Hi, I'm the GM, also known (in this game) as THE UNKNOWN.


YOU: are a glowing bundle of energy. You can choose to be an orb, a cloudy mist of vapor, a humanoid form with two arms, two legs, and a head, or whatever. The point is that you are a vague, glowing cloudy mist of vapor, a humanoid form with two arms, two legs, and a head, or whatever.

Your name is your color: Red, Blue, Green, Purple

Your portrait must be from the "inanimate" section.

Strongly-suggested portrait suggestions:

Red: nmb032

Blue: nh17030

Green: nmb010 or nmb011

Purple: nss024

(More on the four colors lower down.)



You start with ZERO memories of your former life-- save perhaps that you were some sort of adventurer, and that you died somehow.

You start with stats: distribute these numbers: 1, 1, 2, 2.

The Four Stats:
--Determination: not giving up
--Visualization: moving yourself around quickly
--Perception: noticing important details, but also changing things
--Communication: articulating things. This is harder than when you were alive!

----If your Communication stat is 1: You can speak no more than 5 words in any given post (and you are not allowed to post back-to-back. You must let someone else post first (but posts from The Unknown count). (If you have arms, you are allowed to point at stuff all you want.)

----If your Communication stat is 2: You can speak no more than 10 words in any given post (and you are not allowed to post back-to-back. You must let someone else post first (but posts from The Unknown count). (If you have arms, you are allowed to point at stuff all you want.)

----If you, later, get your Communication stat up to 3: You can speak no more than 15 words in any given post (and you are not allowed to post back-to-back. You must let someone else post first (but posts from The Unknown count). (If you have arms, you are allowed to point at stuff all you want.)


Basically, when you want to do something challenging (more challenging than speaking), roll a number of d4s equal to your relevant stat.

--If your highest result is a 4: You do exactly what you want to do, perfectly with no problems.
--If your highest result is a 3: You do what you want to do, but there's a small problem.
--If your highest result is a 2: You don't quite manage to do what you wanted, but it's not a total disaster...
--If your highest result is a 1: You don't manage to do what you wanted at all, and there'll be a price to pay.


EXAMPLES:

--A bizarre monster is trying to hit you with a beam of light that makes you sad and depressed. Your Determined stat is 2, so you roll 2d4 to resist. Your highest result: 4. You don't give into the feelings of depression, and you get to roll 1 extra die on your next roll.

--A huge stone head with hair made of steel wires is blocking your way... the steel wires flail around to try to disrupt your energy-- if they hit you, it hurts! You roll Perception to try to change the situation-- maybe you can make the steel hair rust? Your Perception stat is 1, so you roll 1d4... You roll a 1. You fail to alter the hair-- instead it grows longer and strikes you, and you take 1 damage.


Every successful roll gets you 2 Spirit Points.

Every FAILED roll gets you 1 Spirit point.

Every Damage taken steals 1 Spirit Point from you. (If you ever take damage while you have 0 Spirit Points, you become incapacitated, and you can't do anything else until you've safely recovered.)

Every time you get 6 Spirit Points, you increase one of your stats by 1 (and you lose the 6 Spirit Points).

If you ever choose to raise a stat higher than 3 (or if you have to, because they're all at 3), the stat is lowered to 1, but you get one Life Token. Life Tokens are very important-- they let you really improve the character you'll play when you become a living person again.

If the GM asks you to describe something, and you do it, you can roll 1 extra die next time you make a roll (up to a maximum of 4).



You will make the journey through the weird land beyond the black gates of death until your spirit is reborn as a person again in the lands of the living...

Then you'll play that character... BUT it will be possible for you to journey (still alive, like some of the Greek legendary heroes) to the lands beyond the black gates again, if you wish...


Each area beyond the black gates will enable you to choose your next living character's:
--Background (orphan guttersnipe? raised on a farm? other? (with a Life Point, get Rich Noble!))
--Personality (crusader? trickster? other?)
--Heritage (human islander? cavern-dweller? ship-dwelling nomads? other? (with a Life Point, get something extra-exotic and amazing!))
--Stats (these stats will be different from your not-yet-living stats, obviously... (with a Life Point, get an extra-high stat-- or less low ones!))
--Class (fighter? thief? wonder-worker? other? (with a Life Point, get something one-of-a-kind and awesome!))
--Gender (male? female? both? neither? other?)
--Abilities (magic? psionics? alchemy? acrobatics? other? (with a Life Point, get an EXTRA ability-- or use a Life Point to enhance what you're going to get!))
--Age (will you start the game younger than most of your companions? older? the same? if so, what age will that be?)
--Wealth (will you start the game owning nothing at all, or will you have extra wealth to draw upon, or somewhere in-between? (with a Life Point, be Stinkin' Rich!))
--Network (will you start the game with a lot of friends or other people you can go to for help, or no one at all, or in-between? (with a Life Point, get extra!))
--Sign (like astrological sign, but different)
--Deity (will you have a particular powerful being that is interested in you, or that you're interested in, or both, or neither? (with a Life Point, get two deities on your side!))
--Quest (will you be adventuring for power, fame, curiosity, revenge, some other cause, or...?)
--Name (the final challenge... earn the right to give your new self the best name you can think of...)



THE FOUR COLORS:

--RED: Red has a special talent for the DETERMINATION stat.

Determination: Normally when one gets a 4 for resisting a monster's power, one successfully resists, and gets 1 extra die toward their next roll, too.

When RED gets a 4 on a Determination roll, they resist, take 1 forward, AND they can reverse the effect-- make the power backfire on the monster. Instead of being paralyzed with fear, the MONSTER becomes afraid or whatever.


--BLUE: Blue has a special talent for the VISUALIZATION stat.

Visualization: Normally when one gets a 4 for a Visualization roll, they teleport where they want to be, and get 1 extra die toward their next roll, too.

When BLUE gets a 4 on a Visualization roll, they teleport where they want to be, and get 1 extra die toward their next roll, AND they can shape things so they have an advantage or a monster has a disadvantage, just like with a great Perception roll.


--GREEN: Green has a special talent for the PERCEPTION stat.

Perception: Normally when one gets a 4 for a Perception roll, they Shape reality to their advantage, and get 1 extra die toward their next roll, too.

When GREEN gets a 4 on a Perception roll, they Shape reality to their advantage, and get 1 extra die toward their next roll, BUT ALSO they can RE-ROLL that next roll (one time) if they don't like the result.


--PURPLE: PURPLE has a special talent for the COMMUNICATION stat.

Communication: Normally when one gets a 4 for a Communication roll, they have a successful communication with whatever they're communicating with (for example, persuading a monster to do something), and they get 1 extra die toward their next roll, too.

When PURPLE gets a 4 on a Perception roll, they have a successful communication with whatever they're communicating with, and they get 1 extra die toward their next roll, and they might convince whatever they're talking to to help them out in some extra way-- tagging along and coming with them for a while and helping them, or helping in some other way.



EXTRA: TRIPLES: If you roll natural triples on any given roll (obviously, this will require rolling at least 3 dice), a PC can choose to do one of these:
--add 1 point to 1 of the dice on the roll(not possible if there's already a 4), or
--shine a bright ray of light on an opposing NPC/monster that dismays/confuses/impresses that NPC/monster, or
--give another PC 1 point or die to add to their next roll.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:09, Wed 24 Aug 2022.