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

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TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: SOCIETY OF THE DAMNED 8 CHAPTER TWO: CHARACTER 110 CHAPTER THREE: SPECIAL RULES AND SYSTEMS 216 CHAPTER FOUR: STORYTELLING AND ANTAGONISTS 296 APPENDIX: BLOODLINES 362
4 Introduction No man ever became extremely wicked all at once. —Juvenal Vampires: blood-drinking creatures of the night. Horrors born of darkness, whose sole purpose in life — unlife, actually — is to slake their unholy thirst on the blood of the living. Without doubt, vampires are monsters. Monsters, though, need not always be unthinking, unfeeling terrors empty of remorse, or even compassion or other human traits. Indeed, vampires can exceed their deathless curse, themselves becoming antiheroes or even heroes. Then again, some vampires truly remain monsters. This is the purpose of The Requiem. What you hold in your hands is a Modern Gothic Storytelling game, a live-action roleplaying game that allows you to build chronicles that explore morality through the metaphor of vampirism. In The Requiem, you “play the monster,” and what you do as that monster both makes for an interesting story and might even teach you a little about your own values and those of your fellows. A MODERN-GOTHIC WORLD The setting of The Requiem borrows greatly from gothic literature, not the smallest amount of which comes from the “set dressing” of the movement. Key to the literary gothic tradition are the ideas of barbarism, corruption and medieval imagery. This World of Darkness can be said to be our own seen through the looking glass darkly. With regard to barbarism, the world of the vampires is like our own, but with a signifi cant upturn in violence and decay. The streets are more brutal, with the desperate eyes of the unfortunate ever watchful for someone more privileged from whom they can steal something to make their own bleak lives more comfortable. Gangs are more active and violent; vagrants are bolder or they obliviate themselves even more. Even those with vast resources are more fearful of those who would harm them — or more jealous of those who rival their own wealth or power. Their actions can turn fi erce with the slightest provocation. Corruption goes hand in hand with the idea of barbarism. The world is nasty and brutish, and anyone who can get ahead had best avail himself of the opportunity. This is a world of indulgent clergy, avaricious businessmen, cops looking for a payoff and gangsters who have no other options than crime. Even those who don’t fi t into such neat iconic archetypes face corruption of their own, such as an unwed mother who fi nds herself addicted to drugs and sells her child for a few grams of crank, or an otherwise honest journalist who fi nds out that his brother has become a bloodthirsty creature of darkness and must keep the secret for kinship’s sake. Medieval imagery adorns all of the visual elements of the setting, and it can even bleed over into other aspects. Buildings soar heavenward, supported by fl ying buttresses, gilded when the architects can afford it and studded by gargoyles that scare away evil spirits that are all too real. Streets have fallen into disrepair. Even cities themselves are like medieval bastions, isolated from the outside world, xenophobic and cut off. Anachronisms abound, from antique decorations in otherwise ultramodern buildings to forgotten catacombs beneath bank vaults and subway tunnels. Honest-to-goodness castles might exist in the World of Darkness where none stand in the real world. Moss and vines cling everywhere. Torches and candles light hallways and anterooms. Walls bear breaches, cracks or other signs of disrepair. Ars moriendi punctuate works of art. A sense of dread and fear looms visibly on the face of every passerby. Is it so strange, then, to believe that such a world hosts the Damned, as well? mind’s eye theatre: the requiem • introduction
Page 1 and 2: live-action rules for playing vampi
Page 3: CREDITS Concept and Design: Justin
Page 7 and 8: Vampires must sustain themselves on
Page 9 and 10: 8 chapter one: society of the damne
Page 11 and 12: Try though they might, the Kindred
Page 13 and 14: Kindred that thrives on blood and d
Page 15 and 16: Geographically, the Gangrel seem to
Page 17 and 18: dred institution, especially owing
Page 19 and 20: London, New Orleans and Chicago —
Page 21 and 22: 20 mortal society. Certainly, some
Page 23 and 24: 22 they become helpless targets. Li
Page 25 and 26: options? Petition for help? To whom
Page 27 and 28: 26 Needless to say, the society of
Page 29 and 30: Church-modeled domains tend to swin
Page 31 and 32: FEEDING RESTRICTIONS Some Princes d
Page 33 and 34: of state.” The Herald is assumed
Page 35 and 36: MASTER OF ELYSIUM In essence a comb
Page 37 and 38: don’t happen, but rather that tho
Page 39 and 40: 38 The Danse Macabre Throughout the
Page 41 and 42: Upon being informed of just how old
Page 43 and 44: Just the same, puppets and sinners
Page 45 and 46: 44 chapter one: society of the damn
Page 47 and 48: esponding roughly to a later Spanis
Page 49 and 50: 48 The Carthian Movement Undeniably
Page 51 and 52: The Chain At almost every Carthian
Page 53 and 54: 52 THE CIRCLE OF THE CRONE Few vamp
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way a static creature can otherwise
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Hierophant In domains where the Cir
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without the reality of it. Many you
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The Invictus, alone among covenants
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the Middle Ages, that God stepped i
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64 chapter one: society of the damn
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66 Two: That what you once were is
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Anointing/Blood Baths Used whenever
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it, nor does it mean to adhere to a
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RITUALS AND OBSERVANCES The most im
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Not all members of the Ordo Dracul
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Not every covenant is as fully stru
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— it chooses its fi ghts carefull
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Likewise, the Ordo Dracul doesn’t
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to Rötschreck, and can even access
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92 THE FIRST TRADITION: MASQUERADE
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ever fi gure responsible for the cr
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granted therefrom), the next step w
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Kindred even use connections in the
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Rumors suggest that some few ghouls
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trial Revolution) arrived not long
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Exceptions exist, of course. Every
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Crúac (KREW • ack): The bloody,
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Whip: One who keeps his clanmates i
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110 chapter two: character
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Now that you’re familiar with the
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All characters begin with one dot i
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• The Carthians: Members of the C
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118 OPTIONAL RULE: I WASN’T EMBRA
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VAMPIRE TEMPLATE QUICK REFERENCE Th
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• What are your habitual feeding
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in a number of practical talents. S
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her formidable personality and the
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nying chart). In fact, some elders
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little protection once they have be
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as a whole. Princes, Regents, Primo
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A character must have at least a si
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136 chapter two: character Daeva Ot
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138 STEREOTYPES Gangrel: They are b
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clan is active in the Circle of the
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142 chapter two: character Mekhet V
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144 STEREOTYPES Daeva: They thought
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in any warren until she provides he
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148 chapter two: character Ventrue
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150 STEREOTYPES Daeva: Our only ser
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• Bonuses or penalties to test po
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154 Note, however, that such protec
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The vampire must make eye contact,
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awake. Any injuries infl icted on t
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In order to avoid potential problem
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A Kindred may only read a subject
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•••• TELEPATHY At this leve
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during the daytime (see p. 264). Th
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168 chapter two: character This is
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•• MESMERIZE The source of many
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To restore stolen or false memories
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or accidents unless more compelling
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Refusing to pay attention to the va
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This power may only be used on a ta
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diablerist being summoned into a kn
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mediate gratifi cation, and these K
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Rötschreck, for example. In this c
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their Cloak to an individual who ha
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- indicates that she wishes to use
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Lastly, with considerable effort a
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PROTEAN Easily one of the most over
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Imbued with the unholy power of Vit
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Test Pool: Resilience is unlike man
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Crúac does not have the same linea
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CHEVAL (LEVEL-TWO CRUAC RITUAL) Thi
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WILLFUL VITAE (LEVEL-FOUR CRUAC RIT
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know an unlimited number of level-o
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BLANDISHMENT OF SIN (LEVEL-THREE TH
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If this power is used to affect ano
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THE COIL OF BANES The two major ban
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Like all Obfuscate-based powers, a
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Cost: 1 Vitae Test Pool: Resolve +
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216 mind’s chapter eye three: the
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In addition to the powers and advan
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Vitae does not change a character
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DIABLERIE The act of diablerie, som
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OPTIONAL RULE: DIABLERIE DURATION T
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tion best focused elsewhere. The La
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ond. (Willingly bonded characters s
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BLOOD SYMPATHY On some occasions, K
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BLOOD SUPPLY When a vampire takes b
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on the part of the Kindred to creat
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a Ventrue ghoul gains a single dot
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Potency comparisons or frenzy tests
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BASHING DAMAGE Fists, clubs and fal
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danger. Sunlight fi ltered through
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A Vitae is spent to heal one lethal
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permanent residence in a vampire’
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If the character succumbs to torpor
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or did he merely wish they had? Som
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of submitting to the Kiss. Few modi
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Kindred call such a temporary, nego
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Kindred who spend too much time in
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show of bravado as a show of streng
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REGAINING HUMANITY Kindred who make
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If a situation imposes penalties on
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discretion, a character may resist
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this draw succeeds, your character
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people who confront him with trauma
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The visionary encounter ends with a
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Blood Potency to a level where she
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2,” and players should avoid usin
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city, his City Status in his home c
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CHANGING CITY STATUS City Status is
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Clan Status and City Status is the
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3.14 — PRAISEWORTHY DEEDS FOR THE
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While engaged in rituals and simila
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usually results in punishment by a
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296 mind’s chapter eye four: thea
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Knowing the proper application of t
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In addition to the categories prese
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As the player develops more details
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more Kindred it can sustain. The si
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focus almost entirely on raw surviv
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a target. Everyone watches TV inste
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Themes help you focus the events an
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Now you can go through this skeleta
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A New Beginning? The fi nal phase o
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Along the way, they face the tempta
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to match. What insights can a morta
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to concentrate on telling stories,
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and treachery you can accept in a c
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they meet a band of enthusiastic, w
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they are vampires violate the most
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player wants to attempt to feed, he
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or fail in a rescue attempt. Or the
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One idea of how to do so is to arra
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• Story First, Rules Second: The
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an easier time adapting to the chan
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When portraying one of the Kindred
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confusion or underestimation by “
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Whenever using makeup always give y
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normal skin tones and no fangs. Oth
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Suit Antagonists to the Chronicle A
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HELL HOUND Description: Hell hounds
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like. Among these, many wear heavy
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Streetwise (test pool 5) — Homele
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tion to avoid upsetting other playe
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their clan affi liation or by what
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associated with the Kindred. Pretty
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quickly as possible. Their characte
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362 mind’s appendix: eye theatre:
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While every vampire belongs at leas
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366 mind’s appendix: eye theatre:
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clan, and she passes that weakness
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What circumstances led this Kindred
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THE RULES STUFF At some point, you
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change a Kindred’s very being, th
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Although novel Disciplines might be
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Watch out for redundant powers with
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An attack might have a fi xed effec
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That Discipline is the most advance
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healing 244-245 bat form 194 Beast,
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addiction 221 aura veins 96-97, 223
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esisting abilities 153-154 Vinculum
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Ordo Dracul 77-78 torpor 248-252 dr
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FAVORED ACTIONS Action/Power Traits
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