Draw from your Contractor's Paradigm

• The Harbingers' Gifts awaken your Contractor's potential. They are not the source of your Contractor's Power.
• Where do your Contractor's special abilities come from?
  • Was their grandmother a witch?
  • Are they a brilliant inventor?
  • Were they cursed or enchanted by a powerful creature?
  • Have they harnessed an ancient martial art or discipline?
  • Are they unlocking the secrets of some incredible Artifact they've discovered?
  • Are they a werewolf, vampire, or other non-human?
  • Are they secretly an alien?
  • Are they the chosen avatar of some nearly-forgotten god?
• Your Contractor's Paradigm can inspire a variety of Gifts that do not need to be related to their profession.

Draw from your Contractor's Profession

• Contractors start as exceptional-- but mundane-- people, and people need to make a living.
  • Are they an olympic athlete?
  • A successful international arms dealer?
  • A garbage person?
  • A drug dealer?
  • A government spy?
• What does the profession look like when taken to a supernatural level?
  • A musician may have the Power to influence the emotions of their audience.
  • A stage magician may be able to pull more than a rabbit out of their hat.
  • A journalist may have unusual ways to gather dirt on people.
• A profession can inspire many Gifts beyond the mere mastery of an Ability.

What is "useful?"

• The usefulness of a Gift depends on your opportunities to use it.
• Finding Opportunities
  • Sometimes a challenge is presented, and you have a tool for dealing with it.
  • In general, Contractors are tasked with controlling critical situations.
    • They will need to understand the situation.
    • They will need to exert control over the situation.
    • They will need to survive the situation.
  • That said, which challenges are presented depends on the sorts of Scenarios your Playgroup tends to run.
    • If all you do is run fights, combat-based Gifts are going to be more relevant.
• Creating Opportunities
  • More advanced Players learn to apply their Gifts in situations where their use isn't obvious.
  • Some of the most powerful Gifts are only useful if you proactively plan how to use them.
  • For example, a Power to learn where someone sleeps would rarely resolve a Contract directly. However, using that information, you may be able to set a trap for the target, learn more about them, or kidnap their family to hold hostage.

Suggested First Four Gifts

• The "Puzzle Piece" Gift
  • If there is a situation where it would be bizarre if your Contractor failed, this Gift ensures that victory.
    • A chef's Power to make food everyone loves
    • A beastmaster’s ability to control animals
    • A driver’s ability to claim victory in a high-speed chase
• A Combat Gift
  • This is something your Contractor can use in combat AFTER the fighting has started.
  • Contractors don't have to deal with violence by killing things, but if they don't have some way to deal with someone running at them with a knife, they will end up in the Graveyard.
• An Info-Gathering Gift
  • Something that provides unique and useful information.
  • Awareness Effects such as Heightened Senses and Investigative Effects are good choices.
• A Gift that Breaks Rules
  • These Gifts help you create opportunities by breaking the "rules" standard humans abide by.
  • Examples include mobility Gifts that allow reaching new area or influence Powers to control an interaction such as Disguise or Emotion Control.

Pick up a death-cheating Effect.

• Seasoned status unlocks access to certain Effects and Enhancements that allow your Contractor to cheat death. For example:
  • The Inevitable Comeback Effect
  • Permanent body-hopping on Possession Effects
  • Healing the dead on Heal Injury
• Your first priority should be to pick up at least one of these sorts of abilities.
• You have survived and claimed victory in 10 Contracts. You've earned it!

Let's talk Synergy.

• Novice Contractors can get away with having a bag of disconnected tricks.
• If you want your Contractor to properly scale up during Seasoned, you need to start considering how your Gifts work together.
• Use Gifts to minimize the drawbacks and limitations of other Gifts.
• Come up with potent combos that let you do crazy things.
• Don't just sit back and wait for opportunities to use your Gifts. Come up with strategies that you can proactively use in common situations.
• Address your blind spots. How have you been relying on your allies or equipment? If you have a single point of failure, you need to fix that.

Veterans are independent

• The defining feature of Veteran status is the ability to go on solo Contracts.
• To succeed as a Veteran, you must be fully self-sufficient.
• At the same time, politics more relevant for Veterans than anyone. A Contractor who will risk their ass to help you is worth more than any Gift.
• Do you lead an organization yet? Certain goals are only achievable with a lot of help.

Gifts aren't about the Contracts anymore.

• Remember all those years ago when a Harbinger convinced you to risk your life for power? Why did you say yes? Have you changed the world yet? What are you waiting for?
• At this point you need to start thinking bigger than how you're going to survive the next Contract.
• Downtimes are the main event for Veterans. Work with your Playgroups GMs to start shaping the setting in major ways.

Start with inspiration

• A good place to start is to try to recreate spells, items, and powers from other media.
• Start with a clear idea of the fantasy you're trying to achieve.
• Be careful when porting ideas from other games. The Gift Builder is opinionated on mechanics, and it is rarely possible to directly port something's mechanical role into The Contract.
• If you're confused about anything, the entire game is published for free on this website. Check out our Guide for New Players.

Using the Gift Builder is its own skill.

• The Gift Builder is a creative tool. There is often more than one way to build a given concept.
• Hop onto our Discord Server and ask for help from the community.
• Check out the Stock Gifts that the developers have made for inspiration.
• Sometimes a concept that seems singular is best represented by several Gifts.
  • For example, let's say you want to create a Power that gives your Contractor control over plants.
  • A Restrict Effect will allow you to summon grasping roots and vines.
  • An Advanced Movement Effect will allow you to pass through dense underbrush unhindered.
  • An Injure Effect will allow you to fire razor-sharp leaves at your opponents.
  • An Animate effect will let you bring trees to life to carry you around and smash walls.

NPCs don't use the Gift system.

• If you've read the Scenario-writing guide, you know that you do not have to use the Gift Builder to create systems for your NPCs, monsters, or supernatural creatures.
  • That said, it is filled with useful systems that you should feel free to re-use.
• The Gift system is specifically balanced around Contractors, not NPCs.
  • There is no “threat level” comparison between NPCs using Gifts and Contractors who use Gifts, as the relative power levels are highly dependent on the Scenario and context of the encounter.
• Consider the role you want your NPC to play in your Scenario.
  • The most compelling adversaries are not "boss monsters" that sit at the end of some dungeon waiting for the Contractors to burst in and fight them.
  • Your NPC has their own goals and tactics that put them into conflict with the Contractors' objective. They do not need to be evil or hostile, and the conflict between their goals and the Contractors' may only be incidental, or even something that could be resolved with clever bargaining.

How do I balance an NPC's Powers?

• Figure out a set of capabilities that are going to allow your NPC to fill their role in the Scenario.
  • Context: What does your NPC know about the situation? The Contractors? Can they spy on the Contractors to learn their plan before the Contractors can learn about them?
  • Rule-Breaking: Given that your NPC has motivation and context, how can their abilities open up unique strategies? What traps can they set? Can they divide their enemies and pick them off one at a time? Can they access an area others can’t?
  • Combat Capabilities: Rather than raw numbers, think about what sorts of combat situations you want your NPC to do well or poorly in. Can they fight a group of Contractors directly, or are they only deadly in 1v1s? Can they handle being surprised, or do they rely on the element of surprise themselves?
• NPCs built for combat using the Gift system tend to be very “glass cannon."

Using the Gift Builder is its own skill.

• The Gift Builder is a creative tool. There is often more than one way to build a given concept.
• Hop onto our Discord Server and ask for help from the community.
• Check out the Stock Gifts that the developers have made to see if there are any that match the mechanics you're after.

Common Pitfalls

• Sometimes the Effect you want isn't the one you expect.
  • For example if you’re looking for immunity to a particular type of damage, you don't want to use the Immunity Effect; you want to use the Armor Effect.
• Sometimes a concept that seems singular is best represented by several Gifts.
  • For example, let's say you want to create a Power that gives your Contractor control over plants.
  • A Restrict Effect will allow you to summon grasping roots and vines.
  • An Advanced Movement Effect will allow you to pass through dense underbrush unhindered.
  • An Injure Effect will allow you to fire razor-sharp leaves at your opponents.
  • An Animate effect will let you bring trees to life to carry you around and smash walls.

Limitations of the Gift Builder

• The Gift Builder aims to support any Gift concept. It does not support any Gift system.
  • The Gift Builder is opinionated on the systems it creates.
  • It can be impossible to replicate the behavior or powers and abilities from other games.
  • Instead, consider the fantasy and concept of what you're trying to create and create a re-imagined Contract version of it.
• The Gift Builder is a work in progress.
  • Despite its vastness, the Gift Builder is not yet complete.
  • There are several Effects that have yet to be added, including Weather Control, Bargains, and Companion Creatures.
  • If you feel an Effect should be added, join our Discord Server and let the developers know!
• There are a few concepts the Gift Builder specifically does not support.
  • Some Gift concepts run counter to the design philosophies of the Gift Builder and are specifically omitted.
  • In particular, highly flexible Effects (such as ironic curses that behave differently for each individual or "sphere magic" that gives vaguely-defined control over a broad concept) will never be implemented.
  • Remember, each Playgroup can create its own rules, if desired. Just know that your Contractors' homebrew Gifts will NOT be portable if you bring them on a Contract in another Playgroup.

1. Select a Gift Type

• A Gift's Type determines how it manifests. Is it an intrinsic superpower, a unique item, or the ability to craft extraordinary objects?
• Click the "Learn About" button beneath each Gift Type for more information.
• The Gift Types are listed right above this tutorial. Scroll up and select one when you're ready.

2. Select an Effect

• Effects determine the way your Gift behaves.
• Think of Effects as generic systems that support many different concepts and paradigms.
  • The Injure Effect could be used to create a laser blaster, a fireball spell, or a potent poison.
  • The Levitation Effect could be used to create an anti-gravity belt or the ability to sprout wings.
• Sometimes it isn't obvious which Effect you want. If your selected Effect doesn't match your concept well, go back and try another.
  • Our Discord Community can be very helpful as well!

3. Customize your Gift's System

Gifts have strictly-defined systems as well as a Gift Cost based on its overall power level.

First edit the system so that it matches your concept. Then, if you're going to give this Gift to a Contractor, adjust your selections to bring its Gift Cost to 1.

• Fields and rolls provide you with opportunities to customize your system and do not affect its Gift Cost.
• Parameters are drop-downs that adjust balance-sensitive aspects of your Gift's system such as its range or cooldown. They cost one Gift to increase and credit one Gift if decreased.
• Enhancements and Drawbacks are modifiers that change your Gift's behavior. Each Enhancement costs a Gift, and each Drawback credits a Gift.
  • Please note: while the Gift Builder tries to prevent you from taking Drawbacks that do not actually affect the power level of your gift, "double-dipping" is discouraged, and Playgroup Leaders have the right to veto any Gift if they feel it was created in bad faith.

4. Flavor your Gift with a Description

• Your Gift's Description defines how your Gift looks and feels when used.
• Descriptions can have a real gameplay impact.
  • If you've flavored your Injure Power as a fireball, you may not want to use it at a gas station.
  • Descriptions should not affect the capabilities of your Gift beyond the level of Enhancements or Drawbacks.
• A Gift's System is guaranteed behavior. Anything you put in the description is subject to each GM's interpretation.

5. Use your Gifts!

• You know what's even more fun than creating Gifts? Using them!
• The Contract is incredibly easy to pick up and play. Join our Discord Community and keep your eyes peeled for drop-in-friendly newbie sessions. The community runs several each week.

Why is such an elaborate Gift Builder necessary?

The goal of any designer is to create an elegant solution to a problem. While we hope the Gift Builder is dead-simple for Players to use, its design and construction is necessarily complex to achieve our design goals.

Specifically, The Contract's goals necessitate a Gift system that simultaneously enables highly-custom character concepts while utilizing mechanically-specific systems.

• Enable highly-custom character concepts.
  • Contractors must feel unique, and the Player must engage creatively in the construction of their Contractor's kit and concept.
  • This invests Players in their characters, which is critical to telling a compelling story.
• Utilize mechanically-specific systems.
  • Vague, "squishy" systems work for some games, but The Contract requires a specific "crunchy" system to achieve its goals.
  • The Contract is a challenging game that feels fair.
    • A game is challenging if failure is defined, possible, and preventable with skill.
    • Failures that stem from differing interpretations of vague rules feel unfair, and they undermine the Player's skill.
    • Failure (and especially character death) are unbearable in a game that feels unfair, and so the impact or possibility of failure must be minimized.
  • Your Contractor plays the same no matter who is GM.
    • The Contract aims to address the organizational and scheduling challenges common in TTRPGs. Because of this, Contractors must be playable no matter who is acting as GM that day.
    • Specific systems minimize differences between how a Contractor's Gifts behave under various GMs, which is critical because their lives are on the line.
    • Essentially, this means strategic gameplay is steered away from creative interpretation of resources ("what is 'a hammer' anyway?") towards creative utilization of resources ("how can I use this hammer to solve the problem?")

Only this Gift Builder empowers Players to create crunchy systems for any concept, and it does so in a way that aligns with the other gameplay goals of The Contract. The necessary complexity of this system is the reason why The Contract is published as a website instead of a book.

• Note: the Gift Builder is only used between game sessions, and it is the only aspect of The Contract that requires using the website. At game-time, The Contract plays like a normal TTRPG.

What Gifts Do

• Gifts break Contractors free of gritty realism.
  • Contractors are not superheroes. Newbie Contractors get mugged, arrested, and kidnapped. They get in trouble for running their mouths. They lose track of their gear. They wear the wrong shoes.
  • Gifts are the only thing that elevates Contractors above the mundane, and that makes them feel very special.
  • Keeping the mundane, banal obstacles in-tact creates opportunities for strategy.
    • If your western gunslinger is invited to a Contract in the UK and doesn't have a way to bring their guns, well they're going to look pretty stupid until they somehow obtain a gun.
• The focus is on creative problem-solving, not min-maxing numbers.
  • We use numerical systems in The Contract, but obtaining bigger numbers is not the focus.
  • Dice modifiers are used sparingly. Instead, we think of balance in terms of capability and reliability.
  • The Gift Builder tries to enforce that Drawbacks are never "free" and always have a real impact on a Gift's usefulness.
• Minimize Dice rolls. Keep the action moving.
  • Each play session of The Contract is a self-contained mission. Action needs to keep moving so that the game can resolve in a timely manner.
  • Rolling dice is fun and great, but only when it matters. When dice rolls become tedious or pointless, they bog the game and story down.
  • Extensive playtesting during our open Alpha release has allowed us to streamline many systems in subtle ways that are not be immediately obvious. For example, we do not have "action economy bloat" that leads to one Player's turn in combat lasting an extremely long time.
• Encourage interesting action and situations.
  • Using a Gift, whether it succeeds or fails, should always lead to a more interesting situation.
  • Many of the Gift Builder's systems either create interesting situations or encourage Players to apply interesting strategies in order to get the most from their Gifts.
• Balance and Advancement for The Contract's format.
  • A Gift's cost reflects its maximum potential usefulness on Contracts.
  • The ability to cure cancer costs one Gift. Effective, reliable telekinesis costs many Gifts. This is because curing cancer is rarely relevant on Contracts but TK is often useful.
  • Status requirements restrict classes of capabilities to Contractors with a certain number of Victories. This provides Scenario-writers with guidelines on which sorts of challenges Contractors of a particular status might be able to side-step.