Passing AshcanEdition 20190801 PDF

PASSI NG
ASHCAN EDITION
Sarah "Sam" Saltiel

P ASSING
Author’s Note
In the winter of 2017, Sarah Richardson came to my school to run
Bluebeard’s Bride. I became fascinated with the game because it did
things that I didn’t realize that games could do, and because I’d
never seen a game that I felt represented my story before. I sent an
email to Magpie Games months later, asking if they would consider
me for an internship.
I never thought that they would actually respond. But they did. And I
screamed. That email ended up changing my life in so many ways, not
least of which was that it gave me the opportunity to work with them
on Passing—a game that I could use to tell stories about the queer
erasure (both internal and external) that I see happening happening
in the communities around me.
I owe more than I can ever express to everyone at Magpie Games. As my
mentor, Brendan has sat through hours of meetings with me to work on
this project, which never would have been possible without him. Beyond
that though, each and every one of the Magpies treated my voice as
important and valuable. They listened to me and have given me the op-
portunity to learn so much over the past year. Thank you to all of you.
In addition, thanks to my core playtesters Thomas Propson, Dan Cohen,
Ben Robertson, Rebecca Koppel, Gowri Rao, Gayathri Rao, and Hugh Graham.
You all helped me work out all the kinks in the game while also helping
me determine if aliens can flush themselves down the toliet. Thanks!
Credits
⚉⚉ Writing, Development, and Design by Sarah “Sam” Saltiel
⚉⚉ Additional Development by Brendan Conway and Mark Diaz Truman
⚉⚉ Editing by Brendan Conway and Mark Diaz Truman
⚉⚉ Cover Art by Sarah “Sam” Saltiel
⚉⚉ Layout by Nathan D. Paoletta
⚉⚉ Proofreading by Katherine Fackrell
All content @2019 Magpie Games

www.magpiegames.com
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 4 THE PLAYBOOKS 34

Alien Fiction 4 List of Playbooks 34
The Ashcan Edition 4 The Intermingler 36
What You Need to Play 5 The Poster Child 39
A Brief Human-Alien History 5 The Outsider 43
Sun-Lost 5 The Halfling 46
Our History 7 The Hidden 50
The First Wave 7
The Second Wave 8 THE GAME MASTER 53
The Third Wave 8 Agendas 53
Walnut Hills 9 Make their lives tense 53
Give Walnut Hills a secret
THE OTHERS 11 underbelly 53
Play to find out what happens 53
CREATING CHARACTERS 12
Principles 54
Cell Sheet 12
Invoke the community 54
Choosing a Playbook 13
Flesh out their alien
Human vs Alien Look 14 and human lives 54
Stats 15 Be a fan of the players’
Backstory 15 characters 55
Playbook Moves 15 Make your move but misdirect 55
Introductions and Treat all humans as possible
Relationships 16 threats 55
Driving Desires 16 Treat all alien NPCs
Playbook Extras 17 as possible allies 55
Cool Alien Superpowers 17 Remind the aliens of their
Shapeshifting 17 decisions 55
Intuition 18 Address yourself to the
aliens, not the players 56
Distress Signalling 18
Ground the story in a
GAMEPLAY 19 neighborhood divided by
politics and identity 56
Dice 19
Give everyone secrets and
The Question and underlying motivations 56
Stats System 20 Define alienness through
Basic Moves 21 beauty and strangeness 56
Peripheral Moves 27
GM Moves 57
Trauma 29
About the Aliens 58
Human and Alien Tracks 30 The Intermingler 58
Human Adaptations 30
The Poster Child 58
Alien Adaptations 32
The Halfling 58
The Outsider 58
The Hidden 58
LONG EXAMPLE 59
CELL SHEET 61
CHAP TER 1
Introduction
ALIEN FICTION
This is not an alien invasion story.
In 1947 a flying object crashed into a ranch near Roswell,
New Mexico. Life is out there and it’s hurtling towards
Earth, full of malice, intent on burning every last trace
of humanity to the ground. Except…it’s not.
In this story you play the aliens, stranded on Earth, hid-
ing among humans and desperately trying to survive. You’ve
formed a Cell with other aliens to work towards common
goals. Your shapeshifting allows you to look like humans,
but your disguise isn’t sustainable. Humanity knows about
you and it is not rolling out the welcome wagon. Taking
over Earth? You couldn’t even if you wanted to. Try sur-
viving first.
THE ASHCAN EDITION

Though you can play Passing with the book you’re holding,
this Ashcan isn’t the finished game—the true form, so to
speak. I’m still moulding it, working out the kinks. As
you play Passing, email me at sam@magpiegames.com to tell
me your feedback. I really appreciate it.
Passing is based on another game: Apocalypse World. The
author, D. Vincent Baker, made this game—and other games
like Dungeon World, Monsterhearts, and Urban Shadows—pos-
sible by encouraging other designers to use his mechanics.
If you like Passing, you should check out the other Apoc-
alypse World games.
This also means that Passing is written with the assump-
tion that you are familiar with story games, and Powered
by the Apocalypse games in particular. If you’ve never
touched an rpg before, there’s not enough space here to ex-
plain everything you might want to know, but don’t let that
stop you. An excess of tentacles and exoskeletons should
cover up any hitches in the process. And you can always
learn more from those other games, especially Apocalypse
World, Monsterhearts, and Urban Shadows.
Page 4 - Ashcan Edition

Introductio n
WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY

⚉⚉ 3-5 players
⚉⚉ a Game Master (GM)
⚉⚉ playbooks (get them at magpiegames.com/passing)
⚉⚉ 6-sided dice (at least 2)
⚉⚉ pencils and paper
⚉⚉ 3-4 hours per session
⚉⚉ this book, as a reference guide
A BRIEF HUMAN-ALIEN HISTORY

Since crashing on this planet many years ago, I was contacted by a mem-
ber of N.A.A.A., interested in creating a history of human-sun-searcher
interactions. I do not know what our future on this planet is, but I have
spent the past few years working with the N.A.A.A. to document this Cell
and the home that we come from, compiling information from both the
humans and us, the sun-searchers, the “aliens” so to speak. Should any-
thing happen to us, these notes remain and they will tell the world (and
many worlds) who we are and why we were really here.
-Grass-Sound, the unofficial self-appointed historian
of the Walnut Hills sun-searcher Cell
Sun-Lost
Age: 8.3 billion orbits old
Orbit: 1 Sun-Lost orbit is equal to 1½ Earth years
Geography: A planet in the Milky Way. It is named such be-
cause it spends ½ of each orbit with very little sun. The
part of the orbit when it is exposed to sun, the tempera-
ture may shift up by 200 degrees. These radical changes
in climate led to the evolution of shapeshifting inhabi-
tants—us, sun-searchers.
Culture: The ruling body on Sun-Lost is The Council, which
presides over the entire planet, with subsections that op-
erate on a local scale. We have been interacting with other
sentient life forms for many centuries and enjoy healthy
interstellar relationship with hundreds of other planets
in the universe. Earth is not one of them.
Biology: Unlike Earth, Sun-Lost does not have a distinc-
tion between an entity’s internal identity and the face
they present the world. In the period after a sun-searcher
What You Need to Play - Page 5

P ASSING
is born (the time period being about ½ of a orbit around

our sun), we shift rapidly between states, not having a
stable form. After that period of time, we are fully grown
and stabilize into our true form. On Sun-Lost, our life-
span is about 50 orbits of the planet around the sun,
though we reach full maturity after our stabilization.
Each sun-searcher’s form is different, though we’re usu-
ally around the same size, a similar size to humans. We
maintain the ability to shapeshift after reaching our true
form, but that form is our default, and reflects our truest
self. A sun-searcher’s true form might change throughout
their life, due to shifts in the sun-searcher’s identity.
Physical contact from other sentient creatures sends a
shock through a sun-searcher’s system. If we are holding
an alternate form and are not psychologically steeled for
contact, it might briefly expose a glimpse of our true form.
This is not a complete change, but our eyes might change,
or our skin might flicker.
With only a thin barrier between the internal and exter-
nal, sun-searchers are able to sense truths about each
other. In the atmosphere of Sun-Lost there is a whole net-
work of nonverbal communication based off of these mental
senses and the fluctuations in them. For example, we are
all able to put out psychic distress signals, much like
releasing pheromones. As sun-searchers go through changes
in our lives, we may develop modifications and mutations of
our shapeshifting and hypersensitivity that allow us to
hone our skills in different ways.
Note: This reflects the biology of sun-searchers as it ex-
isted on Sun-Lost and the years immediately following the
crash on Earth. It is unclear if we will change and evolve
in response to our new surroundings.

Introductio n
Our History
The First Wave
Spacecraft: Ocean-Seeker
Reason for mission: Exploration and Research
Ship Members: 40+ scientists, unarmed
Crash Site: Middle of Route 29
Early 1947- Ocean-Seeker crashes in the Northeastern Unit-
ed States, forced into an emergency landing. Photos of it
sweep Earth headlines. An unknown number of sun-searchers
are captured by the United States government. Those not
captured flee into the surrounding area and quickly adopt
human identities out of self-preservation. Groups begin to
form as the sun-searchers find each other and work in secret
with orders from Sun-Lost to develop an escape plan. Sun-
Lost keeps the identity of each group separate from the
others to isolate the damage of any attacks. One such group
forms in Walnut Hills. This is the beginning of our Cell.
Late 1947- The government conducts preliminary tests on
the captured sun-searchers and discovers their shapeshift-
ing abilities. (We have since been told that a major law
enforcement leader at the time, Herbert Hoover, formed a
Joint Extra-Terrestrial Task Force that collaborated with
local authorities to find and capture the “alien invaders”).
The humans declare a country-wide search and encourage all
citizens to report any suspicious alien behavior.
1948-The United States government completes work on a high
security testing facility by the name of the C. R. Mitchell
Extra-Terrestrial Research Area, abbreviated to E.T.R.A.,
and immediately moves Ocean-Seeker, as well as those of
us who were captured. The location is kept secret but its
proximity to Walnut Hills means that most of the town is
aware of its existence somewhere in the middle of Franklin
Forest. Though there is no official confirmation, there are
rumors that the humans moved our corpses there and contin-
ued testing on our dead bodies.
A Brief Human-Alien History - Page 7

P ASSING
The Second Wave

Spacecraft: Earth-Seeker
Reason for mission: Diplomacy and rescue
Ship Members: 20+ Diplomats and their guards, lightly
armed
Crash Site: Field near Britteridge Lake
1947- Sun-Lost dispatches Earth-Seeker for a rescue and
diplomacy mission to recover us, the crashed and captured
sun-searchers.
1949- The United States government shoots down Earth-Seek-
er with military fighter jets. FBI agents swarm the scene
immediately. Survivors are taken to E.T.R.A.
1951- Some of the Cells, including us, attempt to break our
kindred out of E.T.R.A. More sun-searchers are captured
and the FBI tortures information out of them, leading to
the complete eradication of two or three Cells.
1952- “Concerned citizens” create an extreme vigilante
group by the name of A.E.U. (Alien Eradication Unit, col-
loquially known as “Erads”). They publicly declare their
intent to exterminate all sun-searchers for the good of
humanity.
Late 1952- American social activists form a protest group,
advocating for the release of the captured aliens and for
legislation to peacefully coexist with the sun-searchers.
The group is called N.A.A.A (Nonviolent Alien Advocacy As-
sociation, colloquially called “N triple A”).
The Third Wave
Spacecraft: Life-Seeker
Reason for mission: Extraction at all costs
Ship members: 40+ fighters, heavily armed
Landing Site: Franklin Forest
1956- The D.C. branch of N.A.A.A. works in secret with our
Cell to make contact with Sun-Lost and bring in one final
ship, Life-Seeker. An N.A.A.A. member betrays the plans to
A.E.U. and when Life-Seeker lands, the ship is ambushed.
The number of casualties is unknown, but the battle burns
Life-Seeker to the ground and leaves A.E.U and N.A.A.A.
in chaos. Sun-Lost cuts off communications with all of us
left on Earth for fear of losing any other aliens.
We no longer know who to trust.

Introductio n
Walnut Hills
Current Year: 1956
Location: Walnut Hills
Closest Metropolitan Area: Washington D.C
Population:
87% White, 5% below the National Average
10% Black
3% Other
Middle-Upper Class
90% Protestant, 8% Catholic, 2% Unconfirmed
30% Democrat, 65% Republican, 5% Unaligned
Note: We took these numbers from the 1950 census, which
seems to be how humans document themselves. I have asked
the N.A.A.A. what the significance of these categorizations
are and when I receive an answer, I will note it in this
document. The census workers largely stayed east of Han-
cock Street so data may be skewed. Also notable, the census
does not count the sun-searchers hidden in Walnut Hills.
We are still unsure how many of us there are in this town.
Notable Landmarks:
Franklin Forest
E.T.R.A. (The C. R. Mitchell Extra-Terrestrial Re-
search Area)
Lake Britteridge (Named after town founder)
Notable Organizations:
Walnut Hills Homeowner’s Association
Walnut Hills Elementary P.T.A
P.A.E.T. (Parents Against Extraterrestrials)
The Britteridge Country Club
Walnut Hills Republican Association
The Democrats of Walnut Hills
Cultural Notes: E.T.R.A. is a large employer for the town—
nearly doubling the size of the population when it was
built. Those who don’t work in the facility or in town
commute to D.C.
The town layout is divided by Hancock Street into East and
West sides. Prior to Brown v. The Board of Education, two
years ago, this was the division for something the humans
call “segregation.” Walnut Hills’ attempts at “desegrega-
tion” have been perfunctory at best.

P ASSING
Political Notes: The headline of the bestselling issue of

the “The Britteridge Herald” in 1955 was, “Supreme Court
Rules Aliens a Definitive Threat, Gives Citizens Permis-
sion to Shoot on Sight”, accompanied by cartoons of lit-
tle green men (assumedly representations of sun-search-
ers) conspiring with the Russians. Most inhabitants have
election signs for President Calvin R. Mitchell and his
anti-alien platform in their front yard.
Cautionary Note: The proximity to E.T.R.A is to our advan-
tage, but this is not a friendly environment. Take great
care and proceed with caution. The friendly old lady who
lives next door or the parents on the P.T.A. may prove to
be more dangerous than they initially appear.


CHAP TER 2
The Others
The 1950s were a fraught time in history, even without
extraterrestrial interaction. Some games instruct GMs and
players to avoid the tension they might encounter playing
in historical settings. Passing—a game about alienness,
both literal and figurative—asks you to engage it directly.
Your characters might blend into their surroundings, they
might even thrive, but fundamentally, they are not the
same as those around them. Every day they are erased from
themselves a million times over. On its most base level,
this is a game of otherness and the erasure that comes from
the defiance of existing in non-othered spaces. Lean into
that tension—at the center of the tangled web of identity
and politics lives the thematic core of this game. Use the
historical setting to explore identity and erasure in a
productive way.
Of course this is easier said than done. We are not encour-
aging you to haphazardly subject your players’ characters
to oppression. Talk to your players beforehand and make
sure to establish some guidelines so that you can explore
this tension in a productive, rather than harmful, way. If
you’re not yet familiar with consent and safety tools in
gaming, look up the X Card or Lines and Veils. Those will
help you navigate the game.
If you have some questions about what is or is not okay,
there are a lot of amazing writers talking about how to
navigate identity in the game space. I would recommend
reading James Mendez Hodes’ “May I Play A Character From
Another Race?” as a resource for fielding points of uncer-
tainty that you may encounter before or after the game.
⚉⚉ X Card: http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg
⚉⚉ Lines and Veils: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/ques-
tions/30906/what-do-the-terms-lines-and-veils-mean
⚉⚉ “May I Play A Character From Another Race?”: https://
jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/2/14/may-i-play-a-char-
acter-from-another-race

CHAP TER 3
Creating Characters
In Passing, you play shapeshifting aliens trapped in the
D.C. suburb of Walnut Hills, trying your best to survive.
Your alien is everything wild and weird that you can imag-
ine, with glowing skin or snake eyes, barely masked by a
constructed human persona.
Before you make a character, you must create your Cell with
the other players. Your Cell is the unit in which you all
operate, so determining the Cell’s main objective and how it
operates decides the sort of game you want to play.
CELL SHEET
The characters you create will all be part of an alien Cell
operating in Walnut Hills. Originally formed by the aliens
of the First Wave hidden in the area and with direction
from Sun-Lost, the Cell has expanded with aliens from the
Second and Third Waves. Having lost contact with Sun-Lost,
your Cell must decide where it goes from here.
Before you create characters, fill out the first two steps on
the Cell Sheet, which can be found on page 61. Knowing
the broader context of the group will help create charac-
ters that fit into that group in interesting ways.
To create your Cell:
1. Decide the Cell’s primary objective as a group. This
is the first question on the Cell Sheet. Discuss it and
decide on it as a group. For longer campaigns, the Cell
might have a primary and a secondary goal, but for one-
shots and shorter campaigns, it’s simpler to stick to
one objective. The Cell’s purpose might change through
gameplay. Since the objectives are vague, talk about
what that specifically looks like for your Cell.
2. Pass around the Cell sheet, each player answering one
of the following questions until there are none left.
These questions have to do with the history of the
Cell—what has it been doing in the decade since it was
formed? The GM might ask clarifying questions to flesh
out more of the Cell and the world around the Cell.
At this time, all the players fill out their playbooks
before proceeding through the rest of the Cell Sheet.

Creating Characters
3. Fill out each alien’s Driving Desire in the spaces pro-

vided. Each player makes this decision about their alien
while filling out the playbooks. It is the thing that
drives their character; the thing that they want above
all else. These can be subsets of the Cell objective, or
be completely contradictory to the Cell objective.
4. Fill out the Cell sheet with the Cell members, NPC
and PC. During the creation of the Cell history and
throughout character creation, the need might arise
for NPCs to flesh out the Cell. Write their names (as
well as those of the PCs) on the lines provided.
CHOOSING A PLAYBOOK
In Passing, there are several archetypes you can play
called playbooks. Each of these are a collection of abil-
ities, characteristics, and backstories meant to inspire
you in building your true alien form. These are The In-
termingler, The Poster Child, The Hidden, The Halfling,
and The Outsider. Character variety helps create a game
with interesting dynamics and points of tension, so there
should only be one of each playbook in a game. Read the
descriptions of each playbook and choose a playbook based
on the type of story arc you’re most interested in.
⚉⚉ The Intermingler- You got too invested in your cover
and fell in love with a human.
⚉⚉ The Poster Child- Human life is so easy for you, easi-
er than being an alien ever was.
⚉⚉ The Hidden- You live your life as an alien, picking up
and discarding human identities when necessary.
⚉⚉ The Halfling- Born on this planet to an alien and a hu-
man, you wish you could find your place.
⚉⚉ The Outsider- You stay on the fringes of human soci-
ety, just as you did with aliens.
The Intermingler and The Poster Child are playbooks that are
a bit more adjusted to human society, whereas The Hidden and
The Outsider are less fettered by human constraints, but are
more conspicuous. The Halfling, being the youngest, is in a
neutral state right now, not leaning one way or the other.
These playbooks are meant to be skeletons for all the goo-
ey, tentacle-y alien goodness that you want to fill them
up with. The questions in the playbooks are not meant to
be limiting, but rather starting points for you to build
your character.
Choosing a Playbook - Page 13
P ASSING
HUMAN VS ALIEN LOOK

After you’ve chosen your playbook, pick your alien name
and look. Since sun-searchers’ appearances reflect their
true form, think about what their alien look says about
them. All sun-searchers are corporeal and human-sized/
shaped, but the similarities stop there.
Choosing your human look comes with different sorts of
consequences than the alien look. This is the body that
your character will use to appear to the rest of the hu-
man world most the time. In the 1950s especially, race and
gender have dire implications for how the world is going
to treat you; when making your character, dig into the
nuances of those implications. Before character creation,
you should have discussed as a table what the boundaries
are for dealing with issues of identity (see page 11).
You might decide that your alien opted for the strategy
of looking like a white man because that would give them
the most access to human political power, which could be
helpful down the road. Or they might have chosen to join
a marginalized human community in hopes of finding allies
to fight back against the oppression. This choice might be
strategic or it might be personal, but it is a choice that
your alien had to make at some point. This human look is
your mask, but it is also your life.
You’ll notice that not all playbooks have the same choices
for race and gender. The Hidden allows you to create mul-
tiple human identities, because your alien form is your
primary form and all of your human identities are inter-
changeable. The Poster Child is a playbook that has done
exceptionally well in human society, and The Outsider is
a playbook that exists on the fringes, so the race and
gender choices for both of them are tailored to speak to
those issues.

Creating Characters
STATS
Each playbook has only two stats: Human and Alien. Some of
the basic moves use these two stats, and the rest use the
question system (more about that on page 19). Every time
you trigger a stat-based move in Passing, you will be asked
to roll some dice and add a stat.
Alien and Human are stats that measure how well you’re fit-
ting into alien or human society. Important to note is that
these stats don’t denote how human or alien you actually
are. You’re alien through and through. Your stats just re-
flect your current relationships to the communities around
you, and how well you adhere to the norms of that commu-
nity, making certain actions easier or harder. In other
words, they reflect how well you pass in each community.
In preliminary character creation, there is no stat choice.
Over the course of the game, your choices will give you
+Human or +Alien points, which might strengthen or lower
the stats, or give you new moves altogether. (You can find
more about Alien and Human points on page page 30).
BACKSTORY
Each playbook has a series of backstory questions. The
questions are meant to poke at the parts of your alien
that fit with the archetype you chose, highlighting the
things that are important about that playbook. Your alien
can have much more of a backstory than what is expressed
in the questions, but those are meant to give you a basis
to work from.
PLAYBOOK MOVES
On every playbook are playbook moves. These are special
moves that define the distinct traits and abilities of each
playbook. Each playbook has one move that is preselected.
Beyond the preselected move, you can choose one more play-
book move to start out with. There will be opportunities
during the game to pick up additional moves as you advance
down the Human or Alien Tracks. Choose the move that will
allow you to focus on how you want to play your character
and what sort of situations you want to be put into.
Stats - Page 15
P ASSING
INTRODUCTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS

When everyone is done filling out their character sheet,
go around and introduce the alien characters that you’ve
created. These aliens—and alien NPCs the GM might come up
with—are the members of the Walnut Hill alien Cell. The
GM and other players might ask you clarifying questions
during introductions but there will also be plenty of time
during the game to make choices about your character be-
yond what’s in the background sections.
Once all the aliens have been introduced, the players
should go back around the circle and fill out their rela-
tionships, one at a time, going around the circle a second
time to fill out the second relationship. Fill in each re-
lationship with the name of another player character. Some
of these might require a bit of discussion with the other
player involved.
There is a special relationship sectioned off in The Hal-
fling playbook—The Halfling’s alien parent. If The Halfling
has an idea of who that might be, they can make a sugges-
tion, but the other player needs to consent to this being
a part of their character’s backstory. If there are no PCs
that are willing to be The Halfling’s parent, the GM can
assign the role to an NPC alien.
DRIVING DESIRES
Each playbook asks what the character’s driving desire is.
This desire is a wanted change in the world or in their
life— something that keeps them motivated and working with
the Cell. This is not a casual want, but is instead the
thing that they want above all else, sometimes even the
thing that they would die for.
Some of these desires are smaller scale, others may not be
accomplishable within the alien’s lifetime, but any prog-
ress towards that goal is still monumental. The Adaption
Tracks dictate a dire end, but they don’t dictate how close
the aliens will come to achieving their driving desires
before their ends. For the aliens trapped on Earth, these
driving desires represent hope for a better life, for a
life that is more than just struggling to survive—whether
that hope comes true for them, or for the next generation
of aliens.

Creating Characters
PLAYBOOK EXTRAS
At the end of each playbook is an extra section to help
flesh out the details of your playbook’s story arc. The In-
termingler has a family life, The Poster Child has a job,
The Hidden has multiple identities…
Though there are several choices to be made in the extras,
don’t worry about getting too pinned down. As you start to
play, the plot will shift things around and change your
circumstances in new and interesting ways.
COOL ALIEN SUPERPOWERS

As a sun-searcher, you have three abilities that are differ-
ent from what you might be able to do as a human. This sec-
tion addresses how they work and what their limitations are.
Shapeshifting
It’s so easy, babies could do it (on Sun-Lost). Since
shapeshifting is such a basic part of being a sun-search-
er, it’s not necessary to roll for most shapeshifting.
While the playbook moves offer more variations on shape-
shifting, your sun-searcher can shift into any flesh and
bone-based humanoid, human-sized entity. Cat person? Yes.
House cat? No. House cat made of gold? Also no. This can
be a partial or complete shift as long as it stays within
those boundaries.
As all sun-searchers know, shapeshifting happens not with
a bang, but with skin melting and some occasional body hor-
ror. That is to say, a complete change doesn’t happen with
a snap of your fingers. Every sun-searcher shifts a little
differently, but in general a shift starts in one part of
your body and spreads across the affected area like a wave.
Your true form is the only stable form you have. None of
your other forms have time limits, but physical touch from
another sentient being can destabilize you. Mentally brac-
ing yourself can minimize or negate the effects, but if
you’re unlucky, the touch of another can reveal a flash of
your true form. More about preventing this on page 28.
Note: You are a flesh-based human being so injuries still
wound you and in general, your body cannot shift to solve
every problem…just some of them.
Playbook Extras - Page 17

P ASSING
Intuition
Because the divide on Sun-Lost between internal and external
identity is thin, sun-searchers have a psychic sense of the
true nature of other sentient beings. Using Glimpse Some-
one’s True Form (more on page 25), you can divine certain
information about another. Humans would call it something
like intuition. With other sun-searchers, this semi-psychic
connection is strong enough that you can force them to re-
vert back to their true form (page 28). Take care though—
what you can do to them, they can also do to you.
Distress Signalling
Sun-searchers have the ability to signal their distress to
other aliens using the equivalent of psychic pheromones.
Using the move Call out for Aid (also in Basic Moves on
page 21), you can send out a distress signal. However,
much like sending up a flare, this isn’t an explicit commu-
nication. You don’t get to decide who sees it or specifi-
cally what it says, just that it’s a signal evident to all
the other sun-searchers in a roughly five mile radius. Much
like a smell, it will linger a bit after you set it off,
detectable for up to 2-3 hours.

CHAP TER 4
Gameplay
Roleplaying is a form of collaborative storytelling, with
each player speaking as their alien and describing what
actions or emotions their character has in response to
the environment. Game mechanics help manage uncertainty,
like negotiating a hostage situation with some unfriendly
Erads. Passing uses moves to resolve uncertainty.
Each move includes a trigger and an effect. Triggers are the
actions that catalyze each move. They tell you what you need
to do to use the move, and when the move kicks into action.
Providing Solace is only going to work if you’re actually
doing a thing to comfort someone.
Rebecca is playing Word-Lost, The Halfling, and she wants to blackmail Jim,
an E.T.R.A. guard, to look away from his position just long enough for her to
sneak through the gates. She tells Ty, the GM, that Word-Lost approaches
Jim at the local dive bar and slides across some risque photos of him in an
“adult” alien costume with a woman who is not his wife. Rebecca asks if this
is enough to bend someone to your will and Ty agrees, having Rebecca roll
to determine the outcome of the move. Perhaps Jim is easily blackmailed!
Once a player takes action to trigger a move, they often
roll dice to determine what happens.
DICE
If a move asks you to roll, roll two six-sided dice (2d6)
and add the result. Half of the Basic Moves use stats,
while the other half use questions. In both cases, add the
relevant modifier to the total score. For example, if the
move says +Alien, add your Alien stat to your roll.
There are three kinds of outcomes when rolling the dice:
⚉⚉ a 10+ is a full hit
⚉⚉ a 7-9 is a partial hit
⚉⚉ a 6- is a miss
As a general rule, you want to roll high. On a 10+, you get
most of what you want; on a 7-9, you get what you want but
there’s a cost or complication. On a 6-, things don’t go as
planned and the GM will tell you what happens next.
The GM doesn’t roll dice. They decide what happens, re-
spond to your characters, and act as a referee if there’s
any confusion about what a move means or does, especially
when it’s a move between two players.
Dice - Page 19
P ASSING
THE QUESTION AND STATS SYSTEM

There are eight Basic Moves in Passing, and they’re divid-
ed in two groups.
Give into Violence,Tune into Your Surroundings, Provide
Solace, and Bend Someone to Your Will all run off the
question system. The question system was first developed
in Pasion de las Pasiones by Brandon Leon-Gambetta. These
moves have two yes or no questions about the circumstanc-
es of the move. For each yes, add +1 to your roll. This
means that you can add between +0 and +2 to the total on
your dice. These are moves that depend more on your cir-
cumstances than your identity.
Act Covertly, Hold Back Your True Face, Glimpse Someone’s
True Form, and Call out for Aid are based off of stats. The
first two are determined by your Human stat, while the second
two are determined by your Alien stat. You can find a deeper
explanation about the Human and Alien stats on page 15 but
the stats represent how much you’re passing as an alien or
human in your life. These stats will be in flux throughout
the game as you progress along Human and Alien Adaptations
(see page 30). Whichever stat the move calls for, add your
current modifier for that stat to the sum of your dice.
Gowri is playing Time-Lost, The Poster Child, and is trying to scope out
Hunter,a big-level client who might be affiliated with Erads. Time-Lost
catches Hunter in an argument with someone late at night in the office
and wants to get more information. Gowri could choose to tune into your
surroundings to get more information about the scene or could choose
glimpse someone’s true form to get more information about Hunter.
Time-Lost currently has an Alien stat of -1 so she chooses to glimpse
someone’s true form because it does not rely on her low Alien stat.
Gowri describes Time-Lost sneaking closer to the office to get a closer
read on Hunter and the psychic energy he is putting out. She checks the
questions: “have they made themselves vulnerable to you in the past?”
and “are they under stress?” Hunter has never shown any vulnerability to
Time-Lost but he does seem to be under a lot of stress from this argu-
ment so Gowri answers yes to the second question (+1). She rolls 2d6
and gets a 6 and then adds the +1, making it a 7. Gowri and the GM look
to the move to see what happens on a 7-9.

Gam ep lay
BASIC MOVES
To help you understand the basic moves, here is some expla-
nation behind what each one does and how it is triggered.
Give into Violence

When you Give into Violence, roll with questions:
??Are you protecting someone?
??Are you hidden from the public eye?
On a hit you disable your foe. On a 7-9 choose 2. On a 10+
choose 3 or kill your opponent and take +Trauma:
⚉⚉ You injure your opponent, disabling them for a long time
⚉⚉ You create an opportunity to escape
⚉⚉ You do not suffer +Trauma
⚉⚉ You do not reveal a glimpse of your true form
This move is for when you act physically to cause harm to
another sentient being. The questions for this move ask how
much you safely can give in to this primal self. Invisibil-
ity excluded, you’re probably not going to be hidden from
the person you’re attacking. But so much of your life here
rests on flying under the radar and if there are any other
human witnesses to this fight, that’s going to spell trouble.
On a hit, you minimize the consequences of your fight. A
10+ allows you to pick 3 options from the list, while a
7-9 allows you to pick 2. Unless you choose to not suffer
+Trauma (more on Trauma on page 29) and not have your
true form glimpsed, the GM will tell you how these things
happen—you do not have the opportunity to Hold Back Your
True Face in this case. If you disable an opponent, their
ability to fight or take on other physical activity is min-
imized for as long as it takes for that injury to heal
(think breaking a leg). If you create an opportunity to
escape, it might be for yourself or your allies, or both,
whether that means making a distraction, or knocking your
enemy out for a scene. A 10+ also allows you to bypass the
options and kill your opponent, but you automatically take
+Trauma, and it is not a choice to be taken lightly.
Basic Moves - Page 21

P ASSING
Tune into Your Surroundings

When you Tune into Your Surroundings roll with questions:
??Is this situation familiar to you?
??Is your position secure?
On a 10+, ask two. On a 7-9, ask one. Take +1 forward when
acting on the answers.
⚉⚉ What here poses the greatest threat to me?
⚉⚉ Where does the power lie?
⚉⚉ How can I keep my identity a secret?
⚉⚉ What here can I use to ______?
This move relies on base intuition and observational skills
that humans and aliens alike use to get information about
their environment. Tell the GM what it looks like when you
scope out the scene. On a hit, you ask the GM 2 questions
from the list; on a 7-9, you ask 1.
Bend Someone to Your Will

When you Bend Someone to Your Will with manipulation,
lies, shame, or intimidation, announce what it is that
you’re trying to get them to do and roll with questions:
??To their knowledge, have you risked your safety for
them?
??Are you using their guilt or obligations against them?
For an NPC: On a hit, they’ll do what you’re trying to get
them to do. On a 7-9 they will do it but their actions come
at a cost for both of you.
For a PC: On a 7-9, choose 1. On a 10+, both.
⚉⚉ if they don’t do it, they must reject your mutual
alien bond and mark +Trauma
⚉⚉ if they do it, their senses reveal to them a useful
weakness in you
If you use leverage over another character to get them to
do something they’re generally inclined not to do, and
you’re willing to accept any consequences that arise,
you’re bending someone to your will. Just asking them to
do the thing itself won’t trigger the move—to get another
character to do something like this, you have to have some
sort of power over them and be willing to wield it.

Gam ep lay
Persuasion gets easier the more leverage you have. If

you’ve risked your safety for them, whether or not they
like it, they owe you—they know it and you know it. The
second question points to whether or not you have purchase
to make emotional manipulation. If some part of them feels
like they should listen to you, they’ll be easier to per-
suade, even if that part of them is irrational.
If you are using the move against another PC, on a 7-9 they
either glimpse your weakness when they comply with your
will, or they suffer Trauma for going against your will. On
a 10+, both are true. Regardless, they can decide whether
your incentive is sufficient.
If you chose that they suffer Trauma for going against your
will, they must take an action that rejects your alien bond
when they refuse. That is, saying no is not enough—they
have to commit to alienating you. If you chose that they
glimpse a weakness for going along with your will, tell
them about a weakness that will be useful to them—the GM
will determine what actually counts as useful.
Provide Solace
When you Provide Solace to someone, roll with questions:
??Are you mostly honest with them?
??Are the two of you alone?
For an NPC: On a hit, they are comforted and feel kindly
towards you; they offer up something they believe could be
of value to you. On a 7-9, they require you to prove your
vulnerability to them before they are fully comforted.
For a PC: If they accept your comfort, both of you can
clear a Trauma. On a 7-9, unfriendly eyes witnessed your
intimacy without your noticing.
The bonds you form are the things that help you survive—
bonds with other aliens and with humans. If another character
is distraught and you aim to comfort them, whether through
kind words, or affectionate touch, you’re providing solace.
This move is all about intimacy and so the questions ask
how deep that intimacy goes or can go. Where is trust if
there’s no honesty? Small lies might not cause tension,
but lies of consequence begin to cause an issue. As for the
second question, intimacy is always dangerous for you as
an alien. For your best chances for survival, you should
avoid getting close to anyone.

P ASSING
For an NPC, on a hit, you successfully comfort them and due

to your newfound bond, they provide you with something,
possibly information or an object that will be helpful to
you. The GM will tell you what it is (and no, you can’t
request anything specific). On a 7-9, you have to do some-
thing extra to sufficiently comfort them—generic nice words
aren’t going to cut it here. This requires that you reveal
a vulnerable part of yourself as a sign of mutual trust.
For a PC, on a hit, ask them if they accept your comfort.
If they do, you both clear a Trauma for the catharsis of
your intimacy. On a 7-9 you may think that you’re alone,
but be assured, there are always humans watching and tak-
ing note of the things you do.
Hold Back Your True Face (Roll +Human)

When you Hold Back Your True Face, roll +Human and mark
your Human Track. On a hit no one sees the instability in
your shifted form. On a 7-9 tell the GM what suspicious
distraction you use to cover up your lapse in control.
In human society, no one would think twice about a hand-
shake or a casual touch on the arm. Except you. If your
exposed skin comes into contact with the skin of another
sentient entity, your identity is at risk and the mask that
you present to the world becomes unstable. Brace yourself
and hold back your true face. For more on exactly what this
looks like, go to page 18.
There are also cases where this move would be triggered
without physical touch, such as in moments of intense emo-
tional distress, when your power over your mask begins to
dissipate. It’s up to the GM to tell you when this happens,
but it is definitely triggered every time you encounter
physical touch. When you roll to hide your alien identity
in this way, you mark your Human Track.
On a hit, no one sees the alien lurking beneath the surface.
On a 7-9, sheer willpower alone is not enough to refrain
from shifting. You must distract the humans around you long
enough to regain control. Anything sufficiently distracting
that you do may make them think that you’re a little off,
but they won’t suspect you of being an alien (yet). For
example, you might fall to the ground, writhing and scream-
ing. In the confusion, you can cover up your alien shift,
but you’ll sure draw a lot of attention to yourself.

Gam ep lay
Act Covertly
When you Act Covertly, tell the GM what you are trying to
accomplish, roll +Human, and mark your Human Track. On a
hit, you do the thing you’re trying to do. On a 7-9, choose
1. On a 10+, both.
⚉⚉ You stay entirely undetected
⚉⚉ You leave no incriminating evidence
Your life depends on you staying hidden and when you do
something suspicious while trying to remain unseen, you’re
acting covertly. Tell the GM what you’re trying to do, and
how you’re staying hidden. Since remaining discreet in
this world requires conforming to human norms, mark your
Human Track.
On a hit, you don’t draw any immediate attention. On a 7-9,
either you leave behind a piece of incriminating evidence,
or someone sees you. They may not confront you, or even
realise the significance of your presence at the time, but
be assured that the consequences will come eventually. On
a 10+, you are able to stay under the radar.
Glimpse Someone’s True Form (Roll +Alien)

When you try to Glimpse Someone’s True Form, roll +Alien
and mark your Alien Track.
On a 7-9 choose one question to ask their player. On a 10+
choose two.
⚉⚉ How could I get them to ____?
⚉⚉ What do they want?
⚉⚉ What are they scared of?
⚉⚉ What do they think of me?
For an NPC: On a 7-9 the GM will tell you what you found
out that you wish you hadn’t.
For a PC: On a 7-9 their player gets to ask one question
of you as well.
Humans call it intuition. To sun-searchers it means a
little more than that. The thin barriers between their
psyches and the rest of the world gives them access to in-
formation about the entities around them. As long as they
are in your physical presence, you can use your alien pow-
ers to dig deep into another’s consciousness and glimpse
someone’s true form.

P ASSING
More information about the exact limitations of this power

can be found on page 17. Since this move requires tapping
into your alien intuition, you always mark your Alien Track.
On a 7-9, you have the opportunity to ask one question. On
a 10+, you can ask two. The answers might provide you with
valuable information about the guiding forces behind their
actions, or give you leverage over them. For an NPC, the GM
will tell you what you observe that answers your question.
For a PC, the player will answer your questions directly.
For NPCs, on a 7-9, the answer to one of the questions will
reveal something that you wish you didn’t know. Maybe a
loved one has betrayed you, or maybe the information forc-
es you to make a hard choice. The GM will tell you what you
learn. On a partial hit against a PC, they get to ask you
a question of you, and you must answer honestly as well.
Call Out for Aid (Roll +Alien)

When you Call Out for Aid from another alien, roll +Alien
and mark your Alien Track. On a hit, you receive assistance
from another alien, even if you thought you were alone. On
a 7-9 choose 1; on a 10+, choose 2.
⚉⚉ Your assistance arrives immediately
⚉⚉ Your assistance does not come from a stranger
⚉⚉ You don’t attract any unwanted or additional attention
This move is only for using this particular alien pow-
er—scream if you want to, you don’t have to roll for that.
For more information about the logistics of this power, go
to page 17. Relying on your alien power means that you
mark your Alien Track when you trigger the move.
On a hit, an alien does come to help you. On a 7-9, choose
one option from the list, and on a 10+, choose 2. If you
don’t choose “your assistance arrives immediately”, it’s up
to the GM’s discretion when help arrives. It’ll still come
in time to be a resource—but it might not help you escape
other consequences. If you don’t choose the second option,
the GM will tell you which unfamiliar alien comes to rescue
you. If you don’t choose the third option, your covert alien
signal was perhaps not quite as covert as you wanted it to
be. While you do get help, you might also get the attention
of a hostile alien, or alert humans to your actions.
A PC may volunteer to respond to your call. If you don’t
choose the second option, however, the first character to
arrive to your assistance will be a stranger.

Gam ep lay
PERIPHERAL MOVES
There are a few moves that function a bit differently
from Basic Moves. These are called Peripheral Moves. To
help you understand Peripheral Moves, this section gives
an explanation for each move, its consequences, and its
triggers.
Assist Another Alien

When you A
ssist Another AlienPC on a roll that has already
been made, tell the GM what you do to help them and roll. On a
hit, they take a +1 on their roll. On a 7-9, your assistance
draws unwanted attention to both of you. Alternatively, mark
your Alien Track to automatically add +1 to their roll.
There are two options for assisting another alien. You may
roll the dice with no modifiers. On a hit, you add +1 to
their roll, though on a 7-9 your assistance brings add-
ed complications. Alternatively, you can mark your Alien
Track and automatically add +1 to their roll. Either way,
you must describe fictionally what you’re doing to help.
Only one characer can assist per move so this is mostly
helpful on a 6 or a 9, to tip the scale from a miss into a
partial hit or a partial hit into a complete hit.
This move is only for assisting alien PCs. For helping an
alien NPC, describe what you’re doing in the fiction, and
you may have to roll if it triggers another move.
Sabotage Another Alien

When you
Sabotage Another Alien PC on a roll that has already
been made,
tell the GM what you do to interfere and roll. On
a hit, they take -2 on their roll. On a 7-9, your interference
puts you in harm’s way; take +Trauma. Alternatively, mark
your Human Track to automatically take -2 from their roll.
Maybe one of your Cell members has turned traitor. Or maybe
you’re the traitor. Either way, you’re not always going to
agree with what the other aliens want to do. There are two
options for sabotaging another alien. You may roll the dice
with no modifiers. On a hit, you take -2 from their roll,
though on a 7-9 your interference comes at a cost for you.
Alternatively, you can mark your Human Track and automati-
cally take -2 from their roll. Either way, you must describe
fictionally what you’re doing to sabotage their plans. Only
one character may sabotage at a time, but the alien rolling
the original move can do nothing to resist the sabotage roll.
Peripheral Moves - Page 27

P ASSING
Make a Plan
When you Make a Plan, the alien who proposes the plan rolls
with questions:
??Does the plan take advantage of your alien capabilities?
??Is no one involved withholding crucial information?
On a hit the plan is effectively set into motion. On a 7-9,
an unexpected obstacle forces you to lose contact with
each other at a dire moment. On a miss, you find yourselves
in over your heads or under fire as your plan falls apart.
The basic moves are generally simple singular actions. In
Passing, there will be moments when you might want to cat-
apult yourself directly into the heart of the action with-
out needing to resolve each individual moment. In these
moments, you make a plan. Tell the GM what your plan is,
whether it’s an elaborately staged illusion to remove your
spouse’s suspicion from you, or it’s framing the city may-
or for a crime so as to replace him and undo his anti-alien
policies. Rolling a hit doesn’t mean that the entire plan
will go well, but at the very least it might get off to a
good start.
The questions for this move ask how effectively you’re us-
ing your assets. If a Cell member is hiding something per-
tinent, there’s a good chance that that secret will show
up in the middle of the action to everybody’s detriment.
Reveal Another Alien

When you Reveal Another Alien who you know is an alien,
mark your Human Track and mark +Trauma to use your psychic
connection to force another alien into their true form.
Consider this the psychic version of sending an electric
signal through them that starts a physical shift in their
body. This does not mean that they shift entirely, but
enough of a change happens that it is visible to anyone
in eyeshot. This will reveal their deepest secret to the
world without their consent, so this is not an ability to
be used lightly, not least because they have the ability
to do the same to you. It doesn’t require a roll, but it
does require marking your Human Track and marking +Trauma
for the psychic violence of your action. It can also only
be used against an alien if you know for a fact that they
are an alien.

Gam ep lay
TRAUMA
This is a dangerous world you all live in and there are
plenty of people who want nothing more than to harm you. The
Trauma track marks the physical and psychological Trauma
that your life has brought you. Physical and psychological
Trauma run on the same track because, as any sun-searcher
can tell you, the two are inextricably linked, and espe-
cially for your kind, they are one and the same.
Sometimes moves will assign you Trauma, other times there
will be moments in the fiction where the GM will tell you to
mark +Trauma to suit what happened. Likewise, provide solace
can clear a Trauma, but if you have taken the actions to heal
yourself, or enough time has passed in the fiction, then the
GM might tell you to clear Trauma.
At the beginning of every session, each player should
clear one Trauma from their track.
If your track fills, you have physically and psychological-
ly damaged yourself to the point of death. The GM will tell
you where you take your last breath and how it happens. You
can then make a new alien character. Whenever any PC dies,
other PCs mark +Trauma upon learning about their death.
Trauma - Page 29
P ASSING
HUMAN AND ALIEN TRACKS

As you play Passing, you’ll accumulate points on your Hu-
man and Alien Tracks, usually when you make a choice that
is particularly “Alien” or “Human”. When you get a point,
you mark the appropriate Track on your playbook sheet,
each one consisting of four boxes.
Each time you fill up the Track, you receive a Human Adapta-
tion or an Alien Adaptation and clear the Track. The Adap-
tations follow a set order—you don’t choose which one you
take. Marking your Human Track does not negate your Alien
Track and vice versa, nor does taking a move from one of
the sets. Accumulating Alien or Human Adaptations does not
change how human or alien you are—you are an alien through
and through. Rather, it represents your commitment to the
norms of the two communities.
Once you reach the 6th Adaptation in either Track, you
can no longer balance your identities. Read the questions
out loud and tell the group your answers. The GM will fill
in the end of your story and you can pick a new character
to play. The Tracks end darkly, but that doesn’t mean you
can’t radically change things and work towards your driv-
ing desire before you hit the end of the Track
If your identity as an alien is revealed, immediately mark
4 boxes on your Alien Track. This doesn’t mean the end of
the line for you, but even if you adopt another human per-
sona, this makes your position in the world all the more
precarious.
Human Adaptations
1. Take +1 Human on your stats. Take another one of your
playbook moves.
2. Take a move from another playbook. Take +1 Human and
-1 Alien on your stats.
3. Take -1 Alien on your stats and take the move Too Slip-
pery: mark your Human Track to cause another PC’s at-
tempt to g
limpse your true form to automatically miss.

Gam ep lay
4. Mark your Human Track to s

electively erase a small
bit of someone’s recent memory
. When you memory wipe
someone, roll +Human. On a hit, you erase a memory. On
a 10+, choose 2, on a 7-9, choose 1. On a miss, your
tampering leaves a dangerous bit of your memory in
place of theirs.
⚉⚉ You erase only the memory you want
⚉⚉ The memory will never return
⚉⚉ The memory wipe will not have unforeseen side ef-
fects on those in the surrounding area
In addition, you are now permanently unable to c
all
out for aid
. You appear too human to be able to risk
any association. Any attempts to ask for help will
leave you and your alien accomplice under suspicion.
5. Whenever you s
hare stories with a human
, mark your
Human Track and roll +Human. On a hit, you see one
of their memories that proves helpful to you. On a
10+, you gain access to one of their memories and it
remains unaltered in both of your minds. On a 7-9,
choose one:
⚉⚉ Your intrusion tampers with their memory
⚉⚉ The memory that you see is incomplete
On a miss, some of your memories become garbled with
theirs. The GM will tell you which ones.
In addition, you are now permanently unable to T
une
into Your Surroundings
. You have lost touch with your
alien sensitivity. Any attempts to do so will yield
false and harmful misinformation.
6. You eschew your alien identity and you choose to live
among the humans. Once you reach this point, pick a
point within the next session to announce your renun-
ciation of your alien duties forever. After playing
out that scene, describe the steps you take to throw
yourself into your human life. Then, read and answer
the questions below.
⚉⚉ When your character is ultimately captured, are
they taken to one of the testing facilities or do
they die trying to escape?
⚉⚉ Which of your loved ones is now under investigation
by human authorities?
⚉⚉ What was the last memory of alien life that disap-
peared from your mind?
Human and Alien Tracks - Page 31
P ASSING
Alien Adaptations
1. Take +1 Alien on your stats. Take another one of your
playbook moves.
2. Take a move from another playbook. Take +1 Alien and
-1 Human on your stats.
3. Take -1 Human on your stats and take the move Heal
You: mark your Alien Track and +Trauma to use your
psychic energy to heal 2 Trauma of another alien.
4. When you send a telepathic message to another alien,
mark your Alien Track and roll +Alien. On a hit, you
make contact. On a 10+, choose 2; on a 7-9, choose 1:
⚉⚉ Your communication isn’t intercepted
⚉⚉ Your communication comes through when you send it
⚉⚉ Your communication is complete and ungarbled
On a miss, a small amount of your message might go
through but improperly trying to establish a psychic
connection causes you and the other alien to take
+Trauma.
In addition, you are now permanently unable to A
ct
Covertly
. Your alien nature makes you too conspicuous.
Any attempts to do so will leave those that you care
about vulnerable.
5. When you telepathically imbue another alien with your
strength
, mark your Alien Track and roll +Alien. On a
hit they can call upon you to act through them, con-
trolling their body and making moves on their behalf,
regardless of physical distance. On a 7-9 choose one:
⚉⚉ When they take harm, you take harm
⚉⚉ Your psychic waves attract unfriendly attention
⚉⚉ You are unable to retract your strength until they
are physically in your presence
On a miss, your vulnerability leaves you unable to
control your body and you shift into your true form.
In addition, you are now permanently unable to H
old
Back Your True Face
. Your alien self demands to be
revealed. Any attempt to trigger the move results in
uncontrollable shifting for the rest of the scene.

Gam ep lay
6. You become too alien for this world and your existence
is considered a threat. Within the session, describe
at an opportune moment an interaction with a human
that leads to a public reveal of your identity. Once
you’ve played out that scene, read and answer the
questions below.
⚉⚉ When your character is ultimately captured, are
they taken to one of the testing facilities or do
they die trying to escape?
⚉⚉ Which of their loved ones is now put under suspi-
cion from the humans?
⚉⚉ What did the news reports say to describe you as
grotesque?
Human and Alien Tracks - Page 33

CHAP TER 5
The Playbooks
LIST OF PLAYBOOKS
Below is a list of the playbooks in this edition of Pass-
ing, along with a description and their respective Human/
Alien stats. The next iteration of this game might have ad-
ditional playbooks but this edition has five to use in play.
The Intermingler
Second Wave. Empathetic and caring, The Intermingler is
caught between love for a human and love for their home.
Soft and fierce in equal parts, they have a lot to lose and
a lot to fight for.
Stats: +1 Human, -1 Alien
The Poster Child

Second Wave. Charming and ambitious, The Poster Child has
thrived in this human world in a way they never did on Sun-
Lost. They can use their power in the human world for the
good of other aliens—the question is, will they?
Stats: +1 Human, -1 Alien

The Playbooks
The Halfling
Born on Earth to a sun-searcher of the Second Wave. Ea-
ger and naive, The Halfling is half human, half alien and
a whole lot of heart. They only know this world, so they
need to find out who they’re going to be and where their
allegiance lies.
Stats: +0 Human, +0 Alien
The Outsider
Third Wave. Rebellious and bold, The Outsider knows what
is best when everybody else is mired in difficult choices—
at least they’re pretty sure that they do. They often clash
with the other sun-searchers, but this position gives them
perspective that might not come so easily to the others.
Stats: -1 Human, +1 Alien
The Hidden
First Wave. Clever and resourceful, The Hidden’s alien
form is something wild, begging to be let out. They never
established a real human life, but live through several
different human forms, keeping most of their identities
hidden from the other aliens.
Stats: -1 Human, +1 Alien
List of Playbooks - Page 35

The Intermingler
You came with the Second Wave. When your ship was attacked you tried
to blend in with the humans to avoid drawing suspicion. What you didn’t
expect was to fall in love with one. You feel constantly torn between your
life with your unsuspecting partner and your true alien identity.
ALIEN NAME
These names are best translated to human language by describing the thing
that they mean. They are used with caution and only in moments of com-
plete safety. Choose one:
◇◇the color red (Red-Red)
◇◇the other color red (Other-Red)
◇◇leaves under tentacles (Leaf-Rustle)
◇◇the feeling of being submerged in the 22nd of the planet’s
oceans (Ocean-Lost)
◇◇wind swirling through blue dust (Dust-Wind)
HUMAN NAME
Choose one: Thea, Parker, Carmelita, Starla, Demetrius, Winona,
Alec, Mateo, Cleo, Isabella
ALIEN LOOK
When sun-searchers are first born, they shapeshift wildly through forms,
but all of them eventually discover a form that is their truest self.
Choose as many as apply.
⚉⚉ blue skin, soft fur, translucent skin
⚉⚉ small tentacles, many arms, mandibles
⚉⚉ all black eyes, no eyes, human eyes
⚉⚉ tails, antlers, a viscous membrane
HUMAN LOOK
This is the form that the sun-searcher shapeshifts into in order to blend
into their surroundings and evade dangerous attention. Choose at least
one from each list.
⚉⚉ artistic clothing, maternal clothing, practical clothing,
domestic clothing
⚉⚉ soft hands, rugged hands, nimble hands, manicured hands
⚉⚉ dreamy eyes, tired eyes, hardened eyes, loving eyes
⚉⚉ Asian or South Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous,
Middle Eastern, Ambiguous, White
⚉⚉ man, woman
Your Spouse’s Name:
STATS
Human: +1 Alien: -1

BACKSTORY
⚉⚉ What occupation did you perform on Sun-Lost?
⚉⚉ What excited you most about coming to Earth?
⚉⚉ At what moment did you realize that you loved your spouse?
⚉⚉ Why do you suspect that your spouse’s family member is part

of Erads?
⚉⚉ Why does the neighborhood gossip about your marriage?
CELL HISTORY
⚉⚉ What former Cell member did you abandon in the middle of a
mission to save your spouse?
RELATIONSHIPS
⚉⚉ It’s hard to be around_______________________ because they
were siblings with the sun-searcher whom you abandoned.
⚉⚉ You used to be lovers with _____________________ and lately

you catch yourself thinking about them.
DRIVING DESIRE
What change do you hope to achieve above all else (choose one)?
⚉⚉ To be able to tell your spouse the truth, legal recognition
of aliens, communication established between all the alien
Cells
INTERMINGLER MOVES
You take Livin’ the Life and one more
◇◇ Livin’ the Life: When you invoke your domestic life to turn
suspicion away from you, roll +Human. On a 10+ you evade suspi-
cion with no consequences, on a 7-9, choose two:
⚉⚉ You do not shift suspicion to your family
⚉⚉ You do not get waylaid in your goals
⚉⚉ Your family does not notice your lie
On a miss the GM will tell you how your inability to choose be-
tween the facets of your life resulted in damaging both of them.
◇◇ Split in Two: When you duplicate your body, roll +Alien and
take +Trauma for the extreme stress being put on your body. On a
7-9 choose two, on a 10+ all three.
⚉⚉ You retain control over both versions of your body
⚉⚉ You are in control of the appearance of both bodies
⚉⚉ The shift is stable; neither of your halves can disintegrate
before you rejoin
On a miss, you still duplicate, but the GM will tell you how your
two halves display an inability to coexist.
◇◇ Marital Bond: When you Hold Back Your True Face from your
spouse take +Trauma in order to act as if you had rolled at 10+
and mark your Human Track twice.
◇◇ Make a Choice: When you set out to avenge someone from your
alien or human life, you decide who you blame. Take +Trauma right
now and +1 ongoing towards all rolls in direct pursuit of your
goal.
◇◇ Traces of Trauma: When you Tune into Your Surroundings at a
scene of violence, your alien senses and acute human knowledge
gives you access to information that others might not see. Add
the following questions to your list of options and ask an addi-
tional question, even on a miss:
⚉⚉ What human violence happened here?
⚉⚉ What horrible thing went wrong?
⚉⚉ What aftermath remains?
FAMILY LIFE
Choose three obligations involved in your marital life:
⚉⚉ job to support your family, step-children, school board,
supporting your spouse’s career, new marriage, in-laws,
housing association, managing the household, needy spouse,
pregnancy
At the start of the first session and when time passes, roll to
see how you are managing your responsibilities. On a 10+, you are
working towards fulfilling your driving desire and managing your
responsibilities, clear 2 Trauma. On a 7-9, managing one of your
obligations overwhelms your ability to work towards one of your
driving desire—the GM will tell you what hard choice you face.
On a miss, your obligations and your desire endanger each other
with disastrous results; tell the GM which obligation and the GM
will tell you about the messy consequences.
TRAUMA: ALIEN: HUMAN:

∆∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆

The Poster Child
For you, fitting in with the humans feels so easy. You can mimic their pat-
terns and live the sort of life that they lead. Most other members of the
Second Wave learned to blend in to survive. But you? You’ve been excel-
ling in your human life.
ALIEN NAME
◇◇the triumph of seeing the disappearance of Sun-Lost’s five moons
over the horizon to harken a new day (Moon-New)
◇◇the experience of tasting a new food for the first time (Food-New)
◇◇losing a memory (Mind-Lost)
◇◇the moment in time when there is a possible split in worldli-
ness (Time-Lost)
◇◇the moment of rising before others and believing for a time that you
are the only one in the universe (Morning-Lost)
HUMAN NAME
Choose one: Richard, Donald, Kenneth, Dennis, Douglas, Bruce,
Jerry, Raymond, Keith, Gerald
ALIEN LOOK
⚉⚉ red skin, scales, rosy skin
⚉⚉ large tentacles, crab legs, no legs
⚉⚉ pupil-less eyes, eyes outside the skull, many eyes,
⚉⚉ claws, exoskeleton, antennae
HUMAN LOOK
into their surroundings and evade dangerous attention. Since human form
has much to do with how the alien is treated, The Poster Child has a very
specific set of choices.
⚉⚉ meticulous clothing, fashionable clothing, flashy clothing,
garish clothing
⚉⚉ charming smile, tense smile, arrogant smile, reserved smile
⚉⚉ naïve face, haughty face, friendly face, unassuming face
⚉⚉ Eastern European, Western European, Northern European
⚉⚉ rugged man, well-groomed man, unassuming man, charming man
STATS
Human: +1 Alien: -1

BACKSTORY
⚉⚉ Who from the First Wave did you follow to Earth and fail to
save? From what?
⚉⚉ When did you realize that you wouldn’t want to go back to Sun-
Lost, even if that was a choice?
⚉⚉ Which friend of yours is the highest-ranking in Erads?
⚉⚉ Which loved one did you lose pursuing professional success?
⚉⚉ Why have you experienced so much more success than the other
sun-searchers?
CELL HISTORY
⚉⚉ Why do you blame the other sun-searchers for the Erads’ ambush
of Life-Seeker?
RELATIONSHIPS
⚉⚉ You made a deal with Erads to keep ____________________ safe;
you keep this secret from them.
⚉⚉ You shared the psychic sun-searcher intimacy ritual One-Self

with___________ and are now hypersensitive to their emotions.
DRIVING DESIRE
⚉⚉ Aliens in major political positions, an interview with a
major news source to spread your narrative, the creation of
a clinic equipped to treat alien medical needs

POSTER CHILD MOVES
(you take Outsourcing and one more)
◇◇ Outsourcing: When you call upon your web of influence, say who
you contact and roll +Human. On a hit, they will do what you ask.
On a 7-9, choose two, on a 10+ choose one:
⚉⚉ you sour someone’s feelings towards you
⚉⚉ you sacrifice a bit of your alien self to prove yourself,
mark +Trauma
⚉⚉ you owe a favor that will be cashed in later
On a miss, you are taken for a traitor by both the aliens and
the humans.
◇◇ Be What is Needed: when you turn your body into something oth-
er than flesh, roll +Alien and take +Trauma for the extreme stress
being put on your body. On a 10+, all three. On a 7-9, choose two.
⚉⚉ you take the shape that you want to
⚉⚉ the shift is stable and you are able to control when you
shift back
⚉⚉ the parts of your body that you want shifted are the ones
that shift
On a miss, the GM tells you how your body has gone out of control.
◇◇ Like I Said: When you push a narrative about an alien incident
through official channels, choose two questions off of the list
and answer them how you see fit. Regardless of the actual truth,
humans will broadly accept the established narrative.
⚉⚉ Why was this struggle necessary?
⚉⚉ Who benefited from this?
⚉⚉ Who is innocent?
⚉⚉ What future danger does this herald?
◇◇ Forged Documents: When you create false documentation, roll
+Human. On a hit, the documents pass as valid. On a 7-9 you had
to use your authority and influence to validate them; your human
identity is linked to them. On a miss, you didn’t understand hu-
man reputation as well as you thought you did and your reputation
takes a hit. You lose one perk from your web of influence until
you redeem yourself.
◇◇ Stolen Power: Once a session, you may use one of these play-
book moves from another PC’s playbook.
⚉⚉ Make a Choice (The Intermingler)
⚉⚉ Looking from the Inside Out (The Outsider)
⚉⚉ Master of Illusion (The Halfling)
⚉⚉ The Redirection (The Hidden)
Describe to the GM what you do to mimic them and take +Trauma for
this falsehood.

WEB OF INFLUENCE
Choose one job you perform:
⚉⚉ Lawyer, investor, banker, company manager, politician,
government investigator
Choose two perks:
◇◇Disposable income
◇◇Access to confidential information
◇◇Professional connections inside E.T.R.A.
◇◇Employees who will follow your lead (list 3 employees: Donald,
Dennis, Timothy, Deborah, Pamela, Kathleen, Margaret, Jeffrey,
and take +1 ongoing against them)
◇◇Access to people in charge of a mainstream media source
◇◇A piece of blackmail over one influential figure (the blackmail
is __________________)
Choose two drawbacks:
◇◇Long hours
◇◇Strict higher-up
◇◇Corrupt company policies
◇◇Semi-regular health screenings
◇◇Your company actively espouses anti-alien politics and acts
upon them
◇◇A coworker with dangerous information about you. Tell the GM
what they saw that they shouldn’t have.
When time passes, roll to see how your responsibilities are go-
ing. On a hit an opportunity comes your way through your network.
On a 7-9, the opportunity comes at a cost. On a miss, there have
been active attempts to usurp your power and they haven’t been
as unsuccessful as you might have hoped.

∆∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆

The Outsider
You belong to the Third Wave—you managed to escape the battle with
Erads and ended up in Walnut Hills. Even among the other sun-search-
ers, you don’t fit in. Sun-Lost put you on Life-Seeker to put distance be-
tween your radical ideas and the rest of the planet. You work alongside
N.A.A.A. and the other aliens on Earth but feel at odds with humans and
sun-searchers alike.
ALIEN NAME
◇◇settling into shadows that are deeper than shadows (Shadow-Deep)
◇◇the process of coating oneself with foliage as a child to pre-
pare for the long sleep before growth (Growth-Sleep)
◇◇the satisfaction of oozing primordial goo onto your child for
sustenance (Child-Happy)
◇◇the pleasure-pain of shifting forms and shedding past itera-
tions of the self (Pleasure-Pain)
◇◇the crunch of the scuttling creatures that live in the morn-
ing-pools that form on the edge of the planet’s big cities
(Morning-Pool)
HUMAN NAME
Choose one: Adam, Jebidiah, Zara, Hannah, Ada, Zadie, Maria, Is-
mael, Asher, Michael
ALIEN LOOK
⚉⚉ green skin, glittering skin, leathery skin
⚉⚉ flippers, spindly legs, pincers
⚉⚉ snake eyes, rotating eyes, compound eyes
⚉⚉ horns, thorax, wings
HUMAN LOOK
into their surroundings and evade dangerous attention.
⚉⚉ colorful clothing, casual clothing, greaser’s clothing,
hippie clothing
⚉⚉ stooped posture, defiant posture, uneasy posture, precise
posture
⚉⚉ scared eyes, questioning eyes, hungry eyes, smiling eyes
⚉⚉ ambiguous, man, shifting, transgressing, woman

STATS
Human: -1 Alien: +1
BACKSTORY
⚉⚉ What political agenda motivated you on Sun-Lost?
⚉⚉ What sentimental object that only bears meaning to you do you

have in your home?
⚉⚉ What have you been doing to help N.A.A.A. regroup?
⚉⚉ Which of your loved ones has been sitting in E.T.R.A. for ten
years?
⚉⚉ Which fringe of human society do you feel drawn to?
CELL HISTORY
⚉⚉ Since communication has been lost with Sun-Lost, no one has
taken the position of leader. What have you done to ensure that
the Cell’s power vacuum hasn’t been filled?
RELATIONSHIPS
⚉⚉ ___________________ was the only one to make a welcoming
gesture towards you when you first arrived on Earth.
⚉⚉ You and _________ were childhood friends on Sun-Lost and you

don’t know if they don’t remember you or are feigning ignorance.
DRIVING DESIRE
⚉⚉ All aliens out of hostile hands, aliens holding equal power
as humans in N.A.A.A., to feel intensely bonded with a Cell
member
OUTSIDER MOVES:
(you take Hiding in Plain Sight and one more)
◇◇ Hiding in Plain Sight: when you become invisible, roll +Alien

and take +Trauma for the extreme stress being put on your body.
On a 10+, all three. On a 7-9, choose two:
⚉⚉ you become invisible immediately
⚉⚉ you are invisible for as long as you need to be
⚉⚉ when you become visible again, your form is not altered in way
On a miss the GM will tell you how you draw unwanted attention
to yourself.

◇◇ Self-sacrifice: When you endanger yourself to aid a fellow
alien, take +Trauma to give them +2 on a move, even after they’ve
already rolled.
◇◇ Looking from the Inside out: When you tune into your surround-
ings and there are no other aliens around, ask three questions,
even on a miss and mark your Alien Track, regardless of your roll.
◇◇ Allied Forces: When you call upon your allies in N.A.A.A. for
assistance, roll +Human. On a 10+, they promptly come to your aid.
On a 7-9, they require something of you first. On a miss, there
is too much inner conflict for them to be able to assist you, and
your contact with them alerts someone dangerous to their location.
◇◇ Powers from the Home Planet: You came from Sun-Lost recently
and your psychic intuition still remains in the purest form. You
can probe deep into the minds of those whom you meet. When you
glimpse someone’s true form while exposing a bit of your alien
self, you may ask 1 additional question and also choose from the
following list of questions:
⚉⚉ How will they react if I ______?
⚉⚉ What do they feel most guilty about right now?
ADDRESSING OUR DIFFERENCES

You work alongside 4 alien NPCs (at least) in the Cell: Eve-
ning-Sound, Sun-Weary, Sorrow-Happy, Death-Rest
⚉⚉ Who seems like they might share some of your ideology?
⚉⚉ Who did Sun-Lost send to keep an eye on you?
You also have close contact with 4 humans (at least) in N.A.A.A.:
Denise, Joyce, Raymond, Keith
⚉⚉ Which one is your main contact in N.A.A.A.?
⚉⚉ Which one do you suspect of being a traitor?

∆∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆

The Halfling
Born to an alien and a human parent, you feel like you need to prove
yourself to the aliens. You’re just as alien as they are, aren’t you? After all,
you can shapeshift just like them. You were squirreled away as an infant
until you were able to control your shapeshifting and were fully grown by
alien standards, and then you re-entered the community in the form of a
teenage human. You want so badly to be let in, but this human world is
the only one that you know and you worry that the other aliens will never
trust you. After all, they don’t even trust you enough to tell you the iden-
tity of your human parent.
ALIEN NAME
◇◇the swirl in the air when the wind stirs up the different at-
mospheric layers (Wind-Lost)
◇◇the innate desire to explore space and encounter the other be-
ings in the galaxy (Space-Lost)
◇◇the Pleasure of having found one’s true form (Form-Peace)
◇◇the feeling of aloneness that comes from being in a large group
(Word-Lost)
◇◇the position of the sun that brings unrest and change (Sun-Change)
HUMAN NAME
Choose one: Luciana, Betty, Ricky, Jean, Bobby, Ellen, Cato,
Rita, Daryl, Jennifer
ALIEN LOOK
When aliens are first born, they shapeshift wildly through forms, but all
of them eventually discover a form that is their truest self. Choose as
many as apply.
⚉⚉ vibrant warning colors, bristles, shadowy skin,
⚉⚉ a body covered with fingers, kangaroo-type legs,
ornithological legs
⚉⚉ human eyes, dragon eyes, a singular giant eye
⚉⚉ gills, external organs, fangs
HUMAN LOOK
This is the form that the alien shapeshifts into in order to blend into
their surroundings and evade dangerous attention.
⚉⚉ colorful clothing, nerdy clothing, all-american clothing,
delinquent clothing
⚉⚉ eager stare, innocent stare, angry stare, cool stare
⚉⚉ roomy backpack, sporty backpack, flashy backpack, practical

backpack
⚉⚉ boy, girl
STATS
Human: 0 Alien: 0
BACKSTORY
⚉⚉ From the tales you’ve been told, what do you think the best
thing about Sun-Lost is?
⚉⚉ Why do the other students bully you?
⚉⚉ Which anti-alien human role model do you suspect might be your

human parent?
⚉⚉ Which of your human friends make you feel guilty for siding
with the aliens?
⚉⚉ In which of your abilities do you feel inadequate as compared

to the other aliens?
CELL HISTORY
⚉⚉ Why did the Cell have to change the HQ location after you were
born?
RELATIONSHIPS
⚉⚉ ______________________________ has been keeping the identity
of your human parent from you.
⚉⚉ You stole a valued possession from _________________________

to feel a connection to Sun-Lost.
DRIVING DESIRE
⚉⚉ A group of accepting human friends who know your secret,
the establishment of an alien nation-state, to meet your
human parent and be embraced by them
PARENT
You have one alien parent. You may or may not know who they are,
you may or may not live with them. Ask if any PCs are willing to
play the role of your parent. If not, the GM will assign you an
NPC.

HALFLING MOVES
(you get Stretched to your Limits and one more)
◇◇ Stretched to your Limits: when you pretend to be fully part

of the alien or human world, you may swap your Human and Alien
stats once per session. Regardless of result, take +Trauma for
acting in a way that is against your nature.
◇◇ Fingers in Several Pies: When you detach your limbs, roll
+Alien and take +Trauma for the extreme stress being put on your
body. On a 10+, you detach the limb of your choice and retain
control over it. On a 7-9, choose 2:
⚉⚉ You only detach the limb that you want
⚉⚉ You maintain control of the limb until you regenerate
⚉⚉ You are able to regenerate the limb when you choose
On a miss your body brings you shame in front of those who you
most wanted to impress.
◇◇ Totally Human: If you mark +Trauman when you Hold Back Your
True Face, you do not have to roll for control until the next
time you shift or until the next session, whichever occurs first.
◇◇ Master of Illusion: When you use your powers to temporarily
throw an illusion over a human’s appearance, roll +Alien. On a
hit, some part of their appearance will visually change for a
scene. On a 7-9, more of their appearance changes than you in-
tended. On a miss, the change that you’re trying to enact takes
place on a face that you did not intend.
◇◇ Mad Scientist: You are constantly searching for new ways to
combine human and alien technology. When you test out an inven-
tion, declare what use you want out of it and roll either +Alien
or +Human, based on whichever type of technology is more dominant
in the invention, GM’s choice. On a hit, you make what you in-
tended, and get one use out it. On a 7-9, the invention has un-
foreseen consequences. On a miss, your meddling brings dangerous
and volatile power into the wrong hands.

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL
Posing as a high school student, you have two of the following:
◇◇Three human friends that are all too willing to follow your
lead
Names: _____________________________,

_____________________________,
_____________________________,
(take +1 to any actions to influence them)
◇◇Copies of the janitor’s keys to the building (when you search
the lockers, roll and announce what your current scheme is. On
a hit, you find something that could be useful for that scheme.
On a 7-9, it requires that you betray a part of your identity
to use it. On a miss, you find something that makes you realize
that your situation is far worse than you imagined).
◇◇Access to the secrets of the town—high schoolers talk (when
time passes, tell the GM what salacious rumor you have heard
and roll. On a hit, you witness something that supports the
rumor. On a 10+, you have hard evidence. On a miss, you pass
on the rumor to the wrong parties—tell the GM who they are.)
Choose two of the following:
◇◇Overly concerned teachers
◇◇Stringent attendance-keeping
◇◇A high school rival with powerful parents
Name: _____________________
(take -1 to any actions to influence them)

∆∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆

The Hidden
Upset with the way things were being run on your home planet, you
chose to be a stowaway on Ocean-Seeker. In all the confusion in the land-
ing, no one noticed you slip away. You revealed one of your forms to the
other aliens but have kept all the other ones hidden, masking your iden-
tity from the humans and the aliens, watching both of them, envying the
ease with which they can interact within their own groups.
ALIEN NAME
◇◇the sound of the work-tired self closing the door to rest
(Work-tired)
◇◇the rivers that dry up when the two suns occupy the same place
in the planet’s sky (River-Dry)
◇◇the sound of the slithering creatures when they make their
yearly migration from one side of the planet to the other
(Slither-Sound)
◇◇the cleaning creatures that attach themselves to the skin of
children and lick all of the dirt and grime off for their feed-
ing-time (Clean-Fed)
◇◇the burn in muscles after racing through the streets with com-
panions (Together-Run)
ALIEN LOOK
When aliens are first born, they shapeshift wildly through forms, but all
of them eventually discover a form that is their truest self. Choose as
many as apply.
⚉⚉ spines, golden skin, amphibious skin
⚉⚉ paws, hooves, hooked legs
⚉⚉ red eyes, glowing eyes, detachable eyes
⚉⚉ whiskers, long neck, foliage
MANY FACES
(Choose one identity—or your true form—to interact with the other aliens.
Only one is necessary, the others can be created at any point in time.)
HUMAN IDENTITY 1
Name: Rosa, Danielle, John, Claire, Tyler, Vu, Zoe
⚉⚉ simple clothing, nondescript clothing, preppy clothing,
modest clothing
⚉⚉ argumentative jaw, tense jaw, stubborn jaw, strong jaw
⚉⚉ soft stance, aggressive stance, closed stance, yearning stance
⚉⚉ man, woman

HUMAN IDENTITY 2
Name: Andrea, Leslie, Patricia, Juan, Jamie, Patrick
modest clothing
⚉⚉ soft stance, aggressive stance, closed stance, yearning
stance
⚉⚉ man, woman
HUMAN IDENTITY 3
Name: Philip, John, Xiao, Sabrina, Emily, Steve
modest clothing
⚉⚉ soft stance, aggressive stance, closed stance, yearning stance
⚉⚉ man, woman
STATS
Human: -1 Alien: +1
BACKSTORY
⚉⚉ What issues with Sun-Lost caused you to leave everything behind?
⚉⚉ What human has become your source of solace?
⚉⚉ What human has divulged a secret to you that might be useful

to the other sun-searchers?
⚉⚉ What do you do to satisfy your alien nature?
⚉⚉ What important space does each identity grant you access to?
CELL HISTORY
⚉⚉ How did keeping your identities secret from the other sun-searchers
inadvertently sabotage your Cell’s first mission from Sun-Lost?
RELATIONSHIPS
⚉⚉ ___________________ alone knows who you were back on Sun-Lost.
⚉⚉ You have formed an intimate relationship with ______________

in one of your identities but they don’t know that it’s you.
DRIVING DESIRE
⚉⚉ The destruction of the Erads, to appear in public in your
true form and be accepted, an alien-human peace treaty
HIDDEN MOVES
(you get Touch Me and one more)
◇◇ Touch Me: When you ooze poison, roll +Alien and take +Trauma
for the extreme stress being put on your body. On a hit, decide
what type of poison it is. On a 10+, all three and mark your Alien
Track. On a 7-9, choose two:
⚉⚉ The poison is not discernible to the naked eye
⚉⚉ You can control when you stop oozing poison
⚉⚉ The poison doesn’t lose its potency once it is out of
contact with your body
On a miss, your immune system is not properly equipped for the
poison and the GM will tell you how the poison makes it impossi-
ble to be seen in public as a human for a period of time.
◇◇ You’re Being Watched: When you reveal that you were hiding
in the shadows while another alien was acting surreptitiously,
roll. On a 10+, you saw or heard it all. On a 7-9, you missed an
important detail; the GM will tell you what. On a miss the GM
tells you how you have raised suspicion.
◇◇ The Redirection: When someone else attempts to glimpse your
true form, you may influence the way that they perceive you and
answer one of their questions with a lie.
◇◇ You Were There: When you explain why a key part of the Cell
history is a lie, tell them the truth and why they got it wrong
and change the Cell Sheet to match the truth. When you use this
move, strike it from your sheet.
◇◇ The Truth: When you reveal one of your identities to another
alien, you may heal a Trauma. If they accept you and your new
identity without lashing out, they may heal one as well.

∆∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆ ∆∆∆∆

CHAP TER 6
The Game Master

AGENDAS
⚉⚉ Make the characters’ lives tense
⚉⚉ Give Walnut Hills a secret underbelly
⚉⚉ Play to find out what happens
Agendas are high-level structures to follow when running
your game. They’ll help you as the GM hit the right notes
for this game.
Make their lives tense

The aliens in Passing live their lives in a state of pre-
carity. At any moment, their identities could be revealed
to a hostile world. They’re focused on maintaining an
impossible balance between their human and alien lives.
Never let them get too comfortable, even as they fall into
their human routines. Grabbing the paper from the doorstep
is an opportunity to show them headlines of the country
celebrating another alien Cell found and destroyed. Remind
them of how little power they have in this world and how
easily everything can fall apart.
Give Walnut Hills a secret underbelly

Though Passing is an alien game, at its core, the game runs
like spy fiction. No one is who they say they are. No one is
truly uninvolved—they’re just an ally or enemy waiting to
happen. Describe scenes of peaceful suburban life and then
slowly reveal the secrets that this neighborhood holds.
Play to find out what happens

The story that you’re telling is not yours alone. The play-
ers might make decisions that surprise you, or derail the
direction you thought you were going. Let them. They’ll
let you know what sort of game they’re interested in play-
ing with their choices. Use your moves to keep the plot
moving, but allow it to be shaped and reshaped. And trust
in the dice and mechanics, even when they point at results
you might not have picked. Together you can create some-
thing more interesting and intricate than any one person
could, and that will keep you all that much more invested.
Agendas - Page 53
P ASSING
PRINCIPLES
⚉⚉ Invoke the community
⚉⚉ Flesh out their alien and human lives
⚉⚉ Be a fan of the players’ characters
⚉⚉ Make your move but misdirect
⚉⚉ Treat all humans as possible threats
⚉⚉ Treat all alien NPCs as possible allies
⚉⚉ Remind the aliens of their decisions
⚉⚉ Address yourself to the aliens, not the players
⚉⚉ Ground the story in a neighborhood divided by politics
and identity
⚉⚉ Give everyone secrets and underlying motivations
⚉⚉ Ground alienness in being beautiful and strange
These are the rules to pay attention to when shaping the
details of your plot. They give opportunities for you to
push the characters towards heartbreakingly humanizing mo-
ments and will help you address the emotional temperature
of the game.
Invoke the community

All aliens stranded on earth share a bond, whether they
want to or not. All alien death causes Trauma to the PCs,
fullstop. Trauma to the collective affects the individual,
regardless of whether the PCs just hear about the deaths
of other aliens or witness it themselves. It’s up to you to
decide how much Trauma they should take in accordance with
their relationship to the death, but take the opportunity
to remind them of the community that they’re a part of,
whether they embrace it or not. In the same note, the tri-
umphs that the community shares are triumphs for all its
members. Weave together their desires, even those that may
seem orthogonal, to demonstrate the way individual victory
still affects the whole.
Flesh out their alien and human lives

All aliens in this world lead double lives. Their exis-
tences would be easier if they could cleanly commit to
either their lives as aliens or their aliases as humans.
But this game isn’t about making their lives easy. Both
parts of their lives should be filled with strong emotional
touchstones that complicate their loyalties.

The Gam e Master
Be a fan of the players’ characters

The aliens your players will create are weird and wonder-
ful—lean into the character choices that make them unique
and give them a chance to shine. When they do something par-
ticularly cool or interesting, work with it and give them
agency over their own stories. While there are some general
limits and guidelines on the alien powers, it’s up to you
to decide how much you want to allow the boundaries to be
pushed. In general, delve into the cool shapeshifting-based
solutions that your players find, as long as they don’t get
to use those powers to solve every problem.
Make your move but misdirect

When you make a GM move, don’t name the move—instead, say
what happens in the fiction. Give as many sensory details
as possible to root your players in their characters—what
does it smell like when they return home to find that the
Erads have burnt all their possessions? The mechanics are
there as a framework to support your storytelling, not
replace it.
Treat all humans as possible threats

Look, the aliens might like the humans. They might even
love them. But never let them forget that any human could
be an Erad member, or that smiling faces could turn into
an angry mob at any moment. Give them human NPCs that they
can’t help but love, but they’re terrified to get close to.
Treat all alien NPCs as possible allies

It doesn’t matter if the PCs have never met this alien be-
fore, or if they meet them under dubious circumstances—by
virtue of being trapped on this Earth, there is a sense of
allyship. That’s not to say that alien NPCs can’t betray
the PCs, but that it’s so much more upsetting when they do.
Remind the aliens of their decisions

Each time an alien sacrifices part of one of their lives in
favor of the other, make sure that they never forget it.
The Poster Child lies to their boss to help with recon of
E.T.R.A.? You know that the boss will find a contradiction
in their lie, probably sooner rather than later.
Principles - Page 55
P ASSING
Address yourself to the aliens, not the players

Calling the players by their characters’ names will help
all of you enter the world that you’re creating and focus
on the fiction. Pick crucial moments to call them by their
alien names in a way that highlights the way their choices
affect their identities, either to reference the loyalty
they have shown towards Sun-Lost, or to draw attention to
how they have betrayed their home.
Ground the story in a neighborhood divided

by politics and identity
So close to D.C., Walnut Hills is a microcosm of the ten-
sions being fought across the landscape of the United
States. All of your aliens’ neighbors have political opin-
ions and they sure don’t agree. Show the people you would
expect to be living in white suburbia, and the people you
wouldn’t. The 1950s were rife with questions of identities
and rights—push your aliens right into the center of those
questions with Walnut Hills as their focal point.
Give everyone secrets and underlying

motivations
When your life is a lie, “truth” is subjective. Morn-
ing-Lost might say that her most important relationship is
with her human spouse Eddie, but what if it’s revealed that
Eddie is plotting the murder of her Cellmate, Red-Red? Or
if he’s doing so because his brother was killed in the bat-
tle of the Third Wave? Or if he knows that Morning-Lost is
an alien but he genuinely loves her? The most interesting
questions of honesty are never simple. Give your NPCs rich
private lives for the PCs to explore.
Define alienness through beauty and strangeness

These are not the aliens from Independence Day. They are
weird and wonderful and compelling. Give your players a
chance to explore the ramifications of an alien world, with-
out all the constraints of the human one. What does Sun-
Lost look like? What social structures are in place? How
does the Cell echo those structures, even here on earth?

The Gam e Master
GM MOVES
Moves are how you advance the story: how you create sus-
pense and intrigue when someone misses a roll, or how you
get things moving when there’s a lull. To modulate the in-
tensity of your story, you can choose to use softer moves
or harder moves. Softer moves often foreshadow future
trouble and always give PCs a chance to respond. Harder
moves bring the trouble to the fore and create immediate
change, giving the PCs a chance to respond only after the
fact.
⚉⚉ Ambush the aliens
⚉⚉ Award +Alien or +Human
⚉⚉ Reveal someone’s secret
⚉⚉ Remind the characters of their alien past
⚉⚉ Tempt them with intimacy
⚉⚉ Demonstrate how precarious their position is
⚉⚉ Put their identities in conflict with each other
⚉⚉ Separate or isolate someone
⚉⚉ Push painful secrets out into the open
⚉⚉ After every move: “What do you do?”
GM Moves - Page 57
P ASSING
ABOUT THE ALIENS

When beginning Passing, explain each of the playbooks and
the sort of lives that they lead. Give players a chance to
work with their playbook and decide what new and exciting
twists to work into their narrative.
The Intermingler
The Intermingler is the tragically romantic figure, torn
between loyalty to their past and the new love that they’ve
found in this life. Give them moments of deep vulnerabili-
ty with both human and alien NPCs and draw from them prom-
ises that they can’t possibly keep.
The Poster Child

The Poster Child has been more successful than they ever
could have hoped for in this new world. This partially has
to do with the human form they chose—a white man. Tempt them
with power and riches but give them touchpoints in their
alien life to emotionally latch onto so they’re motivated to
keep their storyline converging with everyone else’s.
The Halfling
A player choosing The Halfling is ready for a story arc of
adolescence. Mire them in the angst and anxiety of high
school, but tie it back to the alien drama—they feel torn
between the two halves of their lives, but those halves
refuse to stay separate.
The Outsider
The Outsider is defined by having an ideology that diverges
from that of most of the other aliens. Surround them with
alien and N.A.A.A. connections so that they keep getting
drawn into the Cell’s issues and they can choose the most
dramatic moment to make their opinions known.
The Hidden
The Hidden is constantly in flux, not having any single
human identity, unlike the others, and spending most of
their time hiding their identity from the others. Make
them dependent on the Cell structure by intertwining their
wellbeing with that of the Cell, and give them opportuni-
ties to see things that no one else does.

CHAP TER 7
Long Example
To demonstrate how the game works, here is an example
of play with Zhonglin as the GM; River-Dry, The Hidden,
played by Siri; Time-Lost, The Poster Child, played by Re-
becca; and Sun-Change, The Halfling, played by Josh.
The Cell is about to undertake a mission that they’ve been planning for
months: infiltrating the Erads. It was revealed last session that Time-Lost’s
neighbor Barbara—who helped him put together the neighborhood pot-
luck— is the head of Walnut Hills’ chapter of the Erads. The group tailed
Barbara to the Erad headquarters located in some warehouses just be-
yond the town boundaries. The plan was for each of the aliens to shape-
shift to mimic Erad members and enter that way. However, Sun-Change
just found out that his real alien mother has been held captive by the
Erads for the past two years and he’s not in the mood to wait for the oth-
ers. He heads off alone.
“So there’s just one visible guard outside the warehouse. You know from
your recon that usually there are two guards but this is during a shift
change so you have about fifteen minutes before another one shows up,”
Zhonglin tells Josh.
“Can I get closer to see if there are any other threats right now?”
“Seems like you’re trying to tune into your surroundings,” Zhonglin tells
him. “Roll plus questions.”
“Alright so… is this situation familiar to me? No, I guess not. And is my
position secure? Well, I think I have a good hiding spot in this alleyway,
so sure. So I roll… a 6, and then get +1… so that’s a 7. My question is,
‘Where does the power lie?’”
“Well, as you get closer, you begin to pick something up with your senses,
something that feels way too familiar. You realize that the guard’s psychic
presence is alien, not human. He’s covered in clothing from head to toe
but you can see something that looks like a shock collar around his neck.”
“Oh shit.” Josh pauses and then says, “I’m going to try talking to him. I
emerge from my hiding space and… I think I shift my hand into its alien
form.”
“I think we get a close up of the guard’s face smiling in recognition. He
mouths something that looks a little bit like, ‘my son’ and then the collar
begins to glow and he screams in pain. But before we see what hap-
pens, let’s cut across town. Have Time-Lost and River-Dry realized that
Sun-Change is gone?”
“Yeah,” Siri says, “I think we were going to all meet at Time-Lost’s house to
discuss our next move and Sun-Change just never showed up.”
About the Aliens - Page 59

P ASSING
“How long have you waited?”

“Well we probably arranged to meet after Sun-Change’s school day so
it’s probably early evening by the time we give up waiting and decide to
go look for him,” Siri says.
“So your wife has probably picked up her kids and is home with them
by now.” Zhonglin consults her notes for their names. “So Shannon and
Joey are running around the house— the school took a field trip to a car-
nival and they’ve had like… way too much cotton candy. Debra, your wife,
looks like she’s had a long day and she’s really overwhelmed. Do you try
to avoid them?”
“No, I think that looks more suspicious. I think we’re just going to leave
out the front door and tell her that we’re getting drinks.”
“So you’re just going to leave your wife with two screaming, hyper chil-
dren?”
Siri pauses, “I mean… I guess so… I’m really worried about Sun-Change.”
“She doesn’t say anything when you tell her, she just kind of nods but as
she turns away, you see her face crumble into exhaustion.”
“Okay wait,” Siri says, “Can I try to calm down the kids? I kneel down on
the ground and try to get their attention by calling out their names.”
“Joey tries to push you. He’s really had way too much sugar. He mostly
touches your shirt but I think part of his hand brushes your neck. I’m go-
ing to have you roll to hold back your true face.”
“Shit, okay, so my Human stat right now is -2,” Siri says, looking at her
character sheet. She rolls anyway. “Right, so I got… a 7, then -2 for my
Human stat, so I have a 5. Oh, that’s not good.”
“Can I roll to assist another alien? Maybe I fake a coughing fit to draw
everyone’s attention away?” Rebecca asks.
“No point,” Zhonglin says. “The +1 will only raise it to a 6, and that’s still
a miss.”
“Crap,” says Rebecca.
“I think that Debra is overwhelmed and tired enough to not notice, but
Joey definitely sees you shift, just a little bit. Now what does that look
like?” Zhonglin asks.
“Alright, so I think that black spread across my eyes like ink and my skin
along my cheekbones goes translucent, just for a moment, and you can
see, like...lavender veins just beneath the surface…”
“Joey opens his mouth and starts screaming, “Monster!” Debra looks at
you, alarmed, while Joey continues to point at you…”

Cell Sheet
What has your Cell been trying to accomplish since communication
was lost with Sun-Lost? (Choose one)
⚉⚉ Rescue mission, governmental infiltration, underground
network for alien safety, public alien image control,
covert counterattacks on anti-alien groups
Pass this sheet around until all of the following questions are
answered:
AFTER THE FIRST WAVE

What happened to the founding member of the Cell? (Choose one)
⚉⚉ Disappearance, infighting, killed, captured
What was the original location of HQ? (Choose one)
⚉⚉ In the home of a sympathetic human, underneath the ground
of the city hall, underwater in the lake, in heavily wooded
areas
AFTER THE SECOND WAVE

Under what pretense did N.A.A.A. first reach out to your Cell?
(Choose one)
⚉⚉ To ask for critical help, to provide aid in a dire moment,
to form a strategy against Erad, to trade secrets about
earth for secrets about Sun-Lost
In what place has your Cell started to bury the members killed
by Erads?
⚉⚉ A clearing in the forest, someone’s basement, around the
wreckage of Earth-Seeker, as is Sun-Lost tradition: aflame
on a body of water
AFTER THE THIRD WAVE

What alien technology was brought to Earth by the Third Wave?
(Choose one)
⚉⚉ Carnivorous pellet guns, Echolocation reconnaissance scanners,
Thermoquantum generators, Root whisper networks
What happened to the N.A.A.A. member who betrayed you? (Choose
one)
⚉⚉ Protective custody of a human organization, elevated through
the political ranks, killed in the battle, disappeared

DRIVING DESIRES
(For each player, write the answer from their playbook)
What change do you hope to achieve above all else?
⚉⚉
⚉⚉
⚉⚉
⚉⚉
⚉⚉
Cell Members:
⚉⚉ PC:
⚉⚉ PC:
⚉⚉ PC:
⚉⚉ PC:
⚉⚉ PC:
⚉⚉
⚉⚉
⚉⚉
⚉⚉

OTHER NOTES

Passing AshcanEdition 20190801 PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Passing AshcanEdition 20190801 PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Passing AshcanEdition 20190801 PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PASSI NG

Sarah "Sam" Saltiel

All content @2019 Magpie Games

INTRODUCTION 4 THE PLAYBOOKS 34

THE ASHCAN EDITION

Page 4 - Ashcan Edition

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY

A BRIEF HUMAN-ALIEN HISTORY

What You Need to Play - Page 5

is born (the time period being about ½ of a orbit around

Page 6 - Ashcan Edition

A Brief Human-Alien History - Page 7

The Second Wave

Page 8 - Ashcan Edition

A Brief Human-Alien History - Page 9

Political Notes: The headline of the bestselling issue of

Page 10 - Ashcan Edition

A Brief Human-Alien History - Page 11

Page 12 - Ashcan Edition

3. Fill out each alien’s Driving Desire in the spaces pro-

HUMAN VS ALIEN LOOK

Page 14 - Ashcan Edition

INTRODUCTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Page 16 - Ashcan Edition

COOL ALIEN SUPERPOWERS

Playbook Extras - Page 17

Page 18 - Ashcan Edition

THE QUESTION AND STATS SYSTEM

Page 20 - Ashcan Edition

Give into Violence

Basic Moves - Page 21

Tune into Your Surroundings

Bend Someone to Your Will

Page 22 - Ashcan Edition

Persuasion gets easier the more leverage you have. If

Basic Moves - Page 23

For an NPC, on a hit, you successfully comfort them and due

Hold Back Your True Face (Roll +Human)

Page 24 - Ashcan Edition

Glimpse Someone’s True Form (Roll +Alien)

Basic Moves - Page 25

More information about the exact limitations of this power

Call Out for Aid (Roll +Alien)

Page 26 - Ashcan Edition

Assist Another Alien​

Sabotage Another Alien​

Peripheral Moves - Page 27

Reveal Another Alien

Page 28 - Ashcan Edition

HUMAN AND ALIEN TRACKS

Page 30 - Ashcan Edition

4. Mark your Human Track to s

Page 32 - Ashcan Edition

Human and Alien Tracks - Page 33

The Poster Child

Page 34 - Ashcan Edition

List of Playbooks - Page 35

Page 36 - Ashcan Edition

⚉⚉ What excited you most about coming to Earth?

Assist Another Alien

Sabotage Another Alien