The Overseer's Space

Zheng Zha stared blankly at the scene before him. He stood on a vast, empty platform. At its center hung an enormous sphere of light, lighting the whole platform like a sun. On every side of the platform lay endless darkness, a deep blackness without a single glimmer of light. After only a few glances into that darkness, Zheng Zha already felt dizzy.

The Overseer's Space is where Reincarnators rest and recover, and it is their only home. It is a huge white platform ringed by 20 doors. When a Reincarnator opens an unused door, that door and the room behind it belong to that Reincarnator until they die. Clearly, then, one Overseer's Space can hold at most 20 Reincarnators.

Personal Room Rules

Inside the Overseer's Space, a character has absolute control over their personal room. They decide its materials, style, layout, and furnishings, though still within certain limits set by the Overseer.

Each character's personal space can total up to 27 cubic kilometers, split into any number of rooms. But unless the character designs it and registers the design with the Overseer, the Overseer provides only an empty space.

Entering a Personal Space

The door to a personal space has no lock, but only its owner and the humanoid beings the owner has created can open it. No one else can enter unless the owner agrees entirely of their own free will. If the owner wishes, they can give the humanoid beings they created permission to invite or admit others. Someone outside can ask, through the Overseer, to meet someone inside a personal space. Finally, even when invited, the guest must come of their own pure free will, not under the influence of charm, domination, or similar effects; otherwise the guest cannot be brought into the room.

Shape of a Personal Space

A character chooses the shape of their personal space when creating it, but it must follow Earth's common sense, geography, and physics. The character can choose a built environment or a natural one. It can take any form: a basement, an indoor garden, a stretch of natural grassland, and so on. If the character chooses an outdoor natural environment, the Overseer can simulate the sky and distant scenery, and produce realistic natural phenomena.

Inside a personal space, you can build any facility that fits Earth's level of technology and use any equipment that exists on Earth today. For example, you can build a shooting range stocked with any gun or weapon that exists or has ever existed on Earth, with real moving-target systems, electronic scoring systems, clay pigeon launchers, and so on. You can build a luxury karaoke room or an arcade. You can build a workshop or studio, but if you want to make items or weapons that must be bought with points, or mass-produce items on a production line, you need to exchange for the equipment and controls. Apart from items you bought with points, or items you made from materials bought with points, you cannot take anything conjured in your personal space that is worth more than 1 point into the Overseer's Space or a Film world. Such things vanish when you go out the door. (Ordinary clothes, food, backpacks, suitcases, and the like can usually be taken out, but designer clothes, rare delicacies, or a [Bulletproof] alloy case, which might cost Reward Points, cannot. Ask your ST whether a particular item can be taken out.)

You can also build natural environments that match real conditions on Earth. Unless you say otherwise, the sky of an outdoor environment you build is 1 kilometer high (though it looks no different from a real sky, and it has lightning, rain, snow, and rainbows; you can even use weather-affecting abilities or special Skills on the environment in your personal space). The Overseer automatically fills such an environment with a sensible ecosystem. But unless you say otherwise, it will contain no animals larger than Size 1. (If you simply ask for "a grassland with a river", the grass will have grasshoppers, voles, and small snakes, birds will fly overhead, and the river will hold small fish and shrimp. You will only see galloping horses and cheetahs if you specify "I want to see galloping horses and cheetahs".) You can specify any animal, plant, mineral, or other visible life form that exists or has existed on Earth and has no supernatural traits, but it may not survive in an unsuitable environment. For example, you can put a South China tiger in a tropical rainforest, but it may soon sicken and die because it can't adapt. Likewise, if you create a dinosaur in your personal space, it will probably starve quickly, since you cannot create a natural environment like Earth's Jurassic period for it to live in.

Animals and plants that appear in a natural environment cannot be taken into the Overseer's Space or a Film world, not even as corpses.

If you build an enclosed personal space, such as a cave or an indoor space, its edges are made of whatever reasonable material you choose. If you build an outdoor space, its edges are a void-like warped spatial boundary: when you try to cross the edge, you pass through the closed, warped boundary and come back to where you were. Either way, the edge of a personal space is really the edge of space itself, so it cannot be broken or crossed by any means.

Living in a Personal Space

Food, water, and simple everyday items can be created at will by the owner or the humanoid beings they created: they appear when you open the matching pantry or cupboard. The owner can also change what guests are allowed to take.

Food and drink must be things that really exist on Earth, though not necessarily food and drink in the usual sense. In general, anything the human body can digest and get nutrition from, and that can be made non-toxic, can be supplied by the Overseer as food (for example spiders, ants, or bat rectum). Unless you ask otherwise, food and drink are always as fresh as possible; a character can even get "fresh meat cut from the leg of a living cow" (but cannot get living things this way). For special physiologies, Skills, and energy needs, however, it still counts as preserved food. For example, a vampire can take human blood from the kitchen pantry, and its taste and the pleasure of drinking it are the same as fresh blood drawn from a living person, but for restoring blood energy and triggering blood addiction it still counts as bagged blood. Characters can also get prepared food and drink. Luxury goods, however (for example "the brandy Napoleon personally bought and buried before the Battle of Waterloo, meant for the victory celebration"), must be exchanged for.

Everyday items with little or no technology in them can be obtained the same way, such as clothes, tables and chairs, soap, and candles. Luxury goods made on a modern industrial production line can be obtained directly (such as designer clothes), but luxury goods made by traditional or hand craftsmanship must be exchanged for (such as a custom suit of the finest materials, tailored by a world master). Newly obtained items are always brand new, well made, and clean, but they wear out, get dirty, and break down normally.

Electronic and technological devices can be created and placed in the room at will, as long as they make sense in terms of common sense and physics. They always have enough power. But unlike food, water, and everyday items, electronic devices and technological products cannot be taken out of the room unless they were exchanged for.

The room can also produce money from any era or country (including gold), as well as all kinds of drugs and contraband, but none of these can be taken out of the room.

Any cultural product that contains information, whether books, films, videos, or video games, can be produced, but cannot be taken out of the room either.

Note: in any case, apart from things bought with points, you cannot take anything from your personal space out of the Overseer's Space and into a Film world.

Language Translation

In the Overseer's Space, as long as you wear your watch and no one deliberately blocks it, you can understand any language that can be learned, without learning it. Likewise, any real-world language you speak is translated by the watch straight into a language the story's characters understand. Translation follows these special rules:

Although speech is translated into a language you understand, you still "know" which language the other person is using: one you know, one you don't, or which of the languages you know it is.
Only listening and speaking are translated. This ability does not give you the ability to read or write.
It is optional: a character can choose to switch it off toward members of their Reincarnator team, or toward the story's characters. Switching it off removes translation for both listening and speaking. Switching it on or off is a free action and takes no action at all.

Reincarnator Teams

Depending on where they are on Earth, people from different regions are summoned into one of the following 15 Overseer's Spaces.

Everyone the Overseer summons is called a "Newcomer" during their first Film. Those who survive their first Film become "Reincarnators".

Reincarnators in the same Overseer's Space are members of the same Reincarnator team.

Northern Ocean Team: the Arctic and the Arctic Ocean.
Northern Ice Team: Western Europe and northern North America.
Southern Ice Team: around Antarctica.
Central Team: China, Mongolia, and East Asia.

Northern Flame Team: Eastern Europe and North Africa.
Southern Flame Team: southern Africa.
Eastern America Team: the United States, Canada, and North America.
Western America Team: Mexico and Central America.
Indian Team: India, Pakistan, the Indian Ocean island nations, and West Asia.
North Sea Team: Northern Europe and Russia.
Great West Team: Australia and Oceania.

East Sea Team: Japan, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific island nations.
West Sea Team: the Atlantic island nations.
Forest Team: Brazil, Argentina, and South America.
Desert Team: Egypt, the Arab states, Israel, and the Middle East.

Beyond these, there are two special Reincarnator teams far stronger than ordinary ones:

Team of Gods: whenever anyone on any team becomes captain, they may choose to leave their own team and join the Team of Gods. Every member of the Team of Gods is a Reincarnator the Overseer has recognized as qualified to be a captain.
Demon Team: the Overseer secretly makes copies of outstanding, high-potential Reincarnators from every team. All of these copied Reincarnators together make up the Demon Team.

Killing Your Own

The Overseer does not wish to see scenes of Reincarnators killing each other. So anyone who kills a teammate loses D+1000 as punishment. If the killing happens in the Overseer's Space, the penalty is taken at once. If it happens in a Film world, it is settled together with the rewards when the Film ends.

If a PC cannot pay the penalty, whether because they don't have enough Ranks or enough Reward Points, the Overseer erases that PC immediately.

Only characters wearing a watch of the same team count as your teammates to the Overseer.

The Captain

A team called a "Reincarnator team" must, of course, have a "captain".

The captain may not be the strongest member of a Reincarnator team, but is always the most important.

Only a team with a captain can learn the plot of the next horror Film in advance and prepare for it.

And only a team with a captain has the right to truly join this endless battlefield of Reincarnators, fighting other Reincarnator teams until the end of time.

A Reincarnator team may sometimes go without a captain for a while, perhaps because the captain died in battle, or because the captain abandoned the team. Either way, when a Reincarnator team loses its captain, someone must take over the position.

The Overseer places a guide in a team without a captain to choose one. See "Traveling To and From the Overseer's Space" below.

Captain's Privileges

The holder of captain's authority gains these privileges:

Their Gene Lock rises one stage for free, at full proficiency, up to the third stage.
On gaining captain's authority, the captain may choose to join the Team of Gods. (Usually this takes the player out of the game, and the character becomes an NPC.)
One free slot for creating a lifeform. Gaining captain's authority again does not grant this benefit again.
On the second day after returning to the Overseer's Space, the captain can learn about the next horror Film from the Overseer, including its title and whether it involves a team battle.
Only teams with a captain can take part in team battles. (This rule is optional for the ST.)

Traveling To and From the Overseer's Space

After the Overseer summons you for the first time, you go straight into your first Film without passing through the Overseer's Space.

Besides the other PCs, a guide takes part in your first Film with you. The guide is a special NPC, usually controlled by the ST. The guide's job is to explain the rules and facts of the Overseer's Space to the Newcomers, as an introduction during the first Film. Usually the guide leans toward following the Film's original story.

If a PC explains the rules of the Overseer's Space to the Newcomers in the guide's place, that PC earns 100 Reward Points as payment for mentoring the Newcomers.

The guide's other job is choosing the captain. The captain is chosen only from team members who have opened the first stage of their Gene Lock and have been through at least three Films. If no member qualifies, the ST may appoint one anyway. If several qualify, the guide picks the player who did best in that Film, usually the one who earned the most Ranks and points in it. Once the captain is appointed, the guide simply disappears.

If the PC who holds the captaincy is gone (whether through death, changing teams, or any other reason), a new guide appears and looks among the remaining PCs for someone fit to be captain.

Each time you enter a Film, all the PCs appear inside a barrier of light. The Film's characters cannot perceive the barrier or the PCs inside it, but the PCs inside can see out through it.

The barrier usually lasts 1 to 3 minutes and then silently shatters. Until it shatters, the PCs cannot leave the area it covers. The barrier usually cannot be broken early.

Once the barrier shatters, the Film's NPCs feel nothing strange about the PCs' presence or sudden arrival.

Every time you complete a Film, you are sent back to the Overseer's Space. There you have 10 days of peace before setting out on your next Film adventure.

Without a captain, you cannot know what the next Film will be.

A cycle of Reincarnation usually lasts 20 Films; that is, the game ends after 20 worlds in total.

In general:

The first Film has a guide, played by an NPC, who explains the rules and facts of the Overseer's Space and introduces the Newcomers to the game. In later Films, whenever Newcomers arrive, a PC who explains things to them earns 100 Reward Points.

In the third Film, the team chooses its captain, only from team members who have opened the first stage of their Gene Lock. If no member qualifies, the ST may appoint one anyway. If several qualify, the player who did best in that Film is chosen, usually the one who earned the most Ranks and points in it.

The 4th Film is a team battle.

The 6th Film is a team battle.

The 8th Film is a team battle.

The 10th Film is a team battle.

The 12th Film is a team battle.

The 14th Film is a team battle.

The 16th Film is a team battle.

The 18th Film is a team battle.

The 20th Film is the final battle. (The end of the story.)

Returning to a Film World

Alternatively, you can spend Ranks and points to go back to a world you have visited before, whether to train, to relax, or to look for extra side quests.

After a mission, you can return for free to the world of your last mission. Or you can pay one D-Rank to open a mission world you have been to before, or pay one A-Rank to open a mission world you have never been to. Every day you stay in a story world costs 10 Reward Points, up to a maximum of one year (365 Earth days). Between two missions, you can re-enter a mission world only once. You can choose freely when you arrive, but not any time before the moment you last left that world.

Note that missions you find in a Film world are usually locked at the highest difficulty.

However long you stay in a world outside the Overseer's Space, from the Overseer's Space's point of view you have been away for 24 hours.

Note that the ST may refuse to let you use this option for any reason.

Team Battle Rewards

In a team battle, killing a member of the other team earns your team one point; losing one of your own members costs one point. Points are settled when the Film ends: every positive point gives each surviving teammate 2,000 Reward Points, and every negative point takes 2,000 Reward Points from every teammate.

The killer earns a kill reward. If the target had not opened their Gene Lock, the reward is C+2000; if the target had opened their Gene Lock, it is B+6000 instead. On top of that, add up all the Ranks and points the target ever earned and spent: the killer receives one Rank one grade below the target's highest combined Rank, plus one third of the points, as an extra reward. (That is, AA = A, SAC = A, and any number of S = A.)

Erasure by the Overseer

The Overseer's Space is not a place for Reincarnators to go on picnics. A Reincarnator is erased by the Overseer when any of the following happens:

Failing the main mission. For example, the mission is to protect a certain NPC, and that NPC is killed.

Leaving the mission map. For example, the mission requires staying within a certain area, and the PC flees outside it.

Having negative assets. For example, losing badly in a team battle and having a large number of Ranks and Reward Points deducted, or killing many teammates and having a large number of Ranks and Reward Points deducted.

A PC erased by the Overseer can never be revived, under any circumstances, by any means.

Becoming Stronger

In the Infinite Horror TRPG there are three main currencies:

Ranks: there are five Ranks, D, C, B, A, and S. In most cases, an ability priced at C is almost certainly stronger than one priced at D, and an ability priced at B is stronger than a C ability in turn. Owning a full set of S-Rank abilities and chaining them into a dazzling combo is every Reincarnator's dream. Ranks can be freely split or combined: 3 D-Ranks combine into one C-Rank, 3 C-Ranks into one B-Rank, and so on. Splitting works the other way too: one C-Rank can be split to buy three different D-Rank resources.

Reward Points: also called points, the most common currency in the Infinite Horror setting. Usually, the resources you can buy cost some Ranks and some Reward Points. For example, a high-energy particle pulse rifle priced at D+500 means you pay one D-Rank and 500 Reward Points for this expensive weapon of future technology.

Experience: also called XP. XP represents growing stronger through experience in Films. Obviously, XP one person earns cannot be given to another. Nor can XP create an ability from nothing; it has to be used to "study" or "train" something you already have some foundation in. You can find more on the Experience System and Self-Taught Abilities pages.

The Overseer's Space doesn't just let Reincarnators rest after narrowly surviving their adventures; it also gives them ways to grow stronger. In the world of Infinite Horror, you can exchange for an almost unlimited variety of abilities, but all of them fall into one or a combination of the basic categories below. In particular, Feats count as Skills and abilities.

Unless there are special circumstances, Ranks and Reward Points can only be spent in the Overseer's Space. Exchanging for a resource is a free action.

XP can be spent directly both in the Overseer's Space and in horror Films. Spending it in a horror Film costs twice the normal XP, unless there are special circumstances (such as Light Warrior or Human Emperor). Learning a new ability with XP takes no action.

Transferring Resources

Members of the same team may give or trade points and Ranks with each other, with the Overseer acting as notary. Experience (XP), however, can never be transferred.

Direct Upgrades

Buying Attributes and Skills directly is the simplest and bluntest way to get stronger.

Raising an Attribute by 1 costs (current Attribute value) x 200 points, or (current Attribute value) x 2 XP.

Raising a Skill by 1 level costs (current Skill level - 1) x 2 XP. As special cases, raising a Skill from 0 to 1 costs 3 XP, and from 1 to 2 costs 1 XP.

Bloodlines

A Bloodline is a power passed down by inheritance. Once you have a Bloodline, its basic traits hardly change, whatever your natural gifts and however hard you work. As one of a character's main templates, a character can have only one Bloodline. Attribute bonuses from a Bloodline are "inherent bonuses" (for how bonuses are defined, see the Essences and Bonuses page). They add up level by level within the Bloodline, but do not stack with inherent bonuses from other sources. Unless stated otherwise, each Bloodline level costs D+600/C+1200/B+3600/A+7200/AA+10800/S+14400. A Bloodline never has both an AA level and an S level.

Anyone who has exchanged for a Bloodline counts as a supernatural creature for all purposes, unless the Bloodline says otherwise.

Augmentations

The power of an Augmentation comes from transforming the body, outside or inside. As with a Bloodline, once you undergo an Augmentation, your natural gifts and effort make little difference to its basic traits. As one of a character's main templates, a character can have only one Augmentation. Attribute bonuses from an Augmentation are inherent bonuses. They do not stack with a Bloodline's bonuses (use the higher), but do add up level by level within the Augmentation itself. Unless stated otherwise, each Augmentation level costs D+500/C+1000/B+2000/A+4000/AA+6000/S+8000. An Augmentation never has both an AA level and an S level.

Anyone who has exchanged for an Augmentation counts as a supernatural creature for all purposes, unless the Augmentation says otherwise.

Eye Techniques

An Eye Technique is a special ability that can be thought of as an Augmentation of the eyes. Because of its special nature, it excludes learning other Arts of the same kind. In general, a character can have one and only one Eye Technique, though some Augmentation or ability may let you have several (such as heterochromia, or a Beholder Bloodline). An Eye Technique usually gives some advantage whether or not it is active, and a bigger advantage when it is. Eye Techniques cost D+600/C+1200/B+2400/A+3600/AA+5400/S+7200. An Eye Technique never has both an AA level and an S level.

Anyone who has exchanged for an Eye Technique counts as a supernatural creature for all purposes, unless the Eye Technique says otherwise.

Cultivation Systems

As the name says, a Cultivation System is one of the many ways of cultivating found across different worlds. To avoid being annihilated by the strain, each person can have only one Cultivation System. It usually gives the character various passive effects and can amplify the character's abilities to varying degrees.

Anyone who has exchanged for a Cultivation System counts as a supernatural creature for all purposes, unless it says otherwise.

Titles

A Title is a body of skills that can be mastered through systematic training: anyone who completes the same training should gain the same results. A Title is a unique tree of abilities, with some exclusive Arts and techniques. It is usually written to the same standards as ordinary abilities, but forms a system of its own and can keep growing. Unless stated otherwise, each Title level costs D+1000/C+2000/B+4000/A+8000/AA+12000/S+16000. A Title never has both an AA level and an S level. Titles are generally supernatural abilities, unless the Title says otherwise.

Energy Pools

Energy is a way of using and gaining power. Unless described otherwise, energies are not exclusive: you can cultivate several kinds.

When you gain an energy, you also gain how it works (including which key Attribute it uses, how it recovers and refills, whether it has basic uses, and so on).

Unless stated otherwise, other abilities do not interfere with how an energy works; they add to it.

For example, general mana can be recovered by meditating, and there is also a Meditation feat. These are two completely different abilities. A character can recover mana either through the meditation in mana's recovery method or through the Meditation feat. The two do not interfere with each other, and you cannot declare that time spent on the Meditation feat also counts as meditating for mana's recovery method.

All energies are supernatural abilities, unless stated otherwise.

If an ability that grants an Energy Pool gives the character Attribute bonuses, they are training bonuses, unless stated otherwise.

Arts

Most abilities that rely on technique fall here. Unless stated otherwise, all bonuses from Arts are technique bonuses and do not stack, even when several Arts raise the same ability. (For example, a cultivation method might raise your defense continuously, while a protective qi gathers energy to defend you when you are attacked. Both give defense, but they may not stack.) The defining feature of an Art is that the character must actively use it; it does not work passively. Arts include Techniques, cultivation methods, footwork arts, protective qi, Skills, and so on. These can each be activated separately, but you cannot activate several Techniques that use the same action in one action. Arts are generally supernatural abilities, unless the Art says otherwise.

Items

Items are the easiest thing to understand. From a palm-sized dagger to a Gundam's anti-ship sword, almost any item, real or not, can be created.

Item Augmentations

Enhancements, modifications, attachments, and special materials for items all belong here. Unless stated otherwise, only item augmentations that give the same (or opposing) traits exclude each other. (For example, you cannot turn a magic weapon into a magitech device, because both give the [Magical] tag.)

Vehicles

A kind of item. Apart from a few extra traits, there is nothing special to say. From something as simple as a bicycle to something as complex as an EVANGELION, anything can be yours if you have the money.

Of the categories above, Bloodlines, Augmentations, Eye Techniques, and Cultivation Systems are exclusive. You can exchange for only one of each; after that you can only upgrade it, not buy another of the same category. These are called "template abilities".

For example, a character with a Werewolf Bloodline cannot also exchange for a Vampire Bloodline; a character with the Sharingan Eye Technique cannot also have the Byakugan; and a character with a cyborg Augmentation cannot become a mutant through a genetic Augmentation.

If a character exchanges for an ability that makes them lose a template slot, they also cannot buy any other ability that would make them lose that same template slot. The same goes for abilities that make a character lose their Gene Lock. (Abilities like No Spellcasting, No Grimoires, and Counts as Nonhuman, however, can be combined freely, because they don't affect your template slots.)
For example, a character with the King in Yellow Bloodline cannot also exchange for the Besaindu Augmentation, because the King in Yellow has already cost the character their Eye Technique template slot, and the Besaindu Augmentation would cost it again.

Healing, Revival, and Resets

After a brutal fight, when you have lost an arm and a leg, are badly wounded, a teammate has died, or you are unhappy with your exchanges, you can heal yourself, revive teammates, and reassign your points in the Overseer's Space. For prices and rules, see Special Exchanges.