Houston Vampire Game Background

Hopefully, this will add some color and give people ideas for characters.

-- Chris 09/01/2000

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Houston History:

Important Note: the common mentor/patron and the shared territory were included in this game to establish a level of trust and cooperation and a common goal amongst the PCs. Your collective mentor was Jon Gilliard of Clan Brujah. Jon was originally based in San Antonio before he was offered a chance to fight in the 1986 invasion of Houston. In return, Jon was granted a modest bit of Houston territory, which he maintained until his death in late 1999. During that period he also remained involved in affairs in San Antonio.

The Territory

The territory is a poor section of east central Houston. The locals are predominately black, some Hispanic, and a smattering of Vietnamese and whites. There are a few businesses. The westernmost portion of the territory is home to an infamous streetwalker strip. A fair number of transients take shelter in abandoned buildings.

The entire area suffers periodic "rolling brown outs" during the hottest parts of the summer. This is due to the failure of the city to upgrade the electrical grid for the area.

New Rules

1 Armor Each dot of Potence counters a -1 to dexterity, but only up to the first -3. After that I am rather blithely assuming that armor with a -4 or more penalty is rigid and/or confining to its wearer. And such armor would be destroyed by greater application of potence and possibly even damage the wearer. Picture a Potence 5 Brujah picking shards of full plate out of his body. So, any player willing to sacrifice his armor to avoid its penalties but retain its protection for some short period will find it "immediately" useless. I'm trying to avoid the munchkin factor.
2 Throwing
  • Base difficulty to hit:
    • Simple items are at 5. Examples are Frisbees, rocks, spears, and javelins. They "fly" well or are easily thrown.
    • Spinning items are at 6. Knives, axes, etc. They spin while flying, falling end over end. It takes some luck to hit the target with the lethal side/end.
    • Exotic items are at 7. Anything that "looks" hard to throw. Bolos, boomerangs, Xena's ring, etc…
  • How much can be thrown: each dot of Strength can handle 4lbs. If the object weights more than the strength allows, then it can't be thrown.
  • Maximum range: each dot of strength gets you 10 feet, 20 feet for something "aerodynamic" or really light (javelin, Frisbee, rock, etc…).
  • Range modifiers to difficulty to hit:
    • Short range, no penalty = maximum range divided by 10
    • Medium range, -1 penalty = maximum range divided by 2
    • Long range, -3 penalty = anything over medium range up to maximum range.
  • Damage: Strength + Potence + (base damage of weapon).
3  Firearms
  • Each dot of Potence counters a +1 recoil penalty. However, recoil continues to "stack". Thus, a gunmen with Potence 3, firing 3 round bursts (-1 recoil per) will find:
    • First burst: normally +1 recoil, but 0 penalty due to his Potence
    • Second burst: normally +2 recoil, but 0 penalty due to his Potence
    • Third burst: normally +3 recoil, but 0 penalty due to his Potence
    • Fourth burst: normally +4 recoil, but +1 penalty due to his Potence
    • Note: Recoil remains until an entire round passes without it being fired.
  • Shooting difficulty has changed:
    • Shotguns 5
    • Rifles 6 (includes assault rifles and battle rifles)
    • Pistols 7
    • Other firearms 7 (includes submachine guns, machine guns, auto shotguns, etc)
  • Base damage is now by projectile/caliber size:
    • Small 4 (i.e. .22)
    • Medium 6 (.32, .38, 9mm, 10mm)
    • Large 8 (.357, .44, .45, 12 gauge, and most military ammo)
  • Overall damage: Difficulty 5. Die pool is base damage + number of successes on "to hit" dice roll
  • 3 round burst gives a +1 penalty to hit and +2 dice to hit.
  • Full auto gives a +4 penalty to hit and +10 dice to hit.
4 Obfuscate, Fighting and

Obfuscate 2 allows the user to move about unseen and unheard. If the user does anything to attract notice, the power will fail. Obfuscate breaking actions and situations include:

  • Making unnecessary noise. Phone conversations, dropping things, shooting a gun, etc… Of course, if no one is around to hear the noise, then these have no effect.
  • Attacking someone in an overt fashion. Shooting, hitting, Presence, Dominate, etc…

Attacking someone in a covert fashion works differently. The attacker must use a quiet attack: bows, thrown knives, silencers, some quiet Thamaturgic attack, etc… The target and anyone else standing around will of course notice that they are being attacked at some point. These individuals may attempt to spot the attacker by making a WITS+ALERTNESS+AUSPEX roll, difficulty equal to the attacker's OBFUSCATE+STEALTH. 3+ successes are required to "spot" the attacker. The secondary skill "Search" may be substituted for ALERTNESS. The target and his friends may also use tactics designed to ferret out an "invisible" opponent at this point. The reasoning here is that they know someone is attacking, the Obfuscate power no longer has full hold of their minds, etc.

Someone spots the Obfuscator. Let us say for argument's sake that the spotter (Auspex 4) spots the Obfuscator (Obfuscate 3). The spotter may point the obfuscator out by naming his description, location, actions, etc… The others may make a WITS+ALERTNESS+AUSPEX roll, difficulty equal to the attacker's OBFUSCATE+STEALTH. 3+ successes are required to "spot" the Obfuscator. Knowing who the obfuscator is will allow the others to make their WITS+ALERTNESS+AUSPEX roll at -2 difficulty. It really helps to know that the "invisible" guy is Andy the Nosferatu (assuming the PCs know what Andy looks like).

Dramatic license: In an utterly dark situation Obfuscate functions differently. It no longer makes you unseen and unheard. Now it only makes you harder to hear. The Obfuscator gets a bonus to his WITS+STEALTH or DEX+STEALTH pool of his Obfuscate + 2 in dice. If the opposition beats that with a WITS+ALERTNESS+AUSPEX roll, then he gets an idea (poor to very accurate depending on # of successes) where his enemy is.
5 Disciplines, Learning New In order to learn a new discipline a player must have 10 XP to purchase the 1st level and find an instructor who already has the discipline at level 3 or greater. Instruction requires about a month, though it may be spread out over time. The lesson is complete when the instructor makes a successful MANIPULATION+INSTRUCTION roll (difficulty 7, one success) or the student spends a willpower point (temporary).
6 Disciplines, Learning Next Level of Standard cost to learn the next level (i.e. 6*level for Caitiff, 5*level for in clan, and 7*level for non-clan). Levels 2+ of a discipline do not require an instructor. Instead, the PC is required to spend about a month mastering the new power level. Up to three levels may be mastered at the same time, assuming they're within different disciplines.
7 Thamaturgy Rituals, Anti-Obfuscate

Level 3 Ritual - Obfuscation Paranoia Relief

Effect

 Cancels the effects of any obfuscate power for only a moment (i.e. a combat round). The area of effect is an entire room or if that is not applicable then within 30' feet of the ritual's center.

 Ingredients

 The snout of a werewolf, eyes of a kindred with at least an Auspex of 3, ears of a kindred with at least 3 in Visceratika, or any other rare item that the GM believes is capable of canceling or opposing the effects of Obfuscate.

 Casting Specifics

 The ritual takes about 6 hours resulting in a fleshy globule roughly the size of a baseball. The globule is used by shattering (throwing or dropping will suffice) it on the target area. It may be used at anytime after the ritual's completion by anyone, castor or otherwise. The globule keeps for about a year assuming it is kept in a cool, dry, dark place.

8 Thamaturgy Rituals, Learning

The following table shows the time (in nights) that must be spent studying the ritual. At the end of that period the student must make an INTELLIGENCE+OCCULT roll at difficulty 7. 3 successes are required to learn the ritual. Successes are cumulative. Thus, a player who fails to learn Ghoul Ward (level 1 ritual) in the first study period may apply any successes to the next study period. Botches are also cumulative. OTH: additional successes do not care over to the next ritual that the player is attempting to learn.

Level

Study Time Required to make learning roll
1  Once a week
2  Once every two weeks
3  1 month
4  6 months
5  1 year

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