THIS RULESET IS NO LONGER APPLICABLE AND IS ONLY HERE TO PROVIDE A PROOF OF CONCEPT FOR PROJECT TTRPG AND HOW IT WILL BE HOSTED ON THE SITE
The Comprhensive Guide to Surviving the Oververse.
Dictated but Not Read by
Mike, The Interdimensional Trader
Contents
Crafting Your Subjective Self
[Species]
[Ascended], [Avatar], [Void Dweller], [Colourless], [Eye], [Eldritch], [New Graced]
[Classes]
[Scrapper], [Strider], [Fringe Blessed], [Devoute], [Expeditioneer], [Void Touched], [Devoured],
[Lifepath]
[Faction Alignment]
[Cult of G.L.A.S.S], [Void Dwellers], [Inquisition Collective], [The Outer Gods], [The Oververse]
The Objective Self
[]
Character Sheet Maintance
[]
Metaknowledge
[]
Understanding Your Hud
[]
Expeditions
[]
Lexicon
[Terminology]
[Universal Tables]
Final Thoughts
[]
What is the Oververse?
The Oververse is a Universe of Multiverses. And a lot like a Universe it is a cold dead vacuum of nothing. However, almost at our fingertips, we have all the power of reality. We can go anywhere, be almost anything, warp and shape the very fabric of spacetime into any shape we deem fit. We can be anywhere, do anything. From the Oververse we have the power to interact with realities, Singularities, allowing us to experience subjective experiences. The Cult of Glass has used this ability to invade many realities, warping the Oververse to Ka’s will.
Though life is harsh in the Oververse, many factions, cultures and ideologies survive as the warping of the Oververse continues to make unpredictable changes to the Singularities it houses.
I could go on for hours giving you a lore dump, but this is a surivival guide, not a history book. All YOU need to know is that you are a special kind of God. An Eye. You inhabit what we call an Avatar. The Avatar has an Objective Self, and a Subjective Self. We, the cult, monitor the Objective, you monitor the Subjective.
Surviving the Oververse
Mike’s Comprehensive Guide for all New Eyes.
So you’ve been thrown into the deep end into a universe where time doesn’t make sense and the story seems to be scattered everywhere. Yeah, that’s the power of The Cosmic Leech.
So, I took unto myself to write out a little, lets call it simplified UOE. It should be easy enough for your Eye to break down and relay the data back you you.
Any Question?
-
“Can we try to stay focused here please,” Mike pleads, “The Multiverse is convoluted, trying to understand it all at once is a recipe for disaster, don’t believe me? ask the Eye’s that saw the original Prologue Singularity….”
-
“Jeeze that’s a loaded question.” Mike wipes sweat from his brow. “In this context it refers to…
How do I explain this..
The canon Avatar?
The Oververse exist on a plane where reality and fantasy seem to intertwine. You, being a god, are able to bend those two fabrics at will. Pick and choose, share with others, or hoard like an Eldritch. However, while you may experience one possibility of an existence, you do share this body with many, many other Eyes. You all have the opportunity to improve and grow the Objective self which will in turn improve your subjective self.”
-
“This is how you personally observe your Avatar, it’s your character. If you haven’t already, we will go through the steps shaping the subjective reality around you. Think of it like an ego. You manage the ego, we manage the physical body.”
-
All Eye’s have that ability. Take this for an example. You are reading a book, you are experiencing that Singularity, that reality, through an Avatar. Now this Avatar wasn’t customizable, the author described them to you through subtle details. However, the author didn’t describe the hair. You imagine the character as an auburn. That avatar has been weaved with your subjective reality. You can always change it and shape it at will, we can’t stop you, but you will always have a Subjective Self over your Objective Self.”
-
“I thought you were but now I’m starting to question reality…
Well, Anyway…
Let’s Start with the fun stuff.
Let’s start by crafting your Subjective Self.
Don’t worry, I’ve done this a few times. I’ll walk you through it, step by step.
CRAFTING YOUR SUBJECTIVE SELF
When Crafting your Avatar’s Subjective Self we need to keep in mind of a few things:
First: Your Species. This will grant you a Species Trait and Base Stats.
Second: Choose your Class. A class is like a role or a job; this will grant you Base Skills, a Class Special Trait and an Item care package (Once per character).
Third: We apply your Faction’s Relations. These are affected by your Class and Species as well as your Lifepath choices.
Here we have the Species Card for an Ascended. These are entire realities whom live in harmony with their many selves, creating an entirely new being of pure collective consiousness.
Let’s explore the parts of this card:
A) This is the title of the Species
B) An example image of this species.
C) Flavor text
D) The species’ trait/the DPS Cooldown Counter.
E) The Base Stats for a new character.
F) The Species’ Special Ability/Flaw info.
Lets discuss these parts in a little more detail:
TRAITS
Traits are special attributes a species is able to manipulate in order to give themselves an edge in their subjective experience.
These are descriptive bits of text that will describe how, when and/or where you are able to use this trait.
Each Species has a set of Base Stats, these represent the overall average of this particular species.
Each Species will grant you a trait, a special ability, and base stats.
SOCIAL: Your ability to speak to others. (Intimidate, persuade, barter, etc.)
ENDURANCE: Your stamina on expeditions. This is also your Health Points.
EMPATHY: Used to reroll one die outcome in an Expedition.
The number in the black box below the icon is the base stat value for a new character.
Special Abilities
These are descriptive bits of text that will describe how, when, where and who can be targeted as well as a restriction or recharge timer.
Understanding the Species Card
Species
You can create as many characters as you want. No one is able to stop you from switching your characters at will, destroying them when they die and re rolling a new one or not having a character at all and just doing whatever you would like to do. The universe is literally right at your finger tips.
DPS Cooldown Counter
Flaws are species specific and will alter and bend some rules of the Oververse. Each species has at least one flaw.
Base Stats
Your Subjective Self is directly intertwined with your Avatar’s Objective Self. Completing chapters, goals and quests will improve the Avatar’s Objective Stats at the beginning of each new chapter. If you want to improve the idea you have of yourself, you must improve your observable self first!
Each Card will have 7 Icons resembling a Core Statistic in our Universe, they are as follows:
BODY: A show of Physical Prowess. (Lifting, carrying, melee attacks, unarmed attacks, bashing, etc)
MIND: A show of your intellectual prowess. (Remembering, magick casting, researching, etc)
AGILITY: Your deftness. (Balance, acrobatics, jumping, running, ranged attacks, etc)
Some Species stats will require you to roll a die to determine a stat’s value. Roll the appropriate die and write the value on your character sheet.
Each Species will have a game altering Special Ability. These abilities allow you to bend the rules of the Oververse in your favor. They often require some sort of limitation such as once per expedition or they will rely on your DPS Cooldown Counter.
Let’s take a look at one of those Cards now:
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
F)
Traits have the ability to enforce your subjective will onto our objective reality. Some help in combat, dialogue, exploration and more!
This is simple, the more you hit or get hit the quicker you get to do things. You track this counter with a spare d6, the max your counter can reach is 6 meaning you need to inflict pain or feel pain 6 times before you can use another skill that has this icon or requires this counter to be reset. The minimum the Counter can be is 1.
Skills…
Stats…
Class?
Being in an Avatar can be disorienting. These terms are called METAKNOWLEDGE and help us monitor your progress throughout our missions.
When creating a new Subjetive Self, you will add the Base Stats to the Objective Self Character sheet. These new totals should reflect on your Subjective Self’s Character Sheet.
How are quest’s goals and improvements tracked and monitored if there is no-one here to observe me? We’ll get into that in our METAKNOWLEDGE section
LUCK: Determines the amount of die you roll when resolving an encounter.
We will go into more details about Stats, skills and resolving encounters in the Expeditions section.
Flaws
Wether it’s purly cosmetic for you or you’re trying to break the game, your Species will have an effect on your journey through this shattered reality.
Now with that out of the way…
Art by Jax BotelloLets look into some of the known species here in the Oververse.
Pick which ever you’d like.
For more details about each species, be sure to visit the Shogun Database.Ascended
Lore
Ascended are often, sometimes unfairly, assumed to be pretentious and snobby. They are a collection of consciousness that have decided to work in tandem wish one another, shaping their reality into an entirely new being.
Because of this they are often thought to look down on others who come from collapsed realties. This isn’t always the case, most Ascended, like Avarice, are very pleasant, though their monotone voices are often mistaken for boredom or down right rudeness. Most have begun adopting a new speech pattern, training themselves to express the intended emotion verbally before finishing a sentence.
Trait
Empath
An Ascended is far closer to Mother Empathy than any other species in the known Multiverse.
When Endurance is 0, Ascended may spend Empathy Points (EMP) as if they were Endurance/Health points.
While in combat, Ascended may defer damage received to their Empathy Points instead.
Additionally Empathy Points can be spent to:
1EMP - Undo previous outcome.2EMP - Skip Combat or Challenge as if you completed it.3EMP - Restore 1d4 Endurance4EMP - Cause combat encounter (including bosses) to flee.5EMP - Increase Luck by 1. DPS Cooldown Counter must reset before use. Luck resets after counter resets.
Culture
Ascended don’t have a unified culture. Most Ascended work for Avarice’s Inquisition Collective as information brokers while others tend to wander off into the Oververse to carve out their own personal space in the infinite frontier.
They have no known religion and they do not follow a Pathfinder though many consider Avarice, the first Ascended, to be the Ascended’s Pathfinder.
Ascended have no need to eat though they’re collective consciousness of mortals often do need supplies and gear in order for an Ascended to stay healthy.
Special Ability
Desperate Measures
Though it will eventually send the Ascended into Chaos, they are able to drain their mortal’s Empathy to fully replenish their own.
Once per expedition.
Permenantly lowers Max EMP by 1
This lost Max EMP can not be restored by any means but will be reset when Ascended returns to Hub.
Restores all lost EMP.
Flaw
Ascended need Empathy to survive. If, for any reason, your Max Empathy drops to 0, your Avatar dies.
SPECIES CARD
Avatar
Lore
Avatar’s are perhaps the oldest species in the entirety of the Oververse. Anyone can be an Avatar. They look like you, talk like you, walk like you…
um…
smell like you…
But here, in the Oververse, Avatar’s have a different form. In this place they are a slave species, forced, from the moment of birth, to be addicted to a drug called Ignorant Bliss. Avatar’s are used like suits for a mysterious god like species of beings called Eyes.
Well I guess they aren’t that mysterious, they are you after all.
Trait
Infested With Eyes
The Ignorant Bliss has ways of pushing your consiousness to the side, allowing the Eye to step in.
You may also generate an Eye character.
When facing a challenge you may let the Eye take over, switching to your Eye character sheet.
You must wait for the DPS Cooldown Counter to reset before switching again.
Culture
Avatar’s have no culture, no history, and no ideology. They are empty puppets wating to be manipulated.
Special Ability
The Stash
You’ve been through enough dry spells to know that you ALWAYS have a rainy day stash just in case.
Stash equal to Max Empathy
Can take as many as you want, whenever you want.
Replenish 2d4 Endurance
-1 to Max Empathy Permanently, does not reset when returning to Hub
Max Empathy can be replenished by other means (Items/spells/events/etc).
If you have no Empathy, Ignorant Bliss will have no effect on you.
Flaw
All Charm checks are rolled with Disadvantage.
SPECIES CARD
Void Dweller
Lore
Void Dwellers are an ethnoreligious group, though we use that word sparingly. Void Dwellers are incredibly diverse.
They reside in the Void at the edge of The Cycle, just beyond the Black Door. Some refer to the Void as the Highway to Oblivion, a sentient space of nothing that hungers; always. The Prophet, The End, discovered Oblivion when they were exploring the boundaries of reality.
At that time, Oblivion was filled with withering souls. A deal was struck between the Prophet and Oblivion. Oblivion would allow any withered soul to return as a devoted follower, so long as they returned the souls of Eyes.
Trait
Reliant on Cybernetics:
Life in the Void is harsh, by scrounging up The Cycle’s trash, you’ve been fitted with Cyberware to help you survive in the harsh nothing.
Choose One:
Culture
Void Dweller culture centers around their religion. They believe that the Cycle is a mistake, Blasphemous to the one true God, Oblivion. They revere those they call Void Touched, a title awarded to those who have ventured beyond The End, spoken to Oblivion and returned. So far only 2 are known to have done so. Botoku, their revered leader and Morrigan, their seer.
Speaking of Morrigan, she speaks directly with Oblivion, issuing commands and orders to the others. Even Botoku heeds her words.
Anyway, I’m sure I’m missing some nuance there somewhere, be sure to read their entry on the Shogun.
Special Ability
Of Shadow
You don’t remember a time before Oblivion, a life or existence outside of the Eternal Nothing. This has allowed you to master the shadows.
When in a combat encounter, roll your dice pool against all attacking creature’s attack dice.
If your outcome matches or exceeds theirs you successfully hide from the enemies.
You may escape automatically
OR
Make a Sneak Attack. If Attack successful, deal your damage twice.
Flaw
Cursed by Oblivion yet you still serve Ka? Because of this it requires +1 Endurance to move while on an Expedition. If movement cost 1 END it now cost 2 END.
SPECIES CARD
Colourless
Lore
Colourless hail from a reality that was once home to a child God. However, that God slowly became devoured by Madness. The Colourless reality began to twist and warp until eventually Ka arrived.
The reality collapsed long before you got here. So if you were hoping to find a home, well this is as good as it gets.
Trait
Diverse
Colourless are the most diverse species in all of the Oververse, most think it has to do with their God, other’s say they are mutated from cosmic karma.
I say, we look pretty damn cool, in the right light.
Choose One:
Culture
Since the collapse of our homeverse, Colourless have adapted pretty well. Since most of us are talented craftsmen our trade skills became a high commodity here. Life is hard in the Black. Most formed a sort of union, calling themselves Unioneers. They used scrap and other trash they found in the Void to assemble Union Station where they formed an equity based society. Makes sense considering how diverse we can be. They still take a cut of your earning though….
Not all of us are into that though. Most would rather work independently, offering our craftsmanship and service up for trade. Usually for free room and board.
Special Ability
Smooth Talker
You may have picked it up from a family member, or maybe you had to learn the hard way, but, like me, you learned how to get that tongue working in your favor.
When in dialogue, if you come across an option that is blocked for any other reason than a missing item, you can spend 1 Empathy Point to choose it.
Flaw
When Encountering Mike’s shop on an expedition, prices are doubled. It’s not racism, just tough love.
SPECIES CARD
Eye
Lore
Eyes are the Gods of Gods that create Gods. I know that didn’t translate well into UOE. Eyes inhabit Avatars so they can experience the Subjective Reality of that Avatar’s Singularity.
Avatars can be anyone from anywhere but here in the Oververse Avatars are a slave Species who have been forcefully addicted to the cult’s drug, Ignorant Bliss. This drug nullifies (sometimes outright killing) the Avatar’s Consciousness allowing an Eye to comfortably inhabit it.
And that’s about all we know of them. They come from a place called the Universe of Eyes that O.N.I continues their attempts at entering.
Trait
Anchor Weaver
Anchors are points in timespace that an Eye can return to.
Before “placing” an anchor, clear area/room’s First Entrance Event (FEE).
When FEE has been completed you may open next room in a “new tab” to continue your story. All rooms that you have completed their FEE’s remain “cleared”. The current room you are in is treated like an “Anchor Well” room.
When you die, you may recall to this moment in timespace instead of returning to the Anchor Well. Any room’s FEEs that have been cleared AFTER setting the anchor reset and any items gained are returned.
The Anchor dissapates after one use.
Must wait for DPS Cooldown Couter to reset before using again.
The DPS counter does not countdown while Anchor is active but you can dissapate the Anchor and immediatly halve the Cooldown Counter.
Culture
Eye culture seems to be a melting pot of beliefs, ideas and opinions. After many interviews with Avatars, we are still no closer to unraveling their mystery.
Special Ability
Keen Insight
These elusive gods have an uncanny ability to simply just know things.
You can access Metadata icons when they appear
Icons will have information pertaining to the scene they are in. A few may be times and dates, others may contain clues to a puzzle solution or secret.
Anyone can access these, you all are already eyes, but that would ruin the point of making this a character so don’t do it.
Flaw
Your DPS Cooldown Counter is set to Max, meaning any skill or ability you use can’t be used again until the counter resets. This is universal for any skill or ability that relies on the DPS counter. You can not use any other skill or ability until counter is reset. You can not lower your DPS Cooldown, it is permanently set to 6.
SPECIES CARD
Eldritch
Lore
Eldritch are cosmic forces that have inhabited the Gods of Mortals by the slow, steady corruption of these God’s Ideals and Morals. The first of these were the God Lust, whom discovered the Realm of the Eldritch, a Crimson Star that acts as a doorway into their singularity.
Many mortals who dedicate themselves to these Eldritch are often called Cultist and will venture through The Fringe in order to find the Red Door and return to their Gods. The Cult of Glass isn’t an Eldritch Cult, these terms and labels come from Ka who hailed from the now collapsed reality of The Ghostlands.
God’s that were cast out of their reality before placing an Anchor dirfted through Oblivion until they discovered the Crimson Star who showed them a Red Door.
Trait
Entropy Master
Entropy is the big fancy word for Chaos, and all Eldritch relish in it. As an Eldritch you can spend EMP (Empathy Points) to:
2EMP - Replace Combatant
3EMP - Replaces random loot with different piece of random loot
4EMP - Look at Metaknowledge Icons if available
-2 Max EMP - This is Permeant, can be replenished by other means, restores all lost Endurance and Max Endurance. Restores lost EMP
Culture
The Land of the Eldritch is chaotic. These gods relish in Entropy where the chaos reigns supreme. Each God has carved out a small SIngularity within The Crimson Star. These singularities vary wildely, depending on their ruler.
Special Ability
Abusing the Red Door
Eldritch often use the Red Door to enter and exit Singularities. Perhaps we should shut off Ka’s?
When not in Combat or facing a challenge, the Eldritch may use the Red Door to return to the Hub or the floor’s Anchor Well.
All items that were found (with the exception of Boss Rewards) are kept.
The Expedition resets when returning to Hub.
Can only be used Once per Expedition.
Flaw
The Cycle has disgraced you, lowest starting stats of any other species.
SPECIES CARD
Visit the Shogun Database to learn about Outer Gods and their attributes, concepts and aspectNew Graced
Lore
New Graced are Mortals that have been uplifted by an Outer God to serve them in the Multiverse. New Graced are bound to an Outer God, allowing them to evoke their aspects, attributes and concepts when encountering challenges.
The New Graced share odd similarities with Tenno’s First Graced. Their eyes have a soft, silvery glow and they seem to be adept at manipulating the energies around them.
Trait
Patron Saint
You may not like it, but you are bound to the Outer God’s will. Choose an Outer God to dedicate yourself to.
Apply any Stat/Skill improvment/ debuff associated with your Outer God’s attributes to your character sheet, this is permenant.
Culture
There isn’t a population large enough for us to gather data or information about their culture. Most seem to retain their culture from their past selves while others seem undaunted in their loyalty to the Outer God they Service.
Special Ability
Evoke The Wrath
Need help? Guidance? Understanding? Luckily you are a New Graced, Your Outer God can be evoked to assist with a challenge.
Choose to Evoke your Outer God during a challenge by:
Draining all EMP to Evoke Outer God’s Concept.
Half your Max Endurance for the rest of the Expedition to Evoke your Outer God’s Aspect.
Flaw
New Graced are still mortal. When this character dies, they are permenantly deleted.
SPECIES CARD
If you click on the cards they will take you to the Depository where you can download and print them out if you would like.
So, which did you like?
-
“Ah you must be full of Empathy then. That’s good, very rare in the Oververse.”
-
Mike rolls his large eye in its socket. “Boring! Everything you could ever be and you choose to be a slave…”
-
He chuckles slightly. “Yeah I’m pretty impartial to that one too. Some just call me biased though.”
-
“I knew it. Pegged you from the start. You ain’t here to play by anyone’s rules other than your own. May Chaos erupt you Eye.”
-
“Why would you ever… Whatever, it isn’t my choice…”
-
“High risk, High reward I’m assuming? It might even be helpful to have the favor of an Outer God under your belt.”
-
“Just here to cause trouble or has The Cycle convinced you?”
Don’t worry, as we discover more species out there, we will add to this list. The Universe is ever expanding.
Now that we have your Species figured out, let’s move on to discover what roll you will be filling here in O.N.I. Be sure to keep the card with you for the very end.
Classes
Like in most Singularities, Classes are roles that one plays within an existence. Cooks, Soldiers, Front Desk Associate, they’re all classes that often grant us skills and other benefits.