Guest Blog: Jimmy Reckitt

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We’re taking a brief hiatus (only until next week!) on our series on gaming issues, as V2 Issue one was released last week. Thanks!

I’m excited about the upcoming release of supplements to Mind’s Eye Theater: Vampire the Masquerade! We started work in 2017 on what was envisioned as “V2”, intended as the first follow-up to our initial Vampire book. After several design iterations, we arrived to its final form, a series of releases on the Storyteller’s Vault. It’s been around 6 years since the initial Vampire release in 2013 – quite a long time without additional content. It’s a testament to the passion of the fan community that the game thrived for so long with only its core offering, but we’re glad to have the opportunity to revisit the setting.

At the time of this writing, the first issue is in editing,the second is pending review, and the third nearly complete. We’ve divided thereleases along three primary offerings, new Techniques, new Elder Powers, andnew Blood Magic. As part of developing the content on V2, I thought I’d give alittle insight into some of the principles which go into the material we writein the form of a developer’s diary. Some of my favorite conversations atconventions are talking about how various powers came to be, and what peoplethink of them. People’s opinion on what makes a good power tend to vary, whichmakes for a good heterogeneity within a game. That’s something we strived forin this follow up.

Our first release is centered on Techniques. There are a fewthings we do differently when creating Techniques than when we write otherpowers, and a few defining attributes which necessitate a specific designapproach. A few principles which influenced our development:

Characteristics of Techniques

Fundamentally, techniques are combinations of twodisciplines turned into something new. This is a great space for us to work in,as it opens a broader landscape of possibilities than if we worked with asingle power. On one end of the spectrum, we can expand on the primary theme ofone of the disciplines and pair it with another for good measure. This worksgreat with some of the clan-specific disciplines such as Quietus and Protean,where we want more around the themes of poison or shapeshifting. We can alsoknit two or more themes together two create a power that’s an extension ofboth. For example, the new techniques Healer’s Intuition and Warrior’s Bond utilizeObeah/Auspex and Valeren/Auspex respectively. Both powers allow you to doadditional things when you establish Telepathy with someone. We can alsoexplore a new theme altogether, feasibly grounded in the component powers,which we do through a number of new offerings.

Higher generation characters (10+, but sometimes 8+) use Techniques.That’s important because these PCs have limitations Elders don’t have – areduced blood spend per turn and a lower trait total. While this may seem likea setback, it actually gives a little more room to work with. For example, if Iknow the user of a power has on average a lower trait total, I know they’re notquite as likely to succeed with it. I can therefore add a little more reward tobalance the risk of the power failing. Likewise, if I can expect the user ofthis power has a maximum blood spend between 1 and 3 blood per turn, I can makepowers A and B stronger knowing that A and B can’t be used at the same time.

Perhaps most importantly, techniques reinforce thedifferences between Elders and Neonates/Ancillae. A lower-generation PC shouldbe able to do a small number of things extraordinarily well, thanks to elderpowers and a high trait total. A high-generation PC should be much moreversatile, though not better than an elder at a specific thing. Techniques arescenic detours on the road to power, while Elder Powers are more of a summit.For example, we’d expect a 150 point Ancillae to have 1-2 advanced disciplinesand 2-3 techniques, working toward 1 or 2 more techniques with out-of-clanrequirements. Comparatively, at 150 points we’d expect an Elder to have 1-2Elder powers from a single discipline working toward Elder powers in adifferent in-clan discipline. Techniques, should therefore lean towardversatility as opposed to raw power.

Technique Costs and How We Use Them

Getting the right value for a technique is important. Techniquescost 12xp for Neonates/Ancillae and 20xp for Pretender Elders. At the baselevel, we want each technique to be as strong as the average level 4discipline. This can be a bit tricky in that if we have an idea for atechnique, we have to scale it to match its cost. That can involve eitheradding or curtailing its power level to get the right fit. We design thesepowers with a 12xp cost in mind, but we also give consideration to the 20xpcost that Pretender Elders pay. We don’t expect them to buy very manytechniques, but there are some which will likely have an appeal. At the baselevel, techniques with test pools are more likely to succeed when used byPretender Elders, making them more valuable. We also have a handful of powers whichcan better utilized with a greater capacity to spend blood, and even some whichwork with select Elder powers.

There’s also a secondary cost in the disciplines required tolearn techniques in the form of the required disciplines. This allows us tostratify techniques into low to high-end purchases, and assign valueappropriately. Techniques with greater discipline components have a highereffective cost. Those powers will take longer to purchase, and can therefore bea little stronger in nature. Techniques which require either a clan-specificdiscipline or which utilize an uncommon discipline pairing will be easypurchases for some but harder for others. This can be a boon for us in that thehigher effective cost allows us to squeeze in a little more value than we wouldotherwise. We can use also these techniques as payoffs for bloodlines whichhave different in-clan basic disciplines, such as Vipers, Noiads, or Caitiff,and make the merits Additional Common Discipline or Pliable Blood a little moreappealing.

Design Goals for Techniques

We had a lot we wanted to accomplish with this update. Primarily,we wanted to make higher generation PCs more appealing. We’ve noticed that mostplayers seem to prefer Elder PCs, likely for mechanical reasons as well as forthe elevated status Elders command. Our hope is that with some expansion, wecan shift motivations to where more players will choose to play Neonates andAncillae. We’ve pursued this in a variety of ways.

To start, we’ve added to the suite of build options forcharacters across a greater point spread. In the initial 38 techniques,starting players have some great low-end options in the form of Will to Survive(practically an auto-buy) and Quickened Blood. Both deliver great value, andare easy to learn. Slightly higher up are more niche offerings like Bull’s Eyeand Instinctive Command which support specific builds. However, at the highend, the only significant power bump comes from Animal Swarm, which offers agreat benefit while being somewhat difficult to learn. This left us with plentyof room to expand. We’ve added some high-end powers for characters whospecialize in the Mental and Social attribute categories. We also wanted totake a little pressure off Celerity as a must-have power. Of the new set,Celerity is a component in 7 new techniques, compared to 10 for Potence and 17for Fortitude.

We also sought to balance some of the less-pursueddisciplines, specifically Animalism. We’ve added 11 new Animalism techniques,including some high-end options with the intent to prop up Nosferatu, Gangrel,and Tzimisce. We’ve also added techniques for every clan-specific discipline tohelp uncommon and rare Neonate/Ancillae characters. Sages, Ravnos, and evenBaali now have 4 total techniques available which involve their respectivedisciplines. These add to the base strength of those clans, and make greatchase powers for others.

Lastly, we seek to differentiate the experience of playing ahigher-generation PC. We want Neonates and Ancillae to be practicallyunpredictable with the variety of build options they have. This makes themespecially sought after as allies, minions, and deputies/assistants. When theaway-mission plots happen, it’s these characters who should be sent in firstwith their wide variety of skills (and relative expendability in the eyes ofthe Elders). This leaves the elder PCs to get involved as needed with theirmuch more specialized talents.

The Greater Goal

It’s our hope that these supplements will greatly enhancethe diversity of character options available as part of Mind’s Eye Theater:Vampire the Masquerade. We at By Night Studios feel very strongly aboutinclusivity, and we believe that making our games as appealing to as wide anaudience as possible helps to ensure the health and longevity of our hobby. Tothat end, additional techniques are just a start. We hope that both old and newplayers find a hat or two they’d like to try on as part of this expansion.