recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Arthur's Missing Pal (Disney print)

If Arthur Worldwide had ever been part of the Walt Disney Company, **Arthur's Missing Pal** would've looked like this:

## VHS Opening

1. Walt Disney Home Entertainment Logo (2001)
2. Walt Disney Pictures Logo (Arthur's Missing Pal Variant)

## VHS Closing

1. End Credits
2. Walt Disney Pictures Logo (Red Background)

## DVD Menus

### Disc 1: Main Menu

* Play
* Scene Selection
* Commentaries
* Sneak Peeks
* Set Up

Rest TBA...

### Disc 1: Set Up

* Captions
* Audio Options
* THX Optimizer

### Disc 1: Captions

* English for the Hearing Impaired
* None

### Disc 1: Audio Options

* English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
* Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)

### Disc 1: Sneak Peeks

* Meet the Robinsons
* Peter Pan: Platinum Edition
* Barnyard
* High School Musical
* Cars
* Air Buddies
* Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt
* Higglytown Heroes: To the Rescue

## Title Index

### Disc 1

1. Arthur's Missing Pal
2. Redirect to menu
3. Navy Blue Warnings
4. 2001 Walt Disney Home Entertainment Logo
5. THX Logo
6. 2001 Disney DVD Logo
7. Sneak Peeks (before the main menu)
8. Meet the Robinsons Trailer
9. Peter Pan: Platinum Edition Preview
10. Barnyard Preview
11. High School Musical Preview
12. Cars Preview
13. Air Buddies Preview
14. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt Preview
15. Higglytown Heroes: To the Rescue Preview
16. THX Optimizer
17. THX Optimizer: Audio Tests
18. THX Optimizer: Video Tests
19. THX Optimizer: Hidden Color Test
20. THX Optimizer: (unreachable)
21. THX Optimizer: 16:9 Aspect Ratio Set-Up
22. THX Optimizer: Final Test

### Disc 2

1. Main Menu (21 chapters)
2. Redirect to main menu (3 chapters)

Rest TBA...

## Trivia

* In the DVD version, this movie is available in both full screen and widescreen.
* In the THX optimizer, the scene with Arthur's scream echoing outside the house is used.
* On Disc 1, the DVD menu from the Lionsgate print is replaced by a completely different DVD menu. There's also a Sneak Peeks menu added to it, and the Special Features menu is replaced by a Commentaries menu.
* Instead of being a 1-disc set like the Paramount version was, it's not a 2-disc set with Disc 1 containing the movie and the commentaries and Disc 2 containing the bonus features.
* The captions are done by Captions, Inc. Los Angeles.
* Most voice actors are changed (Some of them are kept), but the audio and video are the same.
CC Skills Survival

Overcoming the natural foes of harsh or inhospitable environment. These skills are taught in a variety of venues, from private, outdoor-related organizations to corporate trainers to military survival schools.

### **General Survival**:

* There are certain commonalities that address the human biological requirements: air, shelter, water and food. This takes most survival skills up to rating-15 and is enough to keep most folk alive in inhospitable environments long enough to be rescued.
* After 15 points, particular specializations must be declared. New specializations may taken later, and start at rating-15.

Extreme environments need specialized knowledge particular to those hazards. DoD ratings may vary widely depending on conditions, but a survival skill rating of 25 is generally enough to survive long enough for rescue if that was planned for.

Between 30-50 skill points is adapting to integrate into the environment.

A skill level of 50+ in any particular condition had generally adapted enough to thrive in otherwise harsh conditions.

### **Tropical terrain**:

* Hot and wet environments, with flora and fauna considerations.

### **Desert terrain**:

* Hot and dry environments, with flora and fauna considerations.

### **Arctic terrain**:

* Cold environments, with flora and fauna considerations.

### **Open water survival**:

* Treading water or improvised floatation, with flora and fauna considerations.

### **Mountain/forest survival**:

* Temperate environments, with flora and fauna considerations.

Genre Twist: Science Fiction may have additional classes required on foreign planets, including atmospheric variables and specialized flora and fauna not native to the visitors planet.

* Planet type
* Exotic/Deadly: tainted, inhospitable
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Toni Family

**Toni Family (トニ一家, Toni ikka)** were a family of former slaves who were bought costing the price is 500 gold (for the family of 4)  by Mukoda Tsuyoshi to work in his business.

## History

Toni family is a family of four where he and his family sold themselves into slavery for incurring debts to pay for recovery magic and potions due to his sickly wife's bills. When Mukoda bought them, he used a lesser elixir to cure Aliya. Costy works as the product manager since he has some knowledge after attending a free school.

## Family Members

* **Toni (トニ)** - Father, 33 years old and good at gardening
* **Aliya (アリヤ, Ariya)** - Mother suffering from some sort of lung disease, 30 years old and used to work at a cafeteria
* **Costy (コスティ, Kosuti)** - Son, 13 years old and trained by Toni to a certain extent.
* **Celia (セリヤ, Seriya)** - Daughter, 9 years old and is quite capable as well since she’s the one who took care of the family when Aiya was sick
CD Drama

There have been two CD dramas released with special editions of the light novels of Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi.

## CD Drama 1

Enclosed with Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi Vol.5 Limited Edition. Released Apr 25, 2018.

### Cast

* Mukoda: Yoshimasa Hosoya
* Fel: Tomokazu Sugita
* Sui: Misaki Kuno
* Ninlil: Ayane Sakura
* Thomas: Tomisaburou Horikoshi
* Kai: Shouta Ebina
* Amalia: Sanae Nakata

### Staff

* Original Work, Script: Ren Eguchi
* Original Illustration: Masa
* Sound Direction: Kisuke Koizumi
* Sound Effects: Naoto Yamaya
* Engineer: Yoshio Obara
* Assistant Engineer: Reina Nun-ira
* Sound Production Manager: 岡田拓郎
* Sound Production: dugout

### Tracklist

Total runtime: 56 minutes and 3 seconds

1. Episode 1 (Track 01~06)
	* Prologue 8:53
	* Beastman Village 8:56
	* Mukoda's Cooking 7:44
	* Rice with everyone 3:53
	* Fel's house making 8:08
	* Epilogue 2:21
2. Episode 2 (Track 07)
	* Sui's secret adventure 7:03
3. Episode 3 (Track 08, 09)
	* Ninlil's Japanese sweets tasting party 8:47
	* End credits

## CD Drama 2

Enclosed with Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi Vol.8 Limited Edition. Released January 25, 2020.

### Cast

* Mukoda: Yoshimasa Hosoya
* Fel: Tomokazu Sugita
* Sui: Misaki Kuno
* Ninlil: Ayane Sakura

### Staff

* Original Work, Script: Ren Eguchi
* Original Illustration: Masa
* Sound Direction: Kisuke Koizumi
* Sound Effects: Naoto Yamaya
* Engineer: Yoshio Obara
* Assistant Engineer: Reina Nun-ira
* Sound Production Manager: 岡田拓郎
* Sound Production: dugout

### Tracklist

1. Main story
	* Mukoda and his familiars, who bought their own home to rest, but their troubles seem to be constant ...?
2. "Snacks at 3 o'clock"
	* On the way, what will Mukoda make for Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan, who demand "snacks" ...?
3. "Ninlil's cake tasting party"
	* In front of a large amount of cakes offered by Mukoda, Ninlil, the "Deplorable Goddess", was very excited!
SM NE Infiltration

## **INFILTRATION**

We're talking Breaking & Entering here, and boy is it fun. At the very least, the agent is breaking trespassing laws while sneakin' and peekin'. If the agent is worth his salt, that'll be the least of his transgressions.

Before walking up to the place, it is a damn-near operational prerequisite that a little surveillance be done. Obviously, the more, the better. At the very least, take fifteen minutes to view the area and walk completely around it to get an idea of the layout. The larger the target is, the more important this step is. It may be less than critical for a single family home, but for some industrial complex, it may be the difference between life and death.

Also in preperatory stages is searching for alarm systems. Alarm neutralization comes in handy on knowing where to look, and once near a detection device or control junction, knowing how to shut it off. This would start with looking at the windows for vibration sensors, the latches for contact circuts, where the closed-circut (or infrared or motion detecting) cameras might be stashed. Knowing where trip-beams might be set out, poorly concealed pressure pads, etc.

For the obvious out-in-the-open devices, all the Op needs is a pair of binoculars and a little time.  For the more exotic detection equipment, he has to be armed with another skill:  IMINT (that's Imagery Intelligence).  He has to know what he's looking for first (alarm neutering), then he uses his IMINT skill to probe an area with his own devices to see if they are there.  These devices are not easy to get a hold of (though a few of them, on the other hand, are grossly simple).  For example, this would include goggles to see trip beams (so as to navigate around them), acoustic pattern detectors for motion sensors (to find their field of view and stay away from them), or electromagnetic anomolies indicating underground sensors (like pressure pads, and...walking around them).

Likewise, there are several ways to detect their equipment using passive receptors and relying on their own systems emissions to give themselves away.  This can tell you different things, such as frequencies and bandwidths used, how it is deployed, and sometimes the underlying strategy of their defenses.  To use this passive equipment and analyze the results takes FISINT skill (then subsequently identifying the systems goes back to alarm neutering).

There are other things to do, too, such as checking with local (or otherwise) alarm companies to see if they've done any installations (also requiring either a black-bag job, money, an inside connection, or no uncertain threat).  Then, before setting foot on enemy ground, trying to neutralize as many threats as possible, preferably without the targets knowing that their system has been compromised.  This might include broadcasting interfering signals to keep everything appearing as okay, shutting a system down if there isn't active monitoring of the status displays, or if the system is on-line and externally accessible (about 30% of the time and with medium and small clients only), accessing it directly and playing from the top down.
SM PS Concentration

Not every mod is bad; concentration can help when the character is operating at the bleeding edge of his skill level. This is exclusively a traded bonus applied before the luck rolls, where accepting a time and awareness penalty gain DoD point help. In some cases, like projectile combat, the system accounts for concentration by penalizing in time but improving the odds. Most situations will be similar, and it is up to the Ref's judgment what bonuses are granted.

How does it work? Like everything in the universe, it's relative. Depending on the length of time the task would take, by increasing it by 50%, 100% (doubling it), or 200% (tripling the job duration), the DoD is lowered by 10%, 20% or 30% respectively. Anything more is subject to the Law of Diminishing Returns, though if you can hire Johnny Cochran, maybe you can convince the Referee that a greater reduction in DoD is warranted. Concentration will negate a whole lotta bad luck.

This is one of the best tools for reducing the difficulty of Mission: Impossible DoDs, but it has its price. While the character takes extra time to check and recheck the steps of the job and the resources going into it, he has tuned out the distractions. If he can do this safely, without hazard or interruption, it's like free money. If he attempts it while, say, infiltrating a foreign military installation, there is a chance that a patrol or security check is going to discover the intruder. If the character has back-up looking out for him, or is ready to sacrifice himself (the hero is disarming delicate anti-tamper devices in bomb in the middle of firefight), it can be worth it. As you might have guessed, this is the requisite skill for a sniper to make that 1,000 yard shot.
CS: Mid-future Scenarios

### **Mid-future (80-250 years)**

The range is fairly wide and assumes that the technology revolution will slow to the point of plateauing to a much slower evolution. It strikes a certain balance between dystopian realities and unstoppable progress.

This is the start of the appearance of "the impossible" – what some modern skeptics believe is impossible. Maybe portions are, but in this case, we're moving with the presumption that it's only impossible based on what we know now, not what's actually true. We incorporate those developments, then work backward from there: if it exists, how does it exist and what collateral effects are there?

* Genetic research has largely revolutionized medicine, to the point of selective enhancement and elective customization. The early part of this phase will be vastly different from the later as attitudes adjust. Expect the later part of the era to have entirely synthetic races that have split off from homo sapiens.
* Some climate crises have passed, others still affect the planet even as most of the world now runs off fusion-based power. Architecture is on the way to both extremes, both in giant arcologies and low-density eco-communities.
* AI is pervasive, capable, ergonomically complex and sometimes organically integrated. Cyborgs are not uncommon, both on the nature-gets-chipped end and the synthetic being side. Economically, the world is stabilizing to it in the beginning of the phase and quite comfortable with it by the end of by the end.
* Closely related, but separate, is computer integration into life. A good portion of the world has access to educational programming – and we mean programming. School is revolutionized and a great deal more effective, though the realities of competing with AI are still a life challenge. In addition to the education, the ability to interface with the brain largely changes popular entertainment (as well as office time), making different levels of immersive experience.
* EMG is very mature technology, but gravitic propulsion will be the heir apparent – and will make significant headway in space. Even as gravitic generations threaten, EMG finds surprising ways to stay relevant, even in space.
* The global political landscape has condensed and will predominantly plateau with slow, continued merging over the course of the era.
* Space travel will continue strong growth to the point of manned colonies in solar-orbit, heavy industry taking hold on the lower gravity of Mars with terraforming becoming the controversy of the era. By mid-era, an effort to make a breathable atmosphere will begin. The surface of the moon will actually show human influence to observers back on earth. By the end of the era, there is water-mining from the Oort cloud, settlement on the backside of Mercury and serious plans for terraforming Venus into Earth 2.
* Probes that achieve 10% of light speed will be launched to the Centauri cluster.
CG: Magical Phenomena

[Cosmologia Generalis PLACEHOLDER]

The world of arcane energies, commonly known as "magic," has an entire character-level set of system mechanics defined by Speculation (ARCSYS). Magic is not inherently connected to the human soul, but given the connection between human neurological wavelengths and the manifestation and control of magic, they can and will influence each other.
SM Science Fiction

## **System Mechanics** for *Campaigns of the Future*

The defining ingredient of science fiction is the *science* – and by that, we mean the science that leads to the engineering that enables the industry that generates the commerce that lubricates the economy that inspires the social factors that opens the diplomacy that sparks the wars. In other words, it's often less about the gadgets and more about the impact they have on human society.

The Science Fiction Campaign Scenarios present speculative, near, mid and far-future social and technological frameworks with our version of the state of the world(s). The System Mechanics deal with technologies or task circumstances that may accompany those specific campaign parameters and settings.

### **Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Robotics**

* The range of AI and robotics from what already exists to far-future development, when to implement each level of development, what kind of scenarios it would likely have and how it would affect the campaign world.

### **Future Propulsion Methods**

* From electrostatic thrust to more exotic forms of EMG propulsion to the Science Fiction Holy Grail of Gravitics, it would be here from lifters to warp nacelles.

### **Destination Notes**

* From a tenuous Mars colony to a fully-terraformed planet 50 light years away, *Speculation* provides guidance on technology and rule sets in these environments.

### **Genetic Research and Development**

* On corrective or performance enhancing gene therapy, including both individual and germ-line rule suggestions.

### **Space Travel**

* From near-future hard science to Clarke's far-future technology indistinguishable from magic, points like communication, travel and effects of time dilation are handled here. This includes technology-based teleportation systems.
SM PS Assistance

## To Get By With a Little Help From Your Friends

A task is something that needs to be accomplished, usually physically, and most often by one person. Some tasks, however, fall into the "impossible" range. In that, case bring friends.

**TEAMWORK:**

Two heads are better than one, right? Eh, sometimes. If it's a task that a whole group knows nothing about, but can contribute and cooperate, the whole is usually greater than the sum of the parts.

The teamwork mod gives a bonus based on a "Degraded Average." Committees never produce a linear cumulative effect – if it was, every bureaucracy would make genius policy. Pick your least favorite government department and look there for proof of principle.

Application: Average all the intelligence scores and divide by one more than the group (4 people? Divide by 5). The Teamwork mod provides 10% of that degraded average.
CC Skills Mathematics

Mathematics is the numeric system of counting, calculation and measurement, and includes the study of such topics as quantity (Arithmetic), structure (Algebra), space (Geometry), and change (Calculus). Math is typically an adjunct skill – *Applied mathematics* – to something else, be it accounting or some branch of science.

Within applied mathematics, there are a myriad of specialties, often tied to a science. Other examples to choose from may include:

* Statistics
* Computational mathematics

Pure mathematics are rarely practiced in comparison, but this is where theory meets existential philosophy. Also, what started as pure mathematics sometimes gives rise to applied mathematics as new science uncovers questions that only "pure" mathematics (at that point) can address. The cutting edge of physics often intertwines with the halo of pure mathematics.

Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and that level of *physics* genius has to lean on mathematics to adequately express their theories on physical law. That level of math starts in the 60s and goes upward quickly.

At its base, pure mathematics include arithmetic, algebra, geometry and calculus.

Characters that are deep in mathematics skills are likely at the level of mission or payload specialists (to lean on NASA culture). Requiring mathematics skill in a character is entirely dependent on the nature of the campaign and refs can reference wikipedia's list of areas of mathematics to find what might be appropriate for their specialist.

Also for reference, some math is required of the Ref and Players, though it's minimal short of finding Dynamic Degrees of Difficulty for ranged combat.
CC Skills Philosophy

The study of reality, being, in general and fundamental contexts. Philosophy, the ultimate of big-thinking, is essentially the grandfather of most other science, which evolved from the general to the very specific as metrics evolved.

In modern terms, and contemporary campaigns, it's often an adjunct skill to another field, whether that's politics, ethics (as an adjunct to a law or an internal affairs department), cosmology (and what existed before the Big Bang), the nature of medicine (and the role and ethics of double-blind studies in clinical trials), and so on.

## Skill rating levels and task translations:

* **Skill 10:** The recognition of two or three significant philosophers, the naming of an applicable contemporary tradition, and some general knowledge of how a particular issue may have been approached during a particular period. Somebody was awake in 101 and 201.
* **Skill 20:** The recognition of a few key (possibly favorite) philosophers in each branch and the ability to make a cogent defense on either side of any given argument.
* **Skill 30:** A professional philosopher, often hired as consultant to a corporate board of directors or as an adjunct skill as a *Doctor of SomethingElseEntirely*.
* **Skill 50:** Tenured professor, recognized in academic journals. Occasionally rises to give opinions on pop culture or politics guaranteed to combust some portion of the political spectrum.

## Sub-skill branches and subjects

For this simulation, we recognize five branches and four subject-focused categories into which a character *may* specialize their sub-skills.

* Aesthetics: The psychology, universality, and subjective nature of beauty.
* Epistemology: the nature of knowledge.
* Ethics: defines the balances of right conduct.
* Logic: concerns the laws of valid reasoning.
* Metaphysics: the nature and significance of the universe.
* Legal philosophy: questions of jurisprudence that venture into the politically unpalatable subjects of the validity of law and the relationship between law and morality.
* Political philosophy: asking inconvenient questions on the nature and definitions of liberty, justice, property, rights (who should have them) and enforcement.
* Social philosophy: Essentially social science where ethics rather empiricism becomes the criteria.
* Theology: At its crux, the crossroads of metaphysics and epistemology, this evolves into the study of religious ideologies, comparative religion and philosophic study of higher intelligence in our universe.
CS: Fantasy

## **Magic & Monsters**

You know what we're talking about. We give homage to that system. It's the grand-daddy of role-playing games and it has earned its status as the legend that started it all. With that trademark 20-sided die, and four other types to boot, it borrowed content from all over creation to pour a foundation that gives people the chance to walk the path of heroes... or die trying in a spectacular blaze of dragon fire.

Heck, we even created a campaign that starts with the 5e rules – but since it's us, gives a few high-magic tweaks. Then it takes the beloved Forgotten Realms setting, breaks the low-magic shackles and unleashes the players on a primal quest to *Change the Worlds*.

In the great big picture, fantasy is simply anything beyond reality. The rules easily lend themselves to play historical periods, or play alternate historical scenarios...

* What if the Aztecs had discovered iron working and conquered everything north through Canada? What if the competing kings of the Mayans had conquered all of South America? With a stalemate in the middle, their proxy vassals battle through the Caribbean. Suddenly, in a daring reach to the east, the Aztecs land on the shores of 14th century Portugal – while the Mayans match them to work their way across the Maghreb...

For the magically inclined, which we are, we created a foundation of magical theory which the Arcane System Mechanics build on. Refs are encouraged to browse that brief primer, as well as the Cosmologia Generalis, *Speculation's* default metaphysics, to see how it all comes together.

Once they have the concept of operations, the ideas on how to implement exactly how much magic manifests in a given campaign should come naturally. The options are endless. Here are scenarios presented in some of those degrees of magic:

* A low-magic world may have a touch of the arcane... but it's a rare commodity. Think of medieval Arthurian legend, where it's the tide-turner, but Merlin is still second-string behind the Knights of the Round Table.
* Medium-magic worlds will find the occasional bit of magic, but it's still a valued commodity. There are enchanted swords... but few have them – and they make a visible difference when they're used. The "Lord of the Rings" might qualify as a medium-magic world.
* A high-magic world has enchantments at every turn. Magic is easily accessible and it's rather unusual (if not dangerous) to be magic-free. Think if the legend of Atlantis had been real.

## ***The WAFT Campaign***

Set in 1389, a few things have changed from your history books...

That prophesy is a decade old and more dire than ever. Step into a world where the magic of Merlin has spread to every shore. Men-at-arms carry enchanted swords, while those who have answered the divine call can perform miracles of healing – but it hasn't been enough to turn back the tide of demons and monsters.

Embark on *Speculation's* fantasy campaign in ***Where Angels Fear to Tread***...
CC Skills Labor and Technical Specialties

The Speculation System does not recognize manual labor as a valid stand-alone skill. Rather, the range of individuals that fill roles from laborers to technicians conduct their work in a field as a subset of a larger skill category.

Laborers may have a range of experience and a spectrum of operational skills that "high-level" educated professionals may not, including basic tool operation and health and safety considerations.

Examples:

* Farm labor falls under Agriculture.
* Construction labor falls under Engineering.
* Domestic labor falls under Healthcare.
CG: Small-g gods

[Cosmologia Generalis PLACEHOLDER]

There could be a whole pantheon of gods, and Speculation assumes they could exist, but not necessarily with their mythology intact, especially not their origin mythos. These beings would likely be of exceptional magical or psionic power, probably with access to technology beyond contemporary limits, and possibly with specialized or focused abilities that early mortals would interpret as a "sphere of influence." In the words of one History Channel commentator: *Aliens*.
SM PS Time Limits

Above and beyond bad luck (or perhaps behind and below), this is a definite psychological factor that commonly induces physiological results – commonly known as “the fumbles”.

Add between 3-5 points, depending on the complexity. If your life depends on it, like impromptu bomb disposal, it may increase 10-15 points. If the timer is already under 10 seconds, 20-30 points.
Meet the Team

## **Welcome to *Speculation***

*Speculation* started development in 1982 as an attempt to bring a percentile-based simulation to fruition. In the decades since, it has been through cycles of casual tinkering and academic research to apply evidence-based probabilities to a system of task resolution.

Which is a somewhat fancy way of saying "I wanted a realistic game that worked off a base-10 system."

Since then, Speculation has been a labor of love – and sometimes a laboratory for other projects. While writing, I'd wonder: would [*this scenario*] actually work? I set up the situation actors and played it through. Representing the characters in a virtual environment helped the inner author literally and figuratively see new angles.

When I started instructing CERT classes for the City of Burbank (2005-2010), I realized this could be an incredible tool for teaching volunteers light Urban Search and Rescue, site selection for triage and casualty collection points and so on.

This has led to the growth of *Speculation*. It has since become a role-playing system suitable for gamers of any genre, a visualization system for writers and a tool for training and exercise (T&E).

Speculation is now opening up to beta testing and as the play-test group grows, we'll list contributors here on the team page. We hope you enjoy the system – and wherever it may take you.

Erik Day, Author.
AR: (APA) Deactivation

## Radioactivity: Magical Decontamination

The variety of **Alchemical** routines and processes are as varied as chemistry itself. Combining magic and chemistry goes far beyond the trademark, high-energy reactions of "fission" and "fusion," though there's a feature point that leans on the atomic-level science in a completely different way.

In most campaign settings, Deactivation will be a more recent growth of alchemy, invented after the mundane discovery of radioactivity. In this case, Deactivation utilizes the ability of magic to stabilize an "activated" substance. Activation is more commonly known as "radioactive" – and deactivation allows normalization of low-efficiency alchemical transformation to be rendered safe.

Deactivation is *extremely* powerful, with the ability to stabilize newly created elements. At that strength, arcane stabilization can deactivate mundane radioactive materials *en mass*. After a nuclear exchange, deactivation, along with arcane filtration, would be the key tools that allow an otherwise hopelessly radioactive and isotope-contaminated zone to be habitable again.

Skill levels
SM Fantasy

## **Opening Curtain for the Theater of the Mind**

The formative game of the role-playing world was Dungeons and Dragons. First published in 1974, by a company called *Tactical Studies Rules*, it was an attempt to put a task resolution system to the tool of abstract visualization. We take our hats off to Gary Gygax for starting an era that gripped the imagination, inspiring us to run through college tunnels and slay imaginary trolls. And we're not even kidding.

This gave us a rule book for casting fireballs, but the real magic was that it took us into the story, opening people to spinning narrative in ways only writers had done before. It opened the door to becoming writers ourselves through the games we played. As our heroes faced impossible odds, it also helped us wonder: *what are the odds we could actually survive?*

D&D's own history came from history: recreating medieval battles for table-top wargames. From drawing lines in the dirt of a battlefield, military leaders were the first to game through a scenario. As amateur strategists picked up the torch, somebody got the idea to lean on Tolkien, replacing cannons with wizards – *and the rest is history*.

### **Speculative Fantasy**

Speculation was originally conceived for modern, high-speed adventures, but the system is naturally suited to historical or fantasy settings. The campaign or scenario can use the default rules for task and conflict resolution, they just use historical gear to do it.

Here, a group can stretch their alt-history legs and play through being a Musketeer of the Guard in 1625 France... or a 15th century ninja or jaguar warrior, an 8th century assassin, or a Roman centurion in the service of Julius Caesar. *Speculation* can recreate history or explore histories that never were.

Adding the fantasy element brings in a new set of variables: *magic*. The sandbox for incorporating magic is fantastically flexible and incomprehensibly huge. It's also so open to interpretation that we had serious homework to create parameters that were internally consistent, much less harmonious with natural laws (at least the ones we observe in everyday life).

More than sifting through what has already been done, we had to decode the potential *physics of magic*. We did a little of the lab work for our system in another framework, the venerable d20/5e methods, and found it was fun but overpowered for those low-magic systems. This became another challenge as we incorporated the potential power of magic versus the state of magic we see in the world today: *as far as we can tell, we don't see any magic*.

***How do we reverse engineer that disparity?***

The Arcane System answers that question and gives a flexible rule set for creating low, medium and high-magic worlds including metaphysics, economy, character item production and so on.

### **The Arcane System**

* **ARCSYS** is the science and system of harnessing arcane phenomena.

### **The Bestiary**

* We can't tell you where to find fantastic creatures, but we will gave some examples of how the greats from mythology would be represented in the *Speculation* system.
CAMPAIGN SETTINGS

## **World Building**

Where in the world is your adventure going to take place? What *kind* of world? Set your friends down, put on your announcer voice, and start with:

> *"In a world..."*
>
>

How do you complete the sentence? That's the basis of the campaign setting... creating or adapting a location (or set of locations) where scenarios can take place. The bigger the scenario, the deeper and more involved the campaign setting needs to be.

Running a simple gunfight between undercover cops and bad guys could well take place in a pocket universe no larger than a drug lord's living room. Actually running a scenario to get characters to that living room is going to require a map of the house, and probably a rough map of a city. If you're into realistic character construction (and Federal agents vs. international bad guys), you'll want to pick a real city and adapt it for use.

Playing through a mission set, and creating a cooperative story arc between challenges and reactions, could take an entire world. Really, it depends on that sweet spot between friends' desires and the Ref's time to create. That's why we're giving a few campaign ideas and settings based on different genres.

For an overview on world-building within *Speculation*, check the Scenario Ideas page.

For a sampling on adventure hooks and character motivation, the Rewards Ideas page.

**MODERN DAY**

* Gritty reality, ripped from the headlines...

**SCIENCE FICTION**

* What the future looks like...

**FANTASY**

* An alternate-history magical earth...

**PARANORMAL-SUPERNATURAL**

* This is the world when the mystical weaves through the modern...
CS: Speculative Fiction

### **Putting the *Speculative* into the Fiction**

It's possible to be in a completely contemporary, modern-day setting but still emphasize the science of the scenario. This type of campaign will usually involve a character or NPC that's on the team as the mission specialist. This might involve a special mission unit transporting a technical specialist (and gear) to take readings in a particular time or place.

Many *technical games* also fall into this category, often under the sub-genre of *technothriller*. This describes the average Tom Clancy novel, as well as most of the Michael Crichton stories. For Crichton, the liberty is taken only in how advanced a science is in comparison to its real-life counterpart – and that's part of the artifice: *dinosaurs in a* modern-day *world*.

By far the biggest the *Speculative* flavor could actually exist under any era: first contact themes. This is more of a diplomatic, social or military concept but the technology usually plays a role in facilitating the contact and communication.

The related variations on themes of UFOlogy and extraterrestrial intelligence, which could fall under the Alt-Fantasy category with other paranormal subjects, are grouped together under *Science Fiction*. This is the home for characters in storylines similar to Steven Spielberg's *Close Encounters* or the alien-focused plot threads of the *X-Files*... or Michael Crichton's *Sphere*.

### **Turning Back the Calendar**

A scenario or full campaign could also *slightly* historical. The key differentiation is prevailing technological level. Firearms, mechanical transportation and electric motors are three good criteria. Early 19th century would likey fall into Alt-fantasy or Fantasy level scenarios because the development level and connected social attitudes are so far removed.

Late 19th century, however, and automobiles are being invented, ammunition is largely standardized, and electric is on the cusp of changing the way the world works.

A Roswell (1947) scenario would fall under speculative fiction, as would a similar Devil's Tower (1977) scenario.

### **Reaching into the Future**

The Speculative category extends from "now" to roughly 15 years in future. This isn't a hard/fast rule, but rather represents average technical, psychological, social and experiential similarity.
AR: (AN) Deep-tap synthesis

## Deep-tap Synthesis: Making something from nothing

Deep-tap Synthesis is a complex, medium-powered arcane routine that uses magical energy to harvest mundane, Planck-scale material to produce mundane material on a large scale. Similar to cross-tap synthesis, the end result is the same but it's a lower-energy (therefore safer) routine, though it's more complicated. The practitioner must have *deep* physics knowledge to complement this routine, either in a cast or more likely, in the production of specialized equipment that would recreate this routine.

Unlike cross-tap synthesis, the arcane energy is only powering a process that combs and condenses profoundly-subatomic energy. Or put another way, it uses magic to bunch up the literal fabric of the universe and turn it into larger building blocks. Most examples of its use for creating normal matter from space itself, which then allows the construction of objects or structures that would be otherwise logistically prohibitive (such as creating a planet from literally nothing).

Once created, the matter begins the normal processes (like atomic decay).

Lower skills can create lighter elements in smaller amounts. Higher skills, or more commonly: more sophisticated gear, can create heavier elements in higher volumes.

Deep-tap synthesis could theoretically be discovered by arcane cultures with medium-low maturity by focusing on the replication of known materials. It would take a notable leap, though, to reach this place when normal conjuration of temporary matter is so comparatively easy.

Skill levels
AR: (AN) Cross-tap synthesis

## Cross-tap Synthesis: Making something from less-than-nothing

Cross-tap Synthesis is another high-powered arcane routine that generates magical energy and permanently converts it into mundane (Fun-4) energy. If the practitioner has the physics knowledge, it could be any Fun-4 form, but the most common form is an analog transformation that creates normal, stable baryonic matter based on target samples.

Unlike Conjuration, this creates normal matter from magic, literally less-than-nothing. Science would be able to detect only that the isotopes of a tested sample would be "fresh" – as in no apparent decay in the half-life. Unless the mundane science has the capacity and the thought to test, there will be no knowledge of the source of this matter.

Once created, the matter begins the normal processes (like atomic decay).

Lower skills can create lighter elements in smaller amounts. Higher skills, or more commonly: more sophisticated gear, can create heavier elements in higher volumes. Skills or high-rated generators could theoretically produce enough iron and similar elements that a planet could be created entirely from scratch.

Skill levels
AR: Arcane Projectile

## Arcane Projectile: arcane delivery of kinetic energy to a target

The Arcane Projectile routine is the most basic form of purely-weaponized magic. It is essentially a form of Arcanokinesis, and requires at least 10 skill rating in Arcanokinesis before the routine can be learned.

In Arcanokinesis, the force is spread over an area that averages 36 square inches. In Arcane Projectile, that force is concentrated down to an area approximately 1 inch square. Increases in the skill represent two factors:

* Increasing the force projected.

* Decreasing the focus area.

This routine may be refined or enhanced by Objective Extrapolation of a mundane method of kinetic energy delivery: i.e.; OE with a bullet.
AR: (EN) Create point source

## Arcane Energy: powering the world

Every magical device, whether a wand, a rod, a magical engine, a portal between planets – they all need power. In the Speculation system, no matter the specific setting or campaign, those devices will be powered by a ***point source***.

Whether the point source is self-contained or harvests ambient energy, the critical function is creating the conduit that supplies energy to whatever the device happens to be: whether it's as small as a ring or as big as a floating city.

### Types of Point Sources

No matter the campaign setting, the majority of point sources in Speculation games will be arcane crystals. These come in a variety of configurations, capabilities and capacities. This is roughly analogous to batteries, capacitors or fuel, with the commonality that they are "stored charge" sources.

The other category are channeling point sources, which harvest ambient energy. These are usually a little more exotic, and are roughly equivalent to arcane windmills, watermills, geothermal, tides and so forth. This is a device or a network that draw the natural "magic" in from the universe and concentrate into a usable point source.

Some offer the equivalent of microvolt trickle charge, while others can produce so much power that they can propel a space craft to break the speed of light the old fashioned way: *raw, asymptote-shattering acceleration*.

Each campaign setting will have its own texture and terminology, with some areas maximizing these rules, while others may only partial dip into this catalog, depending on the maturity of that world's arcane research and development.

### Creating the Point Sources

Enchantment is one of the few areas where someone without personal attenuation or no Arcane Practice (AP) skill can "make magic." This is where Arcanology is applied: the mechanical actuation of the wavelengths that allow attenuation in a fun-4 environment.

The arcanology skill by itself only takes a practitioner so far. In order to create stored or channeling point source, they'll need a level of fun-4 science and engineering, usually some sampling of chemistry, crystallography, metallurgy and so on.
SM PS Confusion

Some situation strike directly against the characters reasoning and awareness. It may include environmental factors, such as flashing or low-light situations (5-15 points), particularly harsh sounds (1-10 points), or distracting smells (1-5 points unless they're in a bad-smell laboratory or downwind of CS gas).

A character that is attempting a task while under the influence of psychoactive drugs are also subject to this factor, and the degree of severity varies with dosage. This may range from 1 point for a drink taken by a large person, to three points for a drink taken by someone rather slight. Think about operating after escaping torture and questioning, and the sodium pentathol is still in the bloodstream (10-25 points).

A character may have to deal with a substance abuse problem, or he may have substances abused for him (think MKULTRA or RHIC-EDOM for 15-50 points depending on severity). If you don't know what those are, look them up. I won't scare you any more…
CC Skills Administration

Often known as management, this is the organization and management of group structures, usually in theory of bureaucracy. The principle is economy and efficiency, with a lesser focus on responsiveness and equality. In the best case, personnel advancement is strictly a meritocracy, however there are additional concerns including personal attitudes, incentives, personality, personal relationships, and collective bargaining (as influenced by labor unions and special interests).

This is the essential skill used by Executive Officers (XOs) and civilian managers to keep the wheels running. Low skill levels (under 20) are indicative of official inertia, and professionals in that range are typically challenged by day-to-day activities and maintenance of accountability. Upper levels have a fine sense of the chain of command, balance of line and support requirements, and a greater ability to see the big picture.

Skills of 40+ can usually "pull strings" in their organization.

Skills of 60+ are usually reserved for the Lee Iacoccas of the world.
AR: (APA) Alchemical Fission

## Alchemy: Reductive Production

**Alchemy** is a progenitor of modern chemistry – and mundane chemistry was eventually able to perform alchemy, creating elements like Plutonium from scratch. Arcane alchemy returns to its roots, but with no loss of mundane explosive capacity. The production of one element to another is called "fission" and "fusion" not simply as physics descriptions, but as a nod that magic is performing those functions at a quantum level.

Reductive Production is alchemical fission, splitting a single element into two others. The most famous of these processes is the one long sought by alchemists since recognizing the metallic similarities between lead and gold. Alchemical fission is far more than a search for riches, however; it the magical ability to find elements that are plentiful and provide a source for elements that are scarce.

### The Volatility of Alchemy

In both fission and fusion alchemy, there are increasingly sophisticated methods for creating the transformation desired. The simplest modes use the biggest brute-force magic and has the highest chance for catastrophic accidents.

Increasing the knowledge of mundane chemistry and nuclear science allows refining the arcane approach, with more efficient and safer forms of elemental conversion.

A great deal of the preparation in these routines is creating a cast that will loop int the containment itself, ensuring the transformation magic never exceeds the containment. If they're doing it right, it will be efficient enough that the transformation would be undetectable to outside observers (for instance, those with neutron detectors). The less efficient containment results in more leakage. The least efficient, usually when attempting to transform an impure target, will result in an uncontained, magically-driven fission reaction (which is likely to result in both a blast and a crater visible from space).

Yes, alchemy can be weaponized.

Skill levels

* 10: Atomic analysis
* 15: Basic containment
* 20: Single-body transformation
* 25: Single-stage transformation, at user-selected step down level
* 35: Lower containment needs
* 45: Increased impurity tolerance
* 55: Non-explosive fault tolerance
* 65: Single-cast, multi-stage step downs
* 75: Zero-containment targeted transformation
AR: Levitation

## Levitation: matter buoyancy in a gravity field

Levitation is a sophisticated spell that allows a magician to adjust and control the relationship between and object and the way gravity affects it.

Unlike a remote kinetic effect like Arcanokinesis, where raising an object remotely would be more akin to downward-projected thrust, using levitation is closer to providing lift – or adjusting the whole-object buoyancy within a given gravity field. Note that levitation does *not* afftect the overall gravity field. There is mild effect of lighter gravity above a levitated object, but that's a mundane side-effect of the alteration of gravity above that point.

The difference in efficiency is in orders of magnitude. It is possible to levitate an object with a much lower arcane energy output in comparison to kinetic methods.

> Weight vs energy

> Duration vs energy