House Rules

Please see our Books list.

Game-Wide House Rules

Game-Wide House Rules & Character Policies

Archery

• Bows and Crossbows use the Ranged Combat rules from core, meaning the Opponent's Defense does not apply.
• Crossbows use Dex + Firearms
• Bows may use Dex + Fireams or Dex + Athletics (player's choice)
• Bows and Crossbows can stake vampires by targeting the heart (-3 penalty) and inflicting 5 net damage.
• Bows and Crossbows are subject to the Firearms in Close Combat rules.
• Rapid Nock and Out of Nowhere apply regardless of which style you're using. No other features from the Combat Archery or Bowmanship combat styles are cross-compatible.

Armor Stacking

A character can benefit from one source of supernatural armor, and up to two sources of mundane armor if and only if one of them is intrinsic.

"Intrinsic" armor, like the Iron Skin merit or a werewolf's Fortified Form merit, or anything of that sort is either mundane or supernatural armor depending on its source. Iron Skin would be a mundane armor source, and Fortified Form would be a supernatural one.

So, the Iron Skin merit would stack with a Kevlar vest, but a Kevlar vest would not stack with riot gear or reinforced clothing.

Beat Tracking

We use a modified beat system.

Breaking Points

If your character possesses the Guilty, Shaken, AND Spooked Conditions and succeeds at a Breaking Point roll, they gain a Persistent Condition of the ST's choice.

Character Age, Pregnancy, Children

Your character must be, look, and in all ways act 18+. You may not mention that your character 'looks underage', state or imply your character is childlike or underage mentally. This is grounds for immediate banning. No discussion. Don't play games with us.

In addition, pregnancy is not an aspect of this game and while children may exist, they do so in an off screen capacity and should never be depicted on screen.

Clash of Wills

• Werewolves use Primal Urge + highest Renown in a Clash.
• Changelings use Wyrd + Appropriate Finesse Attribute.
• Vampires use Blood Potency + Appropriate Finesse Attribute/Appropriate Discipline/Blood Sorcery Rating (ask your ST).
• The Mortal+ merit Supernatural Resistance does not add to Clash pools.

Crafting System

Dark City uses a modified crafting system similar to what you will find in the Chronicles of Darkness core book and in the Hurt Locker supplement that was originally written by the great people at From Dusk Till Jawn. You can find the details here.

Custom Items and Powers

While custom items and powers are permitted, you are limited to one custom item OR power at chargen, and then one per month thereafter. At this time, a character may have no more than one custom power or item of each type. So a Wolf-Blooded could have a custom Fetish, a custom Tell, and a custom Wolf Rite, but not multiple custom Tells, or multiple custom Fetishes. This is to maintain emphasis on source material and prevent OP stacking in an XP rich environment.

Enhanced Attributes as Pre-Requisites

When a character has a power that is considered always on that functions to add directly to attribute value, that enhanced value can be used to meet the pre-requisites of merits or equipment. Should this persistent power become disrupted for any reason, the associated merits cannot be accessed and equipment use faces the normal complications of use below attribute requirement.

Exceptional Successes on 3

Exceptional successes on three do not add successes; they only grant the benefits of having achieved an exceptional. In a contested roll-off, upon the instance of a tie, if one character has Exceptional Successes on 3, they win.

Fighting Style and Merit Damage

Fighting styles that say that you can inflict extra bashing damage in certain circumstances, like when someone in reach rises from prone, always do bashing damage regardless of the normal damage that your character may do. This includes, but isn't limited to:

• Body as a Weapon
• Boxing 2 (Defensive Jab)
• Chain Weapons 1 & 2
• Close Quarters Combat 5
• Grappling 2 (Small Joint Manipulation OR Takedown), 3 (Joint Lock) and 5 (Positional Dominance)
• Kino Mutai 2
• Kung Fu 3
• Street Fighting 3 & 4
• Trunk Squeeze
• Unarmed Defense 4
• Weapon and Shield 1

Firearms

The gun laws in New York are particularly strict, with the approval process for a permit often taking upwards of six months to a year, and including a comprehensive background check cross-referenced with the FBI and personally weighed in on by a sitting county judge; only members of the police force with Law & Government Status 2 will be able to sidestep this process to acquire single pistol or revolver, light or heavy at creation. Beyond that they will need to be acquired through play or the Black Market System.

Most people, but especially criminals, new arrivals, and those with Status (Crime) will not be able to purchase Firearms equipment in the usual way, unless your character is of good legal standing and has a reason to own a Firearm that would stand up to the scrutiny of a New York county judge.

However, purchasing a Firearm legally isn't the only way to obtain one. Most characters will use the Black Market for their less-than-scrupulous purchases.

We are using the Hurt Locker system for reloading firearms (High/Medium/Low Capacity instead of clips), a detailed description of which can be found on page 131.

Grappling

• A successful Damage maneuver in Grappling deals damage in net successes, not total successes. However, only for the purposes of determining an exceptional success, use total successes.
• You may not choose the same maneuver twice with an exceptional success.
• When grappled, the target of the grapple does not lose their first turn if they haven’t acted in that round. They may still make a roll to contest the initial grapple and try to escape using the Break Free maneuver, or take another action that the grapple wouldn’t prevent.
• When a player scores an exceptional success, using Break Free after another, initial, move does NOT give you another action unless the other maneuver was also reflexive.

Inspired Condition

If Inspired, Steadfast, Empowered, or another Condition that confers successes, or a lower threshhold of successes, is used to achieve an exceptional success, then Inspired, Steadfast, and/or Empowered cannot be applied again, as the result of that Condition being resolved. Basically, you can't have an endless chain of Inspired Conditions, etc.

Merits from Other Books

Universal merits from other books that are not part of the gamelines we use are allowed if they are listed below:

• Advanced Library (• to •••••) MTA 2e 105 (Only allowed through the House of the Third Ajar Portal MCI)
• Back Roads Atlas (•) HTV 2e 84
• Custom Gear Broker (• to •••) HTV 2e 88
• Face in the Crowd (••) HTV 2e 86
• Killer Instinct (• to •••) BTP 117
• Last Stand (••) HTV 2e 86
• Natural Tinkerer (••) HTV 2e 85
• Subdual (• to •••, Style) HTV 2e 95
• Tight-Lipped (••) HTV 2e 92

Full text of Hunter 2e Merits in use.

Mystery Cults

You may take only five dots in Mystery Cult Initiation (MCI), even if you join more than one. Joining more than one requires justification and approval.

Numina

Defense applies to attacks from Numina that cause damage, including but not limited to Blast. They act as a Firearms attack, and Defense works accordingly.

Professional Training

We do not allow Professional Training on characters.

Prosthetics

Using a prosthetic allows you to temporarily replace the condition with the rules of the prosthetic. It does not relieve the condition per se, but replaces one set of rules with another. Your character then reverts to the condition once they are no longer wearing the prosthetic.

Social Maneuvering

Social Maneuvering works exactly as it's described in the core book and can be used on PCs, though it's customary, polite, and recommended to discuss you intentions OOCly with the other player beforehand.

Sexual Assault

Don't make people read this. Why, why would you do that? It's the World of Darkness, but be thoughtful to your fellow players. Sexual assault can never be depicted on-screen in any way, shape, or form, no matter if it is OOC consented to. As a backstory element, it should only be referenced in the vaguest of terms.

No warnings for this one, zero, you get banned.

Shared Merits

Any group may take shared mundane merits (Resources, Contacts, Allies, Safe Place, etc.) even if their core book does not specify that they are able to do so, with the following restrictions:

• The group has three or more members.
• The group has a linking merit such as Mystery Cult or Hobbyist Clique, or a sphere-specific family group such as a coterie.
• Only members who have contributed to the merit in question can access it.

Specialties

Specialties function as a bonus to rolls made where the Specialty is applicable; they do not increase the base stat. That means that Specialties don't factor into anything where a roll isn't being made, including stats like Defense.

The largest bonus that a single roll can receive from Specialties is +3. That can be 3 different applicable Specialties, or two Specialties where one has Area of Expertise. If multiple applicable Specialties with Area of Expertise apply, the roll's bonus from Specialties still caps out at +3 total.

Specialties do not apply to power activations unless they are specifically for that power, like Specialty (Fetish rite).

Spending XP

• We do not require scene justifications for anything except Civil Society Status above 3, and whatever else is dictated by your splat. If you are a Mortal/+, then that is your only justification trait. Werewolves require justification for Renown above 3. Vampires for any status increases since sanction.
• As long as you meet the justifications for the merit, you can purchase as many dots in a scaled merit or merit style as you wish at one time.

Status

• At character creation, Civil Society Status may not be higher than 2 in one sphere, with 1 in a second sphere.

Switching Venues

• Half splats that are venue specific (wolf blooded, ghoul, etc) will not be allowed to switch venues.
• This will also not be allowed in terms of character history.
• Mortal/Mortal+ will be the only splat that can transition into a full venue as either a half splat, or full splat.

Timekeeping

Time is managed per the following:

• Scene = Scene
• Session = Day
• Chapter = Week
• Story = Month
• Chronicle = A year and a day

Each new chapter/week begins Sunday, server time.

Gyms, Workshops, Tools, & Instruments

Gyms are fixed locations containing gear that serves the function of exercise, sparring, resistance training, etc. They provide a +1 to +3 equipment bonus to that can be spread across Athletics or Brawls rolls, as designated by the Gym Owner. So for Availabiity 5, you could have +2 Athletics, +1 Brawl as a fixed bonus.

Workshops are fixed locations containing tools and equipment that serve a specific function. They provide a +1 to +3 equipment bonus to rolls to create, repair, jury-rig, or modify items within their specific area of focus. They breakdown as follows:

1. +1 Workshop. Availability 1. Size: A small room.
2. +2 Workshop. Availability 3. Size: A single room.
3. +3 Workshop. Availability 5. Size: A garage or large room.

Tools are portable implements that serve a specific function. They provide a +1 or +2 equipment bonus to rolls to create, repair, jury-rid, or modify items within their specific area of focus. They breakdown as follows:

1. +1 Tools. Availability 2. Size: 2
2. +2 Tools. Availability 4. Size: 3

Musical Instruments vary in quality from a 0 bonus to a +3 bonus. This bonus only applies to performances made while playing the instrument, and potentially to social rolls made while holding it at the ST's discretion.

1. +1 Instrument. Availability 1.
2. +2 Instrument. Availability 3.
3. +3 Instrument. Availability 5.

Appropriate descriptions for tools and workshops include: Archaic Weapons, Firearms, Armor, Sewing, Leatherworking, Painting, Electrical, Automotive, Bowyer & Fletcher, etc.

Repositories can be purchased on various subjects at ST Discretion.

1. +1 Repository. Availability 1.
2. +2 Repository. Availability 3.
3. +3 Repository. Availability 5.

House Rule Conditions

Alert

Your character, while not quite on edge, is focused and alert, not easily distracted from the current situation. Perception rolls they make gain a +2 bonus, including rolls to notice an ambush or other surprise.

• Possible Sources: Exceptional success on a Wits + Composure roll.
• Resolution: Fail a perception roll, get surprised, or leave the current location.

Discord

Your character has been the target of a supernatural or otherworldly power, and suffers shock from it. (Contagion Chronicle, p280)

• Possible Sources: Being the target of an exceptional success on a supernatural power activation from a splat-type that is not your own; dramatic failure on a resistance roll against a supernatural power that is not your own splat-type.
• Resolution: Refill your Essence, Ephemera, Plasm or equivalent to 100%.

Empowered

Your character feels charged with supernatural power. Upon gaining this condition from a listed source, note that power. Upon successfully using that power, you may resolve this condition to gain an extra success on the roll. This does not work on contested abilities, however.

• Possible Sources: Exceptional success on a power activation roll or use of a (rolled) template ability.
• Resolution: Gain an extra success on a roll with that power as described above, fail a roll using that power.
  • Note: This cannot be granted directly by magic or other powers unless they explicitly say they do; it's by default only available when you roll an exceptional success on a power.

Ostracized (Protectorate)

Whether or not your character actually did something heinous, the wrong People think she did. This causes disgust or ostracism by the general in-members of the Protectorate. Your character suffers a -2 on any Social rolls against those that know of his notoriety. If using Social Maneuvering (p.81), the character must open one extra Door if his target knows of his notoriety. Oftentimes, this Condition comes from rumors and smear campaigns.

• Beat: Once per session, the player can choose to automatically dramatically fail a power activation roll, or a Social action with one of the People, and take a Beat. Make the choice before rolling.
• Resolution: The character raises their impression with the Protectorate from Hostile to average, opens a number of Doors equal to the ones that were opened to apply the Condition.

Resolute

Having stood up in the face of danger, oppression, or hostility from another, your character finds themselves feeling unshakeable. They gain +2 on any Resolve or Composure rolls used to resist supernatural powers or social dice pools, and +1 for determining Doors for social maneuvering initiated while the character has this condition.

• Possible Sources: Exceptional success resisting a mental power or social roll, or on a resolve + composure roll.
• Resolution: Succumb to supernatural power, fail a resolve or composure roll, end up with the Shaken or Spooked condition, lose Willpower you didn't spend yourself.

Suspicious

You've noticed a lie or other dishonesty from a given character (attach their name to the condition), and they find it harder to trick you because of it. They suffer a −2 penalty on subterfuge, persuasion, or socialize actions against you, and you're considered to have a step worse Impression in Social maneuvering initiated by them while you have the condition.

• Possible Sources: Exceptional Success on Empathy or Subterfuge noticing a lie or other misdirection
• Resolution: Succumb to Social Maneuvering against the character, fail an empathy or subterfuge roll against them, or otherwise let them regain your trust.

Tilt: Agony

Personal

Description: The character feels intense pain, above and beyond what's expected for typical physical trauma. The character suffers injury to a vulnerable part of the anatomy, an agonizing toxin, or a terrible illness.

Effect: Reeling with pain, the character must choose between only one of the following options per turn: moving, performing an instant action (including an attack), benefiting from Defense, or performing a reflexive Strength or Dexterity-based physical action (such as resisting an attack or hazard). For instance, a character who moves may not attack or benefit from Defense. Characters suffering Agony may not perform the Dodge action.

Causing the Tilt: The character suffers the following:

• Burns from acids or extreme heat (fire, red-hot surfaces) that inflict lethal damage in excess of Stamina.
• Further injury (1 point of damage, bashing or lethal) to an specified target already affected by a personal Tilt such as Blinded or Arm Wrack.
• Injury (1 point of damage, bashing or lethal) to a pain point. A pain point is a specified target category that encompasses the liver, genitals, armpits and similar vulnerable areas. Attacks targeting pain points suffer a -5 penalty.
• Certain special Fighting Style maneuvers and other circumstances may also impose the Tilt, such as certain insect stings, degloving injuries, or a maneuver that breaks fingers. Consult listed systems or the Storyteller.

Ending the Tilt: After the first turn, roll Resolve + Stamina as a reflexive action, once per turn. The player may spend Willpower to add dice to this roll. Success ends the Tilt, or it fades at the end of the scene.

[Errata Link]

Mortal House Rules

All of Dark City's House Rules can be found here.

Character Creation

• As with supernatural PCs, Mortals and Mortal+ PCs take 10 merit dots at character creation, in addition to their XP.

Changing Venues

• Mortals have a 90 day waiting period before they can transition to other venues.
• When transitioning to the Werewolf venue, Mortal/+ will first go through a period of being wolfblooded before being able to request the First Change.

Psychokinesis

This Merit only works with material forces, as specified by the book and the intended meaning (kinetic translates to force), and are intended to represent only a single force. So you might have Cryokinesis (Cold), but you would not have Cryohydraulic (Cold and Water). The merit may be taken no more than once.

Microtemplates

Microtemplates are limited to the merits with in their template. The one exception to this is supernatural merits granted through an MCI.

Stat Tracking

• Health, Willpower and other vital stats are tracked through your characters Tracking page.

Werewolf House Rules

Character Creation

• You get free dots in Moon Gifts according to your Auspice Renown, two Facets of Shadow Gifts from your Tribe and Auspice, and one facet of a Wolf Gift.
• In addition to what's in the book, you may choose a Blood and Bone from the Blood and Bone list, or submit your own using the rules listed on that page.
• Upon character creation, you are limited to one Renown at 3, and the rest may be at 2 or below.
• Upon character creation, you are limited to Primal Urge 3 or lower.

Custom Abilities and Items

• The following may be custom-made: Fetishes and Talens, Pack and Wolf Rites, Pack Tactics, Wolf-Blooded Tells, and Lodges.

Downtime Actions

• The limit is one per week, not inclusive of EQ buys and XP spends.

Essence

• There are a number of publically available Loci that werewolves may use to gain access to the Hisil, or to replenish their Essence. It is assumed that you regain 3 Essence per week via access to normal, public Loci.
• You regain a point of Essence the first time you see your auspice moon at night.
• The merit Dedicated Locus also provides 3 Essence per day per dot in it. If you're sharing this merit with a pack, you're still limited to 3 Essence per point per day, and may divvy it up how you see fit among you.

Fetishes and Talens

• When crafted, Fetishes and Talens must be supported by dots in Resources or Esoteric Armory equal to their rating.

Fighting Styles

• Human Fighting Styles (Boxing, Martial Arts) and Movement Styles (Parkour) can only be used in Hishu and Dalu.

Gifts

• The Pure Gift trees from Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon are permitted: Agony, Blood, Disease, Fervor, and Hunger. These are all considered non-affinity.
• The Gift of City (non-affinity) and the Gift of Essence are permitted: read them here.
• The Gift of Metal has been House Ruled in.
• The Gift of Sun has been House Ruled in.
• The Gift of Emotion from Ephemeral Influence is permitted.
• Gift of Evasion (Purity): Hit and Run does not allow a free Dodge. Instead, the user must roll the contested pool to achieve a free Dodge. If they lose the contested roll they must contend with the attack per normal.

Hunting Natures

• Hunting Natures are not in use; no drawbacks or benefits of Hunting Nature Conditions are granted.

Justifications

• All Renown of 3 and above must be justified by a scene log reflecting the Renown earned.
• Raising Primal Urge requires participation in ST scenes equal to the Primal Urge you wish to increase to. If you are at Primal Urge 3 and you want Primal Urge 4, you must participate and show 4 scene logs since you became Primal Urge 3. For Primal Urge over 5, at least half these scenes must be rated as deadly.

Milestone Gifts

• Once an Uratha achieves their Auspice Renown at 6, they innately unlock their Auspice’s Milestone Gift.

• Irraka (Cunning 6): Shadow Thief
  • The Irakka may steal the use of the Numina typically associated with spirits and ghosts, though she may take those of stranger ephemeral beings. The Irraka must spend time studying the Numina in use, researching its effects on both the Material and the Shadow. The mechanics of this will be discussed with the STs when the power is attempting to be stolen. The Irraka may purchase Numina for 3 XP each. If the Numina requires a roll, it is Wits + Subterfuge + Cunning.
• Ithaeur (Wisdom 6): Words of Power
  • The Ithaeur channels great spiritual power and may focus the occult energies that lesser Uratha would take hours to build into seconds. Once per chapter the Ithaeur may change the casting roll of any rite to an Instant action, requiring only 1 success or 5 successes for an exceptional. If the rite is contested, the target rolls its contesting dice pool as a reflexive action. This Gift does not remove any material requirements for the rite.
• Elodoth (Honor 6): Absolute Authority
  • The Elodoth enforces the societal structures of both Material and Shadow. By spending a point of Willpower, the Elodoth may see all beings in Twilight, scent illusions, and smell mind control control. Scenting an illusion or mind control requires a successful Wits + Socialize + Honor roll with a penalty equal to the successes used to create the effect. Additionally, the Elodoth may spend a point of Essence and, once per scene, use one of the following effects:
    • The Elodoth may force a being in Twilight into its native realm. This requires a Presence + Socialize + Honor roll contested by the being’s Resistance + Rank, or Composure + Power Stat. Uratha affected by this Gift may choose either the Shadow or the Material World to return to.
    • The Elodoth may destroy an illusion, mind control or compulsion effect she has detected. This requires a Clash of Wills against the creator of the effect.
• Cahalith (Glory 6): Songs of Uplifting Glory
  • The Cahalith’s Glory becomes legendary and for all to see. Once per scene when the Cahalith spends a Willpower point on a roll, she may refuse the three extra dice. Instead, if the roll would fail it succeeds with 1 success. If she rolled any successes on the roll, it becomes an exceptional success. Any who bear witness to her succeeding are awed by her Glory and gain the Inspired Condition.
• Rahu (Purity 6): Luna’s Gaze
  • Blessed by the light of the full moon, the character is impossible to surprise and is always able to roll Initiative to join a Surprise Round directed at her or her allies. Her Initiative gains a bonus equal to her Purity in all battles. Finally, no foe can hide from the inner light of the full moon. Rolling a failure to spot a hidden opponent instead succeeds in letting the Rahu know an opponent is nearby, though not exactly where.

Moon Taint

• Moon Taint causes Poisoned at "moderate".

Packs

• Pack Experience will not be in use. Totem advantages and Pack merits will work as normal.
• Packs make take any mundane Shared Merit tagged (Motley), and the same rules apply; to reap the benefit of the shared Merit, you must have purchased into it.
• Pack Composite Sheet that combines Pack, Safe Place, and Totem into one.
• At this time, we are not permitting Packs to exceed 5 Player Character members.

Pack Beats

• A Pack Beat will be earned by any pack using teamwork during their weekly hunt submission rolls.
• Pack Beats may be earned in several other ways by ST decision. Examples might be: scenes during which the pack operated together, DT actions involving teamwork by the pack, coordinating efforts on behalf of the pack during social scenes.
  • You are not guaranteed these Beats and fishing for Beats is discouraged. Actively pushing to work together is another story and there is a fine line between the two. Ultimately this will be ST approval.

Pack Tactics

• Rules follow those laid out in The Pack.
• Wolf-Blooded in a pack may use Pack Tactics as-is without needing any special Tells or gimmicks.
• Packs do not begin play with any Tactics.
• Pack tactics will be purchased for 1 pack xp per dot instead of 2.

Custom Tactics

• Rules are laid in The Pack on how to design custom Tactics.
• Packs may submit a Tactic for approval in advance while they are training to learn it, but may not have more than one custom Tactic in the approval queue at one time. The approved custom Tactic must be acquired by the pack, paid in full, before another custom Tactic may be submitted.
  • See the list of approved custom tactics here

Renown

• Raising Renown in-play to or beyond 3 must be justified.
• You are limited to one Renown at 3 to start, the rest must be at 2 or below.

Rites

• The Merits Good Time Management and Patient apply to Rites.
• When you learn a Rite from someone else, you do not have to inherit their dice pool. You may select your own, representing your own spin on the Rite.
• Forge Alliance is not available to Player Characters.

Spirit Interactions

• Werewolves predate spirits; do not assume that they will just up and talk to you and give you information instead of scurrying away, or flat out ignoring you.
  • You must have Contacts or Allies to reliably get intel from spirits regarding anything of specific interest.
  • Contacts or Allies cannot simply reflect (Spirits); they must reflect a specific group/kind of spirits, and your inquiry must be relevant to the spirits you have ties/merits with.
  • Even with these merits, spirits always take payment in gathra (Essence). This is normally 1-2 Essence for something of small value, and more if the value is greater. ST discretion applies.
• Getting information from the spirits requires the same mechanical avenues (Contacts, Allies) as getting information from anyone else.
• As with everything else, there are instances where you need a critical piece of information that is not reflected in your current Contacts or Allies. You are encouraged to collaborate with other Werewolves to get the "in".
• In some cases, you may be able to "find" where certain spirits are hanging out, and coax them with Social Maneuvering and bribe them with more gathra than usual, but this is not reliable, and will work less and less the more that you rely on it, as spirits notice you are an easy mark for payment who has no networks and allies of their own.

Wolf-Blooded

• Wolf-Blooded do not require the Primal Instincts Tell to participate in Pack tactics.
• Wolf-Blooded may lead any rite they know. No specific Tells are required.
• Wolf-Blooded may take the merits: Supernatural Resistance, Aura Reading, Mind of a Madman, Cursed, Unseen Sense, Clairvoyance, Laying on Hands, Animal Speech (Canines) and Medium.
• Wolf-Blooded of particular tribes may take the following merits: Alchemy (Iron Masters), Biokinesis & Advanced Biokinesis (Blood Talons), Countermagic Ward (Bone Shadows), Warding (Hunters in Darkness), Weather Control (Storm Lords bypassing pre-reqs)

Essence Tracking

• Essence and other vital stats are tracked through your Tracker page.

Vampire House Rules

Blood

Who Can Be Thralled?

• Players must consent to blood bonding their PC oocly.
• All PCs and NPCs can be blood bound to a vampire.
• PCs and NPCs can only be fully bound to a single vampire at once.
• Ghouls are always fully bound to their Regnant.
  • A complete blood bond does not stop a Geist from acting in their own interest apart from the blood bound Sin-Eater.
  • Blood Bonding among Kindred is heavily frowned on and considered taboo, as is sharing The Kiss. In New York City under Prince Mab, the definition of perversion includes any blood bonds between kindred outside of the sire/childe relationship, it is otherwise completely illegal.

Who Can Be Ghouled?

• Players must consent to ghouling their PC oocly.
• PC/NPC Mortals
  • Mortal+ PC/NPCs will lose their supernatural merits when ghouled.
• Half Splats, such as Wolf Bloods or Fae Touched can NOT be ghouled.

Who Can Be Embraced?

• Players must consent to embracing their PC oocly.
• Mortals
  • Mortal+ will lose their supernatural merits when embraced. They can go through SoM to get their points returned.
• Half Splats, such as Wolf Bloods or Fae Touched can NOT be embraced.
• Full Splats, such as Werewolves, Changelings, and Sin-Eaters, can NOT be embraced.

Hunting & Vitae

• It's assumed all Kindred have access to at least daily vitae to sustain their Requiem and The Blush unless otherwise noted for backstory or plot.
• Once weekly a player can roll for hunting. Please note hunting grounds, herd, flock, etc.. are all presumed to be within your covenants own territory. Unaligned get direction from the Seneschal for where they are to feed.
• See the specific Dark City rules on Hunting.
• Vitae cannot be gained from any PC aside from noted ghouls. (You may still feed from other PCs, but you do not mechanically benefit from it.)
  • An exception is allowed in order to wake a PC vampire from Torpor, where the requisite vitae may be donated by another kindred PC.
  • To feed from any Supernatural (full splat PC or NPCs) you must take the Unnatural Affinity Merit.
• At least one roll per month should take into account your vitae given to your ghouls.
• See the BP 6+ section for more rules relating to higher blood potency.

Keep track of your Vitae, WP, and Health with the PC Tracker template.

The Blood Bond

• This is literally the rules as written in the book, and so hardly a House Rule, but it is frequently misunderstood due to past experiences in other games and gamelines.

When discussing the blood bond, Kindred often speak of total domination, witlessness, and complete servile, submissive behavior. This is a popular image, but very far from the truth.
The blood bond does not leave you without free will or helpless. Rather, it means you are more likely to agree with what your regnant wants, or at least argue your points less. It also means that you have trouble thinking about bringing harm to that person, and actually acting on the desire to do direct or indirect harm to them requires a heroic effort. A thing most ghouls will never accomplish, or want to.

Traits

Merits

• No Coil of Zirnitra.
• Vampires cannot start with Status above 2 in City or their Covenant, and may hold status in two Covenants at most. With the rules for Covenant Status outlined in the book, this means they may have 2 status in one covenant and 1 in another, or may have 1-2 status in one Covenant.
• Increasing City/Covenant Status after sanction requires Status Justifications.
• We are not using Clan status.
• Ghouls, whether PC's or Retainers, cannot have any mortal+ merits. Nor may they take any merits with the Prerequisite: Human Only. Vampires cannot feed from their Ghouls, and must use Herd for such benefits. The Producer Merit is thus unavailable to Ghouls. They may not learn Devotions, Blood Sorcery, Theban Sorcery, Carthian Laws, Ordo Coils or Scales, or Invictus Oaths.
• The benefits of tech savvy do not apply to weapons.
• Great Prophecy is not available for use.
• We have a literal interpretation of the Striking Looks merit vis-à-vis "Determine how your character looks and how people react to that. Depending on the particulars, this might influence Expression, Intimidation, Persuasion, Subterfuge, or other rolls." When choosing the merit, we do want you to actually add a qualifier about how your looks are striking and how people react to that. If you are striking in a Marilyn Monroe way, it'll more likely affect Persuasion, if you are striking in a Marilyn Manson way, that might be more likely affect intimidation. In general situations, SL will apply generally, but in specific situations, SL may have unexpected effects, or no effect at all. Some people wouldn't bat an eye at Marilyn Manson.

Blood Potency

• PCs may start with up to 3 Blood Potency in character creation, using either their free merit dots as per the book or their available XP. See the BP 6+ section for more rules relating to higher blood potency.

Disciplines and Ghouls

• PCs may not learn Disciplines via Ghouls.
• Contests and Resistance: When a Discipline would be contested or resisted by one of the Kindred, the ghoul may not add his Discipline dots to his own roll. If he has any stage of blood bond to the vampire, the Discipline fails automatically.
• Spilling Blood: If a Discipline power requires the user to spill blood or feed it to someone (such as Raise the Familiar), the ghoul may not use it. You as a player may buy the power on the way to purchasing another one, however.

Merits and Other Forms

• Fighting Style (such as martial arts) and Movement style (such as parkour) require a humanoid form to use. Barbs, claws, or other similar adaptations do not inhibit these styles, but more drastic changes such as wings or turning into smoke will.
• Storytellers have final say of what does and doesn't inhibit this, when in doubt: communicate!

Humanity

• Humanity purchased does qualify for SoM if you lose it IC due to embracing, etc, but there will be a consequence of a waiting period to repurchase. If it's your first instance of rebuying Humanity you've lost, you'll have to wait 1 month. Your second instance, you'll wait 2 months and so forth. You can not gain XP for base Humanity at character creation.

• Characters at Humanity 3 or less will be carefully watched to ensure their character's behavior is not too antagonistic, or disruptive to the themes or setting of Dark City. If a character reaches this point, there will be a discussion, and they will be give the option to purchase Humanity back to 3+ via XP, desanction, or become an NPC.

Nosferatu Clan Bane

• When dealing with humans, treat the Nosferatu’s Humanity as two dots lower for the purpose of Social penalties, and treat any Presence and Manipulation failures as dramatic failures. This bane does not apply to interactions with Touchstones or Kindred. - For the purposes of the game, you do not suffer mechanical penalties, but Vampires and Touchstones still do not feel comfortable in your presence. Your blood still embodies fear and disgust. This should be roleplayed out and not ignored.

What is and is not "Sorcery"?
Various abilities in vampire refer generally to sorcery as a concept that can be opposed through merits such as Coda against Sorcery, Sorcerous Eunuch, etc. The definition of this material is vague as Vampire was written outside of the context of other spheres and they do not share consistent terminology. For our purposes here, we define it as such:

• What is sorcery
  • Any extended, instant, or reflexive ability that explicitly refers to itself as magic, a spell, a ritual, or sorcery (EG: blood sorcery, a mage's spells, a Sin-Eater's magical Ceremonies or something else, so long as it is explicitly defined as magic, a spell, a ritual, or sorcery).
  • Supernatural abilities which require an extended action to perform, such as werewolf rites, Cruac rites, Theban Sorcery miracles, the Sojourner merit, etc.

• What is not sorcery
  • Supernatural powers which are not explicitly described as magic, spells, rituals, or sorcery and which do not require an extended action to perform, such as most vampire disciplines or devotions, werewolf gifts, Sin-Eater Haunts, Numina, Dread Powers, and more at ST discretion.

• Edge Cases
  • Crusade has language that implies that in specific contexts it works on more active effects that are likely to come up in combat, including disciplines, devotions, gifts, rites, and such. For general purposes, check the above criteria, but the specific language of any given dot of this fighting style may specifically call out exceptions in the application of that specific dot. The ST has discretion over what does and does not apply.
  • Anything Sorcerous Eunuch defends against is necessarily something they would no longer be capable of performing themselves. Consider this heavily when taking the merit.
  • Coda Against Sorcery can affect any and all abilities that meet the above criteria, assuming you also have observed the general strain of sorcery before. If you have never seen a mage cast an improvised spell and are not versed in the basic way they work, your Coda will not protect you from the first such spell you encounter, but if you have seen one cast or are versed in the basic way they work, the Coda will (somewhat) protect you from any other mage's improvised spells, not just that particular spell nor that particular mage's spells. The Coda must be updated in a ticket to account for what it can and cannot protect you from, which necessarily means that such improvements to its protective qualities do not adapt mid-scene. You do not have experience with any sorcery you cannot use yourself unless that experience is in a logged scene and approved by an ST. No backgrounds will be approved where you learned about Werewolf Rites or Cruac or any such thing unless you can actually do it yourself.

OOC

Consent

• All players must consent to their PC having a blood bond, or getting embraced oocly. ICly there is allowed to be some conflict, but heavy drama, or drama that leads to antagonistic outcomes are not allowed. Please communicate between players to discuss the desired outcome of IC actions before proceeding. If you have questions please contact Staff.

PCs

• Only one PC per player may have any of the above connections in the Vampire Sphere. If you have a thrall, ghoul, or a vampire, your other PC may not become any of these.

Companion Book Material

• All materials from companion books are at ST's discretion. This list is not exclusive.

• Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition (aka Blood & Smoke: The Strix Chronicle)
  • and also the FAQs
• Refer to The approved books page. Vampire-specific books listed here are available with the caveats noted on that page. Other books which are considered generally available to all include Hurt Locker and the Dark Eras books at this time.

BP 6+

Running a venue with vampires at higher levels of blood potency is something we want, but we also want to appropriately reflect the challenges one faces as their blood potency climbs. To that end, we have a set of House Rules, subject to change or withdrawal at any time, which will act as a guide for how this might change your experience in this venue.

Herd and Flock:

• At Blood Potency 6 or higher, the effects of Herd and Flock are halved for the purposes of determining the amount of vitae they provide. Herd 5, for example, would provide 5 vitae that can sustain a vampire who requires kindred vitae to feed. For both merits, the vampire may spend an additional WP per dot to garner an additional vitae, representing tapping into human sources. Herd 1 would allow you to spend 1 WP for an additional vitae, herd 5 would allow you to spend up to 5 for up 5 additional vitae, and if you had Herd 5 and Flock 5, you would have 10 vitae available as well as the ability to spend up to 10 willpower for up to 10 more vitae per week. The willpower gained from using flock as herd is capped at one willpower gained per week.

Passive Vitae:

• Kindred at Blood Potency 6 or higher, without some special means of getting vitae or an equivalent, don't get free passive vitae for waking or using the blush of life, meaning they must spend 1 vitae per day to wake and 1 vitae per scene to benefit from the blush (though they benefit from relevant duration and cost modifiers from abilities such as The Warm Face). They may hunt normally, but must spend WP for every point of vitae gained on a dot for dot basis.

Unnatural Affinity:

• Kindred may purchase Unnatural Affinity for a relatively populous supernatural creature that they have a means of feeding from. This must be worked out with the ST's and is not guaranteed. Ghosts are fairly common, but most vampires have no means of feeding from them even with the Unnatural Affinity Merit, for example. If they have both the Merit and the Means, they regain the lost benefit of the free passive vitae for waking each day and using the blush of life within reason. We will not be accepting Unnatural Affinity for Werewolves or Changelings at this time, to prevent crossover headaches. Mages, Mummies, and other supernatural creatures may be too rare in the setting to qualify as well for these purposes, and you must have actual lived experience with the variety of supernatural creature noted in order to purchase the merit for them. Deciding to research Angels in your library one day is not going to work out.

Hunting with Unnatural Affinity:

• Kindred with an approved unnatural affinity may hunt the associated creature similarly to a normal hunting ticket. Unlike normal hunting actions, however, these will be contested. In addition, some methods used to hunt mortals may not be transferable to supernatural prey, at ST discretion. If you succeed at the contest, you will get your successes (not net successes) in vitae. If you fail, you get nothing. If you choose to dramatically fail, the ST will determine the consequences, which could involve a potentially fatal scene. When hunting such prey, kindred are given two options:
  • Easy Prey will contest their hunting roll with around 10 dice. While you can get an exceptional in this contest, that exceptional will not refill your vitae entirely as it used to.
  • Challenging Prey will contest the hunting roll with 15-20 dice. Getting an exceptional in this contest will refill your vitae entirely.
  • Prey with less than 10 dice to contest with are unavailable for hunting, and are represented by the free vitae you are granted to wake/blush, as mentioned before.

Other means and methods:

• Kindred are welcome to pursue other methods to acquire reliable sources of vitae that meets their dietary requirements. These means must be gathered from presently approved materials, and will not be simplified with custom devotions of any kind. We will adjudicate the full benefits of these methods on a case by case basis as they come up, and we will update this section to reflect those rulings, which will be applicable to any who so qualify. We will not be allowing kindred to hunt other kindred for vitae at this time. The rule prohibiting PC's as sources of vitae will also persist outside of the existing caveat for getting one out of torpor.

Changeling House Rules

Joining The Sphere

• No previous Full Splat can become a Changeling or Fae-Touched.
  • No Venue specific half splat can become a Changeling or Fae-Touched.
• Only mortal or mortal+ can make a transition to Changeling or Fae-Touched.
  • Previous Mortal+ lose all their supernatural benefits/merits when becoming Changeling. If becoming Fae-Touched they may retain approved Fae-Touched supernatural merits but will lose the rest.

Clarity Damage & Healing

• All Clarity Damage must be listed on the tracker, along with any conditions earned.
• All Healing interactions with Touchstone must be submitted via a ticket with a log of the interaction. Players cannot remove Clarity Damage, only STs can after approval of the log.

Contracts

Pupil's Devotion

• A Changeling may make use of this equal to their Wyrd rating. A Fae-Touched may make use of it once.
  • This includes all instances of out of Seeming Benefits and Contract discounts.

Autumn's Fury

• The Changeling must have access to the outdoors to harness this power. A magical loophole in this is a rendition of likeness of the same on a part of the setting she wishes to invoke the power at, such as a mural on a wall, or a painting sitting on an easel. It can not be something carried on the Changeling.

Changeling Hours

• If a Wizened wants to make this contract permanent with willpower you need to open a ticket.

Chrysalis

• For anything beyond mundane animals not already statted, please submit a ticket to discuss with the ST.
• Fighting Styles and Movement Styles do not work in animal form.

Helios Light

• Blindness lasts one turn.

Talon and Wing

• The transportation benefit adds 10 to speed; it does not let you fly, or swim to great depths.

Mastermind's Gambit

• The plan you create with Mastermind's Gambit is an Item that grants you +5 equipment bonus only to the person who has the Item.

Fetch

• You can not take Fetches as Retainer. You can gain your Fetch as Allies and Contacts.
• The Freehold will see a Fetch that is close to you as a potential helper.

Fae Mount

• You may have a number of Fae Mounts equal to your Wyrd, but only 1 on screen at a time.

Fae-Touched

• Fae-Touched don't have Mantle, but may join courts for the protection/association if they wish. They gain 1 dot of Court Goodwill for free when they join.
• Fae-Touched may earn Court Goodwill in any of the courts, including their own in lieu of Mantle.
• Fae-Touched can use Trifles and Tokens.
• Fae-Touched can use the following Changeling Merits:
  • Arcadian Metabolism, Diviner, Fae-Mount, Hedge Sense.
• Fae-Touched can use the following Mortal+ Merits:
  • Supernatural Resistance
• Fae-Touched may carry 1 goblin fruit into Ironside.
• You can take Fae-Touched as a Retainers with the following conditions:
  • The Fae-Touched must be same Court as Player Character.
  • The Fae-Touched's Contract dots are restricted by the number invested in Merit (ex. 5 dot Retainer gets 5 dots of Contracts; 3 dot Retainer allows one Contract that costs 3xp to acquire, etc.)
  • Retainers can only to be used as downtime actions and light scene fluff.
  • Retainers can only be used Ironside or in a Hollow -- not in the Hedge.
  • Retainers may have dots in Court Good Will equal to half their merit dots rounded down.

TEMPLATE

SKILLS
1.
2. 
3. 

CONTRACTS
(The Fae-Touched's Contract dots are restricted by the number invested in Merit (ex. 5 dot Retainer gets 5 dots of Contracts; 3 dot Retainer allows one Contract that costs 3xp to acquire, etc.) 

MERITS
(A Retainer can have access to twice the Merit dots in her own Merits. They must take Court Goodwill in the same court that the Player Character is a member of.)

Frailties

• Banes: A bane is a physical item or material that causes the Changeling great harm.
  Birchwood soaked in water or glass from a church window.

• Taboo: A taboo is a behavioral restriction or compulsion.
  Your character can not enter doorways first when in a group or may not accept gifts from total strangers.

• Minor frailties are things that only happen occasionally.
  You can't wear shoes on Fridays. If someone plays a particular Mozart sonata, you are physically pained, and can't stand to be within earshot.

• Major frailties have a severe impact on day to day life.
  You can't wear anything which would cover your feet. Music of any kind wards you away, and you are seriously damaged by its presence until you can escape earshot.

Glamour Harvesting

• Changelings can roll once per week to harvest Glamour.
  • See CtL pg 103 for Harvesting Rules.
• Oneiromancy Harvesting and Reaping IC can only be done via scene request.
• Changelings can harvest normally IC from PCs. The PC from whom Glamour has been harvested must update their Tracker to note that the WP is being lost due to Glamour harvesting, and indicate the name of the Changeling.
  • If the PC being harvested or reaped from has a Supernatural Potency trait (Blood Potency, Primal Urge, etc..) and is resisting they may make a Clash of Wills to not only notice what is happening but stop the fae from gathering any Glamour and therefore WP. See Clash of Wills for which rules to apply.
    • If the Changeling wins the clash they may Harvest as normal and the opposing side has no idea where the loss of WP came from.
    • If the opposing side wins, they know that the Changeling is somehow attempting to take away their energy. It does not reveal the Changeling's nature or how they were attempting to do such a thing.
• If an ST scene begins and you've not done a Harvesting Roll the week of, you will start with Half your max Glamour rounded up.

Keep track of your Glamour, WP, and Health with the PC Tracker template.

Goblin Contracts & Debt

• Use your Tracker to track your Goblin Debt, and please notify the ST with the change. I'll be keeping track myself as well!
• Contracts must be purchased from a Market Scene.
• While it's believed there is a chance for Goblin Debt to be worked off, OOCly, there is not.

Hedge Fruit & Oddment Harvesting

• The Merit Goblin Bounty dictates how many Fruits and Oddments you have at one time. These can not be sought after weekly and stored up. The only way to raise how many you have at once is to raise the merit.
  • If you do not have Hollow, the extra fruits that can't be carried, can not be stored during that time.
  • These fruits and oddments will be random, rolled for by an ST (with a system made by Keller.
  • If you wish to have access to specific fruits each week, you may combine this merit with Hollow + Workshop (Goblin Fruit Farming) to designate which fruits you're tending. One dot of workshop for each type.
    • Oddments may not be farmed.

Hedgespinning

• Hedgespinning cannot create any item that violates the crafting system. This does not apply to the Hedgespun Token merit.

Hobgoblins

• You can not take Hobgoblins as a Retainer with Dreadpowers.
  • If you wish you can take Hobgoblin or Hedgebeast Retainer without Dread Powers.
• You can gain Hobgoblins as Allies and Contacts.

Loopholes

• (New Mechanic!) The Wyrd Takes Its Toll: Every time a PC uses a Loophole instead of paying the cost of Glamour for a contract, the Wyrd levies against them in a small fashion. STs will keep track of this and add a die to a pool each time, to be rolled at the ST's will and used against the PC for dramatic effect. It could take the form of a Clarity Attack, a condition, a botched roll, etc...

Players will start with a fresh slate each season, but in between there is a chance to repay the Wyrd with the Balance The Ledger Ritual.

Mien

• We do not allow extra full useable limbs in Miens.
• Tails, Ears and Antennae can be written for fluff purposes but have no mechanical benefit.
• If your character has wings they can not use them in any scenes without using a Contract that might give you the use of flight.
• Elememtals may not choose Iron as their element, nor may any contracts use Iron as its element.

Pledges & Oath

• You can not form a Pledge without Consent.
• For every Oath, Pledge and Promises of Service you need to create a ticket with the person in question and make sure that it will be written down on your sheet until it is broken or solved.
• Those Pledges and Oath need to be happen on-screen in the DNYC server.

Mantle & Court Goodwill

• Changelings are limited to Mantle 3 at chargen, and may spend experience to acquire Mantle 4 after one month of playing.
• Fae-Touched may start with Court Goodwill 2 in their own Court. As with changelings and Mantle, they can raise it to Court Goodwill 3 after one month of playing.
  • Changelings are limited to Court Goodwill 1 at chargen.
  • Every additional Court Goodwill needs justification.
• Mantle and Court Goodwill raises require justification after chargen.

Motley

• Only characters in a Motley can use shared Motley merits.
• Motleys are maxed at 5 PCs. Fae-Touched count as full members.

Custom Content

• You may have a custom Needles and Threads, but please submit it for approval before submitting your PC
• Characters are allowed to make custom tokens, trifles, and goblin fruits. Note: the site's policy in regard to custom items means that each character may not make more than one per of their venue's unique custom contents (for example: you could apply for one custom token and one customs trifle. But not two tokens).

All content submitted is still subject to ST approval.