Alrighty, what we obviously need as basis for conversation and further playtesting is a game text as plain instructions, complete with all current rules in as few words as I can manage, and with minimal evocative language. (I wanted to do it in a single post. But I seem to have failed.)

Acts of Evil
a roleplaying game of occult ambition
by Paul Czege

Introduction
Player characters are new initiates to an occult tradition devoted to aggressive and competitive pursuit of personal godhood. It is a ruthless tradition that its members take utterly seriously.

The Malign Conformation
An occultist's visceral capacities, nocuous dispositions, and aberrant accomplishments upon internal and external landscapes are represented by ten numeric values:

Flesh, Voice, Imagination, and Memory, an occultist's visceral capacities, are his Aspects.

Ambition, Rage, and Clarity, expressing the range of an occultist's sense of purpose, are his Dispositions.

Power, Resistance, and Denial, measures of an occultist's aberrant accomplishments, are his Complexion.

The Ambitious and the Meek
The occultist inhabits a landscape of disturbing conflicts of ipseity. Characters will find their endeavors frustrated by the skepticism, self-absorption, and ambitions of occult Rivals, Underlings, and Teachers, and by the humanity and personal interests of non-occultist Nobodies and Victims. It is with these clashes that the nine formulas of the game's core resolution system are concerned.

The Lebesgue Primes
The core mechanic of Acts of Evil is opposed pools of d4's, d6's, and d8's. Dice showing Lebesgue primes, 1's, 2's, 3's, 5's, and 7's, are counted and the counts are compared to determine the winner. In practice it's simplest to set aside the dice that show 4's and 6's, and count the ones that remain.

Preparing for Play

The Landscape of Ambition
Before character creation is the business of producing a landscape of times and places and NPCs in which the game's initial conflicts will play out.

Players select a number of dice, with more dice representing a more aggressive bid, and put them out covered by their hands. And then reveal and roll them simultaneously.

Each player counts his Lebesgue primes and records the count as his character's starting Denial.

Then look across the dice and determine the highest Lebesgue prime rolled. This number is the Absolute Prime. Any player whose roll includes the Absolute Prime will create a setting, called a plaga, in which he'll express his character's initial ambitions, as well as a number of NPCs across the landscape of all plaga. Players who did not roll the Absolute Prime will create their occultist characters in one of the plaga created by the players who did.

Each player who rolled the Absolute Prime chooses a time and locale for his plaga, and reports it to the other players. And then the players who rolled the Absolute Prime begin populating the landscape of plaga with Nobodies. Each of these players starting with points equal to the count of Lebesgue primes they rolled in the bid, creates one Nobody into each of the other players' plaga, at a cost of one point for each Nobody. If a player has fewer points than there are plaga, he creates Nobodies into as many of the other players' plaga as he can. If a player has more points than there are plaga, he can spend from the extra to create additional Nobodies. Or he can hold onto the points for what's next.

Creating a Nobody at this point is giving the NPC a single Trait, a Question, and optionally, a Name. Traits are words or small phrases that establish facts about the character: "waitress," "dog-lover," or "used to be a dance instructor." Questions are open ended, and pertain to the future of the character. Basically they're the kind of question the NPC might ask if he or she was having a tarot reading, just written in third person:

Will she find her lost twin sister?
Is her husband cheating on her?

Each player who did not roll the Absolute Prime then considers the various plaga, their populations of Nobodies, and the points being held in reserve by the players who created them, and notes his choice for which plaga his character will inhabit at the start of play. And then these choices are simultaneously revealed.

And then, players who have points remaining spend them to create Victims into their own plaga, at a cost of one point per Victim, or to increase the starting Denial of occultist characters of other players inhabiting their plaga, on a point-for-point basis.

Victims are created just like Nobodies, each with a single Trait and a Question. And optionally, a name.

The Making of an Occultist
In a normal human, the visceral capacities of the flesh, voice, imagination, and memory are an expression of the soul within. The event that ushers someone into this occult tradition is the unwilling installation of a zinc ball of thorns in his stomach by an occultist who chooses him as his own spiritual progeny. This ball of thorns, called the Manaster, severs that connection to the soul, freeing the Aspects from all constraint. The Manaster imparts the possibility of godhood.

To create a new occultist, divide 13 points across your Aspects and Dispositions (Flesh, Voice, Imagination, Memory, Ambition, Rage, Clarity), with the restriction that your lowest Aspect must be less than 2. You can have 0's wherever you wish. Your starting Denial is already established. Put 1 point in Resistance, 0 in Power. Give your character a name and a one sentence description. All characters are timebound until they transcend time.

The Anatomy Lesson
You'll use your Aspects to prevail in conflicts.

Flesh is the physical being. Rolling Flesh is pushing its limits. You roll Flesh to eat more hard-boiled eggs than Paul Newman does in Cool Hand Luke. You roll Flesh to win a wrestling match, endure torture, spit a ten foot stream of blood into a woman's face, turn yourself half wolf, etc.

Voice is the force and scope of communication. You roll it to issue commands, to know and speak languages, to communicate with aliens, to command attention, to sound like Sarah Connor's parents, etc.

Imagination is perception and your sense of reality. You roll it to see distant events play out in a scrying pool, to see the true nature of a disguised being, to penetrate the barriers of reality (by seeing the insubstantiality of the barriers) or visit other planets once you've transcended Space, to create objects from nothingness (by seeing that the object exists just within reach through an insubstantial barrier).

Memory is your awareness of past events. You roll it to know the details of events that had no witnesses, to fly a plane if you've had no training, to know someone's innermost secrets, and to move to the past or the future once you've transcended Time.

Your Dispositions are your developed psychological affinities for occult pursuits.

Ambition is your will to advance yourself personally relative to mankind.

Rage is your insistence upon results and disregard for societal consequences.

Clarity is your mastery of the occult worldview, and also your status among occultists. The more confidently immersed you are in thinking like a chthonic god the more status you have and authority you command among occultists.

Your Complexion is the conceptual aggregate of your Power, Resistance, and Denial. It is your personal threat proposition, measured as your history of managing both your internal and external landscape.

For occultists, normal humans are basically fuel. The unsevered connection to the soul renders them an endless font of Power which you harvest and then exploit on behalf of your pursuit of personal godhood. It is a your currency of effectiveness in occult endeavors. And humans give this Power willingly. All you have to do is position yourself as cooler, more together, slicker or more sophisticated, or more worldly, or edgier or more dangerous, than the normal human, and the normal spiritually transfers Power subconsciously to you.

So, calling a rather beaten family man into your office and informing him he won't be getting a salary increase this year is about Power. As long as he accepts his helplessness, you have Power. As long as he doesn't recognize that he's not helpless, you have Power. And inflicting physical harm is hardly different. It's mentally positioning yourself as an alpha relative to the human, with disdain for the human, and just not taking no for an answer, whether that "no" is coming from inside you, or from the other person.

Resistance is everything you need to mentally overcome on your occult endeavor of personal godhood. It measures your fear of losing what you've already achieved, the lingering vestiges of your human decency, and also how comfortable and decadent you've let yourself become. The pure occultist is entirely non-sexual and focused on godhood. One with a high Resistance is some combination of self-indulgent, maybe with concubines, insufficiently misanthropic, and risk-averse.

Denial represents mental repression of Resistance.

How to Play

The Progress of Play
The progress of play is the GM going around the room, giving each player a choice, and then together playing out a scene. This scene rotation starts with the player whose character has the lowest Clarity and proceeds clockwise around the room. If more than one character has the lowest Clarity, then the scene rotation starts with the one among them who has the lowest Denial. The choice is between a) the player deciding what type of NPC they want a scene with (Teacher, Rival, Underling, Nobody, Victim), and the GM framing the scene, or b) the GM determining what type of NPC will be in the scene, and the player framing it.

When the GM frames a scene, he'll establish a conflict situation for the NPC. He may describe immediate circumstances, or life circumstances. I may describe the environment, prior events, or the NPC's perceptions, and hopes and dreams. The conflict will, more often than not, directly involve the occultist character as an immediate antagonist. As the framer of the scene the GM can take his description all the way up to positioning the occultist character relative to the conflict. And he'll be working to Aspect the scene. "...now he has just shoved you back against the mirror." He'll assign a single Trait to each non-occultist NPC he frames into the scene, regardless of whether they're a new or existing Nobody, or a Victim. And then the GM and player will roleplay the scene. (And the Aspect can certainly change from the roleplaying.) Essentially, the GM is throwing scenes, rather than lobbing them. And if the player chooses to frame a scene, he'll throw them like this as well. Except when the player introduces new Nobodies, he can start them with either a Question or a Trait. Though the GM always makes the call regarding Aspect.

In framing a scene for a character who's with other occultists, the GM will include dramatic and exotic circumstances appropriate to the occult lifestyle. The endeavors of occultists should be characterized by worldliness and eclecticism. They consider themselves creatures of the universe, as at home in the slums of Rio de Janeiro as they are in the boardrooms of Wall Street or the battlefield of Agincourt. So, scenes in bizarre temples in the arctic, frozen from when chthonic aliens ruled the earth, at cursed sugar cane plantations in Guyana, and ultimately in floaty and indescribable extradimensional realms. Occultists should be pursuing some arcane goal. As players, we know the occultists draw Power exclusively from Nobodies and Victims, but they don't share this knowledge. So they're always chasing after objects of purported power and significance. And when they're not, it's all about status and revenge within the occult community.

Both the players and the GM can invent Teachers and Nobodies at will in framing scenes. Underlings, Rivals, and Victims must have been created previously, from Teachers and Nobodies via the Status Change mechanics, or as part of plaga creation.

After a complete circuit of scenes, look again at the character stats to determine which player's character should have the first scene of the next round.

Dice Mechanics
To resolve a conflict, the player will roll a pool of dice, count the number of Lebesgue primes rolled, and compare the count against the count from an opposing roll. Both the pool of dice, and the number of dice rolled in opposition, are determined by simple formulae that correspond to the various types of NPCs with whom the characters will conflict. A count of Lebesgue primes that's higher than the count rolled by the GM is a success.

Scenes consist of one or more of these die rolls. And the first of them must be against the NPC type specified for the scene, either a Resolution or a Status Change. Scenes end with either the first failed roll, with a Status Change roll whether it is successful or not, or after any roll if the occultist player is satisfied with the scene.

When roleplaying in a scene reaches the dice roll stage, the player's and GM's pools of dice are publicly assembled. Then, if Power spending is allowed by the formula, players spend Power to increase or decrease the size of the GM's pool, and narrate details into the situation/setting as they add or remove dice from the pool. There is no correspondence of dice to facts. A player can spend one Power or many, and introduce a small detail or a large one. Players can spend again and again, until everyone decides they're done. And then the dice are rolled. And there is no necessary connection between the character of the player spending Power and the scene; this use of Power is less a "spending" than it is an projection of the force of the character's subjectivity and will out into the wider occult reality.

The GM and the occultist player should look to the result of a scene's final die roll for guidance in roleplaying a closure for the scene.

Aspecting
The GM will determine the Aspect of a conflict from the roleplaying leading up to the roll: "I'm going to pull back the placemat to reveal the knife she used to kill her husband, the one she destroyed in the furnace." The player can indicate what he was aiming for, but the GM is the arbiter. Except for conflicts between player characters, in which the player who called for the scene has the power to insist on the Aspect.

Whenever an Aspect increase is one of the outputs from a roll, the player establishes which one he intends to increase via the post-roll roleplaying: "Just as she almost breaks from my grasp, my tongue reaches out, nearly four feet long, to wrap around her throat, pull her back into the hot tub, and force her under the bubbling surface of the water.

Resolutions
After a scene is framed, the roleplaying prior to a die roll establishes what's at stake for the occultist. In a scene with a Teacher, if it's something like, "Does the player character learn the secret of the Quivering Palm?", then it's a Resolution. Which doesn't mean a Resolution scene with a Teacher is always about education. It might be about taking knowledge from him without him knowing it. It might be about learning he's completely full of shit. It might be about gaining some of his favor by helping him with some grotesque task. Essentially, the Resolutions formulas are for every conflict that isn't a Status Change.

And the same is true of Rivals and Underlings. Resolutions can be about everything from publicly one-upping a Rival, to beating one in an exotic duel with the rugose bracts of an alien plant, to getting one to make a slip of the tongue and reveal his most prized word of power. Resolutions can be about everything from making an Underling do something unsavory, to teaching him something, lying to him convincingly about something, etc.

Resolution Against Teachers
For Resolution Against Teachers, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to the lower of Clarity or the relevant Aspect.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the occultist character's Resistance plus Clarity, increased by one die for each prior Resolution Against Teachers roll by the player in the current scene, and reduced by one die for each point of Power the player elects to spend (and also possibly increased or reduced by other players spending Power).
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, increase his occultist character's Clarity by one point.
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, the occultist character must Personize a human NPC.

Resolution Against Rivals
For Resolution Against Rivals, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to the lower of Clarity or the relevant Aspect.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the occultist character's Resistance, increased by one die for each prior Resolution Against Rivals roll by the player in the current scene, and reduced by one die for each point of Power the player elects to spend (and also possibly increased or reduced by other players spending Power).
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, he increases one of his occultist character's Aspects by one point.
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, increase his occultist character's Resistance by the value of his Denial, or by one point if his Denial is zero, and then set his Denial to zero. (Essentially, if you fail against a Rival, the veil of your Denial is shattered and becomes a true hindrance to your occult endeavors. It becomes real Resistance.)

Resolution Against Underlings
For Resolution Against Underlings, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to the relevant Aspect.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the occultist character's Resistance, increased by one die for each prior Resolution Against Underlings roll by the player in the current scene, and reduced by one die for each point of Power the player elects to spend (and also possibly increased or reduced by other players spending Power).
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, reduce his occultist character's Resistance by one point.
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, reduce his occultist character's Clarity by one point, and he must pay one Power or the Underling becomes a Rival.

Resolution Against Nobodies
For Resolution Against Nobodies, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to Ambition plus the relevant Aspect, and discards a number of rolled primes equal to the number of NPCs he's killed.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the higher of the occultist character's Resistance or Power, increased by one die for each prior Resolution Against Nobodies roll by the player in the current scene.
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, his occultist's Power is increased by one point.
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, increase his character's Denial to the value of the Nobody's Trait Count, or by one point if the character's Denial already exceeds the Trait Count. And he must narrate the Dissolution of his occultist's identity.

Resolution Against Victims
For Resolution Against Victims, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to Rage plus the relevant Aspect.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the occultist character's Resistance, increased by one die for each prior Resolution Against Victims roll by the player in the current scene.
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, his occultist's Power is increased by one point.
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, increase his character's Rage to the value of the Victim's Trait Count, or by one point if the character's Rage already exceeds the Trait Count.

Status Changes
By default, an NPC occultist is a Teacher to a player character, a player character is a Rival to another player character, and an non-occultist NPC is a Nobody to a player character. At the start of play, there are no Underlings, and there are no NPC Rivals. Once made into a Victim, an NPC is a Victim to all player characters. And an occultist's Underlings are Rivals to all other player characters.

A player can roll for a number of Resolutions in a scene, but only one Status Change. When what's at stake is something like "Do I make him my bitch?," that's a Status Change.

Change a Teacher to a Rival
To Change a Teacher to a Rival, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to his occultist's Clarity.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the occultist character's Resistance plus Clarity minus the total number of Underlings he has, and reduced by one die for each point of Power the player elects to spend (and also possibly increased or reduced by other players spending Power).
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, the Teacher is changed to a Rival.
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, increase the character's Clarity by one point, and also his Resistance by one point.

Change a Rival to an Underling
To Change a Rival to an Underling, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to his occultist's Clarity.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the occultist character's Resistance minus the total number of Underlings he has dedicated to this specific rivalry in prior scenes, and reduced by one die for each point of Power the player elects to spend (and also possibly increased or reduced by other players spending Power).
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, the Rival is now an  Underling.
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, he must Personize a human NPC.

Change a Nobody to a Victim
To Change a Nobody to a Victim, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to his occultist's Clarity and discards a number of rolled primes equal to the number of NPCs he's killed.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the occultist character's Resistance, plus one for each of the human's traits.
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, the Nobody is now a Victim, and the player must Derogate a human (usually, but not necessarily, the Nobody who just became a Victim).
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, resolve the scene as a failure, increase the character's Denial by one point, and the player must narrate Dissolution of the character's identity.

Change a Nobody to an Underling
To Change a Nobody to an Underling, the player rolls a pool of dice equal to his occultist's Clarity and discards a number of rolled primes equal to the number of NPCs he's killed.
The GM rolls an opposing pool of d6's equal to the occultist character's Resistance, plus one for each of the human's traits.
If the player rolls more primes than the GM, the Nobody is now one of his character's Underlings.
If the player rolls fewer primes than the GM, or the same number of primes, resolve the scene as a failure and increase the character's Rage by one point.

Exerting Power
Wherever Power appears in a formula, the player having the scene can spend from his character's Power to affect the target number as written in the formula (i.e. to benefit the character's likelihood of success). And any other player can spend Power to increase or decrease that target number. Power spent is lost, whether the roll is successful or not.

Fetishizing
A player can claim an additional die for his pool by fetishizing his character during the events leading up to the roll. Fetishizing is revealing something the character has consciously and willfully done to exoticize himself. So, shockingly unusual make-up, offensive or transgressive apparel, extreme piercings, elaborate tattoos, the barely concealed scars of suicide attempts, artificially over-whitened teeth, and excessive or unsettling cosmetic surgeries, but also unusual physical or verbal mannerisms, and ritualized behaviors that help the character control his doubts or push the limits of his humanity, his conscience, or his sensations. It can, but need not be, something apparent or noticed by any other character in the game. What's important is the character is sending a message to self that he is something other than weak, something other than human.

The only restriction on claiming a die for fetishizing is that each fetish revelation must be more transgressive or monstrous than that which has been described in the character's previous scenes. So players are advised to start gradually. Don't fetishize your character's first scene with him drinking from his bedridden mother's colostomy bag. You're going to struggle to top that.

Dissolution
Certain failures against Nobodies result in the horrific and enduring adulteration of an occultist's identity. The player describes a dramatic or frightening betrayal of his own Flesh, Voice, Imagination, or Memory. Perhaps he remembers things that never happened to him, or his consciousness becomes inhabited by a lineage of dead rulers who clamor and compromise his identity.

Dissolution is the great horror of the stories of the player characters. The audience of players will watch the characters stake their identities and their essential humanity on a gamble for godhood.

How Nobodies and Victims get Traits

Upon Creation
Nobodies can be created at will by any player as part of framing a scene. Upon framing a Nobody into a scene, a player gives the Nobody a new Trait.

Personizing
When the resolution mechanics require a player to "personize" a human (non-occultist) NPC, the player either a) resolves the scene with his occultist character somehow mentally sympathizing with a non-deceased Nobody or Victim  of his choice, or b) chooses to delay personizing, and resolves the scene in some other way. If the delay is chosen, the player must at some point prior to his character's next scene narrate a flashback or cut scene or something that a) aims to answer the Question of any non-occultist NPC who has more Traits than the sum of his occultist character's Denial plus highest Disposition, or b) where a non-deceased Nobody or Victim does something truly human. If the player doesn't work the personizing into the game prior to his character's next scene, he does the personizing in lieu of that scene. The GM is the arbiter of whether an NPC's question is answered. If it is, the NPC's story has achieved closure, and the NPC is no longer available for scenes. Otherwise, record the player's personizing of the NPC as a single appropriate Trait.

Derogation
When the resolution of successfully changing a Nobody to a Victim require a player to "derogate" a human (non-occultist) NPC, this means the scene resolution must incorporate the player's character reviling a NPC (and not necessarily the one just made Victim) for some good quality or honest human failing. Record the player's derogation of the NPC as a single appropriate Trait.

Killing
You can kill any single NPC in your scene by forfeiting the results of a successful roll. You must keep track of how many NPCs you've killed in this manner.

Player characters cannot be killed.

Advancement

Misanthrope
A player character begins the game as a Misanthrope, with the player rolling d8's.

Scourge
But when the lowest of your character's Aspects equals 2, he experiences a crisis of purpose. Your Underlings scatter. You extract your Manaster and install it in a Nobody you choose as your spiritual progeny (an NPC who will be the only Underling you have until you convert more NPCs in the scenes to come). You choose either the Cosmic Path, or the Temporal Path, and going forward you now roll d6's.

The Temporal Path
A starting character is constrained by the same time and space limitations that normal people are. But upon advancing to Scourge, a character transcends those limitations in some capacity. If the player chooses the Temporal Path, then the character is no longer bound to a lifespan progressing forward in time from the start of game events. When scenes are framed for the character they can now be whenever and wherever, throughout history and unknowable prehistory, upon the planet Earth.

The Cosmic Path
If the player chooses the Cosmic Path, then the character is no longer bound to Earthly realms. So the infinity of extradimensional, extraplanetary, and dream realms are now available for the character's scenes. But until the character advances to Anathema, he still lives forward in time.

Anathema
And then again, when the lowest of your Aspects equals 3, you experience a second crisis of purpose. Your Underlings scatter. The whole range of time and space, extradimensional, extraplanetary, and dream realms are available for your scenes. And going forward you now roll d4's.

Player against player
When another player's character is framed into a scene, either by the GM or by a player framing his own scene, the player who owns the other character roleplays him. But there are no player vs. player die rolls. The GM always rolls against a player who's having a scene, with other players limited to spending Power if they want to influence the outcome.

And if your character is my Rival, and mine manages to make yours an Underling, then your character is an Underling when scenes are framed for my character, and my character is a Teacher when scenes are framed for your character. And if your character is my Underling I make your scene decision on your turn, and this includes framing your scene if that's the choice I make.

Godhood
Once you've advanced to Scourge, and it's your turn for a scene, the option to call for a throwdown with Ephactha is available. You'll roll Clarity against a target of Resistance minus Power spent.

If you fail, you have a choice of two outcomes:

1. You are destroyed, and your identity is dissolved. You leave no lasting mark upon the universe or legacy, other than the pain you've created for those you've victimized. You continue to play the game via a dwindling resource pool of the Power you spent on your roll against the top fiend. When it's your turn, you can spend a point of this Power to narrate a personizing scene for a non-occultist NPC, giving that NPC Trait as per usual, or elevating the status of a Victim to Nobody. Your destruction unlocks the door to healing for those who'd been living in your shadow.

2. You are destroyed, and your identity is dissolved. Take the Power you spent on your roll against the top fiend and divide it across Flesh, Voice, Imagination, Memory, Ambition, Rage, and Clarity to create either a new character, or as stats for one of your former Underlings, who you'll play going forward.

If you succeed, congratulations. You have destroyed and supplanted Ephactha. Play proceeds one last time around the room, with the players who still have living occultist characters narrating their destructions, under the one restriction that they absolutely cannot have  protagonizing endings. The character can't be forgiven by one of his victims. These occultist characters have meaningless cosmic endings. They're lost in extradimensional vortices, crushed by restless alien behemoths, turned to a pillar of salt by poorly controlled magic. And then the game is over.

Ending the Game
The game ends when one player achieves godhood, or all NPC questions have been answered, whichever happens first.

the nature of Ephactha
He exists during the silurian period of Earth's pre-history. He's actually a microorganism. In your dreams, he's enormous and Lovecraftian. In reality, he's the ultimate predator, a being who utterly dominates his environment through the expression of his undiluted will. He exists in a primordial soup under perpetual assault by billions of lesser microorganisms. He snuffs them with impunity. He does not sleep. The music you hear when you dream of him is actually the din produced by this infinite activity of slaughter.