Homestuck: The Webcomic: The Game

The streets are empty. Wind skims the voids keeping neighbors apart, as if grazing the hollow of
a cut reed, or say, a plundered mailbox. A familiar note is produced. It's the one Desolation plays
to keep its instrument in tune. -Charles Barkley

I warned you about stairs bro!!! I told you dog! – Sweet Bro
Homestuck: The Webcomic: The Game is a non-profit work by greenTzar. If you have any
questions/concerns/complaints, feel free to contact me at houseofleaves@hotmail.ca

Homestuck is the property of Andrew Hussie, and everything in it belongs to him. Fortunately,
I’m pretty sure he’s cool with fanworks.

Any art appearing is the property of Andrew Hussie and the Homestuck Art Team, with the
following exceptions:

Homestuck Cast (page 5) by Luis Boivert

Thanks to Andrew Hussie, LinkHyrule5, the SBURB Glitch Faq (and its associated IRC), White
Wolf, Nobilis, FATE, the MS Paint Adventures Wiki, and many others for helping make this
game!

Playtesting by hallowedWanderer, Lanternthief, IterationDrive, silensDux

Character Creation:
First of all, choose a name. It’s standard for all players to follow a similar naming scheme (i.e.
four-letter, single syllable names, or whatever), but feel free to ignore this if you find a name
that’s sufficiently cool. Be warned, though, that the DM has the right to thwack you upside the
head if you try to make a character with a name like “Zoosmell Pooplord”

Note: Some players may wonder where the rules for playing trolls are. The
answer is, there aren’t any… At least, not yet. First of all, I’m trying to keep this
system on the less complicated side, which means I want to get some playtesting
done before adding any more subsystems. And secondly… Trolls are just fucking
nuts, okay? I mean, Equius can, as a starting character, punch the fuck out of
ANYTHING and build crazy robots. Sollux can shoot DOOMLASERS out of his eyes,
despite being a lazy computer hacker. And Vriska… well, the less said about her,
the better. Meanwhile, Karkat can yell at people, and Terezi can pretend she’s
not blind by smelling colours. That kinda stuff is all cool in the comic, where
things happen because the author wills it, but in a game, Terezi and Karkat would
probably feel pretty useless compared to the inhuman (introlly? Whatever.)
demigods they fight alongside. Lets save the ludicrous psychic powers for after
we finish up the body of the game.

Next, you’re going to pick out a class and an aspect. A class is a specialization, something that
determines how you use your magic, and what you can accomplish with it. Your aspect is what
kind of magic you use, and can be almost anything, although it’s typical for sessions to have
both a Space and a Time aspect present. For a list of all cannon classes and aspects, see
appendices one and two

Note: In the comic, nobody really knew that much about their class or aspect,
leading them to spend time fumbling around as they slowly realized just what
they were. That could actually be pretty cool to play out, so you may want to
consider having your DM choose which class and aspect you’ll be once you’ve
designed the rest of your character. If you decide to go with this, make sure you
give your DM at least a general idea of what kind of stuff you’d enjoy playing,
though. It’s cool for a character to hate what they need to do for their powers,
but it’s a lot less cool for a player to feel the same way!

Next, develop your basic stats. You start with one dot in each stat, and then distribute five dots
among them as you see fit.

There are four stats:

  Mangrit: Physical activity like running, swimming, punching, jumping, etc. Equius has
this maxed out.
 Attunement: Ability to use magical power. Jade took this to the max when she hit God
Tier.
 Imagination: Puzzle-solving, and skill with alchemization. Dave is pretty good at this,
given his sword, timetables, and skateboard.
 Vim: Resistance, and ability to not get killed by other people. John is probably pretty
good at this.

After that, pick 7 conditions: 2 positive, 2 neutral, 2 negative, and a Strife Specibus (a special
neutral condition that only functions in combat). You can find a list of sample conditions in
Appendix 3 (goddamn do we have a lot of appendices)

Your Miracle Gauge is next. Give it a name, and pick a thematic activity that your character can
do to fill it. For example, John fills his Prankster’s Gambit by pranking his friends, while Dave
probably fills his through ironic actions.

Finally, fill out your health gel bar (give yourself a max health equal to your Vim stat.) Choose a
dream moon for yourself (when you fall asleep, you’ll wake up as your dream self on your
moon of choice), give your land a name, and you’re done!

Character Creation example:

Roy decides that he wants to make a character modeled after Sherlock Holmes.
He decides to name her Bree Allman, for no apparent reason. Seer is an obvious choice
for her class, but her aspect gives him a bit more trouble. After thinking about it for a
while, he goes with Heart, figuring that it would go well with Sherlock’s tendency to see
to the heart of things.

Next, he looks at stats. Noticing that imagination is used for things like puzzle
solving and linguistics, he drops a couple points into it right away. He then puts a point
each into Attunement, to let her use a wee bit more of that Seer of Heart power, and
Mangrit, since he’s seen the Sherlock movies, and knows that the great detective can
punch someone out if need be. This leaves her with a fairly well balanced spread,
although she should hope she doesn’t run into anything too tough, because that low Vim
score means she’ll fold like a wet tissue in a tough fight.

He deals with her conditions next. For the positive conditions, he takes Deductive
Reasoning and, after some consideration, Silver Tongue. For the neutral, he takes Odd
Education (bonuses to weird knowledge rolls, but penalties for day-to-day stuff) and
Quick, not Strong. For the negative, he chooses Caffeine Addiction (since she’s a bit
young to be using heroin), and Kind of an Asshole. He decides that her Strife Specibus
will be Umbrellakind, which gives bonuses to defence aginst ranged attacks and fall
damage, but penalizes attempts to do lethal damage.

The finishing touches are next. He looks over the Seer’s Excellency, noting the
most important keywords (for him, they’re Planner, One Step Ahead,and Predict
Actions) He names her Miracle Point gauge “Elementary-ness Meter”, and sets its gain
condition to solving a mystery. Finally, he picks her moon (Derse), and her planet (The
Land of Slate and Ink).
Stats
Mangrit:

Mangrit is the stat of STRENGTH and speed, focusing on using your body to do things. Mangrit
can be used to climb a wall, make a sweet catch, or youthroll away from an dangerous situation.
In combat, Mangrit is used offensively, in order to stab your opponents, shoot them, or maybe
just send them flying down some stairs.

Attunement:

Attunement is the most mystical stat, and focuses on using your powers to achieve an
otherwise impossible effect. Unlike the other stats, attunement functions differently for each
individual using it, since what you can do with it depends entirely on both your class and which
Aspect you’ve chosen. Each dot of attunement allows access to the following practices (handily
stolen from Mage: the Awakening)

1. Knowing (gaining knowledge/understanding of aspect), Compelling (basic and weak

manipulation of aspect, i.e. turning it on or off), or Unveiling (Gaining sensory
perception of aspect)
2. Ruling (Simple, but non-weak manipulation of aspect), Veiling (Concealing, hiding, or
camouflaging using aspect), or Shielding (Protection using aspect)
3. Weaving (Alter what manifestation of aspect can do / is doing), Fraying (injure target
with aspect), Perfecting (Fortify, bolster, or upgrade aspect)
4. Patterning (Transform aspect into related aspect or shape, or replace its capabilities
functions with other ones), Unweaving (Maul target with aspect)
5. Making (create Aspect), Unmaking (exactly what it says on the tin)

For examples showing what you can do with each tier of Attunement, see Appendix Four

Of course, it would be too easy if you could just do all of that all the time, and SBURB isn’t
known for being an easy game. When you choose your class, right up a brief summary of what
does, and what it doesn’t do. This Statement of Excellence defines your use of aspect, and how
much it costs to use. Something which matches it perfectly is free, but unfortunately, SBURB
rarely gives you a class that’s perfect for you. The GM can charge you miracle points if she
thinks you’re pushing the definitions of your excellency, and anything explicitly prohibited by
the excellency is, of course, impossible.

As a general rule of thumb, an excellency should include fifteen or so italicized keywords that
emphasize the whole point of the class, a situation that it always applies in, a situation that it
never applies in, and something that it’s bad at, enforcing a one miracle point surcharge.
(To see examples of professionally-written excellencies, check out the Yozi Excellencies in
Manual of Exalted Power: The Infernals, p. 105, with the caveat that the Yozi are a lot more
complex than a single class will be. They’re also kinda dicks, so yeah.)

Example Statement of Excellency: The Knight

The knight is a warrior and a hero like might have been found at the round table,
wielding his aspect as a sword to defend his friends. He strikes his enemies down one
by one, and he never rests while danger is afoot. The knight doesn’t give up, and will
fight until the end to save those he cares for. When put in charge, he decides quickly,
and rushes forwards. He inspires others to act, whether through clever words, or sheer
determination.

The Knight may always channel their aspect against an enemy who has hurt their
friends, or who they truly believe is a threat to their allies. However, in his martyrdom,
the knight leaves no room for self-defence. The knight may never use a purely
defensive power on himself, even in the face of death. Additionally, the knight prefers
martial skill to purely magical assaults. Manifesting his aspect directly, rather than
using it to enhance someone or something, or weaken an enemy, suffers a surcharge
of one miracle point.

Imagination

Imagination is the stat of using your brain to overcome problems. In addition to being used for
things like puzzles, house construction, and linguistics, it’s used as the primary stat for
Alchemization. You can have up to twice your Imagination stat of useful alchemized gear (with
useful meaning that it either gives a situational bonus, or provides you with a novel capability).

Vim

Vim is the stat about not getting yourself killed. Each dot of Vim provides you with a point of
health gel, and allows you to take a single injury-based condition. It also determines your
endurance, your ability to stay up late or sleep through interruptions, and your overall health.

Conditions
Conditions can be accepted or imposed, and positive, neutral or negative.
An accepted condition is something the player (not the character!) chooses in exchange for a
benefit. You might choose to make a bargain with the Horrorterrors for power, or bench press
weights until you picked up the Strong of Arm condition. An imposed condition, on the other
hand is something you get hit with as part of a failed contest with an NPC or another player, or
an extremely bad idea. The DM might slap you with Leg Cramps if you have your low-vim
character walk for 24 hours straight, or you might wind up with fuck I keep falling down these
stairs (effect: you are currently falling down some stairs. A hell of a lot of stairs, in fact. You’ll
keep falling until you successfully overcome the condition, that’s how many stairs there are) if
you lost a fight with Bro.

A positive condition represents a particular skill or ability of your character’s, such as Musician,
Computer Programmer, or Highly Competent Boyscout. A neutral condition is something that
provides power in one area at a cost in another, such as Strong but Slow, or Hippie (gives
bonuses to nature-related rolls, but penalties to tech use). Finally, a negative condition purely
hurts the character, but may provide a flow of miracle points. It might be something like Broken
Arm, or Like a Derpy Puppy.

Conditions impose penalties and bonuses for certain actions. For example, getting hit with a
Broken Arm condition would reduce Mangrit rolls involving punching or climbing, but not
running away. The Bloodfester Throes condition, on the other hand, would give bonuses to
offense and causing fear, but impose severe penalties on healing, protecting others, and
communication.

Note: Conditions explicitly do NOT stack with each other

Health Gel
Everyone has a health gel track, which can be found at the bottom of their character sheet. Fill
in a number of circles equal to however many points of vim you have, to represent your max
health. Whenever you take off damage, cross off a box. When you have as many boxes crossed
off as you do max health, any successful attacks may inflict conditions on you.

Miracle Points:
You get miracle points whenever a purely negative condition that you voluntarily accepted
(whether at the start of the game, or partway through) causes you significant inconvenience. In
addition, each player has a unique miracle point gauge (John with Prankster’s Gambit, Rose
with Snarky Broads and their Horseshit), and can fill it up by taking appropriate actions. These
can be spent on a variety of helpful or lucky actions:

 1 point to Be the Other Guy. You can take control of another character for a scene,
provided they’re an NPC, they’re not directly interacting with your character, and they
either care about or hate you. Some NPCs may be immune to this, like the Guardians, or
Doc Scratch. You may get this point back at the end of your control, provided that the
DM rules that you stayed in character for that person, an d acted as they would, instead
of just to benefit yourself. On the other hand, purely OOC actions may cost extra miracle
points to perform, at the DMs discretion (an NPC conspicuously failing to notice
something important might be one point, while having Bec Noir decide to pat your
character on the head and then fly away might cost eight)
 1 point (tentatively) to boost a stat by one dot for a single action
 1-5 Points for a Crazy Coincidence. Running into a friendly dersite on your way to prison
might cost 1, if you’d previously established yourself as having contacts on the planet.
On the other hand, running into a friendly Dersite might cost 5 if you’ve previously
established yourself as “That dude who wants to blow up Derse”
 5 points to go This Is Stupid, and retroactively undo a previous choice, provided it was
made within the previous scene.

Abilities
Abilities are powers unique to a class or an aspect. They’re the special moves that don’t really
fit in with the free-form use typically associated with aspect usage. A player may design their
own abilities, if they so feel. An ability should resonate with both the player’s class and aspect,
and allows them to perform a unique and powerful trick, that they would normally be unable to
do until higher attunement. Time players, for instance, might take a ability that allowed them to
summon their future self for a brief attack, while a space player might take a teleportation
effect.

If you’d like to see examples of what an ability might do, check out the SBURB glitch FAQ, and
see what they describe for the special abilities for each aspect.
Advancement
Leveling up gives you a point for stats on odd levels, and an ability at even levels. You level up
when the DM decides you do, typically upon achieving a major milestone in your personal quest,
or killing something nasty.

Hitting Level 10, then dying on your quest bed, makes you god tier. In addition to uncapping
your stats, you get +1 to all stats, and access to a powerful “Endgame Ability”.

Sprites and Guardians

Every player will, in the course of beginning the game, find themselves with a Sprite, a magical
ghost buddy who helps and teaches them about the world! Your sprite is your best friend, your
cool older brother, and your caring dad all in one. Of course, it’s also going to die or disappear
without warning you, so yeah, don’t get attached.

Each sprite starts off as what’s known as a kernelsprite, a glowing ball of energy. The
kernelsprite isn’t completely dumb, but without any other information, it has nothing but a
vague curiosity about the world. Fortunately, your sprite is completely customizable. By tossing
an object into it, it will take on the traits of that object, in a process called prototyping.
Anything can be used, but dead things are the most traditional, and the most likely to result in a
friendly, useful sprite. Prototyping isn’t all fun and games, however. If you prototype your sprite
before entering the gameworld, you’ll find enemies occasionally taking on the same traits as
your sprite. Worse, the royalty will manifest all of those traits simultaneously, which can be bad
if said traits are something like “Unstoppable robot from the future” or “Eldritch abomination
that lurks behind the walls”

All sprites will follow a basic pattern, with just a few basic modifications for different
prototypings. They all start with Mangrit 2, Aspect 2, Imagination 0, and Vim 2. The first
prototyping increases one stat while decreasing another, and the second imposes a neutral
condition on the sprite, giving situational bonuses and penalties.

Their aspects are special, and far more narrow then a player's would be. For instance,
Nannasprite has Aspect (baking), while Calsprite has aspect (plush puppet rump). Their abilities
are highly destructive, but limited. They can’t pass through gates, and so simply act as
guardians of the houses when the kids are away. Barring special circumstances (i.e. Davesprite),
of course.
Guardians are similar, but instead start with Mangrit 3, Aspect 0, Imagination 0, Vim 3, and
can't be prototyped, only given appropriate conditions. They seem to be pretty sturdy, but lack
the overt and flashy powers that the sprites have. They can travel through gates, or through
other means of planet hopping. However, given that Guardians are explicitly immune to "Be the
Other Guy," they typically act as mysterious NPCs, albeit ones with benevolent and helpful
agendas.
Grist and Loot:
Grist:
Grist is generic resources that can be used to build up a player’s house, or create useful artifacts .
It can be found by defeating enemies such as Imps, Ogres, and other underlings, who will
explode into a burst of colorful grist upon their defeat. Grist is technically a game abstraction,
so NPCs can’t pick it up and use it, and it disappears into a player’s inventory as soon as they
touch it.

In general, while there are many types of grist in-character, there are only three things to worry
about out of character: Build Grist, Odd Grist, and Artifact Grist.

 Build Grist represents the generic types of Grist used as raw material for building your
house, and alchemizing items. An item that costs mostly build grist is an item whose
purpose is relatively straightforward or obvious. Examples might include shoes that
make you run faster, or a hammer that does bonus damage against inanimate objects .
 Odd Grist represents the many, many types of strange grists dropped by prototyped
enemies. It can be used for alchemization, and contributes to objects with strange
properties, or ones that are not necessarily intuitive. A hammer that slows your
opponents, or a gun that put opponents to sleep rather than killing them, would likely
cost more Odd Grist than build grist.
 Artifact Grist is used for high-level alchemization, producing objects that have character-
defining or redefining effects. A wand that allowed its wielder to channel another aspect
entirely, or a device that allows anyone (not just the time player) to travel through time
would certainly cost artifact grist.

Don’t worry about keeping track of how much Build or Odd grist you have. Instead, just assign
them a rating between one and five dots, with one being “a bit of grist” and five being “All the
grist! All of it! YEAH!” . You can make as many objects that cost less than your current dots as
you want, but making something that has the same rating as you currently do will drop your
rating by one.

You should probably keep track of how much Artifact Grist you pick up, though. This stuff
should be rare enough that you’ll probably never get past low single digits of it, anyways, so it
shouldn’t add too much bookkeeping.
Alchemization
Alchemization allow creation of artifacts that allow enhancement in a narrow area (a sword
enhances Mangrit for combat attacks, armor enhances Vim against physical attacks, Thorns of
Oglogoth enhance offensive uses of Attunement, while changing your Aspect to Aspect
[horrorterrors]). You can’t have more than [Imagination x 2] pieces of permanent gear at once.

Note that you can give away/share permanent gear, but it still takes up one of your slots

Alchemizing an object may or may not require an Imagination roll, depending on what the
player is trying to make. If an item has no mechanical impact, or only a minor one (looks nice, but not
enough to be worth a +1 to anything, a consort might like it, whatever), there's no roll required, but the
item still costs grist as the DM decides is appropriate. However, If an item has a mechanical effect, it
requires a imagination roll to be created. The difficulty of this roll depends on two things: the utility of
the item produced, and what it’s made out of.

 Increased utility means applicable in more situations, with things that are almost always useful
being harder to make then things that rarely are. Note that no item can apply to all situations.
 Making something useful out of household / relatively useless items, or making something fairly
unrelated to its components will be a difficult roll, while making something out of already useful
/ powerful objects, or making something that is an incredibly obvious combination will be an
easier roll.

An objects cost will be depend on its utility. As a rule of thumb, for each 1/6th of the time that
the object would be useful, it costs one dot of grist. For example, a suit that insulates its wearer
against fire would probably just be worth one dot of grist, since it’s only good in a narrow
circumstance. On the other hand, a suit of insulated diamond armor that protected the user
against pretty much everything except loud noises and falling might be worth five dots, since
those are going to be far in the minority of attacks. For more examples of alchemized items, see
appendix five.
 Dice Mechanics:
You need two 8-sided dice, of different colors. While they’ll normally be treated as identical,
they can vary in some circumstances, notably in combat. Call one the core die, and the other
the circumstance die.

Basic Success/Failure Metric: Roll 2d8. If either dice comes up equal to or under your
[attribute+modifiers] (this is known as the target number, or TN), you succeed.

Example 1: Jake decides to leap over a big-ass chasm. He doesn’t have any conditions
that might affect this, and the DM judges that this isn’t too difficult, so he’s just going
to roll against his Mangrit, which is three. He rolls his two eight-sided dice and gets a
two and a seven. Two is less than his target number, so he succeeds!

Example 2: Eridan decides to write a heart-felt apology to Feferi. This wouldn’t

normally be a difficult task, but his condition, Incredibly Fucking Haughty, interferes.
Normally, he would roll against his imagination of two for this, but that condition
reduces his imagination to one for this roll. He tries anyways, and gets a three and an
eight. Failure! Feferi is not impressed.

Degrees of success/failure: double number (i.e, 1 and 1) > two successes > single > failure >
doubles failure (i.e. 8 and 8).

 A roll with a target number of only 1 cannot benefit from the double number rule for
successes.
 A roll with a target number of 7 cannot critically fail

Example 1: Rose decides to make John a rabbit for his birthday. She has the “Pro
Knitting” condition, so she adds one to her relevant stat, Imagination (which is
normally 2), before rolling. She gets a two and a three. Great success! The rabbit she
makes is going to be incredibly sturdy – tough enough to survive travelling through the
medium, back in time, and to Jade.

Example 2: Jade, independently of Rose, decides to make John a rabbit, by cleaning up

one she’d had forever. She doesn’t have any relevant conditions, but she figures she’ll
give it a shot. She rolls against her imagination (three) and gets a pair of sevens:
critical failure! Not only does she not make a rabbit, she actually destroys the one she
was working on. Fortunately, she knows someone who just might be able to repair it…
Difficulty: Modify the target number up or down, in accordance with the difficulty.

Table of Suggested Difficulty Modifiers

+5 Anyone can do it (babies, idiots, whatever)

+3 Pretty easy, average joe probably won’t fail
+1 Average joe has a 50/50 chance of succeeding
0 Tricky, but doable for your average joe
-1 Needs specialized training / good ability
-3 Peak of human ability
-5 Supernatural and impressive
Example: Dave decides to break his bro’s old sword, to remove it from his bro’s chest.
However, unbeknownst to him, this isn’t some incredibly shitty ninja sword. It’s pretty
much unbreakable (a difficulty of -3). He’s got a mangrit of 4 by this point, but that still
means he’s only rolling against a TN of 1. He rolls a two and a four, not enough to
succeed, so he just can’t do it.

Opposed Rolls: If both rolls fail, or are exactly the same, the contest is a draw. If one person
gets more successes than the other, they win. Otherwise, highest successful number wins.

Example: Eridan and Sollux are having a laser beam contest. Eridan has attunement at
3, while Sollux has attunement at five. They both roll, and Eridan gets lucky, with a one
and a three, while Sollux just gets a four and a seven. Eridan got more successes than
Sollux did, so his laser beam blasts right through Sollux’s.

Extended actions: Instead of just rolling once, you keep rolling until you accumulate a certain
number of successes. Each dice below your TN adds 1 success, and doubles add an extra
success (so if your TN is 3, a roll of 1 and 8 would be worth one success, a roll of 2 and 3 would
be worth two, and a roll of 1 and 1 would be worth 3). If you roll doubles on a fail, however,
remove two successes from your pool, as you screw up whatever you’re trying badly enough to
set you back (on a TN of 2, a roll of 6 and 7 would do nothing to you, but a roll of 6 and 6 would
remove two successes from your pool)

Example: Rose is building up John’s house. The DM decides that something this
important might take a while, so he models it as an extended action, using Imagination,
at easy difficulty (+3 to her target number). To get his house up to the next gate, she
needs seven successes. She already has imagination of two, so she’s rolling against a
target number of five. On her first roll, she gets a pair of ones: Critical success! She
adds three successes to her pool. Her next roll gets a one and six, adding a single
success to her pool. After that, she rolls a pair of sevens: critical failure… She must have
 accidentally deleted some supports from the house, because she just lost a pair of
successes. She’ll need to keep going if she wants get the house up to the gate.

Combat
Combat in SBURB takes place in a turn-based system.

Combat procedure:

Roll for initiative. This is an Imagination roll. Order goes from highest successful roll to lowest
successful roll, then moves on to the failed rolls, going once again from best to worst. Anyone
who failed their initiative roll is caught off guard, and treats their Mangrit as being one lower
during the first round.

Attack procedure:

1. Basic Attacks are made in the form of opposed Mangrit vs. Vim. The attacker needs to
receive a higher degree of success than the victim to hit.
2. If the attack hits, look at the degree of the attackers success compared to the victim’s:
Three degrees higher (doubles vs. failure, or two successes vs. critical failure) allow her
to inflict 2 points of Vim damage, or a serious condition (like Broken Arm). Two degrees
higher (ex. Double success vs. failure) allows her to inflict 1 point of Vim damage, or a
quick-fixing condition (like “Fuck I keep falling down these stairs!”). One degree cannot
damage Vim, but allows you to knock them off guard, lowering the TN on their next
Mangrit or Vim (your choice) roll’s circumstance die by one.
3. If the attacker fails by 2 or more degrees than the victim, the Victim can knock them off
guard.
4. If either party uses their imagination to come up with something that should give them
an advantage, give them +1 TN on their circumstance dice. If it’s something that should
be a very big advantage (“he’s a plant monster. I’m setting him on fire”), give them +1
TN on both dice.

Special attacks:

Some attacks may be function outside of this system, being based neither on the attacker’s skill
nor their strength, meaning that using Mangrit to calculate them is inaccurate. In these cases,
Attunement is probably the most relevant stat, and can substitute it for Mangrit in the
calculations. Similarily, some attacks may be purely mental. In this case, consider using
Imagination as your defense.
Movement and Spacing:

Given that battles don’t necessarily happen on an infinite white plane (Unless you’re, you know,
on the Land of White and Flat), you’re probably going to need to figure out what to do about
people moving around. There’s no need to keep track of every 5 meter square or anything like
that, but what you should do is divide the combat arena into a number of smaller areas.
Examples:

In general, you can move one area per turn, or two with a successful use of Mangrit or Aspect
to overcome whatever obstacles are in your way (i.e. punching through the wall between the
lunchroom and the office, or doing an acrobatic fucking pirouette over the lava to save time).
 The World of SBURB
A blue lotus blooms in the centre of space, covered in tiny monochrome soldiers, fighting forever.
A city-planet in gold orbits it, with no surface, nothing but cathedrals built upon cathedrals,
impossibly ancient. A radiant king and queen reign there, directing their armies to scourge the
destroyers.

An impossibly vast darkness looms, dwarfing everything that ever was or could be, and
containing entire universes within its depths. Shapeless things swim through the void, their
actions impossibly baroque, yet their motives eternally primitive. On the edge of this sea of void,
a dark and ancient planet stirs, its people clad in robes of shadow. In the palace, a dark king and
queen gaze at the blue lotus with unrestrained greed and loathing.

And in the center, between the blue and the black, between the light and the shadows, dwell a
few strange planets, as yet unclaimed by either side, but home to the warriors whose destiny
will change the fate of the war.

Locations:
Welcome to SBURB! It’s a weird, weird, world-game and gameworld, and quite possibly the
universe’s filthy schlong, but it makes sense once you take a minute to orient yourself.

Standing outside of the game itself, yet tied inextricably to it, is the world the players hail from.
For now, let’s assume that it’s called Earth. Earth is as you know it, but won’t remain that way
for long. As each player prepares to enter the game, meteors begin peppering the planet,
initially small, but growing larger and larger. Only by escaping into the Incipisphere can the
players escape the oncoming holocaust. After the players leave, the only thing of importance
on the ruined planet will be a few Dersite or Propitian exiles, with a strange connection to the
minds of the players.

The Incipisphere is the area where the entire game takes

place, assuming that the session goes as planned (note:
sessions never go as planned). It consists of the void of
space and a of planets, but the laws of physics are slightly
different there – or rather, it’s governed by a simulation of
physics, rather than physics itself. This isn’t always
noticeable, but the players will realize it as soon as they
notice that they can breathe in space, or that there is light
without a sun.
The Incipisphere, also called the Medium, is home to a number of important planets and
moons: Skaia, Prospit, the Lands, and Derse, as well as innumerable meteors.

Skaia, also called the blue lotus and

the battlefield, is a checkerboard
planet at the very center of the
Incipisphere. Initially incredibly simple,
it grows more complex as the players
prototype their sprites. It starts off
nothing more than a three by three
chessboard, but it becomes a cube,
then a sphere, and then finds itself
surrounded by a fractal filigree of
battlefield as time passes. As it grows
more complex, it also gains
geographic features: lakes, trees,
castles, or mountains may appear,
offering new venues to explore or
battle on. Skaia has no native
inhabitants, but Dersite and Prospitian carapeople fight on its surface in an eternal war.

Prospit is the first moon of

Skaia, and a nation of gold
and light. The entire planet
is nothing but glorious and
immense temples, stacked
on top of each other, all the
way down to the core. The
people of Prospit are a
constructive force, and will
aid the heroes, given the
opportunity, although the
laws of the game prevent
them from taking direct
action. The dream-homes of
the heroes of Prospit are attached to the moon by a great chain, and those who dwell there
may seek visions from the future by gazing into the clouds of Skaia as their towers drag through
its atmosphere.
The Lands are strange planets, each one unique , and named for a pair of distinguishing
features. The Land of Heat and Clockwork, for instance, takes the form of islands and
continents of floating gears, over a great
sea of lava. Meanwhile, the Land of Tides
and Fog is shrouded in eternal mist and
covered by a shallow and briny sea, the
only life there found on windswept buttes
that thrust up from the water in an
extremely phallic manner. Each land is
inhabited by a group of anthropomorphic
animals known as the consorts. These
consorts often lack intelligence or
determination, so it is up to the heroes to save them from their Denizen, a great beast that
rules or terrorizes as it sees fit.

Skaia’s second moon, Derse, is a

dark and fearful realm, found at
the very edge of the
Incipisphere, where the fabrics
of space and time begin to
buckle and warp. Like Prospit, it
is a mass of elegant architecture,
but the cathedrals that form is
are gothic and terrible. The
people of Derse are too often
either fearful mice trying to
avoid the wrath of their
superiors, or thugs who
embrace the violence of the system to get ahead. The royalty of Derse are capricious and cruel,
with the queen ruling the land with an iron fist and a whip, while the king directs the troops.

The Veil, a ring of meteors separating Derse

from the rest of the Incipisphere , contains
vital territories and factories in the war, as
well as a terrible weapon. It is here that the
soldiers of Prospit and Derse are cloned,
grown, and sent to die on the surface. It is
here that the arcane machinery of SBURB can be found, devices to pull objects from the past or
future and send them back, machines that can transport from one session to another, and
stranger things. And it is these meteors that shall and will have (goddamn time travel tense
trouble) rain[ed] down on Skaia and Earth following the inevitable triumph of the Dersite
Monarchy.

Finally, beyond the borders of the

Incipishphere itself, lies the
Furthest Ring. Time and space fail
here, and to arrive at a location
and a time of one’s choice
requires a Seer of unparalleled
skill. Strange things dwell in the
inky depths. The Horrorterrors,
mighty and sanity-blasting
abominations who dwell unhinged
from time swim through the
darkness, occasionally attempting
contact with Dersite heroes. Ghosts from failed timelines or possibilities left unexplored dwell
in dream-bubbles, endlessly re-creating their un-lives. And in the dreams of those who stared
too long into the dark, whispers are heard of a green sun that illuminates the void.

The Sburban Narrative

Note that the game almost never goes right enough for all of this to be correct.

 Before Installation

While Sburb always features a host of glitches, a whack of problems, and a whole mess of
outsiders screwing everything up for everyone, there’s a certain pattern visible under the layers of mess,
for those who care to look.

The game begins with the heroes outside of the medium entirely, installing a game known as
SBURB. Depending on their pasts, and how entangled they are in the meta-narrative of the game, they
may or may not be aware of the consequences of this, but it doesn’t matter. Every player is predestined
to be a player by the definition of the game, and the installation is just a formality.

 The Entry Process

 Once the game is installed, the players begin forming the Moebius Reach-around, a chain of players
where each person serves as the server player to one person, and the player of another. The server
player is in charge of building their players house up, placing objects within it, and assisting their player
in not dying before their time. The most important thing they can do at this point is to put down the
alchemization equipment, and help their player to create a Sprite. Meanwhile, the player uses that
equipment to create their Entry Item, to escape the oncoming doom.

Yes, doom. While the players have been derping around, trying to get their items made, there’s
been a whole whack of asteroids rushing towards the earth. Some will hit randomly, but each player has
a meteor bound for their house. Fortunately, the temporal mechanics will keep them from dying. The
timing of the asteroids is such that they’re going to hit seconds after the players enter. SBURB won’t let
you escape that easily.

Inside the Medium, the introductory phase of the game begins. With the help of their Server player,
the player has to build their way up to their first gate, while dealing with a rapidly spawning horde of
enemies. Only by reaching the gate, a spinning spirograph high above their house, can the player escape
the onslaught.

 The Main Game

Once the players are in the game, they can begin their quests. Their goal is to make their way
through all the gates, each one taking them to a friend’s land, where they will complete some sort of
quest. These quests will continue until the players pass through their seventh gate and slay their denizen.

Of course, SBURB never lets you do just one thing at a time, and even when you sleep, there’s no
escape from the game. Players will find that every time they fall unconscious, whether through injury or
just plain sleepiness, they wake up on their Dream Moon, either Derse or Prospit. Prospitian players will
find themselves aiding the war effort, ferreting out Dersite spies, and maintaining morale. Meanwhile,
the players on Derse will need to sabotage whatever they can, forment rebellion, and stay alive in the
face of hostile agents.

 The Endgame

Eventually, the players will find that the war on SBURB has ended, with a decisive victory for the
Dersites. The white King and Queen banished or dead, the black King will seize his counterparts scepter
and attempt to call the meteors of the veil down on Skaia, destroying both the planet and the reward
within it. Skaia is not so easily destroyed, but even it cannot resist forever. Only through the actions of
the heroes can the black king be slain and Skaia preserved, allowing the heroes access to their ultimate
prize.
Common NPCs
 Consorts: Every land is going to include some
type of consort. These are little
anthropomorphic animals that run around,
give you quests, and generally derp it up.
The’re incredibly stupid, but they can still be
useful sometimes, if you know what you’re doing. They’re mostly good for acquiring
information, and the quests they give out.
 Underlings: A wide variety of minions
will be spawned throughout the
course of the game, to serve as basic
enemies for you to fight outside of
the main plot. They come in many
shapes and sizes, and can have many
different personalities. Imps, the
weakest and smallest, take the form
of little humanoids, and tend towards
malicious mischief. Other enemies,
such as basilisks and ogres, are more
fond of direct and brutal violence.
Some minions, such as liches, are
even capable of using something
similar to player abilities.
 The Denizen: Every player has a unique denizen, some sort of titanic entity that serves as the
final boss of their Land. The denizens are named after figures from mythology, and are
immensely powerful. Fortunately, they start the game asleep, and only wake up when the
characters are of the appropriate level, and have completed the right quests. Unfortunately,
their underlings are still perfectly active. Interestingly, despite their status as a boss, they’re not
completely hostile. Players in a dire straight can seek out a Denizen, and make a deal with it,
assuming they can pay its price.
 Carapeople: The carapeople
are the footsoldiers of the war
for Skaia, and the make up most
of the populations of Derse and
Prospit. They’re roughly
humanoid, but they have tough
carapaces in skin, which can be
either black or white. Their
bodies are completely hairless,
and their some of them may be
 completely total herbivores or meat-eaters. Despite this, the majority of them, on both planets,
are just people. While they may tend towards patriotism, they still have minds of their own, and
will put aside their differences in the face of an outside threat, or if a charismatic leader can
convince them to do so.
o Exiles: these special carapeople live on the ruins of Earth, far in the future. They take the
role of guides for the players, whispering suggestions into their mind, urging them to
use their aspect, and assume the role that their class dictates.
 Special Agents: Spies and
saboteurs, these carapeople
act on the order s of their
Queen, taking stealthy
action against the enemies
of their moon. Unlike other
carapeople, they are happy
to fight against the players,
although they tend to let
sleeping players lie, unless
another force has taken
control of them. Oddly
enough, despite their high
rank, the leader of the special agents (the Archagent) is often disloyal to his or her queen, and
may usurp their monarch, given the opportunity.
 The Queens: Tall, beautiful, and imposing, – barring an
unfortunate prototyping - the Queens serv e as the rulers of their
moons while the Kings are away. They manage not only
governmental tasks, but also ensure to the safety of their moons,
sometimes even confronting intruders themselves. The white
queen is a noble figure, sometimes surprisingly humble, willing to
sacrifice herself for her people. The black queen, on the other
hand, loves her power in all its forms, and revels in it, sometimes
tormenting her subjects just for fun.
 The Kings: The brawn to the queens’ brains, the Kings
are tall and wide, built like linebackers. They lead the
troops on the battlefield, coordinating the endless
assaults. Unlike the queens, who stay the same size
while prototyped, the kings grow huge in their
prototyping, towering over the other pieces. Their
power is actually less than that of their queen, but
they make up for it by taking a more active role in the
battle.
 The Horrorterrors: Also known as the
Others, these nasties live outside of the
incipisphere, whispering to the
dreamselves of Dersite players. They’re
not – strictly speaking – hostile, but their
motives may well run at cross-purposes
to what players want to achieve. They’re
also writhing, non-Euclidean
monstrosities that dwell beyond the
boundaries of sanity, so yeah, you may
want to keep your delicate human butt
out of their writhing grasp. They are
useful, though. They exist in all points of
their existence simultaneously, so they
can be a source of prophecies if you don’t mind the whole, “sup bro hope u didn’t need that
sanity lol” thing. They can also help you if you need power, giving you access to all sorts of
weird dark magic, and even allowing you to do things that should be forbidden by your class.
And all it costs you is your ability to protect others, heal anyone, or talk without sounding like
some gibbering star-spawned horror! Interestingly, they may well have a presence of sorts on
Earth even before the session begins, usually a childrens show or something that presents a
simplified version of their goals.
Note on Corruption: Given what we’ve seen in the comic, a good way to model
corruption would be reversing / inverting aspects of the players’ excellency in
order to allow for actions they couldn’t take before. For example, when Rose
was full grimdark, the subtle and covert tags in her aspect became blatant and
vulgar, and she went from waiting to rushing in. However, if you have other
ideas about how corruption might work, feel free to use them. Also note that
there may well be other sources of corruption than the others. Yay.
 First guardians: Oh fuck run. No, seriously, if you have these guys around, try to avoid them as
much as possible. They can be recognized by their
fondness for white color schemes with green highlights
(and green lightning), the fact that they know way more
than should be possible, and by the way they’re fucking
omnipotent. They may seem friendly or cool, but if one
of these manages to get into your kernelsprite before
you enter… Yeah, good luck with that. They can be pretty
good friends if you ignore this advice, you’ll just have a
chance of megadooming everyone you know.
 Players from Other Sessions: You shouldn’t meet these guys at all, unless something
horrendously stupid has been done, either by them, by your future-selves, or more likely, both.
They’ll probably be at least a bit
friendly towards you, although they
may hate you for things you haven’t
done yet, or make no sense. They
also may also not bother with the
whole “linear time” thing when
dealing with you, which can make
them a colossal pain in the ass to
figure out. Sometimes, they may
not even be human, adding whole
new layers to the whole “what the
fuck are these guys on about?” thing.
Probably best to just ignore them,
not like that can go wrong in any way.
 Green Carapeople: More of a rumor than
anything else, these guys are a bunch of
gangsters with time powers. They don’t tend to
interfere with players, but their presence means
that something has gone horribly wrong in your
session (yeah, you should be used to that at this
point). In any case, they don’t have an
allegiance with any of the in-game factions, so
hopefully someone else will deal with them for
you (yeah, right.)
Appendix One: Character Classes
Bard

The Bard is a subtle and insidious agent, who both allows destruction through his aspect,
and allows others to destroy it. His favored method is the small push that causes the collapse
of a system, or the harmless insinuation that leads someone to extreme action. However, the
bard is far from helpless in a fight. He can enhance himself or others with his aspect, allowing
them to channel its destructive strength.

The bard may always channel his aspect to push someone to the tipping point, or to
enhance his or his friends offensive abilities. However, his nature as a destroyer prevents him
from ever using his ability to heal or shield another. In addition, he lacks the supreme
destructive potential of the prince. Any attempt to attack directly with his element, rather
than using it indirectly or as an enhancement, suffers a one miracle point surcharge.

Heir

The Heir is a mighty and charismatic leader, one who takes on the burden of
responsibility to aid his friends. He acts in consideration for the greater good, focusing his
efforts on benefiting everyone. To ensure that his mighty presence isn’t cut off, the Heir is
protected by his aspect, often in ways even he doesn’t understand. In battle, he is blatant and
straightforward, using his aspect directly to strike down his foes.

The Heir may always channel his aspect in order to lead another, or to work within an
existing plan. However, he can never consciously be subtle. Any use of his aspect to affect
another must take the path of least resistance. In addition, the heir must learn to put aside his
needs for the benefit of others. Any actions that help him more than his friends suffer a one
miracle point surcharge. Finally, his control over his abilities is… Odd, to say the least. He may
never choose to use his aspect to defend himself subtly. However, at the DMs discretion, his
action may take action on its own to protect him.

Knight

The knight is a warrior and a hero like might have been found at the round table,
wielding his aspect as a sword to defend his friends. He strikes his enemies down one by one,
and he never rests while danger is afoot. The knight doesn’t give up, and will fight until the
end to save those he cares for. When put in charge, he decides quickly, and rushes forwards.
He inspires others to act, whether through clever words, or sheer determination.

The Knight may always channel their aspect against an enemy who has hurt their friends,
or who they truly believe is a threat to their allies. However, in his martyrdom, the knight
leaves no room for self-defence. The knight may never use a purely defensive power on
himself, even in the face of death. Additionally, the knight prefers martial skill to purely
 magical assaults. Manifesting his aspect directly, rather than using it to enhance someone or
something, or weaken an enemy, suffers a surcharge of one miracle point.

Mage

The mage is a will-worker and a wise man, one who understands his aspect, and is
protected by it. He benefits from his knowledge, using it to set up plans, mechanisms, and
traps that his enemies and allies will activate. Of all the classes, he is the most in touch with his
aspect, often receiving visions from it, and foreseeing what it will do. Through this, he avoids
danger, and survives the impossible through the blessing of his aspect.

The mage may always channel his aspect to protect himself, or to set up a mechanism
that someone else will activate. However, not for him is the blatant magic of the witch. He
may never take an action that uses his aspect in a straightforward or direct manner. In
addition, attempts to physically manifest his aspect suffer a surcharge of one miracle point.

Maid

The maid is a mystic and a prophet, working within the arcane mechanisms of SBURB to
ensure the function of the session. She acts in accordance with her destiny, walking the path
foretold by her aspect. She seldom acts alone, preferring to act through her allies, enhancing
them and weaving their powers together. In some cases, she may even mimic their aspect,
acting as their right hand. If forced into combat, she slows and weakens her foes, while
healing her friends.

The maid may always channel her aspect to accomplish something in accordance with
prophecy, or to accomplish a standard part of the game. However, she works within the
system, not outside of it. She may never channel aspect if doing so would damage the health
of the session (by breaking a quest, killing a key NPC, etc.) In addition, actions that do not
benefit someone else suffer a surcharge of one miracle point.

Page

The Page is a warrior, fighting not for his friends, but for his own ideals, and the love of
battle. He is bold and independent, wielding his aspect to fight his own battles. While he may
not be a destroyer, he is supreme in combat, wielding his aspect in all forms to strike down his
foes. It is his sword and shield, and he may enhance, debuff or assault with is as he sees fit.
Outside of combat, he is competitive and driven, never letting himself be shown up.

The Page may always channel his aspect to strike down another, or to enhance himself
in combat. However, War is the Page’s calling, not peace. He may only use his aspect to
challenge or compete with another, never against the environment. In addition, the call to
arms sings in his blood. Any attempts to use his aspect outside of combat suffer a one miracle
point surcharge.
Prince

The prince is a warrior and a destroyer, wielding his aspect as a weapon to bring about
an ending. His methods are unsubtle and blatant, unleashing overwhelming force as the
solution to his problems. The prince`s methods are indiscriminate, capable of destroying friend
and foe alike. He is most in his element in combat, and takes pleasure in demonstrating his
superiority.

The prince may always channel his aspect to wreak havoc upon a foe, or unmake their
own associated element. However, this peerless destruction comes at a price: The prince ay
never create anything of lasting value, nor may they ever heal another. Even actions that
merely protect others suffer a surcharge of one miracle point. He stands alone, and remains
separate and above his fellow players.

Rogue

The Rogue is a hero in the vein of Robin Hood, taking their aspect from her foes, and
sharing it with their friends. Ignoring laws, they follow their conscience, and help their allies to
achieve their goals. Rogues will always help the needy, even to their own detriment, and stand
against injustice. In battle, they favour the unexpected or unconventional attack over the more
straightforward method.

The Rogue may always channel their aspect in actions that steal from their enemies, or
donate to their allies. However, they are the most selfless of the heroes. They may never
channel their aspect if doing so would benefit only them. They also suffer a surcharge of one
miracle point on all uses of their aspect as a shield, as they find that the best defense is to
simply not be there in the first place.

Seer

The Seer is a tactician and planner, one who sees the spread of her aspect throughout
the session. Never surprised, her knowledge allows her to confront threats before they arrive.
The seer watches and waits until the right moment, then cuts to the heart of the problem with
a decisive action. She’s always one step ahead, and any who would confront her find
themselves tangled in the web of her plans.

The Seer may always channel her powers to understand the pattern of her aspect, or to
predict actions. However, her magic is subtle and covert. She may never use her aspect to
attack directly, nor may she manifest it physically. In addition, her style is meticulous and well-
planned. Any use that is rushed or hasty suffers a surcharge of one miracle point.

Sylph

The Sylph is a truly unique class, one who uses her aspect to enforce her beliefs upon the
world. The sylph`s powers are both the broadest and the narrowest of all classes, for she is
 concerned with why she uses her powers, not how they are manifest. The sylph’s player
should write up a personalized moral code for her, indicating what she considers right and
wrong. She may always channel her power, provided she truly believes that it is the right thing
to do. However, the sylph may never betray her nature. She cannot use her aspect at all if
doing so would violate her moral code. In addition, her nature screams for swift action. For
every scene in which the sylph knows about a problem, but fails to confront it, she suffers a
one miracle point surcharge on all uses of her ability.

Thief

The Thief is, well, a thief, stealing what she wants from her enemies to benefit herself.
She exists outside both law and morality, governed only by her desires. Even at her kindest,
she acts out of enlightened self-interest, rather than care. She takes from friend and foe alike,
enhancing herself to their detriment. In combat, she is swift and cruel, cutting her foes down
with their own power

The Thief may always channel her powers to take from others, or gain what she wants.
However, there is no charity in her soul. The thief may never use her aspect in a way that
benefits others more than herself. In addition, the thief favours the indirect attack over the
frontal assault. Any use of her aspect to harm her enemies directly, rather than affecting
herself or the environment, suffers a surcharge of one miracle point.

Witch

The witch wields her aspect in strange and esoteric ways, altering and transforming it to
better suit her desires. Under her command, it grows or withers as she sees fit. The witch
favours the complex plan, and the mysterious action that can only be understood in hindsight.
She brings complexity to situations, wielding her aspect in ways that confuse and bewilder her
enemies. Her powers are some of the most mystical of all the classes, defying logic.

The witch may always wield her aspect to transform or alter a clear and visible amount
of her aspect. However, she is a will-worker, not a warrior. She may never enhance her
physical abilities, nor those of her friends. In addition, she favors strange and complex actions
over straightforward methods. Any use of aspect that would simplify a situation, rather than
adding complexity in her favor, suffers a one miracle point surcharge
Appendix Two: Sample Aspects

Blood: Associated with blood, relationships

between individuals, solidity, cohesion

Breath: Associated with breath, wind,

motion, destruction

Doom: Associated with doom, the dead,

poison, consequences

Light: Associated with light, luck, sight, truth

Life: Associated with life, healing, growth,

Plants

Heart: Associated with hearts, souls, inner

meaning, personalities

Hope: Associated with hope, antigravity,

holiness, rejection

Mind: Associated with minds, lightning,

understanding, possibilities
Rage: Associated with rage, commanding,

sound, warping things

Space: Associated with space, distance, size,

movement

Time: Associated with time, the past and

the future, clocks, music

Void: Associated with nothingness, the

essence of lack, destruction, vacuum

Appendix Three: Sample Conditions
Positive Conditions:

 Arts & Crafts: Bonuses to making stuff

 Beastmaster: Bonuses to dealing with animals, unintelligent enemies
 Cat-Like Tread: Bonuses to sneaking around
 Edumacated: Bonuses to general knowledge
 Flash Stepper: Bonuses to anything involving quick movement
 Leadership: Friends get bonuses when following your orders
 Mad Musical Mastery: Bonuses to anything involving music
 Royal Etiquette: Bonuses to dealing with polite society
 Pretty Boy/Girl: Bonuses on impressing people, shipping-related stuff
 Psychologist: Bonuses to analyzing and understanding others
 Silver Tongue: Bonuses to making people believe lies
 So Strong: Bonuses to anything involving being STRONG
 Survivalist: Bonuses to dealing with wilderness
 Tech-Savvy: Bonuses to using technology
 Visions: Bonuses to predicting future events

Neutral Conditions:

 Adventurer!: Bonuses to trying new stuff, penalties to repeated actions

 Bifurcation Gimmick: Bonuses to doing two things at once, penalties to focusing on one thing
 City Mouse: Bonuses to dealing with urban stuff, penalties to dealing with wilderness
 Country Mouse: Bonuses to dealing with wilderness, penalties to dealing with urban stuff
 Free Spirit: Bonuses to working alone, penalties for working under someone
 Furious Yelling: Bonuses to ordering others around, penalties to reasonable discussion
 Ghostly Body: Can pass through walls and so on, but can’t do physical stuff
 Hippy: Bonuses to old-fashioned stuff, penalties to technology use
 Improv Master: Bonuses to spur-of-the-moment stuff, penalties to pre-planned stuff
 Jock: Bonuses to athletics, penalties to knowledge
 Long Ranger: Bonuses to ranged combat, penalties to melee
 Master of Whimsy: Bonuses to silly action, penalties to being serious
 Nerd: Bonuses to tech use, penalties to social stuff.
 Skinny Speedster: Bonuses to quick movement, penalties to things involving strength
 Walking Mountain: Bonuses to holding ground and endurance, penalties to speed

Negative Conditions

 Anemic: Penalties to strenuous physical activity

 Blind Without Them: Penalties if you lose your easily lost/broken glasses
 Cannot into Technology: Penalties to using technology, obviously
 Chronic Insomniac: You cannot fall asleep easily, preventing you from using your dreamself
 Claustrophobic: Penalties when trapped in a small space
 Genocidal Asshole: Penalties to working with others
 Doomed: The DM should feel free to throw random “accidents” at you
 Gullible Fool: You will doom everyone by believing something you shouldn’t
 Huge Bitch Bluh Bluh: Penalties to social interactions
 Illiterate: You can’t read at all
 Like a Derpy Puppy: Penalties to puzzle-solving
 Narcoleptic: Every now and then, pay a miracle point or fall asleep immediately
 No Legs: You have no legs. Figure it out.
 Slow: Penalties to being quick. Duh.
 Teenage Alcoholic: Penalties to everything if you haven’t had a drink lately
Appendix Four: Sample Uses of Aspect
Attunement 1:

 Reshape a shadow (void)

 Change the direction of a breeze (breath)
 Cure a your headache/hangover (life)
 See in the dark (light)
 Cheer up a friend who’s feeling down (blood)
 Determine if a statement is true or false (mind)
 See 360o around yourself (space)
 Make a minor coincidence happen at just the right time (Time)

Attunement 2:

 Make an object weaker through decay (Doom)

 Make a single thing invisible (void)
 Heal yourself of damage (life)
 Create a shield of antigravity (hope)
 Predict the immediate outcome of a single choice (mind)
 Make a weak entity (imp / consort) obey a single, non-harmful command (rage)
 Determine any hidden properties of an object (heart)
 Know exactly what happened where you are in the past (time)

Attunement 3:

 Send someone flying with a blast of wind (breath)

 Make an enemy turn on its friend (blood)
 Create a portal to somewhere you can see (space)
 Create a coincidence that hurts someone (light)
 Coat your weapon with poison (doom)
 Make someone take two turns (time)
 Deafen someone with your shouting (rage)
 Make someone WANT to obey you (heart)

Attunement 4:

 Create a ghost (doom)

 Fling a group of enemies into the sky (hope)
 Wield someone as a puppet (life)
 Completely unmake a single object (void)
 Modify someone’s memory (mind)
  Create a bigass storm (breath)
 Pull a powerful weapon out of someone’s heart (heart)
 Teleport to somewhere you’ve been before (space)

Attunement 5:

 Survive death as an undead player (doom)

 Turn an army into a bunch of disorganized backstabbers (blood)
 See the complete and total results of any action (mind)
 Travel to whenever you want (time)
 Yell at someone so hard they rearrange their stats (rage)
 Giant-ass wind drills that can trash entire battlefields (breath)
 Determine a single fact of your choice, regardless of what obscures it (light)
 Create a huge and ancient forest out of nothing (life)

Attunement 6+:

 Anything supported by your excellency

Appendix Five: Sample Loot
Velvet Squiddleknit Dress: In addition to being rather comfortable, this stylish dress
is considered to be highly respectable by the citizens of Derse, and bears the
emblem of the Squiddles. Any rolls for social interactions involving loyalist dersites
or the Horrorterrors gain a +1 bonus.

Cost: 1 dot of Odd Grist

Wrinklefucker: This mighty hammer, forged from common

household objects, is a powerful weapon for the player lucky
enough to produce it? Why? Because the ends are fucking hot irons,
that’s why! I mean, have you ever gotten with one of those? Jesus
H. Christ, man, it is NOT pleasant. Any roll against something that
can feel the burn gets a +1 bonus

Cost: 3 dots of Build Grist

Rocket Shoes: These sick kicks let you fly around, just as their name suggests.
They’re extremely maneuverable, never run out of fuel, and are even comfy
enough to wear while walking around! Just don’t try to use them underwater,
okay?

Cost: 3 dots of Odd Grist, 1 Artifact Grist

Thorns of Oglogoth: These wands, glowing with the darklight of the

horrorterrors, are a fine choice in armament for the aspiring mage,
provided he or she doesn’t mind the whole “hideous powers from
beyond the universe” thing. In addition to providing a +1 bonus to
all offensive uses of Attunement, they automatically change the
user’s Aspect into “Grimdark.” Whether this is a curse or a boon
depends on your perspective, and how much you liked your old aspect.

Cost: 4 dots of Odd Grist, 1 Artifact Grist

Iron Lass Suit: This full-body suit of armor represents the very best in not-
getting-you-killed technology. It’s fire-resistant, cold-resistant, stab-resistant,
holyfuckthat’sahugeclub-resistant, etc. Pretty much the only thing it won’t
shield you from is falls. It may not be the most comfortable set of clothes, but
given the benefits it offers, that’s not likely to be too big of an issue.

Cost: 5 dots of Build Grist, 2 dots of Odd Grist