Shadowblack: The Awakening Taint and Power

In our first article on Taint, we briefly discussed my basic views on character alignment and morality. Choices that may weight on your psyche make it harder for you the resist the taint. But what about those who wield supernatural power?

Taint and Absolute Power

Take for example someone who works at a nuclear power plant. The people who work their take just about every precaution to avoid prolonged exposure to radiation. Still, I bet someone who has worked with nuclear power or radiation for 30 years has taken a higher does than someone who hasn't. What about the people who live in the shadow of the plant without all of the fancy hazmat suits and other precautions to protect them?

Fire-fighters have protective suits and respirators but they still have likely inhaled more smoke than most of us. Let's not forget miners, mechanics, etc etc. Even with the safest possible work conditions (which has lots to do with your work environment, safety laws and profit motives), many occupations carry high risk both immediate and long term. Let us not also forget the effects of a high stress job on one's physical and mental health and relationships, whether it's on the beat or in the boardroom.

Now put all of that into a setting where some "unnatural" force is radiating into or world. We wouldn't have nearly as many awesome comic book heroes if people didn't believe that radiation could grant super-powers. Now we know it causes defects and illness, and too much will simply kill you. Yet, when you know how to work it, you can light or level a city, see inside objects and people, and even track down or kill diseases. This is how taint works.

Many people in Shadowblack become tainted. For many this is simply a death sentence. For the lucky it may be a life-long disfigurement. For even fewer, it is the beginning of a dubious new life of monster hunting. However, there are a small handful that are actively trying to tap into this energy for good, ill or gain.

What does this mean for Shadowblack?

Taint affects your morality and soul, but we acquire it from the power we seek. People who bare marks will often generate taint for using some of their powers. As they tap into the void, their humanity pours out. People who are psychic and practice magic can also incur taint.

Mechanically, this takes the form of taint points, and taint dice. We will discuss this in more detail in the next article, but for summary: Taint points accrue from certain actions, taint dice work like the red/blue dice alternative in the toolkit with the caveat that it has a chance to generate taint.

This is intentional. I want taint to be something that truly tempts not just the character, but the player. Therefor it needs to provide a benefit in order for people to leverage the pros and cons of its use.