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Anger
is momentary
madness
, so
control
your passion or it will control
you
.
— Horace,
Epistles
Scenes for Vampire the Requiem using the Storytelling Adventure System
Written by Will Hindmarch Original Art by Avery Butterworth and JS Rossbach Product Design by Will Hindmarch
STORYTELLING ADVENTURE SYSTEM
SCENES
6
XP LEVEL
35-74
White Wolf
Publishing, Inc.
1554 Litton Drive
Stone Mountain,
GA 30083
MENTAL OOOO
PHYSICAL OOOOO
SOCIAL OOOOO
Anger
is momentary
madness
, so
control
your passion or it will control
you
.
— Horace,
Epistles
Scenes for Vampire the Requiem using the Storytelling Adventure System
Written by Will Hindmarch Original Art by Avery Butterworth and JS Rossbach Product Design by Will Hindmarch
STORYTELLING ADVENTURE SYSTEM
SCENES
6
XP LEVEL
35-74
White Wolf
Publishing, Inc.
1554 Litton Drive
Stone Mountain,
GA 30083
© 2007 CCP, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire and World of Darkness are registered trademarks of CCP, Inc. All rights reserved. Vampire the
Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken, Mage the Awakening, Promethean the Created, Storytelling System and Scenes of Frenzy are trademarks of CCP, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by CCP, Inc. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or
copyright concerned. This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
MENTAL OOOOO
PHYSICAL OOOOO
SOCIAL OOOOO
“Voluptuaries, consumed by their senses, always begin by flinging themselves with a great display of frenzy into an abyss.
But they survive, they come to the surface again. And they develop a routine of the abyss:
‘It’s four o clock. At five I have my abyss...’”
— Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
Introduction
This is “Scenes of Frenzy,” a collection of six stand-alone scenes for
use in any
Vampire: The Requiem
chronicle.
Use these scenes to play out moments of frenzy, whether you expected
them or not. Though each scene is presented with a potential cause
of frenzy in mind — a sudden wound, a swelling fire, a gluttonous
euphoria — the heart of each scene really lies in the moments after
frenzy becomes unavoidable. These scenes aren’t about vampires that
are
almost
swept away by the animal instincts of the Beast. The drama
here is about characters wrestling with the Beast, whether to halt it
or steer it.
A
N
A
NTHOLOGY
“Frenzy Scenes” is the first anthology product for the
Storytelling Adventure System.
The scenes in these pages don’t go together. They don’t
combine to make a story. Rather, these are resources you use on
the fly, when your chronicle takes an unexpected turn and you
want a reliable source to turn to for fiery drama, rich narration
and challenging gameplay.
In this case, these scenes are meant to be used when a
character in your chronicle is faced with the ferocious horror
of frenzy, as described in
Vampire: The Requiem,
p. 178–181.
If you think the risk of frenzy is the right tool for dramatizing
a conflict in the current session, but you weren’t planning on
pitting a character against her Beast tonight, borrow one of
these scenes to bring that threat into play.
Because the circumstances of frenzy are so unpredictable
— they depend on the roll of the dice, after all — an outbreak
of furious, panicked or gorging vampires can blindside even the
most prepared Storyteller. In the event of an unexpected frenzy
of any type (anger, Wassail or Rötschreck), pull out one of these
scenes and keep your story moving.
Playing With Frenzy
Frenzy is a narrative device and a gameplay element as much as it is a
part of the fictional experience of the Requiem. Instead of being a repeti-
tive instance of senseless violence, look at it as a recurring part of the
game, emerging now and again to present the player and her character
with a challenging decision to make — decisions that bring the personal
horror of
Vampire
to center stage and, hopefully, reveal something about
the character in the process. It should be a surprising and fearsome event
loaded with meaning and followed by dramatic consequences.
Some of the following scenes deviate from the strict rules for frenzy
given in
Vampire: The Requiem
(
V:TR
). Other scenes present par-
ticular actions or dice pools that might seem to be a bit out of sync with
frenzy as described in the
Vampire
rulebook. But, despite their name,
the game rules are not necessarily strict limitations on how things work
in the World of Darkness. They are not scientific laws. They are tools
for turning the dramatic aspects of the Requiem into compelling and
playable game experiences. They model, rather than dictate.
For example, the third bullet point describing frenzy on p. 179 of
Vampire: Requiem
says simply that a frenzying vampire “cannot
perform any action that requires much thought.” Pretty vague, right?
But the amount of thought necessary for Jarod the vampire doctor to
find someone’s carotid artery isn’t the same as the amount of thought
it would take Edgar the vampire antiquarian.
Just what exactly “much thought” means is intentionally left for you,
the Storyteller, and the rest of the troupe to define according to your
idea of a good story.
To keep frenzy a compelling and varied part of a
Vampire
chronicle,
repetition needs to be diminished. Every instance of frenzy should be
characterized, whether subtly or grossly, by the Kindred that succumbs
to it. An intellectual vampire may find some traction in her century
of experience with medicine or the occult that gives her a rare edge
— perhaps just this once — to wrestle her Beast back into its pen.
1
The Frenzy Roll
In these scenes, when you see a reference to “the frenzy roll,” we’re
talking about the default Resolve + Composure roll a player makes
for her character to gain control over any kind of frenzy, whether that
means trying to resist it (as described on p. 179-180 of
V:TR
) or try-
ing to ride the wave (p. 181). Thus, modifiers to the frenzy roll impact
the character’s likelihood of keeping control of the Beast, whether the
vampire wants to make it heel or let it slip.
In comparison, “the frenzy action” refers to the whole extended ac-
tion to resist frenzy or ride the wave, which is often made up of mul-
tiple frenzy rolls, depending on the number of total successes needed
for the action.
The Beast’s Dice Pool
A few of these scenes make use of a new, experimental mechanism
in
Vampire
, used to roughly gauge the power of a vampire’s Beast. In
some scenes, you’ll find references to “the Beast’s dice pool,” usually
used to oppose the vampire in some kind of contested action.
A player never uses her character’s Beast’s dice pool. It is not a
feature of the character, but of her Beast. And the Beast is, so often,
an antagonist.
The Beast’s dice pool is the inverse of the vampire’s Humanity.
That is, the Beast’s dice pool is equal to 10 minus the character’s
Humanity. A vampire with Humanity 2 has allowed her Beast’s dice
pool to swell to eight dice. A vampire with Humanity 4 has a Beast
dice pool of 6.
Whether this represents, in the metaphysics of the World of Dark-
ness, the relative power of some mystical creature lurking within the
black and decrepit wilderness of the Kindred body, or whether this is
a statement of the Kindred’s own internal struggle against her own
human psyche and Damned impulses, is a question to be explored
through stories and contemplation. All this simple mechanic is con-
cerned with is providing an easy tool for Storytellers to use to help
dramatize the conflict.
How to Use These Scenes
Each of these scenes is meant to be used as a single instance of frenzy,
whether you, the Storyteller, planned for frenzy to be a part of the
current chapter of the chronicle or not.
Each scene is robust enough, though, to add a bit of dramatic depth to a
story, too. You can include one of these scenes into your plans for a story
by incorporating a conflict that could result in that scene’s frenzy for one
of the characters. Use the inciting incident sketched out at the beginning
of each scene, or devise one for your troupe’s unique characters.
When using these scenes on the fly, in reaction to an expected
frenzy that happens during play, you have two main ways of selecting
the right scene:
Storyteller’s Choice
As usual, the Storyteller decides the consequences of frenzy and
presents them to the player. “The Beast sets your blood on fire,” the
Storyteller says. “That fucking asshole can’t talk to you like that!
Show him what you do to pushy scum-suckers who think they know
better than you!”
Or, “The whiff of Vitae from under the door is so strong, it’s like you
have blood in your nose. Get in there. The Beast
wants
you to get in
there and get it blood.”
Or, “No way in hell is your ass getting burnt up tonight. You’ve got
to run. Go, go, go!”
A
BOUT
THE
S
TORYTELLING
A
DVENTURE
S
YSTEM
If this is your first Storytelling Adventure System (SAS) product,
you’ve chosen a fine place to start. However, to keep this product
lean and sharp, we haven’t included any of the Storyteller advice
and dramaturgical meditations we put at the beginning of full-
length SAS story kits. The scenes in this product are easy enough
to use on their own — most of the entries in each scene are self-
explanatory — but if you’re looking for a way to get more out of
this product, be sure to read the
free
SAS User’s Guide
, found at
the SAS website:
www.white-wolf.com/sas
The gist of the SAS format is this: The actions described in the
World of Darkness Rulebook
are archetypal, but by no means
exhaustive. The “Foot Chase” action on p. 65 of that book, for
example, describes foot chases in general. It gives you a place to
start. The action in an SAS scene describe one specific event, one
instance of action. So while the
World of Darkness Rulebook
gives
you mechanics for
a
foot chase, an SAS product gives you game
mechanics for
this one
foot chase.
This gives your story’s actions more color and detail, and adds
mileage to every Skill on the players’ character sheets. No two foot
chases — or whatever other action they’re taking — are alike.
2
If the player is up to it, she keeps making the decisions for her char-
acter, even if the
character
isn’t really making decisions for
himself
. The
Storyteller, in collaboration with the player if possible, determines what
the frenzied vampire wants and the player decides how her character,
running hot on hate, terror or hunger, does to get it. She decides what’s
in-character for
her
crazed monster.
But if the player won’t step up to the challenge, tries to dodge the
tough choices and the ugly side of the character, the Storyteller may
have to call the shots. Frenzy is one of the scariest parts of
Vampire
,
and while it’s natural to want to skip the scary parts, or avoid the stuff
that makes a beloved character look ugly, this is a vital tool in the
personal-horror repertoire.
Frenzy fills a character with motives — animal impulses — that the
character might not want. That’s tough. That’s the consequence of
the Curse. That’s why they’re the Damned.
The shock or disgust that comes with a vivid, moving scene of
frenzy should be the kind of reaction the player would seek out from
a great horror film. The goal of horror isn’t to humiliate or demean
the audience, and the goal of frenzy is not to make the player regret
playing
Vampire
. It isn’t to embarrass or punish, it isn’t to teach the
player
a lesson, even if it
can
have that effect on her character. If
a scene of frenzy is used to teach the character a lesson, the player
should be in on it.
If the player’s not the sort to appreciate the image of her character
reduced to a state of snarling, hissing insanity, evoke the frenzy in
other ways. For example: The character simply wakes crusted with
dried blood, a severed hand held in his like a lover’s. For a fleshed out
example of this idea in action, see the
Vampire
SAS story,
Blood Red
+ Ash Gray
. (
Click here to visit the webpage.
)
It’s up to the player to either portray her character’s unique behav-
ior in those circumstances, or surrender her frenzied vampire to the
Storyteller’s control for the scene.
Player’s Choice
The player selects a frenzy scene to dramatize his character’s plight.
Thus, even a player who doesn’t feel comfortable calling the shots
for a bloodthirsty, immoral monster capable of the most inhumane
behavior is still able to have a say on what is at stake in the scene. The
dramatic details of the character’s behavior may still be surrendered to
the Storyteller, but what sorts of dice pools will be used, what sorts of
risks will be taken, and what sort of tough choices are to be made are
up to the player to decide.
All the above advice on frenzy and horror applies here, too.
To use the Player’s Choice option, try to have choices available
beyond just the six in this kit. (More frenzy scenes will be available
in the future, if enough people seem to like the idea.) Create more
options by swapping out Skills, targets, and consequences for failure.
Replace the Empathy Skill in “Ecstasy” with Medicine (to get a sense
of the victim’s body’s reaction to the blood loss), for example. Change
the subject from a lovely stranger to a friendly acquaintance, make the
consequence not just death but exposure or capture.
Your goal is to create a tough choice for the player of the frenzy-
ing character, or the character’s allies. Frenzy is ugly. These choices
shouldn’t be easy — this is a “two evils” situation. Here are some ex-
amples of the kinds of tough choices the players should be faced with
on behalf of their characters:
• Do you let an innocent stranger die or take the risk that he’ll ID
the frenzying vampire later?
• Do you risk the respect of a Retainer or Mentor by frenzying in
their presence or do you take your chances on the street?
• Do you lock the frenzying character up and accept whatever damage
he causes to the haven or do you let some other poor bastards suffer?
• Do you flee through a mortal crowd and risk exposure in the hopes
of getting your Beast to a safe spot faster or do you trespass on another
vampire’s turf and risk spending the day there, near his ghouls?
• The lover you drained nearly to death — do you take her to the
hospital where people will see you together or do you risk her life and
take the time to find some night doctor to treat her?
A Quick Summary
Here are brief sketches of the scenes presented for each category of
frenzy, for your reference:
Anger
Pain:
A bloody scene of senseless anger in the midst of violent chaos.
Spite:
A scene of dialogue explodes into ferocious violence.
Hunger
Agony:
Starvation turns a hunter into a butcher without conscience.
Ecstasy:
The distraction of the Kiss gives the Beast a chance to gorge.
Fear
Spark:
The surprise of a sudden flash of flame leads to panic.
Flame:
Peril spreads along with flame in a frenzied vampire’s wake.
3
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