Despair

The world of darkness is a dark and tragic place. To better represent this, a new mechanic for the game has been created called Despair. Once per game session, a player character may elect to gain 1 Despair point. The player Character may then spend their Despair point at any point for the remainder of the game session. Despair Points may be spent for the following:

• The character may restart the challenge they lost as if the original one never occurred.
• Increase the damage of their next attack by 3 levels
• Have an Item in the scene they didn’t start the scene with, but they possess elsewhere.
• Have 1 power instantly activated, as if they had prepared it beforehand to be buffed before the scene
• Gain a clue or insight into a scene/plot
• Ask the Storyteller to alter something in the scene to be for the benefit of the player character.

However, when a Player chooses to gain a point of Despair, the Storyteller also gains 1 point of Despair into a pool they can use later during the game session. The storyteller may choose to spend their point of Despair in any scene or against any player character for the remainder of the game session. The Storyteller may spend Despair For:

• Interrupt a player’s action and immediately trigger an NPC action
• Increase the damage of an attack a player received by 3 levels
• Negate a negative effect placed on an NPC or in the scene
• Force the character Redo a challenge they have succeeded at as if the first challenge never occurred.
• Bring in reinforcements or spawn new adversaries mid-combat.
• Trigger Environmental Dangers: Suddenly activate room hazards, security measures, or environmental changes.
• Raise the Stakes: Inflict conditions or apply disadvantages to player characters to reflect mounting narrative pressure.

Despair may not be used against other player characters. All Despair points clear at the end of the game session.