Ruler Rules

This section is dedicated to aiding a Ruler in managing a good Act for their Player. It is first suggested to read over the Core Book's Scenario Module before jumping in to make your own Scenario, as it will provide valuable info to you on how to play and run the game.

Act Trailer
An Act Trailer, a quick preview of the Act you wish to run, is one of the most important things to create when designing your own Act.

One of the most difficult aspects to manage for this game is the diversity of Characters your Players are able to create. However, the diversity of Character options is also one of the most appealing qualities of this or any other TRPG. It's not something we wish to deny anyone.

It is because of this that the Act Trailer and Act Handouts are such an important thing to get to your Players as soon as possible. It communicates to them the style and atmosphere you're trying to go for, what kind of Characters would suit it, and gives them access to important setting and background details.

This way, when the Player sits down to make their Character during Underwork, they are significantly less likely to make a Character that won't fit into the Act.

Act Handout
An Act Handout contains information on Recommended Styles, Act Connections, and initial background information or setting details the Player will need to know for the Act. Act Handouts are distributed before the beginning of an Act, and are typically gone over again during the Pre-Act.

Required Styles
Recommended Styles are Styles that are either highly suggested or absolutely required for a Player to take for the Character they will make for the Act.

Requiring certain Styles for an Act can be necessary for many reasons. For instance you may need one of the Cast Members to be an Agent of Chihaya Heavy Industries Illicit Affairs division. Thus requiring them to be Kugutsu. You may also wish to have some control over the kind of Miracles your Cast has access to, since being able to prepare for all possible Miracle Combinations your Cast can bring to the table is nearly impossible.

Of course, you do not have to make Recommended Styles on your own. You can consult with your Players first to get an idea of what kind of Styles should be required for the Act.

Act Connections
Act Connections are important Act-only  Skills that play an important role in guiding your players through the Act. They also allow you to more naturally introduce and utilize your prepared Guests for the Scenario. Available Act Connections should be decided well before hand, but actually distributing them to each Cast Member typically waits until the Pre-Act. They are recorded on the Act's Record Sheet rather than on a Cast Member's Character Sheet.

Research Phase
Constructing a proper Research Phase for the middle of your Act is a very important process. This section covers how to properly go about it.

Prepare Info Pieces
One major purpose of the Research Phase is to perform Info-Gathering Checks. Thus it's the RL's responsibility to make sure the Cast has information to find. When developing your own Scenario you should create a number of Topics and Info Pieces that you deem necessary for the Cast to know to proceed in the Scenario.

Once you have created your Topics decide which kinds of , , and other Skills can be used to research the Topics, and then decide the Target Number for each Info Piece. When entering the Research Phase, we believe it's best to inform the Cast of what Topics are available of research and what the Target Numbers for each Info Piece is.

By doing so the Players will be able to better coordinate with each other and optimally utilize their resources. They can divide the work between each other, set the most appropriately suited Cast Member to each Topic, and figure out just what cards, Credits, and other resources such as Outfits, Style Skills, Miracles, and Trump Cards they will need to use.

This is important because [TNX] is a game where it's typically pretty easy to precisely control the value of your Result. This is especially true of Info-Gathering Checks as they are made with Skills that allow you to spend Credits to increase your Result. However, this level of control doesn't matter if you do not know what the Target Number of your action is. For instance, you could be making a Check while you have an Ace in your hand. Should you play the Ace to insure you success even though you might be able to succeed with a much lower card? Without knowing the Target Number you can't be sure how to properly utilize your available resources. On the other hand, if you know an Info Piece has a TN of 21 then it's pretty obvious that Info Piece is very important, and you now know just how worthwhile playing an Ace to get it would be.

Keywords
When making Info Pieces it's important to include certain Keywords such as names of relevant people, places, companies, products, and so on.

The importance of a Keyword is to inform the Players of what they should research next. In other words it's basically a new Topic. Think of it like performing a Google search. If you looked up Chihaya Heavy Industries you might come across the Digital Diva Melody's newly released song. And if you looked up that song you might come across the name of Melody's Producer. By 'nesting' Topics like this behind each other it gives a sense of progression and forward momentum to the Cast's investigation.

It is possible that a Cast Member may mistake the Keyword of an Info Piece with something else, and go off researching the wrong Topic. This can add a little bit of spice to the Research Phase, but it can also stall the game's progress. If you feel like it's too distracting of a red herring then simply inform the Player of their mistake.

Exchanging Info Pieces
When informing a Player of the Info Pieces they have obtained, it's best to do so publicly where all the other Players can hear.

While it's technically only that Cast Member that learned the information, and they'll need to meet up or contact the rest of the Cast to get them up to speed, there's no real reason to keep the information from the other Players. Keeping this info from the Players can, in fact, actually slow down the pacing of the Act considerably. Keeping people in the dark will simply result in them stumbling around, and that leads to a lack of progress and a lot of distractions.

Making the Antagonist
When making an Antagonist make sure to make them a powerful force to be reckoned with. Of course there's a lot of ways to make someone strong. They can be very physically powerful, they can be very mentally/magically powerful, or they can be very powerful in terms of their societal influence. It's completely up to you how you want them to be. Maybe they're powerful in just one of these ways, two of these ways, or all of these ways. Maybe you have a team of antagonists that cover each sphere of power.

Either way, the most important thing to remember about your Antagonist(s) is their Motivation. Why are they in conflict with your Cast? Money? Power? Love? Revenge? Idealist Differences? This motivation is essential and is something you Cast should figure out during the Research Phase.

Act Progression Advice
The most important elements of progressing through an Act is good Storytelling(i.e. Roleplaying NPCs) and good Judgement(i.e. implementing the rules properly).

Storytelling
It's the RL's job to move the Act forward; to respond to the Cast's actions and situation and weave a good narrative out of it. Try to think of [TNX] as an improvised movie where you are Director.

The keyword there is 'improvised'. You aren't telling a story with a script and an ending already written out. While you as the RL are responsible for creating the basic premise and managing the story's setting, it's the Cast's job to actually bring things to a conclusion. Once the Cast's get involved in your Scenario they may very well veer it into a completely different direction and change the way you expected it to go. That's fine. In fact, that's great. You might get a little uneasy when things go off course from what you expected, but don't worry. There's no reason to get flustered or angry about it.

Things don't always go exactly as planned, after all. And besides, your Act Trailer and Act Handout should've given you a broad enough influence of events to stay comfortable. In the end, the story was always gonna be up to how the Players and the Cast interact with it. That's part of the appeal of TTRPGs after all. The important thing, in the end, is that you and the Players all had fun.

Keep Running Games
The most effective way to polish your RL skills or a specific Scenario is just to run a lot of game for a lot of groups. Keep your favorite Scenarios around and run them multiple times for multiple people to refine your abilities.

Judgement
When there's some doubt on whether an action will succeed or fail the RL should call for the Player to make a Check. Similarly, the Player's can ask for a Check.

To put it another way, you shouldn't be able to make Checks on trivial actions that are guaranteed to succeed(like tying your shoes) or actions you are guaranteed to fail(like lifting up the Earth). See Checks and Combos for more details. This is very important because a common practice in [TNX] is to intentionally fail Checks to get rid of bad cards in your Hand. While this is encouraged the Players can't just ask to do something impossible or trivial just to waste a card.

Always Start With the Result
During Act Progression it's possible to encounter situations where common sense gets in the way of smoothly moving the Act forward. For example, Appearance Checks. From a game mechanic perspective the Player does have the right to declare one and if enter the Scene if they pas, but maybe it doesn't entirely make sense why their character would show up for this Scene.

During these situations it's best to stick to the result the mechanics gave you and just invent a reason for why through roleplay afterwards. Maybe sometimes it might be hard to figure out a reason why someone did something, but it can be a little easier to figure out why something happened. To use the previous example, even though the Cast Member didn't have a personal reason to enter that Scene, maybe some other unrelated circumstances led them there by coincidence.

Character Removal
Either by their own volition or by a twist of fate, even heroes can die. Or maybe they lose their consciousness and are unable to continue normal actions. Or maybe they've been erased from society.

It's the same for Cast Members. Tokyo N◎VA is a game in the truest since of the word. And without risk and danger there is no thrill, and the amount of fun you can have is limited. Therefore, it's unfortunately possible for a Cast Member to meet their demise. The Player has no choice but to wish their Character well in the next life, and begin to think up a new Character once the mourning is done.

They can either join again again next Act with a new Cast Member or even start anew right away if the RL gives them permission to.

Ending
The goal of the Ending Phase is of course to allow each Cast Member a chance to end things in Style. But sometimes it can be hard to figure out how to go about that.

The most important thing to do is ask your Players what they want to do, and use their suggestions as a base for their Ending Scene. It's also important to keep how they managed to deal with the conflict. Did they succeed? Did they fail? Did they lose or gain something in the process? This greatly effects the tone of the Scene.

Similarly, this is also the opportunity to resolve the fate of Characters suffering from Erasure, as well as showcase the ultimate fate of the different allied and enemy Guests of the Act.

This is also a time for the Cast to return to their daily lives. A Chakra continues their training, a Fate meets with a new client, a Kabutowari hunts down their next target, etc.

But don't get too caught up in proper procedure. The important thing is to close out the Act with a bang. As long as things went well it's fine.

Act Rules
Act Rules are special house rules the RL creates that affect the current Act. Act Rules are of a higher priority than even Miracles. For instance, the RL can declare a certain Scene to be a flashback Scene where a friend dies, and that no use of Healing Miracles can prevent this fate.

An RL should keep in mind how to make an Act more enjoyable and run more smoothly when making Act Rules.

Act Rule Examples
Below is an example of some Act Rules.


 * Banning Miracle usage during the Opening Phase or RL Scenes
 * Banning or limiting Appearance Checks in a Scene
 * Designating a different  Skill

In the Core Book Scenario Module Appearance Checks are banned for the Opening Phase. This is an example of an Act Rule.

Designating a different  Skill
During Character Creation, Characters get  as a free Skill. This is under the assumption that the Acts the Character will play in will take place in Tokyo N◎VA. However the RL may wish to run a Scenario in a different location. This means that  will be ineffective and the RL can provide a free  Skill to make up for it, or swap out  for the new  Skill altogether.

Objective of Act Rules
In [TNX], Players can gain access to incredibly powerful resources, most notably their Miracles. Act Rules are meant to expand, limit, or create special conditions for the application of these resources. This is all for the purpose of making an Act run more smoothly and more enjoyably. Even limiting a Cast Member's effectiveness is to be done in the name of fun, not a means to antagonize their Player.

Declaring Act Rules
Act Rules should usually be declared during the Pre-Act or even Underwork Phase. You can also declare Act Rules when they come up, such as with the example flashback scene from above.

For instance, telling a Neuro that they need to meet some sort of special condition before they can use a  check to gain intel is an Act Rule you can declare when that Neuro declares they want to make said  Check. However, if you're changing the main City to outside of Tokyo N◎VA and the Cast is gonna need another  Skill then that's best declared before the Act so they can account for it in their Character Creation or Growth.

There also may be situations where the Players will do something the RL completely doesn't expect. This isn't a bad thing and the RL should try to roll with it and make it work as often as possible, but sometimes what the Players want to do is too out there and/or the RL isn't equipped to handle the unexpected situation. In these situations, the RL is allowed to declare the use of an Act Rule to disallow the Player to do that.

PS Rules
PS stands for Purpose in the Scenario. PSes are special 'win-conditons' the RL can designate for each Cast Member.

Some example PSes are [PS: Investigate Iwasaki Heavy Industries' Research] or [PS: Bring the Serial Killer to Justice]. An RL can distribute a PS at any time during an Act, and a Player records them on their Record Sheet.

A Cast Member can only have one PS at a time. If they gain another PS then they discard their old PS and obtain the new one. The RL can also allow a Player to choose between keeping their old PS or taking the newly offered one.

PS Distribution
The RL may distribute a PS at any time they wish. It can be recorded on the Act Handout before the Act starts, it can be handed out during the Opening Phase, or the Research Phase, or the Climax Phase. Hand it out whenever you think it's appropriate.

Changing PSes
During play, there will probably be a situation where a Player wishes to change their PS, such as if they had [PS: Protect Your Client] but during the Act that client betrayed them and became an enemy Guest. In those situations, the Player may ask for a change in their PS(such as [PS: Get Revenge on Former Client]).

However, they may only change the PS if the RL allows them to. In the above example, the RL might consider the betrayal as a failure of the Cast Member's PS, or sees that there's a possibility to win the client back to their side and wants the Cast Member to pursue it. As such, they wouldn't allow the change. On the other hand, if the betrayal was planned from the beginning it's best for the RL to allow the change in PS, if they hadn't prepared a new PS already.

A PS is like a contract between the RL and the Player, and represents a mutual desire to have fun together. And neither party should try and abuse that contract.

Completing a PS
The RL confirms the completion or failure of a PS during the Post Act. Those who completed their PS gain Experience Points as denoted in the XP Chart. If a Cast Member helped another Cast Member to complete their PS then that fulfills the [Helped Another Player] requirement for XP as well.

If a Player completed an old PS, changed to a new PS, and did not complete the new PS, then they are considered to have not completed a PS that Act when calculating their gained XP.

Credits and Cash
In Tokyo N◎VA, the amount of money a Character has on them is represented with a value known as Credits. By spending Credits a Character can obtain items, use services, heal damage, and improve certain Checks. The world's a rather cruel place to those with no Credits.

Using Credits
During play, you may encounter Checks you just can't win because your don't have a high enough value card in your hand. What should you do in this situation? Well, you can try spending Credits. By Spending Credits on a Check you can raise the Result of that Check by a number equal to the Credits you spent(1 Credit = +1 to the Result).

However, you can only spend Credits on certain types of Checks. Specifically, you can only use Credits on Skill Checks with Skills that are denoted to be usable with Credits. These Skills have some sort of relationship to money such as the , , and  Skills. For a full list see General Skills.

There are also situations, such as Comboing <Stature> into a different Skill Check, that can result in the possibility to spend Credits. During these situations, it's up to the RL to decide if spending money could realistically improve the situation for the Cast Member and allow or disallow the spending of Credits on a Check.

Declaring the Use of Credits
You must declare the exact amount of Credits you are spending at the same time that you play your card for the Check. Once you declare how many Credits you are spending, you cannot change the amount.

Spending Credits In Opposed Checks
During an Opposed Check, the Defender has a rather large advantage as a result of being able to spend Credits after the Attacker's Check. It's best to always remember that.

When spending Credits as an Attacker, it's best to really think of just how much Credits you'd need to spend to insure your Defender can't beat you. It's a lot like making a raise in Poker.

When You Can Use Credits
Credits are mainly used during Checks where money can theoretically improve the result, such as with General Skills that can be used with Credits. However, you may not spend Credits during Cut Progression or similar high tension moments that require your immediate attention.

Transferring Credits
Credits are not just a game mechanic, but also the game world's currency. As such the Cast can freely trade and transfer Credits between each other if they are in the same Scene together.

However, be sure not to fight over who gets however many Credits. If Players are having an issue with money during play it's the RL's job to mediate and put a stop to it.

Record Sheet
The Record Sheet is meant to keep track of a variety of data that a Cast Member obtains throughout the Act. So, of course, it has a spot for recording Credits. Make sure to keep track of Credits with the Record Sheet.

Credits From Guests
When interacting with Guests it's possible to hire them for a service or buy intel from them. At this time you don't really need to spend Credits, but rather can just make a <Stature> Check.

However, when a Guest hires a Cast Member they must pay the Cast Member in Credits. You can haggle the exact amount through a <Negotiation> or <Contact> Check.

Credits From Cast Members
In most situations, a Cast Member doesn't need to spend Credits to buy something, but rather can just make a <Stature> Check. However if the Cast Member is making a deal with another Cast Member a <Stature> Check doesn't really cut it. You're essentially making that person work for you for free with the playing of a single card. When paying a Cast Member you absolutely have to do it with Credits.

However, when an RL needs to pay a Cast Member things can get a little more tricky, and there are situations where it's best not to give a Cast Member Credits. This is because [TNX] is a resource-management style game and if a Character amasses too much Credits through their bodyguard job or whatever it can break game balance.

In this situation you can reward a Cast Member with physical money that can't be used in normal transactions during the Act to represent they were still paid for their services.

You can also reward players with more sentimental, roleplay-oriented rewards such as a kid giving you their favorite coin for helping them out or scoring a date with a beautiful woman.

Actual Money vs. Credits
Due to Japan's control over the economy, Tokyo N◎VA's main form of currency is the Japanese Yen(¥). It's exact value would obviously be very different from Yen in the real modern world, but let's ignore that for now. 1 US Dollar is roughly about 100 Yen.

In the world of [TNX], currency has become completely digital and all transactions are done electronically. The only way money is represented physically these days is with Pre-Paid Cards known as Cash. They come in four varieties; Copper, Silver, Gold, and Platinum; each with a different max limit of money they can hold. When obtaining a Cash Card you must spend the same amount of Credits the Cash Card is worth, and you can use the Cash Card the same way you use Credits.

Buying Outfits During the Pre-Act
During the Pre-Act you can allow the Cast to purchase Outfits to represent the kind of every day items and equipment they would possess. After distributing Credits during the Pre-Act, you can allow the Players to automatically obtain any number of Outfits with a Buy Rating equal or below their [Mundane] Rating. They can also purchase Outfits above their [Mundane] Rating if they spend the necessary Credits to do so.

Of course, as the RL you can limit the amount of Outfits they can purchase in the Pre-Act or even disallow Pre-Act Outfit Purchases altogether.

Guest Creation
Guests are essentially made following standard Character Creation Rules for Cast Members, although they often end up having more XP than the Cast has available. Of course, this XP is not paid for out of the RL's accumulated XP, that is for their own Cast Members.

Free Skills
Guests gain all the Free Skills that a Cast Member would. Even if this isn't recorded on their sheet you can still treat them as having them when making Checks.

Miracles
You are allowed to limit or remove a Guest's available Miracles. It's also typically not allowed for the Cast to use their <Contact> Skills to have a Guest perform a Miracle for them.

Extra Creation
Extras do not possess any detailed information so just writing down a basic description of who they are is usually enough.

If an RL wants, however, they can give the Extra a fixed Result value for certain Skill Checks much like the Extra Outfits have. Similarly, they can also give them a Style as a Persona to represent them with, such as a Yakuza Goon being a Legger. However, despite having the Style as a Persona, this does not mean they have access to Style Skills.

Troop Creation
Troops are made using the below process.


 * 1) Select Style
 * 2) Decide Troop Level
 * 3) Calculate Attributes
 * 4) Select Skills
 * 5) Select Outfits
 * 6) Decide Troop Number
 * 7) Miscellaneous Data

Select Style
As mentioned before in Character Rules Troops only have one Style and cannot use Miracles. Choose your Troop's Style.

Decide Troop Level
Troop Level determines the overall strength of your Troop. Choose a level of strength that suits the needs of your Scenario.

Calculate Attributes
Record the the Attribute and Control Rating of the Troop's chosen Style, and then increase each value by the Troop Level. For example, a Katana Troop at level 4 would have [Reason: 6/8] [Passion: 4/8] [Life: 7/9] [Mundane: 6/7].

Select Skills
Acquire Free Skills as normal, and then pick whatever other Skills you want your Troop to have. A Troop can only have 2 Secret Skills and cannot have any Ultimate Skills.

Select Outfits
Pick whatever Outfits you'd like the Troop to have.

Decide Troop Number
Troop Number, as its name implies, represents the number of people in your Troop. It also acts as the Troop's HP. Rather than consult the Wound Chart, Troops instead lose a number of people in their Troop Number equal to how much damage they receive. At 0 people they become unable to continue combat.

Choose a Troop Number that suits the need of your Scenario.

Miscellaneous Data
Troops have 1 [AR], and Outfits and Skills can alter that amount. Troops have a [CS] equal to their Troop Level. Troops cannot carry Credits.

Other Rules
The following rules are optional suggested rules you can implement if you ever encounter certain situations in your Act that you may need a little help with. We highly suggest looking through them.

Chases
These are simple rules for Vehicle vs. Vehicle Chase Scenes. More advanced Chase Rules are explored in the supplement [The Other Side], in the form of the Focus System.

Expanding Range Steps
There are 5 Range Steps in [TNX]. However, for a Chase this may be too short of a distance to work with, allowing the Chasing party to quickly and easily catch up to the Fleeing party, or for the Fleeing party to easily pass beyond the Range Steps and exit the Scene.

As such, for a Chase Scene it is necessary to expand the Range Steps beyond 5. The Range Step beyond [Extreme] Range(i.e the 6th Range Step) is known as [Extreme 2] and further Range Steps follow the same pattern. The 7th Range Step is [Extreme 3], the 8th Range Step is [Extreme 4]. and so on.

Any Outfit or Skill with a Range of [Extreme] can also reach Ranges [Extreme 2], [Extreme 3], and so on.

Character Positions
Vehicles can move much faster and further than people on foot, and a Vehicle's movement rules represent that. If you are using figures or pawns to represent character positions in your group then moving them across such a large range could become inconvenient.

In this situation it might be best to simply choose one Vehicle(typically the Fleeing Vehicle) and place its piece in the center of the table, then simply move the other pieces closer to or farther away from it based on the amount of Range Steps away they are. After all, what's important to represent isn't how they moved or in what direction, but rather how far away from each other each Character is.

After confirming everyone's positional relationship at the end of the Cleanup Process, if a Character has moved beyond a set amount of Range Steps away from all their opponents(such as being at [Extreme] or [Extreme 2] Range from them) they may immediately exit the Scene. If the Character was the Scene Player, then you may choose a new Scene Player and treat the situation as a new Scene.

Ending a Chase
A Chase ends either when the Fleeing Party exits the Scene or when the Chasing Party manages to enter an Engagement with the Fleeing Party.

Of course, if either side receives a Wound that makes them unable to continue Cut Progression then that also brings the Chase to an end.

Chase Scenes with <Athletics>
Chases are typically done with Vehicles and require you to be either Operating or Riding a Vehicle to participate. However, the RL may give special permission for a person to participate in a Chase Scene on foot if the situation or environment allows it. In this case, you may use your Major Action to make extra movement much in the same way Vehicles can. Make a Skill Check with <Athletics> and you may move up to [Result / 10] Range Steps. <Athletics> counts as an Action Skill when making this Check.

Outfit Flavor
Beyond their specifically defined mechanical benefits and effects, Outfits have flavor text that hint at certain non-mechanical effects or benefits they might possess. Such as Cyber Eye allowing you to see in the dark.

For Outfits such as this feel free to allow a Situational Modifier to Checks when their flavor text comes up, such as being in a dark room with Cyber Eyes. Reward your Players for being prepared.

Of course, the whole point of Outfit flavor text is to be cool, and sometimes being cool is enough of its own reward. As such, an RL shouldn't feel obligated to give out bonuses to every possible Check that could maybe be seen as benefiting from an Outfit's flavor text. You don't need to give a +2 to the guy with Cyber Eyes when the lights go out. Maybe they just don't take a -2.

Some Outfits don't offer any benefits beyond their cool flavor text. These Outfits typically always cost 4 XP or below to Preserve, representing their style over substance design philosophy.

Regulation
The RL has the right to impose certain regulations on their Scenario as they see fit. Adjusting Character Data is a slow process in [TNX], and if a Player turns up with something that can break the Scenario it can be difficult to adjust your NPCs to compensate for that. The following two regulations are the most common types to impose.

Result Limit
In [TNX], the maximum Result you can achieve on a Check is 21 by default. However, Cast Members with enough Experience Points can easily shatter this number. As such, the RL has the right to raise the Result Limit to suit their needs.

In other words, no matter how many Outfits, Skills, or Attribute Points a Character has to raise their Result, it cannot exceed the Result Limit. Whether that be 21, 30, or whatever.

Style Restrictions
This should go without saying, but the RL is not omnipotent, and can't account for every Style, Skill, and Outfit combination out there. As such, an RL has the right to restrict or ban certain Styles, Skills, and Outfits as they see fit.

Carry-Over Cast Members
Not every Act starts with a fresh set of new Cast Members made during the Pre-Act. Often a Player will bring an already previously made Cast Member to the game, often one that's already participated in other Acts and gained Experience Points. This is called a [Carry-Over Cast Member].

It can be hard to tell with just a single glance whether you should allow a [Carry-Over Cast Member] or not, so below are some guidelines to making that decision.

Recommended Style
If the [Carry-Over Cast Member] does not fit into the Recommended Styles of the Scenario then they should probably not be allowed.

Cast Abilities
It's possible for the [Carry-Over Cast Member] to have abilities too far above or below the rest of the Cast, and this brings a very real danger of ruining things for the other Players.

However, this game has a variety of approaches to Character Creation and Growth, and it can be difficult to tell how powerful a Cast Member is just looking at their spent XP.

A simple method for determining a Cast Member's power level is to ask the Player of that Cast Member what their Core Combos are(i.e. the Combos that they'll regularly be using during combat and such). If their Core Combo has a Maximum Result that is too high or low compared to the Guests of the Scenario and the other Cast Members then they shouldn't be allowed.

You also shouldn't allow situations where a [Carry-Over Cast Member] fulfills the same role as another Cast Member, but much better. Such as 2 Physical Combat specialists where one is thoroughly better than the other.

Rebuild Rules
During longer campaigns or repeated play, there may come a moment where a Player wishes to redo their Cast Member to better fit a different or more defined image they have developed. This is called Rebuilding, and an RL should not allow it easily. An RL should take the matter into careful consideration before allowing a Player to Rebuild.

Furthermore, Rebuilding must occur during Underwork or the Pre-Act. The RL should never allow Rebuilding during an Act.

Personal Data
Things such as Cast Member's name, age, gender, and backstory does not change during Rebuild. At that point you'd just be making a new Character, after all.

If you feel something about your Cast Member's Personal Data does need to change, however, talk it over with your RL and the other Players.

Rebuilding Process
Rebuilt Characters are created using the basic Character Construction Rules, either Build Up or Full Scratch. Afterwards, they simply spend their Experience Points again on Character Growth. For instance, a Cast Member with 135 XP would first Rebuild their Character using Construction and then spend their 135 XP.

During Rebuild, you must spend all of your acquired XP. If you have leftover XP after Rebuilding your Character then you will lose it.

XP Restrictions
In order to match a certain Scenario or a group of Players, an RL may request a Character Rebuild where you are only allowed to use a certain amount of your total XP.

After all, if you're playing with a newbie using a Quick Start Character, it's pretty unfair and unbalanced for you to pull out your 300 XP Character, so you might need to Rebuild them with a lower amount of XP.

Though, of course, there are Scenarios where a Veteran has to show a Newbie the ropes too.

<Contact> and <Negotiation>
You can use a <Contact> Skill to negotiate with the Character matching your <Contact> Skill. However, wouldn't it make just as much sense to just use <Negotiation>? Naturally, that is correct.

Therefore, when you make a <Negotiation> Check against a Character you possess a <Contact> Skill, you gain a bonus to the [Result] of this Check equal to your <Contact> Skill with the Character if you use that <Contact> Skill in a Combo with your <Negotiation> Check.

Using Miracles
Throughout the entire history of Tokyo N◎VA and all of its editions and support books, the most common question has always been 'can X Miracle negate Y Miracle?'

A single, universal answer to this question does not exist. The answer always comes from what kind of Scene the Miracle is used in and how it's being used. In other words, it's a heavily context-sensitive question.

It is precisely because of this situation that RL Judgement is at a higher Rule Priority to Miracle Effects. An RL has final say on whether or not a Miracle is capable of something or not. If they don't agree with a Miracle usage, they can declare so and prevent it from happening. Of course, an RL shouldn't abuse this power just to antagonize the Cast.

Furthermore, another important condition is that nothing but another Miracle can affect a Miracle. No matter what the situation is in the Scene, or what the state of the Cast Member is in, it has no effect on the Miracle. It can't prevent, weaken, or strengthen it.

For example, even if a Kabuto was completely tied up and blindfolded they'd still be able to protect a client with <Invulnerable>. The Kabuto's situation doesn't affect <Invulnerable> at all. How exactly is the Kabuto capable of this? Well, that's for you to figure out in roleplay. Rules are rules, and the story and roleplay just has to do its best to keep up with it. If you absolutely can't figure out how to roleplay it then just apply the effects and ignore it in the story.

Of course, you can't use roleplaying out how the Kabuto uses their Miracle while tied up to slyly free the Kabuto and improve their situation. Got it?

Instant-Death Miracles
That being said, it's not a good idea to hinder the flow of gameplay trying to suss out what cancels what so we will list out the Miracles that can cancel out the effects of Instant-Death Miracles such as <Danse Macabre>, <Coup De Grace>, and <Gospel>; as these are generally the most sought-after answers when someone asks the question about Miracles cancelling each other.

There are 9 Miracles from the Core Rulebook that can negate Instant-Death Miracles:


 * <Chai>
 * <Timely>
 * <Invulnerable>
 * <Exodus>
 * <Right Hand>
 * <Phoenix>
 * <Guardian>
 * <Nemesis>
 * <Deus Ex Machina>

Technically speaking, <Phoenix> doesn't negate an Instant-Death Miracle but used with the right timing it produces an effect that is essentially the same as if it had.

Remember that ultimately it is up to the RL's Judgement if a Miracle negates another Miracle and to treat this list as a reference for an RL to make such a decision.