Page 84 - Chronicles of Darkness

The initiator’s player chooses a Condition to impose on two Doors open, and Erickson offers to let Stacy borrow the
the subject. It must make sense within the context of the book for a weekend. He probably even thinks it was his idea.
scenario. On the other hand, if Erickson is a player-controlled
Example of character, his player might decide he really doesn’t want
to let that book out of his sight. He might offer an alterna-
Social Maneuvering tive — he’ll bring the book to Stacy, and let her use it for an
afternoon. That, of course, might complicate her intended
demon summoning, but she does get to put the Flattered
Stacy wants Professor Erikson to loan her a book from Condition on Erickson.
his private library. She intends to use the book’s contents to
is protective of his books, but he’d be willing to loan one out Forcing Doors
summon a demon, but Erickson doesn’t know that. Erickson
under the right circumstances. Erickson has Resolve 3 and Sometimes, waiting and subtlety just aren’t warranted,
Composure 4, so the base number of Doors Stacy needs to desired, or possible. In these cases, your character can at-
open is 3 (the lower of the two). Loaning a book wouldn’t be tempt to force a character’s Doors. This degree of urgency is
a breaking point, nor does it prevent him from achieving an high-risk, high-reward. Forcing Doors often leads to burnt
Aspiration, but it does work against his Virtue (Cautious), bridges and missed opportunities.
so the total number of Doors Stacy needs to open to get the When forcing Doors, state your character’s goal and her
book is 4. approach, then roll immediately. The current number of
The Storyteller decides that the first impression is aver- Doors apply as a penalty to the dice roll. The subject contests
age; the two know one another (Stacy is a former student as normal. If successful, proceed to resolution as normal. If
of Erickson’s), but they aren’t close. Stacy arranges to find the roll fails, the subject is immune to further efforts at social
Erickson at a conference and impresses him with her knowl- maneuvering from your character.
edge of esoteric funerary rites. This requires an Intelligence
+ Occult roll, plus whatever effort Stacy had to put forth to Hard Leverage
get into the conference, but changes the impression level to
“good.” Now, Stacy can make one attempt to open Doors Hard Leverage represents threats, drugging, intimidation,
per day. At the conference, Stacy’s player rolls Manipulation blackmail, kidnapping, or other heavy-handed forms of co-
+ Persuasion and succeeds; one Door opens. Stacy mentions ercion. It drives home the urgency required to force open a
the book to Erickson and lets him know she’d like to borrow character’s Doors.
it. He’s not immediately receptive to the idea, but Stacy’s in Hard Leverage that requires that the character suffers
a good place to continue. a breaking point removes one Door (if the modifier to the
The next day, Stacy emails the professor about a related roll — not considering the character’s breaking points — is
work (Manipulation + Academics), but fails. Future rolls will greater than -2) or two Doors (if the modifier is -3 or less).
have a -1 penalty. The Storyteller decides that the impression Example
level slips to average.
Stacy still has to overcome three Doors. She spends the In the example above, assume Stacy really needs that book
next week doing research into Erickson and discovers that now. She goes to Erickson and threatens him at gunpoint to
he wants to become a respected academic. She tells Erickson give up the book. Doing this is definitely a breaking point for
that she has a colleague who can help break the cipher in Stacy (see p. 73 for more on breaking points). She applies a
which the book is written. This removes one Door without modifier for her Integrity, and then a modifier based on the
a roll. Now she must overcome two more before he’ll agree. severity of the action and the harm it does to her self-image
(Note that even if Stacy has no intention of helping Erickson and psyche. She’s not in the habit of committing violent acts
in his quest toward academic glory, as long as he reasonably and Erickson is obviously terrified, so the Storyteller assigns
believes that lending her the book will help him achieve his a -2 modifier to the breaking point roll. This being the case,
Aspiration, it opens the Door.) one Door is removed. If she’d shot him the leg to let him
During her research into the professor’s personality, she know she was serious, the breaking point modifier would
also learns that his Vice is Vanity; he likes to see himself as have been at least -3, which would have removed two Doors.
the hero. Stacy goes to his office in tears, saying that she is In either case, her player rolls Presence + Intimidation plus
in danger of being accused of plagiarism for copying a paper, any bonus for the gun, minus the appropriate penalty.
and asks if he can help authenticate her work. Doing this
allows him to come to her rescue, which in turn lets him soak Influencing Groups
up some praise; this would allow him to regain Willpower
through his Vice, and as such is enough of a temptation to Influencing a group works in the same way, using the
raise the impression level back to good. Stacy’s player rolls same system. This generally means that influencing a
Manipulation + Expression for Stacy to compose a letter of group requires at least an excellent level impression, or
thanks to him, and achieves an exceptional success. The last forcing their Doors, unless the group meets regularly. The

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Social Maneuvering