Storyteller Advice Integration Notes. Should someone want to run Chosen in the World of Darkness,
the following relationships are suggested. First of all, it is
not recommend that one of the other fantastic inhabitants become
a Chosen, as this would give them immense power.
Vampires will disregard the phenomenon at first, and then grow to
fear it. The blood of the Chosen has no special potency for
them, but many will probably want to try it out for themselves.
Though intrigued at first, the Vampires will probably ignore the
Chosen in the beginning. However, as the battle escalates and
the power that the Chosen can possess becomes evident, they will
see them as a threat, and attempt to destroy them before they can
outstrip their own power. Though domination and blood bonding
are possible of the Chosen, nothing can deter them from their
mission, thus allowing limited disobedience of their masters.
Werewolves will likely see the servants of Evil as agents of the
Wurm bringing about the Apocalypse, and attack them if given the
opportunity. Though they may mistake the agents of Good for
similar things at first, any well meaning Garou whom gains
knowledge of their nature will most likely aid them, or at least
not attack them.
Mages may have had the power to predict the Armageddon, and may
also feel jealous of the powers that the Chosen have, though they
are less likely than the Vampires to see them as a threat.
Instead, they may try to capture and study them, attempting to
fathom their powers and wield them themselves. They should
perhaps have more fear of the Chosen, who are but a dream away
from the power to break their bonds.
Wraiths, being mostly disconnected with the living world, will
have little concern with Chosen, except that the ruthless slaying
by the forces of Evil may create many new Wraiths.
Changelings see the Chosen as recently awakened prodigals, long
lost to banality. Like most non-fae, the Chosen are fairly
banal, but less so than the average mortal, as they break the
bounds of 'normal' reality and wield fantastic powers. Most
Changelings will probably side with the good Chosen if they gain
knowledge of them, the evil ones would impose a reign of despair
that would smother the Changelings precious glamor. Some of the
more disruptive Changelings, unseelie Redcaps in particular, may
even side with the darker powers, to aid them in instilling fear
in the mortals.
Experience?
The standard experience system is not strictly necessary, since the system includes the ability for much more drastic selfimprovement, and most chronicles should tend toward the battle for one area, not representing the longer periods of time generally needed to advance by practice. It may still be used as a role-playing reward, and is left up to storyteller discretion. Experience costs
Attributes 4 x current rating New ability 3 points Ability 2 x current rating Willpower 2 x current rating Positive Karma 1 point per box
(Supernatural powers must be bought with karma.)
Guides as a Plot Device.
Guides are a special type of NPC Chosen whom receive advance powers, so that they may better show their wards the way. There is one guide for each side of the battle in a specific area, a city for example. It is the guides job to gather and instruct their fellow Chosen, but not to participate in the battle itself, though those of the evil side are not known for following rules in general. The use of guides is a storyteller decision, they are an excellent way to get the PC's together and pass information, but they can pass too much information, especially if you are going for a feeling of amazement and discovery. If used, the PC's guide should at some point die (probably concurrent with the death of the opposing guide, to keep things even), leaving them without their 'crutch'. The sooner the better, once they have been gathered, given a sanctuary, and some preliminary instruction, though waiting can increase the emotional value of the death scene, and the feeling of sudden helplessness.
Choosing Sides.
It is expected that most games will be run with the PC's as the good guys, though running the other side can make for an interesting change of pace. Even more interesting, if you have enough willing players, would be to have PC's playing BOTH sides, with about two to four or so, ideally anyway, on each side. This method may also require more than one storyteller, as keeping up with two groups of secret plots to undo each other can be quite complicated.
The evil side may have an advantage in the greater ease with which it can gather karma: just walk around killing people with your neat new powers, whereas the good guys have to go out and do genuinely kind deeds to earn their daily bread. While motivating bad guys to evil is generally unnecessary, don't be afraid to have the evil doers go on a killing spree if your troupe of good is hiding out in their sanctuary. For this reason, the sanctuary, if any, should have a TV or at least a radio (a daily paper at bare minimum.) And don't forget to 'drop hints' (ie. 'Is anybody watching the news?') to tune into the local broadcasts when necessary.
Getting Started.
The recommend method, especially for a 'discovery' chronicle, is to start with individual preludes with each character, playing up until the time when they would meet another PC. This should start with one or two days of their life 'before', perhaps including a chance and seemingly meaningless encounter with one of the NPC's on the other side. Later, the Chosen has the first of their dreams, probably, with subtle hints by the storyteller, gaining the ability to see auras, and briefly seeing the character they saw before, with their aura exposed. Any sort of major confrontation should be avoided at this point. If you decide to use guides, their guide should show up later that day. Otherwise, they should be instructed in the dream to go to a specific place at a certain time to meet the others.
This is a 'standardized' method for introducing a character to the world of the Chosen. Don't be afraid to introduce one (or more) new twists to this method, or reinvent it altogether.
If you just want to do a one-shot, it is best to use pregenerated characters. Choosing one power each night takes far to long and allows the acquisition of far to few powers. Better to grant players at fixed set of mysterious new powers the first time they dream, or perhaps, if dealing with an experienced troupe that designed their own characters, let them choose their own set, using total karma acquisition cost as a limiter. All characters should have Karma Knowledge five in this situation, though you may allow them to 'sell' it at one point per dot if they need just one or two more for some certain power. Level one is considered absolutely mandatory, and level two is highly recommenced.
The Middle Ground.
As the game progresses, the characters should feel the necessity and desperateness (despite their ever increasing powers) of their task. Their foes should be a constant, looming threat to their existence and their vision for the world (be it peace and justice or war and chaos), dogging their every move and ruthlessly pursuing their own agenda. If one of the characters is consistently low on positive karma, high in negative, or especially both, their foes should make a play to turn the character. It's best only to try this with characters whom you know will be receptive to the concept, roleplaying the betrayal of their comrades. Also, the dreams might immediately notify the others of this disaster, and grant them some advance power to help try and turn the character back. On a similar note, don't be afraid to reward someone who puts forth a genuine and long term effort to turn one of their foes.
The Wrap up.
Ideally, the PC's side should come up victorious. Of course, if they consistently make poor decisions, it's your job to provide the appropriate outcome and teach them to be more careful next time. The final victory is best only achieved if the players come up with a good, strategic plan to trap and defeat their opposites. If they come up with such a good plan after sufficient struggle, you should probably play into it and give them a well earned victory. If they have been merely surviving despite innumerable odds, you may also want to have their foes make a critical error, as a reward for persistence, especially if the campaign is going a bit to long.