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

chapter one: sample society derangements
of the damned 273
personalities. When a vampire suffers this derangement, the Storyteller and player need to
agree on a set of alternative personalities for the character, as well as on what situations call
each personality to the fore. Each personality should have some connection to the trauma that
fractured the character’s mind. Alternate personalities might believe they belong to different
clans, bloodlines or covenants, or even not be aware that they are undead.
Effect: A character with multiple personalities can manifest different Skills or perhaps increased
or diminished Social Attributes for each identity (the number of dots allocated to your
character’s Social Attributes are rearranged by anywhere from one to three). The character does
not actually possess more Skills than other characters, he merely switches personalities when
he needs to use certain Skills. For instance, a tough-guy “protector” persona might emerge
whenever the character needs to fi ght, so the baseline identity doesn’t need to face the moral
and emotional stress of combat. The “protector” persona takes possession of the character’s
combat Skills, while the other personalities don’t admit that they know how to fi ght.
This is an extreme derangement. The character must experience a life-altering trauma or
supernatural tragedy to manifest it. The ailment cannot normally be acquired by failing a
Humanity draw unless the sin performed is truly ghastly. MPD is an elaborate derangement,
and even more of a challenge to roleplay than most derangements. Its symptoms are frightening,
and the suffering it exacts from its victim is monumental. It should not be an excuse for
slapstick, wacky, foolish or childish behavior.
See the Mind’s Eye Theatre rulebook about purchasing different traits for different personalities.
Obsessive Compulsion (severe; follows Fixation): A character with this derangement focuses
her attention on a single repetitive behavior or action as a way to distract herself from
feelings of anxiety or inner torment. The compulsive character turns everything into a ritual
and feels utter dread of any disruption of her behaviors.
Many European vampire legends say the undead suffer from an obsessive need to count
collections of small objects, so a mortal can protect himself by leaving piles of grain where
he sleeps. A marauding vampire feels compelled to count the grain before he feeds, legends
say, and this can keep the vampire occupied until dawn. Kindred who believe in the stories
mortals tell about them might suffer from this kind of fi xation.
Effect: Determine a set of specifi c actions or behaviors that your character follows to the
exclusion of all else (even if doing so interferes with his current agenda or endangers his
existence or others’). The effects of obsessive/compulsive behavior can be negated for the
course of one scene by making a successful Resolve + Composure draw at a -2 penalty. If
your character is forcibly prevented from adhering to his derangement, he might lose control
among enemies or allies and attack either (or both) indiscriminately. An obsessive-compulsive
vampire is subject to a frenzy draw in this situation.
Paranoia (severe; follows Suspicion): Paranoia is a species of delusion. The paranoid believes
that enemies persecute her and make her miserable. As a paranoid’s delusions intensify, she
spins out elaborate conspiracy theories to explain who’s doing the persecution, and why.
Everything goes into the conspiracy. Do the neighbors stay up late? They must be spying.
Does she have headaches? Her enemies have dosed her with some insidious toxin. Did she
lose her job? The conspiracy arranged it… and of course, they want other people to believe
she’s crazy. As paranoia deepens, the sufferer might plot to strike back at her persecutors,
whomever she imagines them to be.
This derangement can be hard to diagnose among the Kindred because they really do
have enemies in the Danse Macabre. A paranoid vampire, however, can’t tell a real enemy
from one that exists only in his head. Imagined enemies can range from the CIA to Satan