Entry Code
156

Game Name
The Deep

Themes
Supernatural space horror and otherworldly exploration. Inspriation should be drawn from such games as Dead Space and Doom, as well as movies such as Event Horizon. 

What You Will Need to Play
You will need a standard deck of 52 playing cards for a 2 to 5 man game (There are plenty of stylized Bicycle Playing Card decks on Amazon if you wish to have a deck to match the theme of this game). If you wish to play a longer game, or play with more players, add another deck. You will also need to keep track of player stats either via pen and paper or electronically.

Number of Players
Two (2) to Many (although a group larger than 6 will be difficult to control). One player takes the role of the Game Master (GM) and weaves the tale of horror for the rest of the players to adventure in. All other players will take the roles of the special elite operatives working for The Authority.

Synopsis
Space explorers quest into The Deep; Breaches in reality that exist in-between the darkness of space, under centuries-old frozen oceans, and in the forgotten ruins of alien civilizations. These elite operatives are on missions for The Authority; A joint military organization that seeks both knowledge of what is within The Deep and information on how to contain and seal it. The stress of survival and the deaths of their companions push even the strongest operatives into instability and madness.

What is The Deep?
The Deep is the land of the dead and someone at The Authority already knows it. The Deep is accessible via tears in reality made when tens of thousands of sentients die - spaceship crashes, plagues, genocide, etc. Strong emotions such as a violent death can weaken the fabric of space/time into what we normally know as Poltergeists or Possesions. Amplified into the thousands, reality simply unravels or shatters creating rifts into the other side. Most members of The Authority aren’t fully aware of what The Deep really is, but they have some ideas. The organization operates on a need-to-know basis, as the majority of missions go off without a hitch... most of them... just not the one we’re on...

The Deep is teeming with dangers of all kinds, both mental and physical. There are all manner of phantoms, animated corpses, and other permutations of deadly death to kill you. There are twisted versions of reality, areas where the laws of physics are broken, and horrors straight from your nightmares, as well as standard environmental issues associated with space travel. Then, there’s the fact that there’s often no additional resources or supplies once you’re inside The Deep. Communications to reality are cut-off. Mission objectives are difficult. Their are unknown variables that can't be planned for. People are going to die.

When people die, they don’t disappear. They become Spirits that haunt the rest of the living. They can offer tangible assistance to other players for a cost. Not only does a Spirit want to continue to complete the main objectives, but it also craves the death of it's living companions. The result is now a high-threat game, with untrusted allies and plenty for the players of dead characters to accomplish. 

Two Constants to the Chaos
Whatever the breach is between Reality and The Deep, there are always two things that have never varied from instance to instance: One - The portal always looks like a rippling pool of pitch black water. Two - Communications are one-way only. While inside The Deep, team members can still receive communications from those on the other side. However, no communications, even with high-powered laser or microwave transmitters, has ever been able to penetrate the breach and reach Reality.

Remember this, because you will be informed when the mission objective changes from retrieving a sample of a creature, to obtaining a live-specimen. You will be informed, but you will not be able to reply. Complete the mission, and get back alive.

What is the Mission?
The mission is difficult but not impossible, and it will get out of hand. The Authority will ask their elite operatives to bring something back, kill something, test experimental equipment, stop an unholy invasion, leave something or someone behind, escort someone, or just do some “simple” reconnaisance for the next team being sent in. As the game progresses mission objectives will change making the task at hand more dangerous and the outcome more difficult.

Creating a Team Member
A team member working for The Authority is defined by a set of characteristics:
•	Name - Your character's name
•	Military Background & Rank - Within your team, everyone is considered equally ranked, but someone with a rank of Army Sergeant will most likely handle situations differently than that prodigy over there who got his Lieutenant stripes from a college ROTC program.
•	Call Sign - This should be an easy to remember, two or three syllable callsign that you picked up in your career. Is it something humiliating from basic training like Leadhead, Teriyaki, or Bufallo (always the heaviest, slowest guy to run the obstacle course). Or was it something given to you in a memorable combat situation, like Deadeye, Lockbreaker, or Chimera (no matter what new vehicle or weapon they gave her, she operated it like a seasoned pro).
•	Specialization - In The Deep, there are four specializations to choose from. For an easier game, make sure all roles are accounted for. Specializations also define what suit of cards you can cancel out (explained later in the section on conflict event rules).
•	Engineering Officer -  You fix things. Your suit is Spades
•	Medical Officer - You fix people.  Your suit is Hearts
•	Security Officer - You protect people and things. Your suit is Clubs
•	Logistics Officer - You provide solutions. Your suit is Diamonds
•	Personality - Each player picks a personality trait for their character. This defines how you act in a crisis situation and also gives you bonuses during certain conflict events (explained later in conflict event rules). Your personality will also define your Haunt, or special ability, when you become a Spirit.
•	Independent - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you place the safety of yourself above others. Your Haunt is the ability to give a bonus to someone when they betray someone
•	Martyr - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you place the safety of others above yourself. Your Haunt is the ability to give a bonus to someone when they place themselves in danger.
•	Leader - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you instruct others and your instructions are followed. Your Haunt is the ability to give a bonus to someone when they put themselves in charge.
•	Supporter - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you follow someone elses instructions. Your Haunt is the ability to give a bonus to someone when they follow the majority.
•	Survivalist - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you solve a conflict event by yourself.  Your Haunt is the ability to give a bonus to someone when they solve a conflict event alone (not including your aid, of course).
•	Hedonist - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you solve a conflict event with the help of other team members if they use their resources. Your Haunt is the ability to give a bonus to someone when they convince another player to use resources to help them solve a conflict event.
•	Warrior - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you engage in combat. Your Haunt is the ability to give a bonus to someone when they start a fight.
•	Trailblazer - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you succeed at the conflict event by either exploration or refusing to rest. Your Haunt is the ability to give a bonus to someone when they succeed at a conflict event by going off on their own or refuse to give up.
•	Defender - Gain a bonus to conflict events when you defend a location or perimeter. Your Haunt is the ability to give someone a bonus when they refuse to someone (or something) compromise your current location.
•	Resources & Basic Equipment - Each team member comes with a limited number of basic items and resources for accomplishing their task (and progressing the story). You may choose to start the game with all of the following items listed below or swap items based on what the initial mission objective is. The GM may also approve specialty equipment (cutting torch, toolkit, etc...) based on your specialization or mandate equipment required for the mission that must be carried by the team. Each player is only allowed ten (10) slots for carrying Resources, Equipment, and anything found on your mission.
•	Food Rations x 2
•	Water x 2
•	Assault Rifle & Loaded Ammunition x 1
•	Repair Kit x 1
•	Basic Medical Kit & Sedatives x 1
•	Oxygen Tanks x 3
•	Stress - A team member's stress begins at zero (0). Stress is accumulated throughout the mission by failing at conflict events or by a heavily damaged or destroyed Aegis Suit (explained below). Stress can be reduced by succeeding at conflict events. Additionally, a bonus to Stress reduction is given based on your team member's personality during a successful conflict event (this is explained in more detail in the conflict event rules). If a team member's stress ever reaches ten (10) or more then they die by taking their own life in a dramatic way or they die based on the failed conflict event that caused them to reach their untimely demise. Perhaps they've decided they can't breathe and take their helmet off in an atmosphere of methane, or they inadvertantly light a fire in an oxygen rich enclosure thus cumbusting the entire room they are in. The GM should first allow the player to decide their team member's fate. If the player opts not to, then the GM can decide how the end of their life unfolds. 

The Aegis Suit
Operatives in the field wear Aegis Suits. Light, flexible, semi-powered hazmat suits that contain everything you'd need to stay alive in a hostile atmosphere as well as providing cutting edge technology to identify the environment around you. There are also rumors that the suits are blessed, contain bone fragments of saints, and have holy water running throughout the cooling system in order to protect the wearer from unseen evils in The Deep.

The Aegis Suit is strong, but it is not invincible. In failed conflict events involving combat or other physical encounters, the suits will be damaged and eventually destroyed if not repaired.

An Aegis Suit has four (4) conditions:
•	No Damage - The suit has taken no damage
•	Lightly Damaged - The suit is lightly damaged but otherwise fully functional. 
•	Heavily Damage - The suit is heavily damaged. The wearer can hear the hissing of their oxygen leaking out or can visibily see the damage such as their glass helmet slowly cracking before their eyes. A person in a Heavily Damaged Aegis Suit will take one (1) point of Stress at the beginning of every conflict event until it can be repaired down to Lightly Damaged status.
•	Destroyed - an “Aegis Breach”. The suit has been damaged beyond the point of repair. If you are not in an area with oxygen and safe levels of radiation, then you die immediately. A destroyed Aegis Suit can be used as spare parts to repair someone else's damaged Aegis Suit. A person who's Aegis Suit has been destroyed (and is still alive) will take two (2) points of Stress at the beginning of every conflict event until they can obtain a new suit (either Lightly Damaged or with No Damage). The prospect of being trapped in The Deep no hope of a rescue will quickly drive someone to the breaking point.

A repair kit (or repair items found in the area as per the GM, or spare parts from a Destroyed Aegis Suit) can be used by an Engineering Officer to repair damages to a suit (A destroyed suit is unfortunately, destroyed).

Getting Started
Once player roles are decided, the GM should inform the players of their mission. Perhaps today you will be sent to investigate a mission failed by another unit to collect a sample of glowing ore. One where only a single member returned, traumatized to the point where she will only say one phrase over and over again in latin, “The 
darkness eats our memories. The darkness eats our memories.”

The players should now decide what team members to make. In the example above they'll need someone with Logistics and the gear to obtain and contain a sample of this mysterious ore. They might also want a Medical Officer on staff because, well, “The darkness eats our memories.”

Once team members are set, it's time to hand out playing cards. Start by removing all face cards and Jokers from the deck. Shuffle and hand out 5 cards to each player of a team member (for a game with only 2 team members, hand out 10 cards to each of their players). Now shuffle the face cards back into the deck. The GM should now draw 5 cards. Shuffle the Jokers back into the remaining cards to create the draw pile.

The game is ready to begin...

Exploring The Deep
As the team explores The Deep they will run into issues and problems forcing them to make decisions on how best to complete their mission. It is up to the GM to describe the conflict and the Team Members to answer how they will resolve the situation. 

Do they encounter ancient derelict spaceships on the other side, or giant hives made out of flesh, where the GM tasks the team with finding a way inside. Do they use demolitions to blow an entrance, or can they hack the alien controls next to the entranceway? Does the team encounter an insane survivor of the previous recon team that has been infected by a parasitic worm? Can they subdue him and get him medical attention, or do they enter a firefight with him because they want him dead, and he's willing to take a few down with him. Is something large and demonic stalking the team through a swamp of grotesque wailing vegetation that sticks to their suits and slows their movement? Will they create a barricade and make a stand, or leave someone alone to slow down the creature so that everyone else can complete the mission?

Whenever a conflict begins, it's time to break out the playing card to see if the team succeeds or fails at a Conflict Event.

Conflict Event Rules
Remember that each suite is related to a different specialization: 
•	Spades - Engineering
•	Hearts - Medic
•	Clubs - Security
•	Diamonds - Logistics

The GM pulls any two (2) cards from her hand of five (5) and places them face up in front of everyone. These two (2) cards will determine the difficulty and type of challenge the team faces off against in their Conflict Event. The GM must make a best effort based on the suite(s) of the cards laid out to have a Conflict Event that relates to the specializations of those suites. If a card of Hearts was played, then the Conflict Event should have a Medical related option to it. 

The team members can play up to one (1) card each to try and match or exceed the total amount of the cards laid out by the GM. If they do, they succeed the Conflict Event. They may choose to not play cards and fail the Conflict Event, but the penalties are severe. Team Members must explain what they are doing to succeed at the Conflict Event.

The amounts of cards:
•	Aces are worth one (1) point
•	Numbered cards are worth their numbered value
•	Face cards are worth ten (10) points
•	Jokers are an instant success to a Conflict Event (Jokers may not be played by the GM and will become available later to the players from the draw pile)

There are a couple special rules to the cards played by the GM:
•	For every face card the GM plays, a card must be taken from the draw pile and placed face down next to the other cards. These face down cards become resources gained by the players for successfully completing the Conflict Event. The GM states what the actual resources in the game are. Any team members that participated in the Conflict Event may take these cards for their hand.
•	When the GM finishes placing the cards on the table, she immediately draws from the draw pile to bring her hand back up to five (5) cards. If she draws a Joker, she must immediately place it on the table as a reward for the players if they succeed at the Conflict Event. She continues drawing until she is back up to five (5) cards in her hand.

There are a few special rules for the team members that participate in the Conflict Event:
•	Participating team members may only play one card from their hand per Conflict Event. If you don't play a card, then you are not participating.
•	Joker cards are an instant success. Play one and laugh in the GM's face.
•	If your Personality bonus matches what your team member does to succeed at the Conflict Event, you add +2 points to the card you play.
•	In Example: A team member with a personality trait of Defender decides to hold the line at the entrance to your ship and open fire on the incoming horde of zombies. They play an eight (8) of clubs, but add a total of 10 points to the team's attempt at success. 
•	If any participating team member has a specialization that matches a suite that the GM has played, one of those suite cards may be ignored.
•	In Example: The GM plays the Seven (7) of Hearts and the King of Spades. Both a Medical Specialist and an Engineering Specialist participate. They may decide which of the two cards is ignored and ultimately lower the difficulty of the task to seven (7) instead of seventeen (17). However, even though a card is negated, the Engineering team member must still play one of their cards to be participating in the Conflict Event.

In Resolution:
•	The cards played by the GM and any participating Team Members go to the discard pile
•	If the team succeeds at the Conflict Event:
•	The face down cards and Joker cards on the table are awarded to them (but only if they are alive. See below for Spirits that participate) and the GM tells them what equipment the cards represent (even if the team doesn't pickup or use the equipment in the story, they still keep the cards for future Conflict Event use)
•	Participating team members remove one (1) stress point
•	If the Personality bonus of a participating team member matches what they did to succeed at the Conflict Event, then they may remove an additional stress point
•	If the team fails at the Conflict Event:
•	Every team member in the Conflict Event gains two (2) stress points.
•	If the Conflict Event was combat or a physical encounter, everyone in the Conflict Event takes one (1) level of damage to their Aegis Suit.
•	Team Members do not draw back up to five (5) cards. Their hands will ultimately dwindle to nothing over the course of the story. Resource management and teamwork is a must!

An Example of a Conflict Event:
•	The GM says, “The team has found the ancient temple as described by the recon team. Although ancient in appearance, the entranceway shows an advanced understanding of technology and there is a complex, yet interfaceable control panel to the right of the sealed hatchway.”
•	The GM plays two cards from her hand: The nine (9) of Spades, and the Jack of Diamonds, for a total cost of 19. This will not be a simple task to accomplish!
•	Because the GM placed a face card, she draws a card from the top of the draw pile and places it face down in the center of the table.
•	One of the team members has a Specialization in Logistics, and a Personality of Survivalist. “I can handle this... alone.”
•	The lone team member plays an eight (8) of Clubs (the suite not being important from this side of the table). “I pull out a couple sticks of C4 and a remote detonator and prepare to blow the hatch wide open.”
•	Because the team member has Logistics, they can ignore the nine (9) of Spades bringing the difficulty of the challenge down to 10 points.
•	The team member is also a Survivalist and gains a +2 bonus for confronting the Conflict Event alone.
•	The eight (8) of Clubs and the +2 bonus equal a total of 10 points and match the difficulty of the challenge.
•	The team succeeds. The face down card is awarded to the lone team member that participated. The GM adds, “You blow open the entranceway and hear a loud explosion of escaping air from within the dark corridor ahead of you. The doorway itself is remarkably intact, and inserted on the other side is what appears to be a security keycard. This can most likely be used elsewhere inside the temple.”
•	The Survivalist removes two (2) points of Stress. One (1) for suceeding the Conflict Event and one (1) for completing the event in a way that matches their Personality bonus.
•	All other cards on the table are sent to the discard pile, to eventually be shuffled back into the draw pile when it runs out.

A Pound of Flesh for Your Soul
If you have died, then “Congratulations!” Nothing can harm you anymore and you now have an additional goal: Kill the living. As a member of the team, you still want to see the mission objective complete, but as an undead you now have an overwhelming hatred and loathing for the living. It's okay. You're pretty sure everyone else will see things your way once they're dead. But remember, you need to keep them alive just a little bit longer in order to complete that mission objective.

When a team member dies, they become a Spirit and gain the ability to Haunt any of the living team members. It is up to the player to decide how they appear to each living team member. Are they a horrific looking corpse freshly killed? Do they appear perfectly fine, always standing next to the person they are talking to? Are they a disembodied voice that whispers encouragement to the living, and that they'll always be there to help them?

A Spirit keeps any cards they still have in their hand but may not receive any new cards. A Spirit is no longer concerned with Stress and does not gain or remove Stress points based on Conflict Event outcomes. When a Conflict Event occurs you can offer a bonus to a team member that follows the rules of your Haunt to resolve the event. You can either play a card and give it's value as a bonus to their attempt, or you may give a default +3 bonus to their attempt (if you still have cards remaining you may choose to use the default instead). Every time a team member accepts your aid, you gain a point of leverage with that team member. At any time, you may cash in the amount of leverage you have with a team member to raise their Stress by that many points. Collect leverage, and don't let the other players remember how many you have until it's too late and you can push their team member's Stress to ten (10) and increase the ranks of the dead.

The Mission Objective Has Been Redefined
Whenever the draw pile runs out, shuffle all cards in the discard pile to make a new draw pile and alter the mission objective to make it more difficult. Creature samples should now be taken alive. Time limits should be imposed because the breach to The Deep is mysteriously closing. Dead party members? It is imperative that you bring back their corpses. We can't have them falling into the wrong hands. 

Personal Fear & Phobia (Optional)
If you want to make the game just a wee bit harder for yourself as a team member, you may pick up a phobia and draw an extra card at the beginning of the game. You must tell the GM what your phobia is. Anytime it comes up in a Conflict Event (and it will, oh yes it will), you must take two (2) stress points as soon as the Conflict Event begins.

Have Fun
Above all, have fun telling a horror story together whether it ends with a lone survivor completing a nigh impossible task or whether it ends in the deaths of every member of the team in a disturbing but memorable plot twist!

The Deep
Character Sheet

Character Name: __________________________________		Call Sign: _________________________________

Military Background: _______________________________		Rank: ____________________________________

Specialization: ____________________________________		Card Suite: _______________________________

Personality: _______________________________________

Personality Bonus: __________________________________________________________________________________

Haunt: _____________________________________________________________________________________________

Resources & Equipment: _____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Aegis Condition:
[	] No Damage
[	] Lightly Damaged
[	] Heavily Damaged
[	] Destroyed

Stress:  O O O O O O O O O O

Spirit Leverage:
	 Player Name: _______________________________ Leverage: ____________________________

	 Player Name: _______________________________ Leverage: ____________________________

	 Player Name: _______________________________ Leverage: ____________________________

	 Player Name: _______________________________ Leverage: ____________________________

	 Player Name: _______________________________ Leverage: ____________________________