Willow: Okay, that’s a little blacker than I like my arts. Anya: Oh, don’t be such a wimp. —3.16 Doppelgängland So you’re not the one and only Slayer . whatever. With ancient and powerful magics on your side, you don’t need to be able to bench press a car to fight evil with the best of them. Whether you’re a witch, a warlock, a psychic, a dabbler in the dark arts, or even a superscientist, you have powers granted to few mortals. ‘Course, there’s a potential downside . but bad stuff never happens to the good guys. Right? Here you’ll find all the info you need to master your powers and learn how to introduce the monsters to a world of magical hurt. Oh, and there’s also some talk of the dark side . just in case . The Magic Box is a supplement for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer roleplaying game. In it, you will find: • Speculations on the history of magic and the supernatural in the Buffyverse • A detailed look at various magical organizations • New character creation ideas, Qualities and Drawbacks, and more character Archetypes for witches, warlocks, psychics, and other users of arcane arts • Descriptions and stats for rituals and items of mystical power, both those from the BtVS TV show and a few never seen before • Expanded rules for creating new spells and mystical devices • Details on psychic powers and other paranormal abilities • A complete Episode featuring a monster that only powerful magic can vanquish Written by John Snead Sample fileEDN6005 Visit www.btvsrpg.com for more information ISBN 1-891153-94-3 $27.00 (U.S.) BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER™ & © 2003. Twentieth Century Fox Film Coporation.All Rights Reserved. Used under license from Score Entertainment. The Unisystem™ Game System © 2003 CJ Carella. The Unisystem™ is used under exclusive license. © 2003 Eden Studios. All Rights Reserved. Sample file Credits Producers: M. Alexander Jurkat, George Vasilakos Director: George Vasilakos Writer: John Snead Additional Writers: Timothy S. Brannan, Fiona Faria, Toos Holmes, Andy O’Hara, Thom Marrion, Andrew Peregrine, Justin VanKirk Conversion Notes: Jeremy Hunt Developer and Editor: M. Alexander Jurkat Editing Assistance: Jeremy Hunt, John Higgins Quotemeister: Jack Kessler Proofing: David Carroll, Ross A. Isaacs Archetype Illustrator: C. Brent Ferguson Additional Illustrations: Jon Hodgson Playtesters: Jaime B. Auckland, Kirk Baldridge, Bill Baxter, Jim "HanSolo" Bennett, Timothy S. Brannan, Pippin Carino, David Carroll, David F. Chapman, Joni Contant, Lisa Countryman, Brian Cramer, Brian Crocker, Daniel Davis, Marla Davis, Ralph Dula, Mike Gernand, Beth Hallberg, Chris Harvey, Karen Hawk, Jeremy Hunt, Tory Jackson, Garner Johnson, Jack Kessler, Valerie Kessler, William Lee and the Game Keep Players, J.P. "Watcher" Nichols, Andy Peregrine, Darren Purcell, Dave Pye, Tom Reed, Gerry Saracco, David Saunders, Gillian Sopko, Cory Stanish, Bill Synnott, Jayne Synnott, Tom Synnott, Aaron Wells, Greg Ziegler, Mike Zinck Special Thanks: Chaz Elliot, Virginia King, Little Willow, Elizabeth Morss, Kelly Vasilakos, Alison Wallace, Christian Moore Buffy is hip and tuned in. No Buffy game would be complete without a slew of pop culture references. These references are intended solely to help players capture the look and feel of Buffy in their games. No violation of copyright or trademark ownership is intended. Eden Studios 6 Dogwood Lane, Loudonville, NY 12211 Produced and published by Eden Studios, Inc. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER™ & © 2003. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used under license from Score Entertainment. The Unisystem™ Game System © 2003 CJ Carella. The Unisystem™ is used under exclusive license. © 2003 Eden Studios. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except for review purposes. Any similarity to characters, situations, institutions, corporations, etc. (without satirical intent) is strictly fictional or coincidental. This book uses settings, characters and themes of a supernatural nature. All elements, mystical and supernatural, are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. SampleComments and questions can be directed via the Internet at www.btvsrpg.com, file via e-mail at [email protected] or via letter with a self-addressed stamped envelope. First Printing, May 2003 Stock EDN6005 ISBN 1-891153-94-3 Printed in Canada CHAPTER ONE: THE WITCHY WORLD 4 CHAPTER TWO: THE MAGICAL YOU 26 CHAPTER THREE: THE ART OF THE ARTS 48 CHAPTER FOUR: MAGIC, LIGHT AND DARK 64 CHAPTER FIVE: BEYOND MAGIC 88 CHAPTER SIX: ORPHAN TROUBLE 98 SampleAPPENDIX file114 TM 1 The Witchy World Willow: I mean, I’m not a full-fledged witch. That takes years. I just did a couple pagan blessings and . a teeny glamour to hide a zit. Buffy: Does it scare you? Willow: It has. I tried to communicate with the spirit world, and I SO wasn’t ready for that. It’s like being pulled apart inside. Plus I blew the power for our whole block. Big scare. —3.2 Dead Man’s Party Ah, that magical mojo . Magic in the Buffyverse is a rare and wondrous thing. Rare in the sense of any schmoe with the right books, or even some wrong ones, can gather candles, herbs, incense, and chalk and start spell-slinging. Rare in the way a niche market of perfectly legal spe- cialty magic shops is complemented by a thriving black market of mystical tomes and artifacts. Wondrous in the sense of a high potential for miscasting with horrible side effects, proper castings with unpleasant side effects, or proper castings with misinterpreted goals. Wondrous in the way insidious mystical forces may worry their way into a person’s soul and strip it of reason, judgment,- and compas sion—leaving only the power triumphant. Okay, so maybe “rare and wondrous” is a bit overstated. Magic is powerful and available in serious measure only to the right person with the right knowledge. It is dangerous and unpredictable. It can be a life-saver and world-beater or it can threaten our very existence. With all that, it pays to learn a bit more about it and its uses. Unless of course, you’re evil or a complete spaz. In that case, it pays to keep far, far away. For all the rest, we present a glorious tome of magical knowledge. Well, a colorful and helpful tome of good stuff for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game (BtVS RPG), anyway. We’ve combined background from the show with our own creative meanderings, sprinkled in some quotes, stats, and suggestions, painted symbols in all the colors ofSample the rainbow, mumbled some questionable words in an ancient language overfile the pages, and concentrated real, real hard. For your sake and ours, we hope we got it all right . 4 CHAPTER 1 TM Summary of Chapters Conventions Jonathan: What are we gonna do about Buffy? Walsh: They do have keen eyesight, however. You know sooner or later, the Slayer’s gotta You might want to be suited up for this. come after us. Buffy: Oh. You mean the cammo and stuff? I Andrew: Bring her on. thought about it but, I mean, it’s gonna look Warren: We could, uh, we could hypnotize her. all “Private Benjamin.” Don’t worry I’ve patrolled in this halter many times. Andrew: Make her our willing sex bunny. —4.13 The ‘I’ in Team Jonathan: I’m putting that on the list! We have taken certain liberties here to make this book —6.4 Flooded easier to follow. Do try to follow along. The Magic Box covers a bunch of stuff. We break it down for you nice and simple though. Here’s how. Text Chapter One: The Witchy World includes the usual opening remarks, speculations on the history of the Pages look different depending on what’s going on. supernatural, specifics on magical organizations and As words make up the bulk of what’s in here (hence the their use, as well as a rundown on a few of the latest and appellation “book”), you can bet that when the words most potent mystical Adversaries. change their look, something important just happened. The stuff you are reading now is standard text. - It cov Chapter Two: The Magical You reveals many more ers general explanations and narrative sections. choices for magical Cast Members. New backgrounds, Qualities, and Drawbacks are discussed. A new group of Buffy (to Giles): You’re like a textbook with arms. Archetypes and an update on a few magical favorites —1.1 Welcome to the Hellmouth from the Original Cast round out the chapter. It’s those pithy sayings that make the BtVS TV show so Chapter Three: The Art of the Arts presents new game engaging. Anyway, as you probably noticed, quotes rules for magic. From power boosting to virtual magic appear like this with the speaker’s name up front. The to magic pushing to varying side effects based on intent citation includes the season and episode separated by a and more—it’s all there to enhance your game. period, and the title just after. Chapter Four: Magic, Light and Dark is a full-fledged Buffyverse grimoire. All the spells from the Series that’re fit to print, we say. Other words are set off from the standard text like Chapter Five: Beyond Magic covers psychics and super- this. These boxes contain additional but tangential science, two types of mystical effect often encountered information, or supplemental charts and tables. in the Buffyverse, but different enough from magic to get their own chapter. Chapter Six: Orphan Trouble is a ready-to-run BtVS hese fiction sections or cut scenes give RPG Episode in which the new kid on the block is far Tyou a better appreciation for the types of more naughty than nice.