Save

3) a new trait, power, or complication (for example, an added resistance).

a psychedelic roleplaying game

Synthetic Dream Machine Kinopio Spaces

System Introduction

Introduction

The Traveler is a PC in the best tradition of roleplaying.

The Anti-Canon Reader

UVG Origins

The Synthetic Dream Machine

Synthetic Dream Machine (SDM) and Ultraviolet Grasslands (UVG) are copyright Luka Rejec. Other materials are independent productions by their Author or Publisher, and are not affiliated with Luka Rejec or WTF Studio. Additional rules and compatible games are published under the Synthetic Dream Machine Third Party License.

By Luka Rejec

The World’s Edge

Half setting, half adventure, and half epic trip;

Drag Away an Ally. Get your friend to safety. If they are conscious, they might struggle, forcing a strength roll.

Protect. Bat away blows against a target. Attacks against it are rolled with a penalty.

Shake Off. Attack an enemy that has grabbed or pinned you.

Shake Off. Attack an enemy that has grabbed or pinned you.

Hold Down. Smaller? Make a strength roll to pin down a grabbed target. A pinned creature can’t move or attack anyone except you.

Hold Down. Smaller? Make a strength roll to pin down a grabbed target. A pinned creature can’t move or attack anyone except you.

Hang On. A kaiju lumbering away? Roll endurance or agility to hang on.

Grab On. Grab hold of a target. Probably requires a strength or agility roll. It can’t move away without dragging you along.

Sneak Away. If enemies can’t see you, you can move to a different location and surprise them. Or flee without getting attacked.

Sneak Away. If enemies can’t see you, you can move to a different location and surprise them. Or flee without getting attacked.

Hide. Make yourself discreet, so you can’t be targeted. Requires suitable cover or camouflage gear and a successful agility or thought roll.

Take Cover. You dive behind suitable terrain. Ranged attacks against you suffer a penalty.

Activate an Item Ponder an Orb. Activate a Magitech/Sorcery-warded Door. Or unlock a regular one that doesn’t say whoosh.

Pick a Pocket. Or a Peck of Pickled Peppers.

Swap Tools. Carefully stow the gear you’re using and ready something else. You can rush it: toss your current gear to the ground, pull out a hidden pistol, and use it with a penalty.

Communication. Command a golem, convey a complicated plan, or check instructions in the nöospheric post you have received.

Chug Potion. You drink a potion. Or apply an ointment. Or slap on a healing parasite.

Control Power. Not all powers are fire-and-forget affairs. Some, such as Waxni’s Magic Cruise Missile, require active control.

Use Power. Also sometimes known as casting a spell.

Tactical and Support Actions

Furious Attacks. Roar as you unload your magazine into the monstrous rabbit of Blaargh. Spend your turn hacking away like a human possessed. No moving, no tactics, and your foes get a bonus against you on their turn. But you attack twice.

Suppressing Fire. Lay down arrows, bullets, or maser blasts, imposing a penalty on your foes’ rolls.

Ready Attack. Prepare to counterattack if a foe comes in range. If that happens, your attack resolves before your enemy’s. If it doesn’t come in range, your attack is wasted. The referee can use oracle dice to decide what enemies do, to keep things fair.

Careless Attack. Attack with no regard for your safety. Get a bonus on your attack, but if your enemy survives they get a free counterattack.

Skirmish. You hop from behind cover, get off a round, and hop back. The mobility isn’t great, but cover protects.

Attack. An adjacent foe with a melee weapon, or a more distant enemy with a suitable ranged weapon.

Attack Actions Attacks are actions taken to directly damage your foes. The SDM rules documents mention four types of attacks: melee, ranged, oldtech (magitech), and fantascience (sorcery). Other types are possible. Traits and gear can unlock attacks with special effects, bonuses against certain kinds of targets, in certain environments, or from a character’s abilities.

Movement Actions You’re mostly moving around, maybe doing something else not too involved, like unholstering a carbine, reloading a carbine, or wondering whether you left your stove on when you left your house this morning to explore the sewers.

Disengage. Carefully, guarding against counterattacks, you back away from close combat. You move nearby, just out of reach.

Flee. Carelessly, you turn your back on your melee opponent and head far away. Your foe gets a free attack. Probably with a bonus. Foes with guns may also get free attacks. Beware.

Move. You move nearby. Right there. No sweat, just a nice easy walk. You could combine this with a weapon readied to catch foes doing funny stuff.

Sprint. You move somewhere further away, over there. Just as fast as you can. Look out, you might trip on some obstacles and if there are enemies about, they may get a free attack.

Sprint. You move somewhere further away, over there. Just as fast as you can. Look out, you might trip on some obstacles and if there are enemies about, they may get a free attack.

Charge. You rush a nearby creature, getting a bonus to your attack. Attacks against you also get a bonus until your next turn.

Charge. You rush a nearby creature, getting a bonus to your attack. Attacks against you also get a bonus until your next turn.

Climb Climb a Ladder. Depending on ladder length, that’s probably the only thing you’ll reasonably do this turn.

Drive. Or direct a riding ostrich. Steering and not crashing.

When the whole group is trying to accomplish something risky, a random PC rolls for the whole group. The referee may call for the player to roll for an NPC selected to represent their group. Some traits will allow specific characters to roll tests for their group, or modify this rule.

Group Roll When a group endeavors together, a random one rolls. —Ederacts d4:d20

Roll When It Counts With certain activities, only roll when it counts. These are long duration things like hiding, moving stealthily, gossiping politely, participating in society dance, standing guard over a prisoner all night, etc.

Assume Competence The PCs can try to do anything that makes sense in their situation. They are not limited to the traits and items listed on their character sheets, which represents the resources they bring to the situation. Their local environment may offer other resources. Traits or items may allow alternate abilities in specific situations. When the PC lacks a required trait for a task, the referee assigns a penalty as they see fit.

Automatic Success With Suitable Equipment A character with suitable equipment and few time constraints can succeed at tasks of an ordinary difficulty without rolling.

Suitable and Unsuitable Equipment Under pressure, the referee can impose a penalty on characters without suitable equipment for tasks they are otherwise skilled at. Conversely, having precisely the right equipment can provide a bonus. The referee makes the final decision.

+1/-1 a tiny bonus or penalty +6/-6 a rather large bonus or penalty +1d6/-1d6 a pretty random bonus or penalty advantage roll twice and take the better result disadvantage roll twice and take the worse result

Bonus and Penalty The referee assigns a bonus [+] or penalty [-] when circumstances favor or hinder a PC. Traits, items, events, burdens, and more also give [+] or [-]. The referee decides when and how different bonuses and penalties combine.

Roll on Target - Force a Situation When a player rolls precisely on target, they can sacrifice something to succeed. The referee may suggest a sacrifice, including:

Magic Numbers Some natural rolls on the d20 are special. 1 Fail and equipment notched. Mark. Mark again, it is broken. 13 Only one ammo or power unit left. Mark. One use left. 20 Always succeed. Double effect or additional stunt (trip, trick, trap), then roll a bonus action.

Typical Target Numbers 3 Trivial, casual, banal 7 Easy, simple, routine 11 Mediocre, moderate, average, medium 15 Hard, challenging, tasking 19 Very hard, confounding, risky

ROLL When PCs try something risky, they roll d20 + ability + skill and try to beat a target number.

Stakes

Exploding Dice

The Roll

Dice Notation

Relife

Relife Consequences

Recovery

Rest and Recovery

Defense

Physical Defense

Mystic Defense

Other Defenses

Player Character Morale

Multiple Morale Tests

Morale is Tested

Morale

Level

Abilities

Hero Dice

Life

Sapped Ability Scores and Ability Score Damage Even if a character only temporarily has 0 endurance or aura, additional ability score damage can force rolls on the defeat table.

0 rounds sulphurous swamp, noxious gas, voidwhale guts, knee-deep water, dripping acids, bucking kaiju.

1–3 rounds small room, cramped path, windy crag, dungeon passage, mountain stair, voidship hull.

This trinity affects how the dead, the undead, and the resurrected behave. A creature killed by physical means becomes a classic corpse. A creature whose soul is destroyed leaves a perfect shell, easily turned into a flesh-golem servitor (sometimes called a zombie but actually a soulless automaton). A creature whose personality is annihilated presents the most unusual situation: their soul-body dyad remains physically alive, but completely malleable. They are closest to the classical Haitian Vodou concept of a zombie: entities of human intelligence without volition, loyal to their master or creator. Other permutations abound.

3–5 rounds bloodsport arena, powerball stadium, fencing ring, open field, sunlit clearing, audience chamber, large cavern, ordinary alley, back garden.

In-Game Metaphysics The soul provides the motive fire of consciousness, the psyche provides the unique direction of consciousness, and the body provides the vehicle. Indeed, death is not the end. The return voyage from death and destruction is covered in Rest and Recovery.

Adverse Conditions Not every conflict happens in a stadium, with raked sand and cheering fans. Light may be poor, footing treacherous, mosquitoes exasperating, dust choking, electromagnificent radiation debilitating. The worse the conditions, the faster attrition wears everyone down. The referee can also apply attrition to one side faster than the other. How long before attrition begins to take its toll?

Concept Background Ha-ka-ba is adapted from Ancient Egyptian conceptions of the person, as in the Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead. It also echoes many religious and philosophical ideas on the transmigration of souls.

Form Ha(yes) Ka(no) Ba(no). Corpse. Shell. Statue

Removing Attrition After a conflict, characters recover all sapped endurance and aura points after a short rest. One attrition burden fades away every hour after that.

Elemental Ha(yes) Ka(yes) Ba(no). Elementals, tasked spirit-patterns, living energy.

A turn spent performing light activity in a conflict removes one attrition burden.

Ghost Ha(no) Ka(no) Ba(yes). Echo, phantasm, digital clone.

Beasts and unnamed NPCs, those without the convenience of endurance or aura scores, sap their level bonus instead. When their level bonus is +0, they start gaining attrition burdens.

Animate shell. Ha(yes) Ka(yes) Ba(no). False-men (falscher), ka-zombie, drone.

Living dead. Ha(yes) Ka(no) Ba(yes). Souless undead, void lich, machine, ba-zombie.

Each attrition burden increases the life damage suffered from each successful attack, trap, fall, injury, or other misfortune by 1. Attrition burdens stack.

If a PC has 0 endurance or aura, they instead gain an attrition burden.

Daemon Ha(no) Ka(yes) Ba(yes) A dream-body, a living mind not bound to a single physical body, strange intrusions of beings from other planes, ultra-ghosts, etc.

Strenuous mental action temporarily saps aura by 1 point. For example, using, misusing, and abusing powers or spells.

Full person. Ha(yes) Ka(yes) Ba(yes). Human, animal, plant, awakened beings, revenants (soul-bearing undead), etc.

Strenuous physical action temporarily saps endurance by 1 point. For example, fighting, shooting, rooting, tooting.

Entity Ha(body) Ka(soul) Ba(psyche).

The following matrix examines what this means for the concepts of life, death, and undeath in the UVG and the rest of the Given World.

Attrition (Optional) Conflicts wear participants down. The referee decides when a conflict has gone on long enough. Thereafter, each strenuous action saps a participant’s resilience.

Ba. Psyche, personality, change, path, choice. Connects to the dynamic abilities of agility and thought.

Ka. Soul, fire, drive, energy, thrust, movement. Connects to the active abilities of charisma and strength.

Using Images for Movement and Range You don’t need maps for every conflict. Often, a picture is all it takes.

Ha. Body, matter, structure, form, persistence, shape. Connects most naturally to the static abilities of aura and endurance.

Indoor Movement and Range Indoors and in other confined areas, the movement and range zones may become smaller and more contingent, depending on doors, obstacles, stairs, ladders, passages, traps, and the like.

Relative Movement and Range When a PC takes their turn, the referee gives summary of their situation to help the players stay oriented.

Death and Hakaba Warning: Here be metaphysics. Every character, as every living thing in the Given World, is composed of the existential trinity of body (ha), soul (ka), and psyche (ba).

Off Stage Extreme range. Distant. Very far. A massive area, possibly 100m across. Indoors, audible a couple of rooms away, downstairs, or behind a closed door. Not visible. At this range you need three or more rounds to close with an opponent. Reaching them is more a chase than a conflict.

Doom spiral: ability score damage caused by the defeat table can force an immediate second roll on the defeat table. Defeat is not pleasant.

Over There Long range. Far. A large area, maybe a few dozen meters across. Indoors, through a doorway or at the far end of a hall. Usually, you need two rounds to close with an opponent this far away. The first round to reduce the range to short range, the second to charge in for close combat.

There Short range. Nearby. A middling area, maybe ten meters across. Indoors, the other side of the table, out of reach. If you win initiative you can close for melee combat with a nearby opponent. Alternatively, you can retreat in good order, keeping them at range while firing.

Here Melee range. Close combat. Adjacent. Next to you. The thick of things. A small area, a few meters across. Indoors, this side of the table, in arm’s reach. You may make a free attack against an adjacent enemy that disengages carelessly.

Defeat Table Woe! 1 or less Destroyed. The character is gone for the rest of this session at least. Absent eerie divine magitechnologies. 2-6 Destroyed. The character is gone for the rest of this session at least. Absent eerie divine magitechnologies. 7 Knocked out. Brain injury (-1 thought) burden. See you at the end of the fight. 8 Winded. Weakness (-1 strength) burden. Lose next turn, then regain 1 life. 9 Strained. Nauseating (-1 agility) burden Lose next turn, then regain 1 life. 10 Scarred. Defacing (-1 charisma) burden. Lose next turn, then regain 1 life. 11 Stunned. Lose next turn, then regain 1 life. 12+ All ok! Immediately regain 1 life.

Common Scales 5 foot squares or 2 yard hexes for personal combat; 50 foot squares or 20 yard hexes for vehicular chaos; 6 mile or larger hexes for campaign play; pointcrawls with routes measured in weeks for caravan travel, etc.

The last blow broke through wards and dealt mental damage: roll 2d6 + aura

The last blow broke through armor and dealt physical damage: roll 2d6 + endurance

Space - Movement and Range Space is relative to each character. Maps are not required, but may be helpful. Grids are not required, but may be helpful. Point-crawl distances should be clearly labeled. Be open with your players about the scale currently in play.

Defeat When a character has no more resources to absorb damage, no more life to spend as plot armor, no more abilities to reduce, no space to bear more burdens, they roll on the defeat table.

Terrible Idea. The PC can attempt their plan, but their opponents get a free action first.

Risky Idea. Allow the PC to try with extra effect if they succeed. After that, give their opponents a free counter (or a bonus on their turn).

Interesting Idea. Give the PC an extra effect or flavor if they succeed. To spice things up, give their opponents a free counter if the attempt fails (or a bonus on their turn).

Great Idea. Give the PC a bonus on their attempt. For a bit of temptation, you can offer extra options (with extra dangers).

Adjudicating Action Ideas Not only can the players come up with new actions, they are encouraged to. Fortunately, most player ideas fall into one of four categories, making improvisation a little easier for the referee.

Burdens From Damage Other obnoxious attacks, powers, curses, and circumstances can impose specific burdens on characters. These occupy inventory slots, reducing a character’s options, imposing situational penalties, and imposing additional penalties to rolls as they accumulate in a character’s burden inventory. Most effects that impose burdens would allow a save. The worst would not. PCs without the inventory space to gain an additional burden roll on the defeat table. Remember that each burden in the burden inventory applies a -1 penalty to all rolls, including defeat table rolls ...

The referee uses common sense and the conflict time frame to put a stop to nonsense like stacking a dozen free actions to time lock an enemy and explode it from the inside out with some obscurely argued item edge case. Traits and items may provide additional free actions.

Jab the exposed flank of an oblivious foe shoving past you with your elbow (or a shiv).

Drop to the ground.

Concentrate on one thing.

Concentrate on one thing.

Chew gum.

Ability Score Damage Some obnoxious attacks, traps, curses, or situations reduce ability scores: strength, endurance, agility, charisma, aura, or thought. These are serious shocks, which always carry the risk of death. PCs who cannot reduce an ability score because it is already at 0 roll on the defeat table. NPCs without defined abilities who suffer ability score damage reduce their level and attack bonus instead. If either would be reduced below 0 by ability score damage, they become an ex-NPC. NPCs without defined abilities who suffer ability score damage reduce their level and attack bonus instead. If either would be reduced below 0 by ability score damage, they become an ex-NPC.

Amble nonchalantly.

Free Actions Some actions, such as dropping a carried sack or responding to an opponent’s folly (such as their critical failure), are free actions. A character can take at least one free action per round. Typical free actions in an ordinary conflict:

Action On their turn, a character can do nearly anything the player comes up with. The referee adjudicates whether it requires any die rolls and whether bonuses or penalties are called for. Most turns, a character does some reasonable combination of movement through space and interaction with the environment and other characters.

Damage in Deadly Combat In straightforward combat, such as while dungeoncrawling, fighting in a pitched battle, or other classic scenario, the stakes are life and death. The referee makes these stakes clear when the party enters such an environment, or when a conflict escalates. In these circumstances: PCs reduced to 0 life roll on the defeat table. NPCs become ex-NPCs at 0 life. This does not mean they are dead, but they are out of the fight for the rest of the scene. Most sentient NPCs do not want to be ex-NPCs and flee before. The referee may optionally roll on the defeat table for important or Named NPCs.

Turn Each round, each character gets a turn when their side acts. Most turns, a character does some reasonable combination of movement through space and interaction with the environment and other characters.

Damage is Abstract Reducing life doesn’t (necessarily) mean sprays of arterial blood. The precise effect depends on the narrative stakes. A creature could be gossipped to death, metaphorically. Once harangues and threats reduce it to 0 life, it might retreat, step aside, or be too brow-beaten to resist a killing blow.

Chaos Reigns When initiative rolls are tied, chaos reigns and everything happens at once. The PCs and their opponents take their turns, but damage and afflictions only take effect at the end of the round. This is how two swellswords stab one another right dead and proper.

Suffering Damage All damage, unless specified otherwise, reduces a target’s life. Some powerful items or powers may reduce abilities or levels, deplete defenses, or impose other burdens and conditions.

Initiative d6 + agility Each side rolls initiative every round. For the players, a random PC rolls every round. High roll goes first. The players decide their characters’ turn order when their side acts.

Rounds - Time Enough When a conflict breaks out, play proceeds in rounds. The length of a round is cinematic, not precise. It’s long enough to do something meaningful. In a duel, a round might last mere seconds (often 6), with airships chasing each other, it might last a minute or an hour.

Damage, Defeat, Death As attacks land, as powers drain, a character suffers damage. Once a character has suffered enough damage, they risk defeat (and death). A character’s attributes are resources. Life is used to activate powers. Ability scores improve rolls. Hero dice boost results. Sacrifices turn near misses into successes. However, attributes are also a buffer protecting a character from defeat and death. The more spent to succeed, the greater the risk of sudden defeat.

The winning side may get one final shot. The conflict ends and they survey the spoils of their victory.

After a few rounds, one side or another will usually try to flee, retreat or surrender — either because of a morale roll (the npcs) or the players’ decision (the party).

[Optional] Hammerspace Hallmarks Besides their other benefits, hallmarks do not occupy ordinary inventory slots. Draw a hallmark box on your character sheet with one slot for each of your character’s levels.

Conflicts unfold in Rounds. Each round, the sides roll initiative to determine who goes first. The sides then take turns to act.

2) a +1 defense bonus (for example, a vehicle or shield);

Conflicts are rarely inevitable. Often, Reaction rolls determine how NPCs react.

The referee outlines dangers before a conflict breaks out.

1) a +1 bonus to every damage die rolled (so 2d4 becomes 2d4+2);

Conflict Mechanics Since conflicts are risky for the PCs, their procedure is more defined than most other game mechanics:

A PC can own a number of hallmarks equal to their level. All hallmarks start as level 0 items unless specified otherwise. Levelling up hallmarks costs as much xp as with any character. Each level, a hallmark gains one of the following:

Overwhelmed Flee, Flop, Freeze, & Fawn People and creatures who feel threatened by the PCs may flee instead of attacking. Creatures that feel particularly overwhelmed may beg for mercy, cower in terror, or offer to serve their new tyrants.

Hallmarks Anything that belongs to a PC can become their hallmark. This might be a vehicle, a sword, a power or something more unusual. Heroism rubs off on belongings.

Over 12 They insist on helping, even if you don’t need help. Rude to say no, but they will waste your … Oh, dear. Cup of tea?

Units of Mind Paths (things that could be used as skills), ideas, backgrounds, mutations, spells, powers. Thankfully, even as your skill grows, it occupies no more space in your soul’s spark.

2 Aggressive, hostile. They attack, given half a chance. 3-5 Thanks, they hate you. 6-8 Unsure, waffling, complicated, suspicious. 9-11 Polite, understanding, sympathetic. 12 Friendly, interested. They’ll help, given half the chance.

Under 2 They come at you, like raving agents of cosmic corruption. Aggressive, hostile. They attack, given half a chance.

1 stone (st) = 14 lb = 6.35029 kg 1 stone (st) = 10 soaps (sp) 1 stone (st) = 250 cash (€, silver) 1 sack (sk) = 10 stones (st) 1 sack (sk) = 100 soaps (sp) 1 sack (sk) = 2,500 cash (€, silver)

Reaction - An Oracle of Behavior A random PC rolls 2d6 + cha to see how the NPCs behave. To provoke a conflict, subtract their charisma from the reaction roll instead. Some traits may modify reaction rolls. The referee may apply modifiers depending on appearance/behaviour.

Units of Matter Items, things. You can carry a packed sack, even if your strength implies otherwise and your are burdened. Cash? One cash is what a median laborer earns in a day. How do you know this? Why?

Additional Inventories Traits and containers can create new inventories. Draw these on your character sheet.

The Skilled Dice Oracle When a PC asks questions and their skill or ability would play a factor, roll d20 + modifier on a table such as this: 3- Nay and woe! 4–7 Nay 8–13 Perhaps, for a price 14–19 Yea 20+ Yea and more!

The referee can set up oracle die tables to suit the the odds they want. 2d6 offers a bell curve, 1d10 offers more options, etc. Most random tables in the UVG work as oracles.

Burdens Every occupied slot beyond a character’s trait or item inventory limit is a burden. Each burden imposes a -1 to all rolls. A character with 20 burdens can no longer take any actions. Some dangerous monsters may impose burdens with every successful attack, or even with their mere presence. Dropping cumbersome items is a quick way to reduce a character’s burdens. Removing afflictions is harder, usually requiring rest and care

d6 Random Event Table 1–3 Common or expected outcome (50% odds) 4–5 Uncommon or unusual outcome (~35% odds) 6 Rare or exceptional outcome (~15% odds)

Afflictions Curses, diseases, mutations, corruptions and other afflictions also occupy inventory slots. Spiritual and psychological afflictions generally occupy trait slots, while diseases and physical injuries occupy item slots.

The Dice Oracle When a player, including a referee, does not know what might happen in a situation, and there is little risk, rolling dice on a table gives a working answer.

Prosthetics and Augments Each implant or modification occupies a trait or item inventory slot.

Powers and Spells Each power or spell occupies a trait or item inventory slot. This represents either a magical anchor or the engraved psycho-physical channels that grant the character access to this unnatural power.

Pets and Sidekicks Each of a character’s pets and sidekicks occupies a trait or item inventory slot. This represents the character’s care and attention.

Non-humans may bear more or less. Some traits may expand inventory slots.

Traits: 7 + ability (Thought) slots Items: 7 + ability (Strength) slots Burdens: 20 slots

Inventory and Burdens A character’s inventory slots are a key game resource. Though a character might want to carry everything, the cruel laws of their synthetic reality forbid it. Every human PC has three basic inventories:

History shows again and again How nature points out the folly of men —Godzilla, Blue Öyster Cult, Spectres (1977)