Freebie: Arcane Contamination Syndrome (Magical Disease)

Arcane Contamination Syndrome (Odditis)

A chronic mystical illness caused by exposure to excessive, uncontrolled, or otherwise dangerous magical energies, Arcane Contamination Syndrome is an annoying but non-fatal magical disease as classified by the Helical Archive. Usually referred to as “Odditis” by laymen, a few historical texts note that this strange malady has been vexing folk potentially as far back as the 2nd Aeon.

Contraction

Arcane Contamination Syndrome is usually contracted when consuming items that have been tainted by magical pollution or exposure to bursts of unrefined mana. Certain creatures and Abilities may also infect individuals.

• Whenever you are exposed to Arcane Contamination due to staying in a place with excessive magical pollution, consuming tainted food or drink, or are the target of an ability or other source noted to cause Odditis, make a Grit Check.

• On a success, you are free of Arcane Contamination Syndrome and are immune to contracting it for 24 hours.

• On a failure, you are afflicted with Arcane Contamination Syndrome

Stages of Infection

There is only one stage of infection of Arcane Contamination Syndrome. It is a persistent and annoying malady, rather than one that progresses in a potentially lethal way. 

• Once you have contracted Odditis, roll on the symptom table and apply the result immediately. This effect ends after 24 hours, after which you should roll again for a new symptom, and repeat.

Arcane Contamination Symptoms (Roll)

• 1-2: Word Bubbles -  Anytime you try to speak, nothing but bubbles come out. This prevents you from verbal communication or using any Abilities that require speech. Sounds emerge if the bubbles burst, but anything longer than a short phrase is so jumbled it’s unintelligible.

• 3-4: Dizzy Distress - Your head is spinning and nothing makes sense! You are afflicted with the Disoriented Ailment for the duration of this symptom.

• 5-6: Grossly Incandescent  - Your body glows brightly, making it hard to look at you directly. You do provide illumination like a torch, but you stick out like a sore thumb in the shadows and darkness, making stealth almost impossible unless you cover yourself up  completely.

• 7-8: Stony Feet - Your lower half turns to stone! You remain on the first stage of the Petrification Ailment for the duration of this symptom. 

• 9-10: Hex Shrunk - You won’t be reaching the top shelf for a bit. You are afflicted with the Chibbed Ailment for the duration of this symptom.

• 11-12: Hammed Hands - Your hands grow to twice their size, less than optimal for delicate tasks. You have a Snag on all Deftness Checks and Contests requiring fine motor skills involving your massive mitts, and cannot properly use small tools and weapons (such as Concealed Melee and Small Mechanical Missile Weapons).

• 13-14: Stretch Sickness - You’re suddenly much taller. This growth isn’t proportional though, and you’ve grown gangly and awkward. For the duration of this symptom you have a Snag on all Deftness Checks and are probably hitting your head on the top of doorways a lot.

• 15-16: The Jumbles - You just don’t feel quite right. Your positive traits invert into negative versions of themselves, subtracting from your aptitudes instead of adding to them for the duration of this symptom. 

• 17-18: Spell Spots - You’re covered in odd colored spots! Unfortunately these act as mana magnets of sorts - for the duration of this symptom you have a Snag when trying to roll to resist or avoid a magical effect or Ability.

• 19-20: The Wobblies - You’ve become downright gelatinous. For the duration of this symptom you’re afflicted with the Jellified Ailment.

GM Tip!: Many of these symptoms can be isolated and used as new Status Ailments to be inflicted by adversary abilities and adventure site perils.

Treatment and Cure

• Not ingesting any contaminated or imbued consumables and avoiding being the direct target of any magical abilities for at least a week will cure you of Arcane Contamination Syndrome.
• Having the effects dispelled by the Sage’s Demystify or a similar Ability will also free you of this magical disease.

Setting: Outer World Holidays

Every place has its notable days of observance, celebration, and remembrance. Outer World is no exception to this rule, though such dates come in two varieties: the ordinary sort that vary from region to region, and days where reality is just a bit off somehow.

Holidays can come up in your BREAK!! game as a bit of setting background or the focus of an adventure. As a rule of thumb, each holiday can be used once per Saga. Running the same holidays in a future Saga can also be a fun way to connect it to an older one as well.

Ordinary Holidays

Celebrated on a specific date each year, these holidays are not unlike those of the Otherworld's in practice, even if they are quite different in subject. 

While the days for observing the cataclysms are known worldwide, most holidays are tied to a specific region or belief system.

Awakening: When the Unshaped's grip on Outer World faltered, the chaotic state of reality transitioned into something more stable and welcoming to the folk. Since this was the ending of a period of time known as The Dreaming this was called the Awakening, with the first day of every subsequent year being referred to as such. Outer Worlders tend to spend this holiday with their closest loved ones, trading gifts, singing songs, and generally celebrating the reality they share. At the end of the revelry, one is meant to reflect upon the wishes in their heart and choose one to announce to whoever they happen to be around.

Crownsfall: While the fall of the Iron King, the banishment of the Divine Rulers, and the peace that came from it are all serious matters, Crownsfall is a holiday that starts somberly but inevitably gives way to raucous celebration. Readings and performances of  the song of Aken end and effigies of the Iron King are strung up to be mocked by crowds. Excessive drinking is accompanied by joyful folks dancing and singing the popular satirical folk song "Rusty ol' crown". A handful of people sometimes try to loudly lament the fall of order and are usually pelted with rotten vegetables while being booed.

Sunshatter: Outer Worlders commemorate the day of the Sun Machine's breaking differently. Those who live in the darker parts of the surface do so with a melancholy ceremony, where special lanterns and candles are lit and snuffed out ritualistically. Folk who reside in the bright parts of the world jubilantly take in the light before offering condolences to the rest of Outer World with a quiet song. For the underdwellers of the Buried Kingdoms? It's just another day.

Religious Holidays: Most of the belief systems in Outer World have a handful of dates they celebrate. Certain members of the Dawn Orthodoxy observe First Hero's Day, Dark Adventists have Truewish, which is a day to reflect on the wishes you didn't want to share during Awakening, The Twilight Manifest has a day of fasting known as Median. Various gods, immortals, and other beings also have pushed their own holidays with varying degrees of success.

Regional Holidays: Some holidays are attached to a where as well as a when. Fishing festivals found along the islands of the Galvanus Archipelago, a celebration of the founding of Shard known as Crystaldawn, and New Ore's Important Noise Day are all examples of regional holidays. Most of those celebrating are more than happy to fill outsiders in on the festivities.

Flux Days

On these days Outer World is very different in some particular way. They do not happen every year, and it's theorized that they are a result of reality adjusting to correct some imbalance. 

Standardween: A very regular day. Most people in Outer World can tell it's Standardween thanks to a feeling of unexciting comfort. Things are far more certain than they usually are.

• Whenever you apply a purview to a Check or Contest on Standardween, you may choose to apply a result of 5 on the dice instead of rolling.
• Unshaped vanish from reality on Standardween, returning after the day is done.
  

Bumblegux: A particularly odd day in an already odd world, everyone knows when a Bumblegux is happening because everything looks a little wrong - your hair might be the wrong color, your voice an octave higher, your craving for might muffins much stronger, so on and so forth. Of course, the strangeness only increases from there.

• Every Settlement and Adventure site has a random Whimsy Effect applied to it on Bumblegux. The effect vanishes once it's over.
  

Aether Day: Of the flux dates, Aether day is the hardest one to detect. Everything seems normal, though nothing works out quite like you expect it too.

• On Aether Day, BREAK!!'s mechanics are replaced with those of another tabletop rpg whose rules you have on hand. Alternatively, all conflict resolutions are decided in some other form - playing "War" with a deck of cards, matches in a fighting game, rock-paper-scissors, etc.