Para-Criminality Task Force

Player characters are referred to as "Agents". The "game master"/"narrator"/"referee" is referred to as the "Administrator".
Characters who are not Agents are referred to as "non-player characters".
The administrator and the players are collectively referred to as the "Table".
The players' agents are collectively referred to as the "Unit".

Agent Sheet

• Status — Start with 0 in all three
  • Echelon — 0 to 6
  • Reprimand — 0 to 6
  • Stress — 0 to 6
• Attributes — Start with +2 in one attribute, and +1 in two others
  • Percieve — +0 to +3
  • Pressure — +0 to +3
  • Resist — +0 to +3
  • Force — +0 to +3
  • Move — +0 to +3
  • Think — +0 to +3
• Affinity — Start with +1 in one space, or +2 in one space and -1 in the other
  • Realspace — -1 to +2
  • Beyond — -1 to +2
• Archetype
  • Special equipment
  • List of traits
  • Passage trait
• Career
  • List of remnant traits
  • Special equipment
• Equipment — Selected at the start of a case
  • List of items

Stats

On character creation, put +2 in one stat and +1 in two others.

These are stats, with a list of the kind of action each stat enables.

• Percieve: See, feel, and hear things. Sort the signal from the noise. Hunt. Track down. Detect.
• Pressure: Convince, persuade, manipulate, and command. Push people to act against their best interests.
• Resist: Endure pain. Survive injury. Ignore fear. Overcome hardship.
• Force: Fight people. Break things. Lift heavy loads. Perform acts of physical prowess.
• Move: Get somewhere quickly. Get somewhere gracefully. Act surrepticiously. Act stealthily.
• Think: Understand a situation. Put the pieces together. Solve complex problems. Drink from the well of knowledge

Players can narrate the way their agent attempts an action to argue for a different stat than the one the administrator first suggests.
Here are some examples of actions that can be performed with different stats, depending on how they are approached.

• Percieve or Think: Uncover lies. Read a situation. Find inconsistencies.
• Percive, Move or Think: Find a safer or quicker route.
• Pressure or Think: Find vulnerabilities. Craft a convincing argument.
• Pressure or Force: Threaten someone.
• Resist or Force: Push through one's natural limits.
• Resist or Move: Traverse dangerous terrain.

On top of the stats, agents have an affinity for "Realspace" or the "Beyond".
Choose:

• +1 to one space
• +2 to one space and -1 to the other

When an action roll is called for, both the space and the stat will be named (e.g: Realspace Force). Add the stat to the space affinity to get the bonus to apply to the roll.

Progression

Progression is driven by an agent's status: Echelon, Reprimand, and Stress.

Echelon represents the upward career progression of an agent. It is a resource that can be spent to access archetypes, perks, and equipment.

Reprimand and Stress represent the professional and personal damage inflicted upon an agent in the line of duty. Filling out one or both of these tracks can force an agent to retire. High levels may also bar access to certain archetypes.

Echelon, Reprimand, and Stress do not have any effect on an agent's performance in the field. They do not affect dice rolls or narrative outcomes.

Before each case

If the agent does not have an archetype, or wishes to change archetype, select an archetype from the list.
Some archetypes may require certain conditions to be met.
Some archetypes may cost Echelon to be taken.
Some archetypes may clear Reprimand, Stress, or both when taken.

During each case

Some archetypes may clear Reprimand, Stress, or both when their passage trait is invoked.
The administrator takes note of significant regulatory breaches and trauma.

Regulatory breaches include (but are not limited to):

• Death of a PCTF agent
• Death or mistreatment of informants or associates
• Unwarranted death of civilians
• Mission failure
• Exposure of sensitive information
• Excessive use of force
• Improper investigation techniques
• Inappropriate language
• Attempting to dissumulate regulatory breaches from PCTF internal affairs

Trauma includes (but is not limited to):

• Death of an ally or friend
• Witnessing gruesome death or injury
• Significant personal injury
• Exposure to certain paranormal phenomena
• Possession and mind control
• Catastrophic failure in dire circumstances

After each case

Gain one Echelon, regardless of success or failure.
If the administrator judges that the unit performed above and beyond the standard PCTF evaluation criteria, one more Echelon may exceptionally be awarded to each surviving member of the unit.

While Echelon is awarded equally to each agent, Reprimand and Stress are tallied for each agent individually.

Regulatory breaches and trauma work the same way, but affect Reprimand and Stress respectively.
For each element, roll a d6. If it is equal to or greater than the agent's current level, increase the level by one. If the level is already at 6 when the level is increased, the agent is forced into retirement.

e.g:
Agent Hirsch has 4 Echelon, 2 Reprimand, and 3 Stress.
An allied agent died during the case, and they later had visions of their own death in countless parallel universes.
That adds up to two regulatory breaches (agent death), and two traumatic events (ally death and the visions).
They gain one Echelon, increasing the level to 5. The administrator did not award a bonus.
They roll one d6 for Reprimand, they roll a 4, which is greater than their current 2, so their Reprimand increases to 3.
They roll a first d6 for Stress, they roll a 3, which is equal to their current 3, so their Stress increases to 4.
They roll a second d6 for Stress, they roll another 3, which is not less than their current 4, so their Stress remains at 4.

Career

On character creation, pick any archetype with the "Entry-level" tag. You may ignore any conditions or costs that would normally apply.
If the character is being created to replace a character who has died or retired, you may choose one remnant trait with the "Inheritable" tag from the previous character and give it to the new character.

Archetypes

Archetypes function both like a "class" that are typical in some other TTRPGs, but also as a mechanism to follow the narrative arc of a character through their career.

Occupational archetypes

These archetypes represent specialisations, roles, and careers.
Taking an occupational archetype requires meeting the requirements and paying Echelon, this is called a "promotion".

• "Entry-level" archetypes are available for free when taken by a new character (not a promotion).
• "Operational" archetypes are available when Echelon is greater than or equal to Reprimand.
• "Specialist" archetypes are available when Echelon is greater than or equal to Stress.
• "Expert" archetypes have unique requirements.

Occupational archetypes typically have a career path where Echelon can be spent to unlock perks and equipment.

Absolution archetypes

These archetypes represent a moment in an agent's career where they have to deal with consequences.
Absolution archetypes are always available.ù
They typically clear Reprimand, Stress, or both, either when taken, or as part of their "passage" trait.
When choosing an archetype after an absolution, the agent may return to their previous occupational archetype at no cost, even if they do not meet the conditions. This does not count as a promotion.
Otherwise, they may choose any available archetype as normal.

Some absolution archetypes have other, often more dramatic outcomes, up to and including character death, metaphorical, metaphysical, or Clean-up literal.
These archetypes usually come with an "Inheritable" remnant trait or some other special perk.

Storyline archetypes

Storyline archetypes represent dramatic and overwhelming events that happen to an agent.
They cannot be taken. Instead, they are triggered by narrative events. The administrator assigns a relevant storyline archetype when fate conspires against an agent.

Note for the administrator: Involve the players in this decision. Make sure everyone is enthusiastically engaged when assigning storyline archetypes to their characters.

Note for the players: You might have an idea in mind for your character, but remember that you're discovering a story together.
"I must be cruel only to be kind." — Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4.

Most of the storyline archetypes involve character death. Again, sometimes this death might be metaphorical or metaphysical.
These archetypes also award special perks or other unique effects for the character or their replacement.

Storyline archetypes are listed separately from the occupational and absolution archetypes so that players who do not wish to spoil the surprise can avoid that section.

Rolling dice

Action rolls

When an agent attempts to perform an action that is risky, the administrator will call for an action roll. The player and the administrator discuss the parameters of the roll. The administrator has final say on the parameters. When the parameters are set, the player chooses whether to roll the dice, or to abandon the attempt. If the player abandons the attempt, they may propose a different action or let another player take the initiative.
Players are encouraged to take risks and attempt bold actions. Their agent might not be aware of the risks, but the player should be informed.

The roll parameters are

• The intended outcome for the agent
  • e.g: Find the breach that the ghosts are coming from
• A sense of the narrative risk involved should the roll be a fiasco or a Messy success
  • An idea of much harm the agent and their unit are exposed to
  • Possibly (but not necessarily) the nature or origin of the harm
  • e.g: "You know the ghosts are actively trying to obscure their presence, so looking into this might make them attack you
• The stat and space the action involves
  • e.g: Beyond Percieve
• The difficulty rating
  • Trivial
  • Standard
  • Difficult
  • Extreme
• Bonus
  • The agents stat and space affinity determine the base bonus
  • Relevant items, traits, and other effects might add to the bonus
    • The player must be able to narrate how items are used, simply having the item on their person is not enough
    • Similarly, traits and other effect may specify how and when they apply
    • e.g: The agent is wearing their Antimirror Glasses, giving them +1
  • Some effects might subtract from the bonus
• Stance
  • Some effects grant "Bolstered" or inflict "Hampered"
  • Sources of "bolster" and "hamper" cancel each other out.
  • e.g: Bolstered from "By the book" and the "One foot in the grave" traits. Hampered from the erratic fluctuations in the area. Two bolsters versus one hamper means the agent is bolstered.

Overall it could look something like:

You want to look into the beyond to try to find the breach the ghosts are coming from. The ghosts are actively trying to obscure their presence, so they might attack you if they realise what you're doing. This will be a Difficult Beyond Perceive roll. You're bolstered from "By the book" and "One foot in the grave", and hampered by the erratic fluctuations in this area, which means that overall, you'll be rolling Bolstered. You have +2 in Percieve and +1 in Beyond, as well as +1 from the Antimirror glasses that can totally help you spot a breach, so you have a +4 to this roll.

The player then rolls:

• No stance: 2d6
• Bolstered: 3d6 drop lowest (or keep highest two)
• Hampered: 3d6 drop highest (or keep lowest two)

Add the bonus, and compare to the difficulty rating's success bands (meet or beat)

• Fiasco: The attempted action fails, and there is a negative consequence
• Messy, Clean, and Critical: Success, the agent carries out their action with intended effect...
  • Messy: ...but there is a negative consequence
  • Clean: ...and that's it, clean, professional
  • Critical success: ...and is able to gain a further advantage

On a Fiasco or Messy success, the negative consequence should follow from the attempted action. In the case of a Fiasco, the negative consequence can sometimes simply be the failure itself. For instance, if the agent attempts to protect an ally from an attack, the consequence of failure might simply be that the ally is attacked as if the agent hadn't attempted anything.

Messy, Clean, and Critical successes are all successes, the agent achieves their goal. Messy and Critical successes add an extra effect to the action.

The extra advantage gained on a Critical success should follow from the action. If there are no specific advantages that make sense in the current situation, bolster the agent's next roll instead.

Equipment

Standard-issue gear

Every agent is provided the following items before deployment:

• PCTF ID Badge - Realspace Pressure +1
  • Loss or modification are grounds for dismissal
  • Protected with para-encryption
  • Forgery and tampering is obvious when viewed through antimirror lenses
• Antimirror Glasses - Beyond Perceive +1
  • Aligns lightfields from the beyond with realspace photons (the exact mechanism is not yet understood)
  • It may take up to a minute after donning/doffing to acclimate, do not trust your vision until the effects are fully settled
  • Note: Migraines and anxiety are common side-effects of prolonged use
• Sidearm - Pressure & Force +2
  • Becker & Wolfe G909 semi-automatic pistol
  • Modified by PCTF armourers to fire null-imprinted rounds
  • Supplied with two clips of ammunition

Optional gear

• Reading glasses
• Flashlight
• Action pants
• Stab vest
• Talisman
• Tattoos