Unknown Armies- Algomancer

In the mystic underground; Magick changes with the times. Because of the nature of post-modern magick being hand in hand with popular culture and the human experience, the changes that come upon society are reflected back into the world of the weird. For Adept schools, people who are obsessed with a singular magickal idea or paradox and can gain power from it, this can hit especially hard. With today's social media and total divorcement from legacy broadcast; the Videomancers have completed lost the power of their paradox and have all but died out. Instead of watching television bringing millions of people together; content has become custom coded, algorithmically sorted, served fresh on demand all of the time. This has regressed Videomancy into a minor school, if not spelled its total extinction. But surely this new massive social change has brought magickal potential? 

Not sure of image source; but it may very appropriately
be @GetClearSpace

Algomancers interface with social media and content-distribution platforms not merely for entertainment, or as an addiction, but as a spiritual pursuit. To define themselves based on the characters, media, and advice found on bite sized, vacant content. Algomancers usually use phones; but they don't have to. You could use a laptop, a pair of google glasses; but whatever it is it must have a screen and must have an internet connection. The ultimate paradox of the Algomancer is that everything you consume is custom tailored for you; based on what you watch. You're trying to find enlightenment by looking in a mirror. If you don't have it already; then you can't get out more then what you put in.

Minor Charge- Spend a day or significant portion of a day scrolling and consuming content. Breaks can be taken, but no more then 10 or 15 minutes between sessions of screen time. Mechanically, you can't do anything useful for that day such as working a 9-5 job or training a useful skill.
Significant Charge- Make a serious personal decision based on the recommendations or attitudes found in the Algorithm. Such as removing your child from public school after watching a clip about how public schools are actually made to make people stupid, or taking an expensive trip to northern Iran to investigate claims of giants in the mountains. These decisions can ultimately be good in the long term, but all are ultimately risks based on nothing.
Major Charge- Become immortalized in a viral internet clip. You do not necessarily have to the one to record it, but you do have to see it after it is posted, watching very cuts and edits of your 15 minutes of fame. The ultimate form of self recursion; wasting time viewing yourself through an algorithm designed to engage you.

Taboo
The Algomancer cannot ever take advice or face-value social cues from others in person. This doesn't work for obvious things; you can't say "Hey you should keep breathing" and by continuing to breathe they don't taboo, but it does mean that they can't change their plans or learn valuable skills from others. They cannot seek psychological therapy; as they are supposed to be self sufficient from the "nourishment" of their recursive algorithm. You can still make use of any service bought and paid for (like medical care or buying the services of mercenaries, etc.), but accepting medical advice from your friend who is a trained combat medic will cause you to taboo. You'd much rather scroll on your phone to search how to apply a tourniquet while bleeding from a gunshot wound, just to make sure you're "doing it the right way".

Blast
This school's blast works a little different. Instead of performing direct damage, this school curses the target to be beset by fear or anxiety inducing content on social media, tailored for them. This causes minor stress to their gauges; such as short videos which expose their political beliefs at being defeated or inferior, or if they had a rough time in high school their highschool bullies and social-superiors suddenly reach out with their beautiful wife and house, etc. You can avoid this blast by shunning all "devices" for a day for a Minor Blast or a Week for a Significant one.

Algomancer Adept Spells
Wake the Sleep (1 Minor Charge)
This spell can only be cast when you first wake up; either from sleep or the state of being unconscious. If you stare at your phone for at least an hour, you regain +1 hit point or increase your daily healing by a small amount. If you ever perform this spell; the next time you wake up without using it, you cease natural healing for the rest of that entire week.

Search Function (1 Minor Charge)
When presented with any large number of items you can spend a charge to "search" them incredibly fast and find exactly which one you were looking for. This is only Magickally enhanced luck; it does not provide new knowledge or discernment beyond what you already would have had, this simply allows you to compress a longer search time into a shorter one, finding whatever you were looking for in just two or three attempts. For example, instead of spending an hour searching the library for a rare manuscript you know the name of, it only takes you 10 minutes. If you wouldn't be able to find the item within a reasonable human amount of time (massive archive that would take days to search, it's hidden too well, details are too fine for you to discern, etc.) then this spell does nothing and the charge is not returned.

Armor of Ignorance (2 Minor charges)
If you are suddenly thrust into a dangerous situation, such as a mass shooting incident, a natural disaster, or a riot, you can walk while scrolling on your phone. You are given an aura of protection. No crossfiring bullets, random falling objects, or floods of water while strike you; instead miraculously avoiding your path. This effect doesn't work against people trying to target you specifically, but random criminals or muggers will just skip their eyes right over you. This effect ends the moment you stop scrolling to take in your surroundings.

Tunnel Vision (3 Minor Charges)
You can curse anyone whose social media profile you have open to suddenly be afflicted with a sense of visual vertigo. They can only see and react to things directly in front of them, causing panic and stress, and cutting out all of their peripheral vision. This could be extremely useful in a fight or to sneak past someone, but you have to find an online account of theirs in some fashion to use it.

Time to Forget (X Minor or Significant Charge cost)
By standing behind someone and motioning on the back of their skull, you can make them forget events that transpired recently, going back in a linear fashion. Each "event" is a single instance but covers roughly 10 minutes of time or an hour for unimportant or if the person was on "autopilot", such as working at a job or scrolling a phone themselves. You can also remove any stress gathered during this time as they forget these. Every Algomancer has a different motion; from swipping right with their thumb, to scrolling up with an index finger for vertical video feeds, to flicking their middle finger back and forth on the back of your skull like a mouse wheel, scrolling your memories away.

If the target is willingly trying to forget something, this costs Minor charges. If you are using this against someone's will, it costs Significant charges instead. You cannot use this ability on yourself.

Thumb of Power (2 Significant Charges)
You can swipe your thumb across any device to activate, hack, or bypass it; like an electronic security door or time-lock safe, or hotwiring a car. This device must have at least one electronic component; meaning old school padlocks or complex wooden puzzle boxes are totally unfathomable to your abilities.

Filter the Information (3 Significant Charges)
You gain the ability to read and possess a massive amount of information in a short amount of time. For example, flipping through the pages of a book as fast as you can, or rapidly scanning your eyes over a police databank and absorbing all of that knowledge immediately. You have perfect photographic memory and recall and can perfectly replicate the knowledge found within no matter how complex. You can perfectly write down or sketch what you've seen with an uncanny, savant-like level of accuracy. You forget all of this information in exactly eight minutes.

Turning of the Wheel (4 + X Significant Charges)
An obscure Algomancer spell; seemingly invented by an Adept with a high degree of intelligence and craftiness that continued to absorb media while engrossed in crafts or tinkering. This spell requires a specially prepared music box and wind up key, and magickally alters the properties of the box to make it capable of holding its "charge" and playing music for up to a maximum wind up of two hours.

When this spell is cast, any amount of magical charges can be "stored" within the music box, and then it is wound up for the first time. As long as the music box remains wound and continues to play, the charges remain safely within. This means it must be round up occasionally (at least once every 2 hours) by being hand cranked; no machine or automated system can accomplish this, the key must be removed and replaced by human hands each time. Even if the owner of a magic charge breaks taboo, has their magick stolen, or even if some other catastrophe happens; the charges remain safely inside the box. If the box ever fully expends its charge and stops playing, all charges within are lost permanently. Otherwise, you can open the box and willfully regain the charges within as long as you can charge it.

This spell lasts for as long as you keep the box going. Any magic user can store their charges within, regardless of school or type, and regain them even if they break taboo afterwards. The charges stored within could be Minor, Significant, or even Major; which remain safe as long as you keep the box playing.

MAJOR CHARGE EFFECTS
Insert a new idea, piece of disinformation, or useful tip into the public unconscious. People are free to ignore or build upon this idea, but it will worm its way into the public sphere forever and be impossible to fully get rid of. This can also be used to improve an existing idea, causing it to reach more people.

Force every single screen in the entire world to play a single video clip for exactly 60 seconds.

Some Algomancers also speak of the power for one to fully embrace their madness; retreating into themselves and disappearing into a world entirely made only for them. This self recursive mirror world would be an Otherspace with an almost Godlike entity ruling it; but only able to recognize and act upon its own vision and ideas endlessly repeated until the end of the world.

First Aid & Healing System but with Resident Evil Herbs instead

So while recently running a campaign for newer players; I came onto a problem my own First Aid Rules caused. Truthfully, it's been something I've thought about for a while. I really like the healing system; allowing players to do plenty of out-of-combat healing allows you to keep individual combats dangerous (since you can balance them around being vs a full strength party instead of an HP tax), gives scholarly/smart characters something beneficial to do during downtime besides magic stuff, adds risk-reward to the time management minigame (you can heal during an exploration turn, but you will get a wandering monster roll- if you get a random encounter, you may lose more health/resources then you'd gain from the break, so it's always a balancing act), and finally improve the resource-management depth of the game. 

I've used the healing system in multiple dungeon crawls and it hasn't really upset the balance as much as I once thought; PCs can still die, and making a tactical retreat out of the dungeon once you get enough treasure is still a priority given the strict time pressure I like to add to the game. But the different types of healing items I was never quite satisfied with. I never found the players actually debating what kinds of items to bring with, no make the strategic decision to prioritize certain items over others. The idea of bandages being the best and most useful (as well as most "realistic") stuck out constantly. To simplify this system somewhat for a group of newer players, and as an experiment, I changed it so simple bandages were the primary healing item. This felt like it fit the fiction and was simple and easy to understand. Almost immediately, the players began trying to abuse it a bit. While I like the idea of player skill being used to stock up on supplies or improvise useful items in a dungeon was appealing and something I approved it, it completely killed the careful planning aspect and the limited starting gold the players were given to buy equipment, torches, healing items, and so forth.

Side note; I had more thoughts on this basic system, which I decided to outline in this small post.

After just one session of them tearing up every single piece of clothing to make an endless supply of improvised bandages, I already had enough. Then it hit me, just make it healing herbs instead.

Healing Herbs (from Resident Evil)
Healing herbs fulfill the function of bandages (as being a "general purpose" healing item), but with the exclusivity of being something you can't easily scavenge from anywhere. You could still have them found out on an adventure, such as in a dungeon or in the wilderness, but these would be more rare and selective. Maybe even something your Druid or Ranger types can get a bonus to search for. That's a fun mechanic to come out of the concept. It also doesn't deny you to use a more case-sensitive uses for things like improvised healing items or "puzzles" for the players to solve; using bandages for any context specific deep wounds that drain your Hit-Points over time. Plus it also solves a very small issue I had in both games where it came up; explaining to players that you treating the wound may not in fiction actually magically "heal" it, but for the purposes of the game, the wound is cleaned and bandaged and "healed" for purposes of hit points. It's a small issue, but enough that I feel healing herbs would solve, since magical herbs that make wounds less severe is very simple to understand, and could be easily explained as actual accelerated natural healing, making these small breaks in verisimilitude less important.

And on top of all that, it also solves the minor issue of healing items (potions specifically, but bandages fall under this too) of being something that doesn't expire or can be stockpiled. Something complained about before, with other solutions too; but in this case, herbs eventually dry up and go bad! Everyone knows this inherently, especially once you pluck them from the ground and carry them around, so it puts a time pressure on their use. You wanna be the guy carrying around a bunch of potted plant healing herbs with you so they stay healthy until you need them? Bam, instant character concept. Another added benefit? They aren't too mystical or magical like a limited use healing wand or whatever for players to wonder why they can buy them in preparation for an adventure. In the same way you head to the general store to buy rope, the bowyer to buy arrows, and the herbalist for healing herbs.

Another reason why I like the idea? You can make different herbs do different thing; you can just straight up steal it from Resident Evil.

Healing Herbs Rules
Require an exploration turn (10 minutes) to prepare and apply an herb. Herbs are applied to wounds, or eaten. You can combine multiple herbs in a single application to a maximum of 3.

Green Herbs heal 1d6 hit points per Green Herb.
Yellow Herbs restores 1 point of any damaged attribute. (Or +1 Max HP if your attributes are all ok)
Blue Herbs remove poisons you are suffering from, or grants you an one extra save against the effect. If it's not the type of poison cured by "mortal" means, it delays its onset by one hour. (Or alternatively; ignores the healing negative from Aggravated Wounds?)
Red Herbs double the numerical value of any other herb used with it, but does nothing on its own. Burning Red Herb might scare away ghosts. Trying to use two Red Herbs at once will probably make you have a seizure (or grant +1 AC temporarily or something, up to you)

Note: Normally red herbs make a green herb into a full heal, but making it so you can pick and choose what effects you want to boost, from making poison take longer to harm you or restoring attributes, might be more interesting. If you want to make Red Herbs an actual full heal, then be my guest, appropriately priced it isn't that much different then just stacking a bunch of Green Herbs anyway. At least this way you can maximize the value of different curative effects.

I like to imagine different healers (and adventurers) have their own methods of using healing herbs. Primitives throw them into a campfire and just rawdog the smoke into their lungs. If you're healing yourself, chew it up and spit it on the wound. Wizards smoke them in a big hookah. Motherly types add them into a pot with her stew. Horsemen put them in a feed bag and chew on them while watching down a hallway for the telltale yellow eyes of a goblin sneaking up on the party while they take a short rest. If you play a goblin, he probably smokes it in a little crack pipe; fun stuff like that? That's free roleplaying.

Dirt Simple First Aid

Whenever you are in a dungeon, out in the wilderness, or in an adventure location, you can take a short rest (exploration turn) to perform various actions. One of these is healing.

In order to heal another party member, you must expend bandages (or healing herbs) to heal them. You heal them 1d6 + your Intelligence modifier and the healing item is consumed. Your character can also be trained in the arts of healing, either as a class feature or as training that can be purchased in downtime (similar to weapon training, or studying for new spells). Every time you train your healing, you can increase the amount you heal by +1.

Certain hazards, rusted blade-traps, the undead, and complex injuries become aggravated. This means that the injury deals its normal Hit-Points effect of damage, but any healing roll made to heal that character is now made at a minus, and subtracts the amount you heal with your healing action by that amount. For example, a triangular bayonet is very difficult to stitch up, and has a aggravated wound value of -3, the touch of a Wight would be -7. This means that attempting to heal it while unskilled can actually make it worse. (This acts as an incentive to have dedicated healing-focused characters to be able to safely restore health, and reduce healing effectiveness overall).

Additionally, certain items like healing potions and food heal when consumed, which do not trigger aggravated wounds. Regular rations consumed on a short rest restore +1 Hit-Points. This means that even if you're cursed and burned with acids and all other sorts of shit, you can still recover a little bit of HP in a safe if time-inefficient way.

This system is the trimmed down version of this.

Blaster Colors by Noble Gases

Art @Nick Gindraux

I've always been real curious about how blasters from Star Wars are supposed to work. I think they're probably one of the most staple and iconic sci-fi weapons (besides maybe the lightsaber); works as a perfect general energy weapon gun replacer.

But I always felt the element of what color or the exact explanation of how the bolts work was somewhat lacking.  Red for the common or normal bolts, green for good ones, blue for ionized for use against bots, etc. I don't care, I don't know shit about Star Wars, sorry.

Obviously it doesn't matter, given its a movie or whatever, but I like to think of their implementation in setting if you wanted to copy them for something else. This suddenly gave me an idea.

Blaster Colors by Noble Gas
The color of a blaster bolt is based on whatever noble gas is used to fill it; after all, they are energized plasma bolts of gas, so the same principles of neon lights apply here. Pure gases are usually used by matter of convenience and because it looks cooler, even though you could realistically get almost any color by combining them.

Why use noble gases instead of a more common gas? Simple; they don't react to things. This makes them ideal for blaster ammunition, as they won't suddenly oxidize the inside of the gun barrel or try to molecular-bond with each other while being charged.

Now you may think that this means each gas-color is really unique and has some really specific function, but no, I actually think it's cooler if they don't. Instead, their molecular mass is the most important aspect, and greatly influences their properties like flight speed, accuracy, how much heat it produces, and how much energy from the firing mechanism they can store. The more energy is applied to the bolt, the stronger its heat and explosive effects will be.

Helium bolts (yellow) are super lightweight, and as such fly the fastest and are extremely accurate, but do almost no damage. At low power settings they're ideal for training and target shooting; getting hit by one is like a spitball. At high power, they scatter the molecules too fast to be of much explosive use, but rapidly pushing out air can still knock lightweight objects out of the air, meaning they're used for sport shooting and shooting down fast moving targets like drones or small animals for game hunting without destroying the meat or pelt. Continuous beam style blasters also use this because it generates the least waste heat; you can use these for your mining lasers.

Xenon bolts are the opposite, ultra-heavy atomically and slow, most effected by gravity and wind resistance giving them a slight spread, but are very powerful. The blue bolts are synonymous with stun bolts used at low power settings, which is like getting slapped with a ton of wet blankets, but are so slow a skilled human might actually be able to dodge these with a head start and a diving leap. At high power settings? Become explosive and blow the fuck out of fortifications and used against heavily armored vehicles and orbital bombardment; being more synonymous with artillery. Use these for your blaster grenade launchers.

The colors in-between are on this spectrum; Neon (red) are fast and accurate enough to be used for sniping and low power enough to be used for handheld weapons without melting the gun in your hands or blowing a hole through the inside hull of a ship. White-Blue Krypton bolts are used for heavily armored targets and vehicles who might be too fast for a Xenon bolt to hit easily, like aircraft or spaceships. Argon bolts are right in the middle, being a perfect purple middle ground that's most used by scouts, raiders, and player-characters since they have no idea if they're going to be shooting at regular people or a rancor and need options.

In D&D terms? Blasters probably do like 4d6 damage or something. But maybe;

Gas	To-Hit Bonus	Damage Bonus	Color
Helium	+2	-4	Yellow-Orange
Neon	+1	-2	Red
Argon	0	0	Purple
Krypton	-1	+2	White-Blue
Xenon	-2	+4	Blue

Also the colors go top to bottom in order for resolving who hits first. So if two people shoot each other at the same time, the person with the lighter gas hits the other first and throws off their aim and wins the duel.

More Gemcraft Whining + The Problems with "Optimal" Choices in Games

So I wrote a bunch about my favorite tower defense game(s) ever in this previous blogpost, and in a very rare move for this blog I actually went back and edited it to add more of my thoughts to it, but I decided that STILL was not enough so here I am writing even more. This concept sort out branched out from me thinking of what I wanted out of my "dream" new Gemcraft game. Since the developer isn't working on the next one right now (which is fine by the way, after making and improving the same game for like 15 years you get a break, go off King), but after a lot of thought about it, I started to realize a few things, specifically about the colors of Gemcraft gems and limitations of a game.

Quick reminder; every color of Gem grants a special effect on a hit, like poison for green gems or slowing for blue gems. Gems in traps have great special but shit damage and range, where as towers have great range and damage but weaker specials. Mixing gem colors reduces their specials by a lot, but will slightly increase their base gems in dual and triple color gems.

This leads to a an interesting and (hopefully) strategically deep choice in the game. Do you want to run towers with weaker damage but better specials? Which specials? Or is the special so important you put in a trap? This already has a slight problem as there is almost no reason to put a dual or more color gem in a trap unless you can actually make it stronger with a buffing gem (Poolbound, Bloodhound) or make it hit multiple enemies (chain), but the core choice of what gems to use is part of the game and your strategy. I like this on the surface. But with more thought, a problem arises. Even if all gems are otherwise equal; There are just certain gems you're never going to put in towers and some you're never going to put in traps. Because they have different roles in the game, what types of gems are best for each are exclusive to each type. For example, putting an armor-shredding gem in a tower lets it remove a small amount of armor whenever it hits an enemy. Even if armor shredding was so important that it became a vital part of your strategy, why would you ever put it in a tower when you could put it in a trap and get the main value instead? Tower gems are things that support their function of damage with maybe a secondary effect. So crit gems, chain gems, maybe slow or poison and that's being generous along with the no-brainer gem colors that just make your gems "better" at everything. Meanwhile, gem effects that weaken monsters on a hit are just better to put in a trap, because they hit so much faster. Tower gems at least encourage you to mix and match colors for the dual or triple gem power bonus; so with no other important choices to make; I usually just defaulted to putting a Mana Gem as a tower gem component, since it will still generate a little bit of mana even when diluted since they attack so much. And this led to the real problem.

Engine Generation
In any tycoon, strategy, or game focused around resources or management; anything that generates more resources is always going to be the best strategy. This is totally fine in games designed around it, typically the idea is finding the best return on your investments or how to capitalize on them, but the problem is when they're provided as an alternate or "equal" choice to others.

Just think about it for a second. If you're playing an RPG and get the choice to take a reward from a quest and you can choose between a sword much better then your current one, a powerful and rare healing consumable, or an accessory that increases your experience gain by +5%, which one are you going to pick? Almost everyone is going to pick the experience booster. Not only because it's implied to last longer then the others, a temporary benefit as opposed to a permanent increase, but also because experience is going to be the engine driving the game and your progression forward. We can see this in almost every game. In 4x games, science tends to be King, and so the faction with the best science is almost always top of the tier list. In a fighting game, the character with the fastest attacks and best frame-data-advantage is going to be the best character, because they get the most "resources" in that style of game. Gemcraft exemplifies this problem even more because of how central mana is a resource; not just your method of crafting your defense but ALSO your health and ALSO your ability to invest in bombing enemy waves to get more XP and ALSO used as a panic button if things get too scary. It's the central resource of the game. The problem here is that a single gem color is by far and away SO much better then the other gems, so integral to the game's mechanics, that every single possible build and combination of strategies will feature them prominently. From beating a map normally to challenge modes to endless endurance waves to see how long you can last; all of them feature mana farming with orange gems as a core strategy. Using chain+mana+bloodhound for bonus to specials from hit can create an insanely powerful synergy that you place in traps near the start of each course, so every monster naturally gets hit by them, and you can build as many as you want. This not only trivializes campaign levels, but also lets you get to the highest scores of endurance and beat the hardest challenges as long as they're allowed within.

Do you see the issue with this?

I dislike games with false choices. Something obviously and miles above better then everything else doesn't lead to interesting and meaningful decisions in a game. TTRPG example? Oldschool Haste or Speed spells letting you get additional actions. So much stronger then any other choice, given the turn based nature of these types of games, that it becomes dumb NOT to use them. But I think the real issue with this is it creates a false dichotomy within the game itself, the player when playing, and the community around the game. The common argument of "if it's too strong just don't use it" doesn't really work, even for a single player game, because the game subconsciously or otherwise is DESIGNED with these strategies in mind. For Gemcraft in particular, the endgame super endurance waves are literally not feasible to beat without mana-farming, as monsters gain exponentially more hit points and armor to comparatively less and less mana farther on as the game goes. It is no longer just another tool in your toolbelt to decide how to built your defense, it is a mandatory part of every strategy that the other choices then take actual conscious thought. As such, it pains me to say that they won't be included in my much coveted Dream Gemcraft game, never to be described or quantified.

However, this isn't meant to be a total condemnation of the concept. Obviously, implementation matters more then inspiration; if the mana Gems had a cap (which older Gemcraft games had) or an extremely small return on investment, like it's only possible to get 10% return on a gem even after using it a hundred waves, then yes it would be much more "balanced", but would lean towards uselessness. Technically speaking there has to be some level where the effort and cost-basis is too much and a different effect would be better, it's just more of a mathematical effort then most people are willing to make. Finally; it should also be noted that no matter how well intentioned, balanced, or well-designed you make a game there will always be a "meta" or optimal strategy. That's just the result of human nature. I just find "economy engine building" type best strategies the most boring of all.

AI stuff from 5 years ago (Random Table)

Weird, isn't it?

About 5 years ago, I was much more active in producing content for this blog, and part of that was trying to find things to write about. One such concept was with AI. The oldest AI generation tools out there were really new, and for me? An interesting way to produce some content for the blog. The idea being to put in some keywords and try to get something useful to interpret out of the AI generated images; the blurry and chaotic messes which, at the time, couldn't produce anything useful. It was meant to be one of those weird gimmick posts; content for a human driven creation. 

I generated a bunch of random images using ganbreeder, later called Artbreeder, clicking on similar images to try and refine the images, and then giving them a name and interpret the messes into something tabletop related, like a monster or magic item. This is almost opposite on how AI is used now. We create a prompt, and the AI interprets it, instead of us interpreting the early creations.

But then, for some reason, I never actually wrote up the blogpost, and the images just sat on my harddrive doing nothing. From a simple gimmick into something that has really come to define and threaten many creative fields and creators, and has become the politicized issue. I like to think of this as a bit as a time capsule.

Random Stuff you may Encounter (Roll 1d6)

[1] Great Luminous Seahorse
Looks like a giant seahorse-shaped lump of algae, seaweed, and flotsam quietly drifting on the seabed, with barely contained light spilling out from the cracks. It's a giant glowing seahorse which uses its long tongue and tail to cover as much of its body as it can with camouflage to prevent it from being targeted by predators or human hunters.

Great Luminous Seahorse (6 HD, +2 AC Camouflage, 1d6+1 Kick, 2d6 Healing Power, Shocking Light) 
Morale- 7
Number- Just one, 1% chance of a breeding pair with little babies (1 HD)

Because it glows when not covered, it is very easy to spot. However, it can shed off its "skin" to scare away predators as a last resort, blinding them with light (morale check or be stunned). Finally, the Seahorse has the innate power to heal other beings by channeling some of its inner light, resulting in a 2d6 healing effect on anything it wants once per day. It seems smart enough to know who is a threat to it, and will do things like heal sharks or random monsters who are attacking the party if it feels like they'd be more likely to attack it. 

If caught and dragged onto the beach and drained of its glowing fluid, can be used to create a magic lantern oil that turns the undead while it burns and can also be drank to restore your health. Each Seahorse has an amount of oil (1 turn / 1 Hit-Point worth of drink) equal to its total Hit-Points remaining. This means it is much better to catch it while dealing minimal damage. These creatures are very likely to go extinct soon.

[2] Almost People
They almost look like people. People shaped, with folds that make the appearances of faces, clothes, shoes, mismatched fabric-like textures. Not actually people, neither physically or spiritually. Often found crowding around the town squares of deserted and ruined towns, or sometimes traveling in a great group on a "pilgrimage" together, with one or two terrified and emaciated young humans among their midst.

The Almost People feed off validation and attention. If you treat them like people in any way, such as a greeting, offering them food, threatening them, offering to trade, etc. they drain one point of your Charisma and become much more interested in you, staying around to get more of that "humanity" they in all way lack. It is very difficult to get rid of them; as even threatening or insulting them counts as giving them attention; which also heals them by 1d4 Hit-Points each time they drain a point of charisma. The two main methods are to kill them, which must be done without treating them as an opponent (unsheathe your sword to "inspect" it, slashing one in the process) or to ignore them, which is easier said then done. They can't really fight back traditionally (1 HD, 1d2 misshapen fists, -2 AC, etc.) so instead pantomime fighting and take up a stance, perhaps with a crooked sword, trying to get their opponent to pretend they are a real combatant by treating them as a real threat.

Some believe the Almost People are a precursor to the Plague of Men, or some of the "men" who are still in their larval state. Arguably less dangerous in this form, and less psychologically draining to destroy.

[3] Flying Salvation
Sounds like fabrics rustling in the wind, offputtingly large. Only ever arrives from over the horizon in response to a true prayer of need. Animals go quiet in its presence. It looks like an ever-unfurling mass of fabrics and sheets, blooming like a flower. It simultaneously feels as gentle as a butterflies wing and like you're in the eye of the storm.

Flying Salvation (7+7 HD, +7 AC, +7 To-Hit, Angelic, Sweep Away)
Morale- It does not flee from anything you can muster.
Number- Only one.

The Salvation represents something wholly good and uninterested in the affairs of the mundane world; it never touches anything physical, only sweeping besides and generating great gusts of wind. Maybe it's a "Spirit of the Upper Air". As an Angelic being, it is immune to holy magic and banishes all illusions. Instead of attacking, it simply sweeps things away on a successful attack; a wind vortex that touches one person and sweep them into the horizon fast enough to smear them across the sky but leaves the dandelions besides them in the grass unscathed. It can do this to any weight of being, or blast buildings apart; though it can only sweep away one thing per round. When the wicked hide inside a building, it first must sweep the roof away before the next majestic motion of fabric reaches inside and erases the sinners.

[4] Fairy Nautilus
An aquatic fairy. The Fae version of a shellfish. Looks like an elegant shell with two membranous wings that let it float majestically through the water; can only muster a pathetic hopping on ground, unable to sustain its own weight in flight.

While technically a creature, too weak and passive to be a threat to anyone. Hides in places where fairies usually do, but underwater, like underneath a rock shelf with stacked cairn stones or inside a dollhouse inside a sunken ship. Much like a fairy, you can catch it in a bottle and carry it around as an extra "life". (heals you 1d6 Hit Points when you take a lethal hit, but the fairy escapes the bottle). However, this one only works under water. Sometimes when you perform a mortal strike against a giant evil shark or kraken and it burps up some blood but doesn't die? It actually spit one of these out; stored in its stomach instead.

[5] Blue Shell Face
Found only in shallow, cursed pools within the Sapphire Mountains; these parasitic shells latch onto the faces of beings who try to wash their faces in the pools. Unfortunately, they only seem to spare ugly people, only attaching to beautiful hosts (Charisma 13+)

Anyone with a Blue Shell Face attached to them gains +1 AC and immediately halves their Charisma. The shell has control over its hardness, and will choose to become harder and less flexible to prevent its host from speaking (no spell casting) until the shell is fed. It eats whatever the host eats, slupring up some food before hinging open the shell-portion covering the hosts mouth to let them eat too. Can be removed with a remove curse spell, with a prybar (dealing 1d6 damage and -1d4 Charisma permanently to the host), or with a steady diet of muscle relaxants which make the shell fall of naturally (and will make the host extremely floppy, high, and useless for the next 1d6 days).

[6] Purple Stickthing
Found most commonly in forgotten and wayward pocket dimensions and otherspaces created by Sorcerers; these creatures seem to grow from stagnant magical energy and unrealized arcane potential. Have no visible eyes, mouth, or nose, yet always point the tip of their triangular "head" towards nearby magic users and beings. If you have no magic spells, items, or powers you are invisible to these creatures.

Purple Stickthings (2 HD, +2 AC, 1d4+1 leg bash, Haywire Spells)
Morale- 12
Numbers- 2d4

Congregate in open places standing silently, but usually under some kind of cover, like a temple roof or forest canopy. Whenever they detect magic, they will "chirr" which slowly wakes up the group. This takes a round, meaning you won't lose initiative and you can back away if you're stealthy enough.

While the Stickthings can't cast spells themselves, they seem to be able to control magic. Spells and spell-like effects go their way; they automatically make saves against spells and can splash some of it back towards their opponents. They can activate your magic items in inconvenient ways when used (levitation becomes uncontrolled and flings you into a rock, summons stand still or turn on their summoner without a control check, etc.)

Curiously, these creatures do not show up in dimensions used or frequented, only in the old and decaying ones, or ones whose connections to the material world are almost up. They are not like any living creature on earth, but their skin and coverings is most similar to insects; which has lead to the belief that the stickthings are like moths; consuming the enchantments that make up places that should no longer be.

DBD's Game Design is pretty good actually + Mechanical "Breakpoints"

Art @BHVR Interactive

So I've been playing a lot of Dead by Daylight over the past few years. While not the sole reason this blog's been neglected and rotting away, it's definitely a factor. If you somehow have never heard of it, it's grindy game-as-a-job pay to win garbage, don't play it. But it is pretty fun.

One interesting thing about playing a game that's been around for such a long time, with so much exploration of its very rudimentary game mechanics, with such a large community and critical culture around its basal systems, is that you develop this sort of inbred and highly referential style of game design; where everything from character traits and personalities to tropes to supernatural powers are represented through a very strict set of game design principles and mechanics. In a sense, it's exactly the fucking same as D&D, but that's a topic for a whole different Vaguepost.

Sidenote: If you didn't get my rambling word salad above, what I mean is the game really hasn't changed in like 8 years despite having ten times the characters, perks, systems, etc. An example is the perk Self Preservation ; how do you represent a self-interested character who is willing to sacrifice others to get what they want or protect themselves? In some games this could be literally making them take a hit for you; but in DBD that would be absolute cancer. Instead? It hides your scratch marks, blood pools, and sounds of pain (ways you can be tracked) when one of your teammates takes a hit within a certain range (enforcing the flavor), meaning they are much more likely to continue to get attacked then you (appropriate benefit). It's thematically appropriate, but essentially a shrinking of all possible design space (or "story" if it was literature) to accommodate for the actual game being played.

Despite this grand diversity and development of mechanics; Dead by Daylight's core gameplay of a chase is extremely simple, and has essentially not changed in the majority of the game's lifespan. Basically; survivors who are healthy or at the start of the match make way less noise, and can be hit once to become injured. Once injured, they leave pools of blood and make more noise, and if hit again they will be downed and put into the dying state. While following the survivor, the Killer gains bloodlust that slowly makes them move faster. Survivors can avoid killers by using very obstacles in the map, like windows they jump through faster then Killers or dropping pallets that slow the Killers down as they break them. Once in the dying state, the Killer can hook the survivor which gets them closer to being sacrificed (killed), or they may be able to kill them themselves if a specific condition is met; but for the individual chase it is over. Obviously the fact that only one role can harm or kill the other, and the fact that role gains special powers and abilities to end the chase faster, means it is very asymmetrical and eventually all but the absolute best or luckiest survivors will go down. This seems unfair, but remember the game is asymmetrical and while one survivor is being chased, the others remaining can rescue one another, heal up, travel & explore the map, make progress on escaping, and so on.

What makes this interesting (and in my opinion crucial to the game's relevance and success in the genre since all other competitors have failed for one reason or another) is how binary and limiting this game design scheme seems at its surface. There isn't even a health bar or hit points like in other games. Hit once for injured, again for downed. This is a far cry from most multiplayer games; which tend to measure time to kill much faster and having more modifiers for weapon types, damage, abilities, etc. Fighting games grant a bar for damage that allows for small mistakes to build up via chip damage or comboing, Smash Bros has a percentage that increases knockback and vulnerability for a powerful finisher, PVP in an MMO would have a long time to kill based on various abilities, status effects, and split being single target unavoidable moves and area of effect damage that can be dodged, and so on. 

Even games with very lethal and realistic damage systems, like a Call of Duty or Counterstrike with rapid firing modern weapons, still grant the players hit points to allow them to take a certain amount of damage before dying. Effectively these games could be simplified to make it so simply getting shot with a bullet eliminates you, but slight differences in damage per time or locational damage to incentivize good aim and so forth creates its own environment for game design that's distinct.

check my fit

The (Other) Hit-Point Problem
One of the most common ways to create gameplay depth and player choice would be doing something that modifies your numerical abilities to a game. Something like attack and defense modifiers, or elemental resistances, and so on. This allows players to being to create playstyles or make decisions that increase the longevity and engagement of the game or system they are playing.

So imagine that Dead by Daylight was designed with Hit-Points in mind. The developers decide that the average Killer should knock survivors down in two hits, so they give survivors 100 Hit-Points, and have a Basic Attack do 50 damage. Simple. But now we have a problem. If the Killer wants to express themselves by increasing their damage, by perhaps finding a new piece of gear or equipping a perk or whatever, this has no actual effect on the gameplay, as it would still take two hits to down a survivor. Unless you manage to stack these upgrades until you literally got to double damage, in which case, the ability to single-hit a survivor would be such a significant change that the entire game would have to be built around this possibility. This also has a problem with stacking incomparable mechanics. 10% increased damage and 10% increased attack speed could be a comparable value in some games, but here it would be a stupid choice.

However, further problems arise in the fact that the reverse of this scenario is not true. If Survivors could say, equip armor that reduced damage slightly found around the map or spend just a few seconds healing themselves a little bit, even just by 1% would effectively mean you could get three health states instead of two, which is an incredibly powerful ability that is currently reserved in the game for very special circumstances. This leads to an inherent problem with game designing and balance; you can't have an equal option of 10% damage for Killer and 10% damage-reduction for Survivor because they wouldn't actually balance themselves out. If both players had it it would, but the core gameplay of DBD is very binary in this regard. This is why an MMO or tabletop game can have dumb shit like "+5% increased chance to hit" and it's meaningful, but in an action adventure or shooter game it really wouldn't make enough of a difference to be noticeable or important.

Of course, this is all predicated on the notion that DBD would ever have a Hit-Point system and no other changes where made along the way; which is clearly not the case. Maybe if the more damaged survivors got the slower they ran, or the more blood they left behind making them easier to track, or the weaker they are struggling while being carried the lower their Hit-Points went into the negatives when struck down, and so on could all increase the design-space of the concept. This isn't really a critique of a hypothetical system, it's to illustrate a concept behind game design and the natural consequences behind these systems that lead to specific design outcomes.

Dead by Daylight's Game Design is Pretty Good Actually
Despite this seeming limitation, Dead by Daylight has introduced a lot of mechanics that meaningfully play around this strict adherence to the chases. A few perks do obvious things, like granting speed boosts or the occasional Exposed status effect, letting survivors get knocked down in one hit; but this is always temporary or predicated on some kind of special perk or activation requirement to grant some kind of counterplay. However, what is more interesting is how many perks and powers play around this two-hits-to-down concept in meaningful ways.

The most obvious? In a 3d video game with a complex environment, the ability to damage survivors at range with a variety of different types of weapons or power is an obvious one. Because every Killer can attack up close with a basic attack, which are essentially unlimited and much harder to avoid by survivors most of the time; most powers result in different methods of ranged or area of effect attacks. Dead by Daylight has experimented with a lot of these, and almost all of them are just different enough to make them unique. You have a basic projectile that just does damage with limited ammo (Huntress), a faster projectile that pulls survivors close for an attack (Deathslinger), projectiles with a wind up and warning that hit through walls (Pyramid Head), a projectile that does no damage on its own but significantly slows survivors or gets you closer to them so they can be hit easier (Pinhead, Singularity, the new Houndmaster, etc.) All of these attacks essentially still require you to hit the survivor twice, but have a method to make it a little easier and faster and a way to prevent survivors from "looping" the Killer (running around obstacles in circles to make it take longer to down them).

While if every Killer was rigorously designed to require two hits to down a Survivor regardless of power or what they did, the design space is expanded to allow for more concepts. For instance; there are a few killers who can knock down survivors in one hit. They either have a chainsaw that needs to be revved up and aimed (and can be dodged), or the Killer requires a certain amount of set up, like stalking survivors from afar without chasing them or building up some kind of super meter. This concept creates a juicy design space where you are essentially off loading the time cost of an average chase with a much shorter chase IF You can land your skillshot or catch the survivor making a serious mistake. This concept also extends the opposite way; some Killers actually need three hits to down survivors with their powers, which would make them complete garbage in a vacuum, but the method or ability that allows them to do this carries with it another side effect, or depletes a valuable survivor resource. For example, instead of a straight shot projectile that deals a health state, the Unknown uses a grenade-launcher-spit-thing that causes survivors to become weakened. This status effect has no real effect on the survivors other then making them a little easier to see; but if they hit a weakened survivor with their explosion it will deal damage. So while it takes three hits to down survivors with this creature's power, the individual hits are easier to land, can hit multiple survivors at once, can shoot over walls or hit through thin obstacles, doesn't need to be reloaded at a locker and has a shorter cooldown, and so on.

While you can't make an attack do more damage or something, you can add other benefits. Most of the time when Killers get some kind of generic boost, it's usually increased lunge distance, which means they can hit around certain tiles or loops easier. Your cooldown after a successful attack can be reduced by several methods, and your attacks could inflict various status effects. The survivor side is the same; you can't easily make the survivors more stealthy beyond doing weird stuff like making them transparent or shrinking their model smaller, you can reduce their grunts of pain or scratch marks- which are methods of tracking. You could just increase survivor speed, but similar to the two-hit system having too many speed boosts or bonuses would ruin the predictability and importance of certain systems like looping and time-to-kill that's extremely important for this game. Some of the most broken times of this game were when survivors could stack various bonuses and buffs to become nearly uncatchable, and in a game where one killer has to chase down four survivors this quickly becomes a big problem, which is why such important things need to be carefully considered. The developers have been less and less willing to experiment with such things, granting smaller benefits like bonuses to non-objective actions like opening chests, totems, healing, and so forth instead of touching the much more central and precarious mechanics of the game. As a side note: I think tabletop games suffer from this issue too, not just in "D&Disms", but in the general sacred cows of the genre, like having set characters or a DM, mechanics based on pass-fail metrics, and so on.

Of course even with these tricks, eventually you begin to see overlaps and repeats. Killers are less individually unique in their abilities and powers and moreso the flavor and combination of abilities they have. After all, there is only so much you can do in a 3d environment built from the ground up to be static and with a very specific gameplay loop. But what can we learn from this?

Mechanical Breakpoints
Different games have different mechanical points or levers that cannot be adjusted or included in part of the game's milieu without it totally breaking the game. These are "breakpoints". The term is also interchangeable to a system or mechanic that meaningfully changes when enough pressure is applied to it; such as an RPG where you boost your damage to the point you can defeat an enemy in two hits instead of three. This became a bit messy halfway through writing it as trying to bridge these two concepts, but I think it'll work.

So what is a big mechanical breakpoint in a tabletop game? The examples given above do start it out. For example, an enemy monster with 7 Hit-Points automatically requires two 1d6 weapon hits to defeat regardless of how good your roll is. This could be considered a breakpoint, but given the number of damage, hit, morale rules, and so on I don't actually consider this the best example. Another could be spells; a spell effect as written either takes effect, or it doesn't, as per magic resistance rules. This one is tough because depending on the spell or magic effect, there is no easy way to "tone down" its effects to represent it being partially resisted or avoided and so on, and since published games tend to have one single rule/effect (since that's what the medium is primarily, the written word), it makes sense that the mechanics would be enforced to support what the text says since anything else requires too much arbitration on the part of the DM to do regularly.

But after much deliberation; do you know what the biggest mechanical breakpoint of a tabletop game actually is? It's actions, or turns. The action economy. This sounds a lot more obvious now that I'm typing it up, but being able to do more things in a round is a huge deal. If tabletop games were typically played between parties of 10 or more, like the oldest of oldschool gamers, then this would be less significant, but nowadays? It's a big deal. The typical part of 4-6 grant a huge importance to each turn. This is so important that even boss monsters, who are often outnumber by typical adventuring parties, are given special lair or legendary actions to try and even the playing field; even though the game designers can buff the stats of these monsters as much as they want. While this is a simplification, I think this is telling to the importance of turns.

The closest tabletop equivalent in video game format is usually the CRPG or, more accurately in my opinion, the humble JRPG. You can see this effect in action, as typically the player gets their biggest power spike when they get multiple party members. Even if the new party members are "bad", simply being there to hold aggro, use items, or allowing the party to retreat even after the "main" party members died is a huge advantage to avoiding a game over. In essence, it means that number of useful party actions is the biggest mechanical indicator of strength and balancing, as opposed to things like hit points or even chance of success. This is why tabletop is rife with +1 to Hit modifiers or health or whatnot are common, but there's basically never a "if you have enough Dexterity you get to make two actions a turn" sort of thing. It would be far and away better then any other choice.

So the question is; what do we do with this information? I think there are two ways to embrace this. Firstly, designing around this limitation. This is one of the reasons I never give players bonus attacks, even for fighters, except in very specific circumstances (you want to hit multiple enemies at once? there are rules for that already) I quite like the "one turn = one action" dichotomy. I think doing things like artificially shrinking the size of enemy forces and patrols to be closer to the party in size, or doing things like lumping multiple enemies together into a single mass (horde rules) is less disruptive then forcing party members to actually feel the sting of every single enemy attacking them while outnumbered. While this does mean your actions will be very specialized and specific, I think with the right mindset and design of the game it can be just as dramatic and fun. Like if you can only choose to attack, heal, or cast a spell; designing the game to make all of those equally big and impactful could be really fun. Just linear advancement of these abilities may seem boring, but another way to to design around this limitation is to rely on setups, bonuses, or other hand-in-hand modifiers.

In the above video game examples; a perk to break a pallet in DBD 10% faster is a nice thing to have. But that's because video games are real time, and saving a few portions of a second is noticeable and useful, but not gamebreaking on its own. Meanwhile, being able to do things faster in tabletop means either going first (it's an on or off, not granular) or making more actions overall (gamebreaking), so instead, we reverse this dichotomy. In our above theoretical tabletop system, we can't let ourselves do more actions, so we make our actions better. For example, instead of giving the fighter bonus attacks, we just make his attacks really strong, or pull a DCC and make the fighter do damage even on a miss. His action is still limited to one, but it always has some usefulness or is just far and away better then a normal action.

Another method is for setups between party members. You can't have two actions, but you can make somebody elses action way better. The problem with this is usually how its implemented. Wasting an action on buffing somebody else, or placing a minor debuff on an enemy, feels like a waste of your limited turn, so instead these need to be worked into the normal system. For example, if you attack an enemy, the next party member to attack that enemy gets a bonus to-hit based on your character's leadership skill or what not. Another idea is to tie multiple actions together. For example; a Cleric heals the party members with their spells, but gets to Bless them for free when they do so. This ability may come from a better spell or for free based on their level. While technically not giving them multiple actions, they can essentially accomplish multiple things at once but only in specific situations. While not at all equal to having multiple attacks, letting Fighter split up damage to multiple foes or get free autoattack counters on people just seems perfect for an "almost breaks the rules" sort of thing. If anybody should get it combat, it would be the Fighter.

The second way to embrace the action economy problem is to do away with it entirely. By reducing a single combat encounter or situation into one contested roll, or by using new forms of initiative or interaction. I've done this myself a few times; my current game features a low-magic dungeoneering party with many first time players. For their combat or trap encounters, I have them simply perform popcorn initiative, with whoever wishes to go may go and then the opponents get to go, or something happens in reaction to their action, and so on. This allows people to participate at their own pace, and doesn't force people to play if they don't want, but I make an effort to give everyone a chance to shine. This goes beyond the scope of this (very long) blogpost though; dealing with player psychology and table politics is already such a specific learned skill, your own experience would serve you better then anything I could recommend!

Garden District- Shindig Street

The richest part of Garden. Wealthy, high class, every street you peek down you'll see several movie and radio stars, giddy socialites and young promising business men. It is ruled by the hides-in-plain-sight group; the Sequin Society. To even get on this street is a challenge, as it requires either a golden membership card (without an escort, the elite can take guests if chaperoned) or a hefty bribe to the guards stationed at the entrances to the area- both of which are very expensive and ensure that only the wealthiest can enter. The street is also one of the nicest and well illuminated places in Garden, with booths offering free samples, street performers, and businesses with open doors and high quality good for sale. The nightlife here is second to none, with entertainment, dining, and the best brothel in the city. Movie stars walk the street and rub elbows with executives. If you want to get to know someone powerful and influential in the city, this is the place.

The street itself is arranged along a central canal, which offers gondola rides to those too tired to walk. Stinking motors of public transport are discouraged, and while hovering cars are allowed, only luxurious and well maintained cars are accepted. Cars with a visible scratch or dent are given a traffic violation ticket every single night from the roving bands of community enforcers until the owner gets the message and replaces it with a nicer one. If your paint color is especially egregious and out of season, you might also be given a ticket for "surface level damage along the entire length of the vehicle". 

The other curious thing about Shindig Street noticed by first time visitors? The lack of advertisements. Most commercial areas of Garden are like an otherworldly Kabukichō or Las Vegas; a buffet of lights and signs in every language imaginable. Here, the streets are clean and decorated- calming yellow lights that are directly contrary to the attention grabbing instruments of business. Shindig Street is no less capitalistic as any other part of Garden; this place just has different rules. You are told to knock three times on the blue door on the ground floor of the unmarked building overhanging the canal- and then you are brought into the most exclusive and high-quality gun shop in the entire city. If your business can't survive on the word of mouth of the rich and powerful, then the rich and powerful believe you shouldn't be here.

Residents
Shindig Street is described perfectly by one word; Cosmopolitan. It is an incredibly diverse, multi-ethnic, surprisingly welcoming part of the city. However, it is not multi-cultural. Everyone here is expected to behave a certain way; and attain and keep a certain level of wealth. They don't care much about what you are, as long as you have the money to play with the trust-fund kids, investors, tycoons, and bank-breaking highest class alien escorts one can imagine.

The above properly describes the visible residents of the district. In fact, the entire street seems to be very low in population, comfortable, with groups of friends, couples, and loners walking the glittering lamp-lit canal. But for every one of those, there are three invisible people here as well. Servants, engineers, bodyguards- snipers watching from nearby rooftops to protect the mob boss's daughter as she takes an innocent stroll with her very rich friends. The milkman and courier coming out of a hatch in the ground- an arm leaving its package before returning back underneath- so out of the way as to not even be seen except for the briefest flash. While Shindig Street is for the rich and powerful, anything that needs to be done by someone of a lower class is done so in the most unobtrusive way possible. The rumors of rich men having a family of servants living in the walls of their mansions are mostly exaggerated- they'll just employ one of them to come live in their walls instead!

While the cosmopolitan upper class of Shindig Street is incredibly diverse, the lower class is actually less so. While the roots of this "tradition" were started by one incredibly wealthy old telephone magnate many years ago, it spread to the entire upper class and became ubiquitous. While bodyguards, butlers, and escorts may come from many places and cultures to become another colorful accessory to the rich and famous; the basic canal workers, painters, repairmen, and all manner of basic laborers of Shindig Street are of one race exclusively; the mouthless Imnar. This alien race cannot speak, and exclusivity communicate through sign language and writing on their home world- they feed off certain wavelenghts of light which cannot be found anywhere in Garden except the underground light-farms beneath the Shindig. Any new immigrant to Garden from their world will find themselves quietly rushed here- to serve the interest of the rich and powerful in silent service. They are not treated poorly either- the night laborers of this district have a higher average salary and more luxuries then most in Garden, but their presence in the city is funneled here- a secret society underneath another secret society.

But as for the true ruling power on Shindig Street- one only look to the Sequin Society.

Notable Characters - Roll 1d4
[1] Lady Ghostie - 3 HP, 1d4+1 Pocket Pistol, 1d4+2 Little Knife
Incredibly pale, paper-white thin starling. She has big black almond shaped eye, like an alien. She's a movie star, and everyone is surprised that she is actually that white, just like in the pictures. People are also surprised that her bubbly ditz personality and high pitched voice are also faked for the camera. She's incredibly vicious and will kill to get what she wants. Probably the most archetypal member of the Sequin Society.

She's also a bit of a talent scout. If your character is also monochrome, or if she just likes the look of you, you'll probably get invited to be an extra in her next Talkie. It is highly advised you attend and accept the small but fair paycheck. If you don't, you shouldn't come back to Shindig Street.

[2] Powerman - 10 HP, 1d6 Fists, 1d6+1 "Justice Calls" Backup Pistol
Superhero. Star of a very popular black and white movie of the same name; really pushed the envelope of special effects in the movie industry. Due to very specific wording on the acting contract, now required to play the character in real life. Forever. Stays on Shindig Street to avoid the occasional monster or aggressive violent gang assault; will play up small favors and helping ladies across the street as the only heroics he can handle. Despite this cowardice; is actually superhuman and had a few procedures done to make them extremely tough and capable of bunching through solid metal.

Having a bit of money trouble; especially considering the fancy diet they require with all their special alien organ implants giving them superhuman strength and toughness. The royalties are good, but the studio is dragging its feet on making a sequel. If you can somehow arrange it with the big movie studios, you'd have a superbeing in your debt!

[3] Tulok'Tul'Vul - 4 HP, 1d6-1 Snappy Pistol, +1 Psychic Resistance
Musician and amateur fortune teller. Makes most of his money on the stock market and selling his (totally real) psychic predictions about the future of the stock market as opposed to his shitty music. Convinced he's a big shot when his fortune is dwarfed by most of the casual walkers on the boardwalk. Will take any insult on the chin with a laugh and an offer to buy you a drink- except his music- in which case you're getting challenged to a duel.

His attended by a high-class Valet with him at all times. The Valet works directly for Kev Zapir, relaying the occasional ramblings of Tulok during his worst episodes to his boss, in the event that sacred prophecy slips out between the dividend returns of the construction companies and pig farmer magnate declarations of quarterly profits.

[4] The Madame - 6 HP, 1d8+2 Heavy Rifle (not carried), +1 Armored Fur Coat
She's purple, short, pudgy, and refined in every way, even when she swears. Something about her persona is just warm and inviting, and it isn't for sure or a trick either. One of the kindest and most open people among the Sequin Society, she's been around long enough to protect herself and those she cares about. Way too short and fat to be a big starlet, she instead manages talent and owns several extremely important businesses in relation to the movie business, like the teamsters and film production companies, giving her incredible influence.

She also used to hunt people down on a private game reserve with a high-powered rifle for money, but that was a long time ago. She's moved on from that, promise.

Notable Gang - Valets
Manpower- 2
Holdings- The Tip Jar (+1), High Class Hovercars (+2), Blackmail (+2)

The high class individuals of Shindig Street will claim up and down that no gangs can gain a foothold in this district. It's too posh, too clean, too exclusive. Despite their own secret society operating more or less in the same fashion. But for the most part, they're right. No street gangs or dredges of desperate criminals harass individuals walking down the opulent streets nor charge protection money to the exclusive few who qualify to run shops here. It's very disarming for those who keep their sidearm close in all other parts of the city.

But there is one exception to this; the Valets. While most of the servants and underclass of this district of the city are made up of the illusive Imnar, the valets are much more out and about. Acting as the chauffeurs, bag-boys, and other well dressed servants of high society; the valets are always ready to serve when anyone snaps their fingers; the universal sign of an aristocrat needing something. Over many years, this group of lowly servants have banded together in a sort of strange work union, pushing out individual servants, butlers, and even adventuring parties trying their best to make-good with the snobby high class residents of this district. Those who try to muscle in to this territory seem to find themselves losing friends and opportunities, the best parking places for their clients taken away just in the nick of time, their bags and belongings mishandled, until they either give a generous tip from an outstretched white-gloved hand or get with the program.

While almost always found alone and with violence being the last resort, the Valets own quite a strangehold on the high class service among the boujee hotels and walkways overlooking the scenic canal in the heart of this district. Their leader is Kev Zapir, a short and unassuming middle aged human with a clean haircut and even cleaner eyebrows. As the most popular valet of several of the cities higher level clients, he was gifted the ability to use their (very) expensive cars at his own use as long as the residents have no need of them on a visit; which they rarely do. Destroying these would be a massive blow to his credibility, and saddle him with debts that even the entire valet union couldn't possibly hope to repay.

Notable Location - The Red Theater
Angular art deco exterior, a well kept facade of a Tulorian fruit orchard stands out front, with a small curved path leading to the inside of the archway into the most important cultural hotspot in the entire city. Movies dominate here; and they are all first shown in this very theater. Exclusive to the extreme, even the paparazzi and beggars outside have to pass a certain license threshold just to stand along the main pathway, kept clear to the shining stars of Garden's culture.

Within, gifts and special announcements are given out with extreme focus and intention. You might see a woman receive a yellow bouquet of flowers and swallow nervously, before a servant pops out from behind a boiler to give her a bouquet of blue flowers; showing she has protection from a third party. Later, when dinner's appetizers arrive, a pile of bladefish eggs are presented to her plate, pointing towards the center. She excuses herself to leave and makes way to her vehicle, only for her hovercar to launch itself hundreds of feet into the air and come screaming down flattening some poor apartment building somewhere else in the city. What you just witnesses was a typical execution of the Sequin Society; a merciless war fought with big ceramic smiles and sidelong glances. This is their headquarters.

While mostly populated by rich and famous movie stars, anyone high up in the art world or their financiers can find themselves among their numbers. They show up to every new movie's first showing, having long social codes and guidelines that can only be learned from experience and decades of in-jokes and intentions, completely inscrutable to outsiders. If one of them wants to make an emergency meeting, then they need to release a new film. The theaters all over the cities are flabbergasted that people will waste millions on shoving up trash black & white films like this; but in their world, it makes perfect sense. The house is rife with assassination and secrecy. Any aspiring Sweeps can find themselves here; tasked with guarding, following, or assassinating members of the society even as they duck and dive in the secret side rooms and underground service tunnels deep beneath the city which all seem to crisscross right over this exact location.

Random Encounters on Shindig Street - 1d10

[1] Two extremely annoying young floozies walk in your path ahead of you. They walk just slow enough to slow your progress and would waste a lot of time (two turns) to just sit and wait for them to go far enough ahead, but just fast enough that overtaking them isn't easy without running and causing you to get weird looks and glances. They are constantly giggling and babbling on but ignore all polite social cues to be quiet or tone it down, and will act like YOU are the problem if you speak up about them. Just really, really annoying.

You either politely wait for them to get out of your hair or take 2 points of stress/temp-HP damage from dealing with them. 

[2] An Imnar pops out from a manhole, behind a dusty alleyway door, or from underneath a large car and opens fire at you with an SMG. He seems to be aiming high; his attack roll is made at -6 so you only get hit if you're an especially big target or very unlucky. Then, he'll attempt to run away and disappear if he manages to get out of sight.

If you catch him, he'll surrender immediately and attempt to communicate (not through spoken word) that he was simply told to try and scare you away from Shindig street by somebody rich and powerful. Either roll on the Notable Characters table (d4) to see who it was or tie it in with another dangerous NPC who has already had beef with the party before.

[3] Old irrelevant actor falls on his knees and begs you for help- he's saying that if he doesn't get some clout in this district soon he'll get killed by the Sequin Society! People are staring. It's one thing to upset them, it's another thing entirely to upset them in public. It's probably too late for this guy and it'd be best to avoid associating with him, but if you do manage to get him out of the district safely he'll be very grateful and give you his gold pass to enter Shindig Street freely, as well as giving you the location of the Valets room filled with secrets stolen from actors (Blackmail +2 can be removed in one fail swoop; for irony it's literally in a room full of dirty laundry).

[4] Well dressed street merchant tries to sell you something gaudy. But right before you push him away, somebody notices it's something from their homeworld. Like a fresh can of Coca-Cola or a pinch of black sugar salt from the hills of Xander. You just have to have it. It's expensive, but buying it gives you something that grounds you in the otherwise wild and alien city (recover a point of stress or HP).

[5] Two alien dogs, a long pink skinny one with three eyes and a short and stumpy green one with the generic antennae on its head both break loose from their handler. Naturally, the handler is (rightfully) concerned that he'll be killed if he can't get the dogs back. If you ask their names, you'll get a hint as to where each one went once they split up. If you collect both safe and sound, you'll receive an invitation to the next big movie screening for a Talkie; even the hors d'oeuvres are basically a roll on the treasure table. If you back the green one into a corner it'll spray acid at you at 2d4.

[6] You are approached by a sleazy looking man looking to invest in real estate and a peer-to-peer payment network. If you do not threaten him with violence immediately, he'll have you at the nearest restaurant, wined and dined, after having scammed you out of 20% of your current carried cash and fitting you with the (very large) bill. He's actually a low level psychic with certain mind control abilities, and will steer well clear of the party if you have psychic resistant members or psychic blanks. While he's not physically dangerous, any restaurant you end up at will have a professional hit squad on call to deal with dine-and-dashers.

[7] Confused looking old man dressed in a gi walking about. His body is lean and he practically floats when he moves, and knows kung fu. He tells you he's from the GOOD version of this setting, and is curious how he exactly got lost in this shitty version of it. If you fight him hand to hand he will absolutely kick your ass, but he can't do anything against bullets and will die like anybody else.

If you help him start a martial arts school or get him a leading role in an action movie he'll give you some pointers- permanent +1 to all hand to hand combat damage and you can ignore a point of armor on hand to hand attacks from body-weapon-strengthening techniques.

[8] Young Starlet approaches one member of your party; whoever has the nicest and longest hair, fluffiest fur, or most attractive feathers. She offers to pay you a large sum to have it shaved or plucked for her next outfit. If you refuse, you'll be followed for the next 2d6 weeks by shadowy figures, and if you're ever in a really wakened state a highly trained Collector will appear to take the offending material from you by force.

Collector- (8 HP, +1 Armor, 1d8+1 Pepperbox Gun, 1d4+1 scalpel, those hands at +1 to all attacks, Psychic Blank)
Shadowy man in a trenchcoat and wide-brimmed hat. Patches on elbows and knees. Looks like a private eye, but less noble and more sketchy. Seems immune to having his mind read, and is almost unnaturally dedicated in collecting whatever item he has been tasked with. If you look hard enough in the city archives, you can find a way to call him(?) to yourself, to which he will retrieve any one item for you, for an unusual price you may not be willing to part with.

[9] Roll on General Gang Table.

[10] Roll on General Encounters Table.