Occultation
A downloadable game
Occultation is a hack of Graham Walmsley’s Cthulhu Dark and Jason Tocci’s 2400; it also takes inspiration from Trophy and Fate. It’s intended as a simple set of rules for running published horror adventures in a low-crunch, storygame-inflected style, without the ableist baggage of many horror games. For my sins, I like a lot of trad horror roleplaying modules, and this is how I like to play them. I hope you like it too.
This is an early, pretty bare bones version of the game but includes everything you need to play. I intend to update it with optional rules, expanded GM advice and tools, and maybe some adventures.
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I love these rules and can't wait to try them out! The "cross through your Conviction and write a new, worse one" made my jaw drop when I read it - it's SUCH a good way to handle the degeneration of horror.
I doubt I'll actually have time to run this anytime soon, but after reading Thomas Manuel's lovely review about running Impossible Landscapes with Occultation, I thought about how to incorporate Bonds. I just drafted this move and I'd love any feedback on how it seems like it would interact with the rest of the game, and if I'm tripping over any wires. (Immediately, of course, it would tend to lessen the amount of Ruin a player accumulates, but that seems reasonable for a full campaign.)
Bonds
Name three important people and their relationship to your character: “Henry Jones, estranged father,” “Joyce, unsuspecting mother,” “Effy, action secretary”, “Mina, beloved.” Draw three boxes next to each name. If all three boxes are filled (see below), cross out (but don't erase) that Bond from your character sheet; your relationship with them is over, but their memory remains.
If you would gain a point of Ruin, you may instead project that stress onto your relationship with one of your Bonds. Roll dice equal to the number of unmarked boxes next to your bond:
On a 1-2, ignore the Ruin, then mark all boxes on your Bond. You have permanently destroyed your relationship with that bond. Immediately describe how you have projected the Ruin onto that person. The next time you see the Bond, play out a scene in which your relationship with the Bond ends forever.
On a 3-4, ignore the Ruin, then mark two boxes on your Bond. You have found a way to blame your Bond for the stress you are under, causing permanent strain. Immediately describe how you have projected the Ruin onto that person. The next time you see the Bond, play out a scene in which your relationship with your Bond deteriorates, but does not definitively end.
On a 5+, ignore the Ruin, then mark one box on your Bond. You may not blame the Bond personally for what has happened to you, but you still end up taking it out on them. The next time you see the Bond, play out a scene in which you are cruel, selfish, or unthinking toward them.
On a 6, ignore the Ruin. Do not mark a box on your Bond. The next time you interact with the Bond, play out a scene in which you purposefully or inadvertently reveal some truth of the horror you have survived.
This is great! I was thinking about trying a simpler bond system (check a box to ignore a point of ruin, then play out a scene where your relationship with the bond deteriorates) but I like the idea of including a die roll
Preparing to run Night Floors, the first chapter of Impossible Landscapes and I think this is the thing to use. Thanks.
Ah, that's great! Night Floors is one of my all-time favourite modules, I hope you have a blast
Can't wait to try this out!
I've prepped and am getting ready to run Masks of Nyarlathotep within the month and Occultation is my preferred set of rules for it. I know it may be a tall order for such a long-running campaign, but I am eager to find out what happens (har har).
The only thing that has come up so far is practised story game players asking about things such as Conditions, and I'm suspecting that with a long running game this may be necessary to track things such as consequences from taking risks and whatnot.
That's amazing to hear! I have some draft rules for Conditions I can DM you if you're interested, but I guess the intention overall would be to treat lasting consequences as part of the fiction rather than recording them mechanically.
Thank you! I'd definitely love to take a look if you don't mind. :)
I agree, I had hoped that we would just deal with things in the fiction, rather than needing special mechanics that need to be dealt with, because to my mind as soon as we have Conditions, people may expect mechanics to alleviate them and on and on. I have told them I'm going to try and keep things as simple as possible and then look at them if it feels like they're needed. Otherwise I'd like to try to keep it fiction first.
Thanks again, for the rules as well as the response. Looking forward to playing them!
Hi again-- one of my players saw this convo and reminded me, I don't think I had seen anything about those Conditions.
So far I feel the rules are working well for me, and I think the group, but we were curious about the draft rules you mentioned, as this is obviously a long old campaign.
Thanks for the gentle reminder! These are the draft rules, which you are welcome to take or leave:
A condition is a temporary trait, reflecting a minor or transient narrative advantage or disadvantage of the PC. The GM can give a character a condition whenever it makes narrative sense, or when the dice say a character gains an advantage or suffers a complication or cost.
There are two types of conditions, Advantages and Problems. A character can have no more than three of either type. If a character has three advantages and would gain another, the player can choose to remove one or decline the offered advantage. If a character has three problems and would gain another, the GM can consider imposing a more serious fictional consequence, or rewriting one of the existing disadvantages to reflect increased severity or broader consequences.
When a player rolls the dice and an Advantage applies, they may treat it as a Trait when building their dice pool. Once they’ve done so, they should delete the Advantage; it may still form part of the fiction but will no longer have a mechanical effect.
When a player rolls the dice and a Problem would make their action more difficult, they must remove one dice from their pool and delete the Problem. If this means a character would have no dice to roll, they may instead roll two dice and take the lower result.
One of the main uses for Conditions is to keep the game moving when the dice call for an advantage or consequence. If the GM doesn’t have another idea, they can just hand out a Condition and continue.
Conditions that have not been used are cleared when it makes fictional sense. The Problem ‘battered’ is cleared when you have time to receive first aid and comfort; the Advantage ‘librarian’s favourite’ is lost if the character sufficiently antagonises the librarian. Players and the GM should work together to decide if a condition has been cleared by the story.
Conditions are not intended to reflect serious or lasting effects. If a PC breaks their leg, finds a tattoo of an occult sign on their body, or loses the person they care about most in the world, that’s probably not a Problem, its part of the fiction that will cause persistent difficulties for the PC until/unless they can obtain appropriate treatment or support and take the time to fully recover. It doesn’t take away one die one time, but probably means some actions are impossible and others which would normally be straightforward now require a roll to Take A Risk. Those kinds of ongoing harm should be treated as part of the fiction, and only resolved when it makes sense in the fiction.