Steamfunkateers

by Balogun Ojetade

  Hard Boiled. You can choose to ignore a mild or moderate condition for the duration of the scene. It can’t be compelled against you or invoked by your enemies. At the end of the scene it comes back worse, though; if it was a mild condition it becomes a moderate condition, and if it was already moderate, it becomes severe.

  Indomitable. +2d to defend against Provoke attacks specifically related to intimidation and fear.

  Combining Skills

  Sometimes the character needs to perform a task that really requires using two or more skills at once. You never know when a character is going to need to throw a knife while balancing on a spinning log or pilot an airship while cracking a cipher.

  In those situations, the GM calls for a roll based on the main skill being used (the primary thrust of the action), but modified by a second skill. If the second skill is of greater value than the first, it grants a +1d bonus to the roll; if the second skill is of a lesser value, it applies a -1d penalty to the roll.

  When the second skill can only help the first, which is to say it can only provide a bonus, it complements the skill. A complementing skill never applies a -1d, even if it’s lower than the primary skill. This usually happens when the character has the option of using the secondary skill, but doesn’t have to bring it to bear.

  If the secondary skill comes into play only to hold the primary skill back, it limits the skill, meaning it can only provide a penalty or nothing at all. A limiting skill never applies a +1d, even if it’s higher than the primary skill. Often skills like Endurance or Vigor are limiting skills—as you get more tired, you won’t get better, but if you’re resolute, you may not get worse.

  THE BRUSHED

  The Brushed are those humans that possess superhuman abilities. Some abilities are subtle: enhanced senses; intelligence that increases the more conditioned the character becomes; superhuman balance. Others are quite obvious: flight that leaves a trail of smoke and fire; teleportation; outrunning a young racehorse.

  While not Brushed, some characters mimic Brushed abilities using high technology, or magic.

  Note that while many believe that the Brushed are “Brushed by the hand of God,” or “Brushed by the hand of the Devil,” others believe the Brushed gain their special abilities through exposure to the Luminiferous Aether—the postulated medium for the propagation of light—or that they are the next step in human evolution.

  Whatever the case, each player character starts with one special ability. The player chooses the ability and its source:

  Biological: Comes from your own physiology, drawing special ability from the function of your organs or stores of personal energy. An octopus’ ink, neurotoxin and color/texture changes are biologically generated abilities.

  Divine: Comes from a higher being or spirit. Divine special ability is usually available only to those with an allegiance to that divinity.

  Magical: Comes from manipulation of mystic forces. This includes the casting of spells and use of potions, scrolls and many items.

  Psionic: Comes from the psyche of the wielder—the special ability of your mind. These include the classic mental special abilities of Telepathy and Mind Control, but can include any of the abilities.

  Technological: Comes from technological devices and specialized equipment. The technology may come from an advanced society, an alien race, etc., which is to be described at your character’s creation.

  Each player character (but NOT each NPC) starts with one special ability. This initial ability is free and includes the Basic ability given under its description. Each additional special ability costs 5 Vigor points for the Basic ability.

  Most characters have a single special ability. Some might have two, but that’s where it tops off. What you can do, however, is build multiple effects into a single special ability, creating a suite that does a bunch of related things.

  You can use the list of special abilities to create a working special ability suite in just a few minutes.

  An Enhancement is an extra effect that you stack onto your basic ability. Every Enhancement costs 1 point of Vigor. You can purchase as many enhancements as you can afford, and some enhancements can be purchased multiple times. For instance, most special abilities have an enhancement titled Master [Special Ability Name], which just improves the basic special ability, usually by adding a +2d bonus to the appropriate checks. You can buy that enhancement as many times as you want, knocking the bonus up to +4d, +6d, or beyond.

  A Special Ability Synergy is another basic special ability added to your foundational special ability. The synergy just adds a new facet to the special ability suite you’re creating. Purchasing a Special Ability Synergy costs 2 points of Vigor.

  Each special ability has a short list of common synergies: special abilities that often work well with the foundational special ability. Your synergy might be a set of complementary special abilities—like being super strong and super tough—or perhaps your synergy lets you use a special ability in a specific, new way—like combining your abilities to summon fire and to shoot energy blasts in order to throw fireballs at your enemy.

  You are not limited to the suggested synergies, though. You can take any other special ability you want, as long as you can justify how they’re part of the same special ability suite. For instance, Wall-Crawling and Harm don’t necessarily go together, but if you explain that the damaging touch is really spider venom and that you are a were-spider, which is why you can also climb walls, then you have a special ability synergy.

  A Special Effect is an extra-special thing you can pull off when you get Four Successes, or Five Successes. You can also spend a point of Vigor to add a special effect to any successful roll of the dice, even if you’ve already got a special effect attached to that action. Special effects always happen in addition to the normal effects of success.

  You buy Special Effects with Vigor; 1 point of Vigor gets you TWO special effects. If you need special effects, use the following list:

  Forced Movement: You move your target up to two zones.

  Area Attack: Attack everyone in a zone.

  Inflict Condition: You add a descriptor to the target, which you can invoke once for free.

  Extra Movement: You can move up to two zones for free.

  Physical Recovery: You recover from all physical conditions.

  Mental Recovery: You recover from all mental conditions.

  Extra Action: You can split your steps between two different yet related actions, adding a +1d to each action.

  In addition, some special abilities have an improved special effect. An Improved Special Effect works just like a special effect: you can use the effect when you get Six Successes, or spend a point of Vigor while using your special ability. However, improved special effects are unique to their special ability and do bigger stuff than regular ones. The trade-off is that they’re more expensive: 1 point of Vigor buys ONE Improved Special Effect.

  Every special ability has a short list of possible Drawbacks. These descriptors highlight problems that the special ability might bring you—a limitation on the special ability or a nasty side effect. Choose one drawback, or create one of your own.

  The Brushed throw a lot of power around, often with unintended consequences. Sometimes buildings get leveled; sometimes innocent bystanders get hurt. Your Collateral Damage effect is an extra benefit—something super-potent you can do with your special ability, often to great narrative effect.

  Each special ability lists a number of collateral damage effects. Choose one from a special ability you’ve chosen, or make one of your own.

  You can choose to use this effect at any time, but using it comes at a cost: you inflict damage on the area around you. The GM gets to determine the exact nature of that damage each time you use it.

  Abilities are chosen from the following list:

  Animal Control

  You can walk with the animals, talk with the animals, and fight with the animals on your side.

  Basic Animal
Control: Choose one favored type of animal. You may communicate with favored animals of this type as if they were human NPCs, although their understanding of the world is limited. In addition, you gain a +2d bonus to Rapport when asking an animal of that type to do something for you.

  Only multi-cellular animals can be controlled; bacteria are too simple to order around. Some types of animals you might control include birds, apes, fish, arachnids, insects, rodents, and dogs.

  Enhancements

  Master Animal Control: You can be very convincing when talking with your animal friends. Gain an additional +2d bonus to Rapport when asking an animal to do something for you.

  Animal Translator: You may speak to any animal as if it were a human NPC. However, your bonus to Rapport only applies to your favored type of animal.

  Animal Telepathy: You can communicate with animals of your favored type telepathically. In addition, you are aware when animals of that type are around you, even if you can’t see or otherwise sense them.

  Common Ability Synergies

  Superb Abilities: You can speak for animals and, in return, they have trained you, pushing you to the upper limits of human ability. You have Superb Agility, Superb Strength, Superb Toughness, or Superb Senses.

  Influence: Humans are, after all, just another type of animal, albeit ones who are a little more complex to control.

  Drawbacks

  Your animal friends don’t just like you—they love you, and want to be around you all the time. You have an Unwanted Zoo at all times.

  Your connection to the minds of animals works both ways: their psyches rub off on you, and you need to contend with Overwhelming Animal Instincts.

  You have control over an animal with certain environmental needs—such as mollusks or orangutans—which means your special abilities are Not Useful Indoors.

  Collateral Damage Effects

  Swarm: No matter where you are, the animals around you can hear your call and will come running to your side, even if they need to break down doors or walls to get there. You can summon a large group of your favored animal to your zone as an action.

  Direct Control: If you can touch an animal of your favored type, you can possess it. Your body turns to smoke and pours into the animal, and you gain a descriptor with the same name as the animal. This may frighten or unnerve the people who saw you disappear, or you might cause damage by maneuvering an unfamiliar body. The effect lasts until you end it or at the end of the scene. When the effect ends, you return to your original body and lose the animal descriptor.

  Conjure

  You’ve always got someone, or something, to watch your back.

  Basic Conjure: Once per scene, you can generate a creature that’s under your control. You might bring forth an elemental, or something mundane like a sidekick shows up to help out. When you take this special ability, create a creature with one descriptor to describe it and one Rank 3 skill. Your creature will dissipate or wander away at the end of the scene.

  Your summoned creature is not an NPC, but another character under your control. When your creature is active during a conflict, it acts on your turn. Both of you take a free movement, but only one of you can take an action.

  Enhancements

  Master Conjure: Your summoned creature gains an additional Rank 3 skill.

  Tough Little Thing: Your summoned creature receives a +1d bonus when determining severity of damage done to it.

  Zoo: You can now summon two other creatures, each with a different descriptor and skill. When you summon your creature, you can pick any one from your zoo.

  Common Ability Synergies

  Animal Control: You can call forth hordes of animals when you want to, but one specific animal is your special companion, always by your side.

  Projection: The creature you call forth is an elemental avatar of fire, frost, electricity, or shadow.

  Drawbacks

  The thing you summon is not quite as under your control as you’d like people to think. You can tell it what to do, but It Has a Mind of Its Own.

  Your summoned creature might be as friendly as anything, but since It Looks Like a Living Nightmare, people are usually terrified of it.

  Saying you choose to conjure your creature isn’t quite right. It’s more accurate to say that you Can’t Get Rid of Your Creature, no matter how hard you try.

  Collateral Damage Effects

  Dramatic Entrance: When your creature comes into the scene, it does so with gusto, possibly by breaking through a skylight or appearing in a burst of flames. However it arrives, it can show up in any zone, and it immediately attacks any one target in that zone with a +4d bonus.

  Noble Sacrifice: If your creature is within one zone of you, it can leap to your defense. If you would take any physical condition, your creature moves to your zone and takes it instead. Of course, even if the creature survives the attack, it will almost certainly have knocked things around in its scramble.

  Disguise

  Your ability to disguise yourself as another person is uncanny.

  Basic Disguise: You can alter your face, build, and voice at will in order to become a completely different person. You can use this to mimic other people, as well as your original disguises. Once you spend time interacting with someone, you can imitate them near-perfectly. You gain a +2d bonus to Deceive skill to oppose others trying to see through your disguise.

  Enhancements

  Master Disguise: Your mimicry is more convincing than ever. Gain an additional +2d bonus to Deceive to resist being recognized.

  Masquerade: Your ability to copy a person extends beyond their body. You can also change the clothes you are wearing, and even imitate guns or other props—although they are, of course, non-functional.

  Scrutiny: You can mimic a target without getting close; you only need to spend a few minutes observing them at a distance.

  Common Ability Synergies

  Shape-Shifting: Altering your face and body is good practice for your fine detail work, but you can change your entire shape when you need to.

  Illusion: You aren’t actually altering your face; you’re just projecting a disguise over it, using your mastery of illusions.

  Drawbacks

  There’s a reason you spend most or all of your time wearing someone else’s face: your own is a Bestial Countenance.

  You have spent too much time being someone else—too many faces, too many lives. You’ve reached the point where you Don’t Know Who You Are Anymore.

  You can’t consciously control the way your face changes. Instead, your special ability is Touch-Activated; it only triggers when you physically touch your target.

  Collateral Damage Effects

  Identity Theft: You might take a target’s identity completely—not just appearance and voice, but also their mannerisms and memories, perfectly duplicated. Anyone attempting to see through your disguise faces does so with a -4d penalty. This is an invasive procedure, and you need to physically poke around in your target’s brain. You can use this effect to knock out and then imitate a nameless NPC, but to imitate a named NPC or PC, you will need to kill them or otherwise access their fresh corpse.

  Monstrous Visage: While you’re generally limited to a human disguise, you have a face in your repertoire that’s grotesque and terrifying, which you can pull out when you need to scare a crowd. Everyone who can see you must defend using Will against your +4d roll or suffer the Compelled condition.

  Duplication

  You can be an entire team, all by yourself.

  Basic Duplication: Once per scene, you can create a copy of yourself up to one zone away. This copy has your descriptors and skills, but it takes a -1d penalty to all rolls. The duplicate is not an NPC, but another character under your control. During a conflict, both you and your copy get a free movement, but only one of you can take an action. You may dismiss the copy at will, or it will fade away on its own at the end of the scene. Your duplicate suffers its own physical conditions. If your duplicate suffers
a mental condition, you take it instead.

  Enhancements

  Master Duplication: You can create an additional copy per scene, even while you already have a copy present.

  Effective Duplication: Your duplicates do not take a penalty on rolls.

  Disposable Duplicates: Your duplicates have no sense of self-preservation, so they shrug off minor injuries. They gain +2d when using the defense action against physical attacks.

  Common Ability Synergies

  Teleportation: By creating a duplicate some distance away and then willing away your original body, your consciousness jumps into the spare body, effectively teleporting you. There are metaphysical concerns here, but you try not to think about them.

  Energy Blast: You can try to create a copy of yourself inside someone else. It’s unsettling. But effectively it works like throwing a blast of energy at them.

  Improved Special Effect

  Duplicate Action: You can use your roll for two different actions, each performed by a separate iteration of you. Your duplicate cannot get the benefit of Four Successes or Five Successes in this way, and the opposition to its action can’t be higher than the opposition to your action.

  Drawbacks

  You would think that you and your duplicate get along well, but you don’t. Trouble brews when You Don’t Get Along with Yourself.

  Your duplicates are, if anything, too perfect. Sure, you don’t get hurt when they do, but you do Feel Their Pain.

  It would be great to send duplicates off on adventures without you, but when they get a hundred yards away from you they just fall over, dead. You have Short-Range Control.

  Collateral Damage Effects

  One-Man Are-Me: It’s exhausting, but you can duplicate yourself well beyond your stated limits… at the expense of your ability to control them. This creates a swarm of you—NPCs that are under the GM’s control.

  Extra Copies: You can make an extra copy of yourself, even after you’ve reached your limit for the scene. It’s straining to create these new copies, though, so something goes wrong: they burst in knocking things around; they move sluggishly and clumsily; or they just aren’t… right.