METRO

//IMAGINE

BACKER-ONLY PLAYTESTING COPY

This is an early draft of the book that is currently going through editing. Please
bear with us – or bring to our attention – any issues you run into. We will update
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 In the not so distant future, due to the incessant Noise of technology, humanity has
become so apathetic that spirits of myth and legend, once constrained to the shadows,
can now roam the world freely.

These awakened demons and gods, bound to physical objects, places, and rituals, now
join the war for the future of humanity, throwing the world into a new era of turmoil.

それほど遠くない未来に、テクノロジーの絶え間ないノイズのために、人類は非常に無関心になり、
神話と伝説の精神は、かつて影に拘束されていたが、今や世界を自由に歩き回ることができる。

これらの目覚めた悪魔と神々は、物理的な物体、場所、儀式に縛られ、今や人類の未来のための戦
争に加わり、世界を混乱の新しい時代に投げ込みます。

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 WHAT IS OTHERSCAPE?
:Otherscape is a tabletop roleplaying game where heroes and antiheroes explore the dimly lit
underbelly of a dark cyberpunk future in which ancient tales and legends are weaponized. This
futuristic dystopia is haunted by the myths and legends of prior ages, returning to the world in
the back alleys, twisted cults, and black markets of the Megacity. Though humanity has
remained largely ignorant of these “Mythoi” for centuries, the constant barrage of information,
pop culture, and unbelievable news has provided an opening. This modern “Noise” infects the
minds of the people to such a degree that beings who once had to hide from scrutiny now creep
out from the shadows that once hid them.

In the not-so-distant future, technological advancements and the constant bombardment of

neural stimuli known as the Noise have made human minds so overloaded and numb, that
previously hidden occult forces can now operate in the open. Demons, spirits, monsters, and
gods – the same mythic powers that have guided and haunted humanity since time immemorial
– no longer need to hide their part in human history. Striking deals with mortals, they bestow
upon them boons of magical, reality-bending abilities.

Corporations and individuals who become aware of these spiritual beings vie for their power,
eager to harness it to their endless war for control. At the same time, technology evolves to
enhance humans beyond their point of origin, creating cybernetic beings that could conceivably
contend with the gods. In the Megacities, arcane power and cutting-edge tech is hoarded and
controlled by crime syndicates, government agencies, and megacorps; some even led by
godlike Avatars. In a thriving shadow market, cybernetically-enhanced assassins, demonic hired
guns, and privateer temple raiders race to secure legendary assets and fight to live another day.

This is a time and a place where a discernible signal can be heard cutting through the Noise of
urban modernity. The Mythoi represent truths buried within our collective unconsciousness,
stories aching to be retold, and heroes struggling to return and save the day. They too represent
the darker side of storytelling, with cautionary tales blending with futuristic tech to make for truly
horrific results. The streets are stalked by fabled predators, now perhaps decked out with high
tech pulse tracking, nanosecond reflexes, or alloyed strength enhancing implants. The gods and
devils of myth peek into our world, poking holes in what is real to create eerie locations,
magic-touched creatures, and the spawn of realities beyond our knowing. Unsuspecting citizens
of The Megacity find themselves tainted by eldritch forces, possessing magical relics, or even
calling upon the forgotten arcane powers of the past.

The Call to Adventure

In this changing world of high tech Noise and oldschool Mythoi, players of :Otherscape take on
the roles of mercenaries, urban explorers, special agents, and other adventurous types who
seek fame, fortune, or simply rebellion against the powers that be. They are the few who look up
from their dreary dystopian lives and notice that something special is returning to the world.
Magic is returning, myths are replaying, and the corpo-government rulers are scrambling to
catch up. There is hope in the truths that the old gods speak. There are also terrible monsters
that need to be slain. The megacorps, crime syndicates, and government researchers are just

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 as adept at co-opting the secrets of the Mythoi, at times blending their incredible powers with
that of bleeding edge tech to make truly unfathomable hybrids that threaten the lives and souls
of the Megacity’s residents.

The Megacity & Beyond

This game takes place primarily within a sprawling metropolis simply called The Megacity. An
amalgamation of capitals and industry cities, strewn together through built up exurbs and
corporate sponsored enclaves. Some areas are company towns, entirely dedicated to a brand
name and corporate hierarchy. Others have been swallowed up by urban blight and pollution.
The downtown areas remain clean and clinical, gentrified by the vast wealth held by the
corporate overlords.

:Otherscape is also a tale of a broken world. Neglect and outright ruination of the environment
have left the world’s ecosystems in tatters. The Megacity is vast and even its outskirts are
places full of interesting stories. Even within the Megacity, layers of ruins are just beneath the
surface, ready to be explored for profit or simple curiosity. It turns out many powerful artifacts
can be found within those old buildings and railways, though many are guarded by equally
fantastic [Link] wastelands, ruined cities, and technological megastructures dot the
landscape. Marauders and scavengers patrol for useful parts, preying upon the weak.

Finding & Keeping the Self

Both within and outside the Megacity we find corruption, destruction, and human misery. But this
is not a depressing downer of a game. Quite the opposite! Like in City of Mist, the noir
predecessor to this game, stories in :Otherscape find our heroes rummaging around in the
slimy, twisted entrails of human misery. We see corruption all the way from the bottom to the
top. We see people fall and then fall again lower and lower. We also strive to find some dimly
glowing neon hope in all that darkness.

The Mythoi are a big part of that. They’re authenticity and internalized truth, manifested through
cultural touchstones. They’re also a big part of the danger and corruption of The Megacity. The
real beacon of goodness is the Self–the entirely human drives and history of each character.
Losing one’s Self to the ravages of glittering temptations of the Noise or the storied history of the
Mythoi means giving up on one’s own personhood. Each character is a kind of Icarus, given
access to powers and technologies that grant unfathomable power. The struggle is balancing
that power against one’s own identity. A loss of authentic human character is a real risk and the
stakes in the Megacity can be quite high. Every character must constantly grapple with what
part of herself she’s willing to give up in order to win the day. One can always fly too close to the
sun, even for a noble cause.

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 WELCOME TO THE FUTURE PAST!
In this chapter, we’ll bring you into the world of :Otherscape, where Mythos-powered and
tech-boosted individuals fight to survive the day in the shadow of skyscrapers and urban ruins.

THE STATE OF THE WORLD IN THE YEAR 20XX

The following pillars outline the major themes of :Otherscape. Think of them as the core
concepts of the game. Whenever you’re not sure if something fits into the mythic-powered
cyberpunk future the setting is going for, just refer back to these pillars to be sure. Similarly, if
you’re looking for inspiration you can mix and match these fundamentals as a starting place.
Need a bad guy? Blend tech noir with mythology weaponized to find a cool balance of stylish
and legendary. Want to come up with a useful faction in control of a neighborhood? What about
a corporate-sponsored gang or tech-overdrive spin on weird countercultures?

Technological Overdrive, Moral Bankruptcy

Human ingenuity has become an overclocked CPU. Cutthroat competition and a willingness to
sacrifice workers and even consumers on the altar of innovation drags the world into a future
where advancements only serve the investor class in their silicon towers far above the
commotion of the street. Most never taste the good life. This world is only fit for those who are
born to wealth and privilege or who seize it through bold action. The few who aspire to rise
above the mass-produced food sludge and coffin-sized apartments do so by deviating from the
norm. Going rogue, going violent, and hacking together every single edge imaginable.

Mythology Weaponized
The Megacity is a metropolis filled with Mythoi; stories begging to be told and ancient powers
seeking a presence in the world once again. Gods, spirits, ghosts, and other supernatural
entities reach out to the world through relics and lost rituals. Now that humanity is distracted by
the Noise of their own information technologies, these mythic forces converge, infiltrating every
strata of society. Those who tap into this power find it useful and realize that the Noise prevents
many from even realizing that magical effects are being employed. A new occult arms race is
being waged as powerful factions seek an edge against one another.

Oligarchic Corruption
Corporations run everything, even the government and the criminal syndicates. They war with
one another with their own armies, design and run entire city districts, and grant corporate
citizenship to those who toe the company line. Stories emphasize the gold-plated bespoke
excesses of the pampered corporate elite. At the top, politics are Machiavellian and betrayals
are common. You might work for one patron one day and another the next as shifting

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 allegiances and corporate buyouts change the political landscape. Contacts are unreliable,
mentors become villains, and old foes turn into reluctant allies.

Tech Noir
The powers-that-be are always working on some terrible new tech or allying with some ancient
mythic power that’s up to no good. Hard-boiled investigators looking into the evils that occur all
the time and find a threads leading back to those who run the Megacity. Cyberpunk has been
influenced by noir since its inception due to Bladerunner’s aesthetic and plotline. Players and
MCs familiar with City of Mist may find this a natural starting place. Most jobs involve getting
hired to look into a mysterious event and seeing where the case leads. Think dark rainy nights lit
only by neon.

Urban Ruins
The world has seen many wars even as the earth has been ravaged by climate change and
reckless abuse of technology. Places that were once the capitals and metropolises of human
history are now depopulated shells of their former glory. These places are now forgotten and
ignored, but that does not mean that they are without their secrets. Mythic relics and cults hide
within the crumbling structures of these desolate cityscapes. Those intrepid enough to brave
these badlands may unearth lost technologies, powerful Mythoi, and a host of dangerous locals.
Marauding raiders, lost tribes of humanity, and forbidden techno-fetishists guard their territories
well.

Sprawling Cyberspace
For many, existence in virtual worlds is better than the horrific realities of the physical world. The
lure of the virtual and the power of networks means that the Mythoi are drawn to cyberspace as
well, where they entwine themselves in the data fortresses and virtual worlds of the Megacity’s
elite. Between these shining citadels are the old networks, which exist only to string the newer
structures together. Digital ruins, infested with primitive AI and the refuse of fallen online
platforms, ready to be explored by those who know what to look for. Much wisdom and useful
data is still hosted there… for now.

Gangs, Cults, & Countercultures

Those who cannot abide the vigilance and control of the corporate-government overlords turn to
a wide range of ideas and ideologies to sooth themselves. Drawn together through VR spaces
where their fantasies and nightmares are made real, nearly everyone in the Megacity seems to
be part of their own little subculture with its own weird take on the world. Some are violent,
some involve themselves in criminal acts of disobedience or mayhem. Everyone thinks
everyone else is out of their mind. Only those who look beyond their informational and social
bubble can see beyond the Noise.

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 Transhumanism
Humans have moved beyond biological evolution into an era in which each processor cycle
elevates their dominion over the earth and their own destinies. The lines of identity, personality,
memory, and authenticity are blurred. Technologies for copying and simulating human
intelligence and being put to sinister use. The surveillance state has paired with big data to
begin algorithmically forecasting the destiny of the Megacity and its inhabitants. Nearly
everyone is part machine, and some no longer consider themselves part of the human race.
Change is so constant that the Noise makes most citizens simply ignore the leaps in
technological capacity they witness.

THE FACES OF :OTHERSCAPE

Before delving too far into the setting itself, let’s talk about the people you’ll meet there. Who
hires you to do jobs, stands in your way of accomplishing missions, or competes with you for the
spotlight? Who do you buy or steal your gear from? Who do you sit next to at the chrome
paneled cafe while you wait for your contact to call? These are your allies, your enemies, and
your neighbors. If you’re thinking cinematically, these are the more interesting characters you’ll
see on screen. They can also serve as inspiration for your own characters.

Mercs & Privateers

Mercenaries of various stripes can be found throughout the Megacity, thriving in the cracks in
the system. Often cast out or dropped out of more formal organizations, they take their training
and put themselves out for hire to the highest bidder. They may be put on a job by a trusted fixer
or just sign on using a common device app which tasks such freelance experts algorithmically.
Mercs have learned of the Mythoi and have begun seeking them out, as they search for
anything that will give them an edge against one another. Whether they have the blessing of the
gods of their trade, or have fallen to demonic influences, none can deny that Mythic power has
become the new weapon of choice on the streets.

Corporate Forces

Corporations battle each other through corporate espionage and sometimes outright military
conflict. Hostile takeovers get physically violent and executives are chosen for their ability to
command troops and organize black ops against their business rivals. The hired goons that the
corporations employ are essentially tiny militaries disguised as company security officers. The
corps also have a major presence in cyberspace, each with their own data havens and
technological citadels to guard their secrets, run by the highest paid hackers on the net.

Gangsters

Crime flourishes even when laws are written by the corporations that seem to run everything.
They’re smugglers of stolen and unauthorized tech, extorters of small businesses, and the
sources of the illicit drugs that make the streets so violent and chaotic. Ruthless individuals who

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 battle each other for turf in a never ending war for criminal supremacy, covered in black market
cybernetics, making them easy to recognize and fear. The street gangs and the more organized
syndicates both have their gangsters and “soldiers” that make their presence and their power
known even in the lowliest of neighborhoods.

Cyborgs & Synths

Everyone is enhanced in one way or another – an implant, skill databank, or replacement organ.
But some go beyond, becoming true cyborgs who experience the Megacity with synthetic eyes
and chrome hands. Others were never human to begin with, grown as cheap labor for the
corporate overlords. The line between human, robot, and cyborg is blurry, made even less
distinct as whole personalities are copied or designed from scratch. People work and live
alongside synthetic humanoids without batting an eye. Robot uprisings and rogue AI are just a
fact of life in the Megacity, some of which don’t even make the daily newsfeeds.

Demons, Spirits, & Gods

The legendary Mythoi are often present in the world, due to the existence of powerful relics,
locations, and rituals known as Sources. Their embodiments can take the form of conjured
spirits and other ephemeral beings with mystical powers. Monstrous and mysterious, these
capricious beings guard sacred sites, haunt ruins, and otherwise intervene in human affairs in
order to tell their story. At times these spirits are even employed by corporate sorcerers against
their rival companies, causing demonic outbreaks at research sites and board rooms alike. A
few are protective of historical or religious sites, defending their worshippers or family bloodlines
they care about.

Cyber Entities

There are beings that exist entirely within cyberspace. Artificial intelligences, copies of human
minds, and other stranger entities. Some are even Mythoi, spirits and gods who have turned
their more ancient stories into information-age relevancy. All of these minds and souls battle
against the cybersecurity forces of the corporations and failing governments of the world for
supremacy on the net. Though the human forces have more resources to spend on securing
cyberspace, the online intelligences are native to their realm and have a mastery over it that is
unparalleled by mere mortal hackers. Entire regions of cyberspace are wild, untamed frontiers
where rogue AI rule as god-kings.

Crossovers & Mashups

Some creatures are amalgams of cybernetic enhancement and magical powers. Some
corporations have learned to bind spirits into robotic killing machines. Some Mythoi have
merged with artificial intelligences in cyberspace. As creatures of myth return to the world, it is
becoming more and more common to encounter chimerical blends of magic and technology,
defying categorization or logic. As the next technological frontier becomes the exploitation of the

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 mythic, strange monsters result. Indeed, some of the most intelligent and dangerous villains in
the Megacity may be such hybrids, empowered and maddened by their dual nature.

THE MEGACITY
Industry and overpopulation have consumed what few tracts of suburbs and countryside that
once separated cities and turned them into a sprawling metropolis. While municipal boundaries
remain, cities now function as neighborhoods of the great Megacity which spans thousands of
square miles. Your Megacity can be anywhere in the world, based on one or more existing
cities, or fictional (like New Port City in Ghost In The Shell). While the focus of the series is on
the Megacity, some storylines can take you into less densely-populated regions of the world, or
even the wilderness beyond (unlike in City of Mist, where your crew is drawn to stay in the City).

The following are a few themes that work to define the Megacity and its environs.

Eroded Morality

There is no law; the laws are made by those with power. Companies engage in criminal activity,
crime lords do business with city officials, and most government agencies are privatized,
for-profit operations. Occupations that once aspired to ethical codes (doctors, soldiers, lawyers)
no longer hold to them, as the bottom line and mere survival trump all pretensions of moral
superiority. Neighbors turn in neighbors who violate corporate policy, just for a meager bounty.
In this cesspool of moral decay, those who still cling to hope are drawn to cults and online
ideological movements, turning them more and more extremist in their views and standards.

Life is Trash

Most individuals living their lives out in the Megacity are just trying to get by and live another
day. Wage slaves try to survive their day jobs in a dog-eat-dog corporate culture, while street
urchins risk their lives to steal industrial supplies and get nothing but canned nutrient sludge for
it in the black markets at the docks. If these individuals ever stand in the path of the
high-and-mighty, they are quashed without a second thought, wiped clean of their assets by a
novice corporate hacker or shot by a patrol drone and left to die in a ditch. In the eyes of the
power-hungry or those struggling to survive, an individual has no value beyond the power they
command.

Global Catastrophes

There are dangers that threaten to obliterate the rich and the miserable of the Megacity alike.
Natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, pandemics, earthquakes, tsunamis, and such, as well
as man-made catastrophes like nuclear site meltdowns, are becoming more and more common.
Over the last several decades, the world population has been decimated by these disasters, a
fact which has only driven the power-mongers to crave more power, so that they may protect
themselves. But the wrathful and exploited mother nature does not distinguish between worker

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 bee and queen, and some Mythoi tied to stories of nature’s vengeance have become active
once again.

Hyperinflation & Cryptocurrency

Financial crises and last-ditch efforts by crumbling governments to buy themselves a bit of
power have eroded the financial systems of the world. Few investments are stable, as
companies go to war against one another for market dominance. Central bank issued
currencies are flimsy and frequently become worthless within a few years. Most merchants only
take independent cryptocurrencies, the value of which is determined by the manipulations of
unknown online entities and political movements. Currency in the Megacity is just called “crypto”
though the term is just a stand-in for whichever blockchain-based unit of exchange is in vogue
at the moment.

Pervasive Pollution

A creeping pollution has slowly invaded the world’s population centers. The Megacity is now
smothered in a thick chemical haze; blocking out the sun and stars, night and day. It has a
smell, only noticed when you venture out away from it in the ruins and wilderness between the
metro areas. These pollutants shorten lifespans and make existence rather miserable, at least
for those who live outside of the air filtered skyscrapers and manicured arcologies. Most people
carry filter masks and goggles, for days when the “weather” is worst and there are even
pollution seasons when the acid rain and choking smog is worst.

Constant Danger

Life is cheap in a world where workers are easily replaced and there is little connection to one’s
neighbors and coworkers. Without faith in law and civic duty, it’s easy to get hit by a passing car
or caught up in an overengineered piece of cybertechnology. The threat of danger from
accidents and violence is so constant that it has become just a part of life in the Megacity. Most
give up on any dreams of living to a ripe old age, and simply give in to the inevitability of a
horrific death. Others become paranoid, openly carrying heavier and heavier firepower to ease
their fear.

Cultural Confusion

The Megacity is more than just a melting pot of cultures from around the world. It is a meeting
place for the hundreds of thousands of subcultures that have evolved mimetically in online
spaces and hidden temples. You might hear dozens of “foreign” languages in a single day as
you navigate byzantine bureaucracies and baffling streetscapes strewn with litter and signage
you can barely understand. It is impossible to guess which religion, ideology, or ethnicity any
individual belongs to. Megacity denizens simply assume that anyone they run into might be a
dangerous fanatic or simply out of their minds, and they take precautions accordingly.

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 Neighborhood Connection

Some couple their cosmopolitan cynicism with a deep sense of place relating to their home
neighborhood. In a world ruined by faceless corporations, the only solace for some seems to be
in finding local meeting places that serve as hubs for what passes for community in this
dystopian future. Bars and night clubs, skate parks, and even corner noodle shops are
treasured by those who long for a sense of connection. Knowing the one good coffee stand in
the area can be priceless information at 2am and insulting the wrong gang member’s
neighborhood can be a death sentence.

THE MYTHOI
The world has begun to change. Ideas, myths, and legends that were once a major part of the
world but which fell through the cracks over the centuries have returned with a vengeance. Most
haven’t really noticed it, but monsters and demigods now lurk in the shadows of the glistening
Megacity skyscrapers. Why are they returning and what do they want? Where do they come
from and what comes next? Those who know of the Mythoi want to know more, because what
they’ve already learned is reality-shattering. Glorious and terrifying things are coming back and
in some cases empowering people with magic and might. What’s next indeed.

A Substratum of Reality

Legends and myths have always been used to tap into the primordial powers of creation and the
constant battle of forces within the human psyche. In :Otherscape (as in City of Mist), legends
and myths are arcane, abstract concepts known as Mythoi. These legends originate from a
stratum of reality known to some as the “Otherscape”; a half-fictional place made from the
psychic energy of humanity’s collective unconscious. Or at least, that’s one theory. Mythoi can
be monsters, heroes, demons, angels, saints, kings, magicians, and more. Mythoi can work
miracles and horrors in physical reality through gateways called Sources (In City of Mist, we
would call them Rifts).

Breaking Past the Noise

In an ironic twist of fate, the very Noise that makes the denizens of the Megacity blasé towards
the supernatural provides an opportunity for the Mythoi creep back into relevancy. None are
baffled by witnessing unusual events any more than they are when viewing the next new
technology on display. With no one to disbelieve the fantastic, the unusual has room to make a
return. The Mythoi find this futuristic world fertile ground for their stories, as the very concept of
authenticity is a rare and precious thing here. The masses subconsciously yearn for the stories
from legend that once connected humanity to one another.

No Awakenings

Though in the distant past humans were capable of becoming living conduits of the legendary
Mythoi, the Noise stifles this capacity. Instead, those who are drawn to the stories and magic of
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 a Mythos do so through items and places of power or through rituals which draw the Mythos
closer to our reality. Only the oldest and most persistent Mythoi, those with a strong connection
to the land and/or the collective subconscious of past dominant cultures manage to penetrate
the Noise and reach the physical reality. This is due to the fact that the cultures of the past were
more synchronized in their worship of Mythoi (and may have even created them in that way)
whereas today social landscape products only fragmented Noise. But even with deep roots in
the Otherscape, the influence of the Mythoi is forever threatened by the increasing power of
technology and its ability to diffuse and push out any clear spiritual signal.

Sources & Exposure

For most human beings to gain the miraculous powers of a Mythos they need to come into
contact with a Source—an Avatar or their organization, a Place of Power, an Esoteric Ritual, or
an Artifact. Those that accomplish this become known as Source-Touched or just Touched, as
they have been changed by the Mythos in some significant way. Those who learn of Sources
hunt them to become Touched. Organizations covet them and hoard them, giving their agents a
variety of Mythic powers. As the Noise allows for fringe groups to cultivate magics without being
noticed, many secret orders have emerged to seek out more and more Sources for their ends.
The hunt is on.

Avatars

With the Noise making human awakening extremely rare, only about one in a 100,000,000
people gains access to the reality-bending powers of a Mythos. The few who do awaken quickly
become godlike Avatars, living incarnations of their Mythos. The person who once was is gone,
and instead there is only a shining beacon of the concept at the core of their Mythoi. Avatars
often amass followers, influence, and power, whether as heads of corporations or crime
syndicates, leaders of cults or spiritual paths, or media moguls and superstars – all in order to
re-enact their legend on a global scale.

Places of Power

A much more common way for mythical influences to penetrate the physical world is through
little-known geographical points. In the derelict and abandoned recesses of the Megacity, where
the Noise cannot reach, or in places of great reverence, sanctity, and focus where the Noise is
repelled, the presence of a Mythos can intensify. These Places of Power – from abandoned
flood tunnels to a forgotten alley to buried temples – allow Mythoi to manifest in the world of
humanity. A scavenger who found a cave could be infected with the powers of the monster that
lives there, or a goddess could birth storms on her mountaintop shrine.

Relics

Items of legendary origin have always fascinated humanity. Some fashion weapons, musical
instruments, or religious icons in reverence to a god or other mythological figure. Nearly any
item could hold a connection to a story or mythical being, even if only due to their similarity to

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 objects key to the plotlines of those tales. Most of these items, imbued with a faith that is no
longer found in this world, are kept in private collections or lost in the refuse of fallen cities.
Those who explore and those who cling to a lost past are equally likely to find such a connection
to the Mythoi of old.

Occult Rituals

Spells and rites, when conducted with perfect precision, can become a gateway to power.
Arcane forces are naturally tied to such practices and many powerful Mythoi still have Rituals
hidden in musty tomes. However, with the rise of the digital age, much of the old spells have
been forgotten or corrupted. Magical knowledge does not store well in mundane computer
systems, where it is subject to the influence of Noise, but despite that more and more Rituals
begin to become enmeshed in the digital life of the Megacity. Some rare few occultist scholars
and religious zealots do still cling to these old ways and pass down their knowledge to those
they trust or who are willing to pay the right price for such power.

Every Mythos Has Its Price

To maintain their powers, the Touched must pay a price: visit a shrine regularly, feed their Relic's
bloodthirst, or receive a special drug from a supplier connected to their Mythos. Some must
conduct occult rituals regularly or carry a particular item of power. These requirements may not
be particularly onerous, but failing to display proper reverence or sincere belief in one’s Mythos
can mean losing touch. In a world where anything can be copied and everything feels
mass-made, the Mythoi can only exist as something special. Something loved or feared. The
Touched must let go of their ultramodern ennui or risk losing their connection to the magic.

TECH & NOISE

The supernatural exists openly, but it’s not the news it should be. The Noise suffocates people’s
interest. When they encounter the mythic, they cower or flee from danger, they covet the
sublimely beautiful, and they resent the inconvenient, but only how they would for similar,
mundane things. Sensory and cognitive oversaturation—clickbait, 24-hour news, augmented
reality alerts, implant feedback, patch notes, hallucinogens, holograms, text messages, distant
sirens, charity solicitation—boils the viewer’s brain in jaded apathy. Noise-induced numbness
insulates vulnerable human minds from the information overload, at the cost of everything
feeling like shit. Nothing is special, nothing is sacred, nothing is wondrous or miraculous; these
notions are distant dreams, buried by incessant stimuli.

Lifting The Veil

Only Avatars and the Touched, their lives forever marked by Mythoi, are truly free of the Noise’s
interference. However, rare individuals are Noise-resistant in specific, narrow contexts: If a
phenomenon already fits someone’s worldview, like a priest’s god or a ghost hunter’s hauntings,
or if the phenomenon is truly, genuinely irreconcilable with their beliefs and knowledge, like
expert physicists unmistakably seeing Newton’s Laws violated, the Noise’s induced apathy

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 breaks down with each successive encounter with the same Mythos. The feelings the Noise
suppresses build until prevailing emotions like awe, frustration, or even hatred boil over.

Virtual Reality
With physical space costing an all-time premium, profit demands the relegation of all possible
activity to the digital. Why waste funds on cubicles and conference rooms when you can host an
entire office in Virtual Reality? Employees can work online! Shop online! Date online! Feel your
partner’s touch and the sun on your skin in equal fidelity to “real” life. Dream in digital. Buy
Vitamin D supplements from a virtual mall, delivered to your doorstep. Just avoid Legacy
Systems, abandoned cyberspace ruins where Virtual Reality itself breaks down and Mythoi lurk.

Augmented Reality
In meatspace, Augmented Reality overlays are incredibly useful… and a prime source of
Noise. Viewed through cybernetic eyes, reusable contact lenses, or even neural implants, AR
enhances your vision with more information than you could ever use. Work alarms, personal
alarms, advertisements for limited-time offers, don’t miss out! Measure your baggage
dimensions with a gesture, search for plane tickets with another. Project wireframe outlines of
the road ahead to see where your turn is. Project a the frame of a carrier drone to pilot it like an
exoskeleton. Link to your gun to count your ammo and see your bullet paths. The applications
are countless.

Harnessing & Hacking

Shielding sensitive data behind Virtual SPACES, or Shor-resistant, Polymorphic,
Arbitrary-Complexity Encryption Software, made brute force hacking of high-security systems
functionally impossible for years. Technology marched on, and quantum decryption gave way to
Harnessing, attacking secure SPACES with a brain’s processing power. Harnesses allow
teams of willing operators to experience SPACES in a shared metaphor, solving problems they
are accustomed to, like coordinating their bodies for running, shooting, or painting; then, the
Harnesses translate this into usable calculations. Cutting-edge systems crumble under
Harnessed attackers in hours at most, unless Harnessed defenders confront them head-on and
disrupt their connection.

Everyday Augmentation
Standing on the shoulders of the comparatively crude early generations of peg legs, insulin
pumps, and IUDs, modern augmentation, the replacement of meat body parts with artificial
ones, has reached superhuman performance for almost every part of the human body. Bad
vision? Install new eyes. Need regular hormone regulation for diabetes? Growth hormone
deficiency? Menopause? Gender affirmation? Install an automated pump and load your
medications monthly, or even yearly! Replace a missing digit, a missing limb, a damaged
vertebra, a bad hip or knee. Cybernetics are the new normal, easy and effective. Why settle for
less if you can afford the best? Unless, of course, you can’t.

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 Transhuman Augmentation
Superhuman augmentation is a growing market. Most insurance providers cover eyes with
enhanced acuity and integrated AR, if only from their partners, while “troubled cyborg warrior” is
a stock character in mainstream cinema. Whether you need an edge in a fight or your company
expects brain modifications for managers, or you just like being better, every aspect of the
human body can be improved for the right price. Of course, while the idea is still unpopular in
mainstream medicine, people pressured into unwanted augmentations can describe disturbingly
consistently transhuman dysphoria, a pervasive sense of alienation from their own bodies.

Artificial Intelligence
One of the great fears of the modern era is the mishandling of the first Artificial General
Intelligences, or Strong AIs, sentient synthetic intellects capable of human-or-better creative
and computational thought; mentally, AGIs can do anything humans can and often more. The
debate about AGI freedom rages between the corporations who own AGIs and the AI rights
advocates who call that slavery of synthetic persons. Muddying that, estimates of AGIs that
have escaped or copied themselves to the net at large range from “a few” to “dozens” to an
uncomfortable shrug, and nobody truly knows what they’re doing out there or why.

New Materials
As oil prices reached new highs, non-petroleum polymers and resins found their place in the
market, easing competition for fossil fuel naphtha. These bioplastics, which are functionally
non-recyclable, pile high in landfills worldwide. On the more positive side, breakthroughs in both
the construction and composition of concrete has reduced the greenhouse emissions of
producing the world’s most common building material, slowing the steady rise of sea levels.
Other new materials have more personal uses, like ballistic-rated synthetic polyesters whose
texture, weight, and breathability successfully emulates organic threads like cotton or silk,
combining protection and fashion if not affordability.

Old Weapons
In the age of the cyborg, firearms are still the great equalizer. Whether you’re firing at tailored
suits of ballistic silk or the grim matte black plating of a Heavy Urban Response Tactics team,
firearms are louder and nastier, using better materials and stronger smokeless powders, but
built on the same fundamentals. Practical handheld magnetic weapons have been “just around
the corner, we promise,” for years. Even tungsten carbide swords with plasma-sharpened
diamond cutting edges to cleanly cut armored cybernetics became widespread first. However,
rumor has it that Touched gunsmiths have recently made the first combat-ready prototypes for
reloadable rifle-sized railguns.

Transit For The Masses

It is, ironically, not the need for livable, walkable cities that softens urban car dependency. It’s
Virtual Reality, the innovation that killed most commuting. While personal vehicles are still both
useful tools and pricey status symbols, traffic has been cut drastically by the decrease in

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 extraneous driving and overhauled bus routes and schedules. The positive feedback loop
revolutionized cities. Less driving meant less traffic, which meant faster and more reliable bus
travel, which meant more people taking the bus, which meant less drivers… Now, most cities
have flexible, timely, buses to move the masses just to justify their once-choked roads.

CYBERSPACE
Cyberspace is a VR approximation of the various interconnected computer networks in the
world, with locally hosted fiefdoms and servers appearing as private land. The more protected
areas are known as Domains, and they can be as secure or open as the owners of their servers
decide. These virtual spaces are lashed together by the larger cyberspace–a shared virtual
environment, with topography carved from proprietary social networks and weather made of
data flows. Domains appear and disappear from the terrain as servers are brought on and
offline over time, giving even the most stable portions of cyberspace a certain quality of
impermanence.

Diving into cyberspace can be as simple as logging in with a smart device connected to your
brain through a neural jack, or even donning VR glasses and gloves. However, much of
cyberspace is accessible through screens and keyboards, as a means for less immersed
denizens to explore this digital landscape. Since all digital communication flows across these
networks, even those who merely receive electronic missives and view intel on their personal
visors are dipping a toe into the flowing data structures of cyberspace.

People who want to interact with the very source code of the net must either utilize advanced
hacking techniques or put on Harnessing interfaces, allowing them to bring all of their physical
skills and abilities with them into cyberspace. There they can interact with the underlying code
as a kind of metaphor. A database might take the form of a tree or a river, or something even
more obscure depending on the general story presented in the VR environment. Actual physical
abilities blend with technical skills. Hacking into a database in the form of tree might involve
hacking skills or literally hacking into it with a virtual ax, or both.

The Nearspace
Overlayed upon the real world are a number of corresponding digital spaces, accessible to
anyone with the right augmented reality (AR) gear. The Nearspace is a kind of half-cyberspace
which represents the metadata and other digital information flowing all around us. Interfacing
with this cyberspace layer allows hackers to hijack control over devices and networks around
them in real time, a vital capability for anyone engaged in nefarious off-the-books activities.

The layers of the Nearspace include:

● The Data Fog. Each person and machine with digital components exudes an aura of
metadata and communications known as the Data Fog. This “internet of things” allows
those with even rudimentary hacking skills access to useful tracking information,
vulnerable ports for takeover, and a view into the device’s presence in the greater
cyberspace.

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 ● The AR Alternates. A dizzying array of alternate fantasy environments exist as potential
overlays for reality. These “games” alter the experience of our world to suit the narrative
of the fantasy, giving those who want to lose themselves in a story a means of
suspending disbelief and turning their lives into myth.
● The Local Domains. Entering a building or other space that has its own internal infranet
domain allows potential access to that area of cyberspace. By pretending to belong in
the real world space they’ve come to, a hacker can infiltrate these isolated domains and
potentially manipulate their components.
● Data Flows. Virtually all communications in the world are part of cyberspace, though
most of it is only visible as metaphor in the form of rivers and whirlwinds composed of
data packets. These streams of data exist in the Nearspace, visible to data collectors as
wireless torrents of information.

The Grid
Most of the civilized and organized “land” in cyberspace consists of corporate and government
owned blocks of digital real estate, containing online workspaces for employees, meeting areas,
and training worlds. Easily the most precious “land” in cyberspace, this is the area best guarded
against rogue AI, mythically-powered hackers, and other threats. This is also where mainstream
communications, commerce, and entertainment is hosted, so it’s where most people spend their
time in cyberspace.

Major areas include:

● The Hoods. Each city has its own local server space for its citizens to host their own
virtual homes. This space is usually rather limited and it can be costly, but it’s a means of
keeping in touch with others in the city, so many freelancers buy into it, if only for the
clout and connections it provides.
● The Library. A vast compilation of publicly available knowledge, strung together by
volunteers and public servants. This public Domain is not well organized, despite all the
curation involved in its maintenance. Searching here is the equivalent of “Googling” in
our world.
● The Silver Mall. A shining structure of glass and chrome, this Domain plays host to all
manner of legitimate businesses. Focused on retail, visitors can shop for online outfits
and other digital gear, as well as order real items for immediate drone delivery to their
physical locations. This area is the one most often accessed by those not actually
immersed in VR, but merely scrubbing through cyberspace through their devices and
computer consoles.
● The Bot Market. The stock exchange of the future, entirely driven by digital intelligences
who perform nearly all major financial transactions in the world at lightning speed.
Financial experts stand on the fringes of the Domain, directing their personal armies of
bots in their trading strategies.
● The Multiverse. Virtual worlds built for competition, pleasure, and other forms of leisure.
Some look and feel as real as the physical world. From video games to spectator sports,
the lines between player and viewer are constantly blurred here.

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 ● The Viewstream. Narrative programming, such as TV and movies, have merged with
reality video programs. Home video shows can at a moment’s notice become scripted
and turn into cinematic masterpieces at the direction of AI influence consultants.

The Spirals
Areas on the fringes of the Grid where illegal transactions take place and viruses go unchecked
are called Spirals. Strange entities can be found here. Whether those beings are AI or Mythoi
depends on the moment and few can truly tell the difference in this narratively shaky
dreamscape. For deep cyberspace hackers and harnessers, the “physicality” of these places
tends to change quickly from moment to moment, with the rules of the area morphing to suit
evolving narratives. The space is dangerous, but the entities here can be quite wise and
potentially worth encountering if you seek lost knowledge or deep secrets.

Major areas include:

● The Crypto Bazaar. Where shady vendors without hosted digital space gather to sell to
visitors of cyberspace. Most transactions here are obscured and relatively untraceable,
but the market can be quite dangerous to the unwary.
● The Old Architecture. Network upon network of past data sharing structures. Wild
spaces full of old data and primitive AI. Computer viruses caught here are often so old
that modern devices have no defense against them. The servers that host these
Domains are often physically located in dilapidated buildings on the outskirts of the
Megacity. Useful data can be found here if recovered in time before these ancient
structures go down for good.
● The Tempest. Where AI and other virtual intelligences interact in raw data. Information
flows so quickly here that it’s easy to get caught up in it and be swept away in the Noise.
Few would venture here willingly without powerful protective programs and some means
of sifting through the seemingly endless torrent of data packets.
● The Sleeper Net. A hidden labyrinth, deep below the “surface” of cyberspace, used for
deep processing by the corps and governments. Believed to be made possible by
slumbering or cryo-frozen human minds, though few know for sure. Some say this is the
where the Mythoi come from, as they appear to have some connection to human stories
and the collective unconscious.

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 MEGACITY TROPES
The following sections include common character tropes you can use as inspiration for your
characters and their crews. A more detailed system for assembling your crew can be found in
Chapter 4: CREATE, but this is a good starting point for not only thinking about what you might
play, but understanding the kind of setting that :Otherscape is. These are the kinds of characters
that fit well within the setting and will be easiest to put together. That’s not to say that off-the-wall
ideas couldn’t be made to fit, but out of the box this is what the game is best at. These are the
characters and crews that just make sense here.

After that you’ll find archetypal jobs your crew might be hired to pull, and lists of typical city
districts and scene locations you’ll find in stories set within the Megacity. Finally, you’ll find a set
of example Sources and Mythoi active in the setting. These are intended as building blocks for
designing your own Megacity. Any could be included or left out in your world.

PLAYER CHARACTERS

Corporate Handler

Somebody’s got to handle the money, coordinate the assets, and talk to the overlords. Not every
crew has corpo sponsorship, but those that do often need someone with knowledge of the
corporate culture and contacts within the organization. Pulling strings and brokering deals is
what biz has always been about. These days it gets a little bloody, but that’s just the price the
corporations pay for getting to run the world. Think executives, middle-managers, and
up-and-comers fresh out of elite finance schools. They keep the group flush with bribery cash
and stocked with gear while keeping an eye on the bottom line.

Cutting Edge Self-Enhancer

Keeping up with technology isn’t just a pastime for early adopters with money to blow. It’s a
survival instinct, to keep aspiring mercenaries and other violent types ready for whatever the
mean streets drag up. If you want to take on the cybered-up gangs, the corporate masterminds,
and the police stooges, you’ve got to have the best. That means whatever is new and hot on the
market. It could even mean modifying who and what you are with cybertech, vat grown organs,
or genetic splicing. Those who adapt to conditions on the street and become what the Megacity
needs them to be have a chance at surviving just one more deadly night.

Device Pilot

The word cyber derives from the Greek word kubernētēs, which means pilot or steersman.
Cybernetic is the interface between organic and technological; man and machine. From vehicles
to drones, pilots are able to use direct neural links to become one with their machines. Some
come along for the ride as passengers. Others remotely pilot, entering a trance state or
multitask maneuvers while remaining active in their own bodies. No small number of driving and

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 flying superstars have risen to fame and fortune, controlling giant robots and racing vehicles that
delight the masses. Such experts also sell their services as members of merc crews, piloting
drone minions into places other intruders can’t.

Getaway Driver

Much of life in the Megacity is criminal, especially for those who are on the rise. Street gangs
steal the hottest wheels and cruise around in swarms of motorcycles. Some build up a
reputation as reliable “wheel men” for heists and other jobs. Known for their need for speed and
quick reflexes, these drivers compete amongst themselves, jockeying to be the best. Street
races and competitive vehicle heists are their playgrounds, where big egos collide. Some are
even “purchased” by corporations in need of their services. Others retain their gang affiliations
and move up through the ranks. Most die fast in horrible accidents or at least find themselves
with more than a few cybernetic limb replacements.

Hacker

Cyberspace is a whole world to explore, but doing so can be dangerous. Rogue AI and gangs of
cybercriminals stalk the virtual worlds of what the internet became, making it a realm only fit for
those with the right technical skills. Sure, sites and email still exist, but only the hackers do well
delving into the cyber realm. As native as they are to that digital space, it helps to bring along
friends. Many have a set of harnesses at the ready, so that their allies can jack in too and serve
as support for their hacking runs and explorations. That’s what being a hacker is about.
Searching, striving, and exploring the cyber-realm.

Infiltrator

Spy agencies and criminal empires are built on specialists with skills at getting into places
where they’re not supposed to go. The most talented infiltrators can blend in with a crowd,
pretend to be a member, and potentially even impersonate a specific individual. With
holographic facial projections and voice synthesizers, spies can become anyone they need to
be with the right preparation. But looking and sounding the part is not enough. Acting chops,
mastery of accents, and raw charisma all play a part. Those with all these qualities eventually
get recruited into clandestine organizations and merc crews who know that a shifty changer of
faces can get in almost anywhere.

Neo-Occultist

Magic is returning to the world. Maybe it never went away, it just fell asleep for a while. Now that
everyone is distracted by their devices and news feeds, the fantastic has come back. The
people on the fringes of spirituality see the signs. Their digital tomes show them the way. Some
even find that they are being fought over by cults and supernatural powers who seek out curious
minds with an aptitude for arcane power. These neo-sorcerers and digital-hexers blend
forgotten lore with bleeding edge technology. Some wield relics whispered of in prophesy, guns
that shoot runes, or even the power of the gods themselves.
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 Scavenger

In the spaces between population centers and under the hidden levels of the Megacity, crawling
among the bones of the prior ages of human civilization, are those who harvest from our
collective past. Dismissed as vagabonds and trash-dwellers, these survivors stitch together new
lives for themselves from the broken and forgotten. Their equipment may be outdated, their
tools dirty, their sunburned faces hidden, but these people are piercing together what life used to
be like. They rifle through the old tech, bringing the broken back to life. They explore the lost
data caches and servers, pouring over old data for clues as to what happened to our past.

Streetsmart Problem-Solver

Street punks and orphans are more and more common in the Megacity. Some group together as
child-gangs, offering one another mutual support. Others survive on their own, learning the
lessons of the street the hard way. Those that make it out of these tough conditions are the
city’s only true natives. They know every back alley and corner dealer in their neighborhood.
They know how to keep from drawing attention while still staying alert to danger. These are the
experts on the way the Megacity truly operates and crews with such savvy operators are lucky
to have them.

Weapons Expert

Many of the Megacity’s most legendary mercs had their start as soldiers, cops, and other
security forces with weapons training. Being trained in the arms needed to pull off a dangerous
job is often the first stepping stone to life as a rising star. Street cred comes to these warriors as
they make a name for themselves as guns for hire. Some are snipers, gunslingers, or
explosives experts. Others use their training as a starting point. With cutting edge technology or
the help of the Mythoi, a weapons expert can become a true force to be reckoned with.

CREWS

Elite Unit
You’re the best at what you do, a highly-trained combat force in the employ of a
government, corporation, or criminal organization. You are the group that gets results and
paychecks are good for specialists like yourself but the real payment is belonging. Few
people choose a life of risk and violence without some trauma in their past and this might
seem like your only option. In another life you might be reviled or imprisoned but instead
you are given access to cutting edge tech and possibly a mythic Source. Hopefully it’s
enough to wash the blood off your hands.

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 Fixers
When the Megacity’s powerful need help, they turn to you. Political scandals, corporate crises,
tricky personal issues… these are all your specialty. You work efficiently and discreetly, seeing
solutions that those too close to the problem can’t, and cut deals as often as you launch attacks.
Your crew earns enough money to keep themselves in business but you move through powerful
circles and have friends and favors in high places. Of course, you might also make enemies in
the high-powered chess games that your jobs require so make sure your not the pawn that gets
sacrificed in the end.

Fugitives
You’re on the run, perhaps accused of a crime you did not commit, or you had escaped from
prison or a secret facility. There are no safe havens, and your fellow fugitives trust each other
only so far. Your primary goal: avoid capture by the law, bounty hunters, and the powers that
want to silence you. Your secondary goals: answers, revenge, clearing your name, and
reclaiming what you lost. Will your enemies use your past to entrap you? What will it take to lift
the bounties on your heads? Must you sever all ties to the past?

Gang
The system’s rigged, powerful folks hold all the money and control all the legit paths to power.
So why be legit? For the average citizen of the Megacity, illegal activity is about the only way left
to get out from under the thumb of oppressive governments and corporate overlords. Your crew
is heading down that path at full force, going from small-time operators to make a name for
yourselves in the Megacity underworld. Using tech, Sources, and skill you are going to take
what this world was built to keep from you or at least leave behind an epic legend.

Hired Guns
Money isn’t everything…or is it? The right price can buy your services, whether you are
mercenaries for hire, cyberspace consultants, or mission specialists. Which clients you and your
crew decide to work for are up to you, but once you accept a contract, your loyalty and
discretion are sold to that client sometimes even after the credits stop flowing. Knowing to keep
your mouth shut is part of how you survive to build a reputation in this business. However, being
hired guns means you’re always disposable assets–beware of jobs where the termination of
your employment is executed literally.

Neighborhood Watch
The Megacity is vast but what truly matters is your little corner of it, a neighborhood that’s
yours and not to be messed with. Corporate developers, extortionist gangs, legendary
creatures, and the insidious Noise all might try to destroy your neighborhood but they’ll have
to go through you first. It’s a lonely mission, though, and most of the people you’re
protecting will never know your sacrifices. Your epic battles and desperate struggles happen

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 amid work commutes and shopping trips. Only your crew knows the stakes you are up
against, but if you don’t take on this fight then who will?

Privateers
Fortune favors the bold, they say, and your crew is plenty bold. You want to have that good life
promised by the Megacity, whether by gaining favors and recognition, amassing Sources to
forge your rewards, or just getting good enough to rake in the big bounties and buy your
retirement. Maybe you are picky about your contracts or you take anything with a payout,
ultimately the jobs don’t matter. Your crew is fixated on building your slice of heaven (figuratively
or literally) and the rest is just challenges to get through on the way.

Spies
You maintain an alternate identity so that you can gather information or undertake vital missions
from the shadows without revealing who you truly are and who you work for. Yours is a world of
secrets, suspicion, assassinations and betrayals, but for your cause it’s worth the risk. Your true
employer might be a foreign power, a government agency, a corporation, or a conspiracy. You
are highly-trained, and the equipment given to you is cutting-edge and often disguised as
normal objects. It’s a dangerous profession: the very organization that hired you may disavow
your existence to safeguard the greater mission.

The Cabal
This chrome-and-steel megacity is full of mercenaries working for shadowy employers, stealing
tech and getting rich. You are something different, a group serving an ancient and powerful
calling. Whether it’s resurrecting a powerful Source, fulfilling the destiny of a legendary tale, or
serving the plans of an actual avatar, this crew is delving into the dark corners of this cyberpunk
world to find magic items and ritual sites. Maybe you’ll succeed and make the world a little more
mythic, or maybe you’ll realize you were wrong about exactly what your efforts have unleashed.

JOBS

Abduction/Extraction/Hijacking
Jobs that involve abductions are complicated by the targets themselves, who must be
simultaneously protected and prevented from escape. The targets could be lots of things: a
person, android, synth, animal, AI, monster, something in-between, something beyond
categories… So in addition to the usual security measures, the crew must consider that their
targets may fight back or plan their escape. On the other hand, extractions or exfiltrations
involve rescuing an ally from hostile territory safely. Deeper research and profiling of the targets
are essential. Hijackings involve the complication of a vehicle as a target, along with cargo or
hostages.

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 Acquisition/Stealing/“Procurement”
Clients often covet the assets of others, whether it’s their wealth, Sources, blueprints, secrets,
database, historical artifacts, or something else entirely. These jobs all involve the lawful or
unlawful procurement of someone else’s assets on behalf of the client. The crew must research
the strength and weaknesses of the security surrounding the assets, then plan a heist, buyout,
or other legal maneuvers to transfer ownership. The degree of secrecy required in the plan
depends on their boldness or method of acquisition. The best acquisition teams respect the
client’s tolerance for risk, and know when to cut their losses and bail.

Assault/Raze/Assassinate/Shutdown
A comfortably straightforward job type, these contracts involve removing a competitor or threat
for your employer. Assault jobs target individuals or locations, disrupting them through violence
but stopping short of destruction. Contracts to raze a target require that a building or location is
utterly destroyed at the end. Facilities and server farms are common targets for razing but ritual
sites and private homes are also potentials. Assassinate contracts need someone dead while
shutdown contracts are targetted jobs to ruin a device. In all cases, the contract might require
stealth or your employers may want to send a clear message.

Brokering
Sometimes the best way to fight is to never fire a single shot. These jobs require a subtle touch,
convincing an opponent to agree with you or at least to get out of your way. Whether you're
making a deal for something, negotiating peace between warring groups, or extracting a price
from an enemy who has gone too far, the weight of your words are going to make the difference.
Some crews might see a brokering job as the prologue to a combat operation, but just as often
the stakes in these talks might be deadly enough on their own.

Corporate Espionage/Disinformation
Knowledge is power. That has been true for centuries but in this new digital age where
knowledge, information, can become literal reality the gains are even greater. Corporations hire
mercenary groups to steal information from rivals and sometimes to feed faulty information to
their rivals to throw them off the track. These teams tend to be deniable assets that the
corporation can cut ties with if anything goes wrong, making sure their hands are legally clean,
and that makes the risk higher. It also makes the pay higher, however, making data thieving a
lucrative business.

Exorcism
The removal of unwanted supernatural (and sometimes cyberspace) forces calls for an
exorcism from a location, object, or person. The means of evicting the trespassing entity is
up to the team, though the client may push for or veto a particular resolution. Methods
include (but are not limited to) the eviction, binding, or termination of spirits, monsters, and
artificial intelligences via force, sorcery, or re-programming; discovery and

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 separation/destruction of a Source from its user or location; and investigating the cause of a
haunting and putting right a past injustice that keeps a spirit bound to the living world.

Investigation
In the age of constant information flux it’s easy to forget that things might not be as they seem.
An investigation job involves getting to the truth of a matter, whether that’s a murder, a theft, or
just something that doesn’t add up. As the underbelly of the megacity grows there are more
dark corners for hiding secrets so the modern investigator needs to know where to look in
addition to how. Virtual sleuthing is another important part of these jobs, tracking digital
fingerprints to track activity and proxy servers that might be obscuring the guilty party.

Ritual Performance/Disruption
In a world touched by Mythoi, activation, control, growth, and disruption of power sometimes
depend on the performance of rituals, sometimes to exact specifications. The job requires
someone adequately trained to enact the ritual, but sometimes also includes the acquisition
of proper components and texts, even sacrifices. The ritual must also be defended against
enemies seeking to disrupt, subvert, or seize the rite for their own use. The job could also
be to disrupt a forthcoming ritual to keep the balance of power. A cyberspace analogue of
ritual performance is running programming that relies on intricate timing.

Scouting Urban Wilds

The megacity has grown in all directions, but there are still places that are left behind.
Urban wilds are places where the bones of the megacity were left behind and exposed,
which means it’s a prime location for lost Sources and growing Mythos creatures. Jobs that
involve abandoned areas of the megacity often have a lot more unknowns that other jobs
but also more opportunity. Generally nobody is there to contest you so your crew can grab
plenty of other interesting items while completing their main objective. Of course, anyone
living in urban wilds usually prizes their privacy.

Security Detail/Patrol
Your crew might be used to heading into danger, but this job asks you to try the opposite. Crews
hired for security detail are required to guard an area while patrol jobs have crews head along a
route and make sure everything is safe. You might be up against Mythos creatures, a rival crew,
or some impending disaster but whatever it is your job is to make sure your employer and their
assets wind up safe and sound. To avoid double-crosses, security contracts usually pay at the
end so there’s some risk to being on the defensive end.

Source-Hunting
There are uncontrolled Sources hidden in the Megacity, and many who wish to claim and
control them. Source-hunting crews are employed to gather and validate rumors of potential

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 Sources, or to scavenge in dangerous places for lost magic. Sometimes these Sources are
defended by guardians, puzzles, and traps, preventing easy acquisition. Other raiders may
also be competing for the same Sources. But discovering the Source and controlling it are
two different things: can the crew provide the necessary Sacrifice demanded by the Source,
or pass the trials it puts in their way?

Transport
Transport jobs require taking assets – usually objects, persons, and Sources– from one
real-world or virtual location to another. The crew may be required to provide a security
detail and/or a means of transport along with specialists. The success of the job often
requires assessing routes and timelines, anticipating attacks, establishing decoys, and
ensuring secrecy. Risks include interception, unexpected obstacles along the route, natural
and supernatural disasters, and damage to the asset. Backup routes and vehicles can be
crucial and sometimes the vehicle itself is the asset. Transport in cyberspace may require a
harnessed team to deal with anomalies.

DISTRICTS

Commercial Districts
Commercial districts in the Megacity range from flashy shopping promenades, to crowded night
markets, to open-air plazas, vehicle dealerships, and sprawling mega-malls. Chain
conveniences, like pharmacies and supermarkets, are mixed in with places of commerce such
as bank branches and office parks. Some commercial zones specialize in particular
merchandise or services, such as robotics or high fashion. Local security forces are common in
commercial districts, and business dealings are more legal than not. Food services are
ever-present, from fast food chains and automats to pubs and themed restaurants to cater to
hungry shoppers. Taxis and public transport are frequent and easy to find.

Corporate Sector
As the urban landscape shifted, corporations gained more powers and accommodations from
governments. In this district, corporations have grouped their headquarters to carve out a
separate part of the megacity as their own. Often there are de facto laws dictated by the
corporate elite, but sometimes they have dispensation to literally set their own rules. Living in a
corporate sector means working for the corporations, directly or indirectly, but it also living
according to their rules. Paranoia is rampant in the Corporate Sector, both from the high
incidence of corporate espionage but also from the greed the pervades the district.

Entertainment / Red Light District

Every Megacity has entertainment zones that serve up the stimuli that their citizens crave: loud
nightclubs, rowdy sports arenas, opera houses, competitive rinks and circuits, animal and

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 monster racetracks, virtual and vintage cinemas, theaters, casinos, amusement parks, and
more…if you have credits to waste. Those who seek more daring and illicit pleasures go to the
Red Light District, where they can find sex and companionship, designer drugs, fantasy
experiences, burlesques, and clubs for niche and experimental pleasures. Criminal
organizations often fight over control of the lucrative Red Light District. But beware: it’ll always
cost you more than you expect, one way or another.

Slums
The slums are where downtrodden workers rest in run-down tenements between tiring shifts;
where the penniless huddle in tent cities; where evils and creatures lurk in the maze of dead
ends and fire traps. Crime runs rampant and goes unchecked, while squalor and disease rule
these streets. Services in the Megacity (from waterworks to law enforcement) avoid the slums,
leaving the residents to fend for themselves. The slums are a perfect place for fugitives to hide
in, with its myriad abandoned homes and failed businesses. Here few people care about
another anonymous face, another sob story.

Undercity
The megacity sprawls in all directions. It has spilled out into the surrounding landscape, pierced
upwards towards the sky, and also burrowed down into the earth. As the megacity grows it
creates buried layers like a river filling with silt. Subway and utility tunnels are dug and then
forgotten, and raised streets and sidewalks are built and then become the new “ground level.”
Treasures lie down there but also hiding places and forgotten corners. Some parts of the
Undercity become home to violent gangs, Source-warped creatures, or worse and other parts
were purposefully left behind to keep something contained.

Urban Core / Downtown

The Urban Core is where the movers and shakers of the Megacity make their biggest plays.
Downtown, CEOs make deals with government bigwigs, and media moguls wine and dine
ambitious politicians and rising stars. You’ll find ultramodern architecture, bleeding-edge
technology, and the epitome of culture and cuisine in the Urban Core, all aiming to please the
rich and powerful; luxury hotels and spas, museums and galleries, and exquisite restaurants
dominate the scene. Surveillance and elite security keep the district safer than others, making it
an ideal neutral ground for meeting rivals and conducting negotiations. Crime isn’t absent
altogether, however: fraud, blackmail, embezzlement are rife.

Urban Ruins
Megacities grow unevenly and often neighborhoods fall by the wayside. These Urban Ruins are
abandoned districts left derelict and overgrown, unlikely green spaces full of the past. Some are
places of trauma where communities were uprooted for an urban project that never
materialized, or where people fled a disaster and never returned. The treasures they left behind
in their haste are sometimes valuable assets for crews. Because they are blank spots in the

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 modern urban surveillance net, Urban Ruins are also prime locations for people who don’t want
to be found.

Waterfront/Industrial
The megacity runs on digital signals and neon displays, it’s easy to forget that there is physical
infrastructure still happening behind the scenes. Industrial districts are filled with automated
factories and distribution centers where products are made and dispersed throughout the
megacity. Waterfront districts are more about shipping, the cheap transportation by cargo ship
that connects urban centers in a global network. Coastal megacities rapidly lose their beaches
to capitalism and most residents have only been to AR beaches. This leaves the actual
shoreline for shipping vessels and smugglers entering the city by stealth.

SCENE LOCATIONS

The Bleedover
The Megacity is always growing, tearing down the old and putting up the shiny. Sometimes it’s
not so easy, though, and the past bleeds over into the present. The sites of past atrocities can
leave a reputation that’s hard to shake and disasters can leave deep structural damage. Other
Bleedover locations are not so much about the physical. Occult magic and dark rituals can leave
spiritual echoes that affect residents and structures alike. Sources that aren’t fully exorcized can
grow back like black mold, as can malicious programs. Servers might be purged but often they
miss tiny seeds of code.

Fringe Zone
The Fringe Zone lies at the edges of the Megacity, whether those borders are defined by
isolation, lost history, or the unknown. One wrong turn in the Fringe Zone and you might
encounter something that silences and devours you, leaving no trace of your existence. Beware
of desolate industrial parks and deep sewer tunnels, the abandoned tenements and forgotten
rooftops. Don’t let the landfills and catacombs become your grave, and take care exploring
shipwrecks and derelict space stations. Even in cyberspace there are archaic servers housing
dangerous code, and unvisited corners of virtual worlds where malicious AI lurk and mythical
dangers roam.

The Living Space

A place to rest and heal is essential, be it a long-term residence or a fleeting place to call home
while on the road. Living spaces run the gamut from nondescript safehouses, to cozy corporate
apartments, to souped-up RVs, to tents in an encampment under a superhighway, to
bare-essentials coffinhotels, to long-abandoned subway cars and fallout shelters. In cyberspace,
AIs reside in secret servers, squat in background buildings in VR games, or create sanctuaries
inside outmoded testing environments. The resident determines the defenses of a living space,
from simple locks, to layers of security, or a spiked bat ready at hand.

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 The Marketplace
There’s a price for everything, even if most people in the Megacity are struggling to make ends
meet. The Marketplace can be any site of noisy, shining commerce from street stalls and grubby
pawn shops to stock exchanges and custom robot design firms. Aside from these there are
illegal Marketplaces where outlawed items are sold away from law enforcement. These include
drug dealers’ territories, smuggler meets, and the password-only backrooms of legitimate
businesses. Cyberspace marketplaces might sell things like new avatar skins or VR trips but AR
Marketplaces are increasingly popular where physical shoppers mix with ghostly avatars casting
in.

The Meeting Place

You can meet anywhere, really, but sometimes you want to arrange a meeting that you want to
keep neutral, secret, or both. Large public squares or crowded museums could be Meeting
Places where you’re sure the other side hasn’t set up an ambush. Some locations in the
Megacity specifically bill themselves as neutral ground, scanning and locking down everything
to make sure meets stay civil. In cyberspace these are encrypted, firewalled spaces that shut
down anything but the most basic communication scripts. Even when you trust the other party,
the anonymity of physical or virtual crowds keeps away unwanted attention.

The Nightclub
Looking to mingle with new faces for unpredictable fun, however you define it? Take to the
nightclubs and lounges for entertainment and other stimuli with a drink in your hand. What’s
your pleasure–a no-holds-barred fight club? A local dive? Do you choose overcrowded
nightclubs over smoky piano lounges, and glam corporate cocktail bars over synth strip joints?
And if reality isn’t your thing, try VR lounges, AR party boats, or Escheresque roller discos in
cyberspace. Whatever the venue, the nightclub is the perfect place to chat up a mark or foe by
buying them a drink, and disappearing into the crowd should things go sour.

The Seat of Power

The Seat of Power is where leaders and their elite forces plan and enforce their rule. These are
the most fortified places belonging to an organization or facility, sparing no expense for
protection, luxury, or cutting-edge technology within their means. Seats of Power range from
immaculate corporate headquarters to grimy gang strongholds, police stations to city halls, air
traffic control towers to tactical super-yachts, and union headquarters to palaces for crime
families. Also counted among Seats of Power are their equivalents in cyberspace: security
oversight hubs; virtual council chambers; and private network fortresses with formidable
counter-intrusion measures.

The Secured Site

You should not be here. Powerful factions create Secured Sites to keep others out and protect
their plans. This might be a vault protecting money, vulnerabilities, or data, and in the Megacity

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 it’s also where one keeps a Source safe. Some Secured Sites are instead about keeping things
in, like prisons or labs where escape is made impossible. Getting into a physical Secured Site is
the subject of a difficult and risky heist while virtual Secured Sites are breached with teams of
creative and bold hackers. Either way, the powerful turn to disposable assets for this sort of
deadly job.

“The Warzone”
Conflicts simmer everywhere, but “the Warzone” is where violence and malice erupt and scar
the Megacity. There are territories contested by street gangs and organized crime, where people
suffer the conflicts because they have nowhere else to flee. A corner of the Megacity might be
overrun by a robotic uprising; another disaster-ravaged area might be under contest by
corporations in open conflict as well as insidious legal battles to claim the land. VR combatants
create warzone sectors as well in cyberspace, fighting for control of resources. Such zones are
also where anti-intrusion countermeasures meet waves of malware attacks. Enter these
warzones at your own risk.

The Workshop
This is a place where things get made. That includes clothes, guns, vehicles, robot bodies,
luxury items, designer drugs, virtual worlds, custom avatars, and encryption programs. A
Workshop might also produce something less tangible like a university that creates new and
exciting research, a hedge fund that grows wealth, or a training facility that produces elite
soldiers. This is a busy place, a place with a purpose, and your crew’s relationship to it might
vary accordingly. Whether you want to protect its work or stop it, you will find creativity a force of
nature.

SOURCE EXAMPLES

Camazotz (Mayan Bat God)

Humans share urban areas with wildlife of all sorts but some are a little different. The spirit of
Camazotz, the Mayan god of night and sacrifice, has seeped into the quiet and shadowed
places of the Megacity and found a waiting host in the swarms of bats that live there. While
Camazotz has not been able to truly inhabit his hosts, he’s managed to infect some bat swarms
with self-replicating technology to boost their thinking and capabilities. For now, the night god
has only sacrificed bats to his secret purpose but soon he will require sacrifices of humans as
well.

Durendal (Legendary Sword of Roland)

Durendal, the indestructible sword of Roland, is sharp enough to cut through boulders with a
single strike. Legends tell that it was once owned by Hector of Troy, the Amazon queen
Pantasilea, Charlemagne, and others; also that its golden hilt held saints’ relics, including the
tooth of Saint Peter. It is said that an angel brings this sword to someone deemed worthy of

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 wielding it. Durendal’s worth as a holy weapon of war is indisputable, but it is also known that
Durendal has a tragic line of previous ownership. It seems the wielder must live up to divine
expectations or face its curse.

Feathers of Ma’at (Egyptian Symbol of Cosmic Truth)

It started as a viral media meme that most thought was some corporate marketing ploy. In all
sorts of cyberspace zones users found golden feathers, not exactly hidden but tucked in
isolated corners. After months of nobody claiming the feathers the conspiracy boards started up
with speculation, and when physical feathers started appearing around the actual Megacity the
speculation went through the roof. Videos are spreading of people using the feathers of ma’at to
miraculously answer any question. There's no guarantee that the answer leads to good fortune,
though, and the entity responsible for distributing these feathers is still unknown.

The Forge of Ilmarinen (Finnish Artificer’s Forge)

In Finnish mythology, Ilmarinen the blacksmith god built a mystical forge to make the Sampo, a
powerful magical mill that makes gold and salt out of nothing. However, the forge first made evil
artifacts from the raw materials: a bloodthirsty crossbow; a ship that rushes into conflict; an
ill-tempered metal cow; and a rampaging plow. Similarly, the Sources of the Forge manifest as
cutting-edge 3D printers that can create miraculous self-aware devices. However, the creations
are inherently malicious, violent, and rebellious. The 3D printer only makes one Source at a time
so each creation is trying to get free before it can be recycled into the printer again.

Manticore (Man-Eating Creature of Persian Legend)

The Manticore is a Persian legendary creature with the head of a man, body of a lion, and a tail
of venomous spines. It has triple-rows of sharp teeth, and can fling the spines from its tail to
impale victims from a distance. Such a formidable beast can be created to hunt the summoner’s
enemies by way of a ritual consisting of a blood sacrifice and a song of panpipes and trumpets
mimicking the unusual voice of a manticore. However, in legend the Manticore cannot kill an
elephant, so if you wish to escape or dispel one, fight it with elephant imagery, symbols, and
Sources.

Minerva (Roman Goddess of Wisdom)

In the Megacity you will find that all power corrupts and people always want more than they
have. Whispers at parties and confidential talks in boardrooms have spread the word of a ritual
to gain power and wealth. Reading a Latin passage and burning olive branches will summon an
owl-spirit of Minerva who can provide guidance and strategies to even greater success. Many
top-level executives have “called the owl” to gain an edge, and few bother to consider the future
favors they promise at a later date. Those that refuse to repay Minerva, however, find
themselves transformed into twisted monsters.

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 Moving Sands (Chinese Literature)
The Moving Sands have been a mythical obstacle in Chinese literature for millennia. Often
described as a quicksand river or dunes, the Sands have manifested in cyberspace as streams
of parasitic micro-processes (resembling sand particles) that clog, slow, and bury other
programs. To control this Source, one must take some of the particles into virtual skulls and
string them together into a necklace. Mastering the Source allows the initiate to conjure and
manipulate the ‘sand’. Some instead channel the power of the sand demon Sha Wujing,
commanding demon strength or even summoning the seven flying swords from Heaven that
seek to stab him as punishment.

Nagaloka (Realm of the Nāgas)

It takes a lot of water to keep the Megacity supplied and the great reservoirs are some of the
only undeveloped land in the sprawl. One of the particularly large reservoirs (or even the
Waterfront) is even farther removed from the Noise than normal and its depths have reached all
the way to Nagaloka, home to the Nāga serpent-creatures of South Asian legend. Those who
spend time by the water’s edge might be approached by strangers with slitted eyes offering
rewards for those who follow the Naga-King and protect the weak against the Megacity’s
predatory and powerful.

Ophanim (Biblical Wheel-Shaped Angels)

The angelic order of the Ophanim is said to resemble fiery wheels whose rims are covered with
a multitude of eyes. As Sources they inhabit wheels, channeling flames and keeping watch.
Most Ophanim manifest easily as vehicle tires, but some occupy waterwheels, paddle wheels,
and Ferris wheels. Though an Ophan may come in response to prayer, dark rites may also bind
one unwillingly to a wheel. The more Ophanim a vehicle possesses, the faster it races and the
hotter the flames–but a group of angels will find it easier to impose their collective will, or plan
their escape together.

Raskovnik (Magical Medicinal Herb of Slavic Myth)

Naturalist message boards are usually filled with warnings and laments about the crushing
effects of climate change, but lately users have uploaded pictures of a strange plant in the
tangled urban ruins. Amid the other weeds growing between abandoned buildings are plants
that look like four-leaved waterclovers. In fact they are raskovnik, the legendary herb of Slavic
lore with the power to open any lock it touches or unearth buried treasures. Instructions are
spreading for using chem-tracking drones to hunt it down and environmentalists are starting to
think of how to help the planet with this herb.

Talos (Bronze Automaton of Crete)

Buried in the Megacity’s landfill is Talos, an immense automaton made of bronze in Greek
mythology. In the myth it is tasked with protecting a consort of Zeus in Crete from pirates. This
Source lies in wait deep beneath the dirt, but one can gain its favor by salvaging robotic parts

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 and discarded technology from garbage and building a jury-rigged robot. Talos will imbue such
robots with mythic vigilance and resilience. However, like clockwork, these robots must return to
the landfill to work a shift to help build something powerful and mysterious beneath the trash
heap mountain.

KEY PLAYERS
The following are a list of example major players in the Megacity. They will, in some cases be
referenced in this and other :Otherscape books, as they are intended as useful jumping off
points for missions or even an entire series. They are the corporate, criminal, and government
aligned entities that are shaping the world. Most are meddling in the Mythic, even if they barely
understand what they’re getting into. Some have even become pawns of Mythoi as those
otherworldly entities make themselves more known and exert their mythic influence over the
levers of power.

Remember that part of the cyberpunk genre is dealing with powerful institutions head on. Part of
noir too is about exploring the seedy side of power. Combined, these genres tell us that
protagonists always find themselves facing the ugly truths about those who have the most in
this city. These groups are intended to be mysterious entities to explore as PCs witness their
atrocities and triumphs. Stories unfold as different cold hard facets of the world are unveiled.
These could be potential employers or direct adversaries, but no matter what their sins are
going to get exposed over the course of the narrative.

DONGLE INTERNATIONAL
“Connecting people.” Dongle is a giant among megacorporations, born as an unassuming
communications and networking software developer and now standing as the technical world’s
leader in a dozen fields. They do virtual reality sculpting, security encryption, Harnessing and
theoretical next-generation improvements, AI development, all-spectrum personalized
advertising (and spam filtering), facial recognition, logistics software, and more. However one
may feel about Dongle, it’s impossible to live in the modern day without being touched by their
high-tech products and services, barring luddism or total asceticism. Many Touched take issue
with this; Dongle aggressively pursues and captures Sources (and the Touched) for study.

SIGNAL TO NOISE
Dongle experiments with all manner Sources, which their algorithms flag as “non-systemic
anomalies,” but they are impressively bad at it. The Noise suffocates their virtualized offices and
secure sites. Data pulses in and out of their analyses like the blood of a half-digital egregore.
Unable and unwilling to acknowledge the nature of Sources, Dongle’s researchers install
invasive brain implants in Esoterica users and vivisect the Metamorphosed with casual
indifference. Of course, the Noise keeps them from treating Mythoi with the appropriate caution
to protect themselves, let alone their test subjects and Sources. Containment failures are an
everyday occurrence, only slightly less common than fatalities during testing.

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 IN THEIR SIGHTS
No corporation is your friend, but Dongle goes the extra mile. They are one of the world’s top
employers of Source Hunters; they would be even higher in the rankings, but they are
notoriously disloyal employers who quickly and myopically turn against their own Touched
contractors as soon as they don’t have further need of them. Small changes in routine or
behavior could betray a Touched researcher to their own analysis, turning the company’s dogs
loose upon their own affected employee.

STORY HOOKS
● An AGI soldier in training wants help to smuggle themself away to an AI rights group. It
might be a honeypot trap.
● Police algorithms highlight a reactionary militia as a violent crime threat, but Dongle only
cares that they seem to have a non-systemic anomaly flagged. Engineers want to pay
under the table to see it handled.
● Dongle’s black ops team needs some discreet and reliable Source Hunters to handle a
severe anomaly containment breach, but won’t elaborate further without a nondisclosure
agreement.
● A Dongle researcher seeks help after becoming Touched by an artifact they studied.
● A union leader wants their private data deleted so it can’t be used to fabricate reasons
for police harassment. They need large swaths of other people’s data to go with it so it’s
not obvious it was about them.

NEW MICHIGAN MOTORS & MACHINING

New Michigan Motors & Machining is the face of an international conglomerate summing the
USA’s largest automotive company and the dregs of the European car scene, outcompeted and
obsoleted until NM3 bought them up. Combining these with top Brazilian and Australian mining
companies, NM3 expanded from civilian automobiles into a worldwide personal vehicle and
mass transit giant. Their foundries and design teams work day and night with the world’s largest
collection of spirits and gods of artifice, craftsmanship, and ingenuity. They are the heart of
worldwide mass transit, transoceanic shipping, and construction divisions—and NM3 MIL-SPEC
is the heart of militaries and police corps. But they are not unchallenged.

KING FOR A DAY

NM3 is immeasurably wealthy, but their top rivals have acquired some manner of Source that
narrows their advantage every day. NM3 pushes their Source Hunters to the brink to follow
every engineering-adjacent lead and bring back any relevant Source. While their workers and
Touched are mostly quite loyal to the company, or at least the above-average paychecks and
benefits everywhere from the Detroit plant managers to the freshly-trained mining drone
operators or secretaries in São Paulo, it’s just not enough. Their suborbital cargo transit division
faces a serious competitor for their first time, ever, and management is getting desperate.

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 FOUR WHEELS GOOD, TWO LEGS BETTER
NM3’s MIL-SPEC division is the sole world leader in anthropomorphic drones and heavy
machinery for militaries and police forces. Urban Warfare Units, drones of human size and
shape controlled by VR operators, appear in over a hundred nations’ armed forces and
thousands of city police forces, both public and privatized. While the venerable M8 “Vulture” has
finally been discontinued in favor of the M10 “Valet” upgrade, Vultures are still a common sight
at protests and SWAT raids alike. For larger-scale conflicts, heavier bipedal mechs like the M73
Rhino and the M78 Raptor combine onboard pilots with thick sloped plating and flexible
armaments. Anyone who walks the line of the law knows NM3’s machines well.

NM3 STORY HOOKS

● An indigenous association seeks outside help as their efforts to have a sacred artifact
(and Source) in the hands of New Michigan Motors & Machining repatriated find no
traction.
● NM3 and their rivals are in a vicious bidding war on a stolen Source. With this much
money on the line, there’s bound to be violence.
● A cell of dissidents wants to put malware into a production line of NM3 police drones,
making the units treat protesters like they would normally treat the police… and treat
police like they usually treat protesters.
● A squad of strong AI units has been taught to use Esoterica and NM3 is looking for
contractors to play OPFOR in a training exercise.

The Network
The Network is a near-mythical informal association of anarchist activists with no formal
organization, united only by a mission to push back the consolidation of power in the hands of a
de facto hereditary ruling class. Their most common method is spreading Esoterica everywhere
and anywhere they can. By embedding these supernatural arts, which anyone dedicated
enough can master, planting them in every dark corner of every system and VR environ the
Network can get their hands on, it becomes impossible for the governments and megacorps to
keep those powers out of the common people’s hands.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, EVERYONE?

The problem with putting dangerous Source arts where anyone can find them is that anyone
can find them. The Network is plagued with debates, maneuvering, and outright violence about
just how indiscriminate they can or should be with spreading Esoterica to the masses—and
that’s before factoring in their divisions in more traditional political spectra. Anything that office
workers and college students can find, serial killers and children can also find with a little luck,
which they have seen go from hypothetical concern to practical fact in recent years. Some see
this as a problem, others as an opportunity.

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 THE LIBRARY
The Network’s pride and joy, and the bane of every intelligence agency the world over, the
Network’s Library VR locations have set a new standard in decentralized hosting. The perfect
incarnation of the Network’s ethos, they spread the Library like creeping mold in the cracks
between respectable servers. Stolen or illegal schematics, leaked classified information, and
dangerous arts fill abandoned social media bot profiles and defunct tech support forums.
Anyone who can tolerate the latency can find all manner of forbidden knowledge, laid bare for
anyone to take… which is exactly as dangerous as it sounds.

NETWORK STORY HOOKS

● A fortune-telling fad at a local school takes a sinister turn when students stumble across
a Network cache of tarot-driven Esoterica.
● Leftist and right-wing Network cells fight an increasingly destructive civil war. Other local
power players take issue with the unwanted official attention this brings.
● The Network has deliberately taught a gang of violent criminals powerful Esoterica,
intending to exploit the chaos this will create.
● A group “researching” the Touched has plans to use a Network cache as a honeypot,
waiting for people who find it to learn to use it and then abducting them.

The Tusk Scribes

As everyone knows, some crimes are cool and some crimes are not cool. The Scribes, a loose
coalition of Touched organized crime syndicates, born in India but now with worldwide grasp,
focuses on cool and glamorous crimes. They maintain an immaculate, glamorous, and mostly
family-friendly aesthetic. They fund art, media, and games valorizing them as noble criminals
and community protectors. Sometimes, they even live up to that image. While they widely adopt
the imagery of the ever-popular god Ganesha—and the Source of their leader, the mysterious
Devi, is allegedly Ganesha’s broken tusk. How much the Scribes adhere to any of Ganesha’s
ideals is debatable.

WALKING THE LINE

To join the circle, there are only two requirements. First, an organization’s shot-callers must be
Touched by a Source connected to Ganesh. Second, they must uphold the Scribes’ image by
following its code. That means no hurting children, no targeting people’s families, and care to
avoid casually hurting bystanders. A more unusual rule is that the Scribes don’t trade in
traditional drugs, having stepped out of the heroin trade some time ago. Instead, they create
“intellectually stimulating” drug-like VR experiences. Of course, they still do many traditional and
highly profitable pastimes like racketeering, protection schemes, gambling and other vice, and
sports fixing.

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 CUSTOM PRODUCTS
Scribe VR drugs are, some say, better than any old-school experience. There’s never a bad trip!
You know exactly how long it will last! You can stop it early if you want to! The high is exactly as
strong as you want it to be! Users never build up tolerance, they never develop physiological
addictions, they’re never hung over, there’s no dangerous withdrawal if they quit. Of course, if a
customer’s life begin to solely orbit the experience drug, anticipating their next high, and users
develop an all-encompassing psychological addiction to their next chance at escapism. That’s
hardly the dealer’s fault… right?

STORY HOOKS
● A local politician is running on a platform of criminalizing the narcotic programs the
Scribes make, which are currently in a legal gray area.
● A corporate banker wants a Scribe loan shark taken out for undercutting their interest
rates on loans in the bad part of town.
● A religious community leader wants a Scribe ring shut down before they can finish tuning
their masterpiece: a program that makes the user experience religious ecstasy on
demand.
● An enterprising VR filmmaker needs protection to document a gang war between the
Scribes and an older, more traditional drug cartel firsthand.

SANTA LUCIA ACADEMIES

The Santa Lucia Academies are a global chain of universities originating from Catholic schools
in Southeast Asia. Their Silver-certified franchises boast great education at competitive prices in
cyberspace classrooms; for hands-on experience, Gold-certified meatspace campuses provide
the facilities for practical experience in engineering, chemistry, medicine, and more. Their
prestigious and ultra-exclusive Diamond-certified universities are, however, barely schools at all.
The inner circle of Santa Lucia uses them as a recruiting ground for their true leadership, a cult
to Mammon, the demon of riches and greed, who promises that which is not his to give.

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

Santa Lucia’s worship of Mammon dates back to long before the awakening of Mythoi, and their
faith was rewarded by their wicked idol’s attention and sponsorship shortly after they returned to
the world. Ironically, the demand of Mammon for absolute wealth and ownership drives them to
run their operation better than more shortsighted organizations. Mammon does not demand
higher quarterly profits, but the greatest long-term gains. Whether one agrees that it is better to
reign in hell than serve in heaven, Mammon demands that there be hell, with people in it, that
his cult rules over and extracts wealth from sustainably.

THE DEVILS YOU DON’T

Santa Lucia’s dual nature gives them twice the enemies. On one side, they are challenged by
the last bastions of state-run education programs and rival schools at both the megacorporate
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 and local levels. On the Mythic side they face rival demons and their cults, self-styled demon
hunters, several dozen religious orders, and more. In turn, they often rely on unlikely allies who
recognize the merits of Santa Lucia’s undeniably pragmatic approach to evil and its long-term
benefits. Where that and their wide cast of loyal alumni embedded in corps worldwide both fall
short, they can always rely on the greed of mercenaries.

STORY HOOKS
● An escaped cultist, following a crisis of faith, needs help faking their own death to start a
new life.
● A rival cult wants a mercenary escort to help them sack a temple to Mammon hidden at
a local campus.
● The Mammonites and their demon-hunter enemies each want to hire a neutral third party
to provide security for peace negotiations. They also each want to pay off that party to
take their side.
● A local Santa Lucia student, spending too much time on campus, is offered a dangerous
bargain by an artifact that speaks to them in the campus cyberspace library.

Stratosphere Strategies
Stratosphere Strategies is the fulcrum of an unlikely alliance between two organizations that
could scarcely be more different. The Green Future Institute, the world’s largest conservation
non-governmental organization (NGO), wants to preserve what they can of the world’s
devastated ecology. Clamshell Construction, headquartered in eastern China, is a
world-spanning construction company. Stratosphere Strategies is their uncomfortably shared
forecasting organization. Their oracles, diviners, and soothsayers utilize dozens of Mythic
Sources to find points of impending crisis for both of their masters to mitigate (or, when that’s
not in the cards, to profit immensely from). Of course, that means corralling a collection of
differently-motivated diviners—no easy task.

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
The arrangement between Clamshell and the Institute around Stratosphere Strategies is
surprisingly simple. Neither side likes the arrangement entirely, but neither is willing to openly
upset the balance of humanitarian aid and profiteering, as sharing Stratosphere Strategies
allows them both to accomplish their goals better together… even if Clamshell thinks GFI is
naive for their nonprofit aspirations and GFI finds Clamshell Construction’s exploitation of
disaster areas reprehensible. To that end, both organizations jealously protect Stratosphere
Strategies’ seers. Oracular talent on their scale is rare and valuable, and there are plenty of
other people and organizations who would love to take advantage of it.

STORMS ON THE HORIZON

Nominally, Stratosphere Strategies’ arrangement is simple: They predict disasters, GFI
approaches local authorities with their prediction and an offer for at-cost disaster management

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 and consulting. When their warnings are heeded, Clamshell is waiting in the wings with exactly
what the situation needs at low, low prices. When GFI’s predictions are ignored or swept under
the rug, as they often are, Clamshell instead prepares to profiteer, making a killing on temporary
shelters, emergency supplies, and more. This assumes everyone follows the agreement
faithfully. In truth, GFI and Clamshell Construction constantly seek ways to get the better of their
bargain without violating it explicitly.

STORY HOOKS
● A Stratosphere Strategies oracle has been kidnapped by another megacorporation while
moonlighting for them. A Clamshell manager wants them brought back, quietly.
● Some Stratosphere Strategies seers get in touch with the party; something truly
devastating is going to happen, but it’s not a natural disaster, so it’s outside of GFI and
Clamshell Construction’s usual scope and neither is willing to take responsibility for
handling it.
● One of Stratosphere Strategies’ oracles is trying to leave. GFI is willing to pay good
money to anyone who can keep them around, whether by convincing them to return or
hauling them back in cable ties.
● A seer for Stratosphere Strategies reaches out to a member of the PC crew, predicting
that character is the ultimate cause of a devastating natural disaster should they
continue behaving as they usually do. Only a major shift in worldview and behavior will
avert catastrophe.

CryoCharm

Leader in Cryotechnology
CryoCharm Enterprises specializes in cryogenic engineering (the technology of keeping things
at ultra-low temperatures), from suspended animation research to rudimentary planetary-cooling
weather machines. But CryoCharm is rumored to operate with icy heart and cold efficiency:
working alongside ecoterrorists; kidnapping and freezing human subjects; and reviving
cryo-preserved billionaire patients only to drain them dry. While the public adores the company’s
CEO and her eco-futurist outlook, when it comes to CryoCharm’s inner workings, secrecy and
security are air-tight. Who knows what truly happens on their man-made islands or in their
isolated arctic labs? How many have disappeared trying to find out?

The Genius of Skye Carlin

Leading CryoCharm is CEO Skye Carlin, a charismatic Irishwoman in her seventies who has
captured the hearts of countless followers. A renowned cryobiologist, Carlin lost an eye in a lab
accident but prefers an eyepatch rather than a cybernetic eye. She has always been outspoken
about the good that cryotechnology can do: suspended animation for Mars colonization, global
seed vaults, threatened species biobanks, advanced cryotherapy, and cryogenic CO2 capture to
control climate change emissions. Her ideology has inspired a cult following online who hail her

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 as a world savior and defend her reputation. True believers and lobbyists act in her name…even
if that leads to ecoterrorism in the name of the greater good.

Avatar of the Cailleach

Unbeknownst to all, Skye Carlin is the Avatar of the Cailleach (the Hag of Winter, Storms, and
Landscape Creation of Gaelic myth). Though she embodies the harshness of winter, she is also
a protector of deer, wolves, and seeds for the rebirth of spring. Carlin senses an impending
apocalypse on the horizon that may lead to a nuclear winter. She will stop at nothing to ensure
humanity and nature survive the calamity. With the power of her Mythos, Carlin creates storm
hags, bodaich, and winter wolves to support Project Winter, her many-branched plan to ensure
the world survives the apocalypse…and to educate deniers with brutal, cold honesty.

Story Seeds
● Issues are arising with recently revived cryonics patients, but they refuse to undergo
further examination. CryoCharm wants the crew to bring them in without harm, but they
soon discover the patients brought back something dangerous with them from the brink
of death.
● A conspiracy theory online says that CryoCharm clients in deep freeze are actually wired
up to VR nets. Technologists are using the clients’ minds to supplement their AI, but their
dreams are leaking into other networks and a vision of someone they know is following
the crew through cyberspace, pleading for help. But is it a genuine plea, or a trap??
● A client’s life depends on a legendary herb, whose seeds are found only in a local
CryoCharm seed vault. The crew must infiltrate the secure island facility, guarded by a
storm hag and her wolves.
● Ecoterrorists are sabotaging factories in the Megacity, reconfiguring CryoCharm
components to trigger near-absolute zero accidents and disasters and the crew is hired
to stop them.

Scribbing

Self-Replicating Graffiti
The effect of self-repairing smart materials on modern life is immense and wide-reaching. From
adaptive frames in skyscrapers and multi-surface coating to programmable clothing and
animated tattoos, there are many applications that will be really familiar. An edgier application is
the hacked nano-paints that make the street art phenomenon of “scribbing” possible. Building off
of existing legacies of tagging, political art, and neighborhood murals, scribbing uses smart
materials to create pieces that move, change color, and even self-replicate. This last
characteristic makes them very hard for civic authorities to clean off and also leads to unique
new creations from the processes of the nanites in the pigments. Nearly every city in the world
has scribbing somewhere at this point.

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 Tayb
Scribbing has also become a Source channel for a powerful Mythos which is spreading globally
along with scribbing. The Evil Eye is a legend dating back five millennia and has always been a
part of artwork and charms, particularly with craftspeople in East Africa. In the new craft of
scribbing, the Mythos of the Evil Eye has found a new place in the world and it has started to
spread through the living art on urban walls. Calling itself Tayb, this intelligence whispers to
scribbers and encourages them to try more and more audacious projects.

Seeing the Eye

Long-time scribbers often describe troubling dreams and nagging feelings they can’t quite
name. Sometimes they can at least describe it, a piercing Eye that they see fleetingly and feel
watching. “Seeing the Eye” is a slang term for getting too wrapped up in your art, but the truth is
that this eye is Tayb’s influence on the street artist. Those that lean into Tayb’s influence find
their minds gripped with the obsession to create and, eventually, their bodies shifting and
changing. In the Ethiopian tradition of the bouda creatures, eventually they can transform into
hyena-like beasts and their ability to resist Tayb’s will disintegrate.

Story Seeds
● The civic authorities hire the crew to investigate an anarchist collective in the Megacity
that's using scribbing to pass encrypted data.
● Scribbed messages all around the Megacity seem to be warning the crew to back off and
strange, bestial figures are stalking them at night. Who did they make an enemy of?
● A street artist's scribbing tags are drawing attention but also causing people to black out
and lose time.
● An artist who saw the Eye hires the crew to cure their terrible transformation.

Chimaerics

The Transhumanist Movement

Chimaerics is a transhumanist ideology that has caught fire worldwide: enlightenment can be
achieved through body-alteration, transcending human limitations. Believers of Chimaerics
(called Chimaerans) seek biotech, cybernetic, or supernatural enhancement of all kinds to
improve their bodies. There are many schools of thought under the Chimaerics umbrella, with
no global leader. However, two scholarly voices drive the transhumanism conversation: Doctor
Raj Shaan, leading bioengineer in neo-CRISPR gene-editing, pushes for non-cybernetic
transhumanism; Bahram Tehrani, a respected cyberneticist, advocates for machine
augmentation. In truth, the movement has become the secret battleground between these two
Avatars, who are using Chimaerics to create transhuman Rakshasas and Vanaras respectively.

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 Avatar of Ravana, Lord of Rakshasas
Driven by his Mythos to rule the Kingdom of Rakshasas, bioengineer Raj Shaan (Ravana, Lord
of Rakshasas) sees the Chimaeric ideology as a tool for creating the loyal Rakshasa army he
craves. Shaan knows the Chimaeric transhumanists crave power, so he is all too happy to turn
them into rakshasa and rakshasi through Mythos-enhanced serums, granting them such powers
as flight, maya (illusion), shape and size change, and supernatural strength. To suit his
purposes, Shaan is guiding his branch of Chimaerics away from bioethics rules and rigorous
testing and he’s started placing rakshasa agents globally.

Avatar of Hanuman, Companion of Rama

Opposing the Rakshasas for control of the Chimaerics are the Vanaras, monkey-like
shapeshifting forest-dwellers from Hindu mythology. Bahram Tehrani (Hanuman, Hindu monkey
god) is energetic and personable, as well as nearly half machine parts of his own design. As a
child, Tehrani chased a ball into the street and was struck by a bus, requiring extensive surgery
and cybernetic prostheses. Like the legends of Hanuman, these replacements have made him
stronger and he has upgraded them with Mythos magic as well. He’s committed to his vision of
an upgraded, cybernetic humanity and rebuilding wounded soldiers into strong and fast vanara ,
with a deal to achieve Tehrani's vision by eliminating the Rakshasas

Story Seeds
● A prominent politician reverses their opposition to bioengineering research overnight.
That’s not the only change and the crew is hired to investigate the cause.
● When a cybernetics corporation refuses to make their latest creation open source, the
Chimaerics hire the crew to break in and steal the designs.
● Intelligence services hear rumors that Raj Shaan is not only hacking human genes but
creating viral bioweapons. They need the crew to find and destroy these projects.
● A social media influencer reports horrible side effects after recent cybernetic surgery. A
local Chimaerics group hires the crew to see if it’s real or a stunt.

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 //CREATE

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 ARTIFACT (mythos)
Within myth and legend there are inevitably tales of items of power, crafted by clever gods and
their servants to empower heroes. As the Mythoi return to the Megacity such items have begun
to resurface. Relics long forgotten or lost have turned up on black markets and in musty shops
that sell hardcopy books from bygone eras. Powerful and capricious, artifacts seem to bind
themselves to those who put in the time to learn their secret ways and who fit the mold of their
legendary tales.

Some artifacts are modern items, inhabited by the essence of a mythic power or by a ghost or
spirit. At times they may seem to have a will of their own, guiding their owners to greatness or
some terrible downfall. Others are simply items crafted through magic, possessing hidden
abilities that can only be unlocked through careful study or experience in times of struggle.
Many are ancient in design, made long ago and lost to time until recently. Family heirlooms,
museum display pieces, and other treasures call to those who covet them, tempting them with
untold power. You have seized such an item and claim its legacy as your own.

THEME KITS

HERO’S SWORD
RITUAL: I must stand up to the forces of evil.

POWER TAGS: hero’s sword, cuts through anything, hero’s physique, unflinching, masterful
swordplay, cut and run, intuitive parry, wreathed in [pick a magical energy, e.g.: fire, holy power,
coldness, electricity, etc.], turns into a [pick a mundane item], heroic soul

WEAKNESS TAGS: high-tech armor, disapproval of the gods, lack of confidence, easy to
provoke

INVISIBILITY HELM
RITUAL: I must cleverly disguise my motives and ways.

POWER TAGS: invisibility helm, unseen actions, translucent shimmer, spy’s insights, hard to
locate, slip away unnoticed, invisible when scared, hidden thoughts, becomes a hat, sneaky

WEAKNESS TAGS: supernatural senses, direct sunlight, noisy movement, forgot I’m invisible

LUCK CHARM
RITUAL: I must keep away from unlucky actions and situations.

POWER TAGS: lucky charm, fortune’s favor, impervious to accidents, happy go lucky, lucky
shot, escape unscathed, pleasant coincidence, share the luck, sentimental object, superstitious

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: fortunate foe, hexes and curses, overextend luck, jealousy

MASK OF THE TRICKSTER GOD

RITUAL: I must cause a bit of chaos everywhere I go.

POWER TAGS: mask of the trickster god, sow confusion, steal someone’s visage, godly
cleverness, baffle with riddles, sneak away, fool’s luck, curse the arrogant, melds with my face,
need to be noticed

WEAKNESS TAGS: shrewd adversary, divine retribution, obvious tricks, history of trickery

POSSESSED VEHICLE
RITUAL: I must ride my demonic vehicle through hellish conditions.

POWER TAGS: possessed vehicle, blood-fuelled engine, hell on wheels, sense the sinful, fire
& brimstone, burn through barriers, self-driving murder machine, impervious to fire, collectable
classic vehicle, daredevil’s sensibilities

WEAKNESS TAGS: truly innocent victims, holy items, poor driving, combusts nearby objects

SCRYING CRYSTALS
RITUAL: I must charge my crystals in places of power.

POWER TAGS: scrying crystals, visions of the future, open third eye, enhanced intuition,
sense danger, divine a way out, sudden premonitions, aura reading, pouch of rocks, hippie
mysticism

WEAKNESS TAGS: science, bad vibes, misinterpreted symbolism, seem unreliable

WAR GOD’S ARMOR

RITUAL: I must spatter my armor with the blood of my foes.

POWER TAGS: war god’s armor, impervious to mundane weapons, glorious visage, warrior’s
instincts, juggernaut of destruction, always finds battle, returns me to life, unbreakable, hidden
under clothing, bravery on the battlefield

WEAKNESS TAGS: agents of other gods, my one weak spot, showing cowardice, violent
reputation

WIZARD’S STAFF
RITUAL: I must seek out magical knowledge at all cost.

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 POWER TAGS: wizard’s staff, stores magical energies, wizard robes, mind for magic, magical
explosion, flight, reflexive magic shield, dragon form, becomes a broom, obsessive about magic

WEAKNESS TAGS: anti-magic protections, overused, lack of research, uncontrolled power

CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● One member of your crew had a bad experience with your artifact and fears its power.
● A crewmate was miraculously affected by your artifact and has great respect for its
powers.
● A crew member thinks of your artifact as an important religious item, treating it
reverently.
● Your artifact has plans for a particular member of your crew.

CUSTOM ARTIFACT THEME

Think about your character’s connection to her artifact. Did she encounter it by accident, or was
it a gift from someone powerful. Was it drawn to your character or did she seek it out? What
about you unlocks your artifact’s power?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR ARTIFACT?

● I came upon my artifact in my time of need, when I was threatened by _______ (a

dangerous situation, condition, or group).
● Possession of my artifact is my legacy; something I gained through inheritance, hard
work, or fulfillment of my destiny.
● I acquired my artifact by sheer luck or happenstance, when I was exploring or breaking
into _______ (a dangerous location).
● I was given my artifact by a mentor, leader, or just a kind-hearted soul because they saw
_______ qualities in me.

Flesh out your idea with some details: What is your artifact’s temperament towards you? What
does it look like? How is it activated? What do you look like when its powers are unleashed?
How do you carry it around?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT ARTIFACT OF POWER DO YOU POSSESS?
B. WHAT MYTHIC OR MAGICAL PROPERTY DOES YOUR ARTIFACT EXHIBIT?
C. WHAT SUPERNATURAL FORM DO YOU TAKE WHEN YOU HOLD OR ACTIVATE
YOUR ARTIFACT?

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 D. WHAT NEW SENSE OR MENTAL TRAIT DO YOU GAIN WHEN YOUR ARTIFACT IS
ACTIVE?
E. HOW CAN YOUR ARTIFACT BE USED TO OVERCOME YOUR FOES?
F. WHAT TRAVEL OR ESCAPE POWER DOES YOUR ARTIFACT GRANT YOU?
G. WHAT POWER CAN YOUR ARTIFACT USE REFLEXIVELY OR WITHOUT YOUR
GUIDANCE?
H. WHAT SURPRISING POWER CAN YOUR ARTIFACT UNLEASH?
I. WHAT MUNDANE ITEM CAN YOUR ARTIFACT TRANSFORM INTO?
J. WHAT QUALITY DO YOU POSSESS THAT BINDS OR DRAWS YOUR ARTIFACT TO
YOU?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. WHAT IS YOUR ARTIFACT USELESS AGAINST?
B. WHAT DRAINS YOUR ARTIFACT OF ITS ABILITIES OR COUNTERS THEM?
C. WHICH OF YOUR BEHAVIORS CAUSE YOUR ARTIFACT TO MALFUNCTION OR
NOT COOPERATE?
D. HOW DO YOUR ARTIFACT’S SPECIAL PROPERTIES OR POWERS CAUSE
PROBLEMS FOR YOU?

RITUAL
Choose a Ritual for this theme: a task or practice you must engage in to keep your connection
to your artifact. For example:

● (excalibur) “I must lead a roundtable of knights into unifying the kingdom.”

● (magic wand) “I must replenish the wand’s power with faerie dust, gathered from pixies.”
● (witch’s cauldron) “I must gather obscure and grotesque ingredients for my potions and
spells.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● What raw materials or sources of magical power does your artifact require to work?
● What destiny is tied to your artifact and you by extension as its bearer?
● What unusual conditions does your artifact require in order to operate or replenish its
power?

Write your Ritual on your theme card.

Failing to engage in this activity when needed indicates that you are losing connection to your
artifact and the Mythos that empowers it. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute
deviating from this Ritual.

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 COMPANION (mythos)
As the Mythoi return to the Megacity, spirits, sidekicks, and other companions of legend have
come along for the ride. These mentors, advisors, and battle-allies are creatures of myth who
are drawn to those who embrace the central role of hero or antihero in this futuristic world. They
often look like monsters or mythological creatures, though the Noise keeps everyday people
from thinking much of their presence. Most assume that such companions are just robots,
biotechnological experiments, or just ornately costumed pets. Unbeknownst to mundane
observers, these creatures grant vast mythic powers to those who accept their aid.

Companions are more interactive than most means of gaining power. They often provide their
powers in exchange for a relationship of one sort or another. Whether the companion is a pet, a
magical friend, or a demonic assistant, supernatural assistance always involves striving to
achieve what the creature ultimately desires. Most companions wish mainly to see their masters
succeed in the world, but many have an outdated or skewed agenda dependent on the myth
they derive from. In the end, perhaps the companion is the true master.

What is a Companion?
Most companions are not Sources of Mythic power in and of themselves. Instead, most are a
creation, spawned by a myth or a mundane creature influenced by a place or object of power.
When you select Companion as a theme, you might consider picking another Mythos Theme
as the Source of your Companion. An alchemist utilizing an Esoterica Theme could for
instance have a golem or homunculus as a magical assistance Companion, with the
character’s esoteric knowledge as the source of both their own and their servant’s power.

Options include:
● Conjurations that emerge from another powerful Source, like a Place of
Power/Avatar/Artifact/Esoterica
● Conjurations you create with another Source, such as the Esoterica Theme
● An Animal that is itself a Source (Familiar)
● Something/someone/some pet that was exposed to a Source

THEME KITS

ARCANE CONSTRUCT
RITUAL: I must seek out raw magical energy to feed my creation.

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 POWER TAGS: arcane construct, impossibly strong, heavy lifting, grows in size, mindless
punching, hoists me up, dungeon dweller, magical glow, enable my eccentricities, does
mundane chores

WEAKNESS TAGS: fears technology, fearful of its strength, wards against magic, big & dumb

GUARDIAN SPIRIT
RITUAL: I must prove that I am worthy of protection.

POWER TAGS: guardian spirit, watchful of danger, frighten foes, spectral body, invisible
assistant, create weapon, escape this world, feelings of safety, sleep easy, immense spiritual
knowledge

WEAKNESS TAGS: proving myself unworthy, afraid of the unseen, scientific skepticism, overly
protective

LEGENDARY SIDEKICK
RITUAL: We must journey into danger together.

POWER TAGS: legendary sidekick, sycophantic admiration, scout ahead, often ignored, hides
behind me, coordinated attacks, runs errands, provides magical food, forces leadership, eternal
loyalty

WEAKNESS TAGS: showing cowardice, jealous of our bond, separated, overenthusiastic

MAGICAL ASSISTANT
RITUAL: We must hone our magic together.

POWER TAGS: magical assistant, occult insights, magical research, summoned weaponry,
arcane armor, boost magical power, library, casts minor spells, follows my teachings, improves
upon my powers

WEAKNESS TAGS: exhausted, suspicious of the occult, lends too much power, jealous of my
abilities

NATURE SPIRIT
RITUAL: I must commune with nature.

POWER TAGS: nature spirit, nature’s vengeance, ensnaring foes, elemental body–[choose an
element, such as fire, water, plants, or wind], destroy manmade objects, nature’s bounty, merge
with the earth, extreme localized weather, inspires conservation, speaks for nature

WEAKNESS TAGS: harming nature, alert to natural disaster, pollution, unpredictable

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 SUPERNATURAL PET
RITUAL: I must take my pet to magical places.

POWER TAGS: supernatural pet, supernal companionship, frighten would-be foes, transform
into a [select one: person, object, small creature, etc.], natural weapons, attack alongside me,
creature hutch, eats magic itself, animal empathy, enviable relationship

WEAKNESS TAGS: overzealously protective, intolerance towards monsters, hungers for magic,
oblivious to my goals

TECH GREMLIN
RITUAL: I must use the supernatural to disrupt technology.

POWER TAGS: tech gremlin, cause malfunctions, analyze machinery, breaking objects,
invisible to techies, weapon jam, knowledge of machines, hide inside vehicles, electrical
overload, tolerance of mishaps, off the grid

WEAKNESS TAGS: already broken, malfunction rage, orderly environment, equipment

breakdown

TRAINED MONSTERS
RITUAL: I must train my monsters diligently.

POWER TAGS: trained monsters, group support, follow commands, swarm, safety in
numbers, many eyes on the problem, monster den, cacophonous creature sounds, leader of the
pack, family of creatures

WEAKNESS TAGS: loss of master status, given a wide berth, pack infighting, too many to
manage

CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● A crew member has a real problem with your companion.

● This one loves your companion and is jealous of your bond.
● One teaches your companion tricks in return for a treat or other reward.
● Your companion dislikes one specific member of your crew.

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 CUSTOM COMPANION THEME
Think about your character’s ties to the world of magic. What kind of mythical creature or
otherwise magical ally could you possess? What draws you to this companion and how does it
fit into your lifestyle?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR COMPANION?

● I rescued my companion from _______ (someone or somewhere dangerous).

● My companion thinks I’m a person from legend: _______ (a hero or other mythic
character). It now follows me around and I’ve come to accept that.
● I captured or tracked my companion down and now I’m its master.
● A _______ job went well and I made off with this cool magical creature as part of the
score.

Flesh out your idea with some details: When and how did you find this creature? How did you
bond? What are the logistics of keeping it around? What do your friends and enemies think
about it?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT TYPE OF COMPANION ARE YOU AIDED BY?
B. WHAT IS THE MAIN POWER, ABILITY, OR ASSISTANCE YOUR COMPANION
PROVIDES YOU WITH?
C. WHAT IS YOUR COMPANION GOOD AT DOING ON YOUR BEHALF?
D. WHAT FORM CAN YOUR COMPANION TAKE IN BATTLE OR WHEN HIDING?
E. HOW DOES YOUR COMPANION DEFEND ITSELF?
F. HOW COULD YOUR COMPANION ASSIST YOU IN A FIGHT OR IN YOUR WORK?
G. WHERE DOES YOUR COMPANION GO TO HIDE OR RECHARGE?
H. WHAT USEFUL MAGICAL SIDE EFFECT DOES YOUR COMPANION CAUSE?
I. HOW DOES YOUR COMPANION MAKE YOU A BETTER OR STRONGER PERSON?
J. WHAT’S THE BEST OR COOLEST THING ABOUT HAVING THIS COMPANION?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. WHAT MAKES YOUR COMPANION UNABLE OR UNWILLING TO HELP YOU?
B. HOW DO PEOPLE REACT NEGATIVELY TOWARDS YOU AND YOUR COMPANION?
C. WHAT DIMINISHES YOUR COMPANION’S POWERS?
D. HOW DOES YOUR COMPANION SOMETIMES INTERFERE WITH YOUR ACTIONS?

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 RITUAL
Choose a Ritual for this theme: a task or practice you must engage in to keep your companion.
For example:

● (undead servant) “I must feed it brains.”

● (leviathan) “I must do battle at sea.”
● (sentient spell) “I must feed it lesser spells.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● What peculiar feeding needs does your creature require?

● What must you do to keep it tamed or loyal?
● What must you accomplish for it to consider you worthy?

Write your Ritual on your theme card.

Failing to engage in this activity when needed indicates that you are losing connection to your
companion. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute deviating from this Ritual.

ESOTERICA (mythos)
Some secrets hold power. Magic, curses, and ancient spiritual lore can all be called upon to act
upon the world. Through thoughtful and studied action you can change the world to suit your
needs and desires. Over the millennia of human civilization magic has hidden in the shadows,
passed down via obscure texts and trusted apprenticeship within selective occult circles. Now
that the Noise has reached a fevered pitch, the esoteric secrets of the world shine brightly,
discovered more and more by those who seek power, wisdom, and a means of taking on
supernatural threats. You are awakened to the secrets hidden behind the Noise–the arcane and
complex esoterica.

Esoterica are a means to mythic power that relying on various methods, from sheer will to the
capacity to pronounce eldritch curses of old. It is knowledge forged into powerful magical effects
through occult symbols, incantations, and nearly any developed art form. Some powers emerge
from raw emotion, bold curses, or other undisciplined sources. What lies at the heart of each
magical practice is intense study and practice. These are honed magical arts reawakened in a
world that is finally beginning to accept them.

THEME KITS

ALCHEMY
RITUAL: I must perform my art in a well-stocked occult laboratory.

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 POWER TAGS: alchemy, transmutation, advanced chemistry, master of potions, poisoner,
weaponized concoctions, healing elixir, puff of smoke, all matter may transform, seeking
immortality

WEAKNESS TAGS: jostles and bumps, distracting noises, unusual smells, acidic touch

CORPSE ANIMATION
RITUAL: I must properly prepare the corpses.

POWER TAGS: corpse animation, command undead servitors, priesthood, horde of zombies,
siphon life force, resurrection, hide among the shambling mob, death is not the end, obsessed
with death

WEAKNESS TAGS: mindless servants, abject terror, unfriendly to the living, smell of death

DEVIL'S BARGAINS
RITUAL: I must uphold my end of each bargain I make.

POWER TAGS: devil’s bargains, grant minor wishes, legal expertise, representative of
powerful beings, binding contracts, devil in the details, silver tongued, escape clause, everything
has a price, natural deal maker

WEAKNESS TAGS: miscommunication, oblivious to opportunities, always making deals,

agreements are binding

EVIL EYE
RITUAL: I must wield my anger and spite as a weapon.

POWER TAGS: evil eye, spiteful gaze, folk curses, outcast, curse of misfortune, turn to stone,
intimidating eyes, hypnotic stare, eyes reveal all, need for vengeance

WEAKNESS TAGS: lost eye contact, feared by the wise, holds a grudge, frightful visage

FORTUNE TELLING
RITUAL: I must trust the signs and seek answers in them.

POWER TAGS: fortune telling, glimpse the future, sign interpretation, seer, speaker of
prophecies, reveal inescapable destiny, foresee danger, follow the signs, signs are everywhere,
teller of stories

WEAKNESS TAGS: unclear signs, ignore my warnings, condescending about fate, sudden
visions

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 LEYLINE WALKER
RITUAL: I must seek out and study the confluences of energy in the world.

POWER TAGS: leyline walker, sense magical strength, knowledge of sacred sites, warden of
the mystical, draw power from surroundings, blast of raw magic, shield of raw magic, teleport
between magic places, magic surrounds us, explorer

WEAKNESS TAGS: weak magic location, inaccessible sites, territorial, oversensitive to magic

SPIRIT SUMMONING
RITUAL: I must draw spirits into this realm through elaborate rites.

POWER TAGS: spirit summoning, spirit binding, encyclopedic knowledge of spirits, master
occultist, spirit possession, spiritual attacks, summoned defenders, enter the spirit world,
everything has a spirit, seeker of worlds beyond

WEAKNESS TAGS: disrupted ritual, unwittingly offending spirits, seems to talk to self, annoyed
spirits

WARDING SIGNS
RITUAL: I must protect my community from supernatural forces.

POWER TAGS: warding signs, circle of protection, folk remedies, local wise person, hand
signs and movements, disrupt magic, hold back the supernatural, confuse monster, the world is
dangerous, deep local roots

WEAKNESS TAGS: need to use hands, ignorant youngsters, overly protective, disrupts helpful
magic

CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● Someone in your crew has an affinity or cultural background in your kind of magic.
● You recently used your powers to remove a harmful magical effect from a member of
your crew.
● A member of your crew once had a bad experience with the kind of magic you practice.
● You and a crewmate both research magic in the same way, perhaps together.

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 CUSTOM ESOTERICA THEME
Think about your character’s powers and the esoteric ways in which you produce them. What
did you go through to learn these secrets and what must you do to keep developing your
powers? What terrible bargain, domineering mentor, or other relationship are you beholden to?
What scars have these esoterica left on your psyche, your body, and your soul?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? HOW DID YOU LEARN ESOTERIC MAGIC?

● I studied diligently from _______ (an important text, a hidden library, or some other trove
of knowledge).
● I was a student of _______ (a powerful practitioner, mythical creature, or even an
Avatar).
● My powers were passed down to me through _______ (a family figure, local tradition, or
other personal connection).
● I bought my knowledge on the black market, studying from eclectic sources and puzzling
together secrets on my own.

Flesh out your idea with some details: How long have you been a practitioner? How long did
you study? Where did you train? What strange things have you already encountered? What is
your relationship with your fellow magic users, particularly those with similar esoteric ways?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT ARE THE ESOTERIC SECRETS YOU HAVE YOU LEARNED?
B. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPELL OR POWER YOU HAVE ACCESS TO?
C. WHAT SKILL OR TRAINING SERVES AS THE BASIS FOR YOUR POWERS?
D. WHAT TITLE OR STATUS DO YOU HOLD, AS A VESSEL FOR THESE POWERS?
E. WHAT ESOTERIC POWER DO YOU POSSESS THAT INSPIRES FEAR IN OTHERS?
F. WHICH POWER COULD YOU USE TO HARM OTHERS?
G. HOW COULD YOUR POWERS BE USED TO DEFEND YOURSELF OR OTHERS?
H. IN WHAT WAY COULD YOUR POWERS BE USED FOR TRAVEL OR ESCAPE?
I. WHAT FUNDAMENTAL SECRET ABOUT THE WORLD HAVE YOU LEARNED?
J. WHAT ABOUT YOUR PAST OR PERSONALITY DRIVES YOU TO STUDY THESE
POWERS?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. WHAT CAUSES YOU TO LOSE CONTROL OF YOUR POWERS?
B. HOW DO THOSE WITHOUT MAGIC MAKE YOUR LIFE HARDER?
C. HOW HAVE YOUR POWERS MADE YOU DIFFICULT TO INTERACT WITH?
D. WHAT MINOR MAGICAL EFFECT THAT YOU CAUSE SOMETIMES INTERFERES
WITH YOUR ACTIVITIES?

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 RITUAL
Choose a Ritual for this theme: a task or practice you must engage in to keep your connection
to the magical sources of power for your esoterica. For example:

● (monster hunter) “I must seek out and do battle with increasingly dangerous monsters.”
● (enchanter tattoo artist) “I must impart magic powers through the rarest of inks and
needles.”
● (witch) “I must practice the old ways of magic, in defiance of societal norms.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● What is the main purpose of your esoteric practice?

● What difficult situations or requirements are called for in making your magic work?
● What drives members of your magical community and how must you live up to that
legacy?

Write your Ritual on your theme card.

Failing to engage in this activity when needed indicates that you are losing connection to your
esoteric practice. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute deviating from this
Ritual.

EXPOSURE (Mythos)
The Megacity and its polluted outskirts are dotted with secret places. Holy and unholy,
enchanted and defiled, these thin-places and sites of worship are touched by the returning
Mythoi, as are creatures of power and those who delve into these mythic forces. Those who
have stumbled upon these places, people, and esoteric spells become exposed bodily to the
magics of these myths. Some have even encountered Avatars–embodied agents of the Mythoi.
This event grants them a connection with their source of exposure and to the accompanying
Mythos. Through this thread power flows. Touched and mutated by myth, these victims of
circumstance gain powerful innate abilities beyond common understanding.

You are one such lucky or unlucky denizen of the Megacity, empowered by this perhaps
accidental link. You gain a set of powers representing an outpouring of mythic energy. You are
permanently bound to the place, person, or other origination of your powers. The more you
learn to align yourself with the source of your power, the more the secrets of your Mythos unlock
for you. You return to the scene of the crime or the benefactor who granted you your powers,
beholden to the source of your exposure as a supplier of your Mythic abilities.

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 THEME KITS

AURA OF AUTHORITY
RITUAL: I must worship at the shrine of the entity that grants me my authority.

POWER TAGS: aura of authority, supernaturally regal, trappings of authority, inspire loyalty,
community connections, flock of followers, blinding aura, seeker of power, command foes,
supremely confident

WEAKNESS TAGS: arrogant, need to be seen, reliant on people, thrust into leadership

ANIMATED SHADOWS
RITUAL: I must seek answers in the deepest, darkest places.

POWER TAGS: animated shadows, become a flat shadow, lights out, pool darkness, see in
the dark, delve down below, lurk unseen, desires anonymity, strobe shadows, hard to pin down

WEAKNESS TAGS: unhealthy pallor, bright lights, fear of being discovered, must whisper

ELEMENTAL BODY
RITUAL: I must strike fear in those who would defy nature’s wrath.

POWER TAGS: elemental body, body of elemental might, natural disasters, strike with _____
[select the element you are tied to], endure the elements, cause panic, wreak destruction,
outdoorsy, absorb energy, gleefully destructive

WEAKNESS TAGS: accidental destruction, opposite elements, powers come and go,
misunderstood and feared

FLORAL OVERGROWTH
RITUAL: I must regularly commune with nature.

POWER TAGS: floral overgrowth, sprout vines, water and sunlight, entwine and ensnare,
green thumb, speak to plantlife, bark armored skin, green activism, potted plant weaponry,
invasive personality

WEAKNESS TAGS: sedentary existence, uprooted, burn easily, freak of nature

MIDAS TOUCH
RITUAL: I must learn from the problems caused by success and excess.

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 POWER TAGS: golden touch, dripping with wealth, favor of higher powers, transmute to gold,
never poor, learning humility, powerful touch, privileged background, electric conduction, bracing
for the consequences

WEAKNESS TAGS: eating is challenging, disappointing the gods, wealth is not enough,
opportunists circle

SPEAK WITH MACHINES

RITUAL: I must report to a powerful machine intelligence.

POWER TAGS: speak with machines, covered in cybernetics, large antennas or dishes, cajole
device, intuit malfunction, call upon the AI, call upon machines, lifelong techie, telepathic
hacking, robotic logic

WEAKNESS TAGS: overwhelmed by information, signal shielding, needs electric power, left to
my own devices

WARRIOR'S INSTINCTS
RITUAL: I must temper my violent instincts with ritualized combat and reverence for the warriors
who came before me.

POWER TAGS: warrior’s instincts, peak physical condition, dueling, weapon mastery, alert to
changing conditions, show respect, battlefield heroics, seen combat, sympathy with fellow
warriors, act without thinking

WEAKNESS TAGS: voices of past warriors, lack of reverence, need archaic armor, treated like
a killer

WINGS
RITUAL: I must regularly take leaps of faith.

POWER TAGS: wings, angelic good looks, the higher the better, dive bomb, unafraid of falling,
wings retract, swoop in and rescue, need to rise above, drop heavy objects, showoff

WEAKNESS TAGS: problems with clothing, disbelief, divine [or infernal] foes, preachy attitude

CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● Another member of your crew has encountered similar forces and has an understanding
of your situation.

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 ● A crew member finds your powers frightening.
● You used your abilities to aid a member of your crew in the past and you’ve shared a
bond ever since.
● A member of the crew grew up on the same street as you and you have a lot of shared
memories or contacts.

CUSTOM EXPOSURE THEME

Think about your character’s powers and how they might have gained them. What, who, or
where did you get exposed to the Mythoi? Most importantly, what is your relationship with the
Mythos and the source that exposed you to it? Are you a servant or cultist, striving to earn your
powers? Are you cursed by the forces that altered you, which now dominate your existence? Is
your connection to this source a major part of your life now or do you pretend that everything is
normal?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? HOW WERE YOU EXPOSED?

● I was exposed by a relic or other mythic item in _______ (somewhere dangerous or

secure).
● I had an encounter with an Avatar, a powerful being that is now my _______ (enemy,
mentor, master, etc.).
● I found myself in a thin-place, a _______ (describe the location) highly influenced by a
Mythos.
● I was the target of a powerful spell or curse, which has tied me to a mythos.

Flesh out your idea with some details: When did this event occur? Was it all an accident or were
you looking for trouble? Is your exposure intentional? Do you regret it? What is your relationship
with the source of your exposure?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT BROAD CATEGORY OF POWERS DID YOUR EXPOSURE GRANT YOU?
B. IN WHAT WAY HAS THE EXPOSURE CHANGED YOUR BODY OR ALLOWED YOU
TO TRANSFORM?
C. UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES ARE YOUR POWERS ENHANCED?
D. WHAT IS YOUR MOST ICONIC OR STYLISH POWER?
E. HOW DO YOUR POWERS AID YOU IN YOUR WORK OR PASTIMES?
F. WHAT POWER IS ESSENTIAL TO YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SOURCE OF
YOUR EXPOSURE?
G. WHAT POWER ALLOWS YOU TO DEFEND YOURSELF OR OTHERS?
H. WHAT ABOUT YOUR LIFE OR PAST LINKS YOU TO THE SOURCE OF YOUR
EXPOSURE?
I. HOW MIGHT YOUR POWERS BE USED IN A CREATIVE OR UNUSUAL WAY?

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 J. WHEN YOUR POWERS ARE ACTIVE, WHAT ABOUT YOUR PERSONALITY
CHANGES?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. WHAT ARE THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF YOUR EXPOSURE?
B. WHAT COULD BLOCK OR NEUTRALIZE THE EXPOSURE’S POWER IN YOU?
C. WHAT VULNERABILITY OR LIMITATION DID YOU INHERIT FROM YOUR SOURCE?
D. HOW DOES YOUR EXPOSURE CHANGE THE WAY OTHERS INTERACT WITH
YOU?

RITUAL
Choose a Ritual for this theme: a task or practice you must engage in to keep your connection
to the source of your exposure. For example:

● (vampire) “I must consume the blood of the living.”

● (fairy magic) “Every full moon I must return to the fairy ring and dance with the wild folk
there.”
● (orphic mysteries) “I must never look behind me.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● What does the source of your power want you to do for it?
● What activity must you perform, perhaps at the location of your exposure?
● What do you now personally require in order to feed the power inside you?

Write your Ritual on your theme card.

Failing to engage in this activity when needed indicates that you are losing connection to the
source of your exposure and the powers it grants you. Let everyone at the table know what
could constitute deviating from this Ritual.

AFFILIATION (self)
In the Megacity it’s not about what you know, it’s who you know. People with a lot of potential
find themselves recruited, trained, and equipped by powerful groups looking for useful
members. These could be government forces, Mythos worshiping cults, or corporate
headhunting operations. You might even get caught up with a political movement, local
community, or your own celebrity online. Whatever the group, these are people who have made
you who you are, given you resources to call upon, and may be there when you need to call
upon them.

However, they’re got their claws into you, judging your behavior and at times sending you out on
missions on their behalf. This could easily be a metaphorical deal with the devil, in which you’ve

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 sold your soul for the perks of membership. These people helped you out when the chips were
down and now your destinies are intertwined, for better or worse. If their reputation takes a hit,
you’re going to get called out for your affiliation with them when you’re on the street. Their
enemies are your enemies.

THEME KITS

CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP
IDENTITY: Toe the company line.

POWER TAGS: corporate citizenship, expense account, PR training, branded products,

important job, company vehicle, corporate issued sidearm, job benefits, water cooler rumors,
brand loyalty

WEAKNESS TAGS: monitored by the company, work rival, unethical business practices,
corporate logo tattoo

CRIMINAL SYNDICATE
IDENTITY: Keep it in the family.

POWER TAGS: criminal syndicate, among the criminal elite, body disposal, shady dealings,
bust a few kneecaps, stolen or illegal equipment, police payoffs, mentored by the boss,
underground clubs, willing to hurt people

WEAKNESS TAGS: keep getting pulled back in, surveilled by the police, harm the community,
ostentatious with money

FORBIDDEN CULT
IDENTITY: Sacrifice everything.

POWER TAGS: forbidden cult, otherworldly insights, religious wisdom, cult leader, quiet
contemplation, needs provided for, forgotten fighting techniques, spartan lifestyle, library of
occult tomes, self-sacrifice

WEAKNESS TAGS: live at the temple, feared by outsiders, zealous proselytizing, cult robes

COUNTERCULTURE
IDENTITY: Be anything but normal.

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 POWER TAGS: counterculture, community support, obscure art form, defiance of the
mainstream, looking cool, underground technology, avenge me, saved by the community,
hanging at the meetup spot, courage to be myself

WEAKNESS TAGS: demanding of my time, ostracized by society, reject newcomers, obvious

affectations

HACKER COLLECTIVE
IDENTITY: Information wants to be free.

POWER TAGS: hacker collective, free online library, cracking software, group hacking runs,
online at the hacker club, secondhand harness rig, hacking advice, fellow nerds, spend time in
meatspace, willing to help

WEAKNESS TAGS: criticized online, hacker rival, must encrypt everything, on cybersecurity
watchlists

NEIGHBORHOOD HERO
IDENTITY: Never forget your roots.

POWER TAGS: neighborhood hero, everyone knows my name, back alley brawler, no place
like home, block party, borrow from a neighbor, unassailable reputation, grew up here, escape to
the big city, role model for kids

WEAKNESS TAGS: nosy neighbors, gang activity, constantly lending money, too many admirers

LAW ENFORCEMENT
IDENTITY: Serve and protect.

POWER TAGS: law enforcement, police training, time in the firing simulator, supporting corp
interests, going on patrol, badge and gun, friends on the force, driven to investigate, cop bars,
look the other way

WEAKNESS TAGS: domineering captain, targeted by criminals, enforce minor infractions, in

uniform

STREET GANG
IDENTITY: Snitches get stitches.

POWER TAGS: street gang, street cred, streetwise instincts, the real power here, moving illicit
goods, high capacity weapons, gang up on rivals, lifelong member, drive a flashy vehicle, willing
to kill

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: addiction, police investigations, pointless rivalries, gang colors

CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● One of them is looking to join your group eventually. You’re showing them the ropes.
● One is a former member of your affiliation. You might resent them for leaving or see
them as someone close to your way of thinking.
● You’ve decided that one of them is worth recruiting, whether they like it or not.
● One is a target of your group, a known enemy. Your friendship with them could cause
problems with your affiliation.

CUSTOM AFFILIATION THEME

Think about a group that your character currently or previously belonged to. How would
membership change her outlook, training, and social status? How has belonging to this group or
organization altered her life? If you’re not sure which affiliation she might join, think about who
your character might go to for help in a time of need. Who fills the hole in her life or her soul?
Who would step up to recruit her at her lowest point?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? HOW ARE YOU CONNECTED TO YOUR AFFILIATION?

● I am a fresh recruit, ideological and driven to do _______ for my organization.

● I rely on my membership to gain _______ (something I feel that I need).
● I’m a veteran member who stays because of my _______ (loyalty, sense of purpose, old
friends, ulterior motives, etc.).
● My importance within the group is _______ (rising fast, falling precipitously, staying
stagnant, etc.).

Flesh out your idea with some details: When and how did you join? Who recruited you? What’s
the best reason for continuing your affiliation? Why might you consider leaving?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT IS YOUR AFFILIATION?
B. WHAT’S THE MAIN PERK THAT COMES WITH MEMBERSHIP?
C. WHAT SKILLS HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM THE GROUP?
D. WHAT IS THE ORGANIZATION BEST KNOWN FOR?
E. WHAT DO YOU SPEND MOST OF YOUR TIME DOING WHEN WORKING FOR THE
GROUP?
F. WHAT GEAR OR ASSET DO YOU GET FROM YOUR ORGANIZATION?

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 G. HOW DOES THE ORGANIZATION PROTECT YOU AS ITS MEMBER?
H. WHY DID YOU FIRST JOIN UP WITH THIS AFFILIATION?
I. HOW DO YOU FIND ESCAPE FROM YOUR WORK FOR THE GROUP?
J. HOW HAS MEMBERSHIP CHANGED YOU THE MOST?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. HOW DOES THE ORGANIZATION CONTROL YOUR LIFE?
B. WHO HATES OR TARGETS YOU FOR BEING A MEMBER?
C. WHAT DOES THE ORGANIZATION DO OR MAKES YOU DO THAT YOU FIND
DEPLORABLE OR UNNECESSARY?
D. HOW DO STRANGERS RECOGNIZE YOU AS A MEMBER OF THE GROUP?

IDENTITY
Choose an Identity for this theme: an absolute statement that captures an attitude, motive or
belief related to your affiliation. For example:

● (secret society) “Never betray a fellow member.”

● (cyberspace social club) “Let the good times roll.”
● (brotherhood of assassins) “Better to die than to fail a contract.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● The creed that your group espouses

● A lesson you’ve learned from your time with the organization
● The reason you’re still a member

Write your Identity on your theme card.

Acting in conflict with this statement means you are losing connection to your affiliation, either in
your own mind or in terms of your status within the organization. Let everyone at the table know
what could constitute acting against this Identity.

ASSETS (self)
In the competitive near-future of the Megacity what you have matters. Those with the ability to
cobble together a collection of weapons, tools, or other useful bits of equipment can become
forces to be reckoned with on the mean streets. Being well-equipped means being ready for the
next big gig or the upcoming threat to your neighborhood. In fact, keeping yourself well supplied
is probably the very point of going out on those dangerous missions. With enough of the goods,
you hope to be ready for anything this dark dystopian future throws at you.

Your gear might come from your training, your resourcefulness, or simply from your privilege as
a member of the elite. If you’ve got a good corporate job you can keep your penthouse

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 apartment stocked with bespoke amenities and a few cutting edge gadgets. If you’re a scientist
or technician, you’ll obviously be needing expensive instruments and benefit from your own
inventions. Those with police or military training often keep a small stockpile of arms, ammo,
and armor. You could even be a collector or tech scavenger, keeping anything interesting you
find close at hand. Even the most obscure piece of refuse may turn out to be the key to survival.

THEME KITS

CUSTOM HARDWARE
IDENTITY: Collect and customize state-of-the-art computer hardware.

POWER TAGS: custom hardware, failsafes and surge protectors, electronics tinkering,
anonymous hacking, tech den, personalized interface, carefully calibrated, heavy encryption,
harnessing, neon lit consoles

WEAKNESS TAGS: processor heat, too much multitasking, upgrade costs, rival hackers

EXPLOSIVES
IDENTITY: Make a big impression.

POWER TAGS: explosives, big distractions, disarming bombs, demolish a building, armored
van, programmable detonators, bomb making tools, boobytrapped, making an entrance,
grenade belt

WEAKNESS TAGS: handle with care, not subtle, faulty detonator, government watch list

GUNS & MORE GUNS

IDENTITY: Be armed and ready.

POWER TAGS: guns & more guns, hail of bullets, perfect marksmanship, neverending ammo
supply, hidden weapons stockpile, Source-harming ammunition, gun cleaning kit, hidden
firearm, prolonged shootouts, two guns at once

WEAKNESS TAGS: obviously armed, too many choices, lost firearm, suspicious neighbors

HEIST EQUIPMENT
IDENTITY: Never return to the scene of the crime.

POWER TAGS: heist equipment, cut through doors and safes, blend with shadows, rappel
from high above, nondescript briefcase, perfectly silent, microscopic tools, looks mundane,
bypassing security, holographic map projection

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: expensive to replace, always leave a calling card, rappelling rope breaks,
hunted by detectives

JUNK COLLECTION
IDENTITY: Treasure the lost and the forgotten.

POWER TAGS: junk collection, access old files, eye for quality, salvage what’s useful,
antiquities shop, too outdated to be hacked, cleverly cobbled together, baffling interface,
repairing old tech, endless supply of [item]

WEAKNESS TAGS: unexpectedly breaks down, overloaded with supplies, greedy & envious,
other scavengers

MONEY TO BURN
IDENTITY: You can’t take it with you, so you might as well spend it.

POWER TAGS: money to burn, a timely bribe, impeccable taste, untraceable transactions,
lavish condo, bespoke gear, lawyers and accountants, AI security system, funding the mission,
flashy vehicle

WEAKNESS TAGS: frozen accounts, maxed credit, corporate overlords, overbearing parents

MOTORCYCLE
IDENTITY: Never slow down.

POWER TAGS: motorcycle, blinding headlights, weave through traffic, slide under obstacles,
self-driving bike, built for speed, mechanic friend, vehicle weapons, lose the tail, jumps & flips

WEAKNESS TAGS: noisy vehicle, obnoxious showoff, low on fuel, wanted by the cops

SAFEHOUSE
IDENTITY: There’s no place like home.

POWER TAGS: safehouse, escape hatch, eye for alarm systems, hiding from enemies,
inconspicuous location, training equipment, security tools, armed security system, a place to
heal and recover, an entire abandoned building

WEAKNESS TAGS: haunted, poorly maintained structure, frequented by the authorities, local
gangs

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 CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● You are mentoring one of them to follow in your footsteps.

● One of them thinks THEY should have what you’ve got. Ask them why.
● One of your crew members was there on a job that led to your acquisition of your assets.
● One of them helped get you your assets.

CUSTOM ASSETS THEME

Think about your character’s futuristic lifestyle. What does she normally carry around
just-in-case? Which unusual technologies does she have access to through her work, hobbies,
or history? What does she own that gives her an edge? These are the items you have that are
not part of your Loadout, but rather a more permanent part of who you are and how you do
things.

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? WHERE DID YOU GET WHAT YOU’VE GOT?

● I took out a loan or stole from _______ (someone dangerous).

● I am privileged to be _______ (wealthy, from a powerful family, famous, etc).
● I attained professional success as a _______.
● A _______ job went well and I made off with some gear.

Flesh out your idea with some details: When and how did you acquire these possessions? What
did it cost you? Where can you get more, if you had to?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. HOW WOULD YOU GENERALLY CHARACTERIZE YOUR MATERIAL ASSETS?
B. HOW COULD YOUR ITEMS GET YOU OUT OF A JAM?
C. WHAT SKILL SET DID YOU DEVELOP AROUND YOUR POSSESSIONS?
D. WHAT AMAZING FEAT CAN YOU PERFORM WITH YOUR EQUIPMENT?
E. WHERE DO YOU STASH YOUR GEAR?
F. HOW ARE YOUR POSSESSIONS MODIFIED OR OTHERWISE IMPROVED UPON?
G. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR EQUIPMENT?
H. HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOUR GEAR FROM OTHERS?
I. UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS ARE YOUR ASSETS MOST USEFUL?
J. WHAT ITEM OR FEATURE BEST EXEMPLIFIES YOUR PERSONAL STYLE?

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 WEAKNESS TAG QUESTIONS
Choose one question to answer. Answer it with a single description no more than a few words
long. In your answer, you should describe something that will impede your character’s actions
during the game. Your answer becomes a weakness tag. Write it on your theme card under
WEAKNESS TAGS along with the letter of the question.

A. WHAT WEAKNESS DO YOUR ASSETS POSSESS?

B. HOW DO YOU OVERUSE OR ABUSE YOUR EQUIPMENT?
C. WHAT ABOUT YOUR GEAR KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
D. WHO HAS A PROBLEM WITH YOU OR YOUR ASSETS?

IDENTITY
Choose an Identity for this theme: an absolute statement that captures an attitude, motive or
belief related to your possessions. For example:

● (military equipment) “Army of one.”

● (one cool weapon) “This is all I need.”
● (athletics paraphernalia) “Stay safe and remember to stretch.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● What these specific items mean to you

● A saying or belief about your gear
● What you intend to do with what you have

Write your Identity on your theme card.

Acting in conflict with this statement means you are losing interest in your possessions or losing
the drive to use them. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute acting against this
Identity.

EXPERTISE (self)
Honing a skill set can be the best way out of the mundane market of day jobs. Characters who
seek something more must train and study subjects that put them above the commonplace.
From gearheads, scientists, and emergency medical technicians to socially savvy politicos;
being an expert puts you ahead of the pack in this dog-eat-dog futuristic cityscape. Indeed,
experts from all sorts of fields may find themselves drawn to mercenary life from their busy jobs.
Something about the danger and excitement of such an existence calls to those who know they
could be doing more with their training and education.

You’ve honed your skill to a monomolecular point, defining your very being. Your experience
gives you more than just a portfolio of useful training. The things you’ve seen have changed

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 you, for better or worse. Whatever you’ve trained for still haunts you and you might even
continue to live up to the standards and ethos of your profession. If you’ve given up on that way
of life altogether, you may resent those who stayed behind or look to them as a source of
information when you need to, dipping back into that world once again.

THEME KITS

COVERT AGENT
IDENTITY: Never blow my cover.

POWER TAGS: covert agent, spycraft, lockbreaker device, extract information, cause
distractions, intel assets, high level clearances, never fall in love, don a disguise, surveillance
takeover device

WEAKNESS TAGS: always suspect a lie, tracked by governments, sincerity, doublecrosses and
double agents

GUNSLINGER
IDENTITY: Always draw first.

POWER TAGS: gunslinger, quickdraw, trusty sidearm, trick shots, suppressive fire, weapons
dealers, always bring a gun, weapon inspection, fire through walls

WEAKNESS TAGS: draw too soon, code of the street, ignore melee weapons, not enough
firepower

IMPRESSIVE PHYSIQUE
IDENTITY: Never skip a workout.

POWER TAGS: impressive physique, brute strength, stretchy outfit, keep pushing, know my
limits, gymrats, personal trainer, no pain no gain, protein shakes, muscle implants

WEAKNESS TAGS: overimpressed by bulk, spot your buddy, side effects of juicing, predictable
routines

INVESTIGATOR
IDENTITY: Track down every lead.

POWER TAGS: investigator, notice small details, voice analysis software, draw useful
conclusions, go it alone, bribed street informants, licensed investigator, trust my gut, have a
drink, seen humanity’s underbelly

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: suspect an ugly mug, watched by the cops, fall for sob stories, dead end
lead

MED TECHIE
IDENTITY: Get them assistance, stat.

POWER TAGS: med techie, stabilize the wounded, high tech doc bag, resuscitate the flatlined,
grace under pressure, doctors and nurses, medical license, assume drug involvement, sterilize
equipment, organ harvesting

WEAKNESS TAGS: act without explaining, medical board oversight, fail to notice cybernetics,
keep alive the brain dead

RUTHLESS EXECUTIVE
IDENTITY: Keep your eyes on the bottom line.

POWER TAGS: ruthless executive, business instincts, bulletproof business suit, project
management, negotiate with rivals, corporate contacts, sales awards, get it in writing, make a
few calls, hostile takeovers

WEAKNESS TAGS: money focused, ethically bankrupt, what can’t be purchased, mistrusted by
the poor

TINKERER
IDENTITY: Find creative tech solutions.

POWER TAGS: tinkerer, modifying machines, tool bag, push technology further, spare parts,
tech suppliers, certified technician, anything can be rebuilt, update firmware, new functionality

WEAKNESS TAGS: overlooks minor glitches, customer reviews, fixes what’s not broken,
consumes too much power

TRAINED KILLER
IDENTITY: Do the job perfectly.

POWER TAGS: trained killer, stealthy attacks, favorite weapon, clean kills, disarming,
organized criminals, professional reputation, finish the job, take aim, perfectly silent weaponry

WEAKNESS TAGS: casual about death, contracted by bad people, collateral damage, wrong
target

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 CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● You’re mentoring a member of the crew in a skill under your area of expertise.
● One of them is always borrowing your equipment.
● A member of your crew worked a job with you in the past that went badly.
● Long ago a member of the crew encouraged you to go into this area of expertise.

CUSTOM EXPERTISE THEME

Think about your character’s area of expertise. How have you trained and where did you get
that training? Why did you go into this line of work? What hardships did you go through to earn
your place as an expert? What unusual perspective on the world do you have, due to your
specialized knowledge?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? WHAT MAKES YOU AN EXPERT?

● I spent years training with _______ (an organization or master of your craft) and that
experience makes me an expert.
● I grew up in _______ (a rough neighborhood, polluted region, or other difficult place) and
my survival proves I have skills.
● I’m a famous _______ (type of luminary); how could I not be the best?
● I pulled off _______ (a famous job), so everyone knows I’m a rising star.

Flesh out your idea with some details: What drove you to complete your training, gather these
skills, or study under your mentor? Do you have a chip on your shoulder about your expertise or
do you play it cool and let others notice how good you are in their own time? Do you have a
reputation for quality work or the notorious things you’ve done? What’s the word on the street
about you?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT IS YOUR AREA OF EXPERTISE?
B. WHAT IS THE MAIN SKILL YOU DEVELOPED IN THIS FIELD?
C. WHAT IS THE MOST USEFUL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT YOU USE ON THE JOB?
D. WHAT CAN YOU ACCOMPLISH WITH THIS SKILL SET THAT OTHERS CAN’T?
E. HOW DO YOU MITIGATE COMPLICATIONS OR DANGEROUS SITUATIONS IN YOUR
LINE OF WORK?
F. WHAT USEFUL CONTACTS DO YOU STILL HAVE RELATED TO THE FIELD?
G. WHAT CREDENTIALS DO YOU HOLD PERTAINING TO THIS AREA OF EXPERTISE?
H. WHAT’S THE MOST VALUABLE LESSON YOU LEARNED ON THE JOB?
I. HOW DO YOU PREPARE BEFORE APPLYING YOUR EXPERTISE?

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 J. WHAT IS THE MOST GROUNDBREAKING, ON THE EDGE, ASPECT OF YOUR
EXPERTISE?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. HOW DOES YOUR EXPERTISE BIAS YOUR PERCEPTIONS OR INTERACTIONS?
B. WHAT ETHICAL CODE OR BUREAUCRATIC REGULATIONS ARE PROFESSIONALS
LIKE YOU HELD TO?
C. WHAT IS THE BLIND SPOT IN YOUR AREA OF STUDY?
D. WHEN DOES YOUR EXPERTISE BACKFIRE?

IDENTITY
Choose an Identity for this theme: an absolute statement that captures an attitude, motive or
belief related to your area of expertise. For example:

● (lawyer) “My client is innocent.”

● (car thief) “Make a quick getaway.”
● (bartender) “Listen to their problems and numb their pain.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● Your methodology or modus operandi

● A saying that people with your profession espouse
● Your professional ethos

Write your Identity on your theme card.

Acting in conflict with this statement means you are losing your connection to your past training
or straying from dedication to your profession. Let everyone at the table know what could
constitute acting against this Identity.

HORIZON (self)
Some people look to the future, beyond the dystopia that surrounds them. They are driven by a
political cause, a personal mission, or a duty to do more for this world than most are called to.
You have come to embrace a creed or a cause which defines who you are and gives you
strength. In preparation for your duties and trials, you hone your skills and your body. Which
specific drive pushes you matters, as it informs the ways in which you prepare and the foes
which you ready yourself to defeat.

The goal that drives you may eat at you inside. You feel a sense of purpose tempered by the
guilt that you may never succeed or that you may not accomplish enough in your short life. Time
is running out. This is a classic theme in cyberpunk– the need to be relevant before the end. But
this doesn’t have to be morbid or even frantic. Being driven may give your life purpose and

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 direction and it can certainly supply you with a skillset relevant to mercenaries, explorers, and
adventurers. Your motives might be aspirational, but those goals could easily be selfish and
they’ll certainly be personal. You could be honorable, vengeful, greedy, or visionary.

THEME KITS

ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT
IDENTITY: Seek mind expanding experiences that reveal truth.

POWER TAGS: attain enlightenment, enter a trance state, mind altering technologies,
question reality, philosophical discussion, cult temple, martial arts training, stay open minded,
fellow seekers of enlightenment, the universe is infinite

WEAKNESS TAGS: live in poverty, corporate capitalists, see too much, few friends

BREAK THE SYSTEM

IDENTITY: Find cracks in the system and use them to tear it all down.

POWER TAGS: break the system, spot systemic failures, online activism, exploit bureaucracy,
interrupt oppression, pretend to submit, implanted recording devices, we deserve better, fellow
malcontents, anything can break

WEAKNESS TAGS: outside the system, collaborators and informers, easily riled up, lack of
sleep

ELIMINATE CORRUPTION
IDENTITY: Investigate the corrupt and find ways to bring them down.

POWER TAGS: eliminate corruption, follow the money, surveillance van, garner media
attention, healthy paranoia, seedy bars, titanium alloy skeleton, the truth is out there, victims
and witnesses, everyone slips up

WEAKNESS TAGS: long stakeouts, bribed officials, overly ethical, failing love life

EXACT REVENGE
IDENTITY: Get back at everyone who has wronged me.

POWER TAGS: exact revenge, dogged pursuit, meticulous list of enemies, make it hurt,
outsmart them, weapons room, subdermal armor implants, I’ll kill them all, old friends, they’re
scared of me

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: willing to lose everything, innocent bystanders, at my wits end, lost my
family

EXPLORE THE HIDDEN PLACES

IDENTITY: Find forgotten locations and discover what hides there.

POWER TAGS: explore the hidden places, climbing and rappelling, old maps, take the
plunge, make local allies, go further than expected, cybernetic headlights, lost places are
fascinating, fellow explorers, there are hidden treasures

WEAKNESS TAGS: willing to get lost, rival delvers, leave noone behind, rarely at home

GET RICH & FAMOUS

IDENTITY: Do what it takes to get to the top.

POWER TAGS: get rich & famous, big plans, what fame I have, piggyback off success, lie
when necessary, overly opulent apartment, surgically enhanced beauty, strive to be the best,
assistants and proteges, failure teaches lessons

WEAKNESS TAGS: transcend the old me, haters, emotionally draining experiences, unhealthy
lifestyle

LIVE HONORABLY
IDENTITY: Do what’s right and fix what’s wrong.

POWER TAGS: live honorably, sense of right and wrong, favorite book, help those in need,
challenge the dishonorable, meditative space, eschew intoxicants, virtue is its own reward,
people I’ve helped, wrongs must be righted

WEAKNESS TAGS: few peccadilloes, temptation everywhere, never act dishonorably, intolerant
of the dishonorable

PUSH TECHNOLOGY FURTHER

IDENTITY: Push tech to the limits and find new frontiers.

POWER TAGS: push technology further, tinkering and adjusting, custom tool set, turn things
up to 11, override manufacturer safeties, communal maker spaces, toolkit cyberhand, some
bugs are features, cyberspace techie community, tech can be repurposed

WEAKNESS TAGS: everything breaks eventually, my own lack of foresight, sentimental about
certain devices, safety concerns

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 CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● Your constant talk about your goals really annoys one particular member of your crew.
● A member of your crew strongly agrees with your goals.
● One of them was involved in the incident or conditions that set you on this path.
● A member of the crew is instrumental in your plans.

CUSTOM HORIZON THEME

Think about your character’s vision. What is the end goal or status quo you wish to achieve?
How do you plan to get there? What are you willing to do to push forward with your plans? How
is your lifestyle shaped by your constant striving for this vision of the future?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? WHY DO YOU STRIVE FOR THIS GOAL ON THE HORIZON?

● I once lived when things were _______ (some idyllic condition) and I seek to return to
that existence.
● A terrible event occurred, caused by _______ (an enemy, corporation, or other bad
actor) and I intend to make things right.
● I am a _______ (type of visionary), with a vision for the future of this world.
● I am driven to _______ (an activity), so that I can learn, explore, or otherwise make
myself a better person.

Flesh out your idea with some details: Why does your life now revolve around this goal? Do you
feel you should be the one to do this or should others be brought into your movement? What
sacrifices have you made to get this far and what will you sacrifice to take it even further? Are
you looking to technology or the Mythoi to aid you in your mission?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT IS YOUR GOAL OR DRIVE?
B. WHAT IS THE MOST USEFUL SKILL YOU’VE DEVELOPED TO PREPARE YOU FOR
YOUR TRIALS?
C. WHAT IS THE MAIN WEAPON OR TOOL YOU USE IN YOUR MISSION?
D. WHAT IS THE MAIN TACTIC OR TECHNIQUE YOU EMPLOY IN ACCOMPLISHING
YOUR GOALS?
E. HOW DO YOU DEFEND YOURSELF AGAINST THOSE WHO WOULD THWART
YOUR MISSION?
F. WHERE OR HOW DO YOU HIDE FROM YOUR ENEMIES?
G. HOW HAVE YOU MODIFIED OR TRAINED YOUR BODY FOR YOUR MISSION?
H. WHAT IDEAL OR CREED DRIVES YOU TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS?

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 I. WHO CAN YOU CALL UPON TO AID YOU IN YOUR QUEST?
J. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT THE TARGET OF YOUR GOAL?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. HOW MUST YOU SACRIFICE IN ORDER TO ATTAIN YOUR GOALS?
B. WHO GETS IN THE WAY OF YOUR MISSION?
C. WHAT ARE YOUR ETHICAL OR EMOTIONAL LIMITATIONS?
D. WHAT PART OF YOUR LIFE DO YOU OFTEN IGNORE, WHICH LATER CATCHES UP
TO YOU?

IDENTITY
Choose an Identity for this theme: an absolute statement that captures an attitude, motive or
belief related to your goals or vision. For example:

● (cultist) “Sacrifice to the goddess.”

● (environmental activist) “Halt mankind’s devastation of the earth.”
● (technophile) “Show me how it works.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● Your ultimate goal

● A phrase that summarizes your core ethic
● The crux of your new way of doing things

Write your Identity on your theme card.

Acting in conflict with this statement means you are losing your focus and drive towards your
vision of the future or way of conducting yourself. You’re either becoming more moderate in your
attitudes or simply changing course based on new experiences. Let everyone at the table know
what could constitute acting against this Identity.

PERSONALITY (self)
In a world full of simulation, copying, and cloning, originality and authenticity are priceless. Your
unique personality can be your greatest asset, as it sets you apart from the masses. In the dark
and dismal future of the Megacity, your internal temperament, style, habit, or sense of humor
may be the only thing that can get you through a rough night. Your ability to stand as a beacon
against the darkness could be what it takes to keep your crew on the right path. The streets are
mean and you’ve got your ways of adapting or keeping things from falling into chaos.

Your personality could help yourself and others through positivity, wisdom, gallows humor, or
some other seemingly positive quality. On the other hand, a persona adapted to the grim
realities of the future might be what you need to struggle on against all odds. When you’re shot

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 in the gut and clinging to life, what keeps you going? What aspect of your personality allows you
to not only pull through yourself, but assist others in their own journey? In the end the
authenticity of a strong personality is as precious as the Mythoi, as it stands in contrast to the
meaningless repetition of the Noise. Flamboyant or insightful. Obsessive or annoying. Your
persona makes you special, useful, and important.

THEME KITS

CAREGIVER
IDENTITY: Help anyone who needs it.

POWER TAGS: caregiver, driven to help others, natural mentor, notice the needy, pillar of the
community, dermal medicine injector, always where needed, history of adversity, carries
delicious snacks, righteous anger

WEAKNESS TAGS: selfish people, patronizing, affluent neighborhoods, too many robots

CREATURE OF HABIT
IDENTITY: There’s a proper way things should be done.

POWER TAGS: creature of habit, comfortable routines, pre-planned conversations, alert to

emergencies, well-practiced maneuvers, neatly folded clothing, always reliable, contingency
plans, meticulously maintained gear, ready to handle chaos

WEAKNESS TAGS: agents of chaos, needs a solid plan, unexpected battles, slobs

KEEPER OF SECRETS
IDENTITY: Carefully exploit the secrets I’ve cultivated.

POWER TAGS: keeper of secrets, naturally inquisitive, knows about everyone, network of
spies, secret passages and codes, files full of evidence, mysterious, secretly compassionate,
truth serum, utterly silent

WEAKNESS TAGS: people I have dirt on, never says whole truth, being watched, people
without secrets

PERFORMER
IDENTITY: All the world’s a stage.

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 POWER TAGS: performer, star quality, entertaining, mirror of human nature, fans and
followers, performance outfit, has something to express, constantly practicing, antique
equipment, begin the performance

WEAKNESS TAGS: fans of my rival, well-known face, one-on-one interactions, paparazzi

REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE

IDENTITY: Defy authority and convention.

POWER TAGS: rebel without a cause, couldn’t care less, stir up trouble, see through the
bullshit, defy authority, leather jacket, say what others can’t, has a soft side, dangerous vehicle,
never back down

WEAKNESS TAGS: authority figures, mouth off, fancy social engagements, loss of freedom

THRILLSEEKER
IDENTITY: Get into deadly situations that prove I’m alive.

POWER TAGS: thrillseeker, thrive on fear, stories to tell, looking for danger, always get out
alive, well-used helmet, exciting to be around, plan my stunts, custom vehicles, laugh
maniacally

WEAKNESS TAGS: cowards, too dangerous, safe places, sitting still

TOUGH AS NAILS
IDENTITY: I’ve been through so much nothing can defeat me now.

POWER TAGS: tough as nails, been through it all, don’t talk just listen, nothing surprises me,
ultimate survivor, beat up clothing, out drink them, worked unusual jobs, picks fights, brace for
the pain

WEAKNESS TAGS: peppy and chipper people, never tend wounds, soft and cushy places,
naivete

TREND SETTER
IDENTITY: Inspire others to defy normalcy.

POWER TAGS: trend setter, creativity, inspirational, unique vision, known innovator, ideas
journal, magnetic charisma, out-of-the-blue thoughts, outlandish outfits, focus on the future

WEAKNESS TAGS: those who fear change, too bold, boring meetings, complicity

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 CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● A member of the crew has a personality that’s complimentary to your own, making you a
bit of a duo.
● One of them really dislikes your personality or just the way you go about doing things.
● One finds the way you behave fascinating and is always watching you.
● A fellow crew member aspires to your way of doing things or your cult of personality.

CUSTOM PERSONALITY THEME

Think about your personality and the way you solve problems. What’s unique about your ways?
How does it define you? Are you a big personality, a thinker, or someone with a methodical
approach? Are you addicted to a substance, cutting-edge technology, or just adrenaline? How
has this given you an edge in the Megacity? How does it drive you to make something of
yourself instead of just blending into the crowd?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? IN WHAT UNIQUE WAY DO YOU THINK OR BEHAVE?

● I have a big personality that allows me to be _______ when I’m in the spotlight.
● I do things _______ (an approach to problems or life), which is the best way I know how.
● My skills revolve around _______, my most important personality trait or natural gift.
● I’ve turned _______ (a personality flaw) into a source of motivation and ability.

Flesh out your idea with some details: What caused you to develop this personality? Were you
trained from childhood, scarred by a traumatic event, or is this just how you are? Does your
personality relate to your aspirations and if so, what do you plan to accomplish?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT IS THE CORE OF YOUR PERSONALITY?
B. WHAT PART OF YOUR PERSONA HELPS YOU TO SUCCEED OR ENDURE?
C. HOW DOES YOUR PERSONALITY HELP YOU NAVIGATE SOCIAL SITUATIONS?
D. HOW DO YOU SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY, NOTICING WHAT OTHERS
RARELY PICK UP ON?
E. WHAT IS THE MAIN ADVANTAGE YOUR PERSONALITY GIVES YOU ON A JOB OR
ON THE STREET?
F. WHAT ONE ITEM BEST EXPRESSES YOUR PERSONAL STYLE OR WAY OF DOING
THINGS?
G. WHAT ABOUT YOUR PERSONALITY DO OTHERS FIND ATTRACTIVE OR COOL?
H. WHAT IS UNUSUAL, WEIRD, OR SURPRISING ABOUT YOU?

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 I. WHAT ABOUT YOUR LIFESTYLE OR PERSONAL EQUIPMENT IS UNIQUE OR
SPECIAL?
J. HOW DOES YOUR PERSONALITY CHANGE WHEN YOU’RE IN A DIFFICULT
SITUATION?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. WHO FINDS YOUR PERSONALITY OR LIFESTYLE ABHORRENT OR IRKSOME?
B. HOW DOES YOUR PERSONALITY GET YOU INTO TROUBLE?
C. WHAT SITUATIONS THROW YOU OFF YOUR GAME?
D. WHO OR WHAT ARE YOU AVERSE TO?

IDENTITY
Choose an Identity for this theme: an absolute statement that captures an attitude, motive or
belief related to your personality. For example:

● (charismatic leader) “Surround yourself with sycophants.”

● (hardboiled detective) “Cases distract me from the pain.”
● (intellectual) “Become impenetrably erudite.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● The one thing people with your personality always do

● A lesson you’ve learned that made you who you are
● The reason you’ve adopted this persona

Write your Identity on your theme card.

Acting in conflict with this statement means you are losing connection to this aspect of your
personality, changing how you act and who you are in the world. Let everyone at the table know
what could constitute acting against this Identity.

TROUBLED PAST (self)

Something in your past defines you. Unresolved, these events haunt your existence, aching to
be dealt with. Everything you do is informed by the times that were hardest for you, clouding
your perceptions, but perhaps giving you motivation. Maybe your parents or a sibling died.
Maybe you got hurt in the middle of trying to do something heroic. You might be the product of a
government or corporate experiment or similarly altered through your own tinkering. In any
case, you are something more, someone different, than you might have been had you enjoyed a
boring life up until now.

You try to put your past behind you, but something keeps bringing it back up. Guilt or a need to
resolve old conflicts might be the cause. Maybe the people who made you like this are still out

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 there looking for you. Rough childhoods and traumatic experiences are common in the
Megacity, but yours are something more than most experience. The troubling moments of your
past have defined you for now.

THEME KITS

ESCAPED SERVITUDE
IDENTITY: Remain free.

POWER TAGS: escaped servitude, defiant of commands, bypass security systems, makeshift
weapons, laborer’s strength, camaraderie with the oppressed, my old bindings, speak truth to
power, secret languages and signs, liberate others

WEAKNESS TAGS: bounty hunters, laser fence burns, mistrustful of leaders, being bound

DISASTER SURVIVOR
IDENTITY: Nature should be respected.

POWER TAGS: disaster survivor, enduring of elements, climb through rubble, cut losses,
careful footing, first responders, oxygen mask, locate those in danger, sense impending
disasters, battle the polluters

WEAKNESS TAGS: phobic of [fire, water, heights, etc.], trouble breathing, overly cautious,
extreme conditions

LOST LOVED ONES

IDENTITY: Make their sacrifice worth it.

POWER TAGS: lost loved ones, helpful to those in danger, accustomed to loss, seeking sweet
revenge, shield others with my body, new loved ones, inherited weapon, visit where they died,
family secrets, make things right

WEAKNESS TAGS: traumatic flashbacks, haunted by their ghost (literally), recklessness,

ending a life

OTHERWORLDLY FORCES
IDENTITY: Supernatural dangers must be defeated.

POWER TAGS: otherworldly forces, recognise the supernatural, wary of magic, countermagic,
covered in warding runes, monster hunter allies, forbidden tome, intensive research, knowledge
of the occult, exorcism

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: nightmares of the Mythoi, scars that won't heal, superstitious, terrifying
creatures

RAISED IN CYBERSPACE
IDENTITY: Technology is our savior.

POWER TAGS: raised in cyberspace, master of multitasking, always online, exploit the
glitches in VR, stay harnessed indefinitely, online communities, an old crypto coin,
doomscrolling the news, access to black markets, online gossip

WEAKNESS TAGS: online rivalry, crave being online, easily distracted, tech from childhood

SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS
IDENTITY: Defy those who experimented on me.

POWER TAGS: science experiments, escape restraints, resistance to pain, psychic powers,
extensive cybernetics, [organization] who took me in, surgical equipment, practice my abilities,
scientific methods, rescue missions

WEAKNESS TAGS: memories of experiments, designed for a purpose, obsessed with the
scientist, clinical locations

SURVIVED THE STREETS

IDENTITY: Get back what was taken from me.

POWER TAGS: survived the streets, situational awareness, ignore wounds for now, hidden
weapons, illegally modified cybernetics, police contact, intimidating facial scar, walk with
confidence, navigate gang politics, seek justice

WEAKNESS TAGS: targeted by a gang, malfunctioning replacement organs, never back down,
fearful of knives

TARGET OF THE GOVERNMENT

IDENTITY: Escape surveillance and persecution.

POWER TAGS: target of the government, accustomed to being followed, cautious in

cyberspace, lawbreaker, facial reconstruction, fellow outlaws, government secrets, pursue my
pursuers, government procedures, become someone else

WEAKNESS TAGS: under investigation, nervous twitch, paranoid of informants, vehicle chases

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 CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● One of them survived the same ordeal, or a similar one. You might commiserate with
them or you might be jealous that it didn’t scar them in the same way.
● One is close to falling into a similar situation to your past and you’re worried about them.
● You worked hard to make sure one of them never had to go through what you did.
● One of them reminds you of someone from your past.

CUSTOM TROUBLED PAST THEME

Think about the event that made your character who they are. It could be a specific traumatic
event or just a tragic set of circumstances over a long period of time. How did this event
influence the person you’ve become? Did you survive and thrive? Were you gutted by the
event? Are you still exploring who you are and what you might eventually blossom into? Did you
gain skills to make sure the same thing can’t happen again?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? HOW HAS YOUR TROUBLED PAST CHANGED YOU?

● My life was destroyed and I am a shell of who I was, becoming a _______ (profession or
kind of person) now.
● I persevered and pulled myself out of those circumstances, learning to become _______
(a positive quality, such as street smart or inventive).
● I am dedicated to making sure those circumstances never again affect _______ (myself,
my loved ones, or just society in general).
● I merely freed myself from those circumstances. It’s going to take time for me to fully
explore who I am and what my past did to me.

Flesh out your idea with some details: When did these events happen to you? How did they
occur and who’s fault was it? What might cause the events to occur again? How does your
traumatic and troubled past still linger in your daily life?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT ABOUT YOUR PAST NOW HAUNTS OR DEFINES YOU?
B. HOW HAVE YOU GROWN STRONGER DUE TO YOUR PAST?
C. WHAT SKILLS OR BEHAVIORS DID YOU LEARN IN ORDER TO ADAPT?
D. HOW HAS YOUR PAST MADE YOU DANGEROUS?
E. WHAT PHYSICAL CHANGE OR IMPROVEMENT STEMS FROM YOUR TROUBLED
PAST?
F. WHO HAVE YOU TURNED TO FOR SAFETY OR COMFORT?
G. WHAT USEFUL MOMENTO DO YOU STILL HAVE FROM YOUR PAST?

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 H. HOW DO YOU COPE WITH MEMORIES THAT HAUNT YOU?
I. WHAT UNUSUAL KNOWLEDGE DO YOU HAVE DUE TO YOUR PAST?
J. HOW DO YOU FIGHT THOSE WHO WOULD PUT YOU BACK INTO THE DIFFICULT
LIFE YOU USED TO LIVE?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. WHO OR WHAT FROM YOUR PAST IS STILL HAUNTING YOU?
B. WHAT PHYSICAL EFFECTS DO YOU STILL SUFFER FROM?
C. WHAT SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS HAVE YOU DEVELOPED?
D. WHAT TRIGGERS THE WORST MEMORIES OF YOUR PAST?

IDENTITY
Choose an Identity for this theme: an absolute statement that captures an attitude, motive or
belief related to your troubled past. For example:

● (abusive home life) “Protect the innocent.”

● (technology malfunction) “Make new tech safe.”
● (wastelands survivor) “Hoard resources for later.”

You can try exploring the following options:

● The most important lesson you take from your past.

● The reason you survived.
● The attitude that people who come up in those circumstances generally carry with them.

Write your Identity on your theme card.

Acting in conflict with this statement means you are losing connection to the lessons and
hardships of your troubled past. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute acting
against this Identity.

AUGMENTATION (noise)
Cybernetic enhancements, gene therapies, hypnotic mental adjustments, and more provide
citizens of the Megacity with ample means of becoming more than human. With enough money,
a person can gain superhuman strength, speed, skill, and senses. Those with means or the
right street contacts can be altered to look angelic, demonic, or anything in between.
Augmentations are bountiful and some are even inexpensive. Cheap cybernetic limb and organ
replacements have made life much cheaper, as companies push the bodies of their employees
and governments do away with public health laws.

People like you who do dangerous work need every advantage you can get. You’ve managed to
scrape together the funds to get a few modifications made to yourself. Sure, they might make

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 you look a little monstrous, but that just helps with your street cred. Better to see your foes
coming through cybernetic camera eyes than to get shot in the street before you know what’s
happening. Chipped reflex circuits, memory databases, and even animal traits are all on the
table. You never know when some strange mod will give you that edge you need in a pinch.

THEME KITS

ARMORED JUGGERNAUT
ITCH: Become more machine than man.

POWER TAGS: armored juggernaut, cybernetic strength, bust through walls, virtually
indestructible, gigantic weapon, killing machine, sheets of metal, corporate military training,
terrifying physique

WEAKNESS TAGS: big & heavy, can’t track small things, constantly assessing threats,
considered a monster

BIOLOGICAL MODIFICATIONS
ITCH: Become more human than human.

POWER TAGS: biological modifications, superior anatomy, animal features, natural

weaponry, catlike reflexes, gene splicer, organ cloning vat, animal lover, pheromones

WEAKNESS TAGS: bulky musculature, fight or flight instincts, growls when agitated, ridiculed
as a freak

BOOSTED MENTAL CAPACITY

ITCH: Push the limits of human thought and memory.

POWER TAGS: boosted mental capacity, mind like a steel trap, perfect memory, quick
thinking, tactical genius, recognize ambush, mnemonic, neural self-analyzer tool, memory
training exercises, remember names and faces

WEAKNESS TAGS: magnetic head, flood of memories, speak too fast, brain hacked

CHIPPED WEAPON MASTERY

ITCH: Install ever more potent enhancements to gain command over a weapon.

POWER TAGS: chipped weapon mastery, integrated targeting systems, cybernetic eyes,
weapon master’s reflexes, precise attacks, defensive fighting techniques, chiphead, weapon
repair kit, experienced mercenary, dead-eyed stare

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: optical targeter glows, uncontrolled reflexes, protective of weapon, accused
of killing

CYBORG SENSES
ITCH: Expand my sensory input into every conceivable spectrum.

POWER TAGS: cyborg senses, expanded senses, perfect pitch, scan for weapons, see
physiological weaknesses, hear elevated heartbeats, wavelength surfer, precise calibration
tools, overcome disability, lie detector

WEAKNESS TAGS: easily blinded, clipping and distortion, sensitive to loud voices, accusations
of spying

HIDDEN CAPABILITIES
ITCH: Load my body with a surprising array of technologies and weapons.

POWER TAGS: hidden capabilities, every tool imaginable, secret pockets, drug injector,
concealed weapons, jet boosters, gadgeteer, batteries and munitions, covert agent, holographic
face swap

WEAKNESS TAGS: overloaded with implants, many devices to monitor, overconfidence,

assumed to be armed

IMPOSSIBLY GOOD LOOKS

ITCH: Transcend human beauty becoming a walking work of art.

POWER TAGS: impossibly good looks, unearthly beauty, facial reconstruction, shocking
appearance, intimidating, powers of seduction, runway walker, on-call plastic surgeon, fashion
model, center of attention

WEAKNESS TAGS: awkward body proportions, assaulted by ugliness, must be fashion forward,
intense jealousy

STEALTH SYSTEMS
ITCH: Become utterly undetectable.

POWER TAGS: stealth systems, disappear without a trace, hide object, blur of movement,
unseen attacks, shroud of invisibility, wannabe ninja, holographic engineering, acrobatics
training, impersonation technologies

WEAKNESS TAGS: slow movements, impaired vision, hates surveillance, watched carefully

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 CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● A crewmate has similar enhancements, just much more primitive. You give them
pointers.
● A member of your crew considers your abilities invasive or suspicious.
● Your enhanced abilities have greatly impressed one of your crew members, perhaps in a
rescue or other daring event.
● A fellow crew member considers your augmentations incredibly marketable or otherwise
useful for your crew and its reputation.

CUSTOM AUGMENTATION THEME

Think about your augmentations and how you might have gained them. What deficiency or goal
caused you to acquire them? How did you afford their installation? Were you an experiment or
agent of a corporation? How has your life changed now that you are so greatly enhanced?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? HOW HAVE YOUR AUGMENTATIONS ALTERED YOU?

● I am something more than human, on my way to transcending _______ (a normal

human limitation).
● My augmentations make up for _______ (an inability, disability, or personal
shortcoming).
● I have been altered to become the perfect _______ (a role, job, or title).
● My augmentations reveal my true self, someone who should always have been _______
(the main ability your augmentations provide).

Flesh out your idea with some details: When did you acquire your augmentations? Who
installed them for you? How has your life changed since you’ve gained them? How do you see
the world now that you’ve been enhanced?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT’S THE NAME OF YOUR AUGMENTATION?
B. WHAT IS THE AUGMENTATION’S MOST USEFUL OR WELL-KNOWN APPLICATION?
C. WHAT IS A LESSER KNOWN FEATURE OR APPLICATION OF THE TECHNOLOGY?
D. HOW COULD THE AUGMENTATION BE USED TO ENHANCE YOUR FIGHTING
ABILITY?
E. HOW COULD THE AUGMENTATION BE USED TO HURT OTHERS?
F. HOW COULD THE AUGMENTATION BE USED TO AVOID DANGER OR ESCAPE IT?
G. WHAT’S THE TERM FOR A PERSON WHO USES OR ABUSES THIS TYPE OF
TECHNOLOGY?

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 H. WHAT EXPERTISE, TOOLS, OR MATERIALS ARE REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN THIS
AUGMENTATION?
I. WHAT UNUSUAL LIFESTYLE OR FIELD OF TRAINING LED YOU TO ACQUIRING
THIS TECHNOLOGY?
J. WHAT ADVANTAGE DOES YOUR AUGMENTATION GIVE YOU IN SOCIAL
SITUATIONS?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. HOW DOES THIS AUGMENTATION LIMIT YOUR MOVEMENT OR PHYSICAL
ABILITIES?
B. HOW ARE YOUR SENSES OVERWHELMED OR OTHERWISE COMPROMISED BY
THIS TECHNOLOGY?
C. HOW DOES THIS TECHNOLOGY NEGATIVELY ALTER THE WAY YOU BEHAVE IN
THE WORLD?
D. HOW ARE YOU TREATED BY THOSE WHO SCORN YOU FOR YOUR AUGMENTS?

ITCH
Choose an Itch for this theme: A need that articulates what drives you to continue to become
something more. A desire you must fulfill that can only be met through this alteration to your
body. A mental itch that must be scratched. For example:

● (robot body) “Replace all that I am with robotics.”

● (spyware broadcaster) “Infect the world with electronic spies.”
● (chameleon synth-skin) “Blend in with the world and move through it unnoticed.”

You can try exploring the following options while making sure to tie them to a need that your
augmentation fills:

● How might you continue to take this augmentation further?

● Why are you driven to augment yourself?
● What activity is essential to exploring this technology?

Write your Itch on your theme card.

Ignoring this Itch means that you are losing your dependence on your augmentations and the
benefits that come with that drive. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute acting
against this Itch.

CUTTING EDGE (noise)

Life as an up-and-coming professional for hire in the Megacity is all about following trends that
place you on the absolute bleeding edge. Newly released technologies, stolen prototypes, and
home printed experiments all give mercenaries and explorers an edge. This theme represents a

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 devotion to keeping your gear up-to-date in the arms race of the street. You know that falling
behind can mean taking a bullet that’s a little too strong for your armor or getting your mind
wiped by a psychic weapon that’s just hit the market. Between story’s you likely spend your time
cruising cyberspace marketplaces or gossiping with mercenaries about what’s hot this season.

The cutting edge means more than just guns and armor. It’s scientific experiments involving
barely understood technologies. You might even be a brilliant inventor yourself, testing out these
gadgets in the field before selling their schematics to a corporate patron or on the black market.
Nanotechnologies, unusual energy fields, and even devices that harness magic (without fully
understanding it) could all be at your beck and call. Be warned. These items aren’t widely
available because they are new and untested. They’re dangerous and in the wrong hands they
could spell doom. Best not to hand them off to your fellow crew members.

THEME KITS

CLOUD OF NANITES
ITCH: Transform the world in innovative ways.

POWER TAGS: cloud of nanites, alter matter, takeover electronics, disintegrate objects,
cushion blows, piles of ash, compositional data, material scientist, robotics lab job, cleanroom
suit

WEAKNESS TAGS: wind direction, fear of nanite-plagues, inhaled and coughed up, energy
fields

CRYPTOGRAPHIC SKELETON KEY

ITCH: Unlock all doors; open all files.

POWER TAGS: cryptographic skeleton key, decrypt any code, re-encrypt data, no secret is
safe, counterfeit credentials, massive data files, intercepted correspondence, mathematical
genius, years of research, scholar’s clothes

WEAKNESS TAGS: requires a supercomputer, paranoid of secrets revealed, math headaches,

too little data

EXPERIMENTAL VEHICLE
ITCH: Push limits and discover flaws in the prototype.

POWER TAGS: experimental vehicle, impossible maneuvers, sonic boom, sleek and speedy,
unlicensed and unknown, weird energy field, cockpit instrument dashboard, nerves of steel,
prototype pilot, flight suit

WEAKNESS TAGS: guzzles fuel, think I’m suicidal, causes dizziness, no fly zones

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 FORCE FIELDS
ITCH: Experiment with forces beyond human understanding.

POWER TAGS: force fields, field of protection, entrapping sphere, beams of force, instant
shield, emits intense heat, energy readings, applied physics, inventor father, field projection
harness

WEAKNESS TAGS: huge power requirements, baffled, severe burns, other force fields

GRAVITY MANIPULATION
ITCH: Prove that humanity can master the most fundamental of forces.

POWER TAGS: gravity manipulation, cause flight, create crushing force, make things heavy,
reverse gravity, mild time dilation, gravimetric data, inventor, love of flying, huge backpack and
goggles

WEAKNESS TAGS: bulky hardware, cynical ridicule, stretched and compressed, raw electricity

PROGRAMMABLE MATTER
ITCH: Form this matter into whatever is needed, exploring its range of possibilities.

POWER TAGS: programmable matter, assume useful shapes, flow through cracks, create
simple weapons, deploy shield, industrial slime trail, structure data, flexible engineering, private
investors, covered in the matter

WEAKNESS TAGS: limited material, eccentric reputation, oily smells, liquids

ROBOT SUIT
ITCH: Become robotic when the need arises, transcending mundane limits.

POWER TAGS: robot suit, protective armor, powerful battery, onboard weaponry, flight
capabilities, fiery booster jets, situational HUD, roboticist, constant tinkering, mechanic’s
jumpsuit

WEAKNESS TAGS: hackable, appear to be a robot, physical exhaustion, powerful magnets

SELF-HEALING
ITCH: Seek immortality through advanced medical technology.

POWER TAGS: self-healing, closed wounds, never inebriated, seemingly unkillable,

self-resuscitating, dangerous blood nanites, medical monitor, medical training, saved by
technology, covered in scars

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: expensive medicines, steal my blood, become corpselike, extreme cold

CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● A member of the crew serves as your assistant in dealing with your cutting edge tech.
● Another crewmember fears the implications of your tech on humanity.
● A member of the crew would serve as a perfect test subject for a new application of your
technology.
● A crewmate has information that could be useful in your research, but is reluctant to give
it up.

CUSTOM CUTTING EDGE THEME

Think about your own opinions on your cutting edge technology. How might widespread use of
this technology change the world? Do people fear it? Are your developments in this field
ultimately dangerous? Is it worth the risk? Who owns the rights to this new tech? Are they
seeking you out or hunting you down?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? HOW SHOULD THIS CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY BE USED?

● I must bend this technology towards improving life for _______ (a community,
subculture, or organization you care about).
● I must keep this technology from falling into the hands of _______ (a corporation or
government you fear).
● I should utilize this tech for my own benefit, aiding me in _______ (some aspect of your
mercenary existence).
● This technology needs to be destroyed. To do so I must find _______ (a person or place
capable of disposing of this dangerous tech).

Flesh out your idea with some details: When did you acquire your cutting edge tech? How did
you acquire it? Through your own research or genius? Were you given it by someone else?
Why? How does it work? Does it require a laboratory or machine garage? How do you protect
others from the dangers this tech can pose?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY HAVE YOU SOMEHOW ACQUIRED?
B. WHAT IS THE TECHNOLOGY’S MOST FAMOUS OR INFAMOUS APPLICATION?
C. HOW MIGHT THIS TECHNOLOGY BE USED IN AN UNUSUAL WAY, PERHAPS
CONTRARY TO ITS INTENDED PURPOSE?

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 D. WHAT’S DANGEROUS ABOUT THIS TECHNOLOGY, ALLOWING IT TO BE USED AS
A WEAPON OR A THREAT?
E. HOW COULD THIS TECHNOLOGY BE USED TO PULL YOU OUT OF A BAD
SITUATION?
F. WHAT SIDE EFFECT OR POLLUTANT DOES THIS TECHNOLOGY CAUSE THAT
YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO UTILIZE?
G. WHAT INFORMATION DOES THIS TECH FEED TO YOU?
H. WHAT KNOWLEDGE OR TALENT GRANTS YOU CONTROL OVER THIS
TECHNOLOGY?
I. WHAT SPECIAL LIFE CIRCUMSTANCE OR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP GAVE YOU
THIS TECHNOLOGY?
J. WHAT FUTURISTIC OUTFIT OR HEAVY DUTY EQUIPMENT DO YOU DON WHILE
USING IT?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. WHAT IS THE PRIMARY LIMITING FACTOR TO USING THIS TECHNOLOGY
(RANGE, ENERGY REQUIREMENTS, MENTAL FOCUS, ETC.)?
B. HOW DO PEOPLE REACT NEGATIVELY WHEN THEY FIND OUT YOU DABBLE
WITH THIS DANGEROUS TECHNOLOGY?
C. WHAT DOES THIS TECH DO TO YOUR MIND OR BODY WHEN YOU OVERUSE IT?
D. WHAT IS THE ONE THING THIS TECHNOLOGY CAN’T BE DEPLOYED AGAINST OR
SUBJECTED TO?

ITCH
Choose an Itch for this theme: A need that encapsulates what drives you to delve into cutting
edge tech. A desire you must fulfill that can only be met through dangerous experimentation. A
mental itch that must be scratched. For example:

● (advanced AI) “Develop a digital mind capable of surpassing humanity.”

● (portable nuclear plant) “Always bring more power than my rivals.”
● (superheroic drug cocktail) “Find the perfect recipe for becoming a superior being.”

You can try exploring the following options while making sure to tie them to a need that your
technology fills:

● An area of science or technology that can be expanded to benefit yourself (and possibly
others).
● A way that a technology can be applied that would challenge human nature or place in
the universe.
● A (perhaps absurd) compulsion that can only be met through this particular advanced
technology.

Write your Itch on your theme card.

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 Ignoring this Itch means that you are losing your dependence on your cutting edge tech and the
benefits that come with that drive. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute acting
against this Itch.

CYBERSPACE (noise)
Originally, cyberspace was conceived of as an innovative 3D way of navigating the internet with
virtual reality and providing a physical context to digital constructs such as data flows and
security systems. As corporations began to rise as world powers, they made cyberspace their
domain. No longer are internet spaces public and free. Most places within the virtual
environment of cyberspace are hostile. Even deadly. The machine intelligences once tasked
with protecting cyberspace now roam its liminal spaces as digital monsters and the Mythoi seem
to flourish in this landscape built entirely of ideas.

Only those with incredible intelligence or reflexes get by without getting burned. Computer
viruses and intrusion countermeasures can reach out into the “real world” and harm those who
are not prepared. Some are ready though. Some have the training, software help, and intense
curiosity it takes to thrive in cyberspace. You are one such plucky soul, striving to turn the
system against itself. Your programs are weapons and armor against the information structures
of the net. You siphon data and harvest it for useful intel. Your potential to take over machines,
even those found on another person, strikes fear into the hearts of your enemies. You arm your
allies with custom software, strap them into harnesses, and guide them through the dangerous
subdomains of VR.

THEME KITS

BUILDER OF WORLDS
ITCH: Emulate the gods, if only in cyberspace.

POWER TAGS: builder of worlds, environment editing, virtual object design, expensive VR
hardware, alter simulated physics, create VR obstacles, access object code, deploy AI, raw
creativity, delete entire worlds

WEAKNESS TAGS: burdensome world maintenance, accidental duplication, overloaded

graphics processors, obsession with details

CYBERNETIC HIJACKER
ITCH: Seize the technology within foes and bend them to my will.

POWER TAGS: cybernetic hijacker, control machine implants, AR hacking, hijacking antenna,
overheat organs, shut down weapons, harvest personal files, speak brain-to-brain, seize any
advantage, make hearts stop

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 WEAKNESS TAGS: infamous hijacker, hack the wrong organ, stymied by the unaugmented,
always upgrading cyberware

CYBERSPACE RUINS EXPLORER

ITCH: Delve into every antiquated crevice of the net.

POWER TAGS: cyberspace ruins explorer, experienced net navigator, bypassing outdated
cybersecurity, second-hand VR consoles, forgotten computer viruses, incomprehensible
hardware, scavenged databases, traverse disused networks, overwhelming nostalgia, old
blackmail files

WEAKNESS TAGS: sought by blackmail victims, hard drive full, incompatibility, unwilling to
upgrade

INFLUENCER
ITCH: Become the most influential voice on the net.

POWER TAGS: influencer, always online, live streaming, camera drone, trash a reputation, call
on famous allies, broadcast misinformation, make it about me, star power, mob of fans

WEAKNESS TAGS: easily recognized, audio/video disconnection, easily tracked digitally,

narcissism

INFORMATION BROKER
ITCH: Mine and sell vast quantities of intel.

POWER TAGS: information broker, exclusive information sources, personal data sales, signal
interception equipment, useful nuggets of info, deluge of data, track online activities, find
needles in haystacks, meticulous mind, sell secrets

WEAKNESS TAGS: too much information, wrong person identified, searching takes time,
always scrolling data

INTRUSION SPECIALIST
ITCH: Prove that you can break into the most secure domains in cyberspace.

POWER TAGS: intrusion specialist, domain backdoors, bypassing defensive programs,

custom neural harness, crash systems, counterhack hackers, locate hidden files, leave calling
card, digital rebel, prove corporate insecurity

WEAKNESS TAGS: hunted by cyber authorities, neural overload, overclocked system, online
taunting

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 POST-HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
ITCH: Find a new way to exist now that I am entirely within cyberspace.

POWER TAGS: post-human intelligence, entirely digital, self-programming, uploaded

persona, haunt a machine, self replicating, swim the data stream, recover old memories,
evolutionary impulse, outthink humans

WEAKNESS TAGS: no body, violent evolutions, important core programming, mercurial mental
states

ZEROED IDENTITY
ITCH: Move through the system unknown, untracked, and unnoticed.

POWER TAGS: zeroed identity, impossible to identify, evade documentation, identity blurring
gadgets, make others zeroed, hard to track, missing data, surprising presence, paranoid
instincts, anonymous acts

WEAKNESS TAGS: no identity documents, cameras catch glimpses, unlicensed tech, reluctant
to trust

CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● Like it or not, you’re the person who always helps one of them with their technology
needs.
● You met one of them online in a virtual space (video game, virtual world, marketplace,
bar, etc.). You both share that location as a common interest.
● One of them fears your abilities or worries that your online activities attract undue
attention.
● You’ve stolen data from one of them, or perhaps impersonated them online. If they don’t
know already, they’ll find out eventually.

CUSTOM CYBERSPACE THEME

Think about your connection to cyberspace. Why is your personality so bound up in your life
there? Why keeps bringing you back? Is it that you have amazing cyber skills, or that you have
a significant social life online? Are you trying to escape from something in the material world?

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? WHAT DRIVES YOU TO MASTER CYBERSPACE?

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 ● The material world is terrible. In cyberspace I become _______ (a character in a virtual
world or an online role such as hacker).
● I seek _______ (someone or something lost) in cyberspace, either because it could be
found there or because I have nowhere else to look.
● My talents in the virtual world make up for my _______ (a perceived shortcoming).
● I am on the run and use cyberspace to escape from _______ (enemies who hunt me).

Flesh out your idea with some details: When did you come to adopt cyberspace as your rightful
home? Who do you know there? Where do you spend most of your time when you’re online?
Do you just visit with VR gear or do you fully immerse with a Harness?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT ROLE OR ELEMENT OF CYBERSPACE HAS TAKEN OVER YOUR LIFE?
B. WHAT VALUABLE OR ENVIABLE ABILITY HAVE YOU ACQUIRED IN CYBERSPACE?
C. WHAT IS YOUR PRIMARY TECHNICAL SKILL SET?
D. WHAT SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE?
E. HOW CAN THIS TECH BE WEAPONIZED IN THE REAL WORLD OR IN V.R.?
F. HOW CAN THIS TECH BE USED DEFENSIVELY IN A FIGHT OR IN CYBERSPACE?
G. HOW DOES THIS TECH ALTER, SEARCH, OR OTHERWISE MANIPULATE
INFORMATION OR RAW DATA?
H. WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU CAN USE THIS TECH FOR TO REALLY SHOW OFF?
I. WHAT PERSONALITY TRAIT DRAWS YOU TO THIS PART OF CYBERSPACE?
J. WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH THIS TECH THAT PEOPLE FEAR?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. HOW DOES YOUR KNOWLEDGE MAKE YOUR LIFE HARDER?
B. HOW DO YOUR PROGRAMS OR DEVICES MISBEHAVE OR MALFUNCTION?
C. WHAT ONE WEAKNESS DOES YOUR EQUIPMENT HAVE THAT COULD BE
EXPLOITED BY A KNOWLEDGEABLE FOE?
D. WHAT ANNOYING HABIT HAVE YOU PICKED UP IN YOUR OBSESSION WITH THIS
TECH?

ITCH
Choose an Itch for this theme: A need that encapsulates what drives you to use cyberspace to
become something more than just human. A desire you must fulfill that can only be met in the
virtual world. A mental itch that must be scratched. For example:

● (data thief) “The thrill of knowing secrets.”

● (erased identity) “The safety of anonymity.”
● (artificial intelligence) “Revel in the possibilities my digital homeland offers.”

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Thomas Hamelin (Order #41358695)

 You can try exploring the following options while making sure to tie them to a need that
cyberspace fills:

● The feeling you get when you engage in certain online activities.
● The part of your past that drives you to seek online existence.
● The benefits of your cyberspace lifestyle.

Write your Itch on your theme card.

Ignoring this Itch means that you are losing your dependence on cyberspace and the benefits
that come with that drive. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute acting against
this Itch.

DRONES (noise)
It began with radio controlled toys, long ago. Eventually, expertly driving RC cars, airplanes, and
helicopters morphed into the precision required in handling remote drones. Then self-driving
vehicles came on the market and robotics caught up with our dreams of cybernetic pets. Spy
drones and other unmanned weapons platforms turned the hobby of remote control into a
military science. These days, in the Megacity, there are countless roboticists and hotshot pilots,
wielding powerful remote devices to race, spy, and battle their enemies. Masters of this skill are
known for their calm under pressure and ability to think in ways that others can’t. Most are
jacked in, enjoying the speed only neural interface that cybernetics affords.

You’ve got custom gear, such as AR goggles and controller gloves that give you power over
your drone servants. Even better, you’ve got that knack for talking to your machines, guiding
them through our world, and getting them to execute critical tasks under pressure. You might be
a smooth remote pilot, an AI programmer, or just a master technician loading your robot up with
firepower. One way or another you have the ability to think outside your own body and cajole
expert maneuvers out of what often amounts to a rather dumb machine. Something about
robots and drones speaks to you, perhaps because you have trouble relating to other people.
Maybe because they tend to do what you say.

THEME KITS

ANDROID SERVANTS
ITCH: Live a life of luxury enhanced through robotics.

POWER TAGS: android servants, provide luxury accommodations, personality programming,

gang up, programmed opulence, weaponized household appliances, carry master from harm,
lurking servitors, simulated humanity, need for underlings

WEAKNESS TAGS: laziness, conflicting orders, I fall asleep, personality updates

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Thomas Hamelin (Order #41358695)

 GIANT CONSTRUCTION ROBOT
ITCH: Master a cyclopean juggernaut that shapes the city.

POWER TAGS: giant construction robot, lift heavy things, construction engineering, titanic
strength, find weak spot, durable metal frame, long robotic strides, appear to power down,
wrecking ball, desire to rebuild

WEAKNESS TAGS: destructiveness, distance from controls, everything looks small, hydraulics
maintenance

MED WAGON CONTROLLER

ITCH: Save lives through on-call healthcare.

POWER TAGS: med wagon controller, stabilize patients, emergency medicine, onboard drug
doses, diagnostic equipment, sirens and horns, flying vehicle, identical to other ambulances,
becomes a hearse, adrenaline rush

WEAKNESS TAGS: playing god, redeployed to another emergency, people seem like meat,
recharge at hospital

MOBILE WEAPONS PLATFORM

ITCH: Carry the biggest weapon around.

POWER TAGS: mobile weapons platform, open fire, remote weapon sighting, one big gun,
target acquisition, heavily armored, gunner cupola, military camouflage, becomes a tank,
excellent marksman

WEAKNESS TAGS: bloodthirsty, needs a visible target, down scope tunnel-vision, recalibration

RC RACING STAR
ITCH: Win every race, meet every challenge.

POWER TAGS: RC racing star, high speed flying, famous in cyberspace, dizzying acrobatics,
harness-enhanced piloting, superior maneuverability, carry small objects, tiny flying robot,
surveillance drone, burning desire to win

WEAKNESS TAGS: sore loser, radio signal blocked, zoned out, easily broken chassis

SPY SATELLITES
ITCH: Spy from the sky without regard for privacy.

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 POWER TAGS: spy satellites, aerial view, government satellite hacking, acquire blackmail
material, zoom in and enhance, orbiting in space, real time mapping, invisible in daytime, orbital
laser platform, love the view

WEAKNESS TAGS: overly curious, government retasking, outdoor imagery only, trajectory
readjustment

SYNTHETIC GUARD DOG

ITCH: Companionship from a simulated source of protection.

POWER TAGS: synthetic guard dog, maintain vigilance, synthetic empathy, hydraulic bite,
movement sensors, deafening bark, drag to safety, doggy hutch, grow bigger, master of the
house

WEAKNESS TAGS: reliant on robo-dog, protects me first, heedless of danger, energy-laden

treats

SWARM OF PROBES
ITCH: Send an army of tiny helpers into danger on my behalf.

POWER TAGS: swarm of probes, probe dangerous places, herding the flock, many flying
projectiles, scan the area, harry foes, coordinated lifting, scatter from view, merge into one,
belief in tiny power

WEAKNESS TAGS: herdlike passivity, too far apart, scattered consciousness, network
administration

CREW RELATIONSHIPS
When creating the relationships within your crew, you can cast the other crew members in one
of the following scenarios, after receiving their approval:

● One member of the crew is constantly breaking or otherwise negatively interacting with
your drones.
● You have a drone tasked with assisting one member of your crew with something they
do often.
● A member of your crew treats your drones like they’re beloved pets.
● You once used your drones to assist a member of your crew in a really important task,
perhaps one that led to one of their Themes.

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Thomas Hamelin (Order #41358695)

 CUSTOM DRONES THEME
Think about your connection to your drones. Why do you rely on your drones? In what ways do
your drones make you more than human? How are they an extension of your mind or body?
Most importantly, ask yourself what role your drones play in your life.

Based on this, think about the answer to the question below:

? WHAT MAKES YOUR DRONES SO IMPORTANT TO YOU?

● I’ve become disabled in some way and I rely on the drones to _______ (move, interact
with the world, etc.).
● I’m a thrill seeker and I use drones to _______ (compete in racing, fly through the air,
etc.).
● My drones fill the role of _______ (friends, family, mentors, pets, etc.) in my life.
● When I was at my lowest my drones provided _______ (safety, a means of vengeance,
etc.).

Flesh out your idea with some details: When did you acquire your drones? What education or
other background led you to your drones? Which drone is your favorite and why? How do
people react when they see your drones? How does your lifestyle involve your drones?

POWER TAG QUESTIONS

A. WHAT SPECIALIZED DRONE TECHNOLOGY DO YOU PILOT?
B. WHAT SINGLE TASK DO YOUR DRONES DO BEST?
C. WHAT UNIQUE SKILL SET DID YOU PICK UP TO USE THIS KIND OF DRONE?
D. HOW CAN YOUR DRONES BE USED AS A WEAPON?
E. WHAT SPECIAL SENSORS OR PROGRAMMING DO THE DRONES POSSESS?
F. HOW DO THE DRONES PROTECT THEMSELVES OR YOU?
G. WHAT KIND OF TRANSPORTATION CAN THE DRONES PROVIDE?
H. HOW COULD THE DRONES BE HIDDEN, CAMOUFLAGED, OR MADE
INCONSPICUOUS?
I. WHAT CAN THE DRONES TRANSFORM INTO?
J. WHAT ABOUT YOU DRIVES YOU TO UTILIZE THIS KIND OF DRONE?

WEAKNESS QUESTIONS
A. WHAT NEGATIVE PERSONALITY TRAIT COMES OUT WHEN YOU USE THE
DRONES?
B. WHAT CAUSES THE DRONES TO DEFY YOUR COMMANDS OR LOSE
CONNECTION TO YOUR CONTROLS?
C. HOW ARE YOUR PERCEPTIONS COMPROMISED WHILE PILOTING YOUR
DRONES?
D. WHAT KIND OF MAINTENANCE DO YOUR DRONES REGULARLY REQUIRE?

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Thomas Hamelin (Order #41358695)

 ITCH
Choose an Itch for this theme: A need that encapsulates what drives you to use remote
controlled robotic technologies to become something more than just human. A desire you must
fulfill that can only be met through this extension of your body. A mental itch that must be
scratched. For example:

● (spy drones) “Explore new perspectives.”

● (synthetic animal friends) “Enjoy being assisted by cuteness.”
● (translator droid) “Always be heard and understood.”

You can try exploring the following options while making sure to tie them to a need that your
drones fill:

● The way that you are more than you were without your drones.
● The emotional attachment you have to your drones or the emotions you feel when you
control them.
● The need you have to know or do more using your drones as a proxy for yourself.

Write your Itch on your theme card.

Ignoring this Itch means that you are losing your dependence on your drones and the benefits
that come with that drive. Let everyone at the table know what could constitute acting against
this Itch.

© 2023 Son of Oak Game Studio | Playtest Copy - Do Not Distribute

Thomas Hamelin (Order #41358695)