You are a practitioner of hidden magic, living two lives. For most of the year, you are mundane—a student, a nurse, a drifter. But as Walpurgisnacht approaches, you are drawn to the pilgrimage, moving toward the city where the Moon will rise, the Veil will thin, and one Wish will be granted.
Character Creation: Step-by-step
Step 1 — Bloodline (Familia)
Bloodlines define heritage and expectations. They grant two Affinity Practices (Primary & Secondary), a Signature Effect, a Doctrine for earning XP, and an Ancestral Pressure that shapes play.
Examples: Merlin, Nostradamus, Galileo, Houdini, Disney (apocryphal), Paracelsus, Tesla, Crowley, Rasputin
Step 2 — Backgrounds
Choose a Primary and Secondary Background to represent your mundane lives. Backgrounds provide Access, Pressure, and a one-use Resource per session.
See the Backgrounds page for the full list and mechanical details.
Step 3 — Class
Your Class describes how you approach secrecy, risk, and conflict. At character creation, pick two Abilities from your Class list.
See Classes for full Abilities and play patterns.
Step 4 — Metres & Limits
Distribute Metre values from the array 2, 1, 1, 0 across Motorics, Anatomics, Psysionics, and Cognetics. You have 6 Limit points to allocate among 12 Limits (no Limit may exceed its parent Metre).
Base Power = Metre + Limit (pre-calc this on your sheet).
Step 5 — Practices & Spells
Choose 4 Practices (recommended: your two Bloodline Affinities + two others). Start with two Spells from your Practices: one RC-0 (cantrip) and one RC-1 (standard). Use the Practice Grimoire pages to pick spell Tags for your starting spells and later gains.
Leveling (Canonical): Character Level is calculated automatically from XP spent: Level = floor(EXP Spent / 6) + 1. Auto-leveling is always enabled as a game rule.
RC-0 Tags are free; adding any RC-1+ Tag costs Stress equal to the number of RC-1+ Tags used.
Step 6 — Assets
Pick 3 starting Assets (weapon/tool, mystical item, social resource). Assets have Tags you may leverage for +1 Dice Power (per Tag) at the risk of breaking the Asset.
Step 7 — Calculate Defenses
- Physical Defense = Level + Psysionics + Resilience + bonuses
- Magical Defense = Level + Psysionics + Stability + bonuses
These are your target numbers when someone's trying to harm you.
Step 8 — Final Numbers
- Stress Track: 9 boxes
- Wound Slots: 5
- Veil: Starts at 6
- Seals: 5 (Full at campaign start)
- XP Bank: 0 (Max 12)
- Healing: 4 marks (fill to restore 4 Stress)
- Guards: 0 (Max 3)
- Willpower: 0 (Max 3)