Page 97 - World of Darkness

Recovering Willpower is usually a matter of reaffirm- Derangements
ing your character’s sense of confidence and wellbeing, so
certain actions and situations may allow her to recover Derangements are behaviors that occur when the
Willpower. Ultimately, it’s up to the Storyteller to decide mind is forced to confront intolerable or conflicting feel-
when characters recover Willpower during a story. Story- ings, such as overwhelming terror or profound guilt. When
tellers should tailor recovery to suit the story, keeping in your character is faced with impressions or emotions that
mind that it’s a powerful and useful trait. Characters he cannot reconcile, his mind attempts to ease the inner
shouldn’t be allowed to regain it too quickly, or else play- turmoil by stimulating behavior such as megalomania,
ers may abuse its effects. schizophrenia or hysteria as an outlet. People in the World
• Your character may regain one Willpower point per of Darkness, unwittingly tormented, persecuted and preyed
scene if her actions play out in a manner appropriate to upon by incomprehensible beings, often develop these
her Vice (see below). Your character may regain all spent ailments by the mere fact of existing. Alternatively, re-
Willpower if her actions play out in a manner appropriate gret, guilt or remorselessness for inflicting abuses eats away
to her Virtue (see below). No more than one Willpower at mind and soul. The night’s creatures are not immune
point may be regained per scene by fulfilling a Vice. Will- to such pressures, either. Existence as an unnatural thing
power can be regained by fulfilling a Virtue no more than overwhelms what little humanity these beings might have
once per chapter (game session). The Storyteller is the left, driving them mad.
final arbiter as to whether your character’s actions are The primary means by which your character may de-
shaped by a Virtue or Vice, and can refuse to award Will- velop derangements is by performing heinous acts and
power if your character acts purely for the rules gain and suffering the mental or emotional repercussions. See “Mo-
against concept. rality,” earlier in this chapter, for more details.
• Your character may regain a point of Willpower Otherwise, the Storyteller may decide that a scene or
after she has had a full night’s rest or the equivalent op- circumstance to which your character is exposed is too much
portunity to recharge her batteries and redouble her ef- for him to bear and he breaks under the pressure. A bad
forts. This assumes your character rests or relaxes and does drug trip might reveal too much of the monstrous reality of
not engage in strenuous activities. the world for a person’s mind to bear. A drug overdose could
• If your character achieves a significant goal or per- imbalance a character mentally. Or witnessing a creature in
forms a particularly impressive act that affirms her sense all its horrific glory might make an onlooker snap.
of confidence, the Storyteller may choose to award a Will- Ailments caused by fallen Morality can be healed
power point. through your character’s own efforts toward treatment or
• Your character regains all spent Willpower points contrition (by spending experience points). The Story-
at the end of a story. Not at the end of a game session, but teller decides if a more spontaneously inspired condition
at the conclusion of an overall story. The Storyteller may is temporary or permanent. A spontaneous ailment might
require all characters to achieve some particular goal or be temporary, lasting until the character resolves the situ-
objective or otherwise feel like they succeed (even just a ation that triggered the condition. It might become per-
little) in order to regain Willpower. If characters are frus- manent if reconciliation is refused, the condition goes un-
trated or events result in a stalemate, a partial recovery of treated or the trigger that caused it is insurmountable. With
Willpower may be appropriate. Storyteller approval, a starting character might have a
Storytellers can choose other occasions on which to spontaneously inspired derangement as a Flaw (see p. 217),
allow Willpower recovery to suit the needs of the story. gaining experience in stories in which the condition or
Characters may be able to recover Willpower if they find problem is prominent. Spontaneous ailments developed
themselves in dire straits and have to push on in order to during play might be represented in-game as evolutionary
succeed, for example, or if they refuse to give up despite Flaws, not ones established at character creation.
the odds. Awarding extra Willpower recovery makes things It must be noted that people who are “crazy” are nei-
a little easier on the players, while withholding Willpower ther funny nor arbitrary in their actions. Insanity is fright-
makes things more challenging. ening to onlookers who witness someone rage against an
If for some reason your character’s Resolve and/or unseen presence or hoard rotten meat “to feed to mon-
Composure temporarily increases during a game, perhaps sters.” Even something as harmless-sounding as constantly
as a result of a mystical spell, he gains one Willpower point talking to one’s self can be disturbing to observers.
per dot increase. Essentially, he has access to one or more The insane respond to a pattern only they grasp, to
free Willpower dot for the duration of the effect. When stimuli that they perceive in their own minds. To their
his Attributes return to normal, your character loses any skewed perceptions, what happens to them is perfectly
extra Willpower dots. If they were never spent, he no normal. A character’s derangement is there for a reason,
longer has access to them. whether she committed a crime or saw her own children
devoured. What stimuli does her insanity inflict upon her,
and how does she react to what happens? Work with the
Storyteller to create a pattern of provocations for your
character’s derangement, and then decide how she reacts.

96
Chapter 4- ADVANTAGES