Unfinished Aftermath aka Variant: The Contradiction

This game is based around simple and light rules where in the GM should act as a referee, who makes common sense rulings at the table. Being the case, listed will be several guides on how this game might be best ran and all of the rules listed are optional and exist as a frame work to build off of or change.

Attributes & Skills

  • All Attributes start at a minimum of 1 and max out at 5
  • Skills start at 0 and max out at 8
  • You have 3 points to increase your attributes and 8 for skills
  • No Skill or Attribute can be above 3 at character creation
Skill Descriptions
1 Human Average
2 Above average or gifted
3 Extraordinary. Among the best naturally gifted people. Olympic athletes, renowned geniuses, or individuals with remarkable intuition
4 Transcendent. Beyond normal human limits
5 Impossible. You embody an ideal more than a human

PSYCHE

The thoughts in your head.

  • Internal
    • Cohesion (Will) - Resisting dissolution and acting “normally” under pressure
    • Notice Absence (Perception) - detect what should be there
    • Conceptualization (Logic) - abstract reasoning or associations

ASSERTION

Your capacity to impose meaning.

  • External
    • Misdirection (Deception) - redirect attention, blame, or consequences
    • Authority (Intimidation) - acting legitimate enough to be obeyed
    • De-escalation (Persuasion) - prevent situations from escalating even unnaturally

FRAME

Your physical make up.

  • Internal
    • Inertia (Endurance) - continue despite contradiction
    • Traversal (Athletics) - moving through unstable spaces
    • Coordination (Sleight of Hand) - timing and alignment

PERMEABILITY

How much the world passes through you and letting impossible things happen to you

Average PERMEABILITY for Humans is 0 but some rare individuals may have as high as 0.5

  • External
    • Electrochemistry (Medicine/Science)
    • Memory Management (Lore) - retain or alter personal recollection
    • Delve (Insight) - gaze into character of people or locations, Sensing anomalies or interacting with the unknown
Skill Descriptions
0 Untrained. You rely on natural aptitude or luck
1 Novice. Basic instruction or a little practical experience
2 Trained. Experienced amateur or entry-level professional
3 Professional. Makes a living with this skill. Reliable under pressure
4 Veteran. Years of experience; respected in the field
5 Expert. Among the best in a city or region
6 Master. Nationally recognized or exceptionally gifted
7 Legendary. Once in a generation level practitioner

Scars

Scars act as perks or feats for players to gain and use to modify and personalize their character. The max number of Scars a character may have is 4

  • Scars cost xp to buy and can be swaped for another Scar of the same cost during Down Time at the cost of 1xp
  • Scars may also be replaced by more costly Scars for free for just the diffrence in xp cost
    • Replacing a 5xp Scar to a 15xp Scar, you only pay 10xp to do so
Name Effects
Void Master Choose to add 1 Void to your Attack roll and if you succeed increase damage by 2
Enforcer Success for Inertia or Authority remove 1 additional Stress
Criminal Success for Misdirection or Traversal remove 1 additional Stress
Academic Success for Conceptualization or Memory Management remove 1 additional Stress
Doctor Success for Electrochemistry or De-escalation remove 1 additional Stress
Agent Success for Delve or Notice Absence remove 1 additional Stress
Courier Success for Traversal or Coordination remove 1 additional Stress
Revisionist As an Action, Rewrite a specific detail in your recent past that impacts your current situation, that is reasonably accomplishable. You gain 2 ENTROPY
Hollow When the you would be affected by a physical object, barrier, or force, they may choose to let it pass through you instead. You gain 1 ENTROPY
Sink You may transfer Pain, Stress, or Entropy to yourself from any Anthropoid target
Channel As an Action gain 2 Entropy, You may cause harm = 2*Permeability + your Entropy amount to any target
Forge As an Action, make a Conceptualization roll with the result you may create a Common Item or material that could plausibly exist. The object is mundane and cannot be alive. You gain 2 ENTROPY
Morph As an Action, You may briefly alter your physical form into another you know of. You gain 3 ENTROPY
Tether You may designate two objects or entities within line of sight and declare them tethered. Any effect that meaningfully alters one will partially or fully affect the other in the same way. You gain 2 ENTROPY
Art Degree Success for Conceptualization remove 1 wound
Money Memory Success for Memory Management give you 2 money

Player Stats

  • Max Stress = 5 + PSYCHE
    • Stress is gained from skill rolls or mental attacks
    • Stress is easy to gain but also easy to manage useing Success, items and Scars
  • Max Pain = 5 + FRAME
    • Pain is often gained from combat or dangerous physical activity
    • Pain is managed with items and some Scars
  • Max Entropy = 10 - PERMEABILITY
    • When the players Stress or Pain reachs Max any addtional Pain or Stress gained is converted into Entropy
    • When the players Entropy reachs Max, they are permanently dissolved from reality
      • Any amount Entropy is often instantly lethal to Humans or creates abominations
    • Warning: Screams of those who dissolved often echo during the course of their final death, this is normal, thier shade is not recoverable and is not to be attempted
  • Defense = 1 + Coordination
    • Defense determines the number of success need for an attack to deal damage to you
A shot rings out from behind you (gain 1 Stress)

MASKs

Players when making thier character choose a Mask

Why is there something rather than nothing? The world is over or ending really, In the great battle between something and nothing, nothing is winning and on the time scale of the universe, messured in billions of year, the would may as well end tommow. Masks are how you deal with this reality

  • Playing out these Masks by doing Affirmations players gain 1xp and can do so 4 times per game session
  • Players may also gain xp from Dissolutions, events that provide 3xp but degrade your mask up to 5 times, afterwards your mask brakes. Once a mask is broken you become the hollow mask; a self destructive state

The xp limit per game session is optional but is used in order to keep a steady game progression but can be changed and the dm may simply give out xp at a flat rate per session

  • xp is used buy Scars and increase skills with the cost per skill level for each is 10*Level
    • increasing a skill from 1 to 2 is 20xp, from 0 to 2 is 30xp, and 3 to 5 is 90xp
Resolution Beliefs Affirmations (1xp) Dissolutions (3xp)
Anchor Stand up for others, save the world
  • Protect someone despite the personal cost
  • Sacrifice personal comfort or safety so others can keep theirs
  • Preserve a community or home
  • Preserve something precious from being forgotten or destroyed
  • Restore stability to a dangerous situation
  • Failing to protect someone who depended on you
  • Sacrificing others
  • Realizing your efforts only delayed the inevitable
  • Watching a community or home be destroyed
Revolutionary No system is sacred if it perpetuates suffering. The old reality failed, something better must replace it. You cannot accept that suffering is simply "the way things are." If the world is broken, it should be rebuilt
  • Challenge a cruel authority or unjust system
  • Inspire others to resist
  • Defend someone who cannot defend themselves
  • Risk yourself for change or others
  • Insite disorder or riots
  • Innocents suffer because of your actions
  • Being forced to defend or uphold a system you hate
  • Behave superficially
  • Burn bridges over small disagreements
Seeker You want to presserve the knowlege of the world before it is gone
  • Preserve or recover knowledge
  • Solve a problem through investigation or understanding
  • Admit you were wrong when faced with evidence
  • Being forced to hide or destroy knowledge
  • Watching your life's work collapse
  • Learning the dark truth
  • Spread knowledge that leads to harm
Ascendant Contradictions are the next stage of existence and have a purpose beyond simply returning to humanity. Your first responsibility is to yourself and those like you
  • Embrace your nature despite fear or rejection
  • Create stability for Contradictions in an unstable world
  • Choose the future of Contradictions over the expectations of humanity
  • Be rejected by people close to you for being a Contradiction
  • You deny what you've become or you being a Contradiction leads to harm
  • Your pursuit of evolution hurts others
  • Destroy a human
Devotee Meaning comes from serving something greater than yourself
  • Act according to your beliefs despite hardship
  • Strengthen another's conviction
  • Sacrifice for your cause
  • Place your faith before your fear
  • You're forced to betray your beliefs
  • You find undeniable evidence against your faith
  • People in your faith harm you
  • useing your faith for personal gain
Architect Civilization survives through order and strong leadership. Reality must be controlled, even if freedom must be sacrificed. You believe suffering exists because nobody has enough control, only you have the will to do what needs to be done
  • Establish order during chaos.
  • Help Build or inforce institutions
  • Help Stabilize reality
  • Force stability when others refuse to cooperate
  • Sacrifice anothers individual freedom for a greater good
  • Compassion succeeds where authority failed
  • Use your power or authority in a situation that is unwarnted
  • Using illegal items
  • Manipulate or lie to someone
Survivor You know the universe is cruel. You cannot save everyone, so you choose yourself first
  • Secure resources or advantages for yourself
  • Be the first to Escape a threat
  • Choose survival over ideals
  • Exploit an opportunity or another person
  • Be the first to attack
  • Sacrificing your own survival for someone else
  • Realizing power cannot stop the end
  • Depending on someone else to survive
Hollow (Broken Mask) You believe the universe is already dead. Hope is denial. The kindest thing may be to let everything finally disappear A Hollow has no Affirmations, only Dissolutions. After 2 Dissolutions are completed you may choose a new mask and gain an increase in 1 of your attributes
  • Purforming a great act destruction
  • Erasing a person 3 times
  • Useing Illegal items in the open
  • Ruining an imporant connection
  • Make a major decision you'll regret
  • Lowering 3 diffrent skills level by 1

Down time

Down time can only be done at a safe location and takes about a 8 hours of no stressful or dangerous physical activity

  • Down time removes all stress and 2 pain per day

Injury or Entropy can not be removed by with Down time

Dice, Actions & Mechanics

When you take an action. You roll a pool of ten-sided dice (d10s) to see how well you do.

  • Skills and Attributes may be used in any combination
  • Your dice pool for a given action is = Skill + Attibute + tools or adtional bonus - lack of tools or injures
  • Some actions like lifting a heavy object could be done without a skill, if a roll does not use a player skill, they may use double thier Attribute value for the dice pool of the action
  • Passive checks may use a players flat Attibute value

Difficulty Chart

Successes Difficulty General Guideline
1 Routine Almost anyone with basic ability
2 Easy Someone with training or natural talent
3 Standard A professional level
4 Difficult A struggle for all but Experts
5 Very Difficult Masters succeed; experts need luck or extensive time
6 Extreme Legendary individuals could only hope to achieve
7 Masterful can only be done by those among the greatest alive
8 Mythic Beyond

Range

  • Self: +0
  • Touch: +0
  • Within a room: +1
  • Across a street: +2
  • Across a field: +3
  • Beyond sight: +4

Target

  • Willing: +0
  • Unaware: +1
  • Aware: +2
  • Resisting: +3
  • Resisting Powerful anomaly: +4-5

Duration

  • Instant: +0
  • One scene: +1
  • Several hours: +2
  • One day: +3
  • Permanent or Several Days: +4-5

Rolls

  • Success 6-9
  • Stress 1-5
  • Voids 0

Outcomes

  • Subtract Successes by the number of Voids until no Voids remain.
  • Every 2 rolled Stress is combined into 1 Success. These Successes can be used to remove Voids and pass checks.
  • If any Voids remain after all Successes have been used, the action fails and you gain ENTROPY equal to the remaining Voids.
  • If two or more Voids remain, a RUPTURE is triggered.
  • If remaining Successes are equal to or greater than the DC, the roll is passed.
  • If you have at least 1 remaining Success but fall short of the DC, the roll fails and you gain Stress equal to the DC.
  • If you have 0 remaining Successes, the roll fails and you gain Stress equal to the DC, plus any unresolved Void/Entropy consequences.

Players may also take 2 points of Stress to add one die to any roll.

Successes may be removed from a roll to lower Stress by 2 or to activate Scars.

RUPTUREs

  • Weapon breaks
  • Alarm triggered
  • Gain Injury
  • Magic backlash
  • Equipment destroyed

Distance

  • Distance is Zone-based can be divided into zones
    • Close (Melee) - a short distance that can be covered by a attacker on foot in less then a minute
      • Across a room
    • Near (Ranged) - a distance of about 15 to 21 feet or 6 to 7 meters
      • Opposite ends of a warehouse
    • Far - a distance that requires a precision weapon like a rifle
      • Across a field
    • Extreme - from one rooftop to another or across a valley
  • Moving between Zones cost 1 Action plus the distance between Zones
    • Traveling from Close to Near or Near to Far cost 1
    • Traveling from Close to Far cost 2
    • Traveling from Close to Extreme cost 3
Target Range Additional Successes past the first Required for Beyond Normal Zones
Within normal range +0
One Zone beyond normal +2
Two Zones beyond normal +5
Three Zones beyond normal +9
Four Zones beyond normal +14
Five Zones beyond normal +20

Turn Order

  • Turn order is devided into "teams", players vs other, the team that gets to act first is who ever starts the comabat or social argument and will go intill all members of that team are done
  • as for members of the same team, order is also optional or done in order of who is closest to the point of conflict, the person, npc or player that acted first like firing the first shot

Actions

You get 2 Actions you can perform each turn, that may be used in any order or combination

  • Move Zones
  • Attack
  • Use Scars

Items

Rolls listed are listed only as recommendation

Rarity Roll Name Damage Effects/Tags Description
C Coordination Service Pistol 4 Light, Small Polymer-frame sidearm, serial numbers intact
C Coordination Service Rifle 6 Heavy, Large Polymer-frame sidearm, serial numbers intact
C FRAME Crowbar 4 Light, Large Can be used as a tool and a weapon.
R Coordination Probability Scattergun 1d10 Heavy, Small Weapon
U Delve Delve Spike 2 Light, Small, Incorporeal, The users PERMEABILITY is added to the damage A crystalline rod, holding the weapon gives you a static like tingle
U FRAME Mandate Baton 3 Light, Small, If an Authority check succeeds this turn, increase damage by 2 An extendable baton etched with something unintelligible
R FRAME Inertia Hammer 7 Heavy, Large, A FRAME >3 is need to use this Absurdly heavy
X Coordination Entropy Lance 10 Heavy, Large, Illegal A Rifle that fires consentrated entropy
Rarity Name Effects Description
R Entropy Damping suit Small, Convert 1 ENTROPY you would take from the uses of an ability to Pain instead; -1 Delve Armor
C Civilian Attire Small, +1 De-escalation Armor
C Disco Outfit Small, +1 Electrochemistry & +1 Cohesion rolls Snakeskin Shoes, Flared Trousers and a Horrific Necktie
U Carbon Armor Small, Reduces Pain by 1 and Convert up to 1 Pain to Stress; +1 Traversal Armor
C Baseline Tactical Vest Small, Reduces Pain by 2 and Convert up to 1 Pain to Stress; -1 Coordination Armor
U Riot Armor Large, Reduces Pain by 2 and Convert up to 2 Pain to Stress; -1 De-escalation & Coordination Armor
R Exo-Carapace Large, Reduces Pain by 4 and Convert up to 1 Pain to Stress; -2 De-escalation & Coordination, +1 Inertia Armor
Name Effects Description
Causal Bookmark +1 Memory Management Trinket
Absence Detector +1 Notice Absence Trinket
Loaded Dice +1 to Damage to Random Trinket
Observer’s Lenses +1 Delve Trinket
Rarity Name Effects Description
U Concentrated blood Increse your attack damage by 2 A vary dark red liquid contained with in an Auto-injector. The label displays its chemical symbol and a warning that it is only to be used by Anthropoid Variant Es and above.
R (AEA) Artificial Entropy Anchor Remove 3 Entropy A hand assembled device of wood, feathers, and tightly wound string, improbably threaded with 200 Micro Entropy Converters, each as small as a grain of sand. The label; red and in bold states not to remove the feather during or before use.
C Stimulant Inhaler Remove 4 Stress Consumable
C Wound Sealing Foam Remove 2 Pain Consumable
U Grounding Patch add 1 success to your next Cohesion roll Consumable
U Memory Dew add 1 success to your next Memory Management roll Smells faintly of metal and honey
R Echo Stone Lens Reroll an event or action A monocle that refracts events that almost happened.
R Mandate card Automatic Authority success against baseline humans A 2x4 document with no legalble script that compels obedience when presented confidently.
X Micro-Rupture Charge Force a RUPTURE A sealed electroic device that fractures causality on demand.
R Baseline Extract Illegal, Temporarily suppress PERMEABILITY to zero; cannot interact with anomalies while in effect. Distilled from a baseline human nervous system.

Rarity

  • C - Common
  • U - Uncommon
  • R - Rare
  • X - Exotic

Tags

  • Light - Only needs one hand for proper use
  • Heavy - Needs two hands for proper use
  • Small - Easy to conseal, Armor tagged as small a can be worn together
  • Large - Difficult to conceal
  • Incorporeal - Damage is caused in the form of Stress
  • Illegal - Illegal

Enemies

Enemies

Lore (Spoilers & DM Information)

  • Basic
    • TEARs are when the interior properties of a space no longer match its exterior limits and KEYSTONE is the object, person, or condition that stabilizes a TEAR and prevents natural collapse.