RULES
PLAY: Players describe what their characters
do. The GM advises when their action is
impossible, requires extra steps, demands a
cost, or presents a risk. Players only roll to
avoid risks.
ROLLING: Roll a d6 skill die—higher with a
relevant skill, or d4 if hindered by injury or
circumstances. If helped by circumstances, roll
an extra d6; if helped by an ally, they roll their
skill die and share the risk. Take the highest die.
1–2 Disaster. Suffer the full risk. GM
decides if you succeed at all. If risking
death, you die.
3–4 Setback. A lesser consequence or
partial success. If risking death, you’re
maimed.
5+ Success. The higher the roll, the better.
If success can’t get you what you want (you
make the shot, but it’s bulletproof!), you’ll at
least get useful info or set up an advantage.
LOAD: Carry as much as makes sense, but more
than one bulky item may hinder you at times.
ADVANCEMENT: When you return from an
Event, roll any skill. On a 5+, roll on Strains; on a
1-4, increase the skill (none⮕d8⮕d10⮕d12).
DEFENSE: Say how one of your items breaks to
turn a hit into a brief hindrance. Broken gear is
useless until repaired.
HARM: If killed, make a new character to be
introduced ASAP. Favor inclusion over realism.
SECRET AFFAIRS: The existence of alien
civilizations is classified. Travel through the
Gates and make the First Contact. Don’t expect
human motivations from an alien. If something
goes wrong, don’t leave traces behind.
GM: Lead the group in setting lines not to cross
in play. Fast-forward, pause, or rewind/redo
scenes for pacing and safety, and invite players
to do likewise. Present dilemmas you don’t
know how to solve. Move the spotlight to give
everyone time to shine. Test luck periodically to
check for First Contact or Strains— roll d6 for
(1–2) trouble now, (3–4) signs of trouble. Offer
rulings to cover gaps in rules; on a break, revise
unsatisfying rulings as a group.
CHARACTERS .
► Choose your character’s role in the Bureau.
KNIGHT OF THE HOLY CONTACT: Increase (d8)
any 2 of Exo-Politics, Deception, Persuasion,
Intimidation. Take an uncanny welcomed gift.
SWORD OF DAMOCLES: Increase (d8) any 2 of
Hand-to-hand, Labor, Running, Shooting. Take a
modified alien weapon. Courtesy of the Bureau.
EPISTOLAR OF TARSUS: Skilled in Medicine
(d8), Xenobiology (d8), plus 1 other skill. Take a
medkit and cyber-surgery tools (bulky).
LIBRARIAN OF SESHAT: Skilled in Physics (d8),
Astronomy(d8), plus 1 other skill. Take an
Unidentified Alien Codex of an extinct race.
ETYMOLOGIST OF SILENCE: Increase (d8) any 2
of Climbing, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Tracking.
Take a Classified Secret to make a claim.
GATECRASHER OF ISHTAR: Increase (d8) any 2
of Electronics, Hacking, Explosives, Piloting.
Take the Codes of an exo-colony Gate.
►Take a comm. You are the pinnacle of Mankind
and yet, you’re expected to be expendable, but
your equipment is not. Take 1 of each category.
Good luck. Trust me, you will need it.
ARMOR: Vest (break once for defense), battle
armor (bulky, break up to 3×), hardsuit (bulky,
break up to 3×, vacuum-rated, mag boots).
CYBERNETICS: Cyber-ear, cyber-eye, cyber-limb
(upgrade with strong, fast, compartments,
implanted tool or weapon), cranial jack, healing
nanobots, toxin filter, voice mimic.
TOOLS: Flamethrower (bulky), low-G jetpack,
med scanner, mini drone, repair tools, survey
pack (climbing gear, flare gun, tent; bulky).
WEAPONS: Grenades (4, any of fragmentation,
flashbang, smoke, EMP), pistol, rifle (bulky),
shotgun (bulky), stun baton, tranq gun.
► Choose or invent skills
Bureaucracy, Climbing, Connections, Deception,
Electronics, Engines, Exopolitics, Explosives,
Hacking, Hand-to-hand, High-G, Intimidation,
Labor, Low-G, Persuasion, Physics, Piloting,
Religion, Running, Shooting, Stealth, Tracking,
Xenoarchaeology, Xenobiology, Xenolinguistics.
 THE BUREAU STRAINS
► Choose your character’s stance in the Bureau.
► Roll a d6.d6 if prompted by advancement.
CONSERVATIVE: Humanity first, even if we have You’re under partial control of an Alien Entity,
to leave behind thousands to save a million. infected or possessed. Symbiosis may be
Topics: preservationism, isolationism, security.
useful, but there’s a limit. If you cross the
PRAGMATIST: Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Rubicon (up to 6 strains), we will cut you down.
Once you cross the door, you are on your own.
Topics: Do-it-yourself, technology, prosperity. 1.1 Glossolalia, fluent words without meaning.
1.2 Xenoglossy, domain of an alien language.
DIDEROTIAN: We’re all alone, we’re all lost. We 1.3 Pheromones, remember the mantis ritual.
look for a mirror out there, we get nothing. 1.4 Mimic, copy the alien kinesthetic language.
Topics: nihilism, iconoclasm, individualism. 1.5 Ataraxia, suppress desires and tribulations .
STRUCTURALIST: Centralize the Bureau. Keep it 1.6 Hyper-empathy, thoughts channels are open.
secret, but operate as a whole, p2p is outdated. 2.1 Autotomy, tear your body apart for survival .
Topics: hierarchy, legitimacy, stability. 2.2 Reptilian brain, raise your anger and hunger.
ENOCHIAN:Thousand tongues speak as One. 2.3 Agro fluids, saliva and blood are dangerous.
We must rebuild Babel Tower and God's work. 2.4 NT, your body suffers nuclear transmutation.
Topics: religion, xenophilia, community. 2.5 Casimir, Maxwell laws are outdated to you.
2.6 NNS, your muscles are non-newtonian.
ALEXANDRIAN: The true burden is all the
knowledge that will be lost if we don’t act. 3.1 Jelly999, pain and stress trigger euphoria.
Topics: research, science, history. 3.2 TT cells, a silicon fluid covers your wounds.
3.3 Chiral, you suffer but treat others better.
► Invent or roll for personal details. 3.4 Filter, you can filter a toxic gas in a room.
3.5 Cryo, freeze the environment for f*cks sake.
AGENT CODENAME 3.6 Pyro, heat the environment for your safety.
01 Alpha 06 Fox 11 Kilo 16 Papa 4.1 Hyperthymesia, memories are never gone.
02 Bravo 07 Golf 12 Lima 17 Quebec 4.2 Qualia, “What’s like to be?” C’mon answer.
03 Charlie 08 Hotel 13 Mike 18 Romeo 4.3 Hive net, intuition is never individual again.
04 Delta 09 India 14 Navy 19 Sierra 4.4 T-Room, The Council beyond time horizon.
05 Echo 10 Juliet 15 Oscar 20 Tango 4.5 Info bit, suck memories as an alien vampire.
4.6 Family, they have already visited us, lad.
AGENT HOMETOWN 5.1 Alienation, spreads scopolamine vapour.
5.2 Key, you can enter the Low Dimensions.
01 Sol (orbital) 11 Io 5.3 Berry, you exist in multiple wave phases.
02 Mercury 12 Europa 5.4 Thalamus, stimuli hungover never ends.
03 Venus 13 Ganymede 5.5 Ommatidium, your eyes are now open.
04 Earth 14 Callisto 5.6 Left-handed, your body is an invisible cloak.
05 Moon 15 Saturn 6.1 Derelict, a hidden synthetic organ is active.
06 Mars 16 Titan 6.2 WhFo, brain cells act like a fast GPU device.
07 Phobos 17 Uranus 6.3 Interlinked, your body is an electric catalyst .
08 Deimos 18 Neptune 6.4 Q-Com, you have access to a quantum net.
09 Ceres 19 Kuiper Belt 6.5 WRAM, your memories are volatile at will.
6.6 Antenae, your body can trace EM waves.
10 Jupiter 20 Oort Cloud
 // LOST IN TRANSLATION: We are not alone in the hood and yet, the galaxy does not give a damm
f*ck about us. Follow the First Contact Protocol and may you return in one piece. Screw up
understanding a cryptic alien message and you've f*cked, with some luck, an entire extrasolar
habitat, somewhere, at sometime… no pressure. Welcome to The Bureau, agent.

► Roll d20 for the Event

1 Atacama: an oceanic habitable planet is being covered with salt like Romans did with Carthage.
2 Baba Yaga: an unidentified alien is terrifying both humans and aliens in a shared exo-system.
3 Babel Tower: an enochian team was lost in a potential world, they’ve sent a message in enochian.
4 Bluebird: a massive neutron star is going rogue, we need to assist an alien civilization at its end.
5 Brittle Hollow: the security system of an exo-colony is experimenting with multiple breakdowns.
6 Curry Seagull: an alien civilization is eating seagulls… they’ve a pandemic. How did they get them?
7 Fiasco Bay: an alien civilization is in a cold war, but they’ve spotted us and now they remain silent.
8 Honey Tomb: we hope we have learned from the Vietnam War, a honeycomb sky is a nightmare.
9 Hotel Sirat: we have discovered an old alien orbital station in Io. A zoroastrian prophet lives there.
10 Hangover Blues: an alien civilization lifespan has skyrocketed, they are getting dangerously bored.
11 Isomeric Soda: a proxy has detected a glass with a “drink”of decayed 180-metastable Tantalum.
12 Lusitania Radio: an exo-colony is sending a message. We’ve never built a settlement there yet.
13 Maelstrom: Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a good dumping place for a roadside picnic, but not always.
14 Mind Shifter: an alien colony has acquired some ancient alien tool to make your own clone.
15 Orion Cake: some intels and aliens have reunited to make the First Pact. What could go wrong?
16 Rattlesnake: a desert planet is being used as a testing ground for non-local hostile fauna.
17 Sweet dreams: what if we are living under a simulation which is going to be stopped and restarted?
18 Walleye: some scientifics have found an undersea cave-system civilization, there’re more horrors.
19 Whistleblowers: a conflict in the Bureau, Solar system outer planets have a not-so-secret alien ally.
20 Trojan Gate: a Gate in the Earth Trojans, hidden all this time. Must we cross it or close it?
► Roll d20 for the Bureau Intel ► Roll d10 for an Alien Codename
1 Absent, neither present nor expected, a fool. 1 S-E1, lithoid atomic age civilization in the
2 Almoravid, sweet voice, sharpen trouble. middle of a cold-war. They respond with
3 Boricua, the honest person, the wrong job. electronic warfare. Act on your own.
4 Carthage, thriving to fit its broken pieces. 2 S-E2, xenophobic pacifists avian civilization.
5 Gogoing, eyes wide open to the hierarchies. They are not interested in contact but they
6 Kukulkán, maybe an old alien, you’re warned. know a terrible truth.
7 MDLR, good Mars street rat, better pilgrim. 3 S-E3, algae life forms mind controllers. Act
8 Mercy, better not talk about it, loaded gun. with extreme caution. They work within the
9 Mist, enigmatic and a big architect mind. Council and in the Low Dimensions.
10 Pebble, broken and yet still works for good. 4 S-L1, symbiotic fish in the sub-ice oceans of
11 Pope, a devil, a saint, a charlatan, a true God. the moon Europa. Keep them secret.
12 Queen, in the burden of the odds governs. 5 S-A2, a derelict robotic civilization, capable
13 Rocinante, the most rewarded explorer ever. of interfering in our devices.
14 Renaissance, a terrible punishment to come. 6 S-A3, they will force you to ascend to their
15 Tampa, suffocating, astonishing and exotic. Symbiotic Sacred Mission at first glance
16 Tower, with structural faults, will fail, fragile. 7 H-L1, self-isolated ex-sword in Oort Cloud.
17 Shifter, a wave oscillation of a clone copy. 8 H-E1, hybrid ex-librarian in Exo-Odessa.
18 Vampire, will suck you dry of memories. 9 H-E2, erratic ex-gatecrasher in Exo-Xanadú.
19 Whisper, a loyal stranger on the road. 10 0-0, we still don’t know if it’s a “living” cosmic
20 Zurrapa, a vessel of an enochian ex-agent. event or an alien. In both cases, run or pray.
Version 1.1. Text & layout by Jason Tocci under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0). Art CC BY BEEPLE.