Shattered Masquerade will feature one dedicated game night a month, to be decided once the game begins. The rough timeframe of the game nights will be established here. Within that timeframe, though, the game will operate on fluid time. Scenes and interactions may happen at any time within that timeframe, as long as everyone agrees in advanced. The goal of fluid time is to encourage interaction without players having to worry about some strict series of events.
Experience Rules
Characters will earn 15 experience per game night, and may earn additional points for exceptional roleplay and Lits. These traits may be spent according to the table above. Experience spends take effect immediately. Experience points may be spent at any time before game night, but must be submitted before it to count. There are a few rules governing experience spends:
- Characters must provide some justifications for learning high-level abilities and attributes or attaining high-level Backgrounds (Level 4 or 5).
- ex. A character has found a licensed medical program to learn Medicine 4, or uses their Contacts and Resources to locate an ancient tome of the Occult
- Characters must have a teacher for all out-of-Clan Disciplines. This does not require Blood.
When a character suffers a total failure - all failures with no successes rolled - they may not re-roll any dice. Total Failures result in an immediate botch.
Implants & Cybernetics
It occurred to me that in our current setting, the nature of cybernetics and implants needs to be elaborated on. Specifically, if and how Vampires can use them. Vampires are able to use cybernetics, implants, and other bio-technology to a point. While Vampires can utilize implants that alter their physical capabilities, ones which alter their mental functions or their state of mind will not function. As an example, a stimulant applied to a muscle will cause the muscle to respond the same whether living or dead. But no amount of a drug shot into a Vampire will make them angry or happy in the same way they can't get drunk. In order to utilize an implant, the Kindred must make a rouse check to awaken the part of their body making use of the technology. In the instance of items that require the replacement of a limb or body part (ocular implant, robotic arm), the Vampire takes an amount of aggravated damage to equip the implant proportional to the size and scope of the implant. This restriction can be waived if implanted through the use of Vicissitude. The Kindred's body rejects the implant at the start of the following night, and must be implemented again unless Vicissitude is used.
Dominate
The guidance provided for Dominate in this section supersedes the book's ruling on how the Discipline may be used.
Dominate *can* be used to extract information under limited circumstances. The Vampire needs to ask a specific question, it has to do with information that is either recent or particularly memorable, and as a general rule the person is not going to have a lot of details. As an example: You ask someone who gave you the bribe. They might tell you it's Hank. But they won't remember anything more than Hank's hair and skin color and maybe roughly what he was wearing. If you ask him the name of the cop who stopped him 4 weeks ago, he probably won't remember.
Meta-plot Judgments
While more setting information and history will be provided, I wanted to lay out a few genre-related calls on the meta-plot that aren't integral to the setting or story, but I think do frame the core book and Anarch book, as well as any other Vampire material.
- As of game start, the Camarilla officially consists of seven Clans - the Brujah, Gangrel, Malkavians, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, and Ventrue.
- As of game start, the Ashirra are a formal pact of Kindred operating in the Middle East and Northern Africa. They operate similarly to Islamic Courts.
- As of game start, the Inconnu, the Tal-Mahe Ra, and the Kuei-Jin do not exist.
- The Week of Nightmares has not occurred, and the Ravnos are not nearing extinction. India is largely under Ravnos control, and members of the Clan elsewhere are somewhat common in the Ashirra.
- The Assamites are now and have always been known as the Banu Haqim - "Assamite" is a derogatory term for them. They are split into two castes, Judges and Viziers, and this split is generally known.
- The Banu Haqim were never cursed by the Tremere. Their defeat during the First Anarch Revolt was conventional, and they were not left with any mystical negative effects from it.
- The Beckoning is not occurring in Elder Kindred. The Camarilla has not recognized the existence of antediluvians or sanctioned a Kindred religion of any sort.
During each period where a plotline is taking place, characters may use their Backgrounds to perform actions and acquire resources they need for their plans. When a character calls on a background, they temporarily lose one or more points of that background depending on the magnitude of their request. Characters may also temporarily lose backgrounds due to attacks on their background or influence. In both cases, any dots used or lost will be unavailable to them for the duration of the plotline unless restored by some means. All temporary points lost or used are restored at the end of the plotline.
These rules also apply to Blood, Willpower, and damage taken by a Vampire during a plotline. Blood may be restored by hunting or the use of the Herd background or by feeding in scene. Willpower may be restored by performing actions in accordance with the characters' Convictions (each conviction may be claimed for a Willpower dot once each plot period). Damage can only be healed through the use of Blood.
Hunting, Herd, and Blood
Kindred in need of Blood may call on the Herd background to replenish their Hunger rating or another Vampire's. Each time a character spends a dot of Herd, they may fully replenish their Blood or that of another Kindred they've invited to use their Herd. Kindred who know of the Herds of other Kindred may also attempt to slake themselves on those Herds, both restoring their own Blood and harming a rival.
Herd may also be used to acquire Blood for other purposes, such as Blood rituals requiring mortal Blood as a component. Herd background used in this manner will provide the Kindred with enough Blood to carry out a single action (i.e. one ritual, one bribe, etc.)
Kindred in need of Blood but without access to a Herd may hunt to restore their Blood. Kindred may carry out a hunt by rolling their Predator Type pool, slaking their Hunger for as many dots as they've rolled successes. Kindred may carry out one Hunt per Game Night, and may not store excess Blood unless they have some technological or magical means of doing so.
Optional Resonance System
Shattered Masquerade will implement a simplified version of the Resonance system being used in Vampire: The Masquerade, 5th Edition. When players use a Herd dot to restore their Blood Pool or go Hunting, they may request Blood of a specific Resonance and roll a Wits + Awareness roll against a difficulty of 3 to attempt to locate the correct Resonance. Upon success, the Kindred will gain +1 to Disciplines associated with the Resonance they've requested. Upon failure, the Kindred will gain a +1 to a Discipline associated with a Resonance chosen at random. Upon a critical success, the Kindred may take a +2 dice bonus to the appropriate Discipline or work with the Storyteller to claim an appropriate Dyscrasia. These bonuses will be usable in a number of scenes equal to the amount of Hunger slaked. Players will be expected to play out the impact of the Resonance on them - a Sanguine Resonance would make a Vampire more pleasant, energetic, and alluring, while a Choleric Kindred would be more passionate and prone to violence.