As I have already mentioned, at the crux of the tragic story of the vampire is the fact that they are on a downward spiral towards damnation, destined to destroy all that they held dear. If you read through the comments on the previous twoposts in this series you will find that over and over we keep going back to the simple, and very important, idea of why should one care about the vampire’s journey on the road of dwindling Humanity. Or put another way, why should I (the player of the vampire character) care about the loss of Humanity? Why stall it? Why not give in to the beast?
There are traits in the two Vampire games that sort of deal with this. In VtM we have the traits of Nature and Demeanor, which basically sum up what your behavioral essence is on the inside and how you project yourself to the world. These are good to help shape how you want to play your character, but they really don’t say much about who your character is, which ultimately is what we’re driving at when looking for the reasons to cling to Humanity. VtR uses Virtue and Vice to replace Nature/Demeanor. I like the contrast of these two traits because, while they can help you shape how you play the character, they now say something about who this character is, if maybe a bit indirectly. The Virtue/Vice split also hearkens back to classical philosophical thought, something I can totally dig. Both of these sets of traits, however, have the same drawback for me: they are too vague. This is great for the games in which they are used, as a limited number of combinations can be used to represent virtually endless characterizations across a number of games sharing the same basic system, but for what I’m seeking to do, I want something that’s a hell of a lot more focused.
Something came up in the comments to my previous post, Rebuilding Vampire: Humanity, brought up by Mick Bradley about whether there should be the glimmer of hope/redemption for a vampire. He made this point after I had stated that, in my view of the vampire myth/game, the story of the vampire is one of an inevitable downward spiral towards transformation into a beast that will destroy all that he used to love, with the dramatic caveat being how long can that be staved off. Considering his feedback led me to consider the vampire myth and ask for other people’s opinions on Twitter (and I got good replies – see the comments for links).
In thinking of what would I do to re-arrange Vampire’s mechanics to reflect the type of game I believe is intended (as opposed to presented), it always has been obvious that Humanity is the one central stat around which everything else must orbit. After all, the game is about the loss of this essential trait and the descent into the unbridled bestiality of the vampire (which, of course, presupposes that you want to stave this loss off as much as possible; otherwise you’d be an NPC).
So we have our main trait, Humanity. I’ll keep this on a 1-10 scale because it provides for a good amount of gradation in the middle, with 10 being fully Human, and 1 being inhuman (inhumane?). This stat determines how Human you are, serves as the fuel for your vampire powers, and determines how many dice you roll to avoid losing/regaining Humanity. When Humanity reaches 1, you have lost all connection to what it means to be a human, and your character is removed from the game.
As part of the shelved project I mentioned in my “Convictions” Witch Hunter post, my colleague and co-writer, Walt Ciechanowski, wrote this short but helpful article to help Witch Hunter GMs deal with the various disparate currencies that are available in the New World of the game’s setting.
Realistic as it may be to have the characters converting pounds into guilders, or francs into doubloons, etc, it is a tedious task that simply detracts from the main part of the game, playing a great story. Walt’s article solves that easily and brilliantly, and I’m sure any and all Witch Hunter GMs will get good use of this.
The rules have been posted to the Witch Hunter forum in the Paradigm Concepts website, and on Scribd, where it can be read online or downloaded on PDF (or use the widget below).
I hope you enjoy these rules. Please let me know how they work for you, either here or at the PCI Witch Hunter forum thread.
Even earlier than the project I alluded to in my last Witch Hunter post, I wrote and submitted a new Order of Witch Hunters for a then-upcoming sourcebook (the now-in-stores The Blessed and The Damned). I decided to write up a Jewish Order because it’s an aspect of the setting I was (and still am) very much interested in exploring and that was barely touched upon in the Core Book. I also knew that another writer had also submitted a Jewish Order, as well as the rules for a Kabbalah Sorcerous Tradition.
The other writer turned out to be Walt Ciechanowski, whom I know thanks to his work in the ImperialAge line for Adamant Entertainment. Walt and I have been chatting over email for a while and looking for a way to work together in some project. Walt’s submissions was chosen over mine for the book, and thus The Blessed and The Damned includes The Seekers of Emet, as well as the rules for Kabbalah. Though there are some minor details I would quibble over, I was pleased as punch with the first Jewish Witch Hunter Order released for the game.
Which isn’t to say I wasn’t sad mine wasn’t chosen. The editorial comment I got back said (paraphrasing) that it was basically an Order for Jewish Witch Hunters to be in just because they are Jews; stung a bit at the moment, but a few months later when I looked at it again I could see the feedback was right on target. I set is aside for the time being.
The Spear of Phinehas presents a Jewish Order purportedly founded by King Solomon himself as a band of warrior-scholars that take on the Invisible World with zealous alacrity. They complement The Seekers of Emet acting as scouts and bodyguards for the relic hunters, and have the ability to see into the Invisible World at-will and deliver holy smites upon demons and Accursed.
This Order was not going to be included in the alluded project, but I figured I would put it out there as well for whoever wants to add some more Jewish Orders to their Witch Hunter game. This isn’t precisely the way this Order was submitted (it was called The Guardians of the Tabernacle then); I changed the name and tightened the focus. Hopefully you will like the end result (I do).
The rules have been posted to the Witch Hunter forum in the Paradigm Concepts website, and on Scribd, where it can be read online or downloaded on PDF (or use the widget below).
I hope you enjoy these rules. Please let me know how they work for you, either here or at the PCI Witch Hunter forum thread.
Late last year I began to work on a project for the Witch Hunter: The Invisible World roleplaying game, a game which, anyone that knows me can attest, I love to little tiny bits. Because of the events of this year, that project kept getting pushed back and back; even though my co-writer and I were committed to the work due to the enthusiasm we share for the game, it just never worked out and never had a chance to take off. I recently officially canceled the project until further notice (I won’t reveal the exact nature of the project just in case it ever can be restarted). Rather than leave the material I wrote gathering virtual dust in a folder, I’d like to share it for free with everyone.
A Matter of Conviction presents rules for bringing in narrative flags into the game. Anyone who’s played Spirit of the Century, Burning Wheel or Primetime Adventures (among many) will recognize these as Aspects/Beliefs & Instincts/Edges – descriptive bits of information that serve as flags about what is important to the characters and what they want narrative conflict to be about. Witch Hunter already has some element of this via Virtues & Vices, but Convictions brings a laser focus to the idea.
The rules have been posted to the Witch Hunter forum in the Paradigm Concepts website, and on Scribd, where it can be read online or downloaded on PDF (or use the widget below).
I hope you enjoy these rules. Please let me know how they work for you, either here or at the PCI Witch Hunter forum thread.
As I have already mentioned, at the crux of the tragic story of the vampire is the fact that they are on a downward spiral towards damnation, destined to destroy all that they held dear. If you read through the comments on the previous two posts in this series you will find that over and over we keep going back to the simple, and very important, idea of why should one care about the vampire’s journey on the road of dwindling Humanity. Or put another way, why should I (the player of the vampire character) care about the loss of Humanity? Why stall it? Why not give in to the beast?
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