Crystal Odenkirk

“Do me a favor, would ya?”

A lock of lank, dirty-brown hair falls forward into the face of the street-tough wannabe who leans against a faded brick wall as he looks down at the holes in his shoes. He scratches the side of his nose, considering. “I don’t know, babe. The last time I did you a favor I almost got myself shot.”

“Yeah,” the woman looks up at him hopefully, eyes wide, “I know. You and your boys really came through for me.” She pauses and draws away, the orange from the street lamp tinting close-cropped blond hair. “But my friend in the morgue ‘lost’ that guy’s file for you. And now he can’t follow me around,” she fails to hide her grimace, “calling me at all hours of the night and taking pictures.” She shudders and turns away. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Without moving his head, he watches her with resignation. She’s playing him for his pull, his absolutely certain information. He knows that. Not a corner in a three mile radius but doesn’t have one of his kids with their ear to the ground or their hand in someone’s wallet. But she’s always repaid him, one way or the other, so he doesn’t care.

Silently he ponders who she wants to know about this time.

When he says nothing, she smiles at him over her shoulder, taking his lack of comment for assent. “There’s this guy…”

***

Before you read this article, go re-read the influence section in White Wolf’s Mind’s Eye Theatre: Laws of the Night (starts on pg. 96 of the most recent release of Laws).

Done that? Good. Now you’ve glanced through the influence tables and you know that you can’t have any more total influence traits than you have total Attribute traits. Great.

Now what, you ask, do mortal institutions have to do with your unlife?

In a word, plenty. Don’t have the money to buy a car? Make friends with some local cabbies and you can ride practically for free. Need to know where those sneaky Tremere got their hands on that shiny gem-crusted stick you saw one of the apprentices carrying? Start meeting for coffee with the owner of the local occult bookstore. Your bondmate frenzied at a summer concert and his fangs were caught on tape? Then you better hope you know _all_ the who’s who in the local media.

Some of the things you can do with influence are more efficiently done as backgrounds (which are detailed in the book, starting on pg. 93). If you only want a regular income, you want the Resources background, not three levels of High Society Influence. If you only want information, Allies or Contacts are much much more useful.

However, influence is more versatile. This week you can use your Street x3 to make $170, next week you can use it to find out who’s put a bounty on your head or to replace the pistol you ditched after shooting the Keeper’s favorite ghoul.

This article is not an end-all and be-all of Influence Use and Abuse in Flames Rising. Rather, I’m going to try to give an idea of how influence is used, how it is gained, and what we do with it in both mechanics terms and in story terms. Any questions that remain after you’ve read the article can be directed to me at crys@dragonrosecastle.net. If I get the same question a couple of times, I will edit the answer into this article, with examples to clarify, so check back periodically.

Mechanics

Let me start by getting the mechanics out of the way. You don’t use experience to buy influence. Only influence can create more influence (with the exception of your first level of influence, which requires roleplaying or someone else’s influence instead). All other things being equal, it takes roughly twice the amount of traits you’re aiming for (If you want a lvl 2 Transportation, it takes 4 traits of Transportation used solely toward increasing your influence).

All things are never equal, however. That means this general rule of thumb is complicated by several factors.

There is a finite amount of influence in a given city. There really are only so many police, only so many newspapers, only so many socialites in any city, and you’re not the only one out there trying to sway their opinions. It doesn’t take long before you have to start plotting how to bump your rivals out of your chosen field of influence.

The other thing to remember is that, though we may joke about them being cattle or food or even sheep, the mortals as individuals all have a mind of their own. They don’t take kindly to outright demands. You have to be subtle, to convince them – one way or another – that they wanted to do that task for you even before you asked them. And then you have to make it worth their while so they’ll do you a favor next time too.

To represent this second aspect, each influence increase comes with a built-in challenge that must be resolved before the next level is reached, regardless of trait expenditure. That can make it take far far longer than a simple “I use these four traits to reach level 2″. The amount of time required is also longer when very little of that influence is left open in the city.

As far as use of influences is concerned, I generally stick by the tables in Laws of the Night. You want a fake ID, you need at least a level 2 Bureaucracy and you have to spend at least two traits toward it. Each influence trait spent confers one influence action. When it comes to blocking other people’s influence (which isn’t detailed in the book but I allow anyway) or otherwise working directly at odds with another character via influence, I consider it on a one for one basis: Whoever spent more traits is 99% certain to win. That’s not as easy as it sounds. If Stephen the Tremere spends all his occult influence trying to keep Amenhotep from finding out about him, he has nothing left to defend against that omnipresent Nosferatu neonate looking to poach some mystical knowledge and influence.

Why only 99% certain? That leads us to…

Story

Yes, story. The mechanics are the brittle skeleton of Influence. Story is the muscle that makes it move, the skin and hair that makes it seductive. Mechanics mean nothing to me without the story to back them up. Every influence use, every influence-based npc, every rumor and active background has a story attached to it. Those stories have as much depth, as much detail, as the players are willing to draw from them–and many of those stories are interconnected, directly influencing each other’s resolution.

Any of our players could tell you that I always favor story over mechanics. If it makes a better story for things to go one way even though mechanics say it should go a different way, there’s a chance that I will write the better story. Usually in such a case I will talk to the another Narrator or the Storyteller first, to be sure that I really am writing the most cohesive, most engrossing story I could be. If they agree that it makes for a better story, you get your other 1%.

Ultimately, though, my stories feature the player characters as their centerpieces, so you will usually only see that one percent happen between a player character and the npcs, with the player character on the winning side.

I will create more intense stories for people who go into detail about what they’re doing and how they do it. Influence traits do not represent individual people generally, but I like to represent the traits through interaction with individual npcs. Those npcs should be thought of as characters in their own right, as they often are, rather than simple backdrop. We’re all in this to create stories, and any good story needs a stellar supporting cast to make the main character look phenomenal.

Now what?

Well, now you know how to gain traits and how to spend them. But what do you do with them?

Pretty much, anything you can think of. Information, services, gaining income, covering breaches of the Masquerade, messing with other characters, you name it, and you can probably do it with enough influence. Like the “real” world, it’s all about who you know and what you can convince them to do for you. If you played pool with the Police Chief every Friday night, you too might get a pesky murder weapon brushed under the rug.

Unfortunately, your elders have probably beaten you to the Police Chief. But you might nab yourself a lieutenant. (You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that your lieutenant is a lower level of influence, say perhaps a lvl 2, than the Chief, who is most likely a lvl 4 or 5). Just remember, don’t ever let your elders know you’re trying to edge them out. There will be plenty of time to tell their ashes after you’ve staked them out for the sun. A little advice from someone who learned the hard way.

And don’t forget to maintain your influences. They’re people just like you. You have to keep up your contact with them rather than simply calling them when you need a favor… and don’t be surprised when they ask for something in return. Influence traits are just that: influence over other people. They are not servants and they are not guaranteed.

In short, influence is a measure of your pull with the mortals and your ability to get things done. They are the primary way of accomplishing the things you can’t do personally. With enough of the right kinds of influence, you can do anything you can imagine.

Obsidian is a game created by Apophis Consortium. This is a satirical new Kult for use with the game.

Daemon in Control: Considering the Damned Fools’ overbearing presence in corporate culture, rumors suggest that another Circle (or perhaps an overly ambitious lesser Daemon of Avarice) may be attempting to undermine the Internalists’ domination of the Zone’s corporations. Still others claim that these are Undead minions, in which the brain has died but not the body. The truth is that no one, least of all the Damned Fools themselves, really knows… but everyone, from the average citizen in the conduit to the Daemons of each of the Circles, fears this Kult above all others.

Motivation: Tempt everyone else to commit violent and horrific acts. Since success on their part usually results in the death and/or mutilation of said Kultist, they manage to hide their affiliation, not through stealth, but through sheer obliviousness and lack of longevity.

General Appearance: Damned Fools appear at first to be just like any other Citizen of the Zone. Their tendency to make the lives of those around them a living Hell generally betrays this Kultist, as do their frequent inane questions and pointless babble. They are occasionally mistaken for Internalists within occult cliques (until they open their Fool mouths) due to their propensity for expensive clothing, extravagant vehicles and their attempt to command others by flaunting the power of their misappropriated positions. Internalists do, however, often employ the Fools because they are indistinguishable from any standard middle manager and too vacuous to realize they are being used.

Blade: Their kult blade is not a physical weapon, but rather the whine of the incompetent, which saps all intelligence and will from anyone forced to listen to them droning on and on.

Weaknesses: As should be obvious to all but members of this Kult, Damned Fools may not take any Social which offers a bonus to the Knowledge, Mind or Perception Attributes, nor may these Attributes be raised above 2D during character creation. If any of these Attributes ever reaches 5D (for whatever reason, temporary or permanent), the Kultist is hunted down by Daemons of Stupidity and forced to watch “reality vids” until their attribute has once more dropped to the preferred 2D.

Powers: Due to incompetence, these Kultists are incapable of calling an entire Spirit. They can, however, siphon individual points of Spirit from the living by using their Call skill while incessantly expostulating in the most petulant, insipid and insulting fashion possible. The victim loses a Spirit point for every hour they are subjected to the Kultist’s whiny little voice, up to a maximum of four per day, though during this time the Kultist’s entire body radiates as much Dimensional activity as a Kult Blade. It is not recommended that you attempt to roleplay this, as your Narrator will probably be forced to kill you. Repeatedly.

Daemons of Stupidity: Demons of Stupidity look like humans. They talk like humans. They dress, eat, sleep and breathe like humans. But their utter lack of common sense precludes any attempt at infiltrating human society directly, except in the most extreme circumstances, such as a Chemicalist-inspired party or a vacancy in the ranks of any large Corporation. Daemons of Stupidity lack the adaptability and common sense necessary for survival outside the Zone.

Induction into the Kult: Members are not inducted. They are born. Only supernatural guidance could keep these poor idiots from being snuffed out as the waste of oxygen that they are long enough for them to reach adulthood.

Convokations of the Kult of Stupidity:

1 pt. spirit: Red Tape This convokation is cumulative. For every point of Spirit spent, the Fool may “lose” one minor piece of information from the Zone’s database. This is NEVER intentional on the part of the Kultist, but happens at least once each session.

2 pt spirit: Blank Stare The last refuge of the truly Stupid. By drawing on their awesome lack of brain cells, the Kultist may ignore all terror ratings for an entire turn.

3 pt spirit: Ignorance Is Bliss If you can’t see something it’s not there, right? Out of sight, out of mind. By dedicating three points of Spirit, the Kultist may completely ignore one person or object that they cannot see (such as an oncoming vehicle) for one turn. Note that, though the Kultist is unaffected by the ignored object, the object is still there for everyone else. Useful for causing accidents (ignore the car next to you and swerve into its lane) and invoking Road Rage.

4 pt spirit: Corporate Slave This Convokation allows the Kultist to negate the common sense of any one person, forcing them to adopt whatever convoluted and broken procedures the Kultist’s numb little mind can conceive of. This lasts as long as the Kultist is in a position to enforce it.

5 pt spirit: Darwinian Evolution People are lemmings. By enacting this Convokation, the Kultist is capable of persuading one person to join them in some great — and likely fatal — act of true stupidity. Doing so dedicates the spirit of both the Kultist and the victim to the Fool’s Daemonic Circle… whichever one that may actually be.

6 pt spirit: Going Postal The ultimate accomplishment of the Fool is to torment their fellow citizens to the point of murderous frenzy. The Kultist’s mere presence is all that is required beyond the spirit expenditure, though a single application of the convokation may be insufficient to cause the victim to break. Most commonly used several times over a short period of time by multiple Kultists all affecting a single target.

New Social

Middle Manager: Lacking the ambition of the Executive and the business savvy of the Suit, the Middle Manager skates by doing as little work as possible while taking all the credit for the accomplishments of those below them.

• Primary: Starts with +2D Subterfuge or Manipulation (all that time spent looking busy while doing absolutely nothing productive has to count for something, right?) and 10,000 Credits worth of equipment which is owned by their employing Corporation but which can be redirected at a moment’s notice without justification.
• Secondary: Starts with +1D Subterfuge or Manipulation and 6,000 Credits worth of equipment which is owned by his/her Corporation but which can be redirected at a moment’s notice without justification.

New Skill

Bureaucracy: The flipside of Data, this is the only Knowledge-based skill that the Damned Fools may truly excel in. Used as a contested roll when trying to hide information or foul-up otherwise efficient procedures.

Webmistress note: Written for larp houserules, but then made the rounds of the web. The original rules are on pg 207 of Laws of the Night, Revised.

Two-Gun Mojo. The section of the book dealing with using both hands at once is unclear and the example doesn’t match the stated rules. This is not a change. It is a clarification. So here it is, as simple as we can make it:

• a) Every character is considered to be either left or right handed. For ease of play, the character is usually considered to be the same handedness as the player. An ambidextrous player should choose an on hand and an off hand for their character.
• b) To do anything with the off hand (ie. the left hand for a right-handed character) is a two trait penalty. That means it costs THREE traits to perform an action with your off hand.
• c) The Merit Ambidextrous negates the two trait penalty for using your off hand, and ONLY that penalty.
• d) Each hand is considered an action. If you try to do two things at the same time, one with each hand, it is an extra trait FOR EACH HAND, which is a coordination penalty.
• e) If you have an ability of Two-Weapon Combat or Florentine, that negates the one trait penalty for each hand. It does NOT negate the penalty for using your off hand.
• f) You only get ONE extra action for using both hands, at the end of the round. Thus, if you’re using enough Celerity to get an extra action, you get your basic action with your on hand, your Celerity action, and your action for your off hand. You do NOT get an extra Celerity action for each hand.

So, if you are going to use two guns at once, or two knives at once, or a knife in one hand and a gun in the other or…(you get the idea), you effectively have two actions. For your on hand, it is the regular one trait to initiate a challenge plus the coordination penalty trait in (d), for a total of two traits. For your off hand, it is one trait to initiate a challenge, the two trait penalty for using your off-hand (b) and the coordination penalty one trait (d) for a total of four traits. That totals six traits for the round.

If you have Ambidextrous, your on hand costs the same, the trait to initiate the challenge and coordination penalty (d), total two. Your off hand loses the two trait penalty (b), but retains the coordination penalty (d), plus the regular trait to initiate a challenge for a total of two. Total for the round: four traits

Florentine and Two-Weapon but not Ambidextrous: The on hand costs one trait to initiate a challenge but no coordination penalty (d) for a total of one. The off hand costs one trait to initiate plus the off hand penalty two traits (b), but no coordination penalty (d) for a total of three. Total for the round: four traits.

Florentine and Ambidextrous: The on hand costs one trait to initiate a challenge. There is no coordination penalty (d). Total for that hand: one. The off hand costs one trait to initiate a challenge; there is no off hand penalty (b) or coordination penalty (d). Total for the off hand: one. Total for the round: Two traits.