Page 111 - Chronicles of Darkness

dramatically. They’re also tools for you to use to guide play- story that spills out from it. The players do. Anyone can
ers to lost or unexamined material. Is the character terribly drag aspects of the situation or Storyteller characters from
Frightened? Does that fear drive them from the current scene the story kit into appropriate scenes to get things moving
to somewhere more ideal for your lost material? You bet it or explore the situation in more detail. If there are deeper
can! And since the character will earn a Beat in the process secrets within the story kit, such as who is responsible for
of satisfying their Condition or their Dramatic Failure, they the haunting or what’s really motivating the preacher, you
feel empowered instead of handheld into the next scene. should let them be decided on by the players in play, rather
That’s a win-win. than be predetermined.
Your Exquisite Corpse Prick the Skin

It’s an old game, where a player writes down a sentence in Let me suggest you aim for disquiet. Don’t try to frighten
a story or draws part of an illustration, hides all but the last your players or disgust them and gross them out. Aim instead
word or bottommost portion of the picture, and the paper for disquiet, that strange place just left of normal. Set the
is passed to the next player to fill in. After everyone’s had a situation slightly askew or odd. Make the situation mildly
turn, the whole thing is revealed and everyone has a good uncomfortable, rather than horrific, and let the players take
laugh at the story or illustration produced, a bit at a time, their personal horror to the level in which they want to invest.
while all were blind to the whole. This is another opportunity to let players opt in and partici-
Because the Chronicles of Darkness uses open, commu- pate with the darker themes with which they are comfortable.
nal storytelling it’s difficult to perfectly simulate a game of However, it also produces more successful, genuine horror
Exquisite Corpse, but using a story kit gets you part of the than splatterpunk and snuff storytelling could ever hope to.
way there. They’re great to minimize the amount of heavy Gore isn’t scary. It can gross a person out, when applied
lifting put in by a single Storyteller, or to give players who judiciously, and that can be a valuable tool in the Storyteller’s
don’t normally take on Storyteller responsibilities a way to (or player’s) toolbox, but it’s not a replacement for real dread,
ease into them. Story kits also help manage games that are and if you pile it on too thick, filling your scenes with vomit
asynchronous online or in live-action roleplaying, where one and pus and arterial spray, it loses its punch. You’ll feel a
Storyteller isn’t quite enough to keep everyone entertained. need to escalate the grossout factor higher and higher, and
It works like this: before too long you’ve lost the dread, become immune to the
Decide on a situation that exists, a conflict between rival grotesque, and made the subversive mundane.
gangs, a haunted house, a local political faction turning No one wants that.
extremist, a religious leader turning to violence in the name It’s better, maybe, to leave things unseen. Leave evidence
of his faith, or maybe an infection of a rare, supernatural of malicious and gruesome deeds, suggest the chaos of the
disease. Once you’ve decided what the situation is, write it dark, tease at the face of the Devil, and let your players’
down. A paragraph will do. Follow it up with a paragraph imaginations fill in the rest. Your players are better at fright-
describing why the characters should care; do it as a series of ening themselves than you ever will be, and while everyone
six or so bullet points, if you like. You can either target a few might put forward their darkest fears to suggest directions in
characters specifically, or keep it general and let the players which to go to make the story scary, you can’t do it as well
opt their characters in. Shoot for an open-ended scenario. as their lizard brains can fill in the blanks. Leave room for
Next, describe three principal Storyteller characters that the unexplained; describe the spot where the shadow falls,
are either affecting or being affected by the situation. They and let your players fill in those shadows with their own
may be the cause of it, they may be exacerbating it, or they may demons, instead. Aim for disquiet, aim for just off center,
be victims of the situation. Describe what they are doing now aim for subtle and growing dread, and horror will creep into
and, more importantly, what they might do to escalate the the places you’ve made for it.
situation and make it worse for the players. Then, give these Don’t slash the story’s throat open to bleed out in gushes;
key Storyteller characters Attributes and Skills just as you prick it, then ask, “Why does it sting? What is that creepy
would player characters. Give them three strong Aspirations, feeling just under the skin? Probably nothing, right?”
with at least one relating to what they’re doing now, and one
relating to how they’re going to make things worse. Missing Persons:
Finally, write two or three general characters who might be
pulled into the story. For instance, cops called to investigate non-
sense at the haunted house, protesters, gangsters, or what have you. Creating Your Setting
Give these tertiary characters basic stats, focusing on dice pools
rather than specific Skills and Attributes. Give them a short- and According to the FBI, in 2013 close to 63,000 people went
long-term Aspiration. Leave room for a third Aspiration after missing in the U.S. alone. That means that, by U.S. popula-
they’ve been used in play and given a proper name. tion at the time, one in every 500 or so people went missing
Print out your story kit as a handout for all your players. that year. That number is not likely to decrease, especially
In short, the Storyteller doesn’t run the situation or the in the Chronicles of Darkness, where monsters are real and

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