Influences:
Let’s get this out of the way: Anonym is heavily influenced by several pieces of existing media. Chief among these are:

Lacuna, by Jared Sorenson
Unknown Armies, by Greg Stolze & John Tynes
Warehouse 13

Anonym

Santa Claus						Lucifer
Kris Kringle						The Devil
Father Christmas					Satan
Saint Nicholas						The Morning Star
Kerstman						Beelzebub
Père Noël						Prince of Darkness
Sinterklaas						Iblis

Do you honestly think that any of those are the true name of those beings? The name that their lover moans in bed? The name that their mother used when scolding them?

Names have power. A being who knows your true name—your Nomen—has mystical power over you. They can see your essence, can summon you, and with a little know-how, they can exert some amount of control over your actions. That's the reason why beings of power are known by so many false names. It defuses the influence and control that others have over them.

Nomina (that’s the plural) of mortals are useful in the mortal sphere. Nomina of creatures of power—well, those get you a little something extra. The Nomen of a truly magical being can grant its user a little bit of the being’s power. These Nomina are therefore of particular value. There's nothing you can do to lessen the impact of your true name—you can only hide it.

And that’s the service we at Anonym provide. For a reasonable fee, we guarantee that no one—be they meddlesome warlock, frisky entrepreneur, dead god, or any other identity thief—will discover your Nomen. Open an Anonym Silver account, and our Memetic Specialists will monitor your identity and see whose prying eyes are trying to find you. We will inform you of all dangerous internet searches, library use, and occult rituals.

And if someone does manage to somehow unearth your Nomen, we promise to neutralize all memetic threat and fix all damage within 48 hours—or YOUR MONEY BACK.

What is Anonym?

Anonym is a tabletop role-playing game for 3 or more players. One of you takes on the role of the game master, or GM; the GM’s chief duty is to control the actions of various characters in the world that are not the PC’s. The other players each create and control one Player Character, a person they control in this fictional world.
Character Creation

At the start of play, the GM should place a number of 6-sided dice in the center of the table equal to 2(n+1), where n is the number of PCs being created. They should be easily within reach of all the players. The GM should also provide a bowl and some small glass beads (or similar objects); these are Chips.

Each player should be equipped with a pencil, a blank sheet of paper, and a face-down copy of the Memetic Specialist Creation Instructions sheet.

When the GM assesses that everyone is ready to begin, they should instruct the players to turn over their sheets and begin.

After characters have been created, each player gets a Chip for each D6 left in the pile.

Rolls

When you say that your PC does something, your PC does that thing. There are a few exceptions to this.

If the GM thinks an action would be humanly impossible, they can say you cannot do it—at least, not without supernatural help.

If the GM or another PC thinks that this action would be particularly difficult, they can ask you to roll. If the action is physical in nature, roll a number of D6 up to the value of your Combat Readiness. If the action is social or academic in nature, roll a number of D6 up to the value of your People Skills. If any of the dice come up 5 or 6, you succeed at your action. If you get more than one 6, take a Chip. Otherwise, you fail. The GM has rules for what to do here.

The GM may peer at your dice and write some things down after you roll. It’s probably nothing.

Regardless of difficulty, if the GM thinks that this particular action would jeopardize your official position within Anonym, they may ask you to roll Access Level. Access Level rolls work just like other rolls, except you cannot ever roll more than 4d6 on an Access Level roll. If you succeed on your Access Level roll, you get away with whatever you were doing with no repercussions. Otherwise, put a little asterisk by your Access Level rating on your character sheet. If this Mark is still there at the end of the session, your Access Level gets downgraded by one. 

Chips

You may spend a chip to reroll one die in a roll you have made. You can do this as many times as you like per roll. You may also spend a chip to avoid losing Access Level on a failed roll.

The GM will probably give the players some chips at the end of each session.

Memetic Specialist Creation Instructions
To be handed out to players
Read everything on this sheet in order. When you reach an instruction, follow it. Never return a D6 to the pile. If there are no D6 left in the pile, you cannot perform actions that require you to take one from it. Swiftness and attention to detail are essential qualities for Memetic Specialists. You have been recruited because of your outstanding aptitude. Congratulations!

Look at the other Memetic Specialists. Do any of them have their eyes open? If so, close your eyes until someone says “Open!” If none of them have their eyes open, take a D6 from the pile and say “Open!” 

Write down an honorific (on the level of Mr. or Mrs.) at the top of your sheet, followed by a surname. Write down the phrase “Access Level” followed by a colon. After the colon, write the number 5. If you wish, you may take a D6 from the pile, and roll all dice you have. If you do this, replace the number 5 with the sum of all the dice you rolled.

Write down the phrase “Combat Readiness” followed by a colon. After the colon, write the number 2. If you wish, you may take a D6 from the pile and roll it. If you do this, replace the number 2 with the number you rolled. If your Combat Readiness score is 4 or higher, write a brief phrase describing your combat style beneath it.

Write down the phrase “People Skills” followed by a colon. After the colon, write the number 2. If you wish, you may take a D6 from the pile and roll it. If you do this, replace the number 2 with the number you rolled. If your People Skills score is 4 or higher, write a brief phrase describing an important or useful contact you have made in the field.

There are thirteen levels of access within Anonym. A Specialist is expected to follow orders from Specialists of higher level. Mr. Greer, the founder of Anonym, is the only person with access level 13. Levels 11 and 12 are reserved for those in charge of departments. If your access level is 11 or 12, write down Field Director underneath your name at the top of your sheet. You are in charge of monitoring Specialists in the field and you get to assign missions. In addition, you know (unbeknownst to your colleagues and superiors) the first syllable of the Nomen of the First Cat. Write down the phrase “KA: allows the speaker to fall up to 30 feet without harm” at the bottom of your sheet.

Levels 6 through 10 are the purview of experienced and successful Memetic Specialists. If your access level falls within this range, you will likely be expected to take point on Sweeps, and to train less experienced Specialists in the field. Levels 2 through 5 contain relatively inexperienced Memetic Specialists. Follow orders. Access Level 1 indicates that you are a recently rehabilitated prisoner of Anonym.

Roll all the D6 you have accumulated. If the sum is 14 or higher, give your character sheet to the GM; the character you created has defected or gone rogue. They are now an NPC. Take another sheet of paper, discard all your D6, and start over again, at the point where you write a name at the top of your sheet. If the sum is exactly 2, tell the GM. They will give you a syllable of a Nomen. Keep it secret.

Nomina
Roughly speaking, the more powerful a being, the longer its Nomen. Your true name and mine are but a single syllable long. You probably don’t even know yours. The Nomen of the Devil is reported to have fifteen syllables—if true, that would be the longest Nomen known. Lady Luck has granted Anonym the limited usage of her Nomen to secure independent funding; Ms. Pineda, head of Anonym’s Personnel and Acquisitions Department, has access to the first three of the ten syllables of her name.

To harness the power of a Nomen for yourself, simply speak the syllable or syllables you know. This will have two effects. First, it will grant you some specific power associated with the being whose name it is. Secondly, that being will receive a sort of telepathic chime, which will immediately inform it that someone is using its name. Repeated uses of the same Nomen can allow a being to locate the user.

Tone of voice does not matter, but intent does; if someone accidentally pronounces a Nomen or part of one, its power is not conferred; however, the being still receives the chime.

Speaking more syllables of a Nomen will have a more powerful effect.

If you know a being’s entire Nomen, there are rituals that will allow you to summon and control the being.

PCs and Nomina

A Memetic Specialist will, in the line of duty, occasionally overhear someone using syllables of Nomina. If you also know the identity of the being to whom the Nomen belongs, then that is all the information you need to access the power of the Nomen. You do not need to know the supernatural effect the Nomen will have. Using a Nomen—even in life-or-death situations—always puts your Access Level in jeopardy.

There are also ways to use People Skills to gain access to Nomina; research, eavesdropping, bargaining with powerful entities. Doing any of this definitely puts your Access Level in jeopardy.

For the GM

General Advice
A session of Anonym—at least to start—should revolve around a single security breach. Give the Specialists something to start with: a name, location, a strange event to investigate. Assume the role of their field liaison when the players wish to ask about Anonym. End the session when the breach is neutralized. Anonym successfully neutralizes all breaches; the only question is whether the PCs will be the ones to do it, or if whole cities will have to be gassed with memory bleach.

Anonym (the company) has its own agenda. You express this agenda when you call for Access Level checks.

Anonym’s Agenda
Anonym should have access to as many Nomina as possible.
No one else should have access to Nomina.
Clients should be kept happy.
All Nameless Ones should be destroyed.

As a general rule, if a PC’s action would contravene any of these statements, have the PC make an Access Level check afterward.

There are other factions out there with their own agendas as well. You express these agendas by having agents of those factions carry out actions that would further them.

The Nameless Ones are a crew of tech-savvy humans and AI. They conduct coordinated attacks on beings of power and on Anonym.

The Nameless Ones’ Agenda
All Nomina should be forgotten.
Anonym should be destroyed.
All beings of power should be destroyed.
Strong AI should wait until all beings of power are destroyed before revealing itself to humanity.

Clients are the various beings of power who pay Anonym for services.

The Client’s Agenda
My Nomen should be kept secret at all costs.
Anyone who uses my Nomen without permission should be destroyed.
Anonym and those who work for it should make keeping me happy their first priority.
I deserve to know what’s going on at all times.

Rogues are those fools who have attracted Anonym’s attention by accessing Nomina of Clients.

The Rogue’s Agenda
I need to gain access to more Nomina
I should use the Nomina I have to gain worldly power
I should prove to the world how smart I am
If it gets too scary, run and hide

Session Preparation

Come up with a Rogue. Figure out which Client’s Nomen they have, and what power it grants them. Figure out what they’re doing with the Nomen and how far along the Rogue is in their plans.

This next bit is stolen straight from Lacuna.

You, as GM, have your own stat to keep track of. It’s called Danger. At the beginning of a session, the Danger level is zero.

Certain fictional events increase the Danger level. For example:

If a fight breaks out between PCs, increase Danger by 1 for each PC involved.
If a PC uses a Nomen, increase Danger by 1.
Each time a PC rolls a 1 on a die, increase Danger by 1.
If a PC contacts a Nameless One, increase Danger by 1.

Feel free to decide particular events (“The PCs enter the prison yard”) that will increase Danger in a particular session.

Each time Danger increases, have an event happen. The intensity of the event depends on the level to which Danger increases. The following lists are examples of the type of event that you should have happen at each level of Danger.

1-5 – Low Danger
Odd coincidences.
Specific additional orders from Anonym HQ
Introduction of Anonym-allied NPCs
Discovery of the Rogue’s plan

6-10 – Moderate Danger
Minor supernatural phenomena.
Loss of contact with Anonym HQ
Baffling orders from Anonym HQ
Direct contact from a Client
Advancement of the Rogue’s plan

11-15 – Serious Danger
Dangerous supernatural weirdness
Hostile contact from Anonym HQ
Contradictory orders from Anonym HQ
Contact with non-Client beings of power
Near-completion of the Rogue’s plan

16-20 – Life-threatening Danger
Obstructive contact from Client
Direct confrontation with Rogue
Completion of the Rogue’s plan
At this level and above, Events can leave PCs with Marks by stats.

21+ – ABORT!  ABORT!
Situation takeover by Anonym
Contact with Nameless Ones
At this point, the mission is considered a failure on the part of the PCs.

Mission End

What happens at the end of a mission (and thus at the end of a session) is contingent upon the Danger level.

If the Mission ends in Low Danger: have the PCs erase all Marks by stats, and give them each 4 Chips. Start the next mission at 3 Danger instead of 0; the group can clearly handle a more dangerous assignment.

If the Mission ends in Moderate Danger: give each PC 2 Chips. Write down one NPC introduced in this Mission. Add “contact with [that NPC]” to your Moderate Danger events. Allow each player to add 1 to any unmarked stat of their choosing.

If the Mission ends in Serious Danger: give each PC 1 Chip. Write down one NPC introduced in this Mission. Add “contact with [that NPC]” to your list of Serious Danger events. Allow each player to add 1 to any two unmarked stats of their choosing.

If the Mission ends in Life-Threatening Danger: give each PC 1 Chip. Add “Contact with Nameless Ones” to your Life-Threatening Danger events. Allow each player to add 1 to all unmarked stats. Alternatively, a PC may attempt a risk-free Access roll. Success indicates that the PC has learned a syllable of a Nomen.

If the Mission ends in ABORT! ABORT!: give each PC 2 Chips. Add “Contact with Nameless Ones” to your Serious Danger events. All PCs must succeed at Access rolls or Mark their Access Level. Allow each player to add 1 to any unmarked stat.

After the end of the Mission, decrease all Marked stats by 1, and erase all Marks.