Admin Sheet

• The exorcists are treated as weapons, not people. They're as much prisoners as they are valuable assets.
• They all have some internal strife driving them forward.
• Bodies and minds mutate, change, and are twisted by the work.
• Confronting trauma in its most literal sense is the main work of the exorcists.

The tone is brutal, oppressive, and often lethal by default — adjust freely to fit your table.

• Progress a situation or move time forward.
• Introduce a complication or change the situation.
• Present the exorcists with a choice.
• Threaten the exorcists with something.

• Put the fiction first. Gear, position, and circumstance are what make a roll hard, risky, or free — not the reverse.
• Only roll when necessary — when the outcome is tense, unclear, or contested. Don't roll if it's already clear what happens.
• Be a fan of the players. A failed roll is bad circumstance, not incompetence. Give characters chances to shine.
• Make information available. Don't gate an investigation's tension behind hidden rolls — gate it behind connecting the dots.
• Respect player initiative — offer them a chance to act before pushing the story along yourself.
• Pull things back out of character when a scene, or a conflict between players, is getting stuck.

Only call for a roll in moments of uncertainty, elevated stakes, or elevated tension. When you call one, you decide whether it's hard, risky, or impossible, and what happens on failure or a mixed success. Players choose their own skill and assemble their own advantages.

Category (CAT) is a quick scale for judging this:

• 0: Small/human scale
• 1: Above average/exceptional human
• 2: Large/room or small group scale
• 3: Very large/vehicle scale
• 4: Massive/building scale
• 5: Overwhelming/block scale
• 6: Epic/neighborhood scale
• 7: Cataclysmic/town scale

An action against something 3+ categories higher is usually impossible; against something 3+ categories lower, usually doesn't need a roll at all.

CAIN deals directly in abuse, self-harm, trauma, and mental health crises — handle this with care.

• Ask players, privately if it helps, what topics should be left out entirely — then respect that.
• If a player seems uncomfortable mid-session, pause and ask the table whether to continue or skip ahead, no questions asked.
• Have an upfront tone discussion: what players want out of the game, and what they'd rather avoid.
• Always respect a boundary a player has asked for — in and out of game terms.

Exorcists are given the Sin's basic type, its trauma questions, basic details of the inciting incident, and 2-3 major points of interest to begin investigating.

Start with the sin itself — its abilities, themes, and origin often suggest their own inciting incident, and you'll need to answer the trauma questions anyway. Then assemble your critical information:

• The hook — what drew CAIN's attention, or called the exorcists here.
• The sin's host, their status and identity.
• The sin itself.
• The answers to the sin's three trauma questions.
• Where the sin's palace is located.

Then add secondary information: any person, place, or thing connected to a piece of critical info. Don't over-detail it yet — just write out the basic connections.

Track the path of information exorcists need to follow to find the sin's host, find the palace, and answer all three trauma questions. Draw the connections out — a literal map or a web of note cards works well — and let players find their own way through rather than forcing a fixed order.

Good inciting incidents come from something terrible that already happened to someone:

• The host was murdered — by whom, and why?
• The host lost someone close to them.
• The host has been suffering at another's hands.
• The host suffered a crushing loss, or a catastrophe.
• The host was forced to give up on a dream.

Sins can manifest post-mortem, so "what happened to the host" and "what's happening to them now" don't have to be the same answer.

Come into play when a risk die rolls low, a roll is failed, or as collateral in a bargain. Pay a price in attention, effectiveness, gear, safety, or time. You can:

• Threaten a severe consequence unless action is taken.
• Cut off an opportunity, or force a hard choice.
• Hinder the exorcist — certain actions are hard until the situation changes.
• Give a hook, or set out/slash a talisman with a negative consequence attached.
• Hurt the exorcists directly, slashing their execution talisman: once for a minor injury, 2-3 times for a crippling or fatal blow, 4+ for an instant, messy kill.

Each success marks 1 slash. Length reflects complexity: simple (1-2), medium (3-5), complex (6-8). A talisman resolves when full, or when it no longer makes fictional sense to keep tracking it.

Mundane actions are always CAT 0 — and always hard when used against a Sin. An action against something of higher category is generally hard and/or risky; 3+ categories higher, typically impossible; 3+ categories lower, typically doesn't need a roll.

Afflictions last until the hunt ends. Hooks are a 3-slash talisman that starts empty — slash it when tension fills, when a 1 comes up on a risk die, or whenever the exorcist would gain that hook again. The third slash applies a consequence worse than the original, chosen by you. Hooks reset at the end of a mission.

A Sin can only be permanently slain inside its palace. A Sin dealt 4+ slashes outside its palace automatically retreats there to regenerate — remove 1d3 slashes from its execution talisman (2d3 if the talisman was full) each time pressure increases or the exorcists confront it there.

If the exorcists are inside the palace and are in the host's physical presence, possess something precious to the host, or possess part of the host's body, they may invoke the Nail of Abel to force the Sin back into its palace.

Tension increases when a scene passes, or a 1 is rolled on a risk die (doesn't increase during conflict or briefing scenes). At 3 slashes, clear tension, slash pressure once, and trigger a tension move.

Each time pressure increases, the Sin's execution talisman capacity goes up by 1. If pressure is already full when it would increase again, the situation goes fully out of control — the Sin gains +1 CAT, and its sheet's specific "pressure maxed" effect kicks in.

All conflict-scene rolls are risky by default; the Sin reacts to risk rolls. Exorcists can invoke an answered trauma question to counter a reaction — reducing stress inflicted and dealing matching slashes to the Sin directly. A Sin inside its palace cannot flee. Its execution talisman is 8 + CAT + pressure.

When filled, the Sin is at the exorcists' mercy. Execution isn't immediately fatal for a living host, but is extremely traumatic — CAIN takes the host into custody afterward.

• Attacks deal direct harm: (1) 5 stress, (2-3) 3 stress, (4+) 2 stress — split among any targets in range.
• Complications set a talisman sized by the reaction die: (1) 6, (2-4) 4, (5-6) 2. They make something hard, deal 1 stress to all exorcists at round's end, or otherwise twist the fight — up to 3 per conflict scene, and the same effect can't stack with itself.
• Threats land once a round and hit harder than a normal reaction. One exorcist (even one who's already acted) can immediately roll to negate it — no cost to their turn, no other effect but negation on a success.
• Severe attacks are usable once per hunt and kick off a special, more dangerous challenge of their own.

Lesser sins or humans that follow a Sin's command. If fought alongside the Sin, a trace can take one free reaction per round — but when reacting, choose either the Sin or a trace, never both at once.

If the exorcists have answered and invoked at least one trauma question, they may attempt to spare a Sin at their mercy instead of executing it; on success it recedes into the host.

At debrief: award 5 scrip for execution, 3 for sparing. Award 1 xp for each "yes": survived, followed their current agenda item, followed a bolded agenda item, took an injury or affliction. Fleeing without resolving the Sin docks 1 scrip and earns discipline — CAIN cleans up via orbital rail drop, mass casualties expected.

Recovering even partial remains of a dead exorcist grants 1 xp and 1 scrip to each survivor. 4 xp can be exchanged for: a new agenda ability, a new blasphemy power or blasphemy, evolving a sin mark, 3 scrip, or improving a skill by 1 (max 3).

Every Sin is classified by three things: type (one of the six archetypes — its core psychology and powers), form (1, 2, or 3 — purely thematic, no mechanical weight), and category (its power scale). Exorcists are usually dispatched against Sins of equal or lesser category, and rarely sent after higher-category Sins unless the situation is dire.

Not every dangerous thing exorcists face is a "true" Sin: imagos (exorcists who gave up during sin overflow), traces, and other manifestations exist too.

Every Sin has:

• Three domains — core strengths that grant it powers and flavor its attacks.
• Tension moves, triggered whenever the tension talisman fills.
• A pressure talisman, representing the degrading overall situation.
• An execution talisman (8 + CAT + pressure), tracking harm in a confrontation.
• Three trauma questions — the tragic circumstances behind its birth, which exorcists can uncover and invoke to weaken it directly.

A domain is a broad power with a handful of explicit abilities, and colors how a Sin fights even outside those abilities. When you build a Sin, pick three of its type's eight domains — this is what makes two Sins of the same type feel different from each other.

Trigger one whenever the tension talisman fills. These are the general-purpose moves any Sin can use; a Sin's domains often add more or hint at which to prefer. Don't treat this as a strict list — improvise around it.

1. Send minions — have a trace or subordinate go after the exorcists.
2. Ambush the exorcists — attack directly, with surprise.
3. Involve authorities — draw in police, security, or the military.
4. Separate someone — split the party or sideline an exorcist somewhere dangerous.
5. Force a difficult choice — make them pick between two things they want, then take the other away.
6. Escalate the situation — turn a calm scene tense, a tense scene dangerous.
7. Afflict the exorcists — hand out an affliction from the Sin's sheet, or a hook.
8. Start or progress a ticking clock — a talisman for something worsening in the background.
9. Use a domain — lean on one of the Sin's specific domain abilities.
10. Threaten or twist an NPC — put someone the exorcists care about in danger.

1. Pick the Sin's type from the six archetypes.
2. Pick its form (1, 2, or 3) — purely thematic.
3. Pick its category (0-7).
4. Decide the host: who they are, the hunt's basic hook, and answer (or write) the three trauma questions.
5. Decide the palace's location and appearance — always somewhere in the investigation area, and reachable.
6. Pick three domains.
7. Review the type's abilities and name the Sin.

Beyond the mechanics, a few questions help a Sin feel distinct:

• How does it fight? How does it speak?
• What's its relationship with its host like?
• What does it enjoy, or go out of its way to experience?
• What does it avoid or hate — what sends it into a rage if mentioned?
• How does it treat exorcists: a nuisance, a foe, or with pity?

One Sin is usually plenty to run, but for a twist: halve all execution talismans, and give the two Sins one shared palace (a fused reality reflecting both). Exorcists only track down one location, and fight both Sins there together. In a conflict scene you still only take one reaction at a time, and only one tension move active between both Sins at once.

Treat opponents as quick-reference shorthand for a conflict scene, not a full stat block.

1. Write a name and description.
2. Decide if it's a sin, human, or exorcist — this determines what kinds of powers work on it (it could also be mechanical, like a drone, or an anomaly).
3. Set its category — humans are usually CAT 0, groups and vehicles higher.
4. Set its execution talisman: short (2), medium (3-5), long (6-8).
5. Write a few facts about its general capabilities — this drives what's hard or risky against it.
6. Write its reactions.
7. Decide how much stress it inflicts: typically 2, +1 more on a 2-3 risk result, +2 more on a 1.
8. Write a couple of typical complications or threats. Optionally, gate a unique threat or affliction behind a 1-2 reaction roll.

Graceless humans are incapacitated by any stress and usually killed outright by 4+ stress; they also go catatonic if they directly witness a Sin.

• Security: execution talisman 2 (solo)/4 (group)/6 (large group). Batons, close-quarters combat. (1) 4 stress, (2-3) 3, (4+) 2. Alert and quick to raise an alarm.
• Mercenaries: execution talisman 2 (solo)/5 (squad)/8 (platoon). Disciplined ranged fire, armored, night vision. (1) 4 stress, (2-3) 3, (4+) 2. Well paid, well equipped.
• Illuminati-style fanatics: execution talisman 1 (solo)/3 (group)/5 (large group). Overwhelming but crude attacks. (1) 4 stress, (2-3) 3, (4+) 2. Fervent, often masked, puppeted by something bigger.

CAIN's exorcists don't only fight Sins. Time-sensitive, clandestine work regularly puts them up against law enforcement, and Sins (especially Toads) can hire mundane muscle of their own — secret societies, shadow governments, private military.

Not every true-Sin-shaped threat was born naturally.

• Imago: a nascent sin, created when an exorcist suffers sin overflow and gives up rather than resists. CAT 1-5 based on the exorcist; execution talisman 6+CAT. Always more intelligent, spiteful, and vengeful than a natural Sin, and hunted with extreme prejudice.
• Mass-produced sins: weak sins engineered by shadowy private military companies or governments chasing weaponizable power. CAT 0-4; execution talisman 3 (solo)/5 (group)/7 (large group). Strong instinct to flee, mature, and start a hunt of its own if left alone too long.