Updates

Hello and welcome to the Updates page, here we detail all the new updates, usually rules updates, but plenty a thing might be mentioned here. Updates come twice a year during our downtime periods in December and July.

Update 30/12/2023

General Changes: In this update the big change is a step away from the concept of Scene. This creates ripples of change throughout all rules. The reason why Scene is being changed is because it’s simply too fluffy, even the concept of Scene is disputed and that’s not good for any Player versus Player experience. We want our Characters to be able to plan on their abilities at least taking effect within a timeframe. 

This update might seem big, but there are many small clarifications as well. Many updates are just updated info and making things work as intended. Alot of the changes you wont notice in the game, as few players uses the affected things because they tend to be “suboptimal”, the update is to help decision making in Character Creation be alot better and Character diversity more expansive.

Clan Symbos, Banners and Additional Lore Clan Symbols, Banners and Lore are being made, it will soon be out.

Clan Nephilim Size Maximum size 4 Packs, 6 members per Pack —> Unlimited Packs, Unlimited members per Pack, if 1 member left in pack it Dissolves.

Clan Revenant We are currently in the midst of a Revenant Rework with Clan Revenant and it will hopefully come out before January 20th. The priority is to open up the Clan from 6 to 12 players.

Clan Dracul Traits Stability in Conflict: It went from always one sanity higher to one sanity step higher. This is inline with the fact that Draculs game is much more about their Flaws than their Sanity. It’s also been hard to clarify in some rule instances. This is a general buff in some areas but a slight nerf in others. They should be better at losing Sanity, those losses usually lead to or come from conflict with other Clans, which is very much as intended. Titles Ambassador: States that the ambassador has access to the imperial records and that he can change both Family Titles and Imperial Titles in the Clan once per year(Except Ambassador and Oprichnik). This is so the Matriarch can actually be changed without them dying. Baron: Once per Session take a Herd from a Domain and add it to a Domain that you own. Imperial Agent: Imperial Agent and Imperial Records have been lined in and nerfed.

Clan Ghul Library of Secrets: It now functions on secrets other Characters have discovered as to not put more “new” secrets in the game. It also fits with the whole spy theme. Traitorborn: A new word for Ghuls that have been embraced and taken to another Clan.

Conflicts Consequences in Conflicts Binding: “You can force a Character to take 1 Blood Point and become Blood Bonded.” —> “You can force a losing Character to take 1 Blood Point from you(Or drink a Vial), or you can take 1 Blood Point from them, with either Fangs or a tool.” Mugging: “You can steal 1 Item they have on their person, this also includes any Item that might be a Connection.” -> “You can steal 1 Item from a losing Character, this also includes any Item that might be a Connection.”

Resources Feast Tokens: Feast Tokens now also count as 1 vote in a Reform Box.

Location Toilets: Toilets in the ingame areas have been made completely offgame.

Secrets Added a section detailing how Secrets can come into play.

Flaws Disconnected(1+ Connections): we’re removing this flaw, it makes zero sense to take in our current system and Character Creation.

Merits New Merits Mutated(Ghul, Apprentice or Masters Guild) – 6 Experience Untapped Potential(Nephilim) – 6 Experience Old Merits Holier than Thou: Can’t be used more than once every 30 minutes. Collector: now costs 4 experience because it practically competed with First Class and that made First Class a better choice. Master of Ceremony: Now completely changed to be more useful for Occult play and a drain for Blood Points.

Blood Bonding “You can’t be Blood Bonded to the same Character this way more than once every Scene.” —> “You can’t be Blood Bonded to the same Character this way more than once every 10 minutes.”

Disciplines  You can only use one Manipulation per Scene —> Once you have used a Manipulation, you cannot use a Manipulation from the same Discipline for 30 minutes. Devotion Subjugate: “they will become Blood Bonded 1 to you for 1 Scene.” —> “they will become Blood Bonded 1 to you for 30 minutes.”  Dominate: “You can make any Manipulation that lasts for a Scene,” —> “You can make any Manipulation that lasts for 30 minutes,” Collective: “they are now also Blood Bonded 1 to someone else of your choice for 1 Scene.” —> “they are now also Blood Bonded 1 to someone else of your choice for 30 minutes.” Intensity: “their Blood Bonds increase by 1 for 1 scene.” —> “their Blood Bonds increase by 1 for 30 minutes.” Dissension Suppress: “they lose all Blood Bonds for 1 scene.” —> “they lose all Blood Bonds for 30 minutes.” Obscuration Obscuration gains “Staring into the Abyss: Obscuration Manipulations can be used more than once every 30 minutes. This is an Enhancement.” Supremacy Trepidation: “and decrease their Prowess by one step when fighting you in this Scene.” —> “and decrease their Prowess by one step for 30 minutes.” Vitae Will of the Blood: “You can ignore all of the following Flaws for 1 Scene” —> “You can ignore all of the following Flaws for 30 minutes” The Red Rage: increase your Prowess by one step for 1 scene. —> increase your Prowess by one step for 30 minutes.

Intrigues Intrigues after a Session Up to an hour after a Session has ended you can send out Intrigues through Envelopes. There will be a room set up for this. What Happens First List There is now a list that has been made so those players who want to can see which intrigue happens first during Interplay. Rumor: We generally made Rumor better by playing off on all ways to get secrets and that it now can create false connections as well as false secrets.

Rituals Rituals Before a Session You can cast 1 Ritual that takes effect at the start of each Session. This Ritual cannot be level 5 and cannot be an Incantation. This is done by sending us an email at vampiretheambitious@gmail.com.  Blood Alchemy Concoction of Hate: “become either angry, envious or paranoid for 1 Scene.” —>  “This Blessing lasts for 5 minutes.” Sanguine Cure: Reduce your Blood Bonds by 1 step for 1 Scene. —> “This Blessing lasts for 30 minutes.” Tonic of Power: “Increases your Prowess by two steps instead, and lose 1 Sanity instead of becoming paranoid or envious.” —> “Increases your Prowess by two steps instead and loses 1 Sanity, become paranoid and envious, the Blessing lasts for 1 hour instead.” Elixir of Malice: “You lose 1 Blood Point every Scene” —> “You lose 1 Blood Point every 10 minutes” Ghoul Transfusion: the Diablerist does not lose Sanity nor suffer from Addiction to Diablerie. Blood Pacts The cost of the Essence Transferral and its effect can be confusing, so we are removing the cost part so it’s clear that you are not paying additional components to combine two components. Essence Transferal Cost: 2 Trivial or Uncommon Components, 1 Blood Point. —> 1 Blood Point. Dark Arts Ghoul Touch: “After the next Conflict that a Character starts against you, that Character loses all of their Blood Points. This Blessing lasts until you’ve been in a Conflict.” —> “At the end of your next Conflict, choose a Character that you fought against, they lose all of their Blood Points. This Blessing lasts until you’ve been in a Conflict or the end of the Evening.” Revenge from the Grave: now targets human Connections as well.(not just Blood Servants) Possession: You can cast Possession once per Session and can have up to 9 Possessions active at a time. Shadow Confidant: now targets human Connections as well.(not just Blood Servants) Return from Beyond: Through a complicated Ritual taking no more than a Scene —> Through a complicated Ritual taking at least 5 minutes, you sacrifice a Character to bring back to life another Character. Infernalism  Thirst: “Choose a Character, they become extremely thirsty for blood for 1 Scene.” —> “Choose a Character, they become extremely thirsty for blood. This Curse lasts for 30 minutes or until they have drunk vampiric blood.” Spoil:  “Choose another Character, normal food and drink makes them lose 1 Blood Point for 1 Scene.” —> “ Choose another Character, every time they take a bite or a sip of any food and drink(including blood) they lose 1 Blood Point. This Curse lasts for 30 minutes.” Desolation: “Choose another Character, they feel isolated and alone for 1 Scene.” —> “Choose another Character, they feel as if their allies and friends have forsaken them or cannot be trusted for 1 hour.” Ruin: “Choose another Character, they become infatuated with the idea of Diablerie in order to solve their Ambition for 1 Scene.” —> “Choose another Character, they become infatuated with the idea of murder in order to solve their Ambition. This Curse lasts for 30 minutes.” Agony: “Choose a Character, they suffer a sharp pain everytime they tell the truth for 1 Scene.” —> “Choose a Character, they suffer a sharp pain everytime they do not talk with utmost respect to another chosen Character. This Curse lasts for 10 minutes.”Added to the second effect: “You can only lose 1 Sanity due to this Ritual per Session.” Mentalism Suppressed Memory: “the Character has to lose 2 Blood Points to be able to mention it for 1 scene.” —> “the Character has to lose 2 Blood Points to be able to mention it for 10 minutes. This Curse lasts until the start of the next Session.”

Hidden Mechanics Illusionism Followers of the Ninth Divine: When using a Tarot Card you don’t need to use Spoken Words. (As intended, was just never explicitly stated) Charons Coin: Better description so the affected know which part is offgame info and which part their character knows. Gluttony Made the second effect more in line with the first effect.

Update 03/10/2023

I Do It Myself! Got changed so you can now make the intrigue happen Instantly. Some Intrigues cannot happen Instantly but will gain an additional effect with I Do It Myself!

Dark Knowledge Rituals have been updated and balanced to give them more to play with, but also adjusted in some of their complexity and power.

Update 15/07/2023

Torture Intrigue. Its now named Kidnap and can Capture peoples Blood Servants and Connections as well as Torture Captured Blood Servants and Connections.

Assassinate. It can now do Murder or Extraction. Murder now intervenes the targets Intrigue. And Extraction can save Captured Mortals.

Steal Components. It can now be combined with Search Components for a more difficult yet faster and precise heist.

Intrigues. Assassinate, Kidnap & Seduce will leave evidence of a missing persons case, this means that their description on the Evidence List will be indistinguishable from each other.

Resources. There is now a resource called Captured Mortals and Spies.

Blood Servants. There is now a concept called Important Blood Servants(All Blood Servants with a Title), and should they die or be kidnapped it will breach the Masquerade and create a Neutral Masquerade Marker.

Ghuls Intrigue. They now have a resource called Spies and plant them into the four different Organization decks.

Revenant & Dracul Intrigues. Dracul wanted to lose Scapegoat as it didnt fit into their theme of sowing destruction and Rumour has been functioning less effective than anticipated. So we gave Dracul Rumour instead of Scapegoat, this makes Revenant the only Clan with direct access to Scapegoat.

Vitae. Will of the Blood now ignores all of the Flaws shown and and it gained new additional Flaws to ignore (Because we have added new Flaws over the time)

Dissenssion. Its a much more aggressive discipline and lost some of its detection power for more hardcore mental power. most of its detection has been moved into Mentalism.

Devotion. Its now way more useful early levels. Seduction Gift been replaced with Collective and Seduction Intrigue is now unlocked as long as you have 1 level in Devotion. Seduction Intrigue can now also Capture Blood Servants and human Connections like the new Intrigue Kidnap.

Mentalism. Empath can now detect Ambitions and Connections as well, but the target overall now has to have 4 or less Sanity. This is to bring most mental reading abilities into Mentalism instead of splitting them between Dissenssion and Mentalism.

Dark Arts. All Rituals that now could affect Blood Servant can now also affect human Connections. Possession can now Capture its targets as well. Simplified Revenge from the Grave a bit.

Update 24/05/2023

All Domains and Territories have been updated to Intrigues of last Session.

Masquerade. We added the Masquerade Markers to the website: https://vampiretheambitious.wordpress.com/the-masquerade/.

Agreement. We have updated the Agreement to include a part thats been missing for a long time but has always been an unspoken part of this system. You can die without your own consent during a Session. The rules already made this a possibility all along but we want to hammer home that there is no calibration required before murder. The reason why this has always been the case is because it feeds into the idea of horror, fear and paranoia. Which is one of the main themes of the campaign. Your Character exists in a horrible world, the only thing stopping anyone from brutally cutting you down is the revenge others might inflict back (Your Clan or someone else using a political excuse to deal with their enemies).

Sideplot: Ghul Vs Nephilim. We have created a new Sideplot just for you (And everyone else). This a mechanical representation of what we have already told both Clans, it will force both Clans to act “nice” or face dire consequences.

Intrigues. We have removed the old City Deck rules and made some new ones. We encountered a whole bunch of problems with it and Clan Revenant suffered the most from it, being the best at using that deck. So introducing Contract Humans, its like bind humans but you gain a temporary City Blood Servant that doesn’t go against your Blood Servant limit, as if you’ve traded to them. This is of course is expensive in Blood Points. We have also incorporated Clan Rank into the system instead of Status, this will make the Merit The Right Stock even better.

Merits. Connected has been reworked to match the new Contract Humans instead.

Conflicts. We simply included that in a draw nothing happens (except Participants still lose 1 blood point by participating)

Arbiter. Updated the Arbiter and their exact power, also gave every Character the potential to demand a Trial by staking their own life, if they believe an Arbiters Outcome to be unfair. The Arbiter and Trials have received their own page.

Jury. We have changed the Title of Jury into the Title of Deputy and rewritten what it is about and how one becomes one. To become what the old Jury represented the Arbiter merely judges you to become his Personal Assistant.

Trials. Updated the Trials so the Accused can have a representative.

Status. Made two new Status Rules, one for what happens when you are yellow Status and keeps failing. The other is how Agamemnon interacts with Status in certain areas.

Clan Ghul. They can now Contract Humans from the City. We have severely nerfed Clan Ghul a couple of times as of late, they needed something that made them a bit more magical and actually encouraged doing magic so they have to choose spending resources on magic or politics. We created Experimentation and how it works in their Clan Book. We have updated Dark Arts several places. Regulation on Haunting, Protection of the Damned and Revenge from the Grave. We have added a new lvl 1 Ritual called Curse of Years. We have changed the wording on Revenge from the Grave now it fully explicit what it does and whom it does it too. We have made Shadow Confidant stronger, its now usuable by Elders, can use any Intrigues and doesn’t leave Evidence, but it now has a chance of breaching the Masquerade. Blood Alchemy has gotten a new Ritual where the Alchemist can turn Blood into Trivial Components, giving Clan Ghul another way to spend Blood.

Clan Revenant. We have given them new Clan Organization Bonus, we have reworked their Fund to function with the new Contract Humans, we have reworked their Merit Syndicate Contacts into Syndicate Contracts(added an r) and made it cost 2 additional Experience.

Clan Agamemnon. We have added an addendum to their Fund and which Intrigues they can’t use with their Hire Professional ability. This is so that an Agamemnon with 3 Influence can use both abilities without one being the obvious stronger choice. (The Intrigues removed are the ones the other Clans doesn’t naturally have access to either). We also added a Merit for Clan Agamemnon that turns their Domains useful. Their trait “Absolute Wealth” has gained all the updates that Agamemnon had scattered throughout the rules concerning their Clan Rank.

Update 07/05/2023
Flaws. Added a new Flaw called Blind Faith… Dont drink the water. (We mean blood)

Masquerade & Hunters. We have simplified the rules and joined the pages for both Hunters & Masquerade. We have also introduced a new plot device called ‘To Many Vampires In New York’ that now potentially creates a Neutral Masquerade Marker every single Session. We have buffed Investigate to potentially give more information faster.

Blood Taxes. We added an addendum that you can only take till you have 5 Blood Points. And that the remaining Blood Points goes into a Reform Box of the Clan Leaders choosing.

Intrigues: We have removed the Intrigue Lockdown and replaced it with the Intrigue Frame, pushing the game into a potentially more violent direction.

Nephilim. We have changed the wording of the Soulless Oath a bit and added an ability to suppress should it be needed. We have replaced the Intrigue Lockdown with the Intrigue Frame on all of their Blood Servants.

Clan Ghul. We have updated their internal structure. We have put limits on their Dark Arts two level 1 Rituals, but we have added a new Ritual to Dark Arts level 1, substantially increasing the uses of Dark Arts on location.

Clan Chupacabra. We made changes to Perfectionism to make it more smooth sailing.

Clan Dracul. We have replaced the Intrigue Lockdown with the Intrigue Frame on all of their Blood Servants.

Clan Agamemnon. Agamemnon is in a weird spot right now where they either win against their opponents or lose and is forced to work together, they also have a perculiar weakness through their Domains (We want their weakness to be loneliness not real estate). And since we don’t want any Agamemnons to work together we are boosting their capabilities as a single individual and their powers to make trade, making their ability to create allies outside their clan stronger. So we have changed No One To Hold Me Back. Now everything cost 1 less Experience and we have removed both Influence buffs(As the new trait replaces them). We have also removed Lords of the Flow and added a new Trait called Absolute Wealth that gives much more personal power and influence to each Agamemnon. We have removed the Merit ‘Groomed to Serve’ as ‘Affluent’ and Absolute Wealth effectively replaces it. We have also as a sidenote changed the Ritual ‘Essence Transferal’ so it can now Merge and Split Components.