Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

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OPTIONAL RULE: I WASN’T EMBRACED YESTERDAY
Storytellers may choose to allow players a certain number of experience points
to spend before play begins to represent the portion of the Requiem between the
Embrace and the start of the chronicle. Large multi-venue games may have additional
creation rules to enable distributed play. Receiving additional points, for instance for
experienced characters, doesn’t allow you to buy more Merits marked as creation
only during this step.
Rank neonates 0 experience points
Up-and-comers 35 experience points
Established Kindred 75 experience points
Movers and shakers 120 experience points
Elders and other linchpins
of undead society 180-300+ experience points
STEP EIGHT: SPARK OF UNLIFE
At this point you should have a character, at least in a purely mechanical sense. You have
all you need to use your character as a playing piece in your Storyteller’s chronicle, combining
Attributes with Skills and drawing points as necessary.
Roleplaying, however, is not simply pitting cards against cards, or using spiffy powers left
and right. The previous steps have created a basic framework, a rough sculpture of a character
hammered out in the most simplistic of terms. Now is the time to break out the fi ne tools,
refi ning the crude fi gure with details and nuance. Examine the dots on your character sheet
and fi gure out why they’re there. What in your character’s life made him pick up his fi rst
fi rearm and begin training? How did he learn so much about the ways of the street or the
methods of intimidation? When did he pick up his rudimentary medical skills? How will this
background come across in the story? What parts don’t you know yet about your character?
Just like working a fi ne sculpture, shape and polish your character’s physical, psychological
and background details to make him one of a kind, even among the undead.
Just what exactly does having a Presence of 3 mean? Does your character possess the chiseled
features of a runway model, causing all eyes to turn his way as he enters a room? Or does he
have the hardened look of a dockyard worker who isn’t to be trifl ed with? Perhaps he exudes
an air of old money and confi dence from behind his tailored suits and fi ne jewelry. What
features cause others to react to him with such intensity? What color are his eyes, his hair,
his skin? Does he have a clean cut, refi ned look or perhaps a nasty scar running from his
scalp down between his eyes to his neck? Is his voice harsh and raspy, silky smooth or does
he stutter, relying wholly on his looks to carry him?
While these fi nal touches might seem the least necessary, they are the most important. Otherwise,
your Ventrue with Presence 3, Manipulation 4 and Composure 3 will be just like every
other Ventrue with Presence 3, Manipulation 4 and Composure 3. You want to avoid such
two-dimensional characters and strive for something unique, fascinating and memorable.
Finally, the unlife of a vampire is certainly a place for ironies and fate. You’ve done all
the work so far, choosing which traits you want your character to possess and arranging dots
on the character sheet. As the fi nal step of character creation, make a single draw, with the
ace counting as a one for this draw. This is how much Vitae your vampire has in her system
when the chronicle begins.
chapter two: character