OLDCASTLE – domain and haven notes for online game

Coterie Type: Cerberus

Exists to protect a certain spot or important location – the tomb of “St Jasper” (and the hidden knowledge held within).

Gives you a Domain (hunting grounds) with:

• Chasse 1 dot – how large, well-stocked, vulnerable and rich your hunting grounds are. Standard difficulty when hunting is 2 to 6, depending on the neighbourhood (p308). Each dot in Chasse reduces that difficulty by 1 (p195-6).

• Portillion 3 dots – how secure the domain is against intrusion or disruption from vampires, police, the inquisition etc. Each dot in Portillon subtracts from a foe’s dice pool to enter, recce or investigate the domain. Does NOT apply to Havens.

• Group Haven 2 dots.

I’m ruling that the old town district is standard Difficulty 3 to hunt (lots of people and narrow dark streets, but also cameras, police presence at chucking out times, etc). Your Chasse drops this to Difficulty 2. That means you need 2 successes to feed. If you have Herd, or other advantages, they are in addition to the Chasse.

Group Haven – located above Nocturne (Goth club) on Dogleg Lane, off Hangtree Road, near St Jasper’s Church in Castle Hill.

The 2 coterie dots give you a good sized amount of private space in the club: a floor (or floors) equivalent in space to a family house. This has decent security.

Additional features of the Group Haven:

• Library (1 dot) – adds 1 dice to a speciality of one of these: Academics, Investigation or Occult. Pick one.

• Security System (1 dot) – a better than average security system. Adds 1 dice to your dice pool to resist (or alert you to) unauthorised intrusions.

• Watchmen (1 dot) – private security or criminal thugs guarding your haven. Probably the latter, given Mirek’s contacts. You get 4 average humans and one gifted human for your dot.

• Postern (1 dot) – your haven has a secret exit into a neighbouring building, to give you an escape route and/or an unobtrusive exit. This adds 1 dice to your pool to evade or escape surveillance near your haven.

Game Mechanics about Security for Domain and Group Haven

So if the Second Inquisition decides to come wabbit vampire hunting in Oldcastle…

1. Their dice pool for noticing something amiss anywhere in the ‘old town’ bit of Castle Hill will be reduced by 3 dice.

2. Their dice pool for noticing something amiss anywhere near Nocturne will be reduced by 3 dice AND yours to say ‘these are not the droids you are looking for’ or to hide will be increased by 1 dice.

3. Your ‘resistance’ dice pool to stop them breaking in to Nocturne is 4 dice (3 portillion and 1 security system).

4. To get into the building, they also have to fight your Watchmen.

5. Then you escape by running out the secret back door…

Individual Havens

Maurice (Mike’s character) has his own 1 dot haven in the University library. Small – cupboard to living room sized.

It contains:

• Library (3 dots) – adds 3 dice to a speciality of one of these: Academics, Investigation or Occult. Pick one.

• Warding (3 dots) – a magical barrier barring supernatural forces. EITHER Maurice can switch it on and off at will OR it is on all time, but Maurice can pass freely through it. It gives 3 dice to resist supernatural scrying, and any other supernatural entry the GM decides. (Though letting you pay 3 dots for it and then saying “Oh no it doesn’t work on Great Cthulhu, were-hedgehogs and ghostly hippopotamuses” and thus have them all constantly invade is a dick move).