Magical Girl CYOA Supplementary Combat System v1.8 Worlds & Wishes: A GM’s Guide to the SCS For use with QuasarBlack’s MGCYOA v1.5.1 and the SCS v1.8 Created by DarkSunDuelist, with help from a number of IRC regulars, Discord regulars, anons on /tg/ and /a/, and a number of IRL people.
This document is intended to be used in conjunction with the MGCYOA SCS v1.8 PDF, and also notes elements of the MGCYOA SCS v1.8 expansion “Order & Chaos, Friend & Foe”. If you don’t have those, then sections of this PDF will likely make little sense.
In this expansion, you will find the following: Statistics for Mundane weapons and their use in the SCS. Alternate and Additional Rules for use in campaigns and quests that help change gameplay to better interest/suit specific groups and/or campaign styles. A list of common questions regarding rulings and gameplay. Tips and suggestions for GMs looking to run a game. Rules for converting AMGC characters for SCS use, as an alternative to completely rerolling characters. Tips and suggestions for constructing cinematic scenes and narratives from mechanical interactions. Rules for anchoring spell-like Augments to characters.
Permeable vs Non-Permeable Mechanics
Most mechanics are considered to be “true” in every instance and every universe that could reasonably be run in the SCS. This makes those mechanics Permeable, in that so long as the SCS is the game being run, those mechanics will be generally held to be true. Permeable mechanics are things like how Contests work, how many spells your Specialization gives you at character creation, and how much STR you have. Some mechanics, however, are things that are subjective to GM opinion and may not work in every game or universe (even ones being run by the same GM), making those Non-Permeable mechanics. Examples of Non-Permeable mechanics are things such as the required distance for Soul Jar to not penalize you, the distance requirement for Big Damn Heroes’ Hero Token to work, any optional rules (even ones that permanently change your character), created spells, and how many coins you obtain from a quest.
When you start playing a game with a new GM or even a new game with an old GM, it may be prudent to check with them what their opinions are on Non-Permeable mechanics. If you’re using an old character and their current method of operation doesn’t sit in line with your GM, it doesn’t necessarily “ruin” the character. Magic is a fickle thing and doesn’t always work the exact same way for everybody, even in the same universe. Perhaps time has passed and the girl’s magic has shifted, creating a disruption in her old spells. Perhaps one day things will shift back and she’ll be able to use her old spells again. Maybe this universe doesn’t “recognize” a Legacy Weapon and renders it as a completely normal weapon of its type, until it returns to a universe that does recognize it for what it is.
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Mundane Weapons
At times, a character might find themselves in a position where they need a weapon. Perhaps they’re former military, looking to fill the void of no raifu, or perhaps they tripped over a vampire who just ate an entire squad of police officers. Or maybe they’ve been challenged to a duel to the death and are being offered a rapier, the only weapon acceptable in that duel. Whatever the reason, there come times where magical weapons aren’t accessible or viable. In this case, the character must turn to mundane weapons.
Mundane weapons can be found almost anywhere, and can usually be purchased with regular currency. However, mundane weapons have a number of drawbacks that make them less ideal than the typical weaponry found in a magical girl’s arsenal. Mundane weapons are non-magical in nature, and thus have a harder time dealing damage to creatures that are magical. As such, any damage a magical creature would take from a non-magical weapon is halved (after applying DEF/EVA). Additionally, mundane weapons can’t conduct the magical energies that a girl uses when they utilize their usual weapons. As such, if one or more of the girl’s associated stat(s) are higher than the weapon’s maximum Capacity, they must expend an additional 1 MS to Attack with that weapon. Otherwise, they deal damage as normal, but the weapon loses 1 Durability for every 5 points (rounded up) that the associated stat exceeds the Capacity. A girl with a stat lower than the associated Capacity value cannot use that weapon at all.
Everett’s partner, Natalie, is in a pinch. Being completely out of MAG for her Gravity spells, she draws a handgun she kept tucked away. Because her AGI is 4 (within the handgun’s Capacity of 3-5 AGI), she can use the handgun without issue and without having to spend an additional MS to Attack. She shoots the creature attacking Everett for 4d4 Piercing damage (halved because the creature is magical), and then passes out from blood loss. Another girl passing by, Yin, palms the gun off of Natalie’s KO’d body with the Graverobber Ring she has equipped, then shoots the monster herself. Because Yin’s AGI is 8, and she used all of her MS for the turn getting the gun, Yin opts to not bother to restrain herself, dealing 8d8 Piercing damage (again, halved because the creature is magical). Because this value exceeds the Capacity of the weapon, the handgun’s Durability is reduced by 1 point.
A mundane weapon’s Capacity and Durability vary based on the type of weapon. When a weapon’s Durability reaches 0, that weapon is irreparably broken and will no longer function properly. The following is a chart of commonly-found mundane objects and their stats as weapons:
Weapon Type Capacity Dura Range Damage Type Baton 2-3 STR or AGI 1 Close Bash Knife 2-5 STR or AGI 2 Close Slash/Pierce/Metal Fencing Sword 4-8 AGI 2 Close; Near Slash/Pierce Broadsword 5-9 STR 3 Close Slash 2h Sword 6-10 STR 3 Close Slash Handaxe 4-7 STR 2 Close Bash/Slash
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Weapon Type Capacity Dura Range Damage Type Mace 6-8 STR 3 Close Bash Halberd 5-9 STR 2 Near Slash/Pierce Zweihander 7-12 STR 3 Near Slash Handgun 4-6 AGI 2 Mid-Range Pierce/Metal Scattergun 5 AGI 3 Near; Mid-Range Pierce/Metal Assault Rifle 4-8 AGI 3 Mid-Range; Far Pierce/Metal Slugshooter 5 AGI 3 Mid-Range; Far Pierce/Metal Magnum 4 STR and 3-5 AGI 2 Close; Near Pierce+Metal Smallshield 2-4 STR or VIT 5 Close Bash/Wood Greatshield 3-6 STR or VIT 7 Close Bash/Metal
Optional Rules
As a GM, you may find many aspects of the SCS interesting, but there’s that “one thing” that you feel the game needs in order to do well. Presented here are a list of tested and balanced Optional Rules for use in single sessions or long-term campaigns.
GM’s Note: Make sure ALL of your players know in advance that you intend to use any of these rules, as well as what rules you intend to use. It’s not fair for a character with a backstory rich in Monster Girl Hunting being unaware that they could’ve had Legacy Arms & Armor, just as it’s not okay to bring up that the “No Reincarnation” rule is in effect just before a character is about to die in combat.
Weakness and Resistance
While under the effect of this optional rule, all characters with a Specialization(s) gain Weakness to one Spec, and Resistance to another, as indicated by the table below. If you are struck by a spell from a Specialization you are weak to, roll 1d12. If the spell is a damage spell, increase the damage you would take by the value rolled. If the spell is a contest spell, decrease your side of the contest by the value rolled. Resistance functions in much the same way, however you instead take 1d12 LESS damage and INCREASE your side of contests by 1d12.
Monster Girls, Fused Entities, and users of the Cosmic Band with multiple Specializations will have a Weakness and Resistance for each of their Specializations. If you have both Weakness AND Resistance to the same Specialization, they cancel each other out.
Oddball Specialization girls must choose 1 Specialization to be weak to and 1 Specialization to be strong against when they create/convert their character.
Specialization Weak To Strong Against Fire Water Wood Ice Sound Metal
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Specialization Weak To Strong Against Air Stone Sound Spirit Illusion Psychic Reinforcement Darkness Light Psychic Spirit Empathic Time Gravity Time Lightning Wood Water Sound Air Ice Darkness Light Reinforcement Illusion Beast Spirit Light Reinforcement Darkness Wood Fire Lightning Empathic Psychic Beast Water Lightning Fire Gravity Time Gravity Stone Metal Air Beast Empathic Illusion Metal Ice Stone
Grit & Grim Mode
Using this optional rule, players can take on a more realistic version of gameplay that forces them to manage resources and prioritize survival over victory. While playing in G&G mode, HP and stats do not recover to full during a Reprieve. Instead, each character may recover up to 4 points from any stat(s) of their choice, then they recover HP equal to their (new) current VIT stat. Additionally, while in G&G mode, you can only carry a total number of items, outfits, and weapons equal to your current STR stat. If you aren’t transformed, any weapons/outfits/relics tied to your transformed form don’t count against you, but if you are a Monster Girl, your weapons/outfits/relics DO count against you in your Sealed form. If at any time the number of weapons/items/outfits in your inventory exceeds your current STR stat, you become Encumbered. While Encumbered, you cannot receive more than 1 MS each turn, even if you would get more MS through outside effects.
Tips for playing in G&G Mode: Because of the stress on item management, it might be a good idea to assign a high-STR ally the role of “pack mule” of sorts. If you do this, be sure to stick near those allies so that they can use the Pass Item ability easily. In G&G mode, your HP doesn’t recover nearly as quickly, and stats aren’t as easily recovered. Because combat spells can’t be used outside of combat, this means that players should prioritize the acquisition of healing items, as well as learning to flee/avoid combat entirely. GMs are heavily encouraged to permit stealthy options for bypassing combat, and should reward these appropriately.
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As a GM, it is advised that the extra difficulty this mode presents be taken into account. Keeping encounters well-balanced to the party is a must, because a small mistake or unfortunate roll can completely demolish an unprepared party. You can apply this optional rule to a single session or section of a campaign to help establish a threating foe, or create a sort of “otherworldly” area where a magical girl’s powers are less effective.
Clouds & Candy Mode
Using this optional rule, players can take on a more carefree and easier style of play that allows them to kick back, focus on the story, and enjoy the ride. While in C&C Mode, all stats and HP recover to full after every encounter (Reprieves still otherwise function as normal). Additionally, when a player is KO’d, they may opt to flee combat instead of being KO’d, with a Flee chance of 100% (cannot be altered by outside means). Any ally can revive any other ally they are at Close range with, by using 2 MS on their turn. This restores the KO’d ally to 2 HP.
Tips for playing in C&C Mode: Due to the lesser difficulty in the combat of this game mode, a GM may decide to use alternate “Loss Conditions” for battles, in addition to the typical “all allies are KO’d”. Preventing a specific character from being KO’d, or making players race against a turn clock are a couple of suggestions. In general, this game mode is for use by GMs that may be less experienced or less willing to focus on the crunch of the game, and instead wish to focus more on the story without risking an unintentionally unbalanced encounter wiping out a party. You can apply this optional rule to a single session or section of a campaign to represent a “final battle”-style power-up for the players, or to enforce a large gap in power between the players and the enemy they face.
Mana Cards
This optional rule is designed to help LUK-focused characters make a lasting impact, while taking some of the pressure off of player stats for costs. For this optional rule, you will need one or more decks of 52 standard playing cards (you may include one or both jokers if you wish). At the start of any encounter, each player draws cards from the deck equal to their character’s current LUK stat. Costs can be paid with these cards, based on their suit (STR costs can be paid with Spades, Diamond for AGI, Hearts for VIT, and Clubs for MAG). LUK-based costs can be paid by discarding cards from your hand equal to the cost being paid. A card discarded for a cost must have a face value equal to or greater than the cost being paid (Aces = 1, and J/Q/K = 10). You can discard any combination of cards for the cost of a single ability, however you cannot split a single card across multiple costs.
If you choose to include the Joker(s), a Joker can be discarded for the entirety of a single stat cost, but only for ONE stat. If you channel a cost paid by a card, you may draw 1 card per card discarded for that cost, regardless of the value of the Channel effect. You cannot recover stats from the Channel effect of ability paid with one or more cards.
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When all cards have been drawn, shuffle the discard pile and make it the new deck.
Tips for playing with Mana Cards: This rule GREATLY benefits LUK-based characters, and will also make the game significantly easier, so be aware of your party’s stats before allowing the use of this rule. As a GM, you may be inclined to allow a less-optimally-built character the ability to use this optional rule for them and them alone. Before allowing this, you should consult with your other players and get them to agree to it. Additionally, it’s important that this should only be done in the event of a genuinely poorly-built character from an inexperienced player, NOT for experienced players that simply built LUK-heavy to exploit the rule. There is no rule against players showing each other or the GM their hands (so long as they don’t trade cards around). There’s also no rule saying you have to show your hands. You may wish to establish the rules regarding hand sharing in advance. While this rule is less optimal for online play, you may find use of a bot that has a playing card deck feature.
No Reincarnation
This optional rule is fairly straightforward: While in effect, players are not allowed to Reincarnate. If a combatant remains KO’d at the end of an encounter, and that encounter is not shortly followed by a Reprieve, the character is Dead.
Tips for playing with No Reincarnation: DO NOT use this rule for anything except long-running campaigns. While it has been mentioned several times previously, it cannot be stressed enough that you inform your players of your intent to use this rule. This optional rule makes “A Way Out” and “Broken Reincarnation” effectively useless. Consider giving people with these abilities some extra toys to work with as compensation. You can combine this Optional Rule with the “Grit & Grim Mode” rules for a high-tension survival game.
Mana Pool
Using this optional rule, players trade out the stat-based costs typical to the SCS in favor of a more traditional MP-based casting system. A character’s MP is equal to the sum of their stats (double the value of your MAG and VIT for MP calculation only). If at any point an ability would be paid for with one or more stat point(s), it is instead paid with an equal amount of MP. Channeling and other such effects work as normal, but only affect MP and do not affect stats. Stats can still be reduced by effects. If a spell requires you to pay all of a designated stat, you lose MP equal to that stat’s current value. As with stats and HP, you recover all of your MP during a Reprieve.
Tips for playing with Mana Pools:
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This mode makes the game easier for players, because it eliminates one of the primary methods of counterbalancing abilities (stat costs). Take care when GMing a session run with this rule. You can utilize this rule to make the game relatively simpler for newer or less mechanically- inclined players. It can also be used to avoid a lot of the “crunch” involved.
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Shared HP
With this optional rule, all combatants on a single side share HP. The HP pool is equal to the total amount of HP of all allied combatants, and is reduced when any ally takes damage. All combatants on a single side are KO’d simultaneously if their total HP is reduced to 0 or less. Players with Lifesaver effects can choose to activate those effects, but the usual conditions for Lifesaver effects still apply.
Players can still be KO’d by other means. Fused Entities work as normal with this rule, except that their HP does not change.
Tips for playing with Shared HP: You can choose to selectively apply this rule to specific combatants. Partners, Tuners, or Twins are good examples of characters that may benefit from a shared HP value. Don’t feel restrained to an “all or nothing” mentality. One of the best times to use this rule is when you have a small party, especially if one player is significantly less experienced than the other.
Escorting Combatants
This rule allows you to cover and escort a character through combat, defending them more effectively. This rule adds the Inherent/Speed ability “Escort”, which allows you to Escort a combatant through a fight. While escorting, damage you inflict is halved (after applying DEF and EVA), you cannot move more than 2 Stages in a single turn (even if you would be able to normally). The escorted takes their turn at the same time you do, and will automatically Move when you do without using MS themselves (but cannot change stages without you). While Escorting, you can add your DEF and EVA to the escorted’s DEF and EVA, and can use Force Evade and Force Guard in their stead (paying your stats as applicable), however your own DEF and EVA is halved against abilities that specifically target you (and only you). You can start or stop escorting a character with 1 MS. You can only escort one character at a time.
Tips for using Escort: The escorted doesn’t use MS to move with the Escort, and still receives their full turn’s actions. The restriction on movement may lock them out of some abilities, but they can still perform most actions and help fight. The obvious use of this rule is for an escort mission, however you could also allow this rule in order to let a more durable character cover for a more fragile one, or to help an injured ally escape a battle.
Legacy Arms & Armor
This rule is a mechanical add-on that allows players to craft weapons and outfits based on previously- defeated Monsters. Characters with Legacy Equipment should consult a GM before entering play.
To create a Legacy Equipment, you must first have a fragment or remnant of the creature being used as the base of the piece of Equipment. You will also need 2 Silver coins or 20 Bronze coins. Crafting a Legacy Weapon or Outfit takes 10 separate Reprieves. A Legacy Weapon or Outfit must be of the same
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type as ONE of the default Weapon/Outfit types of the original creature (you can’t make a Legacy Uniform out of a fragment of a creature that used a Skimpy outfit, for instance). If the original creature did not have a Weapon or Outfit, the Legacy Weapon/Outfit must be of the same type as ONE of the starting Weapon/Outfit types of the crafter.
When created, you choose a single ability that creature had when the fragment was procured, and that piece of Equipment gains that ability. A Legacy Outfit/Weapon’s first two Enhancement slots are filled with this one ability. Legacy Equipment otherwise behaves as normal for its type, providing the typical EVA/DEF bonuses or the Attack type/range appropriate for its type. It is considered a Magical Weapon/Outfit.
You can make Legacy Equipment from any Monster, Natural Monster Girl, Corrupted Monster Girl, or Dark Magical Girl. When selecting the ability for your Legacy Equipment, you cannot select any Patron, Power, Inherent, or Relic ability, nor can you select a Specialization Spell. Any effects of the item stack as they would normally.
There is no limit to how many pieces of Legacy Equipment you may possess, but you can only equip one at a time (meaning you cannot equip a Legacy Outfit and a Legacy Weapon at the same time).
Tips for playing with Legacy Arms & Armor: As a GM, be aware of the dynamics in combat that a Legacy Equip can enable. Feel free to permit or deny Legacy items on a case-by-case basis. For GMs that have found themselves in over their heads, the Rust Wave spell or the Disarm condition are both good ways of dealing with these items, as they disable access to the bonus effects of the Equipment. As a player, have a backup plan if your Legacy Equipment is forbidden or shut down during play. While it may be tempting to have a character that relies on Legacy Arms to fight, it can ultimately backfire if they have no good abilities on their own merit.
Assist Rush
Using this optional rule, players can utilize Assists more freely, paying out of their Initiative instead of their Turn’s actions. When using an Assist, the player can decrease their Initiative by 5 for a SP 1 ability, 10 for an SP 2 ability, 20 for an Active ability, 40 for a Full-Turn ability, and 15 for a Reactive ability.
Note that you can’t reduce your Initiative lower than 0 with this, and you can’t use this rule if your Initiative is at 0.
Tips for playing with Assist Rush: As a GM, don’t be afraid to pressure your players into using their Assists to get out of a sticky situation. That’s why the Assists are there. As a Player, remember that your Initiative, while a limited resource, will recover at the start of each encounter. If you’ve got the Initiative to spare, the extra firepower helps. Remember that the Turn Order will change depending on changes to your Initiative. Be mindful of where you lie in the turn order, as some strategies change depending on how quickly you can execute them in a round.
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Flash Skirmish
With this Optional Rule, a GM can represent a quick exchange between two or more parties. This can be used to represent combat drawn out between a number of interruptions, a sudden breach into a scene, or a mass hit-and-run fight between groups.
Flash Skirmishes last a single round. Initiative isn’t rolled, and turn order is decided by the GM. Each combatant gets a single turn, and can execute any action while ignoring position and relation to other foes (this means that Optimal Ranges don’t matter). After the initial skirmish, a GM can flow straight into a proper encounter, flow back into roleplaying, or start another Skirmish. Conditions, buffs, and debuffs applied in a Skirmish will carry over into that combatant’s next encounter, unless they Reprieve first. Additionally, each Skirmish is considered a separate encounter, meaning that OpE effects and such reset.
Tips for playing with Flash Skirmishes: As a GM, you can use a Flash Skirmish to set the tone for a battle. By leading in with a player breach, you can reward players for taking the initiative in roleplaying by letting them get the first moves, or you can represent an ambush more completely by letting enemies take the first move. Because each combatant only gets a single turn, it may be more advantageous for party members to focus down specific targets, or utilize more “burst” tactics. You can also do an effective “hit-and-run” style combat by skirmishing with a boss, letting the party apply a number of conditions, then splitting the groups up until their next encounter.
Assist Orders
Using this rule, players can utilize their Assist characters to cover secondary threats without getting personally involved. When a player orders an Assist they control to cover an area or fight a foe, that Assist will be unavailable for the next encounter (or the current encounter, if ordered mid-combat). Should that Assist encounter a foe while under Orders, average the Stat Totals of that encounter’s foe(s) and have the Assist roll Xd4, where X is their own Stat Total. If the Assist’s roll is greater than or equal to double the average Stat Total of the encounter, they are victorious, and return to their controller unless otherwise ordered.
Tips for playing with Assist Orders: As a GM, consider restricting the rewards for encounters won by an Assist, or consider only permitting the Assist to use the coins that would be obtained. This will allow the Assist to improve, as well as preventing players from just sending in a min-maxed Assist to clean up most encounters. Let players split their forces to take on greater threats. Using an Assist to defeat lesser foes while dealing with the boss is an effective way to utilize this rule.
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Gameplay FAQs
The following section lists some common rulings questions and their answers. Note that in many cases, your GM may decide to rule in a different manner.
Q – Can I split CP gains up? A – Not unless the stat that the CP would go into HAS to go into a corroded stat. If the CP gain in question is generic (it doesn’t designate where it goes), and you have a non-corroded stat, it must go into one of those non-corroded stats in full, and can’t be split up. If a CP gain would be forced to go into a corroded stat, it is instead split up amongst all non-corroded stats. If you don’t have any non-corroded stats, it’s split evenly between all 5 stats.
Q – Is there a limit to how many relics I can have equipped at once? A – A single character may have up to 2 relics equipped at once. Your GM may rule that specific relics obviously can’t overlap (such as a cloak and a cape, or multiple “lens” items).
Q – What exactly happens when I Reincarnate? A – Mechanically, Reincarnation is basically a very long Reprieve. All of your stat mods are wiped to 0, your CP values are all reset to 0, and your Stability is reset to 100%. At this point, apply any other effects that happen due to Reincarnation (such as Rapport being lost and the Broken Reincarnation ability). While there exists a specified clock for Reincarnation, you or your GM can choose to skim over this time period if you don’t wish to sit out play for the designated in-universe time. So long as you’re not dying and coming back 5 minutes later, it should be fine.
Q – Doesn’t this make suicide a really cheap “reset button”? A – Mechanically? Yes, but there may be narrative reasons why you wouldn’t want to be out of the count for 20-50 days at a time. Even if you skim over the time period, it still happens in-character. Unless you’re a hermit that lives in an all-magical-girl society, it is highly unlikely that nobody is going to miss you during the month or two you are inconvenienced by death.
Q – Do relics under my control have to stay in my control? A – You can use the Pass Item ability to hand off a relic to an ally that needs it more, or somebody who can recharge it for you. Unlike your starting weapon and outfit, Relics aren’t tied directly to you unless you got them from a perk at character creation, or from a patron benefit.
Q – I know that Attack and Attack-like abilities can be used outside of their Optimal Ranges, but what about spells or other abilities that have specified ranges? A – Abilities cannot be used outside of their designated range, unless they state otherwise. Being able to attack outside of your Optimal Range is considered a part of Attack's effect, and isn't a game mechanic inherent to all Abilities. Technically, Attack's range is "anywhere, but with a penalty if you attack in these specific places".
Q – If I pay VIT for a cost, does my Maximum HP go down?
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A – No. HP is the only stat that will NOT reduce if the associated stat goes down. This is entirely for anti- frustration purposes, and is considered an exception to the relationship between Main Stats and Derived Stats.
Q – How long does a single turn/round in the SCS take? A – As long as it needs to. There’s no hard-set rule on how long rounds take. A single round could be two seconds of numerous fierce clashes between Melee users, or it could be several hours of cat-and-mouse between two Ranged attackers. Combat rounds are meant to only show an abbreviation of “productive” combat, meaning that a number of blows that don’t connect or don’t accomplish anything may have been exchanged in the period between the end of one round and the start of the next.
Q – Can I exchange one type of coin for another type of coin? A – No. This is an intentional design choice to prevent players from killing 4000 Nexus Crawlers and then fully upgrading their character to the maximum possible. In order to curb progression and make upgrades feel more valuable, certain coins can only be acquired through certain means. The inability to “trade down” coins is also prevented to preserve this feeling, but in most cases you would receive a better or equivalent reward from the higher-tier coin, so this is considered a non-issue.
Q – What’s the difference between “Slash/Metal” and “Slash+Metal”? A – The “/” notation indicates that you must choose between the provided options (so “Slash/Metal” would have you choose one between “Slash” and “Metal”), while the “+” notation indicates that it is treated as being ALL of those options combined (so “Slash+Metal” is both Slash damage and Metal damage). In this event, you apply the applicable resistances from least to greatest. In some cases, both notations are used to designate multiple types of damage with differing damage dice (for instance, “2d6 Slash + 1d6 Metal”)
Q – What happens if I have a weakness for a Damage Attribute, but also a Resistance for that same Attribute? A – Weakness modifiers are applied first, then Resistances.
Q – The Puchuu drawbacks “Cagey” and “Hostile” both have the same effect. Is this a mistake? A – No. If you have both (which is possible), you will have to roll the penalty twice, and potentially be misinformed about up to two pieces of info. If both rolls come up the same result, you just lose the one piece of info.
Q – I became a DMG using a Black Coin. Can I later obtain another Black Coin and become a Corrupted Monster Girl? A – Being able to acquire two Black Coins in the first place should be a weighty decision made by a GM, and is not something a player should decide for themselves. The ability to upgrade should also be something carefully considered by a GM. In any case, should you be able to “upgrade”, you will lose your DMG Weapon/Power when you become a Monster Girl.
Q – The Spirit spell descriptions all state “all spirits in play”. Does this mean I can have moves like Spirit Slash deal more damage if an ally or an enemy has also summoned spirits?
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A – Yes. Spells that utilize spirits use ALL of the spirits currently in play. This makes fights involving multiple allied Spirit girls more dangerous for their foes, and also turns Spirit VS Spirit combat into a dangerous game where everyone has access to everyone else’s resources.
Q – Can I skip a Reprieve offered to me? A – Sometimes you may make it to a Reprieve without needing a break. In this event, it’s up to your GM to allow you to scout ahead or investigate the area you’re taking your Reprieve in. Mechanically, there’s no mandate to taking a Reprieve if you don’t need it.
Q – What is an ability chain? A – An Ability Chain is an advanced inherent mechanic that allows players to respond to each other with new abilities. Let’s say two players are about to get into a contest, because player A has cast the Sanguine Spike spell. Because nothing’s been rolled yet, both sides are given the opportunity to apply any relevant effects and abilities. In most cases, you’d only see each side applying one or two effects, but in this case Player B decides they want to Fortune Boost themselves by 3 to give themselves an edge. Player A then decides (having not yet rolled anything) to ALSO Fortune Boost their side by 4, and in response Player B decides to go the whole hog and spend their 10 LUK on a single Fortune Boost. Once both players agree that they’re done piling effects onto the situation, they roll. Once everyone involved has declared that they’re done applying effects, the roll must be made, and once the roll is made, you can’t suddenly decide to add more effects unless they are applicable during the roll itself.
Q – Can I use a spell on a Power Rune in conjunction with the Gifted ability? A – Yes, but expending the charge is also considered part of the cost, meaning that using the spell with Gifted will cause you to expend 2 charges instead of just 1.
Tips on running a game in the SCS for GMs
Whether you’re running a long-term campaign or a one-shot quest, it’s important to be ready for the task ahead. The following section lists a lot of tips from various GMs that are helpful for both new and veteran GMs.
Know the Board
In any game, it’s important to know what pieces are where, but it’s also important to know how those pieces work. Make sure you read each of your players’ backstories and keep them in mind when planning long-term sessions. By keeping your party’s stories and characters in mind, you can do a much better job of keeping the players engaged in a narrative.
While keeping the narrative aspects in mind is important, one shouldn’t neglect the characters’ mechanical capabilities. It’s not particularly fair to send an all-Fire team against a foe that absorbs Fire damage, even if they have other means of defeating it. By the same token, it’s not challenging for that same group to be routinely sent against foes that are weak to Fire.
Put on a Show
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One of the best aspects of roleplaying games is the ability to don a persona and act in ways you never would normally, and one of the best ways to engage the players is to have the world around them come to life. Bringing a world to life is no lean feat, but the quickest ways to spark player imagination is to describe JUST enough. If you’re GMing in real life or over a voice chat, using a variety of voices or self- generated sound effects can be a huge boon, while players in chatrooms can utilize descriptive language and cover a lot more ground in a small amount of time.
Another way to bring a world to life is to make the characters intriguing. Sure, all he’s going to do is hand you a quest to go find the magic ring, but wouldn’t it be more interesting if he had a nervous twitch, refused to make eye contact with the party, and constantly checked his pocket watch (which is broken)? Even if your players don’t catch on themselves, little details go a long way.
Deal with “Broken” things Swiftly and Fairly
It is an inescapable fact that the more player choices are involved, the more likely that there is something considered a “perfect” or “superior” choice. If you encounter an enterprising player who has assaulted your game with a “broken” combo, you may find the following tips effective in dealing with their unstoppable rampage of unrestrained player creativity: Firstly, consider if the combo is genuinely overpowered, or if you are simply ignorant to its counter. Many mechanics in the SCS are designed to be powerful in specific contexts, but lacking in other areas. As an example, Heavy-VIT builds (especially ones that use Regeneration) seem really powerful on the surface, with a solid HP pool and inherently-high DEF, but such a build is very easily dealt with by abilities that ignore DEF or deal huge amounts of damage. In the event of the combo in question not being defensive, but being an offensive combo that decimates many foes in a short period of time, the process of reducing the combo’s effectiveness can be tricky. While there are many ways to deal with such combos, it’s important to consider the player in this decision. Remember that they put their time and energy into making this combo work, and it’s not particularly fair for you to completely invalidate their ability to be effective in combat 100% of the time. If the only reason they have access to this combo is by your permission (directly or indirectly), then you should work to rectify that. Remember to always hold Veto Power at any time.
Take Notes
Note-taking is an essential part of GMing. Because of the sheer quantity of things that happen in a single session, some things can slip through the cracks and be forgotten. Keeping good notes ensures that it’s harder for things to slip through. Additionally, if there is a long period of time between events/sessions, good notes can help alleviate some of the confusion of “what were we doing again”.
In a real life game, good notes can also help as an intimidation factor. Few things will strike fear into a veteran player like the DM silently scribbling something on unseen paper while appearing to listen intently. Just make sure your poker face is good.
Communication is Key
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If you or a player is uncomfortable with something happening in the game or at the table, talk with them about it. If a player activity is unavoidable (“this is a core part of my character!”), consider asking them to make a new character. If the activity is something that can be avoided, ask the player to avoid it. If they refuse, politely request that they leave your game.
Reward Effective Play
If players find a way to circumvent an encounter or thwart the Evil Plan™ without actually directly confronting the final boss, reward them appropriately. Being clever and utilizing the tools at their disposal should be rewarded just as much (or even more) than if they had directly confronted the enemy. If they find a way to completely defeat the enemy without actively engaging in close quarters combat, even better still.
Be Prepared, but Improvise
One would assume that a GM is supposed to show up to a game and run the entire thing exclusively out of their notes. They don’t. A good GM has mechanical data prepared (potential encounters, the enemies therein, and other such things), and an outline for a plot, but is ready to be flexible and improvise should the players stray from the beaten path.
Now, you may be saying “But W&W PDF, if my players are straying too far from my plot, isn’t that bad? Shouldn’t I put them back on the right track?” No. If there’s a villain in the background with a known plan to steal all of the instant ramen (causing ramen prices to inflate to ridiculous amounts, forcing NEETs, weeaboos, and college students everywhere to actually learn to cook or starve), then it is the right of the party to completely ignore that and do something else. Sometimes your plot just isn’t engaging. It happens. If you’d like, you can guide them back towards the original plot, but sometimes it’s better to go along for the narrative ride.
Engaging players has been brought up a number of times in this PDF, and will be brought up a few more times after this. One of the ways to engage players is to be able to answer their questions. To do this, it’s good to over-prepare to a degree, and have more side information ready than you think you’ll use. Experienced players of PnP RPGs will commonly ask about things such as: The status of the ceiling What happens if the character pokes ANYTHING. How many people are in a room If the people in the room all share one or more features (such as hair color, uniform, or even general color scheme). The contents and/or titles of any books that may be lying around. If the piano is trapped How much HP the enemies have (don’t answer this one; make them Scan it) Any “oddities” “Should I get my weapon ready?” “Should I roll Initiative?” You should probably be prepared to answer most of the questions on this list, even if that answer is a scathing “Do you REALLY do that?”
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Keep these tips in mind and you should have no problems running a game in the SCS.
Converting a Character from AMGC to the SCS
By popular demand, the SCS now supports the direct conversion of an AMGC character into the SCS. For this conversion process, you will still need to progress through character creation in the SCS, but this will allow you to best bridge your AMGC character to the SCS without having to completely reroll your character from scratch in the CYOA.
Many of the options for conversion contain references to the Origins found in the CYOA. Since you can only have a single Origin, you cannot use multiple options that refer to a different Origin.
Note that this conversion process only works for rolled characters. If you used Point Buy to generate your character, you must remake your character from scratch using the Smug Origin’s rules in the CYOA.
If your character has an AMGC-exclusive power (listed in the chart later on), you can choose to either change that power to any CYOA power of your choice (as if you had the Bloodline Origin), or lose that power and gain the associated Relic (listed in the same chart) based on the power you lost. You DO NOT receive a new power if you take the latter option.
1. Lose all stat bonuses and penalties from Perks and Powers. If a Perk/Power has a stat bonus/penalty in the CYOA, you gain that stat change. 2. Lose the stat bonuses from your Specialization. If you are a Water Spec girl in AMGC, you may choose to become Ice Spec in the SCS instead of staying Water Spec (in this case, you gain the stats for Ice Specialization instead). If you are a Dark Magical Girl spec, your Specialization becomes the original “pure” version of your chosen corrupted Specialization, and you can choose to become a Dark Magical Girl later on, using the SCS’ rules. If you were previously a Monster Girl with a Second Specialization, and you were subsequently purified, your base Specialization MUST be the SAME as your ORIGINAL base Specialization (and not the specialization added as a Second Spec). 3. Lose any perks you have on the 3rd perk table. You can pick one perk from either CYOA table for free, as well as two additional perks if you purchased more perks with the Gold Coin. You completely lose the 6th Default perk. 4. If you have the Cosplay outfit, it becomes any other Outfit type of your choice, with the appropriate stat bonuses for its type. 5. Your weapon and outfit lose any AMGC enhancements they have. Each of your Weapon(s) and Outfit gain 1 SCS Enhancement each, even if you had more enhancements in their AMGC counterparts. 6. If you have the “Twinned Soul” power, your twin MUST have the same Specialization you do, and their default Power becomes “Twinned Soul”.1
1 Don’t forget to refer to the rules on Twins in the SCS Core Rulebook, as spending coins with Twinned Soul is different from the CYOA and AMGC.
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7. If you are a Monster Girl, you lose your Second Specialization and all other Monster Girl Qualities, and may choose to become either a Natural Monster Girl or a Corrupted Monster Girl using the CYOA/SCS rules. If you were a Dark Magical Girl spec, and you did NOT become a DMG, you MUST become a Corrupted Monster Girl at this step. If you DID choose to become a DMG, you gain your DMG qualities at this step, as defined in the SCS expansion “Order & Chaos; Friend & Foe”. 8. If you have not yet used an option that gives you an Origin, you may pick a CYOA Origin now. If the effects of that Origin allow you to change qualities that you previously spent coins on, you may refund those coins as desired. 9. Select a Patron and gain its benefits. If you are a Natural Monster Girl, you MUST select the Benefit “Magical Overload” and the Drawback “Monsterous Form” as part of your Patron’s package (this means you cannot be aligned with the Beacon or the Ebon Mint). If you are a Dark Magical Girl or a Corrupted Monster Girl, you MUST select the Ebon Mint as your first Patron (gaining another Patron’s base package as desired after that). 10. From this point, you are ready to continue conversion in the SCS proper. Remember to gain your Starting Spell Package(s), as well as calculate your HP, EVA, DEF, and Critical Rate.
Table: AMGC-Exclusive Powers Power Relic Teleportation Warpstone Copycat Mirror Clay Nullification Void Grasp Prime of Your Life Future Lens Focus Fire Blitz Charm Avenger Howling Ring Avatar Cosmic Band Sizeshift Shifting Cap Invulnerable Adamant Orb Scrying Crystal Glasses
Mechanics and Narrative
Mechanics serve as a baseline for narrative to be to be constructed. Just as bones hold the body together, mechanics help hold a narrative together to keep players immersed, serving as their gateway to the world created by the narrative. Just as the flesh of each person is different despite similar skeletons holding it all together, no two narratives have to be alike, even if they involve the same characters.
Nana and her ally Yin have found themselves in a predicament. The local DMG has refused to cooperate, and has already called forth reinforcements from the Ebon Mint in the form of a group of 5 Nexus Crawlers. While the Crawlers themselves are no real threat, it’s likely that the DMG will buff them. Nana immediately sprints in, having won initiative, slides under the DMG, and activates her visor, allowing her
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to lock onto all 5 Crawlers and the DMG simultaneously. Spraying a few rounds of her rifle into the crowd, the Crawlers instantly fall over, dead. The DMG, however, uses Nana’s head to vault over her, successfully evading the shots. Yin watches helplessly as the DMG grabs Nana’s shirt and drops a number of glowing embers in it, despite Nana’s struggling. The DMG then delivers a fierce kick, knocking her into a wall. Yin, rushing to her friend’s aid, places a white orb into the pommel of her weapon, a large tuning fork, and then chimes it. Nana, feeling her strength return to her, gathers a mote of magic, shoves it into her rifle to reload it, and unleashes a volley of the magical rounds at the DMG. Taking severe damage from the fierce attack, the DMG kicks up a cloud of dust and flees in the confusion.
You’ve probably already spotted a few obvious mechanics, but some extra bits and pieces may have you confused. Here’s the same passage, but with only the mechanics of the interaction:
Nana, Yin, and a resident DMG all roll initiative. Nana rolls 82 for her initiative, while the DMG rolls 54 and Yin rolls 29. Taking the first turn, Nana moves from Mid-Range to Close range with the DMG and uses her Barrage power to Ranged Attack all of the foes simultaneously. Rolling the 12d4, she gets a result of 32, but due to Barrage’s effect this damage is halved to 16 each. The Nexus Crawlers, each failing their Evasion rolls, take the 16 damage and all are KO’d, but the DMG has a range advantage, giving her an additional 1d20 for her Evasion roll, allowing her to evade effortlessly. The DMG’s turn begins, and she uses Efreet Cinders on Nana, who fails her Evasion roll against the 15 damage. Following up, she uses a Fist Attack on Nana, who fails the Evasion on that as well. Taking severe damage from the attack, Nana would be KO’d, but retains 1 HP due to the Endure enhancement on her outfit. Yin’s turn begins, and Yin uses her Cosmic Band to obtain access to the Reinforcement specialization. Because her weapon is Melee/Mystic, she can use the Heal spell on Nana, restoring her HP to full. Starting a new round, Nana uses a Ranged Attack on the DMG and rolls a Critical Hit. Suffering massive damage from the crit despite her EVA advantage, the DMG steps away from the fight and uses the Flee ability. Succeeding on her Flee chance, the battle concludes in favor of Nana and Yin.
While these two passages may seem somewhat different, their function is identical. Mechanics only serve as the baseline to help tell a story. Just as in the CYOA, where rolls are meant to inspire players to tell a story about a character, the mechanics in the SCS exist to help GMs and players bring to life the worlds where those characters interact.
This isn’t exclusive to combat, either. The various perks, specializations, and powers can all help tell a story about the girl using them. Perhaps the Ally they have has been misinforming them unknowingly. Maybe the Duplication power they have betrays a deep fear of loneliness. Even minor enhancements can betray specific traits: Last Stand can represent a tenacity and “never say die” determination.
The “fluff” of the world can help shape a narrative, and give players incentive to stay engaged. As a GM, it’s important to make the world feel alive at any given opportunity. In combat, this is best done by having the enemy respond to moves the party uses. Perhaps the local Monster Girl finds the need for healing amusing, or the overzealous Beacon outfit chides your reliance on ailments and trickery. This should, of course, also extend to damage: something that has taken a significant amount of damage should be irritated, fearful, and probably looking for an escape route.
Indirect Combat
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Normally, combat in the SCS is fairly direct: two or more sides, all fighting against each other, and the last side standing is the victor. This is referred to as Open Combat in the core rulebook, but there come times when even magical girls have to be sneaky or clever. In this case, Indirect Combat takes place. Stealth
Not all enemies should be fought head-on. Many enemies are better fought from a different angle, or from the shadows. Some enemies aren’t to be fought at all. Where permissible, enable players to bypass combat entirely or use the shadows to enable a better outcome. Mechanically, there is no mandate for whether or not stealthy actions work, but be sure to practice reasonable logic. Let players get a good look around the area, and let them plan routes to sneak through. Allow scrutiny where possible, but don’t betray absolutely everything. Not every plan goes off without a hitch, although good planning should enable more success than failure. If you need to, assign specific actions and paths a percentage chance of detection, and roll a d100 against that chance. Crossing over a loose board, for instance, may or may not be heard by the patrolling Horror minion.
If you plan on including a segment where stealth is permissible, you may want to sketch a map of the area, as well as any sections where the enemies might have line of sight. Additionally, don’t forget to take into account that your players are magical in nature; it’s possible that they may find ways to use their abilities to skip wide areas of exposure, or conceal themselves better. The Sound girl may mute the noise made by squeaky boards, and the illusion girl may create a distraction for the guard to pursue. They don’t necessarily need a spell in their ability list to do this. Puzzle Encounters
Puzzle Encounters allow a GM to get creative and work outside the box with mechanics. An enemy with 1500 HP and a hard shell of 100 DEF is frightening, to be certain, but what if the party was given the opportunity to drop 1000 HP and 90 DEF off of that? Using environmental or circumstantial stimuli, an otherwise completely devastating and un-fun encounter can be turned into a creative and challenging enemy to subvert.
Natasha finds herself sobering up in one of the Beacon’s strongholds, a mansion on a cliff near the city she lives in. After escaping their prison, she sneaks around the mansion to find a Crusader blocking the door to the exit. She’s familiar with this heavily-armored creature, and has turned down many a contract that asked her to deal with the Beacon’s dogs. However, this time, she has an edge in the form of a rusty chandelier hanging nearby.
Engaging the Crusader with some shuriken from a second-story balcony, she lures it closer to herself. When the time comes, she leaps for the chandelier and breaks the chain, sending it all crashing down on top of the Crusader. Much to her dismay, it won’t suffer more than a headache in the long term, but Natasha takes the opportunity to sprint for the door and make her escape, managing to pick up a few silver off of the Beacon guards outside.
The Multiverse Approach
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Different girls come from different backgrounds, but some have entirely different themes affecting their characters than others. Some magical girls are military employs to fight against a large-scale threat, and others are happy-go-lucky teenagers just trying to get through the week’s monster. Magical Girls encompass a variety of themes. This section will give a brief overview of those themes, what sort of girls tend to populate them, and give tips on how to run sessions/campaigns with those themes. Saturday Cartoon
Girls in Saturday Cartoon settings tend to not have much initiative and foresight. Because of the nature of a serial cartoon, these girls are more familiar with a formulaic and reactive approach to Monster slaying: Wake up, Go to school, Monster appears, Monster is defeated, Moral is learned, See you next week. Because of this, girls from Saturday Cartoon settings have a poor time adjusting to the Overcity and other settings in general, because of the large quantity of time spent fighting in a non-routine manner. The settings themselves tend to have real-world consequences that are usually backtracked wholesale. If everyone in the city is petrified, it won’t matter because at the end of the episode defeating the Monster of the Week will undo everything. Even when incidents have an impact, it is rarely an impact that lasts. Campaigns and Quests run in this sort of setting utilize an easy formula for most sessions: Introduce Monster, Fight some low-level grunts, and then fight the monster itself. Many times the individual quests will not actually progress the plot in any meaningful way, but offer more opportunities for character development and/or progression. You can also run a “Compressed Serial” campaign by giving each Monster of the Week its own weight in the plot, but this will likely sacrifice your ability to properly give attention to each individual party member. Tactical/Militant
Girls in Tactical/Militant settings tend to be more serious, cynical, and bitter. Because the act of monster slaying is either their job or a way of life in their world, they usually have a weapon on hand (even in Civilian Form, if they use it at all). More Militant girls will usually see other characters as potentially expendable, and will usually have a hard time connecting with others because of this. In other settings, these girls tend to have a crisis of peace: because they spend most of their time fighting in their own settings, a setting where much of a girl’s time is spent worrying about boys and good grades feels too stagnant, and they may have a hard time adjusting. Tactical/Militant settings themselves tend to have lasting, routine consequences. People die to monsters as a matter of fact, and sightings of monsters tend to get large squads of elite magical girls responding with equally lethal force. These settings tend to rely more on sending the right “tools” for the job, as opposed to sending the same team after every monster sighting. Campaigns and Quests run in this sort of setting utilize an emphasis on teamwork, survival, and focus on the bigger picture. Characters are also called to make more complex and impactful decisions: Let a swarm of monsters loose and risk a bigger problem, or kill them all and risk high civilian casualties in the crossfire? As a consequence, however, individual girls are given less weight in the plot, because the whole is more important.
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You can also run a “Survival Horror” campaign by making the monsters legitimately stronger than the magical girls that fight them, as well as putting an emphasis on cramped, dark environments and single/paired characters with extremely limited resources, instead of using large squadrons with good resources. Tragic
Girls in Tragic settings tend to be upbeat and outgoing, or completely cynical and bitter. Being a magical girl is considered a tragic experience, where there’s no real hope of coming out on top in the long run. Girls from Tragic settings will be the first to throw in the towel and the last to believe in any sort of chance of real victory. This creates a disconnect between Tragic girls and other settings, because the concept of actually fully defeating their foes may be completely alien to them. Tragic settings themselves tend to be more “realistic”, usually taking place during the modern day, or in a dystopian society, with the supernatural elements serving as a “varnish” of sorts over modern life. Ultimately, the difference between a Tragic setting and most other settings lies in the side of good’s odds against the side of evil: if there’s no hope, then it’s almost certainly a Tragic setting. Campaigns and Quests run in this sort of setting utilize an emphasis on story and character development. Because of the utter futility of combat in the long term, these sorts of campaigns tend to be more about “how can we make this suck less” as opposed to “how do we fix this”, and how the various characters cope with their fate. While it may be possible to carve out a ray of hope, it will be hard-fought. You can also run a “From the Brink of Despair” campaign by starting out with everything completely ruined in the current universe, tasking the party with fixing it all, escaping to a new universe, or making a new one from scratch. For this sort of campaign, it’s best to keep the party small and NPCs minimal or nonexistent in order to promote a feeling of loneliness.
Augments
Coins are pretty useful things. They improve your powers, give you more spells to work with, help make your weapons more efficient, and help reinforce outfits so that you can survive easier. After a certain point, however, there comes a time when this may not be enough. Or perhaps you’ve yet to fully upgrade your equipment, but you need a specific tool to help you defeat/survive your foes.
In this case, you turn to the Magical World’s favorite little helpers: Augments. Augments are small, spell- like effects that are anchored to the magical girl using them, by using coins at the character’s disposal. Most magical girls and monster girls can use just about any augment. You don’t have to activate Augments after you initially anchor them to yourself, as they are all Passive abilities. Anchoring an Augment
You can choose to anchor an Augment to yourself at any time during a Reprieve. Each Augment consumes a single coin of its type: Bronze, Silver, or Gold, and you can only have a specific number of Augments of each type anchored simultaneously. Each augment has conditions for its use, as well as a
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duration for use in its description. When an augment wears off, you must wait a full Reprieve before you can replace it with a new Augment.
When you enter Sealed or Civilian Form, you can choose up to one augment of each type (Bronze, Silver, Gold), and if you do, you can use the effect(s) of those Augments even while in Sealed/Civilian Form. You can choose different Augments to retain each time. Bronze Augments
You can have a maximum of 10 Bronze spent on Augments at a time, and each Bronze Augment lasts 5 Reprieves.
Contest Boost – When you use a t0 Generic spell that would apply a Condition with a Contest, you can increase that spell to Tier 1, give it a cost of “2 MAG or 1 VIT”, and force the Target to roll their side of the contest as if their stats were each 2 less. Cost Down – When you use a t0 Generic spell with a cost, you can increase that spell to Tier 1, and reduce its cost by 1 stat point (minimum 1). Critical Boost – Increase your Crit by 2%. You can anchor this Augment multiple times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Damage Boost – When you use a t0 Generic spell that would deal damage to a Target with no cost, you can increase that spell to Tier 1, give it a cost of “2 VIT”, and increase the base damage of that spell by 2d6. Destructive – When you use a t1/t2 Generic spell that applies a Condition, you can increase that spell’s Tier by 1, apply an additional cost of “1 MAG or VIT”; That spell becomes a Specialization Spell that deals 3d6 damage (of your Specialization’s damage attribute, if any) if the Target(s) fail the Contest. Dodge Boost – Increase your EVA by 3. You can anchor this Augment multiple times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Duration Boost – When you use a t0 Generic spell that applies a Condition that has a Duration with a Turn Count, you can increase that spell to Tier 1, increase its base cost by 1 MAG, and increase the duration of the Condition that spell applies by 3 Turns. Empower – When you anchor this augment, choose STR, AGI, or MAG. When you use a t1/t2 Generic spell that deals damage, you can increase that spell’s Tier by 1, apply an additional cost of “1 MAG or VIT”; That spell becomes a Specialization Spell that deals d4s of additional damage equal to the chosen stat, using your Specialization’s damage attribute (if any) for the damage attribute. Flashing – When you use a t1/t2 Speed Spell, you can increase that spell’s Tier by 1, apply an additional cost of “1 MAG or VIT”, and treat that spell as a Speed Spell with SP 1. Guard Boost – Increase your DEF by 1. You can anchor this Augment multiple times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Hasten – When you use a t1/t2 Active spell, you can increase that spell’s Tier by 1, apply an additional cost of “2 AGI or 2 VIT”, and treat that spell as a Speed Spell with SP 2. Healing Boost – When you use a t0 Generic spell that would restore HP to a combatant and has no cost, you can increase that spell to Tier 1, give it a cost of “1 MAG”, and increase the Healing provided by a value equal to your VIT or your LUK.
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Health Boost – Increase your HP by 5. You can anchor this Augment multiple times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Target Boost – When you use a t0 Generic spell with no cost that Targets a single combatant, you can increase that spell to Tier 1, give it a cost of “2 MAG or 1 VIT”, and allow it to Target up to 3 combatants (for the same effect). Silver Augments
You can have a maximum of 5 Silver spent on Augments at a time, and each Silver Augment lasts for 10 Reprieves.
Agility Up – Increase your base AGI by 1. You can anchor this Augment up to 3 times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Ambush – When you use a t3 Spell that deals damage, you can increase that spell’s Tier to t4, apply an additional cost of “1 AGI”, and that spell reduces the DEF and EVA of any Target(s) with lower Initiative than the User by half (only VS that spell). Luck Up – Increase your LUK by 1. You can anchor this Augment up to 3 times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Magic Up – Increase your MAG by 1. You can anchor this Augment up to 3 times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Multilock – When you use a t3 Spell that Targets multiple combatants, you can increase that spell’s Tier to t4, and that spell can Target the same combatant multiple times, staying within the number of legal targets (apply each instance individually). Overcharge – When you use a t3 Spell with a cost, you can increase that spell’s Tier to t4 and reduce the secondary cost(s) of that spell to 0 (Sacrifice and MS costs), but skip your next turn. Strength Up – Increase your STR by 1. You can anchor this Augment up to 3 times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Vindictive – When you use a t3 spell that provokes a Contest, you can increase that spell’s Tier to t4, and if a Target of that spell dealt damage to you since the start of their last turn, their stats are halved (for that Contest only), however, halve YOUR stats (for that Contest only) against any Target(s) that did NOT deal damage to you since the start of their last turn. Vitality Up – Increase your VIT by 1. You can anchor this Augment up to 3 times simultaneously. Their effects stack. Wide Range – When you use a t3 Spell that Targets, you can increase that spell’s Tier to t4, apply an additional cost of “1 MS”, and that spell can Target double the combatants it could previously. Gold Augments
You can only have a single Gold coin spent on Augments at a time. Gold augments last until the character they are anchored to Reincarnates.
Agility Amp – Increase your AGI by 3, and your EVA by 10. Atypical Condition – When you use a t4 Specialization Spell that applies EXACTLY one Condition, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 and the cost by 2 MAG/VIT in order to change that spell’s Condition to any other Condition (except “Frost Blade” with X higher than 4, “Blind” with X higher than 15, “Pin” with X higher than 25, “Shield” with X higher than 30, or “Swarm”).
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Atypical Element – When you use a t4 Specialization Spell that deals non-True damage, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 and the cost by 2 MAG/VIT in order to change that spell’s damage to any other single damage type (except “untyped” and “True”). Curtain Call – When you use a t4 Spell that targets EXACTLY one combatant, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 and reduce your HP to 0 (ignoring Lifesaver effects) in order to cause that spell to immediately start that Target’s Reincarnation Cycle if they fail their Contest by more than 12 points and/or take more than 15 damage from the spell. If the target does not have a Reincarnation Cycle, this augment has no effect, but you still have to pay the cost. Element Lord – When an opponent uses a Specialization Spell of a Specialization you have, you can immediately negate that spell as a Reactive, and if you do, cast any t4 Spell that you know as a t5 spell, reducing the cost by the total amount of stat(s) paid for that opponent’s spell. You can only use this effect once per round. (Oddball Specializations are all considered to be different specializations from other Oddballs). Hostile Terrain – When you use a t4 Specialization Spell, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 and its cost by 3 MAG/VIT to apply an additional effect that converts the battlefield into one that deals 2d10 magic damage (ignoring EVA) to combatants that are NOT members of that spell’s Specialization. If “Terrashift” or “Hostile Terrain” is used after this effect is applied, that effect replaces this one. Luck Amp – Increase your LUK by 3, your Crit Rate by 10%, and your Crit Damage Bonus by 25%. Magic Amp – Increase your MAG by 3, and recover 1 MAG each round. Oddity Mimicry – When an opponent would use any spell, you can negate that spell and add it to your ability list as a t5 Oddball Specialization spell you know. You can only use this augment’s effect once per reincarnation. If you lose this augment, you also lose the spell it mimicked. Omni-Target – When you use a t4 Spell that Targets multiple combatants, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 to permit that spell to target up to 50 combatants. This effect doubles if you also have “Wide-Range” applied. Overbearing Force – When you use a t4 Spell that inflicts True damage, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 to apply an effect that skips the next turn of any combatant that suffers damage from the spell greater than or equal to their current Stat Total. Overburn – When you use a t4 Spell with a cost, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 and reduce the stat cost(s) of that spell to 0, but you are automatically set to Sealed/Civilian Form after that spell is used. Ruthless Denial – When you use a t4 Spell that applies a Condition using a Contest, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 and its cost by 4 MAG/VIT to set the value of the opposing Contest(s) to 0. This effect can only be applied once per round. Strength Amp – Increase your STR by 3, and your HP by 2 per point of STR you have. Terrashift – When you use a t4 Specialization Spell, you can increase that spell’s tier by 1 and its cost by 3 MAG/VIT to apply an additional effect that converts the battlefield into one that restores 1d20 HP to members of that spell’s Specialization each round, for the remainder of the encounter. If “Terrashift” or “Hostile Terrain” is used after this effect is applied, that effect replaces this one. Vitality Amp – Increase your VIT by 3, and your DEF by 7.
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Errata and Patch Notes for W&W v1.8
Halberd, Zweihander, Smallshield, and Greatshield added as Mundane Weapons. Flash Skirmish and Assist Orders added as Optional Rules. Increased the base Stat Bonus of “Amp” Augments to +3. [Previously +2.] Changed the secondary bonus of Luck Amp to a +10% Crit Rate and +25% Crit Dmg Bonus. [Previously EVA+5; Crit Rate +5%.] Changed the secondary bonus of Strength Amp to a STR-scaling HP bonus. [Previously +4d4 to STR-based contests.] Changed the secondary bonus of Vitality Amp to DEF+7. [Previously HP+50.] Changed the secondary bonus of Magic Amp to restoring 1 MAG each round. [Previously +4d4 to MAG-based contests.] Added Overcharge as a Silver Augment. Added Terrashift, Hostile Terrain, Element Lord, Ruthless Denial, Overbearing Force, Omni- Target, Curtain Call, Atypical Condition, Atypical Element, Overburn, and Oddity Mimicry as Gold Augments.
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