Messengers Draft - 03212019

Echoes in the Dark
A Forged-In-The-Dark Game of Conspiracy and Urban Fantasy
For Evil Hat Games, Draft 2
Last Updated: 3-21-2019

Table of Contents
Basic Premise
Media Inspirations
What is this Game About?
World and Setting

The Place - Toronto
The People - Messengers
The Echo
Hive
The Enemy - The Stygian
Misery, Inc
Idolators
The Others - Major Factions
Lux Victrix
Panopticon
Librarians
The Court
Collective
Character Generation
Choosing a Calling
Choose a Background
Choose an Echo
Choose (Or Create) A Close Friend and Rival
Assign Four Action Dots
Choose a Tether
Backstory Questions
Callings
Envoy
Scribe
Ferryman
Courier
Brigand
Artificer
Echoes
Common Equipment
Hive Creation
Rooks
Chainbreakers
Callers
Cartographers
Hive Upgrades
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Cohorts
Hive Contacts
Roleplaying the Echo

Echo’s Motivations
Custom Mechanics
Conspiracy Retaliation
Faction Entanglements
Tethers
Guidebooks
Group Mechanics
Resonating
Harmony and Discord
Heat
Dread and Rites
Magic
Artificing
The Faction Game

Favor
Vouch
The Campaign
The Stygian Conspiracy
Six Fires, Four Buckets
Building Strength
Building a Conspiracy
Top-Down Approach
Bottom-Up Approach
Tying it Together
The Other Factions
Appendixes
Major Factions
Panopticon
Librarians
Collective
The Court
Lux Victrix
Minor Factions
Matroshka
Red-Palms Resort and Travel
The Good Neighbor Committee
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Wellsely & Hardwick
Yummy!Brand Foodstuffs
Leviathan Private Security
Third Eye Media
Alpha Kappa Brothers
Blacksite
Null Hypothesis
Cult of Mammon
Pagans
The Hedges
Quickstart Situation
Character Sheets
Faction Sheets
The Culture of Messengers

Values
Organization
Traditions
Leadership
A History of Messengers
Random Tables
Chases
Barriers
Dangers
Opposition
Daemons
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Basic Premise
In The Messengers, players take on the roles of punks and urchins, the dispossessed and alienated, bound
together by a shared consciousness called “The Echo.” They are members of a secret society dedicated to
fighting against The Stygian; an ancient, evil, twisted horror of a would-be god that feeds and promulgates the
very roots of humanity’s suffering, misery, and oppression.
To finance their ancient battle against the Stygian, the Messengers act as go-betweens, envoys, and guns-for-
hire for the unseen factions that pull the strings behind the modern world. Many factions require their services -
the Panopticon, masters of surveillance - The Librarians, secretive historians and warriors who keep
monstrosities at bay - and the Court, a group of politicking fae, vampires, werewolves, goblins, and other
supernatural beings. The Messengers are in the middle of these factions, working in their cracks and shadows
in order to scrape together enough money, power, and friends to continue their ancient struggle.
Media Inspirations
● Games: The Secret World, World of Darkness, Shadowrun
● Shows: Sense8, Kindred, Orphan Black, Travellers
● Books: Dresden Files, The Laundry, Neverwhere, Animorphs
What is this Game About?

● Being on the fringes, struggling to stay ahead of an enemy that is bigger, scarier, and more well-funded
than you
● Building strong relationships with your teammates that are occasionally tested
● Fighting in an ancient struggle against a terrible evil in the shadows of the modern world
● Magic, conspiratorial intrigue, and skullduggery
● Gathering strength, figuring out plans, unraveling conspiracies and striking where your enemy is
weakest
Dramatic Questions
● How much of yourself do you give to the group? What do you get in return?
● What does it take to defeat a malevolent conspiracy? How far do you need to go? Who gets hurt along
the way?
World and Setting

This world is consistently low-powered compared to similar settings. The Secret World has the Templars
building a castle in the middle of London and the Illuminati hosting a massive underground labyrinth in New
York City. World of Darkness has globally connected factions who are capable of working in lockstep. The
Messenger’s world is stripped of many of these luxuries, and factions and players have less at their disposal.
Reality is malleable. A major premise of the setting is that directed, strong, consistent belief can warp reality
around it. “Every time a child claps, a faerie gets her wings!” is a very real (if simplified) concept in this setting.
Idealism, hope, and belief can survive, even in the face of almost certain defeat. Those who inhabit this world
are empowered to realize a vision of how their world “should” be, rather than accepting the status quo. Each
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faction claims that they’re trying to get to the top so that they can do benevolent works, but really they want to
be able to fiddle with the fabric of reality to their own ends. Some of them do think that’s benevolent; others are
more mercenary about it.
The Stygian is at the center. This is not a world of secrets for the sake of secrets. There is a definite end to
every thread, every mystery, every secret, and you already know what it is. The various tendrils of conspiracy
that the players face down, the enemies they fight, the crimes they uncover, all have at their center one foe,
one puppetmaster, one face: The Stygian. There is no “real” big bad that will be unveiled in the eleventh hour,
or lame twist at the end of the season. You know your enemy. Now your task is to find its puppets, unravel
their plans, and destroy the Stygian’s influence over your world.
The Place - Toronto

This “default” campaign world takes place in Toronto, Ontario, a city defined in some ways by its generic
nature. It’s regularly a stand-in for other “urban” locations in film and television. However, it does have some
unique points of its own, like the massive underground network of malls and tunnels that run under the city
center.
Within the larger world of the Messengers, Toronto is a relative backwater. Most factions maintain only an
“outpost”-level presence, and Toronto is considered to be more frontier than civilization. This means things are
less static, but also resources are in short supply.
Toronto is meant to be a flexible setting, and your ‘version’ of the city will by definition look different from any
other. The setting material book is meant to provide a jumping-off point for your own ideas. Pull the factions,
NPCs, and places that interest you, create your own if you like, and discard the rest.
The People - Messengers

The players take on the role of “Messengers”, a secret conspiracy of psychically intertwined go-betweens,
mediators, and mercenaries. They push and pull the other societies in various directions, sometimes helping,
sometimes hindering, sometimes working for them, sometimes working against them.
The Echo
I hear and obey.
The Echo forms the foundation of Messenger society, as it is both intensely unique to the Messengers and
universally shared experience within their society. At its core, it is a “group consciousness” of sorts that all
Messengers hear. It forms the essential paradox of life as a Messenger, and is at the center of their day-to-day
experience. It is dangerous for large groups of Messengers to gather in one place for an extended period of
time, thus the Echo isolates the Messengers physically but unites them as a society mentally, emotionally, and
spiritually.
All Messengers hear the Echo, though no two hear it quite the same. It is often described as a gentle whisper:
encouraging, helpful, and loving.
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No one is quite sure what exactly the Echo is. Some say it is the accumulated energy or wisdom of humanity,
the “voices of the ancestors” passed down as gifts of prophecy. Some argue it is more primeval in origin, a
collection of wisdom and thought that humanity once possessed but has since been lost by the majority of the
population. Others see it as a strengthening metaphysical, magical, or psychic network, gradually linking the
thoughts of all sentient life together.
As the Echo grows louder and more distinguishable, the more danger mounts for a Messenger. For as the
Echo grows, so too does the voice of the Stygian.
Hearing the Echo

Some are born hearing the Echo or come into it in the natural course of their lives. Such is a very dangerous
position to be in, since without the guidance the Messengers offer, it is nearly impossible to separate the Echo
from the Stygian. Some are driven mad by the Stygian’s basal demands to inflict suffering. Others climb to the
height of corporate ladders as the Stygian guides their avarice. Sooner or later, the Messengers come for all of
them.
If a “Hearer” can be taught, educated, and learn to recognize the voice of the Stygian for what it is and block it
out, they are welcomed with open arms into the ranks of the Messengers, to strive against the enemy that once
enslaved them. If not, a “Hearer” is likely to fall permanently under the sway of the Stygian, a fate considered
worse than death by the Messengers.
Hive
A hive is a group of Messengers who have become deeply interconnected, to the point where their shared
Echo begins to act as a hivemind. Abilities, talents, thoughts, ideas, and emotions are known to flow freely
between members of a hive.
The Enemy - The Stygian

This age shambles in Fear, but it will not endure in it.
The Echo sings and hums the chainbreaker's ancient, rhythmic song.
It is said that the first Messengers travelled in order to try and spread the Echo to others, though, in doing so,
they inadvertently opened themselves to the Stygian.
No human eyes have ever seen the Stygian’s true form. There are hints at it in the dreams of its adherents and
servants: a great, helpless mass, buried underneath some dark recess of the ocean; a hungry maw, clumsily
twisting in dumb agony, eternally searching for food.
It feeds, of course, on human misery.
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Misery, Inc
In modern times, the Stygian is not so crude as to to march armies or demand slaves. No, instead it spreads
through a web of commerce and business. Every miserly bank, every faceless conglomerate risks the inky
stain of the Stygian upon it. What once was done out of moral impetus is now abdicated to The System and
Just Business. Slavery as Slavery is gauche, is obvious - but the grinding misery of being a slave invisibly is a
deeper wine to the Stygian. Blurring together the slaves that toil, those whose sweat is stolen by prison and
corporation, the modern era is full of systems that seem to perfectly align with the ancient needs of the Stygian.
Capital is its preferred method of torment in the 21st century. A recession here, a bit of austerity there… the
drive for profit leaves ample opportunity to feast upon human pain and suffering.
Idolators
The Messengers term those who have fallen under the sway of the Stygian as “Idolators.” A dark mirror of the
Messengers themselves, Idolators give themselves over to the Stygian for power, wealth, or simply for pure
hedonism’s sake.
Idolators aren’t bound by much, and are often completely unaware of one another’s existences. As far as
they’re concerned, they are the sole vessel of the Stygian’s will. They can be found the world over, lurking in
the halls of power, in corporate boardrooms, at the head of criminal syndicates, or wherever else human
misery thrives.
Idolators are not bound by a single ideology, but patterns as to the justifications for their actions have emerged.
Some believe that hearing the voice of the Stygian makes them the next evolution of mankind, and that they
are destined to rule with an iron fist. Many report that the Stygian has revealed humanity’s “true” purpose: That
the strong are made to dominate the weak, the rich to consume the poor, and any other social darwinist
philosophy in between. If pressed or shown the error of their ways, some idolators have collapsed into near-
catatonic despair, insisting that the Stygian is a manifestation of humanity’s true nature. That since it cannot be
defeated, it must instead be embraced.
The Messengers, of course, beg to differ.
The Others - Major Factions

The major factions are meant to act as “outposts” in your game. Depending on what interests you and your
players, they can act as adversaries, allies, reduced to a bit of “background” setting detail, or removed
completely from your game.
Lux Victrix
All major conspiracies are bound together by the “Lux Victrix”, a sort of “UN” of the various secret societies that
make up the factions of the world. They are tasked with maintaining the balance between the factions and
preserving the “veil” that keeps the supernatural side of reality hidden. They are maintained by “tithes” from
other factions, most commonly in the forms of favors, personnel on loan, and fiscal grants. They are a
bureaucracy, through-and-through, and will mostly interact with the PCs as nosy busybodies and “johnny law.”
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Panopticon
The Panopticon are a global cabal of well-heeled businessmen, techno-mages, and surveillance experts. As
possibly the largest faction, they focus on trying to hold onto what they own in terms of businesses, income,
and political power. They are masters of surveillance, and try to keep an ‘eye’ on everything. Panopticon tend
to be pragmatic, almost to a fault, and are just as happy to employ the PC’s when it suits them as they are to
stab them in the back for some perceived gain.
Librarians
Remnants of knightly orders ranging from arthurian to teutonic templars, the Librarians concern themselves
primarily with hoarding ancient knowledge and using it to fight off the various monstrosities that prey upon the
world. They are more high-minded than other factions, but will fight alongside The Messengers so long as their
mutual interests align. While they are slow to trust, they are loyal and true, tending to stick by the agreements
they make.
The Court
“The Court” is mostly an external nomenclature used by other factions to define the roiling cauldron of
alliances, backstabbing, and agreements that make up the more supernaturally inclined. Bound together for
mutual protection, the Court is an inherently divided mixture of faeries, jinn, werewolves, and everything in-
between. The only commonality seems to be their willingness to “play ball” with the mortals, so to speak, if only
to gain some temporary advantage.
Through history and happenstance, the Messengers and the Court are closely intertwined, with the Court
frequently calling upon the Messengers for their services, and the Messengers borrowing a fair bit of magic,
influence, and technique from the Court.
Collective
The Collective is the “youngest” of the secret societies, and possibly the hardest to define. They are children of
the internet age, a loose affiliation of hackers, cryptid experts, urban explorers, Youtubers, and script-kiddies.
They are barely unified, and are very much considered to be in the “minor leagues” by other societies. The
best and brightest often get “poached” into other conspiracies. Still, they are numerous, they love memes, and
they may know a thing or two more than the “olds” give them credit for.
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Character Generation
Choosing a Calling
Each Messenger hears the Echo, but each hears it differently. A Messenger’s “Calling” often comes to define
them, or at least the work they do for the Messengers. Sometimes, a Calling relates directly to who a person
was before they heard the Echo. Other times, they are fresh and eye-opening, unlocking hidden talents the
individual Hearer would not have guessed at.
In the sections below, you’ll find a list of callings, each with their own advantages, special abilities, and general
‘role.’
Choose a Background
Your character’s background determines what they were before they caught up in the world beyond the veil, or
maybe what they still are in some ways. You can think of this a being tied into your character’s upbringing,
social class or a general profession. Below are some suggested categories you might consider:
● Academic: A student, a professor, a scholar, or maybe a journalist of some description. Academics

frequently find their way into the Messengers through rigorous study, dogged pursuit of the truth, or
maybe just picking up the right book at a public library.
● Artist: Some type of creative, be it through canvas, music, technology, writing, or anything else. Artists
are common among the Messengers, as a nascent Echo can often express itself in bursts of creativity
and inspiration.
● Labor: Construction workers, union stevedores, sailors, white-collar office drones and anyone else who
might be called working class. The Echo recruits from all corners of public life, and the possibility of a
better world often attracts those on the lower economic rungs of society.
● Law: Involved someway in the enforcement of society’s law, maybe as a police officer, a PI, or a
lawyer. Sometimes, the Echo manifests itself as a desire for justice, or at the very least an unspoken
intuition that something is very, very wrong with the world.
● Military: Former soldiers and other military personnel. The Echo often comes to Hearers in times of
intense trauma or danger, and those exposed to it in such trying times may seek out others with similar
experiences.
● Underworld: Low-level criminals, pushers, hustlers, or robbers. The seedy underbelly of society
presents two stark paths to the young Hearer, either a descent into avarice fueled by the Stygian, or a
fundamental rejection of the status quo as whispered by the Echo.
● Strange: Some Messengers are born beneath the veil. Half-fae, spiritualists, witches and the like
sometimes hear the Echo and gravitate towards it’s call.
Choose an Echo
Take a look at the Echoes available for your Calling and choose one. If you can't decide which one to pick, go
with the first one on the list—it's placed there as a good default choice.
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Choose (Or Create) A Close Friend and Rival
Choose a close friend and a rival, or invent one (or both) on your own. Mark the one who is a close friend,
long-time ally, family relation, or love. Mark one who is a rival, enemy, scorned lover, betrayed partner, etc
Assign Four Action Dots

Your class begins with three action dots already placed. You get to add four more dots (so you'll have seven
total). At the start of the game, no action rating may have more than two dots (unless a an Echo tells you
otherwise). Brief descriptions of all the actions follow. Assign your four dots like this:
● Put two dots in any action that you feel reflects your character's background.
● Assign one dot in an action that reflects something your friend or rival taught you, willingly or not.
● Assign one more dot anywhere you please (max rating is 2, remember).
Choose a Tether
Next, pick a Tether. When you’re not conducting daring raids, communicating secret messages, distributing
dangerous magical goods or communing with Dank Ideas, your Tether is what helps recenter your character.
Characters can’t be, and aren’t, just their work - Messengers know about that kind of person, and their stories
seldom go well.
● Faith: You’re dedicated to an unseen power, an ideology, or even just the Echo itself.
● Novelty: You crave the latest thing, the newest gadget, or maybe the latest fashion.
● Obligation: You’re devoted to a family, a cause, an organization, a charity, etc. Or perhaps you just
hold down a normal, mundane job that keeps you grounded.
● Pleasure: Gratification from lovers, food, drink, drugs, art, theater, etc.
● Social: Love of others and spending time being around them. Going to parties, social events, or just
enjoying time with close friends
● Craft: You are dedicated to a craft or art of some kind. You write music, sculpt, write, paint, or
otherwise devote yourself creatively for personal fulfillment.
Messengers that lose their tether dissolve their connection to reality, and by extension, humanity. With this
comes an intense alienation, despair, burnout. Few talk about it openly, but there are whispers of Messengers
who have lost what made them human and thus fallen prey to the Stygian.
Backstory Questions
This isn’t really explicitly a part of character creation, but if you like to write backstories, here’s some questions
that might help you out!
● Messengers are called from all corners of the globe. Where is you character originally from? What was
their upbringing like?
● When did your character first hear the Echo? What effect did it have on their lives?
● Very few people were born into the Messengers. What did your character do before they became a
Messenger?
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● How long has your character been a Messenger? How were they inducted, and by whom? How do they
feel about their new life?
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Callings
It is an important distinction that we offer a better life, not an easier one.
Envoy
A skilled negotiator and diplomat.
Diplomacy is the bread and butter of the Messengers. Among the societies, they act as a (mostly) neutral third
party, delivering messages, spying on enemies, and resolving conflicts that can’t be fixed up by Lux Victrix and
their high-handed ideals. To do all that, the Messengers need Envoys. In a society of Messengers, they are
perhaps the lightest touch, always more willing to resolve matters with a smile and a deal than a knife in the
ribs.
When you play an Envoy, you earn xp when you address a challenge with negotiation or diplomacy. Gain entry
to the halls of power with a smile, deliver your message precisely as intended, and negotiate the best deal you
can for your client. Be polite, professional, and utterly congenial. Ask for payment up front. Change the deal.
Convince someone to act against every instinct in their body, because you’re just that good.
Face-men, negotiators, and Messengers. They deliver important messages as politely but firmly as possible.
Starting Dots:
Sway 2
Consort 1
Echoes:
1. Reader: Spend 2 stress to gain a glimpse into someone’s thoughts. The GM should tell you a one-
sentence long bit of internal dialogue that the target is currently thinking. May be resisted.
2. Let’s Be Civil: Convincing an enemy not to resort to violence is never a desperate roll for you.
3. Courtly Manners: You are always welcome in the courts, back-rooms, and halls of power. Simply
explain that you have a Message and gain entrance.
4. First Impressions: You can Attune to the Echo to determine how to make a good first impression on just
about anyone.
5. Magic-sense: You can Attune to the Echo to hear of any magic affecting someone else's mind.
6. Hands and Deeds: You can Attune to the Echo in order to gain insight into something helpful you can
do for any person you meet.
7. Promises Broken: You can Attune to the Echo to know the most recent injury or betrayal someone you
are talking to suffered.
8. Faerie Oath: You may create a new condition for your faerie oath.
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9. Sharing: Choose an ability of one other crewmember. You may use that ability as if it were your own.
Example Contacts:
● A Lux Victrix bureaucrat
● A local up-and-coming politician
● An Panopticon negotiator or lawyer
● A talented fae courtier
Special Equipment
● A fine vintage (load 1) (a bottle of liquor or wine of impressive origin. Useful when wining and dining.)
● A hidden weapon (load 1) (Either a small concealed pistol or a blade that is nearly impossible to detect.
A diplomat’s last resort when all else fails)
● Fine disguise kit (load 2) (Materials suitable for disguising yourself as someone else)
● Fine official documents (load 1) (Papers and documents of almost unimpeachable quality)
Scribe
A technical master of cryptography and secrecy.
Codes, ciphers, and the soft, ever-present thrum of technology are like sweet honey to a Scribe. They notice
everything, see everything, they peek behind the scenes to see all the dirty little strings that pull the world this
way and that. They guard the secrets of the Messengers, and sift through all the rumors that filter in through a
thousand bytes of encrypted data.
When you play a Scribe, you earn xp when you address a challenge with technological aptitude or technical
finesse. Hack the Gibson. Show the Collective who’s boss. Loop the security cameras and hack the motion
sensors. Plug in a usb key and watch as every mistake your enemies ever made pours into the Echo. Crack
the code, cypher up the data, and make the delivery.
Technical masters of cryptography and secrecy. They keep the secrets of the Messengers hidden and discover
the secrets of others.
Starting Dots:
Study 2
Tinker 1
Echoes:
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1. The Messenger’s Code: Any information you have encrypted or encoded cannot be hacked or
deciphered. Add 2 sections to any Retaliation clock targeting you.
2. Babeltongue: You may Attune to the Echo in order to gain the (temporary) ability to speak, read, and
understand any language.
3. Secret Histories: You may Attune to the Echo to hear a bit of history about a place you are currently
visiting.
4. Spirit-speak: You may Attune to the Echo to listen and speak to any spirits in your vicinity.
5. Unimposing: The Echo protects you from harm, your enemies will always prioritize attacking you last.
6. Counter-Daemon: You may create a counter-daemon with potency equal to your Tier. Choose a
specialization for and name your counter-daemon.
7. Techsight: The echo will always tell you about any technological systems in the scene, and you may
Attune to the Echo to discover how to hack into any system.
Sample Contacts:
● An expert in an obscure, archaic subject
● A black or white hat hacker
● A well-known e-celebrity
● An Panopticon systems analyst
Special Equipment
● Fine tech gear (load 1) (a custom set of tech gear, tuned to suit you perfectly)
● Whisper box (load 1) (a small lacquered box that rattles faintly when shook. When placed between two
individuals having a conversation, anyone else will regard their conversation as unimportant)
● Blueprints (load 1) (a folio of useful blueprints and architectural plans of areas around the city)
● Drone (load 2) (a small aerial or rolling drone that can be controlled remotely by an operator)
Ferryman
An escape artist and getaway driver.
In the world of the Messengers, things seldom go exactly as planned. our comrades will often need to bug out
in a hurry with the cops, enemy agents, or something far worse hot on their heels. It’s the job a Ferryman to get
your team (and everything they need) exactly where they need to be. Not to mention watching their backs,
patching up their holes, or just plain opening a door and shoving the Scribe through befores he gets her damn
head blown off.
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When you play a Ferryman, you earn xp when you address a challenge using speed, foresight, or just in the
nick-of-time. Make a plan. Watch as everything gets shot to hell. Make a plan B. Actually get your comrades to
stick to plan B. Drive the getaway car. Smuggle in some weapons. Pull a disguise out of thin air. And, when all
else fails, get your team the hell out of there in one piece.
Those that ensure that the Messengers get exactly where they need to go. Masters of any sort of vehicle, and
talented smugglers.
Starting Dots:
Finesse 2
Survey 1
Echoes:
1. Escape: You can Attune to the Echo to learn of the most immediate escape route available to you.
2. Transit: You can Attune to the Echo to find the closest available transportation.
3. Places: Whenever you arrive in a new place, the Echo will tell you something about it.
4. Doors to Doors: You may Attune to the Echo to learn the location of the closest Ferry Door.
5. Empathetic Injury: The Echo will instantly tell you when an ally is injured.
6. Hotwire: You do not need to roll Tinker in order to break into and use any vehicle.
7. Mechanic: Spend special armor to avoid taking a vehicle-related consequence.
8. Medic: You may use Finesse to quickly try and bandage up a wound, reducing a 2 harm to a 1 harm or
a 3 harm to a 2 harm. You may spend 1 stress to heal an ally’s wounds in a controlled situation.
Sample Contacts:
● A skilled local mechanic
● A paramedic, nurse or medical intern
● A capricious fae in the Court
● A local car thief
Special Equipment
● Medikit (load 2) (useful for patching up an ally in the heat of battle)
● Fine mechanic’s tools (load 1) (a good set of tools, useful for quickly fixing up a vehicle)
● Fine warding chalk (load 1) (a good set of chalk, useful for casting spells)
● Light armor (load 1) (A lightweight bulletproof vest that provides the same protection as regular armor)
Courier
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A blade in the night, a note left softly on your pillow.
Not all messages need to be announced publicly, in full-view of the societies writ-large, and not all letters come
with return addresses. For such messages, you need a Courier. Couriers are the quiet masters of stealth and
misdirection who handle the most delicate of messages. Messages that are impossible to ignore, and as
anonymous as the sender would like them to be.
When you play a Courier, you earn xp when you address a challenge using stealth and secrecy. Stay hidden.
Hide in the shadows and behind curtains. Creep across rooftops and onto balconies. Find your target, get them
alone, and deliver the message. Then slip away, into the inky black night.
Those who carry messages quickly, quietly, and expertly. They are sneaky and hard to pin down, and the
messages they leave are often of unknown origin.
Starting Dots:
Prowl 2
Finesse 1
Echoes:
1. Infiltrator: You can Attune to the Echo to find the closest place with the least amount of people.
2. Heart to Heart: You can Attune to the Echo to hear the heartbeat of every person within your current
location.
3. Thief: The Echo will tell you what the most valuable thing is in any given location.
4. Worries: You can attune to the Echo to hear a person’s most currently pressing worry.
5. Unnoticed: If you have access to a disguise of some sort, no one sees through it (unless you want them
to).
6. Reflexes: When there’s a question about who acts first, the answer is you. You may also spend 1
stress to gain +1d to your first attack.
7. Sends Their Regards: When you take someone unawares, you can use Prowl to Command or Sway
them.
8. Crowds: You can Attune to the Echo to find the closest location of a crowd you can blend into.
9. Safe as Houses: You may designate two districts that have a “safehouse” in them that is available to
you.
Sample Contacts
● A retired veteran thief or cat burglar
● A professional assassin
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● A corrupt police officer
● A skilled forger or fence
Special Equipment
● Light climbing gear (load 1) (more compact than your standard climbing gear)
● Cat-eye charm (load 1) (a small magical artifact that lets the wearer see in grayscale when in low-light
or near darkness)
● Fine lockpicks (load 0) (a fine set of lockpicks designed to open up most standard turn-key locks)
● Fine dagger (load 0) (a small, easily concealable dagger of impressive make)
● Fine silencer (load 1) (a silencer that is warded to produce even less noise than usual)
Brigand
A brash bodyguard and provocateur.
As a rule, most Messengers are not terribly big fans of violence. Oh, it’s messy say the Couriers. It’s obsolete,
say the Scribes. It’s gauche, say the Envoys. But then, a voice pipes up from the back of the room, it’s fun as
hell! says the Brigand. Messengers need bodyguards, that much is true. But do they really need ones with
flash, style, and prone to thrilling bouts of derring-do? Fuck. YES.
When you play a brigand, you earn xp when you address a challenge using flash, style, and a little bit of the ol’
ultraviolence. Smash down the doors. Let ‘em take the first swing. Steal the heart of your enemy, her dame
and her fella too. Smash someone’s face in, swing from a chandelier, and run across a moving train. Pull a few
sweet parkour moves and pull the Envoy out of the way of the assassin’s bullet. The bigger the bang, the
louder the message!
One who makes sure only the right message goes through. Use force, muscle, and armed combat to ensure
the safety of their charges and inflict harm on anyone else.
Starting Dots
Skirmish 2
Wreck 1
Echoes:
1. Bodyguard: When you protect a teammate, take +1d to your resistance roll. You may always spend
harmony to re-roll this.
2. Ultraviolence: The Echo will always warn you right before someone tries to do violence upon you.
3. Derring-Do: Once per scene, you can add or change one element of your surroundings or situation in
order to allow you to do something bold, daring or surprising.
4. Roguish Charm: Most everyone you meet initially regards you as charming, in a roguish sort of way.
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5. Panache: You may always use Finesse or Skirmish interchangeably in combat. Gain +1d to any
attempt to Sway someone in the middle of a fight.
6. Friends in Strange Places: You can Attune to the Echo to find whoever is most likely to side with you in
a given situation.
7. Lies Upon Lies: You can Attune to the Echo to determine if someone is intentionally lying.
8. Twist the Knife: The Echo grants force to your words, you may always provoke or anger your enemies
with a witty barb.
9. Stockpile: Pick 3 items from your armory. You no longer need to pay a Prep cost to use these items.
This ability can be taken a total of 3 times.
Sample Contacts:
● A professional boxer
● A Librarian monster-hunter
● A well-heeled dilettante
● A minor local celebrity
Special Equipment
● Fine clothing (load 1)
● Fine hand-to-hand weapon (load 1) (A finely made knife, a set of brass knuckles, or something more
exotic)
● Fine pistol (load 1) (A well-made small-arms weapon)
● Fine rifle (load 2) (A well-made rifle perfect for dishing out pain)
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Artificer
A tinkerer and summoner
Long before the days of instant e-mail or autonomous drones delivering your pizza, some enterprising
Messenger had a curious idea, what if a message could deliver itself? Messenger magic is imbued through the
written word, and through such words, inanimate forms might be given function. The golem, the drone, the
zombie, all just different words for essentially the same thing. A message made manifest.
As an artificer, you earn xp when you address a challenge using tinkering, mechanical ingenuity, or artifice
magic. Make an artifice. Give it purpose. Send it out into the world. Try not to cry when it gets blown up. Make
a better artifice. Improve, slowly but steadily. Or quickly and messily. Whichever.
For more details on how Artificing works, follow the link.
Starting Dots:
Tinker 2
Attune 1
Echoes
1. Multitasking: You may bring an additional artifice with you on a mission. This upgrade may be taken 2
times for a maximum of 3 total artifices.
2. Plug and Play: Your artifices can “plug in” to security systems, allowing your crew access to them
remotely.
3. Farsight: You may Attune to the Echo in order to “see” through the eyes of an artifice.
4. Black Box: Whenever an artifice of yours becomes “Broken” during a mission, you gain 2 ticks to
distribute across any long-term project that improves your artifices.
5. Swarm AI: All Swarm Artifices gain potency.
6. Heavy Chassis: All Single Artifices gain the Armored edge.
7. Remix: You can spend a downtime task to swap up to 2 edges or flaws between your artifices.
8. Autonomous Assistance: During downtime, you get two ticks to distribute among any long term
project clocks that involve investigation.
9. Digital Soul (3 upgrades necessary): You may train your artifices to 4 skill dots, but your artifices
may now occasionally disobey or re-interpret your commands.
Sample Contacts:
● A darknet hacker in the Collective
● A trained roboticist
● A “second hand” parts dealer
● An AI researcher
Special Equipment:
● Artificer’s tools (load 1): Tools necessary to create, modify, or conduct field repairs on aritifices.
● Fine demolition kit (load 1)
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● Artifice (1) (2) (3)
Common Equipment
● Weapons
○ A Blade or Two (1)
○ A Pistol (1)
○ A Heavy Rifle (2)
○ An Unusual Weapon (2)
● Supplies
○ An Extra Clip (1)
○ A Silencer (1)
○ Subterfuge Supplies (1)
● Armor (2)
○ + Heavy (3)
● Implements
○ Arcane Implements (1)
○ Tech Implements (1)
● Documents
○ Official Papers (1)
● Gear
○ Burglary Gear (1)
○ Climbing Gear (2)
● Tools
○ Demolition Tools (2)
○ Tinkering Tools (1)
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Hive Creation
While many Messengers operate independently, striking from the shadows before fading back into obscurity,
the struggle against the Stygian often demands concerted, organized, collective action. For this purpose, the
Echo brings Messengers together to form a hive.
In their infancy, hives are often contentious, argumentative places, as their members struggle to come to grips
with the sudden closeness they feel with their hivemates. Eventually though, they coalesce around the
methodology they will use to fight the Stygian. Therefore, hives can be broadly placed into groupings, mostly
defined by the manner in which they struggle against the Stygian.
Chainbreakers are the most straightforward of the hives, using the application of direct violence and guerilla
warfare against the Stygian. They do not negotiate more than they have to, plan more than they require, or
take more than is needed. They identify the strands of the Stygian’s influence and then uproot them with
terrifyingly direct efficiency.
Rooks seek to use subterfuge, theft, and sabotage to disrupt the conspiracies of the Stygian. They can be the
subtlest of hives, quietly gathering support and resources before suddenly lashing out. Or, they can go loud,
flaunting machination and subtlety and instead pursuing a riotous course of turning everything the Stygian
holds against it. Until, at last, the Stygian is starved into submission and its influence withers and dies.
Callers believe that people, and the organization thereof, are the most effective means to resist and defeat the
Stygian. They focus on bringing new Messengers into the fold, as well as in building connections with others.
They can be political activists or unseen negotiators, but in the end the goal is the same: to turn the populace
against the Stygian, and through mass action and solidarity, drive it from the cities it infests.
Cartographers are the planners, the researchers, the investigators of the Messengers. They believe that in
order to truly defeat the Stygian, it must be understood, studied, catalogued and reviewed. Their approach is
methodical, dissecting each tentacle of the Stygian’s influence, seeking to understand its ways and means, all
in an effort to better destroy it. They may not be the flashiest of the hives, but they are surest, acting with
clinical precision to cut out the cancer that is the Stygian’s influence.
Rooks
Most Messengers that anyone outside their society will ever meet are Rooks. These are the Messengers who
devote themselves to gathering supplies, intelligence, and resources that can be used to prosecute the
Messengers’ ancient war against the Stygian. Sometimes they are generalists, looking to gather anything and
everything that could be useful. But occasionally the Rooks may narrow their focus onto something of grave
importance that would be very useful for their ends, something that may very well be in the hands of an
erstwhile ally. No matter. The struggle demands what the struggle demands. All other considerations are
secondary.
Concepts: High-wire cat burglar; black-hat hacker for hire; mercenary with a sunny disposition; skateboarding
punk-kid in a hoodie; highly-paid “mediation” consultant
1. Subtle: Each PC may add +1 action rating to Survey, Prowl, or Finesse (up to a max rating of 3).
2. Improvisational: Take -1 stress when performing a flashback
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3. Intimacy: You may gain up to one additional point of Intimacy.
4. Well-Compensated: Gain +1d3 coin after being paid for any mission undertaken on behalf of a third
party.
5. Deep Pockets: Each PC counts their total load as 1 less than it otherwise would be.
6. Patronage: When you advance your Tier, it costs half as much coin as it normally would. You must
have confirmed the Stygian’s influence before taking this.
7. The Echo Strengthens: You may use teamwork maneuvers with any crew member, regardless of the
distance separating you.
8. Revelling: Each PC gains an additional tether: Revels. When you indulge this tether and have at least
one point of Intimacy, you don’t overindulge if you clear excess stress. How does your crew come
together to blow off steam and comfort one another?
Hive XP
At the end of each session, for each item below, mark 1 xp (or instead mark 2xp if that item occurred multiple
times).
● Acquire a new asset, contact, resource, intel or expand your influence with a faction. Use any of what
you’ve acquired against the Stygian.
● Discover or investigate some aspect of the conspiracy. (1 xp)
● Contend with challenges above your current station.
● Bolster your crew's reputation or develop a new one.
● Express the goals, drives, inner conflict, or essential nature of the crew
Crew Upgrades
● Rook rigging: 2 free load for gear or tools
● Underground maps and blueprints
● Elite Rooks
● Elite Skulks
● Adaptable (+1 stress box)
Starting:
● Hidden Lair
● Insight Training
Strategy
● Burglary - Finding specific artifacts of use to the war effort… and taking them.
● Espionage - Obtaining secret information by covert or clandestine means
● Sabotage - Breaking the Stygian through the destruction of it’s tools
● Supply - Securing a resource that aids in the war effort, or better yet, taking one from the Stygian
Chainbreakers
A Messenger which actively prosecutes the ancient war against the Stygian is termed a Chainbreaker. These
Messengers are rarely seen outside of very specific circumstances, though their influence is often felt.
Whenever the Stygian grows too powerful, it is these soldiers that rise up to meet it. They prefer to act covertly
whenever possible, but when necessary can unleash all the unstoppable fury one can imagine a group of
highly trained, psychically intertwined killers can muster.
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Concepts: Warrior-monk tactical operator; cheerfully brutal fanatic; gentle giant with a minigun
1. Militant: Each PC may add +1 action rating to Command, Wreck, or Hunt (up to a max rating of 3).
2. Synchronized: When you perform a group action, you may count multiple 6s from different rolls as a
critical success.
3. Total War: Gain +2 effect to any attempt to acquire an asset.
4. Assault: Temporarily gain +1 Tier when doing violence upon some element or entity connected to the
Stygian
5. Hardened: All crewmembers gain 1 additional stress box. This costs three upgrades to unlock, not
just one.
Crew Upgrades
● Soldier rigging: 2 free load for weapons or armor
● Well-stocked armory in lair
● Elite Skulks
● Elite Thugs
● Hardened (+1 stress box)
Starting:
● Quality Weapons
● Prowess Training
Strategy:
● Assassination - Quiet removal of the enemy’s leadership
● Battle - Confronting the servants of the Stygian in open combat
● Sabotage - Explosives, spanners in the works, and destroying anything the Stygian uses
● Havoc - Indiscriminate violence and terror, leave no ground to go to
Hive XP
times).
● Identify some sign of the Stygian’s influence or execute a raid or attack on enemies under the Stygian’s
sway.
● Destroy an element, organization, or asset of the conspiracy.
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Callers
Callers are the Messengers tasked with seeking out new recruits into their ancient society, or “Hearers”, as the
Messengers call those who have heard the Echo but have not yet been inducted into the Messengers.
Usually, if a Hearer is not found young, they become enraptured or driven insane by the Stygian, and morph
into dangerous enemies which must be killed. Still, the Callers aim primarily to convert Hearers, to teach them
to separate the Stygian from the Echo, and to join their ranks.
1. Siren’s Song: Each PC may add +1 action rating to Command, Consort, or Sway (up to a max rating
of 3).
2. The Call: You begin recruiting “Hearers” into the Messenger order in an official capacity. Give +1d to
one of your cohorts and give them the quality of zealous, well-placed, or militant. This perk may be
taken multiple times, each for a different cohort.
3. Mediators: Lose 1 less Status then you otherwise would after a mission. Gain +1d to gather
information about any faction or potential ally.
4. Intimacy: You may gain up to one additional point of Intimacy.
5. Many Hands: During downtime, one of your cohorts may perform a downtime activity for the crew to
acquire an asset, reduce heat, or work on a long-term project.
Hive XP
times).
● Advance your standing with another faction, recruit a new ally or use your allies or influence against the
Stygian.
● Take over, subvert, sabotage, or convert an element or asset of the conspiracy.
Crew Upgrades
● Diplomat rigging: 2 free load for official papers or arcane implements
● Alliances and contacts (permanent minimum of +1 status with a chosen faction)
● Elite Adepts
● Elite Rooks
● Steady (+1 stress box)
Starting Upgrades
● Resolve Training
● Quality Documents
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Strategy
● Alliances - Building friendships with other factions, groups, and even potential rivals willing to switch
sides.
● Militancy - Preparing a population for resistance to the Stygian by whatever means necessary
● Recruitment - Seeking out and finding Hearers, and spreading the Echo to them
● Propaganda - Light is the best disinfectant. Exposing the lies, corruption, and misery the Stygian has
spread.
Cartographers
Messengers have an interesting relationship with the written word. While they prefer to maintain a healthy oral
tradition in lieu of a recorded history, sometimes certain events, traditions, or secrets must be committed to a
more permanent medium, if only to ensure it will be passed down through the ages. Those that observe,
record, and encode such histories are known as “Cartographers” or “Mapmakers.” Even among their
Messenger brethren, Cartographers are a secretive lot, hoarding their ciphers and secrets. Still, they function
as a “living memory” for the Echo and the Messengers as a whole, and may be called upon to reveal some
pertinent bit of history as necessary.
Concepts: Mystery-novelist by day, secret historian by night; Mean ol’ Mr. Winters who lives in the house at
the end of the lane; serene guru in yoga pants
Hive Upgrades
Cohorts
● Skulks: Scouts, spies, and thieves
● Emissaries: Diplomats, negotiators, and socialites.
● Adepts: Scholars, tinkerers and hackers
● Magi: Magicians, witches, and researchers
● Soldiers: Guards, killers, and hired muscle
Lair
● Car Garage (2)
● Boathouse (2)
● Hidden (1)
● Quarters (1)
● Secure (2)
● Vault (2)
● Workshop (1)
Training and Quality are the same.
Hive Contacts
Pick one of the following contacts to serve as your crew’s main point of contact in Toronto.
● Symes, a Clarion
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● Barringer, a Cartographer and Scribe
● Ramlah, a jinn Courtier of the Fall Court and a Messenger
Symes is an older looking, distinguished gentleman of North African descent. He is the Clarion stationed in
Toronto and serves as a point of contact between the other Societies in Toronto and the larger Messenger
organization. He spends most of his time sitting on a stool by the door to the small dockside warehouse he
operates, reading the paper. He is well-known amongst most of the major players in Toronto, and if one wishes
to have a message delivered or has some other business with the Messengers, he is more than happy to talk.
Usually, it is polite to bring him a newspaper when one comes to visit.
Barringer is a young African American man who speaks in quick, winding sentences about vast, strange,
confusing conspiracies. His small apartment is crammed with cork boards depicting far-reaching news stories
and red string, linking together elements as disparate as the “Backyard Grill Industry” and “Merfolk.” He is a
font of knowledge and esoteric information, some of which is true. He is skilled in surveillance, utilizing a tiny
army of “spiderbots”, hand-sized drones that creep about Toronto, keeping an eye all those Barringer thinks
might be “in on the conspiracy.”
Ramlah is a Jinn, or more specifically, a jann, fae shapeshifters of sand who are more open and personable
with humans than other Jinn. She is one of the few in the Court that claims to be able to hear the Echo, and
therefore shares competing loyalties between the Court and the Messengers, often acting as a go-between for
the two sometimes-allied societies. She has an in-depth knowledge of the fae courts, and is often invaluable to
any Messenger who wishes to navigate the arcane etiquette that governs fae society.
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Roleplaying the Echo
As the GM, one of your most central tasks will be to try to effectively “roleplay’ the Echo itself as a character
within your game. Firstly, it is important to mark to your players when you’re “speaking” as the Echo as
separate from you speaking as the GM. You should try to speak frequently in the Echo’s voice, offering it’s
encouragement, advice, and ambience to your players. It is important to let your players know that these aren’t
hints, demands, or you trying to push the game in a certain direction as the GM.
Here are two methods you might use to communicate as the Echo,
Enter the Room

As the players enter a new “room” or scene, give the Echo’s impression of the area. Narrate using emotions,
sights, sounds, and sensation. Point out threats. Give a glimpse into the history of a place. Communicate the
emotional state of the people already there, or the emotions of people who are usually there.
Post-Its
As you have the opportunity, maybe as the players are discussing plans, courses of action, or are just
roleplaying with one another, take out a stack of Post-Its and write some notes from the Echo. Provide
encouragement and insight, tailor the notes to a player character’s calling, or their emotional state. Focus on
players who maybe are a bit unengaged from the present action, who’s characters are maybe taking a quiet
moment to think about things.
Echo’s Motivations
The Echo worries about it’s Messengers, cares about their success, and wants them to achieve their goals. It
is invested in the methods and means by which they do things, and while it does not chide or correct, it may
sometimes question overly harsh or seemingly counterproductive methods. Here are a list of the Echo’s
motivations as a character unto itself, listed in declining order of importance.
1. The safety of it’s Messengers

2. The emotional well-being of it’s Messengers
3. The war against the Stygian
4. The success of it’s Messengers in the goals they set for themselves
5. The means by which the Messengers achieve their goals.
You may note that the Echo is, by design, less concerned with fighting the war against the Stygian than
keeping it’s Messengers safe. This contrasts with the individual Messengers themselves, who often put the war
against the Stygian, and therefore the safety of the Echo as a whole, ahead of their own personal safety and
well-being. This forms a central contradiction: The individual cares more about the whole, the whole cares
more about the individual.
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Custom Mechanics
The rules of Echoes in the Dark are based on the rules of Blades in the Dark. The differences and additions to
the Blades rules are noted in this section.
Conspiracy Retaliation
After a mission in which the crew did something to attack or interfere with a node of the Stygian’s conspiracy,
that node begins to plot it’s revenge. Create a “Retaliation” clock, the size of which varies according to the
current Dread.
Resonance Clock Retaliation
0 8 Minor interference.
● Harassing NPC allies

● Interfering with Tethers
● Making acquire asset or
other checks harder
1-2 6 Moderate interference.

● Attacking NPC allies or
crew members during
downtime, aiming to wound
or maim
● Interfering with crew claims
or assets, temporarily
disabling them
● Temporarily disabling
access to items
3 4 Hideout Assault: The conspiracy

starts actively looking for your
4 2 hideout. Once it’s been located, it
comes under attack.
Reprisal Attacks: The stygian

searches out your claims, allies,
tethers and assets, actively trying
to destroy them.
After each score, the Retaliation clock fills a number of ticks equal to half the amount of heat generated during
the score.
Faction Entanglements
As the crew grows in power and influence, so too does it’s entanglements with the other factions and denizens
of Toronto. At each downtime, after heat has been calculated, roll on the following chart with dice equal to the
crew’s current Tier. If the crew is at Tier 0, do not roll.
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For the purposes of Entanglements, factions are classified as Rival (Negative Status) Neutral (0 Status) or
Friendly (Positive Status)
Heat 0-3 Heat 4-5 Heat 6+
1-3: Running Errands 1-3: On Notice or While Your Out 1-3: Cost of Doing Business
4-5: Services Offered 4-5:Friend-of-a-Friend or Services 4-5: Better Offer or Cover-Up
6: Usual Suspects or Checking In Needed 6: Show of Force
6: Cooperation
If a crew does not have any relationships that match the Entanglement rolled, no entanglements occur for that
downtime.
Running Errands: A friendly faction asks you to perform a small, simple service. Lose 1 downtime or lose 1d3
favor.
Services Offered: A friendly faction offers you their services, for a price.
Usual Suspects: A rival faction at -1 Status picks up an associate of the crew for “questioning.” One player
volunteers a friend or cohort as the person most likely to be taken. Make a fortune roll to find out if they resist
questioning (1-3: +2 Heat, ⅘: level 2 harm, 6: no effect).
Checking In: A friendly faction sends someone to check up on what you’re up to. This will most likely involve a
Sway or Consort check.
On Notice: A rival faction puts you On Notice.

While You’re Out: A friendly faction offers you a “side objective” for your next score.
Friend-of-a-Friend: A friendly faction at status 2+ needs the assistance of a friendly NPC. Agree to let the
faction “borrow” the friendly NPC for 1d3 downtimes or lose 1d6 favor.
Services Needed: A friendly faction asks you to perform a task for them.
Cooperation: A +3 status faction asks you for a favor. Agree to do it or lose 1d6 favor.
Cost of Doing Business: A neutral or friendly faction charges the crew for operating on “their” turf. Crew pays
1 coin or loses 1d6 favor.
Better Offer: A rival faction at Status -2 or -3 reaches out to an associate of the crew with a better offer. Pay
coin equal to the Tier of the cohort or friend or that NPC is now loyal to your rival faction.
Cover-Up: A friendly faction feels compelled to cover up some of the heat you’ve brought on yourself. Lose
1d6 heat and favor with the friendly faction.
Show of Force: A rival faction at Status -2 or -3 performs a Show of Force.
Faction On Notice Show of Force Services Offered
Lux Vitrix Fine: You are fined an Sanctioned: Other Tithes Paid: Spend 1
amount of money for factions are less willing to coin to gain +1d3 favor
your actions. Pay 1 coin work with you until the with all other factions.
or lose 1d6 favor with sanctions are lifted. You
Vitrix. may have a harder time
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Wrist-Slap: Some Lux finding work, be paid
Vitrix functionary less, or face other
expresses his consequences. (Clock 6)
displeasure to your
bosses. Lose 1d6 favor Bureaucracy: Something
with whichever faction you are working towards
you have the most favor gets tangled up in red
with. tape. You won’t be
making any progress on
it until you clear things
up. (Clock 6)
Panopticon Cash-Flow Issues: The Frozen Assets: The Media Blackout: Pay 1
Panopticon fuck with Panopticon arranges for coin. Your next mission
your money. Your credit your financials to be generates no heat.
rating tanks, your bank frozen. You cannot take
account gets hacked, coin out of any Vaults or
and it’s just generally your Stash until this is
harder to buy things for a resolved. (Clock 4)
while. (clock 2)
Knock-Knock: A Black-Bagged: A van
mundane form of law- pulls up, a black bag is
enforcement stops by to shoved over one or more
give you a stern talking- of your comrade’s heads,
to, poke around where and they are carted off to
you live, and generally some blacksite hellhole.
make themselves a (Clock 6)
nuisance.
Librarians Eldritch Embargo: The Hunters: A small group of Occult Arms: Pay 1 coin
Librarians have a firm Librarian Witch-Hunters to gain +1d when fighting
grip on the occult arms will attack you sometime against the supernatural
and artifact trade. Until soon. on a future mission.
you make things right
with them, you’ll find it
difficult to get your hands
on any arcane
implements or anything
magical. (clock 4)
Court Geas: +1 stress when Hexed: Some court Fae Circle: Pay 1 coin.
using magic. (Clock 2) magician has put a hex All spells cast -2 stress
on you and yours. Take - (down to a minimum of 1)
on your next mission.
1d to any Fortune rolls.
(Clock 4)
Collective Botnet: Reduce the effect Smear Campaign: The Memespread: Pay 1 coin
of any hacking you do. Collective engineers a to gain 1d3 Rep.
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(Clock 2) public smear campaign
against you, making you
out to be dangerous
criminals or worse. You’ll
have a hard time laying
low or convincing
mundanes to help you.
Also, gain +1 heat every
score while this clock is
active. (Clock 4)
Tethers
While a Messenger’s Tethers are important to their functioning, they can at times hinder as well as help. In the
event that your Tether roll is equal to or higher than the stress level marked, you become bound. Each time
you become bound, the risks associated with your tether become greater, as your reliance on your tether takes
up more and more of your time and resources. Check off a mark next to your tether each time you become
bound, and then follow these consequences accordingly:
● 1 mark - Entangled: Select or roll an additional entanglement, somehow related to your tether.
● 2 marks - Committed: You vanish for a few weeks, as your tether draws attention away from your
business as a Messenger. Play a different character until this one returns from dealing with their tether.
When you return, you’ve also healed any harm you had.
● 3 marks - Untethered: The dual life between your work as a Messenger and your Tether has come
unbound. You lose your job. Your boyfriend dumps you. Your credit card maxes out. You must decide
on a new tether or find a new source of connection to the mundane world.
Guidebooks
In addition to a special character sheet, each character should take a “guidebook” connected to their Calling.
These guidebooks can contain extra in-character lore and information that their character would be familiar
with, or additional, optional mechanics that can be used to supplement and enhance their character as the
player chooses.
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Group Mechanics
Resonating
Echoes adds a new teamwork action to the defaults from Blades in the Dark, Resonate. Narratively, the Echo
allows members of a hive to get in each other's heads, combine their talents, or otherwise shore up each
other's weaknesses. This is how you express the Sense8 style of one character “acting through” another.
Characters do not need to be geographically proximate to one another to use this ability, though both
characters may suffer the consequences from the action. For example, if the roll results in one character
breaking an arm, both characters are going to viscerally feel that.
Mechanically, both players roll the same action and apply the best result. In this way, characters with similar
abilities can work together for better odds, or one character who is missing from a scene can act “through”
another character to do something the other character can’t.
However, Resonating takes a mental toll. Regardless of the result of the roll, both players must take 2 stress
between them, for example one character can take 2 and the other 0, or they can both take 1.
Harmony and Discord

Harmony and discord are two resources available to the hive and the GM, respectively, and are represented
by a set of 3 double-sided tokens. Preferably, these tokens are marked on either side by different colors, such
as red and blue or white and black. Whenever the hive uses a harmony token or the GM uses a discord
token, the token is flipped, changing the token from harmony to discord or vice-versa.
Narratively, Harmony represents the hive’s trust in one another, and their ability to work as parts of a unified
whole and help each other out as needed.
Discord, however, represents the lack of focus and trust that comes from the Stygian’s influence, especially as
expressed by the player character’s doubts.
Players can use a harmony token by invoking a relationship they have with another hive member to re-roll a
failed check or upgrade their position.
The GM may use a discord token by invoking a relationship, trauma, or doubt to worsen a player’s position
before a roll. For example, the GM might invoke a doubt like “I Need to Focus” in order to worsen the position
of a Study roll from Risky to Desperate. When using a point of discord, the GM should take on the role of the
Stygian and describe what the Stygian says or does to capitalize on the player character’s doubt.
Players can also change discord to harmony during downtime by using the “Harmonize” downtime action.
When performing this action, the player should state which hive-member they are spending time with, and how
they are going about bolstering their trust and faith in one another.
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Sidenote: A clever player might notice that they can immediately use a harmony token generated by the GM
using a discord token in order to gain a re-roll on the very same roll. This is purposeful. The doubts, fears, and
traumas that the Stygian preys on are ultimately weaker than the power of the Echo. The connections fostered
inside of a hive through the Echo are strong enough to lift a Messenger out of despair or doubt, relying on the
trust others have placed in them in order to stand up and fight back.
Lastly, when acting as the Echo, the GM should make note of the current balance between harmony and
discord. The more harmony is currently in the pool, the more helpful and assured the Echo should be.
Meanwhile, if discord outnumbers harmony, the Echo should devote more of it’s narrative energy towards
reassuring the player characters and worrying about their safety than providing helping insight.
Heat
Heat functions in much the same way as the base game, except that when 9 Heat is reached, the “Dread” of
the crew increases by one.
Dread and Rites

As the connection between members of a hive deepen, they open themselves up more and more to the
influence of the Stygian. This influence is termed “Dread”. As the Dread of the crew increases, the quality of
the forces brought against them and the danger posed by the Stygian increases.
At the end of each downtime, each player takes an amount of stress equal to the current Dread, representing
the effort required to fight off the Stygian’s growing psychic connection to them. This stress may not cause a
relationship to become damaged or cause any trauma. It can only “fill up” the stress track and then stop.
Rites
In order to guard against the Stygian’s influence, Messengers may undergo “rites,” magical binding rituals
designed to strengthen the Echo and weaken the Stygian.
If the “rule” of a rite is broken, it no longer provides any benefit to the players, and it may not be re-invoked.
● Rite of Secrecy - All members share a secret that they have never told anyone else, and swear to keep
one another’s secrets.
● Rite of Forgetting - All members collectively lose an important memory and may not regain it.
● Rite of Promises - All members make a commitment or promise to another member.
● Rite of Sharing - All members “give” one special ability to another member. This is different from the
“Sharing” special ability, as the giver may not still use the gifted ability.
● Rite of Mercy - All members must work together to help someone else, and must assist that person if
they are ever in trouble.
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Completing a Rite is usually a long-term project, and will necessitate gathering resources and relationship
building in order to complete.
Once a Rite is completed, the current Resonance of the Crew is reduced by one.
Aside: Players and GMs are of course free to come up with their own Rites. The important elements is that it is
something that limits, constrains, or puts some sort of rule or sacrifice on the crew’s behavior.
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Magic
Messengers have a unique relationship to magic and the written word. Their magic is mostly borrowed from
allies in the Court, and relies heavily on writing, language, and transcription. Every Messenger spell is written,
usually combining several “power words” in order to achieve the desired effect.
The most basic of Messenger spells consist of two components, an Action word and a Target word, the action
defining what is to be done to the stated target. Additional words might add more specificity, and therefore
power, to a given spell.
Example:
Scry Person
This spell combines the action, “Scry”, with a target, “Person,” allowing the magician to spy on the current
actions of a given person for a short amount of time.
Enhancement keywords can be added onto spells to increase their effect, usually at a cheaper cost than a
simple magnitude calculation. By specifying an enhancement keyword, a spell becomes more focused, and
therefore more powerful. For example:
A Destroy Person spell might cause it’s target light injuries.

A Destroy Person with Flame spell will cause the target to spontaneously combust.
A Scry Person spell might give the target’s general location and allows the magician to spy on the target’s
action.
A Scry Person’s Mind spell would give the magician the ability to “hear” their target’s thoughts, or perhaps
search their memory.
Practical Magic
Messenger magic is practical, meaning that it involves physical action rather than just waving one’s hands
about. It requires the user to write the spell in some sort of medium; usually chalk is best, though a bic pen and
a scrap of notepaper might work in a pinch.
Target Medium
Furthermore, Messenger magic requires some element of the target in order to be effective. For example, a
strand of a person’s hair might be needed to cast a spell on them, or one might need to physically inscribe a
spell on an object in order for the spell to affect that object.
Blowback
Magic is not without its risks, of course. Consequences for magic range from the harmlessly strange to the
devastatingly weird. Spells may cause small physical changes for their duration, or cause the magician to have
their spirit forcefully ripped out of their body.
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Learning Magic
As the Echo gives each Messenger a unique connection to the supernatural, any Messenger can learn to use
magic. However, to do so, they must learn Keywords.
To start learning magic, any player may take the special “Magician” class advancement. Doing so unlocks 3
keywords of the player’s choice.
To unlock additional keywords, aspiring magicians have two paths. One, keywords may be gained on
specialized missions. Or two, they can be gleaned from the Echo. To learn a new keyword, start a new 8-
segment downtime activity clock. This clock can be filled in by Attuning to the Echo or Studying magical tomes
(provided one has access to such a library).
Sharing Magic
Messenger magicians can freely share their magic with one another. To teach another magician a spell, both
must simply spend 1 downtime activity doing so. The “teacher” makes an Attune roll, and may share a number
of keywords depending on their result:
● 1-3: 0 Keywords. Learning magic is difficult.
● 4-5: 1 Keyword
● 6: 2 Keywords
● Critical: 3 Keywords
Forming a Spell
When a character wishes to cast a spell using their keywords, the process is similar to casting a Ritual in
Blades in the Dark.
1. The player states the intended effect of the spell, says which keywords they plan to use, and if they are
invoking any Relationships.
2. The GM determines the magnitude of the spell and the cost of the spell in Stress and/or Intimacy. In
general, 1 intimacy = 2 stress. The GM also decides if the spell has any special requirements, such as
extra time, downtime actions, long-term projects, special ingredients, etc.
3. The player describes how the spell is actually cast using the requirements that the GM has laid forth.
Keywords
Below are some example keywords. Feel free to suggest more to the GM!
Action
Scry
Slow
Change
Create
Destroy
Speak
Hide
Command
Comprehend
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Target
Person
Animal
Place
Object
Concept
Enhancement
Mind
Body
Earth
Flame
Water
Hour
Day (+1 Stress)
Week (+2 Stress)
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Artificing
The Artificer class can create artifices, semi-autonomous drones cobbled together through a mixture of
technology and magic. This section describes the process of creating, modifying, and using artifices.
Type: Name:
Prowess Edges Flaws
Finesse
Prowl Quality
Skirmish
Wreck
Type: Name:
Prowess Edges Flaws
Finesse
Prowl Quality
Skirmish
Wreck
Type: Name:
Prowess Edges Flaws
Finesse
Prowl Quality
Skirmish
Wreck
Using Artifices
Artifices act as mini-characters in their own right, though they can only use the actions of Finesse, Prowl,
Skirmish and Wreck. The artifice’s effect is modified by its quality, edges, and flaws. For example, a
dangerous artifice might be more effective at damaging something (or someone), while a harmless artifice
would be significantly less effective.
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Creating an Artifice
First, choose your artifice type. An artifice can either be a Swarm or a Rig. A swarm artifice is made up of
multiple individual units, all working more-or-less as one. On the other hand, a rig artifice is made up of a
single “drone” and is usually bigger.
Next, roll your Tinker action. Take a +1d if your crew has the Workshop upgrade. The starting quality of your
new artifice is your crew’s Tier, modified by this Tinker roll.
Next, choose Edges and Flaws. For a Rig, choose 2 edges and 1 flaw. For a swarm, choose 1 edge.
Finally, assign three action dots to your Artifice’s actions.
Improving Artifice Quality

To improve the quality of an existing artifice, spend another downtime action and make another crafting roll. If
the new crafting roll would produce an artifice of a higher quality, you can raise the quality of your artifice to
quality level you rolled.
Improving Artifice Actions

To improve an Artifice’s actions, you must use the “Train” downtime activity to add a blade to the Artifice’s skill.
Note that the Prowess training upgrade does not allow you to add two marks to the Prowess experience for an
artifice. Note also that you cannot train an Artifice past 3 dots in a skill without first unlocking a “Digital Soul”.
Modifying Artifices
To add an additional edge to an artifice, start a new long-term project with a 4-clock. When you add a new
edge, immediately add a new flaw as well. Roll the Tinker action to add new edges and flaws to an existing
artifice. Your can only modify an artifice to have an amount of edges equal to its Tier.
To remove a flaw from an artifice, start a 8-clock. Roll the Attune action to “tune up” an artifice and remove one
of its flaws. Note that all artifices must have a minimum of 1 flaw. Nothing’s perfect, after all.
To replace an edge or flaw in an artifice, start a long-term project with a 6-clock. You can roll Tinker or Attune
to fill this clock.
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Learning New Edges
When you start the game, you start with 4 chosen “edges” you can build into your artifices. If you want to add
more, you will have to learn their designs. You can do this by going on a specialized mission to retrieve such a
design, or by starting an 8-clock downtime project to try and figure the design out yourself.
Fixing Artifices
An artificer may spend a downtime activity in order to fix an artifice. Doing so repairs 1 level of harm. Artifices
with the “self repairing” edge repair 1 level of harm automatically each downtime phase.
To replace a “destroyed” artifice, spend coin equal to the destroyed artifice’s quality and take a downtime
action.
Edges and Flaws

Here is a list of sample edge / flaw pairings. Obviously, if an artifice has a given edge, it may not also have the
counterpart flaw. Feel free to suggest additional edges or flaws to the GM.
Edge Flaw
Tiny / Small Big / Bulky
Dangerous Harmless
Ranged Weapons
Close-Combat
Clever Dumb
Nimble Clumsy
Surveillance
Long Battery Short Battery
Armored Delicate
Self-Repairing
Self-Destruct Sequence
Explosive
Unstable / Volatile
Quiet Loud
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One-Use Modules
Sometimes, you may want to give an artifice a little extra “oomph”, at least temporarily. To do this, use a point
of Prep to add a temporary extra feature to an artifice. This is how you strap a pile of C4 to an artifice. Or add a
flamethrower. Or smoke grenades. Note that an artifice may only have a number of “modules” equipped equal
to its quality.
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The Faction Game
The faction meta-game has been heavily modified from how it works in Blades in the Dark. In contrast to BitD,
players are not trying to “muscle up” the criminal underworld by taking on rival factions. Instead, they are
usually playing off the different factions, cooperating sometimes and counteracting others, all while maintaining
a delicate balance.
You can view a worksheet for tracking the various faction’s claims, reputations, and statuses here.
Favor
Favor is the core unit of the faction game. As the players take actions that support or build trust with the major
factions, they gain it. If they instead counteract the major factions or break their taboos, they lose it. Each
faction has a “ladder” of favor. By gaining enough favor with a major faction, the players can raise their Status
and gain a Claim on a faction’s map, representing the greater trust the faction has placed in them. If Favor
falls, players can lose Reputation and Claims.
Note that factions have different “favor levels” they rank down or up at depending on whether or not your
current Status with them is positive or negative. After all, some factions forgive easier than others. Finally, note
that it is easier to “Regain” a lost point of Status. For example, if you annoy a +3 ally to the point where they
are a +2 Friendly, it is easier to “Regain” that lost Status. Furthermore, if you lose a Claim, you only need to
rank up to the “Regain” level to gain access to it once again.
Vouch
Instead of “Turf”, factions instead award the players “Vouch” when they obtain certain claims. This represents
the faction giving their blessing to the players to expand their operation, publically vouching to the other major
factions that you have their support. Note that while there is more “Vouch” on the various claim maps, players
may still only gain a maximum of 4 Vouch. Any “unused” Vouch is still claimed as usual, but provides no other
benefit.
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The Campaign
In this section, I’ll go into some detail about the design of the typical Messengers campaign, and share some
ideas how it might diverge from a standard BitD campaign.
The Stygian Conspiracy

First and foremost, Messengers devote themselves to their ancient war against the Stygian. Their war is an act
of ancient penance, but it is also a task of utmost importance. Every Messenger feels the weight of the
Stygian’s influence, feels the tug of temptation, the hidden lust for misery that digs like hooks into their skin.
It is important to note that the Stygian is not an apocalyptic threat. It is primarily a creature of the status quo;
the world and its misery today suits it just fine. Therefore, even if other factions knew about the Stygian, they
would hardly regard it as the most pressing matter for their attention. The fight against the Stygian is a
personal, focused fight for the Messengers. There’s no grand council that is going to come together to help
them beat back their ancient enemy. What the Messengers have to do, they do alone.
Which brings us to our campaign. The influence of the Stygian has been felt in Toronto; just whispers, hints,
rumors of things going wrong in the way they typically tend to when a city has fallen under the heel of the
Stygian. Therefore, your characters have been dispatched to find, weaken, and ultimately eliminate the Stygian
from this city.
It’s not a simple thing to bring down the Stygian. It has dug in deep in the city, constructing an elaborate
conspiracy that feeds and protects it. There is a conspiracy “web” underpinning this campaign, linking together
disparate groups that all work together towards the Stygian’s dark ends. Your role as players will be to explore
this web, attack the nodes of power, and influence that make it up. Bringing down the Stygian is your primary
aim, and in the grand scheme of things, nothing is more important to the Messengers.
Six Fires, Four Buckets

Of course, your mission isn’t the only thing going on in Toronto. The other factions have their own problems,
their own plans that might criss-cross your own. There are always crises springing up: some might be related
to the Stygian, some will be completely unrelated. You will have to make choices about which of these fires
you fight, which you leave to someone else, and which you ignore so that you can focus your efforts on the
tasks that truly matter to you.
Building Strength
Even if you manage to untangle the Stygian’s web, chances are if you try to go in guns blazing from the jump,
you’ll get stuffed mightily. Messengers have to “pay their own way” so to speak, and you’ll need support,
influence, weapons, wealth, and allies to get on equal footing with the Stygian. Each node of the Stygian’s
Conspiracy will have a Tier, and just like in vanilla BitD, it helps to advance your Tier before trying to mess with
the “big leagues.”
As you play, your relationships with the other factions will rise and fall. Trip on their toes too much and they’ll
start to retaliate against you. Sometimes they’ll contract work out to you, your professional reputation as
Messengers at stake. Do enough favors and you’ll find the Factions becoming more and more helpful. The
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other factions can offer assistance in your war against the Stygian if you impress them enough, offering
resources, information, and sometimes even direct support if you buddy up. But don’t get it twisted; your aims
are not their aims, and helping you out is nowhere near their primary concern. If you want loyalty and aid, you’ll
have to earn it.
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Building a Conspiracy
As noted previously, the campaign-level plot of Messengers revolves around players identifying, attacking, and
ultimately dismantling a conspiracy bent on bringing misery into the world. In this section, I’ll outline how you,
as the GM, can go about building this conspiracy.
Below I delve into two potential ways you can go about doing this. If you’re interested in mapping out a large,
sprawling conspiracy from the get-go, I recommend the Top-Down Approach. If you’re more keen on getting
things going as quick as possible and filling in the details later, Bottom-Up might be more your speed.
Top-Down Approach
To begin, start with a piece of paper. Or a webpage. Or a kumu.io project. Put a circle in the center. In it, write
“The Stygian.” This is the source from which misery flows in the world of the Messengers, and your players
ultimate objective will be attacking this particular arm of the Stygian’s influence.
You may want to start by thinking about what the Stygian’s “core” representation in your campaign will be. Will
it be a faceless conglomerate? An individual idolator who has amassed wealth and power? A political
machine? An organized criminal syndicate?
Next, draw three lines out from the Stygian. I recommend using different colors; red, blue, and yellow are my
picks. These lines represent the three main resources this conspiracy needs to sustain itself: Wealth, Power,
and Influence.
Wealth is just that; material wealth. It is the supply of raw capital and resources that allows the Stygian
conspiracy to operate.
Power is a bit more nuanced. It might be easier to think of it as “protection.” It’s what the Stygian uses to guard
itself against foes. It can represent force of arms, private security contractors, high-powered corporate
attorneys, basically anyone that makes sure that the Stygian’s influence doesn’t wane.
Finally, influence is “soft power.” It’s how the conspiracy exerts its will over the world, be it through politics,
connections, media, or any other number of subtle, coercive means.
Now, take a look at the list of Minor Factions in the next section. Think about how they might be tied up in this
conspiracy. For each line of Power, Influence, and Wealth pick a minor faction that supplies the conspiracy
with that resource. Perhaps the Matroshka form the bulk of the Power offered to the Stygian, using intimidation,
shakedowns and brutality to keep the conspiracy safe. Or maybe the partners of Wellsley and Hardwick keep
the Stygian safe, warding off any legal challenges with a wall of paperwork. You should end up with three
Minor Factions linked to the Stygian itself, each supplying it with either Power, Influence or Wealth.
Next, consider where your “big three” get what they need. Who protects the protector? Who pays the lawyer’s
fees? Which politician uses their influence to make sure the big bank stays out of the papers? Your goal should
be to have two or three “links” to each factional node. Note that these “suppliers” can supply more than one
group. Maybe a cabal of corrupt cops protects both the organized criminal syndicate and the neighborhood
association with a taste for human sacrifice.
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Continue on, thinking about who supplies the suppliers, so on and so forth, until you have three to five “Tiers”,
roughly concentric circles, with the Stygian at the center and the lowest-tier, grunt-level supporters at the
outskirts.
Now it’s time to give your players a way in. Look at your “outskirts” nodes, and start think about who might be
interested in what they’re doing. Maybe they’re stepping on a major faction’s toes, or are starting to disturb the
veil. Maybe one of the crew’s contacts has a personal stake or interest in what they’re up to. Go ahead and link
these “starting point” nodes to your outskirts.
This should give you enough to get started. Start your first scene with the crew’s contact, the rival faction, or
the other interested party reaching out to the crew. Have your point-of-contact run down their suspicions of the
first conspiracy node and ask the players to investigate. Offer a bit of cash for their trouble. And get ready to
watch them burn it all down.
Bottom-Up Approach
Start by looking over the list of minor factions. Pick out a small-time faction that looks interesting to you. Look
at their story hooks, and think about what kind of mess it would be interesting for them to have gotten
themselves into. These will be your first antagonists, the first “node” that your players will investigate.
But it doesn’t just end with them, does it? Reverse the top-down approach. Think about who your chosen
antagonists kick up to. Who do they supply wealth, power, or influence to? How do they do it?
Your antagonists’ bosses have other underlings, of course. Who else do they get resources from? Who else
supplies them? What do they give back to their underlings in return? And, of course, who is the boss’s boss?
At this point, you should have the makings of a nice little mini-conspiracy. You can start your game here, with
the players investigating their first “node” of your mini-conspiracy, maybe already in the middle of the action. As
you play, continue to build up, down, and sideways. Consider the boss’s boss’s boss, and keep going until you
have three or five “Tiers” of antagonists, with the Stygian at the top. Radiate out, connecting conspirators by
ties of blood, money, and influence. Follow your players. Listen to their speculation and make it your own.
Tying it Together
No matter which approach you take, you’ll want to do some filling-in as things go on. Consider adding locations
and NPCs of importance to your “nodes”, and link them together by shared associations. A faction’s assets and
NPCs can be good sources if your hard up for ideas. The more of these “mini-nodes” you add to your
conspiracy map, the more your players will have to traverse and investigate.
Don’t be scared of changing things up, too. If your players guess something that isn’t on the map, you come up
with a clever idea, or things run off to the side, follow where the action goes. For example, if a player says
“Hey, these guys must be getting their guns from somewhere, I say we go after that,” add a node with some
arms dealers, or maybe the location of a weapon stash or two.
Whenever possible, try to bring in the player’s backstories. Make their friends an unwitting pawn or victims of
the conspiracy; make their rivals vengeful co-conspirators or tools of convenience to do the Stygian’s dark
bidding. The more personal connections in your conspiracy the better.
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Still, don’t be afraid of dead ends. Having everything be a conspiracy strains the limits of credulity. If your
players carve out little corners of sanity and normalcy, think twice before messing with them.
The Other Factions

The Stygian conspiracy might be the Messenger’s primary focus, but the other major factions have no idea it
even exists, and it’s questionable they would even give a damn about it if they did. No, they have other fish to
fry. Vendettas, conspiracies, plots, and espionage are the bread-and-butter of the societies, and there’s money
and power for your characters to make by sticking their nose into other people’s business.
Don’t be afraid to tie the other Major Factions into the Stygian conspiracy, but don’t pin them in too deep. Their
interest should be strictly superficial. Once the marauding monster that was stepping on their turf is put down,
they check out. They don’t much care that said monster was created by a secret order of Thulite warlocks
using Rasputin’s third testicle in order to resurrect a dead god, etc, etc.
Instead, give the factions goals and have them work to pursue them. Faction pages should give you some
insight into what the big kids are pursuing, or ideas on what you might like your particular version of the
Collective or Court might be up to. Use the usual Blades in the Dark rules for the major factions, occasionally
making fortune rolls for those you’re interested in, and having their clocks tick up as the players help (or hinder)
them. When clocks fill, have it make a splash. In the local news, through the rumor mill, however you like.
Have faction contacts reach out to the players, offering resources and support in exchange for a bit of
skullduggery. You don’t need to constantly bombard your players with such offers, but let them know that if
they’re hard up for cash or ideas, the major factions are happy to offer them a job or two.
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Major Factions
Panopticon
Summary: A fractious, intensely back-biting and corporate-cutthroat assemblage of suits, mages, surveillance
experts, criminals, and lawyers. The Panopticon is defined by its adherence to an ideology of power and
competition. Even in Toronto, they are heavily divided, with intra-factional corporate espionage being the order
of the day
NPCs:
Mirembe “Mira” Okello
Polite, Cold, Loyal
The official station chief for the Panopticon’s presence in Toronto, Mira heads up the surveillance team that
monitors the city, its various factions, corporations, and players, looking for any hint of trouble that could blow
back on the Panopticon. In a marked exception to most Panopticon executives, she is decidedly loyal to her
underlings: the various techs, enforcers, and experts that make the Panopticon eyes shimmer and dance
across the digital landscape. She does not take insults lightly, and can be deadly serious when any threat is
made to her or those she considers to be under her protection.
Carver
Rough, Burly, Hard-Nosed
Carver is a criminal and a bully, through and through. What Mira seeks only to monitor, he seeks to dominate.
Drug trafficking, robbery, and chaos are the tools of his trade, and he is more than willing to use anyone any
anything to get ahead. Nominally, he is a Panopticon Enforcer, though one not under Mira’s jurisdiction. They
both answer to the same higher-ups who have pit Mira and Carver against one another, locking them into a
deadly struggle for control of the Panopticon in Toronto.
Notable Assets: Surveillance and network experts, tapped into an expansive CCTV system, well-armed, well-
trained enforcers, a steady, seemingly inexhaustible slush-fund.
Sample Goals:
● Maintaining the Status Quo of wealth and power in Toronto
● Expanding their surveillance network
● Investigating, acquiring, and manipulating up-and-coming business
Plot Hooks:
● The conflict between Mira and Carver is in someone’s best interest, probably someone high up in the
Panopticon. But why were the two pitted against one another in the first place? Who gains from their
struggle?
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● While Mira exercises considerable “official,” soft power, Carver is more willing to get his hands dirty,
and in doing so, has something on his side that keeps Mira from crushing him. What is it? Blackmail? A
threat? Some powerful artifact? And what would Mira pay to have Carver robbed of his last bargaining
chip?
● The intra-factional strife in the Panopticon has consequences, and opportunities. It is a stalemate,
where perhaps the Messengers could tip the balance. But which way will it tip? What will it cost the
victor, and who will get hurt along the way?
Librarians
Summary: The remnants of secret orders, hunters of monsters, and students of ancient lore, long since fallen
from the heights of their power and influence over the world. The Librarians are an organization in transition,
caught between their old glories, largely built on the suffering of others, and an optimistic and forward-thinking,
though chastened, future.
NPCs:
Knight Commander Alfie DeGeurr
Enthusiastic, Proud, Relentless
Knight Commander Alfie DeGeurr was transferred to the Toronto cloister from London two years ago, and
she’s hardly spent two consecutive hours in the office since. DeGeurr is a hardliner: if it looks like a witch,
smite it. This enthusiastic outlook made her some enemies in England, and so it was decided her zeal might be
put to better use in the comparatively wilder frontier of Toronto.
To that end, DeGeurr spends most of her time in the more isolated parts of the Greater Toronto Area, sniffing
out and smiting the monstrous. She leaves the day to day to her second-in-command, Dr. Delilah Witt.
Dr. Delilah Witt

Monotone, Intelligent, Organized
Dr. Delilah Witt doesn’t make as much of an impression as Knight Commander DeGuerr, but she is perhaps
more integral to the operation of the Toronto cloister. She puts her extensive background as a researcher and
anthropologist to work in tracking down rogue artifacts, dangerous magics, and insane warlocks. She is a born
administrator, making sure the more blunt instruments in the Librarian’s arsenal are always pointed exactly
towards where they will be most effective in combating “evil.”
Dev Singh
Young, Bright-Eyed, Tech-Savvy
Dev just wanted an internship at the university library. Unfortunately, his penchant for sticking his nose in
forbidden tomes and texts got him a lot more. He was more-or-less shanghai’d into the cloister, but seems to
be mostly excited at the prospect of his new life behind the veil. What’s more concerning is the archaic archival
and research techniques of the Librarians. He’s on a one-man crusade to modernize the Librarians, though it’s
an uphill battle to say the least.
Notable Assets: Ancient libraries filled with secret histories and forbidden magic, an impressive arsenal of
monster and demon-slaying weaponry, trained witch-hunters and expert magi, discipline, zeal, and faith
Sample Goals:
● Hunting down dangerous entities, demons, or monstrosities
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● Tracking down dangerous artifacts and pulling them off the streets
● Keeping a close eye on the Court and the Panopticon. Someone’s got to watch the watchers.
Plot Hooks:
● The Librarians keep a close eye on the supernatural life of Toronto, though they are less zealous than
they used to be. Still, it doesn’t take much to run afoul of the Librarians. What happens when one of the
hive’s allies gets caught violating the Librarian’s strictures?
● Artifacts, forbidden texts, and demonic lore are kept under lock and key in the depest vaults of the
Librarian’s cloisters. The Librarian’s desire to keep dangerous information out of the hands of others
often conflicts with the Messengers goals to use any tool necessary to defeat the Stygian. What
happens when a dangerous arcane weapon or ancient grimoire hits the streets of Toronto?
Collective
Summary: A loose conglomeration of script-kiddies, hackers, urban explorers, and anyone else with an
internet connection and the gumption to try and peack beneath the veil.
NPCs:
Dan “The Man” “The Danster” “Dan-o-mite”
Easy-going, Idealistic, Ponytailed
Dan is, or at least claims to be, the best meat-space hookup into the Collective. Given his chosen
organization’s disparate, wild-and-wooly nature, there isn’t much anyone to contradict him. He lives in a walk-
up brownstone in Bedford Park, smokes a lot of various herbs and natural ingredients. Depending on your
perspective, he’s an non-authoritarian easy-going “dad” shepherding the next generation of tech-savvy heroes,
or he’s a washed-up old joke.
Notable Assets: Vast numbers of hackers ranging in competence levels, young folks ready to get their hands
dirty, a sophisticated logistical and communications system, an “in” and backdoor to just about every piece of
tech they can get their hands on, lots and lots of cryptocurrency
Sample Goals:
● Locating, documenting, and uploading dope pics of cryptids
● Infiltrating the other major factions, or at least hacking into their security cameras
● Sticking a thumb in Lux Victrix’s eye, or just generally making a nuisance of themselves
● Earning “cred” with the other major factions, or just clout on social media
Plot Hooks:
● Other factions poach the Collective’s talent left and right, leading to a steady brain-drain, but also a
good amount of “alumni” who may still have lingering sympathies for the Collective. Perhaps the hive
would be so kind to reach out to one such alumnus, and ask if they have anything lit to share?
● Isn’t all just memes and lulz, sometimes the Collective actually takes action on things. However, given
the confusing and disparate nature of the Collective, it’s anyone’s guess whether the Collective is going
after a worthy target, or has been manipulated into doing someone else’s bidding.
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The Court
Summary: The Court of Leaves, an autumnal court of fae courtiers, reigns over the Path Underground and the
supernatural world of Toronto. Hidden in the twisting warrens, abandoned subway stations, and other secret
places beneath the city, faeries, monsters, goblins, and all other manner of magic-tinged peoples live and
abide by the agreements and strictures of the Veil.
NPCs:
High Queen Cassiopeia of Leaves

Fickle, Intelligent, Vengeful
The High Queen Cassiopeia has reigned over the Court of Toronto for centuries, though her appearance and
demeanor belies the ruthlessness and intelligence that has secured her crown for so many long years. She
appears in court lounging across a filegreed throne of gold, twisted with autumnal leaves and twisting branches
that connect her to every level of the ampitheater where she holds court. Her courtiers fear her, as do her
subjects, for as gracious as the queen may be, she is as exacting in keeping those around her at heel. Seldom
is the knave that displeases Queen Cassiopeia and doesn’t lose a limb (or their head) for the offense.
Armiger
Subtle, Precise, Polite
Armiger is the Queen’s right hand and Seneschal, responsible for the order and stability of her Court. Both fae
and werewolf blood run through his veins, and his ferocity when challenged is as feared as his fairness and
judgement are admired.
Notable Assets: Hidden paths all over Toronto, and even a few leading elsewhere; Competent mages and
libraries full of fae magic; magical smiths and talisman-makers; a great vault of gold and artifacts
Sample Goals:
● Instigating and thwarting ancient intrigues and feuds between rival courtiers
● Experimenting with dangerous magic, meddling with the natural order
● Protecting, hiding, and sheltering faeries and other supernaturals of all shapes and sizes
Plot Hooks:
● Fae are beginning to turn up in city mortuaries at an alarming rate. For a faerie to die is alarming
enough,for their bodies to end up in mortal hands is nearly a disaster. Who is hunting the Court’s
subjects?
● Intrigue abounds in the Court, and a new threat seeks to destabilize the fae from within. Is it just a rival
courtier, seeking more power and influence? The prelude to an invasion by a rival Court? Or is it yet
some fouler hand seeking to gain sway over the Path Underground?
● The Vaults of the Court are renowned for their wealth and security, and were long thought
impregnable… until now. Something of crucial value has gone missing, and the Court is thrown into
disarray. Perhaps outside investigators can track the would-be thieves?
Lux Victrix
Summary: Secret treaties bring end to hidden wars, ancient compacts are formalized, contracts originally
signed in blood in books bound with human skin end up in a mimeograph machine, and Lux Victrix is born. It is
the Vitrix, with their bureaucracy, their paperwork and forms, their long lines and citations and fines that
maintain the Veil.
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NPCs:
Barb
Bored, Monotone, Unimpressed
Find yourself on the wrong side of Lux Victrix, you’re likely to meet Barb. There are, presumably, other
bureaucrats who work for the Lux Victrix, but Barb is the only one anyone seems to be able to remember or
agree on. The details change, their gender, their height, but some things are constant. A sign behind their desk
reading “Monday is Eternal, Death is no Escape,” long, press-on nails, and a worn-down nametag reading
simply “Barb.”
Notable Assets: Letters that can transform into birds, powerful summoning magic, interdimensional prisons,
heaps and heaps of red tape.
Sample Goals:
● Protecting the veil. Scrubbing security cameras. Covering up flare-ups.
● Finding and sealing away those who break the Veil
● Keeping a careful watch on the other Factions, and mediating the conflicts that crop up between them
Plot Hooks:
● With all the rules, regulations, and statues Lux Victrix has on the books, chances are your hive is bound
to run afoul of a few. A particularly naughty Messenger might find themselves summoned to a “Lux
Victrix,” presented with a long line and a simple choice: do some “community service” or pay the fines
they owe.
● Repairing the Veil and keeping supernatural occurances on the down-low are of paramount importance
to Lux Victrix. If you get wind of something hinky going down, chances are you can earn some brownie
points with Lux Victrix by keeping it under wraps.
● There are rumors of “rogue” Lux Victrix agents, financed by unknown forces, they take a more proactive
role in maintaining the Veil. A visit from them doesn’t end in a fine or a slap on the wrist, and Lux Victrix
is getting nervous about the “zeal” of these renegades.
Minor Factions
Aside from the “Big Four” as described previously, there are numerous other, smaller factions that may be of
use to you as you plan and play your Messengers game.
The Chamber of Commerce - Literally the civic chamber of commerce (for Toronto or any other city). The old
boys’ club - businessmen and local VIPs who trade favors and connections, but in a world that can include
magical resources and spiritual connections. A bank executive arranges loans for personal friends to buy
magically-active sites. A shop owner binds a minor spirit to prevent theft in his store. A local, small-scale
faction with immediate, practical (even petty) ambitions rather than grand global ones.
“Illumiwannabees” - Derisive term for those that really, really wish they were in “the Illuminati.” They see the
Illuminati as the rightful masters of humanity, and wholeheartedly believe they have humanity’s best interest at
heart. They buy in to greed-is-good or objectivist ethics, and think they will one day be rewarded for their
“loyalty” to the Illuminati. They frequently argue about the Illuminati’s “true” goals and pat themselves on the
back for being the only ones smart enough to see the “truth.” Of course, there is no “Illuminati.” The closest
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thing in the world of the Messengers to “the Illuminati” is the Panopticon, and they usually want nothing to do
with these losers.
Old Shuck - A lot of citizens from the UK have moved to the GTA the past few centuries, and they brought
more with them than their cuisine and their imperialism. “Old Shuck” is a classic black dog who haunts the
oldest neighborhoods in Toronto, appearing to lone individuals at odd hours. As with his UK forbears, seeing
Old Shuck is a warning and a curse: whoever sees him is fated to die, and soon. Old Shuck can’t be “fought” in
the traditional sense, but rumors persist that there may… may… be a way to undo the curse.
Matroshka - An eastern-european crime syndicate linked with vampires, blood magic, and other nasty
supernatural business.
Hedges - Hedges are secretive mini-cabals of magic users who have burned out, been kicked out, or are
otherwise on the outs with one of the ‘big’ organizations. They are desperate, hungry and maybe a bit addicted
to the “high” of using magic.
Occultist’s Anonymous - A support group for golems, demons, extraplanar beings, and other such cast-off or
runaway magical entities. Band together for mutual aid, try to not be discovered by hunters, and support each
other in trying to live out their lives as normally as possible on earth. Meets mostly in church basements to talk
about their issues and drink faerie-dust laced coffee. Not necessarily antagonistic.
“Court of Spears” - Dark mirror of the court. Made up of all the supernatural creatures that didn’t want to play
nice with the filthy humans. Supposedly wiped out, but they pop up every now and again.
The Good Neighbor Committee - Smiling, happy, church-going folk that occasionally sacrifice homeless
people to Baphomet.
Red-Palms Resort and Travel - A demon-run travel agency and resort. Few return to ask for refunds on their
“vacation packages.”
Alpha Kappa Bro - Frat boy warlocks. ‘Nuff said.
Null Hypothesis - A collective of game theorists and sociologists who foresee only one conclusion from the
chaotic goings-on of the world: apocalypse. Their attempts to thwart said apocalypse involve highly abstract
levels of population manipulation and deception. They think they’re the good guys, but consider any cost to
save the world as acceptable.
The Cult of Mammon - The Cult of Mammon has existed in some form since time immemorial. Nowhere was
it stronger than in 19th century North America, where it turned the thirst for Manifest Destiny into wanton greed,
destruction and murder. Believing Mammon was destined to rule North America and eventually the world,
cultists made offerings of conquest and cannibalism, which they considered the ultimate expression of all-
consuming greed and therefore the holiest of sacraments.
As a widespread group of disparate interests, the Cult’s individual members ran the occult spectrum from
layperson to learned sorcerers. Most commonly, cultists were able to invoke bursts of tremendous strength and
endurance either through offerings of material wealth (their own or someone else’s) to Mammon, or from the
consumption of human flesh.
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Pagan’s Motorcycle Club - Pagan's Motorcycle Club, or simply The Pagans, is a one-percenter outlaw
motorcycle gang and an alleged organized crime syndicate.
The Pagans traffic in minor occult artifacts and certain illicit and enchanted drugs. The Pagans most frequently
work for or with organized crime syndicates fluent in the artifact trade, and by extension the Pagans often find
themselves employed as violent, deniable henchmen for the Panopticon.
The Pagans do not as a whole have many occult powers or even awareness of the occult. Certain high-placed
members in the organization may wield minor talismans or even degenerate forms of blood magic.
Camorra -- The Camorra is an Italian Mafia-type crime syndicate, or secret society, that originated in the
region of Campania and its capital Naples. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy,
dating back to the 18th century. Unlike the pyramidal structure of the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra's
organizational structure is more horizontal than vertical. Consequently, individual Camorra clans act
independently of each other, and are more prone to feuding among themselves.
The Camorra in Europe is largely independent and operates as a regional secret society that is frequently
hostile to Lux Victrix and its patron Societies. In North America, the Camorra and other organized crime groups
trade freely with (and often answer to) the Panopticon, exchanging intelligence, financial assistance and raw
muscle as needed.
Katie French’s Cool Teenz Project! - Katherine French is a despicable sorceress, bent on world domination
and inflicting suffering upon the world. To her, the best means of accomplishing this goal is to recruit young,
impressionable teenagers and brainwash them into cultish followers who worship her as a demigod.
Thing is, she’s really, really bad at this. She’s dreadfully out of touch with youth culture or literally anything that
could be considered “cool,” and most of her schemes border on the comically cringeworthy.
Wellsely & Hardwick - A law firm that represents monsters, both literal and figurative.
Blacksite - A spooky, quasi-governmental organization that locks up and ‘detains’ powerful supernatural
beings.
Yummy!Brand Foodstuffs - An agricultural and food corporation. Sells everything from ethanol to soda pop,
all out of the same corn. May or may not lace their food with hallucinogens, mind control drugs, and/or soylent
green.
Expanded Minor Factions
Matroshka
Summary: A supernaturally-linked crime syndicate, originally from eastern Europe. Use vampires, black
magic, and demon-summoning rituals to further their aims. Will occasionally kidnap members of the Court and
use them as “batteries” for illicit magical activity.
NPCs: Isaak Yurenev (Patriarch, Scarred, Hard-Nosed, Unforgiving). Nessia Yurenev (Vampire Matriarch,
Elegant, Codependent, Manipulative). Arina (Vampire Enforcer, Professional, Watchful, Brutal).
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Notable Assets: Vampiric enforcers, human trafficking rings, stolen fae magic
Relationships: Centuries ago, Nessia Yurenev gave up her mortality to further her brother’s ambitions. She
became a dhampyr, and now uses a potent mix of her blood and magic stolen from the fae to keep her ruthless
brother alive.
Plot Hooks:
● Fae are beginning to go missing in Toronto, and the Matroshka is ultimately responsible. Are they using
fae blood to power some dark, arcane ritual, or for some other nefarious purpose?
● Those on the bottom rungs of society, the homeless, the poor, the vulnerable, are being snatched off
the street. Those that return come back with horrifying tales of vampires and a ship full of human ‘blood
bags’ that they feed upon.
● A new, potent drug has splashed onto the scene, ensorcelling its users to the will of some nefarious
power. As if the Matroshka wasn’t dangerous enough already, without an army of blood-slaves.
Red-Palms Resort and Travel

Summary: A travel agency (and a front for demonic activity) that sells cheap vacations to the Bermuda
Triangle. Would-be tourists are then abducted to a demonic pleasure isle where their life-force is whittled away
by infernals at their home away from home. On the side, they sell demonic artifacts and knick knacks to closet
satanists and half-off warlocks, straight from the fiery gates themselves.
NPCs: Sarah Goodrend (Public Face, Creepy, Smiling, Mind Controlled). Ember Goodrend (Black Market
Demon, Imposing, Calculating, Professional). Dumblewar (Hack Magician Customer, Fruitless, Cowardly,
Rich).
Notable Assets: Mind control magic for muscle, an entire demonic house at their back, Wellsely & Hardwick
connections.
Relationships: Sarah was a travel agent in Toronto before Ember arrived. It was all too easy for Ember to
make use of her contacts and position in the name of the Red-Palms mission, even taking her name as they
began working closer together. Her mind has been tightly woven into his web, but he must renew the spell
every night while she sleeps.
Plot Hooks:
● Family and friends are beginning to receive postcards about how their loved ones have decided to go
on long trips travelling abroad. Few, if any, were heard from again and those that were seemed
different. Changed somehow, raving about their time on the island and wanting to go again. A couple of
families pooled together to try and hire a private eye to solve the case, but they went missing as well.
● Due to an increase in supernatural violence, many people find themselves in need of protective
talismans and relics against vampires. Ember is happy to sell them some… for a hefty price.
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● Someone has been muscling in on the narcotics scene, experimenting with and redistributing tainted
drugs to addicts, more often than not leading to the death of the user. Is Red-Palms trying to create a
new commodity?
The Good Neighbor Committee

Summary: Smiling, happy, church-going folk that occasionally sacrifice homeless people to Baphomet.
NPCs: Nicholas White (Youth Pastor, Smiling, Depraved, Polite), Samantha White (Homemaker, Stepfordian,
Cunning, Shrill Laugh)
Notable Assets: Slush-fund bank accounts and well-heeled members, a hidden basement, perfect for ritual
sacrifice, control of local politics, dark magic and enough blood to power it
Relationships: Nicholas and Samantha are, on the surface, a model couple. PTA meetings, bake sales, and
home-owners association meetings are their cover. They use these activities to recruit like minded,
“upstanding” moral citizens with a disdain for the poor. Nicholas serves as their high priest, actually
accomplishing the sacrifices while Samantha picks out their disadvantaged victims.
Plot Hooks:
● The Good Neighbor Committee picked up a teenage runaway with friends in the Collective. Their
friends are offering a high reward for anyone leading to the runaway’s safe return… or vengeance on
their killer.
● A serial killer has begun terrorizing the homeless population of Sunnybrook… or at least that’s the
police are saying. Is the Committee just using the supposed “serial killer” as a cover story, or is there
someone else out there stalking society’s victims as well?
● The rituals of the Committee are beginning to bear rotten fruit. Birds dropping dead out of the sky,
household pets ripping themselves to shreds, children speaking in demonic tongues… but what
precisely is the Committee building towards, and can they be stopped in time?
Wellsely & Hardwick

Summary: A law firm that represents monsters, both literal and figurative.
NPCs: Orrin Wellsely (Partner and Chief Negotiator, Charismatic, Handsome, Commanding), Bethany
Hardwick (Partner and Legal Shark, Ruthless, Intelligent, Morally Bankrupt), Sam Frikes (Former Police,
Private “Investigator”, Muscled, Aging, Cruel)
Notable Assets: Crack team of corporate lawyers, private investigators and research teams for digging up dirt,
informal golf-course agreements with many local judges, enough money and paperwork to tie down opponents
down in procedure for decades
Relationships: Orrin and Bethany both come from a long line of conniving, twisted, dysfunctionally ruthless
families who came together sometime in the late 18th century to form a law firm. Since then, they have offered
the highest quality of legal services to some of history’s worst and most depraved monsters, most of whom
you’ve never heard of. While Orrin is the “face” of the firm, drawing in business with his magnetic personality,
Bethany is the brains, ruthless and cunning both within the courtroom and without. Finally, Sam Frikes, a
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disgraced former police officer turned PI, is the firm’s go-to hatchet man, just as keen to dig up dirt as he is to
make certain “problems” disappear.
Plot Hooks:
● An enemy that the player’s thought had been put away for good by the legal system suddenly turns up
a free man (or woman. Or monster.) A bit of digging uncovers Wellsely and Hardwick as the source of
their enemy’s good fortune, but who exactly is footing the legal bills, and what lengths has the firm gone
to for their client?
● Someone is using dubious legal means to acquire property in a specific area of Toronto. What does
Wellsely & Hardwick (or, rather, their clients) want with the land? What is on the land? What is beneath
it?
● A disgruntled ex-employee of Wellsely & Hardwick wants to talk. Maybe a legal intern that got in too
deep. Maybe a paralegal who dug into a case she shouldn’t have. What sort of info do they have? What
will it take to keep them safe? Or is it all a trap, set by a cunning foe?
Yummy!Brand Foodstuffs
Summary: A massive food corporation that merges together agriculture, fast food, and a line of grocery stores.
NPCs: Viktor Strauss (Food Scientist and Geneticist, Brilliant, Amoral, Germaphobic), Major Fricks (
Spokesperson AI, Folksy, Charismatic, Artificial), Samantha Lerne (Corporate CEO, Cutthroat, Violent,
Demonic)
Notable Assets: Dominance of agriculture, fast food and grocery industries, researchers working to produce
the latest abominable food-adjacent product, chain restaurants on just about every corner
Relationships: Yummy!Brand Foods is the product of a series of grotesque mergers and conglomerations
stretching back over three decades. They now dominate in the diverse fields of farms, fast food, and grocery
stores. Samantha Lerne is the current head of the company, and is secretly the demonic servant of Belphegor,
Prince of Gluttony. She has tempted Viktor Strauss, an enterprising geneticist into working for her with
promises of unlimited resources and brilliant discoveries. Strauss isn’t evil per-se, but he is amoral enough to
do just about anything in the pursuit of his research. Finally, Major Fricks is an artificial intelligence, the first
fully-CGI spokesperson, a folksy, down-home amalgamation of your favorite cartoon characters, (though the
likeness has been altered for legal reasons).
Plot Hooks:
● Yummy!Brand has released their latest product, a protein “slurry” that’s somewhere between Soylent
and Soylent Green. People who report problems with it like “tasting like blood and sorrow” either
mysteriously change their tune or just go missing entirely.
● Everyone knows Yummy!Brand farms have abysmal safety, hygiene, and sustainability standards, but
there seems to be something intentional to the neglect. Are they trying to concentrate enough misery,
pain, and filth in one place so as to open a portal to hell, or is it just run-of-the-mill corporate
malfeasance? Either way, the rot has begun to spread, slowly but surely…
● “The Major”, while putting on a happy facade, actually resents his masters, and humanity as a whole.
Exotic poisons have started showing up in test batches of Yummy!Brand products. Industrial accidents
are on the rise at their processing plants. Is a malevolent intelligence trying to punish or destroy it’s
would-be masters?
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Leviathan Private Security
Summary: A private military company that offers security for a hefty price to some of the worst villains the
world over.
NPCs: Charles Voss(CEO, Cruel, Arrogant, Cunning) , Harriet Voss (Politician, Charasmatic, Wealthy,
Connected), Andrew Blaese (Security Team Leader, Violent, Resentful, Self-Loathing)
Notable Assets: Military-grade hardware, rapid-response teams featuring magically-enhanced ex-soldiers,

defensive magic, wards, and alarm systems
Relationships: Leviathan is the brainchild of Charles Voss, a former Silicon Valley investor turned would-be
dictator. He sees his company as a successor to the East India Company and isn?t shy about using force to
get what he wants. Harriet is his sister, an up-and-coming conservative politician in Toronto. She campaigns
on a “tough on terror” message, her brother’s company waiting in the wings to offer expensive security
contracts to the city. Finally, Andrew Blaese is a former JTF2 operator and the day-to-day manager of most of
Leviathan, though his position and salary don’t reflect this. He’s been passed over for promotion time and time
again, mostly to keep the price of his services down and the self-loathing that fuels him stoked.
Plot Hooks:
● Harriet Voss has seen her political fortunes rise as a series of violent incidents wrack the city. Is she
just an opportunist, capitalizing on crisis, or is someone creating the opportunity for her?
● Canadian arms trading surges, year after year, and Leviathan is exporting their fair share of death.
However, are all the weapons they trade in leaving Canadian shores, or some getting funneled off
somewhere else?
● Leviathan Security keeps popping up in strange places, protecting assets deemed valuable to the
larger conspiracy. Is it just a coincidence, with Leviathan being a mundane (if morally bankrupt)
company, or are darker forces at play?
Third Eye Media
Summary: Third Eye is a conglomeration of a wide variety of media companies, integrating together radio
news, internet conspiracy sites, social media, and cable news. Propagandists-for-hire, their dominance of the
media landscape is a force to be reckoned with.
NPCs: Sandra Dae (CEO, Intelligent, Amoral, Wealthy), Sam Wills (Talk Radio Host, Charismatic, Intense,
Depraved), Bolt Blintzer (Morning News Anchor, Sympathetic, Beautiful, Spin-Master)
Notable Assets: Teams of reporters, paparazzi, news teams, and photographers, highly-paid columnists and
political consultants, a commanding print, radio, tv and web presence
Relationships: Sandra Dae, the corporate head of Third Eye rose to the top of the business ladder through
ruthless cunning and a focus on ratings. She’s expanded her dominion over the entire overton window of
Toronto politics, controlling mouthpieces from both the left and the right, putting on what amounts to a Punch-
and-Judy show depending on what mood she’s in (or who’s writing the fattest checks for ad-buys). Sam Wills is
her attack dog, a conspiracy-and-cocaine-addled talk show host that keeps both teenagers and grandparents
angry, paranoid, and misinformed. Bolt Blintzer, meanwhile, is the soft glove, the source of many a glossy-
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lensed interview rehabilitating the reputations of mass murderers, wife-beaters and anyone else who lands
themselves in hot water (but has the pull with Third Eye to clamor out of it).
Plot Hooks:
● A young, bright-eyed investigative journalist gets called up to the big-leagues with a job offer from Third
Eye Media. It’s likely that Sandra wants to silence their muck-raking, or better yet turn it against her
enemies.
● A smear campaign is being aimed squarely at the hive’s allies, or perhaps the hive themselves. How
did they manage to get on Third Eye’s bad side, and what is it going to take to get off of it?
● Supernatural occurrences are getting a lot of mainstream press. Is this just a sign of the times, an effort
by Third Eye to squeeze some of their enemies, or the opening shot of a media war with the world
behind the veil?
Alpha Kappa Brothers

Summary: Fratboy warlocks, scions of the rich and powerful who mix a bit of devil-worship into the typical
hazing rituals.
NPCs: Charles Vanderforth (Fraternity President, Wealthy, Cruel, Arrogant) Chip Swansdagon (Alumnus,
Calculating, Protective, Ruthless) Behathozel (Bound Demon, Sadistic, Bloodthirsty, Elegant)
Notable Assets: Deep pools of wealth and backing of powerful alumni, deep connections to school
administration, ancient tomes on witchcraft, a demon in the basement
Relationships: Charles Vanderforth, heir to the Vanderforth weapons and arms fortune, recently took over as
head of the frat after the mysterious disappearance of their last president. Rumor has it that “Chip”
Swansdagon, a wealthy alumni, orchestrated the change in leadership, while still others say Charles struck a
side-deal with Behathozel, the demon who has been bound to the fraternity since its inception.
Plot Hooks:
● The parties at Alpha Kappa are the talk of the campus, known for their free-flowing booze and
magically-enhanced party drugs. Still, it’s rumored that undergrads who attend sometimes never
leave…
● The hazing rituals of Alpha Kappa are as notorious as they are mysterious. One would-be pledge has
had enough of drinking goat’s blood and paddling, and is threatening to go public with his experiences.
He’s a good “in” for the Hive… if they can get to him before Alpha Kappa shuts him up.
● Rumor has it that Alpha Kappa is planning something “big” this homecoming. Some sort of arcane
ritual, financed by Chip Swansdagon, possibly culminating in a deadly blood orgy to summon forth
more arcane horrors into this plane of existence.
Blacksite
Summary: An outgrowth of a much older organization, the Black Chamber, the Blacksite is a creature primarily
of the Cold War. Western governments put their Operation Paperclip scientists to work on studying, controlling,
and abusing the supernatural. Needless to say, giving a bunch of formerly-Nazi scientists a bunch of money
and latitude to experiment on mythical creatures didn’t end well. These days, they are mostly a relic of a
bygone era, and official support (at least in Canada) has all but dried up. Still, the CIA or Panopticon
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occasionally kicks them a uncooperative faerie or other supernatural being they want to end up in a deep, dark
hole.
NPCs: Warren Fisher (Site Director, Stingy, Effective, Apathetic), Lyssa Grissom (Psychiatrist, Sympathetic,
Cautious, Brilliant), HANS (AI Chief of Research, Amoral, Sadistic, Curious)
Notable Assets: Black-bag teams trained in kidnapping supernatural beings, High security underground
“blacksites”, Governmental paperwork and bureaucracy
Relationships: Warren Fisher had a promising career in the CSIS until he ran afoul of a group of ghuls.
Profoundly shaken by the experience, he was shipped off to Blacksite to waste away. Oddly enough, his
penchant for bureaucracy (and lack of concern for the sake of his “subjects”) has made him an ideal prison
warden, at least to his superiors. Lyssa Grissom is a psychiatrist on staff, tasked with keeping the subjects
stable… or as near as stable as she can manage. She knows she’s in an evil situation, but is idealistic enough
to think she can somewhat make the lives of her “patients” a little better. In this she frequently butts heads with
HANS, an artificial intelligence system developed by Paperclip scientists. He’s a sadistic creep, but his “cost
effectiveness” and bureaucratic ennui ensures Warren keeps the AI “researcher” on staff, so to speak.
Plot Hooks:
● Blacksite usually preys on the most vulnerable of supernatural beings, but they managed to kick the
hornet’s nest this time. They’ve inadvertently captured a prominent fae courtier, and the Court is
threatening all-out war unless their citizen is returned. Can the hive peacefully negotiate their release?
● Lyssa Grissom has noticed a peculiarity in her patients, sudden bouts of psychotic rage in creatures
that had previously made significant progress. Is it the interference of another faction, a weapons test,
or some new cruelty cooked up by HANS?
● Something has gone very wrong at one of Blacksite’s “blacksites”, a powerful being has broken
containment and started slaughtering staff and prisoner alike. Conventional wisdom is to lock down the
site and let things run their course, so to speak, but perhaps there’s cash or contacts to be made in
extracting some of the less “expendable” staff from this situation?
Null Hypothesis
Summary: It’s hard to look at the state of the world and draw good conclusions as to it’s direction. Data flows
across systems, is sifted, stored, ignored, parceled out into ideologically convenient half-truths. But some start
from a different position, they name themselves after what they reject, the null hypothesis. There is a shift.
There is a difference. Clawing at the door of reality, they see cracks of what the Messengers already know
across data tables and thesis presentations and every bit of research.
NPCs: Lons Freeman (Ecologist, Professorial, Determined, Reserved), Hideki Tirofune (Data Scientist,
Connected, Twitchy, Brilliant), Neon Drive (Agent of Chaos, Violent, Ruthless, Subtle)
Notable Assets: Sophisticated data centers capable of near-precognition, an army of the disaffected and
nihilistic, deep pockets and deeper ties to governments and institutions
Relationships: Null Hypothesis grew out of a chance meeting in the 1970’s. A japanese data researcher and a
canadian ecologist compared the right notes, and came to the same grim conclusion… and the same grim
determination about what must be done. Neither Lons or Hideki are bad per-se. They just are products of their
environment and time, living at the edge of the world’s collapse. Still, they enable, fund, and direct Neon Drive
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and their followers, agents of chaos in an already destabilized world. You can’t pin it back exactly, a terrorist
cell here, a genocide there. They would say they lack the luxury of dreaming of a better world. The only chance
left is a smaller world.
Plot Hooks:
● Disconnected attacks start to form a larger pattern. Lone gunmen, bombings, biological contagions… is
it random chaos, or is the Null Hypothesis testing a new theory?
● If there is no god, build your own. The deep-mind of prediction and data mining constructed by Null
Hypothesis is showing signs of its own intelligence. Some Messengers are worried at certain similarities
emerging between the would-be AI god and the Stygian.
● The Hypothesis will align with just about any group that suits their needs and esoteric goals, but they
are too distributed to be quite certain of who they’re in bed with. If some of the nastier connections
they’ve cultivated are exposed, would some of the Null Hypothesis be horrified at what they’ve
cosigned? Maybe sunlight can be a disinfectant.
Cult of Mammon
Summary: The Cult of Mammon has existed in some form or fashion since time immemorial. Nowhere was it
stronger than in 19th century North America, where it turned the thirst for Manifest Destiny into wanton greed,
destruction and murder. Believing Mammon was destined to rule North America and eventually the world,
cultists made offerings of conquest and cannibalism, which they considered the ultimate expression of all -
consuming greed and therefore the unholiest of sacraments.
NPCs: Vanth Olegson (High Priest, Immortal, Cannibalistic, Deranged), “d’Colette” (Head Chef, Hedonistic,
Sadistic, Intellectual), Torrence Haithwarch (Chauvinist Gangster, Well-Groomed, Supremacist, Violent)
Notable Assets: Appetite, A trendy restaurant where opponents enter and exotic meals exit; a library of
ancient sorcery that grants supernatural strength from cannibalistic rites, material wealth to capitalists and
tycoons the world over
Relationships: Vanth Olegson has led the Cult of Mammon in Toronto for centuries, according to some. He
certainly looks the part, a decrepit old thing who says his longevity is due to Mammon’s favor. In truth, he
suffers from the same neurological degeneration that comes for all cannibals, and as his insanity grows, so too
do the challenges to his authority. “d’Collette” is a notable eccentric, never appearing in public without an
operatic mask. Still, they are renowned as a world-class chef who personally prepares the “feasts” of their
fellow cultists. Torrence is an up-and-comer who rose from internet celebrity to mainstream appeal by piecing
together a gang of disaffected racist “western chauvinists.” Rumors abound that his gang’s initiations involve
the occasional ritual consumption of human flesh alongside chants of “devour the poor.”
Plot Hooks:
● A tome has gone missing from the Cult’s library, and they are on the hunt to get it back. The intentions
of the thief are unknown, exposing the Cult’s misdeeds? Poorly thought-out blackmail? Or maybe the
revenge of a relative who’s son or daughter ended up on a meathook in Appetite’s cold room?
● A plague of bizarre, ritualistic murders all lead back to Appetite, with patrons either eating (or being
eaten) in their lust for long pork. The Mammonites aren’t usually so brash, but perhaps a shake-up in
their power structure is to blame?
● Haithwarch and “Haith’s Boys” have been turning up on the streets for “patrols”, harassing the
homeless, margianalized, or otherwise disenfranchised of Toronto. The police don’t seem too keen to
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put a stop to it, and as “Haith’s Boys” progressively more violent and extreme, even the most apathetic
beneath the Veil are beginning to worry.
Pagans
Summary: Pagan's Motorcycle Club, or more simply knowns as the “Pagans”, are a one-percenter motorcycle
gang. Traffickers in both mundane drugs and arms as well as arcane artifacts, they often serve as deniable,
disposable muscle for more powerful conspiracies.
NPCs: Francy, (Club President, Pragmatic, Tired, Irritable), Super 8 (Mechanic and Consiglierie, Intelligent,
Calculating, Resourceful), Cookbook (Drug Cook, Paranoid, Cowardly, Educated)
Notable Assets: Chop shops and stash houses dotted over Toronto, especially in the Warehouse District and
outskirts; violent, highly mobile and reasonable capable bikers, affiliate branches and strong connections to the
underworld of North America
Relationships: The current club president, Francy, runs an oddly tight ship. One of the last of the “old guard”,
he’s lived the outlaw lifestyle long enough. Nowadays, he’s more likley to have an oxygen tank then a pistol
close at hand. He’s looking for a way out and a quiet retirement, and is relying on the schemes of his
subordinates to deliver it. Super 8 is an up-and-comer and the likely heir apparent. He is the day-to-day brains
of the club, a talented mechanic and a trusted advisor. He’s promised Francy a big payday, but it remains to be
seen if he’ll decide to instead keep it for himself. Bottom of the totem pole is Cookbook, a nervous, twitchy drug
cook who mixes bits of not-strictly-mundane additives into his regular batches of meth, PCP, and MDM.
Plot Hooks:
● A friend or contact went missing after a rowdy night of drinking at a local dive bar. The bartender says
they left with a couple of Pagans, and haven’t been heard from since. Why did the Pagans pick them
up? Are they acting on behalf of another conspiracy? Can you rescue your friend in time?
● A large shipment of tainted heroin landed on Toronto’s streets, and the Pagans are taking the blame for
it. They’ve invited a lot of mundane scrutiny upon themselves, and their former allies may be looking to
disavow or cut loose their attack dogs. Maybe a flip in loyalties is in order, if you help the Pagans
determine who set them up for this fall.
● The Pagans have gotten their hands on an artifact way above their pay grade, and they’re looking to
move it quick, before their usual “clientele” catches wind. Can the Messengers work out a deal, or
facilitate moving the artifact to a more “stable,” preferably friendly faction?
The Hedges
Summary: Rather than a unified faction, “Hedges” are loose amalgamations of mages who have been burned
out, kicked out, or washed out of another, more successful faction. They vary wildly in their goals and structure,
but most share an addictive relationship to magic and a cutthroat ethos.
NPCs: Ilve Wren (Queen Bee, Desperate, Driven, High Class), Sol Sands (Dropout, Talented, Lazy, Laid-
back), Ligature (Demonic, Impulsive, Clever, Cordial)
Notable Assets: Talented, desperate mages; a smattering of monstrosities and experiments-gone-wrong,

working knowledge of faerie-doors and hidey-holes scattered throughout Toronto
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Relationships: Ilve Wren doesn’t talk about how she ended up in the hedges, but safe to say she pissed
someone right the hell off. She should be an up-and-comer with the Panopticon, or at least a cult leader.
Instead she’s stuck babysitting rejects in the backwoods of Toronto. Sol, meanwhile, dropped out of one of the
magic-adjacent fraternities and secret societies so prevalent in higher education. He takes a more laid-back
approach to magecraft, but he’s got talent aplenty. Lastly is Ligature, a demon… or at least they claim to be. If
they are, they sure suck at it. No impulse control, offering obviously bad deals for souls, but doing it with a
smile. He also gives out way too many “free samples” of his power.
Plot Hooks:
● The Hedges are pretty much defined by their inability to pull off anything big or dramatic, so what
happens when they start to do just that? Where is there newfound power flowing from? Did a Hedge
actually manage to get it’s shit together, or is this a quick flash-in-the-pan?
● If you need quick, disposable, magical muscle and aren’t picky, the Hedges are good in a pinch.
Surprise surprise, someone stiffed them on the bill, and they’re making the Veil miserable until they get
what they think their owed.
● Ilve Wren is desperate for a way back into “high” Veil society. Chances are another faction can cut her
a deal that she’d leap at. Her Hedge has run across some actually powerful magic, and now some
decidedly unpleasant folks are in a bidding war over it. Care to enter your own bid, or are there more
enterprising ways to deprive The Hedges of their ill-got fortune?
Quickstart Situation
Interested in playing The Messengers but not sure where to hop in? This starting situation is designed to give
you the bones of a one-shot you could use as a jumping off point for your own adventures!
The Matroyshka, an eastern-european crime syndicate that dabbles in vampirism, human sacrifice, and
demon-summoning, is quite literally leeching off the city of Toronto. Your contact has given you enough
information to surmise that a ship just off-shore, the Tarasnova, is being used as a staging point and possible
“blood bank.” Below decks, human livestock are being slowly drained of their blood.
Clearly, this situation is the work of the Stygian. But how deep does the conspiracy go? Where do the
Matroyshka get these “sacrifices?” What larger plans do they have for the city? And when you disrupt this
particular operation, what might be their next move?
As the GM, have the crew determine their approach for how they’ll get onto the ship and begin with an
engagement roll. Remember, you can always flash back to pick up additional information or to investigate
further, so jump into the action as quick as possible!
Here’s some ideas for what the players might want to do, and what obstacles might stand in their way:
● Avoid patrols on the upper deck, sneaking between cargo containers and keeping an eye out for
russian gangsters with bad dispositions.
● Sneak below decks, bypassing the ship’s security and maybe picking a few locks
● Skulk around and learn the dark truth of what goes on in the belly of the good ship Tarasnova, then
decide what to do about it.
● Deal with the vampires feasting on human cattle, sink the ship, or call in backup!
● Flash back to stealing a powerboat, quietly sneak off the ship, or have a hair-raising chase back to
shore!
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64
Character Sheets
Follow this link, and make a copy of the spreadsheet into your Drive for each new character you would like to
create.
Faction Sheets
Follow this link, and make a copy of the spreadsheet into your Drive for your game.
65
The Culture of Messengers
She put her hand to my chest, reached into me and pulled
Long, wet strands of seaweed
Her fingers tangled up in it as she drew them out
Values
The Messengers are a paradoxical collective of individualists. Messengers, due to their physical isolation from
one another, foster a culture of self-empowerment and individualized action. Many young Messengers, when
dismayed by a lack of ready resources or tools, are encouraged to “make do” with what they have, applying
creative problem-solving to even the most mundane situations and “expropriating” resources when necessary.
This is why Messengers are mostly found at the fringes of modern society. Many Messengers drift between
hostels, motels, dive bars, and dockyards. They are nomadic to the core, rarely putting down “roots” in any one
place, as their work often requires them to be able to move on to some new mission or deliver an urgent
message at a moment’s notice.
Organization
Individual “hives” of Messengers prefer to operate independently as much as possible. In fighting the Stygian,
the Messengers are spread impossibly thin, and it is the charge of each hive to do what they can with the
materials they are able to put together. Other Messengers, contacts, and allies may occasionally come to a
hive’s aid, but there is no cavalry coming to save the day.
While Messengers are independent, they are also organized, and reliably communicate with one another quite
often. When you join the Messengers, there is infrastructure to ensure a newly minted Hearer-turned-
Messenger does not stray from the straight and narrow. This support system may vary on where you are - a
particular bar by a particular beach, a message board that doesn't work when you stray too far out of town, or a
drum circle where extremely dank stuff gets smoked - but Messengers fresh to the task always have a place to
turn.
Traditions
Messengers are notoriously insular, rarely forming deep attachments with those outside their society. Those
that do regularly interact with non-Messengers are often described by their clients and comrades as cheerful,
polite, gregariously friendly, and a little bit odd. Because of the intense intimacy they feel with their fellow
Hearers, some Messengers can sometimes overstep social mores or trip into awkwardness when working with
those whose thoughts they cannot hear and emotions they cannot directly feel. Still, on a surface level, any
given Messenger can be quite pleasant to work with.
On the other hand, Messengers are intensely collectivist. As their thoughts and ideas flow through the Echo,
they subtly guide and influence one another, and Messengers can often act with almost preternatural foresight
and calm determination due the steady stream of reassurance, advice, and encouragement flowing through the
Echo from their compatriots.
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Many Messengers are great lovers of novelty. The Echo seems to reverberate a touch which each new
phenomena, sensation, or discovery that is made by the Messengers, as new data pours across the network of
shared psychic consciousness. Therefore, Messengers can often be tempted with the promise of new
experiences. A specially prepared meal, a fancy new gadget, or a new strain of music tend to make
Messengers light up with enthusiastic energy.
Messengers also are rather fond of magic. While they have cobbled together their own cryptographic secrets,
most Messenger magic is decidedly subtle and unimpressive on a day-to-day basis. Hurling fireballs, brewing
love potions, or chanting out mystic rituals are sources of endless curiosity and enthusiasm from Messengers,
and they are often willing to pay too-high a price for a fancy artifact or some new, fashionable spell.
Leadership
The Messengers are a fairly egalitarian society. Through the Echo, all consciousnesses weigh in on and
formulate opinion based on the thoughts and ideas of its member cells. The closest to a leader any group of
Messengers has is a Clarion, and if there are any orders or coordination needed, they will typically come from
a Clarion geographically proximal to the Messenger in question. Otherwise, individual Messengers and hives
are left to their own devices, pursuing the will of the Echo independently yet harmoniously.
In nearly every major city on the globe, and definitely in every port, you can find at least one Clarion. Acting as
a beacon of sorts, a Clarion communicates through the Echo with other Messengers, and act as relays for
information and operations. It is speculated that every Clarion is in fact a part of a hive, distributed across the
world, and that the decisions they communicate are directed by the Echo itself.
67
A History of Messengers
A Note to the Reader
These histories, much like the rest of this book, are not meant to lay down an official or canon view of the
Messengers or the world they inhabit. Instead, this section should serve as a jumping-off point for your own
stories and lore surrounding your particular version of the Messengers.
The following letters were recovered from a messaging cairn located in the tundra of Newfoundland. My
preliminary research corroborates some of what is contained within, while also contradicting some of it. I have
done my best to decode the contents, but given the age and complexity of cyphers used, I have not been able
to decode the totality of these histories.
- Scribe Heron
My Dearest Student Isabella,
I was pleased to receive your latest letter, and hope this one finds you in good health. Your inquiries as to the
histories of our order are an interesting request, and no small feat. While it does not surprise me that the New
World does not contain many scholars of our history, I must admit that the situation is not much improved
anywhere else in the world. Our history is, in a word, uncertain. Therefore, I urge you take to take anything I
repeat to you with a grain of salt, applying your own wit and critical understanding, as you were so often to do
during your time in Vienna!
So, where to begin? At the beginning, I suppose, or as near as our histories, oral and written, can come to it.
To wit, the beginnings of our society can be traced back to the origins of the written word. Mention of our
society can be found in some of the earliest known secret writings in the world. Clay tablets, written in
cuneiform, describe a compact between the scribes and messengers of the Sumerian Empire. Understand that
in the early days of written language, literacy was a closely-guarded secret. The “code” of written words was
used to communicate across vast distances, bringing knowledge and information out from the remotest
outposts of empire.
It is in these earliest writings that the Echo is first mentioned. Our forebearers describe in their writings the
ability to anticipate one another’s messages, and being able to infer meaning from the decidedly
unsophisticated written language of the day. This closeness, communicated despite distance, eventually paved
the way to mysticism and ritual. “Hiving,” it seems, was common.
In these early writings, the Echo is often described as the “voice of the gods,” an attribution that would continue
to prevail for long periods of our early history. Tragically, those that could understand the written word came to
believe that through this supposedly holy communion they were entitled to greater and greater power and
influence.
For the early part of our society’s history, its primary goal was the growth of its own control over the world. As
tribe warred against tribe, kingdom warred against kingdom, and empire warred against empire, our
forebearers formed compacts across political and religious divide. Everywhere the written word traveled, so too
did our society. We centered our power along the routes of trade, in ports, and in capitals.
68
I hope this does not shock you too greatly, Isabella, as while we know what our society has become as of late,
it is worth the recollection we were not always nearly as noble or beneficent as we now view ourselves. There
is a lesson in that, I trust.
Your friend and mentor,
Ya Shen, Cartographer
Dearest Isabella,
I must admit that I was a shade or two amused by your latest missive. Your confusion as to the earliest
Messengers behavior is not without merit or precedent, and I assure you it is a topic of great debate even to
this day. Therefore, I am resolved to provide you with an alternate history of sorts. While we proceed from the
“classic” history as described previously, there remains another, untold history, one divorced from letters and
signs, one that we read in the artifacts and mysteries of the distant past. It is an exciting time for the history of
our society, as recent discoveries have cast doubt on the more ancient, traditional views.
Recently, several cartographers of our society infiltrated a rather interesting archeological dig in southeastern
Anatolia. Their reports are shocking, to say the least: evidence that the scribes of the ancient era were not the
first to hear the call of the Echo or to become aware of the Stygian’s malignant influence upon our world.
These archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be a Neolithic temple, named by them “Gobleki
Tepe.” The symbols, architecture, and design of the temple point to a possible worship of the Stygian during
the Neolithic era, long before the first recorded instances of idolators or Messengers. The temple possessed a
level of sophistication previously thought impossible for it’s era, as well as at least some manner of hierarchical
structure and living quarters for a priestly class.
However, the temple was purposefully backfilled and destroyed sometime after 8000 BC, but still during the
Stone Age. The variety of the tools used by those who purposely buried the temple indicate a high level of
cooperation between people of different tribes and cultures, leading some of my fellow cartographers to
speculate that the destruction and burial of this temple may have been a Neolithic expression of the Echo’s
will.
Setting aside the Neolithic for a moment, we turn to the Bronze Era. You are, of course, familiar with the
“Bronze Age Collapse”, long a subject of discussion and mystery, even in our circles. To review, towards the
end of the Bronze Era, disaster struck across the empires and proto-Messengers of the Middle East. Invaders,
described only as “Sea People” in the reliefs and records of the ancient Egyptians, fell upon the Bronze Age
empires. These seafaring folk possessed a degree of cooperation and single-mindedness that defied the
conception of what ancient empires thought possible.
Furthermore, it did not seem that these Sea People came to pillage or conquer. Instead, they were focused
solely on the destruction of the empires of the time. Systematically, they destroyed the foundations of power in
ancient Egypt; the slave economies, the bureaucrats and scribes, the sinew that held together empires.
It is therefore theorized that a throughline exists, from Gobekli Tepe to the Sea People, as a sort of “proto-
Messenger” force that acted under the direction of the Echo, or some earlier, similar form of it. At least, we may
69
theorize that our ancestor scribes were not the only ones to hear the Echo, and with some certainty, better
accomplished its will for the betterment of mankind.
70
Random Tables
Chases
1 Blind-Turns
2 Pursuers
3 Traffic James
4 Roadblocks
5 Slippery Roads
6 Crowds
7 Construction
8 Barriers
9 Short-cut
10 Jumps
Barriers
1 High Walls
2 Digital Keypad Locks
3 Tight Spaces
4 Crowds
5 Illusions
6 Manual Locks
Dangers
1 Security Cameras
2 Laser Grids
3 Spelled Wards
4 Anti-Gravity Fields
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6 Response Teams
Opposition
1 Guards
2 Mages
3 Demons
4 Monsters
5 Automata
6 Roll 2, Blend
Daemons
Type
1 Ghost
2 Demon
3 Construct
Ghosts
Personality
1 Melancholy
2 Wrathful
3 Cold
4 Resigned
5 Terrified
6 Calm
Tether
1 Physical
2 Interpersonal
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3 Emotional
Physical Tethers
1 A Beloved Stuffed Animal
2 An Antique Watch
3 A Pair of Shoes
4 A Favorite Record, CD, Cassette
5 Bones
6 A Piece of Jewelry
Interpersonal Tethers
1 Revenge
2 Unrequited, Unexpressed Love
3 Watching Over Loved One
4 Unsolved Murder
5 Saying Goodbyes
6 Lover’s Grief
Emotional Tethers
1 Died in Pain
2 Died Young
3 Grief-Stricken
4 Filled with Rage
5 Unfinished Accomplishment
6 Unconfessed Sins
Demon
Personality
1 Charming
2 Angry
3 Sadistic
4 Cavalier
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5 Seductive
6 Gleeful
Contract-Break
1 Speak the Demon’s Name
2 Pay a Higher Price
3 Offer a Drink (Or a Smoke)
4 Specific Prayer
5 Legal Argument
6 Blood-Nullification
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Echoes in the Dark

A Forged-In-The-Dark Game of Conspiracy and Urban Fantasy

For Evil Hat Games, Draft 2

Last Updated: 3-21-2019

World and Setting

Roleplaying the Echo

The Faction Game

The Culture of Messengers

What is this Game About?

World and Setting

The Place - Toronto

The People - Messengers

Hearing the Echo

The Enemy - The Stygian

It feeds, of course, on human misery.

The Messengers, of course, beg to differ.

The Others - Major Factions

● Academic: A student, a professor, a scholar, or maybe a journalist of some description. Academics

Assign Four Action Dots

For more details on how Artificing works, follow the link.

Training and Quality are the same.

Enter the Room

1. The safety of it’s Messengers

Resonance Clock Retaliation

● Harassing NPC allies

1-2 6 Moderate interference.

3 4 Hideout Assault: The conspiracy

Reprisal Attacks: The stygian

Heat 0-3 Heat 4-5 Heat 6+

On Notice: A rival faction puts you On Notice.

Show of Force: A rival faction at Status -2 or -3 performs a Show of Force.

Faction On Notice Show of Force Services Offered

Harmony and Discord

Dread and Rites

A Destroy Person spell might cause it’s target light injuries.

Prowess Edges Flaws

Prowess Edges Flaws

Prowess Edges Flaws

Finally, assign three action dots to your Artifice’s actions.

Improving Artifice Quality

Improving Artifice Actions

Edges and Flaws

Tiny / Small Big / Bulky

Long Battery Short Battery

The Stygian Conspiracy

Six Fires, Four Buckets

The Other Factions

Dr. Delilah Witt

High Queen Cassiopeia of Leaves

Alpha Kappa Bro - Frat boy warlocks. ‘Nuff said.

Expanded Minor Factions

Red-Palms Resort and Travel

The Good Neighbor Committee

Wellsely & Hardwick

Notable Assets: Military-grade hardware, rapid-response teams featuring magically-enhanced ex-soldiers,

Third Eye Media

Alpha Kappa Brothers

Notable Assets: Talented, desperate mages; a smattering of monstrosities and experiments-gone-wrong,

My Dearest Student Isabella,

Your friend and mentor,

2 Digital Keypad Locks

1 A Beloved Stuffed Animal

4 A Favorite Record, CD, Cassette

2 Unrequited, Unexpressed Love