Thursday, July 30, 2015

Vampire: the Requiem (Status Perks)

Since status isn't something purchased but earned during gameplay, it can be difficult convincing people (especially Australians) of the value of seeking out such status.  After all, if you keep getting invited into the back rooms, your status is ranked at a higher level anyway so why push it?

 So here are some of the perks of city status: 

The current city law entitles vampires to a block of feeding grounds per rank of status which is enough to provide a feeding check bonus on the Valued (+1), Respected (+2), and Admired (+3) levels.

The higher ranked kindred become sensitised to their underlings and so get a number of points equal to their Status -1 to learn tidbits about their underlings on a successful Wits + Politics roll.  The cost to gather this information is also dependent on the target's status.  The cost per hint is equal to the target's Status so none can use this strategy to learn details of the Admired Kindred in the city.

Finally kindred are innately hierarchical in order to keep the Beast at bay.  The nature of those hierarchies and the meanings behind them may vary, but they still form a vital structure.  Therefore Kindred regain a point of willpower whenever they accept a valid order from above or when the order they give is accepted.  If the Kindred is already full up on willpower, they instead immediately spend it on an action or a tip to how best to fulfil or assist with the fulfilment of the order.  This doesn't count for boon trades unless the lesser ranked vampire accepts a far more trivial boon than what the task is worth.

I'm trying to think up a few more small but interesting ways to attract interest in city status itself because it provides an information struggling point.  It doesn't just encourage politics in a PvP sense.  Simply by revealing your successes and accomplishments, taking charge of difficult situations and successfully resolving issues between rivals, you can increase your standing so even in a deeply PvE game there are benefits to an urge for hierarchy.  

Otherwise there's surprisingly little incentive to share plot other than being a good gamer since letting others know about particular plot lines you are following means that it may be changed, warped or even stolen away from your character.

What are your thoughts?

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