V1.

DARK STATES
SEEKER’S GUIDE
CREDITS
WRITTEN BY Daniel Irwin
EDITING BY Daniel Irwin
LAYOUT BY Jonathan Graham
COVER ART BY Claire Collum
SECTION HEADER ART BY Claire Collum
OTHER INTERIOR ART BY Jeshields, David Lewis Johnson, Joyce Maureira, Luigi Castellani, Bradley K McDevitt

PROOF-READERS
Cyril Ronseaux, Alb’, Syd Andrews, Claire Collum, Steve Wood

ADVOCATES, CONTRIBUTORS AND PLAYTESTERS

Alexander Gent, Claire Collum, Harley Rees, Jonathan Graham, Luke Rees, Matthew Swgg, Norman Smith,
Richard Woolcock, Sergio Sottsass, Steve Wood

This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle
Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and
trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission.
Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for
purpose of this product.

CREDITS 3
CONTENTS
I. THE SETTING III. RULES
OVERVIEW 6 CORE SETTING RULES 42
STATE OF THE NATIONS 7 Dark States 42
North America 7 Darker States 42
Central and South America 8 MODIFIED SETTING RULES 42
Europe 9 Dynamic Backlash 42
Middle East 9 NEW SETTING RULES 42
Africa 9 You Win Some, You Lose Some 42
Asia 10 NEW RULES 43
Oceania 11 Addiction 43
Near-Earth Orbit 11 Corruption 44
The Moon 12 Drones 45
Beyond 12 Hacking 48
TECHNOLOGY 13 Simplified Encumbrance 49
The Internet 13 Wealth 49
Robotics 13 Purchases 50
Medicine 14
Military 14 IV. POWERS
ECONOMY 15 ARCANE BACKGROUNDS 52
Money 15 Biohacking 52
Shopping 15 Channeling 54
Energy 16 Experimentation 55
Food 16 Fringe Science 57
SOCIETY 16 Ritualism 58
Crime 17 Test Subject 63
Media & Entertainment 17 MODIFIED POWERS 64
THE EYES IN THE DARKNESS 18 Renamed Powers 64
Additional Power Modifiers 64
II. SEEKERS
SEEKER CONCEPT 20 V. GEAR
Archetypes 20 GEAR 70
HINDRANCES 25 COMMON ITEMS 70
Modified Hindrances 25 MEDICAL EQUIPMENT & DRUGS 72
New Hindrances 25 SERVICES 73
EDGES 28 ARMOUR 73
Restricted Edges 28 MELEE WEAPONS 74
Modified Edges 28 RANGED WEAPONS 74
New Edges 28 AMMO AND ACCESSORIES 77
ATTRIBUTES 34 GRENADES AND EXPLOSIVES 78
SKILLS 34 VEHICLES 79
Modified Skills 34 ß
New Skills 34
DERIVED TRAITS 35
Corruption 35
Load 35
GEAR 35
RELATIONSHIPS 36
HINDRANCE AND EDGE SUMMARIES 37

4 CONTENTS
I. THE SETTING
OVERVIEW
Dark States is a setting for the Savage Worlds In the US, once the pre-eminent superpower, borders are
role-playing game that is one part near-future now closed, and travel is less frequent than it has ever
dystopian horror, two parts conspiratorial been. Virtual existence has become a major way to both
mystery solving and three parts saving the world commute and communicate for those that can afford it.
from abominations by shooting them in the face. Those that cannot huddle under the skyscrapers of the
It is for those who wish to unravel dark secrets rich in urban sprawls, seeking refuge from the increasing
that underpin human history and begin to write chaos around them. In rural areas, agricultural processes
their own. on farms are generally automated, and those that do
venture out into the wilderness are at risk from bandits
We are dying. It’s not obvious, but the signs are there and and the wild itself, there are frequent stories on news
getting clearer by the day. Those in power say everything feeds of people being killed out in the boondocks, although
is fine, but inequality is more pronounced than ever; the far more people killed within the city limits. It seems that
rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, Mother Nature is no longer our friend.
wars over ever scarcer resources are abundant, and the
dominion of the political state is on the decline. In the Stories of the supernatural are increasing in their
future money is power and the corporations have more frequency and potency, tales of horrors in the darkness,
of it than anyone else, whilst those in the political sphere of dark arts being practiced, and of a spreading dominion
have become beholden to the will of the corporate elite, of something ‘else’ out in the darkness. Of course, media
after all profit comes first. The major political powers still organizations and the establishment put this down to the
exist, but the power they still wield is spent facing off twisted imagination of humanity, of stories made up to re-
against one another through cyber and proxy wars to project the real horrors that are being carried out by real
protect their own interests, with corporations profiting people in another light so that they might disassociate
from every exchange. themselves from the reality of the crisis that is unfolding
on Earth.
Earth’s climate continues to degrade as wars over land
and resources intensify, fueled by resource scarcity, But there’s something about those stories, something
political and corporate greed and unchecked by morality unsettlingly genuine, which is keeping people awake at
or humanity as robots and drones drop death from above. night, watching and waiting in the darkness for terror to
Vast swathes of land have been made too extreme to live unfold itself and feast. And there are others, those who
in, either through climate change or other anthropogenic are prepared to fight back.
disasters. Some corporations still uphold ethical practices,
but these are in the minority now, Pandora’s Box has been
opened and the greedy are taking their fill while they can,
whilst a few use their wealth to seek escape from this
world. Those few scientists who have made
it to the moon can only gaze back at Earth
and watch with mounting despair
as weather patterns mutate and
grow monstrous, engulfing
the planet in a planetary fury.
But still humanity continues to
endure.

6
STATE OF THE NATIONS
NORTH AMERICA the changes but even they have not escaped unharmed.
Melting of the ice sheets across the region has affected the
The United States of America and Canada have fared as country more than it will let on but has also opened the
badly as any with climate change, although the southern area for corporate exploitation of resources to increase.
states have taken the brunt of extreme weather. Texas,
New Mexico, and Southern California are places you do In the US, cities have grown both in size and density, with
not wander around now during in the day, whilst the tip 75% of humanity now living in these urban sprawls, primarily
of Florida has been fragmented into islands by rising sea situated on the eastern and western coasts. The exception
levels. The entire southern and eastern coastlines are now to this is Washington DC, which was evacuated after a
annually beset by hurricanes of growing size and ferocity, terrorist attack and which is still being decontaminated and
whilst wildfires are a frequent occurrence on the west coast. is off limits to all except security cleared services. The US
government and all political actions are now being carried
Northwards, Greenland has been massively affected by out from West Virginia.
climate change with major melting of the ice sheets there
exposing the bare rock beneath and causing a catastrophic For those living in these urban areas, there is now a
effect on sea levels. Canada has been least affected by massive overburden on the city to provide for those

THE SETTING - STATE OF THE NATIONS 7

people. Government funding has been slashed, and CENTRAL AND SOUth AMERICA
corporate interests have taken over, resulting in many cities
consisting of downtown zones that are heavily fortified The Central American nations have been badly affected
and attuned for those with the wealth to afford it, whilst by the strife that envelopes the globe, with Mexico now a
allowing the outlying suburbs to deteriorate into slums. fully-fledged narco-state that has made deals with many
Where they can, locals have begun organizing their own of the other players in the region. The Caribbean Islands,
neighborhoods, some even employing locals for policing, although not doing badly economically, have been hit
but in many places, it has become a free for all, particularly repeatedly for the last five years with Hurricanes of category
after dark. Some of the most desperate slums have areas 4 or above. This has meant that the infrastructure of such
where no one except the desperate or the crazy go, and islands for most residents is in bad shape, although many
very few come back again. billionaires now own entire islands in the area and have
what can only be described as Bond lairs.
This has not been helped by the deterioration of
infrastructure in these urban areas. Maintenance of public South America never quite made it to the first world status
services has dropped and, unless you are in possession of it has desired for so many years. Governments have
a renewable energy source, whole city blocks are prone fallen, crime is rife, and only isolated pockets of civilization
to brown outs as electricity sub-stations and power lines remain. Wars rage over resources, backed by corporations
suffer. And then there are the blackouts, caused by ongoing who then steal those resources for themselves.
global cyber conflicts. Despite much hardening (to the
detriment of accessibility, usability, and performance) of the Brazil is still the wealthiest state in the region, but even
net-connected infrastructure, attacks are still able to get here civilization has been reduced to pockets of existence.
through and cause widespread and prolonged blackouts of Foreign aid has all but dried up, so whilst Rio is still exciting, it
services across the US. Even trash collection is an optional is for very different reasons. Global corporations maintain
arrangement for some now. the airport and several hotels, but the rest of Rio is in
decay, with police only looking out for themselves in most
If you still happen to live in a rural area, you are now one
of the few. Many smaller towns have failed as jobs and
money has become more concentrated in the cities, whilst
automation has taken over on many farms. Whole sections
of the US are now barren, with ghost towns dotting the
highways like a stark reminder of the good ol’ days, whilst
those towns that do eke out a living do so from far below
the poverty line. Because of this vacuum of civilization in
rural areas crime is also on the rise, with criminal gangs
now operating freely and without repercussion. It is here
that many strange sightings of cryptids, UFOs and other
strange phenomena are reported, although many such
reporting are discredited as attempts to make money or
gain fame through social media sites.

Crime is rampant across the country and in response to this

gun laws have been relaxed in many parts of the US (in the
southern states automatic weapons are now permitted),
and gun ownership is way up. There are now more guns
than people in the US, with many owning multiple firearms.
Consequently, gun deaths are skyrocketing in the US; with
a record 20,000 recorded homicides (and 30,000 suicides)
in the US that involved firearms in the last year.

8 THE SETTING - STATE OF THE NATIONS

instances. Huge sections of the city have degenerated into by refugees from the economic and ecological disasters in
mega-Favelas, with no public transportation, emergency Africa, migrants who flock through Italy into the heart of
services or hospitals. There is little in the way of electricity Europe like swallows. They are uncountable, although tag
or running water, and sewer lines frequently rupture, and recapture methods used by UN relief teams estimate
spreading filth into the streets. that refugees are roughly equal in number to the official
population of Europe. Sometimes, especially in summer, it
EUROPE seems that all of Europe is on the move, a giantess tossing
restlessly but never quite waking, displacing and distorting
The European Union has failed. Economic instability the maps which cover her.
affected those on the fringes, first in places such as
Greece and the United Kingdom, but slowly wormed MIDDLE EAST
its way into the heart of the Union, sewing dissent and
distrust. The worst refugee crisis in history overwhelmed The Middle East is one of the most contrasting of regions
much of the southern countries in the EU and, despite anywhere in the world. The rich are literally unbounded
aid being provided by various sources, debt in Spain, by financial concerns, having milked the oil market for so
Italy and eastern bloc countries began to spiral out of long and then having branched out into real estate and
control. This culminated several years later, carried on a financial acquisitions both within the Middle East and
wave of uncertainty over the outbreak of the Ghost Wars, overseas. By contrast, those that do not have money in the
with the Euro currency collapsing, and the remaining EU Middle East are essentially slaves. And despite oil being
states were forced to revert to their original currencies, the way in which the Middle East got rich, water is now
although by then e-currencies were now also proliferating. the wealthiest resource in the region, as well as the way
This resulted in the withdrawing of Spain (which already in which the rich control the poor. They have made the
had fragmented with the secession of Catalonia) and transition to renewable, notably solar, power and sell this
Germany, whose citizens felt it was propping up a now- energy to the rest of the world for a premium. Therefore,
failed state. All the while refugees from outside of the the US and other global actors are never far away, either
EU continued to flock to what they considered to be safe through their presence in Israel or through proxy wars
havens, burdening Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey, along fought in the region.
with the Adriatic States.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE still holds most of the wealth
The United Kingdom has restricted its borders, close to in the region, and are conspiring to change much of the
quarantine level, whilst the continent has continued to landscape, geo-engineering it to become more inhabitable,
descend into mediocrity. Italy and Spain were the worst even as more of the surrounding regions are suffering from
affected with vast numbers of refugees arriving almost increased desertification. Iran by contrast has become a
daily, and this resulted in the eventual deployment of fallen state, having been overrun by the US following the
troops to prevent any further immigration. Tensions have attack on Washington from which the radioactive material
escalated, and localized conflicts have now begun to used was traced back to it, and is now a lawless zone
emerge between those Mediterranean nations and those of infighting between the factions left over once the US
on the North African coast.The Scandinavian countries withdrew. Consequently, Israel has become increasingly
have fared much better, both from geopolitical and isolated, fighting guerrilla wars with Syria, Lebanon and
climatic strife, although the northern regions of these other Muslim countries surrounding it who are angered
countries are much more snow free than they have ever at the US interference. But without the backing of western
been. Trade has improved as a result with former EU allies other than the US, it is increasingly becoming a
states, but the shadow of Russia looms large over them, fortified state, beset on all sides.
as well as those former Eastern bloc countries.
AFRICA
But there is also the Europe of the Fourth World, the
Europe of the dispossessed, the people of the fringe. Half Without the power of the UN or the wider developed
the population of the old Communist Bloc countries have western world, Africa became a prime target for eastern
been displaced by civil wars, and their numbers are swollen governments and organizations. War was fomented

THE SETTING - STATE OF THE NATIONS 9

within many of those nations, pitting neighbors against ASIA
one another, particularly where resources were scarce.
Many of the refugees that flooded Europe came from Many of the major players exist on this continent, Russia,
Central African origins, driven across the Mediterranean and China foremost amongst those. But they are both
and through the Middle East by these wars, as well less democratic than ever and more controlled by those
as expanding desertification of the Sahara and Gobi with money. Russia is still ruled by Oligarchs with a group
deserts. This has resulted in a much sparser interior to of these known as “The Committee” pulling the strings
the continent and such atrocities being committed there from positions of power within the Kremlin and beyond.
are going unnoticed and uncared for by the outside world. They have used this to push to push for an aggressive
Plagues frequent the Central African Republic and Congo expansionist policy, annexing most of the Ukraine as well
that seem to spring up out of nowhere, and yet never as parts of Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan,
really move much beyond the borders into neighboring bringing them back into the fold of the Motherland.
lands.
China on the other hand is far more introspective in its
Only South Africa, Egypt and Morocco have withstood motivations and policies, ruling secretly from within. The
the onslaught against the continent, given their coastal Great Firewall still exists, and information still struggles to
locations and money (although where do they get it from?) flow both in and out for the ordinary citizen. It is widely
to build massive desalination plants and keep fields and acknowledged however that Russia, China, and the US
crops hydrated enough to survive to harvest. But the are the major players within the ghost wars that erupted
world appears to have turned its back on the rest, in fact in the last two years, particularly after the Shantou
many of the Southern European countries have become Province incident which China publicly blamed on the
increasingly hostile towards what they see now as an US government. Most recently they have pushed for
invasion of their shores by the millions of refugees that expansion on the Moon, seeking to become the first nation
flee the increasing inhospitable cradle of humanity. to break free of the shackles of Earth, spear-headed by
wealthy Chinese corporations pouring private money into
North and Central Africa is now a major proxy for the the effort. However, rumors continue to spread of dark
ongoing conflict between the major superpowers, with acts being carried out within the country that can’t be
wars being fought throughout the region whilst money verified but that hint at human rights violations on a scale
pours in from China, Russia, and the US. Rebel groups not seen since the rise of Nazism in Europe a century
prowl the countryside, fermenting trouble and killing before.
indiscriminately when they find people. However, there
are some groups opposed to the interference of such India by contrast has shrunk in the global stakes, with both
states and are fighting to take their countries back. Of over-population and conflicts with Myanmar, Pakistan, and
course, such freedom fighters are labelled as terrorists by other neighboring regions, once again fueled by those in
those in charge, and social media is harnessed to paint positions of power. A great famine now stalks this land as
them in the darkest of colors. overseas aid has dried up, partly from the partial collapse
of western nations but mostly because of the wars it has
undertaken with its neighbors. However, India has also
become a hotspot for illegal cyber activity, and many

10 THE SETTING - STATE OF THE NATIONS

viruses, Trojans and other malware now seem to originate both poverty and famine are rife. As a consequence, crime
from here, although it is widely believed that India is now has soared and governments have crumbled throughout
being used as a proxy by other powers. this region, leading to greater instability and violent
regimes to take their place.
Japan, the other major player in the region, is still
struggling with the effects of its ageing population but is
also the country that has embraced robotics and Artificial
Intelligence the most to overcome this problem. It has ties
with most of the world powers but refrains from engaging
in any hostilities, and as such has become a natural
intermediary for many negotiations and diplomatic efforts.
They have also begun to adapt to climate change in the
most extreme way by building underwater urban areas,
adapting and embracing the incoming tides by moving
below them.

OCEANIA

This watery region has arguably suffered the most from

climate change, as sea levels have swamped many of the
islands and extreme weather events have flattened much
of what is left.

Australia has become as isolated as the UK but, with a

much larger border to patrol, incursions are frequent.
The interior has become more arid as climate change has
accelerated and few live there now beyond those running
automated mining and farming ecologies. Even for those
residing on the coast, travel inland only to undertake
repairs and maintenance is not a job that is welcomed.
Forest fires are also prevalent during the summer as
temperatures regularly exceed forty degrees, staining the
atmosphere with smoke and ash.

New Zealand is a last bastion of hope in the region, but its

size and geographical isolation from the rest of the world
means that it cannot influence much change. They are
one of the few countries that rapidly embraced renewable
technologies, particularly thermal and wind-based energy
sources, but the rise in sea levels is having a catastrophic NEAR EARTH ORBIT
effect on the country, particularly on the North Island.
Auckland regularly suffers flooding now and 90-mile beach A vast number of satellites now ring the planet in Near Earth
is off limits due to regular tidal surges in the area. Adding Orbit, some 10,000 in total, at a variety of altitudes. These
to that, volcanic and seismological events have increased range from navigation, telecommunication, monitoring
in frequency and scope, and it is struggling to cope with and research to human habitable space platforms. There
the effects of Mother Nature. are also rumors of so-called ‘dark’ satellites operating
outside of near-earth orbit, either beyond the LaGrange
North of these, Micronesia and Polynesia are chains of points or on the far side of the moon, although nothing
islands that are threatened with near uninhabitability and has ever been officially released.

THE SETTING - STATE OF THE NATIONS 11

The biggest of the human habitable platforms are the
International Space Station, although this is well past
its end of life, the Chinese Space Station Tianwe, and a
growing number of corporate stations which are currently
being built. These corporate stations have been built on
the super-rich tourism industry, with wealthy patrons
paying to spend time in Space Hotels where no luxury
(except gravity) is spared.

In addition to this, those with the money can afford to use

Suborbital Jet Services (SJS), private craft that can skim the
edge of space and deliver their clients to parts of the globe
in a fraction of the time of conventional aircraft. Slightly
closer to the ground exist a fleet of Strato-sats, airships
which hover at only 20km above the ground and provide
much more accurate real-time coverage of events as they
unfold below.

THE MOON

A moon base has been officially established by an

international collection of public and private partners,
although it is essentially owned and run by a select few
of the largest contributors to this enterprise. There are
currently only around a thousand people in residence,
rotated in shifts to minimize the effects of micro-gravity,
and most of the base is heavily automated. This includes
the mining operations, which have begun to extract
mineral resources from the interior of the satellite.

Most of these people are scientists and engineers, and

they have started to be viewed as aloof of the situation
on the planet below. There are even rumors that they
are carrying out experiments ‘up there’ that wouldn’t be
allowed on the planet, although this is vigorously denied
by all those involved.

BEYOND

Travel beyond the moon is still strictly off limits for humans,
with a manned mission to Mars way behind schedule and
exploration of the asteroid belt only just starting to yield
the potential for further mining operations. Unmanned
exploration has continued throughout the system, and
talks have commenced to begin ‘seeding’ several locations
within the solar system to prove whether life could exist
away from the blue marble.

12 THE SETTING - STATE OF THE NATIONS

TECHNOLOGY
Technology within the world has never been better, through the eyes and hands (assuming you have gone
for those that can afford it. Computers are no through the baselining process). Cell phones are still
longer something you would see under your desk available, but these are now considered to be an outdated
or as a laptop, they exist primarily in the cloud, a technology, and instead a variety of wearables are utilized
web of interconnected servers and services that instead. A few have neural cortexes built in which allow
host everything from e-mail to video to virtual for direct data access, granting them a much higher rate
reality. Almost everything within the modern of information availability, but these are generally only
world is undertaken with computing technology, available to corporations and the military.
and automation of almost every industry has left
many without jobs, leading to the largest economic Of course, that assumes that the internet is working. The
disruption the world has seen (see Economy, Ghost Wars have disrupted access to this technology
below). severely, and many sites are frequently brought low by
everything from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks
THE INTERNET to ZMW BGP tactical strikes. These are primarily conducted
by semi-autonomous bot nets or artificial intelligence
As technology has gradually moved to the cloud, so the platforms that can strike faster than humans can possibly
requirement to support high bandwidth wireless access respond, and it means that the battles fought in the Ghost
to that information superhighway has increased. Access Wars are becoming increasingly taken out of the hands of
to the internet is now controlled by 6G mobile networks, humans entirely.
delivered via micro-satellite platforms, allowing access from
anywhere in the world at gigabit speeds, if you can afford ROBOTICS
it of course!
Robots have arrived and are in control of manufacturing
For those that live in first world countries, access is and agriculture; many vehicles including pretty much all
available on many levels depending on what you can afford. commercial vehicles, naval vessels and planes are now
Corporations have won the net neutrality battle to franchise self-driving. Even white-collar jobs are being outsourced
the internet, so the more you pay for (or hack), the better to Quantum Binary Entities (QuBEs) as accountants and
you get. For those with no money basic access is provided middle management are now finding themselves jobless
but it gives you little more than access to mediated news and with no skills to fall back on. Of course, this is only true
feeds, spam and advertising, meaning that you can find within the wealthier parts of the world, so many still find a
very little. Once you start paying, more premium services living in such professions, but the reach of the robot is ever
become available including access to private feeds, increasing.
premium social networks, and virtual reality. Of course, the
other option is to use the dark web, but that is a dangerous These QuBE entities are a trillion times faster than traditional
endeavor with many pitfalls. Access the wrong places and supercomputers and have accelerated computing power
your information can be accessed and your identity is no yet again beyond the imaginings of humans. However due
longer yours. Yet many people do, because they need to, to the current cyber-political climate, most of these are
to protect themselves from the prying eyes of the public, currently being used by the military industrial complex
be that for freedom of speech in countries where such to conduct the Ghost Wars that rage within cyber space,
things are permitted, financial transactions or purchasing initially as defensive countermeasures but increasingly now
of things that cannot be bought legally. being used to mount offensives.

Most people can now access the internet through a variety Drones are another source of technological advance which
of different types of devices, but the most prevalent is the has seen explosive growth over the years, particularly since
eLense, either as optical or contact lenses which allow all the introduction of Unmanned Aerial Traffic Management
transactions to be carried out by micro-muscle gestures System (UATMS) to regulate their use and protect the

THE SETTING - TECHNOLOGY 13

public from their misuse. From ant-sized drone swarms to before a pandemic emerges, only for another to pop up
gargantuan military craft capable of shoot-to-kill policies, somewhere else a few weeks later.
drones are everywhere. They drop off packages, deliver
pizzas, and conduct security sweeps, even helping to Some individuals have taken genetic remodeling to a whole
grow crops in farming complexes. Many are hive-minded, new level, using gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-L
controlled by a Central Processing Unit (CPU) which is that have gone public to rewrite their own DNA. This has
typically hosted in the cloud, and this in turn is managed been integrated with other DNA fragments from nature, as
by a human being, but some are now fully autonomous, well as artificial DNA that has been created in labs by other
having a life of their own and not requiring any intervention scientists. It has led to a trend in body morphing as some
(or only very rarely) by humans. This is particularly true of these people have begun to take it to extremes, and an
with the development of the Autonomous Robotic Ethical entire niche fashion industry has built up around it. But this
Assessment (AREA) processing algorithms, which are now is a dangerous hobby and there have also been accidents
powering self-driving vehicles and even military drones with where the DNA resequencing has gone wrong, resulting
the capability to make autonomous fire decisions without in the deaths of those participating, and sometimes those
a human handler, something which has drawn an angry around them.
response from the general populace, but which has been
implemented anyway. MILITARY

MEDICINE Despite all the good work that has gone into providing
better medical care for many, and the eradication of
Humans are generally better off medically than ever before, many diseases, the greatest degree of technological
with personalized medicine available to many of those in advancement has been in the arena of military armaments.
first world countries, although anything beyond basic From space-based laser systems and hypersonic missiles,
diagnosis costs. At the top end, Genetic Remodeling (GR) to autonomous weapons platforms and railguns, the
of human embryos using stem cells techniques is now military industrial complex has continued unabated by the
possible for those who can afford it, and there is even economic woes of the rest of the world. This is due in part
rumor of capabilities to genetically remodel fully grown
adults thanks to completion of the Human Genome Project
- Write (HGP-W).

Limb and organ replacement have also become relatively

straightforward procedures, allowing simple organs (and
even some complex ones such as eyes) to be replaced with
a combination of regrowth and replacement technologies,
including bio-neural feedback sensations for the recipient.
Even state of the art replacements can only replicate an
original organic component though, and many of the
cheaper models only approximate such sensations and
integration.

Of course, new problems have presented themselves

across the globe, with antibiotic resistant bacteria and
artificially created viruses by rogue actors and terrorist
groups. Particularly within large urban areas, outbreaks of
infection have forced quarantines of entire neighborhoods,
harking back to the dark age of medical prevention, whilst
masks are now commonplace within an urban setting. It
seems like a never-ending race between disease and the
medical profession to see how quickly a cure can be found

14 THE SETTING - TECHNOLOGY

to the tensions that have built between the world’s super- To combat this, QuBEs have been deployed to defend
powers and the increase in conflict as a result of climate against such intrusions, proving very effective at not only
change and global population migration. And the military out-performing human hackers, but are also out-thinking
use this to their advantage, promoting safety through them, using abstract and lateral thought patterns to outwit
firepower. would-be attackers. The result of this has led to a war
almost automated in its function, and many people fear
This also includes a strengthening of cyber-warfare this as being the start of the end for humanity. The Ghost
amongst all nations as it provides the perfect platform Wars have also had the effect that the internet is no longer
for asymmetrical warfare. Small nations, terrorist groups a single entity, but is fractured and compartmentalized,
and even groups of like-minded individuals can utilize preventing cross-contamination hacking but also restricting
the internet to cause widespread and significant damage the flow of information across the globe. It also leads to
to infrastructure and the economy without the need for frequent crashing of sites that, once ubiquitous, are now
bombs and bullets. struggling to maintain their presence amongst the chaos.

ECONOMY
The global economy is currently in the worst have come to dominate the market. Indeed, most cash
recession ever seen. The perfect storm of climate machines have now disappeared as the necessity for them
change, automation, governmental degradation, has disappeared, although they can still be found, and most
and corporate hegemony has left many without a countries still accept physical currency as a form of payment,
job, with the average unemployment rate above with the exclusion of Denmark who have eliminated physical
40% in the US alone. Those that do have a job cling to currency. And whilst the emergence of quantum computing,
it for the money it provides, although there is a basic and specifically quantum cryptography, has made it more
stipend that most receive, but this is barely able to difficult to hack the accounts of those with money, cyber
cover the costs of living and requires identification theft is still on the rise, relying on social engineering, code
and address, many of whom have neither one nor exploits and good old-fashioned blackmail to make off with
the other. huge sums of money.

Money is still there; it simply resides with the upper 25% SHOPPING
of the population. In first world countries many of those
have little more than the others, but these are specifically Like money, almost all shopping is done online, either
in careers where a creative element to the job is required. through official sites for items that are lawfully obtainable
Most wealth however resides with the upper 1%, who have within the country of residence, or through dark web
more wealth than can be calculated, much of which is hidden shopping sites for those items that are not available on the
in offshore accounts, dark web financial institutions or new open market. Virtually all these items are delivered using
cryptocurrencies that are emerging on almost a daily basis. drones or other autonomous vehicles, and a person often
has little reason to leave their house.
This has resulted in a black-market economy that runs
underneath the official one (particularly on the dark web), The result of this is that most physical shops have either
primarily using cryptocurrencies to fulfil needs, but going closed or had to rapidly re-evaluate and make their
back to basic bartering at the street level in some cases. shop exhibit an experience as well as tackling traditional
shopping needs. In the US more than half of all shopping
MONEY malls have now closed, either now sitting vacant or have
been redeveloped into other uses. Those that used to work
Physical currency in most developed nations has almost in shops, now either sit at home or work in distribution
become a thing of the past. Electronic currency, in the form of centers where they face constant threat of replacement by
internet banking, NFC card payments and virtual currencies machines.

THE SETTING - ECONOMY 15

Despite the mass market availability of most consumer power stations and concerned about the threat of a fusion
goods in the modern world some things have become reactor exploding, seem less than keen on embracing this
more difficult to obtain because of the Earth beginning new power source.
to run out its natural resources. These include chocolate,
older electronics based on Antimony and Indium, as well FOOD
and other items that would have been made with these
elements, including batteries, bullets, and solar panels. As Along with a shortage of many other resources, food is
a result, alternative manufacturing processes, materials and becoming scarcer and more difficult to produce. Climate
markets have emerged to adapt to such challenges. Change has wrecked entire ecosystems and caused
systemic collapse, threatening the global supply of food. In
ENERGY the Mid-West US, the “breadbasket” of the country, crops
have shrunk as poor conditions, blight and insects have
Climate Change has forced a rethink on how energy is created ruined many crops. Those farms that are still running are
and consumed, but this rethink has not been reflected done so under heavy guard and are almost fully automated
uniformly across the globe. Those who are geographically by corporate interests, with many small farmers squeezed
fortunate have been able to switch to renewable energy out of business. Elsewhere, chocolate, bananas, meat, and
sources, whilst those with the money have piled into fusion rice are in short supply globally and are exceedingly hard to
reactor research. However, those in countries who do not come by.
have either meaning of the word fortune still make do with
oil, gas, and other fossil fuel-based alternatives. Scientists are working on replacements for many foods,
particularly meat, with insect-derived foods and lab grown
Even with renewable alternatives however, solar energy meat becoming a common replacement commodity on
has taken a hit in the last few years, with both a global the market. Many feel that the artificial meat just isn’t the
shortage of Indium and Silver meaning that solar panels same, maybe it’s the taste, the smell, or the texture, but
have become much more difficult to manufacture. And something about it just doesn’t feel right. But when it’s a
whilst fusion power has been proven to be economically choice between artificial meat and none however, many will
viable, the infrastructure is not yet in place to construct go for the former, chewing both it and on the notion that the
and manage these new types of facilities. And the public, rich are dining on real steak every night.
having experienced the problems associated with fission

SOCIETY
The gaps in society have never been larger, with where they can indulge in their pleasures at a whim.
the divide between rich and poor now a vast and For many of these people life is one long party, but
almost uncrossable gulf. Depending on whether you there is always competition as the wariness of a rival
are with or without very much determines how you attempting to steal your crown is ever present.
function in society and how it functions around you.
For the rich, the luxuries they can afford offer them At the other end of the scale the poorest live in conurbations
to unlimited opportunities and, through high society of high-rise tenements if they are lucky, and in shanty towns
socializing and networking, they use interactions to that have grown up on the fringes of great metropolises
increase their wealth, power, and influence. Social if they are not. They tend to socialize together, although
events still tend to be physical, albeit in highly secure more by necessity than by choice, and gang-culture is
settings where there are no prying eyes and little rife as neighborhoods band together to protect what is
chance of anyone not invited from gatecrashing such theirs. For them, life is a daily struggle and humanity is not
events. They do also meet in ultra-tech Virtual Reality something that they have time to think about, let alone be
(VR) hangouts which are some of the best around, part of. Life is cheap on the streets and it’s a question of
with an almost completely immersive environment making sure you and yours have what they need. Many

16 THE SETTING - SOCIETY

others who can’t, or won’t, work have become sedentary size of most major metropolitan areas, has allowed such
creatures, addicted to social and mass media, and living in an increase to occur unabated.
ignorance of anything else that might be out there in the
world. Law enforcement, where they still exist, now find themselves
in entrenched in a defensive mentality, able only to respond
In between these two sit the dwindling middle class, to the most serious of offensives. When they do respond
struggling to hold on to their meagre wealth whilst however they do so in overwhelming force, interrogation
abhorring the rich above them for holding all the cards. techniques now border on psychological torture, and
They generally feel empathy, even pity, for those without weak-AI tools allow for near instant crime scene analysis.
money, but the same cannot be said for the poor who view And when the cops catch you, they will make an example
them as wannabes who would take the road to wealth if of you, with extreme penal sentences and death sentences
it was offered to them but won’t admit it. Above them all common practice.
the rich look down on everyone else as something to be
controlled and manipulated, without this control they fear Still, crime pervades every section of society and crime
mass revolts and revolution that would see them toppled syndicates commonly buy off the cops, making them look
from their thrones. the other way whilst they conduct business. From Mexican
and South American drug cartels to the Mob, the Yakuza
CRIME and a hundred other crime lords, organized crime has
never been more prevalent. Crime does pay, just make
Crime rates are higher than ever, thanks largely to the sure that you’ve got the right people in your pockets whilst
turmoil that faces the world. The Greater Depression has you’re making hay.
forced many who are unable to find a job to come up with
other ways to feed themselves and their families, and To combat this, in some places the local citizens have
crime is one way to make ends meet. This, combined with a taken it into their own hands to protect themselves and
reduction in policing budgets and a massive increase in the their families, and local militias have begun to spring up.
Even lone individuals have taken to the street looking to
right wrongs, fight crime, or just pick a fight just to prove
that they are better.

MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

People of the world need entertaining, now more than ever.

To keep the masses from rising up against those in power,
to keep them anaesthetized from the calamities that are
all around them, to keep them calm and docile. Media
Entertainmßent is all pervasive now, in everyone’s eyes all
the time, from billboards to web-ads to product placement
and even augmented reality ads that trigger based on a
person’s social media profile when they approach specific
signs.

Social Media is part of the status quo now too, with almost
everyone having signed up to numerous sites that allow
them to tell everyone what they are feeling, regardless of
whether those people want to know or not. Corporations
and governments are openly harvesting this information
for their own personal gain, but most have simply accepted
this as a way of life and are content to let them use it.

THE SETTING - SOCIETY 17

THE EYES IN THE DARKNESS
Monsters have always been part of the mythology of
humankind, from ancient tales of hybrid creatures
to modern tales of urban legend, but most would
agree that these are just stories, made for nothing
more than to frighten children and entertain
adults. But recent sightings, accounts and physical
evidence have begun to emerge that make it clear
that something is out there in the darkness, at
least for those who are prepared to open their eyes
to the truth.

At the same time stories have begun to circulate on

social media of individuals exhibiting strange powers.
Of course, the media and most members of the public
dismiss these as hoaxes, but there are more videos and
stories appearing every day, and if only a fraction are
true then there is something strange happening.

Some say that the monsters have always been with us.
Some say that they are a creation of man’s hubris, some
awful experiment wrought wrong and then hidden from
the world. Many still don’t believe there is anything out
there, blind to the news stories, photos and videos that
have emerged over the years. Whatever their origin, they
are here now, but hidden from the world’s media, BY the
world’s media. Someone out there doesn’t want these
things to be revealed and is doing a damn good job of
covering it up. Is it the government? Corporations? Some
secret organization that nobody is aware of, a new world
order that seeks to control all? Maybe they’re all in on
it, a global conspiracy that reaches the highest echelons
of power across the globe. Maybe it’s time to bring that
power down and find out the truth. Assuming humanity
can last that long...

18 THE SETTING - THE EYES IN THE DARKNESS

II. SEEKERS
SEEKER CONCEPT
A character in Dark States is known as a Seeker have become involved in through someone they know.
and this section guides you through the process of Make a note of this as it will come in useful later during the
creating one. It has been kept as close as possible to rest of the seeker creation process.
the character creation process in Savage Worlds, but
there are some minor changes and additional rules ARCHETYPES
to help better define not only your seeker but also
the relationship between yours and other seekers at To help with the seeker concept a selection of Archetypes,
the beginning of play. or examples of seeker tropes, are presented below. Please
note that this is not a definitive list of playable characters,
The first step in creating a seeker is for you to come up or ‘classes’, but are examples to help you along. These
with a single phrase that describes the concept you have archetypes come complete with background, including
in mind, combining an adjective and a noun. Examples motivations and a strange incident that can stimulate play.
might be “Compassionate Merc”, “Frustrated Civilian” or
“Dangerous Girl”, anything that expresses what the heart These are all Novice Rank, if a higher starting rank is desired
of your seeker is all about. The purpose of the concept is to add additional advances as required.
form an idea about the type of seeker you want to play, this
will help you choose the traits, Edges and Hindrances that For these archetypes, core skills are only included if they
make that seeker tick. have a value above d4. Additionally, for each of these
archetypes, not all skill points, Hindrances and Edges have
One other thing that is useful to decide at this point is that been chosen, this allows you to customize the Archetype
your seeker should have had some experience with the with your own personal flavor. You can choose not to take
paranormal, it is what makes them a seeker after all! This the additional Hindrances, but to do so you will have to give
could be a strange encounter in their line of work, something up an equivalent amount in either Edges, skills or attributes.
that they came across late at night, or something that they

20 SEEKER CONCEPT
BIOHACKER CRIMINAL
Who wants to live forever? You do of course! Humanity is It’s tough out there on the streets, times are hard man, so
evolving and you’re just giving it a helping hand, that’s all. you gotta do what you gotta do. Whether it’s lifting some
You’ve been tinkering with ways to make your body better, extra off the back of a lorry, roughing up some poor schmo
and bioscience is showing you the way, particularly with the who’s behind on his payments, or stealing from ‘the man’,
new CRISPR-L 3.0 toolkits. It makes it so easy to genetically you’re the guy to do it. Except now some people have been
manipulate your genes from the comfort of your own home. disappearing from the neighborhood, and it wasn’t anything
But you’ve got to be careful, sometimes things go wrong. to do with you. Someone else is on your turf, and they need
Badly wrong. People turning to goo. Or exploding. Or worse. to be taught a lesson…
But you’ll be alright, you know what you’re doing. Right?
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6,
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Vigor d8 Skills: Fighting d4, Intimidation d4, Notice d6, Shooting d4,
Skills: Bio-Hacking d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Science Stealth d8, Thievery d8 +6 additional skill points
d6, Taunt d6, +6 additional skill points Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 7 Hindrances: Vengeful (Major), Wanted (Minor), +1 Minor
Hindrances: Curious, +2 Minor Edges: Streetwise, Thief
Edges: Arcane Background (Biohacking, 1 Power),
Regeneration, Toughness DRIFTER
Times are a changin’ man, it’s tough trying to keep the
COP clothes on your back, let alone a roof over your head. The
Some people like to take the law into their own hands, and government ain’t helping, and those guys in suits just don’t
that’s on them. You on the other hand, you are the law. So, even see you anymore. You usually stick to the smaller
what you do is above the law, even when maybe it isn’t. It’s towns, but it’s getting barren out there, a lotta places just
getting tough out on the streets and you’ve got to do what drying up, and whole towns vanishing overnight. And not
it takes to stay alive. Even if that means bending the rules a all those suits are ignoring you, there’s a couple you keep
little bit or overlooking some minor offences in order to catch spotting whenever you turn a corner. In fact, if you were
the big guy. But this latest case is different. The woman was paranoid you would say they might be following you…
killed by someone, or more correctly something,
some sort of beast from the pathology report. Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6,
But the wounds aren’t like anything you’ve seen Vigor d6
before, and you’ve got the weirdest feeling Skills:Common Knowledge d6, Fighting d4, Notice d6,
that someone is watching you whilst you Persuasion d6, Repair d4, Survival d8, Thievery d4 +6
work. Could one of your colleagues be skill points
keeping an eye on you? Maybe your Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
partner? Maybe it’s your boss? Whoever Hindrances: Poverty (Major), Outsider (Minor), +1
it is when you find out you’ve got some Minor
questions that need answering… Edges: Nobody, Scavenger, Streetwise

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, DRIVER

Strength d6, Vigor d6 People are sooooo boring these days. Everyone is
Skills: Athletics d6, Driving d4, Fighting d6, lounging around in self-driving cars that look like a bubble
Intimidation d4, Notice d6, Empathy d6, that defecated on itself. Not you though. Those things can’t
Research d8, Shooting d4 +4 additional skill do things that cars are really meant to do, break speed
point limits, jump gaps, go places they weren’t supposed to go.
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6 That’s where you come in, and you know how to drive,
Hindrances: Vow (Uphold the Law, Major), +2 that’s what you do. And there’s always people needing
Minor people like you. So, when these guys asked you to
Edges: Investigator, Martial Artist drive this car across the country for a lot of money,

SEEKER CONCEPT 21
you said why not? But now you’re out on the road something ER DOCTOR
doesn’t feel right about the car. Maybe the bearings are off, They say medicine is getting better. Try saying that at midnight
but you just can’t put your finger on it… in the ER when the victims start pouring in, it doesn’t look so
healthy then. But you do your best, it’s what you’re trained to
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor do, it’s just another night on Earth. Except that guy that came in
d6 last week, well that was just weird. Had burns up his arms that
Skills: Driving d8, Piloting d6, Repair d6, Shooting d4, +8 looked like something had just grabbed him, and he wouldn’t
additional skill points talk about it. And then he just disappeared. The nurse says
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 4 he just discharged himself, but there’s no way he got up and
Hindrances: Arrogant, Death Wish, +1 Minor walked out of there, not with the painkillers he was on.
Edges: Ace, That’s My Ride!
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d4,
DRONE PILOT Vigor d6
Drones are big business; everyone is using them. And although Skills: Common Knowledge d6, Healing d8, Notice d6,
many of them are automated, sometimes there needs to be Research d6, Science d6 +5 additional skill points
someone at the controls. Whether it be surveying a disaster Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5
zone, locating missing people, or maybe enforcing quarantine Hindrances: Doubting Thomas, Vow (Do no harm, Major), +1
operations, you’re the person for the job! Except when you Minor
were last out, you saw something through the drone lens, Edges: Common Bond, Doctor
something you hadn’t seen before. It was a government job,
and now they are refusing to pay you… FIXER
You are the person to go to when someone needs something,
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d4, and normally that thing they need is on the wrong side of
Vigor d6 legality. Whether its drugs, guns, software or even food, you
Skills: Electronics d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Pilot d8, can get ahold of it. There’s a new shipment due in tomorrow in
Repair d6, Stealth d6 +5 additional skill points fact, although the nature of the shipment is somewhat different
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5 than usual. The person who wanted it seems very keen to get
Hindrances: Cautious, Mute, +1 Minor it, but something feels off about what they want it for.
Edges: Controller, Drone Upgrade
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor
ECO-TERRORIST d6
Damn the corporations! Damn the government! They’re all at Skills: Common Knowledge d6, Empathy d6, Intimidation d4,
it, and not a damn one of them wants to help save the Notice d6, Persuasion d8, Shooting d4,
world. The planet is teetering on the edge of collapse Taunt d4 +6 additional skill points
and what do those suited, smiling pigs do? Argue over Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5
who gets first dibs on the carcass. Well not on your Hindrances: Obligation (Major), +2
watch. Things need to be said. But more importantly Minor
things need to be done, before it’s too late! And Edges: Forger, Streetwise
recently this one company has been doing something real
weird, out in the middle of nowhere. Time to investigate and, if FRINGE SCIENTIST
possible, put an end to whatever foul evil they are up to. When it comes to fixing the world it’s top of
your priority list. If there’s a problem, science
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d4, can solve it, given long enough and a good
Vigor d6 enough working hypothesis. If it wasn’t for all
Skills: Notice d6, Repair d8, Research d6, Science d6, Stealth those big wig politicians and corporate money
d6, Survival d4 +5 additional skill points monkeys you could’ve saved the world by
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5 now. But funding is getting harder to come
Hindrances: All Thumbs, Driven (Minor), +1 Minor by unless you’re making something that
Edges: Engineer, Work the Room sells. And saving the world ain’t got people

22 SEEKER CONCEPT
buying. But you’ve recently made a discovery, something that Skills: Common Knowledge d6, Electronics d6, Hacking d8,
will shock the world… Persuasion d6, Repair d6, Research d6 +5 additional skill points
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 4
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d6, Strength d4, Vigor Hindrances: Delusion (Minor), Overconfident, +1 Minor
d4 Edges: Luck, Pen Tester
Skills: Common Knowledge d6, Fringe Science d8, Notice d6,
Persuasion d6, Research d8, Science d6 +4 additional skill JOURNALIST
points There’s always a story to tell. Sometimes it’s the one right in
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 4 front of you, but often it’s the story behind the story. You gotta
Hindrances: Driven (Major), Secret (Minor), +1 Minor dig deep to find the real truth, otherwise you’re just polishing a
Edges: Arcane Background (Fringe Science, 2 powers), Scholar turd. However hard it may be, even if it hurts people, the truth
(Science) must be told. And now the stories are getting weird. Those
ships that disappeared off the Brazilian coast? The weird
GOVERNMENT AGENT sightings in the woods around Dusseldorf? And now there’s
Everyone thinks that the government has had it, that the corps been the most recent scoop you came across, something that
run the world now. But I got news for you – we’re still here can’t be true, but the witnesses say it is.
and fighting just as hard as ever. The corps may have most Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d4,
of the money, but money isn’t everything, Vigor d6
and we’ve got the power and influence to Skills: Common Knowledge d6, Empathy d8, Notice d6,
make things happen. Especially now that Persuasion d6, Research d8, Taunt d4 +6 additional skill points
the new operation has started, Operation Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5
Genesys. They’ve just moved you over to Hindrances: Curious, Suspicious (Minor), +1 Minor
it, and you haven’t been told much, but Edges: Charismatic, Investigator
it’s gonna change the world, that’s for sure.
MERCENARY
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, War. Huh. What is it good for? Your bank balance,
Strength d6, Vigor d6 that’s what. Whether it’s Mogadishu or downtown
Skills: Driving d4, Fighting d6, Intimidation Chicago, there’s always someone that needs your
d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Research d8, services. The corps pay better that’s for sure, but
Shooting d6 +5 additional skill points they have some weird gigs that’s for sure. And this
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5 latest contract you signed on for? Let’s just say you
Hindrances: Suspicious (Minor), Vow got a bad feeling about this. The money might be good,
(Major), +1 Minor but you heard a rumor that you ain’t the first group to go on
Edges: Connections (Agency), Danger Sense this mission. No-one seems to know what happened to the
last group, so you’re guessing one of your objectives will
HACKTIVIST be to figure that part out.
You know your way around computers and the
web, and you’re using it for a cause. It might be to bring down Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d8,
capitalism, or uncover the government’s deep, dark secrets, but Vigor d6
whatever it is you use your skills as a hacker to achieve those Skills: Athletics d6, Battle d4, Fighting d6, Intimidation d4,
goals. Recently, however, you’ve started seeing some really Notice d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d6 +6 additional skill points
weird stuff on the dark net, conspiracy theories abounding Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
about something that these people are up to. You’ve got to Hindrances: Bloodthirsty, Enemy (Minor), +1 Minor
find the evidence before it gets erased, but you’ve got to do Edges: Brawler, Danger Sense
it without them spotting you, or there’ll be that knock on the
door you aren’t hoping for. PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
Everybody needs something. Maybe they lost something and
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d4, want it found. Maybe they want revenge on somebody that
Vigor d4 got one over on them. Or maybe they just want something

SEEKER CONCEPT 23
done right. Whatever it is, your door is always open (really Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor
must get that lock fixed), and their wallets are always open to d10
you. But now you’ve got a real doozy of a case. The money’s Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Fighting d4,
good, maybe too good, but there’s something about this case Notice d6, Shooting d6, Stealth d6, Thievery d6 +6 additional
that doesn’t fit. And the client was very keen for you not to skill points
approach the authorities on this one, but why? Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 7
Hindrances: Wanted (Major) +2 minor
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Edges: Arcane Background (Test Subject, 1 power)
Vigor d4
Skills: Fighting d4, Intimidation d4, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, UNDERGROUND PSYCHIK
Research d8, Shooting d4, Stealth d6 +6 additional skill points You’re not sure how your powers started, but you’ve got
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 4 them now. And the government wants you because of it. So,
Hindrances: Cautious, Code of Honor, +1 Minor you’ve had to stay off-grid, you and some people you now call
Edges: Insight, Investigator your family, those who share the same “talent” that you have
developed. But there are other things out there, voices on
SOCIAL MEDIA STAR the wind that seem to be calling to you, and you keep seeing
When it comes to fixing the world things on the edge of your vision. Something else is out there,
it’s not at the top of your priority something far worse than the government.
list. The world can go burn as long
as you can get some great tunes to go Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d4, Vigor
with it. It’s always party time, and you’re d8
the person to party with. Some weird shit is Skills: Athletics d6, Notice d6, Occult d6, Persuasion d6,
hitting the streets recently, new drugs that Channeling d8, Stealth d6, Thievery d6 +7 additional skill points
are really messing people up, some new Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5
psychoactive substances that are causing Hindrances: Wanted (Major), +2 Minor
people to have some real bad visions. Not Edges: Arcane Background (Channeling, 3 powers), Strong-
that you’ve done any yourself, your clean Willed
of course, but some of the other members
of your entourage have, you even had to VIGILANTE
let one of them go. And now it turns out It’s a bad world out there. The cities are getting more
they’re dead and the authorities want to dangerous by the day and the cops ain’t doing anything
talk to you about it… to protect the common people. So, you’ve got to take the
law into your own hands, protect your own, and show those
Attributes:Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d4, Vigor pieces of filth that there’s a price to pay for committing crimes.
d8 The fact that you must commit the same to get vengeance?
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d6, Notice d6, Performance d8, Well, that’s on them. Last night though, that was some weird
Persuasion d6, Taunt d6 +5 additional skill points shit. That guy ran straight up a wall to get away from you. And
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6 this ain’t no comic book man, this is the real world. People
Hindrances: Arrogant, Habit (Minor), +1 Minor shouldn’t be able to do that! But you’ll catch him next time…
Edges: Attractive, Fame
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6,
TEST SUBJECT Vigor d6
They did something to you. You’re not sure what, but one day Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d4, Notice d6,
you were fine and then those men grabbed you. When you Shooting d6, Stealth d6, +6 additional skill points
woke up you had this, thing, attached to you and you can’t get Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
it off. It doesn’t hurt, and it’s helped you out on occasion, but Hindrances: Death Wish, Wanted (Major), +1 Minor
now the people that experimented on you want you back for Edges: Martial Artist
more tests. But you ain’t going back man, they’ll have to catch
you first!

24 SEEKER CONCEPT
HINDRANCES
Next comes choosing Hindrances for your seeker,
these represent the flaws that make your seeker
interesting and provide opportunities for great
role-playing moments as well as a great way to earn
bennies! All Hindrances from Savage Worlds are
permitted in Dark States, with some modifications
as outlined below.

MODIFIED HINDRANCES

The following Hindrances from Savage Worlds have been

modified to fit into Dark States:
y All Thumbs in now a Major Hindrance
y Illiterate is now a Major Hindrance
y Poverty has been updated, see the Wealth Section in
the Rules Chapter

NEW HINDRANCES

AMNESIAC (MINOR OR MAJOR)

For some reason, your seeker cannot remember part
of their past, and there’s probably a good reason for
that. For the Minor version of the hindrance, it is a small
period of time he can’t remember. For the Major version,
it covers a long period of time and still affects him now,
resulting in a -2 to Common Knowledge or other memory-
based knowledge rolls.

BRUTALLY HONEST (MINOR)

Whether it’s a moral trait, or something else, your seeker
just can’t help but tell the truth. It has got her into trouble
before, and likely will again, and makes it difficult for her
to socially interact with people.

CLOSE TO THE EDGE (MAJOR)

Your seeker has previously been the victim of something
that has left its mark on her and as a result she is less well-
adjusted than most. She starts with 1 point of Corruption
instead of 0 and must also draw a Minor Hindrance from
the Corruption table. To offset this, she may also choose
an additional Edge to represent the experience that this
has left her with.

SEEKERS - HINDRANCES 25
DEAD TO THE WORLD (MAJOR) INSOMNIA (MINOR OR MAJOR)
Maybe he is just a sociopath, or maybe he’s just selfish, Your seeker suffers from the inability to sleep; at the
but whatever it is your seeker just can’t empathize with beginning of each session, he must make a Spirit roll.
other people. He starts with no skill in Empathy and On a failure he is unable to sleep when they otherwise
increasing this skill always counts as if it is above the should be and will suffer a level of Fatigue from this point
controlling attribute die. onwards until the beginning of the next session. Taking
proper medication will give him a +2 to the roll.
DEBT (MINOR OR MAJOR)
Your seeker owes money to someone, either legally or With the Major version of this Hindrance, your seeker
illegally. At the beginning of each session, he must make also suffers from Night Terrors and has a -2 to the Spirit
a Smarts roll, failure means that the debt has been called roll. In addition to this, on a Critical Failure, no one else
in and his Wealth die type is reduced by 1 for a Minor in the vicinity will get any sleep as he screams out, unless
debt, and by 2 for the Major version. He may choose they find some way to silence him.
not to pay the debt, but this will result in the Wanted or
Enemy Hindrance of the same severity as the debt as the MOTION SICKNESS (MINOR)
debtors are now out to get him, the Debt Hindrance will Travelling is not something your seeker enjoys. Whenever
remain. If paying the debt reduces your seekers Wealth she is in a vehicle that gives her the Unsteady Platform
die below d4-2, he will be unable to pay the debt and will modifier, she must make a Vigor roll. If she fails your
automatically incur the additional hindrance as above. seeker will suffer a level of Fatigue, and on a Critical
Failure she will end up vomiting in an inappropriate
EXPENSIVE TASTE (MINOR) location, leaving her Vulnerable as well as Fatigued for
It’s not that your seeker chooses to buy the most the duration. Thankfully this is nothing serious and she
expensive goods and services, it’s more that the items cannot suffer more than one level of Fatigue in this way,
that she wants tends to be the most expensive brand, This fatigue is removed once your seeker has had a few
model, or service available. Whenever she wishes to buy minutes of calm without being in motion.
something out of her price range, Wealth rolls are made
at a -1. OSTRACIZED (MINOR OR MAJOR)
Due to an event in your seekers past, at least one
FRAGILE MIND (MINOR) organization refuses to have anything to do with him. The
Your seeker has seen too much and has a hard time reasons may vary but the result is that, unless he goes
dealing with the things that he’s seen. He may not spend to great lengths to hide his involvement, deals with this
bennies to recover Corruption. one company will always go sour. As a Major Hindrance,
your seeker’s ostracization applies not just to a single
INFAMY (MINOR OR MAJOR) company but an entire industry.
Some people are well known and respected for the right
reasons, but some are known for all the wrong ones. OWNED (MAJOR)
Your seeker is one of the latter, she has done something Whether due to experimental procedures that keep her
to attract unwanted attention from certain people. As alive, some financial agreement, or another some other
a Minor Hindrance this is something that might cause reason, your seeker’s very person belongs to someone
her some problems on a regular basis, or the infamy or something. This means that this owner calls the shots
is restricted to a specific group of people. As a Major and will call on her to perform actions or jobs for them as
Hindrance she is known by almost everyone for the thing needed, and your seeker is expected in check in regularly
that she did, and people are not happy about it. All initial with them during such missions. Should she not follow
reaction rolls against her are made at -2.
 instructions given to her, she will gain the Major Wanted
hindrance as her owner now wants them back and will
use legal or other methods to retrieve her.

26 SEEKERS - HINDRANCES
PERSISTENT INJURY (MINOR OR MAJOR) TOO TRUSTING (MINOR)
Your seeker has an old injury that never quite healed, or Your seeker is a little naïve and often believes that
some other chronic condition sometimes comes back to people’s motivations are good even when they are not.
haunt him periodically; this might be an old sports injury, Empathy rolls made by him are done so at -1 when trying
arthritis, a bullet that was never removed, etc. As a Minor to determine the motivations of other people.
Hindrance, whenever your seeker rolls a 1 on the skill die
whilst using Athletics, he is Shaken as the injury reasserts TROUBLE MAGNET (MINOR OR MAJOR)
itself. For the Major version of this Hindrance, he will be Whether it’s your seeker’s reputation, the way they look,
Stunned. or something else that can’t be explained, certain people
tend to target him, and not in a good way. As a Minor
POSSESSED (MAJOR) Hindrance your seeker tends to draw the attention of
Your seeker is possessed by something that occasionally people who, whilst they don’t wish him harm, will be
takes control. Should she fail a Spirit roll, the being within annoying or distracting. With the Major version of this,
will take control for the remainder of the scene. It will not your seeker is actively targeted during combat more than
try to harm her, but others are another matter. anyone else and, unless someone else has specifically
drawn the attention of the enemy, the crosshair will rest
SLOW HEALER (MINOR) on him.
Your seeker is slow to recover from injuries (although not
Fatigue) and is only permitted a Natural Healing roll once WEAK-WILLED (MAJOR)
every seven days instead of the usual five. In addition, Your seeker is easily goaded into doing things she doesn’t
he may not take the Fast Healer or Arcane Background want to or shouldn’t do. She may not spend bennies
(Biohacking) Edges. on rolls to resist Intimidation or Persuasion, and these
skills are always considered to be above their controlling
STRESS DISORDER (MINOR) attribute.
Your seeker has suffered a traumatic event in her life
which she has struggled to get over. Whenever she sees UNFOCUSED (MINOR OR MAJOR)
or hears an object, person, sound or other trigger that Your seeker has a hard time focusing on any task they
may have been associated with this, she must make a feel is unimportant, which unfortunately includes most
Spirit roll. On a failure she suffers a flashback and must things. When he spends a Benny to reroll a trait or
make a roll on the Fear table, at +2 if she rolled a Critical skill, your seeker does so with a -1 to the roll, or a -2 if
Failure. this the Major version of the Hindrance. If this is done
in combination with a conviction token, he finds the
motivation to act normally and may take the result as
normal.

SEEKERS - HINDRANCES 27
EDGES
As seekers are all human, they may take an Edge of NEW EDGES
their choosing at Novice Rank.
Below are the new Edges available for Dark States.
RESTRICTED EDGES
BACKGROUND EDGES
The following Edges from Savage Worlds are not permitted
in this setting: ARCANE BACKGROUND (BIOHACKING)
y Champion Requirements: Novice, Vigor d6, Biohacking d4
y Healer (replaced with the Medic, Nurse, Doctor and Surgeon Edges) This is the Arcane Background for Biohacking, for more
y Holy / Unholy Warrior information see the Powers Section.
In addition, the following Edges are restricted to specific
Arcane Backgrounds: ARCANE BACKGROUND (CHANNELING)
y Artificer Requirements: Novice, Spirit d6, Channeling d4
y Channeling This is the Arcane Background for Channeling, for more
y Extra Effort information see the Powers Section.
y Gadgeteer
y Mentalist ARCANE BACKGROUND (FRINGE SCIENCE)
y Power Points Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6, Fringe Science d4
y Power Surge This is the Arcane Background for Fringe Science, for
y Rapid Recharge / Improved Rapid Recharge more information see the Powers Section.
y Soul Drain
y Wizard (renamed as Master Caster) ARCANE BACKGROUND (TEST SUBJECT)
Requirements: Novice, Vigor d6
MODIFIED EDGES This is the Arcane Background for Test Subjects, for more
information see the Powers Section.
The following Edge has been modified in Dark States in order
to better fit the tone of the setting. EIDETIC MEMORY
Requirements: Novice
POWER EDGES Your seeker may not be particularly smart, but she has a
mind like a camera and gains a free reroll when making
MENTALIST rolls against Knowledge-based Smarts skills.
Requirements: Seasoned, Arcane Background (Channeling),
Channeling d6 SAVINGS
This Edge only provides the +2 for the following powers: Requirements: Novice
empathy, mind reading, mind shield, mind wipe, puppet. Your seeker has managed to put some money aside for
a rainy day. When he makes Wealth rolls, if he rolls a
SOCIAL EDGES success, he can purchase goods without having to reduce
his Wealth die. On a failure he only loses a die type in
CONNECTIONS Wealth and does not suffer any other consequence.
Requirements: Novice
In addition to the other benefits of this edge, once per
session your seeker may try to acquire gear through this
connection. If he does so, he may take a free reroll when
making purchases. Also, the seekers Wealth Die will not
be affected by the outcome of the roll, although other
consequences of failure may still apply.

28 SEEKERS - EDGES
COMBAT EDGES LEADERSHIP EDGES

AVENGER BOT LEADER

Requirements: Novice, Empathy d8, Common Bond Requirements: Veteran, Controller, Piloting d10
Your seeker takes great umbrage whenever one of her This seeker is so good at piloting drones that they can control
friends gets hurt. Whenever a Wild Card ally (including a Swarm Drone, which is no mean feat! He may utilize the
fellow seekers) is incapacitated, assuming your seeker saw it Swarm Drone Allied Extra, if they can get hold of one that is.
happen, all attacks by her against the opponent who inflicted
the injury deal an additional 1d6 damage. CONTROLLER
Requirements: Novice, Piloting d6
CAN’T CATCH ME! Your seeker can remote pilot drones. She may control a single
Requirements: Novice, Agility d8 drone as an allied extra (See Drones in the Rules Section).
Your seeker is amazing at getting out of tight spots by
running away. When he is being chased, he may reduce the DRONE ENHANCEMENT
range at which he can use the Flee maneuver by 1 card as Requirements: Novice, Controller, Repair d6
well as adding 2 to his rolls whilst using the Change Position Your seeker has been working on customizing the mechanical
Maneuver. aspects of one of her drones to work more efficiently. She
may upgrade one of her drone’s attributes by a die type, to a
CUNNING STUNT maximum of d12. Drone Enhancement may also be used to
Requirements: Novice, Agility d6, Spirit d6 increase the range of the drone by 1 category (i.e., from short
There’s no big reward without a big risk, right? Whenever she to medium range), although this may only be taken once per
makes a skill check using any Agility based skills that have a -4 drone. If this drone is destroyed, she can apply the same
or worse modifier, your seeker may take a free reroll. enhancement to another drone of the same type in 1d4 days.

DIRTY FIGHTER DRONE STAR

Requirements: Novice, Athletics d6, Fighting d6 Requirements: Seasoned, Controller, Piloting d8
Your seeker doesn’t like to play by the rules and will use Your seeker has worked with drones long enough that he is
anything to hand to their advantage to gain the upper hand. fluent at controlling more than one at once. He may control
He gains a +2 to Athletics or Fighting tests. 2 drones per round as an action without incurring a Multi-
Action Penalty.
THAT’S MY RIDE!
Requirements: Seasoned, relevant vehicle skill d8+ DRONE UPGRADE
Your seeker has a feel for their vehicle which borders on the Requirements: Novice, Controller, Electronics d6
supernatural, what she can squeeze out of it is nothing short Your seeker has been working on upgrade the software that
of incredible. When involved in Chases, she gains a free reroll one of his drones uses. He may increase one of the skills the
on any vehicular maneuvers they are undertaking, assuming drone has by a die type, to a maximum of d12. Drone Upgrade
she is controlling the vehicle. may also be used to increase the duration of the drone by 1
category (i.e., from short to medium duration), although this
may only be taken once per drone. If this drone is destroyed,
he can apply the same upgrade to another drone of the same
type in 1d4 days.

HEROIC DRONE
Requirements: Heroic, Controller, Piloting d8
Your seeker has a special drone that has been with her for a
while and performs better than all the other drones she has
used before. This drone is now a Wild Card, loss of this drone
to irreparable damage will require two weeks of working on
another drone before it can be elevated to Wild Card status.

SEEKERS - EDGES 29
POWER EDGES FIRESTARTER
Requirements: Novice, Arcane Background (Channeling),
ADEPT Channeling d6
Requirements: Seasoned, Arcane Background Your seeker has an affinity with a given trapping that
(Channeling), Channeling d8 is used with this power (of the player’s choice). When
Your seeker understands better than most how to mold activating a power using that trapping, she may ignore 1
the effects of power to her will and may ignore 1 point of point of penalty to the power activation roll.
penalty for applying power modifiers to the power.
HEAVY LIFTER
ENHANCED NEURAL PATHWAYS Requirements: Seasoned, Arcane Background
Requirements: Novice, Arcane Background (Test (Channeling), Channeling d6
Subject), Smarts d8 Your seeker has an affinity with the telekinesis power,
Your seeker has had modifications made to his neural and he doubles the weight that can be lifted, although
pathways to allow him to activate his powers in not with the equivalent strength for that power. For
conjunction with one another. Your seeker more information see Additional Modifiers in
may ignore 2 points of penalties when the Powers Section.
activating powers using a multi-action.
Failure on either activation roll will result NEW ABILITY
in him taking a level of Fatigue from the Requirements: Novice, Arcane
stress, although only 1 level of Fatigue Background (Biohacking),
can be suffered in total. Biohacking d8
Your seeker may choose a
EXTRA-SENSORY PERCEPTION new positive racial ability or
Requirements: Novice, Arcane abilities worth up to 2 points. This is
Background (Channeling), Channeling d6, restricted to the list of available positive
Empathy d6 racial abilities, for more information see
Your seeker is attuned to the minds of the Powers Section.
others and she gains a free reroll when
using the empathy, mind link, mind reading OVERLOAD
and mind wipe powers. Requirements: Novice, Arcane
Background (Biohacking), Vigor d10
EXPERIMENTAL Bio-genetic alterations that are better
Requirements: Novice, Arcane attuned to your DNA have been made
Background (Test Subject) to your seeker, and she can pour
One of your seekers’ powers more energy into activating her
was created using some form of modifications. Your seeker adds 2 to
experimental procedure and as such her biohacking rolls but should she
can be somewhat more powerful and yet roll a Critical Failure, she adds 2 to the
unpredictable. When activating that power, damage roll against herself.
he may add 2 to the roll. Should you roll a
Critical Failure, in addition to the standard SPREAD THE PAIN
consequence, the experimental implant Requirements: Veteran, Arcane
overloads and he will take 2d6 damage (ignoring Background (Channeling), Common Bond
armor) in the resulting catastrophic failure. Repair rolls As a last effort your seeker can draw on the
to fix this will be at a -2. energy of those around them and make them take
the potentially negative consequences of their power.
Any Fatigue effects that result from the activation of
his power may be transferred to a willing party within a
range equal to his Spirit die type. Your seeker can also

30 SEEKERS - EDGES
use this against an unwilling party, but they will receive a
Spirit check to resist this effect. A Critical Failure on the
power activation roll still affects your seeker and not the
target.

THAT’S GENIUS!
Requirements: Novice, Arcane Background (Fringe
Science), Science d10
Your seeker is prone to sudden flashes of genius that
overcome even the trickiest problem. Once per session
she may spend a benny to add an extra 1d6 to a Fringe
Science power activation roll.

WILD CONDUIT
Requirements: Novice, Arcane Background (Channeling),
Spirit d10
Your seeker has an innate ability to channel more power
than most, but he tends not be able to control the
power invested in this. The penalty to cast is significantly
reduced and he only needs to apply half the modifier
(round down) to casting, if the modifier is 0, he gains a +1
to his casting roll. However, when a power is activated, if
your seeker rolls a 1 on the skill die and the power fails,
he automatically rolls on the Dynamic Backlash table.

PROFESSIONAL EDGES

DIPLOMAT
Requirements: Novice, Strong Willed, Empathy d6,
Persuasion d8
ENGINEER
Not every action needs to be a violent one and your
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6, Repair d8
seeker excels at convincing people to take actions
Your seeker is trained in the design, construction and
that she desires, whether they want to or not. This is
subsequent demolition of structures, and understands
accomplished through a combination of communication
their inherent strengths and flaws. She may add 2 to Repair
skills, non-violent threats, coercion, or even blackmail.
and Notice rolls that involve structures or mechanics of
She gains a +2 bonus to all rolls in Social Conflicts where
any kind, using it to spot any potential weak points of such
these methods can be applied.
structures.

DOCTOR
FORGER
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d8, Healing d8
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d8, Thievery d8, Notice d6
Your seeker is a trained medical professional, and his
Your seeker can make flawless forgeries and he adds
many shifts in the hospital or emergency room have
2 to all Thievery and Notice rolls to create and detect
made him adept at dealing with patients who have been
fakes. Creating a forgery requires a Thievery roll, limited
in pain for some time. He may extend the Golden Hour
by Electronics for electronic fakes, with the time taken
to a Golden Day if he has access to relevant equipment
dependent on the item to be forged. On a raise the time
necessary to treat his patient.
taken to create this is halved or it is at -2 to spot that it is
a fake. If this is used to create a fake identity, the recipient
acquires the Alias Edge.

SEEKERS - EDGES 31
MEDIC SOCIAL ENGINEER
Requirements: Novice, Agility d6, Healing d6 Requirements: Novice, Hacking d4, Persuasion d6
Your seeker is trained at field treatment of the wounded and The easiest way into a computer system is through the
is adept at getting people back to their feet quickly. He may people who use it. Your seeker is adept at prying passwords,
patch up a wounded person using a Healing roll, but it only server addresses and other technical information from
takes two rounds (one on a raise) to do so. Wounds healed those people without their knowledge. He may use the
will only temporarily disappear however and will return at better of Persuasion or Hacking to attempt a hack if the
the end of the Golden Hour, unless properly treated. situation permits it.


NURSE SURGEON
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6, Healing d6 Requirements: Novice, Agility d10, Healing d10
Your seeker is frequently expected to treat patients with Your seeker’s skills at complex surgical procedures are
little notice and using whatever equipment comes to hand. exceptional, and she can fix those who couldn’t normally be
She may ignore up to 2 points of penalties when using fixed. Given enough time and access to a patient, she may
the Healing skill or, if no penalties apply, she may add 1 to use her Healing skill to fix permanent injuries and, if she can
her roll. In addition, if she uses Healing to support Natural treat the patient within the Golden Hour, she can prevent
Healing rolls for others, she gains a +2 to the roll. permanent injuries from occurring in the first place.

PEN TESTER SYS ADMIN

Requirements: Novice, Hacking d8, Notice d6 Requirements: Novice, Hacking d6, Electronics d8

Breaking into other people’s networks and systems is your Whether it’s because he built them or has just used them
seeker’s thing, with a knack for finding weaknesses and for a long time your seeker knows computer systems inside
back doors that no-one else has spotted. She may ignore out. He gains a free reroll when defending against intrusions
up to 2 points of penalties when attempting to gain entry to on a computer network which he is active on.
a computer network, if no penalties apply then she gains a
+1 to the roll instead. SOCIAL EDGES

PSYCHIATRIST ALIAS
Requirements: Novice, Healing d4, Empathy d8 Requirements: Novice
Your seeker is trained in being able to talk people through Sometimes it’s good to have another identity by which your
trauma and mental illness. He gains a free reroll to recover seeker is known. It may be that the authorities or someone
from Corruption and may also support others in doing so else is watching her, or maybe she needs to cover up
by making an Empathy roll. something that she is doing. Whatever the reasons your
seeker has an alias, another identity by which she is known,
RESTRICTED ACCESS a record that is robust and, more importantly, clean. If,
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d8 however, she does something that draws attention to this
Your seeker is able to lay her hands on material that most identity, it may become useless, in which case this Edge is
people wouldn’t be able to find and she may ignore up to lost.
2 point of penalties on any Research rolls that requires
access to restricted material. DEFIANT
Requirements: Seasoned, Spirit d6
SHUNTER Some people have been around and seen things few others
Requirements: Novice, Hacking d6 have, hardening them against the dangers out there, and
Your seeker has mastered the use of the Neural Shunt to your seeker is one of them. He gains a free reroll against
react quicker to events and she may make one Hacking roll Corruption rolls and reduces the amount of Corruption he
per round as a free action. gains by 1 when he does fail a roll.

32 SEEKERS - EDGES
GHOST REPUTATION
Requirements: Novice, Wealth d8 Requirements: Seasoned, appropriate skill d10
Your seeker doesn’t exist, well not on paper anyway. She’s Your seeker is well renowned in some way, usually in
had herself purged from any systems that might have a professional capacity. This may be because she is
had any record of her. Any attempts to trace your seeker exceptionally good at something, but also because she
through computer or government systems will fail, however has done something that has made others in that line of
if she is arrested this will raise red flags with the relevant work admire and respect her. When interacting with such
authorities. people, your seeker may ignore up to 4 points of negative
modifiers to social rolls, if no negatives apply your seeker
HARDENED gains a +2 to her roll.
Requirements: Seasoned, Spirit d8
It takes a lot to see what your seeker has seen and still be WEIRD EDGES
in one piece. He has learnt to cope with the strangeness he
has encountered and is better able to recuperate from it, DEJA VU
giving him a +2 on rolls to recover from Corruption. Requirements: Novice, Notice d8
Sometimes your seeker feels like he’s been here before
LIE DETECTOR and can use this sense to help him out. Once per session
Requirements: Novice, Notice d6, Empathy d6 your seeker may spend a benny to reroll any trait roll, this
Whether it’s being able to read a person, or knowing what includes rolls that resulted in a Critical Failure. This may
signs to look for, your seeker is proficient at telling when be used on other seekers, assuming he was able to give
people are not telling the truth. She gains a free reroll on them some form of warning as a free action that the reroll
Empathy rolls when she thinks someone is lying to her. is made.

READ THE ROOM INSIGHT

Requirements: Novice, Empathy d8, Notice d6 Requirements: Novice, Spirit d8
Some people are able to get a feel for situations and turn Your seeker is prone to sudden flashes of brilliance which
them to your advantage, and your seeker is one of them. has gotten her out of tricky situations. Once per session she
He gets one free reroll during Social Conflicts. may spend a benny when using a Smarts based skill, this
will add a single success to the result, so a failure becomes
a success, and a success becomes a raise. This does not
work on a Critical Failure.

NOBODY
Requirements: Novice, Spirit d6-
It’s like people can’t see your seeker even though he’s right
there, in crowds he blends in and is rarely picked out when
the trouble starts. Your seeker gains +2 to Stealth rolls
when amongst other people and he will never be the first
to be targeted in a fight unless he has done something to
antagonize the enemy.

SIXTH SENSE
Requirements: Novice, Spirit d8, Notice d6
Your seeker sometimes knows when something is about to
happen before it does, and she is able to react sooner than
everyone else. Your seeker may spend a benny to draw
two additional cards on the first round of any situation that
involves card-based draws, including Combat, Dramatic
Tasks and Chases.

SEEKERS - EDGES 33
ATTRIBUTES AND SKILLS
ATTRIBUTES BIOHACKING
Spending points on attributes works the same as in This is a new Arcane Background skill, allowing the
Savage Worlds. wielder to utilize biological modifications that they have
undertaken on themselves.
SKILLS
Seekers get 15 points to distribute in skills as per the More CHANNELING
Skill Points Setting Rule in Savage Worlds. Faith, Focus This is a new Arcane Background skill, allowing Conduits
and Spellcasting skills are not available in Dark States as to wield Channeling powers.
the associated Arcane Backgrounds are not available in
this setting, and there are some modifications to existing EMPATHY*
skills as described below. This skill replaces Gambling and has been broadened
to cover the reading of other people’s emotions and
MODIFIED SKILLS intentions. This is an additional core skill, linked to Spirit,
and starts at d4.
DRIVING
This skill no longer covers the use of motorbikes or other FRINGE SCIENCE
balance-based vehicles. This is a new Arcane Background skill, allowing Fringe
Scientists to develop technology and devices that defy
GAMBLING mainstream scientific principles (or at least bending the
This skill has been replaced with Empathy. rules!). This also allows the Fringe Scientist to conduct
Experiments.
NOTICE
This no longer covers the ability to interpret actions, this
is now covered by the Empathy skill.

OCCULT
This skill can be used to perform rituals (see the Powers
Section) in addition to its original intent.

RIDING
This skill now covers any balance-based mounted
maneuvers including the use of horses, motorbikes,
skateboards etc.

SCIENCE
This skill can be used to perform Experiments (see the
Powers Section) in addition to its original intent.

NEW SKILLS

Several new skills are available in Dark States, these are

described below.

34 SEEKERS - ATTRIBUTES AND SKILLS

DERIVED TRAITS
Once all has been determined the following
additional derived attributes should be calculated.

CORRUPTION

This new derived trait represents the ability to resist

mental and psychological corruption from a variety of
sources in Dark States. Seekers start with 0 Corruption and
a maximum Corruption value of 2 + (Spirit die type / 2). For
more information see the Corruption in the Rules Section.

LOAD

This represents how many significant items the seeker

can carry before becoming encumbered and replaces the
existing encumbrance rules in Savage Worlds. The Load of
a seeker is calculated as their Strength die type - 2. For
more information see the Simplified Encumbrance in the
Rules Section.

GEAR
Purchasing gear is based on the lifestyle of your
seeker, which will be Modest by default but may
be affected by the Poverty Hindrance or Rich Edges.

This will set a limit on how expensive purchases can be

before they require Wealth rolls to obtain. For further
information on this see Wealth in the Rules Section, and a
full list of available items can be found in the Gear section
of this book. Gear is also available from the Savage Worlds
rulebook, although the prices of items from here should
be doubled to reflect the wealth disparity within Dark
States. Any purchases that require a Wealth roll during
seeker creation may use bennies to do so.

SEEKERS - DERIVED TRAITS / GEAR 35

RELATIONSHIPS
Depending on how the group wishes to play, the In the second phase, the cards should be drawn again,
seekers might need to form an idea of how they but this time they should come up with a story about how
know each other. One option for doing this is to use the seeker on their right bonded with them, something
a series of Interludes and comes in two phases. that has intertwined their fate in some way.

The first phase should help to construct background on If there are only two players involved in this exercise,
how the seekers met each other. For this, each player have the first player do the introduction phase and the
should draw a card use the suit of the card to determine second do the binding phase.
the theme of the story that shares their introdcution with
another seeker. The player should choose the person on
their left to build this background.

RELATIONSHIPS
SUIT EFFECT

Clubs This should represent a moment of misfortune that is shared between two seekers. Maybe
they lost something that they both wanted, maybe they had a mutual friend that was lost, or
maybe they both just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Diamonds This should represent a shared desire that the two seekers might both have. This might be a
material possession, recognition, political goal or even a trip they may both want to go on.

Hearts This should represent a shared passion or interest between two of the seekers. This might
be a skill, person, or belief that they both hold dear to them.

Spades This should represent a shared victory that the seekers have been through together. This
may have been success at something they both wanted to succeed at, a fight in which they
were both involved, or some other form of conflict that united them.

Joker Let the players choose which suit they wish to use.

36 SEEKERS - RELATIONSHIPS
HINDRANCE SUMMARIES
HINDRANCE SUMMARY

Brutally Honest (Minor): Finds it difficult to lie

Amnesiac (Major or Minor): Cannot remember parts of their history, -2 Common Knowledge rolls for
Major

Close to the Edge (Major): Starts with 1 random Minor Hindrance and 1 less Corruption, can choose 1
additional Edge

Dead to the World (Major): Unable to read people well, Empathy is initially unskilled and costs double
to improve

Debt (Minor / Major): Owes money, Smarts roll per adventure or reduce Wealth by 1 die type (2
for Major)

Expensive Taste (Minor): Wealth rolls are at -1

Fragile Mind (Major): No bennies allowed to recover from Corruption

Infamy (Minor / Major): The seeker is famous for the wrong reasons and attracts unwanted
attention

Insomnia (Minor / Major): Spirit roll or Fatigue from no sleep, medicine does not help for Major
version

Motion Sickness (Minor): Vigor roll when traveling or level of Fatigue

Ostracized (Minor / Major): Cannot interact with an organization (whole industry for Major version)

Owned (Major): The seeker is owned by someone else and must obey another’s orders

Persistent Injury (Minor / Major): On an Athletics roll of 1, seeker is Shaken (Stunned for Major version)

Possessed (Major): The seeker is possessed by something that takes over when a Spirit roll is
failed.

Slow Healer (Minor): Natural Healing rolls made every 7 days instead of 5, no Biohacker Arcane
Background

Stress Disorder (Minor): On encountering stress trigger, Spirit roll, failure results in Fear table (+2 on
Critical Failure)

Too Trusting (Minor): Naïve and will trust people unless warned otherwise, -1 to Empathy Tests to
tell if lying

Trouble Magnet (Minor / Major): The seeker draws trouble their way

Weak-Willed (Major): Persuasion resistance rolls made -2

Unfocused (Minor / Major): Benny rerolls made at -1 (-2 for Major version)

SEEKERS - HINDRANCE SUMMARIES 37

EDGE SUMMARIES
EDGE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY
BACKGROUND EDGES
AB (Biohacking) N, Biohacking d4, Vi d6 Access to Biohacking Arcane Background

AB (Channeling) N, Channeling d4, Sp d6 Access to the Channeling Arcane Background, +1 to support

Rituals

AB (Fringe N, Fringe Science d4, Access to the Fringe Science Arcane Background, +1 to
Science) Sm d6 support Experiments

AB (Test Subject) N, Vi d6 Access to the Test Subject Arcane Background

Eidetic Memory N Free reroll on Knowledge-based skills

Savings N Does not lose die type on success with Wealth rolls

COMBAT EDGES
Avenger N, Empathy d8, Common Additional 1d6 damage against opponents who incapacitate
Bond allies

Can’t Catch Me N, Agility d8 Reduce distance for Flee maneuver by 1, +2 to Change

Position when fleeing

Cunning Stunt N, Agility d6, Sp d6 Free reroll on Agility checks where -4 or worse modifier

Dirty Fighter N, Athletics d6, Fighting d6 +2 to Athletic and Fighting tests

That’s my Ride! S, relevant vehicle skill d8+ Free reroll on Chase maneuvers whilst in vehicle

LEADERSHIP EDGES
Bot Leader V, Controller, Piloting d10 Seeker can control Drone Swarms

Controller N, Piloting d6 Allows the seeker to control drones

Drone N, Controller, Repair d6 Increase a drone attribute by a die type

Enhancement

Drone Star S, Controller, Piloting d8 Can use 2 drones without Multi-Action Penalty

Drone Upgrade N, Controller, Electronics d6 Increase a drone skill by a die type

Heroic Drone H, Controller Makes 1 drone a Wild Card

38 SEEKERS - EDGE SUMMARIES

EDGE SUMMARIES
EDGE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY
POWER EDGES
Adept S, AB (Channeling), Ignore up to 1 point of penalty for applying power modifiers
Channeling d8 to the casting

Enhanced Neural N, AB (Test Subject), Sm d8 Second power with no Multi-Action Penalty, Failure on one
Pathways will cause both to fail a level of Fatigue

Extra-Sensory N, AB (Channeling), Free reroll for Mind Link, Mind Reading and Mind Wipe
Perception Channeling d6, Empathy d6 powers

Experimental N, AB (Test Subject) +2 to roll for casting selected power, Critical Failure gives 2d6
damage to caster

Firestarter N, AB (Channeling), Ignore 1 point of penalty for power trapping

Channeling d6

Heavy Lifter S, AB (Channeling), Double Weight for Telekinesis power

Channeling d6

Mentalist S, AB (Channeling), +2 for use of mind-based powers

Channeling d6

New Ability N, AB (Biohacking), Choose 2 points of positive racial abilities

Biohacking d4

Overload N, AB (Biohacking), V d10 Add 2 to power activation, on Critical Failure +2 to damage

Spread the Pain V, AB (Channeling), Apply Fatigue results to another person (Sp roll to resist if
Common Bond unwilling)

That’s Genius! N, AB (Fringe Science), May spend a benny once per session to get +2 to a power
Science d10 activation roll

Wild Conduit N, AB (Channeling), Sp d10 Half modifier to cast, Critical failure on skill roll of 1

PROFESSIONAL EDGES
Diplomat N, Strong-Willed, Empathy +2 bonus in Social Conflicts
d6, Persuasion d8

Doctor N, Sm d8, Healing d8 Extend the Golden Hour to Golden Day

Engineer N, Sm d6, Repair d8 +2 to Repair and Notice rolls that involve structures

Forger N, Sm d8, Thievery d8, Notice +2 to all Thievery and Notice rolls to create and detect fakes
d6

Medic N, A d6, Healing d6 Apply results of Healing after 2 turns (1 with a raise)

SEEKERS - EDGE SUMMARIES 39

EDGE SUMMARIES
EDGE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY
PROFESSIONAL EDGES
Nurse N, Sm d6, Healing d6 Ignore penalties for not having the proper equipment to
perform Healing

Pen Tester N, Hacking d8, Notice d6 Ignore 2 points of penalties for accessing computer networks

Psychiatrist N, Healing d4, Empathy d8 Free reroll to recover from Corruption, support others using
Empathy

Restricted Access N, Smarts d8 Ignore 2 points of penalties for accessing sensitive information
on Research rolls

Shunter N, Hacking d8 Make Hacking roll as a free action once per turn

Social Engineer N, Hacking d4, Persuasion d6 Use Persuasion instead of Hacking to access networks

Surgeon N, A d10, Healing d10 Heal permanent injuries, prevent if Healing within Golden Hour

Sys Admin N, Hacking d6, Electronics d8 Free reroll to prevent intrusion on computer networks

SOCIAL EDGES
Alias N Seeker has a separate identity

Defiant S Free reroll against Corruption, no loss of Corruption on failure

Ghost N, Wealth d8 Has no record of them on any system

Hardened S, Sp d8 +2 on rolls to recover from Corruption

Lie Detector N, Notice d6, Empathy d8 Free reroll to tell if someone is lying

Read the Room N, Empathy d8 Free reroll for Social Conflicts

Reputation S, appropriate skill d10 Ignore 4 points of negative modifiers or +2 on social rolls for a
specific group

WEIRD EDGES
Deja Vu N, Notice d8 One free trait reroll per session, can be used on Critical Failures

Insight N, Sp d8 Spend a benny to add a success to Smarts based skill roll

Nobody N, Sp d6- +2 Stealth in crowded areas

Sixth Sense N, Sp d8, Notice d6 Free redraw on card-based draws

40 SEEKERS - EDGE SUMMARIES

III. RULES
SETTING RULES
The world of Dark States is a dystopian setting, and as DYNAMIC BACKLASH
such this section outlines the setting rules that are
used to represent from this from Savage Worlds. There CARD EFFECT
are also new rules are presented here to represent 2 Disaster: Something has gone terribly wrong.
this, including Addiction and Corruption, as well as See the effect of the Corruption backlash below,
revised rules for Wealth and Encumbrance. but this applies to everyone within a range equal
to double the power modifier. In addition, this
failure has also led to something dark having been
Dark States is also set in the world of tomorrow where
summoned which will be for the GM to determine.
technology is rife, particularly the use of Hacking and Drone
3 Overload: The seeker’s attempt to control the
technology, so expanded rules are also presented here to power have result in him drawing too much. He
handle these types of activity. takes 2d6 damage plus the modifier of the power
activation (as a positive number).
CORE SETTING RULES 4-5 Corruption: The energy from the power has
internalized and may have had a permanent
There are two primary flavors in which Dark States can negative effect on the seeker. She must make an
be played, each of which comes with the Setting Rules as immediate Corruption roll with a negative modifier
equal to the modifier for the casting.
described below.
6-8 Senseless: Blinding light, an overpowering noise,
the senses aflame, the seeker is unable to function
DARK STATES
normally for now. He takes the Stunned status
This is the lighter setting, geared towards an action horror, from this effect.
see something horrible and shoot it in the face type of game.
9-10 Eyes in the Darkness: The seeker has just stared
In this scenario the following Setting Rules apply: into the abyss, and the abyss just stared back at
y Conviction them. What she saw terrified her and she must
y Dynamic Backlash (see below) make a Fear roll at -4.
y More Skill Points Jack- Exhaustion: The seeker suffers an additional
y No Power Points (dependent on Arcane Background) Queen level of Fatigue, this stacks with the level of Fatigue
y You Win Some, You Lose Some from the activation backlash which can lead to
incapacitation.
DARKER STATES King- Random Power: The seeker thought he
Ace was casting one thing but instead he has cast
This is the darker version of the setting, more attuned
something else entirely. Choose another power
towards a horror setting. If playing in this mode, in addition that the seeker has and apply the effects of this as
to the Setting Rules above, the additional Setting Rules below if a single success has been rolled.
also apply: Joker Overcharge: The seeker has managed to draw
y Gritty Damage on more power than intended and the power has
y Hard Choices (which includes no Jokers’ Wild) automatically succeeded with double the duration,
range and, if applicable, area of effect.
MODIFIED SETTING RULES
NEW SETTING RULES
DYNAMIC BACKLASH
Due to the nature of this setting, in combination with the No YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME
Power Points setting rule, the following revised table should Once per rank, a player may choose to replace a previous
be used as Dynamic Backlash for Conduits. This change advance with a different one, subject to GM approval. These
includes drawing a card from the deck rather than rolling would typically be advances that haven’t been used often, such
dice and provides setting-specific results. as a skill the seeker has taken but has subsequently not used
very often and represents the fact that, as the seeker hasn’t
used that skill in some time, they have gotten worse at it.

42 RULES - CORE SETTING RULES

Example: A seeker chooses at Seasoned rank that the skill nautical territory quite a bit, and so use these extra points to
ranks he has previously taken in Healing and Survival have boost his Boating and Athletics skills by one die type (if this is
not been used much in the game and decides to reduce them below or equal to the controlling attribute die type).
by one die type each. To counter this, he has found himself on

NEW RULES
ADDICTION will last for a week of in-game time. At the end of this they may
make a Spirit roll, modified by the addiction modifier for the
Recreational and performance enhancing substances are drug in question. If they succeed, then they have ‘kicked’ the
plentiful in Dark States, people often want to check out from habit and may remove the minor Hindrance. If they fail, they
reality for a while and, for a moment, simply enjoy themselves have fallen off the wagon and must go back to square one as
in the face of despair. Many drugs also convey short-term it were.
benefits to seekers, allowing them to push through the
moment and survive when they might otherwise perish. For those with a Major version of the Hindrance this process
Continued use of these substances however can result in is significantly harder. It works the same as above, except
addiction, something which can end up hindering the seeker that they have 2 levels of Fatigue for a week and the Spirit roll
more than it helps them. is at -2 in addition to the Addiction modifier of the substance.
If they make this roll, they may reduce the habit from major
Should a seeker use the same drug more than once during to minor, and may then go through the process above to
a week of in-game time (GMs discretion), they must make a remove the habit completely. Players may also spend an
Spirit roll or become addicted to the substance, modified by advance to reduce the habit from Major to Minor, given the
an addiction modifier that each substance confers (see Gear same constraints listed above.
Section). For each subsequent use of that substance within
the same week after the first roll, an additional modifier of -1 CORRUPTION
is applied for each subsequent roll.
The side-effect of some elements within this setting,
Should the seeker fail this roll they have now picked up including the result of Fear rolls and the use of some
the Minor Habit Hindrance. On a Critical Failure they have Arcane Backgrounds as well as the effect of encounters with
overdosed and are left incapacitated until they receive supernatural and other beings, can result in psychological
medical attention. If no medical attention is received within imbalances known as Corruption. When a Corruption roll
the Golden Hour, they will die. is asked for, the player will need to roll against their Spirit
attribute, with any modifiers as determined by the GM.
Should the seeker already have the Minor Habit Hindrance
for this substance, the Hindrance becomes the Major version A failure on this roll will result in the seeker gaining a Minor
and double the dosage is required for the substance to be Hindrance by drawing a card and consulting the minor
effective. In addition, each substance will permanently alter corruption column of the Corruption table. In addition to this
the person in some way, these effects are also listed in the they will gain 1 point to their Corruption trait. A Critical Failure
Gear Section. on this roll will result in the seeker gaining a Major Hindrance
by drawing a card and consulting the major column of the
RECOVERING FROM ADDICTION Corruption table. In addition, they will gain 2 points to their
Once the seeker has developed a habit, it is difficult to shake Corruption trait.
it. Players may spend an advance to do so for a Minor Habit if
they have time in game to go through withdrawal (typically a Should your seeker be lucky enough to pull a Joker, the
week). They may also choose to go through withdrawal at any experience has had a positive effect on them, and they
time, but this will result in them having a level of Fatigue that may choose an Edge from the list below, regardless of the
cannot be removed (except by “falling off the wagon”), which requirements.

RULES - NEW RULES / ADDICTION 43

 CORRUPTION y Alertness
y Avenger
MINOR MAJOR
CARD CORRUPTION CORRUPTION y Berserk
y Danger Sense
2 Major Corruption Bloodthirsty y Eidetic Memory
3 Delusional Delusional y Elan
y Grizzled
4 Habit Habit
y Intuition
5 Insomnia Insomnia y Killer Instinct
6 Jealous Jealous y Luck
y Menacing
7 Mean Arrogant
y Nerves of Steel
8 Phobia Phobia y No Mercy
9 Stress Disorder Overconfident y Strong Willed

10 Greedy Greedy
Should the seeker’s Corruption score reach their Corruption
J Ruthless Ruthless trait maximum, that seeker has become so corrupted that
Q Stubborn Impulsive they are no longer playable and should be handed over to
the GM.
K Suspicious Unfocused
A Vengeful Vengeful RECOVERING FROM CORRUPTION
Joker Choose an Edge Minor Corruption When the seeker receives an Advance, and assuming they
have had some downtime, they may attempt to remove this
Corruption, this does not cost them the advance to do so. The
player should make a Spirit roll (at -2 for a Major Corruption),
success means that this Hindrance can be removed, and
with a raise they can also remove any Corruption points that
they gained, but only one corruption can be removed per
advance. Should the seeker fail the roll at this point, they will
need to wait until their next advance to try again. Should they
roll a Critical Failure, the Hindrance becomes permanent.

Seekers with the Psychiatrist Edge can support this roll using
the Empathy skill. Only 1 attempt can be made, and if the
result is a Critical Failure the seeker suffers an additional -2
to the roll. Alternatively, the seeker may seek out Psychiatric
support (see Services in the Gear Section for details).

If using the Darker States mode of play, rolls to recover

Corruption may only be made once per Rank instead of one
per Advance.

44 RULES - NEW RULES / CORRUPTION

DRONES Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d10,
Vigor d8
Drones are big business in the world of Dark States and be Skills: Athletics d4, Notice d8, Shooting d6
utilized by any seeker with the Controller Edge. Drones are Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 9 (2)
treated as Allied Extras (unless the Heroic Drone Edge is Gear: Flamethrower (3d6 damage, Cone Template), Chainsaw
taken), but a drone operator may only use a single drone (2d6+4 damage), Agricultural Spray (Cone Template)
at once unless they have Edges that otherwise. Drones are Special Abilities:
semi-autonomous once given a command and can either be y Armor +2: Agriculture drones are lightly armored to
controlled directly by the operator as a seeker’s action (who protect them from predators and the elements.
then makes skill checks using her relevant skills) or the drone y Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; ignores 1
can operate autonomously (using the drone’s skills for rolls). point of Wound penalties; does not breathe or suffer from
If operating autonomously, once the command is complete, disease or poison.
the drone will simply stop where it is and wait for the next y Fearless: Drones are immune to Fear and Intimidation but
command. may be smart enough to react to fear-causing situations
aptly.
Should a drone be damaged it will require a Repair roll and y Fly: Agriculture Drones can fly with a pace of 6”.
a day (half a day on a Raise) to get it working again. A Critical y Size 1: Agricultural drones are about 3 meters in length.
Failure means that the drone is unrepairable and is only y Spray: Hoses and nozzles are used to spray crops; a
good for junk parts. Below is a list of the commonly available variety of substances can be filled to distribute in a cone
drones on the market, including the weight and costs for template. Those who are hit are distracted (distracted and
each. vulnerable on a raise).
y Weakness: Drones can be disabled using EMP-producing
All drones are use some form of power and transmission technology or weapons.
whilst active, and there are limits as to how long and how far y Weight: This drone weighs about 300lbs (S29).
they can be used. This has been codified into two additional y Range: Long
traits, Range and Duration, as shown in the table below. y Duration: Long
y Cost: $3,500.
DRONE RANGE AND DURATION
COMBAT DRONE
BAND RANGE (m) DURATION (mins) Primarily used by the military, these drones are equipped for
Short 500 30 combat and are deadly to those who encounter them. Many
are controlled by QuBEs, and can operate in packs on the
Medium 1000 60
battlefield, as hunter-killers or for frontline combat duties.
Long 2000 120
Extreme 4000 240 Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d6,
Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d8, Notice d8, Shooting d8,
It is possible to increase the range and duration of drones by
Stealth d8
using the Drone Enhancement and Drone Upgrade Edges,
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 9 (4)
but each of these may only be taken once for each drone.
Gear: Machine Gun (30/60/120, 2d8+1 damage), Rocket
Drones are restricted by law to fly no higher than 120m,
Launcher (24/48/96, 4d8+2 damage), Chainsaw (2d6+4
ascending beyond this will likely trigger alerts with local
damage)
aviation enforcement divisions.
Edges: Rock and Roll, Steady Hands, Free Runner (Ground-
based version only), Soldier
AGRICULTURE DRONE
Special Abilities:
These drones are used to assist with the tending of farms
y Armor +4: Combat Drones are heavily armored to protect
and biospheres. They have tools on board that allow them
them from return fire.
to spray crops, cut through small problems that might arise,
y Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; ignores 1
even burn away problems such as pests or predators.
point of Wound penalties; does not breathe or suffer from

RULES - NEW RULES / DRONES 45

 disease or poison. y Range: Long
y Darksight: Combat Drones are equipped with a variety of y Duration: Long
sensors, allowing them to see in the dark, and they may y Cost: $1,500*
ignore illumination penalties.
y Fearless: Drones are immune to Fear and Intimidation but RACING DRONE
may be smart enough to react to fear-causing situations Drone racing is big sport, with streamlined drones having to
aptly. negotiate distance, obstacles, and each other to compete to
y Flight: Combat Drones fly at a pace of 12”. win prize funds. A Racing Drone is much faster than most
y Hardened: The drones are hardened against EMP usage drones but sacrifices toughness and other capabilities for
and can make a Vigor roll to resist. that speed.
y Interchangeable Weaponry: Typical weapons shown in
Gear above, can be replaced by other weapons as required. Attributes: Agility d12, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d4,
y Resilient: The drone can take a battering and can take an Vigor d6
extra wound before they go down. Skills: Athletics d12, Notice d8, Stealth d8
y Size -2 (Small): Combat Drones are about the size of a dog. Pace: 12; Parry: 2; Toughness: 1
y Weakness: Drones can be disabled using EMP-producing Special Abilities:
technology or weapons. y Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; ignores 1
y Weight: This drone weighs about 50lbs (S4). point of Wound penalties; does not breathe or suffer from
y Range: Short disease or poison.
y Duration: Short y Fearless: Drones are immune to Fear and Intimidation but
y Cost: $10,500* may be smart enough to react to fear-causing situations
aptly.
EXPLORATION DRONE y Fly: Racing Drones can fly with a pace of 18”.
These drones are primarily used for exploring places that y Size -4 (Tiny): Racing drones are around the size of a bird.
humans can’t reach. Small, maneuverable, and tough, these y Weakness: Drones can be disabled using EMP-producing
little blighters can see in a multi-spectral range and send technology or weapons.
direct footage back to the handler or other viewing audience. y Weight: This drone weighs about 3lbs (I).
y Range: Medium
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d4, y Duration: Short
Vigor d10 y Cost: $8,500*
Skills: Athletics d10, Notice d8, Stealth d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5 (2) SEARCH AND RESCUE DRONE
Special Abilities: Search and Rescue (SAR) drones are used in places where
y Armor +2: These are lightly armored to prevent them from humans cannot go but allow for the drone to search for and
taking damage. rescue people. Normally these are used in disaster zones,
y Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; ignores 1 building fires and even even in war zones, able to go places
point of Wound penalties; does not breathe or suffer from that humans cannot access.
disease or poison.
y Darksight: Exploration Drones are equipped with a variety Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d8,
of sensors, allowing them to see in the dark, and they may Vigor d10
ignore illumination penalties. Skills: Athletics d10, Healing d10, Notice d10
y Fearless: Drones are immune to Fear and Intimidation but Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 9(4)
may be smart enough to react to fear-causing situations Special Abilities:
aptly. y Armor +4: SAR Drones are coated in Kevlar fiber weave to
y Fly: Exploration Drones can fly with a pace of 6”. protect them from damage in the area.
y Size -4 (Tiny): Exploration Drones are no bigger than a bird. y Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; ignores 1
y Weakness: Drones can be disabled using EMP-producing point of Wound penalties; does not breathe or suffer from
technology or weapons. disease or poison.
y Weight: Exploration drones weighs about 4lbs (I). y Fearless: Drones are immune to Fear and Intimidation but

46 RULES - NEW RULES / DRONES

 may be smart enough to react to fear-causing situations y Range: Short
aptly. y Duration: Long
y Darksight: SAR Drones are equipped with a variety of y Cost: $6,500
sensors, allowing them to see in the dark, and they may
ignore illumination penalties. SURVEILLANCE DRONE
y EMT: Once SAR drones reach their target; they may apply Used by the police, military and other covert agencies, these
rudimentary first aid to anyone that is injured. drones are designed to spy on people. They incorporate a
y Environmental Protection: These drones are also stealth weave that hides them from detection.
hardened against environmental effects which reduces
damage from environmental effects by 4. Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d4,
y Resilient: The drone can take a battering and can take an Vigor d6
extra wound before they go down. Skills: Athletics d6, Notice d12, Stealth d12
y Size -2 (Small): SAR Drones are about the size of a dog. Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 1
y Weakness: Drones can be disabled using EMP-producing Edges: Alertness
technology or weapons. Special Abilities:
y Weight: This drone weighs about 30lbs (S2). y Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; ignores 1
y Range: Medium point of Wound penalties; does not breathe or suffer from
y Duration: Medium disease or poison.
y Cost: $5,000 y Darksight: Surveillance Drones are equipped with a variety
of sensors, allowing them to see in the dark, and they may
SECURITY DRONE ignore illumination penalties.
Primarily used by security contractors the world over, these
dog-like robot drones are used to automate perimeter y Fearless: Drones are immune to Fear and Intimidation but
evaluation and protection, using a combination of multi- may be smart enough to react to fear-causing situations
sensor arrays and small arms to protect their location. aptly.
y Fly: Surveillance Drones can fly with a pace of 6”.
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d6, y Size -4 (Tiny): Surveillance Drones are no bigger than a
Vigor d10 mouse.
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Notice d10, Shooting d6, y Stealth Weave: Surveillance Drones have a special coating
Stealth d4 which helps them to avoid being detected by electronic
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 9 (4) devices, granting it a +4 to Stealth rolls against attempts to
Gear: Medium SMG (12/24/48, 2d6+1 damage), Taser spot it with Electronics.
Edges: Free-runner, Alertness y Weakness: Drones can be completely disabled using EMP-
Special Abilities: producing technology or weapons.
y Armor +4: Security Drones are heavily armored to protect y Weight: This drone weighs about 3lbs (S).
them from return fire. y Range: Medium
y Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; ignores 1 y Duration: Long
point of Wound penalties; does not breathe or suffer from y Cost: $4,500*
disease or poison.
y Darksight: Security Drones are equipped with a variety of SWARM DRONE
sensors, allowing them to see in the dark, and they may This is a swarm of micro-drones that can be used for a variety
ignore illumination penalties. of purposes, most of which are in the fields of covert ops and
y Fearless: Drones are immune to Fear and Intimidation but military duty. Due to their nature, they are tightly regulated,
may be smart enough to react to fear-causing situations and it normally takes an Artificial Intelligence (AI) to control
aptly. them.
y Size -1: Security Drones are about the size of a large dog.
y Weakness: Drones can be disabled using EMP-producing Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, Strength d8,
technology or weapons. Vigor d10
y Weight: This drone weighs about 125lbs (S12). Skills: Notice d8, Stealth d8

RULES - NEW RULES / DRONES 47

Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 7 H1 - HACKING MODIFIERS
Special Abilities:
y Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken; ignores 1 SITUATION MODIFIER COST
point of Wound penalties; does not breathe or suffer from
Poor Equipment -2 $100
disease or poison.
y Fearless: Drones are immune to Fear and Intimidation but Excellent Equipment +1 $2,000
may be smart enough to react to fear-causing situations Neural Shunt +2 $10,000
aptly.
y Injection: Drone Swarms inflict hundreds of injections Government (non-sensitive) -1 $1,000
every round to their victims, hitting automatically and Corporate (non-sensitive) -2 $5,000
causing 2d4 damage to everyone in the template. Damage
Government (sensitive) -3 $100,000
is applied to the least armored location.
y Split: If the swarm is controlled by an AI or Qube, it can split Corporate (Sensitive) -4 $250,000
at will into smaller size templates and regroup as needed. Military -6 $500,000
y Swarm: Parry +2. Because the drone swarm is composed
of scores, hundreds, or thousands of bots, cutting
SIMPLE TASKS
and piercing weapons do no real damage. Area effect
If it is a minor task, with no significant impact on the story
weapons work normally, and a seeker can stomp to inflict
to the seekers, then it should be run as a simple skill test
his Strength in damage each round.
using Hacking as a Quick Encounter, using modifiers as
y Weakness: Drone Swarms can be disabled using area
shown in the Hacking Modifiers Table. Each raise above may
effect EMP-producing technology or weapons.
yield additional information, and a Critical Failure will lock the
y Weight: This swarm weighs about 10lbs (S).
seeker out of the system and alert people to their presence.
y Range: Short
y Duration: Medium
UNOPPOSED MAJOR TASK
y Cost: $15,000*
If it is a major task, with significant impact of the result to the

HACKING
seekers, but it is not being opposed by an NPC, then it should
be run as a Dramatic Task. The difficulty of the Dramatic Task
is dependent on the method by which the seeker must gain
Technology permeates the setting of Dark States, from
access, with a base modifier using the same values in table
personal devices to automation and robotics, and even down
H1.
as far as experimental nanotechnology that can be inserted
into a human being! This technology is becoming more and
OPPOSED MAJOR TASK
more invisible, built into the Internet of Things, and most are
If the task is a major one, and there is opposition to the
unaware that many of these devices can be hacked!
task by a wildcard NPC, then this should be run as a Social
Conflict. In this case the attacker makes a Hacking roll for
Hackers use this to their advantage, allowing them to find a
each round, opposed by the opponents Smarts. For results
million ways to observe, infiltrate and, occasionally, interact,
see the H2 - Opposed Hacking Results table.
with remote services and devices. They must be careful
though, as the modern internet is regularly policed by QuBEs
Example: Rami is trying to break into a secure corporate back-
that are far better than humans at blocking unwanted
up facility to locate some information that is only stored at this
intrusions and other activities.
location. This gives him a base negative modifier of -4, and it is
determined by the GM that this is to be a Difficult task, requiring
HACKING TASK RESOLUTION
6 tokens in 4 rounds.
Depending on how dramatic the result of any hacking may
be guidelines on which method to use for resolving the task
Rami however is a singularly brilliant hacker, with a Hacking skill
are presented below. Costs provided are the typical costs for
of d12 and the Pen Tester Edge, giving him a free reroll during
either equipment or the cost to hire a hacker based on the
this attempt. On his first roll he pulls a Joker as well, his luck
type of network or system to be hacked.
seems to be with him. He rolls an 11, giving him a score of 9 (-4

48 RULES - NEW RULES / HACKING

 H2 - OPPOSED HACKING RESULTS
TOKENS RESULTS

Entry to the system is denied and the attacker is reported to the relevant authorities. Further
0 attempts at re-entering the system may only happen if there is a substantial change in the situation
to permit this.
No entry is gained by the hacker, but they are not identified either. Subsequent hacking attempts
1-3
may be made again in the future assuming that a period of time has passed.
The hacker has managed to break into whatever system they were attempting to gain entry to, and
4-5 has acquired the minimum level of information they were after, or have planted a basic level of
subversion software etc.
The hacker has managed to fully compromise the system they were breaking into or have found as
6+
much information as they needed.

with a +2 for the Joker). This means he has scored a success with
a raise, giving him 2 successes on the first go. Looks like he found Example: A seeker with d8 Strength and the Brawny Edge has
himself an admin password to the system – score! a load limit of 8-2 = 6*1.5 = 9 significant items compared to a
normal person who has 8-2 = 6 significant items.
Next round he rolls an 18, he’s straight in there with a success
and 2 raises (-4 giving a total of 14), meaning that he has 5 If your seeker is carrying significant items in such a way as to
successes. He’s found what he is looking for and just needs to balance the load (e.g., in a rucksack or bag, on a stretcher,
get it out of there and clean up after himself. Round three and fireman’s lift etc.) she may halve the effect of that weight
he rolls a 3 for a total of -1, a bad round, it looks like he’s having (round up).
trouble downloading the file.
How to calculate Significance rating: (Weight (in lbs.) -5)/10
Round 4 and he pulls a club, resulting in a complication, another
user is trying to login in with the credentials he stole and is going If the number of significant items exceeds the load limit of
to spot that he is logged in. He rolls to overcome this and scores the seeker, she suffers a -1 for each increment above that
a 9, giving him a total of 3 because of the additional -2 to the roll load limit (up to a maximum of -3).
from the complication. It looks like he’s been caught, and he uses
his Pen Tester Edge to reroll. This time he gets a 10, giving him Example: A seeker with a d6 Strength can carry up to 3 significant
a total of 4, just about a success! That’s it, he’s had enough and items without a penalty. If they try to carry another person
gets out of there with his payload, although he’s sweating a lot! in their arms (who weighs for example 140 lbs., this counts
as a (140-5/10) = 13 significant items, 1 above their ultimate

SIMPLIFIED ENCUMBRANCE
threshold, so they cannot move. However, if they carry them on
their back, this halves the effective weight, making it (70-5)/10 =
6 significant items and therefore they are at a -1 as it is 2 times
Rather than calculate exact encumbrance, which can be
their significant item limit.
time-consuming and not very exciting, these rules provide a
simpler way to handle encumbrance, particularly in a modern SIMPLIFIED ENCUMBRANCE
setting where most folks don’t carry much most of the time.
Load Limit is defined in significant items rather than in GEAR TYPE WEIGHT (LBS)
pounds, but otherwise follows the normal encumbrance
Insignificant (I) 0-5
rules. A significant item is one that weighs roughly 6-15
pounds, and your seeker can carry a number of such items Significant (S) 6-15
equal to her Strength die type -2 (i.e., 2 significant items Significant 2 (S2) 16-25
with Strength d4, 4 significant items with Strength d6, etc.)
without penalty. The Brawny and Soldier Edges increase her Significant 3... (S3…) ...+10
Load Limit in significant items by 1½ times (rounded up),

RULES - NEW RULES / WEALTH 49

WEALTH if she has been able to obtain it, if the item is two categories
above then this roll is made at -2. Items costing more than
Wealth in Dark States is not equally distributed, and although this category are not available to the seeker. Whether the
the optional Wealth System from Savage Worlds is used, some
adjustments need to be made to account for wealth disparity. PURCHASES
Seekers are placed in the Modest lifestyle category by default;
anyone wishing to play a poor or destitute seeker will need to ROLL EFFECT
take the Poverty Hindrance, whilst anyone wanting to be Rich Critical Seeker fails to obtain item and loses a die type
or Filthy Rich must take the appropriate Edge. Failure in Wealth as they have been ripped off. If it
was a black-market purchase, they must also
WEALTH DIE take the Minor Wanted Hindrance, if already
This is the trait die that will be used to purchase goods or taken, it should be increased to Major.
services when a roll is required. Bennies may be used for Failure The seeker must choose from one of the
rerolls if desired. following options: 


• Fail to find something at the price and give
WEALTH LIMIT up.
• Pay the price and take a Minor Debt
The Wealth limit is the threshold above which a seeker must
Hindrance as well as reducing the Wealth
make a Wealth roll in order to obtain goods or services. Any die.
item that costs less than the Wealth Limit, assuming it is • Accept the item at a reduced price but
available and legal, does not require a roll and the seeker take another negative outcome (such as
can simply purchase. Wanted, Obligation or Infamy Hindrance,
choice on the GM), as well as reducing the
LIFESTYLE Wealth die.
Success The seeker can obtain the item but must
WEALTH WEALTH VEHICLE
LIFESTYLE reduce their Wealth by a die type until the
DIE LIMIT LIMIT
GM determines that enough time has passed
Destitute D4-2 10 N/A that any income that they may have earned
warrants increasing the die type once more.
Poor D4 100 10K
Raise The seeker can obtain the item without
Modest D6 500 25K having to reduce their Wealth die and may
Rich D8 1000 100K ignore any negative modifiers should they
wish to obtain this item again.
Filthy Rich D10 5000 500K
seeker has managed to obtain the item they were after is
Ultra-Rich D12 50000 5M
dependent on the Purchase table.
1% D12+2 Unlimited Unlimited
Some items in the Gear Section are restricted by legality,
VEHICLE LIMIT
anything with a cost with a * next to the price is only available
One exception to this, for starting seekers, is a vehicle or
to specific legal entities such as Doctors or the Military and will
drone. It is assumed that she has a vehicle within her lifestyle
require a Wealth roll at -2 to obtain, limited by Persuasion. A
category to start with, based on the limits specified in the
few are marked with **, these are extremely rare and Wealth
table above. Should she lose her vehicle, your seeker will
rolls to obtain these are made at -4.
need to consider how they purchase a new one, as this is a
one-time deal! The Vehicle Limit is a cumulative total should
Example: A seeker who is in the Modest Lifestyle category can
your seeker wish to own more than one vehicle, and also
buy anything worth 500 or less without rolling. To purchase
counts towards the purchasing of drones.
something that is between 500 and 1000 (Well-Off category) they
must make a Wealth roll, whilst anything they wish to buy that is
PURCHASES
between 1000 and 5,000 (Rich category) is rolled at a -2. Should
For items above the Wealth Limit (i.e., in the next category),
they wish to buy something of restricted knowledge there is an
your seeker should make a roll using her Wealth Die to see
additional -2, unless they have the Streetwise Edge.

50 RULES - NEW RULES / PURCHASES

IV. POWERS
POWERS
Players should only read this section if they are In addition to Channeling, Ritualism is also covered here,
planning on playing one of the Arcane Backgrounds which does not require an Arcane Background and which
that are listed in the Seekers Section under anyone can attempt if they have the right materials and
Background Edges.
 The use of powers within knowledge. However, the road to this relies on darker
Dark States comes from two primary sources, Magic paths being trodden by seekers, and the pitfalls of failing a
and Technology, although the line between the two ritual can be catastrophic to the participants.

is becoming increasingly blurred. Practitioners of
the former are rare, and tend to either be hunted Three other Technological Arcane Backgrounds are
by the authorities, or find themselves working for also presented here: Biohacking, Fringe Science and
them. The use of technological arcane backgrounds Test Subject. These represent forms of technological
is less concerning to most, although may still attract advancement that have gone beyond most to comprehend
unwanted attention. and are best covered using arcane backgrounds rather
than gear due to the nature of their complexity. These
True “Magic” is represented by the Channeling Arcane Arcane Backgrounds aren’t as powerful as Channeling
Background within Dark States; the use of arcana over the but can be safer to use, as well as potentially being more
course of human historyå has always drawn from a single acceptable within society at large.
form of “energy”, and practitioners have built trappings
around how it has worked for them in order to fit their own Lastly this section covers Experimentation, a scientific
narrative. All variants of mysticism, magic and miracles version of Ritualism, allowing scientists to try conducting
that have been recorded in legend are simply incarnations experiments which will emulate powers. Although not as
of the same arcane source but with different names and dangerous as rituals, experiments are still not without
trappings associated with it. their consequences of failure!

ARCANE BACKGROUNDS
BIOHACKING and enable biochemical driven powers. A biohacker has two
types of abilities that she may choose from, Abilities and
Arcane Skill: Biohacking (Vigor) Powers. Abilities are stable, static, and passive modifications
Starting Abilities: 2 that they have made to themselves that are always available
Available Powers: blast, bolt, boost trait, burst, damage to her and do not require a power activation roll. Powers are
field, disguise, empathy, entangle, invisibility, relief, shape somewhat more erratic, dynamic, and active modifications
change, silence, speed, stun that the seeker must activate to use, these require use of
Available Racial Abilities: Additional Action, Aquatic the Biohacking skill to activate, but work like other powers
/ Semi-Aquatic, Armor, Bite, Claws, Doesn’t Breathe, with power modifiers being permitted where they are
Environmental Resistance, Flight, Hardy, Horns, Immune possible (see below).
to Poison or Disease, Infravision, Leaper, Low Light Vision,
Pace, Parry, Poisonous Touch, Power, Reach, Regeneration, At seeker creation, anyone who takes the Biohacker Arcane
Size, Toughness, Wall Walker Background can choose from up to 2 points of abilities or 2
Available Edges: Concentration, New Ability, Overload, powers, for example they may take 1 power and an ability
New Powers worth 1 point. She may also then take the New Ability Edge
to gain new or enhanced abilities.
This Arcane Background represents the use of DNA
recombination and modification through advanced gene The biggest benefit of biohacking is that it is permitted and
editing techniques, allowing the user to alter their bodies accepted in society without alarm, so using powers openly

52 POWERS - BIOHACKING
is not regarded as strange, although there will always be Other powers may be considered if the justification can be
some luddites who fear its repercussions. But most people made as to how they work (GMs discretion). Because of
understand that this is just “Science”, albeit science that they the nature of Biohacking, there are no Rank restrictions on
might be uncomfortable with, and there are currently no laws taking powers, so a Novice seeker can take a Seasoned or
prohibiting their use, although actions using such modifications higher power.
This Arcane Background permits the use of
that result in law-breaking will still be treated as such. Power Modifiers if they make sense with the trapping of the
power that has been taken.
ABILITY LIMITATIONS
Abilities that the biohacker takes may be constrained or cost Example: A biohacker can take the Blast power and use the Area
more than the seeker has available. For abilities that have Effect and Damage modifier as needed. Boost Trait however
upgrades available, she can spend the difference during an does not permit the use of the Additional Recipients modifier as
advance; for example, if the seeker has Semi-Aquatic and a Biohacker cannot affect others.
wishes to upgrade to Aquatic, she may do so at a cost of
1 point from an advance, giving her 1 additional point to ABILITY ACTIVATION
spend on another ability. For those that cost more than the Abilities that the seeker has do not require a roll to activate
2 points the seeker can “bank” those points to spend on the as these are inherent abilities. On a Critical Failure that
next advance to complete the upgrade of the seeker; for might employ this ability however, she will take a level of
example, if the seeker wishes to take the Additional Action Fatigue and 2d6 damage as her body reacts badly to the
ability, which costs 3 points, she must spend one advance to use of the ability.
get 2 points in this, and on the next advance she may spend
the additional point to get the ability. Other limitations for Example: A biohacker with the armor ability who attempts to
abilities are described below: soak and rolls a Critical Failure will not only take the effect of
the damage but will take another 2d6 damage as her body
y Armor: May only be taken twice reacts violently to the attack and invokes an involuntary
y Parry: May only be taken twice immune response.
y Power: Only costs 1 point for each power
y Reach: May only be taken once POWER ACTIVATION
y Size: May only be taken once, can stack with Edges that The following specific rules apply to biohackers when they
include increase in size are activating a power:
y Toughness: May only be taken twice y Powers activated by a biohacker use the Biohacking skill
and the No Power Points setting rule.
POWER LIMITATIONS y If the biohacker fails to activate her power, all currently
Powers that the biohacker takes are limited to themselves, active powers will terminate, if she had 1 or more active
either to be used on the self or originating from the self. power at the time of the failure, she will also be Shaken
In addition to this there are limitations on each power as her body reacts to the stress placed upon it.
reflecting the nature of the Arcane Background. Below is y If a roll of 1 is made on the trait die, regardless of the
a list of available powers that have limitations, with the Wild Die, then the seeker automatically takes a level of
reduced power point cost to cast this power in brackets, Fatigue as her body struggles to cope with the strain
along with the casting modifier: placed upon it.
y Should the player roll a Critical Failure, she will take a level
y Blast: Self only, Biohacker is immune to effects (1 / -1) of Fatigue and 2d6 damage as her body reacts badly to
y Boost Trait: Self only (1 / -1) the activation of the power.
y Damage Field: Self only (2 / -1) y Powers with a duration other than instant may be
y Disguise: No additional recipients (1 / -1) maintained for as long as the biohacker desires, although
y Invisibility: No additional recipients (4 / -2) beyond the default duration a -1 modifier is applied for
y Relief: No additional recipients (1 / -1) each active power is applied to all Agility skills and Trait
y Silence: Self only, no other modifiers permitted (1 / -1) rolls for each power that is active.
y Speed: Quickness modifier only permitted (1 / -1)
y Stun: Range of Touch (1 / -1)

POWERS - BIOHACKING 53
CHANNELING Despite this, Conduits powers are not understood or
believed by the public. This is partly due to the nature
Arcane Skill: Channeling (Spirit) of humanity to deny that which they don’t understand,
Starting Powers: 3 but also because those in power have discredited their
Available Powers: banish, beast friend, blast, bolt, boost existence, either making them out as frauds, as people
/ lower trait, confusion, damage field, darksight, deflection, with mental instability, or by painting them as a threat to
detect / conceal power, disguise, dispel, divination, drain power, others. Publicly that is. Behind the scenes it is these same
elemental manipulation, empathy, environmental protection, agencies that attempt to recruit these practitioners to their
farsight, fear, havoc, healing, illusion, invisibility, mind link, cause, using Conduits to carry out covert work as spies,
mind reading, mind shield, object reading, protection, puppet, investigators or even assassins. But if a Conduit will not
relief, sensory overload, sloth / speed, slumber, stun, telekinesis, join them, these same agencies will have the “rogue assets”
teleport silenced by whatever means are necessary, resorting to
Available Edges: Adept, Concentration, Extra-Sensory blackmail, smear campaigns and even assassination. In
Perception, Firestarter, Heavy Lifter, Master Caster, response to this, “free” practitioners often band together
Mentalist, Spread the Pain, Wild Conduit into underground cells, collectives, or other organizations
to help hide and protect themselves from those that are
Some have discovered that they have the innate ability to in charge.
call upon powers that manifest both within and without,
through a variety of different invocation methods, through TRAPPINGS
a process known collectively as Channeling. People who can As this Arcane Background covers the use of all forms
do this have come to be known as Conduits, using a method of true “magic”, how Channeling is trapped is down to
hitherto unexplained by science where they seemingly the player and GM to determine during seeker creation.
break nature’s laws to channel energies and produce effects Virtually any variant of the power can be envisaged, and
of varying intensity. The process of becoming a Conduit is narrative trappings express how these might work, and
not one that can be easily explained and many who have even which powers the individual believes that they can
found themselves to have these powers do not know how cast. Some examples include:
they came to be, although many will describe a process of
“Awakening”. This will typically have come about as the by- y Chaos Theorist: This person uses the blanket reasoning
product of some form of trauma inflicted upon themselves, of Chaos Theory to affect how things work for him. Freak
either physical, mental, or psychological, although this is not occurrences come into play to cause the powers that he
true in all cases. Once unlocked, these powers can manifest activates, a random item might fall from the sky to hit
in a variety of ways, many of which are determined by the a target (bolt) or people might just happen to look the
belief of the caster as to how these powers operate. other way as he passes (invisibility).

54 POWERS - CHANNELING
y Elementalist: This might be an environmentalist or eco- y Should the seeker roll a Critical Failure, he will take a
terrorist that uses her powers to raise “Gaia” and fight level of Fatigue and will also trigger a roll on the Dynamic
back against the people who are destroying the planet. Backlash table. Fatigue results from this table can stack
Trappings for this will be forces of nature, a lightning and lead to Incapacitation.
strike (bolt) or a sudden tornado that whips up (havoc). y Powers with a duration other than instant may be
y Miracle Worker: A miracle worker might be someone maintained for as long as the Caster desires, although
who believes that a deity is imbuing him with the power whilst active a -1 for each active power is applied to any
to affect the change that he sees happening. These might further power activations as well as any Smarts based
be laying on of hands (healing) or the spirit of the Lord Trait rolls he undertakes whilst these powers are active.
striking down the unworthy (bolt). y Channeling power tends to have an adverse effect on
y Psionic: These are the mind-benders who simply project electronics, when a power is cast without a raise, the GM
the power of thought to bend reality to her will. Trappings may choose to have one or more electrical devices on or
for this would be minimal, simple concentration and adjacent to the caster’s person cease to work.
focusing of her will upon a problem, whether that be
lifting a truck (telekinesis) or reading people’s minds EXPERIMENTATION
(empathy or mind reading).
y Stage Magician: Using the cover of traditional magicians, Arcane Skill: Science (Smarts)
this Conduit uses misdirection and illusion to cover the Starting Powers: N/A
fact that what he is casting really can’t be explained! It Available Powers: Any
might be a card trick (confusion) or stepping behind a
curtain to move from place to place (teleport) As well as creating devices that they can use in the field,
y Superhero: This seeker sees the powers that she has both Fringe Scientists and more traditional Scientists are
developed as a sign that she is superhuman; she believe’s also able to perform experiments given enough space,
she can fly (fly), or has super strength (boost trait), time, and equipment. This is reflected through the use of
although there are limits to what she can realistically do, the Experimentation Arcane Background, although no Edge
she is human after all. is required to be able to access this ability, simply having
y Voodoo Priest: Believing himself to be channeling the the Science or Fringe Science skill is enough for the seeker
spirits, this Conduit use the power of his belief to channel to be able to conduct experiments.
power that fit the trapping of the voodoo religion. It might
be bringing back people from the dead (resurrection) or THE HYPOTHESIS
invoking powers of the Loa to strike fear into the hearts To perform an experiment, the lead scientist must first form a
of his enemy (fear). hypothesis by choosing the power or powers that she wants to
invoke through an experiment, this may be any of the powers
CASTING EFFECTS from the core book, regardless of rank. The lead scientist may
The effect of Channeling energy through the body of the choose to add additional power modifiers as required and may
caster can come at a heavy price, with the following rules in even combine multiple powers if she wishes to include more
place to govern this: than one effect, but the power point cost of this will stack. The
y This Arcane Background is used in conjunction with the time it will take to conduct the experiment is equivalent to 1
No Power Points Setting rule, the ability to draw on their hour per power point of cost of the final Experiment once all
powers is limitless for the caster and only fatigue restricts powers and modifiers are calculated.
how much he can cast.
y If a Conduit fails to activate the power, all currently active Example: Four seekers, Dr Killy, Alonso, Bertram and Catherine,
powers will terminate, and he will be Shaken as his mind are trapped in a mine shaft that is going to collapse. With no other
reacts to the stress placed upon it. apparent means of escape the Fringe Scientist, Dr Killy, decides
y If a roll of 1 is made on the Channeling die, regardless now is the perfect time to perform an experiment to see if she
of whether the Wild Die is successful, then the seeker can teleport them all out of the danger. Dr Killy decides on the
automatically takes a level of Fatigue from the strain of teleport power (2pp) and increases the area of effect to a small
casting. blast template (2pp) to cover all of them. She is also going to need
to double the range, adding another 1pp, making a total of 5pp.

POWERS - EXPERIMENTATION 55
PREPARATION
EXPERIMENT FAILURE
Before the experiment starts, assuming the seekers have
time, they may prepare for the experiment. This can be CARD EFFECT
crucial to the success or failure of an experiment and is run
Deuce Manhattan Time! The experiment
as a support roll to the entire experiment. This might be has gone so wrong that it has caused
gathering materials required, researching the appropriate an explosion that would level buildings.
methodologies, or preparing the area for the experiment to Everyone within a quarter of a mile will take
prevent any contamination. 3d6 damage from flying debris, anyone
unlucky enough to be in the same room as
the experiment will take 4d6 damage from
Example: Being stuck in a mine, there is little time to conduct
the fireball that just ensued.
any research, however, there are still things that may be done.
3–6 Chain Reaction. The experiment has gone
Dr Killy spends some time scribbling notes on paper to proof
awry and triggered a cascading effect that
his hypothesis, making a Support roll using Fringe Science and will result in a lethal outcome if the area
getting a success. Alonso, one of the seekers supporting, uses his is not evacuated. It is now an Athletics roll
Scavenger Edge in combination with his Survival skill, receiving to escape the area before it goes boom.
a +2 to the roll for the Edge, and gets a success. Bertram uses Anyone who fails this task will take a wound
Science to double check Dr Killy’s working out, but he fails, from the resulting reaction, on a Critical
Failure this becomes d4 wounds.
whilst Catherine uses Athletics to clear a space for them to work
in, also getting a success. This means that Dr Killy now has a 7–10 Hazard. A cloud of steam vapor, a noxious
gas or some other hazard has been ejected
+3 to the task.
due to a miscalculation in the experiment.
Anyone with a large burst template is subject
MODIFIERS to an Environmental Hazard most befitting of
By default, Experiments are performed at a -4 due to the the Experiment.
unknown nature of the activity. In addition, if the scientist Jack– Miscalculation. You thought that the
is in a rush she may also decide to try and complete the King effect would be one thing, but instead it was
experiment in a shorter time than was determined; to halve something else entirely. Choose another
the time taken incurs a -2 penalty to the Dramatic Task, to power and implement that instead as if it
were successful.
reduce the time taken from hours to 10x minutes increase
this to -4. Other modifiers may be applied as necessary Ace Waste of Time. Turns out you wasted your
depending on the situation, edges, or hindrances, from -4 time on an experiment that was never going
to work. Everyone involved in the experiment
to +4.
suffers a level of Fatigue.
Joker Side Effect. The experiment has somehow
Example: They don’t need to go far but they are teleporting to
succeeded, although not entirely as planned,
somewhere that can’t be seen, so there is also an additional and there has been an unwanted side effect
-2 to the roll. Luckily though Dr Killy has a +2 for the Scholar of the GMs choosing. This may affect the
Edge to offset this. However, they don’t have 5 hours to spare participants, the environment, or any other
as the mine could collapse at any minute, so they opt to reduce aspect of the experiment.
the time to 50 minutes to conduct the experiment, making it
a -4 to the task! In combination with the default modifier of
-4, this totals -8, however the support rolls made during the EXPERIMENT DIFFCULTY
preparation element of the task have reduced this to -4. NO. POWER POINTS DRAMATIC TASK DIFFICULTY

THE EXPERIMENT 1-5 Challenging

Once all the applicable modifiers that apply have been 6-10 Difficult
determined, the Dramatic Task can begin. The difficulty
of this is determined by the total number of power points 11+ Complex
required to conduct it.

56 POWERS - EXPERIMENTATION
Others may Support the lead scientist during the Dramatic THE RESULTS
Task with any skill that might be applicable, but anyone Should the lead scientist manage to achieve the number of
doing so will potentially be affected by the effects of a successes that she required, then the experiment has been
failure of the experiment should it go wrong. a success, and any effects from the experiment should be
applied.
Example: At a cost of 5pp this will be a Challenging Dramatic
Task. The other three members of the group will support Dr Killy Should the Dramatic Task fail, the experiment has gone
throughout the task, although this will be at the risk of them all wrong, and the lead scientist should pick a card from the
suffering the consequences of a failure of the experiment. Action Deck and consult the Experiment Failure table. The
results of this failure should then be applied instead, as well
On the first round both Dr Killy and two others supporting as any other consequences for failing the task.
her draw clubs, so a complication has already arisen. With
the additional -2 (there are rocks falling from the mine roof), FRINGE SCIENCE
the other seekers all fail their support rolls and are unable
to support Dr Killy so she has to go it alone with a -8 to the Arcane Skill: Fringe Science (Smarts)
roll! She rolls badly several times, and is forced to use all her Starting Powers: 2
bennies, but is finally able to achieve a success on her final roll, Power Points: 15
giving her 1 token. Available Powers: barrier, beast friend, blast, bolt, boost /
lower trait, burrow, burst, confusion, damage field, darksight,
The second round goes better with only Alonso, who is deflection, detect / conceal power, disguise, divination, drain
supporting, drawing a club. Bertram, another Scientist, spends power, elemental manipulation, entangle, environmental
a benny to get a raise on his Support roll using Science, meaning protection, farsight, fear, fly, grow / shrink, havoc, healing,
that Dr Killy has a +2 to the roll, and Catherine uses Persuasion illusion, invisibility, light / darkness, mink link, mind reading,
to cheer on Dr Killy as she works, getting a success and adding object reading, relief, resurrection, protection, puppet, sensory
another +1 to the roll. Dr Killy rolls a 9, giving her a total of 8, overload, sloth / speed, slumber, smite, sound / silence, speak
a raise! This means she has scored 2 tokens for a total of 3 and language, summon ally, stun, telekinesis, teleport, wall walker,
needs just one more to successfully complete the ritual. zombie
Available Edges: Artificer, Channeling, Extra Effort,
On the last round, there is no complication for Dr Killy,, Gadgeteer, New Powers, Power Points, Power Surge, Rapid
although Bertram pulls a complication resulting in his glasses Recharge / Improved Rapid Recharge, That’s Genius!
having been knocked off by some flying debris and he must
complete the experiment without them at this critical stage! Those mainstream scientists think they know everything,
Somehow, despite the mishap, Bertram but there are those on the edge of science, who experiment
aces and gets a raise, again providing with the kind of things that most scientists wouldn’t touch,
a +2 to the roll, although Alonso and that seem to have more success than people will give them
Catherine do not do as well, both credit for. Whether its genius or madness, they have tapped
failing their rolls. It is all down to Dr into something which seems to work, their experiments
Killy who is again rolling a straight seem to bear fruit, with even the craziest of ideas coming
Science roll. She rolls and the Wild Die up trumps.
explodes, giving her a raise and
2 more tokens. This means Fringe Scientists are those that use a variety of applied
that they have made the 4 fringe science theories to create results that work in
tokens they required, and the ways traditional science struggles to explain. Despite the
group is transported to safety breakthroughs of the individual though, their mainstream
moments before the mine peers cannot reproduce the same results, leading to a
collapses! general dismissal of the Fringe Scientist’s experiments
as having invalid hypotheses or processes, or of being
charlatans and frauds.

POWERS - FRINGE SCIENCE 57

 MALFUNCTION TABLE y If a roll of 1 is made on the skill die, regardless of the
Wild Die, then the power consumes double the normal
CARD EFFECT amount of power points as it requires more energy than
Deuce Explosion! The device somehow explodes, normal to charge itself. If the Fringe Scientist does not
and everyone within a Large Blast Template have the requisite number of power points for this (and
takes 3d6 damage. The device is no more, or assuming he does not wish to spend a benny to recover
the experiment is over. enough power points) then the power activation fails.
3-4 Corruption. The device has drawn on y Should the player roll a Critical Failure, the device will
some form of power source that has tried to malfunction, and the player will need to pull a card from
corrupt the mind of its creator. The seeker the Malfunction table. In addition to this he will need to
must make their Corruption roll at -2. make a Corruption roll. If this was a device being used by
5-6 Breakdown. The device has stopped someone else with the Artificer Edge, then that person
working completely and will take 1d4 hours must make the Corruption roll instead
to fix, better think of something else!
7–8 Mishap. The device went off, just not at the RITUALISM
person who it was intended for. Randomly
choose another person or location for the
power to activate against. Arcane Skill: Occult (Smarts)
Starting Powers: N/A
9-10 Boing! A piece of the device suddenly pings
off and disappears somewhere. It will take a Available Powers: Any
successful Notice roll and an action to find
and replace the piece before trying again. Over the millennia, complex methods of incantation have
Jack– Glitch. A temporary malfunction prevents been developed that will allow anyone who knows the
King the device from working and requires a process to invoke effects that would otherwise require
Science roll to figure out what went wrong Channeling. However, the knowledge and components
with it. required to undertake a ritual can be difficult to obtain, and
Ace Backwards. The effect you thought would the danger in conducting a ritual is very real with failure
happen was not the effect that transpired,
instead the opposite of what was intended
just occurred. RITUAL MODIFIER SUMMARY
Joker Breakthrough! The device actually works MODIFIER MODIFIER MODIFIER VALUE
far better than intended, apply the effects
as if the caster had rolled the maximum on No Preparation -4
their skill die (although no Acing allowed)
Light Preparation -2
Fringe Scientists use Power Points as per Savage Worlds to
power the inventions and discoveries that they have made, Area of Effect (1 Mile) -2
although the devices or thought processes about how their Area of Effect (up to
-4
power works are normally so far beyond even the smartest Smarts in Miles)
of people to understand that only the Fringe Scientist can Complexity -2 / rank
operate whatever they have discovered. And sometimes
Sacrifice (Personal Effect) 1 free reroll
even they are not sure.
Sacrifice (Lifeforce) +1
CASTING EFFECTS Sacrifice (Blood) +1
The following specific rules apply to activation of powers by
Fringe Scientists: Sacrifice (Oneself) -1/-2 tokens
y Fringe Scientists use power points to activate his devices Sacrifice (Life) +1/4 Toughness
as per the core rules.
Speed (Half) -2
y The exception to this is if the Fringe Scientist wishes to
perform an experiment (see Experimentation), in this Speed (Minutes) -4
case no power points are spent on this action.
Other -4 - +4

58 POWERS - RITUALISM
often leading to death or madness for everyone involved. Example: A group of three ghost hunters: Lucy, Max and Nina,
This method of casting powers is one that does not require have found a house that is haunted and want to perform a
any arcane background to be taken to access it and simply ritual to exorcise the spirit from the premises. To do this Lucy
relies on the Occult skill to use. is nominated as the lead ritualist who then decides to use
the banish power (3pp) to achieve this. First, they must find
PREPARING THE RITUAL materials and knowledge on the house to aid them with the
To prepare the ritual, a single person should be nominated ritual, which they run as a Quick Encounter, needing details
as the lead ritualist and must have the materials available on the house’s history, an item belonging to the person that is
that will allow her to conduct the ritual. To do this, she must now said to haunt the property, and information on the layout
first gather the necessary information and materials, which of the house to find the secret room that lies within. They all
can be undertaken in a couple of ways. If it is significant, make their relevant rolls using Research, Occult and Repair
then the GM may make this an entire adventure plot. respectively, and have managed to find the information and
However, if time is of the essence or this is not significant to items that they needed.
the plot, this can also be done as a Quick Encounter.
The lead ritualist must then decide on all the applicable
Once she has the relevant materials, ingredients or power modifiers to the ritual and calculate the total number
incantations, the ritual can commence. However, before it this of power points required.
the lead ritualist must specify all the power modifiers that will
apply to this casting. If none of the ingredients, materials or Example: Lucy decides that she needs to make this banishment
knowledge are obtained, the ritual may still proceed but does cover the entire room in which the epicenter of the haunting
so with a -4 to rolls associated with the task. If only some of occurs, adding the SBT Area of Effect modifier to the roll (+2pp),
the ingredients, materials or knowledge are obtained, then and really wants it to succeed, so she adds the Strong modifier
the ritual proceeds with a -2 to rolls associated with it. (+2pp), for a total of 7 power points.

POWERS - RITUALISM 59
RITUAL MODIFIERS
There are a variety of ways to influence the ritual itself, and
these are covered in the sections below.
A NOTE ON
AREA OF EFFECT
Some rituals, notably for the banish power, require the area
SACRIFICES
of effect to be considerably higher than the default power. If
This is probably the most difficult
this is the case then the power can be extended to an area of
aspect of any ritual, both from a gaming
effect covering up to 1 mile at a cost of -2 to the ritual, or up to
and personal perspective. If rituals
the casters Smarts die type in miles at a cost of -4 to the ritual.
are to be performed, there must be
agreement that everyone at the table
COMPLEXITY
If the power that is to be activated through is of a higher rank
is comfortable with this type of play.
than the participants, then a -2 modifier is applied to all rolls
If anyone is uncomfortable with this it
for each rank above the participant that the power is.
should not be included in gameplay.

Example: The banish power is a Veteran rank power, and both Lucy
and Max are Seasoned rank, therefore they will be subject to a -2 Blood Sacrifice: Seekers may sacrifice part of their own
modifier due to the complexity of the ritual compared. Nina however flesh and blood to the ritual, for example by bloodletting
is a Veteran rank and is therefore not subject to the modifier. from their palm. Anyone who wishes to do this may add 1
to his rolls but will suffer a level of bumps and bruises and
SUPPORT will be at -2 to use that hand until it has been healed, either
The more people involved in the ritual, the more likely it is by a Healing roll or leaving it to naturally heal, which will
to succeed. Each additional person within the ritual may use take 5 days.
Support to assist the ritual lead, although justification of any
skill other than Occult would need to be made, otherwise Oneself: Some rituals allow those involved to give up
support as an unskilled roll may be made. another part of themselves to the ritual to improve the
chances of success. A seeker may choose to take a Minor
SACRIFICES or Major Hindrance as part of the cost for conducting the
The biggest chance of success with rituals, but one that must ritual. For a Minor Hindrance they can reduce the number
be carefully considered by seekers, is the use of sacrifices. This of tokens required by 1, for a Major Hindrance this reduces
might be something personal about the seeker, something the number of tokens required by 2. This hindrance can be
belonging to a seeker, or even the sacrifice of a subject (or removed with an advance.
subjects). Depending on the type of sacrifice, the following
bonuses to the ritual may be achieved: Lives: If the lead ritualist sacrifices a mammal, bird, or fish,
then they will receive a +1 bonus to the ritual for every
Personal Effects: The giving up of something dear to one of four points of toughness of the creature. A creature with
the seekers will help to embed that seeker in the ritual. For d6 Toughness would confer a +1 bonus, whilst a creature
each personal effect that perishes as part of the ritual, he may with d8 Toughness would confer a +2 bonus. If the subject
be permitted a single, free reroll, either as a support or as the is human, then the bonus remains the same if the subject
lead role, depending on their involvement.
RITUAL DIFFICULTY
Life Force: A seeker may submit to allowing the ritual to NO. POWER POINTS DRAMATIC TASK DIFFICULTY
consume some of her life force in the process. She may
choose to become exhausted at the end of the ritual, in return 1-4 Challenging
she may add 1 to her rolls throughout the ritual. At the end
5-8 Difficult
of the ritual, regardless of whether it is successful or not, she
receives the Exhausted state, which can only be removed by 9-12 Complex
at least 12 hours of sleep. 13+ -1 / 2 hours

60 POWERS - RITUALISM
is simply tortured, without killing them, and a +2 per four RITUAL FAILURE
points of toughness if they are slain as part of the ritual.
These effects can also stack, up to a maximum of 3 CARD EFFECT
creatures, any more than this do not confer any additional
Deuce Singularity. The caster and all the
bonuses. participants have opened a singularity,
centered on their own brains. All participants
Example: They don’t believe that they are going to get a second must make a Corruption roll. If they fail,
chance at this exorcism, so Lucy elects to give up her name they will have been completely corrupted
as part of the ritual. This will result in her taking the Major and are now an NPC working on behalf
of the Substrate. It they succeed, their
Outsider Hindrance as she will no longer be recognized by most
heads explode, they are dead, but this is a
people outside of her close friends but will reduce the number relative mercy. Should they succeed with a
of tokens required by 2. raise, they have only suffered a stroke, are
incapacitated, and will die if they do not
ADDITIONAL MODIFIERS receive medical attention within the golden
If the ritual needs to be completed quickly, it can be done hour.
so in half the time by incurring a -2 modifier or be reduced 3–4 Anomaly. The caster has invoked a
to minutes by taking a -4 modifier to all rolls. Singularity, equal in size to the number of
successes required in miles. Anyone within
the area must roll against Corruption. They
The GM may apply additional situational modifiers
must now escape this Singularity.
depending on the environmental and other effects. These
may range from -4 to +4. 5-6 Cryptid. The ritual has failed, and instead
it has summoned something from “the
other side”, the GM should choose the
Example: There is a significant time constraint to perform the
most appropriate being to appear.
ritual, as they need to complete it before midnight and cannot
take their time. Therefore, they decide to halve the time it will 7-8 Possession. The Lead Ritualist has been
possessed by a spirit and must take the
take to perform the ritual and incur a -2 penalty to all rolls
Possessed Hindrance until it is banished or
throughout the task for doing so. exorcised.

PERFORMING THE RITUAL 9-10 Backlash. The ritual leader was unable to
control the energy that courses through
Once the elements are in place to conduct the ritual, a
the ritual. All supporting participants will
Dramatic Task should be utilized to determine the outcome take 2d10 damage and the ritual leader
of the ritual. The time taken to complete the ritual is take 3d10 damage.
equivalent to one hour per power point required, including
Jack– Corruption. The minds of the participants
any additional modifiers that are applied.
The Dramatic Queen are infected, and everyone involved must
Task should be carried out as per the core rules with the make a Corruption roll at -2, at -4 for the
difficulty of the ritual based on the number of power point Lead Ritualist.
required as shown in the Ritual Difficulty table. Beyond 12
King-Ace Exhaustion. The ritual failed, but without
hours, for every 2 additional hours that the ritual will take, any significant backlash. However,
all involved will be at a cumulative -1 to rolls as fatigue and everyone involved in the ritual suffers a
strain takes its toll on them.. level of Fatigue from the effort involved.
Joker Setback. The ritual suffers a setback,
If, during the ritual, the lead caster should suffer from a but the caster somehow manages to
complication and fail this, the ritual has gone wrong and maintain control. The casters may start
has failed, and the lead caster must immediately draw a from scratch at no penalty other than time.
card and consult the ritual failure table. Lastly, if the Lead Any materials used in the process are still
viable.
Caster rolls a Critical Failure at any point during the ritual,
he has suffered some form of setback, and will require an
additional token to complete the task.

POWERS - RITUALISM 61
Example: They finally commence the ritual which, as it costs roll, whilst Nina, who returns to the chanting scores a success
7 power points, will be a Difficult Dramatic Task, at -2 as they on her unskilled support roll. Lucy makes her final roll, at -3
try to complete in half the normal time. Lucy and Max are and, after a benny is spent, is able to score a success and
also at a -2 from the complexity of the ritual, whilst Nina is complete the ritual. With a shriek the spirit flees the place,
not. However, as Lucy is sacrificing her name as part of the and the exorcism is complete, although Lucy will long bear
ritual, they only require 4 tokens in 4 rounds. the scars of this as those outside of the room, they are in will
no longer recognize her.
On the first round Max draws a Joker, giving everyone a benny
and him a +2 to his support roll. He had been given the job of RITUAL OUTCOME
providing blood from himself to power the ritual and uses his Once the Dramatic Task is completed, if the requisite
Healing skill to draw some from himself. He rolls a success on number of tokens were achieved, then the ritual has
his Healing roll, providing a +1 to Lucy’s roll. Nina, who is a succeeded. If the ritual netted more than the required
scientist, is not familiar with rituals and seems a little lost, she number of tokens, they may spend these to improve the
follows along using her non-existent knowledge of the Occult. spell, with each point allowed to be spent on additional
She fails her first attempt rolling an unskilled check but uses power modifiers. These modifiers include:
a benny to get a success on the roll, she is starting to get the y Increase Damage: Damage may be increased by a die
hang of things, and provides another +1 to Lucy, who must type or an additional die for each extra success achieved.
now make her roll at -2. She rolls and gets a raise, granting y Extend Range: Double the range of the effect
her 2 tokens towards completion of the task. y Extend Duration: Double the duration of the power
y Add Fatigue: Add a Fatigue roll against targets for any
In the second round Max draws a club, resulting in a power that can cause damage
complication. His attempts at bloodletting got a bit carried y Increase Effect: The ritual may increase the bonus or
away and more blood is coming out than he intended. He detriment of a power by +2 for each extra success they
must make a Healing roll at -2 to slow the blood loss, and his spend on this.
wild die aces given him 8, reduced to 6, he is able to slow the
blood loss and provide a +1 bonus to the task. Nina however, This is in addition to be able to be able to choose from any
who continues to play along with the ritual, make another of the additional power modifiers for each individual power.
unskilled roll but fails, she is getting out of sync with the
chanting. Lucy now makes her Occult roll, at -3, but this time Should the ritual not net the correct number of successes,
fails to score a success, Nina’s chanting is becoming quite off- or a failure on a complication was delivered, then the ritual
putting. has failed. At this point the effect of the failure is going to
affect all members of the ritual, by selecting a card from the
Things get worse in the third round when Max, who gets action desk and conferring on the table below.
distracted by this and tries to understand what is happening,
rolls a Critical Failure on his Notice roll. He lets slip with the
blade and a spray of his blood shoots out and hits Lucy in the
face, giving her an additional -2 to her roll! Nina comes to the
rescue, abandoning her chanting to use her hand to deflect
some of the blood from Lucy, scoring a success and meaning
that Lucy is now rolling Occult at -5. She makes her roll and
just scrapes a success, the distraction almost caused her to
lose her place in the reading she needed to perform but she
regains her composure just in time and gains 1 token.

It is the last round of the ritual and, unfortunately, Lucy has

drawn a club. The spirit here has realized what they are trying
to do and is now resisting, and she is again rolling at -6,
needing 1 token to succeed. Thankfully Max can control his
bleeding and focuses on this, getting a raise on his Support

62 POWERS - RITUALISM
TEST SUBJECT are at least still in touch with their experimenters, then they
purchase additional powers as normal.
Arcane Skill: Relevant Skill / Vigor
Starting Powers: 1 CASTING EFFECTS
Power Points: 15 As with Biohacking this is nothing to do with actual magic, it
Available Powers: beast friend, blast, bolt, boost / lower is simply another form of weird science which concentrates
trait, burrow, burst, confusion, damage field, darksight, the form on the self, although in this arcane background
deflection, detect / conceal power, disguise, divination, drain external effects are possible. This means the following
power, elemental manipulation, entangle, environmental specific rules apply to Test Subjects:
protection, farsight, fear, fly, grow / shrink, havoc, healing, y For this Arcane Background, the caster uses the
illusion, invisibility, light / darkness, mink link, mind reading, appropriate skill to cast, if no skill is appropriate then the
object reading, relief, resurrection, protection, puppet, sensory caster uses the Vigor Attribute rather than a skill to cast.
overload, sloth / speed, slumber, smite, sound / silence, speak y Should the player roll a Critical Failure then the implant
language, summon ally, stun, telekinesis, teleport, wall walker has broken and will no longer function. In this scenario
Available Edges: Channeling, Enhanced Neural Pathways, the seeker will no longer have access to that power until a
Experimental, Extra Effort, New Powers, Power Points, successful Repair roll at -2 is made to restore the implant
Power Surge, Rapid Recharge / Improved Rapid Recharge, to working order. This repair will take 1 hour to complete.
Soul Drain
POWERS LIMITATIONS
This Arcane Background represents a person who has had The following powers may be taken but are trapped as
experimental procedures carried out upon them, whether follows:
they agreed to it or not, and now bears some form of change y Detect / Conceal Power: Only allows the caster to
to their person. This could be a form of cyber-technology locate conventional energy sources.
but could also represent extreme biological remodeling y Drain Power: Only allows the caster to drain conventional
of their body, grafting of strange attachments, or even power sources.
experiments carried out by something even weirder.


Test Subjects are subject to the Power Points rule, as the

technology embedded within them must run off a power
supply, one that has a limited use before it must recharge.
However, Test Subjects are also not constrained by rank
when choosing their power, a novice seeker may choose
any power from those available (see above).

Test Subjects are modelled on the Gifted Arcane

Background, although what they are capable of might not
be considered a gift in this setting. There would normally be
a reason that the seeker has been experimented upon and
Hindrances will often reflect the catastrophic effect that this
has had on the person. In addition, it may well be that the
seeker is not supposed to be wandering at large with these
alterations and, if they are not already wanted, it will only
be a matter of time before the authorities are on their tail.

It also means that, unless the seeker is in touch with those

who conducted the experiment and is willing to let them,
they may not take any new powers, this is in effect a one-off
purchase, although they may take the other Power Edges
that are available to them. If they were a willing subject, or

POWERS - TEST SUBJECT 63

MODIFIED POWERS
Although Savage Worlds provides a large list of powers BARRIER
that are fairly generic in nature and require trapping to y MOBILE (+2): The barrier can move up to a pace equal to
fit a given purpose, some of the powers don’t adequately the casters arcane skill die type each round after casting.
reflect the setting of Dark States. Therefore the following
section explains the changes that have been made to BOLT
some of the power names, as well as listing a variety of y SHAPED (+2): This allows the caster to have a bolt that
additional power modifiers for use within this setting. can bend or change direction, allowing the caster to target
For some powers there are also some general changes to individuals who are not in direct line of sight. Targets
the way that a power works, for those changes see the affected by this gain no protection from cover, although the
individual power descriptions. caster may be firing blind.

RENAMED POWERS BOOST/LOWER TRAIT

y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a small,
The following powers have been renamed as the scope of medium, or large burst template size coverage. All recipients
these powers has changed. or targets within that area of effect are subject to the same
trait modification, if they leave the AoE this will cease to work.
arcane protection has been renamed to mind shield as it now
allows protection from other mental attacks. BURROW
y AFFECT FOE (+1): A successful opposed roll of this against
blind has been renamed to sensory overload as it permits other a target’s Athletics in combination with this power modifier
senses to become affected. allows the caster to pull the foe into the material through
which they are passing. Let them go and, well, no more foe.
detect / conceal arcana renamed to detect / conceal power as it
allows detection and concealing of mundane power sources. CONFUSION
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt to
drain power points is renamed to drain power as it allows confuse more than one creature, with a modifier for each
draining of conventional power sources as well as arcane additional creature affected.
ones. y STRONG (+1): Makes the confusion stronger, giving a -2 to
resist the effects, -4 with a raise.+
ADDITIONAL POWER MODIFIERS
DAMAGE FIELD
To assist and expand upon the use of power modifiers y GENERAL CHANGE: On a raise the damage is increased
presented in Savage Worlds, a variety of additional power by one die type.
modifiers have been added to each power available. This y DAMAGE (+2): Can increase the damage to 2d6 (2d8 on
allows for more variation in how powers work but can be a raise).
restricted by the Arcane Background related to the power and y AREA OF EFFECT (+4/+6/+8): This field may be extended
is subject to GM approval. out to a small, medium, or large burst template.

BANISH DARKSIGHT
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+2): The power may banish y AREA OF EFFECT (+1/+2): The caster may create a medium
more than one creature, with a modifier for each additional or large burst template size coverage. All recipients or
creature affected. targets within that area of effect gain Darksight but lose it if
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a they leave the area.
small, medium, or large burst template size coverage. y SENSE (+1): The caster may adjust to allow the target to
y STRONG (+2): Makes the banishing effect stronger, giving see in other electromagnetic spectrum wavelengths, such
a -2 (-4 with a raise) to resist. as infrared or ultraviolet.

64 MODIFIED POWERS / ADDITIONAL POWER MODIFIERS

DEFLECTION y SHAPED (+1): Used in combination with Area of Effect, may
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a small, modify to a basic geometrical shape.
medium, or large burst template size coverage. All persons
within that area of effect gain the effect of deflection but ELEMENTAL MANIPULATION
leaving the area will result in them losing the protection. y SIZE (+1): The caster may manipulate double the stated
y STRONG (+1): Makes the deflection stronger, giving a -3 (-6 amount for each element type.
with a raise) against incoming attacks.
EMPATHY
DISGUISE y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt to
y SENSE (+1): The caster may include additional senses other empathize with more than one target with a modifier for
than physical appearance. Each use of this modifier allows each additional target affected.
vocal, olfactory, or other senses to be added. y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The caster may create a medium
y STRONG (+1): Makes the disguise stronger, giving a -3 (-6 or large burst template size coverage. All persons within
with a raise) to see through it. that area of effect must resist.
y SHAPED (+1): Used in combination with Area of Effect, may
DISPEL modify to a basic geometrical shape.
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt y STRONG (+2): Seeks out deeper motivations of a target, on
to dispel more than one power, with a modifier for each a raise the caster knows the underlying reasoning behind
additional power affected. the actions of a person.
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The caster may create a medium
or large burst template size coverage. All active powers ENTANGLE
within that area of effect must resist. This does however y GENERAL CHANGE: Entangle only affects a creature of
include any friendly powers as well as those of the enemy. the same size or smaller than the caster. Larger creatures
will require additional recipient or area of effect power
DIVINATION modifiers.
y FAST CASTING (+2): The caster may attempt to cast this as y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt
an action instead of taking a minute. to entangle more than one target, or a larger foe, with a
modifier for each additional target affected or each size
DRAIN POWER increment of the target affected.
y GENERAL CHANGE: For Channeling targets (i.e. those y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): By default, the entangle power
using the No Power Points Setting Rule), success with this affects anything of Scale of Normal or smaller. With a
power applies a -1 to power activations for the duration, Medium Blast Template this is extended to cover Large
on a raise this also confers a +1 to the casters power Scale targets, with a Large Burst Template this is extended
activations. to cover Huge Scale targets.
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+2): Caster may attempt to y CONSTRICT (+1): A successful entanglement of the foe will
drain from more than one target with a modifier for each also cause Crushing with a d8 Strength, or d10 on a raise.
additional target affected. y DAMAGE (+2): Adds 2d4 damage to this, 2d6 on a raise.
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The caster may create a y MOBILE (+2): The caster can move the area of effect up to
medium or large burst template size coverage. All active his arcane skill die type each round after casting.
casters within that area of effect must resist. This includes
any friendly powers as well as those of the enemy. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
y STRONG (+2): The caster may increase the amount y ADDITIONAL PROTECTION (+1): The caster may add
of power he drains, success no confers a -2 to power additional environmental types to the protection, at a cost
activations and a raise adds +2 to the casters subsequent for each extra protection.
activations. y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The caster may create a medium
y SENSE (+0): The caster may drain conventional power such or large burst template, everything within that area of effect
as electricity. In this case the caster on a success can drain will be protected.
d4 conventional items, and d6 on a raise, with the Strong y MOBILE (+1): The caster can move the area of effect up to
modifier this becomes d6 on a success and d8 on a raise. his arcane skill die type each round after casting.

MODIFIED POWERS / ADDITIONAL POWER MODIFIERS 65

y STRONG (+1): Provides additional protection from given HEALING
environmental threat, reducing damage by 6 (12 on a raise) y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+2): Caster may attempt
from like source. to heal more than one target with a modifier for each
additional target affected.
FARSIGHT y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+4/+6): The caster may create a
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The caster may create a medium small, medium, or large burst template size coverage. All
or large burst template, everything within will be affected. those within range will be healed, although unless Selective
Leaving this area will lose the capability. is also applied even enemies may be healed.
y STRONG (+2): Provides additional detail over distance, y DAMAGE (-2): The caster may transfer the wound onto
allowing them to see up to 2 miles, and only suffering from themselves rather than heal. In this rather unique situation,
a -1 at long range and -2 at extreme range. the modifier to cast is reduced, and any wounds healed will
be applied to the caster instead.
FEAR
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt to ILLUSION
cause fear more than one person, with a modifier for each y GENERAL CHANGE: The Sound modifier can be applied
additional person affected. to any sense not just sound, this includes touch, smell, and
y STRONG (+1): Makes the effect more pronounced, a taste. This may be applied multiple times; each one applies
success means the target resists the Fear roll at -2, with a a -1 modifier to the Smarts roll to resist.
raise it is -4. y AREA OF EFFECT (+1): The Illusion may cover the area of a
large blast template.
FLY y MOBILE (+1): The caster can move the area of effect up to
y GENERAL CHANGE: Actions undertaken whilst in flight his arcane skill die type each round after casting.
with this power are done so using the Athletics skill. y STRONG (+2): A raise with this applied means that Smarts
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a roll to see through it is made at a -4.
small, medium, or large burst template size coverage.
Everything within that area of effect will be able to fly. Be INTANGIBILITY
careful not to leave the area though whilst in the air or the y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+2): Caster may attempt to
effect will wear off. make additional targets intangible.
y POWER (+1): Provides a bonus to any Athletics rolls y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The caster may create a small or
required whilst in flight, granting a +2 or +4 with a raise. medium burst template size coverage.
y QUICK (+1): Provides bonus to flight speed, giving an y STRONG (+2): Opposed only, makes the intangibility effect
additional 12” pace. stronger, giving a -2 (-4 with a raise) to resist.

GROW/SHRINK INVISIBILITY
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt to y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a
grow or shrink more than one target with a modifier for small, medium, or large burst template size coverage.
each additional target affected. When combined with Area Everything within that area of effect will be affected if they
of Effect, caster may choose additional species. stay within that area, leaving the area will lose the capability.
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The caster may create a medium y STRONG (+2): Provides an even stronger version of
or large burst template size coverage. The caster must invisibility, making it a -6 (-8 with a raise) to spot the target.
choose which species should be affected within that area;
unwilling targets may resist. LIGHT/DARK
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt to
HAVOC create more than one pitch of light or dark, with a modifier
y DAMAGE (+2): The caster may make the debris or for each additional patch affected.
other contents of the whirlwind sharpened, causing 2d4 y SHAPED (+1): This may be used to create areas of effect
damage. This is in addition to the damage caused by that can go around corners.
striking hard objects. y STRONG (+2): Light only, provides a very bright light,
anyone it is directed at must make a Smarts roll or be

66 MODIFIED POWERS / ADDITIONAL POWER MODIFIERS

 Distracted (Distracted and Vulnerable on a Critical Failure) PROTECTION
for the following turn. y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The protection may cover
the size of a small, medium, or large blast template at an
MIND LINK additional cost, protecting all allies within the area.
y HARDEN (+2): The pairing will not suffer the disruptive
effects of wounding of one or the other members of the PUPPET
link. y STRONG (+1): Makes it more difficult to resist, with a -2 (-4
y SENSE (+1): The participants may also see through the on a raise) to the roll.
other eyes or communicate additional senses.
RELIEF
MIND READING y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The relief may cover the size
y ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS (+1): The caster may ask more of a medium or large blast template at an additional cost,
than one question of the target, at an additional cost per relieving all allies within the area.
question. y DRAIN (+2): A reversal on this effect, particularly nefarious
y SENSE (+1): The caster may view a visual flashback of what casters can use this to draw energy from the target. This an
the target is answering as well as verbal communication. opposed test against the target’s Spirit, a success causes
y STRONG (+2): The target’s ability to resist is reduced, 1 level of Fatigue on the target, 2 on a raise. The effect
suffering a -2 (-4 with a raise), but this cannot be done immediately wears off if the caster is subdued or once the
without the target realizing what is happening. target has rested for at least 1 hour.
y NEUTRALIZE (+1): This power can also be used to cure
MIND SHIELD the effects of toxins, alcohol or any other effect that causes
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3): The caster may create a medium Fatigue, flushing them from the system.
or large burst template size coverage.
y DAMAGE (+4): Can be used to reflect damage back on the RESURRECTION
caster, damage rolled but applied to caster. y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+10): Caster may attempt to
y HARDEN (+0): This power may be used to protect the resurrect more than one target with a modifier for each
target from Fear or Corruption effects. additional target affected.
y STRONG (+1): Makes the protection stronger, giving a -3 y AREA OF EFFECT (+4/+5/+6): The caster may create a
(-6 with a raise) against incoming powers. small, medium, or large burst template size coverage. All
those within range will be resurrected, unless Selective is
MIND WIPE applied enemies will also be affected.
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+2): Caster may attempt
to wipe more than one target with a modifier for each SENSORY OVERLOAD
additional target affected. y DEAFEN (+0): Instead of blinding the target this can be used
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a to deafen a target. On a success the target suffers from the
small, medium, or large burst template size coverage. All Minor Hard of Hearing Hindrance on a success, with a raise
those within range will be wiped, although unless Selective this becomes the Major version of that Hindrance.
is also applied even allies may be affected. y COMBINE (+1): As well as blinding the target, a successful
y GREATER (+10): Used in addition with editing, this allows attack also deafens the target.
the caster to implant a Minor (Major on a raise) mental
Hindrance against the target. SLUMBER
y STRONG (+2): Makes it more difficult to resist, with a -2 (-4 y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt
on a raise) to resist. to affect more than one target with a modifier for each
additional target affected.
OBJECT READING y STRONG (+1): Caster may make the effects harder to
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (+1): Caster may attempt resist, making the Spirit roll at -2 (-4 on a raise).
to read more than one target with a modifier for each
additional target affected.

MODIFIED POWERS / ADDITIONAL POWER MODIFIERS 67

SMITE TELEKINESIS EFFECTS
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): Instead of casting smite on
a specific target, the caster may create a small, medium, or WEIGHT LIMIT POWER POINT
large burst template size coverage. All those within range (LBS) COST STRENGTH
will be affected, although unless Selective is also applied 80 2 D4
even allies may be affected.
y POWER (+1): The weapon or ammunition can be attuned 160 3 D6
to work against creatures that are immune to normal 240 4 D8
attacks. No extra damage is provided, but the fact that you
320 5 D10
can cause damage at all is worth it!
y STRONG (+1): Greater power can be placed on the weapon 400 6 D12
or ammunition, providing it with +3 (+6 on a raise) damage.
480 7 D12+1

SOUND/SILENCE 560 8 D12+2

y DAMAGE (+2): Sound Only. The caster may create a sound 620 9 D12+3
that is so loud that the targets can be negatively affected.
All targets must make a Smarts roll or be Distracted (and y GENERAL CHANGE: This power is now available to take at
Vulnerable on a Critical Failure) until the end of their Novice.
following turn. Those with Hard of Hearing may add 4 to y QUICK (+1): The caster may move the object up to 12” (72’)
the roll, those without hearing are unaffected. per turn.
y SHAPED (+1): Used in combination with Area of Effect, may
modify to a basic geometrical shape. TELEPORT
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a
SPEAK LANGUAGE small, medium, or large burst template size coverage. All
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2): The caster may create a large burst living creatures of the same size or larger than the caster
template size coverage. All those within range will be able within this area will be teleported, although unless Selective
to understand the language, although if they leave the area is also applied even enemies may be affected.
the effect will wear off. y STRONG (+2): Foe only, the caster may make it more
difficult for the foe to resist, giving him a -2 (-4 on a raise) to
STUN resist. The target must still be touched.
y STRONG (+1): Makes it more difficult to resist, with a -2 (-4
on a raise) to resist. WALL WALKER
y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a
SUMMON ALLY small, medium, or large burst template size coverage. All
y ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS (V): Caster may attempt to living creatures of the same size or larger than the caster
summon more than one ally with a modifier for each within this will be affected, although unless Selective is also
additional ally summoned equal to half the power point applied even enemies will be affected.
cost based on the rank of the ally.
y HARDENED (+2): The ally summoned is hardened, WARRIOR’S GIFT
providing it with 2 additional armor points as well as any y AREA OF EFFECT (+2/+3/+4): The caster may create a
others it might already have. small, medium, or large burst template size coverage. All
y QUICK (+2): The pace of the ally summoned is doubled living creatures of the same size or larger than the caster
and it does not suffer from the -2 penalty when running. within this will be affected, although unless Selective is also
applied even enemies will be affected.
TELEKINESIS y STRONG (+2): The caster may choose 2 combat Edges to
y GENERAL CHANGE: The base modifier for casting this apply.
power is based on the weight of the object to move and
the equivalent Strength die type required to move it (see ZOMBIE
below). y QUICK (+1): The pace of the zombie is increased to 6”.

68 MODIFIED POWERS / ADDITIONAL POWER MODIFIERS

V. GEAR
COMMON ITEMS
TYPE COST ($) WT. NOTES
ADVENTURING GEAR
Chemical Scrubber 500 1 (I) Removes any chemicals from area, 10 sq ft / minute
Used with Repair; contains blasting caps, dentist mirror, radio
Demolition Kit 850 7 (S)
detonator, sensors, timers, wires, etc.
Used with Stealth; contains latex molds, false facial hair, pigments,
Disguise Kit 600 6 (S)
wigs, etc. Provides -2 / -4 on a raise to be spotted.
Door Ram 300 35 (S3) Provides +4 to damage rolls when breaching doors.
+2 to resist environmental hazards that affect the respiratory
Filter Mask 50 1 (I)
system
60s (10 rounds) burn, fires up to 100’ into the air, can be seen for
Flare, Distress 20 0.5 (I)
3 miles
Contains 5 flares, 30s burn (5 rounds), fires up to 1000’, can be
Flare Gun 300 5 (I)
seen for 25 miles
Provides immunity from environmental hazards that affect
Gas Mask 250 3 (I)
respiratory system
Glowstick 5 0.2 (I) Single use, provides light at range of 3.
Grapple Gun & Rig 1.4k 6 (S) Range 10”, Shooting roll instead of Athletics roll to climb
Ignore 4 points of illumination penalties with a range of 5”, +2
Headlamp, LED 50 0.2 (I)
Notice to spot user
Used with Thievery; contains electronic bypass, glass cutter, locks
Infiltration Kit 1k 6 (S)
picks, etc.
Repair rolls made with a multi-tool instead of a regular repair kit
Multi-tool 25 1 (I)
are at -1.
At 25,000 degrees Fahrenheit, this hand-held plasma cutter can
cut through carbon steel in seconds! This thing can be used in
Plasma Cutter 20k 2 (I)
melee combat as an improvised weapon (Damage 3d6; AP 4;
catch fire 3+).
Used with Repair; contains tools required for mechanical repairs
Repair Kit 250 6 (S)
in the field
Sunglasses 50 - Protects from bright light and UV effects
A backpack containing 5 days of everything the seeker needs
Survival Kit 500 10 (S) to survive. Can use instead of Survival skill for existing in the
wilderness
Cost and weight are for one person, multiply for multi-person
Tent 100pp 2pp (V)
tent, waterproof, +1 to Survival skill rolls
Tesla Lighter 50 - As lighter but does not require fuel, works when wet
Water Bottle 10 1 (I) Holds 1L water
These can-sized containers clean even the most toxic water.
Water Purification Filter 200 1 (I) Produces 12 ounces of clean drinking water in about one minute,
+1 to Survival skill rolls
Zip Tie Restraint 20 1 (I) -2 Agility roll to escape, -4 Strength to break

70 GEAR - COMMON ITEMS

COMMON ITEMS
TYPE COST ($) WT. NOTES
ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Manufactures most common objects for the usual cost of the raw
3D Printer 1k 12 (S)
materials in about one minute per pound (up to 30 lbs.).
Commlink, Secure 200 - Range 1 mile (secure comms) -4 to hack
Includes phone, internet connection, night vision AR, compass,
eLense 1k -
GPS, 10x optical zoom etc.
Hacking Rig 2k* 3 (I) Professional hardware and software for Hacking, +1 to rolls
Allows wearer constant access to the internet, requires
Neural Shunt 10k** -
Electronics limited by Healing to repair

SURVEILLANCE
Without a detector, it takes on opposed Notice roll at -4 to detect
Bug, Audio 50 -
the device. 1000’ range
Without a detector, it takes on opposed Notice roll at -4 to detect
Bug, Video 100 -
the device. 1000’ range
Motion Detector 650 4 (I) Detects movement larger than a mouse up to 10”
+2 to vision-based Notice rolls to see things at distance
Smart Binoculars 500 1 (I)
(magnification 500x)
Used with Electronics; contains small electronics kit, hardened
Tech Kit 1.25k 10 (S)
tablet, tactical satellite antenna, Wi-Fi antenna, etc.
Transmitter Detector 1.1k 1 (I) +4 Notice to find electronic bugging devices

CLOTHING
Camo Suit 1.25k 5 (I) +4 to Stealth rolls versus visual detection, 50% fail on damage
Ghillie Suit 100 2 (I) +2 Stealth when used in wilderness
Human Universal Load Allows up to 5 significant items to be carried without affecting
15k* 10 (S)
Carrier Load

GEAR - COMMON ITEMS 71

MEDICAL EQUIPMENT & DRUGS
ADDICTION ADDICTION
ITEM COST ($) WT. NOTES
MOD. HINDRANCE
+2 to resist Sprit based tests and
Barbiturate 50* - -1 Slow (Minor)
Fear for 6 hours
+1 Smarts and Smarts-based skill
Unfocused
Black Mist 75* - -1 rolls except Notice, -1 Notice for 1d4
(Major)
hours
Ignore 1 level of Fatigue penalty for Quirk
Caffeine Patch 50 - 0
1 hour, returns after (Irritable)
Ignore all wound penalties and
Delusional
Cataclysm 100* - -2 shaken for 4 hours, Major Delusional
(Major)
Hindrance for 1 week
Grants Quick edge for 2 hours, 2
Chop-Chop 50* - -2 Slow (Major)
Fatigue levels afterwards
+1 Healing (requires Healing skill d4
EMT Responder Kit 100 4 (I) N/A N/A
or above), 5 uses
Allows Healing at no modifier,
First Aid Kit 10 1 (I) N/A automatically healing of bumps and N/A
bruises, 3 uses
Healing d6 (without trained user), +3
Mobile Trauma Unit 20k 40 (S4) N/A Healing Rolls (requires Medic, Nurse, N/A
Doctor, or Surgeon Edge)
Ignore 2 levels of wound penalties Unfocused
Opioid 150* - -1
for 4 hours (Minor)
Ignore 1 level of wound penalty for
Painkiller 10 - 0 Anemic
4 hours
Insomnia
Sedative 20* - -1 Level of Fatigue resisted by Vigor
(Minor)
-1 to all rolls except Spirit rolls which
Serenity 25 - 0 Hesitant
are at +1
Speed power for 1d4 hours, 1 level
Stimulant 100* - -1 Big Mouth
of Fatigue afterwards
+2 to Bleeding Out rolls for an hour,
Support Patch 300 - 0 Slow Healer
reduce to +1 Bleeding Out
Vigor roll or unconscious for 1d4 Insomnia
Tranquilizer 200 - +2
hours (Major)

72 GEAR - MEDICAL EQUIPMENT & DRUGS

SERVICES
TYPE COST ($) NOTES
Hotel, Moderate 200 Needs 8 hours sleep to not suffer Fatigue roll
Hotel, Expensive 1k Needs 6 hours sleep to not suffer Fatigue roll
Motel, Cheap 50 Needs 10 hours sleep to not suffer Fatigue roll
Doctor 200 +2 natural healing rolls, Golden Hour extended to Golden Day
Hacking Service V See Hacking Rules
2k / If reached within Golden Hour immediately heal 1 wound, natural healing rate
Hospital
wound doubled and no need to roll thereafter.
Psychiatrist 1.5k Provides +2 to recover from Corruption
Taxi Fare 5 / mile
Assumes economy class (no rest granted), multiple by 5 for business class
Ticket, Airplane 10 / mile
(half rest granted), 10 for first class (full rest granted)
Ticket, Train 8 / mile
Fast Food 10
Good Meal 40

ARMOUR
MIN
TYPE ARMOR STR COST ($) WT. NOTES
Concealable Body Covers torso only, Notice roll at -2 to
+2* D4 1k 4 (I)
Armor spot
Covers entire body, weight applied if suit
Exoskeleton +6** D6 90k* 20 (S2)
fails. Increases ST by 1 die type
Covers torso, legs, and arms, +2 to
Infiltration Suit +2 D6 2k* 5 (I)
Stealth rolls involving visual and sound
Tactical Body Armor +4* D6 10k* 10 (S) +1 Load

GEAR - SERVICE / ARMOUR 73

MELEE WEAPONS
MIN
TYPE DAMAGE STR WT. COST ($) NOTES
-4 to be noticed, successful attack
Kubotan Spec. D4 0.5 (I) 20
distracts target, on a raise stuns target
Machete str+d4+1 D6 2 (I) 20
Tactical Whip str+d4 D4 2 (I) 100 Range 2, can be used to Grapple
As Taser effects but uses Fighting
ZAP Blast Knuckles str+d4+spec. D4 0.5 (I) 100
instead of Shooting

RANGED WEAPONS
COST MIN
TYPE RANGE DMG AP ROF ($) WT. SHOTS STR NOTES
HANDGUNS
Hand Cannon 12/24/48 2d8 2 1 1k 8 (S) 6 D8 Semi-Automatic
Machine Pistol 10/20/40 2d4 - 3 650* 6 (S) 24 D6 Auto
Semi-Automatic,
Pistol, Light 10/20/40 2d4 - 1 200 2 (I) 9 D4
Concealable
Pistol, Medium 12/24/48 2d6 1 1 500 3 (I) 13 D4 Semi-Automatic
Pistol, Heavy 12/24/48 2d6+1 1 1 800 6 (S) 10 D6 Semi-Automatic
Recoilless Pistol 12/24/48 2d6 1 1 3k** 2 (I) 25 D4 Semi-Automatic
Revolver,
Revolver, Light 8/16/32 2d4 - 1 100 1 (I) 5 D4
Concealable
Revolver, Medium 10/20/40 2d6 - 1 200 2 (I) 6 D4 Revolver
Revolver, Heavy 12/24/48 2d6+1 1 1 250 5 (I) 6 D6 Revolver

SUB-MACHINE GUNS
Personal Defense Semi-Automatic,
12/24/48 2d8 2 1 800 4 (I) 12 D6
Carbine two hands
SMG, Concealable 12/24/48 2d6-1 - 3 1.5k* 5 (I) 30 D4 Auto, Concealable
SMG, Light 12/24/48 2d6 1 3 600* 9 (S) 32 D4 Auto
SMG, Medium 12/24/48 2d6+1 1 3 1.2k* 12 (S) 40 D6 Auto, two hands
SMG, Heavy 15/30/60 2d8 1 3 2k* 15 (S2) 30 D6 Auto, two hands

74 GEAR - MELEE WEAPONS / HAND GUNS / SUB-MACHINE GUNS

RANGED WEAPONS
COST MIN
TYPE RANGE DMG AP ROF ($) WT. SHOTS STR NOTES
RIFLES
Civilian Assault
24/48/96 2d8 2 1 700 7 (S) 30 D6 Semi-Automatic
Rifle
Hunting Rifle 24/48/96 2d8 2 1 350 8 (S) 4 D6 Scope, Snapfire
Military Assault Semi-Automatic,
24/48/96 2d8+1 2 3 1.6k* 8 (S) 30 D6
Rifle 3RB
Auto, Semi-
Recoilless Rifle 24/48/96 2d8 2 3 10k** 4 (I) 50 D4
Automatic, 3RB
AP 4, Snapfire,
Sniper Rifle 30/60/120 2d10 4 1 5k 35 (S3) 10 D8
Scope

HEAVY WEAPONS
Airburst
As Half cover,
Grenade 50/100/200 - 1 30k** 14 (S) 5 D6
grenade Snapfire
Launcher
Single Shot,
Assault Cannon 24/48/96 2d12 8 1 12k** 30 (S2) 5 D8 Heavy Weapon,
Snapfire
Auto, may not
Autocannon 50/100/200 2d10 4 3 3k** 80 (S7) 200 NA
move
Grenade As
24/48/96 - 1 5k* 16 (S2) 6 D6 Snapfire
Launcher grenade
Heavy Machine Heavy Weapon,
35/70/140 2d10 2 3 2k* 40 (S4) 200 D12
Gun Auto, Tripod
Light Machine
30/60/120 2d8 2 3 800* 25 (S2) 100 D8 Auto, Bipod
Gun
Machine Gun 30/60/120 2d8+1 2 3 1k* 30 (S3) 200 D10 Auto, Bipod
MBT, Snapfire,
Rocket Launcher 24/48/96 4d8+2 24 1 1.5k* 15 (S) 1 D4
Heavy Weapon
Cone
Tactical Flamer 2d6 - 1 4k 30 (S2) 5 D6 Ignores armor
Template

GEAR - RIFLES / HEAVY WEAPONS 75

RANGED WEAPONS
COST MIN
TYPE RANGE DMG ROF ($) WT. SHOTS STR NOTES
SHOTGUNS
Auto 12/24/48 2d10 3 1.1k* 16 (S2) 10 D6 Auto, Slugs only
Double-Barrel 12/24/48 1-3d6 1/2 300 11 (S) 2 D6 Shells only
Elephant Gun 24/48/96 2d10 1/2 2k 12 (S) 2 D8 AP 2, slugs only
1-3d6
Pump Action 12/24/48 1 300 8 (S) 6 D4 Slugs or shells
/ 2d10
Sawn-Off 10/20/40 1-3d6 1 150 6 (S) 2 D6 Slugs or shells, 1 handed
1-3d6
Streetsweeper 12/24/48 1 900 10 (S) 12 D6 Slugs or shells
/ 2d10

MIN
TYPE RANGE COST ($) WT. SHOTS STR NOTES
SPECIAL WEAPONS
Successful shot requires Vigor roll at -2 (-4
Drone Killer 30/60/90 2k* 6 (S) 20 D4
on a raise) or disabled
Successful attack disables any electrical
EMP Rifle 24/48/96 5k* 8 (S) 10 D4
equipment
Forget-Me-Ray 1/3/5 150k** 1 (I) 100 D4 Spirit roll at -4 (-6 on a raise) or Mind Wipe
Cone Vigor roll at -2 (-4 on a raise) or Distracted
Microwave Burster 100k** 4 (I) 15 D4
Template for 1d4 hours
Vigor roll at -2 or blind for d6 hours, Critical
PHASR Rifle 10/20/40 5k** 15 (S) 100 D4
Failure permanent blindness.
Cone Nausea roll at -2 (-4 on a raise) or causes
Puke Machine 100k* 3 (I) 10 D4
Template level of Fatigue from vomiting
Vigor roll at -2 (-4 on a raise) or Radiation
Radiator 24/48/96 100k** 4 (I) 5 D4
Poisoning
Rod Maker 12/24/48 50k** 13 (S) 10 D4 Victim struck takes effects of High Voltage
Cone 200
Taser Shockwave 250k** 4 N/A Effect as Taser
Template (S18)
Thunder Cone 120 Vigor roll at -2 (-4 on a raise) or be deafened
250k** 10 N/A
Generator Template (S11) and thrown 1d8”
Cone Evasion roll or Shaken (Stunned on a Raise)
Water Cannon 300k* N/A 1000 N/A
Template and knocked back 1d6”

76 GEAR - SHOTGUNS / SPECIAL WEAPONS

AMMO AND ACCESSORIES
COST
TYPE ($) WT. NOTES
Bullets, Armor
x2 - AP+2, -1 damage step
Piercing
Bullets, Hollow
x2 - AP-2, +1 damage step
Point
Suitable for Rifles, causes nonlethal damage, no AP, on a Raise causes Stun
Bullets, Rubber 20/50 3/50 (I)
instead of Shaken
Bullets, Smart x100** - Ignore up to 2 points of penalties for Shooting
Concealable
100 1 (I) +1 to Stealth rolls to hide the weapon, action to ready weapon
Holster
Cornershot 500* 2 (I)1 Allows shooter to fire whilst remaining in cover with a -2 to shot
Flashlight Mount 250 1 (I)1 Ignore 2 points of illumination penalties
Grenade Mount 1,500* 3 (I)1 Can attach to Military Assault Rifles, allows grenades to be shot
Ignore 2 additional points of range penalties, ignore 2 points of illumination
Night Vision Scope 1000 3 (I)1
penalties, must use Aim maneuver
Reflex Sight 250 1 (I)1 +1 Shooting at Short Range
Shotgun Bean Bag 10/50 3/50 (I) Non-lethal damage, no AP, on a Raise causes Stun instead of Shaken
Smart Lock 100* - Ensures only authorized person able to fire
Suppressor 500 1 (I)1 -2 to hear the shot or spot the shooter’s position, -1 to Damage
Ignore 2 additional points of range penalties, half illumination penalties,
Thermal Scope 1000 3 (I)1
must use Aim maneuver
Note: Items with a 1 add to the total weight of the weapon, potentially increasing its load.

GEAR - AMMO AND ACCESSORIES 77

GRENADES AND EXPLOSIVES
TYPE DAMAGE AP COST WT. BLAST NOTES
Breaching Charge 4d6 20 500* 1 (I) SBT Heavy Weapon, designed to blast doors
Heavy Weapon, each additional charge adds
C-4 explosive 4d6 10 750* 1 (I) LBT
1d6 to the total damage
Demolition charge 4d8 15 300 5 (I) SBT Heavy Weapon
Notes: 1 additional charge increases damage by 1d8, 2 additional charges increase Blast radius by 1 step
Dynamite 2d6 0 3 0.5 (I) MBT See DLWW for more details
High Explosive
3d6 4 600 1 (I) MBT Heavy Weapon
Grenade
Improvised
4d6 0 50 10 (S) MBT Heavy Weapon, created with McGyver Edge
Explosive
Incendiary Ignores Armor, fire on a 4-6, Lingering
3d6 - 600 1 (I) MBT
Grenade Damage
Molotov Cocktail 2d10 0 20 2 (I) SBT
Notes: Flammable targets ignite with a roll of 4–6 on a d6, and the fire can spread. On a Critical Failure, the attacker
douses himself in flames and suffers the damage.
Sleeping Gas Vigor roll at -4 or be knocked out for 2d6
- - 350* 1 (I) LBT
Grenade hours
Tear Gas Grenade - - 75 1 (I) LBT Vigor roll at -2 or be Distracted
Thermite 4d8 20 800* 1 (I) - Heavy Weapon

78 GEAR - GRENADE AND EXPLOSIVES

VEHICLES
TOP COST
VEHICLE SIZE HANDLING SPEED TOUGHNESS CREW ($) NOTES
Convertible 4 +1 130 9 (2) 1+3 80k
Coupe 4 -1 180 10 (2) 1+1 100k
Cruising Bike 1 +1 110 9 1+1 20k
Hatchback 4 0 120 10 (2) 1+3 20k
Jeep 4 +1 65 10 (2) 1+4 27k 4WD
Jetpack - 0 50 5 1 100k Use Piloting
Notes: 50% chance a shot hits the rider instead
Limousine 5 -1 60 10 (2) 1+12 150k
Muscle Car 4 -1 180 12 (2) 1+3 250k
Off-Road Car 4 +2 100 12 (2) 1+3 100k 4WD
Pickup Truck 5 +1 100 14 (2) 1+6 90k 4WD
Roadster 4 0 150 9 (2) 1+1 75k
RV 5 -1 60 11 (2) 1+8 80k
Station Wagon 4 -1 80 11 (2) 1+4 40k
Street Taxi 4 -2 60 9 (2) 4 10k Self-Driving Only
Supercar 5 +1 250 9 (1) 1+1 1M
Urban Explorer 2 +1 90 10 (2) 1+1 20k
Van 5 0 80 11 (2) 1+9 25k

GEAR - VEHICLES 79
WELCOME TO DARK TIMES
WELCOME TO DARK STATES

Civilization on Earth is dying a slow and painful death.

Avarice and fear rule the masses whilst the political establishment
crumbles around them.

Wars rage over dwindling resources but Mother Nature wants her
revenge.

Somewhere beyond human reckoning the eyes in the darkness have

opened.

Welcome to Dark Times. Welcome to DARK STATES.

The Dark States Seeker’s Guide provides everything you need to know to
combat a darkness in the dystopian future. Become a soldier in the fight
against monsters that dwell on the edge of perception and uncover vast
conspiracies that underpin human civilisation in the twenty-first century.
Within this book you will find:
• A detailed overview of the world of the near future
• 19 Archetypes to help you build your Seeker
• 20 New Hindrances and 52 New Edges
• New Rules for Addiction, Corruption, Drones and Hacking
• Revised Rules for Wealth and Encumbrance
• 4 New Arcane Backgrounds
• Rules for Ritualism and Experimentation
• Expanded Powers and Modifiers
• All the Gear you’ll ever need!