puncture wound that bleeds heavily. These weapon effects are applied via CAP adjustments, each of which are listed as part of the weapon’s statistics. Here are a few of the most common weapon effects: • Bleed – While many types of damage can cause incidental blood loss, the bleed effect refers specif-ically to a potentially life threatening occurrence. When listed as a weapon effect the term bleed will be followed by a number in parenthesis. This num-ber is the amount of health damage the recipient suffers each phase due to blood loss. Once created, a bleed effect will continue to cause damage until the wound is either properly tended or healed. • Knockout – This weapon effect indicates a trigger causing the victim to make a Knockout Chance Test. When listed as a weapon effect, the term knockout will be followed by a number in parenthesis. This number represents the additional chance added to the Knockout Chance Test. • Amputation – This weapon effect will cause a non-essential limb to be removed from the victim if the weapon is physically large enough to do so. Amputation causes tremendous bleeding giving the victim a Bleed (10) effect. In addition, missing a limb may cause penalties to any ATs made where this loss is a factor. • Decapitation - This weapon effect will cause an essential limb to be removed from the victim if the weapon is physically large enough to do so. Typically for humanoids this refers to the head, but in cases where the victim may be something other than human – this effect will remove the most significant limb possible, if one even exists. In most cases this effect renders the victim dead. • Crush – A limb or body part targeted by this weap-on effect is physically crushed and beyond normal repair. Wounds created in this manner may re-quire magical healing to restore the area to func-tional order. If conventional medical treatment is deemed possible, the wound takes triple the nor-mal amount of time to heal and is permanently damaged. The exact nature or extent of the linger-ing damage is determined by the Dreamweaver.
- 16. 16 Longsword Requirements: Strength 5 Damage: Strength + 8 Threat: 6 (1c) Damage Adjustment: +4 Damage (3c) Weapon Adjustment: Bleed (3) (7c) Weapon Adjustment: Amputate (10c) Weapon Adjustment: Decapitate Ranged Combat Whether it is firing a bow or a bazooka, any weapon that is aimed and results in a projectile being fired is consid-ered to be a ranged weapon. Unlike unarmed or melee combat, ATs for a ranged weapon are made against a difficulty, and are always instant actions. The difficulty to use a ranged weapon is determined by the weapon itself, and the range at which it is being used. Ranged weapons have three range levels: short, medi-um, and long. Each range level lists a minimum distance and a maximum distance a target may be from the shooter to be considered within that range level. All three distinct range levels have their own difficulty. To determine the difficulty of a ranged AT, determine what range the target falls into and use the corresponding difficulty. Firing into Cover Firing a ranged weapon at a target behind some kind of cover is much more difficult than doing so when the target is out in the open. Whenever making an AT to use a ranged weapon against a target in cover, the difficulty used for the AT is increased based on how much of the target is obstruct-ed. Small cover: +2 difficulty Medium cover: +5 difficulty Large cover: +8 difficulty Speed In addition to its range levels, ranged weapons have Speed ratings. This speed rating is used to check if it pos-sible for the projectile to be evaded or dodged. If a target’s Reaction score is higher than the weapon’s Speed, the target may make a Defensive Ability Test using their Reaction score. The ATR of this Reaction test is then added to the difficulty of the attacker’s AT. While mostly a factor when avoiding strength-propelled projectiles such as stones from a sling or a brick being thrown from across the street, there can be occa-sions when the speed of a firearm is just as relevant. A human may not be able to dodge a bullet, but the dark corners of ODAM can contain more than just humans. Rate of Fire Beyond single fire, there are two additional rates of fire available when using a ranged weapon – semiautomatic and fully automatic. Firearms that have semi or fully automatic firing are designed with the intent of firing large numbers of bullets in a short amount of time. While the chances of any one indi-vidual bullet striking a target may lessen, the overall chance of the target being hit at all increases. To represent this, when a character using a ranged weapon is actively using semi or automatic fire for an ability test, two modifications are made. The first modification represents the ease of hitting a target with so many projectiles, granting them a bonus to their Ability Score. This bonus will be listed in the weapon’s description under Rate of Fire. The second modification represents the likelihood of being struck more than once, leading to increased damage. For this purpose, the weapon’s relevant Rate of Fire will have its own CAP adjustment pertaining to damage output. A firearm must have at least half a clip of ammo re-maining for full auto to be used. Assault Rifle Range: 0-50m/51-150m/151-300m Difficulty: 15/25/35 Damage: 20 Speed: 40 Rate of Fire: Single, Semi (+4), Full (+8) Ammo: 30 (1c) Damage Adjustment (Single): +10 Damage (1c) Damage Adjustment (Burst): +13 Damage (1c) Damage Adjustment (Full): +17 Damage
- 17. 17 Being Anima Becoming an Anima thrusts a person into a new life of equal parts wonder and danger. On one hand, you are able to break the Doubt and do some pretty spectacular things. On the other, the Doubt is a relentless enemy that will try its hardest to conquer you. Walking the line between dreams and nightmares is an every day battle for an Anima. Here are some of the key elements that make an Anima who they are. Channeling the Animus Possibly the most significant tool in the Anima arsenal is their ability to channel their Animus in the Waking World. This act allows a character to become their dreamself for a short time, giving them access to powerful abilities. Each Animus is made up of two primary components: an Aspect and its Remnants. The Aspect is a defining charac-teristic that indicates how the Animus physically manifests as well as what passive benefits are gained when it is in use. As an Anima rises in Rank the benefits granted by their Aspect grows stronger, allowing more of their Animus to be brought into the Waking World. The Remnant component of an Animus is a series of individual abilities, one selected for each potential Rank an Anima may achieve. These Remnants are only accessible when the Animus is actively in use, representing specific things that the dreamself is capable of. How it Works: For a character to channel their Animus, they must spend 10 conviction. This is considered to be an in-stant free action. They are then immediately granted all lev-els of their Aspect up to the same level as their Anima’s Rank. For example, a Rank 3 Anima who activates their Animus would gain the benefits of Levels 1,2, and 3 of their Animus’ Aspect. Likewise, they gain access to all of their Animus’ Remnants, up to the same level as their Anima’s Rank. The Animus is considered to be active for the duration of a scene or ten minutes, as chosen by the Dreamweaver. Once made available by activating the Animus, all Animus Remnants are used in the same way that a Magic of the equivalent Rank would be. Unlike Magics, Remnants do not have a Conviction cost to use. Magics In addition to bringing dreams to life in the Waking World, Anima can also create specific breaks in the Doubt called Magics. These particular powers can be learned in dreams, or may draw upon the Waking World’s historical magic traditions in order to assist the Anima in fighting the Doubt. How it Works: Magics each have a rank that the Anima is required to achieve before learning them. To use a Magic, a character makes a Shaping AT with the difficulty being set by the Rank of the Magic that is being used. The cost of a Magic is also determined by its Rank. Rank One: 5 Difficulty, 3 Conviction Cost Rank Two: 10 Difficulty, 5 Conviction Cost Dreamwalking Using their Animus and Remnants in the Waking World is not the only way Anima have influence over dreams. By concentrating and spending conviction, all Anima are capa-ble of putting their bodies to sleep and pulling the waking world into their dreams through Dreamwalking. When Dreamwalking, Anima may invisibly travel the Waking World as their dreamself, seeing the world through the lens of a dream. The world looks much as it normally would, but as with most dreams, things can be slightly al-tered or distorted. Seeing the world this way will show more clearly any strong ramifications dreaming may have had on the Waking World. Anima can not in any way physically interact with the Waking World while dreamwalking. They will simply pass through anything they make contact with. A key purpose for Dreamwalking besides simply view-ing the Waking World with a new perspective is to enter oth-er people’s dreams. An Anima who dreamwalks and touches the sleeping body of another person may immediately step into that person’s dreams. This process is not without risks. Once entering another person’s dream, the Anima is subject to the rules and will of that dream. They will assume an identity, sometimes very different from their own, that allows them to “fit” into that dream, as indicated by the Dreamweaver. While there are many reasons for entering another person’s dreams, con-fronting Reavers is certainly the most common one. How it Works: While it is a natural ability that all Anima possess, Dreamwalking is an exhausting task. It re-quires a great deal of Conviction to break the Doubt enough so that the Anima may experience the Waking World as a dream. Dreamwalking is an Untested Action that costs the Anima 20 Conviction and puts the Anima’s physical body to sleep.
- 18. 18 Nightmare At the heart of being an Anima is dealing with the Doubt. The most direct and immediate consequence of being an Anima is having the Doubt give life to your nightmares as beings called Reavers and set them upon you. Inevitably, Anima will have to face Reavers and fight them off if they hope to survive. When a Reaver is created, it is bound to the Anima who it is created for. This means the Reaver will direct all hostilities towards the Anima it’s bound to. Unfortunately, this does not stop innocent bystanders from getting hurt in the process. Because of the threat they pose to both Anima and out-siders, many Anima group together to help one another fight off these creatures and ensure the Doubt doesn’t grow stron-ger. The Reavers themselves take varied shapes and pur-poses much like the Anima they come from. Some are living embodiments of violence and savagery, while others take the form of a cunning, cruel nemesis using power and wit to tor-ment an Anima. This makes dealing with reavers a difficult and unpredictable task. Ultimately, for a Reaver to be completely defeated, the Anima must stop the monster in the waking world. After this is done, the Anima it is bound to can choose to dreamwalk and enter their own dreams. Doing this causes the Anima to enter a nightmare where they can confront the Reaver on its own terms, where they can hopefully defeat it. How It Works: Each day an Anima wakes and refuses to succumb to the Doubt, their Nightmare score increases by one. Additionally, every point of Conviction they spend also increases their Nightmare score by the same number. As this score rises, the likelihood for the Doubt to create a Reaver from their nightmare rises as well. When a Reaver is defeated in the dreams of its associ-ated Anima , the Reaver is destroyed and that Anima’s night-mare score is reset to zero. Doubting Anima believe that the Doubt’s sole purpose is to self sustain. To that end, the Doubt does everything it can to cause Anima to accept it and let go of their dreams. The most significant way it fights for this purpose is through the use of Reavers. By subjecting the Anima to their own nightmares made real, the Doubt creates suffering and pain of an intensely per-sonal origin. The Doubt does this in an attempt to force an Anima to willingly doubt what is happening. By choosing to consciously doubt something of a mag-ical nature, Anima surrender a small part of their dreams in exchange for undoing what magic has done. How it Works: Any Anima may choose to doubt a par-ticular magical effect. In doing so, they receive one doubt point and completely negate any damage or effects targeting them.
- 19. 19 Overview The Doctor Connor Marlowe Agency serves as the governing body and law enforcement agency made up by and for Anima. Part of the DCMA mandate is assisting newly awakened Anima in living their new lives and handling the challenges that being an Anima may present. For those who have the proper backgrounds or ability, employment in the DCMA can often be the next step towards fully participating in Anima society. Beast at the Door tells the story of three fledgling DCMA agents who are working together to complete their first field assignment. Under the remote guidance of a senior agent, the characters are sent to investigate the death of a teenager in a suburb of Chicago that features some tell-tale signs of the Doubt’s handiwork. If you intend to be a player in the Beast at the Door story, we ask that you stop reading here. Not only will you find it more enjoyable to play without any further information about the story, but part of the testing process includes allowing players to come up with their own solutions to the presented issues. In addition, it may add an extra level of fun to read over the story after you have played it. Did your group make the same Ability Tests and come to the same conclusions as the ones suggested in the written story? Or did you try to take a different tact – and how well was your Dreamweaver able to account for this? If you are a Dreamweaver, we suggest reading through the whole story first, then assisting your players in choosing their characters. You should also have a set of dice, a pencil, paper, and the full set of rules and story at the ready. Either way, we hope you enjoy playing Beast at the Door. If you are a player, look over your DCMA Field Guide handout, work with your group to choose characters, and grab that character’s sheet. Each character also has a reference sheet that includes a character history, some roleplaying tips, and full descriptions of their Traits, Techniques, Animus, and Magics. You will also need two ten sided dice, a pencil and some paper, and then will be fully prepared for your first steps into the world of Of Dreams and Magic. Please contact us with your feedback either through our website, www.odampublishing.com, our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ODAMPublishing) or email us directly at odampublishing@gmail.com. “Beast at the Door” An ODAM Story Module
- 20. 20 Story Summary Several months ago, the DCMA started a program to give new Anima basic instructions on how to handle their new lives within Anima society. Three of those Anima were then selected and offered starting positions as fledgling agents of the DCMA. As new agents they would continue their education and learn how to form an effective team so as to investigate Anima related crimes. Beast at the Door tells the story of these three charac-ters, each from a different walk of life, working together to complete their first DCMA assignment in the field - investi-gating the death of a teenager in a suburb of Chicago. The trio’s senior agent gives them the assignment ex-plaining that the eye witness accounts, along with some oth-er case details, seem inconsistent in a manner that typically indicates the Doubt’s influence. The new agents arrive in the town of Norfolk and after a brief scene of settling into their hotel, head to a local school to dig for clues about the murdered teen. Their investigation leads them to a psychiatric ward where the victim’s ex-girlfriend is now being treated. There, they have a harrowing encounter with a Reaver. Clues from the ex-girlfriend and the presence of the Reaver cause the group to go searching for the boy who they suspect may be at the heart of the problem. James Baker is the inmate’s current boyfriend and also the source of the Reaver. He is a newly awakened Anima and the agents track him down at his parent’s home. Together, they convince James to let them help him. They enter his dreams to face down his nightmare in a climactic battle of angels and demons. The Death of Peter Koslov According to police files, Peter Koslov was killed by a stray dog attack 2 weeks prior to the start of A Beast at the Door. The attack took place on Sept 20th just off the corner of Willow Street and Emery Place. The DCMA’s suspicion of possibe magic involvement stems from the wild inconsisten-cies found in several of the eye witness testimonies. None of the children questioned described the attacking dog the same way, and several insisted it was not a dog at all, rather more like a wolf. While eye witnesses are rarely perfect in their recollection of violent events, the seemingly simple details regarding the dog were so unanimously different that the case got flagged by the DCMA for closer inspection. Besides the testimonies, the medical examiner made a report full of strangely incongrous details. Despite the absurd size and severity of Peter’s lascerations, the examiner illog-ically concluded a stray household breed of dog could have killed the boy. This flawed logic lead to the DCMA deciding to send agents to investigate. The Agent’s Mission While it is true the DCMA acts as a governing body for Anima society, it also serves as form of police force. Unfortunately, this police force is burdened with some difficult tasks. First, when on field assignment, agents of the DCMA are primarily trying to assess the situation and look for indication of Reaver activity. Reavers are always a danger to both Anima and sleep-ers, thus they must always be dealt with accordingly if dis-covered. The second part of their task in the field is to find if any Anima involved with a particular crime has knowing-ly violated local laws. If they have, the agents must make a judgement call to either admonish the offender and send them on their way, or apprehend them so they can be judged by a council of peers. Sometimes local laws cannot possibly account for the actions of Anima and the magic they wield. In this capacity, the DCMA enforces judgement on a case to case basis so the members of Anima society don’t abuse the power they pos-sess over Sleepers. Any text presented in this format is information that can be read directly to the players. It often contains descriptions of locations and pertinent pieces of dialogue. While you are free to add your own personal touches to the text, be sure that any points in bold are clearly delivered to the players. Dreamweaver Text What Ability Score Should I Use? In order to provide the most satisfying representation possible, ODAM allows for the Dreamweaver to choose on a case to case basis exactly which Attribute is most relevant for a character making an Ability Test. While this is helpful, it begs the question: What Ability Score should I use? Typically, the answer is simply the one that seems to make the most sense at the time. Using Firearms as an example, a sniper may be perched in perfect position, calmly watching as his squad performs a task. Should an enemy expose themselves in the area that he is covering, he will calmly track them and shoot them down. This can be represented by making a Perception Firearms Ability Test. Perception makes the most sense in this scenario because the Dreamweaver feels the sniper’s ability to aim is playing a larger role than any other attribute. In a later scene, this same character has been challenged to a duel – an old fashioned Western draw. In this case, the characters’ ability to aim is less of a concern, so the Dreamweaver may decide that his Agility should be used instead for his Firearms Ability Test because Agility better represents his smoothness and speed when it comes to the quick draw. By using this mechanism, Dreamweavers can ensure that their stories are represented with shrewd efficiency.
- 21. 21 CAP in your Stories CAP adjustments allow for a great deal of both detail and versatility. By using CAP a player has the ability to actively choose exactly how their efforts have come to fruition. Imagine a bold warrior locked in a swordfight with his evil nemesis. Traditionally the player of such a warrior would at best declare a type of attack they are choosing to make, and at worst, simply declare an attack and hope for the best. Using CAP, that same warrior is now locked in a much more realistic simulation where each feint of his blade, and misstep of his foe, is represented in his growing number of CAP (advantage). Now his level of leverage in the duel must be used intelligently. The player must actively choose to spend a large sum of CAP on a powerful blow in an effort to bypass his enemies thick armor or perhaps choose to take a basic, methodical strike in hopes of saving some CAP should his enemy have a surprise in store for him. This mechanism puts players in the driver seat as they steer their actions throughout a story. Strategy and depth can be a very real part of those key climactic scenes that so many great stories revolve around. This depth is not only for combat. The control and versatility CAP brings to battle can easily be carried over into any ability use, allowing Dreamweavers to enrich their player’s experience in scenes that may be far less violent but no less important. For these purposes, when a player takes an Ability Test, the Dreamweaver must consider the relevance and complexity of the task being attempted and use their basic judgment to assign makeshift CAP Adjustments and their costs. For example, imagine a cyberpunk story where a team of elite mercenaries have infiltrated a target building and allowed a notorious cyberhacker to plug into the building’s network. A thrilling affair could take place just by assigning basic CAP adjustments to the hacker’s persistent Ability Test. Say the player of this hacker is told that while his base success of three will grant him undetected access to the building network - that’s all base success in this case is. He gets in. Now the player is given the following information by the Dreamweaver: “This test will have the following CAP Adjustments: for 2 CAP you can successfully pull 1 important private file from the buildings system”. Already, the Dreamweaver has given the player something to think about they may not have normally considered. Suddenly the test isn’t a simple “I Passed!” or “I Failed!”. Now the player has to wonder how many files they can pull out before his teammates order him to evacuate. Additionally, should the Dreamweaver add another CAP adjustment by saying “If you spend 4 CAP you will learn how many important files there are total in the system”, things will get much more complicated for the player. Should they spend their first CAP earned to learn the total? Will it help them to know if there are only 4 files of significance in the system? What happens if they don’t take the chance and just decide to keep pulling all the important files they can until there are none left or are forced to evacuate? Should the team flee, the player may walk away with some useful files, but what if its not the right one? As you can see, with a small amount of ingenuity and fair judgment, CAP and its uses can be applied to any type of Ability Test giving an authentic and engaging representation of the drama that makes role playing stories great. When the hacker went to plugin, let’s hope he had a plan because with his team at risk he may not get everything he wants - but the player can be sure that whatever they got, they chose. Narrating CAP Since combat is usually a persistent action, it may take multiple phases for someone to gain enough CAP to produce an effect they want. For this reason, it is important to remember that in ODAM, the act of rolling an Ability Test is not what is determining what a player is doing. Instead, it is determining how much advantage a character is building towards accomplishing what they set out to do. The actual “action” does not take place until CAP is spent. For players, this means when describing what you are trying to do, you may want to describe how you’re trying to accomplish your end goal rather than just what your end goal is. “I want to find my punching range against my opponent, throwing out a jab or two,” is often a more accurate statement for your Ability Test than “I am going to punch him in the face.” Once you have built up the necessary CAP and are SPENDING it, “I’m going to punch him in the face” becomes the more accurate statement. For Dreamweavers, you will want to think of persistent Ability Tests as an ebb and flow of advantage and momentum rather than a tit-for-tat “I attack, I hit, He attacks, I block.” scenario. When someone gains CAP, describe what they’ve done to gain this advantage (“Throwing your jabs has revealed that your opponent is a bit slow to react to punches coming from their left,”) and then once the CAP is spent, you can describe how this advantage is being levied. (“You switch up your series of jabs to a right cross, taking your opponent by surprise and landing a solid punch to their face.”) While this style may be slightly different than what you are used to, it allows you and your players to experience much more cinematic scenes, where each phase the action is building and changing.
- 22. 22 Scene Two – School Should the agents arrive within 15 minutes of dismiss-al time (3:00pm), they will find a considerable amount of traffic as cars pull up to the entrance and along the blocks around the school yard. In addition to the traffic, there will be a crossing guard supervising the corner traffic and pedes-trians. If the players decide to speak to the crossing guard, she will not provide any truly useful information, but her under-standing of the local tragedy will obviously be very different from the information the DCMA has, showing how easily the Doubt can mask its presence in the minds of Sleepers. Should the players decide they want to find out more information about the case by chatting with the kids or par-ents outside, they should each make a Social (Charm) Ability Test against a difficulty of 10. This Social AT accounts for the limited period of time during which parents and students are lingering outside of the school after dismissal. The following circumstantial bonuses may apply to the Ability Test: If Nikki specifically inquires with the local parents, she will receive a +3 bonus to her Ability Score by leveraging her false position of authority against the rather gossipy locals. If Billy chooses to specifically question the local kids, he will receive a +1 to his Ability Score due to appearing more trustworthy as he is much closer in age to those he questions. Dreamweaver: It’s 2p.m. and what little luggage you have is already unpacked. The Chinese take-out you picked up on the drive to the motel has since been eaten and you all are now gathered around Billy’s laptop. The video-chat notifi-cation goes off and Senior Agent Eric Masters comes to life on screen. Not a day over 30, Eric wears a pin-stripe char-coal grey suit. His neatly cut brown hair is swept to the side helping him epitomize the modern male business look. He nods slightly at you all, but avoids giving his signature grin. Its absence reminds you of the somber reason you are all in Norfolk. Eric: “I forwarded you all my notes on the report we have for this open investigation. Remember what you’ve learned and I have no doubt I’ll be signing my recommendations for your full DCMA Agent status when this is over. You have 3 hours before your required check-in with me. I hope you have some-thing before that. Give me a call once you have made contact and established your first suspect. “ With that, the cam goes blank as SA Masters disconnects. Whitestone High School is a reasonably standard affair. It has a side yard area that is surrounded by chain linked fence and makes up the entirety of the block on the east side of the street. Despite being a public school, the main entrance is well kept and sports two long concrete benches on either side. (Sandy) - “I wasn’t actually there for what happened to the poor kid. I always hated that so many people leave these big mutts running loose - no leash, no way to control them. Everyone always looks at me cross eyed when I tell them it freaks me out, but I’m always worried one could just decide it doesn’t like me that day and run me down. Hell, they do it to the post office guys all the time! No surprise one eventually got a school kid. Maybe now they’ll start following the rules and keep them on a leash.” ◊◊ Billy’s cover is as a consultant who survived a pre-vious crime, while Nikki and Jerry are federal agents ◊◊ Use Eric as a tool to keep players on course throughout the story if need be ◊◊ If asked or given a chance, Eric Masters will remind the agents not to bring unnecessary attention to themselves. Cover stories are for at-a-glance deception only. Scene One - Hotel Give the players a chance to settle in and feel comfort-able with their character’s personalities. If it is a group that enjoys heavy roleplaying, this is a good chance to allow the players to stretch their legs and explore the relationship be-tween the three characters. The limited amount of informa-tion the players have should compel them to head directly to the school to start asking questions. No matter how long the players take to discuss their plans, the characters should find themselves leaving at 2:30, so as to arrive at the school by 3PM, unless the players specifically state they want to wait until after school is out. The group have a simple 4 door coupe that is registered to the DCMA to be used freely in the course of the investiga-tion. In the glovebox are three sets of falsified FBI IDs to help establish the character’s cover story. Conclusion The scene will end with the players deciding on a plan of action and leaving the motel to head to the high school. Key Details
- 23. 23 A base success will allow the players to learn that the locals truly do believe that Peter Kozlov was attacked by a dog two weeks ago, and their only real questions are whose dog it was, and where it has gone. If anyone has gained ad-ditional CAP, they may spend it on Adjustments to learn ad-ditional information. These Adjustments can be roleplayed as the locals fondness for gossip, or a classmate’s honest con-cern for everyone involved. School Investigation CAP Adjustments (1c)Strength Adjustment: Additional info - The boy was dating a pretty girl named Abigail, who is now being treated at Turis Psychiatric Hospital (2c)Strength Adjustment: Additional info - Recently got dumped by Abigail (3c)Strength Adjustment: Additional info - Dumped by Abigail and was known for being rough. A bit of a bully and rumors are - she wasn’t ok with it (5c)Strength Adjustment: Additional info - Abigail dumped him for a art student named James. James earned a few black eyes and a persistent bully for “taking” Abby For this particular Ability Test, the Dreamweaver should withhold all information related to the purchased CAP ad-justments until the player has decided how much of their CAP they are spending on it. Should a player decide to spend 3 CAP for additional information, they would get not only the information for the 3 CAP adjustment, but any information for the lower adjustments as well. This functionality can help the Dreamweaver obscure the literal result of an Ability Test so that players must make realistic decisions on exactly how they are devoting their efforts in the investigation. Because of this, it is encouraged that the Dreamweaver indicate the players may also purchase CAP adjustments to shorten the length of time it takes to acquire this information. (1c)Speed Adjustment: Reduces time of Investigation by 1 minute. In addition to (or instead of) these conversations, the players may want to physically investigate the school itself. Whether this is accomplished by adhering to their cover sto-ries and using their fake authority to gain access or through literal methods of sneaking on the premises, the only signif-icant clue to be found is in the school’s boy’s locker room. Most people have already left the school or are in the process of doing so, and unless the players do something to draw undue attention to themselves, they will be able to walk the halls freely. An Academics (Perception) AT with a difficulty of ten will accomplish this objective and bring the players to the locker room. Only a base success is required. Failure of this AT leads to the players spending ten minutes wandering the halls aimlessly searching. The Dreamweaver may use this opportunity to help generate anxiety for the players by reminding them of the faculty members and students passing them by with quizzical looks. Locker Room This locker belongs to the murdered student Peter Kozlov. If the players decide to manually investigate the locker, they will find a leather jacket and several textbooks. There also hangs a creased photo of Peter and a young girl, signed in purple marker “xoxo Abby” If any of the players decide to Dreamwalk, they will see this scene unfold: Continuing the Investigation Whether it be through gossip or by studying the con-tents of the peculiar locker, the key people involved in this investigation have been named. Peter and Abigail are for now the most significant leads. Using these names, the char-acters may continue their investigation to help paint a better picture of who these teenagers are and how they may have played a role in Peter’s death. Finding Abigail Michaels In a relatively small suburban town gossip tends to trav-el fast. Even a small amount of simple questioning can con-vince most locals to tell how a murdered teen’s ex-girlfriend “went bonkers” and got admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Since Peter is no longer alive, Abigail becomes the most use-ful way to find additional information pertaining to Peter’s death. Once the players have learned of Pete’s ex-girlfriend Abigail, it should be a simple matter to discover that she is currently a patient at Turis Psychiatric Hospital. Conclusion: The scene ends once the players go to Turis Psychiatric Hospital to visit Abigail. The locker room lies empty and eerily quiet, but one locker in particular gives off a strange sensation, as if there is more to it than meets the eye. A semi-solid shadow clings to the locker and has spread in all directions to touch not only the floor, but also a three locker-wide radius. Whatever this locker contains, it is certainly fueled with negative emotions and clearly is growing in strength with time.
- 24. 24 Key Details ◊◊ Agents should be looking for someone who knew Peter and was close to him. Eric would rather the parents not be contacted out of both resepect and so they don’t ask local authorities about the players. ◊◊ Once players learn Peter had recently broke up with a girlfriend, they should have no problem learning she is currently at the hospital. It’s a small town and gos-sip travels quickly and freely ◊◊ Use any conversation with locals as an opportuni-ty to expand on the player’s roleplaying. ◊◊ Dreamwalking to find Peter’s locker should make it clear there is Reaver involvement. ◊◊ James Baker is absent today. Should the players for some reason go to his parents home, they will not find him until after they have visited Abby later on in the story. Scene Three - Hospital Prior to arriving at the hospital, the player may choose to contact SA Masters to either fill him in or ask advice (or both). Eric will explain that as usual, keeping a low profile is wise, and by using their cover identities, they should be able ask to visit Abigail without much trouble, but will again stress that their credentials will not stand up to strong scrutiny. Dr. Chin will explain that Abigail was admitted two days prior to the murder. He won’t discuss the specifics of Abigail’s treatment or any of her personal or medical information, but will try to be helpful while giving general information. Dr. Chin will explain that Abigail is suffering from delusions and hysteria. She sporadically has psychotic episodes where she believes a demon is trying to kill her. She is medicated and spends a great deal of time in her bed, but Dr. Chin notes she has not exhibited any violence towards others and shouldn’t pose a danger to any visitors. Dr. Chin will bring the agents to Abigail’s room and remain just outside the door. When asked about what happened to her, Abigail will explain. Allow the players to ask some questions, enough to build the proper mood of fear and despair. The players should be somewhat horrified over what has befallen poor Abigail and possibly angered by it. Once the proper feel is established, use a quiet moment to have the Reaver attack. Dreamweaver (Hospital Entrance) - On the outskirts of Nor-folk, Turis Psychiatric Hospital is a quiet, sterile environment with a humble entrance. The building is reasonably well kept despite being at least half a century old. It seems to walk a fine line between quiet retreat and conventional medical facility. Inside, the receptionist pages Dr. Michael Chin - the supervising psychiatrist. Dr. Chin is a pleasant, serene look-ing man of Asian decent. His shirt, tie and sweater vest speak of a person who is always on the job, even when trying to be laid back. Dreamweaver (Abigail’s Room) - Abigail Michaels is a thin wisp of girl. Were it not for the relative calm of the building, the tortured and broken look on Abigail’s face would have been enough to unnerve you. Her eyes are dark with sleep-lessness and her arms sport bandages and bruising. A small portion of her blonde hair is missing over her left eye, leaving a crude bald patch. Prior to her current state she may have been your ordinary, vibrant, and even pretty teenage girl. Now all the remains is a hollow, tormented shell who seems too weak to defend herself from the shadows she obviously fears. Inside the room, from the foot of Abigail’s bed, you are re-lieved to see how much light the large window on the left wall provides. The room is stark, white, and nondescript. A few lonely “get well” cards sit on the desk to the right and a single unopened envelope lies beside them. (Abigail) - “My boyfriend James tried to warn me. He kept telling me about these crazy dreams he was having where one of the demons he painted had come to life and was trying to kill him. I was so worried that he had lost his mind, but now I know it isn’t his mind I need to worry about. Maybe it’s mine. Or maybe my soul is what it wants, and it will eat my heart to find it.” Abigail loses focus and stares mindlessly until questioned again. “I started having these nightmares, I’m still having them, but I can’t tell anymore what’s real. Sometimes I’m sleeping and the monster comes to toy with me, but sometimes I’m not sure. Not even sure if I actually was dreaming.”
- 25. 25 The Violence Reaver The Reaver is a mindless beast who will melee attack whoever is closest. It will choose a target (whoever is closest to the window) and mindlessly accrue CAP against them to try and kill them. The Reaver will remain focused on a single target, trying to eliminate them, unable to intelligently plan or respond in its rabid state. The Reaver will not lash out at Abigail, as it sees Abigail as its favored torture victim. The Reaver’s presence will cause the Doubt to convince anyone in the hospital to actively avoid Abigail’s room, and that any noises from the battle are just the usual sounds of hospital life. This allows the Anima to handle the situation without immediate fear of notice or interference of any kind. While the Reaver is a dangerous foe, the concept of strength in numbers does apply in this battle. Of particular note is the Reaver’s Mindless Assault Trait. Since the beast will only attempt to accrue CAP on one target, the additional agents will be free to accumulate and spend CAP at a rapid pace. This should result in devastating damage being dealt to the Reaver. Violence Reaver Str 10 Agi 5 End 10 Int 3 Per 6 Cha 1 Sta 100 H 100 Reac 13 Con 13 N 13 Ath 2 Tec 0 Aca 0 Fght 7 Weap 4 (Natural Weapons 13) Man 0 Fire 0 Soc 0 Typical Attack Ability Score: 27 Traits Growth (Violence): Any time the Reaver com-mits acts of this type against a person of some significance to their Anima, the Reaver is awarded Nightmare points. Indomitable: This character receives no wound penalties and will fight at full strength Mindless Assault: When in combat the Reaver will completely ignore all combatants except its current target. This means it will not make Defensive AT’s against anyone other that its current target. Once the Reaver has chosen a target, it will not chose a new one until the previous one is either dead, or physically beyond the Reaver’s reach. Any AT made against the Reaver that is not opposed by a Defensive AT is made against a difficulty of zero. (Reaver Attack) - There is a loud crash, quickly followed by a hail of glass shards as an obviously unnatural, inky-black skinned monster bursts through the window. Vaguely resembling a demonic wolf, it picks its head up and turns its gaze from Abigail to each of you. Snarling, it lunges in attack. Weapons Claws Requirements: Claws 1 Threat: 4 Damage: 6 (1c) Damage Adjustment: + 3 Damage (3c) Weapon Adjustment: Bleed (3) Bite Requirements: Strength 7 Threat: 1 Damage: 8 (1c) Damage Adjustment: + 4 Damage (3c) Strength Adjustment: Grapple & Bleed (3) When the Reaver is defeated, it will evaporate into a black mist that quickly disappears. Unlike everyone else in the hospital, Abigail will be fully aware of the conflict and is greatly appreciative of the agent’s assistance. While she will not be able to grasp the details of the situation, Abigail will seem almost relieved that someone else has seen and suc-cessfully fought off the Reaver. This will grant Abigail a small window of lucidity where she will plead for the agents to help her boyfriend James. If the players ask for more detail, Abigail will be able to mutter James’ address before falling into a deep sleep. Due to the Doubt’s influence, Dr. Chin will stand cata-tonic outside the room, waiting for the players to come out. If Dr. Chin sees the broken window or any wounds the play-ers may have, he will believe that Abigail broke the window while suffering from an episode, and blame the wounds on the broken glass. Abigail falls into a deep sleep, and you can see a small amount of peace come over her face. The Reaver haunting her dreams has been pushed back, at least for a moment, and the innocent girl has finally been granted a small measure of rest thanks to your efforts.
- 26. 26 Where’s James? If for some reason the players have not been given James’ address by Abigail (if, for instance, the agents or Abigail suffer from serious wounds,) here are some ways they could go about finding James: • Contacting SA Masters and have him locate a known address for James Baker. He will gently chide them for having him do their legwork, but will report the information back to the players in a timely fashion. • Conduct an internet search for registered addresses in the area associated with the name James Baker: A quick look at James’ public social media pages will list his parents as Michael and Laura Baker, whose phone number and address are listed. • Read the address off of the get well card that is still unopened on the desk. The Baker family sent it to Abigail when she was first admitted. She hasn’t worked up the courage to open it. Conclusion Having confronted a Reaver at the hospital, the agents now know that there is something much worse than a wild dog at work in Norfolk. Once they learn of Abigail’s boyfriend James Baker, locate his home, and take a trip to visit him, Scene 3 is complete. Key Details ◊◊ The Doubt will cloud any Sleeper’s mind who witnesses magic. The result might make their recollec-tion of events odd, but it will eliminate any supernatural component. ◊◊ Abby is deeply disturbed and haunted. Her por-trayal should make the players uneasy and mournful of what has happened to her. ◊◊ The Reaver is very dangerous and the players will probably only succeed if they gang up on it. ◊◊ Reavers can see and interact with Dreamwalking Anima. ◊◊ Remember that Billy has an artifact which he can use to heal any serious wounds the player receive.
- 27. 27 Scene Four - Baker Residence If the agents don’t fill SA Masters in on what they learned at the hospital, he will call Nikki to ask for a prog-ress report. This can be a brief conversation just to show the players that their Supervising Agent is staying on top of them step by step. Whether by their own efforts or through the advice of Eric, the players will arrive at the Baker Residence to contin-ue their investigation. James is 5’9, thin and has a teenage case of mild acne. He carries a retro 80’s street style with relative success. James has the dark look of troubled sleep and is currently sketching an image of the Reaver mauling Abigail. How the players choose to approach James Baker and offer their assistance may vary. As Eric stated, James has had a very hard time dealing with recent events and has recently started to doubt even his own sanity. Because of this, ap-proaching James with either comfort or sympathy is the eas-iest way to gain his trust and get him to willingly help the agents. If for some reason the players choose to pressure him with guilt or even threats, he will eventually give in and play along with whatever the agents ask of him but there will be some negative repercussions in Scene 5 when they eventually face James’ Reaver. When the agents approach James he will mistake them for cops, figuring they are looking to question him again about his bully’s murder. Should the agents explain who they really are and offer any kind of comfort to James, he will abandon his mild suspicion quickly in exchange for relief. James’ parents work late and as an only child, he will have the house to himself. Before the agents arrived he was too afraid to face his room because of all the bad dreams and drawings it possesses. Should the agents suggest it, James will have little trouble sleeping in their company - the guy is exhausted and hasn’t slept a normal night in weeks. With the agents to watch over him, he will only take a few minutes lying down before passing out. Once James is asleep, the Anima can Dreamwalk to enter his dreams. Once their bodies are asleep, James will have a strange shimmer to him, a visual cue that Anima come to recognize as the sign of an Anima who is sleeping. All the Dreamwalking characters must do is touch James’ sleep-ing body. This will act as a doorway and allow them to join James’ dreams. Once there, they can help him face down the Reaver for good, so James may move on with his new life as an Anima. Key Details ◊◊ How the players greet James and convince him to let them help will have an effect on the next scene ◊◊ James is terrified and desperate, he’s willing to open up to anyone who can help him. If the agents offer to keep him safe from the beast, he will gladly sleep ◊◊ James should come across as an innocent. He really has no idea what is happening to him and is ge-niunely horrified over what has happened to both Peter and Abby (Eric) ”If Abigail was a bust then the boyfriend is suspect number one. It’s very likely we’re dealing with a newcomer who has no idea what’s going on. Poor kid may be in bad shape. Try and be easy with him if he turns out to be the cause. We all remember how badly we needed a friend in the beginning. If the Reaver was his, you’ll need to let him sleep somewhere and then dreamwalk to his assistance. Keep me posted.” The Baker residence is a small 2 floor detached home that’s the picture of middle class suburbia. A well kept lawn and an empty drive way allow the house to blend into the rest of the block seamlessly. Seated on the porch is a teenage boy with messy brown hair and vintage denim jacket. With a backpack seated next to him, James Baker is sketching in a notepad with a grim determination. (James) “Wow, I really thought I was just losing my mind. Poor Abby is in a ward when I’m the nut who should be in there. So you’re saying I’m not crazy? This really is happening? I’m not sure if that’s better or worse!” (James’ Room) Multiple sketches and paints adorn the wall of James’ room. Most of them depict various scenes (be they in the waking world, or some type of hellish landscape,) where a demon is slaughtering Abigail, Mr. & Mrs. Baker, and even James himself. In a select few, various Angelic entities are valiantly laying down their lives to oppose the huge enemy. James’ recent artwork has not only documented his most current struggles, it has also captured both the brutality of violence as well as the beauty of sacrifice.
- 28. 28 (Hell) In a huge cavern of dry ,scorched earth, three Angelics usher James Baker behind a rock large enough to completely hide him from their nemesis. Several meters away from them, a 12’ tall demon lord brandishes an intimidating sword wreathed in flame. The beast of fire looks down at you, the radiant agents of good, with contempt. It is clear the demon will not be satisfied until you are all slaughtered and the human James is dragged into the abyss. Scene Five - Nightmare This scene begins with the agents assuming new roles as they experience James Baker’s nightmare. At this time, hand each player the Angelic character sheet that corresponds with the character they are playing. In James’ nightmare, the players will assume the role of Angels trying to protect James and ultimately help him slay a demon. Experiencing dreams or nightmares frequently allow Anima, and the players roleplaying them, to take part briefly in an entirely new story or setting. Often times this can be a mini scene that gives no backstory or lead up, effectively dropping the players in a completely new scenario. While in the Nightmare, the characters are completely unaware of their waking world selves. They are completely overtaken by the nightmare and for all intents and purpos-es, they are now angels burdened with the task of helping a young boy kill a demon and claim his birthright. In this nightmare James will be himself and fully aware of what’s actually going on, though he will be unable to com-municate that to the players until they have all awoken. Scene Four Ramifications Depending on the method by which the Agents coerced James Baker into accepting their help, one of three effects will take place during this battle. • Sympathy – Relief and hope seep their way into James’ mind causing the Angels to receive a +2 bonus to any ATs they make for the entire battle. • Threats – Being pushed around has given greater strength to James’ Violence Reaver, causing the demon to gain +2 STR for the entire battle. • Guilt – Due to feeling unworthy of the angels assis-tance, all angels receive a -2 to any AT they make for the entire battle. Nightmare Details Any player whose angel is killed during this scene is effectively “ejected” from the nightmare and will wake up in the waking world with a Doubt point. Characters who are ejected from James’ nightmare will be unable to re-enter the dream, even through Dreamwalking. The Demon will not die permanently unless James wounds it with one of the angelic weapons. The angels will instinctively know this, so their objective is to incapacitate the demon and give James a weapon to perform the Coup de Grace. If this is done, James will sprout angel wings, and all
- 29. 29 The players can report the success to Eric who will in-struct them to leave a DCMA business card for James and let him know they will be in touch. The agents are then to return to the hotel room and log in for a video-chat debriefing be-fore departing. If the players are defeated by the demon and James dies in the nightmare, they will all awaken shaken up and with a new Doubt point added. Eric will explain that the problem is too much for them to handle and call them back to the hotel for debriefing. Eric will ask them to assure young James that all is not lost for him and Abigail. They will leave James with a DCMA card and head back to the hotel. Either way, the players will find themselves back at their hotel room when a video chat request from Eric Masters will chime in. (James)”I can’t believe that just happened! We did it – I mean, you did it! You guys... you were awesome! And she, she was... just...” James “I...I... I’m so sorry. I tried to warn you, there’s no stopping it. First it’s going to be Abigail, and then it’s going to be me. Maybe now you guys will be next. I wish I didn’t drag you into my mess.” (Eric) ”Let me be perfectly clear to you all. Rarely in this life are there moments that are made purely for crying or rejoicing. While someone may be dreaming a dream that we all wish we were a part of, another will be dreaming of how they can destroy it. It’s never that simple. You’ve got your first taste of just how powerful, wonderful, or even terrible dreams really can be. And all of this from the mind and heart of a seemingly ordinary teenage boy. Both dreams and nightmares come in all shapes and sizes. We Anima need to keep dreaming them, because however ugly or sacrificial our work may be at times, there is one tenet the DCMA and most Anima will agree upon: Though the Doubt feels otherwise, it is ALWAYS better to dream, regardless of the consequences, than to not dream at all. When you’re officially agents in your own right, it’ll be your job to help separate the good dreams from the bad ones. It’s not always about mitigating the fallout – what’ll really bust your noggin is when you realize with some people, what they dream would horrify the rest of us and their nightmares are even further from the norm. But those are problems and potential lessons for another time. Head back and I’ll see you back at HQ.” characters will awaken shortly after. The players will wake up having gained 25 conviction. James will seek shelter behind a rock, but if he is in the open for any reason the demon will attempt to kill him. If James dies, all characters are “Ejected” and will awaken in the waking world with a Doubt point added. The scene ends once either the demon has been defeat-ed or all three players have been ejected from the dream. Demon Str 14 Agi 7 End 8 Int 6 Per 6 Cha 2 Sta 100 H 200 Reac 13 Ath 1 Tec 0 Aca 10 (Demonic Magics 10) Fght 4 Weap 10 (Sword 14) Man 0 Fire 0 Soc 0 Sword Attack Ability Score: 38 Techniques Flaming Weapon Requirements: Demonic Magics 5 Effects: Whenever wielding an Overlord sword, the blade becomes wreathed in flames causing an addi-tional 5 (fire) damage with any attack. Weapons Overlord Sword Requirements: Strength 12, Sword 15 Threat: 8 Damage: 14 (1c) Damage Adjustment: + 4 Damage (3c) Weapon Adjustment: Bleed (3) Key Details ◊◊ Players should be given their new character sheets and told that for the scene, they are devoted to the cause of helping James slay a demon. ◊◊ Don’t forget, the players do not remember in any way who they are in the Waking World. ◊◊ The demon will ignore James unless the Angels hide and avoid combat. ◊◊ Be sure to apply the effects listed under Scene 4 Ramifications during the battle. Epilogue If the players defeated the demon, James will be com-pletely impressed and even a bit smitten with Nikki.
- 30. 30 NAME: HEIGHT/WEIGHT: HAIR/EYES: ANIMUS: ARCHETYPE: GENDER/AGE: T R A I T S R E M N A N T S A N I M U S Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5 R e a c t i o n A r m o r R e s i s t a n c e Current Health Wound Penalty 80-100 60-80 -3 40-60 -5 20-40 -10 0-20 -20 S t a m i n a H e a l t h S K I L L S SKILLS RATING STR AGI END INT PER CHA Academics Athletics Creative Fighting Firearms Manual Social Technology Weaponry Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill A T T R I B U T E S E C H O E S A R T I F A C T S R E A V E R C o n v i c t i o n N i g h t m a r e D o u b t 1-25 25-50 50-75 75-100 R a n k S h a p i n g Nikki Meeks Blonde/Blue F/25 Vellora CLEO 5 6 7 5 6 7 Driven Focused Reload Cyberware Summon Vector Z9 5 Crim Justice Running Kickboxing Handguns Interrogation Computer Use 10 11 12 10 11 12 10 20 21 22 20 21 22 5 10 11 12 10 11 12 10 20 21 22 20 21 22 3 8 9 10 8 9 10 3 8 9 10 8 9 10 8 16 17 18 16 17 18 7 12 13 14 12 13 14 12 24 25 26 24 25 26 1 6 7 8 6 7 8 2 7 8 9 7 8 9 5 12 13 14 12 13 14 3 8 9 10 8 9 10 6 14 15 16 14 15 16 1 6 7 8 6 7 8 2 12 100 8 0 12 100 85 Charcoal Grey Business Suit $200 Advanced Targeting Control Neurodata A S P E C P O S E S S I O N S T E C H N I Q U E S M A G I C R E M N A N T S Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5
- 31. Roleplaying Tips Nikki should be portrayed as a leader who is comfort-able with her crew but quick to admonish bad behavior. Be hard on Jerry & Billy when they stray from a plan or break the rules, but be equally sincere in your compliments when they perform their jobs well. Your teammates are a sort of troublesome family you must both guide and look after. 31 Techniques FOCUSED RELOAD Requirements: Handguns 5 You have learned to quickly and efficiently reload without taking your eyes off your target. Effects: You may reload a handgun as an instant free action once each phase. Traits DRIVEN Nothing can stop you from reaching your goals. Effects: When actively pursuing any professional objective, you may spend one Conviction to reroll an AT. The new ATR must be kept. Possessions Charcoal grey business suit, $200 cash. Animus Cybernetic Law Enforcement Officer (C.L.E.O) Nikki faced down the Doubt as a cybernetically en-hanced peacekeeper on Earth-7. She single handedly raided a drug cartel’s fortress and defeated their mech-suit wearing leader. Aspect: Cybernetic Enhancement You take on the appearance and attributes of a cyber-netically- enhanced warrior. Metal implants and wiring start to become visible and expose your enhanced nature. Rank One: Cyberware Millions of nanobots flow through your body, strengthening your muscles, increasing blood flow throughout your body, and enhancing your joints. Effects: +2 to STR and END Rank Two: Advanced Targeting Your integrated Threat Assessment HUD grants you greater accuracy when using a firearm. Effects: +3 to all Firearms Ability Tests, +2 AGI Remnants Rank One: Control Neurodata Your pain receptors have been dulled, allowing you to ignore the effects of some of your wounds. Effect: Ignore up to -5 of wound penalties. This effect lasts as long as the Animus is activated. (2c) Strength Adjustment: -1 wound penalty ignored. Rank Two: Summon Vector Z9 A large, futuristic handgun teleports to your hand and is immediately jacked into your arm. This weap-on fires energy bolts that will pierce most armor and cover larger than normal handgun distances. Effect: The Vector Z9 Hand Blaster is constructed in your hand, allowing you to use it as you normally would a handgun. This effect lasts as long as the Animus is activated. (1c) Strength Adjustment: +1 Ammo Vector Z9 Hand Blaster Range: 0-30m/30-45m/45-60m Difficulty: 15/20/25 Damage: 15 Ammo: 8 Speed: 50 Fire Rate: Single (1c) Damage Adjustment: +2 Nikki is stoic, confident, and fiercely passionate about her job and her team. She oftentimes finds herself guiding her fellow agents with a strong hand, but it would only take a mo-ment to recognize she brings out the best in the people around her. Nikki is athletically built with a long blonde pony tail and ice blue eyes. NIKKI MEEKS ARCHETYPE: VELLORA
- 32. 32 Nikki Meeks Nikki formed the point of view that would guide her adult life by watching her older sister self-destruct by way of drug addiction. Jackie was wild, free spirited and loved to have a good time. She was always far more interested in getting her next fix than she ever was in the consequences of her actions. Eventually, Jackie pushed it as far as she was able to and ended up in the hospital after an overdose that nearly killed her. By twenty-one years of age, Nikki’s older sister had ruined her body, her life and what little there was of a family in the Meeks’ home. Watching her sister unravel and being powerless to stop it, Nikki came to the conclusion that this world would test you. It would provide challenges when necessary and give you enough slack to muck it up yourself. You were either going to be part of the problem or part of the solution. After visiting her sister in the hospital, Nikki walked out with purpose. She would leave a good mark on this world, in spite of all those like her sister who couldn’t help but try to ruin it. Joining the police dept in NYC proved to be nearly a calling for Nikki. Her home life always lacking, Nikki found friends and companionship among the fellow cops she worked with. Sharp and devoted to her job, she held herself to a high standard whether she was wearing her uniform or not. Higher-ups in the department took notice and watched as she unknowingly helped those around her elevate themselves to match Nikki’s level of dedication. She was on the fast track to a decorated career when she finally had her Crux and learned she was an Anima Joining the DCMA The police force of one of America’s largest cities is carefully monitored by members of the DCMA. Anima in law en-forcement are in a unique position to either be a significant help to other Anima in need, or to cause substantial amount of trouble and evade legal repercussions for their actions. Fortunately for Nikki, she was noticed rather quickly and the agent who approached her was pleasantly surprised with how well she’d taken to Anima life. Nikki was given the traditional DCMA introduction to Anima life and society over coffee. Her only comment to the DCMA agent was “Where do I sign up?”. Now a DCMA agent in training, Nikki finds herself clinging to the same moral compass she has had since her sister nearly died. She will make a difference by ensuring Anima who dream of a better world are protected while those who dream of ruining it are brought to justice. First Impressions Excitement and curiosity were racing through Nikki when she was first assigned to her training team. These would be her first Anima partners at the DCMA and she was eager to start building camaraderie just like she had in the NYPD. She was pleased with the two teammates assigned to her. Jerry reminded her of the irksome type of cop who would yap about how everyone needed to follow the rules and work by the book - then break every rule and toss the book out the window when he felt it wasn’t serving him. This bothered Nikki, but she felt a guy from his background might need a little time to realize why the rules are so important. As for Billy, Nikki liked him straight away. He was bright, devoted, and young enough to feel like a kid brother.
- 33. 33 NAME: HEIGHT/WEIGHT: HAIR/EYES: ANIMUS: ARCHETYPE: GENDER/AGE: T R A I T S R E M N A N T S A N I M U S Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5 R e a c t i o n A r m o r R e s i s t a n c e Current Health Wound Penalty 80-100 60-80 -3 40-60 -5 20-40 -10 0-20 -20 S t a m i n a H e a l t h S K I L L S SKILLS RATING STR AGI END INT PER CHA Academics Athletics Creative Fighting Firearms Manual Social Technology Weaponry Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill A T T R I B U T E S E C H O E S A R T I F A C T S R E A V E R C o n v i c t i o n N i g h t m a r e D o u b t 1-25 25-50 50-75 75-100 R a n k S h a p i n g William Prust Brown/Brown M/18 Arliman The Monster Hunter 4 6 5 7 7 7 Boyish Charm 5 Pop Fiction Handguns Flattery Computer Use 9 11 10 12 12 12 7 16 18 17 19 19 19 2 6 8 7 9 9 9 5 9 10 10 12 12 12 2 6 8 7 9 9 9 1 5 7 6 8 8 8 3 8 10 9 11 11 11 1 5 7 6 8 8 8 4 8 10 9 11 11 11 6 14 16 15 20 20 20 3 7 9 8 10 10 10 10 17 19 18 20 20 20 1 5 7 6 8 8 8 1 7 100 22 0 13 100 75 Jewelled Cross of “V” Healing Poultice Editing Writing 14 20 23 25 24 26 26 26 29 31 30 32 32 32 Chinese Meditation Balls Blue Jeans & Grey Hoodie $50 Slayer A S P E C P O S E S S I O N S T E C H N I Q U E S M A G I C R E M N A N T S Rank 1 Preternatural Reflexes Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5
- 34. 34 Techniques BOYISH CHARM Requirements: Flattery 5 You have learned to turn your aloof bookish social awkwardness into something incredibly charming. Effects: You receive +4 to all Social (Cha) Ability Tests. Possessions Blue jeans, grey hoodie, $50 cash. A set of two Chinese Meditation balls. ANIMUS Monster Hunter In William’s first victory over the Doubt, he dreamed he was a quiet and mysterious monster hunter. Full of dan-ger and charm, he put down the beast terrorizing a gothic Victorian village and bedded the local lord’s daughter before moving on to the next contract. Aspect: Unnatural Augmentation Your features take on changes to make you appear grim and forlorn. Your hair fades to a pale gray and your skin tone becomes ashen. Rank One: Preternatural Reflexes Forbidden methods have granted you unnatural speed. Effect: +4 to Agility, +8 to Reaction Remnants Rank One: Slayer The hunter’s sorcery allows them to devastate their enemies, turning anything into an efficent weapon. Effect: Any attack using any kind of item made against an unnatural or inhuman target deals +5 damage. Slayer will allow any normally unthreaten-ing item to deal lethal forms of damage. Common items have a base damage of 1 and a Strength CAP Adjustment of (2c) +1 damage. This effect lasts as long as the Animus is activated. (3c) Strength Adjustment: +1 damage Artifacts Jeweled Cross of “V” An elaborate silver cross with red gems fastened in the ends. In a dream, it was used by a legendary hunter to ward off the forces of evil and protect the innocent. Effect: A user may brandish the cross and spend 1 conviction to prevent any target in sight from coming within 2 meters of the holder. Targets already within 2m of the holder can come no closer, nor attack the wielder. Healing Poultice A thick wrap using the Hunter’s own mixture of herbs, dark magic, and forbidden alchemy. Effect: May be applied to any wound, causing it to instantly heal. This process will cause lacerations to visibly stitch themselves back together, and broken bones to realign on their own. This process is incredi-bly painful and requires William to spend 5 conviction. Though sporting the youthful appearance of a mildly styl-ish bookworm, Billy has become a confident, clever, and charm-ing part of his team. Using his sharp mind and snide social graces, Billy serves as a repository of knowledge and occasional comic relief whenever the team requires. Billy is thin, bookish, and cute. Roleplaying Tips Be quick with a joke and look for opportunities to be troublesome. You try to keep the mood light while silently looking for chances to prove yourself. Treat Nikki and Jerry like older siblings that you like to make trouble for, but are actually quite fond of. WILLIAM PRUST ARCHETYPE: ARLIMAN
- 35. 35 William Prust Billy never quite fit in. That was okay in his book because Billy knew that fitting in wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. In reality it was all about thinking less and lying often. Neither concept were really Billy’s style. He was a smart kid and knew it ever since grade school. By his standards, he was just an ordinary, geeky teenager with underdeveloped social skills and a vivid imagination. Naturally this convinced him he was destined to be a writer. As a freshman in high school he started practicing by writing his favorite short stories down. He had even started his own private mini series of short stories about a dark, brooding hero who traveled by night, saving medieval villages from the monsters who preyed upon them. He was pleased with his creation and felt convinced someday he’d write something the whole world would enjoy. His plan changed when he met Mary. She was a cute pixie of a girl with red hair and emerald eyes. Introducing herself, Mary made a case that they should be friends. She was into all his favorite bands, shared his love of fantasy and found his geeky musings a pleasure to listen to. Billy was fascinated and before long, they were the best of friends. Mary had a careless ness that Billy always wished he possessed himself. She showed him he could be a geek and still be cute! They often gossiped about the girls he liked and the girls who liked him. In many ways, Billy realized that Mary had given him the courage to be a better man. He learned to be charming and social like the characters he wrote about. He learned not to be ashamed of how smart he was. Mary was the center of Billy’s world. She was his mentor, his friend, and everything that could be cool about girls. Then Billy had a dream - a Crux - where he was a dark hero from right out of his own stories. When he told Mary, she let out a deep sigh of relief exclaiming “It’s about time!”. It turned out that Mary was an Anima, and now so was he. She had become one very young and had suspected Billy might do the same. She introduced herself all those months ago so that she would be there to help him should her intuition prove correct. She went on to explain that she would hook Billy up with an agent who could help him learn everything he needed to know. She shook his hand awkwardly after giving him a business card and told him it was nice meeting him. When Mary walked out of his parent’s house, she also walked out of Billy’s life. He would come to learn that it was her job to scout for possible newbie Anima and to try to make the transition easier on them. Despite all that was happening to him Billy couldn’t get past the fact that Mary had only been his friend all this time because it was her job to do so. Never mind that his life had changed forever, or that he could make dreams real. The outrage over Mary’s deceit ate at him. To Billy, he had been some fool kid who didn’t know his ass from his elbow, and some sharp girl brought him along like a foolish puppy dog. Despite his anger, he still couldn’t hate Mary for it - not after all she had been for him. The minute he learned of the DCMA, he decided to sign up. Next time he met Mary, or anyone else for that matter, he wouldn’t be just Billy. He’s be the monster hunter he once only wrote about - and an official DCMA agent. Joining the DCMA Being young made the early weeks of training hard for Billy. He was never into sports and field agents had to be pre-pared for possibly dangerous situations. One thing carried Billy through and it was his intellect. Never before joining the DCMA had Billy felt such a need to apply his full ability to anything. Now however, Billy has been working very hard to prove he is more than just a kid. So. Much. More. First Impressions Mary had taught him nothing if not to be skeptical of new faces. Billy took his time getting familiar with his new team-mates, Nikki and Jerry. At first, Nikki seemed too much like an over-aggressive woman trying to prove she could hang with the boys. His feelings soon adjusted as Nikki took a keen interest in his work ethic and contributions. Eventually Billy decided that nothing truly mattered more, or impressed Nikki more, than workplace performance. That logic was something he both understood and respected. Jerry, however, brought out the worst in him. They were like two peas in a pod - Billy would suggest some small way to get into trouble, and Jerry would be making it happen a moment later. They had a lot of laughs together and secretly Billy idolizes Jerry more than he’s willing to admit.
- 36. 36 NAME: HEIGHT/WEIGHT: HAIR/EYES: ANIMUS: ARCHETYPE: GENDER/AGE: T R A I T S A S P E C T A N I M U S P O S E S S I O N S T E C H N I Q U E S Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5 R e a c t i o n A r m o r R e s i s t a n c e Current Health Wound Penalty 80-100 60-80 -3 40-60 -5 20-40 -10 0-20 -20 S t a m i n a H e a l t h S K I L L S SKILLS RATING STR AGI END INT PER CHA Academics Athletics Creative Fighting Firearms Manual Social Technology Weaponry Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill Adv Skill A T T R I B U T E S M A G A R T I F A C T S I C S R E A V E R C o n v i c t i o n N i g h t m a r e D o u b t 1-25 25-50 50-75 75-100 R a n k S h a p i n g Jerry Holt Black/Brown M/26 Astea Sentinel 7 4 7 4 6 7 Quick Fixer Summon Shield 1 Handguns 8 5 8 5 7 8 5 12 9 12 9 11 12 2 9 6 9 6 8 9 10 17 14 17 14 16 17 5 12 9 12 9 11 12 6 18 15 17 15 17 11 4 11 8 11 8 10 11 3 10 7 10 7 9 10 1 8 5 8 5 7 8 1 8 5 8 5 7 8 1 7 100 22 0 8 100 85 Well-Tailored Italian suit Designer Sunglasses $120 Eldritch Blast (R1) Drug Deals 6 16 13 16 13 15 16 Gun Trade Biker Gangs 5 11 15 12 15 12 14 15 21 18 21 18 20 21 Bike Repair 16 27 24 27 24 26 27 R E M N A N T S Rank 1 Apply Ward Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5
- 37. 37 ANIMUS Sentinel In the kingdom of Highland, Sentinels are an order of eldritch knights tasked with protecting royalty from all threats. Jerry ensured his ward, the youngest prince of the kingdom, survived countless assassination attempts. Aspect: Sentinel Your hair and facial hair grow long and thick to match the traditional appearance of the Sentinels of Highland. Your eyes sparkle with a magical glow. Rank One: Apply Ward A hallmark of their order, Sentinels are assigned a ward whom they weave their magics upon to protect from all forms of harm. Effect: Allows you to enchant a single target other than yourself, keeping them safe from harm. Any one target who is Warded receives an Armor and Resistance Rating of 5. Remnants: Rank One: Summon Shield The legendary Sentinel Shield - a large, silver kite shield bearing the crest of a lion, is conjured to your hand. Effect: A kite shield appears on your hand, ready to be used in battle. Shield Armor: 8 Resistance Rating: 8 Defensive Ability Test Bonus: +4 Magics: Eldritch Blast (Rank One) (A) By manipulating mystic forces, your hand becomes engulfed in a blue electric energy. This energy can then be thrown at a target to cause considerable harm. Effect: A target within 10 meters is struck for 10 damage. (1c) Range Adjustment: +1 meter (2c) Strength Adjustment: +1 Damage Techniques QUICK FIXER Requirements: Bike Repair 7 You have grown accustomed to working fast and under pressure. Effects: Whenever making an AT to repair a motor-cycle, all Speed Adjustments cost one CAP less. Possessions Well tailored Italian suit. Designer sunglasses. $120 cash. More comfortable in his street clothes and on his hog than he is in a suit at the office, Jerry brings a sense of vigilante jus-tice and street values to the team. Typically calm and reserved, he can however be a man of action - both brave and reckless. Jerry is tall, dark, and handsome, as the cliche goes. Roleplaying Tips You should come off as confident and brash. Take opportunities to tease or antagonize your teammates, but always in a friendly manner. Jerry would never belittle his friends to hurt their feelings. Hide how you really feel about Nikki behind playful banter and jesting. JERRY HOLT ARCHETYPE: ASTEA
- 38. 38 Jerry Holt Getting into trouble never bothered Jerry. Growing up, he had no problem with getting sent to detention or being sus-pended from school. It never bothered him that his mother would punish him with tears in her eyes. It never bothered him when his stepfather would slap him around over his most recent school issue or brush with the law. The only thing that ever really bothered Jerry was people who believed the rules should allow them to step on others. Jerry had a younger brother named Micky, and to Micky, Jerry was the coolest big brother a kid could have. Jerry was 10 years older, always in and out of trouble, and tough. Strong and charming - girls liked him, and guys wanted to be him. Most of all, he was good to Micky. Always looking out for him, letting him have a small sip of his beer when no one was looking. When Micky had a bully in school, Jerry made sure the bully’s dad knew to fix it, or the dad would end up calling Jerry a bully. In Jerry’s eyes, his kid brother was an innocent. A smart, good kid who never wanted to do anything but laugh or smile. To the world, Micky was “disabled”, but to Jerry, he was perfect. A paragon of goodness, and nothing enraged Jerry more than people taking advantage of Micky. A simple jeer or snide comment would send Jerry into a rage, and the heckler into the hospital. In a way, Micky taught Jerry that he didn’t care about rules. What Jerry cared about was what’s right. When a kid in his high school days called some girl Michelle a “cow”, Jerry broke his nose. Not because he was Michelle’s friend - he wasn’t. He did it because it pissed him off to no end that a kid would get away with that mean statement because people were too afraid to get in “trouble” and break the rules. Jerry just smiled when the principal had suspended him. As a grown man, Jerry moved away from home. Deep down he was always afraid his antics would somehow spill over on his younger brother, so he took his chaotic life on the road. Out in Nevada he hooked up with a biker gang and even made enough money to get by tending their bars. Sometimes he’d help them fix their bikes for a little extra cash. He had found a satisfying balance of peace and trouble in those days. He always made sure to regularly call home to check in on Micky. When Jerry had his Crux, he wasn’t at all surprised to find he was a “Sentinel”. Micky always loved fantasy and together they watched many related movies. Jerry would always imagine them living in strange places like they saw in the films and knew down deep he’d be a knight to keep his brother safe. Joining the DCMA Jerry was tending the bar the night his place of employment was raided. Federal agents arrested several of the bikers on drug charges. Even Jerry himself was taken in for questioning. It was while he was in custody that he was noticed by the DCMA. One of the federal agents also worked for the DCMA and got Jerry in contact with an agent who could help him settle into the Anima life. To Jerry this was a miracle, because for weeks after his first breaking of the Doubt, he had started to question his sanity. Silently, he started blaming it all on some experimenting he had done with drugs in his younger years. Instead, having the DCMA set him straight was a huge relief. Realizing how many others may be out there with no one to help them got under Jerry’s skin. He decided to sign up for the Agent program figuring that every Anima should have a big brother like him. First Impressions Jerry had very low expectations prior to meeting his new teammates. He was getting a sinking feeling that the DCMA was more about bureaucracy than it was about doing the right thing. When Jerry was introduced to Nikki Meeks, his whole world shifted out of sync. Jerry knew the instant he laid eyes on her that she was the most beautiful woman he would ever know. She was sophisticated, sharp, attractive, and moved like a lioness. This was no wide eyed doe; to Jerry, she was a queen of the jungle. Then she started talking to him and he was shocked at his disappointment. She seemed so hell bent on following the rules it took him weeks before he decided she really did believe the rules helped justice, rather than hurt it. Regardless of possible opposed philosophies, Jerry pushed his strong feelings as deep as he could. He knew how serious Nikki took the job and if he was ever going to understand her or earn her respect, he was going to have to be a true professional and do the best he could. Fortunately for him, he had Billy’s ceaseless pranks and instigations to lighten his mood. Billy had quickly become his first Anima kid brother and he loved how much fun they had struggling under Nikki’s rules. For Jerry, the trio was rapidly becoming a second family. He knew neither of them would have ever made fun of Micky, and the thought made him surprisingly happy.
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- 40. 40 NIKKARIEL THE JUST TECHNOLOGY FIGHTING ATHLETICS Flying 1 6 5 10 SOCIAL Command WEAPONRY Shortbow MANUAL 6 12 5 16 1 CREATIVE FIREARMS ACADEMICS Military Tactics 6 0 5 19 Traits WINGS Angelics possess beautiful wings that can bear their weight easily in flight. Effects: May move up to three times your Agility in meters in a phase. MARK OF COMMAND A mark of Angelic distinction, assisting an Angelic Commander lead her troops. Effects: May communicate effortlessly with any Angelic under your command with no range or other limitations. Strength Agility Endurance Perception Intellect Charm ATTRIBUTES Stamina Health Armor Resistance Reaction Conviction GENERATED ATTRIBUTES Nikkariel has served as a commander to the divine hosts for countless wars. When not serving the armies of heaven di-rectly she takes on special assignments often selecting her favor-ite soldiers to join her for the missions. SKILLS 5 8 6 5 5 9 80 100 5 5 13 100 Possessions Sunfire Bow Powerful magic imbues this weapon of the divine. Its gold played pearlescent body shimmers in the light. When drawn, an ethereal arrow is created and strikes true for the wielder whenever fired. Effects: Grants user +4 to all Shortbow ATs. Once a target has been struck, all additional arrows bypass the target’s Armor until the target leaves line of sight. Range: 0-50m/50-100m/100-150m Difficulty: 20/35/50 Damage: 15 Speed: 35 Rate of Fire: Single Ammo: Unlimited (1c) Damage Adjustment: +5 Damage Mantle Of Command A regal ivory mantle denoting Nikkariel’s status as commander. It gives off a faint golden glow and protects those close enough to the wearer from the powers of hell. Effects: All angelics (including the wearer) standing within 10m of the wearer receive Resist 5 (Fire). Armor Of The Host Elegant platemail crafted with the magic and grace of the heavens. Effects: Grants 5 Armor.
- 41. 41 BELLICOR THE QUICK TECHNOLOGY FIGHTING ATHLETICS 3 6 2 SOCIAL WEAPONRY Dual Swords MANUAL 4 8 16 1 CREATIVE FIREARMS ACADEMICS Scribe Demon Lore Angelic Magic 5 0 5 13 11 9 Traits WINGS Angelics possess beautiful wings that can bear their weight easily in flight. Effects: May move up to three times your Agility in meters in a phase. Techniques QUICK STRIKE Requirements: Agility 8, Short Swords 10 Effects: Immediately after Reaction is rolled, Bellicor may spend 1 Conviction to add +3 to his Reaction ATR. In that same phase, if Bellicor makes a AT to attack a target whose Reaction ATR he has exceeded by 5 or more, that target is unable to make a Defensive Ability Test, effectively mak-ing the attack undefended. All subsequent attacks, regardless of target, are treated normally. Strength Agility Endurance Perception Intellect Charm ATTRIBUTES Stamina Health Armor Resistance Reaction Conviction GENERATED ATTRIBUTES Even among other angelics, Bellicor’s speed in combat is held in high regard. Combined with his martial prowess, he holds a well-deserved reputation of delivering devastating blows to his enemies before they even have a chance to react. SKILLS 5 9 5 9 7 7 75 100 5 0 18 100 Possessions Twin Blades Of Ethrazel A pair of thin silver short swords that glow with a mystic blue hue. Runes are etched into the sides of each blade. Once wielded by a legendary angelic swordsman, the Blades of Ethrazel bestow some of the original owner’s defensive prowess to their wielder. Effects: Defensive ATss made using the Twin Blades of Ethrazel receive a +4 bonus. Requirements: Dual Swords 10 Damage: STR + 4 Threat: 8 (4+4) (1c) Damage Adjustment: +3 Damage (3c) Weapon Adjustment: Bleed (3) (7c) Weapon Adjustment: Amputate (10c) Weapon Adjustment: Decapitate Armor Of The Host Elegant platemail crafted with the magic and grace of the heavens. Effects: Grants 5 Armor. SPEED BURST Requirements: Angelic Magic 7 Effects: Bellicor may spend 1 Conviction to move an additional 10 meters in a combat phase. This is a free action and may be used once per phase.
- 42. 42 VICTUS THE UNDYING TECHNOLOGY FIGHTING Hand-to-Hand ATHLETICS 1 8 5 10 SOCIAL Intimidation WEAPONRY Short Swords Shields MANUAL 3 9 4 12 19 4 CREATIVE FIREARMS ACADEMICS 2 0 1 Traits WINGS Angelics possess beautiful wings that can bear their weight easily in flight. Effects: May move up to three times your Agility in meters in a phase. UNDYING Victus has been marked as one of the Undying, the legendary sentinels of the Angelic host. Effects: +50 Base Health. Techniques SHIELD BASH Requirements: Shields 5 Effect: After making a Shields Defensive AT that ex-ceeds your opponent’s ATR by 5 or more, you may instantly strike your opponent with your shield, inflicting damage equal to your strength plus the Armor rating of the shield being used. DEFENSIVE MEASURES Requirements: Shields 10 Effect: When declaring actions, Victus may choose to us Defensive Measures. This technique prevents Victus from making any ATs for the duration of the phase. In exchange he receives a +5 bonus to all Defensive ATs using a shield and ignores the first multiple action penalty that phase. In addition, Victus may intercept any attacks made against a tar-get within 1 meter of himself. Intercepting such an attack allows Victus to make a Reactive AT for the target. This does not require Victus to be engaged with the attacker, nor does it make him so. Strength Agility Endurance Perception Intellect Charm ATTRIBUTES Stamina Health Armor Resistance Reaction Conviction GENERATED ATTRIBUTES Only the most valiant and stalwart of angelics are given the title of Undying. Those few like Victus must bear a shield at the front line of heaven’s wars. No evil is too terrible for Victus to gaze upon. He bravely stares all of heaven’s foes in their eyes, and unflinching, marches ever forward. SKILLS 11 5 10 6 5 6 100 150 5 0 11 100 Possessions Shield Armor: 8 Resistance: 8 Reactive Ability Test Bonus: +4 Longsword Requirements: Strength 5 Damage: Strength + 8 Threat: 6 (1c) Damage Adjustment: +4 Damage (3c) Weapon Adjustment: Bleed (3) (7c) Weapon Adjustment: Amputate (10c) Weapon Adjustment: Decapitate Armor Of The Host Elegant platemail crafted with the magic and grace of the heavens. Effects: Grants 5 Armor.
- 43. 43 Credits Developed, Written and Designed by: John Borgese & Matthew Tarulli Art: Mateusz Katzig, Phillip Simpson, Patrick Tsao, Playtesters: Crista Ceribello, Gilbert DuRapau, Jonathan Edwards, Diana Muniz, Joleen Rega, Anna Svetlov, Chris Uhlig Special Thanks: Jonathan Edwards, James Ceribello, our families whose support has been essential and eternal, “the girl in the diner,” everyone who has ever downloaded, read, backed, listened to or commented on anything we’ve done, and any-one who’s ever had a dream. You are not alone. Our time is coming. © 2014 ODAM Publishing LLC Visit us at www.odampublishing.com Or say Hi at www.facebook.com/ODAMPublishing