In Which We Live And Breathe

We don’t know what year it is, we don’t know what is in the water, we don’t know if we’re human, or what human even is anymore. The corps took all that shit. They wiped everything when the change happened. Now we’re here in the concrete under the neon, trying to eke out a life between the manarats and the killdroids. Some of us are tapping into our nature, learning about our spirits and the ether that seems to pervade the world now. Some of us are gearing up, modifying our bodies and cracking systems and corporate security. None of us, though, none of us, are taking this shit lying down. The marble floors of their holodeck parlours and atmocontrolled meeting rooms are gonna run with blood, we don’t care what colour.[a]

Quick Reference

TTRPGS:
Shadowrun

Video Games:
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Films:
Bright (2017)
Hackers (1995)
Blade (1998)
Kill V. Maim Music Video by Grimes

Beyond Flesh

There exist three levels of reality:

The Spiritual, where our intentions lie,
The Physical, in which we live and breathe,
and The Digital, where our every action leaves a trail of artefacts.[b]

Some people have developed skills and mastery of one or both[c] of the Digital and Spiritual planes. Sometimes this may be as simple as casting a spell or running a program. Other times they may enter the other level of reality, move through it, and manipulate it directly, affecting the physical world in unusual ways.

Playing

Here's what you do, you tell a story amongst yourselves of a cyberpunk future and a group of ragtag miscreants within it running jobs, fighting out against a capitalist technocracy, and trying to carve out a small slice of the world for themselves and their community. One  player is the Gamemaster or GM. Their role is to describe the way the cyberpunk fantasy world appears, works, and reacts to the other players. The other players each have a character that belongs to them. Their character is one of the punks, the misfits, the miscreants. They portray their character and use them as a tool to interrogate the world, craft an exciting story with the other players, and build a life and community for their character in the face of a fucked up world.

As you play, listen to the people crafting a story with you and find what excites you in what's going on and then use your own narration to discover the answers to some questions but ask even more. The GM will often be repeatedly answering the question "what happens next?" and the other players will often be answering "what do you do?" and everyone, all the time, needs to be answering "what does that look like?" where "look" is a standin for every sense and understanding.

The other voice at the table is that of the game. It's here to support you, so show it an appropriate level of respect. The game expresses itself through rules which occur in certain points in the narration of your story:

Preparing For Trouble

Before you can start telling your story, you need to establish the setting and characters. Here's a checklist to go through in order:

  • Work out what city you're playing in, describe it.
  • Create some corps.
  • Then work out what your community looks like. What unites them as a community?
  • Choose your Crew Type for your crew, and answer that crew type's detail prompt. Don't finish the rest of the crew details yet.
  • Next, build your characters who exist in that crew & community:
  • Choose your characters' action dots, spheres, and capabilities.
  • Describe their look.
  • Outline their place.
  • Consider their hard limits.
  • Think about their culture and beliefs.
  • Finally finish assembling your crew:
  • Roll for your shared Intel, Supply, and Strain.
  • Detail your Hideout.
  • Figure out your Hideout Contents, Crew Contacts, and any Corporate Turmoil.

Booting Up

At the start of each session each player considers whose character their own character has the strongest connection to at the moment, and asks that character's player to highlight one of their nine Actions (not Special Actions). They then also ask the GM to highlight another of their Actions.

Players earn 1 XP for the crew the first time they make an Action Roll in each of their highlighted actions in a session.

Quick Reference

Choose plan & detail: Assault, Deception, Stealth, Mystical, Technical, Social, Transport
1D for luck
+1d if Bold or Daring
+1d if Targeting Vulnerability
+1d if Help from Contacts
-1d if Overly Complex
-1d if Hitting Defenses
-1d if Enemies Interfere
Keep highest result or lowest of 2d6 for 0 dice.
6: According to plan.
5-4: Just gone wrong.
1-3: Out of control & desperate.

Details

Engagement is how the crew jumps forward in time to get into the heart of a mission to avoid drawn out planning and preparation scenes. The planning and preparation elements of a job should be shown during the action by Flashing Back.

When you’ve settled on a course of action and it’s time to get down to business[d][e], instruct your crew to assemble and roll out.

Choose your plan and answer the question:

  • Assault - What is the point of attack?
  • Deception - What is your method of deception?
  • Stealth - What is the point of infiltration?
  • Mystical - What magics will you perform?
  • Technical - What the technical opportunity will you exploit?
  • Social - What social connection will you take advantage of?
  • Transport - What route & means will you use?

Then, whichever player is leading the engagement starts the roll with one six sided die for luck.

If the plan that has been decided on is particularly bold or daring, the player adds one die to the roll.

If the crew is exposing a vulnerability or hitting their target where they're weakest, the player adds one dice to the roll.

If contacts are providing helpful aid or insight to the crew, the player adds one die to the roll.

If the agreed plan is overly complex or contingent on many factors, the player subtracts one die from the roll.

If the target of the plan is strongest against the planned approach or has particular defences or special preparations, the player subtracts one die from the roll.

If enemies or rivals are interfering with the plan, the player subtracts one die from the roll.

Then the player rolls all the dice they have for the roll. If they have no dice for the roll they roll two dice and take the lowest result. Otherwise the player takes the highest result and the GM jumps the story ahead into the middle of the action.

If the highest result is a six, the GM starts the action by describing a scene where the crew is in a controlled situation where everything is going according to plan.

If the highest result is a 4-5, the GM starts the action by describing a scene where the first thing has just gone wrong.

If the highest result is a 1-3, the GM starts the action by describing a scene where things have gotten out of control and desperate.

Action Rolls

Quick Reference

Establish Position & Effect
+Relevant Action Dice
+1D if you Push Yourself
+1D for Preparation
-1D for Interference
-1D for Harm or Hard Limits
Keep the highest result or lowest of 2d6 for 0 dice.
Multiple 6s: Crit.
6: Success.
4-5: Success with Complication.
1-3: Failure with Complications.

Details

Action rolls happen when a player's character tries to do something challenging which raises the question of whether or not they will succeed.

Establish among yourselves what success and failure look like.

The player chooses which of the 9 actions they feel is appropriate to what they've described:
Judge, Skulk, Tinker, Scrap, Scramble, Wreck, Sway, Consort, Build
The player starts the roll with one die for each of their dots in the chosen action.

If the player's character pushes themself with extra effort, they can mark 1 strain and add one die to their roll.

If the player's character has been set up by a previous roll the player is prepared and adds one die to their roll.

If the player's character is being directly interfered with by a third party, or by troublesome or inappropriate gear, the player subtracts one die from their roll.

If the player's character is being hampered by Harm they've taken or their Hard Limits, the player subtracts one die from their roll.

Then the player rolls all the dice they have for the roll. If they have no dice for the roll they roll two dice and take the lowest result. Otherwise the player takes the highest result.

If the highest result is a 6, the player's character achieves their desired outcome.
If the highest result is a 4 or 5, the player's character succeeds but a complication is introduced by the GM.
If the highest result is a 3 or less, the player's character isn't successful and the GM introduces additional complications.
If the player rolls multiple 6s, the player's character is critically successful and achieves some result above and beyond their original intention.

If the player's character was directly helped by a crewmate and at least one 6 was rolled, the crew clears 2 Strain.

Position & Effect

When the action being rolled has been determined but before the dice have been rolled, the GM must decide on the Position of the player's character and the effect if they should succeed.
Position describes the level of danger the player character is exposed to. It can be one of three options:

  • Controlled
  • Risky
  • Desperate

Effect describes the result should the player succeed:

  • Great
  • Standard
  • Limited

By default most actions are likely to be Risky/Standard. If you forget to set the Position and Effect before rolling, assume it was Risk/Standard. (There are also two secret effect levels, Devastating Effect, and No Effect that go on either end of the Effect Level list but they should only come up occasionally.)

Before they roll a player might choose to trade position for effect, moving up one position on one list and down one position on the other, if they explain how they are doing so in the fiction.

A critical result on an action roll usually increases Effect Level by one rank.

Flashing Back

Often you'll find yourself wanting to establish something that happened off screen in the past. Any time you need to, Spend 2 Intel to flash back to a previous moment to show your preparations or previous actions (or 1 Intel if you are assisted by a Solid contact in some way). Sometimes you might also need to roll an action within your flashback.

Gear

Often you need to have gear on you to do certain things. You might need a blowtorch, or a decryption chip, or a water totem, or some sick guns. At any time you can spend 2 Supply to have a piece of gear on hand (or 1 if it's from a solid contact). By default having a piece of gear simply allows you to do or roll for actions that require having that item. Some gear, however, is upgraded gear, things that the crew has invested in, which grant +1d to a certain kind of action roll.

Group Actions

Group Actions are what you use when multiple characters are doing a thing together that requires an action roll. The players each make an action roll for their character and the highest result from the group is used, but for each 1-3 result, the crew takes a Strain.

Progress Clocks


Sometimes tasks take more than a single action roll to complete. When that comes up, start a clock with however many segments seems appropriate for the task. When you roll an action that would contribute to that work, mark off 1 segment if your result is 4-5, 2 segments if it’s 6, or 4 if you’ve got multiple sixes. Results less than six are still grounds for complications on the part of the GM.

The most common kind of clock starts out empty and then adds segments until it is full, at which point a task is complete or some delayed event occurs. This kind of clock can be helpful for tracking alert levels of security systems, the damage levels of particularly intimidating creatures or vehicles, or progress on a long term project.

Some clocks start out full which tick backwards, losing segments until something happens when they're empty. These kind of clocks are most valuable for tracking depleting resources such as fuel or the morale of a group of characters controlled by the GM.

Some clocks start out partially full and tick up and down like a tug of war with different outcomes happening based on whether or not they fill or empty first. These kinds of clocks are useful for anything where there's a competition for control such as turf wars or political campaigns.

The sizes of clocks indicate the difficulty or size of the task at hand. 4 is the default number of segments for a clock, with bigger things requiring clocks with more segments. If the you need a clock for something that would require less than four segments you don't need a clock for it.

Any time it feels like it's a bit of a stretch to achieve a thing on a single roll, that's the fiction telling you to start a clock.

Resistance

To resist, defy, or reduce an outcome narrated by another player, often the GM, describe how your character resists it and choose which Attribute is appropriate: Mind, Body, or Soul.
Roll one six sided die for each Action or Special Action in that attribute that your character has at least one dot in.
If the character's resistance is helped by useful gear, the player adds one die to their roll.
(eg having one dot in Skulk and two dots in Tinker, and one dot in Digital Work gives three dice for Mind resistance)

Mind is used to resist outcomes that are digital, mental, intellectual, or past related.
Body is used to resist outcomes that are physical or present related.
Soul is used to resist outcomes that are mystical, emotional, social, or future related.

Take the highest result.

  • On a 6, you resist, defy or reduce it, no problem.
  • On a 4-5, you resist, but gain 1 Strain.
  • On a 1-3, you resist, but gain 2 Strain.

Straining Out

If the crew hits it’s max Strain, reset to zero and choose one:

  • Someone takes Major Harm.
  • The crew gains a troublesome contact or piece of gear.
  • Sinister forces escalate their attentions.
  • The fuckin law shows up.
  • Someone is incapacitated for the rest of the mission and takes a new hard limit.

Taking Harm

When a character gets hurt it comes in one of three levels and applies to one of their three attributes: Mind, Body, or Soul.

Minor Harm is anything that might slow you down but won’t stop you: Stabbed up, Drained, Addled
Major Harm consists of potential showstoppers that don’t outright kill you: Heartbroken, Impaled, Amnesia
Deadly Harm does what it says on the tin. It kills you: Shot Through The Heart, Spirit Drastically Maimed, Biofeedback That Destroys Brain

If a character takes Minor Harm but they already have Minor harm for that Attribute, it becomes Major Harm.
If a character takes Major Harm but they already have Major harm for that Attribute, it becomes Deadly Harm.
If a character takes Deadly Harm they die.

If a character has a Minor Harm that’s affecting their ability to perform an Action, their player rolls one less die for that Action Roll.
If a character has a Major Harm that affects their ability to do an Action, they just can’t do it without help.

Swings And Roundabouts

When a player's character dies, the crew's maximum Strain is reduced by one.

When a player's character retires from the crew, the crew's maximum Intel is reduced by one.

Dead or retired crewmates always count as solid contacts unless they sever ties with the crew.

When a new character joins an existing crew, each other member of the crew chooses an action which the new character gains one extra dot in.

Downtime

When the crew isn't out on a job or in direct danger they go about their lives within their communities.

There are 7 downtime actions you can take whenever you’ve got time and space: Maintenance, Represent, Sharing Space, Tending Wounds, Get To Work, Post To The Boards.

Maintenance

When you work hard, resupply, keep watch, and keep everything running, restore up to 1d6 Supply.

Represent

When you socialize or hang out with your community or contacts, restore up to 1d6 Rep.

Sharing Space

When you spend quality time with crewmates, clear up to 1d6 Strain.

Tending Wounds

When you allow a teammate to access your wounds and tend them, physical or otherwise, remove a minor harm, or downgrade a major harm to a minor if no minor harm already exists for that attribute.

Get To Work

When you work on a long term project, name your end goal and roll whichever action you use and deal with the consequences if they arise.

Post To The Boards

If you've got intel on a job or an opportunity you're not going to get to, you can post about it on the internet boards. If other punks take the job and report back, you gain an XP. If you complete a job or opportunity from the boards and post a report back, you also gain an XP.
(you can find the boards and postings at iwwlab.machinespirit.net)

Wrapping Up

At the end of each session, the crew gains 1 XP for each of these questions for which the answer is yes, or 2 XP if the answer is "multiple times".

  • Did you rep your crew type?
  • Did you manage to avoid collateral?
  • Did you get impeded by your harm and hard limits?
  • Did you flash cool gear and connections?
  • Did you put a ding in a corp?
  • Did you help your community?

Three XP can be spent to:

  • Increase the crew's max INTEL by 1
  • Increase the crew's max SUPPLY by 1
  • Increase the crew's max STRAIN by 1
  • Add a new dot for a character's action rating
  • Purchase a community upgrade
  • Purchase an upgraded item

For each corp or gang that was affected by your actions (and can work out it was the crew), increase your rep with them by 1 if you pleased them, decrease your rep with them by 1 if you pissed them off.

City

Pick a city to play in. It might be a real city in the cyberpunk future or it might be a new or made up one. What part of the world is it in? Make sure everyone feels confident playing in the fictional space you're using.

Corps

We were so damn worried about making uncaring, all-consuming artificial life out of technology or magic that we never stopped and realised we'd made it out of paper.

Corporations are legal entities made up of legal, human, and technological resources that exist to grow themselves by extracting profit and capital from anything within their grasp.

Corps control different elements of the world and the people in it, which they call markets. They control these in different amounts through products and services. They market themselves with brands made up of slogans, logos, jingles, and pervasive social marketing.

At the start of the campaign each person creates one of the Corps that dominates your city. Work out what they are called, what they control, and how they operate, as well as any logos, slogans, or jingles you like. Create other Corps as they turn up in play.

Between sessions Corps will carry out Operations, actions that affect other corps and often the crew and their community.

Gangs

Gangs are collections of individuals and criminals that coalesce in the shadows of corporate capitalism. A gang has a name, turf, and a motif. Gangs can carry out operations in the same way corps do.

Community

Then work out what community your characters are all a part of. What crowded neighbourhood, parish, slum, or scrip-town are you all languishing in?

Community:

1

11

21

31

2

12

22

32

3

13

23

33

4

14

24

34

5

15

25

35

6

16

26

36

7

17

27

37

8

18

28

38

9

19

29

39

10

20

30

40

Contacts

Some contacts are part of your community, some are not. Those that are part of your community are keyed to the spaces on the community map in the contacts list.

Some contacts are solid. Their services cost only 1 Intel and gear purchased from them costs only 1 Supply, instead of the regular price of 2 that these things normally cost.

[f]

You can become solid with a contact either by increasing your maximum intel or by doing favours for them.

You can only become solid with a contact connected to your hideout or connected to another contact you are solid with. All non-community contacts are stored in your phone, which is connected to your hideout.

Any time you create a Contact

  • Describe them.
  • Ask other players if any of them or any other contacts have an emotional relationship with this contact.
  • If they’re a part of your community, add them to the map.

Community upgrades

When you purchase a community upgrade either assign it to an existing contact without an upgrade on the community map or create a new one. Players only receive the benefits of upgrades assigned to contacts they are solid with.

When you purchase a community upgrade, pick a contact from your community map or add one and mark them with an upgrade:

  • Arms dealer: Sells guns and knives and shit. Gear from them increases your effect by one rank.
  • Pharmacist: Sells the regulars, stims, sedatives, painkillers, etc as well as traditional medicines for arthritis, dementia, impotence, etc. Gear from them increases your effect level by one rank.
  • Doctor: Once per downtime someone can clear all Body harm.
  • Oracle: Tells futures from palms, tea leaves, cards, stars, and entrails. Their services are worth 1 extra bonus die on a resistance roll, but only once a run.
  • Shiv: Not assassins, but still killers for hire. Pay an intel to have someone unsecured disappear.
  • Childcare: Free up some time for your friends with families. Add an additional service provided to two contacts.
  • Driver: Has car, will drive. Their services increase your effect level by one rank if you’re trying to get out of dodge.
  • Chop Shop: Trading in tech, reappropriated, repurposed, or reconstructed. Gear from them increases your effect level by one rank.
  • Pastor: Provides whatever wisdom and support they can with their book. Their services reduce Strain costs from a roll to one.
  • Antiques Dealer: Supplies ancient and/or magical curios and texts. Gear from them increases your effect level by one rank.
  • Locksmith: Provides keys, copies, locks, picks, and related services. Their services increase your effect level by one rank.
  • Rigbank: Gamers, hackers, bitcoin farmers, it’s all the same as long as they’ve got the flops. Provides raw computing power to be called on for brute forcing systems. Their services increase your effect level by one rank.
  • Blood Ring: Teaches the beating up of chumps of all shapes and sizes. Their services increase your effect level by one rank when combating an exceptional body in melee.
  • Good Food: When you share food as a part of Sharing Space with a crewmate during downtime, clear and additional d6 strain.
  • Community Supplies: When you use or help maintain the community supplies during Maintenance in downtime, restore an additional d6 supply.
  • Watering Hole: When you Represent and socialise with contacts at this place set aside for such things, restore an additional d6 intel.
  • Personal Storage: Each of the players' characters gains one signature piece of gear which increases effect level by one rank when used properly.

Crew

Crew Name:

Hideout Contents:

Crew Type:

Detail:

INTEL:

Max:

SUPPLY:

Max:

STRAIN:

Max:

Crew Type

Together choose your crew type:

  • Guardians, protecting their people and their space. Detail: What's the threat?
  • Burglars, stealing what’s truly valuable. Detail: What cost needs paying?
  • Whistleblowers, finding and spreading the truth. Detail: What's the mystery no one knows the answer to?
  • Assassins, cutting heads off the hydra. Detail: What foe is untouchable?
  • Angels, rescuing those who can’t save themselves. Detail: What's pervading the city?
  • Wreckers, destroying the tools of the system. Detail: What are we Really trying to destroy?/bring down
  • Preachers, spreading the good word.
    Detail: What's the message?

INTEL

Intel is a measure of your crew's preparedness and forward planning. Intel is used during missions to establish flashbacks.

If a service gets a contact to do something challenging, they roll their own action roll with 3 dice for solid contacts and 2 for everyone else, no bonuses.

"Don't worry about the identlocks, Arneson read the passwords off some visiting Golsec guards for us, should make cracking it a breeze."

Roll 1d6+4 for your maximum Intel. Intel starts at its maximum. 

SUPPLY

Supply is your measure of how much useful gear you have on hand. Supply is used during missions to have useful gear on hand.

"It's a modified Clarentek 442f Otrifle. The evoclip housing makes it a little less stable but it fires SO MANY force rounds!"

Roll 1d6+4 for your maximum Supply. Supply starts at its maximum.

STRAIN

Strain is a measure of the internal tension of the crew and the stress of its members.

Roll 1d6+4 for your maximum Strain. Strain starts at zero.

Hideout

Choose one or more to describe your crew hideout:

  • Somewhere crowded or busy: +1 Max INTEL -1 Max STRAIN
  • Secluded, secure, hidden: -1  Max INTEL +1 Max STRAIN
  • Full of scrap or resources: +1  Max SUPPLY -1 Max STRAIN
  • Abandoned and decrepit: -1  Max SUPPLY + 1 Max STRAIN
  • Expensive and upmarket: +1  Max SUPPLY -1 Max INTEL
  • Cornerstone of community: +1  Max INTEL -1  Max SUPPLY

Draw your hideout on the community map.

Hideout Contents

For every three max Supply your crew has, it gets one room or piece of equipment for their hideout. Hideout equipment can't be taken with you on mission, except if it is stored in a vehicle, which counts as a room.

Hideout equipment does not reset at the start of downtime.

Mark your rooms as connected spaces on the community map.

More rooms and hideout equipment can be gained both during play as well as each time the crew's max Supply reaches a multiple of three for the first time.

Crew Contacts

For every three max Intel your crew has, create a solid contact or make an existing contact solid.

When creating your crew you may put your solid contacts anywhere you like on the community map.

You can mark more contacts as Solid both by getting on their good side during play as well as each time the crew's max Intel reaches a multiple of three for the first time.

Corporate Turmoil

For every three max Strain your crew has, they gain -1 rep with a Corp.

Characters

Each of you besides the GM gets one character to play at a time. Your characters are punks, castoffs and miscreants in this dirty magical metropolis. Work out your character's stats, but also work out who you are in this world and how you're connected to the other player characters. Work out why the fuck you’re running against the megaliths of capitalist technocracy instead of donning a suit like all the other wage slaves. Where did you come from? How did you end up in this community? What is your role here?

To create your character:

Your Punk[h]

Name/Alias:
 

Mind

Judge ☐☐☐☐
(investigate, read, study, assess)

Minor Mind Harm:

Tinker ☐☐☐☐
(reshape, reprogram, enhance, restrain)

Major Mind Harm:

Skulk ☐☐☐☐
(sneak, spy, pick, stab)

Hard Limits:

Digital Spheres ☐☐☐☐

Digital Spheres:
 

Body

Scrap ☐☐☐☐
(clash, skirmish, wrestle, contend)

Minor Body Harm:

Scramble ☐☐☐☐
(run, climb, navigate, dive)

Major Body Harm:

Wreck ☐☐☐☐
(break, rupture, erode, injure)

Look:

Capabilities ☐☐☐☐

Capabilities:
 

Soul

Sway ☐☐☐☐
(move, steer, convince, redirect)

Minor Soul Harm:

Build ☐☐☐☐
(construct, grow, mend, forge)

Major Soul Harm:

Consort ☐☐☐☐
(befriend, socialise, listen, carouse)

Place:

Mystical Spheres ☐☐☐☐

Mystical Spheres:
 

Attributes and Actions

There are three attributes each with three actions and one special action.

When you create your character, assign 7 dots among the 12 Actions and Special Actions with no more than two dots in any action to begin with.

When you perform an action, you roll dice equal to the number of dots you have in that action.
When you perform an action as a part of digital work or mystical work, or where one of your capabilities aids you, you are able to do things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to do, and your position or effect might be altered, but you still roll dice equal to the number of dots you have in the action you are performing.

Mind

Mind is the attribute of intellect, deduction, and memory. It is aligned with the digital realm and connected strongly to the clues, marks, and artefacts we leave in the world as we move through it.

You use your Mind to resist things that are digital, intellectual, or brain related in nature.

Judge

Judge is the action of gleaning information and understanding. Judging is investigating, reading, studying, and assessing.

When you are judging, the information is available to you, you just need to extract it from a book or dataset, a person's face, clues, or a situation.

If you're trying to get answers by asking around, or just taking the time to listen to a friend you might be Consorting instead. If you're trying to get someone to spill the beans that might be Sway or maybe it could be Skulk if you're trying to listen in on a whispered conversation. If the answers are hidden behind a lock or barrier maybe you just need to Wreck your way through.

Tinker

Tinker is the action of changing the properties of a thing. Tinkering is reshaping, reprogramming, enhancing, restraining.

When you are tinkering, the thing itself isn't the problem, it's just that it's not quite fit for purpose, which you can fix.

If you're trying to make a new thing out of something else, you might actually be Building. You might also be building if you're just trying to add new bits to something or mend something that's broken. If the problematic aspect of the thing you're tinkering is that it is alive, or exists, or doesn't have big holes in it, you're likely wrecking instead. If you're trying to make a thing give you answers, maybe you're just Judging.

Skulk

Skulk is the action of doing things without being noticed. Skulking is sneaking, spying, stabbing, and picking marks, locks, and pockets.

When you are skulking the most important part is whether or not anyone knows you did or are doing it. Taking something out of a pocket, logging into a system, or putting a knife in a dude aren't hard things to do. They're just hard things to do discreetly. The trick, as any good magician will tell you, is to pay more attention to your mark's attention, than they do.

If you're trying to spy on someone and you've already got a secure hidden vantage point, you might just be Judging. If you're trying to backstab someone who already knows you're there, you're probably actually Scrapping. If you're trying to go unnoticed in a crowd by being sociable and friendly, rather than an angsty wallflower, it's possible you're Consorting instead.

Digital Work

Digital Work is the special action used when interfacing with complex technology.

For each dot you have in Digital Spheres, you gain influence over one Digital Sphere.

Digital Spheres
  • Transport (vehicles, elevators, hyperlinks)
  • Weapons (guns, emps, viruses)
  • Comms (voice calls, email, remote sensors)
  • Environment (air conditioning, lighting, plumbing)
  • Vaults (databases, locks)
  • Biosystems (cybernetics, medical equipment)
  • Industrial (power tools, generators, assembly lines)
  • Self (that’s you, buddy)
  • Others (any person that isn’t you)
  • Homunculi (things like people that aren’t, AIs and shit)


Digital work can take a bunch of forms. Describe to the group how you do digital work. Maybe you jack in and navigate through cyberspace while your body lies unconscious. Maybe you remote control machines and drones through special apparatus. Maybe you’re just real good at fiddling wires and buttons or maybe you load disks up into your deck and sling programs from your terminal.[i]

When you’re doing digital work you can use actions to manipulate anything mechanical or digital that falls within the spheres you have influence over.[j] You might use Wreck[k] to make a car engine blow up if you have influence over Transport, or if you have influence over Homunculi you might Build a program or AI to help you with a task.

Body

Body is the attribute of athleticism, muscle memory, and physical sensation. It is aligned with the physical realm strongly connected to our present experience of the world around us in the now.

You use your Body to resist outcomes that are related to physical bodies and action.

Scrap

Scrap is the action of going toe to toe with something with mutual intent to harm or overcome one another. Scrapping is clashing, skirmishing, wrestling, contending.

Scrapping is about trying to overcome direct opposition. If you're trying to shoot or hack or mess with someone and they're putting up a fight, or maybe you're up in the business, trying to avoid having your own day ruined, then that's when you're scrapping.

If you're trying to hurt someone or something that isn't putting up a fight, you're probably just Wrecking. If you're just trying to get the fuck out of the way of some trouble you might be Scrambling. If you're getting the drop on someone who is surprised or unprepared, that's likely to be a Skulk. If you're just trying to tank it out, you're just Resisting consequences for yourself or others.

Scramble

Scramble is the action of getting from where you are to where you want to be. Scrambling is running, climbing, navigating, diving.

Scrambling is about getting somewhere that is hard to get to. When the most important question is whether or not you get from A to B, that's scrambling.

If you're trying to infiltrate a location where the main problem is getting noticed, that's like to be Skulk. If you're just gonna go THROUGH the obstacles that might be Wreck or just Resisting consequences. If you're trying to take ground being actively defended, that might be Scrapping.

Wreck

Wreck is the action of damaging and destroying things. Wrecking is breaking, rupturing, eroding, injuring.

The sole focus of Wrecking is destruction. When you Wreck something you make it not do the thing it does anymore. You make machines stop working, make walls stop being in your way, and make people stop walking, talking and breathing.

If you're just trying to change how something works, you might actually be Tinkering. If you're trying to make it do something new, that's probably Building. If you're just trying to make it do something different right now, that could be Swaying. If it's putting up a fight, there's a chance you might be Scrapping.

Capabilities

Capability is the special action used when using your capabilities as part of an Action

For each dot you have in Capabilities, you gain one capability. Describe it.

Capabilities
  • Hypersense (darkvision, sonar, magnetosense etc)
  • Enviroprocessing (water breathing, dust filtering, radiation neutralisation)
  • Locomotion (flight, burrowing)
  • Natural or Embedded Weapons (venomous fangs, laser eyes)
  • Hyperstasis (trance instead of sleep, heat signature reduction)
  • Resistance (to poison/shock/cold/hot/corrosive)
  • Natural or Embedded Armour (scaly skin, metal plating)
  • Emission (loud voice, radioactive)


Capabilities are anything your body does that doesn’t come on the standard human model. Maybe it’s cyberware, maybe it’s genetic, maybe it’s magical alteration. Get creative, think about your capabilities alongside your look and hard limits.

Soul

Soul is the attribute of intentions, feelings, and social bonds. It is aligned with the mystical realm and connected to our emotions, hopes, dreams, and subconscious minds.

You use your Soul to resist things that are mystical, social, or emotional in nature.

Sway

Swaying is changing something's behaviour, making it move or act in a different way. Swaying is moving, steering, convincing, and redirecting.

Swaying is all about changing something's course. You don't want to change what it is, just what it's going to do or where it's going to go.

If you're trying to change what a thing wants, desires, or does at it's very heart you might be Tinkering. If you're just socialising and making friends, Consort might be a better action. If you're trying to move something to just be not in your way, you might actually be Wrecking.

Build

Build is the action of making something new. Building is constructing, growing, mending, forging.

After a Build you should either have something new or something should do a thing it didn't do before. It's about creation rather than change.

If you're trying to add functionality to something by changing it, you might actually be Tinkering. If the thing you're trying to build is a relationship, that might be Consort. If you're actually putting together information, that's likely to be Judge.

Consort

Consort is the action of closing the gap between yourself and another person.

Consorting is befriending, socialising, listening, and carousing.

Consorting is all about being social and building relationships with people without specifically trying to impose your will on anyone. You might have a specific goal you're trying to achieve but if you're letting it come to you through your bonds with others, that's Consorting.

If you're trying to ply someone for information, you might actually be trying to Sway, whereas if you're trying to read them for some insight that might be Judge. If you're trying to rally a crowd or community to band together that might be Build or Sway as well.

Mystical Work

Mystical Work is the special action used when interfacing with magic, spirits, and mystical forces.

For each dot you have in Mystical Work, you gain influence over one Mystical Sphere.

Mystical Spheres
  • Earth (stone, soil, glass, concrete, metal)
  • Air (gas, wind, air pressure)
  • Fire (flames, electricity, heat, plasma)
  • Water (ice, fluids, steam)
  • Flesh (blood, bones, sinew, organs)
  • Plant (trees, plants, algae, wood)
  • Rot (bacteria, decay, fungi, refuse)
  • Thought
  • Spirits

Mystical work comes in all shapes and sizes. Explain to the group the nature of your mystical practice. Some folks speak with spirits and corral them to their will. Others leave their bodies to enter the ethereal plane and interface with the world of thoughts, auras, and energies directly. Some simply memorise spells and incantations to manipulate arcane forces, or let themselves become conduits for magical energies, ready to be unleashed at a moments notice.[l]

When you’re doing mystical work you can affect anything that falls within your spheres with your Actions. If you have influence over Water you might Tinker the rain into razor sharp sleet, or your influence over Rot might let you Consort with your flesh eating disease to find a mutually beneficial arrangement.[m]

Look

Describe your character’s appearance and demeanour.
Are they three feet tall, or eight? What colour is their skin? Is their hair dark or light? Kinky, curly, wavy or straight? Are their ears small or large? Pointy or round? What parts of them are cybernetic, if any? Do they have tusks or fangs or horns? What colour and shape are their eyes? Are they elegant or clumsy? Warm or cold? Muscular or lithe? How do they dress? Bright colours and crop tops and headbands and sneakers? Combat boots and mirrorshades and armoured jackets? A very fine suit? Flowy bullshit and bird feathers? How gay are they? Like, super or not very?

What does your character look like in the ethereal, where our appearance is dominated by our emotions, beliefs and desires?[n]

What does your character’s representation in the digital look like, where we are an amalgam of our words, images, links, and brands?[o]

Also what do people call them and what are their pronouns?

Place

What service do you provide in your community?
Create or name an existing contact that you are reliant on or one who is reliant on you and mark them on your community map. Work out what service they provide.

Once everyone has placed a contact on the map, either choose one or create a new one with whom you have a history of some other emotional connection to. What feelings are invested in them?

Hard Limits

Your character might have one or more hard limits, such as PTSD, a scarred aura, or a missing limb.

Sometimes your hard limits might reduce the number of dice you roll for an Action. Sometimes you might not be able to perform a specific action at all without help.

Don't trivialize your fucking hard limits. They're optional. You can choose to not have any. Sure you’re bulky and don't like cilantro and don’t know how to swim but unless those are things that are actually messing with you on the regular maybe hold off? We want a way to show how disability impacts our characters as real people in the world, and in doing that it’s important to respect the experience of those that deal with these issues in our own world.[p]

Culture And Belief

Make note of the cultural backgrounds and beliefs of your character. How radical are their politics? How much of the narratives fed to them by corporate culture do they buy into? What kind of connection do they have to their ethnic heritage, if any? Do they follow a spiritual tradition? Players and the GM are equally responsible for painting the world In Which We Live And Breathe vividly with the colours and textures of diverse ethnicities, genders, abilities, and cultures. Don't accept boring and offensive tropes and stereotypes, treat all characters in the game with the basic respect of recognising their complex humanity.

GM

As the GM it’s your responsibility to convey the world In Which We Live And Breathe with the players.[q] The world is a grungy cyberpunk fantasy with dirt in the corners and acid in the rain, but it’s also often gonzo as heck. There are elves and dwarves and gnomes and goblins and ogres and cyberninjas and sentient battletanks and shamans and wizards and hackers and corporate assassins and ghosts and murderAIs and dragons. All of this somehow exists in the same place but not without friction at the edges. Show contrasts between the rich and poor and the shoreline between where those worlds meet. Litter the world with opportunities for the players to take some back from those with more. Corps are the bad guys here, the players are never gonna change the world but they can hurt the corps and carve out a space for them and their community.[r]

Getting Started

When you first start playing In Which We Live And Breathe, go through character and crew creation with the other players, asking lots of open leading questions, getting details and elaborations on the choices they make, and then drop them into the world. Start with a bit of onomatopoeia (“bang!”,”thud!”,”hisssss…”) and reveal the tense spot they’re in. Some kind of situation that demands action. Put something they care about in the way of danger or put something they want within reach. Ask them questions about it: “Why are these bikers after you?” “What is supposed to be in this vault?” “Who is flying this plane?” Use the first session especially to build out the world, find threats and mysteries to explore later and get an understanding for the direction the story is heading. Ask so many questions, it’s all about getting the players to help you build a map and chart a course on it.

Moves

Whenever the players roll less than 6 on an Action roll, you will need to make a move. Say “let's see here” and then choose a move that makes sense in the fiction and helps you express the game’s themes if possible. If the players look at you to know what happens next, you also need to make a move. Making a move is just saying what happens next in the story, specific moves are just prompts to manipulate the fiction in a certain way, making things interesting and moving the story forwards. Try some of these:

Fuck Them Up

Hurt them, physically, digitally, or spiritually, it's all the same, give them a new Hard Limit, rip their fuckin arm off, kill them. You don't go up against the corps without taking a few blows.

When you fuck them up, they should want to Resist. That's good, this is how we hold tension. Encourage that.

Make something happen off screen and then let the players know. Let them know what's happening soon, or far away, or what will happen if they do the thing, or what will happen if they don't. Give hints and clues the size of fuckin billboards.

A common version of advertising is to start or tick a clock. It's a nice visible mechanical way to show the world moving. Just make sure that when you do, you show it in the fiction as well, each tick on the clock should be something happening somewhere.

Twist the Outcome

Make their move work but not quite how they wanted. Maybe it affects way more than intended, maybe the result is kinda shitty, maybe they get the wrong target, maybe let them know what the cost is and see if they still want it.

Effect is a really useful tool here because it shows where the expectation was before a roll. Bumping an effect level down a notch is a classic way to Twist the Outcome but so is bumping it up in a way that's unexpected or just changing who or what is being affected.

Escalate

Just make shit worse. Split the party, corner them, have them run out of time, give them ugly choices, have shit happen off screen like burgling their home or tailing them or abducting their boyfriend. If there's a Corp that has negative rep with the Crew, get them involved.

Smash Their Shit

Take away their gear, cut off communications, blow up the orphanage that they care about so much, kill the guy they're supposed to protect. One handy guide here is to look at their gear and see if it's custom or scratch built, those elements are waiting to malfunction.

You can remember these with the handy acronym: FATES

Looking For Trouble

When the players go looking for rumours, missions, or trouble, the inspiration could come from a number of places.

What have local corps and gangs been up to in response to the ongoing actions of the crew? What are the unfolding consequences?

What does the crew or it's members want to acquire or achieve? How can they go after it?

  • A lead or opportunity to pursue a crew member's personal goals or ambitions.
  • An opportunity to gain a community upgrade without spending XP.
  • An opportunity to gain an upgraded piece of gear without spending XP.
  • An opportunity to gain an advantage over the crew's enemies or rivals.
  • An opportunity to gain new capabilities or spheres for a crew member.
  • An opportunity to gain new hideout gear.

What corps or gangs have it out for the crew?

  • They might send thugs or assassins after the crew.
  • They might abduct a member of the community.
  • They might cut off or limit the community's access to an important resource.
  • They might blackmail the crew.
  • They might support the crew's enemies or rivals.
  • They might ask the crew to do a job.

The community might have its own troubles.

  • A contact makes the crew look bad to the community.
  • A community member needs access to a resource that is hard to come by.
  • A neutral or friendly corp or gang proposes a deal, mutually beneficial or well paid.
  • Someone in the community hears of a valuable opportunity.
  • A community member or someone they know is in trouble.
  • A previously neutral or friendly corp or gang makes a move against the community for some valuable resource.

NPCs

If you need an NPC or players want to randomly roll a contact, here’s some tables we prepared earlier:

Looks

  1. Cyber Eyes
  2. Cyber Arm/s
  3. Cyber Leg/s
  4. Missing Arm/s
  5. Missing Leg/s
  6. Embedded Weapon
  7. Data Jack
  8. Pointy Ears
  9. Beard
  10. Furry
  11. Scales
  12. Dermaplated Skin
  13. Pointy Teeth
  14. Slit Pupils
  15. No Eye Whites
  16. Brown Eyes
  17. Green Eyes
  18. Blue Eyes
  19. Hazel Eyes
  20. Black Eyes
  21. Silver Eyes
  22. Red/Orange/Yellow Eyes
  23. Moustache
  24. Sideburns
  25. Tusks
  26. Horns
  27. Piercings
  28. Dark Skin
  29. Tan Skin
  30. Light Skin
  31. Pink Skin
  32. Curly Hair
  33. Kinky Hair
  34. Wavy Hair
  35. Straight Hair
  36. Bald
  37. Short Hair
  38. Long Hair
  39. Dark Hair
  40. Red Hair
  41. Light Hair
  42. Neon Hair
  43. White Hair
  44. Missing Teeth
  45. Scarred
  46. Mirrorshades
  47. Trenchcoat
  48. Goggles
  49. Surgical Mask
  50. Crop Top
  51. Short Shorts
  52. Thigh Highs
  53. Leather Boots
  54. Platform Shoes
  55. Shirtless
  56. Vest as shirt
  57. Microskirt
  58. Popped Collar
  59. Fingerless Gloves
  60. Camo Pants
  61. Combat Boots
  62. Superfluous Belts
  63. Bangles
  64. Wristband
  65. Gold Chain
  66. Choker
  67. Long Necklaces
  68. Mohawk
  69. Sidecut
  70. Tattoo
  71. Neon Clothing
  72. Heels
  73. Bright Lipstick
  74. Dark Lipstick
  75. Colourful Eye Makeup
  76. Dark Eyes
  77. Painted Nails
  78. Baggy Sweater
  79. Khakis
  80. Denim Jeans
  81. Sneakers
  82. Sandals
  83. Plaid Shirt
  84. Button-Up Shirt
  85. Suspenders
  86. Bucket Hat
  87. Cargo Pants
  88. Hawaiian Shirt
  89. Denim Vest
  90. Cowboy Hat
  91. Bowler Hat
  92. Gas Mask
  93. Collar
  94. See-through Jacket
  95. Warpaint
  96. Transparent Plastic
  97. Visor
  98. Baseball Cap
  99. Bandanna
  100. Light up seams
  101. Big Woolen Knits

Quirks

  1. Romance / History with a PC
  2. Romance / History with a contact
  3. Family of a PC
  4. Family of a contact
  5. Buddy of a PC
  6. Buddy of a contact
  7. Rival / Enemy of a PC
  8. Rival / Enemy of a contact
  9. Hired for/by a PC
  10. Hired for/by a contact
  11. Addicted to drugs
  12. Addicted to VR
  13. Addicted to magic
  14. Degenerative Condition
  15. Chronic Condition
  16. Child
  17. Elderly
  18. Ghost
  19. AI
  20. Clone
  21. Well Connected
  22. Weirdly Intuitive
  23. So Loud
  24. Charitable
  25. Homeless
  26. Paranoid
  27. On the run
  28. Powerful Family
  29. Heals Quickly
  30. Takes No Bullshit
  31. Obsessed with Guns
  32. Obsessed with Spirits
  33. Loves to Cook
  34. Loves to Sing and Dance
  35. Is A Hugger
  36. Teetotal
  37. Always Grumpy
  38. Always Cheery
  39. Unbearably Polite
  40. Swears like a Sailor
  41. Very Precise
  42. Very Sloppy
  43. Wears only one Colour
  44. Excited by Danger
  45. Ex-Punk
  46. Ex-Military
  47. Ex-Corporate
  48. Always Armed
  49. Pacifist
  50. Relies on Personal Assistant

Names

Punk

  1. Highwire
  2. Frantic
  3. Ballast
  4. Wingding
  5. Hook
  6. Trickshot
  7. Cauterize
  8. Mandible
  9. Gyro
  10. Tank
  11. Marquis
  12. Dynamo
  13. Hex
  14. Warbot
  15. Jazz
  16. Tyke
  17. Granada
  18. Ante
  19. Case
  20. Cryo
  21. Hindsight
  22. Gearbox
  23. Slice
  24. Rocket
  25. Clocker
  26. Rounder
  27. Arches
  28. Square
  29. Wiz
  30. Dynamite
  31. Silence
  32. Bright
  33. Propane
  34. Tracks
  35. Heartbreak
  36. Crossfire
  37. Midnight
  38. Thunderstruck
  39. Wisecrack
  40. Sideline
  41. Automatik
  42. Frostbite
  43. Vox
  44. Challenge
  45. Spike
  46. Pawn
  47. Jumpjet
  48. Psyops
  49. Midnight
  50. Dragon
  51. Fortune
  52. Flatpack
  53. Crypto
  54. Twilight
  55. Nightmare
  56. Hairpin
  57. Fountain
  58. Burnout
  59. Whippet
  60. Sprogget
  61. Candlewax
  62. RNG
  63. Quiet
  64. Spice
  65. Jetfuel
  66. Pyre
  67. Workhorse
  68. Whisper
  69. Crusher
  70. Ghost
  71. Claymore
  72. Overclock
  73. Moonlight
  74. Hyperdrive
  75. Mirage
  76. Architect
  77. Blade
  78. Ripper
  79. Shredder
  80. Gonzo
  81. Aurora
  82. Chaingun
  83. Myst
  84. Bullet
  85. Stardust
  86. Ramble
  87. Aqua
  88. Wire
  89. Spider
  90. Quake
  91. Gryphon
  92. Heavy
  93. Aftershock
  94. Cavalry
  95. Metro
  96. Nugget
  97. Greasenipple
  98. Calibre
  99. Riot
  100. Esper

First

  1. Fatimah
  2. Ted
  3. Junior
  4. Bandile
  5. Esperanza
  6. Said
  7. Mareva
  8. Amahle
  9. Austin
  10. Mona
  11. Aiden
  12. Haruki
  13. Mohammad
  14. Joshua
  15. Abigail
  16. Ji-hoon
  17. Chloe
  18. Diya
  19. Moussa
  20. Arjun
  21. Odval
  22. Maria
  23. Gemima
  24. Hinano
  25. Diego
  26. Gabrielle
  27. Zack
  28. Bandile
  29. Sakura
  30. Milo
  31. Pierre
  32. Sara
  33. Rin
  34. Manual
  35. Gita
  36. Kauri
  37. Violet
  38. Mariam
  39. Gamila
  40. Bintou
  41. Amina
  42. Nora
  43. Moana
  44. Farrah
  45. Somchai
  46. Leo
  47. Ye-jun
  48. Habib
  49. Li-Hua
  50. Amaira
  51. Indira
  52. Yuna
  53. Gabriel
  54. Avery
  55. Chih-wei
  56. Lucas
  57. Adama
  58. Daniel
  59. Ji-Woo
  60. Ali
  61. Bandar
  62. Hiro
  63. Naranbaatar
  64. Ari
  65. Dan
  66. Gita
  67. Nadia
  68. Manaia
  69. Margret
  70. Charlotte
  71. Noor
  72. Aroha
  73. Finn
  74. Vihaan
  75. Aya
  76. Lucas
  77. Juan
  78. Rawiri
  79. Emily
  80. Abdallah
  81. Isabella
  82. Nat
  83. Odval
  84. Olivia
  85. Hugo
  86. Ryo
  87. Wen
  88. Jakob
  89. Ahmed
  90. Louis
  91. Carlos
  92. Zoe
  93. Princess
  94. Gabriel
  95. Kora
  96. Siddhartha
  97. Sai
  98. Omar
  99. Emma
  100. Lars

Last

  1. Rollins
  2. Ibori
  3. Calder
  4. Muller
  5. Anderson
  6. Singh
  7. Khan
  8. Silva
  9. Smirnov
  10. Conde
  11. Okezie
  12. Seck
  13. Morris
  14. Kedi
  15. Winger
  16. Jang
  17. Petrov
  18. Ali
  19. Mwangi
  20. Huang
  21. Einarsson
  22. Mutombo
  23. Kalua
  24. Collins
  25. Lim
  26. Aduba
  27. Okafor
  28. Smith
  29. Berger
  30. Harrak
  31. Murphy
  32. Helgudottir
  33. Lee
  34. Kenyatta
  35. Ito
  36. Chan
  37. Latu
  38. Fuller
  39. Roux
  40. Obi
  41. Beridze
  42. Sun
  43. Varga
  44. Ejiofor
  45. Nam
  46. Sorensen
  47. Levi
  48. Taylor
  49. Larsen
  50. Ebekwe
  51. Woo
  52. Caruso
  53. Williams
  54. Abe
  55. Gallo
  56. Dembele
  57. Kahale
  58. Ma
  59. Harris
  60. Saito
  61. Dubois
  62. Wang
  63. Mohamed
  64. Jones
  65. Kama
  66. Guo
  67. Matua
  68. Solomon
  69. Mori
  70. Mahelona
  71. Olsen
  72. Kamau
  73. Freeman
  74. Patel
  75. Osei
  76. Browning
  77. Naava
  78. Pauli
  79. Gao
  80. Schulz
  81. Laine
  82. Palamo
  83. Dupont
  84. Maeda
  85. Kabbah
  86. Nguyen
  87. Daramby
  88. Law
  89. Shin
  90. Reyes
  91. Davis
  92. Okoye
  93. Ivanov
  94. Green
  95. Garcia
  96. Ram
  97. Kaya
  98. Aesop
  99. Cohen
  100. Sakai

What They Do

  1. Shaman
  2. Idol
  3. Security Contractor
  4. Cook
  5. Pickpockets
  6. Summoner
  7. Monk/Nun
  8. Model
  9. Drone Pilot
  10. Wage Slave
  11. Animal Handler
  12. Psychic
  13. Grocer
  14. Veterinarian
  15. Private Investigator
  16. Mesmer
  17. Corporate Manager
  18. Street Artist
  19. Tinker
  20. Engineer
  21. Oracle
  22. Writer
  23. Morality Hacker
  24. Spy
  25. Gun Runner
  26. Teacher
  27. Drug Dealer
  28. Saboteur
  29. Musician
  30. Research Assistant
  31. Botanist
  32. Drone Hoarder
  33. Magician
  34. Electrician
  35. Scientist
  36. Waiter
  37. Sculptor
  38. Salesperson
  39. Plumber
  40. Brainjacker
  41. Corporate Clerk
  42. Barkeep
  43. Accountant
  44. Athlete
  45. Smuggler
  46. Impersonator
  47. Medium
  48. Tech Support
  49. Fashion Designer
  50. Homemaker
  51. Estate Agent
  52. Henchman
  53. Painter
  54. Sniper
  55. Newsreader
  56. Dancer
  57. Investigator
  58. Driver
  59. Torturer
  60. Gardener
  61. Psychologist
  62. Poisoner
  63. Beggar
  64. Singer
  65. Forger
  66. Test Subject
  67. Parent
  68. Talkshow Host
  69. Cop
  70. Magical Substance Dealer
  71. Priest
  72. Soldier
  73. Programmer
  74. Con Artist
  75. Lawyer
  76. Drone Rigger
  77. Academic
  78. Assassin
  79. Junkie
  80. VR Dealer
  81. Burglar
  82. Train Driver
  83. Scrapper
  84. Pilot
  85. Sex Worker
  86. Land Lord
  87. Alchemist
  88. Barista
  89. Pawn Broker
  90. Baker
  91. Den Mother
  92. Filmmaker
  93. Social Engineer
  94. Chemist
  95. Doctor
  96. Vehicle Mechanic
  97. Hijacker
  98. Reporter
  99. Stylist
  100. Skater

Credit

This is a game by Ashton McAllan! You find it and her other games available for purchase at https://acegiak.net or you can support her ongoing design work at https://patreon.com/acegiak!

Character art is by Kagato who you can find at https://twitter.com/kagatoactual !

Thanks to D. Vincent Baker, John Harper, Adam Koebel, Sage LaTorra, Kira Magrann, Andrew Gillis for designs I have built upon.

Thanks to Emily McAllan, Luke Jordan, Melody Watson, and many many others for their support and guidance.


This work is based on Blades in the Dark (found at http://www.bladesinthedark.com/), product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Fin

[a]SICK

[b]god fuck you're so good

[c]this sounds like a mix of two sentences. "developed skills" and "in the mastery of".

[d]Let's get down to business. To defeat. The hunnnnns.

[e]I approve this message.

[f]re-examine

[g]page numbers would be dope here, so as a reader i know that these unknown factors are coming up soon. makes me feel prepared.

[h]along the same lines, a bit here talking about how this sheet is where you'll keep all the information will make it flow with the text easier. i like the placement of the character sheet here because it brings some visible organization to the knowledge i've gained so far, and leads into what i don't know yet. dope.

[i]I think you can switch tones here and replace "maybe" to frame the explained as examples. from there i would feel a sense of being handed badassery, like "go do these things". right now it feels like, "i dunno, go do some things."

[j]this sentence fried my brain.

"Digital work allows you to manipulate tech in the spheres you specialize in," or something? idk.

[k]"can" instead of "might" maybe, if you're down with the tonal change.

[l]THIS THAT GOOD SHIT

[m]THE FUCK?!?! this is dope as hell.

i'm going on a smoke break here. you don't actually need to know that, but i'm tellin ya.

[n]I'm back. This is sick.

[o]this too.

[p]yes

[q]this sentence made my dick hard. i love the title of this game.

[r]this whole paragraph is fucking CHEF KISS.