Welcome, recruit. You are now part of a deeply questionable organization dealing with psychic disasters in a ruined version of America where people still have jobs and rent is still due.
This is your orientation. You will create your operative profile and be deployed into the field, where you will encounter four agents — each of whom will demonstrate, through circumstances that are entirely your fault, how this game actually works.
The tone swings between funny and unsettling without warning. You've been warned. That's the only warning you get.
● Strangeness Tracker — measures how badly you're bending reality. Fills as psychic abilities are used. At 10, something happens.
Step 1
Identification
The intake form is already stained with coffee. Someone has doodled a skull in the margin. Fill in what you can.
Step 2
Archetype
How do you relate to your power — and to the chaos it causes? Pick one. There are no good options. Only different flavors of problem.
Step 3
Psychic Domain
Every Mindwalker has one primary power domain. You can use others, but at a disadvantage — which here means badly, and in a way that will be remembered.
Step 4
Tags
Pick 3 Power tags (what you're good at — each gives +1 on relevant rolls) and 2 Weakness tags (your problems — invoke them deliberately to earn Insight Tokens).
Power Tags — select 3
Weakness Tags — select 2
0 of 3 power tags • 0 of 2 weakness tags selected
Step 5
Idée Fixe
Your defining obsession. Once per scene, if you meaningfully play it out and others engage with it, you may restore composure or clear a minor status. The table decides whether it counts. Choose wisely. Or don't. They rarely do.
Select 1
Operative Dossier
Approved
Roll 2d6, then add +1 for each relevant tag working for you, and −1 for each relevant tag working against you.
10+ = clean success • 7–9 = success, but something goes sideways • 6 or less = failure, you earn an Adversity Token
Your paperwork has been processed. Your insurance has not been processed. You've been assigned to a field team, none of whom requested a partner. Report to the warehouse at the edge of town. Do not ask what's in the warehouse.
Scene 1
The Warehouse
Mechanic: The Chaos Pool & Rolling
Strangeness:
Kamari Bravado
Aspiring sci-fi writer • 20s • The Conduit
Psychic Power: Perception (Clairvoyance, Hydrokinesis, Mind Reading)
Scene 1
Rolling the Dice
Strangeness:
—
—
Scene 2
The Broom Cupboard / Office
Mechanic: Insight Tokens & Weakness Tags
Harlan Dellor
Lawyer • Late 40s • The Vessel
Psychic Power: Mind (Telepathy, Mental Connection, Confusion)
When you intentionally invoke a Weakness tag to complicate a situation, you earn an Insight Token. Spend 3 to guarantee success. Spend 2 for a Strong Move. Spend 1 to help a teammate.
Your Insight Tokens:
Scene 2
The Fallout
Insight Tokens:
Scene 3
The Parking Lot at 2am
Mechanic: Strangeness Tracker & Twist Events
Strangeness:
Madame Talia Serrula
Entomacer • 37 • The Caretaker
Psychic Power: Perception (Zoolingualism — via insects)
Scene 3
The Tracker Fills
Strangeness:
When the Strangeness Tracker hits 10, the GM introduces a surreal twist — then resets the tracker to 0. At high strangeness, every power use adds 2 to the tracker instead of 1.
Scene 4
The Anomaly
Mechanic: Statuses & Adversity Tokens
Agent Lou Maudlin
Special Agent • 56 • The Pretender
No actual psychic power. Marksmanship, Perceptive, Charismatic.
Instead of hit points, you accumulate Statuses — descriptive conditions on a scale of 1–6. On a failed roll, you earn an Adversity Token, which you can spend to add +1 to a teammate's roll.
Tier 1–2: minor • Tier 3–4: –1 to relevant rolls • Tier 5: you're struggling • Tier 6: out of the scene
Mission Complete
Debrief
Tags • Rolling 2d6 + modifiers • Insight Tokens from Weakness tags • The Strangeness Tracker • Statuses instead of hit points • The Chaos Pool • Adversity Tokens
Now imagine doing all of this with three other people who also have powers, bad habits, and complicated family situations.