Rebirth

Cortex Heroic

 

 

Contents

 

 

Quadra City

Quadra City is the backdrop for your adventures. As such, you’ll notice that there’s a lot of atmospheric detail here, but not much to let you pin down specifics. That’s intentional. Your characters live in the city, so they’re the experts. That means you’ll make up all the details of the City as the need for them arises. If you wish, you can note down new details as you add them to your City, for consistency. The important thing is to be familiar with the typical elements or locations that are likely to appear in your story.

For example, when one of the characters is setting up a meeting with an informant, the player can just make up a street name and say “Meet me at my place. It’s 403 Lexington.” You don’t have to check in advance if your City has a Lexington Street or where it is. When you say it, it becomes real in your story. If the other players or the Editor see things differently, talk it out. If you don’t want to give a specific location or can’t think of one, you can always use these tropes instead, saying “Meet me at my place. It’s in Burnside. I’ll write the address down for you.”

The important parts of the City are the parts in which your characters’ story takes place. The lottle that’s already set in stone is listed below. But it’s described in broad strokes; it is there purely as backdrop, like fleeting sights seen when driving around the City.

For the same reason, there’s no city map. Instead, there’s Districts: collections of locations where your scenes take place. There’s no need to detail what’s between one location and the next, because scenes never happen between locations. If you decide to set a scene in the subway between two locations, then the subway simply becomes a location as well.

City Locations

District	Description
Port Quadra	The old quarter, nostalgia and leisure.
Olympia	The beating heart of the city.
Centrum	Science, research, and dark secrets.
Ascendant	Home of the rich and corrupt.
The Bottoms	The slums, full of the down-trodden.
Burnside	Industry and grime.
Salamanca	Home to the university and oddness.

Port Quadra

Centuries ago, migrating people first settled in the area that is now Quadra City. They were met by indigenous tribes, as history tells us. Their settlement thrived and evolved, growing greater in fortune and population as time went by.

Eventually, it became this City you see before you; but it all started here, in the Port Quadra. Old stone buildings and cobbled streets with wrought-iron street lamps make out this cramped district, giving it the appearance of a place out of time. Landmarks of the City’s history are everywhere you look, from pompous historical estates with neatly-trimmed gardens to well-preserved townhouses where someone important once lived.

As you venture deeper into the quarter, it becomes harder to navigate by car. Narrow alleyways lead to quaint crafts shops, boutique hotels, glorified bistros, and art galleries, then open up to small squares, decorated with antiquated but masterfully sculpted fountains.

Port Quadra is no less than enchanting; ironically enough, it has the air of something foreign, far from the modern city not by distance, but by time. Everyone you’ll meet here has an interesting tale about the area and you can almost breathe in the history that these stones have seen. If you are looking for something eccentric and unusual, you will find it here.

Most of the population of Port Quadra can trace their heritage to the indigenous people of the city, to its first settlers, or to both. The buildings are almost all owned by old-money families, who have kept the quarter clean from the commercial interests blowing from downtown. Here there is peace, tranquility, and unspeakable secrets buried beneath the ground.

THE MUSEUM is an impressive edifice of stone and marble, erected in a time when history and culture still mattered. Today, most of the City residents regard it as a dull activity reserved for tourists and intellectuals. Others, of a less savory nature, see it as a big pile of money waiting for the one who can bypass its state-of-the-art security systems. They’re not wrong; the museum is loaded with famous works of art and ancient artifacts that are worth a fortune on the black market.

 

 

THE COBBLED STREET is the heart of the Port Quadra. Possibly the first paved street in the city (or the first worth mentioning), this rather narrow main street has been renovated countless times, but has somehow kept its historical look through it all. Mysterious street performers perform magical tricks that defy logic while musicians play long-forgotten tunes that evoke old memories from before you were born. On both sides, stone townhouses stand crookedly shoulder to shoulder in two rows, penetrated occasionally by a shadowy arched passageway. Some of the houses are used as homes, containing anything from cramped attic apartments to plush residences laced with antiques.

Some are businesses, from outrageously expensive restaurants to cheap dens. Others stand empty, abandoned for some unknown and unspoken reason. At night this street takes on an otherworldly appearance. Mist creeps in and coils around the lampposts, their lights like hovering lanterns. Silence washes over, seemingly covering the entire quarter, except for the faraway sounds of music. Few walk about, their footsteps muffled and their figures dark and blurry. You get a feeling that something could emerge out of the night and spirit you away to another place, another life, and no one would ever know.

Old buildings and locations dot the streets of the Old Quarter. THE HISTORIC RESIDENCE was once the home of a prominent figure in the City. Whether a founder of the City or of one of its institutions, an industrial tycoon, or a celebrated author or artist, this person has perished long ago and now only his or her estate remains. Most furniture is covered in white sheets, except for a few rooms maintained for public display.

THE RUIN juts out from the quaint old streets, forlorn and forsaken. In some cases, it is a relatively modern building, abandoned after a catastrophe. In other cases, it’s an ancient and macabre place: a church, a castle, a stone circle, or a fort.

THE PUBLIC PARK is folk’s escape from the hustle and bustle of urban life. Spanning a mile or two in each direction, it includes lawns, ponds, wooded areas, and natural terrain – a welcome respite from asphalt and concrete. During the week it’s quiet here, with most people passing on their way elsewhere. On the weekends it’s more crowded, with the sounds of open-air concerts and seasonal fairs filling up the air.

Paved footpaths that were designed for leisure, not efficiecy wind and coil around the park, making it hard to cut through if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. Sometimes a path just comes to a dead end in the rushes on the shores of the pond or under a jutting outcrop of lichen-covered rock.

Along THE BOARDWALK, dark, gray-blue waves billow against the shoreline, leaving behind strands of seaweed and the occasional pile of plastic refuse. Sea spray blows into rows and rows of aging hotels, their paint corroded by salt and sand. Piers stretch out into the water, covered in electric lights and funfair rides. During the day, surfers brave the rolling waves and speedboats zoom by with skiers trailing behind. After sundown, the black sea is lit up by massive cruise ships making their way to the docks. People come here to relax, take romantic walks at sunset, and have a drink while looking at the horizon.

In the nearby MARINA, fishing boats and yachts wobble in separate ports, surrounded by seafood restaurants, both traditional and trendy. A luxurious members-only boating club takes up far too much of the beach. Further up the beach, in the midst of the rotting, barnacle-covered posts of a decommissioned dock, a body sometimes washes up on shore.

Olympia

Olympia is a city on amphetamines. It’s where it’s all happening all the time. It’s the beating heart of the City, pumping millions of souls in and out every day, locals and visitors of all walks of life who come here for business, pleasure, or both.

By day, downtown feels like a clockwork toy city: everything is buzzing with hurriedness and purpose, people trying to get things done. Neurotic interns run around with coffee trays, rushing to get back to their bosses in one of the top floors of a skyscraper before the start of an important meeting. Trucks unload goods in the back alleys of renowned designer stores, while at the front suited salesmen shower fake compliments at preposterously wealthy ladies with pampered poodles.

Torrents of foreign tourists armed with cameras stream through the well-known monuments and attractions, such as the tallest building in the City or the City History Museum, where a hallmark piece of art is kept. So caught up in their activities, none of them is actually present; it’s all about functionality, ticking the checkbox, moving on to the next task. Time seems to speed up when you’re downtown and the people blur into streaks of muted colors.

 

 

Olympia is a rainforest of billboards and neon signs. Visible all through the day, they become the only illumination after the sun sets. The hustle and bustle never quiets down; it only changes direction. In the neon-spiked darkness, downtown seeks release for all the tension it built up during the day. There’s entertainment for everyone here. Cabarets, nightclubs, and trendy bars operate at full capacity right next to fancy restaurants, theaters, cinemas, and the opera houses. Diners, coffee shops, and food stands line the overcrowded plazas where live events take place, covered by all major media channels.

THE THEATER AVENUE glitters with stardust. Quadra City’s oldest and indeed largest theaters and opera houses line this expansive avenue, while smaller and more obscure establishments scuttle along the side streets. Spectacular productions succeed one another at a staggering pace, vying for the fickle audience’s attention and money. Behind the scenes, actors strain to achieve greatness while hard-working stage crews put together grandiose sets and complex lighting and stage effects, only to take it all apart again after a few shows.

THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT is a conglomerate of glistening, larger-than-life glass skyscrapers and lower, yet equally gargantuan, ornate stone buildings, at least half a century old but well-looked-after. This is Quadra City’s main seat of power, where corporate giants, banks, and government officials rub elbows. Anything big in business happens here, with the top financial and legal firms, major bank branches, and corporate headquarters all tucked conveniently next to each other. The city’s highest-ranking executive authorities, council of legislators, and courthouse are just around the corner.

The stench of corruption is everywhere; money might as well flow in the gutters of the empty side streets and spacious plazas that connect all this splendor. Black government cars, ostentatious white limousines, and limited series sports cars glide by effortlessly, reflecting citadels and palaces on their tinted windows. A handful of well-established plush hotels and expensive art-deco residential towers accommodate the rich and powerful, with all the luxury, security, and anonymity money can buy. And it is from here that these modern-age queens and kings, along with their advisors and emissaries, play a multi-faceted game of chess where the City’s residents are the pawns.

THE SUBWAY STATION is a place in between. Once you’ve gone underground, it’s as though you travelled to another realm: a dark place where fluorescent lights flicker and things screech and roar in the tunnels. There is always some kind of underlying tension in the subway. Some primal instinct tells you that you are not where you should be. You are, in a way, buried in the earth, where all things come to die.

THE SMOKY JAZZ CLUB is a corner of refinement whisked away in the basement of an old building on one of downtown’s side streets. Music coaxes you in as you pass by; it sounds like a tune you once heard, a long time ago. It evokes a warm and familiar feeling which, if heeded, will compel you to enter. There, amidst wafts of cigarette smoke, a mixed crowd of well-off enthusiasts and bohemian artists listen spellbound to the improvisations of a small band of suited musicians, accentuated by the husky voice of a singer in a flowing evening gown.

The jazz club is a good place to contemplate your current place in life, your next move, or the dire overall state of affairs in the City. Most of the local crowd may be too busy brooding over their own trouble, but some will listen. Unexpected help or a fateful meeting may emerge from the smoke. Then again, it can always be that you were dreaming, or drunk, and when you leave this place you’re still just as depressed as you were when you came in.

THE RUN-DOWN APARTMENT is all some can afford if they want to live downtown. Usually situated in an inconvenient location, such as just above the subway railway or a noisy restaurant, this apartment suffers from all manners of pollution. During the day, the dust and sunlight filtering through the blinds make the air here hazy and dense, almost dreamlike. At night, the neon sign attached to the side of the building casts an eerie glow on the place, topped by electrical crackle.

Still, despite crumbling paint on the walls and bad plumbing, it’s a good enough place to put your head down, for a while. The fridge is usually empty, except for a bottle of cheap alcohol. The rolled up wad of money under the exposed stained mattress is gone. But it’s a shelter and it’s safe. That is, until that night when you’ll hear someone fiddling with the lock on the door and you’ll wish you had installed another one.

 

 

The run-down apartment can be used as the sad abode of one of the lead characters; the home of another character involved in a case; a crime scene or a place to look for evidence; or even as a safe-house for the crew.

THE ALLEY is where you’ll find all of the City’s trash hidden away. Not just the garbage: this is where shady deals and brutal crimes take place. When you want to meet secretly with a contact, because you haven’t decided yet if you’re going to work with them or kill them – you do it in the alley. When you want to hide a body long enough to get out of town – you stash it in the alley dumpster.

It’s where you go when you escape unseen from the scene of the crime or when you stalk someone to take them by surprise. The alley is a place for thieves, muggers, and crooks, and for lowly labourers who are pushed away from the frontline: cooks, waiting staff, porters, sanitation workers, exotic dancers.

Almost every building in Quadra City has an alley behind it, accessible via a backdoor, the fire escape, the sewer system, or the street, so alleyways act as a dark network of secret passages for the City.

Centrum

Centrum is a gleaming mass of white, glass, and chrome. It’s a newer addition to Quadra City, built in the wake of the Reptar Invasion. Here, science and research are king, but you won’t find anyone out on the street unless they’re testing the air quality; there’s too many important things going on indoors.

THE SCIENCE HUB is a cluster of privately owned labs and medical facilities. Corporations run intensive research here in a race to find the next technological leap or miracle drug. The staggering worth of the minds working in these facilities combined with the corporations’ mutual distrust drives them to keep their own security details as well as some very creative intrusion countermeasures. This security not only tackles threats to the companies’ interests on the premises but also actively investigates, pursues, and shuts down possible risks across the City.

THE OFF-LIMITS FACILITY lies at the end of a back road that leads away from the shiny buildings, studded with signs that first warn you not to take any pictures, then not to come near if you are pregnant or have a pacemaker, and finally instruct you to turn your car around. Tunneling through a tall cover of trees, the road ends in a perimeter made of several electric chain link fences, crowned with barbed wire and security cameras. Military jeeps or slick black SUVs patrol here, turning back (or bringing in, according to some rumors) any curious individuals who wander around. Those who venture further are taking their lives in their hands. Nobody knows what’s inside the complex. Neither satellites nor any form of airborne reconnaissance can get a visual on this location from above and any city records of it are classified.

Ascendant

There is a part of the City that is surrounded by a high stone wall. Security cameras along the wall ogle anyone moving in the street below. Behind the wall, you can see treetops swaying in the breeze and hear birds chirping. If you follow the wall, you will likely be stopped for questioning by local security before you even reach one of its few openings. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to glimpse some of the driveways and neat lawns through the ornamental golden gate before they drag you away.

THE GATED COMMUNITY is home to high-value properties, some of the City’s finest residences. The residents of this neighborhood work in different areas of the City, but prefer to live and raise their families in relative security, shielded from the crime and misery of the general population. Every day parents drive expensive cars through the gates to their workplaces and back. The kids go to a private school inside the community or are driven to their schools in the City.

Meanwhile, friendly constables in neat uniforms patrol the streets, a part of a top-grade private security firm employed by the community. Life is good, and every amenity one desires is easily accessible. Security is not without a price, however. Cut off from the rest of the City, people here develop all forms of social alienation and anxiety as the image of the other is gradually demonized, becoming a threat beyond the wall.

 

 

THE MANSION is cut off from everything else. Sullen bare trees and a high stone wall mark the beginning of the grounds owned by the proprietor of this estate. As you drive by, an unkindness of ravens takes flight; when the feathers settle down, you see an old manor house on the hill. The closer you come to the building, the more you’re taken by a strange gut feeling, though you know not why. From the courtyard, the grey mansion seems sombre and foreboding. When you knock on the door, a peculiar butler will try to drive you away, kindly or with a death trap, but will eventually show you inside.

The Bottoms

Police sirens wail day and night in this godforsaken neighborhood. It’s all for show; the police have long given up on this community. Gunshots are heard regularly from a few blocks over, and sometimes you can catch sight of armed gangs exchanging live fire on the streets. Local business are all protected by grilles, locks, and bars. Idealistic local politicians try helplessly to change things for the better while their corrupt counterparts (and sometimes alter-egos) make a cut on the backs of the residents.

Most of this neighborhood is a warren of tall tenements and apartment blocks where visitors often get lost. Some streets and buildings look stenciled, except for the various businesses on the ground level: grocery stores, barber shops, fast food joints, pawn shops, laundromats. If you venture into the backyards and alleys, you may need a local to help you out of the labyrinth, decorated everywhere by laundry on clotheslines. Most of the day it’s a pretty noisy and lively place: kids holler at each other and loud music is playing outside, mixing with the ruckus of traffic. At night, the streets grow silent and tense. Squad cars patrol the neighborhood, but there are too few to make a difference. It’s up to the locals to take care of themselves: anything can come out from the dark.

The hard-working regular people of this neighborhood struggle daily to survive and make ends meet. The best most people in this neighborhood can hope for is to get through the month without sinking deeper into debt. Sadly, this means this neighborhood breeds most petty criminals in the City and a good share of its organized crime. People here work hard all their lives; by now, they’ve either given up on their dreams or are desperate enough to leap at the promise of a golden opportunity even if it comes with great risks.

Mobsters and loan sharks thrive on protection money and the high interest paid by individuals with no other choice. The education system is mediocre and the job market is flooded, so opportunities are not plentiful. Schools use metal detectors and body searches to curb addiction and violence but still kids manage to smuggle in drugs and weapons. Economically, this place is a black hole, so teenagers are drawn to the thug life with its promises of respect and a nice bit of money.

THE 24/7 DINER is where you go to start your day with black coffee and pancakes in the morning, take a break around lunchtime, hold an informal face-to-face meeting in the afternoon, have a cheap dinner with a friend in the evening, or sit alone at the bar at midnight. Greasy meals and percolator coffee is all you’ll get here, but it’s cheap and it keeps you going.

With neon lights lining the underbelly of the bar and framing each and every window, the diner glows in eldritch magenta and lipstick pink throughout the night. Red leather seats enclose the booths and a bell rings whenever someone walks in. It’s the penultimate casual meeting place, where anyone is welcome and no questions are asked. Sure, sometimes a hobo wanders in and starts shouting in a foreign language until they give him some food and send him away. There’s also something funky going on with the soup dejour.

Once or twice you may have witnessed someone trashing the place, but for the most part the diner is where you can gear up, wind down, or just sit by the window and watch the City go by.

THE PRIVATE OFFICE is often found on the second story of a crumbling residential or office building, overlooking the street. Visitors knocking on the milky glass door at the entrance dramatically show up as crisp silhouettes, most commonly of attractive ladies and despicable gents. Black lettering on the glass identifies the practitioner: a private eye, a lawyer, an accountant, or a doctor. Inside, light filters through the shutters in smoky slanted stripes. The sound of the street below is muffled, yet constant. Behind a heavy wooden desk buried in paperwork and illuminated by a green desk lamp there’s a swivel chair where someone is often drinking, smoking, holding a gun, or all of the above. The private office is a staple of street-level stories. Whether it’s the characters’ base of operations (and sometimes not-so-temporary home), the setting of dramatic conversation revealing a shocking truth, or the target of a break-in that now must be investigated, the office will probably appear in your story in some way. The City is dotted with such small establishments.

 

 

THE PRECINCT POLICE STATION is the symbol of law enforcement in the district. It is a bustling hub of activity: people coming in to press charges, officers riding out in squad cars to answers distress calls, criminals brought in. The cops here handle everything from a cat stuck in a tree to the apprehension of the most wanted criminal masterminds. Beat officers, undercover units, task force detectives, and even a SWAT team all operate out of this modern-day fortress. The precinct is fully loaded with the necessary gear and armaments cops need to do their duty, not to mention a tempting evidence storage with plenty of cash, drugs, and confiscated arms to go around, but only the most foolish or daring of criminals would dare mount an assault on the district’s stronghold of authority.

Runaways just need a place to lay low for a while, which is exactly what THE CHEAP MOTEL is for. Often located in a perpetual downpour of rain, the motel can nevertheless be recognized by the flashing roadside neon sign.

The apathetic guy or gal at reception has seen it all and without a second glance welcomes the usual suspects: fugitives, vagrants, dead-men-walking. A handful of vending machines provide pissy coffee and snacks to keep you company. Other than that there is nothing to do here.

Inside the room there is a strange, unidentifiable odor. The mattress is stained, on both sides, with what appears to be dried blood. There are cigarette burn marks on the furniture and the crumbling walls, which are thin enough for you to hear whatever is going on in the next room. The days here are rainy, empty, and boring. Sometimes, time does not seem to go by at all.

The cultural life in THE SPANISH QUARTER revolves around the traditions and heritage of the original Spanish settlers, before the place was handed over to the English. This small residential neighborhood is full of cramped and busy streets, and the buildings are far from new, with some areas well-cared-for and others run-down.

Overhead, colorful signs in a foreign language are clumped on top of one another, hidden by national flags and decorations for an upcoming or recent festivity. The smell of mouth-watering signature dishes fills the air and often you can find a nearby open-air market swarmed by locals and visitors alike who are shopping for street food, fresh produce, meats, and delicacies. The Spanish Quarter is a close-knit community; everyone here knows everyone or knows someone who does.

Burnside

Every day and throughout the night, Burnside continues its mechanical march. It chugs down copious amounts of raw materials alongside a steady stream of blue-collar workers from the nearby residential districts. Its many workshops and factories, each louder than the other, churn and grind and fuse parts together, and then regurgitate them over to another facility for the next step of the production line. Its tall chimneys and winding pipelines spew out fumes, smoke, and waste, while congested roads slowly push out tired employees and draw in fresh ones.

Out of all this ruckus comes an endless variety of products, some mass produced, some crafted with care, some for the zone’s own use, others packaged and shipped all over town. When you think about it, the whole district is just one big machine.

Once you get used to the noise and pollution, however, the finer details emerge. The district’s area is divided between hundreds of businesses and facilities. In the light industry zone one can find small workshops and garages run by tattooed burly men in wife-beaters and rough ladies in overalls, offering quick repairs and custom adjustments to your wheels and machinery.

In the commercial zone, massive hardware outlets sell construction supplies while in their old-fashioned shops, fish-eyed craftsmen work on delicate clockwork or electronics devices behind a magnifying glass. Derelict factories with saw-tooth roofs and filthy skylights house outdated production lines that operate with a skeleton crew, waiting for the inevitable modernization. Rows of storage units and warehouses seem to go on forever. Behind them, vast corporate production complexes and government-funded refineries stretch over miles, some covering an area greater than all the smaller zones put together and housing only god-knows-what.

The nights here reveal a well-known fact: Burnside is the City’s no-man’s-land. Though police and environmental compliance inspectors scout the district around the clock, they are regularly understaffed compared to its sheer size, their operations stinted due to lack of public interest - other than a few cheap housing projects for the docks’ shiftworkers, the district has no registered residents. Unruly gangs and secretive brotherhoods set up their makeshift headquarters around burn barrels in deserted hangars, spraying their automatic weapons into the night sky and howling like wolves.

 

 

Above all that mayhem, the wind blows silently amid silos and cooling towers studded with bright red aircraft warning lights. From way up there, one could easily see that it’s not the noisy parts of the Industrial Zone the police should be worrying about – it’s the quiet ones.

Whether you’re trafficking arms or stolen goods, everybody needs a workspace, and that’s what THE WAREHOUSE is. Amid crates with strange labels and dormant heavy machinery, one can set up a workshop, a lab, a training center, or even a labyrinthine complex of rooms, each with its own deathtrap for one’s unwelcomed visitors. A warehouse offers a quiet, under-the-radar place to work and prepare for your next hit. The chances of being found in Burnside are slim; without the right intel, pursuers have to comb through thousands of storage units across the district.

THE UNDERGROUND CLUB is where you go to blow off some steam. Set up in decommissioned industrial facilities (like boiler rooms, basements, and emptied out factories), they nevertheless manage to have an atmosphere of shady opulence. This is where the lowest of lowlifes congregate, criminals of any sort and kind, who use these clubs for recreation as well as for networking. Here, with the right connections, one can buy black market goods, hire a hitman, or send a message to an obscure underworld leader.

When you stand on THE DOCKS, watching the gray waves roll and listening to the calls of the seagulls and ship horns, you could be fooled for a moment to that the place has a romantic streak to it. Turn around and you’ll find loud grimy cranes swinging around shipping containers and rusted ships swaying in briny water. Unaccountable quantities of commodity come in and are shipped out of this port every day, not all on record. Shady deals are closed with a handshake; money then exchanges hands, goods get loaded onto the back of a lorry, and off you go. This godforsaken land at the edge of the neighborhood is the perfect venue to conduct illegal business, and many mobsters and gang leaders have sent their enemies to swim with the fish off these piers.

Salamanca

Not quite in Quadra City proper, the view changes from industrial to agricultural in the little quaint hamlet hidden in a labyrinth of greenery. Stone cottages start few and far between and gradually huddle together as you near the main square. Each of their windows boasts a colorful and well-tended flower box, but still the place looks wild. Behind the wooden gates and fences, you can see vegetable gardens and sheds where home-brew alcohol is fermenting. Sometimes you see a sheep, a goat, or a few chickens guarded by an ominous-looking black housecat.

Although Salamanca neighbors the City, they seem to have their own dialect, overflowing with words and expressions that mean nothing to city slickers. The attitude towards the folk of Quadra City is a mixture of amusement, suspicion, and superiority; it always feels like villagers are savvy to some profound secret or some obscure truth that city folks are oblivious to.

Whenever a city resident walks into one of their drinking holes, they all hush as if they were talking about something urbanites won’t understand. When you meet them around the village, they wipe sweat and dirt off their forehead and it’s clear they have been toiling to some mysterious end, but they would tell you that they were just having tea and would you like to join them.

THE UNIVERSITY is the best center of higher learning in the area. Established hundreds of years ago, it has long spearheaded scientific research and the study of the humanities. Unfortunately, a shrinking budget, faculty scandals, and staunch competition from private research facilities have damaged its long-standing prestige, losing it some of its foremost scientists.

Still, this well-respected establishment remains home to some of the best minds in the city, those who are driven more by a passion for knowledge than by self interest and greed. Most academics here will tell you that it is the passion for teaching and learning - not the pay - that truly keeps them here.

The campus takes up a good chunk of Salamanca with its sprawl of extensions and residential neighborhoods that house the staff and students. Still, the beating heart of the university is its centuries-old main hall and the lawns in front of it. Not far from it stands the old library: the largest collection of books, texts, and records around. Researchers and reporters are often seen here brooding over piles of books and microfilm readers. The top-notch lab facilities here have also featured on the news recently, with some strange accidents and possible break-ins reported.

 

 

Factions

Overview

Group	Description
Aegis	Aegis are Quadra City’s elite heroes. They’re official, and sanctioned by the Foundation, so they’re the poster children of registration.
Isis Inc.	Isis is a massive corporation responsible for many of the latest breakthroughs in tech, but there’s whispers that those discoveries come at a price.
Penumbra	Originally founded during WWI to protect the Allies from mystical threats, Penumbra sees itself as the guardian of magic.
The Reptar	The original inhabitants of the Earth, the Reptar have recently awoken from a several-million-year long sleep and don’t like what they’ve woken up to.
The Syndicate	The Syndicate controls all crime in Quadra City in one way or another. From money laundering to smuggling to shakedowns, the Syndicate is in charge.
The Foundation	The Foundation oversees registration of all superpowered individuals, keeping track of them in their Registry, and tracks down vigilantes who aren’t listed.
Kryptos	Kryptos is the bane of Quadra City, a criminal organization run by supervillains. They practically own a series of islands off the coast, and are so powerful they’re considered to be a de facto nation.
QCPD	Quadra City PD is your typical big-city department. Overworked, undermanned, and typically outfitted with cutting-edge tech to fight supervillans.
Signal Media	If you read a newspaper, watch TV, or browse the web in Quadra City, you’re using Olympic Media.

Aegis

“Get to cover, kid, we’ll take it from here.”

USUAL LOCATIONS

Aegis operates out of the highest vantage point in the city - Diamond Tower in the Olympia district.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

The current Aegis is the fifth iteration of the group, and they’re currently led by the indestructible Barricade. His hand-picked team is:

• Voltrex, who is granted power over lightning when she wields her ancient shield
• Chassis, a former olympic sharpshooter and gymnast. She’s given superhuman agility and stamina by her exosuit.
• Silver Wolf, an aging werewolf who controls dark magic
• And the flame-throwing Firebird

There are some who believes that heroes like Aegis bring destruction with them, but the majority of Quadra City knows that it would be much worse without them.

Aegis & You

Aegis handles the big stuff; they hold themselves above the fray of smaller problems. Still, they may recruit lesser known heroes to help out with things they’re too busy to handle. If you’re a sanctioned, registered hero, you might works with Aegis. If you’re not registered, Aegis might be a pain to deal with.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

Aegis are the poster children for the Foundation. They’re registered, they’re sanctioned, they’re official. The Chronicle loves them for the numerous times they’ve saved the city, although Signal Media does sometimes want them held more liable for the damage they cause. The QCPD depends on Aegis to handle threats they can’t. The biggest of those would be Kryptos, and they clash frequently. Penumbra sometimes clashes with Aegis as well, but over methods more than goals.

THE TRUE DANGER

Aegis is only together because of Barricade. There is internal friction. If it ever boiled over, Aegis could split up, leaving the city unprotected.

 

 

The Foundation

“Register for Safety, Serve for Duty”

USUAL LOCATIONS

There is a Foundation office in nearly every part of town, but the main office is in Olympia, the newest part of Quadra City.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

When the public became aware of humans with powers beyond the norm, The Enigma Foundation was granted a charter to study and catalogue these individuals just in case they ever became a threat. After the World War II, it became evident that extrahuman and vigilante numbers were growing, and so the Foundation Registry was established, requiring anyone who had special abiilties or who pursued vigilante activities to register their name and powers. Not everyone supports this arrangement, so the Registry’s mandate now includes searching out unregistered individuals who could pose a threat.

The Foundation & You

The Foundation offers employment in a special extrahuman taskforce known as Lighthouse, whose role is to provide safety to ordinary citizens, going up against low-level threats that the police cannot handle safely. This involves having a few members on hand at public events and having ones available to handle other incidents, such as extrahuman crimes such as bank-robbing or theft.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

The Foundation doesn’t have any specific enemies. Anyone who feels that there needs to be safeguards in place in regard to extrahumans and vigilantes tends to ally themselves with the Foundation. This includes The Isis Initiative and Penumbra. However, groups like Kryptos often interfere in their operations.

THE TRUE DANGER

There’s two threats here. The Foundation doesn’t actively pursue every unregistered vigilante; they only go after the threats. If that changed, suddenly every masked crimefighter could suddenly be a target. Beyond that, though, the registry itself is a threat. If anyone who hated extrahumans ever got their hands on it, it could be a very dangerous tool, allowing anyone who possesed it to extrapolate the potential weaknesses of every hero in the city.

Isis, Inc.

“Making life better through technology.”

USUAL LOCATIONS

Isis owns massive amounts of office and laboratory space in both Arcadia and Prometheus Park. Their headquarters are in Prometheus, in Isis One, the tallest building in the country. It stands 1,020 feet tall, not including the antenna.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

Isis develops most of the technology that the Foundation Registry now uses, and indeed, most of the tech that everyone uses. Even the QCPD buy their new heavy armor from Isis. There’s been a number of complaints lodged against Isis in recent years, alleging predatory and unethical business practices and misuse of superpowered test-subject data.

Isis & You

Isis loves heroes. They’ll give you tech to augment your abilities, and give you data to help investigations. But there’s a darker side too, and more than one hero has gone missing while undertaking tasks for Isis.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

The Foundation relies on Isis for their infrastructure, and generally turn a blind eye to complaints against them for this reason. The Chronicle has almost entirely positive coverage of Isis as well; Ariel Leon, Isis’ CEO, supports many charitable organizations in Quadra City. Isis also makes use of the Syndicate to get what it wants when more legal means don’t work quick enough.

On the other hand, Penumbra does not cooperate with the Foundation, and that makes them a thorn in the Foundations side. Unfortunately, magic isn’t specifically called out in their charter, so they’re not able to do much about them. Aegis too, although registered, did so voluntarily, and they are not happy about the aggressive stance Isis has taken towards those with powers who just want to lead a normal life.

THE TRUE DANGER

Isis experiments on superheros, with grave results. They’ve also started trying to clone their own army of mind-controlled heroes. Once they’ve got that, who knows what they’ll try to do.

 

 

Kryptos

“The truth is, your way doesn’t work. The world needs a leader, not a protector.”

USUAL LOCATIONS

Kryptos makes its headquarters in the middle of the massive fortress maze known as the Polygon, though it is ubiquitous throughout the Black Isles.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

Kryptos is led by Veritas, an elusive figure that rarely shows himself. Instead, he works through his four lieutenants:

• Rampage, an uplifted silverback gorilla genetically modified for super-strength
• An unidentifiable master of disguise who mimics powers, The Pawn
• Paladin, an ancient, corrupted, holy warrior
• And the power-draining, poisonous Blight

Kryptos & You

Simply put, if you’re a hero, Kryptos is going to try to end your career. The very last thing they need are even more heroes showing up when they’ve already got to deal with the Guardsmen, Penumbra, and QCPD.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

As noted above, the forces of law and order in Quadra City are Kryptos sworn enemies. They’ll work with others though, for short periods, like the Reptar, The Syndicate, and there’s even rumours that they work alongside Isis Incorporated.

THE TRUE DANGER

Veritas’ true identity is unknown, but in reality Veritas is hiding among another Iconic organization - probably Aegis, the Foundation, or the QCPD. While Veritas’ identity is hidden, letting the status quo stand while it’s chiseled away at from the bottom is great, but if the true identity of Veritas is discoverd, Kryptos will have no reason not to go all out.

PENUMBRA

“Wisdom always overmatches strength.”

USUAL LOCATIONS

Penumbra’s main headquarters is in Salamanca on the eponymously-named university’s main campus. Although the archives take up an entire block, the group actively uses only a few small rooms.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

World War I revealed the existence of the mystical world when the Central Powers’ sent an elite group of mystical assassins to eliminate the Allied high command. The attack was only barely avoided, and it was quickly realized that the Allies’ greatest weakness was a lack of ancient knowledge. To answer that need, Penumbra was formed.

During World War II, Penumbra was key in foiling the plans of the Rising Star, the Japanese fifth column, preventing them from sabotaging ports along the Pacific seaboard, and protected the United States’ Navy as it pushed its way to Japan. However, they pulled their support in the face of the nuclear attacks.

With the end of Penumbra’s support for the Allies, the group opted to retire from public life and moved to Quadra City to train those who came to them there. Today, Penumbra’s numbers are greatly reduced, and it exists as an archive of knowledge rather than a training ground for mystical heroes.

Penumbra & You

For those heroes that rely on mystical powers, Penumbra is a bastion of support. Those that actively oppose mystical threats or hidden conspiracies will likely receive Penumbra’s full backing. For others, help may come at a price.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

Penumbra lends their support to the QCPD when it is needed and work closely with some members of the Syndicate in obtaining and hiding ancient relics. Penumbra is not on good terms with the Foundation or Kryptos. Magic is a grey area legally, and Penumbra protects the artifacts that Kryptos would like to have.

THE TRUE DANGER

Penumbra’s very existence in Salamanca is a danger. Their massive collection of ancient knowledge is weakening the very fabric of reality, and any mistake could unleash the Dream.

 

 

QCPD

“Vigilance, Integrity, Service”

USUAL LOCATIONS

The QCPD is everywhere, but the central police station is located in the old town of Port Quadra.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

There’s not much to tell that wouldn’t be true of any police department. They’re understaffed and overworked. Isis has been donating a lot of equipment to make their manpower go further and give them a leg up on crime, but what they could really use are more good men.

QCPD & You

If you have a relationship with the QCPD, you’re probably helping them work cases or dropping off bad guys to them after you’ve cleaned up the streets. If that’s what you’re doing, they love you. Of course, if you’re not doing things by the book, mostof those guys are probably out the next morning, and that does cause a bit of grumbling, but who knows, maybe they won’t try it again.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

The QCPD uses a lot of Isis tech, so they’re reluctant to listen to complaints that aren’t immediately dangerous and have proof to back them up. The Foundation supplements their manpower for protecting large events and they’re tankful for that too. And of course, the Guardsmen have saved more police officers than they can even count, so they’re on their good side.

On their bad side? The Syndicate and Kryptos, mostly, along with every low-life small-time scum out there on the streets.

THE TRUE DANGER

If Isis or the Foundation get their claws too far into the QCPD, they stop being law and order and start being corporate thugs.

THE REPTAR

“We were here first, you stupid monkeys! For the REPTAAAAAAR!”

USUAL LOCATIONS

Their Hibernation Base is under Hidden Peak, but they’ve begun trying to expand and have now seized outposts in the surrounding land as well, including Backwater Bay, The Foundry, and Indian Island.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

The Reptar are psychic dinosaurs (not dinosaur-like; not reptilian aliens - actual dinosaurs). Millions of years ago, it was discovered that a planet-killer meteor that would strike the earth, and the Reptar realised that they would not be able to divert it in time.

A prototype wormhole generator was used to link to a planet around a nearby star, and a small group of Reptar made the trip to set up a new home. Another group of Reptar found protection under a mountain and slept in cryosleep, waiting for the Earth to recover. Now they’re awake again, and they’re ready to reclaim their planet from the troublesome monkeys who took over the Earth.

There is a small faction of Reptar who have taken to calling themselves the Jura who realize that their time has passed, and so want only to share the earth with humans, but they hold very little real power.

The Reptar & You

If you’re like most heroes, you realize the threat the Reptar represent and oppose them. Some reptilian heroes, though, may feel differently.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

The Reptar are opposed by most who call Quadra City home, including The Vindicators, Penumbra, and QCPD. There’s often an offer of friendship open to the less radical elements, but no real advancements have been made there. Meanwhile, the Reptar may from time to time ally with villainous groups such as Kryptos in an effort to weaken the heroes of Quadra City, but such alliances are always quickly broken by the Reptar’s sudden and inevitable betrayal.

THE TRUE DANGER

The Reptar threat is held in check because of their inability to gain reinforcements quickly. So far, they have only been able to open wormholes to their new homeworld that are large enough to bring through one or two at a time, and usually only a few times a day. If the Reptar ever manage to open larger wormholes, though, dinosaurs will stampede across the earth once again, and the obnoxious monkeys in possession of it now may just live long enough to regret it.

 

 

Signal Media

All the News Worth Knowing

USUAL LOCATIONS

Signal Media has three arms. CKQC-FM is housed in a shiny, but older building in Olypmia, and CKQC-TV is housed in a state-of-the-art studio in Arcadia. A few years ago, the media group bought the failing Quadra City Chronicle and moved it to the north side of Silvermint, where the real estate is cheap enough that the newspaper might just turn a profit.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

Signal Media lets the editors of its constituent parts have a mostly free rein, although many times, the owner, George Grantham will write opinion pieces that the various platforms are required to present. Overall, the Chronicle is known for unbiased reporting. The website leans left, questioning the continued validity of the Foundation and its mandate, but the TV and FM stations lean right, more in favor of registration and control of supers.

Signal & You

There’s not much work for heroes directly involving the media group, but if you’ve saved a reporter in the past, let them get good pictures of you, or give them an inside line on what’s going on behind the scenes, you’re probably in good. On the other hand, if you cause a lot of property damage, refuse interviews, or like to work in the shadows, you’re right in Grantham’s crosshairs, and you can expect a pretty sour relationship.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

Signal Media’s reporting gets under the Syndicate’s skin, so there’ no love lost there, but the Chronicle usually reports the Foundation, the Guardsmen, and Isis Inc. in a good light, keeping them on their good side.

THE TRUE DANGER

If Grantham ever gets tired of his editors not toeing his line, the media coverage in Quadra City could turn against heroes pretty quickly. Kryptos, for one, would really like that. On the other hand, if things change and the media group swings away from the Foundation entirely, there could be a lot of bad attitudes heading in their direction, and that could be just what the city needs to fall into chaos.

The Syndicate

“You’ve crossed the Syndicate. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t cross you off.”

USUAL LOCATIONS

The Syndicate and its goons permeate Quadra City, but the heads of the Syndicate are rumored to be in Quayside and the Boardwalk.

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

There’s a vast array of small criminal groups that report at least in part to one of the big three:

• The Seung Jopok runs the vast majority of money laundering and cybercrime in Quadra City.
• The Moretti family is in charge of business ‘insurance’ throughout the city.
• The Lopez Cartel runs drugs in through Burnside, and people and other goods through the Boardwalk.

The Syndicate & You

Let’s face it, these people are never going to be your favorite, and you won’t be theirs. But the enemy of my enemy is often my enemy, and some of these people do have conciences, so occassionally, their interests may align temporarily with yours.

ALLIES & ENEMIES

The Syndicate handles a lot of under-the-table work for Isis Inc., and they often smuggle dangerous artifacts and tech for both Penumbra and Kryptos. They’d not big fans of Olypmic Media’s investigative reporting, and they’re obviously in a sort of cold war with QCPD and teh Vindicators.

THE TRUE DANGER

The Syndicate likes things the way they are and are very invested in holding the status quo. They don’t want things to change. If for some reason they were eliminated or crippled, it could have consequences for those who use their services. And if another group tried to upend the current system, they’d most likely be at war with whoever tried it.

 

 

The Basics

The Dice Pool

All the mechanics in Rebirth form around one central, basic tenet. When you want to do something and there’s something that might get in your way (e.g. time, another character, the environment), you build a Dice Pool made up of any Traits that might help (or hinder) the test. Types of Traits include Affiliations, Distinctions, Abilities, Specialties, Assets, and Complications.

Die Sizes

Cortex Heroic uses four-sided (d4), six-sided (d6), eight-sided (d8), ten-sided (d10), and twelve-sided (d12) dice. The number after the d tells you how many sides the die has. Bigger dice mean potentially better outcomes; more dice mean more reliable outcomes. Traits that can be added to the Dice Pool will have a die size assigned to them.

Assistance

You can lend either a Power die or a Specialty die to another player as long as you’re not already using it, but if you do, you roll it as a d4 complication until the beginning of that player’s next turn.

Once you’ve decided which Traits will be useful, Take 2d6 plus all the matching dice for your Traits, and roll them all together, and then:

• Set aside any ones. The Editor can use these to make life more difficult for you, but you can’t use them for anything.
• Choose two dice to be the Total for your roll. Higher results are better for you.
• Choose one more die to be the Effect Die for your roll. The lerger the die size, the stronger the effect of your roll - if it’s successful. If you don’t have any dice left, your Effect Die is a d4.

Your roll is opposed by a Reaction roll from the Editor that is either made up of the Doom Pool or an NPC’s Dice Pool that’s created the same way yours is. The Editor will choose a Total and Effect in the same way you do.

Changing Die Sizes

When you’re asked to step up a die, swap it for a die that’s one size larger than the original. To step down a die by one, swap it out for a die that’s one step smaller.

Stepping down a d4 makes it go away. A d12 can only be stepped up in certain situations, such as taking out a character.

Results

When you succeed at an action, you get what you want, and you narrate the outcome. Was your character trying to hack the mainframe? It’s done. Knock out the bad guy? They did that, too. You describe it and the story moves on. If you’re not sure, the Editor can do the honors, but remember, you should only roll when failure is just as interesting as success.

When you fail, try to be entertaining in how you describe your failure. The only lasting effect is the story heading in a different direction than you wanted.

Setbacks

If you roll a 1 on a die, it’s a Setback. You gain a Plot Point for each one, but you can’t use ones for either your total or your effect die. The Editor, however, has effects he can put in place for a Setback.

If all your dice come up as 1, that’s a Crash. Your Editor can still create a complication, stepped by one for each one that you roll after the first. However, with a Crash you don’t gain any Plot Points.

Setbacks and Crashes are not final until after any powers or SFX that allow a reroll.

Success

If you match or exceed the Total of the Reaction roll, you can apply your Effect die as an Asset that can help you and your allies, or as Stress that can potentially knock your enemies out of a fight.

Heroic Success

If your Total is higher than the Reaction roll’s total by five your more, you can step up the size of your Effect Die by one for every five your roll is higher.

 

 

Failure

If your roll is lower than the Total of the Reaction roll, whatever you’re attempting, fails.

Counterattack

If your roll is lower than the Total of the Reaction roll by five or more, the opponent can counter-attack and use their Effect Die on you.

Plot Points

Plot points are meta-currency that allow players to affect the plot beyond the roll of the dice. Plot points can be spent to give players more dice, make the dice they have more powerful, or activate certain traits or special effects (SFX) on a character file.

Every player starts a game session with at least one Plot Point. Unspent PP are carried over from session to session, but it’s best to spend PP when the opportunity arises — it’s not hard to get more during play. There is no limit to the number of Plot Points that can be earned.

Earning PP

There are several ways to earn Plot Points during play.

• Rolling Setbacks: You gain 1PP when you roll a Setback (but not a Crash!).
• Giving In: If you give in during an action and let your opponent succeed rather than rolling to beat their total, you earn 1PP.
• SFX: Some SFX (including the default Hinder SFX for all distinctions) give you 1PP.
• Rolling a d4: If you choose to include a d4 in your dice pool, you automatically get 1PP. This does not apply when you’re forced to use a d4 for whatever reason. On the plus side, you’re more likely to roll a Setback on a d4, which could lead to a PP.
• Roleplaying: The Editor is always free to hand out PP for remarkable moments in play, including making everyone laugh, doing something truly heroic and in character, and so forth. This is something that each table agrees to and isn’t mandated by the rules.

SPENDING PP

You can spend Plot Points for a variety of benefits, such as including more dice in your total, activating some SFX, creating new assets, and using hero dice. Remember, you can only spend PP you’ve earned from a die roll after your die roll is resolved and the total announced.

… On Your Rolls

You can spend a plot point anytime before the result of an action is announced to do one of the following:

• Activate SFX: Some SFX must be activated by spending Plot Points. These effects only last for the duration of the roll you’re using it on; once you do something else, the effect must be activated again.
• Add more dice: Before you roll, you can spend 1PP to include an extra die from a power set or specialty in your dice pool, so long as you can give a reasonable explanation as to why.
• Include more results: After any roll, you may spend 1PP to include one additional die out of the dice pool you just rolled. You can add any number of dice as long as you have the PP to pay for it.
• Keep an extra effect die: You can spend 1PP to keep an extra effect die, using it to create an additional asset, complication, or stress. You can’t use this if you have no dice left over from your roll.
• Create an asset: You can create a d6 asset by spending 1PP. The temporary asset only helps you, unless you Share an Asset.
• Create a Complication: You can create a d6 complication for an enemy by spending 1PP.
• Share an asset: Spend 1PP to make one of your Assets available for your allies in the scene to use in their dice pools.
• Exploit Your Own Stress: Add one stress die to your dice pool, then step it up by one.
• Change Stress or Trauma Type: You can change one die of incoming stress or Trauma to another.

… ON THE EDITOR’S ROLLS

If the Editor rolls a 1 on their dice, this is known as an Opportunity, and any player can spend a Plot Point to do one of the following.

• Step down a Complication: The die size of one Complication becomes one size smaller for each one the Editor rolled. If a Complication is stepped down lower than d4, it goes away.
• Step up an Asset: Step up one Asset by one size for each 1 the Editor rolled, to a maximum of d12. This lasts until the end of the scene.
• Help your next roll: You can create either a push d6 or a stunt d8 for your next roll and then immediately step it up by one. You can either use this on a reaction (if the Editor gave you the opportunities on an action) or save it for your next action.

 

 

ASSETS

Assets are circumstances or objects that help you. They’re included in a player’s dice pool when they’re applicable. Some examples:

• Press Pass, which helps a PC slip into a restricted location without being stopped.
• Thermal Jacket, which makes surviving in the icy cold much easier.

They can be environmental, too:

• Footholds Everywhere is an asset that would help a PC climb a cliff face.
• Handy Info Kiosk is an asset that any PC might use to look something up.

CREATING ASSETS

During the game, you can spend a 1PP and create a d6 asset with a name you come up with. Some SFX allow for assets that start with a d8 rating. Assets can also be made by making a test against a difficulty set by the Editor, even if the PC has run out of Plot Points.

Assets last until the end of the scene, unless something in the story makes them no longer relevant, or they’re stepped down or eliminated.

During play, you can add as many of your fictionally appropriate assets to a dice pool as you’d like. Since you spent a Plot Point for the asset itself when you created it, you don’t need to spend a second time to use it.

Once created, assets are largely static. You can step them up with Editor opportunities, or with SFX that permit you to do so. You can also spend 1PP to make the asset last for the rest of the session. If you don’t spend the additional Plot Point, the asset goes away at the end of the scene.

An asset is assumed to belong to the character of the player that created it, and by default can’t be included in anyone else’s pool. If you create an asset to help another character (another PC or a NPC), you can declare the ownership of the asset to be that character instead. In this case, the other player (or the Editor) may use it in their character’s dice pool and you may not. You may spend an additional Plot Points to declare an asset to be open and usable by any character in the scene (including NPCs); this is in addition to any Plot Points used to make it last longer than one scene.

CLUES AS ASSETS

Anytime a PC wants to get a read on somebody, case a scene, spot something out of the ordinary, or generally just use their senses, they’re creating an asset. The Editor usually calls for the roll, though it’s just as valid for you to ask for it. The difficulty for an asset test is set by rolling against the Doom Pool. Your dice pool for the test is assembled from appropriate traits related to senses or perception.

With a successful test (you beat the difficulty), your PC gains some crucial information or gathers some useful intel. If you spend 1PP after you succeed at your test, you can bank the asset until you need it, give it to another character, or keep it for longer.

With a failed test, you don’t gain any useful advantage. If you don’t beat the difficulty set by the Editor, it’s business as normal, essentially. If there are complications, they generally represent the consequences of poking around places trying to find stuff out, such as Enhanced Security, I’m Being Followed, Skittish Bystanders, Tripped Alarms.

ASSETS ON THE FLY

Sometimes successes and failures lead to new assets or complications. When the situation calls for it, the Editor may allow a successful test to create a d6 asset for free. A player may then spend 1PP to make that asset last for the session rather than just the scene.

Similarly, the Editor may rule that a failed test leads to a d6 complication. The character can still attempt to remove an on-the-fly complication through a recovery test or wait for the complication to wear off.

 

 

COMPLICATIONS

Complications can be created just like Assets, but Complications attach to an opponent - or to you if the Editor ceates them. When you or an ally rolls a test against that opponent, you can add the Complication to your Dice Pool if it would help you against that opponent. (Adding dice to the opposition is preferred to removing dice from the dice pool.) Complications might include things like:

• Extra-Alert Security
• Slippery Floors
• Broken Leg

If your opponent has a complication attached to them, you can use it when you oppose them if the complication makes sense as something that would hinder or get in your opponent’s way. Adding a complication to your dice pool doesn’t cost anything. There’s no real limit to how many complications you can add in this way, or how many complications you can be saddled with.

Double Jeopardy

You can’t have two complications that are just different severities of the same problem. For instance, you can’t have a sprained leg and a broken leg. Instead, just step the original Complication up by one.

Creation

If you roll a Setback (see page 18), the Editor has the option of introducing a complication. Whether the PC succeeds or fails at the test or contest, a complication means something else has gone wrong, making life difficult.

The Editor either creates a new complication, giving it a descriptive name with a d6 die rating, or steps up an existing Complication by one. Complications last for one session.

If a complication is stepped up beyond a d12, it has overwhelmed the PC and keeps them from acting further until the scene is overor until the complication is removed. You can overcome this for a single action by spending 1PP. This is a severe handicap, but sometimes it’s necessary.

RECOVERY

Many complications are simply temporary problems and will go away before the next scene begins. Complications that represent major consequences, however, stick around. To get rid of them, the group must test their traits to recover. Getting rid of or reducing a complication is a test vs a dice pool consisting of the complication and the Doom Pool.

Other traits may also affect the roll, as it’s easier to heal a gunshot wound in a Hospital and harder to shake off a concussion in a Noisy Room. In addition, the PC or their circumstances must be capable of improving the situation to make a roll.

When the test is complete, one of the following happens:

• Success: If your effect die is larger than the complication, the complication is eliminated. If the effect die is equal to or smaller than the complication, the complication is stepped down by one.
• Success with a Setback: Gain 1PP. The Editor will introduce a new complication related to the one that was just recovered (e.g turning a Broken Arm into a Splinted Arm).
• Failure: The complication remains as it is.
• Failure with a Setback: The complication is stepped up by one step for every Setback rolled, which could put the character out of action entirely.

d4 Complications

If a complication is stepped down to a d4, the next time the complication might affect your character, add it to your own dice pool and earn 1PP, then remove the Complication - unless the dice come up with one or more Setbacks, in which case the Editor may choose to activate them and step up the complication to d6 or more.

This keeps d4 complications from creating problems for your opponents and adds to the chance of a new complication being created or the current complication getting worse as a result of continued activity by the player.

 

 

SFX

Many characters have exception-based features called SFX (special effects) that can alter or influence the dice pool, dice results, or even the story directly. SFX frequently come in the form of an activating condition, some kind of cost, and then some kind of benefit or bonus.

If any rule or SFX steps up the effect die beyond d12, either the effect is an automatic take out or victory, or another die from the pool is turned into a second effect die.

Some SFX let you choose more than one effect die. You have to choose from the dice left over from your roll. If there are none, use a d4. If an SFX tells you to step up or step down an effect die and you have multiple effect dice, only modify one of them for each SFX that you’re using.

See page xx for rules on how to create and use SFX.

STRESS

Stress represents the negative consequences of conflict. When heroes and villains fight, the outcome is often determined by how much stress each side inflicts on the other. There are three types of stress: physical, mental, and emotional. Each type of stress is a trait with a die rating, and that die may be added into the opposition’s dice pool when it would affect your ability to succeed in what you’re trying to do. Only one type of stress may be added to the opposing dice pool. If you want to add in more, you need to spend 1 PP (as a player) or a doom die (as the Watcher).

Stress starts out with a die rating equal to the effect die that was used to inflict it, a lot like an asset. If you already have stress of a certain type and take more of it, compare the old and new stress dice—if the new die is larger than the old, replace the old rating with the new. If the new die is equal to or less than the old, step the old die up by one.

Types of Stress

Here’s a summary of the three stress types and what trauma of each type means.

• Physical stress is bodily injury, exhaustion, the effects of toxins or chemicals, and so forth. Being stressed out from physical stress means blacking out or becoming unconscious, or perhaps incapable of activity from pain or fatigue.
• Mental stress could be confusion, lack of concentration, mental fatigue, and the results of telepathic assault. Being stressed out from mental stress usually leaves someone insensate, incoherent, or unconscious.
• Emotional stress is despair, fear, anger, or any number of negative emotional states. Being stressed out from too much emotional stress means being paralyzed with fear, lost in one’s misery, or consumed with irrational anger.

Usually, your opposition determines the type of stress you take. If you choose to, you may spend a Plot Point immediately to turn it into a different kind of stress. When you do this, describe how the attack or conflict affected you differently - made you mad, shocked you so much you felt actual pain, staggered your senses.

Pulling Punches

Sometimes you don’t really want to inflict that much stress on a target. That’s fine; you can always choose to inflict less stress by choosing an effect die that’s of a lower size. If you only have large effect dice to draw on, well… sometimes you don’t know your own strength!

If you don’t want to inflict trauma on an opponent, you can make that choice when you stress him out. When he recovers from the stress, he might not have any lasting effects, but you still have what you wanted. This is an important choice to make for some heroes, who don’t want to cause lasting harm but still need to deliver a knockout punch. If you stress an opponent out but choose to pull your punch, so to speak, he recovers all but d6 of the stress at the beginning of the next Transition Scene or when an ally uses a recovery action. This represents the “Did anyone catch the license plate of that truck?” effect of some battles.

 

 

Stress Recovery

Stress always resets at the beginning of a Transition Scene, i.e., after the action is over and everyone’s resting up, traveling somewhere else, or talking. If you were stressed out in the last Scene, your stress is gone, but any trauma remains.

If you were stressed out but your attacker chose not to inflict trauma, you start the Transition Scene with d6 stress of the type you were stressed out with and must recover that in the Transition Scene.

Heroes can recover faster by spending a Transition Scene with a medical professional or counselor, in a quiet meditative spot, or some other situation you can justify as restorative. Roll the appropriate Affiliation die (Solo if you’re all alone, Buddy if it’s you and a friend or a single medical specialist, Team if it’s your whole team or a staff of professionals) plus any Stamina-based powers, appropriate Distinctions, or Specialties as desired.

Powers and Recovery

Some heroes have Power Sets with special effects that allow for recovery during Action Scenes without needing an ally’s help. Usually these heroes have Stamina as a power (Enhanced, Superhuman, or Godlike). By spending a Plot Point to activate the SFX, the Stamina is used as an effect die just as if the hero had succeeded on a recovery roll.

Compare the Stamina die to the physical stress; if it’s equal or greater, the physical stress is gone. If it’s less, step the physical stress back by one. Using these powers counts as an action, just as if you were making the roll itself.

If you want to combine your use of recovery powers with another action, such as healing stress at the same time as you leap into battle with the enemy, you can use one of your effect dice from the action to recover the stress. This doesn’t cost a Plot Point beyond the cost of keeping the extra effect die, but the effect die you use can’t be rated higher than your Stamina die.

d4 Stress

Stress rated at d4 functions just like a complication rated at d4; it goes into a player’s dice pool instead of being added to the opposition dice pool and earns the player 1PP. Right after that test or contest, it either goes away or - if the player rolls a Setback on one of their dice - gets stepped up as the injury gets worse.

Only one type of stress can be used against a character at any given time, unless the Editor pays the player 1PP to add an additional stress die to the opposition dice pool. Characters can be affected by both stress and complications at the same time, however.

Stressing out

Once any type of stress would exceed d12, keep the d12 and gain a d6 Complication that explains why he’s having trouble continuing. Your hero can’t take any actions or do anything until one of the following happens:

• Another hero helps your hero recover during the Action Scene
• You spend a Transition Scene recovering.

Once the hero is recovered, they can act again, but the Complication doesn’t go away until until they Recover from it. (see Page 18)

Action Scene Recovery

If others use a successful recovery action on you they may either bring you back into the action at d12 (if their effect die is d10 or smaller) or bring you back at d10 (if their effect die is d12 or stepped up beyond d12). If you have stress and trauma of the same type at the end of a scene, recover all of that type of stress, but keep the trauma.

 

 

The Heroes

Hero Creation

Follow the steps below to create your hero.

1: Affiliations

The three Affiliations are: Solo, Buddy, and Team.

• Assign a d10 to the Affiliation your hero is most comfortable with.
• Assign a d6 to the the Affiliation your hero is least comfortable with.
• Assign a d8 to the third Affiliation.

2: Distinctions

Create three Distinctions for your hero. Assign the Hinder SFX to each Distinction.

3: Powers & Signature Assets

Every character starts with one of the following choices:

• Two Powersets, each with three d8 Powers, two SFX and one Limit.
• One Powerset with five d8 Powers, three SFX and one Limit.

Powers may be stepped down to d6 to step others up to d10. No power should start above d10. If a power is stepped down below d6, the power goes away.

4: Specialties

Choose either two Expert Specialties, two d6 Signature Assets, or one of each.

5: Step Up Traits

Step up any combination of Powers, Specialties, and Signature Assets five times. Alternately, use one step up to create a new d6 Power, Expert Specialty, or d6 Signature Asset.

6: Milestones

Set up at least one set of Milestones (see page . Two is better.

7: Personal Details

Add details like your name, appearance, background, etc. Think about where you’ve been the last few years, where you’re going in the near future, and what you’re doing to keep your head above water.

Affiliations

Some heroes just do their best work when they’re working with others, while others have a reputation of being loners. Many heroes are well known for fighting crime with a partner. This is represented with Affiliations. The three Affiliations reflect how well the hero acts when Solo, with a Buddy, or on a Team.

One Affiliation is rated at d6, one at d8, and one at d10. Which die goes where reflects how the hero performs in those situations; the bigger the die, the better your hero performs.

SOLO

You’re Solo if you have no allies with you or helping you, or are in a different state of conflict than the rest of your team (such as being on the astral plane or in a computer system).

• Use the Solo die for all of your actions and reactions.
• You can’t accept help or support from any other hero.
• You can’t assist or support any other hero until your next action or reaction.

BUDDY

You have a Buddy if you’re working with one other hero or supporting character such as when you break off from a larger team together. This doesn’t have to be in person. Sharing a telepathic link or comms works too.

• Use the Buddy die for all of your actions and reactions.
• You can only accept help or support from your chosen buddy.
• You can’t assist or support any hero other than your partner until your next action or reaction.

 

 

TEAM

You’re on a Team if you’re working with at least three heroes or supporting characters, including if you share a telepathic link or comms and can assist them.

• Use the Team die for all of your actions and reactions.
• You can give and accept support dice from any ally.
• You can’t give support assets to or otherwise help another character if they used a Solo die for their last action or reaction or if they used their Buddy die and have already had help from another character.

DISTINCTIONS

Distinctions represent quirks, personality types, character histories, and other descriptors that helps to flesh out who the PC is in the game. It consists of a name, and a brief description of why the Distinction is important, and the starting SFX, Hinder. (We’ll talk more about SFXs later.)

You can reference the name of the Distinction when you add it to your Dice Pool. The Distinction’s description helps remind you when it will help or hinder you. Your starting Distinctions will look something like this:

Distinction Name

One or two sentences and give context for what this distinction means or implies.

• Hinder: Gain 1PP when you switch out this Distinction’s d8 for a d4.

Specialties

Advanced training and skill often define a super hero more than super-powers. Specialties cover a variety of broad skill sets commonly used by super heroes in the comics, and they represent a degree of training that exceeds the standard amount that’s otherwise expected. A Specialty is rated at either Expert or Master level.

• Expert Specialties let you add a d8 to the dice pool.
• Master Specialties let you add a d10 to your dice pool.
• Grandmaster Specialties let you add a d12 to your dice pool.

No one has all of these Specialties. In fact, most people don’t have more than one. Heroes and villains demonstrate training and ability beyond ordinary people, so it’snot unheard of to have several Expert Specialties and even some Master Specialties on your hero datafile. It’s also important to note that you don’t need a Specialty at Expert level to know something about it. You can assume that if you don’t have Tech Expert, you still know how to operate a smart phone, a GPS device, or a high-tech coffee maker.

Each Specialty description gives you basic information about what the Specialty includes under its umbrella.

Splitting Specialty Dice

Each time you use your Specialty, you can decide to split your Specialty dice, or in other words, roll more but smaller dice. The decision of how many dice to use is up to you. Using fewer dice of a larger size means a higher total or larger effect die is possible, but more dice may help support your action and provide you with more dice to include in your total or as effect dice by spending PP. Adding more dice also increases the chance of rolling an opportunity - but if you’re low on PP that might be a good thing

Specialty Dice Splits

d8	d10	d12
2d6	2d8	2d10
	3d6	3d8
		4d6

 

 

Specialty List

Acrobatic

You’ve had training in leaping, jumping, contorting, and dodging out of the way. You’ve got a great sense of balance and you’re not afraid of heights.

Business

You’ve got business acumen and know your way around economics, finances, small businesses, corporations, and sales. You can talk statistics and spreadsheets, forecasts and futures.

Combat

Your experience may involve anything from hand-to-hand conflict with fists and swords to firefights with modern weapons.

Cosmic

You’ve got knowledge and even experience with other worlds and alien races and cultures. You have some sense of the sheer scope of the universe.

Covert

You’ve got the training and the skills to sneak into, infiltrate, investigate, and even overthrow other organizations or locations. You could have been trained by a secret organization or whatever agency you like, even your own government. Or you could just be a really good police detective.

Crime

You have a professional understanding of the criminal mind, either because you are a criminal yourself, or you hunt them down. You know how crooks think, you know the law, and you know all the tricks of the trade.

While you can create fun magical stunts with the Mystic Specialty, actual mystic blasts and arcane summonings should be described with Power Sets.

Medical

You’ve had medical training. You might be an EMT, a nurse, a pharmacist, or an endocrinologist. Maybe you specialized, or perhaps you focus on general practice. You might even study ancient or tribal medicine. You know your Rx from your IV.

Menace

You know what scares people. You’re familiar with how to get others to do what you want through force, threats, intimidation, and fear. You’re also better able to resist these things yourself. Contrast it with Psych, which is more insightful and better for recovery.

Mystic

You have seen the world in the shadows, beyond the veil of the mundane. Or you’re at least blessed with a library of occult books and a passport stamped with a lot of strange places.

Psych

You have a gift for understanding human behavior. You’ve been a counselor, therapist, researcher, or confidante. You might even be a stand-up comedian or actor. This Specialty is the opposite of Menace, which draws on fear and negative persuasion.

Science

You know how the world works, and how scientific laws answer life’s problems. You’ve studied biology, physics, chemistry, or any of the other natural or physical sciences. For astrophysics and the mysteries of the cosmos, use the Cosmic Specialty. For alchemy and occult sciences, use Mystic.

Tech

You can use, repair, and invent electronic, digital, or mechanical gear. You’re an inventor, mechanic, beta tester, or hacker. Tech covers a broad range of equipment, from hand-held computers to deep space rockets. You probably have a specific area of expertise, though if anything breaks, you can probably fix it.

Vehicle

You don’t just know how to drive a car; you were born behind that wheel. You’re an aircraft pilot, skilled driver, or a talented vehicle operator. It might just be a hobby for you, but you make it look easy.

 

 

Powers

A power is a special kind of trait that represents super - human ability or some extraordinary quality that most normal humans or baseline characters don’t have.

For quick reference, here’s that power list without the full description of what they do:

Power	Descrption
Attack	blasts, weapons
Control	air, earth, fire, gravity, ice, kinetic, light, weather, water, etc.
Durability	toughness, force fields
Influence	change the way people think
Intangibility	phasing through objects, going ethereal
Intelligence	inventiveness, knowledge, calculation speed
Invisibility	vs sight or vs other senses
Mimic	creating copies of other powers as assets
Movement	speed, flight, swing, swim, etc.
Psychic	mind control, telepathy, etc.
Reflexes	reaction time, coordination
Resistance	vs sonic, poison, psychic, fire, etc.
Senses	vision, hearing, touch, weird senses
Shapeshift	changing shape, copying other’s appearance
Size-Changing	grow, shrink
Sorcery	creating magical assets
Stamina	endurance, staying power
Strength	might and heavy lifting
Stretch	elongated limbs
Teleport	gateways, wormholes, shadow-steps, etc.
Transmutation	changing one thing into another

RATING POWERS

Powers are rated on a short scale from minor (d6) to godlike (d12). The rating defines how far-reaching, extensive, or significant the power is. If you don’t have a power, you don’t have a default die rating in it.

• d6 (Minor Influence): These powers allow a hero to do something most people can’t do, but it doesn’t have much effect on ordinary tests and contests nor is it likely to be a character’s signature power.
• d8 (Enhanced Control): These powers represent a level of performance beyond ordinary human beings, and one that the character likely uses most of the time.
• d10 (Superhuman Mastery): These powers are rare and reflect extensive training or use, an individual stands out among others with this power performing at a truly superhuman level.
• d12 (Godlike Supremacy): These powers represent a level of control beyond superhuman or at the very peak of potential with a specific ability. It’s reserved for truly godlike characters and aliens, or superhuman individuals whose signature power puts them among the top tier of those who have it.

Sometimes, powers simply do what they say they do and can be used as benchmarks for performance on an automatic success (the Editor can simply say that, because you have a power at d8 or d10, you can just do that thing if the outcome isn’t really in question). Powers are added to a dice pool when their use can be justified as key to the test or contest’s success or failure.

POWER SETS

A power set is a mod that adds thematic strength to a collection of power traits. Power sets usually come with a limit that governs them, one or more helpful SFX, and a single origin or source that explains why your character has these powers. A power set might be something like Russian Science Experiment or Alpha Centauri Heritage. Each power set counts as a trait set of its own.

A power set must have:

• A set theme
• At least two powers
• At least one SFX
• At least one Limit

 

 

Individual power traits within a power set might be stepped up as a result of growth, or entire power sets might be acquired or swapped out during play, depending on the game.

Characters may have more than one power set. Each of them counts as a different trait set; if you have two power sets, you may include one power from each of the sets in your dice pool at no cost.

A power set generally looks something like this:

STRANGER FROM SPACE

Enhanced Speed d8

Enhanced Stamina d8

Heat Vision d8

Superhuman Durability d10

Superhuman Strength d10

Supersonic Flight d10

• Bulletproof (SFX): Spend 1PP to ignore physical stress or complications for a test or contest unless caused by magic.
• Mightiest Mortal (SFX): Use two or more Stranger from Space powers in a single dice pool and step each power down by one for each additional power beyond the first.
• Tellurite Allergy (Limit): When exposed to tellurite mineral or anything powered by tellurite energy, shut down a Strange Visitor from Another Dimension power and gain a complication of the same size to gain 1PP. Once out of range of the tellurite, eliminate the complication to recover the power.

POWER LISTINGS

Each listing contains a description of the power, relative power rating limitations, and notes on the use of the power.

When possible, you should change the names or customize the specific version of these powers as needed. ‘Attack’ isn’t great. Unbreakable Sword is better. ‘Movement’ should be something like Whirlwind instead.

ATTACK

Whether it’s an energy blast or razor-sharp claws, any power that represents an attack fits in this category. Use these guidelines for rating attack powers in a power set:

• At d6, the power is roughly equivalent to small armsfire or dangerous close combat weapons.
• At d8, the power is capable of greater injury or harm, roughly equivalent to automatic rifles or grenades.
• At d10, the power is equivalent to heavy explosives or lightning bolts.
• At d12, the power is truly devastating, even if the area of effect isn’t widespread.

An attack power’s name gives you more suggestions about when it works. Often, the attack uses a specific type of energy, such as fire, electricity, cold, or radiation. This may affect how you describe the effects of stress caused by the attack and by other powers or SFX that provide resistance to those types. A generic Energy Blast is usually explosive plasma or cosmic energy with few side effects, unlike Flame Blasts or Lightning Bolts that might set things on fire, or Cold Blasts that freeze. Psychic Blasts can target heavily armored foes but they’re useless against opponents without minds.

Some attacks may be used at range, while others are only effective in close quarters. Whether this is an advantage or a drawback varies on the situation. It’s easier to target a flying target with a Force Blast than with Elbow Spikes, but in a confined space the Force Blast poses problems the Elbow Spikes do not.

CONTROL

Control is, quite simply, the ability to control different energy types or pieces of the world. Each control power trait must be specified, i.e., Fire, Light, Magnetic.

• At a d6, the power gives minor or basic control: extinguishing the candles in a room; cooling the air in a room; shorting out household appliances.
• At a d8, the power gives significant local control: extinguishing a burning room; snap-freezing the air in a room; shorting out the electrical system of a building.
• At a d10, the power provides citywide control: extinguishing a burning skyscraper; freezing over a city street; bringing down a city’s power grid.
• At a d12, the power provides regional control: extinguishing a forest fire; freezing over Lake Michigan; rerouting the national power grid.

 

 

Sample Control Types

Type	Description
Air	Create wind and manipulate air pressure
Animals	Control and communicate with animals
Earth	Move, shape, and alter the consistency of soil, dirt, and rock
Electric	Manipulate or create electrical currents
Fire/Heat	Amplify and shape existing flame, combust materials
Gravity	Manipulate the effect of gravity on objects, shift centers of gravity
Ice/Cold	Reduce temperature, produce ice, freeze objects
Kinetic/ Telekinetic	Manipulate the kinetic energy of objects, move objects or hold them in place
Light	Manipulate light levels, create bright flashes, form holograms
Magnetic	Manipulate magnetic fields, affect ferrous metals
Negative	Create and manipulate negative energy or darkness
Plants	Control and communicate with plants
Quantum	Manipulate quantum reality and alter the bonds between energy and matter
Sonic	Manipulate sound levels, alter sound waves, mimic noises
Weather	Manipulate and create weather patterns
Water	Manipulate water and water pressure, hydrate or dehydrate objects

Control powers offer many opportunities for stunts; when tied together with SFX, they may be applied in dozens of ways. The basic rule of thumb is that the larger the die rating, the greater the scope of the power’s control effect. Control d6 usually only extends to one or two types of effect, while Control d12 indicates the unsurpassed ability to manipulate the controlled element.

Some control powers overlap; you can create frosty conditions using both Ice Control and Weather Control, though the Editor might make disctintions between how that happens; Ice Control might have more accuracy and depth than Weather Control, for instance.

Other types of control might have interesting ‘edge applications’. Magnetic Control could alter electrical currents and other types of energy, though this is likely better represented by a stunt than SFX. This sort of overlap is more likely at the d10 and d12 levels; d6 and d8 rarely allow the character to step outside the standard boundaries of his chosen type.

To properly represent the kinds of abilities associated with characters with control, these power sets usually also include powers like Energy Blast, Flight, or Senses, and SFX like Area Attack, Energy Absorption, and Multipower.

DURABILITY

Whatever the reason, the character is more resistant to injury and harmful effects than the average human.

• At a d8, the power is toughened skin or muscle, as well as the ability to withstand most minor blunt trauma or pain and some extremes of heat or cold.
• At a d10, the power is bulletproof skin and resistance to extreme temperatures or hazards.
• At a d12, the power is invulnerability to almost all conventional forms of injury and harmful effects.

Durability is also used in power sets that represent force fields or hardened objects. Use common sense and the descriptions in the power set as your guide for when you can factor in Durability. A character that can project a force field may not be able to apply that Durability against light-based attacks, while a character whose Durability represents steel-hard skin can’t apply it against psychic blasts.

Durability usually, but not always, comes with an assumed level of life support or protection from the environment. This might indicate that the character can shrug off certain environmental conditions such as heat or cold. Whether this life support is continuous or only when the character is using the power may depend on SFX or how the Durability is described.

Powers that damage or cause stress are usually opposed by Durability. Some SFX protect against other, more specific types of harm - such as disease or toxins - over and above any protection Durability might give. For example, a power set that includes Durability might have the Immune SFX against poison.

Durability doesn’t protect against powers that cause Complications such as Mind Control or Sorcery; use Resistance instead.

 

 

Influence

Influence relies on planting suggestions, changing perceptions, and altering behavior—it’s getting people to do what you want, especially when they wouldn’t otherwise. A complication you create with Influence (such as Fight your Friends! Or Let Us In!) hampers your target if they resist or try to oppose what you want them to do. If they go along with it, the complication doesn’t pose any problem for them.

• At a d6, you can push the target to do something they were inclined to do already, such as buy something they like or make advances on someone they’re attracted to. You can also intensify their senses to a degree - making the room seem colder, a smell seems stronger, or other mild effects.
• At a d8, you can override the target’s impulse control, remove inhibitions, or provoke irrational behavior. You can make them see, smell, or hear things that aren’t there for short periods, enough to distract them.
• At a d10, you can take over the target’s motor control and movements, create vivid and believable hallucinations that last for hours, or cause them to go against their core beliefs for a short time.
• At a d12, you can completely possess the target, create entire fictional universes within their mind, and permanently alter their beliefs or perceptions.

Influence affects other minds. Influence is used to create complications on your targets. If the complication is stepped up beyond d12 and the target is stressed out, your effect is total. Until then, the target gets a chance to resist it or fight it off, with the complication making things tough for them.

To cause mental or emotional stress, use Psychic Blast instead.

INTANGIBILITY

The hero is able to become less solid, either through reduced molecular density, shifting phase, or becoming fluid. The primary effect of this power trait is that passing through obstacles becomes much easier, and physical objects pass through the body.

• At a d6, the power lets you mildly disperse your molecules, reducing the impact of some physical attacks and allowing you to slowly move through highly porous or permeable obstacles such as chicken wire fences or barred gates.
• At a d8, the power represents substantial fluidity or dispersal, giving you the power to seep through tiny holes in obstacles and reduce the impact of most physical attacks.
• At a d10, the power makes you ghostlike or out of phase, letting you walk through almost any physical obstacle other than super-high-density substances, and making very little noise. Physical attacks rarely affect you.
• At a d12, the power makes you completely out of phase with reality, including even energy waveforms. You’re essentially not even there.

Intangibility is frequently associated with power sets that describe transforming into liquids or, at low ratings, the ability to deform or compress your body. A close cousin to Stretch, it’s often included in the same power sets. If the power set represents molecular or dimensional phasing, powers like Flight or Airwalk are common.

 

 

INTELLIGENCE

The character has enhanced reasoning, mathematical, or analytical faculties linked to intelligence. Many people are smart, but this superpower puts you above the rest. It’s almost always used to create assets or apply complications, and to enhance the use of several specialties.

• At a d8, the power means you’re able to handle complex mental problems easily, including calculation, recall, and applied knowledge.
• At a d10, the power means you’re a living computer, with a mind that processes information and sensory input with dazzling speed, running numerous simultaneous rational operations, and able to recall vast amounts of information and data when needed.
• At a d12, the power places you beyond terrestrial computers, forming connections in your mind between apparently unrelated facts, solving impossibly difficult puzzles or mathematical problems, and possessing nigh-instant access to countless storehouses of knowledge that you’ve collected.

Intelligence pairs well with Senses, as well as other powers such as Reflexes or psychic powers. It acts as a sort of generic “smartest guy in the room” power that substitutes in for specialist knowledge from skills or specialties but doesn’t entirely replace them: even having Godlike Intelligence doesn’t mean you can’t also benefit from having a high rating in the Know skill.

INVISIBILITY

The character can hide in plain sight, whether through the bending of light waves, high-tech chameleon technology, or shifting out of phase with this dimension.

• At a d6, the power blurs or obscures your visual image; it’s often limited to obscuring your image in mirrors or electronic surveillance, or in situations where vision is already impaired, such as at night. It may also be a psychic field that makes others pay less attention to you, even though you’re still visible.
• At a d8, you’re concealed to a greater degree, such as with chameleon-like blending, ghostlike transparency, or psychic misdirection. While still visible to others if they focus, you’ve got the equivalent of a stealth field.
• At a d10, the power renders you completely invisible to standard visual means. You can move around without being noticed, and you don’t leave a shadow or other sign of being there. Certain spectrums of visual detection may spot you, such as infrared or dimensional locators.
• At a d12, you are impossible to detect with any visual-based sense. You never show up on any device, and likely don’t even give off energy signatures of any kind.

Depending on how this is defined within a power set, Invisibility may be psychic or physics based. If it’s psychic, that affects how others might detect the character. If it’s physics, sometimes all you need to do is to turn up the sound detection to realize an invisible character is nearby. This power trait when combined with others like Intangibility or Flight can essentially make the character a phantom or apparition.

MIMIC

This power isn’t changing shape into other forms or to look like other people—that’s Shapeshift. Mimic is copying or even stealing powers from others. It may also be used to represent a character who has no fixed powers but instead spontaneously creates them as the need arises.

To manifest a power, the character must create an asset with a test or contest using this power’s die. Sometimes, the character must physically touch or cause stress to the target; in other cases, the character can just develop a power. The description and SFX usually define how this works. The asset created serves as the power trait in the short term.

Mimic’s die rating directly corresponds to the character’s ability to effectively copy or mimic another power. The scope and extent of the copied power is limited by Mimic’s die rating. If you want to copy or steal Flight as a power and only have Mimic d8, you won’t be capable of supersonic speed. You might create a d12 asset to represent Flight and roll that die into any tests or contests, but the actual speed won’t be the equivalent of space flight.

Heroes with Mimic usually have a number of SFX and limits that refine the power. Including other powers in the power set, such as Shapeshift, allows the character to also copy others’ appearance and form.

MOVEMENT

Movement powers confer the ability to move at greater than human speed. Speed is ground or surface travel, while Flight is air or space travel. The actual speed each die rating represents differs between Speed and Flight.

• At a d6, you can run as fast as the world’s fastest humans; Flight d6 is the speed of a hawk or news chopper.
• At a d8, you can run at the speed of a horse; with Flight d8, you can fly as fast as a missile or passenger airliner.
• At a d10, you’re faster than a bullet train; with Flight d10, you can fly as fast as a jet fighter.
• At a d12, you can travel around the world in moments; Flight d12 permits swift interplanetary travel.

 

 

Swing, Airwalk, Burrow, Swim and so forth are all movement powers. They all operate at the same speed, but how and when they might be used differs. Swing lets some characters swing through city streets above the traffic, giving them access to areas others don’t have. Burrow is something subterranean creatures can do that surface-dwellers can’t. Leap describes traveling large distances with mighty bounds or spring-like steps. Swim is being able to move through water as fast as - or faster than - an Olympic medalist.

Stunts created with movement powers factor in the velocity and speed of the power more than, say, the reaction time or endurance of the character.

Movement powers that explicitly allow travel in specific environments are assumed to include the ability to survive in those environments at or beyond the d8 level. So Enhanced Swim d8 affords the ability to breathe underwater or an air supply, while Subsonic Flight d8 means you don’t suffer the negative effects of high velocity. If you have Space Flight d12, you’re not worried about the vacuum of space.

Teleport is separate from Movement; it crosses distances without movement.

REFLEXES

The character has a greater response time, physical agility, and aim than an average human.

• At a d8, the power represents two to three times the normal human response time and hand-eye coordination.
• At a d10, the power indicates as much as ten times the response time and coordination of an ordinary human.
• At a d12, the power confers the ability to react as if the world around you had slowed to a crawl; you have lightning-fast hand-eye coordination.

Many characters with a Reflexes power also have movement powers, although they aren’t synonymous. It’s more common to have both when the Reflexes power trait is rated at Superhuman or Godlike.

RESISTANCE

The character is resistant to types of harm or attack that most people have no defense against. It might be something intrinsic or provided by equipment or gear. The most common types are Mystic Resistance and Psychic Resistance. Other resistances are frequently provided by Durability or show up as SFX for a power set (such as being immune to toxins or disease).

• At a d6, the power is slight, but still more than any normal person would have.
• At a d8, the power is enhanced, enough to turn aside most standard attacks of this type.
• At a d10, the power is superhuman, giving substantial defense against most attacks of this type.
• At a d12, the power is godlike, approaching complete invulnerability to attacks of this type.

These power traits are similar to Durability in that they provide resistance or protection from harmful powers, but where Durablity helps protect against direct stress, Resistance helps resist complications. SFX may also provide protection against specific types of attack, on top of whatever protection is given by a Resistance or Durability. Most characters with mystic or psychic powers also possess a Resistance of that type in their power set.

SENSES

The character’s senses are more acute, keen, or developed than a normal human.

• At a d6, the power represents a new sense that ordinary people don’t have, such as Cybernetic Sense or Mystic Sense, but the sense isn’t neccesarily better or more attuned than your other senses.
• At a d8, the power represents extraordinary levels of awareness, closer to those of predatory animals.
• At a d10, the power reaches beyond nature, offering incredible levels of awareness.
• At a d12, the power touches upon cosmic threads of information and perception.

Extraordinary senses, such as a sonar sense or sixth sense, are better represented by SFX that build on the characters’ Senses power traits to let them reroll dice in their pool. An android’s Cybernetic Senses on the other hand might let you include computer network access in a dice pool where non-synthetic people don’t have access.

 

 

These power traits don’t specify which senses are heightened. In the game, this is left up to individual character description. For the most part, characters with a Senses power enjoy heightened awareness across the spectrum, at least in terms of acquiring information from their immediate environment.

Senses often goes hand-in-hand with Intelligence in power sets, with Intelligence focusing on what the character is able to do with the sensory input rather than the ability to detect it.

SHAPESHIFT

Shapeshifting is the ability to alter how you look or to take on the form of something else. It is a great stealth or disguise power or can be used to represent a transformation into non-human shapes, like certain lycanthropes or mecha characters.

• At d6, you can make minor changes that allow you to disguise yourself, but you can’t closely mimic anyone.
• At d8, you can take on the external form of a person, animal or other living creature well enough to fool onlookers.
• At d10, you may duplicate a living physical form down to the cellular level, fooling even scientific instruments and extraordinary senses. Non-living shapes still register as organic.
• At d12, you may duplicate anything whether organic or not, folling everything and everyone. For all intents and purposes, you become that other thing.

Shapeshift can be used to acquire things that a character doesn’t normally (or regularly) have access to, such as claws or wings. These are represented by assets that last for the remainder of the scene, which might be extended with 1PP.

If a character regularly has certain features, they should be represented by other power traits. A character who shapeshifts wings all the time probably has Flight as a power trait to avoid having to create them as a stunt or asset.

Shapeshift is frequently in a power set with Stretch, with size-changing powers like Grow or Shrink, and with physical enhancement powers like Durability, Stamina, or Strength.

If a character only shapeshifts into one form, they probably don’t have this power. Instead, their power set would include powers that describe their other form (such as Durability or Reflexes), and a limit that shuts down these powers when they’re not in the alternate form.

SIZE-CHANGE

With this powers, the character can grow or shrink. Grow and Shrink should be taken separately.

• At d6, you can bulk up considerably (Grow) or compress your mass tightly (Shrink). This doesn’t change your overall height or weight so much as it represents being able to snap out of or slip from restraints, fit into cramped spaces, or look somewhat more menacing.
• At d8, you can increase your size to at least fifteen feet, or reduce your size to that of a doll or small animal.
• At d10, you can grow to the size of a building, upwards of a hundred feet or become insect sized.
• At d12 you can become truly massive, perhaps without limit, almost a geographic formation of your own or you can become microscopic, reducing your size to the sub-molecular level.

If the Editor decides that your current size makes it easier for an enemy to hit you or for their powers to affect you, they gain your power die as part of their roll, and you gain 1PP. If your size makes it harder for an enemy to hit or affect you, you add your size-change die to your roll.

Size-change is almost always included in a power set with other power traits - Grow with Strength, Durability, or Stamina; Shrink with Reflexes, Flight, or Senses. You cannot use both size-changing powers at the same time - it makes no sense to roll both Grow and Shrink. Power sets with these powers have a limit that shuts down associated power traits along with Grow or Shrink. In other words, if you have Superhuman Strength and Superhuman Durability while you’re a giant, shutting down Grow shuts those down also.

 

 

SORCERY

The hero has the utilize magical fields or to channel power from other dimensions to affect change in this one.

• At d6, you can achieve the equivalent of parlor tricks, prestidigitation, and conjuring without needing stage magic equipment. Nothing more than pulling out long scarves, lighting a candle with a snap of the fingers, or concealing doves in a cage.
• At d8, you have genuine powers of summoning and controlling mystic forces - usually to create constructs and illusions, commune with other dimensions, and invoke changes in the laws of physics.
• At d10, you have great mystical powers, channeling power into longer lasting constructs or objects, bending the laws of physics, and dispelling the magical works of others.
• At d12, you can draw on world-shattering mystic power to affect far-reaching changes, bring things to and from other dimensions, and empower mystical objects or creatures of frightening strength.

The descriptive nature of Sorcery makes for flashy effects and interesting stunts, assets, and complications, but the power itself shouldn’t be more potent than others. It’s often included in power sets with power traits that represent specific magical effects, from Mystic Blast and Flight to Strength and Teleport. Sorcery usually inflict stress on its own, but it can create assets and complications.

Heroes with Sorcery usually have a Mystic specialty.

STAMINA

The character has increased endurance and staying power, as well as recuperative ability and resistance to fatigue or toxins.

• At d8, the power indicates faster than normal healing and recovery, resistance to minor diseases, and the ability to perform at maximum effort for an hour or more.
• At d10, the power allows for rapid recovery from injury, resistance to most terrestrial diseases or toxins, and the ability to operate at maximum effort for several hours.
• At d12, the power indicates extremely rapid recovery from even near-fatal wounds or trauma, resistance to even extraterrestrial diseases, and almost limitless ability to operate at maximum effort.

Stamina is most used for recovery, but it can also be used against attacks that target a character’s endurance or staying power, or try to induce paralysis, sleep, or fatigue. If a character is holding their breath or some other more active effort, you might use Stamina in the dice pool.

Stamina extends the character’s lifespan, too, if that ever comes into question, though it won’t necessarily prevent aging so much as keep the effects of aging from slowing the character down. Heroes with a Stamina power are more resistant to chemical substances like drugs, alcohol, and caffeine and can’t get drunk or high as easily.

STRENGTH

The character has strength and muscular power beyond that of a normal human.

• At d8, the power allows you to flip cars, break through solid barriers, and bend ordinary iron bars.
• At d10, the power allows you to lift and throw vehicles, smash through stone and metal, and tear apart most barriers.
• At d12, the power confers the power to hurl objects into orbit, push over tall buildings, and demolish most structures.

This very common superpower represents everything from mutant-enhanced musculature to high-tech powered armor. As with many power traits, it’s often assumed to just work if there’s nothing challenging the character, or if using Strength is part of the goal of a test (like ripping a telephone pole out of the ground to smash a tank).

It’s usually, though not always, included in a power set with Durability, often at a different die rating. It may also be used with Leap, representing the use of Strength to leap great distances.

If the Strength is only in one limb or otherwise limited to specific conditions, this is just part of the power set’s definition. There’s usually no reason to worry about your character only having Superhuman Strength d10 in their cybernetic right arm unless the situation specifically talks about needing strength in the legs or the left arm.

 

 

STRETCH

The character can elongate or increase the length of their limbs or other body parts, often to great distances. This could be through prosthetic devices like tentacles, or it might be a metamorphic ability like having a rubbery or elastic body.

• At d6, you can reach across a normal room or access high places. It’s the equivalent of having double the usual reach with arms or legs.
• At d8, you can reach across a street, up the side of a building, or down an elevator shaft.
• At d10, you can stretch to considerable distances, several city blocks away. You can clear buildings, rivers, or ravines with your elongated legs and arms.
• At d12, you can reach ridiculous distances, perhaps without limit - across lakes, oceans, and even into orbit - although the further you stretch the less you’re able to make use of your limbs.

Stretch can be used like a movement power (long legs make travel easier), a defensive power (an elastic body can mitigate a bunch of damage), or an offensive power (a punch hurled across a street can hurt). While the way the power set is defined should inform how it’s used, Stretch is primarily a means of extending reach and access.

Stretch is often coupled with Durability, Intangibility (at low ratings), Grow, Strength, Reflexes, Shapeshift, or Elemental Control. A power set with Stretch includes SFX like Area Attack, Grapple, and Versatility.

Willing Targets

You don’t need to roll for powers like Telepathy if it’s used on willing targets. If the target isn’t willing, you need to take out your target (step it up beyond a d12 die rating) with stress or a complication before you can use the power.

Telepathy

Telepathy is any communication with other minds, including reading thoughts, anticipating actions, or sharing or altering memories. A complication you create with Telepathy might hamper your target if they’re trying to block you out, screen their thoughts, or remember something you’ve made them forget.

• At a d6, you can maintain a link with another mind with some effort, using it to talk or share thoughts.
• At a d8, you can read surface thoughts, discern emotions, and share one or two senses (like sight and hearing), as well as link a half-dozen minds together for the purposes of communication.
• At a d10, you can probe minds for memories, thoughts, and instincts, create persistent mental links among large groups of people across great distances, and even block or influence a specific target’s memories.
• At a d12, you can remain in constant communication with vast numbers of people, skim the surface thoughts of everyone on the planet, and implant entirely new life histories within specific minds.

TELEPORT

The character may travel instantaneously from one point to another. Usually, no actual distance is traveled; the character just vanishes from one place and appears in another. The power rating defines teleport distance.

• At d6, you can blink in and out of place in a single location, crossing a room or a gap between buildings, effectively eliminating the need to walk. Line of sight is usually required.
• At d8, you can teleport across several miles, such as from place to place in a metropolitan area or, by taking multiple jumps, from one city to another.
• At d10, you can travel around the world in single or multiple jumps, and perhaps as far as the moon.
• At d12, you can travel across vast distances, even to other planets or galaxies.

 

 

Depending on the nature of the power (sorcery, technology, alien, etc.) the way the teleportation works can vary greatly. If the teleportation is through portals or wormholes, this might affect the SFX used in the power set.

Some characters may use this power to grab people and teleport them, either bringing them along as a passenger or making portals to send them away. This is represented best with SFX or by using the power with a stunt as part of an attack.

At the d10 and d12 rating, you can choose to have the power only allow travel to other dimensions or other worlds; travel between locations on Earth in such instances would be a stunt.

TRANSMUTATION

The character has the power to transmute one substance to another. Mystics call it alchemy, while to scientists it’s known as matter alteration; the specific details may vary.

• At d6, you can affect the integrity or cohesion of a target, causing it to soften or harden, perhaps degrade or take on other qualities, but not actually change into another substance.
• At d8, you can alter the properties of the target to make it solid, liquid, or gas, or change it from one kind of solid, liquid, or gas to another within the same category, i.e., inorganic or organic.
• At d10, you can operate on the chemical or elemental level and can change one substance, living or nonliving, into another. Stone can be made flesh, water can be transmuted into oil, and so on.
• At d12, you can change any object into another, regardless of its original substance, shape, or other qualities.

Transmutation is very powerful and, as such, its effects typically don’t last long. Transmutation usually creates assets or complications. The power can be used to inflict stress, but unless the target is stressed out, the effect isn’t complete or permanent. The die rating of the power also typically informs how well it can alter a target that has Resistance.

To transmute or change yourself, use Shapeshift or powers that describe the change. (e.g. Durability or Strength)

SIGNATURE ASSETS

Some characters have iconic weapons, gear, or pet robots that contribute to their dice pools in tests and contests. These are signature assets that the character doesn’t have to create during play as they “belong” to the character and act much like any other trait.

Signature assets work like regular temporary assets - they give players an extra die to include in their dice pools when they’re able to justify their use. Unlike skills or attributes, they’re about things a PC has or people they know, not about qualities innate to them. Not every PC has a signature asset, but they’re a great way to further reveal a PC’s personality as a means of representing heirlooms or unique weapons or special relationships.

Signature assets begin with a d6 die rating but can be stepped up during play. They aren’t tied to a distinction, attribute, or skill, but may complement any one of those traits. Some examples of signature assets include:

• Organizational Ties: San Narciso County Sheriff’s Department, Dio Sanchez Gang, CTRL-ALT-DEL Hacker Collective, Aurora Hunting Club, Free State Bikers
• Vehicles: My Favorite Bike, M1 Abrams Tank, Trans-Dimensional Scooter, Souped-Up Station Wagon
• Weapons: Magnum Research Desert Eagle, My Grandmother’s Sword, Trusty Pew Pew Laser Blaster, Louisville Slugger, A Knife (!!!)
• Gear: All-Season Thermal Jacket, Talon TSAReady Multitool, Handheld Tablet, Bundle of Baling Wire

Signature assets can be left as they are - simply a die rating on a character file - or the player can unlock an SFX for the asset much like the SFX on distinctions or power sets. There’s no default SFX for a signature asset, and no two signature assets are the same, so typically there needs to be a conversation with the Editor about appropriate options before one can be added.

Typical SFX for signature assets allow the player to spend 1PP to step up a skill when the signature asset is used with the skill, especially when the signature asset is itself a tool of some kind.

A good rule of thumb is to attach a single SFX to a signature asset; if you feel like adding more, there should be a limit of three.

Signature assets can be temporarily knocked out, eliminated, rendered unusable, or damaged during play by actions taken by the group or a NPC; but as they’re a featured element of the PC’s file, the player can recover the signature asset between sessions or by spending a Ⓟ● at the beginning of the next scene (with some narrative justification for getting it back/fixed).

Signature assets cannot be shared between PCs; if someone “borrows” a signature asset from a character (picking up the other character’s heirloom sword or driving their custom sports car), the borrower must spend 1PP to create an asset as normal to get any benefit from the asset borrowed, and the asset is rated at d6 like any other plot point created asset.

SFX

SFX is short for “special effect.” It’s usually some kind of benefit or bonus that only occurs under certain conditions. In Cortex Prime, SFX are used as a way to introduce exception-based rules for trait sets that possess them. They’re a way to break the rules of the game, modify the outcome of tests and contests, and add more texture to the story.

CREATING SFX

An SFX is a combination of a cost and a benefit.

Sample Costs

• Spend 1PP. Very common.
• Step down a beneficial die. Usually an attribute, skill, or asset.
• Step up a non-beneficial die. Usually a complication.
• Choose to do or introduce something risky or complicated. “When you walk right into a volatile situation and start causing trouble…”
• Create a d8 complication.
• Shut down a trait set. The trait set can’t be used until restored.

Some SFX may switch out the cost for a different sort of triggering condition. This can include rolling a heroic success, or some roleplaying-based triggering effect.

Sample Benefits

• Earn 1PP.
• Add a d6 to the dice pool.
• Step up a beneficial die. Usually a specialty or asset like, “step up Pistols”
• Double a beneficial die. Usually a specialty or asset like, “double Pistols”
• Step down a non-beneficial die. Usually a complication.
• Introduce a non-mechanical story detail. “Hey, I think I know that guy’s brother…”
• Rename a complication. “I’m not Sickened, I’m Angry”
• Reroll a single die.
• Create a d8 asset for the rest of the scene.

When an SFX gives you new dice, those dice can be affacted by other SFX, but not by the same one again.

 

 

SFX List

Here’s a list of some pre-made SFX. Name your SFX to fit. Rather than ‘Absorption’ you might have Reflective Constructs or Energy Channel.

ABSORPTION

If you succeed in a [type of attack] contest, instead of inflicting stress or a complication, convert your opponent’s effect die into a stunt asset for yourself or step up a power by one for your next roll. Spend a to create this stunt asset if your opponent succeeds.

Usually included in a power set with some kind of Energy Control, Energy Blast, Strength, or Reflexes linked to the type of attack described in the SFX.

AFFLICT

Add a d6 and step up your effect die by one when inflicting [type] complication on a target.

Usually appears in power sets that represent gear, grappling, entangling, etc. The type of complication is usually connected to the power set.

AREA

Spend 1PP to add an additional d6 to the dice pool for each additional target. After the roll, when determining effect dice (stress, complications, etc.) choose one effect die for each target.

Area effects are resisted individually by all targets, who roll to set or raise the difficulty against the attacking character’s single total. This SFX is especially useful against mobs.

Berserk

Add a die from the doom pool to one or more attack actions. Step up the doom pool die by +1 for each action; return it to the doom pool when you’re done.

Variations include a PP cost, but the doom die is stepped back by –1 when it’s returned. This is a good SFX for rage-based characters.

BOOST

Shut down your highest rated [power set] power to step up another [power set] power by one. Activate an opportunity to restore the power.

Great for power sets that represent powered armor, cybernetics, or robotic systems.

BURST

Step up or double a power die against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die from your pool and add 3 dice together for your total.

Usually appears in power sets that represent some kind of gear. Represents a concentrated effort, such as autofire or rapid attacks. Burst represents a wide spread of attack such as covering fire or the attack ricocheting from one or more surfaces and thus around corners, obstacles, and so on.

CONSTRUCTS

Add a d6 and step up your effect die by one when using [power set] to create assets.

Usually included in power sets that represent summoning control over elements like earth or fire, etc. A variation is Grapple, which creates complications.

DANGEROUS

Add a d6 to your dice pool for an attack and step down the highest die in pool by one. Step up the effect die by one.

Included in power sets when representing some dangerous use of the character’s abilities, like claws or fangs.

FOCUS

If a pool includes a [power set] power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one die one step larger.

Great for heroes who have a lot of skills or whose power sets represent skill, training, or conditioning.

HEALING

Add [power] to your dice pool when helping others recover complications. Spend 1PP to recover your own or another’s [complication type] by one.

This might represent psychic healing, empathetic healing, chi healing, or spiritual aura.

IMMUNITY

Spend a to ignore complications from [specific attack type].

Attack types include poisons, disease, psychic attack, magical attack, electricity, radiation, and so forth.

INVULNERABLE

Spend 1PP to ignore [type of complication] for a test or contest unless caused by [specific attack type].

Similar to Immunity but restricted to a specific type of complication with an exception for a specific attack type. For example, Poisoned (except alcohol), Paralyzed (except magical paralysis).

 

 

MULTIPOWER

Use two or more [power set] powers in a single dice pool and step each power down by one for each additional power beyond the first.

Usually appears in power sets with several power traits and when the character has no other power sets. Only step down the power dice, not all the dice in the dice pool.

SECOND CHANCE

Spend 1PP to reroll when using any [power set] power.

Good for power sets that represent luck or fortitude.

SECOND WIND

Before you put together a dice pool including a [power set] power, you may give the Editor a complication attached to you to re-assign as a complication at any time. Step up the [power set] power by one for this roll.

Almost always appears in a power set with the Stamina power trait. Variations might work with emotional or mental stress and be tied to a different power trait.

UNLEASHED

Step up or double any [power set] power for one roll. If the roll fails, you gain a complication equal in size to your power die.

Pairs well with power traits that are at the d8 or d10 rating. Represents a hero or villain who maintains strict control over his own powers and sometimes cuts loose.

VERSATILE

Split power trait die into two dice, stepped down by one; or three dice, stepped down by two.

Usually appears in power sets with power traits rated d10 or d12 and when the character has no other power sets.

LIMITS

The primary purpose of limits in power sets is to represent vulnerabilities that let players acquire plot points in keeping with their character’s specific powers. A hero is nothing without their flaws and weaknesses, and most superheroes have an Achilles’ heel, even if it’s just that their powers wear them out!

The Editor may also spend a Doom Die to activate Limits in some circumstances. This doesn’t earn the player a 1PP, so the option to activate a limit is always given to the player first. If the player decides not to, the option then goes to the Editor, so it’s almost always beneficial to the player to take them up on it.

Limit List

Each limit includes a description of how to restore a power that’s shut down by a limit.

CONSCIOUS ACTIVATION

• If taken out, asleep, or unconscious, shut down [power set].
• Restore [power set] when you awake.

This limit is common when the character’s powers stop working if the hero is unconscious, incoherent, or otherwise taken out. It usually only applies to a specific type of stress, such as physical or emotional.

Dangerous

• Both 1 and 2 on your dice count as setbacks when using a [power set] power.

This is a good limit for mystical or very powerful heroes who make situations worse when they use their powers to their fullest extent. If the power set represents a pact with a demon, a dangerous power source, or something along those lines, this limit makes it clear that using those powers comes at a greater cost.

EXHAUSTED

• Shut down any [power set specific] power to gain 1PP.
• Activate an opportunity to restore the power.

This limit is straightforward. The character gets tired, and one of his powers stops working. Note that it isn’t the whole power set but only specific power traits.

GEAR

• Shut down [power set] and gain 1PP.
• Test to restore.

This limit represents a piece of equipment or powered item that shuts down if lost, stolen, or knocked away. The power is restored by making a test to get the gear back, reset it, fix it, or otherwise recover it.

MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE

• Shut down [power set A] to activate [power set B].
• Shut down [power set B] to restore [power set A].

Use this limit when your use of one set of powers depends on another set of powers being inactive.

 

 

UNCONTROLLABLE

• Change any [power set] power into a complication and gain 1PP.
• Activate an opportunity or remove the complication to restore the power.

This limit represents powers that aren’t necessarily dangerous, but are unreliable or prone to causing problems.

Milestones

Heroes don’t exist in a story vacuum. They’re tied to the events that unfold around them, to other heroes, to villains, and to the important supporting characters in their lives. These story threads are tracked with Milestones. Each Milestone represents a significant decision point in your hero’s life - one that’s a culmination of choices you make as a player.

At the beginning of an Event, you may choose to pursue one or two Milestones. If you only have one Milestone, you may add a second during any Transition Scene. Once you have two Milestones, you must reach at least one before you pursue others.

Milestones follow a standard format, as follows:

MILESTONE NAME

Short description of the Milestone.

• 1 PP: This Milestone should put the hero on the road to making a big decision.
• 3 PP: This should be a scene-defining moment, a decision that’s either rare or costly.
• 10 PP: This is a choice that either affirms this milestone or rejects it.

MILESTONES IN PLAY

You don’t include Milestones in dice pools, and they don’t modify the game rules directly. Instead, you use them as a guide for playing the role of your hero, to give him something to aim for. Even relatively new heroes are connected to the story and have important decisions to make of their own. Milestones are an incentive for you to make interesting choices that suit your hero’s personality and background.

If you’re the Editor, you don’t have Milestones to keep track of for your Watcher characters. Instead, you can keepalist of Milestones and use them to help the players by framing Scenes and establishing situations that encourage them to pursue their Milestones.

Progression

As your hero finishes Milestones, either his own or Event Milestones, he’ll gain Plot Points. What do you do with those PP?

Plot Points may be spent between scenes to increase a PC’s traits or unlock other benefits. You may spend as many PP as you’ve earned to unlock multiple upgrades at once.

The Editor may create unlockables that provide greater access to story elements such as important NPCs, previously unavailable locations, or property. Sometimes an unlockable represents a one-shot benefit that’s significant enough to warrant earning PP towards it; other times it becomes a permanent option in your repertoire.

You can spend PP to:

• Replace an existing Distinction or Power with a new one. (5PP)
• Add or replace a Limit in a Power Set. (5PP)
• Switch two Affiliation traits. (5PP)
• Gain a new distinction, d8 specialty, d6 power, or d6 signature asset. (5PP)
• Step up a speciality, power, or signature asset by one, to a max of d10. (10PP)
• Add a new SFX to a distinction, powerset, or Signature Asset. (10PP)
• Remove a Limit from a Power Set that has two or more Limits. (10PP)
• Replace an existing Power Set with a new one. (10PP)
• Step up a d10 speciality, d10 power, or d10 signature asset to d12. (15PP)

 

 

THE EDITOR

THE DOOM POOL

At the beginning of each session, the Editor starts with a doom pool of at least 2d6, as shown below.

Starting Doom Pool

	Local	Global	Cosmic
EMERGENCY	2d6	3d6	4d6
DISASTER	2d8	2d8+1d6	2d8+1d6
CATASTROPHE	2d10	2d10+1d8	2d10+2d8

The Editor uses the Doom Pool in two ways:

• The Doom Pool opposes the heroes’ actions when a specific character isn’t doing so.
• The Doom Pool can be spent to add dice to the Editor’s roll.

Opposing Actions

To oppose a hero’s actions, the Editor uses the Doom Pool as his dice pool, and selects a Total and Effect as normal. If the hero’s Total is equal to or higher than the Editor’s, the hero is successful.

Gaining Doom Dice

The Doom Pool increases when the Editor activates Setbacks rolled by players. When a player rolls a Setback, the Editor can add a die of that same size to the doom pool. The Editor can also use a smaller die to step up an equal or larger existing die in the doom pool by one step.

Spending Doom Dice

Doom Dice can be spent for various effects. A spent die is removed from the doom pool. Some of the most common ways to spend Doom Dice are listed below.

Grow an NPCs Dice Pool

The Editor may spend a Doom Die to add it to an NPC’s dice pool before the dice pool is rolled.

Create a complication or asset

The Editor may spend a Doom Die and create a complication or asset (these work the same as the ones the players can create) attached to the scene equal in size to the die spent.

Create a scene Distinction

The Editor may spend a Doom Die that’s at least a d8 and add a distinction to the scene that may be used by players and NPCs alike.

Include more results

After any roll involving an NPC, the Editor may spend a Doom Die to include an extra die from the NPCs’ dice pool in their Total. You can add any number of dice that are not ones as long as you spend 1PP per die.

Activate SFX

Some NPC’s SFX may have effects that must be activated by spending a Doom Die.

Interrupt the action order

The Editor may spend a Doom Die equal to or greater in size than the largest combat or senses-related trait of the PC whose turn is up next. One of the NPCs gets to go instead, and the Editor then picks who goes afterward.

Add a new extra

The Editor may spend a Doom Die and create an extra with a single trait rated at the size of the die spent.

Introduce a minor or major NPC

If a NPC who isn’t present in the scene could conceivably show up, spend a Doom Die equal to that NPC’s highest rated trait and drop them into the scene, ready to act when the action order gets to them (which could be right away, if the Editor is the one deciding who goes next).

Avoid Stress

The Editor may spend a Doom Die to keep an NPC from taking Stress from an attack.

Split the group

The Editor may spend a d10 or a d12 from the Doom Pool and some environmental or narrative event takes place that divides the group into two (minimum one PC in each new group). The PCs have to spend time reuniting their group, which may lead to more problems.

End the scene immediately

If a scene is slowing down, the Editor may spend 2d12 from the doom pool and cut the scene off right there. If it’s going in the heroes’ favor, it shoudl end in the heroes favor. If it’s in the villains’ favor, it should end in their favor.

 

 

Scenes

As the Editor, framing every Scene is your responsibility - we’ll talk more about that in just a moment - although the players might suggest what comes next in the story. A Scene ends when the central conflict or situation is resolved; this means you need to have a sense of what the Scene is about as you frame it.

It’s often as simple as saying “Okay, so the next day you’re at the site of the last attack, and you find a wounded Isis employee being dragged away by some Syndicate thugs. He’s sure to have the security codes you need to shut down the Purifier’s orbital platform. Are you going to stop them?” The implication here is that this Scene is about this wounded Purifier, the information he has, and the Morlocks that want to finish him off. The Scene ends when that’s been resolved somehow.

As the Editor, you can also prematurely end a Scene before it’s resolved using the doom pool, usually to move things along. If this happens, you should consider whether the player heroes were close to resolving it successfully or not. If they were, let them summarize the outcome and establish those truths in the story. If they weren’t, you do the honors, and move on to the next Scene, where they deal with the fallout.

ACTION SCENES

Some Scenes are more investigatory in nature or revolve around more social or personal activity, but they are Action Scenes in their own right. A pitched battle across the frozen wastes of Jotunheim and a tense diplomatic meeting between agents of the Shi’ar and Kree empires are both examples of Action Scenes. An Action Scene might begin in medias res, in the middle of the action - You’re already in the midst of a titanic battle with mechanical Titans, or you’re already three hours into the middle of the diplomatic encounter. What’s important is that this is where the real action starts.

FRAMING The SCENE

The Editor gets things started by establishing who is present in a Scene and where. This is called framing the Scene. You should ask directed questions of the players, encouraging them to describe what their hero is doing or how they plan to respond to something. Don’t ask, “Where are you?” Ask, “Are you in the middle of the rank-and-file, or are you with the officers near the rear?” You might even establish a particular fact first: “You’re with the officers in the rear. How did you agree to this position?”

PRESENT THE CHALLENGE

Once you frame the Scene, present the challenge to the players. Sometimes, this is a villain or mob of bad guys. Other times, it’s a family of four trapped in a burning building. You’re encouraging the players to think about how they’re going to respond to something immediate and exciting. Action Scenes are no place for slow deliberation. Get right to it and present the problem!

Scene Distinctions

Every Scene should have at least a couple Distinctions based on the environment, objects, or people around. If a fight breaks out downtown, for instance, Heavy Traffic, and Lots of Civilians would be good distinctions. They’re able to be used by anyone, and sure, you can stack the deck a bit by giving ones that seem to help your villains, but don’t be surprised if the heroes figure out ways to turn the tables.

WHO GOES FIRST?

Imagine a page in a comic book, with multiple panels in it where each hero pulls off his amazing stunt or swings into action against the villain. A series of actions in the game is like this, with each hero getting a Panel - a moment when all of the attention is on him. The same is usually true of the villains, although often the villains’ thugs and supporting characters tend to just act all at once - a menacing mob of mooks swarming over the heroes.

One of the players gets to go first, chosen by the Editor based on the description of the Scene. Quite often, this is the central leader hero, or the fastest one, or the one played by the player who speaks up first! If you’re the Editor, you might decide this when you frame the Scene. Otherwise, go with who makes the most sense.

If you want one of your own characters to go first, you need to spend doom to do it. If there’s a hero at the table with Enhanced, Superhuman, or Godlike Senses or Reflexes, you need to spend a die of the same size asthe Rating of his Power. If you have a character with the same rating, or none of the heroes have any powers like that, you can spend a d6.

 

 

WHO GOES NEXT?

Everyone gets a Panel of their own to act, and this string of Panels is called the action order. Once the first character has acted - whether it’s a player hero or a Watcher character - the action order has begun. It’s the player of the character who just acted that determines who goes next. As the Editor, your job is to wrangle all of this, but don’t worry - it’s not as difficult as you might think. All you need to do is pose the question to the player, “Who’s next?”

INTERRUPTING THE ACTION

As the Editor, you can interrupt the action order at any point using doom dice. If a player chooses another player to go, you can spend a die out of the doom pool to have one of your characters act before that next player. Just like the use of doom dice to seize the control of the first Panel in the action order, you have to spend at least a d6 to do this. If the interrupted player has a hero with Enhanced or greater Reflexes or Senses, you have to match that with your Watcher character’s own powers or spend a larger die.

You can also interrupt the action order with doom dice to introduce threats that weren’t there before (like another group of Kryptos agents smashing through the skylight), to split the group up with some kind of explosive effect or twist, or anything else that may potentially cause a break in the action. In each case, the same restrictions apply - you have to match the Reflexes or Senses, or spend a larger doom die.

WHEN ARE WE DONE?

You can run through multiple action orders in a Scene - usually you’ll have to in order for everyone to achieve what they’re trying to do. Most Scenes run through the action order three or four times, especially in a big battle or a tense confrontation. Just have the last active player (or you, as the Editor) call out the first active player in the next action order. If you’re using flipcards or some other kind of indicator to show whether characters have acted in the action order, reset them.

Sometimes, you can set aside the action order for a few minutes while there’s a break in the action. Maybe the players want to roleplay their heroes for a bit as they’re crouched behind the remains of a water tower, planning their next move. Maybe the villains broke away and are hiding, ready to spring at the heroes. Or maybe you just want to play out some banter between the eam leader and the villain while the others take a breather. As soon as the action picks up again, go the top of the action order and carry on!

Typically, the Scene itself ends in one of two ways. Either the heroes stop the villains, avert disaster, and claim victory over the challenge, or the alternative happens. In either case, the situation is resolved, even if it’s not how the players might like! The Editor summarizes the action so far, touches base with each player to note where his or her hero ended up, and then frames the next Scene.

Ending the Scene With Doom

As the Editor, you can always cut the Scene early - before the problem or conflict has been resolved - by spending 2d12 out of the doom pool and handing out 2 XP to each affected player.

• If you do this when the heroes are looking good and the villains are on the ropes, ask the players how they want to wrap it up. Ask questions just like you do at the beginning of a Scene. If a major villain’s involved, present a tough choice to the heroes, though make it clear that they’ve won something even if the villain’s presence colors it somewhat.
• If, on the other hand, you spend the 2d12 when the Scene is going against the heroes, or they’re struggling against insurmountable odds, you can bring the Scene to a close and invite the players to describe how they lost or what they had to sacrifice.

Bringing the players in on this underscores how important they are as the writer/artist of their heroes, while still making it clear that the doom pool brought this about.

Most Action Scenes are followed by a Transition Scene, linking one period of activity to another. This isn’t always the case, of course. Sometimes an Action Scene leads directly to another one, with the stakes raised even higher.

TRANSITION SCENES

Action and adventure is what most of us think of when we imagine a super hero story set in the Marvel Universe, but these stories are more than just big brawls and conflict. Between these Scenes, linking them together are Scenes of reflection, recovery, and regrouping. We call these Transition Scenes, and they allow the characters involved to do something with what they’ve learned before the next conflict is met head-on.

As well as being used for recovery actions, a Transition Scene’s purpose is to determine what the next Action Scene is. If this is already settled, then the Transition Scene helps to put that into context.

 

 

FRAMING The SCENE

As the Watcher, it’s your responsibility to frame Transition Scenes just like you would any Action Scene. Start out by asking directed questions of the players. You want them to decide what their heroes are doing and how they’re using their resources before they start into the next dramatic Action Scene, so put them in a situation that’s not as charged with conflict; instead, open up options to roleplay and talk with each other or with support characters.

You might lead with something like: “It’s the next morningback at HQ. You’ve got the leader of the crime syndicate in lockup, but now you know Kryptos is involved. What are you doing to track down the Kryptos agents? What are you going to do with the crime syndicate leader? Do you check in with your girlfriend to let her know you might have to skip her play this evening?”

Transition Options

RECOVERY ACTIONS

They’re called actions because they’re one of the things you can try to do in the middle of an Action Scene, but Transition Scenes tend to be the most effective time to use recovery actions. Remind the heroes that they can do this.

RECRUITMENT

You can use the downtime of a Transition Scene to play out the recruitment of a new hero to the story, which is great if a new player shows up to the game and wants to play. While there’s nothing keeping a hero from just showing up in the middle of an Action Scene, that requires something like Speed, Flight, Teleportation, or some other super-power to explain why they’ve just arrived.

Your hero may also spend PP to create Assets connected to a Specialty during a Transition Scene. This represents the hero calling in favors, reaching out to connections, doing research on something related to the Specialty, or identifying important details about a location you’re expecting to go to. Any Asset created must fall under the Specialty in question.

REGROUPING

Some Scenes involve the team splitting up to more than one location. While that can continue during the Transition Scene as heroes go off by themselves to get better or hang out with one or two others, the Transition Scene is a good time to play out the gathering together of the team and have them all touch base with each other.

It can give the Editor a better sense of which heroes may be together at the beginning of the next Action Scene, too, if you establish within the story that your heroes are planning on being in one or more groups to face whatever challenges next arise.

RELOCATION

One use of Transition Scenes is to describe what the heroes are doing in transit to a new location. It’s easy to skip ahead and just describe the next Action Scene as being in Los Angeles or Cuba or the Blue Area of the Moon, but as the Watcher you have an opportunity to bring this to the players’ attention and have them make choices.

Sometimes the next Action Scene’s location isn’t settled until there’s a Transition Scene that centers on that decision. As a player, how does your hero plan to pursue the team’s foes? Where does the team expect to find the hidden base? Who do you want to take with you on the trip, and what will that involve? Have you been there before (and if so, are you going to spend PP on getting an information-based resource die for it) or are you going in blind?

ROLEPLAYING

Finally, the Transition Scene is a great excuse to really get into those sorts of purely roleplayed conversations that don’t have much to do with powers, battles, investigation, or adventure, but give context to the heroes and the world around them. Whether it’s time spent in a hero’s secret identity, reassuring loved ones that they’re still alive or enjoying a pizza with friends as their civilian identity, Transition Scenes give you a moment to put those subplots in the spotlight.

From a gameplay perspective, many of a hero’s Milestones hook into the activity that takes place outside of Action Scenes, so Transition Scenes are ideal for helpig the heroes earn PP and move toward their Milestones.

NPCs

NPCs are the characters that the Editor incorporates into the session and gets to roleplay, for better or worse. Most sessions have at least one major character, usually a bad guy or villain, who deserves a full-fledged character file like the PCs have. Sometimes, however, the villain just needs a couple of traits because the true opposition for the PCs is the villain’s lieutenant or majordomo. In that case, they’re the ones whose files are more detailed.

 

 

NPCs can reappear session after session, plaguing the PCs at every turn. Even if you used the villain’s full stats in a previous session, you’re under no obligation to re-use the same stats in another session. NPCs don’t have to follow the same rules as the players when it comes to character files or even XP and growth (although it’s often interesting if they do).

NPCs are split into a few specific types, which we detail after this section, but here’s a list for easy reference.

NPC Types

Type	Description
Minor NPCs	Characters with fewer traits and less detail but still significant.
Extras	Unnamed background characters or support characters with only one trait.
Mobs	Groups of extras that act together as a single character.
Bosses	Individual characters that act like a group of extras.

MINOR NPCs

A minor NPC isn’t a significant headliner in the session but will nevertheless interact with the PCs in some fashion. The powerful villain may be a minor NPC if your players are mostly interacting with her lieutenants.

CREATING MINOR NPCs

Minor NPCs get at least three traits that can be anything - they don’t have to be attributes, skills, or distinctions. They’re just dice with appropriate descriptive labels, like Corrupt Lawman d8, Out of Shape d4, Big Shotgun d8. The traits should provide details about the NPC and some ideas of which rolls use a higher level of skill, so don’t use a character’s name as a trait (such as Sherlock Holmes⑧).

You have a lot of flexibility with minor NPCs and it’s usually quick to come up with them if needed. Minor NPCs always have a name, even if you come up with it on the spur of the moment. This helps separate them from the extras that populate the setting.

Example Minor NPC

Here’s one to show you what they look like.

PANICKED CROWD d8

• Hide in the Chaos: Spend 1PP to create a Hidden d8 asset and turn Panicked Crowd d8 into Panicked Crowd 2d6.

EXTRAS

Extras are unnamed characters with only one die rating. Extras come into play as an additional die the Editor includes in an opposition dice pool for a test. They can also gang up on their own, becoming a mob, or with a minor or major NPC by adding their die to a NPC’s dice pool in a contest.

Extras can be taken out by complications or stress higher than their base trait die.

GANGING UP

Each additional opponent adds a single die to the opposition’s dice pool equal to the highest trait they could use in the fight. This doesn’t change the number of dice added together to set or beat the difficulty (it’s still two), just the number of dice rolled. The most common example of this is a gang of six Thugs d6 which amounts to a roll of 6d6. Each of them contributes one d6 and there’s six of them.

Every time a player beats the difficulty against a side that has multiple assisting characters, they compare their effect die to the supporting dice and knock away a single supporting die that’s smaller than their effect die. This represents whittling away the opposition, one ugly mug at a time.

CREATING AN EXTRA

Something as simple as Hired Assassin d10, Grizzled Fur Trapper d8, or Cut-Rate Thief d6 works just fine. While prepping your session’s situation and reveals, you can jot down a list of fun extras to include. But you don’t need to prepare extras in advance. They’re easy to make, so just toss them in whenever they’re needed.

MOBS

A mob is a group of extras that acts together like a minor NPC. You can use them just like you’d use any single NPC, but they represent a whole bunch of thugs, mooks, pawns, or goons. You can also use this rule for swarms of things.

You can assign traits to a mob that all of the members possess and include the traits in the mob’s dice pool when appropriate. Mobs act as a single unit but can be reduced in size and power by targeting their mob trait with attacks; each time the attack would create or step up a complication or stress that exceeds the mob trait die rating, one die is knocked off (from 4d6 to 3d6, for example) and the complication is removed. This represents one or more members of the mob being taken out. When all of the mob trait’s dice are removed, the whole mob is taken out.

 

 

CREATING A MOB

Mobs have a single mob trait with multiple dice representing the size of the mob. All of these trait dice are included in the mob’s dice pool. To determine how many and what size of dice to use, see the table below.

Mob Dice

	Few	Dozen	Crowd	Horde
Untrained	2d6	3d6	4d6	5d6
Trained	2d8	3d8	4d8	5d8
Veteran	2d10	3d10	4d10	5d10
Elite	2d12	3d12	4d12	5d12

EXAMPLE MOBS

Here’s a couple examples of mobs of varying sizes and strengths.

BOSSES

A boss is like a mob, except it’s a single character. A boss can represent a powerful opponent like a huge rampaging monster, or it may be a foe who outclasses the PCs not only in traits and skills, but in an abstract dramatic sense.

CREATING A BOSS

Bosses have a single boss trait that has multiple dice. They can also have distinctions, SFX, or anything else you want to add in. Bosses can replace major NPCs in your games if you prefer not to do all the work of making opponents who have the same game stats as your PCs.

In either case, a boss can’t be completely taken out of any scene until all of the boss trait’s dice are removed. If you’re using major NPCs with boss traits, ignore the usual rules for taking out characters and use this method instead.

EXAMPLE BOSSES

Here’s a couple boss-level opponents using a fairly basic trait set-up.

GLOVE-WIELDING SPACE TITAN

He’s a tyrant from outer space who wants to end all life. Or at least most of it.

Boss Dice: 4d10

Titan of Space

Power Glove d10
Invulnerability d10
Cosmic Senses d10

• Come at Me: When reacting to an attack from more than one opponent, Glove-Wielding Space Titan adds a d6 to his dice pool and keeps an additional effect die for every opponent attacking him.
• Snap: Spend 1PP to double Power Glove and include an extra die in Glove-Wielding Space Titan’s result, then shut down Power Glove.

TITANOGIGANTOSAUR

Humans woke him from his slumber under the sea and now he’s ready to smash their tiny cities.

Boss Dice: 3d12

Giant Radioactive Dinosaur

Atomic Breath d12
Stomp d12
Thick Hide d10
Roar d8
Swim d8

• Collateral Damage: Step down Stomp by one and keep up to three additional effect dice. Additional effect dice may only be used to create complications on the scene.
• Truly Huge: When making attacks on buildings, vehicles, or structures, Titano-Gigantoasaur includes an additional die in his result and gains an Easy Target d6 complication.