These rules allow the players to “bend” the story-line in favor of a better story.
Characters gain Editing Points for how often they are played. See the Hero’s Guide if you want a more in depth explanation. Characters gain 1 Editing Point for every hour they are played. These points are awarded at the end of each issue.
Award Multipliers: If an adventure is especially tough, the characters can gain more editing points: multiply the total editing award by a number from 1.1 to 1.5. More experienced characters (see below, and the Experience Table) will also gain more editing points. The multipliers can be used together. For example, if a character with an Experience total of 35 goes through an adventure with a toughness of 1.3, the total multiplier will be 1.2 times 1.3, or 1.56. If the players played for 4 hours, that character gains 4 times 1.56, or 6.24 Editing Points.
When Editing Points are used, they are added to the character’s Experience. If a player uses 12 Editing Points to raise Constitution from 23 to 24, the character’s Experience is raised by 12.
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Experience Point Multiplier Row Number 0-10 1 0 10-20 1.1 1 21-40 1.2 2 41-80 1.3 3 81-160 1.4 4 x 2 +.1 +1 |
More experienced characters will also gain more Editing Points from being played, and more Training Points from training. See the Experience Chart for the point multiplier. Every time a character jumps a level on the Experience Chart, the character gains some bonuses:
* Perception Increase: Add the Row number to the character’s Perception.
* Ability Increase: Add 1 to any of learning, strength, agility, constitution, build, or beauty.
* Resist Death Increase: Add 1 to the character’s Resist Death.
* Power or Weakness Change: There is a chance that the character will gain or lose a power or weakness. This is a voluntary roll. Roll d100:
01-03 Gain Latent Power (see character creation)
04-07 Gain Latent Power and new Weakness
08 Gain new Weakness
09 Lose random power
10-11 Lose random weakness.
12-00 No change in powers.
* Charisma Change: Divide the Row number by 10 and add this to the character’s Active charisma. Non-player characters with negative charisma will subtract from charisma, rather than add.
Players can use Editing Points for two things: increasing their abilities, powers, or skills; and affecting their 2d10 die rolls.
Increasing Abilities: Increasing something requires a number of Edit Points equal to the next number, on the Sphere Chart. Increasing Strength from 15 to 16 requires 10 Edit Points, because 16 is 10 on the Sphere Chart. Players should not be able to edit a character’s Newoen, and should have a good reason for editing other attributes, such as build, sight, or hearing.
Editing Die Rolls: Players can also edit their die rolls. Each Edit Point modifies the die roll by 1. The player then gains the use of half that number of Edit Points for increasing whatever the roll was for. If Seraph applies 3 Edit Points to modify a combat roll with Electricity, he has 1.5 Edit Points to apply to increasing his combat skill with Electricity.
Players need only use as many editing points as necessary. The player tells the Editor how many editing points they are prepared to use to modify the die roll. If that many points would modify the die roll successfully, the Editor tells them how many points they need to use to be successful, and that’s how many points the character uses.
Players can turn a normal attack into a Death Shot by using 4 Editing Points. Editors cannot use this option. These Edit Points go to the combat skill being used, the same as for Editing Die Rolls.
The Editor can Edit any die roll desired (except for one that a player is editing). The Editor should only edit a die roll if it is necessary for the story, and should keep track of whose die rolls were edited--they get the benefit of the amount that it was edited in the same way as player characters do. If the Editor edits a villain’s Combat roll with 5 Edit Points, the villain has 2.5 Edit Points to increase his fighting skill, and has 5 Edit Points added to his Experience. If the Editor decreases a non-player character’s die roll, those Edit Points reduce the relevant skill or ability.
Fate Points allow players to massively change things that have happened to their character. All non-player Special characters gain 1 Fate Point for every 10 issues they appear in (.1 Fate Point per issue). All Players gain .1 Fate Point per issue, which they can apply to any character they desire, although they will usually apply them to the character they played.
Any time the player wishes to change the current state of affairs with regard to the player’s character, a Fate Point can be used. A Fate Point can be used to restore a character to life (turning all Death Points to Permanent Injuries), restore a character from Permanent Injuries (turning them to standard Injuries), turn Injuries to Penetrating Damage, erase all Penetrating and Bludgeoning damage, or erase all VP and EP Lost. Flaws in impossible traps can be found. A route home can be found if the character is lost in space or a desert. Food and water can be found if the character is starving. A character can retroactively have remembered to bring an item, all for the cost of one Fate Point. Returning from the dead can take time, depending on the circumstances under which the character died. In general, the Fate Point will return the character to life at the next game session.
A Fate Point can give the character a new power until the end of the adventure (%Control will be halved, as per Latent Powers), or take away a weakness until the end of the adventure. Fate points can also increase a character’s power or skill by six points for the duration of an adventure. At the end of the adventure, the character receives twelve training points for use in that power or skill.
Normals are those non-player characters who aren’t important to the story line. They tend to be more like real-life people than the heroes and villains. And they can die more easily.
* Any time a Normal is hit for DP, an Injury/Death roll must be made. Look up the number of DP lost, not the number of DP that the normal is below zero.
* All attacks against Normals are Death Shots.
* Normals subjected to mind control attacks, mind probes, illusions, and similar effects must save vs. Willpower before being allowed the normal saving throw applicable to the effect. A group of Normals only gets one save for the entire group.