SYMBOL
A downloadable game
"[radio screech] ... FIST? Do you remember me? That thing, the thing that's... that's ... a radio, that's what's talking to you! Press the button, the red thing on the side, press the button and tell me if you... wait, you remember how to talk, right? God, please remember how to talk! Just... just don't say its name again. I heard you over the... I heard... You'll be... be... FIST? ... [radio screech]"
-- Unknown voice broadcasting from an unknown location. Penultimate copycat transmission.
SYMBOL is a 27-page supplement for the paranormal mercenary roleplaying game FIST, and an almost-late submission to the FIST: ULTRA JAM! The supplement focuses on hazardous objects and ideas which can alter a character's perceptions, beliefs and even the very world around them! It is also an introduction to the terminology of SCP fiction, and a blatant advertisement for the types of SCP stories I love. If you like this, and you've yet to read anything from the site, I highly recommend you check it out!
Included are rules outlines and suggestions for running:
- Infectious ideas that take over your mind!
- Images that melt your brain!
- Weapons that restructure reality!
- Creatures that can steal your name!
- Buffs and debuffs granted by luck itself!
All under a loose but clear framework for how to manage deceptions in collaborative, high-trust gameplay!
This is also the first of what may eventually be a series of FIST supplements with a wide variety of themes! Hopefully, over time, they will become increasingly colorful and well-formatted --but, as it stands, this is a PDF document with black Times New Roman text on a white background!
I also worked pretty much independently on this project, so I definitely missed something! Please, let me know in the comments if there are issues or typos!
I hope you enjoy it!
Download
Install instructions
If you download this and enjoy it, leave a comment and let me know! Have a wonderful day!
Comments
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SYMBOL is an SCP inspired supplement that adds memetic dangers to FIST, and it's straight up one of my favorite pieces of writing in FIST.
The PDF is 27 pages, with a clean, readable document-style layout. A lot of hyperlinks and references are provided to the SCP wiki, so this might also work as a jumping off point for exploring SCP if you become interested while reading.
Contents-wise, the tone of SYMBOL is fairly academic, but there is a genuinely nice content warning that takes into account that some folks might have a rougher time with memetic horror than others. There's also clear and direct communication with the GM about how best to add the material in SYMBOL into a FIST game---but it's so universal and carefully thought through that I think it'd be worth reading even if your intent is to run a different system.
SYMBOL does add a few new mechanical elements to FIST, essentially new broad saves against memetic danger like M-RESIST and C-RESIST plus a system of specific memetic immunities, and there's also (really, really good) new TRAITS and hazards, but a lot of SYMBOL's words are centered around positioning these new elements in your story. For example, the Antimemes section goes for about four pages, but there's only two TRAITS and no monsters---just instructions on what an Antimeme would look like and how it would narratively behave.
I think in another supplement this wouldn't really gel with me, but instead I kind of ended up with a brain overflowing with ideas by the time I was done reading. If you want to create SCP inspired game material, you might want to shuffle SYMBOL to the top of your to-read list.
Overall, this is an incredible (though relatively academic) supplement for not just FIST but any SCP-adjacent game. You could use the principles in SYMBOL for Delta Green, or LIMINAL, or Unknown Armies, or JoJo's. If you're a GM or a game designer that likes to work with memetic horror, I'd strongly advise giving this a read.
Minor Issues:
-Page 10, does M-RESIST work on antimemes? The section seems to imply that characters might have a RECALL score instead, or that certain experiences maybe have an innate RECALL property. However the ANTIMEMETICIST also has an M-RESIST. I couldn't quite work out authorial intent here.
-The information in some sections could benefit from being a little more centralized. M-RESIST, C-RESIST, and Inoculations could all fit in one frontloaded supersection.
-Page 23, should NAMELESS have a FORGET score?