PRODUCERS Jon Egia Bengoetxea
Helio de Grado Fernández
GAME DESIGNERS/DEVELOPERS Carlos Gómez Quintana
Mauricio Gómez Alonso
Helio de Grado Fernández
GAME DESIGN COLLABORATORS Jacob Torgerson
Vidya Bodepudi
Román Gómez Serrano
Javier Gómez Serrano
Mehdi Ben Slama
Kurunandan Jain Kasper Luiten Stephany Jaiquel Douglas Peacocke James Robinson Virginia Tapia WRITERS Carlos Gómez Quintana
Mauricio Gómez Alonso
ADDITIONAL WRITING E. G. Quinzel
Mike Foster
COPY EDITOR Jeffrey Lee
COMMUNITY MANAGER Jon Egia Bengoetxea
LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER Aleksandra Bilic
ART DIRECTOR Carlos Gómez Quintana
LEAD ARTIST Milan Nikolic ARTISTS Vukasin Bajic Aleksa Bracic Marco Brunelleschi James Combridge Shen Fei Eduardo García Ivan Jovanovic Lukasz Poduch Tyler Ryan Yong Yi Lee Zabi Hassan Dhenzel Obeng Hakeem Rafai J. R. Barker FEATURED ARTIST Anthony Jones An RPG by Burning Games.
fai th r ule bo ok 3 HONORARY PLAYTESTERS
Sergio Pesquera Valadés Diego Río Gimeno Alejandro Pila Vigalondo Kylee Gilpin Eugene Tan Joshua Casey-Rosa Luke Challenger Lucas Artist FEEDBACK HEROES
Carlos Pesquera Alonso Stephany Jaiquel Barón Daniel Tarrio Quintela Victor Centeno González José Carlos Tarrio Quintela Jose María Sainz Maza Scott Rhymer Jim Sorenson Keneal Swenson Matthew Moorman Ben Ramjan Dave Desi
Adam Guarino-Watson “Urutsini” Tau Kaulima
Koen Agterberg Simon Butt Vorawat Kongsupol
Joeri “Captain Cutlass” Winkeler Che “UbiquitousRat” Webster Pascal Slaghekke Matthias De Ridder Sascha Kersten Tomáš Přibyl Timothy Claeys Chad
Mario Gómez Ortega Daniwasd
Rodrigo Ben Bergeron James Jimbo Burrell Tsair EthicalLapse Hida Fushu Mark Niven oddment84 Undead_Ichi Chadnic Alshaffer Phill winters
Ash ‘Nightfever’ Burgum Timothy Adan Antroia Caronte77 blaster219 Mark C. Salvador Peter Cobcroft Joel
Jak Van Der Graaf Jacob Thompson Mike Foster Eric Oliver
Camdon Wright Chantiel Amadis Kariont Pedro Calvo Morcillo Kenneth Trombley Baradaelin Nathaniel Ott Adam Klein Svein Frazer Barnard Brandon Manning Orden Novaliega Panda Juan Alonso Harrio Joe Becci Donovan Derry David Vicente Carlos Gutiérrez Miguel Cobo SPECIAL THANKS Aritz Alava
Laura Calvo Llorente
Bojan Simisic - Whale Shark Studio Milos Nikolic
Gabe Shultz John d’Auteuil
James Mathe - Minion Games Jamey Stegmaier - Stonemaier Games Ben, Dave, Josh and Tau - The Nerd Cave Oscar Muñiz - Nexus 4
5 49 52 79 57 93 65 97 9 33 18 43 25 45 103
Components and Introduction
The General Rules
The Characters
The Attributes and Skills
The Upgrades
The Non-Player Characters (NPC)
The Gear
Advice for the GM
The Universe of Faith
The Gods
The Corvo
The Iz’kal
The Humans
The Raag
The Ravager
TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
fai th r ule bo ok Com pon en ts a nd In tr od uc ti on 5
COMPONENTS
NEURAL DAMAGE TOKEN Use these tokens to keep track of neural damage on the characters.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE TOKEN Use these tokens to keep track of physical damage on the characters. AFFINITY TOKEN Use an Affinity token to establish the Affinity of your character. Each symbol corresponds to a suit of the player cards.
GOD TOKEN
Use a God token to establish the God of your character. Each symbol represents one of the five Gods.
CHARACTER TOKEN
Use a character token to represent your character within the game. The token chosen establishes the species and gender of your character, while giving you and the other players a visual clue of your approximate look.
AMMO TOKEN Use these tokens to keep track of how much ammo does a weapon have at all times.
ACS DAMAGE TOKEN Use these tokens to keep track of ACS damage on the characters and their devices. NAME TOKENS Use these name tokens to record the name, age and the profession of your character.
UPGRADE TOKENS Use these tokens to establish the Upgrades your character has. Each symbol corresponds to the type of Upgrade. NUMERICAL TOKEN
Use these numerical tokens to establish the value of your character’s Skills and Attributes.
FAITH: The Sci-fi RPG is an RPG that uses boardgame components to ease its use and streamline its gameplay. Find below a description of the different tokens you will use during your campaigns.
fai th r ule bo ok Com pon en ts a nd In tr od uc tion 6
COMPONENTS
FOREWORD
FAITH is a roleplaying game. A roleplaying game consists of two main parts: the narrative, and the mechanical. The narrative part of the game is where players perform the roles of their characters alongside a Game Master (GM), who describes the actions of non-player characters and the worlds around them. The mechanical part of the game is a system of rules used to discover the outcomes of the players’ actions. The rules serve as a tool to keep the gameplay realistic and coherent within the universe of the game.
WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY
The FAITH: Core Game box comes with everything you need to play for a group of up to four players. This is what you need to play FAITH:
◊ Players, any number of them. One will play as the
GM and the rest will be characters. While there is no actual limit to the number of players, it is best played with three to six. Remember, everyone should have the opportunity to shine and feel included: the bigger the group, the harder that is. If the group is too large, we recommend breaking it into two groups with two different GMs. The GMs could be running parallel stories and characters could move from one to the other. There are no real limits to what you can do while playing an RPG.
◊ A player deck per player. It can be replaced by a
poker deck, translating the suits to their respec-tive meanings in FAITH (though it might not look as beautiful). The playing cards are used to resolve actions during the game.
◊ One character board per player (the GM does not
need one). As an alternative, you may also use a printed character sheet, like in many other RPGs. It is used to keep track of each player’s character. You can find four pregenerated characters in the punchboards that you can use if you want to start playing right away.
Additionally, while not essential, the FAITH: Core Game contains some very useful additional resources:
◊ A deck of gear cards that hold all the information about each piece of equipment. The players, with the approval of the GM, can make up their own gear to expand this deck, but it contains most of the basic equipment you might need.
◊ A deck of non-player characters. Some NPCs will
be friendly, others will be simple bystanders, and still others will want to talk to you, negotiate, and trade… but there are always a few that will want to fight you. This deck has all the information needed to fight some of these NPCs.
◊ Assorted tokens, used to represent damage, am-munition, etc. These tokens allow players to focus on roleplaying, making the flow of gameplay smoother.
CORE CONCEPTS
The game of FAITH is based around two main ideas:
Roleplaying is mostly based upon social interactions between the players. The personality and body of knowl-edge of a character should not be imposed by rules, but by playing the role of that character.
We ask our players to get into the role of the person they have imagined because while it is harder to pretend to be another person than to use game mechanics to solve social interactions, we believe that it is far more interesting and fun. Getting better at it by playing is what keeps bringing us to the table to get into the skin of a space adventurer or a deviant hacker.
We have included a mechanic in the game to reward good roleplay. The Gods represent moral paths, and players who continuously roleplay following their chosen morality are rewarded with powers and glory. Players whose charac-ters’ personalities are not consistent will not be able to access those special abilities.
Roleplaying should be a narrative experience where the characters usually perform all their actions successfully and the players will only need to stop to use the mechanics of the game when the possibility of failing is dramatically interesting.
For this reason most actions in this game are suc-cessful by default. Starting Skills with a value of 0 make characters more interesting by not allowing them to do everything well. While the GM’s job is to have characters fail some actions, they should only do it when it is dramatic and interesting. This creates a streamlined and cinematic gameplay in which the players will not be checking rules every time they decide to do something, and at the same time they must be careful whenever the GM decides to confront them.
Why Cards?
Most RPGs use dice to add randomness into the game. We have decided to use playing cards instead.
fai th r ule bo ok Com pon en ts a nd In tr od uc ti on 7
FAITH, the players play cards from their hands, always choosing which card they play. This allows players to cal-culate their chances of success when it is their turn and to create a strategy accordingly. We believe this is an interest-ing alternative to rollinterest-ing dice to resolve actions.
Additionally, the beautifully illustrated cards of FAITH put the art of the game on the table and in front of the players at all times. They create an immersive experience and allow players to familiarise themselves with the universe of the game, which can be especially hard in a sci-fi setting.
Lastly, we have decided to put important pieces of gear and many NPCs on cards as well. With it, we aim to keep players from constantly checking the rulebook to see what they can and can’t do, and remind them of the gear they are carrying. By including illustrations in all these cards, we aim to keep players immersed in the stories they are playing, easing the difficult experience of mentally recreat-ing an interestrecreat-ing science fiction story.
What are Actions?
Everything a character does is an action. In FAITH, actions are usually successful by default. However, actions may fail if a character is really unskilled, if the GM thinks it is interesting for the story, or if someone being affected by it does not want it to happen. These situations are resolved by playing cards, sometimes in confrontation with other characters, or with the GM.
INTRODUCTION
A roleplaying game, in its simplest form, is a collabora-tive storytelling experience, with players getting into the role of characters and saying what their characters do in the universe created by the Game Master (GM).
When playing FAITH, each player controls a character except for the GM, who narrates the story and plays the part of all non-player characters (NPCs). Each player will design his own character, including his backstory, Attrib-utes, Skills and Upgrades.
Before the beginning of the game, decide who will be the GM.
THE GAME MASTER
In this rulebook, we will always refer to the GM in feminine form and to the rest of the players in masculine form. This will allow some rules to be clearer and more easily understood.
The GM is a storyteller; she is the person in charge of eve-rything other than the player characters themselves. She
creates a story for them to play or follows a story created for the setting. The GM sets the goals for the characters and she is in charge of creating drama around the events that will lead the story onwards.
The GM controls all the non-player characters, sets their personalities and interests, decides their actions, and says what they say, even imitating voices (or not). She describes the scenarios where the players find themselves, she makes up how they can interact with them, etc. It is also her task to determine how the actions of the players impact the story. Additionally, she is the arbiter of all rules. If the group cannot find a solution for a problem the GM always has the final word. She should try to use this responsibility for the better of the story, preventing players from getting caught up discussing rules.
In the end, it all comes down to creating an interesting story that everyone can enjoy, and to have fun together.
THE CHARACTERS
The players who are not the GM play the main characters of the story. They are in charge of playing the role of the characters they have created: performing their dialogues, making the decisions their characters would make, and playing out the relevant mechanics of the game when needed, to see if they are successful in their endeavours.
Each player controls a single character and develops in depth who that person is and what he wants. What is his struggle? What are his dreams? The more compelling a character is, the more rewarding the experience of playing that character is. Interesting people attract other interest-ing people. Players are encouraged to talk about the history of their characters and how they imagine them. Together, they can create an amazing group of characters that will experience great adventures.
SESSIONS & SCENES
A game of FAITH can be as long as its players want, so it needs to be divided into sessions and scenes. A session is simply the allocated time frame for playing the game during a specific day. After each session, the players must keep their hands of cards, discard piles and decks for the next session, as it affects the development of their characters.
Scenes are the different situations that the characters of the story might get into. Usually scenes involve the achievement or failure of a certain goal, or a point during which there is a break long enough between actions that the characters have a chance to rest. They are similar to scenes in films. The GM determines the beginning and end of a scene in a way that fits the story.
fai th r ule bo ok The G ene ral R ul es 9
SETTING UP
THE GAME
All players and the GM will have one deck of 54 playing cards each (four suits plus two jokers). These cards are used to change the odds during confrontations, allowing characters to perform heroic deeds or causing them to fail miserably.
At the beginning of the game, all players will give their joker cards to the GM, who will shuffle them into her own deck. This is the only instance when cards from different decks can be mixed. From this point on, each player must make sure to keep his cards separated from those of other players.
When they begin the first session, the players and the GM will shuffle their decks and draw seven cards. Upon drawing the starting hand, each player can perform a mulligan, drawing a new hand and shuffling the previous one back into his deck.
Players can only play or discard cards from their hands, unless specifically stated otherwise. Therefore, whenever a rule asks for a player to play or discard a card, he will have to choose one from his hand of cards and play it or discard it. It is always be up to the player which card from his hand he plays or discards.
Players cannot draw or discard cards at will, and they cannot shuffle or mix previously used cards into the deck. Whenever a card is played it is placed in the discard pile of its owner, usually set up next to the deck face up. When the last card of the deck has been drawn, the discard pile must be shuffled to set up a new deck.
Players must always follow the rules to play and draw cards during confrontations. A player may discard a card only when stated by a rule, and discarding a card will never trigger effects related to playing cards, such as Proficiency or Playing with Ambience.
If at any time a player does not have any cards in his hand, he must draw a card. If that card is drawn during a confrontation, it cannot be played until that confrontation has been resolved.
OS SUIT
CARD SUITS
There are four suits in the deck: Urban, Wilderness, Space and Operating System (OS), which relate to the types of environments where the characters might be. The use of the suits is described in Playing with Ambience. Regular poker cards can be used following this correlation between the suits: Urban is Hearts, Wilderness is Clubs, Space is Spades and OS is Diamonds. The value of the Aces is one.
Urban includes the environments where the landscape has been heavily modified by a rational species. Wilder-ness includes the environments where the landscape is of natural origin. Space includes the environments in free fall or 0-G. Lastly, OS includes virtual spaces inside computers, regardless of their actual physical location.
If it is hard to determine the type of environment where the character is (like an abandoned ruined city overgrown by a jungle) it will be the GM who makes the choice. In the previous example, it would make sense that if the character wishes to climb a ruined building, then he is considered in an Urban environment, but if he wishes to hide in the bushes, he is in Wilderness.
Court Cards
Each deck has 12 court cards. They are the three cards of each suit with a value of 11 or higher. Court cards are important for achieving critical successes.
ACTIONS
Actions are the things a character can do, from shooting a weapon to playing piano. All actions are performed using a Skill that represents the character’s knowledge in that area, and an Attribute that represents his related capacity (See Attributes and Skills for more details on the specific uses of each of them).
Any action attempted by a character is automatically
successful for as long as it is a realistic action. If the action
is absurd, such as reading an unknown language or lifting a 200-ton spaceship, the GM must prohibit said action. The character may appeal, but he must be reminded that off-limit actions can break the gameplay. The GM’s judgment and dissuasive power must lead the gameplay forward.
NATURE SUIT In a poker deck use Clubs.
URBAN SUIT In a poker deck use Hearts.
SPACE SUIT
fai th r ule bo ok The G ene ral R ul es 10
Logical actions can only be prevented from happen-ing through confrontations. Confrontations are the main mechanic of FAITH. Actions that are confronted must have an action value higher than the confronting action to succeed. Depending on the difference in their values, they can have different levels of success. An action that is not confronted will have the level of success that the character performing it wishes.
Some pieces of equipment and Upgrades have the keyword action in their descriptions. Those pieces of equip-ment and Upgrades require the character to dedicate an action to use them. The Skill that should be used depends on the specific piece of equipment or Upgrade.
When it is not important to keep track of time, actions can be chained together one after the other. However, in situations during which timing is essential, an initiative
round must take place and each character is only allowed
to perform a single action per round unless other special rules apply.
Sometimes it will be hard to distinguish between a single action and a chain of actions very well linked. It is not the purpose of this rulebook to provide a list of specific actions, as nearly anything can happen in a roleplaying game and such a list will never be comprehensive enough. However, players should try to stick to a few guidelines to describe their actions.
Actions should only need one verb to be described. If the word “and” is included, the character is probably trying to perform two or more actions linked to each other and he will probably need several turns to be able to do that. Here is a basic template to describe actions:
“I [verb] [preposition if needed] [target]”
Example: I shoot the guard. I move behind cover.
I dodge towards the door. I hack Ed’s thermal visor. I reload my weapon.
To keep the game realistic and organic, characters are allowed to move up to 2.5 metres while performing an action.
OPPOSING AN ACTION
In FAITH, actions are automatically successful unless someone chooses to oppose them, be it another charac-ter trying to avoid their effects or the GM decharac-termining an accident or mishap. Such oppositions are resolved through confrontations.
Generally, characters involved in a confrontation will have the chance to play a number of cards depending on
their Attributes, which are added to their relevant Skill to determine their action value. The character with the highest action value will succeed and all opposing characters will fail.
COLLABORATIVE ACTIONS
A collaborative action is a single action that is performed by more than one character. During a collaborative action, all participating players play as a single character who has an Attribute value equal to the highest relevant At-tribute amongst participating players, and who has a Skill value equal to the lowest Skill used amongst participat-ing players. Only participatparticipat-ing characters can play cards during a collaborative action. Additionally, they gain one advantage for each character participating in the action after the first.
Two characters or more holding closed a door while a huge creature tries to open it to get to them; two characters operating a double-pilot space-ship through the debris of a space battle; several characters lifting a hurt companion to get him to safety, etc. Remember that a collaborative action must always be a single action. A character opening a door with a kick so his friend can throw a grenade in is not a single action and therefore it cannot be considered a collaborative action, but two normal actions that need to be well chained together to succeed.
Example: Rick and Morty are piloting their
space-ship through a ring of asteroids, Rick is piloting and Morty is using the plasma turret. Their ship is very easy to manoeuvre, so they gain one advantage. The GM claims they are about to be hit by an asteroid and they decide to confront it collaboratively as it will affect both of them. While Rick will swerve the ship to the left, Morty will shoot at the left side of the asteroid to divert its path, increasing the chances of avoiding the impact. They are both trying to avoid being hit by the asteroid. The GM agrees that it is a collaborative action. Rick uses his Link 2 (he is cortex connected to the ship) and Piloting 2. Morty uses his Dexterity 3 and Ballistic 5. For this action they can collaboratively play 3 cards with an initial action value of 2 and they have 2 advantages (one from the ship and another one from the collabora-tive action). The GM can play 3 cards with an initial value of 0 and has 2 advantages. Every time Rick and Morty can play a card, either one of them can play it.
fai th r ule bo ok The G ene ral R ul es 11
PASSIVE ACTIONS
Passive actions are those that either do not require effort from characters or are related to what characters can perceive and therefore do not require that they declare it. Hiding and searching are passive actions and it is up to the GM to determine when other actions may be so as well.
One passive action can be performed in addition to
a normal action during a single turn. When performing
passive actions the character may play cards from the top of his deck instead of his hand, or a combination of both from his hand and the top of his deck.
Example: Yong performs a passive action
(Searching), looking into a dark tunnel to figure out if there is any danger before he enters. He is using his Mind 2 with an initial action value equal to his Survival 7 and he has no advantages. The GM con-fronts the action, she can play 2 cards, the same as the character she is confronting, with an initial action value of 0, and she has 2 advantages. Yong is in Inferiority so he can play one card less than usual. The GM plays a 7 and now Yong has to play a card. He can choose to play it from the top of his deck or from his hand. He does not want to reduce the number of cards in his hand, so he plays a random card from the top of his deck, a 3. His final action value is 10 and the GM can play one more card. Will she force his failure or will she let him see whether danger lies ahead…?
ADDITIONAL EFFECTS
Sometimes, characters use pieces of equipment or Upgrades that can complement their actions or change their outcomes. These pieces of equipment or Upgrades have effects that can affect actions in different ways and, depending on their type, they are resolved differently.
Passive
Passive effects are always in use and they always trigger when they are applicable. Their use is not optional and they must be applied if at all possible. All characteristics and Upgrades are passive unless specified otherwise.
Activated
Activated effects can only be used simultaneously with an action performed by the character that owns them, although they still apply if the action fails. Only one activat-ed effect can be usactivat-ed during each action by each character. If an activated effect has several functions, the character can decide to use any number of them at the same time.
Instant
Effects with the keyword instant can be used at any time, even during another character’s turn. Only one instant effect can be used during each action by each character.
Sustained
Sustained effects are considered activated on all accounts, but they remain active until the character decides to stop them, becomes Traumatised, becomes Bleeding out, or dies. A character with an active sustained effect can not discard any neural damage during the maintenance phase.
CONFRONTATIONS
Confrontations are the core mechanic of the game. If an action has a chance of failure, it will likely be resolved through a confrontation. Confrontations are the only instance during which characters can play cards.
Confrontations arise when a character declares an action, and whoever is affected by it declares he wants to act against it. Alternatively, the GM, representing difficulty or bad luck, creates a confrontation when she tries to force the action to fail.
It is not recommended to resolve actions related to dialogue and deduction by using cards. In these cases, the best option for a deeper game immersion is to let each character play his role in order to obtain the informa-tion or agreement he needs throughout interacinforma-tion with other players and NPCs. In case of not reaching an agree-ment, these situations can be resolved with a Cunning confrontation.
CONFRONTATIONS
WITH THE GM
When a character performs an action, the GM can confront him to try to stop the character from succeeding. During a confrontation with the GM, she counts as having the same Attributes and Affinity as the character she is confronting, and her opposition counts as an action for all resolution purposes. The GM does not have a Skill value but she does not receive a disadvantage for it. Additionally, she always has 2 advantages that can be overcome as normal.
In these situations, the GM acts as bad luck or an accident happening. If the GM wins the confrontation, the action will be unsuccessful and it is recommended that she explains how the action failed. If she scores a critical success, there can be an interesting or dangerous reason for the failure.
fai th r ule bo ok The G ene ral R ul es 12
CONFRONTATIONS
BETWEEN CHARACTERS
When a character is going to be affected by an action and he is aware of it, he may decide to confront that action. He must explain what action he is performing as a counter-measure and determine what Skill and Attribute his action relates to.
A countermeasure must be able to make the confronted action fail: by damaging the attacker’s target; by affecting his senses, capacities or equipment; by getting the charac-ter into a position where the action he is confronting cannot reach him, etc.
A Hacking action can be stopped by hacking the rig that is being used to attempt the attack, or a character can be stopped from hitting his target by blinding him.
If there is conflict about the appropriateness of an action as a countermeasure in a confrontation, the GM must decide if it is appropriate or not before allowing the players to resolve the confrontation. If it is not, the confronting character can attempt a different action or be affected by the action as normal.
ACTION VALUE
The action value is an action’s numerical value. There are several things that can modify the value of an action and its final value will affect the outcome of the confrontation and determine its winner.
Skills
All actions relate to a Skill. The Skill value is added to the action value. Additionally, if the Skill value of a character is 0 he will suffer a disadvantage (-).
DAMAGE
Skill values are reduced by one per damage counter (both physical and neural) the character has, to a minimum of 0.
Example: Edward is trying to infiltrate an enemy
base. He finds a lonely guard at the end of the corridor in front of the door he must cross. The guard is unaware of Edward’s presence so there cannot be a confrontation; anything Edward does to him will succeed. Edward shoots him with his silent weapon. Suddenly, the GM plays a card from her hand, a very powerful 10. Edward looks at her distressed. If he misses the shot, the guard could be alerted and the mission will be compromised. Edward has Ballistic 6 and Dexterity 2, and his weapon grants him one advantage. On the other hand the GM has an initial action value of 0, plays 2 cards (same as the Attribute used by Edward) and has two advantages. Edward is in inferiority and therefore he can only play 1 card. If Edward wins the confrontation, he kills the guard without drawing any attention. If the GM wins the confrontation, it will be up to her to describe the failure. She could say that Edward’s gun has a malfunction and he will be forced to fix it or find another way around the guard, or she could say that Edward shot misses, alerting the guard.
fai th r ule bo ok The G ene ral R ul es 13
Playing Cards
All actions relate to an Attribute. When a character is involved in a confrontation he will be able to play up to as many cards as the value of the Attribute he is using. He will add the value of those cards to his action value.
The total number of cards played by a character during an initiative round can never be higher than the Attribute used, regardless of the number of actions performed using that Attribute (unless specified otherwise by another rule).
INFERIORITY
(ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES)
Advantages (+) represent having a form of upper hand
over an opponent, while disadvantages (-) represent dif-ficulties or hindrances a character can have when trying to perform an action. Both can be gained through equipment, or through equipment or Upgrades that grant them. Each disadvantage cancels one advantage, and if the character has no advantages to be cancelled, it gives one advantage to the character confronting him.
During a confrontation, the characters that have the least advantages will be in Inferiority and, as a result, will have the maximum number of cards they can play reduced by one. In case of a tie, all characters will be able to play the normal amount of cards. The GM can also be affected by advantages or disadvantages.
A character can be considered in an advantageous situ-ation when he is undercover, when his enemy is restrained, when he enters a room undiscovered and catches other characters with their guards down, when he is in a higher position than his enemy, etc. A character can gain advantage from several sources at the same time or even several advantages from the same source if the benefit it provides is very strong. There are so many possibilities that it is the job of the GM to determine how and when to grant advantages or
disadvan-tages to characters.
THE JOKERS
The deck of the GM contains the jokers from all the decks used by the players and herself. A joker card played during a confrontation turns the last card played by the confronted character into a card of value 0. If the character had not played a card yet, it will affect the next card he plays.
A joker card still counts towards the maximum number of cards the GM (or NPC) can play, and the card nullified by the joker still counts towards the maximum number of cards the character can play.
OUTCOME
OF A CONFRONTATION
In a confrontation, the action with the higher action value is considered successful and its confronting action is con-sidered a failure. In case of a tie, all actions fail.
When an action has a value 1 to 4 points higher than its confronting action, it succeeds without other effects.
Decisive Success
When an action has a value 5 or more points higher than its confronting action, it achieves a decisive success and it may have improved effects as described in the relevant Skill or piece of equipment. Those actions that do not have an effect described for a decisive success will not be improved unless the GM finds a fitting effect for them.
Critical Success
When an action has a value 10 or more points higher than its confronting action and the last card played for it was a court card, it achieves a critical success. Its effects are improved as described in the relevant Skill or piece of equipment, or as the GM sees fit if they are not described anywhere. The effects of a critical success should be twice as good as the effects of a regular success.
Example: Erica and John shoot at each other.
After playing all their cards, taking into considera-tion all the acconsidera-tion value modifiers, the final acconsidera-tion values are 31 for Erica and 19 for John. Additionally, the last card played by Erica was a 13. Erica outper-forms John by 12 points and the last card she played was a court card, so she achieves a critical success. She does twice the damage of her weapon to John. This represents a headshot or a shot to some other
fai th r ule bo ok The G ene ral R ul es 14
Failure
Whenever a character fails an action, it is up to the GM to tell why and how. She can just have the action fail, or she can have it succeed with complications. However, she should follow a few guidelines to incorporate failures into the story.
When a character fails an action against another charac-ter or the GM, it is typical to have the failed action simply fail. If it is a Shooting action, the bullet misfires or misses its target. If it is a Repairing action, the mechanic simply fails to repair it. If it is a Hacking action, the hacker is not able to override the defences of the device or his rig momentarily fails.
However, when the GM confronts and defeats a character with a critical success, she can get creative. If it is a Shooting action, the weapon is jammed and the shooter cannot use it anymore until it is fixed, or the shooter hits a friendly character that was in close proximity to his target. If it is a Repairing action, the mechanic could have damaged the device even more and further Repairing actions could be more difficult or im-possible. If it is a Hacking action, the hacker’s rig might break down or be infected by a virus.
STEPS
OF A CONFRONTATION
To resolve a confrontation, players must always follow the same steps.
◊ A character declares an action and its target or targets if there are any.
◊ The GM declares if she wants to confront the
action.
◊ All the characters that can declare a counterac-tion do so if they want.
◊ All the characters that declared a counteraction
declare the activated effect they will use, if any.
◊ The initial character declares the activated effect he will use, if any.
◊ Inferiority is assigned to the character(s) with the
least advantages in the confrontation.
◊ The character with the lowest action value plays a card from his hand. In case of a tie, the players play first. If there are two or more players involved in a tie, they play their cards face down at the same time.
◊ The previous step is repeated until all characters can’t or do not want to play more cards.
◊ The confrontation is resolved. All the actions with
an action value higher than the action they are confronting are successful.
◊ All successful actions are resolved according to
the outcome of the confrontation.
◊ The GM determines the failures of all other actions.
In order to keep gameplay streamlined, it is important that each participant of a confrontation says the value of their action out loud each time they play a new card. This way nobody is forced to calculate the value of the action of his opponent every time he plays a card.
fai th r ule bo ok The G ene ral R ul es 15
RESOLVING
MULTIPLE CONFRONTATIONS
If an action affects several characters, such as the ex-plosion of a grenade, all affected characters can confront that action. Before any cards are played, every character affected by the action must decide if he will enter the confrontation. The GM may also be involved in a multiple confrontation.
To resolve a multiple confrontation, calculate the final action values of each of the characters involved and the GM if she participates. Calculate the successes or failures of all confronting characters individually against the character that performed the initial action and apply them according to the normal success rules. If the GM wins her confrontation, the action of the character she confronted fails regardless of its success against other characters. Note that even if an action itself is a failure, it still causes all confronting actions with a lower value to fail.
If a character is in Inferiority against only some of his opponents, he can still play his last card, which will only modify the value of his action against those opponents that do not have advantage over him. Similarly, the effects of decisive or critical successes are calculated and applied individually against each opponent.
DRAWING CARDS
When a character plays a card, he is subject to drawing new cards from his deck to his hand. There are two in-stances when this can happen and if both of them occur simultaneously only the most beneficial takes place.
Playing with Ambience (Affinity)
If a character plays a card, and the suit matches the environment in which he is performing the action, he can immediately draw a card from his deck to his hand. This rep-resents the character acting effectively in his environment, resulting in less exhaustion.
Additionally, each character has Affinity to a suit. When he plays a card that matches the ambience he is in and it is his Affinity, he draws two cards instead of one and keeps one of them in his hand. The other card must be put either back on top of the deck or the discard pile.
Proficiency
Whenever a character plays a card with a value equal to or less than the Skill he is using during a confrontation, he immediately draws a card. This represents that the character is very capable in this area and the low effort (corresponding to playing a low card) does not tire him out.
Beginning of a Scene
At the beginning of each scene, all players and the GM will keep their current hand of cards and draw back up to a total hand of seven cards.
INITIATIVE ROUND
Whenever two or more characters wish to perform an action simultaneously or in close timing with each other, an initiative round takes place. Each initiative round represents the 3 to 5 seconds during which characters rapidly perform actions to try to outperform each other or to achieve their own goals.
Each character who wants to perform an action this ini-tiative round plays a card face-down on the table. This is his initiative card. Initiative cards are played either from their hand or the top of the deck. A card played as an initiative card does not trigger effects such as Playing with Ambience or Proficiency.
All cards are then revealed simultaneously and each character adds his Initiative to the value of his card. This determines the initiative order for the characters, from highest to lowest added total. Each player discards his initiative card at the beginning of his turn. Characters will take turns performing a single action each following the initiative order.
If two characters have the same initiative, the player characters always act first. If two or more NPCs have the same initiative it is up to the GM to choose which one goes first. If two or more players have the same initiative they can choose who goes first, and if they do not come to an agreement they must each tell the action they wish to perform to the GM and she will determine who gets to act first.
During an initiative round a character might be able to perform more than one action, especially when he is affected by the actions of several characters. Regardless of how many actions a character ends up performing, the total number of cards he can play for actions associated to the same Attribute can never exceed that Attribute unless specified otherwise by another effect.
REACTING
Whenever a character is affected by an action, he can confront it following the rules for confrontations between characters. If this happens before his turn in the initiative order, he loses his turn for that round. A character can confront more than one action each round and that will not cause him to lose any additional turns.
fai th r ule bo ok The G ene ral R ul es 16
WAITING
A character can always choose to wait until the next character with the highest result in the initiative order has taken his action before taking his own action; he can do this several times letting any number of characters go first. If all characters choose to wait, they keep their cards for the next initiative round. The only consequence is the passing of time.
MAINTENANCE PHASE
After all characters have taken their turns and all actions have been resolved there is a maintenance phase. During the maintenance phase, effects such as damage recovery are resolved.
If there are no initiative rounds taking place the mainte-nance phase is performed as often as the GM determines, keeping in mind that an initiative round usually takes place in around 3 to 5 seconds.
If there is still conflict between the characters, or new characters join the struggle, a new initiative round begins.
STEPS
OF AN INITIATIVE ROUND
To resolve an initiative round, players must always follow the same steps.
◊ All players play one card face down in front of
them, either from their hand or the top of their deck.
◊ If there are any number of NPCs
involved, the GM plays one card face down from either her hand or the top of her deck.
◊ Everyone turns their cards face up,
and each player character adds his Initiative to the value of his card. NPCs add their Initiative to the value of the GM’s card.
◊ The initiative order is established from highest to
lowest added total. In case of a tie, player char-acters will always go first, followed by the NPCs in the order of the GM’s choosing. In case of a tie between player characters, they must come to an agreement or tell their actions in secret to the GM, who will determine who goes first.
◊ The first character of the initiative order has his
turn. He declares his action and discards his
initia-tive card. Characters affected by that action may confront him as normal. If they do so, they lose their turn if they had not acted yet. Any confronta-tions that may arise are resolved as usual.
◊ The next character in the initiative order that has
not had his turn yet takes his turn. Any confronta-tions that arise are resolved as usual. Repeat this step until there are no more characters left in the initiative order.
◊ The maintenance phase takes place and all
relevant effects are resolved.
◊ If there are still two or more characters who wish to perform actions simultaneously or in close timing with each other, a new initiative round begins.
fai th r ule bo ok The C ha rac te rs 18
Characters have Attributes (usually ranging from 1 to 3) that represent their general capacities and establish the amount of cards the players can use during confrontations; and Skills (ranging from 0 to 9) that represent their specific skillsets and are added to their actions’ values. Addition-ally characters may have Upgrades that represent remark-able features like a cortex connector or a Divine Upgrade granted by one of the Gods.
However, characters are much more than a bunch of numbers that tell how good they are at something. A key part of character creation is coming up with the character concept. A character concept tells us about who you want your character to be. It can be a concept that you have been toying around with for a long time, a good idea that just came to you, or a character inspired by a story you enjoy - basically anything you want.
It is important for characters to have a desire or a goal that they want to achieve, which is often used as the reason why they go on different adventures and get involved in all kinds of trouble. These goals should not be easily achieved and they should be established with the consent of the GM, allowing her to introduce it as part of the story. It is also important that the goals of all the characters in a group motivate them to adventure together, otherwise the group will feel divided.
It is usual for a group of players to spend an evening coming up with the stories of their characters and setting up their character boards, while the GM plots her storyline.
Think about what kind of character you would want to be if you had the chance to star in a 300 million dollar sci-fi film. There are no limits to the scope of an RPG.
CREATING A CHARACTER
You should talk to the other players and the GM about the kind of character you would like to play and what kind of story you are going to be part of. This will help you decide the type of character you want to create. Reading the de-scription of each species and the story of the universe of FAITH can be really useful when making these decisions. If you want to learn about the game just by playing it, just pick the species you visually like the most and go with it. Once you have made up your mind, follow these steps:
Choose the species of your character and the gender. Pick up the relevant character image and place it on your character board.
Choose one of the four suits to be the Affinity of your character. Pick up the corresponding token and place it on
your character board. The Affinity represents the places where your character grew up, was training, or the kind of place in which you feel at home.
Choose a God to follow. The God of each character relates to what kind of person they are. The GM has the final word on which God corresponds to a character after a player has described how he wants his character to be. Pick up the corresponding token and place it on your character board. Remember that during gameplay you might change your God’s allegiance to another one if your character changes his path in life. Change the relevant token accordingly. You can choose to not follow any God.
Establish your Skills. Set one Skill at 5, another at 4, two at 3, two at 2, three at 1 and the last three at 0. Once you have chosen how to distribute your points, use the numbered tokens and place them on your character board.
Establish your Attribute’s values at 1. Then, distribute 10 points of experience between your Attributes and/or buy and install Upgrades. See Gaining Experience to learn the cost of each improvement.
Choose your character’s equipment. Use the credits granted by your Profession to acquire pieces of equipment or appeal to the GM using the background of your character to help her decide whether you should have any additional equipment to what your credits can buy. It is recommended that characters start with only a few pieces of gear and have them gain new equipment along the way.
ADVANCED CHARACTERS
If you want to play with an advanced character you can use these rules that will let you create a character with the experience of around 12-15 sessions of play.
Skills: Set one Skill at 7, another at 6, two at 5, two at 3, three at 1 and the last three at 0.
Attributes and Upgrades: distribute 24 points of experi-ence according to the costs found in Gaining Experiexperi-ence.
GAINING EXPERIENCE
During gameplay, characters will learn and change. The story will shape their personalities and their actions will teach them new Skills or improve those they already had.
Each time a major milestone of the story is reached or the characters have had a significant opportunity to learn and improve their abilities, the GM may decide to grant them
fai th r ule bo ok The C ha rac te rs 19
experience. It is recommended to do so not more than once per session and at least once every two or three sessions, but it is ultimately up to the GM’s discretion.
Have all players say out loud what they think each char-acter’s best moment was since they last gained any experi-ence, and have them recommend the Skill they think should be rewarded. It is good to remember all the adventures the characters have gone through. The GM will select one of the recommendations of the players or her own, and the character will be able to add one point to that Skill.
Additionally, characters get one experience point to acquire Upgrades or to improve Attributes. The GM can decide to award an additional experience point to players that do something extraordinary or achieve important objectives.
Attributes have a cost on experience points equal to twice the level they currently have. Upgrades have differ-ent costs and each type has differdiffer-ent requiremdiffer-ents to be used or acquired.
HEALTH & DAMAGE
Characters have physical health and neural health. The physical health of a character is equal to twice the value of his Constitution and his neural health is equal to twice the value of his Mind.
There are two types of damage: physical and neural. Each type of damage has its own token. To keep track of the damage a character has suffered, place the corresponding tokens on top of his character board.
Each counter of damage, of either physical or neural, gives the character a -1 to every Skill to a minimum of 0.
fai th r ule bo ok The C ha rac te rs 20
PHYSICAL DAMAGE
Physical damage is inflicted by physical means: weapons, tools, fists, etc. Each counter of physical damage counts as -1 to the physical health of the character. While in normal health state, one physical damage counter can be discarded per week of in-game time after it has been suffered.
NEURAL DAMAGE
Neural damage can be inflicted by means such as con-cussions, Divine Upgrades, viruses, link attacks, neural weapons, etc. Each counter of neural damage counts as -1 to the neural health of a character. While in normal health state, one neural damage counter can be discarded during each maintenance phase (or 3 to 5 seconds of in-game time) unless the character has received neural damage that round.
ACS DAMAGE
ACS damage is inflicted by electronic means, be it through Hacking actions or electrical waves from a neural weapon. It can only affect gear and robots with an energy value and when a device suffers as much ACS damage as its energy it is shut down.
Adaptive Circuit Severance (ACS) is the term used for the electrical overload of microprocessors after they are affected by corrupting Hacking routines, and also by certain types of electromagnetic waves typically associated with neural weapons.
ARMOUR
Characters may have means of reducing the damage they suffer. Some pieces of equipment (or other effects) provide their users (or the equipment itself) with a value of armour. Whenever the character or piece of equipment is about to receive physical or neural damage from an external source, he or it can ignore a number of counters equal to its armour.
HEALTH STATES
Depending on the amount of damage a character has suffered, he can be in three different health states or even dead.
Normal
The health state of a character is normal for as long as he is not affected by any of the following states.
Bleeding Out
A character is bleeding out when his physical health is below 0. Characters can perform actions and engage in confrontations while bleeding out. After performing the action they will immediately receive one physical damage counter.
NPCs will generally ignore characters that are bleeding out until they have taken care of all other threats.
Traumatised
A character is traumatised when his neural health is below 0. The character is unconscious and will not regain consciousness until he receives enough medical attention to discard enough neural damage counters to have neural health 0 or above.
Dying
If a character is bleeding out and traumatised at the same time, he dies automatically. If at the end of a scene a character is bleeding out and he has not received medical attention from a First Aid action, he dies. Additionally, if he takes any further physical damage from an external source while bleeding out, he dies.
A character can also die of starvation, exposure to the vacuum of space, drowning, excessive mutilation, etc. The effects of these possibilities are left to the GM to determine.
SPECIES’ TRAITS
Each species of playable characters have unique traits that make them different from each other. The different species should be played differently on a roleplaying level, but they also have special rules to help players distinguish between them more clearly.
CORVO
The Corvo are a highly technological species; they are very independent and very capable. Their appearance and physiology resembles those of insects and they are well adapted to life in space.
Technological
All corvo characters start the game with a cortex con-nector Upgrade. This Upgrade does not count as one of the Tech Upgrades a character can have and it does not occupy an Upgrade slot.
fai th r ule bo ok The C ha rac te rs 21
Tail Reflex
A corvo character can use his tail to connect a device to his cortex connector. If the device is about to receive ACS damage due to a Hacking action, it will be disconnected instead. It takes one action to connect it again.
Spaceborn
All corvo characters have one advantage when they perform an action using EVA, if their Affinity is Space.
Attribute Limits
The evolution of the corvo gave them a very utilitarian metabolism, allowing them to adapt to life in space and to survive with minimal resources. For this reason, they are not very strong or physically capable. Their Constitution and Agility Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2 each.
IZ’KAL
The Iz’kal are a very social, very proud, and very efficient species. They are the descendants of an ancient species of aquatic mammals that have adapted to life on solid ground.
Hyperlink
The Iz’kal have developed biological changes in their brains that allow them to communicate with each other and blend into a single mind. Every iz’kal character can engage in a hyperlink with up to 5 other iz’kal characters in a 30 metre radius. Engaging or leaving a hyperlink is activated. The members of a hyperlink can reject another character trying to join it.
While in hyperlink, the personalities of the members blend into a single one. The characters engaged in hyperlink must democratically vote every decision and then follow it. Characters can always be expelled from a hyperlink after a democratic vote or after not following a democratic decision.
Additionally, iz’kal connected in hyperlink can choose to confront actions that target any other member of the hy-perlink, even if they were not affected by the action them-selves. They still need to declare a valid countermeasure to be able to do so. Multiple members of the hyperlink can use this effect at the same time.
Voidwalkers
Some iz’kal suffer traumatic events so unbearable that they can no longer share their minds with their kin. They
refuse to engage in hyperlink out of the fear of imposing their own personal suffering onto others. An iz’kal that does not engage in hyperlink eventually succumbs to an irreversible transformation that isolates their mind and prevents them from entering a hyperlink ever again. Their body undergoes reconstruction on a genetic level, affecting their hormonal flow and synaptic processes.
Each maintenance phase, a Voidwalker can discard up to as many neural damage counters as their Faith. Addition-ally, they ignore all Skill penalties from neural damage whenever they are using a Divine Upgrade.
Aquatic
All iz’kal characters innately know how to swim, even if they have never done it before. Iz’kal characters always have one advantage while swimming or diving. Additionally, they can hold their breaths up to 8 minutes per Constitution point while acting normally or twice as long if they stay still.
Attribute Limits
Iz’kal are first and foremost social beings, and they are not as technologically advanced as corvo. Additionally, as a species that originated from the water, their bodies are not built for land life. Their Link and Constitution Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2 each.
HUMAN
Humans are remarkably adaptable. Although not as powerful as the Iz’kal or the Corvo, many humans are highly valued workers and mercenaries and their endurance is unrivalled.
Resourceful
If humans have one defining characteristic, it is their ability to find a way out of each and every situation. All human characters draw up to 8 cards whenever they would normally have to draw up to 7 cards.
Endurance
All human characters have one advantage when they perform an action using Athletic, representing their physical prowess.
Attribute Limits
Although they are one of the best physically suited intel-ligent species of the Universe, their societies were not able to develop as fully as some of the other species. Their Link and Mind Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2 each.
fai th r ule bo ok The C ha rac te rs 22
RAAG
The Raag are a primitive species, very tough and aggressive. They are mammals that are well adapted to life in cold weather and they form tight-knit clans to survive the constant menace of conquest or extinction.
Old Bones
Raag have a very primitive and tough bone structure. They can ignore the modifiers of up to two physical damage counters, and they can predict when a storm is coming.
Titans
With an impressive build, this species surpasses most other intelligent species in size. All raag characters have two additional points of physical health. Additionally, they have one advantage towards all Constitution actions.
Attribute Limits
What the raag have in strength, they lack in finesse, and their brains have a hard time wrapping around the idea of virtual realities. Their Dexterity and Link Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2 each.
RAVAGER
The ravager queens create each specimen of their species from a bank of DNA for a specific purpose. This bank has been refined for many years with the DNA of all the creatures the hive has ever consumed.
It is not uncommon that a given ravager specimen may not share any DNA with another ravager from the same hive. Most biologist repel the idea of calling the ravager a species and use the term step-species instead.
For this very reason there are ravager of all kinds. Players will be able to play those that are given a reason-ing capacity of a similar level to the other playable species. Although there are hundreds of types of ravager, there are only a few created with this shared capacity of reason - most of the hive’s needs are performed by ravager that were created for a very specific task and are not required to be useful at others. When creating a ravager character, players must choose one of the following types as the base of their character. It will determine the character’s appear-ance and base characteristics. Regardless of their type, all ravager have Genetic Expression and Hive Mind, except for the infiltrators that do not have Hive Mind.
GENETIC EXPRESSION
Action. A ravager can change any of his Bio Upgrades for
any other Bio Upgrade, even more than one at once. The total cost in experience points of the new Upgrades cannot be higher than the total cost of the previous Upgrades, unless the character spends additional experience points to do so. Any experience points not spent during the transi-tion are lost. The transitransi-tion takes a few minutes for each experience point of the Upgrades changed.
The ravager can accumulate the DNA information of any organic matter they consume. If a ravager eats a character with Bio Upgrades, he will be able to acquire them with ex-perience points or change his Upgrades for them. Addition-ally, the ravager can pair with the Queen to transmit to her all the DNA information he has accumulated.
All ravager can have up to 2 Bio Upgrades per Constitu-tion point but only one Tech Upgrade in total, regardless of their Link.
fai th r ule bo ok The C ha rac te rs 23
HIVE MIND
Ravager use natural LinkWaves for communication; allowing them to communicate with other ravager up to 100 metres away.
As a side effect, hackers can disturb their LinkWave flow, making ravager hackable, as if their minds were a device. When hacked, a ravager will fail their current action, or suffer a disadvantage towards their next action (if there is no action to fail).
They have a Firewall with a base value equal to their Hacking Skill that plays as many cards as their Link Attribute.
Infiltrator
Infiltrators are ravager that are identical to the species from which they were created. However, instead of being born from a mother or an egg of their species, they have come out of the womb-tank of a ravager queen.
The infiltrator is a specimen of any of the other playable
species. He has the same species and is genetically identi-cal to any other specimen of that species. He will have the species traits of the species the player has chosen to play and the ravager trait Genetic expression.
The fact that the character is actually a ravager should only be known by the GM; the other players only need to know if the GM determines so. The reason why the ravager queen created an Infiltrator should be discussed with the GM and be a key part of the character’s story. A ravager queen never does something without a clear plan or purpose, so the Infiltrator must be part of an important mission.
Ironskin
The ironskin is a large ravager with enormous strength and an even greater resistance. An ironskin always has the Upgrades Nanoskin and Phagocyter and needs to spend the corresponding experience points to acquire them during character creation.
IRON SKIN
An ironskin has a base armour value of 2 that cannot be reduced or ignored by any means.
CHARGE
A running action performed by an ironskin will be con-sidered passive if it is not confronted. Additionally, if he performs a CQC action in the same turn, he will gain an advantage towards it.
VICIOUS ATTACKS
Ironskins deal 2 additional damage in CQC actions and always have one additional advantage towards CQC actions. Additionally, they gain another advantage when they perform grappling actions.
ATTRIBUTE LIMITS
Ironskins are made for crushing enemies, but their strength comes at a cost in swiftness and intelligence. Their Agility, Mind and Link Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2.
Lurching Horror
The lurching horror is a ravager that is slick, gooey, and much more dangerous than it looks.
BLADE FURY
A lurching horror always gains 2 advantages towards CQC actions. He can attack 2 targets in CQC simultaneously, or focus his attacks on a single target, gaining a third ad-ditional advantage.
fai th r ule bo ok The C ha rac te rs 24
NANO HOOKS
The lurching horror can attach himself to a wall or ceiling with his tentacles. His movement while suspended is doubled and he is still in plain sight unless otherwise concealed. Additionally, he gains one advantage towards Agility actions.
ATTRIBUTE LIMIT
Lurching horrors have no Attribute limits.
Swarmer
The swarmer is a unique type of ravager. It is not actually a creature, but instead a group of hundreds of smaller creatures that bond together to form a collective mind. The creatures not capable of thinking by themselves, but together they create a formidable being that is capable of sacrificing parts of itself without hesitation, if the need arises.
BOIT SWARM
Boits are small beings formed by just a few of the swarmer’s creatures. They die when they suffer any amount of physical damage, but they are immune to neural damage. They can move up to 100 metres away from the swarmer before dying.
Action. The swarmer enters a germinative state during which he will be unable to move, but is able to can spawn as many boits as his Constitution per turn. He suffers one point of physical damage per boit spawned. He can control as many of those boits as his Mind and if he leaves this state, any active boits will immediately die. The turn they are spawned they act after everyone else, and in subse-quent rounds they act during the turn of the swarmer.
◊ Acidboit: Physical 3 (0). Mental 4 (0). Activated.
Sacrifice itself to deal 2 points of physical damage that ignores 1 armour to everyone in a 3 metre radius.
◊ Spyboit: Physical 3 (0). Mental 4 (2). It can move flying up to 20 metres per turn, it can see in infrared and has an advantage for Searching actions.
◊ Regenboit: Physical 3 (0), Mental 4(0). Activated.
Sacrifice itself when in physical contact with another character to have him recover 1 point of physical damage.
DEVOURER
The swarmers discard one physical damage counter per turn. Additionally, they can perform an action to devour a dead character and discard 3 physical damage counters.
ATTRIBUTE LIMITS
Being composed of many small creatures has its advan-tages, but coordination and speed are not among them. The Agility and Dexterity Attributes of a swarmer are limited to a maximum value of 2.
Techno
The techno are created by the ravager queen to defend her other children from electronic attacks and to help neu-tralise Hacking threats before the bigger ravager come in to consume their victims. Extremely intelligent, they often act as the main links to the hive mind.
NEURAL RIG
The brain of a techno is very similar to an organic computer. It has LinkWave 50, Firewall 8 (3), energy 3 and it counts as if it was cortex connected. Additionally, the Techno has one cortex connector Upgrade that does not use an Upgrade slot.
NEURAL SACRIFICE
Activated. The techno can choose to receive two points of neural damage and gain one advantage towards a Hacking action.
ATTRIBUTE LIMITS
The techno have very well developed brains, but their bodies are just a weak frame. Their Constitution and Agility Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2.
