Resources
A structurally different kind of thing from Boons: a scalable resource on a 1-5 level scale, not a binary yes/no trait.
What a Resource Is
A Resource represents a currency or standing the character can draw on or lean on narratively - money, contacts, a reputation, a home base - not a bonus applied to a roll. Each Resource is rated 1-5, and each level is a cumulative, defined step up in scope, not a numeric roll bonus.
Cost: at character creation, each level costs a flat 1 point from the Resources pool - a Resource at Level 3 costs 3 points total. After creation, acquiring a Resource you don’t have costs a flat 4 XP, and every level after that costs 3 XP per level you’re leaving - Level 1 to 2 costs 3, Level 4 to 5 costs 12.
Pushing a Resource
Only six Resources can be pushed: Contacts, Debts Owed, Media Contact, Occult Library, System Access, Wealth. Those six have a reach that can be stretched - somebody can be asked for more than they owe, a library can be searched harder, money can be found. Every other Resource is a standing fact. A Safehouse Network is stocked or it isn’t, and there is nothing to roll about it: its Level table says what you have and that is what you have.
Each Resource’s Level table below defines what’s available for free, no roll required. When a character wants to draw on a Resource for something beyond that free scope, roll a Resource Check: 2d10 against Resource Level + (10 − Resource Index), roll-under. Critical results apply as normal (a roll of 2 is always a success, a roll of 20 is always a failure, regardless of the target number). No Skill is involved - a flat roll against the Resource itself, the same shape as the Gift Check.
Resource Index is a flat 1-6 rating for how far beyond a Resource’s ordinary reach the request goes - its own scale, not the general Difficulty Chart. It inverts the same way Defense does: a lower Resource Index is easier (Resource Index 1 adds 9 to the target), a higher one is harder (Resource Index 6 adds only 4, the minimum any Resource Check can add).
- Success: the character gets what they were after, no further cost.
- Failure: the character still gets what they were after - the ask goes through either way - but the Resource’s Level drops by 1, representing it stretched thin: savings drained, favors called in, goodwill spent.
- Critical failure: the same, except the Level drops by 2.
The drops are cumulative. A reduced Resource uses its lower Level for everything, including any further Resource Check made while it’s still reduced. At Level 0 it is spent - nothing can be drawn on it at all, free scope or roll - until the start of the next Month, when every Resource returns to its full Level.
Why it works like this. The Resource Check isn’t asking whether the character is rich. It’s asking what they can put their hands on right now. Wealth models liquid assets, not net worth - the money actually available this week, rather than the sum of everything owned.
That is why a failed check drops the Level instead of refusing the ask. In college you could buy the pizza, and then you were done buying things for a while; as an adult a decent used car is well within reach and will still flatten you for a month. Neither is a failure - the ask goes through, and what it costs is the ability to make the next one. The same model applies to every Resource, not only money: favors called in and goodwill spent work the same way.
Reaching beyond your means: a Resource Index up to 2 higher than the Resource’s current effective Level can be attempted - anything further out of reach can’t be attempted at all. Reaching that far always gets the character what they were after, but drops the Resource’s Level to 0 for a Month (not just 1) regardless of whether the roll succeeded or failed - unless the roll is a critical success, which resolves the attempt as an ordinary free success with no cost at all.
Resource Index 6 is always a reach, however high the Resource’s Level, and below Level 4 it can’t be attempted at all, since that’s more than 2 above it. It’s also the one case a critical success can’t save: a Resource Index 6 attempt always drops the Resource to 0 for a Month, full stop, even on a critical success.
Wealth at Character Creation
Buying gear (see Weapons & Equipment) at character creation uses a dedicated procedure, not the general Pushing a Resource rule above.
A character’s creation-Wealth starts at 2, unless they spent Resources Pool points on Wealth, in which case their purchased Level is used instead. The Destitute Flaw overrides both: a Destitute character’s creation-Wealth is 0, and they cannot spend points on Wealth at all during character creation - the Flaw has to be bought off first. This applies only to creation; XP raises Wealth normally once play begins.
Every item carries a Wealth rating. Shopping happens in three steps, in this order.
1. Take your packages
One Starting Package from every Level up to and including your creation-Wealth - one from each Level, not several from the top. Free, no roll.
2. Take your free items
Money stops being a decision long before it stops mattering. What a character can simply have depends on how far the item sits below them:
- Two or more Levels below your creation-Wealth: free, and as many as you can reasonably carry and justify. A Wealth 5 character does not count flashlights.
- At your creation-Wealth, or one Level below it: free, up to a number of items equal to your creation-Wealth. A Wealth 3 character takes three of them.
- Above your creation-Wealth: never free. It is not a roll either - see step 3. Taking one empties the pool.
A Wealth 3 character therefore walks away with everything they want at Wealth 1, any three items at Wealth 2 or 3, and a decision to make about anything above that. A Wealth 0 character gets a Level 0 package and nothing else free.
3. Roll for the rest
Two things are left: another item from the band the free picks are already spent on, and anything sitting above the character’s creation-Wealth. They are not the same purchase.
At creation-Wealth or one Level below, past the free allowance - a Wealth Check. Roll 2d10 against creation-Wealth + 10, roll-under, standard critical results apply.
- Success: the item is free.
- Failure: the character still gets the item, and creation-Wealth drops by 1.
- Critical failure: the same, except creation-Wealth drops by 2.
Above the character’s creation-Wealth - no roll. The item can be had, and having it costs everything: creation-Wealth drops straight to 0. A character who reaches that far walks away with their Starting Packages, their free items, and that one thing.
The ask always goes through. What it costs is the ability to make the next one.
At creation-Wealth 0 the rolling stops, but the free items don’t. Both free bands are measured against the Level the character actually bought, not against whatever is left of the pool - so a character who has spent themselves down to nothing can still take anything two or more Levels below their Wealth, as many as they can carry and justify, along with any of their free allowance they hadn’t used yet.
The Black Market is not part of this
Nothing on The Black Market is ever free. The steps above do not apply to it: every purchase there is a transaction whatever it costs, and it is gated by Black Market Access as well as by Wealth. Nobody hands you a jammer because you are rich.
Afterwards
Creation-Wealth carries across every purchase in this shopping pass. This pool is temporary bookkeeping only: it has no effect on the character’s actual Wealth Resource once play begins, which stays at whatever Level was actually purchased. Once creation ends this procedure stops applying entirely - every purchase from then on uses the general Pushing a Resource rule above, unaffected by anything that happened while shopping.
| Resource | What Scales by Level |
|---|---|
| Base | How developed, defended, or well-equipped the headquarters/safehouse is |
| Black Market Access | How deep into illegal or off-the-books trade the connections reach |
| Contacts | How large, capable, or well-placed the network is |
| Corporate Backing | How much a legitimate business entity can move, fund, or cover |
| Debts Owed | How much real leverage is owed, in favors people can’t easily refuse |
| Fame | How widely recognized the character is, and how strongly people react to it |
| Followers | How many, how skilled, or how loyal the group is |
| Fringe Benefit | The reach/exclusivity of the license, membership, clearance, or legal right |
| Guild Standing | How much rank and pull the character holds within a specific trade or professional body |
| Informant Network | How wide and reliable the web of low-level eyes and ears is |
| Legal Counsel | How capable and well-connected the lawyer or legal team is |
| Media Contact | How much a story can be shaped, planted, or killed before it runs |
| Medical Access | How much discreet, high-quality medical care can be called on |
| Occult Library | How comprehensive, rare, or dangerous the collection of esoteric material is |
| Safehouse Network | How many scattered bolt-holes are maintained, and how well hidden each is |
| Sanctuary Standing | How protected the character is within one specific safe territory |
| Signature Possession | How significant the one prized item owned actually is |
| Spiritual Standing | How much weight the character’s name carries within a specific religious or spiritual community |
| System Access | How deep and wide the character’s reach into digital systems and networks already is |
| Territory | How much real ground answers to the character specifically |
| Underworld Reputation | How known, trusted, or feared the character is within criminal and hidden-world circles |
| Vehicle | How distinctive, capable, or valuable the vehicle is |
| Wealth | How much disposable financial resource is available to draw on |
Per-Level Content
- Base
- Black Market Access
- Contacts
- Corporate Backing
- Debts Owed
- Fame
- Followers
- Fringe Benefit
- Guild Standing
- Informant Network
- Legal Counsel
- Media Contact
- Medical Access
- Occult Library
- Safehouse Network
- Sanctuary Standing
- Signature Possession
- Spiritual Standing
- System Access
- Territory
- Underworld Reputation
- Vehicle
- Wealth
Base
How developed, defended, or well-equipped the headquarters/safehouse is
| Level | Base |
|---|---|
| 1 | A dedicated, secure space of your own - a real hideout, workshop, or safehouse beyond an ordinary home; basic, but defensible |
| 2 | A proper base with solid amenities and dependable security |
| 3 | Well-equipped, with real security and specialized rooms |
| 4 | Fortified and staffed, with serious defenses and advanced equipment |
| 5 | A near-impenetrable, fully self-sufficient stronghold |
Black Market Access
How deep into illegal or off-the-books trade the connections reach
| Level | Black Market Access |
|---|---|
| 1 | A single fence or dealer for common contraband |
| 2 | A working relationship with a local black-market network - weapons, drugs, stolen goods |
| 3 | Real standing with a regional network, access to rarer or more dangerous goods |
| 4 | Deep pull into a national or international smuggling network, most anything can be found for a price |
| 5 | A name in the black market itself - you don’t just buy from the network, you’re a fixture in it, able to source almost anything that exists |
Contacts
How large, capable, or well-placed the network is
| Level | Contacts |
|---|---|
| 1 | One reliable contact for small favors or info |
| 2 | A handful of contacts spanning a couple of fields |
| 3 | A broad network spanning most of a city |
| 4 | An extensive network with regional reach, including a few influential names |
| 5 | A vast network reaching into any relevant field or region, including powerful people |
Corporate Backing
How much a legitimate business entity can move, fund, or cover
| Level | Corporate Backing |
|---|---|
| 1 | A small business willing to carry you on the books, light cover and minor funding |
| 2 | A real company with legitimate revenue, able to fund modest operations and provide solid cover |
| 3 | A mid-size company with real assets, capable of funding serious operations and absorbing real scrutiny |
| 4 | A major regional company, resources and cover to match, capable of weathering real investigation |
| 5 | A multinational corporation’s backing, effectively bottomless resources and cover strong enough to survive nearly anything |
Debts Owed
How much real leverage is owed, in favors people can’t easily refuse
| Level | Debts Owed |
|---|---|
| 1 | One person who owes you a real, acknowledged favor |
| 2 | A small handful of people who owe you, each for something genuinely significant |
| 3 | A broader circle of real debts, enough to call in meaningful help when it matters |
| 4 | Debts owed by people with real capability or standing of their own, favors that can move real weight |
| 5 | A web of serious debts reaching people of real power, the kind of leverage that can bend outcomes that matter |
Fame
How widely recognized the character is, and how strongly people react to it
| Level | Fame |
|---|---|
| 1 | Known within a small local circle |
| 2 | Recognized across a city or subculture |
| 3 | Known regionally or nationally |
| 4 | Broadly famous - recognized by strangers regularly |
| 5 | World-renowned, a household name |
Followers
How many, how skilled, or how loyal the group is
| Level | Followers |
|---|---|
| 1 | A single loyal follower or apprentice |
| 2 | A small handful of modestly capable followers |
| 3 | A coordinated, reasonably capable crew |
| 4 | A sizable, well-organized group with real capability |
| 5 | A substantial, highly capable and loyal organization |
Fringe Benefit
The reach/exclusivity of the license, membership, clearance, or legal right
| Level | Fringe Benefit |
|---|---|
| 1 | A basic hobbyist license/membership |
| 2 | A recognized professional credential (licensed trade, press pass) |
| 3 | Restricted-access clearance - into secured facilities, government-adjacent circles |
| 4 | High-level clearance - classified access, executive-level standing |
| 5 | Near-total access - opens virtually any door in its domain |
Guild Standing
How much rank and pull the character holds within a specific trade or professional body
| Level | Guild Standing |
|---|---|
| 1 | A dues-paying member in reasonably good standing |
| 2 | A recognized, respected member, able to call in modest favors |
| 3 | A senior member with real influence over local guild decisions |
| 4 | A leadership figure, influence reaching the guild’s regional or national body |
| 5 | A defining figure within the guild itself, decisions of real consequence run through you |
Informant Network
How wide and reliable the web of low-level eyes and ears is
| Level | Informant Network |
|---|---|
| 1 | A couple of regular tipsters in one neighborhood |
| 2 | A working network across a city - cabbies, bartenders, doormen - who pass along what they see |
| 3 | A broad network spanning a whole city’s worth of ordinary people, reliable and reasonably fast |
| 4 | A network with regional reach, fast enough to catch developing situations as they happen |
| 5 | An extensive network reaching anywhere relevant, near-real-time awareness of anything worth knowing |
Legal Counsel
How capable and well-connected the lawyer or legal team is
| Level | Legal Counsel |
|---|---|
| 1 | A single competent lawyer, reliable for everyday trouble |
| 2 | A small firm that can handle real charges and knows which favors to call in |
| 3 | A firm with real courtroom pull and connections into the local justice system |
| 4 | A firm capable of making serious charges quietly disappear, with reach into regional courts and agencies |
| 5 | Legal firepower capable of making almost anything short of the worst crimes vanish, nationally |
Media Contact
How much a story can be shaped, planted, or killed before it runs
| Level | Media Contact |
|---|---|
| 1 | One sympathetic local journalist willing to hear you out |
| 2 | A standing relationship with a local outlet - can get a story placed or softened |
| 3 | Real pull with a regional news network - can plant, spike, or reframe a story reliably |
| 4 | Influence reaching national media - a story dies or runs the way you want it to, most of the time |
| 5 | Command of the narrative at a national or international level - what the world believes happened is substantially up to you |
Medical Access
How much discreet, high-quality medical care can be called on
| Level | Medical Access |
|---|---|
| 1 | A single sympathetic nurse or paramedic willing to patch you up off the books |
| 2 | A private doctor who treats you (and a few others) no questions asked |
| 3 | A small discreet clinic with real equipment, staffed by people who won’t talk |
| 4 | A private hospital wing or trauma team on standby, capable of handling serious, unusual injuries |
| 5 | A world-class covert medical operation, capable of handling anything short of death itself, anywhere you can reach it |
Occult Library
How comprehensive, rare, or dangerous the collection of esoteric material is
| Level | Occult Library |
|---|---|
| 1 | A modest personal collection - well-thumbed books on folklore and the occult, covering common knowledge |
| 2 | A solid working library, with enough breadth to research most common supernatural phenomena and a few genuine rarities |
| 3 | An extensive collection, including forbidden or suppressed texts - enough to dig into obscure or actively dangerous topics |
| 4 | A renowned archive sought after by scholars and occultists alike, holding material found nowhere else publicly |
| 5 | A legendary collection - texts thought lost or mythical; knowledge dangerous enough that possessing it alone draws attention |
Safehouse Network
How many scattered bolt-holes are maintained, and how well hidden each is
Every site has power, running water, a way in and out, and basic supplies: food, bedding, a change of clothes, a first aid kit. None of them has anything beyond that. Whatever you need past keeping a person fed, dry and out of sight is whatever you carried in with you. A property that comes properly outfitted is an item, bought like any other.
| Level | Safehouse Network |
|---|---|
| 1 | One bolt-hole beyond your Base. Somewhere to lie up for a night that nothing on paper connects to you |
| 2 | A small handful across a city, none of them connected to each other or to you |
| 3 | A network spanning a region, each site far enough off the road that nobody arrives by accident |
| 4 | A network reaching into neighboring regions, a few of them hidden well enough to survive a real search |
| 5 | A network at national scale, any site of which can disappear you completely, indefinitely |
Sanctuary Standing
How protected the character is within one specific safe territory
| Level | Sanctuary Standing |
|---|---|
| 1 | A single establishment where you’re recognized and safe from casual trouble |
| 2 | A small protected zone - a block, a building complex - where real trouble is unwelcome |
| 3 | A genuine sanctuary territory, actively enforced, real consequences for violating it |
| 4 | A significant, well-known sanctuary, respected and enforced across multiple factions |
| 5 | A sanctuary recognized and honored practically everywhere relevant, violating it carries consequences almost no one is willing to risk |
Signature Possession
How significant the one prized item owned actually is
| Level | Signature Possession |
|---|---|
| 1 | A well-made, quality item - reliable, a cut above ordinary |
| 2 | An item with a real history or reputation of its own, recognized by those who know to look |
| 3 | A genuinely rare or exceptional item, sought after by serious collectors or rivals |
| 4 | An item of real renown, recognized on sight by anyone versed in its field |
| 5 | A legendary item, known even to people who’ve never seen it - and often coveted because of it |
Spiritual Standing
How much weight the character’s name carries within a specific religious or spiritual community
| Level | Spiritual Standing |
|---|---|
| 1 | A respected member of a local congregation or circle |
| 2 | A trusted figure within a wider spiritual community, sought out for guidance |
| 3 | Real authority within the community - your word carries weight in real decisions |
| 4 | A recognized leader or elder, influence reaching related communities elsewhere |
| 5 | A figure of real spiritual significance, recognized and deferred to across the faith or tradition broadly |
System Access
How deep and wide the character’s reach into digital systems and networks already is
| Level | System Access |
|---|---|
| 1 | Access to public records and consumer-level databases and systems |
| 2 | Real internal access into a specific organization’s systems - a company, a local agency |
| 3 | Broad access spanning multiple systems and networks, reaching into mid-level corporate or government databases |
| 4 | Deep access into high-security systems - classified government or corporate networks, real backdoors |
| 5 | Near-total digital reach - access into almost any system that exists, the kind of reach that alarms anyone who learns of it |
Territory
How much real ground answers to the character specifically
| Level | Territory |
|---|---|
| 1 | A single block or building genuinely under your influence |
| 2 | A modest neighborhood where your word carries real weight |
| 3 | A significant district, actively held and defended |
| 4 | A substantial stretch of a city, real infrastructure and people answering to you |
| 5 | Territory on the scale of a city or region, genuinely yours in every practical sense |
Underworld Reputation
How known, trusted, or feared the character is within criminal and hidden-world circles
| Level | Underworld Reputation |
|---|---|
| 1 | A name a few low-level players recognize and treat with mild caution |
| 2 | Known within a specific city’s criminal scene as someone not worth crossing |
| 3 | Respected or feared across a city’s underworld broadly, name carries real weight in negotiations |
| 4 | Known regionally among serious players - crime bosses, cartels, syndicates - as someone to reckon with |
| 5 | A legend in the underworld nationally or beyond, invoked as a cautionary tale or a name that opens (or closes) any door |
Vehicle
How distinctive, capable, or valuable the vehicle is
| Level | Vehicle |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reliable but unremarkable |
| 2 | One standout feature - notably fast, armored, or distinctive |
| 3 | Significantly customized, high-performance |
| 4 | Rare and exceptional - armored, military-grade, or famous |
| 5 | One-of-a-kind, legendary in capability or reputation |
Wealth
How much disposable financial resource is available to draw on
| Level | Wealth |
|---|---|
| 1 | Financially comfortable - bills, rent, and daily needs covered without stress, plus modest savings and room for the occasional splurge |
| 2 | Well-off - real disposable income, enough saved to absorb an emergency without real strain |
| 3 | Wealthy; owns property outright, can make major purchases freely |
| 4 | Very wealthy; can finance a major undertaking outright |
| 5 | A fortune large enough to move markets or bankroll entire operations |