Wild Card Characters in the World of Darkness There will be two types of wild card characters possible in the World of Darkness. The first is the character that is infected by the wild card virus during game play, starting off as uninfected. The other type of character will be one that is designed as having the wild card virus at character generation, probably the type of character that there would be in an ace/joker campaign, where perhaps all of the players were infected. Nats could of course be played here, too, or perhaps a combined supernatural/wild card group, with one player a joker, or an ace, one a vampire, one a werewolf, etc. First Type of Character For the first type of character, the issue of infection needs to be addressed for non-human characters. Wraiths can never be infected. Non-humans are defined as Vampires, Mummies, Garou and other Bete, Immortals and Changelings. There are three possible ways I can see of resolving this : 1) No non-human characters can be affected at all by the virus. 2) Non-human characters can be infected, but not killed by the Black Queen. 3) All non-human characters can be infected, the same as humans and the Black Queen kills all types of characters. Each case will be looked at for each race, below. Case One Mages and other human characters will be affected by the virus, no other non-human characters will be. Case Two This would be a somewhat set way of handling infection. Basically, the virus plays havoc with 'awakened' characters of all types. Vampires Black Queen : Raises their generation. A 10th generation vampire becomes 11th, for example. Joker : Bring out more of the beast, makes them bestial in appearance and horrible to look at, happens to Gangrel, but like Nosferatu, basically. See Joker Appearance rules. A Tzimisce could get horribly warped, or other such ideas. Ace: Will lower generation by one, at a minimum. So, a 10th generation vampire would become 11th. At higher power, they could gain more disciplines, etc. Garou Black Queen: Removes the ability to shape change, and all gifts, Rage, and Gnosis. Basically they have become kinfolk. Joker : Makes a non-Metis garou a Metis, and a Metis Garou permanently Crinos with their Metis deformity. Ace : Will provide the Garou more gifts, new gifts and abilities, etc. Apply this in a similar vein to any other Bete. Changelings Black Queen: Removes all abilities gained from their non-human nature, making them human, basically, forever cut off from their other nature. Joker : Makes them look like really ugly nasty dark Unseelie types. Ace : Increases to old special abilities, and new abilities, etc. Mummies Black Queen: Kills them. They recover and become alive again as normal via the process in the Mummy book. Joker : The mummy will actually look mummified, but still staying alive and keeping all organs. Ace : The mummy gains more abilities, magic, etc. Immortals : Black Queen: Makes them mortal. Lose all immortal abilities. Joker : Causes all previous wounds to return as scars, and the ravages of any diseases they may have come into conflict with them to leave their mark on their body. Ace : Gain more immortal abilities, as per Highlander rules. Higher levels of Quickening, etc. Case Three Vampires Black Queen: He's dead, Jim. Regardless of who or what they are. Joker : Here it gets interesting, all sorts of weird stuff could happen from normal joker deformities, to the inability to sustain themselves with blood, instead drinking cola. Weird vicissitude stuff. Ace : All sorts of possibilities, including increase in vampiric abilities.Attributes may increase. A vampire seeking Golconda may become human. Garou Black Queen: She;s dead Jim. Joker : Stuff from normal joker deformities to inability to use rage or claws, or certain gifts or abilities. Ace : Gets meaner and nastier, more powerful, maybe more Rage and Gnosis, more gifts. Attributes may increase. Changelings Black Queen: Pointy ears is dead, Jim. Joker : Normal joker deformities to all sorts of bad and bizarre stuff that is related to their fae nature. Ace : More fae abilities are gained, or able to be used at higher levels.Attributes might increase. Mummies Black Queen: No more lives for you, Jim. Joker : Normal joker deformities to mummification to showing effects of great age, to other strange things. Ace : Gains greater mummy magic, abilities, attributes, etc. Immortals Black Queen: Dead even with head, Jim. Joker : Normal joker deformities, nasty effects of ages and immortality. Other oddities. Ace : Extra Immortal abilities, quickening, etc. Higher attributes perhaps. When the first type of character happens, the Storyteller and player will need to work together to determine what happens and what the player becomes. They should both have input, with the Storyteller having the final say. Things to take into account include : Nature, merits, flaws, skills, special abilities, likes, dislikes, hatreds, fears. A bravo character who draws a joker and is a bully may become weaker, more feebles, less able to pick on people. A character who is afraid of spiders may become a big ugly spider-woman if a joker is drawn. A character who draws an ace and has been a pilot, and loves flying and machinery might be able to transform into a fighter plane as an ace power. A bigot who hates asians may well become a deformed asian if a joker is drawn, a serial rapist might become an asexual emotionless amphibian slimy mess. The kid who draws an ace and loves Power Rangers may well become a super-martial artist. Remember, the wild card virus is deeply involved with acting on the desires, needs, fears, hidden in the depths of the mind. This should be all taken into account when a character in the middle of a game is infected with the wild card virus. Note: the use of ability in the above means super-ability, not the skill group. Second Type of Character The second type of character is designed to be a wild card or nat from the start of play, if a non-human or Mage is chosen, just use those rules as normal. Concept Then, what type of person they are should be determined. Choose Nature and Demeanour as normal. Type The type of character should be chosen, whether a joker, a joker/ace, an ace, or a nat. A Takisian psi-lord or other type of alien may be a possibility here. Attributes 7/5/3 for Primary/Secondary/Tertiary. Abilities 13/9/5 for Primary/Secondary/Tertiary in talents, skills, and abilities. Backgrounds Each character should get 7 points to spend on the normal backgrounds. Power I would suggest starting characters at a power level equivalent to a beginning Vampire, Garou, or Mage, or something similar. No Turtles, please. Perhaps around the 30-40 power mark for aces. Something like Jay Ackroyd and his projecting teleportation ability, or Peregrine and her flying. Of course, if you want to have everyone playing Turtles, Fortunatos, and Tachyons, that is fine, too. Remember to strive for a little balance of some sort. This is not so important if the character is one of a mixed group of non-humans, perhaps. Horror A joker will need a horror rating, as will a joker/ace. For player characters, a joker will need to be playable. Slimy puddles of mould are probably out. So, for each 10 horror a joker takes, I would suggest giving them an ability, whether claws, venom of a mild kind, chitinous skin, protective warm fur, very good hearing, etc., depending on the deformity and type of joker worked up. Note that joker/aces should not have this happen, as they already have the benefit of ace powers, perhaps giving them a power level equivalent to their horror + 10. This will need to be watched so it is not abused. Health Levels Normal human health levels. However, joker or ace abilities or forms, etc., may raise these considerably, or even lower them. Freebie Points An ace or joker/ace should start with 15 freebie points. If you want players playing Daniel Brennan type nats, then start them with 50 freebie points, or something equivalent you think would balance this. Think of power as somewhat indicative of this. Five points in Mage spheres costs 35 points, as does five points of Vampire disciplines. My reasoning is this should balance, to some degree, enough to make them effective. Yeoman was very effective against wild cards, remember. Give a joker 45 freebie points, they have less access to things like training, etc. The Storyteller should feel free to change any of this, as they see fit. The players may be a bunch of normal humans out of the police academy, or whatever, as per human rules in the Vampire Players Guide and Hunter's Hunted. These are all just guidelines of course, everybody could just be average human types. Depending on concept, there might be a fourteen-year- old nat girl who just got mixed up in the middle of things. Remember, jokers and aces will require the Storyteller and players to work together in the initial character design phases, so you should probably set aside a whole game session to work on this and develop good characters. When considering the results of ace powers versus ace powers, or ace powers versus vampire disciplines, I would suggest using opposed rolls. Say if Mistral is trying to snuff J.J. Flash with her winds, while he tries to fry her with his flaming plasma. Roll for them both, equal successes means a stalemate. If one character gets more successes, they win, but just use the number of successes they succeed by for damage purposes on straight opposition rolls like this. Powers not based on direct opposition are handled directly, of course. If Imp is trying to knock out Turtle's electrical systems while Insulin drains his blood sugar level, this won't be opposed by Turtle's telekinesis. Neither would a mind control attack. Difficulties can be based on power, modified by other factors, taking into account the combat systems already in place in the various games. There are far too many possibilites to go into here, so I would suggest the Storyteller use common sense and do what they think is right, not worrying about the technical aspects too much. Use the same sort of theory when talking about Mage spheres, or vampire disciplines, or werewolf gifts. Willpower or appropriate mental powers for defenses against mental attacks. Similar ideas to crossover rules already extant. New Merits and Flaws Latent Wild Card (3 pt Flaw) You are a latent wild card after being exposed to the virus some time in the past. Times of stress and exhaustion are possible triggers for the virus, as is pregnancy or other great degrees of physical exertion. The use of Stamina rolls and/or Willpower rolls may be appropriate here. Wild Card Carrier (1 pt Flaw) You carry the wild card virus as a recessive, you will not manifest it yourself unless you are directly exposed to the virus by spore, but can pass it on to children. Only available to nats or non wild-cards. Wild Card Affinity (2 pt Merit) If a nat, you are liked by the general joker community, and will not be harassed by them in normal circumstances. If a wild card, the reverse is true, you are respected by nats. Wild Card Phobia (1 pt Phobia) A mild phobia of wild cards. Wild Card Phobia (3 pt Flaw) A severe phobia of wild cards. Wild Card Hatred (3 pt Flaw) You have a severe hatred of all wild cards and the virus. New Knowledge Skills Wild Card Lore 1 Novice : You know a little about wild cards, read Aces magazine. 2 Practiced: You know a a fair amount about aces and jokers, and who some of them are. You know the aces jingle. 3 Competent: You have access to a large degree of information about most wild cards. 4 Expert : You even know who some of the secret aces are. 5 Master : You could put the knowledge of the Card Sharks to shame. Note that flaws like deformity may not be taken for any points by joker characters. Willpower As per normal. Humanity As per normal. Remember, common sense and working together is important in character creation.