Minor update to the ol' houserules

    Good evening, good evening. This is a small post just to say I finally got around to updating the houserules on the sidebar of this blog. My opinions on The True & Only Way to Play have changed in the 4 years I've been running the GLOG (wow, that's a long time, I'm old...) and this document reflects those changes.

Click the sheep to access the new G24 rules (not the economic council)

    I learned that some of you were unironically using G20 (the old ruleset) (not the economic council) in your games, which made me feel bad. That's more of a reference document of assumptions about how games worth than a full ruleset. So this new document explains things like "you can't set someone on fire by hitting them with a candle lantern", and "if your character dies they can't be played anymore, usually" and such, which might make the DM's job a little easier. At least now you know what rules to throw out.

    That's everything. Happy trails.

Fire Kills (New System for a New Setting)

    A few months back I posted a list of random encounters from a weird Napoleonic war zone. This was a snapshot of an alt-history bio-horror setting I have occasionally mused upon in that hidden Vehme which men call "the GLOG server".

Source: "Victorious Hungarian" by Locheil

    The setting of Fire Kills is a post-Great War Europe, with a victorious Central Powers analog working to reconstruct the ruined continent in the wake of manmade horrors beyond our comprehension. The old Hermetic Orders have been supplanted by the French "New Medicine" paradigm, and the war was fought with tanks, machine guns, vat-grown supersoldiers, clockwork brains, poison gas, humoral posthumans, and the sacrifice of half the progeny of Europe. Now, in the shattered ruins, the PCs pick through the rubble and attempt to address injustices and tragedies both old and new.

    The main touchstones are Pumpkin Scissors, Fullmetal Alchemist, the Dishonored series, various Clark Ashton Smith stories, and especially the work of Arthur Machen. For the pseudo-science I'm depending on my limited understanding of humoral medicine discredited turn-of-the-century psychological and sociological theories.

    "What used to be conceptualized as the realms of the Fairy, domain of the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Courts, is now referred to as "The Great Unconscious". The fairies themselves are "autonomous instincts", or "archetypes" if they're particularly powerful. Our world, scientists now understand, is the 3-dimensional surface of an 11-dimensional hyper-hyper-hyper-hyper-hyper-hyper-hyper-hyper-sphere. What we think of (heh) as "ideas" and "thoughts" are like shadows of the instincts and archetypes moving below. And just as the shadow can be shaped by altering the form, and the body can be shaped by altering its humors, so too can the mind be shaped by altering the archetypes...

    "But! That's all high-level stuff. Nothing for the PCs to worry about, and probably irrelevant to their sincere but lighthearted adventures through war-torn famine-stricken Europe."

    CatDragon of Glass Candles asks, "Who won the Great War in the Fullmetal Humorist setting, or did you make it deliberately up to interpretation?"
    Nobody won the Great War, CatDragon. Sad mime face. All Europe lost...
    But in another, and perhaps more literally true, sense: the Central Powers won the Great War. A united Germany (with Prussian clockwork technology) and Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The French, along with their pressganged "allies", lost. England is a smoking fairy-haunted ruin. The USA was glad to wash its hands of the whole business, and now isolates itself on the other side of the Atlantic. Napoleon is finally "dead". One of his great-grandsons is in charge of France now.

Source: in image

    Well, enough rambling. How does a game in this setting work?

Character Creation

    The PCs fought in the War, perhaps on the wrong side — but now the War is over. To improve the world, to make it a better place for generations to come, to shape the future in their own ideological image, to atone for their sins, or just to make rent, they have become members of the Truth and Beauty Commission (name pending). This gives them either unlimited jurisdiction or none whatsoever, depending on your perspective, and they've been sent out into the world on a picaresque to solve extremely heavy-handed morality plays about the Haves and the Have-Nots. They travel from train station to train station solving problems involving ex-supersoldiers turned bandits, corrupt nobles, failed Evil Science Experiments, traumatized survivors of horrible-but-ultimately-pointless battles, &c &c.

    To make a character, you must consider their Temperament and their Skills. There are four Humors which make up one's Temperament; these are Sanguine for making friends, talking people into favors, impressing superiors, and general sweet-hearted behavior, Choleric for bursts of strength, bullying, headbutting both metaphorically and literally, shouting down others, kicking doors, avoiding consequences and general hot-headed behavior, Phlegmatic for thinkin', translating, designing gizmos, picking locks, deciphering rituals, and general big-brained behavior, and Melancholic for terrifying normals, toughing out wounds, wringing someone's neck in total darkness, befriending horrible monsters and general cold-blooded behavior. A normal human being has 2 points in each of these.

    For the purpose of this post I'll be assuming the PC is a Supersoldier, who has had their humors  realigned (or designed from scratch if they're a test-tube baby) according to the principles of New Medicine. Supersoldiers have 9 points to assign to their Humors according to their taste, though you can have no less than 0 and no more than 5 in a single Humor, and they cannot have a tie for their highest Humor. That highest Humor determines their Temperament. You aren't required to have your characters act stereotypically according to their Temperament, but other characters will expect them to, and will be surprised if they fail to do so.

• If you have 0 Sanguine, you are unable to be happy. You cannot vocalize except to make aimless threats or scream at the top of your lung. 
• If you have 0 Choleric you cannot act in combat and you cannot win arguments.
  
• If you have 0 Phlegmatic you are an amnesiac. You cannot recall your own history, and you cannot use Academic Skills.
• If you have 0 Melancholy you cannot remain silent; you must constantly sing, hum or mumble. You cannot willingly enter darkness without a source of light.

    It's not recommended that you start with 0 in any attribute, although you can if you want to. This is to simulate fucked-up little bastards, and the injury system.

    These Supersoldiers also have 20 points to invest in Skills. Skills don't have a maximum value, but it gets harder to improve them the higher your rating in that Skill is. Ratings 1–4 cost 1 point each, 5–8 cost 2, and so forth. These Skills are as follows:

Battlefield

1. Armory, for the maintenance and operation of firearms and artillery
   
2. Hand-to-Hand, for combat with melee or natural weapons
   
3. Heavy Machinery, for the maintenance and operation of tanks, automobiles, ships and Heavy Machines
   
4. Military, for tactics, bureaucracy, and military history, or for interacting with military authorities
   
5. Shooting, for combat with guns
   
6. Piloting, for the maintenance and operation of planes and airships.
   

Academia

1. Biology, for the history and practical use of the science (including battlefield medicine)
   
2. Chemistry, for the history and practical use of the science (including explosives)
   
3. Forgery, for the production or identification of forged handwriting, fake artifacts, or falsified documents
   
4. Library, for study and for finding references in books
   
5. Surgery, for the history and practical use of the art (including first aid)
   
6. Profession, a generic skill representing training and experience in other fields. May be taken multiple times, e.g. a character might have 2 points in Profession (Law) and 1 in Profession (Actor)
   

Escape

1. Animals, for veterinary practice, handling of tamed animals, or befriending wild ones
   
2. Athletics, for running, jumping, swimming, climbing
   
3. Bluff, for keeping a straight face in a poker game, lying with a smile, or pretending to be something you're not
   
4. Civilian, for information-gathering, befriending normal people, pretending to live a normal life, or for interacting with civilian authorities.
   
5. Stealth, for hiding, sneaking, pocket- and lock-picking.
   
6. Survival, for rope-tying, fire-building, tracks-following and &c.
   

    When a PC is faced with an appropriate challenge, the DM (stands for "Doctor of Medicine" in this game) decides the difficulty of the challenge by assigning it a small integer number. They also decide what Humor and what Skill is appropriate for this challenge. The player adds up their character's total values in that Humor and Skill, rolls that many d6s, counts how many dice come up 4, 5 or 6, and if that total is above the assigned difficulty, they succeed.

    I feel like kind of a dope explaining this step by step. You people have played dicepool systems, right? Shadowrun maybe, or Vampire: the Masquerade? I'm talking about dicepools.

Source: in image

   

Combat

    I should also explain, briefly, how I intend to run combat in this system. I haven't actually tested any of this yet so it's subject to change at a whim. It'll operate a bit like Best Case Scenario. Rounds are about a second or two, and all actions take place simultaneously. If it matters who moves first (e.g. you're trying to slam a big vault door, and a horrible monstrosity is trying to slide under the door and eat you), roll an opposed Sanguine.

    To attack someone in hand-to-hand combat, roll Choleric (or Melancholic if you're attacking from surprise) + Hand-to-Hand, versus their roll of Choleric + Hand-to-Hand. If you have more successes than they do, subtract the difference from their Choleric. When they hit 0 Choleric, they've had the stuffing beat out of them. If there's no one nearby to protect them they can be killed, knocked unconscious, tied up, or can have their precious super-organs stolen.

    To attack someone with a gun, roll Sanguine (or Melancholic if you're attacking from surprise) + Shooting, versus their roll of Sanguine plus any bonuses they have from cover or distance. If you have more successes than they do, they have been fucking shot with a fucking bullet. They roll Choleric and if they don't get more successes than you did, they are dead of being shot. If they do roll more successes, then your original number of successes are subtracted from their Choleric as per being wounded in hand-to-hand.

Example Melee Weapons

1. Brass knuckles. Concealable, silent.
   
2. Combat knife. Concealable, silent, adds an extra success when attacking.
   
3. Tomahawk. Silent, +1 success, can be thrown ten meters.
   
4. Lead pipe. Silent, +1 die.
   
5. Wakizashi. Silent, +1 success, +1 die.
   
6. Katana. Silent, +2 successes

Example Guns

1. Webley. A double-action revolver, reliable and accurate. This revolver or ones much like it were carried by Entente officers during the war, for all the good it did them.
   Range increment of 40 meters (i.e. at 41 to 60 meters subtract 1 from your successes, at 61 to 80 meters subtract 2 and so forth). Six shots. Concealable.
   
2. Luger. A self-loading, self-cocking pistol — what a wonder of the modern age! The officers of the Central Powers preferred the Luger. Sidearms made little difference, but these pistols were sturdy enough to survive the war and fall into others' hands, so long as their original owners weren't blasted to smithereens by French artillery.
   Range increment of 20 meters. Eight shots. Concealable.
3. Winchester. A tube-fed, pump-action shotgun, with a heatshield and a bayonet lug for trench combat. The Americans made short, bloody work of those who ended up on the wrong end of this gun.
   Range increment of 40 meters, but ineffective past 80. +2 dice.
   
4. Lebel. A venerable platform, personally approved by Napoleon when he was "alive". This Lebel may have lost her Rosalie in her ten, twenty or thirty years of service, but she still shoots.
   Range increment of 100 meters. Nine shots. +1 success.
   
5. Huot. The Canadians were desperate to answer the Central Powers' growing number of LMGs, so they assembled this monstrosity out of the carcasses of fallen rifles. There's some sort of poetry in that.
   Range increment of 100 meters. Twenty-five shots, but it fires five with every attack. +1 success. If you choose to fire another five, +1 die.
   
6. Osokin. A shamanic musket that can only be operated by those who have accepted a contract with the spirits hosted in the barrel. This machine kills Leninists.
   This gun fires based on Phlegmatic, not Sanguine. Range increment of 50 meters. One shot, and you can either spend 30 seconds reloading it or pay a point from one of your Humors.
   

    I suppose I'm rather out of things to say. This isn't a very good post, I guess, since it's just proposing a derivative, poorly-thought-out and completely-untested system, but I wanted to get all those rules off my conscience. Usable content for this setting, detailing some adventures, factions, characters, locations &c may be forthcoming. Perhaps I'll answer some burning questions, like "what happened to Russia?" (the czarists fled east and made sweet with the indigenous people of Siberia, while the anarchists are running around in the west with tank-trains) and "what happened to the U.S.A?" (it developed a sakoku policy and has been sinking any Old World ships it finds) and "what happened to Britain?" (fairies ate it. Crowley is super dead). Perhaps we'll visit my shitty, abandoned, Dungeon23 idea. It had some frankensteins in it. Anyway, goodbye.

5 GLOG Wizard Classes, M:tG Style

    I been playing Magic: the Gathering. Here's how to play Magic: the Gathering in GLOG.

Source: in image, art by Jason Kang

    Let me hit you with the basic concept: you're a GLOG wizard, but you don't (necessarily) get MD as you level up. Mana isn't something that humans make for free. If you want magic you need to hardscrab for it, need to tear it out of the still-beating hearts of dragons and so forth.

    The spellcasting mechanics are basically the same as in general GLOG. You have a Mana Pool, and that pool contains Mana Dice, and you roll Mana Dice to achieve effects from the [sum] and [dice], and you want to avoid doubles and triples, and so forth, and so on. You've read a GLOG content before, I don't need to explain the concept. The difference is this: normal GLOG wizards reset their pool at dawn, i.e. dice that have been expended are replaced. These wizards reset their pool at dawn, i.e. any unspent Mana Dice dissipate into the Etheric Planes.

    Wizards in this paradigm have less-convenient ways to add MD to their pool. The first source is consumable items (snorting ground-up wizard brain, smoking lotus flowers, grating priceless gems over pancakes), and I'll write up some of those at the end of this post for giggles.

    The second way is by nicking the natural mana of the land around you. You may tap into your current hex' power to add an MD of the appropriate color. At dawn, when the nigh-limitless octarine energies of the sun bathe the world once more, the land is ready to be tapped again... I guess you could call that untapping, if you wanted to. It has a certain ring to it.

    Some hexes are sources of better MD than others, and their features can influence the base 3-in-6 chance of MD expending or returning to your pool. You can share your domain with other characters, but if other wizards are tapping its power you'll have access to less, and if they're non-wizards they probably want things like "towns" and "roads" and "market days" and other things that will disrupt your magic with prosaic contagion.

    Also, MD have color now. I guess I'll write up some classic GLOG spells' color identity at the end of the post too.

Source: in image

Plain
if it's mostly well-tended farmland, +1
mostly well-stewarded pasture, +1
protected by sturdy walls, +1
home to a divine being, +1

home to visible unmanaged population (outsiders, poors, savages), -1
scattered with decaying structures, -1
a battlefield with unburied dead, -1

Source: in image

Island
if it's adjacent to another Island, +1
marked on no outsider's charts, +1
frequently underwater, +1
the residence of a legendary sea-beast, +1
moving, +2

within sight of mainland, -1
well-mapped by outsiders, -1
also some other Land, -1

Source: in image

Swamp
if it's surrounded by Swamp, +1
full of votive offerings, with mummies slumbering in its depths, +1
the last resting place of the crown/bones/sword of someone famous, +1
particularly acidic, noxious or destructive, +1
a place of hiding and refuge, +1

safely passable, -1
watched over by a non-monstrous fortress or castle, -1
blessed by a still-living cleric in an elaborate ceremony, -1

Source: in image

Mountain
if it's alone, with no adjacent Mountain, +1
sno-capped, +1
unsummited by Man, +1
home of a dragon, +1
volcanic, +2

well-traveled by caravans, -1
settled by Man, -1
full of locals that don't like you (dwarves, goblins, kobolds), -1

Source: in image

Forest
if it's surrounded by Forest, +1
old growth, +1
watched over by a giant ancient tree in the middle, +1
guarded by powerful spirits, +1
home of rare trees, +1

regularly managed (park, orchard, lumber &c), -1
rotten or diseased, -1 (and counts as a 0-in-6 Swamp)
guarded by no spirits at all, -1

Wizard of the Meadow, Coast, Fen, Foothill or Glade

Skills: 1. Academia 2. Occultism 3. Foreign, as the Swedish Chef is foreign
Starting Equipment: wizardly robes (as unarmored but people know you're for real), runéd staff (medium), spellbook (gnarly and probably eyeball-studded) in case, empty scroll case, 3 lotus petals.

• A School of Magic
• B Book Casting
• C Signature Spell
• D Spell Breeding

School of Magic
    You are a Wizard, with all that that entails. You have 1 spell slot in your brain per level, you start with two random spells, you can move spells between your head and your book with an hour's study, you have mishaps and Dooms as an Orthodox Wizard... Honestly, I feel silly even writing that much out. You're a wizard. Go out and wiz.

Book Casting
    You may cast a spell directly out of your spellbook without preparing it first, or off of a scroll without destroying it (and without getting the extra MD a scroll would usually grant). If you do this in combat the spell goes off at the end of the round and it's possible to interrupt you with an attack.

Signature Spell
    Choose one of your spells. You can no longer roll a mishap when casting that spell.

Spell Breeding
    You can breed spells like expensive and fragile ferrets in a farm for expensive and fragile ferrets. That's not a good metaphor. Assuming you've spent the 100gp on the equipment (which you should set up in your wizard-tower lab) and 25gp on the reagents (which are consumed), you may turn two spells into one spell. Discuss with your DM. This might result in a spell that already exists (like, I dunno, Mage Armor + Levitate = Floating Disc), or in some totally novel creation. You've got a wizard-tower lab, right? It's the 4th level. You ought to have a wizard-tower lab by now.

Druid

Skills: 1. Farming 2. Soldiering 3. Banking
Starting Equipment: wooden scale armor (as chain), copper sickle (medium), 3 bundles of holly (⅓rd slot each), flint and tinder.

• A Druidcraft, +1 green MD
• B Tappable, +1 green MD
• C Signature Shape, +1 green MD
• D Domain Expansion, +1 green MD

Druidcraft
    Druids are casters of field and fen, and though more restricted than a Wizard they have a natural font of power to make up for it. You have no spell slots. You have six loyal spells who follow at your heels, changing form with the landscape. They do not return normally after being cast, but must instead be propitiated by burning a bundle of holly. You may not carry ferrous objects and may not read from spellbooks or scrolls (though you may cast from wands and artifacts), and if you ever do so you are ritually unclean, and lose your spells and natural MD until you walk naked around the perimeter of a 6/6 Forest.

1. Wildshape
   R: n/a T: self D: [sum] minutes
   You turn into a creature with [dice] HD and [sum] HP, or a flying creature with 1 HD and [dice] HP, of a type appropriate to your locale. On a Plain this is a Cat (30' horizontal) or an Eagle (powerful eyesight), on an Island this is a serpent (swimming, crawling) or an Owl (nightvision), in a Swamp this is a Great Toad (poison bite) or a Bat (suck blood to heal), on a Mountain this is a Goat (powerful shove) or a Pterosaur (fireproof), and in a Forest this is a Wolf (skilled hunter) or Dragonfly (inconspicuous). You may not cast in this form. If your Wildshape's HP is depleted, you return to your normal self and take all overflow damage.
   
2. Encourage Growth
   R: sight T: an area [dice]*30' in radius D: instant
   Vegetable life in the target area undergoes rapid growth, causing [best] damage to unprotected creatures of your choice and snaring them in place until they can cut or tear themselves free.
   
3. Summon Monster
   R: 10' T: a spot a monster can appear in D: indefinite
   Summon a loyal, intelligent creature appropriate to your locale, with [dice] HD and [sum] HP. On a Plain this is a Lion (30' horizontal), on an Island this is a Sphinx (1 blue MD and Counterspell), in a Swamp this is a monstrous Crocodile (heals from eating), on a Mountain this is a Giant (heavy armor, massive weapon), and in a Forest this is a Bear (mighty). They remember you between casting, and will object to repeated use in weapon-testing or other boring and unpleasant tasks. They disappear at-will or upon reaching 0 hitpoints and your MD remain invested until this happens.
   
4. Disrupt Artifice
   R: touch T: an ongoing spell or a magic item D: see description
   If the target is an ongoing spell (an enchantment or curse &c), subtract [dice] and [sum] from it. If the target is a magic item, it becomes unusable for [sum] minutes, hours, days or years depending on how many [dice] were spent.
   
5. Compel Duel
   R: sight T: creatures D: [dice] rounds
   Select up to [sum] HP's worth of valid targets. They become murderously (but not suicidally) hostile to each other for the duration. 
   
6. Bring Disaster
   R: n/a T: current hex D: see description
   A natural disaster strikes within the hour. On a Plain this is a tornado, on an Island this is a tidal wave, in a Swamp this is a monsoon, on a Mountain this is an earthquake, and in a Forest this is a wildfire. At 1 [die], it is limited enough in scale that creatures may flee and only fragile buildings are threatened. At 2 [dice] it is serious enough to ruin a sturdy building or harm unwary creatures. At 3 it may ravage a small town and threatens all unprotected creatures in the affected area. At 4 [dice], the disaster overwhelms the entire hex, and can wipe populations from the map.
   

Tappable
    If you are willing, another caster can tap you for one of your MD.

Signature Shape
    Choose one of your Wildshape forms. You can always change into that shape, even when in other regions. You may choose another form with a day-long ritual at a 6/6 Forest.

Domain Expansion
    Choose a Land type. You have a demiplane of sorts which takes the form of a small area of the chosen Land type. While inside this demiplane you may tap the hex as if it were of the same Land type. Once per dawn, with a wave of your hands, you may lay your demiplane around you, shifting space and terrain and buildings and dungeons to fit. They return to normal when the demiplane moves again.

Warlock

Skills: 1. Dungeon maintenance and janitorial duties 2. Alchemy 3. Law enforcement
Starting Equipment: dark clothing (as unarmored, +1 to sneaking attempts), poniard (light), empty scroll, mark of loyalty to your Patron, 3 lotus petals.

• A Patron, Boon
• B Pact
• C Debt
• D Ultimate Aspect

Patron
    Some Warlocks have fallen from the ranks of other casters, but most are novices more eager for power than for the subtle pleasures of spellbook-scribbling and magical research. They are to Clerics as rideshare drivers are to unionized cabbies.
    As a Warlock you may use all magical accoutrements (spellbooks, scrolls, wands &c) that a Wizard can, but your brain has room for only 1 spell slot. Choose from: a powerful Fairy Prince, a mid-ranking Hellish bureaucrat, or a loose-cannon Angel. They want to use you for their own ends. Choose one spell from your entire list and roll 1d8 for another one, at this level and all subsequent levels.

Boon
    Your patron gives you a small gift of your choice. Devil and Fairy are both on there already, but it's up to you whether your Angel serves the Sun, Moon, Rain, Ocean or Winter; they'll bring you the appropriate gifts. You might be able to swap these out at a shrine to your patron, if you've been nice to them.

Pact
    Your patron bestows a significant gift upon you. Choose from the Blade, the Chain or the Book, and gain the indicated gift.
    Warlocks of the Blade have a bound weapon. You may designate a weapon, magical or otherwise, as their Pact Weapon. You may summon your Pact Weapon to your hand with a thought. If you wish to designate a new weapon as your Pact Weapon you may do so at a shrine to your patron. Regardless of what the weapon actually is, you are proficient in its use and its damage counts as magical against undead and werewolfs and so forth.
    Warlocks of the Chain have a familiar. Your familiar is a tiny pixie, imp or putti, is under your control in combat, can communicate with you telepathically, and can cast your spells as if they were you. If they die they return to your side the next time you sleep.
    Warlocks of the Book have a powerful spellbook. It comes three Wizard spells of your choice, and when you choose the book you gain an additional spell slot. At-will, you may cause this book to disintegrate into ash. You'll find its identical copy at a shrine to your patron.

Debt
    You may tap your patron for a Mana Die of any color. They expect repayment at their shrines in an appropriate form (10gp of expensive trinkets, 1HD of blood sacrifice, or a sleepless night of flagellation and prayer, to wit). Once you're in the hole for [level] MD or more, they won't loan you anything else until you repay in full. On certain occasions they might run you some more credit in exchange for small favors, ones liable to cause chaos in the civilized world, lead to the slow downfall of Moral Society, or undo the work of some other Warlock. Up to the DM.

Ultimate Aspect
    Long association with your patron has permanently marked you. Fey Warlocks may snuff fires with a glance and rapidly decay iron with a touch, and their eyes shift color, pattern and material when they aren't concentrating on just the one. Diabolical Warlocks may draw up binding contracts, and are followed by a mild whiff of coal smoke and cigars. Celestial Warlocks may cast sunlight from their face at-will, and become notably more attractive and trustworthy-lookin'.

Warlock Mishaps:

1. All MD cast in the spell are expended.
2. Malicious spirits nip at your soul. Take 1d6 damage.
3. 1d6 rounds of madness.
4. Your patron is in a Bad Mood. Gain a permanent mutation.
5. Your patron is in a Good Mood. They have a new plot, and to complete it they just need a small favor, almost nothing at all really, from you, just a moment of your time...
6. Your patron isn't paying attention to you at all. The spell is delayed by 1d4-2 rounds. Yes, this means it might go off before it was cast. That's the DM's problem, not mine.
   

Warlock Dooms:

1. The Warlock has called upon his patron's power at an inopportune time. A claw, paw or tentacle of whatever entity the patron was fighting has breached reality near the Warlock. Treat this as a 6HD monster which strikes once a round for 3d6 damage. Ignored or fled, the entity (12HD, strikes twice a round for 3d8 damage) breaches completely on a 2-in-6 chance, with serious consequences for the surrounding environment.
2. The Warlock's mistake is compounded. As above, but the entity breaches reality immediately.
   
3. The Warlock has fucked it good and proper for the last time. Everything and everyone within 30' are dragged bodily into patron's realm to fight an incursion of cosmic horrors. If they survive, the Warlock no longer rolls Dooms.

Fey Spells:

1. Charm
2. Sleep
3. Disguise
4. Invisibility
5. Levitate
6. Mage Armor
7. Scry
8. Illusion

Diabolical Spells:

1. Knock
2. Prismatic Ray
3. Disguise
4. Invisibility
5. Levitate
6. Mage Armor
7. Scry
8. Illusion

Celestial Spells:

1. Doom Song
2. Hypnotic Orb
3. Disguise
4. Invisibility
5. Levitate
6. Mage Armor
7. Scry
8. Illusion

Cleric

Skills: 1. Book-Keeping 2. Public Speaking 3. Archaeology
Starting Equipment: clerical robes (as unarmored, +1 to reactions from common folk), holy symbol, empty spellbook (black leather and gilt edges), heavy club (medium), 3 lotus petals.

• A Divine Grace
• B Book Casting
• C Always Welcome
• D Monsignor

Divine Grace
    The casters that common folk Clerics wander the world serving the great powers; the Sun, the Moon, the Rain, the Ocean, the Winter. These Clerics often have funny ideas about right and wrong, about who should lead and who should follow, about whether or not the gains of adventure are subject to tithe; nevertheless, they are a bulwark against the darkness.
    As a Cleric, you get 1 spell slot per template. You are permitted to fiddle with wands and scrolls and other accoutrements of wizardry, but your real strength lies in your Angels. An Angel is like a spell, except she's all aglow and sparkly and such, and she's far too proud (not to mention too large) to be stuffed into a book. Every dawn, choose as many Angels as you have templates in this class to accompany you that day; you may not double up, you've only got the one of each. After being cast, Angels return to Heaven to tell the great powers what you've been up to.

Book Casting
    As a Wizard.

Always Welcome
    Tales of your good deeds, hopefully true ones, have spread far and wide. You have a +[level] bonus to reaction rolls with the common folk, and your presence applies a -[level] penalty to morale checks from assorted bastards.

Monsignor
    You've become so well known that 2d6 0th-level disciples follow you from town to town. They're loyal, and brave enough to follow you into a dungeon, but not particularly competent. If you want to start something greater, you'll have to begin work on a domain.

Cleric Mishaps:

1. All MD cast in the spell are expended.
   
2. The strain proves too much. Take 1d6 damage.
3. You saw what Angels really look like. Roll a random mutation. After 1 minute, save or it's permanent.
   
4. All Angels leave in a hurry, they need to be somewhere, sorry.
5. You fear the sky for 1d6 rounds.
6. No spellcasting for 1d6 rounds.

Cleric Dooms:

1. One of the great powers has begun to hate you. Choose. When in the presence of that great power, random chance turns against you. 
2. Another of the great powers has begun to hate you. The DM rolls. When in the presence of that great power, random chance turns against you. When in the presence of two, freak accidents repeatedly occur, with your destruction as their obvious goal.
3. A third of the great powers has begun to hate you. The DM rolls, but it doesn't really matter; three out of five is a simple majority. If you are ever in the presence of all three at once (including when you roll this Doom), your heart and everything within 10' of it is scooped out of existence.
   

Angels:

1. Kindness
   Kindness wears a baseball cap and sunglasses so it's impossible to say what she looks like. Yours must be broken or something, because she never actually leaves to go back to Heaven. She'll try her hand at almost anything for some MD — though she's terribly incompetent and, to be honest, prone to criminalisms. If it matters, she can lift an object of [sum] pounds without dropping it and bursting into tears.
   
2. Heal
   R: touch T: an injured person D: instant
   Heal is a mature woman in a white smock, with a gentle glow around her face (featureless but for a toothy maw). She quickly sews shut lacerations, sets bones, removes a fatal wound, and heals for [sum] hitpoints.
   
3. Turn Undead
   R: [dice]*30' T: undead within range D: [dice] minutes
   Turn is a petulcous woman in heavy working clothes, with a ram's horns and a ram's eyes. Targets are harried, shoved, prodded, butted, grappled and frogmarched out of arm's reach of range.
   
4. Kindle
   R: touch T: a creature or object within reach D: instant
   Kindle is a frightening woman in evening wear, with an enthusiastic snarl and thick smoked lenses. She sets the target alight for a moment, igniting flammable substances and dealing [sum] damage. If used on an unwilling creature, the spell is an unarmed attack that ignores armor.
   
5. Rebuke
   R: sight T: all creatures in range D: [dice] minutes
   Rebuke is an unforgiving woman, wearing a blindfold and wielding brass scales like a horrible double-headed ball and chain. She immediately ends any ongoing fight, and for the duration any who attempt something hostile (say, by attacking or by casting a damaging spell) take [best] damage without a save.
   

Sorcerer

Skills: 1. Imperialism 2. Increasingly alarming personal history 3. Just the normal kind of history
Starting Equipment: outlandish outfit (as unarmored, +1 to reactions from openminded folk), impractical weapon (your choice), cover off of a spellbook (begemmed), 3 lotus petals.

• A Heritage, +1 Meta Die
• B Metamagic, +1 MD
• C Exploding, +1 MD
• D Changeable, +1 MD

Heritage
    Certain people are born better than others, and by "certain people" we of course mean Sorcerers, and by "others" we of course mean Wizards. You're a chad. You're hot shit. You've got the blood of G_d in your veins, or maybe dragon-fire, or maybe you're just that good.
    As a Sorcerer, you get 1 spell slot per template. You can (that is, must) cast from a spellbook like the page is a scroll (i.e. burning it up, getting an extra Mana Die of the appropriate color, and losing the spell). It takes you 8 hours to move spells between your head and a spellbook, and you can never craft scrolls or breed spells, because sorcerers aren't fucking nerds, alright? Alright? Fuck you. You also have Meta Dice which can be added to spells to boost their [sum] and [dice], but don't have a color, so can't be used to cast a (normal) spell on their own.
    When you roll doubles, you experience a Wild Magic Surge, instead of a mishap or such, and the DM rolls secretly on the table. When you roll triples, that counts as three unique doubles. Quadruples would be six unique doubles, I think, but who's counting?

Metamagic
    For each Meta Die involved in casting the spell, you may add a meta-effect of your choice that changes its nature. You may only add a meta-effect once. Mostly nicked from here.

Exploding
    Your MD explode on a 6 or higher.

Changeable
    The DM will now tell you what Wild Magic Surges were rolled. If you like, you can roll another one. If you do so, you may remove one.

Meta-Effects:

1. Widen: Area-of-effect spell doubles its radius.
2. Silent: Casting is silent.
3. Quicken: You may take another action this turn.
4. Extend: Duration of the spell is multiplied by a factor of [dice]+1.
5. Specificate: Range becomes [dice] miles. If the target is not within line of sight, you must know the precise location relative to your own or, if the target is a creature, you must be holding a part of that creature.
6. Twin: Single-target spell hits another target.
7. Surge: Roll a Wild Magic Surge.
8. Maximize: After determining how many surges were rolled and how many [dice] exploded, all MD came up 6. Expend them and calculate [sum] accordingly.

Wild Surge

1. For the rest of the day, when you speak you breathe fire for 10' and 1d6 damage.
2. Swarm of rodents appears and carries you 30' in a random direction.
3. Every creature within 30' of you levitates six inches off the ground. They may paddle around but cannot walk.
4. A 1HD Fire Elemental appears. He is friendly to you, but not loyal.
5. Lightning strikes one person within 1 mile at random.
6. All plants within 1 mile become animate and hostile.
7. You are cursed to be bright blue.
8. A strong pleasant smell wafts out of you and follows you for the next day.
9. A rain cloud forms above your head and rains in a 10' radius for the next hour.
10. You grow a prehensile lizard tail, which you can sunder as a shield to deflect 1d6 damage from an attack.
11. You grow 1d6 inches taller or shorter.
12. Your intense magical radiation accidentally aligned with that of a devil from the Fourth Hell, causing an apprentice magician to summon you into a binding circle. They assume you are the imp under a cunning disguise.
13. Two identical copies of you appear and attempt to convince everyone they're the real you. They disappear after taking 6 damage.
14. Spell ricochets to random target.
15. [sum] is increased by 7.
16. The money in your pocket cycles, copper -> silver, silver -> gold, gold -> copper.
17. Smoking gnats (gnats with cigarettes, not burning gnats) pour out of your ears for 1 minute, making it difficult to hide or concentrate.
    
18. You are surrounded by a spectral shield for 1 minute, +2 AC, all spells you cast or are cast on you have a 2-in-6 chance of being reflected.
19. A small explosion covers your face in soot and singes your eyebrows. If you cough loudly and say "Well, that just happened!" the DM applauds and grants you 25XP.
    
20. A confused, hungry 4HD bear appears within 60'.
21. Punch through the skybox and into the Akashic Record. Save vs. a random madness, and ask one yes-or-no question on any subject for a truthful answer. You fall back to the earth for 1d6 damage.
    
22. The nearest wand, or wand-like stick, turns into an angry rattlesnake for 1 minute.
23. All artifacts within 60' activate and discharge to the best of the DM's ability.
24. A bird flies out of your sleeve. If you aren't wearing clothes with sleeves, a bird appears and brings you a pair of sleeves.
25. All fires within 60' are snuffed
26. Brilliant light emits from you, blinding you and creatures who can see you for 1 minute
27. All weapons within 60' become intelligent and can speak the language of their wielder. Roll for alignment.
28. All casters within 60' lose the ability to cast spells for an hour.
29. You glow in the presence of a random race for the next year.
30. Your hair immediately grows to floor length.
31. All body hair falls out.
32. People are under the impression they can freely insult you for 1 day.
33. A random spell from your spell list is dual-cast at the same target.
    
34. The nearest dragon is loudly alerted of your presence and exact location.
35. All corpses within 1 mile are reanimated as unhelpful skeletons.
36. The nearest corpse is resurrected, permanently.
37. A 60' radius around you becomes hallowed ground that evil creatures cannot enter
38. A 60' radius around you becomes unhallowed ground that good creatures cannot enter
39. Punch through reality to enter the Ethereal Plane for [sum] minutes, returning to a safe spot.
    
40. A random creature within 60' is transported to Hell for [sum] minutes. They reappear in a safe spot, but noticeably changed by the experience.
    
41. Closest NPC's alignment and opinion of you is inverted.
    
42. Your next attack is a guaranteed critical hit.
    
43. You turn into a talking dog for 1 hour. Your abilities are otherwise unaffected.
    
44. You gain a random mutation, permanently.
45. All creatures within 60' gain the same random mutation for 1 minute. 
46. Your emotions can be smelled by nearby creatures for 1 day.
47. Your hands pop right off. They scuttle around with the stats of a Crab, and you'll have to coax them back yourself. 
48. You are covered in an airtight layer of 5gp of gold leaf. Takes about six seconds to tear your face free.
49. Your head becomes a prime nesting spot for a kind of interdimensional hair-eating hummingbird. If you refuse to do your duty (nest hat) you are helping to destroy an endangered species 😔
50. You become imbued with quintessence, and thus can only move in circles and ellipses and such. The next spell you cast discharges the aether, causing its path to curve towards a random target and ending this effect.
    
51. Geometric outlines raise beneath your skin and twist and grind against each other like a puzzle desperately trying to solve itself. Hope it doesn't, 1-in-100 chance it does.
52. Your footsteps are loud enough to crack glass for 1 hour. 
53. The spell fails utterly, though dice are expended as normal, and a cloud overhead spells out the word  N O .
54. The memory of a forgotten passion returns with full force. Next time you're in town, you must obtain at least 50gp worth of candy and collectible cards. 
55. You vomit up your own weight in raw hamburger.
56. You startle as if waking from deep sleep, now holding bolt cutters, a crowbar, and a small opal from... somewhere.
57. One of your skills turns into a little skillmunculus and runs off, gleefully performing its thing (cobblemunculus cobbles, historymunculus postulates, &c). Anyone who eats it gains the skill.
58. You are now on a horse. The horse is running very fast. The horse does not like you, and does not want you on it.
59. Them Changes, by Thundercat, plays at 180 decibels from the nearest tree. 
60. You forget all languages for 1 hour.
61. You have to walk backwards. This makes running difficult.
    
62. The spell gains 1 [dice] for every wedding you, the player, have attended.
63. 216 Modrons appear and begin constructing a machine out of nearby parts, such as treasure and traps and doors and magic swords.
64. All food on your person rots to nothing.
65. Somewhere, somewhen, the King of Beetles takes a step to the left. This is unlikely to affect your life in any way. 
66. You are cursed with face-blindness. You're essentially a Hitman NPC until someone removes the curse.
    
67. You become somewhat unsure any of this, you or your world, is real.
68. 4d10 heavily-armed 1HD warriors, four 2HD sergeants and one 4HD captain arrive at your location. Roll reaction to see what they think of you.
69. You turn into a silhouette for 1 day. This makes you invisible in darkness
70. All casters within 60' reset their MD pools. 
71. The next attack against you is a guaranteed critical hit. 
72. Your templates change to a random GLOG class for 1 day. 
73. For the next 24 hours, you taste sounds and hear colors. Being angry makes you cold and being happy makes you purple.
74. All creatures within 60' sprout antlers. They shed them in late November.
75. You become imbued with earth, and thus are drawn almost irresistibly down. Until you fall at least 20' you cannot float in water and must save to not investigate a cool (DM's discretion) cave.
76. A 6HD sphinx appears and asks you a cunning riddle. She'll reward you with a minor magic item if you pass, and attempt to eat you if you fail.  
77. A 6HD sphonx appears and asks you a bullshit riddle. He'll get bored after about thirty seconds, whether you answer or not, and attempt to eat you. 
78. Your two (1. legs 2. arms 3. eyes 4. ears 5. kidneys 6. brain hemispheres) unionize. If one of them stops working, they both will. If they perceive that you're overusing them, 1-in-6 chance they agree to go on strike (they don't cooperate as a team very well). 
79. The next time it rains in this hex, it will rain toxic frogs. 
80. All flammable clothing within 60' catches fire.
    

 
    Here are some mana items:

1. Lotus Petal. Smoked in a pipe to grant you 1 MD of any color. 1gp each.
2. Sol Ring. May be tapped to add 2 colorless MD to your pool. 200gp.
3. Spellish Dynamo. Horrible mechanical gizmo, something like a hamster wheel, that tuckers out one of your spells for the day and adds 1 colorless MD to your pool. 50gp, 1 slot.
4. It's 6:20 I don't give a shit. Google the phrase "mana rock".

    Here are some selected Wizard Spells and their color identities.

1. Charm - white
2. Color Spray - white
3. Disguise - blue
4. Doom Song - black
5. Explode Corpse - black
6. Fade - blue
7. Fear - black
8. Feather Fall - white
9. Fireball - red
10. Floating Disk - blue
11. Grease - red
12. Hypnotic Orb - white
13. Illusion - blue
14. Invisibility - blue
15. Knock - red
16. Levitate - blue
17. Light - white
18. Lock - blue
19. Mage Armor - green
20. Magic Missile - red
21. Mirror Image - blue
22. Mirror Object - colorless
23. Mirror Self - blue
24. Prismatic Ray - red
25. Raise Zombie - black
26. Rot - black
27. Scry - blue
28. Sleep - blue
29. Wall of Light - white
30. Web - green
31. Wizard Vision - blue

    Incidentally, this is how interpreted my prompt of "diegetic Magic"

The Best Case Scenario 1.1: Any Day Now

    Check the sidebar under "Houserules" for the most up-to-date ruleset!



    Maybe ten, maybe a dozen games of Best Case Scenario have been run by several DMs for an assortment of players. The game functions. It's even pretty fun (I've run three four sessions myself and enjoyed it, and the players probably enjoyed it as well, not that I asked them). But there are a few developments we've thought of, and a few tweaks and rules complications I want to include. I'm going to write them out here as a mostly-unsorted list of modifications and additions to the rules found in this post.

    Many people in the Eastern Depot of the mage-ciphered and backwards-written secret GLOG Discord have helped with brainstorming and playtesting, but I'd like to specifically thank friends-of-the-blog Archon, Xenophon of Athens and semiurge for their contributions.

Source: in image.

Mission Classification and Generation

    Missions in Best Case Scenario are rated on three-level scale corresponding to the discretion required to complete them:

• CLOSED-EYE is for missions civilians should never even realize happened. Plain clothes, silenced weapons, small groups, absolutely no rocket launchers.
• OPEN-EYE is for missions where fireteams can operate openly while under false pretenses. Strap on your body armor and your AR-15, slide a cowboy hat on your head and a fake police badge in your wallet, and get ready to say "nothing to see here folks, move along". Consider this short film in the SCP universe.
• THIRD-EYE is for missions where there is no danger of civilian involvement, or where the stakes are so high that civilians become expendable. Consider this short film in the SCP universe.

    As with Object Classes on the SCP Wiki, these don't correlate with how dangerous the mission is. They correlate with how expensive the mission is going to be, and how much of a headache the Rules of Engagement are for the fireteam involved.

    Here's an example of a dangerous C-E mission: your team has to capture a telepath with the ability to inflict aneurysms with eye contact, he knows he's being hunted and is trying to hide in the crowds at Times Square, you must catch him alive. Here's an example of an easy T-E mission: a cult with a compound in the Mojave Desert is preparing to summon a Great Old One, they're six miles away from the nearest public road, roll in there with attack helicopters and armored vehicles and blow the place to Hell. Those are both off the top of my head, for free, for you and whatever use you want to put them to.

    CatDragon of the platinum-cored Werthers Original secret GLOG Discord assembled this here random generator to give you a mission prompt. I've used the generator a few times to good effect.

New Equipment and Budget

    There were a few oversights, a few obvious missing pieces, and one or two balance problems (like the machine pistol being the best choice in most situations). With counsel from others the weapon list has been updated. For ease of use, inventory is now based on slots. Every character has 5 slots and all guns are listed with the amount of slots they take up.

    Concealable (can be worn under clothing, can be drawn and fired with one hand. Assume it takes at least a round to retrieve a weapon from concealment. You cannot attach underbarrel grenade launchers or shotguns to concealable weapons).

• Semiauto: Takes priority, -1 to Attacks at medium range, no long range. 16/15 ammo. 1 slot.
• Revolver: Takes priority. 6/6 ammo. 1 slot.
• Machine Pistol: Takes priority, cannot Aim, no long range. 21/20 ammo. Automatic. 2 slots.
• Concealable Melee (knuckles, e-tool, knife, tomahawk): Takes priority, +1 to Attacks at melee range, no other ranges. No ammo. 1 slot.

    Large (can be concealed in a golf bag or a guitar case or the like if need be, takes time to retrieve if concealed, must be operated with two hands).

• Assault Rifle: 31/30 ammo. Automatic. 2 slots.
• Sharpshooter Rifle: Ignore range penalties. 21/20 ammo. 2 slots.
• Shotgun: +1 to Attacks at short range, no long range. 6/5 ammo. 2 slots.
• Grenade Launcher: 1/1 ammo. 2 slots.
• Large Melee (sledgehammer, battle axe, katana, pitchfork): +2 to Attacks at melee range, no other ranges. No ammo. 1 slot.

    Bulky (cannot be concealed without being dismantled and stored in a case).

• Antimateriel Rifle: +1 to Attacks, ignore range penalties. 6/5 ammo. 3 slots.
• LMG: +1 to Attacks when Suppressing. 201/200 ammo. Automatic. 3 slots.
• Flamethrower: +2 to Attacks when Suppressing. No medium or long range. Can only be used to Suppress. 3/3 ammo, Suppression only uses 1.

    In the gear section, body armor has also been updated.

• Soft Armor: -1 to Attacks against you, can be worn under civilian clothing. Lost when you are wounded.
• Heavy Armor: -2 to Attacks against you, doesn't stack with soft armor. Lost when you are wounded.
  
• Helmet: If the die in an Attack against you comes up 6, it is 5 instead. Destroyed when this happens.
• Ballistic Shield: Provides moveable cover for one person.
  

    The Grenadier's special launcher is one of those big revolving ones. It has 6/6 ammo but is otherwise mechanically identical. The Sapper's extra gear does not count against his inventory limit.

    You can spend a point of Budget to give someone an extra piece of equipment, not just something weird like a flamethrower or a laptop. I thought I wrote that in the original post but I guess I waffled on whether it was useful or balanced and ultimately forgot.

Source: Trevor Henderson

Updated Combat Actions and New CO Resource

• Attack. Roll a d6, add bonuses and subtract penalties. On a result of 4 the target is lightly wounded, on a 5 the target is seriously wounded, on a 6 or above they are dead. This is assuming mortal human enemies, of course. If you were using a gun, subtract 1 from your Ammo.
• Burst. As an Attack, but with a +1 bonus. Subtract the die result from your Ammo. Only automatic weapons may Burst.
• Suppress. Select up to a 45° angle as your target area. Those in or passing through the target area are Attacked unless they are in cover. Subtract 10 from your Ammo. Only automatic weapons may Suppress.
• Reload. Swap out one magazine for another, replace a belt, or load a grenade or two shells into a grenade launcher or shotgun.
• Interact. Push a button, open a door, grab some documents and shove them into a hip bag, or any other thing which necessitates a moment of attention and thus precludes staring down your ironsights with an itchy trigger finger.
• Aim. Enter Aiming. While Aiming, all Attacks and Bursts roll 2d6 and take the higher result. Moving or taking any action besides Attacking (such as reloading) puts you out of Aiming.
• Hide. Enter nearby cover or concealment. Targets in cover may not be directly Attacked, targets in concealment cannot be Attacked except by explosions or Suppression.
• Sprint. Move an additional 3m. This movement may take you up a ladder or across a gap of of less than 3m.
• Rally. Roll a d6 to calm a Panicked ally, succeeding on a 4 or higher.

    Your CO has a pool of a special resource called Command. He starts with 1/1 points and regains all points between missions. Command can be spent on effects for fireteam members who can see and hear their CO (the CO can almost always see and hear himself). I'll call these Ploys, because I was reading Kill Team.

    Basic Ploys any CO knows:

• May take two actions instead of acting + moving.
• May receive a wound one level lower than they otherwise would have.
• May Attack a target that is concealed from them but not from the CO.

    Additional points of Command may be given as a reward for successful missions. Maybe you can get more Ploys as a reward too? Here's a few extra for that purpose:

• May take priority with a large weapon.
• May Sprint and make a melee Attack as one action.
• May make a final Attack before they die.
• May avoid damage from an explosion.
• May roll two dice in an Attack and take the highest.
  

Source.

Lore and Setting Details and Such

    Every SCP-alike needs some weird guys to fight with over who gets the magical television that lets you talk to Martian ghosts. Here's a list dreamed up in the coup-resistant GLOG Discord:

• Final Directive: A faction of the U.S. intelligence community which believes that global thermonuclear war occurred sometime in the 1980s and we live in a collective hallucination generated from sheer denial. Intend to wake everyone up by causing an actual nuclear war. Not our problem, unless they're using anomalous means, in which case it becomes an urgent problem for us specifically.
  
• The Agency: Possibly the European branch of our organization, or perhaps a peer rival (a non-organization group with similar access to information and resources), or maybe time travel is involved. They operate just like we do.
• Resurrectionists: A decentralized group, loosely in communication with each other, of necromancers and grave robbers who graveyards and cemeteries as free sources of supernatural power. 
  
• Children of K'nit Xaun: A cult of those born of fertilizations from a clinic run by a now-discredited and scandalized doctor who tampered with the sperm supply. Believe themselves to be the next step of humanity, and demigods whose father is older than the world itself. Presumed to be a black-budget project escaped into the wild.
• Black Museum: Hostile antagonists (non-organization with knowledge of the supernatural) who interrupt organization operations to steal paperweights (anomalous objects) or kill and bag spookums (anomalous objects). Presumed to be at least a peer of the organization, though they have never attempted contact, and captured agents either crack cyanide teeth or suffer total end-of-biological-life with no obvious cause.
• Fleshgod Inheritors: Somewhere between a cult and a street gang, collecting and eating pieces of Stel Alune, an ancient superorganism. Authentic pieces of Stel Alune are rare and difficult to find, but luckily (for them) Inheritors grow identical organs in their own bodies after consumption.
• Fleischwulf: A post-neo-nazi gang with attached eccentric academics and garage inventors. Believe Hitler was a little off-base: rather than history being an eternal conflict between primordial races,  it is an eternal conflict between beautiful, ingenious Artifice and rampant, repugnant Nature.

Source: in image.

General Notes and Clarifications

    Fireteams are superhumanly coordinated. They can advance or attack without needing to spend precious seconds screaming at one another or fiddling with radios. This power is a pretty significant advantage for the players, and as the DM you should lean into it. NPC biker gangs and cultists should be overly cautious, wasting time hiding behind cover, or overly aggressive, charging out into danger and gunfire. They should have trouble with tactics more advanced than "run at the enemy", "stay put", and "flee", and they should bark at one another to keep players informed of these cunning stratagems. Making common mooks dipshits serves the shared fantasy of the game twofold; it lets the player-controlled elite black-ops fishmen killers be very good at killing fishmen, and it provides a starker contrast when your elite black-ops fishman killer gets eaten alive by a Siberian Antigorilla which suddenly flew out of the dark and grabbed him.

    Lowering the threshold also gives you more room to be creative. A dozen pipewrench-and-pistol wielding gangbangers in an abandoned car lot make for a simple encounter, but you can flex your DMing muscles a little and put one of them on the roof of a building in cover with a rifle, or plant some IED booby traps around for the PCs or their enemies to stumble into. Makes combat with fireteams just as competent and well-equiped as yours feel dangerous and interesting. I haven't been doing this, but you should do as I say and not as I do.


    Numerical bonuses are additive, e.g. the Semiauto gets a -1 to Attacks at medium range, and Attacks at medium range have a -1 penalty, so that's a -2 total. Extra dice are selective, e.g. if you have one thing that lets you roll an extra die and take the higher (like Aiming), and another thing that lets you roll an extra die and take the higher (like a Ploy), you roll 3 dice and take the highest.


    BCS takes place in an alternate universe where hand grenades and grenade launcher grenades are the same thing.


    You can attach underbarrel shotguns to a shotgun. This lets you fire an additional 5 shots before needing to reload, because the underbarrel shotgun is an effective and a versatile tool.


    COs are immune to Morale loss in any form. They aren't scared when monsters appear, or when things explode — hold on a moment, this is a good opportunity to enumerate situations which call for a Morale check:

• When a member of a fireteam dies, all survivors check Morale.
• When someone in cover avoids being hit by a frag grenade, they check Morale.
• When someone in cover avoids being hit by Suppression, they check Morale.
• When members of a fireteam spot a spookum they didn't expect (because they weren't told there would be any or because they were looking for a different one), they check Morale. They can then warn other members.
  
• When a fireteam realizes they have wandered into a timewarp/living dream/anti-reality/haunted house, all members check Morale.
  

    The DM may call for additional Morale checks as he sees fit.


    Since the rules for Morale and Aiming have changed a little, here are updated versions of the marksman and chaplain roles:

• Marksman: +1 to Attacks while Aiming. If Invested, +1 to Attacks per round spent Aiming, up to a maximum of +3.
  
• Chaplain: The first Morale check in a mission is automatically passed. If Invested, the Chaplain automatically succeeds at Rally checks once per soldier per mission.
  

    I promised that I would post some missions, and I intend to keep that promise at some nebulous point in the undefined future. Here are two missions from Archon to keep you entertained in the meanwhile.

The Best Case Scenario (Micro-Wargame Rules, Character Creation, Advancement)

     Check the sidebar under "Houserules" for the most up-to-date ruleset!.



    This game is set roughly now, in an area that you're familiar with, even if just from the movies. It is intended (more than designed) for two to four players. One of them will serve as the referee. The referee, being a divine figure, requires no more advice than they have already gathered (though they might want to check out the updated rule set); the rest of this document is directed at the playing types.

    In the field you control both the Commanding Officer and their subordinates. You are responsible for choosing their roles and their equipment, tracking their resources, and making their decisions in combat. Most of the actual rules are related to combat because it provides tension and finality, but as the CO you should seek opportunities to employ stealth, diplomacy, high-explosives, booby-traps, falsified documents, intimidation, and graft.

    Combat is a sequence of Rounds, assumed to take only a second or two. In each Round each character acts simultaneously. Each character may move 3m over level ground and take one Action. If it is important who acts first — such as when fighting for a dropped gun, or slamming a door in a face — roll two d6s. Highest goes first.

     Actions in a Round:

• Attack. Roll a d6, add relevant bonuses, subtract relevant penalties. On a 4 the target is hit and lightly wounded, on a 5 the target is seriously wounded, on a 6 or higher they are dead. This is assuming mortal human enemies, of course. If you were using a gun, subtract the result of the Attacks from your ammunition.
• Reload. Swap out one magazine for another, replace a belt, or load a grenade or two shells into a grenade launcher or shotgun.
• Take Aim. Choose a target. Next round, roll 2d6 when Attacking and take the higher value.
• Provide Suppressing Fire. Requires an automatic weapon. For the duration of the Round, anyone in or passing through a targeted area is Attacked unless behind cover. Those behind cover test Morale. Expends a full magazine, penalties may be applied to Attacks if the magazine didn't start out full
• Hide. Enter nearby cover or concealment. Targets in cover may not be directly Attacked, targets in concealment cannot be Attacked except by Suppressing Fire.
• Sprint. Move an additional 3m. This movement may take you up a ladder or over a gap of less than 3m.
• Rally. Roll a d6 to calm a Panicked ally, succeeding on a 4 or higher.

Source.

     In addition to the CO you control the lives of four soldiers, which you must spend wisely. Soldiers start with 2/2 Morale and a Role. They advance through experience, earning medals, or having Budget invested in their gear and training. They may spend Morale to grant them an additional die on any check, but they may not do this if it would leave them with less than 0 Morale.

     Example Roles:

• Marksman: +1 to Attacks per Round spent taking Aim, up to +3. If Invested, +2 bonus for the first Round, and can reach +4.
• Grenadier: As their primary weapon, carries a special grenade launcher loaded with six grenades of varying types. If Invested, has access to more interesting grenades.
• Automatic Rifleman: May provide Suppressing Fire when Panicked. If Invested, +1 bonus to Attacks when providing Suppressing Fire.
• Medic: May use a first-aid kit to remove a light wound or serious wound. If Invested, their first-aid kits have two charges.
• Sapper: Carries your choice of an AP mine, two bear traps, a 1kilo charge of C4 and detonator, or a bundle of spike strips in addition to their gear. If Invested, carries two.
• Rifleman: Nothing special, but is considered Invested (with +1 to Attacks) after two successful missions at no cost.
• Chaplain: Reduces Morale costs when a soldier is killed. If Invested, automatically succeeds at Rally checks once per soldier per mission.

     When a character checks Morale, they roll a d6, losing a point of Morale on a 3 or lower. If they drop to 0 Morale or below, they are Panicked. Panicked characters can only move and Sprint away from danger or Hide. When a Panicked character is Rallied, they do not regain Morale. Characters at 0 Morale automatically fail Morale checks.

     When a character is lightly wounded, they may not assist the CO in any checks. When seriously wounded, they cannot act in combat. Two light wounds make a serious wound, and two serious wounds are lethal. When a soldier dies, surviving soldiers in their fireteam check Morale.

     Each soldier, including your CO, carries a primary weapon and three pieces of gear. If they don't carry a primary weapon, they may carry five pieces of gear. Short range is 0m ↔ 20m, medium is 20m ↔ 40m, long range is 40m ↔ 200m. Attacks normally suffer a -1 penalty at medium range and a -2 penalty at long range.

     Example Primary Weapons:

• Assault Rifle: as normal. 31/30 ammo.
• Machine Pistol: Priority when deciding who acts first, no long range. 41/40 ammo.
• Shotgun: +1 to Attacks at short range, no long range. 6/5 ammo. Not automatic. Uses one shell per Attack.
• Sharpshooter Rifle: -1 to Attacks at short range, no penalties at medium or long range. 21/20 ammo. Not automatic.
• LMG: +1 to Attacks when providing Suppressing Fire, takes up 1 additional gear slot. 200/200 ammo. Suppressing Fire only uses 100.
• Grenade Launcher: Launches grenades. 1/1 ammo. Not automatic, obviously.

     Example Gear:

• 3 grenades. Flash, smoke, flare or frag. Limited to short range only.
• Underbarrel Grenade Launcher. Fires a grenade at medium range. Cannot be reloaded in combat.
• Underbarrel Shotgun. Attacks as a shotgun. Cannot be reloaded in combat.
• Magazine, clip of shells, or boxed belt.
• NVG.
• Gas Mask.
  
• Heavy Armor. -1 penalty to Attacks against you until you're wounded, then it's broken.
• Semiauto. +1 to Attacks at close range, -2 penalty at medium range, no long range. 16/15 ammo. Not automatic.
• Revolver. +1 to Attacks at close range. 6/6 ammo. Not automatic.
• Melee Weapon. +2 to Attacks at point-blank range. Obviously, ineffective at other ranges and not automatic.
• First-Aid Kit. Can be expended to remove a light injury.
• Line Thrower. Dedicated tool for launching a grapnel and sturdy line 100m, to aid in scaling buildings or crossing large gaps. Usable as a weapon, once, with no long range fire.
• Silencer. Silences a firearm.
• Truth Serum. One-dose vial.
• Steel-Bodied Flashlight. Provides light, and +1 to Attacks at point-blank range.
  

 

    Example Grenades:

• All grenades have a fuse of 4 Rounds when thrown by hand, while launched grenades may be set to explode on impact or after a shorter time.
  
• Flash. Perforated cardboard body filled with metal salts. Produces a flash of disorienting light and sound within 5m. Flashed targets typically miss the first Round of combat. They may also need to check Morale.
  
• Smoke. Thin cardboard body. Produces a thick, obscuring screen of smoke in a 10m radius for about a minute. May be colored for signalling purposes.
  
• Flare. Sturdy plastic body. Produces brilliant light for about an hour.
  
• Frag. Sturdy metallic body. Instantly kills unprotected targets with 5m. Unprotected targets within 15m are Attacked.
  
• Tear Gas. Thin metallic body. Produces a thick, obscuring screen of smoke in a 10m radius for about a minute. Unprotected targets within the cloud are blinded.
  
• Poison Gas. Thin metallic body. Produces a thick, obscuring screen of smoke in a 10m radius for about a minute. Unprotected targets within the cloud are Attacked every round.
  
• Incendiary. Heavy glass body. Covers a 5m area with burning material, quickly destroying wooden buildings and unarmored vehicles. Produces foul, blinding smoke.
  
• Concussion. Thick cardboard body, and quite heavy. Instantly kills practically anything within 3m with overpressure. Acts as a flash grenade throughout an entire floor of a building, even against targets outside visual range.
  

    Outside of combat, you can do anything it's obviously possible you can do. If there's time pressure, or if trying something not obviously possible, roll a d6. You succeed on a 4 or above by default. If you have a soldier with a relevant skillset — a sapper for demoliition, a medic for biology, a chaplain for translating a cult's holy book — you may add 1 to the check. Additionally, your CO has a background which makes more things obviously possible

    Example Backgrounds:

• MP. Bullshitting, paperwork, forensic research. Relatively free reign as a special agent of the military police led you into many strange places and situations. When you were snapped up by the Organization it was hardly a surprise.
• PMC. Maintenance, hotwiring, first-aid. You worked for the Organization for years unknowingly, before they let you see the man behind the curtain.
• SWAT. Intimidation, demolition, chemistry. A raid against a hive mistaken for a drug lab left you the sole survivor. You were inducted right out of the hospital bed.
• CSI. Biology, computers, paperwork. You were a friendly for years, offering your services to the Organization under the table, until they gave you a job offer and a free trip to boot camp.
• Research. Chemistry, biology, physics. When the fireteams brought back cursed tomes, inhuman POWs and photos of lights in the sky, you were part of the Organization who studied them. After a disaster in the lab you picked up a gun from the corpse of a security officer, and you never put it down again.
  

    After surviving a mission, it is the CO's responsibility to write up an after-action report (for good examples of these, check out some articles on the SCP wiki) and nominate a soldier for a medal. By default, roll a d6 and the soldier receives the medal on a 4 or above.

    Example Medals:

• the Eight-Pointed Star for Conspicuous Bravery in the Line of Fire. Grants one free Morale check per mission when suppressed or near a grenade.
  
• the Gold Triskelion for Enviable Success snatched from the Jaws of Failure. Grants one extra light wound per mission.
  
• the Platinum Infinity for Notable Composure while looking upon the Face of Horror. Grants one free Morale check per mission when encountering something terrible.
  
• the Jacaranda Vein for Surprising Resilience in the case of Horrible Bodily Mutilation.
  
• the Viridian Eye for Remarkable Ability in landing Confirmed Kills.
  
• the Ivory Hamsa for Admirable Restraint in collecting Undamaged Anomalies.
  
• the Cerulean Heart for Exemplary Gladhanding while evacuating Neutral Parties & Civilians.
  
• the Black Mark for Unanticipated Survival even when Everyone Else Died.
  

    Between missions, your CO allocates their Budget to soldiers and special gear. You start with three points, which may be reassigned as you please. Successful missions will result in more trust from the Organization, more Budget to spend, and more things to spend that Budget on.

Example Things to Spend Budget On:

• 1: Investing in a soldier.
  
• 1: Requisitioning a van from the motor pool.
  
• 1: Requisitioning a special piece of equipment, such as a flamethrower or a drone.
  
• 2: Requisitioning an armored vehicle from the motor pool.
• 2: Requisitioning a helicopter from the motor pool.
• 3: Requisitioning a tank from the motor pool.

Sample Fireteams:

• Chi-2, the Bear Hunters. Room-by-room clearing of buildings and spookum hives.
  CO Steven Mills. Shotgun, clip, frag/frag/frag, heavy armor.
  Rifleman +1 Matthew Weber. Shotgun, clip, flash/flash/flash, heavy armor.
  Rifleman +1 Claude Butcher. Assault Rifle, magazine, magazine, heavy armor.
  Medic Elmer Gibson. Machine Pistol, ballistic shield (provides cover until wounded), medkit, medkit
  Chaplain John Marsden. Shotgun, underbarrel grenade launcher, flare/flare/flare, heavy armor
• Gamma-7, the Phone Phreaks. Recovery of computers and sensitive information.
  CO David Flynn. Semiauto, silencer, clip, flash/flash/flash, heavy armor.
  Rifleman +1 Nathan Spitz. Semiauto, silencer, magazine, magazine, heavy armor.
  Marksman +1 Simone Oakley. Sharpshooter Rifle, silencer, magazine, smoke/smoke/flare
  Sapper Walter Hibl. Semiauto, silencer, kilo of C-4 and detonator, tactical matte black hacking laptop.
  Medic Spencer Heath. Machine Pistol, silencer, medkit, medkit.
• Delta-13, the Unfortunate Sons. They've got a helicopter and a stick up their ass.
  CO Raymond Michaud. Assault Rifle, magazine, magazine, revolver
  Automatic Rifleman +1 Susan Combs. LMG, boxed belt, boxed belt.
  Automatic Rifleman +1 Ludwig Saylor. LMG, boxed belt, boxed belt.
  Marksman +1 Nelson Vipond. Sharpshooter Rifle, NVG, medkit, medkit
  Marksman +1 Sandhip Kaur. Sharpshooter Rifle, underbarrel grenade launcher, NVG, flare/flare/flare
• Omega-7, the Camera Outage Kids. Sometimes you're less worried about this week's spookum than the collateral damage from handling it. Dropping five black-clothed gunmen in the middle of the local Starbucks can cause a bit of a ruckus, you know? Four people in long coats (and a fifth on a nearby hill) are a lot less... notable.
  CO Seth Masters, Machine Pistol, smoke/smoke/flash, revolver, magazine.
  Chaplain Nathan Gibson, Machine Pistol, first aid kit, underbarrel shotgun, melee weapon
  Rifleman Claude Eaden, Machine Pistol, smoke/smoke/flash, heavy armor, magazine
  Rifleman Sam Dillinger, Machine Pistol, underbarrel shotgun, magazine, heavy armor
  Marksman Jim Twoda, Sharpshooter Rifle, NVG, line thrower, magazine. 
• Theta-4, the Tour Guides. Scouting and low-level suppression of a wide area, identifying epicenters, leading evacuations, etc.
  CO Claudia Sells, Assault Rifle, NVG, flare/flare/frag, megaphone
  Marksman Todd Morel, Sharpshooter Rifle, magazine, line thrower, NVG
  Medic Sam Opal, Assault Rifle, first-aid kit, first-aid kit, megaphone
  Medic Lydia Thiel, Sharpshooter Rifle, first-aid kit, first-aid kit, NVG
  Sapper Thomas O'Brien, Machine Pistol, first-aid kit, heavy armor, revolver
  

    Some of the rules, roles and teams are by Xenophon of https://xenophonsramblings.blogspot.com/ and Archon of https://archons-court.blogspot.com/. My friends and I on the double-deluxe secret GLOG server have prepared a few short adventures already, and some of mine will be posted soon. Look up "Delta Green Shotgun Scenarios" to tide you over in the meantime.