I have a small question regarding CATegory scaling of powers. Blast says that it's strength scales with CAT. Does the strength of powers like Severance or Fury also scale with CAT regarding the rules of category difference, or only the size/area part of those powers gets scaled up? If I try to cut a fly-sized category 7 sin with a CAT 1 Severance power, does it become impossible (more than 3 categories higher) or is it a normal/advantageous roll (heavy furniture size vs fly size)?
I think that generally size of sin scales with CAT. obviously subject to Admin discretion, so you can definitely have a fly-sized cat-7 sin.
But if you have a cat-7 sin with the size of a fly it will still have durability commensurate with CAT. considering cat-7 is durable enough to make a cat-4 attack (size/destruction on par with a large vehicle) ineffective it seems that no cat-1 attack, regardless of relative size, will be effective. You could play it as strength of psychic phenomena.
Going from the media that inspired CAIN, for example JJK: Gojo (arguably cat-7) can no-sell / tank any sort of attack because it can't hit him or make an impact on his Limitless defenses. It doesn't matter if a cat-1 attack is bigger than him, since his phenomena make it impossible to make a lasting impact in the first place.
A little rambling, but hope this helps. The lack of hard rules wrt power scaling make CAIN really interesting in this respect. Narrative obviously more impactful than hard stat sheets.
In the unofficial CAIN discord server there is a link to a google sheets document that has fully editable hunt, sin, and exorcist sheets if you want something useable online.
Hey Tom! Some Feedback on the pdf reading: -Even after the update, some of the credit cards effects are a bit hard to read on my end (the "cut in the card" letters that play on the transparency of the layer). -The double spread is very nice, and I approve of it, it helps make the book pop a lot more, it introduces a problem with the page count where the pdf readers don't match the actual pages they're on (since functionally every page is 2 pages, but the pdf reader counts them as 1 page).
I'm not sure if I'm completely blind, but when reading through the pdf did I miss the recommended count for player groups? Like in ICON where it's 2-5 players counting the DM?
I find the PDF extremely hard to navigate due to the amount of headers on the same priority level. And some headers make no sense. Like why are there separate headers for each word in "Running CAIN".
I feel you. I just got done finishing a CoC scenario for Miskatonic Repository. learning to do layout, editing and so on was fun but man my editor must hate me for all that work haha
Just looking at the preview material, I'm unsure if SABRE or Inner Furnace Meltdown ignore the stress overflow rules. Also kinda confused as to whether VOID's stronger settings include the weaker ones. (Wouldn't an implosion strong enough to pull in small objects also create a fairly deafening thunderclap, given that guns do and they have the benefit of a barrel to concentrate force? But the obvious read is that only the strongest is loud enough to bother espers.)
chainsaw man meets generator rex meets madoka magica presented as a found footage and monster of the week action horror piece. ridiculously flavourful and dripping with character both in concept and in practice. proper nouns like Divine Agony and Nail of Abel paint your job as that of the champions of God in His Heaven- and isn't His work so beautiful?
tom mentioned in the discord that itll likely have a 3rd party license & "For now though consider any of my work to have the general same license as lancer - ie generally permissive"
What's the intended path for if a character dies in a mission, given all the consequences/ different rates of growth characters can have? Having them make a starting Exorcist feels like it could make balance very awkward, but if it's not a starting exorcist, what resources do they have to start with?
You could look at average CAT of the party and do that CAT or CAT-1.
Additionally, you could credit a certain amount of XP and scrip based on average of the party or average of mission performance so far.
Alternatively you could work out expected XP/scrip per completed mission and scale that to the campaign. For example, you might expect that a character will at least survive, do one agenda item, and take one injury per mission. That gives 3 xp per mission. For scrip, let's assume they make 3-7 scrip per mission on average due to body retrieval, mission outcome, etc. That's a solid pool of resources they can convert into a good new character sheet.
I'll try that out, thanks! I was opening it in chrome and on my phone pdf viewer "ReadEra" if that helps.
Also a far more minor editing thing I just noticed, the fourth question for the toad's severe attack isn't part of the list, it's just in it's own paragraph.
The game/art is awesome - I'm looking forward to running it with friends (and would definitely buy a hardcopy if there were enough demand for you to do a print run).
OOOO this is feisty, sold. I might need to rearrange the individual Agenda powers and Blasphemies as cards for the players to draw from (draw to pick one) to prevent character creation from being too overwhelming. Overall, very good. The Sins are basically Administrator Playbooks with custom moves like in Band of Brothers which (combined with the investigation structure) looks like it will make the running of the game very smooth.
I dont believe there are damage dice in this game. The CAT scaling I believe changes the dice roll itself. A CAT1 blast affecting a CAT 4 sin? Well, it might make it so the roll is hard on top of being risky, or even impossible unless the group finds some weakness. But a CAT 4 blast against a CAT 4 sin will still be risky but wont be hard.
You do roll more dice at higher CAT. Blast is a PSYCHE roll, and psyche is a special action score equal to half your CAT (rounded up).
Because each success counts as one slash when you're acting against a talisman (including the sin's execution talisman), you would be dealing more damage on average the higher your CAT (and therefore psyche) is.
This is gorgeous and radical, looking forward to sinking my teeth into this over the next couple of days. Are there any plans to do a stripped-down text-only version, similar to the Bare Bones Edition of MORK BORG?
Loving the games feel and look, but not sure I understand the Bind's power of SURRENDER. It lets them gain +1d at the cost of 1d3 sin... but cant people do that already with a psyche burst? Does it give you anything other than the ability to choose what SIN MARK you get? Seems kinda like a wasted power slot.
Given that I'm a massive Lancer and Maleghast fan, I'm buying it. Psionic spec ops is right up my alley.
That said, sir, friend, herald of the awesome, I BEG of you; make a Pages version of the document so us nerds who love our physical booklets can do our thing. Same for both this and Maleghast; the only thing I'd ask is for a Pages version.
every instance of "FF" is invisible save a few pages on my copy. Also the Character Sheets Category Designate has no text on it. Maybe because I'm using Foxit Reader instead of Adobe?
Anyways, it's otherwise gorgeous and makes me feel bad about my own game design endeavours. Great job!
Cooking to be sure, but adobe doesn't like/can't find whatever font 'fanzine' is, so the titles of several important parts of the rulebook can't be read.
I have an analogous issue; I'm on Atril and the headers just render as a plain font. It looks like the issue is the fonts are not embedded in the document.
Edit: Tom has said on the Pilot NET discord that an embedded-font version is incoming, which should fix this.
Just bought it and reading through it on my phone and noticed that the text chosen shifts the lower case i and l are shifted to the right and lots of lower case fs are missing. Also the cat page in the sheets pdf is blank.
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I have a small question regarding CATegory scaling of powers. Blast says that it's strength scales with CAT. Does the strength of powers like Severance or Fury also scale with CAT regarding the rules of category difference, or only the size/area part of those powers gets scaled up? If I try to cut a fly-sized category 7 sin with a CAT 1 Severance power, does it become impossible (more than 3 categories higher) or is it a normal/advantageous roll (heavy furniture size vs fly size)?
I think that generally size of sin scales with CAT. obviously subject to Admin discretion, so you can definitely have a fly-sized cat-7 sin.
But if you have a cat-7 sin with the size of a fly it will still have durability commensurate with CAT. considering cat-7 is durable enough to make a cat-4 attack (size/destruction on par with a large vehicle) ineffective it seems that no cat-1 attack, regardless of relative size, will be effective. You could play it as strength of psychic phenomena.
Going from the media that inspired CAIN, for example JJK: Gojo (arguably cat-7) can no-sell / tank any sort of attack because it can't hit him or make an impact on his Limitless defenses. It doesn't matter if a cat-1 attack is bigger than him, since his phenomena make it impossible to make a lasting impact in the first place.
A little rambling, but hope this helps. The lack of hard rules wrt power scaling make CAIN really interesting in this respect. Narrative obviously more impactful than hard stat sheets.
Will there ever be an editable PDF soon or am I simply just not well-versed with using them?
In the unofficial CAIN discord server there is a link to a google sheets document that has fully editable hunt, sin, and exorcist sheets if you want something useable online.
may i see the server?
This link will take you there: https://discord.gg/BpyAUzup
thanks
Would you be able to send the link again? The above is expired
https://discord.gg/YGmp47cj
In case someone wants a quick way to get a sin set up here's a prompt generator https://o-o.ro/sin-generator/
Hey Tom! Some Feedback on the pdf reading:
-Even after the update, some of the credit cards effects are a bit hard to read on my end (the "cut in the card" letters that play on the transparency of the layer).
-The double spread is very nice, and I approve of it, it helps make the book pop a lot more, it introduces a problem with the page count where the pdf readers don't match the actual pages they're on (since functionally every page is 2 pages, but the pdf reader counts them as 1 page).
I'm not sure if I'm completely blind, but when reading through the pdf did I miss the recommended count for player groups? Like in ICON where it's 2-5 players counting the DM?
I find the PDF extremely hard to navigate due to the amount of headers on the same priority level. And some headers make no sense. Like why are there separate headers for each word in "Running CAIN".
I am a gorilla wielding a tiny hammer
Thank you for the reply.
I feel you. I just got done finishing a CoC scenario for Miskatonic Repository. learning to do layout, editing and so on was fun but man my editor must hate me for all that work haha
Just looking at the preview material, I'm unsure if SABRE or Inner Furnace Meltdown ignore the stress overflow rules. Also kinda confused as to whether VOID's stronger settings include the weaker ones. (Wouldn't an implosion strong enough to pull in small objects also create a fairly deafening thunderclap, given that guns do and they have the benefit of a barrel to concentrate force? But the obvious read is that only the strongest is loud enough to bother espers.)
Are there plans for a physical copy? i'd love to add this to my collection.
You tease me! I thought Abaddon had made a video game. Or maybe I should incorporate these elements into my own..
in any case, a hunt is underway...
chainsaw man meets generator rex meets madoka magica presented as a found footage and monster of the week action horror piece. ridiculously flavourful and dripping with character both in concept and in practice. proper nouns like Divine Agony and Nail of Abel paint your job as that of the champions of God in His Heaven- and isn't His work so beautiful?
WIPE OUT THE STAIN.
missions needed to survive to increase CAT is different on the character sheet then what is described on page 45.
This looks rad af, but I do have to ask - are folks allowed to make campaigns/content for this game ala Lancer for sale or should we leave it be?
tom mentioned in the discord that itll likely have a 3rd party license & "For now though consider any of my work to have the general same license as lancer - ie generally permissive"
Awwww YEAH.
So anyway, this might actually be peak. Reminds me of Madoka Magica meets JJK!
I have a doubt about the stress mechanics , if i have 4 stress and i take 3 more (having a max of 6)do i take and injury or i stay at 6 stress ?
i'm pretty sure you just go to 6, and you gain an injury if you take any more stress
He doesn't miss, I think this'll be a much easier sell to my friends with how light the system is.
Made a character sheet in google docs if anyone wants to play online and use it, just make a copy and edit on your own! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lfxmpF0k8aK3rGPUXzfsJf7SQGERD-tYxG4UNyPHQU8/...
EDIT: Made a GM sheet too: https://docs.google.com/document/d/106-nc5OJ_saQl1hGQylGEHl4kVQoH2iEKB2E7Uw6DAs/...
EDIT 2: Here is a Talisman guide if you are using Roll20: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZJPRPgN2C6hhGbxvevbmYoM7KTqmQbIiNW-bMTpNPJw/...
You are a goddamn hero.
These are fantastic. Thank you so much
What's the intended path for if a character dies in a mission, given all the consequences/ different rates of growth characters can have? Having them make a starting Exorcist feels like it could make balance very awkward, but if it's not a starting exorcist, what resources do they have to start with?
You could look at average CAT of the party and do that CAT or CAT-1.
Additionally, you could credit a certain amount of XP and scrip based on average of the party or average of mission performance so far.
Alternatively you could work out expected XP/scrip per completed mission and scale that to the campaign. For example, you might expect that a character will at least survive, do one agenda item, and take one injury per mission. That gives 3 xp per mission. For scrip, let's assume they make 3-7 scrip per mission on average due to body retrieval, mission outcome, etc. That's a solid pool of resources they can convert into a good new character sheet.
I think someone else mentioned, but the CATs on the player sheet are blank - I think it's due to white text on a white background
I'll try to fix this in an update. You can open it in firefox and it should work ok.
I'll try that out, thanks! I was opening it in chrome and on my phone pdf viewer "ReadEra" if that helps.
Also a far more minor editing thing I just noticed, the fourth question for the toad's severe attack isn't part of the list, it's just in it's own paragraph.
The game/art is awesome - I'm looking forward to running it with friends (and would definitely buy a hardcopy if there were enough demand for you to do a print run).
OOOO this is feisty, sold. I might need to rearrange the individual Agenda powers and Blasphemies as cards for the players to draw from (draw to pick one) to prevent character creation from being too overwhelming. Overall, very good. The Sins are basically Administrator Playbooks with custom moves like in Band of Brothers which (combined with the investigation structure) looks like it will make the running of the game very smooth.
Would love a version with pages instead of just spreads/somehow compress to a lower file size. I literally cannot open this file on my phone.
for the BLAST blasphemy, it says that the strength of the ability scales with CAT. How exactly does that work? Do I roll more dice at higher CAT?
I dont believe there are damage dice in this game. The CAT scaling I believe changes the dice roll itself. A CAT1 blast affecting a CAT 4 sin? Well, it might make it so the roll is hard on top of being risky, or even impossible unless the group finds some weakness. But a CAT 4 blast against a CAT 4 sin will still be risky but wont be hard.
You do roll more dice at higher CAT. Blast is a PSYCHE roll, and psyche is a special action score equal to half your CAT (rounded up).
Because each success counts as one slash when you're acting against a talisman (including the sin's execution talisman), you would be dealing more damage on average the higher your CAT (and therefore psyche) is.
Gave it a read through and absolutely love everything about this game and setting.
I did notice the CAT table on the CAINsheets document is white font on white background, making it look blank.
Looks great, rules look quite interesting.
Pg. 39, 5A, tension, last line, the lower part of „pg.“ is cut off by the image
300+Mb file for the book and 13Mb the character sheet? x_x
I would love to see lighter weight files available for download for those of us who will read it in mobile devices.
Also, a PDF divided by pages instead of spreads. ^_^U
This book has so much art in it and I am basically like a gorilla playing with a tiny hammer with layout
Don't worry, take your time! ^^
Sounds awesome, no community copies (I don't mind, just curious as I see that a lot.)
This is gorgeous and radical, looking forward to sinking my teeth into this over the next couple of days. Are there any plans to do a stripped-down text-only version, similar to the Bare Bones Edition of MORK BORG?
Yes, I'll be releasing a 'Graceless' version at some point
That's perfect, thank you. ^^
Loving the games feel and look, but not sure I understand the Bind's power of SURRENDER. It lets them gain +1d at the cost of 1d3 sin... but cant people do that already with a psyche burst? Does it give you anything other than the ability to choose what SIN MARK you get? Seems kinda like a wasted power slot.
from what i understand, using a psyche burst is +1d to a single roll whereas surrender is +1d to all rolls for the rest of the scene
Can this be played as a solo RPG?
Given that I'm a massive Lancer and Maleghast fan, I'm buying it. Psionic spec ops is right up my alley.
That said, sir, friend, herald of the awesome, I BEG of you; make a Pages version of the document so us nerds who love our physical booklets can do our thing. Same for both this and Maleghast; the only thing I'd ask is for a Pages version.
First Maleghast, now this. We can't keep letting him get away with this.
every instance of "FF" is invisible save a few pages on my copy. Also the Character Sheets Category Designate has no text on it. Maybe because I'm using Foxit Reader instead of Adobe?
Anyways, it's otherwise gorgeous and makes me feel bad about my own game design endeavours. Great job!
This should be fixed by re-downloading
Unfortunately it did not. Not sure what's happening as when I open it in Adobe it also doesn't display chrome or firefox.
Umm, I bought it but I only got the character sheets.
EDIT: Got it now. Must've bought it the same moment it got updated or something.
Refresh the download page, there was an issue and I believe Tom had to reupload the files.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
You managed to buy this in the 1 minute I was fixing the files, congratulations
this is sick as hell. purchased and very much hoping for a physical edition!
Are there plans for form fillable sheets?
Cooking to be sure, but adobe doesn't like/can't find whatever font 'fanzine' is, so the titles of several important parts of the rulebook can't be read.
I have an analogous issue; I'm on Atril and the headers just render as a plain font. It looks like the issue is the fonts are not embedded in the document.
Edit: Tom has said on the Pilot NET discord that an embedded-font version is incoming, which should fix this.
Bought in an instant, keep doing what you love man.
Who is Cain
he's my cousin
Really? He's my brother! What a coinkadink! :)
The chef returns with another fine meal for his masses.
It seems like some cases of "ff" have vanished, like in "official" and "suffuses" on page 7
Just bought it and reading through it on my phone and noticed that the text chosen shifts the lower case i and l are shifted to the right and lots of lower case fs are missing. Also the cat page in the sheets pdf is blank.
Im still glad I got this cant wait to run it.
I have been similarly a ected