The Core Rules

With your character sheet and these rules you should have ten playing cards numbered 2 through 9 and two face cards (Ace is a Face Card). Your character sheet will list HP, Skills, and Powers. Skills and Powers have suits associated with them (i.e. “Persuasion (♥)” or “Spore Cloud (♠)”). Some say (Any), in which case they work with any suit.

When you attempt to use a Skill and the GM calls for a Skill Test, you may play one of your cards of that suit. The number is your result. Alternatively, you may play any two cards and use the lowest number between them as your result. Powers work like skills, but often the number does not matter: they just happen.

You can expect most actions to require a 5+ to succeed, while heroic or cinematic actions require a 10+. If you fail, ST may give you the option to “succeed at a cost.”

You may Assist others. To assist, describe how you are helping them and play any two cards, adding the lower card to their number. Face Cards have special effects, as printed on the Face Card. [Note: For this playtest they will be listed in this document]

Sometimes, the GM may call for one or more Tension Tests. When that happens, play Hi/Low with the GM for each tension test required. Bad things happen for each time you fail. The GM may ask everyone else what they are doing, in which case their actions cannot provoke more tension tests. [Note: Not on this document, but GMs will know that the first tension test is 1, then next is 2, then 3, etc.].

Once played, a card can’t be played again until you refresh your hand. You may refresh by:

  • Wait 15 minutes at the gathering. You may RP during this time, but not play cards.
  • Take 30 seconds to do a Group Refresh while opposing the Blight on a mission. Everyone in the scene refreshes, then do a tension test.
  • Take 2 damage as an action to refresh your hand immediately.

You may sometimes need to “Sustain” a Power. That Power’s effects persists, but when you refresh you discard any one card for each Power you Sustain. If a GM asks you what powers you are Sustaining going into a mission, you can just discard any card.

Your character has an Anchor, representing a community your character is close to. Once per game, you may call upon your Anchor for a favor or information, at ST discretion.

Note: While 2, 3, and 4 won’t pass many tests on their own, remember other people can Assist you, and you can Assist other people. Also remember that powers don’t reference numbers.

To refresh, return all discarded cards to your hand. Then discard for any Sustained actions you are maintaining. There are three ways you can be allowed to refresh your hand:

- Recovering. By spending time not performing strenuous activity in a Stipe, you will recover your hand passively. The Mycos encourage this method, and don’t bother monitoring it. The amount of time varies by the strength of the Stipe: 1 Hour for Lesser, 30 Minutes for Moderate, and 15 Minutes for a Greater.

- Beseeching. You request an urgent resupply from the Mycos, which takes about thirty seconds and is too slow to be done in combat. If the Mycos agree you are actively acting against the Blight, then all characters on your team Refresh their hands. Unfortunately, the same channel that allows them to refresh all of your hands may also draw the attention of the Blight. Perform a Group Tension Test. On a failure, the Blight either becomes aware of your group or does something to intervene in the situation.

- Grasping. Take 2 Damage and refill your hand as an action that happens on initiative 11. The Mycos take a dim view of anyone who does this outside of life or death situations.

Your character will list “powers.” These are actions you may do that are outside the human norm. Using a power requires you to discard any card. However, the action is considered to always succeed. Some powers will require that you discard a card of a certain suit. You must discard a card of the appropriate suit to use that power, or you must discard any two cards.

Sometimes, skills will have a “Skill Specialty” listed in parentheses after one of their skills. If you play a card that is equal to half your skill value (rounded up) or less, add 5 to the total before comparing it to the TN.