VIBE FRAMEWORK - REBORN

Edited on Feb 22, 2025 - Compatible with TLB Reborn - the new TLB engine, public announcement coming up on Feb 23, 2025

Vibes (playable class) are one of the key building blocks of The Lost Bay RPG. Vibes determine what the character is good at and how they might develop. But beyond being a character class, Vibes are one of the main ways the TLB implied setting is conveyed. Custom Vibes that fit a particular adventure theme can be a fun way to push the fiction forward.

Each Vibe is tied to a Living Saint, an immortal entity that grants the Vibe a fraction of their power. The Vibe somehow reflects in the mortal realm the Living Saint they serve. It also bears the same excesses, fears, and contradictions that inhabit the immortal.

When building a custom Vibe, it might be helpful to identify the internal conflict or flaw that characterizes it. All the aspects of the Vibe should express in some way that internal struggle. Of course, this is totally optional, and as always, the best design advice is to be sure to have fun and break the system whenever it feels right to you.

Below is the standard Vibe Framework.

VIBE STRUCTURE

• Vibe: name of the Vibe as PCs know it.
• Description: directed at the player. Evokes the (internal) conflict.
• Offering (d6 table or list). Six ways to offer Weird to the tutelary Living Saint. Chosen or rolled on creation. Actions that require time and effort. Most are unsettling, some of them might put the character at risk.
  
• 6 Gifts. [Verb + Description]. Weird abilities that have an effect on the direct environment or on the character itself. 
• Starting Gear (d6 loadout table). Each table entry has three items. Optionally, give each table entry a Persona descriptor. 
• 6 Scars banes and boons for Summoning a Living Saint. Mostly banes!

MORE ON GIFTS

Gifts descriptions should be short and open to interpretation even when they describe precise actions. Some examples [in brackets the Vibe they're taken from]:

• Suffocate, prevent someone from breathing [Firestarter]
• Pause, stop time until you inhale [Scanner]
• Lie, tell or detect lies [Seer]
• Hypnotize, make others do what you desire [Monarch]
• Metabolize, Annihilate effects of drugs and liquors  [Splinter]
• Sush. Put living beings to sleep. [Screamer]

Vibes are not god-like characters. They are humans who can channel a fraction of their tutelary immortal's power at a great cost. Gifts should be limited in scope and intensity, but also open to interpretation.

MORE ON SCARS

Characters get one Scar every time they summon their tutelary saint. Scars are a list and characters get them in sequence. Scars should affect their body, soul, immediate environment (or several of those) in ways thematically linked to the Vibe and the Living Saint. They're burdens, but they shouldn't just be annoying wounds. Scars should add something to the relationship the character has with their power, their Living Saint, or the Weird. They should raise questions and push the fiction forward. Each scar is paired with a question.

Examples

[Firestarter] Broken. You lose control of the Weird, it shatters a piece of you. Which one is it?

[Scanner] Live. You’re live on every TV screen tuned into Channel 7. You’re popular now. Forget privacy. Do the masses cherish or despise you, and why?

[Seer] Epiphany. For just a moment you have a vision of when and how you will die. How are you going to live with that? 

The last scar Consumes the character and inevitably makes them unplayable. Their body or soul undergoes one last radical transformation. They are consumed by the Weird and come together with Lost Bay. Getting the last scar fulfills the destiny forged by their Living Saint. How they feel about it is up to the player; they can rejoice, rebel, feel indifferent or something else.

Examples

[Firestarter] PHOENIXED. You’re a human pyre. Everything around you is set on fire. You commune with the Fire Demon. What do the flames cleanse?

[Scanner] VHSed. Your belly rips open and a plastorganic VHS tape emerges from it. It contains the video of your life up to the moment you play it. Watch it and recreate your character from scratch. Works only once. Describe what you’ll see in the VHS. What does it tell you about your accomplishment and failures?

[Monarch] PREY. She's just a teen like you. Her deep eyes hypnotise you as she appears out of nowhere. She gently kisses you and lays a viscous egg in your mouth. You have a purpose now, you are a vessel for Saint Jennifer offspring. It'll hatch tomorrow. Describe what will happen? Are you scared or relieved?

LIVING SAINT

The tutelary Living Saint is a Vibe on steroids. Neither good nor bad, it personifies the vibe's conflicts, powers, and inclinations, pushed to the extreme.

• Immortal You Serve: Name
• Form: physical incarnation, human-ish | alternate incarnation, can be an element, animal, or a combination of those.
• Shrine: simple location. Generally a mundane place with a weird or unsettling twist.
• Clergy: monks and followers.
• Omen: what happens when they're near or when a character Summons them. Affects and modifies the immediate environment or the playing characters. It should be only narrative. 
• Relic: Weird item, description of its effect. Relics are powerful and might have a short lifetime once used.