THE VETERAN

Once upon a time, you were someone important… and dangerous. People knew you and gave you a wide berth. You were a force to be reckoned with in this city. And then you got old, broken, or both.


LOOK: (pick as many as apply)
• Ambiguous, Female, Male, Neither
• Human, Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Gnome, Half-Orc (half-humanoid killer whale)

DEMEANOR (pick one): Charming, Abrasive, Professional, Reserved

CHARACTER STATS (Add 1 to one of these):
--Blood -1
--Heart 1
--Mind 1
--Spirit 0

STARTING FACTIONS (Add 1 to one of these):
--Mortality 1
--Night 0
--Power 0
--Wild 0

INTRO QUESTIONS
• Who are you?
• How long have you been in the city?
• What was your greatest accomplishment in the city?
• Why did you stop?
• What do you desperately need?

GEAR
• An apartment or warehouse hideout, a steed trained to take care of itself, a high quality pocket crystal ball, a workspace (detail)

• 1 self-defense weapon
--Crossbow (2-harm close/far reload)
--Blowgun And Blowdarts (Stun, close, silent, reload)
--Throwing Knife (2-harm, close, concealable)


WORKSPACE
You have a workspace that includes a large space for your tools and/or supplies. When you go into your workspace to work on something, the GM tells you what it will take to complete.

Choose 3 features that your workspace includes:
--hoist and tools,
--an extensive kit specializing in detecting and working with poisons, drugs, and antidotes,
--a regulated growing environment for plants,
--two or three skilled assistants,
--a junkyard of raw materials,
--a forge,
--a fully-equipped alchemical worktable,
--a testing area
--deadly booby traps
--a library of old books,
--a scattering of ancient relics,
--a mystical focus
--magical wards
--a medical station,
--an operating room,
--a very fancy crystal ball setup that can scry in ways normal crystal balls can't,
--an advanced magical surveillance system,
--a chest full of disguises and makeup,
--a magical laboratory,
--a portal to another plane of existence.

Items created in your workspace are safe from the GM. They can’t be destroyed or taken without your permission, even if you sell or give them away to another character.

DEBTS
• Someone relies on you for training or knowledge. They owe you 2 Debts.
• You’re working on something big for someone, and it’s nearly ready. They owe you a Debt.
• Someone keeps pulling your ass out of the fire. You owe them 2 Debts.

VETERAN MOVES
You start with this one:
--Old Friends, Old Favors: When you first encounter an NPC, rather than putting a face to a name, you may declare them an old friend and roll with Mind. On a hit, they offer you comfort and aid, even if it exposes them to danger or retribution. On a 7-9, tell the MC why you owe them a Debt. On a miss, tell the MC why they want you dead.

And choose two more:
--True Artist: When you create something for someone using your workspace, mark their Faction.

--Invested: When someone owes you 2 or more Debts and you lend them a hand or get in their way, roll with Mind instead of Faction.

--Too Old for this Shit: When you get caught up in a fight you tried to prevent, you get armor +1 and take +1 ongoing to seeing yourself and others to safety.

--The Best-Laid Plans: When you work out a plan with someone, roll with Mind. On a 10+, hold 3. On a 7-9, hold 2. You can spend your hold 1-for-1, regardless of distance, while the plan is being carried out to:
• Add +1 to someone’s roll (choose after rolling)
• Dismiss all harm someone (including you) suffers from a single attack
• Ensure your people have the exact gear they need on hand

On a miss, hold 1, but your plan falls apart at the worst possible moment.


--Gun to a Knife Fight: When you unleash an attack on someone by seriously escalating the conflict, roll with Mind instead of Blood.




DRAMA MOVES:

»Veteran Corruption Move
When you knowingly head straight into danger, mark corruption.

»Intimacy Move
When you share a moment of emotional intimacy with another person, tell them a story about the past and the lessons you learned.

Then choose 1:
• You both take +1 forward
• You take +1 forward and they take -1 forward
• Hold 1. Spend the hold to lend a hand to that character from any distance



»End Move
When you die or retire your character, choose a character to inherit your workspace and True Artist.

STANDARD ADVANCES
Advances available at beginning of play:
• +1 Heart (max +3)
• +1 Mind (max +3)
• +1 Spirit (max +3)
• A new Veteran move
• A new Veteran move
• Add 2 more features to your workspace
• A move from another playbook
• A move from another playbook
• Change your Faction

After 5 advances you may select:
• +1 to any stat (max +3)
• +1 any Faction (max +3)
• Erase a scar
• Erase a corruption advance
• Erase a corruption advance
• Advance 3 basic moves
• Advance 3 basic moves
• Retire your character to safety
• Change to a new playbook

CORRUPTION ADVANCES
• Take a corruption move
• Take a corruption move
• Take a corruption move
• Take a corruption move from another playbook
• Retire your character. They may return as a Threat

CORRUPTION MOVES
• Back at It: Take a standard move and a corruption move from another playbook. Whenever you use those moves, mark corruption.
• Pack Rat: You may mark corruption to reach into your kit and find just the thing you need to deal with your current situation.
• Catch You Punks at a Bad Time?: Mark corruption to arrive in a scene where another player is. Mark an additional corruption to bring someone with you.

• Dark Experiments: When you “work over” someone (alive or dead) in your workspace, mark corruption and roll with Mind. On a 10+, ask 3. On a 7-9, ask 2:
• What is your weakness?
• What are you hiding?
• What are you afraid of?
• What are you, really?
• What are you planning?

On a miss, ask 1, but someone from their Faction knows what you did.


PLAYING THE VETERAN
Experienced, tenacious, knowledgeable, clever. The Veteran is a has-been who uses their hard-won talents to remain relevant in city politics. They have a workspace in which they can create all manner of things that others might need.

You might feel like a support character, but-- like all Mortality playbooks-- The Veteran is on an unsustainable path. You can’t be retired and still relevant; you can’t be half in and half out of the game. You’re going to have to make a choice sooner or later: do you want to matter or do you want to be happy?

Unlike The Sensitive and The Ranger, The Veteran can retire to safety. Usually this means leaving the city, taking that retirement that you’ve always talked about, moving in with your kids in the suburbs, or traveling other lands for a few months that turn into years. Anything short of that means you’re going to get pulled right back in.

»Notes on Your Moves

When you use your workspace, the GM may give you requirements that are extremely difficult to fulfill; you may need to turn to allies and cash in Debts to get what you need. If you do finish a project, whatever you create is safe; the GM can’t destroy it or weaken it without good cause.

Old Friends, Old Favors still counts as a Faction move for the purposes of advancement. Mark the Faction of your target when you make this move as if you put a name to a face as normal.

The Best Laid Plans allows you to skip the tedious process of trying to plan for anything the MC might throw at you. When you spend your hold, it’s assumed that you thought of that particular contingency while laying out your strategy.

Escalating a conflict for Gun to a Knife Fight means that you seriously escalate a violent conflict-- pulling a gun or a knife when verbally threatened or drawing a shotgun when threatened by a pistol.

If your intimacy move is triggered by you telling a story to another character, there’s no need to tell a second story. The first one will suffice.

Whatever you pull out of your kit using Pack Rat has to be compact enough to fit in whatever storage you’ve got with you-- a bag, your steed's saddlebags, etc. It should probably be cheap too, but sometimes it makes sense for you to have something rare on hand.

Dark Experiments requires you to get your hands dirty. Working over someone living sometimes means a beat-down against a helpless victim at the very least; working over someone dead usually means dissection.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:28, Mon 13 June 2022.