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STATS

Stats are bidirectional -- that is, higher values are not uniformly better or worse than low values. Depending on the situation, a low roll might be better than a high roll. Minimizing or maximizing a stat can be risky (both structurally and situationally), but can be very rewarding. Stats can be anywhere from 1 to 8. You can spend as many or as few points on your character as you wish.

Stats are rolled with d4's. That is, when the GM calls for a Purpose roll, and your character has a Purpose of 5, you roll 5d4. At the end of each session (after shifting), each stat must be changed by 1 in either direction.

FLUX: A character's tendency to depart from the current reality. A high Flux can let a character ignore the "rules" more easily, but limits their ability to exploit the nature of the world around them. A low-Flux character will find fewer actions available to them, but they will be generally more consistent in their ability to interact with the environment.

PURPOSE: A character's tendency to advance their interests. A character with high Purpose will find tasks that advance their long-term goals easier, but are more likely to be stymied by distractions and roadblocks. Low-Purpose characters are flexible in achieving short-term objectives (and working with high-Purpose characters), but have more trouble making progress towards their greater aims.

PRESENCE: A character's tendency to see and be seen. A high Presence will give a character insight into an environment, and will give the environment insight into them. Characters with low Presence can maintain a lower profile, but have to take each reality at face value.

HAVEN: A character's tendency to identify and locate "safe" options. A high Haven gives a character a higher chance to locate help, shelter, resources, and safety, while low-Haven characters are more inclined to find foes, adventure, opportunities, and challenges.

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SHIFTING

Shifting is the act of opening a passageway to a new reality. Only one character can shift the party at a time. The GM rolls 4d8 in secret and designs a reality with the following qualities based on the rolls:

SAPIENCE: The degree to which the reality is defined by the presence of intelligence, be it humanity, other life, AI, deities, etc. 1 is largely inanimate or unintelligent forces at work, while 8 is controlled and influenced largely by intelligence(s).

FLUX: How flexible the "rules" are for the given reality. Analogous to the character stat of the same name. 1 allows for almost no rule-breaking (our reality would be 1-2), while 8 makes almost anything possible.

ENERGY: How much activity and literal energy is present in a reality. 1 is inactive and stagnant, while 8 is dynamic and energetic.

SCOPE: How much there is to the reality, overall. 1 could be explored to the fullest within a day, while an 8 could not be explored in a lifetime.

Additionally, the shifting character can roll Haven to influence the extent to which the reality they connect to is defined by help, shelter, resources, and safety, as opposed to foes, adventure, opportunity, and challenges.

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CHARACTER SHEET

Identity: Something to identify a character by. This can be their given name, their ideal name, a moniker that best fits them, whatever. It just has to be unique and consistent.

Aliases: Whatever the character actually identifies as, along with what situation they would use that alias in.

Salient Characteristics: Whatever would be apparent to the average observer. Physical description, immediately obvious aspects of demeanor, voice, dress, etc. These are apparent regardless of Presence roll (though they can be concealed by mundane means, such as a wig).

Biography: A fairly superficial list of events and life stages that have had a significant impact on the life of the character. These characteristics can be concealed with a Presence roll of 1-7.

Goals: What the character is looking for in the short term and the long term, as well as what the underlying desires that motivate these goals. These can be concealed with a Presence roll of 1-10, and should be specific enough to be useful when resolving Purpose rolls.

[Note that a high Presence roll does not necessarily mean that every member of a reality's population automatically knows this about your character -- it simply means that this knowledge is distributed, consciously or otherwise, among the portion of reality that said character is in.]

Tweaks: Each character gets six "tweaks" in the format of "Character has [quality/aspect]; therefore, they treat their [Stat] score as X [higher/lower] for purposes of Y." at character creation. W can be anything that justifies the situational stat adjustment. At character creation, X is distributed into 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1. Y can be any task or situation that's neither vague nor overspecific. "Skills" in traditional RPGs are solid guidelines for this, but characters are not restricted to any set list of tweaks. Tweaks can be added, adjusted, or removed by the GM due to in-game events; these have fewer restrictions.

Equipment: Like tweaks, but the effects are at least theoretically transferable. Not limited to literal physical equipment. At character creation, each character gets a Level 2 piece of equipment, which tweaks a stat 2 in one direction for whatever task for which that equipment is particularly appropriate.

OPTIONAL: For characters joining later in the campaign, the GM can allow them to choose more Tweaks and Equipment such that they're on roughly equal footing with the rest of the party.

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