The original Orrorsh game supplement is harder to track down than some, but Amazon has a number of copies still.
Those interested should follow (I will get a small commission).

Preamble Revisit:

A long time ago, I rewrote some fairly fundamental parts of Orrorsh, the Horror Realm. While packing, I discovered where it had been filed away. This is not a complete standalone work; you will still need the official supplement to use it.

Why, then, should I read it?

The reasons are the same as last time, unsurprisingly.

First, it demonstrates how to solve a particular design problem that can occur in creating any game world: that the first draft doesn’t deliver what’s promised on the cover.

Second, some of that is achieved by rules changes, so it also demonstrates how to change the official rules of a game system to customize it to a particular set of requirements.

Third, Horror and Scary have a place in any genre, and this can be used as a foundation for bringing those elements to anything from Traveller to D&D/Pathfinder.

Fourth, because game balance isn’t just a gamey catch-phrase, and it’s a target that is easily missed. I think this supplement achieves that, though my TORG players might disagree.

And, finally, because it can be used as a game setting for campaigns / game systems outside TORG (with a bit of work), and one that’s quite different to the normal offerings.

Flavors Of Text Panel

This work employs four different text panels for different purposes. They have been color-coded and titles used throughout so that you always know what’s in front of you and why.

Definitions / Background

This style of panel is used to clue readers in on some of the broader background and context that is needed to understand the main content. In general, there was an assumed level of knowledge in the text regarding the broader concepts of the TORG system that cannot be assumed here; these panels fill (most) of the gaps. There should be fewer of these this time around.

Player’s Question:

The one taste the players had of the Horror Realm involved a guest player acting the role of the Monster/Horror. That player asked a number of questions using post-it notes to clarify different points – some of them specific to the Horror that they were running, and some more generic in nature. I’ve decided to include these, for whatever they are worth.

— My answers / responses to those questions get appended within the same text panel, like this.

Author’s Note(s):

The original text was written about 25 years ago. I’ve learned a lot since then, and some of my opinions on how to do things have evolved. This sort of text panel is where I discuss such alternatives and toss in the occasional snide remark at myself. I’m also using these for style notes.

It’s worth noting that I’m using a few design tricks that I’ve never employed before, notably backgrounds in these text panels and invisible headings in the chapter title graphics that still yield normal SEO benefits. In part 1, I didn’t have the latter figured out – I tried four or five different things but they didn’t work. After publishing Part 1, I bit the bullet and defined a new heading style in the CSS to do the job, which is probably what I should have done in the first place.

I still don’t know why my center alignment function only works properly when there’s a caption, or how to fix it.

Finally (and these should be rare), the “traditional” text panels may appear with sidebar content, and to frame the article, as usual.

I’ll repeat an edited version of this Preamble at the head of each post.

Previously

Part 1 dealt with the broad conceptual strokes, reinventing the “Realm” and the way it operates to create tension and apprehension amongst not just characters but players as well.

High theory is all well and good but ultimately meaningless unless translated into whatever game mechanics are necessary. I’ve written a number of past articles on the subject of

House Rules,

Metagaming, and

RPG Rules and Mechanics Theory.

(links are to the categories here at CM. In general, “House Rules” refers to actual examples of House Rules offered for consideration, “Metagaming” is about manipulating causes to lead to a desired effect (and when to do it and why), while “RPG Theory” tends to look to a more abstract higher-level analysis. Pick the category that’s more likely to contain what you’re looking for.

How well this content matches up to the theory and principles of those posts is an unknown quantity – I haven’t read ahead, and it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten specifics. It may be a good match, with clean and efficient rules; it may be a poor match, with clunky and time-consuming efforts that these days would not cut the mustard. Either way, they are presented here ‘as is’; if I have anything more to say about them (from a modern perspective), I’ll do so from a gray box.

While I hope to get all the way through chapters 5, 6, and 7 with this post, that’s a tall order. There isn’t enough content in the first two for a full post, so I may have to break off in the middle of Chapter 7. We’ll see how I go…

.

5. World-law Game Mechanics

Actually using these World Laws requires some changes in Game Mechanics. These changes should be made when a character – even a visiting Storm Knight – is first exposed to Orrorsh. They are listed here in the sequence in which they should be applied.

Author’s Notes: Taking Orrorsh With You

The RAW in my rewritten game supplement misses an important point. When you leave Orrorsh, what happens to these changes?

In essence: If and when you call upon a power earned in Orrorsh, they apply. If Your character has been substantially altered during a visit to Orrorsh, they persist when you leave (if you can leave). If neither of those is the case, then you can file them away somewhere and not bother with them – until the next time you enter an area subject to the Wold Laws of Orrorsh.

5.1 The True Nature Of The Character:

The first stage is to determine the True Nature of the character. There are three options: Horror, Ord, Storm Knight. In general, these are self-evident, but there are two exceptions: Possibility-rated characters from the Nile Empire with Evil Inclination, and Possibility-rated characters from Aysle with Corruption scores.

Definitions:

Horror: a life-form or pseudo-life granted supernatural abilities by exposure to Orrorsh, always at a cost, though the nature and scale of the cost may be hidden.

Ord: ordinary person, no special abilities of any kind from anywhere. Note that this does not prevent the character from having been transformed by the Probability Flux – a human transformed into a Harpy in Aysle can still be an Ord, and able to fly, with the natural attacks of a Harpy.

Storm Knight: Storm Knights carry the potential to (temporarily) reshape the World Laws around themselves so as to use special abilities conferred by other World Laws. They can do other things with the Possibility Energy that makes this possible, but that’s the main one. Furthermore, it is extremely likely that the main use for this ability is to enable them to employ the World Laws of their native environment, transforming their environment into “Home Turf” as it were.

World Laws are the operating principles that define a reality. Note that these are a package deal – all or nothing, you don’t get to pick and choose. Until a Storm Knight exercises his powers to change reality, they are bound by the local World Laws just like any other resident of the reality around them.

Possibility Rated: characters with the potential to become a Storm Knight but for whom this has not yet happened.

The Nile Empire: Pulp / Superhero Reality based in Egypt, with an Ancient-Egyptian motif. World Laws there push characters toward Black-and-white morality choices, even if these are an oversimplification of a more nuanced ethical position.

Aysle: Fantasy Reality based in Western and Northern Europe, excluding most of the continental mainland. World Laws in Aysle state that the morality of deeds is displayed on one’s features – evil and Corruption makes you more ugly, subscribing to the Heroic Ideals makes you more perfect of form and feature. There’s more to this story, but that’s all you need to know from the perspective of this game supplement.

Definitions:

TORG (more accurately, “The TORG”: This is one that should have been included last time around, but which got missed, maybe because it’s a little bit complicated. For that reason, I’m putting it into a text box all on it’s own.

There’s a hierarchy of cosmic power.

• Creatures without possibility energy lie on the bottom rung. They have no capacity to reshape their world.
• Ords occupy the second rung. While they have insufficient probability energy to reshape their world directly, they can still shape and influence it, especially en masse.
• Possibility-Rated Ords occupy the third rung. They have the probability energy to reshape the world around them, but the ability to use it remains dormant until awakened.
• Storm Knights have both the potential, and the ability to use it has been unlocked. Storm Knights can have minimal Probability Energy – barely more than an Ord – or can be vast powerhouses with unlimited potential.
• A High Lord’s Lieutenants are really just Storm Knights working for the other side, but they may be granted additional powers by the High Lord and/or his Darkness Device.
• Local Gods may exist by virtue of World Laws that make such things possible. Aysle has a whole pantheon of such. These are manifestations of the reality alteration, and as such are ranked below the instruments of that alteration, no matter how great the powers that may be bestowed upon them by the conceptual reality of their existence.
• Stellae utilize probability energy to rewrite the natural law of an environment. The transition is known as Reality Flux amongst other names. At least three are required to achieve this. They are unusually resilient and frequently protected. The energy they employ is derived from the Darkness Device to which they are linked. Coming into direct contact with a Stellae, or being too close to one when it is disrupted, can have strange effects – including triggering the transformation of a Possibility-rated Ord into a Storm Knight.
• A High Lord is a Storm Knight in partnership with a Darkness Device. These absorb probability Energy from a region or populace, funnel it through a network of Stellae, and dictate the “World Laws” that will supplant “natural law” within the region bound by the Stellae. They also funnel powers, and sometimes the possibility energy to use them, to High Lords and Lieutenants and other creatures. High Lords are also “Living Stellae” in their own right. Not all High Lords are equal, some are stronger than others. The most powerful use the World Laws that they create to further enhance their own abilities.
• The TORG contains the Possibility Energy of entire realities and can use it to create new Darkness Devices, amongst other things. No mere High Lord can stand against one, they are Primal Self-fulfilling Deific prophecies. The nature of reality itself opposes the very existence of the TORG but mist bend to the will of one should that opposition be overcome.

All clear? Good, let’s move on.

5.1.1 Evil Inclination Nile Empire Characters

These may voluntarily submit to Hekaton’s seductions and spend possibilities to gain Orrorshian Powers. Unless the character spends all his possibilities, he retains his Nile Empire World Laws and powers therefrom, but can never change his Inclination. Furthermore, he gains Orrorshian powers which in turn can be used to spread Fear beyond its borders. His true nature is Horror.

5.1.2 Corrupted Ayslish Characters

These may voluntarily submit to Hekaton’s seductions and spend possibilities to gain Orrorshian Powers. They no longer gain the benefits of Corruption, and may never become Honorable. They retain all other Ayslish powers, abilities, and limitations, and can supplement these with Orrorshian powers that can be used to spread Fear beyond its borders. His true nature is Horror.

5.2 True Form

Once the true Nature is known, the True Form becomes easily determined. Note that cyberware is only visible on the True Form if implanted after becoming an Orrorsh Character.

But it still deserves some thought. For example, permit me to offer you two NPCs, A and B.

A is a zombie, an animated dead, in this case imbued with supernatural strength and resilience to make up for an almost-complete lack of intelligence and slow speed. His True Form is of the human that he once was and who is now imprisoned in a cage of rotting flesh. The things that drive and motivate the character are the people and things that he cared for in life, though he can never have them because he radiates Fear.

B is a human ord who happens to look exactly like A’s true form – they could be twins! But his True Form is that of a zombie; B is dead inside, incapable of caring for himself or anyone and anything else. Completely without empathy, he would toss a starving orphan into the street, a real Ebeneezer Scrooge.

A is a tragic figure for all that – at least superficially – he’s a generic Horror Staple. B is arguably the greater monster and worse horror for all that he’s arguably more human. But the assignment of True Form has added layers of depth to both.

5.3 True Fear

If the character is new, simply assign this. If the character has been in play for some time, look at his objectives – what does he spend time trying to avoid or achieve? What does he seem more concerned about, or more enthusiastic about? What seems to repel him, and what attracts him?

For example, a good party member might have Fear Of Solitude as his True Fear, and so might n egocentric character who tries never to be left out. A character who is a money-grubber may have Fear Of Poverty, but look – and consider – further: what does he want to use that wealth for?

The more Noble the character, the more base his True Fear is likely to be.

Author’s Notes

The more deeply you can dig into the character’s psychology, the more threads of personality you can bring together into a unified whole, and the more profound the True Fear of the character will be.

The examples are relatively superficial; I would take Fear Of Solitude as a driving fear, but also look at the most common behavior of the character that is not explained by that Fear, and then try to find a common thread that links that behavior with a fear of Solitude, in search of something deeper.

As a characterization tool, this can be superficial or of profound depth. A tool for achieving the latter and avoiding the former was presented in these pages a loooong time ago – The Thumbnail Method (part of a series on characterization).

To use it, simply divide up the page into 12, 16, or 20 panels, as shown, then doodle something in each box while talking about the character, his opinions and attitudes, likes and dislikes – picture him lying on a shrink’s couch, answering the question, “tell me about yourself”. Every time you run out of things to say, go back to the last thing that was said and ask “why?” – if that’s already covered, go back to the one before that, and so on. While your conscious mind is focusing on the character, the subconscious is looking for elements of the characterization and (mis-) translating them into a visual format that can often be more informative, more profound, than the amount of language that could fit into the boxes could ever be.

5.4 True Death (horrors only):

This will somehow embody or encompass his True Fear. The connection has to be solid and logical but need not be obvious, and might be metaphoric.

A Fear Of Ridicule might encompass a True Death involving public exposure or public humiliation – sunlight striking the True Form, a classic Vampire death, would qualify. If the character in question is a werewolf, this is not an obvious True Death that is fully appropriate, as the Power involves disguise – the True Form is not obviously the public persona. So this would fit a meek, mild-mannered clerk somewhere (showing the effect of the True Fear on the Public Persona.

5.5 True Persona:

By now, you know what the origins of the characters’ personality are, and what his public face is. It only remains to fill in the missing piece, the True Persona.

When he’s backed into a corner, when he’s pushed to the limit, what will the character’s real personality be?

There is only one thing forbidden, one rule to be obeyed – the True Persona must be strikingly different to the public one. Not necessarily the opposite, that quickly becomes too predictable.

This is the Personality that the character might have become if he weren’t saddled with his True Fear, or perhaps the one he would have if he had given into that fear.

Continuing the Werewolf example from above, the character’s True Persona might be Cruel, or Despotic, Romantic or a Sniveler, or even Noble, self-sacrificing, heroic.

The True Persona doesn’t have to be as internally consistent as you would normally strive to be in such character constructs; a Romantic Despot, a self-sacrificing sniveler, a brave coward, these would all be valid. Strive for contrast with the normal persona and “interesting”. The opposite of the Public persona would be flamboyant – and its predictability makes it far less interesting and revealing than one of the more unusual combinations.

6. Orrorsh-specific Characteristics

There are six of these. Each is described below, along with the method of determining its initial value.

6.1 Resistance

This represents the character’s ability to resist committing evil acts for power. It is a modifier to the character’s MIND value, and can be either positive or negative. The initial value is determined in one of three ways:

6.1.1 Initial Resistance from Corruption:

• Determine the character’s current Corruption Total (SPIRIT + CORRUPT) and find the value of the result.
• Add the value of any possibilities spent gaining Orrorshian powers.
• Subtract 1 for any resistance-enhancing skills, abilities or attributes the character possesses (Faith, Focus, Willpower, etc).
• Add 1 for any resistance-weakening skills, abilities, or attributes the character possesses (esp. each item of Cyberware, and arcane skills).

The result is the characters’ initial penalty against making a Resistance check, i.e., their Resistance.

If the result is less than zero, write as -##).

Author’s Notes

In the TORG system, you have to roll higher than 11 to succeed in anything. Modifiers increase that target. So a modifier of +3 means that you need 14 or better to succeed.

Find the value of the result: TORG featured a universal modifiers chart that mapped a logarithmic progression to a linear modifier. You looked up the value of each factor in your favor and totaled them, then subtracted the values of each factor opposing your success. The more creatively you could use this chart, the more successful you were as a TORG GM. Instead of a check to sprint the length of a football field, use a check to try and sprint that length before something happens to stop/impede you.

Because the chart was logarithmic, it became harder and harder to get a big modifier from any one factor. Because all values were indexed against the chart, all sorts of trade-offs were possible – holding a heavy weight overhead until you dropped it, for example, permitted trading weight for time; for every step down the weight column, you could go one step higher on the time column.

I purposely modeled the Progressive Modifiers In The Zener Gate system on the same approach. The big secret to making such a system work? Your logarithmic base doesn’t have to be the same in every column. You could use a base of 1.44 for length/distance, 1.2 for mass, 2 for time, 2.5 for precision, or whatever. Then you just need to pick two values on each list that are equivalent to each other in terms of modifier and its simple math from there. Heck, you don’t even need to use the same base throughout a list – it’s quite possible to use a value of 1.2 for mass up to (say) 250kg and then a value of 6 for mass thereafter; this just brings higher values closer in score to the changeover point.

6.1.2 Initial Resistance from Honor:

• Determine the character’s current Honor total (SPIRIT + HONOR) and find the value of the result.
• Add 1 for any resistance-enhancing skills, abilities or attributes.
• Subtract 1 for any resistance-weakening skills, abilities, or attributes.

The result is the character’s initial bonus for making a Resistance Check.

If the value is greater than zero, write it as “+##”.

6.1.3 Initial Resistance Otherwise:

• Determine the character’s current Spirit level and find the value of the result.
• Subtract the value of any possibilities spent gaining Orrorshian powers.
• Add 1 for any resistance-enhancing skills, abilities or attributes.
• Subtract 1 for any resistance-weakening skills, abilities, or attributes.

The result is the character’s bonus or penalty for making a Resistance check.

Author’s Notes:

A subtle point that some people overlook when reading the above for the first time – in some cases, you’re determining a Penalty, in other cases, you’re determining a Bonus.

The calculation is designed to create a slippery slope. The more risky the character’s choices, the more likely it is that they will descend that slope, caught in a vicious cycle of weakening Resistance, yielding to temptation, which again lowers your resistance. Storm Knights start out strong, but any points spent on Orrorshian Powers eats into that protection at ab astonishing rate. And there are some very tempting powers on offer….

6.2 True Fear:

Represents the strength of the hold that the character’s True Fear has over them, and the resulting level of insanity. Used as the difficulty number against which Resistance checks are made.

Initial value is 10 plus 1 for each occult or arcane skill, less the adds in Willpower.

Player’s Question

With Spirit 10 Resistance 18 and a bonus of +0 or better, how can I fail?

— Four points to note:

1. Resistance checks are made using Mind + Resistance.

2. You can’t spend possibilities on the roll, but have to live and die with the straight roll.

3. With a roll of -8 or less, you will fail: Rolls aren’t used directly, except where noted; most are translated using the table at the bottom of your character sheet. To get to that +8 value, you will need to roll between 20 and 25.

4. You may think that a net roll of -8 or less is fairly improbable, and you would be right, or impossible, and you would be wrong. The other side can get up to +4 from cards, up to +4 from allied support, another +2 or more from an ability, +4 or more bonus from faith or various other sources, all without much in the way of extraordinary circumstances or effort. That’s +14 that comes off your roll to generate fear – so a roll of 19 or less yields a net -8, and a fail.

6.3 Persistence

Represents the character’s ability to overcome Fear and continue.

Initial value:

• Total MIND+ SPIRIT,
• Subtract one for each addition to an occult or arcane skill;
• Subtract one for each Arcane Theorem known;
• Add 1 for each addition to a resistance-enhancing power, skill, or ability. If the character’s Tag Skill is resistance-enhancing, count it twice.

The result is the initial level of Persistence. Note that this is a total value (like hit points) and not a skill.

Player’s Question

Unless I’ve missed something, Persistence seems to be self-sustaining, recharging itself with a successful Persistence check to continue despite Fear?

— Afraid not. Persistence is consumed in 7.3, and Evil Acts also reduce it, see.7.6.2. See below.

6.4 Fear

Fear represents the character’s unwillingness to proceed in a situation perceived as dangerous, or to risk his own life for others.

To determine the initial value:

• Total the character’s skill adds and subtract 30.
• Add the character’s True Fear score.
• Determine the value of the result.
• Add 6.

The result is the base target for Persistence Checks.

6.5 Truth

Truth is a measure of the characters ability in, and understanding of, the Occult. Akin to Faith in traditional TORG, while the Occult Skill is now equivalent to Focus.

The problem is that unlike Faith, Truth is far more slippery. You can’t get it by expending possibilities like an ordinary skill, you only get it by investigating Horrors – and you consume it in Occult Spells and Rituals. This is the more twilight equivalent of Evil.

The initial value is zero, plus 1 for each arcane skill, faith, and focus.

Author’s Notes:

Okay, some pretty esoteric detail. Think of Truth as being Spell Points – but in other Realms, you can convert Possibility energies into those spell points. In Orrorsh, they have to earned the hard way. That means that spells are much harder to cast and less frequent – but if they are spells from Orrorsh, they also tend to be a lot more effective.

Your alternative is to cast your usual spells using your Faith – but here there is a different rub to consider: In Orrorsh, you can’t ‘refuel’ those spell points the way that you can elsewhere. Sooner or later, you will run out of them – and those spells aren’t as effective as the local ones, anyway.

6.6 Evil

Evil represents a measure of the power granted to the character as a result of the commission of Evil Acts. It has an initial value of zero unless the character has chosen to submit to Hekaton (refer 5.1 above).

If the character has chosen to submit, use the following process to determine their initial Evil score:

• Add the number of possibilities spent to the character’s corruption score from before he Submitted, and determine the value of the result.
• The GM generates a bonus (representing how much Hekaton likes the new convert

  Bonus <=0 = +0 Bonus 1-2 = +1 Bonus 3-6 = +2 Bonus 7-11 = +3 Bonus >11 = +4.

• The total is the character’s initial Evil score.

6.6.1 Using Evil

Evil is expended through the use of Orrorshian Powers (Orrorsh Sourcebook, Chapter 8, as modified below). Using a 2-point power, for example, costs 2 Evil; Using a 3-point power costs 3 Evil, and so on.

6.6.2 Generating Fear

Evil is also the measurement of a Horror’s ability to generate Fear in those it encounters. Evil used for this purpose is not expended, but increases when additional Evil is bestowed. For this reason, it is important to track base evil as well as Available Evil; Evil scores are therefore written in the format “Base / Available”.

For example, a Horror has an initial value of 6/6; it uses a three-point power, leaving its score at 6/3; Because the power was not used for an evil act, it did not gain any additional Power.

It subsequently commits a 3-rated Evil Act, earning it three additional Evil; it’s score is now 9/6.

The fear generated by encountering a Horror is the value of its Base Evil; Evil of 9 has a value 4, so confronting this Horror adds 4 Fear to the unfortunate witness.

Player’s Question

Using Evil for non-evil acts creates an imbalance in the score. How can that lost Evil be recouped/restored?

— bad news: it’s gone forever, save by direct intervention of the High Lord or his Darkness Device. Inevitably, your base score will become greater than your available score. Which simply means that your Fear aura will be writing checks that your available Evil can’t cash, promising an encounter with the most terrifying horror a character has ever seen, only to deliver The Easter Bunny. With a wowwipop.

You can minimize the losses by being very careful to check the chart of Evil Acts in Chapter 8 of the sourcebook.. But there will be times when a survival edge or combat advantage is needed and there is only one way left to get it.

But seriously, it’s a rules mechanism designed to have Fear always outstrip Available Evil, reflective of the philosophy that Fear magnifies Fear, while confronting Fear usually shows that there was less to be scared of than it initially seemed.

Remember, Hekaton gets its power from people resisting the fear that its Horrors create. It wants to encourage them to make the attempt.



7. Orrorsh Events

An Event is an action or check that has special Orrorsh-specific rules because it alters the values of one of the Orrorsh-specific characteristics. There are eight Events, each with its own set of consequences. An adventure in Orrorsh can be viewed as consisting of Roleplay separated by Events.

Author’s Notes:

I didn’t see any need to list the eight events in the original rules write-up – after all there was a full table of contents at the start that did so.

That turned out to be an incorrect assessment; players could find the relevant section easily enough, but then had to trawl through page after page looking for the event that matched what they were trying to do in-game. Sometimes that was easy, often it was not.

Well, this time I forewent the Table Of Contents because I couldn’t tell which post any particular content would be located in. So such a list is now more important, and useful, than ever.

So here it is:

7.1 Encountering A Horror
7.2 Attempting to Resist Temptation
7.3 Attempting to Persist against Fear
7.4 Discovering Truth
7.5 Destroy A Horror
7.6 Commit Wicked Acts
7.7 Use A Power
7.8 Rest

7.1 Encountering A Horror

Determine the Value of the Base Evil of the encountered Horror. This is the amount by which both Fear and True Fear increase.

7.1.1 Tag-team Horrors

Encountering multiple horrors at once is both good and bad news.

One or more of the horrors is always less scary than the rest, and that weakens the combined Fear that they can induce. But there’s many of them, and that’s scarier just in itself.

To determine a compound Fear effect:

1. Find the Horror with the lowest Base Evil.
2. Find the Horror with the highest Base Evil.
3. Add the two Base Evil scores together and find the Value of the result.
4. For every 4 horrors with a Base Evil the same as the lowest Base Evil, or part thereof, add 1 to the result.
5. For every Horror with a Base Evil the same as the highest Base Evil, add 1 to the result.
6. For every 2 Horrors with a Base Evil somewhere in between, or part thereof, add 1 to the result.

The total is the amount by which both Fear and True Fear increase.

Example:

Four semi-sentient giant rats Base Evil 1
Five evil cultists with supernatural powers: Base Evil 3
One Cult Leader / Vampire: Base Evil 12
One Serpentine Lycanthrope: Base Evil 8

Lowest Base Evil: 1
Highest Base Evil: 12
Sum = 13; Value 5*

3 more rats at Base Evil 1: +1
0 more horrors at Base Evil 12: +0
4 cultists / 2 = +2
1 cultist + 1 Serpentine Horror / 2 = +1

Total = 5+1+2+1=9.

7.2 Resisting Temptation

This is also known as a Resistance Check.

Each character must make a Resistance Check at the start of each day and whenever the GM feels there is about to be the potential for the commission of one of the Evil Acts listed in Chapter 8 of the Sourcebook.

Note that if the character need not make a Resistance Check because of an earlier successful result on such a check, he cannot do so voluntarily.

The Check is MIND + Resistance + Bonus against a difficulty of True Fear.

The results and consequences of the possible results are:

7.2.1 Failure

1. The character’s True Fear increases by the amount of the failure.
2. He is required to commit a minimum 1-point Wicked Act at his next opportunity, at which time he does not need to make a further Resistance Check.
3. The Referee is required to present a suitable opportunity within three game hours. Guidelines on the level of an act are given under The Power Of Corruption,, Orrorsh Sourcebook, p57-58.
4. Until the act is committed, it costs a Storm Knight 2 possibilities to do whatever used to cost 1, and the character is frequently distracted or lost in thought, using much of his attention to fight his craving for the commission of the act. Outside of these requirements, the character remains the players’, to control and roleplay.

7.2.1.1 First refusal

Storm Knights have the resilience to refuse the act when one is offered; Ords and Horrors do not. But such refusal has consequences.

If, when the opportunity is presented, the Stormer chooses to refuse, he is required to begin watching for the opportunity to commit a minimum 2-point Wicked Act. The referee is required to provide such an opportunity within 6 game hours of the refusal, at which time no additional Resistance Roll is required.

Until the act is committed, the Storm Knight continues to pay double the possibility costs, is not permitted to play cards or have them played by others to assist him. The character is extremely distracted, unable to bring his full attention to anything else; it is taking all his concentration to overcome the urge to ‘be naughty’.

Outside of these requirements, the character remains the players’, to control and roleplay.

7.2.1.2 Second refusal

When the 2-point opportunity is presented, the Storm Knight can again refuse.

If the character again defers, he must begin actively seeking an opportunity to commit a minimum 3-point wicked act. Except as noted below, he does not need to make additional Resistance Checks until his obligatory Act(s) are completed (see below).

If necessary, the character will abandon his colleagues and strike out on his own, often discovering that he is alone in a strange place with no memory of how he came to be there.

Until the act is committed, the Storm Knight cannot spend possibilities at all, cannot play cards or have them played to help him, all his normal (non-Orrorsh) characteristics decline at the rate of 1 point per hour, cannot heal wounds, and he no longer rolls again on a 10 or 20. Characteristics cannot decline to less than a score of zero. When they are all zero, the character is dead.

If the character is then resurrected (its possible) his scores return to their normal values, and the clock – one hour intervals of decay – restarts.

True Vision during the decay process will show the character rotting away at an accelerated rate; the character is literally consuming his own body to fuel his resistance.

When the act is committed, lost characteristics return at the rate of three points per hour until the original levels are restored.

7.2.1.3 Third refusal

If the character fails to commit a three-point act in time, he will start a new day still in the grip of his lust for Wickedness. 24 hours after the roll that landed him in trouble, he must roll again, using the lowered characteristic scores and observing all the limitations above in the process. Fail again, and a three-point act is no longer enough; he now needs both a 3-point AND a 1-point act to overcome his need, and so on.

As the day proceeds, the character will repeatedly find himself in the process of committing an act, with no memory of the events leading up to it. They can then either complete the act or jerk themselves away in horror. Each time this transpires, the margin between awakening and completion of the act will be smaller, but the final decision remains the players until there is only one second left between awakening and completion.

The GM should increase the level of revulsion concomitant to the act. Instead of strangling a child’s beloved pet, it’s now necessary to do so in front of the child, and so on. The player has had his chances to get out of this relatively lightly.

7.2.1.4 Explanations and Consequences

Insanity is NOT considered a valid defense. If there are consequences for the evil act, they are on the character. A full explanation of why these events transpire is offered in Chapter ** below, with an examination of the implications for Storm Knights, and the treatment of them by the locals.

** The material being transcribed says “Chapter Nine” but I think it should read “Chapter 10”.

7.2.2 Minimal Success (succeed by zero)

The character is himself, Nothing good or bad happens to him or his characteristics or abilities as a result of the check.

7.2.3 Average Success (succeed by 1-2)

The characters Resistance and Persistence scores both increase by 1.

7.2.4 Good Success (succeed by 3-6)

The characters Resistance and Persistence scores both increase by 2, one wound is healed, and Storm Knights immediately gain an additional Possibility. The character need not check his resistance again today even if faced with the opportunity for a Wicked Act.

7.2.5 Superior Success (succeed by 7-11)

The characters Resistance and Persistence scores increase by a total of 6 (the character can allocate these points as he sees fit so long as both stats improve).

Two wounds are healed.

Storm Knights immediately gain 2 additional Possibilities.

The character need not check his resistance again for 36 hours (1.5 days) even when faced with the opportunity for a Wicked Act.

7.2.6 Spectacular Success (succeed by 12 or more)

The characters Resistance and Persistence scores increase by a total of 8 (the character can allocate these points as he sees fit so long as both stats improve by at least 2).

All damage is healed.

Storm Knights immediately gain 3 additional Possibilities.

The character need not check his resistance again for 1 week (7 days) even when faced with the opportunity for a Wicked Act.

The character may also heal one wound suffered by a companion, increase another companion’s Resistance score by 1, AND increase the Resistance or the Persistence of a third companion by 1. These benefits must be conferred immediately; they cannot be held over! if no-one is wounded, bad luck.

The different benefits can all be bestowed upon the one character if the bestower wishes, or can be bestowed upon a complete stranger (if there’s one at hand). In effect, the very presence of the successful character stiffens the spines of those companions closest to him (or those closest to faltering, if that’s the way the player wants to play it.

7.2.7 Sequence Of Checks & other rules

When multiple characters are required to make Resistance Checks, these always take place in the sequence lowest Resistance to highest, breaking ties using some random means.

This means that the characters most likely to succeed in a big way do so after those less protected have rolled, not before.

Once one character fails a check, no other rolls are needed. Only if those less Resistant succeed are the characters more likely to get good results tested.

A character who gets a great success can’t help his companions today as much as he can prepare them for tomorrow.

As much as is practical, Resistance checks should be made in secret. In particular, other players should not know when or if a character has failed the check. If a PC fails, the GM should have at least 2 or 3 others check as though the PC who failed had succeeded.

Anyone attempting to clue the other players into the results immediately confers the results of their roll on one of those players he is attempting to warn, as though they had failed the check. Nor does the character who originally failed get any stats restored – it just spreads the pain to someone else. If that’s not enough to curb any such temptation to blab, the GM may take sterner measures. The secret won’t stay hidden for long, but it should always come as a surprise when it is revealed.

7.3 Persisting in the face of Fear

Every night, whenever a character’s Fear has increased as a result of encountering a Horror or learning Truth, and every time the character Breaks (see 7.3.1 below), the character must fight the inclination to simply Give Up.

He does this by gambling some or all of his Persistence against his ability to overcome his fear. The character determines how much of his Persistence he will risk; the minimum is 1 point. This is removed from his Persistence score before he makes the attempt.

He then makes a Persistence Check, using the lowered Persistence score, attempting to get a total of Persistence + Bonus at least equal to Fear + Risk.

EG: If Snorri’s Persistence is 20 and his Fear 17, and he chooses to risk 4 points of Persistence, his total drops to 16 and he must roll a bonus + 16 that totals at least 17+4=21.

The rewards for success and penalties for failure are:

7.3.1 Failure:

Resistance remains at the new, lower, score. If the character is alone, he will give up (Break, and run, if confronting a Horror). If he is in a group and more than one fail their checks, all who failed will Break in this way, but if this character is the only one to fail, he will stick with the group; he can make no further Persistence Checks, and will attempt to persuade others to at least put off whatever they are doing until better prepared. He is reluctant to go further, and is just waiting for company before Breaking.

7.3.1.1 Breaking

Characters who Break lose one point from a normal stat (their choice) reflecting the damage to their nerves, mind, or health. If they failed by more than they risked, they will show some visible sign of the fear they experienced – whitened hair, shaking hands, bulging eyes, whatever.

Calculate the character’s Fear minus their Spirit; look up the resulting value in minutes to determine the Break Duration. That many minutes later, they are required to make a second roll in order to regain their composure.

Characters who Break will seek a suitable hiding spot at least 100 x Break Duration meters away.

If they again Break when they attempt to recover, they will abandon this hiding spot in favor of another even further away, but they don’t lose another point of stat, just more Resistance and Persistence.

In most cases, long before they can flee Orrorsh altogether, they will reach 0 Persistence and settle down somewhere under an assumed name to live out their days in Horror and Fear, too afraid to even leave their front door. Or they will have an opportunity to commit a Wicked Act, and succumb out of sheer terror, starting down the path of evil and power just top shout down their fears – using power granted for Wicked Acts reduces Fear. Its even possible for a PC to escape the clutches of fear by placing a darker mark upon their souls, then rejoin the party.

It can generally be assumed that a PC who breaks twice is no longer a viable PC.

Of course, when you’re fleeing in blind panic, it’s easy to get lost or turned around. How many times has a character Broken and Run in a Horror film only to stop and catch their breaths practically in front of the monster they were fleeing?

Author’s Notes; Die Rolls In TORG

At the bottom of every character sheet, there is is a table that translates die rolls into a bonus. It’s ALWAYS that bonus that gets used in TORG, and never the raw roll.

        Die Roll = Bonus #:
        1 = -12
        2 = -10
        3-4 = -8
        5-6 = -5
        7-8 = -2
        9-10 = -1
        11-12 = +0
        13-14 = +1
        15 = +2
        16 = +3
        17 = +4
        18 = +5
        19 = +6
        20 = +7
        21-25 = +8
        26-30 = +9
        31-35 = +10
        +5 = +1 thereafter

Anything that you can get – skills, abilities, what-have-you, that adds to your die roll thus gets translated into a greater Bonus #. If you roll a natural 10, you get to roll again and add 10; if you roll a natural 20, you get to roll again and add 20. If you keep rolling tens and twenties, you keep rolling and adding to the total roll.

The highest roll that I remember anyone making in my campaign was Stephen Tunnicliff’s Masked Avenger, who stood his ground with a rifle to shoot down two supersonic jets targeting him with their air-to-ground cannon. His total as 67? 76? Something like that. He got a Bonus number of 17 or 18, enough to turn an almost impossible shot into a success.

Oh yes, Possibilities can be spent to add to the bonus.

7.3.1.2 Second Check

Unless the character has badly overestimated how much they can afford to risk, it will generally require a couple of really bad rolls in succession to fail the Second Check as well as the first (as described above).

Any result other than failure on the second check has the normal effects of success and ends any Break. The character can then begin addressing the in-game consequences of having broken – he may be lost, for example.

7.3.2 Minimal Success (succeed by zero)

Well, the character doesn’t Break, for a start! His Persistence increases by 1+risk; his Fear increases by Risk-1 (Minimum zero), and his True Fear decreases by 1.

7.3.3 Average Success (succeed by 1-2)

The character not only doesn’t Break but takes heart and determination from the experience – he stands his ground and (metaphorically) spits i the eye of the object of his fear. His Persistence increases by 2xRisk, his Fear decreases by the amount of Risk, and his True Fear by 2 points or 1/2 the Risk, whichever is greater.

7.3.4 Good Success (succeed by 3-6)

The character doesn’t just face his fear, he sends it packing. His Persistence increases by 2 x Risk, his Fear AND True Fear both decrease by the Risked amount, and he can raise the Persistence of any comrade who didn’t Break by 1.

7.3.5 Superior Success (succeed by 7-11)

The character makes his fear an asset, driving him onwards. His Persistence increases by 2 x the risked amount, his Fear AND True Fear both decrease by the Risked Amount, and he can raise the Persistence of a companion who didn’t Break by 2 and lower another’s Fear by 2.

He also has the option of reducing his own success by the amount which another comrade failed plus 1 to give that character enough heart for a minimal success, negating their Break. Where two characters had broken, this prevents either from actually Fleeing, though one still has a “Break pending”.

This reduces the benefits experienced by the successful character by replacing them with a different benefit – keeping the party intact.

7.3.6 Spectacular Success (succeed by 12 or more

The character makes not only his own fear blanch and retreat, he puts heart into his comrades and allies. His Persistence increases by double the amount risked, and he can raise the Persistence of two of his comrades (who didn’t break) by two and lower another’s Fear by 2.

His comrades ALL get an additional +1 bonus to the Persistence Check then underway just because of the presence of the successful character.

He can reduce his success BY ONE to prevent one of his allies from Breaking and also has the option of further reducing his success as described in 7.3.5 Superior Success for two more colleagues. The character has become a Unifying Force amongst his party.

7.3.6 Sequence Of Rolls

It’s impractical to make these rolls in secret, really. So make them in sequence of highest Persistence to Lowest Persistence (which allows those more likely to get a good result the chance to apply those results as you go, speeding play).

7.4 Discovering Truth

Truth has two purposes in Orrorsh. First, it is needed to destroy a Horror. Second, another Horror can use Truth to subjugate a Horror and bind it to their will, either temporarily or permanently.

Discovering Truth is far more than the “Investigate Horrors” of the Original game supplement. Discovering Truth is the process of gaining understanding and power within the Occult overall and one particular Horror specifically.

The process is similar to that described in Investigation, p73-74, Orrorsh Sourcebook, but it is broader in scope: Consulting experts in the Occult; interviewing madmen for that one narrow perception of reality vs superficiality; talking to common natives; poring over old records; participating in Occult Rituals; capturing lesser Horrors and releasing them in return for information; investigating the scenes of past sightings and gathering accounts from eyewitnesses (if any survived), local authorities, etc; perhaps investigating an old resting place (Vampire’s Castle / Tomb) for clues, confronting the Horror itself and retreating with gathered intelligence, and anything else the PCs and GM can think of. Discovering Truth is far more dangerous than ‘Investigating Horrors’ ever was!

Furthermore, many of the actions involved are inherently Wicked Acts themselves, so the Investigators continually run the risk of being seduced by the lure of Power.

7.4.1 Acquiring Truth

7.4.1.1 Group Truth vs Individual Truth

Some group actions can earn Truth for each participant, but most actions earn Truth for one individual. There will usually be one character who emerges with more Truth on this Horror than any other; they become the acknowledged experts on the subject and the de-facto leaders of any attempt to destroy the Horror.

A significant part of an Orrorsh Plot is the GM laying down pathways and breadcrumbs to “bundles of Truth” that total sufficient to destroy the Horror, plus incidental encounters along the way. In some ways, it can be thought of as compiling a “This Is Your Life” for the Horror, one that identifies every significant turning point in it’s existence, every important milestone and victim, while at the same time preparing to capture and prosecute it for the crimes so discovered.

7.4.1.2 Old Intelligence

Time is also a factor; some information has an expiry date. Many Orrorsh plotlines will begin with an Investigator receiving or uncovering a significant piece of the Truth of a Horror, enough to convince them that there is a chance of finally overcoming it once and for all (but not so much that this will be trivially easy).

Every Horror is just a little bit different. Most of the Truth about one specific Zombie will not be applicable to any other; perhaps 10% has a crossover potential. Since Truth is expended in performing the various acts that lead to the destruction of a horror, this is essentially the leftovers of that process, any “just in case” that weren’t used.

Those snippets cannot be used against just any horror; it has to be a Horror reasonably similar in type to the one it was gathered to destroy. Information about a Vampire does little good against a Risen Spirit in mummified form. The fact that they are both life after death is NOT enough commonality.

GMs are urged to get creative when it comes to their Horrors, don’t just copy something from elsewhere – that will be too predictable, taking all the fun out of the investigation.

7.4.2 How much Truth is required to Destroy a Horror?

That depends on the Power of the Horror (discussed in another section). In General, the party needs enough Truth to be able to:

• Identify the Horror,
• learn its powers and their limitations,
• learn its weaknesses and vulnerabilities,
• locate its resting / hiding place or alternate identity / lair,
• discover its True Death,
• and inflict that death upon it.

That’s six items, so a total of 6 x the Power of the Horror is reasonable, plus a little in reserve in case of false starts or misdirection by one or more sources. Against, say, a typical Power 5-6 Vampire, that would be 36-42 points in Truth. And learning Truth is inherently dangerous.

7.4.3 Preparing Truth

So how do you go about it?

When formulating the adventure and designing the Horror that will be its centerpiece, the GM determines a Truth Cost for each of the six purposes, prepares a list of places where key information may be available, constructs clues and the occasional piece of misdirection that will lead to those locations, creates encounters to take place along the way, and gives each a value in terms of the Truth that can be found there.

There are some obvious places – wherever the party crossed paths with the Horror or with a piece of its Truth, well-known experts in the Occult, and so on.

Don’t worry if the PCs think of somewhere that you didn’t, that’s half the fun – just throw some difficulties in their way to be overcome, assign their masterstroke a value of Truth, and let them go for it!

Nor should the GM be overly concerned if the PCs don’t go for a piece of the Truth that he thought critical to their success. If it’s really that critical, there should be multiple pathways to the information, anyway.

And always remember that while they can estimate how much Truth they will need, using the rule of thumb offered earlier, the party don’t know what the ultimate requirement will be. Being neither generous nor parsimonious with Truth Awards means that players will be aware if they look like coming up short, and that more dangerous avenues need to be explored; the amount of Truth that the GM awards them is, in itself, a plot driver.

7.4.4 Truth Costs

As a general guideline, the name of the Horror is usually relatively easy to obtain, as are its major powers. These often go hand-in-hand.

The Weaknesses are somewhat harder, the Resting Place / Lair harder still, and the True Death, most difficult of all. However, at least one adventure comes to mind in which the party come into possession of a tome listing the True Death of an unidentified Horror, and everything else is harder!

The last entry on the GMs list, the Truth and Power levels required to implement the True Death, will vary. In general terms, once again, they will need as much Truth as it has Available Evil, plus enough power to block its escape routes (and Powers). The more you have, the easier it will be. At least, in theory.

In practice, the GM will set minimum levels for this last category and intensify the competition once the party get a certain level above this, matching the difficulty of success to the resources available. Yes, that’s metagaming – but the purpose is to make sure that the climax of the adventure is enjoyable, entertaining, and memorable.

Above all, anticlimax must be avoided at all costs – it’s better to kill half the party in the final battle than it is to let them all be disappointed by a ‘wimpy monster’.

7.4.5 Truth Award and Difficulty Levels

The Truth Value of a location or event plus a bonus generated by the GM give a relative measurement for the degree of difficulty that should be faced by the PCs in striving for that Truth.

A small piece of truth is 1-2 points, a medium piece is 3-6 points, a large piece is 7-12 points, and a vital piece is 13-20 points.

The difficulty measures the number of skill checks along the way, the Power levels of intervening Horrors to be dealt with, Possibilities to be expended, false leads and other problems to be solved.

This also gives a guideline to the number of possibilities to be awarded amongst the party – one for every 2-3 difficulty points, less the value of the Truth, and divided amongst the party.

7.4.6 Specific Truth Awards For Individuals

When the party succeeds in discovering the Truth (or some of it, anyway), they all get the chance to learn something from it.

Each party member adds his Occult (not Arcane) skill adds to his existing Truth level and a Bonus. The referee lists these and gets a total for the entire party.

The Truth earned by an individual is the Truth Available multiplied by his contribution to the total and divided by the grand total. Always round down. At the end, you’ll have a little Truth left over – the highest total gets one, then the next highest, and so on. You’ll never have more left over than party members.

7.4.7 Modifying Possibility Awards

Now that you know how much Truth each party member learns from his experience, the next step is to award experience (possibilities) for getting to it. Every 3 points of Truth reduces the Possibilities earned by that character by 1, which is given to one of the less-learned, so that the characters who aren’t rewarded with a lot of Truth get a bigger share of the possibilities as a reward.

Author’s Notes

Characters who earn a lot of Truth are automatically being given starring roles in the rest of that plotline. This prompted the question of how to ensure that those not given such a role by the circumstances could get a fair share of the spotlight. This was the solution that I devised.

Possibilities, in general TORG, are the heartbeat of the campaign, they are what makes the most spectacular stuff happen. Not so in Orrorsh, for the most part; the general rules take a back seat to the Realm-specific rules. Possibilities become more of a utility feature than a front-line weapon, simply because characters don’t get as many of them, and hence have to expend them more cautiously.

That has the effect of making rolls in Orrorsh more knife-edge, with less capacity for softening or negating bad results, and less ability to buff and enhance good results.

But that, in turn, makes characters with “more than their share” of Possibilities very useful to have around; they may be supporting characters in the adventure, but they are important ones.

7.4.8 Consequences Of Discovering Truth

Learning Truth has side-effects. Resistance, Fear, and True Fear all increase by the same amount as Truth learned. It actually becomes easier to resist Temptation because you can see the downside of succumbing more clearly – but, by the same token, Fear increases because you can more clearly see what you have gotten yourself into. True Fear increases because in exposing yourself to this piece of the Truth, you have also weakened your grip on Sanity – you’ve learned to think a little more like the Insane.

7.4.8.1 Insanity In Orrorsh

This is as good a place as any to go into this subject, briefly.

Madmen in Orrorsh are just people who have Broken all the way, and their most insane visions are simply another perspective on Reality, though cloaked in metaphor and misinterpretation.

That’s why you can learn a bit of Truth from conversations with such people.

Player’s Question

So, what do I use Truth for if I don’t want to Destroy a Horror, or if there is no Horror to destroy? How does a Horror use Truth?


— Well, aside from using Truth do destroy a rival (or better yet, getting others to do it for you), I have contemplated using Truth to subjugate / dominate a rival Horror, but those rules aren’t finalized yet. When they are, I’ll insert them here.

Player: Cool.

7.4.9 Subjugating A Horror

One horror can subjugate another through the use of Truth. This requires far less Truth than actually destroying that Horror.

The amount of Truth required satisfies the following expression:

Truth + Evil + Bonus >= Evil + Mind

The Truth so used is consumed in the process, and that Truth needs to be paid before the Bonus is rolled. That’s why the expression is “greater than or equal to” and not just “equal to”.

Values on the left of the “>=” belong to the Horror attempting to dominate; those on the right belong to the Horror to be subjugated.

Temporary subjugation of one Horror by another opens the door to permanent subjugation, but that’s a whole other level of complication to deal with (see later).

7.4.9.1 An ord Subjugating a Horror

It is also possible for an Ord to gather enough Truth to dominate a Horror, at least temporarily. Their formula is:

        (1/2 x Truth) + Evil + Bonus >= [(3 / 2) x Evil] + Mind

So it’s much harder and costs a lot more truth – but probably less than would be required to destroy the Horror. As before, you have to pay the Truth you think you will need just to get a roll; if it’s not enough, or you roll badly, the Truth is consumed, stripped from your mind. If you’ve taken the precaution of writing it down, you’ll find that your writings are now gibberish to you and to anyone else you show them too – aside from a couple of isolated phrases here and there that another investigator can glean some Truth from.

But there are a couple of consequences to be mindful of.

1) Dominating a Horror, even temporarily, is an innately Wicked act. You are using up the truth that could have been used to destroy it.

2) The Horror will be aware of your attempt to Dominate it. They can tolerate failure on the part of another Horror, because establishing a Pecking Order is almost automatic for such; they will NOT be so tolerant when it comes to an Ord messing with them.

In fact, it’s almost certain to create retaliation of some kind, most of which aren’t relevant to this section of the content.

7.4.9.2 A Horror Subjugating an Ord

This is much easier. It may not even cost Truth, though the Horror must have at least 1 point in Truth up its’ sleeve.

        Truth + Evil + Bonus >= [(3 / 2) x Spirit] + Persistence – Possibilities

Note that no Truth is consumed in the attempt, and that Dominating an Ord is 1-point Wicked Act. Most Ords have only 1 possibility, but there are rare exceptions.

Should the attempt succeed, the Truth cost is:

        Value (total number of subjugated Ords)
        – Value (total number of subjugated Ords -1).

In other words, it will cost 1 Truth for the first one, another truth for a second, nothing for a third, a third Truth for a fourth, nothing for a fifth or sixth, a fourth Truth for a seventh, nothing for an eighth, ninth, or tenth, and so on.**

** NB: This might be technically inaccurate, as I don’t have access to the table, it’s packed already (I didn’t think I would need it).

It’s only when the Value of the total number of Ords dominated kicks up a notch that anything extra has to be paid.

Such subjugation is inherently temporary; the total Truth cost for all dominated Ords must be paid Weekly, though Evil can be paid as a substitute.

7.4.9.3 A Horror Subjugating a Storm Knight

Ooh, that’s bad Juju, that is!

        Truth + Evil + Bonus >= [(3 / 2) x Spirit] + Persistence + Possibilities

This does cost, both in Truth and in Evil, and Storm Knights start out with 10 possibilities (and accumulate more), though they also expend them.

This cost must be paid DAILY.

7.4.9.4 Ad-hoc and temporary alliances

It’s not automatic that one Horror will attempt to Subjugate another. Ad-hoc and temporary alliances cost nothing and are voluntary acts of partnership.

An ad-hoc Alliance is a mutual arrangement with a non-sentient Horror, like a typical Zombie. Monster, or Skeleton. The sentient Horror simply has to treat the non-sentient Horror as a pet, seeing to its needs; it’s an arrangement of mutual convenience.

A Temporary Alliance is a mutual arrangement agreed between two sentient Horrors. Each must feel it is getting something out of the arrangement – there’s safety in numbers, and the increase in Fear generated by the pair is enough to qualify, but each probably has to sacrifice some of its independence and perhaps compromise their goals a little.

7.4.9.5 Temporary Subjugation

Temporary Subjugation lasts for a certain period of time before it has to be renewed. Unless noted otherwise, this is equal to one more than the difference in Evil as a value in days, i.e.

        Value (days) = Greater Evil – Lesser Evil +1

If the lesser Horror is satisfied with its circumstances, the dominating Horror simply pays the normal amount of Truth or Evil.

The first such payment, when initially Subjugating someone, must be in Truth; thereafter, it can be Truth or Evil or some combination of both, as the Dominating Horror chooses.

If the lesser Horror wants to reassert it’s independence, a fresh Subjugation check must be made, and this is a little more difficult and expensive:

        Truth + Evil + Bonus >= Evil + Mind + Bonus
        – value (# times subjugated in succession)

That last term requires some amplification – each time a Horror is subjugated, it becomes a little easier for it to happen again. Should it escape subjugation, even temporarily, the count resets at zero.

7.4.9.6 Permanent Subjugation

A Temporary Subjugation can be converted into a (more) Permanent Subjugation should the Subjugating Horror so desire (it is much harder for a subordinate Horror to escape a Permanent Subjugation).

This requires the Subjugating Horror to forfeit one point of Truth (one-time only) to the Subjugated Horror and as many points of Evil as desired. These points of Evil determine how long the Subjugation will persist before a fresh donation of Evil is required to maintain the Subjugation:

        Value (days) = Donated Evil +1

The “+1” is for the point of Truth, which persists throughout the Subjugation.

Permanent Subjugation is an option for Subjugated Ords, Monsters, and Horrors.

Any Evil donated is added to Available Evil but NOT to Base Evil (add it to the value after the “/” when writing the score (# Base / # Available). This is the ONLY mechanism that operates this way; everything else either adds to BOTH or subtracts from Available.

7.4.9.7 Mutual Evil

At the end of each Subjugation Period, any Evil Acts committed by the Subjugated Horror at the direction of the Subjugating Horror (including any in fulfillment of ‘standing orders’) are divided between the Subjugated Horror and its Master (divide by 2 and round down to get the Master’s Share). However, each subjugated horror must get to keep at least 1 Evil earned; if the half is not enough to cover that distribution, the extra needed comes out of the Master’s Share.

This can completely fund the continued domination (in which case, the subjugated Horror is probably reasonably content with the situation) or simply defray some of the cost.

7.4.10 Obligations of a Subjugated Horror

There are five virtues that have been perverted into the responsibilities that a Subjugated Horror has toward its master: Obedience, Loyalty, Service, Protection, and Sacrifice.

Failure to do so is a 1-point Wicked Act, generating Evil, but usually has consequences that are undesirable, such as Punishments by the Master (which the Subjugated Horror must accept).

Punishments do not violate the obligations of a Master (see 7.4.11 Below) unless they pose an imminent threat to the existence of the Subjugated Horror.

7.4.10.1 Obedience

The subjugated Horror must obey any instructions given to it by its Master to the best of its ability. These must be simple statements, and must be clearly understood by the subjugated Horror. No equivocation is permitted.

7.4.10.2 Loyalty

The subjugated Horror must be loyal to the Master so long as the Master satisfies its obligations toward the subjugated Horror. In essence, this simply forbids voluntary acts of dis-loyalty.

7.4.10.3 Service

Beyond obedience to instructions, the Subjugated horror must do whatever it can to facilitate the goals of the Subjugating Horror, and has to earnestly work in whatever capacity the Subjugating Horror assigns it.

7.4.10.4 Protection

The Subjugated Horror has a piece of Truth about his Master. He is required to protect that Truth to the limits of its abilities. Should it be captured and forced to disclose that piece of Truth in exchange for its liberty, it must inform the Master as quickly as possible and accept any punishment for violating the obligation to protect the Master’s secrets, up to but not including destruction.

Beyond that requirement, the Subjugated Horror is required to protect the Master from threats that the Subjugated Horror comes into contact with unless explicitly commanded not to do so by the Master, or doing so would compromise the Master’s goals or plans as the subordinated Horror understands them.

Note that semi-sentient and non-sentient Horrors and Monsters will have very limited capacity for such understanding (virtually none, in fact) and will simply attack when a threat is perceived.

7.4.10.5 Sacrifice

Should the Master be threatened, unless instructed not to do so, the Subjugated Horror is required to sacrifice itself in the protection of its Master.

7.4.11 Obligations to a Subjugated Horror

Similarly, five virtues have been corrupted into the Obligations that a Master must satisfy with respect to its Subjugated Horrors: Liberty, Consideration, Support, Protection, and Dignity.

Failure to meet any one of these Obligations can trigger a chance for the Subjugated Horror to Break the Subjugation (it may choose not to do so, which steals a point of Truth from the Master) and adds 1 to the next attempt to Break free of a Subjugation (these accumulate, so a bad Master, no matter how powerful, can eventually be escaped).

7.4.11.1 Liberty

The Master must grant the Subjugated Horror some capacity and time to pursue their own goals unless those directly threaten the Master and his goals. Any reasonable capacity is sufficient – an hour a week is probably not sufficient, a day a week is ample. Punishments do not violate this requirement unless excessive – a value judgment on the part of the Subjugated.

7.4.11.2 Consideration

The Master is required to take the needs of the Subjugated Horror into account and provide for them as much as possible. This includes the need to regularly commit Wicked Acts. Punishments do not violate this requirement unless excessive, a value judgment on the part of the Subjugated.

7.4.11.3 Support

Furthermore, to the extent that the goals of the Subjugated Horror do not interfere with their own plans, goals, or ambitions, the Master is obligated to assist the Subjugated Horror in achieving its own goals. Punishments permit the temporary cessation of support but must have a defined and limited extent; it can’t be indefinite.

7.4.11.4 Protection

Except when the Master is directly threatened, the Master is obligated to protect the Subjugated Horrors under his protection. Punishing the Subjugated Horror for some failure does not violate this requirement, but threatening its existence does.

7.4.11.5 Dignity

To the maximum extent possible, the Master must preserve and protect the dignity and capacity for self-respect of the Subjugated Horror. Punishments do not violate this requirement. In practice, this restricts the Master from humiliating the Subjugated.

7.4.12 Networks Of Horror

A master may permit a Subjugated Horror to be Master to its own set of Subjugated Horrors and Ords (a Storm Knight is probably too great a risk).

This creates a Network Of Horrors in which the Master treats his Subjugated Horrors as Lieutenants in a pseudo-medieval system of interlocking obligations.

It increases the obligations of the Master insofar as he must grant the Subordinated Horrors the capacity to satisfy the Lieutenants’ obligations to their own Subjugated Horrors, Monsters, and Ords. The value of the Lieutenants to the Master increases, because they gain in power and Evil; but this also makes it easier for the Subjugated Lieutenant to break free. So, while there are benefits to the Master, there are also downsides.

Any Evil earned by a Lieutenant through his Subjugated Horrors & Ords counts toward the Evil that must be passed on to the ultimate Master.

EG: Baron Norphil has a trio of Vampires that he has subjugated. Each of those Vampires has its own group of Subjugated servants. In one time period between Subjugation Checks, these earn totals of 4, 6, and 9 Evil, respectively. Vampire #1 gets 2 evil as a result (1/2, round down); Vampire #2 gets 3 Evil; and Vampire #3 gets 4. In addition, the Vampires earn 4, 2, and 6 points of Evil on their own behalf, for totals of 6, 5, and 10; half of these totals (round down) then gets passed on to the Baron, who gains 3+2+5=10 Evil as a result, plus any that he earns personally.

The end result is:

Sub-network #1 (2 members): 4 earned, 2 retained.
Sub-network #2 (3 members): 6 earned, 3 retained.
Sub-network #3 (4 members): 9 earned, 5 retained.
Vampire #1: 4 earned +2 from Sub-network #1 = 6; 3 retained.
Vampire #2: 2 earned +3 from Sub-network #2 = 5; 3 retained.
Vampire #3: 6 earned +4 from Sub-network #3 = 10; 5 retained.
Baron Norphil: X earned, +3 from Vampire #1, +2 from Vampire #2, +5 from Vampire #3, = X+10.

But if there are three Horrors or Ords in Sub-network 1 who earned Evil points to get to the 4, 2 is not enough to give each a point; the extra 1 comes out of Vampire #1’s earnings, which drop to 5. He still gets to retain 3, but only passes 2 up the chain to Baron Norphil, reducing the Baron’s “Take” to 9..

This might seem to be a very good deal for Baron Norphil, and a bad deal for everyone else, but you then have to add in any Donated Evil by the respected Masters for any Permanent Subjugations.

Baron Norphil donates 3 evil to each of his Lieutenants out of the 10+ that he has earned, except for Vampire #3 who is clearly a little more valuable to him, who gets four. Each of the Vampires donates 1 Evil to each of their Subjugations except Vampire #1, whose Subjugations are all temporary:

Sub-network #1 (3 members): 4 earned, 2 retained +1 returned = 3, or 1 each;
Sub-network #2 (3 members): 6 earned, 3 retained. +3 donated = 6, or 2 each;
Sub-network #3 (4 members): 9 earned, 5 retained.+4 donated = 9, or 1 member with 3 and 3 with 2 each;
Vampire #1: 4 earned +2 from Sub-network #1 = 6; 3 retained +3 from Norphil = 6 retained;
Vampire #2: 2 earned +3 from Sub-network #2 = 5; 3 retained. +3 from Norphil, -3 donated = 3 retained;
Vampire #3: 6 earned +4 from Sub-network #3 = 10; 5 retained, +4 from Norphil, -4 donated = 5 retained;
Baron Norphil: X earned, +9 from Vampires, -10 donated = X-1 retained.

The Baron retains the Subjugation of his three Vampires for a number of days. Vampires 2 and 3 retain the subjugation of their followers for a smaller number of days. Vampire #1 gets to keep more Evil, but his Subjugations are more likely to Beak Free, so it might cost him more Evil to keep them.

In reality, I would expect all three Vampires to have a blended network – some permanent Subjugations, some temporary.

It must also be stated that the Network in question is being slightly under-used; only Vampire #3 is really hustling – but this might be a reflection of the tasks allocated to them by the Master.

7.4.13 Relinquishing a Subjugation

At any time, the Master can choose to relinquish a Subjugation. This is a voluntary Breaking of the Master-Servant bond; any attempt to restore the Subjugation must start from Scratch. No stats change.

7.4.14 Breaking a Subjugation

Whenever the subjugation duration is complete, a Subjugated individual has a chance to Break Free. Unless otherwise noted:

        Truth + Evil gained since last check + Evil expended in Subjugation + Bonus >=
                Evil gained since last check + Mind + Bonus + accumulated additional bonuses,
                – value (# times subjugated in succession)

As usual, the left side of the calculation refers to the Subjugating Horror and the right to the Subjugated.

Over time, as the number of times the subject has been Subjugated in succession increases, the cost in Evil expended decreases. The subjugated become more loyal to their Master.

Author’s Notes:

The Subjugation rules have never been tested. There might need to be additional tweaks before they work properly, but the general intent is clear from the draft presented above (and which wasn’t included in the original text, as implied by the Player’s Question) before section 7.4.9.

The parts that I am least sure of are (1) The Subjugation Duration, which might be too short; (2) the chance of Breaking Free; and (3) The cost of maintaining a Subjugation.

Just so you know.

7.5 How To Destroy A Horror

The Part (or solo Monster-hunter) have compiled their dossier on the Horror that is their target. There are worrying gaps, a couple of (hopefully) lucky guesses, and a lot of theorizing about obscure connections, but it’s as good as they / he think(s) they are going to get.

They have some idea of what to expect, what it can do, what its options will be, where it is most vulnerable, and so on. They think they have what they need to block off those options, take advantage of those weaknesses, hit it hard with some Truth, and destroy it.

Along the way, they have gathered the Power they think they will need to achieve this, but they fret over potential surprises which they are sure they will encounter.

Killing it isn’t enough – it will simply rise again, potentially changing enough in the process that their Truth will no longer be valid – and True Death cannot be used against the Dead.

It’s time for a deadly confrontation…

7.5.1 Cornering The Horror

It might seem obvious, but you need to physically trap or corner the Horror or it can simply run away. It’s under no obligation to stick around and die for your entertainment. The more credible a threat you pose, the more likely it is to flee the confrontation – if it can.

And remember – Darkness may favor the Horror, but the brighter the light, the deeper the shadows it will cast.

The venue chosen for the confrontation will almost certainly have been chosen from amongst a limited palette of options, all laid down by the Horror to give it specific advantages.

Don’t neglect to take allies and Subjugated lesser Horrors into account, too – keeping its subjects from coming to its aid could be critical. You don’t want the entire party to be trapped into dealing with a subordinate while the target vanishes!

7.5.2 Overcoming Its Powers

You use Truth and Power to destroy a Horror. Every time it attempts to use its Power, you have to use yours to try and block it. If it uses a two-point Power, you need to expend three points of Power+Truth (at least one of each) to stop it. If you can’t think up a way, you can make a Truth Roll to figure it out.

7.5.3 Truth Rolls

These are not a lazy way out.

The person making a Truth Roll generates a bonus, trying for his Perception plus the Power Level of the Horror minus the adds in the Occult Skill. Possibilities may be spent.

The amount he fails by is the amount of Truth that he has to expend to Perceive an answer that lies within your means.

For example, if the target transforms into a Cobra, one solution is to become a Mongoose.

If one character can’t get the answer, it is not permitted for another to shout it out, the second character must Implement it.

Author’s Notes:

A House Rule that was deliberately in place in this campaign (and in several others that I run) – if a character is not in a position to offer a suggested course of action, and the player does so anyway, the one thing the first character is not allowed to do is follow the suggestion, even if it’s the right thing to do.

Under some circumstances, I might make exceptions – for example, in the Zenith-3 campaign, the players are all linked by a telepathic bond maintained by one of the PCs, so any idea can be passed on as quickly as a character can think of it; this House Rule only applies if, for some reason, that links is inoperative. In Orrorsh, things are simpler.

If, however, a Truth Roll is made, I might ask the other players “does anyone have a suggested solution?” and only provide an ex-cathedra answer if they don’t. And I might well have several options of different quality prepared – so the magnitude of success on the Truth roll can be reflected in the usefulness of the ‘insight’ gained.

As a truism, players enjoy an adventure more when they devise their own solutions to problems, a lesser amount when another PC finds the ‘right answer’, and least of all when a roll leads to the GM solving the problem for them. Better by far just to offer a hint or a reminder of something that could lead to an answer

7.5.3.1 Second Truth Rolls

If the other characters can’t think of a solution either, one of them is permitted to make a second Truth Roll – at 2-for-1 Truth Cost.

If he bombs out, a third character can try – at a 3-for-1 Truth Cost – and so on, until either everyone fails, or the Party runs out of Truth.

7.5.3.2 Running Out Of Truth

If the party expends all its Truth, the Horror will escape. It’s up to the GM to make that escape as exciting as possible, but it is inevitable. It will be somewhat depleted in Power, and with Key facts now known, “life” becomes a succession of hit-and-run raids and traps for both groups, as the party seeks enough Truth to finish the job and the Horror commits acts of evil to recover – with periodic attempts to erase the information the party had gathered.

7.5.3.3 Running out of Party Members

Oh, dear. The players have put you in the position of making them feel stupid (by revealing an answer that should have been obvious) or of giving the impression of setting an unfair challenge (if the answer is not at all obvious). Neither answer is satisfactory to anyone.

Time to change things up with an emergency plot twist or complication – but one that delivers the necessary answer. The bumbling NPC who always needs rescuing (who you introduced earlier in the adventure and then filed away for this very circumstance) leaps through a window, shouting “I’ll save you, [last PC to fail]! Shape Of A Mong– whoops!” as he trips over his own two feet and lands right in front of the Horror, who now has a Hostage for the PCs to rescue, but the answer is out in the open. It might not be enough at this point – Truth is sure to be running short – but the escape can always be attributed to the Bumbling NPC.

Clearly, the Horror had a power up his sleeve that the PCs hadn’t planned for. They will have to rebuild their stock of Truth, but they’ll know better, next time.

7.5.4 The Horror’s True Fear

It’s important to note that the party aren’t just trying to defeat the Horror; they are forcing it to expend its power and backing it into a corner to reawaken the power of Fear – and especially True Fear – within it. It is only when a Horror’s Power is fully expended that it becomes fully susceptible to True Death. When this has happened, it is vulnerable to it’s True Fear. The Hidden personality will emerge, as will its True Form.

Another Fear Check is appropriate at this point – one for the Horror. Fail, and it will attempt to flee, leaving itself exposed.

7.5.5 Returning the True Fear

To make this check, the party must now select one amongst their number to lead the fight on their behalf (if they did not do so even before the confrontation began). This person now expends as much Truth as the Horror has True Fear; if he doesn’t have enough, other party members can contribute at 2 expended for 1 contributed, provided that all conscious members contribute EQUALLY. Each point of Truth so expended reduces the Horror’s True Fear by 1.

If the party can muster enough Truth to completely eradicate the True Fear of the Horror, then the awareness of his fear is returned to him and he becomes fully vulnerable, effectively failing the check without even rolling.

However, it’s quite possible that the party can no longer muster enough Truth to reach that goal, which gives the Horror a chance.

7.5.5.1 The Horror’s True Fear Check

The PCs determine a Fear Total as though they were Horrors and the Horror they were confronting was a Monster Hunter. Depending on it’s nature, it could be saving as an Ord (possibility-rated or otherwise) or as a Storm Knight.

To this total, they add the amount of Truth just expended in wiping out the True Fear of the Horror and a Bonus, rolled by the Lead Character on behalf of the group.

That sets the target; the Horror then adds it’s Available Power plus the value of its Fear plus the value of any Possibilities that it has in hand. It can add any Available Power for a second time by expending that Power. Finally, the Horror generates a bonus and adds that to the total.

This is not an easy check to pass, and will almost certainly cause the Horror to at least quail in fear, if not to panic and attempt to flee.

If all goes well for the party, it’s at this point that all their hard work can be seen to have a visible impact, and they move into the ascendancy within the encounter.

But it’s not quite that easy. In a last-gasp effort, the Horror can add it’s remaining Fear (not its True Fear) to the die roll before it is converted to a bonus. This sacrifices those points in Fear but it can be enough to get it over the line, at which point things can become very messy.

7.5.6 Failing to Return the True Fear

The party members contributing Truth to the True Fear check must now make a Spirit Check against the same target number that they set for the Horror. If they fail this check, they suffer the Target Number as Stun Damage, probably causing them to pass out, while the Horror receives the value of the target as a Fresh supply of unspent Evil for each unconscious character.

It still has to get past any characters who did not contribute Truth to the attack, but this should be relatively easy, if painful for those characters. It should easily escape at this point to lick it’s wounds, but its enemies will never be weaker; depending soley on its True Personality, it may choose to attack instead of fleeing.

7.5.6.1 Licking Their Wounds

The total Truth that the party had accumulated is not completely lost to them, should they survive such a failure. While the Horror can and will take steps to render as much of it null and void as possible, he cannot change his nature, and that Truth remains.

Half the total, plus 1 per surviving character, divided as evenly as possible amongst those surviving characters, can be recovered at the rate of 1 Truth per day. Whilst this recovery is proceeding, the characters can do nothing but rest and recuperate; they may defend themselves in a life-or-death situation, but that’s it. During this time, the mere thought of the Horror is enough to create nervousness and apprehension; it is as though they were subject to a lesser version of Broken (7.3.1).

When the recovery of Truth is complete, the characters can take stock; either they recruit replacements for any comrades they have lost, and start the hunt anew, or they can forward the Truth they have gathered on the Horror to someone else who can pick up the Baton.

Remember how many Orrorsh adventures start with the receipt of a mysterious package containing some Truth about the Horror? Now you know where it comes from.

Remember that the Horror knows that it was vulnerable. Once it regains its own composure, it will take steps to protect itself. This may include attacking the enemies that caused it such pain, either directly or by proxy; subjugating itself to a more powerful Horror; unleashing a wave of terror to gain Evil and Power anew; Relocation of its base of operations; or some combination of the above.

7.5.7 The Horror’s Last Chance

But, rather than dwell on that unpleasantness, let us return to the process of Destroying the Horror, following a True Fear outcome that was far more acceptable to the party.

The Horror’s resources are low, and it’s close to panic at this point. The wise Horror will have prepared some last-ditch contingency against this day, which it may now attempt to put into action; that represents its last chance to escape destruction. Whatever that contingency plan, the PCs have to block it or prevent it from succeeding (it may be as simple as a hidden secret passage, or as complex as a power kept hidden until this day, to be charged up with the lives of any surviving followers or a simple 1-point Evil Act)

This represents one last twist in the plot, one last surprise for the players to deal with.

7.5.8 The Final Confrontation

Assuming that the Horror is successfully blocked in it’s last chance, the Final Confrontation begins.

7.5.8.1 The First Round

The Lead Character and the Horror dice off as the character attempts to deliver the True Death through a Coup-De-Grace. This might be wrestling with the Horror in front of curtains blocking the rising sun, or whatever, but it should be dramatic and visceral.

This is an evenly-matched contest. On the character’s side, they have any remaining Truth; on the Horror’s side, any remaining True Fear, Fear, or Power. Each side generates a bonus, adding (and expending) whatever they have left. Possibilities can be spent if the participants have them. Other characters can contribute cards to the boost the efforts of their side. Whoever wins the roll expends the resources consumed and adds the result to a tally.

The combat continues until one side or the other accumulates enough in their tally to match the True Fear or Power that the Horror had at the start of the confrontation, whichever is lower.

7.5.8.2 Subsequent Rounds

At first, the battle will likely see-saw a bit, going first one way and then the other. After the first round, one side may have an advantage thanks to the resources they had remaining, but this is almost certainly not going to be enough for an outright victory.

As the battle continues, each side has an advantage over the other. The characters advantage lies in the cards that can be contributed, which they should have been husbanding for this effort, and in any possibilities that they have remaining. The Horror’s advantage is that for the most part, it has not been expending many possibilities until now.

7.5.8.3 Strategy

Strategy will come into play – is it better to expend a lot of cards overcoming a bad roll or would it be better to concede that round and wait for a better chance? How many possibilities does the Horror have, anyway?

7.5.8.4 Narrative

Even if it’s not usually his style or forte, the GM should make strenuous efforts to translate the rounds of combat into tension-building narrative. Describe the battle!!

Try to involve the other characters in the unfolding events, even if it’s only “The Horror whirls and launches itself toward [Character] only to pull up short as [Character] displays [X], causing it to shrink back” – X might be a holy symbol, or some metaphor for the True Death, or simply a weapon of some kind.

Ultimately, one side or the other will come out on top. The Horror’s only concern now is survival, and it will flee the instant it gets a chance; it will probably make multiple attempts to do so, only to be blocked by not having enough accumulated advantage to win the overall contest.

7.5.9 The Coup-De-Grace

It’s most likely that the characters will win, eventually; they have the greater advantages and time on their side, slowly pulling ahead in the battle until the Coup-De-Grace can be administered, which is only when the accumulated advantage is sufficient..

That Coup-De-Grace is an attack or action that either directly, metaphorically, or symbolically enacts the True Death of the Horror.

The GM should take care in describing the consequences, translating what happens into narrative terms. It could be spectacular, it should be dramatic, and it should at least look final.

7.5.10 Strategic Considerations

I want to emphasize that there are a lot of strategic considerations for the characters to take into account.

They may choose to set aside some of their number in reserve for different stages of the confrontation. Those who participate in the early stages may deplete significant quantities of Truth, and so may not be the best choice for lead character.

They should have built up as much reserves in cards as they can manage for the final confrontation, and have some plan of action. They may deliberately assign one of their number to deal with that final surprise twist.

Should the character chosen to Lead them in the final confrontation be the character with the most possibilities, or the character with the highest Truth, having shepherded as much of it as possible through the early stages? One has a short-term advantage, the other a long-term one – and it will rarely be the same character with both.

7.5.11 The True Death action

The final hurdle to be overcome comes in the coup-de-grace, when the lead character has to describe how the True Death that they have identified or surmised is represented in the final action.

There re multiple possibilities to consider.

The GM may feel that the symbolism isn’t strong enough. The characters may have misinterpreted something and arrived at the wrong True Death. The Horror may have planted false clues for them to find, hoping that its enemies will fall into its trap. Or they may have gotten everything right.

There are only two outcomes: The Horror is destroyed; or the Horror is merely Killed, and will return to “life” at some future point, go into hiding, etc.

The GM is not permitted to make any commentary on how appropriate the interpretation of the True Death will be, save through the mouth of an NPC. Any such assessment should therefore be taken with a grain of salt by the characters.

7.5.12 Consequences Of Destroying A Horror

Well, they are not very good for the Horror! For the (surviving) party, of course, there’s the knowledge that they have destroyed something Evil, an act that will undoubtedly save lives. They have expended Power, and Cards, and Possibilities, and Truth, and are now satisfied and exhausted.

Reduce each party member’s Persistence and Fear by the amount of True Fear that the Horror had at the start of the Confrontation, and reduce Truth by the value of that amount (the nature of the Occult has just changed).

They will have gained a certain reputation – how that will be interpreted depends on who’s doing the interpretation (see Chapter 10). Some places will throw open their doors and their arms in welcome; others will shun them. Some horrors will give them a wide berth, others will see the possibility of enhancing their own reputations. Some may choose to retire, or to try and find a way out of Orrorsh until the heat dies down.

Everyone and their maiden aunt will have another Horror they want the characters to hunt down and destroy. Some may send official delegations and offer extravagant rewards.

Hekaton will have alerted the High Lord of the outcome, and any intelligence on who is responsible. Remember, it’s not just a darkness device, it’s a Sentient Evil in its own right (and yes, if you can muster enough Truth, you may be able to wipe it out completely – something in the low 4-figures should do the job).

Life can return to “normal” (until the next time) – except that once exposed to any part of the Truth, life can never be entirely “normal” again.

Award the experience, let players put up their character’s skills and stats, and start preparing the next adventure.

7.6 Commit A Wicked Act

This is necessary from time to time, even forced – which is interesting since a Wicked or Evil act is defined as committing an act of unnecessary evil! But the fact is that the Power obtained from committing these is needed to Destroy a Horror, and that from time to time a Resistance Roll will be flubbed, and a Character will have to give in. Either way, they are going to occur from time to time.

7.6.1 Definition of a Wicked (Evil) Act

The necessity of committing them requires a slight amendment to the basic definition of a Wicked Act in the official sourcebook:

Any evil act that does not directly advance a person or party’s goals is Wicked. Any act that is carried out in a threatening, violent, or malicious manner when it doesn’t have to be is also considered a Wicked Act.

It is not considered that gathering Power with the intention of destroying a Horror necessarily advances goals, because the Power could be used for something else in the meantime.

Nor is committing an act to relieve the burden of having failed a Resistance Check considered advancing goals – giving in (momentarily) to a desire for power or personal convenience, which is what this simulates, is fine and Wicked.

Of course, being Nasty when you don’t have to be is always evil, even if this does directly advance your goals.

A lot depends on the relationship between Victim and Perpetrator. If the victim is an enemy or opposed to the perpetrator, it may not be wicked. If they are a friend, ally, or supporter, it almost certainly is. A stranger or neutral party is a dicier situation and the referee will have to rule on the question.

7.6.2 Evil Rating

When an Evil act is proposed, the referee rates it on a scale of 1-5.

1 and 2 are fairly minor and petty and are considered more Wicked than Evil. “1” in particular is basically a really mean prank.

3 and 4 are Malicious, and certainly more than minor and petty.

5 is reserved for extremely serious evil acts, the kind that can land someone (not necessarily the perpetrator) in prison for a long time.

The GM should take into account how much trouble the perpetrator creates for the victim with his act, and how quickly the victim can get out of that trouble.

Some examples:

• Hiding someone’s shaving kit: barely even qualifies as an evil act. Zero. Making it look like someone else that the victim trusts is responsible takes it up to a 2.
• Newspaper reports describe a large ruby that has been stolen from a museum. Perpetrator makes an anonymous tip to the authorities that he saw the victim with something that looked like the missing gem yesterday evening, omitting the fact that he saw the victim reading the newspaper with a picture of the missing gem on the front page. That’s probably a 3, maybe even a 4 if the victim actually has contraband of some kind for the police to find.
• Beating up someone for revenge over an uncooperative attitude earlier in the day could be a 1, 2, or 3. If permanent injuries were inflicted, even a 4.
• Mugging someone is a 1, maybe a 2.
• Threatening someone to get them to talk – with every intention of carrying out the threat – is a 1, maybe a 2. Actually carrying out the threat even after they have talked is a 3, maybe a 4.
• Removing the protections around someone’s window so that a Horror can gain clear access to them, even if you plan to intervene fairly quickly, is a definite 5.
• Framing someone for murder is also a 5. Killing someone is only a 4, but killing them with some sort of torture involved kicks it up that extra notch.
• Strangling a stray cat that might be someone’s pet? That’s a 1. Strangling a stray cat that is definitely someone’s pet is a 2. .Doing it and leaving the body where they will find it is a 3. Doing it in front of them is a 4. Threatening them (“One day soon, it will be your turn”), that’s a 5.

Doing something anonymously risks an act being degraded a point; doing it in such a way that someone can be clearly identified (even if it’s a fake identity) could possibly add a point, but probably won’t; leaving a clue that suggests someone else as the perpetrator definitely does.

Some acts may be considered so heinous that the GM awards extra evil over the normal 5-maximum. For example, torturing someone – that’s a four or a five. Torturing them to death is a step more evil again. Torturing them but deliberately stopping so that they will have to live with life-long injuries or handicaps? That’s even worse.

Note that while Horrors have no compunctions about doing evil things, like feasting on the victim, most players will not go anywhere near that extreme.

The GM may or may not reveal the value of the proposed act; he has to be sure of the intentions of the PC before he can do so.

7.6.3 Evil Acts as Characterization

The need to commit frequent acts of pettiness and malice, for example threatening a witness, to gain the Power that is needed to confront a Horror tends to cause Monster Hunters to be characterized as mean, cruel, vicious, uncaring, anti-social bad-asses. “Its because they know they are needed, they feel entitled, as though they were better than everyone else,” should be the common perception.

Encourage players to play up to the hype, but be themselves the rest of the time, by noting when a PC is deliberately acting out of character and rewarding the effort appropriately, immediately.

7.6.4 Using Evil Acts within the game

Both GM and players should look to using the Evil Acts and their subsequent fallout as an opportunity to roleplay. Characters who, by their nature, have a hard time doing this sort of thing should be encouraged to view them as necessary, “the end justifies the means” – but should then be permitted to look for ways of assuaging a guilty conscience.

The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but it’s the only paved road for miles around.

Especially squeamish characters and players may choose to only target those who they perceive as evil or corrupt, even though that may reduce the rating for the act; that’s up to them, but others (including NPCs) may not feel the same restraint.

DON’T neglect the likelihood that one or two of the PCs will be the victims of someone else’s Wicked or Malicious act. If this creates the perception that everyone in Orrorsh is surly and mean, so be it.

7.6.5 Turnabout is only justice

So, someone’s told the police that you’re a burglar; they have raided their hotel room, found no contraband, and you’ve been able to produce an iron-clad alibi, getting yourself out of trouble.

You may or nay not be sure about who Swatted you, but even if you are wrong or don’t know, giving the police the name of whoever you suspect of being your false accuser is only fair.

7.6.6 Revenge is also Evil

That, or finding some other way of taking your revenge on them (even if they are completely innocent) is also an Evil Act, earning the character perpetrating the revenge play Evil and Power. So, by targeting each other, the party can get two hits for the price of one.

7.6.7 Consequences Of An Evil Act – in play

It’s a truism of RPGs that most acts should not occur in isolation – there should be consequences that manifest as the game continues to unfold. This not only makes the world feel more real, it creates still more opportunities for roleplay and generates immediate evidence that what the PCs do impacts directly on the world around them – all good things, from a game perspective.

GMs should actively look for these opportunities, and only when he spots one, decide whether or not to enact it, bearing in mind the goal ow slowly ratcheting up the tension and intensity of the game.

7.6.8 Consequences Of An Evil Act – in-game

When the act is committed, the GM reveals the rating it has been assigned. The commission may or may not be played out in-game; sometimes it’s better to hand-wave these things. Again, controlling the pacing of the game is an important consideration.

When the act is begun, the character’s Evil score increases by the rating of the deed; and at the end of it, his Resistance, Perseverance, and True Fear reduce by the amount of the rating.

An exception: when the character’s Persistence is zero, his True Fear score remains unchanged and his Persistence increases by the rating.

These value shifts are totaled (3 change is 3 change, it doesn’t matter if it’s up or down) and the value of the resulting total determined. This is how much that character’s Power increases.

7.7 Using Powers

This is not limited to powers from Evil, it includes powers deriving from Other Realms World Laws and using the abilities of Truth. Each has a power cost (in terms of Evil) already listed, or an equivalent; normally, such costs are paid with Possibilities, here in Orrorsh, they are paid in Evil or Truth.

Which one is used is up to the player, but should impact on the flavor of the scene as it plays out.

When a power is used, Evil Available or Truth are reduced by the appropriate cost, as are Fear and Resistance. True Fear increases by the amount if the cost is wholly or partly paid in Evil.

This means that a 1-point Evil Power, used once, effectively increases the difficulty of a Resistance Check by 2.

7.7.1 Powers From Evil & Other Realms

Many of these are listed on p95-98 of the Orrorsh Sourcebook. The list is not exhaustive, but is broad enough that additional Powers and equivalents can be listed using the existing list as a guideline.

The method of deriving the quantity of Powers has changed, however; the Value of the Base Evil score is used to determine the number of Power Points available. A character with 6 Evil thus has 4 points available; when the character reaches 10 Evil, they will gain another point.

Points less than three can be used or stored, with the Power to be selected later. Thus, the character with 4 points could buy two 2-point powers, 1 two-point power, or 1 three-point power, and have points unspent. The next opportunity to spend those unspent points comes when Evil points are next received. This is how characters (and Horrors) can gain more than one three-point power – but this is not easy, requiring 15 Base Evil points.

7.7.2 Powers From Light

These include the Miracles listed on p89-93, Occult Spells p84-88, and Orrorsh Skills p68-73 of the Orrorsh Sourcebook. They may also include, with GM approval, miracles and Occult spell equivalents from other Realms (even if those are usually Arcane in nature). The GM should especially scrutinize compatibility with Orrorsh Axiom levels.

7.7.3 The Nocturnal Option

Any 3-point Evil-based power can be reduced to a 2-point cost by specifying “nocturnal” at the end of the name.

Any 2-point Evil-based power can be reduced to a 1-point cost by specifying “nocturnal” at the end of the name.

Any 1-point Evil-based power can be reduced to a 1/2-point cost by specifying “nocturnal” at the end of the name.

“Nocturnal” means that the power is fully available only after sunset and before sunrise, or during the totality of a solar eclipse, which happen on a weekly basis in Orrorsh (somehow). It is available in twilight and partial solar eclipses with a 1- action delay, and available during Lunar Eclipses and extreme cloud-cover conditions with a 2-action delay.

7.7.4 The Daylight Option

This is the exact opposite of Nocturnal, and can be used only with Powers from Light. In essence, they are fully available only in full daylight; available with a 1-action delay in twilight conditions; and available with a 2-action delay in predawn conditions.

7.7.5 The Graveyard Option

Any 3-point power from either Evil or Light can be reduced to a 2-point cost by specifying “Graveyard” at the end of the name.

Any 2-point power from either Evil or Light can be reduced to a 1-point cost by specifying “Graveyard” at the end of the name.

Any 1-point Light or Evil-based power can be reduced to a 1/2-point cost by specifying “Graveyard” at the end of the name.

“Graveyard” must be followed by either a “+”, a “-“, or an “x” sign.

“Graveyard+” means that the power is fully available only when the character is standing within a consecrated Graveyard; it is available with a 1-action delay if such a Graveyard or Church is within 100 meters of the character, with a 2-action delay if such a Graveyard or a Church is within 250 meters, and with a 3-action delay if such a Graveyard or Church is within 500 meters.

“Graveyard-” means that the power is fully available only when the character is standing within an unconsecrated Graveyard; it is available with a 1-action delay if such a Graveyard or Desanctified Church is within 200 meters of the character, with a 2-action delay if such a Graveyard or a Church is within 500 meters, and with a 3-action delay if such a Graveyard or Church is within 800 meters.

“Graveyard-x” means that the power is not available if the character is located within 25 meters of a Graveyard or Church; is available with a 3-action delay if such a Graveyard or Church is within 100 meters, is available with a 2-action delay if such are within 250 meters; and available with a 1-action delay if such is within 500 meters.

These restrictions do not compound or stack; if there are two such locations, determine which one imposes the lesser restriction (Graveyard+, Graveyard-) or greater restriction (Graveyard-x) according to distance and use that.

No power can have the Nocturnal or Daylight restriction AND a Graveyard restriction.

7.7.6 “Delay”

Delay means that the character uses an action activating the power as normal, but it does not start instantly. The character has to complete 1 additional action round (in which they can act as normal) for a 1-action delay; the power either activates at the conclusion of that action round as though they had just activated it, or at the start of the character’s next round if it’s something they have to actively use/control.

For a 2-action delay, they have to make 2 actions while waiting; for a 3-action delay, they have to make 3 actions.

7.7.7 Restrictions Advice

It is strongly recommended that only half of a Character or Horror’s powers have any restriction at all, or they will be too-easily defeated.

7.7.8 The “Split Restriction” Option

With GM approval, a character can take a restricted form of a power and a variant form of that power that applies only if the restriction does not apply, for the full price of the unrestricted power. Such powers should be listed sequentially with the variant conditions carefully noted.

With a split-condition power, the character has the choice of which power will be activated after a delay when the restriction doesn’t fully apply. For example, if the primary power is “Nocturnal”, the variant power would be listed as “Not Nocturnal”; in Twilight conditions there is a 1-turn delay. At the time of activating the power in twilight conditions, the character can choose either the primary version or the variant; if they do not so specify, the primary version is the default.

Split-restriction powers can NEVER activate simultaniously, it’s always either one or the other.

7.8 Resting

Resting requires uninterrupted peace and quiet, provided care, and all other aspects of a sanatorium.

Being consulted, or even visited by those associated with the events which produced the need for Rest impacts the recovery as detailed below.

Resting bestows “Tranquility Benefits” upon the character.

There are two Resting variants available to the GM, and he can choose either or both of them for different circumstances within the campaign.

7.8.1 Tranquility Benefits

Resting increases Resistance, and reduces Fear and Truth – Power becomes less important as calm replaces Tension, Fear and Truth fade as memories fade and soften with distance).

The amount of these changes is the value of the number of Days of uninterrupted rest.

7.8.2 Hard Resting

Any interruption resets the clock, but delivers the benefits of the resting prior to the interruption.

For example, a character rests for 45 days, gaining 8 points of Tranquility benefits. His friends then stop by to see how he’s doing; to gain a further point (from 8 to 9) the character needs to rest for 60 days after the interruption.

Depending on how badly the character needed to Rest in order to regain his equilibrium, he may be ‘locked away’ for years.

Except on the first morning of Rest, and on the night after an interruption, the character need not make Persistence or Resistance checks.

7.8.3 Soft Resting

Interruptions reset the clock to half the accumulated rest period, but only delivers the benefits of that half; the difference is the setback caused by the interruption.

For example, a character rests for 45 days, gaining 8 points of Tranquility benefits. His friends then stop by to see how he’s doing. This disturbs his hard-won equilibrium; his clock resets to 22 days, and his recovery declines to (5 or 6 points, I don’t have the table in front of me). but, in a mere 23 more days (not counting the day of interruption), the character will be back up to where he was – 45 days and 8 points of Tranquility Benefits.

7.8.4 Leaving Orrorsh – In Private

Simply getting out of Orrorsh, if the character can manage it, creates a level of relaxation that is analogous to Resting. if the character is not in the company of anyone associated with the Trauma, each day spent outside of Orrorsh without encountering a Horror counts as 1/4 days of total rest in a sanatorium, no matter what the character’s activities are.

If those activities can be described as ‘restful’ or ‘calming’, they count for a 1/2-day’s rest instead. For example, an ocean cruise bound for Hawaii might take 2 weeks; even if the character plays shuffleboard all day, gambles all night, stumbling back to his cabin drunk as a skunk with a different lady under his arm each night, that would still count as “being on holiday” which is inherently restful – so those 14 days would count as 7 days of Rest.

If the character enters a situation which can be considered analogous to an Orrorsh sanatorium, but located outside Orrorsh, the time spent there counts as DOUBLE. So 21 days in a monastery or someplace specializing in total pampering would count as 42 days of Rest.

7.8.5 Leaving Orrorsh – In Company

Even leaving Orrorsh in the company of those associated with the Trauma is somewhat beneficial. Simply replace “1/2” with “1/3” and “1/4” with “1/7” in the details provided above.

7.8.6 Encountering A Horror While Resting

Oh dear. Some people just have no luck at all.

Compare the Tranquility Benefits to the True Fear of the Horror. If the benefits equal or better the True Fear, the encounter counts as an interruption, nothing more; the character might even be well enough to summon his comrades (interrupting his rest) to hunt down and drive away this Horror, which is going to be fairly small potatoes as Horrors go.

If that’s not the case, however, the Character loses ALL benefits of resting to date, automatically fails any Persistence or Resistance checks, and his Resting clock resets to a negative number in the amount of that True Fear. Instead of having the benefits of (say) 8 days Rest, he is now at -10 days of Rest, and his symptoms are negatively affected as well – consult the table for the value of the negative days of Rest and TAKE OFF the result in Tranquility “Benefits”.

This can be enough to tip a Disturbed character – i.e. one needing Rest – over the top into Insanity or Worse.

7.8.7 Disturbed Characters

Disturbance is determined with two comparisons:

• Resistance or Persistence of less than 1/2 SPIRIT
• Fear greater than 1/2 SPIRIT.

A Disturbed character should pick up 1 quirk (any minor thing will do) for every 5 points below their SPIRIT their resistance or Persistence has fallen below their Spirit value, and one for every 5 points of Fear.

Most Disturbed characters are fully capable of living a normal life without dramas. They might benefit from a Rest but don’t actually need one.

7.8.8 Severely Disturbed characters

If the character’s stats are in worse shape than that –

• Resistance or Persistence of less than 1/4 SPIRIT
• Fear greater than SPIRIT.

– they on the Brink of total mental and emotional collapse. Resting is no longer an option, and the character may find themselves committed to an asylum if he does not take charge of the matter and admit himself to a care facility. The difference between the two is how easy it will be for the character to then get back out.

An Asylum is, by definition, full of profoundly disturbed people. The care is not at the same standards as a sanatorium, and there will be more frequent interruptions. As a result, it’s recommended that the Soft Rest option be used.

7.8.9 Insanities

Worse still are those poor souls whose stats are severely distressed:

• Resistance or Persistence of less than 1/6 SPIRIT
• Fear greater than 150% of SPIRIT.

For every 3 quirks, they should pick up an Insanity. The first one can be mild or minor; subsequent ones should be more profound.

Author’s Notes

The Orrorsh Guidebook doesn’t have a list of Insanities. I simply referred to Call Of Cthulhu in the notes that followed the above, which is less than completely helpful. I think I’m now in a position to do better.

Quirks & Tics

There are a huge number of lists of quirks and tics for characters available online – these aren’t necessarily for RPGs, but that only makes them more useful for character purposes.

I’m listing them as a table – the idea being that you should roll randomly to select which list you reference each time, and then choose from amongst those offered.

There are a number of extra entries on the table, intended for use should one of the top 12 cited go dark for some reason.

1. 150+ Useful Character Quirks (plus a few cliches to avoid) | Reedsy
2. 1001 Character Quirks [PDF] | Scribd

   NB: You get 30 days to read and download PDF books from Scribd Free, after that you have to subscribe A$14.99 per month (about $10 US). I suggest that you go hog-wild for those 30 days. They have over 170 million documents archived. Make a list of subjects in advance!

3. A List of 500 Character Quirks and Traits – list 1 | Wattpad
4. 405+ Character Mannerisms: Quirks & Tics for Memorable … | Book Bird
5. Character Quirks: Unleash 360+ Unique Traits & … | Book Bird
6. 250+ List of Character Quirks for Believable Characters | Kindlepreneur
7. List of 234 Interesting Character Quirks | YourDictionary
8. The Definitive List of 105 Character Quirks | Authority Self-Publishing
9. Table Of 100 Character Quirks [PDF] | The Spokesman-Review
10. A list of quirks for characters to make them a little more interesting | Tumblr

    Warning: very small text!

11. 165 Mannerisms That Will Bring Your Character To Life | ServiceScape
12. A list of character quirks and habits collected from old sitcoms | Tumblr

    Warning: very small text!

+1) d100 Personality Quirks | Reddit

+2) List of character quirks | Listography

+3) A Writer’s List Of Interesting Character Traits | HobbyLark

+4) The Ultimate List Of Character Traits and Quirks | Studentandwriter.com

+5) Quirks [for] GURPS4e – Wiki | Fandom

+6) 101 Player Character Quirks (1-50) | RPG Alchemy

(There’s a link at the bottom of the page to entries 51-101).

+7) 1001 Character Quirks | No Goblins Allowed

(Actually, only up to 305 so far).

Which rings me to:

Insanities

I should start by referring readers to The Envelope Is Ticking – it’s pretty much a masterclass in how to handle insanities in-game.

Next, I want to link to a thread on En World’s forums, one post of which contains a list of 20 insanities with descriptions: Insanity Generator | En World

And finally, perhaps the most useful of all, here’s a list of 100 symptoms of Insanity, thanks to D&D speak. Some are fun, some are crippling. 100 Insanity Effects

Wow, got there! About 22K words, and it’s done, a week early – and at the same time as the 30K 2nd part of the Aysle Rewrite! That’s a solid result for 2 weeks of work!

Next week, and the week after, I have a couple of completely unrelated articles outlined, again to give me time to cope with any disruption due to the need to change addresses.

Until then!