Many characters wish to Innovate: to create something new and unique, to make their character’s ‘mark’ upon the Chronicle. This is wonderful and highly desirable as it builds RP, gives characters goals to strive towards, and allows players a chance to do something to distinguish their character in a manner ‘few others can match.’

In order to make this a ‘unique’ and ‘special’ thing, however, as well as to protect the Chronicle from possible upset if too many Innovations too quickly gained wash out the basic Reality in which it is set, Innovations are restricted to Stats of 4 and higher in the appropriate skill, often in combination with a number of other skills required. This does not mean that characters with an Ability at rating 3 or less are incapable of creating something interesting, merely that their accomplishments must remain within the currently-accepted spectrum of that Ability.

Innovation rolls are always at a Base-7 difficulty, may be Extended under the appropriate dice Rules, and may only be made once every IRL week. (Minimum time between Innovation attempts is 6 days, 12 hours IRL.) The Judge may decide that additional successful rolls (such as Research) must be made with a given number of successes accumulated before the Innovation effort may be attempted.

The number of successes gained in the Innovation attempt will be used as the ‘mark’ against which future similar efforts will be measured to  determine if they are ‘better,’ though a minimum of 7 successes is necessary for anything noteworthy, 11 or more for a spectacular success, and 20 or more for something ‘unique’ at the time of its creation.

Below are some examples, just a few of the many possibilities available to characters who wish to spend the time, effort, and XPts towards this exciting and rewarding effort. It will be difficult to attain, as all Staffers are going to closely review the justifications for gaining above rank-3 in any Abilities you seek, and many Abilities are Restricted as to the manner by which they may be acquired. Your Innovations may take a long time to finally create the desired ‘thing’ or ‘idea’ and many failed efforts may fall by the wayside as you work towards your goal. However, you can know that anyone else who later wishes to try to duplicate your efforts or to ‘best’ your creation, will have had to go through just as much as you did, thereby keeping Innovations as ‘special’ as possible.

Examples of Innovations and related Stats necessary:

• Writing in a new ‘style’ of Music (such as the new IRL ‘Ska’ music), would require Intelligence+Music, diff 7. It might also require additional Research rolls, or Science rolls if a particular acoustic effect is desired. If it is to be played on a new form of Instrument, then that would have to be created first (see below for an example of this). Performing the new ‘style’ of music would be an entire set of rolls unto itself after this point, and if the char wanted to record them, rolls for that too have to be made.
• Designing a new type of musical instrument (an example might be creating something like Spock’s odd electronic sitar from the Star-Trek series), would require an Intelligence+Technology Roll, diff 7. This would have to be prefaced by a number of Music, Research, Science, Electronics, and perhaps other types of rolls before it could even be attempted. Creating the Prototype of this design and later duplication efforts are separate roll sets unto themselves.
• Creating a new ‘form’ of Poetry would require an Intelligence+Poetry Roll, diff 7. Again – Research, Literature, or other rolls may be necessary before  the attempt can be begun. Writing in the style would then require a separate roll set for each individual piece.
• Designing a new Martial-Arts ‘Style’ would require an Intelligence+Brawl Roll, diff 7. Many possibilities for prior preparations may be necessary before this becomes possible to roll for.

These are just a few examples. Each Innovation should be unique and will require work between the Staffer and Player to create something  interesting, exciting, useful, or whatever – while at the same time not totally unbalancing to the Chronicle. (For example: Planet-destroying Doomsday Devices are not an option.)