[The Emperor] Rules and Mechanics

Jul 11, 2019 1:11 am
From the free quickstart.
Dice Rolling (because every iteration of World of Darkness does this just a little different)

Generally, your Dice Pool is a number of d10s numbering the sum of your dots in the relevant Attribute and Ability

Difficulty Examples
3 Trivial (hopping a creek)
4 Easy (cooking a meal)
5 Straightforward (changing the oil in your car)
6 Standard (punching someone in the face)
7 Challenging (comprehending a book by Crowley)
8 Difficult (Playing through "2112" on your guitar)
9 Extreme (sealing a multimillion-dollar business deal with reluctant partners involved)

Degrees of Success
One success Marginal (finding a helpful TV Tropes entry)
Two Successes Moderate (getting someone’s cellphone number)
Three Successes Complete (delighting your new playmate with a fresh-cooked breakfast)
Four Successes Exceptional (selling five books to someone who’d come looking for one)
Five or More Successes Phenomenal (writing the 500,000-word anniversary edition of a series you helped create 20 years ago)

Botching and the "Rule of One"
Game-wise, every 1 you roll takes away one success on your dice. Call this "the rule of one." If your 1s cancel out all your successes, then you fail. If you roll three successes, then roll three 1s, you’re left right where you were before. Assuming that you rolled even one success, even after the 1s cancel out all your successes, then your character simply fails.

But if you don’t roll any successes, and you roll a 1, then you botch. If you roll several 1s, and no successes, then you botch in a big way. A single botch might prove embarrassing, while a three-1s botch could prove fatal.

Spending Willpower
In game terms, you can spend a point of your character’s Willpower trait to get one automatic success even under stressful conditions. Though you can spend only one point of Willpower per turn – but several during an extended action – you can avoid botching and give your character a better chance at success.

Specialties
If your roll involves a skill or attribute for which you have a specialty that applies to the situation, each rolled 10 count as 2 successes rather than 1 success.
Jul 11, 2019 1:48 am
The Consensus: Coincidental and Vulgar Magick
In today’s world, a mage needs to think about what may or may not seem possible to the average person. Strange things that appear to fit into everyday reality may be passed off as "coincidences." Obvious magickal spells, on the other hand, are "vulgar" because they violate the Consensus of what is and is not considered "possible." So certain types of magick are considered coincidental, while others are condemned for being vulgar.

As a simple rule, assume that any act of magick that a normal citizen of today’s world could see and accept as an everyday occurrence is coincidental, while some spell that looks supernatural or otherwise "impossible" is vulgar.

Witnesses or No Witnesses? When a mage casts a spell, one factor makes a huge difference in that spell’s ultimate results: Did someone see him do it? If a more or less "normal" person – that is, someone who’s not a mage or some other denizen of the supernatural world – witnessed that event, then the potential for failure and Paradox is higher than it would be if that spell had been cast in secret or in front of other "believers."

Casting Magick
Okay, so how, in game terms, does your character cast a spell?

• Step One – Effect: Based on your character’s abilities and needs, you decide what you want to do and how you want to do it. This is called the Effect: the thing you want to accomplish with your magick.

• Step Two – Ability: Based on your mage’s focus and Spheres, figure out if you can create the Effect you want to create… and if so, how your character will make it happen in story terms.

• Step Three – Roll: Roll one die for every dot in your Arete Trait. The difficulty of that roll depends upon the Effect you’re trying to use; whether it’s vulgar or coincidental; and whether or not someone’s watching you:
º Coincidental: Difficulty = highest Sphere + 3
º Vulgar Without Witnesses: Difficulty = highest Sphere + 4
º Vulgar With Witnesses: Difficulty = highest Sphere + 5
If you’re trying to hit a target with an attack (sword, gun, fireball, etc.), then roll the appropriate attack roll; see Combat Rules, above, for details.

• Step Four – Results: The number of successes that you roll determines whether or not you succeed. If you fall short of your goal, you may roll again to get more successes. If you fail, the Effect fizzles out. And if you botch, bad things happen.

Paradox Points Generated
ON A SUCCESS
.. Coincidental: None
.. Vulgar: One point
ON A BOTCH
..Coincidental: One per dot in highest Sphere
..Vulgar Without Witnesses: One + one per dot in highest Sphere
..Vulgar With Witnesses: Two + two per dot highest Sphere

Paradox Backlash Roll
Successes: Effects of Discharge
Botch: All Paradox points discharge harmlessly.
No successes: No effects, but no Paradox points discharge.
1-5: One point of Paradox discharged per success. Mage also suffers one level of bashing damage per success, and acquires a trivial Paradox Flaw.
6-10: One point of Paradox discharged per success. Mage also suffers a "burn" of one level of bashing damage per success, and acquires a minor Paradox Flaw.
11-15: Usual Paradox point discharge, as well as (successes -10) levels of lethal damage and one of the following effects: a significant Paradox Flaw, a Paradox Spirit visitation, or a mild Quiet.
16-20: Usual Paradox point discharge, as well as (successes -10) levels of lethal damage and two of the following effects: a severe Paradox Flaw, a Paradox spirit visitation, a moderate Quiet, one point of permanent Paradox, or banishment to a Paradox Realm.
21+: Usual Paradox discharge; plus (successes -20) levels of aggravated damage; two severe, or one drastic, Paradox Flaws; one point of permanent Paradox; and perhaps a Paradox spirit visitation, a severe Quiet, or banishment to a Paradox Realm.
Oct 8, 2019 6:56 pm
How do we do character progression? AKA XP
Oct 8, 2019 7:10 pm
Thanks for reminding me. My plan for these games is to simply award 5 xp periodically - generally once a month unless the game is very slow.

So, everybody take 5xp! (and thank runekyndig for reminding me.)
Oct 9, 2019 1:12 am
Lol cool, I love xp any place any time!

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