The Wild Card virus in the World of Darkness The metaphors and allegories associated with a normal deck of playing cards are associated with the Wild Card virus in the World of Darkness. Such terms have become entrenched in the common parlance of the general populace as well. So much so that the general populace call themselves nats, for naturals or natural humans. The Wild Card virus is even more terrible than the AIDs virus, as it can be carried by air, and transmitted sexually. The effects can be far more horrible than death. The general results of infection by the Wild Card virus are as follows :- Each infection case is a 'draw'from the deck that the Wild Card virus represents. Drawing the Black Queen: Nine out of ten humans infected die horribly, often with great pain, suffering, and physical torment. Drawing a Joker: Nine out of ten survivors of the virus will become horribly disfigured, deformed, and ugly. Drawing an Ace: One out of the ten survivors will be altered in a beneficial way, whether physical or mental, and however small. Gaining some type of 'super-power' if you will. So, the numbers break down like this, for all infected cases :- Ninety percent die. Nine percent become jokers. One percent become aces. Jokers and aces are how people affected in this way came to be termed in normal everyday language, as well. Supernatural views of the Wild Card virus The Takisian story was the official view given of how the Wild Card virus came to infect the Earth, however, several of the supernatural groups in the World of Darkness view this differently. Stereotypes :- The Technocracy "Yes, that is what happened. Unfortunate, but we can deal with it. Takisian science will allow us to advance even more quickly. However, this Progenitor experiment may well cause problems." The Marauders "We did it, we broke the hold of the Technocracy. Dragons again walk the earth. Our own reality is breaking through. What virus? We are breaking down the barriers between the Technocratic reality and the Near Umbra." The Nephandi "Humans have their own demons, it seems, especially with our help! Look at the beauty of that horror and despair! The few that escape are of no consequence, less effective than those foolish Tradition Mages." The Traditions "Don't buy the Technocracy line. Those Void Engineers are becoming too powerful. This smacks of the Sons of Ether completely, one of their renegades and an experiment gone horribly wrong." The Camarilla "The Sabbat have sunk to new depths of evil. Obviously the Tremere anti-tribu have been working with the Tzimisce over something too horrible to contemplate, and it may well have gotten out of even their control." The Sabbat "Why would we destroy our own food and toy supply? Stinking Tremere and Ventrue plot to destroy us, I tell you. It seems they failed horribly." The Garou "We don't understand why Pentex wants to destroy its own minions, but they are masters of corruption. However, this may have even exceeded their limits. The Wyrm is taking a greater hold than ever. We are not sorry to see humans die, as there are far too many of them, but this is unnatural." The Restless "This horrible virus attracts us, but far too many souls are going straight to Oblivion. Whoever did this is a being of unthinkable evil." The Fae "This mortal affliction makes horrors that even the Unseelie have not seen. We do not know what it will bring, but it is certainly none of our doing." The Illuminati "We want humans to be humans. Not monsters or supermen. This may be the work of the Enigmatic Stratagem." Immortals "Superhumans threaten us and all we strive for. The rest does not matter, except for the horror and the suffering of the mortals. However, it will provide other beings with challenges." Mummies "Plagues come and go among mortals, it does not affect us, it is just part of the cycle." Numbers and the Wild Card virus Paraphrased from research by Doctor Clara van Rennssaeler :- The virus incorporates itself into the human genome, commandeering the cell, causing changes that lead to death, deformity, or for a lucky few a great physical or psychic benefit. The wild card virus is so complex and insidious it defeats all science, and even the Takisian science of its creators. The wild card virus spreads with increasing rapidity through the population. The 700,00 jokers and aces now affected worldwide is a relatively small number, but for every joker or ace now living, nine more people have died. This picture is complicated by the latents. The number of newly infected latent carriers of the virus is estimated to be 30 percent of the total number infected. So, for every joker or ace, there are four or five more people with the virus waiting to go off in their DNA. There were 1.2 million new infections last year, a sharp increase from the year before. Many of these cases were by direct contact with wild card spores, but genetic transmission is rising. Perhaps two million people now carry a wild card recessive in their chromosomes. They won't become wild cards unless they are infected by spores, but can pass it on to children if their partner is a wild card or a carrier. The successful parenting rate for full wild cards is low, but they are responsible for a lot of carriers being born. An average latent carries the wild card gene for five to fifteen years before it expresses itself. This is plenty of time for them to reproduce and pass the gene on. So, we are on the heel of a Wild Card growth curve. The infection rate from spores will stay constant for the next 150 years at 6000-8000 new cases a year until this decreases when the upper-atmosphere spore level decreases. Genetic transmission will increase considerably. The estimated number of infections per year will be 10 million by 2050, including latents and Black Queens. This means 630,000 new jokers per year. Seventy thousand new aces a year, over three million new latents, and twelve million new carriers born. There will also be 6.3 million people killed. Each year. Some of these deaths will be in the womb. It is estimated that seventy percent of wild card infected fetuses will abort or undergo transformation during some part of pregnancy, many being second or third trimester miscarriages threatening the mother's life. This will also result in decreasing fertility among the human population, of course, as more carriers mate. In 2100, the annual number of people infected reaches forty million. The number of carriers, seventy million. At the end of the twenty-second century, one seventh of the population will be infected, or a carrier. This means over two billion infected, and 1.2 billion killed every year. One hundred and twenty million jokers, and twelve million aces. Six hundred million latents, and another fifth of the world's population, or almost three billion, will be carriers. Now, this obviously has serious ramifications for the world's supernatural population, with that many super powered humans around. The Mechanics of the Wild Card virus in the World of Darkness The ravages of the wild card virus, although biological, are intimately associated with the human psyche. In game terms, this means Willpower. If someone is not killed by the wild card virus, it is likely that what they become will largely be shaped and determined by their own mind, with all its subconscious quirks and foibles. However, you have to take into account the plot and the player characters in case of wild card infection. If a random group of people of no consequence to the story is infected by a release of wild card spores, then use the normal model :- 90 % Black Queen 9 % Joker 1 % Ace This can be simulated by the roll of a d100, of course, if you want a random, off the cuff single case of infection. 01-90 = Black Queen 91-99 = Joker 00 = Ace You can use this method for players characters and important NPCs if you are really nasty, but I would suggest not doing so, to give them a break. However, remember this is the Gothic Punk World of Darkness, so things will be worse than this in reality. This means more jokers. So, to reflect this, another method is used for wild card virus infection and player characters (or other important characters). The Willpower roll. This may not be modified by adding willpower points, and is rolled at the level of normal full willpower, not any reduced level. So, if a player character is infected by wild card spores, they should roll willpower. The difficulty is 10. (If you want to raise the number of aces and lower jokers, then the difficulty can be lowered to 9/8/7 etc, but I don't recommend it.) Results Failure = Black Queen. Devise a nasty horrible death. Botch = Joker. A disfigurement, deformity, or other oddity. One Success = Joker/Ace. As Joker, but with some ace super-powers. Two+ Successes = Ace. New superhuman powers need to be determined. If a player becomes an ace or a joker, their level then needs to be determined. For an ace, level determines how powerful an ace they are. For jokers, this determines how horrible they are. For a joker/ace, this is a combination, and you should make separate joker and aces rolls. The level roll is another willpower roll, the same as the first one, but modified by the original roll in the case of aces. If a player draws an ace, and scores more than two successes on the ace roll, each success over two will count as a bonus auto-success on the level roll. The level roll is made at difficulty 6. Level Roll Result Ace Joker One success = 10 power 10 horror Two successes = 20 power 20 horror Three successes = 30 power 30 horror Four successes = 40 power 40 horror Five successes = 50 power 50 horror Six successes = 60 power 60 horror Seven successes = 70 power 70 horror Eight successes = 80 power 80 horror Nine successes = 90 power 90 horror Ten successes = 100 power 100 horror Plus one success = +10 power +10 horror Failure = Deuce Mild Botch = derangement and roll again Power is indicative of how powerful the ace is, or how horrible the joker is. For example, the Great and Powerful Turtle, who can levitate battleships, is around the 100 power level, as is Fortunato, who is basically a very powerful Cult of Ecstasy type Mage. An example of an above 100 power would be Bloat, but he is also a 100 horror joker, a joker/ace. Jokers may well gain additional abilities as well as losing some, without getting to the level of ace powers. Examples include Joan van Renssaeler's venom, and her need to stay warm, or Doctor Finn's powerful horse legs on his centaur body, with the vulnerabilities and 200 kilogram weight that comes along with it. There should always be drawbacks associated with any extra abilities that jokers receive. Sascha, the eyeless minor telepath is a joker/ace, not just a joker. Ace powers, even at only 10 power should be more beneficial than this. Remember, the higher the joker horror rating, the more horrible they are. Finn would be a 10 horror joker, Joan would be much higher, being a snake woman. Joker/aces need to roll twice, remember, a willpower roll for the power table, and a willpower roll for the joker table. If any roll is botched, the character gains a derangement from the strain of the wild card, and must roll again. If a second botch is rolled, they gain a second derangement and must roll again, etc. With a failed roll, an ace character will become a deuce. They will have a power, but it will be basically useless. An example is to be able to turn anything green, or to make anything play a certain song. Something unusual, but with no real benefit. A failed joker roll will make that joker character a very mild joker, in horror terms. They may lose all their body hair, gain an extra finger, get pointed ears, or anything else you may think appropriate. They will not be noticeably different from a nat upon casual appraisal. Jokers and Appearance Each 10 horror a joker has will reduce their appearance by one. Yes, this does mean you can have negative appearance, to signify how truly horrible the joker appears. On the character sheet, indicate negative appearance by circling the number of negative dots, not coloring them in. Power Levels For characters, I would suggest one of two approaches. Use a five or ten rank scale, such as Mage spheres, or vampire disciplines. A 100 power character would correspond to a rank 10, or rank 5, depending on how you look at it. Ten ranks would make it easier to work something out. Rank 10 is a 100 power character. The Turtle's TK rank would be 10. Wild Card Percentages You can tamper with the difficulties of the rolls depending on how you want the percentages or chances for player characters to shake out, of course. Your Wild Card WoD might be 50 percent joker, for instance.