Dark Before Dawn: One Shot Rules Differences

FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THE BLOOD & SMOKE or VAMPIRE: REQUIEM RULES

(If you don't know those rules, the following may not make much sense to you)

After long consideration, we've decided to simplify the rules to make it friendlier to newer players and to reflect the type of game that a one shot best affords.  Simplifying the rules wherever possible can only help new players come to grips with the setting and storyline.  If we later branch out into an ongoing campaign we can utilise the full rules but for the needs of this particular game some have been trimmed.

Therefore for the upcoming event we have removed the ability to apply conditions through Lashing out with the Beast.  This is because it can be a pretty big role play challenge to portray those conditions for an entire night AND because it's another set of innate abilities and rules that add extra complexity to an already complex game.  You will still find something called Lashing out with the Beast under Resistances and that's because you can use it to throw off certain disciplines.  We will be including your biggest dice pool for this resistance but that is it's *only* use at present.

Instead of a skill list showing each character's ranking in 27 different skills (many of which are meaningless in a single location game), we are introducing several specialty skills that have an explicit impact on the game.  In other words, rather than the catch-all crafts, there will be the Repair Skill.  If you have this Skill, you can make broken items work again which can grant you access to other sections of the building or turn on machines.  You don't need to roll for this.  It simply works or doesn't work. 

There also other skills, like languages, which automatically give you access to additional information held on Out of Character skill cards that you will find beside the object.  If you have the Skill, you can turn it over and read the information.  If you don't have the skill, even if you are an academic or occultist character, it is assumed to reflect a gap in your knowledge.

There will be no listed mental or social attributes because we are using skills a little differently.  They do exist and are included in the dice pools for various abilities and powers but have been tucked behind the GM screen.

Since rituals take a lot longer to perform in Blood & Smoke they are more appropriate to pre-game preparations and therefore I have only included rituals that can be pre-cast.  I haven't included a list of rituals that haven't been pre-cast because there's little point - few players would be interested in roleplaying 15 minutes of prayer or ecstatic dancing.  Without such dedication, there's really no point in having them all there at this stage.  NOTE: If any player does declare their interest in such a lengthy ordeal for access to additional powers, I will be happy to make an exception.

We haven't listed any status because that would change in each era and is too difficult to keep track of.  Instead we have relative status, such as Mid Rank Invictus or Low Rank Mekhet.  While this can still change between eras, it reflects a more fluid system than the usual 1 - 5 rank.  It's also only listed on your character booklet which makes it more of a guideline for how you should behave rather than how other people will treat you.  Naturally if you have a rank to back it up, such as sheriff or prince, you will gain that position's authority.