Keys

Key of Bloodlust

You may have been a mild-mannered office worker before, but the world has changed and you've changed with it. You've got a taste for blood, and you can't get enough. Gain 1 XP every time you defeat someone in a fight. Gain 3 XP for defeating someone equal to or more powerful than yourself (equal or higher combat skill.) Buyoff: Be defeated in battle.

Key of the Brokenhearted

You cannot let go of some tragic event in your past. It wounded you so deeply that you refuse (consciously or unconsciously) to form new bonds of love or attachment. Gain 1 XP every time you choose to keep new bonds from forming in favor of "honoring" their past love (or, in other words, every time you choose nostalgia instead of the now). Gain 3 XP every time you rebuff an open confession of love or camaraderie. Buy Off : Admit that you have formed a new love or trust with another person.

Key of Competition

Choose a particular person, social group, or species. You gain 1 XP when you outfox your rivals, and 3 XP when you do so against long odds. Buyoff - Decline to compete against this rival.

Key of Conscience

You have a soft spot for those weaker than their opponents. Gain 1 XP every time you help someone who cannot help themselves. Gain 2 XP every time you defend someone with might who is in danger and cannot save themselves. Gain 5 XP every time you takes someone in an unfortunate situation and changes their life to where they can help themselves. Buyoff: Ignore a request for help.

Key of the Coward

You avoid danger like the plague. Gain 1 XP every time you avoid a potentially dangerous situation. Gain 3 XP every time you stop a fight or evade a bad situation using other means besides violence. Buyoff: Leap into combat

Key of Curiosity

You hunger for new experiences and have an insatiable curiousity. Gain 1 XP every time you follow your nose into a potentially troublesome situation. Gain 3 XP every time you survive a truly dangerous new experience. Buyoff: Leave discovery to the younger generation and begin settling into your ways.

Key of Doom

You are doomed to a terrible fate. Gain 1 XP every time you act without regard to your safety. Gain 3 XP every time you put yourself at great risk. Buyoff: Retreat from an overwhelming fight, or fight to survive so that you may be with a loved one.

Key of the Exterminator

"Desperate times? I’m a desperate fucking measure." Your character has found a new calling- zombie hunter. 1 XP for killing a zombie in a new way. 3 XP for killing double your Vigor zombies in one scene. Buyoff: Refuse to use violence against the walking dead.

Key of Faith

Your character has a strong religious belief that guides her. This should be defined by the player a little more strongly than simple devotion. Gain 1 XP every time she defends her faith to others. Gain 2 XP whenever this character converts someone to her faith. Gain 5 XP whenever this character defends her faith even though it brings her great harm. Buyoff: Your character renounces her beliefs for good.

Key of Family

You have a family you were either born into or adopted. Gain 1 XP every time you defend a family member from harm. Gain 3 XP every time you defend a family member at great danger to yourself. Buyoff: Leave your family to strike out on your own.

Key of Fraternity

You have someone you are sworn to, a friend who is more important than anyone else. Gain 1 XP every time this character is present in a scene with you (maximum 3 per session). Gain 2 XP whenever you have to make a decision that is influenced by them. Gain 5 XP every time you defend them by putting yourself at risk. Buyoff: Sever the relationship with this person.

Key of Glory

Who cares about power or riches? You crave fame! Gain 1 XP when your actions inspire strangers to talk about you insultingly (there's no such thing as bad publicity). Gain 3 XP when your deeds win you acclaim and adulation. Buyoff - Adopt a pseudonym or go incognito.

Key of Greed

When it comes down to it, money makes the world go around, and you're on for the ride. Your character loves money, and is always looking to strike it rich. Gain 1 XP every time you make good business deal or otherwise increase your wealth. Gain 3 XP every time you gain a substantial windfall of money. Buyoff: Give away everything you own except what you can carry lightly.

Key of Religion

Your character's got religion and he wants everyone else to get it too. 1XP for quoting from the good book appropriately, 2 XP for making a decision or getting into a conflict based on a passage or blasphemy, 5xp for bringing on armaggedon because of that confounded book! (see also Key of Faith)

Key of the Guardian

You have a ward, someone who depends on you for security and protection. Gain 1 XP every time this character is present in a scene with you. Gain 2 XP whenever you have to make a decision that is influenced by them. Gain 5 XP every time you rescue them from harm. Buyoff: Sever the relationship with this person.

Key of the Ideal

Your character has a powerful belief in an ideal that drives him or her. This should be defined by the player with an explanation for why this belief is so acute in the character. Gain 1 XP every time the character shows off or emphasizes the ideal. Gain 2 XP whenever the ideal is trumpeted in the face of doubt or evidence to the contrary. Gain 5 XP whenever this character defends her ideal in the face of life-threatening opposition. Buyoff: Your character renounces her ideals with no hesitation.

Key of Impotence

You ought to be able to do something just fine, but for some reason you can't. This difficulty could be sexual, social, or physical; the source of the problem may be self-doubt, overconfidence, or physical impairment. In any event the player should select a single skill when choosing this key, and may apply a penalty die to that skill at any time to reflect these difficulties. When the penalty die applies to a routine situation, gain 1 XP. When the penalty die applies to an important situation, gain 2 XP. When the penalty die applies to an urgent, life-or-death, out-of-control-story-madness situation, gain 5 XP. Buy Off - Overcome the source of this limitation.

Key of Integrity

Your character has a deep-seated understanding of what's right, and clings to it doggedly. You gain 1 XP whenever your character is tempted by corruption, 2 XP for acting to oppose corruption, and 5 XP for risking your character's life to preserve his or her integrity or defeat corruption.

Key of Intolerance

Your character has a deep-seated intolerance for those that are different from himself (Choose race or social class). You gain 1 XP for working it into the scene, 2 XP if it drives a decision that causes problems/discomfort/conflict, 5 XP if it causes major problems/harm to the character or his compatriots.

Key of Indifference

"Face facts, people - not everybody here is going to make it." Maybe you've always been cold-hearted, or maybe you've just seen too much. Either way, life's tough and you're a cold bastard. 1xp for towing the hard line, showing now compassion. 3xp for abandoning another to a certain fate. Buyoff: Relent and decide that some people or ideals are worth the effort.

Key of Justice

Your character has an unfailing commitment to justice. Gain 1xp each time you right a wrong, 2 xp each time that justice causes another to suffer pain and 5 xp each time your character executes justice at great expense to himself. Buyoff: heed a guilty party's plea for mercy.

Key of Love

You have a deep love, whether friendly, erotic, or familial, for someone else. Gain 1 XP every time this character is present in a scene with you. Gain 2 XP whenever you has to make a decision that is influenced by them. Gain 5 XP every time you put yourself in harm's way or makes a sacrifice for them. Buyoff: Sever the relationship with this person.

Key of the Manipulator

You work behind the scenes, manipulating others to your own ends. Gain 1 XP whenever you exert your will over others covertly, even over minor matters - especially over minor matters. Gain 2 XP whenever you trick someone into accepting your advice over others. Gain 5 XP whenever your influence causes a major conflict or shifts the balance of power in your favor. Buyoff: Accept the mantle of power for yourself.

Key of the Masochist

You thrive on personal pain and suffering. Gain 1 XP every time you are bloodied and 3 XP every time you are broken. Buyoff: Flee a source of physical or psychic damage.

Key of the Mission

You have a personal mission that you must complete. Gain 1 XP every time you take action to complete this mission (2 XP if this action is successful.) Gain 5 XP every time you take action that completes a major part of this mission. Buyoff: Abandon this mission.

Key of Obsession

"I don’t care if he’s infected, I won’t abandon a God-damned child!" You have an unreasoning attachment to an object, person, or idea. It is the focus of your concerns and actions. 1 xp for keeping the thing you are obsessed with safe. 2 xp for convincing another to obsess with you.5 xp for risking your life or the lives of others in service to your obsession. Buyoff: Abandon or destroy the object of your obsession.

Key of Overconfidence

"Nuthin' I can't handle." 1 xp for going into a situation with no plan or precaution. 2 xp for convincing others that a dangerous situation is really not a problem. 5 xp for going cockily into certain death, or convincing another to do so. Buyoff: Hesitate and make a good plan.

Key of the Pacifist

You have a personal commitment to nonviolence. Gain 1 XP for every adventure in which you do not commit any violence. Gain 2 XP every time you do not commit violence even though it causes you minor harm or inconvenience. Gain 5 XP every time you do not commit violence even though it causes you great harm. Buyoff: Purposefully harm another sentient creature.

Key of Power

You don't even care what you do with it, you just want it. You gain 1 XP whenever you earn a boon from someone important, earn a slight gain in prestige, or make a rival look bad. You gain 3 XP whenever you ruin, kill, or otherwise eliminate a rival, and improve your own position because of it. Buyoff: Relinquish your power and position.

Key of the Survivor

"I. Will. Survive." Your character is determined to make it, no matter what the cost. 1 XP for overcoming immediate danger. 2 XP for survivng when others do not. 5 XP for surviving because others do not. Buyoff: Risk your life for someone else.

Key of Terror

"Oh sweet Jesus, help me!" 1 xp for being terrified. 2xp for refusing to help because you are afraid. 5 xp when your fear gets someone killed. Buyoff: Face your true fear.

Key of Trust

Through everything that's happened, the one thing you can still depend on is each other. Your character has given another character their trust, and is relying on them. 1xp for reaffirming that trust by taking what they say or do at face value. Gain 2xp each time you continue to trust them despite difficult circumstances, such as waiting for them on a darkened street. Gain 5xp if your trust in them puts you in deadly peril, or if they betray your trust. Buyoff: Lose all faith in the trusted individual- or betray them first.

Key of Unrequited Love

You have a love for someone who does not return this love. Gain 1 XP whenever you have to make a decision that is influenced by them. Gain 2 XP every time you attempt to win their affection. Gain 5 XP every time you put yourself in harm's way or make a sacrifice for them. Buyoff: Abandon your pursuit of this person or win their love.

Key of Vice

Your character has a vice that exerts great control over how he lives his life. Choose your particular Vice e.g. whoring, gambling, drugs, liquor. 1 xp when Vice makes its way into the scene, 2xp when you make a decision based on the vice, 5xp when the vice causes you or someone you care about great harm/great success.

Key of Vengeance

You have a hatred for a particular organization or person. Gain 1 XP every time you hurt a member of that group or a lackey of that person. Gain 2 XP every time you strike a minor blow at that group or person (killing a member of the organization or one of the person's lackeys, disrupting their life, destroying their property). Gain 5 XP every time you strike a major blow at that group or person. Buyoff: Let your enemy go.

Key of Wishful Thinking

"They're still people. Maybe we can help them." 1 xp for showing a zombie compassion.2 xp for convincing someone else to leave a zombie alone.5 xp for risking your life to save a zombie. Buyoff: Recognize zombies for what they are.