I’m annoyingly sick this week (101 degree fever for several days running), so we don’t have a full dev blog. However, writer David Hill has been posting Merits from Blood and Smoke on the forums, and I wanted to share a few of the social ones.
The Merits in the original Vampire book were some of the first ever written for the Storytelling system. As a result, they cover important bases, but aren’t necessarily as inspiring as some of the later ones. For Blood and Smoke, we wanted to provide Kindred-specific Merits that are just as desirable as those provided for mortals in The God-Machine Chronicle.
To that end, we’ve been going through the clan books and the covenant books and updating those ideas to make new Merits. There’ll also be some cool new ones.
(Note that there will be multiple Invictus Oath and Carthian Law Merits.)
Cacophony Savvy (• to •••)
Prerequisite: City Status •
Effect: You have your finger on the pulse of the Kindred underground. You’re adept with the codes and cants that keep the Masquerade under control. Each level of Cacophony Savvy builds on the previous. This Merit assumes the character can read and deliver Cacophony messages.
Drawback: Cacophony is not a spectator sport. You can’t just consume; you must create. If your character does not regularly contribute news and gossip to the Cacophony, the community will mislead and misdirect her.
Gettin’ Up (•): Your character can read the signs when she sees them. With an Intelligence + Streetwise roll, she can identify the intended message. She can identify further details, including the messenger’s clan, covenant, and city of origin by taking a -1 penalty for every detail she wishes to discern.
Backpacker (••): Your character is privy to all the personal ads, magazine codes, tracts, and tagging locations to find the latest Kindred news. Any time new Kindred come to town, your character knows their favored feeding grounds and their common aliases within a week. Using Gettin’ Up, she can discern more personal information about them from the grapevine.
Wearing a Hat (•••): Your character embodies honor among thieves. She’s a highly respected part of the Cacophony, and as a result, nothing happens without her knowledge. She’s a hub of local culture, and the first line of defense against vampire hunters by extension. Once per chapter, roll Wits + Politics. For each success, you can ask the Storyteller one of the following questions about the current state of affairs:
• Who is on the way up?
• Who is on the way out?
• Where in the city is the Masquerade thinnest?
• What mortal is closest to uncovering the truth?
• Where’s the best feeding in town?
When acting on the answer, consider all rolls exceptional successes on three successes instead of five.
Strength of Resolution (Carthian Law) (•)
Prerequisites: Carthian Status •
Effect: A Carthian stands resolute in the face of that which would force her to violate the law. Add her Carthian Status to any dice pool to contest a Discipline which would coax her to violate acknowledged city law.
Oath of Fealty (Invictus Oath) (•)
Prerequisites: Invictus Status •
Effect: This most basic Oath establishes a foundation of trust within the Invictus. The vassal may draw a number of vitae from his lord equal to his Invictus Status in a given week. This vitae transfers mystically over any distance, and replenishes the vassal’s pool without risk of Vitae addiction or blood bond. The lord always knows if the vassal lies to her, in voice or in writing
Drawback: An Invictus may only owe fealty to one lord.
Dynasty Membership (• to •••)
Prerequisite: Clan Status •
Effect: Your character claims membership to a long-standing dynasty of Kindred. Her clan and city know her family’s exploits, and they often precede her. Each level of this Merit builds on the earlier abilities.
Drawback: You must make your association known to take advantage of this Merit. Within certain crowds, throwing around a lineage could be more trouble than it’s worth. The dynasty must have at least three members.
New Kid (•): You’re recognized within the dynasty, but not in an influential position. Once per chapter, you may add the Clan Status of the dynasty’s most senior member to a Social dice pool instead of your own.
Exemplar (••): You’re afforded sway and respect within the dynasty. Against any who would respect or fear your dynasty, you may ignore the first Door in any Social engagement.
Patriarch/Matriarch (•••): You’re acknowledged as a head of your dynasty. Once per chapter, you may make a demand of a dynasty member. They gain the Tasked Condition. If they fulfill the demand, gain a Beat.
Condition: Tasked
Your character’s clan, covenant, or family tasked her with a duty, and the responsibility carries weight. Take the 9-again quality on all rolls relating to the task. Any rolls not pertaining to the task lose the 10-again quality.
Possible Sources: Dynasty Membership Merit
Resolution: Complete the task, fail the task
Beat: n/a
Comments
16 responses to “With Merit”
Wow. This is exciting stuff. This one really whets my appetite.
Awesomeness. Really puts plot hooks and campaign structure straight into character creation. Can’t wait to hold the book in my hands!
Hey Rose, what kind of signs the first level of the Cacophony deals with? Are you talking solely about gang tags (like those from Damnation City)?
I’d suggest making the “reading of signs” broader, including/adding street level awareness to signs Kindred activity in general (and not only messages). I’m not talking about the Kindred news level 2 provides, but about “streetwise for Kindred” kind of awareness. Street people/cultures use more than gang tags.
If you talk with any law enforcement guy (I worked with the DA’s office and after that worked in a prison), they’ll tell you how, for example, they can identify junkies by things like broken glass (from vials) crusted in their shoe soles, or that a given corner is being contested because there are two pairs of sneakers flung over the the wires. Of course, the signs change from city to city, and they also change within the same city, from time to time, from one neighborhood to another etc.
@White_Wolf_Fan
Blood & Smoke will be peppered with examples of Cacophony all throughout. It’s not just tagging, although I have sort of wrapped the Damnation City idea of Cant into Cacophony (they marry together very well).
I’ll look at adding a clause to effect. The stuff you mentioned about law enforcement and signs? That’s very much in line with some of the subtler aspects of the Merit. That specifically is one of the goals of the second dot. I might shift the language a bit so it’s not just about the new people in town, but what you can discern from someone’s Feeding Grounds.
Nice 🙂
Pure excellence from Mr. Hill again. I particularly like incorporating the Covenant Merits into B&S, really bolsters what being part of a Covenant should be.
This is getting better and better 🙂 Requiem have always been my favorite Vampire game, and after a year ST’ing V20 I am so ready for this addon for Requiem 😀
Thanks!
Hi!
Are you planniong to change the “Carthian Law”? It will be so cool, cause all of what the other covenants have just depends on how much experiencie they are spending (Cruac, Theban Sorcery, Coils of the Dragons, Invictus Oaths). It will be cool if you guys make Carthian Law more accesible. Like in the book “Terriotories” in Werewolf the Forsaken where a pack chooses a places and assigns stats for it. It will be awesome for Carthian enthusiasts.
Carthian Law is going to follow the pattern set out above: Merits that give benefits based on city law. That gives Carthians an interesting political role: they’re assets to Kindred states even when those states aren’t Carthian. But taking advantage of their abilities, like the Carthian incorruptibility shown above, requires courting their loyalty. Which in turn gives them a wedge to push their reforms.
I really like the idea of taking the covenant specific powers and turning them into merits…makes me wonder how the other covenants are going to turn out…..
anyways I would also like to tell you that I am taking your playtest previews to heart and last night began the first session of my LARP’s ( I am the Storyteller) chronicle using all the new rules. we will be including all of the rules as the become available. I would really like to email rosem with my feedback but I am unable to find the email link…is there an email where I can send you my feedback on the playtests?
I really like these social tags I see floating around. And I really like seeing Merits that put in game requirements on players. It gives Storytellers more to go with and makes players think a little before they pick what appears to be low hanging fruit.
Fantastic! I wanted to say how excited I am with the “teasers” that are being posted. A certain troupe group out of Washington thanks you heartily for these, as we have been play-testing the merits and the disciplines in a LARP setting (Oh yes, the dreaded live-action that has almost become a rival faction from the table-top). My only question involves the Cacophony merit, Backpacker. (Which I have heavily abused to gain information in our new chronicle ^^)
“Any time new Kindred come to town, your character knows their favored feeding grounds and their common aliases within a week.”
Does this have limitations when it comes to Kindred attempting to be unknown? i.e. if a PC chooses to hide in Obfuscate for most of his nights, or chooses to feed from the underground, notably areas prohibited or cornered off? Or maybe, do we just get hear-say instead? Just asking for a clarification, if you have free time.
feed *in the underground. Sorry for the typo.
Generally, I’d say that Cacophony Saavy works despite the vampire’s efforts to be stealthy — that’s why it’s worth Merit points. That said, there might be cases when the Storyteller would want to modify that effect.
Looks very interesting, really interested to see how the ‘conditions’ and ‘beats’ work in a wider vampire chronicle 🙂