Devil's Reprieve Gameplay and Reference

Character types:

Human Types:

Guide: Humans have several stats, described below.
- Strength, which affects the amount they add to their own strength checks or employ against shibito checks. Some possible shibito related strength checks are listed in the shibito types section; human checks might be things such as barricading a door. The better this stat is, the more likely that the character will be able to move heavier objects or throw shibito off easily.
- Stealth, which tells how hard the character is to detect and their ability to hide. The better it is, the more likely you are to succeed in sneaking around, either past shibito or going in for a free attack unnoticed.
- Combat, which affects the ability to deal damage and use weaponry. The better it is, the heavier weapons you can use and the more damage you'll deal with attacks.
- Speed, a stat associated with pursuits. Better speed means a higher chance to get away from pursuing shibito.

Small characters: Children or perhaps young adults, these people are less suited to fighting but have an advantage when it comes to hiding and avoiding hostile forces.
Strength: Poor (+0 to strength checks)
Stealth: Outstanding (+3 to hide checks, -3 to enemy detection checks)
Combat: Poor (light weapons only, -1 damage to all attacks)
Speed: Outstanding (+3 to pursuit checks)

Mid-size characters: People of average height who often have the option either to fight or hide depending on their preference, but excel at neither.
Strength: Average (+2 to strength checks)
Stealth: Average (+0 to hide checks)
Combat: Average (all weapons, standard damage)
Speed: Average (+0 to pursuit checks)

Large characters: Heavy or muscular people who have a hard time hiding and naturally draw more hostility, but have body mass that makes them more suited to fighting than others.
Strength: Outstanding (+4 to strength checks)
Stealth: Poor (-3 to hide checks, +3 to enemy detection checks)
Combat: Outstanding (all weapons, +1 damage to all attacks)
Speed: Poor (-3 to pursuit checks)

Shibito types:

Guide: Shibito have six stats, described below.
-Strength, which affects their ability to grapple with opponents, force open doors, remove barricades, or anything that would require a strength check. Poor means that they are practically no stronger than a human. Average means that they have the uninhibited strength of a shibito, which surpasses that of a human. Outstanding means that they are juggernauts which will power through strength checks.
- Weapons, which details the types of weapons the shibito can use. Standard indicates the full range of human weapons, while heavy objects implies that the shibito may carry or throw objects that would be far too large, heavy, or unwieldy for humans.
- Recovery indicates the difficulty that a shibito experiences recovering from being incapacitated. Standard implies that they will experience a significant down-time after being knocked out and have a hard time recovering. Quick means that they will need a significantly lower roll to recover.
- Chasing implies the ability of a shibito to track its target. Poor implies that they can be escaped fairly easy and may be unable to chase people into certain hiding spots altogether. Average implies that they possess a chasing ability on par with humans. Outstanding implies that they have a natural advantage that may allow them to nullify certain types of escape entirely or be quicker in capturing their prey.
- Focus refers to the shibito's ability to stay focused on its target. A shibito that loses focus will often return to an unrelated task. Poor implies that the shibito is easily distracted, average implies that they are difficult to distract and largely focused on pursuit of targets, and outstanding implies that they are entirely impossible to distract, nor will they give up on a target until incapacitated.
- Rarity indicates the chance that you will encounter such a shibito and also the likelihood that a character transforming into a shibito will become the particular shibito type.
- Special indicates unique traits to these shibito.

Humanoid Shibito:The most common shibito type, these unfortunate souls have become like animated zombies. Their skin is a decaying gray and their eyes gape widely, dribbling blood from their sockets. Compared to other shibito types, their only advantage is that they are often harder to distinguish from humans. Their voices retain much of their previous properties, but often take on a drawl, fits of laughter, a rasp, or another unusual characteristic. They often sink into idiosyncratic actions that they performed when they were alive and are generally easy to distract. These shibito are sometimes armed with weapons.
Strength: Poor (+0 to strength rolls)
Weapons: Standard
Recovery: Standard (1/10 chance to awaken)
Chasing: Average (+0 to pursuit rolls)
Focus: Poor (+4 to distraction rolls)
Rarity: 5/10
Special: None.


Fly Shibito: These shibito are mutated with wings growing from the sides of their heads which produce a fly-like buzzing and allow them to hang in the air. Other small, functionless wings also extend from the sides of their eye-sockets, implying that the growth extends from their brain. Their voices are severely warped, often seeming like morbidly amusing high-pitched versions of their former selves accompanied by a low humming noise. Compared to other shibito, these are extremely mobile and proficient at chasing. These shibito are sometimes armed with weapons.
Strength: Poor (+0 to strength rolls)
Weapons: Standard
Recovery: Standard (1/10 chance to awaken)
Chasing: Outstanding (+3 to pursuit rolls)
Focus: Average (+0 to distraction rolls)
Rarity: 2/10
Special: Flight.

Spider Shibito: While still retaining most of their recognizable human form, the posture of these shibito separates them from others. The shibito experiences a sizable growth in its torso area, creating a huge, tumor-like growth where the flat of their upper chest would have formerly been. The spider shibito walks on all fours with its back hanging above the ground and its head dangling loosely. These shibito rarely speak coherently, though they appear still to be thinking, due to their outstanding attention devoted to hunting prey. They are good at chasing, able to cling to walls or ceilings, and recover quickly but are entirely unable to use weapons or mimic human behavior.
Strength: Average (+4 to strength rolls and +1 to damage)
Weapons: N/A
Recovery: Quick (1/5 chance to awaken)
Chasing: Outstanding (+3 to pursuit rolls)
Focus: Outstanding (-4 to distraction rolls)
Rarity: 2/10
Special: Crawl across any surface.

Maggot Shibito: These shibito could easily be regarded as the most dangerous of all. The limbs of this corpse lengthen and strengthen, while the belly, torso, and neck become bulbous with fat. The result is a powerful monster with tremendous reach, barely recognizable as its former self. These can talk, though their voices are warped and high pitched. They are extremely strong but they are poor at chasing and possible to distract. They can lift and hurl objects, even something as heavy as a lamp pole. They can virtually not be taken down.
Strength: Outstanding (+8 to strength rolls and +2 to damage)
Weapons: Heavy objects
Recovery: N/A
Chasing: Poor (-3 to pursuit rolls)
Focus: Average (+0 to distraction rolls)
Rarity: 1/10
Special: Invulnerable and can lift and throw objects for ranged attack.

Shibito Brain: Shibito who mutate in unpredictable ways. These shibito act as nerve centers for other shibito, controlling their movements, and can range from nearly indestructible, violent monsters to lumps of flesh entirely incapable of attack. Because their qualities vary by mutation, no stats can be given. Killing them will cause all shibito under their control to become inactive.
Getting Started and Additional Reference

Flow of the RP:

Explained here is the way in which you go about posting. Reference it if you ever forget the basic options that are available to you, and also read over it once before you post with your character. Make sure to register a character before you post with them!

The moderator will generally have provided you with a basic idea of a setting. You can do multiple things in any given post and are allowed to call for certain checks (note that if you do something the moderator believes calls for a check and don't mention it, the check will be made regardless). You should never perform multiple of the same check in the same post. The format is basically:

Quote ()

Roleplay text paragraph here.

((Example Check))
((Example Check)


As a human, things you may wish to do or roll checks for:
- Hiding, to attempt to hide yourself from shibito.
- Strength, for various tasks requiring physical exertion, such as shaking off shibito or barricading a door.
- Pursuit (this is you running from a shibito who has detected you).
- Distraction, to distract nearby shibito.
- Attack, in or out of combat. Attacking cannot be performed in conjunction with other actions.
- Spot, which will allow you to scan the area to get a more thorough description. You cannot spot check while being pursued.
- Pick up weapons or add items to inventory, such as signal flares, ammo, or weapons (you can add light and mid-weight weapons to your inventory, as well as small handguns). You can carry six items (in addition to the weapon you have equipped).
- Movement from one room/area to another. Movement cannot be performed in conjunction with other actions.
- Human characters all have an ability known as "sight-jacking." This strains the user, causing a mild headache and a temporary trance-like state. While sight-jacking you can see from the view of any one person in detection range and even hear what they are saying. You also get a free spot check from their point of view. Sight-jacking cannot be performed in conjunction with other actions.

The moderator will always list which figures are in "detection-range," meaning they can be sight-jacked. Usually this means one or two rooms over at most. Shibito nearby will get a detection roll every turn while in detection range, so long as it is possible for them to turn and see you. If you walk in front of the line of sight of one (usually this only applies to shibito that are standing on guard somewhere, so don't worry about typing out your specific path of movement through the room or anything), you will be detected instantly. When a shibito detects you, you may choose to see from the view of it (or choose one, if there are multiple) through sight jacking until the detection is lost. This sight-jacking is free and does not close off your ability to perform other actions. In this mode, however, you do not get spot checks from their view point.

You will always be given an objective for your "objective area" which must be fulfilled before leaving (or in some cases may be leaving). The objective area refers to all rooms and areas in the "map" of your current objective. You will usually have a rough idea of the objective area and the locations of things, but for a detailed idea of which room is which you will need to acquire a map.

After all human players in an area post (in any order), shibito players will be free to post (in any order). After that, the moderator will show the results. Note that any player in an objective area who fails to post within the period of three days after a mod moderates will be subject to being skipped (their player is assumed to be waiting, basically). Only operating areas with at least one player post waiting for moderation are subject to this.

Combat:

Once a shibito catches a character, the character must either attempt to fight or try to begin another escape (two non-shibito characters can also fight each other). Beginning another escape will result in the shibito getting in one free attack. All players and shibito (ones that are capable of being incapacitated) have a vitality of ten. Base damages are associated with attacks: human attack deals one damage while a basic shibito attack deals two. Weapons and character types may modify these values. Multiple characters/shibito may be engaged at once. When a character's vitality is zero, they will die and become a shibito. When a shibito is knocked out, it becomes inactive until it passes a recovery check (careful, this could be as soon as the next action). Vitality can only be recovered under rare circumstances and will not naturally be replenished until for a character until they leave the operating area.

When You Die:

Eventually, a lot of people are probably going to die. However, did you know that you have options? You can either register to play another character trapped on the island, or you may continue to play as a shibito and work against other players! Read more below.

When you die, you will be presented with a shibito type and asked if you would like to continue RPing as that shibito. You can choose to patrol your own operating area for survivors (NPC or player) or move to another nearby area. At any time that you choose, you may quit playing the shibito and play a new character, but the shibito will exist regardless of your choices. If you want tips on how to RP a shibito, read the shibito descriptions and keep in mind the following traits:
- Shibito have the capacity to think and feel a range of emotions. They recall familiar faces and events, particularly associated with things they do regularly. They are never truly sad, but they may become angry, confused, or moody.
- Shibito keep up some mannerisms of their former selves usually, unless they've become spiders or maggots.
- Shibito are grisly, bloody, and unkempt in appearance. They can survive all sorts of mutilations. Have fun with that.
- Shibito love to kill others and increase the numbers of their shibito brethren.
- The more religious of the Shibito may worship the prophesized deity, whose sacrifice was interrupted.

Actions you may wish to perform as a shibito.
- Detection check, to find humans within detection range and begin pursuit.
- Pursuit check, to chase after humans.
- Attack check, to damage opponents. Note that as a shibito you must enter combat first.
- Strength checks, for anything requiring physical exertion.
- Spot check, although shibito are typically only intelligent enough to find weapons and cannot carry an inventory. You cannot spot check while pursuing.
- Basic movements from room/area to room/area.
- Awaken roll, after being knocked out.

Note that as a player shibito you do not get the advantage of the enemy humans having to roll a detection check for you, so you cannot get sneak attacks.

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Checks:

Checks will occasionally arise throughout the RP, meaning situations that will require a dice roll to determine the outcome. All rolls are made using a ten sided dice. The possible checks are listed below:

- Strength Check: A situation such as a door being forced open, a character forced to the ground, etc. The roll needed to succeed will vary depending on the situation, but as an example, a shibito forcing a braced door open could only succeed with a strength check of 1.
- Pursuit Check: A situation where a shibito is tracking down a human. The roll needed to succeed will operate in a manner where any number 5 or below results in the shibito gaining distance while any number 6 or above means closing in. The times "closing in" is needed will depend on how close to the shibito the person spotted was.
- Recovery Check: A shibito will need a recovery check to determine, once incapacitated, if they can revive to functionality. This check is performed every turn for all unconscious shibito in the operating area.
- Distraction Check: A situation in which a character attempts to distract a shibito, pursuing or otherwise. Once distracted, the shibito must cease pursuing a target until they spot them again. This check is rolled only when indicated by the player, and requires a 5 or higher to pass. Note that a distraction usually requires a large stimulus, usually a lot of noise, to be considered a distraction.
- Hiding Check: A roll initiated by the player which involves hiding from shibito, pursuing or otherwise. A check of 5 or higher will stop nearby shibito from detecting the player. Useful especially to escape patrolling shibito.
- Detection Check: A roll initiated when a player comes within detection range of a shibito. The environment can negatively or positively impact this roll (littered floor might lower while soft rug might increase), but usually the shibito requires a roll of 5 or higher to detect. If a player crosses the shibito's line of sight, the roll is unnecessary and pursuit will begin immediately.
- Spot Check: A roll initiated by the player. It allows the player to scan their environment for aspects that may be useful in strategy, such as weapons or possible distractions. The number rolled affects how much is revealed.
- Attack Check: A roll initiated when a character attacks (unless a long range weapon is used, combat must first be reached, see below). A roll of 2 or lower results in a full miss. All other results indicate the static damage unless a weapon is equipped. If a weapon is equipped, a result from 3-5 will indicate a glancing blow, 6-8 will indicate a regular blow, and 9-10 will indicate a critical. An absolute 10 for a human in combat will count as a staggering blow, and the enemy will not succeed in delivering any damage. The values added to the base damage by each are unique to the type of weapon used.
-Transformation Roll: Occurs when a character dies to determine which Shibito type they become.

*Doing something that doesn't fit these rolls may be subject to a unique on the spot roll, such as trying to hold breath under water, trying to survive a high fall, etc. You may not call for a unique roll, rather, the mod will present it if necessary and it will only occur when there is a possibility of consequences for a poor or superior roll.

Weapons:

Weapons can modify the damage you deal when attacking in combat. You can try to pick up almost anything as a weapon (unless it is too heavy or unwieldy). Weapons fall into seven categories, listed below. You can only equip one at any time.
- Light Blunt Weapons: These weapons are weak but easy to swing and fail to cause any bleeding. Examples would be an ashtray, mug, handheld camera, or baseball. Adds nothing to glancing blows, +1 to regular, and +2 to criticals.
- Light Sharp Weapons: Easy-to-handle, injurious weapons that can cause bleeding. Examples would be a pocket knife, shard of glass, or sharp-edged stone. Adds +1 to glancing blows, +1 to regular, and +2 to criticals.
- Average Blunt Weapons: Weapons like bats, lengths of pipe, or golf clubs that are blunt but just the right weight and design for combat. Adds +1 to glancing blows, +2 to regular, and +3 to criticals.
- Average Sharp Weapons: The penultimate melee weapons, bladed for cutting and just the right weight for combat. Examples might include many types of garden tools like handsaws or rakes. Adds +1 to glancing blows, +2 to regular, and +4 to criticals.
- Heavy Weapons: These weapons are hard to carry and often require a good swing, but they can do a lot more damage than smaller types. Examples would include a TV camera or a guitar (most things you'd need two hands to swing). Glancing blows suffer a penalty of -1 damage, but the weapon offers +2 to regular and +3 to criticals.
- Short-Barreled Firearms: Handguns, sawed-off shotguns, etc. Offer no scope, but can deal great damage even from a distance. Adds +1 to glancing blows, +3 to regular, and +5 to criticals. Requires ammo, serves as a light blunt weapon when all ammo is lost.
- Long-Barreled Firearms: The most powerful weapons of them all, these include hunting rifles or sniper rifles. Hard to come by, they offer a scope to attack enemies from very far away, even outside detection range, and deal great damage. Adds +1 damage to glancing blows, +4 to regular, and +9 to criticals. Requires ammo, serves as a heavy weapon when all ammo is lost.
Setting and Story

Setting:

The island of Sundown (often incorrectly called "Sundown Island") is one of the much smaller islands off the coast of Massachusetts. It is privately owned and is the permanent residence of a number of former vacation-homers looking to leave a quiet life in the solitude of a small community. This is in spite of the fact that the island is in a potential danger zone for tornadoes; somehow, though, in the 20 years since the island has had residents, it has escaped this danger unscathed. The owner of the island lives there himself approximately 20 years ago. He allowed vacation homes there 10 years ago (failing to attract particularly lucrative customers due to the out-of-the-way and not especially exotic location of the island). These vacation homes became permanent homes for the charmed residents it received.

Recently, a fairly upscale hotel was built on the island, amid some controversy of those who already lived on the island. Its grand opening is what is currently attracting visitors, as our story is set. Besides being a newly opening hotel, the manager, a known eccentric, has also organized a "ghost tour" exploring the island's history (although the expense advertised on the hotel's listing may make some shy away) Some may just be coming for a relatively cheap vacation getaway. Others who have investigated a bit further may be interested in the still relatively undiscovered lore surrounding the island, expecting to get a bit more out of the tour. Others may have come simply for new work opportunities opening around the island due to the business the hotel should bring.

No matter what they came to the island for, however, all will leave for the same reason... or some, like the permanent vacationers here, may simply find it too hard to let it go.

Story so far:

A firetruck careened into a park containing chance companions, a few young people who had taken the gazebo as their refuge during a night only to wake up in another time. The red sky was the least of their worries as they were attacked by two strange-acting bums. The fireman who stepped out of the truck saves them, but is quickly transformed into a zombie himself after seemingly being killed. Ixbalanque, Mike, Michael, and Sarah managed to escape alive in the firetruck, leaving their pursuers behind.

Lore found (2):

Bruce Wrencheck's Cell-Phone (discovered by Samson Young on the beach)

The phone info gives the name Bruce, identifiable as the captain of the ship that crashed inbound for Sundown. The phone appears to have been activated June 1, 2008. In its Recent Calls list, it can be seen that the captain attempted to call the entry "William" four times in succession beginning at 3:22 PM, June 17, 2008, a time most of the ship's passengers will remember as close to the time the sudden storm seized the ship (although most passengers' memory is too fuzzy to recall the event exactly). Other names listed in Contacts include "Penny," "Jack," and "Betsie."

Henry Forrester's ID (discovered by Sarah Taylor in the abandoned park)

The ID reveals the identity of Henry Forrester, a fireman whom the group recognizes by his photo as the man who tried to save them, only to become an enemy himself. Information listed includes his place of birth, marital status, age, and other facts. The ID itself is clipped to a sheet of paper, containing dispatch information. The ID displays Henry as a younger man. Oddly, the dispatch information seems ancient, dating back to 2005. The dispatch also ostensibly has nothing to do with the shibito outbreak and sounds more like a routine call.
FAQ:

Q: What season is it in the RP?
A: Your characters should come to the island planning for summer.

Q: Can I create a shibito to start?
A: No, not currently. The reason is we'd like to see the characters built through RP before they become a shibito. This will make the shibito more relevant to other people, since they will be someone who had a history like them at the island.

Q: Should my character have been planning to come to the island or not?
A: People on the boat were intending to come to the island. People on the plane that crashed were headed for another destination.

Q: Does my character know about shibito already?
A: Not until they first see them, no.

Q: Can my character start with a flashlight, switchblade, etc.?
A: Accessories in general should not be included. The reason for this is that if they have a functionality that you can imagine making them worth putting in your inventory or weapon slot, they're something we don't want you starting out with.

Q: What if I'd like to have NPCs related to my character?
A: You can do that too. List them in the related characters part, but we only want them if they're coming to the island. Note that when you do this, their fates are then surrendered to our creative processes. Just fair warning! ; D

Q: Does my character know he can sightjack? How does he discover it?
A: Very early on there will be an event of some kind in which it is revealed to your character. He should not start out knowing, though.

Q: Anyone wanna be my wife?
A: No.