Anchors

The Sporebound’s People

“Show me your friends, and I’ll tell you about your future.” - Anonymous

Sporebound are defined by their connections to others, more so than regular humans are. Their connection to the world motivates them to fight against the Blight. Their connection to the Mycos gives them the awareness and power to have that fight. Their connection to communities and individuals helps keep them sane and grounded. Most importantly for some, it is those connections to communities and individuals that contextualizes and shapes the power granted by the Mycos into a usable form called Germs.

Characters begin the game with two “Anchors.” One of those will be an Individual Anchor, and the other will be a Group Anchor. These are the individuals and communities they most resonate with. They supply mutual emotional and practical support to the Sporebound. A Sporebound’s people is the anchor they use to channel their Germs, and can be leveraged in the war against the Blight.

These Anchors are never supernatural in nature, and if they become supernatural, then they stop benefiting the Sporebound. A Punk Rocker may have their mortal Band as their Anchor, and “Bikers” in general. A homeless person may have their Case Worker as one of their Anchors, but also identify with Homeless people in general. A Tech Bro turned Sporebound may have their favorite Drug Dealer as one of their Anchors, but also consider “Other Tech Bros” to be their Anchor.

Downtime Actions are the primary means to grow your relationship with Anchors and interact with them between games.

Anchors are designed by the player and approved by the ST, within certain guidelines. An Anchor consists of the following traits: Name, Scale, Tag, Category, Descriptor, and what Germs that Anchor makes available.

Name: What should we call your Anchor?
Scale: Individual or Group. Individual Anchors represent specific people, while a Group Anchor represents your belonging to a social unit. Individuals tend to be more vulnerable, but easier to hide and more impactful. Groups are harder to hit, but also impossible to hide and act with more broad narrative strokes rather than direct intervention of their members.
Tag: Affluent or Underdog. Anchors are generally split into whether they are Affluent members of society, or Underdogs that the system normally disenfranchises. Affluent Anchors tend to deal with Blight related problems more frequently, while Underdog Anchors deal with systemic issues.
Category: Your ST will make several categories of Anchor available. Categories are usually limited to Affluent or Underdog. This describes what community your Anchor is a part of. It has no game effect on its own, but things often happen to Anchor categories, rather than a person’s specific Anchors.
Description: Give a brief one line description of your Anchor and your character’s relationship to them. This should be one to three sentences.
Germs: This is a list of what Powers are supported by that Anchor.

Anchors are written out in the following format:

Anchor Name:
Description:
Tag: Category:
Germs: List of Germs here

Examples:

Anchor Name: Aunt March
Type: Individual Tag: Affluent Category: Business
Description: After your parents died, Aunt March took you in. She doesn’t know about your Sporebound nature and you don’t want her to know, but she is a constant morally grounding force in your life.
Germs: Shatter the Mold, Friends Forever

Anchor Name: Flaming Alpacas [Group, Underdog, Musicians]
Type: Group Tag: Underdog Category: Culture
Description: Your band and found family, the Flaming Alpacas are a punk garage band you started in high school. You haven’t become famous, but have a dedicated following for your anti establishment songs.
Germs: Mycos Mind Trick, Shroomsight, Open Says Me

Individual Anchors are the supporting cast of your character’s life. They are specific people who offer emotional and practical support to your character, and usually get that same support in return. They are able to do favors for you, but doing so has a chance to reveal them as your Anchor. It is very difficult to become socially estranged from an Individual Anchor, but a single person is easier for your enemies to place in danger.

Group Anchors are the local subculture that Sporebound considers themselves a part of. They serve as anchors to the Sporebound’s identity, and validation for their actions. Group Anchors are only effective so long as the Group accepts the Sporebound as one of their own, and so long as others generally perceive the Sporebound as being a part of that group.

For this reason, Sporebound tend to exaggerate the qualities of their Group Anchors. A Group is not just a support network for Sporebound, it is an aesthetic. A Sporebound with a Homeless Group Contact will literally have their powers undermined if they clean up and stop ‘appearing’ homeless, even if they secretly have a fancy condo. A Sporebound with a Punk Rock Band as their Group Contact is very likely to always go around in a leather jacket. The requirement to put one’s Group Anchors on display also tends to result in Sporebound who are very different people in private than they are in public. Multiple Group Anchors of different categories are rare, because a Sporebound must find a way to blend those aesthetics such that they are all on display.

Mechanically, anyone may out of character ask you what your Sporebound’s Group Anchors are and you must, out of character, answer them truthfully with what Tag and Category your Group Anchor(s) are. It is encouraged, but not required, that you make this obvious to anyone interacting with you through costuming and how you act.

Don’t be that guy

Yes, Sporebound tends to exaggerate the qualities of Group Anchors. This is meant to be done in a way that is fun and comfortable for everyone. Do not select people for your Group Anchor that make people uncomfortable, such as hate groups. Do not use Anchors as an excuse to ridicule a type of person by creating a caricature.

Storytellers need to approve all Anchors when they approve the character sheet. If a player steps over the line, then the Storyteller should talk to them about their behavior. If the player refuses to adjust, the Storyteller should probably reassess whether that concept or that player is appropriate for their game.

Anchors will be in one of four states: Fresh, In Crisis, Exhausted, or Removed.

By default, all Anchors begin the game Fresh. They supply the Sporebound with supernatural powers called Germs. They may be Exhausted to provide a Narrative Benefit or to heal.

An Exhausted Anchor may not be used again to provide a Narrative Benefit or heal. To use a Germ associated with an Exhausted Anchor outside of the Undergrowth, you must discard an additional card (of any value or suit). An Exhausted Anchor becomes Fresh again at the beginning of the next game.

In between games, the plot or player actions may put some categories of Anchors In Crisis. A Storyteller will notify you of what Anchors are in Crisis. If your Anchor is In Crisis, it is considered Exhausted until it is no longer In Crisis. Resolving a relevant Hot Spot (see XX for details) pulls every Anchor of that category out of Crisis. Sometimes, a specific Anchor may become In Crisis if it is temporarily made unavailable, such as if an Individual Anchor is kidnapped.

Sometimes, an Anchor can just be Removed. Individual Anchors are Removed if they are killed or otherwise rendered permanently unavailable or semi-permanently estranged. Group Anchors are removed if scandal permanently drums your character out of that group, or they are removed in some permanent fashion. The most common way for a Sporebound to have a Removed anchor, however, is to burn it on emergency Refreshes. A Removed Anchor is gone for good. It may not be used for a Narrative Benefit, or to Heal. You may not use Germs associated with it outside of the Undergrowth. Between games, it will be removed from your character sheet.

A Sporebound’s Anchors provide them with a few mechanical benefits.

Channel Germs: Each of the Sporebound’s Germs are associated with one of their Anchors. That Anchor is what allows them to use those Germs outside of the Undergrowth. While an Anchor is exhausted, you must discard an additional card to use any of those Germs outside the Undergrowth. If that Anchor is Removed, then you may not use it at all outside of the Undergrowth.

Narrative Benefit: Once per game per Fresh Anchor, you may ask the storyteller for your Anchor to provide a material, Narrative benefit at the cost of Exhausting the Anchor. Individual Anchors will perform tasks for you and not ask too many uncomfortable questions about it. Group Anchors tend to be better at giving you access to relevant places and items, or acting in a less controlled fashion, as a group. When an Individual Anchor provides a Narrative Benefit, any other Sporebound (and some Blighted individuals, if they know to look) will be aware the people helping you are your Anchor, even if they didn’t see you call in the favor.

Recover: You may Exhaust a Fresh Anchor to Heal yourself to full HP. This takes an action in combat, or a few seconds out of combat. You may not do this if your HP was reduced to 0. However, Sporebound can resurrect even from death.

Emergency Refresh: In dire situations, a Sporebound may consume their bond to an individual or group, supernaturally severing all ties. The release of energy from doing this gives the Sporebound enough power to persist well past what is normally possible. As an action, you may consume your bond to a fresh Anchor to perform an Emergency Refresh, Removing that Anchor. Refresh all of your Cards, and recover all of your HP. This may even be done while you are at 0 HP, so long as your head hasn’t been completely destroyed. If you are reduced to 0 HP while Vulnerable, this happens automatically and immediately at no cost in actions.