Unless otherwise stated, these rules apply to the Wild Talents Essentials Edition rule set.
Base Will costs[]
When paying Base Will along with XP to gain a new miracle, new Hyperstat, or new Hyperskill, the Base Will cost is temporary. Temporary Base Will loss is regained at the rate of 1 point per game session, at the end of each session. Base Will costs that substitute for training/practice are also temporary.
This is to make the XP cost equivalent between character creation and character advancement, while retaining the intent of the rule (prevent people from manifesting new powers left and right). Otherwise, it is in the PC's best interest to buy one die in a lot of high cost abilities at character creation.
New Hyperstats and new Hyperskills are defined as supernatural abilities that the character does not currently have. For example, a person with 4 Body and no Hyperbody who wishes to purchase a Hyperbody of 1 is buying a new Hyperstat. A person with 4 Body and 1 Hyperbody regular die who wishes to purchase a wiggle die in Hyperbody is not buying a new Hyperstat (he already has Hyperbody). Adding Extras, Flaws, or even Power Qualities to a Hyperskill does not require a temporary Base Will cost.
New Miracles are defined as new Power Qualities. Each separate Power Quality is considered a separate new miracle for the purposes of Base Will cost, even if they are rolled into the same overall power.
The Temporary Base Will cost is 1 per regular die, 2 per Hard die, and 4 per Wiggle die. Note that this means it is more efficient in terms of Base Will to buy just a regular die at first. However, it also means that the power, when it first manifests, will be much weaker and virtually worthless. You'll have to practice (or pay temporary Base Will to bypass training/practice) to raise it higher in later sessions.
Contest of Wills[]
In an effort to allow the person engaging in a Contest of Wills to roll dice (along with everyone else during combat or an encounter), the following house rules will be used instead of a Blind Auction of Willpower points.
The opposing Talent declares a Contest of Wills during the declaration phase. During the resolution phase, each side of the Contest of Wills bids a number of dice. For the Talent using the power, this is their normal activation roll by default. For the challenger, it can be any number of dice, including Hard and Wiggle dice. The catch is that the Willpower bid is 1/2/4 for Normal/Hard/Wiggle, just as if you had rolled a power that had Willpower Cost (except that if the power doesn't go off, you still lose the Willpower). The Talent using the power can choose less dice when they resolve their roll, to save on the Willpower Cost (essentially, dumbing down the power). The roll is then resolved as a dynamic test, along with every other test in the Resolution phase. Width > Height > Loose dice, as usual, and the challenger's roll acts as Gobble dice against the power using Talent.
This makes a Contest of Wills more powerful, as someone bidding just 1 Willpower point can seriously increase the Willpower cost of the Talent trying to use their power. However, this is completely in line with the fiction of the game, as Talent powers are difficult to use against other Talents who are actively resisting.
You can combine the Contest of Wills with other actions for the usual penalty (use the smaller pool for your action with -1d), and you'd pay the Willpower Cost of whatever dice you ended up rolling. Since Contest of Wills can draw from any number of Regular/Hard/Wiggle dice, you'll probably end up using the pool of your other action (Coordination + Dodge, Body + Block, Coordination + Ranged Weapons: Pistol, whatever).
Fumble rules[]
The default fumble rules indicate a roll of all 5s or less without a set is a fumble ("Botching It" rules on p18). However, rolling 6d or more means that you will never ever fumble (since with 6 dice, if you roll all 5s or less, one will automatically be a matched set). On the flip side, you'll never ever roll a "Beginner's Luck" roll, either.
The following house rules apply for LORE fumbles:
- Lucky breaks occur when all of the loose dice in a roll are 6 or above. The action still can succeed (since you rolled a set), but a side effect occurs that gives you some sort of bonus for your next action or your allies' next actions. For the purposes of timing, this event occurs at the same width and height as the successful action.
- Standard fumbles occur when all of the loose dice in a roll are 5 or below. The action still can succeed (since you rolled a set), but a side effect occurs that may inconvenience you for up to a combat round or for your next roll. For the purposes of timing, this event occurs at the same width and height as the successful action. Example: Your lockpicks drop to the ground, or your next shot will be a dud, or the magazine to your gun falls out, or you simply drop your knife on accident.
- Beginner's luck occurs when ALL dice in the roll are 6 or above. The action fails, because you didn't roll a set, but at the end of the round, something beneficial happens for either your next action or your allies' next actions. For the purposes of timing, treat this as having the "Go Last" flaw, and resolving at the same time as "Go Last".
- Fumble failures occur when ALL dice in the roll are 5 or below. To fail in this manner, you have to roll below 6d (due to probability). Not only is the action unsuccessful, but a side effect occurs at the end of the round which penalizes you for the rest of the encounter/scene/combat. For the purposes of timing, treat this as having the "Go Last" flaw, and resolving at the same time as "Go Last". Example: Your gun jams, and must be repaired after combat.
- A "Perfect Straight" (all of the dice rolled are in a straight) is a catastrophic failure. This means having a consequence that affects you for the rest of the session (and possibly in future sessions), such as serious injury (to you or an ally) or the loss of a key item. For the purposes of timing, treat this as having the "Go Last" flaw, and resolving at the same time as "Go Last". Example: You accidentally shoot a friend, or your gun explodes!
Godlike Talents[]
See Godlike Talent (LORE) for more details. All characters in this campaign are human Godlike Talents. There are no monsters, aliens, pan-dimensional beings, mutants, anthropomorphic turtle ninjas, etc. Powers are limited by the explicit Miracle limitations of Godlike as well as the Godlike timeline (Hyperminds, for example, do not exist until later in the war).
All Miracles are assigned the Willpower Bid flaw (for the standard -1 to cost per die), unless they are powerful enough to warrant a higher Willpower Cost (Time control) or Willpower Investment flaw (Goldberg Science). Miracles that store Willpower are not affected. Dud powers require a Willpower Bid, but do not gain the flaw points, obviously (since all Dud powers are automatically 1/2/4).
Willpower Bid is unnecessary for Hyperstats or Hyperskills, unless required by flaws (such as the "Attached" flaw).
All Hyperstats, Hyperskills, and Miracles can be canceled by a Contest of Wills.
Hit Location 10[]
The hit location 10 will always represent the most vital locations of the target. Specifically, for human targets, Hit Location 10 is considered to be the Head, Heart, Kidneys, major blood vessels, Spinal cord, etc. This means that Hard Dice do not necessarily always hit with a "Head Shot", per se, but instead may represent a "double tap" (firearm shot to the heart and head in a rapid reflex) or a "Kidney punch" or snapping the neck.
This house rule does not change the mechanics of the game at all. It simply rectifies a dichotomy between the mechanics and the realism of the game world. It seems rather silly that someone would have a power or skill that gravitates to the head like a magnetic pole. This House Rule was proposed by several other fans of ORE, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Languages[]
Languages in LORE can be learned as a group skill. Each point that you put into a Language skill gives you another language (or alternatively, another jargon/lingo for a current language), which you can more or less speak fluently (although often with an accent).
The languages in the group skill must have a common thread (Romance languages, Eastern European languages, Southeast Asian languages). They do not necessarily have to contain an etymological thread (i.e. be related in ancestry). They just have to be congruent to the character's academic/social interests. If all of the world's Nuclear Physicists come from Germany, Poland, Russia, England, and Japan, then you can learn a group skill of "Language: Used by Nuclear Physicists 5 (German, Polish, Russian, English, Japanese)"
You can learn more than the usual skill cap of 5 Languages (10 for a Hyperskill of Language) by simply investing in a separate language category. For example, you can learn Languages: Native American (Navajo, Pueblo, Iroquois) 3 along with a Languages: European (German, French, Italian) 3, if you'd like. Or you can separate out the points in all of your languages into separate skills, per vanilla rules.
Languages cost 2 points for 1d in regular skills and 1/2/4 for Hyperlanguage.
XP gain[]
Player Characters will receive 1 point for participation/survival and 1 point for completing each objective in the session. An extra point will be voted for by the player characters (GM resolving ties) for the "Most Valuable Player", per Wild Talents rules.
In addition, Player Characters can gain up to 2 extra points for downtime activities. This includes (but is not limited to) Character Journals, newspaper articles for the Chicago Inquisitor, pictures, Talent dossiers for "discovered" Talents during the time in between sessions, developing world backstory for the GM, and so on. Each additional submission above 2 XP will give bonus Willpower for the next session. For example, if you submit 4 Talent dossiers and a Chicago Inquisitor article, you get 2 XP for downtime and 3 additional Willpower in the next session.