GNOSIS LARP
Player Rules v1.2

by Julien Villeneuve (onze@sent.com)

The Gnosis LARP Rules are © 2002 Julien Villeneuve and cannot be reproduced or used without his permission. This does not constitute a challenge to the copyright of specific parts of the rules which are adapted or directly taken from the Unknown Armies roleplaying game. 

Unknown Armies is © 1998-2001 and TM Greg Stolze & John Tynes, and is used with their permission.

The Dying Earth RPG is © 2000 Pelgrane Press. Based on the Dying Earth book series by Jack Vance. Produced and distributed by agreement with Jack Vance c/o Ralph Vicinanza, Ltd. The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game is a trademark of Pelgrane Press. All rights reserved. 

This version edited and amended by Patrick Gallagher.

Masculine and feminine terms will alternate in order not to clutter the text while making clear that this game isn’t just for guys. 

0. Introduction
	0.1 What is Gnosis?
	0.2 Commonly used terms and abbreviations
1. The World of Gnosis
2. LARP Rules and Procedures
3. Game Mechanics
3.1 What’s on a character sheet?
3.1.1 The Obvious 
3.1.2 The Obsession
3.1.3 The Passions
3.1.4 The Statistics
3.1.5 The Skills
	3.1.5.1 Expendable skills
	3.1.5.2 Paradigm Skills
	3.1.5.3 Persuade/Rebuff Skills
3.1.6 Wound Points and Wound Boxes
3.1.7 The Persuade/Rebuff Matrix 
3.1.8 Cards
3.2 Character Creation
3.2.1 Concept 
3.2.2 Personality
3.2.3 Obsession and Passions
3.2.4  Stats
3.2.5 Skills 
3.2.6 Stress
3.2.7 Wound Points and Wound Boxes
3.2.8 Background and Freebies
3.2.9 Cards
3.3 Challenges
3.4 Combat
3.4.1 The Initial Round
3.4.2 The Combat Round 
3.4.3 Initiative
3.4.4 Actions
3.4.5 Challenge resolution
3.4.5.1 Multiple Attacks
3.4.5.2 Modifiers to Skill
3.4.5.3 Surprise
3.4.6 Damage
3.4.6.1 Bleeding
3.4.6.2 Special Firearms Damage
3.4.6.3 Protection
3.4.6.4 Called Shots
3.4.6.5 Exotic Damage
3.4.6.6 Obsessed Hand-to-Hand Cherries
3.4.7 Wounds and healing
3.4.7.1 The Health Monitor
3.4.7.2 Wound categories and treatment 
3.4.7.3 Wound recovery
3.5 Madness
	3.5.1 Stress categories
	3.5.2 The Stress Challenge
	3.5.3 Hardened notches
	3.5.4 Failed notches
	3.5.5 Psychological recovery
3.6 Magick
	3.6.3 Rituals
3.8 Experience
	3.8.1 Getting it
	3.8.2 Spending it

0 Introduction

0.1 What is Gnosis ?

	Gnosis is the Live Action version of Unknown Armies, a game of occult intrigue.

0.2 Commonly used terms and abbreviations

GM: Gamemaster, also called the Storyteller as we’ve been playing White Wolf games a bit too long.
DP: Damage Points
Stats: Statistics 
XP: Experience point(s)
WP: Wound Points
DR: Difficulty Rating
SC: Stress Check, in one of the four stress categories.

1 The World of Gnosis
	
Gnosis takes place in a world superficially identical to real life. Life, for the vast majority of people, is largely indistinguishable from our own. People live there lives without any idea what is occurring behind the scenes; for here is the great difference: in Gnosis the world is one where those knowledgeable tap into primal, magical powers in their pursuit of ascension. Indeed, it is perhaps more appropriate of saying that although the current world is mostly like actual reality, the ones before it most certainly were not.  

Ours is not the first, nor the last, reality, nor is it even likely that there has ever been a beginning to the cycle of death and rebirth, although there will be an end if certain people get their way.  Reality is defined, at the beginning of each cycle, by the 333 members of the Invisible Clergy. Each of them represents some distinct personification of existence, some primal archetype of the nature of things; herein lies the shadow war which the game concerns itself, as each and every archetype (excepting the 333rd, the First and Last Man, who is always the first human being ever born and thus always trumps everyone else, that jerk) was once an ordinary person who, in some way, better personified the nature of a specific archetype than any else, and thus ascended to join the Clergy. These 333 godlings redefine the universe at the start of each incarnation, thus not only do you get to be a transcended being when you join the Clergy but get a voice in what the next reality will be like. To say that this is a great incentive is quite the understatement.  Thus, the world of Gnosis is one where occult groups battle behind the scenes to control ascension and thus define reality.

2 LARP rules and procedures

	This is a live action game, and as such we have to take a few generic precautions to keep the game fun and the body count low.

-No drinking/drug/huffing paint-thinner/whatever.
-No weapons, even if their peace-bonded or props. We play in public, and are trying to avoid police attention.
-No physical contact. Pretty much in the same vein as the last one.
-Keep in mind everyone else is here to enjoy this game same as you.  Odds are they put as much time into their character as you did, try to keep that in mind when considering if you are really justified applying lethal sanction.

3 Game Mechanics

3.1 What’s on a character sheet?

3.1.1 The Obvious 

	Character name, Player name, a short blurb on the character's personality, and the faction with which your character is affiliated.  

3.1.2 The Obsession

	Every character must have an Obsession. It can be almost anything, as long as it's not either boring or stupid (or both). The Obsession must tie in with an Obsession skill. The character will be able to retest on every challenge made with his Obsession skill. If the character is an Adept, he must have his school of Magick as his Obsession. Changing the Obsession requires of the player severe roleplaying over a long period of time, major XP expenditure, and might occasion psychological damage, at the whim of the GM. 

3.1.3 The Passions

	Every character has three passion stimuli: the Rage Stimulus, the Fear Stimulus and the Noble Stimulus. The Rage Stimulus is what makes your character angry beyond belief (i.e. being dissed about your height). The Fear Stimulus is what makes your character scared beyond belief (i.e. being poisoned). The Noble Stimulus is what will push your character to be blind to her own needs in order to pursue a higher cause (i.e. protecting her family). The character can retest on one challenge per game session for every Stimulus, on the condition that the challenge has something to do with the Stimulus in question. The Fear Stimulus must be associated with one of the four categories of stress (Violence, Unnatural, Helplessness, Self). Changing a Passion requires of the player severe roleplaying over a long period of time, major XP expenditure, and might occasion psychological damage, at the whim of the GM. 

3.1.4 The Statistics

There are four statistics (hereafter referred to as "stats"): Body, Speed, Mind and Soul. Body covers the "Strength and Constitution" spectrum of the physical side, Speed covers the "Agility and Reflexes" spectrum of the physical side, Mind covers the "academic and perception-related" spectrum of the psychological side, and Soul covers the "social and intuitive" part of the psychological side.

Stats range from 1 to 10. The overwhelming majority of human beings have between 3 and 7 in each stat. The average is 5. Certain special entities may possess attributes over 10. 

3.1.5 The Skills

There are four types of skills: Body skills, Speed skills, Mind skills and Soul skills. Example of Body skills include General Athletics, Struggle and Survival. Example of Speed skills include Firearms, Dodge and Pickpocket. Example of Mind skills include General Education, Notice and Computer. Example of Soul skills include Lying, Charm and Intimidation. 

Skills range from 1 to 10. One cannot have never have a skill at a level higher than the corresponding Stat. Skills do _not_ have the same value than stats. The average person might have 5 in Speed, but he doesn't have more than 2 in Driving (which is a Speed skill). 

We have a good number down here but we cannot overstate the following list is neither exhaustive or all there is, feel free to construct your own skills in the appropriate category, subject to GM approval of course. We have not included many of the “Job” Type skills as there are simply too many, thus simply apply a little common sense when choosing what category your job falls into. Here is a suggestive skill list to help you around:

Mind	Body	Speed	Soul	
Astronomy  "The Stars Are Right Tonight"

Paradigm

Automotive Repair “Pass me that galliper.”

Education

Notice “So that’s where the trap is!"

Medicine “Have a new heart.”

Forensics “Definitely cult-related.”

Gunsmith “Say hi to a brand new auto.”

Computer  "I am L33T like Jeff K"

Accounting  "Pinchin' Pennies"

Languages  "Ich bin der kleine fell froesch"

Law  "Law and Order"

Red Tape  "Please fill these out in triplicate"

Politics  "Where's my intern?"

Library Use  "Don't you know the Dewey Decimal System?"

Conceal  "Pen?  What Pen?  I didn't see no stinkin’ pen!"

Repair  "Paint it red and it will go faster..."

Navigate  "Nurrrr, Where are We?"

Tracking (Urban) "He Went Thatta Way..."

Tracking (Wilderness) “He Went Thatta Way Into The Woods…”

Occult "Eye of Newt, Tongue of Frog..."

Security  "Easier than Fort Knox"
	Feat of Strength (non-combat) “Here’s half a phone book.” 

High Pain Threshold
“Ouch. That Was My Leg, you know?”

High Tolerance “It’s only my 8th pitcher!”

Nondescript “Don’t think you’ve ever seen me before.”

Struggle  "Put Up Yer Dukes"

Martial Arts (without Weapon, must choose a specific school)  "You've Got 
It, Grasshoppah!"

Survival  "Duct tape, a toothbrush, and some chewing gum"

General Athletics “The Gym is [Flex] That Way”

Distracting Physique “Please stop drooling.” 

Hold Your Breath “That was 4 minutes for ya.”

Voluntary Regurgitation “The key’s in my throat, wait.”

Hard to Move (E) “Try it again, push harder this time.”	Dodge "Look Out!"

Martial Arts (with Weapon, ditto)  "Just Like Jackie Chan"

Firearms "Blam Blam Thank you Ma'am"

Drive  "Blue Hairs driving in my Lane..."

Stealth  "I work for Ninja Burger"

Sleight of Hand “Nothing Up This Sleeve…”

Pickpocket “No, I Haven’t Seen Your Wallet Anywhere”

Fast Draw (E) “Pullin’ a John Wayne”

Burglary “Wanna Buy A Stereo?”

First Aid  "Bandaids and Bactine"

Squirrely Reflexes (E) “Fight, outta here.”

Speedload (E) “*click* *blam*”

Throw “Have a grenade.”

Catch “Have it back.”	Art  "Crayons and Fingerpaints"

Performing "Lord of the Dance"

Persuade/Rebuff skills

Etiquette (pick category, ie. Street/ Office/Jailhouse) 

Animal Empathy  "I am Dr Doolittle"

Divination  "Miss Cleo Said So"

Human Empathy  "I feel your pain..."

Oratory “Friends, Romans, Countrymen…”

Hypnosis “On the count of three…”

Pseudobabble “Ourspeak is Newspeak. Newspeak is Allspeak.”

Adept* “Klatu, Mirada, Nik-“

Avatar* “I Have Become…Something Else”

Meditation “Just sit.”

Gambling “I never bluff.”

Psychotherapy* “Sometimes A Cigar Is Just a Cigar”

Vocal Imitation “My name is Bill Clinton.”

Aura Sight* “I see blue people.”	

*These skills are in some way restricted. Adept is the skill that allows use of Magick, dependant on whatever paths are available to your faction. The other two will be assigned by the GMs as needed…

3.1.5.2 Expendable Skills

Some skills, marked (E) in the skill list, can modify the results of other, more ‘regular’ challenges. These skills are called Expendable Skills (as in, 'that you have to expend'). If it modifies another skill challenge, you spend a point of your Expendable Skill, and do the regular challenge. If you win the challenge, both skills succeed. If you tie, you compare both your normal skill and whatever points of the expendable skill you have left to the opponent's skill or the ST-assigned target number, and normal tie rules apply for success. 

For example: A has Struggle 3 and Large and Hard to Move 5, and is on the ledge of a twenty-story building. B has Struggle 4 and attempts to kick A off the ledge of the building. They tie. A will take the damage (since B's Struggle 4 is higher than A's Struggle 3) but will not succeed in pushing him off the ledge (since B's Struggle 4 is equal to A's Hard to Move, which is now at 4). 

If the Expendable Skill doesn't modify a skill but something else (as in the case of Squirrelly Reflexes, which modify Initiative) people simply expend their skills on a one-to-one basis. To avoid overpowering, limitations have to be placed on the use of the skill.

For example: By expending 2 points of Squirrelly Reflexes, A can add 2 to his Initiative for a round. Possible limitations can include that it is only possible to do this during the first round of a combat, and/or that it is only possible to do this in order to attempt a non-violent action (for example, flee). 

Characters regain lost Expendable skill points at the start of the next game session.

3.1.5.3 Paradigm Skills

A paradigm skill is a deeply held philosophy. It’s how you relate to the world. Taking a paradigm skill helps you with certain mental stresses, but leaves you more vulnerable to others. You can only have one paradigm skill, and it must be consistent with your Obsession, Passions and personality. Adepts, who have their philosophy rooted in their School, cannot have a Paradigm skill.

If you decide to take a Paradigm skill, you link it to two types of mental stresses. One is a stress that your Paradigm protects you again. The other is a stress to which your Paradigm skill is vulnerable. If appropriate, you can use the same stress for both sides.

Once you create the skill, you must take a failed notch on the vulnerable stress you choose.  This failed notch is permanent, it cannot be erased. It is the weak link in your mental armor. 

Any time you fail a Mind roll on the protected stress, you may choose to immediately retest, using your paradigm skill this time, not your Mind stat. If you succeed, you avoid the stress reaction because your philosophical paradigm was strong enough to see you through the stress. You do not, however, get a hardened notch for this success. 

Here is a list of sample paradigm skills:

Military (Violence/Helplessness) Your service in the armed forces indoctrinated you against the horrors of combat, but you cannot bear the thought of being unable to act about something.

Scientific (Unnatural/Unnatural) Your scientific mindset stresses logic, reason and predictability. While you value an open mind, the contradiction of commonly accepted natural law is very hard for you to assimilate.

Superstitious (Unnatural/Helplessness) You see patterns and symbolic connections where others see only coincidence. This makes you more open to the idea of invisible forces, but your faith in the power of symbolic gestures makes it hard to accept powerlessness. 

Corporate (Self/Violence) Your hard-bitten, hard-headed business sense values pragmatism and results above all else. Occasional moral weakness is easy to assimilate as “flexibility”. But your world of abstract results and maneuvers does little to prepare you for visceral realities.

Christian (Helplessness/Self) Your faith in the benevolence of a higher power makes it easier to accept setbacks with equanimity. But in accepting the strength of Jesus, you are quick to see the weakness in yourself.

3.1.5.4 Persuade/Rebuff skills

The Persuade/Rebuff styles and trump matrix has been ripped off with permission from the excellent “The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game”, © 2000 Pelgrane Press (see p.1 for complete copyright information).  

The Persuade/Rebuff skills are the Gnosis LARP “social” skills. They cover all attempts to influence others and resist being influenced by others. Characters may pick up as many Persuade and Rebuff skills as they wish, however the Golden Rule of Social Skills in Gnosis is that at least a full minute of roleplay appropriate to the Persuade/Rebuff skill to be used must have passed before any challenges be made. 

The Persuade Skills are: Glib – You speak so quickly and easily that listeners find it 
    hard to penetrate your insincerity and deceptiveness.
    Eloquent – With high-flown word and lofty sentiment, you 
espouse your views in a manner so poetical that listeners cannot help but be moved by your entreaties.
			  Obfuscatory – The style of your speech is so opaque, the twists 
   and turns of your syntactical structure so 
   labyrinthine, that your interlocutors can neither 
   grasp what you are saying, nor admit their   
   bafflement, and therefore agree thoroughly with 
   whatever it is you said.
			  Forthright – You cut to the heart of the matter with 
unwavering directness.
			  Charming – You evince such blazing personal charisma that 
people can’t help liking you, and wishing to please 
you.
			  Intimidating – You project an aura of menace, either subtle or 
					   blatant, that induces others to obey your edicts 
in the hopes of evading your surely violent   
 					   wrath. 

The Rebuff Skills are: Obtuse – You don’t always understand what others are saying to 
     you. You’ve learned that this is not the impediment it 
     might at first seem. the people who get hoodwinked 
     are always the schemers who let others play on their 
     greed. If you don’t understand the complexities of a 
     scheme, you can scarcely be swindled by it, can you?
			Wary – You distrust even your own grandmother. And a good 
  thing, too, because she was ready to sell you for more 
  prescription meds.
			Penetrating – An innate sense for the motivations of others has 
				          always protected you from those who pretend to 
          argue for your interests, but in fact advance merely 
          their own.
			Lawyerly – You use your unerring nose for mile-wide loopholes 
        to  spot the flaws in others’ proposals.
			Contrary – You just don’t feel like following the advice of 
        others. If  someone tells you to look up, you look 
        down. If everyone else wants to go right, you want 
        to go left.
			Pure-hearted – You are so utterly guileless that, without even 
  trying to do so, you expose the black-hearted 
  villainy of those who hope to fool you. 

After a minute or more of persuasion appropriate to one’s Persuasion skill and a minute or more of rebuttal appropriate to one’s Rebuff skill, challenges are made. If somebody doesn’t attempt to Rebuff a persuasion attempt, the attacker wins on all ties. If it is resisted, and it comes to a tie, check the Persuade/Rebuff matrix on your character sheet to determine if your style trumps or is trumped by the defender’s style. A character using a Persuade skill against its trump suffers a skill penalty of 1. The trump matrix follows:

			TRUMPS		IS TRUMPED BY

Glib			Pure-Hearted		Obtuse
Eloquent		Contrary		Wary
Obfuscatory		Lawyerly		Penetrating
Forthright		Penetrating		Lawyerly
Charming		Wary			Contrary
Intimidating		Obtuse		Pure-Hearted

3.1.6 Wound Points and Wound Boxes 

Wound Points indicate the health status of the character. When the current WP level of a character is equal to his maximum level, he is in perfect health. At three (3) WP or less, the character is unconscious, and he will remain so unless brought back to three (3). At zero (0) WP, he is clinically dead. For more information on health and recovery, see section 3.4.7.

Wound Boxes are there to help you take track of which of your wounds are scratches/bruises, which are minor wounds, which are significant wounds and which are major wounds. 

3.1.7 The Persuade/Rebuff Matrix

The Persuade/Rebuff Matrix is used to determine if the style of persuasion you are using in a given social challenge is helpful (or “trumps”) or a hindrance (or “is trumped”) in relation to the skill your opponent uses to resist persuasion. More on this was at 3.1.5.4 Persuade/Rebuff Skills.  

3.1.8 Cards

3.1.8.1 Sanity Card

You will receive a Sanity Card from the Sanity GM. On this card, four categories of Stress are displayed: Violence, the Unnatural, Helplessness and Self.  Violence appropriately covers all violent situations, whether committed by, targeted at, or witnessed by the character. The Unnatural is self-explanatory. Helplessness covers situations where your character lacks control over what is happening to him (i.e. getting fired from a job he likes, being put in jail, watching a loved one die). Self covers situations when your character commits acts that run contrary to what she considers herself to be (i.e. breaking a promise, lying to a loved one, chickening out of acting on your Noble Stimulus). Each categories has room for 10 hardened notches and 5 failed notches. The Stress system is further detailed in 3.5.

3.1.8.2 Charge Card

Only adepts use Charge Cards. They are used to keep track of the number of the number of Minor, Significant and Major Charges the Adepts holds. They also contain information useful to the Adept GM, such as how the Adept gains charges. The Charge Card must be presented to the Adept GM at the beginning of each game session. 

3.2 Character Creation

3.2.1 Concept 

	To be honest, most people do not write a complete background of their character’s past before having at least toyed with the character sheet. It makes sense to do it that way in Gnosis (you will understand why later) but it remains vital for you to think about what kind of character you want to play before putting numbers down. Trying to find a few words that express “what she is about” is always a good place to start, but do not get too focused. Uni-dimensional characters get soon enough boring to play, and are always boring to play with. Think first about what kind of character you’d like to play. You will have opportunities to think about how this idea ends up fitting with the character sheet later. 

3.2.2 Personality

A few words describing your character’s basic outlook on life, his assets and liabilities in the way she exists and communicates with others. 

3.2.3 Obsession and Passions

Write your Obsession and Fear, Rage and Noble Stimulus on your character sheet. Write between parenthesis, besides your Fear Stimulus, to which category of stress (Violence, Unnatural, Helplessness or Self) it refers. 

3.2.4  Stats

There are 22 points to be distributed among Body, Speed, Mind and Soul. All Stats must be between 3 and 7. Write near each Stat a one word adjective that adequately describes it’s level, knowing that 5 is “average”. (i.e. Body 6 might be “pudgy”, Body 3 might be “wrecked”, Soul 80 might be “oversensitive”, etc.)

3.2.5 Skills 

You have as much points to distribute among Skills as you have in the appropriate Stat (i.e. if you put 5 points in Body and 6 in Mind, you have 5 and 6 points to distribute in Body Skills and Mind Skills, respectively). You cannot buy a Skill higher than the corresponding attribute (all the time) or than 5 (at character creation), which ever is the lowest. 

Everybody receives these free Skills at character creation: 

Body Skills: General Athletics 1, Struggle 1
Speed Skills: Driving 1, Dodge 1
Mind Skills: Education (this is around a high school diploma) 1, Notice 1, Conceal 1
Soul Skills: Persuade Skill (pick one) 1, Rebuff Skill (pick one) 1

Everybody also receives at level one (1) a Skill called “Job (type of job)” which goes in the category the most closely related to the job in question: construction worker or medication tester in Body, taxi driver or karate instructor in Speed, university professor or computer technician in Mind, therapist or panhandler in Soul, for example. This Skill only has two uses: determining your income and your general social status. You can choose to be jobless (i.e. not even panhandling) and put this point elsewhere, but this will make your life rather difficult. For more information about this Skill or others, go to 3.1.5.

Pick your Skills from the Skill List at 3.1.5 and/or add points to those you already have. You cannot trade points in one Stat category for points in another. One of your Skills must relate to your Obsession. This is your Obsession Skill, mark it with an asterisk on your character sheet.

Schools of Magick and Avatars are Soul skills. Approval is required of the Head GM in order to become either an Adept or an Avatar.  

3.2.6 Stress

You may opt to take up to three failed marks in every combination of every category of stress. For every failed mark you took, you have one hardened mark to put where you want to. Use this primarily to reflect on paper the past psychological experiences of your character. This is recorded on the Sanity card. 

All adepts have at character creation both a hardened and a failed marks in the Unnatural category. This does not count toward the three optional marks. 

3.2.7 Wound Points and Wound Boxes

Wound Points are equivalent to your Body Stat times five (Body x5). Write that number down in the Total WP box. Write in the Wound Threshold boxes the following numbers: In the “minor” box, write your Body Stat, in the “significant” box write your Body stat times four (Body x4). You can learn more about wounds in section 3.4.7.2.

3.2.8 Background and Freebies

Freebies are obtained by writing a background story for your character. It should be at least more than one page, and should not exceed five. Your background should give a good glimpse of your character’s personality and of the significant moments of her history as well as an account of how she acquired her Obsession and how it impacts her life (this is known as a Trigger Event, and is usually answered by making a story about how your character would respond to the question ‘What is the weirdest thing that has happened to you?’), as well as information regarding her Passions, any Stat of 7, any Skill of 3 or more, and any 2 failed or hardened marks in the same stress category. 

A well-done background will harvest 5 more points to be spent on the character’s Skills. A sloppy background might receive less. Faction leaders receive 5 additional Skill points. They may opt to trade these Skill points to upgrade one of their Stats by one. They are allowed to have one Stat at 8. They are allowed to have their Obsession Skill at 6. 

Both background and character sheet must be approved by the  Head ST before the character can enter play. He is the final arbiter on the viability of the character. 

3.2.9 Cards

Everybody needs a Sanity Card. If you want some special equipment, you need to see the Gear GM for equipment cards. If you are an Adept, you need to see the Adept GM for your Charge Card. 

3.3 Challenges

There are two kinds of situations: Relaxed (i.e. cracking a safe open in your living room, enjoying a cold beer and listening to Barry Manilow) and Tense (i.e. cracking a safe in the bank while tear gas is burning your eyes and you try not to feel that hi-caliber round in your left leg). There are two kinds of challenges: Skilled (you got the right Skill for the job) and Unskilled (you don’t). 

The basic challenge (which is Tense)  involves a rock-paper-scissors contest either been two opponents or a single player and a GM. In the case of a tie, the opponents compare the appropriate Skills, or the single challenger compares her Skill to a difficulty rating (DR) assigned by the GM. If these numbers are equal, the opponents compare the appropriate Stat, or the single player compares his Stat to the DR. If both numbers are again equal (this is called an Absolute Tie) nothing happens, except in Combat, which will be treated later. Any action made my an Unskilled character in a Tense situation is treated as a special kind of Called Shot (see 3.4.6.4): A first challenge must be won straight and without any sort of retest. A second challenge must then be won, and in the case of a tie the appropriate stat is compared to twice the defendant’s skill or narrator-determined DR. 

Difficulty ratings are: 1 Anybody can do it
			   Should be known at below high school level
		            2 Almost anybody can do it
			   Should be known at High school grad with C- average level
		            3 About average for somebody with passive training
  Should be known at Good high school student / below average   
  college grad level
		            4 About average for somebody with active training
			   Should be known at College grad w/ honours level
            5 About average for somebody with very active training (i.e. 
   black belt)
			   Should be known at Master’s Degree level
		            6 About average for a dedicated and talented amateur athlete
			   Should be known at PhD or multiple Master’s Degree level
		            7 About average for a minor professional athlete
			   Should be known by acknowledged experts in area of study
		            8 About average for professional athlete
  Should be known by internationally recognized experts in area    
  of study
                                   9 About average for top professional athlete
			   Should be known by seminal authorities in area of study
		          10 Best performance of top professional athlete
			   Should be known by the best expert in a very specific 
   subcategory of area of study (i.e. “eating habits of Siberian 
   nomads in the 6th century B.C. ”) 
 	 
In a Relaxed situation (which will always be a single player vs. the GM), the Skilled player wins on all ties, but if the character’s Skill is lower than the DR, the time it would take an adequately skilled characters to complete the action is multiplied by the difference between the character’s Skill and the DR, minimum 2. The Unskilled player does not win on all ties. He can do the challenge using the appropriate Stat instead of the right Skill, but he must win the test twice, each time versus twice the DR a Skilled character would face. 

Of course, certain actions can never be performed as Unskilled actions, such as neurosurgery or lunar module driving. If you don’t know how, you just can’t do it. 

3.4 Combat

Some preliminary remarks first about the features of the Gnosis LARP combat system. It follows three general principles: simplicity, enjoyment and lethality. Sometimes these principles collide: in these circumstances the middle-road was taken. For example, the basic layout of the combat system is simple, but a number of special features, which need not be mastered in order to fight, can make the combat experience more thrilling. Most of the time, however, these principles complement each other. For example, since the combat rules are extremely lethal, and most combat will not last longer than three to five rounds, the rules try to make each of these rounds interesting.

All rounds are considered to last three seconds of game time. 

3.4.1 The Initial Round

A combat is initiated when a character attacks another. During this initial attack, nobody else but the attacker can attack. The defender may dodge or do another action besides attacking (such as drawing a gun, for example). Everybody else cannot do anything but move one step. If somebody uses that step to move between the attacker and the defender, he may opt to relent on any defense and take the damage himself. This is known as the “bodyguard clause”. 

After this initial attack, anybody but the initial attacker and defender can choose to leave the combat before the first actual round starts (they slid out of view while everybody’s attention is on the attacker/defender) UNLESS somebody else that is also remaining in the combat besides the attacker and defender wishes them to stay, in which case they cannot leave and are considered in-combat for the next round. 

3.4.2 The Combat Round 

Here is the general layout of a combat round. Many terms used here might not be immediately understood, but the following sections will clarify them.

Step one: A Narrator calls the round number, ex. “First round!”
Step two: A Narrator calls “Initiative!”
Step three: There is a ten second delay. During this delay everybody in-combat indicates holds their hands up indicating with their fingers their Initiative value (see 3.4.2 Initiative). Once fingers are raised they cannot be changed. 
Step four: A Narrator calls “Initiative Phase 10!” Everybody who has not raised their fingers by then is considered to be too phased out to act. Everybody who has an Initiative of 10 and wishes to delay their action say so. The rest act simultaneously. Wounds are then recorded.
Step five: A Narrator calls “Initiative Phase 9!”, the rest goes as step four.
Step six: A Narrator calls “Initiative Phase 8!”, etc. 

3.4.3 Initiative

A character’s base Initiative is his Speed score, which can be modified by Rushing. Rushing involves sacrificing points of one’s appropriate skill for the action she plans to do in order to increase her Initiative. This is done on a one to one ratio. A Rushing character can in no way shape or form change his mind about his action later in the round.

Ex. Bob wants to shoot Pam before Pam shoots him. He has a Speed of 5, and a Firearms Skill of 3. He suspects Pam has a Speed of 6, so he sacrifices 2 points of his Firearms Skill and raises seven fingers in the air during the Initiative Phase. He cannot choose not to shoot Pam at any time later in the round.

The only time one can Rush outside of the Initiative Phase is when Dodging. This will be developed shortly.

In this combat system, nobody “declares” ahead of time what their characters are going to do. In order to wait upon something to happen before acting, one must Delay her action. The character delaying may act at any lower Initiative value during the round, but she will NOT be acting before somebody else’s action if she chooses to act at the same Initiative than that other person, since all actions of the same Initiative are always considered simultaneous.  Notice that if you decided to Rush, you cannot regain the sacrificed Skill points by delaying your action. 

3.4.4 Actions

Only one action can be performed by a character during a round, except walking three steps, which can be accomplished while doing any other action without penalties, expect while using a Firearm (see 3.4.4.2). Counting as one action are: Walking three additional steps (making it six), drawing a weapon, attacking, dodging, getting up, getting down. Reloading a weapon takes two actions (which means it takes two rounds), unless the Speedload skill is used (see 3.1.5).

3.4.5 Challenge resolution

If a character is attacking another character who has the same Initiative, they do the challenge using their respective attack skills. If one is attacked without being attacking during the same Initiative Phase,  he may choose to Dodge, thereby sacrificing every other action he would have during the round. In order to Dodge somebody acting at an earlier Initiative Phase than you, you must sacrifice enough Dodge points to reach his Initiative. If you cannot do this, you cannot Dodge in time, and therefore lose on all ties. 

Any ties during the challenges are resolved by comparing the characters’ respective Skill used for their action. If the Skill values are equal, one of the following things happen: If both challengers were attacking each other, both take full damage from their opponent’s attack. If one was attacking and the other not, the defender takes half the damage from the attack, rounded down. 

3.4.5.1 Multiple Attacks

A character can attack multiple targets by simply dividing his appropriate Skill between them. One cannot both Rush and attack multiple targets. One cannot attack multiple targets using more than one type of attack. 

3.4.5.2 Modifiers to Skill

All these modifiers to Skills cannot be used to modify one’s Initiative. These are only examples and can be overridden at any time by GM decision.

Situation							  	Skill modifier

Attacking while blind 							-3
Punching or shooting w/ broken arm					-2
Attacking while set on fire							-2
Fighting on think plank over forty food drop				-2
Fighting underwater (at least up to waist)					-1
Fighting while on a drug bad trip						-1
Shooting while falling after jumping through a plate glass window	-1
Attacking while feet are manacled together					-1
Shooting while in free fall							-1

If you target is helpless (bound, unconscious), you can add three (3) to your Skill for purpose of tie resolution and damage calculation. Deliberately trying to kill a helpless target is a Rank 7 Violence Stress. 

Firearms modifiers:

Firing while moving subtracts one (1) to your Firearms skill for purpose of tie resolution and damage.  
Three-round bursts add one (1) to Firearms Skill for purpose of tie resolution and damage calculation. They also use three (3) ammo notches on your weapon card.
Full-auto adds two (2) to Firearms Skill for purpose of tie resolution and damage calculation. You can also opt to attack up to three (3) people in a ten (10) feet radius around your target without having to split up your Skill. Full-auto uses ten (10) notches on your weapon card.  
Laser sights add one (1) to Firearms Skill for purpose of tie resolution and damage calculation.
Scopes add one (1) to Firearms Skill for purpose of tie resolution and damage calculation, but only to users who already have at least one (1) of Firearms Skill. Scopes cannot be used in three-round burst or full auto modes. Scopes and laser sights may not be used together.  

3.4.5.3 Surprise

In order to surprise any body, that person must have his back to you during the Initiative Phase before the one when you plan to attack him (i.e. during Initiative Phase 5 if you plan to attack at Initiative Phase 4). The back of somebody is defined by being level with or behind his arms if he were to raise them alongside his body to form a cross. If at any point during this Initiative Phase (i.e. before the next Initiative Phase is called) you can clearly point at your target for five (5) full seconds without being noticed by anybody who’s not on your side (i.e. if an ally of your target screams “watch out!” to your target during these five seconds, your attempt is disqualified) and then say loudly “Surprise!”, your target can neither attack you or dodge your attack during the next Initiative Phase. 

3.4.6 Damage

All damage takes into account two factors: The attacker’s skill and the weapon used. Therefore, if a character lowered his Skill in order to Rush an attack, his damage will also be lowered. Damage is announced in Damage Points (DP). The Golden Rule of damage is that a successful attack always does at least 1 DP, regardless of any protection. 

Basic Hand-to-Hand Damage Points of a successful attack is equal to the attacker’s Skill.

Basic Melee Damage Points of a successful attack is equal to the attacker’s Skill, plus three (3) if the melee weapon is large, plus three (3) if the weapon is heavy, and plus three (3) if it is piercing. Therefore, a knife, a club or brass knuckles does Skill+3 DP. A huge club, sword or hatchet do Skill+6 DP. A big sword, fire axe or chainsaw does Skill+9 DP. For special rules about Knockdown damage, see 3.4.6.6 – Obsessed Hand-to-Hand Combat under “Knock Down”. 

Basic Firearms damage is by weapon type (automatic weapons denote a single shot/ three round burst/full auto):

Weapon                       Damage        Maximum Damage

Handgun 		(Skill x 4)		25
Large Handgun	(Skill x 6) 		40
Submachine gun 	(Skill x 4/5/6)		30
Rifle 			(Skill x 6)		45
Assault Rifle              (Skill x 6/7/9)		45
Shotgun (20 gauge)	(Skill x 5)		45
Shotgun (12 gauge) 	(Skill x 10) 		65
Medium MG (M60)	(Skill x 8/9/10)	85

3.4.6.1 Bleeding

Wounds created by puncturing devices (knifes, bullets, chainsaws) cause bleeding. While initially the organism does everything it can to concentrate the blood around the vital organs, untreated open wounds can eventually let enough blood out of the system to cause death. For each individual puncturing wound of over one (1) DP received, the character loses 1 WP every five (5) game-time minutes. Only a succesful First Aid Challenge can stop bleeding. 

3.4.6.2 Special Firearms Damage

Special Ammo (hollow-point, white phosphorus, whatever) add 5 to DP.

Armor-piercing bullets neutralize the effects of bulletproof vests, but the damage is rounded down to the nearest multiple of 10 (if it does less than 10 DP, it does 1 DP).

3.4.6.3 Protection

Light armor (reinforced jackets and trenches) take 5 DP out of every attack (if the attack has done five or less DP, the victim still suffers Bruise (1DP) damage). After it has done so ten (10) times, the armor is wasted.

Bulletproof vests (standard police issued) take 20 DP out of every firearms attack (if the attack has done five or less DP, the victim still suffers Bruise (1DP) damage). After it has done so five (5) times, the armor is wasted. It will never protect against any shot hitting the wearer beyond the first of every round. It does not offer protection against Melee weapons. 

Reinforced helmets take 10 DP out of every attack (if the attack has done five or less DP, the victim still suffers Bruise (1DP) damage). After it has done so five (5) times, the helmet is too bent out of shape to be wearable. Alternatively, it can also be used to nullify the bonuses of a successful Called Shot to the head, thereby reducing its damage to that of a normal attack, destroying the helmet in the process. 

Riot shields absorb all the damage caused by any weapon that is not a Rifle or a Large MG, reducing it to Bruise damage (1DP), and takes 10DP out of Rifle or Large MG damage. It requires a successful defense using the Parry skill. However, given the huge size of the shield, every attack that is not from the back of the wielder can be parried during the round, and without the need to catch up with the attacker’s Initiative Phase. Alternatively, it can also be used to nullify the bonuses of a successful Called Shot, thereby reducing its damage to that of a normal attack, and destroying the shield in the process. 

Anything that counts as cover without obviously taking the entire damage (i.e. a car door, as opposed to a concrete wall) takes 10 DP out of every attack. Nevertheless, Bruise damage (1DP) is still minimally caused – you bonk your head somewhere while ducking, whatever. 

3.4.6.4 Called Shots

Called shots refer to attacks specifically aiming at a specific location (ex. your opponent’s head, your opponent’s car’s tire). Shots that aren’t called are assumed to hit either the torso, or some other part of the anatomy without having any consequence on their functions. Called shots must be declared prior to any challenge. In order to succeed in a called shot, two challenges must be won in a row. The first challenge must be a straight win (ie. cannot be won by comparing Skills as the result of a tie), and cannot be retested for any reason by the attacker. The second challenge is a normal challenge. If either of the challenges is lost, the attack missed completely. 

The following Called Shots are allowed:

With a successful Leg Called Shot, on top of sustaining the normal DPs of the attack, the defender must drop to the ground. He cannot run until the wound is healed. This must be roleplayed (by the player limping) and means that in combat situation his normal movement rate is reduced to two steps by round, to which he can add a third step by sacrificing his action. 

With a successful Arm Called Shot, on top of sustaining the normal DPs of the attack, the defender drops his currently held weapon (if applicable) and cannot use the arm until half the DPs of the attack have been healed.

With a successful Weapon Called Shot, the defender drops her weapon and sustains 1 DP. Fragile weapons may break at the whim of the present Narrators.

With a successful Head Called Shot, the DPs of the attack are increased by 10. 

With a successful Genitals Called Shot, on top of adding 1 to the DPs of the attack, the defender becomes infertile and must make a Level 5 Self Stress Challenge (see Madness 3.5)  

Note that armor only protects the appropriate areas of the body. A Called Shot to the head will not be affected by the protection afforded by a bulletproof vest.

Other called shots may be allowed by Narrators during appropriate circumstances, for example a Called Shot: Tire on a moving vehicle. 

3.4.6.5 Exotic Damage

Drowning: Victim can hold breath for BODY x 10 seconds (assuming a stressful situation, double time if relaxed). Then unconsciousness happens. Without CPR, victim is dead in five (5) minutes. Brain damage happens after three (3) minutes (i.e. Mind losses).

Falling: Body Challenge vs. (no. of feet fallen / 10). Win: 1 DP. Absolute Tie: 3 DP. Loss: 7 DP. Take one (1) off the difficulty of the challenge, repeat challenge. Repeat in this way until zero (0) is reached (there is no challenge at 0). If the fall is controlled, remove ten (10) feet from the fall. This means that a controlled fall of ten (10) feet or less causes no damage. 

Fire: (% of body covered by flames / 10) x 2 DP each round until extinguished.

Car crash: Body Challenge vs. (MPH at impact / 10). Remember that for frontal impacts the speed of the two cars must be added together. Win: 1 DP. Absolute Tie: 5 DP. Loss: 10 DP. Take one (1) off the difficulty of the challenge, repeat challenge. Repeat in this way until zero (0) is reached (there is no challenge at 0). 

3.4.6.6 Obsessed Hand-to-Hand Cherries

If your Martial Arts skill is your Obsession skill, you have access to certain special hand-to-hand moves called Cherries. Cherries must be acquired at the cost of 1XP per cherry, with the exception of Knock Down, which is free. One can never have more Cherries than half one’s Martial Arts skill, rounded up. Cherries are performed using the Called Shot rules (see 3.4.6.4). The skill High Pain Threshold may be used to resist the effects of the Dazed and Knock Down cherries. Here is a list of available cherries:

Big Hurt: DPs of the attack are multiplied by 2.
More Hurt: Attack does three (3) more DPs.
Blind: Victim cannot see for three (3) rounds (-3 to his attack skill). Damage for this
           strike is reduced to 1 WP.
Dazed: Victim is at –1 skill for four (4) rounds. Damage for this strike is normal.
Gimme: Attacker snatches weapon off enemy’s hand. Weapon either on the floor or in 
               attacker’s hands. Damage for this strike is reduced to 1 WP.
Knock Down: Victim is knocked down (on the ground). Victim acts last in next 
                         round, and in every subsequent rounds unless he spends 1 action to get
                         back up. Damage for this strike is normal. ***Note: Every character
		  may use this cherry, but if one isn’t obsessed about Martial Arts one
                         must either have a Struggle of 4 or more, or be using a melee weapon
                         that qualifies as ‘heavy’. 
Kung Fu Grip: Target restrained. Damage for this strike is normal, and victim takes 3
                         WP in damage automatically every subsequent round. Everybody is at
		 +1 skill to attack both the victim and the gripping person. Victim frees
                         himself by winning an opposed Struggle/Martial Arts/Athletics 
                         challenge. 
Monkey Dodge: Damage for this strike is normal, and next attack against you is 
                           automatically redirected toward nearest person (if appliable) or 
		    nearest inanimate object (note that the next attack, and not the next
                          succesful attack is redirected). 
Second Helping: Damage for this strike is normal, and you may immediately attack
                           a second time. You cannot use a Cherry or any kind of Called Shot
 		    for this second attack, and if you have used your Obsession Skill in
		    the first attack you may not use it again for the second.
Turning Tide: Damage for this strike is normal, and your opponent cannot use any
		 form of retest for the next three (3) rounds. 

3.4.7 Wounds and healing

3.4.7.1 The Health Monitor

The Health Monitor is the section where wounds are recorded on the Gnosis LARP player’s character sheet. It features the following section: The Total WP Box, The Current WP Box and the four Wound Threshold / Current Wounds boxes (Scratches/Bruises, Minor Wounds, Significant Wounds, Major Wounds). Each time a character is wounded, the player compares the DP value of the wound with his Wound Thresholds in order to determine what type of wound it is, records the DP value of the wound in the appropriate Current Wound box, and subtracts the DP value from his Current WP box. As indicated earlier, if the Current Wound value drops at or below three (3), the character loses consciousness and will not regain it until brought back over three (3) WP. At zero (0) WP, the character is clinically dead. 

3.4.7.2 Wound categories and treatment 

The different Wound categories impact the way a wound can be patched or treated. Patching refers to procedures attempted using the First Aid skill. Treatment refers to procedures attempted using the Surgery skill, using the appropriate facilities (EMT unit).  

Scratches/Bruises: Scratches/Bruises are 1 DP wounds. They can neither be patched not treated. They do not bleed, no matter how they were inflicted. 

Minor Wounds: Minor Wounds are wounds that do between 2 and the Body stat of a character. Minor Wounds inflicted by puncturing devices cause bleeding. First Aid can be attempted once by Wound by person attempting to patch it (i.e. any other character can attempt to patch each of your Wounds only once, ever). First Aid challenges have a difficulty equal to the last digit of the Wound’s DP value (ie. patching a 9 DP Wound is a difficulty 9 First Aid challenge, patching a 12 DP Wound is a difficulty 2 First Aid challenge.) The rationale for this is that at any gravity some wounds are always more difficult to treat than others, depending of how they were inflicted. A clean knife gash can hurt you just as much as a messy one, but the earlier is going to be much easier to treat than the latter. A won challenge restores all WPs lost but one (1) regarding this specific Wound. A absolute tie restores half the WPs lost (round up) regarding this specific Wound. A lost challenge restores 0 WP. Both won and tied challenges stop any bleeding caused by that Wound. 

Significant Wounds: Significant Wounds are wounds that do between Body+1 and Body x4 WPs. A successful patching challenge against the last digit of the WP total only stops the bleeding (if bleeding occurred) and restores one (1) WP. Further treatment requires the use of the Medical Skill. 

Medical Skill difficulty table

Gravity of Wound			    Difficulty
Between Body+1 and Bodyx2		5
Between Bodyx2+1 and Body x3		7
Between Bodyx3+1 and Body x4		9

A won Medical Skill challenge A won challenge restores all WPs lost but three (3) regarding this specific Wound. A absolute tie restores half the WPs lost (round up) regarding this specific Wound. A lost challenge restores one (1) WP.

Major Wounds: Major Wounds are wounds that do between Bodyx4+1 and Body x5. First Aid works the same as for Significant Wounds. Medical Skill rolls are at difficulty 10. A won challenge restores all WPs lost but five (5) regarding this specific Wound. A absolute tie restores half the WPs lost (round up) regarding this specific Wound. A lost challenge restores two (2) WPs. Every time a character receives a Major Wound, permanent sequels follow: the character loses one (1) point of a Stat of the victim’s choice, and also permanently loses one (1) WP – a permanent scar now serves as a remainder of the ill-met fate. 
3.4.7.3 Wound recovery

Between game sessions, all Scratches/Bruises disappear and each individual Minor, Significant or Major Wound heals one (1) WP, or two (2) if under permanent professional care, which means nothing but using Contacts can be accomplished by your character between game sessions. As indicated previously, the last WP of a Permanent Wound never heals.

3.5 Madness

	If keeping one’s psyche together is not an easy task for most in our modern world, it becomes even more arduous when Magick shows one’s reality to be in a permanent state of flux, notwithstanding the paranoia and the violence inherent to the Occult Underground. The Stress system is designed to reflect this fact. 

	For ease of reference, the psyche has been divided in four (4) categories: Violence, the Unnatural, Helplessness and Self.  Violence appropriately covers all violent situations, whether committed by, targeted at, or witnessed by the character. The Unnatural is self-explanatory. Helplessness covers situations where your character lacks control over what is happening to him (i.e. getting fired from a job he likes, being put in jail, watching a loved one die). Self covers situations when your character commits acts that run contrary to what she considers herself to be (i.e. breaking a promise, lying to a loved one, chickening out of acting on your Noble Stimulus). Situations are bound to happen which will put tremendous psychological pressure on one or more of these areas. Every time such an event occurs, a Stress Challenge is required. 

3.5.1 Stress Levels

Here are the four categories of Stresses, with examples illustrating severity for each level.

VIOLENCE

1 Be attacked with a weapon – shot at or slashed.
2 Witness an act of torture. 
3 Get shot at random. Be tortured briefly.
4 Kill someone in a fight.
5 Be present in a massive battle, with hundreds of deaths on both sides.
6 Perform an act of torture.
7 Deliberately kill a helpless target.
8 Get tortured for an hour or longer.
9 Witness a brutal mass execution.
10 Watch as someone you love is tortured to death.

THE UNNATURAL

1 Experience a preternaturally strong déjà vu. 
2 See a clockwork automaton.
3 Realize that a vision you had of the future has come true.
4 Watch the Naked Goddess videotape.
5 Be successfully attacked with magick.
6 See someone you know killed by magick, without any visible or “rational” cause.
7 Have a conversation with a loved one who you know is dead. 
8 See an animal with human features.
9 See the dead rise.
10 Realize that the reason you and your husband of ten years have never had children is that he’s a clockwork automaton.

HELPLESSNESS

1 Unintentionally humiliate yourself in public.
2 Get fired from a job you love.
3 Fail at something when it’s imperative that you succeed.
4 Get dumped into a pit of maggots.
5 Spend a month in jail.
6 Watch a videotape of your spouse committing adultery.
7 Be placed in a situation where you have to either saw off one of your limbs or die.
8 Watch someone you love die.
9 Watch someone you love die because you tried to save them and failed.
10 Be possessed, yet conscious, as your body commits unspeakable acts against your will.

SELF

1 Break a minor promise.
2 Be confronted with proof that your self-image is incorrect.
3 Secretly gratify a urge that is unacceptable to your upbringing and background.
4 Lie to conceal some aspect of your personality from a close friend or loved one who trusts you implicitly. 
5 Decide not to act on an impulse from your Noble stimulus (see 3.1.3) because it’s “too dangerous”
6 Deliberately deceive someone you love in a way that is certain to cause them terrible pain if they find out.
7 Discover that you inadvertently committed an act of cannibalism.
8 Deliberately act completely contrary to your Noble stimulus.
9 Kill someone you love.
10 Deliberately destroy everything you’ve risked your life to support.

3.5.2 The Stress Challenge

Stress Challenges (SC) use the Mind Stat versus the level of the Stress in question. The outcomes are:

SC Won: Your character’s psyche supports the emotional onslaught, but stiffens in the process. Add one Hardened notch to the character sheet.

SC Absolute Tie: Your character’s psyche temporarily shuts itself down. You gain neither a Hardened nor a Failed notch, but you lose your next action as you stare blankly in front of you.

SC Lost: Your character’s psyche cracks under the onslaught. Add one Failed notch to the character sheet. Your character enters a state of temporary insanity, which manifests itself in one of three ways: 

1- Panic: You run away from the source of the stress, for at least two (2) minutes before turning your back – please make sure to check around you before roleplaying this in order not to injure anybody, and run at a reasonable pace.
2- Paralysis: You recoil in order and curl into fetal position, shaking and mumbling, until the source of your stress has left the area for at least two (2) minutes.
3 – Frenzy: Your character attacks the source of the stress (if present) or the person closest to him (if not). The frenzy does not stop until the attacked person or object has disappeared from sight or has taken at least ten (10) WP. Only Passions may be used to retest during Frenzy. No Magick or Avatar ability of any kind can be used during Frenzy. No Weapons can be drawn or reloaded during Frenzy. 

The player chooses which type of temporary insanity is the most appropriate to the situation at hand and must roleplay it properly.  Temporary insanity can be stopped ahead of it’s natural completion by the successful use of the Psychotherapy Skill (vs. target’s Mind Stat) but in order to do so the therapist must be within arms reach of the patient.

3.5.3 Hardened Notches

Hardened notches represent the progressive lack of response of your psyche to increasing levels of psychological trauma. In game terms, it means that you do not have to test when the level of the SC is equal or under the number of Hardened notches you have in the appropriate category. This may be thought of as advantageous, but the fact is that this comes at the price: the gradual loss of contact with your own identity. As your character becomes more and more Hardened, it will be become more and more of a sociopath. Also, if you become completely Hardened in all categories, you lose your contact with your very Passions and cannot use them anymore in order to retest challenges, nor can you use any Avatar Skill you may possess. You are just too desensitized to care or to embody anything.

A document will be distributed giving pointers on how to appropriately roleplay getting Hardened.

3.5.4 Failed Notches

Failed notches represent the gradual erosion of your very sanity. A document will be distributed giving pointers on how to appropriately roleplay this fact. When all your Failed notches are filled in a category, two things happen: You acquire a Permanent Insanity, which is picked by the Madness GM with input from the player, and you also automatically fail any SC in that category in the future (note that you still benefit from any Hardened notches you might have acquired in this category prior to reaching the fifth Failed notch, so now either the level of the SC is under or equal to your Hardened notches and you are unaffected or it is over your Hardened notches and you suffer temporary insanity). 

A character whose four Stress categories have all reached their fifth Failed notch must turn over his character sheet to the Madness GM. If he doesn’t kill himself or get killed by someone else or in an accident, he might get caught and retrieve some shreds of sanity after years in a mental institution. However, for game purposes, the character is out of the player’s hands forever.

3.5.5 Psychological Recovery

There are three kinds of ways to treat psychological trauma: Psychotherapeutic First-Aid, Pre-insanity Therapy (before a Permanent Insanity is acquired) and Post-Insanity Therapy (after a Permanent Insanity is acquired). Treatment always requires the use of the Psychotherapy Skill, which can never be performed on oneself.  The mechanics for performing Psychotherapy are not included in this rulebook.

Psychological First Aid:  This can only be performed within one hour of the Failed Stress Check, before whatever caused the failure has a chance to entrench itself within the psyche. As it is dealing with memories fresh in the mind and not yet settled, it stands the best chance of removing the Failed Notch. The patient and therapist must spend a reasonable amount of time roleplaying the First Aid session, at the end of which the therapist will call for the appropriate challenges. First Aid cannot remove Hardened Notches.

Pre-Insanity Therapy: This is a standard visit to a psychotherapist before a character has gained any Permanent Insanities. It requires a considerable longer session that Psychological First Aid does and, as whatever it was that caused the Failed or Hardened Notches has had a while to solidify itself in the patient’s mind and is correspondingly harder to uproot. Only one session may be attempted per week, and it stands a less likely chance of success than if the patient had sought help much earlier on (ie: First Aid).

Post-Insanity Therapy: At this point the patient has already gained a Permanent Insanity. Only one attempt can be made with ordinary psychotherapy sessions per three months, or one per month if the patient is in residential therapy (the nut-house). This only applies to attempting to remove the fifth notch in whatever category caused the Permanent Insanity, other Failures or Hardenings may be treated by either of the other two options. Since the patient is already certifiable, success even in residential therapy is in no way guaranteed.
 
3.6 Magick

The Three Laws of Magick

The Law of Symbolic Tension: All magick is based on some form of paradox.
For example: Dipsomancy is based around the power of alcohol, which gives you freedom (from inhibitions and worries) but also enslaves you. Entropomancy is based on having to surrender control over the universe in order to get control over its probabilities. 
The Law of Transaction: What you get out of it depends on what you put into it. 
	All magick needs charges, and you can’t use magick to generate charges.
The Law of Obedience: No school of magick is big on sharing its disciples. 
No one can learn two schools of magick. The psyche can’t handle it. Also, every school has a taboo, and breaking that taboo results in loss of all stored charges.

Since the only Magick available to non-Magickal PCs is minor rituals, the rest of the Magick Rules will not be included in this document.

3.6.3 Rituals

Rituals are particular formulas that have been transmitted over the time through the Occult Underground. They are excessively hard to find, and usually require a lengthy preparation as well as fairly arcane ingredients. However, they are extremely important as Minor Rituals is the only sort of Magick accessible to the mundane. 

Minor Rituals: Difficulty of 3, can be performed by mundanes as an Unskilled
	              Soul Challenge (see 3.3 Challenges). 
Significant Rituals: Difficulty of 6
Major Rituals: Difficulty of 9

Adepts use their Magick skill to perform rituals; Avatars use their Avatar skill.
 
3.8 Experience

3.8.1 Getting it

XP is distributed at the end of each month. For each game session in which you are present and participating, you will receive 1 XP. You might receive each month 1 XP for exceptional roleplaying, 1XP for exceptional creation of/participation in inter-PC plotlines, and 1 XP for exceptional participation in major plotlines. 

At the end of each session, players can nominate their peers for the Player award. One cannot nominate himself. The players vote by a show of hands. The Players award is worth 1 XP, which can be spent immediately. The Storytelling team then awards the Storytelling Team award, which is also 1 XP. Both awards cannot go to the same player. When applicable, the emphasis of the Storytelling Team award will be to reward exceptional roleplaying on the part of a newcomer. 

When XP is distributed each month, each Faction Leader will also be able to award a “Best of Faction” award, worth 1 XP. The Faction Leader cannot give himself this award.  The Storytelling team will also pick a “Best Faction” award for the month, considering the roleplaying of the Faction members as well as their plot-related accomplishments. The award is 1 XP and goes to the Faction Leader, which may (but most probably will not) decide to pass it on to somebody else. 

All in all, players who show up will end up receiving anywhere between 2 and 5 XPs a month, and including the various awards could rather implausibly achieve a whopping 8 or 9 XPs. 

3.8.2 Spending it

Much easier than getting it is spending it. A new skill costs 3 XPs, and starts at level 1. Note that rare skills like Magick and Avatars often must be taught, and always require ST approval. Advancement in a Skill costs the new point value of the Skill (ie. it costs 5XPs to get from Struggle 4 to Struggle 5, 17 XPs to get from Struggle 7 to Struggle 9). Remember that Skills can never be raised over their respective Stat. Raising a Stat costs two times its new point value (ie. Raising Body 5 to Body 6 costs 12 XPs).