Posted Fri Jun 6, 1998 by Judge Dredd
To do any serious hacking, one needs cool software to do it effectively. To whip up some cracking software, you roll Intelligence + Computer against a difficulty of 7, three times. The total number of successes gathered is the rating of the cracking software, modified by some limits listed below. Yes, you need to go through this with a Judge and no you cannot spend WP on the rolls.
Now for those limits. The software is limited in it's rating by what kind of computer resources you have. Software put together on a Cray could be far more complex than that put together on a 486...
| System | Max Rating |
| Laptop | 2 |
| PC | 4 |
| Mini | 6 |
| Mainframe | 8 |
Posted Thu May 15, 1998 by Judge Dredd
Despite what the Vampire Players' Guide says, the Charmed Existence merit will only allow a player to negate one rolled '1' per scene, instead of per die roll. A scene is defined as a timestop, or a continuous period of related RP.
Thu May 15 Judge Dredd
If you wear sunglasses indoors or at night, you are at a +1 difficulty for all appropriate rolls. However, if you have auspex 1, protean 1 or heightened senses turned on it nullifies the additional difficulty.
Contrary to popular belief, sunglasses do not protect one from Dominate either. While it makes it difficult for the Dominator to know if you truly are making eye contact, they can still attempt to force their will on you...if you ARE making eye contact at the time, it will work, otherwise it fails (though the victim will be none the wiser).
Posted Thu May 15, 1998 by Judge Dredd
A 'new' system for Conscience checks and Humanity loss has been instituted. It's actually the old system from 1st edition, but that's not important. Basically, instead of being a straight 6 difficulty or higher depending on circumstances, the difficulties are now based off the difference between your Humanity and the Humanity necessary to commit the crime.
When a character does something that might be morally questionable (ie, an act lower Humanity types would do) they roll their Conscience trait to prevent loss of Humanity. A failure means you loose 1 pt of Humanity and Conscience and a botch also indicates an appropriate derangement is gained in addition to the Humanity and Conscience loss (note: you cannot go below Conscience 1. If you would, you loose a point from either Self-Control or Courage, player's option). The difficulty of the roll is equal to the difference between the Humanity level necessary to commit the crime, +5. If the target number is 11 or higher then the character automatically takes the loss (but does not gain a derangement).
For example, Joe the random mortal (Humanity 6) brutally slays the little old lady who lives next door (the level of Humanity at which this act is acceptable is 2). The character rolls against a diff of 9 (6-2=4; 4+5=9). Whereas, Mother Theresa (Humanity 10) out on the same bloodbath murder spree would automatically drop to Humanity 9, since her difficulty would be 14 (10-2=9; 9+5=14).
On a side note, you may always opt to just take the loss rather than rolling Conscience. You don't HAVE to resist or even try to feel bad about it if you don't want to. Why wouldn't you, you ask? Perhaps you feel it's too IC to drop, or maybe you don't want to risk a derangement...
Posted Tue Feb 24, 1998 by Judge Dredd
All NPC characters on the MUSH that are being used for anything other than passive roles (like security or defense) now require both Sphere Wizard AND Co-God approval. This includes NPCs being used as part of a staff-TP as well as any non-staff player-run NPCs. Any NPCs not approved by both Sphere Wiz and Co-God will ONLY be available on a defensive basis.
Posted Wed Feb 25, 1998 by Judge Dredd
To cure Derangement's and other more minor mental traumas, PCs would need to seek out an IC psychiatric professional (there are a couple out there) and enter into therapy. The skill needed by these professionals to diagnose and treat these mental ailments (such as Derangement's) without using drugs is the secondary ability Psychoanalysis.
The roll for a willing patient is Intelligence + Psychoanalysis with a difficulty of the patient's Intelligence + 3 (against an unwilling patient, the difficulty is Willpower + 3). It is an extended roll with rolls made once for every IC month the PC is in therapy. To 'cure' the person will take (10 * patient's Self-Control) accumulated successes. A failure on any roll (0 successes) does nothing more than accumulate no successes for that month of therapy. A botch, on the other hand, will SUBTRACT a number of dice of successes equal to the degree of the botch (ie, -1 successes subtracts 1d10 successes while a -3 would subtract 3d10) AND either add a new Derangement or strengthen the existing one (doubling the number of needed cure successes).
These rolls must be witnessed by a Judge and the patient will be JNoted appropriately. Beyond just the rolls, patient and therapist should be RPing out the sessions, of course.
Posted Wed Mar 4, 1998 by Judge Dredd
While a character is off-line (ie, the player is logged out) they cannot participate in any scenes occurring in the same room as them around their disconnected character. For instance, a staked vampire could not overhear a conversation occurring in the same room as them while they are off-line (though they could certainly hear it if on-line). To attack, molest, or otherwise interact with an off-line character you must schedule a time in which you and they (and a Judge, probably) can be on to run through the scene. The scene can be Time Stopped, if necessary.
Posted Mon Jun 1, 1998 by Judge Dredd
Disguises, Vicissitude face changes or other similar methods of total appearance changes (anytime you change your char name on a 'permanent' basis, basically) MUST be approved by the appropriate staff and judgenoted. The Vicissitude system is fully described in the Players Guide to the Sabbat.
Disguises use the same chart as Vicissitude for success level. The attribute added to the roll is dependent on the method used to disguise oneself but is usually Intelligence + Disguise against diff 7.
Disguises aren't permanent like Vicissitude. They must be reapplied every day/night (24 hour period, basically). To represent this and still keep the need for constant Judge calls only one roll is made, however no WP may be spent on it. The roll MAY be extended (like Vicissitude) however the more rolls done the longer it takes every day/night to apply. This also means that the person applying the disguise must be present EVERY time the disguise is to be used. If you have the skill yourself, that's not a big deal. But if someone else is preparing the disguise, that must be taken into account.
People can see through Disguises, too. When disguised, you must also make a note of the fact at least someplace in either your desc or +info. It can be vague and mention no names, but must make mention of the fact that people might be familiar with you. The person seeking to ID disguised people must announce (to either the person or a Judge) who they think the person is (as well as why) and THEN roll Perception + Alertness against diff 7. If they score MORE successes than the Disguise roll AND correctly guessed the person's name, they successfully see through it. Any other result will yield no useful results.
Please also be aware that most forms of ID are based on photos so changing your appearance will most likely invalidate any valid forms of ID you may have unless you've made the arrangements to have that taken care of by an IC forger and it is so judgenoted on you. This could affect your ability to enter night clubs or take part in other activities which require photo ID.
Posted Mon Jun 1, 1998 by Judge Dredd
The optional AutoSuccess rule mentioned in the main V:tM book allows people with more dice in a task than the actual difficulty to choose to not roll and instead just 'take' a minimal success (one succ) on the roll. In general, this is an accepted practice here (subject to ST decision on a situation by situation basis). But one area where such a policy is never allowed is with regard to supernatural abilities. No Discipline, Gift, Ritual, Numina or any other Supers' power can be AutoSuccess'ed. Every use must always be rolled out completely.
Also, if you choose to take the minimal success you may not spend WP to increase this above the 'taken' one succ. Any use of WP on a roll must be accompanied by a full roll. Note, you MAY still spend WP on a supernatural ability roll (subject to ST choice) as long as it is rolled out.
Posted Tue Jun 23, 1998 by Socialism
The Acute Hearing merit does not give you the power to overhear tabletalk. If there's something in particular you wish to overhear, call a judge.
Posted Fri Sep 11, 1998 by Socialism
As it's now been an issue more than once...
If you are in a nightzone during the night, use +time to determine what time it is.
During the day, change all PMs to AMs and vice versa; or, for the mathematically inclined, just add twelve hours without changing the date.
So, if +time says it's 9:00 AM, it's actually 9:00 PM. Noon becomes midnight. You get the idea.
If a scene crosses the boundary of a 12-hour skip (at 6, twelve hours mysteriously pass using this system), it's up to the judge to determine which end of the evening is appropriate for the scene.
Posted Wed Nov 4, 1998 by Eriskegal
I've gotten a few requests from civilians for police radios and the like. I'll make it clear so we'll all save ourselves some headaches. If you are not on the force or allied with the force (aka coroner, private dick, etc) you can't keep up with the changing keys/frequencies with a regular radio. What does that mean OOCwise? Means I won't give you access. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Only way you could POSSIBLY get access through civilian means is with the Police Ties merit and having a friend on the force POSSIBLY giving you a radio. POSSIBLY means you better have good reason for such access. Please keep this under consideration before asking nicely for a radio. Thanks.