Page 215 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER FOUR: SPECIAL RULES AND SYSTEMS
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STORYTELLING TACTICS: Teaching Tactics
SHOW, DON’T TELL One of the main advantages to membership in
a conspiracy or compact is that older, more experi-
Tactics have the potential to become enced members can teach Tactics.
dice-rolling exercises, and thus not very In order to teach a Tactic to a group of hunters, the
exciting, if the Storyteller and the players teachers must have all the prerequisite traits for that Tac-
don’t work together to keep them evocative. tic, including the ones that are only required of some of
Consider these two presentations of the the participants. For instance, a hunter wishing to teach
Cripple Claws Tactic. the Cripple Claws Tactic must have Composure 2, Ath-
Tell:
Tell: letics 2, Brawl 1, Firearms 3 and the Disarm Merit. While
Storyteller: OK, you got more successes all the students don’t have to have the prerequisites to
Storyteller: OK, you got more successes

than he did, so you do three levels of learn the Tactic (though they do in order to use it, as

than he did, so you do three levels of
damage to him, and his hand is useless for mentioned above), one of them needs to have at least

damage to him, and his hand is useless for
the scene. It’s his turn now, so he reaches the prerequisites to be the primary actor for the Tactic.

the scene. It’s his turn now, so he reaches
out with the other hand and grabs you by Otherwise, the group just doesn’t have the knowledge
other
out with the
hand and grabs you by
the face. Take four aggravated damage. base to learn the Tactic.
the face. Take four aggravated damage.

Show:
Show: In place of conceptualizing the Tactic, the teach-
Storyteller: OK, you got more successes er must explain how the Tactic works to the cell. The
Storyteller: OK, you got more successes
than he did. You swing the bat at his fi ngers teacher’s player rolls Intelligence + Expression, while
ngers

than he did. You swing the bat at his fi
and feel it strike something. He pulls his the cell members’ players roll Wits + Composure. If
and feel it strike something. He pulls his
hand back in surprise, but the nails you the teacher’s roll fails, the students’ rolls suffer a -3.
hand back in surprise, but the nails you
put in the end of the bat catch his fi ngers ngers If the teacher suffers a dramatic failure, the students

put in the end of the bat catch his fi
and shred the skin on his hand. He shrieks cannot learn the Tactic from this teacher — he sim-
and shred the skin on his hand. He shrieks
in pain.
in pain. ply cannot explain himself in an appropriate man-

Player (in character): “Watch out! Don’t ner. If a student fails her roll, she will have difficulty
“Watch out! Don’t
Player (in character):
get cocky, he’s still —”
get cocky, he’s still —” grasping the Tactic. Rolls made during the learning
Storyteller: And that’s all you get out. process are learning rolls; the learning roll is the only
And that’s all you get out.
Storyteller:
He reaches behind him with his good hand and one that the teacher makes.
He reaches behind him with his good hand and

claps it over your face. You feel the skin
claps it over your face. You feel the skin After the teacher has explained the Tactic, the stu-
over your cheekbones loosen, and then start dents make practice rolls, as explained above under Creat-

over your cheekbones loosen, and then start
to slough off. Take four aggravated damage.
to slough off. Take four aggravated damage. ing Tactics. In this case, each individual hunter subtracts
The same is true for learning Tactics. successes gained on the learning roll from the total num-
You don’t have to describe what every ber of Practical Experience necessary to learn the Tactic:
roll means, but a quick scene here and the resultant number is how many hours that particular
there — describing what the characters hunter must practice to “lock down” the Tactic (and this
are doing, how they’re responding to the number might be different for each hunter). As above,
physical demands of learning the Tactic, each hunter is subject to the Stamina + Resolve practice
what feelings it spurs in them to know roll to determine how well they can commit to the rigors
that they’ll have to actually do this in of training: failure on the initial learning roll incurs only
the fi eld — goes a long way toward making a -2 penalty to the practice roll, however.
Tactics more than just strategic exercises. The last step is spending the Practical Experi-

Moreover, inserting tension into the mix ence and enacting the Tactic in the field. Failure on
(something that interrupts the necessary the practice roll or failure to commit the requisite
practice, perhaps) helps to keep the hours incurs a -3 roll for that hunter during the Tac-
process dramatic and evocative. tic. That penalty remains for the hunter until the
Tactic can be performed once successfully.
If, on the other hand, the players would rather just forgo
the dice rolls entirely, the Storyteller can allow the cell to Example of Learning and
purchase the Tactic at full cost and then apply the modifier to Devising a Tactic

the first “field use,” as if the practice rolls had failed. This is A cell of hunters belonging to Null Mysteriis, after los-

quicker, bypassing the dice rolling and allowing the troupe to ing a member under a werewolf’s fangs, decides to learn the
get right to the action. Dentistry Tactic. Fortunately, a high-ranking member of the
Note: None of the rolls involved with creating Tactics organization is available to teach the cell. The teacher needs

can benefit from risked Willpower (p. 65) or the Professional to have the following traits: Strength 2, Weaponry 2 and
Training Merit (p. 67). Brawl 2 or Brawl 1 with a Specialty in Grappling. Someone
among the students needs to have the traits to take on the
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