djregular

Spare me the Hallmark Karl Marx.

Game and Music Lover. Writer. Unfortunate optimist.



Still working on Flyover, the third game in what I've called The Blight Trilogy, and this bit isn't done, but I'm still tickled about it.

Transgressions

The members of Black Box have their differences, both in their abilities and backgrounds, but what binds them all together is the fact that each of them can tempt fate to their benefit, at an increasing level of risk:

  • Agents: Bend allows them to have things subtly go their way, from finding a working pay phone in the middle of nowhere, to having a bullet deflect off of a lighter in their coat pocket.
  • Witches: Break allows them to stretch their Spellworking abilities past the point of their own limits. Fireballs become infernos, healing spells bring people back from the brink.
  • Conduits: Beg allows them to appeal directly to their patron. A “devil” appears to convince a stubborn witness to reveal what they know, or an otherworldly force causes a threat to disappear.

Using Transgressions functions similarly to each archetype’s key feature, except that all attempts to commit them are a contested roll against the GM known as a Vibe Check.

Vibe Check

Vibe is not only a synonym for mood in the world of Flyover, but a tangible force that the players have to contend with. The Vibes at the beginning of a case are relatively good—there is always an air of slight dread or unease, but that’s sort of the general tenor of working for Black Box even before the Flyover phenomenon. Then as a case progresses, the vibes deteriorate as more strangeness occurs, going from bad vibes, to absolutely atrocious. In gameplay terms, the Vibes are a dice pool that the GM uses to oppose the PC’s roll to commit a Transgression, during a Vibe Check. The base size of the pool is determined by when in the case the Vibe Check occurs:

  • From Briefing until The Twist is unveiled/discovered: 2 dice
  • After The Twist is unveiled/discovered: 3 dice
  • The Finale: 4 dice

If you ever need a barometer for what the vibes are in a given moment, use the following guide developed by Black Box’s team of scientists and analysts:

  • “Vibes are off” = 2 dice
  • Bad vibes = 3 dice
  • “Vibes are rancid” = 4 or more dice

The GM can choose to add a number of dice to the Vibes equal to the player’s current Backlash by giving the player a point of temporary Resonance.

Every time players attempt a Transgression, they roll a number of dice equal to the tier of Transgression they’re attempting to use against the current Vibes. They can add additional die to their pool by spending temporary Resonance. If the GM has granted the player an additional point of temporary Resonance to increase Vibes, that point of resonance isn’t added until after the Vibe Check is resolved.

Every point of the player’s permanent Resonance subtracts one from the GM’s dice pool.


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