FLEB’s blog

Okay, so the problem is that I do some of my best and worst thinking (mainly RPG/game ideas) late at night. It becomes a sort of manic-depressive swinging creative method: lots of highs, lots of lows, little rationalization. This basically means there are plenty of interesting ideas, with no realization of the obvious gaping flaws in implementation.

The latest was an idea where players were characters in someone's dream, but had to do battle (within the framework) to find out who would "survive". I'd come up with a decent card mechanic for this, but something just didn't feel right. Looking at it again, I just found that the idea, well... fucking sucked. By the light of day it was cobbled and weak, and it didn't even sound right rolling off the tongue. It was too open-ended, and couldn't reasonably be saved from the spiraling tug-of-war that would result from such an open-ended plot concept in a GM-less system.

However, just looking at what was running through my head during the creation, and the type of play I envisioned, I think that with just a bit of a premise shift, this can become awesome once again.

So... similar mechanic, new setting, new premise. Let's rock: Collabarative/competitive horror storytelling.

Pre-game, players should have agreed on a general setting for a horror-based story. This can be achieved any number of ways: round-robin per-story, general consensus, whatever. That's unimportant. The setting should be as general as possible: only enough to support a backdrop and to merely "set" the scene. Story should not be predetermined. Good: "1987, cabin in the woods." Bad: "A sleepy little town with a killer on the loose."

Players have two roles: First, they own characters in the game, whom they seek to keep alive, sane, and unharmed. Second: They are narrators, seeking both to create a compelling story, and to take down their competitors. The game has no permanent GM, although someone may take a "banker" role, guiding play order and other purely mechanical matters.

Players have a hand of (#?) cards available, that may be story elements: "Furniture", "Creature", "Person", "Fact", "Situation", "Scene", "Story". (More powerful cards are less available.) Players can lay a card, and describe a scene around the elements now in the story. (Cut slips or markers should be made to annotate the cards with what they represent.) Players must also "power up" their card by way of "Ching Points", described later.

Given these sometimes conflicting roles, and the power of the sitting storyteller, this might look to end up as a chaotic mess. That's where the Ching Points* come into play.

Things should be as fucking awesome as possible. This is key to many things in life, and this game is no exception. The mechanic keeps things Fucking Awesome by way of group feedback to determine sitting-storyteller effectiveness.

While cards are played to determine what is happening, the relative importance, strength, and longevity of the elements in scene are determined by Ching Points. Every player starts with a number of Ching Points equal to the number of players in the game, and each player gets one Ching Point per round. Ching points are best represented by pennies or small tokens. Each player also has a voting token.

Each player should have two bowls, cups, shot glasses, or the like in front of them. One is their Positive bin, and one is their negative bin. If other players find the player's move or description to be Fucking Awesome, they can put one of their Ching Points into the player's positive bin. If another player finds the move to be Supremely Lame, they can put a token in the negative bin. The player can keep and use any Ching Points in their positive bin, but must discard any in their negative bin, as well as an equal number from their positive or reserves.

Chings can be given at any time during a player's narration, so they can even bank on something being so Fucking Awesome that others will pitch in Chings to make it happen. Likewise, players going down a Lame path will find their Chings drying up into negatives, and having to dig into their reserves or give up their Lame storyline. This is commonly known as Calling "Bullshit". In extreme cases, fellow players may be forced to Lay Down a Karmic Ching Bitchslap on someone sinking far too many of their own points into something Lame.

Table talk, threats, promises, are all encouraged.

Ching points are used to give weight to a player's cards, to overtake past story elements or to protect them from being overtaken. Ching Point tokens are laid on top of cards, and that becomes the Weight of that card. If a player wishes to remove or augment a story element, or to control it themselves, they must do two things: First, devise a story with any associated cards needed to achieve the effect Fucking Awesomely. Second, pay (discard) enough Chings to drain out the other player's associated cards.

If you merely want narrative control of an object, you must buy it out, and have the same type of card to replace it with. This alone, without story, can cause a Silent Transfer of any story element that is not immediately intertwined with other objects. (An NPC, a piece of furniture, or a knife that's just lying out unbrandished.) For something that is held or used integrally by other story elements, you must have story and supporting cards to take control, or Silent Transfer everything. The Silent Transfer for defensive purposes should be considered Lame, but if it's to add suspense to some sort of master plan, that's Fucking Awesome.

Character sheets are kept simple. Characters have a list of Attributes, expressed as simple sentences: "Drop-dead gorgeous", "Good at Math", etc.. These have no set mechanical value, but can be called into play as a defensive measure to influence player Chinging.

Sheets also have a non-specific set of "wellness" indicators. These are detrimental things such as health, sanity, mutation, and the like, and new wellnesses are simply called into play whenever needed. When the points on a given stat are maxed, the player is incapacitated and unplayable.

Mechanical damage is done by way of a vote, or, more specifically, a vote when needed. At the end of the player's narration, or in the case of a major event (piano falling on someone mid-scene), after the target has had time to defend themselves, the player will simply state something like "...and Bob takes 3 points of sanity damage". If this is deemed reasonable, it is so. If it is deemed unreasonable, other players may work to compromise. If no compromise can be quickly met, a simple show-of-hands vote determines whether the stated effect takes hold. The vote is all-or-nothing.

...

Dammit, I have to go to sleep now. More later.

* "Ching Points" name shamelessly stolen from Everything2. Think "sound a cash register makes".

I've been itching to put together my "Attention Points*" system, but I haven't thought of a good game to apply it to. I suppose I've been turned into too much of a purist, reading around The Forge as I have-- the mechanic must be guided by the goals of the game, and none of the game ideas I have floating around my head were really conducive to a mechanic that deals with relatively ordinary people in conflict resolution.

So, sitting down and thinking of it from the other way 'round (saying "What sort of plot would lend itself to such characters and situations?"), I came up for a rough outline for The Ordinaries. It's not the most original thing in the world, but what is. It is a bit of an angle on the usual, though (I think... hope...), in that your characters aren't the Big Supernatural, nor are they trying to hunt down and destroy it (well, not necessarily) -- you coexist.

Here are first notes:

• Premise: Rare people have the ability to bend reality, introducing new objects, altering physics, or interacting with the world in supernatural ways. See: every damn superhero/modern-magic cliche around.
  
• Premise: Characters are part of one underground group or another, and are ordinary people who track down these people, in order to keep them from causing problems, endangering others, and for their own safety. The characters have no supernatural powers of their own, but should have enough backing and ability to wage a fair fight.

• Unlike many magic systems or superhero cliches, the power that a common supernatural, especially one less familiar with their power, holds is rarely controllable or predictable enough to be used as a weapon. It often manifests in ways like:
• Real-world appearance of dreams, hallucinations, or daydreams
• Loosely-focused force or effect blasts in times of stress or emotion
• Unguided, reactionary effects that are not consciously controllable by the effector
• Minor controllable effects with a large effort
• The abilities are (a la Mage, Matrix, etc.) based largely on the person's ability to let go of their preconcieved notions of reality. However, unlike Matrix, reality-warping ability is not universally achievable-- it is a chance power, granted only to some, and in different degrees.
• Powers tend toward an ability to make imagined objects or states real. The backend driver (not necessarily mentioned, even in play materials) is, in essence: the shared perception-- reality-- is "shared" by some a little more strongly.
• People with abilities likely had: Vivid dreams or imaginings, vivid daydreams, nightmares, lucid dreams, constant strange happenings, aura of weirdness.
• Dangers include:
• People with mental or emotional problems and the ability to turn their thoughts or outbursts into reality.
• A chaos cult of some sort could be made along these lines, a counter-force that believes that these people are the future, or the will of some god, or some-such.
• Untrained people who unconsciously/unknowingly cause chaos or disturbance through their manifestations.
• The usual bunch of assholes, jerkoffs, dipshits, etc, only this time they have supernatural abilities.
• Old Master types that have honed their abilities to become seriously badass.
  
• Characters may take many roles (although mixed-role groups will likely be discouraged... this ain't D&D):
• Paranormal investigators with a secret branch of the government, looking to isolate and study these people.
• Ditto, only in more of a "social worker" role that introduces and integrates them, or finds others who can help them.
  
• Ditto-ditto, only in more of a "clean up the mess, find the bad guy" police role
  
• An government-independent "X-Men Academy" style organization that seeks to find, educate, help, and advocate for the people.
• A religion based around the abilities-- similar to the Academy bit, but religiously oriented.

* Attention Points system: A (theoretically, possibly, playtest-pendingly) diceless mechanic where tests are made based upon point comparison alone. A limited pool of points (represented by chips or coins) can be distributed among all stats (limited by "maximums" and "requireds") at the beginning of any given turn, or at any point in non-combat play. This simulates the character dedicating attention to a given task at a given time. Just as in real life, if they are fixed on the task at hand, and they have the ability (represented by their maximum stat), then they should succeed. If not, they're either blindsided, or not up to the task. Exciting, no?

Talked with Stef and Josh tonight about The System... came up with some more classifications and such... some scattered notes so I don't forget:

(Further list of) Character Motivators

• Motivators:
  
• Joy
• Wonder
• Anger
• Madness
• Grief
• Futility
• Adventure
• Quest
• Displacement

Background: Franklin's Methodologists

Franklin's Methodologists are an outcast sect that believes in a heretical, completely numeric filing system, known as Franklin's Methodology. The Methodology, developed in System Time 1502, was a single unifying method of classify all forms, requests, and pieces of information, by using specific numbers for any given subject. However, Franklin and his team stood in direct defiance of the universally-used letter-number classifications of the day, and Franklin's new system was flatly denied. Not to be defeated, Franklin attempted to surreptitiously inject his filing algorithm into the software of the Master Informational Database, but he was discovered.

Franklin was tried and sentenced to execution for the crimes of Data Tampering and Greivous Malicious Misclassification. However, on the day he was to be executed, he was instead freed from detention, as a result of a clerical error. (Believers consider this the First Proof of the Fallability of the Common System, 509.1239, and consider the day a high holy day.) Franklin and his growing group of followers fled to the lower floors and back alleys of the Complex. Franklin and his Methodologists were sentenced to exile, to be arrested on sight if they should ever be seen. The group continued to grow for years underground, and developed into an ideologically-charged group of shadow terrorists and saboteurs. They often use the mark "103/119/578.4", which loosely translates to "Humanity, memory, violent protest", and pass around rare pages of "Proposal 12094-UXP-1502-91: Franklin's Methodology of Classification".

I've been trying to get the gaming/writing bug again. I've been working on this phone system for so long that I haven't touched writing or gaming much at all in the past few months. Thinking about putting together that office-building D&D game, The System... the one with a long lost magic and the oppressive bureaucratic dystopia... that one. Loose thoughts...

• Characters gain magical awareness and tear themselves free of their own mundanity through a gift, slipped to them by The Consciousness (working name). This would be an appropriate trinket that speaks to one of a limited set of magical foci, akin to a character class or Tradition. See: earlier drafts of the IF version.
  
• I hadn't quite figured out how to explain the semi-sentient nature of the magic background in this story. Even in magic, I like things to be interconnectedly explainable. The idea I'm liking right now is that the magic energy gains strength, goals, and some degree of self-determination by imprinting from the personalities and, for lack of a better term, souls, of generations of practitioners. It doesn't need to be explained in depth, but some hint should be there if needed in the narrative.
• Another trick is going to be presenting to just what degree the everyday people have devolved, without overburdening the introduction. The average person should be timid, boring, uninterested, foggy, willfully stupid and naively following and unquestioning of the system . No one has a social life, no one has goals or dreams, and this isn't sad or depressing because, goals, dreams, and social lives are ideas that have been bred out of the human ideal.
  
• An idea I really like for the introduction, if I can pull it off: A monologue presented by the Consciousness struggling to speak through the noise and clamor of a sea of bureaucracy. The introduction is constantly interrupted by pointless forms, references, diagrams, etc. Thought: The perspective could be "I am the Consciousness, the voice you hear in your dreams"...
• I still don't have a real idea for a system for this game. I'm thinking that the meager abilities of the characters could lend itself to something card-based. I may just cave and play it with an interim system.
• Idea snippet: Children are taught by a full curriculum presented in ancient, ageless video/interactive media, not by teachers.
  

• Character/Consciousness-given driver ideas:
• Madness - with whatever low threshold that involves. Managed to slip away and keep their wits enough not to get caught. Would be called "individuality" in a saner time. (Trinkets: many options)
  
• Beauty and Discontent - Experienced something moving, and now sees what is missing from their lives (Trinkets: Music, art, poetry, a book... something of beauty)
  
• Futility - The System has placed the character in the functional version of an infinite loop, a Catch-22, or a divide-by-zero, and has goaded them to realize the greater futility of their existence. (Trinkets: The fatal form)
  
• Disorientation - Ended up lost or aimless for some reason (likely engineered by the Consciousness). (Trinkets: wayfinding device, keycard, the event itself)
• Drive/Solemn Quest - (Often futile) This person is single-mindedly driven by a solemn quest that may be unlikely to ever be fulfilled. (Ex: deliver X to Y, trace the miles-long power lines to find a fault, etc.)

More later. Sleep now.

It's quiet. A bit too quiet.

The notes may be a bit disjointed and terse, but I'm writing on my lunch break, trying to get a few things down. More later.

The new idea is Television Heroes. Characters are television and movie character stereotypes from any range of shows-- the cop on a mission, the sitcom dad, the infomercial huckster, the cartoon rodent, the embattled reporter, the blustering televangelist, the sportscaster, the person who keeps smelling their fabric in the commercials... any manner of TV personality.

These people all existed in their own little worlds... until things started to come apart. The channels started to change. Now, the characters find themselves thrown together, from channel to channel, into strange worlds and situations, as they jump from station to station, trying to find the way back home from the one person who can put everything back the way it was-- the Network Program Director.

Characters have unique powers from their roles: The infomercial huckster can mysteriously raise crowds of mindless followers. The cop on a mission can track down suspects and use that "enhance" thing to find information from photos.

Todo: It needs a bit more of a clear antagonist and quest examples. A mechanism should exist for the creation of immediate advancement goals. Immediate advancement goals will likely be based upon completing a plot synopsis or other pre-stated goal to advance out of that channel. Another option may be a "find all the pieces of the puzzle" game where gatekeeping information, needed to contact the Network Program Director, is scattered throughout the story.

Ack. Gotta get back to work.

Today's garage sale theme appeared to be "musical", with a few exceptions. I wasn't intending to go saling today, but after picking up the car from the mechanic down the road (It needed an oil change, and my faithful reading of The Consumerist has left me wary of Quickie-lube sorts of places, so I'd simply taken it to the mechanic two blocks from me.

All in all, it was rather a solid set of sales. There were very few misleading or obsolete signs-- only one, if I recall, although one sale's ill-placed signage left me going around in circles in a subdivision a few times. The talk-downs weren't extraordinary, although that is due as much as anything to the very good asking prices on a lot of what I wanted.

I'd found one to check off "The List", the imaginary checklist of rare or larger-ticket items that I'm always keeping an eye out for at yard sales: an electric guitar. I was hemming and hawing, and I'm still not sure-- as I'm usually not with such big-ticket items-- that I made the right decision. When the price goes into the triple digits-- I paid $150-- I get very nervous about the deal, no matter how good it looks. Actually, I start to shy away once the price creeps over $25... my $30 Dr. Pepper refrigerator took quite a bit of discussion, both internal and external. When it gets into the triple-digits, then, the fact that there's no refund and no return weighs quite heavily and makes me quite nervous. I've even been burned on a guitar before, although it was an amazingly cheap and cheesy acoustic that left me out $20.

Still, this was a very attractive offer, even given the price. The guitar was an Epiphone, and looked-- to my untrained eye-- to be in rather good condition, and had everything I needed to start playing now. All the strings were strung, and it had a practice amp, an electronic tuner, a case, and all the cables. I'd seen similar guitars at the 28th Street flea market from $80-90 on up, but that likely included nothing but the body-- and I still wouldn't have the surety of normal retail sale. So, I called up Liam, my trusty "only person who knows about guitars whose phone number I know", and sort of stumbled off a description. He shrugged, said it sounded worth it, and mentioned a couple things to check.

(Time passes.)

Well, after looking through Epiphone's wholly unhelpful site, and doing web-searches for a number of things, I've tracked it down-- it's a S-310, a Stratocaster-style guitar. It's rated as a solid, but low-frills unit. If it were just the guitar, I'd be steaming a bit-- retailers have them (used, albeit) for $120, but I suppose I'd drive it well over in kit price. It did come with the practice amp, a tuner, and a case. OTOH, the pots desperately need to have a gallon or two of contact cleaner drenched into them, and there's a persistent buzz that might be a problem with the guitar, or the fact that I live 4 blocks from a radio tower. The verdict: I don't feel ripped off, but I'm not ecstatic either. It was asked at $200, and the lowest offer they would take was $150. I would have liked to pay $100, but there was no chance of that happening. I'll remain upbeat because it is something I'd been searching for, and this means not having to puzzle out and put together a kit.

Other finds from the day:

• On VHS: Bubba Ho-tep and So Long Saddam. I wasn't that thrilled with Bubba the first time I saw it, but hey-- it's a cheap laugh at a buck. Saddam, on the other hand, looked just strange enough to work. It's a relic of the first Gulf War, and the cover pictures a sloppily-drawn Hussein fretting over a "U.S.A."-labelled bomb. From the back cover: It's non-stop, side-splitting comedy as Saddam Hussein-- the man everyone loves to hate-- gets his! You'll laugh 'til you cry as the Iraqi dictator runs afoul of everyone from Khadaffi to the Three Stooges! More laughs per minute than allied sorties over Iraq! SO LONG SADDAM is a great party video and just what the doctor ordered for THOSE WHO DESPISE SADDAM! And, of course: CAUTION: Contains strong language not suitable for children. Although I can appreciate using Saddam Hussein in a comedic cameo, the idea of working up an entire-- possibly even animated-- feature just sounds like a recipe for failure. Sweet, sweet failure. $1 (ask $2)
• A dehumidifier, as our current one has been on the fritz all summer, and our basement is getting kind of musty. $15 (ask $25)
  
• CDs from the 90s-- A pretty good selection for a buck apice. I picked up a Nine Inch Nails EP, Tool's Aenima, which someone swiped from me in the long dark past, and a couple others. 5/$5 (ask 5/$5)
  
• A box full of posters and a couple comedy CDs-- this was an excellent find, and I'll probably be sharing the wealth. This includes a laminated, two-sided Alien vs. Predator poster, a Terminator 3 poster, 3 Superman movie posters, and quite a bit more. A steal! $5 (ask ~$10)

So get this...

My big tree in the backyard that hangs over where I park my car...

Gone. Sawed off.

Someone stole my tree!

Nicole had been talking with tree removal people, but hadn't gotten to the point of actually scheduling the appointment... well, it would appear that they took things into their own hands. I came home and noticed the clear blue sky where the tree was, just figuring that Nicole had set the whole thing up, and I'd forgotten that she told me the date or something. I jokingly mentioned that "Someone stole our tree", and she did a double-take.

We're figuring the tree folks we were talking to just didn't get the idea that she had yet to set up an appointment. As long as they don't try to charge for removal (which we were going to turn down), or it isn't one of the higher-priced placed pulling a fast one, we're fine.

Link: Character Sheet

• Player, Character: Name of the player and character.
• Concept: Basic character concept
• Personality: Three-element description of your character. Select each personality element, and mark the primary driver to your character's personality.
• Consideration: ACTion or CONtemplation
  
• Vision: OVeRview or DETail
• Interaction: SURvivor or REScuer*
• Type: Descriptive type adjective derived from your character's three-element type
• Breakdown: What happens when you run out of Composure. Determined by your primary Personality element.
  
• Composure*: Your ability to "hold it together". Can be spent to expend effort or go against your innate nature. When this is depleted, you go into Breakdown.
• Health: Self-explanatory. When this is depleted, your character is dead.
• Attributes/Mode: Attributes (Athletics, Endurance, etc.) range in strength from 1 to 3. The Mode is the primary specialization of the attribute is. For example, Athletics may have a Mode of "Strong" or "Fast". Any action that uses the Mode gains a +1 modifier.
• Athletic: Physical strength, speed, and dexterity.
• Endurance: Physical resistance against battering, poisoning, and exertion.
• Knowledge: Knowledge about a subject or area of expertise.
• Wits: Thinking or acting under pressure, and the ability to invent or come up with ideas.
• Persuasion: Ability or personal attributes which allow you to influence others.
• Perseverance: Mental fortitude, ability to "keep on" or cope in the face of difficulty.
• Coins: "Two-sided" attributes that either are a help or a hindrance depending upon the situation. The Effect column tells the systemic procedure used to implement the Coin.
• Fate Cards: This is a place to note which Fate Cards you have drawn, and what the messages on them were. Lines are included for folding the paper to hide the information from other players.

Any given conflict is solved by a 1d8 roll, against a set difficulty (usually target 8). The value of one Attribute, as well as any Coin modifiers are added to the roll to determine success and degree thereof.

The more I work on it, the more I'm getting geeked to actually play Glass and Steel. I might just have to cobble something together on a d10/pool system and go for it for the immediate time.

I've been thinking of a central merits/flaws sort of system called Coins, as in "there's two sides to every coin". It consists of opposing benifits/detriments of the same general trait, taken as a pair. In some cases it would be a help, in others a hindrance. Characters could take either one 2x Coin (usually something supernatural/metagamey or at least powerful) or two 1x Coins.

The "Feats" at the end are less constant modifiers than usable extra abilities. They still fall into the same pile, they're just used a bit differently.

Loved/Concerned 1x
You are a kindhearted, nice person, and people have grown to know and love you. You will command the assistance and sympathy of others, but you will be compelled to help others in need, even to the detriment of yourself or your goal. System: Allows rolls for outside assistance, but requires a roll or deferment whenever someone else is in trouble.

Attractive/Vapid 1x
You're a bimbo or musclehead. People swoon or lust over you, but when the chips are down... well, you really aren't the most important one in the room. Gain a point in persuasion abilities when in a non-crisis situation, but lose a point when you are.

Stature/Resentment 1x
You are a person in a position of power, but your management style has made people secretly hate you, or find you incompetent. Roll a threshold roll when using commanding abilities to determine whether you gain or lose a point.

Born Leader/Miserable Failure 2x
You can lead people into action and bolster their confidence, but if your intended action fails, they become disheartened and lose all confidence in you.

Motivated/Dependent 1x
You are motivated by someone or something in a precarious position (loved one, belief, motive). Gain a point toward any action taken toward your goal, but lose a point on any action if the goal is destroyed or rendered impossible.

Empathetic/Sensitive 2x
You have the ability to sympathize and "read" people very well, but your emotional connection also makes you vulnerable. You have the ability to ask any player to truthfully reveal a general question about their emotions or feelings, but you are helpless in the face of others' suffering. (System rules for "helpless" TBA)

Single-Minded/Tunnel Vision 1x
You have the ability to go into "tunnel vision" mode, and gain a +2 bonus to any action relating to an immediate goal or plan at hand. However, any conflict that is not part of the goal or plan gets a -2 resistance.

Wise/Misunderstood 1x
You have the ability to ask the GM meta-game questions about the situation, threats, or strategies. However, it is very hard to convey and convince others of your ideas.

Organized/Impatient 1x
You can form plans and stick to them very well, even motivating and enhancing others. You recieve a +1 bonus to any action in the service of a detailed plan. However, if a plan fails or "goes to hell", lose a point on any actions coping or recovering the plan.

Connected/Affected 2x
You are connected on a supernatural level to the events happening around you. This is both a good and a bad thing. You get two rolls at the end of each round for cards. If you get a card your first roll, you take that card. On the second roll, if you get a card, you may take that as well. However, if you did not get a card (you rolled a number you already have), you can read any other player's card of that same number, if they have it. The downside is that you are adversely affected by supernatural effects and the effects of Degradation.

Specialized Intelligence/General Ignorance 1x
You are a single-subject geek. You gain a +2 to Intelligence tests regarding things in your field of knowledge. However, you gain a -2 to Intelligence tests on any other nontrivial subject.

Meditative/Tumultuous 1x
You have the ability to clear your mind and think on a task. Gain 4 extra spendable points when you stop in a quiet position and meditate or think. However, your normal life is internally quite noisy, which leaves you at a -1 disadvantage for any mental tasks.

Fearless/Risky 1x
You are devoid of fear, even when the situation demands it. You can disregard a test against fear or paralysis, but you then gain a "stupidity point" that you have to bleed off. You can bleed this off by either declaring it, than going ahead with a risky action, or the GM can force your character to take an action that they would normally have the sensibility to resist.

Fast Regeneration/Rushed Regeneration (Feat) 2x
You regenerate more quickly than anyone else, and have additional play time before the rest start. However, you must forfeit the ability to take a card that round to use the ability.

Belief Ability/Catastrophic Failure (Feat) 2x
You have the conviction to shape the world. Be it a religion, a firm insistence that "this can't be happening", or some other self-believed method of control, you have the ability to shape the supernatural elements of the situation unfolding around you. However, if you fail your test, you do so catastrophically, often reversing the intended effect or causing collateral damage.

Recover Innocence/Confusion (Feat) 2x
When you converse, empathize, or come in contact with a person to the point that they become more than just a "bystander" to you, it means that they are vulnerable to permanent death or injury, just as you are. Recover Innocence allows you, with a feat of concentration, to recover their "bystander" status from your intervention only. However, it involves stopping, meditating, and completely clearing your mind to the point that you come back confused and disoriented.