1.1 Marco teórico
1.1.6 Índice de Riesgo de la Calidad del Agua para Consumo Humano – IRCA. 26
ti m "loses the scent." If traveling, the victim becomes
befuddled and takes a wrong turn (or something simi-
l ar). If questioning a suspect, the victim makes one or
more incorrect inferences, resulting in a false conclu-
sion. The GM is encouraged to adjudicate this Piece
i n whatever manner is most entertaining to the players
and best serves to move along the plot.
dBs: 20
Criticals: None.
Suggestion Clef: Treble. Beat: 20 seconds.
Area of Effect: One individual. Duration: 15 minutes.
Effect: This is a higher form of Misdirection. Rather than simply causing the victim to make a wrong move, this Piece transmits specific information to the victim (much like hypnosis). As with hypnosis, a vic- ti m cannot be made to perform an act that is self- destructive or that goes against his or her personal beliefs. (In other words, this Piece cannot be used to force someone to commit suicide, or to kill her family members without due cause.) It can, however, make the victim believe that she is being tracked, that her food has been poisoned, or that she is now a three- toed sloth and must find a tree immediately.
dBs: 30
Criticals: S2/F8. A sharp indicates that the victim receives no roll to resist. A flat means that the victim i s aware of the suggestion attempt, and will either attempt to flee or attack the Musician.
Physical Missile Clef: Bass. Beat: 5 seconds.
Area of Effect: One person or object. Duration: Instantaneous.
Effect: This Piece uses the sotto voce Summon in reverse, and much faster. It is effectively a ballistic attack, sending an object or person zooming away (generally) from the Musician in a direction chosen by her at a high rate of speed. This can be used to fling opponents into walls, cause items to fly off walls
i nto opponents, and such mayhem. dBs: 30
Criticals: None.
Atomic Exploitation Clef: Treble.
Beat: 1 minute.
Area of Effect: 1 x 1 x 1 meter area. Duration: 5 minutes.
Effect: This is a more powerful form of the Piece Weaken. The area affected is twice the size (one cubic meter as opposed to half a cubic meter). The weakness caused by this Piece allows a blow to more easily break the object that has been manipulated (+5 to damage). dBs: 40 Criticals: None. Atomic Provocation Clef: Bass. Beat: 2 minutes.
Area of Effect: 2 x 2 x 2 meter area. Duration: 10 minutes.
Effect: By causing molecules to move more quickly, this Piece can make paper ignite, skin blister (GMs must determine severity of damage; perhaps 1-2 Sta- mina points for a minor irritation), etc. Note that everything in the target area is affected; there are no "called shots" with this Piece.
dBs:
50Criticals: None.
Discord has no 7th Step. Discordians' power is varied enough throughout the rest of the Scale that they see no serious lack here.
Adrenalin Rush Clef: Treble. Beat: 5 seconds. Area of Effect: Personal.
Duration: 10 minutes.
Effect: This Piece allows the Musician to control her body's release of adrenalin. It can either calm her in an excited situation or give her the "rush" required to perform a difficult physical task (like the little old woman who picks up the grand piano to save her cat from being flattened).
dBs: 60
Criticals: None. Control Body Clef: Bass.
Beat: 3 minutes.
Area of Effect: One person. Duration: 1 hour.
Effect: Unlike the Harmonian Piece body control, which grants the Musician greater control over his own body, the Discordian control body gives the Musician greater control over someone else's body. Effects are basically the same, within this framework. dBs: 60
Criticals: None.
Wipe Clef: Treble. Beat: 10 minutes.
Area of Effect: 1 d6 people.
Duration: Permanent, until restored.
Effect: This Piece completely barricades the contents of the targets' minds. Musicians are unable to recall how to perform their Pieces; names and places are forgotten; Intelligence and Willpower scores suffer penalties of -10 until the mind is restored. Note that the mind's information is not removed or erased, it is only "fenced off," rendered inaccessible, until the casting Musician (or another Musician, working at a -25 penalty) performs the restoration.
dBs: 80
Criticals: None.
Complete Control Clef: Bass. Beat: 3 minutes.
Area of Effect: One person. Duration: 5 hours.
Effect: The Musician performing this Piece gains con- trol over the victim's body and mind for the duration of the Piece. The victim may be controlled from a dis- tance, like a marionette, or may be made to accom- pany the Musician; there is no extra cost or savings for either situation. The victim's movements may be more jerky than usual, and his speech might sound slightly slurred; the crafty Musician will cover this up with appropriate ruses ("He's had a little too much to drink;" "That last mindwipe really messed him up."). As with Suggestion, the victim cannot be made to perform self-destructive acts.
dBs: 80
Criticals: None.
Explode Clef: Treble. Beat: 15 seconds.
Area of Effect: One person or object, no more than 400 kilos.
Duration: Instantaneous.
Effect: This is a ballistic version of Weaken. The affected item or person literally explodes (instant kill
result), its molecules having been thrown apart by the Music. Thus, this is also a weaker version of (and pre- cursor to) the Discordian Coda, the Power of Entropy. The GM is free to assess damage caused by the exploding target to the surrounding area in the way she or he sees fit.
dBs: 90
Criticals: S3/-. A sharp allows the Musician to affect up to 800 kilos.
Life Drain Clef: Bass.
Beat: 30 seconds.
Area of Effect: 1 d6 organic beings. Duration: 1 minute.
Effect: This Piece effectively creates a death field, an area within which the life force is removed from all beings. This affects all species available as player char- acters, but not robots or plants. Affected beings slump to the ground, dead. Brain activity ceases; autonomic nervous system functions stop. At the end of the Piece's duration, the beings affected are irrevocably dead. (Note, however, that a robot or robots could be
sent into the area affected to remove the victims, so that appropriate medical treatment can be given.) dBs: 90
Criticals: S3/F9. A sharp allows the Musician to affect 2d6 people, while a flat means that the Musician dies along with the targets.
The Power of Entropy is the exact opposite of the Galactos Barrier. Instead of a sustained and perfect note, it is a conglomeration of notes, a rapid-fire disharmony so intense that it utterly destroys those things it affects, causing the component atoms to fly i nto nothingness.
Clef: Like the Barrier, Entropy cannot be classified as either Treble or Bass. As the perfection of Discord, it l ogically contains both the highest Treble and the low- est Bass. Bassists, Treblists, and purists can use Entropy
if they have the training and the power to do so. Area of Effect: If used properly, the Power of Entropy can affect an entire planet.
Duration: Permanent, though it can be reversed by a Harmonian using the Galactos Barrier at the location of the dispersal. The reversal is effective for up to 100 years.
Effect: The Power of Entropy is a disintegration on a huge scale. When focused, it separates the atoms of the subject to the galactic winds. There is a small
chance that anyone caught within the area of effect can fend off the influence of Entropy-a successful roll of Psyche-80 indicates that the individual has warded off the Power of Entropy. Unfortunately, the person in question is very likely floating in space with
no means of support....
dBs: Like the Galactos Barrier, the Power of Entropy drains 80 Psyche points from the user, as well as 80 dBs. Unlike the effects of that Coda, a Discordian who exceeds her available Psyche points does not calcify; she explodes into her component molecules, with no chance of recovery. The lost Psyche points of someone who can spare the loss can be regained by the usual expenditure of Experience Points.
Criticals: There is no critical success for the Power of
Entropy. However, a critical failure results in the same outcome as a Discordian with too little Psyche attempting the Power: total destruction of the Musi- cian. Critical failure occurs only on a roll of 95-100.
There might come times in characters' lives when they might wish to do something with the Music that i s not delineated in the Pieces described above, in effect, creating their own Music. If they can conceive of something that would not unbalance the game if i ntroduced, and you as GM see no problem with it, allow it.
There is a method for introducing new Musical Pieces, which is much the same as introducing new skills:
• No Musical Piece should be such a bonus to the characters that they are invincible. Always consider what advantages the Music might provide the PCs. • Though the PCs might think they are the first ones
to develop this skill, chances are someone else has thought of it first, and is using it themselves. Have an NPC try out the Piece first, and if you are not completely comfortable with the results, don't allow it.
• No Piece should rival the power of the Galactos Barrier or the Power of Entropy. Since these are
potentially planetwide Pieces, they are among the most powerful things known to sentient species. If the PCs develop a Piece as powerful as these, make sure the cost is as much or more than the previous two.
What follows are rumors among Musicians, spread throughout the Music. The truth of these rumors will
have to be determined by the GM, who might not want to include the true versions of all of them into the campaign.
1. It is rumored that various Renegades have been experimenting with different Scales, realms of power completely foreign to the established Scales. Word of 12-step Scales, 20-step Scales, "ultrasonic," and "subsonic" experiments has been drifting into the Musical Colleges for decades, causing no end of worry among the Masters of the Music. The powers and Pieces produced by this new Scale vary wildly from the accepted norms; some variations are for the better, some for the worse. Of course, none of the reporters of these facts have witnessed them person- ally, and thus the Musical Colleges have no idea of the veracity of the rumors.
2. Galactic "strings" have been discovered by tal- ented Musicians. The strings emanate trom certain stars, black holes, and nebulae, and can provide a nearly-limitless source of dBs for the enterprising Musician. Strings emitted from stars are usable by Harmonians, those from nebulae by Melodians, and those from black holes by Discordians. If a Musician were to discover a way to harness this power, no Piece would be beyond reach.
3. Quasars are being used by some renegades to allow them to perform their Pieces at a faster Beat than usual. The pulsations of these phenomena can be "tuned into" by certain renegades; not only is the Beat of any given piece lessened by multiple factors, it is also rumored that the effects of such "enhanced" pieces are much more devastating than usual.