Page 122 - World of Darkness

• Turn — The smallest increment, and often the most Rolling Dice
important, a turn is three seconds. It’s the amount of time
it takes a character to perform a quick action, called an The Storyteller basically has two options when events
instant action (see p. 126). Turns are mainly observed in need to be resolved in your story. He can simply decree
combat, when the action is fast and furious, with all char- that an action succeeds or does not, often based on your
acters doing something dramatic in a short timeframe. character’s trait scores. Maybe Strength 2 is required to
• Scene — A scene in a roleplaying game resembles lift a tire and throw it, and your character has Strength 4.
a scene in a theatrical play. Your Storyteller sets the stage, This approach minimizes interruptions to the flow of the
and the players take their roles. The scene evolves in one narrative, as previously discussed.
location and usually encompasses a single, specific event. The Storyteller’s other option in exploring how a story
The flow of time within a scene may vary greatly. It may unfolds is to call for a dice roll on your part. Your charac-
be played out in turns, it may run parallel to real time, or ter seeks to accomplish a feat, there’s an element of chance
your Storyteller and fellow players may choose to fast-for- that he could succeed or fail, and the Storyteller asks you
ward through parts of it, so long as the location and gen- to decide your character’s fate. Rolls are usually reserved
eral events do not change. for activities that involve an element of danger or threat
For example, a scene may begin with combat, which if things go badly. You don’t have to roll to decide if your
is measured in turns. It may then slip back into real time character can accomplish ordinary or day-to-day actions
as your characters discuss what to do with the corpses such as crossing the street safely. But when you add the
they’ve created. After a fast-forward through loading the unknown factor of trying to cross the street safely during
bodies onto a truck, the scene may return to real time as a drive-by shooting, the ordinary becomes extraordinary
your characters argue over who will drive. All events oc- — and dangerous.
cur in the same scene, at the same location, but time warps The Storytelling System uses 10-sided dice, also
throughout to focus on the fun and important parts. Your known as “d10’s.” A handful of such dice rolled to resolve
Storyteller determines when one scene ends and when an action is called a dice pool. Ideally, each player should
another begins. bring about 10 dice to the game so you all have enough.
• Chapter — For the most part, a chapter represents
one game session. From the moment you sit down and Forming Dice Pools
assume your role to the moment you pack up your dice, As described in the preceding chapters, your
you play out a chapter in the story. Your Storyteller has
specific challenges planned for the night’s episode. The character’s talents and capabilities are qualified and quan-
tified with traits and dots. These values help measure how
end of each chapter should leave you wanting more, ask-
ing questions, and with a sense of the session’s relative effective your character is at different activities. Attributes
and Skills are rated 1 to 5 for ordinary people. One At-
completion. tribute and one Skill are typically combined when your
• Story — A story tells one entire tale, whether it
comprises several chapters or is completed in a single ses- character performs a feat, and the total of the two traits is
rolled in dice to decide how well she does.
sion. It has an introduction, a plot arc that involves rising The Attribute and Skill combined are the ones most
conflict, and a climax that brings events to a conclusion.
• Chronicle — In the big picture, the term appropriate to the task performed. The descriptions of all
“chronicle” refers to a collection of stories, a saga. Your these traits in Chapters 2 and 3 help you decide which
dots should be combined. The Storyteller often dictates
Storyteller has a goal in mind for the chronicle, a possible which apply, too. So, if your character climbs a cliff, you
destination for your characters, or a theme or overarching
plot line that connects all chapters of the proverbial novel look to her Strength + Athletics scores. If she seeks to
pressure someone to do a favor for her, you use Presence +
together. As your game progresses, you and your fellow
players write your chronicle, linking parts and pieces to- Intimidation. If your character climbs a cliff and you com-
pose a pool based on 3 Strength and 2 Athletics, you have
gether and developing a full-blown epic. a total of five dice.
• Downtime — When your Storyteller decides to fast-
forward and skim over a period of time, he invokes “down- Sometimes various Attributes or Skills could apply
time.” You may summarize events that transpire during to an activity, and there’s some gray area on just which
two should be combined. If your character needs to climb
downtime, but you do not actually play them out. Your
Storyteller may say something like, “Okay, you spend the a cliff quickly more so than safely, you might petition the
Storyteller (or he might decide) that Dexterity rather than
night in the warehouse. At dawn, voices in the alley out- Strength should be combined with Athletics. If your char-
side wake you.” Nothing happens while your characters acter seeks to convince rather than pressure someone to
sleep, so there’s no reason to play it out. Your Storyteller
leaps ahead to the next interesting event. do a favor, you might combine Manipulation and one of
Persuasion or Socialize instead of Intimidation, whichever
Look for more on chapters, stories and chronicles in
Chapter 8: Storytelling. is most appropriate to the manner in which your character seeks
to accomplish her goal.

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SYSTEMS- Time-Rolling Dice