Preparation

Candela Obscura is played in a series of assignments given out by a circle’s Lightkeeper, a character played by the GM. Each assignment is a mystery that should last between one and three sessions, and come to a conclusion before the next assignment begins.

All player characters, or PCs, will need one of the five pregenerated character sheets available alongside this Quickstart Guide, and nine six-sided dice (called d6 for short). Three of these dice should be of a separate and distinct color. These will be referred to as gilded dice, and the remaining six will be known, simply, as standard dice.

Your group will need a circle sheet for the team as a whole, and we recommend supplying Field Guides for each player to reference during the game. These are also included alongside this Quickstart Guide.

Additionally, you will need a GM to run the session. Their job is to guide the narrative, control all non-player characters, or NPCs, and describe the world.

Dice Mechanics

Candela Obscura uses the Illuminated Worlds d6 dice pool system. When there is a question of whether something will happen, and there is a potential consequence if it doesn’t, you’ll make a roll using this pool of dice and take the highest result.

• On a 1–3 result, the roll is a failure. You don’t accomplish what you wanted, and there are consequences.
• On a 4–5 result, the roll is a mixed success. You accomplish what you wanted, but it comes at a cost.
• On a 6 result, the roll is a full success. You get what you want without any major unintended consequences.
• On multiple 6s, the roll is a critical success. You get what you want, and something extra.

Actions

Actions represent your character’s proficiency at a given maneuver under pressure. Each can have a rating between 0–3, denoting the number of dice you roll when performing that action—the higher the value, the more skilled your character is in that area. If you have no points in an action and decide not to spend drive to add dice to the roll (see Drives, below), you can still attempt the action. In that case, roll two dice and take the lower result. Note that you can’t get a critical success on this kind of roll (even if you roll two 6s).

Dani wants to check the room to see if anyone in the crowd is closely watching her circle. The GM tells her to make a Survey roll. She has an action rating of 1 in Survey, so she rolls one die.

Drives

Drives are a resource you may expend and replenish during a session. They represent your character’s ability to push themselves past their standard capacity. You can spend 1 drive point to add an additional die (+1d) to a roll of an action that drive encompasses. You may spend as many drive points per roll as you have available. For example, if you’re rolling with Move, you may spend points in Nerve to add additional dice. Your dice pool can never have more than six dice.

All drives have a maximum, which determines the highest amount of points your character can have in that drive. Your sheet also displays the amount currently available, which is a number that will decrease as you spend the available points.

Another player can assist you by spending one of their own drive points for +1d. Though an assisting player can only spend 1 point of drive per roll, multiple players can help you carry out your action. When another player offers aid, they should describe what they do to assist within the narrative. It is at the GM’s discretion whether or not your circle members are able to help.

• Nerve can add dice to Move, Strike, and Control rolls.
• Cunning can add dice to Read, Sway, and Hide rolls.
• Intuition can add dice to Survey, Focus, and Sense rolls.

Gilded Actions

If an action is marked as gilded (represented by a filled diamond to the left of the action), you will always replace a standard die with a gilded die when rolling. If you choose the result on that die, you recover 1 point of the drive associated with the action you rolled. This represents a character’s ability to recoup themselves after pushing their limits. You may choose the gilded die, with the goal of recovering a drive point, even if the result is lower than one of the standard dice rolled in your dice pool.

Kat rolls with Control to see if their character can successfully pick the lock on a door. They have 2 points in this action, and it is gilded. They choose to spend a Nerve drive to add an additional die to their roll. They now roll three dice, one of which is gilded, and choose a result.

The two standard dice roll a 3 and a 6. The gilded die rolls a 5.

Kat could take the full success, but instead they choose to replenish 1 point of their Nerve and take the mixed success on the gilded die instead.

Resistances

Resistances are a PC’s way of pushing back against a consequence. Anytime you don’t like the result of your roll, you may choose to spend a resistance from the pertaining drive (Nerve, Cunning, or Intuition). You have 1 resistance per 3 maximum drive. This resistance does not go away if you spend your drive points. For example, if your maximum drive is 4, but you’ve spent 3 drive (so now you have 1), you still have your 1 resistance.

After spending a resistance, you reroll the number of dice equal to the rating of the action used for the previous roll. You may not include the dice from any spent drive or assistance you initially received. If the action is gilded, you may still roll with a gilded die. If the action you are rerolling has a value of 0, you roll two dice and take the lower result.

You must accept the result of the new resistance roll unless you spend another resistance to roll again.

Carlos has 1 point in Strike and spends 2 points in Nerve to roll three dice. The highest result in the pool is 3, so he decides to spend a Nerve resistance to reroll. Because he has only 1 point in Strike, he rerolls one die. The new result is a 4, a mixed success instead of a miss.

Abilities

Abilities are the unique moves available to each character. For the purposes of the Quickstart Guide, you will only have three abilities available on each pregenerated character sheet.

Rolls & Consequences

The primary engine of the game is built around action rolls. These occur during moments within the narrative when the results of a player’s decisions are unclear— action rolls should not be used for every move a character makes. The investigators in Candela Obscura are competent and highly trained, more than your average person within the setting, so you shouldn’t roll the dice for unhindered actions such as walking down the street or climbing a ladder. That being said, if you’re trying to remain hidden or there’s a monster chasing you, it’s probably going to require a roll to avoid the danger while you do it.

Ultimately it is up to the GM to decide when dice are rolled and which actions are used; however, as a player you can make suggestions or ask for a roll to achieve a desired result. Remember, this game is a conversation. You are expected to work with the rest of your table to create the best story and game experience together.

The GM sets the stakes of the roll (low, normal, or high) to indicate how dangerous the consequences might be, and tells you which action to roll. You roll a number of dice equal to that action rating, plus any additional dice gained from spent drive points, and the GM determines how the fiction evolves based on your result. By default, the stakes of every roll are normal— there could be important consequences to failing. The GM may lower the stakes if the situation is safe, or raise the stakes if the situation is particularly dangerous. The consequences of a low-stakes roll won’t put you in immediate peril, whereas the consequences of a high-stakes roll will almost always result in taking ddamage or finding yourself in a very difficult position.

-Spelling error. Are you sure you’re okay to be back so quickly? I’m worried about you.

-I’m fine. Thank you for the catch.

Fighting Enemies

Candela Obscura favors investigation over violent confrontation. That is to say, though you will fight monsters (and we certainly hope you will fight many), combat is not the focus of gameplay. Just like in any other portion of the adventure, when your circle faces off against enemies, your GM will make moves based on the players’ rolls. The consequences of a failure (or even a mixed success) might result in an adversary attacking a character and dealing out one or more marks. Your GM may even surprise you with unexpected consequences based on your result.

Building a Character

When making a character, you can choose from any of the five roles: Face, Muscle, Scholar, Slink, and Weird.

Each of these roles has two specialties:

• Face: Journalist & Magician
• Muscle: Explorer & Soldier
• Scholar: Doctor & Professor
• Slink: Criminal & Detective
• Weird: Medium & Occultist

Any combination of these roles can make up a group of Candela Obscura investigators known as a circle.

Each role and specialty provides starting values for actions and drives, as well as a list of available abilities.

For the purposes of this Quickstart Guide, you will not go through standard character creation. The five included sheets are pregenerated—they only require a small bit of customization. After choosing your specialty, fill in the bolded circles, then take one of the two abilities from the specialty list. You’ll already have one from your role as well. Add a name, pronouns, and a style for this character. Describe their Catalyst—why they joined Candela Obscura—and their Question—what grand or personal mystery they’re hoping to answer throughout their investigations.

ON CHARACTER CREATION

When crafting your character, it is crucial to avoid the harmful stereotypes often present in the historical and horror genres. For instance: if you are creating an Explorer, they should delve into their own cultural history instead of appropriating another’s. Similarly, Mediums should not use other cultures’ attire as a costume, and Doctors should not indulge in any historical practices that are rooted in racist and ableist ideologies. Although PCs may be ill-disposed, tactless, or even cruel, you should always strive to construct your protagonists with integrity.

Connections, Gear, & Marks

Connections are the bonds you establish between the characters at the table during character creation. Assign relationships between investigators, ask questions about their shared goals, and interweave characters’ backstories to foster more engaging gameplay.

In the full game, there is a defined method for building relationships, but for the purposes of the Quickstart Guide, simply write the name of the character and your connection with them.

For each assignment, choose gear from the available list the moment it’s needed—you do not need to preselect items before an investigation begins. You may choose three pieces of gear during each assignment.

There is also blank space you can utilize to take something significant (an artifact, weapon, etc.) your circle has previously acquired or has access to.

Damage to a character’s health is tracked using marks, which are made up of three different categories: Body, Brain, and Bleed.

• Body represents physical harm.
• Brain represents mental strain or stress.
• Bleed represents harm caused by magick.

There are three available marks in each category. If you should ever need to take a mark and can’t because that track is full, erase all the marks in that track, become incapacitated in the scene, and immediately take a scar.

Scars represent the permanent changes that affect a character. When you take a scar, you’ll write down a narrative change based on the nature of the attack that caused the scar—if it’s Body, it might be a limp or a missing eye; if it’s Brain, you might become withdrawn or reckless; and if it’s Bleed, perhaps you’re always dripping with black ichor or your body grows small luminous tendrils where you once had hair.

You must also remove a point from an action of your choice, and add a point into a different action to reflect how your character has changed because of the scar they now carry. You can return to the game once your circle gets you to somewhere safe.

Circle Mechanics

At character creation, your group will choose a circle name and ability. After each assignment, the GM asks the three Illumination Questions on the circle sheet, and for each answer in the affirmative, the circle earns 1 Illumination. The GM then asks how many players fulfilled at least one of their Illumination Keys. These are the prompts at the bottom of the character sheet that guide the roleplay of that specialty, and unlock a path towards advancement.

If nobody fulfilled any Keys, no Illumination is earned. If only part of the circle fulfilled theirs, the group earns 2 Illumination. If everybody fulfilled at least one Illumination Key, you earn 4 Illumination. When the Illumination track fills, it is erased, and any extra Illumination is carried over. Players then choose two different character advancements individually and the circle chooses one new circle ability together.

The Illumination track has milestones on it, represented by the bolded circles. Achieving these milestones may cause certain circle abilities to activate.

Between assignments, players also have the chance to clear their marks, refresh their drives, and train their characters by spending their available Candela Obscura resources:

• Stitch to heal all of one player’s marks.
• Refresh to fill all of one player’s drives and resistances.
• Train to gain one bonus die that you can use on any roll in the next session.

Circles start with an amount in each of these resources equal to the number of circle members, plus one. These resources are not refreshed until the Illumination track is completely filled, so use them wisely.

What ended up happening to her? Did she go Unabridged?