More Dread.

Doing more Dread while it's fresh on the brain seems like a good idea. Apologies to Unknown Armies and Risus in advance.

Checks are used to determine your success or failure in an endeavor. You just roll 1d6. If the total is above your attribute, you fail. If the total is equal to or less than your attribute, you succeed, and the number on the die is called your check result. Your check result gives a rough value of success.

Compassion is used when assisting somebody else.

Hope is used when making any check related to pure luck.

Meat is used when performing any physical task.

Resolve is used when trying to shake off stress or perform an act of mental fortitude.

Stability is used when trying to convince or befriend others.

Anyway, skills.

Every character has a profession. They then pick three skills related to that profession.

Each character also has a background. They then pick a skill related to that background.

Each character, lastly, has a hobby. They then pick a skill related to that hobby.

For example, Nick is a cop (profession) from the country (background) that makes a hobby of hunting (hobby).

So an example of the skills he could have would be:

• Profession: Car Driving, Police Firearms, Law Enforcement
• Background: Wilderness Survival
• Hobby: Wildlife Hunting

A profession skill allows you to simply take 2 as your check result when performing any check related to it, before and without rolling any dice.

A background skill adds 1 to your check result (if successful) when performing any check related to it.

You may reroll a hobby skill if you like when performing any check related to it, ignoring the initial roll. However, you must take the result of the reroll.

You may have the same skill in more than one category. The results are cumulative.

Some skills may grant extra knowledge. No checks are made to determine a character's knowledge - a GM should determine whether or not a character would know something in a reasonable fashion.

Next: Equipment.

More or less, equipment mainly enables certain skills. For example, you can't use any Firearms skill without a gun. And you aren't likely to use any Computer skill without an computer interface. First Aid is pretty tough without first aid supplies. And so on.

Doing such a skill without the proper equipment (if possible at all) reduces the maximum check result to 1. An example would be trying to bind and clean a bad wound in the wild with nothing more than torn clothes to work with.

Then, there are overkill items. For example, a overkill item for a Firearms skill would be a machine gun, and for a First Aid skill, it would be a fully-stocked hospital. Overkill items represent massive resources available to put towards one skill or another. When using an overkill item, the minimum check result is 1.

Lastly, there are charm items. Charm items represent some sort of supernatural protection, or something your character gains strength from. For example, Father Warren might have his rosary to ward off evil influence, or Joe Bob might feel safer when he cocks his daddy's shotgun. The upside to a charm item is that you may use it to cancel a Terror once per Horror. The downside is that if you ever lose it, you immediately gain three Marks, which remain even if you retrieve the item later.

A character may always start with items appropriate to his skills, assuming they may reasonably be carried and are appropriate for the society he lives. A character may also start with one charm item. Overkill items are almost always plot devices and are rarely ever actually owned by characters for extended periods of time.

As always, more to come.