Geist the Sin-Eaters - Quickstart.pdf - Geist the Sin-Eaters - Dimzard

Free Quickstart Rules and Adventure

Begin Your Journey Across The Threshold

This free booklet gives you and ive of your friends everything you

need to play your irst game of Geist: The Sin-Eaters, White Wolf’s

all-new Storytelling game set in the World of Darkness. It contains

all of the rules and characters you need to start, as well as “The Re-

turn of Mr. Monster,” a complete introductory scenario. All you need

is a few 10-sided dice and you’re ready to play.

Geist: The Sin-Eaters goes on sale August 2009.

ISBN 978-1-58846-397-5

WW60508

FREE!

PRINTED IN CANADA

www.worldofdarkness.com

Second Chance

You knew when it happened that it was the end.

Everything you’d hoped to be, all those things you

wanted to do before you died, all of it was gone. All

the promise of your life winked out in an instant,

and why? It just didn’t make sense. In that split

second before you became an obituary, you looked

back on your life and–no matter how long you

lived, no matter how much you had done–it wasn’t

enough. So when that other part of you irst came,

you listened. When it whispered in a voice like water

over tiny, polished rocks, you nodded desperately

and agreed to anything, whatever it wanted, just

for one more chance. And the moment passed, and

you were alive.

But you were not alone.

After your near-death experience, everything

changed. Your friends say that it was confronting

your own mortality that made you change. They

do their best to accommodate the new you, but

sometimes, when they look in your eyes, they see a

stranger staring back. Ever since the event, you’ve

been a home to the other, bound to it like a spiritual

conjoined twin. And sometimes, you need to step

away from your old life and do what the other needs,

even if it’s only to shut it up for a little bit, to silence

the voice so you can sleep.

You are now part of the World of Darkness , a world

very much like our own, save that the shadows hide

very real monsters from the ignorant masses, preying

upon them, playing with them or haunting them.

In Geist: The Sin-Eaters , the seventh Storytell-

ing game set in the World of Darkness , you and

your friends tell the story of those people who have

cheated death and found a new lease on life by al-

lowing themselves to be bound with shades known

as geists . This is not a deal to be struck lightly. Geists

clamor and claw on the other side, so determined to

reach their goals that they seek out people like your

character, on the brink of death. But simply dying (or

almost dying) is not enough. A geist needs someone

already touched by death: a sensitive or medium. A

deal is struck, and the sensitive returns to the land of

the living with a passenger in tow. The Bound cannot

simply go on with their lives, for the scales have fallen

from their eyes. Their brush with mortality forever

alters lives; once you have crossed the threshold,

you cannot return unscathed. Those who return ind

the world a darker place, full of shadows and ghosts.

Always ghosts. And the geist is not simply a spectator,

hoping their hosts will ill their part of the bargain.

They whisper and cajole and sometimes force the

issue, acting of their own volition.

Each Sin-Eater deals with their situation differ-

ently. Some take on the role of judge, reaping those

souls they deem worthy of punishment and saving

those they deem to be innocents, according to their

own personal code. Others listen to the pleading of

ghosts only to use their secrets for their own beneit.

Still others, having touched death, are determined

to enjoy every moment of life.

And geists are not simply ghosts. They are ghosts

distilled into an almost pure expression of violence,

need or sickness. Each geist has come unmoored

from their living identity and embraced the essence

of their death. The ghost who used to be Tommaso

“Tommy” Sorvino might remember his life and still

nurse a grudge against the Manetti family for double

crossing him, but that person has been so shaped by

the violence of his life and death that he has been

transformed in a crucible of bullets and blood into

the Trigger Man.

T he Game

Geist is a Storytelling (or roleplaying) game. In

it, a group of players cooperates to tell a story. Each

player takes on the role of a single Sin-Eater, except

for the Storyteller. This player essentially takes on

every other role, describing the world to the other

players, acting out the parts of other characters and

determining what challenges the players’ characters

face. Players roll dice to determine whether their

characters can overcome the challenges before them.

In a typical exchange, the Storyteller describes the

scene in which the players’ characters ind them-

selves. (“You rise from a night’s rest in the small

shack on the outskirts of town you use as a hideout.

A scratching at the door tells you someone is trying

to get in. What do you do?”) The players in turn

describe their characters’ actions, usually in the irst

person. (“I sneak up to the door and look through

the peep hole.”) The Storyteller then describes the

results of the action, and he and the players go back

and forth until the scene is resolved. Dice are rolled

when players have their characters try things that

aren’t guaranteed success. Jumping out of a moving

car without getting hurt would require a dice roll;

leaving a stationary one wouldn’t.

T his is Your

Geist uses a set of rules called the Storytelling

System. Many of the rules are introduced in the

scenario proper or on the character sheets, but there

are a few basics to go over irst.

Rolling Dice: When rolling dice in the Storytell-

ing System, you do not add the numbers together.

Instead, any single die that comes up 8 or better is

considered a success . You usually need only one suc-

cess to accomplish a task, but more is always better

(causing more damage in combat, for example). Any

die that comes up 0 (considered a 10) counts as a

success and can be rolled again to potentially get

another success. If you roll no successes at all, your

character has failed that action.

Dice Pools: The number of dice you roll to at-

tempt something is called your dice pool . It is usu-

ally made up of the total of one Attribute and one

Skill on your character sheet, along with modiiers

imposed by adverse conditions or any special equip-

ment your character uses.

Modiiers: The Storyteller determines what modi-

iers apply to any dice pool. These either add to or

subtract from the number of dice rolled in the dice

pool. Modiiers usually come from tools used, Merits

the character has or general circumstances. The

Storyteller should grant or impose a bonus or pen-

alty if the circumstances are especially favorable or

deleterious, usually ranging from +5 to –5 (although

modiiers tend to be closer to +2 to –2). For example,

an attempt to climb a wall that is slick with rain and

slime could suffer a –2 penalty, whereas doing so on

one with a few handholds could gain a +1.

Chance Die: If modiiers reduce your dice pool to

zero or fewer dice, you should roll a single die called

a chance die . A 10 rolled on a chance die generates

a single success, while any other result is a failure.

Rolling a 1 on a chance die indicates a dramatic

failure, and the Storyteller should describe especially

troublesome results (a gun jamming, a blowout dur-

ing a car chase, etc.).

Actions: Almost anything a character does is

considered a simple action . You determine the dice

pool, roll the dice, and see whether you succeed or

fail. In combat you can perform one simple action

per turn.

Sometimes you’ll be asked to take an extended

action , which represents doing something over a

period of time, like researching something in a li-

brary or searching a room. In this case, each roll of

the dice represents a ixed amount of time (usually

10 minutes, but it varies for some more involved

actions). You accumulate successes from roll to roll

until you run out of time or get a certain number

described in the text.

Some actions can also be contested , which means

two people are working against each other, such as

in an arm-wrestling match or when a character tries

to sneak past a watchful guard. In a contested action,

each player (or the player and the Storyteller) rolls

the dice pool for his character, and the person with

the most successes wins.

Finally, some actions are relexive , which means

they happen automatically and don’t take up any

time. You can perform them and still perform a

simple action in that turn.

Turns and Scenes: A turn is a 3-second period used

to track time passing in combat. A scene is a longer

period of time, usually as long as it takes for everyone

to do what they want in a particular place.

T he Character Sheet

This booklet contains character sheets for the ive

characters players will use in “Mr. Monster Returns.”

These sheets contain all the game numbers that de-

ine a character’s capabilities, divided into a variety

of traits. Most traits are rated from one dot (•) to ive

(•••••), much like a star rating system for movies.

Different traits represent different things.

Attributes represent inherent capabilities, such as

Strength, Intelligence or Presence. Nearly every roll

uses one of these as a basis for the dice pool.

Geists, spirits and ghosts use three special At-

tributes: Power, Finesse and Resistance. Power

represents a ghost’s ability to affect its environment.

Finesse represents a ghost’s capability in interacting

with or manipulating elements of its environment.

Resistance represents a ghost’s ability to withstand

forces that could banish or destroy it.

This booklet contains everything you and ive of

your friends will need to play your irst game of Geist ,

except for some pencils, paper for notes and several

10-sided dice. (These specialty dice are available in

most hobby shops and are sometimes called “d10s.”)

Those of you who are going to be players should

read over the character backgrounds in the back of

this booklet and choose the one you want to play.

The Storyteller should read the rest of the booklet

in preparation before playing.

T he Rules

Skills represent learned abilities, like Firearms or

Medicine. A word or phrase in parentheses next to

a Skill indicates a Specialty, an area of the overall

Skill in which the character is particularly talented.

If you are asked to roll a dice pool in which your

character doesn’t have the right Skill, you suffer a

penalty of either –1 (for a missing Physical or Social

Skill) or –3 (for a missing Mental Skill). If, on the

other hand, you have a relevant specialty in the Skill

in your dice pool, you get a +1 modiier.

Health determines how wounded your character

is, and it has both dots and points. Your character’s

dots are illed in on your character sheet, and they

represent the total number of Health points avail-

able to him when he is uninjured. His lost Health

points are recorded in the corresponding boxes, de-

noting his current state of health. (See “Health and

Damage” for how to mark off Health points and the

effects of wound penalties.) Geists, spirits and ghosts

use Corpus points instead of Health points.

Willpower represents your character’s reserves.

You can spend only one point of Willpower on any

roll, and you get three additional dice in your dice

pool. Alternatively, you can spend a point to raise

your Defense trait by two against a single attack.

Willpower is valuable, and it’s regained by acting

in accordance with your character’s Virtue and Vice

(see individual character descriptions). It is ranked

from 1 to 10, unlike most of the other traits.

Merits are special edges a character has, such as

Contacts, Resources or Striking Looks. The effects of

each are explained in the character’s description.

Defense and Initiative Modiiers are traits used

in combat, and are explained below.

Speed is the number of yards a character can move

in one combat turn and still perform an action. A

character can run up to twice his Speed rating yards

in a turn if he sacriices his action. Speed will most

likely come into play in a chase.

C ombat

Next, have everyone roll Initiative, which is the

result of the roll of a single die + the character’s

Initiative modiier as listed on the character sheet.

This is a rare case in which you add the number that

comes up on a die to the value of your trait, instead

of rolling a dice pool and looking for a success.

Starting with the character with the highest

Initiative result and continuing to the lowest, each

character gets to take a single action (usually an at-

tack). The player can choose to yield her character’s

action until later in the Initiative queue, or until the

next turn if she wishes. The Storyteller resolves each

character’s action before asking the next player what

her character does.

If a character attacks another character, the at-

tacker rolls the appropriate dice pool:

Unarmed close combat: Strength + Brawl, minus

target’s Defense and armor (if any)

Armed close combat: Strength + Weaponry,

minus target’s Defense and armor (if any)

Touching an opponent: Dexterity + Brawl, minus

target’s Defense

Ranged combat (guns and bows): Dexterity +

Firearms, minus target’s armor (if any)

Ranged combat (thrown weapons): Dexterity +

Athletics, minus target’s Defense and armor (if any)

Add bonus dice based upon what weapon is being

used or what effect is being performed, then subtract

penalties for circumstance conditions. The player

rolls the remaining pool. Each success equates to

a Health point of damage inlicted, the type of

which is determined by the nature of the attack.

The Storyteller describes the attack and wound in

narrative terms.

Once everyone has acted, a new turn starts and

the player with the highest Initiative gets to act

again. Players do not make new Initiative rolls

every turn.

Violence is common among the Sin-Eaters. Some

of them are so illed by aggressive deathly energies

that they simply can’t avoid it. When a ight breaks

out, it can be important to keep track of who is doing

what, and how badly they are hurting each other.

First, the Storyteller tells the players their char-

acters are entering combat. Until the combat ends,

everyone acts turn-by-turn, with each character

getting one chance to act each turn.

C omplications

Avoiding Damage in Close Combat: Your charac-

ter’s Defense trait represents his instinctive ability to

duck and weave and make an enemy’s close-combat

attacks more dificult, and so serves as a penalty to

incoming attacks. If your character hasn’t yet acted this

turn and is willing to forgo that action, he can dodge,

which doubles his Defense for the rest of the turn.

If your character is attacked multiple times in the

same turn, however, it becomes harder for him to avoid

being hurt. For every attack targeted at him past the

irst, reduce the character’s Defense by 1 (to a minimum

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