Page 18 - Chronicles of Darkness
P. 18
Introduction
At a warehouse on 17th street, surgeries are performed in accordance with the
phase of the moon. In the suburbs, a housewife dotes on a large dog with man-like
hands. Roaming the backwoods, there is a man who traded his hand to a hungry
devil for immortality. He spends his nights polishing his hook.
These are the Chronicles of Darkness, tales of a world like ours, but just slightly
wrong. A place we recognize, but where our fears take on lives of their own. The
Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook is the key to exploring that world, a guide to
storytelling encounters with the uncanny and a foundation for tales in which the
monster becomes the hero.
The Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook will help you and your friends tell tales
of thrills and chills. It provides tools for investigation, violence, setting-building,
and more, but layers them on top of a framework that lets you dial back the
complexity and improvise at any time.
He must have felt that How to Use This Book
he had lost the old
warm world... He must The Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook describes how to create protagonists for
have looked up at an your own unique horror stories, how to adjudicate the results of their actions, and
unfamiliar sky through how to play a storytelling game with your friends. Use this book as an introduction
frightening leaves and to both storytelling games and the unique setting of the Chronicles of Darkness.
shivered as he found
a rose is and how raw Chapters
what a grotesque thing
the sunlight was upon Chapter One: The Face in the Mirror describes how to create your protagonists.
the scarcely created If you’re playing one of these starring characters, this should be your first stop.
grass. A new world, Chapter Two: Infernal Engines explains the rules of the Chronicles of Darkness
material without being storytelling game, from finding clues to building bombs. Players and Storytellers
real, where poor ghosts, alike should be familiar with this section, since it’s where you’ll turn when the
breathing dreams like characters are in trouble and you don’t know what happens next.
air, drifted fortuitously Chapter Three: Black Threads looks at the game from the perspective of the
about... Storyteller, the player who organizes the game and plants the seeds which become
F. Scott Fitzgerald, stories in play. It also provides a system for creating Missing Persons scenarios that
The Great Gatsby can bring a group of disparate characters together. Storytellers new and old should
check out this chapter, as it’s packed with both basic advice and explanations of
how to use the Chronicles of Darkness to their best advantage.
Chapter Four: Wonders and Horrors provides systems for creating monsters
and other characters controlled by the Storyteller. Inside, you’ll find sample an-
tagonists, rules for spirits and ghosts, and a complete system for creating horrors
right out of urban legend, as well as several examples of the same. Storytellers will
want to make a lot of use of this chapter.
Chapter Five: The God-Machine Chronicle offers a variety of Storytelling
advice, scenario ideas, and characters for running a game featuring the God-
Machine, a mysterious force that manipulates humans to build and extend its
presence in the world. This chapter is intended mainly for Storytellers, since we
wouldn’t want to spoil any surprises.
17
Chapters
