Storytelling System

The Storytelling System, formerly Storyteller System, is a role-playing game system created by White Wolf, Inc. in 1991 that premiered in Vampire: The Masquerade, a part of the World of Darkness series.[1]

History

Storyteller System

While on the road to Gen Con '90, Mark Rein·Hagen came upon the idea of a new game design that would become Vampire: The Masquerade. Tom Dowd, co-designer for Shadowrun, worked with Rein-Hagen to adapt the core mechanics from his previous game success to use d10 instead of d6 for calculating probability.[1]

Over the next few years, several games were published under this rule set.

Storytelling System

The Storyteller System was discontinued in 2003 after completing the metaplot building up since Vampire: The Masquerade. It was replaced by the Storytelling System, a more streamlined rule set. The Storytelling System premiered in The World of Darkness in 2004.[15]

Games using variants on this set of rules include Exalted, Scion and the Trinity line.

Character creation

Storytelling System characters are built with character points that represent a Dot on their character sheets. Each Dot represents a ten-sided die (d10). The more Dots in an Attribute or Skill, the better the character is at those abilities. A set of dice representing the Dots in an Attribute or Skill forms a Dice Pool that the character uses to see if he/she succeeds or fails at specific tasks.

Attributes

Characters have nine Attributes in three groups: Mental, Physical, and Social. In the Storytelling System, Attributes are also divided into three use-based categories: Power (the ability to alter one's environment), Finesse (the ability to use power efficiently), and Resistance (the ability to cope with power being exercised upon one's self).

Storytelling System Attributes
Mental Physical Social
Power Intelligence Strength Presence
Finesse Wits Dexterity Manipulation
Resilience Resolve Stamina Composure

All Attributes begin with one Dot. Normally, Attributes can have up to 5 Dots. With one Dot, a character is "poor" in that Attribute and gets one die. With two Dots, they are "average" and get two dice. Three Dots, they are "good". Four Dots, they are "exceptional", and with five Dots, they are "outstanding" and have five dice.

Starting characters get a number of Dots to add to their Attributes. The player must choose primary, secondary and tertiary attribute categories, getting a large number of dots to assign to primary Attributes, a moderate number to assign to secondary Attributes and a small number for tertiary Attributes. The first Dot of each attribute is free, the 2nd to 4th Dots cost one Dot each, and the 5th Dot costs 2 Dots to fill in. The primary, secondary and tertiary designations have no effect after character creation.

Abilities and skills

Characters have a wide array of Skills (Storytelling) or Abilities (Storyteller) to choose from that represent specialized areas of knowledge.

In the Storytelling System, Skills are divided into Mental, Physical and Social skills. In the Storyteller System, Abilities are divided into three Types: Knowledges, Talents, and Skills.

Like Attributes, each Ability / Skill has 5 Dots that represent how many dice a Skill gets.

Characters get a number of Dots to "fill in" the Ability / Skill Dots, and like the Attributes, they must assign a specific number of skills to the primary, secondary and tertiary skill groups. Like Attributes, the 5th Dot costs two Dots to fill in, and the primary, secondary and tertiary distinctions have no effect after character creation.

Advantages

Advantages in the game are such things as the character's Defense score, Health, Initiative, Morality, Size, Speed, and Willpower. Some derived Attributes are as follows:

Virtues and Vices

In the Storytelling System, each character has one Virtue and one Vice. A Virtue is some defining quality of a character's personality and is one that clearly reflects their basic beliefs. Players chose from the Seven Virtues, which include Charity, Faith, and Justice. A Vice is a basic weakness in the character's personality. They are the Seven Deadly Sins such as Envy, Lust, and Greed. Characters can regain willpower by fulfilling their Virtue or Vice.

In the earlier Storyteller System, different sets of virtues are used, and only in a couple games: Vampire: The Masquerade uses them for varying forms of self-control, and Hunter: The Reckoning ties them directly to Hunters' supernatural powers.

Supernatural templates

In the Storytelling System, playable supernatural characters are created by applying a template to the character during character creation, before Merits or Experience. For instance, with a Vampire character, a template describing certain vampiric attributes (Disciplines, Blood points, etc.) is added. To keep the game balanced, only one supernatural template can be applied per character.

Backgrounds and Merits

Merits are special beneficial abilities and strengths a character may possess. They are similar in a way to Feats in d20 System games, allowing characters to do something the main rules usually don't allow. They are organized in the Mental, Physical, and Social categories like Attributes and Skills. In the Storytelling System, starting characters get 7 Dots to purchase Merits. Some Merits apply to certain Attributes and provide a bonus when using them. Some also require a certain number of Dots in some other Attribute in order to purchase them. Each Trait has a certain number of Dots associated which indicate its Dot cost. A Trait with 4 Dots, for example, "Common Sense", costs 4 Dots to purchase. Others have a range of Dots; "Language" for instance, is one Dot, and a character can buy a certain level of it as they choose. In the Storyteller System, Merits are optional, are purchased with bonus points and have costs ranging from 1 to 7 points.

In the Storyteller System, Backgrounds are advantages such as Contacts, Resources and Status. In the Storytelling System, Backgrounds have been absorbed into Merits. Furthermore, the Linguistics Knowledge, representing knowledge of specific languages, has also been absorbed.

Experience or bonus points

In the Storytelling System, more powerful or experienced characters can spend Experience Points at the end of character creation.

Exclusive to the Storyteller System, Bonus Points are used to increase traits at character creation, with more powerful or experienced characters getting additional Bonus Points at character creation.

Game mechanics

All mechanics of the Storytelling System utilize a number of 10-sided dice (d10s). World of Darkness games suggest players to have at least ten d10s available to roll for their character's task resolutions and Attribute tests.

The Game Master in a WW game is called the Storyteller.

Dice pools

Depending on what the situation calls for, a character has a number of Dots in Attributes and Skills associated to the task. Each Dot represents a d10 die that is added to a dice pool to roll for task resolution. For example, if a character is scaling a wall, they add the number of Dots in their Strength Attribute and their Athletics Skill together. In this case, if the character has a Strength of 3 Dots, and an Athletics Skill of 4 Dots, they get 7 dice in their Dice Pool.

Storyteller System Difficulty

Each die rolling above the target number is a success. Most tasks require only a single success, but some require more. Each die rolling a 1 cancels out a success. If the net number of successes is 0 or less, the action is a failure. If no successes were rolled and one or more 1s were also rolled, the action is a botch, resulting in detrimental results to the player.

Storytelling System

Target numbers

The Target number in WoD games is always 8; a d10 dice roll needs to roll 8s, 9s, and 10s to bring up a Success. A roll of 7 or less is a Failure. As long as one Success is rolled, that character has achieved their task. Five or more Successes in a roll is an Exceptional success and usually something very beneficial happens for the character, above what they had expected. Anytime a die comes up as a 10, a player may reroll it to see if it gets another 8 or higher. This is called 10 Again. If the reroll succeeds, it counts as another Success to be added in.

Anytime a character has absolutely no dice remaining in their pool as a result of negative Modifiers, the task would seem impossible to perform. The character is still allowed a single d10 die roll, called a Chance Roll, to see if sheer blind luck or divine intervention allows them to succeed. Result of 10 is a Success (can be rerolled for more Successes, see "10 Again" rule above), 2–9 is a Failure and a result of 1 is a Dramatic Failure.

Modifiers

Modifiers are either bonuses or penalties to a die roll that are determined and added in by the Storyteller. This will subtract or add to the number of dice that can be rolled in a Dice Pool. The maximum number of dice that can be added or subtracted is 5.

Keeping time

Time in Storytelling System is measured in small Turns of three seconds. Turns further make up a Scene, which further make up a Chapter. A Chapter is usually one gaming session and Chapters are linked together into an overall Story set in a Chronicle (or the Big Picture), the theme and setting of the entire game.

Actions and Combat

There are three basic kinds of Actions in a Storytelling System. Instant Actions take up very little time like taking a gun off safety, or shouting a small message to an ally. Extended Actions take longer time to accomplish and can extend over a number of Turns to complete, like getting a stuck window open, or changing a light bulb. Contested Actions are Actions that involve dealing with what the opposition does, like shooting at a running target during a Combat Scene.

Taking damage

For every Success a character has on their Attack roll against an opponent, they inflict one Health Point of Damage upon the target. There are three kinds of Damage in WW games: Bashing, Lethal and Aggravated. Bashing Damage is inflicted by blunt objects that bludgeons targets like a baseball bat. Lethal Damage is caused by slashing and piercing weapons like knives and guns. Aggravated Damage is inflicted mainly by supernatural sources and the weaknesses of supernatural creatures (such as fire and sunlight against vampires or silver against werewolves); however, it can also be inflicted by severe radiation poisoning. Characters recover from Bashing Damage quickly, while Aggravated Damage takes the longest to recover from.

Health boxes are checked off by Damage. When the last box is checked with bashing damage, a character is generally at risk of passing out, if the last box is checked with lethal damage, a character is helpless and generally at risk of dying without medical attention, and if the last box is checked with aggravated damage, a character is dead. If a character's Health track is filled with Bashing Damage, any additional Bashing Damage is upgraded to Lethal, and if a character's Health track is filled with Lethal Damage, any additional Bashing or Lethal damage is upgraded to Aggravated.

Rewards

After a game, a Storyteller can award experience points to players to improve their character's Attributes, Talents and Skills. Experience distribution is typically based upon roleplaying performance (especially if flaws are present), as well as accomplishing short- and long-term goals.

Variant systems

In the classic WoD, the Storyteller dictated a Target Number which was a number a player needed to roll at or above on his dice in order to generate a Success. The standard Target Number in the previous WoD systems was 6, with a sliding scale for difficulty. The Exalted, Scion Trinity systems use a flat target number of 7 for almost all rolls.

A more dramatic variant is the Mind's Eye Theatre system, which is designed for LARP rather than tabletop roleplaying.

God-Machine Rules

In July 2013, White Wolf released a rules update and the first in a series of intended "Chronicle Books" that would give a default focus for games and update their rules to work with the new rules released in The God-Machine Chronicle. The system changes include the addition of Conditions and Tilts, which are usually-temporary traits that can impact characters' abilities; while Conditions apply at all times, Tilts usually directly affect combat.

The Experience Point system also changed greatly: throughout a session, players now accumulate "beats" through coping with or resolving Conditions, dealing with hardships, or accomplishing goals. When the player accumulates five beats, she may redeem these for an Experience. Improving character traits is now flat, such that buying the first dot of a trait costs the same as purchasing the final dot of the same.

On August 16th, 2014, Onyx Path Publishing revealed that they were publishing a second edition of the World of Darkness setting, using the God-Machine rules. They also announced that they would be releasing new editions of their first five games in the setting. While Vampire: the Requiem had released its Strix Chronicles less than a year previous, Onyx Path conceded that the second edition of Requiem would be identical enough to Strix that they would supply a free PDF of the second edition to anyone who had already purchased a PDF copy of that book.[16]

Books

New World of Darkness (nWOD)

References

  1. 1 2 Appelcline, Shannon (2007-02-01). "A Brief History of Game #11: White Wolf, Part One: 1986-1995". RPGnet. Skotos Tech Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  2. ↑ Wieck, Stewart; Stevens, Lisa (1991). Vampire: The Masquerade. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 0-9627790-6-7.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Brian (1992). Werewolf: The Apocalypse. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-365-0.
  4. ↑ Wieck, Stewart (1993). Mage: The Ascension. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-065-1.
  5. ↑ Wieck, Steve (1995). Street Fighter: The Role-Playing Game. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-118-6.
  6. ↑ Dansky, Richard (1996). Wraith: The Oblivion. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-600-5.
  7. ↑ Lemke, Ian (1997). Changeling: The Dreaming. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-716-8.
  8. ↑ Achilli, Justin (1998). Kindred of the East. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-232-8.
  9. ↑ Baugh, Bruce; McCoy, Angel (1999). Hunter: The Reckoning. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-735-4.
  10. ↑ Bates, Andrew; Baugh, Bruce (1999). Trinity. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-622-6.
  11. ↑ Grabowski, Geoffrey C. (2001). Exalted. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-56504-623-4.
  12. ↑ Hubbard, Conrad; Chambers, John (2001). Mummy: The Resurrection. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-58846-203-X.
  13. ↑ Rein·Hagen, Mark (2002). Demon: The Fallen. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-58846-750-3.
  14. ↑ Armor, Bryan (2003). Orpheus. White Wolf, Inc. ISBN 1-58846-600-0.
  15. ↑ Appelcline, Shannon (2007-02-07). "A Brief History of Game #12: White Wolf, Part Two: 1993-Present". RPGnet. Skotos Tech Inc. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  16. ↑ Bailey, Rose (2014-08-16). "The World of Darkness, Second Edition". Onyx Path Publishing.
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