PRODUCERS
Vidya Bodepudi
Virginia Tapia
Jon Egia Bengoetxea
Román Gómez Serrano
WRITERS
Helio de Grado Fernández
Javier Gómez Serrano
Carlos Gómez Quintana
GAME DESIGNERS/DEVELOPERS
Mehdi Ben Slama
Mauricio Gómez Alonso
Carlos Gómez Quintana
Kurunandan Jain
ADDITIONAL WRITING
Mauricio Gómez Alonso
Kasper Luiten
E. G. Quinzel
Helio de Grado Fernández
Stephany Jaiquel
Mike Foster
GAME DESIGN COLLABORATORS
Douglas Peacocke
COPY EDITOR
Jacob Torgerson
James Robinson
Jeffrey Lee
COMMUNITY MANAGER
ARTISTS
Tyler Ryan
Jon Egia Bengoetxea
Vukasin Bajic
Yong Yi Lee
LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Aleksa Bracic
Zabi Hassan
Aleksandra Bilic
Marco Brunelleschi
Dhenzel Obeng
ART DIRECTOR
James Combridge
Hakeem Rafai
Carlos Gómez Quintana
Shen Fei
J. R. Barker
LEAD ARTIST
Eduardo García
FEATURED ARTIST
Milan Nikolic
Ivan Jovanovic
Anthony Jones
Lukasz Poduch
An RPG by Burning Games.
HONORARY PLAYTESTERS
Sascha Kersten
Camdon Wright
Sergio Pesquera Valadés
Tomáš Přibyl
Chantiel Amadis Kariont
Diego Río Gimeno
Timothy Claeys
Pedro Calvo Morcillo
Alejandro Pila Vigalondo
Chad
Kenneth Trombley
Kylee Gilpin
Mario Gómez Ortega
Baradaelin
Eugene Tan
Daniwasd
Nathaniel Ott
Joshua Casey-Rosa
Rodrigo
Adam Klein
Luke Challenger
Ben Bergeron
Svein
Lucas Artist
James Jimbo Burrell
Frazer Barnard
FEEDBACK HEROES
Tsair
Brandon Manning
EthicalLapse
Orden Novaliega
Hida Fushu
Panda
Mark Niven
Juan Alonso
oddment84
Harrio
Undead_Ichi
Joe Becci
Chadnic
Donovan Derry
Alshaffer
David Vicente
Phill winters
Carlos Gutiérrez
Ash ‘Nightfever’ Burgum
Miguel Cobo
Timothy Adan
SPECIAL THANKS
Antroia
Aritz Alava
Caronte77
Laura Calvo Llorente
blaster219
Bojan Simisic - Whale Shark Studio
Mark C.
Milos Nikolic
Salvador
Gabe Shultz
Peter Cobcroft
John d’Auteuil
Joel
James Mathe - Minion Games
Jak Van Der Graaf
Jamey Stegmaier - Stonemaier Games
Jacob Thompson
Ben, Dave, Josh and Tau - The Nerd Cave
Mike Foster
Oscar Muñiz - Nexus 4
Eric Oliver
Juraj Bilic - Machina Arcana
Carlos Pesquera Alonso Stephany Jaiquel Barón Daniel Tarrio Quintela Victor Centeno González 3
José Carlos Tarrio Quintela
faith rulebook
Jose María Sainz Maza Scott Rhymer Jim Sorenson Keneal Swenson Matthew Moorman Ben Ramjan Dave Desi Adam Guarino-Watson “Urutsini” Tau Kaulima Koen Agterberg Simon Butt Vorawat Kongsupol Joeri “Captain Cutlass” Winkeler Che “UbiquitousRat” Webster Pascal Slaghekke Matthias De Ridder
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Components and Introduction
5
The General Rules
9
The Characters
18
The Attributes and Skills
25
The Upgrades
33
The Non-Player Characters (NPC)
43
The Gear
45
Advice for the GM
49
The Universe of Faith
52
The Gods
57
The Corvo
65
The Iz’kal
79
The Humans
93
The Raag
97
The Ravager
103
COMPONENTS FAITH: The Sci-fi RPG is an RPG that uses boardgame components to ease its use and streamline its gameplay. Find below a description of the different tokens you will use during your campaigns.
NAME TOKENS
Components and Introduction
Use these name tokens to record the name, age and the profession of your character.
AFFINITY TOKEN
NUMERICAL TOKEN
Use an Affinity token to establish the Affinity of your character. Each symbol corresponds to a suit of the player cards.
Use these numerical tokens to establish the value of your character’s Skills and Attributes.
GOD TOKEN Use a God token to establish the God of your character. Each symbol represents one of the five Gods.
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CHARACTER TOKEN
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Use a character token to represent your character within the game. The token chosen establishes the species and gender of your character, while giving you and the other players a visual clue of your approximate look.
UPGRADE TOKENS Use these tokens to establish the Upgrades your character has. Each symbol corresponds to the type of Upgrade.
AMMO TOKEN Use these tokens to keep track of how much ammo does a weapon have at all times.
ACS DAMAGE TOKEN Use these tokens to keep track of ACS damage on the characters and their devices.
NEURAL DAMAGE TOKEN Use these tokens to keep track of neural damage on the characters.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE TOKEN Use these tokens to keep track of physical damage on the characters.
FOREWORD FAITH is a roleplaying game. A roleplaying game consists of two main parts: the narrative, and the mechanical. The narrative part of the game is where players perform the roles of their characters alongside a Game Master (GM), who describes the actions of non-player characters and the worlds around them. The mechanical part of the game is a system of rules used to discover the outcomes of the players’ actions. The rules serve as a tool to keep the gameplay realistic and coherent within the universe of the game.
be friendly, others will be simple bystanders, and still others will want to talk to you, negotiate, and trade… but there are always a few that will want to fight you. This deck has all the information needed to fight some of these NPCs. ◊ Assorted tokens, used to represent damage, am-
munition, etc. These tokens allow players to focus on roleplaying, making the flow of gameplay smoother.
CORE CONCEPTS The game of FAITH is based around two main ideas:
WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY
◊ Players, any number of them. One will play as the
We have included a mechanic in the game to reward good roleplay. The Gods represent moral paths, and players who continuously roleplay following their chosen morality are rewarded with powers and glory. Players whose characters’ personalities are not consistent will not be able to access those special abilities.
◊ A player deck per player. It can be replaced by a
poker deck, translating the suits to their respective meanings in FAITH (though it might not look as beautiful). The playing cards are used to resolve actions during the game.
Roleplaying should be a narrative experience where the characters usually perform all their actions successfully and the players will only need to stop to use the mechanics of the game when the possibility of failing is dramatically interesting.
◊ One character board per player (the GM does not
need one). As an alternative, you may also use a printed character sheet, like in many other RPGs. It is used to keep track of each player’s character. You can find four pregenerated characters in the punchboards that you can use if you want to start playing right away. Additionally, while not essential, the FAITH: Core Game contains some very useful additional resources: ◊ A deck of gear cards that hold all the information
For this reason most actions in this game are successful by default. Starting Skills with a value of 0 make characters more interesting by not allowing them to do everything well. While the GM’s job is to have characters fail some actions, they should only do it when it is dramatic and interesting. This creates a streamlined and cinematic gameplay in which the players will not be checking rules every time they decide to do something, and at the same time they must be careful whenever the GM decides to confront them.
Why Cards?
about each piece of equipment. The players, with the approval of the GM, can make up their own gear to expand this deck, but it contains most of the basic equipment you might need.
Most RPGs use dice to add randomness into the game. We have decided to use playing cards instead.
◊ A deck of non-player characters. Some NPCs will
We wanted players to be able to manage their luck. In
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GM and the rest will be characters. While there is no actual limit to the number of players, it is best played with three to six. Remember, everyone should have the opportunity to shine and feel included: the bigger the group, the harder that is. If the group is too large, we recommend breaking it into two groups with two different GMs. The GMs could be running parallel stories and characters could move from one to the other. There are no real limits to what you can do while playing an RPG.
We ask our players to get into the role of the person they have imagined because while it is harder to pretend to be another person than to use game mechanics to solve social interactions, we believe that it is far more interesting and fun. Getting better at it by playing is what keeps bringing us to the table to get into the skin of a space adventurer or a deviant hacker.
Components and Introduction
The FAITH: Core Game box comes with everything you need to play for a group of up to four players. This is what you need to play FAITH:
Roleplaying is mostly based upon social interactions between the players. The personality and body of knowledge of a character should not be imposed by rules, but by playing the role of that character.
FAITH, the players play cards from their hands, always choosing which card they play. This allows players to calculate their chances of success when it is their turn and to create a strategy accordingly. We believe this is an interesting alternative to rolling dice to resolve actions.
Components and Introduction
Additionally, the beautifully illustrated cards of FAITH put the art of the game on the table and in front of the players at all times. They create an immersive experience and allow players to familiarise themselves with the universe of the game, which can be especially hard in a sci-fi setting.
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Lastly, we have decided to put important pieces of gear and many NPCs on cards as well. With it, we aim to keep players from constantly checking the rulebook to see what they can and can’t do, and remind them of the gear they are carrying. By including illustrations in all these cards, we aim to keep players immersed in the stories they are playing, easing the difficult experience of mentally recreating an interesting science fiction story.
creates a story for them to play or follows a story created for the setting. The GM sets the goals for the characters and she is in charge of creating drama around the events that will lead the story onwards. The GM controls all the non-player characters, sets their personalities and interests, decides their actions, and says what they say, even imitating voices (or not). She describes the scenarios where the players find themselves, she makes up how they can interact with them, etc. It is also her task to determine how the actions of the players impact the story. Additionally, she is the arbiter of all rules. If the group cannot find a solution for a problem the GM always has the final word. She should try to use this responsibility for the better of the story, preventing players from getting caught up discussing rules. In the end, it all comes down to creating an interesting story that everyone can enjoy, and to have fun together.
What are Actions?
THE CHARACTERS
Everything a character does is an action. In FAITH, actions are usually successful by default. However, actions may fail if a character is really unskilled, if the GM thinks it is interesting for the story, or if someone being affected by it does not want it to happen. These situations are resolved by playing cards, sometimes in confrontation with other characters, or with the GM.
The players who are not the GM play the main characters of the story. They are in charge of playing the role of the characters they have created: performing their dialogues, making the decisions their characters would make, and playing out the relevant mechanics of the game when needed, to see if they are successful in their endeavours.
INTRODUCTION A roleplaying game, in its simplest form, is a collaborative storytelling experience, with players getting into the role of characters and saying what their characters do in the universe created by the Game Master (GM). When playing FAITH, each player controls a character except for the GM, who narrates the story and plays the part of all non-player characters (NPCs). Each player will design his own character, including his backstory, Attributes, Skills and Upgrades. Before the beginning of the game, decide who will be the GM.
THE GAME MASTER In this rulebook, we will always refer to the GM in feminine form and to the rest of the players in masculine form. This will allow some rules to be clearer and more easily understood. The GM is a storyteller; she is the person in charge of everything other than the player characters themselves. She
Each player controls a single character and develops in depth who that person is and what he wants. What is his struggle? What are his dreams? The more compelling a character is, the more rewarding the experience of playing that character is. Interesting people attract other interesting people. Players are encouraged to talk about the history of their characters and how they imagine them. Together, they can create an amazing group of characters that will experience great adventures.
SESSIONS & SCENES A game of FAITH can be as long as its players want, so it needs to be divided into sessions and scenes. A session is simply the allocated time frame for playing the game during a specific day. After each session, the players must keep their hands of cards, discard piles and decks for the next session, as it affects the development of their characters. Scenes are the different situations that the characters of the story might get into. Usually scenes involve the achievement or failure of a certain goal, or a point during which there is a break long enough between actions that the characters have a chance to rest. They are similar to scenes in films. The GM determines the beginning and end of a scene in a way that fits the story.
a journe y begins .
SETTING UP THE GAME
CARD SUITS
All players and the GM will have one deck of 54 playing cards each (four suits plus two jokers). These cards are used to change the odds during confrontations, allowing characters to perform heroic deeds or causing them to fail miserably.
The General Rules
At the beginning of the game, all players will give their joker cards to the GM, who will shuffle them into her own deck. This is the only instance when cards from different decks can be mixed. From this point on, each player must make sure to keep his cards separated from those of other players.
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When they begin the first session, the players and the GM will shuffle their decks and draw seven cards. Upon drawing the starting hand, each player can perform a mulligan, drawing a new hand and shuffling the previous one back into his deck. Players can only play or discard cards from their hands, unless specifically stated otherwise. Therefore, whenever a rule asks for a player to play or discard a card, he will have to choose one from his hand of cards and play it or discard it. It is always be up to the player which card from his hand he plays or discards. Players cannot draw or discard cards at will, and they cannot shuffle or mix previously used cards into the deck. Whenever a card is played it is placed in the discard pile of its owner, usually set up next to the deck face up. When the last card of the deck has been drawn, the discard pile must be shuffled to set up a new deck. Players must always follow the rules to play and draw cards during confrontations. A player may discard a card only when stated by a rule, and discarding a card will never trigger effects related to playing cards, such as Proficiency or Playing with Ambience. If at any time a player does not have any cards in his hand, he must draw a card. If that card is drawn during a confrontation, it cannot be played until that confrontation has been resolved.
NATURE SUIT In a poker deck use Clubs.
URBAN SUIT In a poker deck use Hearts.
There are four suits in the deck: Urban, Wilderness, Space and Operating System (OS), which relate to the types of environments where the characters might be. The use of the suits is described in Playing with Ambience. Regular poker cards can be used following this correlation between the suits: Urban is Hearts, Wilderness is Clubs, Space is Spades and OS is Diamonds. The value of the Aces is one. Urban includes the environments where the landscape has been heavily modified by a rational species. Wilderness includes the environments where the landscape is of natural origin. Space includes the environments in free fall or 0-G. Lastly, OS includes virtual spaces inside computers, regardless of their actual physical location. If it is hard to determine the type of environment where the character is (like an abandoned ruined city overgrown by a jungle) it will be the GM who makes the choice. In the previous example, it would make sense that if the character wishes to climb a ruined building, then he is considered in an Urban environment, but if he wishes to hide in the bushes, he is in Wilderness.
Court Cards Each deck has 12 court cards. They are the three cards of each suit with a value of 11 or higher. Court cards are important for achieving critical successes.
ACTIONS Actions are the things a character can do, from shooting a weapon to playing piano. All actions are performed using a Skill that represents the character’s knowledge in that area, and an Attribute that represents his related capacity (See Attributes and Skills for more details on the specific uses of each of them). Any action attempted by a character is automatically successful for as long as it is a realistic action. If the action is absurd, such as reading an unknown language or lifting a 200-ton spaceship, the GM must prohibit said action. The character may appeal, but he must be reminded that offlimit actions can break the gameplay. The GM’s judgment and dissuasive power must lead the gameplay forward.
SPACE SUIT In a poker deck use Spades.
OS SUIT In a poker deck use Diamonds.
Logical actions can only be prevented from happening through confrontations. Confrontations are the main mechanic of FAITH. Actions that are confronted must have an action value higher than the confronting action to succeed. Depending on the difference in their values, they can have different levels of success. An action that is not confronted will have the level of success that the character performing it wishes. Some pieces of equipment and Upgrades have the keyword action in their descriptions. Those pieces of equipment and Upgrades require the character to dedicate an action to use them. The Skill that should be used depends on the specific piece of equipment or Upgrade. When it is not important to keep track of time, actions can be chained together one after the other. However, in situations during which timing is essential, an initiative round must take place and each character is only allowed to perform a single action per round unless other special rules apply.
A collaborative action is a single action that is performed by more than one character. During a collaborative action, all participating players play as a single character who has an Attribute value equal to the highest relevant Attribute amongst participating players, and who has a Skill value equal to the lowest Skill used amongst participating players. Only participating characters can play cards during a collaborative action. Additionally, they gain one advantage for each character participating in the action after the first.
Two characters or more holding closed a door while a huge creature tries to open it to get to them; two characters operating a double-pilot spaceship through the debris of a space battle; several characters lifting a hurt companion to get him to safety, etc. Remember that a collaborative action must always be a single action. A character opening a door with a kick so his friend can throw a grenade in is not a single action and therefore it cannot be considered a collaborative action, but two normal actions that need to be well chained together to succeed.
“I [verb] [preposition if needed] [target]”
Example: I shoot the guard. I move behind cover. I dodge towards the door. I hack Ed’s thermal visor. I reload my weapon.
To keep the game realistic and organic, characters are allowed to move up to 2.5 metres while performing an action.
OPPOSING AN ACTION In FAITH, actions are automatically successful unless someone chooses to oppose them, be it another character trying to avoid their effects or the GM determining an accident or mishap. Such oppositions are resolved through confrontations. Generally, characters involved in a confrontation will have the chance to play a number of cards depending on
Example: Rick and Morty are piloting their spaceship through a ring of asteroids, Rick is piloting and Morty is using the plasma turret. Their ship is very easy to manoeuvre, so they gain one advantage. The GM claims they are about to be hit by an asteroid and they decide to confront it collaboratively as it will affect both of them. While Rick will swerve the ship to the left, Morty will shoot at the left side of the asteroid to divert its path, increasing the chances of avoiding the impact. They are both trying to avoid being hit by the asteroid. The GM agrees that it is a collaborative action. Rick uses his Link 2 (he is cortex connected to the ship) and Piloting 2. Morty uses his Dexterity 3 and Ballistic 5. For this action they can collaboratively play 3 cards with an initial action value of 2 and they have 2 advantages (one from the ship and another one from the collaborative action). The GM can play 3 cards with an initial value of 0 and has 2 advantages. Every time Rick and Morty can play a card, either one of them can play it.
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Actions should only need one verb to be described. If the word “and” is included, the character is probably trying to perform two or more actions linked to each other and he will probably need several turns to be able to do that. Here is a basic template to describe actions:
COLLABORATIVE ACTIONS
The General Rules
Sometimes it will be hard to distinguish between a single action and a chain of actions very well linked. It is not the purpose of this rulebook to provide a list of specific actions, as nearly anything can happen in a roleplaying game and such a list will never be comprehensive enough. However, players should try to stick to a few guidelines to describe their actions.
their Attributes, which are added to their relevant Skill to determine their action value. The character with the highest action value will succeed and all opposing characters will fail.
The General Rules faith rulebook
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PASSIVE ACTIONS
Instant
Passive actions are those that either do not require effort from characters or are related to what characters can perceive and therefore do not require that they declare it. Hiding and searching are passive actions and it is up to the GM to determine when other actions may be so as well.
Effects with the keyword instant can be used at any time, even during another character’s turn. Only one instant effect can be used during each action by each character.
One passive action can be performed in addition to a normal action during a single turn. When performing passive actions the character may play cards from the top of his deck instead of his hand, or a combination of both from his hand and the top of his deck.
Sustained effects are considered activated on all accounts, but they remain active until the character decides to stop them, becomes Traumatised, becomes Bleeding out, or dies. A character with an active sustained effect can not discard any neural damage during the maintenance phase.
Example: Yong performs a passive action (Searching), looking into a dark tunnel to figure out if there is any danger before he enters. He is using his Mind 2 with an initial action value equal to his Survival 7 and he has no advantages. The GM confronts the action, she can play 2 cards, the same as the character she is confronting, with an initial action value of 0, and she has 2 advantages. Yong is in Inferiority so he can play one card less than usual. The GM plays a 7 and now Yong has to play a card. He can choose to play it from the top of his deck or from his hand. He does not want to reduce the number of cards in his hand, so he plays a random card from the top of his deck, a 3. His final action value is 10 and the GM can play one more card. Will she force his failure or will she let him see whether danger lies ahead…?
ADDITIONAL EFFECTS Sometimes, characters use pieces of equipment or Upgrades that can complement their actions or change their outcomes. These pieces of equipment or Upgrades have effects that can affect actions in different ways and, depending on their type, they are resolved differently.
Passive Passive effects are always in use and they always trigger when they are applicable. Their use is not optional and they must be applied if at all possible. All characteristics and Upgrades are passive unless specified otherwise.
Activated Activated effects can only be used simultaneously with an action performed by the character that owns them, although they still apply if the action fails. Only one activated effect can be used during each action by each character. If an activated effect has several functions, the character can decide to use any number of them at the same time.
Sustained
CONFRONTATIONS Confrontations are the core mechanic of the game. If an action has a chance of failure, it will likely be resolved through a confrontation. Confrontations are the only instance during which characters can play cards. Confrontations arise when a character declares an action, and whoever is affected by it declares he wants to act against it. Alternatively, the GM, representing difficulty or bad luck, creates a confrontation when she tries to force the action to fail. It is not recommended to resolve actions related to dialogue and deduction by using cards. In these cases, the best option for a deeper game immersion is to let each character play his role in order to obtain the information or agreement he needs throughout interaction with other players and NPCs. In case of not reaching an agreement, these situations can be resolved with a Cunning confrontation.
CONFRONTATIONS WITH THE GM When a character performs an action, the GM can confront him to try to stop the character from succeeding. During a confrontation with the GM, she counts as having the same Attributes and Affinity as the character she is confronting, and her opposition counts as an action for all resolution purposes. The GM does not have a Skill value but she does not receive a disadvantage for it. Additionally, she always has 2 advantages that can be overcome as normal. In these situations, the GM acts as bad luck or an accident happening. If the GM wins the confrontation, the action will be unsuccessful and it is recommended that she explains how the action failed. If she scores a critical success, there can be an interesting or dangerous reason for the failure.
CONFRONTATIONS BETWEEN CHARACTERS
Skills All actions relate to a Skill. The Skill value is added to the action value. Additionally, if the Skill value of a character is 0 he will suffer a disadvantage (-).
DAMAGE Skill values are reduced by one per damage counter (both physical and neural) the character has, to a minimum of 0.
The General Rules
Example: Edward is trying to infiltrate an enemy base. He finds a lonely guard at the end of the corridor in front of the door he must cross. The guard is unaware of Edward’s presence so there cannot be a confrontation; anything Edward does to him will succeed. Edward shoots him with his silent weapon. Suddenly, the GM plays a card from her hand, a very powerful 10. Edward looks at her distressed. If he misses the shot, the guard could be alerted and the mission will be compromised. Edward has Ballistic 6 and Dexterity 2, and his weapon grants him one advantage. On the other hand the GM has an initial action value of 0, plays 2 cards (same as the Attribute used by Edward) and has two advantages. Edward is in inferiority and therefore he can only play 1 card. If Edward wins the confrontation, he kills the guard without drawing any attention. If the GM wins the confrontation, it will be up to her to describe the failure. She could say that Edward’s gun has a malfunction and he will be forced to fix it or find another way around the guard, or she could say that Edward shot misses, alerting the guard.
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A countermeasure must be able to make the confronted action fail: by damaging the attacker’s target; by affecting his senses, capacities or equipment; by getting the character into a position where the action he is confronting cannot reach him, etc. A Hacking action can be stopped by hacking the rig that is being used to attempt the attack, or a character can be stopped from hitting his target by blinding him. If there is conflict about the appropriateness of an action as a countermeasure in a confrontation, the GM must decide if it is appropriate or not before allowing the players to resolve the confrontation. If it is not, the confronting character can attempt a different action or be affected by the action as normal.
ACTION VALUE The action value is an action’s numerical value. There are several things that can modify the value of an action and its final value will affect the outcome of the confrontation and determine its winner.
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When a character is going to be affected by an action and he is aware of it, he may decide to confront that action. He must explain what action he is performing as a countermeasure and determine what Skill and Attribute his action relates to.
Playing Cards All actions relate to an Attribute. When a character is involved in a confrontation he will be able to play up to as many cards as the value of the Attribute he is using. He will add the value of those cards to his action value.
The deck of the GM contains the jokers from all the decks used by the players and herself. A joker card played during a confrontation turns the last card played by the confronted character into a card of value 0. If the character had not played a card yet, it will affect the next card he plays.
The total number of cards played by a character during an initiative round can never be higher than the Attribute used, regardless of the number of actions performed using that Attribute (unless specified otherwise by another rule).
A joker card still counts towards the maximum number of cards the GM (or NPC) can play, and the card nullified by the joker still counts towards the maximum number of cards the character can play.
The General Rules
INFERIORITY (ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES)
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THE JOKERS
Advantages (+) represent having a form of upper hand over an opponent, while disadvantages (-) represent difficulties or hindrances a character can have when trying to perform an action. Both can be gained through equipment, or through equipment or Upgrades that grant them. Each disadvantage cancels one advantage, and if the character has no advantages to be cancelled, it gives one advantage to the character confronting him. During a confrontation, the characters that have the least advantages will be in Inferiority and, as a result, will have the maximum number of cards they can play reduced by one. In case of a tie, all characters will be able to play the normal amount of cards. The GM can also be affected by advantages or disadvantages. A character can be considered in an advantageous situation when he is undercover, when his enemy is restrained, when he enters a room undiscovered and catches other characters with their guards down, when he is in a higher position than his enemy, etc. A character can gain advantage from several sources at the same time or even several advantages from the same source if the benefit it provides is very strong. There are so many possibilities that it is the job of the GM to determine how and when to grant advantages or disadvantages to characters.
OUTCOME OF A CONFRONTATION In a confrontation, the action with the higher action value is considered successful and its confronting action is considered a failure. In case of a tie, all actions fail. When an action has a value 1 to 4 points higher than its confronting action, it succeeds without other effects.
Decisive Success When an action has a value 5 or more points higher than its confronting action, it achieves a decisive success and it may have improved effects as described in the relevant Skill or piece of equipment. Those actions that do not have an effect described for a decisive success will not be improved unless the GM finds a fitting effect for them.
Critical Success When an action has a value 10 or more points higher than its confronting action and the last card played for it was a court card, it achieves a critical success. Its effects are improved as described in the relevant Skill or piece of equipment, or as the GM sees fit if they are not described anywhere. The effects of a critical success should be twice as good as the effects of a regular success.
Example: Erica and John shoot at each other. After playing all their cards, taking into consideration all the action value modifiers, the final action values are 31 for Erica and 19 for John. Additionally, the last card played by Erica was a 13. Erica outperforms John by 12 points and the last card she played was a court card, so she achieves a critical success. She does twice the damage of her weapon to John. This represents a headshot or a shot to some other vital area.
Failure Whenever a character fails an action, it is up to the GM to tell why and how. She can just have the action fail, or she can have it succeed with complications. However, she should follow a few guidelines to incorporate failures into the story.
◊ The previous step is repeated until all characters
can’t or do not want to play more cards. ◊ The confrontation is resolved. All the actions with
an action value higher than the action they are confronting are successful. ◊ All successful actions are resolved according to
the outcome of the confrontation. When a character fails an action against another character or the GM, it is typical to have the failed action simply fail. If it is a Shooting action, the bullet misfires or misses its target. If it is a Repairing action, the mechanic simply fails to repair it. If it is a Hacking action, the hacker is not able to override the defences of the device or his rig momentarily fails.
To resolve a confrontation, players must always follow the same steps. ◊ A character declares an action and its target or
targets if there are any. ◊ The GM declares if she wants to confront the
action. ◊ All the characters that can declare a counterac-
tion do so if they want. ◊ All the characters that declared a counteraction
declare the activated effect they will use, if any. ◊ The initial character declares the activated effect
he will use, if any. ◊ Inferiority is assigned to the character(s) with the
least advantages in the confrontation. ◊ The character with the lowest action value plays
a card from his hand. In case of a tie, the players play first. If there are two or more players involved in a tie, they play their cards face down at the same time.
In order to keep gameplay streamlined, it is important that each participant of a confrontation says the value of their action out loud each time they play a new card. This way nobody is forced to calculate the value of the action of his opponent every time he plays a card.
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STEPS OF A CONFRONTATION
actions.
The General Rules
However, when the GM confronts and defeats a character with a critical success, she can get creative. If it is a Shooting action, the weapon is jammed and the shooter cannot use it anymore until it is fixed, or the shooter hits a friendly character that was in close proximity to his target. If it is a Repairing action, the mechanic could have damaged the device even more and further Repairing actions could be more difficult or impossible. If it is a Hacking action, the hacker’s rig might break down or be infected by a virus.
◊ The GM determines the failures of all other
RESOLVING MULTIPLE CONFRONTATIONS
The General Rules
If an action affects several characters, such as the explosion of a grenade, all affected characters can confront that action. Before any cards are played, every character affected by the action must decide if he will enter the confrontation. The GM may also be involved in a multiple confrontation.
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To resolve a multiple confrontation, calculate the final action values of each of the characters involved and the GM if she participates. Calculate the successes or failures of all confronting characters individually against the character that performed the initial action and apply them according to the normal success rules. If the GM wins her confrontation, the action of the character she confronted fails regardless of its success against other characters. Note that even if an action itself is a failure, it still causes all confronting actions with a lower value to fail. If a character is in Inferiority against only some of his opponents, he can still play his last card, which will only modify the value of his action against those opponents that do not have advantage over him. Similarly, the effects of decisive or critical successes are calculated and applied individually against each opponent.
DRAWING CARDS When a character plays a card, he is subject to drawing new cards from his deck to his hand. There are two instances when this can happen and if both of them occur simultaneously only the most beneficial takes place.
Playing with Ambience (Affinity) If a character plays a card, and the suit matches the environment in which he is performing the action, he can immediately draw a card from his deck to his hand. This represents the character acting effectively in his environment, resulting in less exhaustion. Additionally, each character has Affinity to a suit. When he plays a card that matches the ambience he is in and it is his Affinity, he draws two cards instead of one and keeps one of them in his hand. The other card must be put either back on top of the deck or the discard pile.
Proficiency Whenever a character plays a card with a value equal to or less than the Skill he is using during a confrontation, he immediately draws a card. This represents that the character is very capable in this area and the low effort (corresponding to playing a low card) does not tire him out.
Beginning of a Scene At the beginning of each scene, all players and the GM will keep their current hand of cards and draw back up to a total hand of seven cards.
INITIATIVE ROUND Whenever two or more characters wish to perform an action simultaneously or in close timing with each other, an initiative round takes place. Each initiative round represents the 3 to 5 seconds during which characters rapidly perform actions to try to outperform each other or to achieve their own goals. Each character who wants to perform an action this initiative round plays a card face-down on the table. This is his initiative card. Initiative cards are played either from their hand or the top of the deck. A card played as an initiative card does not trigger effects such as Playing with Ambience or Proficiency. All cards are then revealed simultaneously and each character adds his Initiative to the value of his card. This determines the initiative order for the characters, from highest to lowest added total. Each player discards his initiative card at the beginning of his turn. Characters will take turns performing a single action each following the initiative order. If two characters have the same initiative, the player characters always act first. If two or more NPCs have the same initiative it is up to the GM to choose which one goes first. If two or more players have the same initiative they can choose who goes first, and if they do not come to an agreement they must each tell the action they wish to perform to the GM and she will determine who gets to act first. During an initiative round a character might be able to perform more than one action, especially when he is affected by the actions of several characters. Regardless of how many actions a character ends up performing, the total number of cards he can play for actions associated to the same Attribute can never exceed that Attribute unless specified otherwise by another effect.
REACTING Whenever a character is affected by an action, he can confront it following the rules for confrontations between characters. If this happens before his turn in the initiative order, he loses his turn for that round. A character can confront more than one action each round and that will not cause him to lose any additional turns.
WAITING A character can always choose to wait until the next character with the highest result in the initiative order has taken his action before taking his own action; he can do this several times letting any number of characters go first. If all characters choose to wait, they keep their cards for the next initiative round. The only consequence is the passing of time.
MAINTENANCE PHASE After all characters have taken their turns and all actions have been resolved there is a maintenance phase. During the maintenance phase, effects such as damage recovery are resolved.
If there is still conflict between the characters, or new characters join the struggle, a new initiative round begins.
To resolve an initiative round, players must always follow the same steps. ◊ All players play one card face down in front of
them, either from their hand or the top of their deck. ◊ If there are any number of NPCs
involved, the GM plays one card face down from either her hand or the top of her deck. ◊ Everyone turns their cards face up,
and each player character adds his Initiative to the value of his card. NPCs add their Initiative to the value of the GM’s card. ◊ The initiative order is established from highest to
lowest added total. In case of a tie, player characters will always go first, followed by the NPCs in the order of the GM’s choosing. In case of a tie between player characters, they must come to an agreement or tell their actions in secret to the GM, who will determine who goes first. ◊ The first character of the initiative order has his
turn. He declares his action and discards his initia-
not had his turn yet takes his turn. Any confrontations that arise are resolved as usual. Repeat this step until there are no more characters left in the initiative order. ◊ The maintenance phase takes place and all
relevant effects are resolved. ◊ If there are still two or more characters who wish
to perform actions simultaneously or in close timing with each other, a new initiative round begins.
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STEPS OF AN INITIATIVE ROUND
◊ The next character in the initiative order that has
The General Rules
If there are no initiative rounds taking place the maintenance phase is performed as often as the GM determines, keeping in mind that an initiative round usually takes place in around 3 to 5 seconds.
tive card. Characters affected by that action may confront him as normal. If they do so, they lose their turn if they had not acted yet. Any confrontations that may arise are resolved as usual.
we need to talk .
THE CHARACTERS Characters have Attributes (usually ranging from 1 to 3) that represent their general capacities and establish the amount of cards the players can use during confrontations; and Skills (ranging from 0 to 9) that represent their specific skillsets and are added to their actions’ values. Additionally characters may have Upgrades that represent remarkable features like a cortex connector or a Divine Upgrade granted by one of the Gods. However, characters are much more than a bunch of numbers that tell how good they are at something. A key part of character creation is coming up with the character concept. A character concept tells us about who you want your character to be. It can be a concept that you have been toying around with for a long time, a good idea that just came to you, or a character inspired by a story you enjoy basically anything you want.
Think about what kind of character you would want to be if you had the chance to star in a 300 million dollar sci-fi film. There are no limits to the scope of an RPG.
CREATING A CHARACTER You should talk to the other players and the GM about the kind of character you would like to play and what kind of story you are going to be part of. This will help you decide the type of character you want to create. Reading the description of each species and the story of the universe of FAITH can be really useful when making these decisions. If you want to learn about the game just by playing it, just pick the species you visually like the most and go with it. Once you have made up your mind, follow these steps: Choose the species of your character and the gender. Pick up the relevant character image and place it on your character board. Choose one of the four suits to be the Affinity of your character. Pick up the corresponding token and place it on
Establish your Skills. Set one Skill at 5, another at 4, two at 3, two at 2, three at 1 and the last three at 0. Once you have chosen how to distribute your points, use the numbered tokens and place them on your character board. Establish your Attribute’s values at 1. Then, distribute 10 points of experience between your Attributes and/or buy and install Upgrades. See Gaining Experience to learn the cost of each improvement. Choose your character’s equipment. Use the credits granted by your Profession to acquire pieces of equipment or appeal to the GM using the background of your character to help her decide whether you should have any additional equipment to what your credits can buy. It is recommended that characters start with only a few pieces of gear and have them gain new equipment along the way.
ADVANCED CHARACTERS If you want to play with an advanced character you can use these rules that will let you create a character with the experience of around 12-15 sessions of play. Skills: Set one Skill at 7, another at 6, two at 5, two at 3, three at 1 and the last three at 0. Attributes and Upgrades: distribute 24 points of experience according to the costs found in Gaining Experience.
GAINING EXPERIENCE During gameplay, characters will learn and change. The story will shape their personalities and their actions will teach them new Skills or improve those they already had. Each time a major milestone of the story is reached or the characters have had a significant opportunity to learn and improve their abilities, the GM may decide to grant them
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It is usual for a group of players to spend an evening coming up with the stories of their characters and setting up their character boards, while the GM plots her storyline.
Choose a God to follow. The God of each character relates to what kind of person they are. The GM has the final word on which God corresponds to a character after a player has described how he wants his character to be. Pick up the corresponding token and place it on your character board. Remember that during gameplay you might change your God’s allegiance to another one if your character changes his path in life. Change the relevant token accordingly. You can choose to not follow any God.
The Characters
It is important for characters to have a desire or a goal that they want to achieve, which is often used as the reason why they go on different adventures and get involved in all kinds of trouble. These goals should not be easily achieved and they should be established with the consent of the GM, allowing her to introduce it as part of the story. It is also important that the goals of all the characters in a group motivate them to adventure together, otherwise the group will feel divided.
your character board. The Affinity represents the places where your character grew up, was training, or the kind of place in which you feel at home.
experience. It is recommended to do so not more than once per session and at least once every two or three sessions, but it is ultimately up to the GM’s discretion.
HEALTH & DAMAGE
Have all players say out loud what they think each character’s best moment was since they last gained any experience, and have them recommend the Skill they think should be rewarded. It is good to remember all the adventures the characters have gone through. The GM will select one of the recommendations of the players or her own, and the character will be able to add one point to that Skill.
Characters have physical health and neural health. The physical health of a character is equal to twice the value of his Constitution and his neural health is equal to twice the value of his Mind.
The Characters
Additionally, characters get one experience point to acquire Upgrades or to improve Attributes. The GM can decide to award an additional experience point to players that do something extraordinary or achieve important objectives.
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Attributes have a cost on experience points equal to twice the level they currently have. Upgrades have different costs and each type has different requirements to be used or acquired.
There are two types of damage: physical and neural. Each type of damage has its own token. To keep track of the damage a character has suffered, place the corresponding tokens on top of his character board. Each counter of damage, of either physical or neural, gives the character a -1 to every Skill to a minimum of 0.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE
Bleeding Out
Physical damage is inflicted by physical means: weapons, tools, fists, etc. Each counter of physical damage counts as -1 to the physical health of the character. While in normal health state, one physical damage counter can be discarded per week of in-game time after it has been suffered.
A character is bleeding out when his physical health is below 0. Characters can perform actions and engage in confrontations while bleeding out. After performing the action they will immediately receive one physical damage counter.
NEURAL DAMAGE
NPCs will generally ignore characters that are bleeding out until they have taken care of all other threats.
Neural damage can be inflicted by means such as concussions, Divine Upgrades, viruses, link attacks, neural weapons, etc. Each counter of neural damage counts as -1 to the neural health of a character. While in normal health state, one neural damage counter can be discarded during each maintenance phase (or 3 to 5 seconds of in-game time) unless the character has received neural damage that round.
ACS damage is inflicted by electronic means, be it through Hacking actions or electrical waves from a neural weapon. It can only affect gear and robots with an energy value and when a device suffers as much ACS damage as its energy it is shut down.
ARMOUR Characters may have means of reducing the damage they suffer. Some pieces of equipment (or other effects) provide their users (or the equipment itself) with a value of armour. Whenever the character or piece of equipment is about to receive physical or neural damage from an external source, he or it can ignore a number of counters equal to its armour.
HEALTH STATES Depending on the amount of damage a character has suffered, he can be in three different health states or even dead.
Normal The health state of a character is normal for as long as he is not affected by any of the following states.
Dying If a character is bleeding out and traumatised at the same time, he dies automatically. If at the end of a scene a character is bleeding out and he has not received medical attention from a First Aid action, he dies. Additionally, if he takes any further physical damage from an external source while bleeding out, he dies. A character can also die of starvation, exposure to the vacuum of space, drowning, excessive mutilation, etc. The effects of these possibilities are left to the GM to determine.
SPECIES’ TRAITS Each species of playable characters have unique traits that make them different from each other. The different species should be played differently on a roleplaying level, but they also have special rules to help players distinguish between them more clearly.
CORVO The Corvo are a highly technological species; they are very independent and very capable. Their appearance and physiology resembles those of insects and they are well adapted to life in space.
Technological All corvo characters start the game with a cortex connector Upgrade. This Upgrade does not count as one of the Tech Upgrades a character can have and it does not occupy an Upgrade slot.
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Adaptive Circuit Severance (ACS) is the term used for the electrical overload of microprocessors after they are affected by corrupting Hacking routines, and also by certain types of electromagnetic waves typically associated with neural weapons.
A character is traumatised when his neural health is below 0. The character is unconscious and will not regain consciousness until he receives enough medical attention to discard enough neural damage counters to have neural health 0 or above.
The Characters
ACS DAMAGE
Traumatised
Tail Reflex A corvo character can use his tail to connect a device to his cortex connector. If the device is about to receive ACS damage due to a Hacking action, it will be disconnected instead. It takes one action to connect it again.
Spaceborn All corvo characters have one advantage when they perform an action using EVA, if their Affinity is Space.
Attribute Limits
The Characters
The evolution of the corvo gave them a very utilitarian metabolism, allowing them to adapt to life in space and to survive with minimal resources. For this reason, they are not very strong or physically capable. Their Constitution and Agility Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2 each.
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IZ’KAL The Iz’kal are a very social, very proud, and very efficient species. They are the descendants of an ancient species of aquatic mammals that have adapted to life on solid ground.
Hyperlink The Iz’kal have developed biological changes in their brains that allow them to communicate with each other and blend into a single mind. Every iz’kal character can engage in a hyperlink with up to 5 other iz’kal characters in a 30 metre radius. Engaging or leaving a hyperlink is activated. The members of a hyperlink can reject another character trying to join it.
refuse to engage in hyperlink out of the fear of imposing their own personal suffering onto others. An iz’kal that does not engage in hyperlink eventually succumbs to an irreversible transformation that isolates their mind and prevents them from entering a hyperlink ever again. Their body undergoes reconstruction on a genetic level, affecting their hormonal flow and synaptic processes. Each maintenance phase, a Voidwalker can discard up to as many neural damage counters as their Faith. Additionally, they ignore all Skill penalties from neural damage whenever they are using a Divine Upgrade.
Aquatic All iz’kal characters innately know how to swim, even if they have never done it before. Iz’kal characters always have one advantage while swimming or diving. Additionally, they can hold their breaths up to 8 minutes per Constitution point while acting normally or twice as long if they stay still.
Attribute Limits Iz’kal are first and foremost social beings, and they are not as technologically advanced as corvo. Additionally, as a species that originated from the water, their bodies are not built for land life. Their Link and Constitution Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2 each.
HUMAN Humans are remarkably adaptable. Although not as powerful as the Iz’kal or the Corvo, many humans are highly valued workers and mercenaries and their endurance is unrivalled.
Resourceful
While in hyperlink, the personalities of the members blend into a single one. The characters engaged in hyperlink must democratically vote every decision and then follow it. Characters can always be expelled from a hyperlink after a democratic vote or after not following a democratic decision.
If humans have one defining characteristic, it is their ability to find a way out of each and every situation. All human characters draw up to 8 cards whenever they would normally have to draw up to 7 cards.
Additionally, iz’kal connected in hyperlink can choose to confront actions that target any other member of the hyperlink, even if they were not affected by the action themselves. They still need to declare a valid countermeasure to be able to do so. Multiple members of the hyperlink can use this effect at the same time.
All human characters have one advantage when they perform an action using Athletic, representing their physical prowess.
Voidwalkers Some iz’kal suffer traumatic events so unbearable that they can no longer share their minds with their kin. They
Endurance
Attribute Limits Although they are one of the best physically suited intelligent species of the Universe, their societies were not able to develop as fully as some of the other species. Their Link and Mind Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2 each.
RAAG The Raag are a primitive species, very tough and aggressive. They are mammals that are well adapted to life in cold weather and they form tight-knit clans to survive the constant menace of conquest or extinction.
Old Bones Raag have a very primitive and tough bone structure. They can ignore the modifiers of up to two physical damage counters, and they can predict when a storm is coming.
Titans With an impressive build, this species surpasses most other intelligent species in size. All raag characters have two additional points of physical health. Additionally, they have one advantage towards all Constitution actions.
What the raag have in strength, they lack in finesse, and their brains have a hard time wrapping around the idea of virtual realities. Their Dexterity and Link Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2 each.
The ravager queens create each specimen of their species from a bank of DNA for a specific purpose. This bank has been refined for many years with the DNA of all the creatures the hive has ever consumed. It is not uncommon that a given ravager specimen may not share any DNA with another ravager from the same hive. Most biologist repel the idea of calling the ravager a species and use the term step-species instead. For this very reason there are ravager of all kinds. Players will be able to play those that are given a reasoning capacity of a similar level to the other playable species. Although there are hundreds of types of ravager, there are only a few created with this shared capacity of reason - most of the hive’s needs are performed by ravager that were created for a very specific task and are not required to be useful at others. When creating a ravager character, players must choose one of the following types as the base of their character. It will determine the character’s appearance and base characteristics. Regardless of their type, all ravager have Genetic Expression and Hive Mind, except for the infiltrators that do not have Hive Mind.
GENETIC EXPRESSION Action. A ravager can change any of his Bio Upgrades for
All ravager can have up to 2 Bio Upgrades per Constitution point but only one Tech Upgrade in total, regardless of their Link.
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RAVAGER
The ravager can accumulate the DNA information of any organic matter they consume. If a ravager eats a character with Bio Upgrades, he will be able to acquire them with experience points or change his Upgrades for them. Additionally, the ravager can pair with the Queen to transmit to her all the DNA information he has accumulated.
The Characters
Attribute Limits
any other Bio Upgrade, even more than one at once. The total cost in experience points of the new Upgrades cannot be higher than the total cost of the previous Upgrades, unless the character spends additional experience points to do so. Any experience points not spent during the transition are lost. The transition takes a few minutes for each experience point of the Upgrades changed.
HIVE MIND Ravager use natural LinkWaves for communication; allowing them to communicate with other ravager up to 100 metres away. As a side effect, hackers can disturb their LinkWave flow, making ravager hackable, as if their minds were a device. When hacked, a ravager will fail their current action, or suffer a disadvantage towards their next action (if there is no action to fail).
The fact that the character is actually a ravager should only be known by the GM; the other players only need to know if the GM determines so. The reason why the ravager queen created an Infiltrator should be discussed with the GM and be a key part of the character’s story. A ravager queen never does something without a clear plan or purpose, so the Infiltrator must be part of an important mission.
They have a Firewall with a base value equal to their Hacking Skill that plays as many cards as their Link Attribute.
Ironskin
The Characters
Infiltrator
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species. He has the same species and is genetically identical to any other specimen of that species. He will have the species traits of the species the player has chosen to play and the ravager trait Genetic expression.
Infiltrators are ravager that are identical to the species from which they were created. However, instead of being born from a mother or an egg of their species, they have come out of the womb-tank of a ravager queen. The infiltrator is a specimen of any of the other playable
The ironskin is a large ravager with enormous strength and an even greater resistance. An ironskin always has the Upgrades Nanoskin and Phagocyter and needs to spend the corresponding experience points to acquire them during character creation.
IRON SKIN An ironskin has a base armour value of 2 that cannot be reduced or ignored by any means.
CHARGE A running action performed by an ironskin will be considered passive if it is not confronted. Additionally, if he performs a CQC action in the same turn, he will gain an advantage towards it.
VICIOUS ATTACKS Ironskins deal 2 additional damage in CQC actions and always have one additional advantage towards CQC actions. Additionally, they gain another advantage when they perform grappling actions.
ATTRIBUTE LIMITS Ironskins are made for crushing enemies, but their strength comes at a cost in swiftness and intelligence. Their Agility, Mind and Link Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2.
Lurching Horror The lurching horror is a ravager that is slick, gooey, and much more dangerous than it looks.
BLADE FURY A lurching horror always gains 2 advantages towards CQC actions. He can attack 2 targets in CQC simultaneously, or focus his attacks on a single target, gaining a third additional advantage.
NANO HOOKS
ATTRIBUTE LIMITS
The lurching horror can attach himself to a wall or ceiling with his tentacles. His movement while suspended is doubled and he is still in plain sight unless otherwise concealed. Additionally, he gains one advantage towards Agility actions.
Being composed of many small creatures has its advantages, but coordination and speed are not among them. The Agility and Dexterity Attributes of a swarmer are limited to a maximum value of 2.
ATTRIBUTE LIMIT Lurching horrors have no Attribute limits.
Swarmer The swarmer is a unique type of ravager. It is not actually a creature, but instead a group of hundreds of smaller creatures that bond together to form a collective mind. The creatures not capable of thinking by themselves, but together they create a formidable being that is capable of sacrificing parts of itself without hesitation, if the need arises.
Boits are small beings formed by just a few of the swarmer’s creatures. They die when they suffer any amount of physical damage, but they are immune to neural damage. They can move up to 100 metres away from the swarmer before dying.
◊ Acidboit: Physical 3 (0). Mental 4 (0). Activated.
Sacrifice itself to deal 2 points of physical damage that ignores 1 armour to everyone in a 3 metre radius. ◊ Spyboit: Physical 3 (0). Mental 4 (2). It can move
flying up to 20 metres per turn, it can see in infrared and has an advantage for Searching actions. ◊ Regenboit: Physical 3 (0), Mental 4(0). Activated.
Sacrifice itself when in physical contact with another character to have him recover 1 point of physical damage.
DEVOURER The swarmers discard one physical damage counter per turn. Additionally, they can perform an action to devour a dead character and discard 3 physical damage counters.
NEURAL RIG The brain of a techno is very similar to an organic computer. It has LinkWave 50, Firewall 8 (3), energy 3 and it counts as if it was cortex connected. Additionally, the Techno has one cortex connector Upgrade that does not use an Upgrade slot.
NEURAL SACRIFICE Activated. The techno can choose to receive two points of neural damage and gain one advantage towards a Hacking action.
ATTRIBUTE LIMITS The techno have very well developed brains, but their bodies are just a weak frame. Their Constitution and Agility Attributes are limited to a maximum value of 2.
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Action. The swarmer enters a germinative state during which he will be unable to move, but is able to can spawn as many boits as his Constitution per turn. He suffers one point of physical damage per boit spawned. He can control as many of those boits as his Mind and if he leaves this state, any active boits will immediately die. The turn they are spawned they act after everyone else, and in subsequent rounds they act during the turn of the swarmer.
The techno are created by the ravager queen to defend her other children from electronic attacks and to help neutralise Hacking threats before the bigger ravager come in to consume their victims. Extremely intelligent, they often act as the main links to the hive mind.
The Characters
BOIT SWARM
Techno
ATTRIBUTES The Attributes of a character represent his capability to act and ability to put effort into actions. Some actions might relate to more than one Attribute and other actions can relate to different Attributes in different situations. Players can argue which Attribute should be used for an action but the GM will always have the final word on such matters.
The Attributes and Skills
Attributes range from 1 to 3. Some effects can allow characters to improve Attributes even further, but an Attribute can never be reduced below 1. During gameplay, characters can play one card per round for each point they have in the Attribute they are using.
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Whenever a character is confronted, he must explain his action and therefore choose which Attribute he will be using. While most of the time the right Attribute for the action is fairly clear, characters can always find ways to do things differently, if they are creative.
Example: Mark wants to repair his broken drone. Sadly, during their last encounter with a Ravager, it took a hit and now it lays on the ground unresponsive. The GM says it took a shotgun shot and it is filled with small pellets, so it will be a delicate work to remove them all. Mark’s Dexterity is 2 and his Technical Skill is 5, but the drone is extremely damaged and he fears that if he fails the GM will claim that the drone is broken for good. Mark’s Mind is 3, so he says to the GM, “I am going to take a different approach to picking the pellets one by one and fixing what is broken. I will study the situation and take notes on my pad, I want to figure out the entrance point of the pellets and the radius spread. Once I know that, I will then disassemble the drone and take my time to fix each part separately. I will know where each pellet went so I won’t have to mess around and risk breaking anything. I think this approach is more fitting to my Mind than my Dexterity, what do you think?” The GM agrees and Mark can now try to fix the drone using Mind, his highest Attribute.
AGILITY Agility represents the nimbleness of a character: his ability to move quickly and precisely. It should be used for actions involving movement of the body, such as dodging gunfire, climbing a wall, or trying to outrun other characters.
CONSTITUTION Constitution represents the physical endurance and strength of a character. Constitution should be used in actions that test the strength or endurance of a character, like lifting heavy weights or running very long distances. The physical health of a character is equal to twice his Constitution, and he can have as many Bio Upgrades as his Constitution.
DEXTERITY Dexterity represents the fine motor ability of a character. It should be used for actions involving manipulating things with the hands, such as carefully manipulating gear or equipment, aiming and recharging weapons, or driving a motorbike through dense traffic.
LINK Link represents the ability of a character to understand and interact with technology. It is used whenever a character performs an action involving computers, networks, electronic devices or even digitally controlled spaceships or other similarly controlled vehicles. A character can have as many Tech Upgrades as his Link.
MIND Mind represents a character’s intelligence and ability to concentrate, as well as his ability to perceive details and patterns. It is used when recalling memories, diagnosing illnesses, designing machines, or deciphering codes. The neural health of a character is equal to twice his Mind. He speaks fluently in as many languages as his Mind, and he can understand a little bit of as many additional languages as his Mind.
FAITH Faith defines the ability of a character to connect or communicate with the Gods. It represents the character’s true
conviction and how far he is willing to go for his beliefs. A character can have as many Divine Upgrades as his Faith.
SKILLS The Skills of a character represent his capabilities of a specific skillset. Skills range from 0 to 9. A character with a high value in a Skill is very capable in that area, and a character with a low value only has a rough knowledge of the subject. However, the biggest difference in Skill lies between the values 0 and 1. A character with a Skill of 0 has no clue about how to behave in actions related to that specific Skill.
Each Skill can be used for different things, and the Attribute that relates to it is not necessarily the same every time. Characters will have to select the most fitting Skill and Attribute for each action.
Most often used with Dexterity if the weapon is used with the hands, or Link if the weapon is used through a software. The Ballistic Skill is used to shoot and recharge weapons, and generally manipulate ranged weapons safely.
Ballistic actions All ballistic actions need to be performed with a ballistic weapon of any kind.
SHOOTING When performing this action, characters have to declare their target and the weapon they are using before anything else. If the weapon has a magazine value, the character must discard the top ammunition token from its pile. If the action is successful, apply the effects of the type of ammunition used to the target of the action.
RELOADING A weapon with a magazine value but no ammunition tokens on it cannot be shot until it is reloaded. To reload, characters must discard all the ammunition tokens left in their weapon and set a new pile of ammunition tokens.
When performing this action, characters declare one target. Whenever the target performs an action, the character can perform a Shooting action as a counter action even if the action of the target did not affect him directly. Additionally, aiming provides one advantage to a Shooting action against its target. If the character performs another action in between, the effects of aiming are lost.
SUPPRESSIVE FIRE When performing this action, characters declare a small area like a door or a window as a target. A suppressive fire action spends the top ammunition token of the weapon used and allows the character to confront any action made by other characters in that area with a Shooting action in later initiative rounds, until he performs a different action or chooses a target outside that area for a Shooting action.
Damage When a Shooting action is successful, the target of the action, and all characters in the area of effect if there is one, will suffer the damage specified by the weapon - taking
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BALLISTIC
AIMING
The Attributes and Skills
Every action performed by a character relates to a Skill representing his knowledge in the related area. If a character cannot find an appropriate Skill that relates to an action, he is not familiar with it and it is considered that his Skill value for that action is 0.
These tokens may be loaded in any order and they may be loaded using any combination of ammunition types compatible with the weapon.
into account the range of the shot, or the distance to the point of impact if affected by an area of effect.
enemy and physical damage represents the attacker trying to deal lethal damage.
If a Shooting action achieves a decisive success, it will cause one extra point of physical damage, and if it achieves a critical success, double its base damage.
When a CQC action without a weapon is successful, the attacker deals as many points of damage as his Constitution of the type of damage chosen previously. If the attacker is wielding a weapon he will cause the physical damage specified in the weapon description instead. Improvised weapons will cause physical damage and/or give advantages to attacks as determined by the GM.
A Shooting action can be forced to fail when taking damage and therefore it can be a valid countermeasure against another Shooting action.
CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT
The Attributes and Skills
Most often used with Dexterity when trying to hit something, or Agility when trying to block an attack.
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The Close Quarters Combat (CQC) Skill is used when fighting with close combat weapons or even bare handed. Characters can confront any action taking place within their reach with a CQC action, even if it does not affect them directly.
CQC actions When using the CQC Skill, characters have to choose one of two different CQC actions.
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HITTING Using Dexterity, the character employs martial arts knowledge to hit and deflect attacks. A successful Hitting action causes damage to its target.
GRAPPLING
If a CQC action achieves a decisive success it will cause one extra point of damage and if it achieves a critical success, double its usual damage.
HACKING Almost always used with Link when using software, or with Mind when figuring out possibilities or implications. Hacking allows characters to disable or gain control over hackable devices and to stop other hackers from affecting their own devices. All devices with Firewall are considered hackable. Other devices, especially electronic and digital devices, might be hackable if determined so by the GM. In all Hacking actions the character attempting the action is called the hacker and the device targeted by the action is called the target. To perform a Hacking action the hacker needs to be using a computer or rig and its target needs to be in hacking range. A device is in hacking range if: ◊ It is physically connected to the rig or computer. ◊ It is being directly manipulated by the hacker.
Using Agility, the character employs speed and flexibility to grapple his opponent. A successful Grappling action allows the character to get a hold over an opponent or get rid of the hold of an opponent. While one character has a hold over the other, both characters have to use Constitution instead of Dexterity for Hitting actions.
DAMAGE A character must choose to cause either neural or physical damage before declaring a CQC action without a weapon. Choosing to do neural damage represents the attacker trying to knock out his
◊ It is connected to the same network as the hacker. ◊ It is in LinkWave range from the hacker.
Firewall Most hackable devices are protected by some form of software. The Firewall (FW) of a device confronts any Hacking action against it, with an action value equal to its FW value plus the value of cards played. A Firewall plays as many cards as indicated on the device, on the FW icon, or as many as the GM determines otherwise. The Firewall of a device that belongs to a character plays cards from the top of its owner’s deck. Whenever a Firewall wins a confrontation, the rig of the attacking hacker suffers one point of ACS damage per card played by the Firewall. If the Firewall achieves a decisive success, it will cause one more point of ACS damage, and if it achieves a critical success it will cause double the base damage.
A device with LinkWave increases the hacking range of its user. The hacking range around a device with LinkWave is a sphere with a radius equal to its LinkWave value, in metres.
Hacking Actions All Hacking actions are automatically confronted by the Firewall (FW) of their target in addition to any other possible confrontations by characters. A character can only confront Hacking actions if he is capable of Hacking.
DENIAL OF SERVICE (DOS) A successful DoS action deactivates its target until the end of the turn and forces it to fail the action it was performing. A critical success allows the hacker to control the device until the next maintenance phase.
SYSTEMS CORRUPTION A successful Systems Corruption action causes its target as much ACS damage as specified by the rig used in the action. A decisive success causes one additional point of ACS damage and a critical success causes double the base damage.
SNIFFING A successful Sniffing action will allow the hacker to read all the data stored on his target, be it code, video, audio, or any other type of information, including passwords and access codes. Sniffing can also be used to extract
The networks of mining planets are usually set up for the purpose of allowing workers to communicate with each other; there is very little information available to them. However, the networks of large cities or business districts contain a lot of information about the companies that operate there, amongst many other interesting things. Some networks contain all kinds of information: text, pictures, videos, sensor feeds, software, etc. These networks usually have millions of sources such as online papers, websites, social networks, commercials, blogs, archives, online services, forums, chat rooms, internet caches, and more.
FORMATTING Formatting a device gets rid of the effects of a hacking attack upon it. Additionally, all the information stored in it is lost. A Formatting action can be confronted by a hacker that has taken control over the device if it remains within his hacking range.
PILOTING Most often used with Dexterity when piloting vehicles that require physical input (such as those with a steering wheel), or with Link when using cortex connected or computer driven vehicles. Piloting allows characters to drive or fly all kinds of vehicles, from motorbikes to space freighters. The GM can grant disadvantages to characters using vehicles that are especially difficult to operate, or advantages to characters that are very familiar or well trained with specific vehicles as she sees fit.
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Additionally, a device with LinkWave functions as a radar within its hacking range. It detects all devices within that range, but does not identify them. They are automatically identified when targeted by a Hacking action.
The attack is very fast and accurate thanks to partial-AI search engines and the information can be accessed in one turn. However, reading and understanding it will take longer. The amount of information a hacker finds will greatly depend on the target he chooses to access. In FAITH, information travels between star systems in huge server ships. Therefore, available information depends greatly on location, and information takes time to spread throughout the galaxies. It is very important that the GM considers what is best for the story when deciding how much information to give.
The Attributes and Skills
LinkWave
information from networks as a powerful form of online research. A critical success in the action will mean the hacker leaves no traces after accessing the information.
CUNNING Most often used with Agility when hiding or being quiet, or with Mind when used to lie or find out a lie. Cunning represents a character’s ability to hide, move silently or don a disguise.
Cunning Actions HIDING
The Attributes and Skills
Passive action (A character can perform a passive action in the same turn he performs another action. A character performing a passive action during a confrontation can choose to play cards from the top of his deck and/or from his hand.)
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Hiding can be used while performing any type of action that does not usually draw attention. The character remains hidden as long as he remains in an adequate place to hide or until found by a Searching action. If other characters cannot physically fail to perceive the character who wants to perform a Hiding action, the GM can declare the action invalid. See Searching characters.
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Hiding
DECEPTION
Survival represents how tough, crafty and self-sufficient characters are. It is used by characters to find things like food or resources in hostile environments, to orient themselves in a new location, or to do things that they need to survive, such as building a shelter, knowing what to do when a hurricane comes their way, or knowing what type of food is edible. Additionally, Survival represents the perceptiveness of the characters.
SEARCHING Passive action (A character can perform a passive action in the same turn he performs another action. A character performing a passive action during a confrontation can choose to play cards from the top of his deck and/or from his hand.) Characters can perform a Searching action in three instances: ◊ They are actively searching for a character
because they already knew he was there. They may have been told by someone, they may have seen him before he hid, perhaps he has drawn their attention, etc. They must choose a specific area to check, such as some bushes, a tree line, or a dark alley. ◊ They want to ensure that there is no risk hidden in
a specific area. They must choose a specific area to check. ◊ They suspect that someone is hiding. A charac-
Cunning can be used when characters attempt to lie convincingly, pretend to know something they don’t, or when convincing other characters of something. Players are encouraged to use good roleplaying to maximize their chances of deception, and only use a Cunning action as a last resort. A successful Deception action may improve an NPC’s disposition towards a character, or allow someone to get a read on another character’s true intentions. However the effects of a Deception action are ultimately up to the GM.
SURVIVAL Most often used with Mind when analysing a situation, or Dexterity when crafting things or gathering supplies.
ter with a higher Survival Skill than the hidden character’s Cunning Skill will suspect someone is hiding automatically and does not need to choose a specific area. A successful Searching action will reveal the hidden character to the searcher and from that moment onwards, the hidden character is no longer considered hiding for him. A failed Searching action will leave the searcher oblivious of the location or existence of the hidden character.
INITIATIVE Most often used with Agility for full body movement, or Dexterity for more precise motions, such as with one’s hands. Initiative represents a character’s reflexes and ability to move quickly in decisive moments. It is used during initiative rounds to determine the initiative order, and it is also the Skill used when characters attempt to do something that does not require specialized training, but instead requires speed and fast reflexes.
DODGING When attempting to dodge, characters can try to move on their feet, drop down to the floor, or even dive jump. Dodging can be used to avoid being shot, to move outside the range of an explosion, to get out of a close combat situation, or other similar things. When a character fails a Dodging action and takes damage, his movement is halted and he may choose to fall down to the floor.
ATHLETIC Most often used with Agility when performing short efforts, or Constitution performing long actions.
Athletic Actions MOVING Characters are not required to dedicate an action to move and they can do so while performing most actions. The normal distance a character can move in one turn is 2.5 metres.
Characters can perform a running action to move up to 5 metres. Additionally, a decisive success will allow the character to move one additional metre and a critical success will increase the maximum distance to 10 metres. If a character performs several consecutive running actions, he will be able to speed up and move faster. Characters can perform a running action as a countermeasure to attacks, explosions, or even hacking attacks if it gets them outside the range of the attack. A running action can never be stopped in a confrontation, even if the character loses. However, it will be up to the GM to determine if the movement is completed successfully, or if the character falls down, trips, or experiences some other negative effect. All movement distances are merely guidelines and the GM can and should modify them to fit the story as necessary. Characters might move slower in mud or shallow waters, or faster if the gravity is slightly lower than they are used to and the path is clear.
THROWING Characters can throw almost anything they can lift. Throwing actions are resolved like Shooting actions. However, it will be the task of the GM to determine whether
Almost always used with Mind, as curing is a complex task that requires a lot of knowledge. Medical represents the understanding of medicine and science in general. It is used when restoring physical or mental health, treating poison, or implementing Bio Upgrades. The rules of this section are meant to be used for Medical actions performed on the field, often rushed or lacking adequate sanitary conditions and equipment. Medical actions performed in a hospital with proper equipment and supplies will be greatly sped up as determined by the GM, allowing the patient to recover completely in a matter of hours or even minutes.
Medical Actions In all Medical actions, the character targeted by the action is called the patient and the character performing the action is called the doctor. The wound confronts the action as an NPC with an initial action value of 0 plus the value of cards played from the top of the GM’s deck. A card is played for every point of negative health of the patient.
FIRST AID First Aid can be used on patients who are bleeding out to contain their wounds. It does not require any specialized gear, but the doctor will suffer a disadvantage if he has no medical supplies at all. A successful First Aid action stops a patient from dying at the end of the scene due to bleeding out. This effect is lost if the patient suffers additional damage or experiences severe disturbances before receiving proper medical attention. If the patient is still bleeding out by the end of the next scene, he will die, and further First Aid actions will not have any effect over him.
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RUNNING
MEDICAL
The Attributes and Skills
The Athletic Skill is used by characters to run, swim, dive, climb, lift weight, throw objects, or do any other athletic activity.
a character can or cannot throw a specific object, and the particular effects of that Throwing action. Only pieces of gear with the characteristic Throwable have specific rules to be used. Throwing objects in 0-G or free fall situations is performed using EVA instead of Athletic.
SURGERY
The Attributes and Skills
Surgery can be used on bleeding out or traumatised characters to increase their health back up to a normal health state. Specialised medical equipment is required for a doctor to perform such delicate operations. The time required for the action is determined either by the specific equipment or one hour per damage counter being removed.
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A successful Surgery action removes enough damage counters from the patient to increase his health to 0. A failed Surgery action increases the number of damage counter on the patient by one (two if it is a critical failure). That is not considered external damage and therefore does not automatically kill the character. If the patient is bleeding out, the doctor can forfeit any number of limbs or Constitution points of the patient to remove an equal number of damage counters from him. These are removed during the Surgery action, but before establishing the number of cards the wound plays against it. Similarly, if the patient is traumatised, he can forfeit Mind points towards the same purpose. Constitution and Mind can never be reduced below 1. The effects of losing limbs are set by the GM as she sees fit. Usually losing a limb will cause disadvantages to some actions, make it impossible to use some tools or weapons, or increase the time needed to perform certain actions.
TECHNICAL Most often used with Mind when diagnosing or repairing something, or Dexterity when performing a delicate task with small parts. Technical Skills are used when repairing machines, robots, vehicles and other technological devices; it represents an understanding of how to use unknown technology , how to control robots, or how to adjust suits. It is up to the GM to decide the time required for each Technical action, taking into consideration the tools at hand, the pieces available, the difficulty of the task, etc. A critical success can see the effects of the action improved or the length of the action reduced, as determined by the GM.
Technical Actions In all Technical actions, the character performing the action is called the technician and the machine or device targeted by the action is called the target.
REPAIRING Repairing can be used on a damaged target to remove any type of damage from it. A successful Repairing action removes all damage of one type from its target. The damages confront the action as an NPC with an initial action value of 0 plus the value of cards played from the top of the GM’s deck. A card is played for every damage counter of the type being repaired on the target If the target is very badly damaged or the technician is using scrapped parts, the GM may grant disadvantages to the technician. However, she can also grant advantages if the technician has the blueprints of the target, an appropriate tool, or just the right set of spare parts. Additionally, she can establish that something is impossible to repair. Sometimes a machine is just too damaged or it needs very specific components to be repaired.
DESIGNING & BUILDING Technicians can always come up with their own designs to build or build the designs of others. In a sci-fi setting, the possibilities are endless, and it is the job of the GM to determine what can be built and what cannot. Many things in the universe of FAITH are extremely complex and built in fascinating factories, such as robots, spaceships or even plasma rifles. However, in a world full of digital information, there are many other things that technicians can build in their very own garages.
OPERATING ROBOTS Robots can be issued commands by their technician controllers. A technician can control as many robots as his Link with a single action. When a robot receives a command, it will do anything in its power to obey it until the task is completed or the robot is destroyed. Operating robots requires a device with LinkWave, a radio signal, or a network, although they can be programmed to obey vocal commands. The robots must be within the technician’s range to receive commands, or they must be in appropriate conditions to process vocal commands.
EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY (EVA) Most often used with Agility to move, or Constitution while in free fall or 0-G. Extravehicular Activity (EVA) is the skill used to perform physical actions in 0-G environments such as spaceships, or situations where characters are in free fall like parachute jumping. It replaces Athletic in 0-G. EVA allows characters to move the same distances Athletic does, but in 0-G
or free fall. EVA must also be used for Throwing actions performed in 0-G or free fall. Objects thrown in 0-G do not have weight restrictions, although their mass may affect the speed of the thrown object. The GM should keep in mind that the distances stated are mere guidelines and they should be adjusted to fit each particular situation. Characters in 0-G must keep in mind that everything works very differently in the absence of gravity, and simple things like shooting a weapon might become difficult and push them back, spinning away from their position. They will also need to actively stabilize themselves to avoid floating around and they will be able to push themselves up, down, or in any other direction.
remote mountains if he is an explorer, etc. To do this, characters must use their profession as the key element of their argument. The GM can veto any claims that seem out of scope or ask the player to revise them. If the argument is valid, the GM can confront the player and if she wins she must explain why the player failed to change the story detail.
PROFESSION
Profession represents the ability of characters in an area of knowledge or craft, and their position within the industry, their contacts, and their prestige. Additionally, it determines the amount of funds characters have at the beginning of the campaign.
Characters can choose anything they can think of as a profession, as long as the GM approves. There is a designated area in the character board to write the profession of the character. Characters can be anything from awardwinning filmmakers to pianists, astronauts, politicians, or anything in between. When choosing the profession of a character, it is important to avoid overlapping with other Skills, as it will diminish its benefits. As an example, a character based on the Hacking Skill should not choose his profession to be “hacker”, but instead something like “IT manager”, which will allow him to declare story details like claiming he has a contact at a certain IT company, or “cryptanalyst” which will allow him to claim that his communications cannot be spied on and that he can easily spy on others.
DECLARING STORY DETAILS Players have the right to declare details in a scene for as long as the details relate to their profession. For example, a character can claim that the NPC he is talking to is an old client of his if he is a businessman; he can claim to know where to plant a bomb to bring down a spaceship by looking at its blueprint if he is an engineer; he can claim that he brought rope and cooking tools when he is lost in some
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Profession 0: 500 credits; Profession 1: 2,000 credits; Profession 2: 5,000 credits; Profession 3: 10,000 credits; Profession 4: 20,000 credits; Profession 5: 35,000 credits.
The Attributes and Skills
Most often used with Mind when declaring a story detail, or any other Attribute if the task relates closely to it.
THE UPGRADES
The Upgrades
The Upgrades are the different enhancements that a character can get during the game. They enhance a character’s ability to perform certain tasks, or they can give characters extra abilities altogether. Characters can prepare their bodies to receive a new Upgrade by spending as many experience points as specified in the Upgrade description. However, the Upgrade itself must be acquired during the game. Additionally, Tech Upgrades need to be installed by a technician, Bio Upgrades need to be injected by a doctor, and Divine Upgrades must be granted by a God.
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The most respected clinics have wide catalogues of Upgrades readily available for those who can afford body modification. However, there are many other places all around the Universe where shady doctors and self-taught technicians install Upgrades of their own making. Some characters are able to build their own Upgrades to improve their capabilities and many skilled technicians and doctors will create the most impressive modifications given enough time and materials. The number of Upgrades of each type that a character can have is limited by his Attributes. When a character gets a new Upgrade, he can replace one of his previous Upgrades of the same type or occupy a new Upgrade slot assuming he has not reached the maximum number of Upgrades of that type.
BIO UPGRADES The Bio Upgrades are mutations and organic body modifications that can be integrated into the organism of the character. A character can have as many Bio Upgrades as his Constitution. Injecting a Bio Upgrade is a Medical action.
BEAUTY GENE 3 points. Ravager cannot choose this upgrade. The character has been born with a remarkable charisma and beauty for his species’ standards. Additionally, he is made to enjoy and give physical pleasure: his erogenous zones are enhanced, he excretes powerful pheromones that stimulate those around him, and his metabolism is extremely clean - perspiration, defecation and urination are minimal and odourless. This Upgrade costs 1 experience point less if chosen during character creation. The character gains an advantage for Cunning actions related to social interactions performed in person or, if the GM approves it, through video. He gains an additional advantage when dealing with people who could be sexually attracted to the gender and species of the character; but he suffers a disadvantage against those who, for personal
or moral reasons, might despise people like him (e.g. pronature followers).
BIOPOLYMER 2 points. Ravager only. The character has a base armour of 1, and any additional armour is added to it.
CHAMELEONIC BRAIN 3 points. Action. The character can change his affinity to an affinity of his choice by discarding a court card.
DNA REGENERATION 4 points. The character’s life expectancy is three times the life expectancy of his species, aging four to five times slower. Additionally, the character is less subject to mutations and gene related illnesses. This Upgrade costs 2 experience points less if chosen during character creation.
ECHOLOCATION 2 points. The character can emit ultrasounds to get an accurate picture of his environment from the return echoes. His ears are highly sensitive to ultrasounds. Additionally, he always gains an advantage for Searching actions and he never suffers any disadvantages for being in the dark.
EIDETIC MEMORY 2 points. The character remembers everything to whatever he paid attention. He might ask the GM for reminders of any information given to him. Additionally, damage does not reduce his Skills during actions using Mind or Link.
ENDOCRINE CONTROL 3 points. The character draws a card every time he receives any amount of physical damage from an external source. Additionally, the character ignores half his physical damage counters rounded down when calculating the value of his Skills.
FEATURE CHANGE
NANO HOOKS
3 points. Activated. The character can restructure his facial and muscular features; he can change his skin, eyes and hair colour to resemble any other character of his own species if he had previously ingested a sample of their DNA. His voice, fingerprints, eyes, and other distinguishable features will be completely identical to the original. However, he cannot change his general size or weight. The changing process takes 5 minutes during which the character will look completely disfigured.
2 points. The character can attach himself to a wall or ceiling with his bare feet or hands. His movement while suspended is reduced to half and he is still in plain sight unless otherwise concealed.
HETEROTHERMY 2 points. The heat signature of the character will blend with the environment and will be indistinguishable from it.
HORRIFYING
IMPROVED BUILD 2 points. The maximum value of one of the character’s Attributes is changed to 3 (up from the normal limit of 2). He still has to use experience points to increase the Attribute as usual. This Upgrade cannot be removed once the chosen Attribute has a value of 3.
INSOMNIAC 2 points. The character cannot sleep and does not suffer any consequences from the lack of sleep. However, he still needs periods of both mental and physical rest, during which he can keep watch or perform simple tasks.
MIMETISM 2 points. Ravager only. The character receives one advantage towards a Hiding action in an adequate place. Characters further than 50 metres away from him suffer one disadvantage towards all their actions against him if they require line of sight.
PHAGOCYTER 1 point. The character can eat anything organic, easily digesting bones, tendons, etc. Additionally, he cannot be affected by diseases of any kind. He can also choose not to be affected by a drug or poison.
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2 points. Ravager only. If a character’s Cunning is less than or equal to the Cunning of a horrifying character, he receives a disadvantage when performing actions against the horrifying character for as long as they are in contact.
2 points. Ravager only. The character discards one neural damage counter each maintenance phase, even if he received neural damage that round.
The Upgrades
Additionally, the character can hibernate for periods of time of up to 1 week per Constitution point. During hibernation, the character does not need to eat or drink and he only needs half the regular amount of oxygen. Suffering damage or other extreme sensorial disturbances can wake a hibernating character up.
NEURAL RECOVERY
POWERED REFLEXES
UNGODLY RESILIENCE
3 points. During initiative rounds, the character can look at the top two cards of his deck. He must play one of them face down on the table as his initiative card and discard the other. Note that a card played as an initiative card does not trigger any effects such as Playing with Ambience or Proficiency.
2 points. The character has 2 additional points of physical health.
SUPER ELASTICITY
The Upgrades
2 points. The character is unusually flexible for his species. He can perform incredible contortions that would put professional escape artists to shame, and he can compress his body to pass through narrow places, even dislocating and relocating his bones at will. The character has two advantages to actions related to elasticity such as contortionism, escaping from restraints, fitting through narrow places, etc. This Upgrade costs 1 experience point less if chosen during character creation.
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TISSUE REGENERATION 4 points. Passive. The character can discard one physical damage counter every hour if he is not bleeding out. Additionally, the character can grow back one entire severed limb in one month.
TECH UPGRADES The Tech Upgrades are pieces of gear that can be attached to the body of the character. A character can have as many Tech Upgrades as his Link. Removed Tech Upgrades can be kept for later use, or can be installed in another character that spends an experience point. Creating a Tech Upgrade is a Technical action and installing or removing it is a Medical action.
ADAPTABLE BREATHER 2 points. The character can breathe in any environment that contains oxygen, regardless how low its oxygen levels are, and even under liquids. Additionally, he can ignore the effects of any strange substances in the air he breathes, from toxins to carcinogenic smoke, etc.
ATOMIC BALANCE 2 points. The character is always balanced (at least on an awareness level) allowing him to not suffer any consequences of disorientation from falls, 0-G movements, explosions, waves, etc. The character has a strong sense of direction and can always tell where the North is on planets with electromagnetic fields and he gains an advantage when reading maps and retracing a path. Additionally, the character can ignore half his neural damage penalties rounded down.
BIO SENSOR 4 points. The character has an array of implants that monitors the medical status of those around him in a 10 metre radius. This includes information such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and neural activity. It can be programmed to wake the character in the circumstances of his choosing.
BIONIC ARM 2 points. Action. The character has replaced one of his arms with a bionic limb. It looks organic but it can transform into another device. When he has the Upgrade installed, the character must choose between a very easy to hide weapon, a CQC weapon, a omnitool or a surgery kit. The
bionic arm will be able to transform into the chosen piece of gear. It can later be changed by a technician.
BIONIC SPY GLASS 3 points. The character has a digital eye that can perform a x50 zoom, record pictures or video, and switch between normal and infrared sight. The character has a digital eye that can perform a x50 zoom, record pictures or video, and switch between normal and infrared sight. Activated. Use to extend the Standard Distance range of a weapon to 300 metres.
BLOODSTREAM AI 2 points. The character has a partial AI hosted in nanobots in his bloodstream. The AI has LinkWave 20 and it can connect to any network within its range. It will feed the character with information from the network. He will constantly receive all the information available in the network regarding electronic items, businesses, and people with an online presence, so long as it is within his LinkWave range.
CORTEX CONNECTOR
IMPLANTED PROCESSOR 4 points. The character has a rig implanted in his brain with a physical connection in his skull. It works as if it was cortex connected. When installing this Upgrade, the character must choose between any of his readily available rigs to be the Implanted Processor. This does not show externally. Additionally, the implanted processor allows its user to instantly read and understand all data found online or downloaded to the rig, and to perform calculations as fast as any other computer. The character can send and receive radio signals with his brain up to a thousand kilometres away.
EDITED MEMORIES 0 points. A character with this Upgrade starts with 2 additional points in his Profession Skill, or more as determined by the GM. The character has had some memories removed by cognitive neuroscience. There is a whole period of his life he does not remember, determined by the GM. This is a routine process performed on freelancers, people who agree to a
This Upgrade can only be chosen with the approval of the GM. She will think of a reason why the character had his memories edited and what happened in that period of time. This should eventually play a role in the story. Secondary effects could be having a nemesis looking for the character (and for reasons he does not understand), being prosecuted by a cult, etc. The character is aware he had his memories edited, but he does not know anything about them. If he ever finds out what his true memories are, he can remove this Upgrade from his character board. Discovering his true memories may upset some characters or create problems for certain groups of people.
NANOSKIN 2 points. The character can be exposed to a vacuum and pressures of up to 10 atmospheres (atm) without suffering negative effects.
OPTICAL DISRUPTOR 1 point. Activated. The character appears as a blurry form to all detection devices (cameras, scopes, recognition systems, infrared visors, etc). The only way of recognising the character with cameras or sensors is by employing powerful processors to analyse the recorded data. Additionally, all other characters attempting to target the owner of this Upgrade will receive one disadvantage if they are not observing him with their naked eyes.
SHIELDED SKULL 3 points. The Firewalls of all cortex connected devices belonging to the character (or the character himself if he is a Ravager) have one advantage against Hacking attacks through LinkWave.
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1 point. A cortex connector allows the character to use devices that require it. The device connected to the cortex connector can be changed with one action.
job they cannot know about afterwards for (usually) a significant sum of money.
DIVINE UPGRADES The Divine Upgrades are powers granted by the Gods. They often allow characters to perform incredible tasks, but they come at a price: the character needs to follow the commandments of his God and will often suffer the consequences of employing a supernatural power. A character can have as many Divine Upgrades as his Faith. Divine Upgrades can have different levels: I, II and III. Characters can only use the levels that are less than or equal to their Faith.
The Upgrades
The Gods of FAITH are fickle beings. However, it is not rare for them to pay attention to their most outstanding believers, who are the source of their power and their only way to mold the Universe to their own desires. Gods may grant powers to their believers if they like their behaviour, or they may withdraw their support if their believers betray their designs.
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A character with Divine Upgrades is called a soulbender. When a soulbender uses a Divine Upgrade as the main part of his action and he is confronted, he must use his Faith Attribute to resolve the confrontation. The Skill to use will depend on the confrontation, but most powers are usually a matter of speed or physical capacity, and this is why most powers will use Initiative or Athletics/EVA. Neural damage suffered from a Divine Upgrade occurs as the action resolves, and does not incur Skill penalties for that action. In order to obtain a Divine Upgrade, a character must spend two experience points. All other players will vote on whether or not the character has behaved accordingly to the commandments of his God, with the GM having the final say. If a majority votes favourably with the GM’s support, or the GM decides to resolve in favor of the character anyways, he can then acquire a Divine Upgrade from the list of his God.
LOSING THE FAVOUR OF YOUR GOD Characters must follow the commandments of their God if they want to be able to use their Divine Upgrades. It is up to the GM to determine if the roleplay of a player is following a good path and reward him or punish him accordingly. If a character does not abide by the commandments of his God, but does not actually break them, he should not receive the benefits of his passive Divine Upgrades and using his other Divine Upgrades will cause him one additional point of neural damage. If a character actually breaks a commandment, he will see his Faith temporarily reduced by one point, which might cause him to lose one of his Divine Upgrades until he recovers his Faith. The character will recover his Faith after one session without breaking any commandments. If a character breaks a commandment for the second time in the same session, he will lose one point of Faith permanently, along with one Divine Upgrade if he had as many Divine Upgrades as his Faith, not recovering any experience points spent to acquire it. If at any point a character starts to show more connection to a different God, the GM can offer him to change his divine allegiance. He will lose all the Divine Upgrades from his previous God. If the act that makes him change Gods is significant enough (A Kaliva follower staying behind to cover the retreat of his team, abandoning himself to a certain death), the GM can give him Divine Upgrades from his new God, up to the same number he previously had.
KALIVA Extended Awareness The soulbender is guarded by Kaliva and is almost impossible to surprise. He can always confront actions made against him, as long as they are performed by characters with a Faith Attribute less than or equal to his own. This is true even if he is asleep or unaware; he realizes what is happening just before events actually occur, giving him a chance to react accordingly. Whenever this ability triggers, the soulbender takes one point of neural damage.
Phantom Sustained. Suffer any amount of neural damage. Phantom affects all characters around the soulbender with Mind less than or equal to the neural damage he suffered to use this power. I - The soulbender does not draw the attention of anyone around him unless he is directly attacking them.
of times per round. Additionally, he ignores Skill damage penalties for the purpose of this Upgrade, and every time the soulbender achieves a critical success in a confrontation he draws one card.
Greed Instant. At any point, the soulbender can set aside up to as many cards from his hand as his Faith. This does not trigger any effects such as Playing with Ambience or Profi-
II - The soulbender does not draw the attention of anyone around him and they cannot remember his face, voice, name, or anything about him that is recognisable. They will have a vague idea of whatever they talked about with him. III - The soulbender does not draw the attention of anyone around him and he is not remembered by them. They cannot target the soulbender with actions that could have another valid target. Friendlies and neutrals can never be considered valid targets, unless the character performing the action is a Ledger believer.
Soulhunt
I - One target. The soulbender can feel the approximate distance and direction of his target. II - Two targets. In addition to the distance and direction of his targets, the soulbender can feel his targets’ moods and feelings, allowing him to gain insights about them. He might be able to see some of their doings in his dreams, though they are revealed in fragments. III - Three targets. The soulbender will know the exact location of his targets. Additionally, he can see through the eyes of his targets in real time, regardless of how far they are, and feel his targets’ moods and feelings.
Natural Selection Whenever the soulbender confronts a character with a Skill with a lower value than the Skill he is using, the soulbender receives one advantage (The GM is considered to have a Skill value of 0).
Whenever the soulbender can play a card from his hand, he can choose to suffer one neural damage and play a card set aside with Greed instead. Cards played this way are placed in the player’s discard pile as normal. The soulbender cannot set aside any more cards until he has played all those set aside previously.
VEXAL Gravity Shift Sustained. Suffer two neural damage. The soulbender pulls himself towards another surface that is significantly bigger than him and up to 20 metres away. The character will ‘fall’ towards that surface, but he will also have control over his motion and will not suffer damage from it regardless of the speed. I - The soulbender gains one advantage towards this action.
I - The soulbender may use this Upgrade once per round. II - The soulbender may use this Upgrade any number of times per round. Additionally, he ignores Skill damage penalties for the purpose of this Upgrade. III - The soulbender may use this Upgrade any number
II - The soulbender gains two advantages towards this action. III - The soulbender gains three advantages towards this action.
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Action (Cunning). The soulbender can mark any sentient being in his line of sight up to 50 metres away, without the target noticing. He will be able to feel the presence of his target anywhere within the same solar system.
ciency. Cards set aside with Greed do not count towards the soulbender’s hand size when drawing up to seven cards at the beginning of a scene.
Planeswalker Sustained (Athletics/EVA). Suffer three neural damage. The soulbender can move up to 2.5 metres per turn through any solid surface as if it was not there. The character needs to establish contact with whatever he is going to move through before moving. This means that this Divine Upgrade cannot be used on things that suddenly come into contact with the character (such as letting bullets go through the body without harm). The soulbender cannot carry anything outside his body while using this Upgrade, including gear or clothes. He can have Upgrades of any type. The consequences of getting stuck in the middle of something will be determined by the GM, taking into consideration the consistency of the material and the Constitution of the character.
The Upgrades
Psychometry
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Action. Suffer two neural damage. The soulbender may experience visions from objects of otherwise unknown history by making physical contact with them. He can obtain information such as where the object was created, who brought it there, who has been in contact with it lately, etc. Once he has a vision, he cannot have another vision of the same object unless he increases his Faith. I - The visions are blurry and chaotic. II - The visions are clear and appear in chronological order. Additionally, they contain some words that were heard close to the object. III - The visions are clear and appear in chronological order. Additionally, they contain some words that were heard close to the object. The soulbender may use Psychometry on living and dead organisms as well.
Telekinesis Action (Athletics/EVA). Suffer one neural damage. I - The soulbender can move inanimate objects up to 10 metres away as if he was holding them. He can lift up to his normal carrying weight. II - The soulbender can move inanimate objects up to 20 metres away as if he was holding them. He can lift up to his normal carrying weight III - The soulbender can move inanimate objects up to 20 metres away as if he was holding them. He can lift up to double his normal carrying weight.
Unyielding Resolve Instant. I - Suffer one neural damage. The soulbender can ignore all Skill penalties caused by physical damage until the end of the round. II - Suffer one physical damage. The soulbender can discard two neural damage counters. III - Suffer one physical damage. The soulbender can play one additional card during his current action.
HEXIA Altered Reality Action (Initiative). Suffer one neural damage. The soulbender can teleport in a straight and unobstructed line. I - The soulbender can teleport up to 10 metres away. II - The soulbender can teleport up to 20 metres away, or teleport up to 10 metres away with one advantage towards this action. III - The soulbender can teleport up to 30 metres away, teleport up to 20 metres away with one advantage, or teleport up to 10 metres away with two advantages towards this action.
Fragmented Reality Sustained (Cunning). Suffer any amount of neural damage. The soulbender creates the sensorial illusion of an object to all of those that can perceive it. The illusion can occupy an area of up to one square metre in any shape (big enough to cover a person completely) per point of neural damage taken to create it. Other characters might detect the illusion with a Searching action. The illusion cannot cause direct harm. I - The illusion only affects the sense of sight. II - The illusion affects the senses of sight, hearing and smell. III - The illusion affects all senses, including taste, touch, temperature, kinaesthesia, balance, vibration, etc, making it “real” for those sensing it. Characters trying to detect it with a Searching action suffer a disadvantage.
Future Sight
physical contact with the target equals to one second of viewing their memories.
I - The soulbender can look at the top card of his deck at any time. II - Action. Suffer two neural damage. The soulbender is guarded by his God, who rewards him with short moments of clarity. Once per session, the player can request the GM’s advice about a choice the character has to make or a course of action he should take. The GM should give him solid advice based on what the character knows (even if the player himself does not remember it). III - Instant. Suffer two neural damage. During the current action, all characters confronting the soulbender must play all their cards before him. If more than one character uses this Upgrade, they play their cards as normal after every other character involved in the confrontation.
Time Warp I - Activated. Suffer one neural damage. The soulbender receives one advantage towards an Agility action. II - Sustained. Suffer one neural damage. The soulbender receives one advantage towards all Agility actions. 40 faith rulebook
III - Instant. Suffer two neural damage. The soulbender has an additional turn after all other characters have acted during this initiative round. If more than one character uses this Upgrade, they take turns following the same order they had during the initiative round. The actions performed during this turn are resolved and confronted as any other action.
Hidden Truth Sustained. Suffer two neural damage. The soulbender can read the emotions of other characters with Mind less than or equal to his Faith in a radius of 5 metres, without them noticing. I - The soulbender can read basic emotions, such as anger, fear or happiness, but not thoughts. For example, if someone is lying to him, he may read nervousness or elation, but he won’t know for certain if what he is hearing is the truth. II - The soulbender can read basic emotions, and he will immediately detect holograms, illusions, and stealth devices. He is not affected by the characteristics of stealth devices. Additionally, he will be able to perceive tiny details that would elude most people. III - In addition to II, the soulbender can read memories. If the Mind of the target is equal to the Faith of the soulbender, the target will notice. Each second he spends in
ERGON Vortex Action (Initiative). Suffer one neural damage per portal. The soulbender can open up to two portals by throwing balls of energy from the palm of his hand to a point in space. Opening a third portal requires closing one of the others. The portals have a diameter of 2 metres. All forms of matter and energy can travel from one to the other and vice versa. Characters can see clearly through them, and if only one is open, it looks like a ring made of light.
I - The portals can be up to 30 metres away from each other, and they last one hour. Each portal takes one action to open. II - The portals can be up to 50 metres away from each other and they last for as long as the soulbender is alive, or until he decides to close one of them. Each portal takes one action to open. III - The portals can be up to 50 metres away from each other and they last for as long as the soulbender is alive, or until he decides to close one of them. Both portals can be opened with the same action.
Telepathy
LEDGER Death of Faith Sustained. Suffer two neural damage. The soulbender can choose a character in his line of sight with Faith less than or equal to his own. That character cannot use any Divine Upgrades granted by his God for as long as this effect is active.
Madness Sustained. Suffer two neural damage.
The Upgrades
I - The soulbender can send telepathic messages to anyone in his line of sight. Additionally, he can send telepathic messages to any Ergon believer within the same solar system.
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II - The soulbender can send telepathic messages to anyone in his line of sight or within a 100 metre radius. Additionally, he can send telepathic messages to any Ergon believer within the same solar system. III - The soulbender can send telepathic messages to anyone on the same planet. Additionally, he can send telepathic messages to any Ergon believer within the same solar system.
Judgment Instant. Suffer two neural damage. The soulbender can pick any character in his line of sight that has just played a card. The soulbender discards as many cards as his Faith from the top of his deck and replaces the value of the played card with the value of any one of the cards he has discarded.
Divine Shield Sustained. Suffer two neural damage. The soulbender chooses a character in his line of sight. He can prevent that character from receiving as many damage counters of any type per initiative round as his Faith.
Overload Action (Initiative). Suffer two neural damage. Everything in a radius of 5 metres from the soulbender receives two times his Faith in ACS damage counters.
All characters with Faith less than or equal to the soulbender in a 10 metre radius from him are affected, including the soulbender himself. Any confrontation involving a character affected by Madness must be resolved using cards played from the top of the deck of the GM or players involved, instead of their respective hands.
Fear Fog Sustained. Suffer two neural damage. All other characters with Faith less than or equal to the soulbender in a radius of 20 metres are affected. All those characters suddenly experience a primordial fear. They receive a disadvantage when performing actions that do not have the aim of escaping the radius of this Divine Upgrade.
Copycat Copycat works exactly as one Divine Upgrade from any other God. The chosen Upgrade is placed on the character board as if it were from Ledger. The soulbender can only have one Divine Upgrade obtained with Copycat at the same time.
don ’ t ge t lost.
NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS (NPC) LEVEL
NAME
See page 44
CHARACTERISTICS Their description is on the back of the card or the corresponding section of this rulebook
PHYSICAL HEALTH See page 19
NEURAL HEALTH See page 19
The Non-Player Characters
ARMOUR See page 20
FIREWALL The number of cards it can play is inside the icon
INITIATIVE The number of cards it can play is inside the icon
POWERED CHARACTERISTICS Their description is on the back of the card or the corresponding section of this rulebook
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PHYSICAL/MENTAL SKILL VALUE
NUMBER OF CARDS
The Skill value is the starting action value of the NPC
HOW TO USE THE NPC Non-player characters (NPCs) are characters controlled by the GM. They are the key to many stories, and they can be friends, foes, or just neutral. While with some NPCs all interactions will be talking or trading, some of them might perform actions and engage in confrontations. The FAITH: Core Set includes a deck of 54 NPC cards ready to use, and the GM can always create her own for the story she is running. When NPCs perform actions or engage in confrontations they play cards from the top of the GM’s deck and she decides the actions they will take. Whenever an NPC has the opportunity to play a card from the deck, the GM can decide to play a card from her hand instead. When a NPC plays a card with a suit that matches the ambience he immediately draws another card and the GM chooses if she wants to replace the previous card with it or not. If it is replaced by another card that matches the ambience, she will immediately go through the same process again. All the replaced cards are discarded, as well as all the unused cards.
The number of cards it can play is within the symbol
During initiative rounds the GM will either discard one card from the top of her deck or her hand to establish the bonus to the initiative value of all NPCs for that round.
NPC CARDS NPCs can be as complex as the GM wants; the GM is in charge of creating and elaborating on their backstories. NPCs can be as detailed as a PC or even more. To make the game easy and interesting without too much hassle, she can use the NPC cards. NPC cards represent simplified characters with the information needed to use them in a quick encounter. Additionally, they can be used as a base for the GM to create a more elaborate character if the story requires it. They do not have Attributes and Skills like player characters. Instead, they have a Physical and a Mental Skill to establish both the base action value and the amount of cards played by the NPC. It is up to the GM to say which of the two Skills the NPC uses for each action and it is also up to her to determine to how many areas they cover.
CHARACTERISTICS
ENERGY See page 45
FLAVOUR TEXT
NPCs do not have a limited number of cards they can play per round. It is recommended that NPCs only perform the same type of action once per round but it is up to the GM to use these characters as she sees fit to drive the story. Most NPCs have physical and neural health as any other character, but usually those that are not important for the story can be considered dead once they are bleeding out or traumatised. NPCs are affected by modifiers to their actions in the same way other characters are, as well as by advantages
and disadvantages. Unless stated otherwise, all NPCs have a Faith Attribute value of one. The GM can decide to apply the traits of the species to an NPC as she sees fit, as well as apply any other rules to better reflect the nature of the NPC she wants to use in the story. The NPC cards have a level of difficulty for the GM to use as a guide. Have one NPC per PC in the encounter: Level 1 NPCs are best used against starting characters and characters who have gained a few Skill points and maybe one Upgrade, but have yet to increase one of their Attributes to 3. Level 2 NPCs can be used to face characters that have increased their main Attribute to 3 and have a couple of high value Skills. Finally, level 3 NPCs are meant to fight against players with fully developed characters. Alternatively, the GM may use fewer NPCs of higher level, or many lower level NPCs to face the players and create a different kind of encounter. Varied encounters will force the players to play smart and try to gain advantages through role playing to raise victorious, which is a rather rewarding way of doing so.
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For example, a Raag warrior might use the Physical Skill for Shooting, CQC, and Athletic actions; and the Mental Skill for Survival and Cunning actions, but it is probably safe to say that he wouldn’t use it for Hacking. On the other end of the spectrum, a Corvo hacker NPC will probably use his Mental Skill for Hacking or Technical actions, but he wouldn’t probably use his Physical Skill for CQC actions. In any case, the GM is always free to modify the values of both NPC skills as well as the number of cards they play to serve the story better, but she should inform the players beforehand to avoid any misunderstandings.
The specs include additional information that might be useful for your campaigns, but they are not rules binding: feel free to adapt them to better suit your story
The Non-Player Characters
SPECS
THE GEAR In FAITH, characters can carry and use any kind of gear that they might find. Some of the most important pieces of equipment are on cards that contain all the important information needed to use them. However, we encourage players to create their own gear if they find the need for it. There are five types of gear cards: ranged weapons, CQC weapons, robots, suits, and objects. At the beginning of each section there is an example of a card to show how all the information is laid out in each type of card. Some symbols contain a number inside, which always indicates the number of cards that are played when it is used. Those cards are played from the top of the deck of the gear’s controller.
The Gear
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS
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Some pieces of equipment have common characteristics that are only described if there is enough space in the card. Cortex connected: Must be connected to a cortex connector Upgrade to be used. Easy to hide: Can be hidden while wearing a jacket or similar piece of clothing. Ghost: Does not appear on LinkWave radars. It can still be hacked using other methods or through LinkWave if the hacker has line of sight. Glove: Must be worn on one hand. It can be attached to a suit with a Technical action. Throwable: Action (Athletic/EVA). May be thrown up to 50 metres away. It provides one advantage if thrown within 10 metres and it suffers one disadvantage every 10 metres further, rounded up. Very easy to hide: Can be hidden while wearing regular clothes, even without a jacket.
ENERGY AND ACS DAMAGE Certain pieces of gear have characteristics with an energy value. Those characteristics are considered powered, and if the piece of gear suffers as much ACS damage as their energy value, they stop working. If a cortex connected device suffers ACS damage, each other cortex connected device con-
nected to the same character will suffer the same amount of ACS damage. Robots also have an energy value, and if they suffer as much ACS damage as that value, they stop working completely.
RANGED WEAPONS Ranged weapons are weapons used in ranged combat, and they provide a means to attack targets from a distance. There are many different types of ranged weapons, but they are usually separated into two main types: projectile weapons and electronic weapons. Projectile weapons have magazines, whereas electronic weapons have batteries and use electric energy to shoot. If the weapon has a magazine it needs to have ammunition to shoot; and if it has an energy value, it cannot shoot if it has as many ACS damage as that value.
Range A weapon’s effectiveness is related to the distance to its target. Most weapons have two different ranges and a few specialist weapons have a third range. Close Quarters (CQ): Up to 20 metres. The most common range indoors, inside spaceships or in dense urban areas. Standard Distance (SD): From 20 to 100 metres. The range most characters can see clearly without magnification. Long Distance (LD): From 100 metres to 5 kilometres. The extended range of some sniper rifles. The weapon loses one point of damage and receives one disadvantage for every additional kilometre after the first.
Ammo & Mag Weapons with magazine (mag) can load as many ammo tokens as its value from any combination of their compatible ammunition (ammo) types. Standard: The ammunition commonly used in firearms and EM railguns. Standard ammunition causes physical
damage as specified in the weapon description.
normal Standard Distance, rounded up.
Neural: The ammunition used by neural weapons. The neural ammunition causes the neural damage as specified in the description of the weapon. Additionally, it ignores armour.
Neural weapon: Action (Shooting). May be fired. The shot is silent and leaves no traces.
Plasma: One of the most dangerous ammunitions known in the Universe. Plasma ammunition ignores up to 2 points of armour and causes physical damage as specified in the description of the weapon. Adaptive Circuit Severance (ACS): Adaptive Circuit Severance (ACS) ammunition causes ACS damage as specified in the description of the weapon to a robot or piece of gear. Explosive: Explosive ammunition causes physical damage as specified in the description of the weapon, up to one metre away from the point of impact and one less damage for every metre or fraction further.
Characteristics
EM railgun: Action (Shooting). May be fired. It is slightly noisy and it has significant recoil. Magazine 1.
Firearm: Action (Shooting). May be fired. The shot is noisy and leaves traces of gunpowder and shells. Firearms can shoot further than Standard Distance, even without a magnifying device, but they will cause one point of damage less and suffer one disadvantage for every 50 metres beyond
Plasma weapons use target-lock software to adjust their lasers’ trajectories, meeting precisely at the target. When the lasers meet, they induce a high-energy state into the gases around the target, creating plasma and burning through even the toughest of steels.
CLOSE COMBAT WEAPONS Close combat weapons are meant to be used in CQC situations and they provide characters with the means of harming enemies who are nearby. There are many types of close combat weapons, but with the increasing popularity of armoured suits, these weapons are almost exclusively used by a niche of specialists in boarding or urban warfare, and some primitive species.
Fighting Styles Close combat weapons can be used in two fighting styles: Hit, using Dexterity, and Grapple, using Agility. Each weapon indicates the advantages (+) or disadvantages (-) it provides and the damage it causes for each fighting style.
NAME CHARACTERISTICS Their description is on the back of the card or the corresponding section of this rulebook. If they are powered, their energy value is on the back of the card
RANGES/FIGHTING STYLES ENERGY/MAG See page 45
FIREWALL If the weapon has hackeable characteristics, it will have a Firewall. The number of cards it can play is inside the icon
The number is the damage caused in each range or fighting style. Each + indicates one advantage and each - indicates one disadvantage in that range or fighting style
AMMO TYPES See page 45
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Electromagnetic railguns are built around a pair of parallel conducting rails that accelerate projectiles to incredible speeds. They are electrically powered and very slow to recharge, but their power makes them the preferred weapon of snipers and other long range operators.
Plasma weapon: Action (Shooting). May be fired. The shot is silent, but at the point of impact the plasma is slightly noisy and leaves a characteristic smell. Its lasers can be easily seen in the dark or at night.
The Gear
CQW (Close Quarters Weapon): Provides one extra advantage towards Shooting actions against targets within 10 metres.
Neural weapons shoot microwaves that affect the synapses of neurons, slowing them down. The targets of these weapons normally faint, but deep coma is not an unusual effect either. The iz’kal military police use neural weapons to control crowds and they are increasingly popular amongst criminals due to their untraceability.
◊ Small energy core with long autonomy
SUITS
◊ Radio and network comms
Suits are full body wearable pieces of equipment. Each character can wear only one suit at a time unless specified otherwise. Most suits are normally tailored or adjusted to one character and, if the character is not used to it, putting a suit on or taking it off can take several minutes. If a suit is somehow destroyed or rendered useless, all its effects and characteristics will stop applying immediately, and the character will suffer one disadvantage towards all his Agility actions until he takes the suit off.
Characteristics Suits are built to be very resourceful and they all share certain characteristics: ◊ Vacuum protection
The Gear
◊ Limited oxygen supply and air filters
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◊ -20ºC to 50ºC thermal protection
◊ Directional lights in helmet and gloves ◊ Infrared visor
OTHER ITEMS There are all kinds of objects that players can use in the Universe of FAITH, from rigs to grenades, from the technical to the medical, and all forms of tools. It is up to the GM and the players to make up their own objects, although many of the most usual yet interesting items are represented in cards. The purpose of the object cards is to ease the player’s immersion in the story. The cards represent the most interesting objects, and are not a comprehensive inventory of all the items a character might have. For these reasons, the most common objects like phones, clothes, or tools are not represented in cards and it can be assumed that the characters have them without the need of a card to indicate it.
Additionally, all suits have some inherent powered characteristics. These characteristics have their energy indicated on the front of the suit card.
NAME CHARACTERISTICS Their description is on the back of the card or the corresponding section of this rulebook
ENERGY See page 45
ARMOUR See page 20
AGILITY MODIFIER It may provide one advantage (+) or disadvantage (-) towards Agility actions
FIREWALL The number of cards it can play is inside the icon
POWERED CHARACTERISTICS Their description is on the back of the card or the corresponding section of this rulebook
ROBOTS
Characteristics
Robots are very complex semi-autonomous pieces of gear that can operate either using their partial AI softwares or when controlled by a technician. When a robot receives a command, it will do anything in its power to obey it until the task is completed or the robot is destroyed.
Robots are usually very well built and they all share many powered characteristics:
Robots play as NPCs under the control of characters, and may even be under the control of players. The structure (STR) value is the maximum physical damage a robot can withstand before it stops working. If a robot suffers as much physical damage as its STR it will be deactivated until it is repaired.
◊ High definition camera, microphones and status
sensors (all data is recorded and stored for one week) ◊ Directional light ◊ Radio and network comms ◊ Vacuum and atmospheric working capabilities
the issues with complete ai machines
The Gear
For a long time, the ultimate Artificial Intelligence had been an unreachable goal for engineers and scientists in all societies. Even though technology would allow both the Iz’kal and the Corvo to create it now, they don’t pursue the idea. The former suffered from AI control under the Korian, while the latter depend on wage labour to keep their consumer-based economy afloat and fear cortex connector vulnerability. Only partial AI engines are used today but no machine is completely autonomous, let alone self-aware.
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CHARACTERISTICS Their description is on the back of the card or the corresponding section of this rulebook
STRUCTURE See page 48
ENERGY See page 45
ARMOUR See page 20
FIREWALL The number of cards it can play is inside the icon
INITIATIVE The number of cards it can play is inside the icon
POWERED CHARACTERISTICS Their description is on the back of the card or the corresponding section of this rulebook
SKILL VALUES The Skill value is the starting action value of the robot
NUMBER OF CARDS The number of cards it can play is inside the icon
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ADVICE FOR A GM RUNNING A FAITH GAME Normally, a piece of advice would tell you what to do, instead of what not to do. However, we tend to think that the ‘don’ts’ are much better advice, and they are much less restrictive. We want to advise you on just a few things to avoid from the infinite amount of possibilities, and still leave you with infinite possibilities!
Who are the Gods of your players? That alone can help you create a story for them. Do they think very differently from each other? Have them be in situations in which they must reach a consensus. Give their characters opportunity to change and evolve, even if that means that they have to change Gods.
Thus, we will focus our tips for being an awesome GM on things you shouldn’t do. Here are some:
◊ If they are followers of Kaliva, the most indi-
Advice for the GM
◊ Do not use confrontations to side with the PCs
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and confront NPCs, because that creates a deus ex machina effect that kills the thrill of the game. If you fear for the story or for the PCs because the NPCs are winning, you can use a ‘plot twist’ to save the day: a friendly NPC comes in to help, the NPCs try to take the PCs captive instead of killing them, or they offer a deal to the PCs to stop fighting (why do NPCs always fight until the end anyways, don’t they have families to come back to?), etc. ◊ Do not confront players when they perform
mundane tasks, but instead lure them into playing high cards at times when they really need to achieve something. That will make their subsequent confrontations with NPCs much more interesting and tense, leaving you with high cards to aid important NPCs or prevent the story from derailing too much from its course. Save your high cards for when it matters! The confrontations with the GM are there to add drama and interest to the story, they are not a substitute for every last skill check you would make in other games.
vidualist God, make them see the terrible lives of good, hard-working people, who are impoverished and who have no chance of success. Will they help them? ◊ If they are followers of Vexal, the individual free
thinker, put them in situations in which they must join a community in order to save it. Will they sacrifice their individual freedom for the good of the community? ◊ If they follow Hexia, the strict ruler that seeks the
good of the community, see if they still think they represent the community’s best interests after committing a grand mistake. Will they listen to others now? ◊ If they follow Ergon, the most democratic of the
Gods, have them see what terrible things the masses can do to those minorities that think differently. Will they give up their beliefs to stop it? Like in many other RPGs, there are many things you can do in FAITH that can make campaigns much more interesting. Here are some of our recommendations: ◊ Give secret agendas to your players to make
◊ Do not make your NPCs mindless shooting
machines unless the story requires them to be. It is much more interesting to have small teams of NPCs behave intelligently and tactically: have them flank the PCs, throw smoke grenades, pin down PCs, or use any other cool tactics you can come up with. ◊ Do not allow the PCs to take their respective Gods
for granted. Force them to put their beliefs to the test and see if they can handle it, and if they follow them to the direst of consequences. If they cannot, they may be deemed unworthy of the support of their God.
them feel invested in the story before it even begins. Bring the drama of their backstories to the game. Let them use the details they gave to you while creating their stories, so the story you put together feels round and engaging. ◊ Not every NPC needs to be a bad guy trying to shoot
at the PCs or hack into their brains. Use friendly or neutral NPCs to drive the story forward: they are one of your most valuable assets. Without them interacting with the PCs, players tend to go about their own ways and set themselves away from the story. Informers, merchants, secret contacts, potential employers... all of them are interesting characters that will help you develop an engaging story when they interact with the PCs. They can provide them with information, convince them to change their minds, put them in compromising situations, or put their beliefs to the test.
◊ There are many things that can influence a char-
acter: he can take damage by falling from a tall wall, he can suffer hypothermia or hunger - the possibilities are endless. We could try to tackle this issue with some spreadsheets with the most common effects of the most common issues, but this would never be comprehensive enough and it would have very little narrative value. In FAITH, we leave things like this to the GM - she should decide what she thinks is best for the story: is it interesting that your players characters suffer one disadvantage to any action because they were not prepared to survive in a frozen planet? They all have Survival 0 and cannot find any food in the jungle. Maybe it is interesting to give them a
disadvantage until they find food, or perhaps their unpreparedness can start to affect their health. Perhaps force them to suffer neural damage that they cannot remove until they eat - if they continue like this they will faint and die of starvation. Go with what is dramatically interesting, that pushes the story forward and engages the players. Adapt effects to the situation and your group’s gameplay. And last, but not least, remember that playing RPGs is all about having fun with your friends, and that should be your goal at all times. Enjoy the game and do not make it all about who succeeded or failed if it does not need to be.
Home started talking when Edo pressed against her heart: “Energy supply insufficient, back up cells almost depleted. Please replenish the ship to access its functions.”
Edo was not yet when the tribe found Home. The elders had told him that she came from the sky, but now that Home was half buried in the sand of the eternal desert, the elder’s story seemed impossible. Edo had always known Home. The one place safe in the whole land. Lia ran inside the room, her hoofs clopping against the metallic floors, “Edo, hurricane close.” “How close?” “A day.” Edo tightened the hold on his spear. “What do?”, asked Lia. Edo knew what to do. To save Home he had to disobey her. He started walking, the clattering of his hooves echoing deep into the core of Home. He opened the door that was not to be opened. He entered the room that was not to be disturbed. The room where thousands of beings laid frozen in glass beds. He approached the nearest one, a creature full of scars, and he pressed the round red heart of the glass bed and words appeared before him. “Ivohno. Convicted of murder. Age 56. Colony of Al’ameen.” Edo went to the next bed. “Lovomo. Convicted of cybercrime. Age 23. Colony of Zerua.” Edo did not understand, but he had little time. He pressed the next heart that appeared before him and stepped back. His spear was ready. It felt like forever before the being looked at him through the glass and asked, “What the heck are you?”.
50 faith rulebook
Edo was the best speaker in the tribe. He could string long sentences together and even fabricate stories that were not memories. No one else in the tribe could do that. But even with such a brilliant mind, Edo could not understand what Home needed. The lights were growing weaker, the doors were becoming rusty, and the magic that protected them from the hurricanes was no more. The people were afraid of the sky again, and eyes that used to be set on each other were now set on the horizon. They knew that the hurricanes would come again, and, if Home could not protect them, they had to protect Home.
Advice for the GM
Edo’s heart shrinked. It had been a week since Home’s teachings were reduced to that single sentence. It did not matter how many times Edo pressed her round red heart, the Home that taught his tribe how to speak and many other great things had been reduced to a shell.
CREDITS
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4
COMPONENTS5 FOREWORD6 What You Need to Play Core Concepts
6 6
INTRODUCTION7 The Game Master The Characters Sessions & Scenes
7 7 7
SETTING UP THE GAME
9
Card Suits
9
ACTIONS9 Opposing Actions Collaborative Actions Passive Actions Additional Effects
10 10 11 11
CONFRONTATIONS11 Confrontations with the GM Confrontations Between Characters Action Value Skills Damage Playing Cards Inferiority (Advantages) Outcome of a Confrontation Steps of a Confrontation Resolving Multiple Confrontations Drawing Cards Playing with Ambience (Affinity) Proficiency Beginning of a Scene INITIATIVE ROUND
11 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 14 15 15 15 15 15 15
Reacting15 Waiting16 Maintenance Phase 16 Steps of an Initiative Round 16 THE CHARACTERS
18
Creating a Character 18 Advanced Characters 18 Gaining Experience 18 Health & Damage 19 Armour20
SPECIES’ TRAITS
20
WORMHOLES53
Corvo20 Iz’kal21 Human21 Raag22 Ravager22
Movement 54 Wormhole Combat 54 Communications54 Space Exploration 55
ATTRIBUTES
25
SKILLS26 Ballistic26 Close Quarters Combat 27 Hacking27 Piloting28 Survival29 Cunning29 Initiative29 Athletic30 Medical30 Technical31 Extravehicular Activity (EVA) 31 Profession32 THE UPGRADES
33
Bio Upgrades 33 Tech Upgrades 35 Divine Upgrades 37 Losing the Favour of Your God 37 Kaliva37 Vexal38 Hexia39 Ergon40 Ledger41 NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS (NPC) How to Use the NPCs NPC Cards THE GEAR
43 43 43 45
Common Characteristics 45 Energy and ACS Damage 45 Ranged Weapons 45 Close Combat Weapons 46 Suits47 Other Items 47 Robots48 ADVICE FOR A GM RUNNING A FAITH GAME 49 THE UNIVERSE OF FAITH
52
Life in Space 53 Spacecrafts53
INDEX
THE GODS
57
Commandments57 Cults58 Godly Favours 58 Avatars of God 58 Ergon59 Kaliva60 Vexal61 Hexia62 Ledger63 THE CORVO
65
Corvosphere65 Social Relationships 65 Corvo Society 66 Megacorps71 Corvo History 73 Corvo Habitats 75 THE IZ’KAL
79
The State 79 Hyperlink79 The Voidwalkers 80 Social Relationships 81 Resource-based Economy 82 The Hexian Movement 86 The Korian and the Iz’kal Uprising 87 Iz’kal Habitats 89 THE HUMANS
93
Human Front 94 Fulcrums95 THE RAAG
97
Society97 The Age of the Gladiators 98 The Ice Fortresses 100 The Clans 100 THE RAVAGER The Swarm Devourers of Worlds The Hivemind Organization of the Swarm
103 103 104 104 104
