Criterion City V001 By Jacob Possin

One year ago everyone in Criterion City Awoke with no memory. Our skills and abilities were intact, we just had no knowledge of who or what we had been. All that is known is that the city lies within The Dome. No force known, save for the Wraiths, can breach The Perimeter of The Dome. The Wraiths attack the city. The specifically seek out the Arete. The Arete are those who Woke different. They have powers and abilities beyond the rest of the populous. You are one such, a rare being with the power to help or harm. You are the Arete. We seek our past. In finding that we can finally know our future. We live in the city of now, the city of here. There is no tomorrow, and yesterday is a void.

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Arete: A person who Woke with strange powers. There are only 81 known Arete. Awakening: the moment, one year ago, when everyone in Criterion city Awoke to the loss of their memories. City Council: the men and women who seized power during the initial confusion, promising order and stability. They did that, though they are corrupt and hate to share power. Criterion City: The name of the city where everyone Awoke. Dome: The Dome covers the whole island containing Criterion City and part of the water surrounding it. Echoes: when you perform an action the resonates with your core self. People believe that the Echoes are when you finally do something that you had done repeatedly in the past, before The Awakening. History: There is no known history. A great deal of the populous seek to find any shred of history they can. Often they seek aid from the Arete in these endeavors. Oracles: Many believe in The Oracles, many doubt their existence. There are supposedly nine Oracles. Beings with the ability to see the truth of the world. If they exist they cannot see the future or the past, but they can set you on the right path to finding yours. Perimeter: The edge of The Dome. The edge of the world. Powers: Abilities that the Arete and the Wraiths have. When Wraiths and Arete fight with powers strange things happen. Wraith: Strange beings that attack the city for reasons unknown. They have attacked nine times this year. They are alien and seem to share a connection with The Arete. The Wraiths know your history. They know who you are.

Glossary

All but one of you will be playing one of the Arete, attempting to unravel your past, and the mysteries of the world. You will describe what you do, and how you do it. This game has another player called the Game Master who plays the other people in the world, and the Wraiths, as well as describes the scene, but the Game Master does not tell you your memories, that is someone else's job. When you enter a meaningful conflict, you roll a number of dice and add them together. These dice are called your dice pool. Your goal is to get a higher number than your opponent, or higher than a target number(should there be no direct opposition). You start each conflict with 1D6. To this you can add a Talent or an Asset(only one per roll), a Power, and any descriptors that apply. The dice being added must have a relation to the conflict you are in, though it doesn't have to be a direct connection(the better the creativity the better).

Basic Mechanics

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Blocking power, you could remove one of the oppositions D6s or D4s, but not any of their D8, D10s, or D12s.

Character Creation
The making of a monster

Step one: the name

Start your character by choosing a name. As you are an amnesiac this is an in character decision. What is important to your character? Where did you Wake? What were you wearing? There are no books with facts in them, but there is a great deal of fiction available. Did you take a name from a book?

Step four: memories

You have no memories at the start of the game. Your memory score equals zero. When you get a new memory you experience The Familiar.

The Familiar is played by the person to your left(if you are not arranged around a table, it gets a bit Step two: mundane factors trickier, but make sure everyone gets Write down three mundane talents or a Familiar). You need to turn to this assets that your character has. person and ask them what form the Talents are skills, occupations, or other natural traits you have. Assets Familiar takes. Examples: Familiars can be are any external items, contacts, or anything that reminiscent of resources your character has for memory to the person on your whatever reason. left. This could be flashing color, a distinct smell, the Now that you have three Assets or image of butterflies, rats, a Talents written down you must give dream sequence or something of them a rating. You have three dice to the like. split among them: A D4, a D6, and a D8. Each of your Talents and Assets When you gain a new memory the person must get one die, and only one. on your left makes it up for you. It will either be a new memory or adding Step three: powers to an existing memory. Each memory A power is any ability that lets you added adds one to your memory score. circumvent the established reality in some way. These can be as direct or Step the last: finishing touches indirect as you desire. The only limitation is that you cannot have a What does your character look like? Are you high class or low class(this power that shows you the past, is based very much on your skill, directly or indirectly. where you Woke, and what your were You envision one power at D10, or two wearing)? powers at D6 each. There are two types of power, Enhancement Powers and Blocking Powers. Enhancement Powers add a die to your pool when your power would be useful. Blocking Powers take a die away from the opposition. It can only take a die away that is equal or smaller than the die in the power. Example:if you have a D6 in a a And your ready to start play.

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Descriptors are Dice attached to a description of an area. The use of a You roll a D6 against an opponent's descriptor steps it down after that roll. You always roll at least one D6. Conflict is done in three stages, conflict. This stays stepped down for called rounds. Each round you can add the duration of the session. If the a Talent, an Asset, a Power, and any location is used again in a later session the Game Master will decide miscellaneous dice(other's Complications or Descriptors. You can on the Die for that session. only use them if the rationale makes Dealing sense for the situation and you can only use them once each per three When you have a complication, it round conflict. lasts until you deal with it. You deal by helping another gain a The loser of the conflict takes a memory. For every memory you help Complication, or steps up an existing another gain you can step down a Complication. A complication starts complication. If you step down a D4 at D4, but can be stepped up in Complication it is gone for good. future conflicts. This can be avoided by escalating. If you escalate you You can also use one of your memories start another conflict. Should you to step down a complication. lose this conflict you gain a Complication at D6 or step up an Memories are hope. Hope is a good existing complication by two, or two thing. existing by one, or add a D4 complication and step up an existing Memories and Echoes by one. A memory can be used to fuel your conflict. When you have memories that You can escalate only once more if apply to the current situation you you lose this conflict you gain three can use a memory to step up a die you steps of Complications. If you lose are using or step down a die your the third conflict you have to accept opposition is using for the duration the loss. of that conflict. You can only do this a number of times per session If the Game Master decides to really equal to your current Memory score. up the stakes he can offer a memory in exchange for stepping up a You gain memories by either accepting potential Complication. a loss in a conflict, called an echo(if you choose to lose the You do not have to accept a conflict. conflict you cannot escalate after You can choose to avoid the conflict gaining the memory), or defeating a in any way that makes sense for your Wraith, a standard memory. character, generally by hiding, running, avoiding the conversation, Powering up or something along those lines. To do When you defeat(destroy) a wraith you this you accept one step of gain a memory and add a step worth of complication and the conflict ends powers(either add a new power at D4 before it starts. The complication or step up an existing power). should have something to do with fallout for your choice. This When you win a conflict with a complication cannot trigger a memory. Wraith, but don't completely defeat it you can add a step to a power or a

Advanced Mechanics

Criterion City V001 By Jacob Possin

Mundane Factor. When you win a conflict with a mundane force, you can add a step to a Mundane Factor

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Locations
City Hall/Downtown: Home to the City Council, it is bright and shiny, ordered and respectable. The police here have the high tech equipment (Energy Weapons, SWAT Mecha, excellent armor, etc.). Over all this is where most of the business of the City is focused. The Library: it has been described as a graveyard of souls, and the most depressing sight in the city. There are only fiction books, though there are great swaths of empty shelves where the non fiction would go. The Librarians spend most every day looking through fiction for clues as to true history, it is not an easy or rewarding task. The suicide rate is high. It has taken on a religious tone with The Followers of the Precursors, a cult devoted to the fiction as the only real truth. The Subway/Monorail: The Monorail travels over the city, the subway under it. Always in circles, going everywhere and no where at once. It is nearly silent and moves at terrific speed. Below the subway system are a long series tunnels ranging from sewers and storm tunnels to maintenance tunnels. There is a fairly large number of people making their home beneath the city, some are mad, some are broke, and other seek to escape the Council and its order. Those who live there speak of things in the dark, whispers, movement. Something is down there. Uptown: The richest of the rich live here, in the massive archologies and super skyscrapers. This is where the highest of the high tech is used everyday, even higher than Down town. Lowtown: Crowded and cramped, the tenements of Lowtown are provided by the City Council, provided you work for the city you get food and shelter, the quality varies a bit depending on how important your job is.

Setting As We Know It

No one remembers the sun, The Dome covers everything. It is light for twelve hours and dark for twelve. Criterion City cover a large island surrounded by fresh water, which is itself surrounded by The Perimeter. It rains fairly often, and there is a great deal of fog. No one knows why. The air barely moves, the temperature rarely changes. The food is processed in factories, no one knows where it comes from(this can be as dark or as strange as you like). Technology is a mix from late Victorian/Edwardian to very high technology(sci-fi stuff). Generally the rich have the best tech, where the poor of the populous have lower tech. Electricity runs everything, it is created at a fusion plant that powers the whole city.

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genetic mods, that sort of thing. Die: D10 Good Quality: this is standard for those who want quality in the parts of the city not known for their tech. Die: D8 Average Quality: this is standard gear for professionals in any job. It is fairly easy to get anywhere. Die: D6

Non Player Characters

This is mostly for the Game Master. It is a list of the types of Non Player Characters that will be common in conflicts. These Characters work a little different than Player Characters as they just roll a set number of dice and can only add in complications or gear if it is important. they get the same dice each turn in a conflict, except when they tap a character's Complications. Elite NPCs: these are among the elite of Criterion. Whatever it is they are good at, they are among the very best. These guys are rarer than hens teeth. Skill Die Roll: 2D10

The Wraiths are a mystery. Some think they are the mystery, or part of it. They may be right. No one knows what drives them to destroy. Nor does anyone know what connects them to the Arete. A lot of The Populous distrust Quality NPCs: These are generally the the Arete because of this seeming best at what they do in their area, connection. But as they are the only be it a city block or district. ones who can go toe to toe with The Skill Die Roll: 2D8 Wraiths, people don't grumble too loud. Average NPCs: here is the norm, the baseline. They show up, do their jobs Wraiths are unique. They have names. and go home. Player characters get to see the Skill Die Roll: 2D6 Wraith Sheet for any wraith they face. Wraiths only change when they interact with Arete. Though they can Gear Gear works like a descriptor for Non start at any level of skill. Once the sheet is filled out that Wraith Player Characters. They can use it doesn't change unless it faces the once in a conflict. Gear has a die Player characters. rating depending on its quality. It can also allow for regular people to mimic powers, though not as reliable Wraith have dice like a regular Non Player Characters. Where they differ as Arete Powers. is that they have powers like an Arete, they have another die called Highest Quality: very rare, only connection, they can't use really seen in Uptown and then only rarely. These are things like bullets gear(unless it is corrupted with fallout), and they cause fallout. It that shoot around corners, giant Mecha, and mind control drugs. Scary starts with no die steps in it. When an Arete uses a power against a stuff. Wraith step up the die in connection. Die: D12 High Quality: This is common in Uptown and Downtown, rarely seen anywhere else. This is standard SWAT Mecha, Laser guns, pheromone glands, This connection die can be used like a regular die. It also adds what is called fallout to the city. Fallout is when a connection die that was not

Wraith

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used in the conflict is higher than one of the descriptors in the scene. This changes the descriptor to a complication, meaning the player characters and other Non Player Characters cannot use that descriptor again, but the Wraiths can. They can use fallout to corrupt Non Player Character and gear. Though, to Corrupt a Non Player Character they must have a connection die at least one step higher than the highest Skill Die. They just have to match the die of Gear to corrupt it. The Wraith can also step down connection to step up a power or a skill die.

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This is the first version of the rules set. This game started as one thing and quickly morphed into something else all together. I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Any comments on game play or writing style would be appreciated you can leave a comment at my website: http://thelaughingstick.blogspot.com/ Thank you, The Jake