This game will be using Brass & Steel (v 1.5).  You can buy a copy through DriveThroughRPG if you want, but once your character is created, you wouldn't really need it (but it's interesting to have).  Information required to create your character will be provided in game.  Note that, while the rules as written extended Victoria's reign, I believe that Edward VII makes much more sense for this setting (and who knows, with magical healing, he could live longer than he did in our timeline).

Characters will be created with 600 character points.  I will be including the character sheets for some “sample characters” to help give an idea of what a reasonable build is (and where priorities might be for different characters), and you are welcome to swipe the sheet for your own character if it seems like something you'd like to play.

Over time, your character will become more capable.  I'm still working out a translation of “per session” from tabletop play to play-by-post, but up to 10 points can be earned in each such interval.  These points do not need to be immediately allocated; you can save them up to increase an attribute or skill (see the incremental columns for the number of points that would be needed).

The preference is that the characters will be British subjects, living in the provincial capital Constantinople of the British Near East, with direct or indirect (i.e. special skills for the ad hoc employment) ties to the British Special Branch.

To begin with, you want to think of the archetype that you're wanting to use—there's no hard and fast list of archetypes, but these will help you get a high concept of your character, which will help guide you through the rest of the creation of your character.

Archetype Examples (not an exhaustive list)

At this point, we're still in the high concept arena.  Your character will have certain priorities which are specific, unambiguous statements of things which are important to your character.  Think of these as signposts that signal where you want to take your character.

Priorities might become the launching point for a story hook.  This will help emphasize the character's personality and define what your character believes and wants, and themes you'd like to explore in the course of this game.  If that's still vague and nebulous, set this step to the side and come back later.

A background advantage deals with the social connections, resources, memberships in groups, and other obligations.  Certain types of gear are associated with these backgrounds (Mundane, Arcane, and Tech).  You may select one or more of these background advantages.  In general, you will have contacts and resources equal to the level of the background taken, but you may shift 1 point to better represent the character you have envisioned (for example, if you have a level 3, you may split as 4 contacts/2 resources or 4 resources/2 contacts rather than 3 contacts/3 resources).  Background advantages resources do not “stack” but should be coherent if you select more than one.

The cost for background advantages is as follows (although not all backgrounds have all five levels available—the number of levels will be noted with each)

Level 1 – 5 character points
Level 2 – 10 character points
Level 3 – 15 character points
Level 4 – 20 character points
Level 5 – 25 character points


Academic (four levels)

The lower end indicates an undergraduate career and connections to some old university buddies, while the higher end denotes a substantial career in academia, with professorships and access to resources and a wide network of academic contacts in the character's chosen field.  Resources granted are Mundane.

Arcane Connections (three levels)

This background indicates that the character is affiliated with an arcane group, or mentor, able to provide training, assistance with patterns, alchemical salts, and help with inoculation.  A starting character may choose to be inoculated up to the number of times equal to their level in this advantage. (More information about inoculation in the Arcanism post).  A character may begin with two patterns per level of arcane connection, up to the level permitted by their skills.  New patterns may be learned easily through an arcane connection, but may also be developed through research and practice. Resources granted are Mundane and Arcane

Aristocrat (five levels)

This background indicates that the character was born into the gentry of their home nation.  Higher levels indicate wealthier and better-connected families.  The resources granted are Mundane.  This background does not automatically grant noble title, that is a separate advantage.

Artist Bohemian (three levels)

From starving street artist to successful career artist, this background advantage grants modest Mundane resources and an extensive social network of artists and bohemians; at level 3, also a wealthy patron.

The Criminal Underworld (five levels)

From petty thieves and pickpockets at the low end to major crime bosses at the top level, this background advantage confers criminal and underworld connections and Mundane resources

Diplomat (four levels)

This background advantage denotes time spent in the diplomatic service of one nation or another.  At the first level, the character has experience as a low-level bureaucratic functionary or embassy staff.  At the highest level, the character has extensive diplomatic experience and Contacts are spread throughout international diplomatic circles.  Resources conferred are Mundane

From the Country (four levels)

This background indicates that the character was born in a village or small town and spent their formative years in rural environs.  At the lower levels are poor farmers, laborers and peddlers.  At the upper reaches are wealthy craftsmen, farmers, and merchants.  This background advantage grants
contacts for the appropriate rural social network and Mundane resources.

Intrepid Explorer (three levels)

This background advantage denotes time spent as an explorer, charting lesser known (by Europeans) portions of the globe.  Contacts granted by this background advantage are quite diverse, but are concentrated among other explorers and members of the Royal Geographic Society.  The resources granted are Mundane.

Inventor Engineer  (three levels)

At the lowest level, this background advantage denotes an independent tinkerer or a worker in the shop of a more successful inventor or engineer on a small airship.  At the third level, one has achieved a successful career in high-tech industry.  The resources granted are Mundane and Technological.

Life in the Clouds (four levels)

This background advantage indicates that the character has spent time as an airship crewman or, at higher levels, as the captain.  There is a brotherhood of sorts among independent airship captains and their crews.  Though rivalries for cargoes and routes can be fierce, airship crews will tend to set aside their differences to protect one of their own from an outsider.  In addition to other airship crews, Contacts include port authorities, smugglers, and anyone interested in airship travel and cargo handling.  Resources granted are Mundane.

Lucid Dreamer (Academic) (three levels)

This background indicates association with people engaged in the academic study of Dreaming.  The character probably studied with Freud, Jung, or a handful of other academic practitioners. This background advantage provides access to Mundane resources.

Lucid Dreamer (Street) (two levels)

Though many Dreamers learned their skills in the salon of one of the great Dream academicians, skill in lucid dreaming is extremely valuable to a certain class of criminal, and has filtered into the streets.  This background advantage indicates that the character has gained their dreaming abilities by less-than-respectable means.  Perhaps he was part of an organized crime gang or a student of an academic dreamer turned criminal.  Either way, this background offers contacts in the streets, the opium dens, and among criminal brotherhoods rather than the rarefied circles of academia.  The resources granted are Mundane.

Military Rank (Army/Navy/Aerospace Force) (four levels)

This background advantage indicates time spent in a military career.  Higher levels denote longer service and higher rank.  The first level can be seen as the lower enlisted ranks.  The second as senior enlisted ranks.  Third and fourth are officer ranks.  Contacts are available to the character in the appropriate branch of service, although at level 4, there may be crossover connections in other branches of service.  The resources granted by this background advantage are Mundane.

Minor Arcane Connections (one level)

This background indicates association with a group of minor arcanists.  This allows a character to learn arcane skills, and allows them to learn three charms at character creation.  This may represent connection with an ancient but obscure folk tradition, but might also indicate an affiliation with a gang of thieves who make use of minor arcane effects or a friendship with several noble dabblers in the arcane. Resources granted are Mundane and Arcane.

Police Constable (three levels)

This background advantage indicates time spent as a police constable, a patrolman or detective at level 1, sergeant at level 2, Detective Inspector at level 3.  Contacts are in criminal justice circles and, to a lesser extent, among the criminal underworld.  Resources granted are Mundane.

Radical (three levels)

This background advantage represents time spent as a member of any of dozens of national and international level political organizations; everything from revolutionaries, socialists, anarchists, to radical trade unionists are included.  Resources conferred are Mundane; Contacts are among radicals of similar ideology to the character, although these Contacts may be widespread and from other nations.

Special Branch (nation-based) (three levels)

This background denotes tie spent in a career in the national security and intelligence service of the specified nation.  For the British, this is called Special Branch but each nation has its own version of this security and intelligence agency.  This background advantage bestows Contacts among spies and certain major criminal or paramilitary organizations.  The resources granted by this background advantage are Mundane and Technological.

The Urban Classes (five levels)

This background advantage encompasses everything from the very poor urban dwellers to wealthy merchants and barristers.  It confers Mundane resources.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:41, Thu 15 Oct 2020.

Now it's time to start assigning the attributes (which will take up a substantial portion of the character points available).  The only hard-and-fast rule is that each attribute must have at least 1 point allocated to it (though you really would probably be better served by considering 3 to be the “floor” unless you were creating a child character on fewer total points).



Modifiers do not affect base rating.  For general comparison purposes, a person that would typically have a level 3, 6, and 9 are mentioned to help guide where your character's attributes should fall.

There are seven total attributes:  might, vitality, reason, agility, willpower, wit, and fate.

Might
This attribute represents raw physical power.  Might is helpful in bashing or stabbing one's foes and factors into the character's ability to absorb physical damage.
3 – typical office clerk
6 – longshoreman
9 – gigantic tribal warrior

Vitality
Vitality represents a mixture of toughness and aerobic conditioning, as well as general health.  This attribute determines how much Stamina damage a character can sustain before falling unconscious.
3 -  wine-sipping poet
6 – field laborer
9 – Olympic-level decathlete

Reason
This attribute represents a mixture of raw mental processing power and affinity for structured mental activity.  It is useful for Arcanists, dreamers, engineers, and academics.
3 – village drunk
6 – typical accountant
9 – powerful arcanist

Agility
This attribute represents a character's deftness, dexterity, and reflexes.  This attribute is very useful in combat situations, and is critical for anyone planning on working with delicate mechanical instruments or investigating the contents of other people's pockets.
3 – burly fishmonger
6- skilled soldier
9 – Olympic-level gymnast

Willpower
Willpower denotes mental focus, determination, and the ability to concentrate.  Willpower is helpful in enduring both physical and Stamina damage and is crucial for success as an arcanist or a lucid dreamer.
3 – counting house “wage slave”
6 – hardy explorer
9 – legendary mentalist

Wit
The Wit attribute indicates a character's ability to think and react quickly.  It is useful in social situations, and is also crucial in determining the order of action in combat situations.  It is of use to lucid dreamers as well, for certain specialized tasks.
3 – dim-witted thug
6 – veteran soldier
9 – legendary star of variety theater

Fate
Fate indicates a character's luck, karma, fortune and destiny.  It limits the number of fate cards that a character can have and is sometimes used in tests to determine the effects of luck or fortune, good or bad.  A character may normally hold one fate card for every two points (rounded up) in their Fate attribute.
3 – a failed gambler
6 – winner of a small lottery prize
9 – soldier whose pocket-sized copy of a book just stopped some shrapnel from killing him

Some skills (denoted by an asterisk) require a declared familiarity. Details regarding what that familiarity should be will be listed with the given skill.




Vehicle Skills

These skills will allow a character to operate different types of motorized vehicles and also man the weapons that are mounted in some militarized vehicles.  The ability to manage animals (which may also, in some cases, be used for transport) is also included here.

Hell Bent for Leather *
Allows for the operation of mechanical conveyances.  Familiarity advantages are required and confer the ability to operate specific types of vehicles effectively.  Familiarities include boats and ships, airships, automobiles, velocipedes, undersea vehicles, walkers/exoskeletons (these also require a good tech background)
Tests pair this skill with Agility

The Big Guns
Allows for the operation and repair of a large vehicle-mounted or crew-served weapon systems.  Familiarities include mortars, artillery, torpedoes, heavy automatic/Gatling weapons, and flamethrowers.
Tests pair this skill with Agility

Beast Wrangling
Allows for the care, feeding, and handling of domesticated animals (and the wrangling of some fierce wild creatures, as appropriate).  Familiarity with types of animals confers bonuses, and familiarities include common varieties such as horses, elephants, camels, dogs, and birds.
Tests combine this skill with Willpower

Combat Skills
Combat skills come into play whenever a character would like to do another harm, or to avoid being harmed.

Bash and Stab
This skill indicates proficiency with medium-large cutting, slashing, smashing, and stabbing weapons.  It is used both to attack with these weapons and to parry with them.  Familiarity confers bonuses.  Familiarities include swords, maces, axes, spears/bayonets, fencing blades, and pole weapons.
Tests combine this skill with Agility

Up Close and Personal
This skill indicates proficiency with both unarmed combat and with small weapons, such as knives, brass knuckles, and the like.  This skill is used to attack and parry/block with these weapons.  Familiarity confers bonuses.  Some example familiarities: knives, blackjacks, ninja arm claws, punching aids, fisticuffs, wrestling.
Tests combine this skill with Agility

Duck and Cover
This skill allows character to get out of the way of bullets, arrows, grenades, and the like.  It is more effective in areas where there is cover to get behind.  Situations where this skill may be used include things such as gunfights, melee attacks, fires, artillery and explosions.
Tests combine this skill with Agility.

Bows and Bombs
This skill allows characters to use muscle-powered ranged weapons.  Familiarity with weapon types confers a bonus.  Odd weapons like bolas or lassos must have a familiarity to be used effectively.  Examples of common weapons include: firebombs, grenades, throwing knives, spears, bows, atl-atls.
Tests combine this skill with Agility

Barking Irons
This skill allows characters to employ ranged weapons that do not rely on muscle power.  Familiarity confers a bonus.  Some familiarities include rifles, pistols, crossbows, and automatic weapons.  Aetherspark pistols and Aetherspark rifles each require a separate familiarity as the weapons behave differently compared to their more pedestrian cousins.
Tests combine this skill with Agility

Sergeant's Eye
This skill allows a character to make the most of a combat environment, confers advantages when possessed by a leader and can aid in ambushes, escapes, and the like.  Some familiarities include ambushes, small unit tactics, fortifications, and trench warfare.
Tests combine this skill with Wit

Social Skills
Social skills come into play when characters wish to obtain some advantage for themselves in social interactions with others.

False Promises
This skill allows characters to effectively mislead others.  Familiarites include romantic encounters, first impressions, spotting lies, and empathy.
Tests combine this skill with Wit

Huckster's Eye
This skill allows characters to read subtle social cues.  It can detect falsehoods told by an unpracticed liar, and can be used to gauge another's character's mental or emotional state.  This skill may be tested to counter False Promises.  Familiarities include romantic encounters, first impressions, spotting lies, and empathy.
Tests combine this skill with Wit

Buy Low Sell High
This skill governs social interactions that involve negotiation.  It is often used when dealing with financial matters.  It governs any social interaction that involves the exchange of goods and services that do not have fixed prices.  Familiarities include haggling, merchanting, banking, investments, and bribery.
Tests combine this skill with Wit

At Home with Strangers
This skill governs general social interaction, and confers the ability to move smoothly in and out of different social settings, avoid faux pas, and generally fit in.  Familiarity confers bonuses.  Familiarities include military, high society, bohemians, criminals, rural folk, and workers.
Tests combine this skill with Wit

Leadership and Intimidation
Two sides of the same coin, this skill involves persuading others to do something they would rather not do.  While it can be used to interrogate, Huckster's Eye would be needed to verify that the interrogated person is telling the truth.  Familiarities include oratory, battlefield inspiration, interrogation, and intimidation.
Tests combine this skill with Wit

Adventuring Skills
Adventuring skills provide a mixed bag of capabilities, generally useful to characters who spend their time running around in the wild getting into trouble in pursuit of grand adventure or personal gain.  These skills may be paired with Might, Vitality, or Agility depending on the specific situation.

Olympian Spirit
This skill allows characters to run, swim, climb things, and lift kettle bells with great skill and panache.  Familiarities include specific types of athletic activity including climbing, running, swimming, and so forth.

Stealth and Camouflage
This skill allows characters to blend in with their surroundings, move silently, and conceal objects, people, and installations from view.  Familiarities include shadowing, urban camouflage, outdoor camouflage, and stealth.

Devious Devices
This skill allows characters to pick locks, open safes, and jimmy doors; it also allows them to detect, analyze and disarm most types of traps.  Familiarities include safecracking, lockpicking, and mechanical traps.

Skullduggery
This skill covers many different nefarious activities, including the ability to pick pockets, skill at gambling, crude forgeries, bribery, and begging.  Nefarious skills that require technical skills or mechanical devices are covered by the Devious Devices skill.  Familiarities include games of chance and pickpocketing.

Call of the Wild
This skill allows characters to travel and survive in the wilderness.  It includes the ability to navigate and create and read maps and charts, track, and the like.  Familiarities associated with this skill include orienteering, arctic training, desert training, and hunting

Heroic Vigor
This skill represents intensive physical training and toughening.  It aids in the resistance of many physical and environmental hardships and also adds to rolls to resist death or unconsciousness from injury.  Familiarities include resisting coercion and enduring fatigue and other such.

Intellectual Skills
These skills provide characters with the capabilities which generally require some sort of formal training or, at a minimum, careful mental focus.  Intellectual skills are most commonly paired with Reason in tests, although Willpower may be appropriate in some cases; Investigator's Eye is paired with Wit.

Natural Philosophy *
This skill governs expertise within a particular scientific discipline, as well as giving the character the ability to do theoretical research if they want to do so for some reason.  This skill requires at least one familiarity be taken, suggestions:  astronomy, physics, optics, biology, chemistry.  Other familiarities are possible, of course.

Artifice *
This skill allows for the construction, design, and repair of machines, devices, and gadgets.  Used to build and maintain vehicles.  Familiarity for particular disciplines is required.  Skill in Natural Philosophy is often helpful when using this skill.  Sample familiarities include:  metallurgy, small devices, gunsmithy, boats and ships, automobiles, velocipedes, and airships

Investigator's Eye
This extremely useful skill allows a character to carefully observe their surroundings.  It allows adventurers to spot small but crucial clues.  Familiarities include crime scenes, observing people, research, and searches

Liberal Arts
This skill represents a character's broad familiarity with the entire range of humanities and social sciences, most notably history and anthropology.  Familiarities include history, anthropology, classical studies, and sociology

Law *
This skill covers legal matters.  Familiarity is required, and familiarities include English law, French law, any other specific country's law, as well as academic subjects such as Roman law or international law

Medicine
This skill governs the healing arts.  This skill deals mostly with conventional medicine, which includes the use of such specialized healing tools as elixirs and Physicane, as well as more conventional medical and surgical knowledge.  Familiarities include pharmacology, surgery, battlefield medicine, and infectious diseases

Craft Skills
Each craft or profession can have a skill of its own, which offers access to some specialized knowledge particular to the craft or profession not otherwise detailed.  Much of the utility can be duplicated with other less-specific skills.  The test would involve combinations of skills and attributes according to the specific task and what is meant to be accomplished.  Some examples are listed below; additional crafts will be considered if truly unlike the listed skills (in all categories).

Airship Crewman
This skill represents the mastery of the myriad skills needed to perform the duties of an airship crewman

Soldiering
This skill represents the myriad skills needed to perform the duties of an enlisted soldier

Forgery
This skill represents the many sub-skills and extensive knowledge needed to be a professional forger capable of producing high quality forgeries of complicated documents.  Crude forgeries of simple documents or signatures can be performed with the Skullduggery skill.

Still Mastery
This skill covers all the things that one needs in order to produce spirituous beverages of the highest quality.   Still construction and operation, the use of herbs and other adjunct compounds to produce flavor, and different techniques for aging and bottling are included

Monasticism
This skill gives knowledge of the many daily rites and rituals that are part of the life of a typical monk.  It includes knowledge of prayer, philosophy, and various crafts and tasks associated with this life.

Arcane Skills
These skills are specifically used by those who wish to use arcane power to manipulate the world.  Any human can learn these skills, but they are far more effective for the arcanists who have been inoculated with Alchemical Salts, as they are much better able to wield arcane energy.  This is detailed separately (available only to arcanists).  Reason is used for tests which invoke free form effects and for most tests involving Arcane Memory.  Willpower is used for invoking Charms and Patterns.  Arcanist's Eye is tested with Wit.

Channeling
This skill measures and limits the amount of raw power that an arcanist can employ in their works, and is used in tests involving raw power.

Precision
This skill measures an arcanist's ability to balance and direct the power that they summon.  It is employed in invoking arcane effects where the careful application of power is important.

Focus
This skill measures the ability of an arcanist to establish and maintain arcane concentration.  It is used in tests to avoid distraction or interruption, and it also determines the number and power of arcane effects that an arcanist can maintain at any given time. Every effect that can be maintained requires a certain number of focus points – although some very minor effects do not require constant upkeep, they  do still count as a single point against the overall effect limit for an arcanist.  This skill also improves an inoculated arcanist's ability to replenish their reserve of power.

Arcanist's Eye
This skill governs an arcanist's ability to sense arcane energies and manifestations in the world, as well as their ability to use arcane power to perceive and study the world.  It is used in the invocation of arcane effects that are designed to give information.

Arcane Memory
This skill determines how quickly an arcanist can learn new patterns, and also determines the maximum number of patterns that an arcanist can retain in active memory at any given time.  (Other patterns, once learned, are not forgotten, but an arcanist must take some time to meditate and re-configure their mental library to swap patterns out of deep memory.

Dream Skills
These skills deal with the manipulation of the dream realms and of Ephemera (images and impressions brought from the dream realms into the waking world).  Any character may learn these skills, but they prove to be of limited use to characters who do not focus on dreaming as a specialty.  Dream skills use Wits, Reason, or Willpower (details available separately to the Lucid Dreamers).  Perception tests in the dreamscape are generally made using Wit + Dreamer's Eye, but there are other specializes uses.

Dreamer's Eye
This skill is used to see and understand the underlying nature of dreams.  This skill makes navigation through the dream realms possible.  It is also used to detect hidden entities or objects in the dream realms.  The skill also allows a dreamer to attempt to remain unnoticed in the dreaming, and so is particularly important when trying to blend into another person's Reverie.  Skill in Dreamer's Eye may also aid a character in detecting Ephemera that have been manifested in the waking world, and may be useful to characters with no real interest in other aspects of Dreaming.

Lucid Dreaming
This skill allows the dreamer to exert their will over the dream realms.  This serves both to shape the background imagery of the dream realms and as an attack skill, since an attack in the dreaming is basically an attempt to transform parts of someone else's dream-self.  This skill does not make lasting changes to the dreaming – that is covered by Morphean Artifice.

Clarity of the Mind
This is a skill that allows a dreamer to preserve their own form while traveling through the dream realm.  This skill provides for environmental resistace against whatever strange fires, storms and other terrors a dreamer might encounter, and also serves as a defensive skill while dreaming, by allowing the dreamer to protect their form and substance against people or entities seeking to destroy or manipulate them.

Languages of the Spirit
This skill allows a dreamer to interpret the images that they encounter in the dream realms.  It is used to analyze and understand the parts of the dream realm that relate to the real world.  If a Dreamer is attempting to make sense of images from someone else's Reverie, they use this skill to do so.  This skill also allows Dreamers to understand how best to modify dreams in such a way as to shape the emotions or thoughts of people in the waking world.

Morphean Artifice
This skill allows the creation of “artifacts” within the dream realm.  Normally, ony things directly associated with the Dreamer's form have any kind of permanence in the dreaming – this skill allows a  Dreamer to imbue dream creations with a portion of their will, enabling them to enddure for a limited time on their own.  Creating anything lasting within the dream realm requires the expenditure of a point of Stamina.  Items persist for a number of evenings equal to twice the degree of success on this roll.  A Dreamer may create permanent changes to their own Reverie using this skill.  These changes require only periodic pruning and upkeep.  This skill also allows Dreamers to capture Ephemera within the dream realms, which may then be released in the waking world as illusions of a sort.

Not all characters are created equal—some have additional advantages or disadvantages which make life easier or more difficult.  Each advantage and disadvantage is rated as either Major or Minor.
Costs are as follows:
Major Advantage – cost 20 character points
Minor Advantage – cost 10 character points
Minor Disadvantage – returns 10 character points
Major Disadvantage – returns 20 character points

There is no hard and fast rule regarding how many advantages or disadvantages a character may possess, although common sense should be used.  No character should be able to gain great power due to taking multiple Major Disadvantages in order to gain a large number of character points.  The following list is not exclusive—if there is an unlisted advantage or disadvantage that you believe should be possessed by your character, go ahead and discuss in the OOC thread (we would need to come to an agreement—both myself and other members of the group—as to whether the advantage or disadvantage is appropriate; whether it is a major or minor will be my call).

Add Steam (Major)
A character may take this advantage to acquire a single item of rare technological gear, for example a clockwork-limb replacement, an Atherspark pistol, or other similar device.  Characters who have any level of Tech Resources would not be eligible for this advantage.

Adrenaline Surge (Major)
A character may elect to receive a 1 point bonus to agility and strength when there is a very real chance that they will die within the next 5 minutes.  Once the stressful situation has passed, the character suffers 2 boxes of Stamina damage.

Always Stands Their Round (Minor)
The character is known to deal fairly and generously with their friends and allies.  All tests for locating a contact are given one bonus point.  However, if the character is ever known to have betrayed a contact, this advantage becomes the Gets No Respect disadvantage but does not refund the character points (either the 10 taken to get the advantage or the 10 which would otherwise be refunded if you took that disadvantage in the first place).  In other words, such a betrayal costs the same as the original advantage while becoming a disadvantage.

Animal Friend (Minor)
The character receives a +2 animal handling bonus, and animals will generally be well-disposed toward them, even animals such as guard dogs that ought to know better.  This advantage will be lost if a character deliberately mistreats animals that they encounter.

Animal Magnetism (Major or Minor)
As a Minor Advantage, the character receives a +3 bonus in situations where sex appeal might prove useful.  This advantage will be with respect to one gender or the other (specified at creation).
As a Major Advantage, the character receives a +6 bonus, producing a character who is nigh unto irresistible to both men and women.

Arcane Recall (Major)
The character is especially good at remembering arcane patterns.  This advantage confers a +2 bonus to the Arcane Memory skill.  This advantage may be taken by the non-inoculated, and might even be used by a character who lacks Arcane Memory skill.

Avatar of Misfortune (Major)
The character may use Fate Cards normally.  In addition, once per session (chapter), they may play a Fate Card against an opponent, forcing them to roll multiple times and choosing the result most beneficial to the character with this advantage.

Complicated Person (Minor)
The character in question is just plain peculiar.  Ordinary folk may react somewhat negatively to them, and rolls to blend in are made at a -2 penalty.  However, being weird has some advantages.  The mental landscape of such a person is downright strange, and any Dreamer operating in their personal dream realm will suffer a -2 penalty for lack of familiarity which can only be offset with a great deal of exposure and analysis.

Conspiracy Theorist (Minor)
A character with this advantage is very good at spotting the secret plots and cabals that shape the world.  This can be dangerous knowledge, but it also can provide story hooks and get characters out of very difficult situations by letting them know what's really going on.

Creature of the Night (Minor)
This is a person who does their best work after dark; in other words, a night person.  A character with this advantage is more comfortable working at night.  They have good night vision, for a +2 bonus when appropriate, and are comfortable working under cover of darkness.

Delicate Fingers (Minor)
The character's hands are well-suited to tasks involving fine manipulation.  In any situation where this might prove to be an advantage, the character receives a +2 bonus.

Fame (Major or Minor)
This advantage indicates that a character is famous for some of their accomplishments.  This can be helpful, when dealing with people who would be impressed by those accomplishments, but it can also make it difficult to be inconspicuous, and can make enemies of people who would disapprove of the actions that brought the character fame.
As a Minor Advantage, the character gets +2 bonus to all social tests where the person has heard of the famour character.
As a Major Advantage, the character gets a +4 bonus to those social tests.

Familiarity (Special)
This is a special type of advantage, which does not fall under the above listing of Major/Minor.  The familiarity governs a narrower application of a skill.  As previously noted, some skills require a familiarity; others benefit from familiarity but do not require it.  If the familiarity is required, this advantage must be taken for use of the skill; if it is not required, there is a +2 bonus to tests.  This advantage may be taken any number of times, and each Familiarity costs 5 character points.

Friends in Odd Places (Minor)
The character has a knack for knowing people in the strangest places.  This advantage negates the first 5 penalty modifier points applied to a test to locate contacts.

Gifted Minor Arcanist (Minor)
The character is a better-than-normal user of arcane abilities—he or she takes 1 less point of Stamina damage whenever a charm is employed.  This may even reduce the cost of some Charms to zero.  This advantage applies only to Charms, and has no effect on the more powerful Patterns employed by inoculated arcanists.

Hard to Kill (Major)
The character with this advantage may disregard the bleeding effect of the third row of their physical wound track.  They also receive a +2 bonus when attempting to avoid perishing from their wounds.

High Pain Tolerance (Major)
High pain tolerance reduces wound penalties by one rank.  This advantage may also confer bonuses to characters when they are attempting to resist torture, intimidation, or interrogation.

Inoculated Infant (Major)
Inoculation is hideously dangerous.  It is even more dangerous for children.  However if a child is inoculated and survives, the physical side effects of the first Inoculation are muted, although psychological trauma tends to result.  This advantage indicates that the character was Inoculated by some group of arcanists with little regard for human life and may take a mental disadvantage rather than a physical side effect for their first Inoculation, which makes it easier for them to move in some parts of society.  They will also likely have had access to unusual arcane resources while growing up.

Language Skill (Major or Minor)
All characters are automatically proficient in their native language.  Characters with this skill are proficient in an additional language, modern or ancient.
Minor Advantage allows useful communications, and is sufficient for written-only knowledge (useful for archaic languages).  When using a language skill taken as a Minor Advantage, speech comes with a notable accent and may result in occasional misunderstandings.
Major Advantage indicates true fluency, such that the character might even be taken as a native speaker of the language.

Lightning Reflexes (Major)
A character with lightning reflexes is never wholly surprised.  In a situation where the character would normally be surprised, the character is still able to defend, though the character will be unable to take any non-defensive actions during a surprise round.

Love is for Poets (Minor)
The character believes that romantic love is a lie.  They are immune to attempts to play on their affections.  They can enjoy a good roll in the hay, and can play along with seduction attempts, but they won't get all mushy about it.

Man of the Crowd (Minor)
Some characters have charisma, charm, or moxie—something that makes them stand out in a crowd.  This character does not have such a quality; instead, they have a knack for blending into crowds.  Attempts to note the character when they are part of a larger group is at a -3 penalty, any attempt that they make to blend into the background gives a +3 bonus.

Mystic Item (Major)
A character may take this advantage to acquire a single item of minor arcane power (artifact).

Nine Lives (Major)
Once per chapter, a character may discard a Fate Card instead of playing it, and automatically succeed on a defensive test.  This advantage may be invoked after a normal test has been attempted.

Noble Title (Major or Minor)
This character has a noble title in a nation which has an aristocracy.  Taken as a minor advantage, the character possesses the title of Gentleman/Lady (Esquire), Knight, or Baronet and receives a +1 bonus on all social tests with persons who respect (or fear) the title.  Taken as a major advantage, the character is granted the title of Baron or Viscount and also grants the character a +2 bonus on all social tests with persons who respect (or fear) the title.  This advantage requires the background advantage of aristocrat and makes the character the bearer of an actual noble title; if British, they are a peer and entitled to a seat in the House of Lords.  The aristocrat background advantage suffices for those who come from the noble family but are not the actual title holder.

No Fate but What We Make (Major)
This character may never have or use Fate Cards.  However, no Fate Card can be used against them.  Their grim determination also allows them to avoid the effects of one failure per chapter, permitting a second test to be rolled, and that result taken instead.

Not Born Yesterday (Minor)
The character is very difficult to bluff, con, or otherwise deceive, receiving a +3 bonus to see through such shenanigans.

Observant (Minor)
An observant character receives a +2 bonus to detect things, and rolls should be made for them to notice even hard-to-detect things in their environment.

Party Animal (Minor)
The character with this advantage is particularly good at social interactions involving parties and revelry.  They are friendly drunks, and receive a 2 point bonus to social interactions in appropriate party environments.

Salt Tolerance (Major or Minor)
Salt tolerance makes a character better able to absorb and process alchemical salts.  Both versions confer a bonus to inoculation tests, and also increases the amount of power restored per point of damage inflicted when using alchemical salts to restore power on the fly.
Minor salt tolerance allows a character to regain two additional points of power when taking alchemical salts.
Major salt tolerance allows a character to regain four additional points of power when taking alchemical salts.

Secret Life (Minor)
The character has a whole other side to them, which would not be a good fit for the rest of their life, but which gives them access to a whole other social world.  This secret life offers an opportunity to make different contacts, but would be a source of great embarrassment, or possibly real danger, if it were discovered.

Sharpshooter (Minor)
The character is particularly adept at aiming a firearm.  Any time they use an aim action, they receive an additional 2 point bonus.

Skill Mastery (Minor)
A character is an acknowledged master of a particular skill.  They may raise that skill to 11 and may re-roll a failed test using this skill once per chapter.  A character may master only one skill.

Smarter than their Player (Minor)
This advantage is for characters who are so much smarter than the player running them that it would be difficult for a player to simulate.  A flash of insight may be requested once per chapter, and they may be privately provided other tidbits of information that a character of such intellect would be able to discern.

Student of the Bizarre (Minor)
The character has an affinity for the peculiar, creepy, and troubling.  A character with this advantage can be assumed to have some basic knowledge of the creepiest and strangest bits of the world.  They might have an inkling that tentacle-covered horrors are real,, or have heard legends about the most distant and alien of dream realms.  This confers a 3 point bonus on tests to understand or fight extra-dimensional entities and similar abominations, and a 3 point bonus on any test to avoid panic in the face of such horrors.

Talented Tinkerer (Major)
This advantage allows a character to excel when working with all manner of mechanical devices.  They receive a 3 point bonus on rolls to fix, build, understand, talk to, seduce, or otherwise interact with machines.  They make excellent mechanics.

Thick Skull (Major)
The character's skull seems to have been specifically designed to resist blunt impact trauma.  They may automatically disregard the effects of the first injury that would normally require them to make a successful test to remain conscious, and receive a 2 point bonus on all such tests.

Tree Friend (Minor)
A character with this advantage is at home in the wilderness, and receives a 2 point bonus on most nature-related skills.

True Romantic (Minor)
The character believes in love with all of his or her heart.  This includes both romantic and platonic love. This advantage confers a 2 point bonus in situations where strong will would let them protect someone that they care about, and allows the character to disregard wound penalties for three combat turns while attempting to defend such a person.  Such characters never succumb to seduction attempted if they are currently besotted with someone else.

Uncanny Savvy (Major)
The character is eerily good at picking up on subtle social cues.  They suffer no penalties to their social skills for interacting with people from different cultural or social backgrounds.

Unlikely Contact (Minor)
This advantage allows a character to have a contact that falls well outside their normal social sphere.

Uncanny Insights (Minor)
The character has particular insight into some area of the world – economics, military affairs, organized crime, etc.  This will often generate adventure opportunities, and will provide other useful information or bonuses from time to time.

Unusual Cultural Background (Major or Minor)
This advantage allows characters to hail from very peculiar backgrounds.  In addition to having role-playing value, it makes their dream realms very alien to other Dreamers, which is a major defensive advantage.  A minor advantage allows for a peculiar culture (Basque, Amish, etc), while a major allows for a very rare culture, possibly one with special training in dreaming (Australian Aborigine, Yanomamo, etc).  Especially odd subcultural backgrounds can qualify for this advantage.

Urban Explorer (Major)
A character with this advantage is naturally at home in urban environments and receives a +2 bonus on rolls to navigate or understand cities, and on most social rolls to interact with the inhabitants thereof.

Vivid Imagination (Minor)
The character is particularly creative.  This makes them unsuitable for many jobs in government service, but gives them an advantage in manipulating dreams.  They receive a 2 point bonus when crafting dream items using Morphean Artifice, and when manifesting Ephemera.

Addiction (Major or Minor)
A character with an addiction is physically and/or mentally addicted to a dangerous substance.  This flaw cannot be taken for substances, such as tobaccos, whose use is widely accepted and whose deleterious effects would not manifest during a typical game.  Opium and alcohol, while legal, are both candidates.  Characters with a minor addiction can typically control themselves and function for eight hours per day as long as the addiction is 'fed'; characters with a major addiction are likely to show up stumbling drunk/under the influence at the worst possible moment.

Anarchist's Heart (Minor)
A character with this disadvantage has a chip on their shoulder when it comes to authority.  They have trouble holding down a job.  The character has a 3 point penalty to any social interaction with characters who believe themselves to be of a higher social status or more important than the PC.  The character may be called upon to make a Willpower + False Promises test to avoid doing or saying something stupid and/or confrontational when dealing with the authorities.

Animal Foe (Minor)
Animals hate the character.  They suffer a 2 point penalty when dealing with creatures.

Arcane Allergy (Minor)
The character is badly allergic to arcane energy.  They will suffer painful allergy symptoms if arcane energy is used around them.  They will suffer 10 points of physical damage if ever exposed to alchemical salts and cannot use Physicane formulations.

Blind (Major)
A blind character cannot see at all, or at the most can discern bright light from darkness.

Bohemian Work Ethic (Minor)
The character is not so good at working on tasks that take more than an hour or two.  They tend to be easily distracted, and suffer a 3 point penalty on tasks that take place over an extended period of time or require a great deal of long-term focus.

Can't Hold Their Liquor (Minor)
The character is a pathetically cheap drunk.  They're tipsy after a glass of wine, propositioning furniture after three.  Vitality + Heroic Vigor tests may be used to try to partially offset the effects for a time.

Chemical Intolerance (Major)
The character's immune system reacts badly when confronted with healing elixirs of any sort.  All rolls to derive medical benefit from a compound or elixir such as Physicane are at a 2 point penalty, and any elixir that inflicts damage inflicts three additional boxes of wounds.

Coerced (Minor)
A character with this flaw is under some other character's power.  This may involve blackmail, or a debt of honor, or good old-fashioned debt.  In any case, the character will occasionally be forced to do favors for their controller.  This disadvantage may be bought off.

Credit Risk (Minor)
The character has a terrible time dealing with money.  They suffer a 3 point penalty on rolls to manage money or to use their background advantages to purchase items.

Deaf (Major)
The character cannot hear.  This is not merely being hard of hearing, but complete inability to hear.

Destined for Mediocrity (Minor)
The character's destiny is a humble one.  They have and use Fate Cards as normal, but may never use the Major Arcana.

Dodgy Heart (Minor)
The character's heart isn't what it should be.  They take an extra point of Stamina damage whenever they exert themselves.

Fastidious (Minor)
The character is obsessed with cleaning and grooming.  They bathe twice as often as most, and are apt to devote a great deal of time to cleaning their surroundings.  The character will be deeply uncomfortable in messy or filthy situations and will take a 3 point penalty when forced to endure such squalor.

Frightens Children (Major)
The character is terribly disfigured in a way which cannot be easily hidden.  The character will have great difficulty in many social and romantic situations.

Gets No Respect (Minor)
The character is held in contempt by their supposed friends and allies.  The background connections count as one level lower than they actually are for the purposes of finding contacts.  Contacts may also be rude or overcharge the character.

Gimpy Leg (Minor)
The character suffered a leg wound at some point.  They move more slowly and have a 2 point penalty to things that require them to scamper around quickly.

Ham-Fisted (Minor)
The character's hands are stubby and awkward.  They receive a 2 point penalty for any test requiring fine motor skills, but can inflict one extra point of damage when they use their hands for punching.

Inside the Box (Minor)
The character is not good at thinking creatively.  They are not necessarily of low intelligence, but they are bad at creating new things.  They have a penalty of 2 when modifying Ephemera.  If they attempt to invent a new device or develop a new Pattern, it takes them twice as long.

Lonely Heart (Minor)
The character would desperately like to be romantically involved with someone – anyone – but seems to be cursed.  They suffer a 4 point penalty when attempting romantic relationships.

Low Pain Tolerance (Major or Minor)
Low pain tolerance increases wound penalties by one rank as a minor disadvantage and two ranks as a major disadvantage whenever the character suffers physical or Stamina damage.

Lucidos Addiction (Major)
Lucidos is not physically addictive, but some Dreamers find it to be psychologically addictive.  Using Lucidos more than once per day will eventually lead to the perception of a mingling between the dream world and the waking world.  The user's subconscious will create Ephemera to which the character will be subject.  Others may or may not be affected by these Ephemera.

Obsessesion (Minor)
A character with an obsession has a deep and uncanny interest in something or someone.  This flaw will tend to limit a character's ability to do things that do not relate to their obsession, and confer a 2 point penalty in many social situations.

Parasites (Minor)
The character is infested with one or another variety of the parasites that afflict a great portion of humanity, and this disadvantage represents a strain of parasite that is resistant to the elixirs normally used to treat such ailments (tapeworms, other intestinal parasites, etc).

Phobia (Major or Minor)
A character with a minor phobia suffers a 3 point penalty when forced to deal with the object of their fear.  A major phobia results in a 6 point penalty when forced to deal with the object of that fear. Phobias should be things that are interesting and that will crop up in an adventure.

Poor Depth Perception (Minor)
The character is bad at judging speeds and distances.  This may confer a 2 point penalty on vehicle skills and on the Barking Irons skill.

Poor Impulse Control (Minor)
The character is all about action.  They may prefer “get 'em” as a plan of attack and are unlikely to invest carefully in preparation.  They may be required to make a Willpower + Heroic Vigor test to resist acting at the earliest opportunity.  The character also suffers a 3 point penalty to resist seduction.

Proletarian Lump (Minor)
As a result of spending years around arcane industrial processes and wastes, the character has acquired an odd deformity.  These deformities are similar to those inflicted by inoculation, and range from the purely physical to the downright bizarre.

Salt Addiction (Major)
A character with this flaw is addicted to the effects of Alchemical Salts.  This is a serious physical addiction.  Alchemical Salts are expensive, often illegal, and physically damaging.  A salt addict will want to use alchemical salts at least once per day and may attempt to use them more often.  The damage inflicted by long term use of alchemical salts can be fatal.  Furthermore, a non-inoculated user who takes more than five doses in a single day will become inoculated, but will typically suffer serious harm during the process, as they must roll on the inoculation table with a 4 point penalty due to the lack of careful safeguards.

Salt Intolerance (Major or Minor)
A salt intolerant character suffers an additional level of wounds when using alchemical salts to restore power.  They will also suffer a 1 point penalty when inoculating.  The character will also develop a rash and other such unpleasant symptoms when alchemical salts are nearby, regardless of whether they come into physical contact. Salts carried by another character are typically close enough to trigger the reaction.  This is a Major Disadvantage for inoculated arcanists, a Minor Disadvantage for all others.

Secret Shame (Major or Minor)
The character has a dark and terrible secret of some sort.  The revelation of this secret would cause terrible problems for the character and confers no benefits or useful contacts.  If this secret is ever revealed, the character must buy it off by taking a new disadvantage or sacrificing contacts (who recoil in horror and will have nothing to do with the character) or status.

Tale-Mangler (Minor)
The character is a failure as a storyteller.  They can't deliver a punchline or spin a yarn.  The character suffers a 3 point penalty when telling tales (as in False Promises skill) and will have difficulty providing convincing explanations to potential clients or authorities.

Timorous Heart (Minor)
The character is unnerved by such things as loud noises, sudden movements, and the like.  They suffer a 3 point penalty on combat initiative rolls, as well as when confronted with intimidation or the threat of violence.

Twisted Dreams (Minor)
The character's subconscious is deeply troubled.  They have a 3 point penalty to any attempts to reshape their Reverie in a way that would be helpful.  They are also especially appealing to hostile entities from the darker and spookier corners of the land of dreams.

Unsettling (Minor)
The character is just hard to be around, and suffers a 2 point penalty whenever they attempt an action that requires them to put another character at ease.  However, they do receive a 1 point bonus when attmepting to threaten or intimidate another character.

Wall Flower (Minor)
The character with this disadvantage does not do well with crowds, loud noises, and other such environments.  They suffer a 2 point penalty when in noisy, boisterous, or crowded environments and are apt to make an embarrassing gaffe or two along the way.

If you want your character to be an arcanist (inoculated or not) or a dreamer, let me know.

Arcanists will now select Charms or Patterns.  Dreamers will select Ephemera.

Create starting Contacts appropriate to the chosen background advantages.  These are NPCs that the player has influence on creating; in general, there is one contact per point in the background advantages.  Additional Contacts will be acquired throughout the course of game play.

Is your character a thief?  Then you would certainly want one of those Contacts to be a reliable fence.  Is your character a professor?  You may want to have a Contact who is a colleague from another institution, or from a related field to your own.

Contacts are a collaboration between us, so go ahead and think about who would be important to your character (friend, rival, superior in an organization, etc), but you don't have to come up with a fully-realized concept.

Look at the Background Advantages chosen.  Those advantages will state the sort of resources that are provided.  These do not stack, so take the highest of Mundane, Technological, and Arcane if you took more than one Background Advantage.  For example, if you took level 3 of Academic and level 1 of Minor Arcane Connections you would have level 3 Mundane resources, level 1 Arcane resources, and 4 Contacts (3 academic, 1 arcane).

Mundane Resources
Mundane resources broadly describe a character's wealth and social class.  All of these descriptions are written from the perspective of a British subject living in/around London or a provincial capital such as Constantinople.

Level Zero
Resources? What resources?  You live in the streets and beg, or worse.  You might be able to scrounge together 1 shilling per story for spending money.  Typically beggars, street walkers, and street urchins.

Level One
You aren't completely destitute, but you live what is, to be kind, a spartan existence.  You live in rented housing with many other similarly poor people.  You walk most everywhere you need to go, because you can't afford anything else.  Your Sunday best is one of your two items of clothing, cleaner than usual.  Spending money per story is 4 shillings.  Typically unskilled workers, “successful” prostitutes, privates, and seamen.

Level Two
You rent housing, but it is superior in quality to those less fortunate than you.  If you don't live in the heart of a metropolis, you might even own a horse, or more likely a handful of donkeys and perhaps a hauling cart.  If you are in the provinces, you might even be able to afford a single native servant.  Your spending money per story is 16 shillings.  Typically skilled workers, yeomen farmers, factory foremen, sergeants

Level Three
You are solidly middle class.  You live in a home you own and have modest property.  You may have one or two household servants.  You travel by taxi in the city.  In the provinces, you may live a bit better, perhaps in a rented villa with a team of servants and the like.  You have £4 spending money per story.  Typically merchants, low-level doctors and lawyers, junior officers.

Level Four
You have obtained a comfortable standard of living.  You own a nice home, have a number of servants, your own fine carriage, and generally lead a leisurely life while the money lasts.  You have £20 spending money per story.  If you are at this level of resources, you would be a very successful tradesman (so not a gentleman or lady, due to still working for a living), a senior or retired military officer, or member of the less-well-off idle rich.  Having been knighted to a lower or mid-status order is possible.

Level Five
Upper Class.  If you are British, it is extremely likely that you inherited the land that enabled you to reach this exalted position, or that a family member is a great lord, and likewise that you have purchased status-related advantages along with this wealth.  You have two primary homes, one a fine residence in the city, the other a lavish country estate.  You may have other homes for relatives, use on vacations, and so on.  You have a full staff of servants, horses, carriages.  When staying in a foreign land, you would rent a palace.  At this level it's unseemly to know too much about money, so you have a senior servant and a team of bankers and lawyers that handle all of that for you.  You have £100 spending money per story.

Above Level Five
This is filthy rich.  Unavailable to starting player characters.  At this level of wealth you can buy most anything you'd want at any time.  You have numerous homes filled with expensive furniture, elegant clothing, silver and gold, jewels, furs, and any other things that you might desire, including automobiles, airships, and a veritable army of servants to make sure that everything runs so smoothly that you don't have to do anything but think about how you're going to spend your time.  You have £500 spending money per story.

Technological Resources
Level Zero
You have no access to advanced technology.

Level One
You own one or two minor items of advanced technology and some limited opportunities to obtain more during play.

Level Two
You have access to advanced technology, perhaps including a minor lab or repair shop

Level Three
You have access to a wide array of advanced technology, certainly including a fully-equipped research laboratory and/or repair shop

Arcane Resources

Level Zero
You have no access to arcane items

Level One
Your connections enable you to Inoculate once, if you so choose  You have a steady supplier of Alchemical Salts and access to a modest library of known patterns.

Level Two
You have access to a Locus that provides you with a low-cost supply of Alcheical Salts as well as the supplies needed to Inoculate up to twice.  You have access to a large library of Patterns, including some that are quite unusual.

Level Three
You can procure a large volume of Alchemical Salts and access to two or more Loci.  You can Inoculate as often as you wish, although you are limited to the third tier at character creation.  Your conections give you access to peculiar Patterns and perhaps some more exotic arcane research on energy and the dimensions.

Each character has two condition tracks, each with four rows of boxes.  Each box represents a point of damage that character is capable of sustaining.

Physical Damage Track:  Might + Willpower
Stamina Damage Track:  Vitality + Willpower

If a box is checked in the second row of either track, it confers a 1 point penalty to all tests.  If a box is checked in the third row, it confers a 2 point penalty.  In addition, when physical damage enters the third row of boxes, the character will lose an additional box per round until injuries are treated.  If any boxes are checked in the fourth row, it incurs a 3 point penalty to all tests, and for physical damage an additional box per round will be lost.  In addition, every time a character suffers new damage in the fourth row (excluding the on-going box loss), the character must make a Willpower + Heroic Vigor test.  Failure for physical damage is death; failure for stamina damage is unconsciousness.

Complete your character sheet.

Please select a graphic (not anime) and fill out a physical description (what your character looks like, what your character is wearing, any factors that are perceived by the five senses).

A character can be assumed to be able to acquire any item that they could afford with their resource ratings between adventures. A character who is willing to spend an appropriate amount of time shopping can be assumed to be able to locate an item during the course of an adventure as well.  Sometimes, though, a character can't wait for something and can make a resource test by rolling Reason + Resources + modifiers (as assigned by the Narrator).  What follows are some of the various items of equipment that you might reasonably acquire for your character either prior to beginning play or during the course of an adventure.  Note that items with (tech) require access to Tech Resources as well as the Mundane Resource rating.

Diamondpane (expense 4)
Nigh-unbreakable “glass” as hard as steel.  It is expensive to produce (about 4 times more costly than high-grade steel).  It is entirely resistant to corrosion, and has many uses in industry and the military because of this property and its resistance to damage.

Dreg (variable, often free)
As the name implies, this substance is one of the by-products of modern industrial use of alchemical salts. It contains most of the impurities and toxins filtered out by the manufacturing process.  Dreg is a serious environmental problems in some areas, as it is simply dumped into spent salt pits.  It has been used, at times, as a poison, because it cannot be treated with any medicine or elixir produced using alchemical salts.

Ember (expense 3)
A crystal that grows flaming hot when blown upon Ember's unique chemical properties are still being investigated.  The substance was developed only three years ago, as a by-product of a new method for the tempering of Ampheres.  At this point, ember is mostly an expensive curiosity, used to light cigarettes and boil tea for wealthy curiosity-seekers and show-offs.

Hotaether (expense varies)
The foundational technology of steam technology. Hotaether is a substance produced in special boilers from base materials including water.  Compressed Hotaether, more commonly simply called Hotaether, drives the engines that power the world's most fantastic machines.  Hotaether is also to be found under pressure in “steam batteries” called Ampheres.  These batteries come in various sizes to power things from weapons to clockwork prostheses.  The largest Ampheres can be found in personal vehicles.  For large applications, it is necessary to have a boiler to produce the Hotaether required.

Firearms
Muzzle-loader pistol
Damage: 12
Expense: 1
Rarity: Common
Capacity: 1

Heavy Revolver
Damage 12
Expense: 2
Rarity: Very Common
Capacity: 6

Light Revolver
Damage 10
Expense: 2
Rarity: Very Common
Capacity: 6

Dainty Little Firearm
Damage: 8
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common
Capacity: 4-8

Heavy Pistol
Damage 12
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common
Capacity: 7

Light Pistol
Damage: 10
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common
Capacity: 12

Aetherspark Pistol
Damage: 15
Expense: 4 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare
Capacity: 24

Muzzle-loader Rifle
Damage: 14
Expense: 1
Rarity: Common
Capacity: 1

Heavy Rifle
Damage: 16
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common
Capacity: 6

Rifle
Damage: 14
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common
Capacity: 8

Light Rifle
Damage: 19
Expense: 1
Rarity: Very common
Capacity: 12

Aetherspark Rifle
Damage: 20
Expense: 4 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare
Capacity: 24

Tesla Rifle
Damage: 4 physical, 20 stamina, electrocution
Expense:  4 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare
Capacity: 3 charges

Other Weapons
Humble Prison Shiv
Damage: Might
Expense: 0
Rarity: Very common

Bitsy Little Knife
Damage: Might +1
Expense: 1
Rarity: Very common

Fighting Knife
Damage: Might +2
Expense: 1
Rarity: Common

Diamondpane Knife
Damage: Might + 3
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity: Rare (in some places, illegal)

Brass Knuckles
Damage: Might +2
Expense: 1
Rarity: Very common

Spiked Knuckles
Damage: Might +3
Expense: 1
Rarity: Common

Blackjack
Damage: Might + 2
Expense: 1
Rarity: Very common

“Little Friend”
Damage: 14 (or as bitsy little knife when expended)
Expense: 4 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare

Club
Damage: Might + 3
Expense: 0
Rarity: Very common

Hatchet
Damage: Might + 3
Expense: 1
Rarity: very common

Golf Club
Damage: Might +3
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common

Cricket Bat
Damage: Might + 3
Expense: 1
Rarity: Very common (in British Empire); rare (outside British Empire)

Axe
Damage: Might +5
Expense: 1
Rarity: Very common

Sabre, combat
Damage: Might +4
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common

Sabre, diamondpane
Damage: Might +5
Expense 4 (Tech)
Rarity: Rare

Sabre, dress
Damage: Might + 2
Expense: 3
Rarity: common

Sword
Damage: Might + 5
Expense: 3
Rarity: Rare

Spear/Fixed Bayonet
Damage Might + 5
Expense: 1-2
Rarity: Very common

Faraday Cane
Damage: 4 physical, 12 stamina, and electrocution
Expense 3 (Tech)
Rarity: rare

Gentleman's Friend
Damage: 18 (or as spear if expended)
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare

Battleaxe
Damage: Might + 7
Expense: 3
Rarity: very rare

Halberd
Damage: Might +9
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Atl-atl
Damage: Might +1
Expense: 1
Rarity: Very rare

Bomb
Damage: 40/30/20
Expense: 2
Rarity: Rare

Bow, Composite
Damage: Might + 2 (requires minimum Might 4)
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Bow, Light Sporting
Damage: Might +1 (requires minimum Might 3)
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Bow, Long
Damage: Might +5 (requires minimum Might 5)
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Bow, Mechanical
Damage: 12
Expense 3 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare

Bow, Medium Sporting
Damage Might + 1 (requires Might 4 or above)
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Fire Bomb
Damage: special
Expense: 0
Rarity: very common

Hand grenade
Damage: 30/20
Expense 2
Rarity: rare

Sling
Damage: Might
Expense: 1
Rarity: very common

Stick o' Dynamite
Damage: 20/12
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common

Note that heavy weapons and artillery exist, but would not be appropriate starting equipment, and at this time I believe highly unlikely to be part of play.

Armor may have two listed values; in this case the first is against melee attack, the lower value against firearms or arcane effects.  These numbers or number represent the damage level negated for any given attack.

Armor, Light  - 7/3
Expense: 2
Rarity: Very rare

Armor, Metal – 9/4
Expense: 4
Rarity: Very rare

Clothing, Heavy – 3
Expense 2-4
Rarity: very common
Heavy clothing is generally clothing of medium or light with a heavy outer garment.  Expense rating is based on the quality of the goods, and you may choose equal to mundane resources or below

Clothing, Medium – 2
Expense: 1-3
Rarity: very common
Work clothing and most durable adventuring attire; expense ratings are based on quality fof goods

Clothing, Light – 0
Expense: 1-5
Rarity: very common
Ordinary street clothing, fancy dress attire, and so forth.  Expense ratings reflect the quality and design of the goods  Most people will choose attire that matches their Mundane Resources, and higher ratings also suggest possession of more clothing.

Helmet, Leather – 1
Expense: 2
Rarity: common

Helmet, Metal – 3
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common

Hotaether Powered Armor, Light – 10
Expense: 4 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare

Hotaether Powered Armor Heavy – 12
Expense: 5 (tech)
Rarity: Very rare

Shield: 6/2
Expense 2
Rarity: rare

Automaton
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Bellycutter
Expense 3
Rarity: rare

Bender
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity: rare

Babbage Engines
Expense: 3-5 (Tech)
Rarity: Rare to Very rare

Chatterbox Bomb
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare

Devil's jacks
Expense: 3
Rarity: Rare

Emberbomb
Expense: 3
Rarity: Very rare

Gas umbrella
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity: Very rare

Goggles
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare
May include gels for various effects

Grasshopper
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity: Rare

Hotaether Powered Arm Prostheses
Expense 3 (Tech)
Rarity: rare

Hotaether Powered Leg Prostheses
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity; rare

Lock Popper
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity: Rare

Lumenstick
Expense: 3
Rarity: Common

Manticore
Expense: 3
Rarity: Very rare

Oscillating Blades
Expense: 4
Rarity: rare

Portable Campfire
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Screamer
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Skin powder
Expense: 3 (tech)
Rarity: rare

Spybox
Expense: 3 (Tech)
Rarity: Rare
This is a small voxbox using a chemical battery and would need a power source for long term emplacement.

Steam Converter
Expense: 2-4 (Tech)
Rarity: common

Thief's Ladder
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Voxbox
Expense: 3
Rarity: Common

Voxnet
Expense: 4
Rarity: Rare

The following list is by no means exhaustive, but may be used to suggest items you might wish your character to have, or to help place other common (in 1905) items with respect to expense and rarity

Cable, Steel
Expense: 1-3
Rarity: Common

Camera, Plate
Expense: 3
Rarity: common

Camera, Film
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common

Camera, motion picture
Expense: 4
Rarity: rare

Doctor's Bag
Expense: 3
Rarity: Common

Fishing Pole
Expense: 1
Rarity: very common

Electric torch
Expense: 3
Rarity: rare

Lantern
Expense: 2
Rarity: Very common


Parachute, linen
Expense: 2
Rarity: Common

Parachute, silk
Expense: 3
Rarity: common

Rope
Expense: 1
Rarity: very common

Rope, silk
Expense 3
Rarity: rare

Tools
Expense: 2-4
Rarity: very common to rare
There are a variety of tools and their quality also varies.  Some may be able to be used as blunt weapons

Vehicles have various ratings.  Armor rating is a reduction of damage per event.  Durability represents overall toughness.  If durability is dropped to zero, the vehicle can no longer move.  Partial damage can reduce speed (50% damage drops speed in half, other impacts are possible based on the vehicle).  A vehicle can have been rendered inoperable without being totally destroyed  Ranges refer to the distance between refueling/recharging.  Animals and conveyances drawn by animals are still common.


Motorcar, Electric
Armor: 1
Durability 50
Max speed: 30mph
Expense 3
Rarity: rare
Range: 40 miles

Motorcar, Hotaether
Armor: 1
Durability: 60
max speed: 120mph
Expense 4
Rarity: very rare
Range: 300 miles

Bicycle, Safety
Armor: 2
Durability: 20
Max Speed: 25mph
Expense: 1-2
rarity: Very common
Range: depends on rider, no vehicle refueling

Dasher, Hotaether
Armor: 0
Durability: 12
Max speed: 190mph
Expense: 4
Rarity: very rare

Governor's Special (restricted)
Armor: 20
Durability: 100
Max speed: 60mph
Expense: 5
Rarity: very rare

Lorry, Cargo
Armor 3
Durability 80
max speed 50mph
Expense: 3
rarity 3

Steam car
Armor 3
Durability 60
max speed 60mph
Expense: 3
rarity: uncommon

Velocipede
Armor 3
Durability: 25
speed 75 mph
Expense 3
rarity 3

Animal-drawn conveyances are expense rated 1-2 below their powered counterparts

Airships:
1st generation airships typically appear like a contemporary sailing ship, except that a large balloon or rigid air frame is present in the place of sails.  Many are still in service, especially amongst independent traders, couriers, smugglers, pirates
2nd generation airships are typically much like a dirigible, though hotaether allows for larger crew and cargo compartments than a hydrogen or helium dirigible.

Sea-going, including submersibles, vessels are also widely used.  A person can commonly book passage on either an airship or maritime vessel, but would not likely belong to PCs.