GM Guidance

This section covers the math behind the dice, the art of consequences, and the rhythm of a campaign. Read this before your first session. Refer back to it when things get complicated.

Setting the Danger Class

The Danger Class (DC) is the target number players must meet or exceed. Setting it right is the most important thing you do.

The Golden Rule: DC 6 Is Standard

For a competent character (Dice Power 5, rolling 2d6), DC 6 provides the most tension: success is likely, but consequences are common. This is your default. Use it unless you have a specific reason not to.

Here's the full scale:

What the Numbers Mean

A character with Base Power 4 (Metre 2 + Limit 2) rolls 1d10 against DC 6. That's a coin flip for basic success—and they cannot achieve a Clean Success (DC+3 = 9) because their maximum roll is 10. They're scraping by.

A character with Base Power 5 rolls 2d6. Their average is 7—just above DC 6. They'll succeed most of the time, but often with consequences. To reliably hit Clean Success, they need to add Tags.

The Consequence Gap

The most common result in unGOD Magica is Success with Consequences (rolling DC to DC+2). This is where the drama lives. The character gets what they want—but there's a cost.

As GM, you need a toolkit of consequences ready to go. Here are your options:

The Consequence Menu

Stress: The simplest consequence. "It works, but it takes something out of you. Mark 1 Stress." Use sparingly—Stress adds up fast.

Time: "It works, but it takes longer than expected." The alarm is raised. The window closes. Reinforcements arrive. Good for heist scenarios and chases.

Noise: "It works, but someone noticed." A witness. A camera. A rival who now knows where you are. This is how you escalate scenes without blocking success.

Collateral: "It works, but something else breaks." The spell hits the target AND the bystander. The door opens AND the alarm triggers. The lie lands AND your ally is implicated.

Cost: "It works, but you used up something." An Asset is Broken without a Break Roll. A relationship is strained. A resource is depleted.

Information: "It works, but they learned something about you." Your bloodline is revealed. Your weakness is exposed. Your plan is compromised. Information is currency in this game.

Debt: "It works, but you owe someone." An NPC helped, and now they'll want a favor. A spirit was summoned, and it expects payment. A deal was made in the heat of the moment.

Player Choice

When possible, offer players a choice between consequences. "You can take 2 Stress, or the Veil drops by 1. Your call." This keeps players invested in the fiction and lets them decide what their character would sacrifice.

Practice-Specific Consequences

When a spell results in Success with Consequences, draw from the Practice's themes. Here are examples:

Kinetics

• Recoil throws the caster prone or off-balance
• Debris injures an ally or bystander
• The force is imprecise—collateral damage

Thermodynamics

• The room temperature spikes or plunges dangerously
• Smoke or steam obscures vision
• The caster's hands are burned or frostbitten (1 Stress)

Electrodynamics

• All electronics in the area are fried
• The caster is briefly paralyzed by feedback
• Lights flicker—witnesses notice something strange

Cognition

• The caster sees something they didn't want to know
• The target feels the intrusion and knows who did it
• Memories bleed—the caster temporarily confuses their own past with the target's

Binding

• The summoned entity obeys the letter, not the spirit, of the command
• Something else slips through while the door is open
• The binding holds, but the caster must remain still to maintain it

Authority

• The target obeys, but resents it—a future enemy is made
• The compulsion is too strong; the target acts excessively
• Others who witnessed the command become wary of the caster

Prediction

• The vision is accurate but incomplete—a crucial detail is missing
• The caster sees multiple possible futures and can't tell which is real
• The target of the prediction becomes aware they've been scryed

Signal Proxes

• The illusion is imperfect—one detail is wrong
• The communication is intercepted by a third party
• The sensory input leaves a magical trace that can be followed

Managing the Veil

The Veil is a shared resource representing how intact the magical masquerade remains. It starts at 6 and drops when practitioners are careless.

When to Drop the Veil

• Magic is witnessed by mundanes who don't understand what they saw
• Evidence is left behind—scorch marks, impossible wounds, violated physics
• Practitioners are photographed, recorded, or documented
• The mundane world starts asking questions

How Much to Drop

1 point: A single witness. Ambiguous evidence. Something that could be explained away. The default.

2 points: Multiple witnesses. Clear evidence. Something that will be talked about.

3+ points: Spectacular displays. Mass witnesses. Undeniable proof. Reserve for catastrophic failures.

Veil Thresholds

Veil 6-4: Normal operations. The mundane world is oblivious. Play proceeds as usual.

Veil 3: Attention is gathering. Introduce journalists, investigators, conspiracy theorists. Make the players feel watched. Social rolls to maintain cover become harder.

Veil 1: The masquerade is cracking. Other Familias send cleaners—practitioners whose job is to contain exposure, by any means necessary. Rivals gain leverage. The players are now a liability to magical society.

Veil 0: Catastrophic exposure. This is a campaign-defining event. The GM introduces a major complication that persists past Walpurgisnacht—a government investigation, a public scandal, a hunter organization that now knows magic is real. The consequences are permanent.

Pacing the Pilgrimage

A standard campaign covers three months of in-game time, from the start of the Pilgrimage to Walpurgisnacht. Here's how to structure it:

The Three-Act Structure

Act One (Weeks 1-4): Gathering

The characters learn about this year's host city. They make travel arrangements. They encounter the first rivals and allies. Establish the stakes: What does each character want from their Wish? What stands in their way?

Act Two (Weeks 5-8): Positioning

The characters arrive in or near the host city. Alliances form and break. Rivals make moves. The Veil is tested. This is where most of the campaign happens—schemes, heists, betrayals, reluctant partnerships.

Act Three (Weeks 9-12): Convergence

Everyone is in place. Old debts come due. The full moon restores Seals. Walpurgisnacht approaches. Tension escalates. End this act with the beginning of Walpurgisnacht itself.

Session Pacing

Each session should advance the calendar by roughly 3-7 days. This gives you 8-12 sessions for a full campaign. Adjust based on your group's pace.

Not every day needs to be played. Use montages: "The next week is travel. Roll Cognetics + Interfacing to see how smoothly it goes." Reserve scene-by-scene play for moments of tension.

The Full Moon

Once per month, the full moon rises and all Seals are restored to 5. This is a built-in pacing beat. Players will learn to plan around it—"We need to wait for the full moon before we can attempt this."

The full moon also attracts attention. Other practitioners gather. Rituals are performed. It's a natural time for social encounters, information gathering, and alliance negotiation.

Running Walpurgisnacht

Walpurgisnacht is the climax of the campaign. The rules change. The gloves come off.

The Four Phases

Phase I – Preparation (Evening)

RC-2 cap. Magic is still hidden. Characters make final preparations, set traps, secure positions. The tension builds.

Phase II – The Hunt (Night Falls)

RC-3 unlocked. The Moon rises. Mundane memory begins to blur. Practitioners track each other, form last-minute alliances, eliminate rivals through indirect means.

Phase III – The Duel (Midnight)

RC-4 unlocked. All power is available. Open conflict. This is where characters die, are erased, or are exiled from magical society. The Wish is contested.

Phase IV – The Wish (Dawn)

One practitioner stands victorious—or pays the highest price. The Wish is granted. The Moon sets. Mundane memory of the night is erased. The Veil resets to 6.

The Wish

The Wish can be anything. Literally anything. Resurrection. Wealth. Power. Revenge. The erasure of an enemy from history. A loved one returned.

As GM, your job is to grant the Wish as stated—but the Wish is narrative, not mechanical. It's the campaign's epilogue. Work with the winning player to describe what happens. Let it breathe.

If multiple characters survive and cooperate, they can share a Wish—but it must be something all of them want. Compromise is required.

Probability Reference

For when you need to know the actual odds:

P(≥6) = chance to succeed at standard DC. P(≥9) = chance for Clean Success. P(≥12) = chance for Critical at DC 6.

Final Advice

Say yes to interesting failures

A failed roll isn't a dead end—it's a complication. The characters don't pick the lock, but they find another way in (and trigger the alarm). The spell fizzles, but the target knows someone was trying.

Make NPCs want things

Every rival should have a reason to pursue the Wish. Every ally should have a price. Every bloodline has expectations. The more the players understand NPC motivations, the richer the scheming becomes.

The Veil is a pressure cooker

Drop it slowly. Let the players feel it ticking down. The moments when they choose to let it drop—to save a life, to win a fight—should feel meaningful.

Bloodline Doctrines are free drama

Whenever a player's action could be framed as upholding or defying their Doctrine, point it out. XP triggers keep players engaged with their character's identity.

Walpurgisnacht is a sprint, not a marathon

The final night should feel fast and dangerous. Don't let it drag. Keep the pressure up. Let characters die if the dice say so—this is what they've been building toward.