Page 125 - World of Darkness

nine dice in your hand. The Storyteller decides that dark- effects are each rated one to five. A knife may offer a com-
ness and bad weather combine to impose a -4 penalty to batant one bonus die, while a halberd might give him five.
your rolls, however, so your pool is reduced to five dice. A light rain might remove one die while a monsoon might
Chapter 3 details many tools and their bonuses for remove five. Troupes may look up official values so that
Skills. This chapter and Chapter 7 list modifiers for weap- modifier dice for, say, tools, weather and character dis-
ons and other circumstances. abilities stack. That is, they’re all cumulative.
Or your Storyteller may simply consider all the fac-
tors at work in terms of a one-to-five range and come up
with one total that applies for an effort. He might allow
Adding and Subtracting players to calculate some bonuses, but he summarily de-
Be sure to add all the bonuses that apply to crees that weather and character disabilities make an ef-
your dice pool before penalties are applied. That fort “a trying task,” and three dice are removed from a
is, take your starting dice pool based on your player’s pool.
character’s traits, add bonuses and then subtract Here are some general suggested modifiers.
penalties. The dice remaining, if any, are rolled
to see if your character accomplishes his intended Bonus Degree of Challenge
feat. Yes, it’s possible for extreme penalties to
+1 A helping hand
reduce your pool to one or no dice. See “The
Chance Roll.” +2 A walk in the park
+3 Nothing to it
+4 Easy as pie
+5 You can do it in your sleep
Applying Modifiers
These rules — or your Storyteller — decides the value Penalty Degree of Challenge
of modifiers applied to rolls. This book strives to detail -1 A minor obstacle
and codify as many different possible situations and per-
mutations as possible, from the quality of tools used to -2 A hard time
environmental effects to character disabilities, all with -3 A trying task
factors that you can apply as bonus dice or penalties dur- -4 It’s demanding
ing play. Not every contingency can be foreseen here, -5 Sorely tested
though, so the Storyteller always has final say on what
modifier dice are added to — or taken away from — a
player’s pool. That combination allows you to play a game
that simulates the world as closely as possible, with all Storyteller Caveat
kinds of factors taken into account. Sometimes your character tries to do some-
Another approach to dice rolling is more freeform. thing under conditions with which you and she
Your troupe can play a fast-and-loose game that doesn’t are unfamiliar — and you’re not meant to know
involve counting “official” modifiers to such a degree. The what those conditions are. The Storyteller wants
Storyteller simply looks at the overall circumstances of to keep you as ignorant as your character is about
an activity and decrees a challenge rating to it. He essen- the circumstances surrounding the effort. Maybe
tially eyeballs the situation as a whole and makes a gen- the effects of the aforementioned drug added to
eral call, potentially speeding up the pace of the game. your character’s drink are gradual and subtle.
In general, players are quick to calculate all the bo- They kick in before your character even feels
nus dice that add to their pools (say, for lock picks used), them. Or your character tries to do some re-
and may propose others (a lock has previously suffered search, but she doesn’t know that the book she
damage — another +1 bonus). Assuming the Storyteller uses intentionally provides false information.
agrees to all these variables, he can focus mainly on what Under these circumstances, the Storyteller as-
penalties are levied (say, two deadbolts have been installed sembles your dice pool for you, applies all modi-
by the building’s occupants — a -3 penalty). fiers, and makes the roll on your behalf, without
By this intuitive approach, slight bonuses or hin- showing you the roll or the exact results. You
drances are rated one. Moderate ones are rated three, and don’t know what factors apply or why, and your
exceptional or extreme situations are rated five. The first character is none the wiser. All she knows is
might apply to a Dexterity + Drive roll in the rain. The that her effort succeeds or fails, and you must
second might be for a roll in a flood. The third might kick abide by the Storyteller’s roll. That way, you’re
in when your character tries a hairpin turn during a tor- as much in the dark about what’s going on as
nado, when his car’s engine is on fire. your character, and you can enjoy the story just
As a rule, a single modifier never exceeds five, whether as she does.
as a bonus or penalty. That means all tools and situational

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Chapter 6- DRAMATIC SYSTEMS