Dark City

By Ed Hackett (Dave123448@aol.com)

Section One: Prologue and Foreword.

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
-- Drug Free America Commercial

"Sometimes, I awake in the City. They call me crazy. Plain and simple, no other word fits my description. I know this is a big joke. The City, there¹s no way out. None, zip, zilch, nada! Ya¹ see every night at midnight, the whole City stops in motion. Everyone falls asleep and here I am left standing in the City watching the stillness.

"Why you ask? The Strangers, they play with our minds. Mixing and turning our minds like some big toss salad. Yeah, I know you think that I am nuts. Listen, can you hear them?

"Oh yeah, you don¹t know who I am talking about. Men, but different not human that¹s for sure. Ya see they all look alike, pale face, black winter trenchcoat and to top it all off a fedora. I see them walk out of crevices underneath the street, or doorways where there were no doors before. The doors they just appear out of nowhere. Sometimes, I hide amongst the building tops and watch them hover, flying amongst the buildings.

"No moon ever shines. Although one could think there was a moon. I have been up for hours on end. No sunshine, or no rain. Just the stillness. So, you think I¹m mad, watch your back, because I have found the only way out of this shit hole!"

Bang! A bullet pierces his head!

Section Two: the Setting

The City is a self-contained celestial body floating in the endless reaches of the heavens. Old 1940s architecture is the decorum of the City. People bustle about their daily life only aware of the reality they feel at the present. Gothic architectures hangs above the humans, as if watching. For what, they cannot tell. Night is eternal here; the City looms in nothingess, like a dangling spider in the far reaches in the velvet of night. In the Deep umbra, the City hangs in etherspace surrounded by stars. Looking down on the City you could tell that it is just a massive floating island, as if someone picked up Manhattan and threw it into the depths of space. The City is located in its own little pocket of the Deep Umbra, a separate realm within a realm. Underneath the City, massive spires of alien technology extend. Around the City is a tall wall which blocks even the highest view from seeing the truth. It is not known if the wall is invisible to them or what, but it is there nonetheless.

Hovering in their black trenchcoats, they stand with moonlight pale faces fixing the minds of all who live in the City. How they are brought to the realm is uncertain. Some think that the Strangers kidnap humans and rip their mind apart. Then, they are dropped into a prison. Humans are victims of the Strangers' experiments. The Strangers are a race of spirit entities who use human host bodies to exist in the City. In fact their names are always Mr. + a normal word, for example Mr. Book. They study the human mind and the memories which govern our lives. They think that by studying our memories they can better understand our soul. For they are not like us; they have no individuality. All of them share each others memories, and they are dying. In their demise, they seek an answer in our human soul and they think that this is the only way to achieve their survival. All the Strangers are male in appearance. Some are even children. Underneath the City, they are clothed in black robe with high collars around their necks. It is not known where they come from, but one thing is for certain this remains the exclusive province of the Storyteller.

What is unique to them is the ability to alter reality, exactly like transmute matter in Mage and the power to supply kinetic motion to a varying degree. These talents are called Tuning. By definition, they are in touch with their own reality. So they can develop their own will and impose it on the reality of their own designs. You could consider the relationship to be a mage to his own Horizon Realm. He defines the law of what is to be considered vulgar, like a the Strangers morphing the buildings to fit the scene of their experiments. Every night at midnight, every single person falls asleep. Well, almost everybody does. All the Strangers gather in the main hall where the Machine is. Here they charge up their own powers and at the same time use their collective unconcious to literally shape the City into what they want it to be. While everyone's asleep, an assistant to their cause, usually a scientist who want to further his own ends, mixes memories of new test subjects and injects them with the new memories. When they awake, they have no idea they were altered. After the memories are altered, the setting for those humans to take on their new identities is also physically altered.

During the Tuning, any Mage's magick rolls are reduced by a -3. Vampire disciplines, Garou gifts, and anything that is supernatural who possesses some type of power will receive a -2 to their rolls to make it somewhat easier. Anything that would fit the description of not totally being human stay awake during this time period.

Under the City, the real picture takes hold. The Strangers, all dressed in their original dark robes, are illuminated by the strange greenish lighting of their under dwellings. In the movie, the only things revealed are a lab, a main hall where the machine was located, and a factory line where they manipulate ID's and other personal items that would relate to a changed identities of their subjects.

Dr. Sherper was the one who worked along side the Strangers in a quest to help them understand our human condition. If you are going to work a Dark City in your campaign, it is assumed that they might have in their aid a human who has been allowed to keep his scientific knowledge to aid them in their quest of our soul.

The laboratory was a stationed on the side of a hollow cylinder. Tt was in fact all around the outside. If you gazed down the railing, you would note several layers of floors. It was not revealed what these floors contained in the movie. However, one could assume that the Storyteller would know what to do with these levels.

In the laboratory, green lighting cast an ominous glow on all the research equipment. Rotating racks of white fluid, containing the memories, are stacked up all around the table. A robotic arm extends out to the different memories and mixes them. Once the solution has been mixed, you could see the chemicals through an old microscope, circa 1940's.

This is where a long assembly line runs down a row of Strangers. Here each Stranger has a specific task at a station to perform. One might be stamping passports or a drivers' liscense for another experiment. The identities of people, the actual things that reaffirm a human's existence in the supposed real world, are manufactured here and reproduced. Overhead, a voice listing the details of the experiments can be heard, fading in the background of spinning wheels and the grinding gears of machines in a factory.

This is the gathering place where all the Strangers come together to talk when it is necessary. Issues like strays (people who awake during the Tuning) and other pertinent matters are discussed here. The chamber rises by rows where Strangers can overlook the leaders at the bottom. No chairs, just a counter lit by the iridescent shade of greenish blue. If you looked straight ahead, a black metal statue of a human face opens to what is called the Machine. It is also here where all the Strangers gather during the Tuning, except those who are placing the identities of the different people and injecting them with different memories.

The machine is a twisting globe which is related to the reshaping of the buildings at night during the Tuning. It is decided that it is also the power source for the whole City. It also acts like a node. It only acts like a node at the Time of the Tuning. This is where the bonus for working magick comes from. Plus if in the presence of the machine, there is such a surplus of free flowing Quintessence that a mage could fill his pattern here and not wait for the Machine to recharge.

Section Three: Character Creation

Creating a Stranger to run is just like letting loose a starting level mage. It really doesn't matter. I am going to give rules for character creation. However, incorporating them into a chronicle and running a Stranger as a player character seems a bit akward. I was thinking that it would be the other way around; that is Storyteller uses these rules for the setting offered to create a chronicle based in the Dark City theme. However, this is your fantasy, do what you want!

Due to their collective consciousness, the personality archetypes are representative of what all Strangers are like. Remember, one of their quests in studying the human condition is to try and find out what makes us individual. Most characters should have similiar archetypes. Some archetypes might manifest different emotions or ideas that the collective has formed on its own, making these characters somewhat but not entirely different from someone else.

They receive the following standard attributes of 7/5/3.

They have 13/9/7 as usual. They have all standard normal human abilities. There is no restriction on giving them abilities, just don't give them Do from mage or Rituals from Werewolf. I'm just saying be reasonable. After all Strangers are sort of human, aren't they?

New Knowledge: Brainwashing

This skill allows a person to take control of someone through the use of the power of suggestion, drugs, and manipulation. This skill allows for someone to possess the knowledge of all interrogation drugs out there, and know the impact of emotions in relation to our memories and thoughts. If possessed by a Stranger this is also what they use to manipulate the memory of their test subjects.

*	You possess little knowledge, but can make people come to a slight conclusion, swaying their opinions.
**	Competent. You know now how to sway peoples' trains of thought to come to a conclusion they might not have -- a thought not totally against their morals.
***	Now, you can manipulate small memories that might have been suppressd for years through the use of drugs. You also possess knowledge of several drugs and methods of brainwashing.
****	You have a great understanding of how emotions relate to the thoughts of people; you could pull the wool over the mayor of a big City while working on an in depth investigation into his administration.
*****	Obi-Wan. You have the power to alter thought through deceit. You could con the president; you might be working for the CIA or Army Intelligence.

"Do you have your advantage card?"
-- any Giant Eagle cashier, (a grocery store)

They receive the standard starting willpower of 5.

As they are spirit entities in human form, they are immune to Mind magick and Spirit magick. This includes similar powers like the vampiric discipline of Dominate.

Tuning is represented like Arete in Mage. It is the power of will they use to channel their powers. This automatically starts at one, and one dot in one of the powers (analogous to spheres in mage). Note only one power may be purchased at one. No more. This gives the character a little more longevity .

Remember that the choice for backgrounds is very tricky. I'm just saying have the Storyteller review your choices. It wouldn't be unreasonable that they might possess Arcane, or Destiny for that matter. Backgrounds should be pondered carefully when creating a Stranger. In any case, they receive 7 points to spread around their backgrounds. Good luck; their a weird bunch, although not as weird as me!

All characters initially receive two bonus dots in Melee and automatically start with a dagger (Str+3 and can cause damage to Umbrood as well) without spending any points in the Resource background.

They start with 15 freebie points.

Freebie Point Cost Chart

Attributes	5
Abilities	2
Tuning	7
Willpower	1
Backgrounds	1

Experience is awarded the same way as outlined in Mage: the Ascension as well as the other Storyteller games.

Experience Point Cost Chart

Attributes	Current rating x 4
Abilities	Current rating x 2
Tuning	Current rating x 8
Willpower	Current rating x 1
Tuning Powers	Current rating x 6
New Power	1
New ability	3

Section Three: Systems

The ability to tune is only innate to the Strangers. In the movie, John Murdoch possessed the ability to do this too. Some humans might have this ability. This was due to his latent Avatar; he would have eventually Awoken to use true magick anyway. He manifested the power differently though. Potential mages will eventually adapt and Awaken as a sort of adaptation to the constant Tuning.

Mages can use Mind to resist Tuning. A Mind 1 mind shield can be used to resist the physical brainwashing. A Mind 3 effect can suppress the memories and preserve them. A Mind 4 effect can preserve the memories and the Mage can still act on his own accord. The rank of Mind at 5 can simply say, ³Bring it on. Try me!² Supernatural creatures brought here always, even if their memories are wiped, know what they are. They just don¹t know who they are. Remember, anything supernatural brought to the City will stay awake during the Tuning.

During the Tuning, as stated before, Mages receive -3 bonus to the difficulty to use magick and powers like vampire disciplines and garou gifts (static magick) receive a -2 to the difficulty to achieve their powers. All magick worked in these few minutes does not invoke Paradox and is considered coincidental. When everyone returns to normal after the Tuning, magick resumes its normal systems as if they were actually on Earth.

Surprisingly enough, we represent this talent by a skill called "Tuning." It is rated 1 to 10. Strangers automatically start at a rank of 1 in the first steps of initial character creation. It is treated like working magick in Mage. You roll your Tuning at a certain difficulty, see how many successes you get and are restricted to the level of understanding your power is ranked at. If worked on earth, the Stranger does not invoke Paradox although there is a plus +1 to the difficulty to all rolls when not in the Umbra. Anywhere in the Umbra their talents have no penalty, only on Earth.

Tuning Pool

The Tuning pool acts like Quintessence. In fact it is Quintessence. However, it can be gained only at the time of the Tuning. It goes up to 20 and this is what a Stranger can use to tune better. He may use up to -3 a turn when doing an effect with his powers to reduce the difficulty of a Tuning roll.

System: The Stranger rolls his Tuning (Difficulty 7) and the amount of successes he scores equals the amount of points he stores in his pattern. He may not gain these points at Garou caerns but can at Nodes on earth.

The following are powers that were inferred from the movie; some are apparent while others were vague references.
• Morphism
• Necros
• Sleep
• Telekinectics

Each of the powers are listed as spheres. Each one has a specific rank. The Stranger may only accomplish what he understands of that certain power. The higher the rank the more he can accomplish in that specific area. A Stranger may not have a rank in a power higher than his Tuning.

Morphism is the reshaping and transmutation of matter. For instance, remember when the roof was reshaped when Murdoch held down one of the Strangers. In some aspects, this power acts as like the sphere of Matter.

System: most transformations are not that complex. The Storyteller sets a difficulty from 6 to 9 depending on the complexity of the task.

*	The Stranger gains the ability to sense the composition of matter.
**	He may shift a penny to a silver penny. At this rank, he may morph small objects and only change their properties like malleability, brittleness and breakage.
***	Now, a Stranger may be a able to alter and reshape an existing object (e.g. form a door at the side of a brick wall).
****	At this rank, a Stranger may morph objects and change them into complex machinery.
*****	The Stranger that holds this much power is scary. He can do amazing feats such as alter roof tops or turn a trash compactor into a car. He could even create a sun or an ocean, adding onto the realm.

Necros is the ability for a Stranger to take his spirtual entity and take the body of a dead human. They always appear to be male, never female. In the film, it was claimed that they do indeed use them as vessels. Once, the body has been taken over a couple changes take place: if female the body turns into a male, the skin becomes very pale, and the clothing becomes uniform to their gothic appearance.

System: The ability is rolled versus a difficulty of seven. If a dead body is nearby, when the Stranger suffers damage he may try and take that body over. He cannot take the body of a vampire. Only one success is necessary to achieve this. If the roll succeeds over one success, then you achieve at one level faster.

For example, Mr. Pain has just suffered a gun shot impaling his chest but not touching his head. He rolls his Tuning of 4 (he has Necros at 1) and gains three successes. Instead of him taking one week to merge with the host the other two successes allow him to do it in one day (as rank 3). Although this does not increase his rank in the skill, it grants him a faster merging with the host body.

*	One full week
**	Two days
***	One day
****	Half a day
*****	One hour

The Strangers developed Sleep through their collective consciousness. Eventually, all of them experience what others do. This telepathic link manifests itself as a power to induce a coma-like state in people. This ability allows them to subdue any sentient, although when mixed with Mind magick it becomes tricky.

System: The difficulty to command someone to sleep is the rating of his Willpower. The opposition may resist this attempt by rolling versus the difficulty. Successes cancel out the Tuning roll. A mage with the sphere of Mind at any rank may roll Arete vs the Tuning to resist. Then, he rolls Willpower to contest the roll again. If someone else possesses Tuning, he may roll to Tuning then WIllpower like a mage.

The ranks are what you can do with sleep and a measure of power in the discipline.

*	He may cause the victim to fall asleep and not be disturbed by slight vibrations or bumps in the night
**	The Stranger may cause the victim to stay asleep while a marching band plays outside the window.
***	Now, the Stranger can make the victim sleep through a war zone.
****	At this rank, the Stranger can cause the victim to fall into a coma.
*****	This level permit a Stranger to cause a person to sleep himself to death. Avatars may awaken mages in this state, regardless of power of the Stranger's roll.

Successes over the Willpower (+Arete or Tuning) roll indicate the amount of time someone would be asleep,

Successes	Duration
1	2 turns
2	6 turns
3	1 minute
4	1/2 hour
5	1 hour
6	3 hours
7+	1 day

Telekinetics is the ability to move objects by force of will. It even includes levitating oneself, as well as striking people from afar. However, targets must be in the line of sight.

System: The difficulty of the roll is dependent upon the feat. In the opinion of the Storyteller the difficulty varies from 6 to 9, six being the very easiest with 9 being the most impossible. When flying, for each success gathered they can move 30 feet per success in a single round.

*	This first level permits a Stranger to levitate coins, knives, books, etc. He has limited control over these items. For instance, he could not fight with a levitated knife at this level.
**	He can exhibit exact control over small objects, fight with knives. He may levitate larger objects like refrigerators and couches but not control them very well.
***	Now, he gains the ability of exact control over larger objects like couches and refrigerators. At this level he also gains the ability to telekinetically strike someone, hurling his body back almost 10 ft.
****	He now has the ability to slow down his own momentum when falling or being telekinetically struck. He may roll his Tuning to resist the force of the strike. Just like normal damage, difficulty six. His Tuning vs. yours.
*****	At this mastery, the Stranger can fly complex maneuvers. He may replace dodge with his Tuning skill. He can move himself faster than he could ever fly before. He gains the ability to hurl trucks or tear down a steel wall.

Inside the head of each Stranger there lurks a mushy gelatin type radiance: the Stranger's true form. This blob can harness any of its Tuning powers while in this state. Any social skills in this state are relatively worthless, consider them zero. It's manipulative tentacles allow it to keep most skills although the Storyteller should carefully consider what it is allowed to do. If it is too complex an action for the "blob" to achieve, it may substitute one of its physical abilities, like Melee, Brawl, Firearms, Dodge, etc. With its Tuning, However, the blob must take either of the lower dice pool. Also in this state they receive a minus -1 to Dexterity and Strength but gain an extra two dice to their soak roll, including Magick.

Strangers do not like sunlight or water. Both do aggravated damage against them. Fortunately for them, sunlight doesn't exist in the City. Water is a different story altogether. Sunlight magickally brought into existence has the same affect it does on a vampire during the day. The following tables are the soak roll difficulties vs. the magnitude of the exposure: Strangers suffer normal wounds like mages, except if they are not damaged in the head where their spirit lives, then they may survive in their blob form. Another choice is that they may choose to use the Necros power and roll their Tuning to take over a new body. If injured, they do suffer the normal injury penalties.

Water Damage

Exposure	Wound levels
Small splash	3
Glass full	5
Bucket	7
Drenched by a hose	8
Dumped in a vat or swimming pool	9

Note: Unlike fire, which constantly burns away at its victim whereby they must make Stamina rolls every round for soaking, the Stranger merely soaks once and it burns away like a vampire and holy water in some movie. This is not the case if he is submerged in a pool.

The difficulty for soaking sunlight damage is the intensity of the rays and how much has the Stranger been exposed to. If he takes damage, for every success not scored on the soak roll he takes from 1 to 3 health levels of damage, depending upon the intensity . Magickally created sunlight, or realms with a sun are avoided for this reason. They work just the same as a normal sun. Use the rules from Vampire: The Masquerade for sun damage.

Section Four: The World of Darkness

Mages: To the Strangers these test subjects are more fascinating than any other sentient. They claim to always interact with their souls. However, it is very hard for them to interfere with their Avatars. Avatars always guide the mage to further enlightenment and understanding of who he or she is. This is very hard to do when the mage loses his identity. So the Avatar kicks in gear and makes the Mage remember at some point who he is! This is not a contested roll; this is automatic!

Vampires and Garou: The Strangers regard these as humans who must fight their bestial natures. This fascinates them immensely. Both classes clench tightly to what little humanity they have left. This darker side is what the Strangers truly want to understand.

Changelings: The Strangers are confused as to the identity of the Seeming and what they truly are in the Dreaming. Strangers can see both when they bring them to the City. It is interesting to watch to say the least. Varying opinions of the Dreaming and how it relates to humanity still boggle the Strangers.

Wraiths: Strangers study the wraiths indirectly. They assume if they can unravel the mysteries of the human soul with the living then, they can understand the souls of those who have passed on.