Rising Sun Eternal: Character Creation

Protagonist Creation

Follow these steps to create a new Protagonist.

STEP 1: Determine Statistics

Statistics are Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Intelligence (INT), Power (POW), and Charisma (CHA).

They range from 3 (the worst) to 18 (the best), with an average of 10 for an ordinary adult. Statistics represent core capabilities possessed by all Protagonists. All are important.

Either:

• ROLL STATS: For each stat roll 4D6, drop the lowest of the four dice, and add up the other three. Place the six rolls in whichever stats you like.

Or:

• ASSIGN STATS: Divide 72 points among the six stats however you like, or pick one of the sets from page 9 and assign each score to one statistic.

STEP 2: Calculate Derived Attributes

Hit Points, Willpower Points, Sanity Points, Breaking Point and Damage Bonus are derived from stats. They represent physical and mental resilience.

• HP = (STR + CON) ÷ 2, rounded up.
• WP = POW.
• SAN = POW × 5.
• BP = SAN - POW
• Damage Bonus from STR score: 1-4 = -2, 5-8 = -1, 9-12 = 0, 13-16 = +1, 17-18 = +2

STEP 3: Select Archetype

What does your Protagonist do for a living (or just to stay alive)? Archetype dictates what skills your Protagonist has, his or her basic resource level, and the number of Bonds he or she possesses.

STEP 4: Calculate Resources Rating

The Resources rating is a number between 0 and 20 that reflects the Protagonist’s social status and access to valuable or useful equipment or supporters. A Protagonist’s base Resources rating is dictated by his or her Archetype, however during later steps, you can sacrifice other potential bonus skills in favor of a higher Resources score; conversely, you can agree to drop Resources rating of 0 (entirely without social standing or wealth) and receive additional skills.

STEP 5: Define Bonds

Bonds indicate the strength of relationships with the most important people and communities in your Protagonist’s life. — like a spouse, child, a long-time travelling companion, or a local community of people. Bonds help Protagonists resist mental trauma — but as your Protagonist’s life falls apart under the stress of the adventuring life, Bonds deteriorate.

There are two types of Bonds – bonds with individuals and bonds with an entire community. The latter reflect the Protagonist’s standing as part of the community and his or her ability to influence the group.

• Each Individual Bond has a value that starts equal to your Protagonist’s Charisma (CHA).
• Each Community Bond has a default value equal to half the Protagonist’s Resources rating, however during creation of the Protagonist the player may elect to sacrifice potential skills in favor of a higher value. Conversely, the player may elect to take a Community Bond with a value of 1 (lowest possible social standing) and receive additional skills.

Archetypes

The following Archetypes are appropriate for Japan-era games of occult investigation. They don’t cover every possible character type but focus on likely protagonists in mystery and investigation tales. The GM is encouraged to develop other archetypes to cover other character types suggested by players.

Archetypal Skills

Each Archetype has a predefined kit of skills with scores that replace the default skill ratings. This represents the baseline training, experience, and education for that Archetype.

Once the Archetype has been chosen, the player can then add up to 10 bonus skill point picks, adding 20% each time to either Archetypal skills or other skills. The player can also trade in Bonds or Resources for more bonus skill picks, or sacrifice these to raise Bonds or Resources. No skill can be raised higher than 80% at this stage.

Archetypal Resources

The value of the Starting Resources in the Archetype is the lowest value in that Archetype. The player can trade in other bonus skills or Bonds to raise this figure.

A character with a particular Archetype can be assumed to have the basic equipment for that Archetype (court robes for a Noble, sword and light armour for a Warrior, etc.)

Artist / Craftsperson (Shokunin)

RECOMMENDED STATS: DEX

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Appraise 40%

• Art (choose one) 60% or Craft (choose one) 60%

• Art (choose one) 40% or Craft (choose one) 40%

• Insight 60%

• Search 60%

• Streetwise (choose one) 30%

• Social Etiquette 50%

Choose any 4 of these that you don't already have:

• Building 50%

• Charm 60%

• Knowledge (Type) 40%

• Mechanics 70%

• Peoples 50%

• Persuade 50%

• Reassure 40%

• Scavenge 50%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4

BONDS: 3

Clergy / Spiritual Leader (So, bozu, kannushi)

RECOMMENDED STATS: CHA, POW

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 60%

• Charm 60%

• Insight 60%

• Literacy 40%

• Persuade 60%

• Reassure 60%

• Buddhism or Shinto 80%

Choose any 3 of these that you don't already have:

• Administration 50%

• First Aid 50%

• Foreign Language (Chinese) 40%

• History 50%

• Law (local) 50%

• Regional Lore (choose one) 40%

• Social Etiquette 50%

• Streetwise (choose one) 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 3

BONDS: 4 (including one community bond at rating 12)

Healer/Leech (Isha)

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 30%

• Charm 60%

• First Aid 50%

• Insight 50%

• Knowledge (type) 50%

• Medicine 50%

• Search 60%

• Social Etiquette 50%

Choose any 2 of these that you don't already have:

• Craft (type) 40%

• Foreign Language (Chinese) 40%

• Literacy 40%

• Reassure 50%

• Regional Lore (choose one) 40%

• Research 50%

• Streetwise 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 3

Hunter(Matagi)

RECOMMENDED STATS: STR, CON

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 50%

• Athletics 60%

• First Aid 50%

• Insight 60%

• Melee Weapons 60%

• Missile Weapons 60%

• Search 50%

• Stealth 60%

• Survival (type) 40%

• Swim 40%

• Track 60%

Choose any 4 of these that you don't already have:

• Insight 60%

• Knowledge (Type) 50%

• Navigate 60%

• Peoples (Type) 50%

• Regional Lore (Type)50%

• Ride 60%

• Scavenge 60%

• Unarmed Combat 70%

STARTING RESOURCES: 2

BONDS: 3

Merchant (Akindo)

RECOMMENDED STATS: CHA, INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 50%

• Appraise 50%

• Charm 50%

• Persuade 50%

• Social Etiquette 50%

• Streetwise (Type) 40%

Choose any 4 of these that you don't already have:

• Alertness 60%

• Drive 60%

• Harangue 50%

• Navigate 50%

• Peoples 40%

• Reassure 50%

• Ride 50%

• Stealth 50%

STARTING RESOURCES: 4 (MUST sacrifice at least one Bonus Skill Pick to further increase Resources during Phase 4)

BONDS: 4 (including one community bond at rating 14)

Noble (Kuge, Buke, Daimyo)

RECOMMENDED STATS: POW, CHA

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Charm 50%

• Insight 50%

• Law (Type) 50%

• Persuade 50%

• Politics 50%

• Regional Lore (choose one) 40%

• Social Etiquette 60%

Choose any 3 of these that you don't already have:

• Administration 50%

• Art (choose one) 30%

• Foreign Language (choose one) 40%

• Harangue 50%

• Knowledge (Type) 40%

• Melee Weapons 70%

• Military Training (choose one) 50%

• Reassure 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5 (MUST sacrifice at least one Bonus Skill Pick to further increase Resources during Phase 4)

BONDS: 4

Scribe/Official (Shugo, Jito)

RECOMMENDED STATS: INT

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Administration 40%

• History 50%

• Knowledge (choose one) 50%

• Literacy 60%

• Research 60%

• Search 60%

• Social Etiquette 30%

Choose any 4 of these that you don't already have:

• Foreign Language (choose one) 40%

• Insight 50%

• Knowledge (choose another one) 40%

• Law (Type) 40%

• Occult 50%

• Politics 40%

• Regional Lore (Type) 40%

STARTING RESOURCES: 5

BONDS: 2

Soldier (Bushi, samurai, ashigaru)

RECOMMENDED STATS: CON, STR

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 50%

• Athletics 50%

• Insight 40%

• Melee Weapons 50%

• Search 50%

• Stealth 50%

• Survival (choose one) 50%

Choose any 4 of these that you don't already have:

• Craft (choose one, often Armourer) 40%

• Harangue 50%

• Missile Weapons 60%

• Military Training (Type) 40%

• Ride 50%

• Streetwise (Type) 40%

• Unarmed Combat 60%

STARTING RESOURCES: 3

BONDS: 4

Thief / Gambler (Kokunin, ronin, teika, otokodate)

RECOMMENDED STATS: DEX

ARCHETYPAL SKILLS:

• Alertness 50%

• Appraise 40%

• Athletics 50%

• Insight 40%

• Search 50%

• Stealth 50%

• Streetwise (choose one) 40%

Choose any 2 of these that you don't already have:

• Craft (choose one, often Locksmith) 40%

• Disguise 50%

• Harangue 50%

• Law (choose one) 40%

• Melee Weapons 70%

• Persuade 60%

• Scavenge 60%

• Unarmed Combat 60%

STARTING RESOURCES: 3

BONDS: 4

Income and Costs

A protagonist’s “wealth” is represented in an abstract fashion by his or her Permanent Resources rating (0–20). For games in Japan, the following approximations can help frame that wealth in terms of the prevalent currency of the day – gin and mon – or annual income in rice – koku.

All classes can be assumed to have the basic clothing and equipment for their role.

What does the Resources Rating Mean? Resources Financial Assets, Income and Cash-at-Hand Rating 0 Penury 0 no assets 1-4 Poor 1 koku/annum squalid hovel or rented room, one set of clothes 5-8 Average 4 koku/annum work clothes, reasonable cottage 9-12 Above Average 10 koku/annum a house, one servant; several outfits of good clothes 13-16 Well Off 40 koku/annum a good house and a handful of servants 17-18 Rich 80 koku/annum houses in the town and country; a full household of servants 19 Very Rich 500 koku/annum estate in the country, luxury townhouse; entourage 20+ Super Rich 1000/annum+ sky is the limit Currency consisted of copper mon, as well as silver shu, bu and ryo ingots. Occasionally some Protagonists will have access to silver gin coins (180 mon) 4000 mon = 16 shu = 4 bu = 1 ryō Protagonists can be assumed to have currency equal to 5 x their resources in mon in cash-at-hand Some representative costs: Rice balls: 1 mon Fish soup: 1 mon Cup of sake: 1 mon 1 night in pilgrim hostel common room: 1 mon Rice bag: 3 mon 1 night in inn common room: 5 mon Basic knife, axe: 10 mon Bo staff: 10 mon Bamboo flute: 15 mon Sack of rice: 20 mon Medicine and bandages: 30 mon Calligraphy set: 50 mon Domestic dog: 50 mon Yarinaga javelin: 450 mon Hankyu short bow: 500 mon Katana: 750 mon Daikyu longbow: 1000 mon Yoroi armour: 54,000 mon

Skills

The table below shows the set of skills available to Protagonists in Japan. The table also shows the base ratings for each skill, and which can be specialized.

Skills and Base Ratings
Administration (10) Alertness (20) Appraise (10) Art (Type) (0) Athletics (30) Buddhism (10) Building (10) Charm (20) Conceal (10) Craft (Type) (0) Disguise (10) Dodge (30) Drive (20) Farm (10) First Aid (10) Foreign Language (Type) (0) Harangue (10) History (10) Insight (10) Knowledge (Type) (0) Law (Type) (0) Literacy (Type) (0) Mechanics (0) Medicine (0)	Melee Weapons (30) Missile Weapons (20) Military Training (Type) (0) Navigate (10) Occult (10) Peoples (0) Persuade (20) Pilot (Type) (0) Politics (0) Reassure (10) Regional Lore (Type) (0) Research (10) Ride (10) Scavenge (10) Search (20) Shinto (10) Social Etiquette (10) Stealth (10) Streetwise (Type) (0) Survival (Type) (10) Swim (20) Track (10) Unarmed Combat (20)

Skill Descriptions

Administration

Base Rating: 10%

A knowledge of how bureaucracies work and what kinds of records, paperwork, tallies, etc. it invariably generates. Use it to sift through detailed ward records or house accounts to find that one quirky point that just doesn’t seem to fit the usual pattern. It’s also used as part of official administrative duties.

Use this skill to rapidly navigate your way adeptly through administrative records to find what’s important. Note that this skill is primarily about interpreting information you have; if you need to actively go out and track down tallies, records, etc. that would be covered by the Research skill.

Alertness

Base Rating: 20%

Alertness detects danger. Use it to hear a bow being strung, to see the shadow on the other side of a shoji screen, to spot a concealed item hidden under a kimono, or to catch someone who is trying to escape notice using Stealth.

Appraise

Base Rating: 10%

The ability to quickly determine the true (intrinsic) value of an item. This is an important skill in ensuring that bartering exchange deals are favorable to you. It is also helpful in know what items or resources others might be willing to trade to obtain.

Art (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

Expertise at creating or performing a work that sways emotions and opinions. It also encompasses knowledge of techniques and trends in your field, and the ability tell a particular creator’s real work from a fake. Anyone can draw a rough sketch; the Art skill reflects knowledge, practice, and talent. Each type of Art is a separate skill: Acting, Dance, Forgery, Music, Poetry, Sculpture, Singing, Storytelling, etc.

Athletics

Base Rating: 30%

Your Protagonist trains to get the most out of his or her strength and agility. Strength and Dexterity cover raw physical power and manual dexterity; the Athletics skill represents long practice doing things like running, jumping, climbing, and throwing.

Use Athletics to:

• Outrun someone (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 47).

• Jump an intimidating gap.

• Climb in a crisis.

• Land safely in a fall of up to three yards.

• Hit a target with a thrown rock or put a javelin exactly on target.

• Catch something without warning, such as catching a dropped glass globe.

Buddhism

Base Rating: 10%

This skill represents knowledge of the canon and creeds of Buddhism, and the practices of the various Buddhist sects. This is practical knowledge as much as theology, and a highly skilled practitioner of Buddhism can be assumed to be a monk, nun or priest.

Building

Base Rating: 10%

Building or constructing anything from a low wall to a mile-long viaduct. The most basic levels of the skill are enough for simple domestic jobs; the highest levels are dazzling temples, or robust fortifications.

Charm

Base Rating: 20%

Changing someone else’s viewpoint or convincing them to do something for you through guile, cunning, “buttering-up”, or other such subtle techniques. It’s not about threatening them (that’s covered by the Harangue skill) or using logic to convince them (that’s Persuade) but covers all those other soft-touch methods. With Charm you might be able to connect with an individual on a more personal level – maybe even seduce them – and such changes can become long-held attitudes or beliefs. If the target of the skill starts from an antagonistic viewpoint, some form of OPPOSED TEST will probably be needed to overcome their negative impression.

Craft (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

Making and repairing sophisticated tools and structures. A job that most people could figure out does not require the Craft skill, only an INT or DEX test. Use Craft for specialized work that needs training: Craft (Mechanic) to get a broken apparatus working — or to sabotage one beyond repair; Craft (Locksmith) to open a lock without a key, and so on.

A common specialization is Craft (Jury-Rigging) which represents an ability to create lash-ups of equipment to perform a function when the proper tool for the job is unavailable.

The Game Moderator decides whether a task requires Craft. Each Craft type is a separate skill: Blacksmith, Carpenter, Jury-Rigging, Locksmith, Mechanic, etc.

Disguise

Base Rating: 10%

Alter your Protagonist’s appearance, voice, posture, body language, and mannerisms to avoid recognition without drawing attention.

Dodge

Base Rating: 30%

Evading danger through instinct and reflexes. Use Dodge to avoid an attack. Against Missile Weapons and catapulted rocks, Dodge is only useful to get to cover.

Drive

Base Rating: 20%

Handling a carriage, chariot, or other ground-based conveyance safely in a crisis. Unless the Game Moderator says otherwise, every Protagonist can drive safely in normal conditions. Use this skill to keep the conveyance safe in a tense pursuit or on dangerous terrain.

Farm

Base Rating: 10%

The essential peasant’s art of coaxing food out of the ground, rearing and keeping livestock, etc.

First Aid

Base Rating: 10%

The initial treatment and stabilization of injuries. Use it to help a character recover lost Hit Points. By comparison, Medicine ensures long-term recovery. (See HEALING on page 47.)

Foreign Language (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

Fluency in another language. Each foreign language is a distinct skill. Having 20% allows halting conversations; at 50% your Protagonist speaks and reads like a native. The greater the skill, the greater the complexity of the information your Protagonist comprehends and the less time it takes. You don’t need to roll a Foreign Language skill unless the Game Moderator says the situation is exceptionally difficult.

Harangue

Base Rating: 10%

The art of browbeating someone into agreeing with your point of view or agreeing to do something you want them to do. This technique is not a subtle attempt to engage with their good nature (that’s covered by the Charm skill) or their logical reason (that’s Persuade) – instead it’s all about bluster, shouting, and threats. But sometimes these can be more successful than other techniques, although the individuals on the receiving end are unlikely to enjoy the interaction quite so much.

History

Base Rating: 10%

Uncovering facts and theories about the past. Use it to remember or find a key fact about the distant past, recognize an obscure genealogy, or comb through annals that nobody without your deep education could find.

Insight

Base Rating: 10%

Insight obtains information about a person — especially information the subject would rather conceal — through observation, conversation, or examining patterns of behavior and relationships. Use Insight to recognize signs of dishonesty from verbal cues and body language, gauge attitude and intentions, cultivate sources of information about a subject, determine what it would take to get a subject to cooperate, or recognize clues of what a subject wants to conceal.

Insight can notice signs of mental illness but Reassure would be needed to assist with a specific malady. A subject who deliberately tries to deceive your Protagonist can attempt an opposed test comparing their Persuade against your Protagonist’s Insight.

Knowledge (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

The systematic study of the processes of the world. This is more than common schooling; anyone can attempt an INT test to remember facts from whatever (rudimentary) schooling they received. It is usually book knowledge, but can also be the systematic knowledge of unlettered men. Each Knowledge area is a separate skill: Astrology, Grammar, Herbology, etc.

Law (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

Use this skill to understand and manipulate the power structures that exist within society, to either influence outcomes or bullshit your Protagonist’s way out of trouble.

Different societies have their own systems of law – the understanding of each is a separate skill. Because all societies are based on common human behavior, you can attempt to use your Law skill at half chance to navigate the vagaries of a an entirely new and unfamiliar social order.

Literacy

Base Rating: 0%

In Japan, Literacy is a separate skill from your native tongue, and often the prerogative of certain classes and groups. In such settings, it has to be learned separately.

Mechanics

Base Rating: 0%

The tradesman’s ability to fix or build devices which operate according to some simple mechanical principle. This includes traps, simple clocks, automata, etc. Large-scale devices might fall under Building instead. Fixes that require specialized training or apparatus are likely to fall under specific Craft skills (e.g., Locksmith), however this skill might still provide some basic assistance with those tasks.

Medicine

Base Rating: 0%

The study and treatment of injury and illness. Use it to diagnose the cause of an injury, disease, or poisoning, identify abnormalities such as toxins or diseases, identify the cause and approximate time of death, identify a dead person’s last meal, or prescribe proper long-term care. By comparison, First Aid keeps a patient alive until healing is possible.

Melee Weapons

Base Rating: 30%

Lethal use of melee weapons in combat. Use it to hurt or kill an opponent with a sword, club, or other hand-held weapon.

Military Training (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

Many people spend a part of their careers in some form of military service to a lord or a sovereign, or just an independent mercenary. A great many people are also employed in the giant bureaucracy that keeps the military supplied and functioning. This skill represents first-hand training and experience obtained through time spent in one such military service. Use it to apply military tactics or strategies to a situation, to recall specific details about a particular unit type, or to know your way around common war gear.

Missile Weapons

Base Rating: 20%

Safe and accurate shooting with common Missile Weapons in combat. Use it to hit a target despite the adrenaline, panic, and shock of violence interfering with hand-eye coordination, or to allow for windage and distractions when sniping prey.

Navigate

Base Rating: 10%

Finding your way quickly with maps, charts and tables, orienteering, the stars, or dead reckoning.

Occult

Base Rating: 10%

The study of the supernatural as understood by human traditions, including things like magick, folklore, and secret societies. Use Occult to practice sorcery, to examine and deduce the intent of a ritual, or to identify occult traditions, groups, grimoires, tools, symbols, or legends.

Peoples

Base Rating: 0%

The knowledge of other human cultures not your own. Use it to understand their morals, religious beliefs, customs, and mores, and to identify (but not translate) their languages. Where History is about the distant past, Peoples is about the behaviors of living cultures and how they relate to each other and yours.

Persuade

Base Rating: 20%

Changing another’s deeply held decision or desire. Use Persuade to get your Protagonist’s way when the subject is so stubborn, what your Protagonist wants is so valuable, or the deception is so flagrant that Charisma isn’t enough.

With Persuade, your Protagonist might convince a witness that what she saw was innocuous and not unnatural, talk a ward head into helping you cover up an outbreak to avoid a mass panic, or draw useful information out of an unwilling subject. This skill also allows your Protagonist to resist persuasion and interrogation in opposed Persuade rolls.

Pilot (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

Piloting, navigating, and captaining waterborne vessels. Use it to keep a vessel safe in a crisis, such as through a storm or in a dangerous pursuit. Each vessel type is a separate skill: Small Boat, Longship, Galleon, etc.

Politics

Base Rating: 0%

Knowledge of the political and regulatory environment of the kingdom, empire, etc., that you inhabit. This could be used to actively exert political power – especially if you are high in society – or simply to understand and manipulate the existing administrative, fiscal, and other mechanisms of government.

Reassure

Base Rating: 10%

Use this skill to understand the mental illness afflicting a person, help an afflicted person along the journey back to sanity, or talk someone down when the mental illness threatens to take hold.

You can also use this skill to assist in social interactions with someone, to calm them from an agitated state in order to extract information from them.

You cannot use Reassure on yourself.

Regional Lore (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

Many educated people know a little bit about every place, but if you’ve spent a long time living in (or studying) a specific region you learn so much more. This skill represents a deep understanding of the people, places, and common practices that are unique to one particular region. Use it to recall folktales that villagers tell, unique local words, or unusual ruins and earthworks found in the region. It can also cover quirky superstitions and rites that are particular to the region.

Research

Base Rating: 10%

The ability to find specific information in a large repository or buried in files, records, or scrolls. Use this skill to navigate a jumbled archive of ancient scrolls, pull out buried details in account records, or otherwise locate whatever relevant information lies buried.

Note that this is different to the Scavenge skill, which is used to locate physical resources or items rather than information.

Ride

Base Rating: 10%

Handling, training, and riding an animal - horses, oxen, whatever. Use it to keep safe on an animal in a crisis and to keep riding animals safe, calm, and healthy.

Scavenge

Base Rating: 10%

The world is full of useful items, although most people don’t know where to go looking for the good stuff. Use this skill to loot a battlefield or locate valuable resources like food and water. Anyone can find items in places where they are likely to be found (e.g., food in a larder); use this skill to find things in places where nobody else would think to look.

Depending on the game setting and the scarcity of the item being sought, the difficulty of Scavenge tests and the quality of the items unearthed by successful rolls may vary.

Note that efforts to rummage for information rather than items is handled by the Research skill instead.

Search

Base Rating: 20%

Finding things that are concealed or obscured from plain sight. Searching an abandoned dwelling may not require the Search skill, only time and effort, or a sufficiently high INT. Use Search to find an object that was hidden with the Stealth skill or is otherwise so well hidden or disguised that it needs an expert. The Game Moderator may roll the Search attempt, so you don’t know whether your Protagonist succeeded or failed.

Shinto

Base Rating: 10%

This skill represents knowledge of the canon and creeds of Shinto, and the practices of the various Shinto sects. This is practical knowledge as much as theology, and a highly skilled practitioner of Shinto can be assumed to be a priest or shrine maiden.

Social Etiquette

Base Rating: 10%

Good manners cost nothing, or so they say, and in this era they are an essential part of ‘civilized’ society. One simple faux pas at court could cost you your honour, your office – or even your head. Use this skill to know what complex rules of etiquette might apply in any given situation and be prepared to follow them instinctively when you need to. Alternative, it may be used to spot situations where someone else is failing to follow one of society’s many little rules.

Stealth

Base Rating: 10%

Concealing your presence or activities. Use it to hide a weapon, camouflage a position, conceal an occult amulet, pick a pocket, move silently, follow without being seen, or blend into a crowd. A Protagonist attempting Stealth can be detected only by an opposing Alertness or Search skill (see OPPOSED TESTS on page 47).

Streetwise (Type)

Base Rating: 0%

In cities and towns, there is an entirely separate ‘society’ that exists between the criminal classes, the poor, and everybody else that the high-and-mighty would prefer to believe don’t exist. In fact, there are many different sub-cultures and groups who make up this (largely invisible) under-class. This skill represents detailed knowledge of one such strata of society. It includes extensive details about contacts – who does what and where one might go to obtain any kind of illicit goods or services common to that group. Some groupings may be region-based (e.g., “the docks”), while others represent broad categories of people or services (e.g., “beggars and lepers”).

Survival (Type)

Base Rating: 10%

Knowledge of the natural world. Use it to plan an expedition, predict weather, recognize when fauna or flora are unusual, use the environment to gather other information, or find food, water, and shelter. Each type of Survival is its own skill. Common types are Mountains, Urban, Wilderness.

Swim

Base Rating: 20%

Most Protagonists can swim for leisure. Use the Swim skill in a dangerous crisis: going a long distance in choppy water, keeping a friend from drowning, or getting to a boat before the tentacled thing below grabs you.

Track

Base Rating: 10%

The basics of trailing game through a wilderness – or a mark through a crowded market. Opposed by the Stealth skill.

Unarmed Combat

Base Rating: 20%

Self-defense. A fight between untrained combatants often involves more shoving and shouting than real violence. Use Unarmed Combat to hurt or kill an opponent with your Protagonist’s bare hands (or feet, elbows, teeth, or head).