Masquerade Damage

This system is designed to make the Masquerade as omnipresent a threat as Hunger and Humanity are in Vampire: The Masquerade. As the coterie goes about their business, they unwittingly breach the Masquerade in a dozen tiny ways. A messy critical means they terrify an informant with fangs and glowing red eyes. Perhaps they panic dial their blood doll while hungry. Maybe they engage in a '90s-style rooftop swordfight. Perhaps they clean up, or perhaps they don't get a chance to. Eventually, some investigator notices enough flagged files and local news stories to start snooping around. Once the coterie has their attention, the pressure is on and further fuck-ups will not tolerated.

THE MASQUERADE TRACK

The Storyteller tracks the Masquerade strength for the collective coterie.

During each chapter, the Storyteller notes potential minor and major Masquerade breaches. At the end of the session, they roll a number of dice equal to the blank spaces on the tracker. If the roll fails, the Masquerade breaches have been noticed by the Second Inquisition, and appropriate action is taken.

The numbers beneath the track show the response level that the Second Inquisition will take. As the breaches become more frequent, the Inquisition will devote more resources to hunting, capturing, and killing the coterie.

ATTENTION

The Second Inquisition is everywhere, but they're also disorganized and understaffed. Not every potential masquerade breach is followed up on or even paid attention to. The Second Inquisition has to prioritize resources, deal with internal politics, and prepare cover stories just as much as the vampires do. As the coterie gets the attention of the Second Inquisition, they become more and more willing to devote those resources to their capture and elimination.

Attention determines how aware of the coterie the Second Inquisition is, and determines what response the Inquisition will have to Masquerade breaches.

Attention starts at 0 at the beginning of the Chronicle. Add 1 to the starting Attention for each statement that is true.

• One or more coterie members have Fame 3+
• One or more coterie members have Resources 4+
• The coterie's city has a high relative murder rate.
• The coterie's city has been cleared of Vampires (+2 Attention)

For each point of Attention, fill in a box on the Masquerade Track starting from left to right.

Attention levels increase whenever there is a Masquerade Breach.

MASQUERADE BREACH

Not every slip-up is equal. Communicating over an unsecured channel is one thing, having a running super-speed gun battle in Johannesburg is another, and revealing your existence to a mortal is still another.

A Minor breach takes care of itself if left alone. A reporter gets bored and moves on to more lucrative content, an BBS exchange gets buried in millions of other threads, or the witness that saw you punch a hole in a wall convinces themselves it was an optical illusion.

Major breaches linger for a while, and might require some kind of cover-up to remove. A gun fight gets put on the evening news, a body drained of blood is found in a parked car, or you reveal your nature to a loved one.

We mark breaches from right to left, using a / for Minor breaches and an X for Major breaches.

Typical Minor Breaches

• Using the internet to discuss vampire business
• Display of vampiric powers to untrustworthy witnesses
• Spending large amounts of money (Resources 4+)
• Using Contacts to alter local politics or media.

Typical Major Breaches

• Large acts of violence
• Murder without a cover-up
• Revealing your nature to a mortal
• Using Vampiric powers in public

All Minor breaches are removed after the Masquerade Check is made each session or chapter. One Major breach is removed at the end of each story, or when the coterie covers up their offense.