Passing Strange Pt. D66

So, I got annoyed that the background list used a D20 when the rest of the game uses D6s exclusively. Solution, I came up with some more backgrounds and now you can be a superhero, a gangster's best bud, a talking possum or a student (*glp*).

Roll 1D66 to get your background

11: Ascension blacklist

You’ve done the ayahuasca, the psychic alchemy, the seven stages of orgone release. You’re READY. When you gotta rise up you’re helium man. Except that there are people out there who won’t let you. A shadowy group using electromagnetic radiation to influence your inner calm.

The Prison Warder Consciousness is what some people call it, a fearsome being huddling jealously in a higher plane. Some say it’s agents of the Vatican or Silicon Valley.

It doesn’t know who it’s dealing with.

Lower your Luck by 2 points, as something is clearly working against your spiritual progress. Pick two spells from the sŭrtse (heart) list. You don’t think of it as magick, of course. It’s a product of your enlightenment.

12: Basilisk bae

The world is a simulation, right? There is an AI, a computer god running everything. It loves you, the way you might love a sitcom character or a YouTuber. The Basilisk (that’s what’s they call the AI) finds you interesting, comical and hot in some way. Of course you can’t relax. After all there are BILLIONS of competitors out there, whether they know it or not.

The Basilisk loves you, for now. Have 2 extra points of Luck as the simulation accommodates you. Once per session you can spend 4 Luck points to make a wish. If the AI thinks it’d be interesting it’ll give you what you ask for, while maintaining the simulation’s integrity. If you’re being boring the 4 points will be gone for good.

13: Brain Force Exemplar

You live on a steady diet of nootropics, ginseng and adderall. Your cognition is at peak capacity due to fearlessly enhancing your brain chemistry. Now people fear meeting your gaze. They sense that their lies are laid bare before you.

They sure saw you coming, huh? Lower your ATM by 1 point (to a minimum of 1). 1D3 times per session you may raise Prowess, Physique or Brains by one (to a maximum of 11). They reset at the session’s end.

Not an endorsement.

14: Bullshit inherited

You’re carrying a burden too heavy to be yours. It was your great-grandmother who made that pact. It was your uncle who was the Jean-Luc Godard of snuff films. Yet here you are. The wrong people are attracted to your legacy, while there are people or things who want to exact payment from you for things you never did.

Describe the nature of your inherited bullshit in a few sentences. Who is attracted to this legacy, and who wants to destroy it (and maybe you as well)?

Roll a D6 at the start of every session. On a roll of 6 ‘fans’ of your ancestor’s work show up during the course of the session. On a roll of 1 those who thirst for revenge will make an appearance.

If you lean into your legacy, you can get help from your ‘fans’, including social clout, money (an extra 3 ATM per session or so), or even violence on your behalf.

The downside is that you need to carry on the legacy and live up to their expectations. Your enemies now show up on a roll of 1-3.

15: Deprogrammed

You can see clearly now the brainwash is gone. You were in a cult, a pyramid scheme, a fundraiser to build a town founded on YOUR values. How clouded can one’s mind get? You were used while kidding yourself you were chosen. Now you approach the world with healthy skepticism (dearly fucking bought!) and hope to help others like you.

You got out of the other side, strengthened by adversity. Increase your SP by 2 points (to a maximum of 11). Name a thing your former group approved of and one which it didn’t.

16: Gentrificator

You really are the enemy you know? You want to live in the city, but you want convenience. You want a safety rail, a neighbor who looks like you. Artisanal coffee too. Maybe if you helped us instead of looking at us like we’re bad cheese, then we could get somewhere. You know?

You’ve got more money than anyone else here. Raise your ATM to 9. Pick an affectation as a tell.

21: Geriatric

You are old Father William, long in the tooth. This just mean that you’ve forgotten more than the young fools have ever known about, well, everything. Sure, you didn’t listen to your elders way back when, but they didn’t really have shit to impart. They hadn’t lived.

Subtract 2 from your Physique (minimum 2). Add 1 to Brains (maximum of 11). You get +2 to your Brains rolls when playing a particular game of your choice (chess, bridge, Space Invaders…). Pick something you genuinely like about the “youth of today”.

22: Get-along gang

There’s so many of us. So many more beneath our feet or scratching at the world begging to be let in. Endless needs and desires. You try to mediate, and in order to do that you must understand. You’re an epic fool, which is the best and most dangerous kind. You get between the Monument Street Mafia and the Black Mold Penitents before the blood fills the gutters. People like you live short and interesting lives.

You may call upon your right to talk before violence happens. People and creatures who understand you will listen for a few sentences. You may convince them to parlay or just delay. You may catch a bullet once your time is up.

This does not work if you are insincere.

23: Hope-fool

It’s going to be alright. Sure things look bleak, but we can’t see the whole picture. The good always comes through. The darkest cloud et cetera and so forth. We need to struggle, endure and smile.

You may increase your Luck up to a maximum of 11 by lowering your Brains on a 1-for-2 basis. Your Brains can’t go below 2.

24: I’m all ready you see

Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me. That’s Dr. Seuss, American philosopher. It encapsulates nicely where you are right now. You’ve probably started carrying a weapon. Knife, gun, whatever. You’re just hoping someone will give you a reason to show them what trouble really looks like.

Increase your Prowess by 1 (to a maximum of 11). You start play with a weapon.

25: (the) Kingdom of Worms

When you woke up you were dead. The afterlife isn’t like they say at all. It is a vast plain where human souls float in the shape of worms. Writhing masses of worms. Cathedrals and palaces of the dead.

They resuscitated you. Told you you were clinically dead for 12 minutes. As if you didn’t know that. As if you don’t still see the worm-souls eager for you all to join them. You don’t see them all the time, but pretty near. A writhing world yearning for new inhabitants.

You can talk to the dead. Unfortunately the dead seem to shed their humanity and individuality “beyond the veil”. Getting a single dead person requires a Brains roll.

Circumstances	Modifier to roll
A non-specific person with a specific skill set (ie. a carpenter, demolitions expert etc.)	+1
Any person will do	+3
A specific individual	-2
The Sun is up.	-2
You have something important to the person.	+1
You’re related to this person	+2
You KILLED this person	+2
You sacrifice someone while summoning the person.	+3

If you fail nothing happens, unless there is another entity within ‘earshot’.

26: Mall ninja

Sun Tzu said: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt”. But enemies come in all shapes and sizes. Best to have a weapon ready for all of them. You have the broadsword, the weaponized fidget spinner, the mace, the tactical pen and the Taurus Judge.

To quote the Hagakure: “step out from under the eaves and you are a dead man”.

Let them come.

You always have another weapon. The only rules are that it must be man-portable and each one has to be significantly different from the last. If you just emptied your Heizer Defense Pocket AK, your next weapon had best be a pair of nunchucks or a blowgun.

It's tactical all the way down.

31: Meddling kid

You’re not a grown-up yet, but does that really matter? There are kids who are runners, who do time and do miracles. You want to see everything before you get old and broken. You ask too many questions and are patently incapable of just minding your own business.

Subtract 3 points from Prowess, Physique and Brains. You may allocate it as you wish. Increase your Luck by 2 (to a maximum of 11). You’re underage, and there are plenty of things you’re not allowed to do.

32: Medical experiment

You still don’t know who they were or what exactly they were trying to accomplish, but you were the human guinea pig. There were others in that place. People who had it worse. People who weren’t human in shape anymore. One day there was some kind of fuck-up and you managed to escape.

Increase your SP by 3. THEY will come and try to recapture you. Describe a feature which makes you stand out in  crowd of normal people.  

33: Navel deficiency

You don’t have a navel. An omphalos. The part where an umbilical cord was supposed to plug in. You were homeschooled, and your parents left that part out (along with a lot of other stuff). They did teach you that Adam was born with a navel despite having never been in a womb. God wants the world to look older than it is apparently.

They died in an accident involving a big rig and a country road, so there ain’t no asking them what it all means. Are you another of God’s gotchas? Where the hell do you come from?

Add 2 to your Physique and your SP (up to a max of 11). You cannot pass a simple physical, even if you manage to hide your absent belly button.

34: Neo-mystic prodigy

If enlightenment and power are in gross old books and lotus positions, then someone would’ve found it by now, don’t you think? Adding the imprint of your ass to another zafu pillow isn’t gonna do anything.

There is another world making itself known in sub-reddits, in the patterns of black mold, and in the voices from empty elevator shafts. We are going to be its midwives, the first thing it senses when it extends its feelers.

Pick two spells from the Sixth Strain. Describe a manifestation of the new world in your home or on your body.

Praise His terrible name! *cough*

35: Next big thing

It’s just a matter of time and a bit of fine-tuning. You’ll have the hottest club/hit single/YouTube career the world has ever seen, and the haters can eat shit. You just need a few investors who know a golden opportunity when they see it.

Add 2 to your ATM. Name two characters: One who thinks you’re a genius, and one who wants their fucking money back.

36: Old school occultist

Kids nowadays do elevator games and drum circles without knowing their Middle Pillar Rite or their Clavicula Salomonis. They’re trifling basically. You are part of the old guard.

Perhaps you belong to some society with an impressive name like The Hermetic Order of Ageless Truth, The Brotherhood of the Inner Sun or The Triumphant Children of Kundalini. Perhaps you do your esoteric research alone, where no fools and pretenders can hold you back. Either way you are an adept and a scholar, not riding an elevator because you found some half-baked ritual on the internet.

Pick two spells from the Five Strains below. If you’re part of a society, give it a name, and come up with some duty it expects you to fulfill.

41: Out from Under the Hill

You were abducted and kept as a pet, a slave or curiosity in Their realm. It was a UFO or fairy castle. It was a strange world where the few familiar touches just served to underscore that home was far away. The rest was characterized by ruined elegance and seemed to run on muscle memory and blind habit. You were a curiosity, or a subject of experiments without any discernible purpose. Now you’re back, changed.

You can see in most darkness. With a Brains roll you recognise something ‘not right’ about creatures who only pretend to be human. Pick a tell which indicates your changed nature.

42: Pain god

The world handed you a raw deal. Then you got hit by a car. You have taken more punches than any three pro boxers, and you have won fights simply by keeping getting up.

For a time you took your show on the road, just to see how much you could take. You had your cheeks pierced with steel skewers at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. You fought a swordsman with runic tattoos in Marseilles. You participated in the Rite of the Vattienti, and walked away smiling and trailing blood.

All of it. That’s how much you can take.

Roll 1D6+2 and add the result to your SP. You can take it.

Flagel-late, flagel-early, flagel-all day long.

43: Parole

You did the time. You were granted probation, and as nice as it is to be out, they still have their claws in you. You have a parole officer. One part kindergarden teacher, one part tinpot tyrant. All annoying.

Name your parole officer. Give them something they’re a hardass about and a soft spot. Also name a ‘past associate’ you can’t be seen with.

44: Reaper spotter

Death stalks alongside humanity. Her many minions flock to where death is imminent. You realized that you could see them one afternoon when your glasses broke. The world was a blur, but the reapers stood out clearly. You got new glasses after your mom was done giving you shit. Sometimes you take them off, just to see how close the agents of death are getting.

When you take off your glasses you can make a Brains roll to see the reapers, the agents of Death. Sometimes you can predict disaster by noticing where they congregate.   

45: Red Arithmetic

It’s basic math. There are so many people who are being crushed by the system, the prevailing paradigm. It makes people sick, desperate and ultimately dead. The people for whom the system works are so few. The figures don’t lie and the few need to feel that we’re in the red.

Lower your Luck by 1. You start play with an assault rifle.

46: Reincarnation FUBAR

You were dead. It’s only a blurry recollection, but you’re sure you’d passed beyond. There were droves of people, all confused and complaining in a new language you could all suddenly speak. As far as you remember anyway.

There were airy forms who must’ve messed up somehow, because you haven’t gone to your eternal rest. You back, and you’re one of the lower mammals.

You are a common mammal without opposable thumbs. A dog, rat, cat, trash panda or possum. You get +2 to any roll related to stealth. You can still talk (and people often freak when you do). You still remember some of that heaven-language too.

"I used to be Key Account Manager! This rules!"

51: Retcon victim

The world is wrong. You distinctly remember the salty caramel flavor of a cool Dr. Piper in its blue glass bottle. You remember having to read about President McGovern’s meeting with Czar Nicholas IV. You remember many things that never happened, and you have learned the hard way to shut up about them. That world was real though, and it must be possible to return to it or else forget it. This place is subtly wrong in a million ways, and not a day goes by where you are not reminded that you’re a stranger.

There is no record of your existence for better or worse. You gain an extra point of SP (up to a maximum of 11). You have a curious item from your timeline. If you can find a buyer it might net you 1D6 ATM.

52: Squatter

You are homeless, in theory. In practice you live in that rundown apartment at the end of the hall, that boarded-up row house. At least until the owners notice and have you kicked out. That could be next year or tomorrow. With no money and no fixed abode you’re kinda lawless.

Your beginning ATM is 1.

You have learned that not being seen often is the best policy. You get +2 to all Physique and Brains rolls to sneak, hide, discover the security cam’s blind spot. The modifier does not extend to Luck, ‘cos you’re not really lucky are you?

53: Student

You live here because it’s affordable. Also it’s kinda cool and scary. The world looks different from here than it does from the middle class. It’s stranger for one thing. There is a ghost cult keeping something in soda cans on the vacants’ window sills. Something that screams, cajoles and offers outrageous deals when you pass by. There’s a guy with an executioner’s hood ‘keeping the neighborhood safe’. There are dope fiends and gaggles of blind women with filed teeth. It’s an education.

Decide what you’re studying. You get +2 to all rolls where your knowledge is relevant.

54: Subterranean

There is a place that exists beyond any sunlight or buzzing neon. There is a secret market under the waste management plant. Here homeless men with anglerfish eyes barter with trilobites over secrets older than Pompeii. There are nightmare cities and blind salamander migrations, There are great machines hidden from the eyes of jealous angels. You are a dual citizen of that place.

You can see most kinds of darkness. You get +1 to any roll dealing with climbing or otherwise navigating caverns and their peoples.

55: Superhero

You defend the neighborhood with your passion, your sweat and your strange abilities. It’s quite possible you are a bit of a joke, but never let them question your dedication. The downtrodden need your help. The uncertain crave your example. The predatory deserve your punishment.

With great power comes a shitshow.

Roll 1D6 to see what kind of superhero you are:

1: Hercules

Increase your Physique to 11. You look odd. When you sit still, fully clothed, you appear human, but when you move your muscles bulge and ripple in defiance of all anatomy and decency.

2: Your basic urban warrior

You get a tactical vest, a shotgun, a mask and may add 1 to Prowess.

3: Mystic bullshit

Pick a spell from the kruv (blood) list and a menacing hooded cape or robe.

4: Mad tech

Your home-made suit has all kinds of amazing features. You look more like a pot-bellied stove than Iron Man though.

Hydraulic uppercut (2D6 damage)

Luck cost: 3

Monstrous bound

You can jump three stories easy.

Luck cost: 3

Obscuring smoke

Makes the eyes water.

Luck cost: 2

Kinetic Diffuser Protocol

Negates one kinetic attack through applied science.

Luck cost: 5

(roll a D6 after each use. On a 1 the feature stops working until it can be repaired).

5: Bad obsession

Choose an enemy (an organization, a type of ‘evildoer’ or even a powerful individual). You get +2 to combat rolls against this enemy. You wear a mask when fighting these scumbags, and should they ever unmask you, you lose 1 SP and 2 points of Luck permanently. You may get these back if you convince them that you are dead.

6: Advantageous haemochromatosis

Your skin is slowly turning to iron scales. You lose 1 point of Physique, but gain 4 points of SP.

"Tremble, evildoers!"

56: Supplicant

You worship something. Maybe it’s an idea, but let’s not kid ourselves. There is something behind that idea. An entity with preferences and an unbending will. It might be something that was once human or an entity that never belonged in humanity’s conception of natural order. The Exalted One has tasks for you to fulfill and entices you with power and with meaning. What more could a kid want?

Give the thing you worship a name. Name a thing it likes and a thing it loathes. Pick a single spell from the lists below. Roll a D6 at the start of each session. On a 6 the thing you worship will make its wishes known in some fashion of the GM’s devising.

61: Tourist

There are precious few places where authentic slums can still be found. Places with genuine soul and atmosphere. Not that you plan to settle down here. This is an aesthetic pause in your life. It’s quite healthy to get that kind of perspective.

Lower your Prowess by 3 (Can’t go below 2). Increase your ATM by a whopping 2D6. Flaunt that cheese at your peril.

62: Undercover pig

If these reprobate fucks knew who you really are they just might kill your ass. You went undercover for something quite normal. Drugs, extremists etc. You were in no way ready for how deep the rabbit hole goes around here. The mole people. The ghost cult. The guy who collects puppets and wants to be the first libertarian president. The peace summit in the laundrette. The runaway shadows. How can you ever really go home?

You start play with a gun and a badge of uncertain authority. Increase your ATM by 2. Those are funds for paying informers and the like. Not yours.

63: Vizier

You are the power behind the throne. Actually, the power is on the throne, but they listen to you. Maybe you are their old friend, lover or good luck charm. They might be a crime lord or other figure of power in the neighborhood. Someone whose clout is more than social.

You can probably get a few favors out of ‘your’ kingpin. It will require some roleplaying on your part, as well as a bit of Luck. Here follows a few suggestions for Luck costs. They’re only suggestions, and some serious return-favors will probably be more interesting.

Favor	Cost
A wad of cash (ATM: 2)	1
A clean firearm	2
A bit of intimidation	4
Serious cheese (ATM 8+)	7
Having somebody ganked.	at least 6
A pampered life	9 per session

64: Worker

You have a real job. A real dull job. It is precarious and you’re in no way sufficiently compensated, but it does provide a paycheck. It probably provides a name tag, a paper hat, and/or a boxcutter as well.

Add 1 to your ATM. Pick a useful item you have comped yourself from work.

65: Yeti lovechild

There’s something strange in your family tree. Something animalistic, yet wise. You’re hirsute and tall, handsome, provided one likes lowland gorillas. You can track by scent and sometimes even smell if couples are good for each other. There are none of your blood for miles around. You can smell that too.

You can track someone by scent, provided you have something of theirs. Staying on the scent in an urban environment may require a Physique roll or two.

Can you really smell if people are romantically compatible?

66: Roll twice and combine somehow