ROME'S PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
The City Has Many Sacraments. Most of Them Are Illegal.
"Junk is the ideal product — the junky runs on junk time and the cell is junk and the veins are junk and the city is junk and the sacrament is junk and the confession booth is junk and the wrist chip is junk and the need is not junk. The need is the only thing left that is real." — recovered from a confiscated notebook, Termini Morta black market. Author not identified. Notebook not returned.
"The pharmaceutical industry is just religion with better quality control. And considerably worse quality control on the side effects."
Need is the city's primary currency. The lire is how you pay. Need is why you pay. Junk is the ideal product — no obsolescence, no fluctuations in demand, no advertising required beyond the product itself. The client will crawl through a sewer and arrive grateful. Rome understood this before it understood concrete, before it understood aqueducts, before it understood anything else it built that lasted. The Vatican has simply formalized the distribution network and given the product a sacramental name and a packaging rebrand every eighteen months. The formula does not change. The need does not change. This is the oldest business in the city and the most honest one, because it does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
The city runs on four things: credit, feed, heat, and hunger. The first three are tracked and displayed. The fourth is what drives everything else. You will find it here.
The Drug Table — d20
| d20 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Grey. Vatican standard. PRE +1, pain threshold +1 for 2 hours. Withdrawal: PRE −1. Addictive on TOU DR 10 after 3 uses in 48 hours. The taste is industrial floral. The Vatican considers this a feature. |
| 2 | Sacrament Three (Communion). Social ease, mild euphoria. PRE +2 for 3 hours. No mechanical downside at standard dose. Push dose: PRE +3, TOU DR 12 or 2 hours of absolute sincerity — say exactly what you mean about everything. |
| 3 | Sacrament Five (Penitence). Lowers inhibitions toward self-disclosure. You tell the truth for d4 hours. All of it. About everything asked. Vatican-prescribed for "spiritual inventory." Also used for interrogation by people who understand the formula. |
| 4 | Sacrament Seven. Unknown ingredients. Unknown mechanism. PRE +3, STR +1, pain nonexistent for d4 hours. Push dose: TOU DR 14 or hallucinations that are indistinguishable from memory. Addictive on TOU DR 8. The Cardinal controls supply personally. |
| 5 | Blue. Street stimulant. AGI +2, need for sleep eliminated for 24 hours. Crash: AGI −2, TOU −1 for equal time. Addictive on TOU DR 10. Available everywhere. Costs 50 lire. SecCorp officially suppresses it. SecCorp officers use it. |
| 6 | Soma-7. Muscle relaxant with combat application. STR +2, pain reduction. Cannot feel fear — cannot feel anything fear-adjacent, including caution. PRE −2 on threat assessment. Push dose: STR +4, TOU DR 12 or fight everything in sight. |
| 7 | The Chemist's Mix. Custom batch, Street Chemist class only. Effect: choose two ability modifiers totaling +3. Duration: 2 hours. Push dose: choose three modifiers totaling +5, TOU DR 14 or addiction immediate regardless of history. |
| 8 | Fade. Dissociative. Perception of pain and consequence both reduced. TOU +2, PRE −2. You make decisions as if they're happening to someone else. This is sometimes useful. Often it isn't. Addictive on TOU DR 8. |
| 9 | CogniData Clarity (unlicensed). Memory enhancement. Perfect recall for d4 hours — every conversation, every face, every detail. PRE +2 on information-based tests. Crash: PRE −3, d4 hours. The clarity shows you things you'd edited for comfort. |
| 10 | Red Current. Electrical system stimulant (android-specific, causes human seizure on TOU DR 12 fail). Android: Power +2 for 4 hours. All Glitch rolls at +2 during effect. Push dose: Power +3, guaranteed Glitch roll at session end. |
| 11 | Bug Powder. Hypnotic. Target: TOU DR 12 or sleeps d4 hours regardless of safety. Self-administered: controlled dissociation, PRE +1, all physical discomfort suspended. Push dose: unconscious d6 hours. The Vatican uses this in Sacrament Five. |
| 12 | Zinc. Aggression amplifier. STR +3, PRE −3. All threats must be addressed immediately — PRE DR 14 to de-escalate any confrontation while under effect. Push dose: STR +5, automatic combat initiation each round against nearest perceived threat. |
| 13 | Black Meat. Rendered from Brazilian centipedes — the process is not discussed. Synthetic endorphins follow. All negative emotional states suspended for d4 hours. PRE tests against fear, grief, or despair: automatic success. Crash: those states return simultaneously. Addictive on TOU DR 8 because of course it is. |
| 14 | Nerve (unlicensed ARM product). Designed for android compliance during maintenance. On androids: Glitch rolls suspended for 2 hours, all tests at −1 (too calm). On humans: TOU DR 10 or paralysis d2 hours — the body confuses itself with a machine. |
| 15 | The Formula (Sacrament Seven raw ingredient). Whatever is actually in it before processing. TOU DR 14 or hallucinate your own memory playing forward — see what happens next, accurate 50% of the time (GM rolls secretly). Addictive on first use on TOU DR 10. |
| 16 | Flush. Heavy detox compound. Clears one addiction immediately. TOU DR 12 or spend d4 hours violently ill. Push dose: clears d3 addictions, TOU DR 14 or unconscious d6 hours. Available from Surgeons and one specific Termini stall. |
| 17 | Static (street name). Named for what it sounds like internally. Sensory enhancement: AGI +1, PRE +1. Also: cannot filter input — every sound, smell, and sight at full intensity. Crowds become untenable (PRE −2 in crowded spaces). |
| 18 | Persistence. Keeps you functional past the point where you should stop. HP cannot drop below 1 for duration (d4 hours). After duration: immediately take all deferred HP loss. Addictive on TOU DR 10 because the alternative is dying. |
| 19 | Church (Vatican black market). Sacrament Seven combined with something that amplifies faith specifically. Profound certainty for d4 hours — certainty about what's right, what to do, what matters. PRE +2 on conviction-based tests. Crash: complete absence of certainty, PRE −3. |
| 20 | Unknown. No label. You'll find out. Roll d6 each hour: 1–2 it's one of the above (roll again), 3–4 it works as intended but the intended is unclear, 5 it doesn't do what you hoped but does something else (GM decides), 6 TOU DR 12 or d4 damage from something the body was not built for. |
Addiction — The Hunger Track
Addiction is not a side effect of the city. It is the city's intended output. A hungry person is a predictable person. A predictable person pays their subscriptions. The product has changed. The mechanism has not.
Hunger is tracked on a scale of 0 to 6. It is the fourth meter. It goes on the character sheet next to HP, Static, and Heat. The city has always been tracking it. Now so are you.
The Hunger Track
| Hunger | State | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Clean | No addiction. No effect. |
| 1 | Aware | You notice the absence. No mechanical effect yet. |
| 2 | Wanting | PRE −1 when the substance is present and unavailable. The want is visible now. |
| 3 | Hungry | All tests −1. TOU DR 10 each scene without the substance or prioritize acquisition. |
| 4 | Burning | All tests −2. TOU DR 12 each scene. Failing means the job stops. This is not a choice. |
| 5 | Desperate | All tests −3. TOU DR 14. On a fail: the character does whatever acquisition requires. Whatever. |
| 6 | Dependent | The substance is now baseline. Going without: TOU DR 16 or d4 HP loss per day clean. The city has you. It always intended to. |
Tracking Hunger
Using the substance: Gain the listed effect. Hunger drops by 1 (minimum 0 if clean, otherwise resets the clock). After 3 uses in 48 hours: TOU DR 12 or Hunger +1.
Missing a dose (Hunger 3+): Hunger +1. Roll the effect for current Hunger level.
Pushing the dose: Once per scene, double the mechanical bonus. TOU DR 12 or Hunger +1 immediately and roll the crash effect listed for the substance.
Withdrawal: 2 clean weeks drops Hunger by 1 per week. PRE −1, TOU −1 throughout at Hunger 3+. The Chemist class can manage others' withdrawal. They cannot manage their own — TOU DR 16 to not relapse when the substance is available. The substance is always available. This is Rome.
Overdose: Take d6 damage, PRE DR 14 or unconscious d4 hours. Chemist can reverse with PRE DR 12 and 200 lire antidote. Overdose also raises Hunger by 1.
Non-Drug Addictions — d66
Not everything that ruins you comes in a vial. The city is creative about need. Roll d12 for what else has your character by the throat — whatever it is, the city noticed it before you did, and the city is already building a subscription tier around it:
| d66 | Result |
|---|---|
| 11 | Violence. Not anger — the specific mechanical satisfaction of impact. The city provides ample opportunity. PRE DR 12 to avoid escalating any physical confrontation you're involved in, regardless of tactical sense. |
| 12 | Information hoarding. Cannot discard data, notes, names, or records. You keep everything. Your gear always includes an overstuffed notebook. PRE DR 12 to share information without keeping a copy. |
| 13 | A specific person. Their approval matters more than it should. Their disapproval costs PRE −1 for the rest of the scene. You know this is a problem. You cannot address it without addressing it with them. |
| 14 | Risk. Specifically, the moment before an outcome is known. PRE DR 12 to take the cautious option when a reckless one is available. The caution feels like a small death. |
| 15 | A sound. Music, a voice, a specific mechanical rhythm. When it's absent: PRE −1. When it's present: PRE +1. You have been known to follow it into places you should not have followed it. |
| 16 | Being right. PRE DR 14 to concede a point you believe is wrong without visibly struggling. PRE DR 10 to concede a point you believe is correct. The distinction between these two states is the problem. |
| 21 | The Zerocalcare broadcast. Miss a session: PRE −1 that day from feeling disconnected from something that matters. This is not rational. You have stopped arguing with it. |
| 22 | Collecting. A specific category of object — roll d6: 1 mechanical components, 2 printed paper, 3 discarded photographs, 4 religious items, 5 spent ammunition casings, 6 something stranger (GM decides). You acquire them. You cannot throw them away. |
| 23 | Surveillance. Knowing where people are, what they're doing, who they're with. PRE DR 12 to stop tracking someone you've decided to track. This began as tactical. It became something else. |
| 24 | Arguing. The form, not the content. PRE DR 10 to let a statement you disagree with pass without engagement. This is exhausting for everyone including you. |
| 25 | Being needed. PRE −1 in any scene where you are not essential to what's happening. You manufacture necessity. Sometimes this is helpful. Mostly it is exhausting. |
| 26 | Confession. You tell people things about yourself you should not tell them. PRE DR 12 to maintain a useful deception for more than d4 scenes. The truth keeps arriving. |
| 31 | Competition. Any game, race, contest, or comparison. PRE DR 12 to lose intentionally. PRE DR 10 to lose gracefully when you didn't intend to lose. The city is full of things that are better than you. This is a problem. |
| 32 | A faction's ideology. You believe in something one faction says more than is strategically wise. PRE DR 12 to act against their stated interests even when they've wronged you. |
| 33 | The moment after danger passes. The specific thirty seconds when the threat is gone and you are still here. This feeling has become necessary. You have been manufacturing danger to get it. You know this. |
| 34 | Loyalty, specifically. Once committed: PRE DR 14 to withdraw, regardless of whether the commitment is still deserved. You know people are taking advantage of this. You continue. |
| 35 | A smell. Food, machine oil, a specific pharmaceutical compound, rain on specific stone. When you encounter it: must stop and process it (one round). When you don't encounter it for a week: PRE −1. |
| 36 | Performing competence. Cannot visibly not-know something. PRE DR 12 to say "I don't know" in front of people whose opinion matters. You bluff constantly. The bluff is generally good. When it fails it fails specifically. |
| 41 | The view from high places. Once per session: must find the highest accessible point in the current location and assess it. PRE DR 12 to skip this when time is critical. |
| 42 | Having an exit. Cannot be in an enclosed space without identifying all exits within the first round. In spaces with no clear exit: PRE −1 continuously. You have left situations early because of this. You will again. |
| 43 | Routine. A specific sequence of actions that must happen at the start of each session (determine with GM). If interrupted: PRE −1 for the scene. If prevented entirely: PRE −2 for the session. The routine is not negotiable. |
| 44 | Being underestimated. You engineer situations where people expect less than you can deliver. PRE DR 12 to let someone accurately assess your capabilities before you've demonstrated them. |
| 45 | Someone specific's approval that they don't know they're giving. An NPC who doesn't know you, whose opinion of you you track carefully. PRE −1 whenever they make a negative assessment. They don't know you exist. |
| 46 | Winning. Specifically: the moment of winning, not the consequences. PRE DR 12 to walk away from an opportunity to be right/better/victorious even when continuing is tactically wrong. |
| 51 | A place. Somewhere in the city that is yours in the sense that you keep returning to it. PRE −1 each session you don't visit it. PRE +1 on the session you do. You protect it in ways that compromise other things. |
| 52 | An android. Not romantically — structurally. Their continued existence has become necessary to yours. PRE DR 14 to prioritize other things when they're in danger. |
| 53 | Writing everything down. Related to but distinct from the chronicler habit — specifically the written record. You fill notebooks. PRE DR 12 to destroy one even when it's tactically correct. |
| 54 | The worst possible interpretation. You assume bad faith. PRE DR 12 to accept a benign explanation for anything ambiguous. You are right about this more than you should be. This does not help. |
| 55 | Beginning things. The start of a task, a relationship, a plan. PRE DR 12 to finish something when starting something new is available. You have d4 unfinished projects at all times. Roll to see how many. |
| 56 | Saving people. Specifically people who have not asked to be saved. PRE DR 14 to not intervene when you believe someone is in danger, regardless of whether intervention is wanted or wise. |
| 61 | Zerocalcare radio static specifically. The frequency between stations where the signal almost resolves. You find it clarifying. Others find it distressing. You don't turn it off. |
| 62 | Scavenging. You cannot pass discarded objects without assessing them. Slows movement in ruins and markets. Occasionally produces useful items (roll Salvage once per session, GM decides if opportunity exists). |
| 63 | The last word. PRE DR 12 to exit a conflict without making a final statement. PRE DR 14 if you're losing the conflict. The final statement is not always wise. It is always made. |
| 64 | A debt you're owed, not a debt you owe. Someone owes you something significant and hasn't paid. PRE −1 each session it remains uncollected. PRE DR 12 to forgive it even when forgiveness is strategically correct. |
| 65 | Being alone. Paradoxically: you need time alone to function (PRE −1 if you haven't had it this session) and find being alone intolerable after d4 hours (PRE −1 per hour after that). The window is narrow. The city doesn't care. |
| 66 | Rome. You cannot leave. PRE DR 16 to actually depart even when departure is survival. Something about this city is inside you. You stopped asking what. You continue not leaving. |
What It Opens — Substances as Keys
Certain doors in this city only open on specific substances. Not metaphorically. The algorithm reads your biochemistry. The social architecture runs on it. Being Dosed on the right product at the right moment is not recreational — it is operational.
PERCEPTION & INTELLIGENCE
Substances that change what you can read, know, or find.
Chrome — Must be Dosed. Lasts the scene.
Micro-expression reading. PRE +2 on any roll to detect lies, hidden intent, or emotional state. You cannot stop reading people. Every face becomes a problem to solve. Crowds are exhausting. One-on-one: you know before they speak.
Static — Must be Dosed. d4 hours. Drops Influence to 0 for duration.
Feed invisibility. Invisible to algorithmic tracking, facial recognition, and automated surveillance. SecCorp must use human officers. Dyzny Rom's drone network loses your signal. The algorithm cannot sell you anything. You cannot be found by anything that isn't looking with eyes.
SOCIAL & ACCESS
Substances that open doors, pass checks, and change how the city reads you.
Cardinal — Must be Dosed. 6 hours. Crash: PRE −3 for 24 hours. Requires Tier 3+ subscription or black market.
Parioli Superiore access. Passes corporate dress-code scans, executive behavioral pattern recognition, Vatican Tier 3 social checks. You read as someone who belongs. You do not belong. This is fine as long as the dose holds. When it doesn't: everyone in the room knows simultaneously.
Sacrament Seven — Must be Dosed. Vatican-controlled territory only.
Vatican social currency. Being visibly Dosed on S7 in Vatican-controlled spaces reads as subscription compliance. Vatican officers treat you as a managed asset rather than a threat. Pharma-Vatican Heat does not trigger automatic response while Dosed. SecCorp reads it as compliance. ARM does not care. Also: you feel fine about everything. This is the point. That is also the problem.
Quiet — Must be Dosed. PRE −2 on all other social tests.
Intimidation immunity. Cannot be frightened, coerced, or socially pressured. PRE tests against intimidation: automatic success. Also: cannot be moved by anything good either. Flat affect for the duration. Some doors only open when the person on the other side can see you genuinely don't care if they do. This is that key.
PHYSICAL & COMBAT
Substances that change what your body can do or endure.
Blue — Must be Dosed. d4 hours. All suppressed penalties apply simultaneously at end.
Pain immunity. Ignore all injury penalties for the duration. You are not healed — you simply cannot feel what is wrong. The damage is still accumulating. You will know exactly how much when the dose ends. Blue lets you finish jobs your body had already decided to stop. The body's decision was correct.
Burn — Must be Dosed. After effect ends: TOU DR 12 or collapse d4 hours. Hunger +1.
Fatigue bypass. Ignore exhaustion, sleep deprivation, and multi-session activity penalties. Operate at full capacity for 36 hours without rest. The crash is proportional to what was borrowed. The city will collect what was borrowed. It always does. The city is very good at collecting.
Scorch — Must be Dosed. 20 minutes. Cannot retreat while active.
Combat override. STR +2, AGI +1. Cannot choose to disengage or retreat — the body has decided to continue and is not consulting you. Useful for situations where stopping would be worse than finishing. The situations always seem like that at the time.
Dealer Table — Who Supplies You
Your dealer is a relationship, not a transaction. They have Heat implications, debt mechanics, and opinions about you. Roll d10 at character creation or when your previous source dries up.
| 1 | Pharma-Vatican licensed distributor. Legitimate. Expensive — 2× street price. Requires subscription Tier 2+. Carries a Vatican data record of every purchase. SecCorp Heat 0 as long as you pay. Miss a payment: Heat +1 and a compliance notice. Miss two: the Swiss Guard has your address. |
| 2 | Street chemist, Trastevere Profondo church basement. Good product, Zerocalcare Collective adjacent. Will ask you to move something once a month. Saying no costs 1 Heat with the Collective. Saying yes costs something else. |
| 3 | SecCorp officer selling confiscated goods. Cheap — 50% street price. Heat implication: if this officer gets investigated, you're in their records. They will ask a favor eventually. The favor will be the kind you can't refuse in front of witnesses. |
| 4 | Android synthesist, Ostiense Bruciata. Excellent product, unlicensed, untraceable. Uncomfortable political opinions about android rights that they will share at length. If ARM ever raids the building: your supply vanishes overnight and they do too. |
| 5 | Termini Morta vendor, Stall 23. No names. No questions. No guarantees. 1-in-6 chance each purchase of a Salvage Complication — roll on the Drug Table to see what you actually got. Reliable in the sense that they are always there. Nothing else is reliable. |
| 6 | Yourself. You make it. Never out. Always working. Every session, spend 1 hour and 50 lire in materials or Hunger +1 from supply anxiety. Street Chemist class gets this free. |
| 7 | Pharma-Vatican black market contact inside the refinery. Access to restricted Vatican stock including Cardinal and unlisted experimental product. Heat +1 with Vatican per month of use. If the contact is ever transferred or decommissioned: your next purchase is a SecCorp sting. You will not know until it is. |
| 8 | Dyzny Rom™ atmosphere employee. Sources from the theme park's medical supply. Product is high quality, designed for android performers. Works differently on humans — all effects last 50% longer and crash 50% harder. Costs nothing but a favor owed to Dyzny Rom. Dyzny Rom remembers favors forever. |
| 9 | Parioli Superiore private clinic contact. Executive-grade product. Requires an introduction — PRE DR 14 to establish contact without one. Supply is never uncertain. Price is never negotiable — 3× street. Gives you legitimate medical cover for possession. Does not give you cover for anything else. |
| 10 | Someone who found you. They approached you. They know your Hunger level. They have exactly what you need, at a price you can afford, with conditions that seem reasonable. Roll PRE DR 12: on a success, they are what they appear. On a fail, they work for someone else and this is a leash. |
Dealer Heat & Debt
If your dealer gets pinched: SecCorp Heat +1. Your supply dries up immediately. Roll d6: on a 1–2, you're in their records and SecCorp knows your face.
Debt: Buying on credit means the dealer owns a piece of your next job. Miss repayment: they sell the debt. You don't always know who bought it.
Vatican subscription access: Tier 1 (Ghost) — Grey only, over the counter. Tier 2 (Presence) — Sacraments 1–5, licensed. Tier 3+ (Micro and above) — restricted product available on request, no questions asked. Below Tier 1: black market only. The city has decided your access before you have.