IDENTITY

For some reason, there are only approximately one hundred regularly occurring variants which the TVA recruits from. This isn't to say these are the only 100 people that work for the TVA, there is always the odd unique variant who can be found. These are simply the most common.

Recruit: Roll percentile dice (d%) and consult Identity Table 1.0. This was your identity prior to joining the TVA. You should then roll between five d10s and combine their numbers to determine your Earth Designation, which is appended to the end of your surname with a hyphen.

IDENTITY TABLE 1.

Security ClearAnce

TVA employees require Blue-level clearance to authorize them to embark on missions into the Multiverse. Continued excellence in the field and strict adherence to TVA regulations may be rewarded by an upgrade to further clearance. The various security clearances are detailed further in the section entitled “Time Variance Authority.”

Recruit: You will be granted Blue-level clearance upon completion of this process.

Attributes & talents

Every TVA employee is rated in three different attributes: Force, Instinct, and Access. All employees are expected to possess basic levels of ability in these areas to even be considered viable recruits for the TVA. Within each attribute, there are three Talents. Every employee has shown aptitude in one of these areas.

Attributes

The TVA does not concern itself with characteristics such as strength, agility, intellect, or charisma. It uses three abstract attributes for Employees use to interact with their environment and nine talents that describe their greater than-average ability in certain situations.

Attributes are rated from 2 (nominal) to 4 (exceptional) in the three attributes. This rating represents the number of dice that the character may roll when performing actions using that attribute. Talents are used as “bonus dice” that may be added if the roll is too low to be considered a success (i.e. below 11). Starting employees have 9 points to spend on attributes: either a rating of 3 in all three or ratings of 2, 3 and 4.

Recruit: Using the 9 points allotted to you, write down your attribute ratings. As the minimum rating allowed is 2 and the scale tops out at 4.

Force

TVA employees use Force to interact with the Multiverse. It encompasses all physical activity, with Variants, Hostiles, and TVA Employees as well as with reality itself.

TVA employees are direct and focused, able to push through physical and mental fatigue and accomplish their goals. No matter what their level of physical strength or stamina, they’re able to perform exceptional physical feats across the multiverse. They can also be brutish, short-tempered, and quick to anger in times of stress.

Instinct

Instinct defines how the employee perceives the Multiverse. It covers perception, reaction, and intuition and is used primarily when the employee relies on his judgment and experience to gauge a situation.

TVA employees are sensitive to their environments and are trained to see carefully observe and react to those environments. They rely on hunches as much as cold, hard facts and are able to make critical decisions without hesitation. Of course, this can lead to impulsive behavior and paranoia in unfamiliar situations, especially when those instincts are misguided.

Access

Access defines the TVA employee's ability to requisition material and information from the TVA. It represents personal charisma, resourcefulness, and “pull” within the company. It also describes the employee's familiarity with the Map (and affects their ability to enter and leave the Multiverse).

TVA employees are adept at navigating the bureaucratic maze of the TVA and at procuring equipment and information for missions. They gain a “feel” for the terrain of the Multiverse and this can prove beneficial when traveling or when entering or exiting. Employees may feel disconnected from their surroundings after too much time away from the Null-Time Zone. Other potential hazards include cynical attitudes toward management, a feeling of hopelessness as case files stack up, and petty political squabbles with their peers and superiors.

Talents

Recruit: Define your Talent by choosing one from the list below. This Talent need not fall under your best attribute.

Force Talents

Aggression: Kill, destroy, damage

Athletics: Movement; chase and escape

Strategy: Incapacitate, subdue, capture, process

Instinct Talents

Investigation: Search crime scenes, analyze evidence

Communication: Interrogation, persuasion, and subterfuge

Intuition: Sensing an ambush or general “wrongness,” following hunches

Access Talents

Logistics: Acquisition of weapons and other equipment from the TVA

Intelligence: Retrieval of information from the TVA

Navigation: Information about a reality's secruity color, ejecting from missions

AGE

Base attributes (Force, Insight, and Access) are rated at 2D. Recruits must be between the ages of 21 and 55 to be considered for employment by the TVA. Mandatory retirement takes place upon the employee's 60th genetic birthday.

Recruit: Roll 2d10, total the dice, then consult the table for your base age, modifiers and Commendation Points.

Heart Rate

Heart rate provides the best overall metric for performance and well-being in Multiverse. Interaction with the timestream — the environment and its inhabitants — triggers a neurophysiological response; the employee's heart rate and neural activity are increased, causing elevated levels of neurotransmitters and hormones such as epinephrine, serotonin, and cortisol.

The stress of operating outside of the Null-Time Zone for extended periods of time puts our employees at a nontrivial risk of physical and psychological trauma. Using the Karvonen Method, we establish baselines and targets for cardiovascular performance measured as heartbeats per minute (bpm).

RESTING HEART RATE (HRREST)

When you first enter the Multiverse, you will do so in a relaxed, comfortable state. Your mind and body are relaxed and ready to begin. This state will not last long.

Recruit: Resting Heart Rate (HRrest) is 60 bpm or randomly determined by adding a roll of +2d6 to 58 bpm.

MAXIMUM HEART RATE (HRMAX)

The maximum heart rate advisable for safe operation. Exceeding HRmax increases stress on your mind and body which may result in injury or death.

Recruit: Subtract your recruit's age from 220 to determine your Maximum Heart Rate (HRmax).

TARGET HEART RATE (THR)

Target Heart Rate represents peak cardiovascular efficiency. It is, after a fashion, when an employee is in “the zone.” While in this narrow window of performance, expect great things as your mind sharpens and your will becomes absolute. Your Target Heart Rate (THR) is a range between your minimum and maximum Target Heart Rates. Upon reaching THRmin, you are assumed to be in this zone until you exceed THRmax.

While within your Target Heart Rate, you may roll any number of attribute dice when making a Force or Instinct roll. This effect lasts for as long as the character is within his Target Heart Rate, as determined by the character's age.

Recruit: Perform the following calculations; rounding fractions to the nearest integer. You may use a computational device or ask the Game Meditor to use the Karvonen Formulae located below.

(HRreserve) = HRmax - HRrest

THRmax = HRreserve * .85 + HRrest

THRmin = HRreserve * .65 + HRrest

Reducing Heart Rate

You may lower your Heart Rate only when undergoing no outward stress. You must be in a safe (or relatively safe) location and must have time to collect your thoughts and concentrate. Heart Rate Reduction is a Technique TVA employees may acquire during character creation (see Techniques).

GENDER

The TVA does not discriminate when acquiring new recruits, nor does it offer preferential treatment to a specific gender when promoting from within. The TVA established workplace protocols to ensure employees of all genders equal and fair treatment under the law. This includes unisex washrooms, standardized uniform requirements, and supplementary benefits for all employees. You may declare your gender, although this is not required.

MENTOR ASSIGNMENT

All TVA employees are assigned a mentor at the start of their careers. For several months, the mentor assists the trainee (and vice versa) while teaching the recruit how to survive in the multiverse and work within the TVA guidelines. After graduation, mentors often keep in contact with their charges and are there for help or advice long after their student has joined the ranks as a full-fledged TVA Employee.

Your mentor's skill grants +1D when you're using a specific application of an attribute.

Each mentor has access to various techniques they've developed, discovered, or studied while investigating Multiverse. Employees are limited to these specific techniques until they master techniques taught by other employees. You may choose the listed standard technique or one technique from either group listed with that mentor.

AVAILABILITY

A mentor’s Status describes if they are available as a resource to the character. Influential mentors may be useful sources of information or support for the character. But beware: mentors often have agendas of their own and may use one of their former pupils as a pawn in a chess game played against with their rivals in the TVA.

If you wish to speak with your mentor between dives, an Access roll is required. If a Status target number is listed, you must meet this target to reach your mentor. This roll does not increase heart rate. If your mentor is unavailable for any reason and you wish to contact any other mentor, make an Access roll at -1D. A fellow employee can set up a meeting with their mentor on your behalf, negating the penalty.

Any mentor may seek you out on their own if prompted to reward you for meritorious service, to levy disciplinary action, or to question you about your activities on a dive.

Recruit: Roll 2d6 modified by your training modifier to determine your mentor. The lower your training modifier, the longer you've been at the TVA. Status designates them as active or not—active employees have a target number for their availability on an Access test. Your Mentor taught you a Standard Technique (Meditation, Conditioning, Endurance, Achievement, Training, or Talent) that you learn right away. Successful missions enable you to develop additional Techniques in your Mentor’s tree (Assets, Skills, or Cover).

See Page: Mentors for more details.

TECHNIQUES

Each group of techniques twists the rules of Multiverse or enables TVA employees to bolster themselves against the turbulence of the timestream. Experienced TVA employees are able to “bend the rules” of reality and perform unusual or seemingly-impossible actions. This is done using Techniques the employee picks up from her Mentor or from the TVA employees she works with on a daily basis. These Techniques enable them to interact with the Multiverse in different ways. The employee using the Technique can affect change without making a die roll. Most Techniques cost a Commendation Point to trigger. Unless otherwise specified, the effects of using a Technique are temporary.

Employees who complete a mission are able to unlock one of the Techniques in the tree that her Mentor taught her. Specific Techniques outside this tree may be learned from other employees. All employees may always learn Standard Techniques. Techniques are awarded after successful missions as employees begin to grow familiar with the strange terrain of the Multiverse. Some Techniques may be learned from another employee or a Mentor who feels the student is “ready.”

STANDARD TECHNIQUES

Any of these Standard techniques may be learned by new hires during recruitment or personal development.

• Achievement: Begin each dive with +2 CP.

• Conditioning: Reduce HRrest by -7 bpm at the start of a dive.

• Endurance: Increase or reduce THR by ±5 bpm at the start of a dive.

• Meditation: While on a Dive, spend one CP to subtract -1D6 bpm from HR.

• Talent: Begin each dive with +2 XP.

• Training: Begin each dive with -3 Static.

ASSETS

Assets are persistent items created by a Mentor and bestowed or bequeathed to a recruit. Mentors with proficiency in Assets can bestow any of these Assets. Employees may spend XP to temporarily replicate another employee's Asset.

• Disguise: Begin dive with the appropriate attire for the target really (grants inconspicuous presence while worn; no Insight roll required).

• Mental Shielding: Ignore Insight loss once per dive.

• Physical Armor: Ignore Force loss once per dive.

• Time Stick: Begin dive with a +0 weapon in your possession (each Commendation Point adds a +1 Force bonus)

• Vehicle: Begin dive with ground transport.

Standard assets for all TVA Employees includes: black clothing— jacket, slacks, dress shoes, dress socks, necktie, leather belt; white button-down collared shirt, and white undergarments. It is recommended employees carry an umbrella at all times as the weather in Null-Time Zone is unpredictable.

TRADES

Trades mimic real-world titles that manifest in Multiverse as unusual abilities. Each costs 1 XP to use. Mentors with proficiency in Trades may teach any of these techniques. An employee may teach their Trade to another employee.

• Doctor: Restore 1D of a lost attribute point—may benefit one attribute per employee per dive.

• Investigator: The Agent can detect falsehoods when questioning a suspect

• Librarian: Can intuit any written language within a reality.

• Reporter: Speak with distant TVA Employees or with Monitors without an Access roll. This does not require spending CP.

• Thief: Enter secure locations; no die roll required.

COVER

Mentors with this technique have created one or more contingency plans. The Cover should be used whenever circumstances deem it necessary. It's assumed that individual and unique Covers were established during the mentor's active years, to be disclosed to the employee upon spending the required amount of XP. Favors require the mentor to be alive and in good terms with the Company.

Cover may NOT be taught, replicated or transferred by an employee, although some aspects (currency, safe house, contacts, favors) may be shared. It is imperative to safeguard your Cover once established.

• Contact: Your mentor provided you with the name and location of an undocumented Variant.

• Favors: Once per dive, your mentor can provide +1D bonus to your Access rolls for either Logistics or Intelligence. Cover techniques are lost if recruited into Black-Level security, or rather, those techniques are integrated into the employoee's new identity as a resident of a specific reality.

• Identity: Your mentor established a cover identity for you (name, address, job) that should stand up to scrutiny.

• Papers: Your mentor prepared you with official-looking documents and local currency.

• Safe House: Your mentor set up a secure location in one of the realities.

COMMENDATION POINTS

TVA employees within their Target Heart Rate earn a Commendation Point whenever a 6 is rolled on a single die (this includes bonus dice from Talents). The use of Commendation Points is discussed in its own section.

Recruit: Adjust your attributes according to the Attribute mod result listed next to your base age. Make a note of your Training mod and CPs. Recruits who display leadership and excellence earn Commendation Points (CPs). CPs may be spent to earn promotions, garner favors, and improve Access.

Techniques

Assets and Skills are triggered using Commendation Points. Meditation and Doctor can only be used while the employee is in a relatively safe and secure environment.

Influence

Employees may spend Commendation Points to push through requests for information or equipment while in the Multiverse. Every Commendation Point spent in this manner adds +1 to any Access (Logistics) or Access (Intelligence) roll made by the employee. This bonus may be applied after the dice are rolled and is not added to the employee’s Heart Rate.

Promotion

TVA employees can “carry” a maximum of 10 Commendation Points during the course of a mission, extra Commendation Points earned while in the field are not counted. If an employee earns 10 Commendation Points during a mission they gain a bonus Talent at the end of the mission.

Any employee who possesses all the Talents within an attribute or one Talent in each attribute is given a promotion to Senior Employee and a security upgrade to Purple (this is the result of earning at least 20 Commendation Points). Senior Employees are also allowed to read and use the material contained within the Purpple-level section of the TVA Head Office.

Commendation Points earned during a mission are lost when an employee ejects from a mission before its completion (previously-earned Commendation Points are retained).

ADVANCEMENT

The following achievements will earn the employee CPs:

• Performance: +1 CP for every 6 rolled while in THR.

• Team Lead: +5 CP to that employee at the end of a dive

• Processing: +10 CP (given to the Employee who successfully processes the Hostile)

• Intelligence: Retrieving vital/useful/curious intelligence for Mythography earns +10 / +5 / +1 CP to that Employee

• Completion: +20 CP per employee

• Coherence: 100 CP ÷ Static at mission's end per employee

CPs are spent to earn promotions within the Company.

• 20 CP x current Access rating: gain +1D Access.

• 100 CP: promotion to Senior Employee.

• 200 CP: promotion to Special Agent.

• 250 CP: Recruitment to Black-Level Security Clearance.

EXPERIENCE

Experience Points (XP) are a measure of your personal development. Employees exhibiting skill and cunning earn Experience Points (XPs). XPs are used to improve Force or Insight or to learn techniques. Please note this as well.

Recruit: Roll 2d10 again to determine your experience mod. Add this number to your base age to determine your current age. Consult the table below to further modify your attributes.

ADVANCEMENT

The following achievements will earn the employee XPs:

• Ending a dive within THR parameters: +2 XP

• Accomplishing your Mentor's agenda: +5 XP

• Accomplishing your personal agenda: +2 XP

• Birthday: +5 XP (see Age and Retirement).

XPs are spent on the following advantages:

• 25 XP: Learn a new technique from a fellow employee or Mentor.

• 15 XP: Learn a new technique from your Mentor.

• 10 XP: Document a Variant. This Variant will retain constancy/identity/memory on subsequent dive.

• 5 XP: Once per dive, you may spend 5 XP to temporarily acquire any technique for the duration of the dive.

• 5 XP * rating: gain +1D Force or Insight.

AGE AND RETIREMENT

A well-known and documented fact of life in the Null-Time Zone is that its occupants do not age. This is ideal for the TVA, as it means their staffing needs are met for all of eternity. Of course, this doesn't account for burnout and retirement, any TVA employee can request retirement at any time. They may either be granted Yellow-level Security clearance and allowed to stay within the Null-Time Zone, or they may be returned to their dimension of origin at the point of their initial removal.

Another well-known but undocumented fact is that every time a TVA employee "dives" into the multiverse the process rapidly ages them. At the end of each mission, divide 250 by the total CP earned by the team; that's the number of months spent the employee has genetically aged upon returning from an assignment. Every 12 months that elapse increases each employee's age by +1 year and +1 XP. Mandatory retirement takes place upon the employee's 60th genetic birthday.