Page 151 - Chronicles of Darkness

ghost or a hungry werewolf is. The Horde isn’t an antago-
nist, it’s an environmental threat; use it to force characters
together that otherwise wouldn’t interact, whether due to New Environmental Tilt:
circumstances or deliberate avoidance. The constant threats
of the Horde breaking through the defenses, preventing Zombies!
characters from going out and gathering supplies, or reaching
safety acts as a stressor, highlighting personal motivations and The Horde Traits presented here work for when
you need to focus in on an action scene involv-
driving conflict. When you’re developing a story involving ing a few characters and a modest number of
the Horde, look at your characters’ (both the players and your zombies, but when you want to highlight the
Storyteller characters) Virtues, Vices, and Aspirations. Look sheer, swarming mass of the walking dead, they’re
for characters whose Anchors are, if not directly opposed, not practical. This Tilt represents any area that’s
at least orthogonal to each other. Find opportunities to put packed full of zombies or similar monsters.
those characters together in scenes with real stakes: gathering Effects: Characters moving through the Horde are
supplies, pushing back a zombie siege, or maybe just patch- slowed by the mindless, grasping hands and sheer
ing up the wounded. Put their Aspirations in jeopardy, or press of decomposing bodies. Within the area
make them able to be realized only at risk to the rest of the affected by the Tilt, characters lose their bonus to
characters. The Horde isn’t the frying pan or the fire; it’s the Speed (so normal humans have a Speed equal
pressure cooker. to Strength + Dexterity). Characters who move
With the popularity of zombie apocalypse fiction in at anything less than full speed (that is, using an
mainstream media, it’s tempting to see end of the world Instant action to run) are subject to an attack using
scenarios and zombies as going hand in hand. While you can the Horde’s best dice pool. An exceptional suc-
certainly tell zombie apocalypse stories with the Chronicles cess on this attack inflicts the Knocked Down Tilt.
of Darkness, you don’t have to immediately reach for the In addition, if the zombies are especially ripe,
“blow up the world” button to use the Horde. Smaller moving through the area might require characters
outbreaks of the undead, either in remote locations or bad to make a reflexive Stamina + Composure roll
neighborhoods suffering from urban decay, can create the every minute or suffer the moderate version of the
same feeling of isolation. The ubiquity of cell phones and Sick Tilt.
internet connections can make it trickier, but anything from Causing the Tilt: Any large group of mostly-
bad weather, to power failures, to larger disasters that jam passive monsters could cause this Tilt. It also works
up phone lines and hinder emergency response services can for modeling the effects of being caught up in a
deal with those problems. large riot or similar crush of humanity.
Ending the Tilt: The whole point of the Tilt is that
Best At (7 dice): Sniffing out humans, dragging it represents too many zombies to fight effectively,
you down by sheer weight of numbers, anything but characters might be able to draw the Horde
that benefits from a massive wall of flesh. off (maybe by firing guns or operating loud,
Worst At (1 Die): Acting alone, being fast or heavy machinery elsewhere), or drive them back if
clever. the Horde suffers from a Bane (if your zombies are
afraid of fire, for example, Molotov cocktails or
Willpower/Scene: 3 simply carrying torches might disperse them).
Aspiration: To feast on the flesh of the living.
Initiative: 1
Defense: 3
Speed: 5 The House That Hates
Health: 7
Weapons/Attacks: <Muffled screams, phantom footsteps, and doors slamming>
Background: Every neighborhood has stories of a
Type Damage Range Dice Pool haunted house. Usually it’s the one at the end of the street,
dilapidated if not outright falling apart, with an overgrown
Grapple 0B Melee 7 (in group), 1
(alone) lawn and maybe a creepy old witch or never-convicted axe
murderer who lives there. Most of the time, it’s just local
Bite 2L Melee 7 (in group), 1 folklore. Sometimes, the house really is haunted by a restless
(alone) shade, or even by some stranger denizen of the ephemeral
Banes: Attacks to the head realms. But every once in a while, that creepy house at the
Dread Powers: Hunter’s Senses (human flesh), end of the street is actually the House That Hates.
Natural Weapons ••, Toxic •, Unbreakable The House That Hates can appear anywhere in the
world — or else multiple Houses exist, or perhaps an ordinary

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Horrors and wonders-antagonists