Facade from 'Mask of Humanity'

[Icelander]

'Mask of Humanity' is an article by Cristopher R. Rice in Pyramid #3/97 Strange Powers. It provides rules for a supernatural force which prevents mundanes from noticing, accepting or remembering blatantly impossible phenomena.

I'm using these rules in my campaign, but haven't yet featured a character or monster with the Shrouding skill or used the table to calculate a Facade rating (usually I assign one based on how mundane or spooky I feel an area is at any given time, from 0-20). So I hadn't noticed a couple of issues before.

Also, no PC has failed a roll in play, it's mostly a narrative device to explain NPC behavior.

A) Why does darkness give a bonus to the Facade and good lighting also give a bonus? Shouldn't either of these things give a penalty?

B) On the Initial Response, why is it much worse to fail by 2-4 against the Facade than by 5-6, or even by 7-9, or, for that matter, than the results of most Fright Checks? Berserk for minutes or hours is orders of magnitude worse than Dazed for seconds or even minutes, arguably even hours.

Subpoint to B), the table lists 5-6 and 6-7 as line headings. 6 can't lead to two mutually exclusive effects (the same effect can't last seconds instead of minutes while it lasts minutes instead of seconds). How should the effect categories be broken up instead? Where should 6 fit, is the next category just 7 or do we change it to 7-8 and then change 8-9 to just 9? Or should 5-6 become just 5?

C) I don't see any modifier to Shrouding skill for the local Facade rating. Is Shrouding meant to work equally well in areas with weak Facades as strong ones? Because that would seem contrary to the narrative description of using the Facade to shroud you.

[Icelander]

No one?

About A), what is meant to be the base lighting level for an unmodified Facade rating?

And does darkness lower Facade or increase it?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Icelander

A) Why does darkness give a bonus to the Facade and good lighting also give a bonus? Shouldn't either of these things give a penalty?

A goof. Ignore the penalty for bright lights, keep only the darkness penalty.

Originally Posted by Icelander

B) On the Initial Response, why is it much worse to fail by 2-4 against the Facade than by 5-6, or even by 7-9, or, for that matter, than the results of most Fright Checks? Berserk for minutes or hours is orders of magnitude worse than Dazed for seconds or even minutes, arguably even hours.

Just how I wrote it. You can change that around. I know I did for my Ceteriverse version.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Subpoint to B), the table lists 5-6 and 6-7 as line headings. 6 can't lead to two mutually exclusive effects (the same effect can't last seconds instead of minutes while it lasts minutes instead of seconds). How should the effect categories be broken up instead? Where should 6 fit, is the next category just 7 or do we change it to 7-8 and then change 8-9 to just 9? Or should 5-6 become just 5?

5-6 should be just 5.

Originally Posted by Icelander

C) I don't see any modifier to Shrouding skill for the local Facade rating. Is Shrouding meant to work equally well in areas with weak Facades as strong ones? Because that would seem contrary to the narrative description of using the Facade to shroud you.

That was the goal, yes. I dislike skills with inherent penalties. You could change it if you want. In my current Ceteriverse version it's half the local rating as a modifier to Shrouding.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

A goof. Ignore the penalty for bright lights, keep only the darkness penalty.

Cool.

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Just how I wrote it. You can change that around. I know I did for my Ceteriverse version.

Do you have that table available?

I want lashing out in fear and rage to be a theoretically possible reaction, but not really something that occurs too often and especially not regardless of whether a character is a mild-mannered pacifist or a violent criminal with a short fuze.

It seems to me from fictional examples that by far the most common reaction to failing a roll against the Facade should be confusion or misinterpretation of the situation, followed by a delusional belief in a rationalization of anything other than whatever impossible thing happened.

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

5-6 should be just 5.

Ok

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

That was the goal, yes. I dislike skills with inherent penalties. You could change it if you want. In my current Ceteriverse version it's half the local rating as a modifier to Shrouding.

What kind of modifier?

A plus or a minus?

Or, perhaps, a penalty of ((10 - Rating) / 2) [round down] when the Facade rating is below 10 and a bonus of (10 + Rating) / 2) when the Facade is above 10. That results in unmodified rolls in Facade 9-11 and significant modifiers at the extremes at either end.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Do you have that table available?

I want lashing out in fear and rage to be a theoretically possible reaction, but not really something that occurs too often and especially not regardless of whether a character is a mild-mannered pacifist or a violent criminal with a short fuze.

It seems to me from fictional examples that by far the most common reaction to failing a roll against the Facade should be confusion or misinterpretation of the situation, followed by a delusional belief in a rationalization of anything other than whatever impossible thing happened.

Not for public use. It's in the setting bible, sorry. And confusion fits better. That's what mostly happens in my Ceteriverse.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Or, perhaps, a penalty of ((10 - Rating) / 2) [round down] when the Facade rating is below 10 and a bonus of (10 + Rating) / 2) when the Facade is above 10. That results in unmodified rolls in Facade 9-11 and significant modifiers at the extremes at either end.

This exactly. This is how I do it in Ceteri for Shrouding.

[Icelander]

Nice.

I'm considering allowing PCs with appropriately magical abilities to learn Shrouding, which I haven't allowed before. 'Nonc' Morel has already uses a ritual that does a similar thing so often it's become a trademark (or more appropriately, the exact opposite of a trademark) and pishtaco instinctively use Shrouding, so it seems logical that, for example, Alice Talbot's nice spirit friend could start teaching her how to veil herself by manipulating the Facade, instead of performing a ritual. After all, she's seen it done, using Awareness, so she should understand the process.

And the players have points for several sessions, for finishing an adventure and bonus points for achieving auxiliary objectives. So, 30+ points each, given that no one has spent point in months.

I was considering how Mana should affect Shrouding. I think I'll set the skill as functioning nornally in Low Mana and higher, with a penalty equal to (Mana Level +5) in -6 to -10 Mana, and impossible in No Mana.

Given that Facade rating will usually correlate inversely with Mana Level, that modifier means that I only have to worry about Facade or Mana modifiers in unusual locations where there might be fairly high Mana but still a powerful Facade, for some unclear reason (or vice versa). Otherwise, it tends to cancel out for no modifiers.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Nice.

I'm considering allowing PCs with appropriately magical abilities to learn Shrouding, which I haven't allowed before. 'Nonc' Morel has already uses a ritual that does a similar thing so often it's become a trademark (or more appropriately, the exact opposite of a trademark) and pishtaco instinctively use Shrouding, so it seems logical that, for example, Alice Talbot's nice spirit friend could start teaching her how to veil herself by manipulating the Facade, instead of performing a ritual. After all, she's seen it done, using Awareness, so she should understand the process.

I allow anyone with Illuminated to learn both Awareness and Shrouding in Ceteri. Works pretty well (mostly).

Originally Posted by Icelander

And the players have points for several sessions, for finishing an adventure and bonus points for achieving auxiliary objectives. So, 30+ points each, given that no one has spent point in months.

I do this too in my games - extra points for doing extra stuff. Nice to see others do the same.

Originally Posted by Icelander

I was considering how Mana should affect Shrouding. I think I'll set the skill as functioning nornally in Low Mana and higher, with a penalty equal to (Mana Level +5) in -6 to -10 Mana, and impossible in No Mana.

That works. I hadn't considered how Mana might interact with the Facade, but that works.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Given that Facade rating will usually correlate inversely with Mana Level, that modifier means that I only have to worry about Facade or Mana modifiers in unusual locations where there might be fairly high Mana but still a powerful Facade, for some unclear reason (or vice versa). Otherwise, it tends to cancel out for no modifiers.

Yup. Which is nice for a GM as it cuts back on the things you need to remember from scene to scene.