Okay, so this is going to be the QUICKSTART version of the tabletop role-playing game called THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

So: QUICK! No time to explain to you what a role-playing game is! Look it up if you need to, or wait for the full game!

But for now: Here's WHAT THIS GAME IS ABOUT: Your character is someone from the twentieth century. But not just the regular twentieth century-- it's the one you see in movies and TV and stuff. The FICTIONAL twentieth century.

You know how when you're a kid you expect that quicksand will be, like a major thing out in the world, and then you grow up and there's almost no one even talking about literal quicksand, ever? Okay, so you see how there's a difference between real life in movies and TV and the real world.

This is the former version of the twentieth century, not the latter. So there's hoboes and ghosts and suffragettes and bootleggers and bluesmen and gumshoes and stuff in the the first part of the twentieth century. And there WERE all of those things in real life, too (well, I mean, there were people who believed in ghosts, anyway), but in the fictional twentieth century, there were sure a lot MORE hoboes and gumshoes and ghosts and bootleggers and stuff than there were for real.

So-- QUICK-- let's start with character creation, okay?

You've got four stats:

--FORCEFUL
--AGILE
--INSIGHTFUL
--CHARMING

And each stat has a modifier, like -1, 0, +1, +2.

BUT-- you don't start with your stats! You start with your Character Type.

This game has 4 parts: The Early Years (1900-1939), The Forties, The Fifties, and The Sixties.

Because this is the QUICKSTART rules, we're mostly going to focus on The Early Years.

OKAY, so here's the list of Character Types to choose from for The Early Years:


--Barnstormer: you're a brave pilot!
--Bluesman//Blues Singer: move people (even ghosts!) with your music!
--Doughboy: you're a military type!
--Flapper: you're a cool social ace!
--Gambler: you're a risk-taking gambler!
--Gentleman Detective//Lady Detective: You figure stuff out and solve mysteries!
--Hobo: you can survive without money ("off the grid," as they'll say in the future)!
--Nurse: you can help heal people!
--Orphan: you're a plucky and cunning kid of the streets!
--Pugilist: you're a tough and scrappy boxer!
--Racketeer: you're a cool criminal customer!
--Reporter: you're a curious reporter!
--Scholar: you know a lot of stuff!
--Spiritualist: you can attempt to talk to ghosts!
--Suffragette: you're fighting for women's rights!
--Tycoon: you're rich!

Okay, now that you've got the basics, here's what each type is extra-good at:

WHAT YOU'RE GOOD AT:
--Barnstormer: you're great in dangerous situations, and also good with mechanical stuff (like fixing engines)!
--Bluesman//Blues Singer: you can affect other people's emotions!
--Doughboy: you're a good fighter, and tough!
--Flapper: you're a genius of social situations and charming people!
--Gambler: you're lucky (and sometimes unlucky, but at least you get to choose when you're lucky, unlike other people)!
--Gentleman Detective//Lady Detective: Seriously, you're good at figuring stuff out and solving mysteries!
--Hobo: you're extra sneaky and resourceful, and you can read signs that other hoboes leave to warn about dangerous places!
--Nurse: seriously, you can help heal people!
--Orphan: you're sneaky, hard to catch, and can summon other orphans to help!
--Pugilist: you're good at punching people!
--Racketeer: you're intimidating, fast-talking, and an expert driver!
--Reporter: you're great at finding out facts (or rumors) that no one else could!
--Scholar: you're an expert in multiple fields-- including hypnosis!
--Spiritualist: seriously, you can attempt to talk to ghosts! Sometimes it works!
--Suffragette: you're both persuasive and stubborn (hard to intimidate)!
--Tycoon: seriously, you're rich! You can (attempt) to solve problems just by throwing money at it!

CHARACTER CREATION, FOR REAL: Okay, now that we've said all that:

--Choose a Character Type

--Distribute these numbers amongst your four aforementioned stats: -1, 0, +1, +2

--When you want to do something, roll 2d6, and then add or subtract points based on:
1. your modifer in that stat, and
2. Whether or not I said up above your Character Type is extra-good at doing that.

EXAMPLE: Jimmy, an Orphan, rolls 2d6 to get away from a truant officer (a kind of cop that tries to make you go to school). Jimmy's Agile modifier is +1, but Orphans are listed as "hard to catch," so he'll roll with Advantage-- rolling twice the same way, but taking the better of the two rolls.


If the Final Result of a roll is:
--6 or under: failure!
--7 to 9: partial success//partial failure. Not totally good nor bad.
--10 or higher: success, no complications!


GENDER:
--Barnstormer: can be any gender.
--Bluesman//Blues Singer: can be any gender.
--Doughboy: traditionally male.
--Flapper: can technically be any gender-- Male flappers are called "sheiks," after a movie role by actor Rudolph Valentino, and they all have slicked-back hair parted down the middle, listened to jazz, and danced the fox-trot.
--Gambler: can be any gender.
--Gentleman Detective//Lady Detective: can be any gender.
--Hobo: traditionally male, but can be any gender.
--Nurse: traditionally female, but can be any gender.
--Orphan: can be any gender.
--Pugilist: traditionally male.
--Racketeer: traditionally male, but can be any gender.
--Reporter: can be any gender.
--Scholar: can be any gender.
--Spiritualist: can be any gender.
--Suffragette: traditionally female.
--Tycoon: can be any gender. (Sometimes a female Tycoon is just called an Heiress-- but sometimes just a Tycoon.)

If a Character Type says "traditionally X" and doesn't say "but" after that, talk to your GM if you want to play it differently anyway. This is a fictional world! Maybe in this fictional world, soldiers and boxers can be gals! Heck, maybe men don't have the vote yet, only women, so Suffragettes are all guys! As long as the GM and the players are in agreement, do it however you want! Being Non-Binary are also options-- after all, people sometimes felt that they didn't fit in one of the two most-common genders, even 100 years ago (give or take a few decades)!



MONEY:

Each class starts with the sort of stuff you'd expect them to start with (clothes, a safe place to live), and also a little money (except hoboes, who start with one set of clothes but no home and no money).

--Barnstormer: A two-seater propeller plane, and 10 dollars OR a plane and 2 dollars and a pistol with ammo
--Bluesman//Blues Singer: one dollar
--Doughboy: 50 cents
--Flapper: 75 cents
--Gambler: 2 dollars (and 1 deck of cards and 1 pair of dice)
--Gentleman Detective//Lady Detective: Gentleman Detectives (and Lady Detectives) are well-off, or else they wouldn’t have time to solve crimes, would they? They start off with 10 dollars in their wallet or purse.
--Hobo: No money
--Nurse: 1 dollar
--Orphan: 5 cents (probably in pennies)
--Pugilist: 25 cents
--Racketeer: 15 dollars OR 4 dollars and a pistol with ammo.
--Reporter: 3 dollars.
--Scholar: 8 dollars OR 3 dollars and a hypnotic focus, like a pocket watch on a chain, or maybe a special crystal pendant.
--Spiritualist: 2 dollars
--Suffragette: 1 dollar and 50 cents.
--Tycoon: special, see below

HOW MONEY WORKS (if you're not a Tycoon):
Instead of worrying about how much things cost in The Twentieth Century, or how much a character makes, each character has a Money attribute, as follows: If the character needs  money in a hurry, they can always roll to see if they can come up with what they need in a hurry.

When a character needs to spend money, they roll Insightful.

Lunch in a diner (or anything of that amount): as long as you have at least 50 cents on you, roll Insightful:
●10+ means you just pay for it, no problem, it doesn’t really make a dent in your funds at all. Prices are cheap for such things.
●7-9 means you lose 25 cents.
●6 or below means you lose 50 cents.

A new suit (or anything of that amount): as long as you have at least 6 dollars on you, roll Insightful:
●10+ means you just pay for it, no problem, it doesn’t really make a dent in your funds at all. Prices are cheap for such things.
●7-9 means you lose 3 dollars.
●6 or below means you lose 5 dollars.

If you don't have the minimum, you can’t afford a meal in a diner (nor, therefore, can you roll to pay for it).

If you don’t have at least 5 dollars, you can’t afford a new suit or anything like that (nor, therefore, can you roll to pay for it).


On the other hand, a character (a Racketeer, for example) might try to use a Charming roll to swindle an NPC out of some money, also referred to as Conning Others. Swindling others out of money like this gives you a temporary +1 bonus on your Money roll for the next time you make one. This also applies to any unexpected income, such as gambling (unless you’re a Gambler, in which case that IS the income you’re used to living on). These windfalls can be saved up and accumulated... although being mugged by an NPC can cause you to lose all such bonuses, unless you hide your ill-gotten gains somewhere for later (not everyone trusts banks)...


TYCOONS AND MONEY: Money works rather differently for Tycoons.

Tycoons start with 3 Wallet Points. Every time they have to spend a lot of money (more than 20 dollars at a time), they must roll 1d12 (no modifiers).
●10 to 12 means they spend it. It’s only money!
●7-9 means they spend it, but lose 1 Wallet Point.
●6 or below means it is more than even the Tycoon is carrying right now, and whoever it is won't sell it to you.

Wallet Points can be renewed once a day by a trip to a large bank (not just any bank-- a large bank).

Tycoons also have access to a car, and their own mansion OR penthouse apartment... they can also choose 2 of the following:
--Their own chauffeur NPC (who gets a +1 on driving-related rolls, but no other bonuses)
--Their own private plane with pilot NPC (who gets a +1 on flying-related rolls, but no other bonuses (feel free to skip the pilot NPC if your character also has an ally who's a Barnstormer))
--Their own speedboat and yacht (with captain NPC for the yacht)
--Their own personalized private train car (that can be hooked onto the end of normal trains)



COMBAT:

Okay, so fighting is often a big part of many RPGs. In this game, you might not have to fight anyone. You might solve problems and avoid physical conflicts by being sneaky, stealthy, smart, and/or charming. But maybe you don't want that! Or maybe you could go either way, but you find yourself in a situation where it's just simpler to say "oh to heck with this" and punch someone, or, you know, to fire back when the bad guys start firing at you. Well, in that case, here's the rules about Combat!

There are three modes of combat:

--ALL-OUT ATTACK

--CAREFUL ATTACK

--DEFEND

These are a bit like Rock-Paper-Scissors. All-Out is stronger than Careful. Careful is stronger than Defend. Defend is stronger than All-Out.

When you and an opponent engage in combat, you will choose one of these three modes, and roll 2d6. The GM will roll randomly for what the opponent will do OR the GM will write down on a slip of paper first what the enemy will do, and will show you after you choose.

Up-close melee combat: Pugilists and Doughboys roll with Advantage.

Ranged combat: Doughboys and Racketeers roll with Advantage.


Okay, so now that you've picked a Mode and rolled, and the GM has randomly rolled, there's 6 possible results (just like in rock-paper-scissors):


ALL-OUT vs. ALL-OUT: Both opponents are just giving it their all.
--The GM will roll for your opponent. Add your modifier if applicable. Whoever has the higher roll result does 2 hits, unless you're trying to hit multiple opponents, in which case you may choose to hit two targets for 1 hit each.

--If the roll result is a tie, BOTH fighters take 2 hits each.


ALL-OUT vs. DEFEND:
--The GM will roll for your opponent. Add your modifier if applicable. If ALL-OUT has the higher roll result, they do 1 hit. If DEFEND has the higher roll result OR if it's a TIE, no damage is done nor taken.


ALL-OUT vs. CAREFUL:
--The GM will roll for your opponent. Add your modifier if applicable.
--If ALL-OUT has the higher roll, they deal 2 hits. If CAREFUL's roll is higher, they do 1 hit.
----If the roll result is a tie, no damage is done nor taken this round.


CAREFUL vs. CAREFUL:
--The GM will roll for your opponent. Add your modifier if applicable.
--Whoever gets the higher roll result does 1 hit.
----If the roll result is a tie, no damage is done nor taken this round.


CAREFUL vs. DEFEND:
--The GM will roll for your opponent. Add your modifier if applicable.
--If CAREFUL gets a higher roll, they do 1 hit to the DEFEND. If DEFEND's roll is higher, or a tie, they block successfully, and no damage is done.


DEFEND vs. DEFEND: No one does damage-- you just talk smack to each other. Roll Charming (Flappers, Bluesmen, Orphans, Racketeers, Reporters, and Suffragettes roll with Advantage!): Whoever has the higher roll gets +1 to their roll next round! If it's a tie, both sides get a +1 to their roll next round!



"Is two hits the most damage that can be done in a round of combat?"

Well, sometimes there can be exceptions. The biggest two are:

--As explained already, a CAREFUL attack just does 1 hit if successful, and an ALL-OUT attack does 2 hits. This is true if you and your opponent are just punching, or if each side has weapons. But if one of you has a weapon and the other one DOESN’T, the person with the weapon who does damage does double damage.

--The other exception is that with a roll result of 12 or higher, you do 1 extra hit (well, unless you're Defending, obviously).

3 hits will knock out all but the toughest opponents in The Early Years...

All PCs get knocked out after 4 hits.



Actions a character can do during Combat besides just punching or shooting:


--Choose to help other character, such as applying first aid. A PC can’t do anything else while they’re helping another character, so if done during combat, this is usually best to do while one or more other characters are dealing with all the bad guys.

--Disarm: A special sort of attack. Attempting to disarm comes with a -2 penalty, but if successful, it can make the bad guy drop any weapon they were holding (in one hand). Although bad guys do this less often, GMs can always have them attempt to disarm, too, if it helps the story.

--Move/flee: Instead of attacking, a PC can choose to run for cover, or just to attempt to run away. Whether the bad guys choose to give chase is up to how the GM chooses to play the situation, and if there’s anywhere to run away to.

--Use special ability: Like a Bluesman’s song, for example.


So, that’s about it:

--ATTACK: Melee is FORCEFUL. Shooting is AGILE.
--DODGE: Dodge, duck, etc. are all AGILE.
--MOVE: Running for cover doesn’t require a roll at all, unless the PC is trying to dodge something (like, say, gunfire) at the same time—the dodging attempt requires an AGILE roll. Running away from combat entirely, as in, down the street and running away from anything that might decide to give chase, also requires an AGILE roll, not to see if the PC can run or not, but to see if they can outrun what’s pursuing them. Each runner rolls an AGILE roll. If the PC makes their roll and their pursuer fails it, the PC gets away (for now).
--OTHER: Other stuff includes helping an ally, using a special ability, or maybe activating a machine, etc.



HEALTH AND HEALING:

If a character loses all of their health points, they're simply knocked out. Unconsciousness of this sort usually lasts for roughly five minutes, although of course the GM may decide otherwise, depending on the circumstances. If all the PCs lose all their health points, it may last rather longer. It's up to the GM.

And, of course, if something should happen to the PCs while they are unconscious (like, say, the bad guys tying them up and moving them to a secret location), then they’re just out of luck, although the GM should try to arrange things so that this doesn’t happen too often.

Remember: this isn’t a fantasy game, it’s the Twentieth Century, and a murder rap is certainly nothing to be sneezed at. Characters who just got in the way of some sort of evil plan can always be tied up somewhere secret until after the plan is executed...

--Characters who have lost HP regain one point for every 4 hours of sleep they manage to get, until they are back at their maximum.

--Characters who get the benefit of the attention of someone with the First Aid skill get 1 HP back for every 3 hours of sleep they get (instead of 4).

--Characters who get the benefit of actual medical attention from a Nurse or a doctor at a hospital or clinic get 2 HP back for every 4 hours of sleep that they get afterwards. The only drawback is that if a character comes under a doctor’s care having lost two or more HP, the doctor won’t want to discharge them until they're entirely well, or at least within 1 point of being so. Depending on the situation, some doctors can be quite insistent about this!



Sample Pre-generated characters:


--Doughboy: Rex Carraway, male. Has 50 cents in his pocket...
Forceful: +2  Agile: +1  Insightful: -1   Charming: 0
+2 to combat, and +2 to enduring anything (physically) tough

--Flapper: Betsy Alden, female. Has 75 cents in her purse...
Forceful: -1  Agile: +1  Insightful: 0  Charming: +4 (because of Flapper bonus)

--Nurse: Rosie Morton, female. Has a dollar in her purse...
Forceful: 0  Agile: -1  Insightful: +2   Charming: +1
+2 to anything medical

--Orphan: Jimmy Miller, male. Has 5 cents in his pocket... Homeless, currently sleeps in the back of a store that went out of business that left a window unlocked in the back
Forceful: -1  Agile: +2  Insightful: 0   Charming: +1
+2 to being sneaky, hard to catch, or to attempting to summon other orphans to help!

--Spiritualist: Agnes Turner, female. Has two dollars in her purse.
Forceful: -1  Agile: 0  Insightful: +2   Charming: +1
+2 to anything involving ghosts, including attempts at communicating with ghosts



IS IT LEGAL TO PURCHASE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES?
--Not really. There are a lot of legal rules and regulations about it that were enacted to discourage it. To drink a LOT, or anything STRONG, you have to buy alcoholic beverages illegally, or go to a speakeasy that's already bought them illegally for you.

ARE WE AT WAR RIGHT NOW?
--No, but The Great War only just ended about six months ago-- and there's no guarantee that it won't break out again, really. A lot of the armed forces are still overseas in Europe, helping to rebuild things as part of the carefully-negotiated peace treaties.

WHAT YEAR IS IT?
--It doesn't really matter. It is perpetually any time from 1900 to 1939. When you are playing, The Great War ended about six months ago but global tensions are still a little high, and it's always very legally-chancy to buy adult beverages without doing a lot of paperwork and paying at least double what one used to pay for such things.

ARE PEOPLE RACIST?
--Like the issue of sexism, this is up to the players and the GM. The PLAYERS should not be at all sexist nor racist. The PLAYER-CHARACTERS should not be particularly sexist nor racist. Some NPCS, on the other hand, may well be another story-- just because then, if they are, the PCs might get to punch them (or heck, rob them. Or both).

CAN WOMEN VOTE?
--Not entirely. It's a county-by-county thing. Suffragettes won't be satisfied until the answer, nationally, is "yes."





THE OTHER ERAS:

Okay, that's almost it for The Early Years, but there are three more eras: The Forties, The Fifties, and The Sixties.

Each new era means a different new type of threat-- and new character types-- many of which are "evolved" versions of the types that came before, some completely new.

Super-super brief highlights:

* The Forties:
--Threats: Monsters of the supernatural and mad science. Vampires, werewolves, and monsters made in labs.
--Character Types: Nurses can graduate to being Doctors, Racketeers to Gangsters, Doughboys can become G.I.s, Detectives can becomes Gumshoes, Orphans can become Bowery Boys or Bobbysoxers. Also, completely new types like Carnies.


* The Fifties:
--Threats: U.F.O.s and aliens.
--Character types: Communists, Rebels, Beatniks, Roustabouts, and more.


* The Sixties:
--Threats: Psychic powers, pod people, and magical beings.
--Character types: Bikers, Hippies, Martial Artists, Protesters, Superspies, and more.



LEVELING UP:

Because remember-- these are just the Quickstart rules-- the bare minimum rules and explanations you could possibly have to start playing. The full game, when enough people show interest, has rules for:

* "Advanced" Character Types more powerful or more flexible versions of your starting character type:

Just for The Early Years:

----Scholar to Expert
----Orphan to Newsboy (or Newsie)
----Suffragette to Prohibitionist
----Gentleman Detective to Shamus
----Gentleman Detective OR Barnstormer OR Doughboy OR Pugilist OR Reporter OR Tycoon to Crimefighter (become a pulp hero with a grappling line or a gun that fires knock-out gas!)


* Then there's the aforementioned "Evolved" Character Types: move from one era to a later era, and you can level up your PCs to different Character Types that've changed with the times. PCs moving from The Early Years to The Forties can just get older (but more skilled), or they can pass their Grapple Line and Gas Gun on to a younger sibling-- or, if moving ahead more than one Era, they can pass their gear and wisdom on to one of their kids...
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:04, Sun 13 Aug 2023.

Some words about Ghosts:

Racketeers are pretty mysterious to non-Racketeers. Hoboes are highly mysterious (and often distasteful) to non-Hoboes (and sometimes to other Hoboes, too).

But Ghosts are mysterious to all living humans, and only slightly less mysterious to Spiritualists.

Why do they exist? Why do they seem to haunt specific places? Why do they sometimes appear readily, and avoid appearing at other times?  Do they have much awareness of each other, or of the world of the living, or of the world of the dead, or is each one different? Here are the details that the most experienced Spiritualists mostly agree on (more or less):

--Ghosts vary greatly depending on the personality of the individual in life, on the manner of life they lived, on the nature of their death, and on anything they may feel they left “unfinished.” This can be giving a message, hating an enemy, not wanting to leave a place or person, wanting to atone for something, wanting to protect someone, wanting a place to remain unchanged, or almost anything else.

--Ghosts may theoretically follow characters anywhere, and may go anywhere they wish... but more often, Ghosts are tied to only one or two locations, or else to a single person.

--Ghosts may appear as humans, or as smoke, or as various sorts of eerie lights, or only audibly, or only as a force that moves objects around (and sometimes pushes people around)!

--Ghosts may be capable of human speech, but this is almost never intelligible (on the other hand, the WORDS may or may not be perfectly audible, but if so, a MEANING that is both complex yet clear probably won’t be) except in three circumstances:

----1. Ghosts can sometimes be able to speak clearly when they are indiscernible from humans. Ghosts may appear to those who did not know them in life and act like normal humans in almost every way (although they may behave strangely or suspiciously), but if any of the characters realize that the being is actually a ghost, the ghost will instantly vanish, and will not be able to return to a full seeming of human form. Extremely powerful ghosts may reappear in human form, but will most likely be unable to communicate normally—and will certainly not be able to pass for human again—at the very least, they will be transparent, and objects behind them will be visible.

----2. Ghosts can sometimes be able to speak clearly by allowing their voice to emit through a Spiritualist. This is a mostly-benign form of Possession.

----3. Ghosts can sometimes be able to speak clearly through full Possession of a person.

--Possession is the term for a ghost or spirit fully-inhabiting a person, animal, or object. The people have no control or only partial or intermittent control of themselves during Possession, and such a person may or may not remember what transpired upon being released from the Possessed state. Possession in animals is easy enough to imagine, Possession of objects, less so. Objects that are likely to be chosen for possession include store mannequins, dolls, ventriloquist’s dummies, cars, office chairs on rollers, radios, swords, suits of armor, and so forth. Paintings and mirrors may also house determined spirits.

However, unless a ghost had an extreme emotional connection to a certain object, many objects simply are not seen as suitable for possession by ghosts, such as hairbrushes, desks, plants, and/or books. They can be moved or manipulated, but in most cases, will not be truly Possessed. One might think that statues would be perfect for possession, but while a Possessed statue may be able to talk, even powers from beyond the grave cannot make joints made of stone move, let alone walk. Of course, merely attempting to push a heavy statue from a high vantage-point onto an unsuspecting human standing in a courtyard below may be another story.

--Spirits, as NPCs, have some of the ability scores of characters: Insightful and Charming. Insightful is the most-often used. Since Insightful is (among other things) representative of willpower and determination, it's the score used by a ghost to attempt to possess something, or to move objects around or break them.

Sample NPC ghost: The Ghost of Johnson’s Creek
--INSIGHTFUL: +1
--CHARMING: 0
--HP: 6

The Ghost of Johnson’s Creek was once a Hobo who laid his coat over the snow in a clearing one winter to lie down for what he thought would be only a few minutes, but realized too late that the spot wasn’t just a clearing, but the frozen-over creek itself. In less than a minute, the ice under him broke, and he fell unto the icy water and drowned. His body was found by another a couple of weeks later, but the second Hobo took the first’s most prized possession from his pocket—a pair of loaded dice which almost always roll a pair of sixes. The Ghost of Johnson’s Creek wants these to be buried with him. He can tell a Spiritualist character about who has his dice and their current location, and where his own body has been buried, but he cannot manage to appear personally to the thief, nor Possess him—he can only manifest himself at the creek or at his grave. If there is no Spiritualist in the characters’ party, but the characters make it clear that they are nonetheless willing to help, the Ghost will possess a passing bird, a cardinal, and lead the characters to where they need to go.


--Characters who die in the course of an adventure may be allowed by the GM to finish the adventure as ghosts who are attached to the physical location or locations of their allies. If the character has unfinished business on Earth, the GM may also allow the character’s ghosts to continue to be played until one additional final task is completed, but then the character’s ghost must move on into The Unknown, and a new character must be created by the player! If the GM even allows this, one will simply drop the first four, physical ability scores, and the character will no longer be able to speak to his or her non-Spiritualist allies save through the three methods described above. Extreme actions such as moving objects or Possession will cost characters HP per usage, and if their HP level drops to zero, they must rest by doing nothing but observing their allies for 24 hours until their HP level rises-- one HP is restored for every 24 hours. Possessing someone or some thing costs an HP to attempt, and then remaining in possession of that person or thing costs an additional HP every 1d20 hours. If the Possessed thing is a person, then anything that allows the Possessed person to attempt to shake off the Possession will also cost an HP, whether the resistance is successful or not.

--Possession: An NPC who wishes to possess anything is simply determined by the GM, and no rolls are required, unless the ghost attempts to possess 1. a character, or 2. a pet or object they own. For an object, the ghost must make a successful Insightful roll, with a -3 penalty (since the object already has the emotional resonance of another). For a pet, the same applies. For a player’s character, however, the Ghost must make a successful Insightful roll, and the character must make an unsuccessful Insightful roll, unless the character is willing to be possessed, in which case only the Ghost must roll. Keep in mind that the GM must play NPC ghosts and keep track of their HP-- the same rules above apply.

--To rid oneself of a Possession, either something unexpected must happen, like a gunshot or other sudden loud noise (thunder doesn’t count if there was already a thunderstorm nearby), or else another character suddenly shouting at the Possessed character, shouting at the ghost to leave immediately, or else at the character to fight his or her way to the surface. Any of these can lead to a Insightful check. If the ghost fails, or the Possessed character succeeds, the Possession ends, and immediately re-Possessing is all the harder.

--An Insightful check for control is also required if the ghost tries to make a character do something they would be violently opposed to, such as making a Prohibitionist drink, etc.

Here is one more sample NPC ghost:


Sample NPC ghost: Albert Rappaport
--INSIGHTFUL: +2
--CHARMING: +1
--HP: 9

Albert Rappaport, in life, was the grandfather of Gladys Rappaport, his only grandchild. Albert was moderately wealthy, but after his death, his lawyer, Charles Lawson, illegally forged a new will so that Albert’s money went to Lawson instead of Gladys. Gladys knew nothing of this until last week, when someone broke into the house and stole her grandfather’s small office safe. The thief was Lawson—he realized that an early draft of the last will might be in the safe, but now that it’s in his possession, he’s afraid to get anyone to help him open it, so he’s simply buried it in his garden. Albert’s ghost became furious, and began manifesting. Characters meeting Gladys will surely encounter Albert, who will do his best to make his wishes known and to elicit the help of the living. Albert cannot or will not Possess Gladys, and he’s tied to her, and cannot properly haunt Lawson—and Lawson avoids Gladys whenever possible. After evidence that the will was faked is revealed, or if Lawson is frightened into confessing, Albert will be able to rest in peace.