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

REGAINING HUMANITY
Kindred who make a deep and prolonged effort can regain lost Humanity or even become
more ethical creatures than they were in life. It isn’t easy, though.
In rules terms, a player can spend experience points to buy dots of Humanity for her character.
In story terms, the character must do something to show that he really tries to become
a better person and more able to resist the Beast (see p. 101 of the Mind’s Eye Theatre rulebook).
If the player announces her intent to buy Humanity for her character, the Storyteller
can examine the character’s recent actions. Has he tried to atone for past crimes? Has he tried
to avoid committing more sins? Has he resisted his Vice and upheld his Virtue, even when he
cannot harvest Willpower from it? Has the character associated with mortals and cultivated
relationships with them? If the character genuinely tries to act more human, the Storyteller
should certainly permit the purchase.
Why demand an experience-point cost for an increased Humanity when characters lose the
trait so easily? Shouldn’t highly moral acts receive an immediate reward of restored Humanity?
Sorry, no. One moment of grace does not reverse the habits built through years, perhaps
centuries, of abuse. Enduring gains against the Beast require a heroic struggle that never fully
ends. Note that this contradicts statements made about regaining lost Morality for free in the
Mind’s Eye Theatre rulebook. This contradiction is intentional. Humanity is so central to
the themes of The Requiem that we want to reinforce characters’ dangerous footing on the
path of Humanity by being that much more stringent with the rules.
Example: Maggie feeds from a vessel and is unable to stop herself, accidentally taking too much Vitae
and killing her victim. Her Humanity is 7, so this bloody transgression causes her to test for degeneration.
This amounts to “manslaughter,” so Maggie’s player draws three times, achieving no successes.
Her Humanity drops to 6.
Maggie’s player then draws has a test pool of 6 (because her new Humanity is 6) for her Humanity
draw, to see if she gains a derangement. Again, the player draws no successes. The player and the
Storyteller confer for a bit, deciding that the mild derangement sanguinary animism (see later in this
section) is appropriate here. They come up with the rationale that Maggie has been thinking too deeply
about the arcane properties of blood in her studies of the Crúac Discipline. Add to that her guilt over
the killings, and the two factors combine to “convince” her that part of his soul and indeed the souls of
others she feeds on will mystically linger with her after the feeding has stopped. Remember, this is what
Maggie thinks, not the objective truth. That’s why it’s a derangement!
The player writes “sanguinary animism” on the character sheet next to Maggie’s Humanity of 6.
When and if the player buys Humanity back up to 7 with experience points, Maggie overcomes her
sanguinary animism derangement. Yet if her Humanity continues to drop, she might develop a more
severe ailment, or even manifest some other type of derangement.
GAME EFFECTS OF HUMANITY
Why struggle against the Beast? Why not compromise with the Beast and one’s own desires
and stabilize as a callous but self-controlled monster?
Many Kindred accept that logic. They sacrifi ce more than abstract ethics when they compromise
with the Beast, though. Preserving Humanity offers tangible benefi ts. The more a vampire cultivates
mortal feelings and ethics, the less tightly the curse of undeath binds him, at least in some ways.
DAYTIME ACTIVITY
The Kindred have trouble staying awake during the day. The lower a character’s Humanity
score is, the harder it is to be active.
If a character wants to stay awake when the sun rises, the player draws a test pool of the
character’s Humanity. The character resists sleep for one turn or minute per success drawn.
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mind’s chapter eye three: theatre: special requiem rules and systems