Page 69 - Chronicles of Darkness

Infernal Engines:
Dramatic Systems
Fred nodded and said,
“So what you’re saying
is, if we all die, that’s
not even the worst-case
scenario.”
John replied, “I’d still
like to shoot a little
higher than that,
Freddy.”
David Wong,
John Dies at the End
68
infernal engines -dramatic systems
Chronicles of Darkness games straddle the line between telling collaborative
stories and playing a game of chance and skill. This chapter lays out the basic game
systems that glue the two together. Whenever a player decides that her character
does something — like convince the prison guard to let her out, hurt the monster
that’s about to devour her brother, or follow the trail of an eerily inconsistent
story to discover the truth — a combination of the character’s decisions, the game
systems, and the Storyteller’s rulings determines what happens next.
Game systems provide rules for situations where the outcome is uncertain, and
it’s exciting to roll dice to see what befalls the characters and what their struggles
accomplish. Players roll dice to see how well their characters succeed — or how
miserably they fail — at overcoming obstacles and achieving their goals. Failure can
be just as thrilling as success, and the systems that are explained here show how
to make all of these possible outcomes work in a game. Books and films contain
moments when the audience is on the edge of their seats, waiting to see whether
the protagonists will survive or die, win or lose, save the world or watch it burn. A
storytelling game makes those moments happen by applying systems to key parts
of the story, and this chapter details how.
This chapter gives players and Storytellers everything they need to play through
most scenarios that crop up over the course of the chronicle, from fighting and
seduction to solving crimes and modifying guns. An obstacle standing between
a character and her goal might be a person or a monster she must talk to, escape
from, track down, or fight. It might also be a physical obstacle that needs smash-
ing, a lack of a vital resource, or even her own inner demons and insecurities.
The systems in this chapter use all the traits the player gave her character in the
previous chapter to present options for how the character can try to overcome
these obstacles and deal with whatever she encounters.
Because the Chronicles of Darkness depict a world where even the most irrational
of fears is justified and things that never should have been are real anyway, charac-
ters resort to all kinds of extremes to solve problems and get what they want. This
chapter presents an extensive system to adjudicate violence between characters, as
well as systems that explore the emotional and mental consequences of seeing and
doing strange, awful things. It also provides ways for characters to change and grow
by earning Experiences, and ways their actions affect them and those around them
with Conditions that guide roleplay. It covers many ways for characters to interact
with the setting, including Social Maneuvering, investigation, building equipment,
and heart-thumping chases. It even explains how Storytellers and players can work
together to figure out how to adjudicate niche situations that aren’t included here.
Rolling Dice
When your character is trying to accomplish something and the outcome is in
doubt, you roll a pool of ten-sided dice based on his relevant traits and read the
results to determine success. Most of the time, you roll a number of dice equal to
an Attribute plus a Skill. For example, to get the cop off your back, you use your
character’s Manipulation Attribute of 4 and Subterfuge Skill of 3, so you roll seven