Chapter 3: Character Traits
EVERY PLAYER CHARACTER (PC) HAS A PAST, WHICH HAS SHAPED THE person they are today. Traumatic events, buried secrets, and encounters with the supernatural have awakened doubts that things may not be as they seem. Through pain, fear, guilt, and madness, these events have forged the PC’s personality and provided her with both strengths and weaknesses. Dark Secrets, Disadvantages, and Advantages are representations of these experiences and personality traits. Each character begins the game with one or more Dark Secrets, two Disadvantages, and three Advantages.
DARK SECRETS
Dark Secrets are windows into traumatic, mystical, or guilt-laden episodes in the character’s past. Each Dark Secret has a theme, which the player and gamemaster (GM) take into consideration when developing the Secret’s specifics. However, any Dark Secret can provide the framework for a great variety of events, serving as inspiration for developing a character’s concept and backstory, as well as acting as a storytelling aid for the GM and player. The PCs’ various Dark Secrets provide the GM with concrete themes for the overall story, such as guilt, revenge, escape, sorrow, passion, and redemption. They also serve as anchor points for locations, objects, and entities to be included when preparing a story.
DISADVANTAGES
Disadvantages can be the character’s personal failings, negative personality traits, adverse conditions, or external threats in the form of individuals, institutions, creatures, and/or supernatural powers. The character might suffer from schizophrenia, harbor a rampant urge to take revenge on someone, or be pursued by faceless enemies. Disadvantages are Moves rolled by the players, but unlike the basic player Moves, they provide the GM with opportunities to affect the PCs later in the story. Examples might include the character’s schizophrenia distorting her perception of reality, or the character’s pursuers finally catching up with her.
List of Disadvantages
| Disadvantage | Description | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Bad Reputation | You are hated by the public for something you are accused of. | 96 |
| Broken | Your Stability can never increase beyond Distressed. | 96 |
| Competitor | You have a competitor in the criminal underworld. | 96 |
| Condemned | Your fate is sealed and your time is ticking down. | 97 |
| Cursed | You are afflicted by a curse. | 97 |
| Depression | You are struggling with depression. | 97 |
| Drug Addict | You are addicted to hard drugs. | 97 |
| Experiment Gone Wrong | You carried out an experiment that went terribly wrong. | 97 |
| Fanatic | You are a fervent adherent of an ideology. | 97 |
| Greedy | You are driven by an unquenchable desire for money and wealth. | 98 |
| Guilt | You carry heavy guilt for your past sins. | 98 |
| Harassed | You are part of a harassed minority group. | 98 |
| Haunted | You are haunted by supernatural forces. | 98 |
| Infirm | You suffer from a dangerous physical disease or condition. | 98 |
| Involuntary Medium | You are an open vessel for spirits and demonic entities. | 98 |
| Jealousy | You want someone else’s life for yourself. | 98 |
| Liar | You are a compulsive liar. | 99 |
| Lost Identity | You have a repressed true identity that resurfaces sometimes. | 99 |
| Marked | You are marked by darkness. | 99 |
| Mental Compulsion | You have a mental compulsion. | 99 |
| Nemesis | You have made an enemy who does everything in their power to take revenge on you. | 99 |
| Nightmares | You suffer from recurring nightmares. | 99 |
| Oath of Revenge | You are obsessed with taking revenge on someone or an organization. | 100 |
| Object of Desire | You ignite unhealthy desires in others. | 100 |
| Obsession | You are obsessed by a conspiracy or supernatural phenomenon. | 100 |
| Owned | You have fled from someone who kept you as his private property. | 100 |
| Phobia | You harbour an overpowering fear of something. | 100 |
| Rationalist | Your mind refuses to acknowledge anything except things confirmed by modern science. | 100 |
| Repressed Memories | You have repressed an unpleasant event. | 100 |
| Rival | You have an ambitious rival, who will do anything to be in your shoes. | 101 |
| Schizophrenia | You struggle with psychosis and hallucinations. | 101 |
| Sexual Neurosis | Your sexuality is a destructive, controlling force in your life. | 101 |
| Stalker | You are hunted by a faceless enemy. | 101 |
| Victim of Passion | You have an overwhelming passion for someone or something. | 101 |
| Wanted | You are wanted by the authorities. | 101 |
ADVANTAGES
Advantages are strengths, rare abilities, supernatural powers, and valuable resources the character can use in the story to gain edges and accomplish things others can’t. The character might be tough and doesn’t get hurt easily, have special training in crime scene investigations, possess influential friends, or be the leader of a gang of underlings. Advantages are Moves which either provide the character permanent bonuses on rolls of a specific nature, extend the scope of a basic Move, or provide the player with the opportunity to take special actions nobody else can.
List of Advantages
| Advantage | Attribute | Description | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Network | Charisma | You have contacts at universities around the world. | 102 |
| Access the Dark Net | Perception | You know how to access and search the Dark Net abyss. | 108 |
| Ace up the Sleeve | Coolness | You are good in a tight spot. | 105 |
| Analyst | Reason | You are good at making connections when you Investigate. | 110 |
| Animal Speaker | Intuition | You can control animals. | 107 |
| Arcane Researcher | - | You know things about alternate planes of existence and creatures from other dimensions. | 119 |
| Artifact | Soul | You have an artifact with mystical powers. | 113 |
| Artistic Talent | Charisma | Your work of art has a great effect on audiences. | 102 |
| At Any Cost | - | You can get +2 to a roll by decreasing Stability (-2). | 119 |
| Authority | Charisma | You can use your academic authority to influence others. | 102 |
| Awe-Inspiring | Charisma | You can inspire awe and obedience in others. | 102 |
| Backstab | Coolness | You are dangerous when you attack unprepared victims. | 105 |
| Battlefield Medicine | Reason | You are trained in stabilising wounds. | 110 |
| Body Awareness | Perception | You have exceptional control over your body. | 108 |
| Boss | Coolness | You have a gang of criminal henchmen. | 105 |
| Bound | Soul | You can draw powers from an extradimensional entity. | 113 |
| Burglar | Coolness | You are an expert in breaking and entering. | 105 |
| Chameleon | Intuition | You are great at concealing your appearance and imitate others. | 107 |
| Character Actor | Intuition | You are a master at blending in. | 107 |
| Charismatic Aura | Soul | You can force people to trust you and seek your company. | 113 |
| Code of Honor | - | Gain Stability when you take risks or make sacrifices for your code of honor. | 119 |
| Collector | Reason | You know how to find unusual or rare items. | 110 |
| Contagious Insanity | Soul | You can infect others with temporary insanity. | 113 |
| Crafty | Intuition | You can make others trust you. | 107 |
| Crime Scene Investigator | Reason | You are skilled at finding clues at crime scenes. | 110 |
| Cult Leader | Soul | You can perform rituals with your followers. | 113 |
| Dabbler in the Occult | Soul | You can perform rituals from written instructions. | 114 |
| Daredevil | Perception | You get edges when you enter dangerous situations. | 108 |
| Data Retrieval | Reason | You are a skilled researcher. | 110 |
| Dead Shot | - | Any Harm with a firearm is considered +1 Harm. | 119 |
| Deadly Stare | Violence | You can freeze an NPC with your stare. | 117 |
| Death Drive | Violence | You get edges when you fight with no regard for personal safety. | 117 |
| Desperate | - | You have +1 on all rolls when trying to make it through overwhelming odds. | 119 |
| Divine | Soul | You can make monsters obey you temporarily. | 114 |
| Divine Champion | - | You get stronger when you fight against your deity’s enemies or protect a sacred object. | 119 |
| Dreamer | Soul | You can use dreams to meet people or experience past events. | 114 |
| Driver | Coolness | You are a trained professional at operating motor vehicles. | 106 |
| Elite Education | Charisma | You have contacts in the world’s social elite. | 102 |
| Elite Sport | - | You have competed professionally in a sport. | 119 |
| Endure Trauma | - | Whenever you reduce Stability, you always lose 1 fewer level than normal. | 119 |
| Enforcer | Violence | You can threaten people to do what you want. | 117 |
| Enhanced Awareness | Soul | You can open yourself to visions and communicate with entities from other dimensions. | 114 |
| Erotic | Charisma | You can use your attractiveness to influence others. | 103 |
| Escape Artist | Coolness | You are a master at slipping away when the shit hits the fan. | 106 |
| Exit Strategy | Perception | You are an expert in hiding the tracks of your kills. | 108 |
| Exorcist | Soul | You can perform rituals to banish spirits or demons. | 114 |