Page 178 - Chronicles of Darkness

Free Will

It may be tempting as a Storyteller to fall into the trap of having the God-Machine thwart the characters at
every turn or otherwise render their victories ultimately meaningless. To a certain extent, this is in keeping
with the themes of the chronicle. The God-Machine is an incomprehensibly huge antagonist. The actions of
humans have virtually no effect on it, and it should feel that way. Save this town from being devoured by
supernatural ants, and the God-Machine simply chooses another town in another country to turn into magi-
cal ant food. There’s nothing the characters can do to stop that.
Maybe a major victory over the God-Machine must wait until late in the chronicle, but that doesn’t mean the
characters achieve nothing until they are powerful enough to pack the gears the God-Machine has hidden
beneath the Great Sphinx with explosives and set off the charges. They might not wrestle angels and win,
at first, but they can save this town from sinking into the earth, drive out the agents of the God-Machine in
this city council, or stop this teacher from being falsely accused of sexually abusing his students. And if they
do, the God-Machine will take its project elsewhere and leave the people the players’ characters saved in
peace.
And as they tally up these little victories, the characters learn more. They start seeing the gears. They have
a better understanding of what the God-Machine’s Infrastructure looks like. They become more effective at
identifying and exploiting Linchpins. They’re inching closer and closer to the truth about the God-Machine,
whatever it might be. When the time comes to bring the chronicle to its final climax, they’ll hopefully be
ready for it — or at least as ready as anyone who means to fight a god can be.

Optional Rule: Fate

Faced with the seemingly arbitrary cruelties of the Chronicles of Darkness, mortals who get a glimpse at
what lurks in the shadows sometimes take comfort in the idea that everything has a reason. No matter how
bad things get, there is a plan, even if it seems impossible to see. Those who look a little deeper, glimpsing
the workings of the God-Machine, know better. There is a plan for everyone, but that isn’t a good thing for
those concerned.
To represent this, The God-Machine Chronicle includes an option called Fate, a special type of Aspiration.
Fate denotes an extra part of the character’s concept: what is the end of their story? The Fate doesn’t have to
come to pass within play, but characters that come out the other side of a God-Machine adventure without
having met their Fate haven’t escaped it, only postponed it.
Use the following guidelines to design a Fate:
• Fate leaves the character alive (or undead, in some circumstances) and suffering, or kills them in a suit-
ably traumatic fashion. “Killed” is not a Fate, but “Murdered” is.

• Fate imposes a great change in the character’s circumstances, irrevocably changing her life for the worse.
• Fate describes the what of the character’s doom, not the how or the when. “Murdered” is a suitable Fate.
“Murdered by my brother” is not, and neither is “Murdered at my moment of victory”.
Good examples include “Addicted,” “Betrayed,” “Imprisoned,” or “Transformed.”
Fulfilling a Fate is often a good time to start a new character – consider it the equivalent of writing a char-
acter out of a television series after her arc climaxes. That’s not mandatory, however. If a Fate is met before
the chronicle ends, or a new chronicle is planned using the same characters after one has already met their
doom, the player selects a new Fate.

In play, Fate works like other Aspirations, except that it provides a full Experience when fulfilled. (If the
Fate removes the character from play, her player can spend this Experience on her next character.) Also,
when a character’s action would lead her towards her Fate, her player gains only two dice from spending
Willpower, but gets the Willpower point back if the action fails.

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