With great power comes great pain
It's true for Spiderman, despite what his uncle said, and it's true for Emo Kids.
Every Emo Kid has an Emo Meter. Certain situations will cause the angsty little things to gain more emo. Other times, they will be able to behave in a way that vents some of these pent up emotions. That's important because if the emo meter ever gets to 10, the character will have an emo freak out, when they lose control of the vast emo powers at their disposal. On the other hand, having a higher rating on the Emo Counter has distinct advantages.
When you create your character, you'll need to select an Emo Freak-Out. You can find some examples of Emo Freak-Outs at the bottom of this page but feel free to invent your own. If you read on, you'll find rules for gaining and losing Emo.
Using the Emo Track
The Emo Track is a way of quanitfying your character's teen angst. There are four main stages:
0-3: Your character is a well-adjusted, normal teenager, undeserving of the name Emo. Most people never leave this area. Whilst your character is so well adjusted, he may not use his Emo Powers, and he suffers a -1 penalty to all social interactions with other Emo Kids (even ones with this level of Emo). On the other hand, he has a +1 bonus to all social interactions with non Emo Kids, who are just happy he's not whining.
4-6: Your character is attuned to the unfairness of life. He mopes, whinges, whines and cries his way through the day. In other words, he is an ordinary Emo Kid.
7-9: Your character bleeds for the world. It would hurt too much to get out of bed, were your character not a huge masochist. At this heightened state of Emo, your character has a +1 bonus to all social interactions with other Emo Kids, and a -1 penalty to interactions with non Emo-Kids.
10: Emo Freak Out!
As well as these permanent advantages, you can also use your Emo Rating in lieu of an attribute where that would be appropiate. For instance, if your character has a Substance of 6, a skill in Poetry worth 2, and a current Emo Rating of 9, he could use his Emo Rating of 9 instead of his substance when writing some particularly angsty poetry, so he would add 11 to his D10 roll instead of 8.
Not all poetry could be written in this way. A beautiful ode to the sunset is not Emo enough, although a poem about how the red of the sunset reminds you of the red that trickles down your arms might just do it. Remember that whatever you create whilst using your Emo Track will be tainted by Emo, so that no well adjusted person can get any long term benefit out of it.
Gaining and losing Emo
Characters gain Emo by:
- Denying their Emo nature
- Using some of the Emo powers
- Emotional rejection and general teen angst
Characters can vent some of their Emo by:
- Self Harm (one lethal health level will get rid of one level of Emo)
- Writing Teen Poetry
- Voluntary social withdrawal.
In general, any one of these things will cause a gain or loss of one level, but rewards should be given for going the extra mile. Walking out of the school dance just after the girl of your dreams has asked you to boogie because you are not worthy of such grace is worth a lot more than leaving a party half an hour early. Being humiliated by the kindly English teacher is going to give you more Emo than the school bully's daily taunts.
As a rule, the character has to be genuinely inconvenienced to lose some Emo, and genuinely bothered to gain some.
Sample Emo Freak-Outs
Vomit-Forth Emotion
The emotion wells up inside of you until you can't keep it in anymore. The world must know how you feel. You begin to vomit forth your emotion, which to the casual observer appears to be the same as regular vomit. You cannot stop vomiting for the rest of the scene, with the force of a fire hydrant.
The Truth Hurts
Lies. They overwhelm us. They become our thoughts and our methods of communication. Each lie is a compromise, and we heap compromise on compromise until we lost what we were trying to protect. Your life is a lie. But no more. From now on, You shall be a beacon of hope in a world made dark by deceit. For one day, you will be honest and candid in your criticisms of other people, no matter what the consequences.
Spread the Pain
Your Emo is contagious! Your life is now so painful that anybody who comes into contact with you for a scene has no choice but to feel the pain of the world. Otherwise happy people burst into tears of pain and shame. Unsurprisingly, when they come to their senses once the scene is over they aren't too impressed with you.