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The Illumination
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Building Custom Gifts

"Gifts are why we sign The Contract"

Each session of The Contract, the Players' Contractors are invited to risk their lives in a deadly mission. Those who succeed are rewarded with a Gift Credit that can be spent here in exchange for extraordinary Artifacts or incredible Powers.

No two Contractors are alike. Each Contractor's Gifts are a unique expression of their concept, and any character concept can be realized by building custom Gifts.

Each Gift's system is automatically generated during creation. These systems are simple but specific. While such precise systems can be verbose, they focus gameplay on creatively using Gifts rather than interpreting them, and they ensure your Contractor plays the same no matter who is acting as GM.

Building Custom Gifts is Easy

Form an idea of what you want your Contractor to be able to do.
Describe your concept to this Gift-Building webpage. Select a Gift Type and Effect, then customize its modifiers until it matches your idea.
Apply flavor to your Gift by adding a description, name, and tagline.

You can also start by customizing a premade Stock Gift.

Watch the video tutorial

Further instructions are available at the bottom of this initial "Select Gift Type" page, and many elements can be tapped on hovered over for more information.

Gift Type: Powers

"Everything in life comes and goes. Everything but Powers."

Powers are a Contractor's bread and butter. They may be obvious or subtle, arcane or technological, actively called upon or passively empowering. Powers are the only Gift Type that doesn't always require equipment, making them the most reliable.

Powers include:

Any superpower
Magical spells and divine invocations
Cybernetic implants and other bodily augmentations
Supernaturally honed Abilities
Mythical Brawn, Dexterity, Intellect, Perception, or Charisma
Beneficial effects stemming from your Contractor's otherworldly nature

If your idea for a Gift isn't obviously one of the other Gift Types, it's probably a Power.

Gift Type: Legendary Artifacts

"I sure hope no one steals this."

Legendary Artifacts are high-risk and high-reward. These one-of-a-kind items are far more powerful than Powers or crafted items. However, they can be lost, destroyed, or even stolen by other Contractors. While there are ways to protect Legendary Artifacts, some risk always remains.

As your Contractor progresses, you may invest multiple Gifts and Improvements into a single Legendary Artifact, granting it multiple activated and passive Effects. Just remember, your Legendary Artifacts can be used by anyone, whether or not you're still alive.

Legendary Artifacts Include:

Unique alien technology
Mythical relics
Family heirlooms
One-of-a-kind creations

Any extraordinary equipment your Contractor did not create themselves is a Legendary Artifact.

Gift Type: Artifact Crafting

"Sure, I'll make you one. If you provide the proper incentive."

Artifact Crafting turns your Contractor into the golden goose. No Gift Type demands more sacrifice, nor a higher price. However, those Contractors who invest in Artifact Crafting create equipment that rivals the Gifts of the Harbingers. And make no mistake: most Contractors' loyalty can be bought.

Any Contractor who takes a crafting Gift can craft. When you craft with an Artifact Crafting Gift, you can either create a new Artifact with that Gift's Effect or add its Effect to another Artifact you've created.

Investing a Gift Credit or Improvement into an Artifact Crafting Gift lets you craft it once for free. After that, crafting with the Gift costs Experience equal to its Gift Cost + 1.

Crafted Artifacts Include:

Extraordinary weapons and armor
Skunkworks prototype devices
Spellbooks
Alien technology
Super-suits for your team

If you're looking to rival Hephaestus or Stark, you want Artifact Crafting.

Gift Type: Consumable Crafting

"Everybody take one. Use it if you get into trouble."

Consumables are single-use items that are easy to share and trade.

Any Contractor who takes a crafting Gift can craft. Each Downtime between Contracts, Contractors can craft one of each of their Consumables for free. Investing a Gift Credit or Improvement into a Consumable Gift grants an extra one for free. Additional Consumables may be crafted at a cost of 1 Exp each.

Crafted Consumables Include:

Potions
Specialty ammunition
Settable traps
Deployable super-tech
Magic makeup
Energy drinks that turn you into a mongoose

If it's supernatural, single-use items your Contractor makes, it's Consumable Crafting.

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You will be able to craft this Effect onto Artifacts.

Valley FoldA beacon to safe haven.

Cost: 1

Requires Seasoned

This Artifact grants you the power to change your location without traveling the distance between.

The user draws the paper in which this artifact has been imbued onto and begins to rapidly fold it into the shape of a triangular obelisk. As they fold, the space around them begins to bend and distort, their body splitting apart into several perfect, geometric slices, until eventually they fold in onto themselves. They then unfold, alongside those they are in contact with, at the target location, in several separated pieces that refold to form their shape.

Exert your Mind and spend 2 Actions. If you are at the Battlegrounds Monument, you may choose a target Location within your line of sight; otherwise, your target may only be the Battlegrounds Monument. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma.

You are transported directly to the chosen Location. Anyone who is touching you as you Travel will be brought along with you. You must wait an hour before activating this effect again.

If you traverse any a place with a significant amount of paper (such as a library or paper factory) for one minute, you may activate this Effect and travel to the edge of any other a place with a significant amount of paper (such as a library or paper factory) that you’re aware of, regardless of range.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the user slicing into several sheets of themselves, which tear apart upon their disappearance.

After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.

Extended System

When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
Exhaustion penalties and duration stack. If you activate this Effect or another Effect with Exhaustion, your penalty will worsen, and the duration is increased by one hour.
You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Gift Example

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Editing Gift
Valley Fold

Artifact Crafting

Travel

Customize

Cost: 1

You will be able to craft this Effect onto Artifacts.

Valley FoldA beacon to safe haven.

Cost: 1

Requires Seasoned

This Artifact grants you the power to change your location without traveling the distance between.

You are transported directly to the chosen Location. Anyone who is touching you as you Travel will be brought along with you. You must wait an hour before activating this effect again.

Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the user slicing into several sheets of themselves, which tear apart upon their disappearance.

Extended System

When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
Exhaustion penalties and duration stack. If you activate this Effect or another Effect with Exhaustion, your penalty will worsen, and the duration is increased by one hour.
You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.

Customize System

Customize your Gift's behavior.

When you're satisfied, scroll down to flavor and finish.

Tap this button any time to preview your Gift:

Cost: 1

Cast Time

Gift Cost: +1

Enhancements

Gift Cost: +2

Battery-operated (Instead of Exerting Mind to activate this Power, it has its own 3-point Source pool. The Source regenerates at the rate of one point per day and cannot be raised with Experience.)

Easy (When you activate this Effect, flip a coin. If you win, its Exertion cost is refunded.)

Family Vacation (Anyone who is touching you as you Travel will be brought along with you.)

Multi-Jump (You now only wait 1 round between uses instead of 1 hour.)

Random Hop (You may Exert your Mind and spend an Action to travel in a random direction without knowledge of an endpoint. You must make an aiming roll to land properly and avoid catastrophe.)

Spirit Paths (If you traverse a specific type of environment for one minute, you may activate this Effect and travel to the edge of any other environment of that type that you’re aware of, regardless of range.)

Chosen Environment:

Trip Cancellation Insurance (Immediately on arriving at a new destination, you may spend your next Action to return to the starting location without Exerting your Mind.)

Conditionally Costless (This Effect does not require Exertion in certain circumstances. The condition should be balanced such that it has an activation cost the majority of the time you are able to use it.)

Requires Seasoned status.

Veteran Enhancements

Blind Journey (You may travel to any destination which you can perceive through any of your senses, not just sight. This includes places which you can detect mechanically, such as by having GPS coordinates.)

Requires Veteran status.

Drawbacks

Gift Cost: -4

Afterimage (You leave some sort of distinct physical trail between your starting point and your end point; a beam of light, a cloud drifting on the wind, etc.)

Conditional (This Effect is only available when a certain condition is met. This condition must be severe enough that this Gift is unusable the majority of the time.)

Critical Failure (Roll a single D10 when you activate this Effect. If you roll a 1, you critically fail in a way that is extraordinarily dangerous. Failure should cause at least a Severity-4 Injury, a Major Battle Scar, or an effect counter to its purpose.)

Disfiguring (Possession of this Gift grants a minor Battle Scar that can only be cured by buying off this Drawback.)

Disturbing (Witnessing this Effect's Activation is extremely disturbing and/or morally abhorrent to the average person. Anyone who witnesses its activation will almost certainly be repulsed, outraged, and think differently of you from that moment on.)

Disturbing aspect:

Exhausting (After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.)

Maddening (Possession of this Gift causes a Trauma that cannot be cured by any means. The chosen Trauma must be likely to come up on a Contract.)

Medium Tunneling (Your Traveling requires you to enter through a specified medium, and exit through a specified medium. They don't have to be the same medium, but they should be related in a flavorful way (fire and smoke, for instance).)

Once per Day (You may only use this Effect once per day.)

Sacrifice (Instead of Exerting your Mind or expending Source, activating this Effect gives a Severity-1 Injury that worsens by 1 Severity each time you use an Effect with Sacrifice. This Injury cannot be prevented by any means or healed before 1 day has passed.)

Shackled (You can only Travel to or from a specific location.)

Location:

Traumatic (You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma.)

Unreliable (When you activate this Effect, roll a single d10, Difficulty 4. If you fail or botch, the Effect fails and you cannot activate it again for an hour.)

Customize Flavor and Finish

Gift Name

Tagline

(Optional) Introduce the Gift in a flavorful way.

Visual Description

A concise description of what this Gift looks like when it is used. What do participants and observers experience? This will be referenced by GMs at game-time to help them narrate.

Anyone who witnesses you activate this Effect is very likely to be disturbed to see the user slicing into several sheets of themselves, which tear apart upon their disappearance. You must obviously use this Artifact to activate this Effect. When activating this Effect, this Artifact is obviously Alien and cannot be concealed under your clothes or similar.

Extended Description

(Optional) Wax poetic about this Gift's background, metaphysics, etc.

How will my edits affect things I've already crafted?

Adjustments: Only editing text fields will automatically update any items that have been crafted this Downtime to use the new text.
Revisions or Improvements: will refund all items that have been crafted this Downtime.
Major Revisions: will refund all items that have been crafted this Downtime and put a marker on all previously crafted items signifying that the Gift used to craft them has since undergone a major revision.

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Editing Gift Valley Fold

Editing Gift Valley Fold

Valley FoldA beacon to safe haven.

Customize System

Cast Time

Enhancements

Veteran Enhancements

Drawbacks

Customize Flavor and Finish

Visual Description

Extended Description

How will my edits affect things I've already crafted?

Editing Gift
Valley Fold

Editing Gift
Valley Fold