1

Acknowledgements

To Andrew Hussie, for making Homestuck, and all the magnificent

fantasies it inspired

To Dillon Weist, for creating the first iteration of this game almost
all by himself

To Dillon’s friends, for playing the game when no one else would

To every person that dedicated their time and energy to make one man’s
dream come true. Editing, playtesting, making art, coming up with new
ideas, refining old ones, and arguing till our fingers bled from
typing. We did it because you inspired us.

Ian, Alec, Aj, Ken & Ken, Alex, Morgan, Chris, Ryan, Rachel Yee, Alex
Lacy, Ashby Puryear/Beebz, Adam Alain, Nitai Schatz/BucketGod, Skorx,
Max B., Collin James Anderson, Strat
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Table of Contents

Section 1: Raise of the Conductor’s Baton​ (page 3)

1.1: A brief introduction
1.2: Why should I play?
1.3: What you’ll need to play
Section 2: Character Creation​ (page 6)
2.1: The Self Sheet
2.2: The Body Sheet
2.3: Invenstory
2.4: Grist Cache and Athenaeum
2.5: Portfolio
2.6: Rolling a Character
2.7: Important Tables
2.8: Trolls
Section 3: Player Health, or Lack Thereof​ (page 26)
3.1: Victuals and Eating
3.2: Adaptations, Strength, and Mass
3.3: Ailments
3.4: Mental Health
Section 4: Sburb, the Game Within the Game​ (page 39)
4.1: The Walls
4.2: The Client’s Interface
4.3: Entering the Game
4.4: The Incipisphere
4.5: Ectobiology
4.6: Dreaming, the Two Kingdoms, and The Reckoning
4.7: Apotheosis and the Victory State
Section 5: Alchemy, the Impossible Art​ (page 56)
5.1: Introduction to Alchemy
5.2: Grist
5.3: Weapons
Section 6: Strife!​ (page 65)
6.1: Strife Basics
6.2: Battle Tendencies
6.3: The Strife Field
6.4: Sample Strife
6.5: Techniques
6.6: States and Statuses
6.7: Poses
Section 7: Underlings and Common Enemies​ (page 87)
7.1: General Information
7.2: Non-General Information
7.3: Boss Underlings
7.4: The Agents
7.5: Denizens
Section 8: The Ultimate Riddle and Mythological Roles​ (page 97)
8.1: The Ultimate Riddle
8.2: Mythological Roles
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Section 1 - Raise of the Conductor’s Baton

1.1 A brief introduction to SKRUB

SKRUB is a tabletop role-playing game about you and your friends
playing a video game called Sburb, based off of the popular webcomic
“Homestuck”. This is an overview of the mechanics and fluff of SKRUB.

Most people in a game are PLAYERS. These players create characters

with which they interact with the world and influence the story. One
or two people will take the role of GAMEBRO, GAMEGRL, or GAMEPAL. They
take on the responsibility of creating the world and guiding players
through the story.

Players start with six TRAITS, SKRUB’s version of base stats used in
other tabletops. In this universe, these points represent your
personality, not your physical capability.

TALENTS are comparable to skills in other games, and are the how you
interact with the world. A full list of Traits and Talents will be in
Section 2.

Combat is called STRIFE, the entering of which brings up a more

complicated ruleset, which can be found in Section 6. Most actions
taken in strife will take the form of TECHNIQUES. The most powerful
types of strife techniques are music-based FRAYMOTIFS, which are in
the form of powerful attacks unique to each player, as well as
ultimate combo moves.

Every WEAPON ever to exist in any media, as well as pretty much

anything else can be created through ALCHEMY, whose powers of creation
are limited only to your imagination, and a resource known as GRIST,
which makes up just about everything. Weapons can also be obtained
through QUESTS. Instructions for Alchemy are in Section 5.

Every player has their own QUEST, during which they traverse their
LAND, meet their consorts, fight monsters, solve puzzles and problems,
receive GOD POWERS, face their DENIZEN, and should they be successful;
achieve GOD TIER. The Quest will be created by your GamePal, and they
can find a guide to this in Section 9.

A player's GOD TIER is determined by their title, which is made of

their CLASS and ASPECT. A player’s title represents what MYTHOLOGICAL
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ROLE they play in the story as a whole. Reaching GOD TIER improves a
player's power, or may grant them a new one. Unique to each player,
they have a basis in their TRAITS, they interact with associated GRIST
and STATUSES, but their most powerful effect is interaction with the
STORY as a whole that cannot be expressed in simple mechanics. A more
thorough description is in Section 8.

All these mechanics work together to create a story, where all the
players work together to discover the mysteries of brilliant SKAIA,
fight in the war between the dreamer’s’ kingdoms of PROSPIT and DERSE,
and for you and all your friends to truly SOLVE THE ULTIMATE RIDDLE
and earn the ULTIMATE BOON.

1.2 Why should I want to play?

There’s a number of reasons you might want to play. Maybe you’ve read
Homestuck and the majesty of Sburb calls to you. Maybe you’ve stumbled
across this ruleset and its complexity intrigues you. Maybe a friend
convinced you to play with them. But why SKRUB specifically?
This game is a way to transmute the ordinary interactions of a group
of friends into that of Myth. Imagine you and your friends as Gods,
the jokes you make gaining cosmic scale, the adventures you have as
legend, the fights having reality warping consequences, and the ideas
you come up with becoming a new universe into itself.

1.3 What do I Need to play?

First, you’ll need a GamePal to run the game. They’ll be responsible
for the creation of a land and quest for each player, as well as all
the allies and enemies in the medium. Make sure they’re up for the
task.
You need to find a group of players, anywhere from two to twelve,
because playing alone might end poorly. It doesn't matter if they've
read Homestuck, they might get more out of the experience if they
haven't. The most important thing to look for is commitment. It's
immensely painful to put days and days of work into something for them
to quit two or three sessions in.

Now you can get started. You'll need:

- this guide
- character sheets, either printed or digital
- a comfortable meeting place with a full set of die (a coin, d4, d6,
d8, d10, d12, d16, d20), or a random number generator.
 5

- alternatively, a website that has all that good stuff. Roll20 is

popular, but discord and a dicebot work just as well for most players.
- a bit of free time
- the creative spark
- enough determination to keep up with this adventure for several
months.
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Section 2 - Character Creation

2.1 The Self Sheet

The Self Sheet is the first character sheet. The information on it
relates to who you are, your personality. Throughout most games,
players should only need one Self Sheet, unless you are playing two
different characters in one game. The stats on them slowly change over
the course of the game, and it’s rare that an outside force can affect
anything on it. If it does, it’s probably an Aspect Power!

2.1.1 Bio(graphy)
Like your teachers taught you, start with your name. The three digit
slot below is your session’s arc number, the specific number of your
game. Next to it is your Chumhandle, the name you go by online. If you
and your friends are clever enough, come up with a theme all of your
chumhandles share. Write your Server, Client, and Sprite once that
information is determined. The large chunk underneath that is a place
to write your Land, Quest, and Title.
The Bio(graphy) section of the character sheet is where you write a
little bit about yourself, your family, where you are from, how you
identify, and some of the things you like.

2.1.2 The 6 Traits

Like most other systems, SKRUB uses six base stats, but they’re
probably not ones you’ve seen before. The main distinction is that
these are personality traits, not physical ones.

~Pulchritude (PUL)
Pulchritude is your coolness, your beauty. You look at someone with
high pulchritude and you realize, “wow, I wish I was them.” It's a
slippery slope when people are just that gorgeous. Players without PUL
aren’t necessarily unattractive, but they don’t have the right
confidence to own it.

~Vim (VIM)
Vim is your Fighting Spirit, your willingness to punch that bad guy
right in the face. Someone with high Vim won't take kindly to being
insulted, while someone low on Vim is likely to just let things slide.

~Imagination (IMG)
 7

This one is straightforward. How imaginative are you? Can you come up
with a wide variety of ideas? Players with a low imagination can be
very smart, but they won't be making something new any time soon.

~Adroitness (ADR)
Adroitness is described as quick thinking, ability to work under
pressure, and cleverness. Someone with high ADR will keep a cool head
when times get hard and be able to come up with a quick response in
any situation. Someone with low ADR might come up with a snappy
comeback a few hours after an argument already ended.

-Sagacity (SAG)
Sagacity measures your awareness, and to a lesser extent your
knowledge. It is comparable to Wisdom in other systems, but they’re
not identical. A player with high SAG will be very conscious of the
situations they are in, very good at seeing how things work or what
things are. A character with low SAG might as well be blind, they’re
so oblivious.

~Pluck (PLK)
Pluck shows your mental endurance. Think of it as being happy-go-
plucky. A player with high pluck might get knocked down, but they’re
damn sure going to get back up. They’re never going to give up. When a
character low in pluck gets pushed, they aren't getting back up by
themselves.

~Trait Bonus/Base Diagram

Most rolls will ask for the Trait Bonus. The Base is how much the
player has for the Trait, and the Bonus is one third of this number.
The Base can keep going up, but it is not possible to get a bonus of
+8. The hexagon with Traits around it is the Trait Diagram. As you
gain a higher bonus for each trait, fill out that line to what bonus
you have.
Base = {0-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18-20, >21}
Bonus = (Base)/3, rounded down
{+0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7}

2.1.3 Talent Rubric

Talents are SKRUB’s version of skills. They’re the various checks you
make to interact with the world in ways that aren't combat.
The six unlabeled ones at the beginning are called Interests. Each
player gets to choose 6 things they are interested in and turn them
into personal talents. Here's the explanation of what they do:
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~Science (IMG)
This is what is used to interact with any of Sburb’s many strange
machines. This includes the entry devices, as well as stranger things
found in the Incipisphere. Science can be used to perform multi-step
alchemy to make complicated objects. This is also one of the checks
needed to do Ectobiology.

~Art (IMG)
Used when a player wants to make something outside of alchemy.
However, it must be something overtly artistic and lacking in
function, or possibly a ‘work of art’ (sbahj-esque monstrosities).

~Dream (IMG)
Ever stare at the clouds and wonder what the world could be like?
Mainly used to have new ideas, or attempt to wake up on Prospit or
Derse.

~Cartography (IMG)
To figure out where you are and where you are going. Can be used to
understand the cartography of the mind, since phrenology is correct.

~Poetry (IMG)
Used for writing and understanding stories. The higher your Poetry
talent, the better you can hide meaning and metaphor, or understand
metaphor hidden in meaning.

~Fashion (PUL)
How fashionable you are. Can be used to make clothes, apply makeup,
select an outfit, etc. Can also be used when making an outfit using
Alchemy, as long as the outfit isn’t useful in any significant way.

~Wiles (PUL)
Your proficiency in using your charm, often in a romantic context.
Wink wink, nudge nudge, etc.

~Rhythm (PUL)
Your ability to do sequences of things at the correct time. This is a
Use Instrument check, but also useful for more complicated maneuvers
such as doing multiple things at once.
 9

~Roast (PUL)
Cooking, and also making fun of people. Roast has to be a direct
insult (any level of sarcasm or irony is Snark), and can alter the
Prankster's Gambit. Also used to prepare food, called Victuals.

~Rant (VIM)
Your capability to yell at people over the internet, or maybe even in
real life. Can be substituted for Rhythm when using your voice.

~Hype (VIM)
Used to excite other people and things, to make them more interested
and passionate about a subject. Can also be used on yourself.

~Bustin (VIM)
The act of dispelling spooks, both supernatural beasties and false
constructs of the mind. Makes you feel good.

~Grip (VIM)
How hard can you hold onto something, be it a ledge or your mental
state.

~Trickery (ADR)
Any magician will have an overflowing talent of trickery. It is your
ability to trick, joke, and prank people who probably don't want to
have any of that business. Can affect a players Prankster's Gambit.

~Dance (ADR)
When you need to take an acrobatic pirouette, but not off the handle.
Or maybe off the handle, you do you.

~Creep (ADR)
To sneak around. Failing this check doesn't just make you noticed, it
makes you weird. Why are you in their room, you pervert?

~Ride (ADR)
Used to ride or drive in vehicles. Also used to pull off sweet tricks
in those vehicles.

~Chill (ADR)
Actively avoid anything, by being too cool to care. Also to calm
yourself down in times when you’re definitely not too cool to care.
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~Judgement (SAG)
The tool of lawyers and paladins the world around. This is the talent
used when trying to interpret the actions of others. A successful roll
can determine whether an action was Heroic or requires Justice. It may
also give a general impression of the target.

~Snark (SAG)
When you make a joke or try to communicate, but you do so
sarcastically, insincerely, or ironically. If you are just directly
making fun of someone, it's a Roast.

~Gumshoery (SAG)
Act like an old timey detective. Tracin’ fingerprints, lookin’ for
footsteps, calmin’ flighty broads.

~Hack (SAG)
Roll this when using a computer in a way it doesn’t want you to, or
when roughly cutting things open.

~Ship (PLK)
When you think two things should be in a close Relationship. This
talent can be used without having any interaction or direct effect on
the things the players are shipping together. It will be recorded in
the canon that your player thought they would make a cute couple. I
guess you could also use this talent to mail things, but when has that
ever come up?

~Pester (PLK)
For when you want to talk to someone, but have no real reason for it.
(Players can keep rolling to Pester after an unsuccessful or even
successful roll as many times as equal to their Pluck). “hey, listen”

~Juggling (PLK)
This is for things like multitasking, literally juggling, and anything
else you can bullshit this for.

2.1.4 The Echeladder & Mangrit Beads

The Echeladder is the measure of a players level. The Echeladder is
made up of Rungs, correspond to what level you are. As players climb
the Rungs, they gain new Traits, Talents, and much more. In order to
climb to the next Rung, a certain amount of Experience must be gained,
which your GamePal will keep track of. Each rung has its own unique
name for each player. The Echeladder is normally only 15 Rungs high,
 11

starting at 0. However, if players take a Legendary Nap, they can

unlock more.
In order to climb the Echeladder, players need to collect mangrit
beads. These can be gained with successful talent checks, discovering
new areas, spending measures in combat, in chests throughout the land,
or by achieving milestones. It takes 7 mangrit beads to rung up, and
15 to reach level 21+.

2.1.5 Prankster’s Gambit

A bar that records the games of one-upmanship between you and your
fellow players. Each player starts with a bar that is halfway full at
four. When a player plays a successful joke, prank, trick or roast on
another player, they take one point from that player. Players who have
no points cannot have more points stolen, likewise players who have a
full gambit can't take any more. Pranking a player at 0 will not earn
you any gambit points, because kicking someone while they’re down is
just plain mean.
The Prankster’s Gambit interacts with Wishes and Triggers (see section
3).

2.1.6 Agency
Agency is the currency which is used to perform actions during Strife.
Agency is refilled at the start of a measure.
You gain Agency at the following points:
3 at spawn,
1 is for having a body, which can be lost
1 for entering the game
1 per gate reached
1 for waking up your Dreamself
1 for God-Tiering

2.1.7 Vitality Gel

Vitality is somewhere between a player’s Health and Stamina. When
Agents take damage, it hits their Vitality Gel first. When a player’s
vitality gel is depleted to 0, they are knocked out. Players can only
take damage to their body while unconscious with 0 VG. Players can use
their Determination or digest food to refill their Vitality gel.
A player’s gel Viscosity (their max Vit) is [VIM base + Current
Echeladder Rung + 7]. Their Current gel is how much they currently
have.
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2.1.8 Kiddy Camper Handysash & Overnight Camper Slumbersash

There are two types of badges: ones that you get on your Kiddy Camper
Handysash, and ones that you get on the Overnight Camper Slumberstash.
The Slumbersash is gained when a player takes as Legendary Nap,
whereas the Handysash is present on spawn.
Badges on the Handysash are like achievements or trophies, except most
are highly sarcastic in nature and are only awarded when players do
things that greatly annoy their GameBro, or are direct references to
actions characters did in homestuck. Badges give boondollars equal to
# of badges * 10 (the GB can refuse to give the boondollars if he
thinks the player is metagaming / trying to get the achievement on
purpose because he needed the money)

Kiddy Camper Handysash Badges

Name Description

Wake up Dead Enter the game not Alive

Confidence Debuff Loose à body part

Don’t Eat the Mind Blame yourself for something you caused that was not actually
Honey the result of your Agency

Management Position Fail to contribute anything useful but be included in the

reward

Another Brick in the Make a Shipping check for every other player in the game
Wall

Don't put that in Hit on another species

there

The Gay Friend Make Apparel for someone else

The Hanging Branch Commit acts of violence against a child's plaything

Always Got Your Back Convince someone to get themselves killed

Fly, Pupa Pan, Attempt to make something that can not fly do so
flyyyyyyyy

Fine Art Aficionado Alchemize something that makes another player… need a towel

mOtHaFuCkIn MiRaClEs Ask the GBro a question they cannot give an answer to

Hopeless Romantic Attempt to fill all of your quadrants at least once

It didn't even drop Kill something that isn't an enemy

grist
 13

Tangle Buddies Make some special friends

BATTERWITCH Overreact to a mundane item.

Pet Cemetery Think someone is being insincere/mocking you when they aren't.

The Enemy Have someone see your dead body

YIH Obtain nonhuman body parts

Stern Fatherly Think someone is a fan of something they really aren't

Disapproval

Extreme Irony Think somebody is joking when they are being sincere

Tiny Monsters Drink something of dubious integrity that totally isn't piss

It's time to stop Use memes when attempting to converse with NPCs

Hope you have Bed die

Insurance

I told you bro Fall down the stairs

I warned you dog Fall down stairs again

It keeps happenign! Fall down stairs yet again

Badges on the Slumbersash are like Feats in d20 systems. They

passively upgrade a player’s capabilities, but these badges are far
more potent. Playes gain the first three badges when they ascend to
Godtier, and gain the other badges as they climb further Rungs.
Overnight Camper Slumbersash

Rungs Name Description

God tier Karmic Pendulum If a player’s death was neither Heroic or Just,
they respawn

God tier New Pajamas Players gain god tier robes,and can be switched
into and out of at any time. Count as clothes,
and thus do not take up Coord

God tier Soaring Players can enter à state of flight at will

17 Skeleton Key Can open all mundane locks

19 Universal specibus Players receive the Universalkind specibus that

can hold any weapon
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21 Gift of Gab Can communicate with any sentient beings

2.1.9 Deafness Resonance

Deafness Resonance, or DR, is this game's method of damage resistance
and resisting effects.
There are seven different varieties of normal damage represented by
different Notes, like in music. This is covered more in Section 6. How
much damage they do is up to the volume that weapon plays the Note in.
DR has players be Deaf to specific Notes up to a specific volume.
Players’ Deafness is equal to their Trait Bonuses, except for G, which
is 1/3rd their current Rung.
Pitches and their associated Trait:
Pitch A B C D E F G
Trait PUL VIM IMG ADR SAG PLK Rung

2.2 The Body Character Sheet

The Body Sheet describes the Physical form you are inhabiting in
reality. The stats it keeps track of change a lot easier than on the
Self sheet. They grow faster, but can easily be cut down or broken. As
players advance through the game, they may end up having multiple of
these sheets, as shenanigans occur and people get turned into animals,
robots, or puppets.

2.2.1 Battle Tendencies

The eleven battle tendencies :

~Sleeve [IMG]
The amount of strife techniques you can use in one battle. Player gets
#techniques= 3 x Sleeve.

~Tempo [ADR]
The amount of spaces you can move, as well as your speed. Also used to
breathe/respire. Initiative is 1d[Tempo].

~Focus [SAG]
How many enemies you can focus on. Focus is put on something instantly
when you attack it, but can also be put on something as an
Action/Reaction.

~Determination [PLK]
Used to refill Vitality gel when it becomes low. Players have a
limited pool of Determination, which is kept track of on the Reaching
 15

Arm. Resting and Wishes can refill Determination.

~Vigor [PUL]
Decides Gut size. Used to Eat objects, putting them into the Gut. If
it’s an edible Victual, it can be used to gain Meristem Cells,
regenerate Vitality, or gain Strength and Mass.

~Trust [VIM]
Placed in others to show bond. Doing this allows players to ally each
other, which allows them to occupy the same space during combat and
turns off friendly fire. Alliances can have as many people as the
highest trust score within its members.

~Shadow [ADR]
Used to take a short rest, during which you can restore Determination
or remove Steam equal to your points in Shadow. Whenever you attempt
to rest, however, you roll 1d[Shadow] against your current sheep
(Section 3) to resist falling asleep. If you resist, you can take a
short rest and gain sheep, if not, you fall asleep.

~~Ath [SAG]
~Ath determines how many Ailments you can have. As soon as you have
more Ailments than points in ~Ath, you die.

~Steam [VIM]
A measure of a players stress and anger. When a player builds more
steam than their kettle can fit, they Boil Over, resulting a pirouette
off the handle. Players build steam whenever they make a response
action/command to an entity they were not Focused on, as well as when
stressed or angered.

~Coord [PUL/IMG]
Measures how much a player can have equipped at once. Only items with
utility, such as weapons and armor, count towards your total coord.
Regular clothes can be worn with no penalty.

~Soul [PLK]
At the beginning of a Combat Measure, you can POSE. Poses have
different effects explained in Section 6. You need PSI Points to use a
Pose, PSI Points are Calculated at 2(Rung/3)+(Soul*2). On top of their
use for pose, PSI Points can also be used for psionics or magic.

Tendencies max out at 10, but most related bonuses taper off at 7.
 16

2.2.2 Bio(logy)
A place to write a bit of information about the body. How old it is,
its sex, what species it belongs to, and serial numbers for
manufactured bodies.

2.2.3 Figures
To the right of the Bio(logy) is a couple of drawings of things. These
Figures are designed to help the player keep track of some of the
dynamic parts of the Tendencies.

~Steam’s Kettle
Players’ Steam builds up, crosses a threshold, and something goes
wrong. The maximum size of kettle is your steam.

~Determination’s Reach
Players start each day with a certain amount of determination, which
is slowly used up as the day goes on. The numbers on the Reaching Arm
show how much Determination you have left.

~Chains of Trust
Write the names of everyone you’re currently allied with in the
chains.

~Shadow Sheep
As players go about their days, they gain Shadow Sheep at the
discretion of their GamePal. This is rolled against Shadow during
short rests to resist falling asleep.

~Gut
Players are capable of consuming objects, primarily Victuals, and
attempting to digest them for benefits. When a Victual has been eaten
but hasn’t been digested yet, then it is stored in the Gut.

2.2.4 Form Schema

Draw the body here.

2.2.5 Adaptations & Meristem Cells

Adaptations are the skill trees that alter and give secondary
functions to Tendencies. The full list of Adaptations is found in
Section 3, but as you gain them, you write them down here. Adaptations
are gained by spending Meristem Cells (Section 3). The better the
 17

adaptation, the more Cells it will cost to adapt into.

There are eleven negative adaptations you can take at creation, each
of which are worth -2 Meristem Cells. You can gain up to five Meristem
Cells by taking bad adaptations in this manner.

2.2.6 Ailments
Ailments are mostly-permanent statuses that have negative effects on
the player. They rarely go away on their own, but can. Players gain
Ailments by being attacked with no VG or by contracting diseases,
which cause certain Ailments in particular fashion.

2.3 Invenstory, and House Tracker sheet

This is how players keep track of what’s happened along their journey
and the progress they’ve made.

2.3.1 the Invenstory

The Invenstory is an inventory of story related events, meant to
assist the player in keeping track them. It should be noted that all
of these ask for a tier. Generally, there is no objective way to rank
these things, so use your best judgement.

~Wishes & Triggers

Wishes and Triggers are grouped together because of their related
nature. At creation, the sum of your wishes’ tiers must be equal to
the sum of your triggers’ tiers. Should you gain or loose more wishes
and triggers on your adventure, the balance can be offset.

~Wishes
Wishes are things that you hope will happen, regardless of your status
in attempting to actualize it. You could be plotting and planning and
working for it (which would mean it also would qualify as an Iron in
the Fire), or you could be hoping for a Miracle, and for your wish to
simply be granted. Rules for Wishes are in Section 3.

~Trigges
Triggers are things you really, really, don't want to happen. Triggers
could be the result of a bad experience or a bad dream, rational or
irrational, but it's something that would provoke instant and
undeniable anger, fear, and discomfort. Rules for Triggers are in
Section 3.
 18

~Irons in the Fire

The plans you make. NPCs like your Consorts can follow out the
instructions of a specific Iron without you having to be there, which
is limited by their Sleeve. The benefit of writing something down as
an iron in the fire is that it will continue to progress, even when
your actions aren't getting screen/table time, or if you task npcs
with doing it, they will do it as you do other things.

2.3.2 House Tracker

On the far right of the Invenstory Sheet is the House Tracker. It has
a chunk of land on the bottom, seven gates going up, and Skaia at the
top. This is a thing where you draw your house, and where your Server
player draws what they have built up. It is not quite to scale, as
there is exponentially more distance between each gate, but it’s a
good way to track which gate you have gotten to.

2.4 The Grist Cache and Alchemy Athenaeum

How players keep track of what they’ve made, and the currency used to
make them.

2.4.1 the Grist Cache

Where players write down the various types of Grists they find along
their journeys. Grists are the building materials that are used in
Alchemy to make stuff (see Section 5). Besides build grist, which is
the most basic form of grist, players must discover more grist as they
explore the world!

2.4.2 the Alchemy Athenaeum

As players Alchemize items (section 5) they can keep track of what
they have made on this sheet.
The first column shows the method of combination you use to make the
item. The second is the Captcha Code. everything in the entire game
has Captcha Code, an 8 digit item id, and can be viewed on the back of
the Captcha Card. More complex things like living things or necessary
game constructs require special equipment to read. The third and
fourth are for writing down a simple description of the item. The last
column is a place to write what grists were used to make the item.

2.5 The Portfolio

This lets players keep track of everything they have (such as weapons
in their specibus, items in the sylladex, and victuals in the gut) as
 19

well as things they know, like Techniques.

2.5.1 Sylladex & Modi List

The players inventory during the game. How the sylladex and all the
modi work is described in section 4, but the Portfolio is where you
write down the Modi you know, as well as keep the Captcha cards.

2.5.2 Fridge & Strife Specibi

Where you put weapons that match your Specibus but you currently don't
have equipped. Equipped items are placed on the table.
Strife Specibi the types of weapons you have learned how to use. You
gain your first Specibus at Rung 1, and every three Rungs thereafter.

2.5.3 Techniques
Where players put techniques they have learned but aren't currently
using in their Sleeve. Players can have as many techniques as they
want here, not limited by their sleeve.

2.6 Rolling a Character

This section includes no rolling. Please note that this is for
creating a brand new, Rung 0 character. If you are role playing a
character who starts off higher for story reasons, do all this, then
Rung Up your character to the appropriate level (rung up table below).

2.6.1 Filling out the Self Sheet

~Step 1, Bio
A good place to start is with filling out your Biography. Who are you?
What’s your family like? What are your interests?

~Step 2, Traits
SKRUB has a very specific way of balancing the way things level up, so
it's important to follow the directions closely. First, increase five
Trait Bases by 1 point. Don't think too hard, you're going to get more
points. Now, increase another four Traits by one point. Its can be
four of the five from before, or not. Now, increase three Traits by
one. Now two Traits by one. Now one last Trait by one. Good, your
Starting Trait Bases are set.
This will end up with a wide variety of stats. However, if players
have more than one trait with five in it, or more than five in one, or
their bases don’t add up to fifteen, that player either clearly didn't
 20

listen or is a dirty, dirty cheater. Here is one example of how it can

play out.

Clean Example:
Volley# /point pool Pul Vim Img Adr Sag Plk
1 /5 1 1 1 1 1 0
2 /4 2 2 2 2 1 0
3 /3 3 3 3 2 1 0
4 /2 4 4 3 2 1 0
5 /1 5 4 3 2 1 0

Other potential distributions include 3/3/3/3/0, 4/4/4/2/1/0,

3/2/2/3/3/2, 1/2/4/4/3/1, 2/3/2/4/2/2, and so on.
Now, Trait Bonuses. Use this handy chart.

​Base = {0-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18-20, >21}

Bonus = (Base)/3, rounded down: +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7

After that, you can fill out the Bonus Hexagram. Fill out the line for
each Bonus.

~step 3, Deafnesses
This requires you to have done your Traits, so if you haven't, go back
and do them.
Pitch A B C D E F G

Trait PUL VIM IMG ADR SAG PLK Rung

~Step 4, Talents and Interests

On to Talents. Similar to Traits, add one point to thirteen Talents.
Now add 1 point to another Four Talents.
Interests are not included in this, they grow separately. Take six of
your interests, and assign one to each of the six traits. You start
with a 1 in each and gain more at GP’s discretion as you use them.

~Step 5, finishing up
A player’s gel Viscosity (their max Vit) is [VIM base + Current
Echeladder Rung].
Fill up the first 7 diamonds on your Prankster’s Gambit, so it's
halfway full from the left
You start off with No Badges, 2 Agency, and at Rung 0, so you don't
 21

need to touch those things at this point.

2.6.2 Filling out the Body Sheet

~Step 1, Bio(logy)
Fill this out first. Only put something in the Serial Number slot if
it makes sense, like if you have a robot body.

~Step 2, Tendencies
First, put one point into Eleven Tendencies (this means each tendency
has to have one point in it no matter what). Now, put one point into
six Tendencies.
Finally, whenever you gain a Trait Bonus of two or more, you can add a
point into one of its two respective Tendencies.

Pul- Vigor, Coord

Vim- Trust, Steam
Img- Sleeve, Coord
Adr- Tempo, Shadow
Sag- Focus, ~Ath
Plk- Determination, Soul

~ Step 3 Adaptations and Ailments

Players do not start out with any Adaptations, and I hope you don't
start out with any Ailments.

2.7 Important Tables

~Resolution die
Unlike the above, this section will have rolling. Now that you’ve
filled in a whole bunch of numbers on your character sheet, you should
know what they do. Traits and Talents are what you roll to accomplish
most actions out of Strife. They’re rolled as follows:
Trait: d12+d(traitbonus)
Talent: d12+d(traitbonus)+d(talent)
As your traits and talents go up, you use a bigger die to roll them.
0: d1
1: d2
2: d4
3: d6
4: d8
5: d10
 22

6: d12
7: d16

Note that there’s a distinction between rolling d(stat) and rolling

d[stat]. Parentheses notates a die of the stat’s tier, and brackets
notate a die equal to the stat’s raw score. Most talents will be a
d(stat), while actions in strife (section 6) will be d[stat].

~Rung Ups
Every time you climb an echeladder rung, some of your stats go up.
You also gain (Rung^2-1)*100 boonbucks per rung. After rung 15 player
no longer receive boondollars but instead receive badges (consult
section 2.1.8).

Rung Tendency Talent Trait Strength other special

or mass

Creation 10,6 13,4 5,4,3,2,1

Rung 1 4,3,2 1 Strife specibus

Rung 2 3+img/plk 1

3 3 1

4 4,3,2 1 Strife specibus

5 3+img/plk 1

6 3 1 Sprite necklace

7 4,3,2 1 Strife specibus

8 3+img/plk 1

9 3 1

10 4,3,2 1 Strife specibus

11 3+img/plk 1

12 3 1

13 4,3,2 1 Strife specibus

14 3+img/plk 1

15 3 1

Players must become God Tier to unlock Rung 16+

16 4,3,2 1 Strife specibus

 23

17 3+img/plk 3 Skeleton key

18 3 1

19 4,3,2 1 Universal specibus

20 3+img/plk 3

21 3 1 Gift of garb

+21 1 1 3 3
Note: 3+img/plk means you get at least 3 talents to increase, and get
a bonus equal to your img bonus or plk bonus, whichever is higher.

2.8 Trolls
So, you’ve decided that a Human is not your cup of tea, and want to
play as a Troll. As a different species in a different culture, your
Self and Body will not be built the same way as a human.
Let’s start with the Self Sheet. Humans are free to develop whatever
interests they like, but Trolls lack our freedom. Trolls have a
specific Interest dependant on their caste. If you are a troll not
living on Alternia, these rules may not apply at the GP’s discretion.

2.8.1 The Troll Self Sheet

Burgundy - Waiting (Pluck)
Bronze - Animal Handling (Pulchritude)
Gold - Bees (Sagacity)
Lime - Rally (Pulchritude)
Olive - Hunting (Vim)
Jade - Mothering (Pluck)
Teal - Law (Adroitness)
Cerulean - Cruel Acts (Vim)
Indigo - Boasting (Vim)
Purple - Dark Carnival (Pluck)
Violet - Culling (Vim)
Fuschia - Heiress (All six interests are Heiress interests)

Waiting - Used for positions such as waiting tables or buttling. Can

be literal waiting.

Animal Handling - Anything relating to the handling of and caring for

animals.

Bees - Used in ways that involve bee-like behavior or bee caretaking,

or the cultivation and consumption of mind honey.
 24

Rally - Specifically used to gather a crowd to do something, through

any means.

Hunting - Used for tracking and hunting “prey”

Mothering - Taking care of children, or taking care of people as if

they’re children.

Law - Used in positions similar to the Police, Detectives, and

Lawyers. Anything to do with the Law can be used against another,
convincing through law and legal facts.

Cruel Acts - As an opposition of the Law, these can encompass threats,

acts of aggression, and torturing.

Boasting - This is not Boasting of others, but of oneself.

Dark Carnival - Practicing the Religion.

Culling - The act of reducing the population of a lesser caste.

Heiress - You are the Heiress, you define what you are standing for,
but most likely it’s propagation of the system of oppression your
entire species is involved in.

~Talents
Your choice of talents is reduced as well. Below is a list of talents
for each case, of which you pick four to put one point in.

Burgundy - rhythm, dance, hype, bustin, art, and poetry

Bronze - chill, ride, rhythm, dance, grip, and juggle
Gold - pester, rant, roast, cartography, snark, hack, and judgement
Lime - hype, wiles, roast, dream, poetry, and bustin
Olive - shipping, trickery, creep, cartography, wiles, and bustin
Jade - fashion, art, wiles, chill, judgement, and juggle
Teal - judgement, gumshoe, hack, trickery, creep, roast, and bustin
Cerulean - hack, trickery, roast, grip, pester, snark, science, and
wiles
Indigo - bustin, grip, creep, fashion, and judgement
Purple - juggle, bustin, trickery, and creep
Violet - creep, bustin, grip, science, fashion, art, cartography,
judgement, snark, hack, and ride
 25

Fuschia - All talents

After you’ve picked 4 of the talents provided by your caste, you can
increase any 6 talents, for a total of 10 talent points.

2.8.2 The Body Sheet

Where talents are debuffed for trolls, Tendencies give them their
advantage over humans. Trolls live in a society that dominates by
force, so each caste has their advantages.

You can either choose to get 3 extra Tendency points at creation, or

get one racial Bonus instead (listed below) Your Caste determines the
Racial Bonuses you can get.

2.8.3 Racial Bonuses

Death Communion (R) The Ability to Commune with the Dead, either passively or
can be forced with the use of PSI.

Bronze Control (B-G) Control an animal to your bidding (Number of PSI used is
equal to Rung of Animal) If attacked, lose control. The
goldblood version of this power can only affect bees /
similar insects.

Eyes beam (G) Psionic Blasts fired from Eyes (Power/Damage equals the
Amount of PSI used *2) has a distance of 60ft. Pitch is C.

Telekinesis (R&G) Able to move/bend Objects from afar. Target must be in line
of sight. Use of PSI equivalent to the weight of object and
the distance from the user. Deal G damage if used
offensively.

Highblood Strength Add 2 to your Strength at creation.

(I-F)

Cerulean Control(C) Control an enemy to your bidding (Number of PSI used is

equal to Rung of Enemy) If attacked, lose control.

Rainbow Drinker (J) Your first death turns you into a Rainbow Drinker.
In this state you can suck blood for VG and Richness (the
rarer the richer), different blood colors have flavors you
can also enter and leave a state of illuminated +3 at will.

Water Breathing (V-F) Allows you to breathe underwater.

 26

Section 3: Player Health, or Lack Thereof

3.1 Victuals and Eating

How long has it been since you’ve eaten? Geez, your Gut is feeling
pretty empty. You need some Victuals, SKRUB’s consumable items.

~Victuals
Victuals come in two varieties, Synthetic and
Organic. Synthetic Victuals can be made with
the Alchemiter, are pre-packaged and pre-made,
only have one Flavor, are Nuclear Armageddon
stable, and are all officially branded by
Betty Crocker, somehow.
Organic Victuals cannot be made with the
Alchemiter, only gathered from other living
things. They can have more than one flavor,
and can be cooked with other Organic Victuals
to make better Victuals. Victuals have three
qualities to them: their Richness, their
Flavors, and their name. You can also draw a
picture if you want.

~Gut
When a player eats a Victual, the Victual is put into their Gut, which
physically is found on the inside of the Players Portfolio. A player’s
Gut size is their Vigor, and the space a Victual takes up is
determined by Richness. A player with 5 Vigor could have five 1
Richness Victuals, one 5 Richness Victual, and anything in between. If
a player eats a Victual that goes over their Vigor, they roll to Retch
(1d[Vigor] vs 1d[Victuals Richness]). If Vigor rolls higher, you keep
it down. If Richness is higher, then you everything in your Gut is
ejected in an inedible mess.

~Consumption
What do Victuals do once eaten? As a free action you can initiate the
process of Consumption, which means that at the start of the next
measure, the latest victual you have eaten is passively consumed,
granting you back à number of VG depending of the richness of the
victual in question and you vigor score. This process lasts until the
end of strife or if you run out of victuals in your gut.

If your vigor is one, you restore one VG restored per richness

 27

At two or three vigor, you restore two VG per richness

At four or five, you restore three VG per richness
At six and up, you restore four VG per richness.

Determination follows this same formula; the more points you have in
Determination, the more a single point of DTR heals.

Outside of combat, you can initiate the consumption action as well,

granting you back VG with time. At GP discretion, physical activities
consume victuals faster.

~Flavor
When you eat in-combat, you also get the Flavor buff. Every Flavor has
a special effect where it buffs a stat by one point. This buff takes
effect immediately after you digest a Victual, and the Flavor lasts
either for the remainder of Strife or until your next short or long
rest.

Flavor Effect Flavor Effect

Nutty +1 Determination Herbal +1 Sleeve

Meaty +1 Vigor Sour +1 Focus

Spicy +1 Trust Minty +1 Tempo

Bitter +1 ~ath Salty +1 Steam

Mystery +1 Shadow Liquorice(blk) +1 Coord

Citrus +1 Soul Chocolate +1 to any Talent

Fruity +1 to Shipping Sweet,Vanilla +1 to any healing effect

Wicked May cause hallucinations Bloody Roll Retch

~Cooking
You can cook two or more Organic Victuals together to create one
Victual with lower Richness and more Flavors. To cook, Roll 1d[Roast]
against the sum of Victuals’ Richness
If this fails, it either 1) destroys the victuals, or 2) removes
flavors and just adds the Richness together. This automatically
happens if you attempt to cook a Synthetic Victual. Death to the
Batterwitch.
A highly important item is Spice, a type of victual with no Richness,
just Flavor. Cooking with Spices is a free way to add Flavors into
 28

your cooking. Various implements of cooking can be gained to assist

the 1d[Roast] roll, such as a kitchen knife, baking spray, blender, or
left-handed potato masher.

3.2 Adaptations, Strength, and Mass

~Strength and Mass
Eating allows players to grow big and strong. Every time you rung up,
as long as you’ve eaten something over the course of the previous
rung, you gain one point to put into either strength or mass.
For every two points in mass, you gain +1 to each point of deafness
resonance. You’re much beefier now, you can take some hits. For every
two points in strength, every attack gains +1 to damage in all notes
you weapon have. Yes, your big, beautiful muscles are so strong even
bullets deal more damage when you fire them.

~Adaptations
When a player goes to bed, they gain Meristem Cells equal to the
Richness in their Gut, and all richness is digested. Meristem Cells
are used to buy adaptations. Adaptations can only be bought upon going
to sleep, so once your food is digested, make sure to buy adaptations
before waking up.
Each tendency has seven adaptations of various strengths, as well as
one negative adaptation. Negative adaptations can be taken at spawn,
allowing you to gain a total of five MeristemCells to start the game
with. The first two negative adaptations give you two each, the third
gives you one, and taking more than four gives no benefit. These
negative adaptations can be lost along your adventure if the GamePal
allows, or they might be with you forever.
Adaptations can be bought in any order, as long as you can pay the
price.

~Sleeve
Cost Name Description

-2 Uncreative When you use a Technique, you must use the same
Technique in the next Note, unless a technique
specifies it can only be used once.

2 New Tricks Gain an extra Specibus. Can be bought more than

once.

3 Consult Reason Player can ask the GamePal to confirm whether or not
a statement is accurate, based on the information
available to them at the time.
 29

4 Quick Learner Player can learn strife technique that has been used
on them of Tier equal to or below their Raw Sleeve

5 Smooth transition Switching weapons types Strife takes no Agency.

6 Copycat Use the same technique your opponent uses.

6 Multitask If player has multiple bodies awake at once, they

can be controlled all at once

7 Splintered Allows player to have a waking and dreaming self

awake simultaneously, but can only focus on one at a
time.

~Tempo
Cost Name Description

-2 Hesitant Alway act last in the first measure.

1 Let Go Can more easily clear their mind. When trying to

chill, roll the chill die twice, and use the higher
one.

2 Quick on the Draw Gains +1 when rolling initiative, but only in the
first measure of each fight.

3 Waverunner Player can start on solid ground, then move across

liquids as many spaces as they can. If they end on a
fluid space, they fall.

4 Up The Tempo Player can take an extra action each measure.

5 What I’m Made Of Can burn 2 Meristem Cells for an extra point of
agency at the beginning of each measure.

6 Hurry this up Can skip long, expositional segments and get all
necessary information.

7 So Far Away from Here Can send a message to anyone on the same planet (by
mail, letter in a bottle, shouting, etc.) it is sure
to reach them.

~Focus
Cost Name Description

-2 Myopia Player can only focus on enemies 4 tiles away or

less.

1 A Radiant Smile Player can glow in the dark. Gains Illuminated

Status (by sight) equal to amount of times the
Adaptation was taken, but suffers no disadvantage in
the dark.

2 Look Within Player can see other agents’ VG and Deafness.

 30

2 Aim If you hit a double focused enemy, deal 1 additional

damage for each notes your weapon has (limited to 2
notes max).

3 Awaken Sense Player gains a new sense, such as the ability to

smell colour or feel telepathically.

3 Zoom Player can mentally zoom in or out their vision,

with a maximum magnification of x[Focus].

4 Polyperspective Player is aware of all their bodies’ surroundings,

and can sense through all of them at a given moment.

6 Watch closely Can apply focus on enemy weapons, increasing their

parry chance by 10.

~Determination
Cost Name Description

-2 Weak willed Healing using DTR in battle is now an action instead

of a reaction.

2 Don’t Give it Up Player can use a point of Determination to reroll an

action roll. Take the second roll. This costs one
agency, but still occurs in the same Note, and more
determination can be used to reroll again.

3 Get Up Player can awaken others from K.O. with 1 DTR,

giving them 1 VG.

4 Lamarkian Gambit Player can exchange Mangrit and Meristem Cells at a

rate of 3 Mangrit to 1 Cell.

4 I Believe in You Player can use their DTR to heal other players.
Cannot revive from unconsciousness without “Get Up”.

5 Pray Player can “pray” at any point. This will lead to a

random non-permanent action occurring, which can
include restoring VG, losing VG, gut being filled or
emptied, a status being gained, etc. This can affect
player, allies, or enemies.

6 Never Gonna Keep Me Player can revive themselves from unconsciousness

Down with determination.

7 I Believe in Magic Player can expend use determination to increase the

tier of a die they roll by the amount used.

~Vigor
Cost Name Description

-2 Allergy When you eat victuals of a certain flavor, you’re

forced to roll retch.

2 Always Room for When Gut is full, you can eat one more Sweet

Dessert
2 Livin offa’ the Fat
3 STRONGjump
4 Gotta Eat Big to Get
Big
5 Pica
6 Stored Energy
7 Power Play
~Trust
Cost Name
-2 Shy
1 Pap
2 Empathetic
3 In the Red
3 Is This Our Chance?
4 First Aid
6 Bleeding Out
7 Shoosh
31
Flavored Victual without having to roll Retch.
Player can sacrifice 1 Mass to fill their Gut with
Richness up to their Vigor score. Sacrificed Mass is
restored when the player next rungs up.
Player can make a vertical jump, travelling their
tempo directly upwards.
Player has +1 Strength for every 3 Richness
currently in their Gut. When this is digested, they
lose the gained Strength.
Can put other items in stomach without Retching.
Player can sacrifice Mass to gain that much Agency
Sacrificed Mass is restored when the player next
levels up.
When a Player does a generic roll, they can say that
their action will be a power play, meaning it's a
powerful action that is less likely to succeed. They
say a tier, 1-7, and the GamePal rolls extra Dice
against their action (so a d6 for tier 3, d12 for
tier 6) and add the result to the DC of the roll. If
they succeed, then they get Meristem Cells equal to
the tier of the Power Play. If they fail, on top of
the action failing, something negative will happen.
The higher the tier, the worse the effect.
Description
Cannot recruit Allies.
Slap an ally tenderly in the face with your
friendship. They lose 1 Steam​ ​and you gain 1 Steam.
Player can gain any status another player is
currently under.
Can spend [Trust] additional agency in a measure,
but you will start the next measure with that much
less agency
If you knock someone prone, then all your allies get
a free hit on the prone opponent.
Any healing effect gets a buff when used on an ally.
When players Vitality gel is knocked to 0, they have
[Trust] notes until they pass out.
Press your finger to an ally’s lips and calmly hiss
at them as a gesture of nonaggression. The ally
loses all nonphysical ailments, and they gain 1
 32

Steam per ailment removed in this way.

~Shadow
Cost Name Description

-2 Narcolepsy Afflicted player must randomly Count Sheep (GP’s

discretion).

1 Relax Start with one temporary bonus Agency each time you
wake up.

1 THAT Pumpkin Player can see and interact with pumpkins.

3 Obfuscate Once per strife, can remove all focus from yourself
as a reaction.

4 Hypnosis Can make another character go to sleep by adding as

many sheep to their sheep count as you have points
in shadow. If they pass the check to stay awake, the
sheep go away.

5 Poker Face Other characters are more likely to believe lies

told by the player.

5 Invisible When rolling creep, add a die of tier equal to your

Shadow to your roll.

7 Safe Under Here Will be unnoticed by all underlings while hiding

under something.

(~)~Ath
Cost Name Description

-2 Unconstitutional More likely to receive dangerous ailments.

2 Play Dead Player can pretend to be dead and will not be

attacked by imps. May not work on larger underlings.

3 Endure If a player is about to be taken from full VG to

unconscious or be instantly killed, they will
survive with 1 VG. Only works once per long rest.

4 Diagnosis Player can check other entity to see what Ailments

they have, or how they’re doing in general.

5 Menacing Aura NPCs and underlings are more likely to avoid you.

6 Just a Flesh Wound If you receive ailment during a strife, they don’t
affect you until the strife ends.

6 The Little Death Player can burn Meristem Cells to give them an edge
on a roll. Players chooses a number of Cells to
lose, the max number equal to their ~Ath, and they
gain a die of its converted Tier.
 33

7 Mind over Matter Player can remove one Ailment from body. This can be
bought more than once.

~Steam
Cost Name Description

-2 No sense of humor Cannot gain gambit with pranks, and loses two gambit
points whenever pranked instead of one.

1 Scream Player’s voice will travel much further and be much

louder. Can be bought repeatedly and stacks, but
with diminishing returns.

2 Makes me Feel Good Whenever the player makes a successful “Bustin”

check, they lose all steam. GP can decide to make
you gain steam instead if they think you’re just
trying to clear your kettle.

3 Not going down At will, gain +1 steam when you are knocked to 0
vitality gel and would be unconscious. Gain 1 VG. If
this is used more than once per strife, gain an
additional steam each time.

3 Kick Down Reawaken unconscious agent. They gain +1 Steam.

4 Jeer Insult another player, forcing them to reroll their

action. They gain +1 Steam.

5 Cathartic Action Player can choose to Boil Over with their current
level of Steam at will.

7 Lagspike When another Agent acts, after you see what they do
but before it takes effect, you may react
immediately. They gain +1 Steam.

~Coord
Cost Name Description

-2 Uncoordianted -1 tempo when you have maximum items equipped.

1 Party tricks Add a die of tier coord to all juggle rolls, as long
as the sole purpose of the roll is to show off.

2 Two handing Player can use a single weapon with more Arms than
necessary, improving any Strength Quirks it has.

3 Bear the load Player can equip one more item than their coord
would allow.

5 Pushover If another player is fully equipped, player can

knock them off balance, forcing them to roll
1d[coord]. They’ll drop items equal to coord-roll.

5 Ambidextrous Player can actively wield a weapon in each Arm.

 34

6 Again Again Player can perfectly repeat an action that happened

earlier in the day without needing to roll.

7 Exact Location You know exactly where and when you are at all
times.

~Soul
Cost Name Description

-2 Preparation Time Cannot pose for the first measure

1 In Front of the Mirror Can “perform” pose out of battle by practicing it,
allowing you to use the next tier in-battle. Can
only be used once, but can be bought several times.

3 Multi-use Can perform flirty poses out of battle, but cannot

learn new tiers in this manner.

3 Observational Learner
If you see an ally performing a pose, you can copy
the pose regardless of if you’ve performed earlier
tiers. If ally leaves pose, you can maintain it, but
cannot perform again unless they do. Does not unlock
later tiers.

4 Model Once per Measure, change your Pose at the start of a

Note, still paying its cost.

5 Flattering Ensemble Armor with your symbol or of your color will

increase deafness to each note by 1. Does not affect
regular clothes. Does not stack.

6 Intimidate If you start a battle in a pose of a higher tier

than your opponent’s Soul, their attacks do (Pose
Tier-Soul) less damage for the first measure.

7 From the Bottom of my Can sacrifice Meristem Cells to refill 3 PSI. Can
Heart refill as much PSI in one note as you have Meristem
Cells. Gain 1 Steam each time this action is
performed. Costs 1 Agency.

3.3 Ailments
~Ailments
Not every change to your body on this adventure will be good. Enemies
here don’t hold back, and while the only damage they can do is to your
VG bar during strife, there’s a whole world of pain they can inflict
once you’re knocked out and strife is over.
Every hit you take while unconscious will leave a mark on your body.
Should your GamePal decide, this may cause an Ailment, a long-lasting
affliction that can, and certainly may, kill you. The ailment you
receive is picked from the following table, based on how your enemies
mutilate your unconscious body.
 35

There’s a certain amount of abuse your physical body can take, which
is determined by your ~ath score. You can bear as many ailments as you
have points in ~ath. Should you gain one more, that body dies.
Name Description Name Description

Silenced Player cannot speak, due to Blind Player cannot see, due to
either their mouth being either a blindfold, drugs, or
bound or more sinister more sinister means.
means.

Disfigured PUL rolls will no longer Bloody Player is lying in a pool of

succeed if player can be their own blood and can’t act.
seen. Others may recoil or They will die soon if not
run away in horror. treated.

Fatal blow Player has been instantly Comatose Player is dreaming, and may or
killed by the attack. may not wake up.

Upper body Player cannot move anything Lower body Player cannot move anything
paralysis above their waist. paralysis below their waist.

Delusional Player believes things that Hallucinating Player will have visual,
are not true, and are auditory, and/or tactile
possibly impossible. sensations at whims of GP.

Amputated Player is missing one or Feverish Player is prone to sweat,

more limbs, and cannot use headaches, and tendency
them. debuffs.

Digestive Cannot digest victuals for Putrid Rot Afflicted gives off unhideable
failure VG, Meristem Cells, smell. Gains Illuminated Status
Strength, or Mass. (by smell) equal to times the
Ailment was taken.

Insomnia Player loses Sheep equal to Hemorrhage Afflicted agent loses x

their Focus every time they Vitality gel per Measure or
Count Sheep. Gain that many Scene, where x equals 2^Times
sheep after a failure. this Ailment was taken.

Despairing Cannot use Determination’s Catatonic Player is awake, but

Reach. unresponsive.

Motor cortex Player will not always move Occipital Can only focus on one target at
damage in the intended direction. lobe damage once.

Hyperaemia Player cannot develop Anterograde Player cannot learn any new
alliances. Amnesia techniques.

Decay Lose 1 Strength or Mass Shooting Pain Alway have 1 focus on yourself,
each measure or scene. gain 1 steam periodically

Carnivorous Player will only eat meat, Enzyme Player will only eat
and must roll retch on Failure vegetables, and must roll retch
anything that isn’t. on anything that isn’t

Pneumonia Agency is halved. Maladapted Player loses all adaptations.

 36

Punctured Cannot use Agency. Gangrene Body rots with you in it. May
Lung lead to other ailments.

Gut Parasite 1 out of every 3 victuals Blood -2 VG every measure. Lose VG

is burned when eaten for no parasite outside of combat at GP
benefit. discretion.

Nervous Will always attack last. Scurvy Halves VG regenerated by food

damage

Mouth damage All food taste bland, Hydrophobic Player will not go near water,
Flavor don’t grant any even as they’re dying of
benefit thirst.

3.4 Mental Health

It’s not just your body that will receive damage on your journey. Your
mind may suffer intense stress as well. Take care of it, if it breaks
there may be no fixing it.
~Sleep
Humans, as well as most other species, need sleep. Being awake is
tiring, and we’ve quantified this tiredness as “sheep”. The GamePal
will give players sheep as they go about their day. The more sheep you
have, the more likely you are to go to sleep when you rest.
There’s two types of rests: a long rest and a short rest. When you
decide to take a short rest, roll 1d[shadow] against the sheep you
currently have. If your die exceeds the sheep, you stay awake, and can
use your points in shadow to clear your Steam’s Kettle or restore
points in Determination’s Reach. Every time you take a short rest, you
gain sheep equal to your points in Shadow.
When you take a long rest, you roll Shadow against sheep, but this
time you’re trying to roll under. If you fail, you gain no sheep and
remain awake. If you succeed, you sleep for a few hours, and you may
wake up on your Dreaming Moon. As soon as you fall asleep, your VG,
DTR, and PSI are restored, and your Steam Kettle empties.

~Steam Kettle
Stress was an integral part of our evolution. In the short term, it
activates our fight-or-flight responses, which kept us alive when
facing predators. Longer term, it urged us to store food for winter
and think ahead to ensure the survival of our species.
That doesn’t mean it’s pleasant, though. Negative emotions can wear us
down and have unpleasant physiological responses. Strife is going to
be your biggest stressor, but anything triggering or enraging can give
you Steam as well. When your Steam overflows your Kettle, you tend to
 37

pass out or fly off the handle. However, your GP may decide to make
something else happen instead…
Normally, you want to avoid Steam, but some Adaptations or Techniques
will let you make something useful out of it.

~Interpersonal Relationships
The more introverted of you out there will certainly agree that other
people can be exhausting. Even when people are being perfectly
pleasant, sometimes all you want is to go home and be alone for a bit.
This gets exponentially worse when people aren’t being perfectly
pleasant. Sometimes other players may decide they’re not in the mood
to cooperate and turn against you and your friends. You could try to
fight them, of course, but there’s a much easier solution.
When you’re in an alliance with other players, friendly fire is turned
off. You can use your weapons and powers as you please without
worrying about hurting people. This friendly fire cannot be
circumvented: if you attempt to stab an ally, you will do no damage.
If a player turns against the others, the other players can force them
into an alliance, stopping the renegade from being able to harm them.
From there, they can talk them down without fear of injury.
Should the renegade dislike this and find other ways to sabotage the
party, the members can opt to remove them from the alliance and solve
things the old fashioned way.

~Wishes, Triggers, and the Prankster’s Gambit

Picture an extended bar with the Reaching Arm on one side, the Steam
Kettle on the other, and the Prankster’s Gambit in the middle. In
SKRUB, the Prankster’s Gambit gauges how your mood is influenced by
the outside world. Things that make you happy, like achieving a Wish
or playing a friendly prank on a buddy, increment the gambit towards
seven. Things that upset you, such as a Trigger or being on the
receiving end of a prank, nudge the Gambit towards one.
Pulling a successful prank on a friend will give you one gambit point,
and they’ll lose one in return. If they don’t lose a point, you don’t
gain one, because if you’re kicking someone while they’re down it’s no
longer a prank, it’s just mean. The other way to move the gambit is by
Wishes and Triggers.
Whenever a Wish is granted, by your hand or another, you gain gambit
in the tier of the Wish. If your gambit is at two, and a tier four
wish is granted, you’ll jump to six. If the gambit overflows, however,
you’ll gain Determination’s Reach. If the tier four wish gets granted
 38

while you have six points in the gambit, the gambit will move to seven
and you’ll gain three DTR.
Triggers work in the opposite direction, lowering the Gambit and
overflowing into the Steam Kettle. If you experience a tier four
trigger while your gambit’s at six, your mood is ruined and your
gambit is knocked down to two. Experience another, and your gambit
will fall to one and you’ll gain three Steam.
Wishes cannot remove Steam, and Triggers cannot remove Determination.
If you’re pranked while at one gambit, you’ll gain Steam, but the
opposing player will gain nothing. If you prank someone while at
seven, as long as they’re not at one, you’ll gain Determination.
Whenever you sleep, the Gambit moves two points towards four. Sleeping
off a bad day can make you feel a little better, but not all the way.
 39

Section 4: Sburb, the game within the game

Note: this chapter goes on a bit long, and if you’ve already read
Homestuck, much of it will be familiar to you. Most of this is a guide
for players who have not read the comic, or just need to brush up. If
you’re well-versed in sburb mechanics and only want new information,
you can stick to sections 4.1 and 4.5.1.

4.1 The Walls

You are currently reading the rulebook of a tabletop roleplaying game
called SKRUB, which I hope you will play soon. This game tells the
story of you and your friends playing a game. This leads us to the
discussion of three walls, one of which you’re probably familiar with:

~The Third Wall: Sburb is a video game that you and your friends are
playing.

~The Fourth Wall: Your adventure is a story with a plot that you and
your friends are characters in.

~The Fifth Wall: SKRUB is a tabletop roleplaying game with rules that
facilitate the development of a story.

By playing Sburb, you have broken the Third Wall, entering a video
game universe. Most NPCs in the game do not know that their reality is
just a game to us, even though your character does. This character is
stuck behind the Fourth wall. They do not know that they are just a
character in a story, but through the course of the game, they may
realize that their role is to help tell a narrative. This may lead to
the breaking of the Fourth Wall
Under no circumstances, however, should your character ever have to
encounter the fact that SKRUB is a tabletop Dice game. The rules that
make it up are the true wizards behind the curtain, and pulling back
that curtain will inevitably ruin everything. ​NEVER BREAK THE FIFTH
WALL.

4.2 The Client's Interface

As but one of the writers of your grand adventure, you rely on your
character to exert your influence on the narrative. By acting,
strifing, questing, or even just talking, you are channeling your
agency through your character, and doing your part to write your story
together.
 40

4.2.1 The Sylladex

The Sylladex is the inventory of Sburb. Each player has a Sylladex,
with which they select one of many Modi: methods of obtaining,
storing, and releasing items. When an Item is Captchalogued, or gotten
into the inventory, it is placed in a Captcha Card. These are both
game constructs and Objects that can be held and turned around. On the
back side there is often an Eject All button, as well as an 8 digit
code for the item in the card.
Keep track of the items in your portfolio. Write down the name, the
amount of that item you have in the card, the Captcha code, and where
in your sylladex it is (if important to your modus).
Feasibly, anything could become a Modus, but there are a few rules to
it. Mostly, it needs to suck. It needs to be a pain to get stuff in,
or out, or have the chance of ruining the object, or using the wrong
one, or using multiple ones at once. Also, it can't just be random.
That is boring, they can do better.

4.3 Entering The Game

This story isn’t meant to be told by just anyone. Skaia already knows
who is or isn’t fit to write their stories together. She gives you a
puzzling process at the gate so she can ensure those unworthy don’t
enter Her medium. If you can’t complete this process, then it just
wasn’t meant to be.

~Obtaining and installing discs

Each player should have a Server disc and Client disc. The person who
wants to enter the game needs to install their copy of the Client
disc, and then they need to connect with someone who has installed the
Server disc. That Server will then become Client to another player,
and the chain will continue until the original Client becomes
someone’s server.

~Placing phernalia
Once they are connected, the Server player has a Sims-like view of the
Client's house, and can manipulate it in several ways. During this
time, the Server must place the 4 free phernalia, often having to make
room for the machines by moving around furniture, tearing down walls,
and extending balconies.
 41

~Obtain Cruxite Dowel

The Cruxtruder must be opened in order for the Cruxite dowel to be
released. The players can do this in a number of ways, such as prying
it open, dropping something heavy on it, or praying for Divine
Intervention. When it opens, it releases a dowel of a strange material
in the Client player’s color, as well as a strange flashing spirograph
orb that gives talks to the players in incomprehensible Wingdings.
This is called the Kernelsprite.
Once this is done, a little panel on the cruxtruder starts up, and on
it is a countdown. For what exactly? You have no idea.

~Lathe the cruxite dowel

Take that cruxite dowel to the Totem Lathe, place the dowel on the
appropriate plate, and insert the Pre-Punched Captcha Card into the
slot. The machine will laser cut into the dowel and make a weird
symmetrical vase-like object called a Cruxite Totem.

~Alchemize the Grist Artifact

Bring the Cruxite Totem to the Alchemiter, the largest of the three
machines. Place it on the reading plate, and hit the green button. The
Alchemiter reads the Totem, and then creates an item based on what it
reads. The item created from this particular Totem is the Grist
Artifact.

~Prototype the Kernelsprite

It is very important that this step be done sometime before the final
step. The strange pulsing orb that was released from the Cruxtruder
needs to have something thrown in it. Doing so will change the picture
inside the orb from a Spirograph to whatever object was thrown in. It
also changes the speech pattern to something related to the object
thrown in. By doing this, players are Prototyping the Kernel sprite,
which creates a Guide for them. This must be done at least once before
interacting with the Grist Artifact. If it is not there are dire
consequences.

~Cross the threshold

Finally, interact with the Grist Artifact. This depends on what the
artifact is, but it should always be obvious. A fruit that needs to be
eaten, an egg that needs to be hatched, a glass bottle or pinata that
must be smashed. Maybe it's a book and quill that needs its first word
written, or a flower that must be plucked. It can be anything, but it
should always have a mythological feeling to it, and possibly
foreshadow events to come. Also, this all needs to happen before that
 42

clock on the Cruxtruder hits 0, and a meteor ends your young,

promising life. Don't die!

4.3.1 The Sprite

That Kernel that flew out of the cruxtruder was one of the most
important parts of the game. When the Kernel is prototyped pre-entry,
it splits in two pieces. Part of it goes to Skaia, sending information
on what it was prototyped with. When that part of the Kernel reaches
Skaia, the battlefield expands, and Skaia is brought one step closer
towards full Maturation. The information is also sent to the Kings’
Scepters and Queens’ rings, altering the form of any carapacian that
holds them to reflect what was put in the Kernel. Underlings are also
affected by the prototyping, More information on these form changes
can be found in section 7.
What remains of the Kernel is your Sprite. If the Sprite has only been
prototyped once, it’s only-half formed, and an echo of what you’ve
thrown in floats in the air, unable to communicate. Once the Sprite is
prototyped again, however, it takes on the combined form of both
objects. The Sprite is now able to talk to the player, and guide them
on their journey. Information on objects put in the sprite post-entry
is not sent to Skaia, and is not reflected on royals or enemies.
If Kernel is not prototyped pre-entry, it does not hatch, and
information is not sent to Skaia. The battlefield does not grow, and
Skaia does not mature. Even if the royals and Underlings are left
weakened, Reaching a Victory State with an unprototyped Kernel is
incredibly unlikely.

4.3.2 Server Interface

The server player can build up their clients house, deploy various
Phernalia, check their clients Grist Cache and Alchemy Athenaeum.

~ Housebuilding
Players can build walls, ceilings, floors, stairs, ladders, balconies,
roofs, or anything their heart desires onto their client’s house. The
GP decides how much build grist each addition costs. Players can
delete objects to gain grist as well, but they won’t receive nearly as
much as it would cost to place. Don’t slip up!
Each player’s quest lies behind a series of gates above their house.
Their server has to build them towards each gate to complete their
quest. The first gate costs 100 build to reach, and each gate after it
costs 10 times more.
 43

4.3.3 Phernalia Registry

Phernalia Grist Cost Functions

Cruxtruder Free Produces Cruxite Dowels, releases

Kernelsprite, and has countdown timer.

Cruxite Dowel Free , get Stores information from Punched Captcha

from Cards and Transfers them to Alchemiter
cruxtruder

Prepunched Card Free Card containing code for Cruxite Artifact

Unpunched Card 1 Build Empty Card, ready to go in the sylladex

Totem Lathe Free Carves Cruxite Dowels with data from

Punched Captcha cards

Alchemiter free Reads Carved Cruxite Totems, and creates

objects from it. Requires specific Grists
to create things.

Punch Designix 10 Build Punches code into captchalogue cards so

more items can be made

Bitwise 10 build An explanation on how the AND and OR

Operations for functions work
Dummies

Grist Torrent CD 100 build Allows players to give each other grist

Holopad 1,000 build Allows players to view the item that will
be created from a punched code by creating
a hologram of it

Jumper block 10,000 build Allows players to modify the Alchemiter

extension to their own specifications. By placing
captchalogue cards into Shunts and
plugging them into the Extension block
that has been connected to an
Alchemiter, it remakes the alchemiter
to reflect the item captchalogued. This
has very exploitable effects. A simple
upgrade is to add all the other
machines to the alchemiter, keeping the
process to happen in one spot.
Players can put anything into those
shunts, so the alchemiter can be
 44

changed infinitely. The simple question

you ask yourself is: could this item
added be used as a way to create
something? If not, the alchemiter does
nothing, but if it can, alchemy becomes
similar to however you create things
with the item used.

Punch card 10 build Allows players to put more things in

shunt the Jumper Block Extension

Intellibeam 100,000 Used to retrieve the code from normally

Laserstation build unreadable captcha cards

Cloning pad 1,000,000 Various objects used to breed frogs, and

Build perhaps other things

Skaian 10,000,000 Drills frog hole into the Battlefield

Penetrator Build

Grist Rig Free Used to seed Skaia with each of the planets
grist hoard for the Ultimate Alchemy.

4.4 The Incipisphere

You’ve used the Grist Artifact and crossed the threshold. Everything
around you fades to white as you leave everything you’ve ever loved
behind, bringing only your house and its contents with you. When you
open the door, you’re somewhere you’ve never seen before. You’ve been
taken to your land, a whole planet custom-made to you, with a quest
designed to turn you into the hero you were always meant to be. These
lands are populated by consorts, simple-minded NPCs with their own
societies, cities, economies, and problems for you to solve.
This land, as well as the lands the other players are on, are in the
Incipisphere, the game world positioned outside of Space and Time. But
your lands are far from the only things it houses.

~Skaia
The light at the center of the Incipisphere, Skaia is possibly the
most important feature in it. Housing the battlefield in the center,
it’s the stage on which the armies of Light and Darkness fight. Its
clouds hold prophetic visions of what was, what is, and what is meant
to be.
 45

Every time a player enters the Incipisphere, so long as their Kernel

was prototyped, Skaia will grow and mature. The Battlefield will grow
exponentially with each prototyping, turning from a 3x3 chessboard to
a whole planet with mobius nets for rings. Once it receives a Kernel
for each player, it is fully matured, and ready for the Ultimate
Alchemy.

~Prospit
The Kingdom of Light, Prospit orbits Skaia and is bathed in Her light.
Its golden lands are ruled over by the White Queen, wife of the White
King who leads the army of Light on the battlefield. It has a single
moon, which is connected to it by a powerful golden chain.
As Prospit revolves, the moon turns around it, and at its Zenith it
brushes Skaia’s clouds, allowing anyone on the moon a cornucopia of
information. Prospit’s moon houses a series of towers, holding the
dream selves of roughly half the players.

~The Medium
The middle ground between Light and Darkness, as well as the canvas
the heroes learn to exert their narrative influence on. This is where
all the lands are located, with their houses facing Skaia. The Medium
provides all houses with internet, plumbing, and electricity, allowing
houses to remain a safe location for the players to live.

~The Veil
A ring of asteroids defining the edge of the Medium. Unlike our own
asteroid belt, though, not all these asteroids are lifeless rocks.
These asteroids house laboratories, time capsules, frog temples, and
all manor of oddities. Most of the soldiers on the battlefield are
created here.

~Derse
The Kingdom of Darkness, Prospit orbits Skaia from far away, behind
the veil. It’s eerie purple lands are ruled over by the Black Queen,
wife of the Black King who leads the army of Darkness on the
battlefield. It has a single moon, which is connected to it by a
powerful obsidian chain.
As Derse revolves, the moon turns around it, and at its Zenith it
brushes the Furthest Ring, allowing anyone on the moon to commune with
the creatures within. Derse’s moon houses a series of towers, holding
the dream selves of roughly half the players

~The Furthest Ring

 46

Where the Incipisphere ends, the Furthest Ring begins. Time and Space
don’t flow properly here, if you flew through it at what you thought
was a straight line you may find yourself tracing a non-euclidian
pattern as time flows in three directions at once.
This void is inhabited by the Noble Circle of Horrorterrors, enormous
and extremely powerful eldritch beings whose origins and agenda are
unknown. They observe player sessions from the furthest ring,
occasionally communing with Derse dreamers. Be cautious, however, as
prolonged contact may shatter your already tenuous grasp on reality.

4.4.1 The Gates

The Gates are the players’ primary method of moving their waking
bodies through the Medium. There are seven above each player’s house,
rising through the air towards Skaia. By passing through the gates,
players visit their lands and each other.

~The First Gate

This takes the player to a city of consort on their land, presenting
them with a series of shops, information on their land, and will hint
at what they are to do on their quest. The player may have a few
problems to solve here, but their quest will not formally begin.

~The Second Gate

This takes the player to their server’s house, allowing them to meet
and team up for adventures. By passing through their server’s gate,
they will go to the second location on their own land, and begin their
quest.
Gates act differently for each player, though. Your server’s second
gate takes you to your land, but takes them to their server. In order
to travel together, they’ll have to make physical contact. If Client
and Server want to go to Client’s land, they’ll hold hands and Client
will pass through the gate first. If they want to visit Server2’s
house, they’ll hold hands and Server will pass through the gate first.

~The Third Through Sixth Gate

A player’s third gate will take them to their server’s server. Any
other player’s third gate will take them to their third quest
location. This pattern continues through the fourth, fifth, and sixth
gates. On the player’s land, the quest takes on higher stakes, and
they will begin to learn of their Denizen.

~Return Nodes
 47

These are smaller gates on the players’ lands that take them back to
their house. If two or more players pass through a node together, they
will be taken to the house of whichever player touched the node first.

~The Seventh Gate

Takes the player directly to their Denizen, the final boss of their
planet. This should be the conclusion of their quest.

4.5 Ectobiology
Reproduction is a time-consuming and messy process. Fortunately, Sburb
has the technology to leave all that behind. Ectobiology machines can
scan a living being, read their genetic code, and store it as slime.
The code can be read from the slime and used to create a perfect
genetic clone. More importantly, slime samples taken from two members
of the same species can be combined and used to make their offspring.
More powerful ectobiology machines can add variance and mutation to
the genetic code, capable of making whole populations of people.

4.5.1 Frog breeding

There are two methods of frog breeding, both equally viable for
breeding a healthy frog. The former is best for in-person games, as it
can only really be played in one location during one sitting. The
latter is best for online games, allowing multiple players to
participate and it can be put on hold and resumed later.

~Playing Cards
Pip: the number or face value of a card, 8 or King

Suit: the color of the card, Spades, Clubs, Hearts and Diamonds

The final step of every space player, and the heaviest use of
Ectobiology. Frog breeding has its own mini card game. Using Two decks
of playing cards, 1-12 players can breed frogs to create the Genesis
Frog, which is of course the next universe. In this minigame, Frog
genes are represented by pairs of cards. The Genesis frog is the frog
with one pair of stable genes: spades with clubs and hearts with
diamonds of each Pip. A black pair tilts the Genesis Frog towards
Derse, and a red pair towards Prospit. If the players rush and use a
frog that has unstable genes (any pip paired with the wrong suit) then
the new universe will have cancer, so do it right!
 48

First, travel around the Space Player’s world, looking for frogs. This
is step 1, Documenting. Once you’ve documented it, start step 2,
Cloning. Normally in ectobiology, when you clone something that isn't
a paradox clone that will be sent back in time and become itself, it
instantly turns back into ectoplasm. That’s no good for our purposes
here.
Instead, you are going to mutate your clone. Once you have a Mutant
clone of a genome, mutate another and splice them together. This is
Step 3. You have now spliced together a frog. A horribly, horribly
mutated frog. Once you have two frogs, you can start the final step,
Breeding. Doing this makes a healthier frog, one full of paired genes.
Now, repeat these steps, make more mutant genomes to bring more
diversity into the gene pool, splice genomes to store genes you want
in frogs, and breed to select for gene pairs, and then stable pairs,
until you make the Genesis Frog!

The actual rules are below, in 4 easy and repeatable steps.

~Step 0: shuffle 2 or more decks of cards (more if you have a lot of

players) together into a single deck. You draw from here. Once cards
start getting discarded, make a discard pile. Once the deck runs out,
turn the discard pile into the deck.

~Step 1: document frogs

When you find a frog, draw the top card. This card represents the
frog. On a sheet of paper, Name the frog, and write its suit and pip.
After, put the card in the discard pile.

~Step 2: Cloning Mutant Genomes

Take a frog that you have already documented. See its Pip? That's how
many genes pairs that frog has (lowest being 2, highest being Ace at
14). To make a mutant clone of it, draw that many cards. The mutant
genome can’t have genes of the same suit as the frog being cloned, so
if your original from is a Heart, then if you draw any Hearts you
discard them and draw again.
Note, you can only keep one mutant genome from a specific frog at a
time, but you can always discard what you currently have and clone it
again. Once you have two frogs and their mutant genomes, you can move
on to the next step.

~Step 3: Splicing Genomes

 49

Take two mutant genomes and line them up next to each. If the genomes
are of different size, deal the larger genome into the smaller one
until they’re the same size, discarding remaining cards. These cards
do not pair together, nor does the order of the cards in the stacks
matter, there just needs to be two equal stacks.

~Step 4:breeding frogs

To breed two frogs, you take the left stack of one frog and mix it
with the right stack of the second frog, then mix the right stack of
the first with the left of the second, Leaving you with two large
piles of cards. Now, start laying them out in order, side by side, and
matching Pips. Stable pairs automatically connect, unstable pairs only
happen if a stable can't. After they are all out, you discard any
unmatched cards.

~Mastermind, the second version of the breeding minigame

One or more players will venture into the space player’s land, looking
for frogs. Each frog has a six-letter genetic code consisting of As,
Cs, Gs, and Ts in a random order, and the GP decides what the Ideal
genetic code is. For our purposes, we’ll say the first code the GP
creates is “GATACA”.
The players then start looking for frogs. Every time they find a frog,
they determine its genetic code, and compare it against the GPs code.
Let’s say the players decided the first frog was “ACTGAG”. The GP
would tell them that one of the letters was in the right place, four
of the letters are correct but in the wrong place, and one of them
didn’t belong. The players will note this down, and look for a frog
with what they think is a more accurate code.
Every time the players make a guess, roll a d6. If the die lands on 6,
the players will face an encounter. The longer the players spend
looking, the stronger the encounters get, so players should make
guesses wisely. If they’re overwhelmed, they can opt to go home, but
all progress is lost.
Once the players determine that the code is “GATACA”, they’ve
succeeded in the first step of the process, and bred a frog that can
serve as the Genesis Frog’s grandparent. From here, they will repeat
this process three more times, finding the full set of four ancestors
for the Genesis Frog.
They’re not done yet, however. The frogs must be bred with a specific
genetic code. To combine two of the frogs together, they must
determine an eight-letter code created by the GP. At this point, Derse
has heard about the creation of the genesis frog, and sends waves of
 50

powerful underlings to the player’s house to stop them. Backup may be

required.
After both eight-letter frogs have been bred, it’s time to breed the
Genesis Frog. The GP will create a twelve letter code the players have
to crack, all the while their house is swarming with encounters.
Should they be taken out during any point in the process, their
progress will be reset and they’ll have to complete the twelve-letter
code from scratch.
If you succeed, then congratulations. You’re one step closer to the
Victory State.

4.5.2 Standard ectobiology

Paradox clones
Players of the game are not the same as ordinary people. They weren’t
conceived by two people together or even created in a petri dish in a
lab. All players, as well as their genetic predecessors, are created
in a lab deep in the veil of the medium through Ectobiology. At some
point, one or more players will find their way to the veil, and be
tasked with creating the other players, their parents, and even
themselves.
Screens on the machines will show the ancestors at some point in their
lives, and the player will scan them, creating their genetic slime.
Their paradox clone is created, but is also mixed with that of another
ancestor to create their genetic offspring, which will be two of the
players currently in the medium.
These clones grow to become the very people they’re clones of, sent to
Earth on meteors called down during the Reckoning.

4.6 Dreaming, the Two Kingdoms, and the Reckoning

Prospit and Derse are more just a home for the warring kingdoms.
They’re the kingdom of dreams, one pleasant and the other a nightmare.
Each player is either a Prospit dreamer or a Derse dreamer, or in some
rare cases both. For their entire lives, their dreaming bodies have
been sleeping on the moons of their respective kingdoms, waiting to
wake up.

4.6.1 The Dream Self

At some point during the player’s adventure, usually closer to the
beginning, they’ll wake up on the dreaming moon when they fall asleep.
This might require a successful Dream roll, or they might be woken up
by the necessity of Plot itself. Whatever the case, their waking body
 51

will remain where they fell asleep, but their consciousness will
inhabit the dreaming body sleeping in one of the towers.
This body isn’t quite the same as the waking body. It can fly, but
more importantly, this body is a manifestation of the player’s soul,
free of any Ailments or uncomfortable disalignments that may haunt
their waking hours. During their early hours in their dreaming body,
reality might not feel real. Falls or injuries may startle the player
awake, even minor ones. When they wake back up, the memories there
might fade away like any other dream. As they spend more time there,
though, their memories will remain, consciousness will take a firmer
hold, the dreams will become more real.
This body not only serves as a way to explore Prospit and Derse, gain
information from Skaia’s Clouds or the Noble Circle, but it’s also an
extra life. When a player’s waking self dies, their dream self will
follow shortly. However, if another player kisses their corpse, the
dream self will take over as the waking self, giving the player
another chance at their destiny. Be sure to hurry, though, if the
dream self dies before the reviving kiss, the player is gone forever.

4.6.2 Dreamers and the Dead

You’ve faced mortality at least once. Maybe your dream self died, or
your real self died and you’ve been revived. Maybe you’re dead
forever, no chance of revival. Don’t despair, your story isn’t over
yet. Spread across the furthest ring are the dream bubbles, semblances
of reality formed by the memories of its occupants. It’s much less
concrete than real life, time flowing in the same paradoxical ways as
in the rest of the ring, locations blending from one to the other on
oddly-stitched seams.
Dream bubbles span the entirety of the Ring, which surrounds every
Incipisphere. Every player who’s ever died will find themselves in the
bubbles, meaning any two players from any game could meet. Some
players may even meet themselves. If a version of themself died in
another timeline, they go to the bubbles as well.

4.6.3 The Warring Kingdoms

Before the players enter the game, the battlefield is home to only two
combatants: The King of each army, moving only one space at a time
across a 3x3 chessboard, locked in stalemate. As soon as the first
player enters, though, the battle begins. The battlefield grows,
reinforcements arrive on both sides, and the kings get stronger from
their prototypings.
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The Dersite army are invaders to Skaia, seeking its destruction. The
Prospitians are defenders of its light. Unfortunately for them, the
Dersites are always fated to win. The White King will fall, the Black
King will take their scepter and raise it skyward, calling forth
meteors from the veil. The Reckoning begins.

4.6.4 The Reckoning

It’s the end. The Black King has ordered Skaia’s destruction. It will
soon be bombarded with meteors, rendering the game unwinnable. Once
the Reckoning is over, the Victory State is unreachable. Skaia opens
portals to defend from the first few waves, sacrificing the planet the
players lived on, but it can only last so long before it succumbs to
the meteors.
But there’s still hope. The White King had to die, the Reckoning had
to happen. Remember the Ectobabies from earlier? This is how they get
to Earth. If the Reckoning hadn’t happen, the session would be a
horrible paradox, resulting in a Death of the Timeline unless there’s
some other way for the babies to get to Earth.
In a three-act structure, this is the end of act two. The dark time
before the climax. Harsh but necessary. The Reckoning doesn’t happen
in an instant, so if the players can defeat the Black King before it’s
too late, they’ll be able to reach the Victory State.

4.6.5 Exiles
Players and their families aren’t the only thing carried by the
meteors. Carapacians from the Incipisphere may end up on the ruins of
your home planet as well. Each player may have an exile, a Prospitian
or Dersite who communicates with them via a command prompt. These
prompts at first appear as odd or out-of-place thoughts in the
player’s own head, but they may reveal themselves as a separate
entity.
The exiles don’t just talk to players, though. Their job is also to
re-introduce society on the ruined planet. As if Skaia’s apology for
its apocalypse, it sends the exiles to heal and reshape the planet.

4.7 Apotheosis and the Victory State

Like everything else in this chapter, this will be familiar to you if
you’ve read Homestuck. If you haven’t however, and you’re playing for
the first time, I’d recommend you skip to section 5. Some things are
best left unspoiled.
 53

4.7.1 God Tier

One of the greatest gifts Skaia can give. This is the closest a player
can come to a God: their powers are allowed to fully manifest,
allowing them more influence over the narrative, and they receive
conditional immortality.
In order to reach God Tier, the player must go to a specific location:
either their quest bed on their land, or the sacrificial slab in their
dreaming moons. Then they must lay upon it and die. Skaia will fill
their corpse with energy, reviving them stronger than they could’ve
ever been before.
Of course, just dying may not be enough. If you’re a GP, you may
decide that a player must become worthy in order to receive GP. If
they metagame their way to the quest bed and die on it before
achieving character growth, you can leave them dead. Skaia doesn’t
reward godhood to just anyone.
Quest beds can be anywhere on the lands, but you may wish to put them
in the Denizen’s chamber. A Denizen is the most powerful creature of
the land, and designed to be the final challenge a player has to
overcome. If a player faces their Denizen and succeeds, the Denizen
may reward them with ascension.
Once God Tier is a thing, players may feel invincible in their fancy
new outfits and powerful new abilities. They are not. If a God Tier
player dies, their fate is decided by a clock. If they die virtuously,
fighting evil or dealing justice, they will receive a “heroic”
judgment, and die forever. If they die enshrouded in evil, performing
vile acts or at the hands of a hero, they receive a “just” judgment,
and will die forever. Only deaths that are neither Just nor Heroic
will be unwritten.

4.7.2 Winning the Game

The Black King may be the final boss, but ending the Reckoning isn’t
all you need to beat the game.

~The Forge
Your Space Player’s planet will have a structure called The Forge,
which you’ll recognize as a massive volcano near their house. Once the
Space player finishes their quest and meets their Denizen, they can
ask or force them to Stoke the Forge. The activation of the volcano
will cause positive meteorological changes across the planet, making a
much nicer environment for frogs, speeding the breeding process.
Other Denizens can also interact with the Forge, and may have a stake
in stoking it so they can use it themselves.
 54

~The Rings
While Stoking the Forge may have an impact on its planet, it’s not
enough to have an influence on Skaia. To Light the Forge, you’ll need
some magic rings. One from the White Queen, one from the Black Queen.
While the White Queen will certainly give her ring to make the new
universe, the Black Queen won’t be so helpful. The Players must take
her ring by force.

~The Ultimate Alchemy

Once the player’s houses have been built all the way to Skaia, a grist
rig must be deployed at the very top of each. The Ultimate Alchemy
requires massive amounts of grist, which can be obtained from the
Denizen, violently or otherwise. These rigs pump Skaia full of Grist,
transforming it from the home of the battlefield to a pond for the
Genesis Frog to live.

~The Vast Croak

After the Ultimate Alchemy, Skaia is prepared to receive the Genesis
Tadpole. Players will release the Tadpole on Skaia, where it will age
rapidly to the Genesis Frog, and release the Vast Croak. The Vast
Croak is the most mellifluous song of creation one can ever hear, and
functions as your universe’s “Big Bang”, creating an entire universe
worth of matter and energy.

Congratulations. You’ve won.

~The Ultimate Reward

After the Vast Croak, ​players can receive the ​Ultimate Reward,
represented ​by a doorway under the ​fully matured Skaia.​ Behind the
doorway ​is...

4.X.X Solo Mode

Sburb is a multiplayer game, meant to be played by multiple people.
You are not meant to connect to yourself, this story is not meant to
be told by one person alone. Should you try to, Skaia would surely not
allow it.
There are stories, though, of people who tried such a thing. They
connected as their own server and placed machines in their own house.
When the Cruxtruder open, the Kernel collapsed into a black hole,
sucking the entire planet into the Medium. Surely, they must never
have been heard from again.
 55

The Medium is different in this kind of session. Skaia, too, collapses

into a singularity, and instead of being orbited by one planet, it
instead has fifteen. This quest is to travel from planet to planet,
retrieving a bomb from the center of it and detonating it in just the
right place that it falls into the singularity.
Clearly, this is an impossible task. The timing gets shorter on each,
and the chance of finding the bomb, placing it just right, and not
blowing yourself up in the process even five times in a row is near
zero, let alone fifteen.
Something must lie beyond that challenge, however. I pray we never
discover what.
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Section 5: Alchemy, the Impossible Art

5.1 Introduction to Alchemy

Alchemy is the in-game mechanic for crafting items, outfits and
weapons. Using material called Grist, players can create copies of
items they already have, or combine items through several peculiar
methods to create new objects.
The game’s entry process serves as an introduction to alchemy: players
retrieve a dowel from the Cruxtruder, use a Punched Card to instruct
the Totem Lathe how to carve it, and place the carved totem in the
Alchimeter. The difference here is that this item isn’t a free grist
artifact that has exactly one use. No, you determine what this object
is, pay for it, and use it however you’d like.
Let’s say a player has an apple they’d like to duplicate. They’d
captchalogue it and read the code on the back of the card. The first
step is to punch the code onto the card so the Lathe knows how to
carve the dowel. To do that, you need your server to place down a
Punch Designix. Then you feed a card into it and type in the code, and
the Designix will punch holes in the card. If anything is in that
card, it’s now inaccessible, so it’s recommended to use empty cards
for this process.
Once you have a punched card, retrieve a dowel from the Cruxtruder,
and carve it in the lathe. Bring the lathe to the Alchimeter, and your
GP will tell you the grist cost. If you have enough grist, you can
turn it into the item.
But let’s say you want to make something completely new. This is a bit
more complicated. The Designix has four functions it can use on item
codes. These functions are ||, &&, //, and \\, which combine items in
different ways. Whichever function you choose, it will come up with a
new code, either punching it into a card. Then you complete the
process of creating an item with the Totem Lathe and Alchemiter.

5.1.1 how it actually works

Alchemy isn't simply copying and combining different items, it’s about
copying and forming new ideas and concepts. Grist types are basic
ideas, not real materials, that are used to give to give your concepts
different qualities, regardless of what form they take. More complex
items made of more complex ideas will take more grist to make.

The characters in the code don't actually matter to what item is

created, as coming up with 8^48 separate codes would be impossible.
The code can relate to the item created, but often shouldn't. When
 57

players type in a random code, think of a random thing, and that's

what it makes.

​ itwise Operations for Dummies ​(available for 10 builds grist in

The B
the Phernalia registry) explain how the ​AND and OR functions work. NOR and
XOR operations must be figured out by the players.
-AND (&&) punches holes only where both original codes have holes
punched, thus creating a punch sequence that has less holes than
either of its bases. Alchemy wise, think of what properties they both
share, and those properties transfer to the item created.
Example: an apple && a flower would get you a Generic plant
-OR (||) Punches holes where both base codes have holes, creating a
punch sequence that is the sum of both codes. Alchemy wise, take
everything about both items and combine them.
Example: an apple || a flower would get you an apple-bearing
flower
-NOR (//) punches holes in all the places where the originals did not
have holes punched. Alchemy wise, think of a thing that has no single
vector of being related to the original items
Example: an apple // a flower would get you a hunk of irradiated
metal
-XOR (\\) punches holes where only one of either of the base code
has, does not punch holes where either or both of the codes had holes.
Think of that properties that are not shared by the items, and combine
the unique properties.
Example: an apple \\ a flower would get you a generic material in
the shape of an apple-bearing flower

5.1.3 Limitations of alchemy

Theoretically, any object can be created with alchemy, as long as you
can figure out things that combine to make its code and have the
proper grist. However, some items, even when captchalogued, do not
show an item code. Things like the Discs, other game constructs, and
Exceptionally Powerful Items can be captchalogued, but you need to use
the Intellibeam Laserstation in order to find a code.

~Generic material
This is what it sounds like, generic. It has no defining qualities,
neither heavy nor light, weak nor strong, sharp nor dull, but it is
green. It is the Alchemiter going “I don't know what to put here, but
there needs to be something here to allow the idea manifest, so this
is what i've got”. This idea is very useful, especially when players
use reductive methods on objects. So if you have an elegant sword, and
 58

got rid of the elegance, it would make a Generic sword. If you get rid
of the sword part, it would make an Elegant object, a strange fractal
art sculpture thingy that makes you think of elegance.

5.2 Grist

Grist is the set list of fundamental ideas that make up anything and
everything. They are atomic, which means they can't be broken down
into smaller units.

5.2.1 Standard Grist types

There are seven main types of Grist found in the Medium.
The most common is Build Grist. Build grist is quite literally the
building block of the Medium. It is what makes something physical,
 59

gives something Form, and makes it an Object (and thus Captchalogue-

able). This is also what Servers use to build their Client’s house.
The other six modify build grist, and are associated with Notes.

Grist type Note Pitch Trait

Amber a Pulchritude

Shale b Vim

Marble c Imagination

WD-40 d Adroitness

Chalk e Sagacity

Caulk f Pluck

Build g Rung

5.2.2 Alternate Grist types

The grist shown below can all be used instead of build grist to make
items, with a variety of unique effects.

-Zillium
Makes Zilly version of that item, which is brightly colored and
slightly clown or silly themed. Zilly weapons cannot inflict ailments,
and are prone to honking and squeaking.

-Artifact grist
Makes the literal trash version of the item. It is also added to a
grist cache whenever a pure meme item is made, because it takes no
thought whatsoever to make an unmodified meme. When you make an
artifact grist item, it creates more artifact grist along with the
item. It’s a self-sustaining yet destructive cycle of shitty memes.

-Carmot
The best grist in the game, also known as the philosopher's stone.
Causes items and weapons to be full body gold with flashing rainbow
trim. In weapon fabrication, using Carmot increases Quality by 1,
giving more points to make the weapon. Quality cannot be greater than
7, so should Carmot be used to make a legendary weapon, it just
confers the Texture.

-Liquid Black Sorrow

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Base grist used by the Noble Circle of Horrorterrors, who can produce
an infinite supply of it. Items made of LBS grist have a blackened,
smokey, and drippy look, and you think you can see the sounds of
eternal damnation. These objects have a tendency to disappear, or only
exist when you aren't looking at them, or be colors that don't exist.
If an object made from LBS gets too close to Skaia, it's permanently
destroyed.

5.2.3 Aspect grist

The last twelve slots in the Grist Cache are Aspect Grists, which are
a bit less common than standard Grists. While the other Grists make up
the physical world, Aspects are what compose the Narrative. Aspect
Grists may be used to create items that have a Narrative impact, or
imbue objects with Aspect-related abilities. An object that produces
light may consist partly of Gold, and the sword of a Paladin may have
Diamond grist. These are more guidelines than strict rules, though,
and the GP may determine what objects cost how much of what grist.
All types of Aspect Grist are used in the Ultimate Alchemy, and
they’re what gives the newborn Universe all the qualities it needs to
create its own Narratives.

5.3 Weapons
In this game, weapon creation is balanced by using a point-buy pool. A
weapon’s tier and quality give it a certain amount of points, then
those points are spent on making it have specific stats. Putting
different bad things onto the weapon gives you extra points.

5.3.1 Weapon stats

~Base stats:
Parry chance at 15%
Vitality = weapon's tier
No damage or block notes
No Breaks or Quirks
No Magazine, although Magazines start off with 1 shot
1 arm required
Melee weapon hits one square forward
Ranged weapon projectiles go forward until stopped

~Point-buy pool
Points = Tier * Quality.
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The tier of an item is how good of a weapon it is in that particular

specibus (for example, a butter knife would be lower tier than a steak
knife), and the quality is how good of an item it is.

~spending points
Component Pool Component Pool
cost cost

-2% Parry -1p Requires Magazine +Tier

+1 weapon vitality -1p Extra Arm requirement +3

+1 volume/Damage* -1p +2% Parry chance +1

Break Heads >51 -7 Tails Break <1 +1

Break Heads >64 -6 Tails Break <4 +2

Break Heads >75 -5 Tails Break <9 +3

Break Heads >84 -4 Tails Break <19 +4

Break Heads >91 -3 Tails Break <25 +5

Break Heads >96 -2 Tails Break <36 +6

Break Heads >99 -1 Tails Break <49 +7

+1 Heads Quirk -2 Tails Quirk +1 +1

+1 Extra Hitbox** -1

1 Extra shot in -1
Magazine

Moves wielder with use -1

1 space

Aspect Powers -Tier

*You can only have Volume up to the weapon’s Tier in any single Note.
Weapons can have multiple notes, but once the total volume goes above
the weapons tier, each extra volume costs 2 points instead of one.
Weapons cannot have over double their Tier in Volume.
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**Due to the nature of the strife field (Section 6.3), weapons will
hit one square in front of them by default and cannot hit to the left
or right
5.3.2 Weapon Pitch
Below is a list of all damage types able to be used by a weapon.
Technically the system allows you to put points into whatever pitch
you’d like, but you should only put damage into the proper categories
based on the weapon’s capabilities.

Pitch Damages

F Magic (real), Lightning, Determination, Visible Light

E Blunt, Explosive, Corrosive, Poison, Infrared

D Cold, Wind, Shadow, Speed, Shear, Microwaves

C Puncture, Psychic, Radio Waves

B Heat, Abrasive, Liquid, Torsion, Gamma Rays

A Laceration, Sound, Consumption, X-rays

G Normal, Science, Ultraviolet

5.3.3 Weapon Quirks

This is certainly not a complete list of quirks, as you’re limited by
only your imagination and your GamePal. If you’re strapped for ideas,
use these for inspiration.

Name Description Name Description

Miss This weapon does not do Burden lower target's movement speed
damage by X, causes State Burdened

Sunder deplete opponent’s items Boomerang Weapon ejects itself until

Strength the next Measure. At the same
note of the next measure,
roll to hit again.

Smash Lowers target's deafness Pierce Ignores DR, dealing raw

by 1 for the damage your weapon damage.
weapon dealt
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Trip Trip opponent, knocking Knockback pushes target in any

them prone and forcing direction, specified by
them to take an agency either the weapon, wielder,
to stand. or die roll. stated in weapon
description.

Arc damage jumps to nearest Bounce target is knocked into the

enemy after initial air for 1d4 notes and takes
target same amount of G damage

Tied/ can not use Burn damage continues going for

Constrain weapons/items until multiple rounds, each going
ed freed in the next against Dr but does not
Measure. reroll for hit chance

Freeze halve enemies movement Nailed target can not move, but can
speed, round down use weapons and items

Blind lowers focus by 1d4 for Disarm target’s weapon is unequipped

one measure

Damper Reduces incoming damage Barbs target item deals damage to

from opponent whatever is wielding it

5.3.3 SpecibiKind
In SKRUB, just about anything can be picked up and used as a weapon,
and thus has its own Strife Specibus. However, for the ease of weapon
creation, we’ve come up with larger categories of weapons that
function differently. There are: Melee, Magical, Magazine, and
Martial.

-Melee
These weapons are the normal type, things you hold in your hand and
smack your opponents with.

-Magazine
These weapons always have a magazine, and require Reloading to be
used. They may not require players to make ammunition to use them.

-Magical
These weapons come in two parts: Catalysts and Spells. Spells have
damage, deafness, quirks, and hitbox shapes, but have to be equipped
onto a Catalyst in order to be cast. Catalysts have a set amount of
equip slots, have a range that they can fire the spells hitbox, and
can alter the quirks, break chance, and damage of a Spell. Any of the
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Spells equipped to a catalyst can be used in strife without switching

weapons, and only the catalyst contributes to Coord.

-Martial
These weapons are for cool martial arts combat. They give their user
physical fighting styles that allow them to use their body as a
weapon. While they may not be physical weapons, they still are
objects, and require something equippable to be made, like a ring,
belt, hand wraps, or pin.
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Section 6: Strife!
6.1 Strife Basics
Almost all combat in SKRUB is performed in Strife, a turn-based battle
system that acts like a stage play that’s on a chessboard and also
kind of a song? Strife is made of measures, which consist of notes.
All participants in a Strife are referred to as “Agents”, and these
Agents perform actions and reactions. Acting takes Agency, so you can
perform as many actions as you have Agency. At the beginning of each
measure, you regain Agency equal to your maximum Agency.

All Strifes will look something like this:

Measure 1
Note 1: All agents w/agency take one
Note 2: All agents w/agency take one
Note 3: All agents w/agency take one
...
Note N: Agents use the last of their
Measure 2
Note 1: All agents w/agency take one
This continues until the strife ends
action, agents may react
action, agents may react
action, agents may react
agency, and may react.
action, agents may react…
in some manner or another.

6.1.1 Reactions
Actions take 1 Agency, and the majority of things you can do in a
Strife are Actions. Reactions take no Agency, and include restoring
health with Determination’s Reach, digesting food, switching weapons
within the specibus you’re using, and other actions that are specified
as reactions.

6.1.2 Deafness
As each weapon deals damage in a certain note, Agents can resist them
to varying degrees. The deafness for most damage types is equal to
your bonus in its associated trait:
PUL- A
VIM- B
IMG- C
ADR- D
SAG- E
PLK- F
The final damage type, G, is determined by your rung divided by 3.
Armor can increase your deafnesses further, but requires a coord slot
to equip.
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6.1.3 Damage types

The same table that was in Section 5, copied for your convenience
Pitch Damages

F Magic (real), Lightning, Determination, Visible Light

E Blunt, Explosive, Corrosive, Poison, Infrared

D Cold, Wind, Shadow, Speed, Shear, Microwaves

C Puncture, Psychic, Radio Waves

B Heat, Abrasive, Liquid, Torsion, Gamma Rays

A Laceration, Sound, Consumption, X-rays

G Normal, Science, Ultraviolet

6.2 The Battle Tendencies

All of the battle tendencies are used during strife in some manner or
another. Here’s each of them in the order they’re likely to be used:

~Pre-battle:
Your ​sleeve​ determines the number of techniques you can have equipped
at once. Make sure you have the techniques you want at the ready,
because in battle it takes agency to switch them.
Your ​coord​ determines how many items you can have equipped. You cannot
have more items equipped than exceeds your coord score. It takes
agency to switch out equipment in battle.
Your ​vigor​ determines the size of your gut. You can eat food during
battle, and digest it to restore health (specific instructions are in
section 3.1).

~Battle start:
Your ​soul​ determines your PSI, which you can use to pose at the start
of each measure. A full list of poses can be found below.
Your ​tempo​ determines your initiative die. This is rolled at the start
of each measure. Whoever has the highest number goes first. If two
agents roll the same number, the one with the higher Tempo goes first.
If they tie, they can reroll or flip a coin. Tempo also determines how
many spaces you can move each note.
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~During battle:
Your ​focus​ determines how many enemies you can be focused on at once.
You will focus automatically on an enemy you attack as long as you
have a focus slot open. If an enemy leaves battle in any way, they are
automatically unfocused on. Corpses are not automatically unfocused
on. Manually removing focus costs 1 agency. You can double focus on an
enemy to increase their parry chance by 5%. This costs 1 agency.
Your ​steam​ determines the size of your steam kettle. Attacking or
reacting to an enemy you’re not focused on gives you one steam. When
you take more steam than your kettle can fit, you take an acrobatic
fucking pirouette off the handle, and what happens next is at GP
discretion.
Your ​determination​ gives you determination’s reach, or DTR. As a
reaction, you can spend between 1 to all of your DTR, and restore that
much VG (refer to section 3.1 for the healing values)
Your ​trust​ determines how many people you can have as allies. If
you’re allied with someone, you can occupy the same tile on the
battlefield, and friendly fire is off.

~Knocked unconscious:
If you run out of vitality gel, you’re knocked unconscious.
Your ​shadow​ determines the die you roll to attempt to wake up and
restore 1 VG. When you’re knocked out, you roll shadow against your
current sheep. A failure will remove 2 sheep, letting you try again on
your next turn.
Your ​~ath​ determines how many ailments you can take before dying
painfully. When you’re attacked while unconscious, you may gain an
ailment. If that number exceeds your ~ath score, you will die. A full
list of ailments can be found in section 3.

6.3 The Strife Field

Strife is a stage with a checkerboard pattern painted on it, with a
foreground, center stage, and background. Each of these lanes are
seven tiles wide, making 21 spaces of combat. At the beginning of
Strife, all agents start on a specific space, and are able to move
spaces within their lane equal to their tempo. You can switch lanes
freely, but can only attack within your lane.

6.3.1 Classic/Simple Strife

For a more simplified Strife field, you can alternatively use the
Strife field from the Alpha version: a chessboard with no lanes
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stretching off into infinity. All the mechanics are the same, except
you can move freely in all directions.

6.4 Sample Strife

Despite the sheer amount of information thrown at you, strife is
actually surprisingly simple. Let’s take a look at a battle between a
player and an imp.

-The player will, before the battle starts, equip all the items,
techniques, and eat all the food they wish.
-The player will find an imp, pose to get a minor buff, and both
agents will roll initiative.
-The first combatant will ​swing​. Swinging involves having both the
attacker and their target roll a d100. The result hinges on the ​parry
chance​ of the attacker’s weapon. The parry chance is the range at
which an attack can be parried. If someone has a parry chance if 15%,
their opponent will have to roll within 15 points in either direction
to parry.
-Let’s say the player rolls a 90, and has a parry chance of 15%. The
imp will need to roll between a 75-100, or a 1-5 to parry. If the imp
does not parry, the player will hit and deal damage. If they have a
heads break, it will go off as well.
-The imp attacks next, and deals 3A damage. The player has an A
deafness of 1, so they subtract that from the damage dealt and receive
2 damage total.
-The player, worried about their injuries, uses determination’s reach
as their reaction, and restores 2 VG.
-They use their action to swing again. They roll an 8, activating
their tails break “miss” and deal no damage.
-The imp attacks with a parry chance of 10%. The player rolls within
the parry range, and they deal no damage.
-The imp is out of agency, but the player has one left, so they attack
and deal damage.
-Both agents are out of agency, so ​measure 2​ begins, restoring all
agency to both combatants.
-The player changes pose, allowing another buff.
-The imp rolls higher initiative, letting it attack first.
-The player uses “auto-parry” as a reaction, increasing the imp’s
parry chance. It doesn’t help, and the imp deals 2 damage.
-The player attacks, defeating the imp.

6.5 Techniques
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Techniques are gained automatically as your tendencies increase. Once

you unlock a technique, it automatically goes in your portfolio, and
you can put it in your sleeve if you have room. All characters will
have aggrieve, accede, and abscond available to them at creation.

Basic tech, determined by Sleeve score (when sleeve = 2, you get all
tech tier 2 and under)

0 Aggrieve A standard attack.

0 Accede Do not swing. Surrender, giving enemies an “attack/mercy”

option.

0 Abscond Attempt to escape from combat.

1 Auto-Parry Reaction. Add your parry chance to enemy’s parry chance.

2 Abjure Do not swing. Roll to block next attack, doubling enemy’s

parry chance. If you break heads, your weapon does its
heads quirk.

3 Disarm Swing, but don’t hit. If you’d normally be parried, enemy

drops weapon. If you’d normally hit, nothing happens.

4 Dude(tte) Roll d100. If you exceed the enemy roll, they don’t break
Dodge or do damage.

5 Artillerize Throw weapon. It deals +2x damage to the note it does the
most damage in (player’s choice if ties), x=number of
spaces travelled. Caps at 5 spaces.

6 Abandon Weapon does 4x damage, but is destroyed. Parry chance

increases by 10.

7 Defend Do not swing. Double all Deafness for rest of note.

Tendency Tech, unlocked when your score in a tendency reaches the tier
of technique.

TempoTech

You’re too slow (t1) Deal extra D damage equivalent to (player tempo)-(enemy
tempo).

Ankle strike (t2) Lower opponent’s tempo by half your tempo score for the
next 2 measures.
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Gonna run as a flash (t3) Do not swing. Move up to [Tempo] spaces, removing all
focus from you.

Gotta Jet (t4) Do not swing. Abscond, bringing up to [tempo] allies

with you.

The Down Under (t5) Slip through the enemy’s legs and end up behind them
dealing standard damage.

Too Fast For You (t6) Reaction. When attacked, jump out of range of swing. VG
loss reduced by (Player Tempo Score+1)-(Enemy Tempo
Score-2).

Lunge (t7) Do not swing. Move [tempo] spaces across the board,
dealing 5D damage to anything in your path. Can use once
per measure.

FocusTech

Pay attention to me! (t1) Do not swing. Forces all enemies to focus on you.

Staring contest (t2) Do not swing. Roll Focus against opponent. Loser will no
longer be focused on winner.

Tracking (t3) Do not swing. Declare a target. Next time the target
moves, you move in the same direction and number of
spaces, unless your movement is stopped by an obstacle
or your Tempo score.

Sneak attack! (t4) Attack deals extra damage in its highest note equal to
opponents not Focused on you.

Feeling Lucky (t5) Swing. Your break chances are doubled for rest of
measure.

Panopticon (t6) Do not swing. For the next 2 notes, you’re focused on
all members of the battlefield.

Bullet time (t7) Do not swing. For next 3 notes, all enemy parry chance
is doubled when attacking you.

Determination tech

True Strength (t1) Burn DTR to deal that much extra damage in weapon’s
highest note.

Momentum (t2) Do not swing. If an enemy dies this measure, gain 1 DTR.
If not, gain 2 steam.

Desperation (t3) Weapon deals extra F-damage equal to raw Determination

score if your VG is at 25% or lower.

Overpower (t4) If you hit, enemy’s next attack will be reduced by

damage dealt, but only in the notes your damage was in.

Battle of Willpower (t5) If your Determination is higher than your opponent’s,

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you deal twice the difference extra F damage.

Wish with your whole heart Do not attack. Roll a dice equivalent to half your
(t6) determination tendency (round up). You restore that much
DTR.

Inspiring cry (t7) Do not attack. All steam is turned to DTR and
transferred to nearby players (ex. 2 steam --> 2 DTR to
1 player or 1 to 2 players).

VigorTech

Joke Attack (t1) Double your parry chance. If attack hits, increase
prankster’s gambit by 1, and enemy cannot act next note.

Tackle (t2) Deal G damage equal to 2x Strength.

Pound (t3) Deal G damage equal to 2x Mass.

Stuffed Pig (t4) Do not attack. Roll 1d[Vigor], player can eat that many
victuals in a single note.

Emergency Bulk (t5) Do not attack. Digest as much food as you wish,
increasing your mass by half that amount for remainder
of note.

Digestive Overdrive (t6) Reaction. All food in Gut heals VG immediately.

Human Cannonball (t7) Throw ally at enemy, dealing G damage equal to your
strength+their mass.

ShadowTech

Shadow Sneak (t1) User can roll to sneak up on enemy and deal extra damage
before strife starts

Take a breather (t2) Do not attack. Restore DR or remove Steam equal to your
Shadow. Can only be used once per battle.

Can’t see me (t3) Do not attack. Roll 1d[shadow], remove that much focus
from you

Can’t see them either (t4) Do not attack. Roll 1d[shadow], remove that much focus
from allies

From the shadows (t5) Attack deals 2x damage and gives opponent 1 steam if
they’re not focused on you

Nothing personal, kid (t6) If you have enough movement points to do so normally,
instantly put you behind you target, avoiding things
like obstacles on the path. Can swing immediately after.

Wraith Mode (t7) Reaction. For rest of measure, cannot attack or be

attacked, can only move. Can only be used once per
battle.
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Trust tech

Human shield (t1) Reaction. Take half damage dealt to a chosen ally for
remainder of measure.

Table Topple (t2) Do not attack. If an ally is one space behind an enemy,
player can roll to knock the enemy over their back,
knocking them prone.

Supporting me (t3) Deal extra F damage for each ally on the same or
adjacent tiles.

Team Attack (t4) Do not attack. Add your damage to the next attack done
by a teammate, treating it as a single hit.

Dangerous to go Alone (t5) Do not attack. Can give ally a weapon for remainder of
measure, regardless of whether it fits their specibus.

Fist bump (t6) Do not attack. High-trust player temporarily gives

low-trust player advanced tendytechs, allowing them both
to do them for rest of measure.

Revenge (t7) If an ally was knocked unconscious on the previous note,

deal 4x damage.

AthTech

Fight Dirty (t1) Deal extra B damage equal to how many ailments opponents
have.

Gut Punch (t2) If hit, force opponent to roll retch.

Go for the Head (t3) Attack deals double damage if attack would normally be
parried. Misses if attack would normally hit.

Predator and Prey (t4) Deal extra G damage based on how many rungs higher you
are than opponent.

Backstab (t5) Attack does triple damage if enemy is facing away from
you. Will turn enemy towards you.

Debunk (t6) Attack enemy weapon directly. If player strength is

higher than weapon quality, the weapon breaks.

Last Resort (t7) Deal weapon damage to yourself, triple damage to enemy.

SteamTech

Shout (t1) Do not attack. All enemies lose focus on allies, and
focus on you. All allies gain 1 steam.

Boiling Blood (t2) For each steam in your kettle, deal 1 extra B damage.
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Anger Strike (t3) Deal damage equal to 2x(no. of allies on field) All
allies gain 1 steam.

Feel your every rage (t4) Reaction. When the Player’s Kettle Overflows, they can
deal 3x damage to any enemy, and passes out.

Assault (t5) Swing up to 5 times, but remove 3 VG from self per swing

Why are you hitting Swing, adding enemy parry chance to your own. If hit,
yourself? (t6) enemy deals its weapon damage to self and gains 1 steam

Outrage (t7) Consume 4 Steam to enter a berserker state for two

measures. All aggrieves do double damage, but player
cannot do anything but aggrieve.

/ CoordTech

Multitask (t1) Must have 2 weapons equipped. Initiate auto-parry with

one weapon, swing with the other.

The ol’ switcheroo (t2) Do not swing. Switch places with target

Coda (t3) Do not swing. Switch turn order with an ally for rest of
measure.

Spin (t4) If hit, enemy turns 180 degrees.

Attrition (t5) Deal an extra damage of your weapon’s strongest type for
each measure of the fight past the first.

Throwdown (t6) Knock enemy over, dealing 3 extra G damage. If the floor
is weak, or there is a gap behind them, they fall
through it.

Out of the Way! (t7) Move [tempo] spaces forward. If any enemies are in the
way, they’re thrown to either the left or right, taking
[mass] G damage and going prone.

​SoulTech

Defensive Positioning (t1) Do not attack. Whenever you’re attacked this note, add
your weapon’s Deafness to your own.

Can’t Catch a Break (t2) Spend 4 PSI to increase Heads Break chance by 5% for
next attack.

Appeal (t3) Reaction. Force enemy to use another weapon or

technique.

Copycat (t4) Copy the last technique done by an ally of your choice.

Heart to Heart (t5) Do not attack. Reduce your PSI by up to 2xSoul, and give
½ that amount to an ally.

Putting on the Pressure Swing. Deal no damage, but reduce opponent’s PSI by your
(t6) twice your Soul score.
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What Kind of Lame Power is Do not swing. Burn PSI, deal F damage equal to ¼ PSI
Heart, Anyway? (t7) spent. This ignores Deafness, and cannot be avoided. Can
only use once per strife.

6.5.1 Fraymotifs
Fraymotifs are music-based attacks that will likely be a player’s
first taste of their God powers. They’re unique to each player, are
typically named after song names or lyrics, and get most of their
usage on the battlefield. Fraymotifs can be bought on the players’
lands from consorts for an exorbitant price. There are two types of
Fraymotifs: Solos and Ensembles.

~Solo Fraymotif
For a brief period in the battle, a single player takes the stage and
has their time in the spotlight. There are three tiers of solo
Fraymotifs per player, progressively stronger but unique enough to not
make the earlier tiers obsolete. Solo Fraymotifs can do any number of
things based on the player’s role, from being a guaranteed attack with
guaranteed breaks, healing themselves or other players, warping around
the battlefield, buffing stats, and just about anything the GP can
think up. These may cost more than one Agency to cast.

~Orchestra Fraymotif
Customized to each pair, trio, or larger group of players, ensemble
Fraymotifs have the potential to be much more devastating than Solos.
Two or more players spend a note in battle using both their God
actions on the battlefield. Like the Solos, this can be anything, like
twisting around the battlefield, summoning players from across the
medium, or an outright devastating attack. Both players pay the Agency
cost, and can be performed on the note of the Agent that acts first
that measure.

In order to calculate the Agency costs, the GP can use the God Action
table from Section 8, and ignore the DC segment as Fraymotifs do not
fail. In the case of an Orchestra Fraymotif, all Agents participating
pay the Agency cost.

6.6 States and Statuses

Players can enter these states and statuses as the result of strife,
or may simply enter them on their own or by other means.
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~States
Prone Occurs when a player is knocked over. Prone is basically a stun,
the next point of Agency a player would use is instead used to
shake off being Prone. A player who is currently prone cannot be
knocked Prone again, meaning only every other point of Agency can
Prone locked.

Awake Standard status, player’s Self is conscious in its Body and can
use Agency

Multiwoke Players Self is conscious in multiple Bodies at once, extra

bodies equal to player’s Rhythm Talent. Since the Bodies share
one Self, they all share the same Agency.

Split One Body has multiple Selves in it. Both Players’ Agency can be
used, however every Measure both Players roll Initiative, and
whichever Self rolls higher gets to choose whether or not to use
the Bodies one Action per note. I have no idea how you get into a
Split situation, that's some supreme Heart or Mind shenanigans,
I’m sure you’ll figure something out.

Asleep Agency is disabled and the Self is no longer conscious of the

Body, but remains connected to it. A State of Void, making you
subject to any manipulation of Void.

Sleep- Consciousness is disabled, but Agency is not. Actions decided by

walking GP but can be argued over by players

Sleep Agency is disabled, Consciousness is not. Player is fully aware

Paralysis of everything that is happening, but incapable of controlling the
Body in any way.

Dreaming Player Consciousness has left their body, and is projecting a

Form onto the medium. This form leans to how they want to look
(if the player's Body has been changed in a way that they do not
like or cannot accept, then their Dreamself does not reflect it).
The Dreaming Self follows Dream Logic, which is generally silly
and does not need to follow rules, and are mostly under the
control of the Dreamer. Should the Dreamself take damage (or
believe they are about to take damage), they wake up instead.
Dreamers cannot gain Mangrit or Climb the Echeladder. A State of
Hope, making you subject to any manipulation of Hope.

Nightmare A very bad dream. The Dreamers Form leans more toward how they
wish they didn't look, and can grossly exaggerate flaws.
Nightmare logic occurs, which does not allow the dreamer to
control anything, or if it does then it does in a way that twists
it. The Self experiencing a nightmare can feel pain, but normally
will wake up if their physical body takes damage.
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Refilling Occurs when a body starts using its Refill, which happens the
Measure after the Body takes Damage. They gain Vitality gel equal
to their Vigor at the Start of each Note, and possibly other
effects due to Flavors.

Faded Agent can only focus on things in a certain range (spaces equal
to their Focus) regardless of the Sense being used.

Illuminated Body is bathed in a sensation, be it a Glow, Sound, Smell or

(+1 to +7): other. Gives other Agents attempting to Focus an extra die based
on tier of Illumination.

Hidden (+1 to Body is Covered and hiding a sensation, be it light, noise, heat
+7) or other, and cannot be Focused on. Covered represents what die
are rolled against the Focus. Creep can be rolled to give Cover,
so can environmental pieces, as well as items. The bonuses for
these different Covers do not stack, only the roll results. So a
creep check of +3/d6 and hiding in a dark corner +2/d4 does Not
make a +5/d10.

Incorporeal Give the appearance of being there, but cannot physically be

touched. Can not be hit by Normal (G) damage.

Invisible Cannot be Focused on by a certain Sense. Multiple different kinds

of Invisible can be had at once. Incorporeal is technically
Invisible Touch.

Constrained Cannot move, either at all or certain limbs.

Carried Body is being Lifted up by another Agent. Can no longer move.

Falling Can no longer move normally, but is moving down at 3 (normal

Gravity) spaces per note. If a Falling body hits a solid surface
below it, then it takes (time in Notes fallen x Gravity) G damage

Existing Yep! You sure are in a reality right now! A State of Space,
making you subject to any manipulation of Space.

Looping Being in a stable time loop. You are forced to repeat the actions
of your past or act as you would in the future. A State of Time,
making you subject to any manipulation of Time.

Flying You can move freely in all directions. A State of Breath, making
you subject to any manipulation of Breath.

In a Not necessarily romantic, but to be in relation to any person in

relationship any way. A State of Blood, making you subject to any manipulation
of Blood.
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Sober You are fully capable of understanding what is happening here.

Maybe. A State of Light, making you subject to any manipulation
of Light.

Alive Not dead. A State of Life, making you subject to any manipulation
of Life.

Dead Not alive. You are a ghost and no longer possess a body. You have
no Strength or Mass and cannot be perceived by others. You cannot
change States and are in constant Malaise. A State of Doom,
making you subject to any manipulation of Doom.

Pretending You take on another State without actually entering it. A State
of Mind, making you subject to any manipulation of Mind.

Being You are who you are! This may seem easy, but it can be hard
yourself sometimes. A State of Heart, making you subject to any
manipulation of Heart.

Hero Mode You appear as you are, and fail to render yourself in a more
symbolic manner. You may gain 1 Steam to break any one known rule
of the world, such as not retrieving an item from your Sylladex,
but rather just sort of like, reach in and grab it. A State of
Rage, making you subject to any manipulation of Rage.

Noblebright You are a beacon of pure shining creation and good, radiating
light and purity, speaking a language that is all languages. The
Ultimate State of Space, making you subject to any manipulation
of Space and rendering you immune to any manipulation of other
Aspects.

Grimdark You have been shrouded in shadows and destruction. You have
reached maximum edge my friend, you slip into the fabled
blackdeath trance of the woegothics, quaking all the while in the
bloodeldritch throes of the broodfester tongues, no longer able
to be understood. The Ultimate State of Time, making you subject
to any manipulation of Time and rendering you immune to any
manipulation of other Aspects.

Free You are bound by nothing, not even canon itself. You may escape
in and out of anything and anywhere as you see fit. Probably
uncontrollably. The Ultimate State of Breath, making you subject
to any manipulation of Breath and rendering you immune to any
manipulation of other Aspects.

Stuck You are bound by everything, simultaneously connected to all

creation. You can’t move or act but you feel everything in the
multiverse. The Ultimate State of Blood, making you subject to
any manipulation of Blood and rendering you immune to any
manipulation of other Aspects.
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Enlightenment You. Know. EVERYTHING. It hurts. The Ultimate State of Light,

making you subject to any manipulation of Light and rendering you
immune to any manipulation of other Aspects.

Nirvana You feel nothing but the sweet embrace of the Void, asleep and
undying. The Ultimate State of Void, making you subject to any
manipulation of Void and rendering you immune to any manipulation
of other Aspects.

Trickster Don’t even get me started on this candy coated madness. Just
don’t. It gives you a wicked hangover. The Ultimate State of
Life, making you subject to any manipulation of Life and
rendering you immune to any manipulation of other Aspects.

Lawyer Where Trickster's state of being overcharged with Life breaks

everything it touches, completing quests out of order, making
unearned legendary weapons, letting people God-Tier with no
proper set-up, Lawyer is the state that sets everything right.
Nothing can work out of proper order for the Lawyer, because they
came here to enforce the Law, they ARE the Law, THEY'RE HOLDING
THE PLAYER'S MANUAL RIGHT THERE! If you can find something in the
rules that would prevent an action or put it into question, you
may state it and stop the action, even if a contradictory piece
of information allows it. The Ultimate State of Doom, making you
subject to any manipulation of Doom and rendering you immune to
any manipulation of other Aspects.

Impartial You have knowledge of the ultimate result of any action and are
free to judge people according to their impact on the world. The
self matters not. The Ultimate State of Mind, making you subject
to any manipulation of Mind and rendering you immune to any
manipulation of other Aspects.

Self Absorbed Ignore everyone else, man, you’re doing great! The Ultimate State
of Heart, making you subject to any manipulation of Heart and
rendering you immune to any manipulation of other Aspects.

Magical By believing in anything, you can decrease its Fakeness Attribute

to near zero! Warning: may result in Big Gay Hope field. The
Ultimate State of Hope, making you subject to any manipulation of
Hope and rendering you immune to any manipulation of other
Aspects.

Berserk BREAK. EVERYTHING. The Ultimate State of Rage, making you subject
to any manipulation of Rage and rendering you immune to any
manipulation of other Aspects.
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~Statuses
Statuses can be gained in any number of manners, such as by combat, on
the overworld, interaction with other players, or maybe even out of
nowhere. Most states emit and lack aspects, meaning players with
connections to those aspects can interact with the status.

Name +Emits -Lacks Description

Malaise Void, Life, -1 to all rolls

Doom Light

Jittery Breath, Space, -1 to coord

Life Time

Headache Light Mind -1 to sleeve

Sty Rage Light -1 to focus

Telltale Mind Void -1 to shadow

Heartbeat

Out of Breath Space Breath -1 to tempo

Scarred Heart Blood -1 to trust

Nausea Time Life -1 to vigor

Weakened Blood Doom -1 to ATH

Down Doom Hope -1 to determination

Sedated Void Rage -1 to steam

Confused Mind Will focus on problem until solution is found

or they give up

Pretending Mind Heart Can pretend to have another status effect on

them

Limerence Hope, Time Is infatuated with another character

Heart

Distraught Doom Hope Won’t attempt to use Determination

Hopeful Hope Rage Can overcome any negative status effect

Angry Rage, Breath Will attempt to enter Strife with others.

Doom,
Blood
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Afraid Rage, Life Will attempt to Abscond at any chance given

Doom

Bitter Doom Life When someone attempt to get a bitter player to

(1d12+ Pul to have a different status, the bitter player can
resist) use a snark check to defend themselves.

Salty Rage Life After player has lost several strifes or

comparable competitions, must roll not to be
salty. (Likely to become Angry?)

Paranoid Doom Mind Must reroll the defensive roll when trying to
(1d12+ be convinced of something good, and subtract
img+Pul-Sag) Sag against things that seem bad. The player
should make Judgement and Gumshoery checks
whenever possible, just to be sure.

Pity Doom Hope Will attempt to help the object of pity

Shame Heart Will hide from other players

Sweet/Cute Life, Rage Trying to attack a character that is sweet

Heart prompts a roll (attackers Vim vs sweet PUL),
if the attacker fails they just go aww and
don't attack, critical makes the attacker <3
the sweet character.

Sour Rage Blood Other players must roll pester to talk to

afflicted player.

Excited Life, Interacting with someone who is excited forces

Breath a Tolerance roll not to become excited
yourself.

Betrayed Rage, Hope, Player will not enter socials.

Blood, Life
Doom

Flighty Breath Blood, Must attempt to make chill roll whenever in a

(1d12+img+Vim Time conversation that lasts longer than a few
-Adr) seconds, or abscond in a fight.

Confident Breath, +2 bonus to all PUL rolls.

Hope

Smug Light, Void has to act smug, any successful talent check
Life will add a false ‘smug' point that makes it
seem like they rolled one higher.

Shy Void Light Should roll Creep at every chance.

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Entropic Time, Space Whenever player goes to use something (or

Void touches something, if you are feeling that
evil) player makes a grip check vs items
Durability. If successful, the item breaks.

Majestic Space Rage Act awestruck at the beauty of a thing

Weird Space, Time, The affected thing becomes weird. You avoid
Heart Mind talking to it, it is automatically sent to
first place on the initiative counter. in
order to interact with a Weird character, must
roll d12+ADR vs d12+IMG.

Aloof Time, Space, Aloof coolkid will avoid talking with others,
Mind Heart or only speak Ironically

6.7 Poses
At the start of each measure, you can spend PSI to enter one of the
following poses:

Type Tier Description PSI Cost

Unposed 0 You’ve been caught by surprise and couldn’t 0

Pose! If you fail to exhibit your general
disposition before a fight how can you possibly
win?
You can’t act this Note.

Battle Pose 0 You’re ready to rock and/or roll! 0

Cool Pose 1 God you’re so cool. You’re so cool they can’t 1

touch you. Literally they can’t.
Makes your opponent’s Parry Chance rise by 4%
for their first attack on you.

Snooty Pose 1 Common in flighty broads and a natural 1

extension of their snarky horseshit.
Lets you instantly Focus once at the start of
the Measure.

Nerdy Pose 1 You think you look pretty cool right now! It’s 1
debatable.
Lets you move with an extra space this Note.

Jolly Pose 1 You’re bringing a happy feeling to this Strife! 1

Increases your chance of Breaking Heads by 3%
this measure.

Flirty Pose 1 Hey be careful! We’ll have to censor you! 1

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If you perform a Wiles check this Measure give

your result a +1.

Unposed (Team) 1 Shit must have gotten real if you’re Unposed as 0

a team!
As soon as you or one of your allies that posed
with you takes damage this Note, you may all
Pose.

Battle Pose 1 Can only be used by using Battle Pose in a Team 0

(Team) Pose.
You and all your allies that posed with you
gain 2 temporary VG for the rest of the Strife.

Chill Pose 2 Must have used Cool Pose in a previous Strife 2

to use.
Makes your opponent’s Parry Chance rise by 6%
for their first attack on you.

Snarky Pose 2 Must have used Snooty Pose in a previous Strife 2

to use.
Lets you instantly Double Focus once at the
start of the Measure.

Geeky Pose 2 Must have used Nerdy Pose in a previous Strife 2

to use.
Lets you move two extra spaces this Note.

Happy Pose 2 Must have used Jolly Pose in a previous Strife 2

to use.
Increases your chance of Breaking Heads by 6%
this measure.

Seductive Pose 2 Must have used Flirty Pose in a previous Strife 2

to use.
If you perform a Wiles check this Measure give
your result a +2.

Ice Cold Pose 3 Must have used Chill Pose in a previous Strife 2
to use.
Makes your opponent’s Parry Chance rise by 6%
for their first attack on you and by 4% for
their second (can be different enemies).

Snobbish Pose 3 Must have used Snarky Pose in a previous Strife 2

to use.
Lets you instantly Focus twice at the start of
the Measure, only one Focus of those counts
toward your maximum Focus.
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Fanboy Pose 3 Must have used Geeky Pose in a previous Strife 2

to use.
Lets you move two extra spaces this Note. If
you would move into an occupied space this
Note, you may move to the row in front or
behind that space with no cost.

Excited Pose 3 Must have used Happy Pose in a previous Strife 2

to use.
Increases your chance of Breaking Heads by 6%
this measure and decreases your chance of
Breaking Tails by 2%.

Sexy Pose 3 Must have used Seductive Pose in a previous 2

Strife to use.
If you perform a Wiles check this Measure give
your result an additional d4.

Strider Style 4 Must have used Ice Cold Pose in a previous 4

Strife to use.
Makes your opponent’s Parry Chance rise by 10%
for their first attack on you, by 6% for their
second, and by 4% for their third (can be
different enemies).

Fufufu~ 4 Must have used Snobbish Pose in a previous 4

Strife to use.
Lets you instantly Focus thrice at the start of
the Measure, only two Focuses of those count
toward your maximum Focus.

Just Like One of 4 Must have used Fanboy Pose in a previous Strife 4
My Japanese to use.
Mangas! Lets you move three extra spaces this Note. If
you would move into an occupied space this
Note, you may move to the row in front or
behind that space with no cost.

There’s Still 4 Must have used Excited Pose in a previous 4

Something Worth Strife to use.
FIghting For! Increases your chance of Breaking Heads by 10%
this measure and decreases your chance of
Breaking Tails by 4%.

Wonk 4 Must have used Sexy Pose in a previous Strife 4

to use.
If you perform a Wiles check this Measure give
your result an additional +4.

Snoop Ggod’s 5 Must have used Strider Style in a previous 4

Blessing Strife to use.
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Makes your opponents’ Parry Chance rise by 9%

for their next 2 attacks on you and by 5% for
their next attack after that.

Strife 5 Must have used Fufufu~ in a previous Strife to 4

Psychologist use.
Lets you instantly Focus thrice at the start of
the Measure.
None of those Focuses count towards your
maximum Focus.

Spout Your 5 Must have used Just Like One of My Japanese 4

Catchphrase Mangas! in a previous Strife to use.
Lets you move three extra spaces this Note. If
you would move into an occupied space this
Note, you may move to the row directly in front
or behind that space with no cost and gain one
extra space to move.

Infectious 5 Must have used There’s Still Something Worth 4

Optimism FIghting For! in a previous Strife to use.
Increases your chance of Breaking Heads by 10%
this measure and decreases your chance of
Breaking Tails by 5%.

Taking Off Your 5 Must have used Wonk in a previous Strife to 4

Shirt Isn’t a use.
Strategic If you perform a Wiles check this Measure give
Maneuver your result an additional d8.

Snoop Ggod’s 6 Must have used Snoop Ggod’s Blessing in a 5

Chosen Homie previous Strife to use.
Makes your opponents’ Parry Chance rise by 10%
for their next 4 attacks on you.

Semiscience 6 Must have used Strife fchologist in a previous 5

Strife to use.
Lets you instantly Double Focus twice and at
the start of the Measure, does not count toward
your maximum Focus.

Hyperaction 6 Must have used Spout Your Catchphrase in a 5

previous Strife to use.
Lets you move four extra spaces this Note. If
you would move into an occupied space this
Note, you may move to the row in front or
behind that space with no cost and gain one
extra space to move.

The Good Witch 6 Must have used Infectious Optimism in a 5

previous Strife to use.
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Increases your chance of Breaking Heads by 15%

this measure and decreases your chance of
Breaking Tails by 5%.

The Bard’s 6 Must have used Taking Off Your Shirt Isn’t a 5
Option Strategic Maneuver in a previous Strife to use.
If you perform a Wiles check this Measure give
your result an additional +8.

The Coolest Kid 7 Must have used Snoop Ggod’s Chosen Homie in a 6
previous Strife to use.
Makes your opponents’ Parry Chance rise by 10%
for all their attacks on you this Measure.

The Competent 7 Must have used Semiscience in a previous Strife 6

One to use.
Lets you instantly Focus up to your maximum
Focus. None of these Focuses count toward your
maximum Focus.

Your Friend 7 Must have used Hyperaction in a previous Strife 6

to use.
You may start the Measure at any space.

Emotional Core 7 Must have used The Good Witch in a previous 6

Strife to use.
Increases your chance of Breaking Heads by 15%
this measure and decreases your chance of
Breaking Tails by 8%.

Service!! 7 Must have used The Bard’s Option in a previous 6

Strife to use.
If you perform a Wiles check this Measure give
your result an additional +10.

The Coolest Kid 8 Can only be used by using The Coolest Kid in a 6
(Team) Team Pose.
Makes your opponents’ Parry Chance rise by 9%
for all their attacks on you and your allies
that posed with you this Measure.

The Competent 8 Can only be used by using The Competent One in 6

One (Team) a Team Pose.
Lets you and each of your allies that posed
with you instantly Focus twice, any Focus put
on by this effect counts as belonging to every
member of your Team, disregarding your maximum
Focus.

Your Friend 8 Can only be used by using Your Friend in a Team 6

(Team) Pose.
Lets you and each of your allies that posed
with you choose at what space you start the
measure at so long as you are within one space
of an ally.
 86

Emotional Core 8 Must have used The Good Witch in a previous 6

(Team) Strife to use.
Increases the chance of Breaking Heads by 15%
and decreases the chance of Breaking Tails by
8% for you and all your allies that posed with
you this measure.

Service!! (Team) 8 Can only be used by using Service!! In a Team 6

Pose.
If you perform a Wiles check this Note give
your result an additional d12, on a success all
your allies that posed with you immediately
gain the benefits of a Rest as if they had 2
Shadow (they do not fall asleep).
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Section 7- Underlings and Common Enemies

7.1 General Information on Underlings

Underlings are the most common variety of foe the players will face.
They are created in labs located on meteors in the Veil by request of
the Denizens. Underlings are made of Grist and the data sent into the
Medium by the Kernelsprites. The different Grist types they contain
change their coloration, while the Kernelsprite data changes their
form. All of this mixed with the varied shapes that Underlings can
take leads to a great deal of enemies that one can face, as Underlings
don’t necessarily take on all of the Prototypings that they receive
from the Sprites, but will have at least one.
Underlings are not dumb. They are capable of some amount of strategy
and teamwork, and will pick up objects to use as weapons against you.

Underlings have certain base stats according to the variety of enemy

they are. Their stats are further modified by Prototyping and
Equipment.

Each enemy is a different Tier, as listed in their individual entries.

Prototyping gives +1 Rung and +3 to Traits, divided among them as the

GP sees fit, more if the original item is powerful. The item
determines which traits are boosted.

Underlings get +1 in all Tendencies that are associated with their

highest Trait (GP's choice if tied).

While Underlings do have Rungs, they do not Rung up. A higher Rung
does not influence Traits and Tendencies.

Underlings' stats work just like player stats (Traits work like
Traits, Tendencies work like Tendencies).

All Equipment is listed in the Loot section of their sheet, along with
its bonuses.

Their arms and tails are used as Weapon Cards, with stats that
correlate to their Tier and prototyping. It’s up to the GP to decide
exactly how they are built, but it may be wise to make a Weapon Card
for each new prototyping and level it up accordingly as your players
advance (just make sure you have some copies lying around in case you
want to throw a joke Imp at someone.)
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Strength and Mass is determined by the variety of enemy they are.

If they run out of VG, they are dead and become Grist and Loot.

Underlings drop:
2d6 x 10^Tier Build Grist
2d6 x Tier Note Grist of the note damage that killed them
1d6 x Tier Aspect Grist of their highest Tendency (GP’s choice if tied
or Coord)
1d4 x Tier Aspect Grist of a random Aspect

Alternate ruling:
Replace 2d6 with 7, 1d6 with 3, and 1d4 with 2.

When they defeat an Underling, players may decide to roll the Aspect
Die, which will produce one of 12 results- 6 positive and 6 negative.
You should inform your players of the dangers of this choice, but
perhaps not the specifics. Keep it interesting.
The potential results are:

1- Time: The enemy respawns.

2- Blood: The enemy doesn’t despawn, leaving a corpse instead of

Grist.

3- Void: No Grist drops from the enemy.

4- Rage: The enemy makes a final attack at you before dying.

5- Doom: You get one Ailment (GP’s discretion, should scale with enemy
type and player rung).

6- Heart: In your next Strife, you can’t use the Technique that killed
this enemy.

7- Mind: You get one Strife Specibus (GP’s discretion, if the enemy
had a weapon it should be for that weapon).

8- Life: You get one Adaptation (GP’s discretion, should scale with
enemy type and player rung).

9- Hope: The enemy drops 1d4 x Tier Grist of either Liquid Black
Sorrow, Zillium, Artifact, or Carmot.

10- Light: You may reroll the Grist you earned.

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11- Breath: Gives all your co-players half of the Grist you gained
(each). This does not affect the amount of Grist you gained.

12- Space: Grist gained is doubled.

As the results are Aspect based, players may decide to use a God
Action to affect the die in some way. It is up to you to determine how
much Agency their action will require.

7.2 Non-general Information on Underlings

Imp- Tier 1. 1 all base Traits and Tendencies, +1 Determination.
Strength: 1 Mass: 0.

Ogre- Tier 1. 3 all base Traits and 1 all base Tendencies, +1 Steam.
Strength: 1 Mass: 1.
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Basilisk- Tier 2. 6 all base Traits and 2 all base Tendencies, +1

Tempo. Strength: 0 Mass: 0.

Giclops- Tier 2. 8 all base Traits and 2 all base Tendencies, +1

Vigor. Strength: 1 Mass: 2.
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Lich- Tier 3. 12 all base Traits and 4 all base Tendencies, +1 ~Ath.
Strength: 2 Mass: 0.

Ophis- Tier 3. 13 all base Traits and 4 all base Tendencies, +1 Tempo
+1 Shadow. Strength: 0 Mass: 0. Suffers no movement reduction effects.

Cuegle- Tier 4. 14 all base Traits and 4 all base Tendencies, +2

Vigor. Strength: 2 Mass: 2.
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Acheron- Tier 5. 15 all base Traits and 5 all base Tendencies, +1

Focus +1 Steam. Strength: 3 Mass: 2.

Titachnids- Tier 5. 16 all base Traits and 5 all base Tendencies, +1

Trust +1 Steam. Strength: 2 Mass: 4.
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7.3 Boss Underlings

As with all good game enemies, Underlings come in bigger, better, more
menacing forms. These giant creatures only really come out when your
players are at some important location, like near a Denizen’s lair, at
an important construct, or at the end of a dungeon. They may also show
up as a Denizen’s way to be rid of a creature that doesn’t belong on
their Land.

Kraken- Tier 6. 17 all base Traits and 6 all base Tendencies, +1 Coord
+1 Focus +1 Sleeve. Each of their Tentacles raises your Parry Chance
by 1%. The Tentacles are Weapons. Strength: 4 Mass: 6.

Goliath- Tier 6. 17 all base Traits and 6 all base Tendencies, +1

Coord +2 Vigor. If they attack, they attack using the Technique
they've chosen, as well as an additional Aggrieve (using its Arm
weapon card). The additional Aggrieve will stop if they have lost
their Arm Weapon. Strength: 6 Mass: 4.
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Lich Queen- Tier 6. 17 all base Traits and 6 all base Tendencies, +1
Trust +2 ~Ath. Has an additional technique that allows her to gain as
much Viscosity as her attack took (Life Steal). Can use an action to
summon a Lich to her side once per Trust. Strength: 6 Mass: 6.

7.4 the Agents

Some Dersites and Prospitians may have it out for your players. The
following is a simple guide to making some of them.

Use the Rung Up table to make a faux player character of a rung equal
to your players’. Give them a Weapon Card of a weapon with Quality 5
and a Tier equal to half their Rung (be creative!)

If they have a Ring or Scepter equipped, like the Kings and Queens,
they are affected by all Prototypings, just like an Underling would
be.

Agents, unlike Underlings, do not drop Grist when they are killed.
They become corpses.
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7.5 Denizens

The final boss. Rulers of the land. Strongest of enemies. Giant

fucking snakes.

Ideally, your players will never have to face a Denizen in battle, and
you will not be forced to open these pages and hope to the dice gods
that your players don’t die. Or maybe they fucked up and reached this
place too early, in which case go nuts, give the Denizen eye lasers
and 99 Deafness in all Notes.

If your players for whatever reason don’t qualify for the Choice, or
choose to fight the Denizen, they will face the following:

Denizen- Tier 7. 21 all base Traits and 7 all base Tendencies.

Strength: 7 Mass: 7.
Denizens get bonuses and minuses to their stats according to what
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Denizen you are making. All Denizens can make one God Action using any
verb on their turn. Denizens are not affected by Prototyping.

Should they defeat the Denizen, it itself will not become Grist, but
you may still calculate the grist gotten from it as the Grist obtained
by opening its Grist Hoard.
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Section 8- The Ultimate Riddle and Mythological Roles

8.1 The Ultimate Riddle

The Ultimate Riddle is simply this:
“What is the point of playing this game?”

The answer is, of course, that the point is whatever you will make it
to be.

Before you scream HACK and throw this guide down in disgust, please
hear me out. The only reason you play this game is if you want to, but
this game is different then other games you play for fun. Most other
games tell a specific story, impart a set experience for the people
playing. Sburb has no predetermined experience. It has the players set
up the game and create the experience for themselves. That's why there
are so many things based off what the players want: their weapons and
attire, their guide, even the final boss is chosen by them. It's why
there is only a loose set of rules for the plot. Sburb isn't meant to
tell a specific story, it's a space and time for a group of people to
tell their own story, to stand in the spotlight or hide in the
shadows, to dream of possibilities, to react to the problems
happening, to enjoy themselves, to take it seriously, to make friends
and care about the things that happen, to experience new things, to
make choices, and to be themselves.

Cool, but how do we go about doing that?

The most important part of learning to answer the Ultimate Riddle are
The Mythological Roles. You couldn't hope to merely sit down and paint
the Sistine Chapel, you'd need the proper tools, techniques,
materials, and art space to do it. Each of the Aspects is a color
palette, and each of the Classes is a different technique and tool to
color with, and the universe is the medium to be painted upon.
Literally, it is called the Medium. The Roles are thus methods of
exerting your will on the story, and the highest power they promise to
endow on the players is the ability to create Symbols. If you think
about it, nothing inherently represents anything. It is only after it
has been connected and given meaning that actions, objects, and themes
begin to represent abstract concepts. Only earnest artistic acts can
forge meaning from nothing, insincerity and things made for other
means fail to strike the mold.
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Everyone is different, and they want different things. That is the

second, almost hidden part of solving the Ultimate Riddle. It
encourages you to work towards what you want, but creates a space and
a time where other people can also do so, and makes you find a balance
between it. How to respect other people's wills, how to work and live
in the same world as each other, and most importantly how to
understand and revel in the symbols they create. We need other people,
we can't escape living with them, but if you don't know how to live
with other people, you and they will be miserable because of it.
Beyond that, however, is that your Self is a reflection of the society
you keep. The symbols you already have are there due to interactions
with your family, friends, and the people and media around you. Their
actions and thoughts have an effect on you, often in ways you yourself
can’t comprehend. This game is made for you all to create symbols and
express your will not just by yourself, but for and on each other. All
of that is why Sburb isn't a single player game. You need everyone to
win, together.

It's through the process of learning how to answer the Ultimate

Riddle, the process of learning to create symbols, endowing meaning
and exerting will, that the players earn the Ultimate Reward, what
lies beyond the white door.

And what is the Ultimate Reward?

You get to make a new universe for other people to experience.
Or more specifically, you have been given the tools necessary to make
that universe.

Behind the white door are two possibilities:

It might be the control station to the universe you get to make; that
universe is the next Sburb game. You get to make the universe for
another group of players to explore and understand, just as the people
who ran your game had done before you (or, at least in a perfect
world, would have). Everything you loved and hated, the things you
made meaningful get to be broadcasted onto the greatest screen
possible, the mind of the next generation. Your reward is to get to
propagate the thing you fought for so long and hard for. You and your
friends get to bear witness as another group plays through the world
you have made and add their own unique wills upon it. Should they be
successful, you will witness them gain the Ultimate Reward themselves.
What greater act of creation could there be than one that creates a
new eternity?
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Or, the white door is the door to your house, and on the other side is
the outside, the real world. To enter, or rather exit, through the
white door is to leave the world of pure imagination, to escape the
cave of Plato's realm of ideal forms, and to enter into Reality
itself. The dream is over, you have woken up and left the rabbit hole.
While the characters’ stories may have simply been imagined, the
things you felt, and the will you expressed, those were real to you
because you felt them, and if you really felt it then it makes no
difference whether the stimulus was imaginary or not. As was
everything you learned, those lessons stay with you. The act of
solving the Ultimate Riddle, the ability to give meaning to new
symbols, that power will hopefully stay with you in everything you do.
Once in the ‘Real World’, you surely will perform creative acts, and
when you do so you will remember the power that you gained, the
ability to strike a mold in the collective consciousness.

Wherever it leads, you should keep your eyes peeled for people that
may need to solve the Ultimate Riddle. Anyone that looks like they
don’t want to quite be on this planet, that could use an extra
creative stroke, or any part of the Ultimate Reward that you can now
offer them.

Truth be told, I think the two results are somehow one and the same.
If you view Sburb not to be limited by the form we know it as, but as
any story, then the Ultimate Reward can present itself in any story
you create.

That's my two cents on the matter, and that's what I based this game
around. If you think different, hey, that's your opinion, and you can
gladly believe what you wish. Until the word of God proves me wrong,
be that Hussie or you, that is the goal of this game. I sincerely hope
I am right, and you and your friends solve it too.

8.2 Mythological Roles

Every role playing system has that one thing at its heart, the coolest
part, the base that everything else is made to support, the whole
reason the game was made. In the case of SKRUB, and perhaps Homestuck
as well, Mythological Roles that something.

Homestuck is about stories: It's about what makes stories. It’s about
how they are told. It's about what it takes to successfully create a
story. It's about the characters that affect the story. And that is
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what a player's Mythological Role is; how they affect the story. From
the weak to the strong, the smart to the stupid, the cool kids to the
weirdos, every player has their Role to play.

So often, tabletop games and even stories themselves, get caught up in

the mechanics of the world: who’s stronger than who, what weapon does
what kind of damage, if i put more points into this how will it affect
the roll, what will becoming friends with this person give me, how
much XP does this boss drop? But that can all just be boiled down to a
set of statistics, random dice rolls, and trying to get the biggest
number. It becomes either too easy because your number is too high,
excruciating pain because your number is too low, or endless grinding
because the number is kept equal, and you end up losing interest. How
in the hell is that fun? What does it tell you about yourself? A great
story makes you invest yourself in what is happening. You make friends
with characters because you actually like talking and being with them,
you use a certain weapon because you have a reason to use it, you
fight the bad guy because you feel you need to. It’s not that the
mechanics aren't important, they are, but only to the extent that they
support the story. There needs to be more interaction between the
people playing the story than just mathematical mechanics. That's what
Mythological Roles are for, to allow players to have an influence on
the story, each in their own special way. Each player's Role, their
Title, is unique, because how everybody plays the game is different,
but everyone does affect the story.

But the thing is, it goes beyond what I've described here. The
Mythological Roles extend to a meta layer, one that is necessary for
the story of SKRUB to take place. Look at yourself right now. Look at
what you are doing, how much you've read. That is part of the story
too, because playing a game, making a story, it takes place just as
much before and after you sit down and roll dice as during it. How
your players interact with each other, how invested they are, what
they want to get out of it. These feelings, these actions, are just as
important, if not far more important than what actually happens when
you sit down and play pretend. Keep all of this in mind.

DISCLAIMER: THE MECHANICS FOR THE MYTHOLOGICAL ROLES ARE MOST LIKELY
INCORRECT TO THE CANON. I WOULD PERSONALLY LOVE IT IF HUSSIE WOULD
HAVE EXPLAINED HOW EVERYTHING WORKS, BUT HE DECIDED TO LEAVE IT OPEN
TO INTERPRETATION. THIS IS MY INTERPRETATION, I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO BASE
IT OFF OF CANON AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, AND WHERE CANON WAS UNCLEAR I
USED INTERNAL LOGIC TO CREATE A BALANCED, WORKING GAME. IF YOU WANNA
 101

DISAGREE WITH ME ABOUT HOW IT WORKS, GO AHEAD. IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE

THESE RULES TO WHAT YOU THINK IS CORRECT, THEN DO IT, BUT DON'T BE
SURPRISED IF EVERYTHING BECOMES UNBALANCED.

Onto the crunch. A Mythological Role has two parts, the Class and the
Aspect. Aspects are what aspect of a story, of the game, that player
interacts with, and Classes are how the Player interacts with those
Aspects. There are 12 of each, which means there are a total of 144
possible Titles, making it unlikely for you to have two people in your
party with the same title. That being said, while a balanced group of
people rarely has multiple of the same Class or Aspect, it can happen.
Your Title is closely linked to who you are, it represents the effect
you have on the world, and generally has some semblance of personality
attached to it, though not at all required.
A player enacts their will on the world by using their God Powers,
whose mechanical rules will be discussed in the next part.
During the game, the players discover their Title, face their inner
demons, and obtain their God Powers on the heroic path they forge, in
their Personal Quest. But each of these things I’ve just talked about
has its own section, so please read on.

Editor’s notes: So far, all of Section 8 has been straight from the
game’s creator Dillon Weist, expressing his thoughts and feelings on
stories and on this game. However, this last paragraph had some ideas
in it that I thought would confuse readers and perhaps don’t quite fit
this chapter. As I removed them, I added my own, and felt that I need
to address my own biases. A creator is free to put their biases in
their writing, for good and bad, but an editor has no such freedom, so
in these notes I will address my bias on the topic of Mythological
Roles here, as well as give players and GPs a personal tip on finding
the proper Role.
When finding someone’s Title, I ask two questions:
What Aspect of the world do you feel most connected to?
And
How do you interact with that Aspect?
Using, the following section and these questions I believe you will be
able to come to a satisfactory conclusion on what Role is right for
you, and even if the mechanics aren’t to your liking, I hope you will
be able to get some amount of enjoyment from working around the
limitations of your powers.
I would say that Dillon and I are on the same page when it comes to
these questions being a good indicator of what Aspect and Class a
person would have, respectively, but felt the need to be as clear as
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possible on how I see Titles, at the expense of precious ink and

paper. -Nitai Schatz

8.2.1 The Aspects

Aspects are the building blocks of a story, categories that different
themes, motifs and feelings can be sorted under.

I’ve used painting metaphors before, so I will continue with that.

Aspects are the paint of the painting, and each Aspect is like a
different color.

But truthfully, that's an oversimplification. The Aspects are a

metaphysical system, they themselves are abstract concepts. They are
the fundamental structure of the universe, and they are not directly
physical. You can not simply walk about and find ‘Breath’, you can
only find things that represent Breath. Put simply, Aspects are the
fundamental concepts that make up a story.
Each of the Aspects opposes another, which means their concepts are
related and opposing.

But how do abstract concepts make a story?

Through the use of Symbols.
A symbol is something that represents something more abstract, it is a
metaphor. Symbols can be as simple as a physical object like a
pumpkin, an action like a kiss, an emotion like anger, a stat like
~ath, or more complex all-encompassing themes, like Love.
Symbols in SKRUB come in two categories: Mechanics and Motifs. All
Symbols are the means to the Aspect’s end. That being said, since a
Symbol can’t really represent an Aspect wholly, it might
unintentionally represent just one facet of an Aspect, the wrong facet
of an Aspect than what you intended, or many different Aspects. The
following guide, however, is not a Symbol, but rather a list of the
Aspects and their descriptions, that should help you understand them
and their Symbols better.

This guide is organized like this:

Aspect Name: The Aspect’s name.

The Meta: What the Aspect is at its core, the metaphysical.

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Mechanics: Things that represent Aspects with rules defined for them
in the game.
-Tendency: The Aspect’s associated Tendency.
-Strife component: What the Aspect controls in combat.
-States: Modes a body can be in that signify that Aspect.
-Constructs: Structures with specific functions generated in the
Medium during Genesis that relate to the Aspect.
-Other: Miscellaneous things with mechanics attached to them that
relate to the Aspect.

Motifs: Complex concepts that don’t have specific mechanics to express

them, and exist in general in the story, but still are used to
support the Aspect.
-Statuses: Feelings related to the Aspect.
-Actions: Things that can be done that interact or stem from the
Aspect.
-Fetishes: Objects that have Aspect significance or even Aspect
powers.
-Fluff: Long winded poetic epithets that have little substance to them
but are nice for worldbuilding.
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In SKRUB, Aspects are parts of a story, you’ve heard that about a

hundred times so far. However, the Aspect pairs have been categorized
as both being a certain part of a stage play, both opposing Aspects
changing that aspect of the play.

Space and Time: The Play

The Place and Time, the reason the plot can even exist and the
reason the stage has even been set.

Aspect Name: Space.

The Meta: the Setting.

Space is where everything takes place. The here, the there, and the
everywhere. It's the set of the play, the buildings and props and the
colors painted on everything. Anywhere that is Anywhere is Space.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Coord*.
-Strife component: The Chess board that represents where everything
is and the shapes that make it up, the Map, Acts of Coord.
-States: Existing.
-Ultimate: Noblebright*.
-Constructs: The Frog Temples, Atomic Bonsai Garden, Skaias Womb, the
Player's House, Denizens of Space.
-Other: Location in reference to other places and objects.

Motifs: Creation, Art, Possibility, Beginnings, Location, Sense of

place.
-Statuses: Feelings that support and justify creation, the admiration
of beauty and existence. The concept of place, of ‘here’ giving
identity to geography. When negative, Space has to do with isolation,
both physical and emotional; a sense of strangeness or weirdness,
literally creative differences.
-Actions: Artistry, Worldbuilding, Entertaining new ideas.
-Fetishes: Creative tools (sewing, painting, etc.), Plants.
-Fluff: Space without time is the beginning of everything, it's
looking at the stage and all the props before the start of the show.
Nothing has had time to do anything yet. It is the setup, infinite
potential of all the things that could happen to it before whatever
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does happen, happens. Pure space without time is simple being without
action, change, cause, or effect.

Aspect Name: Time.

The Meta: the Plot.

Or more specifically just the chronology of the plot, the fact that
events occur one after another, and that they continue to keep
occurring. Not why they occur, or the specifics of what occurs, or how
they relate, just that they do, and that they keep doing so.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Coord*.
-Strife component: Measures, Notes, Acts of Coord.
-States: Looping.
-Ultimate: Grimdark*.
-Constructs: The Eternity Mechanism/Beat Mesa, Denizens of Time.

Motifs: History, Storytelling, Destruction, Music, Eventuality,

Endings, Progression.
-Statuses: The feeling of progression. Either acceptance or terror of
the unstoppable ticking of the clock.
-Actions: Playing Music, Allowing history to occur.
-Fetishes: Instruments, Clocks, Metronomes.
-Fluff: Time is pure movement. It is a relentless going forward, never
stopping, even if it has nowhere to go, Time will go and go,
eventually wearing down everything in its path. Even at the end, when
the only thing left is Time itself, Time will move forward, perhaps
even to the point where it wears itself down to nothing.
Note: Time has more to it, in the form of rules surrounding Timelines.
See a later section for an in depth explanation.

Breath and Blood: The Story

Who the characters are, where they are going, and why you should
care.
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Aspect Name: Breath.

The Meta: Momentum.

Breath is the why to Time’s when. Breath is moving to what's next,
where you are going, and what you are doing. New, unexpected events
that are introduced and push the story towards a conclusion, or at
least a resolution.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Tempo.
-Strife component: Movement, Acts of Tempo, Turn Order, Absconding.
-States: Flying.
-Ultimate: Free.
-Constructs: The Cursor, the Skies of Skaia, the White Queen's Ring
(and Blue Miles), the Seven Gates, Denizens of Breath.
-Other: Breathing (refilling Agency)

Motifs: The mail, Flying, Goals, Motivation, Freedom, Being let

loose, Not tied down, New things.
-Statuses: Confidence and other things that make you want to go
forward, The wind at your back, Longing for freedom, Escape from
situations.
-Actions: Anything touching the air or wind, Moving around, Breathing.
-Fetishes: Mail, Vehicles, Rags, Leaves and other such objects that
are known to move in the wind.
-Fluff: Breath is the freedom to go where you wish. It’s not the
action of moving by itself, but it is the ability to move, the freedom
to roam. Breath by itself may seem empty, void of any distinguishing
features, only really existing as a property of others, like how we
only sense that the wind exists as it moves objects around us.

Aspect Name: Blood.

The Meta: Investment.

Do you give a shit about what's happening? Blood is if and how much
you care about the story and characters. Your connection to it. Your
bond.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Trust.
-Strife component: Teams and Leaders, Strife Engagement, Acts of
Trust.
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-States: In a relationship.
-Ultimate: Stuck.
-Constructs: The Black Queen's Ring (and red miles), the Tumor
(optional), Denizens of Blood.

Motifs: Relationships, Drama, Intensity, Family, Duty, Class

Structure, Agreements.
-Statuses: In a binding contract, In a committed relationship,
platonic or otherwise.
-Actions: Contact/Submersion in a liquid, especially with blood,
Bleeding, Grappling and Holding on, Merging.
-Fetishes: Blood and other liquids, Rings, Rocks/Gems.
-Fluff: Blood is what ties everything and everyone together. It is the
relation of anything to anything and the fact that they relate. By
itself it is unnoticeable as it is only the connection of other things
and does not exist by itself in any way.

Light and Void: The Narrative

The things you are, and aren’t, focusing on at any particular
point in the story.

Aspect Name: Light.

The Meta: the Spotlight.

Even though there are trillions of bits of information streaming at
you at every second, you only focus on a few sparse details. This
concept is utilized very visually in stage shows, where you can hardly
look at everything on the stage. Instead, our eyes tend to be led by a
tool, the spotlight. This is the role of Light, which presents things
to both the characters and the players, the awareness of things and
events.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Focus.
-Strife component: Acts of Focus, Revealed areas and objects.
-States: Sober.
-Ultimate: Enlightenment.
-Constructs: Center of Brilliance/Skaia’s Light, Denizens of Light.
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Motifs: Luck, Fortune, Sobriety, Knowledge, Attention.

-Statuses:
-Actions: Anything illuminated in the light of some object, but
especially in the light of Skaia, Coming to Understand something.
-Fetishes: Glasses, Eyes, Ears, Lanterns and other light producing
objects, Books, Gold, Treasure, Dice, Coins, Items and objects related
to Chance, Crystal balls, Fenestrated Windows.
-Fluff: Light is knowledge, it is the fact that facts exist and the
definition of things that can be defined. Light gives on knowledge of
their surroundings as it reflects off of the environment and back to
oneself. Light on its own is blinding, pure knowing with nothing to
know.

Aspect Name: Void.

The Meta: the Backstage.

If Light is what is under the spotlight on a stage, then Void is
everywhere else. Void is where you aren't supposed to look, it allows
the stage crew to move around the set. If you can't see (or hear or
perceive the event in some way), it's like it doesn't even happen. Yet
this goes deeper than just light and shadows, it's about attention.
The street magician doesn't use magic, he keeps your attention one
place, and in the void he creates he performs his magic and switches
the cards around.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Shadow.
-Strife component: Resting, Objects not focused on, Missing,
Hidden/Undiscovered spaces.
-States: Asleep, Knocked Out.
-Ultimate: Nirvana.
-Constructs: Core of Darkness, the Veil, The Furthest Ring, The Noble
Circle of Horrorterrors, Denizens of Void.
-Other: Mysteries

Motifs: Secrets, Things forgotten, Lies, the Unconscious Mind,

Shadows, Unknowable things.
-Statuses: Shyness, Loneliness, Not Mattering.
-Actions: Sleeping, Not paying attention, Defenestration.
-Fetishes: Covers, Beds, Pumpkins, Alcohol, the Sea, Defenestrated
Windows.
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-Fluff: Void is very hard to define, as it is the lack of definition.

How does one describe not being able to describe? One can’t. Void
chokes out anything that could be revealed to you about your
surroundings, leaving you to wander in the dark trying to feel around
yourself but not quite understanding what you touch. Void by itself is
true emptiness, so empty it is suffocating, so empty it seems full.

Life and Doom: The Tone

The line between a comedy and a tragedy. What should the
audience be feeling right now?

Aspect Name: Life.

The Meta: Comedy.

Life is about having fun! Doing silly things, remembering to laugh,
doing things that excite you, not always following the silly rules we
make for ourselves, rewarding yourself to a slice of pie! The sweetest
pie called life.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Vigor.
-Strife component: Gut, Strength, Mass.
-States: Alive.
-Ultimate: Trickster.
-Constructs: Prospit, Flavortown, Denizens of Life.
-Other: Prankster’s Gambit, Victuals, Flavor.

Motifs: Fun, Enjoyment, Indulgence, Growth, Power and the will to

obtain it.
-Statuses: Sweet, Sour, Spicy, Excited.
-Actions: Eating, Laughing, Saving or prolonging life.
-Fetishes: Organic structures, Food, Eating utensils, Plants.
-Fluff: The power to not worry about the rules, to laugh without fear
of retaliation, the power to afford sugar. The kind of power a monarch
feels as they stare down upon the ants that are their subjects. The
power to enforce their will upon the world.
Imagine an eagle as it swoops down to pull trout from its watery home.
Imagine the strength it must feel, the rush of excitement as it swoops
down from the sky, the power it feels knowing no other birds can
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compete, and the satisfaction it feels with the fish meat in its
stomach. That is raw, unadulterated Life.

Aspect Name: Doom.

The Meta: Tragedy.

Doom is Serious business, quite literally. It is the gravity of the
situation, the weight that says right now is really not the time to be
making a joke.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: ~ath.
-Strife component: ~ath, Damage, Ailments.
-States: Dead.
-Ultimate: Lawyer.
-Constructs: Death, Death's Doorstep, Derse, Denizens of Doom.
-Other: Ailments.

Motifs: Rules, Law and Order, Structure, Should and Shouldn't,

Morality, Karma, Limitations, Sacrifice, Punishments.
-Statuses: Bitter, Salty, Afraid, Paranoid.
-Actions: Dying, Following the rules, Suffering.
-Fetishes: Dead things, Broken Objects, Religious symbols,
Bureaucratic tools/Red Tape, Medical/Sanitary equipment, Computer
Software.
-Fluff: If Life is splurging and eating the entire ice-cream cake,
then Doom is eating nothing but hardtack.
When Life is the predator, Doom is the prey.
That isn’t to say that Doom and the people of its Aspect are meant to
suffer, but merely that where Life is decadent, Doom is the much more
careful and precise. What some may see as sad or bitter, Doom will
show as strategic and lasting. There’s a reason it was likened to
hardtack.

Mind and Heart: The Characters

In this case, the players. Everything you think, everything you
do, everything you have, everything you are. Your actions will
shape this play much more than the script written for it to
preform.
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Aspect Name: Mind.

The Meta: Choices.

What the player gets to decide for themselves.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Sleeve.
-Strife component: Strife Techniques.
-States: Pretending.
-Ultimate: Impartial.
-Constructs: Memory Bank, Denizens, Denizens of Mind.
-Other: Irons in the Fire.

Motifs: Free Will, Pure rational Insight, Politics, Justice.

-Statuses: Confused, Pretending (Mind cheats by making any feeling a
Mind status, but only if the player is pretending to feel it), Blind.
-Actions: Words, ideas, and concepts read or heard, Anything that
causes a Thought, Making a Choice.
-Fetishes: Clothing, Synapses, Masks and Eyewear.
-Fluff: The very essence of choice. The divergent paths that you
create by choosing one thing or the other. Mind by itself is a choice
between nothing and nothing. It is a moot point. Choice, and thus Mind
is informed by what you can and can’t do, and what would happen
depending on your actions, it is your power to shape the world.

Aspect Name: Heart.

The Meta: Characterization.

The person playing the game.
Heart is the Ultimate Self, which is literally the person playing the
game. Heart represents a thing’s character, what they are regardless
of choice. The character traits that make up “you”, the things that
you inherently are.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Soul.
-Strife component: Talents, Weapon Quirks, PSI, Poses, Psionics.
-States: Being yourself.
-Ultimate: Self Absorbed.
-Constructs: Player symbols and color, Denizens of Heart.
-Other: Species Differences
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Motifs: Capabilities/Talent, Preferences/Taste, True Love, True

Friendship, Desire, Intuition.
-Statuses: Honest Feelings (Heart cheats as well by making any feeling
a Heart Status, but only if the player is honestly feeling it),
Emotional investment.
-Actions: Touching, especially a kiss, Direct eye contact
-Fetishes: Shoes, Hats.
-Fluff: Why do you need me to talk about Heart? It’s you, silly!

Hope and Rage: The Believability

The things you’re willing to accept in the plot and the things
that you just won’t.

Aspect Name: Hope.

The Meta: Suspension of Disbelief.

Hope is accepting something as believable. It is saying yes, this
fits, this is explainable and justifiable in the setting and tone it
is presented in. Hope never needs to provide an explanation why, the
answer is that when you believe in magic, anything is possible!

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Determination.
-Strife component: VG, Acts of Determination.
-States: Dreaming.
-Ultimate: Magical.
-Constructs: Skaian Clouds, The Wishing Well, Dreamselves, White
King's Scepter, Forge’s Spark, Denizens of Hope.
-Other: Echeladder Rungs, Mangrit Beads, Wishes.

Motifs: Belief in Magic, Romantic Crushes, Imagination, Shonen

Heroism, Idealised sexuality/bodies.
-Statuses: Believing in oneself, Believing in others, Holding on to a
conviction zealously.
-Actions: Imagining possibilities, Removal of Fakeness Attribute.
-Fetishes: Globes, the Color White, Sexual imagery.
-Fluff: Hope is the pure power of belief, it is knowing that you can
achieve whatever is in your heart! Because you have the power to dream
and make your dreams reality! Whether that works out for you or not is
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a different matter, but Hope would tell you that it definitely will
work out, regardless of what reality has to say about it.

Aspect Name: Rage.

The Meta: Contrivance.

Breaking the suspension of disbelief. Rage is the realization that no,
it doesn't fit, there is no believable explanation, it is complete and
utter bullshit. Things that simply do not work, that are utterly
impossible and unforgivable, Rage is the reaction against. Screaming
out that something is unacceptable, or alternatively reveling in the
fact that it doesn't have to work, that it’s simply absurd and there
is no changing that.

Mechanics:
-Tendency: Steam.
-Strife component: Deafness Resonance, Taking Damage, Response
Actions, Acts of Steam.
-States: Hero Mode.
-Ultimate: Berserk
-Constructs: The Dark Carnival, the Black King’s Scepter, Denizens of
Rage.
-Other: Glitches, Triggers.

Motifs: Disillusionment, Absurdity, Reality, Realistic sex/bodies,

Conspiracies.
-Statuses: Fight or flight responses.
-Actions: Having nightmares, Lashing out in pain.
-Fetishes: Clowns, the Government, Glitches, Inaccessible areas
-Fluff: Rage's purpose, nay, its Destiny is to tear down what one
thinks is the Truth and present a new Truer Truth. Rage is also A
FUCKING MYSTERY WRAPPED IN AN ENIGMA SURROUNDED BY FUCK OFF. Rage is
very hard to understand, and perhaps that is by design. See, Rage is
an element of Truth, but its Truth is unlike Light's Factual Truth,
Doom's Inevitable Truth or Space and Time's Whole Truth. Rage's Truth
is defined by you being wrong. It's Alternative Facts based on one's
beliefs, and they are real because what you say isn't. In that way
Rage is an Aspect of Outrage and Defiance.
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8.2.2 Classes and Powers

I think I will start this section with an apology. Namely, that I was
not able to discern the true structure and meaning behind the Classes
in the way that I have the Aspects. That is something Andrew Hussie
may keep to himself till the day he dies. So I have made this system
by intuiting through the vague and intentionally contradictory
examples we have, like the magycks of a blind mystic. I say much
below, and I have to in order to make a playable game, but
unfortunately I can't prove any of it, even to myself. You undoubtedly
will think differently on most of them, I understand that. I simply
ask you understand that I’ve done the best I can to make a fun,
interesting and working system.

If the Aspect a player has is like the palette they use, then their
Class is the tool they use to paint with. They are the players’ method
of interaction with the story and game as a whole.

However, they also have a function on a story basis, representing arcs

the characters have. That is why I refer to them more often as
Mythological Roles, because they aren't merely a simple function like
“add” or “remove”, they have nuance, history, a flow or direction.
They have flavor, if you will. It's my belief that this flavor is what
allows the player to identify with the Class, because to add or
subtract doesn't say anything about who you are or what you as a
person do.

If I had to explain the Classes’ likely conceptual origins, I would

bet it's in Jung’s Archetypes. The first clue being that there are
twelve of them, as well as their description being “[as] inherited
potentials which are actualized when they enter consciousness as
images or manifest in behavior on interaction with the outside world
[…] and are given particular expression by individuals and their
cultures.” I think that is a very good explanation of what
Mythological Roles are, Classes being the general structure of
activity latent within our persona, and Aspects being individual and
cultural images given particular manifestation. The problem is that it
falls apart when I try to align the Classes with his archetypes, some
work almost perfectly, but some match two and some have no equivalent
at all. So maybe I just interpreted the Classes horribly wrong, and
their true forms have been staring me in the face. Or The Huss only
 115

used the concept of archetypes, not the specific models Jung laid out.
Regardless, it still begs the question of how he came up with the
Active/Passive pairings and what that even means, or the seven
fundamental methods that the Classes interact with reality? I don't
fucking know, and probably never will.

Editor’s note: Trying to read through the Class descriptions and

powers was very difficult, and thus I have rewritten it pretty much
from scratch, rendering everything you just read somewhat invalid, as
Dillon’s trials and tribulations ended up having very little effect on
the end result. Sorry for wasting your time and yet more paper.

Classes come in Active and Passive pairs. Each affects the universe
comparably, but in different ways. Usually, this works by either
directly interacting with the universe, or inviting the universe to
interact with itself. Each Class also has an Inversion that represents
an opposing method of interacting with Aspects.

Active Classes directly interact with their Aspect, or directly affect

other players or the universe, without the others’ will having any
effect over it. Passive Classes invite their Aspect to act, giving
away more control to the powers that be.

These are just general guidelines, as the powers of the Classes are
very freeform, and open to interpretation.

The 12 Classes are sorted into 6 pairs, each with its own operative
verb which describes the actions which the Class is prone to take,
further informed by its Aspect. Each pair has an Active Class and a
Passive Class, working with the same verb in slightly different ways.
Each pair also has an opposite pair that can undo their work, or reach
the same result with different methods, depending on the Aspect.
(Creating Light also Destroys Void, for example)
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Maid and Sylph: The Creation Classes

Those who create Symbols of their Aspect or use their Aspect to
create.

The Maid: One who Creates Aspect or Creates through Aspect.

Maid, the Active Creation Class. Maids are known for starting with a
certain lack of their Aspect that they later get more of.
Specifically, they are tasked with providing themselves with it, and
later others (if they feel charitable).
Maids have been described as elemental of their Aspect. They are ​made
of it. They are very linked to the nature of their Aspect, they must
learn to understand it, utilize its positives and be ready to face the
possible negatives of it as well. It's a game of Balance.
Being made of their Aspect, they ​have a lot of it to share around, and
with the ability of Creation, make something entirely new thanks to
their intimate comprehension of it.
A Maid would be quite the cheerful person! Even if they start with a
bit less pep.

The Sylph: One who invites Creation of Aspect or invites Creation

through Aspect.

Sylph, the Passive Creation class. Sylphs are known to have a strong
association to healing and are also known to be “Meddling Meddlers”.
Sylphs are very caring people. They are prone to meddling and will
work to improve the lives of others, sometimes over their own
wellbeing. Improving lives, however, sometimes requires taking a few.
There is a trend of Sylphs being as destructive as they are
constructive.
In short: They will help you a whole lot. If you don't fuck with them.
If you do, run.

Prince and Bard: The Destruction Classes

Those who destroy Symbols of their Aspect or use their Aspect to
destroy.
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The Prince: One who Destroys Aspect or Destroys through Aspect.

Prince, the Active Destruction Class. Princes are known to be,

unsurprisingly, destructive. It could be a subtle sabotage that they
may not even be aware of, or an explosive rage that comes out of them
at times. In either case, their destructive nature is too often
manifested in self-destruction, and a Prince must not unravel
themselves by accident.
Princes seem to have a connection with their opposite Aspect, in some
way acting in a way that evokes its themes, yet a Prince, internally,
would still be connected to their own Aspect, embodying it within
themselves.

The Bard: One who invites Destruction of Aspect or invites Destruction

through Aspect.
Bard, the Passive Destruction Class. Bards are known to start by
embodying their opposite Aspect before having some crisis that causes
them to switch to their own Aspect.
The one commonality with the way Bards act is that Bards are just big
jokes.
A Bard will Destroy their Aspect entirely on accident, with the one
common link between all Destructions is that they are funny. Not the
kind of funny that would make one laugh per se, but more like there is
some cosmic joke that the Bard exists to see come to fruition. It is
the most meta of the Classes.

Witch and Heir: The Manipulation Classes

Those who manipulate Symbols of their Aspect or use their Aspect
to cause change.

The Witch: One who Manipulates Aspect or Manipulates through Aspect.

Witch, the Active Manipulation Class. Witches are known to be very

passionate in whatever field they decide to invest themselves in.
They are also rebels. Witches will push against what is commonly
believed or what people think they should do, and they won’t hesitate
a moment while doing it.
 118

Witches have a great deal of control over their Aspect, able to use it
to the fullest extent of its power, willing it to act as they want it
to by virtue of their natural ability, their ‘magic’.

The Heir: One who invites Manipulation of Aspect or invites

Manipulation through Aspect.

Heir, the Passive Manipulation Class, Heirs are called such because
they are fated to Receive their Aspect, they will have quite a large
amount of it too! They are perhaps second only to the Page in raw
power.
As a Manipulator of their Aspect, Heirs can do quite a bit.
Where Witches will naturally have lots of energy and Manipulate their
Aspect with reckless abandon, Heirs start out with their Aspect acting
for them. At times of crisis their God Powers seem to flare up and act
to assist them, but in time they will gain more control of their
Aspect, seeming more like the Witch.
Heirs are quite comfortable in their own skin. They don’t really mind
what anyone has to say about them.

Mage and Seer: The Understanding Classes

Those who gain knowledge from their Aspect or use their Aspect
to gain knowledge.

The Mage: One who Understands Aspect or Understands through Aspect.

Mage, the Active Understanding Class. The Mage’s knowledge of their

Aspect comes from a certain amount of intuition, but an intuition that
comes from experience.
Mages are noted for learning "On their flesh" as it were, learning
through experience and 'suffering'. Blood, sweat, and tears. The Mage
will seek to involve themselves in their Aspect, partly to understand
it better, but also to apply their knowledge in whatever way the Mage
sees fit.

The Seer: One who invites Understanding of Aspect or Understanding

through Aspect.
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Seer, the Passive Understanding Class. Seers have an innate

understanding of their Aspect that doesn’t come from any particular
source, they simply invite understanding to themselves. This may be in
the form of visions, intuition, or perhaps there is a physical source
that they gain knowledge from, but in some way that doesn’t make
enough sense.
Seers tend to have some sort of eccentricity, a fixation or strange
behavior. They’re also big talkers.

Knight and Page: The Application Classes

Those who make use of their Aspect or use their Aspect to find
new applications.

The Knight: One who Applies Aspect or Applies through Aspect.

Knight, the Active Application Class. A Knight is a natural expert in

utilizing their Aspect to the best of their abilities, squeezing every
bit of it for more potential use. Knights are also known for putting
on facades, trying to seem like something they aren’t, cooler, more
capable, etc. In the end, Knights are very self reliant, capable,
perhaps even perfectionistic people. Those can be good traits, but
they may lead to a Knight needing to put on a "game face" or being
under a lot of stress.

The Page: One who invites Application of Aspect or invites Application

through Aspect.

Page, the Passive Application Class. Pages are notorious for being
weak, but harboring great potential! As the Knight's passive
counterpart, they are capable of putting their Aspect to great use!
Pages also have a sort of Passive buff even before they unlock their
full capability. In some way they already have a lot of Aspect power
that they simply aren’t using yet, but will manifest in their actions
or perhaps in some stranger things that may happen around them.
Pages are generally timid people, even if they can show a lot of
outward enthusiasm. They always have a part of them that holds back in
some capacity.
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Thief and Rogue: The Relocation Classes

Those who give and take their Aspect or use their Aspect to give
and take.

The Thief: One who Relocates Aspect or Relocates through Aspect.

Thief, the Active Relocation Class. Thieves are known for having some
personality issues, some sort of insecurity that drives them to try
and achieve whatever it is they are after, and keep trying to one up
themselves. They act like the best because they feel they’re the
worst. Now, a Thief may be rude, but they aren’t a bad playmate. When
you need someone to go and get something done, a Thief isn’t a bad
choice. They’ll break every rule on their way to victory but they will
get the most thorough result.
Thieves start with some lack of their Aspect, but on their quest they
will take of it for themselves till they’ve flipped the situation to
their favor. They aren’t necessarily against sharing either.

The Rogue: One who invites Relocation of Aspect or invites Relocation

through Aspect.

Rogue, the Passive Relocation Class. Rogues are just as known to give
their Aspect away as they are to take it. A Rogue is one that takes
from where there is an abundance and gives to those that have little,
or one that takes and gives to change an order as opposed to an
amount. Rogues also suffer an imbalance in their Aspect, having a lack
of it or an abundance of it. It is the Rogue’s job to identify that
imbalance and fix it.
Personality wise, Rogues are quite peppy, and are very personable,
even if some seem to be that way mostly by accident.
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8.2.3 Practical Mythicality

Classes interact with their Aspect, and the world, on four levels:
Physical, Essential, Symbolic, and Mundane.

Physical- Has a corporeal form, can be touched and acted on.

Essential- No corporeal form, just magic. Can be forms of energy,
ideas, and game mechanics.
Symbolic- Represents an Aspect, a manifestation of it.
Mundane- Unconnected to any aspects, just a thing without a higher
form of meaning to it.
When describing an action that makes use of your God Tier powers, make
sure to keep this four types of object in mind.

When using your God Tier powers you must roll for performing a 'God
Action'. In order to perform a God Action you must declare it as well
as the Trait that you want to use with it (a fighting based action
would have Vim rolled, like destroying an enemy, a charm based action
would have Pulch rolled, like mind washing) and then roll a d12 + the
Trait die against a DC decided by the GP according to the magnitude of
the action. You must also spend an amount of Agency according to the
magnitude of the action (Refer to Table of Magnitude). If your roll
passes the DC then the action happens just as you described it.
However, if your roll is lower, your action does still happen, but
something will go wrong. It misses, it affects the wrong target, its a
bit too slow, it does it in an unexpected way. A personal favorite of
mine is rolling a d100 to get a percentage of fuck-up, what some call
Severity, and decide what happens according to the roll.
Do not fret, if you have more Agency left in you, you can use more
Agency than necessary and add a +2 to your roll per extra Agency used.
You may also do the opposite, lowering your result by 2 by spending 1
less Agency. If you’re out of battle, you do not spend Agency to
perform a God Action, but the Agency cost must be less than or equal
to your maximum Agency

If you are playing an Active Class you pay additional Agency for your
God Actions.
If you are playing a Passive Class your DC for your God Actions rises.
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(Refer to Table of Magnitude for both. Note that ‘Agency’ is the

Magnitude of the action and ‘Active Class Agency’ is not. It is how
much Agency an Active Class uses for an action of the Magnitude listed
in the table.)

Table of Magnitude

Agency Active Class DC Passive Class

Agency DC

1 1 2 4

2 2 4 6

3 3 6 8

4 4 8 10

5 5 10 12

6 7 12 14

7 8 14 15

8 9 16 17

9 11 18 19

10 12 20 21

11 13 22 23

12 24

13 28

8.2.5 Inversion

For every Mythological Role, there is another role that is its

Inversion, a Classpect that has simultaneously opposing yet
complementary powers. While inverted, a player would function with
their role in a fundamentally different way, one that reaches the same
ends but with means that the player wouldn’t normally use. A Destroyer
naturally creates of their opposite Aspect as they destroy, but were
they inverted, they would begin attempting to destroy their Aspect by
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creating the opposite. This would reach the same result but using
actions that don’t fit the player, or are not healthy for them.

Crisis of Identity
The first time a player’s Inversion manifests, it does so without the
players consent, in that they aren't choosing to do it, it just
happens like how the main powers manifest themselves. Every time after
this, players must actively choose to use it. You need to keep track
of this, because once they have used it a few times, they have what is
called a Crisis of Identity, where their shadow reaches out to them,
invites them to step in, shrug off the role they had and take their
power into their own hands. They can either choose to ignore this
temptation, or to step into it. However, they must choose to do it,
you as the GP cannot force them to do it, you can only suggest, and
make it sound really good. If your players feel that a certain Crisis
or use of inverted powers was particularly emotional or potent, it may
count as multiple uses and cause them to invert earlier.

Inverting
When players do decide to do this, several things happen:
First off, they must RP according to whatever they perceive to be how
their character would act in an inverted state (be crazy, become like
an eldritch creature, be scarily nice, develop a fierce hatred of
lemons, etc.)
When using God Powers they must use their Inversion’s verb and Aspect.
Attempting to use your original God Powers costs an additional point
of Agency and has a DC higher by 2.
If they are inverted for too long or make too much of a use of their
Inversion’s powers, the player is afflicted with their inverted
Aspect’s Ultimate State.

How to step back out of the shadow

Die? Either that, or have everybody else in the party talk earnestly
and calmly with the person about what their problem is and how maybe
they all are contributing to it and can eventually fix it. Or just
kill them and pretend it never happened.