This page will be where any House Rules will be kept, as well as any clarifications. We are going to try to use the book as written, but if we come across something vague or needing more than a simple ruling, we will post that here.
We have added new Loresheets, specific to this chronicle. Please see them under the Loresheets section.
Descendant of Loresheets are considered “Bloodlines” and are treated as they are in Tabletop, where Bloodline Loresheets are taken in addition to any other Loresheet you may have. For example, let’s say your are a Toreador and you take Descendant of Helena, you could also take The Circulatory System also. Of course, you would only be able to take so many dots at character creation, but both sheets could be purchased up with XP as well.
NEW BACKGROUND: BLOODLINE
You have been Embraced into a distinct bloodline with unique qualities. This gives you access to a second Loresheet that only members of your bloodline possess. All other rules and limitations of the Loresheet Background (Laws of the Night Deluxe, p. 155) apply — “Bloodline” is a distinct Background, and as such you can possess an Advantage from both it as well as the Loresheet Background.
You can take a new Background called “Bloodline” to reflect this hybrid nature. It acts just like the Loresheet Background. Like Loresheet, you can only choose one Bloodline, although you can have one Bloodline and one Loresheet. Storytellers might decide that previously-published bloodline-related Loresheets (such as “Descendant of Hardestadt” and “Descendant of Helena” — Laws of the Night Deluxe, p. 161-162) count as Bloodlines, allowing characters with those Loresheets to take an additional, non-lineage-related Loresheet.
For those of you that are doing Coteries, there are a few things to think about, so here is a good template to use for creating your Coteries.
Coterie Name: What name does the Coterie go by, especially when referring to the group either by itself or by others?
Members and Agendas: Who are the members of the Coterie? What agendas/goals does the Coterie have, or each member has as a part of the Coterie?
Customs: What traditions does the Coterie have? Do they have habits or practices that they follow regularly?
Type: What type of Coterie are they? For this, I’ll refer your to some Table Top Resources, though some are listed in the LotN book (Blood Cults, Champions, Cleaners, Commandos, Lorehounds, Nomads, Socialites, Sommeliers).
- Vampire the Masquerade (5th Ed Corebook), Pages 197-199 lists the following with some examples of what their Domains and Backgrounds are, there is also an example of shared Advantages/Disadvantages as well.
- – These types are Blood Cult, Cerberus, Champions, Commando, Day Watch, Fang Gang, Hunting Party, Maréchal, Nomads, Plumaire, Questari, Regency, Sbirri, Vehme, & Watchmen
- Chicago by Night (5th Edition) goes into some more detail about Coteries (pages 231-261). There are some example Coteries there as well. They also lay out Domains there by Chasse, Lien, and Portillon. Those translate to what is in LotN being Comfort, Connections, and Deterrents. You will also see a common background “Mawla”, this is a TT background, that does not exist in LARP. It is what used to be Mentor in the older systems.
- Cults of the Blood Gods introduces a new Coterie Type: Nemeses (page 55), but has nothing else about Coteries.
- Camarilla talks a little bit about Coteries, but only a couple of pages (89-90).
Shared Backgrounds: What backgrounds are shared within the Coterie? You can share Allies, Contacts, Haven, Herd, and Resources. Dots in the base background can be purchased by one member, with other members only buying advantages/disadvantages for a given background. A total of 3 dots is the limit for Herd and Resources, whereas the others are done in groups of 3, indicating different people and locations.
Shared Merits and Flaws: You can take up to 5 dots in Flaws to get up to 5 dots in Merits for free. Additional Flaws may be taken, but you gain no free Merits does for those Flaws. Additional Merit dots can be purchased for the Coterie at a cost of 3 XP per dot.
I’m going to go with the following Merits & Flaws as “sharable” by a Coteries:
Flaws:
Symbiotic Dependency (••••): This is mainly if your Coteries does Blood Bonding as a way of ensuring loyalty, though not recommended.
Enemy (• to •••): This will be an enemy that the whole Coterie is targeted by.
Infamy (• to •••): The whole Coterie is infamous for something.
Poor (• to •••): Unlikely selection… but could provide interesting RP. Essentially a whole Coterie of beggars or living off of benefactors for some reason.
No Haven (••): This would effect the whole Coterie, they stay where they can during the day so as not to become ash.
Known Blankbody (••••): The entire Coterie was caught up in the same event that caused this.
Farmer (••): The entire Coterie feeds exclusively from Animals.
Prey Exclusion (•): All the members of the Coterie have the same Prey Exclusion.
Haunted (• to •••): The whole Coterie is haunted by a ghost (or group of ghosts).
Trouble Magnet (•): The Coterie always seems to find trouble somewhere.
Archaic (••): The whole Coterie eschews Technology and likely doesn’t even have Cell Phones, or at best, an old flip phone.
Dark Secret (•): The Coterie has a secret that if revealed would cause a great embarrassment.
Bullies (•): Your coterie is associated with a dark time when a tyrant Prince, corrupt Baron, or capricious Emir ruled the city. Whether willingly or because of prestation, your coterie enforced their will and many have not forgotten. The coterie has a one-die penalty on all Social dice pools (except Intimidation) when dealing with other vampires in the city. This Flaw does not apply to dealings with their old master’s cronies and henchmen.
Cursed (VARIES): A mystical curse afflicts everyone in the coterie while outside their domain. The coterie decides on a Mythic Flaw (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 182, and pp. 120–121) and takes the same number of dots in Cursed. They can pick multiple Folkloric Blocks or Banes. (For these purposes, consider Stench (p. 120) also a Mythic Flaw.) Whenever they are outside their domain, they suffer the drawbacks of their chosen Mythic Flaw.
Custodians (••): The Kindred of this coterie have a particularly odious or inconvenient responsibility within the city. While they gain no status or compensation for taking on these duties, if they ever fail or shirk this responsibility they risk censure, dishonor, or even death. The exact nature of this responsibility is left up to the coterie and the Storyteller to devise but common custodial tasks include cleaning up after parties at Elysiums, checking the Prince’s gates just before dawn, tending elders or other torpid vampires, babysitting fledglings of politically powerful sires, or leaving offerings at graveyards or temples. If the coterie should ever fail at their task or refuse to do it they lose one dot from their Status within their sect until they make amends and return to their service. (Lose coterie Status first, then individual member Status dots.) If they lose all Status, the coterie also becomes Suspect, but retains this Flaw as well.
Targeted (•): A mortal vampire hunting agency or some other threat knows that Kindred operate in your coterie’s domain and have penetrated at least some of your defenses in the past. Your coterie may even be in some Vatican filing cabinet or FIRSTLIGHT database. Your coterie’s Deterrent rating is halved (round up) against this threat.
Territorial (•): The power base of this coterie is intrinsically linked to a few key pieces of territory that require their constant presence. If the coterie ever leaves the city for extended periods of time or fails to maintain a presence in their domain, it degrades or suffers damage. For every week the coterie is absent from their domain it suffers a one-dot penalty to all domain traits (Chasse, Lien, Portillon), though a trait can never be reduced below zero in this way. If only part of the coterie remains in the city, they must divide their time and attention: remaining members can reduce their hunting pools by one die (two dice if only one member remains) every night to prevent this domain trait penalty. If the coterie’s domain traits are all reduced to zero or if their absence is especially lengthy, they may lose their territory altogether at the Storyteller’s discretion. When the coterie returns, it takes a month of their constant presence within their domain to repair all penalties that have accrued. Coteries with no dots in domain traits cannot take this Flaw.
Under Siege (••): Your domain is under attack and the powers that be seem content to let you handle it without their aid. The nature of your antagonists is up to the coterie and Storyteller to decide: lupines, the Order of St. Leopold, the Sabbat or another opposing sect, or a rival (and politically protected) vampire coterie. These invaders constantly test your defenses and capture key pieces of your territory without resorting to open violence or breaches of the Masquerade. Once per story the storyteller can reduce one of your coterie’s domain traits to one dot or deny the usage of one of your coterie Merits or Backgrounds as your rivals attempt to chisel your territory out from under you.
Merits:
Bond Resistance (• to •••): This could be a result of past blood bonding, or a past of blood bonding techniques used by the Coterie that has left them resistant over time.
Linguistics (• to •••••): The Coterie is adapt as Languages due to their extensive travels.
Zeroed (••): The whole Coterie has been Zeroed out.
Iron Gullet (•••): The whole Coterie can stomach cold blood, like that from blood bags. This may be due to several harsh times when blood was scarce or other reasons.
Loremaster (••): The Coterie is well-traveled and has encyclopedic knowledge into the Supernatural world.
Eat Food (••): The Coteries has had to keep a cover for a very long time and have learned to keep up appearances around mortals.
Calm Heart (•••): The Coterie has participated in many excursions where absolute control was crucial.
Common Sense (••••): This more represents a well-seasoned Coterie, by knowing how to assess risks and dangers.
Call to Purpose (••) (Banu Haqim Coterie Merit): Once per session, the Banu Haqim motivates a coterie-mate they can see with a rousing statement reminding her of her Convictions or even an intense stare that calls her to action. The coterie-mate gains the effects of a Willpower point that must be used immediately, such as to briefly master a frenzy. This “Willpower point” isn’t taken from the Banu Haqim, and must be given to a coterie-mate (the Banu Haqim cannot use it on themselves.)
Boot and Rally (•) (Brujah Coterie Merit): Sometimes the best way out of a bad situation is to try again, harder, and have a frenzy-prone coterie mate impress upon you the error of your ways. Once per session, the Brujah inspires a flagging coterie mate, who gains a +2 advantage on a single Physical Skill Challenge.
Pack Tactics (•••) (Gangrel Coterie Merit): A lone wolf against an enemy risks much, but a pack of wolves working together can take down even the largest and most dangerous prey. When in combat, so long as you have another member of your coterie alongside you, you more effectively harry your common foe: Anyone attacking the same enemy as you adds a +2 to their dice pools for Brawl or Melee attacks. This Merit is non-cumulative; no matter how many Gangrel with it gang up on some poor fool, it offers only a single benefit to each of them.
Ars Moriendi (••) (Hecata Coterie Merit): Almost all members of the Hecata clan are at least cursorily familiar with death and the dead. Once per session, the Lazarene is able to mask the corpse of someone killed by a member of the coterie. They can disguise foul play in the case of a mortal corpse, or protect the Masquerade by making the remains of a destroyed vampire (usually a brittle skeleton unless the vampire was very young) draw less attention, usually by efficiently disposing of it. These are quick-and-dirty fixes, though, and will not divert someone already on their tail, but they can provide some proverbial breathing space to the coterie.
At Any Cost (••) (Lasombra Coterie Merit): The Magister sets a ruthlessly effective example for their coterie-mates. Once per session, a member of the Lasombra’s coterie can choose to turn a normal success into a messy critical, including appropriate negative consequences.
Everything is Connected (•••) (Malkavian Coterie Merit): The Malkavian is able to extract secrets from the most unlikely sources, such as discerning the location of an elder’s vault from someone’s casual exchange about the weather or unearthing an adversary’s deepest fears from the way they take a right at an intersection. Once per session, the Malkavian has the ability to let another member of their coterie substitute one Skill pool for another of their choice (that they possess) in a test involving the gathering of information. The Oracle is then able to interpret the results, gaining the same information as the original pool would have yielded.
Discerning (•) (The Ministry Coterie Merit): Once per session, the Ministry Kindred may discover something superficial a Storyteller character wants, so long as any member of the coterie has spoken to that character during the session, even if the Setite wasn’t present. This may relate to the individual’s Desire or Ambition or it could relate to a specific course of action they were undertaking (but should not expose any deep schemes or mysteries, especially if the coterie is unaware of them). The character who interacted with the Storyteller character in question describes the encounter.
Contextual Contact (••) (Nosferatu Coterie Merit): Nosferatu Kindred often know more about their contacts than the contacts themselves, being able to leverage niche skills and hidden talents of their associates and others’. Once per session, a member of a coterie that has a Nosferatu with this Merit can add the highest single Contact rating of another member of the coterie to any one test to recover information (such as recovering deleted data, using social engineering to acquire a login password, or rifling a physical file cabinet). The contact needs to be involved in some way, but the test is allowed to fall outside their usual area of expertise for this test only. A Contact can only be used once per story for this purpose.
Cryptolect (•••) (Ravnos Coterie Merit): Being forever on the move means having to find new ways to communicate with allies. Using coded language, onomatopoeia, and gestures, this Merit provides the Ravnos and their coterie with their own pidgin for the express purposes of communicating with each other — practically no one outside the coterie understands it, short of expert surveillance. The coterie’s cryptolect is not eloquent or robust, but can be used to convey high-level concepts quickly and securely, and isn’t identifiable as any other language. It also requires face-to-face presence to function, as its gestures and signs diminish when observed over phone or video calls. Leaving the coterie or losing its Ravnos member means the Kindred are no longer up-to-date on the cryptolect and can’t use it to communicate subsequently.
All Access (•) (Toreador Coterie Merit): Whether it’s the premiere of a film by a budding auteur, a fundraising gala for an aspiring politico, or the dive bar that suddenly has a dress code because it doesn’t like the looks of you, you know how to get yourself in — even without an actual invitation. Once per game session, when a coterie is faced with a barrier to enter a mortal event or facility, they can get past the bouncers or security guards by being on the guest list or having a connection to whatever passes for owner or patron. This applies only to situations with some kind of door staff or guest list; it doesn’t circumvent security systems, mystical wards, or the like, and the Storyteller is of course free to block entry if this would somehow short-circuit a story (but should then provide the players with a juicy clue instead).
Multi-Level Lorekeeping (••) (Tremere Coterie Merit): Despite the Tremere reputation for jealously hoarding occult knowledge, many vestiges of the notorious Pyramid actually facilitate the sharing of such among scholars of the forbidden. Once per game session, a single Kindred in a coterie with a Tremere who has this Merit can use a Loresheet Advantage that someone else in the coterie possess, including clan-specific Loresheets, at the Storyteller’s discretion. This additional Loresheet Advantage is usable only for the game session, and any knowledge supposed by the Loresheet Advantage is not retained thereafter by the borrower.
Old-World Hospitality (••) (Tzimisce Coterie Merit): Enter freely and of your own will. At the beginning of a session, any members of the coterie who stayed at the Tzimisce’s haven when the previous session concluded restore an additional Superficial Willpower damage.
Kindred Legacies (••) (Ventrue Coterie Merit): The Ventrue understand that a vampire’s legacy carries with it an accounting of the deeds of their progenitors. For some Blue Bloods, this emerges via written histories while others may have certain sires or scholars among their acquaintances. However it manifests, once per session, a member of the coterie with a Ventrue who has this Merit may ask the Storyteller to reveal a piece of relevant information about the history of a single vampire with whom they’ve come in contact. This could be something specific, such as “the Ministry club owner smuggled fugitive Anarchs out of town after an uprising in LA,” or more mysterious such as “the allegations levied against that Kindred’s great grandsire having committed diablerie were untrue, but his childe still carries the shame to this night.”
Bolt Holes (• TO •••): The coterie’s domain covers an unusually large (or confusing) area. While controlling so much territory can be a logistical challenge at times, the advantages far outweigh the drawbacks. Every dot in the Bolt Holes Merit (to a maximum of three) gives the coterie a bonus die when trying to escape detection or evade pursuit when within their domain. This Merit may play into other dice pools at the Storyteller’s discretion.
On Tap (• TO •••): Your coterie goes out of its way to create an atmosphere within your domain that instills a preferred Resonance in your prey. When taking this Merit choose a Resonance. Whenever hunting in your domain you can add dice equal to the rating of this Merit to find a victim with the specified Resonance.
Privileged (•••): The coterie has been granted special rights beyond that usually afforded to Kindred in their sect. Determine the remarkable deed you or perhaps one of your sires did to earn this unusual favor. Ideally, connect it to your coterie type: your Gravekeepers exorcised a dangerous wraith, your Questari solved a vexing murder that prevented the Court from dissolving in vendetta. Regardless of the reasons, the coterie cannot be punished for a specific crime that would see other Kindred ostracized or destroyed. The Storyteller is the final judge, but examples include being allowed to feed in areas off-limits to others, being allowed to openly carry weapons in Elysiums, or even a blanket permission to Embrace childer within their domain. While this immunity can be revoked if abused, as long as the coterie backs the winner it usually remains in place even through changes in a city’s leadership.
Transportation (••): Getting around the city is never a problem for members of your coterie. A small fleet of luxury vehicles and drivers (Driving 6) are at your group’s disposal on short notice. Also, once per story the coterie can call upon a rare or expensive vehicle such as a helicopter or bulletproof SUV for a night. The death of a driver or destruction of too many cars makes this Merit unavailable for short periods as determined by the Storyteller.
Domain: This is where the Coterie resides and claims as their territory. Each Domain has a rating in Comfort, Connections, and Deterrents. These go in rating from 1-5 and are outlined in the LotN book pages 294 & 295 (Deluxe) or pages 306 & 307 (Pocket Ed.).
In the files section is the Coterie Template, Cult Creation Sheet, & Haven Worksheet.