The Harbinger: Moment of Truth
The Harbinger: Moment of Truth
The Harbinger: Moment of Truth
Everything you do could affect the future. For all you know, saving that one guy means that now
the future is full of pterodactyls. The ripples are always so hard to track, and you’re not sure if
you’ve helped or hurt—not really. Until now. In this moment, it’s all clear. You can see the course
of events laid out before you like a river, and you know exactly what you have to do to ensure
the future outcome you want. Of course, after this, you’ve changed enough of the timeline to
invalidate your prior research—reset all the names in your “Connecting the dots” section.
Team Moves
When you confess to a teammate the difference between what you thought they would be and
what they really are, add a Team to the pool, and ask them if you represent a future they’d want.
If they say yes, mark potential. If they say no, mark a condition.
When you share a tale of future loss with someone, ask them if they think you have the ability
to avert that loss. If they believe you do, mark potential and give them Influence over you. If they
don’t, mark Guilty and shift one Label up and one Label down (your choice). If Guilty is already
marked mark another condition, GM’s choice.
Advancement
When you fill your potential track, you advance. Choose from the list below.
❑❑ Take another move from your playbook ❑❑ Rearrange your Labels as you choose, and add
THE HARBINGER
HERO NAME
❑❑ Take another move from your playbook +1 to a Label
REAL NAME (IF APPLICABLE)
❑❑ Take a move from another playbook ❑❑ Unlock your Moment of Truth
❑❑ Take a move from another playbook ❑❑ Someone permanently loses Influence over you;
add +1 to a Label Look
❑❑ Rearrange your Labels as you choose, and add • ambiguous, man, shifting, transgressing, woman
+1 to a Label • Asian or South Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, Middle Eastern, White
• haunted face, optimistic face, ordinary face, “hyper-evolved human” face
When you’ve taken five advances from the top list, you can take advances from the list below. • streamlined clothing, “fashion-forward” clothing, simple clothing, casual clothing
• high-tech costume, impossible costume, sleek costume, dramatic costume
❑❑ Unlock your Moment of Truth after you’ve used it ❑❑ Lock a Label and add +1 to a Label of your
once choice
❑❑ Change playbooks ❑❑ Return to the future and accept its new form, Abilities
❑❑ Take an adult move or jump to a different point in the past to begin You’re from the future, and that has its benefits, like future knowledge (even though your
❑❑ Take an adult move your mission anew memories are scrambled). Plus, your powers may have had something to do with how you got
back to the past—er, the present day, that is. “Now,” as the locals call it. Choose one option from
Other Moves the list below.
❑❑ super speed ❑❑ telepathy & telekinesis ❑❑ futuristic gadgets & implants
❑❑ optimized biology ❑❑ teleportation & portals ❑❑ energy absorption/redirection
Labels Harbinger Moves
(at character creation, add +1 wherever you choose) (Choose two)
❑❑ Stick to the mission: When you defend someone ❑❑You haven’t learned you can do that yet: When
DANGER -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 or something critically important to the future you tell a teammate about a new, never-before-
FREAK -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 (tell us why), you may mark a condition to shift performed trick that they’ve never considered,
down one Label and shift up Savior before the spend a Team from the pool to allow them to
SAVIOR -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 roll. If you do, you cannot choose the option ‘clear unleash their powers, directly engage a threat,
a condition’ for the defend move. or defend someone using your Superior as if it
SUPERIOR -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 was their Label. Any costs or complications from
❑❑ Tomorrow’s golden promise: When you comfort
their move affect you, as well.
MUNDANE -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 or support someone with tales of what you think
their future will be, you may roll + Savior instead ❑❑ I learned the solution in grade school: When you
unleash your powers to extend your senses or
Conditions of + Mundane. Mark a condition unless you are
confident the stories are true. overcome an intellectual obstacle, you may roll
❑❑ Afraid (-2 to directly engage a threat) ❑❑ Applied history: When you pierce the mask of + Superior instead of + Freak.
❑❑ Angry (-2 to comfort or support or pierce the mask) someone you believe will shape the future, roll ❑❑ 21st century studies: When you assess the
+ Savior instead of + Mundane. situation, you may always ask “what does the
❑❑ Guilty (-2 to provoke someone or assess the situation) future know about this moment?”, even on a
❑❑ Hopeless (-2 to unleash your powers) miss. You take +1 ongoing to act on the answers.
When our team first came together... Corruptor: ____________________________ Leader: _____________________________
We averted a disaster from the future’s history books. What was the disaster? What effect do we Your Memories score starts at -1, and goes up by 1 (to a maximum of +3) for each name above.
hope it had on the timeline?
When you write a name above, they gain Influence over you if they did not already have it.
Relationships At the start of each session or when time passes, roll + Savior to find out how your investigations
into the timeline have been going. On a hit, choose one figure noted above or one aspect of the
____________________ turns away from the hero’s path, according to your history books. You
future world you can remember. You’ve found a lead to follow to learn more about how the present
have to prevent that from happening.
version of that figure or aspect became the future version. On a 10+, the lead is particularly strong;
You’ve always idolized ____________________, but it’s too awkward to admit it to them now that right now, you can ask the GM one question about the figure or aspect, and they will answer
you’ve met them in real life. Keep it cool, keep it cool. honestly. On a miss, you’re lost in the present; the GM will tell you how things are so different here,
and shift your Labels according to how it makes you feel.
Influence
Every member of your team has the power to change the future—your future. Give everyone
influence over you.
Moment of Truth
You basically exist with one foot out the door, ready to leave this place, to go back out into the
wide expanse of the universe. You’ve never fully committed. That is, until today. Until right now.
Now, you pour everything you have and everything you are into this moment. You pull off tricks
no one from this planet has ever seen before. You use your tools in ways no one here could have
ever imagined. You devote yourself, here and now, to a cause, and you achieve your goal in ways
that you never could’ve if you’d only stayed home. Of course, now you’ve proved to everyone that
you really don’t belong here, and the very skills that let you succeed are the ones you earned from
out there...
Team Moves
When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them what they admire about you.
The GM will shift one of your Labels up and one down based on what they say.
When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, mark a condition, give them Influence
over you, and mark potential.
Advancement
When you fill your potential track, you advance. Choose from the list below.
❑❑ Take another move from your playbook
❑❑ Take another move from your playbook
❑❑ Unlock your Moment of Truth
❑❑ Rearrange your Labels as you choose, and add
THE NOMAD
ALIAS
❑❑ Take another move from your playbook +1 to a Label
❑❑ Take a move from another playbook ❑❑ Rearrange your Labels as you choose, and add REAL NAME (IF DIFFERENT)
❑❑ Take a move from another playbook +1 to a Label
Look
When you’ve taken five advances from the top list, you can take advances from the list below. • ambiguous, man, shifting, transgressing, woman
❑❑ Unlock your Moment of Truth after you’ve used it ❑❑ Take an adult move • Asian or South Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, Middle Eastern, White
once ❑❑ Lock a Label and add +1 to a Label of your • average body, compact body, modified body, sculpted body, wiry body
❑❑ Change playbooks choice • traveling clothing, garish clothing, extraterrestrial clothing, unassuming clothing
❑❑ Take an adult move ❑❑ Depart for reaches unknown, never to return • weird jewelry, strange greatcoat, eccentric boots, unusual gloves, uncanny belt
Relationships instead of +0. Influence you have given out. See below.
These benefits stack.
__________________ knows plenty that I don’t about this world, its people, and how to deal with
❑❑1-2 Influence: When you defend someone who has Influence over you, you can ignore the Insecure condition.
them; I should follow their lead while I’m here.
When you directly engage someone who has Influence over you, you can ignore the Afraid condition.
__________________ is...well...boring. But that’s okay! I’m going to make them more interesting. ❑❑3 Influence: When you take a powerful blow from someone with Influence over you, take -2 to the roll.
❑❑4 Influence: When you pierce the mask of someone who has Influence over you, you can always ask them
Team Moves
When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if you have earned their
respect. If you have, take Influence over them and mark potential. If you have not, give them
Influence over you and mark potential.
When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, ask them if they would defend you
against those who mistrust you. If they say yes, clear a condition and shift Savior up and any other
Label down. If they say no, mark a condition and shift Danger up and any other Label down.
THE SCION
POTENTIAL >> >> >> >> >>
❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑
Every time you roll a miss on a move, mark potential.
Look
HERO NAME
REAL NAME
Backstory
• Who is your supervillain parent? Respect
Write down the names of at least two other characters whose respect you need to earn in order to
• Who told you about your parent’s true nature?
differentiate yourself from your parent. You may fill in new names whenever appropriate.
• Why did you turn from your lineage to become a hero?
Your parent’s greatest enemy: _____________ The city’s greatest leader: ________________
• Who, outside of the team, helps you on your chosen path?
• Why do you care about the team? Respect: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Advancement: ☐ Respect: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Advancement: ☐
Once you’ve finished your backstory, introduce your character to the other players, and then Your parent’s greatest victim: _____________ The city’s greatest hero: _________________
determine what happened when your team first came together, the relationships between you and
Respect: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Advancement: ☐ Respect: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Advancement: ☐
your teammates, and who has Influence over you.
Your personal idol: _____________________ The city’s biggest celebrity: ______________
When our team first came together... Respect: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Advancement: ☐ Respect: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Advancement: ☐
Someone important learned about my lineage and condemned us all. Who? Why? When you seek out one of the characters named above, roll + Savior. On a hit, you track them
down. On a 7-9, they’re juggling their own problems, and may not have time for you. On a miss,
when you find them, the situation is dire; the GM will tell you how.
Relationships
____________________ is the only one who understands what I’m going through; I told them If you earn Influence over the characters listed above, instead you mark 1 Respect. If you lose
which part of me I wished was more like my parent. Influence over the characters listed above, you lose 1 Respect. If you lose 1 Respect and you have
none marked, you immediately mark a condition, GM’s choice.
My parent once fought and thrashed _____________________; I’ve got to find a way to make it
up to them. The first time you reach 4 Respect on an individual, take an advancement.
While you have 4 Respect on an individual:
Influence • You can reject their Influence at a +3 (does not stack with the above).
This team may be the key to proving you’re different from your parent, but you don’t want to be • You take +1 to a Label of their choice (record it next to their name).
defined by your peers, either. Give Influence to 2 teammates. If you dip below 4 Respect on an individual, you lose those benefits.