Chapter 9: Learning Skills
Starting skills, learning through play, and earning Inspiration.
Starting Skills
Every Contractor starts with Move, Block, Focus, and Consume. These are verbs only. Starting Contractors do not automatically know any modifiers.
Learning Through Play
Each time a Contractor attempts an unlearned skill:
- Roll at disadvantage.
- Pay any Motivation cost required by the attempted action.
- Do not Push. Unlearned skills cannot be Pushed.
- If the roll succeeds, the Contractor may immediately spend Inspiration to learn the skill permanently. If they do not spend Inspiration, the action succeeds once, but the skill is not learned.
- If the roll fails, apply consequences. The Contractor does not learn the skill.
| Skill Type | Inspiration Cost |
|---|---|
| Verb | 1 |
| Modifier | 2 |
A Contractor must know a tree's verb before learning that tree's modifiers.
Earning Inspiration
Inspiration is awarded at the Foreman's discretion for genuine growth. Award Inspiration for:
- Pivotal character choices.
- Hard-won victories.
- Breakthroughs in understanding.
- Narrative crescendos.
- Roleplay that defines who the Contractor is.
Do not award Inspiration for:
- Merely completing a contract.
- Showing up to a session.
- Routine combat.
- Routine skill use.
As a default pacing target, expect roughly 1 Inspiration every 1-3 sessions per Contractor, awarded for hard-won growth rather than routine success. Inspiration teaches skills. Gear improves Stats.
Chapter 8: Damage, Wounds, and Death
Flat damage and HP, the Wound Table for type and location, what every wound does, gear interaction, treatment, prosthetics, and permanent death.
Chapter 10: The 12 Skill Trees
Organization of the four Stat groups, the four Stat 20+ Masteries, the twelve skills with their verbs and modifiers, and the Master Modifier Reference.