TEXT: urge
  for Ron Edwards’ Sorcerer
  by Clinton R. Nixon
  a dark superhero setting
  of predatory instinct
  
  urge
  Page 2
  Credits and Acknowledgements
  Urge is  2001 Clinton R. Nixon.
  Sorcerer is  2001 Ron Edwards.
  Cover art is done by Raven Daegmorgan. More
  of his excellent work can be found at http://
  www.daegmorgan.net/sleipnir/gallery.htm.
  The rest of the art is taken from the ArtToday
  clip art library (http://www.arttoday.com),
  which I have found to be a most valuable re-
  source for the independent roleplaying game
  designer. Note that the majority of the art in
  this game is meant to reflect psychological
  imagery associated with the game, and not
  literal game effects. When viewing the art, the
  reader should get a grasp of what it feels like
  to be in the tormented heads of the game’s
  characters.
  Thanks go to Jared A. Sorensen (http://www.memento-mori.com) and
  Jenaya Dawe (http://www.nobreakfast.com).
  This game is dedicated to the memory of Bill Bixby.
  References
  Leslie H. Whitten, Moon of the Wolf (novel)
  Robert E. Howard, “Wolfshead” (short story)
  The Incredible Hulk (mainly the television show, but also some of the
  comic book’s storylines)
  The Incredible Hulk Television Series page (http://
  www.incrediblehulktvseries.com/)
  Musical inspiration
  Nine Inch Nails, “The Fragile”
  Rollins Band, Get Some Go Again
  Juliana’s Pony, Total System Failure
  in association with
  
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  Introduction
  It urged him to an intensity like madness.
  D.H. Lawrence
  Throughout the course of human myth, we have carried with us sto-
  ries of mad animal-men, lycanthropes, that plague civilization, tearing
  through men, eating human flesh, violating women and animals, and in-
  fecting humanity itself.
  Obviously, we’ve discovered
  enough about human biology
  to know men do not and
  cannot physically turn into
  wolves, bears, cats, or any-
  thing else. But, traditional
  myths about lycanthropes-
  and modern-day psychology-
  bear little resemblance to
  the Hollywood-driven “hairy-
  man-with-claws” image that
  has permeated pop culture.
  The term “lycanthropy” may
  better be replaced with
  therianthropy: the connec-
  tion of a man’s spirit or mind
  with the spirit or mind of
  one or more animals.
  Lycanthropes, as detailed in
  modern psychology, are
  people with mental aberra-
  tions that send them into an
  angered, bestial state where they behave like a frightened animal, often
  clawing and scratching at people who approach them.
  This is not entirely different from early werewolf myths: the myths that
  were not folklore, but fully believed by their tellers. These stories told of
  men bestial in nature that would roam the night, screaming and howling
  and attacking others with a fevered strength.
  This game is about those lycanthropes, predators on the edge of human-
  ity.
  Is this a werewolf game?
  Yes and no. Obviously, the characters do
  have an animal spirit inside them, an obvi-
  ous homage to werewolf stories. The char-
  acters are as dangerous and can be as
  violent as the worst werewolf myth told.
  However, these characters are not:
  Raging stupid beasts. Not only is the
  Urge hosted in a human, but it’s crafty
  enough on its own. Even in the deepest
  throes of bestial behavior a character in-
  flicted with the Urge may commit, she’s not
  stupid—just possessed of an entirely differ-
  ent moral system and set of priorities.
  Hairy eco-terrorists. I don’t think there’s
  anything more to say here, really.
  Shapeshifters. Urge characters do not
  ever literally become animals.
  
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  This game is about the fears of man as he progresses into civilization,
  leaving the instincts that lead him there behind, that those instincts may
  come back, and, to put it rudely, bite him square in the ass.
  Urge does not concern itself
  with the exact spiritual de-
  tails of its characters’ pos-
  session. As appropriate to
  your game, they may be
  possessed by animal spirits,
  in touch with their primordial
  roots, or dangerous aberrant
  psychological freaks. What
  they definitely are, though,
  are people with something
  dangerous and violent inside
  them, a predator nature that
  they must continually fight
  against in order to maintain
  some semblance of human-
  ity.
  Characters in Urge
  Characters in Urge will ap-
  pear to be normal people for
  their time and setting. (I
  assume a modern-day set-
  ting in the text, but this
  does not have to be so.)
  Unlike traditional were-type
  tales (or modern mentally-ill
  lycanthropes) they do not
  have to identify with a par-
  ticular type of animal. (At
  the GM’s option, this may
  add depth to your game. Go
  for it, if you like.) Instead,
  they feel something bestial,
  old, and predatory within
  them. They feel it call them
  and urge them towards ac-
  tions they’d never consider
  normally. But, this curse
  Is this a superhero game?
  Yes and no.  It really depends on your
  definition of superheroes. One of the points
  of this game is to expand that definition,
  and so the author does consider it a super-
  hero game: you do play characters with
  tremendous supernatural power that can
  make a huge difference in their world. How-
  ever, these characters do not:
  Have moral/legal authority. In most
  modern superhero comics, the heroes have
  few to no run-ins with the legal authorities.
  Even if they have no legal authority, they
  usually have moral authority, and the police
  stay out of their way. In Urge, if you run
  around breaking down walls, the police will
  come rather quickly.
  Have an obligation to society. Actually,
  this is one of the main conflicts of Urge. The
  powers you have are fueled by an instinct
  that is antithetical to the precepts of soci-
  ety. The characters, on the other hand,
  may very well have morals and obligations.
  How do you balance the two, and how do
  you use your inflicted powers to meet
  those morals and obligations?
  Wear four-color costumes. Actually, if
  they really wanted to, I doubt anyone could
  stop them. Characters in Urge, though,
  tend to shy away from the public, much
  less the media. Unlike heroes from the
  comics you see on newsstand shelves, the
  characters of Urge are not accepted by
  society, and would probably be over-
  whelmed by a fear-stricken mob if they
  were found out.
  
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  carries rather powerful gifts with it, and these gifts, with effort, can be
  used for good.
  Urge and Sorcerer
  Sorcerer players will note a similarity between the curse of Urge and Pos-
  sessor demons from that game. This is entirely on purpose. The Urges, the
  bestial possessors inside Urge characters, are Possessor demons from
  Sorcerer. They differ from traditional Possessor demons in two ways, how-
  ever:
  ·
  They do not have full control over their hosts. Traditional Pos-
  sessor demons in Sorcerer control the puppet-like bodies of their
  hosts, suppressing the original personality. The Urges “ride” their
  hosts, using the host’s senses, but can only attempt to exert control,
  pressuring their hosts to succumb to animal instinct. They can make
  this seem very attractive, and can go so far as to inflict images and
  hallucinations of committing bestial acts upon their hosts. In the
  end, though, the characters have control over their own bodies.
  ·
  They cannot be Banished. One might think this might be the ulti-
  mate conclusion to an Urge
  story: the removal of the Pos-
  sessor Urge. Unfortunately, the
  Urge is so intertwined with its
  host that it maintains a very
  strong hold in this realm. Tradi-
  tional Banishment does not work.
  However, there is one method of
  removal: Banishment at the time
  of the host’s death.
  Even though the Urge is a Possessor
  demon, Urge still does not concern
  itself with the exact spiritual details of
  its characters’ possession. Just as the
  demons in Sorcerer may be conceived
  of as anything from unholy inhabitants
  of an eldritch realm to subconscious
  manifestations of their sorcerers’ own
  unfulfilled wishes, so is the Urge.
  
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  “Within each of us, ofttimes, there
  dwells a mighty and raging fury.”
  Pilot episode, The Incredible Hulk
  Making an Urge character involves the
  following steps.
  1. Create a name and background.
  2. Choose scores to total 10.
  3. Choose descriptions for Stamina
  and Will, and an aspect for Urge.
  4. Set Humanity at the level of
  Stamina or Will, whichever is higher.
  5. Choose Cover, Price and the Mark.
  6. Choose a Need.
  7. Choose Urge abilities.
  8. Write the Kicker.
  9. Give the character a once-over for
  likeability.
  Scores
  There are three basic scores in Urge:
  Stamina, Will, and Urge.
  Stamina, like in Sorcerer, is a measure of your strength of body, as well as
  your general fitness, health, and ability to take damage. It is used when
  performing any task of physical exertion and in combat.
  Will is a character’s force of mind, as well as the ability to resist compul-
  sion. While in Sorcerer and in many other games Will could represent
  nearly any state of mind, in Urge Will is the all-needed buffer between you
  and the Urge inside. The Will descriptions below not only describe what
  drives you mentally, but what quality resides in you that prevents you from
  succumbing to the Urge. Your Will descriptions defines what makes you a
  protagonist in this setting.
  Urge, which replaces Lore in Urge, is a special score not afforded to nor-
  mal humans: it measures the strength of the predator inside you and your
  connection to your instinct. It may seem like the most important score, but
  as your predator grows stronger, your control over it is lessened.
  Chapter I: Character
  
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  With Urge, 0 is normal for humans—anything above that represents some-
  one who has been inflicted with the curse of Urge. Urge 1 is someone who
  may not even understand or barely perceive their animal nature, while 2 to
  4 is someone who has felt Urge directly and most likely often. Urge 5 and
  above normally results in psychopathic reversion to instinct.
  There is a fourth score, Humanity. This represents your empathy towards
  humans, conscience, and general psychological well-being. Set Humanity
  to the same score as Stamina or Will, whichever is higher.
  Score descriptions
  Apply descriptions to scores like in Sorcerer. With GM permission, you may
  create new descriptions that fit the below descriptions and are in the spirit
  of Urge.
  Stamina
  Broken. Your appearance belies your strength. You’ve taken enough abuse
  over the years to develop the ability to shrug off pain.
  Hunter. You’ve spent a great deal of your life outside of cities and in the
  wilderness. You may not have been hunting to kill, but whatever you
  hunted-good fishing spots, nature photographs, or just a little peace-
  you’ve grown accustomed to sleeping outdoors and foraging for food.
  Scavenger. You live amongst the trash and debris of human society—hell,
  you are the trash of human society—cast off and worn out. But you sur-
  vive.
  Biomechanical. You are beauty and grace in motion, a streamlined ma-
  chine of flesh and blood, bone and sinew. Built to last.
  Juggernaut. Equal parts mass and inertia, you are both the unstoppable
  force and the immovable object at the same time.
  Will
  Vengeance. You’ve lost something or someone near to you, and you’ll
  stop at nothing to avenge that loss or burn the fuck out trying.
  Fear. You’re afraid of this world, you’re afraid of being found out, and
  mainly you’re afraid of this demon in your head. If you keep moving, and
  keep pretending it’s not there, maybe it won’t be.
  Purpose. There’s a reason you have these gifts. Maybe you don’t under-
  stand it fully, but there’s some sort of cosmic test you’ve worked out in
  your own belief system, and you are the subject: a holy instrument of
  divine will.
  Zest. Having the Urge is sometimes a tremendous pain in the ass, but it’s
  a hell of a lot more fun being able to scale walls than being stuck taking
  the bus every morning. Sure, there’s a downside, but you’re going to milk
  
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  this thing for as much excitement as you can possibly get.
  Protector. There’s someone or something out there that needs you. It
  needs your strength, and not your weakness—you may hate what’s inside
  you, but if it’s the best way to protect, then it’s what you’ll use.
  Urge aspect
  The aspect for Urge is different from score descriptions in that it deter-
  mines the nature of your Urge, and combines with your Need in order to
  define the predator within your character. The aspect is not the only thing
  you’re interested in, but rather why your predator wants things. For ex-
  ample, a predator with the aspect of Power still craves sex, but only to
  dominate someone or something else—the pleasure and procreation as-
  pects don’t really concern her.
  A common mistake is for the player to assume the Urge is what she wants.
  It isn’t. It’s not even what the character really wants. It’s what the preda-
  tor inside the character wants, which provides the main struggle in Urge. It
  is something to be fought at every turn.
  Dominance. This common Urge is the need to be respected, admired, and
  even worshipped. The Urge is the ultimate predator, and that fact should
  be respected and heeded by people not touched with its gifts. It wants
  to dominate the world.
  Hunger. This Urge hoards food, and to a lesser degree, all pleasurable
  items—hot baths, silk shirts, fine art, and the like. It enjoys sex im-
  mensely, but from a pleasure standpoint only. It is nature’s glutton, and
  will experience anything once.
  Sex. This Urge wants to spread itself among the world. It wants its po-
  tency spread into thousands of children that will bear its name. It wants
  to penetrate deep inside everything that it can and fill them with its
  essential essences. It wants to irrevocably make things its own.
  Solitude. At first glance, this might not seem that much different than the
  Urge aspect of Power. It wants to meet any challenge and put down any
  threat, permanently. Its purpose is not domination, though, but like the
  protagonist Ender in Ender’s Game, to eliminate any obstacle to its exist-
  ence. It seeks the quiet solitude of its own thought and opinions in ev-
  erything. It would eliminate your own thoughts if it could, as the ultimate
  egoist. (Example: Marvel Comics’ Wolverine in the early issues of his
  comic, Wolverine.)
  Pain. This Urge is wounded in a world it can’t understand: a world of plush
  couches, huge useless SUV’s, board meetings, and action items. The
  sight of chubby people who couldn’t last 24 hours without their television
  and Burger Queen infuriates this Urge to the core, enough to very literally
  
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  pain it. It doesn’t quite understand why it’s trapped inside this fleshy,
  nearly hairless body, and wants to rip its way through it and take the
  whole world down. This is the Urge of self-destruction. (Example: The
  Incredible Hulk, mainly from the television series, and to a lesser degree,
  from the Marvel Comics’ title.)
  Humanity
  Humanity, as in Sorcerer, is set to the higher of Stamina or Will.
  Unlike Sorcerer, though, Humanity is strictly defined in Urge. Humanity is
  your empathy with other persons’ feelings and needs, and your ability to
  curb your instinctual wants in order to respect theirs.
  As you lose Humanity, you will begin to care less and less about the nor-
  mal boundaries set between people. You will feel much more of an urge to
  take what you like from others, and will care less and less about their
  concerns.
  At 0 Humanity, you lose your last connections to the human race, with
  human inhibitions, and a human conscience. This is not character death.
  Your character is from then on under the control of the GM, and has suc-
  cumbed completely to her basest urges. However, if restrained and kept
  from indulging her Urge and Need for a goodly amount of time (anywhere
  from a week to a lifetime), the character may revert back to humanity, left
  with 1 Humanity and in dire Need.
  As detailed in the below rules, Humanity loss and gain can be carefully
  counterbalanced to ensure that you do not ever reach 0 Humanity. How-
  ever, the GM tracks Humanity for you. After the initial character creation,
  you will not know the numerical score of your Humanity ever again. The GM
  may give you tips like, “You feel like you’re losing your grip on things. Your
  Urge is thirsting like mad and all you can think about is tearing this guy’s
  face off with your teeth.” This would be an indication that your Humanity’s
  getting a bit low and that perhaps you should back off.
  Losing Humanity
  There are three stated ways to lose Humanity in Urge, all revolving around
  a Humanity vs. Urge roll.
  First, when you, as a character, feel angry, helpless, or afraid, the GM may
  call for a Humanity vs. Urge roll. If this roll is failed, you lose a point of
  Humanity and revert to bestial instinct, letting your Urge deal with the
  
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  problem instead of your Humanity.
  Second, when you consciously decide as a player to use an advanced Urge
  power, the GM will call for a Urge vs. Humanity roll. If the roll is success-
  ful, you as a character have overcome your conscience and inhibitions
  enough to let out the Urge, but you lose a point of Humanity.
  Third, whenever the GM believes your actions as a character have become
  reckless and catering more to your Urge than to your Humanity, she may
  call for a Humanity vs. Urge roll. On failure, you lose a point of Humanity.
  It is noted that there are three stated ways to lose Humanity above be-
  cause the GM may discover other situations in which Humanity loss is
  appropriate. The general rule is that a Humanity vs. Urge roll should al-
  ways be allowed, and any time Urge wins the roll over Humanity, Humanity
  is lost. Note that the three ways above are merely examples of times Urge
  wins in a Humanity vs. Urge roll.
  Gaining Humanity
  Gaining Humanity is a much more GM-driven process than losing Humanity.
  Humanity gain should occur in the following types of situations:
  You are confronted with a situation friendly to your Urge aspect and com-
  pletely counteract the aspect. Example: Ben’s character, Paul Ricktor, has
  an Urge aspect of Dominance. He has just caught a man trying to hold up
  a liquor store, and absolutely torn him apart. The scared liquor store
  owner’s pulled a shotgun on Paul and tells him to not move until the po-
  lice come. If Ben decides Paul will not only not attack the owner, but
  actually stand still and let the police take him into custody (an act of
  submission), a Humanity point would be gained.
  You put the needs of others before your own needs or safety. This is prob-
  ably the most common way to gain Humanity in Urge and drives the super-
  heroic aspects of the game. When you save a baby from a burning build-
  ing, stop a maniac from shooting up a schoolyard full of kids, or stop an
  out-of-control car from slamming into four others, you gain a point of Hu-
  manity, no matter how you go about eliminating the problem. You often
  may lose a point of Humanity in the process through the use of Urge abili-
  ties, but the intent balances that loss with a gain.
  Cover
  Cover’s what you do in everyday life. This is a tremendously important part
  
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  of Urge. You can’t be a raging beast all the time, and you aren’t a four-
  color superhero in the streets. You’ve got to pay your bills and feed your
  kids, or you’ll have external problems to rival your internal ones in no time.
  Choose any Cover that fits your character, and set it equal to either
  Stamina or Will, whichever seems more appropriate.
  Cover is also used as a resource for favors and contacts. Often, characters
  bridled with the Urge have to drift from place to place in order to hide the
  damage they leave behind, as well as to prevent themselves from forming
  close human relationships, and betraying those same relationships. On the
  road (or in a large city), Cover is used if you need to contact former ac-
  quaintances for help or favors.
  Note: “Drifter” or similar Covers are not permitted. While the character
  may be a drifter, those contacts and acquaintances from his earlier life
  give him an advantage other drifters do not have.
  Price
  Just as you can’t be a raging beast all the time, there’s a difficulty in being
  a normal human for Urge characters. No matter how hard you try, you’ll
  never quite be “right” or fit in. Something will always belie your nature.
  This is called the Price. Several examples are given in Sorcerer, and others
  are listed here, but you may choose or make up your own to fit your char-
  acter concept. They should give a -1 die modifier to one type of activity,
  and can range from hideous to almost humorous (Sniffs a lot. You smell
  the air wherever you are: -1 to social interactions) depending on your
  game.
  Uncomfortable with technology. You have a -1 to all rolls when using a
  piece of technology. This includes cars, computers, and the like.
  Scarred. You have tremendous amounts of scarring from running through
  glass, getting in knife fights, or whatever. -1 to social interactions when
  scars are visible.
  Avoidance. You feel uncomfortable holding normal conversations. -1 to
  social interactions when speaking.
  The Mark
  The intense loneliness of being part of a species (humanity) that you do
  not completely identify with and that can never understand you is counter-
  acted by the fact that you can see your fellow predators. Whether for good
  or bad, all of you have a Mark. It never is the same on two different
  people, and follows no guidelines, but it sticks out like a sore thumb to
  
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  those who know what to look for. It may range from traditional (index
  finger longer than the middle finger) to bizarre (enormous purple birthmark
  from ear to shoulder).
  The Need
  The Need continually reminds a character that the Urge is not a natural
  part of him: it is something very other riding inside him. This Urge has a
  Need, something that must be fulfilled often. Needs can range from rather
  mundane things (running through trees) to dangerous (climbing high build-
  ings) to horrific (kill small animals, eat human flesh).
  The key is to make your Need something that your character will not enjoy
  doing, and may be quite opposed to. If you play a vegetarian clothes mer-
  chant, his Urge’s Need may be as simple as eat raw meat.
  The Need will manifest in the following situations: when Stamina or Will
  has been reduced to 0 that day, you have failed to control the Urge in a
  Humanity versus Urge contest that day, or you have been in confronta-
  tional contact with another Urge-cursed person. A player may choose to
  ignore the Urge, in which case the GM will call for a Humanity vs. Urge roll.
  (This roll receives a bonus to the Urge pool for each time the Need has not
  been met.) If the player fails this roll, his character will frenzy, becoming
  bestial and hunting down his Need (and often indulging his Aspect as
  well). While the player is still in control of the character during this time,
  the GM has “over-ride” rights if the player shows restraint in sending his
  character head-long into a maniacal frenzy. The episode lasts as long as
  the GM deems appropriate, but 12 hours is an appropriate amount of time.
  Example of character creation:
  I want to make a character in Urge that centers on mystery and darkness.
  I decide his name will be Victor Hart, and he’s a private detective – or at
  least used to be.
  For his scores, I place 4 in Stamina, 3 in Will, and 3 in Urge. Victor’s al-
  ways been rather active, with all his skulking in dark alleys and the like,
  but succumbs to temptation a little too easy. I’ll give Stamina the descrip-
  tion of Hunter. He’s not really an outdoorsman, but he’s spent his career
  professionally hunting people, so it seems to fit. For Will, I choose Pur-
  pose. Zest might fit Victor, and Vengeance is easy to make a hook for, but
  Purpose seems to be interesting. Thinking about what that means, I de-
  cide Victor was doing some P.I. work trying to find a dead-beat dad when
  his powers manifested. He was watching the dead-beat from an aban-
  doned building across the street and noticed him involved in some hard-
  
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  core drug dealing. Unfortunately, he’d been noticed, and two thugs snuck
  up on Victor to teach him a lesson. He ran, and suddenly he noticed how
  dark he’d grown, able to hide anywhere, and no one able to find him.
  Skulking across the street, he walked into the dead-beat’s house, took the
  smack without even being noticed, managed to sell it for a good profit,
  and got his client her child support. He realized he had these powers for a
  purpose – he was somehow the angel of helping people out of the dark-
  ness. This story could be improved later, but it works for now.
  For Victor’s Urge aspect, I think for a while and consider Hunger. Victor’s
  always had a taste for fine food, good drink, and loose women. That’s too
  easy, though – the Urge should be antithetical to the character’s morals. I
  end up choosing Dominance, which means Victor may have problems not
  using his powers to end up ruling the dark alleys instead of protecting
  people there.
  Victor’s Humanity starts at 4, equal to his Stamina.
  His Cover’s easy – I’ve already decided he’s a P.I. His Price, though, takes
  more thought. I decide on a Price of ‘Lustful’. Victor’s rather obvious when
  he’s attracted to women, and he’s attracted to most of them. He receives
  a –1 on social interactions with women because of his abject forwardness.
  For his Mark, I decide he’s got a uni-brow – his eyebrows grow all the way
  from one way to the other. (This is actually considered a classic sign of a
  werewolf.)
  For Victor’s Need, I’m going to play it simple – kill humans. This seems
  too easy, but he’s never killed before. He’s done some shady things, but
  that was a line he wouldn’t cross until now.
  Urge powers should be easy as well. Victor’s Will is 3, so I pick to pick
  three. I mentioned Skulk in the backstory, so I get that first. To fit his P.I.
  background and character concept, I’m going to choose Empathy and At-
  traction, both for use in information gathering.
  The Kicker, mentioned in Sorcerer, is probably the most important part of
  character creation. Don’t let players get away with using the advent of
  their powers as a Kicker. If you read the rules for Urge closely, someone
  with the Urge could spend their entire life in relative seclusion and not
  ever have to fulfill their Urge or Need. Each character needs a reason to
  get up and go. For Victor, I’m going to say that he woke up this morning
  to read in the newspaper that three hookers had been killed the night
  before. He yawned, opened the refrigerator for some orange juice, and all
  three hookers’ heads were sitting on the shelf. That should get some ac-
  tion underway.
  
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  Chapter II: Urge Abilities
  The Urge inside each character is manifested as preternatural abilities that
  surge through the character like primordial adrenaline. The intense feeling
  of raging pleasure when they manifest is an amazing release to the pent-
  up predator inside, but a dangerous feeling to enjoy.
  Almost all of these powers have a visual or otherwise-sensory manifesta-
  tion, which is set by the player and GM. This manifestation should be
  subtle but dramatic. For example, a character using Frighten might look
  momentarily bigger, darker, or more bestial. However, it’s important to note
  that the basic Urge abilities are not physical in nature (not even Burst of
  Strength): they’re mental and spiritual abilities, pushing the physical body
  beyond what it thinks it can do. (But, see advanced Urge abilities below
  for some physical transformation madness.)
  A character has abilities from the list below equal to her Will, and almost
  all powers use the Urge score for their dice.
  In a scene or a combat, a character may use her powers a number of time
  equal to her Stamina before she becomes fatigued. Keep track of each
  time she uses a power; when she uses them more times than her Stamina,
  she takes 1 non-lethal damage per use.
  Animal Control. You can roll Urge vs. target’s Urge to control animals. You
  cannot speak to animals, and cannot give them specific commands, but
  can change their general emotions, ranging from instilling fear to challeng-
  ing an animal to begging sympathy to attracting help. The number of ani-
  mals controlled at one time equals your Urge score, which may be doubled
  for especially small animals (rats and the like).
  Attraction. People find you strangely charismatic on a Urge vs. Will roll.
  This is not a normal charisma—it carries a feeling of excitement, thrill, and
  danger.
  Burst of Strength. You can add your Urge score to Stamina for one action,
  during which all other scores are reduced to 1. Repeated uses of Burst of
  Strength for successive actions will result in 1 lethal damage per round.
  Empathy. On a successful Urge vs. Will roll, you can detemine the over-
  whelming thought on one person or creature’s mind. The “overwhelming
  thought” is defined as whatever is most occupying that person or
  creature’s mind at the moment. Looking at a rookie bank robber commit-
  
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  ting his first heist, all pale and sweaty, you might get a sensation of the
  word “Cops” repeated over and over.  Watching a bored construction
  worker, you might get an image of his sexual fantasy involving the boss’s
  secretary and wife.
  Fast. You may add your Urge score to your Stamina for purposes of deter-
  mining your speed in combat. In addition, you may perform extra actions in
  each round for the cost of 1 non-lethal damage per action. You can also
  use this power for running, in which case your Stamina and Urge are added
  for rolls.
  Frighten. You can cause fear in people on a Urge vs. Will roll. The reaction
  of the target is up to the GM: general actions for people are freeze, flee or
  fight. (If the player scores three or more successes, the target will flee.)
  Either way, the terror causes the target to lose its next action.
  Mark. You can roll Urge vs. a target’s Will score to permanently Mark the
  individual. Success means anyone or anything with a Urge score of 1 or
  higher will perceive the target as Marked, permanently. A Mark is not per-
  ceptible to individuals without a Urge score, including the target. The Mark
  is not a visually perceptible thing-instead, it manifests as a sort of psychic
  beacon. When someone who is Marked stands in a crowd with others, any
  one with a Urge score of 1 or higher (including animals) will automatically
  notice that person first.
  Perception. You may add your Urge score to whatever score you are using
  for perception-based rolls. Exactly what you perceive must be defined
  when taking this power—hearing, scent, sight, or something else. When
  you would not normally be afforded a perception roll, you may roll only
  Urge.
  Rage. The character can make a standard Urge vs. Humanity roll to change
  his hand-to-hand attacks from non-lethal to lethal damage for the rest of a
  combat. The character becomes enraged and manically violent, biting the
  victim, clawing and scratching, and generally being bestial. No non-combat
  actions can be taken until the enemy is dead unless a Humanity vs. Urge
  roll is made.
  Skulk. Your Urge is subtracted from the Perception dice of any one who
  might perceive you (to a minimum of 1). This power can be turned on and
  off, but the character must have some sort of obscurement, however mini-
  mal (for example, shadows) for it to work.
  
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  Tough. You convert damage victories up to your Urge score taken from
  lethal weapons to the non-lethal damage table. This ability has no effect
  on non-lethal damage or special damage (heat, gas, fire, electricity, or
  what not.)
  Vitality. Dice of lasting damage up to your Urge score are removed after
  combat, as opposed to half the damage.
  Advanced Urge abilities
  The predator inside each character is capable of much, much more than
  these basic abilities. Only the character’s resistance to losing control over
  himself prevents physical manifestations of these abilities.
  If the player chooses to, the character may let that control slip. This is
  represented by an Urge vs. Humanity roll, representing the moral dilemma
  the character must overcome in order to let loose the predator.  If the roll
  is successful, the character loses one point of Humanity and can then exer-
  cise an advanced
  ability that corre-
  sponds to his
  Urge’s basic abili-
  ties. For example,
  if he has the
  ability Frighten,
  he may use Shat-
  ter. The use of
  this ability lasts
  for one narrative
  scene or one
  combat.
  Advanced abili-
  ties are listed by
  their correspond-
  ing basic abili-
  ties.
  (Animal Control)
  Lord of Beasts.
  You can
  instinctually un-
  derstand the
  thoughts and
  sounds of all
  
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  beasts. Your presence is so dominating that any and all beasts around you
  will follow your bidding: you can give them complete commands, although
  overly complex commands may not be understood. If an animal would
  challenge you for leadership (as may happen in alpha canines, large ani-
  mals such as elephants, or the like) you may add your Urge to your Will
  and roll against their Will.
  (Attraction) Dominate. You may command humans. You have a pool of
  dice equal to your Urge + Will that you use versus a target’s Will in order
  to command them. If you wish to Dominate more than one person, you
  can, but your Urge + Will pool is split by the number of persons you are
  Dominating.
  (Burst of Strength) Monster. You grow in size and stature, becoming very
  bestial. You may become extremely hairy, your jaw may jut out, your eyes
  sink in. Your Urge is added to your Stamina for the rest of the scene or
  until you choose to transform back.
  (Empathy) Read. Choose one sentient target. For the rest of the scene or
  combat, you are aware of that target’s actions an instant before they com-
  mit them, and can act to foil those actions. If they are going to attack you
  in some way, you get a complete action to avoid them (for example, they
  plan to shoot you, so you jump behind a crate). If there is no way to avoid
  them, you still get an extra die to dodge them.
  (Fast) Unfettered. Your movement is not stopped by normal means. You
  can climb walls, cliffs, buildings, or anything vertical as fast as you can
  run. You cannot fly, but you can leap and dive from heights, curling into a
  ball to roll and cushion your landing. (As a general rule, take 1 Stamina
  non-lethal damage per story you fall.)
  (Frighten) Shatter. This works much like Frighten, but on a Urge vs.
  target’s Will roll, you literally shatter their idea of reality, putting sheer
  terror in their hearts. Their reaction is up to the GM, but common actions
  are self-defecation, chewing one’s tongue off, falling to the ground, or
  vomiting. The target takes one lethal damage per success.
  (Mark) Warp. You can warp and atrophy the flesh of others by touch. On
  a successful touch, roll your Urge vs. the target’s Stamina. If you succeed,
  reduce the target’s Stamina by the number of successes permanently. This
  may be used for more than damage-you may permanently alter someone’s
  features.
  
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  (Perception) Foresight. This power is unique in that it is used after an
  action occurs. When a result occurs because of a direct action on the part
  of the character that the player wishes had not happened, the character
  may activate this power, and game time reverses to the point of the afore-
  mentioned action, the result itself merely being a premonition.
  Example: Karl (the character) opens a warehouse door, only to be raked
  by gunfire from inside. Peter, Karl’s player, isn’t so keen on this, and has
  Karl activate Foresight. The Urge vs. Humanity roll is successful, and
  game time reverses to the point in which Karl was going to open the
  door. He places his hand on the knob and sees an image of getting raked
  by gunfire.
  (Rage) Rend. Your hands and feet grow into razor-sharp claws, hooks, or
  whatever. This makes you capable of ripping through cloth, plastic, soft
  metals and increases your damage to X + 2 lethal damage.
  (Skulk) Shadow. You very literally become a shadow, able to fade into
  any darkened area. You may pass through any small opening (for example,
  you could go through a locked door, but not a wall.)
  (Tough) Ignore. You can ignore pain. While you still take damage, you do
  not feel it. Tally up damage victories as normal: each round roll Urge +
  Stamina vs. the number of victories you should be suffering. If you suc-
  ceed, ignore those victories. They easily may rise higher than Stamina-this
  will be incredibly painful once Ignore wears off.
  (Vitality) Regenerate. Any and all Stamina damage you may have taken
  is healed. This is often incredibly painful-all scores are reduced to 1 for
  one round.
  
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  Chapter III: Running Urge
  “McGee ... don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
  David Banner, The Incredible Hulk
  So, after all these rules, how do you run this thing? What is Urge about,
  anyway?
  First, forget the standard “adventuring party” milieu. One of the first
  things I had to deal with when writing Urge was the fact that a party of
  these monsters was never going to work – they’d eat each other alive in a
  matter of sessions. Urge is made to be run with one GM and one, or per-
  haps two, players. Two actually seems to work well, as you can play off
  the “united in alienation” card – two freaks of nature shunned by all soci-
  ety find comfort in each other. (I actually love the idea of freaks in love,
  but that’s up to you and your players. This does change the theme of the
  game significantly, so be forewarned.)
  When running Urge, remember that its focus is on alienation. Your charac-
  ter is a person with something tremendously powerful trapped inside him,
  
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  something he can control only for a short time. The fact that he does have
  a chance to be a hero should reinforce this alienation: while he can make
  the world a better place, he will be reviled for it. Urge is about seeing how
  long your character can ride that wild thing, and what he can do with it.
  Urge is about making your character try to form human relationships, and
  then watching them be destroyed. Urge is about making a difference in a
  world where you’re not wanted or understood. Urge is about making those
  last five minutes of your life count.
  How does an Urge adventure go, then? What propels these themes? Indi-
  vidual GM’s may have their own styles, but I choose to go with the classic
  in this genre: The Incredible Hulk.
  Step 1: Set-up
  Each session should take place somewhere different, your character being
  run out of town at the end of the previous episode. Urge characters are
  drifters, and the beginning of an episode should begin with a huge bang
  introducing the character to the problems in a new town, and to the first
  relationship he will form. A few examples are:
  -
  The character is eating a meal in the corner of a local diner, and a gun-
  man comes in to hold it up. A pretty, earthy waitress should be taken
  hostage, or threatened with assault, driving the character to act.
  -
  The character is staying in a boarding house when the gas main breaks;
  a cabinet falls on another guest, or the owner of the house; or some
  other disaster happens. Whatever the disaster, it should be tailored so
  that the character cannot save the victim without relying on his powers.
  -
  The character sees a small child being abducted by a stranger, and has
  to rescue the child.
  The character will obviously not want to use his powers openly. As much
  as people like to be saved, they’re not so fond of being saved by an aber-
  rant demon-possessed dude. The point is to let the character not use his
  powers while putting the character in a situation where he will form a
  relationship, and will be looked to as a hero.
  This set-up scene should be quick and impacting. Action should be kept at
  a maximum, immediately giving the character a ‘hook’ into the new loca-
  tion, and impressing on the character a sense of his purpose in the town.
  Although the initial action scene and the actual threat in the session may
  be unrelated, they should be somehow tied thematically. For example, if
  the session opens with the character saving someone from a flipped-over,
  burning car, the session should be about saving the defenseless trapped
  
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  and surrounded by insurmountable danger, whether that be someone
  trapped in a burning building, or a broke mother about to have her liveli-
  hood taken away by ruthless businessmen.
  Step 2: Complacency
  After the initial set-up, let the session lull a bit. Let the character deepen
  the relationship he’s formed, and let things seem calm. During this time,
  you can emphasize the ambience of the small town the session’s taking
  place in. (You can run Urge in a large city. In that case, though, instead of
  wondering from place to place, the character might be a wanderer within
  the town, drifting from neighborhood to neighborhood, or even from sub-
  way station to subway station.)
  Generally, each town the character shows up in should be small enough
  that people start to recognize him within a few days. He probably will gain
  some sort of simple employment, perhaps a part-time job as a mechanic
  or short-order cook or something equally appropriate to the drifter-handy-
  man image. During this stage, contrast the underlying creepiness most
  small towns have with the natives’ friendliness towards a visitor, keeping
  the character looking for a hidden threat while he gets invited to dinner at
  widows’ homes.
  Step 3: Shitstorm
  Finish Step 2 by letting the character get as comfortable as possible. At
  this point, the character should have prospects in the town. He should
  have hopes that ‘this might be the place I could settle down.’ In whatever
  relationship has been pushed to the fore-front, he should be in a place
  where trust is just beginning to emerge. To be completely blunt, if the
  character has a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, they
  should have just fucked for the first time.
  At this point, bring the hidden threat out. You can start slow, maybe by
  having the character notice things going wrong or odd people being
  around, but you should soon drive the worry, pain, or fear into a frenzy,
  forcing the character into immediate action. As soon as the character
  takes action, respond with further conflict, driving the scene into a spiral
  of emotional and physical discord.
  Then – have the hidden threat emerge as the character finally gets com-
  fortable. He should be a stage in his relationship with whoever where they
  are just beginning to trust one another. To be blunt – if it’s with a person
  of the opposite sex, they should have just fucked. If the threat can be
  
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  tied into the initial bang, all the better. The gunman who tried to hold up
  the diner might come back with friends to “get the idiot who stopped
  them, and take that little waitress piece of meat, too.” Build this up into a
  rip-roaring ending that the character can not possibly not use his powers
  and still escape from. The most important thing to do here is: at the
  session’s climax – always have the focus of the character’s relationship
  present. They must see the character for what he is.
  Step 4: Resolution
  The resolution of the preceding scene is the rest of the session. Does the
  character’s companion run for the authorities? Is their mind broken in
  horror? Do they keep it to themselves, but ask the character to go away?
  Or – worst – do they accept what the character is, but the character him-
  self becomes too afraid of what he might do with his powers? The only
  resolution to any of these is leaving town permanently and finding some-
  where else to live for a few weeks. This scene should be played for mas-
  sive pathos, and leave the character, and quite possibly the character’s
  companion, with mixed emotions – a feeling of longing combined with
  fear, guilt, anger, or any mix of the above.
  Last piece of advice
  Without fail, go to http://www.incrediblehulktvseries.com/ and read the
  episode guide. Each and every one of these episodes falls within or near
  the framework I’ve laid out above, and there’s a myriad of ideas you can
  cull from the page. An excerpt:
  David [Banner] emerges from one of his transformations, at the scene of a
  murder. Believing that the creature [The Hulk] might have killed a young
  model, David attempts to “put together” the events leading up to the
  murder by investigating the crime scene and the characters close to the
  model during her last hours.
  How can this not be an excellent idea for a scenario? This web site may be
  the most valuable resource for any Urge game on the Internet.
  Running an Urge campaign
  While the standard Urge scenario’s got all the angst and gloom you might
  want in role-playing, how does one keep this going? Running the same
  game each week in different settings reinforces the theme of Urge, but
  how does one keep it interesting?
  
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  The Urge campaign relies on one of the easiest tricks in the GM’s toolbox:
  the overarching threat. In the Hulk comic books, the Hulk’s most prevalent
  enemy is the United States Army, and specifically, General Ross, the fa-
  ther of Betty Ross. This is incredibly overwrought, as the comic Hulk is
  amazingly powerful, but a government organization hell-bent on capturing
  the Urge-inflicted character and learning about him for their own military
  purposes provides a consistent background threat that will drive the char-
  acter onward.
  In the Hulk television show, Jack McGee, a burnt-out reporter wanting to
  revive his career while saving people from a rampaging beast (actually
  modeled after the character of Javert in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables),
  follows the Hulk all over the country, staying just a few steps behind
  David Banner at all times. This sort of minor threat – especially to the
  character’s identity instead of to his health – is a perfect element to up
  the tension from episode to episode. Your Urge campaign could have a
  reporter, a scientist bent on discovering the origin of the Urge, or any
  other nosy investigative type following reports of a monster around the
  country. This sort of character is easily implemented later in the cam-
  paign, as well, as a family member or a lover of someone the Urge-in-
  flicted character has killed or harmed.
  As a last sort of threat – the GM should not ignore the possibility of other
  Urge-cursed wanderers in the world. You may decide that the protagonist
  of your campaign is one of a kind, but allowing the possibility of other
  Urge-inflicted people allows for some amazing conflicts, especially if oth-
  ers hunt the protagonist. The Urge-possessed do not necessarily like one
  another or feel camaraderie: remembering the rules for the Need, even
  being in contact with another person infected with the Urge drives charac-
  ters into Need. The demons of Urge are not friendly towards one another,
  and are instead malicious, territorial, solitary beings that would prefer to
  destroy each other than see one of their kind live. This is the largest
  physical threat in Urge, and should certainly not be overused (GM’s, listen:
  Do not overuse. Do not overuse. Please. It will get trite as fuck. Thank
  you.), but when used sparsely, can drive episodes into dramatic frenzy.
  And dramatic frenzy is what Urge is all about.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Sorcerer RPG/Sorcerer - Urge.pdf