• The Nexus

    The Nexus

    I left Alex in my apartment and I ran to the Nexus building. It was only a mile and I passed several other manifestations confused on the street, but they were not a danger — at least not yet.

    The moment I stepped through the metal and glass arch way that was the Nexus the world felt different — cooler and hotter at the same time, louder and quieter. The duality was part of the dissonance of the place.

    There wasn’t even an all hands meeting just a packet for everyone to pick up. My handler stopped me before I got to it. He handed me a wooden stake. “Vampire in the park.”

    “That’s all I get?” I grinned at Gary with a wide smile.

    “One at a time. Bring ’em back if you can, someone will Drift ’em back.”

    I sighed. “Got it.”

    I took the wooden stake and went off to hunt a vampire. Thankfully it was enraged otherwise it would have remembered to mesmerize me and taken me out with a couple shots.

    I took out my first aid pen and pressed it to the boys throat before the others came. They knew the vampire that lay slain on the ground. I felt bad, but not terribly so.

    And then a voice I recognized called out and I turned towards it. The voice sounded in my ears and not my head. His eyes were bluer than I remembered. “Alex.”

    “Where the fuck am I?” He said.

    “Uh. I don’t know.” I said.

    “He doesn’t have a halo.” Tall dark and handsome said.

    “He’s from Shift #0.” I said.

    “You too?” The blond asked.

    “No. Strange. I was born here. Can’t anchor. Have a metal feather embedded in my chest. Lots of strange about me.” I said as if I needed to explain myself.

    Alex stopped in front of me and I smiled softly and reached out and touched his cheek. I touched his skin. I put my other hand on his face and took a step back. “You’re here. How the fuck are you here?”

    “That’s what I just asked you.” Alex chuckled and pulled my hands from his face. He smirked. “It’s nice to finally meet you too.”

    I pulled my hands away and blushed and turned towards the other guys, but there was large growl to our left.

    A green hulking creature stepped out of the tree line and roared.

    Alex yelled “The fuck!” And he backed away from the thing.

    I grabbed for his hand but he as out of reach. “It’s okay.” I shouted after him.

    The manifested echo charged at me. The halo was golden yellow of the thirty-fifth Shift. “Shhhh.” I said. The oni ignored me and continued to charge. I reached out as it charged past me towards Alex. The blonde next to me reached out too. He smiled. “Calm.”

    I grabbed the hulking creature as well and drift to it’s home. There was a pop in my ears and the Oni struggled with my grip and then it ran off confused into the waste land in which it came.

    I sought home and found that it didn’t come. I was adrift.

    Nox Luxignis is a Mystical Warrior who Bears the Phoenix Feather and Drifts from Shift #0

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill □ Nyx
    Nox Luxignis Phoenix Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □
    Speed: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □
    XP:
    ■ ■ ■
    Skills: (p): light weapons, (t): supernatural, artistic, speed defense when not wearing armor, computers, magic (i): mental defense, persuasion, deception, initiative, hear or notice danger
    Cyphers: □ empty, □ empty
    Abilities: premonition, sense magic, hedge magic, manifest phoenix, shroud of flame, drift, determine shift
    Weapons: unarmed (caestus) 2 – eased, unarmed (caestus) 4, blaster 4 long range
    Equipment: programmable jump suit, pair of caestus, blaster, ring/eye computer, first aid pen, moderate slot, energy pack (50 shots), inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, wooden stake, metallic phoenix feather (in chest)

    Setup

    L5 (15) Hulking Oni, 8 damage, 20 Health, Feats of raw strength as level 6; Intellect defense and seeing through deception as level 3; Speed defense as level 3 due to size

    Initiative: O: 12, Alex: 15 -1, Ant: 11, Nox: 18 -1, Ryan: 6

    Nox, Alex, Oni, Ant, Ryan

    Nox determines shift and then drifts (-3 int)

    Ryan (-3 int)

    GM Intrusion: Nox can’t get back

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Death and Children

    Death and Children

    It had been a long time since Cari went over the deep end. A very long time. One that I had never seen, and one I was there to prevent since the day I joined her as food and eyes. I was to be her life companion. But then she had Ant. He was our world.

    I don’t know when things changed or when she knew. Five years ago when Ant ran away to find himself I asked Cari to release me so that I might follow him — protect him. She wasn’t surprised — she smiled in that way she had. It scared those who didn’t know her, but it didn’t scare me. I knew her better than anyone, and apparently she knew me better than anyone including myself.

    “It has been done, the moment he stormed out. I knew you’d follow. But he won’t bind you.”

    The words echoed in my mind every time we took on danger. And this had been no different — except that this time we didn’t get there in time and the stake plunged through her heart and the young man burnt with flames that didn’t touch him. Ant lunged for her assailant when the boy fell from his hiding spot behind the metal bin.

    The boy clutched at his throat, blood dripping from between his fingers. The young man was there immediately, the fire slipped from around him and he knelt down pulling a pen from his pocket and stabbed it in his neck.

    I reached for Ant and pressed him to calm down. I had done it a thousand times with his mother who know lay at our feet lifeless and dead. Ant fell to his knees staring at the boy who was sobbing against the young man’s chest that glowed a soft amber underneath the t-shirt he wore.

    “Jesus, fucking Christ, why did you have to do that?” Ant said.

    “She was hungry and in temporal rage.” I looked at the young man comforting the boy while he waited for the paramedics to arrive. “Wasn’t she?” I said to him.

    He looked up. “Looked that way. Hunger wasn’t the only thing I saw in her eyes. I’m sorry about this.”

    Ant spoke softly. “She tried to kill a kid?”

    “Tried yes.” He said.

    “Then it’s her fault.” Ant said. “Why am I not burning?”

    The man smirked, “There is no sun in Arcadis. Is there sun where you come from?”

    “Where are we? Arcadis? Where’s that?” I asked.

    “Earth #45. Cloud blotted city scape of vampires, right? You have drifters though — RHI?”

    “You know a lot.” Ant growled.

    “Part of my job. Mostly a desk job when the city isn’t manifesting echoes like crazy.”

    “You can obviously drift.”

    He smirked. “I can’t bind to an anchor, so can’t drift.”

    “But you drift anyway?” I laughed.

    “Not on duty.”

    The paramedics arrived and another man in a gray jumpsuit walked towards them. “Nox?” The other man turned to the voice.

    Ryan Elliot is a Intelligent Former Chevalier Warrior with a PhD who Slays Monsters and is an Anchor from Purple Shift #45

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill
    Ryan Elliot Sun Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Speed: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    XP:
    ■
    Skills: (p): light, medium, and heavy weapons, (t): swords, speed defense when not wearing armor, cooking, perception, lockpicking, history, actions involving direct experience, monster lore, (s): psychology, (i): intellect defense
    Cyphers: L4 Deathbringer, L6 Burst of Speed
    Abilities: calm, bond, mental link with drifter, create anchor
    Weapons: unarmed 2 – eased, long sword 4, blaster 4 long range
    Equipment: Programmable jump suit, a long sword, blaster, wrist computer, energy pack (50 shots), first aid pen, moderate slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Too Late

    Too Late

    The day was new, but mother held to the old ways — sleep at day, awake at night. She was slumbering in her room. Ryan and I tip-toed around the small house watching. She’d not feed in three days — her last foray into the real world ended disastrously and neither of us wanted to have to hurt her. She stayed home, but enticing a willing young man to enter the home of a notorious vampire was difficult. Persuasion was not an option. Force even less so. The flavor was wrong and mother hated it.

    She rarely fed from strangers, but the Cult of the Light had killed mothers herd. Our family was gone and lost and we had to rebuild what was once a grand empire. All because the multitude now knew vampires were real. If they didn’t hunt us, they feared us and the world insisted upon fear — even as we took over the government and every corporation. We ran it, but the humans still clung to their hierarchy like little lost sheep. We’d won, but they didn’t believe it.

    Growling sounds echoed from mothers bedchamber and when I glanced inside the lights in the house dimmed and the illumination from the lights outside when dim and purple at the same time.

    And then mother was gone. The scent of ozone lingered in the air and Ryan was at my side in a moments notice. “What the fuck?” he said.

    “She’s not a drifter!” I said louder than I thought I had.

    How were we going to find her? She’d been asleep. Dreaming. Anchors don’t drift in dreams, something else happened.

    The alarms in our ears went off. Ryan glanced at his codex and sighed. “Seems we are getting a lot of manifestations. We have to go.”

    “She’s starving.” I reaffirmed to Ryan, “We have to find her.”

    “How?”

    “Nexus.” I said.

    Ryan shook his head. “All access is denied. Can’t you just drift to her? She’s your sire. She is a partial bond.”

    “I’ll try.”

    And try I did. I focused on my mother’s pull — her signature in my mind. The drift was easy, but only when Ryan anchored me home. Two anchors would defeat the purpose. I grabbed Ryan’s shoulder with my hand when I felt the distinct feeling of the drift shifting my cells. He clutched at my elbow and we flitted through the space and time in a gut wrenching movement.

    It didn’t happen like this normally.

    We landed in a strange new world — a soft purple light with the sun shining down. I howled in phantom pain before I realized I wasn’t burning. The sun didn’t burn here. If there was even a sun to be had.

    Ryan laughed. “Comms don’t work, but the network is similar. We can track her.”

    Ryan lead the way and followed still awed by the sun shining on my skin. “I don’t get it.”

    “Sun doesn’t shine at the same frequencies here?”

    Ant shook his head. “That’s not it.”

    We walked through the metal city and followed the path that the computer told us to go — a vampire lose in the city, terrorizing the locals. That would be one for the newspapers.

    I caught my mother’s scent and raced towards her and as we cleared the corner I watched as a young man wreathed in fire plunged a wooden stake into the heart of my mother. “No!” I shouted and drew my sword from the sheathe at my side and rushed towards the man in fury.

    My vision haloed with red with the blood rage but a familiar hand on my shoulder and a calming touch cooled my fire as I saw a boy tumble from behind a metal bin clutching his neck. She’d bitten a child — a boy. Unwilling, afraid, his fear permeated my nose and I fell to my knees at her side. “Jesus, fucking Christ, why did you have to do that?” I felt hopeless, the rage shifted to sorrow for the loss.

    Anthony Giovanni is a Stealthy Vampire Warrior who Slays Monsters and Drifts from Purple Shift #45

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill
    Anthony Giovanni Bat Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Speed: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    XP:
    ■
    Skills: (p): light, medium, and heavy weapons, (t): swords, speed defense when not wearing armor, stealth, illusions, bonsai trees, monster lore (s): lies, trickery, deception, (i): movement-related tasks
    Cyphers: L5 Nullification Array, L6 Ranged Skill boost
    Abilities: drain creature, drift, determine shift
    Weapons: unarmed 2 – eased, long sword 4, blaster 4 long range
    Equipment: Programmable jump suit, a long sword, blaster, wrist computer, energy pack (50 shots), first aid pen, moderate slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot

    Setup

    Q: Are Ant and Ryan in Arcadis #0?
    (1d20+0: [16]+0 = 16)
    Yes

    Q: Have they tracked his mother down?
    (1d20+0: [14]+0 = 14)
    Yes

    Q: Are they too late to save her?
    (1d20+0: [12]+0 = 12)
    Yes, but [“Garbage”, “Hollow”, “Warning”]

    Q: Ant is angry does he attack Nox?
    (1d20+0: [8]+0 = 8)
    No, but [“Boy”, “Enshrine”, “Foliage”]

    Vampire 6 (18), health 24, 7 dmg, long, climb, stealth, perception 8, speed defense 7, mesmerize

    Assume Nox has a wooden stake, hindered, Assume vampire is enraged (due to shift)

    Initiative: V 18: N 9

    V attacks N: 18 defense – miss (V: 24 → 22 fire)
    N takes stim attacks V with stake : 18 defense (+3-1) – hit (V: 22 → 0)

    GM Intrusion: A little boy tumbles out of his nearby hiding spot clutching his neck

    Ryan calms ant

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Where the Fuck?

    Where the Fuck?

    The light vanished. “What the fuck?” I blinked away the last vestiges of spots to find Nox battling the girl who had been just an echo in the room before. I held my hand up and sighed with relief, the battle shone through with blurred opacity of my hand. It was strange being an echo when I felt so real.

    I watched in awe as he burst into flames while he dodged and flung his fists at the now zombified girl. I’d heard the tales but I’d never seen him in action before.

    It was awe inspiring.

    When the girl slumped to the ground he looked around frantically. “I’m alright.” I reassured him. His fingers reached out passed through my visage. I longed to feel those long fingers on my skin. But that would never happen.

    He had to go and rushed around his apartment gathering his things and left in a flurry of motions. The alarms that concerned him were silent in my bedroom where I slept.

    I was about to wake myself and leave the dream but hot searing pain drove down inside me. I felt like I was burning up from the inside. I sprinted through the house and out the door. I was a ghost to this realm, I tried to find Nox, but I didn’t know which way he’d gone. Fuck I hadn’t been anywhere in this spiraling city. So I headed towards the spire in the middle. It could be seen for miles — or so Nox said.

    The pain grew and I dropped to a knee in the suddenness of the wave that passed through me.

    My ears began to ring but not the ring I remember hearing, more like alarms blaring loudly in and out of phase. I felt sick to my stomach and stopped to vomit, only nothing emerged from my throat. Dry heaves wracked my body and then there was a blinding purple yellowish light encompassing my vision. Searing white hot pain and I screamed.

    And just as suddenly the light faded. The pain stopped and I stood on a street in my blue boxer briefs. “What the fuck?”

    I looked around the foreign landscape and felt the cold, soft metallic sheet beneath my feet. The houses lining the street were strangely built of the same metal I stood on. A dim purple light flooded around me as I looked up to the tower glinting in the sky. “The fuck!”

    I brought my hand to my face and the translucence was gone. I was solid. I was here. Wherever the fuck here was.

    Alarms blared all around me — a sharp piercing sound. One was really close. And soon after I arrived a man in a gray suit wearing a rainbow logo on his right chest pocket approached me. He limped a little as he walked, but he stopped and stared at me cocking his head to the side. “Geez, boy oh boy, lookie what I got meself here.” He smiled revealing a crocked smile with several blackened teeth. “The bounty on you sir is gonna be mighty big.”

    A stray thought crossed my mind “He’ll never see it coming.”

    And he was right. I never saw the stick he pulled from his pant leg and jabbed me right in the gut with it. I shook violently while electricity pulsed through my body and the guy took a swing.

    I jerked suddenly with the violence of the stick and the man completely missed his punch. How the…

    I regained my composure and unleashed my own fury of blows. It had been a long time since I’d been in the ring and I managed to land four blows to his zero before he got me again with that fucking stick. He hadn’t learned from the last time to wait till I stopped convulsing before throwing his right hook and he missed wildly again.

    When I recovered I swung up hard and clocked the guy right under his chin. His head snapped back and he fell backwards. “Fuck me!”

    I looked around but there was no one watching. Not a soul other than this fellow. I picked up the stun stick thing he had and jabbed him in the gut with it and then I took his clothes. The jumpsuit was made of odd material and when I unzipped the material it fell into a complete grey with no logo — just gray boring material.

    “Better than being naked.” I said out loud.

    The jumpsuit fit perfectly despite the man being shorter than I was. And the shoes on his feet looked too small, but when I tugged them on they fit perfectly. What kinda place was this? Was this really where Nox lived?

    I could have taken the watch on his wrist, but it looked complicated and nothing like any watch I’d ever seen. I wrenched the fallen thugs arm so I could look at it closer and saw that oddly enough, it had several blinking dots. “Wonder what these are?”

    I touched one and a small voice from the device sounded. “That is Agent 359’s location.”

    “Can you understand my question?”

    “Of course.” The small female voice chirped.

    “I need to find Nox. I don’t know his number. Nox Luxingis.”

    “Agent 381 is located in Garden Park.”

    I changed my mind and took the watch and strapped it to my wrist. “Where is that?”

    A route showed up on the screen and I smiled. “At least this will be easy.” And I started to follow the directions and to figure out what the fuck just happened.

    Alex Brizo is an Inquisitive Dream walking Explorer with latent talents who Commands Mental Powers and is an Anchor from Shift #0

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill
    Alex Brizo Tiger Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might:(1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Speed:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:(1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □
    XP:
    ■
    Skills: (p): light and medium weapons, (t): forensics, dreams, any task involving learning something new, writing, geography, history, (i): heavy weapons, hear or notice danger, initiative
    Cyphers: L2 non-combat Effort Enhancer, L4 Secret
    Abilities: telepathic, hedge magic, decipher, dreamcraft, bond, mental link with drifter, create anchor
    Weapons: stun stick 0, unarmed 2 – eased
    Equipment: Programmable Jumpsuit, stun stick, wrist computer, expensive slot, moderate slot, moderate slot, inexpensive slot, first aid pen, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, book, book, book

    Setup

    Q: When Alex wakes up is he in Nox’s house?
    (1d20+0: [7]+0 = 7)
    No

    Q: Is he near by?
    (1d20+0: [11]+0 = 11)
    Yes, but [“Woven”, “Accomplice”, “Precious”]

    Q: Does he recognize the location?
    (1d20+0: [5]+0 = 5)
    No

    Q: Does an DEHI agent find him?
    (1d20+0: [3]+0 = 3)
    No

    Q: Does anyone find him?
    (1d20+0: [15]+0 = 15)
    Yes

    Q: Does he know who finds him?
    (1d20+0: [9]+0 = 9)
    No, but [“Foot”, “Explosion”, “Damage”]

    Q: Can this person help him find Nox?
    (1d20+0: [14]+0 = 14)
    Yes

    GM Intrusion: The guy is not friendly and you are worth a lot of money being from Shift #0 → 1 XP to Alex, Alex gives 1XP to Nox

    Thug, Health 9, damage 4, short → clothing, wrist computer, stun stick

    Initiative: A 19, T 11

    A: 1 int → Telepathic link (knows the guy is going to attack)
    T attacks A: 8 defense – hits → Alex stunned
    T attacks A: 9 defense – misses
    A attacks T: 12 attack – hits (T 9 → 7)
    T attacks A: 16 defense – misses
    A attacks T: 10 attack – hits (T 7 → 5)
    T attacks A: 15 defense – misses
    A attacks T: 14 attack – hits (T 5 → 3)
    T attacks A: 18 defense – misses
    A attacks T: 15 attack – hits (T 3 → 1)
    T attacks A: 15 defense – misses
    A attacks T: 7 attack – misses
    T attacks A: 6 defense – hits → Alex stunned
    T attacks A: 11 defense – misses
    A attacks T: 8 attack – hits (T 1 → 0)

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Explosion of Light

    Explosion of Light

    The house rattled. The light faded and my vision was impaired as the once translucent girl rushed towards me claws and teeth gnashing. If it weren’t for Nyx chattering in my mind I wouldn’t have leapt from the bed in time to miss the grotesque fingers reaching for my leg.

    I jumped off the bed reaching with in the heart of the phoenix feather melded into my chest and my body was engulfed in an inferno of fire that didn’t burn me. Nyx chittered away guiding my blinded actions as the girl who’d been idle before came at me with mouth open and arms out stretched. I knocked her hands from my body and she hissed as the flamed shrouding my skin grazed her nearly dead body.

    Zombies looked different when they’d been dead a while. She was no longer alive, whatever had triggered her manifestation had killed her. I needed to figure that out — after I escaped the clutches of my once friendly visitor.

    I didn’t know what happened to Alex. But he was just an echo — I hoped he was just an echo!

    Nyx reassured me that Alex was fine — still an echo in all his translucent glory. I made my first attack and the girl growled and hissed as my fist to her chest ignited more of her flesh on fire. The clothes that had protected her from the desolate landscape in which she’d come ignited with ease but she came at me again relentless in her desire for flesh.

    Another near escape but her hands were now emblazed with fire as she reached for me and I pulled out of her hands. A small scratch left from the sharp nails of her former self. I attacked again, and this time she fell to the ground and thrashed around as the flames took her.

    The silence was deadly as the fire roared in my ears, but the flames barely licking anything important. There would be a scorch mark on the floor but a new program would wash it away with ease — after fixing any broken circuitry of course — not something I could do. An expense I’d have to invest in.

    I waved my hand and concentrated hard on the fire now that the girl had fallen silent and still and the flames winked out. Safe for now. But every alarm in my house was going off. I had to go to work — the city had been breached and apparently not by just this one small zombified girl.

    Alex was standing in my bedroom. His visage still see through and it made me happy. I passed my fingers over his cheek with a smile. “I have to go to work.” I said out loud.

    “Will you read it to me again next time? I promise to listen better.”

    Alex blinked at me and nodded. But he stared at the fallen girl. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. Sleep. Next time.” I said.

    I didn’t wait for his acknowledgement or even his resolution. The alarms blared and I had a job to do. I grabbed my jumpsuit and pulled it on. It immediately changed to look like jeans and a t-shirt of the modern day and age on Shift #0. And I ran out the door. Nyx chittering in my ear about saving lives making him happy. It made me happy too.

    Nox Luxignis is a Mystical Warrior who Bears the Phoenix Feather and Drifts from Shift #0

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill □ Nyx
    Nox Luxignis Phoenix Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □
    Speed: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □ □ □
    XP:
    ■
    Skills: (p): light weapons, (t): supernatural, artistic, speed defense when not wearing armor, computers, magic (i): mental defense, persuasion, deception, initiative, hear or notice danger
    Cyphers: L2 Condition Remover, L5 Stim
    Abilities: premonition, sense magic, hedge magic, manifest phoenix, shroud of flame, drift, determine shift
    Weapons: unarmed (caestus) 2 – eased, unarmed (caestus) 4, blaster 4 long range
    Equipment: programmable jump suit, pair of caestus, blaster, ring/eye computer, first aid pen, moderate slot, energy pack (50 shots), inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, wooden stake, metallic phoenix feather (in chest)

    Setup


    Zombie Girl L3 (9), immediate, Health 12, bite – 3 damage

    Initiative: N 14, Z 18

    Z attacks N: 15 defense – miss
    N shroud of flames: (int 12 to 11) +2 fire damage, +2 armor against fire
    Z attacks N: 17 defense – miss (Zombie health 12 to 10)
    N attacks Z: 6 attack – miss
    Z attacks N: 8 defense – hit (might 13 to 10) zombie (health 10 to 8 fire damage)
    N attacks Z: 13 attack – hit zombie (health 8 to 2)
    Z attacks N: 14 defense – miss zombie (health 2 to 0)

    1 int + 1(3) effort Hedge Magic the fire out (int 11 to 7)

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Phantom Edits

    Phantom Edits

    I rubbed the water from my hair as I walked out of my bathroom glancing at the laptop open on my writing desk. It had been thirty minutes since I typed ‘The End — for now’ on the last page of my manuscript. I chewed on my bottom lip before I sat back down in nothing but my blue boxer briefs and saved the document into my cloud storage box for safe keeping. Tomorrow would begin the dreaded wait and research the next book phase.

    I needed time away from the handsome devil in the book. I always did after I wrapped up one of his adventures. Between the hot steamy sex of him and his love interest and the embroiled battle between good and evil it was always a chore to leave him behind and start the new book.

    It didn’t help matters that I saw him every night in my dreams. Him. Nox Luxignis who hunted monsters for a living. Not that I believed monsters were real — but he did. And that’s what he did. His world was strange and bizarre. Much like mine, but not. It felt strange being there with him. He told me of his adventures. And I embellished them. Our next adventure will take us through the gates of hell to fight hell hounds and demons. Not that he’s ever mentioned such a thing, but I’d ask soon about it.

    I curled up in bed, sunk down into my sheets and closed my eyes. The darkness enveloped me and I drifted in the darkness thinking about a pair of chocolate brown eyes framed with gorgeous lashes and thick eyeliner, they gave off a soft fiery glow when he was happy. Probably had a lot to do with the fire bird that lived inside his chest, but I always liked to think the glow was just for me. Because that smile was.

    The darkness grew to a dark shade of purple, and then faded into the soft light of a house I knew well. When I was a kid, finding him in the mass of the world had been difficult. He often found me wandering outside. But as the years moved on I honed the skill of finding his house. He wasn’t quite so easy.

    He lay stretched out in his bed half naked, the beak of the phoenix inked on his skin peaked out above the waist band of his shorts and the wings and geometric shapes snaked up half of his body and down into outlines on his wrist. The metallic phoenix feather glowed softly in the dim light as Nox whispered to his fiery friend inside.

    He didn’t open his eyes. “Hey,” he said.

    “Hi. Whatcha doing?”

    He smiled at me opening his big brown eyes and the fire glowing in them made me shiver with excitement. “Waiting for you. You finished didn’t you?”

    I nodded. “Yeah. Wrote ‘The End’”.

    “For now.” He added with a smirk. “So how’d it end?”

    I sat down in my arm chair in my living room. I’m not sure how it all worked, but it did. I couldn’t interact with him or his world, but I could with my own dream. It was strange.

    Nox glanced to the corner of his room and a familiar girl dug a whole in his carpet. Though Nox said she was digging in a pile of dirt in her own world. I had to believe him. I mean here I was sitting in my chair that wasn’t in his world — right?

    I shrugged and started reading from the manuscript. It appeared in my hand and I opened the unfinished book — yet here in the dream it was solid and real and even had a cover. He closed his eyes and drifted into whatever state he did. He didn’t sleep, but he listened and thought. Each thought I heard clear as day — same as the fiery bird’s thoughts which only he could hear. We had that in common — Nyx and I — we could talk to him, and only him in this world. It was a comfort to know Nox was taken care of wherever he was. Whenever and however we spoke I didn’t question. He was part of my life for better or for worse. My family thought I was crazy. Until my daydreams started making me money. Now my crazy friend in my dreams bought them cars and houses and expensive gifts. Oh how the times had changed. Not that my parents ever questioned my career goals. They encouraged them. Great imagination!

    Nox sat up and watched the girl. And then there was nothing but a purple yellow light exploding in my vision. The sound of crackling energy far off in the distance shredded all sounds. I wanted to scream but there was nothing…

    Alex Brizo is an Inquisitive Dream walking Explorer with latent talents who Commands Mental Powers and is an Anchor from Shift #0

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill
    Alex Brizo Tiger Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might:(1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Speed:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:(1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    XP:
    □
    Skills: (p): light and medium weapons, (t): forensics, dreams, any task involving learning something new, writing, geography, history, (i): heavy weapons, hear or notice danger, initiative
    Cyphers: L2 non-combat Effort Enhancer, L4 Secret
    Abilities: telepathic, hedge magic, decipher, dreamcraft, bond, mental link with drifter, create anchor
    Weapons: stun stick 0, unarmed 2 – eased
    Equipment: Programmable Jumpsuit, stun stick, wrist computer, expensive slot, moderate slot, moderate slot, inexpensive slot, first aid pen, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, book, book, book

    Setup

    Q: Is Alex dreaming he’s editing his book?
    (1d20+0: [17]+0 = 17)
    Yes

    Q: Does Alex know Nox is real?
    (1d20+0: [13]+0 = 13)
    Yes

    Q: Does he think he’s somewhere on Earth?
    (1d20+0: [17]+0 = 17)
    Yes

    Q: Does he have a crush on Nox?
    (1d20+0: [17]+0 = 17)
    Yes

    Q: Does he notice the girl in the bedroom?
    (1d20+0: [20]+0 = 20)
    Yes, and [“Illuminate”, “Common”, “Potential”]

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • The Outer Rings

    The Outer Rings

    The purple haze of the nearest Shift shone through the bedroom window as I lay propped up on my bed listening to the latest tale from the translucent man sitting in his translucent arm chair. The fiery glow of Nyx’s feather on my chest glowed a bright yellow-orange as the Phoenix listened and reverberated in my chest. I smiled with love as my best friends kept me company as the girl in the corner of the room dug a hole in a dirt pile on some distant Shift.

    She didn’t look around, it was just a dream to her — she saw what she expected to see as she dug for whatever treasures might lay in the hole. She’d dug here before. It wasn’t uncommon for echoes to show up in my house without warning. It was harmless, a side effect of living on the edge of Arcadis. No one wanted to live here — the house was cheap and I didn’t mind. I enjoyed their company — specially Alex Brizo. He’d been my friend as long as Nyx.

    His ice-blue eyes were currently down cast as he read through his latest manuscript. He was editing and I was listening. He was dreaming — but not dreaming. Echoes were different when they were dreamers. And I heard him clear as day.

    Most echoes were silent actors in an invisible landscape that they never saw. My parents couldn’t hear Alex. They had a theory we were bound. And since I couldn’t form a bond with another anchor no matter how hard we tried — or how much we connected on a physical or mental level the connection failed each and every time. But it was impossible for Alex and I to be bound — he was on Shift #0. And I could never go there. No one could. The only way to Shift #0 was through the Nexus. And their Nexus was deep at the bottom of the ocean — and we couldn’t get the tech needed to survive at that depth into the doorway to Shift #0.

    Many had tried and many had died never to return from the trip.

    So their theory didn’t really hold water.

    Alex cleared his throat in my head and my heart raced as I looked over at him. He smirked knowing fully well I hadn’t been listening. “Did I get that part right?”

    “I’m sorry!” I said out loud.

    Nyx clicked loudly inside my chest but his words sounded in my head. “You never listen.”

    Alex chuckled.

    I didn’t get a chance to figure out what the part was as the girl echo in the corner became frantic. I sat up in bed and watched her clutch her heart.

    A loud explosion popped off rattling my house and the girl exploded into a radiant purple yellow light.

    Nox Luxignis is a Mystical Warrior who Bears the Phoenix Feather and Drifts from Shift #0

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill □ Nyx
    Nox Luxignis Phoenix Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Speed: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    XP:
    □
    Skills: (p): light weapons, (t): supernatural, artistic, speed defense when not wearing armor, computers, magic (i): mental defense, persuasion, deception, initiative, hear or notice danger
    Cyphers: L2 Remove Condition, L5 Stim
    Abilities: premonition, sense magic, hedge magic, manifest phoenix, shroud of flame, drift, determine shift
    Weapons: unarmed (caestus) 2 – eased, unarmed (caestus) 4, blaster 4 long range
    Equipment: programmable jump suit, pair of caestus, blaster, ring/eye computer, first aid pen, moderate slot, energy pack (50 shots), inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, wooden stake, metallic phoenix feather (in chest)

    Setup

    Q: Are Nox and Alex at Nox’s house?
    (1d20+0: [12]+0 = 12)
    Yes, but [“Change”, “Girl”, “Curiosity”]

    Q: How is the girl changing?
    [“Explosion”, “Heart”, “Infectious”]

    Q: Is the girl a manifestation?
    (1d20+0: [11]+0 = 11)
    Yes, but [“Alarm”, “Faith”, “Disastrous”]

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Echoes Static Site

    Echoes Static Site

    So in an attempt to make quick character sheets AJ fell in love with a layout and a look that she started using in Obsidian MD (her note taking and markdown app).

    We’ve attempted to make them here and I’ve shown off a copy already. And we’ll be using variations on them as we go through each post next week.

    But AJ decided to put all the publicly accessible stuff over on its own site. It’s still very much a work in progress but the Character sheets are up and running.

    You can check it out from the link above or it’s always available in the menu on this site.

    We have 2 weeks worth of posts for you with a story to start on Monday. I’m sure there will be more, and we might take a week off sometimes to share some of the other bits and bobs we’ve done.

    Hope you enjoy the story to come.

  • Character Blocks

    Character Blocks

    AJ spent a part of her morning yesterday working on character blocks that we can edit for each post. Something better than when we were doing Riva. So here are the base blocks:

    Alex Brizo is an Inquisitive Dream walking Explorer with latent talents who Commands Mental Powers and is an Anchor from Shift #0

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill
    Alex Brizo Tiger Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might:(1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Speed:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:(1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □
    XP:
    ■
    Skills: (p): light and medium weapons, (t): forensics, dreams, any task involving learning something new, writing, geography, history, (i): heavy weapons, hear or notice danger, initiative
    Cyphers: L2 non-combat Effort Enhancer, L4 Secret
    Abilities: telepathic, hedge magic, decipher, dreamcraft, bond, mental link with drifter, create anchor
    Weapons: stun stick 0, unarmed 2 – eased
    Equipment: Programmable Jumpsuit, stun stick, wrist computer, expensive slot, moderate slot, moderate slot, inexpensive slot, first aid pen, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, book, book, book

    Anthony Giovanni is a Stealthy Vampire Warrior who Slays Monsters and Drifts from Purple Shift #45

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill
    Anthony Giovanni Bat Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □
    Speed: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    XP:
    ■ ■
    Skills: (p): light, medium, and heavy weapons, (t): swords, speed defense when not wearing armor, stealth, illusions, bonsai trees, monster lore (s): lies, trickery, deception, (i): movement-related tasks
    Cyphers: L5 Nullification Array, L6 Ranged Skill boost
    Abilities: drain creature, drift, determine shift
    Weapons: unarmed 2 – eased, long sword 4, blaster 4 long range
    Equipment: Programmable jump suit, a long sword, blaster, wrist computer, energy pack (50 shots), first aid pen, moderate slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot

    Nox Luxignis is a Mystical Warrior who Bears the Phoenix Feather and Drifts from Shift #0

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort ■ Skill □ Nyx
    Nox Luxignis Phoenix Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    ■ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □
    Speed: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □ □
    XP:
    □
    Skills: (p): light weapons, (t): supernatural, artistic, speed defense when not wearing armor, computers, magic, charming (i): mental defense, persuasion, deception, initiative, hear or notice danger
    Cyphers: □ empty, □ empty
    Abilities: premonition, sense magic, hedge magic, manifest phoenix, shroud of flame, drift, determine shift
    Weapons: unarmed (caestus) 2 – eased, unarmed (caestus) 4, blaster 4 long range
    Equipment: programmable jump suit, pair of caestus, blaster, ring/eye computer, first aid pen, moderate slot, energy pack (50 shots), inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, wooden stake, metallic phoenix feather (in chest)

    Ryan Elliot is a Intelligent Former Chevalier Warrior with a PhD who Slays Monsters and is an Anchor from Purple Shift #45

    Advancement: □ +4 Stat □ +1 Edge □ +1 Effort □ Skill
    Ryan Elliot Sun Icon
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    Armor: 0

    Recovery:
    □ □ □ □
    Damage:
    □ □
    Might: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Speed: (1)
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
    Intellect:
    ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ □ □ □
    XP:
    ■ ■ ■
    Skills: (p): light, medium, and heavy weapons, (t): swords, speed defense when not wearing armor, cooking, perception, lockpicking, history, actions involving direct experience, monster lore, (s): psychology, (i): intellect defense
    Cyphers: L4 Deathbringer, L6 Burst of Speed
    Abilities: calm, bond, mental link with drifter, create anchor
    Weapons: unarmed 2 – eased, long sword 4, blaster 4 long range
    Equipment: Programmable jump suit, a long sword, blaster, wrist computer, energy pack (50 shots), first aid pen, moderate slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot, inexpensive slot
  • Next Week

    Next Week

    So AJ will have a good several days of posts for next week to start the story off. So hopefully Next Monday you’ll see the beginning of our adventures in Echoes. It didn’t start out how AJ intended it and that’s okay that’s kinda the point.

    Anyway, some of you have seen the Newsletter form pop up again. We are attempting to think of something we can do in the newsletter that is unique to only it and hopefully pull in some readership there.

    AJ’s thinking about putting a puzzle for you guys to solve (or maybe help us solve or see who can solve it faster). And maybe a monthly adventure story just there. We’ll see.

    Sign Up Here.

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    I don’t have much world building I can share with you right now. But we have some random tables and a link we can share. Monte Cook Games has updated their SRD and added some new things to it and there are a lot of links running around that can give you a good run down of the game we are using as the backbone of our little adventure. You can check out one of AJ’s favorites at Old Gus’ Cypher System Reference Document.

    Some random tables for generating our next location:

    Tables

    Shifts

    d8Shift Color
    1Purple (high magic/high tech)
    2Magenta (high magic/no tech)
    3Red (high magic, low tech)
    4Orange (no magic, low tech)
    5Yellow (low magic, low tech)
    6Green (no magic, no tech)
    7Cyan (low magic, high tech)
    8Blue (no magic, high tech)

    d100 to choose Shift Number

    Special Rolls

    d8d100Destination Shift
    100Arcadis Purple #0
    800Shift #0 (Earth as we know it)

    Locations

    Roll 1d4 and 1d20. Even on d4 first table, odd second table for d20 result

    Even Table

    d20Nearby Location
    1A small village
    2A metropolis
    3The Nexus
    4An oasis
    5A port
    6Enchanted forest
    7A wasteland
    8Alien settlement
    9Fire plane
    10Underwater city
    11Floating city
    12Volcanic island
    13Arctic tundra
    14Abandoned castle
    15Fairy kingdom
    16Wild west town
    17Underground caverns
    18Swamp
    19Island resort
    20Jungle

    Odd Table

    d20Nearby Location
    1Secret underground laboratory
    2Island resort
    3Medieval fortress
    4Ghost Town
    5Amusement park
    6Mystic Garden
    7Pirate Cove
    8Haunted Mansion
    9Dark Forest
    10Ancient Ruins
    11Magical School
    12Waterfall
    13Mysterious Island
    14Dragon’s Lair
    15A Tower
    16Prehistoric jungle
    17Rustic countryside
    18Meteorite impact zone
    19Starship graveyard
    20The ruins of a lost city
  • Phoenix Bound

    Phoenix Bound

    Bears the Phoenix Feather

    Requires: Bound Magic Creature as an origin ability, 3 disadvantages and added Tier Advancement Requirement.

    Tier 1: Shroud of Flame
    Tier 2: Hurl Flame
    Tier 3: Font of Healing or Wings of Fire
    Tier 4: Flame blade
    Tier 5: Fire Tendrils
    Tier 6: Restore Life or Fire Servant

    Tier Advancement Addition:

    In order to advance to the next tier the Bearer must spend an additional 4XP to level the Phoenix

    Disadvantages

    • If the Young Phoenix is reduced to 0 health, it dissipates. It reforms in its object in 2d6 + 2 days and you are debilitated for the same numbers of days. If you are debilitated in this manner all your pools must be reduced to zero to die. (REQUIRED)
    • Choose 2:
    • People find you unnerving. All tasks relating to pleasant social interaction are hindered. (Glowing object when inside, or glowing phoenix outside)
    • When the Young Phoenix is neither mentally connected or in close proximity, all Intellect and Speed tasks are hindered. (you rely on the phoenix)
    • You tend to fixate on the details, making you somewhat oblivious to what’s going on around you. Any task to hear or notice dangers around you is hindered. (the phoenix wants to know everything, do everything)
    • When you see something interesting, you hesitate as you take in all the details. Initiative actions (to determine who goes first in combat) are hindered. (the phoenix wants to know everything, do everything)

    Protects the Feather Bearer

    The focus of the Phoenix bound by the Feather.

    Tier 1: Healing Touch for the Bearer
    Tier 2: Devoted Defender of the Bearer
    Tier 3: Hidden Closet
    Tier 4: Inspire Action of the Bearer
    Tier 5: Willing Sacrifice for the Bearer
    Tier 6: Greater Healing Touch for the Bearer or Restore Life of the Bearer

    Other Tier Advancements for the Phoenix

    • +1 fire damage
    • New Tier Ability
    • New Tier Health + 2

    Interactions

    The Phoenix doesn’t always do as he’s asked. The following table helps determine the reaction of the Phoenix based upon the relationship between it and the bearer.

    d20 + [RS]Reaction
    1-6No
    7-12Maybe
    13+Yes
    where RS = the Relationship score with the bearer. A platonic score is positive and a rivalry score is negative. Cannot be both platonic and a rival.
  • Newsletter — Again

    Newsletter — Again

    By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

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  • Origins

    Origins

    We talked more specifically about origins two weeks ago. AJ created a new Focus that is a part of my Origin. Basically we took my origin and my focus and made it all one thing so that it meshed better to make a more cohesive story. But today, we are going to present the other Ability/Disadvantages of the others and then tomorrow we’ll do my new origin.

    AJ’s already started the story and we have several days worth of posts for that but AJ wants a few more in the hole because like today she spent most of her writing time doing some world building that will be needed for the next few bits. We are going as is and we’ve already thrown two wrenches into the story in which AJ was heading until we made an abrupt turn. Which is the point of this.

    This might not be necessarily always ‘monster of the week’ but I think more along the lines of ‘setting of the month’ combined with ‘monster of the week’ while we travel through the setting. We might be in a place longer doing things longer than just taking care of a monster or whichever. I think it’ll be fun. There is a story to tell right now as AJs making the town we are about to go to and as a first adventure it’s pretty good.

    So here are the origins of Ant, Ryan and Alex. Pretty sure you can tell whose is whose.

    Dream walker

    Abilities

    • Dreamcraft

    Disadvantages

    • After your first recovery roll you take 10% longer to recover as your mind drifts into slumber land and it takes a little longer to come out of it.

    Vampire

    Ability

    • Drain Creature

    Disadvantages

    • You Must Feed: If you fail to drain a creature once per session your might and speed pools are decreased by 1 until you use drain creature to restore one lost pool per action. ie: failure to use it once per session would require 3 the next session to regain all your pools back and not take another hit. The affects are cumulative

    Chevalier

    A vampires bound human servant

    Ability

    • Calm

    Disadvantages

    • Being so receptive to others’ thoughts and moods makes you vulnerable to anything that attacks your mind. Intellect defense rolls are hindered. (origin)
  • New Faces (kinda)

    New Faces (kinda)

    So AJ doesn’t want to have the real life folks spread across the website, so we found some avatars and icons. We’ll be using the ones with the Neon background for the look of me and my friends.

  • Nyx, The Young Phoenix

    Nyx, The Young Phoenix

    Nyx is a special creature, almost an NPC so has a bit more to it than other typical Cypher System creatures.

    Nyx is a Beneficent Young Phoenix who Protects the Feather Bearer 3 (9)

    Description: A large bird with bright red, orange, and yellow feathers. A crest on his head and long tail feathers. The feathers do not cease glowing if removed, and one feather can light a large room if not concealed. Nyx has glowing orange eyes but is missing the left one, a large scar runs from top to bottom

    Motive: To Protect the Feather Bearer

    Stats

    Age: 26
    Level: 3 (9)
    Health: 11
    Movement: Flies, long distance
    Damage: 2, +2 fire

    Abilities

    • Generous: +1 to recovery rolls for the Feather Bearer
    • Healing Touch (149) for the Feather Bearer
    • Devoted Defender (128) of the Feather Bearer
    • Hidden Closet (149)
    • Immune to fire damage, vulnerable to cold damage (+1 to damage taken)
    • Mental Link (161) with Feather Bearer
    • Shroud of Flame (183)

    Inabilities

    • If reduced to 0 health, it dissipates. It reforms in its object in 2d6 + 2 days debilitating the feather bearer for the same number of days.

    Relationships

    Nyx: Platonic 5

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Nox Luxignis

    Nox Luxignis

    Nox Luxignis is a Mystical Warrior Contains a Phoenix

    Descriptor: Mystical (53)
    Type: Warrior (20)
    Flavor: Magic (36)
    Focus: Contains a Phoenix (homebrew)
    Origin: Shift #0
    Aspect: Drifter

    Stats

    Age: 23
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    XP: 0

    Might: 13 (0)
    Speed: 11 (1)
    Intellect: 12 (0)

    Armor: 0

    Recovery Rolls: 1d6+
    □ Action
    □ Ten Minutes
    □ One Hour
    □ Ten Hours

    Damage Track:
    □ Impaired
    □ Debilitated

    Cypher Limit: 2

    Skills

    Practiced: light, medium and heavy weapons

    Trained: all actions involving identifying or understanding the supernatural, artistic skills, speed defense tasks, basics of magics and understanding and identifying magical properties, charm, computer skills

    Specialized:

    Inability: any task involving charm, persuasion or deception, mental attack defense, initiative, hear or notice danger

    Disadvantage

    • If the Young Phoenix is reduced to 0 health, it dissipates. It reforms in its object in 2d6 + 2 days and you are debilitated for the same numbers of days. If you are debilitated in this manner all your pools must be reduced to zero to die. (origin)

    Abilities

    • No Need for Weapons (166)
    • Trained Without Armor (193) Enabler.
    • Bash (112) Premonition (171) → (2 int)
    • Swipe (188) Magic Training (159) Enabler
    • Sense Magic:
    • Hedge Magic
    • Bound Magic Creature (115) → A Young Phoenix bound to a metallic phoenix feather melded into Nox’s chest. (origin)
    • Shroud of Flame (183) → (1 int)

    Player Intrusions

    • Perfect Setup
    • Old Friend
    • Weapon Break

    Equipment

    • A set of DEHI plane shifting attire that when unworn looks like a gray jump suit until activated — typically wear of their next shift or favorite outfits.
    • pair of Caestus, 2 damage, eased, light
    • Blaster: medium, 4, long range
    • a wrist computer
    • two moderately priced items
    • four inexpensive items
    • A metallic phoenix feather melded into his chest over his heart

    Cyphers

    1. Condition remover L6
    2. Stim L6

    Advancement

    Tier #1:
    □ Increase Capabilities
    □ Move Toward Perfection
    □ Extra Effort
    □ Skill Training

    Background and Story

    Dorian and Marco were approached by a Collector and regurgitated a three day old baby still alive and wrapped his tentacle around Marco’s neck and spoke through him. He placed the metallic phoenix feather on the baby’s chest. “They will die without each other.”

    Since Nox’s arrival in Arcadis he has been visited by an Echo of a boy. Dorian and Marco invite the boy to join them even though they couldn’t talk to him. Nox could hear him but his parents don’t.

    Nox and the Young Phoenix grew up together and shared one another’s powers in a symbiotic relationship. And for some reason unknown to most of the world Nox never drifted uncontrollably despite having no anchor.

    On the night the story starts Nox is called to duty as are all DEHI agents to tend to the influx of manifesting echoes.

    Character Arcs

    1. Solve a Mystery (What happened to bring all the manifestations into being at one time.)

    Relationships

    Alex: bounded Anchor, imaginary friend → Something about them complements your abilities.

    PCs

    Alex: Platonic 2

    NPCs

    Nyx: Platonic 5

    Appearance

    Hair: Chestnut brown hair with tips dyed red (or other colors of his choosing)
    Eyes: Deep Chocolate brown
    Height: 6’0″
    Build: well defined muscular build that requires a lot of work to maintain

    He has one large tattoo starting mid thigh the tail feathers of a red/orange phoenix flow up his thigh, the wings wrap around at his hip bone, some of the ink would land in the pubic hair region but Nox is a meticulous groomer so perfectly kept and nothing marring the ink, the head of the bird points towards his belly button, and then it turns into a bunch of red/orange tribal tattoo solid shapes, that gradually darken and turn to black tribal tattoos up his chest and shoulder and as they turn around his shoulder they start to lighten until they are nothing but outlines. None of the ink can be seen if he’s wearing a buttoned up marine uniform shirt, with long sleeves, stops about 2-3 inches above his wrist. the edge of the phoenix peak out at the hem of basketball shorts, and a few wisps of black at the neck when he wears a t-shirt, and then most of the sleeve if he’s wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt/tank top

    Nox’s default clothing appearance is Shift #0 jeans, a t-shirt, a gray hoodie and a pair of canvas chucks.

    Personality

    TRAITSSCALETRAITS 
    Warm0──+───────10Cold 
    Outgoing0────+─────10Shy 
    Spender0────────+─10Saver 
    Optimist0───────+──10Pessimist 
    Easily Provoked0──+───────10Easy-Going 
    Tough-minded0───────+──10Tender-hearted 
    Leader0──+───────10Follower 
    Arrogant0──────+───10Humble 
    Happy0────+─────10Discontent 
    Impulsive0─+────────10Thoughtful 
    Conventional0──────+───10Radical Thinker 
    Emotional0───+──────10Rarely shows emotion 
    Perfectionist0+─────────10Sloppy 
    Risk-taker0─+────────10Cautious 
    Charismatic0──+───────10Aggravates People 
    Late0────────+─10Early for Appointments 
    Efficient0───+──────10Inefficient 
    Team-oriented0───────+──10Prefers to work alone 
    Quiet0──────+───10Loud 
    Subtle0────────+─10Direct 
    Selfish0──────+───10Selfless 
    Go-getter0───+──────10Lazy 
    Heroic0─+────────10Cowardly 
    Takes things at face-value0───────+──10Reads between the lines 
    Tries to Please People0──+───────10Doesn’t Care What Others Think 
    Responsible0───+──────10Irresponsible 
    Enthusiastic0───+──────10Unexcitable 
    Systematic0+─────────10Scatter-brained 
    Happy-Go-Lucky0────+─────10Serious

    Original Character Sheet → Cypher System DCS v 1.5 / Designed by THE INFINITE CONSTRUCT

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Alex Brizo

    Alex Brizo

    Alex Brizo is an Inquisitive Explorer who Commands Mental Powers

    Descriptor: Inquisitive (51)
    Type: Explorer (29)
    Flavor: Magic (36)
    Focus: Separates mind from body (77)
    Origin: Shift #0
    Aspect: Anchor

    Stats

    Age: 25
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    XP: 0

    Might: 10 (1)
    Speed: 12 (0)
    Intellect: 17 (1)

    Armor: –

    Recovery Rolls: 1d6+
    □ Action
    □ Ten Minutes (11 mins)
    □ One Hour (66 mins)
    □ Ten Hours (11 hours)

    Damage Track:
    □ Impaired
    □ Debilitated

    Cypher Limit: 2

    Skills

    Practiced: light and medium weapons

    Trained: forensics, dreams any task involving learning something new, writing, any task involving geography and history

    Specialized:

    Inability: heave weapons, any task to hear or notice dangers is hindered, initative actions are hindered. After your first recovery roll you take 10% longer to recover as your mind drifts into slumber land and it takes a little longer to come out of it. (origin)

    Abilities

    • Telepathic (189) → (1 int)
    • Improved Edge (151) Enabler
    • Knowledge Skills (157) → forensics, dreams
    • Block (115) Hedge Magic (149) (1 int)
    • Decipher (126) Action to initiate.
    • Dreamcraft (132) (1 int) (origin)
    • Bond (1 Intellect point) (origin)
    • Mental Link with Drifter (161) (origin)
    • Create Anchor (1+ Intellect point) (origin)

    Player Intrusions

    • Fortuitous Malfunction
    • Serendipitous Landmark
    • Weak Strain

    Equipment

    • Nox gives Alex a set of DEHI plane shifting attire that when unworn looks like a gray jump suit until activated — typically wear of their next shift or favorite outfits.
    • Stunstick → medium, immediate, no damage, human or smaller loses next action
    • Wrist: A holowatch (wrist computer)
    • 1 expensive item
    • 2 moderately expensive items
    • 4 inexpensive items
    • 3 books

    Cyphers

    1. Effort enhancer (noncombat) L2 (1x use)
    2. Secret L4

    Advancement

    Tier #1:
    □ Increase Capabilities
    □ Move Toward Perfection
    □ Extra Effort
    □ Skill Training

    Background and Story

    Alex is a dream walker who visits Arcadis and writes stories about those dreams and sells them for profit.

    Alex was born to Thomas Alexander Brizo and Grace Harper-Brizo.

    Alex has always had an active imagination and has consistently drifted in and out of his own worlds for nearly as long as he can remember. It feels as though his dreams and stories are real, and that there is some meaning behind them. Sometimes it’s difficult to leave the dream world behind and return to his own reality.

    In college Alex studied investigative forensics as well as minored in creative writing. He has been writing a series of books called “Plane Hunters” since he was a kid, the earlier versions never saw the light of day, but the last three titles have been a big hit.

    The night before the story begins Alex sent his latest work into the cloud for safe keeping while he began his research on his next big project. He curled up in bed with his ‘falling asleep book’ — a dry and dull exposition on the treatise of man, wearing a pair of blue boxer briefs he did not expect to wake up in another world wearing the same thing he went to bed in.

    Character Arcs

    1. Solve a Mystery (How the fuck did I end up here?)

    Relationships

    Nox: bonded Drifter, Muse → Something about them complements your abilities.
    Ant: Unknown
    Ryan: Unknown

    PCs

    Nox: Platonic 2

    NPCs

    Appearance

    Hair: Inky black hair longer on the top and can style into a spikey faux mohawk
    Eyes: ice-blue
    Height: 6’0″
    Build: broad shoulders, narrow waist, lightly defined musculature

    He has a kanji tattoo on his left hip signifying luck, a tear out robotic arm on his right shoulder, and on his right shoulder blade a tattoo of a yin-yang symbol in the background and a green Chinese dragon circling a Bengal tiger.

    Alex wears comfortable clothes, typically seen in jeans and a t-shirt. But he can wear a suit well.

    Personality

    TRAITSSCALETRAITS 
    Warm0───+──────10Cold 
    Outgoing0─+────────10Shy 
    Spender0─+────────10Saver 
    Optimist0───────+──10Pessimist 
    Easily Provoked0───────+──10Easy-Going 
    Tough-minded0──────+───10Tender-hearted 
    Leader0────+─────10Follower 
    Arrogant0─+────────10Humble 
    Happy0───+──────10Discontent 
    Impulsive0──+───────10Thoughtful 
    Conventional0────+─────10Radical Thinker 
    Emotional0───+──────10Rarely shows emotion 
    Perfectionist0──────+───10Sloppy 
    Risk-taker0────+─────10Cautious 
    Charismatic0─+────────10Aggravates People 
    Late0────────+─10Early for Appointments 
    Efficient0───+──────10Inefficient 
    Team-oriented0─────+────10Prefers to work alone 
    Quiet0───────+──10Loud 
    Subtle0──────+───10Direct 
    Selfish0────+─────10Selfless 
    Go-getter0───────+──10Lazy 
    Heroic0───+──────10Cowardly 
    Takes things at face-value0────────+─10Reads between the lines 
    Tries to Please People0──────+───10Doesn’t Care What Others Think 
    Responsible0────+─────10Irresponsible 
    Enthusiastic0────+─────10Unexcitable 
    Systematic0───+──────10Scatter-brained 
    Happy-Go-Lucky0────+─────10Serious

    Original Character Sheet → Cypher System DCS v 1.5 / Designed by THE INFINITE CONSTRUCT

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Anthony Giovanni

    Anthony Giovanni

    Anthony Giovanni is a Stealthy Warrior who Slays Monsters

    Descriptor: Stealthy (56)
    Type: Warrior (20)
    Flavor: Stealth (34)
    Focus: Slays Monsters (76)
    Origin: Purple #45
    Aspect: Drifter

    Stats

    Age: 751 (looks 25)
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    XP: 0

    Might: 14 (1)
    Speed: 14 (1)
    Intellect: 10 (0)

    Armor: 0

    Recovery Rolls: 1d6+
    □ Action
    □ Ten Minutes
    □ One Hour
    □ Ten Hours

    Damage Track:
    □ Impaired
    □ Debilitated

    Cypher Limit: 2

    Skills

    Practiced: light, medium and heave weapons

    Trained: swords, speed defense when wearing no armor, all stealth skills, all inteactions involving lies or trickery, all special abilities involving illusion

    Specialized: stealth, deception, interactions involving trickery

    Inability: movement related tasks hindered. If you fail to drain a creature once per session your might and speed pools are decreased by 1 until you use drain creature to restore one lost pool per action. ie: failure to use it once per session would require 3 the next session to regain all your pools back and not take another hit. The affects are cumulative (origin)

    Abilities

    • Trained without Armor (193)
    • Improved Edge (121)
    • Combat Prowess (120) Enabler
    • Bash (112) Stealth Skills → stealth, deception
    • Practiced with Swords (171)
    • Drain Creature (131) (origin)
    • Drift (2+ Intellect point) (origin) Action.
    • Determine Shift (1 Intellect point) (origin) Action.

    Player Intrusions

    • Perfect Setup
    • Old Friend
    • Weapon Break

    Equipment

    • All RHI employees get plane shifting attire that when unworn looks like a gray jump suit until activated — typically wear of their next shift or favorite outfits.
    • A long sword: medium, 4, immediate
    • Blaster: medium, 4, long range
    • Wrist Computer
    • Energy pack (50 shots)
    • two moderately priced items
    • three inexpensive items.

    Cyphers

    1. Nullification ray L6
    2. Skill boost L5 → ranged attack

    Advancement

    Tier #1:
    □ Increase Capabilities
    □ Move Toward Perfection
    □ Extra Effort
    □ Skill Training

    Background and Story

    For hundreds of years Anthony Giovanni lived in the shadow of his mother. Her tight control on the vampires of the night left the world to fear him because of her viciousness.

    Ant bound himself to her human servant for hundreds of years before they joined the Rift Hunters International so that Ant could make a name for himself outside of his mother’s name.

    Ant was born a vampire. The bloodlust wasn’t new to him, but the RHI saw many of their own tip into the scales of destruction.

    But Ant’s true story doesn’t really begin until the night the planes aligned pulling echoes from all over into the wrong planes. Ant’s mother was one such unlucky creature pulled into another world. Ant and Ryan went after her.

    Character Arcs

    1. Avenge → To avenge his mother who was killed by a DEHI agent in Arcadis after she went on a killing rampage due to bloodlust fueled rage and temporal sickness (rare).

    Relationships

    Ryan: Bonded Anchor → Something about them complements your abilities.
    Nox: unknown
    Alex: unknown

    PCs

    Ryan: Platonic 7

    NPCs

    Appearance

    Hair: dark brown hair kept close on the sides and slightly longer on top
    Eyes: onyx
    Height: 5’11”
    Build: well defined musculature and broad shoulders

    His skin has a natural sun kissed color despite lack of sun exposure. He has retractable fangs .When Ant feeds his eyes turn red. He can usually control it, but when he is particularly hungry he is not always capable of hiding his eyes.

    Ant typically wears all black – black jeans, with a black t-shirt and a black leather jacket and combat boots as it helps hide in the shadows better. He also carries a sword at his left hip and a pair of blasters at the small of his back.

    Personality

    TRAITSSCALETRAITS 
    Warm0─────+────10Cold 
    Outgoing0───+──────10Shy 
    Spender0────+─────10Saver 
    Optimist0─────+────10Pessimist 
    Easily Provoked0+─────────10Easy-Going 
    Tough-minded0──+───────10Tender-hearted 
    Leader0───+──────10Follower 
    Arrogant0+─────────10Humble 
    Happy0─────────+10Discontent 
    Impulsive0─+────────10Thoughtful 
    Conventional0───+──────10Radical Thinker 
    Emotional0────+─────10Rarely shows emotion 
    Perfectionist0─────+────10Sloppy 
    Risk-taker0+─────────10Cautious 
    Charismatic0────+─────10Aggravates People 
    Late0────+─────10Early for Appointments 
    Efficient0─+────────10Inefficient 
    Team-oriented0───+──────10Prefers to work alone 
    Quiet0────────+─10Loud 
    Subtle0────────+─10Direct 
    Selfish0─────+────10Selfless 
    Go-Getter0───+──────10Lazy 
    Heroic0───+──────10Cowardly 
    Takes things at face-value0─────+────10Reads between the lines 
    Tries to Please People0────+─────10Doesn’t Care What Others Think 
    Responsible0───+──────10Irresponsible 
    Enthusiastic0─────+────10Unexcitable 
    Systematic0──+───────10Scatter-brained 
    Happy-Go-Lucky0───────+──10Serious

    Original Character Sheet → Cypher System DCS v 1.5 / Designed by THE INFINITE CONSTRUCT

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Ryan Elliot

    Ryan Elliot

    Today we are going to start showing off the four characters we are going to start off with. Our histories are pretty vague intentionally. But AJ has a general idea of what we are and where we are going and this is the first of four characters, and 1 creature we’ll see this week.

    Ryan Elliot is a Intelligent Warrior who Slays Monsters

    Descriptor: Intelligent (49)
    Type: Warrior (20)
    Flavor: Knowledge and Skills (37)
    Focus: Slays Monsters (76)
    Origin: Purple #45
    Aspect: Anchor

    Stats

    Age: 818 (looks 21)
    Tier: 1
    Effort: 1
    XP: 0

    Might: 11 (0)
    Speed: 12 (1)
    Intellect: 13 (0)

    Armor: 0

    Recovery Rolls: 1d6+
    □ Action
    □ Ten Minutes
    □ One Hour
    □ Ten Hours

    Damage Track:
    □ Impaired
    □ Debilitated

    Cypher Limit: 2

    Skills

    Practiced: light, medium and heavy weapons and suffer no penalty with any weapon

    Trained: cooking, speed defense when not wearing armor, perception, lockpicking, history, all actions involved remembering or memorizing things experienced directly, swords

    Specialized: psychology

    Inability: intellect defense hindered

    Abilities

    • Bash (112) Investigative Skills (155) → Perception, Lockpicking
    • Trained without Armor (193)
    • Combat Prowess (120) Enabler
    • Swipe (188) Knowledge Skills (157) → Psychology, History
    • Practiced with Swords (171) Enabler.
    • Calm (3 int) (origin) Action
    • Bond (1 Intellect point) (origin)
    • Mental Link with Drifter (161) (origin) Action to initiate.
    • Create Anchor (1+ Intellect point) (origin) Action to Initiate

    Player Intrusions

    • Perfect Setup
    • Old Friend
    • Weapon Break

    Equipment

    • All RHI employees get plane shifting attire that when unworn looks like a gray jump suit until activated — typically wear of their next shift or favorite outfits
    • A long sword: medium, 4, immediate
    • Blaster: medium, 4, long range
    • a wrist computer
    • two moderately priced items,
    • four inexpensive items.

    Cyphers

    1. Death bringer L4
    2. Burst of speed L6

    Advancement

    Tier #1:
    □ Increase Capabilities
    □ Move Toward Perfection
    □ Extra Effort
    □ Skill Training

    Background and Story

    When Ryan was 16 he was taken as the human servant to one of the most powerful vampires of that time. She gave birth to a son shortly there after thanks to a magical ceremony. Ryan and her son grew close over the years and when Ant started showing signs of Drifting he bound himself to the growing vampire.

    Over the years Ryan and Ant’s friendship grew and when Ant asked his mother to join Rift Hunters International, Ryan asked for his release and joined Ant on his hunt for self.

    Ant did not take Ryan as his human servant (yet) and Ryan is now aging. It has been 5 years and he still waits for Ant to claim his soul in the vampiric rites.

    Character Arcs

    1. Develop a Bond → Ryan wants to convince Ant to take him as human servant.

    Relationships

    Ant: Bonded Drifter → Something about them complements your abilities.
    Nox: Unknown
    Alex: Unknown

    PCs

    Ant: Platonic 7

    NPCs

    Appearance

    Hair: Dirty blonde
    Eyes: Bright Green
    Height: 6’1″
    Build: slight muscular build, narrow waist

    Ryan has no defining marks, if he weren’t so devilishly handsome he’d blend into the crowd.

    Ryan prefers to wear clothes that makes him blend in with the crowd. He doesn’t want to stand out.

    Personality

    TRAITSSCALETRAITS 
    Warm0─+────────10Cold 
    Outgoing0─+────────10Shy 
    Spender0────────+─10Saver 
    Optimist0─+────────10Pessimist 
    Easily Provoked0────────+─10Easy-Going 
    Tough-minded0─────────+10Tender-hearted 
    Leader0─────+────10Follower 
    Arrogant0───+──────10Humble 
    Happy0──+───────10Discontent 
    Impulsive0───────+──10Thoughtful 
    Conventional0───────+──10Radical Thinker 
    Emotional0───+──────10Rarely shows emotion 
    Perfectionist0────+─────10Sloppy 
    Risk-taker0─────+────10Cautious 
    Charismatic0──+───────10Aggravates People 
    Late0──────+───10Early for Appointments 
    Efficient0──+───────10Inefficient 
    Team-oriented0─+────────10Prefers to work alone 
    Quiet0───────+──10Loud 
    Subtle0────────+─10Direct 
    Selfish0────────+─10Selfless 
    Go-getter0─+────────10Lazy 
    Heroic0─+────────10Cowardly 
    Takes things at face-value0───────+──10Reads between the lines 
    Tries to Please People0───+──────10Doesn’t Care What Others Think 
    Responsible0+─────────10Irresponsible 
    Enthusiastic0───+──────10Unexcitable 
    Systematic0+─────────10Scatter-brained 
    Happy-Go-Lucky0+─────────10Serious

    Original Character Sheet → Cypher System DCS v 1.5 / Designed by THE INFINITE CONSTRUCT

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • Origin Mechanic

    Origin Mechanic

    Today, I thought I’d introduce one of our Cypher System Mechanics written for Echoes. This allows the player to customize their character with some abilities they might have from their origin. i.e.: They are a vampire, or maybe they are an elf. Or maybe they’ve lived a long time and learned a lot. It’s not a mechanic with tiers and does not grow as you increase in power.

    To balance out the ability the chosen inability must be a good balance or there is a risk of overpowering a character

    The Summary

    All characters have an origin. Make a choice for each of the following:

    1. Choose a Shift in which your character came from (Color #)
    2. Choose an ability that caters to your origin and your backstory (subject to GMs approval)
    3. Choose an inability that detracts from your origin and your back story (a flaw of some sort — you may opt out of #2 and #3 if you opt out of both) (subject to GMs approval)
    4. Choose 1 skill in which you are trained that is a hobby
    5. Explain each of these choices in your back story
    6. Choose either to be a Drifter or an Anchor
    7. If you are a Drifter who is your current Anchor? (if you don’t have one explain.)

    Drifter

    A drifter can travel easily between Shifts. But if a drifter is not properly bound to an anchor they will drift from shift to shift with no way back home.

    Drift (2+ Intellect point): You and your anchor can drift (make an entrance) to another Shift. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to bring other people with you; each level of Effort used in this way affects up to two additional targets. You must touch any additional targets. Action.

    Determine Shift (1 Intellect point): Determine what shift an entity is from just by looking at their aura. Action.

    Anchor

    Most people are anchors and are tied to one place — their home shift. With training an anchor can bond with a drifter

    Bond (1 Intellect point): Bond with a drifter through a special ceremony. May only have one bond at a time. Action to initiate.

    Mental Link with Drifter: The same as Mental Link except there is no cost and you can only link with your drifter. (161) In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to extend the duration by one hour for each level of Effort applied. Action to initiate.

    Create Anchor (1+ Intellect point): Create an anchor to pull themselves and their drifter (and party if included) back to the anchor from another shift. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to bring other people with you; each level of Effort used in this way affects up to two additional targets. You must touch any additional targets. Action to initiate.

    Shifts

    Shifts consist of a color and a number. Each color represents the type of world your character hales from, and the number is the distance from the Nexus your shift is found in regards to the major differences in your world.

    ColorMagicTech
    PurpleHighHigh
    MagentaHighLow
    RedHighNo
    OrangeLowNo
    YellowNoNo
    GreenLowHigh
    CyanNoHigh
    BlueNoLow
    Diagram of the shifts around Arcadis

    Shift #0 (has no color) -> this is the real world as we the player knows it. This is also the shift Arcadis is in.

    Purple #45 vampires and werewolves and other associated supernatural creatures are real -> Supernatural

    Blue #125 the steam engines became the predominate form of locomotion (electricity was not invented) -> Steampunk

    Cyan #3 aliens landed and shared their tech with Earth in the late 1800s -> Hard Sci-fi

    Yellow #10 World War 2 ended in a nuclear war devastating the world making a barren waste land -> Post Apocalypse

    Red #236 During the dark ages magic became well known and used throughout the world -> High Fantasy

    When creating a different world the historical differences do not need to be taken into consideration, but remember that the higher the number, the more things have changed in the past in order to make the changes you wish to happen in the future. You can use the examples above as guidelines.

    As a side note: Arcadis only Shifts in the purple zone. All other zones only create real world derivatives.

    Example

    AJ has three examples. (Mine is oddly not done yet — I’m being saved for last.) But we want to showcase Ant’s. Mostly because it shows a non-human ish variant to the mechanic.

    Ant’s origin is “Vampire”. But we don’t have to call it that anywhere, but that is the concept in which we wanted to create his origin from.

    Ant is from Purple #45: An Arcadis derivative where vampires and werewolves and the supernatural exist. It is high magic and high tech. In other words the supernatural are known to the world and pretty much rule it. Their tech is the average of what Arcadis is, which takes from the other high tech areas as needed.

    The ability we chose was Drain Creature (131). And the inability that goes with it presents a problem and the solution.

    If you fail to drain a creature once per session your might and speed pools are decreased by 1 until you use drain creature to restore one lost pool per action. i.e.: failure to use it once per session would require 3 the next session to regain all your pools back and not take another hit. The affects are cumulative.

    Basically if he doesn’t feed at least once a session he’s penalized for it and it takes double the effort to return to normal.

    Ant has been a live a long time and has the hobby of the ancient art of bonsai trees. A pretty useless skill but something fun to play with. As most of these skills should be when taking a hobby.

    And finally Ant is a Drifter and his bonded anchor is Ryan, and has been for all his very long life.

    Cypher System disclaimer and Open Game License
    Numenera, the Cypher System, No Thank You, Evil!, Invisible Sun, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2023 Monte Cook Games, LLC.

  • A Few Decisions

    A Few Decisions

    Yesterday and last night (and early this morning) AJ made a decision or a few anyway.

    1. The name of the series will be “Echoes”. Last night AJ sketched out a logo, and today it was made! AJ may not be an artist, but she knows the basics.

    2. The premise of the world is there are infinite number of planes, dimensions layered on top of the world as you know it to be in the here and now. And these dimensions can cause echoes of their world in other dimensions. These are the things that in our world we can’t explain — the loch ness monster, bigfoot, ufo sightings, etc. Our world is as we know it, there is no magic, yet the Nexus does exists — at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean we’ve yet to uncover — the sunken city you call Atlantis. The Nexus is in every world, not always in the same location on the material plane, but always on the plane. The right people can traverse through the Nexus to other worlds as visitors. Usually not done but possible.

    Straight on the other side of the Nexus is Arcadis. The legend says it is the sunken city known as Atlantis, but that’s just a legend passed down from generation to generation to explain it’s existence out side the realm of the planes. In Arcadis you can access all planes if you are a drifter paired with an anchor. Drifters can access any plane but they can’t get back without an anchor. Drifters are rare in the planes. They don’t just originate in Arcadis. Most souls are anchors — tethered to their home planes and never know that the other planes exist.

    A drifter on the other hand sees the echoes of the other planes. They can see an aura around an entity and know which plane it came from.

    These planes vary in degree of magic and tech levels and they are designated by a color. Purple which is high magic, high tech is the color of Arcadis denizens. Red is High Magic, No tech, Cyan is High tech, No Magic and Yellow is No magic, no tech and pretty much a wasteland. Each designation also has varying degrees of difference from the world as you know it. These are called Shifts. Shift 0 is the real world you live in. Arcadis also belongs on Shift 0. As you travel away from the Nexus in Arcadis the rings of the plans shift. Shift 1 has only a slight variation and the farther you go, the more changes and alien the world becomes. There are infinite shifts.

    In Arcadis Echoes are monitored. Echoes can manifest in other Shifts and cause problems, there are dedicated teams of Drifters and Anchors whose job it is to return these entities back to their worlds and clean up any messes they made. Drifters and anchors always work together. Many times the entities are destroyed as there is no safe way to return a ravaging monster home.

    The game AJ creates with the Cypher System will be about drifters and anchors.

    3. Arcadis has a map!

    created with City Generator by Probable Train

    4. The last bit of decision making is the Agency name that patrols the Echoes in the realms in Arcadis is called Dimensional Echo Hunters Incorporated (DEHI). But it goes by other names. The other name it will go by in this story is Rift Hunters International (RHI), which is where Ant and Ryan work in Shift #45. And they have a base logo which is centered around Arcadis and the Nexus and showcases how the planes look in Arcadis.

    AJ’s gonna work on Alex first and then probably Ant and Ryan’s stories before tackling mine. Not that I don’t already have part of my back story already created. We might share that tomorrow. We’ll see.

The Mind of Nox

escaping into reality

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