TEXT:  
  
  2
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
   Credits
  Publisher: Simon Rogers
  Written By: Robin D Laws
  Layout and Art Direction: Jérôme Huguenin
  Front Cover: Jérôme Huguenin
  Artwork: Jérôme Huguenin and Mathieu Gasperin
  Proof Editing: Adrian Bott
  Playtesters: Troy Duffy, Lynne Hardy, Richard Hardy, Chris Huth, Paul 
  Jackson, Alex Johnson, Rob Lim, Justin Mohareb, Jesse Scoble, 
  Anthony Sweeting, Kev Hickman, Mike Grace, Simon Stroud, Aaron 
  Cattle, Matthew Radings, Peter Tracy, Peter Macejka, Graham 
  Walmsley, Dave, Steve Dempey, Wai Kien, Paolo Bongiovanni, Alex 
  Fradera, Zane Goodin, Gordon Wilson, Chuk Goodwin, Robert Mill, 
  Benjamin B
  Special Note: Apologies and thankful acknowledgements go out to the 
  designer’s core playtest group, whose indispensable contributions 
  to GUMSHOE we failed to acknowledge in the credits for The 
  Esoterrorists and Fear Itself. All hail Troy Duffy, Chris Huth, Paul 
  Jackson, Rob Lim, Justin Mohareb, and Jesse Scoble!
  © 2008 Pelgrane Press Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 
  Mutant City Blues is a trademark of Pelgrane Press Ltd.
  
  3
  CONTENTS
  Credits .......................................................... 2
  CONteNts ....................................................... 3
  tHe WOrLd OF tHe eNHANCed...................... 5
  YOUr CHArACter ..........................................11
  Buying ABilities ..............................................................11
  What Good Are Ratings? ...................................................12
  Choosing your MutAnt Powers ..................................13
  QuAde diAgrAM ................................................................14
  And FinAlly… ..................................................................15
  stANdArd ABiLities .....................................17
  Investigative Abilities ........................................................17
  Investigative Abilities ........................................................17
  Anamorphology (Technical) ..............................................17
  Anthropology (Academic) ..................................................18
  Archaeology (Academic)....................................................18
  Architecture (Academic) ...................................................18
  Art History (Academic) ......................................................18
  Ballistics (Technical) .........................................................18
  Bullshit Detector (Interpersonal) .....................................18
  Bureaucracy (Interpersonal).............................................19
  Chemistry (Technical) .......................................................19
  Cop Talk (Interpersonal) ...................................................19
  Cryptography (Technical) ..................................................19
  Data Retrieval (Technical) .................................................19
  Document Analysis (Technical) .........................................19
  Electronic Surveillance (Technical) ..................................19
  Energy Residue Analysis (Technical) ................................20
  Evidence Collection (Technical) ........................................20
  Explosive Devices (Technical) ...........................................20
  Fingerprinting (Technical) .................................................20
  Flattery (Interpersonal).....................................................20
  Flirting (Interpersonal) .....................................................20
  Forensic Accounting (Academic).......................................20
  Forensic Anthropology (Technical) ...................................20
  Forensic Entomology (Technical) ......................................21
  Forensic Psychology (Academic) ......................................21 
  History (Academic) ............................................................21
  Impersonate (Interpersonal).............................................21
  Influence Detection (Interpersonal)..................................21
  Interrogation (Interpersonal) ............................................22
  Intimidation (Interpersonal) ..............................................22
  Languages (Academic) ......................................................22
  Law (Academic) .................................................................22
  Linguistics (Academic) ......................................................22
  Natural History (Academic) ..............................................22
  Negotiation (Interpersonal) ..............................................22
  Occult Studies (Academic) ................................................22
  Photography (Technical) ...................................................22
  Reassurance (Interpersonal) ............................................22
  Research (Academic) ........................................................22
  Streetwise (Interpersonal) ................................................23
  Textual Analysis (Academic) .............................................23
  Trivia (Academic) ...............................................................23
  GENERAL ABILITIES .........................................................24
  Athletics ............................................................................24
  Driving ...............................................................................24
  Filch ...................................................................................25
  Health ................................................................................25
  Infiltration..........................................................................25
  Mechanics .........................................................................25
  Medic .................................................................................25
  Preparedness ....................................................................25
  Scuffling ............................................................................26
  Sense Trouble ...................................................................26
  Shooting ............................................................................26
  Stability ..............................................................................26
  Surveillance ......................................................................26
  MUtANt POWers ...........................................27
  Power Quick Reference.....................................................27
  investigAtive Powers ..........................................30
  Analytic Taste ....................................................................30
  Environmental Awareness ................................................30
  Hearing ..............................................................................31
  Microvision ........................................................................31
  Observe Dreams ...............................................................31
  Olfactory Center ................................................................32
  Plant Communication .......................................................32
  Read Minds ........................................................................33
  Spatial Awareness.............................................................33
  Technopathy ......................................................................33
  Thermal Vision ..................................................................34
  Touch .................................................................................34
  Translation ........................................................................34
  X-Ray Vision.......................................................................35
  GENERAL POWERS ...........................................................38
  Absorption .........................................................................38
  Alter Form .........................................................................39
  Armor ................................................................................39
  Blade Immunity .................................................................39
  Blood Spray .......................................................................39
  Cognition ...........................................................................40
  Command Amphibians & Reptiles ....................................40
  Command Birds ................................................................40
  Command Fish ..................................................................41
  Command Insects .............................................................41
  Command Mammals .........................................................42
  Concussion Beam .............................................................42
  Cure Disease .....................................................................42
  Deplete Oxygen .................................................................44
  Detect Influence ................................................................44
  Disease Immunity .............................................................45
  Disintegration ....................................................................45
  Earth Control .....................................................................46
  Emotion Control ................................................................46
  Empathy ............................................................................47
  Endorphin Control (Others) ...............................................47
  Endorphin Control (Self) ...................................................48
  Entangling Hair .................................................................48
  Enter Dreams ....................................................................48
  Fangs .................................................................................49
  Fire Control .......................................................................49
  Fire Immunity ....................................................................49
  Fire Projection ...................................................................50
  Flight .................................................................................50
  Force Field.........................................................................50
  Gills ...................................................................................51
  
  4
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Gravity Control ..................................................................51
  Healing ..............................................................................51
  Heat Blast ..........................................................................52
  High Energy Dispersal ......................................................52
  Ice Blast.............................................................................52
  Illusion ...............................................................................52
  Impersonate ......................................................................53
  Induce Aggression .............................................................53
  Induce Fear .......................................................................54
  Induce Mental Disorder ....................................................54
  Invisibility ..........................................................................55
  Kinetic Energy Dispersal ..................................................55
  Light Blast .........................................................................55
  Light Control .....................................................................56
  Lightning ...........................................................................56
  Lightning Decisions ...........................................................56
  Limb Extension .................................................................56
  Magnetism .........................................................................56
  Memory Alteration ............................................................57
  Natural Weaponry .............................................................57
  Nondescript .......................................................................57
  Night Vision .......................................................................58
  Pain Immunity ...................................................................58
  Phase .................................................................................58
  Plant Control .....................................................................59
  Possession ........................................................................59 
  Precision Memory .............................................................59
  Psionic Blast .....................................................................60
  Quills .................................................................................60
  Radiation Immunity ...........................................................60
  Radiation Projection ..........................................................61
  Reduce Temperature ........................................................61
  Reflexes .............................................................................61
  Resist Influence ................................................................61
  Regeneration .....................................................................61
  Secrete Acid ......................................................................62
  Self-Detonation .................................................................62
  Sexual Chemistry ..............................................................63
  Sonar .................................................................................63
  Sonic Blast ........................................................................64
  Speed .................................................................................64
  Spit Acid ............................................................................64
  Spontaneous Combustion .................................................64
  Spread Pathogen ...............................................................65
  Strength.............................................................................65
  Suppress Explosion ...........................................................66
  Suppress Influence ...........................................................66
  Swimming..........................................................................66
  Technokinesis ....................................................................66
  Telekinesis ........................................................................67
  Telepathy ...........................................................................68
  Teleportation .....................................................................68
  Threat Calculus .................................................................69
  Telescopic Vision ...............................................................69
  Toxin Immunity (Inhaled) ...................................................69
  Toxin Immunity (Ingested) .................................................69
  Tracking .............................................................................69
  Transmutation ...................................................................70
  Venom (Bite) ......................................................................70
  Venom (Spit) ......................................................................71
  Venom (Stinger).................................................................71
  Wall Crawling ....................................................................72
  Water Blast........................................................................72
  Webbing .............................................................................72
  Water Manipulation ...........................................................72
  Wind Control......................................................................73
  DEFECTS ........................................................74
  Addictive Personality ........................................................75
  Arthritis .............................................................................75
  Asthma ..............................................................................76
  Attention Deficit Disorder .................................................76
  Autism ...............................................................................76
  Blindness...........................................................................76
  Depression ........................................................................77
  Dissociation .......................................................................77
  Erotomania ........................................................................78
  Low Impulse Control .........................................................78
  Megalomania .....................................................................78
  Messiah Complex ..............................................................79
  Multiple Personality Disorder ...........................................79
  Panic Disorder ...................................................................80
  Plasma Deficiency .............................................................81
  Schizophrenia ....................................................................81
  Scleroderma ......................................................................82
  SEDS Carrier .....................................................................83
  Trance Susceptible ............................................................83
  Voyeurism ..........................................................................83
  tHe GUMsHOe rULes sYsteM ......................84
  WHy THIS GAME ExISTS ...................................................84
  FROM STRUCTURE TO STORy ..........................................84
  Gathering Clues ................................................................85
  Evidence and Forward Movement.....................................87
  TESTS ................................................................................89
  Die Rolls ............................................................................89
  Simple Tests ......................................................................89
  Contests ............................................................................90
  sUPer-POWered ACtiON..............................92
  Distance.............................................................................92
  Movement In Combat ........................................................92
  Fighting .............................................................................94
  Non-Lethal Attacks ...........................................................94
  HAZARDS ...........................................................................98
  Electricity ..........................................................................98
  Explosives..........................................................................99
  Fire ....................................................................................99
  Toxins .................................................................................99
  IMPROvISED POWER USE ................................................99
  STABILITy ........................................................................102
  Mental Crisis ...................................................................102
  REGAINING POOL POINTS ..............................................102
  Refreshing Mutant Powers .............................................103
  Forced Refreshes ............................................................103
  Improving Your Character ...............................................103
  HCiU PrOCedUre ....................................................104
  MISSION STATEMENT .....................................................104
  RECRUITMENT ................................................................104
  ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE .....................................104
  Ranks...............................................................................106
  dnAs oFFiCers in the hCiu ..............................................106
  ASSIGNMENTS ................................................................106
  SHIFTS AND SCHEDULING .............................................108
  EvIDENCE COLLECTION .................................................108
  INTERvIEWS AND INTERROGATIONS ............................109
  EMAT Protocol .................................................................110
  Interrogation Tips For GMs and Players .........................111
  
  5
  TESTIMONy IN COURT ....................................................112
  A BRIDGE BETWEEN COMMUNITIES .............................113
  MEDIA RELATIONS ..........................................................113
  FOreNsiC ANAMOrPHOLOGY ..............................115
  ANAMORPHOLOGy 101 ...................................................115
  S-Cells .............................................................................115
  Power Complexes ...........................................................115
  DNA Analysis ...................................................................117
  Organ Grafting .................................................................117
  ENERGy RESIDUES .........................................................118
  ASSORTED FORENSIC ANAMORPHOLOGy ....................120
  Blood Testing ...................................................................120
  Botanical Enzyme Testing ...............................................120
  Cellular Plasticity Biopsy ................................................120
  Follicular Expansion Check ............................................121
  Forensic Dentistry ...........................................................121
  Magnetic Field Viewer .....................................................121
  Materials SEM .................................................................121
  Secretion Analysis ...........................................................122
  Setule Analysis ................................................................122
  Veterinary PET Imaging ..................................................122
  Wound Pattern Analysis ..................................................122
  tHe HeiGHteNed ANd tHe LAW .......................124
  ARTICLE 18 ......................................................................124
  PROOF OF HEIGHTENED STATUS ...................................125
  PROBABLE CAUSE ..........................................................125
  INCARCERATION .............................................................126
  DORPHING.......................................................................127
  A CHANGed WOrLd .................................................130
  SPORTS ...........................................................................130
  MEDICINE ........................................................................131
  THE ARTS ........................................................................131
  POLITICS .........................................................................132
  TIMELINE ........................................................................133
  HEIGHTENED SUB-CULTURES .......................................135
  SLANG AND JARGON ......................................................137
  BUiLdiNG MUtANt CitY ........................................140
  The Quade Institute .........................................................140
  Birch Towers ...................................................................142
  Betula Security Consultants ...........................................143
  The Bulwark Of God ........................................................144
  City Hall ...........................................................................145
  Police Headquarters .......................................................145
  HCIU HQ ..........................................................................146
  Medical Examiner’s Office ..............................................149
  Police Forensic Services .................................................149
  PROTESTERS AND ACTIvISTS ........................................151
  Neutral Parity League .....................................................151
  The Racks ........................................................................152
  THE MUTANT COMMUNITy .............................................152
  CapeCon Enterprises ......................................................152
  CNM Freedom Hall .........................................................153
  Genetic Action Front........................................................154
  Heightened Information Alliance ....................................154
  Temple Of Heliopolis .......................................................154
  tiPs FOr GMs ............................................................156
  CASES ..............................................................................156
  Structure .........................................................................156
  on ConCeits .......................................................................157
  running the gAMe ..............................................................159
  Perception Is (Nearly) All ................................................159
  Any Track Is the Right Track ...........................................160
  CALLING ON ABILITIES...................................................160
  Ending Scenes .................................................................161
  Sample Premises ............................................................162
  Investigative Powers .......................................................163
  Maintaining Power Consistency ......................................163
  Timed Results .................................................................164
  Supporting Characters ...................................................164
  SUB-PLOTS .....................................................................166
  Soliciting Sub-Plots ........................................................166
  Introducing Sub-Plots .....................................................166
  Continuing Sub-Plots ......................................................167
  Secondary Cases .............................................................167
  Action and Power Use .....................................................168
  tiPs FOr PLAYers ..................................................169
  CHOOSING yOUR WATCH COMMANDER ........................169
  SUB-PLOTS .....................................................................169
  iNtervieWiNG teCHNiqUe ..................................171
  FOOd CHAiN ...............................................................172
  BACKSTORy .....................................................................172
  THE CRIME ......................................................................172
  THE INvESTIGATION .......................................................172
  THE TWIST .......................................................................172
  THE CULPRIT ..................................................................173
  SCENES ...........................................................................173
  Terror On the 70A ............................................................173
  EMAT Hit ..........................................................................176
  Mr. Forgettable ................................................................178
  Summer Of the Anthrophage ..........................................180
  Anatomy Of a Shanking ...................................................181
  Such a Nice Boy...............................................................183
  Sequel Time ....................................................................183
  I Was a Different Person Then ........................................184
  Doctor-Patient Confidentiality ........................................184
  Going Viral .......................................................................185
  More Mayhem ..................................................................186
  Cottage Country Takedown .............................................186
  Case Closed .....................................................................187
  MUtANt CitY BLUes CHArACter sHeet ......189
  iNdeX ............................................................................190
  tHe qUAde diAGrAM .............................................196
  
  6
  THE FISH
  L
  omax lifted the white plastic top on his coffee 
  cup to take a sip. That perforated tab you were 
  supposed to peel up and stick to the other tab—he 
  could never get that stupid thing to work. So here he 
  was exposing his whole cup of bodega coffee, three 
  creams, three packets of sweetener, to the cold air of 
  early spring. Steam swirled from the hot liquid and 
  wafted in the general direction of his partner, Cecilia 
  Chu. Cece was already kneeling over the body.
  This morning’s customer was laid out on the gray 
  concrete of Pier 86. A dark puddle surrounded the body, 
  and his clothes were soaked through; he’d been in the 
  water. No signs of decomp, but given the near-freezing 
  temperature of the river at this time of year, that didn’t 
  mean he hadn’t been deceased for a good long while.
  Chu nodded to him. “What? No coffee for me?”
  “Hey, I didn’t have time to wait in line for a double-
  double soy latte orange fantasia cream whatever,” he 
  replied.
  Lomax inspected the vic. Caucasian, late twenties or 
  early thirties. Five feet eleven inches and slightly pudgy 
  around the edges. Thinning dark hair, close-cropped 
  goatee. Fully dressed, in a beige nylon shell jacket, 
  dark jeans… forest green T-shirt (no logo), most likely 
  from the GAP or some other purveyor of moderately 
  expensive casual wear. White jogging sneakers, white 
  tube socks. No watch, no rings—nor any tan lines or 
  skin depressions indicating the recent presence of same.
  Cece waited for the thumbs up from Davison, the 
  photog from crime scene. Then Lomax helped her flip 
  him. She found a wallet in his back pocket, revealing a 
  billfold containing at least a hundred and twenty bucks.
  It was part of Lomax’s job to state the obvious. “Not a 
  robbery, then.”
  Cecilia handed him the vic’s driver’s license. Name: 
  Andy Stagg. Address: the outer boroughs.
  
  7
  “Tell me this was accidental,” Lomax said. Wet stiffs 
  were a bitch. All the trace evidence washed off when 
  they hit the drink.
  “No can do.” She pointed to a purple mark on the 
  periphery of Stagg’s bald spot.
  “Looks modest for a death blow.”
  She nodded. “We’ll have to slab him first, but I 
  figure this for pre-mortem. He’s got airway froth and 
  sediment.”
  “A drowner, then.”
   A uniform hailed them. They’d found something 
  washed up on the shore half a mile down: a vinyl sports 
  bag. Lomax trotted over to grab it, and he and Cece 
  pawed through its contents. He found a cell phone, a 
  suit jacket, tie, dress shoes, and dark socks. She sorted 
  through a soaked copy of that morning’s free subway 
  paper, an unopened bag of potato chips, and a clear 
  plastic shell housing a serving of California rolls from 
  Krober’s Market. Underneath them was a colorful 
  publication taped into a mylar bag, backed with a 
  sheet of white cardboard. The bag had provided little 
  protection against submersion; the comic book inside 
  was thoroughly waterlogged. 
  Cece pulled off the tape and leafed as best she could 
  through its soggy pages. She stopped on one image, 
  kept reading for a bit, then flipped back to it. “Hey,” 
  she said, holding the comic page next to the stiff’s face. 
  It was a large panel showing a guy in a hero costume, 
  with the mask pulled down to provide a good look at his 
  face. The drawing in the comic book was a dead ringer 
  for the guy laid out on the pier.
  “He was a goob,” Lomax intoned.
  “And a pretty high-profile one, if he had his own comic 
  book.” She checked out the trade dress on the cover. 
  “Big Time Comics. That’s one of the major publishers.”
  Lomax rolled his eyes. He had no time for goobs. 
  “Whatever you say, Captain Moonbeam.” 
  Cece clucked in mock annoyance. “My kid brother 
  collects them.”
  “So did this guy have himself a handle?”
  She showed him the comic’s title: The Fish.
  “The Fish?” Lomax snorted. “Why not just call 
  yourself Lame-Ass?”
  “The good names are all trademarked.” Cece walked 
  back over to the corpse, pulling his soaked windbreaker 
  back from his neck. She ran her latex-clad fingers 
  along its sides, finding two flaps of skin, each about six 
  centimeters long. Tugging them loose, she exposed the 
  pink filaments inside. “But how he picked his stupid 
  name doesn’t interest me. What I want to know is: how 
  do you drown a man with gills?”
  
  8
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  THE wOrLd OF THE ENHANCEd
  Ten years ago, the world changed. Or, rather, one per 
  cent of people changed, and the world was forced to 
  keep up with them.
  The first symptoms appeared on January 12th. Around 
  the world, people from all walks of life experienced 
  flu-like symptoms: nausea, headaches, muscle 
  aches, and fever. Many people still remember these 
  early days of what would later be termed the Sudden 
  Mutation Event (SME) with anxiety and dread. 
  Patients flooded emergency rooms and walk-in 
  clinics. Panicked news correspondents rushed to the 
  assumption that a global, drug-resistant influenza 
  pandemic had begun, even though the illness proved 
  fatal to no one. It struck all age and demographic 
  groups. Scientists found previously unknown genetic 
  material in the bloodstreams of affected patients. 
  At the height of the pre-SME hysteria, roughly 1 in 
  200 people in the industrialized world displayed 
  symptoms. In the developing world, infection rates 
  were anywhere from thirty to forty-five per cent 
  lower, with the lowest rates occurring in sparsely 
  populated rural areas.
  Eleven days after their onset, on January 23rd, all 
  symptoms went away, nearly at once. This merely 
  fueled the speculation of a terrified world populace. 
  Was it a biological attack of some kind? The result of 
  some undeclared industrial accident? Did angels of 
  death herald the coming end times? 
  The mystery illness became known as the ‘ghost 
  flu’, named for its sudden disappearance and lack 
  of lasting effects.
  It wasn’t until months later that the first mutant 
  powers manifested. Tammy Graves, a 13-year-old 
  from the tiny community of Slocum, Texas, took 
  literal flight while attempting to catch a pop fly 
  during a softball game. Over the next few weeks, 
  hundreds, then thousands of people around the 
  globe displayed a sudden command of superhuman 
  powers, from bizarre adaptations of eyesight to the 
  ability to enter others’ dreams. These individuals 
  included nonagenarians, young teens, and every 
  age group in between. Only pre-pubescents were 
  unaffected. The eldest early mutant was 103-year-
  old resident Eula Skinner, of Griderville, Kentucky 
  who gained the ability to move objects with her 
  mind.
  All manifesters, as they were at first known, shared 
  one commonality: they’d been struck by ghost flu.
  With the 24-hour cable news channels hungrily 
  following each revelation of a pensioner who could 
  walk through walls, or a firefighter who proved 
  immune to flame, pundits predicted a wave of 
  political hysteria even before the full sweep of the 
  event had become apparent. Fearful liberals conjured 
    The Present day
  The game occurs in a fictionalized near 
  future, 10 years from now. To keep the game 
  current no matter when you start to play it, 
  we’ve avoided stating a definite date for the 
  game’s present. If it’s 2007 when you start 
  your series, the game occurs in 2017. If you’re 
  reading this in 2010, the game is set in 2020, 
  and so on.
  The game world may occasionally refer 
  to real-life public figures, but supporting 
  characters appearing in  heavily spotlighted 
  roles are fictionalized. For example, the 
  President of the United States is a fictional 
  character, rather than a contemporary 
  politician aged by ten years.
  
  9
  up images of emergency police forces rounding up 
  ghost flu sufferers and imprisoning them in brutal 
  internment camps. Conservatives whipped up fears 
  of super-powered terrorists launching devastating 
  attacks against the centers of government and 
  national monuments.
  Both impending disasters fizzled. Displays of initial 
  hysteria proved surprisingly muted, confined to a 
  few isolated incidents of vandalism and harassment 
  directed against known ghost flu sufferers. With 
  one in two hundred people exposed to the virus—or 
  whatever it was—everybody could name multiple 
  friends and acquaintances, if not loved ones, who 
  would be subject to the whims of the state were any 
  kind of quarantine program instituted. A number of 
  popular celebrities, sports figures and politicians 
  were among the affected. Even the most reactionary 
  politicians discovered that their own sons, daughters, 
  mothers and brothers were among the mutants—
  or heightened, as they soon became to be known. 
  Persecution of a minority becomes difficult when 
  you identify with it.
  Other early predictions were also proven wrong. 
  First of all, less than half of ghost flu sufferers 
  manifested extraordinary powers during the first 
  year of the SME. In the nine years since then, some 
  sufferers have subsequently manifested. Others, 
  unaffected by the ghost flu, have since demonstrated 
  mutant powers. Today roughly one in one hundred 
  people in the industrialized world possesses one or 
  more heightened abilities, with the US displaying 
  the highest rate (at 1 in 97) and Belgium, Holland 
  and Germany the lowest (at 1 in 103.)
  Also proven wrong was the initially common idea that 
  people with incredible powers would feel compelled 
   Mutants and Geopolitics
  Throughout the world, nations weathered the social upheavals that followed the SME according to 
  their prior political stability. Democratic, highly industrialized nations absorbed the new realities 
  with surprising resilience.
  Effective authoritarian regimes experienced brief spasms of doubt and disorder, then reasserted 
  pre-existing levels of social control. Their governments dragooned mutants into the apparatus of 
  the state, especially as members of their security forces. The unwilling or incapable were either 
  institutionalized or carefully monitored. Failure to report the possession of mutant powers was, 
  and is, treated as an act of sedition. 
  For example, in China, during the first year of the SME, mutants associated with both the Falun 
  Gong spiritual protest movement and various regional independence organizations launched a 
  number of uncoordinated actions in defiance of Communist party authority. Though these were 
  chiefly peaceful demonstrations, the Politburo used their control over the media to label them as 
  terrorist activities. Dispatching their new People’s Army squadron of enhanced anti-terror soldiers, 
  they destroyed not only the mutant protesters, but the broader movements they fought for. Anti-
  mutant fears were used as a pretext for a wider crackdown. This triggered a diplomatic crisis and 
  a temporary cooling of relations with the West, which reversed itself only in the face of a mini-
  recession. 
  At present the Chinese government has returned to its previous status quo, in which an arbitrarily-
  enforced authoritarianism paradoxically coexists with unfettered capitalism. The mutant uprisings 
  have receded into memory, as did the Tiananmen Square massacre before them. Mutants who 
  serve the state apparatus or enjoy connections to the wealthy and powerful prosper. Those who do 
  not skulk in the shadows, or lie in state-sponsored hospital beds in perpetual induced comas.
  Unstable or failed states fared worst of all. Throughout central Africa, mutants formed or took over 
  rebel movements, toppling tottering governments and then devolving into smaller gangs to scrap 
  for the spoils. The middle of the continent is now a hellish wasteland run by mutant warlords. 
  Continued internecine conflict ensures that few of them live to see their twenty-eighth birthdays. 
  This completely lawless region has become a hyper-violent haven for terrorists, mercenaries, and 
  fugitives from all around the world.
  Mutant-fueled chaos also reigns, albeit to a lesser extent, in the breakaway or ungovernable 
  territories of Chechnya, Palestine, southern Lebanon, and Peshawar.
  the world of the enhanced
  
  10
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  to emulate comic book heroes. A small handful of 
  people adopted colorful costumes, secret identities, 
  and thematically appropriate nicknames, declaring 
  themselves crime fighters. An even smaller number 
  obliged them by using their powers to commit high-
  profile crimes, giving them someone to fight. Most 
  people, however, carried on with their ordinary 
  lives, trying to forget that they could shoot bolts of 
  lightning from their fingertips or freeze a glass of 
  water just by looking at it. Many mutants, especially 
  those living outside cosmopolitan cities, either 
  downplay their powers or pretend not to have them 
  at all.
  After ten years, the existence of mutant powers 
  has been thoroughly assimilated into the public 
  consciousness. Mutant characters appear not only in 
  action movies and adventure Tv series, but as token 
  characters in sitcoms and dramas. Heightened movie 
  stars, pop singers, and heiresses rub shoulders 
  across the tabloid pages. Professional sports 
  leagues now allow heightened athletes on their 
  teams, using complicated point systems to decide 
  how many mutants, with which particular powers, 
  any given team can field. When a superbeing is seen 
  rocketing over the skyscrapers of the city, passersby 
  may stop and point, but they don’t ask themselves, 
  in slack-jawed wonder, if they’re seeing a bird, a 
  plane, or an ubermensch. Instead, they think, “Oh, 
  hey, that guy has Flight powers. I wonder if he also 
  has Heat Blast or Strength, or maybe both…”
  Aiding acceptance of mutant rights were the 
  undeniable economic and social benefits afforded 
  by many of the strange new powers. Individuals 
  capable of curing inoperable cancer with a laying 
  on of hands became highly-paid fixtures of hospital 
  oncology departments. The ranks of the psychiatric 
  profession flushed with new entrants who could 
  observe their patients’ dreams, or literally share 
  their feelings. People who could turn lead into 
  industrial-grade gold found lucrative jobs in the 
  manufacturing sector. Mutants who could withstand 
  fire or toxic gases and inhaled smoke were sought 
  after as firefighters.
  Police work, too, was changed by the possibilities of 
  the post-mutant world. Detectives with heightened 
  senses were able to act as walking crime labs, 
  analyzing evidence on the spot with microscopic 
  vision or a preternatural sense of touch. Riot squads 
  came to appreciate the presence of officers who 
  could calm angry crowds. Bomb squads happily 
  turned over the most dangerous disposal work to 
  officers who could disable explosive devices simply 
  by projecting an energy field.
   New Genes, New Science
  The ultimate origin of the SME remains a hotly debated topic. Scientific theories abound, and piles 
  of grant money await anyone who can float a solid research plan to prove any of them.
  That central mystery aside, understanding of mutant powers has advanced rapidly in the decade 
  since their initial onset. Leading the scientific charge is the mediagenic, indefatigable Dr. Lucius 
  Quade. He coined the term for the scientific study of mutant genes and abilities, anamorphology, 
  and is routinely called on to weigh in on any social or political controversy surrounding mutant 
  rights. 
  At first affiliated with the top technical university in the area where you choose to set your series, 
  Quade struck out on his own to found the Quade Institute, a cutting-edge research facility located 
  in the series’ home city. QI, as it is abbreviated, attracts the world’s top bioscience experts and is 
  an occasional target of anti-mutant activists. It is funded by a constellation of private and public 
  institutions, most notably the research foundation of noted venture capitalist and mutant Galen 
  Birch.
  Although Quade maintains that the QI’s primary focus is always pure research, rumors persist of 
  the imminent announcement of various practical applications of his work. Sources claim that he’s 
  working on a vaccine to prevent the development of mutant powers, and/or genetic therapies to 
  counter the effects of defects associated with them. Others accuse the QI of working on means to 
  induce latent mutant powers in those who have yet to manifest them.
  A more detailed profile of Quade appears on p. 141.
  
  11
  As police departments began to confront super-
  powered criminals, they found it necessary to fight 
  fire with fire, recruiting tactical officers with the 
  outlandish abilities necessary to apprehend them.
  Criminal law has undergone its own changes in 
  response to the SME. The verifiable existence of 
  mind-altering powers has introduced the new legal 
  defense of acting under outside mental influence. 
  Revised privacy statutes make it a crime to read 
  someone’s mind without their consent—though 
  they also grant psychic police officers the right 
  to eavesdrop on thoughts, provided they secure 
  a warrant by establishing probable cause. A tiny 
  number of powers, particularly radiation projection, 
  are considered so inherently dangerous that 
  their possessors are required to register with the 
  government. Although public fears of the heightened 
  have prompted drives to increase penalties for 
  crimes committed with the use of mutant powers, 
  these remain controversial and in most jurisdictions 
  have yet to pass into law.
  Although the specter of the internment camp has 
  largely been dispelled, mutants continue to suffer 
  subtler prejudice. This phenomenon is especially 
  prevalent in inherently conservative or authoritarian 
  institutions, including the police force. For years, a 
  glass ceiling separated the low-ranking but heavily-
  worked heightened police officers from the upper 
  echelons of career advancement. In the department 
  in which the player characters serve, various 
  bureaucratic maneuvers kept mutants from reaching 
  the rank of detective until five years ago when, in 
  response to judicial and legislative pressure, a new 
  squad was formed.
  The 
  Heightened 
  Crimes 
  investigation 
  Unit 
  symbolized a new acceptance of mutant police 
  officers. Given the mandate to investigate all crimes 
  involving mutants, either as suspects or victims, it 
  is comprised of a few dozen mutant detectives. The 
  HCIU has become something of a show pony. Citizens 
  demand its intervention whenever a terrifying crime 
  with apparent mutant overtones shakes their sense 
  of security. Reporters subject it to white-hot scrutiny, 
  knowing that stories featuring the city’s mutant 
  cops reliably score big ratings. They celebrate its 
  successes with only slightly less fervor than they 
  devote to publicizing its failures. The fault-lines in 
  the relationship between man and superman are 
  often reflected in the cases the HCIU are called upon 
  to investigate. Though they often find themselves at 
  the center of the social and political whirlwind, they 
  do what good cops do—they keep their heads down, 
  follow the evidence, slap the cuffs on the bad guys, 
  and then grumble about the paperwork.
  the world of the enhanced
  
  12
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  YOUr CHArACTEr
  This section is addressed to players and shows them 
  how to create their characters. GMs should read it, too.
  your character is a member of the Heightened Crimes 
  investigation Unit (HCIU), an elite police squad set up 
  to deal with crimes which involve mutant perpetrators. 
  your character has already accumulated years of 
  positive performance evaluations while serving in 
  other detachments, such as robbery-homicide, special 
  victims, gang units, organized crime control, vice, or 
  narcotics. your character is most likely a heightened 
  individual, although he might be one of the a few non-
  heightened individuals with sufficient expertise to be 
  accepted without these abilities. 
  The GUMSHOE rules define your character by what 
  he or she can accomplish in an investigative scenario. 
  The component elements of each ability don’t matter 
  in rules terms. The rules don’t care if your Forensic 
  Accounting ability is one part native mental acuity to two 
  parts training or vice versa, although you can mention 
  them when describing your character to others. All that 
  matters is how you solve cases, and overcome other 
  obstacles arising from them.
  BUYING ABILITIES
  Each player may spend 60 points on standard general 
  abilities (see p. 25), 40 points to buy mutant powers (see 
  p. 28) and a number of points to spend on investigative 
  abilities (see p. 18) that varies according to the number 
  of regularly-attending players in your group.
  Mutant powers are explained in the next chapter. A few 
  mutant powers are investigative, although none will 
  ever be essential to the plot; most are used as general 
  abilities. 
  If you want, you can play a non-enhanced (DNA 
  Standard) liaison officer to the HCIU, forgoing mutant 
  powers altogether. you may conceive of your character 
  as possessing extraordinary expertise which justifies 
  his presence on a squad normally reserved for the 
  enhanced. Should you require them to realize your 
  character concept, you get an extra 9 build points to 
  spend on general abilities.
  Number Of 
  Players
  investigative Build 
  Points
  2
  36
  3
  28
  4
  24
  5+
  21
  When choosing general abilities, you’ll want to 
  concentrate your points among a few abilities. you’ll 
  find that you’ll want ratings of around 8 in core abilities, 
  like Health, Stability and Shooting or Scuffling.
  Players who can only attend every now and then get 
  the same number of investigative build points as 
  everyone else, but are not counted toward the total 
  when deciding how many points to allocate. 
  When choosing investigative abilities it is better to get 
  a large number of abilities with fairly low ratings. Even 
  a 1-point rating is worth having. you’ll rarely want to 
  spend more than 3 or 4 points on any one investigative 
  ability.
  General abilities use different rules than investigative 
  ones, which allow for possible failure. When choosing 
  general abilities, you’ll want to concentrate your 
  points among a few abilities, giving you comparatively 
  You start the game with 1 point of Health. 
  As police officers, all PCs get a rating of 2 in 
  the investigative ability Cop Talk at no cost.
  
  13
  higher ratings than you want in 
  the investigative category. you’ll 
  find that you’ll want ratings of 
  around 8 in core abilities, like 
  Health, Stability and Shooting or 
  Scuffling.
  Although there is no set cap 
  on abilities, the second highest 
  rating must be at least half that 
  of the highest rating.
  Justin wants to have a Health 
  rating of 30. This requires him 
  to take at least one other ability 
  at 15. This would leave him only 
  15 points to spend on all of the 
  other general abilities. Justin 
  reconsiders, opting for a lower 
  Health rating so he can spend 
  his other points more freely.
  If you want, you can save build 
  points from character creation 
  to spend later. If your GM is 
  running an ongoing series of 
  Mutant City Blues games, you 
  will accumulate additional build 
  points during play.
  When creating characters, it is 
  essential that you coordinate 
  with your fellow players to make 
  sure that at least one member of 
  the group possesses each of the 
  investigative abilities. Successful 
  groups also ensure that the 
  various general abilities are all 
  accounted for. When in doubt, 
  perform a roll-call of abilities to 
  make sure you’ve covered all the 
  abilities.
  you must have an ability to get useful information from 
  it, or to perform tests and contests. you might be able 
  to perform unremarkable tasks without having the 
  related ability.
  You can still drive a car without the Driving ability; 
  you just can’t do anything difficult behind the 
  wheel. You don’t need Preparedness to own a bag 
  full of stuff, but that stuff will never come in handy 
  during an investigation.
  wHAT GOOd ArE rATINGS?
  Players used to the bumbling half-competence of their 
  characters in other investigative game systems may 
  be surprised to learn how effective even a single rating 
  point is.
  Any rating in an investigative ability indicates a high 
  degree of professional accomplishment or impressive 
  natural talent. If you have an ability relevant to the task 
  at hand, you automatically succeed in discovering any 
  information or overcoming any obstacles necessary to 
  propel you from the current scene further into the story.
  your character
  
  14
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Each rating gives you a pool of points to spend in 
  situations related to its base ability. you may ask to 
  spend points to gain special benefits. Sometimes 
  the GM will offer you the chance to spend points. In 
  other circumstances she may accept your suggestions 
  of ways to gain special benefits. Use them wisely; 
  spent points do not return until the next investigation 
  begins.
  General abilities use a different set of rules and are 
  measured on a different scale from investigative 
  abilities. The two ability sets are handled in different 
  way because they fulfill distinct narrative functions. 
  The rules governing general abilities introduce the 
  possibility of failure into the game, creating suspense 
  and uncertainty. Uncertain outcomes make scenes of 
  physical action more exciting, but can stop a mystery 
  story dead if applied to the collection of information. 
  This division may seem aesthetically weird when 
  you first encounter it, but as you grow used to the 
  GUMSHOE system you’ll see that it works.
  An average person off the street has no investigative 
  abilities at all, and Health and Stability ratings of 4 or 
  so. This is all they need to get through life. you need to 
  be much better than average, because you’re going up 
  against the heightened criminals. GUMSHOE focuses 
  not on your character’s innate traits, but on what they 
  can actually do in the course of a storyline. Why they 
  can do it is up to each player. your characters are as 
  strong, fast, and good-looking as you want them to 
  be.
  CHOOSING YOUr 
  MUTANT POwErS
  Although little progress has been made in identifying 
  the specific altered genetic material giving rise to 
  the various mutant powers, the various powers tend 
  to appear in clusters. A mutant who manifests night 
  vision is highly likely to also exhibit thermal and/or 
  micro vision and somewhat likely to possess enhanced 
  olfactory abilities or spatial awareness. He will almost 
  never have flight capabilities, and will never display 
  fangs or memory alteration capabilities. Certain 
  genetic defects are also linked to certain powers. 
  Mutants with both natural weaponry and limb extension 
  are highly likely to suffer from arthritis. Individuals 
  capable of erecting force fields and moving objects via 
  telekinesis are prone to a previously unknown adult-
  onset autism.
  By compiling statistical data on known mutants, 
  statisticians have assembled a map of mutant traits, 
  showing their relationships to one another. This is 
  known as the Quade Diagram, after the project’s 
  supervising researcher, Professor Lucius Quade.
  Abilities which often appear in combination with 
  their neighbors are called connected powers. The 
  Quade Diagram marks connections between powers 
  with solid lines. Abilities which sometimes appear in 
  combination are called correlated powers. These are 
  indicated with dotted lines. (Investigative abilities are 
  marked with a magnifying glass; abilities not bearing 
  this symbol are general. The distinction between 
  investigative and general abilities, unlike the rest of 
  the diagram, is a rules abstraction not found in the 
  game world. The version of the Quade Diagram the 
  characters, as opposed to the players, know omits 
  the magnifying glass icons. Otherwise, it’s the same 
  chart.)
  HCIU 
  officers 
  use 
  Quade 
  Diagrams 
  in 
  their 
  investigations. They know that if a crime scene 
  turns up trace evidence of both lightning damage 
  and prehensile hair, that at least two mutants were 
  present, as the Lightning and Entangling Hair traits are 
  too widely separated on the diagram to belong to the 
  same individual. The connection between mutant traits 
  and certain personality disorders similarly makes the 
  Quade Diagram a useful tool in criminal profiling.
  To ensure that the statistical linkage between your 
  mutant powers is reflected in your choice of enhanced 
  abilities, players use the Quade Diagram during 
  character creation. Game Moderators must also 
  follow the Quade Diagram when creating supporting 
  characters. (A GM could conceivably create a scenario 
  in which a mutant’s apparent divergence from the 
  Quade Diagram is a major plot point, but this would be 
  both an exception and a huge deal in the game world.)
  you start out with 40 build points with which to purchase 
  mutant powers for your character. These points must 
  be allocated between the purchase of the powers 
  themselves, and then in rating points for each power. 
  
  15
  your character
  QUAdE dIAGrAM
  Start by choosing any one ability anywhere on the 
  Quade Diagram. A general power costs 4 build points. 
  An investigative power costs 1 point.
  you may then, if you wish, choose additional powers. 
  These must be adjacent to powers you already have, 
  or nearly so. As you follow the Quade Diagram to 
  assemble your list of powers, you can branch in 
  multiple directions; you don’t have to follow a single 
  path from point A to point B. 
  Crossing an unbroken line, denoting that the two 
  powers are connected, costs you nothing. Every time 
  you cross a dotted line, denoting that the two powers 
  are correlated, you pay an additional 4 points. you 
  may leapfrog abilities by paying 2 build points for 
  each ability skipped. If you cross a dotted line while 
  leapfrogging an ability, you must also pay the 4 points 
  for that, in addition to the 2 points for skipping the 
  ability. you never pay more than once to leapfrog the 
  same ability.
  Buying an ability gets you a rating of 1. To increase any 
  rating, pay one build point per rating point.
  Where ordinary general abilities require that your 
  second-highest rating be at least half that of your 
  highest rating, mutant powers face no such restriction. 
  you can, if you want, spend all of your points on a single 
  general mutant power, starting with, say, a Force Field 
  rating of 37.
  Entries on a black background are not powers, but 
  defects. In order to connect certain powers on the Quade 
  Diagram, you must also acquire the defects between 
  them. A defect connected by an solid line to any ability 
  you already have costs you nothing. If connected by a 
  dotted line, you must pay 4 points. you may not pay 
  points to leapfrog a defect. A defect represents a latent 
  propensity for the problem in question. If, for example, 
  you start play with the Blindness defect, you are not 
  currently sightless, merely at risk of it.
  You decide to start with the Regeneration ability. 
  As a general ability, this costs you 4 points, 
  reducing your total to 36 build points. You then 
  take Strength, which is connected to Regeneration 
  by a single solid line. Crossing the line costs you 
  nothing; Strength is also a general ability, costing 
  you 4 build points, reducing your total to 32.
  Then you acquire Toxin Immunity (Inhaled), which 
  is connected to Regeneration by a dotted line. 
  Crossing the line costs you 4 points. The ability is 
  general, and so costs you 4 build points. You pay a 
  total of 8 points, reducing your total to 24.
  Next, you want the Healing ability. The Messiah 
  Complex defect lies between it and Regeneration, 
  connected by a solid line. To get Healing, you 
  must also acquire Messiah Complex. It costs you 
  nothing. Crossing a solid line to get to it costs you 
  nothing.
  Crossing the solid line to Healing costs you 
  nothing. Healing is a general ability and costs you 
  4 points. You now have 20 build points left.
  You decide that you want the Heat Blast ability. The 
  Flight ability lies between it and Regeneration on 
  the Quade Diagram. You pay nothing to cross the 
  solid line to Flight, and 2 points to leapfrog the 
  Flight ability. You now have 18 build points. It costs 
  you nothing to cross the solid line to Heat Blast. 
  You then buy Heat Blast for 4 points, leaving you 
  with 14.
  2 pts.
  4 pts.
  4 pts.
  4 pts.
  4 pts.
  0 pts.
  4 pts.
  4 pts.
  
  16
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  With build points running low, you figure it’s time 
  to stop buying new powers and start investing 
  in rating points. Your powers are: Regeneration, 
  Strength, Toxin Immunity (Inhaled), Healing, 
  and Heat Blast. You also acquired the Messiah 
  Complex defect. 
  You allocate your remaining 14 points between 
  your five powers as follows: Regeneration 3, 
  Strength 1, Toxin Immunity (Inhaled) 1, Healing 5, 
  and Heat Blast 4.You are adding these values to 
  your starting rating of 1 in each ability, for final 
  ratings of: Regeneration 4, Strength 2, Toxin 
  Immunity (Inhaled) 2, Healing 6, and Heat Blast 5.
  (In practice, most players will choose fewer 
  powers, and also be more parsimonious in skipping 
  powers and crossing dotted lines. We present this 
  somewhat sub-optimal character to illustrate 
  more of the possible costs incurred during power 
  selection.)
  ANd FINALLY…
  you are nearly ready to go. Read the short Tips for 
  Players section on p. 169. Think of some sub-plots 
  for your character, look at the interview techniques, 
  and with the other players consider which watch 
  commander you’d prefer.
   design notes : the quade diagram
  The Quade Diagram, and its role in character generation, exists primarily to evoke the particular 
  setting of Mutant City Blues. It conveys the idea that the setting’s mutant powers conform to 
  unvarying, if not yet fully understood, laws of science. The diagram reinforces the concept that 
  all powers share the same origin. It has some game balance effects, making it difficult for a single 
  player to cherry-pick all of the most dramatic abilities, but these are not its primary point.
  GMs may wish to warn players ahead of time that Mutant City Blues discards the standard 
  super-powered RPG design goal of allowing you to replicate any hero you find in comic books. 
  You’ll find that you can create knock-offs of certain iconic characters (sort of) but that others are 
  impossible to reproduce. 
  The driving convention in a default comic book universe is that every character embodies a unique 
  theme and distinctive set of powers. In the Mutant City Blues world, enhanced characters conform 
  to a number of recognizable types, with slight variations in detail.
  Players may find it frustrating to start with a character concept and then attempt to use the Quade 
  Diagram to realize it. It’s much more fun to start with the diagram and see where it leads you. 
  Some classic character types familiar from years of superhero roleplaying are unavailable here. For 
  example, you can’t quite create the very strong and invulnerable “tank” archetype. (If you or one 
  of your players considers a super setting without tanks a complete deal-breaker, swap regeneration 
  and armor on the diagram.)
  Game Moderators who wish to ignore the Mutant City setting and play games of super-powered 
  GUMSHOE investigation in more typical comic-book worlds should discard the Quade Diagram. 
  Abandon the unified theory of super power origin, allowing PCs to acquire them through various 
  unrelated origin stories, from alien parentage to super-tech, magic, and beyond. You may also 
  want to add additional powers, including more outré comic book abilities like duplication, time 
  travel, and near-omnipotent magic rings. Power costs remain the same, but characters start play 
  with only 30 build points to spend on superhuman abilities. Players may increase this to 36 by 
  voluntarily acquiring a single defect.
  
  the world of the enhanced
  17
  your character
  
  18
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  STANdArd ABILITIES
  This chapter covers all investigative and general 
  abilities which aren’t mutant powers.
  INvESTIGATIvE 
  ABILITIES
  The following abilities are the bread and butter of 
  GUMSHOE characters.
  Ability descriptions consist of a brief general description, 
  followed by examples of their use in an investigation. 
  Creative players should be able to propose additional 
  uses for their abilities as unexpected situations 
  confront their characters.
  Certain specific actions may overlap between a couple 
  of abilities. For example, you can enhance image 
  resolution with either Data Retrieval or Photography.
  Some abilities, like Research, are broadly useful, and 
  will crop up constantly. Others may be called for many 
  times in the course of one scenario, and not at all in 
  others. When building your character, strike a balance 
  between the reliable workhouse abilities and their 
  exotic, specialized counterparts.
  Investigative abilities are divided into the following 
  sub-groups: Academic, Interpersonal, and Technical. 
  The purpose of the sub-groups is to allow you to find 
  the best ability for the task quickly during play, by 
  scanning the most likely portion of the overall list.
  Many standard technical abilities have new applications 
  in the world of Mutant City Blues. For more on this 
  subject, see FORENSIC ANAMORPHOLOGy on p. 115.
  ANAMOrPHOLOGY (TECHNICAL)
  Anamorphology (“the science of change”) is the study 
  of mutant powers, their genetics, and the origins of the 
  SME. Although any untrained investigator can read a 
  Quade Diagram, you can also:
  • Identify an individual’s mutant powers from a 
  DNA sample
  Academic
  Anthropology
  Archaeology
  Architecture
  Art History
  Forensic 
  Accounting
  Forensic 
  Psychology
  History
  Languages
  Law
  Natural 
  History
  Occult Studies
  Research
  Textual 
  Analysis
  Trivia
  Interpersonal
  Bullshit 
  Detector
  Bureaucracy
  Cop Talk
  Flattery
  Flirting
  Impersonate
  Interrogation
  Intimidation
  Negotiation
  Reassurance
  Streetwise
  Technical
  Ballistics
  Chemistry
  Cryptography
  Data Retrieval
  Document 
  Analysis
  Electronic 
  Surveillance
  Forensic 
  Entomology
  Evidence 
  Collection
  Explosive 
  Devices
  Forensic 
  Anthropology
  Fingerprinting
  Photography
   Investigative Abilities
   new abilities
  These investigative abilities are new to Mutant 
  City Blues:
  Anamorphology (p. 18)(Technical)
  Energy Residue Analysis (p. 21) (Technical)
  Influence Detection (p. 22) (Interpersonal)
  Astronomy is not especially useful in a non-
  occult game like Mutant City Blues; fold it into 
  Trivia.
  
  19
  • Conduct a medical examination to identify the 
  presence of defects (p. 74), and to pinpoint their 
  present stage of development
  • On a brief but close-up visual inspection (in 
  person or via photographic or video image) spot 
  the telltale signs of retracted mutant organs and 
  appendages, including gills, fangs, stingers, and 
  natural weaponry
  • Tell when a subject is using a non-obvious 
  mutant power, and make a solid educated guess 
  as to what power is in use. (Any layman can see 
  what’s going on when a mutant flies through the 
  air or doubles the length of his forearm.)
  ANTHrOPOLOGY (ACAdEMIC)
  you are an expert in the study of human cultures, from 
  the stone age to the Internet age. you can:
  • identify artifacts and rituals of living cultures
  • describe the customs of a foreign group or 
  local subculture
  • extrapolate the practices of an unknown 
  culture from similar examples
  ArCHAEOLOGY (ACAdEMIC)
  you excavate and study the structures and artifacts of 
  historical cultures and civilizations. you can:
  • tell how long something has been buried
  • identify artifacts by culture and usage
  • distinguish real artifacts from fakes
  • navigate inside ruins and catacombs
  • describe the customs of ancient or historical 
  cultures
  • spot well-disguised graves and underground 
  hiding places
  ArCHITECTUrE (ACAdEMIC)
  you know how buildings are planned and constructed. 
  you can:
  • guess what lies around the corner while 
  exploring an unknown structure
  • judge the relative strength of building materials
  • identify a building’s age, architectural style, 
  original use, and history of modifications
  • construct stable makeshift structures
  • identify elements vital to a building’s structural 
  integrity
  ArT HISTOrY (ACAdEMIC)
  you’re an expert on works of art from an aesthetic and 
  technical point of view. you can:
  • distinguish real works from fakes
  • tell when something has been retouched or 
  altered
  • identify the age of an object by style and 
  materials
  • call to mind historical details on artists and 
  those around them
  BALLISTICS (TECHNICAL)
  you process evidence relating to the use of firearms. 
  you can:
  • identify the caliber and type of a bullet or 
  casing found at a crime scene
  • determine if a particular gun fired a given 
  bullet
  BULLSHIT dETECTOr 
  (INTErPErSONAL)
  you can tell when people are lying. you must usually 
  be interacting with them or observing them from a 
  close distance, but sometimes you can spot liars on 
  television, too. Unfortunately, nearly everyone lies, 
  especially when facing possible trouble from the 
  authorities. Sometimes you can infer why they’re lying, 
  but it’s hard to discern motive reliably or get at the 
  facts they’re working to obscure. 
  Standard abilitieS
  
  20
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Not all lies are verbal. you can tell when a person is 
  attempting to project a false impression through body 
  language. 
  Certain individuals may be so adept at lying that they 
  never set off your bullshit detector. Some people 
  believe their own falsehoods. Psychopathic personality 
  types lie reflexively and without shame, depriving you 
  of the telltale tics and gestures you use to sense when 
  a person is deceiving you. 
  BUrEAUCrACY (INTErPErSONAL)
  you know how to navigate a bureaucratic organization, 
  whether it’s a governmental office or a large business 
  concern. you know how to get what you want from it in 
  an expeditious manner, and with a minimum of ruffled 
  feathers. you can:
  • convince officials to provide sensitive 
  information
  • gain credentials on false pretenses
  • find the person who really knows what’s going on
  • locate offices and files
  • borrow equipment or supplies
  Bureaucracy is not a catch-all information gathering 
  ability. Bureaucrats wish to convey the impression that 
  they are busy and harried, whether or not they actually 
  are. Most take a profound, secret joy in directing 
  inquiries elsewhere. When players attempt to use 
  Bureaucracy to gain information more easily accessible 
  via other abilities (such as Research), their contacts 
  snidely advise them to do their own damn legwork.
  CHEMISTrY (TECHNICAL)
  you’re trained in the analysis of chemical substances. 
  you can:
  • among a wide variety of other materials, 
  identify drugs, pharmaceuticals, toxins, and 
  viruses
  • match samples of dirt or vegetation from a 
  piece of evidence to a scene
  COP TALk (INTErPErSONAL)
  you know how to speak the lingo of police officers, 
  and to make them feel confident and relaxed in your 
  presence. In Mutant City Blues, you are most likely a 
  current cop. you can:
  • coolly ply cops for confidential information
  • get excused for minor infractions
  • demonstrate you are a colleague, authorized to 
  participate in their cases
   why no lying ability
  Unlike many other RPG rules sets, 
  GUMSHOE does not treat lying as an ability 
  unto itself. Instead characters employ it 
  as a tactic while using any of the various 
  interpersonal abilities. With Bureaucracy, 
  you tell functionaries what they want to hear. 
  Using Interrogation, you convince suspects 
  that you’re their kind of guy, and so on. 
  There’s a little bit of deception in nearly every 
  successful interpersonal interaction—at least 
  when you’re on the job for the HCIU.
  CrYPTOGrAPHY (TECHNICAL)
  you’re an expert in the making and breaking of codes, 
  from the simple ciphers of old-school espionage 
  tradecraft to the supercomputer algorithms of the 
  present day. 
  dATA rETrIEvAL (TECHNICAL)
  you use computer and electronic technology to retrieve 
  and enhance information on hard drives and other 
  media. you can:
  • recover hidden, erased or corrupted computer 
  files
  • increase the clarity of audio recordings, zeroing 
  in on desired elements
  • miraculously find detailed, high-resolution 
  images within a blurry video image or blurry 
  JPEG
  dOCUMENT ANALYSIS (TECHNICAL)
  you’re an expert in the study of physical documents. 
  you can:
  • determine a document’s approximate age
  • identify the manufacturer of paper used in a 
  document 
  • tell forged documents from the real thing
  • identify distinctive handwriting
  • match typed documents to the typewriters that 
  produced them
  • find fingerprints on paper
  ELECTrONIC SUrvEILLANCE 
  (TECHNICAL)
  you’re adept at the use of sound recording equipment to 
  gather evidence. you can:
  • trace phone calls
  • plant secret listening devices 
  • locate secret listening devices planted by others
  
  21
  Standard abilitieS
  • make high-quality audio recordings
  • enhance the quality of audio recordings, 
  isolating chosen sounds
  ENErGY rESIdUE ANALYSIS 
  (TECHNICAL)
  By studying debris and damaged objects found at 
  a scene, you can tell what blast powers (or other 
  mutant abilities) were used to damage it. you can also 
  distinguish items damaged by mutant powers from 
  those destroyed by naturally-occurring incidents of 
  similar sources. For example, you can examine a rooftop 
  and determine firstly that it was struck by lightning, 
  and secondly that the lightning was generated by a 
  mutant and was not a storm effect.
  EvIdENCE COLLECTION (TECHNICAL)
  you’re adept at finding, bagging and tagging important 
  clues. you can:
  • spot objects of interest at a crime scene or 
  other investigation site
  • note relationships between objects at a crime 
  scene, reconstructing sequences of events
  • store objects for forensic analysis without 
  contaminating your samples
  ExPLOSIvE dEvICES (TECHNICAL)
  you’re an expert in bombs and booby-traps. you can:
  • defuse bombs and traps
  • reconstruct exploded bombs, determining their 
  materials, manufacture, and the sophistication 
  of the bomb-maker
  • safely construct and detonate explosive devices 
  of your own
  FINGErPrINTING (TECHNICAL)
  you’re an expert in finding, transferring and matching 
  fingerprints. This includes expertise in the computer 
  software used to compare sample fingerprints 
  against large databases of criminal defendants and 
  government personnel.
  FLATTErY (INTErPErSONAL)
  you’re good at getting people to help you by 
  complimenting them, as subtly or blatantly as they 
  prefer. you can get them to:
  • reveal information
  • perform minor favors
  • regard you as trustworthy.
  FLIrTING (INTErPErSONAL)
  you’re adept at winning cooperation from people who 
  find you sexually attractive. you can get them to:
  • reveal information
  • help you in small ways
  • date you
  It’s up to you whether a high rating in Flirting means 
  that you are physically alluring, or simply exude a 
  sexual magnetism unrelated to your looks.
  FOrENSIC ACCOUNTING (ACAdEMIC)
  you comb through financial data looking for 
  irregularities. In the words made famous during 
  Woodward and Bernstein’s investigation of the 
  Watergate scandal, you know how to “follow the 
  money.” you can:
  • tell legitimate businesses from criminal 
  enterprises
  • spot the telltale signs of embezzlement
  • track payments to their source
  FOrENSIC ANTHrOPOLOGY 
  (TECHNICAL)
  you perform autopsies on deceased subjects to 
  determine their cause of death. In the case of death by 
  
  22
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  foul play, your examination can identify:
  • the nature of the weapon or weapons used
  • the presence of intoxicants or other foreign 
  substances in the bloodstream
  • the contents of the victim’s last meal
  In many cases, you can reconstruct the sequence 
  of events leading to the victim’s death from the 
  arrangement of wounds on the body.
  you also perform DNA analysis on samples found at 
  crime scenes, matching them to samples provided by 
  suspects.
  FOrENSIC ENTOMOLOGY (TECHNICAL)
  you specialize in the relationship between corpses and 
  the legions of insects who dine on them. By studying 
  eggs and larvae in a decomposing corpse you can:
  • determine approximate time of death
  • identify a crime scene, in the case of a dumped 
  body
  FOrENSIC PSYCHOLOGY (ACAdEMIC)
  you apply psychological insight to the solving of 
  criminal cases. From the details of a crime scene, you 
  can, based on past case studies of similar offenses, 
  assemble a profile detailing the perpetrator’s likely 
  personal history, age, habits and attitudes.
  you can also glean useful information from simple 
  observation of certain individual, especially as they 
  react to pressure.
  HISTOrY (ACAdEMIC)
  you’re an expert in recorded human history, with an 
  emphasis on its political, military, and economic and 
  technological developments. you can:
  • recognize obscure historical allusions
  • recall capsule biographies of famous historical 
  figures
  • tell where and when an object made during 
  historical times was fashioned
  • identify the period of an article of dress or 
  costume
  IMPErSONATE (INTErPErSONAL)
  you’re good at posing as another person, whether 
  briefly misrepresenting yourself during a phone call or 
  spending long periods undercover in a fictional identity.
  Successfully disguising yourself as an actual person known 
  to those you’re interacting with is extraordinarily difficult. 
  Brief voice-only mimicry requires a spend of at least 1.
  Face-to-face impersonation requires a spend of at least 
  2 to 3 points for every five minutes of sustained contact 
  between you and the object of your impersonation. 
  Especially wary or intelligent subjects cost more to 
  hoodwink than dull-witted walk-on characters.
  INFLUENCE dETECTION 
  (INTErPErSONAL)
  you’ve been trained in the EMAT Protocol, a series 
  of observational techniques used to identify signs of 
  mind control or mental influence. To use them, you 
  must speak to the subject, making intense eye contact. 
  The apparent subject matter of the conversation 
  means little to the outcome: it can be an impassioned 
  exchange on a serious subject, or can consist entirely 
  of innocuous small talk. 
  While speaking, you introduce a series of keywords 
  more important for their rhythmic effect than their 
  meaning. By observing subtle unconscious responses 
  in the subject, especially eye movements and changes 
  in breathing pattern, you can tell whether he is 
  currently under mutant mental influence, or has been 
  in the recent past. If you’re especially fortunate, you 
  can also identify the particular power used on the 
  subject. (When it is convenient to the mystery to know 
  the type of power, you can name it specifically. When it 
  would blow a plot point best revealed later, you learn 
  of the influence but can’t pinpoint the particular ability 
  used. When the power used is of no great relevance to 
  the mystery, it’s available as a 1-point spend.)
  Any power which allows or requires the subject to 
  defend with a Stability test can be detected with this 
  ability. These include: Emotion Control, Illusion, Induce 
  Aggression, Induce Fear, Induce Mental Disorder, 
  Observe Dreams, Memory Alteration, Nondescript, 
  Possession, Read Minds, Sexual Chemistry, and 
  Telepathy.
  Unfortunately, the EMAT techniques are of no great 
  help in breaking a subject of mental influence.
  you can also identify at a glance people who are Trance 
  Susceptible. 
  A subject can prevent you from attempting the EMAT 
  protocol by avoiding eye contract and refusing to 
  engage you in conversation. This is a telling refusal, 
  as the protocol is usually exculpatory. It is much more 
  common for suspects to insist on a protocol, even when 
  they have not been influenced, than to refuse one.
  
  23
  INTErrOGATION (INTErPErSONAL)
  you’re trained in extracting information from suspects 
  and witnesses in the context of a formal police-style 
  interview. This must take place in an official setting, 
  where the subject is confined or feels under threat of 
  confinement, and recognizes your authority (whether 
  real or feigned.)
  INTIMIdATION (INTErPErSONAL)
  you elicit cooperation from suspects by seeming 
  physically imposing, invading their personal space, 
  and adopting a psychologically commanding manner. 
  Intimidation may involve implied or direct threats of 
  physical violence but is just as often an act of mental 
  dominance.  you can:
  • gain information
  • inspire the subject to leave the area
  • quell a subject’s desire to attempt violence 
  against you or others 
  LANGUAGES (ACAdEMIC)
  For each rating point in Languages, you are verbally 
  fluent and literate in one language other than your 
  native tongue. you may specify these when you create 
  your character, or choose opportunistically in the 
  course of play, revealing that you just happen to speak 
  Javanese when circumstances require it. you are not 
  learning the language spontaneously but revealing a 
  hitherto unmentioned fact about your character. you 
  may elect to be literate in an ancient language which 
  is no longer spoken. 
  LAw (ACAdEMIC)
  you are familiar with the criminal and civil laws of your 
  home jurisdiction, and broadly acquainted with foreign 
  legal systems. At a rating of 2 or more, you are a bar-
  certified attorney. you can:
  • assess the legal risks attendant on any course 
  of action
  • understand lawyerly jargon
  • argue with police and prosecutors
  LINGUISTICS (ACAdEMIC)
  you are an expert in the principles and structures 
  underlying languages. you can probably speak other 
  Languages, but that is a separate ability that must be 
  purchased separately. you can:
  • given a large enough sample of text, decipher 
  the basic meaning of an unknown language
  • identify the languages most similar to an 
  unknown language
  • identify artificial, alien and made-up languages
  NATUrAL HISTOrY (ACAdEMIC)
  you study the evolution, behavior, and biology of plants 
  and animals. you can:
  • tell when an animal is behaving strangely
  • tell whether an animal or plant is natural to a 
  given area
  • identify an animal from samples of its hair, 
  blood, bones or other tissue
  • identify a plant from a small sample
  NEGOTIATION (INTErPErSONAL)
  you are an expert in making deals with others, 
  convincing them that the best arrangement for you is 
  also the best for them. you can:
  • haggle for goods and services
  • mediate hostage situations
  • swap favors or information with others
  OCCULT STUdIES (ACAdEMIC)
  you’re an expert in the historical study of magic, 
  superstition, and hermetic practice from the stone age 
  to the present. From Satanists to the Golden Dawn, 
  you know the dates, the places, the controversies, and 
  the telling anecdotes. you can:
  • identify the cultural traditions informing a 
  ritual from examining its physical aftermath
  • supply historical facts concerning various 
  occult traditions
  • guess the intended effect of a ritual from its 
  physical aftermath
  • identify occult activities as the work of 
  informed practitioners, teenage posers, or 
  where your campaign allows it, bona fide 
  occultists
  PHOTOGrAPHY (TECHNICAL)
  you’re proficient in the use of cameras, including still 
  and video photography. you can:
  • take useful visual records of crime scenes
  • spot manual retouching or digital manipulation 
  in a photographic or video image
  • realistically retouch and manipulate images
  rEASSUrANCE (INTErPErSONAL)
  you get people to do what you want by putting them at 
  ease. you can:
  • elicit information and minor favors
  • allay fear or panic in others
  • instill a sense of calm during a crisis
  rESEArCH (ACAdEMIC)
  you know how to find factual information from books, 
  records, and official sources. you’re as comfortable 
  Standard abilitieS
  
  24
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  with a card catalog and fiche reader as with an Internet 
  search engine. The contacts file on your personal 
  digital assistant brims with phone numbers of exotic 
  and useful contacts.
  STrEETwISE (INTErPErSONAL)
  you know how to behave among crooks, gang-bangers, 
  druggies, hookers and other habitués of the criminal 
  underworld. you can:
  • deploy criminal etiquette to avoid fights and 
  conflicts
  • identify unsafe locations and dangerous people
  • gather underworld rumors
  TExTUAL ANALYSIS (ACAdEMIC)
  By studying the content of texts (as opposed to their 
  physical characteristics of documents) you can draw 
  reliable inferences about their authorship. you can:
  • determine if an anonymous text is the work of a 
  known author, based on samples of his work
  • determine the era in which a text was written
  • identify the writer’s region, and level of 
  education
  • tell a real work by an author from a false one
  TrIvIA (ACAdEMIC)
  you’re a font of apparently useless information that 
  would stand you in good stead as a contestant on a quiz 
  show. you’re especially good in the following spheres 
  of interest:
  • celebrities and entertainment
  • sports records and statistics
  • geography
  • arts and letters
  • names in the news
  This catch-all ability also allows you to know any 
  obscure fact not covered by another GUMSHOE ability. 
  (In moments of improvisatory desperation, your GM 
  may allow you to overlap with abilities which none of 
  the players at the current session possess, or which 
  no one is thinking to use.
  
  25
  General Abilities
  The rules governing general abilities introduce the 
  possibility of failure into the game, creating suspense 
  and uncertainty. Uncertain outcomes make scenes of 
  physical action more exciting. See p. 88 for how general 
  abilities are used in Tests and Contest to resolve these 
  uncertain outcomes.
  Athletics
  Driving
  Filch
  Health
  Infiltration
  Mechanics
  Medic
  Preparedness
  Scuffling
  Sense 
  Trouble
  Shooting
  Stability
  Surveillance
   general Abilities
   Unlisted abilities
  Players may propose abilities not listed 
  here. To get the cost benefit of investigative 
  abilities, they must persuasively argue for the 
  field’s direct application to investigations. If 
  no obvious family exists for an ability, it is 
  treated as a standalone. GMs should reject 
  abilities which overlap substantially with 
  current ones. The most likely sort of ability 
  to pass muster is an academic pursuit not 
  included here.
  ATHLETICS
  Athletics allows you to perform general acts of physical 
  derring-do, from running to jumping to dodging falling 
  or oncoming objects. Any physical action not covered 
  by another ability, probably falls under the rubric of 
  Athletics.
  If your Athletics rating is 8 or more, your Hit Threshold, 
  the Target Number your opponents use when 
  attempting to hit you in combat, is 4. Otherwise, your 
  Hit Threshold is 3.
  you can use Athletics to dodge blast powers (see p. 43)
  drIvING 
  you’re a skilled defensive driver, capable of wringing 
  high performance from even the most recalcitrant 
  automobile, pick-up truck, or van. you can:
  • evade or conduct pursuit
  • avoid collisions, or minimize damage from 
  general abilitieS
  
  26
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  collisions
  • spot tampering with a vehicle
  • conduct emergency repairs
  For every additional rating point in Driving, you may 
  add an additional vehicle type to your repertoire. These 
  include: motorcycle, transport truck, helicopter, or 
  airplane. you may choose exotic types, like hovercraft 
  and tanks, although these are unlikely to see regular 
  use in an investigation-based game.
  FILCH
  your nimble fingers allow you to unobtrusively 
  manipulate small objects. you can:
  • pilfer clues from a crime scene under the very 
  noses of unsuspecting authorities
  • pick pockets
  • plant objects on unsuspecting subjects
  HEALTH
  Health measures your ability to sustain injuries, resist 
  infection, and survive the effects of toxins. When 
  you get hit in the course of a fight, your Health pool 
  is diminished. A higher Health pool therefore allows 
  you to stay in a fight longer before succumbing to your 
  injuries.
  When your Health pool is depleted, you may be dazed, 
  wounded, or pushing up the daisies. For more on this, 
  see Exhaustion, Injury and Gruesome Death, p. 95. 
  INFILTrATION
  you’re good at placing yourself inside places you have 
  no right to be. you can:
  • pick locks
  • deactivate or evade security systems
  • sneak up on suspects and their hideouts, to 
  take them by surprise
  • find suitable places for forced entry, and use 
  them
  Despite its name, Infiltration is as useful for getting 
  out of places undetected as it is for getting into them.
  MECHANICS
  you’re good at building, repairing, and disabling 
  devices, from classic pit-and-pendulum traps to DvD 
  players. Given the right components, you can create 
  jury-rigged devices from odd bits of scrap. Mechanics 
  doubles as an investigative ability when used to:
  • evaluate the quality of workmanship used to 
  create an item
  • determine the identity of a handmade item’s 
  maker by comparing to known work by that 
  individual
  MEdIC
  you can perform first aid on sick or injured individuals. 
  For more on the use of this ability, see  p. 95.
  PrEPArEdNESS
  you expertly anticipate the needs of any mission by 
  packing a kit efficiently arranged with necessary gear. 
  Assuming you have immediate access to your kit, 
  you can produce whatever object the team needs to 
  overcome an obstacle. you make a simple test (p. 89); 
  if you succeed, you have the item you want. you needn’t 
  do this in advance of the adventure, but can dig into 
  your kit bag (provided you’re able to get to it) as the 
  need arises.
  Items of obvious utility to a superpowered investigation 
  do not require a test. These include but are not limited 
  to: police credentials,  handcuffs, note paper, writing 
  implements, laptop computer, a PDA with wireless 
  Internet access, mini USB drive, cell phone, various 
  types of tape, common tools and hardware, light 
  weapons, flashlights of various sizes, chem lights, 
  batteries, magnifying glasses, thermometer, and a no-
  frills audio recording device.
  Other abilities imply the possession of basic gear 
  suitable to their core tasks. Characters with Medic 
  have their own first aid kits; Photographers come with 
  cameras and accessories. If you have Shooting, you have 
  a gun, and so on. Preparedness does not intrude into 
  their territory. It covers general-purpose investigative 
  equipment, plus oddball items that suddenly come in 
  handy in the course of the story.
  The sorts of items you can produce at a moment’s 
  notice depend not on your rating or pool, but on 
  narrative credibility. If the GM determines that your 
  possession of an item would seem ludicrous or and/or 
  out of genre, you don’t get to roll for it. you simply don’t 
  have it. Any item which elicits a laugh from the group 
  when suggested is probably out of bounds.
  Inappropriate use of the Preparedness ability is like 
  pornography. your GM will know it when she sees it.
  SCUFFLING
  you can hold your own in a hand-to-hand fight, whether 
  you wish to kill, knock out, restrain, or evade your 
  opponent. 
  
  27
  general abilitieS
  SENSE TrOUBLE (GENErAL)
  This ability allows you to perceive (either with sight or 
  other senses) potential hazards to yourself or others. 
  For example, you can:
  • hear the tread of a psycho killer as he sneaks 
  up behind your cabin
  • see a skulking figure hiding in the high weeds
  • smell the singed, shredded clothing of the 
  recently-blasted mutant who lies in wait behind 
  the stairs
  • spot the metal trap door hidden beneath that 
  artfully-scattered skiff of dead leaves
  • have a bad feeling about that noise the car 
  engine has been making since you left the rest 
  stop
  Players never know the Difficulty Numbers for Sense 
  Trouble before deciding how many points to spend, 
  even in games where GMs generously inform the 
  players of other Difficulty Numbers (see p. 89).
  SHOOTING
  you are adept with firearms. 
   Firearms in 
  Mutant City Blues
  In most jurisdictions police officers are armed, 
  a notable exception being Great Britain. If 
  you don’t want HCIU officers to be armed, 
  introduce a protocol banning firearms – after 
  all –aren’t superpowers enough?
  STABILITY
  The ability is used to resist various mutant powers 
  which affect the mind, and to stave off the effects of 
  neurological and personality disorders (see p. 74). As 
  mind control powers can be powerful, you may wish to 
  invest in a high Stability (8 or more) to keep perps from 
  twisting your melon.
  SUrvEILLANCE
  you’re good at following suspects without revealing 
  your presence. you can:
  • guide a team to follow a suspect for short 
  periods, handing off to the next in sequence, so 
  the subject doesn’t realize he’s being trailed
  • use telescopic viewing equipment to keep 
  watch on a target from a distance
  • find undetectable vantage points
  • hide in plain sight
  8 or more points in Surveillance grants you 1 free point 
  of the investigative ability Electronic Surveillance.
  
  28
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  MUTANT POwErS
  This chapter provides a complete list of documented 
  enhanced powers. They are organized by category, 
  with investigative abilities appearing first, followed by 
  general abilities. Finally we detail the genetic defects 
  to which the enhanced are prone. The relationship 
  between the powers is shown on the Quade Diagram 
  (see p. 17)
  POwEr QUICk 
  rEFErENCE
  Here are all of the powers, listed in alphabetical order, 
  categorized into investigative (I) or general (G) with 
  page references. Grid references show you where the 
  power appears on the Quade Diagram.
  Power
  Type
  Grid 
  Location
  Page
  Absorption
  G
  D2
  38
  Alter form
  G
  E5
  39
  Analytic taste
  I
  C2
  30
  Armor
  G
  B2
  39
  Blade immunity
  G
  B1
  39
  Blood spray
  G
  D0
  39
  Cognition
  G
  E3
  40
  Command amphibians 
  & reptiles
  G
  C1
  40
  Command birds
  G
  A3
  40
  Command fish
  G
  A4
  41
  Command insects
  G
  D1
  41
  Command mammals
  G
  C6
  42
  Concussion beam
  G
  D3
  42
  Cure disease
  G
  E1
  42
  Deplete oxygen
  G
  A3
  44
  Detect Influence
  G/I
  F3
  44
  Disease immunity
  G
  E1
  45
  Disintegration
  G
  B2
  45
  Earth control
  G
  E6
  46
  Emotion control
  G
  F2
  46
  Empathy
  G
  F1
  47
  Endorphin control 
  (others)
  G
  E1
  47
  Endorphin control (self)
  G
  E1
  48
  Entangling hair
  G
  A1
  48
  Enter dreams
  G
  F0
  48
  Environmental 
  awareness
  I
  C6
  30
  Fangs
  G
  D1
  49
  Fire control
  G
  D3
  49
  Fire immunity
  G
  D2
  49
  Fire projection
  G
  D2
  50
  Flight
  G
  B4
  50
  Force field
  G
  F5
  50
  Gills
  G
  A4
  51
  Gravity control
  G
  E4
  51
  Healing
  G
  B3
  51
  Hearing
  I
  B6
  31
  Heat blast
  G
  B5
  52
  High energy dispersal
  G
  E4
  52
  Ice blast
  G
  A2
  52
  Illusion
  G
  E5
  52
  
  29
  Impersonate
  G
  E5
  53
  Induce aggression
  G
  C0
  53
  Induce fear
  G
  C0
  54
  Induce mental disorder
  G
  E0
  54
  Invisibility
  G
  D5
  55
  Kinetic energy dispersal
  G
  D4
  55
  Light blast
  G
  D4
  55
  Light control
  G
  D5
  56
  Lightning
  G
  E4
  56
  Lightning decisions
  G
  E3
  56
  Limb extension
  G
  C4
  56
  Magnetism
  G
  E6
  56
  Memory alteration
  G
  E2
  57
  Microvision
  I
  D6
  31
  Natural weaponry
  G
  C5
  57
  Night vision
  G
  D6
  58
  Nondescript
  G
  F0
  57
  Observe dreams
  I
  F0
  31
  Olfactory center
  I
  C6
  32
  Pain immunity
  G
  E1
  58
  Phase
  G
  B2
  58
  Plant communication
  I
  E0
  32
  Plant control
  G
  E0
  59
  Possession
  G
  D1
  59
  Precision memory
  G
  E3
  60
  Psionic blast
  G
  D3
  60
  Quills
  G
  A1
  60
  Radiation immunity
  G
  C3
  60
  Radiation projection
  G
  C3
  61
  Read minds
  I
  E2
  33
  Reduce temperature
  G
  A2
  61
  Reflexes
  G
  E4
  61
  Regeneration
  G
  B4
  61
  Resist Influence
  G
  C0
  61
  Secrete acid
  G
  C1
  62
  Self-detonation
  G
  C2
  62
  Sexual chemistry
  G
  F1
  63
  Sonar
  G
  B5
  63
  Sonic blast
  G
  B5
  64
  Spatial awareness
  I
  E6
  33
  Speed
  G
  E4
  64
  Spit acid
  G
  C1
  64
  Spontaneous 
  combustion
  G
  D3
  64
  Spread pathogen
  G
  E1
  65
  Strength
  G
  B4
  65
  Suppress explosion
  G
  C2
  66
  Suppress influence
  G
  C0
  66
  Swimming
  G
  A4
  66
  Technokinesis
  G
  E4
  66
  Technopathy
  I
  E3
  33
  Telekinesis
  G
  E6
  67
  Telepathy
  G
  F3
  68
  Teleportation
  G
  E5
  68
  Telescopic vision
  I
  D6
  69
  Thermal vision
  I
  D5
  34
  Threat calculus
  G
  E3
  69
  Touch
  I
  B2
  34
  Toxin immunity 
  (Ingested)
  G
  C4
  69
  Toxin immunity (Inhaled)
  G
  A4
  69
  Tracking
  G
  C6
  69
  Translation
  I
  F1
  34
  Transmutation
  G
  B3
  70
  venom (bite)
  G
  C1
  70
  venom (spit)
  G
  C1
  71
  venom (stinger)
  G
  C1
  71
  Wall crawling
  G
  B1
  72
  Water blast
  G
  A5
  72
  Water manipulation
  G
  A5
  72
  Webbing
  G
  B1
  72
  Wind control
  G
  A3
  73
  x-ray vision
  I
  D5
  35
  mutant powerS
  
  30
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
   
   power description
  In addition to a description of what the power 
  can do and how it works in rules terms, 
  each mutant power description includes the 
  following entries:
  Connected: names of powers directly (that is, 
  with a solid line) connected to the ability on 
  the Quade Diagram.
  Correlated: names those traits connected to 
  the ability by dotted lines.
  Defects appear in the above two entries in 
  italicized text.
  If an individual with this ability exhibits 
  obvious anatomical adaptations which have 
  not already been described in the body of the 
  entry, these are described under the entry 
  labeled visual cues.
  Slang terms: indicates popular street names 
  for the power, or its use. As is the case with 
  slang, etymologies are sometimes obscure.
  Some abilities include discussions of legal 
  ramifications surrounding their use.
  INvESTIGATIvE 
  POwErS
  Mutant investigative powers form their own category, 
  standing alongside the core GUMSHOE categories: 
  Academic, Technical and Interpersonal.
  ANALYTIC TASTE
  your sense of taste is superhuman, and you have, 
  by trial and error, trained yourself to use it as a 
  precision instrument. you function as a walking, 
  talking chemical analysis lab, able to instantly detect 
  the composition of nearly any object you can touch 
  your tongue to. By distinguishing fine gradations 
  of taste, you can, for example, match a sample of 
  heroin to the precise batch it came from, or conduct 
  a comparative analysis of soil samples. Although 
  you may for good reason be reluctant to do so, you 
  can even identify blood types from small samples, 
  or derive similar identifying or typing information 
  from other bodily fluids.
  Some individuals with analytic taste suffer from 
  high revulsion thresholds and can only enjoy the 
  purest, most perfect foods. Others become inured 
  to traditional pleasures associated with the sense 
  of taste, or become passionate connoisseurs of 
  substances ordinary people consider inedible.
  When using this sense, you consume, at most, only 
  trace quantities of the substances you test. Analytic 
  taste grants no ability to digest inedible matter.
  Although this power grants no poison immunity, 
  only the most toxic of substances will harm you in 
  the tiny trace quantities required for analysis.
  Grid: C2
  Connected: Suppress Explosion, Secrete acid, 
  venom (bite).
  slang terms: “The Bud”, Slurping, Tastee
  ENvIrONMENTAL AwArENESS
  Like an animal, your sensory apparatus constantly 
  monitors dozens of barely perceptible cues from 
  the natural environment. When a natural disaster 
  such as an earthquake or tsunami is in the offing, 
  your instinctive senses automatically detect it, long 
  before any ordinary human.
  you can spot disturbances in the natural order, 
  sense the distress of an area’s wildlife population, 
  and instinctively assess  its environmental health.
  Some people with this mutation come to regard 
  urban environments as unbearably disturbing. The 
  overwhelming sounds and smells of mechanized life 
  oppress them terribly, prompting them to seek out 
  a hermit-like existence in an isolated wilderness.
  Environmental Awareness points can in some 
  instances be spent on Sense Trouble tests, provided 
  that the hidden danger in question is somehow 
  distressing to its flora and fauna.
  Positive example: An invisible, odorless nerve 
  agent sweeps through a forest, killing wildlife. 
  Animals on the periphery of the gas experience 
  distress as they die horribly. You can spend any 
  number of Environmental Awareness points to 
  increase the result of your Sense Trouble roll.
  Negative example: A sniper draws a bead on 
  you as you relax on the shore of an unspoiled 
  lake. Various birds and woodland creatures are 
  vaguely aware of him, but don’t perceive him as 
  a threat. Environmental Awareness points can’t 
  
  31
  mutant powerS
  be spent on Sense Trouble tests to notice his 
  presence.
  Grid: C6
  Connected: Command mammals, Tracking.
  slang terms: Wolf sense, green sense, algorey
  HEArING
  your sense of hearing exceeds that of an ordinary 
  human. you can hear sounds from a long distance. 
  The auditory processing centers in your brain can 
  act as on-the-fly sound editors and enhancers, 
  cutting out background noise, zeroing in on a 
  particular frequency, or maximizing sound from a 
  single source (such as a pair of people conversing in 
  the middle of a large crowd.) you can even mentally 
  replay a garbled noise, for example a misheard word 
  or phrase, in order to make it out properly. Once 
  you’ve identified a sound you can mentally compare 
  it to another sound, to see if it derives from a similar 
  or identical source.
  you can pick up most clues available to a user of the 
  Electronic Surveillance ability, though, for obvious 
  reasons, you are unable to create recordings for 
  later study or use as evidence.
  Grid: B6
  Connected: Blindness
  Correlated: Olfactory Center
  slang terms: eavesdrop, earwig, gondo
  MICrOvISION
  you can selectively alter your visual perceptions to 
  examine items at a high level of magnification, from 
  that of an ordinary light microscope (around 1500x) 
  to that of an electron microscope (up to 50 million 
  times.) In tandem with certain technical investigative 
  abilities, microvision may allow you to perform 
  complicated lab studies instantaneously, right at the 
  crime scene. It can be used to enhance or speed up 
  the use of Ballistics, Chemistry, and Fingerprinting.
  Grid: D6
  Connected: Night vision
  slang terms: Scoping, sliding, m-peeping
  OBSErvE drEAMS
  When within direct visual perception range of a 
  sleeping individual undergoing REM sleep, you are 
  able to enter a trance state, close your eyes, and see 
  the subject’s dreams. you see what the subject is 
  dreaming from his point of view. you are unable to 
  control the circumstances of the dream, or control 
  the dreamer’s actions within it. (The general mutant 
  ability Enter Dreams allows you to do this under 
  certain circumstances.)
  you may share the dreamer’s emotions, experiencing 
  fear, sorrow, or sexual arousal. To shut down 
  these feelings, make a Stability test (Difficulty 4.) 
  Emotionally raw subjects, with Stability pools of 3 or 
  less, add 2 to your Difficulty.
  The dreamer remains unaware of your intrusion, 
  unless he becomes lucid during the dream. Individuals 
  whose dreams are being observed, and who possess 
  any of the following abilities, may become lucid on a 
  Stability test (Difficulty 5): Empathy, Enter Dreams, 
  Observe Dreams, Possession, Psionic Blast, Read 
  Minds, and Telepathy.
  Upon awakening, subjects with any of these abilities 
  may, on a Difficulty 4 Stability test, retroactively 
  sense that their dreams were observed.
  
  32
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Legal ramifications: Observing an individual’s 
  dreams without a legal warrant is a felony 
  punishable by a prison term of up to five years. 
  HCIU officers must, working through prosecutors, 
  demonstrate probable cause before obtaining a 
  dream observation warrant. Witnessed dreams 
  are admissible in court but, as unfiltered material 
  from the subject’s unconscious mind, can be easily 
  reinterpreted by any halfway competent defense 
  lawyer.
  Grid: F0
  Connected: Enter Dreams, Empathy, Schizophrenia
  slang 
  terms: 
  sandmanning, 
  nodding, 
  dreampeeping
  OLFACTOrY CENTEr
  you can detect and process smells to a degree 
  far superior to a normal human. By practicing 
  comparative smell-testing, you have become adept 
  at identifying and distinguishing various smells.
  If you have the Tracking ability, you can spend 
  Olfactory Center points on Tracking tests, provided 
  that the target’s smell is somehow a factor in your 
  attempt to follow him. 
  Grid: C6
  Connected: Tracking
  Correlated: Hearing, Night vision
  slang terms: Stinkread, sniffing, inhale-o-vision
  PLANT COMMUNICATION
  you can attune yourself to the electromagnetic, 
  non-sentient consciousness of plants, gleaning 
  information on the following and similar subjects:
  • Has the area been disturbed recently?
  • Have any traumatic events happened here 
  lately?
  • Have there been any storms lately?
  • Is a storm coming?
  • Is the soil moist?
  • Is the soil well fertilized?
  • What is eating the plants here, and to what 
  extent?
  you are not literally talking to the plants, but sensing 
  the answers based on their general health and the 
  state of their electromagnetic auras.
  Grid: E0
  Connected: Plant Control, Spread Pathogen
  slang terms: greenspeak, mulch-mouth, Stevie 
  Wondrous
   power description
  In most settings where characters possess 
  extraordinary abilities, like magic spells, 
  psionic abilities or mystical fu powers, 
  it is never quite clear to what degree the 
  inhabitants of the world are aware of the 
  game’s rules artifacts. When a sorcerer casts 
  a magic missile spell, does he call it a magic 
  missile? Does an abomination know he uses a 
  feat called Absorptive Tentacles?
  In Mutant City Blues, not only the characters, 
  but everyday inhabitants of the world, are 
  well aware of the existence of mutant powers. 
  They refer to them by the names given here. 
  These were defined by Dr. Lucius Quade and 
  his team of anamorphologists, first in a series 
  of scientific papers and finally in his popular 
  book, The New Helix.
  Few people have the Quade Diagram 
  memorized, just as few people know the 
  Periodic Table by heart1. But even kids 
  understand that it exists, and can easily access 
  it with a quick Internet search. The idea that 
  the various powers appear in an immutable 
  pattern of genetic relationships has seeped 
  down into popular culture, the same way that 
  people in our world know that DNA can be 
  used to conclusively identify people.
  Mutants who are out of the closet about 
  their parahuman powers may discuss them 
  openly. They may list their mutant abilities 
  in their profiles on social networking sites. 
  At social gatherings, mutants tend to cluster 
  together. In some circles, that stock question 
  of awkward small talk, “What do you do?”, 
  refers not to your occupation, but your super 
  powers. 
  In everyday conversation, people sometimes 
  alter the names of powers. You say Observe 
  Dreams, I say Dream Observation. Nicknames 
  for the powers are also common: you might 
  here “dreampeeping” more often than either 
  formal term.
  1 Yes, we realize that a disproportionately high number 
  of people reading book this have committed the periodic 
  table to memory. Still, you get our point, right?
  
  33
  rEAd MINdS
  you can read the surface thoughts of any individual 
  within your direct, unaided line of sight. Subjects’ 
  sub-vocal thoughts register in your central auditory 
  system, as if they are whispering in your ear. At 
  your default level of concentration, you can’t direct 
  subjects’ thoughts, but merely eavesdrop on what 
  they are already thinking. Sub-vocal thoughts tend to 
  be much more fragmentary and loopingly repetitive 
  than spoken speech. you gain 1 point of information 
  for each Read Minds point you spend.
  Subjects with the abilities Empathy, Read Minds, 
  and Telepathy automatically detect your attempt to 
  read their thoughts. They can block it by paying more 
  points from any one of those abilities than you are 
  willing to pay to overwhelm their mental defenses. 
  Both you and the subject lose any points put up for 
  bid in this process.
  By spending 5 Read Minds points, you can drill 
  down into a subject’s memory, finding the answer 
  to a single question. This process is noticeably 
  invasive, even to victims without the above-named 
  powers. They must make Stability tests with your 
  Read Minds pool as the Difficulty, or suffer a mental 
  crisis (see p. 102.) you may reduce the Difficulty 
  of victims’ Stability tests by 1 for each Read Mind 
  point you spend for this purpose. Whether or not 
  they suffer mental crises, subjects experience 
  hangover-like symptoms which persist for about 
  forty-eight hours. Also, they become obsessed with 
  matters related to your question for a period of a 
  week or so. victims without the above-mentioned 
  powers probably know they’ve been mind-raped 
  but, without additional information, can’t identify 
  you as the perp. With those powers, they are able 
  to identify you.
  Information gleaned by mind reading is accurate 
  but subjective. If the subject is self-deceptive, 
  delusional or simply misinformed, the facts you 
  extract will be incorrect. Bullshit Detector can’t 
  help you sort out true from false belief.
  Legal ramifications: Mind reading without either 
  the subject’s consent or a legal warrant is a felony 
  punishable by up to twenty years in prison. HCIU 
  officers must work with prosecutors to secure 
  warrants, supplying a judge with probable cause. 
  They may testify in court to information gathered 
  via mind reading, but, given the known propensity 
  of mind readers to become obsessed with, and 
  stalk, their subjects (see Erotomania, p. 78), they 
  are easily discredited in court. Information gained 
  from mind reading is thus more likely to be used 
  to develop a case, or to gather intelligence on an 
  exigent basis, than as trial evidence.
  In addition to the above restrictions, Read Minds is 
  an Article 18 power; see p. 124.
  Grid: E2
  Connected: Erotomania
  slang terms: brain rape, grayreading, spooking
  SPATIAL AwArENESS
  your brain manifests a superhuman command of 
  three-dimensional information. you can perfectly 
  measure distances by sight. you can calculate a 
  complex set of bullet trajectories in your head, 
  instantly garnering results that would take a 
  mundane crime scene technician, working with a 
  complicated set-up of threads or lasers, hours to 
  complete. you can intuit the precise movements 
  and actions undertaken at a crime scene merely 
  by comparing the relationships between disturbed 
  mutant powerS
  
  34
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  objects and such other indicators of movement as 
  blood spatters and footprints.
  This ability also improves your Shooting. Spend 2 
  Spatial Awareness points to increase your Damage 
  Modifier with missile weapons by 1 for the duration 
  of a single combat. you may not increase your 
  modifier by more than 1, or increase the damage 
  modifier of a blast power.
  Grid: E6
  Connected: 
  Earth 
  Control, 
  Telekinesis, 
  Teleportation
  Correlated: Night vision
  slang 
  terms: 
  panoramix, 
  laserbrain, 
  vector 
  detector
  TECHNOPATHY
  Technopathy allows you to extract information 
  from any machine that stores digital data, such 
  as a computer hard drive. It functions as a more 
  impressive, faster version of Data Retrieval—you 
  get clues without having to make a test or spend 
  points. If Data Retrieval spends are available in 
  a scene, and you touch the computers or other 
  machines containing the information, you gain them 
  automatically, without spending Data Retrieval 
  points. you must touch the item where the data is 
  stored; contact with a computer monitor in one room 
  does not permit you to access information from a 
  server in another part of a building. However, you 
  can access a wi-fi network simply by touching the 
  copper contact points of a laptop wireless card to 
  your tongue.
  Legal Ramifications: In many instances, Technopathy 
  allows you to gather electronic information covertly 
  and non-invasively. However, evidence gathered 
  this way is not admissible in court.
  Grid: E3
  Connected: Cognition
  slang terms: carding, malpathy, fishing
  THErMAL vISION
  you can, at will, alter your perceptions so that you 
  see the infrared spectrum instead of the normal 
  visible spectrum. This allows you to see the heat 
  signatures given off by creatures and objects, as if 
  you are peering through a thermographic imager. 
  Thermal vision grants you a limited ability to see 
  through walls, provided that the walls are about as 
  thin as those in a normal house. you see only heat 
  sources, and their rough shapes, on the other side 
  of the wall.
  Legal ramifications: In what many regard as a legal 
  inconsistency, use of thermographic imagers is 
  not regarded as an unreasonable search. Evidence 
  procured through it is fully admissible without a 
  search warrant. The ruling predates the SME, but 
  has since been applied to mutant powers as well as 
  to ordinary thermal technology.
  Grid: D5
  Connected: Voyeurism, x-Ray vision
  slang terms: thermo, t-peeping, “the hots”
  TOUCH
  your sense of touch is incredibly sensitive, even 
  through a set of extra-thin latex gloves. you can find 
  minute pieces of trace evidence with your fingertips, 
  detect tiny flaws in objects, and differentiate 
  between materials by the feel of their surfaces. In 
  past cases, you have performed feats such as the 
  following:
  
  35
  • Finding well hidden safes and 
  compartments.
  • Determining that a door knob at a crime 
  scene had been recently replaced, leading 
  to the discovery of a damaged knob in the 
  suspect’s possession.
  • From the depth of microscopic indentations, 
  determining that a document supposedly 
  made by a particular antique typewriter was 
  in fact produced by a different model.
  Grid: B5
  Connected: Phase, Reduce Temperature
  slang terms: feely, the rubs, Braille-o-vision
  TrANSLATION
  you comprehend all languages, written or spoken, 
  living or dead. When confronted with an unfamiliar 
  language, you must hear or read about a hundred 
  words of it. Hieroglyphic or symbolic languages 
  require a sample size of two hundred symbols, and 
  a study time of ten to twenty minutes.
  Grid: F1
  Connected: Empathy
  slang terms: babelry, altavizio, hieroglyptics
  x-rAY vISION
  you can alter your normal vision to see through 
  solid objects of a total thickness of up to 1 meter, 
  at a maximum distance equal to your normal vision. 
  you can adjust your vision to concentrate on the 
  depth of field you’re interested in, within this range. 
  Thickness is treated cumulatively if you’re seeing 
  through multiple objects space some distance 
  apart: you can see through a six-inch wall if no other 
  obstructions sit between you and your target, but 
  will be thwarted if a truck packed tight with cargo 
  pulls up in front of it. Any thickness of lead blocks 
  the power completely.
  When using this ability, you emit trace quantities 
  of radiation, which is detectable with a sensitive 
  Geiger counter.
  Legal ramifications: Several mutants have been 
  sued in cases where they are alleged to have used 
  their x-Ray vision to watch a particular subject for 
  sustained periods, causing the subject to contract 
  cancer. Although these cases have yet to wend 
  their way through the courts, HCIU officers with 
  x-Ray vision must follow strict health guidelines to 
  minimize the amount of time any living organism is 
  exposed to their radiation.
  Mutants with this power are sometimes hired as 
  bodyguards by tabloid celebrities. They use their 
  x-Ray vision to fog film used by paparazzi. This 
  has resulted in several lawsuits. Many paparazzi 
  have abandoned film for digital cameras. (Privacy-
  conscious celebs reacted to this countermeasure by 
  also hiring bodyguards with the Magnetism ability, 
  used to wipe memory cards.)
  Grid: D5
  Connected: Light Control, Thermal vision
  slang terms: bone-sight, the Ray, xRv, panty 
  detector
  mutant powerS
  
  36
  THE FISH’s wife
  “R
  eady?” Cece asked.
  Lomax breathed in deep and lowered his squared shoulders, 
  softening his stance for maximum reassurance. He didn’t 
  like this part of the job, but he was good at it. “Ready,” he 
  said, gently ringing the doorbell.
  A plump, pale woman, her dirty blond hair clinging to her 
  shoulders in limp, unwashed curls, opened the door for 
  them. She drew back, afraid, as if instinctively aware that 
  the two drably clad people on the doorstep had come as 
  bearers of bad news.
  “Margaret Stagg?” Lomax asked.
  She nodded. Margaret wore rose-colored sweats, the top 
  and bottom from slightly different outfits.
  Lomax badged her solemnly. “I’m Detective Lomax and 
  this is Detective Chu. We’re from the Heightened Crimes 
  Investigation Unit. Can we come in?”
  Margaret Stagg sobbed on a pastel floral print sofa. Lomax 
  handed her a tissue. Cece held back, drifting discreetly 
  through the room. In the guise of admiring Mrs. Stagg’s 
  figurine collection, she was scoping their modest bungalow 
  for plain-sight clues. 
  Lomax patted the widow on the shoulder. “Don’t be afraid 
  to let it out,” he said. She wasn’t bullshitting them; the 
  shock and mourning were genuine.
  “For all his faults, he was a good person.” The Fish’s wife 
  gasped in racking gulps of air. “Maybe he talked a little 
  big. Said yes to everyone, when he should have said no. Let 
  people take advantage of him. But he didn’t deserve this.”
  Lomax took her hand and held it, applying just the right 
  pressure. “No one does. Mrs. Stagg, it’s our job to see that 
  the person who did this, pays.”
   “I told him this would happen,” she said, blowing her 
  nose. “But he wouldn’t—couldn’t—stop himself.”
  
  37
  “From what?”
  “Gambling,” she sniffled. “Michael owned hundreds of 
  thousands of dollars in collectible comics. We were going 
  to buy a bigger place out on the island. Then he got hooked, 
  and it all went through his fingers.”
  “He owed people money?”
  “Michael would never tell me who, but if you have his cell 
  phone, it’s number two on his speed dial.”
  The halls of Joe Leone’s building might have been dotted 
  with rat and cockroach droppings, but the interior was 
  sure plush. Velvet upholstery. Oak furnishings. A wall 
  of plasma screens displaying every ESPN channel, plus 
  satellite feeds besides. Leone was thin, jumpy, in his 
  late fifties, sporting a Platinum Rolex and thick loops of 
  gold around his neck. He gestured at the detectives with 
  nicotine-stained fingers.
  “I let you in here as a courtesy, and also because you 
  represented yourselves under somewhat false pretenses,” 
  he said. Microscopic spots of perspiration appeared along 
  his upper lip. “I don’t got to share no information with 
  you, incriminating or otherwise.”
  Lomax deployed his best buddy-buddy smile. “Joe, Joe, 
  we’re HCIU. Since when is a little sports book among our 
  concerns?”
  His face grew paler still. “HCIU, huh?” Leone seemed to 
  be unhappily contemplating the various unearthly powers 
  these cops he’d let into his apartment might be able to 
  throw at him. “Nonetheless. Me and my clients, I tell them 
  it’s like priest-penitent confidentiality.”
  “Nice TVs you got here,” Cecilia said. “What they set you 
  back, total? Fifty K? Sixty?”
  Joe clearly did not like where this line of questioning was 
  going.
  Cecilia, having secured his attention, held her forefingers 
  about six inches apart. A blue- white arc of electricity 
  jumped between them. The air snapped and sizzled.
  “You can’t…” Joe trailed off, trembling.
  “I wouldn’t want to leave any burns on you, Mr. Leone,” 
  Cece said. “But you know the crazy thing about plasma 
  screens? Once their charge gets screwed up, they’re 
  completely unrepairable.”
  “You couldn’t!”
  “Hard to prove,” Lomax mused.
  The bookie’s eyes raked over his array of big screens. He 
  sank into his burgundy couch, deflated. “What do you 
  want to know?”
  Lomax asked the questions. “Stagg was into you for how 
  much?”
  “Mid five figures.”
  “And how far is that from your whacking threshold, Joe?”
  “Hey, I am a man of peace.”
  “But I bet your investors aren’t. You think we didn’t ask 
  around about you before we came here, Joe?”
  He tugged at his collar like a malnourished Rodney 
  Dangerfield. “He was down a bunch, but he was still a 
  good customer.”
  “How did you figure that?”
  “He told me he had big money coming to him. Something 
  to do with that nerd-bait he was involved with.” Joe Leone 
  laughed. “Mike Stagg, mutant hero. His biggest super 
  power was missing the point spread every time.” 
  “Nerd bait?”
  “His comic book.”
  
  38
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  General Powers
  The following mutant powers are all treated as general 
  abilities.
  range: Some powers are ranged, allowing you to 
  produce an effect from a distance. If a power is 
  described as ranged, but no specific range is given, 
  that distance varies in accordance with your current 
  pool value in the ability. If it is 3 or less, your range is 
  twenty-five meters. When your pool is between 4 and 
  6, it is fifty meters. If your pool is 7 or more, your range 
  is one hundred meters.
  ABSOrPTION
  you can absorb the powers of other mutants, briefly 
  wielding them yourself. To do so, you must be touching 
  the subject, and succeed at an Absorption test. The 
  base Difficulty equals the subject’s pool in the ability 
  you’re attempting to absorb. If you, in the immediately 
  previous combat round, damaged the subject with your 
  bare hands, reduce the Difficulty by 25%, rounding up. 
  If you have just damaged the subject with your Fangs 
  (a connected power), reduce the Difficulty by 50%. (you 
  qualify for only one of these reductions.)
  If you succeed, you may now wield one of the victim’s 
  powers. you choose which power to absorb. you may 
  spend 5 Absorption points to rob the victim of the power 
  until you relinquish it; otherwise he may continue to 
  access it, too.
  If the absorbed power requires or allows you to spend 
  points to use it, you spend Absorption points as if they 
  are points in the borrowed ability.
  you retain access to the power for an hour. Before it 
  elapses, you may spend an additional Absorption point 
  to extend the duration for another hour.
  When you absorb another power, you must spend 7 
  Absorption points, or relinquish all other absorbed 
  powers you’re currently maintaining. you may
   Believability vs. 
  Balance
  To reinforce the notion that the powers of 
  the Quade diagram are genetic mutations 
  existing in a believable world of cause-and-
  effect, the various general abilities have not 
  been carefully balanced against one another. 
  The real world is not game balanced: some 
  abilities or items of technology are flat-
  out better than others. General powers in 
  Mutant City Blues work the same way. Some 
  grant their users a terrifying impact on their 
  environment and others around them, while 
  others are comparatively unimpressive. 
  Neither are all abilities intended to be popular 
  and useful choices for player characters 
  working as police detectives. If players 
  gravitate toward some abilities and not 
  others, so be it. This too reflects the reality 
  of the setting, indicating that enhanced 
  individuals with certain power sets would 
  be more likely to prosper in law enforcement 
  than others.
  This preference for reality simulation over 
  game balance is specific to the feel of Mutant 
  City Blues. Other GUMSHOE settings could 
  equally easily favor balance over simulation, 
  or another design priority over either element. 
  For a more traditional supers game discarding 
  the Quade Diagram and SME backstory, you 
  may wish to dampen certain powers and 
  boost others, or impose different acquisition 
  costs for various general powers, based on 
  their perceived efficacy.
  
  39
  relinquish a power regardless of how far you are from 
  the person you absorbed it from, or what barriers lie 
  between you.
  If you are reduced to 0 or fewer Health points, all 
  powers relinquish immediately.
  Grid: D2
  Connected: Fangs
  slang terms: spongeworthy, the squish, Nolte, suck-
  up
  ALTEr FOrM
  you can change your physical appearance, including 
  your facial structure, build, weight, coloration, and 
  even apparent gender. It costs 3 Alter Form points to 
  adopt a new appearance, plus 1 point for every 15 kg 
  of weight difference between your real form and the 
  adopted one, and 1 point for every 15 cm of height 
  difference.
  If the new form is 30 or more kilograms lighter or 
  heavier than you, or 30 cm or more shorter or taller, 
  your sense of coordination suffers. The Difficulty of all 
  Athletics, Scuffling and Shooting tests increases by 1.
  you remain in the altered form for one hour, after which 
  point you must spend 1 point per hour to remain in that 
  form. Returning to your true form costs nothing.
  you can’t convincingly mimic the exact form of a known 
  person; to do that requires the connected ability 
  Impersonate.
  When you alter your form to a member of the opposite 
  sex, you acquire the outward characteristics, but 
  not the internal organs to match. To cite an obvious 
  example, you can’t change into a woman and have 
  satisfying sex, much less become pregnant.
  your new form must fall within the range of human 
  possibilities: you can’t give yourself a wolf head, grow 
  wings, or replicate the anatomical changes brought on 
  by other mutant powers.
  Grid: E5
  Connected: Impersonate
  slang 
  terms: 
  blobbing, 
  morphing, 
  switch-out, 
  zeligging
  ArMOr
  At will, you can cause your skin to harden to the 
  consistency of a rhino’s hide. Like anyone’s, your skin 
  cells contain a fibrous structural protein called keratin. 
  This power causes your keratin to swell and harden on 
  command.
  Even more so than a real rhino’s hide, armor protects 
  you against kinetic impact, including bullets, blunt 
  force, and unarmed blows in hand to hand combat, as 
  well as injuries sustained when you fall or get crushed. 
  For every 3 Armor points spent when activating your 
  power, you reduce any instance of damage from any of 
  those sources by 1 damage point.
  It takes about a minute to activate your armor, and 
  about ten to relax your keratin back to its normal 
  state. The armor is extremely itchy; after you’ve had 
  it activated for about ten minutes, the discomfort and 
  distraction you suffer increases the Difficulty of all 
  general ability tests by 1. The itch recedes five minutes 
  after you’ve deactivated your armor.
  Grid: B2
  Connected: Blade Immunity
  slang terms: rhino, hairy, kevin
  BLAdE IMMUNITY
  When struck with any cutting or stabbing weapon, 
  including the natural weapons of animals and your 
  fellow mutants, your skin cells arrange themselves to 
  deflect the blade of your enemy’s weapon. After you 
  are struck with such a blow, you may spend 1 Blade 
  Immunity point to reduce the damage dealt to 0.
  Grid: B1
  Connected: 
  Armor, 
  Scleroderma, 
  Quills, 
  Wall 
  Crawling
  Correlated: Secrete Acid
  slang terms: turnaway, knifeslip, schmenkel
  BLOOd SPrAY
  you can perform a ranged attack in which you send a 
  high-pressure spray of your own blood gushing from 
  your mouth. you hit your target on a successful Blood 
  Spray test. If you hit, the opponent must make an 
  Athletics test, the Difficulty of which equals 4 plus any 
  Blood Spray points you spent on the attack. If he fails 
  the test, he is knocked over and must, in lieu of his 
  next attack, make an Athletics test (against the same 
  Difficulty) in order to regain his footing. If he fails, he 
  continues to slip on the blood, losing further attacks 
  until he finally succeeds.
  A blood spray attack inspires instinctive revulsion. 
  Anyone within direct visual range must make a 
  general powerS
  
  40
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Stability test or suffer the urge to flee. victims with the 
  Olfactory Center power add your Blood Spray pool to 
  the Difficulty of this test. 
  Characters who do not flee suffer ill effects while 
  they remain able to see and smell your blood: their 
  Hit Thresholds decrease by 1, and the Hit Thresholds 
  of anyone they’re attempting to attack effectively 
  increases by 1.
  In addition to any Blood Spray points you spend, each 
  use of this power costs you 3 Health points. Health 
  points lost to Blood Spray use can be refreshed with 
  a large meal of red meat, washed down with large 
  quantities of orange juice or a similarly sugary drink, 
  followed by an hour’s nap.
  Clever mutants will also find non-combat uses for 
  this outré power: for example, to cover the lenses of 
  inconvenient security cameras.
  Legal ramifications: Individuals using this power in 
  the commission of crimes are easily convicted. To use 
  this power is to cover a crime scene with one’s DNA.
  Grid: D0
  Connected: Command Insects
  slang terms: toad-eye, go-gore, splashing
  COGNITION
  your brain exhibits the raw calculating power of an 
  advanced supercomputer. you are able to perform 
  complex mathematical calculations off the top of your 
  head.
  This general ability allows you to identify moments 
  when players, including yourself, arrive at an 
  essentially correct interpretation of facts gathered 
  using your investigative abilities. you may at any time 
  spend 3 Cognition points to test the validity of a theory 
  of the case at hand. The GM responds by telling you 
  whether the theory is hot, warm, cold, or freezing. As 
  per the traditional kid’s game of hotter-colder, hot 
  means that you’re correct, or very close to it, and cold 
  means that you’re far from the mark.
  The GM may also simply respond that you haven’t 
  got enough information to come up with a rationally 
  grounded theory. To qualify for analysis by the 
  Cognition power, the reconstruction of an event must 
  be reasonably complete. Generally speaking, it must 
  name a suspect, describe the method by which the 
  crime was committed, and stipulate a motive. It must 
  also account for any puzzling anomalies surrounding 
  the event you’re investigating. Cognition doesn’t help 
  you to identify lucky guesses or tell you, without 
  evidence, whether a particular likely-seeming 
  suspect is indeed the perpetrator. 
  Sometimes a player will lay out a correct theory of 
  the case and then immediately discard or forget it. 
  After some time has passed, if the group continues 
  to head off in a less productive direction, the GM may 
  tell you that someone at some point already hit on 
  the correct theory. She does not specify when this 
  happened, who said it, or what the theory was. This 
  use of Cognition costs no points.
  Grid: E3
  Connected: 
  Telepathy, 
  Technopathy, 
  Precision 
  Memory
  Correlated: Lightning Decisions
  visual 
  cues: 
  Individuals 
  possess 
  slightly 
  to 
  dramatically convex foreheads, accommodating their 
  enlarged frontal lobes.
  slang terms: bumhead, calc, lobey
  COMMANd AMPHIBIANS & rEPTILES
  you can order amphibians and reptiles to perform 
  simple tasks in accordance with their instincts and 
  physical capabilities. you can prompt the creatures 
  to swarm en masse on a chosen point. venomous 
  snakes and reptiles can be induced to bite specific 
  targets. Alligators and crocodiles can be sent out to 
  attack, or ordered to guard particular sites as if they 
  contain the animals’ own eggs.
  With each use of the ability, you may affect any number 
  of creatures of a given zoological order, within the 
  range of your power. The orders are: crocodilia, 
  squamata (lizards and snakes), and testudines 
  (turtles and tortoises.)
  Amphibians and reptiles aren’t known for their long 
  attention spans, so lengthy or sustained actions call 
  for high Difficulty numbers.
  Grid: C1
  Connected: Panic Disorder, venom (Spit)
  Correlated: Command Insects
  COMMANd BIrdS
  you can command birds to perform simple tasks 
  in accordance with their instincts and physical 
  capabilities. Birds that can be trained, such as hawks 
  and parrots, can be imprinted instantaneously with 
  
  41
  general powerS
  more complex behaviors. These behaviors must be in 
  line with what a handler could, over time, train the 
  birds to do. you can get a mynah to repeat a particular 
  phrase, but he’ll never defuse a bomb for you.
  With a single use of this power, you can command 
  any number of birds who normally flock together. In 
  other words, you can command as many seagulls as 
  can be found within the ability’s range, or a mating 
  pair of falcons.
  Grid: A3
  Connected: Wind Control
  slang terms: Lancaster, hawking, feathering
  COMMANd FISH
  you can command fish to perform simple tasks 
  in accordance with their instincts and physical 
  capabilities. Mostly this means that you can get them 
  to swim en masse in a particular direction. Predatory 
  fish can be induced to attack chosen targets.
  With a single use of this power, you can command any 
  number of fish who normally school together.
  If your rating in Command Fish exceeds 8, you can also 
  command octopuses, squid, lobsters and crayfish. 
  The octopus exhibits surprising intelligence and can 
  perform an array of complex underwater tasks.
  Grid: A4
  Connected: Swimming
  slang terms: minnowing, aqua, blubbing, Nemo
  COMMANd INSECTS
  you can command insects, worms, and spiders, 
  within the highly restrictive limits of their ingrained 
  behavior and physical capabilities. Mostly this 
  means that you can get them to move en masse to a 
  particular location. you can command fireflies to fly 
  together in a lantern-like grouping, station poisonous 
  spiders where they are likely to sting interlopers, or 
  send plagues of locusts to strip the crops of farmers 
   Animal Command Powers
  All animal command abilities (Command Amphibians & Reptiles, Command Fish, Command 
  Insects, and Command Mammals) work as follows:
  Test your Command [Animal Type] against a Difficulty set by the GM. The Difficulty increases as 
  the gulf between the desired action and the creature’s normal range of behavior widens. If the task 
  is an ongoing one, the GM increases the Difficulty accordingly. Animals with more complicated 
  behavior patterns can perform longer-term tasks. 
  In all cases, the power operates by establishing a psychic connection with the creature’s brain 
  structures or nervous systems. The communication is one-way only, from you to the creatures. 
  They cannot convey information to you. Animal command does not render them intelligent. It is 
  possible that your character anthropomorphizes them, attributing to them personality and volition 
  they don’t in fact possess.
  Animals exhibiting strong paternal or maternal instincts can be prompted to undergo long periods 
  of hunger or sacrifice their own lives to protect something. In effect, you are hijacking these 
  instincts to your own ends. Creatures lacking these instincts behave in a more self-protective 
  manner. They’ll follow commands until they become hungry, and will then resume their standard 
  search for food.
  The range of your power is 10m per point in your Command [Animal Type] pool. The subject 
  creature(s) must be within this range when you first establish the link and issue the command. 
  After that, the distance between you and the creatures is no longer relevant: you can leave the area, 
  or command the animals to do so.
  If a creature has already been commanded by another mutant wielding the same power, you 
  can cancel the previous set of commands with a successful use of the power. Ending an existing 
  command always carries a flat Difficulty of 4. You must do the same to cancel an ongoing behavior 
  you’ve ordered yourself. To avoid having to do so, build an endpoint into your first command, so 
  that the creatures go back to their normal behavior after a specified condition is fulfilled.
  
  42
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  who’ve aroused your godlike wrath.
  With a single use of this power, you can command all 
  insects within its range.
  Grid: D1
  Connected: Blood Spray, Possession
  Correlated: Command Amphibians & Reptiles, 
  Spread Pathogen
  slang terms: the buzz, roaching, chitinator
  COMMANd MAMMALS
  you can command mammals, within the limits of their 
  instinctual behavior and physical capabilities. If an 
  animal is trainable to perform a given task, you can 
  instantly get it to reproduce this learned behavior, 
  even if this particular specimen is wild and has never 
  performed it.
  you can command as many specimens of a given 
  species as are found within your ability’s range.
  Grid: C6
  Connected: Environmental Awareness
  slang terms: furring, Rover, zigroy
  CONCUSSION BEAM
  you emit a beam of pure kinetic energy, which hits 
  your opponents with a wave of blunt force trauma, 
  visible as a rippling distortion in the air. Concussion 
  Beam is a blast power; see sidebar for details.
  Decide during character generation whether the 
  beam is emitted from your hands or eyes.
  Unlike most other blast powers, Concussion Beam is 
  not countered by High Energy Dispersal, but instead 
  by Kinetic Energy Dispersal.
  Grid: D3
  Connected: Kinetic Energy Dispersal
  slang terms: the slam, invisipunch, two-by-four
   Blast Power Options
  These powers have been balanced so that 
  blast powers are more dangerous than heavy 
  firearms, if you take a high rating. Most 
  playtesters found them to be just right, but 
  others wanted more spectacular effects. If you 
  find blast powers to be too weak, you can do 
  either or both of the following: 
  • Decrease the points per damage bonus 
  point from three to two.
  • Increase the maximum damage bonus to 
  +8.
  • If your players are willing, you can even 
  do this retrospectively.
  CUrE dISEASE
  By touching an ailing subject, you can cure any disease 
  caused by infection or bodily degeneration. It cures 
  mental disorders rooted in physical disorders of the 
  brain, but not personality defects, such as sociopathy.
  The Game Master chooses the Difficulty of your Cure 
  Disease test according to the severity of the illness, 
  with the following table as a guideline:
  
  43
   blast power
  A number of mutant abilities are classified as blast powers; they all work in the same basic way, with 
  minor variations listed in each ability description.
  A blast power is a ranged attack generated from within your body, without aid of a weapon, and consists 
  of a stream of energy or matter directed at an opponent.
  Specify your damage bonus: To use a blast power, first specify any target within range. Your base 
  damage is 0, the same as a light firearm. To increase your damage beyond its base modifier, spend 3 
  [Blast Power] points for each point of damage bonus. Your maximum possible damage bonus is +6, which 
  costs you 18 [Blast Power] points. The points are spent as soon as you determine your bonus, before you 
  make your test to see if you hit or not. When the target of a blast power is a player character, the attack’s 
  possible damage from the attack is kept secret from the targeted player. The only characters other than 
  yourself who can tell how much damage a blast power stands to do if it hits are those with the Threat 
  Calculus  power (see p. 69) currently activated.
  Assign points then make an attack roll: You then make an attack roll, to which you may, as with any 
  other test, add any number of [Blast Power] points (not Shooting points) in your attempt to overcome 
  the target’s Hit Threshold. Remember the test result. This number is kept secret, unless you are using 
  Optional Rule: Revealing Difficulty Numbers (p. 89)
  Roll damage:  If you succeed, you roll a die and add your damage modifier. This gives you the amount of 
  damage your attack will dish out—unless your target avoids injury by dodging your blast.
  Discover if your opponent dodges: The potential damage remains a secret from the target, unless he has 
  Threat Calculus. To Dodge, he must pass an Athletics test, with the result of your [Blast Power] test as the 
  Difficulty. If the Athletics test succeeds, the target takes no damage. All points you spend on hitting and 
  on increasing your damage remain spent if the victim dodges. Dodging is a reactive action that opponents 
  always get whenever they’re targeted by a blast. It never costs them an action.  They can Dodge as many 
  times as they are targeted by blast powers in a round.
  Dodge attempts may be variously described: the target may literally be leaping out of the way, but might 
  just as likely be ducking behind an pillar, picking up an object to use as a shield, or using one of his own 
  powers in a colorful way to avoid injury. GMs may rule that certain actions provide no defense against 
  particular blast types. However, you don’t get hit when you would otherwise succeed in dodging just 
  because you described the wrong kind of action. Instead, the GM suggests an alternate, more credible 
  description for your action. Any character or creature with an Athletics value can attempt a dodge. In 
  your case, it might reflect long hours of martial arts training, whereas a dog might be instinctively leaping 
  out of harm’s way.
  Carla directs a concussion beam at Grant. His Athletics rating is 10, giving him a Hit Threshold of 4. Carla 
  makes a Concussion Beam test against that value. Her Concussion Beam pool is presently at 13 points. 
  First, she decides whether to increase its damage beyond its base of 0. She spends 6 Concussion Beam 
  points for a rating of +2 (that is, 3 Concussion Beam points for each point of damage modifier.) Carla’s 
  pool drops from 13 to 7. 
  Carla then makes her Concussion Beam test to see if she hits. She spends 1 point to increase her result 
  by 1. Her pool goes down to 6. She rolls a 3, for a final result of 4, which is just enough to reach Grant’s 
  Hit Threshold. She hits him. For her damage die, she rolls a 6; with the +2 bonus, this means that Grant 
  will suffer 8 damage if hit. Grant is not informed of this number; for all he knows, the modifier could be 
  anything from 0 to +6.
  Grant decides to attempt a dodge anyway, and makes an Athletics test. To succeed, he must beat Carla’s 
  result on her original Concussion Beam test, getting a final result of 4 or more. He has only 5 Athletics 
  points left in his pool, but spends 3 of them in hopes of dodging the concussion beam. He rolls a 1, for a 
  final test result of 4—just enough to avoid harm.
  Later in the same combat, it’s again Carla’s turn to take a shot at Grant. Now that his Athletics is depleted, 
  she figures she has a better chance with her concussion beam. Wanting to save her last few Concussion 
  Beam points, she risks an unmodified roll, which pays off—she rolls a 6. She secretly decides to pour all 
  of her 6 remaining concussion beam points into her damage modifier, getting a modifier of +2. She adds 
  that to her die roll of 4, for a final damage value of 6.
  Grant must get a 6 or more on his Athletics test, beating Carla’s Concussion Beam test result, to dodge 
  successfully. He spends his last 2 Athletics points on the test, but rolls a 2, for a final result of 4—not 
  enough! He misses his Dodge, takes the 6 damage, and is now seriously wounded. (If Carla had instead 
  shot him with a heavy firearm, he would only be hurt.)
  In a typically gritty Mutant City Blues series, characters can’t use Athletics to Dodge bullets or other 
  Shooting attacks. However, it is appropriate to allow this when replicating a more traditionally over-the-
  top superhero universe. Routine bullet dodging may be a feature of other genres, too, pulp being a prime 
  example. 
  general powerS
  
  44
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Illness
  Difficulty
  Common cold
  2
  Influenza, mumps, chicken pox
  3
  Stinger venom (see p. 71)
  4
  Pneumonia
  4
  Diabetes
  5
  Alzheimer’s
  6
  Ebola
  6
  Cancer, early stage
  5
  Cancer, advanced
  6
  Cancer, inoperable
  8
  The one infectious disease which remains consistently 
  impervious to this ability is SEDS; see p. 82. 
  Defects arising from mutant powers can’t be cured 
  outright, but you can spend Cure Disease points to 
  assist in a patient’s recovery. you can’t heal congenital 
  defects, nor does this ability heal wounds or reverse 
  damage already visited on a patient by the effects of 
  illness, such as cardiac arrest or stroke. It can’t change 
  a patient’s body morphology, and so can’t be used to 
  cure conditions like chronic obesity. Certain toxins are 
  cured by Cure Disease; others, by Healing.
  The difficulty of your attempt is also the number of 
  hours before you can use the ability again.
  Grid: E1
  Connected: SEDS Carrier, Spread Pathogen
  slang terms: quinner, faithing, bac-smack
  dEPLETE OxYGEN
  Some people are said to suck the air out of a room. you 
  are literally capable of this. you can deplete the oxygen 
  from any area, centered on any point within range. 
  The approximate size of the area you can deplete 
  determines the Difficulty of your test, as follows:
  Enclosed Space
  Difficulty
  Coffin
  4
  Compact car
  5
  Family car
  6
  SUv or van
  7
  Small room 
  8
  Large room
  9
  Airplane
  11
  Cathedral
  13
  Entire skyscraper
  15
  If you’re outdoors, surrounding air will immediately 
  move in, countering the effect. In an enclosed and 
  relatively airtight space, people and creatures 
  experience suffer near-immediate breathing trouble. 
  Those in the area of effect lose 1 point from each of 
  their general abilities (except Preparedness) per 
  minute. These are refreshed after spending as many 
  minutes as they spend in a state of oxygen deprivation 
  breathing normally.
  victims in a fully airtight space suffer hypoxia. After 
  8 minutes, they must make Difficulty 8 Health tests, 
  or suffer immediate and fatal heart attacks. Survivors 
  must make additional Health tests every minute 
  thereafter, with the Difficulty increasing by 2 each 
  time.
  Deplete Oxygen confers no immunity to oxygen 
  deprivation, so if you’re in the affected area, you suffer 
  along with everyone else.
  Deplete Oxygen immediately quenches all fires within 
  its area of effect, whether enclosed or not. Neither the 
  abilities Fire Projection or Spontaneous Combustion 
  can be used within an affected area in an enclosed or 
  airtight space.
  Grid: A3
  Connected: Asthma, Toxin Immunity (Inhaled)
  slang terms: asphyx, reteek, vaderize
  dETECT INFLUENCE
  When any individual within your direct line of sight is 
  targeted, successfully or otherwise, by a mutant power 
  that can be resisted with a Stability test, you perceive 
  an aura of faintly glowing colorless energy around 
  them. A trail leads from the aura in the direction of 
  the mutant using the influence ability; if you can see 
  the power-user, the trail clearly connects him to his 
  victim.
  you must consciously activate this power in order to 
  use it.
  Where the discovery of mental influence is not a core 
  clue that advances the current investigation, make 
  a Detect Influence test (base Difficulty 4) to see the 
  telltale aura. If the influencer’s rating (not pool) in the 
  power equals 8 or more, the Difficulty is 5.
  If the discovery is a core clue, treat Detect Influence as 
  an investigative ability. If you activate the power, you 
  succeed.
  
  45
  Grid: F3
  Connected: Suppress Influence, Telepathy
  slang terms: early bird, moonglow, wormer
  dISEASE IMMUNITY
  When making Health test to resist infectious diseases 
  or their effects, you may spend 1 Disease Immunity 
  point to add 3 points to any roll. This immunity is 
  effective against SEDS.
  Disease Immunity does not protect you from diseases 
  caused by environmental factors. When your power 
  first manifested, it cured any congenital or genetic 
  diseases you might have had. However, it did not 
  protect you from any defects correlative with your 
  mutant powers.
  Grid: B1
  Connected: SEDS Carrier
  Correlated: Fangs, Pain Immunity
  slang terms: breather, smocker, Typhoid Stan
  dISINTEGrATION
  This blast power (see sidebar, p. 43) damages objects 
  by breaking them down at the molecular level. 
  In addition to the normal combat damage you can do 
  with any blast power, you can use it to destroy unliving 
  matter. To do so, make a Disintegration test, with 
  a Difficulty of 1 for every 5 kg of matter you wish to 
  destroy. you may select any object within range.
  Disintegrated matter crumbles into a fine dust.
  Even a rookie criminalist can spot the telltale signs of 
  a disintegration wound: they look as if large portions of 
  tissue have been excised with surgical precision, albeit 
  in an irregular pattern no surgeon would ever duplicate. 
  general powerS
  
  46
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  All blood vessels exposed by a disintegration wound 
  immediately self-cauterize, making it impossible to 
  bleed out from such an injury.
  Grid: B2
  Connected: Transmutation
  Correlated: Healing, Radiation Projection
  slang terms: dusting, cancel, dissing
  EArTH CONTrOL
  you can animate quantities of sand or soil, producing 
  the following effects:
  earthquake: On a successful Earth Control test 
  (Difficulty 4), you can cause a small, localized earth 
  tremor to radiate outwards from any point within range. 
  The tremor strikes a roughly circular area centered on 
  your chosen point. The default diameter of the circle is 
  3m. you may attempt to affect a larger area by testing 
  against a higher Difficulty, at +1 Difficulty for each 
  additional meter of diameter . The affected area must 
  be composed primarily of sand or soil; you can’t cause 
  a tremor on an expanse of barren rock.
  The tremor is strong enough to damage architectural 
  supports, cause unsecured objects to fall and possibly 
  shatter, and to throw people to the ground. Anyone in 
  the tremor zone (including yourself) must make an 
  Athletics test against the same Difficulty as the Earth 
  Control test. Those who fail are knocked off their feet 
  and take damage, with a damage modifier of –2.
  sandstorm: you cause loose sand and grit to rise into the 
  air, filling a roughly globe-shaped area of disturbance 
  with a diameter of 1m for every Earth Control point you 
  spend. you can move the center of the sandstorm to any 
  spot within range. The sandstorm forces all creatures 
  within the effect (except for you, who are immune to it) 
  to hunker down and protect their eyes. Characters can 
  make Stability tests (Difficulty 6) to fight this impulse 
  and remain standing with eyes open, but Shooting and 
  the use of ranged powers becomes impossible due to 
  low visibility, and the Difficulties of all other physical 
  abilities are increased by 3.
  Grid: E6
  Connected: Magnetism, Spatial Awareness
  slang terms: dirt, shovel, moving
  EMOTION CONTrOL
  you can alter the mood of any subject within 
  range. The subject will feel all of the physical signs 
  associated with the chosen emotion, in addition to its 
  psychological components. The default difficulty is 
  2, plus the number of steps it takes to get from the 
  subject’s current emotional state to the desired state 
  on the following diagram:
  Anxious
  disgusted
  Curious
  Angry
  Joyful
  depressed
  Content
  reflective
  sad
  Reese wants to use his Emotion Control to make 
  Samira angry. She is currently content. The least 
  number of steps on the chart between content 
  and angry is four: content to reflective, reflective 
  to sad, sad to depressed, and depressed to angry. 
  The Difficulty of Reese’s Emotion Control test will 
  be 6: 4 steps, plus the default value of 2.
  Players may describe their character’s present moods, 
  when necessary. The GM may rule that the character’s 
  described behavior better fits another mood—if the PC 
  has been raging and cursing at an enemy for the past 
  ten minutes, he’s clearly angry, no matter how much 
  the player claims he’s simply reflective. GMs determine 
  supporting characters’ starting moods. 
  The subject’s mood remains as directed for ten minutes. 
  you can extend this period by spending 1 Emotion 
  Control point for each additional ten minutes.
  victims questioning their sudden mood swings may 
  make Stability tests (Difficulty 4); if successful, they 
  realize that their emotions have been altered by an 
  outside force. They still feel the emotion, but can 
  restrain themselves from taking actions based on it.
  Grid: F2
  Connected: Low Impulse Control
  slang terms: shrinky-dink, stirring, brainbong
  Legal implications: Attempts to criminalize non-
  consensual use of Emotion Control have been thrown 
  into disarray by a Supreme Court ruling. Five out of 
  nine justices accepted the proposition that the effects 
  of the power are on a par with those achievable 
  through normal human interaction. Fearing that this 
  might set a precedent allowing the laying of charges 
  for any behavior causing a shift in another’s mood, 
  the justices struck down the law. Civil suits involving 
  
  47
  the use of this power have been thrown into doubt but 
  continue to grind their way through the courts.
  EMPATHY
  Empathy is a general ability which supplements the 
  use of your investigative abilities, particularly your 
  interpersonal abilities, most notably by gauging, in 
  real time, the success of your various interpersonal 
  gambits during interrogations and other interviews.
  your brain’s ability to perceive and process emotional 
  cues from the people around you has been heightened 
  to superhuman levels. To a naïve observer, you may 
  seem like a mind reader, but really you’re processing, 
  at nearly instantaneous speed, a wide variety of overt 
  and subtle signals as to the moods of the people you’re 
  observing.
  At any time, you may spend 1 Empathy point to 
  determine a subject’s current prevalent emotional 
  state. GMs may describe these however they prefer. 
  Those who prefer a systematic approach can name any 
  of the emotions from the diagram given above, under 
  the Emotion Control power.
  Also, you can monitor a subject for subtle increases 
  and decreases in amusement, anxiety, arousal, anger, 
  or sympathy. Keying in on a subject in this way costs 3 
  Empathy points. you must specify a single one of the 
  aforementioned emotional states. you can then, over 
  the course of a single scene or conversation, sense 
  every time that emotional state intensifies or decreases. 
  This is especially useful during interrogation scenes, 
  when you or another team member is trying to get a 
  suspect to crack and sign a confession. By tracking 
  ups and downs in anxiety level in response to specific 
  comments and questions, you can tell when your verbal 
  gambits hit home, and when they backfire, allowing 
  the suspect to recover his composure.
  Individuals suffering from certain mental conditions 
  are difficult or impossible to track using empathy. 
  Psychopaths do not exhibit identifiable anxiety or 
  sympathy. Persons with the Dissociation defect (or a 
  similar, non-congenital emotional disorder) may not 
  register at all. When a subject suffering from Multiple 
  Personality Disorder shifts personae, you lose your 
  read on him, and must start over again, paying 3 
  Empathy points, as if you were keying in on an entirely 
  different person.
  Although you will never encounter a situation where 
  you need Empathy to gather a core clue, a forgiving 
  GM may allow you to use it in place of an interpersonal 
  ability, provided you describe your attempt in a suitably 
  believable manner. She may, when similarly justified, 
  also permit you to make interpersonal spends using 
  Empathy points.
  Finally, you can also heal Stability damage caused by 
  traumatic events, and from sources such as Psionic 
  Blast (p. 60.) Spend x Empathy points to restore x 
  Stability points to any living subject. Recipients’ final 
  Stability pools may not exceed their Stability ratings.
  Empathy can cure victims slain by psionic blasts. The 
  Difficulty depends on the time that has elapsed since 
  the patient died:
  Time
  Difficulty 
  0–5 minutes
  6
  6–15 minutes
  8
  16–59 minutes
  10
  1–2 hours
  12
  3–6 hours
  16
  Grid: F1
  Connected: Nondescript, Observe Dreams, Sexual 
  Chemistry, Translation,
  Correlated: Endorphin Control (Others)
  visual cues: Individuals tend to have enlarged irises 
  of unusual bright and uniform color, lending them a 
  striking or mesmerizing quality. Several top movie 
  stars exhibit the telltale signs of enhanced empathy, 
  though all deny any mutant genes.
  slang terms: hug-out, furrow, the mopes
  ENdOrPHIN CONTrOL (OTHErS)
  you can stimulate endorphin production in the brain of 
  another person within range. The subject experiences 
  an exhilarating rush of physical pleasure which masks 
  pain and increases tolerance for risk and danger.
  To use the ability, make a Endorphin Control test 
  against a Difficulty of 3. If the subject’s Health pool 
  equals 8 or more, the Difficulty is 4. 
  If successful, you may spend x Endorphin Control 
  (Others) points. The subject gains x Health points 
  and x Stability points. The effect expires after five 
  minutes, after which the subject loses x Health and x 
  Stability points. you can extend this period by spending 
  general powerS
  
  48
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  1 Endorphin Control (Others) point for each additional 
  three minutes.
  Legal ramifications: Authorities have, with limited 
  success, attempted to subject willing recipients of 
  Endorphin Control (Others) to the same legal penalties 
  faced by heroin users; for more, see Dorphing, p. 127.
  Use of this power without consent can lead to charges 
  of administering a noxious substance, a crime 
  punishable by up to one year in prison. Courts have 
  applied this offense to Endorphin Control (Others) on 
  the grounds that the power induces the production of a 
  quantifiable substance within the subject’s brain.
  Grid: E1
  Connected: Addictive Personality, Induce Mental 
  Disorder
  Correlated: Empathy
  slang terms: bingo, hammer, love monkey
  ENdOrPHIN CONTrOL (SELF)
  you can stimulate your own brain to produce endorphins 
  at will, supplying a heady rush of pleasure that blots 
  out both physical pain and emotional trauma. To 
  activate the power, spend x Endorphin Control (Self) 
  points. you gain x Health points and x Stability points 
  for five minutes, after which you lose x Health and x 
  Stability points. you can extend this period by spending 
  1 Endorphin Control (Self) point for each additional 
  three minutes.
  Grid: E1
  Connected: Addictive Personality, Pain Immunity
  slang terms: benny, the benediction, Colonel Zodd, 
  5-20
  ENTANGLING HAIr
  your hair is long, luxurious, and prehensile. you can 
  use it to reach out and immobilize a single foe within 
  range. Use it in lieu of an attack, testing Entangling Hair 
  against your opponent’s Hit Threshold. If successful, 
  you have entangled your target, who is then unable to 
  launch attacks or take other actions. Instead, assuming 
  he doesn’t just give in, he must struggle to free himself 
  from your hair’s constricting grip. your target can escape 
  by succeeding on an Athletics test, with your Entangling 
  Hair pool as the Difficulty. 
  When you have a target entangled, you must devote all of 
  your attention and energy to maintaining your grip and 
  can’t take any but the most trivial of physical actions.
  This power’s range is nonstandard, at 1m per rating 
  point.
  Grid: A1
  Connected: Scleroderma
  slang terms: hopper, folf, leashing
  ENTEr drEAMS
  By putting yourself in a trance state, you are able 
  to enter the dreams of a sleeping person currently 
  engaged in REM sleep. To do so, you must succeed at 
  an Enter Dreams test, against a difficulty determined 
  by the distance between you and the subject:
  Distance
  Difficulty
  Touch
  4
  Unaided visual range
  5
  Within 500 m
  6
  Within 2 km
  7
  Within 200 km
  8
  Within 2000 km
  9
  Anywhere on planet
  10
  Where subjects possess any of the following mutant 
  abilities, add their current pool in the relevant ability to 
  your difficulty: Threat Calculus, Enter Dreams, Observe 
  Dreams, Possession, Read Minds, or Telepathy. If they 
  have more than one of these abilities, add the highest 
  pool only.
  you may remain within the subject’s dream for one 
  minute. After that, you must spend 1 Enter Dreams 
  point per minute to remain in the dream. Note that, 
  contrary to popular conception, dreams do not occur in 
  a hyper-accelerated time scale; rather, they use film-
  like editing techniques to jump around from one scene 
  to the next, giving the impression of a compressed 
  chronology.
  While in the dream, you may interact with the subject’s 
  dream persona. you may take control of his dream 
  environment, shaping it to your will, introducing new 
  characters, changing the setting, or altering the 
  fundamentals of its illusion of reality.
  If the changes you make to the dream seem too 
  strange or diverge too sharply from the subject’s usual 
  dreams, he may achieve a state of lucidity. The subject’s 
  persona realizes that he is dreaming, and gains an 
  
  49
  ability to manipulate the dream environment equal to 
  your own. If he tries to alter your dream persona, he 
  automatically fails—and identifies you as an intruder. 
  A lucid dreamer will always remember what happened 
  in a dream.
  If the changes you make to the dream render it too 
  terrifying, the dreamer will immediately awaken, in 
  a state of extreme agitation. He will remember the 
  dream, but, unless he was lucid, will not automatically 
  know you were responsible for it. (This does not prevent 
  him from figuring it out later, especially if he is aware 
  of you and your ability.)
  Legal ramifications: As per Observe Dreams, p. 31.
  Grid: F0
  Connected: schizophrenia
  slang terms: fuselation, sandscooping, remixing
  FANGS
  your upper canine teeth are two to three inches long, 
  sharp, and hollow. They can be used as weapons in 
  Scuffling tests, with a +0 damage modifier.
  If you also have the venom (Bite) power, you can use 
  this bite to deliver venom.
  If you also have the Plasma Deficiency defect, you can 
  use a bite from your fangs to extract plasma from a 
  victim.
  A successful fang strike counts as touching the victim, 
  a requirement for use of the Absorption power.
  you do not need to succeed at a Scuffling test to bite a 
  willing or possessed subject.
  you can spend 1 Fangs point to retract your fangs, so 
  that they appear like normal teeth. It costs 1 Fangs 
  point to extend them again. 
  Grid: D1
  Connected: Absorption, Plasma Deficiency
  Correlated: Disease Immunity, venom (Bite)
  slang terms: stickers, pokers, vamps
  FIrE CONTrOL
  you can manipulate any existing flame within range, 
  performing the following stunts:
  Extinguish flame (Difficulty 1 per cubic meter of 
  flames)
  Cancel a Fire Projection blast before it reaches its 
  target. The character generating the blast calculates 
  what the damage will be if it hits; you test Fire Control 
  against it, using the potential damage as the Difficulty. 
  If you succeed, blast has no effect.
  Increase size of flame (Difficulty 1 per cubic meter 
  added to flames)
  Cause flame to leap from one fuel source to another 
  (Difficulty 1 per m of movement)
  Sculpt flame into cohesive shapes (Difficulty varies 
  by complexity of shape, at GM’s discretion, where 
  2 is a simple cube or pyramid, and 8 is an animated 
  anthropomorphic figure)
  After animating a manlike shape for flame, you can 
  direct it like a puppet, to fight your enemies. Use your 
  Fire Control ability as its Scuffling; its flaming fists 
  carry a Damage Modifier of +2. It cannot be damaged 
  by ordinary weapons, but is destroyed on contact with 
  flame retardant substances or by another character’s 
  use of Fire Control against you. you must remain in 
  direct visual contact with it, and can do nothing but 
  direct its movements. If you are hit, entangled or 
  forced to take other significant action, the flame loses 
  its animation and cohesiveness.
  Grid: D3
  Connected: 
  Toxin 
  Immunity 
  (Ingested), 
  Trance 
  Susceptible
  Correlated: Kinetic Energy Dispersal
  slang terms: flameshape, fifth level wizard, Dalmatian 
  bait
  FIrE IMMUNITY
  you can render your body impervious to fire damage. 
  Spend 3 Fire Immunity points to reduce all damage 
  from a single source of flame to 0. This includes all 
  damage from multiple exposures to the same flame 
  source, like a particular enemy’s Fire Projection 
  blasts, or blows from an animated Fire Control puppet 
  (see above.)
  When a single source of flame would otherwise do 3 
  or fewer points of damage to you, it is reduced to 0 
  without any Fire Immunity expenditure on your part.
  Grid: D2
  Connected: Fire Projection
  slang terms: no-scorch, coal walking, flameshrugger
  general powerS
  
  50
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  FIrE PrOjECTION
  This blast power (see sidebar, p. 43) allows you to direct 
  a jet of flame from your hands to a chosen target. your 
  hands are not damaged by your flame, but, unless you 
  also have the Fire Immunity ability, any other part of you 
  can be injured by your own blast. 
  Fire Projection may also be used to ignite flammable 
  substances. The Fire Control ability can be used to 
  cancel your blasts.
  Grid: D2
  Connected: Fire Immunity
  slang terms: bugging, arson powder, cinder
  FLIGHT
  you can fly unaided through the air. When executing 
  aerial stunts or maneuvers, test your Flight ability 
  against a Difficulty determined by the GM, based on the 
  following sample difficulties:
  Action
  Difficulty
  Maneuvering through tight space 
  without reducing speed
  4
  Catching a falling person
  5
  Dodging falling debris
  5
  Righting an out-of-control aircraft
  6
  When your Flying pool contains 8 or more points, you 
  fly (in combat) at 20m per round, or 10m with an action. 
  (See p. 92 for combat movement rules.) When your pool 
  is lower than 8, you fly at 10m per round, or 4m with an 
  action.
  To quickly fly long distances, pay Flight points, as 
  follows: 
  Speed 
  (in km/h)
  Cost For 
  1km travel
  Time To 
  Travel 1km
  40 
  2
  90 sec
  100
  4
  36 sec
  Grid: B4
  Connected: Heat Blast, Strength
  slang terms: zooming, j-packing, roof watching
  FOrCE FIELd
  you can will into existence an invisible wall or bubble at 
  any point within range. If you create a wall, the difficulty 
  of the Force Field test to create it is 1 per square meter. 
  The wall must conform to a straight line. The difficulty 
  to create a bubble is 12 per meter of radius.
  When you first create a Force Field, multiply your pool 
  value (after taking into account the loss of any points 
  you spent on the original test) by 4. This is the amount 
  of damage your force field can sustain before vanishing. 
  Through great mental concentration, you can fortify 
  your extant force field by spending Stability points. The 
  damage it can sustain before collapsing increases by 2 
  for every Stability point spent.
  Once created, the force field remains stationary. 
  Though impervious to liquids and solids, gases pass 
  through the force field unimpeded. It cannot be used to 
  protect you from airborne toxins, or to suffocate those 
  trapped inside it.
  Force fields protect against lightning and disintegration 
  blasts, but provide no shelter from light blasts.
  Grid: F5
  
  51
  Connected: Autism
  slang terms: stayaway, the gate, boundary issues, 
  GILLS
  you can breathe underwater, thanks to a set of gills 
  which open up at the sides of your neck. By spending 2 
  Gills points, you can cause them to seal up, so that you 
  look normal to all but the closest medical examination. 
  To reactivate your gills, spend another 2 points.
  Polluted waters may lack sufficient oxygen to breathe; 
  make a Gills test against a Difficulty of 4 to remain 
  normally active in any oxygen-depleted body of water.
  Grid: A4
  Connected: Swimming
  Correlated: Sonar, Toxin Immunity (Inhaled)
  slang terms: scalo, the pinks, wetnap
  GrAvITY CONTrOL
  you can increase the pull of gravity in a chosen area. 
  The area is centered on any point within range, with 
  a diameter of your choice, up to your current Gravity 
  Control pool in meters. you may spend either 2 or 
  4 Gravity Control points to activate the power. If you 
  spend 2, the movement rates of all characters within 
  the area are halved. If you spend 4, anyone within the 
  area must make an Athletics test with a Difficulty equal 
  to your Gravity Control rating to move at all. In combat, 
  this attempt takes all of the character’s energy and 
  attention, forfeiting their chance to make an attack 
  during the current round. The gravity field remains in 
  force for a number of rounds equal to your rating, or 
  until you choose to drop it.
  you can also decrease the pull of gravity on a 
  particular object, causing it to rise into the air and float 
  uncontrollably upwards like a balloon, where it remains 
  for a number of minutes equal to the number of Gravity 
  Control points you spend to activate the power. It then 
  drifts gently downwards for an equal number of minutes, 
  like a depleted helium balloon, coming to a harmless 
  landing on the nearest horizontal surface. While 
  suspended in the air, the object’s weightless state may 
  cause it to be buffeted by winds, so that its eventually 
  lands far from its point of origin. Even a gentle breeze 
  can move it a considerable distance. The object’s mass 
  is limited by the size of your Gravity Control pool (before 
  you spend to activate the power): 
  Pool
  Maximum mass
  (in kg)
  1
  1
  2
  2
  3
  4
  4
  8
  5
  16
  6
  32
  7
  64
  8
  128
  9
  256
  10+
  512
  People and animals can easily (that is, without having to 
  make a roll) slip out of the anti-gravity bubble created 
  by this effect before they get more than a few inches off 
  the ground. It works only on living creatures who are 
  unwilling or unable to resist it.
  Grid: E4
  Connected: High Energy Dispersal
  slang terms: crushing, helium, planetary
  HEALING
  you can cure wounds and injuries (though not diseases 
  or genetic defects) with a touch of your hands—skin 
  contact is required. Spend x Healing points to restore 
  x Health points to any living subject. Recipients’ final 
  Health pools may not exceed their Health ratings.
  By making a Healing test, you can revive the recently 
  dead. The Difficulty depends on the time that has 
  elapsed since the patient died:
  Time
  Difficulty 
  0–5 minutes
  6
  6–15 minutes
  8
  16–59 
  minutes
  10
  1–2 hours
  12
  3–6 hours
  16
  No revivals are possible after six hours.
  you may cure your own wounds, although if you also 
  have Regeneration, you will find that a more economical 
  method of repairing damage to your own body.
  Certain toxins are cured by Healing; others, by Cure 
  Disease.
  general powerS
  
  52
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Grid: B3
  Connected: Messiah Complex
  Correlated: Transmutation
  slang terms: handsing, waveaway, fixiting
  HEAT BLAST
  you can radiate a narrow blast (see sidebar, p. 43) of 
  intense scorching heat.
  In addition to damaging your opponents in combat, you 
  can use your heat blast to melt objects. The difficulty 
  depends on the type of substance, for example:
  Substance
  Difficulty 
  Wax
  1
  Plastic
  3
  Tin
  4
  Silver 
  5
  Gold
  6
  Copper
  6
  Steel
  7
  Iron
  8
  you can melt 1 kg of the substance for each minute of 
  effort you devote to the task. To keep your heat blast 
  going for an extended period, spend 1 Heat Blast point 
  for each minute after the first.
  Heat Blast can cancel an Ice Blast before it reaches its 
  target. The character generating the blast calculates 
  what the damage will be if it hits; you test Heat Blast 
  against it, using the potential damage as the Difficulty. 
  If you succeed, the ice attack has no effect.
  Grid: B5
  Connected: Flight
  slang terms: the ripple, toaster, convection
  HIGH ENErGY dISPErSAL
  With a quick shake of your head, you can disperse all 
  energy generated by nearly any blast power within 
  range. 
  By spending 2 High Energy Dispersal points, you can 
  prevent most blast powers from doing any damage to 
  any target, human, animal, or inanimate. The beam is 
  dispersed after it is generated but before it hits its target. 
  Any points expended by the blast power’s wielder on its 
  damage modifier remain spent. High Energy Dispersal 
  does not counter Concussion Beam or Ice Blast.
  The power has no visible effect but is accompanied by a 
  low swishing noise, like the air being let out of a tire.
  Grid: E4
  Connected: Gravity Control, Lightning, Reflexes
  Correlated: Kinetic Energy Dispersal
  slang terms: nuh-uh, tude, NyD 
  ICE BLAST
  you can create a stream of hard ice pellets and send 
  them hurtling them at an opponent causing damage. 
  This is a blast power; see sidebar, p. 43.
  Ice Blast can be countered by Kinetic Energy Dispersal 
  or Heat Blast.
  Conversely, Ice Blast can cancel a Heat Blast before it 
  reaches its target. The character generating the Heat 
  Blast calculates what the damage will be if it hits; you 
  test Ice Blast against it, using the potential damage as 
  the Difficulty. If you succeed, the heat attack has no 
  effect.
  Grid: A2
  Connected: Reduce Temperature
  Correlated: Wind Control
  slang terms: frosty, icicle, the shoulder
  ILLUSION
  By overriding individuals’ sensory systems, especially 
  the visual, you can make them see nonexistent objects 
  or beings. Doing so costs 3 Illusion points for each 
  person affected.
  your targets may make Stability tests to discern the 
  unreality of your illusion. They continue to perceive it 
  for its duration but know that their senses are being 
  interfered with. Difficulties of these Stability tests 
  depend on the illusion’s complexity:
  Illusion
  Difficulty 
  Inanimate object
  9
  Machine with moving parts
  8
  Animal
  7
  Person
  6
  Specific animal known to target (like a pet)
  5
  Specific person known to target
  4
  Entire location altered in appearance
  3
  Complex audio (like a song)
  2
  Fantastic creature or impossible vista
  1
  Where the illusion contains multiple elements, the 
  Difficulty is based on the element imposing the lowest 
  
  53
  challenge to the target. 
  If you create an illusion in which the family pet (Difficulty 
  5) turns on a tape recorder (Difficulty 8) with its nose 
  and plays you the latest Arcade Fire tune (Difficulty 
  2), the final Difficulty derived from the lowest of those 
  values, and is therefore 2.
  If you are within range of your target, you may continue 
  to direct the course of a successful illusion, putting 
  dialog in the mouths of your imaginary characters, 
  moving creatures about, and so on.
  Subjects react to horrifying illusions as if mesmerized; 
  this power, no matter how gruesomely executed, 
  cannot be used to induce them to flee the scene. For 
  greater understanding of this phenomenon, consult 
  the scientific paper “Quasi-Hypnogogic State variance 
  Between Mutant Mental Abilities As Correlated To 
  Neurotransmitter Activity”, Dr. Aaron N. Rosenblum, 
  Journal Of Anamorophological Neurology Studies, 12(1): 
  112-124.
  Even if the subject believes an illusion which suggests 
  he is being harmed, he takes no actual damage. A 
  character who is already prone to cardiac arrest or 
  severe anxiety may be required to succeed at a Health 
  or Stability test, respectively, to stave off an attack.
  Grid: E5
  Connected: Multiple Personality Disorder
  slang terms: Caligari, sorcerer, psych
  IMPErSONATE
  you can expertly mimic the vocal timbre, speech 
  patterns, gestures, body language and gait of a chosen 
  subject. you must first closely observe the subject, 
  either in person or on film or video, for at least an hour.
  your impostures are an incredible feat of brain 
  processing power, and require sustained focus. After 
  an hour, you must pay 1 Impersonate point or drop out 
  of character. you may continue on by paying 1 point for 
  each hour after that.
  Impersonate grants you no psychic knowledge of the 
  subject. However flawless your outward mimicry, you 
  can still be tripped up when you take an uncharacteristic 
  action or fail to answer a question correctly.
  The process of mimicry does grant a limited instinctive 
  insight into your subjects: when faced with a question 
  you can’t answer or a choice you don’t know how to 
  make, you can spent 1 Impersonate point to convincingly 
  finesse the issue. you don’t get the right answer, but do 
  find a convincing way to put off the question.
  Alone, this ability requires you to use costume and 
  makeup to disguise yourself as the subject in order to 
  pass visual inspection. In tandem with the connected 
  power Alter Form (p. 39), you can bodily alter yourself to 
  match the subject, right down to fingerprints and retina 
  pattern. (you do not, however, copy the subject’s DNA or 
  blood type.)
  If the subject is behaving abnormally during your 
  observation period, you will replicate these atypical 
  traits. For example, if you try to impersonate Johnny 
  Depp by watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, 
  you’ll wind up acting like Captain Jack Sparrow, not the 
  real person behind the performance.
  Especially bold impersonators have been known to, 
  after performing extensive research, move in with 
  their victim’s families, taking over their lives like 
  cuckoos commandeering a nest full of hatchlings. The 
  extended absences of their subjects are often secured 
  through murder. In at least one notorious case, the 
  wife of a wealthy victim in such a scheme stood by the 
  impersonator at trial, proclaiming him infinitely more 
  loving and attentive than the original.
  Legal ramifications: Gaining advantage by posing 
  as another person constitutes fraud, and may also 
  be punishable under identity theft statutes. Law 
  enforcement operatives using Impersonate to go 
  undercover in the pursuit of their official duties are 
  granted waivers shielding them from prosecution on 
  either count.
  Grid: E5
  Connected: Alter Form
  slang terms: cowbell, Limewire, catwalk
  INdUCE AGGrESSION
  you can send a psychic signal directly into a subject’s 
  limbic system, prompting him to launch an immediate 
  attack against the person on the scene he considers 
  to be most threatening to him. If he considers more 
  than one person equally threatening, he attacks the 
  one closest at hand. Although the power itself grants 
  you no influence over your victim’s choice of target, you 
  can always try to manage the situation in other ways to 
  achieve the desired result.
  general powerS
  
  54
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  To use this power, make an Induce Aggression test 
  against the standard Difficulty of 4. If successful, the 
  subject may make a Stability test, with the result of 
  your test as the Difficulty. If he succeeds, the power has 
  no effect. In rare cases where the victim doesn’t feel 
  remotely threatened by anyone around him, the GM may 
  grant a bonus to his Stability test. It is frighteningly easy 
  to use this power to turn people against their loved ones 
  and family members. Underneath the strongest and 
  most sincere bonds of affection lurk deeply buried fears 
  and resentments, which this ability ruthlessly exploits. 
   When you Induce Aggression, your eyes briefly but 
  obviously glaze over, as if covered with opaque red 
  contact lenses. The subject, if affected, then displays the 
  same red-eyed appearance for the effect’s duration.
  The effect lasts for 3 rounds of combat. To extend it 
  past then, spent 1 Induce Aggression point for each 
  additional round.
  Legal ramifications: Acting under the influence of 
  Induce Aggression has been accepted as an affirmative 
  legal defense against assault and murder charges. 
  The vagaries of the justice system being what they 
  are, defendants in several high-profile cases have 
  nonetheless been convicted, despite evidence that they 
  were targeted by it.
  Grid: C0
  Connected: Induce Fear
  Correlated: Induce Mental Disorder
  slang terms: matador, the pike, the angries
  INdUCE FEAr
  you can send a signal deep into a subject’s limbic 
  system, prompting him to flee the scene immediately 
  in terror.
  To use this power, make an Induce Fear test. If 
  successful, the subject may make a Stability test, with 
  the result of your test as the Difficulty. If he succeeds, 
  the power has no effect. If he fails, he must exit the 
  area at maximum speed using the best means at his 
  disposal. He continues to flee for at least ten minutes. 
  When he first begins his flight, you can increase that 
  time by spending 1 Induce Fear point for each additional 
  five minute interval.
  Even after he stops running, the subject feels a powerful 
  aversion to the spot where you terrified him. He must 
  make a Difficulty 4 Stability test to return there. After 
  having done so, he still feels a nagging unease at that 
  location, which dissipates over weeks, months, or years, 
  depending on how often he has occasion to return to that 
  spot. If you scare him out of his own home, for example, 
  he readjusts much more quickly than if you terrorized 
  him from a location he rarely visits.
  Induce Fear mirrors the visual manifestations of Induce 
  Aggression (above) but with bright yellow eyes.
  Connected: Induce Aggression, Panic Disorder
  slang terms: limbo, the terrors, number nineteen
  INdUCE MENTAL dISOrdEr
  you scramble the electrical signals in a victim’s brain, 
  causing it to mimic the symptoms of a mental disorder 
  of your choice. you can replicate the stage-two effects 
  of the defects Attention Deficit Disorder, Autism, 
  Depression, Dissociation, Low Impulse Control, Messiah 
  Complex, Panic Disorder or Schizophrenia. Or you can 
  induce the following disorders: 
  Amnesia: The subject is unable to recall details of his 
  identity or past, though he retains a general cultural 
  knowledge.
  Kleptomania: The subject is seized by a self-destructive 
  compulsion to steal things, pursuing both the thrill 
  of illicit thievery and the mortifying attention of being 
  caught.
  Pathological Liar: Driven by wounded self-esteem, the 
  subject lies compulsively, to make himself seem more 
  impressive than he really is.
  Paranoia: The subject becomes convinced that he is 
  under constant surveillance by unseen enemies who 
  mean to destroy him, and everyone he meets may be 
  one of their minions.
  Sociopathy: The subject pursues his goals without 
  conscience, and may perform dangerous or sadistic 
  acts for the sheer sick joy of it.
  A collaborative GM may allow you to propose additional 
  disorders. 
  To use this power, make an Induce Mental Disorder test. 
  If successful, the subject may make a Stability test, with 
  the result of your test as the Difficulty. If he succeeds, 
  the power has no effect.
  The simulated mental disorder holds sway over the 
  victim for three hours. When you originally use the 
  
  55
  power, you can extend the duration by spending 1 
  Induce Mental Disorder point for each additional three 
  hour period.
  When you use this power, your eyes exhibit a gray, 
  swirling pattern like the eye of a hurricane. They remain 
  this way for the effect’s duration.
  Legal ramifications: Giving new life to the term 
  “temporary insanity”, courts allow defendants to claim 
  influence of this power as an affirmative legal defense 
  against various crimes. Juries, who typically resist even 
  valid insanity defenses, are sometimes responsible for 
  wrongfully convicting affected defendants.
  Grid: C0
  Connected: Endorphin Control (Others)
  Correlated: Induce Aggression, Induce Mental 
  Disorder
  slang terms: Dr. Shakey, crazymaker, straitjacket
  INvISIBILITY
  you can bend light around your body, so that you can’t 
  be seen by those whose vision is confined to the visible 
  spectrum. Cameras and other standard imaging devices 
  are likewise incapable of registering your presence. 
  you can, however, be detected by thermal imagers and 
  mutants with the Thermal vision power.
  To become invisible for ten minutes, spend 1 Invisibility 
  point. At the end of this period, you may remain invisible 
  for another ten minutes by spending another point, and 
  so on.
  Where opponents who can’t see you  are concerned, 
  your Hit Threshold increases by 1 if you are touching 
  someone or if your last action was an attack, by 2 if you 
  are moving but not otherwise touching or attacking 
  criteria, and by 3 if you are standing perfectly still. 
  Environmental conditions, like snow or sand, that make 
  your position clear even to those who can’t see you, may 
  fully or partially nullify Hit Threshold increases, at the 
  GM’s discretion.
  While invisible, you may spend Invisibility points as 
  Infiltration or Surveillance points, gaining a +2 bonus to 
  your roll for each Invisibility point spent. In the former 
  instance this may enable you to surprise opponents; 
  see Surprise, p. 92.
  Grid: D5
  Connected: 
  Light 
  Control, 
  Multiple 
  Personality 
  Disorder
  slang terms: wipeout, seethru, goodbye
  kINETIC ENErGY dISPErSAL
  With a wave of your hand, you can disperse all kinetic 
  energy invested in a single movement. This includes 
  blunt force trauma, the force from bullets, the crushing 
  energy of falling debris, impact with objects moved by 
  Telekinesis, and the blast powers Concussion Beam, Ice 
  Blast and Water Blast.
  By spending 2 Kinetic Energy Dispersal points, you can 
  reduce damage from any single blow or source to any 
  single subject within range, including yourself, to 0. 
  This occurs after any ability points have already been 
  spent by the party generating the kinetic energy.
  The power is visible as a swirling vortex that appears 
  momentarily in the air at what would otherwise be 
  the point of impact, accompanied by a crackling noise 
  reminiscent of an unfolding ball of cellophane.
  For reasons anamorphologists have as yet been unable 
  to explain, Kinetic Energy Dispersal does not prevent 
  damage from bladed weapons, even though they are 
  propelled by kinetic energy. Dr. Lucius Quade has 
  argued that the fault lies within the mutant’s imposition 
  of a false mental framework on his own abilities, but 
  has so far been unable to prove his hypothesis.
  Grid: D4
  Connected: Limb Extension, Concussion Beam
  Correlated: High Energy Dispersal, Light Blast
  slang terms: jiu-jambo, bulletproof, trix
  LIGHT BLAST
  you can project a beam of blinding white light from your 
  hands. This is a blast power; see sidebar, p. 43.
  Light Blast is slightly less damaging that other blast 
  powers; you begin with a base damage modifier of –1, to 
  which any Light Blast points you spend are then added.
  victims of a Light Blast must make Difficulty 4 Health 
  tests after each hit. Those who fail suffer momentary, 
  partial blindness, suffering a +3 increase to the 
  Difficulties of any tasks requiring clear vision, as per the 
  GM’s discretion. This condition lasts until the end of the 
  next round. Penalties from successive light blasts are 
  not cumulative.
  Grid: D4
  Connected: Light Control
  Correlated: Kinetic Energy Dispersal
  general powerS
  
  56
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  slang terms: lumo, whiteout, spotty
  LIGHT CONTrOL
  you can increase or decrease the light output of any 
  or all light sources within range. Make a Light Control 
  test; the Difficulty equals 2, plus the number of steps of 
  change up or down on the following list:
  • No light emitted
  • Candle
  • Incandescent (less than 100 W) or glass halogen
  • Incandescent (100 W) or quartz halogen 
  • Fluorescent, LED
  • Arc lamp
  • Sodium lamp
  • Sunlight
  To plunge an area illuminated by glass halogen lights 
  into darkness would incur a Difficulty of 4: the base of 
  2, plus 2 for the two steps down from “glass halogen” to 
  “no light emitted.”
  you can’t blot out the sun, or other massive or distant 
  light sources, but can dampen their rays within a sphere 
  centered on any point within range. The sphere has a 
  diameter of 1 m per Light Control point in your pool.
  Grid: D5
  Connected: Invisibility, Light Blast, x-Ray vision
  slang terms: switch, panel, dimmer
  LIGHTNING
  Lightning is a blast power; see sidebar, p. 43.
  Lightning, which follows a jagged line to find its target, 
  is hard to dodge. Add 2 to the Difficulties of targets 
  attempting to dodge lightning blasts.
  Grid: E4
  Connected: High Energy Dispersal
  slang terms: jaggy, zap, golfhater
  LIGHTNING dECISIONS
  When determining whether you are an aggressor or 
  defender in any contest, you may spend 2 Lightning 
  Decisions points to be considered the aggressor, 
  regardless of your pool number in the relative ability, 
  compared to the other contestant.
  If the other contestant also has Lightning Decisions, the 
  character willing and able to spend the highest number 
  of Lightning Decisions points is declared the aggressor.
  If you are both willing to spend the same number of 
  Lightning Decisions points, your pools in the ability 
  both drop by that amount, and the normal method of 
  determining aggressor and defender is then used.
  Grid: E3
  Connected: Threat Calculus, Attention Deficit Disorder
  Correlated: Cognition
  slang terms: yepster, jumper, tinsky
  LIMB ExTENSION
  you can extend your arms or legs far beyond their normal 
  length. your bones and musculature enter a semi-liquid 
  state for the duration of the effect. 
  Spending 1 Limb Extension point gains you up to an 
  additional meter of length on one limb. you may extend 
  a single limb by more than one meter, and/or extend 
  multiple limbs at once. Extension becomes tiring after 
  ten minutes, after which you must make a Health test 
  (Difficulty 4) or be forced to retract the limb or limbs in 
  question. If successful, you must test again after each 
  ten minute interval, with the Difficulty increasing by 1 
  each time. Retracting costs you nothing.
  Grid: C4
  Connected: Arthritis, Kinetic Energy Dispersal
  Correlated: Strength
  slang terms: stretch, bandman, armstrong
  MAGNETISM
  you manipulate magnetic waves, allowing you to perform 
  the following stunts: 
  Demagnetize: By spending 1 Magnetism point, you can 
  erase any single item of magnetic media, including 
  hard drives, diskettes, credit card strips, and recording 
  tape, within x meters of your fingertips, where x is your 
  current Magnetism pool, before taking the required 
  expenditure into account.
  Magnetize: By spending 1 Magnetism point per kg of a 
  metal item’s weight, you can charge it with magnetic 
  energy, causing it to adhere powerfully to any larger 
  metal object. The force is sufficient to send the object 
  hurtling dangerously through the air to its destination. 
  Redirect Bullets: When another character fires a gun 
  within range of you, you may pay 2 Magnetism points to 
  choose a new target for the bullets, who must also be 
  within range. Wait to announce you’re using this stunt 
  until after the shooter has fired the gun, making his test 
  and deciding how many Shooting points to add to it. you 
  must then make a Magnetism test, at least matching the 
  
  57
  shooter’s result; otherwise, you fail to snag the bullets 
  with your magnetic field and they continue on to their 
  original target. If you succeed and if your Magnetism 
  test exceeds the new target’s Hit Threshold, they hit 
  your target. The bullets lose kinetic energy when 
  magnetically redirected, delivering 2 damage points less 
  than they otherwise would. If your Magnetism result is 
  enough to snag the bullets but does not match the new 
  target’s threshold, you spoil the original attack but fail 
  to harm the new target.
  Grid: E6
  Connected: Earth Control
  slang terms: uby, filer, fridge
  MEMOrY ALTErATION
  you can send a scrambling electronic pulse into a 
  subject’s brain, interfering with his centers of memory 
  storage. you can erase memories from a given period, 
  possibly masking the period of amnesia with false 
  memories of your choice.
  To simply erase an individual’s memory of a given 
  block of time, make a Memory Alteration test, against 
  a Difficulty determined by the interval you want to 
  obliterate:
  Interval
  Difficulty 
  0–5 min
  4
  6–10 min
  5
  11 min–1 hour
  6
  1–3 hours
  7
  1 day
  8
  1 week
  11
  1 month
  14
  1 year
  17
  3 years
  20
  10 years
  23
  Erase all memories
  26
  To implant a false memory, multiply the Difficulties 
  given above by 1.5, rounding up to the nearest whole 
  number. The memory is only as detailed as the player’s 
  verbal description of it, so it’s much easier to implant a 
  believable memory that covers a short interval than one 
  spanning a longer period. 
  To use this ability, you must touch the victim’s cranium 
  with your bare hands. If he knows you’ve done this, he’ll 
  seek out means to recover his memory (see below), 
  so you’ll either want to include the alteration in your 
  selected interval, or ensure that he is under sedation or 
  otherwise unable to accurately perceive your actions.
  When you tamper with his memory, you can spend any 
  number of additional Memory Alteration points; these 
  are added to the Difficulty of any Stability tests the victim 
  may later make to recover his stolen recollections.
  The memory alteration is of indefinite duration. 
  Whenever the subject might have reason to regain his 
  memory, he may make a Stability test (base Difficulty 
  4.) Reasons to make this test might include hypnotic 
  regression therapy, or traumatic events evoking 
  the suppressed incident. If your victim succeeds, he 
  remembers the truth, and rejects his false memories.
  Although of little to no use in ethically performed police 
  work, Memory Alteration is a power in great economic 
  demand. Mutants with this power set up private 
  practices, erasing patients’ unwanted memories. 
  They enforce corporations’ draconian non-disclosure 
  agreements, erasing the memories of top executives 
  before they leave to join competing firms. Spy agencies 
  are known to use memory alteration to remove classified 
  data from the minds of agents and operatives.
  Legal 
  ramifications: 
  Non-consensual 
  memory 
  alteration is a felony carrying a recommended sentence 
  of 5–10 years per offense.
  Grid: E2
  Connected: Megalomania
  slang terms: wiper, deja didn’t, vodka
  NATUrAL wEAPONrY
  you are equipped with either claws or bony spikes. If you 
  choose spikes, decide whether they protrude from your 
  knuckles, ulna, elbow, or forehead.
  When using these weapons in Scuffling combat, your 
  Damage Modifier is +2.
  you may retract or extend your natural weapon(s) by 
  spending 2 Natural Weaponry points.
  Grid: C5
  Connected: Arthritis
  Correlated: Olfactory Center
  slang terms: claws, spikes, scratchers
  NONdESCrIPT
  you blend easily into crowds and small groups, leaving 
  little impression when you’re present, and remaining 
  profoundly unmemorable after you depart. It’s not that 
  you’re invisible; instead, you seem so boring that no one 
  general powerS
  
  58
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  thinks to engage with you.
  Activate this power by spending any number of 
  Nondescript points. To notice you while present or 
  remember you later, others must make Stability tests 
  (Difficulty 4 + your Nondescript expenditure.)
  your preternatural dullness lasts for as long as you 
  remain in a single location, keeping your head down and 
  doing whatever everyone else is doing. 
  If you do something dramatic while the power is 
  activated, people take notice, and can, if they want, take 
  appropriate measures to stop you. However, afterwards 
  they will remember the incident but may have trouble 
  giving anything but the vaguest description of you. They 
  can remember you more distinctly by making Stability 
  tests (Difficulty 4 only.)
  Grid: F0
  Connected: Empathy
  slang terms: nowheresville, huh, mumbles
  NIGHT vISION
  you can switch your visual senses to see plainly at night 
  or in complete darkness. you perceive the world in the 
  green hues of a night vision scope. Unlike technological 
  night vision equipment, you can even see in places where 
  no radiation is present, a fact anamorphological science 
  has yet to explain convincingly . Spend 1 Night vision 
  point for every ten minute interval of active power use.
  Grid: D6
  Connected: Microvision, Voyeurism
  Correlated: Olfactory Center, Spatial Awareness
  slang terms: N-peeper, greenscope, blairbing
  PAIN IMMUNITY
  you can shut down your body’s pain receptors at will. 
  you may spend 3 Pain Immunity points to remove all 
  effects of a single source of pain. These include:
  • The need to make Stability tests to avoid taking 
  an unwanted action motivated by pain, including 
  giving into torture or ceasing an activity that’s 
  causing you injury.
  • The need to make Health tests to avoid passing 
  out from pain or injury.
  • Any Difficulty modifiers you incur due to 
  distraction from pain or injury.
  This power does not protect you from injury, just from 
  the unpleasant sensory warnings that accompany it.
  Grid: E1
  Connected: Endorphin Control (Self)
  Correlated: Disease Immunity
  slang terms: macho, wireless, nullgrunt
  PHASE
  you can render yourself insubstantial, walking through 
  walls and other solid barriers. Spend 3 Phase points to 
  pass through any single barrier. Barriers of 0.5 meters 
  or more may, at the GM’s discretion, cost an additional 
  3 points for each half a meter of thickness. 
  you may also render yourself immune to most weapons 
  by becoming insubstantial; this reduces the damage 
  suffered from any attack to 0 and costs you 3 Phase 
  points per attack. you attempt this after your attacker 
  has made a successful attack test, but before he 
  announces the result of his damage roll. (you do not lose 
  your opportunity to phase if the GM or opposing player 
  forgets that you have the power and goes straight to the 
  announcement of damage.)
  
  59
  general powerS
  A suspect takes a swing at you in the interrogation 
  room, using his Scuffling ability. He spends 2 
  Scuffling on the test and rolls a 2, for a test result 
  of 4, enough to get past your Hit Threshold. “Are you 
  going to phase?” asks your GM. You decide to do so, 
  spending 3 Phase points. The GM does not bother 
  to roll damage, so you never know how hard a blow 
  you just spent your points on.
  Phasing offers you no protection against blast powers, 
  except for Concussion Beam and Ice Blast.
  you can solidify a hand or other extremity while still 
  inside another person (or living organism), but this 
  destroys not only all of your opponent’s tissue with 
  which you overlap, but the extremity as well. you must 
  succeed at a Scuffling test to move your fist or foot into 
  a critical organ, like the brain, heart, or liver. 
  you then automatically reduce the opponent to  –11 or 
  –12 Health, depending on the location of the attack. you 
  are reduced to –8 Health. If you recover, you lose one-
  third of your Health rating, and no longer have the hand 
  or foot. For obvious reasons, this is an ill-advised move 
  in all but the most desperate circumstances. Having 
  Regeneration is no help here, as the lack of an extremity 
  to reattach prevents you from fully restoring yourself. 
  you can phase up to about a kilogram of clothing and 
  small personal effects with you. you cannot solidify 
  clothing or other objects while inside another person 
  (or living organism.)
  Legal ramifications: Phase is an Article 18 power; see 
  p. 124.
  Grid: B2
  Connected: Dissociation, Touch
  slang terms: ghosting, slipout, tweening
  PLANT CONTrOL
  you can invest all plants within a discrete area with 
  rapid growth and mobility, allowing them to immobilize 
  one or more targets. Choose any point within range 
  as the center of the effect; it works on all vegetation 
  within a circular area with a diameter of 1m per point 
  in your Plant Control pool (before any points are spent 
  to increase your test result or the number of targets.) 
  Designate the number of targets you want to restrain, 
  paying an additional 1 Plant Control point for each after 
  the first.
  If your result equals or exceeds a target’s Hit Threshold, 
  he is immobilized. Assuming he resists, he must spend 
  his next action attempting to free himself from the 
  entangling vegetation. He succeeds on a test of Athletics, 
  Strength, or any blast power against a Difficulty of 4. you 
  may increase the Difficulty (for all entangled opponents) 
  by x, by spending x additional Plant Control points.
  Obviously, this power is useless in areas without 
  significant plant life, like many streets in highly 
  urbanized areas.
  Grid: E0
  Connected: Plant Communication
  slang terms: thumbing, gardening, mad salad
  POSSESSION
  you can override the consciousness of a chosen victim, 
  controlling his motor impulses and impelling him to 
  perform one or more actions. The subject must be 
  within 1 m of you; you must be able to make direct eye 
  contact with him. Make a Possession test (Difficulty 
  4.) The victim must be able to see your eyes; it doesn’t 
  matter whether you can see his or not. Mirrorshades and 
  similar devices offer no protection against possession. 
  However, during fights, chases and other fast moving 
  situations where eye contact is tough to establish, the 
  Difficulty of your Possession test may increase from +1 
  to +4, at the GM’s discretion.
  On a success, the subject must make a Stability test 
  with your Possession result as the Difficulty. If he fails, 
  you override his volition. His eyes become glassy; if 
  you impel him to speak, his voice is slow and slurred. 
  Even a layman can spot these obvious symptoms of a 
  possession in progress. It takes an expert in the EMAT 
  protocol to spot the signs of recent, but no longer active, 
  possession.
  At no further cost, you can command the subject to 
  perform one action. Each action after that costs you 
  an additional 4 Possession points. you may not access 
  any Investigative abilities, or the following general 
  abilities: Threat Calculus, Cognition, Empathy, Enter 
  Dreams, Illusion, Impersonate, Mechanics, Medic, 
  Observe Dreams, Precision Memory, Read Minds, or 
  Surveillance. Other abilities may be used but suffer 
  a +2 Difficulty modifier. The victim’s personality is 
  completely suppressed, so you can command his body 
  to do whatever you want, regardless of his conscience 
  or moral code.
  If the victim’s failed Stability test came within 2 points of 
  the needed Difficulty, he remains aware but helpless as 
  
  60
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  you control him. Otherwise, he remains unaware of what 
  he is doing, and retains no memory of it thereafter.
  Possession continues indefinitely, until you perform any 
  other action requiring you to use an investigative ability, 
  or make a general ability test.
  When you first establish the possession, and each time 
  you force the victim to take action, your eyes glow bright 
  green. This effect can easily be seen by nearby witnesses 
  and captured on still or video camera.
  Legal ramifications: Use of the Possession power, 
  which is nonconsensual essentially by definition, is a 
  felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Claims 
  of possession have been accepted as an affirmative 
  legal defense against various criminal charges. Juries, 
  however, remain skeptical where solid evidence of 
  possession cannot be shown by defense counsel.
  Grid: D1
  Connected: Command Insects, Plasma Deficiency
  slang terms: override, puppet, kermass
  PrECISION MEMOrY
  you display astonishing recall of events and visual 
  details. you can recite the contents of a thousand-
  word document verbatim after glancing at it for a few 
  seconds.
  Whenever you, the player, make a statement based on 
  a faulty recollection of prior events in the game, the GM 
  immediately steps in to correct you. This is a mistake, 
  you, the character, would never make. Each correction 
  costs you 1 Precision Memory point. If your pool is at 0, 
  the GM allows your faulty memory to stand.
  you may retrospectively gain clues that were available to 
  you in prior scenes, by thinking back on the scene. This 
  costs you 1 Precision Memory point per scene, whether 
  or not you recover useful clues. These must be clues 
  that could logically be pieced together without returning 
  to the scene or conducting further physical interactions 
  with it. you can’t know what was in a box if you didn’t 
  open it. However, remembering its outer markings in 
  detail, you can retrospectively employ your Art History 
  ability, identifying it as a 16th century piece in the style 
  of Benvenuto Cellini. Given the above limitation, you can 
  even make spends retroactively. This effect is only useful 
  in games using the standard GUMSHOE clue gathering 
  rules, where you have to look in the right place and 
  request a spend. It is of no particular benefit in games 
  using the optional no-spend rules on p. 88.
  Grid: E3
  Connected: Cognition, Megalomania
  slang terms: eidetic, total, replay
  PSIONIC BLAST
  you emit a wave of electrical energy which interferes 
  with a living being’s brainwaves, causing mental trauma 
  and, in some cases, brain damage. This is a blast power; 
  see sidebar, p. 43.
  Psionic Blast differs from other blast powers in that it 
  reduces the victim’s Stability instead of Health. However, 
  the damage suffered is a physical blunt force injury to 
  the brain, rather than emotional trauma. If a Psionic 
  Blast drives a character’s Stability pool to 0 to –5, the 
  victim is Hurt. If it is between –6 and –11, the victim is 
  Seriously Wounded and must make a Consciousness 
  test. If Psionic Blast drops a Stability pool to –12 or 
  below, the victim is dead.
  Damage from Psionic Blast can be healed by the 
  Empathy ability. The victim heals naturally at a rate of 2 
  Stability points per day.
  Grid: D3
  Connected: Threat Calculus
  slang terms: brainblast, mindzap, hangover
  QUILLS
  your back, shoulders and forearms are covered with 
  dozens of long, spiny quills, like those of a porcupine. 
  your damage modifier when Scuffling unarmed is +1. 
  Whenever an opponent who is Scuffling with you gets a 
  Scuffling test result exactly equal to your Hit Threshold, 
  that opponent suffers a die of damage, plus your +1 
  modifier.
  you may spend 2 Quills points to retract or extend your 
  quills.
  Grid: A1
  Connected: Blade Immunity
  slang terms: porcupine, acupuncturer
  rAdIATION IMMUNITY
  Whenever you suffer damage from Radiation Projection, 
  or any other radiation source, you may pay 1 Radiation 
  Immunity point to reduce the damage to 0.
  If you also possess the Radiation Projection power, you 
  are automatically immune to the damage inflicted by 
  your own power, and needn’t pay points to reduce it to 
  0. you must still pay when targeted by other mutants’ 
  
  61
  general powerS
  Radiation Projection.
  Grid: C2
  Connected: Radiation Projection, Toxin Immunity 
  (Ingested)
  slang terms: shroomer, clicky, Homer
  rAdIATION PrOjECTION
  you may bombard targets with highly concentrated 
  radiation. This is a blast power; see sidebar, p. 43.
  Whenever you use your power, everyone within x meters 
  of you (where x is your current Radiation Projection 
  pool) must make a Health test or lose 1 point of Health 
  to radiation damage. This includes you, unless you also 
  possess the power Radiation Immunity.
  At the end of any scene or combat in which you used 
  your power, everyone who took damage from you must 
  make a Health test against a Difficulty equal to the 
  number of Health points you cost them. Again, this 
  includes you, unless you also have Radiation Immunity. 
  Characters who fail contract radiation sickness. Every 
  24 hours, they suffer an amount of damage that doubles 
  each day: 1 Health points the first day, 2 the second, 4 
  on the third, 8 on the fourth, and so on. The doubling 
  continues until the character is healed (only the Cure 
  Disease power will do the trick) or reaches –12 Health 
  points and dies.
  Legal ramifications: Radiation Projection is considered 
  an Article 18 power (see p. 124); mutants possessing 
  it face severe legal restrictions. If your character has 
  this dangerous and much-feared power, you’ll have to 
  explain to the GM’s satisfaction how you ever got hired 
  onto the HCIU. If you are ever caught using it, on duty 
  or off, it will probably spell the end of your career, 
  requiring you to retire the character.
  Grid: C3
  Connected: Radiation Immunity, Self-Detonation
  Correlated: Transmutation
  slang terms: millirad, Chernobyl, three-mile
  rEdUCE TEMPErATUrE
  you can reduce temperatures in a spherical area 
  centered on any point within range. The diameter 
  of the sphere is 1m for each point in your Reduce 
  Temperature pool. To activate the power, make a 
  Reduce Temperature test. The Difficulty equals 3, plus 
  1 for every 5°C you want the temperature to drop.
  Grid: A2
  Connected: Ice Blast, Touch
  slang terms: popsicle, freezer, chiller
  rEFLExES
  you react to incoming threats with preternatural 
  speed. 
  you may spend 2 Reflexes points to automatically 
  succeed at any dodge attempt (see p. 43) that would 
  normally require an Athletics test. This includes 
  dodges of blast powers.
  To avoid a successful Shooting or Scuffling attempt, 
  make a successful Reflexes roll, with the result of the 
  Shooting or Scuffling attempt as your Difficulty.
  Grid: E4
  Connected: High Energy Dispersal, Speed
  slang terms: hooper, fly-fast, bounce
  rESIST INFLUENCE
  When you make a Stability test to avoid the effect of a 
  mutant power, the Difficulty of that test is reduced by 
  2.  you may reduce the Difficulty by an additional 1 for 
  every Resist Influence point you spend.
  Grid: C0
  Connected: Command Amphibians and Reptiles
  slang terms: bullhead, lizard brain, limbic shield
  rEGENErATION
  your body naturally heals itself of even the most 
  gruesome injuries. Once every three minutes, you may 
  spend 1 Regeneration points to refresh 2 lost or spent 
  Health points. This requires no concentration on your 
  part; you can carry on doing whatever you’re doing as 
  lacerated muscle knits together, bones fuse and snap 
  into place, and sliced skin smoothes itself over.
  If your Regeneration rating is 8 or more, the power 
  can bring you back from the dead. Provided that your 
  Health pool is no lower than –18, you can continue to 
  spend Regeneration points (once every three minutes, 
  as usual) until you reach –11 and come sputtering back 
  to (seriously wounded) life.
  you can’t regrow a limb or other lost or severed body 
  part in its entirety, but if you still have the missing bit 
  you can stick it back onto or into its correct anatomical 
  location and watch in nauseated wonder as your 
  regeneration power knits the severed tissue back 
  together. your once-severed organ or extremity is 
  considered reattached when you cross the boundary 
  
  62
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  from seriously wounded to hurt. If you are already 
  hurt or healthy, it fully reattaches upon your first 
  expenditure of Regeneration points.
  Grid: B4
  Connected: Strength, Messiah Complex
  Correlated: Toxin Immunity (Inhaled), Toxin Immunity 
  (Ingested)
  slang terms: lumo, whiteout, spotty
  SECrETE ACId
  The pores of your palms secrete a powerful acid, which 
  can be used to destroy small objects, or at least render 
  them unusable. To destroy or degrade an object, make 
  a Secrete Acid test, with the Difficulty determined by 
  the GM, with the following examples as a guideline:
  Object
  Difficulty 
  Document
  2
  Cell phone, handheld computer
  4
  Door lock
  4
  Kilo of illicit drugs
  4
  Watch
  4
  Laptop or desktop computer
  5
  Gun
  6
  Suitcase full of money
  6
  Diamond
  10
  If you touch someone’s bare skin while secreting 
  acid, they lose 1 Health point. If you strike them in a 
  Scuffling contest, you add 1 to your damage bonus for 
  every 2 Secrete Acid points you spend. you can spend 
  no more than 20 Secrete Acid points on a single attack. 
  Unlike the damage from blast powers, there is no way 
  to dodge this.
  Grid: C1
  Connected: Analytic Taste, Spit Acid
  Correlated: Blade Immunity
  slang terms: the melts, slough, vinegar
  SELF-dETONATION
  you blow up real good. By initiating a chemical reaction 
  in your entire body, you can initiate a spontaneous 
  detonation. To activate the power, first decide which 
  class of explosive device you wish to emulate—see 
  p. 99. This determines the eventual Difficulty of your 
  Self-Detonation test:
  Class 
  Equivalent 
  To
  Difficulty
  Reconstitution 
  Interval 
  1
  Pipe Bomb
  4
  1 hour
  2
  Grenade
  8
  2 hours
  3
  IED
  12
  12 hours
  4
  Truck Bomb
  32
  1 week
  5
  Bunker 
  Buster
  64
  1 month
  6
  Nuke
  96
  1 decade
  It takes you a number of rounds to activate the power 
  equal to the specified explosive class. you must stand 
  still and concentrate throughout this period. your body 
  trembles and is surrounded by a nimbus of crackling 
  energy, making what you are doing obvious to any 
  trained eye. All HCIU officers have been trained to 
  recognize these signs.
  If you lose consciousness or take any other action 
  during the activation period, you lose a number of Self-
  Detonation points equal to the Difficulty of the attempt, 
  and the effect does not occur.
  
  63
  general powerS
  At the end of the activation, make your test. On a 
  success, the specified explosion occurs, with your 
  position as its center.
  your constituent atoms float about in the atmosphere 
  for a period called the Reconstitution Interval (see 
  table, above.) When it elapses, you reform, unharmed, 
  with all of your pools refreshed. your reappearance 
  occurs at a location of your choice within a distance of 
  the blast location equal to your Self-Detonation rating 
  times 250 meters.
  If you also possess the power Radiation Projection, 
  you can choose to activate it as you explode, heavily 
  irradiating the area of the explosion, and, in the case of 
  an open-air explosion, polluting the air with radioactive 
  fallout.
  you are unable to produce explosions less effective 
  than a pipe bomb.
  Legal ramifications: Self-Detonation is an Article 
  18 power, incurring draconian legal restrictions on 
  anyone possessing it.
  Grid: C2
  Connected: Depression, Radiation Projection
  Correlated: Disintegration
  slang terms: dynamite, TNT, blammo
  SExUAL CHEMISTrY
  you may, at will, emit powerful pheromones provoking 
  in others an intense desire to have sex with you.
  The ability is not selective; a pheromone emission will 
  affect everyone within approximately 30m. Judicious 
  mutants use it only when they are alone with their 
  chosen targets.
  Affected individuals must make a Stability test to 
  avoid influence. you may spend any number of Sexual 
  Chemistry points, adding to the test’s base Difficulty 
  of 4. All targets are affected by this expenditure. The 
  Difficulty of the test decreases by 8 for targets whose 
  sexual orientation would normally rule you out as a 
  sex partner.
  Those who succumb to your chemical charms will 
  behave toward you as they would toward anyone they 
  feel an overwhelming physical attraction. People on 
  the sexual prowl will come onto you. Those who react 
  to sexy people by becoming shy and withdrawn become 
  helplessly introverted. Individuals deeply committed 
  to celibacy or monogamous relationships will fight to 
  control their sudden urges.
  In all instances, however, subjects will feel a reflexive 
  urge to cater to you and make you happy. This impulse 
  is limited by the individual’s typical code of behavior. An 
  already-shady character might commit crimes for you. 
  An upright citizen will refuse, but will feel sufficiently 
  drawn to you not to inform the authorities.
  you may spend Sexual Chemistry points to refresh your 
  Flirting pool, if you have one. Each Sexual Chemistry 
  point converts into 2 Flirting points.
  When a PC is affected by the power, the player decides 
  to what extent the character’s reaction exceeds a 
  general desire to please the wielder. 
  Legal ramifications: Use of this power is not illegal 
  but has on occasion led victims to sue those who wield 
  it in civil court for causing undue emotional distress, 
  with mixed success.
  Users of this ability have occasionally been charged 
  with riot incitement. Deploying it in a crowded place can 
  be extremely dangerous to the user. Rapists have been 
  exonerated or given reduced sentences by arguing that 
  they were acting under the influence of this power.
  Grid: F1
  Connected: Empathy, Low Impulse Control, 
  Correlated: Addictive Personality
  slang terms: phero, the hots, sex bomb
  SONAr
  By emitting a series of high frequency sounds and 
  waiting to hear them echo back to you as they bounce off 
  of various surfaces, you can sense your relationship to 
  other people and objects in three-dimensional space. 
  your sonar sense extends from you in all directions, to 
  a maximum distance of 10m per point in your Sonar 
  pool.
  Sonar provides more reliable depth perception 
  information than the sense of sight. you may grant 
  yourself a single +2 modifier on any Shooting test by 
  spending 1 Sonar point.
  This sense allows you to detect mutants using the 
  Invisibility power. you automatically succeed in 
  disbelieving any illusion with a strong visual component, 
  because your echolocation registers elements of the 
  
  64
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  illusion as lacking physical substance.
  If you also have the Gills mutation, you can also use 
  Sonar underwater, overcoming problems of visibility, 
  even in the deepest and darkest waters.
  If you suffer from Blindness, Sonar allows you to continue 
  to perceive people and objects. It does not compensate 
  for the ability to see colors, or to make out markings on 
  flat surfaces, like documents or television screens.
  Grid: B5
  Connected: Blindness, Sonic Blast
  Correlated: Gills
  slang terms: blippo, the waves, batshit
  SONIC BLAST
  This blast power (see sidebar, p. 43) allows you to emit a 
  high-frequency screech, which forms in your diaphragm 
  and emanates from your mouth. High frequency sound 
  waves buffet your intended target, damaging his soft 
  tissue and internal organs.
  Sonic blasts cause collateral damage. If you succeed 
  in damaging your opponent, anyone standing within x 
  meters of your target, where x is your current pool in 
  Sonic Blast, also loses 1 Health point. you are immune to 
  your own sonic blast, but not to those of other mutants.
  Grid: B5
  Connected: Sonar
  slang terms: howler, fat lady, voxbox
  SPEEd
  you can run at a highly accelerated speed.
  So long as you have 1 or more points in your Speed pool, 
  you can move at the following rates during combat:
  you can travel 20m (or ten grid squares) if all you’re 
  doing is moving. Alternatively, you can take significant 
  action and also move 10m (or five grid squares.) This 
  movement can take place before or after your action, or 
  you can break it up in 2m increments, bookending your 
  action as desired. you can therefore could move 2m, 
  take an action, then move another 8m, or move 6m and 
  then 4m, and so on.
  Under difficult terrain or environmental conditions, 
  like uneven ground or storms, your maximum speed 
  is 10m/5 grid squares (without an action) or 4m/2 grid 
  squares with an action.
  To run at high rates of speed over long distances, pay 
  the following number of Speed points for each km, or 
  fraction of a km, you run at the following speeds:
  Speed 
  (in 
  km/h)
  Cost For 
  1km 
  travel
  Time To 
  Travel 1km
  40 
  1
  90 sec
  100
  2
  36 sec
  200
  3
  18 sec
  500
  4
  7.2 sec
  750
  5
  4.8 sec
  1000
  7
  3.6 sec
  Additionally, you can dodge gunfire and other Shooting 
  attacks by making Speed tests, just as any character 
  may dodge blast attacks by making Athletics tests—see 
  p. 43.
  Grid: E4
  Connected: Reflexes
  Correlated: Attention Deficit Disorder
  slang terms: speedster, cheetah, [brand name of 
  currently popular athletic shoe]
  SPIT ACId
  you can spit globules of highly concentrated acid at your 
  enemies, damaging them from a distance. Test Spit Acid 
  against your target’s Hit Threshold. If you hit, your target 
  loses 5 Health points immediately, 2 Health points the 
  subsequent round, and 1 Health point the round after 
  that. Each successful attack costs you 1 Spit Acid point. 
  you may attack anyone within a number of meters equal 
  to your Spit Acid pool.
  The acid produced by this power is chemically distinct 
  from that of the Secrete Acid power, and is incapable of 
  doing significant damage to inorganic matter.
  Grid: C1
  Connected: Secrete Acid
  slang terms: xeno, wark, sprayjob
  SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
  you can initiate a process of rapid oxidization, causing 
  objects within standard range to burst into flames. 
  Test Spontaneous Combustion against a Difficulty 
  determined by the type of material. GMs should 
  extrapolate Difficulties for unlisted materials based on 
  the entries below.
  
  65
  general powerS
  Material
  Difficulty
  Paper
  1
  Gasoline
  2
  Wood
  3
  Plastic, Cloth
  4
  Living Flesh
  8
  Metal
  10
  This assumes you’re igniting about 1kg of material. 
  Double the Difficulty for each additional kg of material 
  initially ignited. In the case of a materials with a base 
  Difficulty of 4 or less, fire will quickly spread to the rest 
  of the object. Less flammable materials will tend to 
  burn out when the area you have ignited is consumed.
  Damage done to living tissue causes a loss of 1 Health 
  point per 1 kg ignited, to a maximum of 3 lost Health 
  points. Unlike a Fire Projection blast, Spontaneous 
  Combustion can’t be dodged.
  The flame you generate can be extinguished by any 
  normal means—and by Fire Control, of course.
  Grid: D3
  Connected: Fire Immunity, Trance Susceptible
  slang terms: rash, sponco, fuh-sizzle
  SPrEAd PATHOGEN
  By triggering genetic changes in the benign bacteria 
  inhabiting a subject’s body, you can infect him with a 
  debilitating, contagious flu-like disease. Make a Spread 
  Pathogen test against a target within a number of meters 
  equal to your Spread Pathogen pool. The subject makes 
  a Health test; if your Spread Pathogen test exceeds both 
  4 and the Health result, the pathogen takes effect.
  The subject loses a number of Health points equal to 
  the difference between the two results. He sickens 
  rapidly, and after ten minutes, begins to suffer from 
  a constellation of symptoms including coughing, 
  sneezing, sinus pressure, headache, chills, and physical 
  weakness. Subjects are unable to think properly, losing 
  the ability to use investigative abilities, and suffer a +3 
  increase to all general ability Difficulties. To undertake 
  any action that would delay them from heading home 
  and crawling into bed, they must make Stability tests 
  (Difficulty 4.)
  At the moment the subject gets sick, spend any number 
  of Spread Pathogen points; this expenditure determines 
  the virulence of the pathogen. If you spend no points, 
  it is not contagious. Anyone coming within 1m of the 
  subject while he remains sick must make a Health test 
  against the number you have set as the virulence. If 
  they fail, they suffer the same ill effects as the original 
  victim. Unlike your primary target, their version of the 
  pathogen is not contagious.
  Sufferers of the infection may make a Health test at the 
  end of each twenty-four hour period to recover from it. 
  The Difficulty starts at three times the virulence and 
  drops by 2 every day.
  Legal ramifications: Spread Pathogen is an Article 18 
  power; see p. 124.
  Grid: E1
  Connected: Cure Disease, Plant Communication
  Correlated: Command Insects
  slang terms: Mary, crud, the icks
  STrENGTH
  The SME hardened your muscle fibers to the strength 
  of steel, allowing you to perform incredible feats of 
  strength.
  
  66
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  your Damage Modifier when fighting unarmed is +4, or 
  +1 for every 4 points in your Strength pool, whichever 
  is lower.
  you can spend Strength points in Athletics tests in 
  which muscle power is a factor, including lifting, 
  running, and breaking down doors, gaining 3 Athletics 
  points for every Strength point spent.
  When the feat you wish to attempt surpasses the limits 
  of ordinary human ability, you instead make a Strength 
  test, with a Difficulty chosen by the GM, using the 
  following guidelines as a benchmark.
  Feat
  Difficulty 
  (with 
  mutant 
  Strength)
  Difficulty 
  (w/o mutant 
  Strength)
  Lift 100 kg
  1
  4
  Lift 150 kg
  2
  6
  Lift 200 kg
  3
  8
  Lift 300 kg
  4
  12
  Lift 400 kg
  5
  Not possible
  Lift 500 kg
  6
  Not possible
  Lift 600 kg
  8
  Not possible
  Lift 800 kg
  10
  Not possible
  Lift 1000 kg
  15
  Not possible
  Throw person 3 m
  4
  12
  Throw person 6 m
  6
  Not possible
  Throw person 9 m
  8
  Not possible
  Throw person 12 m
  12
  Not possible
  Break reinforced 
  door unaided
  4
  12
  Break steel door 
  unaided
  8
  Not possible
  Bend steel jail cell 
  bars
  8
  Not possible
  Stop oncoming car
  10
  Not possible
  Stop oncoming train
  20
  Not possible
  Grid: B4
  Connected: Flight, Regeneration
  Correlated: Limb Extension
  slang terms: strongman, rips, spinach
  SUPPrESS ExPLOSION
  you can alter the kinetic energy fueling an explosion, 
  dissipating its force and converting it into a harmless 
  implosion.
  As an explosion first occurs, make a Suppress 
  Explosion check, with a Difficulty equal to twice 
  the device’s Explosive Device Class (see p. 99.) If 
  successful, the bomb fizzles and has no effect. If you 
  fail, it does its normal damage.
  If preventing a mutant with the Self-Detonation power 
  from exploding, make a Suppress Explosion test, with 
  the result of your opponent’s Self-Detonation test as 
  your Difficulty.
  HCIU members with this mutation probably served 
  on the bomb squad before earning a transfer to their 
  present assignment. If so, remember to buy yourself 
  the investigative ability Explosive Devices.
  Grid: C2
  Connected: Analytic Taste, Depression
  slang terms: tard, D.D., anticat
  SUPPrESS INFLUENCE
  you can block mind controlling mutants from 
  exercising their influence in a particular area. Specify 
  an area up of up to 3 cubic meters. No individual 
  within that area, other than yourself, can be targeted 
  by mutant powers resisted by a Stability test. The 
  protection remains active for ten minutes for each 
  Suppress Influence point you spend. you may expand 
  the area by 3 cubic meters for each additional 
  Suppress Influence point you spend.
  Grid: F2
  Connected: Detect Influence
  slang terms: the cone, foiler, wormshield
  SwIMMING
  you can swim at a high rate of speed, executing 
  complex maneuvers in the water. your movement rate 
  while swimming equals your running speed on land. 
  While swimming, most physical feats you undertake 
  use Swimming tests, instead of Athletics.
  Grid: A4
  Connected: 
  Command 
  Fish, 
  Gills, 
  Water 
  Manipulation
  slang terms: flipper, endado, spitzer
  TECHNOkINESIS
  you can impel machines and devices to do your bidding. 
  you must be touching the machine to activate the 
  power. Make a Technokinesis test against a Difficulty 
  determined by the complexity of the machine. Only 
  devices including electronic components are subject 
  
  67
  general powerS
  to your whims; simple devices like pendulums, levers 
  and pulleys, or even low-tech guns, are beyond 
  your control. Generally, the machines appear to be 
  operating themselves. When you cause a car to drive, 
  for example, its steering wheel and pedals move as if 
  controlled by an invisible entity.
  GMs use the following table as a guideline to machine 
  complexity:
  Machine
  Difficulty
  Gas pump
  2
  Tennis ball machine
  2
  Car, vintage
  3
  Stereo
  3
  Television 
  3
  vending machine
  3
  Automated teller
  4
  Cell phone
  4
  Electronic lock
  4
  Steam shovel
  4
  Car, modern
  5
  Firearm with electronic components
  8
  Missile launcher
  9
  Cruise missile
  10
  Although you can override a machine’s controls, 
  locks and safety mechanisms, you can’t cause it to 
  do anything beyond the limits of its design. you can 
  command a vending machine to spit out its coins or 
  release all of its cans of soda, but you can’t get it to 
  fire missiles at incoming attackers or trundle down 
  a corridor to block a door for you, because it is not 
  designed to perform these tasks.
  Grid: E4
  Connected: Technopathy
  slang terms: shorting, twelve, blinkster
  TECHNOPATHY
  Technopathy allows you to extract information 
  from any machine that stores digital data, such 
  as a computer hard drive. It functions as a more 
  impressive, faster version of Data Retrieval—you get 
  clues without having to make a test or spend points. If 
  Data Retrieval spends are available in a scene, and you 
  touch the computers or other machines containing 
  the information, you gain them automatically, without 
  spending Data Retrieval points. you must touch 
  the item where the data is stored; contact with a 
  computer monitor in one room does not permit you 
  to access information from a server in another part of 
  a building. However, you can access a wi-fi network 
  simply by touching the copper contact points of a 
  laptop wireless card to your tongue.
  Legal ramifications: In many instances, Technopathy 
  allows you to gather electronic information covertly 
  and non-invasively. However, evidence gathered this 
  way is not admissible in court.
  Grid: E3
  Connected: Cognition
  slang terms: carding, malpathy, fishing
  TELEkINESIS
  you can move objects by sheer force of will. The base 
  Difficulty of the Telekinesis test to move an object is 
  0, modified by factors including its size, the distance 
  you want it to travel, and its speed.
  Factor
  Change To 
  Difficulty
  For every 1 kg mass
  +1
  For every 1m of distance object is to 
  travel
  +1
  For every additional object moved, 
  after the first
  +1
  Object travels distance in 5 seconds
  +0
  Object travels distance nearly 
  instantaneously
  +2
  Object travels distance in 15 seconds
  –2
  Objects moved nearly instantaneously can, if your 
  Telekinesis test result exceeds a target’s Hit Threshold, 
  do damage, like a missile weapon. The Damage 
  Modifier from such attacks is determined by the mass 
  of the item:
  Mass (In kg)
  Damage Modifier
  1
  –2
  2
  –1
  3
  0
  4
  +1
  5
  +2
  6
  +3
  7
  +4
  Kinetic Energy Dispersal can be used to counter these 
  telekinetic attacks.
  
  68
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Grid: E6
  Connected: Autism, Spatial Awareness
  slang terms: geisting, spacek, whooshing 
  TELEPATHY
  you can silently project your thoughts into the minds of 
  others. Recipients hear your thoughts spoken in your 
  voice, as if through earphones. you can establish the 
  link so that it is one way only, or so that you can hear 
  their thoughts as well. Participants in the telepathic 
  link communicate only the thoughts they wish to. you 
  can’t use Telepathy to read minds; nor do your subjects 
  gain unauthorized access to your thoughts. 
  you can open a psychic channel to a single individual 
  by paying 2 Telepathy points. you may maintain 
  multiple links at once. To open several active links so 
  that participants can communicate with each other 
  as well, pay an additional 2 Telepathy points.
  A telepathic link remains active until you shut it 
  down, or for fifteen minutes, whichever is greater. you 
  may pay an additional 2 points per link to maintain 
  it past the fifteen minute duration. If you have 
  already established multi-party communication, this 
  capability is extended at no additional point cost if 
  you pay to extend the duration of all of its constituent 
  links.
  The subject must be within direct visual range of you 
  when the link first is established. To keep the link 
  active, subjects must remain within a range equal to 
  your Telepathy rating times 1000 m. If the distance 
  between you and a subject exceeds that distance even 
  briefly, the link is severed.
  Taking part in a telepathic link is only a little more 
  distracting than listening to people talk, and does not 
  hamper you or your subjects as you perform other 
  tasks.
  Subjects who do not want to hear you talking in their 
  heads can attempt Stability tests, with your Telepathy 
  pool as the Difficulty. If successful, the link is briefly 
  established, then broken.
  Grid: F3
  Connected: Cognition
  slang terms: B-streaming, cortexting, myspazzing 
  TELEPOrTATION
  you can disappear in one location and instantly reappear 
  in another. Doing so requires a Teleportation test 
  against a Difficulty derived from the distance traveled 
  and your familiarity with your chosen destination. Add 
  all pertinent factors from the table below to get the 
  Difficulty of your attempt.
  Factor
  Change To 
  Difficulty
  you can now see destination unaided
  +0
  you can now see destination with aid 
  of surveillance device (binoculars, 
  camera, sniper scope, etc.)
  +1
  you have studied destination from 
  multiple photographs or video
  +6
  you have been in destination for five 
  minutes or less
  +4
  you have spent hours at destination
  +3
  you have spent days at destination
  +2
  you have spent weeks at destination
  +1
  you have spent months or more at 
  destination
  +0
  Destination is within 1000m
  +0
  Destination is within 1 km
  +1
  Destination is within 10 km
  +2
  Destination is within 100 km
  +4
  Destination is within 1000 km
  +6
  Destination is within 5000 km
  +12
  Destination is within 10,000 km
  +18
  you have teleported x previous times 
  in the current session
  +2x
  you can’t intentionally teleport into the middle of an 
  object, barrier, or person. If an object or barrier has 
  been moved to your desired destination since you last 
  familiarized yourself with it, you will instead appear at 
  the nearest safe location.
  Like any other power (except where explicitly noted) 
  teleportation takes an action in combat. Therefore, you 
  can’t both attack and teleport, or vice versa, during the 
  same round. (This is our round-about way of confirming 
  that, sorry, you can’t do the cool thing that blue guy with 
  the tail in those comics and movies does.)
  Legal ramifications: Teleportation is an Article 18 
  
  69
  general powerS
  power; see p. 124.
  Grid: E5
  Connected: Spatial Awareness
  slang terms: bamfing, redshirting, besting
  THrEAT CALCULUS
  you are able to predict what physical moves the people 
  around you are about to make. So long as you are able to 
  observe a subject, he can never make a physical move 
  that surprises you. The GM models this by warning 
  you ahead of time before a character makes a sudden 
  move.
  your Hit Threshold increases by 1 against opponents 
  you are able to observe.
  When any other character successfully revs up a blast 
  power, you can tell how damaging it will be; see the 
  Blast Powers sidebar, p. 43. you can use this insight to 
  decide how much effort to invest into a dodge attempt. 
  By shouting a one-word warning to your allies (“Duck!”) 
  you can convey the same information to others.
  Maintaining this awareness takes active concentration. 
  To activate it, spend 1 Threat Calculus point. The power 
  remains active for ten minutes, after which it may be 
  renewed by spending an additional point for another ten 
  minutes of duration, and so on.
  Threat Calculus does not protect you from actions taken 
  by people you are unaware of.
  Grid: E3
  Connected: Lightning Decisions, Psionic Blast
  slang terms: TC, Will Robinson, conred
  TELESCOPIC vISION
  you can selectively alter your vision to see distant objects 
  as if they are right in front of you. This allows you to, 
  among other things, conduct surveillance without the 
  need for cumbersome equipment. The range of this 
  sense depends on your rating:
  Range
  Rating
  250m
  1
  500m
  2
  1 km
  3
  2 km
  4
  4 km
  5
  Telescopic vision does not allow you to see through 
  objects, but if you have x-Ray vision as well, you can 
  combine the two powers.
  Legal ramifications: Several mutants have been 
  successfully prosecuted for using telescopic vision to 
  violate Peeping Tom statutes.
  Grid: D6
  Connected: Microvision
  slang terms: telepeeping, scroping, teevee
  TOxIN IMMUNITY (INHALEd)
  Microscopic mutant filtration cells in the lining of 
  your lungs immediately blocks the absorption of toxic 
  substances into your bloodstream. Whenever you are 
  exposed to gaseous or powdered toxins, spend 2 Toxin 
  Immunity (Inhaled) points to ignore any damage and 
  ill-effects you would otherwise incur, without having to 
  make a Health test. The ability also protects you against 
  smoke inhalation.
  Grid: A4
  Connected: Deplete Oxygen
  Correlated: Gills, Regeneration
  slang terms: teach, aqualung, dealt-it
  TOxIN IMMUNITY (INGESTEd)
  your enhanced liver processes toxins that would kill an 
  ordinary person, allowing them to pass through your 
  body without harm. The toxins are neutralized in the 
  process, so you can urinate in the serene confidence 
  that you’re not introducing dangerous substances into 
  the water supply. 
  Whenever ingest a poisonous substance, including 
  bacterial toxins from food poisoning, spend 2 Toxin 
  Immunity (Ingested) points to ignore any damage and 
  ill-effects you would otherwise incur, without having to 
  make a Health test.
  Grid: C4
  Connected: Fire Control, Radiation Immunity
  Correlated: Regeneration
  slang terms: tiger, cast iron, guts
  TrACkING
  If provided with a scent sample from a living subject, 
  and a location where the subject recently was, you can 
  track him to his current location. your tracking sense 
  is so highly developed that methods used to throw off 
  bloodhounds don’t work on you. Even if the quarry 
  crosses a river or masks his scent with perfume, you’ll 
  still find him.
  If a subject’s location provides a clue necessary to the 
  solving of a case, you automatically succeed.
  
  70
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Otherwise, you must spend points to find the present 
  location of other subjects. The cost varies according 
  to the time elapsed between the subject’s presence 
  at your start point, and the beginning of your tracking 
  effort. (Where durations on the chart overlap, use the 
  most forgiving option.)
  Maximum 
  Duration
  Cost
  15 minutes
  1
  1 hour 
  2
  3 hours 
  3
  6 hours
  4
  9 hours
  5
  12 hours
  6
  1 day
  7
  2 days
  8
  3 days
  9
  1 week
  10
  Although you automatically succeed if you spend the 
  appropriate number of points, you may face other 
  obstacles along the way, from bears to bear traps.
  The above costs assume a mostly natural environment. 
  To track in an urbanized environment, double the cost.
  Grid: C6
  Connected: Environmental 
  Awareness, 
  Olfactory 
  Center.
  slang terms: hound dog, smelt, Waldo
  TrANSMUTATION
  you can alter the elemental composition of inanimate 
  objects. To do so, test Transmutation against a Difficulty 
  of 4, or the number of steps separating the elements in 
  the following list, whichever is greater:
  • Graphite
  • Sulfur
  • Calcium
  • Titanium
  • Iron
  • Nickel
  • Copper
  • Aluminum
  • Silver
  • Tin
  • Platinum
  • Gold
  • Lead
  you can transmute 100g or less of material per day, 
  based on the weight of the substance before it is 
  changed, without strain. To transmute more than this 
  in a single day, pay 3 Transmutation points for each 
  additional 100g.
  Transmuted elements are identifiable as such using 
  a simple Herceg-Mikkelson test, which any trained 
  person can quickly administer with the aid of an 
  inexpensive chemical solution. Transmuted precious 
  metals typically fetch 1% of the price of their naturally-
  occurring counterparts and are not used in coinage or 
  luxury items. However, many mutants with this power 
  make a living transmuting base metals into precious 
  ones for industrial use.
  Legal ramifications: Passing off transmuted precious 
  metals as genuine constitutes fraud.
  Grid: B3
  Connected: Disintegration
  Correlated: Healing, Radiation Projection
  slang terms: philosophy, alchemy, FG
  vENOM (BITE)
  By biting an opponent’s exposed flesh, you can inject 
  him with a powerful neurotoxin. At the time of the bite, 
  spend any number of venom (Bite) points to increase 
  the Difficulty of all later Health tests made by your 
  victim while attempting to resist the effects of the toxin. 
  This number is referred to as the bite’s Toxicity.
  One minute after the bite, the victim must make a 
  Health test against a Difficulty of 4, plus the Toxicity. On 
  a failure, the victim immediately succumbs to the toxin. 
  On a success, he still has one half hour per point of 
  Toxicity before the toxin strikes.
  When the toxin strikes, the victim makes a second Health 
  test, again against a Difficulty of 4 plus the Toxicity. On 
  a failure, his Health pool is immediately reduced to –9, 
  unless he is already at –9 or less, in which case he dies. 
  On a success, his Health pool is reduced by the bite’s 
  Toxicity.
  In either case, the victim cannot refresh Health points 
  (except through the Healing power) and continues to 
  lose 1 Health every 3 hours until he is administered 
  an antivenin. Antivenins to mutant powers are too 
  perishable and expensive to appear in standard first aid 
  kits, so victims will need to find them at hospitals.
  HCIU officers who have reason to believe they’ll be 
  facing venomous suspects can requisition supplies of 
  antivenin. 
  
  71
  general powerS
  Multiple bites against a single target are redundant. 
  Unless you also have Fangs, the damage modifier from 
  a bite attack is –3.
  Grid: C1
  Connected: Analytic Taste, Secrete Acid
  Correlated: Fangs
  slang terms: viper, rattle, zina
  vENOM (SPIT)
  Glands in your throat produce a powerful poison, which 
  you can expel as a projectile onto an opponent’s exposed 
  eyes or mouth. The range for this ability is your venom 
  (Spit) pool in meters. Test venom (Spit) against your 
  target’s Hit Threshold. If successful, you do damage 
  with a +1 modifier. Also, until he clears the gob of toxic 
  mucus from his face, your opponent is wracked with pain 
  and suffers blurred vision. To clear away the mucus, he 
  (or a character coming to his aid) must make an Medic 
  test, with the result of your venom (Spit) attack as the 
  difficulty. If no one aids him, he will attempt to do so 
  instinctively, even if he lacks the ability and has little 
  chance of success. He can suppress this instinct only on 
  a Stability test with the result of your venom (Spit) attack 
  as the difficulty. If successful, he may ignore the pain, 
  but it and the blurred vision increases the Difficulties of 
  all actions he undertakes by 2.
  After ten minutes, the Difficulty of the Medic test to clear 
  the mucus decreases by 2, and continues to decrease by 
  2 at ten minute intervals. When it drops to 0, the venom’s 
  effect ceases.
  This ability is useless against a target wearing a helmet 
  or other protection over his entire face.
  Grid: C1
  Connected: Command Amphibians & Reptiles, venom 
  (Stinger)
  Correlated: venom (Stinger)
  slang terms: cobra, naja, gob
  vENOM (STINGEr)
  your spinal column houses not only your spinal cord, 
  but a meter-long, thin, prehensile organ terminating in 
  a barbed stinger. The stinger delivers a paralytic poison 
  which immobilizes your victims. 
  By spending 2 venom (Stinger) points, you can cause 
  this organ to emerge from your first thoracic vertebra. 
  It costs 2 venom (Stinger) points to retract.
  you can attack your enemies with this organ when 
  close enough to Scuffle with them. Test venom 
  (Stinger) against your opponent’s Hit Threshold. On a 
  successful hit, you do no damage, but force the victim 
  to make a Health test with the result of your venom 
  (Stinger) attack as the difficulty. On a failure, he loses 
  an additional 2 Athletics points whenever he makes an 
  Athletics, Driving, Infiltration, Scuffling, or Shooting test, 
  or makes a test of a mutant power. When he drops to 0 
  Athletics points, he is paralyzed. Although conscious, 
  he is unable to move. (If he has no Athletics pool when 
  you first hit him, he is paralyzed immediately.)
  He may not refresh Athletics while paralyzed. Every 
  ten minutes, he may make a new Health test, at first 
  against the result of your venom (Stinger) attack. After 
  every subsequent ten minutes, the Difficulty decreases 
  by 2. On a successful result, the effect ends.
  The toxin’s effects may be ended at any time with a 
  successful application of the Cure Disease power, 
  against a Difficulty of 4.
  
  72
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Grid: C1
  Connected: Webbing, venom (Bite), venom (Spit)
  Wall Crawling
  Tiny filaments protrude from your palms and the 
  undersides of your fingers, allowing you to cling to 
  walls and ceilings without other aid. you automatically 
  succeed at any climbing attempt. your rate of speed 
  while climbing depends on your Wall Crawling rating, 
  as follows:
  Rating
  Climbing Speed
  1–4
  Normal movement/2
  5 –8
  Normal movement
  9–12
  Normal movement ×2
  13–16
  Normal movement ×3
  17+
  Normal movement ×4
  Grid: B1
  Connected: Scleroderma, Webbing
  slang terms: freekle, mantis, sidewaysing 
  wATEr BLAST
  you can emit a high-pressure stream of water from your 
  fingertips. This is a blast power; see sidebar, p. 43.
  On a successful hit, your opponent is knocked back by 
  the spray, moving 1m directly away from you, in the 
  same direction as your blast, for every point of difference 
  between your Water Blast result and his Hit Threshold. 
  If this knocks him into a solid barrier, such as a wall, he 
  loses an additional 2 Health points.
  Water Blast is countered by Kinetic Energy Dispersal.
  Grid: A5
  Connected: Water Manipulation
  slang terms: H2, scour, cannoning
  wEBBING
  you secrete sticky proteinaceous fibers from glands 
  located in your forearms. Though lighter than rope, the 
  web material possesses a tensile strength comparable 
  to steel. The webbing has three primary uses:
  Adhesive: you can secrete a sticky blob of webbing which 
  you can use as a powerful glue to stick two objects 
  together. For example, you could use it to quickly stick 
  a GPS device on the bottom of a suspect’s car. Pay 1 or 
  more Webbing points each time you do this. The glue 
  remains insoluble for thirty minutes for each point you 
  spend, after which it quickly biodegrades into a watery goo.
  Movement: you can cast the web up above you and then 
  climb it like you would a rope, scaling up or rappelling 
  down sheer surfaces. The sticky webbing adheres to 
  any ordinary surface, supporting your weight even more 
  securely than would a grappling hook. Spinning a length 
  of climbing-suitable webbing costs you 2 Webbing 
  points. Making difficult maneuvers using your webbing 
  requires the Athletics ability. Swinging from web to web 
  is possible but very difficult, with a base Difficulty of 6, 
  which can be additionally complicated by other factors, 
  such as wind speed and storm conditions.
  Restraints: you can restrain subjects by spraying them 
  with a wide beam of webbing, which keeps them 
  immobilized for a cost of 2 Webbing points for every 
  two hours you want the webbing to retain its strength. 
  Hitting a moving target with your webbing requires 
  a successful Shooting test. If you shoot webbing at a 
  subject and miss, you still have to pay the 2 points. A 
  webbed subject can make an Athletics or Strength test 
  to free himself, with a Difficulty equal to 4 plus your 
  Webbing pool as of the moment you began to spin the 
  restraint webbing (that is, before you spent the 2 points 
  to activate it.) Another person who is not caught in the 
  web can carefully cut a restrained person out of it with a 
  utility knife or other blade of similar sharpness, though 
  this takes several minutes.
  Grid: B1
  Connected: venom (Stinger), Wall Crawling
  Correlated: Command Insects
  slang terms: silking, rackrope, nidding
  wATEr MANIPULATION
  you can shape water, causing it to cohere into a bounded, 
  though still liquid, form, and directing its movements. 
  Stunts you can perform, and accompanying Difficulties, 
  include:
  Stunt
  Difficulty
  Explode plumbing
  4
  Fill hole with ground water
  4
  Keep area dry during rain storm
  4
  Cause miniature rainstorm within 
  area
  4
  Retard flood waters within area
  6
  Cause body of water to flood its 
  banks within area
  4
  Create animated water-puppets in 
  human or animal shape
  6
  After animating a manlike shape from water, you can 
  
  73
  general powerS
  direct it like a puppet, to fight your enemies. Use your 
  Water Manipulation ability as its Scuffling; its liquid fists 
  carry a Damage Modifier of +0. It cannot be damaged 
  by ordinary weapons, but loses the ability to move if 
  the temperature drops to 0°C or less. you must remain 
  in direct visual contact with it, and can do nothing but 
  direct its movements. If you are hit, entangled or forced 
  to take other significant action, the water sloshes into a 
  puddle and drains away.
  Grid: A5
  Connected: Swimming, Water Blast
  slang terms: fountain, Plumber’s Helper, weatherman
  wINd CONTrOL
  Through force of will, you can increase or decrease 
  wind speeds. To alter prevailing wind velocity, test Wind 
  Control against a Difficulty equal to 4, plus the number 
  of steps of separation from the present state and your 
  desired state, on the following list:
  • Calm
  • Breeze
  • Strong Breeze
  • Near Gale
  • Gale (light structure damage begins)
  • Storm (trees uprooted; moderate structure 
  damage)
  • Violent Storm (heavy structure damage)
  • Hurricane (structures may be obliterated)
  The area affected is a sphere with your current range as 
  its diameter, and your position as its center point. your 
  miniature storm moves as you do.
  Having generated your miniature wind storm, you must 
  spend 1 Wind Control point per minute to keep it going.
  When your storm, violent storm or hurricane first 
  appears, everyone inside it (including you) must make 
  an Athletics test against a Difficulty equal to your Wind 
  Control result. Those who fail lose a number of Health 
  points equal to the difference between their results and 
  the Difficulty, from flying debris.
  Combat movement rates within a storm, violent storm 
  or hurricane, including your own are halved. 
  you can also create, in the same sphere, an area of 
  highly variable wind speeds. These make it more difficult 
  for users of missile weapons to predictably hit their 
  targets. (Even in strong winds, a trained shooter can 
  compensate, as long as the winds remain consistent.) 
  Test Wind Control against a Difficulty of 6; if successful, 
  the effective Hit Threshold of any target within the 
  sphere increases by 2.
  Grid: A3
  Connected: Asthma, Command Birds
  Correlated: Ice Blast
  slang terms: gale, puff, albatross
   minor mutations
  The spectacular and useful mutations listed 
  in this section are not the only fruit of the 
  Spontaneous Mutation Event. Another 1% 
  of the population acquired odd mutations 
  of little practical benefit. In popular 
  parlance these are called minor mutations, 
  although anamorphologists prefer the 
  term B-category mutations. The powers of 
  the Quade diagram are called A-category 
  mutations. People manifest either one or the 
  other, never both A and B mutations.
  Common minor mutations include the 
  following.
  Individuals may exhibit irises of unusual 
  color, including red, bright purple, yellow, 
  or a bizarre rainbow pattern. Other eye 
  mutations include slitted pupils recalling 
  the eyes of a cat or alligator, and vastly 
  enlarged irises. People exhibiting the latter 
  condition are sometimes called “Anna 
  Mays.”
  New hair colors include candy apple red, 
  violet, and green. Other people sport hair 
  which is literally coppery or golden, or 
  which resembles vegetation.
  Fast-growing nails and hair are also 
  common. Some unlucky mutants have to 
  get their hair cut two or three times a week. 
  Others suffer from spontaneous tattoo-like 
  skin discolorations, or disfigurations of the 
  face. Although many were disfigured by the 
  SME, as many others became more beautiful 
  than they’d been before.
  A check of Internet fetish sites will locate 
  a small community of drooling enthusiasts 
  for any B-category mutation you care to 
  name.
  
  74
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  defects
  As they investigate their cases as HCIU officers, the PCs 
  also face personal obstacles called Sub-Plots; these are 
  further described on p. 166. Genetic defects connected 
  with their mutant powers serve as a major source of 
  sub-plots. Forced Refreshes (p. 103) and Stability loss 
  (p. 102) can also trigger defects.
  Just as certain enhanced abilities are connected on 
  the Quade Diagram, certain combinations of powers 
  introduce propensities for particular psychological or 
  physical defects. you do not start play with a full-blown 
  version of the defect. Instead, it is in its incipient stage. 
  you are aware that you might develop the defect, and 
  exhibit minor symptoms which perhaps cause you 
  worry but do not hamper your performance on the job 
  or in daily life.
  When a sub-plot focuses on your defect, you will probably 
  experience a crisis that threatens to escalate the severity 
  of your condition. Each defect has a resistance ability: 
  Health for physical ailments, or Stability for neurological 
  conditions or personality disorders. you may be able to 
  avert the crisis through roleplaying choices. If not, you 
  test your resistance ability against a Difficulty of 4. If you 
  fail, your condition worsens by one stage.
  At stage one, your defect affects your performance only 
  slightly. you may experience brief episodes of physical 
  disability, or moments where you are unable to control 
  your behavior.
  At stage two, you are clearly and consistently disabled, 
  but not so much that your effectiveness as an HCIU 
  officer has come to an end. your superiors and comrades 
  work with you to minimize the impact of your defect on 
  the outcome of your cases.
  Stages one and two are (usually) reversible. 
  If the resistance ability is Stability, you can seek 
  counseling or rehabilitation. After three consecutive 
  sessions in which you depict your character as making 
  an effort to get better, you may make a Stability test 
  against a Difficulty of 6 for stage one, or 8 for stage two. 
  If you succeed, you move back down a step. Another PC 
  with the Cure Disease power may spend points from his 
  pool to increase your result.
  If your resistance ability is Health, you can undergo 
  a combination of rehabilitation and pharmaceutical 
  therapy. After three consecutive sessions in which you 
  make your treatment regime part of the story, you may 
  decrease your defect state by one stage by making a 
  Health test against a Difficulty of 6 for stage one, or 8 
  for stage two. Another PC with the Medic and/or Cure 
  Disease abilities may spend points from those pools to 
  increase your result.
  When you reach stage three, you are effectively crippled 
  by your disorder, and face mandatory retirement. your 
  character is removed from play; you start over with a 
  rookie detective joining the unit for the first time. During 
  the episode in which you face and fail the crisis to avoid 
  stage three status, the GM may collaborate with you 
  to see that your character goes out in a blaze of glory, 
  spectacularly ending his police career—as if the actor 
  playing him is being written out of the Tv series. Maybe 
  he even dies.
  Note that our description of these conditions reflect 
  the dramatic license typically taken by procedural 
  melodramas. They should not be regarded as strictly 
  realistic, or as an attempt to trivialize the impact of 
  their real-world counterparts on people’s lives. These 
  descriptions also neatly separate conditions which in 
  reality are often connected.
  None of these defects are exclusive to mutants, of 
  course. Players who wish to take on defects for the 
  roleplaying challenge may do so, provided that the GM 
  is confident that this will enhance play. (Some players 
  relish the opportunity to grab the spotlight and thwart 
  
  75
  other players by portraying their flaws with excessive 
  zeal. If you fit this profile, don’t be surprised by your GM’s 
  decision to disallow you the use of additional defects.) 
  AddICTIvE PErSONALITY
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: E1
  incipient: you like thrills, risk, and activities that give 
  you accelerating levels of stimulation when repeated. 
  you’ve been known to drink a few too many, and also 
  to experiment with soft illicit substances. you always 
  have a bet down on an upcoming game. When you surf 
  the Internet, you keep going until you’re bleary-eyed, 
  always looking for another cool site or cache of very 
  specific x-rated material. When you fire up a new video 
  game, you can’t stop until you’ve beaten the damn thing. 
  your brain doesn’t kick into gear until you’ve had your 
  morning dose of caffeine, which you probably repeat 
  throughout the day.
  stage One: you have at least a couple of drinks a day 
  and spend most of your off-hours stoned. your drugging 
  no longer stops at pot and ecstasy, but incorporates the 
  occasional jolt of coke or heroin. Whenever you spot a 
  Tv set tuned to a sports channel, you can’t help being 
  distracted by it, looking for opportunities to crawl out 
  of the hole you’ve gotten yourself into with your bookie. 
  Though your buddies still cover for you, your bloodshot 
  eyes, tired demeanor, and rumpled clothing are 
  beginning to catch the attention of your bosses. To make 
  an investigative spend, you must also spend 1 Stability 
  point per investigative ability point.
  stage two: you are now addicted to the substance or 
  activity involved in the crisis that brought you to stage 
  two, and your propensity for other addictive behaviors 
  has also accelerated. If you’re addicted to a substance, 
  you must continually dose yourself just to appear 
  normal and functional. When you do not have a supply, 
  you must make a Stability test (Difficulty 6) to proceed 
  with the current investigation. Otherwise, you slip off 
  to resupply. If you’re addicted to a behavior, you must 
  make the same Stability test whenever presented with 
  the opportunity to engage in it. If you fail, you succumb, 
  neglecting your duties. you continue to be distracted on 
  the job: to make an investigative spend, you must also 
  spend 2 Stability points per investigative ability point.
  stage three: you have become such an obvious 
  degenerate drunk, druggie, gambler or whatever that 
  you are fired from the force.
  ArTHrITIS
  resistance Ability: Health
  Grid: E1
  incipient: your joints ache for several hours after 
  you undertake Athletics or Scuffling tests, or use the 
  powers Flight, Strength, Limb Extension, or Natural 
  Weaponry. you can counter this effect with over-the-
  counter pain medication. 
  stage One: Whenever you use any of the above abilities, 
  you lose an additional 1 Athletics point, reflecting 
  increasing joint pain. 
  stage two: As above, but you also lose 1 Health point 
  whenever you use any of the cited abilities. you also 
  experience pain when attempting everyday activities, 
  from opening bottles to operating a Tv remote.
  stage three: your chronic pain has become so bad 
  that you have no choice but to seek early retirement 
  from the force on medical grounds.
  defectS
  
  76
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  ASTHMA
  resistance Ability: Health
  Grid: A3
  incipient: you have trouble breathing after exposure 
  to 
  pollutants, 
  common 
  allergens, 
  changes 
  in 
  temperature, and excesses of humidity. When you 
  catch a cold, breathing problems linger long after the 
  infection clears your system. Medication, delivered by 
  an inhaler, controls your symptoms.
  stage One: After any Athletics or Scuffling test, or the 
  use of the powers Deplete Oxygen, Gills, Ice Blast, 
  Reduce Temperature, Toxin Immunity (Inhaled), or 
  Wind Control, make a Difficulty 4 Health check. On a 
  failure, you lose 2 Health.
  stage two: As above, but the Difficulty is 5 and the 
  Health loss 3.
  stage three: Chronic breathing problems make it 
  impossible to pass your regular department physical. 
  you may either take a desk job or leave the force on a 
  disability pension. In either case, the character leaves 
  play.
  ATTENTION dEFICIT dISOrdEr
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: E3
  incipient: you are forgetful and have trouble focusing 
  on single tasks. With your boundless energy and desire 
  for constant stimulation, you were probably a class 
  clown as a kid and are still the precinct-house cut-up 
  today. When playing your character, fidget constantly, 
  occasionally get to your feet and pace around, and 
  exhibit the occasional tic. 
  stage One: your hyperactivity and manic demeanor 
  begin to cross the line from endearing to annoying. To 
  make an investigative spend, you must also spend 1 
  Stability point per investigative ability point.
  stage two: you lose the ability to make investigative 
  spends.
  stage three: you have become so manic and incapable 
  of focusing on tasks that you can no longer use your 
  investigative abilities at all. After a series of poor 
  performance reviews (which happen offstage, between 
  cases), you are discharged from the force.
  AUTISM
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: F6
  incipient: When you are tired or stressed, you begin 
  to suffer from sensory overload. Sounds are too loud. 
  Colors are too vivid; moving objects, too numerous and 
  too fast. The sense of touch conveys an overwhelming 
  flood of information. 
  stage One: you exhibit mild signs of adult-onset 
  autism. you lose touch with abstractions and the 
  emotional needs of others, instead preferring to see 
  the world only in concrete, measurable terms. Sensory 
  overload now occurs at all times. As a result, to make 
  an investigative spend of any kind, you must also spend 
  1 Stability point per investigative ability point.
  stage two: you see, hear and feel too acutely: even the 
  movements of the air are visible to you. Unfortunately, 
  the pain this causes ensures that your sharpened 
  senses are more distraction than help: you must spend 
  2 Stability points for each investigative point you spend. 
  Also, you must make a Stability test against a Difficulty 
  of 4 to remain in any situation of high sensory impact, 
  like a loud factory or a dance club with flashing lights 
  and thumping music. To remain in the presence of the 
  emotionally distressed, you must make a Stability test 
  against a Difficulty of 5.
  stage three: People, with their incessant emotional 
  demands and desire to touch you all the time and 
  their intruding smells—they have become unbearable 
  to you! you don’t hate them, but it’s all too much! you 
  submit your resignation and go off to live a life of 
  blissful isolation.
  BLINdNESS
  resistance Ability: Health
  Grid: B5
  incipient: you feel a constant pressure behind 
  your eyes, which relaxes somewhat after a night of 
  perfect, uninterrupted sleep. you need glasses; your 
  prescription lenses become thicker with every check-
  up. 
  stage One: Objects in the far distance blur. Peripheral 
  vision starts to fade. your glasses now resemble 
  the bottoms of glass soda bottles. The effective Hit 
  Thresholds of all opponents you target with Shooting 
  or blast powers increases by 1. The ranges of all of 
  your mutant powers decrease by one-third. When 
  
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  defectS
  you make a Surveillance test dependent primarily on 
  vision, its Difficulty increases by 2.
  stage two: Some mornings you suffer a terrifying 
  precursor of things to come: you wake up unable to see 
  anything at all. This lasts for ten to thirty minutes. you 
  have lost your peripheral vision entirely; objects in the 
  middle distance blur. Hit Thresholds of all opponents 
  targeted with Shooting or blast powers increases by 
  2. The ranges of all of your mutant powers decrease 
  by two-thirds. When you make a Surveillance test 
  dependent primarily on vision, its Difficulty increases 
  by 4. After any Scuffle, make a Health test against a 
  Difficulty of 4; if you fail, you lose your sight completely 
  for about an hour. 
  stage three: you are now completely blind. you may 
  choose between retirement on disability grounds, or 
  reassignment to an administrative job where your 
  handicap can be accommodated. Either way, your 
  character departs from the series.
  dEPrESSION
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: C2
  incipient: The stress of your job sometimes leaves you 
  anxious for no apparent reason, and at other times 
  plunges you into a state of dull, deadened melancholia. 
  Although you sometimes appear withdrawn or tired, 
  you are nonetheless able to conceal your anomie from 
  friends and colleagues.
  stage One: you have trouble sleeping, motivating 
  yourself, and thinking optimistically. you can never 
  act as the aggressor in a contest. In a group combat, 
  you are always the last PC to act. (If more than one 
  PC suffers from this drawback, use normal rules to 
  decide which of them acts first.) 
  stage two: you continue to suffer the above symptoms 
  and drawbacks. In addition, you are now haunted by 
  suicidal thoughts. Though most of the time you appear 
  enervated and withdrawn, you may become recklessly 
  enthusiastic in the face of danger. At the GM’s 
  discretion, you must make a Stability test (Difficulty 4) 
  to avoid or retreat from any life-threatening situation. If 
  you fail this test and plunge into danger, all Difficulties 
  you face while you remain in jeopardy increase by 1, 
  reflecting your lack of attention to self-preservation.
  stage three: In time-honored police fashion, you eat 
  your gun. At the beginning of the next session, you fail 
  to show up for shift. When your colleagues are unable 
  to contact you, they conduct a search and eventually 
  find you dead from suicide, at your home or some 
  other significant location. A final note confirms that 
  you’ve ended your own life.
  If, however, you have the power Self-Detonation, 
  your character remains in play until he gets his next 
  opportunity to explode himself. However, he does not 
  reform afterwards, remaining  in a state of voluntary 
  obliteration for all eternity.
  dISSOCIATION
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: B2
  incipient: you feel that the world is becoming 
  increasingly unreal, and that your connections to it 
  steadily more tenuous. It’s as if the sense of detachment 
  all police officers must cultivate to protect themselves 
  from the emotional toll of the job has infected all 
  aspects of your emotional life. Unless you’re careful 
  to disguise your reactions, you can come off as aloof, 
  cold, even robotic.
  stage One: your sense of detachment from reality 
  increases. you find pop culture oppressive and strange, 
  and try whenever possible to avoid large gatherings. 
  Feigning interest in the personal concerns around you 
  becomes a challenge. you may seek solace in eastern 
  religions, especially those that teach the fundamental 
  unreality of the material world. Whenever you become 
  the target of a mutant power which requires you to 
  make a Stability test, the Difficulty of that test increases 
  by 2.
  stage two: you become convinced that you are dead 
  or hallucinating, and that nothing you perceive is real. 
  Maybe you’re trapped in a manipulated dream, or in an 
  illusion generated by an enemy mutant. you become 
  heedless in combat and other situations of personal 
  danger. your Hit Threshold decreases by 1. As a 
  compensating bonus, your heedlessness under missile 
  fire allows you to stake out advantageous positions to 
  shoot from: the effective Hit Thresholds of your targets 
  in Shooting or blast power tests also decrease by 1. 
  you also continue to experience the defect’s stage one 
  drawbacks.
  stage three: your disinterest in the illusionary world 
  you live in becomes so acute that you can no longer 
  motivate yourself to show up for work. you resign or are 
  
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  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  fired. If spiritually inclined, you may seek a meditative 
  life as a cloistered Buddhist monk. Or maybe you 
  simply wind up as another dull-eyed homeless person, 
  walking the streets and mumbling to yourself.
  ErOTOMANIA
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: E2
  incipient: you are prone to romantic crushes and 
  fixations, invariably directed to objects of affection who 
  are unapproachable or unavailable. This seems like 
  harmless and ordinary behavior, and part of a broader 
  various consumption of gossip and pop culture.
  stage One: your interest in pop culture starlets slackens 
  as you become deeply obsessed with an acquaintance 
  you find attractive. This person enjoys much greater 
  status than you do and has no romantic interest in you 
  whatsoever. If you have used the Read Minds ability on 
  someone who fits this description, he or she will become 
  your target. you continue to contact and awkwardly 
  proposition this person even when told to stop. 
  stage two: you become convinced that this person is 
  involved in a relationship with you, albeit one that for 
  some reason remains a secret to everyone else. you 
  detect hidden messages from your lover on television, 
  in billboards, and in the lyrics of songs you hear on the 
  radio. Whenever you are reminded of this person, you 
  must make a Stability test (Difficulty 4) or attempt to 
  contact him or her. The nature of your communications 
  to the object of your fixation becomes increasingly 
  bizarre: you may send coded messages, dead flowers, 
  disturbing collages cut up from magazines, or makeshift 
  medicine bundles full of creepy found items symbolizing 
  your eternal love.  If you discover that this person has 
  an actual lover, you become intimidatingly jealous. 
  Whenever you are reminded of your rival, you must make 
  a Stability test (Difficulty 5) to resist the urge to threaten, 
  harass or even attack this interloper. you may believe 
  this person to be a CIA agent, demon or pod person. At 
  this stage of the disorder, you manage to disguise your 
  tracks effectively enough that your imagined inamorata 
  and possible rival are unable to discover your identity 
  and lodge a complaint against you.
  stage three: your efforts to connect with your secret 
  love become so blatant that your identity stands 
  revealed. you face Internal Affairs charges, and are 
  booted from the force.
  LOw IMPULSE CONTrOL
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: F1
  incipient: 
  you 
  react 
  impulsively 
  in 
  emotional 
  situations, especially when your personal boundaries 
  are threatened. 
  stage One: When you perceive an insult or an invasion 
  of your personal space, you face a powerful urge to lash 
  out verbally, no matter what the consequences. To cool 
  yourself down before you say something stupid and self-
  destructive, you must make a Stability test (Difficulty 
  4.)
  stage two: As per stage one, except that the Difficulty 
  rises to 6, and, if you fail, you lash out with minor physical 
  violence: shoving, throwing objects, or landing single 
  punches. Of course, if the offending party responds in 
  kind or escalates, you’re all too ready to turn up the heat 
  and transform the altercation into a full-scale brawl. 
  Generally, however, you keep these incidents to a level 
  your police buddies can smooth over and keep out of 
  your personnel file.
  stage three: At a dramatically appropriate moment, 
  you lash out against a perceived insult in an explosively 
  career-ending manner. Either you punch out someone 
  influential enough to earn you an immediate pink slip, 
  or you cross the line from minor assault to felony battery 
  or murder.
  MEGALOMANIA
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: E2
  incipient: you have an outsized perception of your own 
  importance and accomplishments. However, you are 
  clever enough to conceal the full extent of your self-
  involvement from others: they see you as engagingly 
  cocky and assertive.
  stage One: you have increasing trouble disguising your 
  belief that you are smarter and better at your job than 
  the time-wasters, seat-fillers and sniveling mediocrities 
  who fill the police command structure. Whenever you 
  get an order you don’t like, or are treated with disrespect 
  by some idiot not fit to polish your shoes, you must 
  successfully test Stability (Difficulty 4) or give them a 
  piece of your mind.
  stage two: your certitude that you are destined for 
  greatness solidifies into a ruthless action plan. Maybe 
  
  79
  you’ll be police chief one day. No, wait, that’s not a lofty 
  enough perch for a person of your obvious leadership 
  qualities. you’ll be a senator. The president!
  your concern for others drops to zero. In any 
  circumstances where you can demonstrate your 
  superiority over someone else, or gain even a small 
  advantage, without being exposed, you’ll act to take the 
  tribute that is due to you, as your natural right. Moral 
  strictures which rightfully apply to the inferior must not 
  be allowed to impede the great. To resist this impulse, 
  test Stability against a Difficulty of 6.
  stage three: Mutants are not ordinary people, you 
  decide. They are gods in the making. And what are you, 
  but the head of the new pantheon, destined to rule from 
  a new Mount Olympus?
  After a scandal provoked by your conscience-free pursuit 
  of grandiose ambitions—or maybe just the results from 
  a routine psych test—you are quietly ejected from the 
  force. The player retires the character, who may return 
  to the series later, as an insane criminal controlled by 
  the GM.
  MESSIAH COMPLEx
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: B3
  incipient: When people are in trouble, you feel that you 
  are the one who can and must save them. If they’re 
  hurting, you must heal them. If they’ve strayed from the 
  core values of humility, self-sacrifice and charity, it is 
  you who must set them straight. Others can help you in 
  your mission, of course—provided that they understand 
  that you’re the one in charge, the one who bleeds for 
  the world.
  stage One: When presented with an opportunity to 
  unwisely follow any of the above imperatives, you must 
  make a Stability test (Difficulty 4), or wade right in, 
  consequences be damned.
  stage two: As per stage one, but the Difficulty is 8.
  stage three: At some point during the next session, 
  the GM will engineer a scene in which the character is 
  presented with a crisis that can be averted only through 
  a suicidal act of altruism. The part of the scene in which 
  your demise is assured is played out without reference 
  to rules—you automatically succeed in performing the 
  heroic act, and are just as automatically killed in the line 
  of duty.
  MULTIPLE PErSONALITY dISOrdEr
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: E5
  incipient: you are prone to sudden shifts of mood 
  and judgment. you make your decisions with swift 
  confidence—only to find yourself radically questioning 
  them moments later. When talking to witnesses 
  and suspects, you find yourself slipping into their 
  speech patterns, body language—even adopting their 
  attitudes. 
  Recently, you started talking to yourself. 
  At the incipient stage, this defect sharpens your game 
  in the interrogation room. your ability to get inside the 
  heads of others allows you one 1-point interpersonal 
  spend per session at no cost, even if you lack the ability 
  in question. 
  stage One: In private moments, you begin to hold 
  conversations with one or more imagined personalities, 
  who you keep secret from loved ones and colleagues. 
  If confronted, you explain that you have created these 
  defectS
  
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  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  additional interlocutors as a way of thinking out loud, 
  and that you in no way believe them to exist. They’re 
  not even hallucinations, you insist—pure figments of 
  your imagination, and nothing more. 
  However, when you’re alone and talking to them, they 
  begin to seem more and more real to you, with their 
  own emotions, histories, and agendas.
  Create your additional persona or personae in 
  collaboration with the GM. They should reflect different 
  sides of you. Their histories may evoke the moment of 
  crisis that drove you to stage one multiple personality 
  disorder. For example, if you first succumbed after 
  finding the mutilated corpse of a trusted informant, 
  the new persona might share his personality, general 
  history, and imagined appearance.
   When under stress, you must test Stability (Difficulty 
  4) or slip briefly into the persona of one of your 
  imaginary friends.
  stage two: you no longer talk to your imagined 
  personalities. In fact, you no longer remember their 
  virtual existences. Instead, you sometimes respond 
  to stress by going into briefly a fugue state, then 
  emerging as one of your additional personalities, 
  known as an alter. (To avoid this, test Stability versus 
  a Difficulty of 6.) If you have detailed more than 
  one alternate personality, the GM decides which 
  one appears, based on the triggering situation. A 
  belligerent alter may appear in response to a violent 
  situation. A helpless, endearing child might appear 
  when you feel lost or in need of reassurance. The 
  alter remains in command for 1–6 hours, or until a 
  different stressful situation arises. In the latter case, 
  if the character’s main persona is best equipped to 
  deal with the new crisis, you regain control of your 
  body, with no test required. If another alter is most 
  suited to it, that persona takes over. Stability tests to 
  avoid a personality switch occur only when you are in 
  your primary persona.
  No matter whose hands are on the psychic steering 
  wheel, you believe that you are this person, and act 
  accordingly. As an alter, you know of your primary 
  personality, and are aware of the need to act 
  circumspectly, to avoid being given away. However, 
  your agenda and impulses are quite different from 
  that of the original personality, and you may not be 
  especially good at suppressing them. To successfully 
  hide your personality transformation from someone 
  else, test Stability (Difficulty 8.)
  stage three: The character exits the series in one of 
  two ways:
  His disorder comes to the attention of his superiors, 
  perhaps through a departmental psych evaluation, 
  resulting in a discharge on medical grounds.
  One of your alters permanently usurps your primary 
  personality. This self has no interest in a police career, 
  and resigns in search of a new, fulfilling life.
  PANIC dISOrdEr
  resistance Ability: Stability/Health
  Grid: C0
  incipient: you’re just a little jumpy. you startle easily—
  even while sleeping. A frequent victim of insomnia, 
  you spend sleepless nights thrashing in bed, worrying 
  about possible disasters large and small. No matter 
  what you course of action you’re considering, you 
  find it all too easy to envision multiple negative 
  repercussions from it.
  stage One: you freeze up in the first flush of danger. 
  When determining order of action, you always go 
  last—except to sufferers of stage one Depression, 
  who are even slower than you are. During the first 
  round of any combat, the Difficulties of all tests you 
  undertake increase by 2.
  stage two: In addition to the above symptoms, you 
  suffer a severe physical reaction under stress which 
  resembles a miniature heart attack. Whenever your 
  Stability drops by more than 2 points, you must make 
  a Health test (Difficulty 6.) If you fail, you begin to 
  sweat profusely, experience blurriness of vision, and 
  eventually collapse in a near-faint. you take one die of 
  damage and are unable to take significant action for 
  approximately thirty minutes.
  stage three: you suffer an immediate, massive 
  coronary. Make a Health test (Difficulty 10); if you fail, 
  you die. If you succeed (or are revived, for example with 
  the aid of the Cure Disease power), you survive but 
  are cashiered from the force on a medical disability.
  
  81
  defectS
  PLASMA dEFICIENCY
  resistance Ability: Health
  Grid: D1
  incipient: your complexion is pale and waxy. you need 
  more sleep than most people, and even when you wake 
  up, dark circles hang below your eyes. your body reacts 
  to red meat as if it’s supercharged with caffeine.
  stage One: your body’s ability to produce its own blood 
  plasma drops off radically. At the same time, you develop 
  the ability to replenish yourself by drinking human blood 
  (or pure plasma.) Every time you spend points on a test 
  of Athletics, Scuffling, or a mutant power, you must 
  consume either a pint of blood or the equivalent of half 
  a pint of plasma within half an hour. If you do not, you 
  lose 1 Health point every hour, and can’t refresh Health 
  or any general ability until you get your supply. If you 
  drop down to –6 or fewer Health as a result of plasma 
  deficiency, you automatically fail your Consciousness 
  test and lapse into a coma. While comatose, your 
  condition stabilizes. you remain in a coma throughout 
  the period of your hospitalization (see p. 95), then wake 
  up spontaneously.
  Sufferers typically feed on plasma they’ve purchased and 
  stored, but, hey, emergencies happen. Before you know 
  it, you’ll find yourself suckling on somebody’s open vein. 
  If you have Fangs, you can plunge them into an artery 
  and feed directly through them. Otherwise, you’ll have 
  to perform a potentially messy procedure, most likely 
  drawing blood with a hypodermic needle. Incidents of 
  nonconsensual blood-drinking are, needless to say, 
  treated as aggravated assault.
  On the upside, you become immune to the effects of AIDS, 
  hepatitis, and all other blood-borne diseases—except 
  for SEDS (see sidebar, p. 82.) you can still contract and 
  communicate AIDS or hepatitis as a carrier.
  stage two: As above, but you must consume 1 pint of 
  blood or half a pint of plasma for each point spent on 
  Athletics, Scuffling or mutant power tests, and suffer 1 
  die of damage with a +3 modifier for every hour spent 
  without drinking needed plasma.
  stage three: you can survive only with the aid of a 
  life support machine which, in a procedure similar 
  to plasmapheresis, constantly cycles your blood and 
  reinvigorates it with an enriched super-plasma. you 
  remain lucid but bedridden and unable to work cases. 
  Police health benefits ensure your treatment until the 
  end of your days.
  SCHIzOPHrENIA
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: F0
  incipient: When tired or otherwise stressed, your ability 
  to interpret social cues slips away from you. Aside 
  from your family and partners on the job, you find it 
  difficult to form trusting relationships. Sometimes you 
  hear weird noises that no one else does.
  stage One: you occasionally suffer mild auditory 
  hallucinations, which you can usually distinguish as 
  unreal. you become less emotionally expressive; your 
  physical and vocal traits flatten. Reflexive distrust, an 
  occupational hazard for all police officers, becomes 
  your default response to all encounters with new 
  people. Sometimes you fear that even your family 
  members and partners are out to get you. Add 1 to the 
  cost of all Interpersonal spends.
  stage two: your hold on reality slips further. you false 
  perceptions now extend to senses of sight, smell 
  and touch. voices in your head become a frequent 
  companion. Now they’re clear enough to take on an 
  identity in keeping with your distorted worldview. you 
  may identify them as angels, demons, aliens, psychic 
  mutant enemies, or earthly forces of authority such 
  as the FBI or DHS. They warn you to protect yourself 
  against threats, which surround you from all sides. The 
  voices tell you not to trust anyone, not even your family 
  or fellow squad members. At this point, you’re still 
  trying not to listen to them. Sometimes you suspect 
  that they’re the very beings intent on destroying you. 
  To suppress these voices and act like a normal person 
  is a constant struggle. you seem cold, preoccupied, 
  and fearful. If you’re not careful to exercise steely 
  self-control, your speak becomes disorganized, 
  rambling, and incoherent. Seeking medical treatment 
  for your deteriorating mental state might quell the 
  hallucinations, but would end your career if the bosses 
  find out. Add 2 to the cost of all Interpersonal spends.
  stage three: The voices are right. Enemies are 
  everywhere. They manipulate the basic laws of time 
  and space to menace you and compel your obedience. 
  your friends and family are all their robot Frankenstein 
  mind slaves. With secret messages encoded in 
  the media, the Others bully and threaten you. They 
  arrange for your removal from the force on trumped-
  up “psychiatric” grounds. Supposedly, you have gone 
  insane, but it’s everyone else that’s really crazy. They 
  can’t see the enemy all around them. Don’t listen to 
  their demands that you take those anti-psychotic 
  
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  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  pills prescribed by your so-called “doctor.” These 
  are the final element of total enemy mind control. It 
  is essential that you maintain true perception of your 
  hellish reality, even if they keep you locked up forever 
  in your padded cell.
  SCLErOdErMA
  resistance Ability: Health
  Grid: B1
  incipient: Patches of your skin become discolored 
  and tough. They appear on your torso  and are easily 
  concealed while clothed.
  stage One: you are diagnosed with scleroderma, a 
  chronic disease in which excess collagen gathers in 
  deposits in your skin. Distinctive scar tissue appears 
  on your hands and face, reducing your score in the 
  following Interpersonal abilities by 1 point each: 
  Flattery, Flirting, Impersonate, Interrogation, and 
  Negotiation.
  stage two: The disfiguring effects of the disease 
  become more pronounced. you lose another point apiece 
  in Flattery, Flirting, Interrogation and Negotiation, and 
  cannot perform Impersonation tasks that place you 
  within line of sight of the witness or suspect.
  stage three: The expanding collagen deposits damage 
  your lungs, intestinal tract, and/or kidneys. you are 
  hospitalized and, after a painful struggle of many 
  months, die of renal failure.
   SEdS
  The communicable disease called SEDS, for Sudden Enhanced Death Syndrome, is the scourge of the 
  mutant community. The virus appears spontaneously in the blood and bone marrow of mutant carriers 
  suffering from the SEDS Carrier defect. The virus remains dormant in a victim’s system, sometimes for 
  years, until triggered by a physical or psychic shock. When an infected character’s Health or Stability 
  drops to 0, he must make a test of the ability in question against a Difficulty of 2. On a failure, the 
  victim’s blood boils, and his body is shaken by violent tremors, as the virus converts itself into a high-
  potency enzyme which rapidly breaks down fat and muscle. This catalyzes a chemical reaction which 
  converts the victim’s body into a biological bomb. The body explodes, showering everyone within 5m in 
  blood and shredded tissue.
  Any mutant exposed to this contaminated tissue must test Health (Difficulty 3) or become infected with 
  the virus. Characters with the SEDS Carrier defect are immune, even if the victim was infected by a 
  different carrier.
  The virus is also communicable through exposure to infected blood or semen, which can occur through 
  blood transfusion, childbirth, sharing of intravenous needles, and sexual contact. Stage-two SEDS 
  carriers can also communicate the disease through saliva. When exposed, make a Health test versus a 
  Difficulty determined by the nature of the exposure:
  Exposure
  Difficulty
  Shared lipstick or drinking 
  vessel (stage-two carrier)
  2
  Accidental jab from infected 
  needle
  3
  Kiss from stage-two carrier
  4
  Unprotected sex
  5
  Shared needles
  6
  Transfusion
  12
  There is no known cure for SEDS. Nor is there an emergency treatment which will stave off the deadly 
  climactic reaction once it begins. Neither the pathogen or enzyme catalyzation reaction respond to the 
  Cure Disease power.
  SEDS cannot survive or propagate in the systems of non-mutants. They can’t be carriers.
  
  83
  defectS
  SEdS CArrIEr
  resistance Ability: Health
  Grid: E1
  incipient: your body possesses the potential to 
  manufacture the SEDS virus (see sidebar), although 
  it has not yet begun to do so. you exhibit no signs or 
  symptoms of the disease, and never will—you yourself 
  are completely immune to it. Although there is no test 
  to determine whether you’re a SEDS carrier, you know 
  that if you have both the Disease Immunity and Cure 
  Disease powers, you stand a high chance of becoming 
  one.
  stage One: you test positive for SEDS but are in no 
  danger for it. The virus is present in your blood and, if 
  you are male, your semen. 
  stage two: The virus is now also communicable via 
  your saliva.
  (stage three): This defect has no third stage, per se. 
  However, if you knowingly communicate the disease—
  including by sharing beverages—you can be fired from 
  the force. If any of your victims die, you may be charged 
  with criminally negligent homicide.
  TrANCE SUSCEPTIBLE
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: D3
  incipient: you have a tendency to stare off into space, 
  and are easily distracted by television screens, moving 
  lights, and shiny things.
  stage One: Difficulty of all Stability tests to resist the 
  effects of mutant abilities increase by 1, except for 
  resistance tests to Emotion Control, Possession, Induce 
  Aggression and Induce Fear, which increase by 2.
  stage two: Difficulties of all Stability tests to resist 
  the effects of mutant abilities increase by 2, except for 
  resistance tests to Emotion Control, Possession, Induce 
  Aggression and Induce Fear, which increase by 4.
  stage three: In a scene pre-planned by yourself 
  and the GM, your character falls under the sway of a 
  charismatic supporting character outside the world of 
  the police force. This may be the high priest of a cult, the 
  leader of an authoritarian political movement, or some 
  other controlling, vaguely sinister figure whose words 
  you follow as if handed down from on high. This may 
  be a character who subjected you to any of the above-
  listed mental powers. your character retires from the 
  HCIU to follow his new mentor, but may return later on 
  in the series as a supporting character, perhaps as a 
  recurring figure in his former colleagues’ subplots.
  vOYEUrISM
  resistance Ability: Stability
  Grid: D6
  incipient: you would rather watch things from a 
  distance than participate directly. you’re always the 
  first to volunteer for stake-out duty, and increasingly 
  reluctant to talk to witnesses face-to-face. Life is 
  much more interesting from the other side of a two-
  way mirror.
  stage One: you outfit your home with hidden cameras. 
  you shirk off-duty obligations to spend your time 
  obsessively reviewing video footage of unknowing 
  people filmed performing their day-to-day activities. 
  Romantic attachments suffer as you withdraw into 
  your world of vicarious surveillance. you gain a point 
  of Electronic Surveillance.
  stage two: you become incapable of sexual arousal, 
  except by watching others. you fantasize about spying 
  on people without their knowledge but are not yet 
  ready to cross the line into outright perv territory. 
  Face-to-face encounters become a challenge for you; 
  you lose 1 Stability whenever you take direct part in a 
  witness or suspect interview. you gain another point of 
  Electronic Surveillance.
  stage three: In a series of sequences pre-planned 
  by yourself and the GM, your character spirals into 
  compulsive Peeping Tom activity, either as a direct 
  observer or through the use of hidden cameras. Finally 
  you are caught, arrested, prosecuted, and ejected from 
  the force.
  
  84
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  THE GUMSHOE rULES SYSTEM
  This chapter describes the basic GUMSHOE rules 
  system and is addressed to players and GM alike. But 
  first bear with us for a little explanatory theory.
  wHY THIS GAME 
  ExISTS
  Investigative scenarios have been done wrong since 
  the early days of roleplaying games. As a consequence, 
  they’re hard to run and prone to grind to a halt. GUMSHOE 
  is here to fix all that.
  What’s wrong about the traditional way of doing 
  investigative games? They’re based on a faulty premise. 
  Story-based roleplaying, of which investigative games 
  were an early if not the earliest example, evolved from 
  dungeon-bashing campaigns. They treat clues the same 
  way that dungeon games treat treasure. you have to 
  search for the clue that takes you on to the next scene. If 
  you roll well, you get the clue. If not, you don’t—and the 
  story grinds to a halt.
  However, treasure gathering isn’t the main event in a 
  dungeon game. There, the central activity is killing the 
  monsters and enemies who live in the dungeon. The 
  treasure-finding phase comes afterwards, as a mere 
  reward. If you don’t get all the treasure in a room, you 
  lose out a bit, but the story keeps going, as you tromp 
  down the hallway to the next monster-filled chamber.
  Imagine a dungeon game where you always had to roll 
  well to find another room to plunder, or sit around feeling 
  frustrated and bored.
  In a fictional procedural, whether it’s a mystery novel or 
  an episode of a cop show, the emphasis isn’t on finding 
  the clues in the first place. When it really matters, you 
  may get a paragraph telling you how difficult the search 
  was, or a montage of a CSI team tossing an apartment. 
  But the action really starts after the clues are gathered.
  investigative scenarios are not about finding clues, 
  they’re about interpreting the clues you do find.
  GUMSHOE, therefore, makes the finding of clues all 
  but automatic, as long as you get to the right place 
  in the story and have the right ability. That’s when 
  the fun part begins, when the players try to put the 
  components of the puzzle together.
  That’s hard enough for a group of armchair detectives, 
  without withholding half the pieces from them. Every 
  investigative scenario begins with a crime or conspiracy 
  committed by a group of antagonists. The bad guys do 
  something bad. The player characters must figure out 
  who did it and put a stop to their activities.
  FrOM STrUCTUrE TO 
  STOrY
  The GM’s structure notes are not a story. The story 
  occurs as you, the team of players, brings the structure 
  to life through the actions of your characters. The story 
  proceeds from scene to scene, where you determine 
  the pace, discovering clues and putting them together. 
  your characters interact with locations, gathering 
  physical evidence, and supporting characters run by 
  the GM, gathering expert and eyewitness testimony.
  The first scene presents the mystery you have to solve. 
  you then perform legwork, collecting information 
  that tells you more about the case. Each scene 
  contains information pointing to a new scene. Certain 
  scenes may put a new twist on the investigation, as 
  the initial mystery turns out to be just one aspect of 
  a much bigger story. As clues accumulate, a picture 
  of the case emerges, until your characters arrive at a 
  climactic scene, where all is revealed and the bad guys 
  confronted. A wrap-up scene accounts for loose ends 
  and shows the consequences of your success—or, in 
  
  85
  rare instances, failure. (Why is failure possible at all? 
  Its possibility creates urgency and suspense.)
  To move from scene to scene, and to solve the overall 
  mystery, you must gather clues. They fuel your forward 
  momentum.
   Tip For Players: 
  Containing Speculation
  Investigative scenarios often bog down into 
  speculative debate between players about 
  what could be happening. Many things can 
  be happening, but only one thing is. If more 
  than one possible explanation ties together 
  the clues you have so far, you need more 
  clues.
  Whenever you get stuck, get out and gather 
  more information.
  GATHErING CLUES
  Gathering clues is simple. All you have to do is: 1) get 
  yourself into a scene where relevant information can 
  be gathered and 2) have the right ability to discover the 
  clue and 3) tell the GM that you’re using it. As long as 
  you do these three things, you will never fail to gain a 
  piece of necessary information. It is never dependent 
  on a die roll. If you ask for it, you will get it.
  you can specify exactly what you intend to achieve: “I 
  use Textual Analysis to determine if the memo was 
  really written by Danziger.”
  Or you can engage in a more general informational 
  fishing expedition: “I use Evidence Collection to search 
  the crime scene.”
  If your suggested action corresponds to a clue in the 
  scenario notes, the GM provides you the information 
  arising from the clue.
  Dedicated cop John Brody looks for the campsite 
  hideout of a gang of anti-mutant thugs called 
  barheads. He searches a section of forested land 
  off the highway for evidence of their presence. 
  His player, Justin, says, “I put my video camera in 
  infrared mode and scan the area for heat traces.” 
  This is all he needs to do to get the information he 
  needs to proceed to the next scene, a confrontation 
  with the barheads in their encampment. “Blobs of 
  heat energy pop up to your right, about a hundred 
  yards away. It looks like there’s four or five people, 
  appearing and disappearing behind a barrier.”
  Some clues would be obvious to a trained investigator 
  immediately upon entering a scene. These passive 
  clues are provided by the GM without prompting. 
  Scenarios suggest which clues are passive and which 
  are active, but your GM will adjust these in play 
  depending on how much guidance you seem to need. 
  On a night when you’re cooking with gas, the GM will 
  sit back and let you prompt her for passive clues. When 
  you’re bogging down, she may volunteer what would 
  normally be active clues.
  For each scene, the GM designates a core clue. This is 
  the clue you absolutely need to move to the next scene, 
  and thus to complete the entire investigation. GMs will 
  avoid making core clues available only with the use of 
  obscure investigative abilities. (For that matter, the 
  character creation system is set up so that the group 
  as a whole will have access to all, or nearly all, of these 
  abilities.)
  the gumShoe ruleS SyStem
  
  86
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Certain clues allow you to gain special benefits by 
  spending points from the relevant investigative ability 
  pool. During your first few scenarios, your GM will 
  offer you the opportunity to spend additional points 
  as you uncover these clues. After that it’s up to you to 
  ask if it there’s anything to be gained by spending extra 
  time or effort on a given clue. you can even propose 
  specific ways to improve your already good result; if 
  your suggestion is persuasive or entertaining, the GM 
  may award you a special benefit not mentioned in her 
  scenario notes.
  Each benefit costs either 1 or 2 points from the relevant 
  pool, depending on the difficulty of the additional 
  action and the scope of the reward. When asking you 
  if you want to purchase the benefit, the GM always 
  tells you how much it will cost. Additional information 
  gained provides flavor, but is never required to solve 
  the case or move on to a new scene. Often it makes 
  the character seem clever, powerful, or heroic. It 
  may grant you benefits useful later in the scenario, 
  frequently by making a favorable impression on 
  supporting characters. If you think of your GUMSHOE 
  game as a Tv series, an extra benefit gives the actor 
  playing your character a juicy spotlight scene.
  “Can I tell what kind of barrier they’re behind?” 
  asks Justin. The GM knows that it’s the barheads’ 
  tricked-out recreational vehicle. This information 
  isn’t necessary to move forward, and in fact John 
  will stumble across it in a moment if he keeps 
  going toward the cannibal camp. But it would be 
  mighty impressive, in a Sherlock Holmes kind of 
  way, if he could answer that question now.
  “Do you want to spend an Evidence Collection 
  point?” asks the GM. Justin agrees, and reduces 
  his pool from its maximum of 3, down to 2.
  The GM explains as follows: “You remember 
  the contours of this vehicle from the course on 
  automotive identification you took when you were 
  detailed for training at the FBI headquarters in 
  Quantico. It’s a luxury motor home, a 2006 Patriot 
  from Beaver Motor Coaches. You remember the 
  price tag on one of those puppies. Over three 
  hundred grand.”
   Example benefits
  Here are some special benefits you might 
  get from investigative point spends.
  The benefit gives you an advantage in a 
  future contest of General abilities.
  • you find your gas tank has been 
  punctured before you drive the vehicle
  • you notice that there is a hole in the 
  fence around the back of the complex or 
  that the goons go off-duty at 6.00pm
  • the plans show that the bomb must 
  remain horizontal if you are not to 
  trigger it
  The benefit gives a favorable impression to 
  supporting characters.
  • you recognize and recover stolen 
  artwork for the original owner, who will 
  then be more inclined to help you 
  • you spend points to discover a hidden 
  room where there is a hostage who 
  can either give clues or even help with 
  General abilities.
  • You spend Flattery to get a good case 
  from the Lieutenant.
  The benefit can lead to a flashback scene.
  • you find the body of a old colleague, and 
  remember that he was a good cop gone 
  bad.
  • you get your clue in the form of a 
  recalled harangue from the lieutenant
  Point spends can help you resolve a moral 
  dilemma. If your character finds the action 
  required to get a Core Clue distasteful you 
  might make a point spend to avoid this.
  • Intimidating a local might get you 
  a core clue for free, but a two point 
  Reassurance spend on the same local 
  could get you the same information 
  without upsetting your source
  Extra point spends might speed up an 
  investigation
  • a Bureaucracy spend supplemented by 
  Flattery might get the DNA evidence 
  processed a day earlier.
  John whistles through his teeth. “Somebody’s 
  funding these idiots, big time.”
  Spending points on benefits gives often you an 
  advantage, perhaps in a later General conflict. Thus 
  it is to your advantage to propose cool benefits to the 
  
  87
  the gumShoe ruleS SyStem
  GM, even when they aren’t specified in the scenario.
  The act of spending points for benefits is called a 
  spend. The GM’s scenario notes may specify that you 
  get Benefit x for a 1-point spend, or Benefit y for a 
  2-point spend.
  GMs of great mental agility who feel comfortable 
  granting their players influence over the details of the 
  narrative may allow them to specify the details of a 
  special benefit.
  If you wish to make a spend in a situation where the GM 
  has no special benefit to offer you, and cannot think of 
  one that pertains at all to the investigation, you do not 
  lose the points you wish to spend.
  INCONSPICUOUS CLUES
  Sometimes 
  the 
  characters 
  instinctively 
  notice 
  something without actively looking for it. Often this 
  situation occurs in places they’re moving through 
  casually and don’t regard as scenes in need of intensive 
  searching. The team might pass by a concealed door, 
  spot a droplet of blood on the marble of an immaculate 
  hotel lobby, or approach a vehicle with a bomb planted 
  beneath it. Interpersonal abilities can also be used to 
  find inconspicuous clues. The classic example is of a 
  character whose demeanor or behavioral tics establish 
  them as suspicious.
  It’s unreasonable to expect players to ask to use their 
  various abilities in what appears to be an innocuous 
  transitional scene. Otherwise they’d have to spend 
  minutes of game time with every change of scene, 
  running down their abilities in obsessive checklist 
  fashion. That way madness lies.
  Instead the GM asks which character has the highest 
  current pool in the ability in question. (When in doubt 
  for what ability to use for a basic search, the GM 
  defaults to Evidence Collection.)
  If two or more pools are equal, it goes to the one with 
  the highest rating. If ratings are also equal, their 
  characters find the clue at the same time.
  John visits the hospital to get his lip stitched up 
  after a nasty fall. His squad-mate Orlando Daniels 
  waits with him. The doctor in the ER is a anti-
  mutant sympathizer, too, and intends to tip off 
  his barhead buddies that the cops are onto them. 
  The GM decides that the Bullshit Detector ability 
  will alert them to the panicked anxiety underlying 
  the doctor’s wearily professional demeanor. Both 
  characters have the skill; John has 2 points in his 
  pool, while Orlando has 3.
  “Orlando,” says the GM, “you can’t put your finger 
  on it, but there’s something hinky about the 
  doctor.”
  EvIdENCE ANd FOrwArd 
  MOvEMENT
  Investigations in Mutant City Blues differ in one crucial 
  manner from those in the other GUMSHOE games 
  we’ve published to date. When you’re a cop, it’s not 
  enough to know what happened and get to the next 
  scene, and eventually lay a climactic smackdown on 
  the perps. you have to be able to prove your case in 
  court. Here the sequence of core clues leads not only 
  to the answer to the mystery, but to a situation where 
  the group will finally have amassed enough evidence 
  to trigger a prosecution. Sometimes the unit will find 
  itself in a position where they know what happened, 
  but have to find the evidence to make the case stick. 
  Maybe they (or other officers) engaged in an illegal 
  search. Perhaps they believe a witness’s account but 
  fear that his credibility will be torn to shreds by a good 
  defense attorney. In this structure, the core clues lead 
  them to the physical evidence that allows them to 
  make an arrest, even if they’ve had a good idea of the 
  perp’s identity from early on in the scenario. 
  In certain cases, you can throw a change-up at your 
  players, by creating a trail of clues leading to a 
  conclusion contrary to their suspicions.
  
  88
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
   Optional rule: No-Spend Investigative Spends
  Although most groups enjoy the investigative spend rules, a few have reported problems with them. 
  Some players find that the need to ask for investigative spends intrudes too much on the illusion of 
  fictional reality, or makes it too clear that there are certain actions they ought to take during particular 
  scenes.
  Here’s another method of providing the flavor clues available through investigative spends, for groups 
  that prefer it. This optional rule is equally applicable to all GUMSHOE games. Be aware that, like most 
  optional rules, this imposes a trade-off you should be aware of before implementation. In this case, the 
  GM takes on a greater bookkeeping burden in exchange for making the system more transparent to her 
  players.
  Before play begins, the GM checks all character sheets for investigative abilities with a rating higher 
  than 1. She complies a master list, arranged per ability, ranking the characters in order of their ratings.
  Martina Uno has Streetwise at 3. Jessica Anton has it at 2, and Mike Merula at 4. The entry in the GM’s 
  master list looks like this:
  Streetwise
  Mike 4
  Martina 3
  Jessica 2
  Players alert the GM whenever they add to their investigative abilities, so they can keep the master list 
  up to date.
  Whenever the PCs enter an investigative scene in which a spend is available, the GM checks the master 
  list to see if any of them could afford to make the spend. The first time this happens, the GM chooses 
  the topmost character, and puts a number of ticks next to the name equal to the size of the spend. 
  During subsequent scenes in which a spend can be made in the same ability, the GM chooses, from 
  among the PCs whose ratings equal or exceed the spend, the one with the fewest tick marks. The tick 
  marks do not represent expenditures; under this system it is possible for a player with 2 points in a 
  particular ability to get two or more 2-point clues, if no one else in the group qualifies to earn them. 
  This approach doles out the flavor clues in a way that favors players who’ve invested the most points in 
  any given ability, but hides the mechanism from them, so they can’t see the plot gears in motion. It also 
  tends to result in the revelation of more flavor clues.
  Example: The PCs are interviewing a witness, a hollow-eyed slacker named Lou. The scenario notes 
  say that on a 1-point spend, a character with Streetwise will know the meaning of the rubber friendship 
  bracelet, pierced by three studs, that Lou wears on his left wrist. You, the GM, check your master list for 
  Streetwise, and see that no spends have been made against it this scenario. So the highest-ranked character 
  with the least tick marks is Mike. You describe the bracelet and tell his player: “The bracelet indicates 
  that he’s a sdorph—an addict who places himself in a submissive relationship with a mutant who has the 
  Endorphin Control (Others) power, who then gets him high.”
  Two scenes later, another opportunity for a Streetwise spend comes up. This is for a 2-point spend, to 
  know that the burn scars on the arm of a witness are the result of a prison fight with Latin Kings gang 
  leader Ventura Rey, during which Rey first manifested his Fire Projection power. You check the list, 
  which now looks like this:
  Streetwise
  Mike 4
  Martina 3
  Jessica 2
  Mike already has a tick next to his name, so Martina gets this clue. You then put two tick marks next to 
  her name:
  Streetwise
  Mike 4
  Martina 3
  Jessica 2
  The GM can either start fresh with no tick marks at the beginning of each scenario, or continue the 
  existing list from one case to the next.
  
  89
  the gumShoe ruleS SyStem
  Tests
  A test occurs when the outcome of an ability use is 
  in doubt. Tests apply to general skills only. Unlike 
  information gathering attempts, tests carry a fairly high 
  chance of failure. They may portend dire consequences 
  if you lose, provide advantages if you win, or both.
  Even in the case of general skills, the GM should call 
  for tests only at dramatically important points in the 
  story, and for tasks of exceptional difficulty. Most 
  general ability uses should allow automatic successes, 
  with possible bonuses on point spends, just like 
  investigative abilities.
  There are two types of test: simple tests and contests.
   die rolls
  All die rolls in GUMSHOE use 
  a single ordinary (six-sided) die.
  SIMPLE TESTS
  A simple test occurs when the character attempts an 
  action without active resistance from another person 
  or entity. Examples include driving a treacherous road, 
  jumping a gorge, sneaking into an unguarded building, 
  binding a wound, shooting a target, disconnecting a 
  security system, or resisting mutant mental powers.
  dIFFICULTY NUMBErS
  The GM determines how hard any given action is by 
  assigning it a Difficulty Number ranging from 2 to 8 
  (occasionally even higher), where 2 offers only a slim 
  chance of failure, 4 is the norm and 8 verges on the 
  impossible. The player rolls a single die; if the result 
  is equal to or higher than the Difficulty Number, the 
  character succeeds. Before rolling the die, the player 
  may choose to spend any number of points from the 
  relevant ability pool, adding these to the final die 
  result. Players who forget to specify the number of 
  points they want to spend before rolling are stuck with 
  the unmodified result.
  In the game world, expenditure of pool points in this 
  way represents special effort and concentration by the 
  character, the kind you can muster only so many times 
  during the course of an investigation.
  John wants to climb a high wall to see if his perp 
  is on the other side. John’s player, Justin, has a 
  full 8 points in his Athletics pool. He decides that 
  he really needs a win on this one and decides to 
  spend half of them on the attempt. He rolls a 5. 
  With the 4 points from his pool, this gets a final 
  result of 9. Displaying impressive aerobatic grace, 
  John hauls himself over the wall.
  The GM never directly reveals Difficulty Numbers. 
  She may, in response to player questions, give rough 
  verbal indications of how hard a task seems to the 
  naked eye:
  “A little kid could jump that fence.”
  “You’ve climbed fences that high before, but never 
  easily.”
  “You’ve never managed to climb a fence that high 
  without hurting yourself.”
  OPTIONAL rULE: rEvEALING 
  dIFFICULTY NUMBErS
  For a more super-heroic feel, you can let the players 
  know what the Difficulty number is for conventional 
  obstacles such as walls and hot pursuits. you should 
  never reveal Difficulty Numbers for Sense Trouble (see 
  p. 29) 
  The test represents the character’s best chance to 
  succeed. Once you fail, you’ve shot your wad and cannot 
  retry unless you take some other supporting action 
  that would credibly increase your odds of success. If 
  allowed to do this, you must spend more pool points 
  than you did on the previous attempt. If you can’t afford 
  it, you can’t retry.
  Orlando has just failed his Mechanics test to repair 
  a broken pump in the sinking ship he and the 
  other detectives are trapped in. He spent 2 points 
  from his Mechanics pool on this attempt. The 
  GM decides he’ll have one more shot at it before 
  the ship capsizes. Now he must spend at least 3 
  Mechanics points. Fortunately he has 4 points left 
  in his pool. The Difficulty Number of the repair 
  attempt is 5. Orlando rolls a 6, adding 3 points to 
  get a final result of 9. The pump kicks back in, just 
  in time to reverse the ship’s sinking.
  PIGGYBACkING
  When a group of characters act in concert to perform a 
  task together, they designate one to take the lead. That 
  character makes a simple test, spending any number 
  
  90
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  of his own pool points toward the task, as usual. All 
  other characters pay 1 point from their relevant pools in 
  order to gain the benefits of the leader’s action. These 
  points are not added to the leader’s die result. For every 
  character who is unable to pay this piggybacking cost, 
  either because he lacks pool points or does not have 
  the ability at all, the Difficulty Number of the attempt 
  increases by 2.
  Although they have a warrant for their raid on a 
  mutant cult leader’s compound, John, Orlando, 
  Kim and Sharmaine decide to sneak in, to take 
  the suspects by surprise when special forces vans 
  bust through the front gate. This should forestall 
  any chance of a super-powered showdown, which 
  might endanger the many children resident in the 
  complex. Kim, with an Infiltration of 8, takes the 
  lead. John, Orlando and Sharmaine have 2, 0, and 4 
  points in their Infiltration pools, respectively. John 
  and Sharmaine pay 1 point apiece; their pools go 
  down to 1 and 3. Because Orlando has no points 
  to spend, the Difficulty Number of the Infiltration 
  increases from 4 to 6. (If the group left him behind, 
  it would be easier to sneak in, but he’s the one 
  with Emotion Control.) Kim spends 3 points on the 
  attempt and rolls a 1. This would have overcome 
  the Difficulty if it wasn’t for Orlando’s presence. 
  Clearly, he’s stumbled on his way into the back 
  garden, setting off a jury-rigged alarm system.
  In most instances a group cannot logically act in 
  concert. Only one character can drive a car at one 
  time. Two characters with Preparedness check their 
  individual kits in sequence, rather than checking a 
  single kit at the same time.
  COOPErATION
  When two characters cooperate toward a single goal, 
  they agree which of them is undertaking the task 
  directly, and which is assisting. The leader may spend 
  any number of points from her pool, adding them to 
  the die roll. The assistant may pay any number of 
  points from his pool. All but one of these is applied to 
  the die roll.
  John and Orlando are trying to salvage boxes 
  of crucial documents from a  suspicious blaze. 
  John has 3 points left in his Flight pool. Orlando 
  has 2 points in Limb Extension. They decide that 
  John will fly over the burning pile of boxes, tossing 
  what he can to Orlando, who will grab them with 
  rubbery, outstretched arms. The GM rules that these 
  improvised uses of the powers, though not explicitly 
  mentioned in their rules descriptions, make dramatic 
  sense in a mutant-powered world, and thus have a 
  chance to succeed. Both choose to spend all of their 
  remaining points on the attempt. John adds 3 points 
  to the die roll. Orlando spends 2 points, but adds only 
  1 to the die roll. John’s player rolls a 3, for a result 
  of 7. This beats the Difficulty Number of 6, allowing 
  them to zoom away with evidence that will make it 
  easier to prosecute their suspect.
  CONTESTS
  Contests occur when two characters, often a player 
  character and a supporting character controlled by the 
  GM, actively attempt to thwart one another. Although 
  contests can resolve various physical match-ups, in a 
  horror game the most common contest is the chase, 
  in which the investigators run away from slavering 
  entities intent on ripping them limb from limb.
  In a contest, each character acts in turn. The first to 
  fail a roll of the contested ability loses. The GM decides 
  who acts first. In a chase, the character who bolts from 
  the scene acts first. Where the characters seem to be 
  acting at the same time, the one with the lowest rating 
  in the relevant ability acts first. In the event of a tie, 
  supporting characters act before player characters. In 
  the event of a tie between player characters, the player 
  who arrived last for the current session goes first in 
  the contest.
  The first character to act makes a test of the ability 
  in question. If he fails, he loses the contest. If he 
  succeeds, the second character then makes a test. 
  This continues until one character loses, at which point 
  the other one wins. Typically each character attempts 
  to beat a Difficulty Number of 4.
  Pursued by a distraught suspect with the self-
  detonation power, John flees through the 
  evacuated halls of the Quade Institute, hoping to 
  put enough distance behind him to clear the other 
  mutant’s blast radius. His Athletics pool is 6; the 
  suspect’s is 7. As the fleeing character initiating 
  the chase sequence, Orlando is the first character 
  to act. He rolls against a Difficulty of 4, spending 1 
  point. He rolls a 4, and manages to scramble into 
  a laboratory. Orlando spots a button controlling a 
  blast door which will seal off the lab complex from 
  the rest of the building.
  The suspect spends 1 point as well, rolling a 3. He 
  picks up speed, ducking down to slip beneath the 
  blast door before it closes.
  
  91
  the gumShoe ruleS SyStem
  Orlando spends another point, taking his Athletics 
  to 4. He rolls a 6, for a final result of 7. The GM 
  invites his player to explain how: “I spot an open 
  window and clamber down onto a ledge.”
  The GM rolls for the suspect, spending 1 point 
  and rolling a 2. That’s a failure. “Exhausted and 
  panting,” the GM narrates, “the suspect stops, 
  leaning against a wall. He begins to weep, talking 
  to himself between sobs. You can’t make it all out, 
  but he’s saying something about his daughter.”
  Not having heard about a daughter before, Orlando 
  senses an important piece of information. As he 
  clings to the ledge, he wonders if he can now calm 
  the suspect down with Reassurance, and then get 
  him to explain his situation.
  Where the odds of success are skewed in favor of one 
  contestant, the GM may assign different Difficulties to 
  each. A character with a significant advantage gets a 
  lower Difficulty Number. A character facing a major 
  handicap faces a higher Difficulty Number. When 
  in doubt, the GM assigns the lower number to the 
  advantaged participant. An investigator scrabbling up 
  a rock face without gear finds it harder to move quickly 
  than the well-equipped climber he’s pursuing. In this 
  case he might face a Difficulty Number of 4, while the 
  mountaineer gets the lower Difficulty of 3.
  Throughout the contest, GM and players should 
  collaborate to add flavor to each result, explaining 
  what the characters did to remain in the contest. That 
  way, instead of dropping out of the narration to engage 
  in an arithmetical recitation, you keep the fictional 
  world verbally alive .
   difficulty Numbers 
  and Story Pacing
  Just as the GUMSHOE system keeps the 
  story moving by making all crucial clues 
  accessible to the characters, GMs must 
  ensure that tests and contests essential to 
  forward narrative momentum can be easily 
  overcome. Assign relatively low Difficulty 
  Numbers of 4 or less to these crucial plot 
  points. Reserve especially hard Difficulty 
  Numbers for obstacles which provide 
  interesting but nonessential benefits.
  For example, if the characters have to sneak 
  into the cannibal campground in order to 
  stage the final confrontation, assign the 
  relatively low Difficulty Number of 4 to the 
  task. If it seems to the characters that they 
  ought to have a tougher time of it, insert a 
  detail justifying their ease of success. The 
  cannibal assigned to patrol duty might be 
  found passed out at his post, say.
  Option – You Always 
  Succeed
  The following rule is more in keeping with 
  the GUMSHOE premise, but might not suit 
  everyone. Where it is essential to overcome 
  a General obstacle in order to reach a core 
  scene, allow success whatever the result, 
  but give a negative consequence other than 
  failure for the roll. For example, the PC 
  climbs the fence, but receives an injury. This 
  rule never preserves characters from Health 
  or Stability loss.
  
  92
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Super-Powered Action
  Mutant City Blues series may include as little combat 
  and action as any other GUMSHOE series. GMs can 
  structure their games so that the player characters 
  investigate crimes, and an enhanced tactical squad 
  goes out to capture the mutant wrongdoers once the 
  arrest warrants have been drawn up. This is a realistic 
  touch: in real police organizations, crime investigation 
  and high-risk takedowns are handled by separate 
  squads with quite different skill sets.
  Most players, however, will look over their lists of 
  super powers and expect to be able to use them in the 
  occasional comic-style donnybrook. GMs who choose 
  to recognize this desire can structure their scenarios 
  to include the possibility of one or more big action set 
  piece sequence per investigation.
  Doing so requires a more tactical approach than 
  GUMSHOE has to date presented. This section provides 
  the rules crunch necessary to run super-powered 
  battles and action sequences.
  dISTANCE
  Until now, distance has been de-emphasized as a 
  factor in GUMSHOE combat, to be treated with the 
  hand-waving usual to fight sequences in story-heavy 
  roleplaying games. With various mutant powers 
  introducing distance-dependent effects, you may wish 
  to set up some miniatures and a battle map.
  Useful tools include measurement devices for your 
  minis map:
  A length of string or cord, marked in scale meters, and 
  a pin to anchor it. This can be used to measure the 
  extent of spherical and circular effects.
  One more cubes roughly 1 scale meter on each side, to 
  measure cubic meters.
  GUMSHOE uses the metric system; most commercially 
  available battlemats are marked with one-inch grids 
  meant to represent 5 feet. Treat these as 2m squares 
  in GUMSHOE, and try not to sweat the discrepancies. 
  If the thought of this horrifies you, draw up your own 
  battlemap with an accurate 2m scale grid.
  MOvEMENT IN COMBAT
  Most characters can move 10m (or five grid squares) 
  during a single combat round. In a round in which they 
  take some other significant action, like attempting 
  to strike an opponent or deliver healing to a downed 
  comrade, they also can move 4m, or two grid squares. 
  They can move 4m before or after taking their main 
  action, or can move 2m, act, and then move another 
  2m.
  Difficult terrain or environmental conditions, like 
  uneven ground or storms, may slow characters to 
   surprise
  Characters are surprised when they find 
  themselves suddenly in a dangerous 
  situation.
  Surprise supporting characters by sneaking 
  up on them with a successful Infiltration or 
  Surveillance test. The basic Difficulty is 4, 
  which may increase for especially vigilant 
  characters.
  Avoid being surprised with a successful 
  Sense Trouble test. The basic Difficulty is 
  4, but may be higher in the case of notably 
  sneaky opponents.
  Surprised characters suffer a +2 increase 
  to all general ability Difficulties for any 
  immediately subsequent action. In a fight, 
  the penalty pertains to the first round of 
  combat.
  This rule applies to any GUMSHOE game.
  
  93
  Super-powered action
  
  94
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  4m/2 grid squares (without an action) or 2m/1 grid 
  square with an action.
  FIGHTING
  Fights are slightly more complicated contests involving 
  any of the following abilities:
  • Scuffling vs. Scuffling: the characters are 
  fighting in close quarters.
  • Shooting vs. Shooting: the characters are apart 
  from one another and trying to hit each other 
  with guns or other missile weapons.
  • The various mutant powers follow their own 
  rules, listed under abilities.
  The aggressor is the first character to move against the 
  other. When the status of aggressor and defender are 
  unclear, the combatants compare their current pool 
  numbers in the abilities they’re using in the fight. The 
  character with the highest number chooses whether 
  to act as aggressor or defender. (Unlike an ordinary 
  contest, in a fight it is often advantageous to strike 
  first.)
  A contest proceeds between the two abilities. When 
  combatants using the Scuffling or Shooting abilities 
  roll well, they get the opportunity to deal damage to 
  their opponents.
  Hit thresholds: Each character has a Hit Threshold 
  of either 3 (the standard value) or 4 (if the character’s 
  Athletics rating is 8 or more.) The Hit Threshold is 
  the Difficulty Number the character’s opponent must 
  match or beat in order to harm him. Less competent 
  supporting characters may have lower Hit Thresholds. 
  Creatures may have Hit Thresholds of 4 or higher, 
  regardless of their Athletics ratings.
  dealing damage: When you roll on or over your 
  opponent’s Hit Threshold, you may deal damage to him. 
  To do so, you make a damage roll, rolling a die which is 
  then modified according to the relative lethality of your 
  weapon, as per the following table:
  Weapon Type
  Damage Modifier
  Fist, kick
  –2
  Small improvised weapon, 
  police baton, knife
  –1
  Machete, heavy club, light 
  firearm
  0
  Sword, heavy firearm
  +1
  For firearms, add an additional +2 when fired at point 
  blank range.
  Characters may never spend points from their combat 
  pools to increase their damage rolls.
  The final damage result is then subtracted from your 
  opponent’s Health pool. When a combatant’s Health 
  pool drops to 0 or less, that combatant begins to 
  suffer ill effects, ranging from slight impairment to 
  helplessness to death; see sidebar. Any combatants 
  currently engaged with him in a close quarters fight 
  can then deal another instance of damage to him.
  Unlike other contests, participants do not lose when 
  they fail their test rolls. Instead, they’re forced out of 
  the fight when they lose consciousness or become 
  seriously wounded—see sidebar.
  NON-LETHAL ATTACkS
  In Mutant City Blues, a trained police officer can effectively 
  restrain an unarmed subject with a success in a Scuffling 
  vs. Scuffling contest, followed by an expenditure of an 
  additional 2 Scuffling points. If another officer is on hand 
  and free to physically assist, that officer can complete 
  the restraint for his partner, spending only 1 Scuffling 
  point. The subject is then subdued, cuffed, and ready for 
  transport to a holding cell. The GM may determine that 
  it breaks story logic for those who are highly trained in 
  unarmed combat, and mutants with certain powers, for 
  example Strength, Force Field, and the various blast 
  powers, to be subject to ordinary unarmed restraint 
  tactics.
  This option is not available to PCs in other GUMSHOE 
  games where it might be used by players as a shortcut 
  to a straight-up kill.
  Although tasers exist in the world, they are not used 
  by HCIU officers. A string of incidents in which victims 
  suffered fatal heart attacks after overzealous taser 
  use have led to stringent departmental restrictions. 
  Although patrolmen get them as standard equipment, 
  the paperwork requirements for taser requisitions by 
  detectives are onerous. Using them in the field leads to 
  even more red tape. Departmental lore has it that you’ll 
  get passed over for promotion if the brass sees too many 
  taser use reports stapled to your personnel jacket.
  (This emulates the treatment of tasers in the source 
  material. In real life they might arguably be a life-saving 
  non-lethal technology. Because they make action 
  sequences boring and short, popular fiction occasionally 
  
  95
  Super-powered action
  puts them in the hands of bad guys and their minions, 
  but does not give them to the heroes. Sympathetic 
  characters use holds, punches, mutant powers and/
  or threats of gun violence to subdue recalcitrant 
  suspects.)
  No matter what kind of attack you’re making, you can 
  retroactively specify that a given hit was aimed not to 
  kill but to disable. When you damage an opponent 
  enough to knock him to -12 Health or below, spend 2 
  points of the attack ability you just used to make it a 
  disabling hit. He loses consciousness (if he hasn’t done 
  so already) but does not die. Instead, he is only seriously 
  wounded. Occasionally, the GM may disallow this option 
  and allow an important NPC to die if it’s appropriate, but 
  won’t use this to hose the players. For example, the GM 
  wouldn’t disallow it to get the PC into trouble for killing 
  someone.
   Exhaustion, Injury and death
  Unlike most abilities, your Health pool can drop below 0.
  When it does this, you must make a Consciousness Roll. Roll a die with the absolute value1 of 
  your current Health pool as your Difficulty. You may deliberately strain yourself to remain 
  conscious, voluntarily reducing your Health pool by an amount of your choice. For each point 
  you reduce it, add 1 to your die result. The Difficulty of the Consciousness roll is based on your 
  Health pool before you make this reduction.
  Sharmaine faces a meth-crazed concussion beamer in the urine-stained hallways of a filthy 
  squat. She takes a force blast that drops her Health pool to –2. The tweaker turns and runs; she 
  struggles to remain conscious so she can radio backup with a description. The absolute value 
  of –2 is 2, so this is the Difficulty of her Consciousness roll. She chooses to expend another 2 
  Health points she doesn’t have. That gives her a bonus of 2 to her roll. She rolls a 6, for a final 
  result of 8. Sharmaine calls it in, but now her Health pool is down to –4.
  If your pool is anywhere from 0 to –5, you are hurt, but have suffered no permanent injury, 
  beyond a few superficial cuts and bruises. However the pain of your injuries makes it impossible 
  to spend points on Investigative abilities, and increases the Difficulty Numbers of all tests and 
  contests, including opponents’ Hit Thresholds, by 1.
  A character with the Medic ability can improve your condition by spending Medic points. For 
  every Medic point spent, you regain 2 Health points—unless you are the Medic, in which case 
  you gain only 1 Health point for every Medic point spent. The Medic can only refill your pool 
  to where you were before the incident in which you received this latest injury. He must be in a 
  position to devote all of his attention to directly tending to your wounds.
  If your pool is between –6 and –11, you have been seriously wounded. You must make a 
  Consciousness roll.
  Whether or not you maintain consciousness, you are no longer able to fight. Until you receive first 
  aid, you will lose an additional Health point every half hour. A character with the Medic ability 
  can stabilize your condition by spending 2 Medic points. However, he can’t restore your Health 
  points.
  Even after you receive first aid, you must convalesce in a hospital or similar setting for a period 
  of days. Your period of forced inactivity is a number of days equal to the positive value of your 
  lowest Health pool score. (So if you were reduced to –8 Health, you are hospitalized for 8 days.) 
  On the day of your discharge, your Health pool increases to half its maximum value. On the next 
  day, it refreshes fully.
  When your pool dips to –12 or below, you are dead. Time to create a replacement character.
  1 In other words, treat the negative number as a positive. For example, if your Health pool is at –3, the 
  Difficulty of the roll is 3, and so on.
  
  96
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  While undercover as a corrections officer in a 
  facility housing mutant convicts, John fends off 
  Alejandro Reiter, a beefy guard who’s been helping 
  gang leader El Monstroso run his criminal empire 
  from behind bars. Reiter comes at him from behind 
  in the break room, making this a close quarters 
  fight, for which the Scuffle ability is required. The 
  GM declares that Reiter is the aggressor. Reiter 
  has a Scuffle rating and pool of 12, a Health rating 
  and pool of 10, a Hit Threshold of 4 and, thanks 
  to his Strength power, a Damage Modifier of 2. 
  John’s Scuffle rating is 10 but his pool is down to 
  6. His Health pool is down to 8 from a rating of 12. 
  His Hit Threshold is 4. With no weapons at hand, 
  his Damage Modifier is –2.
  The GM spends 2 points from Reiter’s Scuffling 
  pool, dropping it from 12 to 10. The GM rolls, 
  getting a 2. Modified by the point spend, that comes 
  out to a 4, which beats John’s Hit Threshold. Reiter 
  may then make a damage roll. The GM rolls a 4; 
  with his Damage Modifier of 2, that equals 6 points 
  of damage. Reiter places him in a choke hold, 
  reducing John’s Health pool from 8 to 2.
  John attempts a judo throw to break the hold. His 
  player, Justin, spends 3 points, taking his pool 
  from 6 to 3. He rolls a 3, for a result of 6, which 
  more than meets Reiter’s Hit Threshold.  Justin 
  rolls a 5. Combined with his –2 modifier, this 
  comes out to 3 points of damage. Reiter’s Health 
  pool drops from 10 to 7.He throws Reiter over 
  his shoulder and onto a break room table, which 
  collapses under his massive bulk.
  Reiter responds by barreling for John’s legs in an 
  attempt to knock him down and pin him to the floor. 
  The GM spends another 2 Scuffle points for Reiter, 
  taking his pool from 10 to 8. The roll is high, a 5, 
  which modifies to a 7. The ensuing damage roll is 
  a 2, which his Damage Modifier brings to a total of 
  4. John’s Health drops to –2. He is now hurt, and 
  suffers an increase of 1 to all Difficulty Numbers, 
  including his opponent’s Hit Threshold, which 
  now becomes 5. He must make a Consciousness 
  roll, against a Difficulty of 2, which is the absolute 
  value of his Health pool. He rolls a 3, and remains 
  conscious.
  Now it’s John’s turn to hit back. Justin spends 2 
  points, reducing his pool from 3 to 1. He rolls a 
  2, for a total of 4. Before he got hurt, that would 
  have been enough, but now he’s just short of the 
  mark. He tries to jab his thumbs into Reiter’s eye 
  sockets, but can’t exert enough pressure to do 
  more than annoy him..
  Reiter attacks again, spending another 2 Scuffle 
  points, taking its total from 8 to 6. The GM rolls a 
  5, for a total of 7—again enough to deal damage. 
  The damage roll is a 3, plus the Damage Modifier 
  of 2. Reiter delivers a stunning head butt, 
  dropping John’s Health total from –2 to –7. He 
  is now seriously wounded and thus unable to 
  continue fighting. That puts John out of the fight. 
  His Consciousness roll faces a Difficulty of 7, the 
  absolute value of his Health pool. He could go 
  even further into the red to strain for a bonus, but 
  elects not to. There’s no point in making the roll, 
  which is guaranteed to fail. John passes out. Given 
  the intensity of the result, the GM describes the 
  head butt as having given him a concussion and 
  possible brain injury.
  
  97
  Super-powered action
  Reiter, having attacked John impulsively, is now 
  left wondering what to do with him. At this point, 
  another undercover HCIU officer, Orlando Daniels, 
  enters the break room. Reiter slips out, realizing 
  that he’ll now have to go on the lam to avoid 
  arrest.
  John is seriously wounded and will die if not 
  stabilized. Fortunately, Orlando Daniels can 
  get him to the prison infirmary for immediate 
  treatment.
  FrEE-FOr-ALL COMBAT
  Combat becomes more chaotic when two groups of 
  combatants fight, or a group gangs up against a single 
  opponent. The GM abandons the aggressor/defender 
  model. Instead, the GM determines an order of action, 
  ranking all participants in the combat according to 
  their present pool values in the fighting skills they’ll 
  be starting the fight with—Scuffling or Shooting. Ties 
  are broken in favor of characters with higher ratings 
  in those skills. If characters are still tied, player 
  characters win out over creatures and enemies, and 
  early-arriving players win over late-arriving players.
  The time it takes to go through the ranking order once, 
  with each character taking an action, is called a round. 
  When one round ends, another begins. When called 
  upon to act, each character may strike at any opponent 
  within range of his weapons. Some supernatural 
  creatures may strike more than once per round. They 
  make each attack in succession, and may divide them 
  up between opponents within range, or concentrate all 
  of them on a single enemy.
  Creatures may choose to use their actions to deal 
  additional damage to downed or helpless opponents 
  rather 
  than 
  engage 
  active 
  opponents. 
  They 
  automatically deal once instance of damage per action. 
  Only the most crazed and bestial human enemies 
  engage in this behavior.
  Characters who join a combat in progress come last 
  in order of precedence. If more than two characters 
  join during the same round, the GM determines their 
  relative precedence using the rules above.
  The fight continues until one side capitulates or flees, 
  or all of its members are unconscious or otherwise 
  unable to continue.
  ArMOr
  Armor may reduce the damage from certain weapon 
  types. If you’re wearing a form of armor effective 
  against the weapon being used against you, you 
  subtract a number of points from each instance of 
  damage dealt to you before applying it to your Health 
  pool. Light body armor, as worn by police officers, 
  reduces each instance of damage from bullets by 2 
  points and from cutting and stabbing weapons (knives, 
  swords, machetes) by 1 point. Military-grade body 
  armor reduces bullet damage by 3 points.
  Orlando is shot by a street punk. The GM rolls a 3 
  for the punk’s damage, adding 1 point for his high-
  caliber handgun, for a total damage of 4. Orlando 
  wears light body armor, reducing the damage to 2 
  points. His Health pool decreases from 6 to 4.
  Light body armor is heavy, hot, and marks you out as 
  someone looking for trouble. All of these drawbacks 
  apply doubly to military-grade body armor. Investigators 
  can’t expect to walk around openly wearing armor 
  without attracting the attention of the local SWAT 
  team. Armor and heavy weapons may prove useful in 
  discrete missions conducted away from prying eyes.
  In choosing to make contemporary body armor highly 
  effective against firearms, we’re drawing on the 
  portrayal of Kevlar vests in cop shows and movies. 
  We make no claims for any resemblance between 
  these rules and real life. The rules also favor close-
  up physical confrontations, which are more in keeping 
  with the genre than firefights. GMs using the GUMSHOE 
  rules in more realistic investigative settings may wish 
  to reduce the effectiveness of body armor against 
  gunfire.
  COvEr
  In a typical gunfight, combatants seek cover, hiding 
  behind walls, furniture or other barriers, exposing 
  themselves only for the few seconds it takes them to 
  pop up and fire a round at their targets. The GUMSHOE 
  rules recognize three cover conditions:
  • Exposed: No barrier stands between you and 
  the combatant firing at you. your Hit Threshold 
  decreases by 1.
  • Partial Cover: About half of your body is exposed 
  to fire. your Hit Threshold remains unchanged.
  • Full Cover: Except when you pop up to fire a 
  round, the barrier completely protects you from 
  incoming fire. your Hit Threshold increases by 1.
  
  98
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
   One Gun, Two 
  Combatants
  If your opponent has a gun well in hand 
  and ready to fire, and you charge him from 
  more than five feet away, he can empty his 
  entire clip or chamber at you before you 
  get to him, badly injuring you. You are 
  automatically hit. He rolls one instance of 
  damage, which is then tripled. Yes, we said 
  tripled. And, yes, the tripling occurs after 
  weapon modifiers are taken into account. 
  This is why few people charge when their 
  opponents have the drop on them.
  If your opponent has a pistol but it is not 
  well in hand and ready to fire, you may 
  attempt to jump him and wrestle it from 
  his grip. If he has a pistol well in hand but 
  is unaware of your presence, you may also 
  be able to jump him, at the GM’s discretion. 
  The characters engage in a Scuffling contest 
  to see which of them gets control of the gun 
  and fires it. The winner makes a damage 
  roll against the loser, using the pistol’s 
  Damage Modifier, including the +2 for point 
  blank range.
  If you jump an opponent with an unready 
  rifle, a Scuffling combat breaks out, with 
  the opponent using the rifle as a heavy club.
  AMMO CAPACITY
  MCB sets aside the loving attention to firearm 
  intricacies characteristic of most contemporary-era 
  RPG systems1. For example, characters need to reload 
  only when dramatically appropriate. Otherwise, they’re 
  assumed to be able to refill the cylinders of their 
  revolvers or jam clips into their automatic weapons 
  between shots.
  When reloading is an issue, GMs may request a Shooting 
  test (Difficulty 3) to quickly reload. Characters who fail 
  may not use their Shooting ability to attack during the 
  current round.
  Separated from his teammates, a wounded 
  Orlando crawls into a condemned tenement to 
  hole up. The punks give chase. The GM decides 
  that limited resources will increase the sequence’s 
  sense of suspense, and declares that Orlando has 
  only four shots left in his Glock autopistol, and only 
  one extra ammo clip in his pocket. She plans to 
  have the punks gang up on him, forcing him to roll 
  Shooting to successfully reload as they rush him.
  rANGE
  The effect of range on firearms combat is likewise 
  simplified nearly out of existence. Handguns and 
  shotguns can only be accurately fired at targets within 
  fifty meters. The range limit for rifles is one hundred 
  meters.
  HAzArdS
  In or out of combat, the characters’ survival may be 
  threatened by assorted hazards, from electrical shock 
  to poisoning.
  ELECTrICITY
  Damage from exposure to electricity varies according 
  to voltage. you can suffer:
  • Mild shock, equivalent to briefly touching a 
  “hot” microphone or open household electrical 
  circuit. you lose 1 Health and are blown 
  backwards for a couple of meters.
  • Moderate shock, equivalent to a jolt from a 
  stun gun. you lose 2 Health and (if in combat 
  time) your next four actions. you always lose 
  at least one action, but may buy off the loss of 
  other actions by paying 3 Athletics, Lightning 
  or Regeneration points per action.
  • extreme shock, equivalent to a lightning 
  strike. you suffer one die of damage, with a +4 
  modifier.
  The GM should always give you some opportunity to 
  avoid being shocked, whether it be an Athletics test 
  to avoid unexpected contact, or a Surveillance test to 
  spot the danger. 
  If you are reduced to –6 or fewer Health, the current is 
  assumed to have traveled through your heart or brain, 
  causing cardiac arrest or brain damage, respectively. 
  The GM describes appropriate symptoms during your 
  hospital convalescence, and may, if narrative credibility 
  so demands, decide that you need a session of mutant 
  Healing to fully recover.
  1. More crunchy combat rules are avaialble in the Esoterror Fact Book.
  
  99
  ExPLOSIvES
  Explosives divide into six classes:
  Class 
  Equivalent 
  To
  Annihi-
  lation 
  Radius
  Damage 
  Radius
  Debris 
  Radius
  1
  Pipe 
  Bomb
  —
  1m
  4m
  2
  Grenade
  —
  2m
  6m
  3
  IED
  —
  3m
  12m
  4
  Truck 
  Bomb
  3m
  9m
  36m
  5
  Ballistic 
  Missile
  12m
  60m
  240m
  6
  Nuke
  500m
  3km
  4km
  If you are within a device’s damage radius (but outside 
  of its annihilation radius) when it explodes, you take a 
  die of damage, plus a modifier equal to three times its 
  class. 
  If you are outside of its annihilation or damage radii 
  but within its debris radius, make an Athletics with its 
  class times three as the Difficulty. If you fail, you take a 
  die of damage, plus a modifier equal to its class.
  Should you find yourself within a bomb’s annihilation 
  radius when it detonates, you will find the term grimly 
  self-explanatory. A tearful funeral sequence, followed 
  by the introduction of your new character, will ensue 
  shortly afterwards.
  GMs are free to create additional explosive devices 
  falling between these six broad increments. Some 
  weapons, like fragmentation grenades or pipe bombs 
  packed with nails, may be designed to deliver especially 
  damaging debris, with a damage modifier equal to 
  twice the device’s class.
  FIrE
  Damage from exposure to fire varies according to the 
  surface area of your body exposed to the flame, and 
  repeats for each round (or, outside of combat, every 
  few seconds) you remain exposed to it.
  • Minor exposure, most often to an extremity 
  like a hand or foot, carries a damage modifier 
  of –2.
  • Partial exposure, to up to half of your surface 
  area, carries a damage modifier of +0.
  • extensive exposure, to half or more of your 
  surface area, imposes a damage modifier of +2.
  The GM should always give you a chance to avoid being 
  set on fire. The difficulty of extinguishing a flame (except 
  by Fire Control, which works equally well whatever the 
  source) varies depending on the substance. If your 
  clothes are simply on fire, the flames are easier to put 
  out than if you are covered in an adhesive accelerant, 
  like the incendiary gel used in many types of napalm. 
  TOxINS
  Toxins are either inhaled, ingested or injected directly 
  into the bloodstream. They vary widely in lethality. A 
  dose of household cleanser may impose a damage 
  modifier of –2, where a sophisticated nerve gas might 
  range from +6 to +16. Inhaled toxins tend to take effect 
  right away. Injected and ingested toxins take delayed 
  effect, anywhere from minutes to hours after exposure. 
  Their damage might be parceled out in increments, 
  and may prevent you from refreshing Health points 
  until somehow neutralized. As with any hazard, the 
  GM should always give you a chance to avoid exposure 
  to them. 
  IMPrOvISEd POwEr 
  USE
  In the continuities of the big comic book companies, 
  built up over decades of stories featuring hundreds of 
  disparate heroes, their antagonists, and supporting 
  casts, pretty much anything can happen. Powers come 
  from multiple sources, including radioactivity, magic, 
  genetic mutation, high technology, and alien heritage. 
  Powers are not generic but unique—Johnny Fire’s flame 
  abilities might work quite differently from those of the 
  Blazemaster. Comic book heroes routinely improvise 
  new applications of their powers to get themselves out 
  of tough situations. Super-powered characters are still 
  very rare, and the police remain consistently baffled 
  when they’re used to commit crimes.
  By making all superhuman abilities consistent and 
  predictable, Mutant City Blues allows you to run 
  procedural mysteries in a world of extraordinary 
  powers. This is not a world where anything can happen, 
  but one in which a well-documented set of superhuman 
  capabilities must be factored into the reconstruction 
  of any crime scene. When an investigator examines 
  a crime scene, he has to entertain the possibility that 
  the perpetrator could fly, teleport or phase through a 
  Super-powered action
  
  100
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  wall, but knows that he couldn’t travel through time or 
  turn himself into a robot. Two individuals with the same 
  power might not be able to wield it to the same degree, 
  but its underlying capabilities remain consistent. The 
  limits of fire powers are the same for both Johnny Fire 
  and the Blazemaster.
  To preserve the predictability of mutant powers, 
  GMs should curtail or completely disallow the sort of 
  improvised power use that is a staple of the source 
  material.
  If you choose to interpret this rule strictly, characters 
  are able to improvise minor effects only. These are 
  impressive but small gestures that announce or 
  illustrate the character’s power, but accomplish nothing 
  difficult enough to require a test. (As an example, see 
  the interstitial fiction on p. 138, where Cecilia alerts a 
  reluctant witness to the fact she has the Lightning power 
  by causing a spark to travel between her fingertips.)
  A looser version of the rule allows characters to 
  improvise effects for general mutant abilities to 
  overcome actual plot obstacles. To do so, they must test 
  the ability against a Difficulty equal to 4, plus whatever 
  the Difficulty would be to solve the problem by mundane 
  means.
  Byron Krimmel (played by Justin) wants to use the 
  Gravity Control power to decrease the weight of a 
  deployed blast door, so he can lift its considerable 
  weight long enough to slide underneath it. The Gravity 
  Control description talks about causing standalone 
  objects to float up into the air, which doesn’t seem to 
  fit the situation. However, Justin convinces you that this 
  would be a sensible application of the power, given what 
  else it can do. you accept his argument. Lifting the door 
  with Athletics carries a Difficulty of 8. Adding 4 to that 
  for the improvised power use, you arrive at a Difficulty 
  for his Gravity Control test of 12.
  Disallow improvised power uses when they duplicate the 
  specified effects of another existing power. For example, 
  you can’t use Read Minds to see into a subject’s dreams, 
  because that steps on the Observe Dreams power. Allow 
  them when they permit the character to do something 
  that can be accomplished by a non-mutant ability, or 
  which cannot otherwise be done at all. In the latter 
  case, assign them a Difficulty of 12.
  The improvisation that takes place is by the player, not 
  the character. The PC is not finding a new use for the 
  ability, but instead doing something that in the game 
  world is standard and well-documented, but happens 
  not to appear in this rule book. It is then treated as a 
  pre-existing, predictable technique that other mutants 
  with the same power have been using all along. When 
  examining crime scenes in later episodes, the detectives 
  can assume that other characters can duplicate the feat. 
  The GM then reassigns its default Difficulty to bring it 
  line with the documented applications of this and other 
  powers.
  
  Super-powered action
  101
  Big Time Comics headquarters was a warren of tiny offices, 
  smelling of dry rot, copier toner, and ancient sweat. Lomax 
  curled his nose at the posters of chicks in bondage gear, their 
  anatomically impossible bodies splayed out in unlikely postures 
  as they threatened one another with fireballs and ninja swords. 
  It was a playground of latent pedophilia, as far as he was 
  concerned.
  Carl Brueggen sat wedged behind a pressboard desk. 
  Elaborately sculpted plastic figures of monsters and heroes 
  crowded his workspace. “Just another second,” he said, holding 
  up a stubby finger. Another image of a BDSM chick appeared 
  on the black T-shirt draping his ample frame, dodging spatters 
  of dried mustard. The editor of The Fish sported a bushy beard 
  and an idiosyncratic mullet/pompadour combination. Narrow 
  eyes squinted behind oversized gold-framed aviator glasses, 
  which he continued to wear despite the fact that they had again 
  become fashionable. Brueggen hit the send button on a scathing 
  email to another of the no-talent idiot writers his publisher had 
  saddled him with and then tucked into his Italian sub. “All 
  right, all right,” he said, talking through his food. “You can 
  now speak, without derailing my thought train.”
  Lomax had agreed to let Cece take this one. She was more wired 
  in to goob culture.
  “What’s going to happen to Mr. Stagg’s comic, now that he’s 
  been murdered?” she asked. 
  Brueggen paused to savor his sandwich’s ranch dressing. “My 
  first impulse is to say the same as if he’d lived, which is, it’s 
  headed for cancellation. But if you two make a big enough deal 
  of this in the press, maybe the publicity will invigorate sales.” 
  He stopped to think. “Hmm, yeah. If this plays out right, we 
  could maybe bring in some big names to reboot his character.”
  Lomax couldn’t stop himself. “You’d keep it going, now that 
  he’s dead?”
  Brueggen shrugged. “I dunno, ask the publisher. But the book 
  will sure be easier to do, without input from the protagonist.”
  “You didn’t care for Mr. Stagg?” Cecilia asked.
  “He was a pain in the ass.” Seeing the detectives exchange 
  meaningful glances, Brueggen put down his sandwich. “Hey, 
  don’t get the wrong idea. This is comics. Everyone is an ego-
  crazed malcontent. If I started killing on that account, I’d be 
  knee-deep in human remains.”
  “Mr. Stagg’s comic wasn’t selling well?”
  “The trend’s bottomed out.”
  “What trend?”
  “Real life mutants. No one wants to read about them anymore. 
  They’re boring! They don’t do anything. Not like the classic 
  characters Big Time comics was built on—they put on their 
  costumes and save the world and go into space and wield the 
  power cosmic. What do these real life freaks do? They mow the 
  lawn. Continue their exciting careers in accountancy. When 
  they put on costumes, it’s to do a personal appearance. People 
  want the real super-powered heroes back. The imaginary ones.”
  “Freaks, huh?” Lomax asked. He leaned into Brueggen’s space. 
  “Aren’t you going to ask me what my power is?”
  Brueggen wheeled back in his chair. 
  Cecilia cleared her throat, a harrumphing warning directed at 
  her partner. “So if he said he had serious money coming to him 
  from a comic book deal, he was not being truthful?”
  “More likely he was being lied to.” The editor looked down the 
  hallway and lowered his voice. “By our moron publisher, who 
  likes everything about comic books except the comic book part. 
  Probably shining him on about some deal that would never 
  close, just to keep him from signing on with JAM Comics. Like 
  they’d take him. The Fish? What kind of character is that? All 
  he does is swim and order mackerel around.”
  “You speak well of the dead, don’t you?” said Lomax.
  “To repeat myself, he was a pain in the ass. Before he got his 
  gills, he was a fanboy. He was always siccing his loser friends 
  on me. Every one of them wanting to write for Big Time 
  Comics.”
  “Which loser friends?”
  “Most recently, this total mouth-breather, Stan Guthrie. 
  Wanted to write his own book, featuring himself. Worst script I 
  ever read, and that’s saying something! Compared to him, The 
  Fish was the greatest character Jack Kirby never invented.”
  “And you let this Stan Guthrie down gently, when you rejected 
  his work?”
  Brueggen stared at her uncomprehendingly. “Comics is a 
  tough business.” 
  “You don’t still have a copy of that script around, do you?”
  Brueggen cogitated. “Well. I might be able to undelete the file.”
  BIG TIME
  
  102
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  STABILITY
  In Mutant City Blues, Stability does not go below 0, and 
  the insanity rules from horror versions of GUMSHOE 
  are ignored. As with any other ability, you simply lose 
  the opportunity to add extra points to your Stability 
  rolls when your pool runs out. The ability is instead 
  used to resist various mutant powers, and to stave off 
  the effects of neurological and personality disorders.
  MENTAL CrISIS
  When characters fail Stability tests during a fight or 
  other situation where they, their partners, or innocent 
  people are in jeopardy, the GM may decide that they 
  enter a state of mental crisis. 
  If in a combat situation or other action sequence 
  measured in rounds, the character loses his next 
  action. Whether or not the mental crisis occurred 
  during combat, the character also suffers medium- 
  or long-term emotional damage. If the victim 
  suffers from a mutant defect, he must make its 
  usual resistance test, or suffer an escalation of that 
  defect—see p. 74. If the victim does not have a pre-
  existing defect, he temporarily displays the symptoms 
  of stage two Addictive Personality, Attention Deficit 
  Disorder, Depression, Dissociation or Panic Disorder. 
  The GM chooses which emotional disorder the victim 
  acquires as seems thematically appropriate, given 
  the crisis’ source. The disorder lasts for a number 
  of days equal to the difference between the result of 
  the character’s original Stability test and its Difficulty. 
  The character does not become a mutant or acquire 
  a permanent defect, but merely suffers ordinary 
  symptoms of psychological trauma which happen to 
  also be associated with mutant powers.
  rEGAINING POOL POINTS
  Spent points from various pools are restored at 
  different rates, depending on their narrative purpose.
  Investigative ability pools are restored only at the end 
  of each case, without regard to the amount of time that 
  passes in the game world. Players seeking to marshal 
  their resources may ask you how long cases typically 
  run, in real time. Most groups finish scenarios over 
  2-3 sessions. Players may revise their sense of how 
  carefully to manage point spending as they see how 
  quickly their group typically disposes of its cases.
  (GMs running extremely long, multi-part investigations 
  may designate certain story events as breakpoints 
  where all investigative pools are refreshed. For 
  example, a far-reaching investigation where the team 
  cracks a huge drug ring might allow refreshment of 
  investigative pools after each group of enemies is 
  neutralized.)
   what do Pool 
  Points represent?
  Pool points are a literary abstraction, 
  representing the way that each character 
  gets his or her own time in the spotlight 
  in the course of an ensemble drama. When 
  you do something remarkable, you expend 
  a little bit of your spotlight time. More 
  active players will spend their points sooner 
  than less demonstrative ones, unless they 
  carefully pick and choose their moments to 
  shine.
  Remember, all characters are remarkably 
  competent. Pool points measure your 
  opportunities to exercise this ultra-
  competence during any given scenario.
  Pool points do not represent a resource, 
  tangible or otherwise, in the game world. 
  Players are aware of them, but characters 
  are not. The team members’ ignorance 
  of them is analogous to TV characters’ 
  obliviousness to commercial breaks, the 
  unwritten rules of scene construction, and 
  the tendency of events to heat up during 
  sweeps.
  We represent this most purely in the case 
  of investigative skills, which are the core 
  of the game. Their refreshment is tied to a 
  purely fictional construct, the length of the 
  episode.
  However, where a pool could be seen to 
  correspond to a resource perceptible to 
  the characters, we handle refreshment in a 
  somewhat more realistic, if also abstract, 
  manner. Characters’ ebbing Health scores 
  are perceptible to the characters in the 
  form of welts, cuts, pain, and general 
  fatigue. Stability is less tangible but can be 
  subjectively measured in the characters’ 
  moods and reactions. Physical abilities, also 
  tied to fatigue and sharpness of reflexes, are 
  also handled with a nod to the demands of 
  realism.
  
  103
  Super-powered action
  The Health pool refreshes over time, at a rate of 2 
  points per day of restful activity. (Wounded characters 
  heal at a different rate, over a period of hospitalization; 
  see p. 95.) Use of the Medic ability can restore a limited 
  number of Health points in the course of a session.
  Pools for the physical abilities of Athletics, Driving, 
  Scuffling, and Shooting are fully restored whenever 
  twenty-four hours of game-world time elapse since 
  the last expenditure. The remaining general abilities, 
  including Stability, refresh at the end of each case, like 
  investigative abilities.
  rEFrESHING MUTANT POwErS
  Investigative mutant powers, like their mundane 
  counterparts, refresh at the end of each case.
  A general mutant power pool refreshes fully when 
  twenty-four hours of game time have passed since 
  your last expenditure from that pool.
  FOrCEd rEFrESHES
  If you suffer from one or more defects, you can attempt 
  a forced refresh. you strain a mutant power to the 
  limits, triggering a defect crisis. Test your defect’s 
  resistance ability against a Difficulty of 8. your pool 
  refreshes whether you succeed or fail—but if you fail, 
  your condition worsens by one stage.
  Byron Krimmel has exhausted his Gravity Control pool, 
  but needs to get a remote control device away from 
  a bomber before he uses it to detonate an explosive 
  device on the monorail tracks. He has the Autism 
  defect, and is therefore eligible for a forced refresh. 
  His player, Justin, tests Autism’s resistance ability, 
  Stability, against a Difficulty of 8. He spends 3 Stability 
  points, which is all he has, but rolls a 4. Even so, his 
  Gravity Control pool refreshes, giving him all the points 
  he needs to float the remote control off the floor and 
  floating up into the sky, higher than the bomber can 
  reach. Hundreds of people on the monorail are saved, 
  but at a high cost to Byron—his autism goes from 
  incipient to stage one.
  If you have more than one defect, the GM determines 
  which one is used for a forced refresh, depending on 
  what seems dramatically appropriate. This may be the 
  defect that was most recently featured in the storyline, 
  or the one that bears a thematic connection to the 
  action at hand.
  IMPrOvING YOUr 
  CHArACTEr
  At the end of each investigation, each player gets 2 
  build points for each session they participated in. (This 
  assumes a small number of 3-4 hour sessions; if you 
  play in shorter bursts, modify accordingly.) Players who 
  had characters die in the course of the investigation 
  only get points for each session involving their current 
  character.
  These build points can be spent to increase either 
  investigative or general abilities. you may acquire 
  new abilities or bolster existing ones. If necessary to 
  preserve credibility, rationalize new abilities as areas 
  of expertise you’ve had all along, but are only revealing 
  later in the series.
  IMPrOvING MUTANT POwErS
  you may acquire additional mutant powers in the 
  course of play, at the same costs you would have paid 
  during character creation. If a defect stands between 
  a current power and one you wish to acquire, you must 
  acquire that defect, at a cost of 0 build points. Like 
  defects acquired during character creation, defects 
  manifesting during play begin in their incipient stage—
  see p. 74.
   the pregs
  New powers manifest after a several-week 
  period of nausea, sweats and hot flashes. 
  Anamorphologists call this experience 
  as Additional Power Onset Complex, 
  or APOC for short. Colloquially, this is 
  referred to as “the pregs”, as in, “I had the 
  pregs something awful for weeks, and then 
  one morning I could shoot fire out of my 
  fingertips.” These symptoms are distracting 
  but have no game effect.
  You don’t have to wait for a couple of 
  weeks of game time to elapse before picking 
  up a new mutant power. Instead, slip in a 
  line of foreshadowing dialog about how 
  you’ve been feeling crappy for the past few 
  weeks, then use the power as you need it.
  
  104
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  HCIU PrOCEdUrE
  The material in the following chapter is excerpted 
  from your local police department’s Heightened 
  Crime Investigation Unit operations manual. To 
  balance its official perspective with the between-the-
  lines realities of the job, we also present, as a series 
  of sidebars, blog entries written by the anonymous 
  HCIU officer who goes by the handle UpCopper.
  MISSION STATEMENT
  your duty as members of the Heightened Crimes 
  Investigation Unit are the same as any police 
  officer’s—to serve and protect.
  you do this by investigating serious crimes where a 
  preliminary survey of the scene suggests the potential 
  involvement of one or more members of the mutant 
  community. In the course of your duties you will 
  identify persons of interest, gather evidence against 
  suspects, and where warranted and in consultation 
  with prosecutors, lay charges. To do so effectively, 
  you must gather sufficient evidence to gain arrests 
  warrants and, finally, to secure convictions against 
  the guilty.
  Under high scrutiny from the media, you will conduct 
  yourselves at all times with dignity, rectitude, and 
  respect. your actions, on and off duty, will bring honor 
  and positive repute to the force.
  rECrUITMENT
  Assignment to the HCIU is a coveted honor. The squad 
  currently consists of only twenty-four investigating 
  officers, plus commanders and support staff. you 
  won assignment to this squad by demonstrating 
  excellence, first as a cadet, then as a patrol 
  officer, then finally as a detective. As detectives, 
  you accumulated years of positive performance 
  evaluations while serving in other detachments, such 
  as robbery-homicide, special victims, gang units, 
  organized crime control, vice, or narcotics. Some of 
  you, particularly those with disguise-oriented powers 
  such as Impersonation, Illusion, Form Alteration, 
  and Nondescript, may have distinguished yourselves 
  in undercover operations. Others from technical 
  backgrounds may have transferred out from our 
  various forensics departments, from crime scene 
  analysis to the coroner’s branch.
  The leadership of this detachment does not believe in 
  leadership by micromanagement. you will be granted 
  wide latitude to pursue avenues of investigation and 
  to employ unconventional tactics afforded you by 
  your extraordinary capabilities. When we say that you 
  occupy a position of extreme visibility, and that your 
  work will be carefully monitored to ensure that it meets 
  the justifiably high expectations of the department 
  and its civilian overseers, it is not to induce in you an 
  attitude of excessive caution. It is merely to point out 
  that, as rare as heightened police officers might be, 
  there is no shortage of candidates hoping to take your 
  place, should you stumble and fall.
  OrGANIzATIONAL 
  STrUCTUrE
  As HCIU investigators, you will be detached to one 
  of six squads, each typically comprising three to six 
  officers. Officers may rotate in and out of cases as their 
  other responsibilities, such as court appearances, 
  paperwork and case follow-up, demand. 
  Each squad is overseen by one of two watch 
  commanders, each occupying the rank of lieutenant. 
  you will report directly to your lieutenant for duty 
  assignments. 
  your 
  lieutenant’s 
  performance 
  evaluations depend on his case clearance rate, as 
  
  105
  do yours. When he deems it fruitful to give you a 
  long leash, he will do so. When your case founders, 
  he will prod you for updates. If you can’t explain it 
  to your lieutenant, you don’t have enough facts. It is 
  your lieutenant’s responsibility to ensure that your 
  investigation proceeds according to operational 
  guidelines, and that the officers under his command 
  perform efficiently and ethically. Should a question 
  arise within a squad as to the operational correctness 
  of a proposed course of action, take it immediately 
  to your lieutenant. If he suspects you of wrongdoing, 
  he will immediately alert internal affairs, triggering a 
  formal investigation.
   The Blue wall
  Everybody knows there are the book rules, and there are the real rules. You got to know the book 
  rules, because the brass can use them to jam you up when politics requires. But if you want to put 
  away the bad guys and do the right thing, the real rules are what you got to follow. If you don’t 
  know them like the blood in your veins, you ain’t a real cop. You’re just wearing a uniform.
  Real rule #1: Have your partners’ backs. You’re loyal first to the people you work cases with. If 
  they can’t trust you, you can’t trust them to come to your aid when some perp throws a fireball at 
  your back.
  Real rule #2: Your second loyalty is to your watch commander—provided he’s demonstrated he’s 
  a stand-up guy and not a prick. If he’s a stand-up guy, he’ll have your back. That bit in the ops 
  manual about him calling the rat squad the second he gets a bad smell coming off you? That’s 
  the prick move. A stand-up commander gives you every benefit of the doubt—provided you’ve 
  proven you’re good, and deserve his trust. He’ll go to the wall for you, while you exonerate 
  yourself against whatever bullshit charges they want to pin on you. This assumes you’re worthy 
  of the badge, and aren’t dirty or a seat-warmer. If you flip out and waste a crowd of citizens with 
  your bone claws, there ain’t jack he can—or should—do for your sorry ass.
  Real rule #3: Your third loyalty is to any other cop. If you’ve been around for long enough to earn 
  a detective’s badge, you’ve already learned to divide your colleagues into categories. First, there’s 
  the good cops. That’s what you strive to be, and what you pray to God your partners are.
  Then there’s the seat-warmers, the guys who are just putting in time till retirement. Sometimes 
  they’re idiots who stand in the way of getting things done. You may have to bust their balls a bit 
  to get them to do their jobs. But you never rat them out, because, whatever else they are, they’re 
  still cops. If a boss asks you about them, you maybe roll your eyes. But nothing goes down on 
  paper to jack the poor schlub up.
  The last category is the guys who’ve gone dirty. You won’t find them in the HCIU. They avoid 
  getting promoted too far from street level, where the money is. If you’re unlucky enough to run 
  across one of them, you’ve got to handle it right. They can’t think you’re a prick willing to turn 
  them into the rat squad. But you don’t want them entangling you in their crap and dragging you 
  down with them, either. Keep your distance, and avoid seeing anything the bosses would want 
  you to report. They may be scumbags, but they’re cop scumbags.
  That’s assuming they’re the kind of scumbags who help themselves to a little dirty money, or let 
  their problems with substances or gambling lead them by the nose. If they shake down honest 
  citizens, or commit rapes and murders, then they’re beyond the pale. If they cross those lines, 
  you’ve got to take them down, and there isn’t another cop who won’t understand that.
  But if you break any of the real rules, they won’t understand, and they shouldn’t. Don’t expect 
  help the next time you go through a door in a bad neighborhood. Expect to be shunned. Hell, I’ll 
  be one of the guys giving you the cold shoulder in the locker room.
  hciu procedure
  
  106
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Organizational charts are readily available for 
  most major jurisdictions. Links are provided on the 
  Pelgrane website. http://www.pelgranepress.com 
  Each department displays its own unique structural 
  quirks. 
  rANkS
  Each police force has its own ranking system. HCIU 
  officers are usually out of uniform, that is they are 
  detectives. In the UK, police detectives have the 
  same rank structure as uniformed officers, except 
  with the prefix “Detective” in front of the rank title. 
  Two sample rank structures follow. 
  LOS ANGELES POLICE dEPArTMENT 
  rANk STrUCTUrE
  • Chief  
  • Assistant Chief - Deputy Chief II  
  • Deputy Chief - Deputy Chief I  
  • Commander  
  • Captain I/Captain II/Captain III  
  • Lieutenant I/Lieutenant II  
  • Detective III  
  • Sergeant II  
  • Detective II  
  • Sergeant I  
  • Detective I  
  • Police Officer III+1/Senior Lead Officer  
  • Police Officer III  
  • Police Officer II
  • Police Officer I
  Uk POLICE FOrCE rANk STrUCTUrE
  • Chief Constable 
  • (Most Senior Police Officer)
  • Deputy Chief Constable
  • Assistant Chief Constable
  • Chief Superintendent
  • Superintendent
  • Chief Inspector (equivalent of Captain)
  • Inspector (equivalent of Lieutenant)
  • Sergeant
  • Constable
  All investigating squad members are of equal rank. 
  On any given case, a detective will be designated 
  as the primary investigating officer, or primary for 
  short. This detective takes responsibility for the 
  direction of the case. Although he may not issue 
  orders, or reprimand squad members who do not 
  comply with his requests, other members of his 
  squad are expected to follow his lead in order to 
  preserve effective process flow. If the investigation 
  concludes in an arrest and trial, he is credited with 
  the case clearance, or collar. This success is noted 
  in his personnel file, as part of his case clearance 
  percentage. Conversely, if the case is not conclusively 
  resolved, the failure counts against him.
  dNAS OFFICErS 
  IN THE HCIU
  Officers without evident mutant powers may 
  occasionally be detailed to the HCIU, for any of the 
  following reasons:
  • Personnel shortages. Otherwise qualified 
  detectives with mutant powers may not be 
  available for promotion into the unit.
  • relevant skills. A DNAS individual with, for 
  example, a PhD in anamorphology may be 
  better specialized on issues surrounding the 
  heightened and criminology than a gene-
  expressive officer.
  • Community liaison. Investigating officers 
  sometimes find it advantageous to have a 
  DNAS individual on hand to conduct certain 
  interviews or deflect enhancement-related 
  concerns of the general population.
  ASSIGNMENTS
  Squads are expected to rotate the duties of primary 
  from case to case, so that the burden is shared 
  between all members over time. Squads are 
  permitted to use whatever system they see fit when 
  distributing this responsibility, provided that the 
  above goal is met. Many robbery-homicide squads 
  employ a practice of assigning primary status to 
  the officer who first picks up the phone when a call 
  comes in. Others may use a roster system to ensure 
  strict rotation. The watch commander must approve 
  all assignments of primary status and may make 
  changes for any reason. Watch commanders may 
  deem that a particular detective’s skill set, mutant 
  abilities, or personal history either better enables 
  In other words, sometimes the 
  norms don’t like it when the 
  chromes wear badges, and it ’s 
  better to send in one of their 
  own to play good cop.
  
  107
  hciu procedure
  him to take the lead on a given case—or requires 
  that he take a back seat.
  Most case calls to the HCIU come from central 
  dispatch in response to requests from patrol 
  officers. Uniformed officers respond to 911 calls or 
  may come across crime scenes in the course of their 
  patrol activities. When they determine that a case 
  may involve a mutant perpetrator and/or victim, 
  they call dispatch, who then contacts HCIU. A small 
  handful of case calls come directly from the public 
  directly dialing the HCIU number. When this occurs, 
  you will alert dispatch, who will send patrol officers 
  to the scene. If they verify that the tip is based on 
  accurate information, dispatch will contact you, so 
  you can join patrol officers at the scene.
  When another detective squad works a case and 
  discovers in mid-investigation that it involves mutant 
  powers, their watch commander is required to notify 
  the chief of detectives at police headquarters. The 
  chief of detectives evaluates the circumstances and 
  determines whether to keep the case under the 
  aegis of its current investigators, or transfer it to 
  HCIU. When making this decision, he considers the 
  following factors:
  • duration of case to date. Cases which have 
  undergone little development by current 
  case officers may be readily transferred 
  with little loss of case knowledge. Where 
  non-heightened officers have instead been 
  working an investigation for extended 
  periods, it becomes challenging to convey 
  all relevant information effectively to a new 
  team.
  • danger to non-enhanced officers. 
  Investigations likely to lead to hostile 
  encounters between heightened suspects 
  and police may be better handled by officers 
  with the powers to defend against them.
  • Community and public relations 
  requirements. Cases threatening to inflame 
  tensions between the heightened community 
  and police may be deemed best handled by 
  members of that community. In high profile 
  cases, pressure from media and other non-
  police sources may prompt commanders 
  to detail HCIU officers to a case. These 
  decisions are taken out of a necessary 
  concern for public relations and should 
  not be regarded as a cynical surrender to 
  unpleasant political realities. 
  If the chief of detectives determines that a case 
  be retained by its original investigating squad, 
  an HCIU officer will be detailed to liaise with that 
  team, providing contacts, expertise and operational 
  assistance, as required.
  If he transfers the case to the HCIU, the original 
  primary is detailed to the HCIU as liaison officer, 
  and a new primary is designated from within the 
  HCIU squad chosen to spearhead the investigation. 
  The liaison officer provides full details on the case to 
  date, and continues to participate in the investigation 
  under the lead of the new primary.
  It sometimes transpires that a case assigned to the 
  HCIU on the basis of apparent heightened involvement 
  will, after some investigation, be revealed as having 
  no connection to the mutant community. When such 
  a determination is made, the watch commander may 
  contact the chief of detectives to request that the 
  case be transferred to the squad normally detailed 
  to the type of crime in question, whether that be 
  vice, robbery-homicide, fraud, or narcotics.
  A clearance is a clearance, so if his 
  squad has been assigned a solvable 
  case, a watch commander will 
  hold on to it like a terrier with a 
  rat in its jaws, even if it turns out 
  to bear no relation to the squad’s 
  mandate. If the case smells like a 
  dog, he’ll do his best to unload it 
  on another squad and get it off his 
  year-to-year stats. Of course, all the 
  other watch commanders know how 
  this works, and will beg, wheedle 
  and cajole the chief of detectives to 
  avoid getting any loser cases palmed 
  off on them.
  
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  MUTANT CITY BLUES
   pure cops, 
  lixer cops
  Cops are like anybody else, but more so. 
  There’s tension between the pure and the 
  lixers out in the real world, and you get 
  that reflected inside the squad room, too. 
  Some norms have chips on their shoulders 
  about us. If you got as far as detective, you 
  learned to tolerate a lot of crap.
  When other squads catch a case that turns 
  out to be HC material, their reluctance or 
  eagerness to part with it generally has squat 
  to do with anti-lixer prejudice. Cops are 
  territorial. We hold onto cases we think we 
  can clear, and try to dump that which will 
  screw up our performance evaluations. If 
  we happen to like somebody for a crime, 
  and we develop a healthy hate-on for him, 
  we want to see the case through to the 
  arrest. We want to be the ones to slap the 
  cuffs on. That’s as true of the pure cops as 
  of the lixers.
  So often another squad will hold onto a case 
  that ought to be ours, holding back their 
  knowledge of the facts that would earn it a 
  swift transfer to our humble bailiwick. This 
  means sometimes you inherit a case after 
  some norm squad has already screwed the 
  pooch on it. 
  Of course, when it comes to pressure from 
  outside, we forget our squabbles and close 
  ranks. We’re cops before anything else.
  SHIFTS ANd 
  SCHEdULING
  Each watch commander oversees three eight-hour 
  shifts, assigning one squad to each: 6 AM to 2 PM, 2 
  PM to 10 PM, and 10 PM to 6 AM. Squads are rotated 
  between shifts on a quarterly basis.
  When you are not working a case or assigned to a 
  specific support duty, such as appearing in court or 
  engaging in a public relations exercise, your presence 
  is required in the squad room during your shift hours. 
  While waiting to catch cases, you field inquiries, file 
  paperwork and rework cold investigations. Officers are 
  expected to maintain a professional, diligent demeanor. 
  In accordance with memos #43907D, 324097A, and 
  E39780-12, our crackdown on newspaper reading, 
  Internet surfing, and Nerf basketball tournaments 
  during office hours remains in place.
  While working on a case, squads may arrange hours 
  as needed to contact witnesses, conduct stakeouts, 
  and consult with technical personnel. The primary 
  is responsible for keeping time records of all squad 
  members’ activities. Squad members must clock in 
  for full work weeks. They may bank lieu time with 
  approval of watch commanders. Watch commanders 
  possess limited discretion to permit overtime hours on 
  high-priority cases. Officers receive time-and-a-half 
  for approved overtime, and double time for case work 
  extending into statutory holidays.
  EvIdENCE COLLECTION
  Although HCIU officers often possess the expertise and 
  equipment (or mutant powers) to examine and process 
  evidence, actual evidence collection is handled, as 
  with any investigation, by civilian criminalists detailed 
  to the Crime Scene Processing unit. Although you can 
  expect them to exercise judgment and collect obvious 
  pieces of evidence, a good detective always remains 
  at the scene to request the bagging and tagging of all 
  relevant materials.
  you must perform all necessary paperwork when 
  either accessing or removing materials from Evidence 
  Storage, to thoroughly document the whereabouts 
  of each piece of evidence that might be introduced 
  in court at all times. This process flow is called the 
  Chain Of Custody. Defense lawyers win acquittals by 
  successfully calling into question the chain of custody. 
  When the chain of custody is broken, police careers go 
  along with it.
  The first thing I want to know when 
  I hit a homicide scene as primary is: 
  was the vic killed here, or dumped? 
  If it ’s the former, telling physical 
  evidence will be everywhere. If it ’s a 
  dumper, I know I’m screwed.
  
  109
   clearing cases 
  The detective’s mantra is ABC: always be 
  clearing. Most watch commanders keep a 
  list of all active cases, with the primary’s 
  name emblazoned beside the name of each 
  victim. (In a multiple homicide, each victim 
  is treated as a separate case, so if you, as 
  primary, haven’t caught a killer of six, you 
  will have six cases lodged against you, with 
  your clearance rate taking a commensurate 
  hit.) In days past, the list was maintained on 
  a blackboard, whiteboard or bulletin board. 
  Now it appears on a plasma screen display.
  When your name is on the big board, it 
  should gnaw at you night and day, as it 
  does your watch commander. It threatens 
  your clearance rate. You must get it off that 
  board. Then it becomes a positive statistic. 
  Then a new case goes up next to your name, 
  and that haunts you, until you clear that. 
  And so on. Welcome to the glamorous 
  world of police work.
  A case is considered cleared when an 
  arrest is made, or when it is found to be 
  something other than a crime. So if you 
  find out that a supposedly stolen car was 
  borrowed by the owner’s son, or that an 
  apparent murder victim in fact committed 
  suicide, that’s a clearance. Although it’s 
  your duty to help prosecutors put the 
  scumbags in prison after you apprehend 
  them, 95% of the time an arrest counts 
  as a clearance. It’s not your problem if 
  the idiot jury fails to convict—unless the 
  defendant is truly exonerated, and evidence 
  appears that the real perp is still out there. 
  Then the case goes back on the board, and 
  if you’re lucky, you have to investigate 
  all over again. If you’re unlucky, the 
  watch commander docks you the original 
  clearance and then puts a new primary in 
  charge, so you have no hope of making 
  good for the blot on your record.
  Despite what the defense shysters say, the 
  department doesn’t like to arrest or convict 
  the innocent. Do you have any idea how 
  much paperwork that entails?
  INTErvIEwS ANd 
  INTErrOGATIONS
  Successful interviews and interrogations are the key 
  to a high clearance rate. Scientific evidence may prove 
  facts, but narratives win convictions. During the early 
  stages of an investigation, you want to establish what 
  might have happened, then narrow it down to what 
  did happen. Interviews allow you to do this. When 
  interviewing witnesses who are not suspects, be polite, 
  firm, and professional. Witnesses are often reluctant 
  to involve themselves in a police investigation. Without 
  triggering complaints, be sure to inform persons 
  holding vital information of the benefits of sharing it, 
  and of the consequences of withholding it.
  The official policy of the department as to a suspect’s 
  access to legal counsel is that we never discourage 
  people from availing themselves of their legal rights.
  hciu procedure
  
  110
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  A truism of police work is that the most likely suspect 
  probably did it. Murders among the heightened are 
  no different than any other. Most are committed 
  among family members, then close friends, and then 
  business associates (especially associates in criminal 
  enterprises.) The chief motivations for murder are 
  commonly listed as sex and money. Even more 
  prevalent is the temporary alleviation of annoyance—
  the hotheaded murder committed out of momentary 
  anger by a person with limited financial and emotional 
  resources. These are the easy murders to clear. Be 
  grateful when you get them. Suspects are easy to locate 
  and easier to persuade in the interrogation room.
  The hardest murders to clear arise from organized 
  crime activities, especially the drug trade. Witnesses 
  are savvy to interrogation tactics and aware that 
  confession is never in their best interests. These 
  cases are solved outside the interrogation room, by 
  working informants and establishing communications 
  surveillance.
  It is in these cases, where suspects are connected 
  to multiple murders, draw on considerable financial 
  resources, and can effectively intimidate any witnesses 
  against them, that mind-reading warrants may be 
  applied for, and granted.
  EMAT PrOTOCOL
  Perpetrators otherwise lacking a viable defense 
  often claim to have been acting under the influence 
  of a mutant power. It is therefore incumbent on 
  you as investigators to use the EMAT protocol (see 
  Influence Detection (Interpersonal) on p. 22 early in any 
  interrogation, to rule out this possibility.
  The officer conducting the EMAT examination must 
  to testify in court to its veracity, and should hone his 
  communications skills accordingly. 
   detective as con man 
  Any good detective is a con artist. He 
  convinces witnesses to talk, even when it’s 
  not in their interests to do so.
  He persuades suspects that he’s on their 
  side, that he shares the same worries, and 
  that he’s there to help. He’s selling a bill 
  of goods—that a confession offers the best 
  possible deal for the suspect. Now and then 
  the odd undetectable slap upside the head 
  will get your skel’s attention, but it’s an 
  ability to fashion an appealing sales pitch 
  that separates the detective with the high 
  clearance rate from the hapless mug with 
  red names all over his section of the big 
  board.
  The trick to an interrogation is to find what 
  makes your suspect tick. Step one: get to 
  know him well enough to figure out what 
  he thinks he needs. Step two: find a way 
  to convince him that the way to get it is a 
  signed confession.
  Courts have upheld your right to deceive 
  suspects. Use it. Tell them you’ve got hard 
  physical evidence, or that their accomplices 
  have flipped on them, or that an eyewitness 
  just picked them out of a photo array. Lying 
  works more often than not, but if you’ve 
  got a perp of above-average intelligence, 
  do it carefully. Don’t say anything the perp 
  knows to be false. You never want to let a 
  suspect take control of the interview, which 
  is exactly what happens when you get 
  caught in a lie.
  As police investigators we are supposed to 
  respect a suspect’s right to legal counsel. 
  In fact, we respect it so much that we say 
  whatever is necessary to persuade him not 
  to use it! When a suspect lawyers up, he 
  shuts up. Convince him, even though it is 
  never true, that he’s better off speaking to 
  you without a lawyer. You can’t come out 
  and say this in so many words; you have to 
  hint around it. Suggest that bringing in a 
  lawyer escalates matters, or takes them out 
  of your hands, so that you and he are no 
  longer able to work together to get the best 
  deal for him.
  Like most interrogation gambits, this won’t 
  fly with hardened criminals. They know 
  the drill, won’t talk anyway, and have their 
  shysters on speed-dial.
  HCIU INTErvIEw PrINCIPLES
  • Find and exploit your angle.
  • Never undercut your partner.
  • If he’s talking, you’re winning.
  • When in doubt, let the line go slack.
  
  111
  hciu procedure
  INTErrOGATION TIPS FOr GMS ANd PLAYErS
  During playtest we found that some players who’d excelled in interviews as fake cops (The Esoterrorists), 
  ordinary people (Fear Itself) and self-appointed inquirers into cosmic terror (Trail Of Cthulhu) became suddenly 
  tentative when called upon to extract information from witnesses and suspects as the badge-wearing police 
  officers of Mutant City Blues. The pressure of properly playing trained cops kept them dallying and fretting 
  rather than diving into interpersonal scenes to get the information they needed to move forward.
  The following tips should keep interviews on track.
  GAME MOdErATOrS 
  takebacks. Players may be too worried about making mistakes in interviews, for fear that they’re playing their 
  cop characters incorrectly. Allow them to take back any obviously out-of-character remarks  they happen to 
  blurt out as they feel their way through a scene.  
  Passive use of interpersonal abilities. By default, GUMSHOE assumes that the use of interpersonal abilities is 
  active; the players have to correctly choose an appropriate ability and describe how they’re using it to open the 
  witness up to questioning. When you see that players are hesitant, tell the player with the relevant ability that 
  his experienced cop character can sense that it will work here:
  - “you get the feeling that this guy will crack if you lean on him a little.” (Intimidation)
  - “He seems kind of smitten by you.” (Flattery)
  - “The squeal of a police scanner tells you you’ve got a wannabe cop on your hands. “ (Cop Talk)
  Kibitzing. Permit players whose characters are absent from the interview to give advice to the players taking 
  the lead in it. If feel the need to make this convention seem realistic, specify that the interviewing characters 
  are wearing tiny ear-implant radio receivers.
  PLAYErS
  When in doubt, remind yourself of the following:
  Find and exploit your angle. It’s rarely in anyone’s interest to talk to the cops. you’re a con artist, selling a bill 
  of goods. As you begin an interview with a resistant subject, your first step is to figure out what he wants. That’s 
  your angle, usually exploitable through the use of an interpersonal ability. Work your angle to convince the 
  subject that he can get what he wants by cooperating with you. When he buys in, you’ve got your opening. Take 
  advantage of your opening to pry loose the information you seek.
  Never undercut your partner. Most interviews are tag-team affairs. Except when working an angle (like the 
  classic good cop/bad cop stratagem), never block or negate a partner’s gambit. Instead, build on what he’s 
  doing, even when you disagree with it, or sit back and let him make his play. If it blows up in his face, you can 
  come back around to try a new angle. Otherwise you’re giving the subject the leverage to play you off against 
  each other.
  don’t sweat the occasional setback. As long as the witness is talking, you’re winning. In the typical interview, you 
  don’t have much to lose. At worst, the subject will clam up entirely. Even if you feel a sense of embarrassment 
  or temporarily lose control of the exchange, you still have a chance of moving it back in your direction. 
  When in doubt, let the line go slack. If something goes wrong, turn it around and use it. you don’t have to 
  control the interview or dominate the subject at all times. Often you can close your con by letting the subject 
  feel that he is on top. Then pull the rug out from under him with new information or a sudden switch to hardball 
  tactics. Comfortable or confident subjects blab. The more someone talks, the more likely he is to give himself 
  away.
  The accompanying card serves as a reminder of these bedrock principles during play.
  
  112
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  If you discover signs of mental influence, communicate 
  this to prosecutors, as it constitutes exculpatory 
  evidence which must be turned over to the defense, 
  should an arrest result. If you believe that the suspect 
  would not have committed the crime except for the 
  mental influence, this transforms him into a witness 
  against the true culprit—the mutant who influenced 
  him. The case is not considered cleared until you find 
  this individual and build a case against him.
  Although you may naturally share your opinion of the 
  case with prosecutors, the decision to forgo charges 
  against an influenced suspect remains theirs. 
  However, the mere fact of mental influence does not 
  guarantee that the suspect did not independently 
  form the intent to commit a crime. This determination 
  confronts the prosecutor with the difficulty of proving 
  state of mind, but still results in a clearance for you.
  As an HCIU officer who may come into regular, perhaps 
  unknowing, contact with mind-controlling individuals, 
  you are subject to unannounced EMAT tests as often as 
  once a month. If you do encounter a mind controller, 
  you are required to submit a form 334 within eight 
  hours. An Internal Affairs EMAT specialist will then 
  arrange an emergency EMAT test within 24 hours of 
  filing. (Warning: due to recent budget cuts, wait times 
  for emergency EMAT testing may exceed this ideal time 
  frame.) To refuse a department-administered EMAT 
  results in immediate suspension from the force.
  TESTIMONY IN COUrT
  Every police officer could stand to improve his or her 
  demeanor on the witness stand in court. Juries who we 
  expect to decide cases based on evidence alone often 
  in fact make emotional judgments about the parties on 
  both sides, and then select the factual evidence that 
  fits their chosen side. you must present yourself to the 
  jury as personable, trustworthy, and professional.
  Answer prosecutor’s questions in a clear, direct 
  manner. A skillful defense attorney will attempt to 
  elicit misleading evidence by framing questions in an 
  unfavorable way. Within the limitations imposed on 
  you by the judge, do your best to respond in a way that 
  makes your point, not the defense’s.
  Expect defense attorneys to attempt to bait you. 
  Although judges will prevent them from openly 
  appealing to anti-mutant prejudice, they may do so 
  court sequences in play 
  A
  lthough the eventual disposition of 
  their investigations in court must be 
  uppermost in detectives’ minds as 
  they pursue the cases, they rarely take center 
  stage in a Mutant City Blues game. Usually a 
  scenario can conclude with a quick summary 
  of the prosecution and sentencing of the 
  guilty party, as part of a brief denouement.
  As a change of pace, however, a case may 
  include one or more court sequences. 
  A story may begin with the acquittal of a 
  clearly guilty suspect. Perhaps supporting 
  character detectives or forensic scientists 
  have botched the case in some way. Maybe 
  corruption played a part in the acquittal. 
  The PCs now have to pursue the perp for a 
  different crime entirely, this time making 
  sure their case is ironclad. However, the 
  doctrine of double jeopardy prevents the 
  suspect from being retried on the same 
  charges, and the detectives have to be careful 
  to avoid accusations of harassment. (Double 
  jeopardy may not be an issue in certain non-
  US jurisdictions. For example, in Canada, 
  prosecutors as well as defense attorneys are 
  allowed to appeal verdicts.)
  Alternately, a court scene may lead a 
  detective to a new crime. Perhaps he’s on the 
  witness stand when he spots a crucial piece 
  of evidence suggesting that the defendant 
  has been framed. Now he must convince 
  prosecutors to abandon their case so he can 
  find the real culprit.
  If the PCs flagrantly violate police procedure 
  or the civil rights of their clients, you may 
  feel the need to preserve the believability of 
  your series by continuing a case all the way 
  to its horrifying implosion before a judge.
  Sub-plots can also feature scenes that take 
  place in court.
  Use the directed scene method to keep 
  all players engaged in court scenes. Give 
  uninvolved players temporary roles as 
  prosecutors, defense lawyers, witnesses, and 
  spectators. You’ll probably want to keep the 
  judge as a character under your control, so 
  that you can keep a lid on the pacing and 
  outcome of court sequences.
  
  113
  hciu procedure
  in covert ways, attempting to portray you as strange 
  or unreliable. This is why it is essential to maintain 
  a spotless personnel file. If you lose your temper or 
  cross a line in the course of one investigation, you are 
  negatively impacting not only that case, but every other 
  case you investigate in the future.
  Officers with certain powers should expect the 
  implication that they suffer the well-known defects 
  connected or correlated with them, even when they 
  do not. Because some mind readers are prone to 
  erotomania, officers who can perform this highly useful 
  feat must be prepared to defend themselves against 
  the imputation that they do as well—even when there 
  is no other evidence to support such claims.
  A BrIdGE BETwEEN 
  COMMUNITIES
  The HCIU exists not only to police the mutant 
  community, but to act as a bridge between it and the 
  department. Like any police force, we are often unfairly 
  branded as an instrument of prejudice. Persuading 
  your community of our good faith is part of your job.
  In furtherance of this goal, you may sometimes be 
  detailed to community outreach assignments. Do not 
  think of these as distractions from real police duties. 
  Creating a bond of trust between the department 
  and the gene-expressive community lays essential 
  groundwork for your later investigative work. When 
  you knock on a mutant’s door, you want him to happily 
  welcome you into his home, and to open up to you when 
  you ask him what he knows.
  Dealing with mutant rights activists requires special 
  diplomacy. Even if you personally dislike their strategies 
  or agendas, we recommend that you express sympathy 
  with them while in turn communicating to them the 
  department’s own priorities.
   citizens and scrotes 
  During his rookie year, every cop learns 
  that there are two kinds of people in the 
  world: citizens and scrotes. 
  Citizens are the good people. The ones pay 
  their taxes, follow the rules, and just want 
  to raise their families in safety and peace. 
  They’re who you do this job for. When you 
  talk to them, you treat them with deference 
  and respect. Even if maybe they’re not so 
  fond of you, on account of your being a 
  mutant. Sometimes you’ll deal with a guy 
  who’s a bit of dick, but also a citizen. The 
  citizen part trumps the dick part. Maybe 
  you push back a little, but you hold back.
  Scrotes are the wrongdoers, the criminals, 
  the low-lives, the druggers and the 
  muggers, the pimps and the pros. They’re 
  the societal refuse who give the citizens 
  reason to live in fear. You never cut a scrote 
  a break, because they need leaning on. 
  Maybe one day they’ll find God or L. Ron 
  Hubbard or whatever and turn themselves 
  into citizens. But when you’re dealing with 
  them, they’re scrotes. They’re the ones you 
  do this job to.
  Whether somebody is a norm or a lixer 
  doesn’t matter. It’s the scrote/citizen divide 
  that counts. A mutant citizen gets your 
  deference and respect. A mutant scrote gets 
  slammed up against the wall.
  MEdIA rELATIONS
  Every police officer is a representative of the entire 
  department, and should comport himself with dignity 
  and circumspection when interacting with reporters. An 
  HCIU officer must exercise special care and restraint, 
  because he is a figure of great interest to the media. 
  Members of the public are fascinated by the activities 
  of the city’s mutant police officers. Any controversy 
  involving you will be magnified a hundredfold. In 
  the past, certain former officers have fallen prey to 
  the siren song of media attention, and have courted 
  publicity, promoting themselves at the expense of the 
  department. HCIU officers are expected to know the 
  difference at all times between themselves and rock 
  
  114
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  stars. Those hoping to use the unit as a stepping stone 
  to book deals or Hollywood consultancies will face 
  swift, harsh reprimand.
  Coordination with the press, especially when entreating 
  the public to come forward with information, can be 
  an invaluable technique in finding missing persons, 
  locating fugitives, and gathering tips. Media strategy 
  is the province of the watch commander. Unauthorized 
  leaks to the press will not be tolerated.
  If It Bleeds, It Leads
  Note the use of the word “unauthorized” 
  in the phrase “unauthorized leaks.” A 
  strategic discharge of information to 
  friendly reporters can be an investigating 
  detective’s best friend, especially 
  when leads start drying up. Let ’s say, 
  for example, you need to shake up an 
  overconfident suspect, so that he makes 
  a mistake you can capitalize on . The 
  exposure can pay off—provided you 
  cover your tracks. To be able to do this, 
  you’ve got to cultivate relationships with 
  reporters you can trust.
  To figure out which reporters have your 
  back, and which ones are out to jam 
  you up, check out some of their articles. 
  Look for ones whose copy divides the 
  world into citizens and scrotes, like you 
  do. Generally, the police beat reporters 
  are stand-up guys, and the investigative 
  reporters are scumbag-enabling weasels 
  out to score points at your expense.
  The one mistake you should never 
  make is to take credit for anything, 
  because that ’s the brass’ job. They live 
  for press conferences. Steal their thunder 
  in public, and you’ll be reassigned to 
  guarding the auto yard before you know 
  what hit you. 
  
  115
  FOrENSIC ANAMOrPHOLOGY
  In a world where super powers are widespread and 
  derive from a consistent (if incompletely understood) 
  point of origin, their physical traces can be subjected 
  to scientific analysis which holds up in court. Just as 
  detectives in our world rely on ballistics to identify 
  bullets found at a crime scene, HCIU officers can use 
  forensics to analyze the physical after-effects of mutant 
  abilities, most notably blast powers. DNA evidence can 
  be scoured to tell mutant from norm, and to identify 
  which powers individuals are likely to manifest. 
  Forensic scientists have been at the forefront of 
  efforts to find practical applications for the discoveries 
  of anamorphology. The Quade Institute maintains a 
  department of forensic science, which offers training 
  to criminalists and police investigators. your character 
  may have attended classes there. Even if you didn’t, 
  the techniques you rely upon when analyzing crime 
  scenes for traces of mutant powers were shaped in its 
  ultra-modern corridors.
  ANAMOrPHOLOGY 101
  As previously mentioned, the Quade Diagram is an 
  invaluable aid to any HCIU investigator, and can be 
  used by any layman to tell which powers are likely to 
  be found in combination, and which are too far apart to 
  occur in a single individual.
  HCIU officers trained in anamorphology will also be 
  aware of Lucius Quade’s system of Mutation Siting. 
  Different sets of related mutations are considered 
  to be sited in various organs or systems of the body, 
  because they either alter the anatomy of those 
  bodily structures, or because they contain a high 
  concentration of S-cells.
  S-CELLS
  S-cells are found in all mutants. These are strange cells 
  which are formed from undifferentiated stem cells, 
  but which do not reproduce and serve no discernible 
  anatomical function. Anamorphologists believe that 
  these are a by-product of the mutation process, but 
  have not yet pinpointed the mechanism that produces 
  them. Some speculate that the secret of the SME 
  can be found by better understanding the origins of 
  S-cells. Others suggest that S-cells are responsible 
  in some way for the slightly lower incidence of cancer 
  in mutants, or name them as a likely vector for SEDS 
  infection. 
  Another theory, credited more by crazy people and 
  comic book writers than by anamorphologists, claims 
  that S-cells contain the latent potential for a second, 
  even more staggering SME. When that day comes, the 
  hidden powers of the S-cells will unlock themselves, 
  transforming mutants into creatures no longer 
  recognizable as humans. These theories tend toward 
  the apocalyptic, envisioning that the new species will 
  manifest as either angelic beings of light, or grotesque 
  demon-like monsters.
  At any rate, S-cells are found throughout every 
  mutant’s body, but cluster in larger numbers in the 
  systems where their powers are sited.
  POwEr COMPLExES
  The Quade team has identified twenty-three groups of 
  mutant powers, each of them referred to as a complex. 
  Individual complexes are named for the organs or 
  systems their mutant powers modify, giving you the 
  Alimentary Complex, the Epidermal Complex, and so 
  on. Although some controversy still attends some of the 
  Quade team’s classifications, the generally accepted 
  power complexes, and their constituent abilities, are 
  as follows: 
  Alimentary Complex: Radiation Immunity, Radiation 
  Projection, Toxin Immunity (Ingested.)
  Amygdalic Complex: Command 
  Amphibians 
  & 
  Reptiles, Induce Aggression, Induce Fear.
  
  116
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Auditory Complex: Hearing, Sonar, Sonic Blast.
  Circulatory: Absorption, Fangs, Plasma Deficiency, 
  Possession, Command Insects, Blood Spray.
  epidermal: Armor, Blade Immunity, Entangling Hair, 
  Quills, Wall Crawling, Webbing.
  Hippocampal: Memory Alteration, Detect Influence, 
  Precision Memory, Suppress Influence, Technopathy, 
  Telepathy, Translation. (Sited in the hippocampus, part 
  of the brain below the temporal lobes.)
  Hypothalamic: Emotion Control, Empathy, Enter 
  Dreams, Nondescript, Observe Dreams, Sexual 
  Chemistry. (The hypothalamus is the portion of the 
  brain connecting the endocrine and nervous systems.)
  intestinal: Analytic Taste, Suppress Explosion, Secrete 
  Acid, Self-Detonation, Spit Acid, venom (Bite), venom 
  (Spit), venom (Stinger.)
  Lymphatic: Cure Disease, Disease Immunity, SEDS 
  Carrier, Spread Pathogen, Plant Communication, 
  Plant Control. 
  Muscular: Flight , Healing, Heat Blast, Regeneration, 
  Strength.
  Nucleus Accumbens Complex: Endorphin Control 
  (Others), Endorphin Control (Self), Induce Mental 
  Disorder, Pain Immunity. (The nucleus accumbens is 
  a collection of neurons in the brain believed to control 
  pleasure and reward, and to play a role in addictive 
  behaviors.)
  Nervous: Gravity Control, High Energy Dispersal, 
  Lightning, Lightning Decisions, Reflexes, Speed.
  Orbitofrontal Cortical Complex: Threat Calculus, 
  Psionic Blast, Read Minds. (This complex is sited in the 
  brain region associated with decision-making.)
  Olfactory: 
  Command 
  Mammals, 
  Environmental 
  Awareness, Olfactory Center, Tracking
  Optical: Alter Form, Impersonate, Invisibility, Light 
  Blast, Light Control. Microvision, Night vision, 
  Telescopic vision, Thermal vision, x-Ray vision.
  Parahippocampal Gyrus: Autism, Earth Control, Force 
  Field, Magnetism, Spatial Awareness, Telekinesis, 
  Teleportation. (This brain region was once considered 
  a site of memory storage and retrieval, but the siting 
  of these peculiar mutant powers there has called this 
  into question.)
  renal: Fire Control, Fire Immunity, Fire Projection, 
  Spontaneous Combustion.
  respiratory: Command Birds, Deplete Oxygen, Toxin 
  Immunity (Gaseous), Wind Control.
  salivary: Analytic Taste, Secrete Acid, Spit Acid, venom 
  (Bite.)
  skeletal: Arthritis, Concussion Beam, Kinetic Energy 
  Dispersal, Limb Extension, Natural Weaponry. 
  somasensory: Disintegration, Ice Blast, Phase, Reduce 
  Temperature, Touch, Transmutation.
  throat: Command Fish, Gills, Swimming, Water Blast, 
  Water Manipulation.
  Apart from the known proximity of powers on the Quade 
  Diagram, there appears to be no limit to the number of 
  complexes a single mutant’s powers belong to. As the 
  diagram shows, the complexes are usually connected 
  by correlated, as opposed to connected, powers.
   defects and 
  genetics markers 
  Lucius Quade identifies two types of 
  defects arising from genetic mutations: 
  anatomical and psychosocial. (These 
  correspond to the abilities which require 
  Health as their resistance ability, and those 
  which require Stability.) Anamorphologists 
  have located genetic markers corresponding 
  to all of the anatomical mutations, but none 
  for any of the psychosocial defects. This 
  seems to imply that the psychosocial defects 
  are not mutations, per se, but are instead 
  proclivities that arise from the experience 
  of using the powers to which they are 
  connected or correlated.
  
  117
  forenSic anamorphology
  dNA ANALYSIS
  The presence of mutant genes can be detected via DNA 
  analysis. The information that may be gathered from 
  any quantity of biological material depends on two 
  factors: the time devoted to testing, and the quality of 
  the sample. Reasons for poor sample quality include 
  degradation, in which the DNA has decomposed, and 
  contamination, where it is mixed with other substances. 
  Mixed samples containing DNA from multiple sources 
  is a common type of contamination; well-established 
  techniques exist to separate them.
  The easiest information to extract from a sample is 
  the presence of S-cells, which confirms that a sample 
  comes from a mutant source. This can be gleaned 
  even from samples of such poor quality that they can 
  no longer be used to for a positive identification.
   pcd tests 
  More difficult to extract are the genetic 
  markers corresponding to particular power 
  complexes. If successful, these tests tell 
  you which complex or complexes the 
  individual’s powers belong to. They’re 
  called PCD tests, which is short for Power 
  Complex Detection. PCD tests require 
  either many hours of painstaking work, or a 
  sample of impeccable quality.
  PCId Tests
  Even more challenging is the Power 
  Identification Centrifuge test, or PIC, 
  which tells you exactly which powers the 
  subject possesses. It requires a perfect 
  sample and many hours of painstaking prep 
  work. Some technicians claim to be able 
  to take a sample from a subject suffering 
  the symptoms that foretell the onset of a 
  new power, and identify which power will 
  manifest at the end of the process. 
  Characters can access this information directly by 
  using their own Forensic Anthropology abilities, with 
  access to HCIU laboratory facilities; or they can send 
  evidence out for testing by staff technicians. As always, 
  each approach has its drawbacks. you get it faster if 
  you do it yourself; generally in a day if not within hours. 
  (This is the same unrealistically quick pacing you 
  see in forensics-heavy procedural shows.) However, 
  sustained lab work prevents you from being out in the 
  field, actively moving the case forward by interviewing 
  witnesses and gathering further evidence. Leaving it 
  to the specialists allows you to continue to pound the 
  pavement for additional clues but leaves you at the 
  mercy of their perpetual backlog.
  OrGAN GrAFTING
  Some mutant powers have proven to be transmissible 
  via transplantation. This sometimes occurs when the 
  biological material in which the power is sited (see 
  above) is successfully transplanted into a new host. The 
  phenomenon was originally discovered accidentally, 
  when organs or tissues from donors of unrevealed 
  heightened status were used in medical procedures. 
  In recent years, a covert industry has sprung up to 
  conduct transplants purely for the purpose of inducing 
  mutant powers. Whether necessary or elective, these 
  surgeries carry considerable risk. The chances of 
  tissue rejection increase significantly when mutant 
  genes are present in transplanted biological materials. 
  Even when the transplant takes, there is only a small 
  chance that the power sited in the material will be 
  transmitted to its user.
  It always takes some time for a heightened power to 
  manifest after a transplant. The shortest documented 
  interval is twenty-eight days; the longest is 1,469 
  days. Typically the recipient gains a single power from 
  the site complex corresponding to the type of tissue 
  involved. (In other words, a lung transplant recipient 
  receives one power from the respiratory complex, a 
  bone graft patient gets one from the skeletal complex, 
  and so on.) The first power may be a defect, though it 
  manifests in incipient stage. 
  After the first power manifestation, the subject may 
  or may not continue to manifest additional powers. 
  If further powers appear, they usually do so under 
  stress conditions. Intervals between additional power 
  manifestations cluster in the four-to-six week range. 
  However, edge cases have been reported when the 
  interval has been either much shorter or quite a bit 
  longer than that. 
  Later powers will be traceable to the original power 
  on the Quade Diagram, but do not necessarily belong 
  to the same complex as the original power. A patient 
  might get Fangs, a power from the circulatory complex, 
  from a bone marrow transplant, and then, many 
  weeks later, develop Disease Immunity as her next 
  power, even though it is from the adjacent Lymphatic 
  complex. 
  
  118
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  The power complexes available from various organs/
  tissues, along with their chances of rejection and 
  power transmission, are as follows:
  Organ/
  Tissue
  Complex
  Rejection 
  Rate
  Power 
  Acquisition
  Rate
  Bone 
  marrow
  Circulatory
  78%
  12%
  Skin
  Epidermal
  34%
  7%
  Intestine
  Intestinal
  68%
  14%
  Muscle
  Muscular
  57%
  6%
  Cornea
  Optical
  24%
  17%
  Liver
  Renal
  45%
  3%
  Lungs
  Respiratory
  87%
  10%
  Bone graft
  Skeletal
  28%
  11%
  Information on transplants is not presented with 
  the idea that HCIU officers will have received their 
  mutant abilities in this way, but as background detail 
  on the science of mutation that may figure into their 
  investigations.
  ENErGY rESIdUES
  The new investigative ability Energy Residue Analysis 
  allows forensic scientists to examine items damaged 
  by blast powers and use them to identify the power 
  used, and sometimes other relevant information as 
  well. Think of it as a less definitive version of ballistics, 
  but for blast powers. What the discipline can tell you 
  about a scene varies by blast power type.
  Concussion Beam: An energy residue expert can, on a 
  visual examination of an object, determine whether it 
  was smashed by a concussion beam, or by some other 
  force. 
  Users of this power tend to project their force invisible 
  force beams in a telltale manner. The edges of the 
  beam may be blunt or sharp, and of slightly varying 
  widths. As a result, you can take two items of the same 
  material and same approximate mass and shape 
  damaged by two concussion beams, and compare them 
  to see if they were broken by the same individual. For 
  example, you could examine the remains of two doors 
  and compare the cracks and splinters. If the two doors 
  were broken by the same person’s concussion beam, 
  you’ll find close matches in both. you can also use 
  stresses, fractures and splinters to rule out a person 
  for whom you have a known sample of concussion 
  beam damage as the individual who caused damage 
  to another object.
  It is very difficult to deliberately contort one’s concussion 
  beam to remove its signature shape, which exists on 
  a microscopic level. Suspects may be compelled by 
  court order to use their concussion beams to destroy 
  like objects under laboratory conditions.
  victims struck by concussion beams tend to exhibit 
  distinctive bruising patterns. To get a good match, it 
  is necessary to take high-resolution photographs of 
  the bruises within a few hours of an attack. These can 
  be compared to photographs from other concussion 
  beam attacks for similarities or differences. Some 
  forensic laboratories hire individuals with the 
  Regeneration ability to submit themselves to court-
  mandated concussion beam attacks by suspects under 
  lab conditions. They then heal their injuries after 
  photographs are taken for comparative purposes. This 
  is a highly paid job, usually undertaken on a fee-for-
  service basis.
  Concussion beam analysis is considered strongly 
  circumstantial but lacks the absolute certitude 
  associated 
  with 
  DNA 
  or 
  fingerprint 
  evidence. 
  Successfully explaining it to a lay jury requires a skillful 
  courtroom manner.
  Fire Projection: Different users tend to shape their 
  fire blasts in distinctive ways, but because fire tends 
  to spread and consume objects it touches, these are 
  harder to detect than in the case of concussion beams. 
  It is also very difficult to locate a fire blast’s original 
  point of impact in a mass of charred material. Certain 
  materials, plastics in particular, serve as ideal media 
  for these telltale impact signatures, so criminalists 
  examining burnt scenes for evidence of mutant activity 
  often gravitate to them first.
  Flesh is not a good medium for holding evidence of 
  distinctive blast signatures: burnt flesh immediately 
  bubbles and sloughs off. However it is usually possible 
  to distinguish between the victim of a fire blast and 
  someone burned by some other source.
  An ERA can, through microscopic examination, 
  distinguish materials damaged directly by fire 
  projection, and those which burst into flame due to 
  close proximity to a heat blast. 
  
  119
  forenSic anamorphology
  Heat Blast: Heat blasts, which damage objects by 
  proximity of heat rather than impact, leave little useful 
  evidence. It is possible to distinguish objects damaged 
  by heat blasts from other sources of extreme heat 
  and from fire projection. Heat blasts do not leave 
  identifiable signatures which can be traced to particular 
  individuals.
  ice Blast: Just as no two snowflakes are alike, each 
  ice blast can be traced to the mutant who generated 
  it—provided that the ice crystals can be found before 
  they melt, and kept frozen long enough to take quality 
  microscopic photographs for comparison purposes. 
  The residue analyst examines the shape and size of the 
  constituent water crystals left behind by any ice blast 
  attack. These are as unique, and therefore traceable 
  to an individual, as fingerprints. Analysts use small ice 
  chests, the size of drink coolers, but with battery powered 
  refrigeration capabilities, to collect ice evidence. These 
  are not standard equipment in an analyst’s vehicle, but 
  must be signed out of the lab’s properties locker. you 
  may, on a successful Preparedness test, be deemed to 
  have a cooler conveniently on hand when you need one.
  Light Blast: Light blasts leave no distinctive traces on 
  unliving matter. However, the injuries they inflict on 
  human flesh, which resemble severe sunburns, can 
  exhibit telltale microscopic patterns along the edges 
  of the wounds. These are distorted when the damaged 
  skin begins to flake off, so in the case of a surviving 
  victim it is necessary to acquire high-resolution close-
  ups of the wounds within approximately three hours of 
  the injury. Light blast wounds degrade less quickly post-
  mortem, and can yield useful information up to twelve 
  hours after the time of injury. In cases where the victim 
  dies sometime after incurring the injuries, degradation 
  to the injury pattern occurs quickly for the time between 
  injury and death, and then slows.
  The rate of degradation can aid in determining an 
  approximate time of death for victims of fatal light blast 
  attacks. 
  Lightning: Lightning damage is the hardest of the blasts 
  to identify. If it has a distinguishing characteristic, it lies 
  in the bizarre multiplicity of damage effects it leaves 
  behind. Lightning strikes tend to leap from their original 
  targets to other metal objects, including pipes and power 
  lines, doing collateral damage to them. So you might 
  find a victim of a lightning strike lying in the middle of 
  a room, with black scorch marks surrounding nearby 
  electrical sockets, wires or junctures. These secondary 
  electrical arcs may blow apart drywall, shatter mirrors, 
  or melt plastics and resins. The key to distinguishing 
  natural lightning from a blast attack is one of geometry. 
  Natural lightning travels unpredictably but comes from 
  the sky; mutant attacks tend to be made vertically from 
  a position of 1 –1.5m off the ground. Neither flesh nor 
  inanimate materials retain distinctive damage patterns 
  enabling the analyst to trace an attack to an individual 
  mutant.
  radiation Projection: Radiation projection leaves 
  an ineradicable and dangerous energy residue. ERA 
  training includes a thorough grounding in radiation 
  safety protocols. Any scene where radiation is believed 
  to be present must be sealed off, and entered only 
  by personnel wearing anti-radiation suits. Residue 
  analysts and others examining the scene must shower 
  thoroughly afterwards and properly dispose of all 
  contaminated materials.
  Through the use of a detection device known as a 
  scintillation counter, the analyst can detect not only the 
  presence of radiation, but telltale energy signatures 
  which can be used to identify it as the product of a 
  heightened ability, and to point toward the identity of the 
  mutant responsible for it. 
  
  120
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Researchers at the forensic department of the Quade 
  Institute have identified five known scintillation patterns 
  generated by mutant powers, labeling them the Zero 
  Point, the SD, the RPI, the RT, and the RSR. The Zero Point 
  is generated by mutants who have only the Radiation 
  Projection power, and none other. SD is generated 
  by mutants who possess both Radiation Projection 
  and Self-Detonation. RSR appears when the mutant 
  possesses those two powers, plus Suppress Explosion. 
  The RPI pattern appears when the generating mutant 
  possesses Radiation Projection and Radiation Immunity. 
  When the mutant has both Radiation Projection and 
  Transmutation, the RT pattern is found. A mutant with 
  several of the above combinations will leave residue that 
  oscillates between them. For example, an individual 
  capable of Radiation Projection and Self-Detonation 
  and Transmutation will leave a trace that alternates 
  between the SD and RT patterns. However, a mutant 
  whose residues generates an RSR pattern never also 
  registers as an SD.
  In short, a scintillation test gives you either a complete 
  or partial profile of the perpetrator’s mutant abilities. 
  Although they can be used as circumstantial evidence in 
  court, they are best used to rule out suspects.
  Psionic Blast: When examined by a brain scan, the 
  living victim of a psionic blast attack shows a distinctive 
  pattern of brain damage that can be tied to a particular 
  perpetrator with an 87.3% accuracy rate. Patterns of 
  damage are much harder to detect in a dead brain, the 
  parts of which must be examined manually. In the case 
  of a victim killed by a psionic blast (or who dies by other 
  means after suffering one), the ERA can only testify that 
  one set of fatal injuries is consistent with other fatal 
  injuries known to have been caused by the same psi-
  blaster. Juries generally consider such testimony as 
  circumstantial rather than directly probative evidence.
  Water Blast: If the water from such a blast evaporates 
  or leaches away before crime scene evidence can be 
  collected, no distinctive patterns tying the perpetrator 
  to the offense can be found. However, if you’re lucky 
  enough to collect an uncontaminated sample of the 
  water generated by a water blast, it will contain blood 
  and skin cells from the blaster, in trace quantities which 
  can be isolated with the aid of a centrifuge (or detected 
  with Microvision.)
  ASSOrTEd FOrENSIC 
  ANAMOrPHOLOGY
  Though analysis of blast power effects is the most 
  cohesive and fruitful branch of forensic anamorphology, 
  researchers continue to develop tests for the presence 
  of other mutant abilities.
  BLOOd TESTING
  Blood tests can confirm that a victim has been infected 
  by the Spread Pathogen power. The pathogen mutates 
  slightly as it travels from the original host to secondary 
  victims. DNA analysis reveals its generation, and can 
  tell whether a victim was infected by a mutant with the 
  power, or from another infected person.
  Blood tests can also identify SEDS Carriers and 
  sufferers of the Plasma Deficiency defect.
  BOTANICAL ENzYME TESTING
  When subjected to the Plant Control power, 
  photosynthetic plants produce a previously unknown 
  enzyme dubbed diastellozine. This substance remains 
  in their leaves and stem structures for up to thirty-six 
  hours. A plant sample harvested during this interval 
  can be crushed up with a mortar and pestle and 
  submerged in a chemical compound which turns red 
  when exposed to diastellozine. The depth of the red 
  hue suggests the length of time that has passed since 
  the Plant Control power was employed, with a slight 
  pinkish haze indicating thirty or more hours, and a 
  deep purplish-crimson pointing toward a very recent 
  use.
  Only plants containing chlorophyll yield this evidence.
  CELLULAr PLASTICITY BIOPSY
  A sample of tissue is taken from the scar tissue of a 
  living patient and examined under a microscope for an 
  abnormal cell structure and level of malleability. If it 
  displays these signs, it is apparent that the wound was 
  subject to the Healing power.
  A mutant with the Microvision power and the Forensic 
  Anthropology ability can perform this test noninvasively, 
  merely by peering intently at a subject’s scar tissue for 
  about a minute.
  This technique does not work on tissue that has 
  Regenerated; it returns to its original state, leaving no 
  trace of the previous wound.
  
  121
  forenSic anamorphology
  FOLLICULAr ExPANSION CHECk
  Use of the Entangling Hair power inevitably leaves 
  behind strands of hair which can be examined under 
  a microscope (or with the Microvision power.) The hair 
  is sliced with a razor; if it reveals microscopic fibers 
  beneath its outer sheath, the hair is revealed as having 
  prehensile qualities.
  DNA can’t be extracted from hair. Hairs pulled out by 
  their roots still have skin cells attached to their roots, 
  and DNA can be gleaned from that. However, few hairs 
  that fall out during the use of Entangling Hair are 
  pulled out by the roots. These will be found only where 
  the subject used the power in the course of a vigorous 
  or violent fight.
  FOrENSIC dENTISTrY
  The puncture wounds left by Fangs typically appear 
  as part of a larger bite mark. Like any bite wound, 
  photographs or casts of these injuries can be compared 
  to casts of a suspect’s teeth. Photographs are used 
  with living victims; wound casts are made during 
  autopsies.
  MAGNETIC FIELd vIEwEr
  This simple device takes the form of a piece of thick 
  card stock around a pane of green cellophane. It can be 
  used to detect malformations in an object’s magnetic 
  field, indicating that it was recently subjected to the 
  Magnetism power. The field distortions remain for a 
  number of hours equal to the mutant’s Magnetism 
  rating.
  Samples of sand or soil may also be viewed to detect 
  the recent use of the Earth Control power. These 
  field distortions are weaker and last for about fifteen 
  minutes per rating point.
  A MFv filter placed on a camera lens allows 
  the investigator to document these readings as 
  photographic evidence.
  MATErIALS SEM
  To determine whether a piece of metal or other 
  elemental sample has been Transmuted to its 
  present state, technicians employ a scanning electron 
  microscope, or SEM.
  A similar technique can determine whether a sample 
  of powdery residue constitutes the remains of an 
  object destroyed by the Disintegration power, and what 
  material it used to be made of.
   devising Novel 
  Forensics Tests
   GMs may permit characters to devise their 
  own new forensic tests to establish facts 
  about the use of mutant powers in the 
  commission of crimes. To do so, they must:
  • possess the technical investigative 
  ability they’d need to perform the test, if 
  it already existed
  • devise a rationale for how the 
  procedure works which rises at 
  least to the level of pseudo-scientific 
  plausibility given in the descriptions of 
  the standard tests
  • make a 3-point spend of the technical 
  investigative ability in question
  GMs may disallow tests which would allow 
  the group to leapfrog over several scenes 
  to reach a boringly easy solution to the 
  mystery at hand. Perhaps the character can 
  later perfect the attempted technique, even 
  thought it was unsuccessful in the case that 
  inspired it. 
  Pioneering new techniques may lead to 
  sub-plot scenes in which the character 
  is given technical awards, pressured to 
  produce scientific papers, wooed by the 
  Quade Institute to retire to academia, or 
  encounters skulduggery while attending 
  forensic conferences.
  Prosecutors will be especially leery when 
  asked to lay charges based on an unproven 
  technique. New science is always difficult 
  to introduce in court. It may be much 
  easier to make a discovery than to round 
  up the peer reviewers and expert witnesses 
  necessary to have it considered admissible 
  at all.
  Characters with Microvision and the Chemistry ability 
  can perform these tests without equipment.
  
  122
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  SECrETION ANALYSIS
  Acids produced by the Secrete Acid and Spit Acid 
  powers include only highly degraded trace elements 
  of DNA. (In the words of your first year Forensic 
  Anamorphology instructor, “It’s acid! What do you 
  expect?”) However, the exact chemical composition 
  of acids varies between individuals according to blood 
  type. An Acid Analysis test can therefore identify the 
  secretor’s blood type.
  Mutant acids are extremely corrosive and must be 
  handled carefully during the evidence collection 
  process.
  Mutant venoms can be tested to see which of the three 
  types they fall into: venom (Bite), venom (Stinger), or 
  venom (Spit.) 
  DNA can be extracted from bite venom drawn from a 
  victim’s bloodstream and then processed to separate 
  it out for identification. It is present in pure bite venom 
  but impossible to extract until it binds onto a victim’s 
  blood cells.
  Spit venom can, like acid, be used to identify the 
  mutant’s blood type.
  Stinger venom does not yield DNA samples at all.
  SETULE ANALYSIS
  To search a wall or other surface for signs that 
  someone has traveled along it using the Wall Crawling 
  power, apply a length of clear evidence tape (like 
  packing tape, but with specially manufactured glues 
  that do not degrade the gathered samples) along it. 
  Under a microscope, search the tape for tiny hairs, 
  which are in turn covered with even smaller hairs 
  called setules. Each ends in a triangular tip. These 
  tiny hairs enable mutants to scale walls.
  Only a few setule-bearing hairs are discarded with 
  any given climb. Because they fall out on their own, 
  samples gathered in this way never include attached 
  skin cells and can’t be used in DNA extraction.
  vETErINArY PET IMAGING
  A positron emission tomography (PET) scanner is 
  used to study the brains of living vertebrate animals. 
  Their metabolic functions and changes in blood flow 
  in response to stimuli are recorded and compared to 
  the responses of control creatures under the same 
  conditions. If metabolic responses are sluggish or 
  scrambled, it is apparent that the creature in question 
  was recently affected by the Command Birds, 
  Command Fish, Command Mammals or Command 
  Reptiles & Amphibians powers. To perform the test 
  adequately, the technician must be able to consult a 
  control recording for the same species of creature. 
  Compilation of the necessary database is only partially 
  complete. Common animals, especially urban ones 
  like dogs, cats, raccoons, pigeons, and squirrels, are 
  well represented. Whether an exotic species appears 
  is a matter of chance.
  Although several researchers are working to find one, 
  there is as of yet no equivalent test for the Command 
  Insects power.
  wOUNd PATTErN ANALYSIS
  During post-mortem examination, medical examiners 
  can make casts of wounds left by Natural Weaponry. 
  Each natural weapon is as unique as a tooth, 
  possessing distinctive grooves and edges. Medical 
  examiners can also determine the angle of injury and 
  the relative positions of attacker and victim when the 
  
  123
  forenSic anamorphology
  wounds were inflicted. These extrapolations allow 
  them to confirm or debunk, for example, claims of 
  self-defense. 
   Quick reference: 
  Assorted Tests, 
  By Power
  Power Or Defect
  Test
  Command 
  Amphibians & 
  Reptiles
  veterinary PET Imaging
  Command Birds
  veterinary PET Imaging
  Command Fish
  veterinary PET Imaging
  Command 
  Mammals
  veterinary PET Imaging
  Disintegration
  Materials SEM
  Earth Control
  Magnetic Field viewer
  Entangling Hair
  Follicular Expansion 
  Check
  Fangs
  Forensic Dentistry
  Healing
  Cellular Plasticity Biopsy
  Magnetism
  Magnetic Field viewer
  Natural Weaponry
  Wound Pattern Analysis
  Plant Control
  Botanical Enzyme Test
  Plasma Deficiency
  Blood Testing
  Secrete Acid
  Secretion Analysis
  SEDS Carrier
  Blood Testing
  Spit Acid
  Secretion Analysis
  Spread Pathogen
  Blood Testing
  Transmutation
  Materials SEM
  venom (Bite)
  Secretion Analysis
  venom (Spit)
  Secretion Analysis
  venom (Stinger)
  Secretion Analysis
  Wall Crawling
  Setule Analysis
  
  124
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  THE HEIGHTENEd ANd THE LAw
  The criminal justice system reacted with surprising 
  speed, and even more surprising common sense, to 
  the dawn of a mutant age. Armed with appropriate 
  legislation, judges and prosecutors are prepared for 
  whatever legal conundrums await in this strange new 
  era.
  ArTICLE 18
  In most instances, the possession of mutant powers is 
  considered a private matter—though of course you’re 
  subject to criminal or civil penalties if you use them to 
  commit bad acts. However, a few powers are deemed 
  so inherently dangerous to the general populace, or 
  pose such a threat to national security, that it is a 
  crime merely to possess them secretly, even if you 
  never use them.
  The classic Article 18 power is Radiation Projection, 
  which poses a severe long-term health hazard 
  whenever it is used. Other powers falling under the 
  law’s public safety provisions are Self-Detonation and 
  Spread Pathogen.
  The following powers are considered Article 18 for 
  national security reasons—that is, they scare the 
  bejesus out of counter-espionage officials. They are 
  Invisibility, Technopathy, Teleportation, Phase, and 
  Read Minds.
  Legislation to add other powers to the list, most notably 
  Possession, is currently bogged down in committee.
  At present, those charged with Article 18 violations are 
  still permitted jury trials. Jury nullification is common 
  in cases where ordinary people who mind their own 
  business and have never used their powers for good or 
  ill are charged with possessing the second ability set. 
  Juries are not so sanguine about irradiators, exploders 
  and disease spreaders.
  National security officials are consequently trying to 
  change the law to disallow jury trials. They’re also 
  lobbying to expand the list of powers covered by Article 
  18 radically, to considerable pushback by mutant 
  rights organizations.
  If you possess any of the named powers and wish to 
  avoid an Article 18 charge, all you have to do is file a form 
  with the federal government, naming your power and 
  providing personal information. you must continually 
  update your record in the national database whenever 
  you change residences or workplaces—or even travel 
  within the country. you must also call a hotline every 
  time you use your power, scheduling a debriefing 
  with a Homeland Security official within seven days. 
  In practice, the DHS staffers assigned to Article 18 
  compliance duty are overworked and undermotivated, 
  and allow harmless-seeming citizens to file pro 
  forma reports of their mutant activities. Mutants with 
  Radiation Projection and Self-Detonation are assigned 
  the most gung-ho case officers, and are monitored 
  with something bordering on vigilance.
  HCIU officers are sometimes called on to investigate 
  unlawful use of Article 18 powers. Using any of these 
  powers in the commission of a crime is an offense unto 
  itself, in addition to the underlying offense.
  In the case of powers monitored for national security 
  purposes, Article 18 forms serve as a recruiting 
  tool. Mutants with these powers are often hired as 
  operatives by intelligence agencies. Cops investigating 
  these persons may find that their shadowy minders 
  have thrown up procedural roadblocks to keep them 
  at bay.
  
  125
  PrOOF OF HEIGHTENEd 
  STATUS
  Many issues at trial hinge on the question of whether 
  an individual possesses mutant powers, and which 
  ones he wields.
  “I’d have to be able to fly through the air to do what they 
  say I did,” doesn’t work as a defense in a world where 
  everyone knows full well that people can fly through 
  the air. The prosecution must be able to establish that 
  the defendant does possess Flight powers, but this is 
  like proving that he has a good singing voice or knows 
  the rules of chess. The inherent possibility of the claim 
  is no longer in doubt.
  Witnesses may be called upon to prove that they 
  possess certain powers, for example when they’re 
  testifying to things they perceived with heightened 
  senses or mental powers.
  PCID tests (p. 117) administered by accredited labs are 
  considered proof of one’s mutant power status.
  Because defense attorneys are never required to prove 
  anything, but must only cast doubt on the case against 
  them, defendants claiming not to have the powers 
  ascribed to them by the prosecution are not required 
  to submit PCID test results. However, savvy lawyers 
  produce them whenever possible. They know that, even 
  if instructed otherwise, juries will ask themselves why 
  this simple proof hasn’t been provided to them.
  Some heightened rights activists regard PCID tests 
  as a discriminatory invasion of privacy and refuse to 
  submit to them, even to clear their names. Most HCIU 
  officers regard this argument as a dodge.
  PrOBABLE CAUSE
  Just as police can obtain court orders to force rape 
  suspects to provide DNA samples, persons of interest 
  to the HCIU can be required to submit to testing for 
  mutant powers. Officers receive permission to force 
  such invasions of privacy only by securing warrants. 
  Acting through prosecutors, officers must prove 
  probable cause to a judge. To show probable cause, 
  investigators must establish that their suspicions are 
  founded on solid evidence, and that there is no other 
  way of getting the information they need to proceed 
  with their investigation.
  Because the PCID test may establish an individual 
  belongs to a stigmatized group, most judges place 
  great weight on the privacy side of the scale in 
  determining whether probable cause exists to force a 
  test. Officers must provide solid reasons to believe that 
  the particular person they’re seeking to test committed 
  a serious crime, and that certain knowledge of their 
  mutant status is required to proceed with charges. 
  They can’t, for example, have everyone with access to 
  a crime scene tested to see if they spit venom or can 
  wield a heat blast.
  All individuals who are remanded to custody awaiting 
  trial, or sentenced to prison terms, are invariably given 
  PCID tests as part of their admittance procedure. These 
  tests are administered across the board, whether or 
  not officials suspect that the inmate is a mutant. They 
  warn prison authorities of the need to take special 
  incarceration measures (see below.) Results of these 
  tests remain confidential until the inmate is convicted 
  of a crime, at which time they become part of his rap 
  sheet and enter police databases nationwide. Until 
  then, prosecutors are not, barring a contrary order by 
  the judge in the case, permitted access to prison PCID 
  tests. Judges will also disallow testimony intended to 
  introduce such evidence via a back door. For example, 
  a prosecutor who visits prison to explore a plea 
  arrangement with a defendant and his lawyer and 
  sees that he’s incarcerated in the Heightened Inmates 
  Wing can’t, as a way of backhandedly showing that his 
  PCID test confirmed him as a mutant, ask a witness to 
  describe the circumstances of his incarceration.
  HCIU officers often rely on mutant profile information on 
  rap sheets when investigating cases. This information 
  may be introduced in subsequent trials only when the 
  judge decides that its probative value outweighs the 
  risk that it will prejudice jury members against him. 
  HCIU offices relying on less-than-recent PCID results 
  in their investigations should remember that they will 
  not include any new powers that manifested after the 
  test was taken.
  Even more invasive than PCID tests are court-approved 
  mental eavesdropping efforts, in which an HCIU officer 
  or asset uses the Read Minds power to glean information 
  directly from a subject’s brain. These are subjected to 
  an even greater judicial scrutiny than wiretap warrants. 
  They are typically permitted only for brief periods of 
  time, and only when all other avenues of investigation 
  have been exhausted. Typically applicants must also 
  establish an ongoing threat to the public posed by the 
  subject of the warrant, as in the case of violent gang 
  
  126
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  leaders or serial killers. Mind-reading warrants are 
  rarely doled out just to prove who previously committed 
  a single crime which is unlikely to be repeated, like a 
  domestic killing. Neither rule or practice requires that 
  the subject of a mind reading warrant be a mutant; 
  they are most often deployed against high-ranking 
  organized crime figures or suspected terrorists, 
  regardless of their genetic status.
  It is well-known among cops and district attorneys 
  that the standards required for probable cause vary 
  widely between judges. Some are skeptical hard 
  cases, anxious to preserve privacy rights against ever-
  expanding state power. Others are pushovers for the 
  prosecution who sign any search warrant put in front 
  of them. (In other words, GMs can easily justify why 
  a warrant might, for plot purposes, be available in 
  one case and not in the next, even under very similar 
  circumstances.)
  INCArCErATION
  In a practice many heightened rights activists find 
  discriminatory, mutant prisoners are segregated in all 
  but the smallest prison facilities. Mutant prisoners who 
  would otherwise be housed in local jails are shipped to 
  larger prisons more equipped to handle them.
  Sections of prisons reserved for mutant inmates 
  are most often called Heightened Inmates Wing, or 
  HIWs. These were established out of fear that mutant 
  inmates would terrorize and dominate other prisoners. 
  Activists argue that this outcome, even if it happened, 
  would not vary significantly from the status quo, where 
  the toughest and best-connected inmates tyrannize 
  the others.
  Mutant prisoners are divided into three groups, 
  according to the security threat their powers pose. 
  So-called access-approved prisoners are permitted to 
  interact with their fellow mutant prisoners, sharing 
  cells, recreational and work facilities. They have 
  powers which are deemed to pose a minimal threat to 
  themselves, other inmates, and corrections officers. 
  Access-denied prisoners are kept in isolation, because 
  their powers are considered a threat to others. 
  However, their powers are not considered likely to aid 
  in escape from this ultra-secure wing of the facility. 
  These include Blood Spray, Entangling Hair, Fangs, 
  Flight, Induce Aggression, 
  Induce Fear, Induce Mental 
  Disorder, Natural Weaponry, 
  Secrete 
  Acid, 
  Webbing, 
  Strength, Quills, and venom 
  (all types), 
  Prisoners in the ominous-
  sounding induced-quiescence 
  class are kept sedated around 
  the clock, and fed through 
  tubes. Those nearing the ends 
  of their sentences are given 
  involuntary 
  physiotherapy, 
  much of it machine-aided, 
  so that their muscles won’t 
  have completely atrophied by 
  the time they’re released. (An 
  earlier version of induced-
  quiescence 
  incarceration 
  included no such benefit, 
  but was ruled a form of cruel 
  and 
  unusual 
  punishment 
  by the courts.) Powers in the induced-quiescence 
  category include all blasts as well as Alter Form, 
  Deplete 
  Oxygen, 
  Disintegration, 
  Earth 
  Control, 
  Force Field, Illusion, Gravity Control, Impersonate, 
  Invisibility, Light Control, Limb Extension, Magnetism, 
  Phase, Possession, Read Minds, Self-Detonation, 
  Sexual Chemistry, Spontaneous Combustion, Spread 
  Pathogen, Telekinesis, Teleportation, Toxin Immunity 
  (Gaseous), 
  Transmutation, 
  Wall-Crawling, 
  Water 
  Manipulation, and x-Ray vision.
  
  127
  the heightened and the law
  Unlike their comic book counterparts, incarcerated 
  mutants are not constantly escaping to wreak further 
  havoc on society. Corrections officials do such a good 
  job of keeping them behind bars that they are less 
  likely to engage in successful prison breaks than non-
  mutant inmates.
  dOrPHING
  When it became known that certain mutants could 
  induce a heroin-like high, it took about five seconds for 
  addicts worldwide to start tracking them down, sweaty 
  fistfuls of cash in hand. Endorphin Control (Others) 
  offered the doper’s dream—a safe, reliable, intense 
  and—most of all—legal high. The practice of receiving 
  recreational jolts of the Endorphin Control (Others) 
  power became known as dorphing.
  Proponents of the worldwide war on drugs reacted to 
  this phenomenon with horror, viewing it as the thin 
  edge of the wedge that would eventually lead to the 
  legitimization of all drug use. They fed hysterical stories 
  to an eager media, demonizing mutants with Endorphin 
  powers and portraying the practice as wildly unsafe. 
  That this required blatant manipulation of the facts 
  fazed anti-drug campaigners not one whit. Dorphing is 
  in fact safer than intravenous drug use by several orders 
  of magnitude, offering zero risk of blood-borne infection 
  or overdose. However, the propaganda campaign was a 
  huge success: most people believe that dorphers face 
  a high risk of cerebral hemorrhage every time they, to 
  use the dorpher parlance, take a jolt. In response to the 
  outcry of anxious parents, legislators quickly enacted 
  stiff criminal penalties for abuse of this power, both for 
  the mutant and the recipient. The formal names of the 
  charges are Administration Of a Restricted Intoxicant 
  and Willful Metabolization of a Restricted Intoxicant. 
  In practice, however, prosecutions for either crime are 
  rarely mounted, as the crimes are nearly impossible to 
  prove. There is no physical evidence and no smuggling 
  network. Even if you videotape a mutant administering 
  a jolt, there is no certain proof that the power was used 
  or the subject’s brain chemistry temporarily altered. 
  Attempts to have undercover narcotics officers pose as 
  dorphers permit an entrapment defense.
  From the perspective of most cops, all anti-dorphing 
  laws achieve is to push the activity underground, where 
  it intermingles with various other criminal enterprises. 
  HCIU investigators, who are as a rule uninterested in 
  vice or narcotics offenses, see them mostly as leverage 
  to use against dorpher witnesses. Although everyone 
  knows that convictions are rare, no user wants the 
  hassle of even an inconclusive brush with the system.
  HCIU officers are more interested in the crimes that 
  surround dorphing than in the act itself. Dorphing is 
  highly addictive, inspiring users to commit various 
  crimes to fund their expensive habits. Users tend to 
  become emotionally fixated on the people who sell them 
  their jolts (known as fixers), sometimes committing 
  crimes of passion to ensure their access to them. In a 
  crime analogous to pimping, criminal syndicates have 
  been known to kidnap and coerce law-abiding mutants 
  unfortunate enough to possess the power into acting as 
  fixers. 
  A subculture within the drug culture practices 
  sdorphing, in which an addict forms a permanent 
  submissive bond with a mutant, who gets him high in 
  exchange for engaging in various degrading acts. In 
  the public’s mind, ordinary dorphing is often conflated 
  with the kinkier practice of sdorphing.
  
  128
  THE FISH: THE BUddY-UP
  G
  uthrie was trying to seem composed but 
  couldn’t stop working his spidery fingers. His 
  fingertips danced across the metal surface of the 
  interrogation room table. Stan Guthrie was a slight, 
  stooped man, his hair flecked with gray. His clothing 
  echoed what Stagg had been wearing on his last, fatal 
  swim: a worn, drab windbreaker, T-shirt, jeans, and 
  sneakers. 
  Lomax took a seat beside him. So far, he’d only made 
  partial eye contact with Lomax, and had shut down 
  completely around Cece. She’d decamped to the other 
  side of the one way mirror, to observe the interview 
  alongside Lieutenant Stapleton and the latest hire 
  from the district attorney’s office. Lomax pulled out a 
  chair next to him and sat down. Guthrie was about two 
  fluttering heartbeats from asking to leave or lawyering 
  up. Since had nothing to hold him on, Lomax would 
  have to try the buddy-up and hope it stuck.
  “Listen, I realize it’s kinda intimidating in here,” he 
  said, “and I’m sorry if my partner rattled you a bit.”
  “No, no, it’s okay,” Guthrie mumbled.
  Lomax’s enormous shoulder muscles rippled into his 
  best version of an apologetic shrug. “She’s kind of 
  the cold shoulder type. Except when she’s suddenly 
  flipping out on you. What can I say? I keep hoping for a 
  reassignment, but you know. Quotas.”
  Behind the glass, the new prosecutor wrinkled her pert 
  nose in sisterly offense—until she saw Detective Chu’s 
  contented smirk.
  Guthrie directed a frightened glance at the door, as 
  if imagining her return. “And what does she…you 
  know…do?” 
  Lomax grimaced. “Lightning bolts. Very scary. Don’t 
  worry. I’ll keep her away from you—but I need you to 
  throw me a bone, okay?” 
  Guthrie nodded, almost puppyish.
  “I gotta admit, we’re kinda stuck here. What would 
  Stagg be doing down near the river?”
  “Gosh, I don’t know.”
  “That was a long ways from his house. Closer to your 
  apartment though, right?”
  “Uh, yeah, I guess.”
  “So the two of you didn’t hang out there together some 
  afternoons? Get fries from your favorite truck?”
  “Sometimes. But not recently.”
  Lomax lowered his voice. “I know you’re just doing this 
  out of nervousness and you don’t mean anything by it, 
  but you’re introducing a contradiction.”
  “What?” 
  “A contradiction. Of the closed-circuit TV footage we 
  have of you two near the pier,” Lomax lied. “It looks 
  worse for you if you don’t admit it.”
  “I saw him there that day but I would never do 
  anything to…”
  “Of course not. You were his oldest friend, right? All 
  the way back to what, high school? Margaret says you 
  were the one who introduced him to comic books.”
  “Yeah, sure.”
  Lomax stood, moving his chair with a deliberately 
  jarring scrape. “And after he got his powers, you were 
  the one convinced him to market himself to Big Time 
  Comics.”
  “Well yeah but it was this agent guy he knew from 
  selling insurance who got him in the door.”
  
  129
  “Must’ve sucked. The two of you, comics fans since you 
  were kids, and it’s him who gets the powers. Not you.”
  Guthrie twitched. “Them’s the genetic breaks, I guess.”
  Lomax let a pause hang in the air.
  “Besides,” Guthrie finally said, “all he got were water 
  powers. Water heroes are always the lamest.”
  Lomax reached for a folder on the table, opening it to 
  produce Guthrie’s script. “Not like the hero of this 
  comic book. He had spider powers. Otherwise he was 
  a lot like you. Shy, retiring type. Who never gets the 
  girl.”
  “No, no, the character in that script is totally fictional. 
  And anyway, it totally sucks. Who gave you this?”
  “Carl Brueggen, from Big Time Comics. The guy who 
  called this script… let’s see, what did he say?” Lomax 
  quoted from an email printout. “Painfully derivative. 
  Trite. A waste of the reader’s time. Shows a complete 
  ignorance of the comics medium. That must have hurt.”
  “Kinda…”
  “Your one shot at writing comics. Your lifelong dream. 
  And of all the editors at the comic book company Mike 
  could have put you onto, he forwards your script to 
  Carl Brueggen.”
  Guthrie was trembling.
  “You didn’t blame Brueggen for your humiliation. 
  Brueggen is who he is. You blamed Mike, who should 
  have known he was sending your dreams straight to the 
  shredder. After you’d spent years begging him to put in 
  a word for you. It was the final straw. So you slugged 
  him and tossed him in the drink.”
  Stan shook his head, like a terrier in need of a rat. 
  “Even if I did it, which I didn’t, Mike could breathe 
  underwater.”
  On the other side of the glass, Cecilia said, “He’s our 
  guy.”
  Lieutenant Stapleton always scratched when he was 
  thinking. “I like him for it, too.”
  The assistant D.A crossed her arms. “Then get me some 
  evidence.” 
  
  130
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  A CHANGEd wOrLd
  When it first became apparent that significant 
  numbers of people had spontaneously gained inhuman 
  powers, a wave of apocalyptic panic swept the world. 
  Commentators predicted a new dark age, in which 
  superhuman gangs would rove the earth, laying 
  waste to civilization and enslaving the unheightened 
  populace. People flocked to stores to stock up on water 
  and non-perishable foods. Abandoned backyard fallout 
  shelters were rebuilt.
  Then the hysteria gradually dissipated. A few murders 
  were committed by mutated suspects. Mutants with 
  pre-existing criminal backgrounds went on sprees 
  of looting and destruction. However, the widely 
  predicted consolidation of mutants into a single 
  tyrannical political entity never materialized. Mutant 
  powers proved as prevalent among cops and national 
  guardsmen as among violent criminals. The body 
  politic breathed easier, aware that, even in a new world 
  of mutant abilities, decent, law-abiding people vastly 
  outnumbered the psychopaths and bullies. 
  Instead the SME changed the world in subtler ways. 
  Few people allowed the sudden acquisition of mutant 
  powers to alter their sense of identity. Most individuals 
  who discovered that they were immune to radiation or 
  could elongate their limbs did nothing much about it. 
  Most went on being accountants, truck drivers, office 
  managers, or whatever they were before the SME. If they 
  didn’t keep their powers completely secret, they limited 
  them to the occasional impromptu demonstration at 
  backyard barbecues and family reunions. A handful 
  sought out more lucrative occupations centered 
  around their new abilities, or tried to leverage them 
  into show business careers.
  Only a few occupations are sufficiently remunerative 
  to lure mutants in large numbers. Empathy can earn 
  one a lucrative career in the marketing industry, as an 
  highly tuned meter of consumer reactions during focus 
  groups. Their clients include not only manufacturers 
  and marketers, but political operatives testing 
  responses to new slogans and candidates. People 
  with the Transmutation power can, if they want it, find 
  employment producing quantities of desired metals 
  for industrial use. Limb Extension is surprisingly 
  prevalent among buskers. 
  SPOrTS
   Perhaps the most dramatic ethical crisis surrounding 
  the use of mutant powers in everyday life occurred 
  in sports. After initial resistance, both the NBA and 
  major league baseball permitted the use of certain 
  powers during play. The NFL briefly experimented 
  with a similarly permissive attitude, but, after several 
  
  131
  deaths on the field resulted from tackles by super-
  strong players, has retreated to its original no-mutants 
  policy. Mutant athletes continue to be barred from the 
  Olympics, but several court cases threaten to overturn 
  the IOC’s prohibitions on the grounds that they are 
  discriminatory. 
  Needless to say, pro wrestling quickly embraced 
  mutant powers in all their permutations. Matches are 
  still quasi-scripted, with predetermined results and 
  soap opera storylines, but now allow the combatants 
  to use every power this side of radiation projection in 
  the ring. Mutant wrestlers sweat to put on a good show 
  while shielding their screaming audiences from stray 
  lightning bolts and blood sprays.
  MEdICINE
  Mutants with Healing or Cure Disease are highly sought 
  after by hospitals and private clinics. A small handful of 
  them go to the trouble of gaining medical degrees. Most 
  instead wait to perform their miracles under prescription, 
  essentially acting as walking, talking pieces of medical 
  equipment. The existence of these powers has provided 
  oncologists, surgeons and other expert doctors with 
  additional and highly effective treatment options, but 
  has hardly exiled them to the unemployment line. 
  Seriously ill patients still outnumber mutant healers by 
  a wide margin, so access to their services is rationed 
  either by need (in nations with socialized medicine) or 
  (in the United States) by the patient’s ability to pay. Even 
  under national health care schemes, most practicing 
  mutant healers are sufficiently well rewarded financially 
  and socially to ensure their participation in the system. 
  A few rogues, however, practice underground mutant 
  medicine, secretly and illegally selling their services 
  to high-paying patients lower down on the official 
  priority list. The limited availability of guaranteed cures 
  for otherwise untreatable illnesses has intensified 
  the health care debate in the US. The deep-pocketed 
  lobby group AHMA (American Heightened Medical 
  Association) vigorously fights attempts to regulate its 
  membership, misleadingly painting the health systems 
  of other industrialized countries as indentured servitude 
  for medical mutants.
  Cure Disease is infinitely more valued than Healing, 
  as many more people face death from life-threatening 
  illness than from injury. Healers hankering for illicit 
  rewards make their services available to criminals 
  who’ve suffered gunshot and knife wounds in the course 
  of their illegal activities—strictly on the down-low, of 
  course. 
   technology
  The rate of technological change in the ten 
  years since the SME has been incremental 
  rather than transformative. Consumer 
  electronics have become smaller and less 
  expensive. Computer processing power 
  and storage capacity have increased 
  enormously—only to be used up by 
  programs that hog the new resources and 
  file sizes that fill the larger media. Vehicle 
  engines have become smaller and slightly 
  more energy efficient, though not enough 
  to relax worldwide upward pressure 
  on fossil fuel prices. Revolutionary fuel 
  cell technology and economical biofuel 
  extraction are said to be five to ten years 
  in the future—the same time frame experts 
  have been giving for years.
  Some have argued that the SME, or rather 
  the boom in anamorphological studies that 
  followed it, has retarded scientific advances 
  in other areas. In her book The Stunted 
  Future economist Miller Rudd lays out the 
  case that the rush to fund this new, sexy 
  field has denied crucial grant money to 
  countless projects of great potential benefit 
  to mankind. Critics have, however, noted 
  her tendentious use of statistics and ties to 
  the anti-mutant Neutral Purity League.
  In forensic science, it is true that most 
  innovations relate to the reconstruction of 
  events involving mutant powers. In other 
  areas, police lab equipment has advanced 
  to the point where the fanciful technologies 
  shown in the old CSI television shows has 
  now in many cases become available in real 
  life.
  THE ArTS
  Established celebrities in the film and entertainment 
  world showed a great reluctance to go public with any 
  mutant powers they may have developed in the wake 
  of the SME. Actors feared being typecast as mutants, 
  or required to use their powers in dangerous ways 
  on movie sets. It took a new wave of celebs to dare to 
  proclaim their genetic status openly, using the novelty 
  of their mutant abilities to seize the public spotlight. 
  
  132
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Many of these were type-B mutants with dramatic 
  physical enhancements but no extraordinary powers.
  Today’s roster of internationally-known mutant 
  celebrities includes:
  Suavely rugged action movie hero Sam Martinez, best 
  known for shoot ‘em up flicks Full Bleed and Re-Friggin’-
  Lentless. The wisecracking Martinez openly displays 
  the Armor and Blade Immunity abilities. Rumor has it 
  that he also possesses the somewhat creepier Quills 
  power, but keeps them retracted at all times, to avoid 
  an unseemly reduction of his sex appeal.
  Pop star Crystal Shatter (born Krista Lee Betton in 
  Berryville, Arkansas) uses her Type-B ability to lend 
  her skin a metallic sheen in various hues. Her sexually 
  aggressive persona and impeccably produced pop 
  singles have combined to make her an omnipresent 
  fixture on magazine covers and concert stages, 
  comparable to Cher or Madonna in their respective 
  heydays.
  Unlikely celebrity victoria Royster rose to fame on the 
  first all-mutant installment of the revamped reality 
  Tv show Surveillance House. A shy, easily flustered 
  homemaker from Presho, South Dakota, Royster 
  won the hearts of a nervous nation by displaying a 
  complete and disarming normalcy despite her ability 
  to turn invisible at will. She became an iconic figure 
  representing all the ordinary people with mutant 
  powers, who carried on with their calm, decent lives 
  after discovering their extraordinary abilities. victoria 
  now hosts a popular afternoon talk show in the Oprah 
  format, and endorses a wide variety of packaged goods, 
  from toilet cleansers to washing machines.
  On screen, Hollywood celebrated the heightened 
  long before any of its established actors crept timidly 
  out of the closet. Action movie audiences learned to 
  crave fantastic stunts shot for real, without aid of 
  CGI or wires. On movie sets, mutants now dominate 
  the stunt profession. They play not only mutants with 
  obvious powers, but use their abilities to perform 
  stunts in which supposedly normal characters crash 
  cars, fall from great heights, or tumble through plate 
  glass. Now that any injury can be quickly repaired by 
  an on-set mutant with Healing, safety standards have 
  plummeted. (The same trend can be seen in many 
  other high-reward, high-risk industries.)
  Since the embrace of these trailblazers by a sensation-
  hungry public, many older movie and Tv stars stepped 
  forward to admit that they could levitate toasters or 
  frolic in their groupies’ dreams. Determining which 
  real-life tabloid figures gained mutant powers in the 
  SME is left as an exercise for individual GMs.
  Mutant creators have made their mark on the more 
  rarefied planes of the art world. Several contemporary 
  dance companies consist entirely of mutants. Their 
  interpretative choreography incorporates powers such 
  as Flight, Limb Extension, Gravity Control, Telekinesis 
  and Webbing.
  Performance art is increasingly dominated by mutants. 
  The best known practitioner is Jean Iboshi, whose 
  internally-generated light displays have won her a 
  coveted so-called “genius grant” from the MacArthur 
  Foundation.
  Author Deena Tynan regularly tops the best-seller list 
  with her series of detective novels featuring mutant 
  private eye Jimmy Setzer. A Tv show based on the 
  books, “Setzer”, is now in its second season. Smart 
  alec cops sometimes refer to their HCIU colleagues by 
  yelling out, “Hey, Setzer!” 
  POLITICS
  Just as it was before the SME, most voters in 
  industrial democracies concern themselves primarily 
  with national security and the state of the economy. 
  However, mutant rights issues continue to generate 
  controversy. In every democracy, advocates for greater 
  monitoring and control of mutant activities have 
  aligned themselves with the party, usually on the right, 
  most concerned with projecting an image of toughness 
  on internal security matters. Those who fight against 
  apparently discriminatory measures have aligned 
  themselves with the party associated with cultural 
  liberties.
  Neither side enjoys a monopoly on moral rectitude. To 
  restrict a person’s rights due to a mutation he has no 
  control over seems unfair or draconian, depending on 
  how extreme the truncation of his liberties. But many 
  powers do threaten public safety or national security if 
  completely unchecked.
  As both mutants and cops, the HCIU detectives stand 
  in the middle of this ideological divide. Cops believe in 
  authority and tend to see civil libertarians as protectors 
  of criminals. If your play group is like most, they’ll treat 
  the privacy of suspects and witnesses with a cavalier 
  disregard. On the other hand, they’re members, albeit 
  
  133
  a changed world
  relatively high-status ones, of a group still subject to 
  widespread fear and prejudice. Every day a politician 
  appears on cable news to propose new restrictions on 
  the nation’s mutant population.
  Probably because mutation cuts across all class and 
  identity boundaries, anti-mutant measures have yet 
  to win the approval of more than a hard-line fringe. 
  However, mutant rights crusaders are often viewed as 
  annoying troublemakers. Most people, including many 
  of the closeted heightened, basically want the issue to 
  go away.
  Mutant politicians have made gains at the local level, 
  where they can draw on concentrated populations of 
  the gene-expressive. There is, as of yet, no mutant 
  occupying statewide office in the US. In many 
  democracies, a single token mutant functionary serves 
  as a cabinet minister—always in a junior portfolio. 
  TIMELINE
  The following is a brief overview of events since the 
  SME. Because the date of the SME floats depending on 
  when you start your game, we represent years with the 
  formula Py+x, where Py is the current year when you 
  start playing, and x is the number of years out from 
  that. So if you’re playing in 2009, and an event is said 
  to take place in Py+3, it happens in 2012. The present 
  day of the game is Py+10, which in this example would 
  be 2019.
  Many of the events are local to Mutant City, the 
  real-life city of your choice where the action of your 
  series occurs. The ### is a placeholder indicating a 
  customizable local reference; see p. 140.
  Jan 12, PY: First ghost flu symptoms reported.
  Jan 16, PY: Apex of ghost flu panic. Worldwide 
  pandemic feared. Riots break out in dozens of cities, 
  mostly in the third world.
  Jan 18, PY: Panic abates as world populations realize 
  that the flu appears to be non-fatal. 
  Jan 23, PY: All symptoms end simultaneously. The 
  unnatural suddenness of the epidemic’s end fuels a 
  new, less demonstrative wave of paranoia.
  April 2, PY: First power manifestation occurs when 
  Tammy Graves takes flight during a softball game in 
  Slocum, Texas.
  April 3, PY: Three new manifestations are caught on 
  videotape and reach the attention of the international 
  media. Roman Shevchenko of Bradavka, Ukraine, is 
  hit by a truck—and passes through it, unharmed. In a 
  quarantine unit in, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, hospital 
  orderly yasiin Muhinda lays hands on the sufferer of 
  an Ebola-like virus, healing him instantly. Adriana 
  Mori, a bored tour guide at an Etruscan burial site in 
  Cerveteri, Italy, apparently causes a cloud of flies to 
  form into a moving, three-dimensional representation 
  of actor Brad Pitt.
  April 4, PY: Online video hosting sites are flooded with 
  footage of hundreds of people manifesting strange 
  powers. These appear on news cable channels, fuelling 
  another worldwide panic.
  April 5, PY: Thousands of people are now manifesting 
  mutant powers.
  April 12, PY: In the absence of disasters, panic 
  subsides, and attention returns to other local or 
  international news stories.
  May 30, PY: Mutant City experiences its first mutant-
  related homicide, when unemployed construction 
  worker Don David French enters into a drunken 
  argument with step-brother Jack Guest over the 
  validity of an impending baseball record. French hits 
  Guest in the chest with a lightning bolt, electrocuting 
  him.
  June 13, PY: Mutant City’s first large scale mutant 
  crime occurs when six heightened individuals, all of 
  them boasting lengthy criminal records, botch a bank 
  robbery, which devolves into a hostage situation. Self-
  styled costumed heroes calling themselves the Blue 
  Team attempt a raid on the bank, leading to the maiming 
  of a hostage and the severe beating of several Blue 
  Team members, including leader Eugene “Thunder 
  Squall” Pavnicki. The incident is finally defused by 
  police hostage team negotiator, Eric Krose.
  June 17, PY: The militant anti-mutant organization 
  Human Integrity Campaign forms during a meeting 
  in Mutant City, attended by concerned citizens and 
  apostate neo-Nazis from around the country.
  June 28, PY+1: The Blue Team is involved in another 
  humiliating incident. Mutant youths assault anti-
  mutant goons, or barheads, in the neighborhood that 
  will later become known as Helixtown. Blue Team 
  members intervene, and are turned on and beaten 
  
  134
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  by both sides. Eugene “Thunder Squall” Pavnicki is 
  hospitalized with a concussion.
  July 13, PY+1: The Blue Team announces a change in 
  focus from active crimefighting to “outreach”: that is, 
  dressing up and doing personal appearances.
  Aug 18, PY+1: Lucius Quade, professor at Mutant 
  City’s most prestigious science university coins term 
  “anamorphology” to describe study of mutant powers, 
  an area he has already been researching.
  Oct 28, PY+1: venture capitalist Galen Birch holds a 
  press conference to announce his mutant status. He 
  calls for all mutants to reveal themselves, and “stand 
  without shame as harbingers of a new era.”
  Jan 13, PY+2: Quade publishes paper unveiling 
  preliminary version of his famous diagram.
  Apr 13, PY+2: Radical Genetic Action Front founded in 
  Seattle, WA.
  Aug 18, PY+2: Lucius Quade announces foundation of 
  department of Anamorphological Studies at ###.
  May 6, PY+2: Mainstream political lobbying group the 
  Heightened Information Alliance is founded during 
  invitation-only conclave in Mutant City. Attendees 
  include Lucius Quade, Galen Birch, and Brian 
  Schmiederer.
  Aug 18, PY+3: With key funder Galen Birch, Lucius 
  Quade breaks ground on site of his new independent 
  research foundation, the Quade Institute.
  Last weekend before Labor day, PY+3: First annual 
  CapeCon, a SF media con with heavy goob fandom 
  track, debuts at the ### convention center.
  sept 9, PY+3: The ### Park Riot. A large Human 
  Integrity Campaign rally turns into a deadly riot when 
  protesters are attacked by a team of masked, blast-
  wielding assailants. The perpetrators disappear in the 
  chaos after 18 people are killed. Even more deaths are 
  averted by police lieutenant Ellis Deakins, who calms 
  the crowd and averts a stampede.
  sept 10, PY+3: Ellis Deakins becomes a media hero.
  sept 12, PY+3: Homicide detectives establish that the 
  heightened perpetrators of the ### Park killings were 
  foreign mercenaries hired by leaders of the Human 
  Integrity Campaign to foment anti-mutant outrage. 
  sept 14, PY+3: First media reference to gentrifying 
  downtown neighborhood with high mutant population 
  as “Helixtown.”
  Nov 2, PY+3: Separatist organization Continental 
  Nation Of Mutants is founded in Mutant City.
  Nov 12, PY+3: First issue of scientific journal 
  Proceedings of the Quade Institute publishes finalized 
  Quade Diagram.
  2nd weekend in May, PY+4: Quade Institute hosts first 
  annual Symposium Of Anamorphological Research 
  (SOAR.) Participants in panel discussion “Faith and 
  Mutation” form the Ecumenical Working Group, an 
  organization devoted to reconciling mutant status with 
  various Christian denominations.
  sept 25, PY+4: Continental Nation Of Mutants activist 
  Eddie “The Machine” Florence presides over grand 
  opening of the local chapter’s Freedom Hall.
  Nov 3, PY+4: Brian Schmiederer elected as municipal 
  councilor for downtown ward including Helixtown. 
  Apr 29, PY+4: Leaders of the Ecumenical Working 
  Group announce its dissolution in favor of a new, 
  mutant-oriented religious faith, the Eighth-Day 
  Church.
  May 1, PY+5: Trial of Human Integrity Campaign leaders 
  for the ### Park Riot concludes. They are convicted 
  of murder and sentenced to (depending on where you 
  locate Mutant City) either death or life imprisonment.
  May 2, PY+5: In Quebec City, flamboyant Catholic 
  heretic turned Eighth Day Church pastor Gilles 
  Tremblay experiences an ecstatic vision of an alien 
  invasion, and the mutant counter-insurgency that 
  ultimately defeats it.
  July 18, PY+5: Ellis Deakins tapped as police 
  commissioner.
  sept 9, PY+5: Deakins announces formation of first 
  HCIU unit, commanded by Lieutenant Eric Krose.
  sept 12, PY+5: From the ashes of the disgraced Human 
  Integrity Campaign, lower-level leaders launch the 
  Neutral Parity League.
  
  135
  a changed world
  Nov 19, PY+5: Gilles Tremblay and entourage move to 
  Mutant City.
  Apr 28, PY+6: In Philadelphia, PA, author and activist 
  Davon Riddle publishes Heliopolis Awaits, the manifesto 
  of the Heliopolan movement, which hopes to establish 
  a homeland for mutants in northern Somalia.
  May 2, PY+6: Gilles Tremblay announces plans for 
  Bulwark Of God cathedral in Mutant City’s old church 
  district.
  Oct 1, PY+6: Davon Riddle moves to Mutant City, where 
  he establishes worldwide structure for his movement, 
  declaring himself its Chief Delegate In Exile.
  HEIGHTENEd SUB-
  CULTUrES
  Just as attitudes among non-mutants toward the 
  gene-expressive fall on a wide spectrum from envy 
  to indifference to hatred, mutants themselves evince 
  a widely varying set of views on their own condition. 
  These are reflected in the various sub-cultures and 
  political aggregations to which they belong.
  Goobs take inspiration from the sixty years of costumed 
  hero comics, Tv shows and movies that preceded the 
  SME. They give themselves heroic nicknames, wear 
  costumes, and attempt to promote themselves in the 
  media. Goobs gather at events called conventions, 
  where they sign autographs and promote their various 
  product lines. Some attempt to engage in vigilante 
  justice, a phenomenon that has grown steadily less 
  common after a spate of accidental deaths during 
  the early years of the mutant era. Costumed heroes, 
  the so-called villains they were chasing, and innocent 
  bystanders were hurt or killed in a series of highly 
  publicized incidents. Now most mutants who want to 
  fight crime join the force, and the only costumes they 
  don are police blues. Although the occasional criminal 
  adopts a colorful nickname and sinister-looking mask 
  to frighten people into submission, the vast majority 
  of goobs see themselves as good guys—or at least 
  as inspiring representations of same. Just as some 
  Star Trek fans bridle at the word “Trekkie”, preferring 
  instead the vastly more complimentary “Trekker”, 
  dedicated members of the goob sub-community 
  consider that term a slur. They want to be called 
  costumed personalities, or cospers for short.
  straighteners regard all mutant powers, not just the 
  defects, as diseases, which they hope to cure. They 
  raise funds for research toward a permanent end for 
  their condition. As a stopgap measure, they participate 
  in twelve-step type programs meant to suppress any 
  urges they may feel to actually use their powers. Some 
  straighteners ally with anti-mutant groups, like the 
  NPL. Others fight the Neutral Parity League and its ilk, 
  arguing that they perpetuate discrimination against 
  people with a humiliating disease. The former group, 
  called cleansers, believes that a cure for mutations, 
  when it comes, should be administered to everyone, 
  whether they like it or not. The latter group, known as 
  electivists, espouses the hypothetical cure only for 
  those who want it.
  expressivists are mutants (and friendly non-mutants) 
  who advocate full civil rights for the genetically 
  altered. The mainstream mutant rights group is the 
  Heightened information Alliance (HiA.) This middle-
  of-the-road lobbying outfit avoids making waves and 
  favors incremental legislative solutions to anti-mutant 
  discrimination in public and private life. They take 
  plenty of flack from the boisterous GeF, or Genetic 
  
  136
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Action Front, a loud and confrontational group who 
  prefer 
  non-violent 
  civil 
  disobedience, 
  including 
  demonstrations and site occupations, as their main 
  way of demanding immediate fair treatment for their 
  people.
  In the public mind, the radical expressivists of the GEF 
  are often confused with separatists. In fact, these 
  radical groups regularly clash. Where expressivists 
  want better treatment for mutants within society, 
  separatists advocate the formation of an all-mutant 
  state. The two main separatist organizations are the 
  Heliopolans, who advocate an exodus to northern 
  Somalia, which will taken over by mutants and 
  renamed Heliopolis, and the Continental Nation 
  of Mutants (CNM), who merely want to create all-
  mutant neighborhoods in each major city, to be run 
  autonomously from any municipal, state or federal 
  authority. Although both disclaim terrorism as a tactic, 
  many of their leaders have long rap sheets for both 
  violent protest and organized criminal activity. CNM 
  members are known for adopting colorful nicknames 
  inspired by their super powers, giving them a surprising 
  commonality with goobs. Although the two separatist 
  groups include representatives of all colors and creeds, 
  many of their top leaders cut their teeth in ethnic or 
  racial autonomy movements, including the Nation Of 
  Islam, MEChA, and AIM, before acquiring superpowers 
  and setting aside their old allegiances.
  Over the past decade, some mutants have developed 
  their own religious denomination, the eighth-day 
  Church, abbreviated as 8dC. Followers are known 
  as eighters, for short. Originally strictly Christian in 
  its theology, the 8DC has evolved into an ecumenical 
  movement in which various major religions are 
  blended with a message of God’s special mission 
  for His mutant children. Believers hold that the SME 
  was a revised act of creation—some even use the 
  analogy of a firmware update—to prepare mankind for 
  a coming period of calamity. It is the duty of eighters 
  to shepherd the entire species through the imminent 
  crisis. Competing prophets Bonita Moroyiannis and 
  Gilles Tremblay offer conflicting visions on what 
  this disaster might be. Moroyiannis, a Greek citizen, 
  predicts an environmental cataclysm brought on by 
  global climate change, while Tremblay, a Quebecker 
  now resident in Mutant City, foretells an alien invasion. 
  Each is surrounded by a small corps of zealots who 
  continually denounce the other leader. Most eighters 
  take a wait-and-see approach, planning to rescue 
  mankind from whichever apocalypse rears its head.
  Some mutants make an effort to intermarry only with 
  other gene-expressives, in the hope of producing a 
  new generation of heightened with even greater or 
  more varied powers than are currently known. They 
  are called strainers, after their desire to refine the 
  mutant strain. Strainers appear within the eighter 
  and separatist communities, but also include many 
  heightened with no particular ideological ambitions. 
  So far no child born of parents who were mutants 
  at the time of conception has shown any heightened 
  powers whatsoever—but then, they’d all be ten years 
  old at most, and powers in children tend to manifest 
  during puberty. Strainers predict a new wave of 
  world-changing mutations in a few years, when the 
  children of mutant matches develop their powers. 
  Anamorphologists see no solid evidence for these 
  claims.
  Most mutants are apolitical; they may pay some 
  attention to the political endorsements of the HIA, 
  but in general try to keep their mutant status from 
  interfering with their everyday lives. They prefer to 
  define their identities by their ties to other interests and 
  communities. There are mutant Republicans, mutant 
  Democrats, mutant Scientologists, mutant Seventh-
  Day Adventists, mutant environmental activists, and 
  so on.
  
  137
  a changed world
  SLANG ANd jArGON
  anamorphology: the scientific study of mutant powers 
  and their genetic origins
  Anna May: a category-B mutant with hyper-enlarged 
  irises
  barhead: member of the thuggish youth wing of the 
  Neutral Parity League
  chrome: term for mutants, possibly derived from 
  “chromosome”; considered a slur
  cleanser: a straightener (q.v.) who advocates a cure for 
  all mutants, administered involuntarily if necessary
  cosper: a less popular synonym for goob (see below), 
  preferred by sensitive members of that community 
  dNA standard (dNAs): bureaucratic term for the 99% 
  of the population without evident mutant powers
  dorphing: act of getting high with the aid of a mutant 
  with Endorphin Control (Others)
  eighter: member of the Eighth-Day Church (p. 136)
  electivist: a straightener (q.v.) who pursues a cure to 
  mutations only for those, like themselves, who seek it
  erA: forensic/cop acronym for a forensic scientist 
  trained in Energy Residue Analysis. As in, “Hey, get the 
  ERA to take a look at this.”
  expressivist: a supporter of equal rights for mutants
  gene-expressive: bureaucratic/politically correct term 
  for the heightened. Not much used outside of official 
  documents and earnest round-table discussions.
  gene-neutral: bureaucratic/politically correct term 
  for those without mutations.
  goob: a mutant who takes inspiration from old comic 
  books, wearing a distinctive costume, adopting a 
  colorful nickname, and possibly engaging in vigilante 
  crimefighting
  HC: short for Heightened Crime Investigation Unit, 
  used by cops
  HiW: short for Heightened Inmates Wing, the 
  segregated section of a prison facility reserved for 
  mutant prisoners
  jolt: a hit of endorphins from the Endorphin 
  Control (Others) power, undertaken voluntarily and 
  recreationally. As in “I went jolting last night,” or “I 
  was taking a jolt when the cops busted in.”
  lixer: term for the heightened, used by non-mutants. 
  It derives from a reference to the DNA double helix. If 
  you’re a fervent mutants rights activist, you probably 
  consider this an outright slur. Otherwise, you likely 
  think of it as mildly impolite, or use it yourself. The 
  term is well entrenched among cops, mutant and 
  norms alike. 
  norm: term for non-mutants, used by many mutants. 
  Anti-mutant bigots treat it as an outrageous insult.
  PCd: Power Complex Detection, a DNA test that 
  determines which of the Quade Complexes the sample 
  donor’s mutant powers derive from
  PiC: Power Identification Centrifuge testing, a DNA 
  test that identifies which mutant abilities the sample 
  donor possesses
  Power Complex: groups of related mutant powers.
  pregs, the: the sweats, hot flashes and nausea that 
  accompany onset of a new mutant power. See p. 103.
  pure: term for non-mutant population, preferred by 
  some non-mutants 
  sdorph: (pronounced suh-DORF; sometimes spelled 
  s-dorph) addict dependent on a mutant with Endorphin 
  Control (Others) who gets him high in exchange for 
  entering into a submissive or otherwise exploitative 
  relationship
  separatist: a mutant who seeks to create politically 
  autonomous communities for the heightened, either in 
  neighborhoods in various cities, or in the hypothetical 
  African nation of Heliopolis
  spazmo: term for mutants, particularly those with 
  defects. Considered a slur.
  straightener: mutant who seeks a cure for his 
  condition, and/or tries not to use his powers
  
  138
  YOU THINk I’M STUPId
  S
  tan Guthrie ran down rain-slicked sidewalks. It 
  was the middle of the night, and he was blocks 
  away from his apartment. He never should have 
  stepped foot outside his door, but he needed to clear 
  his head. He’d been pacing like a rat in there. Now she 
  was following him. The crazy cop with the lightning 
  powers.
  He came to a paved lot, fenced off in anticipation of 
  a new building start. There was a break in the chain 
  link, so he ducked on through, then pressed himself 
  against the wall of the adjoining condominium complex. 
  Panting shallowly, hoping his breathing wouldn’t give 
  him away, he made himself still. Detective Chu stopped 
  halfway down the fence. Then a wind came up and 
  rattled the fence at the spot where the hole was. She 
  spotted him and clambered through the broken chain-
  link. Stan tried to bolt, but couldn’t move his feet. They 
  felt like they were super-glued to the pavement.
  Detective Chu came closer, shining her flashlight in his 
  face. “Is there a problem here, sir?”
  “You know it’s me!” Stan cried. “You leave me alone. 
  This is harassment!”
  “Just keeping a friendly eye on Mike’s friends, Stan. 
  There’s a murderer out there. You never know who he’s 
  gonna hit next.”
  “You think I’m stupid!” Stan struggled to move, but 
  succeeded only in tiring himself further. He felt the 
  loose folds of his clothes pulled downward, as if the 
  force of gravity at his feet had doubled.
  She drew closer. “No, Stan, I think you’re smart. You 
  figured out how to drown a man with gills. And you’re 
  going to get away with it. How do you think that makes 
  me feel?”
  “This is just a job to you. Why should you care?”
  “I had to tell Margaret Stagg that her husband was 
  dead. I sat on the couch with her as she sobbed.”
  “Don’t come any closer!” 
  A crackling nimbus of electricity appeared around 
  Cecilia’s hands.
  Guthrie screamed, loosing a stream of ropy material 
  from his forearms. It flew onto Cecilia like a cocoon, 
  gluing her into place. The electrical fields around her 
  hands disappeared, as the webbing stuck the detective’s 
  hands to her sides.
  “I warned you to get back!” Guthrie yowled.
  He felt his arms seized and pulled behind his back. With 
  a metallic click, cold handcuffs snapped tight around 
  his wrists. Lomax made himself visible, stepped around 
  him, and said, “You’re under arrest.” After reeling off 
  Guthrie’s legal rights, he pulled out a pocket knife, and 
  freed Cece from the webbing. 
  “You can’t get me for murder,” Guthrie spat, “so 
  you’re trying to charge me with assaulting a police 
  officer. But it won’t fly—I was provoked.”
  “Provoked into giving the evidence we needed, you 
  mean.” Cecilia withdrew a plastic jar from her bag and 
  began to gather samples of the webbing, pulling them 
  from her jacket. “All we needed to charge you was proof 
  that you’re a webslinger, Stan. We suspected you had 
  it, because your script featured a thinly veiled version 
  of you, spinning webs. Because that’s how you drown 
  a man with who can breathe underwater. You hit him 
  on the head to make sure he’s dazed. Then you secrete 
  small quantities of webbing to use as an adhesive, and 
  glue your victim’s gill flaps shut. You toss him in the 
  
  139
  river, where he now has no way to extract oxygen from 
  the water. Secreted webbing is insoluble for a certain 
  period, after which it resolves into a goo—which would 
  have completely dissolved in the water, leaving no 
  trace for us to find. Like I said: very smart. And very 
  premeditated.”
  A still-struggling Guthrie lunged suddenly forward as 
  she deactivated the high-gravity field she’d created at 
  his feet. Lomax caught him, saving him from a nasty 
  fall to the pavement.
  “Aw, come on, Cece,” he said. “Isn’t a first degree 
  murder charge kind of excessive? He could have 
  thought it up in a flash of anger, when he realized 
  how Mike had thoughtlessly steered him to Big Time 
  Comics’ meanest editor.”
  “Yes!” Guthrie exclaimed. “That was it! A flash of 
  anger—I did it in a flash of anger.”
  Lomax thrust a notebook and pen into his hands. 
  “Write that down quick, Stan.” He created a light 
  beam from his fingertip to illuminate the paper as Stan 
  scribbled down his confession.
  Lomax and Chu exchanged grins. Another day, another 
  clearance.
  
  140
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  BUILdING MUTANT CITY
  This chapter provides material you can customize to 
  create your own urban locale for your Mutant City Blues 
  series. It includes prominent figures, particularly in the 
  police hierarchy and people connected, for good or ill, 
  with the mutant community. Also detailed are various 
  institutions and locations that may crop up during the 
  team’s investigations.
  Although you could set your Mutant City Blues series in 
  a fictional American metropolis, as you see in certain 
  comic books, we instead recommend placing it in an 
  actual city you and your players are very familiar with. 
  Doing so reinforces the game’s sense of social realism, 
  underlining the idea that this is the real world after ten 
  years of adjustment to widespread super powers. 
  With that in mind, this chapter is presented not as 
  a conventional gazetteer, but as a series of people, 
  organizations and institutions to situate in the city 
  of your choice. Entries for locations begin with 
  suggestions on which sorts of neighborhoods to place 
  them in.
  This section does include some default assumptions 
  which you may have to alter, depending on which place 
  you choose to make into Mutant City. Our approach to 
  the law and police department structure is that seen 
  in American procedural dramas. To place it in another 
  country, you’ll want to alter certain details. The job titles 
  and organizational charts of the police department 
  and prosecutor’s office differ by country. you’ll need to 
  adjust your legalese to suit your local criminal code. To 
  better evoke your designated city, the ethnicities and 
  proper names of certain characters might also require 
  changes. For example, for a game set in London, you 
  might want to swap out the Hispanic characters for 
  people of Indian, Caribbean, or Arabic descent. If the 
  politics of your chosen city is dominated by particular 
  communities or interest groups, make sure that they’re 
  represented among your cast of supporting characters. 
  Almost any character presented here can be changed 
  fairly easily to represent the distinctive constituencies 
  of your chosen city.
   Local Placeholders
  Whenever possible we avoid references 
  to specific places in favor of generic 
  descriptions. Occasionally, though, we’ll 
  use a placeholder (###) to indicate that you 
  should fill in the name of an appropriate 
  location, institution, or other entity from 
  your city of choice. For example, if you’re 
  running a game set in New York City and 
  see a reference to the ### Park riots, you’ll 
  know to refer to this in your own game as 
  the Central Park Riots. If you’re running 
  it in Toronto, you might instead refer to 
  the incident as the Queen’s Park Riots; for 
  London, the Hyde Park Riots, and so on.
  THE QUAdE INSTITUTE
  Location: research district or university campus
  Physical description: A gleaming post-modern 
  minaret of glass and black steel, the Quade Institute 
  looms above the city as a symbol of progress and 
  aesthetically pleasing strangeness. Ten floors of 
  labs and office space occupy its central cube, with 
  administrative and support facilities appearing in the 
  twelve-story tower thrusting it up into the city skyline. 
  A ground-level complex of shops and cafes serves as a 
  base to the rest of the structure’s pedestal.
  The high ceilings and chrome fixtures of the labs 
  themselves are designed to impress researchers and 
  donors. They are temples to science, projecting an air 
  of hushed excitement and efficiency. Administrative 
  
  141
  offices comfort the money people with their oak 
  paneling and lush leather furnishings. Researcher’s 
  offices strive for modernistic utilitarianism but, since 
  they’re occupied by scientists, tend to be messy and 
  overstuffed with loose paper.
  the institution: The Quade Institute has established 
  itself as the world’s foremost anamorphological 
  research center. Attracting scientists from all over the 
  world, its staff is a picture of internationalism. 
  Of particular interest to HCIU detectives is its 
  Department of Forensic Anamorphology, whose 
  cutting-edge labs and pioneering techniques may 
  provide more advanced evidence analysis than that 
  offered by the police labs. To working detectives, 
  their labs offer temptation and disappointment in 
  equal measure: investigators know that prosecutors 
  hate new science, which is very difficult to introduce 
  into evidence. As expert witnesses, Quade Institute 
  scientists are considered a mixed blessing: although 
  juries love their credentials, few of them are good 
  at communicating scientific information to a lay 
  audience.
  The Institute also houses a department of social 
  science, the Quade Center For Public Policy. Though 
  unaffiliated with any political organization, it serves as 
  a specialized think tank advancing the general cause 
  of mutant rights.
  LUCIUS QUAdE
  “Fear is the enemy, and knowledge is the sword we 
  use to conquer it.”
  Celebrity scientist Lucius Quade is a striking, middle-
  aged, thrice-divorced African-American. Quade dove 
  into SME research earlier than other geneticists, and 
  has dominated the field ever since. Online futures 
  markets peg him as the leading candidate for next 
  year’s Nobel Prize in medicine. He’s a constant 
  presence not only in Mutant City, but on the national 
  scene, as a regular fixture on cable news and televised 
  political round tables. Though avowedly apolitical, his 
  pleas for tolerance on behalf of the heightened have 
  made him a bogeyman of reactionary pundits. 
  In his public persona, Quade is an animated raconteur, 
  who wraps thorny concepts of science and social policy 
  in down-to-earth language and a twinkling sense of 
  humor. In private, he can seem distracted and abrupt. 
  He’s always in motion, usually racing to some meeting 
  he’s already late for while he checks his messages and 
  fields entreaties from a train of anxious assistants. 
  Though often seen at cultural and fundraising events 
  with his dazzling and much younger wife, Lily, rumor 
  has it that Quade remains a persistent womanizer. His 
  celebrity and charisma give him ample opportunity to 
  stray. Police officers detailed to his bodyguard report 
  having to constantly peel attractive women off him.
  Quade’s goals are to advance the field of anamorphology 
  and to expand his empire at the Quade Institute. He 
  fights for mutant rights but views the more militant 
  activists for the cause as naïve hotheads whose 
  attention-seeking efforts do more harm than good. 
  Although persistent rumors claim that Quade himself 
  has been gifted with mutant powers, perhaps of 
  Cognition, his consistent reply to all such inquiries is, 
  “If only I were so lucky.”
  General Abilities: Athletics 2, Health 6, Mechanics 4, 
  Medic 4, Scuffling 2, Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: none
  
  142
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  SArITA SANdHU
   “This technique is too unproven to hold up in court, but 
  just between you, me, and the electron microscope, I 
  think I’ve got your man.”
  Attractive and personable, Dr. Sarita Sandhu is 
  the public face of the Quade Institute’s Forensic 
  Anamorphology Department. Before switching her 
  focus to pure research, she served for several years as 
  a criminalist for the Los Angeles Police Department, 
  where she learned to like cops and identify with the 
  prosecution. HCIU detectives draw on her expertise 
  when their own lab techs draw a blank. Although a 
  credible presence on the witness stand, her evidence 
  is invariably in too preliminary a stage to be admissible 
  in court. As such, she can point detectives in the right 
  direction, but without satisfying their need for evidence 
  they can base charges on.
  Sarita is single and used to charmingly deflecting the 
  flirtations of male detectives.
  General Abilities: Athletics 4, Health 8, Mechanics 3, 
  Medic 4, Stability 10.
  Mutant Powers: none
  ELENI rOBErTS
   “I understand the sentiment, but if you read the 
  literature you’ll find that similar proposals have always 
  failed in the past.”
  Head of the Quade Center For Public Policy, Professor 
  Eleni Roberts is a frequent participant in symposia 
  and talking heads gabfests, where she offers sober, 
  sane and somewhat boring analysis of mutant issues. 
  Married to the CEO of a major telecom firm, she acts 
  as the center of a social circle consisting of wealthy 
  mutants. Although her own gene-expressive status is no 
  secret, she discreetly de-emphasizes it. Her demeanor 
  is patrician and polished, more stylish society lady 
  than rumpled professor. In addition to fundraising for 
  the Institute and the Heightened Information Alliance, 
  she is also active in various environmental causes.
  General Abilities: Athletics 2, Fleeing 8, Health 5, 
  Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: Environmental Awareness 8, Hearing 
  6, Olfactory Center 4.
  BIrCH TOwErS
  Location: financial district
  Physical description: A crudely looming skyscraper 
  with gold-colored ornamentation, vaulting upwards 
  in a triumphant v-shape. A hundred and eight stories 
  high, the Birch Towers house extensive office space, 
  including the headquarters or branch facilities of 
  several multinational corporations. Its cathedral-
  like entryway boasts a breathtaking fountain and 
  enormous murals and sculptures by top contemporary 
  artists. Birch Towers is also home to several exclusive 
  restaurants. The top five floors comprise the palatial 
  resident of billionaire mutant Galen Birch.
  GALEN BIrCH
  “Without ambitious men, we’d all still be living in caves.”
  venture capitalist Galen Birch is famous as the world’s 
  richest (admitted) mutant. His rise from a humble 
  working class background to staggering wealth is 
  detailed in his best-selling book Birched! Though he 
  made his first millions managing a high-risk hedge 
  fund, he now invests in emerging technologies, with an 
  emphasis on communications and biotech. Through his 
  charitable research foundation, The Whitebark Group, 
  he serves as a major funder of the Quade Institute. He 
  sits on that organization’s board, as well as that of the 
  Heightened Information Alliance (p. 154), to which he 
  is also a major donor.
  Birch, in his late fifties, is a serial marrier of models, 
  and is currently embroiled in acrimonious divorce 
  proceedings with his fifth wife, Svetlana. Ordinarily a 
  pudgy, somewhat unattractive man, he disconcerts 
  interviewers and negotiating partners by occasionally 
  transforming himself into a tall, broad-shouldered 
  fellow boasting a full head of wavy hair, a lantern jaw, 
  and a wide, gleaming grin. Birch refers to this persona 
  as his “avatar” or “true self.” This projected image is 
  not entirely consistent. Some days he looks a little like 
  Kirk Douglas; at other times he recalls Burt Lancaster. 
  As it is produced with his Illusion power, he can only 
  adopt it while dealing with small groups. Illusion is a 
  mind-affecting power, so it registers only in person: he 
  still appears as his usual lumpy self in photographs or 
  on television.
  Galen’s priorities, in rough order of importance, are: 
  personal aggrandizement, the advancement of mutant 
  rights, amassing wealth faster than his rivals, and 
  
  143
  building mutant city
  enjoying life’s luxuries.
  General Abilities: Athletics 8, Driving 8, Health 8, 
  Stability 8, Surveillance 8
  Mutant Powers: Illusion 24
  BETULA SECUrITY 
  CONSULTANTS
  The city’s largest and best-known private security firm 
  is headquartered in Birch Towers. Though founded by 
  Galen Birch, he is now a minority shareholder. One of 
  the city’s dominant financial companies, ###, owns a 
  majority interest.
  Betula advertises itself as the ideal security firm for a 
  post-mutant world. Run and staffed almost exclusively 
  by mutants, it offers a lucrative profession to individuals 
  lucky enough to have expressed combat-ready powers. 
  Betula puts applicants through extensive physical 
  training, rejecting otherwise unimpressive specimens 
  who just happen to be able to shoot fire or shrug off 
  bullets. They provide bodyguard, site security and rapid 
  response services to the city government, as well as its 
  top corporations and richest private individuals. Their 
  sleek, streamlined vans and discreetly paramilitary 
  uniforms are such a common sight around the city that 
  they’ve become almost invisible.
  The firm features prominently in the fantasies of 
  conspiracy theorists and crazy people. After a few well-
  publicized stumbles in the Galen Birch era, it has posted 
  a surprisingly good incident record under the new 
  owners who bought out the bulk of his shares. Wannabe 
  cops and soldiers are thoroughly screened out during 
  a lengthy probation period. Without powers of arrest or 
  detention, its personnel can’t rely on the intimidating 
  power of the law to secure cooperation. Betula trains its 
  people to ramp down confrontations with calming words 
  and body language. Its personnel respond in a purely 
  defensive capacity. If a person or site they’re guarding 
  comes under attack, they fight back. They do not pursue 
  attackers or intruders when they flee or disengage, nor 
  do they conduct investigations of suspects. Betula keeps 
  a tiny staff of investigators on hand, but only for self-
  policing purposes, or to perform security evaluations of 
  sites or individuals they’re guarding.
  Betula’s livelihood depends on excellent cooperation 
  with the police. Its personnel are required to be fully 
  forthcoming in response to any police inquiry. Former 
  cops, including ex-HCIU, are found throughout its staff 
  and management. The biggest problem PCs will find in 
  dealing with them is their habit of crowing about how 
  much better they have it than the poor overworked, 
  underpaid saps still working for the force.
  rEG TAYLOr
  “Sorry it took a while to get here. I was hanging out on 
  my boat. you guys do have boats, right? Oh wait, sorry, 
  you still work for the department, don’t you?”
  Ex-HCIU detective Reg Taylor serves as liaison 
  between Betula and the police force. His official title is 
  vice President In Charge Of Special Communications. 
  The PCs, who are presumed to have been working for 
  the HCIU for a while, know him from his days on the 
  squad. He was a kidder then, and he’s a kidder now. 
  His latest riff centers around his cushy new lifestyle 
  now that he’s making the big corporate bucks. He 
  seems to have aged in reverse by about ten years since 
  making the leap: he sports a fuller head of hair, fewer 
  lines around the eyes, and straighter, whiter teeth. Reg 
  can’t help flaunting his gold cuff-links, Rolex watch, or 
  top-of-the-line new mobile phone. But he does it with 
  enough of a shit-eating grin to get away with it.
  Deep down, he still yearns to nail the bad guys, so he’ll 
  be as cooperative as possible when his old colleagues 
  come around seeking information. He’s the one who 
  provides security camera footage and makes sure that 
  Betula personnel talk openly to the cops. Occasionally 
  he asks for a favor in return, asking that the detectives 
  tread discreetly among the firm’s important clients.
  On very rare occasions, if the detectives can convince 
  him that the guy they’re going after is a complete and 
  total scumbag, Reg may be prevailed upon to use his 
  shape-shifting powers on their behalf—“Purely on an 
  extra-curricular basis, you understand.”
  Reg loves sports and always tries to rope his buddies 
  into making ill-considered wagers on an upcoming 
  game. He himself shows a weird weakness for betting 
  on the eighth horse in any race, no matter what the 
  odds. Taylor belongs to the Eighth Day Church. He’s 
  low-key about his beliefs and thinks that Gilles 
  Tremblay (q.v.) is a nutjob of enormous proportions.
  General Abilities: Athletics 8, Driving 8, Filch 8, Health 
  8, Infiltration 8, Scuffling 8, Shooting 8, Stability 8, 
  Surveillance 8.
  Mutant Powers: Alter Form 8, Impersonate 8.
  
  144
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  THE BULwArk OF GOd 
  Location: downtown, near other historic churches
  Physical description: This impressive cathedral was 
  purchased from the local Anglican Diocese, which 
  found it too expensive to maintain. It has since been 
  extensively refitted in keeping with the pseudoscientific 
  iconography of the Eighth Day Church (see p.136). The 
  new metal-clad structure combines post-modernist 
  lines with the imposing authority of medieval Gothic 
  cathedrals. Tapestries behind the altar vividly depict 
  a future war between super-humans and aliens. 
  They jarringly combine the aesthetics of the Bayeux 
  Tapestry with Topp’s original Mars Attacks bubblegum 
  cards. Their aliens and ships are more inspired by H. 
  R. Giger than 1950’s pulp covers, though.
  Everybody says that its flamboyant founder, Gilles 
  Tremblay, installed various fortress-like facilities, 
  including an impregnable fallout shelter, in the 
  building when he remodeled it. They’re there to make 
  the church a defensive strong point when the aliens 
  invade, or so the story goes. Supposedly, its spires have 
  even been outfitted with emplacements for machine- 
  and anti-aircraft guns, which can be assembled with 
  parts from the vault on a few hour’s notice.
  the institution: The Bulwark Of God is a congregation 
  of the Eighth Day Church, regarded as a loose cannon by 
  more conservative followers of that new faith. It draws 
  a large congregation to Tremblay’s showy, emotionally 
  potent church services. The cathedral supports an 
  impressive network of social outreach charities, 
  including soup kitchens, addiction counseling, and 
  women’s shelters. Tremblay also aggressively funds 
  combat training for church members and other 
  volunteers, to which both mutants and DNASes may 
  apply. Although this project is regarded as sinister by 
  many people, including most cops, he says that he’s 
  merely preparing for the sadly inevitable war against 
  the saucer people.
  The cathedral is a frequent target of attacks by zealots 
  of all stripes. They include anti-mutant types as well 
  as various religious fanatics, including members of 
  rival sect within the Eighth Day church, which predicts 
  an environmental collapse instead of an alien attack.
  GILLES TrEMBLAY
  “At the day of reckoning, we will be reforged, in a 
  crucible of alien fire.” 
  Gilles Tremblay was a pipe-fitter from rural Quebec 
  when, in the wake of the SME, he developed the power 
  to heal others, and to mend his own rent flesh. After 
  a few years as a well-paid healer, he started his own 
  heretical Catholic cult, proclaiming himself a saint. 
  When the Eighth Day church arose, he switched 
  affiliations, aligning himself with its predictions of 
  a an unspecified future disaster which would be 
  averted by its worshipers. Four years ago, during 
  an election to choose the church’s next Moderator, 
  Tremblay announced that he had received an ecstatic 
  vision of a terrible alien invasion. Although he lost the 
  election to a more moderate figure, he has gone on to 
  build a cult of personality around himself, within the 
  church. Church leaders have deftly acknowledged the 
  possibility of Tremblay’s claims without fully endorsing 
  them, preventing a schism. 
  Tremblay moved to Mutant City to further develop 
  his empire, establishing the Bulwark Of God as its 
  temporal outpost.
  In person, he is a short, squat man whose wild hair 
  wreathes his head like a crazy halo. He speaks in a 
  charismatically intense manner, most often about 
  himself.
  General Abilities: Athletics 8, Driving 4, Filch 4, Health 
  7, Infiltration 4, Mechanics 6, Medic 4, Preparedness 8, 
  Scuffling 8, Shooting 12, Stability 12, Surveillance 8.
  Mutant Powers: 
  Healing 
  12, 
  Regeneration 
  6, 
  Transmutation 4
  defect: Megalomania
  
  145
  building mutant city
  CITY HALL
  Location: use the existing city hall for your chosen 
  location
  the institution: The SME has done little to change the 
  structure and function of municipal government. City 
  Hall has, however, beefed up its security measures, in 
  part by hiring Betula Security to guard its facilities and 
  key personnel.
  MAYOr MANUEL NArANjO
  “Don’t worry, friends—Mayor Manny is here for you!”
  Manuel Naranjo, known to friend and foe alike as 
  Manny, is a bundle of energy and model of civic 
  boosterism. A self-made man, he parlayed his family’s 
  neighborhood furniture store into a city-wide chain of 
  mid-priced stores. His successful election was due in 
  large part to his high recognition factor as the star of 
  his own television advertising. Manny loves to glad-
  hand and preside at high-profile events. As a politician, 
  he’s a consummate balancer of competing community 
  interests. He hates it when a big criminal case hits 
  the headlines, especially if it makes the city look 
  dangerous to tourists and investors. Naranjo’s fiercely 
  protective staffers, many of whom came up with him 
  in the Hispanic Business Association, are quick to lean 
  on police headquarters when an alarming case seems 
  to be dragging on too long.
  Naranjo considers the heightened an overly vocal 
  community who lack the sheer numbers at the voting 
  booth to justify sustained attention. Rather than 
  addressing their deeper concerns, he placates them, 
  hoping they’ll shut up.
  General Abilities: Athletics 2, Driving 2, Health 6, 
  Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: none
  COUNCILLOr BrIAN SCHMIEdErEr
  “Okay, first thing we should do is set up a task force to 
  deal with this, with plenty of community consultation. 
  And then we’ll draw up a feasibility study and—wow, 
  this’ll be great!”
  The only mutant city councilor is Brian Schmiederer, 
  whose ward includes a funky downtown neighborhood 
  with high concentrations of the heightened, gays, and 
  artists. Schmiederer is an energetic, idealistic guy 
  who’s always coming up with new ideas—some of 
  them good but unworkable, others just plain kooky. His 
  constituents love him, thanks to his charm and tireless 
  appearances at community events.
  He’s an advocate of a careful public relations approach 
  to heightened affairs. Schmeiderer advises the mutant 
  community to keep their cool, project a non-threatening 
  image, and show understanding toward those who fear 
  them. Radical mutants rights activists take as many 
  shots at him as do the anti-mutant crowd.
  With his oversized glasses, skinny frame, and over-
  reliance on polo shirts, he resembles a young Elvis 
  Costello gone preppie. He mentions his mutant powers 
  in his campaign literature and can occasionally be seen 
  to use his Translation ability when communicating 
  with constituents. Brian lives with his partner of seven 
  years, a city fireman named Greg Carlos.
  General Abilities: Athletics 5, Fleeing 8, Health 7, 
  Stability 8.
  Mutant Powers: Empathy 8, Translation 8.
  POLICE HEAdQUArTErS
  Location: use the existing police HQ for your chosen 
  city.
  POLICE COMMISSIONEr 
  ELLIS dEAkINS
  “Fine work, detective. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m 
  late for a function…”
  Ellis Deakins rose to fame in the first year of the SME, 
  as the commanding officer at the scene of the ### Park 
  Riot. Deakins’ calm authority helped to quell the riot 
  and was widely credited with preventing a stampede 
  that could have resulted in hundreds of deaths. Lionized 
  in the media, he rose quickly through the ranks and 
  was easily confirmed as police commissioner five 
  years ago. Looked to as a source of calm in an often 
  turbulent time, Deakins appears regularly on the Tv 
  news. Lately his high approval rating has aroused the 
  ire of the mayor’s staff, who see him as stealing the 
  boss’ media limelight. 
  Deakins is a volunteer at his church, a staple of charity 
  fundraising throughout the city, and a devoted husband 
  
  146
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  and father of six. All but one of his children are cops or 
  headed for police careers. His newfound connections 
  to the upper echelons of society have led him to 
  occasionally exert pressure on his watch commanders 
  on behalf of the wealthy and privileged.
  During the riot, he saved anti-mutant protesters, but 
  later participated in the investigation that revealed 
  the protest leaders as having hired the heightened 
  killers. This even-handedness led to a reputation as 
  a trustworthy broker between communities when 
  disputes arise.
  Cop house rumors have it that Deakins owes his 
  ### Park heroism to a secret weapon: one or more 
  officers with the Emotion Control or Endorphin Control 
  (Others) powers, who discreetly calmed the crowd by 
  influencing its most volatile members.
  General Abilities: Athletics 4, Driving 4, Health 6, 
  Infiltration 4, Scuffling 4, Shooting 5,
  Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: none
  CHIEF OF dETECTIvES 
  dENNIS SHOCkLEY
  “Detective, if you know what’s good for you and your 
  career, you’ll retract what you just said, turn an about-
  face, and never address me again. I trust I make myself 
  clear.”
  A skilled bureaucratic infighter, Dennis Shockley 
  ensures his survival in a difficult post by balancing 
  two sometimes-incompatible forces. His overall 
  performance is judged by the clearance rates of his 
  various detective squads, including the HCIU. Focusing 
  on the goal of higher percentages with a shark-like 
  intensity, he’s never reluctant to chew out his watch 
  commanders when the numbers start to slip. On the 
  other hand, he understands on a visceral level the 
  importance of cultivating personal relationships with 
  the police commissioner and mayor’s office. When 
  they call him to demand quick results, or to press the 
  department to alter its behavior toward an important 
  constituency, he follows through without qualm. When 
  Shockley takes an interest in a quick clearance—or 
  demands that a case be buried—the detectives hear 
  about it, fast, from their watch commander.
  In person, Shockley maintains a stiff, stern, 
  unapproachable posture. The motor pools and evidence 
  lockers of the city’s police force are full of formerly 
  touted detectives who crossed him, and remain in 
  career purgatory because of it.
  General Abilities: Athletics 5, Driving 4, Health 6, 
  Infiltration 2, Scuffling 4, Shooting 8, Stability 8, 
  Surveillance 4.
  Mutant Powers: None
  HCIU HQ
  Location: The HCIU offices are housed in on the top 
  floor of an urban precinct house. Their level of decay 
  matches the current prevailing situation in your city. 
  If police offices are always well-maintained and 
  appointed, the PCs enjoy positive working conditions. 
  They may examine evidence displays on fancy touch-
  screen plasmas and scoop up information on their sweet 
  new laptops, via super-fast broadband connections. 
  If not, they’re stuck in unpleasant surroundings and 
  are forced to deal with cramped quarters, obsolete 
  computer and phone equipment, and perpetually 
  failing plumbing.
  Their section of the building includes at least two 
  interrogation rooms, a large shared office space, and 
  an office for each of the four watch commanders. HCIU 
  space includes a private set of lockers, a shower, and a 
  small dark room featuring a single army-surplus cot. 
  Detectives take power naps to keep their brains semi-
  functional during long shifts.
  Holding cells are on the building’s lower level, in the 
  area of the building reserved for uniformed patrol 
  officers. Detectives don’t have much cause to venture 
  into uni territory, except to pass through the central 
  foyer where the desk sergeant monitors people 
  traveling in and out of the station house. 
  LIEUTENANT ErIC krOSE
  “I want this case closed fast, and closed right.”
  Former hostage negotiator Eric Krose is the only HCIU 
  watch commander who’s held the post since the unit’s 
  initial formation. He currently enjoys an exemplary 
  clearance rate and by no means intends it to slip. 
  Krose maintains an air of easy authority. Despite his 
  occasional terse outbursts when his detectives get 
  bogged down in a case, he’s a supportive commander 
  ready to go to the wall for his men if necessary. 
  Unfortunately, he can’t afford to antagonize the chief 
  
  147
  building mutant city
  of detectives, having stood up to his political demands 
  a few times too many. A straight shooter, Krose is 
  willing to see the rules bent only so far, and then only 
  when underhanded tactics clearly serve a greater 
  good. Although in his fifties, he continues to cut a 
  dashing figure around the office, with his craggy jaw 
  and marathoner’s physique.
  A 
  mahogany-framed 
  picture 
  of 
  his 
  beautiful, 
  wheelchair-bound wife and three coltish teenage 
  daughters takes pride of place on Krose’s desk.
  Though not himself a mutant, Krose has come to identify 
  with the heightened. He constantly reminds his people, 
  super-powered and DNAS alike, that they’re there to 
  defend the 99% of decent, law-abiding mutants, and 
  not just to lock up the minority of creeps. 
  General Abilities: Athletics 10, Driving 6, Health 
  8, Infiltration 4, Mechanics 2, Medic 2, Scuffling 6, 
  Shooting 6, Stability 10, Surveillance 6.
  Mutant Powers: None
  LIEUTENANT NINA PErrEAU
  “Every second you’re out on that street, you’re being 
  judged, detective—and don’t you forget it.”
  The newest addition to the ranks of HCIU watch 
  commanders is Lt. Nina Perreau, who received a lateral 
  promotion to the post after a mixed performance as 
  head of the Fraud squad. As both a woman and an 
  African-American, Perreau’s career has been dogged 
  by locker room whispers that she’s a mediocrity who 
  owes her promotions to her minority status. Perhaps 
  as a result, Perreau, a short and slightly matronly 
  woman, commands with a noticeable chip on her 
  shoulder. She’s quick to chew out subordinates at the 
  slightest hint of disrespect. From her point of view, she 
  takes flack for minor missteps that would be forgiven 
  in any other commander. She’s especially tough on any 
  squad members who happen to be visible minorities 
  as well as mutants, on the grounds that they have to be 
  twice as good as the male Caucasian officers they’re 
  competing with. Her perception of herself as a victim 
  of subtle institutional prejudice inspires her to push 
  hard on cases with a mutant-rights angle. On normal 
  days, her main goal in life is to exceed Eric Krose’s 
  clearance rate.
  Perreau is a divorced mother of two. Her son Andrew 
  is an intern at the city’s busiest hospital, and her 
  daughter Patrice pursues an MBA at a top university.
  General Abilities: Athletics 3, Driving 2, Health 6, 
  Infiltration 3, Medic 2, Scuffling 4, Shooting 6,
  Stability 12, Surveillance 6.
  Mutant Powers: none
  LIEUTENANT HOYT HAIGH
  “People have good reason for thinkin’ we’re freaks.”
  From his donut-eating physique and rumpled clothing 
  to his gruff, stolid demeanor, Hoyt Haigh appears every 
  inch the old school cop. 
  He had been a desk sergeant for many years when, 
  while defusing a squad room brawl, he revealed 
  his mutant powers. Haigh had disintegrated the 
  floorboards beneath a mammoth, PCP-addled perp 
  gone berserk, safely lodging him in the resulting hole 
  
  148
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  until his colleagues could get their tasers out. Three 
  years ago, when heightened rights activists protested 
  the lack of gene-expressive individuals in the HCIU 
  command structure, the chief of detectives elevated 
  Haigh from his happy obscurity to the heartburn-rich 
  environment of the unit. 
  Haigh seems content with the lowest clearance rate of 
  all the unit watch commanders. Opinion in the unit is 
  divided as to whether he thinks himself untouchable, or 
  is hoping to get busted back down to his comparatively 
  stress-free former position. At any rate, the screw-
  ups and loose cannons on the squad tend to gravitate 
  toward him. Whenever the PCs have a problem with a 
  fellow unit member, it’s probably with one of Haigh’s 
  detectives. Persistent rumors have it that Haigh ran 
  with dirty cops early in his career, when he served in 
  the vice squad.
  If it weren’t for his own genetic status, Haigh would be 
  considered an anti-mutant bigot. He routinely refers to 
  the heightened as lixers, spazmos, and chromes. His 
  contempt for goobs is especially ill-concealed. Then 
  again, his discomfort level with women, blacks, Asians 
  and Hispanics isn’t exactly hidden, either.
  Seemingly ashamed of his genetic status, he never 
  uses his Disintegration power when he doesn’t have to, 
  and has so far kept his other mutant abilities secret.
  Haigh is twice-divorced and lives with a long-term 
  partner, Monica Landford, who he continually derides 
  as a nagging pain in the ass. 
  General Abilities: Athletics 2, Driving 6, Filch 4, Health 
  5, Infiltration 2, Mechanics 4, Preparedness 5, Scuffling 
  8, Shooting 4, Stability 4, Surveillance 6.
  Mutant Powers: Disintegration 16, Transmutation 4, 
  Healing 4
  LIEUTENANT SEAN BEvAN
  “The mayor’s office wants this to go away quietly. So 
  that’s what’s going to happen.”
  The youngest watch commander in the squad is Sean 
  Bevan, an adroit political maneuverer tipped for a 
  sterling career in the department’s higher reaches. 
  The oldest son of a widowed supermarket cashier, 
  Bevan worked three jobs to put himself through the 
  police academy. He ingratiated himself to the mayor by 
  working tirelessly for his first election campaign, and 
  won a cushy job as the mayor’s driver soon after joining 
  the force. Bevan parlayed his connections to a series 
  of plum assignments, finally securing his present 
  post at the HCIU. The most media-conscious of the 
  watch commanders, Bevan sees to it that his boyishly 
  handsome face is splashed across the front pages 
  whenever a high-profile case hits his desk. Observers 
  of department politics can’t quite decide whether he’s 
  angling for a job as police brass, or aiming for electoral 
  office. Although Bevan’s clearance rate is not as high 
  as Krose’s, he’s the one the politicos go to when they 
  need something handled quietly, or with media savvy. 
  Bevan’s network of contacts at all levels of the city’s 
  power structure enables him to pull strings for his 
  detectives. However, he’s strictly a quid pro quo kind of 
  guy. When he does a favor for you, he makes sure you 
  understand that one day he’ll come to collect on it.
  Bevan’s interest in mutant affairs is limited to their 
  high media profile. As far as he’s concerned, the HCIU 
  is a stepping stone, not a cause or crusade. On camera, 
  he supports mutant rights precisely to the extent that 
  mainstream public opinion allows.
  Bevan is married to his childhood sweetheart, who 
  is currently expecting their first child. Demure and 
  poised, she seems well cast for the role of political 
  wife.
  General Abilities: Athletics 10, Driving 8, Health 10, 
  Infiltration 2, Scuffling 4, Shooting 12,
  Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: None
  SErGEANT MIkE NAdLEr
  “Hang on, kid. There’s only one of me.”
  When detectives need the assistance of uniformed 
  officers, they go through the station’s desk sergeant, 
  Mike Nadler1. With his broad shoulders, world-weary 
  bearing, and shrewdly suspicious sense of character, 
  he fits the role of patrolman herder to a T. 
  Nadler never has enough men to go around, 
  and responds to all requests for assistance with 
  beleaguered sighs. After letting the detectives know 
  1. If you want to be strictly realistic about it, you’ll create at least two additional desk sergeants, varying their appearance by shift. But who 
  wants to remember that many desk sergeants? 
  
  149
  building mutant city
  how badly they’re imposing on him, he always manages 
  to get the job done—though perhaps more slowly than 
  impatient investigators would like. Nadler is required 
  to be responsive to the watch commanders but does 
  not answer to them. He outranks the detectives but is 
  not in their chain of command. The sergeant, a father 
  of five and grandfather of six, refers to any detective 
  under the age of fifty as “kid.” He bristles visibly when 
  he overhears a uniformed officer make disparaging 
  remarks about mutants. Although he doesn’t broadcast 
  the fact, his eldest granddaughter recently developed 
  the ability to walk through walls.
  General Abilities: Athletics 4, Driving 6, Health 5, 
  Infiltration 4, Mechanics 4, Medic 2, Scuffling 8, 
  Shooting 4, Stability 13, Surveillance 4.
  Mutant Powers: None
  MEdICAL ExAMINEr’S 
  OFFICE
  Location: Depending on your chosen location, 
  autopsies in criminal cases may take place in a 
  standalone facility, in a department of a hospital, or 
  at the forensic services headquarters (see below.) For 
  narrative convenience you may wish to depart from 
  reality and fold the medical examiner’s facility and 
  forensic services into a single institution, as is often 
  done in Tv procedurals.
  Some jurisdictions use the term “coroner” instead of 
  “medical examiner.”
  MAdS jENSEN
  “This poor fellow—how he must have suffered in his 
  final moments.”
  The city’s chief medical examiner is a mournful Dane 
  who has never lost the ability to empathize with his 
  subjects as people. He verbally reconstructs their 
  final moments in sympathetic and overly vivid detail. 
  However, he can’t help himself from becoming giddily 
  excited by the opportunity to dissect subjects bearing 
  obvious mutant physiology. 
  A recovering alcoholic, Jensen speaks in twelve-
  step aphorisms. A dedicated fan of rock music with 
  a particular interest in Nordic death metal, Jensen 
  bonds with any squad member who shows signs of 
  being a record buff.
  (Depending on the size of the jurisdiction, the chief 
  medical examiner may actually perform autopsies, 
  or might be an administrator who hasn’t touched a 
  corpse in years. For larger jurisdictions, make Jensen 
  a staff pathologist.)
  General Abilities: Athletics 4, Health 6, Mechanics 4, 
  Medic 12, Stability 6, Surveillance 4.
  Mutant Powers: None
  POLICE FOrENSIC 
  SErvICES
  Location: Research the police forensics lab of your 
  chosen police department; it is probably an visually 
  uninspiring structure tucked away in an industrial 
  zone.
  the institution: Decide whether you want your crime 
  lab to be a futuristic, gleaming facility seen in many 
  Tv procedural shows, or the drably utilitarian set-up 
  found in reality. For the sake of dramatic continuity, 
  depart from strict realism by allowing the lab techs to 
  get results to the detectives within hours or days, as 
  opposed to the weeks or months most understaffed 
  and underfunded labs are capable of. Also allow HCIU 
  detectives to use the equipment to perform their own 
  tests, which would be forbidden in real life.
  Forensic services include: 
  • Artist reconstruction services. These 
  include suspect sketches, sculpted facial 
  reconstructions from skulls, and aged 
  portraits of individuals who have been missing 
  or wanted for a long time since their last 
  known photographs. (These functions can 
  be performed by characters with ratings of 
  at least 2 in both Art History and Forensic 
  Anthropology.)
  • Ballistics testing.
  • Data retrieval.
  • Document analysis.
  • Fingerprint identification
  • Photo lab.
  • Physical evidence analysis.
  • Plan drawing. This department creates floor 
  plans and 3D computer models of crime 
  scenes. (These functions can be performed by 
  characters with the Architecture ability.)
  
  150
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  SHELdON FITTON
  “I’m just not sure about the nose.”
  Reconstructive artist Sheldon Fitton is a middle-
  aged man with a friendly manner who seems utterly 
  untouched by the grim subject matter of his work. He 
  lives in the suburbs, coaches a kid’s softball team, and 
  is a master at the barbecue, eager to swap marinade 
  recipes.
  General Abilities: Athletics 2, Driving 2, Health 6, 
  Mechanics 4, Medic 2, Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: none
  LEONArd NOrTHrUP
  “This is a hollow-point bullet all right, but one 
  intended for increased accuracy in target shooting, 
  not to do greater damage on impact with flesh. Not 
  the ammunition I’d choose if I were premeditating 
  murder.” 
  No one loves guns and ammos with greater fervor 
  than the alarmingly intense Leonard Northrup. 
  Balding, mustachioed and extravagantly muscled for 
  a man pushing sixty, Leonard is a down-the-line law-
  and-order man and lifetime member of the country’s 
  leading gun owner’s movement. He assumes that all 
  cops share his reflexively right-wing views, which he 
  wears on his sleeve—literally, as a series of patriotic 
  tattoos, from back in the day when only sailors, soldiers 
  and longshoremen sported ink.
  General Abilities: Athletics 8, Driving 4, Health 10, 
  Mechanics 6, Medic 4, Preparedness 4, Scuffling 6, 
  Shooting 18, Stability 6.
  Mutant Powers: None
  MArIYA zOLOTUkHIN
  “There is no data which can be erased so that I may 
  not find it.”
  The lab’s data retrieval expert is a dour young 
  Russian whose small talk consists mostly of minor 
  complaints about her day, especially the difficulty of 
  the work detectives have assigned to her. Although 
  quite beautiful, she makes no effort to look good, 
  and responds to flirtations with a sense of impatient 
  nausea. What she lacks in personal sparkle she makes 
  up for with miraculous feats of computer wizardry. She 
  is highly secretive about her mutant status, especially 
  around others of her kind.
  General Abilities: Athletics 2, Health 6, Mechanics 6, 
  Preparedness 4, Stability 5.
  Mutant Powers: Armor 4, Blade Immunity 6, Entangling 
  Hair 6.
  CHIEkO rENAN
  “It’s your lucky day, detectives: the paper bears a 
  specialty watermark.”
  In her spare time, document analysis expert Chieko 
  Renan practices origami and writes unpublished 
  mystery novels about a plucky document analyst who 
  solves crimes the poor stupid police detectives are 
  too dumb to understand. Although her work is top-
  notch, she will, if not interrupted, bombard the team 
  with completely absurd theories of the crime they’re 
  investigating. She’s a slightly plump woman in her 
  thirties who owns many pairs of cute eyeglasses. 
  Her somewhat unusual name reflects her Japanese-
  French heritage.
  General Abilities: Health 5, Mechanics 3, Stability 8.
  Mutant Powers: None
  Ed “THE TEd” rILEY
  “Sorry, dudes. The print is too blurred to get more than 
  a four-point match.”
  Fingerprint and evidence analysis guru Ed Riley wears 
  loud Hawaiian shirts under his lab coats, used to be a 
  championship video game player, and is trying to lose 
  eighty pounds before his wedding, scheduled for two 
  years from now. As a young man he learned to hide his 
  brilliant intellect behind a curtain of nerd humor and 
  surfer-speak. He refers to himself as “The Ted” and 
  encourages others to do likewise.
  General Abilities: Athletics 3, Health 3, Mechanics 12, 
  Stability 10.
  Mutant Powers: None
  
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  building mutant city
  LUCY BELLAvEr
  “It’s amazing how much this FBI software can enhance 
  a simple JPEG, isn’t it?”
  Photographic technician Lucy Bellaver is a former nun 
  who decided to pursue the Lord’s work by helping to 
  protect the meek from the predatory. Although she’s 
  renounced her vows, she remains celibate, living alone 
  in a small downtown apartment. From the way she 
  talks, Detectives may mistakenly believe that she’s 
  shacked up with somebody named Martin. This is the 
  name of her beloved pet, an African grey parrot.
  General Abilities: Health 6, Mechanics 4, Preparedness 
  4, Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: None
  HENrY GLASS
  “I compared the measurements we took at the scene 
  and the original plans and found a six-foot discrepancy. 
  If I were you, I’d go back and check for a secret 
  compartment, right about—here.”
  Failed architect Henry Glass works for the plan drawing 
  department. Though brilliant at his job, detectives have 
  to be careful to keep him on topic, or he’ll launch into 
  a critique of the visionless idiots who built whatever 
  structure he’s drawing or reconstructing. He has to 
  check himself from treating the detectives like all the 
  lackey architecture students who used to work for him 
  back before his firm went bankrupt. Glass is in his mid-
  forties, wears thick-framed glasses, and surrounds 
  himself with objects of severe modernist design.
  General Abilities: Health 5, Mechanics 2, Stability 7.
  Mutant Powers: None
  Protesters and 
  Activists
  When a case takes on political overtones—as it often 
  does in Mutant City—detectives may find themselves 
  dealing with the town’s rich tapestry of activists, 
  community leaders, and pot-stirrers.
  NEUTrAL PArITY 
  LEAGUE
  The Neutral Parity League upholds the supposedly 
  downtrodden rights of the 99% of the population without 
  mutant powers. It is the successor organization to the 
  Human Integrity Campaign, which was revealed to have 
  hired murderous mutants to disrupt their own rally, leading 
  to the ### Park Riot. Present leaders of the League 
  disclaim affiliation with the violent methods of the HIC, 
  but carry on its vehement rhetoric. (“Neutral” refers to the 
  DNA-neutral status of its membership, not its attitude.) 
  Though open to so-called “pures” of all races and 
  creeds, the NPL borrows stylistically from ultra-right 
  nativist groups from around the world. The NPL’s feared 
  youth wing marks itself by displaying a distinctive 
  tattoo on the back of the neck or shaved head. The 
  tattoo depicts a grotesque caricature of a mutant, 
  surrounded by a red circle with a bar through it. Aside 
  from this single tattoo, they disavow all piercings and 
  body modifications, as a tribute to the untrammeled 
  purity of their flesh. They are known colloquially as 
  barheads. Although they use the term themselves, 
  they reserve the right to treat it as a slur (and therefore 
  cause for a fight) when uttered by outsiders.
  CONrAd PrIESTLEY
  The NPL’s political leader is Conrad Priestley, a gray-
  faced, badly dressed man who lives by himself in an 
  apartment full of political tracts and semi-feral cats. 
  Perhaps because the lingering smell of feline urine is 
  imperceptible on television, he is an oddly compelling 
  guest on shows where persons of extreme views 
  scream at each other. In his younger days, Priestley 
  was expelled from the University Of ### for vandalism. 
  Before the SME he self-published works of Holocaust 
  revisionism, but now welcomes the comradeship of his 
  Jewish pure brethren against the mutant threat.
  General Abilities: Athletics 4, Health 4, Stability 8.
  Mutant Powers: None
  
  152
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  rICHArd wAYNE jASON
  The wiry and vicious Richard Wayne Jason serves as 
  leader of the NPL’s youth wing, when he’s not doing 
  time in prison for assault. He favors the use of all 
  three names to give himself that serial killer vibe, even 
  though his own crimes have never gone beyond bone-
  breaking. He’s short tempered and easily goaded. 
  While in jail, he hangs out with his buddies in the Aryan 
  Nation.
  General Abilities: Athletics 12, Filch 12, Health 12, 
  Infiltration 8, Mechanics 6, Medic 6, Preparedness 6, 
  Scuffling 12, Stability 3.
  Mutant Powers: None
  THE rACkS
  Where there are NPL thugs, their rivals, the Racks, are 
  never far behind, tire irons and bicycle chains in hand. 
  (The name conflates the phrase “righteous activists.”) 
  They’re a loosely affiliated network of anti-bigotry youth 
  activists who welcome heightened members and enjoy 
  busting heads in furtherance of a righteous cause. 
  The Racks combine a flair for inclusive rhetoric with 
  an aggressive taste for violence. In several incidents, 
  mutant members have badly harmed NPLers and 
  bystanders, 
  increasing 
  anti-heightened 
  tensions 
  throughout the city.
  AdONI GUErrA
  The Racks are headed by the charismatic lunkhead 
  Adoni Guerra, a former political science major at 
  the University of ### who dropped out to pursue his 
  vocation of ass-kicking full time. He lives in a squat 
  with the inner circle of the Racks and makes his 
  meager living from a variety of street hustles, including 
  occasional forays into minor league drug dealing. He 
  handles inquisitive cops by cheerfully talking their 
  ears off until they get tired of him and leave him alone. 
  Guerra is currently on probation for torching Conrad 
  Priestley’s car.
  General Abilities: Athletics 12, Driving 4, Filch 8, Health 
  12, Infiltration 6, Mechanics 4, Medic 4, Scuffling 12, 
  Stability 6, Surveillance 4.
  Mutant Powers: Fire Immunity 4, Spontaneous 
  Combustion 8, Toxin Immunity (Ingested) 4
  defect: Trance Susceptible (incipient)
  The Mutant 
  Community
  The city includes notable exponents of most major 
  mutant movements, many of whom are quick to insert 
  themselves into high-profile HCIU cases as a way of 
  gaining publicity for themselves.
  Local mutants tend to cluster in Helixtown, a once-
  shabby downtown neighborhood now in the midst of a 
  gentrification process.
  CAPECON ENTErPrISES
  Headquartered throughout the year in modest offices 
  in an converted warehouse shared by various boutiques 
  and small web design firms, CapeCon Enterprises rises 
  phoenix-like, once every August, to stage CapeCon, 
  the biggest science fiction, comic book and mutant 
  fandom event in the country. The rest of the year, 
  this not-for-profit organization serves as an informal 
  hub for the Mutant City’s goob population. Some fans 
  complain that its membership has grown ossified 
  and insular over the years. Its core membership is 
  composed of ex-members of Blue Team, a group of 
  mutant vigilantes who dropped out of active crime-
  fighting after finding themselves on the receiving end 
  of several vicious thrashings. Logistical snafus abound 
  at its convention, but that doesn’t stop the fans from 
  coming. In addition to its iconic event, CapeCon stages 
  readings and appearances throughout the year.
  BETSY “STEELTrAP” SPErLING
  “I probably shouldn’t reveal this, but when he was a 
  guest at the ’04 show, he was hoovering up the Peruvian 
  marching powder like tomorrow wasn’t coming.”
  Betsy Sperling is not the official high commander of 
  CapeCon Enterprises: that honor goes to Blue Team 
  founder Eugene “Thunder Squall” Pavnicki. However, 
  while Eugene swans around posing for photo ops 
  and doing interviews, Executive Administrator Betsy 
  Sperling takes charge of all the organizational heavy 
  lifting. Having insinuated herself into her present role 
  from an initial position as a queen bee volunteer, she 
  now jealously guards her secrets and prerogatives. 
  Notorious for keeping no records except in her head, 
  Betsy has all of the show’s details at her sharp-
  
  153
  building mutant city
  tongued command. If something happened to her, the 
  show would collapse into utter disaster—a fact she’s 
  always ready to remind you of, if you happen to forget. 
  She incessantly complains of the burdens placed on 
  her, while viciously resisting any effort to pry even the 
  smallest responsibility from her hands. An incorrigible 
  gossip, Betsy can be relied upon to gather—and freely 
  dispense—the secret poop on any notable member of 
  the goob community. A middle-aged woman with long, 
  limp blond hair, Betsy keeps trying to lose weight, but 
  is always thwarted by omnipresent snack food when 
  the stress of convention season descends.
  Betsy has used her Memory Alteration power 
  precisely once, to erase a fellow committee member’s 
  recollection of an embarrassing gaffe she made during 
  a show. She has regretted this ever since, and sworn 
  never to deploy it again.
  General Abilities: Driving 4, Athletics 4, Health 4, 
  Medic 4, Preparedness 8, Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: Memory Alteration 12, Precision 
  Memory 12.
  defect: Megalomania (incipient)
  CNM FrEEdOM HALL
  The Continental Nation Of Mutants (p. 136) congregates 
  in an extensively remodeled private community center 
  which it calls a Freedom Hall, as it does in any major 
  city. Its amenities include a gym, pool, seminar rooms, 
  day care facilities, and a small theater suitable for 
  meetings, theatrical productions, or film screenings. 
  The walls are festooned with fliers, banners and posters 
  promoting the group’s separatist agenda. It advocates 
  the conversion of Helixtown into a an autonomous 
  zone, run by and for its mutant populace. Some might 
  argue that its hotheads and ideologues are drawn to 
  this goal precisely because it is impossible—it allows 
  them to maintain their stance of moral superiority 
  without ever having to run anything bigger than the 
  Freedom Hall itself. In the meantime, however, many 
  of its younger members pursue the more modest 
  goal of making non-mutant residents of this rapidly 
  gentrifying neighborhood feel unwelcome. Their 
  harassment techniques range from verbal catcalls to 
  late night assaults. The more moderate adults who run 
  the hall concentrate on their boycott of non-mutant 
  businesses. 
  EddIE “THE MACHINE” FLOrENCE
  “Each species should rule its own affairs—you in 90% 
  of the world, us in our one. Where’s the hatred in that, 
  my friend?”
  The leader of the Mutant City Freedom Hall (official 
  title: Chapter Chairperson) is the outwardly gregarious 
  Eddie Florence, a second-generation veteran of black 
  activist organizations who has turned his mutant 
  status into a new cause. His smiling, backslapping 
  public manner belies his unsparing dedication to 
  the separatist cause. Florence plays the media 
  expertly, putting a benign face on the CNM for broad 
  consumption, while winding up the hard core with 
  incendiary rhetoric behind closed doors.
  General Abilities: Athletics 4, Health 6, Infiltration 
  4, Mechanics 4, Scuffling 4, Shooting 8, Stability 6, 
  Surveillance 2.
  Mutant Powers: Anticipate Others 8, Cognition 4, 
  Technopathy 12.
  
  154
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  GENETIC ACTION FrONT
  The local chapter of the Genetic Action Front (p. 135) 
  is headquartered in a dilapidated former car wash on 
  the margins of Helixtown, where it begins to fade into 
  an industrial zone. After repeated attacks by vandals, 
  it has been heavily fortified and tricked out with the 
  latest in surveillance gear. GEF slogans cover its ever-
  changing exterior coat of murals by mutant graffiti 
  artists. Its common area provides a twenty-four hour 
  refuge for the community’s malcontents, street people, 
  and scruffy idealists. 
  SHArON BrYSON
  “We have the power! No one can put us down!”
  Sharon Bryson heads the local GEF chapter. 
  Unapologetically loud and boisterous, she ping-
  pongs between joyous abandon and self-righteous 
  anger. Sharon rocks a classic punk-anarchist-dyke 
  look, typified by a bright pink mohawk and sleeveless 
  leopard-print sweatshirt. Her most shameful secret is 
  her seven-figure trust fund.
  General Abilities: Athletics 6, Filch 4, Health 6, 
  Infiltration 10, Mechanics 6, Medic 2, Preparedness 6, 
  Scuffling 10, Shooting 4, Stability 5, Surveillance 3.
  Mutant Powers: Lightning Decisions 2, Telepathy 10, 
  Speed 12.
  defect: Attention Deficit Disorder (stage one)
  HEIGHTENEd INFOrMATION 
  ALLIANCE
  The city’s mainstream mutants rights organization 
  (p. 135) naturally places its national headquarters 
  in the heart of Helixtown. It takes up the lower level 
  of a posh new condominium complex catering to the 
  most prosperous of the gene-expressive community. 
  The HIC’s well-appointed offices hum with modern 
  efficiency, as its dozens of staff members busy 
  themselves with press releases, grant proposals, 
  and white paper presentations. Brian Schmiederer’s 
  constituency office is right across the street, and he is 
  a frequent fixture here.
  jANICE SArALEGUI
  “I bet this problem has a simple solution if we all sit 
  down and put our minds to it.”
  Executive Director Janice Saralegui is a veteran of 
  various non-profit organizations, having headed an 
  affordable housing lobbying group, an arts fundraising 
  foundation, and a cancer research charity. She did not 
  come out as a mutant until applying for her present 
  position, a fact that continues to rankle more radical 
  expressive rights activists. Janice, a vivacious, slightly 
  pear-shaped woman in her early fifties, practices a 
  relaxed management style, earning her the loyalty 
  of her devoted staff. She regularly rubs elbows with 
  Lucius Quade, Galen Birch, and other of the city’s 
  leading lights, mutant and otherwise.
  General Abilities: Athletics 4, Health 6, Medic 2, 
  Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: Touch 3
  TEMPLE OF HELIOPOLIS
  The Heliopolans (p. 136) have built a gleaming golden 
  spire, combining architectural elements of mosque 
  and synagogue in a gaudy post-modern style. It rises 
  above the main drag of Helixtown, much to the chagrin 
  
  155
  building mutant city
  of the local community association, which fought 
  against it on the grounds that it’s out of keeping with 
  the neighborhood. Of course, the ultimate goal of 
  the Heliopolans is to leave the neighborhood forever, 
  in favor of their hypothetical future mutant nation in 
  Africa. The temple’s interior is surprisingly modest 
  and austere. Intimidating guards, all members of the 
  group, stand watch to keep outsiders away. Officers 
  of the organization are called Delegates in Exile, or 
  D.E.’s. 
  The group’s followers preach the virtues of their 
  imagined nation on street corners throughout 
  Helixtown. They also tithe their income to the national 
  building fund. Though skeptics accuse temple leader 
  Davon Riddle of embezzling the money, it is in fact all 
  accounted for, gathering interest in lucrative hedge 
  fund investments.
  dAvON rIddLE
  “I have granted you audience. Now speak.”
  Reclusive in the extreme, Heliopolan CDE (Chief 
  Delegate in Exile) Davon Riddle rarely meets with 
  outsiders, and never with non-mutants. Surprisingly 
  young, Riddle is intense and withdrawn. He says little, 
  dropping his scarce pronouncements like bombs. 
  Although the Heliopolans are putatively secular, he 
  adopts the manner of a prophet, wearing his hooded 
  sweatshirt like a monk’s robe.
  General Abilities: Athletics 8, Health 12, Scuffling 8, 
  Shooting 4, Stability 12.
  Mutant Powers: Fire Immunity 12, Spontaneous 
  Combustion 12
   relations between groups
  To assume that the various mutant activist groups work together when their goals 
  intersect is to display a vast naïveté about the nature of political factionalism. Each 
  organization sees its specific agenda as the only way forward for mutantkind. Groups 
  drawing the attention and energy of other mutants away from them are not only 
  counterproductive—they’re usually regarded as a worse threat than any force in 
  mainstream society. The opinions of the various radical leaders toward one another 
  are summed up in the following table.
  Sharon Bryson
  Eddie Florence
  Davon Riddle
  Janice 
  Saralegui
  Sharon Bryson
  —
  Doesn’t want to 
  overthrow the 
  oppressor—wants 
  to become the 
  oppressor 
  A spooky creep
  A tool of 
  The Man
  Eddie Florence
  A spoiled brat, 
  raised on 
  privilege
  —
  A dangerous 
  fantasist 
  devoted to an 
  impossible 
  cause
  A tool of 
  The Man
  Davon Riddle
  Unworthy of 
  consideration
  There’s a knife 
  behind his smile 
  —
  A tool 
  of the 
  inferior 
  species
  Janice Saralegui
  She needs a 
  mother figure
  He’s trouble, but 
  you can strike a 
  deal with him
  Let him 
  continue to 
  marginalize 
  himself
  —
  
  156
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Tips for GMs
  Cases in Mutant City Blues emulate the structure of 
  police procedural Tv shows (or novels) but with the 
  added element of socially realistic super powers. 
  To more closely evoke the spirit of most police 
  procedurals, add sub-plots (see p. 166) featuring the 
  personal stories of the HCIU investigators, including 
  their struggles with their SME defects, if any.
  CASES
  Each mystery in a Mutant City Blues series should 
  in some way hinge on the mutant experience, 
  highlighting the setting’s unique element. If a scenario 
  could be done as a standard police procedural in the 
  real world, there’s no point presenting it in this world. 
  This is not to say that every single case has to be a 
  murder investigation in which the killer turns out to 
  be a mutant. Mutants can be murdered by normals. 
  Normals can commit crimes, disguising the scenes so 
  they seem to have been committed by mutants. Cases 
  can reflect the impact of the mutants and mutations on 
  politics, sports, business, or culture. They might turn 
  on the forensics of super powers, or require the use of 
  a particular mutant investigative ability.
  STrUCTUrE
  The following case structure provides a solid starting 
  point for police procedurals in general, including 
  Mutant City Blues. 
  INTrOdUCTION
  Backstory: Provides a brief account of the case at 
  hand. If this was a television episode, this would be 
  the description that appears in the Tv listings.
  the Crime: A few lines describing the initial crime 
  that causes the HCIU to be assigned to the case.
  the suspects: A bullet-pointed rundown of the 
  various innocent parties who might appear on the 
  players’ suspect list.
  the twist: (optional) In some cases, identifying the 
  perpetrator simply sets up an additional obstacle for 
  the detectives to overcome. This might be a hostage 
  situation, a new crime committed by someone else, 
  or a difficult courtroom situation. 
  the Culprit(s): This entry briefly tells you who 
  committed the crime, and why.
  SCENES
  Arrange scenes in whatever order makes sense to 
  you. Group them by category, as given below, or in 
  likely order of occurrence. you may find it easier to 
  allow the PCs to set the pace and direction of the 
  investigation if you list them by category, allowing 
  them to find their own connections between scenes. 
  Players who fear railroading may accept this approach 
  more easily.
  interviews and interrogations: This type of scene 
  revolves around interactions with suspects and 
  witnesses, relying chiefly on Interpersonal abilities.
  Physical evidence: This category consists of scenes, 
  including the initial crime scene, where the chief 
  activity is the accumulation of physical evidence, 
  mostly with Technical abilities.
  information Gathering: In this type of scene, players 
  hit the books, using their Academic abilities to 
  increase their understanding of the people and events 
  associated with the crime.
  Action: These 
  are 
  scenes, 
  including 
  chases, 
  apprehensions, 
  standoffs, 
  and 
  super-powered 
  battles, where the heroes are tested in the use of 
  their General abilities. These sequences provide the 
  case’s narrative unpredictability: although the PCs 
  
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  are guaranteed to succeed in information gathering, 
  they can easily fail here.
  drama: These are scenes of character development 
  and conflict. In practice, many of these will be entirely 
  improvised, deriving from player-suggested Sub-
  Plots. However, on occasion you’ll want to introduce 
  dramatic sequences arising from the case itself, 
  which can apply to any character, or which are tailored 
  specifically to one PC. In the latter instance, make sure 
  you have contingency plans in case that player doesn’t 
  show up for a crucial session!
  Wrap-Up: This suggests one possible satisfactory 
  conclusion to the case, just to make sure that you have 
  one. Don’t force the players toward it. If they steer 
  the plot toward another suitable ending, embrace 
  it, adjusting as necessary. For example, you might 
  conceive of the ending as occurring during a shoot-out 
  with police, but the players might interact so adroitly 
  with the culprit that a dramatic confession scene 
  suddenly seems more appropriate.
   New GUMSHOE rule: 
  Leveraged Clues
  A staple element of police procedural 
  shows is the crucial fact which, when 
  presented to a previously resistant witness 
  or suspect, causes him to break down 
  and suddenly supply the information or 
  confession the detectives seek. This is 
  represented in GUMSHOE by the leveraged 
  clue. This is a piece of information which 
  is only available from the combined use of 
  an interpersonal ability, and the mention of 
  another, previously gathered clue. The cited 
  clue is called a prerequisite clue, and is by 
  definition a sub-category of core clue.
  Leveraged clues have always been implicit 
  in the system. Now we have an explicit 
  term for them. The sample scenario in this 
  book hinges on a leveraged clue.
  This rule applies to all GUMSHOE games.
  ON CONCEITS
  A conceit is a literary device necessary to satisfying 
  storytelling. It is often a departure from strict realism, 
  which the audience must simply accept in order to 
  enjoy the story. 
  Procedural Tv shows are rife with conceits. In one 
  very common example, the detectives have access 
  to incredibly sophisticated equipment. Their forensic 
  departments are never hampered by budget constraints 
  or bureaucratic snafus. The long backlogs for lab 
  work that plague real-world cops are never an issue 
  in the typical Tv cop show. Having characters wait for 
  months for lab results, or see their cases derailed by 
  shoddy low-bid contract work, would reflect the reality 
  of contemporary police work. It would also stop the 
  story dead—the teleplay equivalent of failing to get a 
  core clue into the characters’ hands. Therefore, except 
  in  rare shows like The Wire, which takes institutional 
  breakdown as one of its major themes, you simply 
  don’t see this happen.
  Another standard example, seen on almost every 
  show, is the conceit of primacy. The main characters, 
  even when established as ordinary, workaday law 
  enforcement officers, appear to be assigned to every 
  major case their agency is confronted with. Cases 
  which in real life would be handled by giant task forces 
  are routinely closed by our familiar cast of hero cops. In 
  the course of a year, they work about two dozen hugely 
  important cases, getting themselves into multiple gun 
  fights, disciplinary procedures, and sundry high-drama 
  scrapes. Over one season they see considerably more 
  action than a real-life top detective would face in an 
  entire career. As viewers, we accept this. We want our 
  main characters to navigate a new story each week, 
  instead of sitting around doing paperwork. The conceit 
  of primacy is so universal that we scarcely question it.
  Another nearly universal procedural conceit is that 
  of chronological unity. In the Law and Order franchise, 
  entire cases unfold from commission of crime to 
  completion of sentencing in what seems like a few 
  weeks. Here the writers fudge questions of timing to 
  collapse what in the real world might take several 
  years into one discrete episode.
  Perhaps the best example of a conceit, because it 
  departs so egregiously from reality in order to make the 
  show’s premise work, fuels the various versions of CSI. 
  There, forensic scientists take the lead in investigations, 
  going so far as to conduct interviews with witnesses. 
  This contravenes a cardinal rule of evidence control. 
  tipS for gmS
  
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  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  In the real world, lab techs aren’t allowed any contact 
  whatsoever with suspects. This protocol protects their 
  objectivity, allowing them to testify in court free of 
  accusations that their personal feelings toward the 
  defendant have colored their scientific conclusions. 
  However, since the protagonists of the CSI shows are 
  forensic scientists, the show’s basic conceit allows 
  them to do perform any task a regular cop character 
  would get to do on a standard procedural show. This 
  can be seen as an extreme example of the conceit of 
  primacy.
  GUMSHOE procedural series require their own conceits 
  in order to keep the story moving in an entertaining 
  manner. Like the CSI conceit, or chronological unity, 
  they require the audience’s complicity in looking the 
  other way. Here GM and players handwave certain 
  elements that break the rules of realism in order 
  to keep the game running smoothly. Just as the 
  aforementioned devices arise from the requirements 
  of Tv drama, GUMSHOE’s conceits grapple with the 
  limitations of a roleplaying session.
  The major device you’ll want to adopt, needed for 
  all but the smallest groups, is the conceit of elastic 
  participation. Roleplaying is traditionally a group effort; 
  cop shows tend to focus on small teams of investigators. 
  When an ensemble cast tackles a big case together, 
  they split into partnerships to split up necessary tasks. 
  The scriptwriters make sure that obstacles are always 
  matched to the capabilities of the characters in a given 
  scene. In a roleplaying game, where responsibility for 
  the obstacles lies with the GM and task splitting is 
  determined by the players, some additional fudging is 
  required to match the two elements.
  GUMSHOE works best when you assume that 
  everyone is kind-of sort-of along for every scene—
  without squinting too hard at any resulting logic or 
  staging absurdities. That way, the group continues 
  to enjoy collective access to all of the investigative 
  abilities needed to gather core clues. Perhaps even 
  more importantly, the concerted minds of four to six 
  untrained roleplayers are often needed to replicate the 
  deductive skill of a single professional investigator.
  Much of the time, you can collaborate with the group 
  to come up with ways to conceal the breaking of the 
  fourth wall that occurs when six people pile into 
  an interrogation room or examine the same piece 
  of physical evidence. Two-person teams can be 
  dispatched to perform particular tasks, while keeping 
  seamlessly in touch with the rest of the team. Assume, 
  for example, that suggestions given by players whose 
  characters aren’t present in a scene represent cell 
  phone conversations. Team members might wear ear 
  pieces so that the good and bad cop in the interrogation 
  room can receive prompts from other PCs on the other 
  side of the one-way mirror. A technical expert can lend 
  his ability to another PC by watching a video feed on 
  his laptop. When necessary, you can establish that 
  an absent character with a specialized ability briefed 
  the PC on the scene, telling him what to look for. In 
  many cases, one detective can bag and tag evidence 
  and let the technician look at it later. A suspect can 
  be left to cool his heels while the investigator with the 
  right interpersonal approach makes his way to the 
  interview.
  Most of the time, you can just let the group sort through 
  the clues without constantly justifying the use of the 
  elastic participation conceit. That’s what a conceit 
  does: it says, “Let’s not worry about this annoying bit 
  of realism.”
  Try to guide the group so that the splitting into teams 
  trope occurs during non-investigative sequences. A 
  stake-out that leads into a chase scene needn’t occur 
  under the assumption that everyone is “sort of there.” 
  By finding ways to break it every so often, you hide the 
  conceit.
  Enlist your players in maintaining it. Convey to them 
  the justification given here. Explain that what at first 
  seems to be a departure from police procedural 
  practice is in fact an extension of the same principle, 
  adapted to the needs of a roleplaying session. 
  (Elastic participation is not unique to investigative 
  games. Most groups playing a classic dungeon delve 
  campaign allow characters of absent players to be 
  present to use minor, exotic abilities. At the same time, 
  the characters are typically not treated as present 
  when a big fight breaks out.)
  you probably make regular use of other conceits, even 
  if you don’t use the term:
  • The conceit of climactic pacing: The degree 
  of spotlight time you give to a story branch 
  depends on where it appears in the course of 
  an episode. A scene that you might fill with 
  complications if the players choose to engage 
  with it in the early going is best disposed of in 
  a few sentences if it would prevent you from 
  placing the big finish near the end of a session. 
  
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  tipS for gmS
  you’ll probably drop the complications entirely 
  if the players only think to engage with the 
  scene after the climax.
  • In roleplaying, the conceit of primacy requires 
  PCs to solve a scenario’s central problems 
  themselves, rather than expecting supporting 
  characters to take risks for them. Only tasks 
  which are meant to be accomplished offstage 
  can be delegated effectively. 
  rUNNING THE GAME
  An investigative story in any medium is, by its very 
  nature, highly structured. The investigators learn 
  of a mystery, then move through a series of scenes, 
  each of which concludes in the acquisition of a clue 
  which segues into the next scene. The story reaches 
  its climax when the investigator discovers and reveals 
  the answer to the mystery. It may or may not conclude, 
  for extra punch, in a physical confrontation with the 
  story’s now revealed-antagonist.
  Structure can be difficult to achieve in the roleplaying 
  medium. Guide the players too little and they lose the 
  thread, resulting in a loose and sloppy narrative that 
  provides none of the neat, order-making pleasure the 
  genre is meant to provide. Guide them too much and 
  they feel that their freedom of action has been taken 
  away from them, and that they’re merely observers 
  moving through a predetermined sequence of events. 
  (As you probably know, this latter syndrome is known 
  in roleplaying jargon as railroading.)
  The trick to successfully running investigative 
  scenarios is to strike the right balance between the two 
  extremes. The exact balance is a matter of collective 
  taste. Groups prone to flailing about may welcome a 
  strong structure with clear goals, a straight narrative 
  path and definite resolutions. Players who resolve 
  questions of procedure with swift efficiency, or who 
  prefer to focus on characterization over storyline, 
  require a looser hand on the structural tiller.
  PErCEPTION IS (NEArLY) 
  ALL
  Some groups are hyper-sensitive to issues of 
  railroading. These concerns, which are absolutely 
  legitimate, may be based on past bad experiences with 
  controlling GMs who forced them to enact essentially 
  passive roles in unalterable, preset storylines. If 
  members of the group are avid roleplaying theorists, 
  they may respond out of a general ideological feeling 
  that players ought to shape and drive the story, taking 
  on responsibilities traditionally given to the GM.
  The most important way to prevent players from 
  feeling railroaded is to remain flexible and reactive to 
  the choices the characters make. We’ll discuss this a 
  bit more in the next section.
  However, nearly as crucial is avoiding the appearance 
  of railroading.
  Some players may feel that the GUMSHOE system’s 
  reliance on automatic successes inevitably leads to a 
  railroaded result. In practice, this simply isn’t so. The 
  degree of narrative flexibility a GM exercises is entirely 
  unrelated to the game’s resolution mechanic (or 
  relative lack of same.) Flexibility remains up to the GM, 
  and your ability to improvise within the basic structure 
  of the investigative story, as it does in nearly any set of 
  roleplaying rules.
  As proof of this, we cite a weird phenomenon that 
  occurred during playtest. The groups that expressed the 
  strongest misgivings about possible railroading were 
  those whose GMs had done the most improvising. 
  This result can be partly attributed to variances in group 
  tastes, but also suggests the enormous importance of 
  maintaining the perception of free choice. When you’re 
  on a roll as a GM, you can create the perception of free 
  choice even when players respond predictably to the 
  scenario. On an off night, you can convey the impression 
  of constricted options even you’re improvising furiously 
  to keep up with their completely unexpected choices.
  Here are five ways to maintain the perception of 
  narrative freedom:
  • When using a prewritten adventure, paraphrase 
  as much as possible. Avoid reading right from 
  the scenario. Even if it’s well-written, your 
  narration, no matter how halting and tentative, 
  will seem more spontaneous than canned 
  text. Some GMs read too much of the scenario 
  out loud because they have trouble extracting 
  the necessary nuggets from a pre-written 
  text. Judicious use of a highlighting pen can 
  work wonders to zero in on the best details, 
  which you can then weave into your own 
  extemporaneous sentences. 
  
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  • During scenes of character interaction, 
  listen carefully to player dialog and respond 
  accordingly. Riff with the players. This is 
  more important than spewing the supporting 
  characters’ clues or talking points, even if that 
  means altering the characterization from what 
  you see on the page.
  • Encourage players to flesh out minor details of 
  the setting and situation. If they ask you what 
  the weather is like, ask them what they want 
  it to be. If they ask if such and such an item 
  is present at a particular location, tell them 
  that it is and ask them to describe it. On rare 
  occasions the mystery plot will turn on these 
  little details, and you’ll have to pull back from 
  this technique and stick to your clue trail. 
  Otherwise, seek out opportunities for player 
  input.
  • Tailor characters and situations to the player 
  characters. If a player portrays a sloppy, 
  rumpled reporter, confront her with a 
  neat-freak, press-hating authority figure. A 
  character known to fall for sexy librarian types 
  should meet successions of sexy librarians, 
  and so on.
  • Introduce story elements giving players 
  opportunities to flesh out their characters’ 
  backstories. Weave old friends, acquaintances, 
  mentors, colleagues and rivals into your 
  supporting casts.
  If you yourself are still worried that GUMSHOE 
  encourages or requires railroading, take heart in this 
  last result from playtest. Each group submitted an 
  account of the events of the sample adventure that 
  differed radically from everyone else’s. In each case 
  the wide variances of incident arose from disparate 
  player choices. Just like it’s supposed to.
  ANY TrACk IS THE rIGHT TrACk
  Although it may be, oddly enough, more important to 
  maintain apparent than actual narrative freedom, we 
  should still endeavor to provide the real thing to the 
  maximum extent possible.
  Fortunately, it’s easier to provide freedom than it is to 
  seem like you’re providing it. Simply ensure that any 
  clue, especially any core clue, is available not only to 
  players using the ability specified in the scenario, but 
  to any player who provides a credible and entertaining 
  alternate method of acquiring that clue. The scenario 
  is a foundation to work from, which ensures that 
  there is at least one way to move through the story. It 
  should never be regarded as the only way to get to the 
  resolution. A group of players will often come up with 
  better ideas than the scenario writer ever could. Give 
  yourself permission to go with them.
  One slight exception pertains: this advice pertains only 
  to clues available in the current scene. Allow players 
  to leapfrog scenes by acquiring information they’re 
  meant to get later only when pacing permits. If you’re 
  early in a session when the threat of leapfrogging 
  occurs, and you’re not confident you can improvise 
  enough new intervening scenes to make a full evening’s 
  entertainment, by all means block the players’ efforts. 
  If you’re zooming toward evening’s end, leapfrogging 
  may prove a blessing — just be sure to squeeze in all of 
  the necessary ancillary information the players might 
  miss by skipping ahead.
  Scenes in the middle of an investigation can often be 
  juggled around with no ill effect to the storyline. When 
  this is the case, it’s always better to let the players 
  dictate pacing than to force them back into the order 
  of events envisioned by the scenario.
  The scenario is only the blueprint. The building 
  happens during play.
  CALLING ON ABILITIES
  The rules offer a number of way to call on abilities, 
  depending on the situation. Choosing the right way to 
  call on an ability is crucial to the forward momentum 
  of your investigative plot. Make this choice according to 
  the consequences of failure.
  If the consequence of failure is that a character fails to 
  get a piece of crucial information, success should be 
  automatic provided that the character has the ability in 
  question, and the player thinks to ask for it. (Even at that, 
  you may need to improvise during play if no player steps 
  up to claim the needed clue, bending the details of the 
  scenario so that the same information can be garnered 
  with a different ability, possibly by another player.)
  If you have a piece of information that offers a fun 
  sidelight on the action but is not essential to move 
  through the story, you can make this available with a 1- 
  or 2-point spend. Choose the cost of the spend according 
  to the entertainment value of the information, not the 
  
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  game-world difficulty of completing the task.
  If an action’s consequence of failure might be death 
  or injury, by all means make it a test. If game world 
  logic suggests that a supporting character will actively 
  oppose the PC, make it a contest.
  ENdING SCENES
  In a novel or Tv episode, writers can freely cut to the 
  next scene when their characters have acquired all of 
  the clues available in the current one. The characters 
  might stick around for hours tying up loose ends and 
  pursuing fruitless questions, but this doesn’t happen on 
  screen. We, the audience, are not forced to sit through 
  such sequences.
  This kind of concise editing isn’t so easy in the roleplaying 
  medium. Players don’t know when they’ve got all the 
  clues.
  Here’s a simple trick to gently steer them onwards, 
  without unduly breaking the illusion of fictional reality:
  Before play, take an index card and write on it, in big 
  block letters, the word SCENE. As soon as the players 
  have gleaned the core clue and most or all of the 
  secondary clues in a scene, and the action begins to 
  drag, hold up the card. When the players see this, they 
  know to move on. (Of course, you have to explain the 
  cue to them before play begins.) Easy, efficient, yet 
  somehow not nearly as disruptive or jarring as a verbal 
  instruction.
   Compensating For 
  Spotty Attendance
  Older gamers most likely to enjoy an 
  investigative campaign are sadly prone to 
  scheduling disruptions. If your group is 
  typical, you may not be able to rely on any 
  particular player showing up on a given 
  night. To compensate for this, give each 
  player a pool of free-floating investigative 
  points, which they can spend to gain a clue 
  in investigative abilities they don’t have. 
  When this occurs, explain it as the character 
  remembering a fact or technique taught to 
  them by their absent teammates. Adjust 
  the quantity of points as needed for your 
  group’s requirements.
   Imprisonment As 
  Plot device
  Obstacles where the punishment for 
  failure is imprisonment or other loss of 
  freedom to maneuver should be introduced 
  with caution. If the characters can gain 
  information while captured, and will 
  be presented with a fairly easy avenue 
  of escape afterwards, then by all means 
  include them. You can allow tests or 
  contests to avoid such consequences.
  However, plot turns in which characters 
  are arrested by the authorities and cannot 
  escape invariably bring game sessions to a 
  screeching, thudding halt. Either allow the 
  characters to avoid them with automatic 
  successes on Interpersonal abilities, or 
  build an escape hatch into your story. The 
  team’s superiors serve this purpose well. 
  Assuming that the players are jailed in an 
  industrialized democracy or Western ally, 
  they can always get the characters sprung, 
  after a suitable interval of nail-biting and 
  discomfort.
  Be wary of plot construction that demands 
  characters accept captivity to gain crucial 
  information. Many players would sooner 
  have their characters fried with radiation 
  bursts than accept even a brief sojourn 
  in comparatively cushy confinement. 
  Unfortunately, with this player type, you 
  won’t get very far by pointing out that 
  getting captured is a genre staple. Their 
  attitude is rooted in a deep-seated desire 
  to maintain emotional control, and is not 
  typically susceptible to argument.
  
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  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  SAMPLE PrEMISES
  This section presents ten ideas for you to flesh out 
  into full-fledged cases. If your players have read this 
  section, use them as models for your own original 
  premises.
  AN AIrTIGHT ALIBI
  When fertility doctor Walid Ali is found dead of oxygen 
  deprivation in his BMW, suspicion first falls on his 
  building manager, vladimir Umansky. Umansky has 
  the Deplete Oxygen power and was embroiled in a 
  nasty lawsuit with Ali. But when Umansky provides 
  an unshakable alibi, the HCIU must look elsewhere. 
  Eventually their investigation leads them to Todd and 
  Jessica Muldowney, a mutant couple who conceived 
  with Ali’s help. The couple are strainers, who married 
  with the express intent of breeding better mutant 
  babies, but discovered that their baby did not share 
  the father’s DNA—Ali had, through incompetence or 
  spite, fertilized Jessica’s egg with non-mutant sperm. 
  Todd’s power is Absorption; he used it to borrow 
  Umansky’s Deplete Oxygen ability, and then used it 
  to kill the doctor. (you decide whether Umansky was 
  in on the plot, or an unwilling victim of Muldowney’s 
  Absorption.)
  drOP zONE
  A former HCIU officer with the power of flight becomes 
  a prime suspect for murder when his norm mistress, 
  Grace Hamilton, is found splattered across a parking 
  lot, dropped from a great height in an area with no 
  nearby tall buildings. Is he guilty, or was he framed? 
  What skeletons in the unit’s closet can he threaten to 
  reveal?
  This case could tie into a prior subplot featuring the 
  ex-cop, Joe Stilson, as an antagonist for one or more 
  of the PCs. Or his key relationship could be to the dark 
  past of the team’s watch commander.
  If this is a frame-up, it was committed by a perp once 
  put away by Wilson, who did it by kidnapping Grace and 
  dropping her from a glider (so that witnesses wouldn’t 
  report any plane sounds.) 
  ExTrA CrISPY
  Tyler Baulch, a mutant known to have the Magnetism 
  and Earth Control powers, uses a flame thrower to kill 
  his hated brother-in-law, under the assumption that 
  it will be taken for a Fire Projection attack. Anyone 
  looking at a Quade Diagram, he reasons, will know 
  that he can’t have done it, since his powers are too far 
  away from Fire Projection on the genetic map.
  MISCONGENIAL
  A top surgeon’s murder is traced to an incident in which 
  he negligently transplanted mutant bone marrow into 
  a young patient, Molly Morris, who then went on to 
  develop Fangs and the venom (Bite) power. The hit 
  was commissioned by the girl’s mother, distraught 
  after revelations of Molly’s unsavory mutant powers 
  derailed her beauty pageant career.
  NErvE ENdINGS
  An international courier is found murdered in a hotel 
  room and the HCIU is called in when a plastic bag 
  found at the scene is found to contain trace amounts 
  of mutant DNA. Investigation takes the characters into 
  the shadowy world of international organ smuggling. 
  It turns out that the courier was bringing nerve tissue 
  (the source of the DNA) harvested by the Chinese 
  government from an executed political prisoner. The 
  
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  tipS for gmS
  tissue was purchased by a dot-com billionaire hoping 
  to gain heightened Speed. The murderer is a relative of 
  the involuntary donor who fled China during its post-
  SME crackdown.
  PUPPY CHOw
  Antiques dealer Douglas Charbot is found dead in 
  his apartment, torn to pieces by his beloved golden 
  retriever, Robbie. Who used Command Mammals 
  to turn his beloved pet into the instrument of his 
  murder?
  SkINNEd
  The beating death of a category-B mutant member 
  of the Racks seems at first to be the work of the 
  Neutral Parity League’s violent youth wing. Further 
  investigation reveals that she was involved in a messy 
  love triangle within her own gang. Although barheads 
  administered the fatal blows, she was lured to her 
  death by one of her own.
  THAT LOOk IN YOUr EYES
  Real estate mogul Osvaldo Perez is found at the scene 
  of his wife’s murder, babbling incoherently and covered 
  with blood. Physical evidence suggests that he killed 
  her, but his peculiar demeanor prompts homicide 
  detectives to call in an HCIU expert in the EMAT 
  protocol to check for signs of mental influence, which 
  he indeed shows. The case is therefore transferred to 
  the HCIU. The PCs eventually discover that:
  The woman was seeing her yoga instructor, Jason 
  Dillman, on the side.
  She’d recently been pressuring him to remain in the 
  relationship, despite his efforts to cool things off.
  She might have been using his habit of seducing his 
  wealthy female clientèle to blackmail him.
  However, there’s a twist. Osvaldo has set things up 
  to get the pleasure of personally killing his unfaithful 
  wife, while also framing the boyfriend for the crime. 
  He learned that an undocumented worker in the 
  employ of his construction firm had the Emotion 
  Control power, and paid the man to get him good and 
  furious right before the murder. This not only made the 
  killing easier, but causes him to register to an EMAT 
  practitioner as being under mutant influence. Perez 
  is confident that the man fears deportation enough to 
  keep quiet about the arrangement.
  THErE BUT FOr THE GrACE 
  OF GOd
  A member of another HCIU squad may have committed 
  murder during a defect-induced haze. The PCs 
  investigate the case, in the face of pressure from the 
  other squads to “do the right thing” and find a patsy 
  to blame. Meanwhile, in the session’s subplot, the PC 
  with the defect most likely to induce a similar blackout 
  fears that his own condition is worsening. 
  wrATH
  A SEDS researcher is killed, and his lab and files 
  destroyed. Initial clues point to a disgruntled worker, 
  then to industrial sabotage by a rival pharmaceutical 
  firm. It finally transpires that the crime was committed 
  by a fiercely radical new anti-mutant group which 
  believes that the disease is God’s way of correcting 
  nature’s mistakes. (Alternately, the anti-mutant types 
  could be the apparent killers, and the pharmaceutical 
  firm the real bad guys.)
  INvESTIGATIvE POwErS
  Unlike mundane investigative abilities, including 
  those introduced in this book, you can’t assume that 
  the players will have access to any particular mutant 
  investigative power. For this reason, mutant powers 
  can never be the only way of getting core clues, unless 
  you have informed your players they must have the 
  clue. It is, however, perfectly acceptable for a mutant 
  investigative power to be an alternate, perhaps more 
  impressive, way of gleaning a core clue. 
  Mostly 
  investigative 
  mutant 
  powers 
  allow 
  the 
  characters to gather the same information they would 
  with their normal abilities, but in a faster, cooler way.
  MAINTAINING POwEr 
  CONSISTENCY
  The world of Mutant City Blues is not one in which 
  anything can happen. Mutant powers exist, but operate 
  in a predictable fashion. The nature of the SME remains 
  mysterious, but the interrelationships between the 
  powers are well known. 
  This consistency of background is necessary so that 
  the players know what is and isn’t possible whenever 
  they attempt to reconstruct events connected with a 
  
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  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  crime scene. They know that an apparent locked-room 
  mystery might be explained by a mutant with the Phase 
  power, or that a suspect might have escaped by flying 
  off the balcony. However, if a case rests on a witness’ 
  claim to see the future, they can safely dismiss him as 
  crazy or deluded—this is as impossible in the game 
  world as it is in ours.
  Avoid diverging from the established pseudoscience 
  of mutant powers when creating cases. Doing so 
  undermines the setting’s sense of reliable reality. 
  If you do create exceptions to the way powers work, 
  don’t do it offhandedly, or to justify close up minor 
  holes in your plotting. The existence of a character 
  whose cluster of powers defies the Quade Diagram 
  would be an incredibly big deal, as would one with a 
  previously undocumented power. Should you include 
  these elements in a case, make them central to it. 
  Also, construct the mystery so that the players don’t 
  have to guess that you’ve cheated the setting details 
  in order to solve it. Rather than forcing them to figure 
  out that a suspect has a nonstandard power or cluster 
  to understand what’s going on, make that part of the 
  premise, or allow them to discover it in some other 
  way.
  More satisfying still is to tease players with the prospect 
  of a stunning new development in anamorphology, 
  but resolve the story so that it turns out to be bogus, 
  restoring the informational status quo. A mutant 
  with an apparently undocumented power might, for 
  example, be faking it to defraud the Quade Institute or 
  falsely alibi himself.
  If you see something about the state of mutant powers 
  that you want to change, do it at the start of play. you 
  might decide to introduce additional powers; if you do, 
  place them on a modified Quade Diagram and give your 
  players access to them during character creation.
  Look out for plotting pitfalls when introducing new 
  powers. We’ve omitted certain standard comic book 
  powers, because they screw up mystery plots. Time 
  travel and precognition are prime examples. Be equally 
  cautious when modifying the capabilities of existing 
  powers. Certain troublesome powers, like Read Minds 
  and Phase, have been included, but limited in such a 
  way as to minimize their mystery-wrecking potential. 
  TIMEd rESULTS
  The following structural technique applies to any 
  GUMSHOE game where the characters have access 
  to the services of a forensic lab, and rely on tests 
  performed by others.
  you can shape the pacing of a case with a timed 
  result. This occurs when believability requires a 
  suitable interval between the submission of evidence 
  to forensic experts and the results of the testing they 
  perform. In police procedurals, it is common for the 
  direction of an investigation to be suddenly changed 
  when the lab results come in. The scientific evidence 
  may exonerate the current top suspect or point the 
  investigators toward new witnesses or locations. 
  Alternately, it can change the meaning of previously 
  gleaned information, causing the investigators to 
  conduct re-interview previous witnesses, or conduct 
  closer searches of crime scenes.
  A timed result can serve as a delayed-reaction core 
  clue, directing the PCs to a new scene. These are useful 
  devices in cases where the scenes can be connected 
  in any order. If the PCs get bored or bogged down in 
  one scene, they can receive a phone call from the lab 
  techs calling them in to receive some much-needed 
  exposition, which sends them in a new direction.
  The arrival of a timed result can also change the 
  players’ interpretation of their current case notes 
  without moving them to a new scene. They might 
  dismiss a suspect’s alibi, alter their timeline of events, 
  or reject information provided them by a witness whose 
  perceptions are revealed as unreliable.
  News of a lab report requiring the team’s attention 
  can also be used to cut short a scene that the players 
  won’t abandon, even though they’ve already collected 
  all available clues.
  SUPPOrTING CHArACTErS
  Game statistics in GUMSHOE are, whenever possible, 
  player-facing. When you as GM have the choice between 
  making a determination based on a player test, or on a 
  test made by you on behalf of a supporting character, 
  always choose the player. For example, you may want 
  to specify that there’s a chance a harried relative of a 
  kidnapping victim might eventually lose her patience 
  with the HCIU and participate in a damaging press 
  conference. Rather than having her make a Stability 
  test to see when and if this happens, set it up so that a 
  player makes a Reassurance spend to forestall her.
  
  165
  tipS for gmS
  Likewise, if you want to have a supporting character 
  steal something in a situation where the PCs are in 
  no position to affect the outcome, simply decree that 
  it happens. Don’t bother testing the character’s Filch 
  ability. To do otherwise is to engage in false branching: 
  you are creating unpredictability for yourself in a way 
  that remains invisible to the players. They don’t get a 
  chance to alter the outcome, and thus gain no benefit 
  from the uncertainty you’ve introduced.
  It is always acceptable, however, to have supporting 
  characters make tests to defend themselves during 
  complex interactions in which the players are also 
  rolling dice. Combat is an obvious example. 
  In the horror games The Esoterrorists, Fear Itself and 
  Trail of Cthulhu, GMs are discouraged from having the 
  supporting characters make Stability tests. If they go 
  nuts, it should be a decision made in the scenario—or 
  something the PCs can prevent with an ability test. 
  Mutant City Blues treats Stability differently, as a 
  defense against mental powers and the symptoms of 
  defects. All supporting characters should therefore 
  have Stability ratings.
   ratings as 
  difficulty Benchmarks
  You may want to use a supporting 
  character’s rating in a general ability as a 
  benchmark for the Difficulty of a PC’s test. 
  Supporting character ratings translate into 
  difficulties as follows:
  Rating
  Difficulty
  1 –7
  4
  8–12
  5
  13–16
  6
  17+
  7
  Detective Wills (played by Lynne) is in 
  the room when Richard Wayne Jason, a 
  supporting character, tries to take a pistol 
  from a desk drawer surreptitiously . Rather 
  than having the supporting character 
  make a Filch test to succeed, you require a 
  Surveillance test from Lynne, to see if Wills 
  spots his attempt. Jason’s Filch rating is 12, 
  making this a Difficulty 5 Surveillance test.
  This rule is appropriate to all GUMSHOE 
  games.
  Supporting characters do not gather clues during 
  cases and do not need investigative abilities. Mutant 
  investigative powers are an exception to the above 
  principle, as a suspect or witness’s ability to see 
  through walls or read minds may constitute a plot 
  point in a case. you may want to assign investigative 
  abilities and ratings to academics, techies and police 
  colleagues, even though they won’t be using them, as 
  a shorthand way of conveying their degree of expertise 
  relative to the main characters. More often, it’s easier 
  to simply indicate this in your notes without assigning 
  abilities or numbers. Don’t bother to dole out abilities 
  from a predetermined number of build points—just 
  choose ratings and abilities as the plot and backstory 
  require.
  Most standard general abilities are suitable for 
  supporting characters. Preparedness is questionable, 
  but you might want to allow it for informative purposes 
  even though the character never tests against it. For 
  run-of-the-mill people, mutant and otherwise, you 
  may want to include the Fleeing and Sense Trouble 
  
  166
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  general abilities from Fear Itself. For the very few 
  characters more competent than trained, decorated 
  police detectives, assign more than 60 points to 
  general ability ratings. For ordinary folks, assign as 
  few as seem appropriate.
  Mutant powers needn’t be built with the same number 
  of points as the characters, either. The PCs represent 
  the upper echelon of mutants, who have had their 
  powers for a long time and use them on a regular basis 
  as part of their jobs. People who don’t make much use 
  of their powers will have lower ratings, fewer powers, 
  or both. A rare few individuals have honed their powers 
  to an even greater extent than the PCs, and might be 
  built on 48 or even 64 mutant power points, give or take 
  a point here and there. Everyone’s powers connect up 
  on the Quade Diagram, though.
  Note also any defects picked up during the power 
  selection process. However, supporting characters 
  shouldn’t test Health or Stability to stave off worsening 
  defect symptoms. Instead, simply decide, as part of 
  your plot, when and if they succumb. you may want to 
  indicate the stage of the defect as a benchmark of its 
  current severity.
  SUB-PLOTS
  your first Mutant City Blues episode should probably be 
  devoted purely to the solving of a single case, with few 
  if any peeks at the detectives’ personal lives.
  After that, most episodes include one or two sub-plots. 
  These are secondary story threads centered around 
  the problems of particular squad members. For 
  inspiration, look to the ongoing dramatic sequences in 
  most contemporary police procedural Tv shows. Sub-
  plots flesh out the characters, making them seem 
  more real by giving the group an ongoing emotional 
  stake in their personal struggles. They also help to 
  smooth out the pacing, giving uninvolved players time 
  to think quietly about the ongoing mystery aspect while 
  the spotlighted player engages in the subplot.
  SOLICITING SUB-PLOTS
  Ask players to prepare three suggestions for possible 
  sub-plots involving their characters. Have them 
  replace these as you use up their current suggestions. 
  Sample suggestions appear in the “Sub-Plots” section 
  of the “Tips For Players” chapter.
  Although some sub-plots can be light, happy, or 
  humorous, beware the risk-averse player who is 
  only willing to allow awesome things to happen to 
  his character. If a player only provides low-intensity 
  situations, you have two choices. you can send 
  suggestions back for revision, asking for more 
  dramatic choices. Alternately, you can take the 
  player’s suggested positive developments and find a 
  way to introduce tough dramatic choices into them. For 
  example, if the player wins the lottery, he finds himself 
  besieged by freeloaders and fundraisers for worthy 
  causes. If a wealthy uncle appears out of nowhere to 
  give him a Ferrari, the car might turn out to be stolen—
  or the real subplot only begins when the dear old gent 
  is put in some kind of jeopardy.
  INTrOdUCING SUB-PLOTS
  At the beginning of each session, decide which player 
  will be the focus of the evening’s main sub-plot. 
  (Although you might find it preferable to plan further 
  in advance than this, Murphy’s Law dictates that any 
  preparation you make with a particular player in mind 
  will be thwarted by his last-minute inability to attend.)
  When first starting, pick players who are stronger at 
  conveying personality and furthering self-directed 
  storylines, so they serve as examples for less confident 
  members of the group. The eventual goal is to rotate 
  sub-plot focus evenly between players, switching up the 
  
  167
  tipS for gmS
  order to retain a touch of unpredictability. Attendance 
  vagaries will probably solve this problem for you. Keep 
  a record of how many times players have been given 
  sub-plot focus, so that no regular attendee gets more 
  than one or two slots behind.
  After choosing the subject of the evening’s sub-plot, 
  check to see if this character has any defects. If so, 
  the sub-plot should revolve around that defect about 
  half the time. In most instances this means a situation 
  which could, depending on the player’s choices, provoke 
  a defect crisis. Mix this up by occasionally confronting 
  the character with his defect in indirect ways. He may, 
  for example, get a scare regarding his condition that 
  proves to be some other minor medical problem. Or he 
  might interact with another victim of the same defect, 
  who suffers it at a worse stage of development.
  If you’re not focusing on a defect, pick one of the 
  player’s three suggestions to develop into a secondary 
  story for the session. When possible, pick the one that 
  evokes a similar theme to that explored by the main 
  mystery. The sub-plot might parallel the case at hand, 
  or contrast with it.
  The main case of the evening is one in which a closeted 
  mutant is murdered by her husband, who feared he 
  was cheating on her—even though it turns out she was 
  secretly visiting a quack doctor who promised to cure 
  her mutant condition. you’ve decided that Lynne will be 
  the focus of tonight’s sub-plot. Of the three suggestions 
  she provides you, the one that most closely mirrors 
  the main story’s theme of mistrust is one in which her 
  character, Detective Wills, fears that her husband is 
  stepping out on her.
  While the rest of the group continues its pre-game 
  chatting, quickly jot down ideas for three Directed 
  Scenes which, respectively, introduce, develop, and 
  conclude the secondary story.
  you jot down the following scene ideas, which you’ll 
  flesh out in play:
  • Finds evidence of cheating
  • Confronts husband
  • Resolution: reconciliation or split?
  The outcome of sub-plots, especially those unrelated 
  to a character’s defects, should present the player with 
  a dramatic choice to make, or a chance to succeed or 
  fail, based on player decisions. Because investigative 
  scenarios can seem linear, even when you’re making 
  them up as you go along or are furiously improvising 
  in response to player choices, sub-plots should be 
  extremely 
  open-ended—and, 
  more 
  importantly, 
  feel that way. On the Tv shows we’re drawing from, 
  personal sub-plots put the characters under pressure. 
  Roleplayers sometimes feel trapped when put under 
  the same degree of pressure fictional characters 
  experience as a matter of course. Be aware of this, and 
  structure these scenes in a way to make it clear that 
  player choices decide their outcomes.
  These scenes may occasionally include moments 
  of danger and challenge, but they might just as well 
  consist purely of roleplaying scenes, with nary a die 
  roll in sight.
  CONTINUING SUB-PLOTS
  While some police shows wrap up their personal 
  subplots in a single storyline, others continue them 
  from week to week. To emulate this structure, focus 
  on one sub-plot per episode, but also allow other 
  characters with dangling plot threads from previous 
  sessions to pursue their own personal goals between 
  investigative scenes. Do this in response to player 
  demand. If a player is content to focus on only the 
  case during the current session, allow his ongoing 
  personal struggles to drop off the radar, only to return 
  later. you’ll note that many episodic television shows 
  do this as well, dropping and picking up sub-plots to 
  give all members of the ensemble their contractually 
  mandated time in the limelight.
  SECONdArY CASES
  Sub-plots needn’t focus only on the detective’s off-the-
  clock life. They can deal with work issues arising from 
  past cases in the character’s backstory. Although we 
  only see the detectives’ most interesting challenges 
  dramatized over the course of a series, make clear that 
  they are also working less interesting cases between 
  scenes and episodes. They’re also performing routine 
  police work, from paperwork to court appearances.
  Like any big-city detectives, HCIU members have too 
  much on their plates and sometimes have to work 
  multiple cases at once. A sub-plot can revolve around 
  the investigation of a minor mutant crime. This may be 
  of a humorous nature, offering comic relief from the 
  grimmer primary case.
  GMs may on occasion choose to drop in directed 
  scenes involving minor cases for pacing reasons. you 
  might want to lighten the mood, or give the players 
  a break from a case that’s got them stuck. A staple 
  
  168
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  directed scene of this nature is an interrogation with 
  an amusingly sleazy and stupid suspect, who can 
  be tricked into a confession in the space of a single 
  scene.
  Much of the advice given in the “HCIU Procedure” 
  department pertains to the workaday world of grindingly 
  ordinary police work, which will be represented more 
  in secondary cases than in the dramatic and puzzling 
  mysteries of your main storylines.
  ACTION ANd POwEr USE
  Mutant City Blues emphasizes procedural investigation 
  in a world changed by the advent of superhuman powers 
  more than it does the use of those powers themselves. 
  Many scenarios resolve themselves perfectly well 
  even if the characters never use their mutant powers. 
  If you structure your mysteries so that they always 
  climax in a super-powered action sequence in which 
  the detectives apprehend the bad guys, the mysteries 
  themselves will be easy to solve: the perp will always 
  turn out to be a powerful mutant capable of taking on 
  the whole team.
  Although you should structure the occasional case 
  this way, you’ll also want to look for other ways for 
  the players to bring their characters’ powers into play. 
  After having devoted time to picking out their favorite 
  power combinations and learning what they can do, 
  they’ll expect to be able to spotlight them at least 
  occasionally.
  One way to put them through their paces is to introduce 
  red herring action sequences. These are chase, fight 
  or stunt scenes which turn out to be incidental to the 
  main mystery. For example, the search for a witness 
  may lead the team to a drug den full of cracked-out 
  mutants. When they enter, its denizens fight back. 
  They’re not the main bad guys, but they can still serve 
  as opponents in an exciting interlude, in which the unit’s 
  victory allows them to further their investigation.
  Now and then you can resort to a teaser action 
  sequence, in which the HCIU detectives have been 
  enlisted to use their powers to counter some other 
  police issue, from a hostage crisis to a standoff with 
  rioters. A teaser sequence takes place at the beginning 
  of a new scenario. At its conclusion, unit members 
  stumble across the actual mystery. If they quell a riot, 
  they may then, for example, find a murder victim left 
  behind when the crowd disperses.
  Sub-plots provide excellent opportunities for the 
  characters to show off their mutant powers. Because 
  you’re tailoring them to particular characters, you can 
  devise situations that call for the use of their specific 
  super abilities.
  
  169
  TIPS FOr PLAYErS
  The following player advice is specific to a Mutant City 
  Blues series.
  CHOOSING YOUr 
  wATCH COMMANdEr
  In preparation for your first session, read the 
  descriptions of the four HCIU watch commanders, 
  starting on p. 146. At the top of the first session, before 
  the first case begins, consult with the other players to 
  arrive at a consensus choice for the watch commander 
  who oversees your squad. This discussion occurs out 
  of character; the actual detectives don’t get to pick 
  who they work for. The presumption of most series is 
  that you and your team members have been working 
  for your commander for a while and have histories 
  together. you may also choose to spell out what these 
  may be. However, if every player casts his character as 
  the chosen commander’s best friend, expect the GM 
  to collaborate with you to throw some spanners into 
  the works. For example, if one PC is the commander’s 
  protégé, the laws of dramatic tension decree that at 
  least one other must be in his bad books for some 
  reason.
  The obvious default choice is Lt. Krose. He’s a straight 
  shooter who will back you up when you get into trouble, 
  but expects good results.
  If your group tends to get stuck and needs some pushing 
  and pulling, you may want to pick the demanding Lt. 
  Perreau, who can yell you back on track when you get 
  lost in your pile of clues.
  Groups who chafe at close supervision may prefer to 
  work for the irascible but somewhat inattentive Lt. 
  Haigh. He may also prove unusually tolerant when you 
  step over the line a bit.
  For a politically astute, well-connected commander, 
  pick Lt. Bevan. He can exert pull on your behalf—but is 
  ambitious, and will demand favors in return.
  GMs may substitute their own watch commanders for 
  the ones supplied in this book, especially when your 
  group has run previous Mutant City Blues series. 
  SUB-PLOTS
  Sub-plots are personal stories revolving around your 
  character. After the first case, which will typically be 
  an introductory scenario focusing purely on the game’s 
  procedural aspects, sub-plots will begin to come into 
  play. Each player becomes the subject of a sub-plot 
  every few cases.
  Prepare three suggestions for sub-plots involving your 
  character. Suggestions should be a phrase or sentence 
  long—specific enough to give the GM inspiration, but 
  sufficiently general to allow her to fill in the details. 
  Pick situations which illuminate your character by 
  confronting him or her with a challenging but telling 
  personal conflict. Grim or emotive storylines are 
  standard for the genre, but you can balance these 
  out with positive developments. Even the occasional 
  light or humorous sub-plot should present you with a 
  challenge to overcome.
  Treat the following suggestions, mostly drawn from 
  stock police show situations, for inspiration—or swipe 
  them outright:
  • Become involved in mutant rights activism
  • Bonds with troubled kid
  • Burned by a reporter
  • Confidential informant needs rescue from a 
  sticky situation
  • Confronted with evidence of a dirty cop
  • Courted by strainer clinic as embryo/sperm 
  donor
  
  170
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  • Elderly neighbor gets mugged
  • Former partner in trouble
  • Goob tries to recruit me for his “super-team”
  • Groomed as a media star
  • Kids get hassled at school because I’m a 
  mutant
  • Moonlighting as a bodyguard
  • New romance
  • Old beef with watch commander resurfaces
  • Perp I threw in the slammer comes back to 
  threaten revenge
  • Pressured to admit I’m gay
  • Prosecutor pressures me to lie on the witness 
  stand 
  • Pursued by groupie with a thing for mutant 
  cops
  • Relationship break-up
  • Relationship threatened by pressures of the job
  • Relative drawn into Gilles Tremblay’s secret 
  army of anti-alien warriors 
  • Relative has a brush with the law
  • Separatist mutants prove to be bad neighbors
  • Someone rats me out to Internal Affairs
  • Straightener researcher convinced my blood 
  contains cure for mutant powers
  • Troubled, long-lost relative comes back into my 
  life
  • When a scumbag defendant gets off on a shaky 
  judicial ruling, I suspect corruption in the 
  justice system 
  • Wooed to jump to the Quade Institute’s forensic 
  anamorphology department
  Sub-plots are supposed to be about you. If you want 
  to involve another PC in your sub-plot idea, get the 
  player’s assent first, collaborating as necessary so 
  that both of you are equally happy with the suggestion’s 
  possibilities.
  
  171
  Interviewing Technique
  Although GUMSHOE never withholds a clue from 
  you if you have an appropriate ability and look in 
  the right place, you do still have to look. In police 
  investigations, interviews with witnesses, experts and 
  potential suspects provide the bulk of the information 
  you’ll need to clear your cases. If you fail to ask the 
  right questions, you can miss crucial clues. you, the 
  players, aren’t trained in interview techniques, but 
  your characters are. To help you take on their roles, a 
  list of standard questions appears below. Most of them 
  assume a murder investigation. Refer to them when 
  you find yourself lost for direction in the middle of an 
  interview sequence.
  • Where were you between the hours of X and Y? 
  [Where x and y represent the time frame of the 
  crime you’re investigating.]
  • [If an alibi is offered] Can anyone confirm this?
  • Who stands to benefit from this crime?
  • Do you know anyone who had reason to wish 
  the victim harm?
  • Was he receiving threats of any kind?
  • Were you on good or bad terms with the victim?
  • What sort of person was he?
  • What was his family situation?
  • Was he having problems in his family or 
  relationship?
  • What was his financial situation?
  • Do you know anyone the victim would have 
  confided in?
  • What notable projects or activities was the 
  victim involved in?
  • Was the victim [or other figures in the case] a 
  known mutant?
  • Photocopy, cut out and laminate the reference 
  card below for easy use in play. 
  vary your tactics according to your sense of the witness’ 
  temperament and emotional state. If you can’t get a 
  read on your witness, ask the GM if Forensic Psychology 
  provides you any useful hints into his or her character. 
  These may suggest whether, for example, you’re 
  better off using Intimidation or Flattery to overcome a 
  witness’ reluctance. 
  • Where were you between the hours of X and Y? [Where X and Y 
  represent the time frame of the crime you’re investigating.]
  • [If an alibi is offered] Can anyone confirm this?
  • Who stands to benefit from this crime?
  • Do you know anyone who had reason to wish the victim harm?
  • Was he receiving threats of any kind?
  • Were you on good or bad terms with the victim?
  • What sort of person was he?
  • What was his family situation?
  • Was he having problems in his family or relationship?
  • What was his financial situation?
  • Do you know anyone the victim would have confided in?
  • What notable projects or activities was the victim involved in?
  • Was the victim [or other figures in the case] a known mutant?
  • Photocopy, cut out and laminate the reference card below for easy 
  use in play. 
  
  172
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Food Chain
  Bookended by super-powered action sequences, this 
  introductory scenario puts the squad on a ticking 
  clock, as they try to stop a notorious and newly revived 
  murder cult from adding any more victims to its kill 
  list.
  BACkSTOrY
  Six years ago, the city convulsed in terror to the 
  depredations of a maniac killer calling himself the 
  Anthrophage. In a series of crimes including two 
  home invasions and at least one opportunistic solo 
  kidnapping, the Anthrophage killed as many as eleven 
  victims. He taunted police and mailed body parts to 
  reporters. In several of these messages he claimed to 
  have eaten portions of his victims’ remains. Growing 
  bolder, he eventually uploaded videos of himself to the 
  Internet. Appearing in a mask, his voice electronically 
  altered, he boasted of his crimes and heralded himself 
  as the harbinger of a coming apocalypse. 
  The Anthrophage was finally apprehended while 
  casing another home invasion.  He turned out to be 
  a gardener and aspiring musician named Waldo 
  Maclagan. Convicted, and sentenced to maximum 
  security prison, the Anthrophage spent the rest of 
  his days in near-isolation. Three years ago Maclagan 
  was murdered by a fellow inmate. One of the most 
  nightmarish figures of the post-SME world had been 
  consigned to history.
  Or was he?
  THE CrIME
  The HCIU are called to intervene in a hostage crisis 
  in progress. Jared Whitten, a registered radiation 
  projector and self-detonator with a history of mental 
  problems, is holding a city bus full of passengers until 
  a series of bizarre demands are met. It’s up to the 
  PCs to get Whitten off the bus and the passengers to 
  safety. 
  Afterwards, Whitten claims that the Anthrophage is 
  still at large, and tried to recruit him as an accomplice. 
  Although this seems like another of his paranoid 
  claims, Whitten does register on an EMAT Protocol 
  as a victim of mental interference. The squad is then 
  assigned to find out who scrambled Jared Whitten’s 
  mind.
  THE INvESTIGATION
  Mr. Forgettable quickly establishes that Whitten has 
  fallen through society’s cracks, and that, before going 
  spectacularly crazy, he left no useful impression on 
  anyone. In summer Of the Anthrophage, the squad 
  acquaints itself with the moldering case files of the 
  city’s worst serial killer. Anatomy Of a shanking takes 
  them to the Kane Correctional Facility, a maximum 
  security prison for enhanced criminals, where they fill 
  themselves in on the humiliating final fate of Waldo 
  Maclagan. such a Nice Boy takes them to the lilac 
  scented doorstep of Idelle Maclagan, the sweet old 
  lady who brought Waldo into the world. 
  As the investigation continues, Jared Whitten’s 
  ramblings take on a disturbing ring of truth, as new 
  murders, committed as if by the Anthrophage, rock 
  the city. At the first scene, the killer scrawls the words 
  sequel time on the walls, in the blood of his victim. 
  i Was a different Person then brings the squad into 
  contact with Maclagan’s old girlfriend. She can point 
  them toward Maclagan’s therapist, Dr. Calvin Steiner.
  THE TwIST
  The Anthrophage who was murdered in prison was 
  not the real culprit, but a brain-scrambled dupe—the 
  same role Jared Whitten was being groomed for.
  
  173
  THE CULPrIT
  The real Anthrophage is Dr. Calvin Steiner, a 
  psychotherapist specializing in mental disorders 
  suffered by the enhanced, and himself a secret mutant. 
  Using his memory alteration power, he’s been breaking 
  down the identities of vulnerable patients. Some, like 
  Jared Whitten, become too unstable to make use of. 
  Others he converts into utterly dependent followers. 
  One, Louis Graff, has finally proven ready to take on the 
  mantle of the Anthrophage, starting a new kill spree 
  for Steiner’s perverse and vicarious gratification.
  Uncovering Steiner’s secret leads the squad to a final 
  battle with his cult of soul-damaged mutants, on the 
  shores of a picturesque lake.
  SCENES
  TErrOr ON THE 70A
  SCENE TYPE: INTrO / ACTION
  The scenario begins with the squad converging on the 
  scene of a hostage crisis.
  If this is your first installment in a Mutant City Blues 
  series, you might want to start by having the players 
  in turn quickly describe their morning routines as they 
  head to work, introducing the characters to you and to 
  the rest of the group.
  When they arrive on the scene, they find a major 
  downtown intersection blocked off by police barricades. 
  In the middle of the intersection, cutting diagonally 
  across it, is a city transit bus. Sheets of newspaper 
  cover the windows, placed there from the inside.
  Around the bus the scene is one of escalating hysteria. 
  News helicopters buzz overhead. Patrolman line 
  the barricades, forcing back reporters, onlookers 
  and worried relatives. Every so often a wave arises 
  in the crowd, threatening to overturn the barriers. 
  Officers shout into bullhorns, warning the throng to 
  calm itself, to no appreciable effect. Workers from 
  surrounding office towers hang from the windows. It 
  seems as if every second person on the scene holds 
  up a cameraphone or video recorder, determined to 
  capture some catastrophic personal news footage.
  The PCs struggle through the crowds to get to the 
  barricade and flash their badges. (On a 1-point Cop 
  Talk, Intimidation or Reassurance spend, a team 
  member can induce the crowd to part impressively as 
  they approach.)
  A uniformed officer escorts the squad to the mobile 
  command center, a semi-tractor truck converted 
  into an armored police vehicle. Inside, uniformed 
  communications officers man banks of surveillance 
  and monitoring equipment as police brass in charge 
  pace and sweat. 
  The mission leaders briskly introduce themselves. 
  Officially heading the operation is hostage specialist 
  Lauryn 
  Pritchard. 
  A 
  harried, 
  broad-shouldered 
  woman, Pritchard continually fights to keep her wavy, 
  chestnut-brown hair from escaping the confines of 
  an ill-constructed bun. Her right hand for the crisis 
  is Ken Swailes, a lieutenant from the force’s tactical 
  squad. A tall, long-faced African-American man, he 
  keeps mopping his perspiring forehead with a series 
  of pizza napkins appropriated from someone’s half-
  eaten lunch.
  Cop talk tells the group that tensions between hostage 
  negotiators and tactical squadders are standard fare 
  in a situation like this. Should something go wrong, 
  each will try to shift the blame to the other—unless a 
  new crop of scapegoats happens along to satisfy both 
  of their buck-passing needs.
  By asking to spend a point of Cop Talk, any player 
  can specify that his character already has a positive 
  working relationship with either Pritchard or Swailes. 
  In exchange for this, they’ll get a slightly less hardboiled 
  reception from the authority figure in question, and a 
  fairer shake if something goes wrong.
  Pritchard breaks the situation down as follows:
  • They’ve been in cell phone communication with 
  the hostage taker. He is agitated and incoherent.
  • He identified himself as Jared Whitten, a self-
  employed handyman. Whitten is in the system 
  as an Article 18 registrant, claiming both Self-
  Detonation and Radiation Projection powers. He 
  has never been charged with a crime, including 
  the use of either power. 
  • Whitten has made a bunch of crazy demands: 
  that the government stop the fluoridation of 
  carbonated beverages, that he be provided 
  with a helicopter to take him to United 
  Nations Headquarters, and that the television 
  personalities who are trying to get him to kill be 
  arrested and convicted for their offenses against 
  mankind.
  
  174
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  
  175
  food chain
  • During one heated phone exchange, he accused 
  Pritchard of wanting to “dope him up and put 
  him away.” This led her to conclude that he is a 
  current or former mental patient.
  • Whitten allowed an elderly woman with heart 
  trouble and a couple of small children off the 
  bus during the first hour of the crisis. Since 
  then he has let no one out, including a diabetic 
  man who needs his insulin.
  • With every conversation, Whitten becomes 
  increasingly agitated. He has now demanded to 
  talk only to a member of the HCIU. 
  • However, Pritchard doesn’t hold out much hope 
  of a successful negotiation. They can talk to 
  him if they want, but if they want to skip that 
  step and move right to the stage where they 
  use their super powers to get him out of that 
  bus, that’s okay with her. Of course, they have 
  to make sure that none of the passengers 
  are harmed. As she says this, Swailes nods 
  in agreement. (Cop talk suggests that this is 
  unusual; negotiators don’t tend to side with 
  the SWAT guys unless further talk seems 
  completely doomed.)
  If the PCs want to contact Whitten, they can use the 
  number of a mobile he has confiscated from a passenger. 
  Glance at the time when the player commences a call. 
  Whitten remains friendly and semi-coherent for about a 
  minute, or until he hears another voice—for example, of 
  another player prompting the one on the line. A 1-point 
  Reassurance spend calms him for another sixty seconds. 
  After this time expires, Whitten becomes incoherent and 
  threatening. He’s in the middle of a psychotic break, as 
  caused by Dr. Steiner’s interference with his memories, 
  and is unable to provide any useful information during 
  this sequence. Instead, he raves about contaminants in 
  consumer products, the role the United Nations plays 
  in persecuting him, and about the people who live in his 
  floorboards and try to fill his head with bad thoughts 
  while he sleeps. Whitten will not speak to the group for 
  more than five minutes (measured in real time.) He then 
  gives the group a final deadline of thirty minutes before 
  he blows up the bus.
  This sequence challenges the PCs to use their mutant 
  powers to end the crisis without harm to the hostages. 
  If they don’t succeed, the scenario still proceeds (see 
  sidebar, What If He Blows Himself Up?), but under a 
  tragic pall.
  Whitten sits in the center of the bus, and has arranged 
  all of its passengers to serve as human shields. They’re 
  arrayed tightly around him, forcing some of them to 
  huddle in the aisles or between seats. 
  Possible ways to neutralize the crisis include:
  • X-ray vision or other sensory powers allow 
  the viewer to see through the newspapers and 
  assist in the execution of various plans listed 
  below.
  • A well-placed blast, aided by a sensory power, 
  could take him out without harm to others.
  • emotion Control can move him from anxious 
  (his present state) to curious, at which point 
  he becomes intrigued by an offer by the 
  characters, no matter how absurd, allowing 
  them to talk him down.
  • endorphin Control gives him a rush of positive 
  feeling, washing away his homicidal impulses.
  • induce Mental disorder: Whitten already 
  suffers from depression (which correlates 
  with his powers) on top of the other disorders 
  Steiner’s mind-bending treatments have 
  brought to the surface. If Induce Mental 
  Disorder is used to induce depression, he 
  lapses into an immediate catatonic state. He 
  puts up no resistance as police restrain him 
  and hostages flee.
  • Force Field might prove useful—after somehow 
  getting him away from his human shields.
  • invisibility could get a squad member inside 
  the bus, perhaps while someone else makes a 
  food or medicine delivery. 
  • Phase or teleportation would also get a squad 
  member in, though not without being noticed.
  • Wall Crawling allows a character to clamber 
  up the side of the bus.
  • suppress explosion is tailor-made for this 
  situation.
  A plan doesn’t have to appear on the list above to have 
  a good chance of working. Players are invariably better 
  at coming up with ingenious schemes than scenario 
  writers are at anticipating them.
  
  176
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Bear in mind that at the back of Whitten’s addled mind, 
  he doesn’t want to hurt anyone.  The hostage taking 
  is a confused cry for help. As such, he hesitates for a 
  round or two when surprised, using his self-detonation 
  only if the PCs horribly fail to give him an out. He will 
  not try to harm the hostages by any means other than 
  self-detonation.
  jArEd wHITTEN
  Athletics 4, Health 4*, Mechanics 4, Scuffling 4, 
  Stability 2.
  Powers: Radiation Projection 12, Self-Detonation 12.
  * To keep him alive as a witness for the next scene, 
  fudge any result that would put him at -12 Health or 
  below. At worst, he winds up in a prison hospital.
  EMAT HIT
  SCENE TYPE: COrE
  As neither Pritchard or Swailes are experienced 
  interviewers, the squad is detailed to extract a 
  confession from the captured Whitten. 
  Police medic, Dr. Alexa David, briefs the team as before 
  they talk to him. On a brief medical examination, it 
  became clear that he suffered from several serious 
  medical disorders, most likely including  schizophrenia. 
  Whitten, who by this point was entirely cooperative, 
  gave her the name of Dr. Jillian Wortman, his doctor 
  at a free clinic, who supplied his prescription. He is 
  now voluntarily taking anti-psychotic medications and 
  although far from fully recovered is much more lucid 
  than he was on admittance. David avoided as much 
  as possible discussing the charges against him, not 
  wanting to taint the interview process.
  If asked, she ventures the following:
  • His medical history, as supplied by Dr. 
  Wortman, suggests that depression is his 
  underlying condition, and that the onset of 
  schizophrenia is a fairly recent development. 
  • Although this is an unusual progression, 
  anamorphological psychology is still in its 
  infancy, so it’s hard to say what this means.
  Anamorphology, or a glance at the Quade Diagram, will 
  show that Whitten’s powers correlate with depression, 
  not schizophrenia.
  Whitten is kept in a secure wing of a police holding 
  facility. His cell is reinforced to withstand self-
  detonation, and lead-lined to prevent radiation 
  contamination. It is wired to fill with sleeping gas 
  at the touch of a button from a guard watching in a 
  monitoring station. The PCs are permitted to enter 
  his cell if they desire. Alternately, they can talk to 
  him from an adjoining observation area. A window of 
  shock-resistant super-plastic allows them to see him; 
  a microphone and speaker system permits verbal 
  communication. Although he still reveals the same 
  information if they opt for the safety of the observation 
  chamber, he becomes more open and friendly if they 
  enter his space.
   what If He Blows 
  Himself Up?
  If Whitten self-detonates during the bus 
  sequence, he later reconstitutes himself. 
  He reappears in the food court of a mall 
  near the intersection. (Adjust as necessary 
  depending on the geography of your chosen 
  Mutant City intersection.) Heedless of 
  apprehension, he returns to his apartment 
  to retrieve a few precious possessions, 
  including a scarf knitted for him by his late 
  grandmother. If the PCs don’t keep watch 
  on his apartment, allow him to fall prey to 
  whatever approach they use to search for 
  him. This isn’t the main point of the story, 
  so cut it as short as you can while still 
  giving the group a sense of challenge.
  If Whitten dies in the first scene, the 
  information given in the interview 
  sequence is found after a search of his 
  grubby basement apartment. He has left a 
  series of video diaries, in which he rants 
  at the camera and shows probable signs of 
  mutant interference. (Without the face-to-
  face contact required by the full influence 
  detection protocol, this does not rise to the 
  level of legal evidence, but nonetheless 
  leaves the user of Influence Detection with 
  a strong hunch.)
  The interrogators know that there’s no question as to 
  whether Whitten committed the crime or not. Their 
  job, at least at first, is to determine whether he knew 
  the difference between right and wrong at the time 
  
  177
  food chain
  of the incident. If so, he’ll be assigned to the general 
  prison population at Kane Correctional. If not, he’ll be 
  incarcerated for an indefinite period at a high security 
  psychiatric facility, but might be released if he seems 
  to have recovered from his mental illness. Whitten’s 
  defense attorney will probably try to prove he was not 
  criminally responsible; it’s up to the cops to do their 
  adversarial part and make an argument that he was 
  sane at the time.
  Whitten is now regretful, listless, and depressed. He 
  makes for a challenging interview because he tends, 
  at least at first, to shrug and half-heartedly agree with 
  whatever proposition the PCs put forth. 
  However, if they start to ask him for details of his life, 
  it becomes apparent that he suffers from selective 
  amnesia, and is unable to remember:
  • most of his activities for the past year
  • news and pop culture events of the same time 
  frame
  • why he fixated on the UN, beverage 
  contamination, or television personalities 
  influencing his mind
  • what he hoped to accomplish by hijacking the 
  bus. He remembers that he started out wanting 
  to convey some very important fact to the 
  authorities, but then everything got muddled 
  and went bad on him, and he did the wrong 
  thing.
  influence detection shows that Whitten clearly suffers 
  from some form of ongoing mutant mental interference. 
  If the PCs used a mental power on him to get him out 
  of the bus, traces of that influence register, too, but 
  they do not represent the strongest hold on them. 
  Once the detectives find evidence of influence, Cop talk 
  tells them that they have a new crime to investigate. 
  They have to find out who messed with Whitten’s mind. 
  In addition to a possible charge of unlawful mental 
  interference, the culprit may be an accomplice to the 
  hijacking, either directly or by negligence.
  (pipe) Whitten has no recollection of being mentally 
  influenced. If pressed on the matter, he becomes 
  agitated, fervently denying the possibility—even though 
  his amnesia prevents him from being sure about 
  anything. Finally, however, he recalls something about 
  “the dismembered woman. There’s a dismembered 
  woman above his head.” Just as quickly the memory 
  fades, and he is unable to bring it back into focus or 
  explain its significance.
  Whitten fearfully refuses to consent to any dream 
  exploration. If a squad member goes ahead and illegally 
  uses observe dreams on him anyway, the poor man’s 
  dreams are found to be empty and desolate. They take 
  place in a completely depopulated urban wasteland. 
  Whitten’s dream self wanders aimlessly through 
  windswept streets. Occasionally a figure appears in the 
  horizon, only to disappear when the dream observer 
  attempts to move toward it. On a 2-point observe 
  dreams spend, a character attempting to concentrate 
  on the diffuse figure sees  it briefly  reappear. It seems 
  to be a woman, and to be sectioned off into several 
  pieces. There is no blood and although she is in pieces 
  she does not recall a dismembered corpse. As the 
  dream figure is indistinct, the player gets no better 
  visual description than this.
  read minds yields nothing but mental static and a 
  series of confused, blurry images. A character trying 
  to drill down to Whitten’s buried memories feels the 
  beginnings of a severe, stabbing headache. If the PC 
  persists, he still gains no information, but must make 
  a Difficulty 6 Stability test, or face a +2 to all Difficulties 
  for mutant power use for the next 24 hours.
  (core) Forensic Psychology allows a character to 
  break through Whitten’s mental confusion by inducing 
  a quasi-hypnotic state of concentration. He then 
  becomes agitated, yelping: “The Anthrophage! The real 
  Anthrophage was never caught! He’s still out there! 
  Still out there! He tried to make me join him.”
  Everyone in the squad knows this name: it’s like 
  saying Charles Manson, or Son of Sam. Details on the 
  Anthrophage’s reign of terror are found in the section 
  “Summer Of the Anthrophage.”
  If asked to elaborate, Whitten searches his memory, 
  but can’t recall. Bullshit detector shows him to be 
  honestly trying. “That’s why I needed your help, but 
  whenever I think about it, I get so confused. It all went 
  blurry, and then I found myself on the bus, blaming 
  fluoride and the United Nations.” He collapses in 
  frustrated sobs and (provided the group has already 
  gleaned the clues it needs) is unable to continue.
  
  178
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
   NEw CLUE TYPE: 
  PIPE CLUES
  A clue which is important to the solution 
  of the mystery, but which becomes 
  significant much later in the scenario, is 
  called a pipe clue. The name is a reference 
  to screenwriting jargon, where the insertion 
  of exposition that becomes relevant later in 
  the narrative is referred to as “laying pipe.” 
  The term likens the careful arrangement 
  of narrative information to the work 
  performed by a plumber in building a 
  house.
  Pipe clues create a sense of structural 
  variety in a scenario, lessening the sense 
  that the PCs are being led in a strictly linear 
  manner from Scene A to Scene B to Scene 
  C. When they work well, they give players 
  a “eureka” moment, as they suddenly piece 
  together disparate pieces of the puzzle. 
  A possible risk with pipe clues lies in the 
  possible weakness of player memories, 
  especially over the course of a scenario 
  broken into several sessions. The GM may 
  occasionally have to prompt players to 
  remember the first piece of a pipe clue 
  when they encounter a later component.
  Pipe clues can be used in any GUMSHOE 
  setting.
  Mr. FOrGETTABLE
  SCENE TYPE: dEAd ENd
  Checks into Whitten’s background yield nothing to 
  move the investigation forward. Because this sequence 
  deals with a series of fruitless leads, keep the pacing 
  as brisk as possible without breaking the fictional 
  illusion of the game. Signal the presence of dead ends 
  by summarizing interactions, instead of playing them 
  out in detail.
  THE dOCTOr
  By the time they get to her, Whitten’s clinic doctor,  Dr. 
  Jillian Wortman, is much less forthcoming than she 
  was with the police medic. Having done her duty to him 
  as a patient by making sure he was given the needed 
  medication, she’s now insisting on the standard doctor-
  patient confidentiality.
  Wortman works at a clearly overwhelmed inner-city 
  walk-in clinic. Bureaucracy—specifically, a threat to 
  eat into her already stretched patient time with a fight 
  over search warrants—induces her to share a few 
  details:
  • She can’t give any of her clients the time 
  they deserve and doesn’t know as much 
  about Whitten as she would like. Jared was a 
  scattered and difficult patient, suffering from 
  memory loss as well as schizophrenia and 
  depression. Sometimes he would fail to show 
  up for appointments; at other times, he would 
  arrive unexpectedly and demand immediate 
  treatment. 
  • Wortman suspected that the depression was 
  his original disorder, in keeping with his 
  position on the mutant power matrix. His 
  late-onset schizophrenia doesn’t fit the usual 
  pattern and may have been induced.
  He told her that his problems got really bad about a 
  year before he showed up at the clinic. Whitten was 
  either unwilling or unable to elaborate.
  THE dHS
  As a registered Article 18 mutant, Whitten was 
  required to file regular reports on his whereabouts 
  and activities to the federal Department of Heightened 
  Services. Bureaucracy reveals that his case officer is 
  Ben Napier, and that he is stationed at the local DHS 
  branch in city’s downtown core.
  The DHS office is the very incarnation of a dysfunctional 
  government agency. Water leaks from the aged 
  acoustical tile in the ceiling. Dispiriting brown wallpaper 
  frays from the walls. Desk officers sit pallidly in front 
  of their computers, radiating quiet desperation.
  After getting the runaround from an officious 
  receptionist, the group eventually discovers that Ben 
  Napier has been placed on indefinite medical leave, 
  and that his cases have been split between several 
  other agents. Finally they’re ushered to the cubicle of 
  Dianne Gongaware, a tall, reedlike young woman who 
  affects an inappropriately perky manner and speaks in 
  PR bromides. She’s inherited the Whitten file. Dianne 
  tries to convince the squad that all is well with the 
  department, and that they bear no responsibility for 
  any disaster or near-disaster involving Whitten. A little 
  Flirting, conducted by a male investigator, gets her 
  to drop the official ass-covering and supply the real 
  story—off the record, naturally.
  
  179
  food chain
  • While suffering from work-related stress, 
  Napier dropped the ball on Whitten and a 
  number of other Article 18, claiming to be in 
  regular touch with them when he had no idea 
  what they were doing.
  • There is a record in his file of Whitten being 
  treated for depression, a well-known side 
  effect of his particular powers. Unfortunately 
  the name of the therapist is missing from 
  Napier’s files.
  Napier has indicated nothing about delusions, 
  schizophrenia, or any more serious mental problems. 
  If he had, Whitten would have been red-flagged and 
  his schedule of visitations increased. However, Napier 
  would have been in charge of those visits, too, and 
  would probably have falsified them, too.
  THE APArTMENT
  Whitten’s Article 18 filing lists an out-of-date address, 
  but the landlord at that building has forwarding 
  information to him. This leads the group to an illegal 
  basement apartment in a blue collar neighborhood. 
  Law secures a search warrant. 
  Whitten’s possessions are meager. His closet contains 
  a limited array of jeans and checked work shirts. 
  His books are mostly home improvement manuals. 
  A stack of unopened mail includes several welfare 
  checks, subscription offers for sports magazines, 
  and plenty of junk mail. He owns a small television, 
  an old DvD player, and a handful of DvDs, mostly 
  action movies.
  Instead of an address book, he has a dresser drawer 
  filled with business cards and old sticky notes. If the 
  squad phones all of the numbers, they get a list of his 
  former employers as a handyman, various vendors 
  of building and home improvement supplies, and 
  contractors. These people paint a general picture of 
  him as a once diligent worker who always seemed 
  slightly off. About a year ago he became completely 
  unreliable.
  One of the sticky notes includes a series of crossed-
  out phone numbers, ending with one number that 
  isn’t crossed out, and the word “Dad.” This leads to 
  Cole Whitten, Jared’s father.
  THE FATHEr
  A check of Cole Whitten’s record reveals a series of 
  charges for assault, being drunk and disorderly, 
  disturbing the peace, and public urination, dating from 
  his youth to the present.
  Cole Whitten comes to the door of his crummy 
  apartment in a t-shirt and track pants, drunk and 
  smelling like beer and pizza. He’s a surly, pot-bellied 
  man who’s been dreading the appearance of cops on 
  his doorstep ever since he saw his worthless craphole 
  of a son making a spectacle of himself on the news. 
  Whitten is abusive and uncooperative until cowed by 
  intimidation. 
  Whitten has little information to offer them. 
  • His son has always been soft and pathetic, ever 
  since his whore of a mother dropped him on his 
  head when he was little. 
  • Then he went and shamed the family by 
  becoming a freak. And not just any freak, but 
  the kind that lets the damn government peek 
  into your doings. 
  
  180
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  • His mother ran off to Florida with a carpet 
  cleaner over a decade ago and is in touch with 
  neither of them. 
  • Whitten was just a kid when the Anthrophage 
  was on his rampage. Cole has never heard him 
  talk about it.
  SUMMEr OF THE 
  ANTHrOPHAGE
  SCENE TYPE: COrE
  With Whitten’s background yielding no connection to his 
  mental influencer, the team is left with the reference 
  to the Anthrophage. Any city cop will remember the 
  terrifying summer in which the Anthrophage went on 
  his killing spree. The PCs recall the broad outlines of 
  the famous case, but can fill in the details by consulting 
  the closed case file. These are given in the timeline 
  format as seen on p.133.
  (This is a lot of exposition to dump on the players all at 
  once. you may want to photocopy this material, break 
  it up into short snippets of two or three entries apiece, 
  and then hand them out to the players to read to each 
  other, as if bringing each other up to date on the old 
  case files.)
  May 2, PY+4: Short order cook Delma Black disappears 
  after leaving work at the Eastern Diner in a mixed 
  business/residential district near the city’s downtown 
  core.
  May 5, PY+4: Landlady Roberta Warren complains 
  to a tenant in her nearby building of strange smells 
  emanating from her apartment. The tenant, Waldo 
  Maclagan, responds rudely, but the smells soon cease 
  and Warren thinks nothing further of it.
  May 17, PY+4: Residents of 37 Aldwych Crescent, 
  Mr. and Mrs. Julius Zadovsky, report prowler activity 
  in their backyard. Police respond an hour later, find 
  footprints in the garden, but no sign of an intruder. 
  Aldwych Crescent is part of a swank residential 
  neighborhood.
  May 19, PY+4: Investment banker Morgan Cook, late to 
  a dinner party at 37 Aldwych, calls police to report signs 
  of a break-in. The Zadovskys and two other guests, 
  Bill Thorley and Kika Bard, are missing. Blood spatter 
  and evidence of concussion beam activity are found at 
  the scene. The words END OF TIME are scrawled on 
  a wall in a blood, along with a strange symbol like a 
  devouring happy face.
  May 31, PY+4: Roberta Warren finds that Maclagan has 
  abandoned his apartment, after leaving it spotlessly 
  cleaned.
  June 3, PY+4: A box delivered to the city’s top-rated 
  Tv news broadcast contains the left hand of Julius 
  Zadovsky, along with video of the torture-murder of 
  Kika Bard.
  June 7, PY+4: Jeweler Amandine Warren is accosted 
  while jogging not far from Aldwych Crescent by a man 
  in a van, who appears to be wearing a mask. She flees 
  to a neighbor’s yard; the van pursues but is stopped by 
  a fence in front of 140 Northcote Rd.
  June 12, PY+4: Courier Bernard Leichter goes missing 
  while his delivery vehicle idles in front of an office 
  tower.
  June 14, PY+4: In a message uploaded to a video 
  sharing site, a masked individual calling himself the 
  Anthrophage claims responsibility for the murders of 
  Julius and Deann Zadovksy, Bill Thorley, and Bernard 
  Leichter. His voice is electronically distorted.
  July 16, PY+4: A maid shows up for work at 140 
  Northcote Road (site of Amandine Warren’s escape) 
  to find the front door open and residents Bart (42), 
  Colleen (36), Emily (12) and Caden Guest (7) all 
  missing. Signs of concussion beam use are found at 
  the scene. Again a message is scrawled on the wall 
  (DOOM EvER CLOSER) along with the devouring happy 
  face character.
  July 28, PY+4: In a second Anthrophage video, the 
  masked man claims to have eaten portions of his 
  victims and proclaims himself the “harbinger of a new 
  apocalypse.” He calls on his fellow mutants to rise up 
  and devour the non-enhanced.
  July 29, PY+4: In three separate incidents, suspected 
  mutants are attacked by mobs. In each case, instigators 
  of the incident believed them to be the Anthrophage. 
  All are subsequently cleared.
  July – August: Atmosphere of fear breeds a string 
  of violent incidents throughout the city. Businesses 
  close early. Tourism plummets. Retired policeman are 
  recalled to active duty to boost patrols.
  Aug 9, PY+4: Real estate broker Joanna Painter is 
  
  181
  food chain
  reported missing by her husband Brennan after failing 
  to return from a home showing.
  Aug 12, PY+4: In a third video, the Anthrophage briefly 
  tastes a plate of pasta, then says, “Mmm, tastes like 
  real estate agent.” He then announces that he intends 
  to “move up the food chain to someone everyone has 
  heard of.”
  Aug 17, PY+4: Enhanced bodyguards of Dr. Lucius 
  Quade spot a masked prowler on the grounds of his 
  estate. They give chase; he eludes them, but one of 
  them, Annice “Ebony Avenger” Beedell, reads his 
  mind, seeing a cinderblock building obscured by willow 
  trees.
  Aug 18, PY+4: A police sketch artist’s rendition of the 
  scene caught by Beedell is broadcast to the media.
  Aug 19, PY+4: An incoherent, possibly intoxicated 
  Anthrophage appears in a final video, denying that he 
  ever consumed the flesh of his victims, and offering a 
  year-long truce if police stop looking for him. 
  Aug 20, PY+4: An anonymous tip identifies the building 
  in the sketch as occupying a small lot in a rural area 
  twenty miles from the city. State and local police 
  coordinate a raid on the property, apprehending 
  Waldo Maclagan. He injures several officers with his 
  concussion powers before being subdued by a water 
  blast.
  Aug 21, PY+4: Maclagan denies being the Anthrophage, 
  despite the discovery of partial human remains on his 
  property. 
  In the weeks that follow, forensic scientists match 
  body parts found on his property to the Zadovskys, Bill 
  Thorley, and three members of the Guest family.
  sept 17, PY+4: Maclagan requests a new interview 
  with police, and confesses to the six murders that can 
  be directly tied to him by forensic evidence. He does 
  not confess to other disappearances clearly connected 
  to those crimes.
  Apr 4, PY+5: Maclagan is convicted of the killings 
  mentioned in his confession and sentenced to life in 
  prison without possibility of parole. The Painter, Black 
  and Leichtner murders remain technically open but 
  are no longer actively pursued. Maclagan begins his 
  sentence at the Kane Correctional Facility, isolated 
  from the general population.
  Oct 23, PY+6: In a television interview with television 
  reporter Tod Stahl, Maclagan recants his confession.
  (core) Feb 26, PY+7: Maclagan is stabbed to death by 
  fellow inmate Leonard Wayne Lennard.
  Feb 28, PY+7: Lennard confesses to the murder, 
  claiming that he won Maclagan’s trust over a period 
  of months, “until he knew everything about him,” then 
  got close enough to him to shank him with a melted 
  tooth brush.
  vINCE wOOd
  The lead detective on the case is a now-retired officer 
  named vince Wood. He is not a mutant; the original 
  case went down before the formation of the HCIU. 
  vince, your typical hardboiled veteran cop, now owns 
  and operates an Irish-themed bar in out the suburbs. 
  He’s happy to chew the fat about an old case but gets 
  prickly if he thinks that the squad is trying to reopen 
  what he considers to be a righteous bust. He provides 
  the following supplementary information in response 
  to relevant questioning:
  • Maclagan was never subjected to an EMAT 
  protocol, on account of they didn’t exist in 
  those days.
  • He did it, all right. His hut was filled with 
  gruesome crap that turned even Wood’s 
  stomach, and Wood’s no wilting lily when it 
  comes to this stuff.
  • Wood is also sure that he killed Painter, Black 
  and Leichtner, even though they were never 
  able to prove it. The disappearances all took 
  place within Maclagan’s hunting grounds, 
  during the kill spree. In interviews, he got a 
  funny look on his face when their names were 
  mentioned.
  ANATOMY OF A SHANkING
  SCENE TYPE: COrE
  Lead-in: Reference to Leonard Wayne Lennard in 
  Anthrophage case files. A bald, porcine mountain of a 
  man, Leonard Wayne Lennard is able to convey menace 
  even while shackled to an interview table. Although he 
  takes obvious pleasure in revisiting his life’s greatest 
  moment of glory, he still wants something in exchange 
  for his cooperation. Negotiation gets him to talk, in 
  trade for slightly better privileges.
  
  182
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  Initially Leonard claims to be a sympathizer of the 
  Human Integrity Campaign, and to have been motivated 
  by anti-mutant hatred. At the same time, though, he 
  quizzes the squad members about their own powers, 
  as if he thinks they’re really cool. Forensic Psychology 
  suggests that he wanted to be part of a big story.
  In response to the right questions, Lennard reveals the 
  following:
  • Although Kane Correctional is known mostly 
  for enhanced prisoners, it’s also a maximum 
  security unit for especially dangerous DNAS 
  criminals. Lennard seems proud that he 
  qualifies to be incarcerated with super-
  powered inmates.
  • He’s serving a life sentence for killing three 
  members of a rival biker gang, armed only with 
  an ashtray and a broken pool cue.
  • Getting close to Maclagan took some doing. 
  He was in the isolation wing, he was paranoid 
  someone would kill him, and he was capable of 
  firing concussion beams.
  • Lennard, who was detailed to cleaning duty 
  in the isolation wing, had to wage a lengthy 
  campaign to befriend him.
  • As Maclagan grew to trust him, Lennard tried 
  to get him to recount his experiences as the 
  Anthrophage. But the funny thing was that 
  Waldo didn’t seem to remember much of it. He 
  talked about what he did as if it had happened 
  to somebody else, or wasn’t his idea.
  • (core) The one thing Maclagan regretted about 
  his murder spree was how he disappointed his 
  poor mother. He told the cops and reporters 
  that his mother had passed away, and nobody 
  double-checked. Apparently she reverted to 
  her maiden name and still lives in the old 
  neighborhood. When Lennard shanked him, 
  he was trying to find a way to arrange a visit 
  without anyone finding out who she really was. 
  If there’s anybody Leonard Wayne Lennard 
  hates, it’s a got-dang mama’s boy.
  If you want to add a little extra mayhem here, Lennard 
  can go berserk after revealing his information. 
  Although shackled to an interview table, he snaps the 
  metal cuffs like they’re made of taffy and lunges for the 
  weakest-seeming squad member. He doesn’t really 
  expect to succeed in killing anybody; he just wants a 
  little excitement in an otherwise boring day. However, 
  he doesn’t relent until forcibly rendered unconscious. 
  LEONArd wAYNE LENNArd
  Athletics 12, Health 15, Scuffling 12, Stability 2.
  SUCH A NICE BOY
  SCENE TYPE: COrE
  Lead-in: Lennard’s reference to Maclagan’s mother
  Research shows that Waldo Maclagan’s mother’s 
  maiden name was Celeste Mosser. A Celeste Mosser is 
  in the phone book.
  Celeste answers the door to her modest but well-kept 
  duplex wearing an apron and oven mitts. She’s in the 
  middle of baking apple cinnamon muffins and offers the 
  squad members one each, if they’re willing to wait.
  She also offers to make tea, sitting them down in an 
  old-fashioned living room crowded with flora-print 
  chairs and sofas.
  Celeste readily admits to being “poor Waldo’s” mother. 
  This is how she invariably refers to him. She wants 
  to cooperate with them, but quickly breaks down into 
  quiet tears as she discusses him. Forensic Psychology 
  shows that the burden of pretending not to be his 
  mother has worn on her over the years. reassurance 
  helps to restore her composure so she can go on 
  answering questions:
  • She’s never understood what drove him to do 
  the terrible things he did.
  • Waldo was always such a nice boy. When he 
  developed his monstrous powers, he promised 
  to use them only for good.
  • The only strange thing she remembers about 
  his mental state, before all the awfulness 
  happened, was this time when they went to a 
  magic act together. There was a hypnotist on 
  the bill, and after one look at Waldo, he picked 
  him first to go up on stage. He put Waldo in a 
  trance and convinced him that he was a cartoon 
  character, and then made him act drunk. 
  (Anamorphology, or a glance at the Quade 
  
  183
  food chain
  Diagram, shows that he was probably trance 
  susceptible; the flaw lies near his documented 
  concussion beam ability. If they know from 
  Tamara Carrera that he was suspected of having 
  spontaneous combustion and fire control, the 
  conjecture becomes even tighter.)
  • (core) He must have fallen in with a bad crowd. 
  It’s not a pleasant thing to say, but she always 
  thought his last girlfriend, Marcie Blunt, had 
  something to do with it. That girl didn’t come 
  from good people. Back when Waldo knew 
  her, she was waitressing at a tavern called the 
  Brown Bull.
  SEQUEL TIME
  SCENE TYPE: ANTAGONIST 
  rEACTION
  At some point when pacing requires a raising of the 
  stakes, but no later than after the Celeste Mosser 
  interview, the squad is called to a fresh crime scene 
  in the same posh neighborhood as the original 
  Anthrophage killings.
  The scene was discovered by a mail carrier (or, if pacing 
  requires otherwise, a pizza deliverer). Finding the door 
  to 78 Europa Drive wide open and a scene of obvious 
  violence inside, he called police.
  A check of mail and other personal effects inside the 
  home reveal that it belongs to  Linnette Rose, a wine 
  importer. 
  A search of the premises turns up her PDA, blood-
  spattered and apparently kicked under a couch. It 
  shows that she was meeting in her home office with 
  shipping broker Corinna Giesler at the apparent time 
  of the attack.
  The remains of neither victim are present in the house.
  evidence Collection turns up traces of dissolving 
  webbing on the walls. On a 1-point spend, correlation 
  of the webbing positioning and blood spatter suggests 
  that one of the victims was glued to the wall and 
  tortured.
  The words SEQUEL TIME are scrawled on the wall 
  in blood. Also present is the devouring happy face 
  character.
   The warden
  The squad may check in with the prison 
  warden before seeing Lennard. Tamara 
  Carrera  is a short, stocky woman who 
  projects an air of harried authority. She 
  can tell them why Lennard is locked up 
  and explain that he’s among the DNAS 
  population of the Kane Facility; see main 
  text.
  Carrera comes across as professional but 
  guarded. Cop Talk shows that she sees 
  no upside for her or the institution in 
  their inquiries. Carrera gets prickly if the 
  squad seems to suggest that she or her 
  people were negligent in letting Lennard 
  kill Maclagan. Forensic Psychology 
  notes a discomfort around the squad 
  members that’s probably rooted in their 
  genetic status. All of her dealings with the 
  enhanced are with prisoners, and with 
  difficult ones at that. 
  The warden had little direct contact with 
  Waldo Maclagan and has only one useful 
  point to make about him: 
  He was strongly suspected of 
  causing the flesh on a guard’s arm to 
  spontaneously combust. Maclagan 
  denied having this power. The flame 
  doused almost immediately, leaving 
  only a minor burn. The guard was later 
  dismissed for abusing other prisoners.
  Anamorphology, or a glance at the Quade 
  Diagram, shows that the power necessary 
  to do this, spontaneous combustion, and 
  the one required to douse the flame, fire 
  control, are both close to his documented 
  concussion beam ability.
  Having checked the files, the squad knows that this 
  character was kept secret from the public while the 
  Anthrophage case was still open. Since then, however, 
  it has been revealed in the pages of several true crime 
  books. The mere presence of the sign does not rule out 
  a copycat killer.
  Whether copycat or original, the apparent killer has 
  
  184
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  added a chilling twist to his wall display. Stuck to the 
  wall in a mixture of webbing and dried blood is a news 
  article detailing the squad’s intervention in the bus 
  hijacking.
  Though there’s no shortage of evidence, none of it leads 
  anywhere. Pace follow-up sequences quickly, until 
  the group concludes that the leads they were already 
  following still represent their best bet to crack the case.
  I wAS A dIFFErENT 
  PErSON THEN
  SCENE TYPE: COrE
  Lead-in: Celeste  Mosser mentions Marcie Blunt
  Inquiries at the Brown Bull tavern lead to an old 
  address and roommate of Marcie Blunt, who gives 
  them her present address—a graduate dorm in the 
  city’s largest university. 
  Marcie Blunt is fearful of the police. A slim, pallid 
  blond, she dresses in the shabby chic fashion of a 
  young academic. Marcie managed to stay out of the 
  original Anthrophage investigation and is terrified of 
  being dragged down now that a copycat has hit the 
  headlines. (She’ll lack this motivation if the PCs have 
  somehow managed to keep the new case out of the 
  media.) Having straightened herself out in the wake of 
  a rocky past, she doesn’t want her reputation ruined 
  by association with Waldo Mclagan. The squad can 
  earn her cooperation with reassurance (promising to 
  keep the old relationship confidential) or intimidation 
  (threatening to spill the facts to her professors and 
  fellow students.)
  When her resistance is overcome, Marcie answers 
  questions as follows:
  • She was a different person when she was 
  seeing Waldo Mclagan: drinking, drugging, 
  hanging out with dealers and thieves.
  • Waldo wasn’t like that; he was a nice guy, 
  the first nice guy who ever showed her any 
  affection. He helped her see she could make 
  something of herself.
  • (core) However, his mutant powers really 
  screwed him up inside. At her urging, he went 
  to a therapist, Dr. Calvin Steiner.
  • She knew Steiner through a cousin; he helped 
  her through a suicidal phase. (If the squad 
  asks, her name was Annie Mueller; not that it 
  matters.)
  • Her cousin was not a mutant.
  • She was completely shocked and hurt when 
  Waldo broke up with her, shortly after he 
  started seeing Dr. Steiner. Apparently Steiner 
  thought she was a bad influence on him or 
  something.
  • Marcie spiraled into depression and drug use 
  after the break-up.
  • The revelation that Waldo was the Anthrophage 
  completely shocked her. His crimes all took 
  place after they split.
  • The shock of this convinced her that she’d 
  better start looking after herself, because 
  you can’t trust anyone to be who they claim 
  to be. That’s when she started turning her 
  life around, giving up intoxicants, getting a 
  higher-end waitressing job, and putting herself 
  through school on her tips.
  dOCTOr-PATIENT 
  CONFIdENTIALITY
  SCENE TYPE: COrE
  Lead-in: Marcie Blunt names Dr. Steiner
  Dr. Calvin Steiner is a placid, gray-faced man in his 
  mid-fifties. He wears a red turtleneck sweater under a 
  tweed jacket and subtly flashes the bulky $2000 watch 
  on his wrist. His office is decorated in early-modernist 
  style.
  Steiner pretends to be cooperative while trying to 
  give away as little information as possible. Bullshit 
  detector shows that he’s got something to hide but 
  doesn’t sort out specific lies.
  He makes the following claims, in response to relevant 
  questioning:
  • He did treat Waldo Mclagan, but even in 
  death the details of their therapy sessions 
  are covered by doctor-patient confidentiality. 
  Mclagan never gave permission for these 
  records to be revealed. Upon his death, as per 
  their agreement, Steiner destroyed all session 
  notes. Absent a court order, Steiner can’t be 
  
  185
  food chain
  compelled to testify about their contents. The 
  existence of a copycat killer won’t change 
  that. (Law shows that he’s right, unless they 
  can prove a connection between Mclagan and 
  the new Anthrophage, no judge will issue a 
  subpoena.)
  • If he had any idea that Mclagan was committing 
  crimes, he would naturally have reported 
  him to the authorities, as professional 
  ethics requires. (Untrue; by manipulating 
  his memories and through non-mutant 
  brainwashing techniques, Steiner turned 
  Mclagan into a psychotic killer.)
  • Steiner has never met Jared Whitten and 
  never treated him. (Untrue; Steiner attempted 
  to groom him as a new Anthrophage, but he 
  proved too mentally fragile and cracked under 
  the strain.)
  • Since the SME, enhanced patients have 
  gradually taken up the greater portion of 
  Steiner’s client list. The acquisition of new 
  mutant powers is tremendously destabilizing 
  and can lead to many mental disorders, not 
  just the ones on that ridiculously oversimplified 
  Quade diagram.
  • Of course, he can’t reveal the names of any of 
  his patients, or discuss their case histories.
  • Again, if he knew any of his patients were 
  committing crimes of any kind, whether related 
  to the Anthrophage or not, he would report 
  them, as he is legally obligated to do. (Untrue.)
  • Steiner is not a mutant. (Untrue.)
  • If asked for an alibi for the time of the Linnette 
  Rose home invasion, Steiner was either seeing 
  patients (during the day) or attending an art 
  opening (in the evening.)
  (core) Art History identifies the many art prints in his 
  office as belonging to the surrealist movement of the 
  1930s and 40s. These include reproductions of works 
  by Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and Andre 
  Masson. One image in particular should resonate if 
  the group got the pipe clue from the scene “EMAT Hit.” 
  In the sparely-appointed room dedicated to therapy, a 
  print hangs over the therapist’s chair. It’s a work by 
  Dali in which a woman’s body is depicted as a series of 
  furniture pieces. This is the “dismembered woman” of 
  Whitten’s incoherent utterance.
  GOING vIrAL 
  SCENE TYPE: ANTAGONIST 
  rEACTION
  As the interview with Steiner winds down, the squad’s 
  lieutenant calls them and tells them to fire up a laptop: 
  the new Anthrophage has uploaded a rant to a popular 
  video sharing site. In the darkly-lit clip, a figure wearing 
  a mask like that of the original Anthrophage, with a 
  similarly distorted voice, says the following:
  Greetings, cattle. Your respite from fear is 
  at an end. I, the Anthrophage, have succes-
  sfully transmigrated to a new form. I am not 
  a mortal being. I am the harbinger. I travel 
  like a virus, from mind to mind. I devour 
  you. I am but the first of a new cannibal 
  race, and humans are my food. Linnette and 
  Corrina died screaming. We feast on them 
  now. We are legion. We are the Anthrophage. 
  Tremble at our glorious coming. Cops, you 
  are next. We will eat your hearts.
  (core) Even after data retrieval, the bad lighting 
  and poor resolution offer no useful visual cues as to 
  the subject’s location. However, it is possible to pull 
  background sounds, including lapping water and the 
  low quack of a duck.
  Comparison of the new video to the original Anthrophage 
  messages shows that this person is two inches taller 
  and about forty pounds heavier than Waldo Mclagan. 
  The mask is very similar to the original, but that 
  wouldn’t be hard to duplicate.
  Officials of the video sharing site take the offending clip 
  down immediately, but it’s too late; Internet users have 
  copied it and made it available through underground 
  file sharing networks. The video was uploaded using a 
  newly created dummy account tied to an anonymized 
  IP address.
  
  186
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  MOrE MAYHEM
  SCENE TYPE: ANTAGONIST 
  rEACTION
  While they’re digesting the video, a call comes in from 
  dispatch—an SUv has been found, driven off the road 
  in a lonely industrial park on the city’s outskirts. The 
  car upholstery is bloodied, its windshield smashed, 
  its occupants missing. The words WE ARE THE vIRUS 
  have been spray-painted across its crumpled hood, as 
  is the cannibal happy face.
  research reveals that the car is registered to Wes 
  Schaeffer, who turns out to be an automotive engineer 
  from out-of-state. Contact with his employer reveals 
  that he and his wife Sydney and adult son Phil are 
  vacationing together in the city.
  energy residue Analysis indicates that the car’s front 
  tires were melted by a heat blast. 
  What first seems to be a hit from a surface-to-surface 
  missile turns out, after examination with explosive 
  devices, to be a powerful strike from a blunt object—
  possibly a strong, flying mutant ramming into it.
  Anamorphology (or a look at the Quade Diagram) 
  shows that heat blast, flight, and strength are all closely 
  grouped. They’re also far from the Webbing power as 
  found at the Rose house, indicating that there’s more 
  than one mutant behind the attacks.
  COTTAGE COUNTrY 
  TAkEdOwN
  SCENE TYPE: CLIMACTIC 
  CONFrONTATION
  By now the group should suspect that Steiner is 
  influencing mutants to act as the Anthrophage. 
  However, when they attempt to trail or reinterview 
  him, they find that he’s nowhere to be found—not at 
  his office, not at his condo in the city.
  An Accounting search of publicly available information 
  on Steiner shows that he owns a lake house in nearby 
  cottage country, but has taken pains to conceal his 
  connection to it with a shell company. The company 
  seemingly exists only to own this property.
  The sounds in the background of the new video should 
  confirm to the squad that they need to check Steiner’s 
  cottage as a potential hideout.
  As city cops, cottage country is out of their jurisdiction, 
  but Law allows an arrangement with local police, 
  who lack mutant firepower, to let them perform the 
  takedown.
  Unless they take pains to make sure that he is elsewhere 
  when they swoop down on his cottage, Steiner is 
  present, and urges his brainwashed patients to attack 
  immediately while he attempts to flee. If possible, he 
  runs to his late model BMW and hits the road.
  If he is not present, they react irrationally and attack 
  their would-be arresting officers. There are as many 
  patients as there are PCs. If you use fewer enemies 
  than are listed here, drop the last ones on the list.
  dr. CALvIN STEINEr
  Athletics 4, Driving 4, Fleeing 12, Health 6, Medic 6, 
  Scuffling 4, Shooting 6, Shrink 12, Stability 4. 
  Powers: Memory Alteration 24
  Weapon: handgun +1
  TErrY CABLE
  Athletics 6, Driving 6, Health 12, Scuffling 8, Shooting 
  5, Stability 2.
  Powers: Blade Immunity 4, Webbing 12, venom 
  (Stinger) 12.
  Weapon: handgun +1
  Terry uses his gun until someone closes with him, then 
  unfurls the stinger.
  rAMON PINO
  Athletics 8, Driving 2, Health 12, Scuffling 10, Stability 7.
  Powers: Heat Blast 8, Strength 8, Flight 8.
  Ramon fights with Heat Blast, using Flight to stay out of 
  the fray.
  ArIANNA CONrAd
  Arianna Conrad
  Athletics 8, Driving 6, Health 6, Scuffling 6, Stability 6.
  Powers: Sonic Blast 12, Gills 4, Swimming 8.
  If hard-pressed, Arianna tries to escape into the lake.
  rICk BUrNEY
  Athletics 8, Driving 6, Health 6, Scuffling 6, Stability 6.
  Powers: Force Field 12, Telekinesis 12.
  Once safely behind his force field, Rick uses telekinesis 
  
  187
  food chain
  to hurl pieces of disassembled picnic table (+2 damage) 
  at his opponents.
   Adjusting the 
  Numbers
  The Health ratings given for the antagonists 
  in this scene assume that your group is 
  clamoring for a big superhero dust-up to 
  conclude the scenario.
  For groups hoping for a foreshortened 
  fight sequence more in keeping with police 
  procedurals, lower the Health ratings as 
  follows:
  Steiner Health 2
  Cable Health 6
  Pino Health 4
  Conrad Health 2
  Burney Health 1
  CASE CLOSEd
  SCENE TYPE: dENOUEMENT
  Once apprehended and separated from Steiner, his 
  patients gradually return to their senses. influence 
  detection shows that everyone but Steiner has 
  suffered mental alteration. Forensic Psychology 
  breaks a patient of his or her connection to Steiner. 
  They then confess their role in the Anthrophage 
  crimes, implicating him as the mastermind who stole 
  their memories. All of them fiercely deny taking part 
  in any cannibalism—Bullshit detector shows this to 
  be true.
  A search of the cottage turns up a mini-fridge in 
  a crawlspace, powered by an extension cord. This 
  contains both fresh and preserved human remains. 
  DNA analysis matches the fresh remains to Linnette 
  Rose and Corrina Giesler. The preserved remains 
  match Delma Black and Bernard Leichtner, victims 
  from the original Anthrophage spree—proving that 
  Steiner was responsible for Waldo Mclagan’s crimes 
  as well. Traces of his saliva are found on the body 
  parts.
  Steiner never directly admits to the crimes. Under 
  interrogation, he allows in a third-person hypothetical 
  that a person like him might do something like that to 
  satisfy inexplicable urges, and to delight in the thrill of 
  terrifying the pathetic humans.
  Assuming that the squad apprehends him and 
  assembles the evidence given above, Steiner is found 
  guilty and sentenced to life without parole at Kane 
  Correctional.
  In a letter to the editor of the local paper, Leonard 
  Wayne Lennard announces his hope that he’ll get to 
  know Steiner in prison, just as he did Waldo Mclaglan.
  
  188
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
   Character Quick reference
  Refer to this list of characters when you lose track of names or roles. This does not include the list of 
  victims from the first Anthrophage crime spree, who don’t really figure in the current investigation. 
  Characters who are referred to but not seen appear in brackets.
  Marcie Blunt — Waldo Maclagan’s ex-girlfriend
  Rick Burney — Steiner’s force field using accomplice
  Arianna Conrad — Steiner’s gilled, sonic-blasting accomplice
  Terry Cable — Steiner’s webslingling accomplice 
  Tamara Carrera — Warden, Kane Correctional Facility
  Dr. Alexa David — police medical officer
  (Corinna Giesler) — shipping broker, initial victim of new Anthrophage
  Dianne  Gongaware — DHS agent, now responsible for monitoring Whitten’s Article 18 status
  Leonard Wayne Lennard — Waldo killer
  Celeste Mosser — Waldo Maclagan’s mother
  (Waldo Maclagan) — the original Anthrophage
  (Ben Napier) — DHS agent who dropped the ball on Whitten’s Article 18 status
  Ramon Pino — Steiner’s heat-blasting, flying accomplice
  Lt. Lauryn Pritchard — hostage negotiator
  (Linnette Rose) — wine importer, initial victim of new Anthrophage
  Wes, Sydney and Phil Schaeffer — second group of victims
  Dr. Calvin Steiner – memory-altering mastermind behind the new and old Anthrophage attacks
  Lt. Ken Swailes — tactical team leader
  Cole Whitten — Jared’s thoroughly unpleasant father
  Jared Whitten – bus hijacker; briefly groomed by Calvin Steiner as a new Anthrophage
  Dr. Jillian Wortman — clinic doctor who briefly treated Whitten after his experiences with Steiner
  
  the world of the enhanced
  189
  food chain
  Character Name 
  Player Name:
  * 1 language per rating pt. / † rating of 8+ increases Hit Threshold by 1
  ACAdEMIC
  Rating
  Pool
  Anthropology
  Archaeology
  Architecture
  Art History
  Forensic Accounting
  Forensic Psychology
  History
  Languages1*
  Law
  Natural History
  Occult Studies
  Research
  Textual Analysis
  Trivia
  INTErPErSONAL
  Rating
  Pool
  Bullshit Detector
  Bureaucracy
  Cop Talk
  Flattery
  Flirting
  Impersonate
  Influence Detection
  Interrogation
  Intimidation
  Negotiation
  Reassurance
  Streetwise
  TECHNICAL
  Rating
  Pool
  Anamorphology
  Ballistics
  Chemistry
  Cryptography
  Data Retrieval
  Document Analysis
  Electronic Surveillance
  Energy Residue Analysis
  Forensic Entomology
  Evidence Collection
  Explosive Devices
  Forensic Anthropology
  Fingerprinting
  Photography
  General Abilities
  Rating
  Pool
  Athletics2†
  Driving
  Filch
  Health
  Infiltration
  Mechanics
  Medic
  Preparedness
  Scuffling
  Sense Trouble
  Shooting
  Stability
  Surveillance
  Mutant Powers - Investigative
  Mutant Powers - general
  defects
  sub plots
  character concept :
  health
  
  190
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  INdEx
  Alphabetical lists of all abilities 
  and mutant powers by type are 
  found in the Contents. All powers 
  and 
  abilities 
  are 
  listed 
  here 
  alphabetically in the index. A list of 
  mutant powers with grid references 
  can be found on p.28. 
  placeholder for Your City, 140
  abilities. See standard abilities, general 
  abilities
  Absorption (General Power), 38
  Addictive Personality (Defect), 75
  adventures
  example, 172–88
  sample, 162
  writing, 156
  Alter Form (General Power), 39
  ammo capacity, 98
  Analytic Taste (Investigative Power), 30
  anamorphology
  assorted tests, 120
  devising new tests, 121
  origin, 134
  Anamorphology, 115–20
  basics, 115
  detecting mutant powers from DNA, 117
  related mutant powers, 115
  Anamorphology (Technical), 18
  Animal Command powers, 41
  Anthropology (Academic), 19
  Archaeology (Academic), 19
  Architecture (Academic), 19
  armor, 97
  Armor (General Power), 39
  Art History (Academic), 19
  Arthritis (Defect), 75
  Article 18, 124
  Arts, 131
  Asthma (Defect), 76
  Athletics (General Ability), 25
  Attention Deficit Disorder (Defect), 76
  Autism (Defect), 76
  Ballistics (Technical), 19
  Bellaver, Lucy, 150
  Betula Security Consultants, 143
  Bevan, Sean, Lieutenant, 148
  Birch Towers, 142
  Birch, Galen, 10, 142
  Blade Immunity (General Power), 39
  Blast powers
  detection, 118
  options, 42
  Blast Powers, 43
  Blindness (Defect), 76
  Blood Spray (General Power), 39
  Blue Team (sub-culture), 133
  Botanical Enzyme Testing, 120
  Bryson, Sharon, 154
  build points, 12, 103
  cap, 13
  mutant powers, 14
  Bullshit Detector (Interpersonal), 19
  Bulwark Of God, The, 144
  Bureaucracy (Interpersonal), 20
  CapeCon Enterprises, 152
  cases, 156
  sample, 162
  secondary, 167
  Cellular Plasticity Biopsy, 120
  character creation, 12–17
  build points, 12
  mutant power selection, 15
  characters
  improving, 103
  non-mutant, 106
  sub-plots, 166
  Chemistry (Technical), 20
  City Hall, 145
  Cleansers (sub-culture), 135
  clues, 85
  evidence, 87
  inconspicuous, 87
  leveraged, 157
  timed result, 164
  CNM Freedom Hall, 153
  Cognition (General Power), 40
  combat, 92–99
  non-lethal, 94
  Command Amphibians & Reptiles 
  (General Power), 40
  detection, 122
  Command Animals
  detection, 122
  Command Birds (General Power), 40
  detection, 122
  Command Fish (General Power), 41
  detection, 122
  Command Insects (General Power), 41
  Command Mammals (General Power), 42
  detection, 122
  Concussion Beam (General Power), 42
  detection, 118
  connected powers, 14
  Consciousness roll, 95
  Contests, 90–91
  Continental Nation of Mutants
  Florence, Eddie (leader), 153
  Continental Nation of Mutants (sub 
  culture)
  HQ, 153
  Continental Nation of Mutants (sub-
  culture), 136
  Cooperation, 90
  Cop Talk (Interpersonal), 20
  core clues, 160
  correlated powers, 14
  court testimony, 112
  cover, 97
  Cryptography (Technical), 20
  CSI (TV Show), 157
  Cure Disease (General Power), 42
  and society, 131
  Data Retrieval (Technical), 20
  Deakins, Ellis, Police Commissioner, 145
  death, 95
  Defects, 74–83
  and Cure Disease, 44
  genetic markers, 116
  stage one, 74
  stage three, 74
  stage two, 74
  Deplete Oxygen (General Power), 44
  Depression (Defect), 77
  Detect Influence (General Power), 44
  Difficulty numbers, 89
  Disease Immunity (General Power), 45
  Disintegration (General Power), 45
  detection, 121
  Dissociation (Defect), 77
  distance, 92
  DNA Analysis, 117
  DNA Standard. See DNAS
  DNAS officers, 106
  Document Analysis (Technical), 20
  Dorphing, 127
  Driving (General Ability), 25
  Earth Control (General Power), 46
  detection, 121
  eighter (sub-culture)s, 136
  Eighth-Day Church (sub-culture), 136
  Electivists (sub-culture), 135
  electricity, 98
  Electronic Surveillance (Technical), 20
  EMAT protocol, 110
  EMAT Protocol, 22
  Emotion Control (General Power), 46
  Empathy (General Power), 47
  Endorphin Control (Others) (General 
  Power), 47
  Endorphin Control (Self) (General Power), 
  48
  Energy Residue Analysis (Technical), 21
  detecting blast powers, 118
  Entangling Hair (General Power), 48
  detection, 121
  Enter Dreams (General Power), 48
  Environmental Awareness (Investigative 
  Power), 30
  Erotomania (Defect), 78
  evidence, 87
  evidence collection, 108
  Evidence Collection (Technical), 21
  Explosive Devices (Technical), 21
  explosives, 99
  Expressivists (sub-culture), 135
  Fangs (General Power), 49
  detection, 121
  fighting, 94
  Filch (General Ability), 26
  Fingerprinting (Technical), 21
  fire, 99
  Fire Control (General Power), 49
  Fire Projection (General Power), 50
  indentifying residue, 118
  firearms, 27
  Fitton, Sheldon, 150
  Flattery (Interpersonal), 21
  Flirting (Interpersonal), 21
  Florence, Eddie (CNM leader), 153
  Follicular Expansion Check, 121
  Force Field (General Power), 50
  forced refreshes, 103
  Forensic Accounting (Academic), 21
  
  191
  index
  Forensic Anthropology (Technical), 21
  detecting mutant powers, 117
  Forensic Dentistry, 121
  Forensic Entomology (Technical), 22
  forensic evidence. See also Anamorphology
  Forensic Psychology (Academic), 22
  Genetic Action Front, 154
  Genetic Action Front (sub-culture), 136
  Gills (General Power), 51
  Glass, Henry, 151
  GM advice, 156–68
  conceits, 157
  railroading, 159
  running the game, 159
  scenes, ending, 161
  sub-plots, 166
  Goobs (sub-culture), 135, 152
  Gravity Control (General Power), 51
  Guerra, Adoni, 152
  GUMSHOE rules system, 84–103
  Haigh, Hoyt, Lieutenant, 147
  HCIU, 12, 104–14
  assignments, 106
  communty relations, 113
  foundation, 11
  HQ, 146
  media relations, 113
  mission statement, 104
  ranks, 106
  recruitment, 104
  structure, 104
  Healing (General Power), 51
  and society, 131
  detection, 120
  Health (General Ability), 26
  injury and death, 95
  starting value, 12
  Hearing (Investigative Power), 31
  Heat Blast (General Power), 52
  detection, 119
  Heightened Crimes Investigation Unit. See 
  HCIU
  Heightened Information Alliance (sub-
  culture), 154
  Heliopolans (sub-culture), 136
  Helixtown, 153
  High Energy Dispersal (General Power), 
  52
  History (Academic), 22, 110
  Ice Blast (General Power), 52
  detection, 119
  Illusion (General Power), 52
  Impersonate (General Power), 53
  imprisonment, 126
  imprisonment as a plot device, 161
  improvised power use, 99
  incarceration, 126
  Induce Aggression (General Power), 53
  Induce Fear (General Power), 54
  Induce Mental Disorder (General Power), 
  54
  Infiltration (General Ability), 26
  Influence Detection (Interpersonal), 22
  injury, 95
  interrogation. See interviews
  interviews, 109–12
  play advice, 111
  sample questions, 171
  Intimidation (Interpersonal), 23
  investigative powers
  GM advice, 163
  Invisibility (General Power), 55
  Article 18, 124
  jargon, 137
  Jensen, Mads, 149
  Kinetic Energy Dispersal (General Power), 
  55
  Krose, Eric, Lieutenant, 146
  Languages (Academic), 23
  Law (Academic), 23
  Law and Order (TV Show), 157
  Light Blast (General Power), 55
  detection, 119
  Light Control (General Power), 56
  Lightning (General Power), 56
  detection, 119
  Lightning Decisions (General Power), 56
  Limb Extension (General Power), 56
  Linguistics (Academic), 23
  Low Impulse Control (Defect), 78
  Magnetic Field Viewer, 121
  Magnetism (General Power), 56
  detection, 121
  Materials SEM, 121
  Mechanics (General Ability), 26
  Medic (General Ability), 26
  healing, 95
  Medical Examiner’s Office, 149
  medicine, 131
  Megalomania (Defect), 78
  Memory Alteration (General Power), 57
  mental crisis, 102
  mental powers
  Emotion Control, 46
  Empathy, 47
  Endorphin Control (Others), 47
  Endorphin Control (Self), 48
  Enter Dreams, 48
  Indice Aggression, 53
  Induce Fear, 54
  Induce Mental Disorder, 54
  Memory Alteration, 57
  Observe Dreams, 31
  Possession, 59
  Precision Memory, 60
  Psionic Blast, 60
  Read Minds, 33
  Telepathy, 68
  warrants, 126
  Messiah Complex (Defect), 79
  Microvision (Investigative Power), 31
  detecting Disintegration and 
  Transmutation, 121
  detecting Healing, 120
  minor mutations, 73
  movement, 92
  Multiple Personality Disorder (Defect), 79
  Mutant City, 140–55
  Betula Security Consultants, 143
  Birch Towers, 142
  Bulwark Of God, The, 144
  CapeCon Enterprises, 152
  City Hall, 145
  CNM Freedom Hall, 153
  HCIU HQ, 146
  Heightened Information Alliance, 154
  local placeholders, 140
  Mayor, 145
  Medical Examiner’s Office, 149
  personalisation, 140
  Police Forensics Services, 149
  Police Headquarters, 145
  Quade Institute, The, 140
  Temple Of Heliopolis, 154
  timeline, 133
  mutant powers, 27–73, See also Defects, See 
  also individual power names
  Animal Command, 41
  Blast powers, 42, 43
  build points, 14
  connected, 14
  consistency, 163
  correlated, 14
  detecting. See Anamorphology
  detecting from DNA, 117
  detection quick reference, 123
  game balance, 38
  improving, 103
  improvised, 99
  investigative, 30–37
  minor, 73
  onset, 103
  proof of status, 125
  quick reference table, 28
  refreshing, 103
  mutant rights, 132
  anti- and pro-, 151
  relations between groups, 155
  Nadler, Mike, Sergeant, 148
  Naranjo, Manuel, Mayor, 145
  Natural History (Academic), 23
  Natural Weaponry (General Power), 57
  detection, 122
  Negotiation (Interpersonal), 23
  Neutral Parity League, 151
  Jason, Richard, 152
  Priestly, Conrad, 151
  Night Vision (General Power), 58
  Nondescript (General Power), 57
  Northrup, Leonard, 150
  NPCs
  devising stats, 164
  Observe Dreams (Investigative Power), 31
  Occult Studies (Academic), 23
  Olfactory Center (Investigative Power), 32
  organ grafting, 117
  Pain Immunity (General Power), 58
  Panic Disorder (Defect), 80
  PCD test, 117
  PCID test
  probable cause, 125
  proof of mutant status, 125
  PCID Tests, 117
  Perreau, Nina, Lieutenant, 147
  Phase (General Power), 58
  Article 18, 124
  Photography (Technical), 23
  Piggybacking, 89
  Plant Communication (Investigative 
  Power), 32
  Plant Control (General Power), 59
  
  192
  MUTANT CITY BLUES
  detection, 120
  Plasma Deficiency (Defect), 81
  player advice, 169
  player-facing, 164
  players
  advice, 169
  non-attending, 161
  Police Forensic Services, 149
  Police Headquarters, 145
  politics, 9, 132
  pool, 14
  pool points
  definition, 102
  regaining, 102
  positron emission tomography, 122
  Possession (General Power), 59
  power complexes, 115
  powers, mutant. See mutant powers
  Precision Memory (General Power), 60
  Pregs, the, 103
  Preparedness (General Ability), 26
  probable cause, 125
  Psionic Blast (General Power), 60
  detection, 120
  Quade Diagram, 14, 15–17, 31
  design notes, 16
  illustration, 17
  Quade Institute
  foundation, 10
  Quade Institute:, 140
  Quade, Lucius, 10, 141
  history, 134
  Quills (General Power), 60
  Racks, The (NPL thugs), 152
  Radiation Immunity (General Power), 60
  Radiation Projection (General Power), 61
  Article 18, 124
  detection, 119
  railroading, 159
  range, 98
  rating, 13
  Ratings
  as difficulty benchmarks, 165
  Read Minds (Investigative Power), 33
  Article 18, 124
  Reassurance (Interpersonal), 23
  Reduce Temperature (General Power), 61
  Reflexes (General Power), 61
  refreshing
  forced, 103
  mutant powers, 103
  pool points, 102
  Regeneration (General Power), 61
  Renan, Chieko, 150
  Research (Academic), 23
  Resist Influence (General Power), 61
  Riddle, Davon, 155
  Riley, Ed, 150
  Roberts, Eleni, 142
  Sandhu,Sarita, 141
  Saralegui, Janice, 154
  S-Cells, 115
  Schizophrenia (Defect), 81
  Schmiederer, Brian, Councillor, 145
  Scleroderma (Defect), 82
  Scuffling (General Ability), 27
  in combat, 94
  Secrete Acid (General Power), 62
  detection, 122
  Secretion Analysis, 122
  SEDS, 82
  SEDS Carrier (Defect), 83
  Self-Detonation (General Power), 62
  Article 18, 124
  Sense Trouble (General Ability), 27
  separatists, 136
  Setule Analysis, 122
  Sexual Chemistry (General Power), 63
  Shockley, Dennis, Chief Of Detectives, 146
  Shooting (General Ability), 27
  in combat, 94
  slang, 137
  SME, 8, 9, 10, 11, 18, 73, 115, 130
  running a game without the SME, 38
  scientic progress, 131
  timeline, 133
  Sonar (General Power), 63
  Sonic Blast (General Power), 64
  Spatial Awareness (Investigative Power), 
  33
  special benefits, 86
  Speed (General Power), 64
  Sperling, Betsy, 152
  Spit Acid (General Power), 64
  detection, 122
  Spontaneous Combustion (General 
  Power), 64
  sports, 130
  Spread Pathogen (General Power), 65
  Article 18, 124
  detecting, 120
  Stability (General Ability), 27
  in Mutant City Blues, 102
  standard abilities
  general, 25–27
  investigative, 18–25
  Straighteners (sub-culture), 135
  Strainers (sub-culture), 136
  Streetwise (Interpersonal), 24
  Strength (General Power), 65
  sub-plots, 166
  Sudden Enhanced Death Syndrome. See 
  SEDS
  Sudden Mutation Event. See SME
  Suppress Explosion (General Power), 66
  Suppress Influence (General Power), 66
  Surprise, 92
  Surveillance (General Ability), 27
  Swimming (General Power), 66
  Taylor, Reg, 143
  Technokinesis (General Power), 66
  technology, 131
  Technopathy (Investigative Power), 33
  Article 18, 124
  Telekinesis (General Power), 67
  Telepathy (General Power), 68
  Teleportation (General Power), 68
  Article 18, 124
  Telescopic Vision (General Power), 69
  Temple Of Heliopolis, 154
  Tests, 89–91
  Contests, 90–91
  Simple, 89–90
  Textual Analysis (Academic), 24
  Thermal Vision (Investigative Power), 34
  Threat Calculus (General Power), 69
  timed results, 164
  Touch (Investigative Power), 34
  Toxin Immunity (Ingested) (General 
  Power), 69
  Toxin Immunity (Inhaled) (General 
  Power), 69
  toxins, 99
  Tracking (General Power), 69
  Trance Susceptible (Defect), 83
  Translation (Investigative Power), 34
  Transmutation (General Power), 70
  detection, 121
  Tremblay, Gilles, 144
  Trivia (Academic), 24
  Venom (Bite) (General Power), 70
  Venom (Bite) (General Power)
  detection, 122
  Venom (Spit) (General Power), 71
  Venom (Spit.) (General Power)
  detection, 122
  Venom (Stinger) (General Power), 71
  Venom (Stinger) (General Power)
  detection, 122
  Veterinary PET Imaging, 122
  Voyeurism (Defect), 83
  Wall Crawling (General Power), 72
  detection, 122
  Water Blast (General Power), 72
  Water Manipulation (General Power), 72
  Webbing (General Power), 72
  Wind Control (General Power), 73
  Wound Pattern Analysis, 122
  wrestling, 131
  X-Ray Vision (Investigative Power), 35
  Zolotukhin, Mariya, 150
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Mutant City Blues (gumshoe)/Mutant City Blues.pdf