Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 1 Combat & Healing ...... 19 ONE ROLL TO RULE THEM ALL ...... 19 The D13 Universe ...... 4 COMBAT TIME ...... 19 PLANES OF EXISTENCE ...... 5 Turn Sequence ...... 19 A WORD ABOUT GAME COMBAT DISTANCE ...... 20 TERMINOLOGY ...... 5 COMBAT MOVEMENT ...... 20 ATTACK ACTIONS ...... 21 Actions, Dice, & Cards ..... 7 Attack Damage ...... 21 D13 DICE ...... 7 Drawing or Reloading ...... 21 ACTIONS ...... 7 Paranormal Gifts in Battle ...... 21 Target Number ...... 8 DEFENSE ...... 22 Degree of Success ...... 9 Innate Defense ...... 22 Difficulty ...... 11 Protective Gear ...... 22 Bonuses and Penalties ...... 12 Dramatic Defense ...... 22 ADVANCED ACTION TYPES ...... 13 INJURY, SCARS, MUTILATION, & Extended Action...... 13 DEATH ...... 23 Cooperative Actions ...... 13 Injury Penalties ...... 23 Competing Actions ...... 14 Unconsciousness ...... 23 Uncertain Actions ...... 14 Scars & Mutilation ...... 23 The 1-10 Scale of Success ...... 15 Stunning Attacks ...... 23 Attribute/Skill Options ...... 15 Death ...... 23 DRAMA CARDS ...... 15 An Extended Example ...... 24 Using Number Cards ...... 15 RECOVERY & HEALING ...... 25 Using Face Cards ...... 17 Regaining Force ...... 25 Natural Healing ...... 25 Medical Treatment ...... 25 Healing/ Medicine ...... 25 Retiring a Character ...... 25 USING A BATTLE BOARD ...... 26 EXAMPLE WEAPONS ...... 28 EXAMPLE PROTECTIVE GEAR ...... 29 SampleOPTIONAL COMBAT RULESfile ...... 30 Defensive Action ...... 30 Held Action ...... 30 Aimed Attacks ...... 30

Creating Characters .. 32 Paranormal Gifts ...... 54 EMPYREAN ...... 32 TYPE OF PARANORMAL GIFT ...... 54 Character Journal ...... 33 Gifts by Major Arcana ...... 55 Shadow’s Touch ...... 33 Gifts by Poker Deck ...... 56 Empyrean Natures ...... 34 PARANORMAL GIFTS BY SUIT ...... 56 MORTAL INCARNATIONS ...... 35 Cups: Communion ...... 56 1. Sex ...... 35 Swords: Manipulation ...... 56 2. Age ...... 35 Pentacles: ...... 56 3. Attributes ...... 35 Wands: Prognostication ...... 56 4. Health...... 35 USING A PARANORMAL GIFT...... 57 5. Life Force ...... 36 The Game Sequence ...... 57 6. Occupation ...... 36 Card Suits and Skill Level ...... 57 7. Skills ...... 36 The × 10 Rule of Thumb ...... 58 8. Paranormal Gifts ...... 36 Losing & Regaining Control ..... 59 9. Shadow’s Mark ...... 37 Success, Control, & Poker Cards 59 10. Name ...... 38 Shared Life Force Loss ...... 60 Backstory...... 38 Replenshing Life Force ...... 60 Equipment ...... 38 PARANORMAL GIFT EFFECTS ...... 61 Occupations Table ...... 39 Abacomancy ...... 61 SKILLS LIST ...... 43 Apportation ...... 61 Which Skills Should I Choose? 43 Astral/Mental Projection ...... 61 Occupation & Skill Interplay .... 44 Reading ...... 61 Paired & Related Skills ...... 45 Claircognizance/Second Sight. 62 EXAMPLE CHARACTER: Clairaudience ...... 62 LYMAN BARDEN ...... 51 Clairgustance ...... 62 DEATH OF AN INCARNATION ...... 52 Clairsentience ...... 62 1. Assistance ... 52 ...... 62 2. Secondary Role ...... 52 Divination ...... 63 3. Animal Incarnation ...... 52 Healing/ ...... 63 Hydrokinesis ...... 63 /Transvection ...... 63 ...... 63 ...... 64 Psychography/ .. 64 /Telekinesis ...... 64 /Psychoscopy ...... 64 SamplePyrokinesis...... file.. 65 Retrocognition/Postcognition ... 65 Scrying ...... 65 ...... 65

Experience ...... 67 SUPPORTING ROLES ...... 76 Paranormal Populations ...... 76 INCARNATION GROWTH ...... 67 Friends & Family...... 76 EMPYREAN ESTEEM ...... 67 Paranormal Action Dice...... 77 Hosting the Game ...... 69 Minions ...... 77 TERROR, HORROR, GROSS-OUT, & Extras ...... 77 HUMOR ...... 69 PARANORMAL FRIENDS & FOES ...... 77 Terror ...... 69 Psychic Friends & Family ...... 77 Horror ...... 70 Psychic Adversaries ...... 77 Setting the Mood ...... 70 SPELLS & ITEMS ...... 78 Heroic Horror ...... 70 Board Messages ...... 78 The Gross-Out ...... 70 THE COSMIC, MORTAL, & Humor ...... 70 SHADOW PLANES ...... 78 PREPARING AN ADVENTURE ...... 71 RUNNING A GAME SESSION ...... 79 The Thing that Came to Town! 71 Drama Cards ...... 79 The Tragic Hero’s Journey ...... 71 Give Equal Attention ...... 79 Laying Out a Plot ...... 72 Encourage Role-Play & Giving It Flesh...... 73 Narration ...... 79 Climactic Combat & Horror ...... 73 Discourage “Roll” Play ...... 79 Practice Freeform Play ...... 80 ADVERSARIES ...... 74 Description ...... 74 Use Major Arcana Complications ...... 80 Age 74 RUNNING A CAMPAIGN ...... 82 Attributes ...... 74 Plan It Like a Dark 10-Point Max ...... 74 Dinner Party ...... 82 Health ...... 74 Start Each Session With Life Force ...... 74 a Recap ...... 82 Adversary Actions, Cards, & Adapt to Your Players ...... 82 Dice ...... 75 Enjoy Yourself! ...... 82 Skills ...... 75 Equipment...... 75 Attacks ...... 75 Defenses ...... 75 Creature Design Balance ...... 76 SampleSpecial Abilities ...... 76 file

Sample Adventures ...... 84 Sample MOnsters ...... 104 ADVENTURE ONE: “PERCHANCE BLOODY BONES ...... 104 TO ” ...... 84 CARNIVOROUS PLANTS ...... 104 Act I: Caravan to Carcosa ...... 84 Crawling ...... 104 Act II: Recurring Nightmares ... 86 Walking ...... 105 Mama Greely, Areneae Rex ..... 88 DEMONS & DEVILS ...... 105 Act II: Areneae Rex? ...... 92 Demons ...... 105 ADVENTURE TWO: DISTRESS CALL .. 93 Devils ...... 107 Act I: Are We There Yet? ...... 93 GASHADOKURO ...... 107 The Aspire ...... 94 ...... 108 Act II: The Gantlet ...... 95 Banshee ...... 108 Act III: The Great Escape! ...... 100 Dybbuk ...... 108 Epilogue ...... 101 Haunt ...... 108 ADVENTURE SEEDS ...... 102 ...... 109 Adventure Three: PROTOPLASMIC BLOB ...... 110 Entomophthora muscae ...... 102 REVENANTS ...... 111 Adventure Four: Mummy ...... 111 When Shadows Rise ...... 102 Skeleton ...... 111 Adventure Five: Pied Piper .... 102 Zombie ...... 112 TUPILAK ...... 112 VAMPIRE ...... 113 WEREWOLF ...... 114

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Introduction

Horror isn't only about ghosts or monsters. For example, paranormal romance seems the antithesis of horror. Once you have a sexy, fun vampire who is sweet, and you have a happy ending, it's not horror. —Ellen Datlow Horror is a tough beast to tame for any role-playing game. And once tamed, it isn’t horror any longer. In other genres—fantasy, sci-fi, westerns, modern combat, and such—pro- tagonists are bold sorts who go seeking adventure. It’s only natural that their are a string of such escapades, and that they grow in experience from them. Which is by definition an ongoing role-playing campaign. But in horror stories, protagonists are usually innocents caught up in peril they never sought out. Chances are that even if they survive, they’ll be forever scarred— physically or psychologically. This doom is what makes horror horror. Survivors of horror tales don’t go seeking more encounters. Which means no string of esca- pades, no ongoing character growth, hence no role-playing campaign. Some horror games address the problem by assuming one-off adventures with a high mortality rate. The granddaddy of all horror RPGs, Call of Cthulhu, is famous for conveying brutal, sanity-blasting Lovecraftian horror. That can be lots of fun, but it doesn’t much allow for long-term campaigns. Many other horror RPGs follow this one-off approach. Other horror games address the problem by involving protagonists in a par- anormal organization or a group of comrades in-the-know. Not only does that give them resources to draw upon for defeating evil, it’s also a great way to introduce players to each new adventure. My own old Dark Conspiracy RPG (GDW, 1991) takes this approach, with a conscious adventure design of “Catch the heroes off-guard and brutalize them; allow them to escape, regroup, re- search, and arm themselves; then let them return for payback.” This can be fun, spooky, even frightening! But again, it isn’t really horror. And some few games tackle the problem by making the protagonists them- selves monsters. Vampire: The Masquerade is by far the most notable. Handled Samplewell, games like this can convey moments of true horror, but theyfile are limited in the types of stories they can explore. In the aforementioned Dark Conspiracy RPG, I set out to create a framework into which any sort of horror story could be imported. The premise of psychic

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aliens accidentally opening portals to hellish dimensions allowed for that, creat- ing a fragmented world into which anything from ghosts to radioactive mon- sters could fit. That premise has kept the game in publication ever since. But I’ve long dreamed of designing an RPG in which any sort of horror tale can be played as is, without modification to fit a preexisting game world. Some- thing that could expose characters to true horror—at risk of murder, maiming, and madness—without killing campaign play. I’ve wanted the equivalent of a horror fiction anthology, each tale separate from the rest, yet all between the covers of the same book. Or like a weekly TV show with different characters and situations, but all with the same series title on the same TV network. My aim has been to allow a full spectrum of horror from ancient Beowulf to alien “bug hunt.” A game in which innocent people are drawn into terrible events, perhaps to sacrifice themselves for the good of humankind. One that doesn’t pull the monsters’ teeth. But I’ve also aimed to give players a sense of continuity and growth from adventure to adventure. And as is my nature, I wanted an evocative dice mechanic, something simple but not simplistic, easy to grasp but mathematically sound, and most of all fun. The D13 RPG is the result of those desires and several years of experimen- tation, play-testing, and research. Its character concept of an eternal taking on mortal Incarnations was inspired by my old friend Bradly K. McDevitt’s ac- tor/role concept in It Came from the Late, Late, Late Show. Gary Gygax’s dice discussion in the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide inspired my fascination with number odds, as in the d13’s flat curve. A design challenge by former Archangel Entertainment colleague Tony Lee prompted the D6xD6 RPG from which the D13 RPG draws its “One Roll to Rule Them All” concept. The tarot card system for paranormal gifts is inspired by such films and books as The Artificial Man (1965), The Power (1968), The Legend of Hell House (1973), Carrie (1976), The Fury (1978), The Dead Zone (1979), Firestarter (1984), Jumper (2008), and Push (2009), and is the result of much experimentation with card-game design in Clashing Blades, Wolf Man’s Curse, and others. That this game ever left the “ and notes” stage is due to a wonderful group of Kickstarter backers. For me crowdfunding is less about funds and more about obligation to that crowd. Without such accountability, it’s too easy for an independent writer to keep putting off bucket-list projects like this, letting other things steal time from the keyboard. Crowdfunding is also about moral support: thatSample backers believed kept me believing in myself through some darkfile days. I simply cannot thank those supporters enough. Here’s hoping this game can at least fuel some entertaining nightmares. —Lester Smith

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The D13 Universe

I have seen the dark universe yawning Where the black planets roll without aim, Where they roll in their horror unheeded, Without knowledge, or lustre, or name. ―H. P. Lovecraft, Nemesis In the beginning, all was void. You find this in mythologies around the globe. The pre-existence of non-exist- ence. Dark, lifeless, endless, emptiness. The bleak tranquility of changeless nothing. The Abyss. Then from the darkness, light! Next the universe comes into being. Change takes shape. Life is born. Time is born. And with the birth of life and time—mortality, a legacy of the Abyss. Light and dark, life and void, made war. On the Mortal , life and death are in endless conflict. Living things repro- duce, create, and construct to stay one step ahead of the grave. In that struggle, they are themselves agents of death, slaying to eat and survive. On the Cosmic Plane, void and light do battle as well. Mindless, primal Abyss destroys and devours. Battling it are godlike beings of terrible power, agents of pri- mal light, a spectrum of Empyrean personalities devoted to creation’s defense. Then monsters were born. Some of these dark beings are idiot physical manifestations of the Abyss itself. Others are Abyssal shadows that have gained self-awareness. Still others are liv- ing creatures who invoke the power of the Abyss for their own gain. And a host of fell. Wounded in battle on the Cosmic Plane, the Empyrean retreated to the Mortal Plane, each spirit dispersed through many Incarnations—people una- ware of their own mythic natures, ignorant of their other lives, except perhaps in moments of déjà vu. These mortal lives are never easy. Shadow is drawn to themSample. It is their fate to stumble upon horrors for which they are fileunprepared. Yet with each Incarnation that overcomes, these Empyrean beings regain some measure of self-awareness, and prepare for return to that cosmic war. In the D13 RPG, you play the roles of these incarnated souls, people whose lives are doomed to encounter the darkness of an Abyssal universe.

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PLANES OF EXISTENCE The universe of the D13 RPG is characterized by three divisions: • The Cosmic Plane is the source of all. It is here that the Empyrean gods of light battle the ravening Abyss to preserve all of creation. • The Mortal Plane is our visible universe. Here shadows of the Abyss prey upon mortal lives. • The Shadow Plane is a misty expanse between those two, growing more like the primal Abyss the further it descends from the mortal world. Para- normal gifts tap into this dark dimension, monstrosities rise from it, and some mystics are able to travel through it—at their own peril. A WORD ABOUT GAME TERMINOLOGY The D13 RPG aims to serve both experienced gamers and newcomers to the hobby. For this reason it avoids jargon common to many other role-playing games, aiming instead for simpler, more straightforward terms. Adventure is an individual story involving specific mortal characters. Think of it as an improvisational stage play with Acts 1, 2, and 3 that may take one or more game sessions to complete. Attribute is a core ability, in this game Brawn, Grace, Will, and Wits. Campaign is a series of adventures. They may be directly related or unrelated, involving the same mortal characters or not. Cards used are a tarot deck divided into minor arcana and major arcana. (Conversion notes for using a poker deck are included in sidebars.) Characters in this game are divided into four categories: • Protagonists are the players’ characters. • The game host plays Adversaries, Supporting Roles, and Extras. Dice used include 4-sided and 10-sided, available at hobby stores. Game Host is this game’s term for the person who prepares the story; portrays its adversaries, supporting characters, and extras; and referees the rules. (Hobby jargon is DM, for Dungeon Master, or GM, for Game Master.) Treat this person well! Empyrean is the eternal personality of a protagonist. Health is the amount of physical injury a character can survive. (Hobby jar- gon is typically HP for Hit Points.) SampleIncarnation is one mortal life of an Empyrean. file Life Force is the amount of spiritual energy a character possesses. RPG is an abbreviation for role-playing game. It’s the one bit of jargon the D13 RPG retains, because it’s so common outside the hobby.

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Actions, Dice, & Cards

I'm so curious about knowing the unknown; it can be scary, but I see it as a game. —Hrithik Roshan The world outside had its own rules, and those rules were not human. —Michel Houellebecq, The Elementary Particles

Life is a gamble. Death is its inevitable reward. Between the two lies a spectrum of risk, from the simple trust in our next heartbeat, to the peril of confronting servants of evil, to the doom of meeting their dark masters. Risk in the D13 RPG is represented by dice. When a character takes an action, the game host chooses a skill and attribute to be used and a difficulty rating, then the player rolls dice to determine success or failure. D13 DICE The D13 RPG uses two dice for action rolls—one with 4 sides and one with 10 sides. (You can find these at most hobby game stores.) The die with 4 sides is referred to as d4. The die with 10 sides is referred to as d9 in this game, because its faces are read as 0 through 9. Together the two dice are referred to as d13, because when rolled and added, the result ranges from 1 to 13. + = d4 d9 d13 SampleACTIONS file Each d13 roll determines whether a character’s action succeeds, how well, and how quickly.

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