Welcome Character Sheets - In the name of Goth!

Welcome Welcome to Dark Ages: Vampire. We’re glad you decided to try White Wolf’s exciting new game today. Dark Ages: Vampire is a storytelling game which uses the storyteller system developed for Vampire: The Masquerade. This introduction will familiarize you with the basics of the storyteller system, and allow you to leap right into playing Dark Ages: Vampire. To play, you will need pencil and some 10-sided dice. You probably only need four to six dice, and you can always share with other players if you need more. Be aware that some 10-sided dice are numbered 0 - 9; in this case, 0 functions as 10.

Character Sheets In Dark Ages: Vampire you will take on the role a vampire in medieval Europe. Character sheets and histories have been provided for you, but in the future you can create your own characters using the rules from the Dark Ages: Vampire rulebook. A character sheet contains all the information about your character. The dots on your character sheet define the capabilities of the character, and let you, the player, know how many dice to roll. We will explain rolling dice after we have first looked at the character sheet itself. The character sheet is divided into five sections. At the top is essential information, followed by Attributes, Abilities, Advantages and a section at the bottom for everything else.

Nature and Demeanor A character’s Nature is a one-word summary of her true self and her driving motivations. A character’s Demeanor is how she appears to other people. A character’s Nature and Demeanor may be identical or similar, or they may be very different. You should keep your character’s Nature in mind when deciding how he would react to a situation.

characters in”Knights of the Black Cross are 11th generation — 10 generations removed from Caine. Generation limits how powerful your character may become. Vampires of low generation are known to be more powerful than vampires of high generation. Generation does not play a role in Knights of the Black Cross, but if you want to play Dark Ages: Vampire again, you should refer to the rulebook for a complete explanation.

Attributes and Abilities Attributes are divided into three categories: Physical, Social and Mental, and describe traits inherent to your character, such as Strength or Intelligence. Abilities are also sorted into three categories: Talents, Skills and Knowledges, but Abilities describe things your character has learned or skills he has practiced.

Advantages Disciplines and Backgrounds Disciplines are supernatural powers your character has because she is a vampire. Look in your character packet for information on your character’s specific Disciplines. The term’Background is a sort of catch-all that refers to many aspects of a character’s persona and situation that don’t fit into Attributes or Abilities. Generally, Backgrounds refer to things your character has, such as Generation or Resources, or people you character knows, such as Contacts or Allies.

Virtues Virtues are the foundations of your character’s moral outlook. A character’s road determines his overall sense of right and wrong. Virtues underlie the roads and govern how your character sees particularly challenging or threatening situations, as well as how he’s likely to respond. Keep reading for more detailed information on Virtues.

Everything Else Road

Clan and Generation Every vampire has a weakness that is part of the curse of being a vampire. A clan is a group of vampires that share a common weakness and have a natural affinity for the same Disciplines. Almost all vampires have a clan. Your character packet contains descriptions of your character’s clan and weakness, which is also noted in the bottom right corner of your character sheet. Dark Ages: Vampire is based on the premise that Caine was the first vampire. (For this reason vampires are often called “Cainites.”) Caine created more vampires, and these were called the Second Generation. The vampires of the Second Generation created more vampires, called the Third Generation, and so it continued. All

A vampire’s road defines her sense of sin and redemption, and determines how she will choose when presented with a moral or ethical dilemma. A vampire’s road also determines his Virtues, whether he will follow Conscience or Conviction, and Self-Control or Instinct. All vampires have Courage, regardless of which road they follow. Road is very important because any vampire who has a Road rating of zero is permanently insane, a monster with no thoughts except to hunt and kill. Some roads describe ethics that are truly inhuman, but all roads must be walked with vigilance. Roads follow a Hierarchy of Sins, which is a table that describes what your character believes to be right or wrong

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based upon his Road rating. See your character packet for your character’s Hierarchy of Sins. For additional information, refer to Chapter Three of Dark Ages: Vampire. When a vampire makes a choice that goes against her road, that is, against her sense of right and wrong, the player makes a “road check” to see if the character loses a point of Road rating. A road check is made by rolling a number of dice equal to the character’s Conscience or Conviction. The difficulty is determined by the Hierarchy of Sins. Find the’“sin” you have violated (minimum wrongdoing); the corresponding number is your difficulty. If the number is higher than your Road rating, you do not need to make a road check. If you succeed, then your character does not lose any Road rating; though she may have stepped from the trail momentarily, she has seen her error and returns to her road with renewed commitment. If you fail the roll, your character loses a point of Road rating and shows no remorse for his moral failing.

Willpower Willpower is a measure of a character’s self-confidence and internal control. Willpower works differently from most traits; it is often spent rather than rolled. See Rolling Dice for more information on spending Willpower. Any time you spend Willpower, mark off one of the boxes. Spent Willpower may be regained by acting according to your Nature, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Blood Pool Vampires have to drink blood to survive, and it is blood which fuels their Disciplines and supernatural powers of selfhealing. “blood pool” refers to the maximum number of”“blood points” your character can have. The white boxes at the bottom of your character sheet represent your blood pool. Your character will begin this adventure with a full blood pool. Every time you “spend a blood point” mark off one of the white boxes. If you”“gain a blood point,” erase one of the marks. Spending blood points does not require a roll and does not count as an action.

Health chart This trait measures the degree to which a character is wounded or injured. Health is explained a later section called Health.

A Few Rules Rolling Dice

Succeeding, Failing and Botching When you roll, the Storyteller will assign a difficulty. Each die you roll that comes up equal to or higher than the difficulty is one success. Usually one success is all you need, though the Storyteller may require more than one success for particularly difficult or complicated actions. If you roll enough successes, then your character accomplishes whatever he was trying to do. Sometimes you will roll no successes, or fewer successes than the Storyteller requires. This means you have failed your roll. When you fail, your character does not succeed at her action, though occasionally other unpleasant results accompany failure, so do not be surprised if the Storyteller uses the opportunity to introduce further complications. There is something even worse than a failure: it is called a botch. Whenever you roll zero successes, and at least one die shows 1, you have “botched” your roll. A botch is a catastrophic failure, and the results are guaranteed to be nasty! Sometimes, you simply can’t afford to fail. In those situations, you have the option of using Willpower. Any time the Storyteller asks you to roll, before rolling the dice you may spend a Willpower for one automatic success. While this does not guarantee that you will succeed, it prevents botching and adds to any successes you do roll. You may only spend Willpower one at a time, and only once in a turn.

Reminders.... • • • •

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The Storyteller system is very simple: any time you are asked to roll, you will roll a number of dice equal to the dots filled in by the appropriate trait or traits. The most common roll you will be asked to make is an Attribute + Ability. For example, the Storyteller might ask you to roll

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Wits + Alertness. If your character has Wits 3 and Alertness 2, you would roll 5 dice. There are other rolls, though, but always remember: one die per dot. Dice are rolled only when you wish your character to do something out of the ordinary or that requires some skill. Walking across a room would not require a roll; walking across a room without waking the sleeping guards would!

One die per dot A success is a die that shows equal to or greater than the difficulty Failure equals zero successes A botch happens when you roll no successes and at least one die shows a 1 Before you roll, you may spend Willpower for an automatic success, but only one Willpower at a time and once in a turn

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Putting the ”vampire” in Dark Ages: Vampire Now that you know a little bit about playing the game, here’s a few things you will need to know about playing a vampire. This section contains important information, so please read it carefully.

Blood Vampires must drink blood to survive, but they can also use it to heal themselves and fuel Disciplines. Vampires can drink the blood of animals, humans or other vampires. Most vampires do not find animal blood very appealing, while drinking the blood of other Cainites is dangerous for many reasons. Therefore, most vampires drink human blood. Your blood pool represents the maximum number of blood points your character can have in his body. If your blood pool is full, then your character is satisfied, but if it half-empty, your character is considered hungry. If your blood pool falls to three or less, your character is ravenous, and if it falls to zero, your character immediately enters a feeding frenzy, falling upon the nearest creature with blood in its body, and continuing until the vampire regains at least a few blood points, and his self-control! Feeding off mortals does not turn them into vampires. There is a very specific process called the Embrace that is required to create a new vampire. Otherwise, there would be hundreds of vampires running around!

The Beast and Frenzy There is more to being a vampire than drinking blood and having supernatural powers. Always remember that vampires are cursed. Even “good” vampires are no longer human, and all vampires are predators stalking the night. The predator inside them has a name: the Beast. The Beast is the term for the urge inside a vampire that drives her to hunt, feed and kill. Some vampires resist the Beast, some fall prey to it, but all are haunted by it. When a vampire fails to resist his Beast, he enters a state called “frenzy,” in which he loses control of his actions and is ruled only by the instincts of fight, flight or feed. When not in frenzy, vampires use roads to contain these base instincts. Roads are founded on Virtues, and when a vampire is faced with a situation that causes her to risk losing control to her Beast, the player will always roll Self-Control or Instincts to see if the character loses control. This is called a “frenzy check.”

Rötschreck Though a vampire’s higher nature may incline her towards bravery and valor, she is still an immortal crea-

ture, with an immortal creature’s fear of death. Rötschreck, also known as the Red Fear, describes the primitive, bestial terror felt by a vampire and her Beast when faced with sunlight or fire, the two things most likely to destroy her. When faced with fire or sunlight, the player rolls her character’s Courage, difficulty 8, to see if she suffers Rötschreck. If the roll succeeds, then the character controls her fear, though is probably still uncomfortable with the situation. If the roll fails, then the vampire enters Rötschreck and will flee the source of her fear in an uncontrolled frenzy, tearing though any thing — or any one — in her way. Remember that in the medieval world, fire is the primary source of light after sunset. The Storyteller should only have the players roll for Rötschreck when their characters are facing an uncontrolled flame the size of a small bonfire, or if they are being attacked with a flaming weapon, such as a torch.

Surviving Immortality A vampire is an eternal, undead creature, but he can be killed or destroyed by sunlight, fire or decapitation. Contrary to popular literature, a wooden stake through the heart will not kill a Cainite, but it will paralyze her and she will be unable to speak or move. A stake of any other material only annoys the vampire, and most likely results in the destruction of the unlucky fool who drove it through the vampire’s heart! A vampire is not immune to pain or harm from other things, either. Getting punched in a fight or cut with a sword or just falling off a horse are all still very painful and likely to cause harm. These types of injuries are easily healed by the mystical power of the blood, though.

Damage, Soaking and Healing There are three types of damage your character can suffer: bashing, lethal and aggravated. Each type of damage is detailed, along with instructions on resisting and healing each type of damage. Recording damage on your health chart is detailed in the next section. Bashing: A vampire who has taken punches or blunt trauma has suffered bashing damage. Bashing damage is the easiest to soak and heal, and the least likely to kill a victim quickly, especially a vampire. When a vampire suffers bashing damage, you roll a number of dice equal to your character’s Stamina rating, adding in any dice from armor or the Fortitude Discipline. The difficulty is 6 and each success reduces total damage by 1. This is called a “soak roll.” If the soak roll did not reduce the damage to zero, then divide the remaining damage in half (rounding down). The number that remains is the amount of bashing damage your character suffered, and is equal to the number of health levels you should mark off on your character sheet. To heal one level of bashing damage, spend one blood point.

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Lethal: Lethal damage is suffered from attacks meant to cause immediate and fatal injury. It is more difficult to soak and often results in painful and visible injury, such as broken bones or open wounds. Luckily, vampires are naturally tough. When your character suffers lethal damage, roll Stamina, again adding extra dice from armor or Fortitude. The difficulty is still 6, and each success still reduces the damage by one, but you do not divide any remaining damage. Instead, if there is still damage remaining, you mark off a number of health levels equal to the damage left after the soak roll. To heal one level of lethal damage, spend one blood point. Aggravated: Some damage is fatal to vampires and even they have a difficult time resisting its effects. Sunlight, fire, and the teeth and claws of vampires or other supernatural creatures all cause aggravated damage. Vampires cannot soak aggravated damage unless they have Fortitude. Healing aggravated damage requires five blood points and a full day’s rest.

Adding Dice to Your Damage and Soak Rolls Using weapons adds dice to your dice pool when rolling to see how much damage is inflicted by a successful attack. You should roll Strength’plus a number of dice equal to the modifier granted by the weapon. The B and L are abbreviations that tell you what type of damage the weapon inflicts; bashing (B) or lethal (L). Wearing armor adds to your dice pool when rolling to resist damage. You should roll Stamina plus a number of dice equal to the modifier granted by the armor. Note that there are two modifiers, one for bashing damage and one for lethal damage, so be sure you know what type of damage your character is resisting!

Health Each character sheet contains a Health chart to allow damage to the individual to be tracked and its effects on their actions assessed. Each box after the first has an associated dice-pool penalty that increases with the severity of the wounds. Each point of damage inflicted on a character reduces his health levels by one. Bruised: When your character is bruised, he has begun to feel the pain, but may still act normally. Hurt and Injured: Your character is now suffering from injury or pain that is beginning to interfere with his ability to move and think. Before making any roll, subtract one die from your pool, except when soaking damage. Wounded and Mauled: Your character has taken a severe beating and it’s beginning to show. He probably has open wounds or internal trauma, and his pain distracts him. Subtract two dice from all rolls, except when soaking damage.

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Crippled: Forget fighting foes, your character is fighting to stay conscious! A crippled character is fighting for his life at this point, and is probably a bloody mess. Subtract five dice from all rolls while your character is at this health level. If this reduces your dice pool to zero, you may not take that action. Again, do not subtract dice when rolling to soak damage. Incapacitated: A character at this health level is stunned, unable to move or act, though she might still be conscious. An incapacitated character may take no actions, and if she suffers one more level of damage, she enters a comatose state called “torpor,” a mystical slumber in which she is only vaguely aware of her surroundings. If a vampire suffers one level of aggravated damage while Incapacitated or in torpor, he is immediately destroyed.

Tracking Health and Healing One level of bashing or lethal or aggravated damage is equal to one box on the Health chart, but each type of damage is recorded differently. Bashing damage is marked with a /, as in the example below:

Health Bruised Lethal damage is marked with an X, and pushes down any previous levels of bashing or lethal damage, like so:

Health Bruised Aggravated damage is marked with a large *, and pushes down any previous levels of bashing or lethal damage. The Health chart of a character that has suffered 2 levels of bashing damage, 1 level of lethal damage, and 2 levels of aggravated damage would look like this:

Health Bruised

*

Damage is recorded in this way because bashing damage will always heal first, follow by lethal, then aggravated. One blood point will heal one health level of bashing or lethal, and you can simply erase the / or X from your Health chart. You must heal from the bottom up! Aggravated damage requires five blood points and a full day’s rest, so you should not erase the * until your character has fully healed the aggravated wound. As soon as you heal a health level, you no longer suffer the dice penalty associated with that level.

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