The Velvet Book v0.95.

1 Errata- June 29, 2022

Introduction
This document covers updates to gameplay and fixes problem content in Version 0.95 of The
Velvet Book which will be incorporated into the final 1.0 version upon release. Generally these
don’t massively change material in The Velvet Book, but do offer some needed clarifications on
edge cases as well as some refinements to improve certain underutilized or underdeveloped
aspects of the game.

Contents

Corrections to Incorrect Extra Names in Version 0.95 pg 2

Adjustments to Ailment Rules pg 2

Adjustments to Buff and Debuff Rules pg 2

Improved School and Education Rules pg 3-4

Useful Qualities with Special Timing Rules pg 5

Enemy Advantage Dice pg 6-7

New Deadly Power Rules pg 8

New Useful: Control (Element or Force) Rules pg 9

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 The Velvet Book v0.95.1 Errata- June 29, 2022
Corrections to Incorrect Extra Names in Version 0.95
The Velvet Book Version 0.95 includes certain instances of Extras with the wrong names. These
are hold-overs from prior versions that were intended to be edited out but were missed in the
previous editing pass. These include the following:

Gnarly: This Extra was replaced by Power. Found on: 185, 239, 240, 298
Sweet: This Extra was replaced by Effective. Found on: 419

Adjustments to Ailment Rules

Burn/Bleed/Poison: Damage inflicted by these Ailments is improved to 2 Damage per Turn

Ailment Quality Duration: Ailments inflicted as a Quality (as opposed to as an Attack Extra)
have their duration based on Width-1 + its Ailment Rank. For example, if you have Ailment:
Burn x3 and roll a 2x5, it will last for 4 Rounds. It also means that the minimum Duration for
any Ailment Quality is 2 Rounds.

Ailments and other Extras: Ailment inflicted as a Quality can use the Area Extra to affect
additional targets, or the Fast Extra to set up their effects more quickly. By default, no other
Extras grant significant effects to Ailments.

Adjustments to Buff and Debuff Rules

In version 0.95, the rules for Buffs on page 197 and Debuffs on page 199 describe the Suku- and
Taru- effects as being Part or Quality specific (i.e. Sukukaja increases the Speed of a selected
Part, while Tarunda decreases the damage of a selected Attack Quality). These rules lead to
those effects being awkward to use, especially when compared with the Raku- effect, which
covers a Persona’s entire body.

With this Errata, Sukukaja, Tarukaja, Sukunda, and Tarunda are not Part or Quality
specific. Instead, their effects as follows:

Sukukaja: Adds Fast x2 to the subject’s next Width-1 Actions

Tarukaja: Adds Power x2 to the subject’s next Width-1 attacks

Sukunda: Reduces the Speed of the target’s next Width-1 Actions by -2

Tarunda: Reduces the Damage of the target’s next Width-1 Attacks by -2

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 The Velvet Book v0.95.1 Errata- June 29, 2022
Improved School and Education Rules
The Purpose of this Errata is to revise and improve the gameplay of the Class and Studying rolls
to make the One Roll Education ruleset on page 223-225 more interesting and sensible.

1st Errata: Loose Dice Rule Correction

In the current 0.95 rules on page 223, students can use a Loose Die that they roll as a 1x Width
Set if they fail to roll a successful Set during class. This created a mildly degenerate game state
where failing to roll a Set at all would often yield better results than obtaining a successful Set
when Height was desired. To that end, here are the revised rules:

If you fail a Class Roll, you can select your Lowest Loose Die and use it as a 1x Width
Set. However, this die can only contribute its Height or Width to your weekly productivity, not
both. Thus, you can either add +1 to your Workload (you completed the assignment, but it
wasn't any good) or the die's Height to your Grade (your work was good, but you weren't able
to finish it).

2nd Errata: Class x Stat Selection

Under the current rules, every Class has a predetermined Stat set by the GM. P.E. uses
Diligence, Math uses Guts, English uses Expression, etc. While this is a functional approach, it
does limit somewhat how Players and GMs interpret how a student character might engage
with those classes. Going forward, this is Method 1. Here are two additional Methods.

Method 2- Player Scheduled: With this Method, the Player determines their own school
schedule and what Stats connect to each Subject. Two Players might have the same class but use
different Stats for it; in Math, for instance, one Student may use Knowledge to work through the
steps, while another needs Guts to face it as it's a subject that intimidates them.

Method 3- Freestyle: In the Freestyle Method, there are no fixed Stat for any of the Classes,
but each Stat must be used once per school week. A GM might present a specific assignment
that demands a certain Stat, or they may allow the Player to choose which Stat they want to use,
giving them control over how they approach the work. Again, though, once a Stat is used in a
Class roll it's exhausted for the rest of the week.

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 The Velvet Book v0.95.1 Errata- June 29, 2022
3rd Errata: Studying
This Errata is just a clarification on what Studying is described on Page 225.

Studying is a form of Personal Time that builds Awesomeness dedicated for a specific
Class. It includes anything related to preparing for that Class-- reading assigned material,
writing a report, running laps, rehearsing a play, etc. Like with Personal Time you roll whatever
Stat + Skill makes sense for that Class and gain Width in Awesomeness to use for it. The
Awesomeness you gain is thus attached to the specific Class you're studying for; this way if
you're using Freestyle class rules you don't need to anticipate which Stat you'll need. If you're
studying for English and roll a 2x Width Set, you gain Awesome x2 in English and can use it
regardless of the Stat that the GM asks for.

Unlike normal Personal Time Awesomeness, you can accumulate Studious

Awesomeness in multiple subjects at once. If you have Awesome x1 in English and you
proceed to Study for History, you don't lose your English Awesomeness; instead, now you're
Awesome at English and History. You can even bank up Awesomeness for a single Class over
multiple Time Slots if you're determined to really grind it out in preparation for that Class.

Once a Class hits all the Studying you did for it gets cashed in and reset to zero. Any
Awesomeness you don't end up using then can be used to add +1 to your total Grade level for
that week

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 The Velvet Book v0.95.1 Errata- June 29, 2022
Useful Qualities with Special Timing Rules
Most of the time, Useful Qualities follow the same timing rules as other Qualities when used in
Combat: take your Width, add any Ranks of Fast on the Quality, and that’s your Speed. During
the Resolve Phase of combat, Actions occur based on which Sets have the most Speed, and ties
are broken by superior Height.

However, some Useful Qualities get to bend these rules. They can do this in general for
two reasons:

1. To streamline the Resolve Phase of Combat.

2. To make their effects more interesting and impactful.

There are no absolute protocols as to when you can and can’t use these Special Timing Rules,
just basic, consistent principles you can follow to determine if a Useful Quality’s timing can be
manipulated.

Special Timing falls into two main rules. Additional rules and exceptions could be made,
but they would likely be less meaningful to the flow of combat.

Go First
Some Useful Qualities can set-off their effects at the start of the Resolve Phase of Combat, no
matter what their actual Speed would indicate. These are generally Qualities that have no effect
on the action of the turn on which they’re rolled. Create an Advantage, Boost Power and Jinx
are examples of this, as they create bonus dice or inflict dice penalties, meaning their value
doesn’t kick in until the following turn.

Since these Effects don’t do anything on that turn, GMs can freely allow them to Go
First during the Resolve Phase before any other normally timed actions would happen.

Similarly, the basic move Creating Extras as Needed Goes First during the Resolve
Phase, as it’s designed to alter and set-up things that occur on that turn, especially when used as
part of a Multiple Action. Without this functionality it would be challenging to adjudicate when
the Ad Hoc Extras it generates come into play. For instance, Ad Hoc Fastness needs to Go First,
otherwise it has no value, as you’d need to wait for the Useful Set to go off before it could be
applied to your attack anyway, which is pointless.

So in this case, these effects must Go First because otherwise they’d be a mostly
worthless commitment of your actions for that turn.

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 The Velvet Book v0.95.1 Errata- June 29, 2022
Match Timing
The other special Timing rule for Useful Qualities involves Multiple Actions. Useful Qualities
that Match Timing activate at the same time as another Set that you rolled during Combat,
usually an Attack. Drain and Super Strength are examples of this, as they only really do
anything useful when rolled before or along with an Attack. In practical terms, this isn’t really
different from Going First, but since Qualities like this don’t have any effect until the Attack
they’re modifying goes off it’s easier to say that the Useful Quality and the Attack are going off
at the same time.

The only time it would make a difference is if an enemy was rolling to try and negate
your Useful Quality in some way. If your Quality Goes First then it will trigger at the start of
the Resolve phase, which creates a narrow timing window in which your opponent can shut
down its effect before you can get its benefits. If your Quality Matches Timing, however, then
its effect doesn’t hit the field until your Attack does, which eliminates that timing window.

This is a very edge case that is provided mostly for GM edification, so Players shouldn’t
need to worry about it most of the time and can enjoy the streamlined action that Going First
and Matching Timing deliver.

Enemy Advantage Dice

In many ways, combat in The Velvet Book is stacked in the Players’ favor. They have great many
resources at their disposal that can swing the odds in their favor at-will, particularly
Relationship Dice and Grinding. In developing The Velvet Book it became apparent from this that
Shadows were in need of sharper teeth to keep up. To even the odds with Players and their
arsenal of bonuses, Shadows have access to Enemy Advantage Dice. These are a pool of dice
attached to the Encounter that the GM can apply to his troops as the fight progresses, hot-fixing
it mid-battle so that it holds the amount of interest and challenge they were aiming for.

Enemy Advantage Dice can be used the same way as Relationship Dice, adding either
raw dice or Extras to a Shadow at the GM’s discretion. E.A. Dice can be translated into Any
Extra that the GM deems necessary, including Vital from the Cursed Extra list if the GM feels
that a Shadow needs a little bit more heft.

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 The Velvet Book v0.95.1 Errata- June 29, 2022
The quantity of Enemy Advantage Dice afforded for an Encounter is as follows:

Minor Shadow Encounters :

Easy Difficulty Number of Shadows -1

Medium Difficulty 1d + 1d per Shadow
Hard Difficulty 3d per Shadow

Major Shadow Encounters: 2d+ 1d per 5 AP

Using these rules, Enemy Advantage Dice replace the Doom Dice mechanics as detailed on
page 245 of Version 0.95.

Signaling Enemy Advantages

When a GM applies Enemy Advantage Dice they should explain what it’s doing. For example:

• A superior tactical position giving bonus dice to an Attacking part

• Thicker than usual armor adding Toughness
• Heightened morale from fighting under a Major Shadow adding Power to an Attack

For Major Shadows, Enemy Advantage Dice can be used to represent the Shadow shifting into
newer phases of its attack, growing more and more angry or taking the fight more seriously as
momentum begins to shift against it. In particular, if an important Part is destroyed, a GM can
tap into the Major Shadow’s E.A. Dice to enhance one of its other parts to keep the fight
interesting.

Have some Discretion

A GM shouldn’t feel like they must use every Enemy Advantage Die at their disposal in every
fight. The purpose of E.A. Dice is to maintain challenge and tension in an encounter. If an
Encounter is already challenging and exciting with its existing moving parts, then E.A. Dice can
be left aside.

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 The Velvet Book v0.95.1 Errata- June 29, 2022
New Deadly Power Rules
Under the version 0.95 rules for Useful: Deadly Power, Instant Death attacks work by exacting an
HP toll against their user as a restriction on a Persona’s ability to delete enemies from the
battlefield. While functional, it’s not a very good representation of how Instant Death works in
the Persona games, nor does it have an especially satisfying game feel. It basically requires that a
Target be softened as much as possible before going for the Kill, at which point standard offense
is usually a more sound option. To that end, these rules revise the functionality of Useful: Deadly
Power as described on pages 204 and 205.

1. Destroying an Enemy in combat with Useful: Deadly Power exhausts the

Quality for the rest of the Time Slot. Go ahead and cross it out on your Persona
Sheet, it’s gone now.

2. You can burn ranks of Effectiveness on your Deadly Power to keep from
exhausting it. So if you have Useful: Deadly Power (Effective x2) you can use it three
times before it’s depleted. We suggest that these ranks of Effectiveness be dedicated to
expanded its capacity rather than improving its Height or Width, that way you don’t need
to recalculate those parameters each time you burn out a rank of Effectiveness, but that’s up
to the Players and GM to decide for certain.

3. Each intact Part on your Target inflicts damage on your Deadly Power part
when you destroy it. The damage is 1 HP per Part if the Shadow is weak to your Deadly
Power’s element; 2 HP if it is neutral; and 3 HP if the Shadow resists your Deadly Power.

All other rules related to Deadly Power, such as Difficulty and the effects of Major Shadows, are
unchanged from version 0.95.

Note that these rules reference Major Shadows inflicting Scars as the backlash from
Deadly Power. This reference can be ignored as Personas no longer differentiate Shock and Scar
damage.

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 The Velvet Book v0.95.1 Errata- June 29, 2022
New Useful: Control (Element or Force) Rules
This Errata changes the Combat Effect of Useful: Control (Element or Force). Under the 0.95 rules,
Control is simply a stronger form of the Elemental Attack Special Effect, which allows it to
increase the Width of an upcoming Attack using that Element or Defense against that Element.
This caused issues with the fact that Control Qualities with large amounts of Effectiveness could
increase an Attack’s Width by huge amounts. It also fails, in a way, to really embody with
Control is all about, which is fine mastery of its subject matter.

This Errata, then, completely replaces the Combat Effect of this Quality.

Combat Effect: A successful Control (Element or Force) Set gives its user Width-1 in Awesome
dice the next time they Attack with or Defend against its Element. This is a very powerful effect
as it is the only real source of on-demand Awesomeness in the game, but it’s counterbalanced
by the fact that the Awesomeness only lasts for a single roll. If a Player uses Control (Effective x4)
to generate Awesome x5 that’s an impressive feat, but if they only have 2 Loose Dice to
manipulate then much that Awesomeness will go to waste.

When used in combat, this effect Goes First, allowing a Player to cash in the
Awesomeness they generated immediately if used as part of a Multiple Action with a
compatible Elemental Attack or Defense.

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