House Rules

Pushing a skill roll

provides the agent with a second and final attempt to achieve a goal. A pushed roll is only allowed if it can be justified, and it is up to the player to do this.

Whenever a agent asks, “Can I push the roll?” the Handler should always ask, “What action are you taking to push the situation?” It is not for the Handler to simply say yes or no; it is for the agent to describe the extra effort or time taken to justify the pushed roll. If the agent is stuck, other agents or the Handler might offer suggestions.

By making a pushed roll, the agent is upping the ante and giving the Handler permission to bring dire consequences should the roll be failed a second time. Pushing a roll means pushing the situation to the limit:

Pushing a Knowledge Based Skill will cost 1D4 Willpower and Pushing a Physical Skill will cost 1D6 Willpower

Bennies

Being playtested

To award players for exceptional roleplaying, great ideas or behavior that makes the game better. They should be rare and carry over between sessions, you can only have two (2) at any one time.

Effect; You subtract 20 from your roll, excluding SAN rolls.

Firearms House Rules

Overpressure Ammo
Heavy pistols and a few medium pistols can use cartridges loaded with more powder and heavier bullets, adding +1 damage.
The bonus combines with modifiers for hollow point or armor piercing ammo.
Medium pistols that can tolerate such powerful rounds are usually those based on the sturdy M1911 pistol frame: the 1911 itself, the S&W 1076, the Colt Delta Elite, and .40 S&W pistols like the Glock 22 and Glock 23. So can .357 Magnum revolvers.

Such a hot load used in any other pistol tends to cause wear and malfunctions. The pistol jams on a roll of 96–00 and can’t fire again until the Agent takes a turn to clear it.

Overpowered Handguns
An Agent with Strength 12 or lower suffers a −10% penalty with any heavy pistol, with a medium pistol firing overpressure ammunition, or with a medium pistol firing .357 Magnum ammunition. Taking the Aim action removes this penalty.

...the essence of pure nightmare was upon me. Sanity departed—and, ignoring everything except the animal impulse of flight, I merely struggled and plunged upward over the incline’s debris as if no gulf had existed. Then I saw the chasm’s edge, leaped frenziedly with every ounce of strength I possessed, and was instantly engulfed in a pandaemoniac vortex of loathsome sound and utter, materially tangible blackness.

—H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Out Of Time