Highlights

New How to Play guide and Player’s Guide

This update features a brand new Player’s Guide interface that is easier to navigate on desktop and mobile devices as well as a How to Play: guide designed to make learning The Contract fun!

Scenario Writeups

Not only does this update include new unlockable stock Scenarios (for a total of 5 free Scenarios), but we have also started rewarding GMs for writing up their Scenarios!

Scenario-writers will receive an Improvement for any Scenario with a writeup that is at least 1000 words that has also been run as a Contract. This is in addition to the other GM reward (Golden Ratio or New Player), meaning that you can get up to TWO Improvements for GMing a Contract.

New Effect: Throwing Mastery

Throw the Game with the new Effect: Throwing Mastery.

Full Patch Notes

Asset and Liability Updates

• Cipher Asset value reduced to 1.
• Anachronism value reduced to 2.
• Polyglot now grants three additional spoken languages per application.
• Acute Sense now only provides a -1 Difficulty modifier instead of -2.

Content Updates

New Player’s Guide

This update features a complete revamped Player’s Guide interface that is easier to navigate on desktop and mobile devices.

• How to Play: introduces brand new Players to The Contract, showing them what the game is and how to play it. After completing the How to Play guide, new Players should be ready to play The Contract.
• Gamemaster’s Manual: teaches about how to GM The Contract, run a World, and build Scenarios.
• Setting and World Building: outlines The Contract’s default setting, The Illumination, and explains how to manage a custom setting.
• Rules Reference: provides a comprehensive reference for all of the rules of The Contract.
• Further Reading: contains additional articles on miscellaneous topics.

New Systems

Choke Holds and Garrots: Choke the life from your enemies with the new choking and garrot system.

Throwing The damage systems for Thrown weapons have been updated. Throwing a purpose-built weapon is Difficulty 6, uses Brawn or Dexterity + Athletics depending on the weapon’s size, and always has its damage limited to your Brawn rating.

New Unlockable Stock Scenarios

A total of 5 Stock Scenarios are fully written up and ready to be unlocked today.

• Mushroom Hunt: Available to all for free.
• Passing the Hours: Create a World.
• Sanctuary: Run a Contract as GM.
• Monster Hunter: Island: Lose a Contractor on a Contract.
• Beware the Assassin: Play a Contractor in any Contract.

Powers Updates

Stay on Target. . .

Power targeting has been standardized using several new key words. These new key words have definitions that appear when you mouse over them. This update should provide clarity on which Powers can be used on which targets.

New Effect: Throwing Mastery

Throw the Game with the new Effect: Throwing Mastery.

Updated Effects

A number of Effects have received significant changes this update!

• Augmentation: Removed or updated a number of enhancements and drawbacks as a part of the Targeting update. Also removed Savage Body Part due to overlap with Unarmed Mastery.
• Destroy Object: Added volume measurements to the size parameter. The Shatter enhancement now only damages anyone within 5 feet, and can be reacted to.
• Metabolism: Added Aging to Metabolism! Also added new enhancements allowing you to sleep like a bear in winter, and made most existing enhancements available to Novices.
• Holding: Buffed the Size Multiplier parameter. Items inside are now weightless by default. If the container is destroyed, it may now be repaired.
• Telekinesis: Can now be used to grab people and creatures without needing an extra enhancement (enhancement still needed for making attacks though).
• Companion Creature: The base Effect now gives the player control over the companion. Added some clarity about the nature of tricks played with the Trickster drawback.
• Illusion: The base Effect can be anchored to any target, not just a location, and the cast time was reduced to 1 round.
• Animate: You can have a maximum number of animated items equal to your Wits! Corpses can now be animated by default (still very dead though). The cast time parameter was removed, default cast time is now 1 round. Added rules for move speed, as well as enhancements to improve item mobility.
• Possession: Base Effect work on any Living Sapient target, not just humans.
• Mythic Wits: Fixed the Seasoned threshold on parameter to line up with other mythic attributes.
• Super Speed: No functional change, but clarified that you can carry people along with you as long as your encumbrance allows it. Ride Along enhancement removes that encumbrance penalty for the first person you bring along.
• Ward: Movable drawback now simply allows you to attach the ward to any target.
• Injure: Added new enhancement allowing Injure to be wielded defensively.
• Stash: Swap drawback now requires that you spend a minute attuning to any stored objects before they are stored. Added clarity on “objects which contain other objects”.
• Barrier: Cannot take Selfish drawback along with the Bubble Shield enhancement.
• Drain Attribute: Drained attributes are now recorded as a Battle Scar.
• Armor: Specialized armor now also protects against armor piercing.
• Commune: Fluency enhancement now makes this power passive. Cantrip removed.
• Hack: Base Effect works on all Computers (including robots)
• Protect Sense: Added clarity about how this power works. No functional change.

Miscellaneous Changes

• Removed Humanities drawback from several Effects.
• Command Animal and Animal Possession renamed to Command Creature and Creature Possession, respectively.
• Tag Team renamed to Energy Transfer.
• The Reach enhancement now clarifies that its use counts as a Free Action.
• Exhaustion drawback now limits you to max 15 feet per round movement.
• Clarity on Cast Time parameter: 2 rounds means 2 full actions.

Other Website Updates

First Impressions: The logged-out homepage has been updated to be more straightforward and guide newcomers to the How to Play guide.

Write Up or Bust: Scenarios now display whether or not they have writeups, how many words they are, and have additional gameplay stats on mouse-over.

And the Award for Most Feared Scenario goes to. . . A new section for Scenarios has been added to the Leaderboard

Spoiler Warning: Scenarios can how be “discovered” without being spoiled. If you unlock a Scenario without playing in it, it is not considered “spoiled” until you read its writeup.

Gallery View: The Scenario Gallery now displays which Scenarios have granted Improvements from complete writeups. It also shows instructions for how to unlock any stock Scenarios you have not yet unlocked.

Contract Journals: Journals on the Community Journals page now display which Scenario they were written for.