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World of ConflictCollaborative Storytelling

Why Collaborative Storytelling?You've been playing a World of Darkness

chronicle with the same group of players for months. Your character has made some enemies, developed some kick-ass skills and learned powers, and maybe even picked up some powerful goodies along the way. Then the storyteller cancels a session.

Your group picks up a few weeks later, and all seems to be well, until another session is canceled. Eventually the next session gets posted to the calendar, but you know what's happening, you've seen it before.

Storyteller burn-out.

Okay, maybe they aren't burnt-out so much as overburdened with real-life commitments. In either case, the storyteller is either losing interest in running the game or losing too much sleep trying to prepare for it or both. You'll probably get a few more sessions in this chronicle, and then your character sheet gets filed away, never to be played again.

If you're lucky, you've got several other active character sheets, for games run by other

storytellers. Of course, a crowded calendar of multiple ongoing games offers it's own challenges.

Storytellers jockey for days that don't conflict with each others' chronicles or public holidays. As sessions are moved around on the calendar, players drop out due to other commitments, or because they've already attended two or three other game sessions that week. Expecting absences, storytellers may opt for open groups in an effort to get a critical mass of players each session, which works well until twelve people show up for the same session...

Collaboration for Fun and ProfitCollaborative storytelling takes a page from

the book of successful television serials. Rather than having one writer craft each and every episode from the premier to the finale, different episodes are assigned to different writers.

Any given weekly plot may or may not fit clearly into the story arc, but that's okay, because the characters are learning and developing—and entertaining the audience—even when facing challenges not directly related to the showdown in the final episode.

Meanwhile, character subplots and story elements introduced by one writer early in the season are picked up and developed in unexpected ways by another writer later on, providing for the continuity

Collaborative Storytelling 1 of 21 Aug 20 12, 14 01: – BDL

Table of ContentsWhy Collaborative Storytelling?......................1The Narrative Points System............................3Character Integration........................................3Storytelling Seeds.............................................6Narrative Points in Play....................................9Special Systems..............................................13

that makes for more interesting characters and a richer, more three-dimensional, setting overall.

A chronicle that employs collaborative storytelling operates in much the same manner, only the writers are drawn from the cast of actors, each contributing stories that present new challenges to their fellow players.

Breaking the BottleneckThe storyteller is the choke point of any non-

collaborative chronicle. Sessions happen only when and if she is available. The story is only as engaging and challenging as his preparation affords. Play moves only as quickly as she can juggle the demands of players in attendance, whether a handful or a gaggle.

Groups may seek to address this problem by having multiple storytellers each running their own chronicle, but this provides each individual storyteller some breathing room only by reproducing the same

challenges across multiple chronicles. The problem remains: one player shoulders the bulk of the responsibility for keeping any given campaign going.

Collaborative storytelling opens the chronicle to multiple concurrent plots and subplots—each developed and driven by different storytellers. Rather than a single story arc populated by a bevvy of NPCs controlled by a single player, various stories vie for player character attention, as the desires and conflicts of significant non-player characters are worked out between the players.

Adapting to AttendanceIn open attendance chronicles with a single

storyteller, sessions vary from just the right number of players for an exciting game to too many players for one person to sensibly manage.

Then there's the low turnout session. The storyteller, likely prepared only with the linear storyline of their chronicle, makes the best of it with the players present, but at the expense of leaving the other players out of the loop.

When storytelling is collaborative, unexpectedly large turnouts become an opportunity for more than one player to develop the stories they've put into play. Rather than a dozen people waiting their turn with a single storyteller, subgroups can focus on those plots or subplots most compelling to their respective player characters, each lead by the player telling those stories.

Meanwhile, those sessions with only a few attendees can focus on subplots of interest to the player characters present, putting larger plots on hold until a session when more players can participate.

Smaller subplots allow players in attendance to continue to develop their characters within the chronicle, while allowing storytellers to preserve their grander narratives for the group at large.

Continuing the Chronicle

Traditionally, chronicles start, run

smoothly for a time, and then peter out. Inevitably, any suspense and anticipation that may have built up over months of play is lost: the chronicle never comes to a satisfying resolution, the world never does get saved, the puppet master behind the scenes is never revealed, the final battle with the big boss never happens.

Like a TV show canceled mid-season, all we are left with question about what might have been. Where storytelling and television differ is in who does the canceling. In traditional storytelling, it's not the studio or the network that axes the plot, but the lone writer-showrunner, overburdened with the


responsibility of producing and directing the entire chronicle start to finish.

In collaborative storytelling, there isn't a single storyteller, just as there isn't a single writer for most television series. Player characters can move from one plot to another within the same chronicle, leaving unresolved plots as arcs for further development in later stories.

A storyteller who has too much going on can take a break and pick up their story later. Alternatively, another storyteller can pick up the plot and take it in another direction that integrates with the plots and subplots they've been developing. The plot may even be left unresolved indefinitely, the player characters having become too engrossed in another story arc to give it further attention.

In any event, the characters continue to grow and develop: the chronicle continues.

The Narrative Points SystemCollaborative storytelling introduces a meta-

gaming element to World of Darkness chronicles. Concurrent with the in-game actions taken by player characters, out-of-game actions are taken by the player's themselves to create stories and draw other players into those stories. The mechanism for determining how stories are introduced into play is the Narrative Points System.

Narrative points can be thought of as experience points for players.

Players earn narrative points for building rapport between their characters and NPCs, buying into conflicts that are the bases for stories, opting into degeneration checks, participating in sessions of the chronicle, investing experience points in story development, playing their characters in interesting ways, contributing to a fun gaming environment, running effective stories within the chronicle, and keeping useful records of stories as the develop.

Players spend narrative points to build rapport between NPCs important to stories in development, bid for conflicts that drive plots and subplots, upgrade the ranks and flesh out the abilities of significant NPCs, reduce existing rapport between their characters and NPCs, give their characters more experience, add details to a chronicle that benefit player characters, and even retcon events within the chronicle to take stories in wholly unexpected directions.

To do all of this, the Narrative Points System draws on the Rapport and Relationships module of Mirrors (pp. 119-33), together with the Declaration (116-17), Anticipation (111-14), and Setup (114-16) modules from the same book. “The Greatest Game” module from the Continuum roleplaying game, together with the “High Lord Points” system of the TORG roleplaying game and the “Corporate Wars” chapter for TORG's Nippon Tech cosm, provided inspiration.

Players are also encouraged to read up on the City Creation rules of the FATE RPG (available online), as those rules are incorporated into games such as the Dresden Files RPG. Although the emphasis is different (the Character Map being focused on NPCs where the FATE rules focus more on places), both systems seek to integrate player character backgrounds with the setting to facilitate narrative buy-in by players.

Character IntegrationCollaborative storytelling involves players in

new ways. Rather than a single storyteller creating any number of non-player characters to passively populate the setting and scenes of stories run for a group of player characters, multiple storyteller-players together manage a cast of characters that actively shape and define the plots and subplots that compete for player character attention.


Traditional chronicles are often replete with nameless, faceless throw-away characters that show up to fulfill some utility function in a scene, and that's it. Shopkeepers, sources of information, lieutenants of local mortal or supernatural leaders, even major adversaries have a way of showing up for a scene or two and then evaporating from the setting, never to be seen again. They serve their function to provide a challenge to the player characters in the current story, but so tenuous are the relationships our heroes have with these NPCs that players may often wonder why they're characters would even care to get involved. In the most egregious cases, these cardboard characters appear as nothing more than MacGuffins to goad the player characters down a plot that otherwise would be irrelevant to them.

Under the Narrative Points System, non-player characters aren't background details that flesh out a story. Instead, NPCs are the foundational elements upon which all stories are constructed. Players choose which NPC relationships are most significant to their characters, and what in turn is important to those NPCs. Meanwhile, players invest in relationships between NPCs to set up stories and

introduce conflicts that drive the actions of NPCs in ways that draw in other players.

The Character MapCharacter creation in a collaborative storytelling game proceeds as in any other game in the World of Darkness franchise. Players assign dots to attributes, skills, merits and learned powers, and calculate derivative advantages and make note of bonuses and penalties as appropriate to their character template and faction.

The Narrative Points System introduces two new advantages: the Rapport Pool and the Antipathy Pool. Each character has a Rapport Pool equal to their Willpower score plus their highest Social Skill plus the higher of their Allies, Contacts or equivalent supernatural social merit. If the character is the member of a formal in-game troupe, the number of members in said troupe is also added. The character's Rapport Pool represents the total breadth and depth

of positive relationships they may have with other characters—both player characters and non-player characters.

At this stage, each Player contributes to the Character Map as described in Mirrors (121-22). Don't worry about how many line each player should draw—if the character is relevant to the player character's background and merits, draw a line. The meat of the Character Map is the Rapport and Antipathy assignments. Any line left unassigned defaults to a Rapport of 0.

Assigning RapportPlayers may choose to assign some, all or

none of the points in their Rapport Pool during character creation. Rapport assigned to other player characters grants bonuses when receiving help from those PCs to achieve actions in game, but also carries with it the risk of betrayal and broken trust. Rapport assigned to non-player characters grants bonuses in social interactions. In both cases, the more rapport a player character has with another character, the more


compelling conflicts arising in those relationships will be to the players.

Each point of Rapport assigned earns the player one (1) narrative point, and as a bonus, grants the character a point in their Antipathy Pool. (The Antipathy Pool equals the total number of Rapport points assigned.) The Antipathy Pool works like the Rapport Pool, except that it represents the potential scope of the character's negative relationships, from annoying neighbors to arch-enemies. Antipathy points can only be assigned to non-player characters, result in penalties in social interactions with those NPCs, and earn the player narrative points as per assigning Rapport points. A player is never required to assign points from their Antipathy Pool.

A character may have from one to five dots in Rapport with any given player character or non-player character (or one to five dots of Antipathy with any given non-player character). Each dot of Rapport or Antipathy with a non-player character translates to an equal bonus or penalty in social interactions with that NPC. Each dot of Rapport with another player character provides an equal bonus to their dice pool when helping your character perform actions (but also provides an equal number of successes in the event that they betray your character) (See Trust, 129-30, 133).

In addition, each dot of Rapport or Antipathy assigned to a character relationship counts as a bonus to Investigation rolls detecting the signature of that character, and whenever a rapport-assigned character resolves a conflict as a result of player character's action, the player character gains experience equal to their Rapport with the character. (Same for foiling the resolution of an Antipathy relationship character's Conflict.) (128, 131)

Players may choose to keep some points from their Rapport Pool unspent. This allows for opportunities to develop Rapport with new characters as they are encountered, or to further flesh out existing relationships through the course of play. Note that Rapport (or Antipathy) may only be increased with any given character by one point per story involving the character in question.

Likewise, it is possible to reserve the character's entire Rapport Pool at character creation, assigning no Rapport points to relationships. This is discouraged, however, as it limits the opportunities for other players to draw your character into stories, either as allies (where rapport exists between player

characters) or as storytellers (where rapport exists between your player character and an NPC the storyteller has established Conflict for).

On the other hand, player characters need not necessarily have rapport with each other across the board, so long as rapport relationships sufficiently connect all player characters on the same Character Map. World of Darkness chronicles frequently begin with a cadre of solitary player characters that only over time develop trust between one another.

This is where high Rapport (and high Antipathy) NPCs shine: in drawing disparate player characters into the same Conflict. If two players cannot find a reason their characters would trust one another from the outset, perhaps they can find a common non-player character that both player characters love or hate. This can provide inspiration for Conflicts in effect for that NPC and thereby a seed for stories involving both characters.

Fostering DesiresThe Narrative Points System replaces the

default Virtue / Vice mechanics of the World of Darkness with a variation on the Desire / Conflict mechanics described in Mirrors (127). A character may have up to five combined points in Desires and Conflicts.

Each Desire chosen for a player character earns one (1) narrative point. Thereafter, when the character successfully pursues their desire refreshes one willpower point (once per scene).

Each point of Conflict chosen for a player character earns one (1) narrative point. Thereafter, until the Conflict is resolved, when the character critically succeeds at an action to resolve their Conflict, they regain all willpower points.


Additionally, for any session in which one of the character's Conflicts enter into the story, the character gains experience points equal to the character's points in that Conflict. See “Buying Into Conflict”, below, for an explanation of Conflict points.

A player may eliminate a desire for their character at the cost of two (2) narrative points. The only way to remove a Conflict from a character is to resolve the Conflict, at which time those points become available for other Desires and/or Conflicts.

All Desires and Conflicts fostered for a character should be listed on both their character sheet and on their node of the Character Map. In addition to their benefits during play, Desires and Conflicts offer story seeds for other storyteller-players.

Storytelling SeedsRelationships and Rapport, Desires and

Conflict, these are the seeds for stories in a collaborative storytelling chronicle. These seeds are not sown exclusively with player characters, however.

Once all players have completed character creation and integration, the first turn of the Narrative Roundtable begins. (See rules, below.) Each player is given an opportunity to promote non-player characters in rank, establish new non-player character relationships, bid for conflict or buy into conflict, as follows.

Ranking CharactersEach non-player character begins with a rank,

which may then be promoted by spending narrative points. Ranks for NPC characters follow the rules for Quick NPCs as listed on White Wolf's World of Darkness Wiki.

http://wiki.white-wolf.com/worldofdarkness/index.php?title=Quick_NPCs

Generic background characters are generally of Rank 1, although children and small animals may qualify as Rank 0 (in which case the character gets an extra narrative point to spend elsewhere). Most player characters will have a background relationship with one Rank 3 character and one Rank 4 character, representing authority figures (sire and prince, for instance).

Each NPC's rank should be indicated on the Character Map, along with their character template, name, faction, and Trait Specialty. If the player chooses to leave any of the latter information undetermined, each such item may be established subsequently by a storyteller as per the Magic Character Beans rules (see below). The player gains a narrative point for every ten (10) Magic Character Beans that would have to be spent later to canonize the trait or traits left unspecified at the time the NPC is created.

Note that NPCs that necessarily relate to the backgrounds of multiple player characters (the Prince of a city, for instance), always begin play without template, name, faction and trait specialty specified. Likewise, these NPCs are not thought of as “introduced” by any specific player for the purposes




of bidding for conflict (see below), nor do any players gain narrative points for leaving such details about shared NPCs unspecified.

Once a non-player character's rank has been set on the Character Map, it can only be increased through an expenditure of narrative points. The cost of increasing an NPC's rank by one point is equal to the total Rapport or Antipathy (whichever is greater) assigned to the character multiplied by the rank to be achieved following said promotion.

In addition to general attributes described for Quick NPCs, a non-player character's rank has several effects.

First, higher rank characters generally can offer more aid (or more of a threat) to a characters they are related to, as appropriate to a story they feature in, but also are in better able to strong arm player characters into dealing with the NPC's Conflicts.

Second, the sum total Rapport points that may be assigned to a character is limited by their rank. To determine how many Rapport points may be assigned to an NPC, multiply their rank by 4 and add 4. Once this total has been reached, the only way to increase rapport between an NPC and another character (player or non-player) is to first disrupt their relationship with another character. (See “Forging Relationships”, below, for details).

The same rule applies for Antipathy assignments. Note that Antipathy is not limited for NPCs as it is for characters. An NPC may have

maximum Antipathy assignments for their rank without any Rapport assignments.

Third, rank determines the number of Magic Character Beans (see Mirrors 207-08) available for an NPC. Whenever a storyteller intends to have a character use a learned power or merit not previously canonically used by that character or demonstrate proficiency in an attribute or skill exceeding any bonuses for Trait Specialty or Competency, the storyteller must first purchase sufficient MCBs to spend on the learned powers, attributes, skills, specialty, and/or merits granting the character's acumen or power.

Once an NPC has demonstrated a learned power, attribute or skill it becomes minimal canon for that character. They might actually be even more talented or powerful than evidenced during play to date, but this will only be further canonized if additional MCBs are used for that purpose.

Forging RelationshipsA player may bolster a relationship between

any two non-player characters as an action during the Narrative Roundtable. Alternatively, they may establish a new relationship of Rapport 0 between any two characters, including between an existing character and character newly introduced for the purpose.

The cost of bolstering an existing relationship between two NPCs is equal to the Rapport or


Antipathy points that will result from the change, plus 1. For instance, increasing the Rapport between two non-player characters from two to three dots costs four (4) narrative points.

Forging a new relationship of Rapport 0 between two existing characters costs one (1) narrative point, while forging a new relationship between an existing character and a new character costs two (2) Rapport Points. As with background NPCs introduced at character creation, the player may choose to declare as much or as little information about the character as they choose when this new character is added to the Character Map.

A non-player character may never have more Rapport points assigned (or Antipathy points assigned) than allowed for their rank.

A player in the Narrative Roundtable may choose to reduce the Rapport Points between any NPC and any other character (player or non-player) for twice the Rapport dots being reduced from. Thus, to reduce the Rapport between two characters from 3 dots to 2 dots would cost six (6) narrative points.

Bidding For ConflictA player may attempt to foster a Desire or

introduce a one dot Conflict or upgrade an existing Conflict for any non-player character as an action during the Narrative Roundtable.

If fostering a Desire, the cost in narrative points is equal to the total dots in Desires and Conflicts that would result. The exception to this rule is that the player who introduced the NPC may specify at most one Desire and one Conflict for free, whether during character creation or subsequently at any time during a Narrative Roundtable. Remember that no character may have more than five total dots in Desires and Conflicts at any given time.

A Conflict may be one, two or three dots, representing Relaxed, Uncertain, and Urgent conflict types from Mirrors (124-25). Upgrading a Conflict has the narrative effect of escalating the tension of the Conflict. A

new character begins snooping around and so may uncover a long buried secret. The conflict character has found a new Desire that drives them to resolve the Conflict more immediately than before.

If introducing or upgrading a Conflict, the player must indicate the related character that is involved in creating or escalating the Conflict, and may also implicate a Desire of the character that plausibly contributes to the new Conflict or the upgrading of an existing Conflict. Each related character and Desire may only be linked to any one dot of a given Conflict. Thus, a Conflict of three dots must necessarily involve three related characters (player or non-player) and at most two Desires (as the total dots in Desires and Conflicts for any character may not normally exceed five).

When bidding for a Conflict, the narrative point cost is equal to the total number of dots in Desires and Conflicts that would result, plus the rank of the related character (starting player characters are considered Rank 2), less the Rapport or Antipathy between the conflict character and the related character. If a Desire is implicated, reduce the cost of the bid by one (1) narrative point. That said, the bid for any Conflict will always be at least one (1) narrative point.

Whichever player last introduced or upgraded a Conflict is deemed to have authorship of that Conflict for storytelling purposes. This means that any player character buying into or otherwise pursing the Conflict will play that story with the author of the Conflict fulfilling the role of storyteller. If they upgraded a Conflict previously authored by another player, they may work with that player to run the story if both players are amenable (see “Storyteller

Breakouts”, below).

A player may, again during the Narrative Roundtable, squelch a Desire or downgrade a two or three dot Conflict or eliminate a one dot Conflict for any non-player character by spending twice the narrative points that it would have cost to foster the Desire or introduce or upgrade the Conflict, had the character's total Desires and Conflicts been one dot


shy of the Desire or Conflict dot in question. Note that a Desire may not be squelched so long as it is implicated in a currently unresolved Conflict.

A demoted Conflict reverts to the authorship of the player who had previously introduced or promoted the Conflict.

Buying Into ConflictRather than spending narrative points during

a turn at the Narrative Roundtable, a player may choose to earn narrative points by buying into a Conflict. The Conflict must be one currently introduced or upgraded for a non-player character to which the player's character is related or else bought into by another player's character to which the current player's character is related.

The player may choose to buy into as many dots in the Conflict they wish, up to the total dots the related character has in the Conflict or the total dots in Desires and Conflicts the current player has available, whichever is lesser. (A player whose character already have five total dots in Desires and Conflicts may not buy into another Conflict.) Each Conflict dot so bought into earns the player one (1) narrative point.

Buying into a Conflict commits the player character to the outcome of the story resulting from the Conflict, even if they do not participate in the playing of the story. The story need not be played during the same session as it was bought into, if the storyteller and other involved players are otherwise occupied with other stories that session.

Rather than buy into a Conflict during their turn at the Narrative Roundtable, a player may opt in to a story known to be running later that session. This action is only available if the player character is not already involved in any other stories to be played during the same session. If the player character has not previously been involved in the story being opted into, opting in ears one (1) narrative point.

Narrative Points in PlayOnce one or more players have bought into

or opted into a given Conflict, the player with authorship of the Conflict is responsible for running a story resultant from that Conflict. This may be a one-shot adventure plot resolved in a single session or an extended subplot spanning multiple, not necessarily consecutive, sessions of play, perhaps weaving through Conflicts of other characters and relating back to stories run by other players before its final resolution.

Narrative points have a role in game just as they do in the meta-game of the Narrative Roundtable. Storytellers use narrative points to develop their cast of characters, while players can use their narrative points to add helpful details to the story and even assert partial authorship over a scene or entire storyline. Narrative points may also be used for character development and building a player character's Rapport with non-player characters following the completion of the story.

Morality as Narrative ConflictNarrative points may be earned in play by

opting into degeneration checks per the rules in Mirrors 48-49. Here, each Desire and Conflict that resonates with the degeneration check adds one die to the base pool of three dice. (A multi-dot Conflict only adds one die.) Note that characters may be created with any of the Morality alternatives described in Mirrors, as appropriate to the chronicle


—this is treated as a feature of their character template and faction.

If the consensus of the players in the current story session is that the degeneration check is appropriate, and the storyteller does not veto the roll, the player who agrees to make the roll earns two (2) narrative points.

On a failed degeneration check, two things happen: first, a derangement roll is made as per the standard rules; second, a one dot Conflict is added to the player character's sheet, related to the circumstances of the degeneration check, and which must be resolved in order to regain the dot lost to degeneration. If the derangement roll fails, the degeneration Conflict is upgraded to a two dot Conflict.

Acquiring degeneration Conflicts may result in a total Desires and Conflicts for a character exceeding five dots. The player may not buy into any further Conflicts for the player character until total Desires and Conflicts is reduced to below five dots.

Casting the ConflictAny story begins with characters. First, we

have our conflict character, the non-player character with the Conflict. This is our antagonist or friend in need. Then, we have the player characters who have bought in to the story for the duration or opted in to the story for the session.

Players with Multiple CommitmentsNote that player characters may have bought

into more than one story, or opted into a story previously that is now running concurrently with another story their character is involved in. Which story the player participates in during any given session may take some creative thinking or even some time sharing.

First rule is that if the player has already participated in one story but not the other, then the story they last participated in take precedence. This may mean postponing the second story until the player character becomes available, so long as the other players can still find stories to participate in for the session.

However, storytellers and players may craft plausible events in media res to transfer a character from one story to another. Meeting with the other

characters in story A to decide on how to deal with the swamp monster infestation in the sewers, when a cell phone call alerts the character that their aunt just landed up in the hospital after a mysterious animal attack in story B? It's okay, we'll take care of the swamp monsters, your auntie needs you.

The key is to role play the transition from one story to the other. Rather than just duck out of an ongoing story to join a new one at the beginning of a session, the player should first reconvene with the other players of the first story pending some decision by the storytellers involved on how introduce the move into the story chronology.

Such transitions may volley back and forth throughout the session, if events in the two stories allow for the character to reasonably transition back and forth between alternating plotlines, juggling their role in the Conflicts of each. In this case, the player involved and both storytellers will really be on the spot to keep the action moving while keeping things fun for both player groups. In the event that they pull it off to everyone's satisfaction, all three may be awarded one (1) narrative point for their extra effort.

NPCs Doing Double DutyNext, we have any other non-player

characters related to the conflict character. Here a similar challenge of assembling one's cast arises. What if those non-player characters are integral to the plot of another story running concurrently with your own?

Storytellers are encouraged to compare notes with regards to non-player characters they intend to use so as to avoid stomping on either storyteller's continuity.


Solutions may include players in each story encountering the same NPCs at different times or on different days or via different media (one in person, the other via telephone or email). Perhaps one story is a one-shot that can be said to have occurred a few days or weeks earlier than the other? Maybe an NPCs absence from one story may be dealt with by a messenger NPC from the other story communicating their regrets for being unavailable.

Be creative, but also be flexible. If one story calls for a character to be in police custody in one story at the same time that another story has the same character hosting a dinner party at home, someone's timeline is gonna have to budge, or another character will need to be substituted (perhaps a doppelganger noone discovers until a latter Conflict is introduced). If the other players agree that the storytellers did an entertaining job of explaining how the character happened to be in two stories at once, award both storytellers a bonus narrative point.

If all else fails, one or the other storyteller may postpone their story depending on an otherwise indisposed but vital character until the other story holding that character out of circulation has been completed. Note, however, that this should almost never happen.

A Cast of ThousandsBeyond the conflict character, player

characters, and related NPCs from the Character Map, there are two more categories on our casting list: bit characters and integral extras.

Bit characters are characters that show up for a scene because of their relationship to a venue or event that otherwise has no direct bearing on the story or Conflict. The clerk at a truck stop on the way to the antagonist's lair and the girl you dance with in a night club while really scoping out the suspect coming in the back entrance are both probably bit characters.

So long as the character isn't actively involved in the Conflict in some way, they're a bit character, and cost the Storyteller nothing to introduce.

Lackeys and Spear CarriersOn the other hand, integral extras are

characters that are tied up in the action of the Conflict, but aren't otherwise important enough to have appeared on Character Map before now. The antagonist's two henchmen who take you blindfolded to his lair are integral extras, as is the lawyer that


shows up uninvited to represent your Conflict character after they've been arrested.

Integral extras are in some way involved in the Conflict, or become involved in the Conflict during the course of play, and thus must be related to someone, whether the conflict character or a character related to either the conflict character or someone related to the conflict character.

In each case, integral extras count as newly introduced characters on the Character Map, and cost two (2) narrative points apiece for the storyteller to introduce. Such characters start at whatever rank the Storyteller chooses, and are added to the Character Map as canonical Rapport 0 relations to whatever character they relate to.

A storyteller is advised to have narrative points in reserve to bring such characters into play, although there is no requirement that they do come into play if the story doesn't develop that way.

If a character is introduced purely as cannon fodder, and has no role outside of combat rounds, this may be done for one (1) narrative point, and said character needn't be added to the Character Map. Summoned demons, animals, and spirits called into combat by a learned power or other special ability have no narrative points cost.

Integral extras drawn into the story by player characters (through an appropriate social Merit, for instance), in their effort to resolve the Conflict, do not cost the storyteller or the players any narrative points, except when a player character chooses to spend narrative points to develop Rapport with an integral extra after the conclusion of a story.

Creating Dramatic ShiftsNot all players are interested in or ready to

take on the roll of storyteller. What then to do with all the narrative points they earn during character integration and at the beginning of each session?

One way to put those narrative points to use is to bank them for when you are ready to make your mark on the Character Map and bid for some Conflicts. Another is to invest your narrative points in character development (see below). Finally, you can spend narrative points during play to change the course of the story.

Creating Dramatic Shifts follows the same rules as the Anticipation, Setup and Declaration

modules of Mirrors (111-18), with the additional proviso that each carries a narrative point cost in addition to the costs (in willpower points or dots) specified in the Mirrors rules.

Declaration 1 NP

Anticipation 3 NP

The Setup 6 NP

The Long Con 10 NP

Unreliable Narrator 15 NP

Players may pool their narrative points to create a dramatic shift. In this case, one player character is selected to perform the appropriate action roll, with the characters of other players contributing narrative points supporting with their own rolls.

In the end, the storyteller is final arbiter of when and how Dramatic Shifts are allowed, and always the fun to be had by other players is paramount. Just because you've got 15 narrative points burning a whole in your pocket doesn't mean you can force a complete erasure of several weeks of play down everyone's throats.

However, retcons can be fun, when done well and with everyone's input, and can even go a long way to helping a struggling storyteller dig out of an unexpected cluster fuck. Use them wisely.

Character DevelopmentNarrative points convert at the rate of 3 NP

for every 1 XP. A player who has had their favorite character in cold storage for a while while running an extended story can cash out their narrative points at its conclusion to catch up a bit with other player characters that have been in active play.


Likewise, players who have been actively running their characters and now would like to try their hand at running a story of their own can divert experience points from skills and learned powers and use them instead to build relationships and bid for Conflicts on the Narrative Roundtable.

In both cases, each conversion (of XP to NP or NP to XP) counts as an action on the Narrative Roundtable. A player may convert as many points in either direction as they choose during a single action, so long as the conversion is for a single player character. If the group allows a player to have multiple player characters, conversions of XP to/from NP for each additional player character count as an additional action on the Narrative Roundtable.

At the end of any story, players also have the option of asserting additional Rapport between their character and NPCs. Each additional dot of Rapport earns the player one (1) narrative point. Of course, a player may not spend points on Rapport if their Rapport Pool is exhausted. Buying down Rapport between a player character and a non-player character costs two (2) narrative points.

When a player first introduces a non-player character during character development, they may assert as much or as little information about the character as they choose. With each additional Rapport dot assigned, the player again has the option

to flesh out the character further, within reason. (See Mirrors 126)

Special SystemsA number of special systems are introduced

as part of the Narrative Points System. The Narrative Roundtable has been referred to extensively already, and the relationship of Rank to Magic Character Beans has also been mentioned. Several additional systems are described here to round out the entire collaborative storytelling experience.

In a traditional World of Darkness chronicle, game play during a session may be broken down into three phases:

Phases of a Traditional Storytelling Session

1. Character Creation – reviewing manuals, assigning dots to traits, and reviewing chronicle specific rules with the storyteller.

2. Downtime – spending experience points, often role playing scenes or activities with the storyteller for additional experience or to justify trait acquisition.

3. Storytelling – group play where a lone storyteller presents events and challenges unfolding in the story and the player


characters (more or less as a team) respond to those events.

Not all sessions involve all three phases, nor are all three phases necessarily consecutive. Often the initial session for a new group of players stops with character creation, or a new player may spend most of the session involved in creating their character while storytelling proceeds for the other players.

Downtime is usually left out entirely except in the session immediately following a story's conclusion, or in rare instances sandwiched between two storytelling phases. Some storytellers prefer to handle downtime by email or otherwise keep it outside the scope of the game session.

Most sessions of non-collaborative storytelling chronicles begin and end in the Storytelling phase. Collaborative storytelling under the Narrative Points System is a bit more structured.

Phases of a Collaborative Storytelling Session

1. Character Creation and Integration – creating new characters as per traditional storytelling, with the additional step of assigning Rapport to NPCs and adding new NPCs to the Character Map.

2. The Narrative Roundtable – one or more rounds in which players may take actions to draw players into a story and/or to commit to stories available to their player character.

3. Storyteller Breakouts – group play involving one or more groups of players, each with one player as storyteller, each pursuing a Conflict through resolution of a story. Players may move between breakouts during the course of play.

4. The Ballot Box – a voting phase wrapping up the session, during which each player recognizes their fellow players for their contributions record keeping, storytelling, facilitating, and roleplaying.

5. The Scribe Service – between sessions, those players that care to compose written narratives of events that transpired during the narrative roundtable and their own breakouts, in whatever style and genre seems appropriate. Also, the official Character Map is updated with changes from the previous session.

As in traditional storytelling, not all of the above will always be linear. Character creation for a new player may proceed as a breakout. Ballots may be cast early by players who are unable to stay for the whole session. Scribes are likely keeping ample notes during all phases.

Character Creation and IntegrationSee discussion under

“Character Integration”. Once a group is established, Character Creation and Character Integration is handled during the Storyteller Breakout phase. A player arriving at a session without a character created and integrated on the Character Map skips the Narrative Roundtable for that session, unless the group elects to postpone the Narrative Roundtable until the player is ready for that phase.

The Narrative RoundtableOnce the group's first player

characters have been created and the initial Character Map has been drawn up, play turns to the Narrative Roundtable. Typically, all subsequent sessions will begin in this phase. (Groups may elect to follow a house rule that allows for multiple player characters per player. This, however, may result in a huge Character Map and so is not recommended for novices to the Narrative Points System.)

First, the Ballot Box results from the previous session are announced, and each player receives s equal to their share of ballots cast during that session. Next, each player present for the current session rolls 1d10 to determine bonus s received for attending the session.


Player initiative is then determined based on total s each player has at the beginning of the Narrative Roundtable phase. A coin flip, roshambo or similar method may be used to resolve ties. Play proceeds in rounds, with each player taking a turn in their initiative order until all players have chosen to take no further actions.

Available actions are as follows:

• promote a non-player character

• forge or bolster an NPC relationship

• bid for an NPC Desire or Conflict

• option NPC Magic Character Beans

• convert NP to XP or XP to NP

• buy into a Conflict

• opt into a story

• declare no further action

Most of these actions are described in detail in the section “Storytelling Seeds”, above, with the exception of Magic Character Beans, discussed below. Play during the Narrative Roundtable may be swift, if players have planned their moves ahead of time, or may be more drawn out, as players react to unexpected actions and negotiate with one another about choice Conflict opportunities.

Players intending to vie for Conflict authorship are encouraged to have a flexible small-group one-shot adventure in their back pocket, anticipating the possibility of being called on to run a story for one or more players who haven't otherwise been drawn into a Conflict.

Larger scope, multi-session stories involving a core group of players may take careful maneuvering over several sessions of Narrative Roundtables, in order to fully put all the characters

for a story in place by forging relationships, fostering Desires, introducing and promoting Conflicts, and getting buy in from other players.

Rank and Magic Character BeansIt's challenging enough running non-player

characters as a storyteller in non-collaborative storytelling. Everyone is familiar with the mad scramble of the storyteller trying to figure out just what the dice pool for an NPC should be for a contested action a player pulls out of their hat in the middle of combat. Storytellers rarely spend the time in advance composing an entire character sheet for an NPC that will only be dealt with in one or two scenes.

Under the Narrative Points System, however, non-player characters are intended as recurring characters. Some may appear regularly across multiple stories, some may show up less frequently, some may never be used during the chronicle, but all are potentially recurring characters.

On the one hand, this simplifies the job of the storyteller (or, here, storytellers), because investing the time in developing the trait spread of a recurring character grants benefits that investing the same time in a one-shot character does not. On the other hand, drawing up full character sheets for every NPC on the Character Map would be silly, as only some of those characters will ever see substantial time in play.

Further, in a collaborative storytelling context, the question arises as to who would draw up such character sheets. Some Merit-derived NPCs may be drawn up in some detail by the player, using rules provided for non-player characters of that type (e.g., a Changeling's hobgoblin companion), but most will simply exist as a snippet of background information.

In a traditional storytelling chronicle, the Storyteller (uppercase “S”) would be responsible for determining that character's traits. In a collaborative storytelling setting, however, multiple storytellers may draw on the same NPC for different purposes at different times. Some just to offer information or color, some to assist the player characters with the bounty of their NPC skills and merits. Nor is it unheard of for non-player characters to be drawn into combat. If multiple storytellers are casting the same character, just who gets to decide the character's stats?


The Narrative Points System addresses this question by combining the “Quick NPC” rules from White Wolf's World of Darkness Wiki with the “Magical Character Beans” rules from Mirrors. Essentially, non-player characters without full character sheets (the vast majority) are assumed to have the Quick NPC stats specified for their Rank—until a storyteller or player with a related player character pays the s cost to say otherwise.

Similarly, if the creating player does not specify the character template, name, faction or trait specialty of an NPC, these may be canonized later by spending Magic Character Beans. Setting a character's template costs 30 MCBs, while setting any of the character's name, faction or trait specialty costs 10 MCBs each. NPCs with one or more of these traits as yet to be specified, start with additional MCBs in their bank equal to the costs of specifying the same traits.

This requires some extensions of the charts provided in those two rule sets. First, a Rank 0 character, for the purposes of this system, is considered to have Competency 3, Resistance 1, and no Powers, Arcana or Energy. Second, each Rank corresponds to a bank of Magic Character Beans, per the following chart. Equivalent experience points is shown for comparison purposes.

Rank MCBs XP

0 – Neonate 110 n/a

1 – Beginner 120 n/a

2 – Competent 140 0

3 – Veteran 180 100

4 – Expert 260 250

5 – Master 420 500

Whenever a storyteller or player anticipates bringing a non-player character's traits into play with more specificity than provided for by the Quick NPC rules, they must first option Magic Character Beans, at the rate of ten (10) Beans per , during the Narrative Roundtable. Optioning 10 Beans counts as an action on the Narrative Roundtable.

Magic Character Beans are optioned against the account of the NPC whose traits they would flesh out. A player need not option all ten Beans for the same non-player character however. They can option five from one character, three for another, and two from a third, just so long as it works out to ten total.

These MCB options are reserved, in the name of the player, on the record sheet for the NPC: until such time as the player chooses to exercise one or more of them—either as a storyteller who introduces the non-player character into a story or as a player whose character calls on the NPC in the course of a story.

It is the responsibility of the Scribe Service to maintain the record sheets for NPCs and track the exercise of MCBs and the resulting canonical changes to non-player characters that result. Just what is the Scribe Service? See below.

Storyteller BreakoutsUpon the completion of the Narrative

Roundtable, players break off into subgroups according to whichever stories may be in play that session.

If a small number of players are in attendance, only one story may be in play, so long as all the players have bought in or opted in to the same story. A group of four players breaking out to two one-off stories with a player and storyteller each is of course possible.

Character development through the spending of experience points is also handled during storyteller breakouts. This can happen in one of two forms. In traditional form, characters who have just completed a story together or are just beginning a story together may play through downtime as a prologue or epilogue, with the storyteller responsible for the main story handling the action.


Alternatively, or at the direction of the storyteller during a prologue/epilogue, players may identify a trait or traits they wish to acquire or improve in the form of a Desire, Conflict or even upgrading of an existing Conflict, which may then be woven into a subsequent story. The improvement in the trait in question then becomes a potential story outcome, either as a momentary satisfaction of a Desire (where the player wants to add multiple dots to one or more related traits over time) or a resolution of a Conflict (where a player seeks only to gain a trait or improve a trait by a fixed amount).

As always, such Desires and Conflicts earn the player one (1) narrative point each, and may not exceed 5 dots in total. Likewise, willpower can be regained for such Desires and Conflicts as with any others. Players are encouraged to relate these trait improvement Conflicts to their rapport (and antipathy) relationships, such that they may also derive experience points from the resolution of said conflicts through stories told by other players (which means fulfillment of their trait improvement may also draw them into other Conflicts of the same related characters).

Larger groups of players will inevitably divide into smaller storyteller breakouts, at least for part of the session, although there are other options for combining storytelling duties in a larger group. The various storyteller roles possible in play are described here.

• Conflict Storyteller – a player running a story for one or more player characters in a breakout. A conflict storyteller generally remains in that role for however many sessions it takes to resolve the Conflict in the story, although the same story may trail off at one point in game world time and pick up at another, freeing up players to participate in other stories during intermediary sessions without breaking continuity.

• Conflict Co-Author – multiple players may bid up the Conflict resulting in a story, each having contributed different non-player characters, and fostering different desires in

the conflict character. There respective contributions may represent different factions in the game world who have an interest in the Conflict. The Conflict Co-Author may be responsible for running specific NPCs or entire scenes in the story, or may simply share their initial ideas for the Conflict with the Conflict Storyteller and receive recognition in the Ballot Box for their contribution to bidding up the Conflict.

• Combat Game Master – like a Conflict Co-Author, a Combat Game Master may take on specific scenes, or at least the combat round thereof, allowing the Conflict Storyteller a breather. The Conflict Storyteller may opt to focus on tactics for their NPCs during combat or hand control of those NPCs over to the Combat Game Master, freeing up the Conflict Storyteller to make notes for a subsequent scene or step away from the table

for refreshments while play continues. Combat Game Masters should be adept at keeping combat moving swiftly, and are especially valuable when special weapons or combat effects (see both Armory Reloaded and Mirrors) are in play.

• New Player Tutor – a new player's first session can be time consuming, as the player needs to prepare a character sheet—reviewing manuals and learning rules specific to their character template and the chronicle setting—while the other players are either sitting around waiting for play to begin or else neck-deep in the current story (if the new player has been left to create their character while play commences). The New Player Tutor is a player who takes the time to answer a new player's questions and help them find references in various manuals, including explaining and clarifying the Narrative Roundtable, Ballot Box, and Scribe Service phases of play—as these will be unfamiliar to anyone unaccustomed to


collaborative storytelling. They may do this while simultaneously participating in a story, or may step out of the story in some continuity-consistent way and focus on the new player, perhaps even running a one-shot story with the player once their character sheet is up to snuff.

• Splat Parliamentarian – the World of Darkness unfolds through dozens of rule books for a diverse range of character templates and supernatural threats, and absent eidetic memory it is unlikely that any storyteller is likely to be able to recall and quickly put their fingers on the rules for any particular learned power, heavy weapon, supernatural faction or randomly encountered mundane animal that player characters come upon during the course of play. The Splat Parliamentarian is the player who specializes in being the expert in one or more supernatural template or specialized rule systems within the larger setting. Like the Combat Game Master, the Splat Parliamentarian allows the Conflict Storyteller to focus on the narrative while leaving at least some of the nitty gritty of game mechanics to others.

• Cameo Non-Player Actor – some NPCs have bigger personalities than the stories they appear in can contain. When a non-player character has been established as a major factor in the unfolding of multiple stories (especially multiple stories being run concurrently during the same session), it's time for a Cameo Non-Player Actor to take the reigns. Like a Conflict Co-Author, the Cameo Non-Player Actor is responsible for describing the actions taken by the big shot NPC and any related minions and integral extras that may be introduced during the course of play. This allows the Conflict Storyteller(s) of each breakout involving the Cameo Non-Player Actor to focus on the motivations and actions of other factions in play. This storyteller role requires a talented player who can work well with each of the storytellers involved.

• Dramatic Shifts in Action – even in a breakout involving only a Conflict Storyteller and a group of player characters, other players can take the story in unexpected

directions if they have the narrative points on hand to call a Declaration, Anticipation or Setup (see “Creating Dramatic Shifts”, above). In these cases, the player shifting the drama, in collaboration with the Conflict Storyteller and other players, assumes a storyteller role, at least insofar as they set up a new scene or storyline that is then handed back to the Conflict Storyteller.

The Ballot BoxThe last phase of each session proper is the

Ballot Box. It is a good idea to assign one or more players responsibility as timekeepers during the session to ensure that enough time is left at the end for the Ballot Box. Storytellers should be given warnings to wind down their current breakouts in anticipation of the final phase of the session.

To put it crassly, the Ballot Box is a popularity contest for profit. Each player casts ballots for their fellow players in each of four categories—Scribe, Scene, Story and Sport—and these ballots are tallied up and converted to s awarded to players at the beginning of the next session.

For any given session, the number of ballots available to each player is equal to the number of players that attended that session. Thus, if nine players were in attendance, each player gets to cast nine ballots. Each player must cast at least one ballot in each of the four balloting categories before any further ballots may be cast, although they can cast all their remaining ballots in only one category after this requirement as been met if they so choose.


award is separate from any awards resulting from the Ballot Box.

Once the ballots have been collected, one or more players assume responsibility for tallying the ballots and reporting the results at the beginning of the next session. Ballots are tallied for each candidate in each category. The ballots received by each player across categories are then summarized. Each summary ballot total is then divided by the number of players present at the session, and rounded up. This number is the award each player will receive at the beginning of the next session.

The Scribe ServiceIn a traditional storytelling game, record

keeping duties are pretty clear cut. Each non-storyteller player maintains their character sheet, the character sheets of any closely associated NPCs (familiars and whatnot), and any notes they may want to track about special powers available to their characters or events that have transpired thus far during play. The storyteller, meanwhile, is responsible for any and all details about NPCs introduced during the course of play, and keeping track of which events they planned for did and did not happen and how those events unfolded from session to session over the duration of a chronicle.

In a collaborative storytelling game, record keeping is more distributed. NPCs are shared between related player characters and storytellers, events unfold for subsets of players that nonetheless can have an impact on other players participating in other stories in the same game world, and even the actions taken during the Narrative Roundtable impact players absent from a given session as their related NPCs develop new relationships, find new Desires, and enter into new Conflicts. When the background of one player's hobgoblin companion can become another player's story seed for a journey in the Hedge, effective sharing of information between players becomes an essential component of game play.

For this reason, all players are considered to be members of the Scribe Service. Some may take responsibility for maintaining and updating the group's authoritative Character Map (a freeware or open source concept mapping application is recommended for this purpose—we are currently experimenting with the Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) from Tufts University), others may take on the task of reporting the play by play actions taken in each round of the Narrative Roundtable. Still others may take it upon themselves to publish extensive background details about NPCs they introduce to the group's Web site or to write up fictional narrations (As an entry in a player character's personal diary? As a letter reporting to a mysterious superior? As a live television report from an eye-in-the-sky weather copter that happened to capture camera footage of a battle in the street

below?) of events that unfolded during their breakouts or potentially occurred in the aftermath thereof.

These materials become reference materials for players looking for story seeds to develop into Desires and Conflicts for NPCs and stories for player characters; and as important continuity aids for storytellers picking up canon NPCs that have already featured in prior stories. They can also serve as a recruiting tool for potential new players wanting to know more about your game setting, and as a way for core players who were

waylayed by real life to catch up on sessions they were not able to attend.

Of course, taking notes about and revising copy for new canonical NPC traits, minutes of Roundtables, short stories inspired by in game events, and other creative scribblings takes attention during play and time between sessions—perhaps more than storytellers invest in plotting out their stories. This is why players are encouraged to recognize Scribe candidates both for the contributions they've made since the last session, and for the contributions they've previously made that have become salient during the current session. If a written fictional account of a storytelling breakout from last summer served as background for a Conflict bought into this


winter, or a portrait of an NPC sketched up months ago helps set the scene for a story that began tonight, the Scribe who put pen to paper should be recognized

for the work their contribution is still doing to further ongoing continuity within the chronicle.


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