[GLÅUGUST] Genie

Written or the GLÅUGUST 2025 "Paladin of an unorthodox Law" challenge.

Genie

+1 Power per template
A. Genie, Wishes, Benefactor.
Δ. Morality

Genie: You are a Genie born of smokeless fire, with all that that entails. You can look however you want to look as long as you remain recognizable as a Genie. You are not subject to old age, disease, gravity, shame or the court system. If you would ever be subjected to Death or Dismemberment, you instead become a cloud of gas for ten minutes. During this vulnerable period you can be imprisoned indefinitely inside any air-tight hollow container. 

Wishes: If someone frees you from captivity, you owe them three Wishes, to be granted manually. If someone asks for a palace, you have to go find the bricks and mortar them together by hand. If someone asks for love, you have to play wing man and get the couple together somehow. If the person freeing you was the one who trapped you, you owe them a gruesome and ironic death.

Power: At each Genie template, gain one class ability from any level of any class that the GM agrees could exist in the campaign setting. If the ability scales with templates, you get the D Template version. If it builds on a prior abilities, you get those too. If you have any pending Wishes, you may only use these Powers to grant the Wishes owed to your current benefactor. 

Benefactor: You start the game trapped inside an air-tight, Genie-proof container. The party starts the game with a level zero hireling who is holding that container. You, the player, are obliged to pretend that the hireling is your real character for as long as possible. Any XP you gain prior to the big reveal is doubled and goes to the Genie, not the hireling.

Morality: If you ever find yourself free and with no pending Wishes left to grant, roll 1d6 + [templates] to determine your Genie Morality. On a 3-4, you are an Evil Genie and must cause as much pain and suffering as you can while you remain unbound. On a 5+, you are a Good Genie and are obliged to be kind and polite and pious, but also to not cause too much of a big fuss. Neither outcome is compatible with remaining playable beyond the rest of the current adventure.

The player does not get to know which kind of Genie they are playing until it comes up, but 'pretending to be the opposite kind of Genie' is a common Genie ruse. Either to get people's guards down (Evil) or as a test (Good). Be as scary and ambiguous as you like.

1d10 Things That Aren't Healing Potions:

1. Potion of Health. Restores you to Perfect Health for one hour, after which point your condition reverts to how it was, now advanced one hour.

2. Health Potion. Potion to be taken for your health. Prevents rickets, scurvy, osteoporosis, beriberi, pellagra, goiters, gout and cavities. 

3. Healer's Potion. Cleaning Potion variant, for sterilizing equipment. Causes nausea if swallowed, fatal blood vanishment if applied to wounds.

4. Heal Potion. Dialectal. Will 'heal' (ie. conceal) that which it is applied to. If used on wounds, will conceal (but not cure) the injury.

5. Potion of Healing Blade. AKA liveforever. Extract of the houseleek plant, similar to aloe vera. Prevents lightning if applied to shingles.

6. Curing Potion. Alchemical solution which preserves meat, vegetables and other food items as if they were smoked, without actually smoking them.

7. Alchemical Curative: Lab reagent, mixed into other products to hasten solidification. If ingested, turns saliva into thick sheets of dry mucus.

8. Alchemical Remedy. Potion intended to counteract the effects of another potion. Was called 'potion antidote' before the Guild sued for defamation.

9. Remedial Potion. Alchemical parlour trick - a potion which can only be brewed the second or later attempt. Reannual grapes are a key reagent.

10. Potion of Redress. Carefully dosed euphoric which, used correctly, gives a crime's victim exactly enough joy to cancel their suffering.

[GLoW] Artificer

Our final class for this round of posts is the Artificer, the setting's wizard equivalent. It draws heavily from Loch Eil's Wonder-Worker. Included are four Lores (wizard school equivalents).

Artificer

Start with three Devices.
+1 Power Cell per template.
A: Lore, Wonders
B: Personal Style
C: Census
D: Wisdom
ς: Apprentice
Δ: Reactor

Lore: Choose between the Lore of Carbon, the Lore of Silicon, the Lore of Beams and the Lore of the Vat. You start with Secret Zero of your Lore and roll 1d6 at each template (including the first) for an extra Secret known.  Should you roll one you already possess, choose which Secret you uncover. This is the only way to access the Eighth and higher Device of your Lore. 

Power Cells: Each Lore has its own specific technique for recharging spent Power Cells. If used to provide charge, assume an Artificer can generate [templates] d6s of charge per day.

Wonders: To create a Wonder of the World Before, combine a Device of your Lore with a Source, then draw on any number of Power Cells. Roll 1d6 per Cell, depleting it on a 4-6. If doubles are rolled, something goes awry with your creation - the Mishap Entity for your Lore comes to stalk you. If triples are rolled, several of your Mishap Entity appear. They create a local calamity as the Device used is destroyed by the chaos. Lose [highest] Loyalty if you don't fix the problem.

Personal Style: Choose one positive and one negative trait from the scrap modifications table. When modifying items with scrap, you may use one of these traits in place of the corresponding trait provided by the scrap. You may also modify Devices, giving them +2 to [sum] if Enhanced.

Census: If you become Chief, you may conduct a census to obtain an accurate account of exactly how many people of which sexes, ages, professions and levels your Tribe possesses. This will be resisted by ancient custom, as if you are successful in the attempt, you gain the Secret of Tribes, which can be used to focus one of your Devices upon your entire Tribe simultaneously.

Wisdom: Once per day, after seeing the roll for a Wonder, you may decide to be more cautious and withdraw one Power Cell from the result. Resolve the rest as if you never drew on that Cell. 

Apprentice: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may recruit an Apprentice if you do not already have one. They have one Power Cell of their own and will use any Sources or Cells you provide, but only comprehend Device Zero from your Lore. Your apprentice(s) can pool their Power Cells together with you to work greater Wonders and, if you are Chief, with each other.

Reactor: If you build a machine made from scrap with one of each positive trait, you can use it to synthesize new Devices. Research costs 20 Cells of power, generated by the method your Lore normally recharges Power Cells. Tell the GM what you wish to synthesize and what you intend for it to do. They will reveal what needs to go into the Reactor to create a Device like that.


Lore of Carbon
The Black Jungle strangling the Green Earth.
Favoured Devices: Sprayer & Motor.
Recharge Method: Fuel. Pour a unit into the cell and wait ten minutes.
Secrets:
0. Flame
1. Vine
2. Fuel
3. Smoke
4. Asphalt
5. Plastics
6. Oxygen
7. Diamond
8. Monowire
9. Growth

Mishap: Blackcorm blossoms. HD = [dice]. Your Lore has stolen its nano-technological secrets. It will swallow everything around it with carbon vines and boiling asphalt if allowed to grow unchecked. This was one of the Four Disasters which brought an end to the World Before.

Lore of Silicon
That which served the Law in the World Before.
Favoured Devices: Scanner & Remote.
Recharge Method: Nuclear. Every 24 hours, no matter what you do to it.
Secrets:
0. Shock
1. Wheel
2. Doors
3. Wires
4. Joint
5. Metal
6. Sensor
7. Robot
8. Magnet
9. Crime

Mishap: An alarm sounds. A police drone (HD = [dice]) is sent to detain you. It does not know that the offices of the Old Law stand empty and that no human officer will ever come to retrieve you. Fight it or flee. This was one of the Four Disasters which brought an end to the World Before.

Lore of Beams
The Bridge of Light that now lies sundered.
Favoured Devices: Ray & PPE.
Recharge Method: Solar. 4 hours of direct sunlight or 8 of partial sun.
Secrets:
0. Freeze
1. Light
2. Mirror
3. Fear
4. Silence
5. Gravity
6. Force
7. Thought
8. Stasis
9. Ghost

Mishap: A shadow stalks. A beam shadow (HD = [dice]) emerges from the now sundered wreckage of the Twelfth Satellite to torment your Tribe. This was once a living person, interrupted mid-transmission. This was one of the Four Disasters which brought an end to the World Before.

Lore of the Vat
The Birthing Tube of the World Yet to Be.
Favoured Devices: Repellent & Patch.
Recharge Method: Metabolic. Eat an extra ration per cell when resting.
Secrets:
0. Acid
1. Cattle
2. Sleep
3. Insect
4. Corpse
5. Birds
6. Slime
7. Mutant
8. Beast
9. Clone

Mishap: The plague returns. Your tribe contracts a disease (HD = [dice]) spawned by your reckless biological experimentation. You must find a cure or succumb to cancer, boils, fever or dehydration. This was one of the Four Disasters which brought an end to the World Before.

List of Devices:
1. Blaster: [sum] damage from/to [word] at 100ft. range. Save negates.
2. Shield: A 20ft radius dome blocks out [word] for [highest] rounds.
3. Scanner: Produce a readout about the status of [word] in the hex.
4. Sprayer: Coats a 20' cone with [word]-related fluid. Save to avoid.
5. Screen: Hide yourself from [word] OR hide [word] from Mishap Beings.
6. Extractor: Draw concentrated [word]-based chemicals out of [word].
7. PPE: Become highly resistant or immune to [word] for [sum] minutes.
8. Remote: Give a one word command to [word] to obey for [sum] rounds.
9. Ray: Fires a '[word] Ray' out to 100ft. Effect based. Save negates.
10. Repellent: All [word] within a 20ft radius must Save or be repelled.
11. Beacon: Attracts [word] or [word]-related beings to your location.
12. Patch: Repair [dice] injuries done by or to [word]. Set HP to [sum].
13. Tracker: Locate the [sum] nearest [word] and where they're moving.
14. Hologram: Create a convincing illusion of [word] for [sum] seconds.
15. Motor: Create [dice] [word] powered vehicles that run for 24 hours.
16. Assembler: Puts together up to [dice] slots of [word]-related goods.
17. Injector: Inject a serum granting [word] powers for [highest] hours.
18. Scope: Make [highest] exact measurements of [word] or related thing.
19. Tools: Grants Skill with the next [highest] tasks relating to [word].
20. Orb: A floating orb of [word] that follows you for [sum] minutes.

[GLoW] Resources, Scrap & the Astrologer

The prior post talked a great deal about scrap as a mechanic. Here's the rules for that and a class (the Astrologer) who uses them just as extensively, if not more so. But first, let's talk resources:

Resources
Whenever the Party raids an enemy camp, or goes hunting or trades with a random merchant caravan, you can roll on the resource table below for what is available. Roll 1d6+1 for Humans, 1d3 for Beasts, 1d3+2 for Robots and 2d4 for Trade. If particularly wealthy, roll multiple times.

1.  Butchery - Roll 2d6 x3. Choose which is hides / bones / raw meat.
2.  Rations - 3d6 food. Cooked (Humans) or interrupted meal (Beasts).
3.  Loot - One object (Humans), body part (Beasts) or Device (Robot).
4.  Scrap - One piece of scrap, taken from their advanced technology.
5.  Salvage - 2d6 chunks of advanced materials, for mundane crafting.
6.  Recruit - One member their band as a hireling, until you go home.
7.  Answers - They agree to answer any questions as well as they can.
8.  Caravan - Shift a stat by a step as long as the trade deal lasts.

Hides, bone, meat and food can be used for anything the tribe needs those resources for. Loot gives +1 Loyalty when brought back to camp. Scrap is semi-functional technology from the World Before, discussed below. Salvage is stuff like worked metal, plastic, glass and the like. Recruits can also represent hostages taken to ensure good behavior. Caravans are deals to exchange something (roll 1d6+1) for something else (roll 1d6+1) and modify the Tribe's attributes for as long as the exchange continues. Which stat it is depends on the merchant's stats relative to the Tribe.

Scrap
To generate a piece of scrap, roll 2d6 for the positive trait and 2d6 for the negative trait:

Roll	Positive Trait	Negative Trait
2	Shock: Shocks or Resists Shock.	Faulty: Shocks if you fail a Save.
3	Freeze: Freezes or Resists Cold.	Min. Temp. Must stay warm to work.
4	Fitted. Enhanced, but...	Custom. Only works for one person.
5	Concealed. Robots do not see this.	Contraband. Robots hate this item.
6	Powered. Enhanced, but...	Power Hog. Requires (more) charge to use.
7	Combined. Two items in one.	Bulk. Takes an extra inventory slot.
8	Diesel. Enhanced, but...	Fuel Hog. Requires (more) fuel to use.
9	Prestigious. +2 Loyalty if worn.	Sacred. Must be treated as Sacred.
10	Precision. Enhanced, but...	Delicate. Only works while at max HP.
11	Flaming. Burns or resists Heat.	Max Temp. Must be kept cool to work.
12	Acidic. Corrodes or resists Acid.	Toxic. Leaks toxins if you fail a Save.

If you roll the same number for both traits, you may choose which to reroll. They can't match.

Anyone can spend an hour with a piece of scrap and a mundane item to make a modified version of that item. It gains both of the indicated traits. "Enhanced, but..." means that the item gets a general benefit (weapons get +2 damage, light armour becomes scrap armour, other stuff gets a GM-negotiated benefit) as long as the negative trait for the same number is met.

And now, for the class:

Astronomer

Start with the chrome robes of your Order and a radio.
+1 Radio per template.
A: Sacred Order
B: Speaker
C: Go Rogue
D: Wrath
ς: Corvee
Δ: Grand Debate

Sacred Order: You are a servant of the Sky Gods, ancient relics built by  the World Before which speak even now to those with the means to listen. This gives you a reputation as a learned sage. It is a grave taboo to harm you without cause. Human foes lose Loyalty equal to the damage they cause you. This protection is lost if you openly display greater loyalty to your Tribe than to your Order and against those who you attacked without cause.

Radio: You can build and maintain one radio per template in this class. A radio treated as a Sacred item does not count against the limit. Each radio can be used to speak with other radios in the same hex (even ones built by someone else) or to listen in on other radio conversations. Your Order uses radios to spread important news, keep ancient traditions alive and provide help to those threatened by famine, disease or other natural disasters.

Speaker: You are initiated in the deeper secrets of the Sky Gods. You may erect a Tower from three pieces of scrap in any hex that is not already adjacent to a Tower. This conduit to the Sky Gods attunes you to the Frequencies indicated by the three scrap used in its construction:

Roll	Frequency
2	SigNet: Allows you to listen in on the secret whispers between robots.
3	Weather: Listen in as the Sky Gods forecast weather for the next week.
4	Encryption. Can use a radio to transmit selectively in adjacent hexes.
5	Archives. Reveals the adjacent hexes as they were in the World Before.
6	Broadcast. Can transmit messages to radio towers within a dozen hexes.
7	Forum. Talk to those attuned to this Frequency regardless of distance.
8	Announcer. Can loudly shout messages to everything in the current hex
9	Musical. +[templates] Loyalty while the Tower is fully maintained.
10	Witness. Gives a star's eye view of adjacent hexes, blocked by clouds
11	Firewatch. Reveals heat map of adjacent hexes: crowds and open flames.
12	Bug Calls. Allows you to listen in on the radiopathy of giant insects.

Go Rogue: It is contrary to the teachings of your Order to interfere in tribal politics. Lose the benefits and drawbacks of Sacred Order if you ever become Chief of your tribe. If you choose to disseminate the secrets of your Order throughout your tribe, they gain access to the Frequencies, but you will an enemy of the Order forever more. Expect robed assassins.

Wrath: Once ever, you may speak the wrathful incantation of the Sky Gods - 'Kinetic Kill Satellite' - to utterly destroy a foe. Your target must be stationary, no taller than the tallest Tower you've ever built and clearly visible to the daytime sky. Everyone knows the most puissant of Astrologers can do this, but also that they will never do so frivolously or very often.

Corvee: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may instead send a hireling you could have recruited off to serve your Order. They will be put to work on infrastructure projects or send to provide aid to other tribes in need. This costs as much Loyalty as recruiting them would have, but provides you with three Resources (roll 2d4 x3) instead of a hireling. They return after a year. If you are Rogue, roll you can send people out to engage in banditry (roll 1d6+1 x3) to similar net effect. 

Grand Debate: Your Order is headed by the Council of Eleven, each a mighty Astrologer of proven loyalty and merit. When a member of the Council dies, a Grand Debate is held to determine their replacement. If you triumph over all others, you ascend to the Council. You may engage in politics without being declared Rogue and may countermand the Word of Wrath against targets you can see. Sharing the Frequencies gets you banned from the Grand Debate.

[GLoW] Knights and Raiders

In this post, we're looking at the two Fighter-esque classes in GLoW, the Knight and the Raider.

Knight

Start with your Panoply and a Squire.
+3 Mettle per template.
A: Panoply
B: Bastion
C: Recognition
D: +1 Attack per Turn
ς: Squire
Δ: Tyrant

Panoply: You are trained in the use of an ancient suit of battle armour. It is three meters tall, takes ten minutes to don or doff and requires a suit of special clothing (as hide armour outside the suit) to connect yourself. Your Panoply grants you Skill in every feat of Strength or Swiftness while you wear it and is further modified by three pieces of scrap at any given time: one modifying your under suit, the second your wielded weapon(s) and the third any one item you might mount outside the Panoply. You can use this third item as if you were holding it with both your hands.

Mettle: If you would take damage while inside your Panoply, you may negate the damage by reducing its Mettle by one per damage die. You may repair up to a third of your Mettle by expending a scrap and an hour's labour. Doing so replaces one random piece of scrap used by your Panoply with the scrap spent. You can pay any fuel or charge costs at the same time.

Bastion: If someone on the far side of you is attacked with a gun or other ranged weapon, you may interpose yourself. Save or compare the attack roll against your Defense as is appropriate to the attack. Gain one Loyalty per damage die if you do this for a tribal hireling.

Recognition: You may lawfully become Chief. For every power of ten people who recognize the legitimacy of your rule (1, 10, 100, 1000, 10k, 100k), there is a 1 in 6 chance that electronic locks recognize your legitimacy as a leader and grant you access even without an appropriate card.

Squire: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may recruit a Squire if you have a scrap and do not already have a Squire. They are a Knight in training with a lesser copy of your Panoply providing three Mettle. Their under suit is modified by the scrap used, just like your own. Fully restoring your Squire's Mettle means replacing that scrap. If you are Chief, your Squire is promoted to be your Lieutenant and does not cost Loyalty to recruit. Hirelings only get Mettle if given a scrap.

Tyrant: You do not need to wait until your C template to contest the Chief for their position if you do so from within your Panoply. Ignore the usual method for becoming Chief - you splatter the old Chief into paste and make everyone listen to you by force. This applies a -10 penalty to Loyalty, reduced by 5 per template until it goes away at Knight C. If Loyalty is negative, you cannot safely leave camp (or your mech suit) and must play as your Lieutenant for any scene outside of camp. 

Mechanics Notes: Negating all damage from an attack is a powerful ability. But scrap is fairly expensive, as will be established in the Astrologer post later on. Especially if you have a really nice one you want to keep. It's also possible that the Knight will step on the awful starting Chief within minutes of starting a campaign. Let them do that. It'll be funny. 

Raider

Start with your scrap gun.
+1 Inventory Slot per template
A: Scrap Gun, Honour
B: Notches
C: War Chief
D: Both Barrels
ς: Aspirants
Δ: Warrior Bond

Scrap Gun: To be acknowledged as a Raider, you must build a scrap gun from a melee weapon and a piece of scrap, both of which must be taken in battle. This takes an evening of work and basic tools, but the result is a Sacred two-handed hybrid between a double-barrel shotgun and the melee weapon trophy, modified by the positive/negative traits of the scrap. A scrap gun does 2d6 damage in a 30' line (save for half) using shot, 2d6 at 100' range (save negates) using slug or 1d6+Str if used as a melee weapon. Reloading takes ten minutes. Firing alerts the whole hex. As with all firearms, enemies get +4 on Saves if they are in cover when they get shot at.

Honour: So long as you maintain your honor, you can bear two Sacred items at once, as long as one (and only one) of them is a scrap gun. Letting your scrap gun be lost or stolen is a breach of your honor, as is letting anyone insult you. You may reclaim your Honor by slaying everyone who shamed you and then openly carrying your (recovered, if necessary) scrap gun for a week.

Notches: Track kills based on Reaction Type. Whenever you gain a new power of ten notches (1, 10, 100, 1000), you deal +1 Damage and +1 Save vs that Type. You are always disfavoured by the Type you have the greatest number of notches for. This only effects you, not the whole party.

War Chief: Raiders may only become Chief in times of war. If your tribe is not already at war, you must pick someone to go to war with when becoming Chief. You must step down when the war ends. While Chief, the whole tribe has the Notches effects for whatever Type you have the most Notches for. You are encouraged to pick a fight with that specific kind of enemy.

Both Barrels: You may attack with your scrap gun in both player initiative phases. If your turn is in Fast, this means shooting in Slow and vice versa. This effectively gives you an extra attack.

Aspirants: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may choose to recruit an aspiring Raider instead of an ordinary hireling. They cost no Loyalty to recruit, but are motivated primarily by the desire to win battle trophies. They never agree to avoid potential combats where trophies might be won.

Warrior Bond: It is possible for two Raiders to exchange guns. If you offer this to someone and they accept, you form an unbreakable warrior bond. You can never be compelled by any rule of the game to harm or betray them. You are also legally married. If they refuse or ever marry another, your honour demands that you kill them. (But remember the first half of this ability.)

Mechanics Notes: Established Raiders do a LOT of damage, averaging 2d6+6 with their scrap gun against most enemies (enhanced gun and +2 from notches for two reaction types) and only slightly less in melee. This is countered by the fact that big singular monsters tend to have Mettle (ala the Knight) and that crowds have Loyalty instead of Hit Points, so they scatter instead of dying. Still, try to have intelligent enemies stay in cover after they hear the first shot go off.

[GLoW] Mutants and Outcasts

Our first two GLoW classes are the Mutant and the Outcast.

Mutant
Start with two random Mutations.
+1 to Saves vs Mutation per template.
A: Phenotype, Empathy
B: Rejuvenate
C: Fellowship
D: Sacrament 
ς: Kindred
Δ: Speciation

Phenotype: On gaining this template, contemplate your starting mutations and devise a broad 'theme' which unites them into a coherent self-concept. If a mutation rolled is incompatible with your phenotype, refluff it (if possible) to match, reroll it up to twice (if not) or fail to mutate. Good theme ideas include kinds of animals, body parts and onomatopoeia words.

Empathy: Creatures who have been exposed to the same mutagenic source as you treat reactions of 'Contempt' as 'Pity' instead. You can communicate basic concepts to such creatures even without the use of a shared language.

Rejuvenate: If exposure to a mutagenic source would cause you to lose one of your on-Phenotype mutations, do not mutate. Instead heal back to full hit points and remove one scar, disease or long term injury of your choice. This can revive you if done within one hour per template of your death.

Fellowship: While you are Chief, all mutants consider your tribe to be kin to them, even if they come from a hostile tribe or are a wild mutant beast. This doesn't change Reaction rolls directly, but does change what Reaction rolls mean in context: If they hold you in contempt, they will have the contempt of a disapproving aunt, not that of a slave raider. If they have love you, they will love you like a long lost sibling.

Sacrament: If you spend one hour with a source of mutation, you may prepare a Sacred drink which will mutate anyone exposed to it as if exposed to that source, but with a bonus or penalty (your choice) equal to your class bonus on the Save to mutate beneficially. As always, a creature can only mutate once from a given mutagenic source. Up to a dozen can share this drink.

Kindred: When recruiting tribal hirelings, roll on your mutation slots. If a mutation is rolled, available hirelings share in that mutation. New mutations count as loot for Loyalty purposes.

Speciation: Once you have all six mutation slots filled with positive and on-theme mutations, you may swap Phenotype for this ability. Gain 10 HP and choose one of your mutations. It does not occupy a mutation slot. Your descendants and any tribal hirelings you recruit all share this mutation. You lose the hit points from this ability if you lack the chosen mutation.

Mechanics Notes: I intend to come up with a mutation list of my own, but for now just roll with whatever giant mutation chart you currently use. Different mutation sources should use different charts, or different subsets of the same chart. (50+1d10 on a d100 chart, for example). The Mutant is a very diplomatic figure in the Wasteland - they know how to get along with those who are very different from themselves. Which brings us to...

Outcast

Start with a ranged weapon or three thrown weapons.
+2 HP per template
A: Unique, Disreputable
B: Trickery
C: Culture Hero
D: Deadly
ς: New Ways
Δ: Connection

Unique: Choose one of Physique, Technology or Culture independently of your tribe. Determine the success or failure of skill checks, your combat stats and relevant reactions to you independently from the rest of the tribe.

Disreputable: If you offend an NPC and the rest of the tribe disavows your behavior as not representative of the tribe, there is a 3-in-6 chance the NPC accepts this excuse. +1-in-6 for each punishment they seem to have you suffer You cannot recruit tribal hirelings or become the Chief.

Trickery: If you do something that doesn't deal damage, you can act in Fast even when you failed an Initiative roll. If you make an attack in Slow and take no damage this round, you always hit.

Culture Hero: The tribe has come to recognize your value. You may become Chief and/or recruit tribal hirelings normally. While you are Chief, you may permit any one tribal hireling to benefit from your Trickery ability (including Deadly) in your place. Declare who gets it in the Slow phase.

Deadly: If you do not move on your turn, do +1d6 damage with your weapons. While using Trickery to attack in Slow, increase this to +2d6 damage.

New Ways: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may recruit an outcast who shares your Unique attribute in place of the tribe's traditional set. All hirelings you recruit are Disreputable sorts who the tribe might disavow, even if they're traditionalists.

Connection: If you encounter a lone creature which exactly matches your Unique attribute, a spark of connection forms. You may communicate even if you do not share a language. It will not necessarily like you (roll Reaction as normal) but it will never try to kill you unless you try first. 

Mechanics Notes: Unique is surprisingly strong, for all that it's a mixed bag of an ability. Often, just one person succeeding on an attribute test or reaction roll is enough to get what the Party wants. Remember that guns don't use attacks rolls, so they don't benefit from Trickery.

[GLoW] Introducing the Goblin Laws of the Wasteland

GLoW is a GLoGhack for playing in a post apocalyptic setting. Think Electric Bastionland meets Caves of Qud with some Gammaworld sprinkled on top. But it is ALSO a test bed for a bunch of mechanics I want to try out, either ones thematic to the setting (tribe based gameplay, ς templates, guns vs. Saves) or because I think they're good ideas in general (spectrum stats, the Reaction system, easy initiative). This post is a summary of these ideas; expect the class posts and the rest to come out pretty quickly over the next few days.

Tribe Based Gameplay
This is the biggest change. Step one of character creation is now "get with the rest of the group and figure out what tribe you all are in". A tribe is any sort of gang, kinship group, clan, village, community or whatever else willing to band together and face the apocalypse as a unit.

1. Name & Origin Story. Who the hell are you guys, why do you work together and where on the GM's hex map do you live? You don't need eight pages of history, but you do need a shared vision. "mutant biker gang" or "creepy church congregation" or "salt vine farming community" are all viable. The important part is that everyone agrees on what your collective deal is.

2. Starting Location. GLoW assumes a hex map. If you're using one, describe what the tribe's starting location is in as much detail as the GM needs to narrow things down to a single hex on the map. That's where your tribe comes from. If you're settled, you live there. If nomadic, it's your sacred site. You start out familiar with most things in adjacent hexes. If you're not using hexes, you get the equivalent amount of information about your surroundings.

3. Pick Stats. Everyone from the same tribe has the same stats. That's what makes you the same tribe. If you run across an NPC in the wilderness and the GM rolls for their stats and the stats match your tribe's stats - congrats. You have a new tribe member. Figure out why they're all the way over here. Maybe they married into this tribe or got captured in a raid or something.

(You might protest at this point that if everyone has the same stats, they will all feel like the same character. Don't worry. Stats don't mean much. They're more important here than in the base GLoG rules, but only in ways that make sense for everyone to share. Your class sets you apart.)

4. Determine Loyalty. Roll 3d6 + Swiftness to set the initial Loyalty of your tribe. Every time you return to camp victorious, roll 3d6 + [slots of loot gained] + Swiftness and replace the current value if the new roll is higher. Reduce Loyalty by [new number of hirelings] every time you recruit from your tribe and by 2 every time a tribe member dies. Loyalty is a shared HP pool of your whole party, hirelings included. PCs can choose to have damage apply to Loyalty instead of to their own Hit Points. Hirelings scatter if Loyalty ever hits zero, with tribal hirelings returning to camp and any outside mercenaries abandoning you entirely. 

5. Slander the Chief. At the start of play, the tribe is ruled by a Chief who is a real piece of work. They're stubborn, a coward and they make bad choices. Each player should invent one additional gripe about the current Chief. You must be proven (HD 5+) to contest the Chief for their position. Most classes get a bonus for being Chief, shared across the whole tribe, as their C template.

Spectrum Stats
GLoW doesn't use the basic D&D attributes, both in the sense that there's no 'Charisma' or 'Dexterity' anywhere on your sheet and in the sense that the attributes you do get don't work like D&D attributes do. They're what I'm calling 'spectrum stats' because you're determining where you fall on the spectrum of being good at one thing to being good at the opposite thing.

When creating your tribe, you decide your attributes by setting each of Physique, Technology and Culture to a value between 1 and 6. Check under the base attribute (on a d6) for the first sub-attribute and over for the second sub-attribute. Rolling exactly equal to your base attribute is always a success. You also have derived modifiers for your sub-attributes. When something says +Str or +LT or +Wst, it means that derived modifier.

Physique - Strength vs. Swiftness
As a tribe, what does physical fitness look like? Someone who is big and strong and can lift a thousand pounds overhead, or someone who can run faster than anyone else and is good at the local ball sport? Or are you in the middle, where everyone is fit and mostly not malnourished?

Strength adds to hit points, inventory slots and to both attack and damage rolls for melee weapons. It is tested to perform feats of strength or stand firm. It also helps you when making Reaction Rolls with predators and roving barbarians.

Swiftness adds to loyalty, saving throws and to both attack and damage rolls for thrown weapons. It is tested to run, jump, climb and/or swim. It also helps you when making Reaction Rolls with prey animals, couriers and pickpockets.

(Firearms do not rely on attribute. You make a Save whenever you get shot at.)

Technology - High Tech vs. Low Tech
As a tribe, how much of the technology of the World Before is still in common use? Have you carefully preserved the relics of the past, knowing you cannot do without them, or have you invented new ways of living which do not depend on the irreplaceable marvels of an accursed and only half forgotten age?

High Tech lets you do things with technology from the World Before. It's used when salvaging scrap from ancient ruins, hacking into ancient vaults and when making Reaction Rolls with tech lovers and the local autonomous robots.

Low Tech lets you do things without the need for ancient technology. It's used when harvesting natural resources, following footprints and crafting low tech equipment. It also helps when making Reaction Rolls for farmers, low-tech tribes and animals.

(You don't need a specific Tech level to be an Artificer or Astrologer.)

Culture - Urbanity vs. Wastewise
As a tribe, are you more comfortable in the ruins of the World Before or out in the wild with all the plants and game? Do you have coins, market days and elections or do you handle things as a community? When parents warn their kids to keep out of trouble, are they talking about the sewer rats or the creek gators?

Urbanity and Wastewise are rolled for stealth, initiative and navigation in their respective environments. Urbanity is also used for commerce and trade, while Wastewise is checked to be self-sufficient and thrifty. One of the two attributes is always used when making Reaction Rolls with humans, based on where they live. 

Base	Stat #1	Check	Stat #2	Check
Stat	Mod	Odds	Mod	Odds
1	+3	6 in 6	-3	1 in 6
2	+2	5 in 6	-2	2 in 6
3	+1	4 in 6	-1	3 in 6
4	-1	3 in 6	+1	4 in 6
5	-2	2 in 6	+2	5 in 6
6	-3	1 in 6	+3	6 in 6

Skills
Confession time: I have never liked how GLoG did Skills. |1d12-1d12| vs. Skill Rank? Nothing else in the system works like that. For GLoW, if you have Skill in something, you get to roll twice and take the better-for-you number on any attribute test associated with the skill. Climbing Skill? Two dice on Swiftness to climb, Low Tech for tying climber's knots, Strength vs. altitude sickness, whatever you can justify to the GM as being associated with your Skill. You can also pick a specific kind of critter as a Skill, in which case you get two dice on spotting, hiding from, tracking, taming, riding and/or butchering it. This replaces having a Stealth rating.

The Basic Adventurer
Here's a revised table for your basic adventurer stats. Note that level 0 is what hirelings get. The major differences are how many hit points you get (generally fewer) and when Templates (now every other level) and Skills (every level you don't get a template) are handed out. You gotta be level 5+ to be Chief.

Level	Hit Points	Templates	Skills	Attack	Saving Throw	XP
0	4+Str		1	10	5+Swf	-
1	6+Str	1st		11	6+Swf	1+
2	9+Str		2	12	7+Swf	2000
3	10+Str	2nd		13	8+Swf	4000
4	12+Str		3		9+Swf	7000
5	14+Str	3rd		14	10+Swf	10000
6	16+Str		4		11+Swf	14000
7	17+Str	4th		15	12+Swf	18000
8	18+Str		5		13+Swf	22000
9	19+Str				14+Swf	26000
10	20+Str		6		15+Swf	30000
+1	+1					+5000

ς Templates
The same way that some classes have a Δ Template in normal GLoG, where you unlock a special template for doing something interesting in game, every class in GLoW has a ς Template (pronounced 'sigma') that modifies hirelings you personally recruit from the tribe. Mutants get to recruit hirelings who are mutated in similar ways, a Knight gets to recruit a Squire, the Raider gets to recruit young hot heads and so forth. Likewise, if your class gives a bonus per template, any hireling who gets your ς Template gets the bonus for that template, not you. 

If you are Chief, every hireling the party recruit gets your ς Template and either -1 Loyalty cost (if you recruit them personally) or the ς Template of whoever did recruit them (if you didn't). The starting Chief, who sucks at everything, has the ς Template: Reluctant Loyalty: Every time the PCs convince a hireling to go against the Chief's orders, the Tribe collectively loses one Loyalty.

Reactions
Reaction rolls in GLoW don't care about Charisma, because there is no Charisma. Instead, every creature has two Reaction Types (often shortened to Types) which decide what you roll for their reactions and how some Type-specific abilities or items effect them. Each Type is named for the sub-attribute you test when interacting with that Type. For example:

• Animals always have Low Tech and one other Type. Predators might be Strength, prey animals might be Swiftness, a racoon might be Urbanity and a herd animal might be Wastewise. No animal (even a cyborg gorilla or something) has High Tech and Low Tech at the same time. You never get opposing Reaction Types like that.
• Robots always have High Tech and one other Type. As with animals, the other Type is based on what sort of Robot it is. Ones designed to interface with humans tend to value Urbanity from humans, while those intended for agricultural, industrial and/or military settings tend to admire Wastewise, Strength or Swiftness respectively.
• Humans always have either Urbanity (if they are settled) or Wastewise (if they are nomadic) as a reaction type, along with one other type based on their personality. Note that having a Reaction Type isn't the same as being good at the associated sub-attribute. Farming villages often have higher Wastewise despite being settled and having Urbanity as their Reaction type. It just means they don't trust people from other villages, but can easily be intrigued by posh manners and big city riches.
• Abstract dangers tend to have either Strength (Diseases, Vermin) or Swiftness (Curses, Radiation) as Reaction Types. This is less about the anthrax being impressed by your muscles and more me reusing this system to represent the reaction of the Party to these things. A bad Reaction from a disease means the party is plagued by that disease; a good reaction means that it passes them by.

If both Reaction Types turn up a favorable result, the creature (or tribe, or abstract danger) respects you (or you properly respect it, in the case of abstract dangers). If both turn up unfavorable, the creature (or etc.) has contempt for you. Otherwise, it's more of a mixed bag. If a Merchant (Urbanity / Swiftness) comes to your tribe and you roll well on Urbanity but bad on Swiftness, you can trade just fine, but the guy might secretly regard you all as barbarian thugs. Whereas if you got the opposite result, he might admire your Tribe, but the trading falls through.

Initiative
tl;dr It's easy initiative from Spiceomancy, but FILO for more explicit interruption of enemy actions.

Each PC rolls Urbanity (if in a ruin, village or road) or Wastewise (if in the wilderness, a nomad camp or underground). Those who succeed get to go in Fast while everyone else must go in Slow. Artificers using their arcane devices always go in Slow. Slow players declare their actions first. Enemies act, potentially to interrupt what the Slow players were doing. Then Fast players declare, potentially to interrupt the enemy and/or to bail out a Slow player who would have been killed by a volley of thrown javelins. Slow players can try to reroll into Fast at the start of each round. Fast players can always drop down to the Slow phase for free.

(Also, just FYI, this whole thing is released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0, given that it's a GLoG-hack.)

No Thieves Guild - a Thief Taker's Guild

It is widely agreed that a 'Thieves Guild' is a ridiculous idea. After all, a guild is a group of tradesmen who have a legally recognized monopoly on a particular segment of the economy. What ruler is going to give a monopoly on stealing things to a bunch of robbers and thieves? They don't want to build a thriving and well-regulated tradition of larceny, they want people to stop stealing from one another. Or at least, stop doing it in ways that the ruler has to do something about, instead of outsourcing it to local organizations.

Thus, my proposed solution: there is no such thing as a 'Thieves Guild'. But there is a 'Guild of Thief-Takers, Watchmen and Guards' which has a monopoly on offering crime-prevention services. You might go to them in order to:

-Hire a bouncer, night watchman or caravan guard to toss out unruly patrons, patrol a warehouse or guard against bandits on the road respectively. The guild provides these burly guildsmen with the necessary equipment, training and moral education necessary to perform their appointed duties without risk of slacking, bribe-taking, cowardice, wenching, gambling or inattentiveness. Not that you have any alternatives, of course: the Guild has its monopoly.

-Pay an annual fee to register your home or business as a secured property, which results in regular patrols each night and a plaque informing would-be thieves that anyone who burgles this address will be beaten within an inch of their lives by the local Thief-Takers, men and women of fearsome repute. The fee is larger, of course, if you sign up only after being stolen from.

-Look through the pile of recovered stolen goods and then pay a small ransom to have whatever property belongs to you returned to your possession. Fees are cheaper if you have proof that it belongs to you, but if you are a good client of the guild and are up to date on all secured property fees, you can report your goods as 'stolen' after discovering their presence at the Guild. If your stolen goods aren't in there, you can leave a description and your deposit on the 'ransom'. Someone will get you once your goods are 'found'.

-Conversely, if you happen to come across some suspected stolen goods, there is a small reward for surrendering them to the Guild. No questions asked on where exactly you got the goods from, as long as there's no reason to think you might be the sort of burglar who goes after up-to-date secured clients. Incidentally, a list of wealthy persons who are and are not secured clients can be obtained for a small fee at any Guild desk. For investor awareness, of course. You wouldn't want to go into business with someone unsecured.

-Place a bounty against a particularly notorious bandit or outlaw. This one isn't even dubiously legal. They'll legitimately go after notorious outlaws to keep their reputation with the Crown from going too horribly crooked.

[Cloak-and-Sword] The Muse

For the ongoing Cloak-and-Sword bandwagon.

You are a Muse, an invisible and uncouth messenger between the Seen and Unseen worlds. As a class, you have a great deal of exploration potential, but are forced to work indirectly, through disreputable and vicious sorts.

What for us are all distractions of men's fellowship and wiles;
What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles.

Artist: You start with 2HD Artist who feels Espirit for you and one other. Roll three times on the Lower Class Occupation Table to determine what your Artist does to keep itself occupied when it is not serving you. Choose between one and three vices for your Artist. They can never achieve financial or social success while you still live; these vices consume any funds they accrue and sour any reputation they acquire within the year. 

Muse: You are a Spirit, with all that entails. Angels can see you, as can your Artist. Other humans cannot see you, but can still recognize and listen to your invisible presence in depictions of you. This state of affairs is inverted in the Region de Fableau, which you may access through any window, mirror or lens. You cannot see, hear or pass through such apertures naturally - you only see the Region de Fableau. You cannot touch or be touched by humans or anything last touched by a human.

Immortal: Those who hear you will never forget your words, not anything seen or felt in that moment. While you still live, all who would hold Espirit for your Artist instead have Espirit for you. After you both die, all who would have Espirit for you instead have it for your Artist. Your Artist cannot die of heartbreak, consumption or disgrace while you still live, but still suffers terribly.

Composition: You get to look at the overall map of galleries, studios, dens of iniquity. You can also see the indoor map of any room containing artwork depicting you and whatever room your Artist happens to currently be in. You cast light as a torch in darkness, as the Moon at night and the Sun at day.

Artosopoeia: With an hour of conversation with your Artist, you may inspire a work of art. The medium through which they represent you is fixed when this is first used and may only be changed thereafter by the sacrifice of a sensory appendage. The Artist will continue to work along the themes of your conversation for the next week or until the piece is complete. All artwork created this way depicts you, even when it appears to depict something else.

Collaborate: Should you murder another Muse, you may steal their Artist(s). Should you seduce another Muse, you may trade one Artist of yours for one Artist of theirs, your choice which. Should you arrange for another Muse to be imprisoned, exiled or incapacitated, you may 'borrow' an Artist of theirs until their condition improves. These Artists may be more or less useful than the 2HD one that you begin the game in possession of.

[GLOG] Wuxing Wizard

 Perk: Learn two Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) at your first template and one more with each subsequent template. Whenever a spell has an Element you know in its name, you swap it for any other Element you know.

Drawback: This tradition only teaches one spell: Transmute Element to Element. If you want more spells, you'll have to find them yourself.

Cantrips:
-When you look at a compass, you can make it point in any direction.
-When you examine a sick person, you can tell what organ is most sick.
-When you rearrange furniture, people agree it looks better that way.

Transmute Element to Element
T: [dice] objects or creatures R: 20 feet D: [sum] rounds.
Transmute one Element you know into another Element you know. The nature of the possible changes varies with the number of [dice] used and the elements chosen. All changes last for [sum] rounds divided evenly among all targets unless specified otherwise. Creating or destroying an object is permanent.

Creatures always get saves to avoid being transmuted. They can also save to stop you from transmuting an object they are holding, carrying or touching.

With one die, you may transmute loose material into loose material and emotions into emotions. When using this spell to transmute emotions, the intensity of the emotion remains constant and anything that would provoke or soothe the original emotion instead applie to the transmuted emotion.

With two dice, you may transmute rigid material into rigid material of the same shape, or sculpt loose material into up to [dice] slots of items made from appropriate rigid material. For example, Water to Wood could turn an ice sculpture into a wooden sculpture, or pull a wooden staff from a pond.

With three dice, you may transmute rigid material into loose material to deal [sum] damage to the underlying object or transmute one senses into another to (for example) see something that one could otherwise only hear. The clarity of the original sense is preserved: a faint scent becomes a murky image or a muffled sound, while a clear view becomes a clear sound.

With four dice, you may transmute animals into animals, based on what type of outer coverings they have or you may transmute loose material into an appropriate animal (ie. Fire to Wood to conjure lizards from an ash heap.) If [sum] is greater than the remaining hit points of a creature, you may perform the reverse operation, transmuting a creature into loose material.

Elements

Element	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Loose Material	Leaves or Petals	Flames and Ashes	Sand, Soil or Gravel	Rust or Liquid Mercury	Liquid Water or Snow
Emotion	Anger or Confidence	Excitement or Joy	Anxiety or Deep Thought	Grief or Compassion	Fear or Despair
Rigid Material	Wood, Roots or Vines	Burning Wood or Coal	Solid Stone	Any Solid Metall	Clear Solid Ice
Senses	Sight	Taste	Touch	Smell	Hearing
Outer Covering	Scales	Feathers	Bare Skin	Furs	Shell

[GLOG] Architect

 Continuing on today's "pokemon-ing dungeon rooms" train:

 Architect
+5 bonus Inspiration per Template
A. Survey, Eureka
B. Commissions
C. Infrastructure
D. Wonder

Survey: On entering a room for the first time, the Architect rolls [Templates + 1] d4s on the table below, learning the information from each result rolled. This works once per room, unless it gets renovated.

The Architect knows something about the...
1. Layout. The Architect picks a wall and learns what lies on the other side. If there is a room there, the Architect knows the dimensions of that room. Floors, ceilings and closed doors count as 'walls' for this ability.

2. History. The Architect learns when and why the room was first built. If the room is currently being used for its original purpose, the Architect gets an approximate description of the most recent user. If it isn't being used for that purpose, they learn what it's used for in the modern day.

3. Passage. The Architect ranks every possible entrance to the room in order of how likely someone is to enter the room through that entrance. Secret passages and teleportation are included in the ranking as "Secret Passage" and "Teleportation" but do not have their locations revealed.

4. Antiquity. The Architect may spend five points of Inspiration to declare that one furniture item or piece of art in the room is actually a valuable antique, worth ten times the usual sale value if sold undamaged to an interested buyer.

Inspiration: When the Architect discovers a trap, secret passage or architectural marvel, they record that feature and then add a point to their Inspiration stat. They may reproduce features seen in buildings they design by spending a point of Inspiration, or invent a feature (and add it to their list) by spending three. Invented features can't be magical, but encountered ones explicitly can be.

Eureka: Whenever the Architect rolls doubles on a Survey roll, they may insert an architectural feature of their choice into the room. The GM decides specifics such as placement, where any secret passages go, how traps get disarmed and what (if anything) is inside secret compartments. This costs just as much Inspiration as it would to add the new feature to a building the Architect was designing.

Commissions: While in town, the Architect can accept work designing rooms. The player has to actually draw out such rooms (with labels) and hand them to the GM. They get 12 gold per season of architect work, plus 1 gold per Inspiration spent on the designs. The GM is required to include these rooms in dungeons, fancy manors and other places the PCs visit if at all plausible.

Infrastructure: The Architect may now Survey outdoors. Layout treats any natural border (cliffs, rivers, tree lines) as a 'wall', History treats any space bounded by such borders as a 'room', Passage treats natural routes (trails, streams, mountain passes) as 'entrances' and Antiquity reveals natural resources instead. Eureka lets the Architect insert common terrain features for one Inspiration or ones not commonly found in the region (eg. a spring in the desert) for three.

Wonder: The Architect can spend one Inspiration to learn one of the following magical features: planar portals, rooms bigger on the inside than the outside, floating platforms, perpetual motion gearboxes and magma-proof catwalks. Each time this ability is used, the price becomes ten times higher than previously. If you can convince the GM that a magical feature should be on this list, you can spend inspiration to learn that feature too.

[GLOG] Psychic

Psychic
+1 Mind Template per level
A. Mind Palace
B. Usurpation
C. Architecture
D. Intrusion
Δ. Dream Door

Mind Palace: You have an imaginary 20' diameter, 20' tall chamber in your head with an aesthetic anyone that knows you well would recognize as yours. This is the Locus of your Mind Palace. Once per hour per template, you can touch a creature or object and create a copy of it inside your Mind Palace. This has no effect on the original; it's just a realistic mental copy.

If you have a copy of yourself (a Mind Self) inside your Mind Palace, it can interact with these mental copies. This lets you do things like touch a book and then have your Mind Self flip through it in the background, or use a copy of a wand on a copy of a tiger in order to figure out what the wand does. Making a new copy of something that already exists in your mind overwrites the old copy. This includes bringing your Mind Self back to life if they get mind-killed.

You can always perceive what is going on in your Locus and around your Mind Self. You control your Mind Self except where specified by other rules. (If they put on a mind copy of a cursed amulet, you're on your own). You have no direct way to communicate to your Mind Self, but know everything you knew at the moment you made the most recent version of them, including what you wanted them to do. They are as motivated as you are and as loyal to you as you are to you.

Usurpation: You can let your Mind Self take over your body. Your body gains access to your Mind Templates and your True Self becomes the Mind Self for the duration. After ten minutes, there is an X in 6 chance (where X is the number of times your Mind Self has been given control or refused to leave today) that the Mind Self refuses to leave, extending their Usurpation for another 10 minutes. If the chance ever increases to 6 in 6, it becomes permanent.

Architecture: You now have nine doors leading out of your Locus. By spending an hour meditating in front of a door in the real world while your Mind Self meditates in front of a door in your Mind Palace, you can permanently copy everything within 20' on the far side of the door into your Mind Palace. This includes creatures, objects, terrain, whatever. This works both with the nine doors inside your Locus and any doors you copy over using this ability. You don't have to know what's on the far side of a door to copy it, though if you don't want 3d6 orcs and/or black mold spreading through your Mind Palace, maybe you should check first.

Intrusion: While your Mind Self is standing in the Locus of your Mind Palace, you can copy anyone you make eye contact with, not just anyone you can touch. You can transmit your Mind Self into their Mind Palace (if they have one) or into their next dream or nightmare. If your Mind Self can find and defeat the person whose mind they are invading, they can rummage through their memories or use Usurpation on that person instead of on you. While your Mind Self is intruding, you cannot replace your Mind Self.
 
Mind Template: Your Mind Self is much more impressive than the real you. Pick a template from any class you qualify for. Your Mind Self has that template, but does not have your templates in the Psychic class. Nothing your Mind Self does can touch the physical world without Usurpation. A Mind Self can theoretically level up beyond what your non-Psychic templates and their Mind Templates provide, but if you ever reset or recreate them, they lose all progress.

Dream Door: If you have a Mind Palace without a Mind Self in it for a lunar month, you learn how to send your Dream Self into your Mind Palace while you sleep. If your Dream Self dies within your Mind Palace, you will never wake. Your Dream Self can do anything your Mind Self could do.

You're Using Mounts All Wrong!

 Or: "Horses Aren't Bicycles."

Consider the following scenario: the party wants to go somewhere that is Far Away. They ask the GM how long the trip will take, which results in some quick math dividing the total distance by the daily movement speed of the party. The players, hearing the result, wince and ask how much four horses would cost. They pay the fee and reduce their travel times by half. The horses are never brought up again outside of reminding the GM that the party now travels at horse speed, not walking speed.

Or, alternatively, one of the players buys a lance to go with their horse and leans into trying to joust anyone hostile-looking who they encounter in an outdoor setting. This is represented by the fact that the mounted character now moves at 60' per round, rather than 30', but still has the exact same maneuverability as a character moving around on foot.

Those are both obvious nonsense, but they share the same source: tables treating mounts as equipment, when they should be treated as hirelings. And not just nameless hirelings: the sort of hirelings who change over time, gaining personality and character as they go through shit right alongside the PCs. The sort of hirelings where you remember their names.

To that end, I propose the following two rules:

1. Use Horse Gaits.

Different horses move differently. Each horse is capable of a handful of 'gaits' (ways of moving) but a trot from a work horse and a trot from a race horse are two very different trots. Giving each horse unique gaits goes a long way toward making horses feel like specific individuals.

Walk. Every healthy horse can walk at a pace of 40' per round or 30 miles per day at a sustainable pace. If you're not doing some sort of 'changing horses at every stable' Pony Express business, this is as fast as horseback travel normally goes. Gait options don't change this any: if you canter four miles at the start of the day, your horse gets tired an hour sooner and you end up making the same net distance that day.

Trot vs. Pace. Every healthy horse can either trot or pace. Both are faster than a walk but can only be maintained for a limited amount of time. An average trotter moves at 80' per round for up to an hour at a time and an average pacer moves at 60' per round for up to two hours. Once a horse is tired from trotting/pacing, they need an hour of walking rest before they're ready to go again. Pacing is easier on untrained riders and gives a +4 bonus to any check required to stay in the saddle.

Race horses have a faster trot than usual (with 100' per round for 30 minutes or 150' per round for 20 minutes being common race horse trots) while gaited horses (ie. ones who can pace) can be trained to amble for longer and longer durations (3, 4 or even 5 hours) at their pace speed. As with pacing, ambling is easier on the rider and lets you do things in the saddle that would be much more difficult atop a trotting horse.

Canter vs Gallop. Every healthy horse can do one or the other. Some can be taught to do both. Horses who canter so at 100' to 200' / round for up to 4 miles, while horses who gallop do so at 250' to 300' / round for up to 2 miles. Once a horse is done cantering or galloping, they must walk or trot for an hour before they can do so again. Pacing and ambling doesn't count, which is one of the main reasons to prefer a trotter.

Weird Gaits. If you have a weird horse (or horse-like critter) it can have a weird gait. Kelpies can swim, fairy horses can canter onto a fairy trod, nightmares disappear into hell when galloping and skeletal steeds sacrifice their ability to trot for endless stamina at a walk.

2. Use Horse Morale.

Horses are naturally very skittish creatures. They are often afraid of things that are unfamiliar to them and need coaxed into understanding that an umbrella is not going to hurt them. Or cows. Or butterflies. Or lines painted on the ground. Or smaller horses. Every horse has their own idiosyncratic and characterful list of things that spook them. When buying a horse, working out its personality is just as important as working out what breed it is and how fast it can gallop. Hence, Horse Morale.

If you're using a system where Morale is 1d20, roll under, a horse starts with 6 Morale, +2 per thing this particular horse is spooked by. If you're using 2d6 Morale, a horse starts with 5 Morale, +1 per thing that spooks it. Horses bought at a stable start out spooked by 1d4-1 random things and thus have between 6 and 14 Morale (d20 Morale) or between 5 and 8 (2d6 Morale). Brave horses are weirder and weird horses are braver.

When horses encounter something scary (combat, loud noises, being injured, monsters) or sufficiently strange (to a horse), they test Morale. If the source of the fear is something this particular horse is spooked by, the rider needs to spend ten minutes coaxing their horse before the Morale test can even be attempted. Successfully coaxing a horse to overcome its fear on three occasions means it loses its fear. If the whole party has horses, roll a single die for all the horses, such that skittish horses either all spook at once or not.

On a success, the horse is unbothered. On a failure, the owner of the horse picks out a new idiosyncratic feature of the situation for their horse to be spooked by going forward and adds +2 Morale to their horse. If there's a goblin with a blue scarf threatening the PCs with a magic wand, the horse is more likely to be afraid of blue scarves or people holding sticks than it is to be afraid of goblins. Horses are weird like that.

[GLOG] Magic User

 A "wizard" chassis for any GLoG magic school, but one that somewhat modifies the underlying assumptions of how spells are prepared. Magic items instead of memorized spells and every kind of magic user being essentially the same thing, instead of Clerics having angels to command instead of spells or Druids having fundamental psychological and philosophical differences that make them unusable as PCs.

Starting Skill: Per Tradition. Music (Bard), Theology (Cleric), Ciphers (Druid), Anatomy (Warlock), Herbalism (Witch) or Mathematics (Wizard).

Starting Items: One Implement of each kind known, a robe or gown and a knife.

+1 MD per level
A. +2 Implements
B. Book Casting
C. +1 Implement
D. Orb Casting

Implements: When a Magic User casts a spell, they do so with some kind of magic implement, which modifies how the spell is cast. At first level, Magic Users pick two of the following four options: Chalk, Potions, Scrolls, and Wands.

Chalk: The classic way to cast a spell is to draw out an arcane diagram with chalk and then summon up a spirit to do your bidding. This sort of ritualism takes extra time (ten minutes to summon and ten to dismiss) but grants extra power: spells cast this way replace their lowest die rolled with a six, and instead of rolling for mishaps, doubles on a casting roll permit the spirit escape its bonds to cause magical mischief until it is dismissed. Note that the literal chalk isn't the implement, so much as the symbols that the chalk is used to draw. Literal chalk isn't needed, as long as the symbols are all there. Witches, Wizards and Warlocks all use diagrams and can summon the same spirits.

Potions: Instead of casting the spell directly, one may brew the spell into a potion. Each MD spent doing so produces ten drops of Potion of X, where X is the spell used. When drinking a potion, choose how many [dice] to drink, roll to discover the [sum] and deduct that many drops from the bottle. If the potion had fewer drops remaining, reduce [sum] accordingly. If this would result in a mishap or Doom, the imbiber suffers rather than the brewer. If someone drinks two potions at once, they suffer a mishap from the school of the latest potion. Witches and Druids commonly brew potions. Clerics 'bless' 'holy water' which is essentially the same stuff, but called something different because of religion.

Scrolls: Each scroll has the magic words for a particular spell written in big bold letters, right at the top. Read the words, cast the spell. But it also has a bunch of other words after that, explaining about how to appease the spirit that grants access to this spell. If you do what the scroll says while resting, your MD come back on a 1-4 instead of a 1-3 when casting this spell. Otherwise the spell works exactly once, then refuses to be cast until you honor the deal. Bards lure spirits with musical performances and Clerics with heartfelt prayers. Warlocks have their contracts, which lay out specific requirements from their patrons instead. Any Magic User trained in the correct skill (Music, Theology, Contract Law) can correctly use a Scroll of the corresponding kind.

Wands: Each Wand is taken from a tree that is either naturally weird and magic, or has been purposefully grown in some arcane fashion that makes it magical. If you push magic through a Wand, the spell goes off at whatever you happen to be pointing it at. This extra layer of insulation makes the spell more reliable, but also reduces the potential impact: the first MD on each spell always comes out as a three instead of being rolled. This means that you'll never spend your last die when casting with a Wand, but that your spells will always be that much weaker. Druids and Wizards use Wands or two-handed staves carved from wand-wood. Bards similarly play instruments carved from wand-wood, which work the same way.

Magic Users start out with one spell for each Implement they know. For example, a Bard would start out with a Scroll (in musical notation) for one spell and a Wand (in instrument form) for another. Wizards start with the summoning diagram for a spell-spirit, a stick of Chalk and a Wand (or staff) for another spell. Third level Magic Users learn to use an extra kind of Implement from this list.

Book Casting: After an adventure or two worth of exposure to other people who cast magic very differently from how they do, a second level Magic User learns to translate other magical traditions into something more familiar: Spellbooks. By spending an hour studying an Implement (including someone else's Spellbook) the Magic User can puzzle out a method to cast any of the spells found within. This forgoes all of the benefits of Implement-based spellcasting. Magic Users can spend a Season to make a new Implement for any spell learned this way..

Orb Casting: Orbs are in some ways the ultimate magical Implement. Lesser Orbs can capture any spell, trapping it within the Orb and denying it to the prior caster until the spell is released. Greater Orbs can do the same thing to any sapient being, trapping them body and soul to create a unique new spell based on their innermost magical nature. Yet both forms of Orb are jealous things, only willing to release their grip on their current prisoner if presented with one yet greater (ie. more MD/HD than the current spell/creature trapped inside).

You may craft a Lesser Orb with a Season of work in a place at least thirteen leagues away from any other Orb, be it Lesser or Greater. Should you suffer a terminal Doom while wielding a Lesser Orb, it will consume you just before you would suffer your ordinary fate, elevating itself to the status of Greater Orb in the process. Should the Greater Orb be recovered and your release secured, you remain free from your Doom. This is always harder than escaping normally.

[GLOG] Psion

Special: This class uses what I'm calling XYZ templates. The idea is simple: By default, you advance through this class from A to B to C to D. But if you get Special Training (in this case, to master your psionic powers) you can instead choose to advance to the X template, instead of whichever was next in ABCD order. If you do so, you now advance X to Y to Z going forward. You are still limited to four total templates, but you could be a Psion ABCX, ABXY or AXYZ instead of being a Psion ABCD.

Starting Skills & Equipment: per Paradigm

A. Paradigm, +1 Wild Talent
B. Improved Control, +1 Wild Talent
C. Telepathy +1 Wild Talent
D. Improved Control, +1 Wild Talent

X. Clarity, +1 Talent
Y. Telepathy, +1 Talent
Z. Sensor, +1 Talent

Δ. Apotheosis

Paradigm: When a Psion first manifests their psionic powers, they can only tap into them on an intuitive level, based on how they conceptualize their powers. Choose one of the five major Paradigms to represent this intuitive understanding. The choice of Paradigm decides what sorts of powers the Psion can access without dedicated pisonic training to broaden their horizons.

Wild Talent: Roll 1d4 on the powers chart for the Psion's chosen Paradigm. This is their current manifestation of psionic powers. Whenever they tap into it, they'll have access to that power for ten minutes. Then, they roll a 1d6 on their Paradigm's chart. If they retain their current power, it is available immediately. If not, they will gain the indicated replacement in an hour's time.

Track the power for each instance of Wild Talent independently. Having access to a power from multiple instances of Wild Talent does not make it stronger, but does mean that they hold an extra copy in reserve. Each Paradigm gives benefits and penalties for having Wild Talents. This is one per Wild Talent slot.

Clarity: If an intuitive Psion receives training, they convert all of their existing Wild Talents into regular Talents. These do not cause the mental side effects that Wild Talents do and last a full hour when used (instead of ten minutes). When that hour is up, the Psion chooses a different power from either of the power's source paradigms (so Mind Blade would let you pick any Discipline or Domination power to replace it) to access in an hour's time. A trained Psion can leapfrog their way over to any power out there, if they have enough time to reconfigure.

Telepathy: The Psion gains the ability to mentally communicate with anyone within 30'. Every creature understands telepathy.

Improved Control: At Templates B and D, an intuitive Psion improves their control over their powers. When rolling after using a Wild Talent, the 5th and 6th entries respectively let the Psion choose any power from their paradigm and gain it immediately, instead of retaining their current power. Psions who attain Clarity after gaining this learn a bonus Skill.

Sensor: If someone in Telepathy range has psionic powers, you know who they are and exactly which powers they currently have.

Apotheosis: A Psion achieves Apotheosis by wielding all four powers known to a given Paradigm simultaneously. The specific benefits depend on the Paradigm in question.

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Paradigms

Astral Body
The Psion conceptualizes their powers as invisible limbs that they have only just now discovered how to use. Their self-image becomes increasingly monstrous as their powers develop, leading many to modify their outer form in attempts to align it with their inner self. -1/+1 to Reaction with normies/outcasts per Wild Talent slot.

Starting Skill: Anatomy.
Starting Equipment: Concealing cloak, mirror, sketchbook.

1. Sense Attention. Understood as growing extra eyes.
2. Telekinesis. Understood as strong astral limbs.
3. Iron Body. Understood as a protective shell.
4. ID Injection. Understood as a toxic bite/sting.
5. Retain Current Power. If B Template, choose instead.
6. Retain Current Power. If D Template, choose instead.

Apotheosis: The Psion can choose to enter a cocoon. If left there for a week, they emerge in a new body, having been restored to perfect health and youth. They may freely alter their physical features while doing so, so long as the changes are within the range of variations for the Psion's species.

Sixth Sense
The Psion conceptualizes their powers as an expansion of their senses, revealing new information about the world around them. For most, this rapidly becomes as essential to daily life as sight or hearing. +1/-1 to Init vs. those sensed/not sensed prior to rolling per Wild Talent slot.

Starting Skill: Poetry.
Starting Equipment: Waterproof cloak, incense, chapbook.

1. Sense Attention. Experienced from others viewpoint.
2. Sense Emotions. Experienced as auras around others.
3. Sense Danger. Experienced as sudden tactile dread.
4. Sense Thoughts. Experienced as hearing thoughts.
5. Retain Current Power. If B Template, choose instead.
6. Retain Current Power. If D Template, choose instead.

Apotheosis: The Psion receives a vision of a possible future, based on how events might play out without this warning. The Psion does not get to choose what they see, but the longer they go without using this ability, the more important the events they get glimpses of. Overuse simply produces deja vu.

Spirit Energy
The Psion conceptualizes their powers as their emotions spilling out onto the world around them, in the form of dangerous energy fields. When they get angry, things break. Living a normal life means bottling up all emotions. -1/+1 to Saves vs emotion when using/not using your psionic powers per Wild Talent slot.

Starting Skill: Herbalism.
Starting Equipment: Padded cloak, soothing tea, dream journal.

1. Telekinesis. Felt as their emotions latching onto things.
2. Sense Emotions. Felt as a ripple in the world energy.
3. Levitation. Felt as floating, as if in a cosmic ocean.
4. Pyrokinesis. Felt as emotional energy grounding itself.
5. Retain Current Power. If B Template, choose instead.
6. Retain Current Power. If D Template, choose instead.

Apotheosis: The Psion becomes unstoppable. Their powers do not fade with time and anything that would kill or incapacitate them instead simply disables one power of their choice. They remain in this state until all of their powers have been disabled. A Psion in this state cannot manifest new powers until it ends.

Discipline
The Psion conceptualizes their powers as the result of intense training and self-discipline bringing their body under the full control of their mind. This tends to make such Psions come off as elitist snobs to ordinary warriors. +1/-1 to Morale/Loyalty for all hirelings recruited per Wild Talent slot.

Starting Skill: Acrobatics.
Starting Equipment: Short cloak, nutrient powder, prayer book.

1. Iron Body. Seen as intense training honing the body.
2. Sense Danger. Seen as a honed awareness and foresight.
3. Levitation. Seen as the power of mind over matter.
4. Mind Blade. Seen as a mental construct. Numbing, paralytic.
5. Retain Current Power. If B Template, choose instead.
6. Retain Current Power. If D Template, choose instead.

Apotheosis: The Psion gains the ability to contact anyone else who has ever achieved this particular Apotheosis via Telepathy regardless of distance. This lasts until they achieve another Apotheosis, but does not remove them from the list of people who can be contacted this way. This works even after the Psion dies.

Domination
The Psion conceptualizes their powers as a sign of their special destiny and unique superiority to other people around them. This isn't actually true, but it's easy to think that when you can set people on fire with your mind. -1 to all Reaction rolls but +1 to Hireling Loyalty per Wild Talent slot.

Starting Skill: Theatre.
Starting Equipment: Pauldroned cloak, sinister mask, manifesto.

1. ID Injection. Understood as manipulating naive fools.
2. Sense Thoughts. Understood as being a super genius.
3. Pyrokinesis. Understood as punishing their inferiors.
4. Mind Blade. Understood as an agonizing symbol of might.
5. Retain Current Power. If B Template, choose instead.
6. Retain Current Power. If D Template, choose instead.

Apotheosis: The Psion may force one intelligent being that they can see to save or swap bodies with the Psion. This effect is permanent, even after the Apotheosis state ends. The Psion can do this only once per Apotheosis.

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Powers

Id Injection - The Psion chooses an emotion that they have felt strongly in the past week and injects it into the mind of someone within 10 feet. They must Save or experience the emotion just as strongly as the Psion did at the heights of their emotion. If the Psion was still feeling the chosen emotion when using this power, they immediately enter into a state of profound calm and peace.

Iron Body - Whenever the Psion would fail a Save or be made to roll for Death and Dismemberment, they may choose to use this power to ignore whatever harm just befell them and become immune to equal or lesser dangers of the same general type for the rest of the duration. For example, a Psion could use this to cross a wall of fire and then be able to walk on hot coals right after.

Levitation - Any number of creatures or objects within a 10 foot radius cylinder float into the air at a maximum rate of 10 feet per round. The Psion can make objects float upward or downward, rotate around the axis of the cylinder or move inward or outward from the center, but all objects must undergo the same operation at the same time. This can do up to 2d6 damage via battery with debris and potentially more if used to create a cunning trap. The Psion cannot move objects more than 30' away from themself.

Mind Blade - The Psion manifests a glowing energy blade in their hands. It does 1d6 damage to anyone it hits and counts as magic for interacting with ghosts and the like. This weapon cannot kill and does not leave physical wounds on those struck by it. Instead, those defeated by it are left unconscious and without any clear memories of the entire period that the blade existed.

Pyrokinesis - The Psion sets one thing on fire with their mind. This does 2d6 damage immediately, and then normal on fire damage from that point on. As long as the Psion can see the fire they lit and has this power active, the fire cannot be extinguished. The Psion is immune to all flames created via pyrokinesis while this power is active, even those generated by other Psions.

Sense Attention - The Psion senses everyone that can directly sense them in the exact moment they use this power. They learn how many such creatures there are, where they are located, how they can sense the Psion and what their intentions are toward the Psion, if any. For the remaining duration, the Psion can tell whether each creature caught in the initial snapshot can still sense them, but not the other, more detailed information.

Sense Danger - The Psion knows if an action has the potential to cause them immediate harm (ie. before the end of their turn) and what the nature of that harm would be. It does not reveal the cause and effect relationship between the action and the harm. This power only provides one warning per turn, so no playing hot or cold with the GM, unless you spend a turn for each question.

Sense Emotions - The Psion chooses an emotion and learns both the most recent and most powerful occasion where that emotion was felt at the current location. They receive the reasons for both emotional imprints, all jumbled up together unless both are the same occasion. For the remaining duration, the Psion gets a one word summary of the emotional state of anyone they encounter.

Sense Thoughts - The Psion chooses a general topic. If anyone within 100' is thinking about that topic, the Psion receives a mental impression of that person and whether they have broadly positive, negative or neutral feelings about the topic. Knowing what a creature is thinking in detail requires laying both hands on the creature's head (or equivalent) and is very obvious.

Telekinesis - The Psion manifests the psychic equivalent of two giant-sized hands, which they can use to manipulate objects or people in their environment. Treat these hands as if they each have Ogre-equivalent strength and grappling abilities. The hands act at the start of the Psion's next turn and have what they are about to do clearly telegraphed by the Psion visibly miming it.

Randomly Generating Evil Spirits

Let's start by defining some terms. An Evil Spirit is some sort of ghost, or demon or nebulous force of evil. They cannot be permanently defeated or destroyed, but can be Bound, which sharply limits their ability to cause harm. Binding an evil spirit requires identifying their current Vessel and subduing it. For each kind of vessel, there is a particular Binding that will trap the evil within. This process is complicated by the fact that the evil spirit will use its various supernatural powers to fight off anyone trying to re-bind it. To deal with these Manifestations, one needs to figure out the specific Counters to its powers. Even if you are successful in binding an evil spirit, there is always some way for it to escape its current binding into a new vessel.

To generate an Evil Spirit, roll on the table below: once for its current Vessel (and the associated Binding method) and between one and three times for Manifestations of its power (and associated Counters). If defeated, roll once to see what new Vessel it can potentially escape into, but don't tell the players which it is. Its powers remain unchanged by the transformation.

1d6	Vessel	Binding	Manifestations	Counters
1	Miasma	Incense	Disease	Treatment
2	Corpse	Funeral	Whispers	Conviction
3	Possession	Rebellion	Emotion	Serenity
4	Location	Occupation	Poltergeist	Courage
5	Object	Abandon/Destroy	Apparition	Alertness
6	Summoned	Slaying	Corruption	Sunlight

For example, let's suppose we rolled 6, 4, 5. That's Summoned, Poltergeist and Apparition. So the evil spirit is physically manifested as some sort of demon or other monster and in order to bind it we need to physically vanquish it while it uses its telekinesis and illusions to fend off any attackers. To overcome these, we must show courage and remain vigilant, but otherwise just stabbing the monster with a sword works. Afterward, the GM rolls a 3, indicating that performing the ritual to summon the evil spirit incorrectly will result in the ritualist being Possessed. Perfect.

Miasma
The spirit takes the form of a foul scent, fog or stormy weather. It is diffuse, with no specific location and can manifest its powers anywhere the bad airs exist. The answer to this is incense: the presence of good, clean smoke at the location of the evil spirit's escape from its prior binding will force it to assume a temporary ghostly form that can be re-bound. From here, all the exorcists need to do is force the evil spirit into an air-tight container. In 5-6 cases, the miasma will still be a miasma when released, rather than assuming a new form.

Corpse
The spirit is occupying a dead body. This gives it a physical vessel to work with, one which is already dead (and thus cannot be killed) and fully controlled by the spirit (instead of having partial control, like with a possession). The answer to this is to perform a funeral. Burial or cremation are both fine, the key is that the body be laid to rest in a grave or urn or tomb. As long as the remains don't get disturbed, the evil spirit will be contained within. Trying to attack the body won't accomplish anything, as the evil spirit can repair any wounds enough to keep using the corpse.

Possession
The spirit has taken over the body of a living creature. This gives it a physical vessel to work with, one which is alive and can pass as one of the living. If the body is killed, they can keep controlling it as a Corpse (see above). The answer here is to get the person being possessed to fight back. If successful, they can contain the evil spirit within themselves, binding it. If they go on to have kids post-binding, one of their offspring will inherit the binding on death, keeping the evil spirit bound. The spirit escapes if the current holder dies without an heir OR if the current holder releases it into a new type of vessel.

Location
The spirit is occupying some specific physical location, existing as a nebulous force within and only able to act upon those who enter that location. Initially, it can act whenever it wants, with manifestations reaching out from shadows or other relatively unlit spaces within.   Spending the night from sunset to sunrise within and not being driven out will suppress these manifestations, making the location (mostly) safe to occupy. Disturbances such as bloodshed, dark magic and the like can free the trapped evil to enter a new vessel outside the location. Destroying the location just releases the evil as a Miasma, so most try to avoid doing that.

Object
The spirit is bound to a particular item and can only easily act on the item's owner or those the owner gives permission to act upon. Stealing the item transfers 'ownership'; evil spirits don't care about property rights. Initially, if the item is cast aside it will find its way back to its current 'owner' on its own, teleporting or coming back to them by chance. There is a 4 in 6 chance that the item can be abandoned completely by suppressing its power and leaving it somewhere and never coming back. This effectively 'binds' the item as an item again, leaving it to wait for a new owner. In the remaining 2 in 6 cases, destroying the item is the only thing that works, and doing so immediately releases the evil spirit into a new, unbound form that has to be bound independently from there.

Summoned
The spirit has manifested a physical form using pure magic. It might look like a man with horns, like some sort of giant animal, or like a blob of evil goo. Stats as a monster of the GM's choice. The important thing is that it is tangible and can be physically defeated via the application of violence. Doing so banishes it back to some sort of shadow realm, from which it can be summoned up by foolish ritualists who want to invite evil into the world to serve their own ends. If they do the ritual correctly (not a guarantee), the ritualist picks what form the summoned evil will take instead of rolling.

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Disease
This evil spirit causes some sort of disease-like symptom. There's no special counter here, just a deadline for any attempts to deal with the evil spirit: wait too long preparing and the disease will claim more victims. The major distinction between an 'ordinary' disease and a miasmatic disease spirit is that sickness caused by an evil spirit can't be cured by rest or medicine alone. You have to go do some ghost-busting or the patients won't ever recover.

Whispers
This evil spirit talks to people, typically by whispering in their minds. This may not sound like much of a threat until you remember that spirits are immortal and indestructible and have been around since the dawn of time. It's a rare evil whispering spirit that doesn't know any foul rituals, ruinous blackmail or compelling cult recruitment tactics. The counter to these is Conviction - having something else to believe in and thus reason to shut out the evil voices.

Emotion
This evil spirit has influence over those experiencing a particular strong emotion, always the same one for the same spirit. It picks a course of action and anyone nearby feeling its emotion in the moment will find that action to be unusually compelling. It might make angry people all want to pick a fight with one guy in particular, or make lustful people want to have affairs, or make despair-filled people seek revenge. The answer here is getting away from the emotion the spirit uses. This can look like trying to calm a bunch of people down, or it can look like luring the spirit's current vessel away from places where that emotion is being experienced.

Poltergeist
The evil spirit can physically hurl things around, using telekinesis. This needs to ramp up over time, starting with weird noises and moving into items getting jostled before the turns to bookshelves getting knocked over and possession victims floating through the air. Not showing fear prevents this ramp up from happening, as the poltergeist activity draws heavily on the reaction of those observing it to bridge the gap between the spiritual and the physical. No visible reaction means no visible effects from the poltergeist.

Apparition
The evil spirit can repeat things that it has observed in the form of single-sense illusions. This is most commonly used to mislead humans, luring them into traps or natural hazards. It is distinct from Whispers in that it does not provide the Evil Spirit with the ability to understand and communicate in human languages, which can result in it blindly repeating a conversation that proves incriminating toward it. The best counter here is to keep one's wits and have a teammate on hand to double check what you're seeing.

Corruption
The evil spirit can mark things with its corruptions. The walls start bleeding, the milk goes sour, the water in the well starts smelling like sulphur. Evil spirits will ordinarily use this to target similarly evil humans, tormenting them for their crimes as often as blackmailing them over them. Here, sunlight remains the best disinfectant - literally in the sense that it stops the direct symptoms of this manifestation and metaphorically, in that if the evil spirit has latched on to an evil person, not learning the truth will let the spirit to keep resisting.