agendas, or simply enjoy making puppets dance.

Whatever notice when “something’s not quite right,” and recognize patterns
your ultimate purpose, you’re a player, not a pawn, in your and connections that your conscious mind might otherwise
personal Game of Thrones. have missed. Combat vets, street survivors, primal folks, and
• Novice: Ned Stark. animal-favoring shapechangers tend to develop such instincts as
a survival skill; even then, though, such awareness comes more
•• Practiced: Cersei Lannister.
from innate talent than from practiced techniques. In situations
••• Skillful: Varys the Spider. where your character might pick up on subconscious clues or
•••• Expert: Littlefinger. subtle giveaways, add your Intuition to a Mental Attribute to see
••••• Master: Tyrion Lannister. whether or not that character’s instincts kick in.
Possessed By: Epic Fantasy Authors, Politicians, Nobility, • Novice: You’ve got strong gut-feelings.
Celebrities, Agents, Executives, Political Correspondents, •• Practiced: You’re learning how to follow your
Observant Servants, Movers & Shakers, Hermetic Wizards, instincts even when you’re not sure why.
Syndicate Schemers ••• Skillful: Things that other people miss seem
Suggested Specialties: Alliances, Betrayals, Tangled Webs, obvious to you.
Watching from Afar, International Intrigue, Corporate Politics, •••• Expert: You possess uncanny insight into things
Bargains and Deals, Player of Pawns, Ruthless Bastard, Life- you shouldn’t even have noticed.
or-Death Stakes
••••• Master: It’s scary how much you notice about
Intuition stuff no one else even sees.
Also known as Instinct, this Talent represents a primal sort Possessed By: Gamblers, Veterans, Survivors, Street People,
of perception that runs beneath your conscious mind. Essentially, Folks Who are Closer to Animals Than to People
you possess an animal-like awareness of your surroundings and Suggested Specialties: Hidden Agendas, Ambushes, Pat-
circumstances. Though it’s not mind-reading per se, your Intu- tern Recognition, Traps, Mood-Reading, Flashes of Insight,
ition helps you spot cues about people’s moods and intentions, Animal Instincts, Nose for Trouble

20 The Book of Secrets

Mimicry
A skilled imitator, you can mimic voices or sounds; the
higher your rating, the greater your ability. The human larynx
is quite flexible, capable of a wide vocal range. (A touch of
magick can make that range even wider if you augment your
natural abilities with Life 2 or 3.) At the lower levels, you can
imitate accents or the voices of specific people, while higher
levels help you fake an impressive range of sonic phenomena.
• Novice: You mock celebrities for fun.
•• Practiced: Given time and practice, you can
mimic a decent range of accents and voices.
••• Skillful: Your impersonations can fool folks
who’re familiar with the people or sounds
you’re imitating.
•••• Expert: You’re like that dude in those old Police
Academy flicks.
••••• Master: Your ability to mimic almost anyone
or anything is downright unsettling.
Possessed By: Comedians, Clones, Class Clowns, Actors,
Spies, Infiltration Specialists, Sound-Effect Artists
Suggested Specialties: Accents, Deception, Animal Cries,
Comedic Effects, Celebrity Impressions, Voice-Activated Tech
Negotiation
An acute perception for what people want makes you a
master wheeler-dealer. Combined with social savvy and the
ability to say “No” when you need to do so, this perception lets
you bring other folks around to your point of view, helps them
strike bargains, and puzzle out the potential agendas that drive
them to – and away from – the bargaining table.
• Novice: You mediate disputes at home.
•• Practiced: You’re good at herding cats toward
a common destination.
••• Skillful: Your arbitration skills are in profes-
sional demand.
•••• Expert: Regardless of the dispute, you often
get your way.
••••• Master: You could forge lasting peace between
old enemies, and leave them happy to have
followed your lead.
Possessed By: Lawyers, Executives, Relationship Counsel-
ors, Arbitration Specialists, Politicians, Union Reps, Activists,
Tycoons, Diplomats, Sports or Entertainment Agents, Syndi-
cate Reps
Suggested Specialties: Business Deals, Bullying, Domestic
Disputes, Fake-Outs, Hidden Agendas, Peace Treaties, Con
Games, Fleecing the Sheep
Newspeak
Language is your playground. In a brave new age, you coin
brave new words. Why? Because language is the gatekeeper of
status and initiation. Obfuscatory miscourse is keycode. Disin-
fotech relegates the bleaters to Sidelinedia. Coprosperity sails
on neochop, and so you bait the beespeakers and decompart-
mentalize linguiblocks. What the hell are you saying, anyway?
Whatever the hell you want it to mean!
Essentially, this Talent helps you spin and juggle buzzwords,
either existing or original. Beyond the roleplaying fun you can
have with this Trait, Newspeak provides a verbal arsenal for social
entanglements. By pairing Social Attributes with this Ability,
you can excite, incite or inspire your audience (Charisma + New-
speak); dazzle, befuddle or intimidate opponents (Manipulation
+ Newspeak); or blast holes in Preconceptionsville by pairing
beauty with brains (Appearance + Newspeak). Intelligence +
Newspeak may help you decipher or deconstruct someone else’s
wordstorm, while Perception or Wits might help you keep track
of a slogan-spitting raconteur… or beat her at her own game!
(Ideally, this Talent should be roleplayed out. Relegating
it to a simple roll of dice is no fun at all.)
• Novice: LOL
•• Practiced: u mad, bro?
••• Skillful: Your neologic metaphases into com-
mcom.
•••• Expert: Masspeak is youspeak. Youspeak is
allspeak.
••••• Master: That whirring sound you hear is
Orwell’s grave.
Possessed By: Satirists, SF Authors, Geeks, MMORGrs,
Futurists, Pundits, Transhumanists, PR Consultants, Politi-
cians, Speechwriters, Mindfuckers, Media Monkeys, Snarky
Bastards, Trolls
Suggested Specialties: Whedonics, LolCat, Textchat,
Masscom, Corpspeak, Techspeak, LeetSpeak, Poliflex, Disinfor-
mation, Advertising, Hip-Hop, Buzzfeed, Politics, Spin Control
Scan
Your quick eyes spot things other people miss. Darting your
gaze across a place or situation, you can catch a quick appraisal
that would take most people a while to observe. Generally
combined with Perception, this Talent helps your character
scope out potential targets, threats, clues, faces, escape routes,
and other vital details. He might not always know just what it
is he sees, and he has to actually think about scanning an area
in order to use this Ability. Given time for a fast glance or two,
however, he’ll probably snag enough material to work with once
he’s got the chance to process what he’s seen.
• Novice: You catch the obvious hints.
•• Practiced: You’re good at noticing the little
stuff.
••• Skillful: Quick appraisals are your specialty.
•••• Expert: Few details escape your gaze.
••••• Master: Sherlock Holmes wishes he were you.
Chapter One: Heroic Traits 21
 Possessed By: Hunters, Detectives, Inspectors, Commandos,
Secret Agents, Threat Assessment Specialists, Forensics Teams
Suggested Specialties: Identifying Marks, Potential Threats,
Hidden Goodies, Nagging Details, CSI
Scrounging
Dude! Where’d you find that? You’re pretty good at spotting
goodies in the oddest places. A skilled scavenger, you can
discover all kinds of unlikely stuff. Granted, said stuff has to
be there first… but then, if you’re a mage, this Talent provides
a wonderful excuse for coincidental magick. Even without
magick, though, the toss-out nature of consumer culture often
puts the odds in your favor.
• Novice: You and Macklemore hit thrift shops
together.
•• Practiced: You are Macklemore.
••• Skillful: You scrounge most of what you need
from society’s cast-offs.
•••• Expert: Given enough time and trash, you
could find almost anything you need.
••••• Master: Money-wise, you live off little or noth-
ing.
Possessed By: Street Folks, Poor Folks, Dumpster-Divers,
Tech Geeks, Neotribals, Vagabonds, Gutter Punks, Bar-
gain-Hunters, Starving Artists, Hollow Ones, Special Forces Ops
Suggested Specialties: Classified Ads, Freecycling, Food
Sources, Forgotten Corners, Shelter, Improvised Weapons,
Tech Sources, Digging Up Info
Style
You know how to look good. And although you’ve got an
eye for fashion, this Talent’s not so much about what you wear
as how you wear it. Style helps you make good impressions based
on clothes, bearing, behavior, and appearance… and while it’s
most obvious on pretty people, it can have striking effects on
those who otherwise look plain.
• Novice: Clothes horse.
•• Practiced: Sharp dresser.
••• Skillful: Professional model.
•••• Expert: Lady Gaga.
••••• Master: Queer Eye for the Mage Guy.
Possessed By: Pop Stars, Models, Royalty, Rich Folks,
Designers, Artists, Celebutants, Fashion Consultants, Spies
Suggested Specialties: Bohemian, Outrageousness, Classic
Style, High Fashion, Cosplay, Trend-Setting, Newest Looks,
Avant-Garde
Skills
Hard-won Abilities honed by study and practice, the
following Skills reflect specialized training that the average
person (even the average mage) does not possess. That said,
22 The Book of Secrets
anyone can acquire such skills with the proper instruction and
a dedicated pursuit of the field in question.
Blind Fighting
Either through training, meditation or grim necessity, you
can get around without sight even under extreme conditions.
Each dot in Blind Fighting reduces, by -1 per dot, your penalty
for performing actions while visually blinded. (It does not, of
course, give you a bonus for fighting in the dark, although
it certainly gives you an edge if your opponents are blind as
well.) This Skill does not give you the ability to see in darkness,
nor does it add to Correspondence Effects; it does, however,
reflect an extraordinary perception of your body and immediate
surroundings even when you cannot see.
For the Flaw related to visual impairment, see Impedi-
ment, pp. 39-40.
• Novice: You can move through a darkened
room without running into things.
•• Practiced: Through sound, you can figure out
where things and people are.
••• Skillful: Your opponents are as obvious to you
in the dark as they would be if you could see.
•••• Expert: You essentially “feel” the presence,
movements, and location of various obstacles
and opponents.
••••• Master: Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsman.
Possessed By: Blind Superheroes, Ninja, Martial Artists,
Assassins, Akashic Masters
Suggested Specialties: Dodging, Blind Strikes, Thrown
Objects, Zen Archery, Spatial Awareness, Multiple Foes
Climbing
The phrase “sheer surface” means less to you than it means
to most folks. You can scale walls, trees, mountains, and other
surfaces so long as you’ve got something to hold onto. Although
this Skill does not grant superhuman abilities, it’s really amazing
what a skilled climber can do, even without gear.
• Novice: You spend time at the local gym’s
climbing wall.
•• Practiced: Given gear or strong handholds,
you can scale and descend perilous surfaces.
••• Skillful: You’re an experienced climber on a
variety of surfaces.
•••• Expert: No gear? No problem.
••••• Master: Even without gear, you’re a human
gecko.
Possessed By: Freerunners, Burglars, Ninja, Hunters,
Outlaws, Rock-Climbers, Extreme Athletes, Active Kids, Folks
Raised in the Wilderness
Suggested Specialties: Brick Walls, Rocks, Trees, Ice,
Buildings, No Gear, Mountaineering
Disguise
Looking like someone else is your specialty. This might
involve impersonating an existing person, concealing your
own identity, or creating a whole new persona independent
of yourself. Even without Life or Mind magick, your expertise
can fool casual observers… and, at the higher levels, fool almost
anyone. Add Life and /or Mind to this Skill, and your disguise
skills can become damn near perfect. (For more details, see Im-
personating Other Beings in How Do You DO That?, p. 25.)
With or without make-up and such, the art of disguise depends
upon an ineffable quality that allows a person to slip into another
personality. A truly magnificent disguise-artist can change personas
with a few shifts of physicality, though most folks need make-up
and clothes to complete the illusion. Disguise means “remove
appearances,” and so the core of this Skill involves changing the
way you come across – not simply gluing on a moustache, but
appearing to become an entirely different person.
• Novice: Is that you?
•• Practiced: You can pass a brief inspec-
tion.
••• Skillful: You fool some of the people some of
the time.
•••• Expert: You fool most of the people most of
the time.
••••• Master: Given time and materials, you can
appear as almost anyone it’s physically possible
for you to resemble.
Possessed By: Spies, Clones, Actors, Ninja, Shapeshifters,
Fugitives, Undercover Cops, Infiltration Specialists
Suggested Specialties: Impersonation, Genderfuck, Per-
formance, Body Language, Alternate Identities, Improvised
Materials, Passing as the Other, Magickal Disguise
Elusion
You’re good at giving people the slip. With enough cover to
work with (crowds, underbrush, rooms filled with boxes, etc.),
you can shake pursuit, hide from observation, trick pursuers,
and blend in with the landscape. Cleverly employed, Elusion
can help you puzzle out new surroundings (Intelligence + Elu-
sion), confuse your pursuers (Manipulation + Elusion), spot
traps and hiding places (Perception + Elusion), duck quickly
behind cover (Dexterity + Elusion), and trick antagonists into
following false leads or falling into hazards (Wits + Elusion).
And, of course, you also know what to look for if someone
else is trying to hide from you… (Again, Perception + Elusion.)
In itself, this Skill is not magickal – it’s all about knowing
how to use your surroundings to your advantage. Certain
magickal Effects, however, can bend light and sound (the
Forces Sphere), shift probability (Entropy), influence bystand-
ers (Mind), or spot “perfect moments” (Time) that take your
mundane skill to the next level, often without so much as
rippling the Consensus.
• Novice: You can shake a casual pursuer.
•• Practiced: Folks tend to look for you where
you are not.
••• Skillful: It takes a pro to track you down.
•••• Expert: Even the pros have a hard time tracking
you down.
••••• Master: Where are you, you wascally wabbit?
Possessed By: Ninja, Hunters, Detectives, Shapeshifters,
Fugitives, Street Kids, Secret Agents, Special Forces Operatives
Suggested Specialties: Deep Forest, Crowds, Strange Ter-
rain, Misdirection, Manhunts, Nowhere To Hide… Except There!
Escapology
Through a combination of tricks, misdirection, muscular
control and really flexible joints, you can shuck most forms of
physical restraint. Ropes, chains, holds, and death-traps slow
you down, but… given time and perhaps a hidden lockpick or
two… you’ve figured out how to foil most of them. This Skill
does not confer any supernatural ability, although you can use
it to justify magickal escapes if your “audience” knows that
you’ve studied escapist techniques.
For the misnamed talent of being “double-jointed,” see
the Merit: Hyperflexible, p. 36.
• Novice: You can slip out of poorly-tied ropes
or simple holds.
•• Practiced: You give fits to the average dominant.
••• Skillful: “I’m sorry, officer – you must’ve
forgotten to lock those handcuffs.”
•••• Expert: Chains, locks, straitjackets… few of
them can hold you for long.
••••• Master: With a bit of time, you can escape just
about anything short of a locked bank vault.
Possessed By: Entertainers, Spies, Magicians’ Assistants,
Wiseass Submissives, Superheroes
Suggested Specialties: Handcuffs, Ropes, Magic Tricks,
“Impossible” Escapes, Fetish Bondage, Underwater, Hidden
Lockpicks, Wrestling Locks and Holds
Fast-Draw
You’re quick. They’re dead. A roll of Dexterity + Fast-
Draw (three successes or more) lets you pull a weapon and
have it ready to use. The roll’s difficulty depends on where
you’d been keeping that weapon stored – a hidden ankle-knife
is harder to draw than a pistol in an open holster! This Skill
works with any weapon, and can “explain” why that gun in
your hand just appeared from nowhere. With the Storyteller’s
approval, you can add the dots in this Skill to your Initiative
roll when either you or your opponent is trying to get in the
very first shot. (It does not, however, add to that roll after
the initial turn.)
Chapter One: Heroic Traits 23
• Novice: You fumble less than most folks do.
•• Practiced: Decent reflexes and a steady hand.
••• Skillful: Holy crap, you’re fast!
•••• Expert: “Fill your hands, you sonofabitch!”
••••• Master: Han didn’t shoot first – you did.
Possessed By: Knife-Fighters, Hitmen, Martial Artists,
Wild West Reenactment Buffs, Special Forces Ops, Vigilantes,
Showoffs
Suggested Specialties: Duels, Old-School Gunfights, Con-
cealed Weapons, Pistols, Swords, Knives, Ambushes
Fast-Talk
Weaving a blizzard of words, you dazzle folks with brilliant
bullshittery. A surprisingly effective tactic (assuming that your
target has a Wits rating of three or less; brighter folks are less
easily bamboozled), this Skill lets you overwhelm a person’s abil-
ity to understand or deflect your agenda. You’re so distracting,
convincing, or downright puzzling that people are inclined to
believe you… at least until they’ve had a chance to think about
what you’re saying. Deployed by a pundit, debater, salesman
or crook, Fast-Talk can be a devastating weapon.
• Novice: Street-corner hustler.
•• Practiced: Used-car salesman.
••• Skillful: Political pundit.
•••• Expert: Slick politician.
••••• Master: Master of puppets.
Possessed By: Activists, Evangelists, Blog-Trolls, Debaters,
Spies, Thieves, Con Artists, Sales Reps, Cult Leaders
Suggested Specialties: Politics, Religion, Obfuscation,
Hustling, Salesmanship, Turnabout, Confusion, Panhandling,
Getting Off the Hook
Fencing /Kenjutsu
The Art of the Blade, Fencing reflects expertise with an
array of European sword-and-dagger-fighting techniques, while
Kenjutsu reflects Japanese samurai swordsmanship. Other
cultural forms of bladed martial arts, such as Chinese wushu
weapon techniques, can be considered as “fencing” for the
purposes of dice pools and maneuvers; just change the name
to whatever art is appropriate for that character.
At its lowest levels, such knowledge is purely sporting;
an accomplished fencer or kendoka, though, can be deadly
in true hand-to-hand combat. As with most martial arts,
a dedicated study of swordsmanship includes philosophy,
meditation, vigorous exercise, and a refinement of mind,
body, and soul… which makes it an excellent magickal focus
technique. In game terms, this Skill lets a character use an
array of specialized combat maneuvers; see Expanded Combat
Systems: Advanced Weapon Techniques in Chapter Two,
pp. 106-111.
24 The Book of Secrets
• Novice: “The pointy end goes into the other
man.”
•• Practiced: Kikuchiyo or Elizabeth Swann.
••• Skillful: Katsushiro Okamoto or Elena Mon-
tero.
•••• Expert: Inigo or the Dread Pirate Roberts.
••••• Master: Ogami Itto or the Bride.
Possessed By: Renaissance Enthusiasts, Martial Artists,
Fight Choreographers, Entertainers, Refined Gentlemen,
Shakespearian Actors, Old-School Mages and Technocrats
Suggested Specialties: Sport Fencing, Stage Combat, Movie
Combat, Magickal Focus, Dirty Tricks, Florentine (two-bladed)
Style, Sabers, Practical Dueling, Fancy Stunts
Fortune-Telling /Assessment Analysis
Whether or not you actually possess accurate gifts of
prophecy, you often have folks believing that you do. Scanning
anything from cards to entrails to scripture verses, you can
convincingly predict future events, read a person, or other-
wise get someone to believe in your incredible prescience.
This makes an excellent instrument for Mind-, Entropy- or
Time-based magicks, although its believability (and thus, its
ability to be considered coincidental) will depend upon both
your audience and your own beliefs. A true believer will easily
accept an accurate Tarot reading, but a skeptic might prove far
harder to convince.
A Technocratic variation, Assessment Analysis, does exactly
the same thing but with a very different explanation. Instead of
using symbolic or religious trappings, such Analysis involves psy-
chological cues, deductive reasoning, body language, and other
methods to read a person’s inner landscape, predict potential
behaviors, or estimate the probabilities of future events. This
lets Assessment Specialists size people up at a glance, determine
accurate calculations, or strip away deceptions to perceive the
truth beneath them. In the modern world, this sort of thing
tends to be coincidental, so long as the Specialist can point out
cues or clues that might lead to a rational conclusion.
• Novice: You know your way around a single
divination method well enough to convince
people of what they want to hear.
•• Practiced: You’re pretty convincing with your
chosen method, and you understand one or
two other methods as well.
••• Skillful: You can rattle off credible readings
with a handful of different methods, and can
be frighteningly precise with your specialty.
•••• Expert: An expert at the means and principles
of divination (or analysis), you can assure most
people that you know what you’re talking about.
••••• Master: Your mastery of divinatory arts con-
vinces even hardened skeptics that you have
 special insight into the invisible world. Even if
you practice Analysis instead of absurd super-
stitionism, your insights are downright spooky.
Possessed By: New Agers, Street People, Neotribal
Vagabonds, Pagans, Starving Artists, Carnival Performers, As-
sessment Specialists, Detectives, Psychics, Profilers, So-Called
“Gypsies”
Suggested Specialties: Tarot, Palm-Reading, Bibliomancy,
Astrology, Threat /Risk Assessment, Deductive Reasoning,
Probability Calculation, Uncanny Hunch
Gambling
Games of nerve and chance are your specialties. Even
without the aid of Entropy Arts (which can add a devastating
edge to this Skill), you’re good at gauging odds, bluffing rivals,
spotting cheats, hedging bets, faking people out, and employing
the mind-games and slight-of-hand essential to card games,
betting, and apparently random luck.
• Novice: Poker-night shark.
•• Practiced: Vegas tourist.
••• Skillful: Professional gambler.
•••• Expert: High-roller.
••••• Master: “Your call, Mr. Bond…”
Possessed By: Gamblers, Hustlers, Con Artists, Tourists,
Gamers, Dealers, Pit Bosses, Gangsters, Syndicate Personnel,
Thanatoic Mages
Suggested Specialties: Poker, Roulette, High-Stakes Gam-
bling, Esoteric Games, Cheating, Casino Games, Horse Races,
Slot Machines, Dealing, Bluffing, Card-Counting, Entropic
Influence
Gunsmith
Shooting guns is easy. Knowing how guns work is a bit more
complicated. This Skill reflects a practical knowledge of weapon
manufacture, modification, design and repair. The various
levels cover expanding categories of firearms expertise. Given
time, tools, and enough dots in this Skill, you can fix guns,
craft firearms and unique ammo from scratch, and even use
Matter and Forces Effects to alter or supercharge mundane
firearms in surprising ways.
It’s worth noting that modern mass-produced firearms
are far easier to modify than antique or archaic weapons are.
Attempts to modify or repair older-model mass-produced
weaponry (pre-Vietnam), or small-run models of more recent
vintage, will add +1 or +2 to the difficulty of Gunsmith rolls,
while firearms from before the twentieth century add between
+1 to +3 to the difficulties of such attempts, depending upon
Chapter One: Heroic Traits 25
the complexity of the attempted modification. Shoddy weapons,
of course, will be harder to repair or modify; for more details,
see Inventing, Modifying, and Improving Technology in
Mage 20, pp. 463-464.
• Novice: Basic gun repair and minor modifica-
tions.
•• Practiced: Advanced modification of simple
firearms and ammunition.
••• Skillful: Extensive design, repair, and modifi-
cation experience with conventional firearms.
•••• Expert: Dazzling mastery of most gun and
ammunition types.
••••• Master: Mack Bolan comes to you for advice.
Possessed By: Cops, Soldiers, Spies, Assassins, Weap-
on Techs, Special Forces Personnel, Gun-Store Employees,
Survivalists, Firearm Enthusiasts, Militia Members, Weapon
Design Specialists
Suggested Specialties: Archaic Firearms, Military Arms,
Field Mods, Improvised Gear, Original Designs, Specialty
Ammo, Technomagickal Improvements
Heavy Weapons
Military-grade weaponry is a world apart from commer-
cial-grade firearms. Your training, however, allows you to employ
serious gear: machine-guns, rocket-launchers, Stinger missiles,
and other high-impact forms of portable destruction. Because
such weapons tend to be finicky, you know how to field-repair
them as well. Perhaps you even have your own YouTube channel,
for thrilling the armchair-testosterone set. (“Now that is what I
am talking about… And, as always, have nice day!”)
• Novice: Basic training.
•• Practiced: Field experience.
••• Skillful: Heavy-weapons specialist.
•••• Expert: Master of disaster.
••••• Master: Rambo.
Possessed By: Combat Vets, Special Forces Personnel,
Insurgents, Terrorists, Survivalists, SWAT Team Members,
Cyborgs, HIT Marks, Black Suits
Suggested Specialties: Shoulder-Mounted Missiles, Ma-
chine-Guns, Mortars, Desert Operations, Urban Combat,
Weapons-Based Technocratic Damage Procedures
Hunting
You score food old-school style: by tracking, trapping,
spotting, stalking, killing, gutting, skinning, and packing it
out yourself. Some folks think you’re a testosterone sadist, and
they might even be right. As far as you see it, though, you’re
keeping an essential skill alive. Especially among mages who
spend time in the wilderness or Otherworlds, this Skill means
the difference between being a live magus and a dead child of
the supermarket age!
26 The Book of Secrets
Like Art, Crafts, and other broad-set Abilities, Hunting
covers a field of related expertise. Each type of expertise demands
a given specialty. Unlike the Survival Skill, this secondary
Ability deals specifically with predatory skill-sets. You could use
its specialties to follow a target without being spotted (Shad-
owing), spot traces of your chosen prey (Tracking), dismantle
a dead body without spoiling the meat (Dressing the Kill),
and perform other feats that go beyond mere survival. These
specialties replace an array of secondary Abilities from earlier
editions of Mage. To be skilled with those disciplines, simply
purchase those specialties. Assuming your Storyteller’s consent,
the well-skilled craftsman option (Mage 20, p. 279) may apply.
• Novice: Weekend warrior.
•• Practiced: Rural native.
••• Skillful: Practical provider.
•••• Expert: Full-time hunter.
••••• Master: Ted Nugent wishes he were you.
Possessed By: Survivalists, Sportsmen, Country Folk, Kids
Raised by Old-School Parents, Wilderness Explorers, Witches,
Special Forces Experts, Vison-Questers, Vagabonds
Suggested Specialties: Shadowing, Tracking, Trapping,
Dressing the Kill, Minimal Gear, Traditional Practices,
Environmental Impact, Bow- or Spear-Hunting, Big Game,
Otherworldly Prey, Environments (woodlands, mountains,
jungles, cities, etc.)
Hypnotism
Using mundane psychological techniques (as opposed to
Mind-based magicks), you can place someone in a trance and
then rummage around a bit inside his head. Though it’s not
nearly as effective as people seem to believe it is, such mesmerism
is quite potent under the proper circumstances.
Mesmerism typically demands a setting that encourages
a subject to surrender himself to the hypnotist’s control;
traditionally hypnotic settings, tools, and techniques include
religious rituals, quiet clinics, repetitious music, dramatic con-
trasts of light and darkness, and – believe it or not – television
screens. Drawing the subject into a receptive state of mind, the
hypnotist gets him to lower his defenses and let her in. If the
subject resists, the hypnotist will probably need to resort to
Mind magicks rather than simple mesmerism.
System-wise, the player makes a resisted roll that pits her
Charisma + Hypnotism against her subject’s Intelligence (for
a willing subject) or Intelligence + Willpower (for an unwilling
subject). The number of successes reflects the depth of the
trance, with one to three successes indicating a mild trance
and four or more successes revealing a fairly deep one. For
each success rolled, the hypnotist adds one additional die to
her second roll; three successes, for example, would add three
more dice to that second roll’s dice pool.
Next, the hypnotist player rolls a second time against a
difficulty of the subject’s Willpower; for each success, she man-
ages to uncover one piece of information; instill one “trigger
phrase”; inspire one idea, behavior or memory that the subject
will think is his own; “command” one simple activity; or reduce
the difficulty a related Mind-based spell by -1. This process,
in turn, takes roughly one minute of in-game time per task
involved. (It would, for instance, take four minutes to instill
four triggers or memories.) Contrary to popular perception,
short sessions of hypnotic influence cannot drive a person to
commit things he wouldn’t do otherwise. Extended influence,
on the other hand, can be surprisingly efficacious.
Hypnotism is a psychological art, not an exact science.
Its effects are unpredictable – not even “experts” can fully
control another person’s mind without hardcore Mind-magick.
Ultimately, the Storyteller decides how much influence our
mesmerist exerts upon her subject. That said, a skilled hypnotist
can do some pretty impressive things with a willing subject…
especially if she’s adept with the Mind Sphere as well.
• Novice: You can do some basic parlor tricks.
•• Practiced: You’ve studied professional mes-
merism techniques.
••• Skillful: A devotee of the art, you can uncover
or inspire surprising results.
•••• Expert: It’s scary just how much you can do
when you set someone else’s mind to it.
••••• Master: Dr. Caligari was a fraud. You are not.
Possessed By: Psychologists, Therapists, Past-Life Regres-
sionists, Stage Magicians, Interrogators, PsychOps, Nephandic
Tempters and Corrupters
Suggested Specialties: Uncovering Secrets, Unlocking
Inhibitions, Discovering Past Lives, Behavior Modification,
False Memories, Post-Hypnotic Suggestion
Jury-Rigging
With a bit of luck and a lot of skill, you can rig a gadget,
make temporary repairs, or cobble together something vaguely
workable from a pile of spare parts. Naturally, you’ll need the
appropriate Traits as well – stuff like Hypertech, Computers,
Energy Weapons, and so forth. You can’t rig something you don’t
understand. A brilliant technician, though, can make gear jump
through hoops long enough to get through an immediate crisis.
Clever technomancers can also use Jury-Rigging as part of
their focus if they’ve got something to work with and enough
time to make things happen. (See Mundane Skills and Magickal
Effects in Mage 20, pp. 532-534.) That said, this is a Skill, not
a Sphere; it can’t do something blatantly impossible on its own.
Whether or not a Jury-Rigged device is vulgar magick depends
on just how outlandish it seems. An armored suit made out of
forged steel and weapon-parts? Okay. A flying car composed of
Frisbees and dog treats? Um, no.
For game-system details about this sort of thing,
see Inventing, Modifying, and Improving Technology in
Mage 20, pp. 463-464.
• Novice: Garage tinkerer.
•• Practiced: Mr. Fixit.
••• Skillful: Field gadgeteer.
•••• Expert: MacGyver.
••••• Master: Tony Friggin’ Stark.
Possessed By: Cyborgs, Field Ops, Inventors, Superheroes,
HIT Marks, Mad Scientists, Q Division Personnel
Suggested Specialties: Scraps, Repairs, Found Objects,
Field Modifications, “How’d You do That?”
Microgravity Operations
Things get weird when you leave Earth’s gravity. Although
there’s no such thing as true “zero-G,” the radically altered
gravitational forces found in strange Realms, spacecraft or
Etherspace demand specialized training and experience.
Without the Microgravity Operations Skill, a character in such
environments cannot use dice from any Physical Ability; sure,
he’s still strong or dexterous, but that martial arts training won’t
do him a damn bit of good when the physics upon which those
arts depend have been replaced by micro-gravity.
A rare skill-set outside the ranks of Technocratic Void En-
gineers, Microgravity Operations teaches you how to move and
act in altered gravity. Each dot in this Skill allows your character
to use a dot in his other physical Abilities. Let’s say that the guy
mentioned above has four dots in Martial Arts; he could use
one of them at Microgravity 1, two at Microgravity 2, and so
on. Without such training, a person bounces and floats with
very little control of personal physics; with this Skill, that same
person knows how to use that environment to his advantage.
• Novice: Don’t hyperventilate and don’t
throw up.
•• Practiced: You’re good so long as you have
something to hang on to.
••• Skillful: It feels weird, but you’ve started to
get the hang of things.
•••• Expert: You move almost as well in micro-G
as you do on Earth.
••••• Master: You’ve spent so much time in space
that you’re not sure what earthly gravity feels
like anymore.
Possessed By: Void Engineers, Astronauts, Ethernauts,
Space Marines
Suggested Specialties: Low-G, Micro-G, Vacuum Suit,
Combat, Extra-Vehicular Maneuvers
Misdirection
“Look! Over there!” Okay, you’re usually more subtle than
that. Still, you’re good at distracting folks from what you’re ac-
tually trying to do. An essential skill for magicians, pickpockets,
seducers, and other people who prefer to redirect attention,
this Ability helps you steer someone’s concentration elsewhere.
Chapter One: Heroic Traits 27
 In a fight, this Skill also helps you set someone up
for an unpleasant surprise. Each success in a Dexterity +
Misdirection roll (difficulty 5 + the target’s Wits) lowers the
difficulty of your next strike. Essentially, you throw a fake-
out, your opponent responds, and you clock him. Similar
applications of this Skill let you set up distractions and then
do something else when your target’s back is turned… in
game terms, reducing the difficulty of your next roll if you
succeed with a Misdirection attempt. Naturally, this sort
of trick stops working if you rely upon it too often. Each
subsequent attempt with the same target (or group of targets)
raises your Misdirection difficulty by +2. Dude – they’re on
to you! Time to try a different tactic…
• Novice: “My God – what’s that?”
•• Practiced: “Nothing up my sleeves…”
••• Skillful: “What about that guy over there?”
•••• Expert: “You mean this hand…?”
••••• Master: “These aren’t the droids you’re looking
for…”
Possessed By: Stage Magicians, Hustlers, Thieves, Con
Artists, Martial Artists, Dirty Fighters
Suggested Specialties: Confusion, Feints, Passing the
Buck, Over There, Psych!
Networking
You’re good at making contacts and working them for all
they’re worth. While these networks won’t actually act on your
behalf (certain Backgrounds cover that sort of thing), they’re
real lifesavers when you’re trying to assemble data (Perception +
Networking), get something done (Manipulation + Networking),
or win someone over (Charisma or Appearance + Networking)
through your various contacts. Simple tasks have lower difficul-
ties, while obscure or difficult tasks demand much better rolls
– or, in story terms, a more thorough and dedicated network.
Networking demands time, access, and attention. Although
cell phones and laptops can link you to your contacts in most
tech-enabled locations, you still need to spend time reaching
out and maintaining your network. Occasionally, they’ll ask you
for favors too – you get nothing for nothing, after all! The nice
thing, though, about extensive networks is that the people in
them have a greater ability to help one another when need be.
• Novice: You’ve got some friends who know
some friends.
•• Practiced: You know how to sweet-talk certain
gatekeepers.
••• Skillful: You know who to talk to and how to
talk to them.
•••• Expert: With two hours and a phone, you
work wonders.
••••• Master: Access to almost anyone is just a matter
of time.
28 The Book of Secrets
Possessed By: Syndicate Ops, Sales Reps, Schmooze Mas-
ters, Agents, PR Consultants, Research Assistants, Personal
Assistants, Journalists, Editors, Bloggers, Activists
Suggested Specialties: Research, Politics, Celebrities,
Contact Info, Favors, Tickets, Dirt, the Underworld
Pilot
Most folks, when confronted with the complex control
panels of conventional aircraft, don’t have the slightest idea
where to start. You do. Training and experience allow you to
fly, land, and control most types of Sleepertech flying machines;
the higher your rating, the more sophisticated the craft.
• Novice: Small prop planes.
•• Practiced: Private jets.
••• Skillful: Commercial aircraft.
•••• Expert: Military war machines.
••••• Master: Damn near anything.
Possessed By: Pilots, Commandos, Daredevils, Transport
Techs
Suggested Specialties: Helicopters, Jets, Vintage Aircraft,
Jet Fighters, Stunts, Combat, Hovercraft, Emergencies
Psychology /Psychoanalysis
Versed in the practice of clinical psychology, you can help
folks deal with mental and emotional ailments. Also known
as Psychoanalysis, this Trait takes time and trust to deploy –
you can’t cure phobias during a firefight! Given the space and
opportunity to work your craft, though, you can win someone’s
confidence and then help him sort out the traumas in his head.
For each session of focused psychoanalysis, roll Intelligence
+ Psychoanalysis, with a difficulty of the subject’s Intelligence +
3. If he’s resisting your efforts, use Manipulation or Charisma
+ Psychoanalysis, with a difficulty of his Willpower + 3 (max
10). Each success counts toward at least a temporary resolution
of an illness or neurosis. Simple quirks are easy to fix (five to
10 successes), while severe mental illness can be much harder
(20 successes or more).
On the shadow-side, the same techniques can be used to
instill mental quirks and illnesses – false memories, induced
phobias, that sort of thing. This application assumes that the
subject is resisting you subconsciously (Willpower +3), but can
still be quite effective if your patient trusts you. The Satanic ritual
abuse panic of the ‘80s and ‘90s came largely from dishonest
psychologists “leading” their patients to “discover” things that
had never actually happened. Corrupters, seducers, and “con-
version specialists” study psychoanalysis for that very reason.
Whether you’re trying to help or harm someone, Mind
magick obviously helps with this sort of thing. (Again, see
Mundane Skills and Magickal Effects in Mage 20, as well as
the Uncanny Influence section of How Do You DO That?,
pp. 114-136) Thus, “miracle cures” can be explained by your
reputation as a skilled psychotherapist.
• Novice: A trusted shoulder to cry on.
•• Practiced: High-school guidance counselor.
••• Skillful: Professional therapist.
•••• Expert: Acclaimed authority.
••••• Master: Miracle-worker.
Possessed By: Therapists, Counselors, Caregivers, Inter-
rogators, Teachers, Healers, Mind-Crackers, Clergy
Suggested Specialties: NLP, Freudian Techniques, Jungian
Approach, Ancestral Tradition, Childhood Trauma, Abuse
Survivors, False Memory Syndrome, Seduction, Subversion,
Extreme Mental Illness, Criminal Psychology

Security
Locks are for morons. In our high-tech era, anything worth
keeping is guarded by advanced security systems. As a specialist
in such systems, you can analyze, install, access, and – when
necessary – subvert or disable them. A common vocation
among Technocratic operatives and their enemies, this Skill
handles networks that turn a sneak-thief’s world upside-down.
In game terms, this Ability lets you set up, maintain,
and infiltrate elaborate security installations: video cameras,
laser-triggers, pressure-sensitive plates, and so on. Obviously,
such tasks demand time and focus, plus the occasional bit of
magick or Enlightened procedure. Given the intricate technol-
ogy involved in security networks, other Abilities in Mage 20,
Chapter Six (Computer, Hypertech, Technology, and so forth)
often come into play as well; the Security Skill could tell you
where to place the cameras, but it won’t help you hack their
monitoring network! Appropriate task rolls include Perception
+ Security (to scope out the system), Intelligence + Security (to
install or disable a system), Wits + Security (to spot hidden
cameras or tricks), or even Dexterity + Security (to perform the
famous Hollywood dodge-the-laser-sensors-with-fancy-moves stunt).
For rule systems related to security networks, see the
Computer Systems presented in Chapter Two, pp. 116-127.
• Novice: You’ve skimmed some manuals.
•• Practiced: Trained on one side of the law.
••• Skillful: Trained on both sides of the law.
•••• Expert: You’ve designed (or defeated) extensive
networks.
••••• Master: Catwoman.
Possessed By: Infiltration Experts, Spies, Technicians,
Security Specialists, Special Agents, High-Tech Thieves
Suggested Specialties: Computer Systems, Laser Arrays,
Cat Burglary, Containment Traps, Video Surveillance Networks

Speed-Reading
Through a combination of concentration and skill, you
can scan and retain large amounts of information in very short
periods of time. Speed reading utilizes a number of tricks that
help you process things you read quickly. Although complex

Chapter One: Heroic Traits 29