Three Decades in Blood: True Blood

True Blood a current HBO series based on Southern Vampire Mysteries novels that has much in common with the vampires presented in Requiem and Masquerade. The largest single difference has more to do with the setting in which they reside namely that this is a blend of horror and supernatural romance where the truth of vampires existence is known and "accepted" by humanity at large. That is to say that there existence afforded the same rights and protections that the rest of the citizens of the US enjoy. Despite a diet of human blood they are able to survive purely on an artificial blood stock something that makes this coexistence possible. Its a creative setting in a post Masquerade, post Buffy, post Millennial look at the vampire legend and is laden with the all the sex and death Alan Ball can bring to the show. It doesn't hurt the series runs in an uncensored format. 

Systems:

Clan

Only Daeva

Blood Potency

Vampires are not subject to the diet restrictions of high Blood Potency.
Predator's Taint
Do not suffer from the effect of Predator's Taint.

The Embrace

Vampires sire exactly as in Vampire the Requiem however the transformation takes 24 hours and requires that the 'maker' bury themselves alongside of the intended vampire, this establishes the deep mystical bond that ties a newly made vampire to its creator.

The Blood

Vampires cannot perform or be subjected to Diablerie. Vinculum does not function among vampires but it does have the first level and second level upon human beings and invariably cause sexual fantasies about the vampire responsible for the Vinculum. Ghouls can only gain access physical disciplines. A human who consumes vampire blood outside of the vampires body becomes a Ghoul although only for the duration of a scene after which they become subject to a random affect of a drug (determined by the Storyteller). For example if Carter downs a Vial of "V" he may experience the dreamy affect of LSD or find himself with a serious case of the munchies. Blood addiction remains the same, however vampires themselves are not subject to it. 
Maker & Progeny
While Blood Ties & Blood Sympathy remains they are only between the Maker and their Progeny. Active use of Blood Sympathy to send strong feelings add a +3 bonus. Treat any command issued by a Maker (ie "As your Maker I command you....") to a Progeny as though the Maker was utilizing Mesmerize and achieved a single success on the roll against the Progeny, this costs a single point of Willpower. At any point the Maker may utilize Summoning to call the Progeny this is rolled as normal but costs only a single point of willpower.
Disciplines

Can utilize Celerity, Vigor, Resilience, Majesty, and Dominate. They begin with a single dot in Auspex(limited to 1), Celerity, Vigor, and Resilience and an additional three points to spread among the rest. They may also purchase the power of Flight (limited by the speed at which they can run) for 16 experience.

Physiology & Torpor 

Vampires do not suffer from Torpor. They may choose to remain awake during the day if they choose with no ill affect. If deprived of sleep during the day they will suffer from a condition known as the Bleeds. The first time a vampire remains awake for a 24 hour period without 'sleep' they lose an additional point of Vitae. This 'bleeding' period is reduced by half each cycle. (ie In addition to the "waking" cost another Vitae point is lost at 24, 36, 42, 45 hours and an additional point every hour after that). A vampire who runs out of Vitae begins to suffer a level of Aggravated damage in place of the Vitae that would normally animate them. This also applies when a vampire runs out of Vitae. 

Sunlight
UV rays are damaging like the rays of the Sun, however they inflict Lethal damage rather than Aggravated.

Final Death

A vampire staked with a wooden implement immediately bursts into a torrent of gore leaving only a pile of offal.

Banes
These can be found in The Danse Macabre and are identical save where changes have been listed below.
Lethal Bindings pg. 197, Silver.
Uninvited pg.195 A character cannot enter into a home unless invited, if uninvited they are immediately forced out as though blown like paper in a strong wind.
Vulnerability pg. 194, UV Lights, use the sunlight chart for determining damage.
Vulnerability, severe pg. 194, Silver. 

Storytelling
The vampires of True Blood are nearly identical to those presented in Masquerade and Requiem, although with the sexual aspects dialed up to 11. Strange Dead Love is a great place to start for constructing stories based on the ideas of supernatural romance and sexuality. A extremely devoted vampire 'fan' could have forged this Daeva bloodline by accident based on her own skewed perceptions about her condition as one of the damned. The setting however, is certainly worth a look. It sets vampires in a neofeudal society dealing with the consequences and difficulties of trying to live out in the open.  Rather than present the fall of the masquerade as an apocalyptic event, as in World of Darkness Mirrors,True Blood could serve as a starting point for running a game about bringing vampires out of the shadows and into the real world. There's certainly parallels between the vampire sects in True Blood and those in the Masquerade. A game could revolve around averting the terrorist plots of the Sabbat (or causing them), erasing evidence showing vampires in a negative light, or lobbying congress to expand the rights of undead Americans.

Equipment
Tru Blood
Durability 1, Size 0, Structure 1, Cost (•)
Bottles of Tru Blood provide all the sustenance a vampire could need with none of the enjoyable afterglow. Treat as stored plasma. A vampire has to drink a full 6 pack in order to garnish a single point of Vitae. Further the first time its imbibed the vampire must roll Resolve + Composure and accumulate 3 successes to finish it.
New & Modified Merits
Herd 
In this setting Herd Merit cost is cut in half due to the prevalence of  open vampire bars, clubs, and other establishments.
Relationship (replaced by Ties) 
This Merit functions as per Relationship, see: The Danse Macabre,  but is expanded to include, places and things of extraordinary value or significance in the character's life. Uses of the object do not immediately gain the benefit of Ties (no +5 Axe of my Ancestors) rather action taken to secure, obtain, or protect them do. Objects are limited to something that could reasonably fit within a single room (a car is fine, a battleship is not), and places are limited to small towns, neighborhoods, or buildings (family estate, local cemetery, Hell's Kitchen are acceptable Manhattan or the Rockies is not).
Family (•-•••)
Effect: Vampires are not always afforded the opportunity to leave mortal life without leaving mortals behind. Whether every family member who knew the character in life has since expired, or they simply have thought the vampire truly dead they've welcomed her home. Each dot represents the level of interest and willingness to provide support to the Kindred and the ability of the family to do so. One could represent a Kindred who can expect favorable dealings with distant cousins (or generations), three would represent  complete acceptance into the family.
Storytellers are encouraged to come up with reasonable guide lines for how much support the family can provide but a good rule of thumb an equal number of Merit dots can be substituted once per story equal to the rating of Old Family. For example Deborah has returned to her family after ten years of absence (Old Family ••) her parents have passed on but her twin's family treat her reasonably well. She loses her haven to a fire and her sister lets her sleep her days away in the basement, as long as she agrees to be locked in (giving her a temporary Haven ••).
Drawbacks: Clearly a vampires existence is a dangerous one and a Kindred's family represents a target to the character's enemies. Much like Allies, Family is a two way street, characters who abuse their Family might find them quickly deserting them.

Fangbanger (•••)
Prerequisite: mortal only
Effect: For some mortals the Kiss is more than just an act of feeding its an act of love, lust, and power all at once. Some mortals offer up their blood just for such a thrill over time they gain a certain sensitivity to vampires and resilience to the affects of the Kiss. They gain the benefit of Unseen Sense (vampires), +1 bonus to Resolve + Composure rolls to resist the Kiss should they choose (most don't), they are also treated as having the Quick Healer merit for the purpose of recovering from blood loss from the Kiss.
Drawback: In most mortal communities there are those that are prejudice to those who willing give themselves to vampires. Additionally some vampires view these "wanna be's" with little more than condensation. 


Legally Undead (••)
Effect: Kindred with this Merit have followed all the paperwork and correct documentation to "come out" into mortal society. They are treated largely as having all the same rights and privileges as mortals, so long as they continue to pay their taxes.
Drawback: The transition isn't quiet perfect...yet, Storytellers may add a single complication to any normal bureaucratic related activity (such as a trip to the DMV or a fishing license) and of course like any citizen the character is now subject to the laws of the land.

Tru Blood Junkie (••)

A vampire with this merit loves Tru Blood, for whatever reason the character has been able to overcome the natural distaste for the artificial blood substitute and gets slightly more nourishment than the rest of the damned. Double the Vitae gain from True Blood and ignore the prerequisite aversion roll upon trying it for the first time.

Three Decades in Blood: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I was an avid fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from its first episode back in 1997, its a series which has had a monumental impact on pop culture and genre shows on television. Joss Whedon took classic mythology of vampires and paired it with his own interesting take on the cosmos, one populated by demons and split across many different dimensions. In Vampire the Requiem the dissolution of morality is paramount to the game. Vampires in Buffy have none, they're walking shells animated by the demonic essence coursing through their veins. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG by eden studios is an excellent game in its own right and has a wonderful section playing in the buffyverse.

Demon Born

Vampires in Buffy are not human, they have vestiges of humanity to be sure quirks of taste, but at best they're a dark reflection of the human they've killed to exist at worst they're amoral agents of evil trying to usher in the end of days.  Some gather in groups or at the foot of a particularly strong vampire, all feel the siren song of hellmouths.

Systems:

Clan

Do not have a Clan

Blood Potency

The maximum limit of a Vampire is 6. Ancient primordial vampires, called the Turok-Han, may have a Blood Potency as high as 8.

The Embrace

Vampires sire exactly as in Vampire the Requiem however the transformation takes 24 hours and usually involves the childe digging themselves out of their own graves.

Ghouls & Blood Ties

The Vampyr cannot create Ghouls or establish Vinculum, does not have any of the advantages of Blood Sympathy, perform or be subjected to Diablerie.
Disciplines

Can utilize Celerity, Vigor, Resilience. They begin with Auspex of 1 and 3 additional points of to spread between those 3 disciplines.  Additional disciplines are purchased individually can be purchased individually at Discipline rating x 14 at Storytellers discretion. 

Physiology & Torpor 

Vampires do not suffer from Torpor save for when they are deprived of blood losing one permanent point from a mental attribute for every 3 months in this condition. Appear as though they had spent a point of blood to achieve the blush of health (with all that implies) they can also become intoxicated through normal consumption of drugs or alcohol. They do not suffer from frenzy.

Monstrous Visage ­­

A vampire’s features shifts whenever she makes use of her fangs, her eyes become yellow and predatory, and her face becomes twisted and bestial, it costs a single willpower to affect this change and the transformation is instantaneous, its lasts for the duration of the scene. Vampires with a Blood Potency of 5 or more can change at will and remain in this state indefinitely, furthermore they gain a permanent -1 to all social rolls related to mortals as they shift closer to the demon within. At Blood Potency of 6 they can no longer return to a human visage and their body warps in some considerable fashion increasing the penalty to -3.

Sunlight

Sunlight exposure should be downgraded. Only Direct Sunlight is ever applied. A vampire may attempt to avoid sunlight exposure (whether through hiding under a blanket, painting a car's window in advance, or diving into shadows) with an exceptional success at a penalty equal to 1 + damage from exposure.

Final Death

A vampire staked by wood immediately meets final death bursting into ash. Signature characters should use the "hard" staking rules on pg.163 of World of Darkness Armory Reloaded, whereas mooks and other minor antagonists should use the "easy" staking presented on the same page.
Vampires cannot be killed by traditional methods (bashing damage, or lethal damage converted to aggravated) if damage reaches 'death' additional points of damage are ignored, the exception being complete destruction (such as by an explosive). They are only vulnerable to death from fire, sunlight, beheading, or holy water.

Banes
These can be found in The Danse Macabre and are identical save where changes have been listed below.
Faded Reflection Pg.193, the reflection is permanently absent.
Repulsion pg. 194, Specifically by religious symbols. The difficulty is equal to 5-Blood Potency, furthermore if physically touched by the object the character takes 1 point of lethal per turn. 
Uninvited pg.195 A character cannot enter into a home unless invited.
Vulnerability, severe pg. 194, Holy Water.
Inevitable Martial Arts Skills
Buffy vampires gain 3 points in any Brawl based Fighting Style Merit.
Morality
Vampyrs do not possess morality, they do possess a virtue but it is a veneer masking the evil within, they gain no mechanical benefit from its use. They gain willpower as normal from the Vice, particularly wicked acts of Vice can refresh a character's Willpower completely.
What about the Soul?
A Vampire who regains there soul immediately gains a Morality score equal to the rating they possessed before the Embrace, they must immediately roll for Degeneration for greatest sin they committed while without. Furthermore this adds a permanent +2 bonus to resist possession as they already possess a demon within.
Storytelling
Vampires of Buffy the Vampire Slayers are not brooding romantics (except the one's with souls) or misunderstood creatures of the night, see: Lie to Me, these are the lowest common denominator of evil. The existence of even a single vampire like this could be a boon to both the Lancea Sanctum and Beliel's Brood. Sanctified would most likely regard these Vampyr as demonic perversions of God's Holy Monsters. The covenant might move to capture one to torture dark magic from it, or to keep it on display as 'proof' of the Devil's work in the world of man.  Beliel's Brood might take them as signs of the apocalypse, messianic beings returned from hell, or just another kindred spirit. To really mix things up instead of strictly relying on disciplines maybe these vampires can garnish vestments from The Inferno or be Possessed in their own right, the result of a Bloodline where the very Vitae is suffused with demonic essence.
Vampire the Masquerade is rife with potential for exploring stories of alternate lines of kindred, perhaps like the Kueijin these vampires descend from a different order all together? And what happens to the fragile peace of the masquerade when a new Sabbat ritual literally vanquishes all the Humanity a vampire has which surely nothing to do with rumors concerning the Baali. Perhaps the Book of Nod is just another lie of Kindred society to disguise the awful truth of what came before them, and what will surely come again.  Another option can be to enmesh these new vampires with the rise of the Fallen or the coming of Gehenna, as the Final Nights approach the Embrace brings about only death and true damnation.

Three Decades in Blood: the lost boys

I watched The Lost Boys  again over the weekend, one of the first movies that firmly established the pop culture iconography of vampires. I'm highlighting three pop culture variations on the vampire legend, one from each decade. I've found most of the time its easy to change the setting without a real change to the system of the game. Consider for instance a game of Hunter the Vigil played in the setting of Supernatural. Does the setting differ? Certainly. Is there any need to change the material? Absolutely not, often times its enough to carry over the ideas or themes of a work into your game.  

Lost Boys, for those of you unfamiliar with this 1980s classic, involves a family who moves to the coastal city of Santa Clara only to find the city infested with vampires, you'll find spoilers aplenty.

Disease in the Blood

Vampires in the Lost Boys are usually young and organized along the lines of a family. A brood is traditionally created from the passing of the curse by the head vampire to his or her ‘children’. Here vampires conduct themselves with all the skill and delicacy of an eternal group of teens.

Systems:

Clan

Do not have a Clan

Blood Potency

They have a maximum Blood Potency of 3. A head vampire has a Blood Potency of 3.They are barred from creating ghouls and forming Blood Bonds.

The Embrace

Vampires do not create Sire/Childer in the same fashion the embrace can occur anytime a mortal takes a drink of Vitae (indirectly or otherwise). This costs the head vampire a temporary point of willpower.

Half-vampires

A half-vampire can remain so indefinitely they mechanically resemble ghouls the difference being that they get a single point of Blood Potency and suffer a -1 penalty on all actions while exposed to sunlight. This penalty manifests as generalized exhaustion and discomfort during daylight hours as though from drug use or sickness. They gain 3 dots in disciplines between Potency, Resilience, or Vigor. Upon killing for the first time through feeding they become full vampires, this causes an automatic loss of Humanity and increases their Blood Potency to 2.  This can be reversed by killing the head vampire.

Disciplines

Can utilize Celerity, Vigor, Resilience, Majesty, and Nightmare. 

Flight

These vampires can defy gravity moving as quickly as they can run through flight, it costs a single point of vitae to fly for a scene.

Banes
These can be found in The Danse Macabre and are identical save where changes have been listed below.
Hatred of Beasts pg.193
Repulsion pg. 194, Specifically by religious symbols. The difficulty is equal to 5-Blood Potency, furthermore if physically touched by the object the character takes 1 point of lethal per turn. 
Uninvited pg.195 A character cannot enter into a home unless invited.
Vulnerability, severe pg. 194, Holy Water inflicts aggravated damage on the undead in a fashion similar to fire, with damage increasing for the amount and delivery method.
Monstrous Visage ­­

A vampire’s features shifts whenever she makes use of her fangs, her eyes become yellow and predatory, and her face becomes twisted and bestial, it costs a single willpower to affect this change and the transformation is instantaneous

Sunlight

Sunlight causes one of the lost to literally catch fire and must be put out with a reflexive Dexterity + Composure roll or it continues to burn causing 1 additional point of aggravated damage each turn. A lost boy has the option of sleeping the day away like a bat, simply by anchoring themselves upside down in the dark.

Staking

A vampire staked by wood immediately meets final death.

Final Death

No two vampires die the same; consult this chart when dealing with a vampire’s Final Death. If this gets dull just roll a die for each catagorie.

Roll	Death	Corpse?	System
1	Flail and spasm at the perceived source of the attack in a blind rage before giving up the ghost.	A sorrowful human.	An Additional All Out attack following the attacker’s initiative. All penalties apply normally.
2	Howls an inhuman scream and clawing at its wounds before collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut.	A savage faced vampire body.	Anyone standing within shouting distance suffers a -2 penalty to their next action from the partial deafening.
3	Skin and muscle dissolve away in a nauseating display into mucus like pink sludge.	Only a skeleton with a fanged skull.	Whoever witnesses this disturbing display immediately loses a willpower point from the sheer horror of it.
4	Spontaneously smoking and catching ablaze the vampire begins running in a random direction before crumbling away.	A pile of stinking smoking ashes.	Vampire moves at twice his speed in a random direction anyo ne he crosses must make a reflexive Dex +Athletics or take 3 dice of damage from fire.
5	Gouts of blood shoot out of every wound and orifice showering everything in 3 yards in a tidal wave of blood.	A dry desiccated one as brittle as old paper.	Anyone covered in such a fashion faces a -2 to Speed and a -1 to athletic rolls for the remainder of combat.
6	Joints begin to crack, spark, and smoke sending digits, limbs, and head flying in every direction.	A vivisected electrified mess.	Anyone who dealt the final blow is electrified by the victory regaining a willpower point.
7	The Vampire turns inside out expelling its organs and internal mass from wounds and orifices.	A truly grisly display connected to a bag of skin and bones.	Anyone witnessing this horror first hand has to make a Resolve + Composure roll or flee immediately out of eyesight.
8	A gout of flame spontaneously immolates the vampire in a rush of blinding heat.	A blackened smoldering corpse.	Treat as though a Bonfire with an intensity of a Chemical fire had just begun where the character stood. It reduces intensity by 1 each turn.
9	The Vampire’s head explodes sending blood, brains, and skull in every direction.	A headless one oozing blood from its neck stump.	Anyone within 3 yards takes 3 dice of bashing damage from the bits of skull.
10	Skin begins to shift and bubble, glowing with a palpable and obvious heat, before exploding like a bomb.	Bits and pieces, likely scattered in every direction.	On the next turn the vampire explodes with a blast area of 10 yards inflicting 5 dice of lethal damage with knockdown.

You have no power…

A vampire invited into the home of a mortal may ignore any ill effects of holy water, offensive to animals, or any other advantage which might directly harm or reveal them for what they are while within the home.

Glorious Camp

 In case it needs to be said the Lost Boys is a film that embraces the ridiculous aspects of vampires in pop culture, merging the horror with a liberal amount of humor.  At the same time it is the vampires themselves which act as a metaphor for the culture of the day making them an excellent addition to a New Wave Requiem game. The head vampire Max is a vain early adapter of technology (check out the VHS man) without remorse for his actions, David on the other hand is an androgynous rebel without a cause who spreads his diseased condition, something which ultimately gets him killed I might add.
 As a group they have no respect for the Traditions and certainly would flaunt any sort of authority that attempted to oppose their will on them. On the other hand they could serve to demonstrate the impermanence of even Kindred, by setting them in the modern day, there are certainly not as many small to medium sized towns living in isolation and none are willing to tolerate murder without the intervention of law enforcement.

If they're a bloodline then Daeva or Nosferatu are the best choices for a parent clan. Nosferatu would emphasis the monstrous countenance of vampires. In this case they could appear appear perfectly normal although still exuding a papal aura of menace, until they choose to feed. As Daeva this bloodline might have inexplicably sprung up in the 1980s as vampires came into contact with HIV for the first time. In this case their embrace might be explicitly sexual in nature. 

A family of these vampires would make an excellent source of antagonism in any chronicle on the road. They could serve to provide a foil to a group of vampires divested of their sires. Demonstrating an alternative to the incestuous web of politics and blood that make up a vampire's unlife. In a vampire the masquerade game a prominent Camarilla officer might come to the character's eliciting them to destroy a masquerade violating family of Sabbat. For a one shot the character's could be all half-vampires attempting to cling to their humanity in the face of the overwhelming urge to kill.

A Word on Pestilence

I took about a year hiatus from this blog and figuring it had no fans allowed it to wither away. I did many things and also enjoyed a bought of bronchitis which left me in a state of body wracking infirmity. On the plus side here's a plague laden look at the world of darkness.

Looking at disease strictly from a medical perspective its any abnormal condition affecting the body, but usually we use this to refer to infectious disease, microscopic pathogens, invaders, parasites. There's an inherent mass hysteria that dawns in the wake of an epidemic. Rationality breakdown in the face of a fear you cannot see or fight.

In the wake of the Black Death European's blamed everything from the wrath of God to Jews thought to be "poisoning wells", eventually murdering whole Jewish communities. A cult offshoot of Catholicism calling itself the Brotherhood of Flagellants achieved a membership in the tens of thousands and inadvertently spread the plague in the process of proselytizing their message of penance. They performed a daily rituals beginning with a reading of a letter delivered by an "angel" and concluding with Geisslerlieder, or flagellation songs, where cultists sung and scourged themselves until they bled.

That's just one disease, Cornu Cutaneum is a tumorous growth of horns on the victim. Polyglandular Addison's Disease is a hormonal dysfunction that causes the body to go into shock when confronted with a flight or fight situation. A suffer can literally be scared to death. People born with progeria age at an accelerated rate often dying when most of us would be entering puberty.

Disease in the world of darkness old and new tend toward to be the over the top conditions which result in situations such as Stephen King's the Stand or the Walking Dead. Zombies and apocalypses or zombie apocalypses.

But what makes disease terrifying is that it is subversive, that is it turns the body against you. And what are you going to do when you know, for a fact, the person standing beside you is infected. They aren't the person you knew, now they are a carrier. Or maybe they aren't and its you with the disease telling you otherwise.




This is a scenario designed primarily with Werewolf the Forsaken in mind but as always I try to keep it modular.

The Scourge of Clay

Professor Hoshiko Wakahisa grew up listening to tales from her grandparents of life within one of America's War Relocation Centers. Her interests in World War II shaped her studies in college eventually leading her to pursue a career in recceology, battlefield archaeology. On a recent university trip to Heilongjiang province in China the field study uncovered a village all but destroyed in the wake of the Japanese invasion of mainland China. The trip was a trying experience that forced her for the first time to confront prejudice and in her own way the war face to face. When Hoshiko returned to the States it was with a dull white earthen clay sphere, a piece of unoriginal folk art. At least that is what she believes, in reality the sphere is a bomb. In the real world Shirō Ishii used the local Chinese as subjects in his experiments into biological weapons for the Empire of Japan, in the World of Darkness group Unit 9413 engaged in similar pursuits, attempting to breed newer deadlier virus. The bomb itself was a thing of vision, admired by the men who created it, painstakingly crafted by the engineers who put it together, it was designed for maximum dispersal, but never released and buried in the earth a spirit was born.
Kokushibyou though hidden and starved the attention which had served to birth it, slipped into a long slumber. Its woken infected Hoshiko and Josiah Rodriguez a local firetouched who has communed with the spirit. In his infected state he's had visions of a world where the Forsaken cannot hide among men any longer and believes erroneously that the Pure will remain protected by Rabid Wolf.

Kokushibyou

Rank:3
Attributes:Power 7, Finesse 8, Resistance 4
Willpower:15
Essence:20
Initiative:12
Defense:8
Speed:25
Size:5
Corpus:9
Influences: Disease 3
Numina: Claim, Chain of Death, Corpse Ride, Dement, Desiccation, Discorporation, Fetter, Gauntlet Breach, Plague of Clay
Ban: Cannot harm anyone who has consumed mugwort or been treated through Moxibustion.

Plague of Clay
The disease uses the rules presented in World of Darkness: Book of Spirits for shadow sickness.
Resistance Number:12
Werewolves could find themselves embellished in a bidding war at the late estate of the professor. The disease could force the county into a quarantine with the arrival of the CDC a group of clearly ill people or mangy animals could be some cause of concern. The player character's could be shapeshifters or wolf blooded who despite other 'inferiority' to the People could be the only one's who could save them.

The plague of prey can be brought on through the use of the Kokushibyou's Numina or transmitted from one who is already sickened to at least stage 4. If a Urathra (or other being capable of catching it) is targeted directly by the Numina Plague of Clay then the target loses the +3 resistance bonus.

If the disease takes hold it takes a full day before the first stage of symptoms appear and advanced to the next each 24 hour period. At five days the victim becomes highly contagious, just how contagious is left in the hands of the storyteller. Although a rule of thumb is anyone who spends more than a scene in the company of the victim should be forced to roll for resistance. Each penalty levied by the disease is cumulative.

In the first stage,stiffness sets in around the neck and groin, providing a -1 penalty on any Dexterity based rolls, as well as any other rolls which involved extended concentration. The feeling is like that of an oncoming flu, however the Urathra will experience literal swelling around the neck, armpits, and groin as well as a -2 dice to any Shapeshifting rolls.

On the second day the victim will experience a high fever and regular vomiting. Levying a -2 penalty on all Wits based rolls (treat Wits as 2 less than its value for calculating Defense). Urathra experience the same high fever however much more acutely any Shapeshifting costs 1 additional point of Essence as it is "vomited" out.

The Third stage the disease takes beginning to weaken the suffers spiritual connection to their body and areas of their skin become painful to the touch.This inflicts no actual damage but is taxing on the subjects causing them to no longer regain willpower through normal rest. A Urathra will find his body in any form develop dark patches of tissue seemingly at random and painful to the touch.

When the disease reaches the fourth day it has so rotted the connection between the body and spirit that a mortal victim begins to lose one point of willpower every 12 hours, when the victim has run out of willpower the damage becomes lethal. This is experienced as painful trembling, seizure, muscle spasms and uncontrollable shaking. Urthra on the other hand find themselves on a hair trigger, experiencing pain each time they Shapeshift, as well as uncontrollable animal like behaviors, such as low growling, spastic snapping of their jaws, scratching or clawing and the like. All of this causes the werewolf to be unable to shapeshift reflexively, the process becomes drawn out and painful taking at least a full action even when spending essence and causing one point of lethal damage upon assuming the shape, regeneration applies normally.

Finally the last stage of the disease the body literally rots from within mortals experience this as ghostly 'sores' and may experience hallucinations of pustules which burst forth. In reality they die of organ failure with no clear indication as to why. Werewolves who experience this cannot manage their shapeshifting as before, each level from Hisu, Dalu, Gauru, Ursaul, to Urhan be passed through in order to reach the shape of their choosing. Furthermore each form exhibits sickly black tumorous mange, even in Hisu. For example if a character wishes to reach Gauru from Hisu he must spend 2 actions, spending at least 2 essence, and taking 2 lethal to do so. A character who has exhausted his turns in Gauru form returns to Dalu (or if he wishes Ursaul) without damage, but must take another action to return to Hisu or Urhan.

The Cure: This lasts for a number of days equal to the Spirits Power (7), usually this is fatal. That being said the Kokushibyou can end the disease at will and must if the character's learn of its Ban. Acupuncture given by a survivor of a terrible disease (see: life threatening) is also a reliable cure however it requires at least 12 successes on extended Intelligence + Medicine roll. Without a specialty in acupuncture or Chinese medicine treat this roll as unskilled.

Werewolves could easily find themselves embellished in a bidding war with a local historic society at the late professors estate sale. The disease could reach such epidemic proportions as to quarantine the county and if the character's are infected they are sure to raise some alarm once the CDC gets involved. The players could be shapeshifters of another stripe or wolf-blooded who find they are immune. 

Or the entire story could be turned on its head with a Cell of Hunters. Did TFV find the biological weapon following mop up operations in the Pacific circa 1945? Has Chiron Group been perfecting this virus into a discrete weapon in the laboratories of National Center for Emerging and Zoologic Infectious Diseases? Or is the Pure Josiah really a member of Les Mysteres releasing the plague to end the danger of the Forsaken? In any case a cell has some tough calls to make, do they allow the disease to take root among a race, even a race of monsters? Do they try to treat the innocent while ignoring the enemy? Or is biological warfare, any biological warfare just too much of a price to pay?

Old Ones & Elder Gods

One of the more difficult aspects of Lovecraftian horror lies in the presentation of the antagonists, striking a careful balance between the ultimately unknowable alien nature of those creatures from beyond the stars while simultaneously presenting a situation where the players can meaningfully impact the events. Granted you may run a more pessimistic game where the character's are doomed and that's certainly a legitimate way explore the dark misanthropy which makes up the world of H.P. Lovecraft. Yet even he has stories, such as "the shunned house" where the protagonist succeeds in killing one of the creatures of the Mythos. There's many different ways to represent the creatures of the Mythos, but I think the easiest way is to simply utilize the rules for spirits. A good example of this sort of thing can be found over on Shadownessence. Simply put a Power, Resistance, and Finesse trait is all that is strictly necessary for baseline stats. Dread powers from Hunter the Vigil, make an excellent set of tools for designing monsters, but the Pandorans out of Promethean the Created have a grotesque horror all their own. For the sake of simplicity I've stuck with Dread Powers in the write ups, but I've also included a spirit from World of Darkness Book of Spirits to show how easy it is to take something already in the World of Darkness and retool them into Lovecraftian Horrors. I've also included a horror rating, which roughly indicates its 'scale' in terms of danger, influence, or power in the universe. 

Creatures of the Mythos

 

Unspeakable Horrors: Creatures of the Mythos do not possess Sanity and are treated as though they had a Mythos score of 10, each also possesses a 'horror' rating which is serves to replace rank, Sanity-Horror is a good rule of thumb for when such creature provoke Sanity Loss

Dread Form: Mythos are not immaterial, they may be killed upon reaching zero Corpus, if the laws of death apply to them. Size and Speed are always unique to the entity.

That Hideous Strength: Mythos powers stem from eldritch laws unknown to man, they do not possess Numina instead they have individualized Dread Powers
The Stars are Right: Essence is regained normally at point per day, completely if "the stars are right," or one point per health level "eaten" from a living being, other's might regain essence through worship or some other stranger methods.

Hunting Horrors

Quote: "sounds like a great bat flapping"

Background: A Greater Servitor Race, Hunting Horrors are harrier creatures for some of the gods, particularly Nyarlathotep. They can be summoned in their own right, and sent to seek out blood and lives.

Description: Resemble enormous ropy black serpents or worms possessing rubbery skinned wings. Their forms continually shift and writhe and average 40 feet in length. They speak in booming harsh voices.

Horror: 4

Attributes: Power 9, Finesse 6, Resistance 5

Willpower: 14

Essence: 23

Initiative: 11

Defense: 9

Speed: 14/28 when in flight

Size: 15 (no penalties from targeted attacks)

Corpus: 14

Dread Powers: Crushing Blow 3 (grappling), Dread Attack 3 (bite), Flight (may stay aloft indefinitely for 1 essence per scene), Viperine Skin (3 points of armor, firearms inflict bashing damage)

Note: It possesses 1d10 Rites of the storyteller's choosing.

Limi Surun, the Ten Thousand Teeth

Quote: <<We are we.>> In a chittering dead langauge.

Background: A Lesser Servitor Race, the Limi Surun were never  united  in  one  form. While they serve Ur-Ephonoth they do so not as slaves, rather their inherent nature was co-opted toward its end.

They are colony of horrors, built of collective might and

will. The horde has only one directive to feed their never ending hunger.

Description: It’s not quite a solid whole. Close inspection reveals thousands of small shifting black insect like things compacted together. This is also betrayed when it moves as parts of the creature seem slightly out of synch with the other, much like a school of fish. In this state, a sharp blow passes through its body, scattering the interlocked knife like bodies of its constituent beings in a gory arc, but doing little damage. All the while a discordant alien noise speaks out in blasphemous atonements.

Horror: 2

Attributes: Power 3, Finesse 4, Resistance 6

Willpower: 9

Essence: 12

Initiative: 9

Defense: 6 *

*3 against area effect attacks

Speed: 11

Size: 4

Corpus: 10

Dread Powers: Crushing Blow 3(teeth like apertures on every inch of its 'body' ), Lurker in Darkness 1, Swarm Form 4-

Cost 2 Essence, defense to 0 vs area effect attacks, a creature caught within the swarm at the beginning of its turn takes damage automatically. Damage is determined by the intensity of the swarm. The swarm begins with a radius in yards equal to the Size of the horror and does one bashing damage. Each time the radius halves (a standard action), the damage increases by one. Full-body  armor provides half protection,  less  than  full

body affords no protection as the small creatures find

their mark. All creatures caught within a swarm suffer –2

to Mental checks. 

Cults

Cultist

Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 2, Strength

2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2, Presence 2, Manipulation 2,

Composure 3

Skills: Academics 2, Brawl 1, Crafts 3,  Athletics 1

Drive 1, Expression 3, Firearms 1, Investigation 1,

Medicine 1, Stealth 1, Survival 1, Weaponry 2

Merits: Cult of That Which Should Not Be 2

Willpower: 5

Initiative: 5

Defense: 2

Speed: 9

Weapons/Attacks:

Baton:  1 b/ Knockout/ 6 Dice

Revolver: 1 L / 20-40-80/ 6 shots/ 5 Dice

Armor: None

Health: 7

Sanity: 6

Mythos: 2

Derangements: Paranoia, Vocalization

Esoteric Acolyte

Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2, Strength

2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Presence 2, Manipulation 3,

Composure 3

Skills: Academics 3, Brawl 1, Crafts 3(rituals),

Drive 1, Expression 3, Firearms 1, Investigation 3,

Medicine 2, Stealth 1, Occult 4(Mythos Rites)

Merits: Cult of That Which Should Not Be 3

Willpower: 6

Initiative: 5

Defense: 3

Speed: 10

Weapons/Attacks:

None

Armor: None

Health: 8

Sanity: 4

Mythos: 5

Derangements: (various derangements)

Rites: Dread Voyage(1) or Elder Tongue(1), Communion(2), Baleful Tribulation of the God(3) or Summon/Dismiss Limi Surun, the Ten Thousand Teeth (3)

Imbued Fanatic

Attributes:  Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 2, Strength 4

Dexterity  2,  Stamina  3,  Presence  1, Manipulation  5

Composure 2

Skills: Animal Ken 1, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Empathy 2,

 Investigation (Victims) 2, Occult 3, Persuasion (In

Disguise) 3, Socialize 2, Stealth 2, Subterfuge 3

Merits: Cult of That Which Should Not Be 1, Endowment 4

Sanity: 3(various derangements)

Mythos:5

Dread Powers:  Unholy Attribute 3,Crushing Blow 3, or Dread Attack 2 & Balefire 1

Dorothy Howard, socialite cultist

Mental  attributes:  Intelligence  3,  Wits  3, Resolve 3

Physical attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3

Social  attributes:  Presence  4,  Manipulation 4, Composure 3

Mental Skills:  academics 3,Occult 4 (order of the iron cenotaph),  Drive  3,  Politics  3,

Science 3 (Social Psychology)

Physical Skills: Drive 2, Firearms 3, Larceny 4 (Forging Documents), Weaponry 3

Social Skills: empathy 4, expression 2, Persuasion 4 (Seduction), Socialize 4, Subterfuge 4

Merits: allies 2 (mayoral), barfly, Language (French),Resources  3,  Retainer  3,  Status  2  (order of the iron cenotaph), Striking Looks 1, Torture Suite 2

Willpower: 6

Sanity: 5 (Repression, Denial, Sadism)

Virtue: Charity

Vice: Pride

Initiative: 5

Defense: 2

Speed: 9

Health: 8

Note: While on the outside looking in she's clearly on her way to bigger and better things, at what point Status shifts to Cult of That Which Should Not Be is entirely up the Storyteller but it should be a...trans-formative experience.

The Mythos

Continuing on this dice fueled Lovecraft bender. Today I'm going to be covering the wide range of powers and supernatural advantages offered to mortals in a Yog-Sothothery laden World of Darkness.
Last post I mentioned a trait called Mythos. Anyone familiar with Call of Cthulhu will recognize it as the term as an ability called Cthulhu Mythos which covers the strange esoteric knowledge of, you guessed it, the Mythos. According to Call of Cthulhu this skill is more than just a mortal knowledge and in studying it the "...burning power of a greater and more horrible reality seizes the soul." And behold we have a power stat, I went with Mythos as a new stat rather than replacing a skill because it mimics the reduction of Sanity offered by Call of Cthulhu (where both traits are rated 1-99%).
My major resource for supernatural powers for this game was World of Darkness Second Sight which has an entire chapter ('Reality Bending Horrors') dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft style antagonists and the abilities they may achieve. What really puts Mythos as a power trait on a different level from say, Blood Potency or Gnosis is that you don't have to expend experience in order to gain new dots. The closest approximation to Call of Cthulhu's Sanity in any world of darkness game is probably imbued Virtues in Hunter the Reckoning. Admittedly I am not the first person to think so. Virtues were an expression of a hunter's long term commitment to the hunt which at the highest levels cost the imbued their sanity. Virtues were gained strictly in game making in some ways the character responsible for the advancement. Similarly Mythos is gained through roleplaying, not experience allocation. 
I allowed the following merits for my game and in my mind are probably some the most appropriate for this type of game play. The last Merit was something I created to accommodate those stranger examples of character's in the Cthulhu Mythos. Whether the character is of some questionable birthright, such as the narrator in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" or the product of some horrifying transmogrification like Mi Go brain swiping in "The Whispers in the Darkness." Endowments should cover it. Hunter the Vigil is an excellent resource to fully flush out your investigator and I utilized the Dread Powers section to engineer the creatures of the Mythos.
Finally Rites are found in Mythos Tomes and serve as the bedrock for magic in the game. Though you can very easily use thaumaturgy merits from World of Darkness Second Sight to develop your own Rites. If you don't own Hunter the Vigil, you can always make do with whatever powers you make up, simple dice modifiers, the same can be said for World of Darkness Reliquary.
Texts
Required: World of Darkness Second Sight
Optional: Hunter the Vigil, World of Darkness Reliquary, Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness Mirrors
Character Creation

Use mortal template.

Replace Morality with Sanity, begins at 10.

Character may exchange Sanity for 5 exp and 1 point of Mythos (to a maximum of 3).

Other Options: 

Use Motivation to replace Virtue and Vice. (World of Darkness Mirrors pg.24)

Merits

Cult of Things That Must Not Be (• to •••••) 

This merit can only be taken by Cultists or reformed cultists.

Reality Blasphemy (• to •••••)

This merit is limited to Great Old Ones, Outer Gods, and Elder Gods. Or any other Mythos 'sphere of influence' that the storyteller deems appropriate.

(World of Darkness Second Sight pg.137)

A Little Knowledge (•)

In this setting the character's brush with the otherworldly is Mythos related. 

Good Time Management (••) 

Multi-Lingual (• to •••••)
Well-Traveled (•)

Relic (• to •••••)

This merit also covers the alien technology of the Mi-Go and other entities.

(World of Darkness Reliquary pg. 85)

Endowment (• to •••••)

This merit is only available at Character Creation or at Storyteller's approval. A character with an Endowment has been physiologically altered by the affects of the Mythos. They're worship of Mythos may have brought forth an Elder God which warped their body or they might descend from an ancient subterranean race of man. The player selects a number of dots of Dread Powers equal to the merit Hunter the Vigil pg.276, these may be multiple purchases of different powers or the same. All Dread Powers cost a Willpower point and use Attribute + Mythos to activate and have at least 1 point in frailties (Hunter the Vigil pg. 104). Additional Frailties add another dot of Dread Powers, to a maximum of 3 frailties.

Other Options :

A character who chooses to allow the Storyteller to design the Endowment and has no knowledge of its actual origins or effects may gain an additional dot in the Merit at no cost.

For example, Hermen bought a single dot of Endowment as a mystery. His character Edward is a reporter for the Chicago Herald who has been searching for his missing father. His family moved from a tiny Icelandic village when he was a boy and heard many stories about the 'old country'. When suddenly attacked by a guard dog he finds himself feeling a strange urge to bite the creature. The Storyteller secretly rolls Strength + Mythos (in this case 2), a success! Edwards mouth distorts outward into a series of spindling teeth (Dread Attack 2) and Hermen rolls Strength + Mythos +2, biting the creature's head clean off. His fellow investigator's gawk at what he's done, he sputters in a terrifying language (Frailty Stir Madness 1, Glossolalia) they've never heard and Edward's friends level their rifles and open fire!

Rites

Rites are the secret keys to the universe, the dread knowledge beyond mortals mans understanding. They function exactly as written with the following changes.

Rites are not purchased with experience and can be learned from a mythos tome directly (with a successful Intelligence + Occult), an individual (with a successful Wits + Intelligence), or directly from an entity of the Mythos (Resolve + Composure). All rites however require a minimum amount of Mythos rating equal to their level or the caster is penalized by the difference.

Mythos (•-••••••••••)
Mythos is at once understanding and damnation.  It is not the knowledge that the Mythos exist  (which can be held by those studied in Occult) but the ability to comprehend a natural truth of the universe, a thing that man was never meant to know.
Unlike other traits Mythos is not regulated to a maximum of 5. Similar to Willpower or other 10 rated traits it has a direct influence on your character's ability to cope with the world around her.
Nor are dots purchased normally, points in Mythos are gained by encounters with the Mythos which result in insanity, by insane insights into the true nature of the universe, and by reading forbidden books and other Mythos writings.  Occasionally witnessing some ceremony or participating in some event might award points as well.
However, every dot permanently removes the topmost dot of Sanity the character potentially can possess.  Any current Sanity dots removed automatically calls for a Sanity roll.
1.  The pool for any rolls to identify, understand, or explain the Mythos have a maximum number of dice equal to the character's Mythos rating
2. Mythos offers some degree of protection against the otherworldly
3. Mythos increases the number of points of Willpower that can be spent per turn 

   Mythos Rating	Supernatural Resistance	Willpower/Turn
   1	0	1
   2	1	1
   3	1	1
   4	2	2
   5	2	2
   6	3	2
   7	3	3
   8	4	3
   9	4	3
   10	5	4

 Mythos Entities
No  human,  even  one  with  10 Mythos, even approaches complete knowledge of the Mythos. It is fair  to say that not even Great Old Ones do. Their  10 scores  represent convenient comparisons against what humans can achieve, not a thorough  plumbing of the mysteries of the Mythos.  Perhaps the Outer Gods  know  it  all,  if they bother to think about such things. But only gods can cope with infinity. The cruel darkness of the Mythos extends  forever. Seeming mastery of its puzzles is  temporary, local, and  illusory. 
Gaining Mythos
Mythos may be rewarded to players during any of the following circumstances, but is no means exhaustive:
4. The First time…
…come in contact with the mythos
…read a Mythos tome
…cast a rite
…witness a Mythos Entity
…gain a Derangement
…witness a Mythos Rite
5. Lose Sanity more than once in a scene
6. Distance themselves from society to study the Mythos
7. Participate in a ceremony dedicated to the Mythos
8. Discover a secret at the expense of worldly possession, love, or the self
9. Speak directly with a Mythos Entity
10. Achieve an exceptional success to avoid becoming Unhinged by the Mythos