Pen Pals VS Star Spawn v0.

Pen Pals VS Star Spawn​ is a Roleplaying Game played by exchanging in-fiction letters in the mail. Each ​Pen
Pal​ plays a character with stats that they use to determine the results of their actions to uncover the
conspiracy of the unknowable cosmic T ​ hreat ​and document their adventures in letters to one another.

Setting and Themes

The setting for PPVSS is sometime in the early 1900’s and themes will generally follow those in the works of
Bram Stoker, Arthur Machen, and H. P. Lovecraft, but any time period or theme could be used as long as all
Pen Pals​ agree upon it. Here are some helpful questions to ask your fellow ​Pen Pals​ to make sure everyone
is familiar and enthusiastic about the setting and themes of play.
● What period in time does the game take place?
● Will the game reference or ignore real world events and people?
● Will the game reference or ignore common biases expressed with the given timeline?
● Is there subject or theme that is off limits?
● Where does each P ​ en Pal​ live in-fiction?
 ● Will we play in an established canon setting, an original setting that we create as we go?
● What is the basic concept for everyone's Pen Pal, and how to they know each other?
● Who will write the first letter?

Letter Format
Pen Pals​ use letters to take turns telling the collaborative story from their character’s point of view. Within
certain limits, each​ Pen Pa​l should be given autonomy and trust to carry their own character’s story forward
in a way that is interesting but doesn’t make decision about the characters of other ​Pen Pals.​ Here are
some rules to follow to make sure that each letter keeps the story moving, but doesn’t step on another ​Pen
Pal’s​ liberty.
● Stick to the agreed upon setting and themes.
● Always ask a specific and simple question or favor of the P ​ en Pal​ to which you are writing.
● Keep each letter to a length of only a page or two.
● Only reference facts about other P ​ en Pals​ and their situation and setting that they themselves have
established in their own letters.

Building Your Character

Each character is defined by the following attributes:
● Reason:​ Knowledge, research, critical thinking.
● Might: ​Aggression, physical strength, force, muscle.
● Affinity: C ​ harm, attraction, looks, general affability.
● Wealth: ​Money, resources, assets, property.
● Lore Level: ​The level of awareness of hidden truth and risk to its sinister agents.
● Stability Level: ​The status of mental and physical wellbeing.

The higher the value of an attribute, the better. Attributes may be reduced through injury, insanity, or other
misfortune. The only attribute that ever goes up in the normal course of play is Lore Level. Because of the
nature of story being told in PPVSS, events are designed to get worsen as the characters progress. PPVSS
is not designed to tell a happy story.

When building your character, assign the following modifier values to R ​ eason, Might, Affinity,​ and ​Wealth​:
+0, +1, +1, +2.​ All characters start at ​Lore Level 0​ and ​Stability Level 10.

Example Character Sheet

Player: ​Kyle Latino

Pen Pal:​ Dr. Aurick Schneider

Who: ​Professor of Anthropological Studies at the University of Cincinnati.
Where: C​ incinnati, Mt Adams neighborhood
 Reason: ​(+2) L​ ore Level:​ 0
Might: (+0) S
​ tability Level: ​10
Affinity:​ (+1)
Wealth: (+1)

Attributes
Reason​ represents the character’s level of knowledge or education, ability to research, or capability to
connected concepts. Use ​Reason​ for any action that is primarily associated with intellect, scholarship,
investigation, or academia. R
​ eason​ actions will result in stories about interacting with static bodies of
knowledge like books, archives, artifacts, etc. Risks involve encountering the allies of the ​Threat​ who wish
to suppress knowledge, or mental and emotional strain from disturbing discoveries.

Might ​represents the character’s physical prowess, such as athletic aptitude, fighting talent, ability to travel
through extreme environments, capability to shake down a hostile individual, or to conduct oneself in a
gunfight. Use M​ ight​ for any action that is primarily physical or physically aggressive in someway. M ​ ight
actions will result in stories about direct confrontation with the allies of the T
​ hreat​ or criminal element who
threaten the unaware and innocent. Risks involve physical, emotional, and mental trauma from such
confrontations.

Affinity r​ epresents the character’s charisma, charm, powers of persuasion, and social prowess. Use ​Affinity
for any action that is primarily social, diplomatic, conversational, or relies on your character’s ability to talk
themselves into or out of trouble.​ Affinity​ actions will result in stories about conversations or negotiations
with supporting characters, subterfuge, infiltration of dangerous secret societies, carousing with colorful
individuals, or interrogating the insane who have had glancing contact with the things that lurk just beyond
the reach of human comprehension. Risks involve exposing yourself to allies of the ​Threat​ or those
unpredictable few who have felt the disturbing touch of darkness in their minds.

Wealth ​represents the character’s access to money, travel, resources, equipment. Use W ​ ealth​ for any action
that requires extravagant expenses, acquiring rare items from private collectors, bribing politicians, or
globetrotting. A P​ en Pal c​ an use a ​Wealth​ action to support or sponsor another ​Pen Pal, b​ y making
purchases, bribe, or shipping equipment to them. W ​ ealth ​actions will result in stories of extravagance,
excess, and glamour as much as them will result in stories of corruption, backroom deals among smugglers
and hitmen. Risks involve having allies of the ​Threat​ intercept resources, attracting the attention of thieves,
catastrophes in travel, and legal entanglements. W ​ ealth ​is unique, because certain actions are simply
impossible for characters with a lower score. Consult the chart below to understand what each wealth
score determines about your character’s possible actions.
● A character with ​+2 Wealth​ is essentially a millionaire with an enormous amount of liquid assets at
their disposal. The character is restricted only by the settings and amount of time it would take to
arrange for the action.
 ● A character with ​+1 Wealth​ lives comfortably and is capable of international travel and large
purchases once every 3 months.
● A character with ​+0 Wealth​ is financially secure and is capable of international travel that lacks
luxury, but couldn’t make any purchases over a couple thousand dollar more than once a year.
● A character with ​-1 Wealth​ is stretching to make ends meet and cannot muster more than a
hundred dollars a month.
● A character with ​-2 Wealth​ or lower is in serious debt and has to resort to using a different Attribute
to acquire asset or travel, such as conning someone with ​Affinity​, or stealing something with
Might.

Lore Level r​ epresents two things at once, the character’s awareness of the true nature of the T ​ hreat ​and the
Threat’s ​awareness of them. There is always a direct relationship between the two. As a character raises
their ​Lore Level​, they are able to describe the nature of the T ​ hreat ​more directly in their letters, but this
comes at a greater risk of consequences if they roll a ​Miss​ on the A ​ ction Table​ for their action. Consult the
chart below to determine the consequences and contact with the ​Threat:
● Lore Level 0 through 2:​ You have only the vaguest contact with a second or third hand account with
the t​ hreat​, nothing conclusive. This is why you are involving your other ​Pen Pals,​ to collaborate to
uncover this obscure but nagging mystery. You receive no extra penalties.
● Lore Level 3 through 5:​ You are getting closer, but you are also becoming known to those in service
to the allies of ​Threat​. You still haven’t come into direct contact with the ​Threat ​itself. M ​ isses ​now
result in 1 extra point reduced from your stability.
● Lore Level 6 and 7:​ You are past the point of no return. You are in too deep. You have caught a
glimpse, just a glimpse, of the T ​ hreat ​itself, in some horrific way. The allies of the ​Threat a​ re well
aware of you and your movements and are actively working to destroy and silence you. ​Misses
result in 1 extra point reduced from your stability and the attribute you rolled. (this replaces the
penalty from ​Lore Level 3 through 5​) When you first reach L​ ore Level 6​, draw a creepy sigil with the
number 6 on it to let the other players know they you are at this ​Lore Level​ and that they need to
add 1 to their own L​ ore Level​ if you address a letter to them.
● Lore Level 8 and 9:​ The only thing keeping you together is the grip of obsession for answers. Your
dreams are unspeakable when you do manage a moment of rest, the ​Threat ​looks for your mind in
the world of dreams. You are in constant opposition with the allies of the T ​ hreat​. ​Misses ​result in 1
extra point reduced from your stability and the attribute you rolled, and ​Hits ​make you take both
results instead of letting you choose only one. (this replaces the penalty from ​Lore Level 6 and 7​)
Also, you pass on double the ​Lore Levels​ to your fellow ​Pen Pals ​(1 for hits, 2 for crits)!
● Lore Level 10:​ The time has come for a direct confrontation with the ​Threat ​itself. In addition to the
penalties from ​Lore Level 8 and 9, Hits​ cause your character to be automatically reduced to
Stability Level 1​, and M ​ isses​ automatically reduce your character’s ​Stability Level t​ o 0 ​ .

If you manage to roll ​Critical Hit​ on your turn when you reach L​ ore Level 10​, you have succeeded over the
Threat a​ nd its allies. You may consider the game well and truly won and completed. If you want to
continue playing, all ​Pen Pals​ revisit the questions from the S
​ etting and Themes​ section together, and begin
exchanging letters on the subject of a new mystery and ​Threat​. ​Pen Pals​ may choose to make new
characters or keep their old character, in exactly the same state they are in, save resetting their L​ ore Level
to 0
​ .

Stability Level​ represents the state of character’s mental and physical wellbeing. This is reflected by the
tone of the letter as well as the handwriting used to write it. Consult the following chart to determine how to
communicate your S ​ tability Level​ in writing:
● Stability Level 10: ​You are perfectly healthy.
● Stability Level 9-7: ​You have suffered some injuries and anguish.
● Stability Level 6-4: ​You have suffered serious injuries and begin doubt your senses as you exhibit
paranoid thoughts or disturbing delusions. Your handwriting is shaky and poorly edited.
● Stability Level 3-1: ​You have suffered wounds that will never fully heal and have lost the ability to
fully distinguish reality from the horrific visions that now plague even your waking mind. Your
handwriting is nearly illegible at times and perhaps written on something other than regular paper.
Be sure to be clear enough to be understood with 75% of your letter, but feel free to make up words,
cross out words, or cast yourself in an unsympathetic light.
● Stability Level 0: ​You have died in some a horrible way and your letter is written by your character’s
next of kin, acquaintance, or executor contacting your​ Pen Pal​ to let them know of your character’s
passing in some level of detail. If you wish to make this supporting character your new character,
you may do so by following the steps in the ​Build Your Character​ section, otherwise end your letter
with, a phrase like, “Please do not try to contact us on this matter further.”

Taking a Turn
When a ​Pen Pal ​receives a letter, they run through the following turn order:
● Decide how their character would respond to the question or favor posed within it.
● Choose a single action that uses ​Reason, Might, Affinity,​ or W ​ ealth
● Roll 2d6 and factor in the appropriate attributed modifier
● Consult the ​Action Table​ to determine the success of their action
● Adjust their attributes according to consequences of the A ​ ction Table
● Write a letter that documents an anecdote explaining the exact action and results that played out in
the turn, making sure the letter includes a question or favor to next ​Pen Pal

Action Table
When a ​Pen Pal​ rolls for an action that uses R
​ eason, Might, Affinity,​ or W
​ ealth​, they check the total
modified result against the ​Action Table​ below:

MISS: 6 or lower HIT: 7,8, or 9 CRITICAL HIT: 10 or higher

 Something has gone very wrong! You achieve your goal, but at a You achieve exactly what you set
● Reduce the attribute you cost. Raise your​ Lore Level b​ y 1 out to do! Increase your ​Lore
rolled 1 and draw a “½” on your letter to Level​ by 1! Also, draw sigil on
● Reduce your ​Stability increase your P​ en Pal’s Lore your letter to increase your P​ en
Level​ by 1 Level. ​Also, choose 1 result from Pal’s Lore Level too!
below:
Misses d​ on’t mean nothing ● Reduce the attribute you OR​ Increase your Lore Level by 2,
happens, they mean that rolled 1 then choose 1 result from below:
something bad happens. You can ● Reduce your S ​ tability ● Reduce the attribute you
gather clues from failure, but no Level​ by 1 rolled 1
Lore Levels. ● Reduce your S ​ tability
Level​ by 1

Attributes cannot be reduced lower than -3. If a roll calls for you to do so, then take 1 extra point of
reduction to your S
​ tability Level​ instead.

Here is a helpful chart of your chances to miss, hit, or crit with any given roll:
Attribute Check Chances
% to
miss % to hit % to crit
minus 3 83% 17% 0%
minus 2 72% 25% 3%
minus 1 58% 33% 9%
no bonus 42% 42% 16%
plus 1 27% 44% 29%
plus 2 17% 42% 41%

Recovery Points
Looking at the percentage change table above, you can see that you have a 59% chance of incurring some
kind of damage, even on a +2 roll. Here is some good news, you gain ​Recovery Points​ whenever you roll
doubles ( when both dice match, two 1’s for example), even if that roll is a miss. R ​ ecovery Points​ are spent
to either increase your ​Stability Level​ by 1, or to increase an A
​ ttribute​ by 1. You cannot raise an A
​ ttribute
higher than it was set when the P ​ en Pal w
​ as created. You can spend a ​Recovery Point​ on the same turn
that you gained it.

You can attempt to transfer 1 ​Recovery Point​ per turn to another P ​ en Pal​. To do this, roll a +​Wealth​ in
addition to your regular action for that turn. If you rolled a H
​ it ​or ​Crit, a​ dd a phrase like “P.S. I’ve wired you
some extra funds to aid you in your endeavours.” so the other ​Pen Pal​ knows that they’ve received a
Recovery Point​ from you. If you rolled a ​Miss,​ then the R​ ecovery Point​ is spent, but no one receives a
benefit. You may acknowledge the effort in a PS statement, but make sure it’s clear that you didn’t succeed.
The First Letter and Beyond
When someone writes the first letter, their character gains ​1 Lore Level​. Their character should have only
the vaguest hints of something strange going on, and they are reaching out to another​ Pen Pal​ whom they
hope will use their expertise in some way to illuminate the situation. It is important in this first letter to keep
your question or favor fairly vague to allow the​ Pen Pal​ freedom to engage in the fiction however they wish.
Focus instead on an intriguing puzzle, set of clues, or scrap of hearsay that can offer fertile ground for ideas
to take root.

The first letter isn’t about picking the exact ​Threat​, or corralling the other P​ en Pal​ into guessing which
Threat t​ he writer of the first letter is hoping to hint at. Instead, it should be an evocative but open-ended
mystery. The ​Threat a​ nd the story is arrived at gradually through collaborative writing, and shouldn’t
necessarily correspond precisely to a monster or creature from a particular story or source. They idea is
that each ​Pen Pal​ builds upon the story one letter at a time and tries to keep things consistent with all the
information that each P ​ en Pal​ reveals through play. It’s important to be surprising, but also to not be
contradictory to anything that has been written before.

List of Example Inciting Incidents

● Strange scientific findings on bizarre specimen
● Expedition has gone missing
● Discovery of an unidentified ancient artifact
● Local ritual murder
● Colleague has disappeared or gone catatonic after recent acquisition
● Unexplained natural phenomenon
● Bizarre meteor exhibits paranatural properties
● Disturbed inventor’s device breaches the veil between realities

It is also important to stay consistent with your ​Lore Level​ when you are writing your letters. A P ​ en Pal
won’t even catch a glimpse of the ​Threat i​ tself until ​Lore Level​ 6​ ​ or anything more than a glimpse until ​Lore
Level​ ​8. T
​ he tension is created from the slow process of each P ​ en Pal p​ eeling away at the mystery as the
investigation chisels away at their very souls, or S​ tability Level​ more accurately.

List of Example Threats

Remember, you want the Threat to take shape through the collaborative process, to emerge from the fiction
organically. But if you are stumped, here are some ideas.
● Scientient, living song that passes from person to person
● Telepathic 12 eye-ed worm that devourers knowledge of itself from the minds of the weak
● Sea beast who surfaces every 500 years to inhale fear and flood the cities of men
● Being of consuming starlight that burns through sacrifices like living candles to stay on earth
● Brain eating aliens from the asteroid belt that travel on membranous solar sail wings
● Thinking fungus that animates the dead with toadstool brains
● Race of malevolent, trans-dimensional polyhedra are running dark experiments on humans
More Than Two Pen Pals
When there are more than two ​Pen Pals​, each P​ en Pal w
​ ill take turns writing letters to alternating ​Pen Pals.
To make sure each ​Pen Pal i​ s connected with one another, never write to the same P ​ en Pal​ twice in a row.

Its would be a good idea to make a copy or take a photo of each letter you get and send along the originals
to the next P​ en Pal​ so that everyone has a context and don’t need to summarize the conversation so far. It
would also be a good idea to post the letters in an email chain or message service, but only after they arrive
at the recipient’s address. This way everyone can stay up on the story and they don’t have to wait a month to
get all the letters that have been passed around.

Optional Single Player Rules

You can easily play P ​ PVSS b​ y yourself, with a few tweaks to the rules. First, take on the format of a journal,
diary, or log entry instead of a letter to someone. Perhaps your character is recording events for posterity,
or just to process the strange experiences. Secondly, ignore any mention of other P ​ en Pals​ in the attribute
checks. Thirdly, you will probably want to come up with the general nature of the threat to start with, but
you could probably keep things moving just by writing evocative details for the first few turns if you wanted
to. Just remember to write consistently with your current ​Stability a​ nd​ Lore Levels​.

You could stick to a weekly schedule or roll 1d4 or 1d6 to see how many days it take for the next event to
occur.

Optional Interim Contact Rules

When a ​Pen Pal​ takes an action, but before they write their letter, they may send two messages spaced out
by a few days, that take the form of telegrams. The first one will briefly state nature of the action taken as if
the outcome hasn’t been determined (example: ​VERY CONCERNED= BOOKED PASSAGE TO NOVA
SCOTIA= LEAVING TONIGHT=​) Then, a few days later, send another message in the same format,
briefly stating the results of the action (example: B
​ AGGAGE STOLEN= RECOVERING AT
HOSPITAL= THEY KNEW=​)

This will help maintain the illusion of the real-time nature of the adventure, and help build tension as you
wait for the full explanation.

When a Pen Pal Dies

When a ​Pen Pal ​dies or loses all their Stability Levels, but you still want to keep playing the same story you
can create a new P​ en Pal​ to take the place of the old one. The first turn of the new ​Pen Pal​ will be spent
attempting to recover their predecessor’s L​ ore Levels​. Make an attributed check as normal, but with the
following additional consequences:
 MISS: 6 or lower HIT: 7,8, or 9 CRITICAL HIT: 10 or higher

Your new ​Pen Pal​ suspects Your new ​Pen Pal​ recovers bits Your new ​Pen Pal​ recovers all of
something sinister at play, but and pieces of their predecessor’s their predecessor’s notes. They
doesn’t recover their notes. know everything that has
predecessor’s notes. happened in the story so far.
Your new ​Pen Pal​ starts with half
Your new ​Pen Pal​ starts at ​Lore the ​Lore Level o
​ f their Your new ​Pen Pal​ starts with the
Level: 1 predecessor. Lore Level ​of their predecessor.

Examples of Aurick’s Turns

Aurick receives a lengthy letter from Simeon about being commissioned to play a concert for a group
anonymous socialites in animal masks by the sea behind a strange mansion.

Turn 1:​ (​ Reason Action Roll: 1+1+2 = 4 = MISS + Recovery Point = Loses 1 Stability Level, but uses Recovery
Point to keep Reason Point)​ After receiving the first letter from Simeon, Aurick does some research on celtic
music in stacks at UC. Bookshelf busts and falls in on him, he has sprains and bruises. An elusive
antiquarian may have broke the shelf and stolen Aurick’s book, without him realizing it.

Dear Simeon,

I was very excited to receive your letter. I admit to being somewhat underwhelmed by the culture,
such as it is, of Cincinnati. The prohibition of alcohol has gutted the city of wealth and done nothing to
actually curb the scourge of drink. I try to keep away from downtown, which has gone from a piss pot to
an overturned piss pot, if you’ll pardon my recitation of how the locals have described it to me. An
interesting puzzle to solve in the archives was a welcome diversion, at least at first.
I was making some headway on identifying the fascinating string instrument you described, when
catastrophe struck. I’d been spending a lot of time in the archives, even having some sandwiches brought to
me so I wouldn’t have to stop to eat. You might well remember how I get when I’m on the scent of
something. Well, I was cracking the spine of a promising dusty tome, when the self of oversized books simply
snapped and I was buried and bruised beneath an avalanche of appendices! Blasted midwest humidity must
have rotted through the shelf!
Fortunately, there was a fellow antiquarian nearby who helped me out of my predicament, and made
sure I wasn’t too seriously injured. I would like to thank him more properly, but the old fellow ran off to
summon medical aid and I couldn’t find him afterwards. The shameful archivist, who is often dozing at his
desk, didn’t even take down his name on the sign-in sheet!
Funny thing is, I couldn’t find the book I was trying to read before the accident. It seems to have
been removed entirely from the collection somehow. Perhaps it was found damaged beyond repair and
disposed of by a dogsbody intern. These things always become difficult at the start of a new semester with
all the personnel changes. Such is life.
I’ll continue to look into it on my end, but I must admit my curiosity is well and truly aroused! I
pray, as awkward as it might be, would you make some inquiries where you can? If I had even a bit more
information, such as the name of the society that commissioned you, I feel I could direct my research more
efficiently.
 Always a pleasure,
Dr. Aurick Schneider

Aug. 28th 1926

Aurick receives a lengthy letter from Simeon about an attempt enter the strange mansion to learn some more
info.

Turn 2: ​ (Reason Action Roll: 1+2+2 = 6 = MISS + Recovery Point = Loses 1 Stability Level)​ After receiving the
first letter from Simeon, Aurick does some research on moon cycles at the Cincinnati
Observatory.Hooligans rough him up when he returns to his car.

Dear Simeon,

I must apologise for the lateness of my reply. I was so swept up in the activities of the new
semester, I lost track of your letter and only recently recovered it. I do hope you hand is better now and
you’ve concluded the year with cheer and good luck. I must say that most certainly did not.
When you asked in you Aug letter about those dates, I immediately thought of lunar cycles. Sure
enough, a quick perusal of an almanac confirmed my suspicion. Both events you’ve described have coincided
with nights before or on a new moon.. Coupled with the tidal event that you described in your first letter,
the lunar connection seems promising. It also points to your “Willow Wreath” being some kind of lunar-tidal
cult. Though the instrument points to a cult of some antiquity, no exact fit for such a cult springs to mind,
so it may be new, or merely based on an older cult.
As for the mugging incident that I mentioned in my telegram, it happened when I pulled some favors
to see the waning crescent moon at the Cincinnati Observatory. I was intrigued after looking into the lunar
calendar. After making the arrangements, I arrived on a cold, still night at the end of December. Rather
than finding my friend at the observatory, I was met by a gang of hooligans. They must have had a
collective snoot full of homebrew because they just stickered when I reached for my wallet. They proceeded to
gleefully thrash me severely about the head and body. They had almost left when one of them snapped his
finger and ran back to steal my wallet, as if it was an afterthought.
After some time recovering, I asked my friend at the observatory about our meeting, and he
apologized, saying it slipped his mind. All for the best, I suppose. Two intellectuals wouldn’t have been much
more of a match for those violent bounders.
On your end, perhaps you would find it fruitful to look into private musical bookings that coincide
with the waning crescent and new moon.. Or even, dare I suggest it, disappearances or crimes occurring on that
lunar schedule.

PS: Check the reverse for a list of new moon dates for 1927.
Painfully,
Dr. Aurick Schneider

Jan 2nd 1927