Whenever a group of people get together to play The Contract, it is called a Session. Most Sessions require 3–7 people and last 3–6 hours, depending on the group's tastes. You can play with whoever shows up for each Session; it does not have to be the same group each time. 

Each Session, one person assumes the role of the GameMaster (GM), and the rest act as Players. 

Each Player controls a personal character known as a Contractor. Contractors are ambitious individuals who risk their lives in deadly missions in exchange for supernatural powers and a chance to change the world. 

The GM does not play as one of their Contractors. Instead, they act as a referee, controlling the world and the non-player characters (NPCs). They organize the Session, run the mission, and narrate the experiences of the Contractors based on their Players' choices. A different person may act as GM each time you play.

The missions that Contractors attend are called Contracts. Each Contract starts and ends in a single Session. At the end of the Contract, the GM declares whether each of the attending Contractors succeeded or failed.

When a Contractor claims victory on a Contract, they receive a Gift. Gifts take many forms and are custom-made to fit each Contractor's concept. They may be unique supernatural items, superpowers, or the ability to craft extraordinary equipment. Gifts are the primary means of advancement for Contractors. 

About one month of in-game time passes between each Contract. This is called Downtime. Contractors can make Moves on their Downtimes to impact the setting, pursue their ambitions, or resolve threatening Loose Ends from the Contracts. However, Contractors cannot earn Gifts or Experience during their Downtimes. 

Non-Contract Sessions that occur during Downtimes are called Hustles. They may have as few as a single Player and may even not require a GM. 

The Contract takes place in a setting called The Illumination. 

The Illumination is an alternate version of modern-day Earth that is mostly the same as the world we live in. However, in The Illumination, unexplainable phenomena are not relegated to myths and legends. Werewolves actually exist, miracles sometimes happen, and aliens really did land in Roswell (unless you believe the government's story about the weather balloon). 

Phenomena that science cannot—or has not yet—explained are collectively referred to as "supernatural." These incidents are exceedingly rare; most people go their entire lives without witnessing a supernatural event firsthand.

And that is where the story would end, if it weren't for the internet. 

The internet connected humanity, and smartphones put a camera in everyone's pocket. Starting in 2004, photos and videos of the supernatural started going viral online. Tales of paranormal encounters that would once have been written off as unhinged ramblings now come with video evidence. Despite the rarity of the supernatural, pictures and videos showcasing such phenomena go viral every week. When this happens, it's known as an "illumination."

But can those illuminations be trusted? Hoaxes are common, as are charlatan scam artists and would-be messiahs. The question of "what is real?" looms large in the zeitgeist, inviting everyone to ignore evidence and invent their own understanding of the world around them. 

You can read more about The Illumination in the Setting Guidebook. 

While The Illumination is The Contract's official setting, most of the game's content and systems work for any modern, urban fantasy setting. Each Playgroup may choose to play in any setting, whether it be The Illumination, something borrowed from other media, or even a unique world of their own creation.

Players create and play characters known as Contractors. These are ambitious, competent individuals who willingly risk their lives on Contracts in exchange for power. They face the illicit and unexplainable each month for an opportunity to become something greater and change the world.

All Characters controlled by the Players are Contractors.

Each Contractor is unique. They may be a witch that lives in the woods, a social media influencer with incredible persuasive skills, a stock broker who makes deals with demons, or anything else. Their supernatural Powers and Equipment are unique and tailor-made to fit their Character concept.

Any group of Contractors is a grab bag of big personalities, diverse backgrounds, and conflicting ambitions. They are united by a common goal, to survive and claim victory on each Contract. 

Contractors almost always start out as mundane humans with no supernatural abilities. Certain character-creation options for advanced Players allow Contractors to begin their first Contract with a Gift or a paranormal background, or even as another species.

When someone becomes a Contractor, they are Imbued. Imbuing alters how they learn, makes them more resilient to mental trauma, and gives them an uncanny ability to escape death (called Will to Survive).

Players fill out and maintain a Character Sheet for each of their Contractors. A Character Sheet defines its Contractor's status, capabilities, and weaknesses. For example, Contractors have Attributes that define their core competencies and Abilities that describe their skills and knowledge. Players assign numerical values to Attributes and Abilities during character creation.

Players often maintain several Contractors, but they can never play more than one at a time. No two Contractors owned by the same Player may ever meet or communicate with each other.

Contractor Status

Contractors are divided into several Statuses based on the number of Contracts they've won. 

• Newbie: 0–3 victories
• Novice: 4–9 victories
• Seasoned: 10–16 victories
• Professional: 17–24 victories
• Veteran: 25+ victories

As a general rule, Contractors can only attend Contracts with Contractors of a similar Status. Only Veteran Contractors can play in solo Contracts.

Harbingers are the mysterious administrators of the Contracts. Their role is to find or create deadly challenges to test the Contractors, invite them to Contracts, lure them into accepting, and sometimes transport them to the site where the Contract takes place. 

Harbingers pay in the form of extraordinary Gifts. However, like the monkey's paw, the Harbingers never offer full satisfaction nor directly solve a Contractor's problems (though they may sometimes cause them). 

Harbingers are as powerful as they need to be to accomplish these goals and aren't required to have pre-established stats or Gifts. 

Rules of Engagement

• A Harbinger cannot attack a Contractor unless attacked first.
• A Harbinger cannot force any Contractor to go on a Contract.
• Harbingers must provide transportation to the location of a Contract for Newbie Contractors, if needed.
• Harbingers never pay in advance.

The Powers That Be

The Harbingers themselves are organized by a shadowy conspiracy known simply as The Powers That Be. Even the Harbingers can only guess at The Powers' true identities or purposes.

What is known is that they reward a rare few and reward them well. How they select candidates is as large a mystery as why. Some think the Contractors are being prepared for an imminent apocalypse. Others believe the "Masters" are merely sadists.

Contracts are deadly missions organized by the Harbingers. Like the Contractors that attend them, each Contract is unique. Their locations, objectives, and complications vary wildly. Contractors may be asked to do anything from capturing a monster to performing corporate espionage—or even to simply survive.

Contractors are not selected to attend a Contract based on their specific skills and talents. Harbingers are distinctly not trying to form "the perfect team" for each challenge. Instead, Contractors must adapt, using their resources and wits to compensate for the shortcomings of their groups. 

Contracts are tests. Contractors who fail do not deserve Gifts. Contractors who die are unworthy.

Playing Contracts

Contracts are the primary unit of gameplay in The Contract. Each Contract starts and ends in a single play session. In order to play a Contract, you need one GM and at least two Players. 

Before the Contract begins, the GM declares which Contractor Status is permitted: Newbies (0–3 victories), Novice (4–9 victories), Seasoned (11–16 victories), Professional (17–24), or Veteran (25+ victories). The Players then select which one of their eligible Contractors to bring. 

The GM runs a Scenario where the Players' chosen Contractors are approached by a Harbinger (or one of their messengers), invited to participate in a Contract, briefed on their objective, and set loose to accomplish their task. At the end of the Contract, the GM declares which of the surviving Contractors succeeded or failed. 

Participating in Contracts is the main way to Advance a Contractor's stats and Gifts. Players and their Contractors can also earn rewards through activities that foster a high-quality, sustainable Playgroup, such as GMing, writing Scenarios, or writing in-character Journals. However, these "extra-credit" forms of advancement are strictly limited by the Contractors' victory count, ensuring that meaningful reward requires risk. 

Participation in a Contract is always voluntary for both Players and Contractors. However, once a Contractor accepts the Harbinger's invite, they may not find it easy to back out.

Scenarios are resources that describe how to run a particular Contract. Think of them like sheet music for a musical performance or a recipe for a meal.

Spoilers

If a Player learns details about a Scenario—usually because they played in it—it is considered "spoiled" for them.

Players are not allowed to play in Contracts are spoiled for them. Depending on the specifics of the Scenario and the GM, they may have the option to play an NPC Ringer.

Discovering Scenarios

Any time you Play in a Contract, you "discover" it, and it is added to your Scenario Collection. 

Discovering a Scenario has the following benefits:

• You may view the Scenario's write-up and notes from GMs about their experience running it.
• When acting as GM, you may run the Scenario as a Contract for any group of Players who haven't been spoiled.
• You may read any in-character Journals that other Players have written about their Contractors' experiences on it.

Unlocking Stock Scenarios

Stock Scenarios are Scenarios written by The Contract's developers to get new Playgroups started. Here is a list of Stock Scenarios and how to add them to your Scenario Gallery:

• Bobasaurus- is available to all Players for free, registered or not. Note that GMs can't rely on the website to determine if a Player is spoiled on Bobasaurus because Players may view it when logged out.
• Sanctuary - Create a Playgroup
• Passing the Hours - Play a Contractor in a Contract
• Beware the Assassin - GM a Contract
• Monster Hunter Island - Lose a Contractor on a Contract

Finally, the Scenario used in the How to Play guide, See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Smell no Evil, is available to everyone for educational purposes but should not be run because it is spoiled in the How to Play guide.

You can also discover Stock Scenarios by playing in them.

Writing Scenarios

GMs are encouraged to write their own Scenarios. There is an extensive guide in the GameMaster's Manual.

GMs who write up a Scenario (with at least 1,000 words) and run them as a Contract earn an Improvement for one of their Contractor's Gifts. These Scenarios can also be submitted to the Community Scenario Exchange, which allows Scenario writers to share their Scenarios with people they've never played with.

New 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 what elevate Contractors beyond the mundane.

When a Contractor claims victory on a Contract, they are rewarded with supernatural abilities and/or equipment called Gifts. Gifts are the reason Contractors risk their lives on the Harbingers' missions and the primary means of advancement in The Contract.

A Contractor’s Gifts are an awakening of their latent potential and are unique to each individual. 

New Gifts can only be acquired from claiming victory on a Contract, but Improvements for existing Gifts can be earned in several other ways (see Gift Credits and Improvements). These improvements are limited by a Contractor's number of victories, so you must play your Contractor to advance.

The Gift Builder

Players construct their own Gifts between sessions using The Contract's unique Gift Builder.

The Contract's Gift Builder allows Players to create custom Gifts that are balanced AND behave consistently no matter who is acting as GM.

Each Gift has a specific, predetermined behavior, but their effects are drawn from a mind-boggling array of possibilities. This means that any Contractor can gain access to the sorts of powerful abilities you’d hope a character with their concept would have. This is as true for generic archetypes (e.g. sorcerers, ninjas, super-soldiers, werewolves) as it is for more unique concepts (e.g. stage magician, graffiti artist, plumber, basket-weaver, anything you feel inspired to create).

Examples of Gifts can be found on the Stock Gifts page. Stock Gifts can be customized or granted to a Contractor as-is. 

See Building Custom Gifts for more guidance on how to create custom Gifts. 

Contracts don't happen immediately after each other. Instead, Contractors have time in between Contracts (generally a month) during which they can recover, train, and pursue their ambitions. This is called Downtime. 

During a Downtime, Contractors can train to improve their Abilities and Attributes (by spending Experience), open up to a therapist to treat their Traumas, Craft consumables and artifacts at their Crafting Location, tie up Loose Ends, or make Moves to realize their ambitions. Or they can simply hang around and wait for their next Contract. 

New or casual Players are often content with only playing their Contractors in the Contracts. However, experienced Players and Contractors often engage in extended, structured Downtime activities such as Moves and Loose Ends.

Hustles

Any roleplay that occurs outside of a Contract is called a Hustle.

Unlike the Harbingers' Contracts, Hustles vary widely and do not have any predefined structure. No Experience, Gift Credits, or Improvements are awarded to participants, and they do not need to be recorded.

While simple conversations between Contractors usually don't require a GM, a GM should be present any time Dice are to be rolled. In contrast, some Structured Downtime activities require substantial GM preparation and/or several Hustles to resolve. 

The Passage of Time

By default, about one month of in-game time passes between the Contracts run in a Playgroup. If a Contractor misses a Contract in their Playgroup (because their Player couldn’t make it or chose to play a different Contractor), then a single Downtime may last longer than a month.

This longer Downtime can be useful when it comes to healing, since Injuries heal two Severity levels per month. However, mechanics which are limited per-Downtime (such as Crafting or Journals) are still limited, regardless of how long a Downtime lasts.

Playgroup Leaders may adjust the passage of time to move slower or quicker for their Playgroup. Large Playgroups with 10+ active Players usually prefer to track time per-Contractor rather than per-Contract. 

A Playgroup is, intuitively, a group of Players who regularly play The Contract together. A Playgroup is also a group of Contractors that share a setting. 

Playgroup Leaders act as the head GM for their Playgroups, settling disputes, approving Gifts, and generally preventing shenanigans. They are empowered to edit the Character Sheets of the Contractors in their Playgroup, record or void Contracts, and define their Playgroup's setting. Some Playgroups opt to use a tribunal of the three most experienced GMs instead of a single Playgroup Leader.

The GameMaster's Manual includes a guide on Leading a Playgroup.

The Contract's website provides an extensive host of tools that Playgroup Leaders can use to build and manage their communities including configurable roles and permissions, a newsfeed-style record of World Events that occur in the world of the group, membership management, and links to external communities. 

Creating a Playgroup is as easy as filling out the form! You can create as many as you'd like.

Visiting Other Playgroups

Campaigns in other tabletop roleplaying games are treated like board games that last many sessions: you need the same group every session, and it's laughable to consider bringing your game piece to another group's game. 

You can certainly play The Contract in a similar way. However, The Contract's structure and Gifts make it easy to bring your Contractors to Contracts run by other Playgroups. Think of Contractors more like decks of Magic: The Gathering cards that can be played with whoever you find yourself with. This style of play is key for enabling large, online-only Playgroups.

Contractors live their lives in their home Playgroup's setting, but Harbingers from other settings may invite them to join Contracts in their Playgroups. If the Contractor accepts, they are transported to the Harbinger's setting to participate in the Contract and are returned to their home setting when the Contract concludes. Contractors may earn Gift Credits (or die) while visiting another Playgroup.

A Contractor visiting another setting is only guaranteed to have access to their base stats and Gifts. If your Contractor happened to find a spellbook during a Downtime that allows them to cast fireballs, they may not have access to it while visiting another Playgroup.

Downtimes are always spent in the Contractor’s home setting.

What Website? This one. The one you're on. 

TheContractRPG.com is far more than an online Player's Guide. It's The Contract's primary platform and a community hub. 

The website does three things:

1. Make The Contract as accessible and easy to learn as possible. 
2. Allow Players to craft custom Powers and Equipment (Gifts) for their Contractors that are balanced, flavorful, and behave consistently no matter who is GMing. 
3. Empower GMs and Playgroup leaders to manage large, inconsistent groups.

Features that make the game easy-to-learn include this easy-to-search Player's Guide, the interactive How To Play guide, online Character Sheets, and looking-for-group pages. Players are notified when their Contractors have Experience and Gifts to spend, and contextual rule references and hover text make frequent trips to the Player's Guide a thing of the past. 

To empower Playgroup Leaders, we make it easy for Players to form their own groups with customizable roles and permissions, their own news feed for world events, and fully automated record keeping. In addition, GMs can easily vet Contractors they've never seen before, and Players can more easily find groups and Contracts that match their personal preferences. 

Finally, the crown jewel of the website is the Gift Builder. No other tabletop roleplaying game offers balanced, custom powers and equipment that behave consistently no matter who is GMing. 

The website can be utilized as much or as little as you'd like. The Contract can be played online or in person, and all Character Sheets and Gifts can be printed with the press of a button. 

Gameplay in The Contract is a lot like playing an intense game of “what if?” 

The GM places the Players’ Contractors into hypothetical situations with an objective. The Players can ask the GM for more details about what their Contractors see, declare how they'd like their Contractor to act, and have in-character conversations (using the words their Contractor would use, and sometimes even their voice).

After a Player declares what they’d like their Contractor to do, the GM narrates the results. When the stakes are high or the outcome of an action is uncertain, the GM uses the rules in this book to help them determine what happens in a fair, impartial way. 

The story is about the Contractors, but the gameplay challenges the Players.

Players direct their Contractors based on what they believe the character would do. Usually, the Players' and Contractors' motivations are aligned: both want to survive the Contract and claim victory. To do so, the Players must come up with inspired tactics that allow their Contractors to overcome the Contracts' challenges. Your cleverness as a Player often matters more than your Contractor's stats or your mastery of the system.

Although GMs usually run Contracts from Scenarios, the story of each session is not predetermined. Rather, it emerges from the unique ways that Contractors with big, clashing personalities navigate the challenges of the Contracts. Contractors are allowed to take any reasonable action, whether or not the GM anticipated or had a plan for it. Never fool yourself into thinking you’re “supposed to” do anything. Using clever or extreme tactics to side-step obstacles is the point of the game!

Knowledge is power. The key to handling the critical situations encountered on Contracts is knowing what the hell is going on. Learning what the hell is going on is part of the game.

Players are not entitled to any information beyond what their Contractors can learn in-game. They do not get to know details of upcoming Contracts nor the stats or systems of the NPCs, creatures, or phenomena they encounter.

Player: “Can that monster take my head off with a single bite?”

GM: “Looks like it.”

Player: “Is the blob-creature finally dead?”

GM: “Well, it’s not moving. Do you know how to take a blob’s pulse?”

Player: “I didn’t know it could do that!” 

GM: “Well now you do!” 

Likewise, Players are not obligated to reveal anything about their Contractors to each other. They are not required to share their motivations or justify why they are taking any action. They don't need to make a character that is going to fit in with the group’s dynamic, and they don’t have to reveal their grand ambitions to a group of Contractors—each of whom has their own angle and may later become an ally, rival, or enemy. 

Everything a Player knows that their Contractor doesn’t is considered out-of-character (OOC) information. While Players are not entitled to OOC information nor obligated to share it, such information does inevitably spread. Whether by choice, accident, or the rotation of the role of GM, people will learn things that their Contractors don’t know.

Some Playgroups and Players care more about the spread of OOC information than others. New Players and casual, trusting groups tend to not mind it, while more hardcore groups keep it as locked down as possible.

Using OOC tactics and information while playing is called metagaming, and it is against the rules.

If you would like to learn more about metagaming and how to avoid conflicts between Players and the GM, read this Conflicts in Gameplay article.

Playing The Contract can be an intense experience.

When intense experiences are good, they're transcendent, but in the rare cases when they're bad, they're horrendous. To avoid having a truly bad time, Players must communicate when they need to take a break or step away from the game. The worst experiences occur when people-pleasing Players try to “power through” a bad time without telling anyone. 

The people playing The Contract determine its content. However, the system itself supports gritty violence, emotional trauma, and death.

Playgroups should discuss and agree upon their desired tone, deadliness level, and content limits before they play. We recommend employing one or more RPG Safety Tools when playing with new people, especially if you don't understand why such tools are useful.

It’s fun to set Contracts in locations everyone is familiar with. Who doesn't want to have a big action sequence on the Golden Gate Bridge or the Brooklyn Tunnel? 

When using real-life locations, the GM has the final say on the in-game reality. 

The in-game version of that location may be different from the real-life version. It may have different stores or different weather. Players should verify with the GM that any information they know about the real-life setting is true in-game. 

In short, your Contractors’ Google results are the canonical ones, not the ones on your real-life smartphone.

The same is true for in-game characters based on real people. They are completely separate entities with public and private lives that may be very different from their real-life versions. Similarly, some people who exist in real life do not exist in the game, and vice versa. 

When a Contractor fails a roll, either they suffer a consequence and have a chance to retry, or their failure carries over to all future attempts at the exact same action until they try a significantly different tactic.

Let's look at some examples:

Failing to Climb results in the Contractor falling and potentially taking Damage. It makes sense to allow Contractors to retry climbing the wall if they're willing to risk falling again.

Failing to kick down a door does not have any serious consequences, and so the result should be final. The GM could narrate the result as: "You kick the door several times and then try to rip off the handle without any luck. Finally, you take a few steps back and slam your shoulder into the door with a running start. Now you're tired, your shoulder's sore, and the door's still there. If you want to break it down, it looks like you'll need tools." 

Failing to pick a lock could go either way. The GM could allow retries if they levy a consequence like the lockpicks breaking off in the tumbler or setting off an alarm or trap. Or the GM could simply rule that the lock is beyond the skills and tools of the picker. 

In Combat, things are a little different. All actions take time, and in Combat, time is of the essence. That means all failed actions in Combat have consequences. Instead of narrating kicking down a door as a series of attempts that takes a while, it would be fine to treat each kick or body slam as a separate attempt. After all, each time they fail, the zombie horde grows closer.

Those mathematically-inclined Players may notice that this means an endeavor has a slightly higher chance of succeeding in Combat than out of Combat. Blame it on the adrenaline of being in a life-or-death fight.

When a character enters a contest of skill or their action is resisted, it is a Contested Action. Examples include sneaking past a guard, dueling, or competing in a race.

In Contested Actions, both the initiator and the defender make a roll. The defender's Outcome is subtracted from the initiator's, reducing it to a minimum of 0. Because of this, ties favor the defender.

The resulting value is the Contested Outcome. A Contested Outcome greater than 0 is considered a complete success for the instigator.

Each character may have a different roll. For example, sneaking past a guard would be Dexterity + Stealth versus Perception + Alertness. The default Difficulty for contested actions is 6, but this can be modified by the GM as normal, often resulting in Difficulties that are different for each participant. For example, if it is very dark or noisy, the guard might be asked to roll their Perception + Alertness check at Difficulty 7 or 8 while the intruder's roll remains at Difficulty 6.

If not specified, the standard Difficulty for all rolls is 6. Certain Weapons and Gifts may specify a different Difficulty. 

If a Contractor does not have any rank in a roll's relevant Ability, or if no relevant Ability exists, they may roll using only the relevant Attribute at +1 Difficulty. 

For example, if you are attempting to perform an emergency blood transfusion, you would normally roll Intellect + Medicine (Difficulty 6). If you had no ranks in Medicine, you may roll only Intellect, and the Difficulty will be 7.

Difficulty can be increased or decreased by situational factors at the GM's discretion. For instance, investigating a dark room with your cell phone's flashlight would be rolled at +1 Difficulty. Trying to stay afloat in a hurricane with a life vest would be rolled at -2 Difficulty (though a swimming race might be at a higher Difficulty instead). 

The final Difficulty cannot be reduced below 4 or exceed 9. If the Difficulty of a roll would ever exceed 9, it remains at 9 and your total dice pool is reduced by the overage. For example, a Difficulty 12 roll with 6 dice would be rolled as a Difficulty 9 roll with 3 dice. 

Some Gifts, items, or Conditions may give characters a bonus to certain dice pools. Bonuses to the same dice pool do not stack. Instead, the highest value is used.

For example, let's say you have a Power that lets you transform into a werewolf and grants you +1 dice to Brawn rolls in that form, and you also have a different bonus that gives you +3 dice to Brawl attacks. When you roll to bite someone, your dice pool would be Brawn + Brawl + 3 dice (the higher of the two bonuses). 

All dice pools are also subject to the character's Penalty, which commonly results from Mind Damage and Injuries. Unlike dice bonuses, dice penalties DO stack, reducing the dice pool to a minimum of 2.

Creating a Contractor is simple. First, a Player comes up with a character concept and fills out a Character Sheet. Next, their Playgroup Leader will approve the sheet or request changes before the Contractor can be played.

Filling out a Character Sheet is an easy process using the online Character Sheets. Simply visit the Create Contractor page and follow the on-screen instructions.

There is also a printable, blank Character Sheet that can be filled out. However, if your goal is to use paper sheets, we still recommend creating your Contractor with the online Character Sheet and then printing out the result using the "Download or Print" button at the top of the completed sheet.

Both the online and printed Character Sheets provide enough guidance that you should not have to read further to create a Contractor. Read on for deeper explainations of each element of the Character Sheet. 

Playgroup Leaders are responsible for approving Contractors created in their Playgroup. For Contractors attending a Contract in another Playgroup, the GM may allow or disallow their attendance at the start of a Contract at their discretion.

Each Contractor should have a clearly defined character concept which informs both how they behave as well as the sorts of Gifts they will end up using. A good concept has three pieces: Archetype, Paradigm, and Ambition.

Archetype

Archetype is the Contractor's none-supernatural niche and style. Professions, dominant personality traits, and subculture memberships make good Archetypes. 

Click the "Random Archetype" button below for examples. 

Paradigm

A Contractor's Paradigm describes their latent supernatural potential. It guides the sorts of Gifts they will receive and defines how their Powers work, although Contractors can also receive Gifts related to their Archetype or Ambition. 

Click the "Random Paradigm" button below for examples.

Ambition

A Contractor's Ambition is their driving goal. Why do they risk their life for power? The best ambitions are lofty or impossible to achieve and put the Contractor into conflict with the setting's status quo.

Click the "Random Ambition" button below for examples.

After coming up with a Character concept, it's time to actually fill out the Character Sheet. 

Filling in the Blanks

A series of blanks at the top of the sheet give critical at-a-glance information about your Contractor. These include their name, age, ambition, and archetype. Filling them in should be self-explanatory. 

Selecting Limits

Next, you must select three Limits for your Contractor. Limits define situations that test your Contractor's ability to cope. Normal humans have the following three Limits by default: Anguish, Atrocities, and Murder. Other options are provided to enable different Character concepts, such as psychopaths, zealots, and faeries. 

See the Limits section for details.

Attributes and Abilities

Attributes and Abilities define your Contractor's capabilities. The higher their values, the more likely you are to succeed at the Actions you attempt.

Attributes are rated from 1–5. A rating of 2 is average, and a rating of 5 is world-class. Although Attributes are expensive to increase, they are used in every roll, and their ratings are referenced in many mechanics.

Abilities are rated from 0–5. A rating of 0 means your Contractor is untrained, a rating of 3 is professional-level, and 5 is world-class.

You must use Experience (Exp) to increase your starting Attributes and Abilities. 

New Contractors start with 150 Experience.

The cost to increase an Attribute is its current rating x 5 (so buying the second level costs 5 Exp, and buying the third costs 10 more Exp for a total of 15 Exp). Abilities cost 2 Exp for the first level, and then 2x their current rating after that.

The costs to advance a stat when creating a Contractor remains the same after the Contractor has started earning Experience from participating in Contracts. 

All unused Experience is saved and can be spent during any Downtime.

During Character Creation Players may select various Assets and Liabilities to further customize their Contractors. Assets grant beneficial Conditions and Circumstances, while Liabilities grant negative Conditions, negative Circumstances, Battle Scars, and Traumas. 

All Assets and Liabilities have an Exp value. Taking an Asset costs its value in Exp. In contrast, taking a Liability credits its value in additional Exp. 

Assets and Liabilities are separated into three categories:

• Physical, which represent specific physical capabilities or defects such as being double-jointed, deaf, or missing a leg.
• Background, which represent aspects of the Contractor's backstory such as wealth, contacts in the criminal underworld, or having been raised by wolves.
• Mental and Emotional, which represent the Contractor's mental or emotional state such as the ability to rationalize their behavior, an overriding belief in the sanctity of life, a jaded outlook that leaves them resistant to emotional control, or an innate trust of others.

Additionally, some Assets and Liabilities are Restricted, meaning that they can only be taken with the approval of your Playgroup Leader.

Most of the Conditions, Circumstances, Battle Scars, and Traumas granted by Assets and Liabilities can also be acquired during Contracts and Downtimes.

Changing Assets and Liabilities

Via Gameplay

The Battle Scars, Traumas, Conditions, and Circumstances granted by your Contractor's Assets and Liabilities are not "protected." They may be lost, mitigated, or changed by the events of Contracts and Downtimes. In such cases, the Experience you have spent/received from taking the relevant Assets and Liabilities does not change.

For example, let's say you start with the Rich Asset, which grants a Circumstance that makes you rich. If you later get caught breaking a bunch of laws or someone destroys the source of your wealth, then you may lose that Circumstance. The Experience you spent on that Asset will not be refunded when you lose it.

Similarly, if you start with the Liability One Eye, which grants a Battle Scar, a fellow Contractor may use a Gift to heal that Battle Scar. Doing so would remove the Liability at no Experience cost.

Via Editing your Character Sheet

Acquiring some Conditions and Circumstances don't demand the events of a Contract or making a Move; all they require is time investment. In these cases, Playgroup Leaders may approve Players to edit their Contractors' Assets and Liabilities after Character Creation, allowing them to purchase them with Experience. 

Experience (Exp) represents the time Contractors spend improving themselves during the Downtime between Contracts. 

The Contract's website automatically calculates and tracks all Exp a Contractor earns or spends, so most people don't need to concern themselves with the specifics.

Earning Experience

When a Contractor accepts their first invitation to participate in a Contract, they are Imbued by the Harbinger. This Imbuing alters how Contractors learn, allowing them to advance at an incredible rate—but only after participating in a Contract. If they do not participate in any Contracts, they will likely stagnate, regardless of their efforts.

A Contractor receives Experience when they:

• +3 Exp - Attend a Contract in their home Playgroup.
• +1 Exp - Attend a Contract outside of their home Playgroup.
• +2 Exp - Claim victory on a Contract. 
• +2 Exp - Are the Contractor selected by the GM to earn additional Commission at the end of a Contract.
• +1 Exp - Writing an in-character Journal at least 250 words long, describing a past Contract or the events of a Downtime.
  
  • Journals can award a maximum total of 2 Exp per Contract attended.

For example, if a Contractor attends a Contract in their home Playgroup and claims victory, they earn 5 Exp. If they are also selected for Commission, they receive a total of 7 Exp from that Contract. If a Contractor attends a Contract outside of their home Playgroup and fails, they receive only 1 Exp.

Finally, all brand-new Contractors start with 150 Exp that they use to fill out their initial stats.

Earning Bonus Experience

You can earn Experience for your Contractors even when you're not playing them. Bonus Experience can be assigned to any of your living Contractors and spent as normal. You cannot grant Bonus Experience to a Contractor if their total earned Experience is greater than 10 + (number of victories x 12).

You may earn Bonus Experience for your Contractors by:

• +6 Exp - GMing a Contract where one of the following conditions are met:
  
  • Into The Fold: It was one of the attending Players' first Contract ever (the first Contract entered into the website).
  • The Golden Ratio (optional): At least one Contractor dies and at least one Contractor claims victory. This is turned off for Playgroups by default, but your Playgroup can choose to enable it if they prefer a deadlier setting.
• +4 Exp - Playing an NPC Ringer that fulfills their major purpose during a Contract.
• +2 Exp - GMing a Move and then writing a summary of its events (at least 250 words).

Spending Experience

The cost to increase a trait by one level is as follows:

• Attributes: current rating x5 Exp
• Abilities: 2 Exp for the first rank, then current rating x2 Exp
• Source: current rating x2 Exp

For example, if your Brawn is at 2 and you want to raise it to 3, you must spend 10 Exp. 

Experience may also be used to:

• Purchase an Asset: point value x3 Exp. Requires Playgroup Leader approval after your Contractor's first Contract.
• Remove a Liability: point value x3 Exp. Requires Playgroup Leader approval after your Contractor's first Contract.
• Treat a Trauma with therapy: 3 Exp.
• Craft a Consumable item from a Gift: 1 Exp.
• Craft an Artifact from a Gift: Exp equal to 1 + the Gift Cost.

Contractors who do not have access to a means of training a particular Ability or other trait cannot spend Experience to advance it. For example, a Contractor in prison cannot train to increase their Firearms Ability, and a Contractor living in a cave in the wilderness may have trouble accessing therapy to treat their Traumas.

Contractors may write in their Journals for bonus Experience and Improvements. Writing an in-character Journal at least 250 words long for a Contract or for the Downtime between two Contracts rewards 1 Exp. Every fourth Contract Journal (not Downtime Journal) awards an Improvement instead. 

When you post a Journal on the website, you may mark it as containing spoilers for the relevant Scenario. If you do so, only Players who have spoiled the relevant Scenario (usually by playing in it) will be able to read them. On the flip side, once you have spoiled a Scenario, you can read all Journals ever written for it by any (non-private) Contractors. They are available to read on the Scenario's page in the "Contract Record" section.

As of July 2023, Players of The Contract have written over 2400 Journals for their Contractors. The most recent ones can be found on the Community Journals page, and the rest can be found via Character Sheets or Scenarios. 

To write in your Contractor's Journal, go to the Character Sheet of a Contractor who has participated in at least one Contract and follow the blue link at the top of their character sheet or in the Story tab.

Limits represent events or choices which could be traumatic to a Contractor. During Character Creation, Contractors begin with three Limits.

Normal, well-adjusted humans have these three Limits:

• Anguish
  If you are ever tortured or made to experience an extended period of physical or mental agony, make a Trauma roll.
• Atrocities
  Make a Trauma roll if you ever witness a humanitarian atrocity such as massacre, torture, extreme abuse etc.
• Murder
  Make a Trauma roll if you ever kill someone for a reason other than immediate self-defense.

Contractors with abnormal psychology—such as sociopaths, zealots, or aliens—may choose from a selection of alternative Limits or create their own. Custom Limits are subject to Playgroup Leader approval.

Crossing Limits

Sometimes you must compromise your values to win.

If a Contractor crosses one of their Limits, their Player must make a Trauma Roll (roll Mind Difficulty 8, Penalty applies). Failing a Trauma Roll causes either Mind Damage or a new Trauma (GM's choice).

A Contractor's Attributes represent their raw, intrinsic capabilities, absent any sort of knowledge or special training. The five Attributes are Brawn, Dexterity, Perception, Charisma, and Intellect.

Attributes have major gameplay implications. The number of dice a Player rolls when one of their Contractors attempts a risky or unsure action is determined by adding their rating in one Attribute and one Ability. All Attributes also have secondary mechanical benefits.

Increasing an Attribute's rating by one costs its current rating x 5 Exp. For example, increasing Brawn from 2 to 3 would cost 10 Exp. 

Attribute Ratings

The Attributes of humans are rated on a scale of one to five, with two being average and five being world-class. 

1. Poor
2. Average
3. Above average
4. Superb
5. World-class

List of Attributes

Brawn

Brawn represents a character's overall strength and stamina. Athletes, bodybuilders, boxers, and similar sorts of people tend to have high ratings in Brawn. Children, the elderly, and nerds tend to have lower ratings. 

Brawn is often paired the Abilities Brawl (punching, grappling, absorbing blows, small weapons), Melee (use of swords, clubs, etc), and Athletics (jumping, dodging, sprinting, etc).

Mechanics Affected by Brawn

• A character's rating in Body (physical fortitude) is equal to 5 + (Brawn / 2, rounded up).
• Brawn affects Encumbrance.
  • A character may carry up to (15 x Brawn rating) pounds without being encumbered. Characters suffer a -1 dice and -5 feet Movement penalty every 15 pounds they carry over their limit. 
  • Even encumbered characters can still move slowly until they reach their lifting and hauling limit.
• Brawn affects sprinting speed. In each Round of Combat, after a character has used their Free Movement, they may move an additional 5 feet and incur a -1 penalty a number of times up to their Brawn rating. 

Intellect

Intellect represents a character's overall capability to form new connections, remember details, and draw upon their knowledge. Professors, mathematicians, and innovators have high ratings. Petty criminals, suckers, and long-term addicts have lower ratings. 

Intellect is often paired with the following Abilities: Occult, Culture, Technology, Science, and Medicine.

Mechanics Affected by Intellect

• A character's rating in Mind is equal to their Intellect + Charisma + 1, with a maximum of 9.
• If a Player forgets a detail, the GM refers to their Contractor's Intellect when determining whether or not they remember it. 

Dexterity

Dexterity represents a character's overall speed, precision, and flexibility. Circus performers, pickpockets, and athletes are likely to have high Dexterity, while klutzes, sedentary people, and the elderly likely have low ratings. 

Dexterity is often paired with the following Abilities: Firearms, Athletics, Thievery, and Stealth.

Mechanics Affected by Dexterity

• In each Round of Combat, a character may take "free" movement on their Initiative before or after their Action. They may travel (5 + 5 x Dexterity rating) feet during this free movement without incurring a dice penalty.
• At the start of combat, a character's dice pool for their Initiative roll is calculated by adding their Perception and Dexterity. (This is the only roll that combines two Attributes). 

Perception

Perception represents a character's overall awareness and attention to detail. Investigators, survivalists, police officers, and thieves often have high ratings, while office workers, bookworms, and absent-minded people often have lower ratings. 

Perception is often paired with the following Abilities: Investigation, Alertness, and almost any other Ability when used to notice some domain-specific detail. 

Mechanics Affected by Perception

• At the start of combat, a character's dice pool for their Initiative roll is calculated by adding their Perception and Dexterity. (This is the only roll that is a combination of two Attributes). 

Charisma

Charisma represents a character's overall social aptitude and intuition about people. Detectives, politicians, actors, and attractive people tend to have high ratings. Shut-ins, misanthropes, and people on the autism spectrum tend to have lower ratings. 

Charisma is not 100% analogous to how likable a character is. Some people with a great understanding of others simply don't want to be charming and approachable, even though they could.

Charisma is often paired with the following Abilities: Investigation, Alertness, Influence, Animals, and Performance. 

Mechanics Affected by Charisma

• A character's rating in Mind is equal to their Intellect + Charisma + 1, with a maximum of 9.
• Gifts that are in any way social (e.g. Emotion Control, Fascinate, Suggestion) must use Charisma in their rolls. 

Abilities represent a character's special training, honed skills, and learned knowledge. 

When a Contractor attempts an action that requires a roll, the number of dice used is calculated by adding their rating in an Ability to a relevant Attribute.

Rating

A character's rank in a given Ability is rated on a scale of one to five. Unlike with Attributes, possessing even a single point in an Ability indicates some competence in the field. 

1. No special training
2. A passing familiarity or minimal formal training
3. Hobbyist or novice 
4. Baseline professional
5. Leading professional
6. World-class

Seasoned, Professional, and Veteran Contractors may purchase an additional 6th rank in an Ability. In addition to increasing their dice pool, any rolls that utilize an Ability with a rating at 6 cannot have an Outcome lower than 0.

Primary Abilities are the default set of Abilities listed on the Character Sheet. 

The Create Character page and all Character Sheets list the Primary Abilities; you can see them all there if you prefer (hover the cursor over each Ability to see a description). They are also listed here, along with a brief summary of how they function.

• Alertness
  A trained vigilance of your surroundings, suitable for soldiers, police, assassins, etc.
• Animals
  Knowledge of animals, including identification, training, zoology, and handling.
• Athletics
  Used for swimming, climbing, running, dodging, jumping, throwing, sports, etc
• Brawl
  Used for unarmed combat, grappling, and very small weapons.
• Crafts
  Used for building, repairing, sculpting, tools, etc.
• Culture
  Knowledge of pop culture, humanities, history, languages, social sciences, etc.
• Drive
  Used for driving cars, motorcycles, electric scooters, etc. If you drive regularly, you should have one point.
• Firearms
  Used for guns and crossbows, firing and general knowledge.
• Influence
  Persuasion, intimidation, lying, and trickery (usable only on NPCs or to avoid metagaming)
• Investigation
  Forensics, tracking, online or offline research.
• Medicine
  First aid, care, anatomy, surgery, etc.
• Melee
  Close range handheld weapons, from knives to clubs to battle-axes.
• Occult
  Knowledge of mythology, legends, religions, rituals, pop-culture magic, etc. This ability does not grant supernatural powers by itself.
• Performance
  Acting, singing, dancing, working a crowd, etc.
• Science
  Physics, math, chemistry, biology, etc.
• Stealth
  Sneaking around, hiding things, misdirection
• Survival
  Skills relating to obtaining food, water, and shelter as well as avoiding danger in natural environments.
• Technology
  Knowledge of computer systems, machines, and devices, including advanced use, programming, and hacking
• Thievery
  Sleight-of-hand, lock-picking, pickpocketing, and other actions demanding manual dexterity.

Not all conceivable actions fit easily into one of the Primary Abilities. In such cases, the GM determines what to roll. If there is something a Contractor absolutely needs to be good at that isn't well-represented by a Primary Ability, consider using a Secondary Ability. 

Players can also invent their own Abilities when creating or advancing their Contractors. These are called Secondary Abilities, and they're more specific than the default Primary Abilities. To balance their reduced scope, they offer a -1 Difficulty reduction any time they are rolled in place of a Primary Ability. You can invent as many as you'd like.

Secondary Abilities must be more specific than Primary Abilities ("Being Badass" is not a valid Secondary Ability). Secondary Abilities do not grant supernatural powers. 

Mechanics of Secondary Abilities

When a Secondary Ability is used for a roll, its rating is added to an Attribute to determine the roll's dice pool. Secondary Abilities may be rolled in place of Primary Abilities in two circumstances.

1. The Secondary Ability's specialization applies. In such cases, the roll is made at -1 Difficulty. 
   • This -1 Difficulty reduction does not apply to attacking, Defending, dodging, or Gift activations.
2. The Secondary Ability's specialization doesn't directly apply, but it implies skill in the relevant action. In such cases, the Player may roll their Secondary Ability at +1 Difficulty.

The GM decides whether or not, and how, a Secondary Ability applies to a given Action.

Example Secondary Abilities

These are a few examples of Secondary Abilities. There are infinite possibilities. 

Conditions and Circumstances are free-form elements on the Character Sheet that track a Contractor's status and situation, respectively. 

Conditions and Circumstances come with their own systems for how they affect a Contractor. Some are easy to get rid of, while others last a lifetime.

There are no blanket mechanics that affect all Conditions and Circumstances. No Gifts directly grant or remove them. Instead, they're consequences of the events of Contracts and Downtimes.

If a Contractor visits another Playgroup for a Contract, the hosting GM determines which of their Conditions and Circumstances are available in the new setting, if any. This ensures that the only advantages Contractors bring along are balanced by Exp and the Gift system, and it allows hosting GMs to prevent visting Contractors from "contaminating" their setting.  

Acquiring Conditions and Circumstances

Some Conditions and Circumstances are granted by Assets and Liabilities, but most are acquired over the course of gameplay during Contracts and Downtimes. 

Several stock Conditions and Circumstances are provided, but GMs, Scenario-writers, and Playgroup Leaders may also invent their own. 

Stock Conditions and Circumstances

Below are lists of premade Conditions and Circumstances. These are only examples, and GMs are free to create their own that are unique to their Playgroup's chosen setting.

Each Contractor's Character Sheet has a space to detail their Equipment in the Stock tab. Players manage the contents of this field. They can bring anything their Contractor would reasonably have access to and would desire to bring. Crafted Artifacts are tracked in their own separate space on the Character Sheet.

Restricted objects such as drugs or military weapons require special connections to obtain. These connections can be made via roleplay or with the Stockpile or Arsenal Assets.

While some GMs may be charitable, if your Contractor doesn't have something written in their Equipment list, they don't have it.

Carrying a small amount of gear won't cause any dice penalties, but if you bring too many things, you will become Encumbered, and your movement is reduced.

Equipment designed for combat such as Weapons and Armor often have additional stats and systems that can be found in those sections of the guide.

Equipment Denial

Some Contracts and Circumstances may dramatically restrict a Contractor's access to their Equipment. For example, they may be teleported to the site of the Contract in their pajamas. This is entirely fair and acceptable. Crafted Artifacts and Legendary Artifacts may be stripped or stolen just as easily.

Trophies

Trophies are special—often supernatural—items obtained during a Contract or Downtime. Unlike crafted Artifacts or standard equipment, Trophies may be assigned any system or significance that the GM sees fit and are tracked separately on the Character Sheet.

Like Conditions and Circumstances, Trophies are only guaranteed to function within the Playgroup where they were obtained.

Body represents a Contractor's physical fortitude and overall health. Body is depleted by Injured, which can lead to an increased Penalty, or, in severe cases, death.

A Contractor's rating in Body is equal to 5 + (Brawn / 2, rounded up). A fit human will thus have a Body rating of 7, while hulking brutes will have 8 Body and weaklings 6.  The character sheet on The Contract website calculates this automatically, but here's a table:

Rolling Body

GMs may call for a Body roll when a Contractor's physical endurance is tested, such as when resisting poisons, diseases, or air deprivation. This is one of the only three rolls in The Contract that is not made by pairing an Attribute and an Ability (the others are Mind rolls and Initiative rolls).

The number of dice rolled in a Body roll is equal to the Character's permanent Body rating (5 + Brawn / 2, rounded up) but is reduced by their Penalty, as normal. Unless stated otherwise, the Difficulty is the standard 6.

Depleting Body

The overall effect of a Contractor's current Injuries is summarized by depleting their Body. The amount of Body depleted is equal to the Severity of their worst Injury plus the number of other Injuries they have. A Contractor's Body will heal over time, depending on the Severity of their Injuries, but particularly brutal injuries can cause permanent and debilitating Battle Scars.

If a Character's Body is fully depleted, they are Incapacitated - they cannot move on their own, automatically fail any Actions that requires a roll, cannot activate any Gifts, and can only speak at a whisper. If they are Injured beyond Incapacitated, they die.

Whenever a character takes Damage, they receive an Injury. Injuries deplete the character's Body, and taking too many Injuries causes Death.

An Injury's Severity rating determines how deadly it is, how difficult it is to stabilize, and how long it takes to heal. Injuries of Severity 4 or greater cause Battle Scars and will worsen until properly Stabilized.

An Injury's Severity is equal to the amount of damage taken when it was received. For example, taking six damage grants a Severity six, Critical, Injury.

Healing

The Contract has two rules for standard healing, and it's up to each Playgroup to decide which rule to use. Arcade is more forgiving and casual, Gritty is more, well, gritty. 

Gritty: Each time a month passes, all of your Injuries are reduced in Severity by 2 levels. If you have three Severity three (Threatening) Injuries, they will have all reduced to Severity one (Minor) Injuries after a single month. How this healing rate manifests depends on how your Playgroup treats the passage of time. Usually, a month passes each time a Contract occurs in a given Playgroup.

Arcade: All of your Injuries received on Contracts heal 2 Severity levels for activities on the following Downtime and heal fully before your next Contract. Any Injuries received on a Downtime do not heal before the next Contract but instead count as being received on that following Contract.

Will to Survive

Once per Contract you may reduce an incoming Injury’s Severity by up to 4 levels (to a minimum of Severity 4). You take a point of Mind damage and suffer a Major Battle Scar that always remains after the Injury is healed, regardless of Stabilization.

You must use Will to Survive as the Injury is taken, after Damage is calculated and before the Injury is recorded on your sheet.

You cannot use Will to Survive against falling Damage.

Not all Injuries heal cleanly. Battle Scars represent disabilities and disfigurements caused by Injuries. For example, a severed hand, a lost eye, or a wheezing cough. Battle scars that are not properly treated are permanent and can only be removed through relevant Gifts. 

Taking an Injury Severity 4 or greater causes a Battle Scar 

• Severity 4: a Minor Battle Scar
• Severity 5: a Major Battle Scar
• Severity 6: a Severe Battle Scar 
• Severity 7+: an Extreme Battle Scar

The specifics of the Battle Scar are usually decided when the Injury is treated (see Stabilization). However, GMs may choose to apply an untreatable Battle Scar immediately if the narrative demands it (for example, if a Contractor’s arm is run over by a steam roller). 

An Injury worsening in Severity does not cause a new Battle Scar or restart degradation.

Penalties from Battle Scars do not stack with wound Penalty. Instead, the highest penalty is used. 

A Contractor’s rating in Body is reduced by 1 for each Battle Scar after their fourth.

Example Battle Scars

The online Character Sheets provide a helpful selector for pre-made Battle Scars complete with systems, however GMs may design custom Battle Scars as well.

Minor Scars (Severity 4)

• Chronic Pain (Your Penalty is always at a minimum of -1.)
• Disfigured (All social rolls are made at +1 Difficulty. The Asset Beautiful is suppressed as long as you have this Battle Scar)
• Missing Fingers (You are at a -1 die penalty for any roll utilizing the affected hand.)
• Tinnitus (You suffer a -2 dice penalty to any roll which benefits from hearing. You cannot distinguish the words of others in loud situations.)
• Wheezing (You cannot shout or raise your voice above a whisper. After physical activity, you wheeze loudly and suffer a -2 dice penalty on Stealth rolls.)

Major Scars (Severity 5)

• Enervated (Each tiring physical action you take causes a -1 Penalty that lasts 15 minutes and stacks with all other penalties (including itself).)
• Limp (Your movement speed is reduced by half.)
• Lost Hand (Any Actions requiring the affected hand fail automatically. You are -1 to -3 dice on any rolls to perform Actions which require two hands, depending on the Action.)
• Missing Foot (Your movement speed is reduced by half.)
• Mute (You cannot speak or sceam.)
• One Eye (All Perception rolls utilizing sight are rolled at +2 Difficulty. Any Actions involving depth perception are rolled at +1 Difficulty.)
• Soft Spot (A specific spot on your body was previously injured and is now extremely vulnerable to further attacks. Called shots against your soft spot do +2 damage. If an attack hits you which could conceivably hit your soft spot, roll 1d10 at Difficulty 6. If you fail, the attack hits your soft spot and does +2 damage.)
• Vertigo (You suffer a -3 dice penalty to any rolls which involve balance or grace.)

Severe Scars (Severity 6)

• Deaf (You automatically fail all rolls which require hearing and are at -3 dice for multisensory rolls.)
• Missing Arm (You are -2 to -4 dice on any rolls to perform Actions which require two hands, depending on the Action. Athletics rolls are made at +1 Difficulty.)
• Missing Leg (You move at one quarter movement speed with a prosthesis or aid. You cannot Dash or Sprint.)

Extreme Scars (Severity 7+)

• Blindness (Any rolls which require sight are automatically failed, and any Actions which would be made easier by sight are rolled at between +1 and +3 Difficulty, depending on the Action.)
• No Hands (You do not have functional hands. Any Actions which require manual dexterity automatically fail. Any actions which would be assisted by having hands are rolled at between +1 and +3 Difficulty.)
• Paraplegia (You cannot effectively move without a wheelchair or other bulky mobility device.)

When a character's Body is reduced below zero or they are otherwise killed, that character is immediately considered dead and cannot take any more Actions or use any more Gifts. 

GMs may allow dying characters to speak a few final parting words to their teammates before they pass on. There is no better send-off than cradling someone in your arms and listening to their dying wish, their largest regret, or offering support as they slip from this life to the next.

Resurrection

It can be tempting to meta-game or justify a Contractor death away, but Harbingers consider dead characters to be losers not worth the effort, regardless of what the players want. There are some Effects which can situationally prevent your death, but true resurrection is extremely rare, and when allowed at all, involve hefty penalties and terrible costs.

Coins of Charon

These are awarded when one of your Contractors dies in a Game. You may use a coin of Charon to start a new Contractor with a single Gift Credit. 

Death on the Website

You can declare the death of any Contractor you can edit via their Character sheet. They cannot be played in any Games while dead and will appear in the Graveyard. You can void a Contractor's death from the "Edit Obituary" page on the Character Sheet. Any Contractor who has had a death Voided will have a notice appear on their sheet informing prospective GMs of the Contractor's history, to help avoid shenanigans.

Mind represents your Contractor's mental and emotional fortitude.  Mind is rolled to cope with potentially traumatic events and to resist urges and outside influences. It also acts as a sort of "health pool" for short-term mental wellbeing.

A Contractor's rating in Mind is equal to Intellect + Charisma + 1, with a maximum of 9. An average human will thus have a Mind rating of 4-6, while the enlightened will have 8-9, and the especially weak-willed, 3.  The character sheet on The Contract website calculates this automatically.

Mental Damage

Mental Damage is caused by Exertion, failing a Trauma Roll, or certain supernatural attacks. A partially depleted Mind contributes to a Character's Penalty, and a fully-drained Mind is incapacitating.

Mind recovers at the rate of one point per night of restful sleep.

Rolling Mind

When a Contractor's mental fortitude is tested, they must roll Mind. This is one of the only three rolls in The Contract that is not made by pairing an Attribute and an Ability (the others are Body rolls and Initiative rolls).

The number of dice rolled in a Mind roll is equal to the Character's permanent Mind rating (Intellect + Charisma +1, maximum of 9) but is affected by their Penalty as normal. Unless stated otherwise, the Difficulty is the standard 6. 

A Trauma Roll is a special kind of Mind roll, which is made if a Contractor violates any of their Limits. A Trauma Roll is made at Difficulty 8. Failing or botching a Trauma Roll causes either one point of Mind damage or the development of a new Trauma.

A Self-Control Roll is another sort of Mind roll. Like Trauma Rolls, Self-Control rolls are made at Difficulty 8. However, failing a Self-Control roll compels your Contractor to behave in a certain way and does not grant Mind damage or Traumas. Self-Control Rolls are triggered by Traumas. 

Traumas represent long-term mental health issues such as phobias, delusions, compulsions, and other instabilities.

Obtaining Traumas

Traumas are caused by crossing a Limit and failing the Trauma Roll or via supernatural attack. Think of them as Battle Scars for the mind. 

A Trauma Roll is triggered when a Contractor crosses one of their Limits, as well as by certain Liabilities and Gifts. They must make a Mind roll at Difficulty 8, standard Penalty applies. Failure or a botch results in either a new Trauma or a point of Mind Damage (at the GM's discretion). 

GMs and Players often work together to come up with the new Trauma, but the GM has the final say.

Impact of Traumas

Most Traumas outline some triggering circumstance where a Contractor may lose control. When this situation arises, the Contractor must make a Self-Control Roll (Mind, Difficulty 8) to maintain control. Failing a Self-Control Roll causes the Contractor to behave in a way they otherwise wouldn't, but it does not cause an additional Trauma or Mind damage.

A Contractor's Mind rating is reduced by 1 for each Trauma after their fourth. A Character with 6 Mind and 7 Traumas would effectively have 3 Mind. 

Curing Traumas

Due to the Imbued status of Contractors, Traumas can be cured by spending 3 Experience and engaging in therapy during a Downtime. Therapy involves opening up to a counselor about the circumstances that led to the Trauma. They may also be removed without an Experience cost using certain Effects.

Good Traumas can be tricky to invent. Ideally, they are related to the situations that caused them and have a systemed gameplay impact. Usually a Trauma will specify a situation in which a Player must roll Mind to maintain control of their Contractor. Failing a Trauma's Mind roll can have extremely dangerous consequences. 

Below are a few stock Trauma types that can easily be adapted.

Delusions

A delusion is type of psychotic disorder, manifested as a belief that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by reality or rational argument. A Contractor with a delusion must roll Self-Control in order to recognize a fact over their delusion or to make any decision based on facts rather than their delusion.

Compulsions

A Compulsion manifests as a specific activity or behavior which the Contractor feels compelled to do, and is frequently unable to stop themselves. When the Contractor has an opportunity to fulfill their compulsion, they must succeed a Self-Control roll to resist the urge.

Phobias

A type of anxiety disorder which manifests as an overwhelming fear. Phobias are always unreasonable or are a rational fear taken to an unreasonable level. When the Contractor encounters the subject of their phobia, they must succeed a Self-Control roll or enter a fight-or-flight response.

Examples

When the chips are down and the stakes have never been higher, a Contractor can Exert themselves, channeling their willpower into a single Action at the cost of their mental state. 

Exertion comes at a cost. Exerting the Mind causes a single point of Mind Damage. Any Penalty from that Mind Damage does not apply to the roll you Exerted to make. 

Uses of Exertion

• Before rolling, a Contractor may Exert to gain +1 to the Outcome of a roll and ignore their Mind and Body Penalty for the Round.
  • Exertion cannot used for Initiative rolls, Trauma rolls, or purely "passive" rolls (like noticing something that you weren't watching out for).
• Activating many Gifts requires Exertion.
  • A point of Source may be spent in lieu of this cost, if available. 
• Desperate Defense: If you have already spent your Action for a given Round and have not Exerted yourself, you may Exert your Mind to Dodge or Defend against an incoming attack. Your next Action is performed at a -2 dice penalty.

Limits of Exertion

• A Contractor cannot Exert themselves more than once per Round. That means that Exertion benefits cannot be stacked, and you cannot Exert yourself after activating a Gift if you Exerted yourself to activate it - though if you spent a point of Source on your Gift activation, you will still be able to Exert your Mind during that same round.

A Contractor's Penalty is the sum of the Mind and Body penalties caused by taking mental and physical damage. All of a Contractor's dice pools are reduced by their Penalty, to a minimum of two dice. 

Penalty also affects movement in Combat. Free movement is decreased by 5 feet per point of Penalty to a minimum of 5 feet. 

A Contractor may ignore their Penalty for one Round by Exerting themselves.

Calculating Penalty

A Contractor's Penalty is automatically calculated by the Online Character Sheets and appears between their Mind and Body ratings. If you are using pen and paper, refer to the following tables and add the Contractor's Mind and Body penalty together to obtain their total Penalty. 

Body

The penalty from Injuries is as follows:

Mind

The Penalty from Mental Damage and Exertion is as follows:

Source is an additional resource all Contractors automatically receive when they get their first Gift. Points of Source can be spent in place of Exertion to activate any Gifts which require Exertion. 

Each Contractor's Source pool can be renamed to match their paradigm. For example, a pyromancer that fuels their Gifts with their inner rage may have a Rage pool, a vampire might have a Blood pool, etc.

Source pools start with a capacity of 1. This capacity can be increased by spending (current rating x 2) Experience Points during a Downtime.

Source regenerates at a rate of one point per day.

In addition replenishing daily, experienced Contractors may specify one or more conditions under which their Source will immediately regenerate a single point. For example, killing someone, receiving an Injury, howling at the moon, converting someone to their ideology, or saving a life.

• Novice Contractors may specify one replenishment condition with a one day cooldown. 
• Seasoned Contractors have the cooldown of their replenishment condition lowered to one hour.
• Professional Contractors may specify a second replenishment condition. All conditions have a one hour cooldown, tracked separately. 
• Veteran Contractors may specify a third replenishment condition.

Contractors receive Gift Credits as rewards, which can be spent to obtain a new Gift, or to increase the effectiveness of an existing Gift. Improvements are like Gift Credits, but they can only be spent to improve an existing Gift, not to unlock a new one.

Earning Gift Credits

• Victory: A Contractor that claims Victory in a Contract gains one Gift Credit. 
• Charon Coins: If a Contractor dies during a Contract, their controlling Player is given a Coin of Charon. A coin may be spent when creating a new Contractor to grant them a single Gift Credit before they've been invited to their first Contract.
• Gifted: At Character Creation, Contractors may start with a single Gift Credit by taking the Gifted Asset.  This is restricted and requires Playgroup Leader approval.

Earning Improvements

• Writing Game Journals: A Contractor earns an Improvement for every 4 Contract Journals they write. 
• GMing a Contract grants one Improvement. The GM decides which of their Contractors receives the Improvement. 
• Submitting Scenarios: A Gamemaster may earn an Improvement for submitting a completed Scenario write-up.  The Scenario must have been run as a Contract at least once, and the writeup must be at least 1000 words long. They may choose which Contractor this Improvement is assigned to.

Improvement Limits

A given Contractor is limited to a number of Gift Credits and Improvements equal to twice the number of Contracts they have won. For example, if your Contractor has been victorious 7 times, you may spend at most 7 Improvements on them, since they have already received 7 Gift Credits. 

Note, the Asset Gifted and Charon Coins count as Gift Credits towards this limit, so if you have won 7 Contracts but you started with a Charon Coin, you may spend at most 6 Improvements before you hit the cap.

Every Gift you make has a Gift Cost associated with it. This is the primary method of ensuring that Gifts are generally balanced across all Contractors and Playgroups. The Gift Cost is displayed within the Gift Builder as you are creating a new Gift, and is also displayed alongside each Gift on a Contractor's Character Sheet.

Each Enhancement you add to a Gift will increase the Gift Cost by 1. Conversely, each Drawback will decrease the Gift Cost by 1. Increasing and decreasing the level of a Parameter will similarly increase and decrease the Gift Cost by 1. Finally, some Activation Styles will either increase or decrease the Gift Cost.

A Gift may only be given to a Contractor who has enough available Gift Credits and Improvements to match the Gift's Cost. Generally speaking, this means that when a Contractor completes a Contract and gets a new Gift, it must have a Gift Cost of 1, since Contractors only receive a single Gift Credit per Contract as a reward.

Contractors who have appropriate Gifts may craft supernatural items during their Downtimes. There are two types of crafting available to Contractors, Consumable Crafting and Artifact Crafting, each of which has specific rules about crafting.

Every Downtime, Contractors receive 1 free Consumable for each of their Consumable Crafting Gifts. Additional Consumables cost 1 Experience each. Contractors get a single free Artifact when they gain a new Artifact Crafting Gift, but otherwise Artifacts cost an amount of Experience equal to 1 + its Gift Cost.

Spending a Gift Credit or Improvement to improve an existing Consumable Crafting or Artifact Crafting Gift will grant an additional free copy of that specific Consumable or Artifact.

Crafting Locations

A Crafting Location is a specially-prepared location where a Contractor performs their crafting, such as their home, laboratory, or wizard’s tower. If you do not have access to your Crafting Location (for example, if it is destroyed or you are imprisoned), you cannot Craft. If you have the freedom and materials, you may spend a Downtime creating a new Crafting Location instead of Crafting.

Each Contractor receives a single free Crafting Location with their first Artifact Crafting or Consumable Crafting Gift.

Creating a custom Gift is easy.

1. Come up with an idea for a Gift that fits your Character Concept.
2. Visit the Gift Builder page and select a Gift Type and Effect that matches the idea you just conceptualized.
3. Select Enhancements and Drawbacks and adjust Parameters and Activation Style to customize the Effect to your liking.
4. If the Gift costs more than one Gift Credit, add Drawbacks and adjust Parameters until it has a Gift Cost of 1 (it can be improved in the future).
5. Fill out the Gift's Visual Description to establish its flavor and make it clear to any GMs how the Gift will look when it is used during a Contract.
6. Name the Gift, and add a cool Tagline if you can think of one.

Congratulations, you just made a Gift!

The first thing you do when creating a Gift is select its Gift Type.

A Gift's Type represents the way it manifests. There are four different Gift Types to choose from. Not all Effects, Enhancements, and Drawbacks are available for each Gift Type.

Powers

Powers are a Contractor's bread and butter. They can represent something innate to the Contractor themselves, or the ability to channel power from the world around them. 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 some form of equipment, making them the most reliable.

Examples of 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.

Legendary Artifacts

Legendary Artifacts are high-risk and high-reward. They are unique, one-of-a-kind items, stronger on average than Powers or crafted items. However, they can be lost, destroyed, or even stolen by other Contractors, as well as temporarily stripped by the GM in some circumstances. 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. 

Examples of Legendary Artifacts Include:

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

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

Consumable Crafting

Consumable Crafting Gifts allow your Contractor to create single-use items that can be shared and traded around. Consumables grant an Effect once before being 'consumed', but they do not require any Exertion to activate.

Consumables can only be crafted during the Downtime between Contracts. Each Downtime, Contractors can craft one of each of their Consumables for free, and additional Consumables may be crafted at a cost of 1 Experience each. Spending a Gift Credit or Improvement to improve an existing Consumable Crafting Gift will also give you an extra free Consumable.

Examples of 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.

Artifact Crafting

Artifact Crafting Gifts allow your Contractor to create powerful, long-lasting items. Crafted Artifacts can be bartered and traded to other Contractors, rivaling even the Gifts they receive from the Harbingers. However, the cost to create these artifacts is steep.

Upon receiving a new Artifact Crafting Gift, you may craft that artifact once for free. You can also craft a free copy any time you improve an Artifact Crafting Gift by spending an Improvement or Gift Credit. Otherwise, Artifacts can only be crafted during Downtime, and it costs your Contractor an amount of Experience equal to 1 + it's Gift Cost.

Examples of 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.

Using Looted and Stolen Artifacts and Consumables

Anyone who witnesses someone using an Artifact or Consumable may use it in the same way if they take possession of it.

Anyone who does not witness an Effect being used may research the Artifact or Consumable with an Intellect + Occult or Science roll (whichever is flavor-appropriate for the item) at Difficulty 7 to research its potential uses. An Outcome of 6 is required to learn how to use all of the Effects. You may research once per month and the Outcome accumulates.

Effects define what the Gift does (e.g. injuring someone, memory manipulation, investigating an individual, etc).

When building a Gift, it is crucial to identify this element within your concept. For example, if your vampire assassin character wants to remain unseen while stalking their prey, the core thing which this Gift does is make them hard to detect, so you would use the Obscure Effect. If your alchemist wants to develop a lethal poison, the ultimate goal is to hurt some, so they might want the Injure Effect - however, if they prefer to slowly debilitate their target over time, Afflict might serve their purposes better.

Any given Effect can be used to create a vast number of mechanically and flavorfully distinct Gifts. There are currently over 90 unique Effects available in The Contract. Each Effect is further customized through using whichever Activation Styles, Parameters, Enhancements, and Drawbacks are available for it.

Some Effects have different possible methods of implementation which are meaningful enough that they must be mechanically differentiated; these are called Activation Styles. There are four possible Styles an Effect can have:

• Activated: An Effect with the Activated Style requires the user to do something, generally Exert their Mind and/or spend an Action, to activate the Effect. These generally impact the user directly, rather than the people around them.
• Targeted: An Effect with the Targeted Style requires the user to select a target and do something, generally Exert their Mind and/or spend an Action, to activate the Effect. These impact the people and world around the user, though they can also sometimes be self-targeted.
• Trap: An Effect with the Trap Style is placed by the user, and is then triggered later by something else.
• Passive: An Effect with the Passive Style is always on, without requiring any Action or Exertion to activate. These generally impact the user directly, rather than the people around them.

Most Effects only have one or two Styles available, and it is chosen during Gift creation.

In some cases, changing the Activation Style of a Gift can either increase or decrease the Gift Cost.

Many Effects have Parameters. These represent a linear progression of balance-relevant values. Examples include the range at which the Gift can be used, or the time it takes to activate. Increasing a Parameter by a level will also increase the Gift Cost by 1, and vice versa.

Parameter values are generally restricted based on Contractor Status to keep Gifts balanced at all levels.

Enhancements and Drawbacks are the primary means of customizing the mechanics of your Gift.

Enhancements and Drawbacks can fundamentally alter the default behavior of an Effect. Each Enhancement you take increases the Gift Cost by one, and each Drawback decreases it by one. As such, their effects are significant. 

The generic effect that comes with each Effect can be underwhelming, but you can quickly increase the potency of the Gift by taking Drawbacks. Be careful about taking too many Drawbacks; an unusable Gift is not fun. We recommend taking no more than three on any given Gift.

Simple dice bonuses and roll modifiers are not common. We make an effort to supply Enhancements and Drawbacks that enable a variety of flavors and concepts, and cause interesting gameplay and story situations. 

Some Enhancements and Drawbacks are available on several Effects, but many are unique to a given Effect.

A Gift's Description is extremely important. Here you must describe, in non-mechanical terms, what the Gift is, what it looks like when used, and any other details you wish to establish. 

The text you enter here can have real, significant, in-game impacts. For example, when creating a Gift with the Injure Effect, you may choose to flavor it in many ways. If you put "hurls a ball of white-hot fire" in the Description, your Gift may behave very differently in-game than if you put "causes the target's internal organs to fail." The mechanics (dice, damage, etc) will be the same, but there may be significant secondary effects to using a fireball at, say, a gas station. 

Likewise you may establish additional limitations on your Gift, if desired. For example, if you specify "Preston must flourish his hands and shout 'Magic Missile!'", then a hand flourish and a shout are now officially required to activate the Gift. 

The amount of freedom provided by the Description field is limited balance-wise to what could intuitively be called less than a "Gift Credit's worth" of impact. Refer to the Effect's Enhancements and Drawbacks for reference. You can never specify mechanical modifiers in the Description. Playgroup Leaders have the final say as to whether or not a given Gift's Description goes too far. Players should act in good faith and not abuse the freedom afforded by the Description field. 

GMs must respect the Description text of a Gift, but they are free to use their discretion in the extent of its effect. A fireball-flavored Injure Gift can reasonably be expected to detonate an open can of gasoline, but the GM is well within their rights to say that it cannot light a building on fire. The only part of a Gift that is truly sacred and not subject to GM discretion is the System Text, which is derived from the Effect, Enhancements, Drawbacks, and Parameters.

Treat the Description field as you would your equipment list. If you want to establish something, do it up-front. GMs can fill in the blanks you leave at their discretion (though it is bad form to be malicious or go against the intent of the Gift). Providing more detail will always result in a more consistent, well-defined Gift. 

The final three elements of the Gift Builder are the easiest to fill out when creating a Gift.

The System Text describes the mechanical rules of a Gift. Each Effect has a default System Text, which is then modified through the various customizations you make. The Gift Builder will automatically populate the System Text for you, including any modifications from Parameters, Activation Style, Enhancements, and Drawbacks. It is useful to double check this text before saving your Gift, to make sure it has the mechanical impact you intended. 

Finally, your Gift needs a Name! This can be whatever you like, though it is helpful for anyone looking at your character sheet if the name is related to the actual Gift you've made. The Tagline field is optional but it can be useful to introduce the Gift in a fun and flavorful way.

There are a few important restrictions on the Gifts that a Contractor can take.

1. They must be created using the Gift Builder

In general, winning in a Contract allows you to create a single Gift using the Gift Builder on this website. Playgroup Leaders can, if they wish, create House Rules which allow for alternate systems for making Gifts, or can even grant rewards which aren't Gifts at all, but a Contractor who has Gifts or rewards that are not created through the Gift Builder or are made using alternative systems will be locked to their own Playgroup.  This rule is very important for ensuring a balanced game and for allowing Contractors to be portable.

2. Your Character must be eligible to receive the Gift

A Contractor can only receive a Gift with a Gift Cost equal to the number of Gift Credits and Improvements they have available to spend.  The online Character Sheet keeps track of total Gift Credits and Improvements earned, as well as the total cost of all Gifts on a given Contractor, and an alert will pop up on any Character Sheets which are out of balance.

Some Effects, as well as some Enhancements and Parameter levels, are restricted to only Contractors who have achieved a certain Status.  This prevents Newbie and Novice Contractors from having access to overly powerful Gifts, and also restricts access to Effects and Enhancements which would significantly impact game design - for example, the Intangibility Effect is restricted to only Veteran Contractors (25+ wins), because the ability to walk through walls would make a large number of potential Scenarios much more difficult to design.

3. They must fit the Character's concept

Contractors should strive to take Gifts which fit within their Character Concept.  The Contract does not have a "class" system to restrict what Effects a character has access to; instead, players are free to match any Effect with any Character, as long as it can be justified in some way.  This rule is subjective and flexible, and exists primarily to encourage well thought-out, cohesive Contractors rather than prohibit experimentation and fun.

4. Playgroup Leaders can veto Gifts

Playgroup Leaders are responsible for checking on Gifts within their Playgroup to make sure players are following these guidelines.  Additionally, Playgroup Leaders can veto a Gift for any number of other reasons, and can even prohibit Contractors from other Playgroups from going on Contracts in their Playgroup if the Contractor's Gifts are problematic.  Some examples of this include:

• The Gift violates a house rule
• The Gift's Description has too many balance implications or was not created in good faith
• The Gift abuses the freedoms afforded by the Gift Builder to nullify Drawbacks, create an infinite combo, or is otherwise unbalanced due to shenanigans
• The Effect is restricted due to the Playgroup's chosen Setting (e.g. Hack may be restricted in a cyberpunk Setting)

Time in Rounds

Each Round of Combat lasts approximately three seconds of in-game time. During a given Round, each character has a chance to act, taking turns in an order determined by rolling Initiative. This turn-taking helps make sense of the chaos of combat, but in-game, these actions are all happening at roughly the same time.

The Action Economy

When Players are in Combat, they usually want their Characters to do as much as possible on their turn. The Action Economy determines how much a given character can do in a given Round. 

In a given Round, each character gets one Action or Reaction, and one Movement. 

• Actions: The primary thing a character does in the Round is their Action, whether they're attacking, activating a Gift, throwing a road flare, etc.
• Reaction: When attacked, Defending yourself (or counterattacking with a Clash) uses up that Round's Action.
  • Desperate Defense: If you have already spent your Action for a given Round and have not Exerted yourself, you may Exert your Mind to Dodge or Defend against an incoming attack. Your next Action is performed at a -2 dice penalty.
• Movement: Characters get a certain amount of Free Movement each turn. Moving farther or over difficult terrain can use up their Action. 
  • Characters can move before OR after their Action on their initiative. They cannot split their movement to move, attack, and then move more.
• Free Actions:  Speaking, making faces, and other effortless activities count as Free Actions. They do not cost any dice, but you are limited to three seconds of Free Action per Round. You can only take Free Actions on your turn.

At the start of Combat, each character rolls Initiative to determine their place in the turn order. 

An Initiative roll is Dexterity + Perception, difficulty 6. This roll is affected by dice Penalties, and Exertion cannot be used to ignore the Penalty or to gain +1 to the Outcome. 

The result of the Initiative roll is used for the duration of Combat. Characters act in order of highest to lowest Initiative Outcome. Ties are broken by the size of the characters' Initiative dice pools, then by the GM's discretion. A negative Outcome on an Initiative roll has no result other than a poor position in the turn order. 

Special Cases

• Ambushes: A character who is ambushed or caught flat-footed automatically loses Initiative. For example, if you round a corner to find guards waiting for you with rifles leveled, you've been ambushed.
• Sneak Attacks: If a character not in Combat makes an attack while undetected, it is considered a sneak attack. This always requires succeeding on a contested roll of the attacker's Dexterity + Stealth versus the victim's Perception + Alertness. A successful surprise attack grants a free Attack which takes place before Initiative is rolled.  A surprised target cannot make a Reaction.
• Hostages: One character is holding another hostage with a weapon. If the hostage attempts to break free, roll Initiative as normal. If hostage-taker decides to kill their hostage, they get a Sneak Attack on the hostage at -2 Difficulty that cannot be reacted to. Then Initiative is rolled. 
• Mexican Standoffs: Two or more characters have readied actions to kill each other. The first attack is considered a Sneak Attack and cannot be reacted to, then initiative is rolled. Any character that attacks the target they were already aiming for gets -2 Difficulty on their attack. 
• Mass Combat: See the Mobs Article for guidance on how to manage Combats with many participants.

An Action is what a character does in a given ~3 second Round. 

The most common Actions are:

• Attacking
• Using equipment
• Activating a Gift
• Sprinting, driving, climbing, or performing difficult movement

However, characters can choose to take any Action they'd like. 

Actions that do not normally require a roll will often equire one in combat due to the time pressure and higher stakes. You may be able to climb a tree no-problem normally, but can you do it while the police are shooting at you?

Long Actions

Some tasks can't reasonably be performed in 3 seconds and so take multiple Actions. The GM informs the Player how many Actions their intended task might take. 

Because Combat tends to last only a few Rounds, it's not worth judging precisely how many Actions it will take to perform any task that takes longer than 9 seconds or so.

If a Contractor wants to pick a lock or make an omlette during Combat, they'll be doing that until Combat ends and for some time after that.

An Attack represents an all-out attempt to kill your target.

To make an Attack, pick a target in range, specify how you'd like to hurt them, then roll. The relevant Attribute, Ability, Difficulty, and Weapon Damage is determined by your weapon.

Attacks are always treated as Contested Rolls. If your target does not React, the Outcome of their defensive roll is simply treated as 0. 

The Damage you deal to the target is equal to the Contested Outcome + Weapon Damage. All incoming damage is reduced by Armor. See the Damage section for details.

GMs may apply Difficulty modifiers at their discretion, depending on the circumstances. Shooting a stationary target is much easier than firing from a moving vehicle during a rainstorm.

Attacking Multiple Targets

If a Contractor wants to Attack Two Targets with a single Action, they roll once at +2 Difficulty. The Outcome is split evenly between the two targets (the GM divvies any remainder at their discretion). Each target may Defend or Clash as normal. Weapon Damage applies fully to each target hit.

Because any target that choses to Clash has an extreme advantage, Contractors rarely opt to attack multiple targets with a single Action. 

Fully Automatic Firearms may also "sweep" an area. 

Called Shots

Inevitably someone will want to make a specific aimed attack targeting a hand, an eye, or a weak spot. When such attacks go beyond flavoring and assume strategic importance, the GM should call for a Called Shot. 

1. A called shot must be declared before the dice are rolled.
2. A called a shot must be within the maximum listed range of a weapon if applicable.

The Contractor then makes their attack as normal. A Contested Outcome of 4 or higher is required to hit a target the size of an arm, leg or larger. A Contested Outcome of 6 or higher is required to hit a target is the size of a hand, head, or smaller. If you score less than the required Contested Outcome, you still hit your target, but not in the chosen location, and your damage is cut in half.

A successful called shot levies benefits at the GMs discretion such as Battle Scars, armor penetration, or extra damage. When aiming at extremities, a successful Called Shot limits the maximum damage to a Severity 5 Injury. Additional damage is wasted.

Grappling

• You may Grapple a target with Brawn + Brawl, either as an Action or Clash. The target may dodge, Defend, or Clash as normal. The Grapple's Contested Outcome is subtracted from any physical Actions the target makes for the rest of that Round. 
• If your Contested Outcome is equal to or greater than the target's Brawn, the target becomes Grappled. They take no Damage, but they will not be able to use their Movement until they break free. 
• Grappled targets may use their Action to attempt to break free by rolling either Brawn or Dexterity + Brawl. If they do not, they remain Grappled.
• While Grappling a target, you may contest any physical Actions they take (including attempts to break free) as a Reaction by rolling Brawn + Brawl.
• If your target attempts an attack with a weapon, you may opt to clash with them using that weapon. When you do so, both of you use Brawn + Brawl instead of the weapon’s standard roll. 

Choking

• When grappling a target, you can attempt to choke your target instead of constraining their arms. The grappled target cannot speak or breathe until they escape the grapple.
• While choking a target, you may use your action to choke the life out of them, cutting of blood flow and their airway.
• This is a standard Brawn + Brawl attack. If the target successfully defends, they break the grapple.
• You may count any successful attempt to maintain your grapple on the target as one of these attacks.

Garrotes

A Garrote is a melee weapon that may use Brawl or Melee in much the same way as a knife. They are Difficulty 8 to use, though that Difficulty drops by -2 if you are able to surprise a target from behind. A garrote operates like a chokehold above, however the attacker may maintain the original grapple roll if they wish. It is not generally possible to escape a successful Garrote Attack. To escape without a relevant Gift, one must defeat the person maintaining the garotte.

Damage done while choking with a Garrote does not suffer the -2 Damage penalty intrinsic to unarmed attacks.

If a character wants to do more than one thing during their Action, the GM determines whether or not they can multi-task and how.

Quick Actions

Simple tasks that are unlikely to fail and don't warrant a full Action can be taken as Quick Actions. 

Quick Actions do not need to be rolled and merely subtract 2 dice from the rest of that Round's Action (to a minimum of 0).

Examples of Quick Actions include drawing a holstered, accessible weapon, standing up, and buckling your seatbelt. 

If a Contractor wishes to take their main Action and then perform a Quick Action, their main Action's roll is still at -2 dice. If they didn't take a dice penalty, they'll have to wait until next Round to perform their Quick Action. 

If a character takes 3 Quick Actions in a Round, they use up their Action for that Round. "Free" Quick Actions from Gifts do not count towards this limit.

Using Two Abilities at Once

If a Contractor attempts an Action that obviously involves two seperate Abilities (e.g. sword-fighting on horseback), the GM will generally call for a roll using the lower of the two relevant Abilities, and they may also increase the roll's Difficulty. The resulting Outcome determines the success of the attempted Action as normal. 

Mental Actions

Can you think and act at the same time? It turns out, the answer is "not really."

Whether or not Mental actions require a roll is up to the GM's discretion. Generally any concerted thinking ("What do I know about this creature?", "How can I solve this door puzzle before the scarabs eat us?") is treated like a standard Action, and general awareness or "passive" mental actions (does the Contractor notice the shark swimming up behind them?) can be rolled with their own pools without subtracting from the rest of the Action.

Characters may "hold" their Action by specifying an Action and a Condition under which the Action will occur. For example, they may say "I want to shoot the first person who turns this corner." or "I will slit the hostage's throat if they struggle." or "I will follow Jennifer and stab anyone who tries to attack us."

A held Action lasts until the Character's next Action, but actually following through on a held Action will use up the current Round's Action, regardless of when the Action was originally held. For example, Jeff declares "I will pull the lever on the electric chair if the convict starts to turn into a werewolf." The current Round ends and the next Round begins. The convict (whose initiative puts their turn before Jeff's) then begins to sprout fur and fangs. Jeff can pull the lever, but doing so will forfeit the current Round's Action. 

Held Actions resolve before the Action that triggered them unless the triggering Action cannot normally be reacted to or the triggering action is itself an attack, in which case it turns into a Clash.

Characters may make a Reaction, even if they are currently holding an Action. Doing so forfeits the held Action. 

Reactions allow a character to take their Action prior to their placement in the turn order, so long as it is in direct response to another Action. Reactions are almost always defensive. The three main Reactions are Dodging, Defending, and Clashing.

Reactions will "use-up" the current Round's Action, essentially putting one Character on the defensive. Similarly, using your Action for a given Round means it will no longer be available to use as a Reaction during that Round.

You cannot React to surprise attacks that you have failed to detect with an appropriate contested roll, nor can you React if you're being held hostage and the hostage-taker opts to attack you. 

Desperate Defense

If you have already spent your Action for a given Round and have not yet Exerted yourself that Round, you may Exert your Mind to make a Desperate Defense. You may then Dodge or Defend as normal, but your next Action is performed at a -2 Penalty.

You cannot Clash as a Desperate Defense or use Desperate Defense against a bad Clash outcome. 

To dodge an attack, roll Dexterity + Athletics. Dodging Contests the attack, subtracting its Outcome from the attack roll's. If the Contested Outcome is 1 or greater, the attack hits, but if it is 0 or less, the attack misses.

As always, the standard Difficulty is 6, but GMs may increase or decrease it depending on the situation. If you are laying on your back, it may be more difficult to dodge. If the attack is slow and ponderous, it may be easier. 

Characters may also Evade with their Action on their Initiative. Make a Dexterity + Athletics roll, difficulty 6. The Outcome of this evasion roll can be divided up and spread around to contest any incoming attacks. For example, if you get an Outcome of 3 on your Evade roll, and two attackers each have Outcomes of 2 on attacks against you, you can subtract 2 from the first attacker, bringing the Contested Outcome of their attack to 0, but do not have enough left over to reduce the second attack's Contested Outcome down to 0. You will evade the first attack but be hit by the second.

Sometimes, it's possible for a character to use their own weapon to Defend against an incoming attack. Defending in this way uses their weapon's standard attack roll and Difficulty. Defending is a Contested Action against their attack, so the Outcome of the defensive roll is subtracted from the Outcome of the attack roll, giving a Contested Outcome which determines whether the attack was successful. If the Contested Outcome is 1 or greater, the attack hits, but if it is 0 or less, the attack is stopped.

Unarmed characters may Defend against unarmed attacks. Characters armed with a melee weapon may Defend against unarmed, melee, or thrown projectile attacks. Firearms can be used as melee weapons to Defend and can only be Defended against by those in melee range. Weapon mastery Gifts grant the ability to Defend against firearms at any range.  

Characters may Defend against attacks targeted at others if they are within range. 

Clashing is type of a high-stakes Reaction that gives the defender a chance to deal damage back to their attacker.

A character in a position to Defend against an attack (and who could attack their attaker if they had the Initiative) may choose to Clash instead of Defending. Unlike Defending, Clashing is not handled as a Contested Action. The rolls are the same as for Defending, but instead of subtracting Outcomes from one another, both Outcomes are compared, and the Character with the higher Outcome deals full damage to their opponent.

In the event of a tie, both characters successfully deal full damage.

Note: you cannot Clash as a Desperate Defense. 

All characters get a chance to move each round on their Initiative. The distance they can move is determined by the Attributes Dexterity and Brawn, as well as by the Ability Athletics.

Characters may take their Movement either before or after their Action, but never before and after. This means you cannot run out of cover, attack someone, and run back behind cover. Characters that have already spent their Action (usually as a Reaction) may still move on their turn.

Free Movement

During their Movement, each character may move 5 + (5 x Dexterity - Penalty) feet without incurring a dice penalty. Minimum 5 feet.

Dash

A character may extend their Combat Movement by up to 5 feet per point of Brawn they possess. Doing so incurs a -1 dice penalty per additional 5 feet moved. If they have already taken their Action and did not save dice to dash, they can only use their Free Movement.

All-out Sprints

If a character commits their entire Action to sprinting, roll Brawn + Athletics. They travel 5 x (Outcome + Dexterity rating + Brawn rating + 1) feet.

Following

When you are moving towards a target, excess move distance can be used to “follow” the target if they move before your next movement.

Complications

Movement over difficult terrain is rarely free and may often require a roll. GMs may levy penalties to Movement based on the terrain at their discretion. 

Example

Jenny the Blade, a knife-fighter from the rough streets of Belfast, wants to charge the armed guards surrounding the vehicle she's trying to rob and slash at their throats.  She is 35 feet away, and has 4 Dexterity and 3 Brawn. She is able to move 25 feet for free thanks to her 4 points in Dexterity, and can move up to 15 more feet due to her 3 points in Brawn, so she can cover the full distance, but because she went 10 feet over her base movement speed, she loses 2 dice on her attack roll.

All standard movement, Combat Actions, and rolls assume that a Contractor is carrying some amount of weight, such as a backpack or satchel.  If a Contractor is totally unencumbered (i.e. carrying nothing but maybe a small object in their hand, plus their clothes), they receive a +1 dice bonus to all physical Actions.

A Contractor can carry 15 pounds per point of Brawn with no penalty. Once they hit that limit, they are considered Over-Encumbered, and take a -1 dice penalty per 25 pounds over their limit.

Lifting and Hauling

The amount you can lift and haul depends on your Brawn rating. Using an Action, you may lift any object up to this weight and still move 5 feet per Round as long as you maintain Concentration. Objects designed for easy lifting (olympic weights, etc) may count as less weight at the GM’s discretion. 

Jumping

Out of Combat, a character can jump 1 vertical foot or 5 horizontal feet per point of Brawn without needing to make a roll. These numbers are assuming a running jump; for jumping from a standstill, they are cut in half. 

In Combat or when the stakes are high, jumping requires a Brawn or Dexterity + Athletics roll with 4+ Outcome in order to successfully make the full distance. An exceptional success gives 5 extra feet.

Climbing

Climbing always requires a Dexterity + Athletics roll. Characters may move 5 + (2 x Outcome) feet. The Difficulty is set by the GM, based on the surface they are scaling, with a ladder being difficulty 5, and a challenging cliff face at difficulty 9.

Swimming

Characters must roll Dexterity + Athletics to swim during Combat. They move (Outcome x 5) feet. Any amount of encumbrance at all - for example, if you are wearing a backpack - cuts this speed in half.  A character at full encumbrance who finds themselves stuck in the water is unable to swim, begins to sink down, and will eventually Drown.

If a character is hit by a successful Attack, they will take Damage.

Damage dealt = Contested Outcome + Weapon Damage - Armor. Weapon Damage can be increased through Gifts, but multiiple bonuses to Weapon Damage do not stack; instead, the highest bonus is used.

If the Contested Outcome is less than or equal to 0, that means the attack failed, and thus no damage is dealt (calculate this before Weapon Damage and Armor are taken into account). In a case where you have split your Outcome to attack two targets, the Weapon Damage is halved (rounded up).

When a character takes damage, they receive a new Injury with Severity equal to the total Damage dealt from that Attack. Minor injuries, while still serious, heal relatively quickly and do not impair the target much. Severe injuries can cause Battle Scars and are much more difficult to treat. 

Accumulated Injuries will degrade a character's Body, eventually leading to Death.

This section contains information on damage from equipment. See the Other Sources of Damage section for additional, situational rules. 

When attacking, the relevant Attribute, Ability, and Difficulty for the attack roll, as well as the Damage modifier, all depend on the type of weapon. Described below are the most common classes of weaponry. The Difficulty of these rolls may be decreased or increased based on situational factors at the GM's discretion.

The specified rolls are for all-out attacks made with the relevant weapon. Weapons can be used in other ways with varying difficulties. For example, while the roll to actually Injure someone with a slingshot is Difficulty 8, merely hitting a person's body would be Difficulty 6 and wouldn't do any damage.  

Note that while Guns are quite powerful, they can be difficult to transport and obtain. With a couple of Gifts, Contractors can make effective use of any type of weapon. Using Secondary Abilities can also be very helpful in making the most out of your weapon of choice.

Firearms

All gun attacks are rolled with Dexterity + Firearms.

The effective range listed is not a maximum range.  Guns may be fired at targets beyond that range, with the Difficulty increasing by +1 for each increment of the listed range, up to a maximum of 3x the listed range.  For example, if a Contractor shoots with a handgun at a target 70 feet away, it is rolled at +1 Difficulty.  Once the target gets further than 100 feet away, the Difficulty will increase to +2, and the maximum distance at which they can be hit is approximately 150 feet (three times the listed effective range).

Contractors may reduce the Difficulty of a firearms attack by spending an Action aiming at a stationary or predictably-moving target. If they follow aiming with an attack, it is rolled at -1 Difficulty.

This bonus can only be gained if the shooter is standing still.

Note: Tracking reloads / ammo is an optional rule at the GM's discretion.

Melee Weapons

Other

Non-lethal 

Armor reduces incoming Damage from most sources.

Armor from multiple sources cannot stack. Instead, the highest Armor Value is used. 

While bulkier Armors provide more protection, they also levy a dice penalty on any physical actions attempted by their wearer. Penalties from all sources stack. 

Cooking off Grenades

You may "cook off" a frag grenade by holding it for a round and then throwing with a Perception + Athletics roll, Difficulty 7. Failure or partial success indicates a dangerous throw. A 2-round cookoff (explodes immediately, but may be reacted to) is rolled at Difficulty 9. 

The more characters are involved in Combat, the slower it progresses and the more work the GM has to do. GMs and scenario designers should try to limit the number of characters in a combat to 8 or fewer. This mob system lets GMs “collapse” many similar enemies into a mob that acts and is tracked as a single character. 

Basics:

• A mob is a group of similar creatures that are treated as a single entity in combat.
• A mob makes a single initiative roll, takes a single Action, and has a single Body / health rating.

Mob stats:

• A mob’s Body and Mind rating is equal to the highest amongst the members of the mob. 
• A mob benefits from Armor or other statuses common to at least half its members.
• Initiative: Mobs are slow to form up and generally go last in the turn order. 
• Mobs move at the speed of the slowest member. 

Mob health:

• Damage to mobs is tracked normally against the mob’s Body rating. 
• The GM should describe the damage affecting one or more members of the mob, potentially killing one or two. 
• When a mob’s Body rating is reduced to 0, its members are killed, scattered, or retreat at the GM’s discretion.
• Mobs do not suffer Penalty from their injuries, but may have some members killed off before the whole mob is defeated, decreasing its effectiveness.

Attacking mobs:

• Attacks that target a single member of the mob deal half damage.
• Attacks that can affect the entire mob deal +3 damage.
• Attacks that influence the Mind/Thoughts of the Mob are generally ineffective unless the entire mob can be targeted.
• Mobs cannot defend or dodge (their defenses are accounted for in the “half damage” benefit they receive). 

Mob attacks:

• When attacking, use the best attack roll amongst the mob and add Outcome equal to the number of members attacking (to a maximum of +5). 
• This reflects a series of attacks as multiple attackers interfere with each other, inflicting a multitude of wounds. 
• Mob attacks may be defended against normally.
• A mob can attack more than one character in a given Round, but never the same target more than once. 

The most effective Contractors are not content to sit back and relax during their Downtimes. They have grand ambitions and an unquenchable thirst for power, and so they spend their Downtime making Moves. 

Any Downtime activity initiated by a Contractor that has potential upside can be a Move. 

Moves always require a GM, but not all Moves require a Hustle, danger, or dice-rolling. Moves can range from an out-of-character conversation with a GM to grueling, deadly missions that are even more elaborate than Contracts. It all depends on the objective of the Move, the tactics used by the Contractor, and the preferences of the Playgroup.

Example Moves

• Using your Gifts to make money.
• Hunting for supernatural treasures.
• Blackmailing a politician.
• Stealing someone's identity and ditching your old one.

Rewards

Contractors make Moves for many reasons. The rewards of a successful Move are just as various and include tying up Loose Ends, eliminating harmful Conditions or Circumstances, acquiring allies or equipment, or pursuing their ambition to change the world.

Contractors may never gain any Experience, Gift Credits, or Improvements from making Moves.

GMs who run Moves for Contractors may gain Bonus Experience by writing up a summary of the Move's events and a public World Event that is viewable by anyone in the Playgroup. If their writeup is at least 250 words, they gain 2 Bonus Experience for one of their Contractors. 

Risks

Be warned: the status quo is powerful, and making Moves is risky. Sometimes even successful Moves have consequences such as new Loose Ends, injury, or even death.

If a Move would result in certain death for a Contractor (for example, a Newbie wants to assassinate the Pope who is under heavy supernatural guard), the GM must warn the Player beforehand. The Player may withdraw the request or opt to go through with the Move, knowing their Contractor will die. 

Making Moves always requires GM participation. Only the GM may grant rewards for Moves.

Step 1: Find a GM

To make a Move with your Contractor, you must determine the following:

1. What is the goal of your Move? What are you hoping to achieve?
2. How does your Contractor plan to execute the Move?

Next, find a GM in your Playgroup, share your plan, and ask if they will run the Move. If they feel the Move is in-character and setting-appropriate, they might agree to run your Move.

No GM is strictly obligated to run any given Move. However, it is considered poor form to refuse GMing a Move to tie up a Loose End that you granted. Doing so may void the Loose End. 

Step 2: Run the Move

If you find a GM to run your Move, they are in charge of designing and running your Move. Things may or may not go according to your plans. 

Some smaller Moves can be resolved through an out-of-character conversation between the Player and the GM. Other Moves require a Hustle complete with dice-rolling and danger. Some objectives (such as being elected president of the USA) can only be achieved by making a campaign-like series of Moves that requires significant GM involvement. 

GMs should coordinate with their Playgroup Leader to ensure their Moves are setting-appropriate. 

Step 3: Record the Move

Once the Move is complete, the GM should grant any rewards or consequences to the Contractor that they feel are appropriate. Typically this involves adding/removing Conditions, Circumstances, Trophies, and/or Loose Ends. 

The events of Moves are canonical and can only be voided by the Playgroup Leader.

Users of the website can also officially record the Moves they run. To do so, the GM should visit their Playgroup's homepage and click on the "Record Move" button or visit the Contractor's Character Sheet and click the "Record Move" button under the Story tab. 

When officially recording Move, the GM must provide a summary of the Move's events (which are viewable to anyone who can view the Contractor's Character sheet) and a World Event (which is visible to anyone who can view the Playgroup). If the combined word count of the summary and World Event is over 250 words, the GM earns 2 Bonus Exp for one of their Contractors. 

Contracting is a messy business, and the events of Contracts and Downtimes can lead to Loose Ends. 

Loose Ends represent an enduring situation that poses a threat to a Contractor if it is not resolved. For example, the Contractor was filmed using their Powers, they made enemies with a powerful crime lord, or they must break a curse within three months or they will turn into a pumpkin. 

GMs may assign Loose Ends to Contractors based on the events of a Contract or a Downtime. Some Liabilities taken at character creation also grant Loose Ends.

Each Loose End has a Cutoff and a Threat.

Cutoff

A Loose End’s Cutoff counts down the number of Contracts a Contractor can attend before the Threat from their Loose End manifests. 

Cutoff values generally range from 1 to 5. They decrease by 1 every time a Contractor attends a Contract. This number is visible to GMs but cannot be seen by the Player who plays the Contractor. 

Once the Cutoff countdown hits 0, the Loose End’s Threat manifests. If that Threat requires a Hustle with a GM (for example, an assassination attempt), that Contractor may not attend Contracts until a GM has run the required Hustle. 

Contractors may make a Move to resolve a Loose End before its Cutoff. Doing so is often difficult and may be dangerous, but taking initiative on a Loose End should be less deadly or generally result in a better outcome than running down the Cutoff timer.

Threat

A Loose End’s Threat defines what negative outcome will befall the Contractor if they fail to deal with it in time. 

Threats can take many forms. They may cause new negative Circumstances, Conditions, Traumas, or Battle Scars. They may remove positive Circumstances, Conditions, or equipment. They may take the form of an event (such as an assasination attempt), or, sometimes, even directly cause the death of the Contractor. 

For example, if a Contractor gains a Loose End because they were filmed using super-strength, and they fail to address the growing buzz on the internet before the Cutoff hits 0, the Threat that manifests may be a new Circumstance where they are stalked by an army of internet sleuths.  

GMs must specify the Threat of a Loose End when they grant it. The Player can only see the general threat-level (Dangerous, Deadly, or Fateful) until the Cutoff hits zero. 

• Dangerous:  The sort of Threat which may crop up for people in the real world. 
• Examples: The loss of resources or equipment, imprisonment, infamy, having your family kidnapped, or mundane gang-level violence.
• Deadly: A supernatural or extreme Threat that poses a significant risk even to Contractors.
• Examples: An assassination attempt from a powerful foe or organization, being put into a coma, imprisonment on another planet, gaining a severe curse. 
• Fateful: Reserved for Loose Ends which will cause certain or almost-certain death when the Cutoff hits 0. 
• Examples: A chronic deadly disease, an implanted bomb exploding, an assassination attempt from a harbinger-level foe.

Players may also opt to play a Contract as an NPC Ringer instead of one of their Contractors. This is usually because the Scenario has been spoiled for them, probably because they've already played it.

Ringers can be any NPC in the Contract: an antagonist, a character central to the plot, or even an non-player Contractor.

All Ringers have an objective that they must fufill. This objective may be to help or hinder the Contractors, to die horribly to monsters, or anything else the GM desires.

At the end of the Contract, Players who played Ringers are given Bonus Experience to spend on one of their Contractors. They receive 4 Experience if they achieved their objective and 2 Experience otherwise. Ringers do not receive Gifts Credits or Improvements.

In some cases, a Contract may be part of a Cycle, or a series of Scenarios which take place one after the other with no Downtime, similar to a traditional roleplaying campaign. Experience cannot be spent between the Contracts of a Cycle.

All Players should be told ahead of time if a Contract is part of a Cycle and how many Contracts long that Cycle is.

If the events of a Contract are unfair or damaging to the setting or tone, the Playgroup may declare it Void. Any Contract that is voided never occurred and grants no Rewards.

Instead of voiding Contracts that introduce undesirable Setting elements, Playgroup Leaders often rule that the Contract's events happened in a similar-looking parallel dimension, or perhaps it was all a bad dream.

Voiding Contracts should be extremely rare.

Contracts may be Voided by the following means:

• Playgroup Leaders can declare any Contracts in their Playgroup Void at their discretion.
• If, after the conclusion of a Contract, all Players vote unanimously to Void.
• If a Contract is split into multiple sessions, the Players may vote to void and require only a simple majority.

GM's may use their discretion to adjust the Difficulty on any roll based on situational factors, but here are some useful examples of potential Difficulty modifiers during Combat.

If your target is...

• Behind cover: +2 Difficulty
• Immobilized: -2 Difficulty
• Running: +1 Difficulty
• Roughly the size of
  • A normal adult human: normal Difficulty
  • A child: +1 Difficulty
  • A house cat: +2 Difficulty
  • A small mouse: +3 Difficulty
  • A horse: -1 Difficulty
  • A truck: -2 Difficulty
  • A house: -3 Difficulty 

If you are...

• Behind cover: +1 Dfficulty
• Firing blind: +4 Difficulty

If your surroundings are...

• Dark: +1-2 Difficulty
• Foggy / completly dark:  +3 Difficulty, down to +1 at melee range
• Stormy (torrential rain, heavy snow, hail): +1 Difficulty
• Underwater, and you are using a...
  • Knife, stabbing weapon, or unarmed: +1 Difficulty
  • Slashing melee weapon: +2 Difficulty
  • Bludgeoning melee weapon: +3 Difficulty
  • Throwing weapon: doesn't work
  • Firearm: Doesn't work, with the exception of harpoons and some specially designed pistols

Fully automatic weapons, such as machine guns and some rifles, are able to make a special type of attack. They may "sweep" an area with the weapon, covering an area of 5 square feet per 5 rounds expended, for a maximum area of 25 feet by 25 feet. The attacker must expend the rest of their clip when performing a sweep and rolls the attack at +2 Difficulty. This attack will damage anyone within its area of effect if they do not dodge or evade.

This is a system you can use if you want to deal with a particularly large explosion that the standard explosives rules don't cover.

High Explosives deal 15 flat damage within their Lethal Radius (covers a circle up to R feet from the center of the blast).  Outside the Lethal Radius, they instead do 15 dice of damage, and for every additional R feet outside the Lethal radius, the dice pool decreases by 5.

The radius R is calculated based on the weight in pounds of the explosive material, using one of the following formulas:

• R = 4 x SQRT(W/2) for Secondary Explosives, which includes things like TNT and C-4.
• R = 2 x SQRT(W) for Primary Explosives, which includes most homemade bombs

A High Explosive bomb can be detonated manually through a remote control, through a timer, or through a triggering mechanism such as a tripwire or a pressure plate.  The stats for damage are the same regardless of detonation method, and depend only on the weight of the explosive material.

Falling 

Falling - and subsequently landing - deals 1 Damage per 10 feet fallen, up to a maximum of 20 Damage at 200 feet. Armor does not reduce this Damage. 

GMs may allow Athletics rolls, Gifts, or less-splatty surfaces to mitigate the severity of the damage somewhat.

Electrical Damage

Electricity causes an Injury that increases in Severity the longer exposure is maintained. 

The following table gives Damage per turn from electricity.  No attack roll is made; Damage is automatic. Ordinary Armor will not apply to electricity Damage, but specialized grounding Armor can stop it entirely.

• Minor: wall socket -   One level per turn  
• Dangerous: electric prison fence -   Two levels per turn 
• Deadly: junction box -  Three levels per turn 
• Fatal; main feed line, subway rail -   Four levels per turn 

Fire Damage

Fire causes an Injury that increases in Severity the longer exposure is maintained. 

The following table gives damage per Round from fire.  No attack roll is made; Damage is automatic.  A character's Armor rating is "spent" as it reduces the Damage from fire, meaning that if a Character as 2 armor, it will prevent the first 2 Damage from fire, but not subsequent Damage on future Rounds. 

• Torch; a part of the body is exposed to flame:  One Damage per Round 
• Bonfire; half of the body is exposed to flame:  Two Damage per Round 
• Raging inferno; entire body is engulfed in flame:  Three Damage per Round

Exsanguination

Normal blood loss is accounted for by the standard Injury system, but for cases where blood is specifically drawn (e.g. by a medical professional or a vampire), this system may be more suitable.

A character who has lost blood without taking Damage is given an Injury representing blood loss. This Injury’s Severity = twice the number of pints of blood lost. If a character loses blood once and then gives blood later, the existing Injury’s severity is increased. 

Unlike other Injuries, the recovery time for blood loss may be greatly reduced via a blood infusion. Each day a character receives blood, their blood loss Injury is reduced in severity by one level.

Drowning 

Characters can hold their breath for 35 seconds x Body rating. They may Exert their Mind for an additional 10 seconds. This assumes no strenuous activity. Characters then suffer a Severity 1 Injury every Round until they die.

Thirst

Every 12 hours you go without water (in normal conditions) you receive a severity-1 Injury. In hot or strenuous conditions, this time period is reduced to 6 hours.

When you regain access to water and every 6 hours that you are adequately hydrated, you may remove one of these Injuries. They cannot be healed by any other method. 

Vehicles provide exceptional speed, protection, and power but are only usable in niche situations. This system covers common road vehicles such as motorcycles, ATVs, cars, trucks, SUVs, and semi-trucks.

Most of the time, GMs can handle scenes with vehicles without referencing these rules. However, they are useful if you are dealing with a vehicle-based Contractor, Scenarios with Mad Max-style road battles, or Combats that start on foot and turn into a chase. 

Entering and Exiting Vehicles

• Entering or exiting a stationary Vehicle is a Quick Action. 
• Buckling or unbuckling a seatbelt requires a Quick Action.
• Getting into a stationary vehicle, turning it on, and putting it into gear requires a Full Action. Each part is a Quick Action if performed individually (ie if the car was already started and they just need to get in and put it in gear, that’s two Quick Actions). 
• A vehicle effectively does not move on the Round it is readied, though its tires may squeal and it may inch forward a bit.

Vehicles are not video game monsters that take damage when any weapon collides with them. They have many components, only some of which are critical. If a critical component of the Vehicle (such as the engine or drive shaft) breaks, the vehicle stops. 

Vehicles that "cannot be destroyed" due to a Gift or other effect simply cannot be fully destroyed. Their windows may still break and their doors may be ripped off, but they'll keep going. 

• Non run-flat tires that take any damage are destroyed.
  • +1 Difficulty to Drive rolls per tire destroyed
  • If half or more of a vehicle’s tires are destroyed, the vehicle can only move at Maneuvering speeds.
  • If all are destroyed, the vehicle can only move at Technical speed.
• Engine damage
  • Damaging an Engine with an Attack requires a Called Shot (requiring Outcome 4). A standard civilian vehicle engine has 4 "Body" and 6 Armor. 
  • Sidearms and shotgun shot are unlikely to damage an engine enough to cause immediate catastrophic failure, but they may cause a broken windshield, loss of functionality, or eventual overheating.
• A vehicle with damaged critical components cannot travel faster than Maneuvering speed.

Maneuvers

• Traverse Obstacle (e.g. a parking lot, city streets, watermelon cart in the market).
  • Roll Dex + Drive Difficulty 6 + (depending on obstacle and speed). 
  • Full distance if Outcome is 4 or higher. Failure causes a crash.
• Racing
  • On a flat straightaway, the outcome is determined by the vehicles.
  • If any maneuvering is required, roll a contested Dexterity + Drive
• Positioning
  • Attempting to pass during a chase at same speed
  • Attempting to drive alongside the other vehicle
  • Attempting to out-maneuver during a chase
  • All require a Dexterity + Drive roll. 
• PIT maneuver: an attempt to safely stop similarly-sized vehicle
  • Dexterity + Drive, Difficulty 7. The target may Defend at Difficulty 7.
  • Success reduces their speed to 0 and turns them around. Any failed rolls cause Tumbles and vehicle damage. 
• Driver Multi-tasking
  • Non-challenging driving is considered a Quick Action and uses one hand. 
• Drive-by (while moving at Maneuvering speed or higher, otherwise normal). 
  • Firing from inside a fast-moving vehicle is +2 Difficulty. 
• Crashing into a target
  • Attack with Dexterity + Drive Difficulty 5 + speed rating. They dodge with Dexterity + Athletics (or Dexterity + Drive if driving).  
  • If targets are roughly the same size (pedestrian vs motorcycle, SUV vs sedan), both experience a catastrophic crash or Tumble, depending on Outcome and intent.
  • If one target is significantly larger, the smaller target experiences a Catastrophic crash.  While the larger one experiences a Tumble.
  • In cases with extreme size differences (bus vs pedestrian) the larger vehicle will not crash.
• Bailing (leaping from a moving vehicle)
  • Roll Dexterity + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Complete success results in you taking a “Tumble.” Partial or a failure counts as a Catastrophic collision.

Difficulty Modifiers

Most modifiers are levied by the GM at game-time at their discretion. 

• In general when working with contested rolls, if one vehicle should benefit from its speed, size, or versatility, this is done as a Difficulty modifier on any relevant rolls. 
• +1 Difficulty to maneuver a large vehicle
• -1 Difficulty to maneuver a motorcycle
• -1 Difficulty to race in a sporty car
• +1 Difficulty for difficult terrain (e.g. a trail for a dirt bike, a grassy field for an SUV)
• +1 Difficulty per damaged tire
• +1 Difficulty at high speeds for missing front windshield.

Drugs designed for human consumption have minimal positive mechanical Effects. 

All drugs risk Addiction. If you would gain a Trauma while under the effect of a substance you are not already addicted to, that Trauma will be an addiction to the given substance.

Onset Time

No drug acts immediately. The quickest onset time available to a drug is 1 minute when administered intravenously (via IV or with carefully with a syringe directly into major vein). Drugs administered via snorting or muscular injection (i.e. a dart) have an onset time of 5 minutes. Drugs that are ingested have an onset time of one hour. 

Recreational drugs

• Normal dose: Recreational drugs have no mechanical benefits. They give at least a -1 Penalty, which can increase depending on the specific drug and how much you consume, at GMs discretion.

Truth Serums

• Despite what Vice News tells you about scopolamine and similar drugs, no effective truth serum exists. This is because effective doses for sufficiently reducing inhibitions also cause delirium, confusion, and memory loss, making the information gained extremely unreliable. 

Stimulants

• Normal dose: Reduce Mind Penalty by 2 for the next 4 hours, but during this time all Mind rolls are at +1 Difficulty. You cannot fall asleep while under the effects of a stimulant, and you cannot have restful sleep until 16 hours after the initial dose. 
• Overdose: You are affected by the following Traumas: hallucinations, paranoia, delusions of invincibility. All Wound and Mind Penalties are ignored. Mind rolls are at +3 Difficulty. 
• Massive Overdose: After 2 hours roll Body, Difficulty 9. If you fail, you suffer a heart attack (Severity 7 Injury that cannot be reduced with Will to Survive). 

Painkillers / sedatives

• Normal dose: Reduce Body Penalty by 2 for the next 4 hours, but you take 1 point of Mind Damage when you consume the painkiller.
• Overdose: Take an additional Mind damage. You must roll Mind, Difficulty 8 to avoid falling asleep whenever you sit still. All physical Actions are performed at a -2 Penalty that cannot be reduced. Body Penalty is ignored.
• Massive Overdose: Sleepless no longer prevents you from sleeping. If you fall asleep, you stop breathing. If you remain asleep for more than 3 minutes, you take a Severity 1 Injury that worsens every 30 seconds that you are not receiving artificial respiration.