SECRET CIRCLE
You know a secret. You are one among a select few.

Your city is troubled. Overrun with crime, alien invasions, mutants, and monsters, your once great metropolis stood on the brink of destruction. Then, the Heroes arrived.

You are not a Hero. Yours in not the crusade to fight the evils of the world. You are the confidant, the friend, the lover. You stand by a Hero’s side (and occasionally get kidnapped) to provide the emotional and moral support that your Hero needs. 

You know who they are when they take off their mask. You may fear who they become with they put it on, but you believe in them, care about and even love them. You don’t want them to destroy who they are inside by becoming one of the monsters they fight.

INTRO
This is a game for three to five players. One player takes the role of the Hero and fulfills many of the GMish duties that the game requires. The other players take the role of someone close to the Hero who know their secret identity and cares about who they are when they take off their mask.

This is a game about people dealing with someone they care about who has decided to do something dangerous and illegal but, ultimately, intended to help others. It is also about the toll of dealing with the Hero and the ramifications of their work.

SETUP
The Hero is a rotated figure roleplayed by everyone at the table, among all the participants they must create a Hero. Do you want to play a preexisting Hero or someone in that mold? Do you want to create an amalgamation of Heroes that you are familiar with? Do you want something new and different that you haven’t seen before?

Once you have sketched the Hero, create your Confidantes, the people the Hero trust enough to let them know their identity.

HERO
The Hero is defined by their Drive, Convictions, Threat, Compassion and Violence. 

Drive tells you why the Hero puts on the mask, once he had a pacific life, what made hid took the mask and face the evil that impregnated in the city, do he gain great power and with him great responsability, was he the only witness at her parents homicide?.

Convictions tell you the Hero’s boundaries: how far will go to fulfill his mission? Which are the borders he deny himself to cross? What made him form a villian?

Threat tell the dangers the Hero face everyday, maybe they are external like his enemies, or internal like his fears or lack of confidence.

Compassion and Violence are a continuum from 1 (Compassion) to 10 (Violence). The Hero starts at 5, slightly more Compassionate than Violent.

The higher the violence the Hero start to display stange behavior, only his secret circle are aware of this change on the Hero.

Hunger: The Hero is in constant hunger, nor for food but for something that has become a need like power or control.
Destruction: the Hero is careless of his surroundings like the property or the bystanders.
Distaste: something is repulsive for the Hero and might take great effort to stay away or eliminate.
Paranoia: the Hero is never alone, they are always following him, they are watching him, they are after him, but who are “They”? Imagination or reality?
Depresion: the Hero lost his confidence or the purpose of his mission, there are always another villian, another inocent bystander, what is the purpose of fighting one and save other? 

The role of the Hero is rotative among all the players on each scene, when a participant take the role of the Hero also take the role of the Master, when the scene over the Hero/Master decides who is the next, usually clockwise but whatever method is right as long everyone take the role of Hero/Master.

CONFIDANTES
A Confidante is defined by their Bonds and Concerns.

Bonds: is the link between the Hero and the Confidante, the feeling or emotion that made him important in Hero's life.

Pick or choose
Admiration: there are some aspect of you that the Hero admires, something he lacks?
Respect: your past actions had earned the Hero respect, what you did to earned?
Kindness: the Hero always has a gentle attitude with you, did you remember his someone?
Aprovation: with his actions the Hero want to earn your aproval, you know him before he were a Hero?
Love: the Hero is in love with you, are you in love with the Hero?
Friendship: the Hero call you “friend” and thats not easy, how you supported him in the past?
Memories: when the Hero and you gather together you are always remembering, what are this shared memories?
Trust: the Hero and you have been buddies in the good and in the worse, which important person for the Hero have you saved?
Potential: the Hero see potential in yourself, what strange display of power have you done?

Concerns are what the Confidante wants for the Hero. Often they want the Hero to be safe, less violent, mindful of bystanders, or concerned about public opinion.

Pick or choose:
Safety: what the Hero does is often dangerous and his live is in constant risk.
Paceful: the Hero lose his temper easily and when he does so he is very destructive.
Care: the Hero is beyond humans in many things, if only he care about the ones surrounding him.
Public life: the Hero lives by his own code and is clear about his actions and words, having no time for be political correct.

When creating a Confidante divide 3 points among Bonds and Concerns: minimum 0 and maximum 3, when the Confidante attempt to convince the Hero to do or believe something they don’t want to use Bonds throw 1d10 and add the bond stat, if the result is equal or greater than Hero's violence the Confidante success on his attemp and the Hero is brought around to their point of view, for now. If the Confidante fails, the Hero does, or believes, what they want and the Confidante’s Bonds stat is reduced by one.

When the Confidante is in need that the Hero to do or believe some Heroic deed throw 1d10 and add the concern stat, if the result is equal or less than Hero's Compassion the Confidante success on his attemp and the Hero is brought around to their point of view, for now. If the Confidante fails, the Hero does, or believes, what they want and the Confidante’s Concern stat is reduced by one.

Bonds is used to make the Hero more like a normal person while Concern is used to canalize the Hero's actions to a good end.

Beyond these particular concerns, each Confidante player should also determine who their Confidante is and what they do in the city. Confidantes often have jobs that put them at odds with the Hero and their activities. Jobs like: reporter, police detective or commissioner, or medical professional.

The Confidant's Bonds and Concerns can keep going down to -1, when this happen the relation between the Hero and the Confidant is very damaged and the later is no longer able to influence the Hero

When the Confidante's Bonds and Concern both reach -1 the Confidante is no longer part of the Hero life, narrate the way the Confidante is leave behind and retire of the game.

PREP
Once the group has decided the Hero/Master turns one that fulfill the role for the scene has to determine what craziness the Hero is currently dealing with. Choose for yourselves or roll on the tables below:

Threat
1. One of the Hero’s recurring villains is back again. Who?
2. A new alien/creature/mutant is invading. What?
3. Public outrage is high. Why?
4. The authorities are hunting the Hero. Why?
5. Two or more previously unrelated villains have teamed up against the Hero. Who?
6. A powerful and dangerous device is lost. Where?

Situation
1. Someone has been kidnapped. Who? 
2. The Hero recently lost the first exchange with the Threat.
3. The Hero is handicaped in some way
4. The Hero experienced a recently loss.
5. An old friend is acting stange
6. The Hero is in bad terms with other heroes

PLAY
Play is accomplished through a series of scenes. Scenes can be determined by the Hero/Master or by the table as a group. Regardless of how you determine a scene, make sure that you take turns so that each Confidante has a turn.

Scenes are played out between the Hero and one or more Confidantes, between multiple Confidantes without the Hero, or between a Confidante and one or more secondary characters who aren’t privy to the secret (this can include the current Threat).

Multiple Confidantes
When 2 or more Confidantes act together toward the same goal, one of the Confidantes take the lead while the other(s) are supporting him.

The Confidantes then choose to use Bonds or Concern of the one that is leading and add +1 by each other Confidante that is aiding, if the roll is a failiure the lead Confidante decides which one among the participantes loses 1 point of Bonds or Concern (the one the group used).

At the end of each scene, based on how the Confidante(s) in the scene feel it turned out, move the Hero one number lower, toward Compassion, or higher, toward Violence. I the Confidante(s) in the scene tried to convince the Hero of something and failed, that should almost always move the Hero higher, toward Violence.

REFRESHING SCENES
For a Confidante is possible to regain his lost points from Bonds and Concern with a Refresh Scene, during one the Confidante tells the group some detail of his relation with the hero, there are 2 type of Refreshs.

Gain Scene
The confidante narrates a short scene with the hero, a moment from the past in a way the Hero was surpassed by the confidante in some way.

At the end of the scene the Confidante gain 1 point that he can accomodate in Bonds or Concern as he pleases, doing in this way the Hero also gain 1 point for his Violence

Transladate
The confidante narrates a short scene with the hero, a moment from the past in a way the Confidante was helped by the Hero.

At the end of the scene the Confidante can chage 1 point of Bonds to Concerns and viceversa, doing in this way nothing chances in the Hero

END GAME
If the Hero reaches 1, they retire as a Hero (for the moment) leaving the mission to others. If the Hero reaches 10, they become obsessed with the mask and mission, as a group narrate the details, how the hero settles for a normal life or how the hero cut all ties to his Confidantes to focus solely on his mission.

FINAL NOTE – SECOND EDITOR
i tried to keep the spirit of the game to the best of my abilty, the whole idea of the rules is to keep some connection between the Hero and Confidante, thats the reason Violence faces Bonds while Concern faces Benevolence.

Violence is the Hero doing things his way with little or no care for others so the Confidante has to use the bonds that tied him to the hero to keep him of getting violent.

Benevolence is the Hero that has loses his determination to keep on mission, Concerns is the way the Confidante has to make the Hero being heroic but not violent.

I tried to keep the rules as simple as possible, just one die and few stats, for me this is a game about Alfred and Lois, not Batman and Superman.

Finally i'm not a native english speaker, maybe you already noted that by the language and sintaxis so i hope you do not have many problems going through the document.