Quirks

Quirks help define your character and customise your gameplay experience. Although some have more positives than others, these do not necessarily convey strict advantages or disadvantages. You should choose Quirks that fit the themes you want to engage with, and the way you want to play the game.

Quirks are split into two categories: Gameplay and Playstyle. Gameplay Quirks reflect features of your character, such as their history and available resources. Playstyle Quirks are a way of letting us know how you, OC, want to engage with the game, and don't affect your character directly.

You may choose up to 4 Gameplay Quirks, and any number of Playstyle Quirks. Unless specified otherwise, each Quirk can only be taken once.

Army of One
You will start the game directly in contact with an NPC instantiated from the same negative as you. Let us know of any traits that they might exhibit. This is only accessible if you have chosen Another Me as a Playstyle Quirk.

Unfamiliar Connection
You are clearly adept at leaving impressions on people. At least, another copy of you is. Throughout the game, people who you haven’t met may recognise you as another of your copies, and may have opinions about you already. Let us know the nature of these opinions. This is only accessible if you have chosen Another Me as a Playstyle Quirk.

Blurry Negative
Your negative was distorted in the imaging process. Whereas most Minds instantiated from the same negative are initially identical, versions of you are already significantly different to begin with. Tell us how. This is only accessible if you have chosen Another Me as a Playstyle Quirk.

Legacy To Live Up To
Your original did something significant after you were copied from them, and as such Nassians in the crisis will have preconceived notions of you. Tell us what kind of thing they were (in)famous for, and we will work out the details.

Prescribed Purpose
After being imaged, your original left behind strict instructions for their future Minds. Let us know what these instructions were, any measures they enacted to ensure you followed them, and the reason they left these instructions behind. Taking this quirk may involve loss of agency.

Bug in the System
Something went wrong when implementing you. There is an explicit flaw in your code that may impact your sensory inputs or ability to control systems. Let us know what it is. Depending on the nature of this bug, it may manifest either in Uptime or in Turnsheets. Taking this quirk may involve loss of agency.

Electric Sheep
Your hibernation protocol works generally, but it is prone to certain glitches. You may wake up temporarily during hibernation, experiencing brief flashes of awareness.

Inoperable Sopor
Perhaps through a cloning fault or system instability, you are incapable of returning to hibernation. Each crisis you will play a new copy of your original character. The old copy will live out their life as though they’d left the Contingency normally, and you can describe what they attempt to do in place of a standard Hibernation turnsheet. Taking this quirk will involve loss of agency and memory.

Shared Vessel
The body that you inhabit now is particularly large and has two consciousnesses inside of it. Let us know a bit about the other person: whether they are familiar or not, and how it feels to share a form with them.

Runaway Subroutines
A fault in your instantiation has left you without full control of your hibernation subroutines. During Hibernation Turnsheets, you will only be able to choose a Module for your character to gain. Qualitative changes to your physical form will be decided by the GMs. Taking this quirk will involve loss of agency.

Distributed Intelligence
You do not occupy a single, contiguous body, but rather a collection of smaller forms, for example a constellation of satellites. As a consequence your experience is fractured and vulnerable to being disconnected.

Not My Body
You knew that you would wake up in an unfamiliar body, it just wasn’t the body that you were expecting. Let us know what form you were expecting to have and what you actually got. If you would like for us to choose your form for you, let us know that, too. Taking this quirk may introduce themes of medical malpractice, although it is not intended to be an allegory for it.

Shy From Duty
When you were cloned, there was a threat or problem that you knew you would be unwilling to deal with. Let us know what it is. Expect it to come up for your character.

Shared Stories
Another person that you knew from your past was also accepted into the Contingency. Let us know who they were, and how you knew each other before you were both imaged. This can be taken multiple times with different people.

Second Chancer
Before joining the Contingency, you were a convict, rehabilitated through the Contingency training program. Let us know what you were convicted of, and how you feel about the crime now.

Gone, Not Forgotten
When you were copied, you were part of something very meaningful to you, such as a leader in a thriving community, head of a growing company, or a part of a large family. Now in the future, that thing may have changed. Let us know what you left behind, and what you thought about it.

The Room Where It Happens
You had a position of authority in society before joining the Contingency. Tell us what that position was, and how you expect it to impact your work in the Contingency.

Hit Me Harder
Extensions of you in the world are at risk, and more likely to get damaged or broken. This does not increase your chances of suffering consequences, but it does raise the potential severity of the outcome.

Make Me Cry, Specifically
You're happy to interact with more emotionally heavy moments in Contingency on a personal level. This involves loss, trauma, or grief affecting things within the character's own interests. Due to the nature of crises in Contingency, we expect that all characters may witness loss or trauma, but will not be personally affected without this Quirk.

Romance Me
You're happy with NPCs starting romantic interactions with your character. This may or may not happen with this Quirk, and you can start romantic interactions freely regardless of whether you have this Quirk. When it comes to other PCs, however, you should make sure to check OC with them before initiating romantic interactions with their character.

Another Me
You're happy to interact directly with other copies of you. By default, it is assumed that multiple copies exist for most members of the Contingency, but they will not appear as NPCs in the game without this Quirk.

More Gore
You are happy to receive vivid descriptions of injury or other particularly gory narration. This will affect the description of gore in turnsheets. In Uptime, gory description will be hidden by spoiler tags regardless of whether or not this Quirk is taken.