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Table of Contents
Rules
This page identifies the base rule set used, and changes and additions specific to this campaign.
Base
We use the Vampire: the Masquerade Revised core book.
Content from other source books may only be used after discussion with the group.
Dice Mechanics
After significant evaluation, we have switched to a different dice mechanic.
Dice coming up with a natural 1 do not count as -1 success. All difficulties are increased by +1 from the normal difficulty mentioned in the book.
Hunting
Due to the strange nature of the hunting rules in the source book, we have adopted the following change to hunting:
The normal method for taking a Hunting roll, and its modifiers and difficulties apply. Each success on the hunting roll is one victim, with each roll representing an hour of Hunting. It is up to the character to determine how many bloodpoints to take from each victim. The default is 2 vitae per victim, any more will result in injury to the victim.
Time Skipping
Skipping time means moving the IC time forward without spending much OOC time on the matter.
While skipping time, normal vitae consumption rules apply. It is not possible to Hunt during a time skip, but a time skip can be interrupted when deemed necessary.
Disciplines
Acquiring Disciplines
Since the book is vague on the acquisition of disciplines, the following house rules are in force:
Conditions on the acquisition of disciplines are described by:
- Until further discussion, PCs can have no more than rating ●●●●● in any single discipline.
- A discipline can be learned as soon as both the experience requirements and the training requirements are met. The experience requirements are those set out in the book.
Training requirements:
- For the physical disciplines (Celerity, Fortitude, Potence): A trainer is only required if the discipline is out-of-clan and this is the first dot. Any rating beyond ●○○○○ can be increased without a trainer.
- The other disciplines (Animalism, Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate, Presence, Thaumaturgy): A trainer is required for every increase in rating, regardless of current rating or clan aptitude.
- The disciplines associated with the Sabbat and independent clans are not accesible for now.
Trainers:
- A trainer is a source of knowledge. It can be a character, an occult book of knowledge, an instruction manual of physical excercise, etc.
- A character can act as a trainer for someone if their rating in the discipline matches or exceeds the rating that the pupil wants to train.
- The information gained from a trainer usually includes theory on the discipline, and often involves some test or quest to be fulfilled.
Celerity
Due to overpowered nature of the source book's version of Celerity, we use the V20 version of Celerity. Thus the Celerity discipline is defined as follows:
Celerity: Each point of Celerity adds one die to every Dexterity-related dice roll. In addition, the player can spend one blood point to take an extra action up to the number of dots he has in Celerity at the beginning of the relevant turn; this expenditure can go beyond her normal Generation maximum. Any dots used for extra actions, however, are no longer available for Dexterity-related rolls during that turn. These additional actions must be physical (e.g., the vampire cannot use a mental Discipline like Dominate multiple times in one turn), and extra actions occur at the end of the turn (the vampire’s regular action still takes place per her initiative roll).
Meditate
We have introduced a new discipline to emulate the supernatural effects of meditation and eastern mysticism.
See Meditate.
Backgrounds
Acquiring Backgrounds
Due to a lack of background acquisition rules in the source material, we have discussed and introduced the following rules.
It is strongly advised to discuss the acquisition or improvement of a background with the group (and thus also the storyteller). Acquisition or improvement usually requires in-game roleplay next to the expenditure of experience. The experience costs to acquire new backgrounds or raise existing backgrounds have been set at the following amounts:
| Trait | Cost |
|---|---|
| New Background | 3 |
| Background | current rating × 2 |
Bonus experience earmarked for use in buying backgrounds can be handed out at the storyteller's discretion.
Resources
Despite the historical use of the Deutsche Mark in 1991 Berlin, we will use the Euro currency. To allow for simpler estimations of the worth of money, we have corrected the amounts mentioned in the Resources background. This correction takes into account the publication date of the source book (1998), corrects for changes in purchasing power over the years (including inflation) and converts the amounts from USD to EUR.
After correction and rounding for readability, the resource ratings listing becomes:
● Small savings: a small apartment and maybe a motorcycle. If liquidated, you would have about €1,200 in cash. Allowance of €600 a month.
●● Middle class: an apartment or condominium. If liquidated, you would have at least €9,300 in cash. Allowance of €1,400 a month.
●●● Large savings: a homeowner or someone with some equity. If liquidated, you would have at least €58,000 in cash. Allowance of €3,500 a month.
●●●● Well-off: a member of the upper class. You own a very large house, or perhaps a dilapidated mansion. If liquidated, you would have at least €580,000 in cash. Allowance of €10,500 a month.
●●●●● Ridiculously affluent: a multimillionaire. Your haven is limited by little save your imagination. If liquidated, you would have at least €5,800,000 in cash. Allowance of €35,000 a month.
Herd
The interaction and abstraction levels of the Herd background with the hunting system. We have replaced it with a more habit-based system. The Herd background is replaced with the following:
You have built a group of mortals from whom you can feed without fear. A herd may take many forms, from circles of kinky clubgoers to actual cults built around you as a god-figure. In addition to providing nourishment, your herd might come in handy for minor tasks, although they are typically not very controllable, closely connected to you or even highly skilled (for more effective pawns, purchase Allies or Retainers). Your Herd rating grants you access to (Herd × 2) blood points per month.
● Three vessels: 6 blood points per month – a small boost on top of your normal Hunting.
●● Seven vessels: 14 blood points per month – half of your normal sustenance is available without Hunting.
●●● 15 vessels: 30 blood points per month – You effectively don't need to hunt for normal sustenance.
●●●● 30 vessels: 60 blood points per month – You only need to hunt in exceptional cases (such as visiting another city).
●●●●● 60 vessels: 120 blood points per month – You're bathing in blood.
Rituals
Some Thaumaturgical Rituals have different versions in different books. We need to keep track which versions of the Rituals we use. Text from books without OCR has been typed by hand, so may contain typos. The text here is just for convencience, the book remains the authoritative source.
Rite of Introduction
From Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy (2000)
The Tremere use this ritual as the formal method of presentation for arrivals in a new city. However, it is an old ritual and not as widely used as it once was. Many young members of the clan are not even aware of its existence. Still, some traditional regents inist on its use and tolerate no excuses for a breach of courtesy. It is also possible to use this ritual to request aid. The caster boils a handful of ground tamarisk root in a pot of rainwater and recites a short incantation into the vapors that form over the water, then adds a drop of galangal oil. He then speaks a brief message, which is telepathically communicated first to the regent and then to the other clan members in the city according to their place in the hierarchy. The ritual allows the regent to reply telepathically, though she is bound to do so only by tradition.
System: The caster may make a 30-second “introduction speech” in whichhe presents himself to the other members of the city. The ritual also enables telepathic communication with the regent for five minutes.
Illuminate Trail of Prey
From Guide to the Sabbat (1999)
This ritual causes the path of the subject's passing to glow in a manner tha only the thaumaturge can see. The footprints or tire tracks (or whatever) shine distinctly, but only to the eyes of the caster. Even airplane trajectories and animal tracks shine with unhealthy light. The ritual is nullified if the target wades through or immerses himself in water, or if he reaches the destination of his journey. The thaumaturge must burn a length of white satin ribbon that has been in her possession for at least 24 hours for this ritual to take effect.
System: The thaumaturge must have a mental picture of or know the name of her prey. The individual's wake glows witha brightness dependent on how long it has been since he passed tha way - old tracks burn less brightly, while fresh tracksblaze.
Drugs
unapproved proposal, based on https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_faq.shtml#effects
MDMA/XTC: The vampire feels that all is right and good with the world, as well as emotional closeness to others, and common everyday things may seem to be abnormally beautiful or interesting. Difficulties of frenzy rolls are decreased by one, due to the calming effect of the drug. He gains two extra dice in Empathy. He gains the Toreador clan weakness, Toreador vampires raise difficulty by 2. These effects last for two hours.
Anachronism (2 point flaw)
RULE PROPOSAL, NOT DEFINITIVE OR APPROVED YET
Original Text: You have been a vampire for some time, and are unable (or unwilling) to keep up with the changing times. your attempts. An Intelligence roll is needed whenever you have to deal with something from a later period than your own breathing days. If the roll is failed, total the net failures and use this total as a negative modifier to your attempts. Example: Osric, a fifth-century Goth by birth, has this Flaw and is attempting to deal with a computer. His Intelligence roll results in two net failures. Osric now has a two-dice penalty when determining the outcome of his attempt to make the infernal machine cooperate. Note that characters with this Flaw will generally have been vampires for longer than the 50 years suggested in Vampire, so Storytellers should decide whether or not to allow this Flaw in their chronicles.
OOC note: This roll does not work with the current dice mechanic, as you can only have 1 failure. In theory you can look at the number of failing dice, but this is 100% guaranteed to be equal to Intelligence.
Proposed Mechanic (version 1): Whenever you have to deal with technology from a later period than your own breathing days, you take a +2 to the difficulty. If the difficulty is above 10, you cannot use the technology at all.
Proposed Mechanic (version 2): Whenever you have to deal with technology from a later period than your own breathing days, roll an Intelligence check. If you fail, you cannot use the technology.
Touch of Frost (1 point flaw)
RULE PROPOSAL, NOT DEFINITIVE OR APPROVED YET
Original Text: Plants wither as you approach and die at your touch. Your touch leeches heat from living beings, as though you are made of ice. (Flaw description)
AND
A vampire who lacks this Discipline or the Skill of Animal Ken is repellent to animals. Beasts grow distinctly agitated in the presence of such a Kindred, often to the point of fleeing from or attacking the vampire. In contrast, Kindred with Animalism present a soothing aspect to lower creatures - indeed, animals are often attracted to them. (Animalism description)
OOC note: This makes flaw should make Animal Ken more difficult to use as animals have a stronger dislike of your unnatural state
Proposed Mechanic (version A): A vampire with Animal Ken or Animalism who has the Touch of Frost flaw continues to be repellent to animals.
When encountering animals, the Vampire can make an Appearance + Animal Ken check to overcome the repellent effect temporarily. If the check fails, the repellent effect continues and no retry is possible for the remainder of the scene. If the check is botched, the animal will attack immediately.
When building a longer duration relationship with an animal, such as when keeping a pet, the Vampire needs to make an additional check based on Charisma + Animal Ken (if they genuinely care for the animal) or Manipulation + Animal Ken (if they merely intend to use the animal). On a botch, the animal attacks. Though it is possible to try again, the difficulty increases by one for each failure.
Proposed Mechanic (version B): A vampire with Animal Ken or Animalism who has the Touch of Frost flaw continues to be repellent to animals.
By spending 1 blood, the vampire can suppress this effect for the duration of a scene. By spending 1 will power, the vampire can suppress the effect with a single animal (usually a future pet of some sort) permanently.
