Becoming A Game of Heroism and Sacrifice PDF

Mattheew Jackson (order #5709893)
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Writing and Design Becoming
Brian Engard
Writing (Those Who Go There Change)

Will Hindmarch
Editing and Development

John Adamus
Art
Christopher H. Barley
Layout
Daniel Solis
Index
Rita Tatum

Playtesting
John Adamus, Jon Argaman, Dean Baratta, Christopher H. Barley, Sean

Breitenbach, Mollie Carson-Vollath, Daniel Choi, Jim Cummings, Adam
Dray, Rainer Frickanisce, Dale V. Georg, Thom Mr. Creepy Jason, Irven
Myrkwell Keppen, Daniel McAlister, Scott Merkling, Michael S. Miller,
Russell Morrisey, Denise Paradise, Jason Pitre, Gavin Roop, Adam Seeman,
and Zack VanMorter.
Special Thanks To
The Kickstarter backers, who made this thing possible. My wife, Nicole,
for always knowing I could do this. My dogs, Coda and Beau, for their
unconditional love and support. My parents, Martha and Ron, for raising
me to love telling stories.
Sharing and Remixing

Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of this book are released under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution
license. This means you can:
Share the work with others
Remix the work, turning it onto your own thing
Sell the work, making money off of your own work as long as you give credit
where its due
You can do these things as long as you:
Attribute the work to Brian Engard
Be respectful of the work, and dont use it to do harm
The short story, Those Who Go There Change, is copyright 2013 to Will Hindmarch.
The above license doesnt apply to it.
The art within this book is copyright 2013 to Christopher H. Barley. The above license
doesnt apply to it, either.

CONTENTS
Those Who Go There Change ................................................ 8
By Will Hindmarch .. ............................................................................................................ 8
What This Game is About ............................................................27

What Youll Need ............................................................................................................... 28
The Goal of the Game .. ................................................................................................ 28
The Guiding Principle ................................................................................................. 29
The Quest ..................................................................................................................................... 29
Rules of the Game ....................................................................................... 30

Creating the Hero ........................................................................................................... 30
Choosing Roles .. ................................................................................................................... 32
Scenes .. .............................................................................................................................................. 32
The Agent of Threat .. .................................................................................................... 33
The Hero .. ...................................................................................................................................... 35
The Tempters .. .......................................................................................................................... 35
Scenes and Timing ..............................................................................................................37
Resolving the Threat . . ................................................................................................. 38
Assets and Traits ............................................................................................................... 39
Subverted Assets ................................................................................................................ 40
Shooting the Moon .. ....................................................................................................... 40
Victory Tokens ....................................................................................................................... 41
Victory Conditions ......................................................................................................... 42
What Follows ......................................................................................................... 44

Long Live the King .................................................................................... 48
Scene List ..................................................................................................................................... 52
Exodus ...................................................................................................................................... 55
Scene List ..................................................................................................................................... 59
The Witching Hour ....................................................................................61

Scene List ......................................................................................................................................67

The Long Road Home ............................................................................. 70
Scene List ..................................................................................................................................... 75
Making the Game Yours ................................................................ 79

Creating Your Own Quests ................................................... 79
Whats It About? ................................................................................................................. 80
The Hero . . ....................................................................................................................................... 81
The Fates ....................................................................................................................................... 82
Scenes .. .............................................................................................................................................. 83
Advanced Tinkering ................................................................................ 85

Changing the Number of Players .. ............................................................... 86
Optional Rules ..................................................................................................................... 89
Improv Play.. .............................................................................................................................. 89
Drifts ......................................................................................................................................... 92
Rock Star .......................................................................................................................... 93
Scene List ......................................................................................................................................97
Boy Meets Girl .................................................................................................... 99

Special Rules ........................................................................................................................ 101
Scene List .................................................................................................................................. 106
Sheep amidst the Wolves ......................................................... 108

Special Rules ........................................................................................................................ 109
Werewolves.. ........................................................................................................................... 110
Townsfolk.. ............................................................................................................................... 111
Pull List ..................................................................................................................................... 111
And Back Again ............................................................................................... 112

Kickstarter Backers .......................................................................... 113
Index ......................................................................................................................................... 118

THOSE WHO
GO THERE
CHANGE
By Will Hindmarch
I remember thinking his bones were hatching. His bare arms

split above and below the elbows. I could hear the scratching, cracking
sound of splintering bones. Yellow beaks, almost white, pushed out through
the blood, through the flesh, guiding out downy heads. I took a step back.
His shirt peaked and fluttered as birds wormed out of his drying skin, using
up the matter inside his ribs, inside his guts. His vertebrae split apart and
disgorged little white finches, too heavy with blood to manage flight. They
sort of crawled with their wings, out from under his jacket and shirt, both
of which disintegrated with his flesh as he became birds. He hardly flailed,
hardly flopped. He didnt make a noise except for the wet hatching sound.
But his eyes looked like he was screaming at me.
About half the birds that made it out of him then took flight, their wings
flicking red dots all over the leaves, ferns, and me. The other half stumbled
and, if they even made it into the air a little bit, fell dead back to the black
dirt. The dead ones were half-formed, fluffy in places and sticky with blood.
Not much of him was left.
Anyway, thats how I knew what they meant.
8 Becoming
I chose to get picked. If I didnt go, somebody else would go in
my place and just about everyone else had an important job and would
be missed. I wasnt anything yet. I just had a hammock and a trailer in the
weeds near the old road.
I watched stories on my slate before the power gave out. A slates
hardly anything just a slab of dull glass with a computer in it but
it was the one thing I had from my grandparents age. It still had a few
movies on it from before, when things moved through the air from slate
to slate. Mine only had a few movies but I watched them over and over,
the picture fading each time as the power ran down. The summer mother
died, it gave off enough light that I could cook by it at night but now near
the end, I had to angle it just right to keep it on. It used to be that slates
would recharge, drawing power out of the air and the light, but mine was
dying and that was that.
It gave out at the start of raiding season. I sat in my rotting trailer and
heard dogmen howling on the wind. Instead of the music of the movies, I
heard dogmen howling on the wind.
So I volunteered to go and there I was hiking through the wild fields
of the old suburbs, past the old lookalike houses with their roofs blasted
off and some of their walls still standing, blackened inside by long-dead
fires. The streets were hidden beneath tall grass. The streets were torn up
good with budding weeds growing up through them. As a kid, this was
where we werent supposed to go, beyond the fence lines. This was where
we dreamed of going, where the rangers went, hunting deer and dogmen
and scavenging things like scrap metal and batteries.
If we had a gun to spare, I wouldve brought it. If there was ammo, I
mightve been worth the gun. Instead, I had a metal blade, sharp on one
side and flat on the other, a machete a ranger tool. The handle was
wrapped in tape, old tape, all molded to fit someone elses hand. It hung
on a strap wrapped around my arm.
Rangers maybe came out that far, if game led them that far, but they
were busy drawing off dogmen so I was on my own then, heading north
through the suburbs to the urbs, looking for the old highway, raised up,
so I could follow it to Wolf Lake. Rangers might go near that far but they
9
didnt risk regular trips out by Wolf Lake. Things change out there, near
the city, in the Zone. Those who go there change and those who come back
changed cant come back.
So the thing for me was to go but not change or not change too much.
I figured if I changed a little, but came back with the bricks charged, theyd
have to accept me accept me back.
My pack was full of vegetables and salted meat to trade with Argon.
Argon lived out on Wolf Lake. Kids hear stories about him. Crazy enough
to live near the Zone, near the city inside the Zone, and hunted for bricks
and batteries. He was part of a community once but changed and he
couldnt go home. So we bring him food and he gives us batteries, food for
batteries, so we can keep the fence line running and keep growing food.
Argon was crazy and I was going to see Argon, like in the stories they told
us when we were kids.
A few of our bricks were also in my bag. Theyre hard like rock, smooth
like glass, with little nubs and bendy metal petals on them so they plug
into all kinds of stuff. I only had a few of them in case I didnt make it or
didnt make it back. That way we wouldnt be out of bricks for Argon. He
swaps them out for charged ones. I dont know where he charged them
from. That kind of secret was his business, I guess.
I knew I was near the higher road because I could see the old signs
above the trees. They were green, mostly, bent to hell, punctured like giants
had shot them with giant bullets. They hung above the road. Shiny words
on them promised routes to places that didnt exist anymore. To either
side of the road, the taller, bigger, tattered signs on huge poles were more
colorful. They were like book covers peeling away to reveal other book
covers, layers of book covers, colorfully ruined and revealed.
As I got closer, I found the road, raised up enough to be more than a
gap in the grass. Brown shells of dead cars sat lined up, some doors open,
some doors closed, along the path. Most of their seats were blasted to ash
or something. Little wildflowers grew in some of the cars. Birds nested in
some of them. Those cars made me think of empty cicada shells.
I climbed up onto the highway, swung my leg up onto the highway,
through a gap in the railing, and rolled onto the road. As I walked, following
10 Becoming
the road west, I heard gulls, saw them diving and climbing around the
mostly metal skeletons of giants that stood around on little islands in the
dead, brown water north of the road. Those skeletons used to hold up
wires, back when things moved through wires. I looked down and saw
something painted on the road in yellow strokes. First thing I happened
on said Zone beneath an arrow pointing ahead, the direction I was going.
I kept going.
Second thing I came to was a warning, I guess, painted so you read
the closest word first, then the next-closest word, and on and on as you
walked. I climbed up onto the cab of a truck to read it all at once and from
top to bottom it said:
unchanged be cant changed whats
What it meant was:
whats changed cant be unchanged
From there, on top of that truck, I could see some of the city across
the urbs. It was taller than Id thought. Trees grew up and out of the half-
rotted buildings so it was like some of the buildings were boxes holding
the trunks of these big trees, big as skyscrapers themselves. A couple of
them brushed the hanging fog, which I guess were just low clouds, and
their branches reached out through neighboring towers, like giant, winding
snakes. I tried to imagine people ever living in buildings that big. I imagined
dogmen running around at the feet of those trees, carving warrens and
huts and dens out of them now. I wondered if there were still streets and
tunnels or if they were all just clogged full of giant roots now.
I looked out at the little rectangles of the urbs, between me and the city,
at that field of littler buildings broken up by trees that were probably just
five or ten-floors tall. The biggest building back home was three-floors tall,
made out of red blocks. In the urbs, beyond the urbs, in that city, beyond
the edge of the Zone, everything was different.
Hey, friend!
I spun on the ragged roof of the truck, a sheet of rust sloughing away
under my boot, my heart pounding and mad that Id let someone sneak
up on me. I put the machete in my hand.
Whoa, there! said the man approaching. He was older than I was,
11
with receding salt-and-pepper hair and a few days of beard. He had his
hands spread out to either side of his body in a friendly way. He wore a
hefty pack, too, with a hatchet tucked into a loop on one side of it.
Sorry to scare. I just saw you up there and thought I should say
something. Rather than walk right past.
I nodded but kept my machete in hand.
He stopped. Fingers poked out of his gloves and twitched a bit. I dont
want any trouble, he said.
I nodded. Looking for Argon? I wondered out loud and wished Id
kept my mouth shut. Of course he would say yes, if only to explain why
he was out here so close to the Zone. Id given him information for free
like an idiot.
Yeah, he said. Thats Wolf Lake, the man nodded north of the road,
to the water hugging the feet of the giant skeletons. Means were close. Ive
got food and leather to trade.
Would Argon have enough bricks, enough charged bricks, to trade
with us both? Trade for what?
Tools.
I didnt know what that meant. At least it wasnt bricks.
Ive come a long way, the man said.
Whats your name?
Geart. Maybe we can travel together. Safety in numbers?
I stepped from the roof down to the hood of the cab, climbed down
to the street.
Maybe.
Whats that say? Geart pointed at the yellow text on the street.
I shrugged and waved him up to have a look.
He rubbed his hands and then scratched his bald spot as he looked
at it. True enough, I guess, he said. He looked at me. His eyes were blue
but not that blue. Yours?
I shook my head. Im sure my brows were pinched.
Heh, sorry, Geart said. Maybe Argon paints this stuff.
First time out here? I asked, hoping Id come off worldly.
This far, yeah. You?
12 Becoming
I didnt answer. I walked over to the northern rail on the road and
looked into the brown waters. Up ahead, a misshapen green sign on the
side of the road said Wolf Lake. Painted over it was a yellow spiral turned
sideways, like a screw or something.
At the feet of the farthest metal giant, where a patch of land stood
out of the water to hold up that huge skeleton, was a shack on stilts. A raft
of oil drums and plastic planks sat in the muck at the edge of the shack.
Geart came up and looked, too. The rafts at the cabin, he said. Means
somebodys home, right?
I looked at him. He smiled at me and shrugged.
We walked up the road together. I kept my machete close. The air was
getting warmer though the sky was still all gray. I was sweating under my
coat, sweating in my gloves.
We reached the point of the road directly across the water from the
shack. It wasnt too far across, maybe half a football field, but I didnt want
to wade in, I didnt want to lose a boot to the mud, to get water all over me
this close to the Zone, in case it was contaminated. While I was looking up
and down the grassy edge of the lake for something other than the metal
post and looped pulley and chain that marked the rafts course across the
water, Geart went and opened his mouth.
Argon?! he yelled out across the water, toward the raft. Were here
to see Argon!
I gave him a look. I meant it to shut him up. He didnt notice me. I
scratched my hair, and felt useless.
Across the water, a man with wild hair leaned out of the shack. Goggles
held his hair back across his forehead. He wore a bandana around his neck
and ragged cargo pants and shirts in layers. He waved a bare hand at us. I
hear you! he shouted. Who the hell is that?
Im Geart, Geart said. Michigander. Came to trade.
I didnt say anything.
Argon nodded. What have you got?
Geart looked at me. Meat, vegetables, I said.
We brought food and leather, Geart yelled.
Argon worked the pulley from his end to move the raft across the
13
water. It was hooked into a link in the chain. Cycle the chain one way, the
raft went that way; cycle the other, it went the other.
This food, I said to Geart, while we waited, is for my trading. Not yours.
Geart nodded and made a face I took to mean, Yeah, I know.
Your weapons, Argon yelled. Leave them out there.
Geart shrugged and dug a knife out of his boot. He plucked his hatchet
from his pack and set it down in the grasses. After he was done, I untied
my machete and stuck it blade-down in the mud, aligned with a roadway
rail post so I could find it later.
We rode the raft across in silence. Argon came and went from the
landing, watching us. When we arrived, he went inside, waved for us to
follow. The door to his shack was a plastic tarp, slit up the middle.
Inside the shack, it was mostly empty hooks on the walls, pegboards,
that sort of thing. He kept a cot, hung a few tools I didnt recognize and
some gear on the walls. He had a wooden crate, an ammo box, a big pack,
each set in a separate corner.
Its sort of shit, Argon said, smiling, backing into the shack. But its
what Ive got here. And youre lucky you caught me. I was on the hike until
yesterday. Good timing.
Im Geart, Geart said again, hand out.
Argon put his hands up. Sorry, I dont do that. Lets see what youve
got and hear what you need.
Were not here together, I said.
Geart gave me a look.
Okay, Argon said, not at all put off. Whore you then?
Im Linkon, I said. From Deep River, south of
Right, sure, Argon said. Been a while since I saw your folk. Alls well,
I hope.
I shrugged. I brought vegetables. Meat. We need charged bricks.
Argon nodded but his face was sad. I wish I could help you. Caught
me between charges. You brought bricks, though, so I can point you the
right way to get em charged by the Machinist.
It was like saying I could get them charged by Paul Bunyan or Captain
America, except the Machinist was real.
14 Becoming
Hes out here? In these parts? Geart asked.
She, Argon and I replied together.
Yeah, said Argon, shes been trading bricks with me for a while.
Batteries of all sizes. I dont know where shes charging them, these days.
If you need a charge, thats where you need to go.
I dont need a charge, Geart said. I need a gun.
A gun, Argon said. Alls I got is that old orb gun. Needs a battery.
Geart sank. His eyes went to the weapon on the wall it looked like
most of an orb with a pistol grip on the back of it. It was sort of blue, sort
of silver, pretty shiny.
Thats it?
Bullets are scarce, man, Argon said. I dont carry them anymore.
That things a curio.
Geart nodded. Im not sure what a curio is and I dont think Geart
knew either.
You two got enough food, though, and you can have it. Wont run on
a brick. Needs a special battery. Argon dug around in his ammo box. Like
this. He held up a little sphere with a prong.
That ones no good? Geart asked.
This ones dead, yeah.
So no bricks, I said.
Argon shrugged. I can point you at the Machinist but shes across, in
the Zone, by now. Wont be back for weeks, probably.
If ever, Geart said.
Argon shrugged.
Whats changed cant be unchanged, Geart said. Was that you?
No, Argon said, putting the battery away. But Ive heard it. My
experience? Thats not quite right. Its that things that change dont change
back. They just keep right on changing.
Geart nodded.
I scratched at my beard. Found a gnat in it, flicked it away. We need
the bricks for our fence line, I said. It has a few days left in it. Maybe a
week. Im not sure Ive got time to wait.
Argon nodded and flattened his mouth like he was sad. Then you
could go in after the Machinist, I guess.
15
Risky, said Geart. Crazy.
Argon shrugged.
You been in the Zone much? Geart asked.
Yeah, Argon said. And Ive been lucky. Quick in and out, I stay away
from the lights and the orbs and the old tech. Keeps me alive.
And unchanged, Geart said.
Mostly, Argon said.
Well, I said, if the Machinist just has a short lead on us, we can catch
up to her and trade and come right back, right?
Still sounds awful dangerous, Geart said.
Go home, then, Argon said. Tell them its too dangerous to get a
gun this way. If they dont understand, go somewhere they do understand.
Geart was quiet a while.
Ill go, I said. Shell trade for food?
Id think so, Argon said. She didnt have much when I saw her last.
She had bricks, though. Argon turned to Geart. Going with him?
I hoped Geart said no. I didnt want to have to watch him the whole
time. The more he talked, the less I wanted to walk with him. But I also
didnt want to be alone if dogmen found me.
Geart exhaled. If youll sell me the orb gun. Yeah.
Argon nodded. Ill take the leather off your hands. She wont want
that. Leave you the food to trade her for a battery.
Geart dug out a stack of leather squares tied with string. Argon took
them and pointed at the wall where the orb gun hung from a peg.
You know what that does? Argon asked.
Geart nodded. I didnt know. I didnt ask. Geart took the orb gun in
two hands and held it out in front of him, pointed at a wall of the shack.
Never held one before.
Not a lot of them around, Argon said. Not anymore.
But it works? Geart asked.
Oh, it works. Hell, even without a battery, you point that at most
dogmen and theyll turn away.
After that, we sat around a fire outside Argons shack and did what
travelers supposedly do all over: talk about the things we have in common.
We told stories about dogmen.
16 Becoming
Argon had seen ones with heads like seals, he said, all sleek and hairless
with big black eyes. Geart said they had them in Michigan with heads like
wolves, ears flat against their heads, but that hed only ever seen them from
far away. When they turned to me, asked me if Id ever seen a dogman, all
I could do was describe the sounds I heard, living out on the edge of the
fence line. Dogmen dont howl. They cry. I could hear them fight and snarl
and yip and bay. Theyd known, for years, better than to come by the fence
line and get jolted, but they prowled along all the same, sniffing the air for
that electric smell of the fence line. If the fence went down, theyd figure
it out within a few nights. We needed new bricks soon. A gap could open
in the fence any night now.
The next morning I got up early and thought about leaving without
Geart. I went into the shack, thanked Argon, and he told me the path the
Machinist would probably take with her cart. He told me where to get off
the road and search. I memorized the number of the sign to look for. He
said thered be a camp nearby that was sometimes safe. The Machinist
might be there. I thanked him again.
When I came back out, Geart was knotting his laces.
Ready to go, he said.
So we gathered up our weapons and walked together along the highway.
The road rose high, over an iron bridge, and through some sort of wide
collection of low gates and guard booths, choked with dead cars and trucks.
It was like a filter or a checkpoint, I guess. Vines and moss made the place
slick and crackly at the same time and I didnt stop to look for notes or signs.
Along the way, we passed another warning in yellow paint: Zone close.
Geart would be quiet for a while and then hed talk for no reason.
Hotter than I expected, he said. Then, Youve seen the city before,
yeah? From here? We shouldnt have to go too far inside, I dont think.
Then, Those trees, man, I cant get over how tall they are. And, I keep
thinking this thing was a bargain, he waggled the orb gun. Why would
Argon be so ready to part with it?
I learned I could stop Gearts conversations if I just kept my mouth
shut. A nod, an expression, almost anything kept him talking.
When we came to a mess of yellow, wavy lines painted across the
road, we stopped.
17
Well, damn, Geart said. This is it for real.
Someone thinks it is, I said. I looked around. The road was still tall
here, going over whole buildings below, with trees jutting out of them at
odd angles, where they reached through windows for the sunlight. White
fuzz drifted through the air around us. It was like a thousand kids were
blowing the heads off dandelions somewhere. Blue streaks shone in the
sky where the clouds stretched thin like cotton. Up ahead, where the road
split and a ramp angled down into the urbs, I saw another green sign, tilted
toward the street; couldnt make out the number on it. I think we may
have crossed already.
Oh yeah?
Maybe. I wrapped my hand around the machete handle again.
Geart looked around. He pulled the orb gun out again, though he had
nothing to point it at. Shall we? he asked.
I started walking, winding around a few cars, aiming for that green sign.
Crossing into the Zone wasnt like anything. No electric buzz. No
sudden howls or cries from the dogmen. Just more walking. That first
sign wasnt ours.
Geart was quiet, though, at least for a while. When we found our sign,
not far up the road, he said, All right. That wasnt so bad. This is us, yeah?
I nodded.
Lets not waste daylight, then. He started down the ramp and I let him
go ahead of me a bit until I felt bad about it. Then I caught up with him.
He sort of jogged to the edge of the ramp, where it sank into something
like sparse woods; black soil, big flat ferns. The ramp just vanished into dirt
and dead leaves. Buildings looked like they were waist deep in dirt, their
weedy windows shadowy in the washed-out daylight.
A track cut through the greenery, like two wheels leaving trails in the dirt.
This way, Geart said. As he walked ahead, I saw branches near him
push out thorns the length of my forearm, oozing clear sap.
Hey, I whispered. Geart.
He looked at them, nodded, and waved me up to join him. Dont get
too close, he said, pointing.
When he pointed, the tip of a thorn unfolded into a red-and-white
18 Becoming
flower with big, curly petals the size of my hand. A slender wand dangled
out of the flower, spiraling at its end like a corkscrew.
White fluff still blew around in the sunlight between buildings and
branches.
I edged ahead, trying to touch nothing but the ground, the dead leaves.
I brushed against a fern. White fluff landed on me.
Geart started to pick up speed. Theres something up here, he said,
ahead of me. I lost sight of him behind a wall of red blocks that looked
half-melted. I didnt want to go faster.
Geart! I whispered.
I heard him make a noise, wordless, disappointed.
I came around the edge of the building and found him sitting on a
concrete lump, worn to a rough nub, in what might have once been the
inside of a building. Walls stood on three sides; Id entered through the
fourth side.
A small four-wheeled cart sat in the center of the clearing, amid dead
leaves, unattended. Bricks sat piled up in neat stacks inside the cart. I could
see fluttering green lights on each, indicating they each had a charge. The
rest of the cart was taken up with glass slates, like mine, and little objects
that looked to me like they belonged to bigger machines pieces and
parts. The center of the cart was a humming, thrumming cube cabbed
with half a sphere on a three short rods. I smelled that electric smell in
the air, like the fence line.
Shes not here, Geart said.
I nodded, looked around. Have to wait. Be careful.
Geart shook his head. I dont want to wait here. Not here. He got up
and walked up to the cart.
I just watched him at first.
He picked up a brick had to pry it loose from the one below, cause
they snap together and tucked it in his bag. You want to help me?
I didnt.
Come on, man! he said.
This isnt right.
Put your food down here and Ill help you carry bricks out of here.
Better than waiting around.
19
I stepped closer. I dont know how that thing works, man. Those bricks
are running something.
Well leave enough. Plug yours in.
I dont think so.
Something caught Gearts eye in the cart. He reached for it, grabbed it,
and pulled to get it loose of the cube at the heart of the cart. It was a little
sphere with a prong a battery like Argons.
All right! Geart said. Here we go. He drew his orb gun and fitted
the battery to it.
Geart, put that back.
Ive got what I came for, he said. I can help you lug these things out
of here or I can go. But Im not sticking around in this place.
I walked closer to the cart. Is that thing that machine charging
the bricks?
Geart nodded. I think so, yeah. Out of the air, like back when. Put
yours in here, theyll get charged up for the Machinist. Take some charged
ones with you. Leave her the food. Fair trade. Here, Geart said, sticking
the orb gun under his arm and prying another brick loose. Come on.
I took off my pack and started emptying out food, stacking the corn
and onions and apples by the carts wheel. I took bricks as Geart set them
on the ground. I put them into my bag.
Then he pulled one too many bricks loose. The machine at the center
of the cart started to choke and drone unevenly.
Oh, shit, Geart said. Give me a
The machine stuttered and I could feel something like a static shock
in the air. Geart stumbled backward, away from the cart, dropping the orb
gun and the last brick hed pulled, and tumbling into the dead leaves. He
crawled backwards, like he was trying to get away from something from
the pain, I guessand he shook and flailed.
I scooped up a brick and slapped it back in the machine. No change.
I replaced another freshly pulled one. Nothing. The machine shuddered
and then sat still.
I turned around and watched as Gearts bones hatched, as he turned
into birds. I didnt move. I was afraid to get closer or farther away. I watched
20 Becoming
his face go from pain to shreds. I watched as blood-flecked birds flopped
to the dirt. I watched the others flap away through the branches toward
the blue sky.
Then I heard the sound. I didnt know how long it had been going on;
I was just then aware that I heard it: yips and snarls. Dogmen.
I checked my bag but didnt count the bricks I had. Whatever Id
gotten, it had to be enough. I left the uncharged bricks behind. I reached
into my bag, ready to leave my dead slate for her, too, but I saw a flickering
green light in its indicator bar it was charging. Something about that
place, I figured.
Branches broke nearby. The baying came louder and closer.
I scooped up the orb gun. It was clearly meant to be held just so, its
buttons and trigger in easy reach of thumb and forefinger. A little light-
up screen on the part of the orb that was cut away showed an icon for a
half-charged battery. It would have to do.
Sorry, I said to the place. I meant it for Geart. I meant it for her.
Then, pack on, gun in hand, I started back along the track, faster this
time than Geart when we arrived. Behind me I heard a sloppy sound that
I decided at once was dogmen eating what was left of Gearts body.
I hurried. Two-foot-long thorns grew out of the nearby branches, every
third or fourth one unfolding a flower on its edge. One of them jutted out so
fast that the flowers little wand whipped me in the face. It stung like a slash
and seared like a sunburn. I kept running, knowing I was near the ramp.
One of them was waiting for me. It was in the leaves and the weeds like
a dog in the sun. I didnt see it until it was on all fours, still and staring a
sleek hairless head jointed at the back, dotted with too many eyes, blinking
out of sync with each other. First a dollop of drool fell out of its mouth
and then it showed its curved and yellow teeth.
I raised the orb gun. Because it was round, I didnt know how to aim it
exactly. The light-up screen showed the shape of the dogman and nothing else.
The dogman started backwards. Slowly. Too slowly. I heard others
behind me but was too afraid to look. Go on! I yelled to this one. Get
outta here!
21
It reached the barrier at the edge of the ramp, where concrete rose up
out of dirt. When it gripped the barrier, I could see its hand was human but
padded like a dogs. It rolled over that barrier and ran off, under the highway.
I bolted up the ramp. The machete was flopping around under my
arm, banging into my leg.
But Dogmen are fast. Faster even than me afraid. I glanced back at the
top of the ramp and saw them three or four maybe not really running
but throwing themselves forward, leaping and leaping again. One of them
unfolded what mustve been ears, bat-like ears, as it snarled and cackled.
I leveled the orb gun and pulled the trigger. No light. Just a dull, deep
drone and an electric smell. The screen showed the bat-eared dogman. I
mustve hit it.
The thing rolled back down the ramp, kicking and flailing and crying.
I saw long, bony thorns push out from inside its body, slick with blood. I
didnt stay to see more.
I ran onto the highway, hoping they wouldnt follow into the sunlight.
They did. They bounded from the hood of one dead car to the next,
coming up alongside me, like a pincer move.
I pointed the orb gun to my right and fired. No aim. The rusted, pitted
car the dogman was on unraveled beneath him into fresh metal spirals and
the dogman scratched himself up trying to get free of it.
I turned around, moving backwards, and pointed the orb gun at
the third and fourth dogmen. I fired. A car between us popped like corn,
tumbling across the highway as it transformed into something like a dull
metal asterisk.
Those last two dogmen went under the tumbling wreck and came
right at me. I held down the trigger and waved the gun back and forth. I
wasnt even sure it worked that way.
But it did. The dull tone maintained the whole time. First one dogman,
then the other, doubled over and rolled into the grit on the highway, rolling
to stops on the ground. I backed away, slower now, gun still pointed at them,
as one of them withered and collapsed into little dried beads in weird
shapes. Once one limb opened up, the beads poured out.
22 Becoming
The other one sprouted fleshy fern-like fronds that unfolded and
flapped around as it strained and cried out. It fell silent when fronds
emerged from its head, but its body kept rolling back and forth and more
and more fronds emerged.
I looked at my boots. I got ready to puke. Then I looked up and saw
the scratched-up dogman was free and almost on top of me.
When I fired the orb gun, it was too late. He tumbled into me and I
could feel a wave of static shocks coming off onto both of us. The orb gun
clattered away. I fell onto the hood of a wreck, felt it give under me, the
hood crumpling beneath us. The dogman drooled and snarled, even as its
skin was going scaly and weird around its eyes and mouth.
I kicked. I flailed. I could feel my arms aching and itching, feel them
wet and runny inside my sleeves. I put my left arm up to keep teeth from
my throat. The dogman clamped down on it, shredding first sleeve and
then skin.
I found the machete. The gripped the taped handle. I slammed a dull
edge into the dogmans gut. It was solid, like punching a wall. I raised my
knee up, tried to push the beast back, and then swung the machetes edge
down on his neck. Hardly anything happened. I just kept swinging. I heard
myself screaming. Sweat and blood were in my eyes, my nose, my mouth.
The dogmans dark eyes featureless except for hints of white edges
went wide. It finally reeled back, peeling layers of jacket and shirt off my
arm, slicing up my skin, and tumbled onto the asphalt.
I raised the machete up over my head though I was still using the
wreck for support.
The dogman scratched with both hands at the spot where Id hacked
at its neck. I saw we were right on the yellow paint that said Zone close. The
dogman shuddered and, all at once, as it died, a dull green snake, longer
than my arm, jetted out of the wound. The snake flopped around, showing
a white belly and a diamond-shaped head with a few tiny eyes.
I hacked it in half, then lopped of its head. Red blood on yellow paint.
23
I made it back to Argons shack that night. My skin itched all
over. I didnt take the raft across. I waded, arms up over my head,
because I didnt want to signal to anyone that I was there.
No sign of Argon. Hed moved his supplies out.
I put the orb gun up on a peg, pried the battery out, and kept that
on me. I laid my machete on the cot hed left behind. I took off my boots,
most of my clothes, so they could dry. I put the pack with the bricks in it
into the wooden crate.
My feet were okay. They were like they were before, except stained by
the lake. Around my midsection and down my arms, my skin started to
peel into scaly layers. It ached all over. My left arm was cut up pretty bad,
so I wrapped it up with a T-shirt and taped it down.
Im not sure how long I waited there for Argon. A few days. I ate some
jerky from the bottom of my pack.
I woke up when I heard the chain working the chain hooked to
the raft. I picked up my machete and waited. Just pants and the machete.
I had no mirror, I didnt know what I looked like, but glancing at the cot
I saw a handful of my cropped hairs piled there.
Hello? came a womans voice from outside. Familiar. Argon?
No, I said. I presented myself, stepping out through the slit plastic
tarp. Not Argon.
It was Jen, from Deep River, like me. She didnt recognize me. Her
face was wary, her whole demeanor on guard. I dont think she wanted to
look at my face. I didnt know what I looked like. Im looking for Argon.
Yeah. I shrugged and underhanded the machete into the shack. Hes
not here. Ive got bricks for you, though.
I have food to trade.
Yeah, I said and went into the shack.
Jen followed me to the tarp. As she stood in the doorway, I saw that
she had a fire axe on a loop, in reach. Better gear than I was sent out with.
She scanned her eyes around the shack, over my boots, the pack, the ammo
box, the orb gun.
What is that? she asked.
Nothing, I said. You dont want that.
24 Becoming
I pulled out my pack, showed her the lit bricks inside. This should
be enough?
Yeah, she said. She seemed surprised. Im also looking for a traveler,
came through here a few days ago. He was
I know, I said. Tell them he came back changed. I raised my eyebrows
for emphasis. Then I reached up to see if they were still there. They werent.
Tell them he knows he cant come home.
She got it. I can ask if
No, I said. No, its all right. Ill send him home sometime, maybe.
She nodded.
I shrugged. Maybe.
We switched packs. I didnt think until later that people would recognize
mine. Let them think what they wanted. I watched her go, back across the
lake on the raft. I thought of the grasshoppers flitting out of the tall grass
by my trailer. I thought of the whine of the fence line starting up. For some
reason, I thought of the sound of beer bottles clinking.
I laced up my boots. I put my jacket back on over my wounded arm. I
put the battery back in the orb gun. The battery icon showed a yellow bar
for a meager charge. I pocketed the gun.
Then I sat on the cot and picked up my slate, obviously.
Ive never recorded anything on my slate before. It was for stories.
What did I have to tell before? What would I have said?
I left this behind for you. Whoever you are. Maybe youre Argon. Maybe
youve come looking for Argon. Whatever. I wanted you to know so you
could tell people what happens out here. What its like.
Im going out into the Zone to find the Machinist or find out what
I become.
25
Playing the Game
You either die a hero or live long enough

to see yourself become the villain.
-Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight

WHAT THIS
GAME IS ABOUT
B ecoming is a game about heroism and sacrifice. Its about
what it takes to be a hero, what you have to give up in order to save
the people important to you, and the home you have to leave behind. Its
about making hard choices in the face of relentless adversity, and its about
giving up pieces of yourself in order to make sure you succeed.
In Becoming, one player takes on the role of the Hero: an individual
marked by destiny or the will of the people or some other form of greatness,
sent out into the world to do dangerous things in order to save people.
The other players take on the roles of the Fates: intangible, conceptual
forces of malice and adversity, bent on taking everything from the Hero,
maybe even making her become a villain.
The Hero goes on a Quest, and the Fates provide obstacles and conflict,
as well hard bargains that the Hero must sometimes accept in order to
push on. Sometimes those bargains cost her a lot, but what they cost her
is usually more palatable than what shell lose if she falters.
Playing the Game 27

What Youll Need
Three or four people. Becoming
is a game for four players exactly
(Ill talk about how to toy with
that a bit in Chapter 3) so youll
need three more people to play
the game with.
Index cards. Youll need a bunch
of these; one pack should suffice.
Dice. Becoming uses six-sided
dice in a few different colors;
youll need four different colors
of dice, around fifteen of each
Small tokens of some sort. The Fates need to be able to keep track of
their contribution to the Heros destruction, so youll use small tokens
to keep track of that. Youll need 40 or 50 of them. You can buy small
glass beads by the pound at any craft store, and in a pinch you could
even use pennies.
Pens, pencils, markers, or other writing implements. You know, for
writing.
The Goal of the Game
T he Hero and the Fates have diametrically-opposed goals:

the Hero wants to complete her quest while still retaining some of
what makes her a Hero, while the Fates want to tear her down and turn
her into something else. At the same time, each Fate is competing with the
other Fates to be the one to steal more from the Hero than the other Fates.
At the end of the game, there will be a winner. If the Hero achieves
her goal and retains some part of herself, she wins and the Fates lose. If
the Fates manage to tear her down before she reaches her goal, whichever
Fate contributed the most to that end is the winner.
28 Becoming
The Guiding Principle
W hile you can win the game, the entire group has a goal in
Becoming as well: to tell a good story. Everything in the game serves
this goal; it is Becomings Guiding Principle. The way the Fates frame
Scenes, the way the Hero responds to a Threat, even the fact that theres a
winner at the end: all of these things serve the narrative first and foremost.
So do you want to win? Sure! But know that the prize for winning is
deciding how the story ends. If you have a strong idea, push for victory. If
you dont but you think someone else at the table might, its okay to push
for him to win instead.
The Quest
T o play this game, youll need a Quest. A Quest provides a

narrative framework for the game; it tells you which Fate is in charge
of which Scenes, it tells you how many dice everybody gets to roll, how to
create the Hero, what Fates are available and what their abilities are, and
so forth. There are four ready-made Quests in Chapter 2.
If you want to play a more advanced game, and mess around a little with
the workings of the system, Chapter 3 tells you how to do that. There are
also more Quests in Chapter 3, provided as examples of different methods
of drifting the system. Also in Chapter 3, on page Drifts on page 92, are
rules for playing Becoming without a Quest, making everything up as you
go. Youll probably want to play through some of the quests in Chapter 2
at least a few times before you start using any of the content in Chapter 3.
Playing the Game 29

RULES OF THE
GAME
W hat follows are all the rules youll need to play through
one of the Quests in Chapter 2. In this section Ill tell you about
creating a Hero, Ill tell you what the Fates do, Ill tell you about Threats
and bargains and winning and losing and all that good stuff.
Ready? Lets go.
Creating the Hero
B efore play starts, the

group needs to create the
Hero. In each Quest youll find a
section on creating the Hero, and
in that section youll see a number
of Assets listed to choose from: six
Virtues, six Strengths, and six Allies.
Virtues represent the Heros
core beliefs, the things she holds dear,
things which are most important to
her. These are the things that drive her
to become a Hero in the first place.
Strengths represent the things that the Hero is good at. These are
the skills the Hero calls upon when things look grim.
Allies are those characters who choose to accompany the Hero on
her Quest and aid her. They are her friends and companions, and they
stand by her when others would quail and run away.
There are six each of these Assets, but the Hero only uses three of each
(for a total of nine Assets). Before play can begin, the group must decide
30 Becoming
which Assets the Hero has at the beginning of the Quest. Starting with the
player in the role of the Hero, select one of the available Assets and write
it down on an index card. Write your selection near the top, leaving plenty
of room for things to be added below it. If youre using a printed out Hero
card, cross the Asset off and pass the card to your left. If you dont want to
cross it out because youre just using the Quest right out of the book, youll
have to remember that youve used it already. The important thing is that
you can only use each Asset once during Hero creation.
This continues until your group chooses three Virtues, three Strengths,
and three Allies for the Hero. Yes, this means that the Hero will get to choose
one more Asset than everyone else. Thats intentional; the Hero should have
more say over her character than everyone else, after all.
Finally, choose a name for your Hero. There are a couple of examples
included in each Quest, but dont feel like you have to use them. Make a
tent card out of one of your index cards and write your Heros name on it.
Example: Tom, Mary, Jack, and Evie sit down to play through Long
Live the King. Mary is playing the Hero, so she chooses the first
Asset. Looking over the list, she decides that her Hero believes in a
higher power, and chooses Devout Faith from the list of Strengths.
She writes it on an index card, crosses Devout Faith off of the Hero
card, and passes the Hero card to the next player, Jack. Jack chooses
an Asset and does the same, then passes the Hero card along; this
continues until Mary finally chooses the last Asset. When theyre
done, shes got three Virtues, three Strengths, and three Allies she
can call upon during play. She decides upon a name not on the Hero
card Allia and writes it on a tent card.
Playing the Game 31

Choosing Roles
A fter youve created the Hero, its time for everyone else to
select their roles. Youve already got someone in charge of being the
Hero; give her the Heros dice.
The remaining three players are the Fates, and they each choose one
of the three Fate roles. Each Quest has its own roles to choose from. For
the purposes of examples Ill use the three Fates included in the Quest
Long Live the King (page Long Live the King on page 48): Fear,
Pain, and Doubt.
The role you choose determines which Scenes you have control over,
as well as what your unique ability is.
Give one set of dice to each Fate.
HANDLING THE
UNEXPECTED
Scenes
Sometimes someone gets to narrate the
T he bulk of the game is played

out in nine Scenes, played
sequentially. Each Scene includes a Setup,
resolution of a Scene and completely
invalidates the Scene youre in charge
of next. How inconsiderate!
a Threat, and a number of Elements
Relax; its not a big deal. Scene
the Fates must narrate into the Scene.
Elements, the phrasing of the Threat,
Each Scene also has a Fate assigned to it.
and the Setup are all there to help you,
During the Scene, that particular
not to restrict you. The Scenes in a Quest
Fate will take on the role of the Agent
are the most likely events to come up,
of Threat. Its the Agent of Threats job
but theyre not the only events that can
to act as narrator, instigator, and counter-
come up. If one of your Scenes no longer
point to the Hero. Its a lot like being a
makes sense, change it! If you have to go
GM in other games.
in a completely different direction, thats
Finally, the scene will tell you how
fine too. The only component of a Scene
many dice the Agent of Threat gets to roll.
that you have to keep is the number
of dice you roll as the Agent of Threat.
Everything else is fair game.
32 Becoming
The Agent of Threat
A s the Agent of Threat, youll frame your Scene, describing

whats going on. Narrate Scene Elements into the Scene as seems
appropriate, and use them however you want to. Youll be taking control
of the NPCs (non-player characters; basically the supporting cast) in the
Scene and providing opposition for the Hero.
Once youve narrated all of the

WHAT DO YOU DO?
Elements into the Scene, youre free to
Stuck for how to get the Hero to participate
introduce the Threat. You dont have to
in narration? Try this trick. First, frame
introduce the Threat right away; find a
the Scene: give a brief setup and a little
natural place in the narrative to introduce
narration. Guide the narration toward a
it and then punch the Hero in the gut with
decision point, then ask the Hero, What
it. When you get to a point where you and
do you do? Its hard not to jump into
the Hero are starting to disagree about
the Scene after that.
what happens next, its time to roll dice.
Use this trick as often as you need to.
Example: Jack, playing Pain, is the Agent of Threat for this scene,
and is playing opposite Allia, the Hero.
Pain says: Youre walking through the woods, down a narrow,
winding path. The sun is faint through the trees and you can hear
woodland sounds all around you. Its not like the woods back home;
these trees are larger, more threatening, and the sounds you hear
are unfamiliar. What do you do?
Allia says: I tell my friends to keep a sharp eye out and I ready
my bow.
Playing the Game 33

Pain replies: The trees are closing in on either side, the branches
scratching your face as you walk. Jon leans over to you, wincing as
he feels his bruised ribs. Im not sure how much further we can go
tonight, Allia. We should make camp soon.
Allia nods: I agree, Jon. As soon as we find a sheltered place
well set up camp.
Pain states: He seems comforted at first but he lets out a sharp
cry as an arrow buries itself in his leg. Suddenly youre surrounded
by rough-looking men and women wearing animal skins and holding
various rusty-looking weapons. A large one steps forward, smirking.
Theres a tax on crossing through this part of our forest, you know.
What do you do?
When you introduce the Threat, youll describe what the conflict
is and what will happen if you win. Do this in narrative terms; you can
figure out the mechanical ramifications of the conflict when youre done
rolling dice. This can be a bit of a negotiation too; I find the best Threats
come when everyone at the table is involved in determining whats at risk.
Theres more buy-in that way.
When you roll dice, youll roll the number of dice listed for that Scene.
In addition to these dice, if there are any negative Traits (page Assets and
Traits on page 39) on the Heros Assets that you think apply to this
conflict in a way that helps your position, you can narrate them in and
get an additional die for each.
Example: Jack explains that the Threat here is that the bandits are
demanding more than the party can afford to part with. If Pain wins,
the bandits take what they want, injuring or even killing people as
they do so. He takes six dice, the base number he gets for the Scene.
34 Becoming
The Hero
O nce the Agent of Threat has done his part, you (the Hero)
get to describe what happens in the story if you win the conflict. You
then take 3 dice to form your starting pool. In addition to these dice, you
can risk your Assets by invoking them. Each Asset you invoke gets you
one additional die. If that Asset has any positive Traits on it (page Assets
and Traits on page 39), you get one additional die for each positive
Trait that applies.
Example: Mary describes Allia stepping forward unafraid, laying

her hand on her sword and telling the bandits that theyve bitten
off more than they can chew. If the Hero wins, the bandits back off
and allow the party to pass. Mary takes three dice, and then decides
to invoke a couple of Assets. Even though her Devout Faith is being
used against her, its still an important source of her courage. She
decides to invoke it and takes a die for that. In addition, her friend
Marc is a knight and has the positive Trait of Sworn to Serve Allia.
She invokes that Asset too and gets two more dice one for Marc
and one for his positive Trait. She now has a total of six dice to roll.
The Tempters
T his is where things get

interesting. The other two
Fates, the ones who arent the Agent
of Threat for this scene, still get to
participate as the Tempters. First,
each Tempter gets to choose an
avatar within the scene. As a Tempter,
you get to choose an NPC either
one already introduced or one you
introduce yourself to act as your
avatar within the scene. You speak
through this character throughout the scene, reinforcing your particular
role, and when the Agent of Threat introduces the Threat to the Scene, you
get to make your bargain through that NPC.
Playing the Game 35

When the Agent of Threat introduces the Threat, youll choose a side
to support. By default, you support the Agent of Threat. This means that,
if you dont do anything, youll automatically give the Agent of Threat 3
dice to roll along with his own dice during this Scene. However, you can
offer the Hero anywhere from 1 to 3 dice instead for a cost. You can
ask for any of the following three things, in any combination or quantity.
Subvert one of the Heros Assets.

Add a negative Trait to a Heros Asset.
Remove a positive Trait from a Heros Asset.
Youre not restricted to asking for one thing, nor are you restricted to
asking for one of these things only once. The only restriction is that you
cant ask for anything not on this list.
Example: Tom and Evie are the Tempters in this scene: Fear and Doubt.
Tom is using Allias friend Jon as the avatar of Fear, and describes how
Jon is terrified of these bandits. Jon looks like hes about to run, but
if he does thatll give Allia and company the chance they need to get
the drop on the bandits. If Allia allows Fear to subvert Jon, she gets
three dice from Fear.
Both Tempters offer their bargains before the Hero accepts any. The
Hero can accept one, both, or neither bargain. If the Hero rejects your
bargain, all three of your dice go to the Agent of Threat for this Scene. If
the Hero accepts, you give her the promised dice to roll for this Scene and,
either before or after the Threat is resolved, you get whatever you asked for.
Example: Evie, playing Doubt, is controlling the bandit leader. She

says that the bandit leader is willing to let them go for a different
price: a kiss. If Allia accepts, she gets two dice from Doubt, but all of
her Allies will get a negative Trait representing their growing doubt in
Allias conviction. Mary decides to accept Evies offer but reject Toms;
she gets two dice but the Agent of Threat gets three.
36 Becoming
TEMPTERS AVATARS
As a Tempter, its your prerogative to choose any NPC who would logically be in
the Scene as your avatar within the Scene. This includes the Heros Allies. You cant
make an NPC do something totally out of character just because hes your avatar,
but you can make him do things he might be driven to do if he were affected by
the emotion you represent in the game. For example, you can make the Heros
best friend Jon doubt the Hero, question her motives, and so forth.
Be proactive when youre a Tempter. Dont just sit and wait for the Threat
to come; grab hold of or introduce a character and start participating in the
Scene! Youll have a much easier time presenting your bargain if youve already
established who your avatar is and what he or she wants.
You can even kill your avatar, but killing an Ally does not remove that Ally
from play. If the Ally is still an Asset for the Hero, the Hero can still use the Ally,
even if its only tapping into her memory or emotional connection to that Ally. The
only way to remove an Ally from play is to subvert the Asset, which Ill cover below.
Scenes and Timing

Most of the time you can go through Scenes in a freeform manner,
with specific things happening whenever it makes the most sense for
them to do so. Sometimes, though, you need to know when something
happens in relation to other components of the Scene, things that other
players are doing. For those times, use this as a guideline for the sequence
of events in a Scene.
1. Narration, roleplay, introducion of Tempter avatars
2. Presentation of the Threat
3. Hero gathers dice and invokes Assets
4. Agent of Threat gathers dice and invokes negative Traits and
subverted Assets
5. Tempters present offers
6. Hero accepts or counters each offer
7. Offers that take effect immediately take place now
Playing the Game 37

8. Agent of Threat and Hero may both invoke additional Traits/Assets
9. Roll dice, figure out who won the Threat
10. Agent of Threat or Hero claims their prize
11. Delayed offers take effect
12. Winner narrates resoultion of Threat
13. If applicable, winner of game narrates resolution of the Quest
One particular thing I want to call out to Tempters: if you take your
prize from an offer immediately, before the Threat is resolved, youre
guaranteed to get it but the Agent of Threat can make use of any negatives
you place. If you delay your prize until after the Threat gets resolved, the
Agent of Threat cant use what you place, but he might wind up taking it
away from you before you get to place it. If you ask for a negative Trait on
a particular Asset and the Agent of Threat subverts that Asset out from
under you, tough luck.
Resolving the Threat

After bargains have been struck, the Hero and the Agent of Threat
roll the dice. After rolling, group your dice by result (group all 6s together,
all 5s together, etc.). The side with the most 6s gets to resolve the Threat;
in the case of a tie, move on to 5s and so on. In the case of an absolute tie
(unlikely, but possible), the Hero wins.
If the Agent of Threat wins, he gets to narrate what happens and he
can do one of the following:
Add a negative Trait to or remove a positive Trait (in any combination)

from each risked Asset.
Subvert any one Asset.
If the Hero wins, she gets to narrate what happens and she can add a
positive Trait to any one Asset that has not yet been subverted.
38 Becoming
RESPECT THE STORY
Youre trying to build a good story. In order to build a good story, you have to build
on whats come before in a way that makes sense to the table and doesnt break the
game for anyone. You can make things silly if thats what the table wants, but if its
not, respect the story and the other people at the table. When you get to narrate, keep
to the tone of the story so far.
Example: Mary and Jack roll the dice. Mary gets three 6s and so does Jack!
They each look at their 5s and see that Mary has two and Jack has one. Mary wins
and gets to resolve the Threat! She describes Allia giving the bandit leader a kiss
(as agreed upon) and then pulling away and giving him a level look with her hand
meaningfully on her sword. The bandit leader smiles and lets them pass. Doubt gets
to add a negative Trait to each of her three Allies, but Mary gets to add a positive
Trait to one of her Assets; she decides to bolster Jon, and adds the Trait of Grateful
and Loyal.
Assets and Traits

When Threats are resolved or bargains are struck, Traits can be
added or removed from the Heros Assets. When youre writing Traits on
a Heros Asset cards, positive Traits get a + next to them and help the
Hero. Negative Traits get a - next to them and work against the Hero. A
single Asset can have no more than five Traits, in any combination. If an
Asset ever has three negative Traits on it at the same time, it is subverted.
Example: Later, Allia is trying to keep her allies calm in the face
of a raging storm, dark woods, and mysterious eyes peering out of
the darkness. Shes invoking the following Assets: The people need
a hero., Protect Those who Need It, and Fearless. Unfortunately,
Fearless already has two negative Traits in place! She loses the
conflict, and the Agent of Threat decides to add a negative Trait to
each invoked Asset. Because Fearless already had two negative
Traits, it is subverted.
Playing the Game 39

Subverted Assets
When an Asset is subverted, the Fate who subverted it gets to change
its name and decide how it now works against the Hero. The Hero can
no longer invoke a subverted Asset and can gain no benefit from it. Each
subverted Asset grants the Agent of Threat a bonus die, just like a negative
Trait, provided he can narrate the subverted Asset into the Threat. Any
Traits already on the subverted Asset simply go away.
Example: Tom, the Agent of Threat, subverts Allias Fearless Asset.

He turns the index card over and writes Shattered Courage on it
to represent Allias new point of view.
Shooting the Moon

When you shoot the moon, youve succeeded despite the odds
being stacked heavily against you. When you shoot the moon, you get
some extra benefit for success in addition to what youd normally get for
resolving the Threat.
The Hero shoots the moon when she rolls only three dice, invokes no
Assets, and accepts no bargains. If the Hero wins the Threat when shooting
the moon, she gets to flip over one of her subverted Assets, gaining it back,
and cross out a single negative Trait from that Asset. This is in addition to
the positive Trait she gets to add to any Asset.
Example: Allia is facing down a group of soldiers on the road after a

long and arduous journey. Shes almost at the Gray Palace, and shes
lost a lot along the way. The Agent of Threat has a lot of dice from
all the subverted Assets and negative Traits on the table, and both
of the Tempters are offering bargains that are just a little too steep.
Mary decides to shoot the moon.
Mary rolls three dice versus the Agent of Threats eleven. She
rolls two 6s, and the Agent of Threat rolls none! Shes successfully
shot the moon! She decides to flip Shattered Courage back over to
Fearless, describing it as her resolve strengthening in the face of
adversity. She erases one of the negative Traits from it and decides
to also put a positive Trait on Fearless: The Weight of Reputation.
40 Becoming
The Agent of Threat can also shoot the moon. In order to do so, he
must get no bonus dice from the Heros negative Traits or subverted Assets,
and he must set aside any dice given to him by the Tempters, as he wont
be using them. If, after that, he has fewer dice than the Hero, hes shooting
the moon. If he wins the Threat despite these odds, he gets to subvert an
Asset and add a negative Trait or remove a positive Trait from each risked
Asset. If the Hero didnt risk any Assets, the Agent of Threat can still add
a negative Trait or remove a positive Trait from any Asset, in addition to
subverting any Asset.
Example: Evie, playing Fear, is the Agent of Threat in the final Scene,
the confrontation with the King. Mary has managed to pull together
quite a few dice by making bargains with the Tempters and invoking
her remaining Assets, and even if Evie wins the Threat, she wont be
able to subvert all of Marys assets (meaning that Mary will win). She
decides to shoot the moon. She rolls seven dice to Marys ten. Evie
rolls three 6s, while Mary rolls only one! Shes shot the moon! Evie
can now place a negative Trait on all of Marys risked Assets (which
were all of her remaining Assets), and she can subvert the remaining
one Asset that wasnt subverted by negative Traits.
Victory Tokens
Whenever a Fate adds a negative Trait, removes a positive Trait, or
subverts an Asset, he gets a victory token.
For every negative Trait added to an Asset, take 1 victory token.
For every positive Trait removed from an Asset, take 2 victory tokens.
For every Asset subverted, take 4 victory tokens.
If you add a negative Trait that subverts an Asset, take 5 victory
tokens total.
The Hero also earns victory points, but earns them at a different rate.
3 victory points for adding a positive Trait.
2 victory points for removing a negative Trait.
5 victory points for successfully shooting the moon.
4 victory points for each remaining Asset at the end of the game.
Playing the Game 41

Example: When Tom subverts Allias Fearless Asset, he takes 5
victory tokens and adds them to his pool one for adding a negative
Trait and 4 for subverting an Asset. Earlier, when Evie added negative
Traits to each of Allias three Allies, she got 3 victory tokens: one for
each negative Trait.
In the last Scene, the Hero wins the Threat and opts to remove a
negative Trait, earning 2 victory points. At the end of the game she
sees that she has two Assets remaining, and earns 4 victory points
for each, for a total of 8.
Victory Conditions
Once the winner of the final Scene has resolved that Scene, everyone totals
up their victory points. If the Hero loses her last Asset before the end of
the final Scene, the game ends with the current Scene; skip the rest of the
Scenes. The player with the most victory points overall wins, and gets to
narrate the close of the story. If theres a tie, all tied players split narration,
montage style.
42 Becoming
QUESTS
So, um, how come you dont care where youre going?
Cause how you get there is the worthier part.
-Kaylee and Shepherd Book in Firefly

WHAT FOLLOWS
T his chapter is devoted to the Quest, that journey that the
Hero must undertake in order to save what she loves. Each Quest
contains perils and adversaries, trials to test the Hero and shape her. She
may succeed in her Quest or she may fail. Either way, she will not be the
same person on the other side.
Each Quest contains certain components meant for use in specific ways.
First is a summary of the Quest. Before playing, someone in the group
should read this summary to the entire group, so everyones on the same page.
The Hero Card contains some things for the Hero to use as idea
fodder as well as three columns of Assets used for Hero creation. Refer
back to page Creating the Hero on page 30 if you dont remember
what those are for.
Next are the three Fate Cards. These contain things for each individual
Fate to think about; more importantly, they contain the name of each Fate
available in the Quest and that Fates special ability. Each Fate has a unique
special ability that he can use to get more dice, subvert Assets more easily,
or do other nasty things to the Hero. Keep these in mind when youre
playing; they can help you win!
44 Becoming
THE HERO
HERO CREATION:
Use the Assets below with the group to create your Hero. Take a handful
of dice of the same color; any dice of that color are yours for the rest of the
game, though you dont necessarily get to use all of them! Pick one of the
following names (or come up with your own) and write it on a tent card.
Male Names: Arrick, Martin, Boren, Garth, Peter, Weren.
Female Names: Amalie, Sarah, Patience, Lily, Nicole, Wayla.
Surnames: Boyer, Miller, Smith, Gadson, Harrow, Aven.
Hero Card Virtues Strengths Allies
My family is Good Shot with Jon, your best

everything. a Bow friend
Do Whats Right Quick and Subtle Regar, your brother
The people need Handy with a Blade Aria, your sister

a hero.
People Trust Me Myria, an idealistic
Mercy, Compassion, youth
Fearless
Justice.
Caleb, a grizzled
Devout Faith
A Simple Life veteran
Protect Those who Marc, a devoted

Need It knight
THINK ABOUT:
Someone needs to put a stop to the Kings tyranny, but why you? Youre a
peasant from a small village, an ordinary person thrust into extraordinary
circumstance by forces beyond your control. Whats most important to you?
Who do you love the most? Why are you going on this Quest in the first place?
PAIN
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Pain) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List and
look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same color; these are your dice
for the rest of the game (though you may loan them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
As the Agent of Threat, when you narrate a negative Trait from one of
the Heros Strengths, you get 2 dice for each instead of one. If you dont
narrate in any negative Traits from Strengths, you still get 1 die in addition
to those you get from the Scene.
THINK ABOUT:
How will you bring the pain? Pain doesnt have to be physical; it can be
emotional or mental too. The important thing is that your job is to really DOUBT
put the screws to the Hero. After dealing with you, the Hero should hurt. FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Doubt) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List and
SPECIAL ABILITY:
Fate Cards When you subvert one of the Heros Virtues, you may also place a negative
Trait on one of the Heros Allies or remove a positive Trait from an Ally.
THINK ABOUT:
What is the Hero unsure of? What about the people the Hero encounters
or travels with? Give them all reasons to doubt: each other, their fate, their
own abilities. Uncertainty is your harbinger and you leave hopelessness
FEAR
in your wake.
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Fear) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List and
SPECIAL ABILITY:
When you are the Agent of Threat, you may narrate the Heros allies into the
conflict as if they were subverted, even if they are not or have no negative
Traits on them. You may narrate an Ally and its negative Traits into a scene
in order to get multiple dice.
THINK ABOUT:
What does the Hero fear? How can you make the Hero and her allies afraid?
Use the environment, use overwhelming numbers, and use the threat of
injury or the threat of losing a loved one. Fear cripples even the strongest
and most confident of Heroes when it strikes home.
Quests 45
Finally, theres the Scene List. Each Fate will need a copy of this
in order to keep track of the current Scene, the upcoming Scenes, and
to possibly take notes on what has happened already. Each Scene in the
Scene List looks like this:
Scene Title
Agent
Elements
<diagram: picture of a single Scene (use Scene One of LongThreat

Live Dice
the King) with each component labeled>
46 Becoming
The Scenes name tells you both which scene this is in numerical
order (there are nine total in each Quest, so you can use this to gauge how
far you are in the story) and what the Scene is called (which can give you
an idea of what to expect).
The Agent of Threat heading tells you which Fate gets to play the
Agent of Threat in this Scene. Refer to page The Agent of Threat on page
33 for more on the Agent of Threat.
The Setup tells you whats going on, whats happened already before
the meat of the Scene comes onscreen. You can either roleplay through this
Setup, or you can summarize and dive into the juicy stuff: either way is fine!
The Elements are things that the Agent of Threat has to narrate into
the Scene, one way or another. There is a lot of freedom in terms of how
these Elements are narrated in; for example, the Heros spouse and children
might be physically present at the wedding, or they may have died a long
time ago and the Hero is simply remembering them fondly but sadly. Once
all of these Elements are in the Scene, you can move on to . . .
The Threat. This is what the conflict of the Scene is about. Interpret
this somewhat broadly. In the first Scene of Long Live the King, youll
see that soldiers of the king are demanding tribute that the town cannot
afford. What this tribute is, how the soldiers demand it, and how the town
is responding are all up to you. Youll also notice that, under each Threat
heading, you see a number of dice. This is how many dice you start with
as the Agent of Threat. Thisll grow throughout the Quest.
Note: Please feel free to photocopy or print any Quests you find in
this book. Youll need extra copies.
Quests 47
Long Live the King
T he kingdom of Drassis is a peaceful, orderly kingdom.

However, it is so because it is ruled by a merciless despot who does
not tolerate disobedience or dissent. Someone must put a stop to his reign
and install a new and just king.
48 Becoming
THE HERO
HERO CREATION:
Male Names: Arrick, Martin, Boren, Garth, Peter, Weren.
Female Names: Amalie, Sarah, Patience, Lily, Nicole, Wayla.
Surnames: Boyer, Miller, Smith, Gadson, Harrow, Aven.
Virtues Strengths Allies
My family is Good Shot with a Jon, your best

everything. Bow friend
Do Whats Right Quick and Subtle Regar, your brother
The people need a Handy with a Blade Aria, your sister

hero.
People Trust Me Myria, an idealistic
Mercy, Compassion, youth
Fearless
Justice.
Caleb, a grizzled
Devout Faith
A Simple Life veteran
Protect Those who Marc, a devoted

Need It knight
THINK ABOUT:
Someone needs to put a stop to the Kings tyranny, but why you? Youre a
peasant from a small village, an ordinary person thrust into extraordinary
circumstance by forces beyond your control. Whats most important to
you? Who do you love the most? Why are you going on this Quest in the
first place?
Quests 49
PAIN
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Pain) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List and
SPECIAL ABILITY:
As the Agent of Threat, when you narrate a negative Trait from one of the
Heros Strengths, you get 2 dice for each instead of one. If you dont narrate
in any negative Traits from Strengths, you still get 1 die in addition to those
you get from the Scene.
THINK ABOUT:
How will you bring the pain? Pain doesnt have to be physical; it can be
emotional or mental too. The important thing is that your job is to really
put the screws to the Hero. After dealing with you, the Hero should hurt.
DOUBT
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Doubt) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List and
SPECIAL ABILITY:
When you subvert one of the Heros Virtues, you may also place a negative
Trait on one of the Heros Allies or remove a positive Trait from an Ally.
THINK ABOUT:
What is the Hero unsure of? What about the people the Hero encounters
or travels with? Give them all reasons to doubt: each other, their fate, their
own abilities. Uncertainty is your harbinger and you leave hopelessness
in your wake.
50 Becoming
FEAR
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Fear) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List and
SPECIAL ABILITY:
When you are the Agent of Threat, you may narrate the Heros allies into the
conflict as if they were subverted, even if they are not or have no negative
Traits on them. You may narrate an Ally and its negative Traits into a scene
in order to get multiple dice.
THINK ABOUT:
What does the Hero fear? How can you make the Hero and her allies afraid?
Use the environment, use overwhelming numbers, and use the threat of
injury or the threat of losing a loved one. Fear cripples even the strongest
and most confident of Heroes when it strikes home.
Quests 51
Scene List
Scene One: The Kings Men

Agent of Threat: Pain Setup: Its a special day in the village of Pellen!
Everyone has gathered together to celebrate the wedding of Jaren and
Lauria, a young couple very much in love.
Jaren and Lauria Your wife, Danae OR Your
Festivities husband, Frederick
Your children, Bran Soldiers of the King
and Ellie
Threat (5 dice) Soldiers of the King have arrived to collect tribute from
Pellen. They demand more than is their due, more than the town can afford.
Someone must resist them!
Scene Two: The Call

Agent of Threat: Doubt Setup: The village elder has gathered the few
able-bodied warriors in town together. A Hero must step forward in order
to avenge or defend the village, and to stop the Kings depredations.
Abraham, the village elder A dissenting voice
The Heros Allies Danger ahead
A call to action
Threat (5 dice) The Hero must convince the elder and the townsfolk that
he/she must go and stop the Kings tyranny. But what are the ramifications?
Will the Hero succeed, or bring even greater woe upon the village as the
Kings wrath is drawn to it?
Scene Three: Highwaymen

Agent of Threat: Fear Setup: On the road to the capital city, the Hero
and his or her Allies encounter a gang of highwaymen.
Bandits in wolf skins Surrounded
Agar, the bandit leader The rain starts
Threats and naked steel
Threat (5 dice) The bandits want to take the partys valuables, and they
are not afraid to kill to get them. The Hero and his/her Allies must fight
them off.
52 Becoming
Scene Four: The Burning Village
Agent of Threat: Pain Setup: The party sees smoke in the distance; a
village is burning!
Columns of black smoke People in need
Panicked shouts The rain intensifies
Buildings aflame
Threat (6 dice) The people of the village must be saved from their
burning homes.
Scene Five: Aftermath of Fire

Agent of Threat: Doubt Setup: As the rain extinguishes the flames, the
surviving villagers gather around the Hero and his/her Allies. This was
the work of soldiers, soldiers angry about something.
Feyna, the village elder A crowd of desperate
Abril and Morrum, villagers
town guards Sorrow and blame
Soldiers did this!
Threat (6 dice) Was this the Heros fault? Were the soldiers angry for
their reception in the Heros village?
Scene Six: The Woods at Night

Agent of Threat: Fear Setup: The party must bed down in a small hollow
in the woods, the only place nearby that gives shelter from the storm.
A small hollow The campfire,
The howling storm extinguished
Eyes in the dark Not welcome here
Threat (6 dice) The Hero must overcome his/her fear and assuage those
of his/her Allies so that the party can rest for the night and continue in
the morning.
Quests 53
Scene Seven: Soldiers on the Road
Agent of Threat: Pain Setup: The party encounters soldiers of the King
while traveling on the road. The soldiers recognize them and decide to
have some fun.
Soldiers of the King Threats of violence
Captain Barrus Bared steel
Cruel demands
Threat (7 dice) The Hero must fight off the soldiers so that he/she can
continue to the palace and confront the King.
Scene Eight: The Palace

Agent of Threat: Doubt Setup: The palace looms ahead, guarded by more
soldiers. The Hero must get inside in order to confront the King.
The Gray Palace Supplicants seeking
Heavily guarded an audience
The storm at its peak Papers, please.
Threat (7 dice) The Hero must get past the gate guards and into the
palace. They require identification and a reason for entry.
Scene Nine: The King

Agent of Threat: Fear Setup: The Hero and his/her Allies have come
before the King. What do they do?
The King on his throne Guards looking on
Holding court An opportunity
Cruelty
Threat (7 dice) How does the story end? What does the Hero do? How
does he or she confront the King?
54 Becoming
exodus
T he Earth is dying; it has decades left before it can no longer

support life. In a last desperate attempt to avoid extinction, the
Council has sent the survey ship Exodus to find a habitable world. The
rest of humanity huddles grimly in their Earth-bound shelters, building
the Savior Fleet so that they might leave the dying planet but, without
somewhere to go, they too will die.
Quests 55
THE HERO
HERO CREATION:
Rank: Captain.
Male Names: Albert, Dane, Jacob, Preston, Marcus, Frank.
Female Names: Janet, Mia, Amanda, Laura, Harriet, Paula.
Surnames: Werner, Jessup, Gregson, Shepard, Albrecht, van Horne.
Humanity needs With Honors Meghan Hollis,

us. young genius
Inspires Loyalty
The Right Thing James Meechum,
Grim knack for machines
Crew is Family Determination
Abel Richter, career
Someone special is The Devils Own soldier
counting on me. Luck
Hanna Chau,
God is With Us Always a Plan hotshot pilot
Failure isnt an Survivor Candice Blake,

option. thoughtful
xenobiologist
Nick Harker, knows

the stars
THINK ABOUT:
Exodus is humanitys last hope to find a habitable world, and you are its
captain. The crew looks to you, the Council looks to you, the human race
looks to you. You bear the weight of the world on your shoulders, and your
mission has a slim chance of success at best. What will you do to ensure
you succeed? What wont you do?
56 Becoming
DUTY
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Duty) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List and
SPECIAL ABILITY:
If the Hero refuses one of your offers, you may give up to 5 dice (instead
of just 3) to the Agent of Threat. Feel free to use this as leverage when
making your offer.
THINK ABOUT:
Duty may seem like a good thing, a thing that guides you when youre
not sure what to do, but it has a darker side. Duty forces you to make
hard decisions; duty often makes you the bad guy or the scapegoat. Duty
doesnt care about good or evil; it wants results. What will it cost the Hero
to get those results?
ISOLATION
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Isolation) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List
and look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same color; these are your
dice for the rest of the game (though you may loan them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
Whenever you subvert one of the Heros Allies, you get +1 victory token.
Whenever you are the Agent of Threat and you narrate a subverted Ally
into the Threat, you get +1 die.
THINK ABOUT:
The crew of Exodus is on a small survey ship in deep space, too far away
from Earth or any inhabited space station for conventional communication
to be an option. How does that affect the Hero? How does it affect the
crew? Who snaps first? What do they do? How does the isolation and
loneliness break the crew down; how do they become unhinged by it?
Quests 57
PARANOIA
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Paranoia) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List
SPECIAL ABILITY:
When you are the Agent of Threat, you may name an Ally as you narrate
your Threat. The Hero must risk that Ally as if it were invoked, but gains
no dice for doing so.
THINK ABOUT:
When something goes wrong, who gets the blame? When things go
missing, whos the culprit? Is the scientist plotting something? Does the
communications specialist know something that hes keeping from the
rest of the crew? Whos hiding secrets and why?
58 Becoming
Scene List
Scene One: The Space Station

Agent of Threat: Duty Setup: Several weeks after Exoduss launch, the
ship is in need of supplies. The crew must stop at a space station in order
to refuel and resupply before continuing on their journey.
Docking request How do I know you
Ivan, the cosmonaut are who you are?
Mechanical failure Unhinged
Threat (5 dice) Between mechanical failure and an uncooperative
cosmonaut, the Hero must find a way to get the fuel and supplies that
Exodus needs.
Scene Two: The Last Directive

Agent of Threat: Isolation Setup: As Exodus reaches the outer boundaries of
communication with Earth, they receive one last directive from the Council.
Exoplanet detected, Not enough fuel for
possibly habitable a return journey
The Beacon An uneasy crew
No more contact
Threat (5 dice) The Hero must convince the crew to go on a long,

dangerous journey with no further contact with Earth and not enough
fuel or supplies for a return journey.
Scene Three: Missing Supplies

Agent of Threat: Paranoia Setup: A crewmember comes to the Hero
with a serious problem.
Were burning There are food and
through fuel faster supplies missing.
than we should. Supplies found
A search Someone to blame
Threat (5 dice) The Hero must calm the crew and decide what to do
with the one responsible for the theft.
Quests 59
Scene Four: The Stowaway
Agent of Threat: Duty Setup: A few days after the missing supplies were
found, a crew member finds a stowaway on the ship!
A scared kid Running from something
Colin Jones OR Not enough food or fuel
Corrine Jones An angry, scared crew
Threat (6 dice) The Hero must decide what to do with the stowaway
and how to calm the crew.
Scene Five: Lost

Agent of Threat: Isolation Setup: Several weeks later, a crewmember
tells the Hero something distressing: Exodus is off course and has been
for weeks!
Faulty navigation Whose fault is this?
equipment A malfunction
Weeks off course Naked fear
Threat (6 dice) How does Exodus get back on course? How do they
reach their destination on the fuel and supplies they have?
Scene Six: The Blame Game

Agent of Threat: Paranoia Setup: A mutinous crew gathers together for
a meeting; the Hero comes in in the middle.
Hushed whispers Its your fault!
How do we get We have to turn back!
through this? Tempers flare
Threat (6 dice) Can the Hero calm the crew, prevent them from mutinying,
and convince them to stay the course?
60 Becoming
Scene Seven: Desperation Sets In
Agent of Threat: Duty Setup: With no planets in sight and very little
fuel left, the Hero has a decision to make.
Low on fuel A desperate crew
Heavy equipment Essential systems
The Beacon
Threat (7 dice) How does the Hero make the fuel last? What can be
sacrificed? Can he/she prevent the crew from jettisoning essential equipment
or personnel?
Scene Eight: Exoplanet

Agent of Threat: Isolation Setup: The sensors ping. Theres an exoplanet
nearby!
A small blue world Equipment malfunction!
Civilization detected Whoever goes to fix
I dont know if theres that aint coming back.
enough fuel to land.
Threat (7 dice) Landing Exodus on the exoplanet will not be easy: there
may not be enough fuel and, to make matters worse, something on the ship
has malfunctioned! How does the Hero get the crew of Exodus through this?
Scene Nine: Contact

Agent of Threat: Paranoia Setup: After landing, the crew finds themselves
surrounded by creatures. They are clearly intelligent, but their civilization
isnt advanced enough for them to have developed guns, let alone space travel.
Hundreds of What will the Council
inscrutable faces decide to do to them?
Are they a threat? Jumpy crew
The Beacon
Threat (7 dice) How does the story end? Does the Hero activate the
Beacon, summoning the Council and the rest of humanity? What does
that mean for the indigenous people? What about the crew? Theyre scared,
jumpy, and armed; what happens?
Quests 61
The Witching Hour
T welve hours ago a trio of film students went missing in

the woods near Almertville, Maine; one of them was your sister,
Claire. The cops wont investigate yet - they say its too soon. Doesnt matter
how cold it is out there, how dark it gets in those woods, or how haunted
theyre supposed to be. Youre going to get your sister back home safe, and
hopefully her friends too.
62 Becoming
THE HERO
HERO CREATION:
Male Names: Jack, Mason, Rob, Will, Lenny, Ryan.
Female Names: Jenn, Melissa, Astrid, Chelsea, Lindsay, Sarah.
Surnames: McCann, Taylor, Santiago, Jones, Lyman, Chang.
I can do this. Always Prepared Ben Carson, best

friend
Family is At Home in the
Everything Outdoors Jane Forrester, off-
duty cop
The Bonds of Local Legend Nerd
Friendship Mark Hollis, occult
Natural Leader buff
Courage is knowing
Crack Shot
youre afraid but Alejandra Gomez,
doing it anyway. knows these woods
Star Athlete
The World Makes Marie Jarvis, works

Sense for the USGS
Dont Let Them Al Markham,

Down Claires boyfriend
THINK ABOUT:
Your sister Claire is missing, somewhere out there in those unforgiving

woods. Thats all that matters. Its too soon for the police to do anything
officially, but you know first-hand what happens when someones lost out
in the wilderness for even a day. Exposure, starvation, falling into a canyon,
getting mauled by a bear; a non-stop slideshow of horrific images play
through your mind. Nothing else matters.
Quests 63
THE WOODS
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (The Woods) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List
SPECIAL ABILITY:
Once per scene when youre the Agent of Threat, name a specific, important
item that the Hero needs but doesnt have. If the Hero can plausibly narrate
a reason why he/she doesnt need it (put it to a table vote if necessary), get a
victory token. If not, get +2 dice; these dice go away at the end of the Scene.
THINK ABOUT:
You are nature, red in tooth and claw. You are the woods and the creatures
therein and the elements that ravage those who trespass. And make no
mistake: the Hero is trespassing. These woods are old, and they do not
belong to humans. Humans have no place here, and they will suffer for
their incursion.
64 Becoming
THE WITCH
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (The Witch) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List
SPECIAL ABILITY:
Twice during the game, when youre a Tempter, you can offer the Hero a
very special bargain: immediately subvert any one Ally (causing that ally
to disappear, die, or otherwise be removed with finality) in exchange for 6
dice. That Ally cannot be brought back into play for the Hero, even if the
Hero shoots the moon. If the Hero refuses this bargain, you get +4 dice
the next time youre the Agent of Threat. These dice are in addition to any
other dice you get by narrating in subverted Assets or negative Traits, or
dice you get from Tempters.
THINK ABOUT:
Something lives in these woods, something ancient and powerful and

inscrutable. Something that sees humans as a means to an end, as a resource
to be consumed. That something is you, the Witch, the thing spoken of in
hushed and fearful whispers. Why do you want to draw the Hero further
into the woods? What did you do with the others that came earlier?
Quests 65
CREEPING TERROR
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Creeping Terror) on a tent card. Take a copy of the
Scene List and look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same color; these
are your dice for the rest of the game (though you may loan them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
If the Hero has two or more subverted Assets, you get +2 dice as the
Agent of Threat. At five or more, you get +3 dice instead. At eight or more
subverted Assets, you get +4 dice total. These dice are in addition to any
other dice you get by narrating in subverted Assets or negative Traits, or
dice you get from Tempters.
THINK ABOUT:
These poor, hapless kids are out in the middle of a hostile wilderness
with something hunting them. If theyre not afraid now, they will be. Thats
your job. You are the fear that creeps in slowly and grows with every passing
hour. You are the fear that turns friends against each other and makes people
do stupid, unfortunate things.
66 Becoming
Scene List
Scene One: Rainfall

Agent of Threat: The Woods Setup: Two hours into the search and the
rain starts pouring down.
Thunderstorm We need shelter!
Tracks being washed away Bitter cold
The rain-slick ground
Threat (5 dice) Can the Hero find Claires tracks in this rain? The group
needs shelter and soon; its freezing cold and the temperatures dropping
quickly.
Scene Two: The First Night

Agent of Threat: The Witch Setup: The group finds (or makes) shelter
and beds down for the night, still amid pouring rain.
Inky darkness, split Somethings moving
by lightning out there!
No stars What the hell was
Fog rolling in that noise?
Threat (5 dice) Somethings out there. People are freaking out. Theres
talk of abandoning the search and going home at first light.
Scene Three: Signs

Agent of Threat: Creeping Terror Setup: After a long and harrowing
night, the group wakes to find signs of somethingin the camp.
Soaked clothes, but A scratched symbol
at least no rain in a tree
Footprints, but Four more, surrounding
not quite right the camp
We need to get
out of here!
Threat (5 dice) Claires still out there, she still needs help. There has to
be a logical explanation for these signs; its just someone playing a trick.
Hell, it was probably one of the group, looking for an excuse to go home.
Quests 67
Scene Four: Canyon
Agent of Threat: The Woods Setup: The group (or whats left of them)
follows faint signs of passage until they come to a canyon with a rope
bridge, cut from the other side.
Clairs footprints Looks like they didnt
stop at the bridge want to be followed.
It would take hours A scrap of cloth from
to go around! Claires jacket
A discarded canteen
Threat (6 dice) Claire clearly crossed the bridge. The Hero has to follow
her somehow, and convince his/her friends to come too.
Scene Five: A Lone Figure

Agent of Threat: The Witch Setup: As the Hero and crew trek on through
the woods, they spot a lone figure in the distance, unmoving, watching them.
A jacket The figure moves
That could be Claire! behind a tree
Nobody there A pool of blood
Threat (6 dice) What happened here? Whose blood is that? People are
really freaking out now. Where did that person go? Was it Claire? Was it
something else?
Scene Six: The Corpse

Agent of Threat: Creeping Terror Setup: Shortly after the encounter
with the figure in the woods, the Hero spots something in a nearby bush.
A dirty jacket His throat slit, but no
Someone lying in a bush blood anywhere
Claires friend, Justin A look of stark terror,
frozen onto his face
Threat (6 dice) Nobody wants to be here, but Claires still out there.
What happened to Justin? Wheres all the blood? Is Claire even still alive?
68 Becoming
Scene Seven: Where Are We?
Agent of Threat: The Woods Setup: The Hero (or one of his/her Allies)
looks up to find that the group has no idea where they are.
Night falls Somethings out there!
Unfamiliar stars A path
Noises in the woods
Threat (7 dice) Does the group follow the path? How many people turn
back? Can they even get out again?
Scene Eight: The Cabin

Agent of Threat: The Witch Setup: Regardless of whether or not the
group decides to take the path, they wind up on it.
No matter where you Spatters of blood
turn, theres the path More torn blue cloth
Scrawled signs A cabin
everywhere
Threat (7 dice) Something is leading the group toward this cabin; no

matter which way they turn, they wind up back at the same place. Do
they go inside?
Scene Nine: Claire

Agent of Threat: Creeping Terror Setup: Whether inside the cabin or
outside, the group (or whats left of them) hears something.
Claires voice Someones walking
Help me! around upstairs
Noises in the woods A scream, silenced
Threat (7 dice) Is Claire still alive? Whats in the cabin? How does the
Hero get Claire and any other survivors out of the woods?
Quests 69
The Long Road Home
Y ou and your unit have been on this tour for too long. Next
week you were supposed to be sent home, home to see your family, to
take some well-earned rest. Now, though, it doesnt look like thats going
to happen. Youve been hearing a lot of chatter over the radio; things have
been heating up in the desert, firefights breaking out in peaceful areas,
stories of cannibalism and savagery you can hardly believe . . . and stranger
things. They say the dead walk, but that cant be true. Can it?
70 Becoming
THE HERO
HERO CREATION:
Use the Assets below with the group to create your Hero. Take a handful of
dice of the same color; any dice of that color are yours for the rest of the
Rank: Sergeant
Male Names: Dean, Fred, Max, Howard, Jose, Rick.
Female Names: Amy, Martha, Tracy, Sally, Keiko, Rhonda.
Surnames: Vasquez, Baratta, Francoise, Miller, Hapscomb, Wallace.
Lead from the Front Combat Veteran Corporal Emily

Mayer, recon
Honor, Duty, I know the desert. specialist
Discipline
Honest Face PFC John Benne,
I want to see my communications
Survival Training
family again.
Private Mack
Fear is a Choice
Id die for my Haddisson, medic
squad. God watches out
PFC Jenny Downy,
for me.
Leave Nobody sniper
Behind
Corporal Brett
Soldiers Dont Give McClintock, heavy
Up weapons
Private Jess Martin,

engineer
THINK ABOUT:
You want to get home and you want to make sure your squad gets home,
and now somethings getting in the way of that. Youre out in the middle of
the desert, cut off from the rest of the world, communications spotty as all
hell, and youve got to rendezvous with a convoy you havent been able to
talk to in at least four days. Its hot, its dry, and somethings happening out
there that doesnt sound good.
Quests 71
INFECTION
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Infection) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene List
SPECIAL ABILITY:
You start the game with 3 Infection Dice (you can use a different color
from the four already used, or you can use your color and just keep those
dice separate). Once per Scene, when you are the Agent of Threat, you
can place an Infection Die on one of the Heros Allies. The Infection Die
remains in place for the entire game unless you agree to remove it as part
of a bargain, in which case its removed from the game. Whenever the Hero
invokes an Ally with Infection Dice on it, the Hero must roll those dice in
his/her pool. They count as normal dice, but if any Infection Dice come
up a 5 or 6, immediately subvert that Ally as it succumbs to the infection.
Then remove those Infection Dice from the game.
THINK ABOUT:
You represent the disease that turns people into ravening monsters. What
is the nature of the infection? What are its symptoms? Can someone
recognize its onset, or does it just look like a cold? Can it be treated? If
so, how hard is it to treat? Above all, remember that you are the infection:
YOUR GOAL IS TO SPREAD.
72 Becoming
THE DEAD
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (The Dead) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene
List and look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same color; these
are your dice for the rest of the game (though you may loan them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
You start the game with 6 Dead Dice. You can use a different color
from one already used, or you can use your own color and simply
keep the Dead Dice separate. When you are the Agent of Threat,
you can roll any number of Dead Dice in your pool, but you lose
them after rolling. When you are a Tempter, you can give the Agent
of Threat any number of Dead Dice as a consequence for the Hero
not accepting your bargain (use this as leverage!). You can give these
in addition to the 3 dice youd normally be able to give the Agent
of Threat, but you lose them when you do.
THINK ABOUT:
The dead are everywhere, and they walk. What do they look like?
Do they rot? Talk? Feel pain? Are they fast or slow? Are they truly
dead, or can they be saved? Their urge is to feed, but what do they
feed on? Flesh? Brains? Fear? The dead are an oppressive force, a
relentless army of unthinking killers that grows with every casualty.
Quests 73
THINGS FALL APART
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Things Fall Apart) on a tent card. Take a copy of
the Scene List and look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same
color; these are your dice for the rest of the game (though you may
loan them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
Once per Scene, at any time during that Scene, you can place up
to 3 of your victory tokens on any one of the Heros Assets. An
Asset can have any number of victory tokens on it. If someone else
subverts that Asset, they gain those victory tokens in addition to
any victory tokens theyd normally get from subverting the Asset,
and you get the same number minus one. If you subvert that Asset,
you get those victory tokens back plus the victory tokens youd
normally gain for subverting the Asset plus one.
THINK ABOUT:
When the dead start walking, things start to decay. Infrastructure fails,
people turn on each other, civilization breaks down and eventually
collapses. You are the force of entropy, of collapse and ruin and rot
and decay. You are the frayed relationships between once-friends,
the lack of trust between strangers, the inability to get food or shelter
or a working telephone. Things fall apart.
74 Becoming
Scene List
Scene One: Pestilence

Agent of Threat: Infection Setup: The squad must stay in a small village
and wait for a supply convoy that will take them to an air strip so they
can go home.
Crippling poverty Haunted, empty eyes
These people are sick. We might need this
We have medicine, but medicine ourselves.
its not enough.
Threat (5 dice) What does the Hero decide to do with the medicine? Does
the squad give it to the sick people? What will happen when the people
realize there isnt enough for everyone? Who gets treated and who doesnt?
Scene Two: That Which Walks

Agent of Threat: The Dead Setup: Huddling in a small shack for the night,
a noise outside stirs the Hero.
Moonlit night Those people are
Shuffling footsteps dead, Sarge!
Figures coming out Firing at random
of the gloom
Threat (5 dice) Does the squad fire on civilians? Are they really dead?
How does the squad get away?
Scene Three: A Missed Appointment

Agent of Threat: Things Fall Apart Setup: Morning comes, and the convoy
is nowhere to be seen.
Bodies everywhere Nothing but radio static
The convoys supposed A six-day walk through
to be here by now! the desert to the
What do we do now? nearest air strip
Threat (5 dice) What does the squad do now? How do they deal with
the aftermath of last night? How do they deal with the fact that the convoy
isnt here and nobodys talking on the radio?
Quests 75
Scene Four: The First Signs
Agent of Threat: Infection Setup: Someone in the squad is sick with
something.
A squadmate, retching He/she dont
into a garbage can look so good.
Glassy eyes What if he/shes got
People freaking out what the others had?
Threat (6 dice) The squads freaking out. One of them is sick with something.
Is it the infection, or something else? What does the Hero decide to do?
Scene Five: Horde

Agent of Threat: The Dead Setup: On their way through the desert, the
Hero spots a massive crowd of people in the distance.
Hundreds of people, Hours to go around them
shambling Are they dead?
Theyre coming this way! Weapons out and ready
Threat (6 dice) What does the squad do? Do they go around? Hide?
Find someplace to fortify? Is the horde dead, or are they still alive? Are
they actually a threat?
Scene Six: Out of Meds

Agent of Threat: Things Fall Apart Setup: The party checks their supplies
and they dont like what they see.
Low on food and water We couldnt have
What happened used that much!
to the meds? Coughing up blood
Who took them?
Threat (6 dice) People are sick and theres no medicine left. Can the
squad continue without them? Will they have to leave people behind?
76 Becoming
Scene Seven: Quarantine Zone
Agent of Threat: Infection Setup: The squad reaches the city with the air
strip, but they find their way blocked.
Soldiers everywhere No Entry Beyond
The city is a quarantine This Point
zone, sir. Someone breaks
Shots ring out through the line
Threat (7 dice) How does the squad get inside the city? Can they get to
the air strip? Do they have to leave their sick behind?
Scene Eight: Dead Air

Agent of Threat: The Dead Setup: Inside the city, things are bad. Dead
are everywhere.
Corpses litter the street Shuffling dead in
Shots ring through large groups
the night Occupied by violent
One plane left survivors
Threat (7 dice) Theres a single flyable plane left on the strip, but its already
been taken by violent survivors. Can the Hero negotiate with them? Does
the squad kill them? How do they deal with the shuffling dead?
Scene Nine: Homecoming

Agent of Threat: Things Fall Apart Setup: On the plane, whats left of
the squad prepares to go home. This Scene takes place during (and after)
the return flight.
Is there enough fuel? Cities on fire
Corpses on the plane The dead, everywhere
Panicked radio chatter
Threat (7 dice) The infection has spread to the Heros home; is his/her
family still alive? Can the Hero get to them in time? What does the future
hold for them?
Quests 77
CHANGING THINGS
Can you promise I will come back?

No. And if you do you will not be the same.
Bilbo and Gandalf, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

MAKING THE
GAME YOURS
T he first two chapters of this book provide everything you
need to play several games of Becoming with very little prep work.
All you need to do is grab some friends, pick a Quest from Chapter 2, and
start playing!
For some people, this wont be enough; thats why this chapter is here.
In this chapter, Ill tell you how you can make the game your own. Ill
talk to you about what to consider when you write your own Quests and
Fates, Ill talk about how to change rules and what happens when you do.
Ill even talk about how you can play this game without Quests at all, for
those who want a more free-form, improvisational game. If all of that
sounds like your brand of whiskey, read on!
CREATING
YOUR OWN
QUESTS
T he easiest way to make the game your own is to write a
custom Quest, complete with a custom Hero and Fates. Starting
from top to bottom, here are the things you should consider when youre
writing your own Quest.
Changing Things 79
Whats It About?
T his is the single most important question you have to answer

when youre creating a Quest. If you dont have a clear vision for
what the Quest is about, youll find yourself foundering, casting about
when youre trying to come up with ideas. When youre creating a Quest,
answer these questions:
What kind of story are you trying to tell?
What is the Heros motivation?
What is the Heros opposition?
What are the underlying themes of your Quest?
What is the endgame?
How you answer these questions will inform how you create the rest
of the Quest. Write your answers down and refer to them throughout the
process.
80 Becoming
The Hero
A Hero in any Quest is a collection of descriptive phrases to

choose from and assemble into an interesting character. Youll need
to refer back to the first two questions you answered in order to come up
with a good, relatable backstory for your Hero. More importantly, youll
use those answers to come up with your Heros Assets.
You need eighteen Assets: six Virtues, six Strengths, and six Allies. You
can create more, but doing so means that each Asset has less chance of
being selected. Dont create fewer than six, because that can make Hero
creation too deterministic. Whats the point of making choices if you never
get much variation?
Virtues are the things most important to the Hero. They give her
motivation to complete the Quest and beliefs she can draw strength from
when things get tough. Theyre also important because chipping away at
whats most important to a Hero is a lot of fun for the Fates. Make sure
that each Virtue says something distinct about the Hero, and make sure
its something the Hero can actually use within the context of the larger
Quest. Also remember that any three of these will be selected; making
mutually exclusive Virtues might seem interesting, but if the group selects
two contradictory Virtues, youll wind up with a Hero thats less convincing
in the narrative.
Strengths are those things the Hero is best at. These are the things that
she relies upon to get her through tough situations, things like courage,
fortitude, and a strong sword arm. The Strengths you create speak to how
the Hero solves problems and, to a lesser extent, how she sees the world.
Its important to create Strengths that are useful within the context of the
story being told; if its a Quest about slaying a dragon, a sweet singing voice
might be of limited use; if the storys about aging rock stars looking for a
comeback though, thats a Strength worth having!
Finally, a Hero has Allies. More than mere accompanying characters,
Allies are people important to the Hero for some reason. Think about
the Heros relationships to these people and put those relationships right
there in the text. Think about how they fit into the narrative of the Quest
and how they make sense with each other. Does it make sense that the
Changing Things 81
Heros drug dealer and her priest both come on the Quest with her? If it
does, what does that say about the Hero and the world? Also remember
that these are people who are meant to be taken from the Hero: none of
them should be essential to the Quest. If theres a particular character who
must be present throughout the Quest, build that person into the Scenes
themselves rather than making them Allies.
The Fates
Youll need three Fates, and they need to be distinct. Fates represent the
forces arrayed against the Hero; they are the personifications (sometimes
literally) of the opposition. Fates can be internal threats or external; in
Long Live the King, the Fates are Fear, Pain, and Doubt: all internal
threats, aspects of the Hero that she must overcome in order to succeed.
In The Long Road Home, the Fates are Infection, The Dead, and Things
Fall Apart; these are external forces working upon the Hero, things the
Hero ultimately has little control over and must simply weather in order
to succeed.
The types of Fates you create will say a lot about what the Quest is about.
Is it about conquering a hostile world, succeeding in the face of relentless
adversity? Or is it about struggling with inner demons? Most will be a little
of each, but youll have to make a choice. You only get three Fates after all,
so youre going to have to tip the scale in one direction or the other.
Once youve decided what your Fates will be, you need to come up
with a special ability for each Fate. They dont need to be complex in order
to be fun; the special abilities in Chapter 2 range from very simple (Long
Live the King) to quite complex (The Long Road Home), and they
do this for a reason: theyre examples of what you can do. Each of the four
Quests in Chapter 2 offers more complex Fate abilities than the last and,
while the first and last Quests dont provide the upper and lower limits of
complexity, they do give a good guideline.
A Fates ability should emphasize what that Fate is about in some
way. If the Fate represents loss, focus on taking things. If the Fate is about
opportunity at the cost of a piece of who you are, use an ability that offers
aid at a cost. Let the fictional context of each Fate guide what each Fate does.
82 Becoming
Its okay to vary the Fates complexity within a single Quest. In fact, this
can be a good way to ease one or two players into the game. If you have a
player who really wants to try being the bad guy but doesnt have a firm
grasp on the mechanics, give him a Fate with a simple, straightforward
ability. If you have a player who really likes mechanical complexity, give
her a nice crunchy Fate ability to sink her teeth into!
Finally, steal. You dont have to come up with an entire Quest whole
cloth; you can take Fates from one of the existing Quests in this book and
re-skin it or simply transplant it right into your Quest. This stuff is here
for you to use, so use it!
Scenes
Scenes provide the meat of the Quest. Before you start detailing them,
think about the story you want to tell with the Quest. Plot out a general
arc, but dont worry too much about specifics. You want to leave room for
players to make up their own stuff, and you cant do that if you predetermine
every little thing that happens in the Quest.
A Scene is made up of several parts.
The Name
Coming up with a good, punchy name can help you find a direction
for your Scene. I find its actually easier to plot out a Quest if I write out the
names of all of the Scenes first and then come up with the particulars later.
Agent of Threat
Each Scene specifies its Agent of Threat. The Fate you choose will
color how the Scene plays out; Scene One: The Kings Men, from Long
Live the King, feels very different if Fear is the Agent of Threat rather
than Pain. Also bear in mind that, if one Fate is Agent of Threat, the other
two will be Tempters and will be controlling characters within the Scene.
Its important to stick to an order for the Fates turns as Agent of Threat.
While you wont break any rules if you change the order up throughout
the story, it can lead to one Fate feeling like shes sitting on the sidelines
a bit, or feeling like she isnt getting equal opportunity to score victory
points. Keeping the Fates in an order makes that predictable which, in
this case, is a good thing.
Changing Things 83
Setup
The setup is just that: a way to start the scene. Kick it off with something
happening, an event, but make sure you dont get into the meat of the Scene
yet; you want that to happen when the Hero starts getting involved. Youre
not telling the whole story of the Scene here; youre just saying how it starts.
Elements
This is where you tell the bulk of the story, but you do it with vagaries.
You come up with a list of five things that you want to be in the Scene, and
you leave the rest to the Fates to deal with. You can guide the story of the
Scene with Elements, but you cant tell the story outright. Try not to get
too specific with Elements; keeping them open to interpretation allows
Fates more freedom to come up with their own cool stuff!
Threat
There are two parts to the Threat: the narrative part and the mechanical
part. The mechanical part is easy: you tell the Agent of Threat how many
dice they start with. The typical number is five for the first three scenes,
six for the next three, and seven for the last three. You can play with this a
bit, but doing so affects the balance of the game. If you have particularly
strong Fate abilities, lowering these numbers can compensate. If you have
weaker Fate abilities, raising them can keep the challenge where it should be.
For the narrative part, youre not saying what happens. Youre giving
the Hero a call to action, or youre giving the Agent of Threat questions to
answer. Leave it open, because any Threat can end in two different ways,
and Tempters bargains can add even more wrinkles. Its better to ask what
happens than to say what happens.
84 Becoming
ADVANCED
TINKERING
E verything Ive just said is true, and its a valid way to go
about making Becoming your own. It can be as easy or as challenging
as you make it, and you can get a lot out of it.
If youre still reading, its probably not enough though. Many will read
the first two chapters and be content to play the game as written. A few
more will want to make their own Quests, put their own stamp on the
game, and play through their own stories. If youre anything like me, you
want to go a step further, take a peek at the inner workings of the game
and change it to suit your needs or whims.
This section is for you then.
Changing Things 85
Changing the Number of Players
Becoming is a game for four players; no more, no fewer. Or is it?
What if you change the number of Fates or even the number of Heroes?
What happens?
More Fates
Adding more Fates means adding more Scenes. You can give each Fate
fewer Scenes as the Agent of Threat, but youll probably still have to add
at least a few Scenes to ensure that each Fate has equal time as Agent of
Threat. This has a number of ramifications.
First, more Scenes means the Hero needs more Assets in order to have
a fighting chance. If there are twelve Scenes and nine Assets, chances are
the Hero will run out of Assets before the last Scene. A good guideline is
to keep parity between number of Scenes and number of Assets: if you
have twelve Scenes, give the Hero twelve Assets. This does mean that the
Hero has more Assets to call upon and to bargain with, but it also means
that the Fates will have more to call upon toward the end of the game;
the early game will be easier for the Hero, but the late game will be harder.
More Fates also means more Tempters at any given time (unless you
make some Fates sit Scenes out, which isnt going to be much fun for them).
This is going to make individual Threats last longer because of the extra
bargaining which, when combined with the extra Scenes, will make for a
much longer game even with only one additional Fate.
For four Fates, I suggest twelve Scenes total. For five Fates, Id go with
either ten Scenes (with each Fate getting two) or fifteen (with each Fate
getting three). The first will be only slightly longer than normal, the second
will be much longer. I dont recommend playing with more than five Fates.
Fewer Fates
This change is a lot like adding more Fates, only in reverse. If you take
Fates out of the game, youll either have to spread the existing Scenes around
more or remove some Scenes (more likely both). This has a similar effect
on the Heros Assets; else the game gets too easy for her!
The other thing you have to keep in mind is that fewer Fates mean
fewer Tempters to offer bargains to the Hero. Unless youre going to make
86 Becoming
significant changes to the way the game works, you need at least two Fates.
One Fate is always acting as the Agent of Threat, and if you dont have at least
one more, the Hero doesnt have anyone to bargain with. The bargaining
is the core of Becoming; without the Tempters offering hard bargains
to the Hero, theres no impetus for the Hero to give up parts of herself in
order to achieve her goals. Theres loss as the Agent of Threat takes things
forcibly from the Hero, but theres also no sacrifice.
Without the bargaining mechanic, the Hero also has no way of getting
extra dice. This means one of two things: either the escalation of the Agent
of Threats power becomes so great that the difference makes rolling almost
meaningless, or the Hero and Agent of Threat are at parity all the time, in
which case the Heros victory or defeat is left up to chance.
If you plan on reducing the number of Fates, Id recommend reducing
down to a three-player game, with one Hero and two Fates. Drop the
number of Scenes to eight, giving four to each Fate, alternating between the
two. With a single Tempter, the Hero is going to have fewer choices in the
way of bargains in each Scene, so the game will feel pretty different from
a standard four-player game. Oh, and dont forget to reduce the number
of Assets the Hero gets to eight, to keep parity with the number of Scenes.
More Heroes
This is quite a lot harder than adding Fates, and changes the nature of
the game in a major way. In Becoming, the core of the game is a single
Heros personal journey, the sacrifices she must make and the changes she
must undergo. If you want to go this route, I wouldnt recommend any
more than two Heroes, and you should structure the Quest in such a way
that both Heroes are involved in all Scenes and Threats (even if theyre not
both physically present). Youll have to make the following changes too:
Give each Hero about half as many Assets as there are Scenes. Round
up, so a two-Hero game with nine scenes gives each Hero five Assets.
When a Tempter offers a bargain, he can offer one bargain to both
Heroes or separate bargains to each Hero. Either, neither, or both
Heroes can accept.
Changing Things 87
When the Agent of Threat wins a Threat, the benefits of winning apply
to both Heroes. He can mix and match the benefits amongst the Heroes
as he sees fit; for example, he might subvert a single Asset from one
Hero and add a negative Trait to each risked Asset from the other.
When a Hero loses her last Asset, that Hero no longer plays as a Hero.
Instead she plays as a Tempter, though she has no special Fate ability.
The game ends when the last Scene plays out or when both Heroes
have lost all of their Assets.
88 Becoming
Optional Rules
Aside from changing the number of players or components of the
various characters, there are a number of optional rules you can introduce
to any Quest to change the way the game feels.
Secret Victory Points

This ones easy: the Fates keep their victory points a secret from
everyone else. This has the benefit of introducing more uncertainty in
regards to which Fate is in the lead and which is behind. It can increase
tension a little bit.
Scaling Bargains
If you find that the Hero isnt taking bargains often enough, consider
increasing the number of dice a Fate can offer the Hero as the game
progresses. In the first 3 Scenes, a Fate can offer 3 dice. In Scenes 4-6, a
Fate can offer 4 dice. In Scenes 7-9, a Fate can offer 5 dice.
Improv Play
Want to play Becoming but want to make things up as you go, and
not follow a predefined Quest? You can do it, but youll need to follow
these steps.
Game Inception
Before you play, youll need to know what youre playing. What are
the broad strokes? Talk as a group about what kind of game you want to
play, what the general thrust of the story is, what the major threats in the
story are, and who the Hero is in relation to them.
Example: Mark, Tammy, Jake, and Lisa are all playing an improv game
of Becoming. They decide they want it to be about a small, isolated
town plagued by werewolves, and that the Hero should be a young
girl trying to get help from outside the town.
Changing Things 89
Hero Creation
Who is the Hero? Talk a little bit more about this and come to a
consensus before you start coming up with Assets. Everyone then takes six
index cards and writes an Asset on each one: two Strengths, two Virtues,
and two Allies. Share these with the group, and rewrite any redundant
Assets or Assets that the rest of the group feels are inappropriate. Put all of
the Strengths in one pile, all of the Virtues in another, and all of the Allies
in a third. Shuffle the individual piles. Finally, the Hero pulls the top three
Assets off of each pile; these are the Heros Assets for the game.
Example: Tammys playing the Hero; she writes down two Strengths
(Stubborn Determination and Fleet of Foot), two Virtues (I must save
the town and Worried for My Family) and two Allies (My Brother Bill
and Jackson, the Woodsman). The group shares all the Assets theyve
written and, after the redundant an inappropriate Assets have been
taken care of (someone wrote down Marcus, the Lumberjack and
I Swear like a Sailor), the group shuffles them all into three piles.
Then Tammy draws the top three off of each pile to form her pool
of Assets for the game.
Fate Creation
As a group, decide what the opposition in the story is, whether its
internal, external, or a combination of the two. Come up with a Fate for
each player who isnt a Hero. For Fate abilities, you can use three approaches.
First, you can come up with your own. This is the hardest to do on the
fly and will take the most time, but it leads to the most interesting play.
Second, you can steal abilities from the Quests in this book; just take the
ones that are most similar to what youre trying to represent and maybe
tweak them a little. Thats the recommended method.
If neither of those methods appeals to you, you can use a generic ability
for all of the Fates: once per game, you can immediately add a negative
Trait to any one Asset. This is the easiest method but has the disadvantage
of making all of the Fates play the same. Still, it does get people into the
game quicker.
90 Becoming
Example: The group decides that the Fates are Werewolves, The
Woods, and Fear. These are similar to Fates in some of the official
Quests (The Dead from The Long Road Home, The Woods from The
Witching Hour, and Fear from Long Live the King, respectively). They
decide to just use those, tweaking where necessary.
The Scene Pull List

The final thing you have to do before play is come up with a Scene
pull list. The pull list contains a bunch of seeds of Scenes, created by the
whole group. Each player in the game comes up with three Scene Seeds
and writes each down on an index card.
A Seed is a short, evocative phrase maybe a single word, maybe a quote,
maybe even an entire sentence that gives an impression of what might
happen in the Scene. It doesnt go into detail and doesnt dictate specifics,
not even in the limited way that Elements do. It just gives a jumping-off
point, an idea to guide the Agent of Threat in a given direction. When
everyones written down three Seeds, youve got your pull list.
Example: Jake thinks for a moment about the Seeds he wants to write
down. Hes playing Fear, so he definitely wants a Scene with the Hero
having to overcome her fear of being alone in the dark woods. He
writes Alone in the dark for his first Seed. He also knows he wants
a Scene where the Hero and her allies are running from werewolves,
so he writes down Wolves at her heels for his second Seed. Finally,
he wants to see a tense confrontation between the Hero and some
of the townsfolk, though hes not sure what he wants the nature of
the confrontation to be. He ponders, then writes down Tension in
the town square for his final Seed.
Changing Things 91
Starting Play
When its time to start play, arrange the Heros Assets and the Scene
Seeds on the table where everyone can see them. Decide how many Scenes
there will be (keep in mind the relationship between the number of Scenes
and the number of Assets), who will be the first Agent of Threat, and what
in order the Fates will assume that role.
Play starts when the first Fate, the Agent of Threat, chooses a Seed from
the table and begins to construct a Scene around it. Continue until youve
played through all the Scenes youve agreed upon, or until the Hero falls!
DRIFTS
T he guidelines above should provide you a good starting
point for doing your own thing in Becoming, but its always been
my experience that an example can illustrate more clearly than general
advice. To that end, the remainder of this chapter is dedicated to three
examples of Quests that stretch what Becoming does, each drifting the
system further than the last. Ill speak more about what Im doing in each
example also, through footnotes.
92 Becoming
Rock Star
T his is it, your big break! After a shit ton of local gigs and
touring, your band landed a recording deal and a real tour, national
and everything! This is what youve been waiting for, and youre not gonna
let anyone take it from you!
Special Rules: This is a three-player game, with two Fates. The Hero
gets six Assets total (two from each column), and the Quest is played over
six Scenes.
So yeah, you dont have to make your Quests about big, epic things. Youre not saving the world
in this Quest; hell, youre not even saving yourself. This Quest is a good example of how you
can play a more lighthearted game with Becoming, something thats maybe not quite so
heavy and draining.
Changing Things 93
THE HERO
HERO CREATION:
Use the Assets below with the group to create your Hero. Take a
handful of dice of the same color; any dice of that color are yours for the
rest of the game, though you dont necessarily get to use all of them! Pick
one of the following names (or come up with your own) and write it on
a tent card. Write your band name on the tent card too.
Male Names: Tommy, Jack, Robbie, Duncan, Rolf, Eddie.
Female Names: Alice, Jane, Vanity, Courtney, Missy, Sheila.
Surnames: Mac, Axe, Becket, Farley, Sharp, Heart.
Band Names: Snakegrinder, Purple Prose, The Search for New Modern
China, The Velcro Pennies, Rocksalt, The Shotgun Cherubs.
Sex Drugs Rock & Roll
I am a sex god/ Life of the Party Screaming Vocals

goddess!
Pete, the Drummer Fastest Fingers
Everybody Loves Around
Lorna, Manager and
the Bad Boy/Girl
Supplier Job, the Bassist
Face of the Band
Plenty of Cash Harley and Rob,
Wild Reputation Roadies
THINK ABOUT:
Youre an up-and-coming rock star, a rebel without a cause, a voice

screaming against the Man and what he represents. Conformity, convention,
normality; these things are anathema to you, theyre things to be avoided
and fought at all costs. Show them what youre made of! Show them what
rock and roll really is!
I didnt mention it above, but Assets are totally something you can play around with. Check
this out: in this Quest, the Heros Assets are Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll. Not only is that
thematically appropriate to what Im trying to emulate here, but these Assets also allow me
to do something a little different with the Fates (which youll see in a sec). Also, take a look at
the individual Assets. They still follow the same broad categories: things youre good at, things
that are important to you, and people who help you. The difference here is that those categories
arent tied to the actual Asset categories; theyre spread throughout.
94 Becoming
SELLING OUT
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Selling Out) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene
List and look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same color; these are
your dice for the rest of the game (though you may loan them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
When you offer the Hero a bargain, you can offer her your usual three
dice, but you can sweeten the deal a bit. For every additional negative Trait
the Hero takes (aside from whatevers involved with the bargain), she gets
two extra dice, to a maximum of six.
THINK ABOUT:
Youre the part of the Establishment that wants the Hero to go

commercial, sell her soul, and make you a ton of money. The Heros just
a cog in the machine to you, a face and a voice and an ass to be milked
dry then discarded, like all the teen heartthrobs and one-hit-wonders that
have come before her.
Changing Things 95
SETTLING DOWN
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Settling Down) on a tent card. Take a copy of the Scene
List and look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same color; these are
your dice for the rest of the game (though you may loan them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
Whenever you subvert an Asset, mark it as yours. Selling Out can only
use one of your subverted Assets by paying you a victory coin. Also, you
get 2 dice when you use one of your own subverted Assets.
THINK ABOUT:
Youre a part of the Establishment, but youre the part that wants the Hero
to give up the rock and roll lifestyle, find a nice girl or boy, and start a
family in the suburbs. You preach conformity and normality, dangling the
temptation of a quiet life full of all the modern conveniences.
You noticed a couple of things about these Fates, didnt you? First of all, there are only two of
them. Thats right; this is a three-player Quest. Second, each Quest is a side of the same coin: the
Establishment. Selling Out and Settling Down are both forms of death for a musical career: when
you sell out, its not about the music anymore, its about the money. Its empty, hollow. When you
settle down, youre giving up the music altogether. In addition to being external forces (of the
Establishment), these Fates are also internal drives. You can mix things up like that, you know.
96 Becoming
Scene List
Scene One: The Talent Scout
Agent of Establishment: Selling Out Setup: The bands on stage at a
local dive bar, playing their hearts out before an evening of debauchery.
The crowd, One guy paying
enthusiastically cheering close attention
Smokey room Love your sound, bro! Let
Flashing lots of cash me introduce myself . . .
Threat (5 dice) Chances are the bands going to take this guy up on an
offer of fame and fortune, but how much to they buy his song and dance?
Can this guy be trusted?
Scene Two: Mom on the Phone

Agent of Establishment: Settling Down Setup: The next morning (or
afternoon, who can tell?), the Hero gets a phone call from his/her Mom.
Youre still asleep A job offer from Dad
at this hour? Disapproving tone
I wish youd stop hanging You can always move
out with those people. back in with us.
Threat (5 dice) Does this conversation get to the Hero? How much?
Does it plant the seeds of doubt or guilt?
Yeah, its Agent of Establishment instead of Agent of Threat in this Quest. No mechanical
difference, but I thought itd be fun.
Changing Things 97
Scene Three: New Instruments
Agent of Establishment: Selling Out Setup: Later, the Hero and the band
arrive at their new studio to find that their new manager has gotten them
a bunch of brand new instruments!
Expensive instruments Man, these drums
Too shiny, too clean are awesome!
These dont sound right. Heres your new
wardrobe.
Threat: 6 dice Does the band (and the Hero) accept these new gifts and
the obvious strings attached?
Scene Four: Old Friends

Agent of Establishment: Settling Down Setup: The Hero runs into some
old friends that he/shes recently drifted away from, since joining the band.
Bob and Karen A kid in a stroller
Wow, its been a We should catch up.
little while. Want to come with
Oh, so youre still doing us to TGI Fridays?
the band thing, huh?
Threat (6 dice) This is a glimpse into the road the Hero could have
traveled. How does he/she handle it?
Were back to Selling Out already! There are only six Scenes in this Quest, and we alternate
between the two Fates as we go. This is designed as a shorter game..
98 Becoming
Scene Five: The Deal
Agent of Establishment: Selling Out Setup: The bands manager presents
them with a shiny new recording deal.
Shiny, corporate office Lots of money, even
Lawyers in business suits more fine print
All the suits smiling Sign here please.
Threat (7 dice) Does the band sell out? Does the Hero?
Scene Six: Intervention

Agent of Establishment: Settling Down Setup: After coming back from
a bender, the Hero finds his/her apartment full of people.
Bob and Karen Youre out of control.
Mom and Dad We want to help you, but
Assorted friends you need to help yourself.
and family
Threat (7 dice) Does the Hero leave behind his/her rock and roll lifestyle
forever? Does he/she settle down?
See how the Fates dont need to be attacking the Hero to present a Threat? In this Scene, people
are trying to help the Hero, but theyre attacking what the Hero stands for.
Changing Things 99
Boy Meets Girl
T hey met, they hit it off, they fell in love. But even the best
relationship has problems, and theirs has more than most. Do they
make it?
100 Becoming
Special Rules
This is a four-player Quest, with two Heroes (Boy and Girl) and two
Fates (Dependence and Resentment). The Fates alternate as the Agent of
Threat according to whats down in the Scene List, but both Heroes are
present in all Scenes. This Quest is about their relationship, after all.
Each Hero has his or her own Assets, three of them. In addition, there
are four Relationship Assets, which are shared between the two Heroes.
These Assets represent the strength of the relationship itself.
When the Agent of Threat presents the Threat, he chooses whether
hes attacking the Boy, the Girl, or the Relationship. If he attacks the Boy
or the Girl, the Hero he attacks gets three dice and can invoke his or her
own Assets to get more dice. If the Agent of Threat attacks the Relationship,
both Heroes get to roll their dice together, and they can each invoke their
own Assets and invoke the Relationship Assets communally. Each provides
the normal benefits (and risks) of invoking an Asset.
In addition, when the Agent of Threat attacks a single Hero, the other
Hero can invoke a Relationship Asset to help. She risks this Asset just like
with a normal invocation, but it doesnt provide any dice on its own. Instead,
it allows her to add her dice (including any dice from additional Assets
she invokes) to the other Heros dice.
The Tempter can choose to offer a bargain to a single Hero, to both
Heroes as a group, or to the first Hero who takes the deal. If offering a
bargain to a single Hero, the Tempter can only ask to affect that Heros
Assets. If offering to both Heroes as a group, all Assets are on the table.
The game ends under one of three conditions: either the last Scene is
played out, both Heroes have lost their last Asset, or the Relationship has
lost its last Asset. If the last Scene plays out and the Heroes and Relationship
still have Assets, the Heroes win as a group and get to narrate their victory
together. If either of the other two conditions are met, figure out which
Fate won based on victory points, as usual.
You dont have to attach Assets to a single Hero. If you like this, the next Quest takes this even
farther!
Changing Things 101

THE BOY
HERO CREATION:
Choose three of the Personal Assets below and two of the Relationship
Assets. Take a handful of dice of the same color; any dice of that
color are yours for the rest of the game, though you dont necessarily
get to use all of them! Pick one of the following names (or come
up with your own) and write it on a tent card.
Names: Mike, Tommy, Rodrigo, James, Danny, Sam.
Personal Assets Relationship Assets
Indie Rocker Love is All You Need
Compassionate High Fidelity
Honest and Open Head Over Heels
Quick with a Joke Built on Trust
My best friend, Jake
Family is Everything
THINK ABOUT:
What first attracted you to the Girl? Why are you still with her?
What annoys you about her? What was your last big fight about?
How did you meet? What arent you telling her?
102 Becoming
THE GIRL
HERO CREATION:
Choose three of the Personal Assets below and two of the Relationship
Assets. Take a handful of dice of the same color; any dice of that
color are yours for the rest of the game, though you dont necessarily
get to use all of them! Pick one of the following names (or come
up with your own) and write it on a tent card.
Names: Jenn, Sally, Rosalie, Allie, Beth, Rhonda.
Personal Assets Relationship Assets
Impassioned Author Strength from Adversity
Resolute Mutual Attraction
Always Smiling Common Interests
Not a Quitter Friends First
My sister, Jamie
Trusting
THINK ABOUT:
What first attracted you to the Boy? Why are you still with him?
What annoys you about him? What was your last big fight about?
How did you meet? What arent you telling him?
Changing Things 103

DEPENDENCE
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Dependence) on a tent card. Take a copy of the

Scene List and look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same color;
these are your dice for the rest of the game (though you may loan
them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
When you are a the Agent of Threat, you roll 3 extra dice against a
lone Hero. If you win a Threat against the Heroes when theyre rolling
together, you may always place a negative Trait on a Relationship
Asset, in addition to whatever else you do.
THINK ABOUT:
You drive the Heroes together, but you push them together to the
point of smothering. You make them need each other too much,
rely on each other too much, get too far into each others space.
You want to make sure your Fate abilities support what your Fate is all about as much as possible.
In this Quest, I wanted to make sure that Dependence encouraged the Heroes to work together,
while Resentment made that harder.
104 Becoming
RESENTMENT
FATE CREATION:
Write your role (Resentment) on a tent card. Take a copy of the

Scene List and look it over. Take a handful of dice of the same
color; these are your dice for the rest of the game (though you may
loan them out!).
SPECIAL ABILITY:
You start the game with 4 Resentment Dice. Once per Scene at any
time, you may place a Resentment Die on one of the Relationship
Assets; you may place multiple Resentment Dice on a single Asset.
When a Hero invokes an Asset with a Resentment Die on it, he or
she must roll all Resentment Dice on that Asset in addition to any
other dice. They count as dice for the Heroes, but a roll of 5 or 6
subverts that Asset immediately.
THINK ABOUT:
Your job is to drive the Heroes apart. You make them chafe at each
others company, you magnify the small annoyances into explosive
arguments and push them away from each other at every turn.
Changing Things 105

Scene List
Scene One: First Date

Agent of Threat: Dependence Setup: The Boy and Girl are meeting for
their first date. Theyve been friends for a little while, but things are finally
blossoming into romance.
Caf First kiss
Charming barista Expectation
A walk outside
Threat (5 dice) Is he hiding anything? Does she like me? Are things
moving too fast?
Scene Two: Meet the Parents

Agent of Threat: Resentment Setup: The Boys coming over to meet the
Girls parents.
The pressures on A missed concert
A firm handshake Second thoughts
Too-polite smiles
Threat (5 dice) Will things blow up in the middle of dinner? Can
everyone just be polite all night?
Scene Three: Proposal

Agent of Threat: Dependence Setup: After a short courtship, the Boy
sets the scene for a proposal.
Moonlit night Rain
Wheres the ring? Nervous
Call from an old flame
Threat (6 dice) Are things moving too fast? Is this the right thing for
either of them?
A note on a two-Hero Quest: theres going to be a lot of interaction between the Heroes, especially
in a Quest like this one. The Agent of Threats job is to subtly guide the Scene toward conflict,
the Tempters job is to sow seeds of doubt. Use your NPCs wisely!
106 Becoming
Scene Four: Engagement Party
Agent of Threat: Resentment Setup: To celebrate their new engagement,
the Boy and Girl invite their closest friends and family over.
Lots of booze Too many questions
Whats he doing here? Pressure
Too loud
Threat (6 dice) It feels like Im suffocating. I have to get out of here. I
just need a minute to think.
Scene Five: Making Plans

Agent of Threat: Dependence Setup: The Boy and the Girl plan their
wedding.
Cake fiasco A very long day
I dont care what Tempers flare
flowers we have. Pressure
Threat (7 dice) Why doesnt this feel right? Are we really in love? Should
we really get married? Are we ready for this?
Scene Six: The Wedding

Agent of Threat: Resentment Setup: The day is finally here. But are the
Heroes ready for it?
Expectations Eyes everywhere
A life planned out Are we doing the
Disapproving parents right thing?
Threat (7 dice) Can they go through with it?
This Scene exemplifies something I try to do with all of my Quests. When youre putting together
the final Scene, make it the Scene where everything can get wrapped up or go colossally wrong.
Play big or go home!
Changing Things 107

Sheep Amidst the Wolves
T oms Hollow, a small New England town, has a problem.

People have been turning up dead lately, mauled to death by animals
of some sort. These animals have been getting more and more brazen,
killing people closer and closer to town. Hushed whispers say that these
things arent animals at all, but beasts sent by the Devil himself to destroy
Toms Hollow!
This Quest is an example of how you can really stretch the formula of Becoming, turning it
into something different.
108 Becoming
Special Rules
The terms Fate and Hero dont apply to this Quest; instead, there
are three Werewolf players, each representing a different facet of the
werewolves warring nature. Each of the three Werewolves shares around
the responsibilities and mechanics of both Fate and Hero, and neither
represents a single person.
The Werewolves have three different roles, each representing a
different aspect of the werewolves plaguing the town: Humanity, Instinct,
and The Beast. Each Werewolf has four Tells, which are a bit like Assets. In
addition, there is a group of seven communal Townsfolk, also a bit like Assets.
In this hack, each player gets a chance to frame a Scene like a Fate does.
That player is the Narrator for the Scene. The Narrator starts by picking
a Scene Seed from the pull list, describing the location, cast of characters,
and situation, and asking a leading question based on the Scene Seed and
his own role. Each Werewolf plays one of the Townsfolk present or, if there
arent enough Townsfolk, plays minor characters and the environment.
At some point in the Scene, the Threat will arise; this happens when
two Werewolves disagree on whats going to happen in the Scene; if all three
Werewolves disagree on what will happen, decide via table consensus who
the two sides of the Threat are. Each side gets three dice, and can invoke
Tells to get more; Tells are risked exactly like Assets are.
Once you resolve the Threat, the winner of the Threat gets to narrate
what happens and gets to either place a negative Trait on each of the
opposing Werewolf s risked Tells and on one Townsfolk present in the
Scene, or you can subvert one Townsfolk. Keep playing until either all of
the Townsfolk are subverted, until all of one Werewolf s Tells are subverted,
or until you run out of Scene Seeds. Negative Traits and subverted Tells
or Townsfolk dont have any specific mechanical effect other than victory
points gained and unavailability in the case of subversion.
In this Quest nobody plays any specific person. All three players are portraying both the Townsfolk
and the Werewolves that prey upon them. Its less about competing to try to drag the Hero down
or overcome the Fates and more about playing to see what happens to the town.
Changing Things 109

You get victory points for the following:
1 point for each negative Trait you place on a Tell
2 points for subverting a Townsfolk
3 points for subverting a Werewolf s Tell
The winner is whoever has the most victory points; that Werewolf
narrates the end of the story.
Werewolves
Humanity represents the human side of the werewolves nature, the
part of them that still feels remorse about what theyre doing and still
recognizes their prey as kin. Humanity has the following tells.
Compassion Reason
Intelligence Love
Instinct is the wolf nature, the wild thing that lives in the heart of
every werewolf. Instinct has the following tells.
Cunning Speed
The Pack Predatory Nature
The Beast is the supernatural element, the evil spirit that possesses a
mortal and turns her into a howling monster. Neither human nor wolf, The
Beast is a thing driven by hunger and rage. The Beast has the following tells.
Hunger Destruction
Rage Power
This Quest seeks to emulate the story of an isolated town plagued by monsters. In this case its
werewolves, but it doesnt have to be. Want vampires? A vengeful spirit? A serial killer? Tweak
the roles and the Tells and you can achieve any of those things.
110 Becoming
Townsfolk
The town of Toms Hollow has a number of inhabitants, most of
whom are not part of this story. Pick seven of the following to be the main
characters of your story.
Robert Arren, Sarah Fields, idealistic
amiable butcher schoolteacher
Eliza Arren, mother Barry Fields, out-of-
of three work carpenter
Janie Hark, surly mechanic Alice Milligan, out-
Harold Banston, of-towner
taciturn mayor Jack Runcie, handyman
Miles Rogers, single father with a drinking problem
Sean Preston, entitled
lay-about
You can change the tenor of the game a lot by playing with these characters. Different personality
types interact differently.
Pull List
Write all of these Scene Seeds on notecards and place them on the table
where everyone can reach them. Alternatively, come up with your own!
Lovers meet in the woods. Howling from
A mauled corpse. every direction.
A tense stand-off A death in the family.
in the diner. Shelter from the storm.
Youre crazy! What are these things?!
Fire!
This list, and which Werewolf is the Narrator of which Scene, has a profound impact on how
the game plays out. Simply altering the order in which you play can change the story from one
session to the next, but changing these Scene Seeds entirely can make for a whole new story!
Changing Things 111

AND BACK
AGAIN
A nd thats it. Youve read Becoming and youre ready to play
it! Start by playing through the Quests in Chapter 2, but once youve
got the hang of how it works, use these guidelines to really make the game
your own. Do awesome stuff!
If you do awesome stuff, I want to hear about it! If you make a Quest
or a hack or something and you want to people to see it and play it, let me
know about it. Drop me a line at engard@gmail.com, and make sure the
words Becoming Content are in the subject line of your email. Tell me
what youve done, provide me with the file or a link to where youre hosting
your work. Ill take a look at it and post a link to it on the official website
(http://www.becomingrpg.com). And speaking of the official website, check
it out for everyone elses Quests and hacks and stuff!
Happy writing!
-Brian Engard
112 Becoming
KICKSTARTER
BACKERS
Great Ones
Charlton Wilbur Janice Toomey Michael Requeim
Hardin
Chris Edwards Jason Blalock
Richard Solidhavok
Cintain Josh Rensch
Linnell
Elise Roberts Lou Gatti
Rick Neal
Evil Hat Productions Martha Toomey
Zack Schwartz.
Ian McFarlin
Heroes
Aaron Gibbs Jason Ramboz Rich Palij
Chad Damn Harding Matthew Jackson Sean TG Seamus
Breitenbach
Chino Devine Mike Dogs Rule
Wilson To Burt Silva.
Eric Lytle
Morgan Weeks
Merchants and Scholars

Charles W. Phillips Sean Holland and Tijn Subcultures Rams
Tyches Games
Scot Martin Tim Morgan.
Captains
Anthony Dalo G&T Sarah Morgan
Brenda Hovdenes Michele Morris Sean Nittner
(cousin)
Dan Conley Playdead Stan Yamane.
Robert Bowers
Derek Guder
Knights
Andy Rinato Rudi Jason Pitre The Great Corlaktuz
earlyspark Michael Thompson Despoiler of Worlds.
Changing Things 113

Squires
Adam R. Easterday Guy-Justin Nuyda Moonie
Adam Surber Harsh Realities Nat woodelf
Barmore
Bernard Gravel Henrik Boman
Nathan _nthdegree
Bradford T Cone J. Klingerman
Harrison
Brian Slightly mad Jack Gulick
Nathan Black
Allred James Reuben Moses
Nathan Henderson
Brian E. Williams Jason Ludanto Smith
Nathaniel Early
Chelley Roberts Jason D Wright
Nathaniel W Jordan
Chris Angelini Jay Loomis
Non-Weapon
Chris Invidiata Jay Treat Proficiency
Christian Lindke Jonathan Jordan Raphael Balgin
Ciro Guerra IV Stondraeg Perry
Jose Manuel Sanchez
Clark Valentine Lanzat Richard
Craig McRoberts Josh Albritton topwebcomics Mathis
Cynthia Kira Josh Harrison Rishi Agrawal

Wakefield Robert Carnel
Kathleen Doerr
Dan Cetorelli Santa Clause
Kathy Dettwyler
Daniel Lewis Sara and Toast Peters
Llanwyre Laish
Daniel M. Choi Sean ODell
Matt Collinge
Daniele Lostia Shoshana Kessock
Matt Graves
Dave Brookshaw Stephen Hood
Matthew McFarland
Davey & Michelle Lyons- Steven K. Watkins
McFarland
David Terhune Tannyx et Miettinator
Matthew Nielsen
Dragonpynk Ted Childers
Michael Archibald
drnuncheon Tommie DeSantos
Michael D. Blanchard Green
Dustin Headen
Michael Feldhusen Victor Wyatt
Ed Kowalczewski
Mike Spano Xavid.
Eli
Novices
A. Carbonetto Adam Rajski Andrea Ungaro
(Ander)
Achim PiHalbe Zien AJ Medder
Andy Curubethion
Adam Drew Alan Twigg
Hauge
Adam Fried-Gintis Alberto Muti
Anne-Sylvie Betsch
Adam Lerner Alexey Smishlayev
114 Becoming
anon Dean Gilbert James Dillane
Ash Walter Declan Feeney James Stuart
Austin Morgan Derek Stobbe Jared Nelson
Awesome Doude Jason Breti
B. Adam Russell Dr Juan Bonnets Jason L. Reedy
Bastian Dornauf Drake Stevens Jay Pierce
Ben Hannan (Shazarn) Duncan Young Jeffrey J.A. Fuller II
Benjamin Hinnum Eden Brandeis Jeremiah Frye
Bob Hiestand Emily K. Dresner Jeremy Fridy
Boris Phlmann Eric C. Magnuson Jicey
Brett Turley Eric M. Paquette John Bogart
Brian Fitz Fitzpatrick Erik Amundsen John Didion
C. W. Marshall Fealoro john hayholt
Cdric Jeanneret Felix Girke Jon Edwards
Cline .S. Sauv feltk Jon Robertson
Caelligh Gabriel Senatore Jonathan Buddha
Davis
Cam Banks Gareth Ryder-
Hanrahan Jonathan Klick
Chad Henderson
Guillaume Nocker Jonathan Korman
Cheryl Dirato
H. M. Dain Lybarger Jonathan Lavallee
Chris Jensen Romer
Hairy Trucker Jonathan Ricks
Cirunz
Hercules Avello Jorge Coto Bautista
Craig Hargraves
Herman Duyker Jose Miguel Gimenez
Critical Mass
Garcia
Rocketworks Humberto S. N. dos
Anjos Joshua Ramsey
D. Hunter Phillips
Icarus Mortis Julie Southworth
Dana Powers-Green
Irene Strauss Karl O. Knutson
Daniel Brooke-Gandhi
Irven Myrkwell Kat Boulware
Daniele Di Rubbo
Keppen Keith Preston
Darrell Hardy
J. Peters Keith Stetson
Dave Chalker
J.R. Blackwell Ken Watford
David
Jack Kenyon Kerry Harrison
David A. K.
JaiKishun Ryan
Lichtenstein Kevin Creamer
Swanson
David Chart Kevin Kulp
Jake Miller
Dean Baratta KN Reynolds-Gier
James Terwox Myers
Changing Things 115

Kyle M. Hall Morgan Crooks Robert M. Irigoyen
Laiel Shepherd Morgan Ellis Roy Pollock
Leo M. Lalande Nancy Wilson Ryan M. Danks
Lobo Neal Dalton Ryan Macklin
Manu Marron Neall Raemonn Price Samuel Joy
Marc Brandt Nick Bate Sarah Perry-Shipp
Marc Majcher Nicolas Hornyak Sarn Aska
Marcelo Duarte Ferrari Nikitas Thlimmenos Seireadan Smith
Marco_Journeyman_ Pablo Iglesias Seth Harris
Bignami PaoloLisaAndreaSofia Shervyn
Mark Morrison Comunian Steven D. Russell
Mark Richardson Patrick Henry Downs Stras Acimovic
Matt Jackson Patty Kirsch Tayler Stokes
Matthew Pauze Paul Anthony Shortt Tim Rodriguez
Mauro Ghibaudo Paul Echeverri Tom Cadorette
Me!!! Paul Hill Tony Szedlak
Meghan McKinney Peiblit Tyrone R3DTIGER
Mendel Peter Gates Queensborough
Schmiedekamp Phil Doud Vincent Arebalo
Michael Aaronson Phil Nicholls Vincent D Barker
Michael Godesky PK Sullivan W. Shaman
Michael Langford Obenshain
Quinn Murphy
Michael Richards W.M.P. Tusk
R Kirchner
Mikael Dahl wraith808
Raymond Beckmann
Mike Bogan Xavier Aubuchon-
Regina J.
Mendoza
Mike D. Reverance Pavane
Yan Priard
Mikhail Bonch- Rob Donoghue
Osmolovskiy Yoshi Creelman
Rob Justice
Moral Wiz Zw3rv3r Cyberpiraat.
Rob Wieland
116 Becoming
Aspirants
Aaron King Im not in the book Pete Woodworth
Ahimsa Kerp Jarrod Farquhar-Nicol Rebecca Weih
Bobby Horsefall Jay Shaffstall Reuben Evans
Brennan Taylor Jeremy Morgan Richard Scott
Brian Auxier Jim Ryan rkj
Britne Meyer John C. Fay Robert Daines
Chris Does $1 Earn a Josh Howard Ryven Cedrylle
Credit? Warner Legends of Sarah McMullan
Christian Heftel Enlightenment SeaWyrm
Daniel Steadman Lyssa J Sebastiaan Kok
Davena Embery Marcus Neil Morrisey Shaun Cahill
David A. Stern III Mark Keller Tracy Barnett - Sand &
Diogenes Mike Olson Steam Productions
Gabriel Birke Nicole C. Engard Best Vince Luca
Wife Ever
Gareth Hodges Vincent ShadowHeart.
One Die Short
Grablen
Paolo Bosi
Changing Things 117

INDEX
Agent of Duty, Paranoia, 56, 57, 58, 59 Bargain(s), 34, 35, 36, 85
Agent of Establishment, 95, 96, 97 Scaling, 87
Agent(s) of Threat, 30, 33, 45, 82, 85 Selling Out, 93, 94
Boy Meets Girl, 99, 103 Batteries, 8, 12, 14, 18
Creeping Terror, 64, 65, 66, 67 Beast, The, 107, 108
Dead, The, 71, 73, 74, 75 Bilbo, 76
Dependence, 102, 104, 105 Boy Meets Girl, 98
Doubt, 48, 50, 51, 52 Fates creation, 102-3
Duty, 55, 57, 58, 59 game enders, 99
Fear, 49, 50, 51, 52, 81 Heroes creation, 100-101
Infection, 70, 73, 74, 75 Scene List, 104-5
Isolation, 55, 57, 58, 59 special rules, 99
order of, 81 Boy, hero creation, 100
Pain, 48, 50, 51, 52, 81 Bricks, charged, 10, 12-13, 17-19, 23
Resentment, 104, 105 Bunyan, Paul, 12
resolving Threat, 36
role of, 31 Captain America, 12
shooting the moon, 39 Conflict, 25
support of, 34 description of, 32
Things Fall Apart, 73, 74, 75 Creeping Terror, 64
Threat introduction and, 34 Customization, 76
two Heroes and, 86
Witch, 63, 65, 66, 67 Dark Knight, The, 24
Woods, 62, 65, 66, 67 Dead, 80
Allies, 35, 88 Dead, The, 71
number of, 79 Deep River, 22
number to choose, 28 Dent, Harvey, 24
Alone in the Dark (seed), 89 Dependence, 102
Argon, 8, 10, 11-15, 22-23 Devout Faith, 33
Asset(s) Dice rolls, 31
Boy Meets Girl, 99 Dice, 30
improving, 88 rolls, 31
invoking, 33 number to roll, 32
lowering number of, 84, 85 Dogmen, 14-15, 19-21, 34, 80
negative Trait addition, 34 Doubt
number of, 79 Exodus, 55
number of Traits and, 37 Fate Card, 43
number to choose, 28, 29 long Live the King, 48
parity to Scenes, 84, 85
positive Trait removal, 34 Elements, 30, 45
Rock Star, 91-93 introduction of, 31
Subverting/subverted, 34, 37-38 Events sequence, 35-36
two Heroes and, 85 Exodus
use during Hero creation, 29 Fates creation, 55-56
Avatar(s), 35 Hero creation, 54
Selection of, 33 Paranoia creation, 56
Scene List, 57-59
118 Becoming
Fate Card, 42, 43 Hero
Doubt, 43 action from, 31
Fear, 43 adding another, 85, 99
Pain, 43 Allies, 35
Fate(s) creation, 80 Assets number to choose, 28
Exodus, 55 becoming Tempter, 86
improv game, 88-89 creation of, 28-29, 79-80
Long Live the King, 48-49 customizing, 77
Rock Star, 93-94 naming, 29
Witch, 63 negative Traits and, 32
Woods, 62 resolving Threat, 36
Fate, victory tokens/points, 39-40 Rock Star, 91
Fates, 77, 79 role, 25, 30
changing number of, 84-85 shooting the moon, 38
customizing, 77 support of, 34
number of Scenes and, 84 victory points, 39-40
Rock Star, 92 Werewolves, 107
roles, 25, 30 winning, 26
Settling Down, 94 winning conflict, 33
tokens and, 26 Hero Card, 42, 43
victory tokens/points, 39-40 Hero creation
Werewolves and, 107 Boy, 100
winning, 26 Exodus, 54
Fear, 30, 34, 39, 80, 89 Girl, 101
Agent of Threat, 81 improv game, 88
Fate Card, 43 Long Live the King, 47
Long Live the King, 49 Long Road Home, 69
Fearless, 37, 38, 40 Rock Star, 92
The Weight of Reputation, 38 Witching Hour, 61
Firefly, 41 Hindmarch, Will, 6
Fleet of Foot, 88 Hobbit,The,. 76
Humanity, 107, 108
Game goals, 26
Gamemaster (GM) role, 30 I Must Save the Town, 88
Gandalf, 76 Improv game
Geart, 10-19 Fate creation, 88-89
Girl, hero creation, 101 game inception, 87
Goals, 26 Scene pull list, 89
Grateful and Loyal, 37 Index card(2), 26, 29
Guiding principle, 27 Infection, 80
creation, 70
Instinct, 107, 108
Isolation creation, 55
Jen, 22-23
Index 119
Kaylee and Shepherd Book, 41 Relationship Assets, 99, 103
Kickstarter backers, 111-15 Resentment creation, 102, 103
Kingdom of Drassis, 46 Rock Star, 91
Fates creation, 93-94
Last scene, playing big, 105 Hero creation, 92
Linkon, 12 Scene List, 95-96
Long Live the King, 29, 45, 46, 80, 81, 89 Role choice, 30
Fates creation, 48-49 Rules, 27
Hero creation, 47
Scene List, 50-51 Scene(s), 27, 30
Long Road Home, The, 68, 80, 89 adding, 84
Fates creation, 70-72 elements, 30, 31, 82
Hero creation, 69 framing of, 31
Scene List, 73-75 handling unexpected, 30
name of, 45
Machinist, 12-15, 17, 23 number of, 84, 85
pull list for, 89
Narration, 27, 31, 82 Quest and, 81-82
example of, 8-23 Rock Star, 91
splitting, 40 seeds, 89
tone of story maintenance, 37 setup, 30, 82
Narrator, 30 threat, 30, 33, 82
for Scene, 107, 109 timing and, 35
NPCs (non-player characters), 31, 33, 35, two Heroes and, 85
103, 104 victory conditions, 40
Scene List, 44-45
Obstacles, 25 Boy Meets Girl, 104-5
Exodus, 57-59
Pain, 30, 31, 32, 80 Long Live the King, 50-52
Agent of Threat, 81 Long Road Home, The, 73-75
Fate Card, 43 Rock Star, 95-96
Long Live the King, 48 Witching Hour, The, 65-67
Paranoia, Exodus, 56 werewolves, 107, 109
People Need a Hero, The, 37 Seed, 89
Players Selling Out
number of, 26 Agent of Establishment, 95, 96, 97
changing number of, 84 creation, 93-94
Protect Those Who Need It, 37 Settling Down
Pull list, werewolves, 109 Agent of Establishment, 95, 96, 97
creation, 93-94
Quest(s), 25, 27, 42, 77 Setup, 30, 45
abilities in, 88 Shattered Courage, 38
Boy Meets Girl, 99 Sheep Amidst the Wolves, 106
Fates in, 81 Shooting the Moon, 38-39
Rock Star, 91, 94 Strengths, 88
roles for, 30 number of, 79
questions to answer, 78, 80 number to choose, 28, 29
Scene List, 44-46 Stubborn Determination, 88
Scenes in, 81-82 Sworn to Serve Allah, 33
summary of, 42
two Heroes and, 85
werewolves, 107
writing, 77
120 Becoming
Tells, 107 Victory
subverted, 107 conditions, 40
Tempters, 33-34 points, 39-40, 99
avatars, 35 points, secret, 87
bargains from, 38, 39, 82, 85, 99 points, werewolves, 108
Boy Meets Girl, 99, 103, 104 tokens, 39-40, 81
changing number of, 84-85 Virtues, 88
Dead, The, as, 71 number of, 79
Hero becoming, 86 number to choose, 28, 29
number of, 84, 85
Scenes and, 81 Werewolves, 89, 108
seeds of doubt and, 104 pull list, 109
prize timing, 36 Winning, 26
Witch as, 63 Witch creation, 63
Tension in the Town Square (seed), 89 Witching Hour, The, 60, 89
Tent card, 29 Creeping Terror, 64
Things Fall Apart, 80 Fate creations, 62-64
creation, 72 Hero creation, 61
Threat(s), 27, 30, 33, 45 Scene List, 65-67
introduction of, 31, 32 Wolf Lake, 8, 10-11
resolving, 36 Wolves at Her Heels (seed), 89
two Heroes and, 85 Woods, The, 89
werewolves disagreement, 107 creation, 62
Ties, 36, 39, 40 Worried for My Family, 88
Tokens, number of, 26 Writing encouragement, 110
Townsfolk, 107
subverted, 107 Zone, 8-15, 21, 23
Trait
added/removed from Assets, 37
negative, 32, 33, 88, 107
negative addition, 34
positive removal, 34
Index 121

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Mattheew Jackson (order #5709893)

one has to do something. Someone has to step up, to

do it. You have to do it. But taking on the mantle of the

the mantle of the

Writing (Those Who Go There Change)

Editing and Development

Mattheew Jackson (order #5709893)

John Adamus, Jon Argaman, Dean Baratta, Christopher H. Barley, Sean

Sharing and Remixing

Mattheew Jackson (order #5709893)

What This Game is About ............................................................27

Rules of the Game ....................................................................................... 30

What Follows ......................................................................................................... 44

The Witching Hour ....................................................................................61

Mattheew Jackson (order #5709893)

Making the Game Yours ................................................................ 79

Advanced Tinkering ................................................................................ 85

Boy Meets Girl .................................................................................................... 99

Sheep amidst the Wolves ......................................................... 108

And Back Again ............................................................................................... 112

Mattheew Jackson (order #5709893)

I remember thinking his bones were hatching. His bare arms

You either die a hero or live long enough

Mattheew Jackson (order #5709893)

Playing the Game 27

The Goal of the Game

T he Hero and the Fates have diametrically-opposed goals:

T o play this game, youll need a Quest. A Quest provides a

Playing the Game 29

Creating the Hero

B efore play starts, the

Playing the Game 31

T he bulk of the game is played

A s the Agent of Threat, youll frame your Scene, describing

Once youve narrated all of the

Playing the Game 33

Example: Mary describes Allia stepping forward unafraid, laying

T his is where things get

Playing the Game 35

Subvert one of the Heros Assets.

three dice from Fear.

Example: Evie, playing Doubt, is controlling the bandit leader. She

Scenes and Timing

1. Narration, roleplay, introducion of Tempter avatars

2. Presentation of the Threat

3. Hero gathers dice and invokes Assets

4. Agent of Threat gathers dice and invokes negative Traits and

5. Tempters present offers

6. Hero accepts or counters each offer

7. Offers that take effect immediately take place now

Playing the Game 37

9. Roll dice, figure out who won the Threat

10. Agent of Threat or Hero claims their prize

11. Delayed offers take effect

12. Winner narrates resoultion of Threat

13. If applicable, winner of game narrates resolution of the Quest

Resolving the Threat

Add a negative Trait to or remove a positive Trait (in any combination)

Assets and Traits

Playing the Game 39

Example: Tom, the Agent of Threat, subverts Allias Fearless Asset.

Shooting the Moon

Example: Allia is facing down a group of soldiers on the road after a

Playing the Game 27

Playing the Game 29

Playing the Game 31

Playing the Game 33

Playing the Game 35

Playing the Game 37

Playing the Game 39

Playing the Game 41