Alternate dimensions are a myriad number of otherworlds outside Earth populated by all manner of strange and unusual things. They do not often naturally intersect with Earth and they often have rules that are at variance with what's normal for Earth proper. Time may pass at a different rate, or the inhabitants (including visitors) may be bound by specific rules of behavior. The laws of physics may vary, allowing for Escheresque landscapes, and life forms that could not evolve on Earth may thrive in great numbers. These dimensions have little directly in common with each other. Some serve as places of punishment for damned souls, some are just ordinary worlds like yours, and some are simply bizarrely different.

Alternate dimensions give you an opportunity to shake things up in your game by taking your characters out of their normal home territory and dropping them into a strange and foreign land. If you're looking for ideas, here are a few to get you going.

The realm of the Burning King is a non-Euclidian (fancy word for “doesn't use our Earthly rules”) maze of free-floating platforms, staircases, ramps, palaces, and battlegrounds floating in otherwise near-perfect darkness far above an inferno of many-colored flames. This dimension is populated almost entirely by demons of various sorts, including the dreaded crimson-banded demons. The Burning King has created these distinctively marked pawns and uses them as personal servants and soldiers to control the dimension.

The center (if infinity can have such a thing) of the dimension is a vast palace with structures in numerous architectural styles from Greek to Gothic and beyond. Elements as modern as a New York skyscraper may stand alongside dark temples with more than a coincidental resemblance to the Parthenon. At the center of this mind-twisting labyrinth is the Burning King's throne, from which he rules the Burning Dimension, only rarely coming forth to chastise a mortal witch or warlock for calling unwisely upon his name or to claim his due on bargains owed.

The Burning King would love nothing more than to lead his armies of demons to Earth and claim it as his personal dominion. So far, he has been constrained by bargains made in the past with cunning sorcerers. Still, the King endlessly seeks a loophole or a means to annul the agreements completely. Until that time, he may act only through intermediaries and pawns.

This is a gigantic shopping mall - nine levels of stores with a food court and ice-skating rink on the bottom two levels. The shoppers are damned souls who have arrived through the use of dark magic, were abducted by demons from this dimension, or simply happened upon a portal into this place. It does not seem so bad at first blush- stores of all kinds fill each level. Escalators and elevators whiz folks throughout the sprawling complex. Unlike Dante's Inferno, the mall's various levels do not correspond to any particular sin. Rather, it's the shops themselves that fill that purpose. The food court punishes gluttons (the food is awful and the portions are much too small), the clothing stores taunt the vain (it's never quite the right style, and usually doesn't fit), and so on. The lowest level, the skating rink, is home to the ruler. He sits partially frozen in the ice, his three heads representing Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and a big yellow smiley face. He continually tosses screaming children into his three mouths, all the while asking what they want for Christmas, offering Easter eggs, or telling them to “have a nice day.”

Numerous demonic inhabitants staff the various shops and information desks, although they're never any help. The mall has no obvious exits, although the proper ritual or spell can open a doorway back to Earth.

Leviathan is not just a dimension, but an immense corpse, perhaps the remains of an ancient True Demon. Whatever it is, it contains vast vaulted chambers of decaying flesh and stained bone, and hundreds of miles of empty corridors and cavernous organs teaming with demonic parasites. Some property of Leviathan's decaying flesh releases phosphorescent chemicals, providing an eerie, omnipresent light that banishes all shadows.

Leviathan's inhabitants are of particularly gruesome aspect, many lacking skin or bones, and scuttle about in the stygian depths of the dead hellgod's remains, feeding upon the architecture in which they exist. They take baroque forms with far too many teeth, limbs, and claws, and breed by inserting their eggs into the corpses of their prey. Fortunately for any who find themselves in this fetid place, many hiding places are available to the dedicated searcher, and most of the demons are not pack hunters.

Every so often, the rhythms of life within Leviathan change ever so slightly, announcing the gathering of the Hunt. Swarms of demons sweep through the dimension like locusts, devouring all they find and leaving nothing but a trail of blood and a keening wail wherever they've fed. The wailing's source is not obvious, but one would assume it comes from Leviathan itself.

This is one of the smaller dimensions. The inhabitants of this sterile, institutional place have taken it as the mission of their species to understand the nature of humanity and what separates us from them. To that end, they abduct humans and vivisect them, grafting demon parts onto their bodies and using various chemicals and diseases to transform them into other forms of life. The meticulously clean hallways and meeting rooms are belied by the screams of those poor souls condemned to suffer the transformations inflicted upon them by the natives.

Long ago, the inhabitants were just another variety of demonkind, similar in form and nature and possessing an overwhelming need for knowledge. They also were obsessed with “difference.” Thus, over time they've modified and adapted their own forms. Now, each is unique in its own way - from the hybridization of two or more demonic races to the inclusion of human traits to the addition of cybernetic parts in their own experiments and more. They have no name for themselves, as they see little commonality beyond their desire to understand what makes a human a human and a demon a demon. They've exhausted the possibilities on themselves long ago but must make much progress before they've passed the tip of the human iceberg.

Fairy-Tale Land is among the easiest of the dimensions to enter accidentally. All it takes is a wrong turn in a dark wood or exploring the mysterious old house at the end of the street and you're there. The wolf is waiting for you in grandmother's house, the wicked queen has sent the huntsman to take your heart, and a witch wants to bake you into her pastries.

Fairy-Tale Land is not a reflection of the modern sanitized fairy tales one reads in children's books or sees in animated films. This is the unadulterated product, the home of creatures like Der Kindestod or the Gentlemen.

In short, this is a land where nightmares come true. Everything in Fairy-Tale Land works according to certain rules; you can't kill the witch with a stake, you have to throw her in the oven. You have to figure out the rules of the story you've landed in before you can use them to your advantage. This is not to say that any stay in Fairy-Tale Land is necessarily linear and unvarying, but it does mean that if you understand what's going on, you have a much better chance to survive or escape.

Leaving is as simple as resolving the tale in your favor, whatever that requires. Be careful that some nightmarish creature does not follow you back to Earth where it has much greater freedom to act. This could be how such creatures as Der Kindestod are unleashed.

This is one of the many dark and timeless realms outside of our reality where the lower beings hold court - the world of Arashmaharr, where demons are spawned. This nether realm is home to the Order of Mirak, a group of demons who observe events on Earth through a mystic portal, using them to their advantage and enjoyment.

This is also the home of the Vengeance Demons, those who have become demons to serve those who have suffered pain and loss. Vengeance Demons can detect when someone has had her heart broken - if that pain is powerful enough. Indeed, the demon is drawn to the sufferer. In the guise of a human, the Vengeance Demon interacts with the person whose pain has summoned her until that person expresses a wish. The demon grants the wish and returns to Arashmaharr until another chance comes to serve the pestilent gods with an act of vengeance carried out through the power of the Wish.

Vengeance Demons aren't exactly evil, but they certainly aren't entirely good either. Good and evil are not really important to a Vengeance Demon. The only thing that is important is vengeance itself. They see their calling as a noble one, righting the wrongs propagated by humanity. Some even prefer to be called Justice Demons (it sure sounds more just and true). But try telling that to a guy turned into a thousand-pound meat zeppelin because of one indiscretion.

As far as we know, Vengeance Demons all start out as human girls who were transformed into demons by D'Hoffryn. D'Hoffryn and his coterie appear to be able to sense when a person is suffering great emotional pain. If that woman decides to seek retribution through an act of vengeance, especially one involving magic, D'Hoffryn takes that woman to Arashmaharr and offers to make her an instrument of vengeance. Anyanka was called when she turned her boyfriend Olaf into a Troll for cheating on her. Willow was offered the chance to become a demon when a spell she cast almost killed the friends that ignored her pain after Oz left town.

Women who accept D'Hoffryn's offer are made into powerful demons. They immediately gain the Vengeance Demon Quality and must pick an Obsession to go with it. They are also given a pendant which acts as a nexus for their powers. Woe be to the demon who allows her pendant to be destroyed. Perhaps the realm of Arashmaharr also creates other types of demons from other types of humans, all embittered by one sin, sadness, or pain of one sort or another?

There are a lot of monsters out there in the various worlds. And we mean a lot. Considering that practically anything ever mentioned in fiction is likely to exist in some odd dimension, there's no shortage of critters, monsters, and beastiesthat you can choose to terrorize your Cast members with. Here's a few sample examples, and some tidbits you can use to cook up your own variants.

Many people assume that demons are invaders from another dimension. Giles has informed us, however, that the demons were the original inhabitants of our world. If so, demons most likely had been tormenting mastodons and taunting sabretooths long before certain types of apes in Africa began debating between staying in the shrinking forests and giving the whole “walk upright through the steppe grass” thing a try. As humans spread throughout the world, they couldn't have avoided encountering the various demonic races. It had to be tough going at first since most demons are way more tough and vicious than even our savage missing- link ancestors. In the end however, it seems evolution favored the smart tool users with the year-round ability to breed. Demons were pushed into hiding or left the planet entirely.

As demons are a diverse sort, it's not hard to imagine that more than a few merged or interbred with humans to create new hybrid forms. Certainly, we know of one-that demon was a predatory entity that somehow grafted itself into a human being. Like all those hybrids who followed and came to be known as vampires, we're guessing that the human kept her form, her memories, and parts of her personality. She lost her human soul though, and found that she now possessed demonic strengths, powers, and a strong predatory instinct. She was the first vampire, and she soon joined with others of her own creation.

Shortly after the first vampire was created, the First Hunter was called. No one's quite sure how this happened. Well some folks are sure, but they can't be trusted. The Watchers probably claim that a group of shamans banded together to magically call a champion who would be able to fight the new supernatural threat. And such a claim could very well be true. The average demon has been shown to be more powerful than the average human, but it's also likely that there have always been humans who could throw obscene amounts of magic around to accomplish things that demons can only dream about. The Watchers might claim that they are descended from this congregation of shamans-indeed, that may be why they believe the Hunter is their tool in the war against the vampires. Not to burst the tweedset's bubble, but perhaps the coming of the Hunter was some kind of cosmic balancer of good and evil, or heck, it could have all been a tragic mistake that worked out very well thank you. There are also indicators that the Hunter's powers are demonic in nature (but again, corroboration has been hard to come by). Regardless of where she and her power actually came from, the First Hunter seems to have proved quite capable of holding her own against the increasing plague of vampires. When she was finally killed, it turned out the Hunter had one final trick in her clutch bag of kewl powers: her abilities were passed on to another young human girl. At some point, the Watchers attached themselves to the Slayers, seeking them out and training them to be more effective against the vampires.

Now this was all welcome news for the humans, but it probably didn't cause too much fuss among the vamps. The Hunter obviously couldn't be everywhere at all times, and we've heard a great deal about their lack- of-extended-lifetime problem. Vamps, on the other hand, have the whole immortal-I-can-make-more thing going. This most likely explains why they continued to increase in numbers and spread throughout the world.

Your Basic Bloodsucker

Most of the demons found on Earth are some form of demon/human hybrid. They are basically humanoid in form rather than being some massive Thing That Man Was Not Meant To See. Vampires are one of the most extreme examples of this. They are created from human beings. Once a human rises from the grave as a vampire, she retains the appearance, the memories, and aspects of the personality of her former self. That personality is perverted though, because her human soul is replaced by a demonic spirit or entity of some kind. Still, the type of person someone was in life is a good indicator of what she will be like as a vampire. As hinted at in the Angel TV series, the original vampiric demon may have been a fierce reptilian looking creature filled with bloodlust. The behavior of most vampires seems to indicate that this demon was a pack hunter. That instinct is preserved in the human/demon hybrid known as a vampire. They tend to congregate in groups, with a “master” leading a group of “minions” (similar to the way alpha males lead wolf packs … if the wolves looked human and drank people's blood instead of chasing down caribou). The instinct to hunt living humans for their blood is extremely strong-it easily and often overwhelms the “human” aspect of the creature. Most newly risen vampires care for little else beside feeding. These savage creatures attack the first thing with a pulse they come across. The part of their brain that retains human memories and the ability to reason is completely superseded by an animalistic desire to eat and kill. This makes them dangerous, but it also makes them kind of stupid. It can be a bit of hard work killing a newly arisen vampire, but this is actually the best time to destroy them. The ironic thing is that many vampires end up dying shortly after they rise, completely defeating the purpose of being an immortal monster. Dummies!

If a vampire can make it through this first stage of unlife, she begins to strike more of a balance between 

her human half and demon half. This doesn't mean she is any nicer or humane, what with losing her soul and all. What it means is that she starts to use her knowledge and intelligence. A vampire that has been around for a few weeks is less likely to charge straight into a Hunter and her pointy stake. The more experienced vampire might try an ambush, or even curtail its hunger at least long enough to find someone really weak. These vampires seek out a lair, and maybe join some gang as a minion. The disadvantage of being a minion is that you are the first one staked when the White Hats arrive. The advantage is that someone older and more clever than you is making the plans. In theory anyway-the minions who attached themselves to Harmony found that to be a bad career choice.

The longer a vampire survives, the more powerful she becomes. Vampires like Angelus, Drusilla, and Spike have existed long enough to become rather skilled in the arts of terror and destruction. A few centuries of death and mayhem give a vampire a serious edge over the average minion. The oldest vampires sometimes develop their own unique powers. Dracula has Gypsy Magic that he can toss around, and he's really only six hundred years or so old. The Master was even older and had all sorts of surprises up his sleeve. An old and experienced vampire like Darla is still a pile of dust when she gets staked, but the truly ancient and powerful vampires can sometimes find a way to come back (okay, so Darla came back too, but that's a different story).

Vamp Abilities

The basic skinny on vamp abilities was laid out in the vampire Quality (see p. 37-38). They are strong and quick, never grow older, can't be killed by most weapons, and don't need to breathe. A few additions and clarifications can't hurt though.

Senses

Vamps have excellent hearing and a keen sense of smell. They gain a +2 to all Perception-based rolls that involve hearing or smell. Further, when we are talking blood, they are regular … ah … bloodhounds. They can smell blood inhumanly well (which makes sense, what with them being inhuman and all). For any Perception based tests to detect nearby humans (and their coursing blood supply) double the bonus, to +4. This has a range equal to the vamp's Perception times ten yards.

Some vamps are really, really good when it comes to blood. As an option, you may allow a vamp to 

identify a person's blood type, blood-related health issues (like alcohol content, hardening of the arteries, etc.), or even disorders. Finally, a vamp might be able to identify a person just from a sample of her blood, or determine that a sample of blood did not belong to a particular person. This information should only be available with three or more Success Levels on a Perception-related roll.

Recovery

Vamps still feel pain-they still bleed and bruise and get broken. But the demonic part of them allows them to recover from these injuries much quicker than a human would. Bloodsuckers recover one Life Point per Constitution Level per hour (except for fire damage).

But this is more than just a combat bennie. We are talking serious damage being no real biggie for a vamp. What would cripple a human for life might only inconvenience a vampire for a month or so (Spike ditched his wheelchair in record time). Permanent disfiguring or debilitating injuries take some time to heal, but heal they do. The precise time frame is up to you and the demands of your storyline. Another interesting subject is regrowth. Obviously, beheading a vampire is going to curtail healing but quick. Still, what about losing an arm, leg, eye, or ear? This has not been settled on the TV show, but given the fact that vamps live forever, we would surely have met a crippled vamp by now if regrowth were not possible.

Since all those we see are hale and hearty, it seems safe to assume that absent decapitation, pretty much everything else will grow back over time. The Black Knight (“None shall pass!”) probably wants to look into this.

Now, this doesn't mean that prosthetics aren't possible. If something is used to replace the missing limb or organ, it seems that regrowth can be stopped. Or perhaps a special ritual must be conducted to keep the regrowth from occurring.

Non-physical damage is another story completely. Vamps do not recover from insanity or mental deterioration any better than regular folks. In fact, given their extended lives and generally evil leanings, they can get pretty screwy in the mental department. Getting them back to their normal sociopathic ways is going to require some serious therapy.

Large Blunt Trauma

At various times and places, vamps have taken a serious licking and kept on ticking. The bloodsuckers also seem to be able to drop from fairly large heights without shoving their ankles into their intestines. To simulate this in the RPG, large blunt trauma and falling damage is halved for vamps. Large blunt trauma only covers being hit by vehicles or wrecking balls-bats and other melee weaponry still do the job just fine.

Mirrors and Mind Reading

Vamps have no reflections. Photos, video and film are effective though. One nasty trick would be to declare that cameras that use mirrors don't work, but that probably introduces a bit too much detail to the game. Active telepathy (as opposed to mind reading) seems to work okay though.

Sleep

It's not clear that vamps need to sleep. They can do it but that's doesn't mean they must do it. They spend a lot of time indoors during the day. Given what we have seen on the level of intellectual pursuit by regular vamps, they probably don't spend that time reading or thinking deep thoughts. Sleep would be an effortless ( the most effortless) way to wile away those hours. Then again, it would be poetic justice if sleep were very difficult for vamps. Just another feature of living with a demon inside of you.

Vampire Special Abilities

The basics will only take you so far in vampville. It's the special abilities that set the real nasties apart from the real newbies. Some special abilities come from great age (like the Master), some from before the vampire was turned (like Drusilla), and some from other sources of power (like Dracula's showy gypsy magic). These vampires had an advantage over the average bloodsucker, which is why each one has lived for over a hundred years. As discussed in more detail in Monster Spawning, vampires can have other capacities as you deem appropriate. We suggest things like flight, hypnosis, natural weaponry, and psychic visions. A couple other abilities deserve a few words.

Magic Shape-shifting

Dracula could shape-shift into a bat, a wolf, and a cloud of mist. Described as “showy gypsy stuff,” it's entirely possible that Drac's powers derived from magic. If this is the case, shapeshifting actually requires some spell slinging. For those “showy gypsy” vamps (or anyone else who might have this ability), shape-shifting effectively requires that the vampire also possess the Sorcery Quality.

The specs of the Gypsy Shape-shifting spell are shown on p. 102-103. The nature of the new form varies widely and grants different benefits. Some possibilities are discussed below. Feel free to devise your own.

Bat: Grants the ability to fly. Hiding in ceiling shadows is much easier (+8 to Crime when used to hide). And the whole sonar thing is an addition, not a replacement; shape-shifted bats see just fine in the light. Only attack is a bite doing Strength points of Slash/stab damage.

Cat: Add +5 bonus to Crime (when used to sneak or hide) and Acrobatics. Also, if there's even a little light, cats can see as if it were daylight. No self-respecting vamp shifts to anything but a midnight black cat. The others are way too colorful. Only attack is a claw or bite doing Strength points of Slash/stab damage.

Cloud of Mist: Not much in the way of fast movement, but the cloud can drift through any sized hole. Makes barred doors and windows pretty much useless. Also, no touchie-can't hurt a cloud of mist with close or ranged attacks. A powerful fan will make a mess of things but the cloud can always pull itself back together in time. No attacks possible.

Rat: Add +10 bonus to Crime (when used to sneak or hide). Also, rats can get into very tight places (though the vamp better not change back while crawling around inside a wall. Only attack is a bite doing Strength points of Slash/stab damage.

Raven: Grants the ability to fly. Keener sight provides the Acute Senses (Vision) Quality. Attacks include talons for 2 x Strength of Slash/stab damage (only when combined with a swooping approach) and peck for Strength points of Slash/stab damage.

Snake: Add +8 bonus to Crime (when used to sneak or hide) and the ability to slither through many small places and entries. Only attack is a bite doing Strength points of Slash/stab damage. A nasty poison with a Strength equal to the vamp's Constitution is a highly preferred option.

Wolf: Double movement rates. Add +3 bonus to Crime (when used to sneak or hide) but only at night. By day, this is strictly in the not-subtle camp. Attacks include a bite and claws each doing 2 x Strength points of Slash/stab damage.

Revivability

Where most bloodsuckers explode in a cloud of dust that briefly exposes their skeleton before that also crumbles, very old vampires don't always do this. Revivability is a Quality worth 10 points that allows a vampire to leave behind her bones (or some other portion of her body) after being dusted. The being doesn't necessarily die any easier or better than her lesser brethren, but she does enjoy the potential for returning to unlife. If the vamp's remains are used in a Resurrection ritual conducted by her friends or minions, death could not be so bad after all.

Revivability is useless in and of itself. Someone else must perform the Vampire Revivification ritual (see next page). Also, it requires some remains of some kind. On the ball Cast Members will notice something odd about a vamp that leaves such remains and will most likely do something about it (involving sledgehammers maybe).

Vampire Vulnerabilities

Vampires are strong and powerful, but they also have a number of weaknesses not possessed by humans. A stake through the heart is one of the main ways to kill a vampire. It's also a good way to kill a human. The difference is that most things stabbed though the heart leave a huge bloody mess. A vamp merely leaves a vacuum cleaner's nightmare.

The combat maneuvers section nicely covers the ol' stake in the heart and beheading. Again, a few new tidbits on the others might prove useful.

Looks

Face it, vamps in game face are downright ugly. All vamps showing their natural look gain Attractiveness -2 (and thus the standard -1 modifier on Fear Tests).

Sunlight

We've seen Angel and Spike run about in daylight using a trusty old blanket but it's not recommended. This counts as being in sunlight for less than a Turn and causes only two points of damage. Still, it better not be a long trip. Spike seems to make some serious cross-country trips in a car with painted windows. A vamp would take no damage in that situation, but it's got to set off some alarms with the local highway patrol. Being pulled over for a traffic infraction in daylight is not going to be good for either the vamp or the cop.

No vamp has tried SPF 1000 sunscreen-or least we haven't seen it. Let's presume the vamp Einstein who tried that is blowing in the wind.

A complete bodysuit made of heavy, tightly woven or rubber clothing might work. It could leave no portion of the vamp exposed (clear face plates should cause trouble) and even the slightest tear will expose the wearer to the two-point per Turn damage rate. Big rips are big trouble. Or you could just rule that it doesn't work at all. Depends on how uppity you want your vamps in daylight.

Private Dwelling

Vamps are unable to enter a private dwelling without being invited. Seriously, humans can stand inside a doorway and blow raspberries or mock a vampire's minions. It ain't classy, but it can be fun. Still, there are a few things to keep in mind on the whole private property front. This limitation only works on human dwelling places. Demon lairs are open to all vampires. Also, hotel rooms count as public places and are not barred to the undead. Faith was completely vulnerable to vampiric attacks from her room at the Downtowner Apts. Eighteen (or even eight hundred) dollars a day buys you no safety here. Only someone who lives in a particular dwelling can remove the barrier against vamps. Friends, relatives, door-to-door salesmen, and cat burglars won't do. Little sister invites are effective and oh-so-annoying.

Not being able to enter does not mean unable to affect. Nothing prevents a vampire from attacking or destroying the private dwelling itself. During her … ahem … crime spree, Harmony and her minions tossed a rock through Buffy's window. The clueless ones won't think of this, but the real Bads will no doubt come up with something sooner or later to take down those walls. When all residents of a dwelling are dead, the barrier drops immediately. So, make sure to lock your little sister in a big metal box in the basement … and then don't let anyone near her … ahhh, never mind-probably get some flack for that from your folks.

Crosses

Perhaps due to some conflict between the early Church and the vampires, crosses and holy water can cause pain and even injure a vampire. What is important to note here is that this vulnerability has nothing to do with the faith of the person holding the cross or water. Be they Christian, Jew, Muslim, or member of the Transcendental Skeptics Church, the object carries the power, not the wielder.

Why would this be, you ask? No one has really explained it on the TV show (indeed, the true answer may be lost to antiquity). Still, we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't have a theory or two. Let's start with the beginning. In the ancient time, the shamans called the Hunter using a powerful ritual (or at least that's one theory).

What if, by some twist of fate, the ritual used the symbol of a cross? Remember, the cross has been around far longer than any of the major religions that have adopted it. The use of the cross to call the vampire 's bane may have emblazoned that symbol on all demonic essence, and that imprint was passed along to the hybrids created since. In effect, the calling of the Hunter has left a residue that has tainted the vampires' racial memory. Hey, it's as good a theory as any.

Another approach would be to play with the cross vulnerability. Perhaps it has to do with the subconscious of the person who was turned. That means only those raised in a society heavily influenced by a church that uses the cross will be affected by it. Vamps who grew up in India or China or some other country where cross heavy churches are not so predominate might be unaffected by crosses in your campaign. No doubt some other symbol causes them distress, but we leave that to your fiendish imagination.

Garlic

Garlic seems to be a deterrent of sorts for vampires. It has never been shown what touching a clump of garlic does to a vampire, but Buffy hung garlands of the stuff in her room during the earlier episodes. If it does anything, it probably just causes a vampire to recoil, much like holding a cross. With such a reaction to the lovely little garlic clove, vamp meals are probably going to be a little bland, particularly if they are Italian vamps. 'Course, since all they ever eat is human blood anyway, variation in diet most likely isn't a major concern with the critters (Spike, always the exception, does like adding the occasional crumbled-up Weetabix cracker for texture).

Starvation

Vamps can live without blood-they have that whole immortal thing going for them. But it ain't pretty. They get extremely weak; after a time, they even have trouble walking. They also get thinner and thinner-some to the point of looking skeletal. How long this takes to happen is unclear. Spike has shown that they can last at least a day or two without food, though they are none too happy about it. We recommend that after two days, each day without food lowers the vamp's Strength and Constitution by one. Once the vamp reaches zero in both, it can't move.

Starvation causes other problems. Starvation causes a vampire's skin to crack. You could add skin discoloration, loss of hair, rotting of teeth, and even the smell of decomposition. Could be the whole body returning to that “being-dead” state. There's also talk of mental destruction due to starvation in the extreme cases. An insane, catatonic, skeletal living dead. There's a pretty picture.

Restoring the vamp could be as easy as a few drinks of blood, though human blood is required in the most extreme cases. Or you might decide that an entire human's supply of blood (to death that is) is needed. Hey, it could be that several humans' worth are necessary. That's going to cause serious problems for any “humane” vamp who wants to be good, but also wants to walk again.

Bodily Functions

With that famous line, Angel raised a host of questions about vampires. He could not perform CPR on Buffy when she needed him most and Xander stepped in to save the day. Thus, it seems that a vamp's dead body cannot perform certain natural functions. Still, in 1.12 Prophecy Girl we see the Master breathe deeply while on the roof of the library, Spike has smoked like a chimney for as long as we have known him, and there's no shortage of vamp heavy panting in Season Six. Oh, and there must be some air movement through the old trachea and voice box to be able to speak. That means vamps have to be able to use their lungs to move the air. And it's not just air that's at issue. There're also questions about how dead organs process food and drink, why alcohol should get a vamp drunk, how Buffy could get all smootchie with room-temperature Angel and Spike … and what about the whole visit to the little vamp's room biz.

How do we make sense of this? Well, we have some theories (as usual). Perhaps vamp organs don't work unless they want them to. Basically, they don't rot, but vamps don't need them for any specific function, unless they intentionally want to process something or take on the semblance of being alive. Of course, this raises the potential that a vamp might get stuck in a port-a-john until sundown, but that's most likely just a newbie mistake.

With lungs, vampires can exercise these muscles if they choose, but the breathing reflex is no longer autonomic. The body doesn't need it so it disconnects the nervous functions that keep it working. Also, it may be that the vamp can bring up enough wind to blow out a candle or exhale smoke, but not enough to perform mouth to mouth resuscitation which requires forcing air through the trachea and down into the lungs. Being able to simulate breath is also a good idea for vamps that pick up young college girls and don't want them to notice that the guy they are dancing close to isn't breathing on their ear or neck … or at all. When a vamp wishes to breathe, she concentrates just a little, expands her ribcage and pulls air into her otherwise-vestigial lungs. Of course, it could be that brand new vamps keep on trying to breathe and don't realize until later that they don't need to bother. (Again, older vamps most likely laugh at this “dumb rookie” thing.) Finally, the heavy breathing thing (or deep sighs) could be a vestige from their living days. They got used to such activities back when they needed them and it's hard to break old habits (even if your unlife lasts centuries longer than your previous life).

In the game, you could have vamps perform bodily functions in the normal course. When it really mattered though, make the action impossible (performing CPR, breathing on something to heat it up, using the moisture in one's breath to clean a window) or require a Willpower (not doubled) roll (blowing out a candle, breathing on the victim's neck, raising their body temp).

Damage Types

Vamps react differently to various types of damage. For the vampire hunter, this is mostly bad news though.

Bash: Vampires absorb Bash damage just like humans. The only exception is the falling and large blunt damage mentioned earlier.

Slash/stab: This sort of damage hurts vamps just like it hurts humans, double damage once armor is penetrated and Success Levels added. It is inapplicable for stakes through the heart though. If your character doesn't dust the vamp, she just does base stake damage (2 x Strength; no other multiplying). Again, tenderizing is highly recommended. For the Decapitation maneuver, the targeting and the slash/stab damage is all factored into the x5 damage. If the attack takes the undead to -10 Life Points, she goes poof. If not, there's no dust, but the damage remains the same.

Another special case involves arrows and crossbow bolts. These usually cause Slash/stab damage, but for vamps they are treated as Bullet damage. That's right, they just don't hurt that much-assuming they miss the heart, that is. A Through the Heart maneuver using an arrow or bolt will do the dusting thing (if the damage threshold is met - x5 greater than the vamp's current Life Points). If it doesn't dust, the arrow or bolt does it's usual 1/5th damage.

Bullet: Bullet damage is divided by five (after armor reductions and Success Level bonuses; rounded down). It also never leads to dusting.

Fire: Fire damages a vampire normally, but heals much slower than usual (one Life Point per Constitution level per day, instead of per hour).

Other: With your approval, a creative Cast Member may attempt to use bullets or weapons containing holy water. Bullet or Slash/stab damage breaks the skin and could be treated as internal application of holy water (x20 damage). The amount delivered in this way would no doubt be small, but even so it could really hurt.

Blessed weaponry or those shaped like crosses could also cause extra damage at your discretion. This could even be seen as part of canon if you credit Kendra's mention of a blessed weapon in 2.21 Becoming - Part One as being an instance of a more widespread phenomenon.

Slash/stab Revisited

As we have noted, pointy and sharp implements of destruction really mess up humans. Sharp stuff also does a number on vamps, but given their partial Bullet immunity, that may not be the case for stabbing weapons (other than arrows or bolts).

So, for those gaming veterans among you who want to add a bit more “realism” (whatta concept!) to your session, we offer the following rule. Decide which weapons are primarily slashing (axe, knife, sword) and which are mostly stabbing (pigsticker, spear, stake). The former do regular Slash/stab damage; the latter are treated like Bullets for vamps (that means a failure to dust with a stake really causes problems). It's more complex to do it this way but you may like it better.

Vampire Special Vulnerabilities

We don't have much to go on here, but we figured that some folks might like to play a bit with the usual vampire stereotypes. The following Drawback could be imposed on a particularly hide-bound vamp, or one that spent a bit too much time with Bram Stoker and Anne Rice.

Superstitious

A lot of people know a lot of stories about vampires, but not everyone knows fact from fiction. Unfortunately for this bloodsucker, she doesn't either. Whether she is newly arisen or a vamp that has never really been around others of her kind, this undead has no clue about her powers or limitations. She believes that she must sleep in a coffin with dirt from her grave, that she is unable to cross running water, that a crossroads poses insurmountable decisions, that killing her sire will restore her humanity, or that she can become a bat or a wolf (if she just concentrates hard enough and “gets the hang of it”). Each misimpression is a separate Drawback. When she is confronted with any of these situations, the vampire suffers a -1 to -3 penalty to all actions and cannot be convinced otherwise.

For example, the vampire can be led across water but won't realize she could have done it by herself. This Drawback can be great fun, particularly if more knowledgeable vampires are around. This Drawback grants one to three points depending on the penalties imposed.

The Biting Thing

The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed that once a vamp gets a bite attack in, the victim is allowed no defense roll. The cause is the intense though macabre pleasure inherent in being bitten. Vamps have been associated with intense pleasure as far back as Dracula, and Lestat certainly didn't dispel any of those myths. And the evidence is just as strong on the BtVS show. In Season Five, Riley becomes a vamp-bite junkie. That addiction may have been the result of physical or psychological changes induced by getting bit, but we're going with the simplest explanation: being bit gives the victim a feeling of euphoria not unlike sexual release.Always the opportunists, some vamps use this byproduct of their feeding to their own advantage. By offering free bites (or even asking for money) to willing humans, the vamps get all the blood they need and the humans get a nice “rush.” Above and beyond the “eww” factor, there's got to be some serious downsides to this practice -this is the Ciniverse after all. It precipitated the end of the relationship between Buffy and Riley but that's not enough for us. We've got some other suggestions.

As creatures beholden to evil, vamps don't suffer from any moral quandaries in offering “services” to humans. Indeed, it might be seen as a particular enterprising way of laying low and staying full. On the other hand, some-perhaps most-vamps might consider this activity unseemly or slavish. These “traditional” vamps might think that hunting is the vampire way-humans are to be stalked, attacked, and drained. This touchie-feelie, free exchange, cooperative attitude only weakens a vamp and is just another sign of a weakening moral fiber that has plagued the risen for generations (and since this practice has been going on for centuries, at least according to Anya, we mean “generations!”). So those vamps who get involved in bite dens may be shunned among their peers.

They might be upset by this and change their ways, but we doubt it. Shame isn't real big in the vamp psyche. For the humans, we're guessing things are much more dangerous. First off, people get hurt-each Turn of consensual biting costs two to five Life Points. And this would only apply for vamps who drink slowly to extend their “client's” pleasure. Less experienced vamps might be hard pressed to keep from chugging-causing standard 3 x Strength damage. You might want to force the vamp to make a Willpower (doubled) roll to avoid that.

Also, a vamp might lose herself in the drinking and go a bit too far-have the vamp make a separate Willpower (doubled) roll to stop before killing the human. Too much of that is going to do a number on customer relations, but that's probably not a great concern for the vamps. There's also the whole issue of infection. Vamps don't fear germs from their clients but they may pass them along from one to the other. If you decide the vamp is “carrying,” have the human make a Resisted Action against the Strength of the particular infection you've settled on, but only allow them a Constitution (not doubled) roll. Can't get a much better vector than direct fluid transfer.

Finally, there's the inevitable fang marks on the victim's arms or other body part. In fact, they look a lot like a nasty form of those lovely needle tracks born by drug addicts. That's going to go over real big at swim parties.

Besides the immediate threats, a vamp-bite habit is highly addictive. Each bite requires a Willpower (doubled) roll by the victim. Penalties may be applied to this roll for continual bite den visits. Or you can simply say enough is enough and dictate an addiction. However imposed, bite junkies suffer a four-point Addiction Drawback. Between the overzealous vamp, the disease, and the addiction, it's clear this pleasure has a real cost. Hey, it requires systematic vamp biting - what'd you expect?

Oh, and we'd be remiss if we failed to mention that vamp-bite dens are usually not in the nicest parts of town. Getting mugged, murdered, or otherwise mistreated in or around these locales is not unheard of - especially if the character is staggering around with a good chunk of Life Points sucked out of her. Now, there may be high-class vamp bite dens serving exclusive clientèle (including clean, strong-willed vamps), but that's not going to come cheap.

Another angle to explore here is the mental repercussions of bite junkies. Perhaps they get a sense of aggrandizement (“I've got my own pet vamp”), self-loathing, depression, or emotional dependency. Maybe they become crueler or develop delusions about their own invulnerability or the harmlessness of vamps. These can be represented by various forms of the Emotional or Mental Problems Drawbacks.

Or you could just avoid the whole distasteful and dangerous business, and leave it out of your game. We're just offering options here.

Ecology

Vampires are not the most powerful type of demon in existence, but they are among the most numerous. This is because of the way vampires are created. While demonic reproduction most likely varies widely in process and time consumed, vampiric “reproduction” is much simpler. As the BtVSTV show states, when a vampire wishes to sire another, she bites the victim and feeds. Before the victim dies from blood loss though, she is made to drink the blood of the vampire. The victim then dies, only to rise as a vampire shortly thereafter. Now, the timing of the rise is not certain. We've seen many, many vamps claw their way out of the ground only to be quickly dusted by the Hunter, but there are counterexamples -in Season One, a vamp rose in the mortuary (1.5 Never Kill a Boy on the First Date), in Season Three, a watcher flunky was drained and raised almost immediately to free Kralik (3.12 Helpless), and in Season Four, Eddie rose the same night Sunday turned him (4.1 The Freshman). If you need a default time, let's say the night after the body is buried the vampire rises from the grave.

On the other hand, if your plotline demands it, rising at a quicker or slower time is fully justified. Given how many times the Hunter is around when a vamp rises, you could even make the call that the undead “wakes” when one of the living (or maybe just the Hunter) is nearby. That's going to cause real problems if they don't also intuitively know whether it's day or night up above though.

Sometimes vampires and their sires become sort of a surrogate family. Darla sired Angel, Angel sired Drusilla, Drusilla sired Spike, and all four of them hunted together until Angel changed because of the whole cursed-with-a soul thing. That grouping, as well as Drusilla and Spike's relationship, indicates that vamps can find strength in numbers and can even feel affection for each other. Even among the most monstrous of them, companionship runs strongly-the Master was quite fond of Darla. For others, there appears to be some instinct to group together and form packs or gangs. All in all, this would seem to increase the vamp survivability rate and thus be good for the “species.”

On the other hand, it's unclear how common “familial ” groupings are. A great number of vamps appear to take a bite 'em and leave 'em attitude. The dozen cemeteries of Sunnydale have seen the rising of countless vampires who had been turned and left to their own devices. That raises the question of why a vamp would make the seemingly conscious decision to turn a human, but then not stick around to get her through those first few “bestial” days.

It might be that this turning and leaving process is part of the vampire's evil nature. They might delight in creating offspring and letting them fend for themselves. Perhaps the sires even watch over their “young,” delight in their depredations, and find joy in their dusting at the hands of the heroes. We are talking evil here, right? Perhaps there's more to it. Maybe a secret group of vampires exists that turn humans to increase the number of vampkind, but then impose on them a survival-of-the fittest regime. That means for those who do survive, companionship or a societal structure will be offered.

Alternatively, perhaps the “turning” practice is not so “conscious”. It may be that a vamp instinctively begins turning certain of her victims as a means of propagating the “species.” Only those who are older and more interested in allies or minions use that innate drive to build a group of followers. The less evolved do the deed and simply forget about it afterwards.

Finally, there might be other means of creating vamps. While we have been told about the whole “one sucks, the other sucks” routine, maybe that's just one-particularly disgusting-way to turn a human into a vamp. If, under certain circumstances, a simple vamp bite and draining will create another undead, the numbers of bloodsuckers rising each night would be better explained. Or perhaps we can blame it on the Hellmouth. Maybe those bitten near a mystical nexus are more likely to rise even without the whole “sucking” thing. A creative Director who wanted to add her own twist on the Ciniverse could devise any number of alternative “turning” processes that could explain the frequency of vamp encounters.

Slayers and Vampirism

Slayers have always been a willful lot. That combined with their Hunter's powers may make them immune to being “turned” by a vampire. That's not clearly spelled out in the BtVSTV series. Indeed, the Fifth Season premier suggests the opposite and BtVS stories in other media have explored the idea of a Hunter vamp. We've got some ideas on this subject too (big surprise!). We are going to say that Slayers are naturally resistant to being turned into a vampire. They have a natural aversion to anything vampy and the whole hate- hate relationship between vampires and the spirit of the First Hunter going for them. In our view, the demon blood is going to have a hard time surviving its trip into the hostile territory of the Hunter's digestion. Unlike other normal Janes out there, Slayers can make a Resisted roll pitting Willpower (doubled) roll against a Willpower (doubled) roll for the invading vampire spirit, to resist the turning. If successful, the ancestor of the First Hunter spirit beats the vampire spirit back and keeps it from taking over. Of course, the Hunter may still die, unless a friend is nearby to help out with a blood transfusion or keep her alive long enough to get her to the hospital. If the Resisted roll is failed, the Hunter will eventually turn into a creature of the night and rise from her grave to terrorize yadda yadda yadda. In that case, she ceases to be the Chosen One and her powers pass onto the next girl.

Still, an interesting twist allows some residual power to stay in the body of the former Chosen One. A Hunter who dies and returns as a vampire loses much of her former glory. However, she gets to keep +2 Strength, +1 Dexterity and Constitution along with the level of Getting Medieval and Kung Fu. She also gets to keep her Fast Reaction Time and Nerves of Steel. Her levels of Hard to Kill remain as does her fast healing ability. Lastly, she no longer has the Hunter ability to sense the presence of vampires and she may still be attacked by other vampiric Adversaries until she's proven she's one of the gang now.

Combined with the Vampire Quality benefits (where not duplicated), this makes a former Hunter vamp a pretty tough cookie. But we'd expect no less.

The Other Kind of Vamp

Some players may wish to use vampires as Cast Members. Being a vampire is a Quality that costs 12 points for a normal vampire (in which case it is a predatory creature who will want to eat everyone and therefore probably be inappropriate for your average Series) or 15 points for a vampire with some kind of control over her demonic instincts. Any vampire able to control her demonic instincts needs a background explaining that whole biz. These types of vampires are rare, and the reason they are so “humane” is hardly ever entirely beneficial (at least that's been the case with every example shown so far).

Angel has a soul because he was cursed by gypsies for killing a young woman who was very special to them. The purpose of giving him his soul was so that he would be wracked with guilt over the terrible things he had done. If he ever knows a moment of true happiness his soul will be lost once more (as happened on Buffy's seventeenth birthday).

Spike has a behavior modification chip in his head that was a “gift” from the Initiative. Every time he tried to attack a human in any way, he would be overcome by intense debilitating pain. He could still fight demons though, which led to him becoming an ally of the White Hats. At the end of Season Six, Spike made a pilgrimage to Africa and after surviving a number of combat ordeals was granted one wish. Because of that wish, Spike now also has a soul (but not a gypsy-curse-prohibiting-happiness one). What exactly this means remains to be seen. It's probably not all, or even part, good though. Finally, on the Angel TV show, Darla became pregnant with Angel's child and as a result conceived a “human” child. Well, “human” might be a stretch, but it seems to have a human soul in any case. While Darla was pregnant, that soul was inside her (the baby's soul) and this seemed to affect her behavior.

It should be noted that in all three cases, the vampires still had desires based on their instincts. Even with Angel's curse, Spike's chip, and Darla's pregnancy, they still wanted to feed on humans (or at least missed it with the guilty longing of a recovering addict). They just couldn't or wouldn't. So along with her “gift” being a serious mixed blessing, a non-bestial vamp is not always so … non-bestial.

No doubt there are other ways to be a “humane” vampire besides gypsy curses, Initiative chips, and the one vampire pregnancy in all of history. There are entities who can grant wishes. For example, what if Harmony had stumbled across a Vengeance Demon sometime during Season Four? A simple “I wish that Spikey would feel bad about all the mean things he ever did to me” could have resulted in an ensouled Spike during Buffy's freshman year at college.

A similar thing could happen to a Cast Member vampire. Most of Angel's early vampire-with-a-soul existence was spent pining for Darla, feeling guilty about his past, and just generally being miserable. He even fed on humans at first-he just made sure that they were bad humans. Now, what if during these early years, maybe during a fit of misery and loneliness, he sired another vampire? Nobody knows what would happen if a vampire with a soul sired another vampire-maybe this would create another vampire with a soul. Heck, maybe Angel got drunk, sired someone and forgot about it, and that vamp sired another, and another … You could even postulate a whole secretive line of vampires, each one with a soul. And maybe they are organized in some way-a support group for human-souled vamps!

Finally, what would happen if a vampire's former soul decided to re-possess its old body? It's clear that ghosts exist in the Ciniverse; what would happen if a vampire met the ghost of her old self? Maybe the result would be a creature at war with herself, the demonic vampire and the human ghost each fighting for control. Perhaps a strong-willed human ghost could gain a measure of control. Sort of gives a new meaning to the term “haunted,” no? And “humane” vamps don't have to mean “ensouled” vamps. As we saw with Spike's chip, it's possible to have a vamp work with the Good Guys even if she doesn't possess that spark of human soul. It's going to be a delicate balancing act, keeping control of all that evil, and the impetus is going to have to be darn strong, but it is possible.

The exact nature of this “evil-control” is left to the player's imagination. No doubt clever players will devise other circumstances for Cast Member vamps. Once you have the rationale set, you can proceed onto building the critter's actual abilities. That drops you back into the whole character generation thing.

Vamps and Morality

The discussion of human morality has occupied philosophers and evangelicals for nearly as long as humans have been around. Some of your players may want to play vamp Cast Members and you may want to devise more subtle vamp plots exploring the gray areas of their behavior. So, we figured a few words on the subject wouldn't be out of place.

As has been stated, vampires are basically dead humans possessed by demons. The human soul is gone, and with it goes the conscience or any kind of remorse. The demon brings a hunting instinct and all sorts of supernatural powers (the power to walk around after being killed being the main one). Still, the vamp has all the thoughts, the memories, and may adopt portions of personality of the person that was killed. So there seems to be some kind of unholy merger of the former human and the demonic monster. In many ways, the vampire is a reflection of the person turned.

So, perhaps it's the twisted human portion that's to blame for the really powerful vamps. It would be the height of irony if the demon aspect of a vamp were simply a mindless feeding machine (sort of how newbie vamps appear) and it was the human remains that ultimately exerted a measure of control over that beast. In that way, the humanity left in a vamp could be seen as the means of making real evil manifest. The demon side makes a vampire a monster, but the human side makes the vampire capable of great evil. Pretty depressing, no? In the Ciniverse it seems the human soul is the seat of goodness. It's the feature of humans that makes them feel good about doing good, and bad about doing bad. Maybe the soul even requires humans to do some good sometimes. There've been a few human Bads, but none of them were entirely evil. They each did a good turn at some point. Still, it's far from clear that a soul compels goodness in some way, however minor. Taking this view, the absence of a soul should remove any inclination toward goodness. That doesn't mean a soulless character would be unable to do something good or kind, it's just that they wouldn't think to do it on purpose. It would be accidental or tangential.

Given natural vamp proclivities, the demon spirit appears to be a comparable seat of evil. Maybe the demon in a vamp makes them feel good about doing bad, and bad about doing good. In this view, bad need not be an all-consuming requirement, just an inclination or tendency. A vamp could do good but most likely it would be an aberration or accident.

Or maybe it's worse. Maybe the demon spirit forces the vamp to do bad at some point and in some way. Or it could just be a byproduct of the lack of a soul. The vamp may be experiencing a huge morality head rush-“I'm no longer human. I need not be saddled with human right and wrong. I'm strong and immortal, I can take life, I live on human blood, yadda-yadda-yadda.” Superhumanity might create vamp mentality. This also brings in the point that the vamp spirit carries some knowledge with it. Newbie vamps come out of the ground bestial, but they aren't confused about what they are or what they want. Introspection comes, if at all, only much later in a vamp's unlife.

Now, once a vamp reaches some kind of self-inspection (if ever), it seems entirely possible that it could decide to adopt a human code of conduct. This might result from a calculation of pure self-interest. The vamp might think she'll live longer if she befriends some humans and works with them. The whole feeding on blood thing is a problem but it can be surmounted, as we have seen.

Another possibility is upbringing. Without getting into the whole nurture vs. nature debate, we could posit that a vamp trained by a powerful but humane disciplinarian could learn to behave. The vamp could have been conditioned to do good even if she gained no deep-seated pleasure from it. Over time, a sympathy for “fellow” humans could develop and the worst inclinations of the demon spirit could be contained.

None of this conjecture is possible if the demon spirit is deemed more compelling than whatever remains of the human. If the drive to evil is overwhelming, a “well behaved” vamp is an impossibility. Worse still, those who believe it possible could be deceived by a vamp and allow her to work even greater evil, pain, and harm. Then again, if a “civilized” vamp is possible (whether as a result of the human remainder or because demon spirits aren't naturally beholden to evil), that throws a whole monkey wrench in the Hunter game. If vampires are redeemable, even in the most obscure and difficult ways, the job of the Hunter loses a great deal of the moral high ground. Is it right to kill what you could heal, just because it is difficult to do otherwise? Dang, it's so much easier when things are black and white, no?

Suicide

It's difficult to imagine any circumstances that would cause your run-of-the-mill bloodsucker to commit suicide. Just doesn't jibe with the highly self-centered and instant gratification-oriented vamps we see nearly every week.

Now, a vamp with a soul might feel so rotten about her actions or nature that she would want to rid the world of her evil. A human soul brings with it all the human baggage that normal people suffer from. So it's not so hard to see why an ensouled vampire would contemplate suicide. Indeed, it's easier to see why she would become obsessed with it. An ensouled vamp Cast Member should probably face these questions sooner or later, and must decide whether she is too cowardly-or too driven to use her powers for good-to succumb to this way out. Non-souled vamps would need a darn good reason to contemplate suicide.

As this has been such a rare occurrence (one is about as rare as you get), it's hard to determine exactly what forces were at work here. Maybe this particular vamp had serious mental problems. Perhaps it's a special vamp power of Angelus' … though that seems unlike as he used it only once. It could have been a very unusual spell that compelled this behavior or maybe an item that we never saw or heard of again.

A cruel explanation involves the extreme evil that is Angelus. Let's say he drained a young girl, then forced her to drink and become a vampire. He could have waited until she rose and then fed her. Once she was sated and calm, he could have spun a terrifying story about what she had become. He could have told her that her unlife was only a fleeting thing, and that she had a special mission to perform before she returned to her “final rest.” Or he could have explained that unless she performed this service, she was doomed to unlife and worse.

Maybe Angelus convinced his first victim by playing on her youth and inexperience, and managed to overcome the natural inclinations of the demon inside. We know that Angelus can be very convincing when he wants to be. It's even more horrific if the first few attempts didn't “take” though. He might have gone through several young girls to get one impressionable enough to do the task he asked.

Then again, it could also have just been some serious Drusilla hypnotism. But that's way too simple …

Society

Regardless of the whys and wherefores (just what is a wherefore, anyway?), vampires do have their own society. They have their own holidays, their own beliefs.

They do often gather in groups (which makes them very susceptible to pyramid schemes). We have seen glimpses of a whole occult underground, where vampires and other demons spread news and help each other out. They drink together, party together, even play cards together. Maybe this is the human side of the vamp manifesting though that doesn't explain the demon part of the society. In any event, over time, the newbie vamps are taught the unwritten rules of undead society (we assume they are unwritten; no one has mentioned a Vamp Civics 101 offering).

Holidays

One of the most universal observances among vampkind is the lack of activity on Halloween night (so maybe it is more of an anti-observance). This seems to be practiced by most of demonkind, not just vampires. Imagine Saint Patrick's Day with everyone in Leprechaun costumes and no beer to be found anywhere. Think about Cinco de Mayo being celebrated by everyone wearing ugly sombreros and talking like Speedy Gonzalez. We imagine that no self-respecting Irish or Mexican person would want to go anywhere on nights like that. Well, that's sort of what it is like for monsters on Halloween.

Or maybe there could be a deeper reason for staying inside on Halloween. That celebration is derived from the old Celtic holiday of Samhain, the start of their new year. Samhain was believed to be the night when the barriers between the otherworlds were thinnest and spirits could walk among the living, so ritual fires were lit to keep the spirits away. In other words, Samhain was the one night that humans were actively looking for demons and prepared to do something about it. It is easy to see how a superstitious belief could develop among the demons that attempting anything on Halloween would be bad luck (and in point of fact, no demonic plan that was carried out on Halloween thus far has ever been successful).

Now let's be clear. The demons' general distaste for Halloween doesn't mean it's always a quiet night. Some demons or vamps may decide to join the festivities and add a bit of edge to the holiday frights. Others, like human sorcerers or newly summoned fear demons, get right into the spirit of things and see it as the perfect time for mayhem. Perhaps they figure the field is basically clear of competitors that night and it's a good time to make a play.

In contrast to Halloween, many vampires celebrate the Feast of Saint Vigeous. The Night of Saint Vigeous is a lunar holiday so there is no set date for it (it's kind of like Easter, only evil), but it occurs sometime in late September. Tales tell of Saint Vigeous who led a crusade of vampires through Russia and Persia-one of the largest organized vampiric attacks in history. The Feast is celebrated by a form of self-flagellation; vampires spend the three nights scourging themselves into a berserker fury. This all culminates on the Feast of Saint Vigeous when a vampire's power is at its peak. Only the most traditional of vampires actually observes the holiday in this manner, but it is still a good excuse for a party. The actual effects of Saint Vigeous are up to you.

Vampires might be granted five extra Drama Points or a +1 to all Tasks on this unholy night. Then again, it might all just be superstitious nonsense. Anyone who spends three nights working herself into a frenzy is going to feel like her powers are at their peak, whether they are or not. Another special night among vampkind is the Harvest. This “holiday” occurs once every hundred years and vampires consider it the most hallowed of all nights. A ritual can be performed on this night transforming a vampire into a Vessel for her sire. The Vessel drinks blood from her sire's wrist and the sire uses that blood to draw a three pointed star on the Vessel's forehead.

For the entire night of the Harvest, everyone killed by the Vessel will feed the sire. The wording of the ritual actually states that their souls will be fed to the sire, which makes it sound more powerful than just regular feeding (normally the bloodsucker just sucks blood as far as we know). You may wish to grant certain benefits to a sire for every victim killed by her Vessel. Perhaps every victim killed grants a +1 to the vampire's Life Points, every fifth victim also grants an extra Drama Point, and every tenth victim also grants a +1 to any Attribute. These bonuses might only last until sunrise and the end of Harvest Night.

Organizations

Vamps appear to have a pack instinct. The actual trappings of that grouping arise from the alpha vamp, or whoever else is in charge.

Order of Aurelius: This vamp gang seems to have been one of the most respected. It was symbolically represented by a stylized sun surrounded by three stars (the sun weakened and the night triumphant is one possible interpretation). Aurelius was a vampiric prophet from the twelfth century whose writings were the basis of a religious movement. For six hundred or so years, this movement was led by Heinrich Joseph Nest, a vampire better known by the epitaph of the Master. Aurelius spoke of the Old Ones who could be brought back to Earth by opening the Hellmouth. He also spoke of a special vampire, the Anointed One, who would aid in this great unholy work. The Master believed that vampires were superior to humans and as such they should not seek to emulate the mortals. Human society was a plague, and vampires should keep themselves separate from that contamination. Humans were meant for food and making more vampires, nothing more.

The Order of Aurelius finally had the chance to attempt this great work when they found a Hellmouth. The Order moved their operations, feeding on the townsfolk until the time was right to attempt opening the Hellmouth so that the Old Ones could reconquer the world. An earthquake put an end to the Order's plans and trapped the Master for sixty years until the approach of the Harvest allowed him to awaken. The Harvest was the Master's chance to escape, but it was ruined by the recently arrived Hunter. In less than six months, she managed to wipe out the Order of Aurelius. After nine hundred years as one of the most feared and powerful vampire cults, they were gone. Well, maybe not entirely gone. Several who survived attempted to later raise the Master and restore their order. That too was unsuccessful, but who knows if every last one was dusted. Further, what if an enterprising young vamp turk decided to adopt the legacy of the Order of Aurelius (no doubt there are histories that could be learned and incorporated)? Worse yet, perhaps the vamp learned of a ritual that would restore the Master without an intact skeleton.

El Eliminati: The fifteenth century brought not only an organized cult of vampires, but one that centered around dueling. This highly advanced cult was known as El Eliminati. They were powerful enough in their day, but eventually grew weak (partly from being hunted by humans and partly from pointlessly dueling all the time). The cult was ultimately taken over by a demon named Balthazar, who brought them to the New World. Balthazar and his vampiric minions were a force to be reckoned with for a time, until the demon was defeated and crippled by Richard Wilkins. Many thought that Balthazar was dead, but he was merely bloated and grody. Most of his power had been invested into an amulet and that amulet now belonged to the Mayor. Balthazar and his vampire acolytes hid for the better part of the century. They attempted one last attack on the Mayor to prevent his Ascension. The attack failed and the amulet was never recovered. Balthazar and what remained of El Eliminati were completely wiped out by two Slayers.

Still, like the Order of Aurelius, El Eliminati may survive. Removed from the corrupting influence of their former demon overlord, perhaps the cult returned to their origins and became unbeatable swordsmen (… swordsvamps?). Lord knows, immortality brings lots of practice time. Some may seek to reestablish the cult's former status and influence. Some may desire a new leader or patron. Some may simply desire revenge against the Hunter or any of her progeny.

Lesser Lights: Smaller and younger gangs of vampires are probably the most common. A relatively small group of vamps gathered around the Anointed One/Spike/Drusilla in Season Two, the Mayor in Season Three, and Adam in Season Four. This goes to show that vamps are not hugely particular about their leaders. They are perfectly willing to go along with those strong enough to keep them in line and powerful enough to make sure they get fed regularly.

Sunday was a strong-willed vampire who led a group that consisted of only a few vampires at any given time. They took over the Psi Theta house in the 1980s after that fraternity had lost its charter and the building had been condemned. Sunday's gang preyed on freshmen at the University of California Sunnydale. The vampires would kill the freshman, take all her stuff, and then leave a note that made it look like she could no longer take the pressures of college life and so had to get away from it all. This system worked until the Hunter started attending UC Sunnydale. Like the Order of Aurelius, Sunday's gang was completely wiped out by the Hunter.

In contrast to the ultra-cool and effective (for a time) Sunday Gang, Harmony and her minions were the ultimate in lightweight from the beginning. Were it not for the blunders of the Scooby gang (particularly Dawn's inexperience), their efforts would have been laughable at best. Certainly the fisticuffs between Xander and Harmony can't be confused with anything approaching a “dance of death.” As nemesis-es go, Harmony and gang worked the laugh track overtime.

Another group of vamps decided to hole up in a crypt in one of the many Sunnydale cemeteries. We didn't get to see this seemingly leaderless crew in action enough to know what their plans (if any) or capabilities were (though one did manage to tag Buffy with her own stake). They seemed a bunch of rough and ready gang- types with more hunger and muscle than brains. Riley wiped out the bunch with a well placed, if far-too-reckless grenade attack.

Any of these groups could be reformed and sent to plague Cast Members. Bringing Sunday back would be great as she seemed to be a very promising character. Getting her past the whole dusting thing would be tricky, but it's been done before. Also, Harmony's not dead (well, not dead again) and she could rebuild the group to give a newbie group of Slayerettes a night or two of concern. They should definitely be played as bunglers, at least at first. It would be a real kick in the pants if they later turned out to “have a clue.” Could be a good lesson in underestimating foes. Alternatively, these minor gangs could simply serve as templates for a new group, created out of whole cloth. Vamps often attack in a group. That doesn't mean they have to be a functioning gang with plans and a hierarchy, but that would sure make them tougher to handle.

Vampire Hunters

No chapter on vampires would be complete without a word or two about those who hunt them. It takes a certain sort of crazy to accept the reality of vampires; it moves to a whole 'nother level when you actively seek them out and fight them. Oh sure, into every generation a Hunter is born, but there's just the one. Watchers are much more plentiful, but most of them … well … just watch. The vampires and demons are everywhere, so what are you going to do when that darkness comes to your door? You can do what most people do: scream, run and try to ignore the whole thing, or you can pick up a sharp wooden object and get even.

No town sees as much vamp activity as a Hellmouth, but the toothy buggers still get around. Mostly their victims end up on the missing person list and are eventually forgotten about. Every so often though, the vamps pick on the wrong person and someone comes looking for revenge. On rare occasions, the victim survives the attack and decides to hand out some payback. More often, the hunter is the victim's lover, friend or relative who can't accept her loss and realizes very quickly that the police aren't going to get the job done. Such an individual is exceedingly rare. The hunter is dedicated and vengeful in the extreme, far more than any Scooby Gang member. She allows her life to go to hell so she can spend all her time getting even. This dedication is one of the things that keeps the hunter alive. On the other hand, this sort of person does not play well with others. No one understands the pain she is going through and no one can help her do what has to be done. Few take up such a suicidal burden. If life still had any meaning for her, she would try and deal with the pain another way. So, driven by a need for justice and revenge the hunter goes out hunting. She finds a vamp, hopefully the one who killed her friend and stakes him. If she has any sense, she will locate his lair, watch him to find out his habits, and plan the best moment to attack. That's beyond most though, and roughly ninety percent end up the next meal of the first vamp confronted. The ten percent who survive necessarily show an aptitude for tactics and personal combat. That hunter proves very resourceful and, most of all, knows the value of patience. No normal untrained human is going to survive a fight with a vampire. A hunter who makes a career of this terminal hobby learns to pick her moment. Take on the vamp from behind or lock him outside his crypt just before dawn. The only advantage a hunter has derives from surprise. No vampire expects a human to be so stupid as to try and take him on. The experienced hunter knows that she can allow no compromise or mercy. In a fair fight, she won't just lose, she will be lunch. Every fight is very likely to be her last. This means the hunter can't allow morals or fair play any place in her mind. To some, putting other people in danger is an unbreakable line. To them, everyone is someone's mother, brother, or best friend. These types risk their lives for total strangers, because every time a vamp is denied a meal they gain a small victory. To others, all is fair game. The dusting is the ultimate goal … and the only one.

Playing a group of hunters with no Hunter back-up can make for a dangerous and dark campaign. The characters are outgunned and have very little idea about the enemy. Everything must be learned from trial and error and mistakes usually cost a teammate. It also makes for some pretty intense roleplaying. Being in desperate life or death situations on a constant basis will do that. To even the score a little, you might allow one of the characters to play a rogue Watcher. She can provide enough basic vampire knowledge to give the group a fighting chance. Also think very carefully about the sort of group the characters are to become. They could be a gang like Gunn's, all bound in a common cause but only willing to defend their own turf. Another option is the way we see Giles, Oz and their small group in the alternate Slayerless Sunnydale. Such a gang works on desperation and hope more than anything else. No matter who they are, they will have to be extremely resourceful to survive. Vampire hunting has a very steep learning curve and it rewards improvisation and cleverness. This is a game centered on hopelessly outmatched White Hats. In fact, given the chances of survival, such a game might make a good break from an existing campaign. “Okay folks, here are some new characters you are going to play until they are all dead. Should run about four sessions.”

But it isn't a game about waiting to die. It is a struggle against terrible odds to fight a cause that's right. Lord knows, the Hunter ain't around and someone's got to do it.

Demons

First of all, talking about demons is a little bit like talking about dinosaurs. Yes, they are all labeled alike but they can range from tiny protobirds to massive behemoths (in truth, that applies to both dinosaurs and demons). This chapter runs down the general specs on demons and is mostly composed of demons that are part of a group or race, or that don't exhibit much in the way of smarts or personality. Special demons-those that can string two or more sentences together and might even develop a plan for world conquest-are elsewhere.

A Walking Study in Demonology

According to Ciniverse lore, demons existed on Earth billions of years ago. That means that even before life developed on this planet, there were demons. It was the development of life that became a curse for demonkind. As life became more complex, the demons were pushed off of our world into other realities, the hell dimensions, and demon realms. By the time scrawny hairy rodents had evolved into the earliest forms of man, the demons were no longer the dominant form of life on Earth. The Old Ones had left this world completely only to find themselves unable to return. Of the demons that remained, some went into hiding while others interbred with humanity to create new hybrid beings.

The first demons were the Old Ones, ancient powerful creatures best described in rambling capitalized adjectives. They are the Ancient Chthonic Horrors Incomprehensible To Man. When they first enter our world, they merely appear as gigantic monsters, masses of tentacles and claws and teeth. Sometimes this form will vanish, and a true, more horrifying form will take its place.

The Old Ones are the True Demons-demons in their most basic form. A human can figure out a vampire's motivations and concerns, but there is no way to actually think like an Old One. There may still be some True Demons, or at least entities akin to True Demons, on Earth. Lurconis may have been one of these and the Mayor (in his snake form) was briefly on our world. But True Demons are a huge, huge drain on property values and should be almost as rare as soulful vampires in your or any other Ciniverse.

The demons commonly encountered in this world are hybrids. Many are some form of human-demon hybrid (though they would never admit that), but others are more primitive than that. Most demons are bipedal and have a basic humanoid form (two legs, two arms, one head), but some of those are nothing more than animals. They have failed to achieve sentience. Creatures like the Hellhounds and the Queller are beasts who simply reproduce and feed, just like any other animal. These survival traits often require killing off humans, which drops them squarely into the “evil” category, but they aren't the type to summon dark forces and open the Hellmouth. Now, that doesn't mean they won't completely destroy a town from time to time, but that is more from hunger than maliciousness. Some bestial demons are huge creatures like the Bezoar and the Ghora who in no way resemble a humanoid form.

The other type of demon hybrid is one that actually thinks more like a human. They may be evil, but they have language and culture (y'know, culture as in killing people with a weapon instead of just claws and fangs). Worse still for the dedicated vanquisher of evil, a few of these sentient demons are not actually 100% evil. The thing about demons is that they tend towards evil the way humans tend towards good. Most people are decent enough, but then you get someone like Hitler or Stalin. Most demons are evil (or at least very, very violent), but then you come across someone like Clem or Whistler. Some demons join apocalyptic cults (like the Sisterhood of Jhe), some work for the highest bidder (like M'Fashnik), and others just relish wanton destruction (like the Fyarl).

Many demons belong to a warrior culture and are often used as foot soldiers in extra-dimensional armies. On Earth, they mostly cause trouble and play poker for kittens. So far all the demons discussed have had a physical form, but some entities are insubstantial. These are mainly the possessing demons, entities like Eyghon who take over a host so that they can feel physical sensations-or just cause some random destruction. Having no physical form, it often takes magic to defeat such a creature. Either that or tricking it into an ambulatory corpse.

Along with sentience and form, there appears to be no uniformity in social patterns. Demons can be found as individuals or in tribes. The Fyarl, the Sisterhood of Jhe, and the Queller are all races of beings. There isn't just one of each running around. Other demons, like D'Hoffryn or Sweet, seem to be the only one of their kind. These types of demons often assume mythical roles-for instance D'Hoffryn is the Lord of Vengeance Demons while Sweet is an Underworld Lord of the Dance. These individuals are smarter, more powerful, and often have a group of minions to test the heroes, bring in victims, fetch coffee, and inflate their egos. Those Things That Demons Do

As we mentioned, demons come in all shapes and sizes. It makes sense that they also have all sorts of different powers. In fact, it's probably safe to say that there're no “standard” demon abilities. In this way, they are quite unlike vampires. All demon powers are special … just like all demons are special (awhhh). Demons are tough. Demons are strong. Demons are ugly (though usually not to each other). Demons can have claws, fangs, horns, spikes that shoot out of their arms, pretty much any natural and unnatural attack that can be imagined. Some demons also have natural armor. A number of other powers are discussed in Chapter Six: Monster Spawning (see p. 129). These are mentioned in the individual demon write-ups, and may be used for do-it-yourself demons.

Cast Member demons gain the benefits of whatever demon “race” they choose when they build their character. Thus, their standard powers and vulnerabilities are circumscribed. Only the special ones show variations.

Demons and Morality

While there is some question about vampires, their demon spirits, and their human remainder (see p. 28), it's pretty clear that demonhood is not the same as evil in the Ciniverse. From Whistler to Clem to the circus folk to Anya, we've seen lots of “non-evil” and even some “good” demons.

This capacity for good could be upbringing, control by a more powerful master, or … gasp … the result of the demon version of the soul. Some demon races may have it, some may not. But you can't judge a book (or a demon) by its cover (or seriously wrinkled skin). As we mentioned in the vamp discussion, that makes the metaphysics of Slayerhood very messy. If demons (or at least some of them) have souls, why is it okay to kill them and not humans? Is a demon soul necessarily worth less than a human one?

Perhaps it's best not to focus on the whole soul vs. no soul aspect. In some ways, we can see that Buffy has taken this tack. If a demon is being bad, a soul (as in capacity to be good) shouldn't matter that much to a Hunter. The problem with that line of reasoning is it frees up the Hunter to take out bad humans without messing about with the whole soul question.

'Course all this is only for those roleplayers who want to get into it. For the rest, drop the ethical dilemmas and just kick serious evil butt!

Demons and the People Who Worship Them

As if demons by themselves weren't bad enough, sometimes the Cast will run into humans who worship demons. Usually this is part of a mutually beneficial arrangement-the demon grants boons or powers in exchange for offerings. For example, the demon Machida granted prosperity and good fortune to the members of the Delta Zeta Kappa fraternity in exchange for an annual human sacrifice. The Mayor had many demons that he served; he made sure that Lurconis got a bunch of babies to eat every thirty years and Lurconis granted the Mayor … well, something good (evil?) obviously. A person wouldn't go around offering babies for nothing-that would be insane (oh, a little late for that as well).

In any case, the human demon worshipers seen in the Ciniverse are usually in it for the power. They are granted Boons, which are just conditional Qualities. This can be anything from increased Resources to something supernatural like Sorcery or an increased life span. The Boon(s) is balanced by an Obligation(s), something like the Obligation Drawback (see pp. 43-44).

Having to sacrifice animals for the Boon would be relatively minimal and equivalent to an Important Obligation. Sacrificing a human would be equivalent to a Major Obligation. So what kind of person would kill another human being for their own gain? A bad one, obviously. Some are those with the Zealot Drawback- insane cultists serving the forces of evil out of some misguided fanatical delusion. This is relatively uncommon from what we have seen of the Ciniverse so far. Zealot demon worshipers are usually just lesser demons, dreaming of the Old Ones and the pre-human “golden age” when demons ruled the Earth.

Human worshipers are usually in it because they have the Serious Covetous Drawback or worse. They 

aren't fanatical, just ambitious or greedy. They are not sacrificing humans out of a deep-seated religious belief, they are killing because they want a nice car and a big house (or eternal youth or whatever). It's hard to say which one is more evil.

Spirits and Ghosts

Perhaps the easiest way to remain with the living in the Ciniverse is to become a ghost. No need to become a demon or invoke dark magic-a ghost is merely someone who died and now remains in this world as a spirit. Of course, the reason a ghost remains behind is usually something horrible that it wishes to make right. This often has to do with the way that the ghost died. So, if a Cast Member can interact with the dead and word gets out to that effect, she's going to find herself spending a lot of time helping dead people resolve their issues. And ghosts are not the only spirits to be found in the Ciniverse. There are all sorts of incorporeal beings, many of which seem to be manifestations created by a particular action. It could be something mundane and tragic or it might be the result of a powerful ritual. It could even be a ritual that was conducted because of something mundane and tragic. The spirits can be even more dangerous than ghosts, though both types of creatures are generally driven by a particularly obsessive desire. Whether this is for forgiveness from a murdered teacher and lover, or retribution for the extermination of an entire race, or something completely different depends on the spirit in question.

This category covers animated or possessed objects, poltergeists, and all kinds of spirits, from emotionally overcharged poltergeists to spirits awakened from and by magic as a backlash.. Quite a line-up, don't you think?

Zombies and the Undead

Of course, it is no fun coming back from the dead if you are going to just be an incorporeal spirit. Having a body is kind of the whole point of the world of the living. The most common corporeal corpse is the vampire, but there are ways to have a physical post-mortem existence without the inconvenience of losing a soul and gaining a demonic spirit. These full-body non-breathers are mummies and zombies. The absence of a demonic spirit means that they have a more difficult time staying not dead. This could mean that they never look more alive than they did at the time of their rising (in other words, most look like rotted corpses). If they can assume the appearance of life, it usually takes the life force of other people to prevent them from looking like the rotted corpses they are.

Where the Wild Things Are

A sect of animal worshippers known as the Primals believe that human consciousness is a perversion and that the true spiritual state is an animal one. They developed rituals to draw animal spirits into themselves, such as the Masai ritual for hyena possession. It is unknown if the werewolf curse is derived from a similar human source or if they are merely some kind of antivirus that Mother Nature has come up with to fight back at mankind. In any case, Primals (and here we are not talking about a specific cult, but rather human-animal hybrids in general) are different from other monsters. Demons belong to an order of life that was pushed off the planet a long time ago; Primals actually belong here. That might give them a greater right to continued existence … or not.

Some Primals can shape-shift into an animalistic form; others merely experience an internal change. Also, Primals are always predators (no sheep, hippos, or canaries). And for some reason, they usually prefer human prey.

Witches & Weird Science

The Ciniverse includes vampires, demons, ghosts, and werewolves. It also includes things like robots, chemically mutated humans, witches and warlocks. Through magic, all sorts of miraculous enchanted items may be created. Science (or at least the Weird Science from pulp stories and comic books) can also be used to create some fantastic items, but in truth this is merely a different form of magic. The same forces that are used to create Dagon Spheres can be used to create androids and transformative chemicals. Magic and Weird Science are just two sides to the same paranormal coin (which we will not be calling the para-dime, because that would just be wrong). The rules for using Weird Science and creating fantastic devices are covered in superscience and enchanted devices chapter earlier, but the more animated results of these experiments are listed below.

Once Upon a Time

The Hunter has fought some monsters that may very well just be demons, but that's not entirely clear. Just in case (we don't want any monster coming at us for misclassification, y'know), we are going to describe them as bogeymen. Bogeymen are strange. They don't easily fit into any category-they do things for unknown reasons and according to bizarre rules. They're eerie and unsettling when they appear, striking with disturbing subtlety rather than outright force. They're Fear given form and flesh. Most bogeymen are difficult to harm-the Gentlemen were practically invulnerable and only children could see Der Kindestod. To defeat a bogeyman, you really need to understand its rules.

The Evil that Men Do

We've covered all sorts of monsters from the Ciniverse. With all of that supernatural peril running (crawling, swimming) around it can be easy to forget that the evil perpetrated by human beings can be just as bad. Buffy has run into her share of humans who make Norman Bates look like a rock of sanity. Still, there are some major differences between evil humans and evil monsters. The main one is that Buffy can't justify offing them in her role as the Hunter. That's a line she works very hard not to cross (with good reason, considering what it did to Faith). Another difference is that even with all their powers and abilities, no supernatural creature has ever hurt Buffy as deeply as a human has. From staking Ford to dealing with Faith and Angel (or Faith in Buffy's body on Riley's body), these folks gave twisting the knife new meaning for Buffy. This was even truer with Willow and what she went through because of Warren Mears. Humans always make a good twist for a season's Big Bads.

Monster Concepts

In the show, monsters are often more than simple killing machines that need to be put down like mad dogs (although there're plenty of those, too). Before jotting down stats and numbers, it's a good idea to think about the concept behind the monster. What role will the critter play in the Episode? Does the monster have any symbolic or hidden meaning? A lot of Buffy monsters are metaphors for the trials and tribulations of growing up, cloaked in the supernatural and given a fangs-and-latex coating for good measure. Here are some possible concepts.

Cannon Fodder

Easy enough - these monsters get no lines; they just show up to act as punching bags for the Cast. They are the simplest (and usually the most boring) monsters available. Your typical vamp fills that role, but demons, human cultists and other miscreants can be tossed in for extra variety.

The Archetype

Some monsters are embodiments of classic characters from mythology and fiction. Examples include the Trickster (who deceives and misdirects the characters), the Tempter (who offers a deal that is actually too good to be true), the Great Beast (think Jaws or Moby Dick; the hunt for the Great Beast is the story itself), the Guardian (the creature bars the way to the characters' goals), and the Dark Reflection (the villain is the moral opposite of a character, but has enough in common with her to create a great deal of self-doubt). Picking an Archetype is a good way to start. Let's take the Trickster, for example. Unlike your typical monster, the Trickster rarely attacks the characters directly. Instead, it uses lies, illusions or word-games to get the victims to do what it wants. A Trickster should not be very powerful (otherwise why resort to trickery?), but its machinations should be nice and convoluted. Demons make good Tricksters, although a wily vampire or a cunning human (like Ethan Rayne) would do as well.

The Hidden

These are the creatures for Whodunit Episodes - the monster is striking from the shadows, disguised in a human shape or otherwise protected from discovery. Discovering its identity is half the battle (the other half is an appropriately violent ass-kicking session, of course). When designing a Hidden monster, you need to figure out its modus operandi, the nature of its disguise/ hidden place, and what clues will eventually (or hopefully) lead the Cast to it. A number of red herrings can be tossed in along the way to send the characters off in the wrong direction.

The Metaphor

Then there's the symbolic monster, a creature that represents some facet of being a teenager or young adult, of dealing with life or facing moral dilemmas. You can take any problem from school and turn it into a monstrous encounter with a bit of exaggeration and dramatic license. Confronting a bully, for example, can be used for inspiration to create a monster whose power terrifies a Cast Member, but must be dealt with by that character alone. Or take the “Just say no” situation and turn it into a demon who offers “happiness” in return for the victim's soul or moral principles (making her perform crimes as “payment” for example). When creating a metaphor, it's important not to lay it on too thick, and keep the preaching to a minimum.

Recycling: Return Appearances

Not every monster has to be brand-new either. There's something almost comforting about seeing an old fanged, demonic or gross-out face make a return engagement, especially when the villain in question was challenging and memorable. Coming up with a rationale for the monster's return can be tricky though, especially when the monster came down with a bad case of the deaths in the prior meeting.

This Time It's Personal

Sometimes a villain gets away, and promises to return to get some payback. Assuming the critter in question didn't get killed (in which case turn to Sometimes They Come Back just below this section), having it return to punish the Cast for their deeds is a natural. The old villain may be working alone, or might have brought some new friends along. Since it was defeated before, it should have some sort of enhancement - a mystical weapon, some new kewl powerz, or a master plan to destroy the Cast and take over the world - to ensure (at least in its mind) that there is no repeat defeat.

Sometimes They Come Back

Bringing back dead villains is a tried and true plot device. Maybe somebody can figure out how to gather the dust of the Master's bones, for example. Any dead Big Bad could somehow be brought back from the afterlife to further torment the Cast. Just as in This Time It's Personal, the returned Big Bad should have some new edge or trick up its sleeve, since the Cast has already kicked its buttocks once. On the other hand, if the Cast Members were lucky or were able to use some one-of-a kind plot device to destroy the villain, then its return makes things fairly desperate for our heroes, as they scramble to find a way to defeat the now seemingly unstoppable monster.

“You Killed My (Insert Relative); Prepare to Die”

Rather than bring back the Big Bad itself, have a relative, clone, close friend or associate show up in its stead. This is like This Time It's Personal, but with a new villain who may have some similarities to the late monster and probably has its own special abilities as well. An interesting twist is to have the Cast discover that the former Big Bad was just a “baby.” Now Mom's here, and boy is she pissed.

It's alive! It's ALIVE!

So you like the range (and research) of the nasties covered already, but what you really want to do is create. No biggie. This chapter contains a grab bag of assorted monstrous abilities and powers to be mixed and matched and shaken liberally. Simply decide what powers you would like your beastie to have, pile them all together, calculate some Scores, and presto-instant bad! For those looking to devise new races, that process is essentially the same but includes an additional step. First you need to define what Attribute bonuses, skill bonuses, Qualities, and Drawbacks make up that particular race of demon. Once those are settled, bunch them up and call them the Demon (fill in the blank) Quality. That cluster of features then becomes the hallmark of that race of demon. Feel free to add additional aspects to individuals within that demon race, unless of course they are all just demon mooks fit only for stomping in copious quantities.

Please be aware that we haven't provided specific point costs for the various abilities in this chapter; we simply described the general capabilities of the powers. This leaves you Directors plenty of flexibility to sculpt your monster 's features as needed (hey, even in the middle of a game session if things aren't going to your liking). The full details for devising all sorts of supernatural and otherworldly Cast Members are found in the Quality section at the start of the book.

We have confidence that the more inventive of you will be able to cobble new character creations together with all sorts of weird and wondrous powers (yah, go ahead and take that as a challenge).

Monsters, cops, teachers, and post office workers- they are the people that the Cast encounter along the way. Some are unremarkable, straight-from-Central-Casting nameless characters. Others are the Cast's friends and family, dangerous foes, or terrible Adversaries. Usually, the Supporting Cast can be created from Episode to Episode. Over time, you'll get recurring characters, and they'll play a role in many a Plot or Subplot. Most Supporting Cast characters do not need full character sheets, or even Quick Sheets, unless this is one of those games where the Cast are going to be fighting everybody they encounter. For minor roles, all you need is a name, if that, and the role the character is going to play in the Episode. Victim #3, for example, is unlikely to need much development, except to be thankful after being rescued. Your typical cannon-fodder vampire minion rarely needs much beyond the basic Attributes and Ability Scores. Then you have the “named” roles-relatives, friends, colleagues, or hated enemies of the Cast. A Quick Sheet suffices for the mechanics aspect, but you probably want to spend some time fleshing out that character's personality and attitude. If all the Supporting Cast sound and behave the same, the Series is going to feel like the Clone Wars, emphasis on the “clone.” A teacher should sound and act differently from a police officer, or a Cast Member's father, or an aging Survivalist wacko still living in the 1980s (then again, a Cast Member's father could be an aging Survivalist wacko still living in the 1980s). After the Cast has been created, it's probably a good idea to make some notes fleshing out the people in the character's lives. If they are in graduate school or at regular jobs, a couple of professors, advisers, supervisors, subordinates, and fresh-faced interns are good to have around. Keep them as recurring characters, and if any of them becomes a victim, their demise will have more than emotional impact than Dead Body #23. Additionally, have a roster of Supporting Cast Members ready to go at a moment's notice. That way, if the Cast decides to do the unexpected, you have something to throw at them.

Many Supporting Cast Members are merely excuses for a good butt kicking by the stars of the show. When it comes to that, having their “stats” handy keeps the action flowing. This does not mean that you have to go through the entire character creation process for each and every enemy the Cast encounters. Far from it-all you have to do is assign Attributes, put together the Ability Scores, figure out any attacks or special abilities the characters have, and you're good to go.

Attributes: Unlike players, you don't need to divide a set amount of points among the six Primary Attributes. Just pick and choose what fits. If you need to stat out a couple of lounge lizards with roving hands, you could make them average across the board (all 2s), or maybe give them a couple of Attributes at three. If you are casting a team of berserk construction workers, give them a high Strength (4 or 5), above average Dexterity and Constitution (3 or 4), average mental attributes, and you're all set to go. It doesn't matter if the total Attribute points come to 11, 13, or 35, if that's what the character needs.

For vampires and supernatural beings, Attributes are at the high end (4 to 6). After that, just look at the chart on p. 26 to figure out Life Points, add any bonuses for the Hard to Kill Quality (see p. 39; most normal humans will not have any), and the Attributes are done.

Ability Scores: You don't have to figure out the skills of most Supporting Cast Members. Instead, use the Ability Scores (Muscle, Combat and Brains; see p. 113) to get a rough idea of what the character can do. As discussed, Ability Scores are determined by the character's Attributes. Most regular folk will have Ability Scores in the 9-13 range. Vampires and extraordinary people will be in the 14-20 range. Nasty Adversary types will have even higher numbers. Again, if you want to avoid the whole math and guesswork angle, consult the Score Tables (see p. 223).

A good, quick way to determine Ability Scores is to use the Cast's skills and Attributes as benchmarks. Take the toughest Cast Member's Dexterity and Kung Fu totals and use it as the base. A cannon-fodder mook should have a Combat Score equal to the base +1 or +2 tops. That means the best fighter can hit that mook on a roll of one or two-no sweat. A tougher guy should have a Score of +3 to +5 over the base. That means the Cast Member is going to hit on the average, but the villain might get lucky. A challenging opponent is going to use base +6 to +7-the heroes need to roll well to hit them or avoid getting hit. And deadly foes have a Score of the base +8 or more-fighting them is going to require teamwork or Drama Points.

Special Abilities: Most people have no unusual powers or abilities. Monsters may have several, from the proverbial vampire powers and vulnerabilities to magical powers. List them on the Quick Sheet so you don't forget that, say, a demon has a leathery skin that is as good as Kevlar against physical attacks.

Combat Maneuvers: Figure out what attack and defense moves the character is likely to use, their applicable Scores, and the damage inflicted (remember to include the Success Level kickers derived from the Scores listed-remember no rolling for most Supporting Cast).

Supporting Example: Most vampires have your basic Dodge, Punch, Kick, Grapple, and Bite Maneuvers. Parry, Punch, and Bite use the unmodified Combat Score, Kick uses Combat Score -1, and Grapple uses Combat Score +2.

A vampire with Strength 5 and a Combat Score of 15 would have the following maneuvers: Maneuver Value Damage Notes Bite 15 19 ( base 15 + 4 Success Levels) Must Grapple first Dodge 15 - Defense action Grapple 17 - Resisted b y Dodge Kick 14 15 ( base 12 + 3 Success Levels) Bash Punch 15 14 ( base 10 + 4 Success Levels) Bash

Muscle Score Table 8 Weak as a Kitten: Fred can arm-wrestle this guy. 9-10 Average Guy: Your average couch potato, capable to lugging a couple six-packs to the car without busting a gut. 11-12 Not Too Shabby: Someone who works out, maybe plays on the company softball team, actively coaches his son's soccer squad. 13-14 Average Supernatural/Tough Human: This is the Muscle Score of a very weak vampire. Very athletic humans are in the same range. 15-16 Tough Supernatural/Weightlifter: A vamp minion, a workout freak, or a pumped-up Marine. 17-20 Human Peak: A vamp whose been around the block a few times, a leg-breaker thug demon, or the best of the best humans are in this range. 21+ Superhuman: Elder vamps, powerful demons, and the like are in this range. Darla during her pregnancy (aided by fetus Connor's supernatural nature) had a 26 Muscle Score (don't mess with the pregnant lady).

Combat Score Table 8 Never Been Punched: With this Combat Score, a character needs to go to Full Offense or Full Defense or he'll just be a punching bag. People who can't throw a punch to save their lives would have Combat Scores at these levels. 9-10 Average Guy: This is someone who knows which end of a weapon to point towards an enemy or has been in a few scrapes in his life. 11-12 Newbie Vampire/Trained Person: This is the Combat Score of your typical freshly dug vamp or a normal human with some training (a beat cop or a regular soldier). 13-14 Minion Vampire/Veteran Fighter: This represents a vamp that has been around for a while, or a tough, well-trained human (rank-and-file W&H goons, for example). 15-16 Veteran Vampire/Expert Fighter: Some of the best undead material out there-these vamps got game! On the human side, we are talking special ops and W&H special agents. 17-20 Lieutenant Vampire/Master Fighter: Now we're talking Champion-level proficiency and better. These guys are hard to beat-time to break out those Drama Points. 21+ Boss: These levels are reserved for the top villains of the setting.

Brains Score Table 8 Duh?: Life is like an open book to this guy, but he can't read a word. 9-10 Average Guy: The character's never going to win at Jeopardy, but is able to hold down a job and live a normal life. 11-12 Smart: Someone with a good education and the smarts to make the most of it. 13-14 Brilliant: Highly educated, very smart, or both. 15-16 Genius: An expert, or just really, really intelligent. Probably a nerd. 17-20 Genius Plus: Kind of guy who tries to freeze time or create portals between worlds. 21+ Just Too Smart: Einstein, Hawking, and other incomprehensible folks.

Drama Points: The Cast Members are not the only ones with Drama Points. Bad guys also have access to them. Most faceless characters have no Drama Points; they are not meant to do extraordinary things. Your average cannon fodder vampire has 1-3 Drama Points, enough to land a good punch or two on a Champion before the kewl dusting FX kicks in. A friend or relative of a Cast Member could have the same amount, to allow for occasional heroics (when Virginia decks her father, for example). Major foes could have 5-8 Drama Points, and the Nemesis could have 10+ Drama Points in store, enabling them to give our heroes a run for their money. Usually, Supporting Cast Members spend their Drama Points for combat purposes (the sample vampire below could spend a Drama Point to use the Heroic Feat rule and raise his Punch value to 25).

Example Mortals Name: Typical Everyman Motivation: Critter Type: Human Attributes: Str 2, Dex 2, Con 2, Int 2, Per 2, Will 2 Ability Scores: Muscle 10, Combat 8, Brains 10 Life Points: 26 Drama Points: 0-1 Special Abilities: - Maneuvers Name Score Damage Notes Dodge 8 - Defense action Punch 8 4 Bash

Name: Police Officer Motivation: Serve and protect, “Just the facts, ma'am.” Critter Type: Human Attributes: Str 3, Dex 2, Con 3, Int 2, Per 2, Will 2 Ability Scores: Muscle 12, Combat 12, Brains 10 Life Points: 34 Drama Points: 0-2 Special Abilities: - Maneuvers Name Score Damage Notes Baton 12 11 Bash Dodge 12 - Defense action Pistol 12 14 Punch 12 8 Bash Shotgun 12 22 Bullet Example Vampires Name: Brand-New Vamp Motivation: Blood! Critter Type: Vampire Attributes: Str 5, Dex 4, Con 4, Int 2, Per 2, Will 2 Ability Scores: Muscle 16, Combat 12, Brains 9 Life Points: 52 Drama Points: 0-3 Special Abilities: Attractiveness -1, Hard to Kill 2, Vampire Maneuvers Name Score Damage Notes Bite 14 18 Must Grapple first; no defense action Dodge 12 - Defense action Grapple 14 - Resisted by Dodge Kick 11 14 Bash Punch 12 12 Bash Name: Vampire Minion Motivation: Blood!, follow orders Critter Type: Vampire Attributes: Str 5, Dex 4, Con 5, Int 2, Per 3, Will 3 Ability Scores: Muscle 16, Combat 14, Brains 11 Life Points: 59 Drama Points: 1-3 Special Abilities: Attractiveness -1, Hard to Kill 3, Vampire Maneuvers Name Score Damage Notes Bite 16 19 Must Grapple first; no defense action Dodge 14 - Defense action Grapple 16 - Resisted by Dodge Kick 13 15 Bash Punch 14 13 Bash Name: Vampire Veteran Motivation: Follow orders, lead others Critter Type: Vampire Attributes: Str 6, Dex 5, Con 5, Int 3, Per 3, Will 3 Ability Scores: Muscle 18, Combat 16, Brains 12 Life Points: 69 Drama Points: 2-4 Special Abilities: Hard to Kill 5, Vampire Maneuvers Name Score Damage Notes Bite 18 23 Must Grapple first; no defense action Dodge 16 - Defense action Grapple 18 - Resisted by Dodge Kick 15 18 Bash Punch 16 16 Bash Name: Vampire Lieutenant Motivation: Predator, follow orders, rule Critter Type: Vampire Attributes: Str 6, Dex 6, Con 6, Int 3, Per 3, Will 3 Ability Scores: Muscle 18, Combat 19, Brains 13 Life Points: 79 Drama Points: 2-4 Special Abilities: Hard to Kill 7, Vampire Maneuvers Name Score Damage Notes Bite 21 24 Must Grapple first; no defense action Dodge 19 - Defense action Grapple 21 - Resisted by Dodge Kick 18 19 Bash Punch 19 17 Bash

The Power! The Absolute Power!

Here are some powers that vampires, demons, monsters, and wiggly wags that come crawling out of a mad scientist's lab have been known to have. Take your pick, mix and match, and make sure to give your Cast Members the fight of their life.

ARMOR

Some demons are tougher than others. Demons can have any type of skin, from insectile carapaces to shiny reptilian scales. Most demons will have Armor ranging from 1 to 20, but higher values are possible (especially during climactic Season finales).

CHAOS POWER

This power makes things go to pot around the character. Items wear out, tempers frazzle, friendships dissolve, memories grow spotty, etc. Depending on how you are playing things, it may affect everything, or just certain stuff (like a Vengeance Demon specialization). Also, the speed of the degradation must be determined. A gun that misfires when it comes near the character reveals a quick acting power; a power that rusts a gun a day or so after it kills the Chaos Power character is not going to be so helpful. This power is not recommended for Cast Members, but might provide an interesting challenge for more adventuresome roleplayers.

DIMENSIONAL TRAVEL

Demons were banished from Earth a long time ago. Though many have settled back on our world and now hide in crypts and sewers, there are many more who still dwell in their own extra-dimensional realm. Being from “way out of town” keeps the demons safe from hunters, Slayers, Witches, and other types of predators. It also means that the only way these demons can get to our world is by being summoned here. One way to get around that is for a demon to come to Earth under its own power. These are the dimensional travelers. Demons with this power can create a temporary gateway between dimensions that usually manifests as a whirling dark vortex where there used to be a wall or a floor. These demons tend to be the more intelligent of their breed and often possess Sorcery as well.

Demon Idea Sources

Looking at other gaming monster manuals, as well as classic demons and devils is always a good place to start, and a lot of the various ideas have already been written for you.

Using emotions, or concepts and then twisting them so that a being represents a dark or evil side of them has proven popular in the past, and has a heavy dose of symbolic resonance.

You could seek inspiration from myths and goetia (medieval grimoires with big long demon lists in them … no really, we looked it up), or you could just do what Mutant Enemy does sometimes and make it all up.

DISEMBODY

This nasty can turn its body into some kind of amorphous mass. Whether fog, a swarm of insects, a cloud of darkness, or even purple Jell-O, this is very useful for slipping under doors, floating out windows, and escaping bodily harm. Now, this ability doesn't convey any special protection from harm (though it is kind of hard to get a good whack on fog); that is covered by Invulnerability (see p. 131) or Resistance (see p. 46).

FLIGHT

Vampires and demons don't fly much on the BtVS TV show. Still, examples of flying vamps abound in other stories and some of you might like the idea of a vampire floating outside a window, scratching to be let in. Flight allows the creature to travel through the air with a base speed of (Constitution + Willpower) x 2. Flight is expressed in levels, with each additional level adding ten mph to the speed. A flying vampire or demon would be quite rare in the Ciniverse; maybe not as rare as a pregnant vampire or one with a soul, but they should still be considered exceptional.

HUMAN FORM

Being a big scary demon who strikes fear in the hearts of its victims is all well and good, but what does a demon do if it wants to go to Starbucks for a mocha? This is where having a human form comes in handy. Such a demon can blend in with human society, as Kathy did when she attended UC Sunnydale. It's also useful for others, like Vengeance Demons, who need to approach a human and have her make a wish. Nobody would have told Anya anything (except maybe “aaaahhhh!”) if she showed up with the scary skin-deficient face.

HYPNOSIS

The Hypnosis power, as far as we know it from the BtVS TV show, is covered (see p. 165). We have worked up a few new levels just for you Directors that want something new. At fourth level, the monster can cause a group of people to hesitate for a few moments, plenty of time for her to attack or flee with impunity. A number of victims equal to the hypnotist's Willpower (doubled) roll or Brains Score can be affected. Victims can only avoid helplessness by spending a Drama Point; those that do not, cannot act for a Turn and have a zero defense roll against any attack. A level four hypnotist gets a +1 bonus to her roll or Score when using the power at level three, a +2 bonus for level one and two uses. At fifth level, the monster can create illusions and muddle the senses of a number of victims equal to the hypnotist's Willpower (doubled) roll or Brains Score. She can also render herself invisible to the victims, or simply appear to be someone else. Victims can only avoid the illusion by spending a Drama Point. A level five hypnotist can use the level four power against ten times the normal victims. She also gets a +2 bonus to her roll or Score when using the power at level three, and +3 bonus level for level one and two uses.

IMMORTAL

The being does not age. That's the extent of this power though-an immortal can be killed by normal means (unless it possesses certain Invulnerability or Resistance powers). So, no problem wasting time by watching Buffy DVDs back-to-back-to-back, but be careful around pointed weaponry and hostile busboys.

INCREASED LIFE POINTS

This creature has a certain something that makes it harder to put down. The exact nature of that something and the amount of extra stuffing it gives the nasty are strictly between it and its maker. Seriously, there's no formula here. Just give them more Life Points. Stop when you think it's getting excessive. Then give them a few more just to make sure. It's not strictly fair but since when has the Ciniverse (or life for that matter) been fair?

INVULNERABILITY

Some folks just don't DO damage. For one reason or another, the things that hurt don't have the same effect on them. For the most part, we are not talking about the kind of invulnerability possessed by strange caped visitors from other planets when they bask in the light of a yellow sun. Invulnerability in the Ciniverse is usually temporary, like when the Mayor was getting nearer to his Ascension, or only partial, like a vampire's lack of real concern over bullets. Then there are those who can only be killed by silver or when they are in a disembodied worm-swarm form. Now, this isn't to say that you can't soundly thrash a creature with this Quality and put it out of a fight for a time; it's just that you can't kill it in all the usual ways.

Invulnerability has a couple different levels. Because this Quality can vary so widely though, you should modify these as you see fit given the specifics of whatever warped notion of Invulnerability you create (of course we mean warped in the good way).

MINOR: This is more of a resistance than true invulnerability. An example would be partial damage from certain types of harm (vamp's fifth damage from bullets).

PARTIAL: The character can ignore one type of damage or effect. Examples include being unaffected by illusions (Sobekite Spawn), or taking no Slash/stab damage. Ghosts fit into this category, taking little to no damage from physical weapons.

NEAR COMPLETE: This creature is only affected by certain types of damage. Examples include removal of heart and brain (Brotherhood of Seven), destruction in disembodied form (Norman Pfister), or only being hurt by silver (Fyarl).

COMPLETE: The big kahuna; nothing can kill this clown. Fortunately, this kind of thing doesn't last long or come around too often. The only example to date has been the Mayor's total invulnerability during Ascension.

LEAP

Sure, a creature can climb stairs or run real fast, but if it really wants to move in style, the Leap is the way to go. This power allows a character to move 2 x Strength yards vertically or 5 x Strength yards horizontally. Finishing a leap with an attack grants a +5 to the roll and to the damage imposed (before modifiers). 'Course, missing an attack after a leap leaves a body prone (see p. 113). And boy is that embarrassing!

NATURAL WEAPON

Monsters who manifest more … monstrous features may have forms of attack open to them beyond the garden variety punch, bite, or spin kick. A character with simple claws of some sort (like Kakistos and his cloven fists) does the usual 2 x Strength base damage for a Punch, but it is Slash/stab damage rather than Bash. Having longer talons or other wicked nasty appendages increases the damage modifier by one. The total multiplier on the natural weapon may not be greater than the character's Strength or Constitution. A monster with a Strength of five and Constitution of four cannot have a natural weapon greater than 4 x Strength damage. Making the claw, spike, talon, horn, or other implement of destruction retractable means easier blending for those who can pass for human. Otherwise, it's just cool among the monster set. Delivering damage with the natural weapon requires using a maneuver that brings it into play. So, a claw would use Punch, a horn Head Butt, and a serrated shin Kick.

NATURAL RANGED WEAPON

Some critters have claws. Some critters have fangs. Some critters shoot paralyzing mucus out of their nose (lucky buggers). Ranged weapons usually have a base Slash/stab damage from (1 x Strength) to (5 x Strength). The nature of the damage (fire, poison, or even lightning from the eyes) should be determined as well. Natural ranged attacks use a Dexterity and Kung Fu - 1 roll, or the Combat Score – 1. This power has the same Attribute restrictions on damage that the Natural Weapon ability does. Full damage may be inflicted if the power uses pistol ranges. Rifle ranges halve (round down) the maximum damage modifier. The nature of the damage (fire, electricity, etc.) isn't particularly relevant unless poison or disease is involved (see p. 134).

PSYCHIC VISIONS

Some monsters have visions of the future, courtesy of the Psychic Visions Quality. If a vamp, the character may have had this ability before being turned. Making the psychic vampire completely insane is merely a neat story option and not at all necessary. At the lowest level, this Quality acts just like the Psychic Visions Quality (see p. 45). Not much in the way of control here, but it can still prove awfully handy, particularly when someone's out to get the character and making fiendish plans to do so (that happens way too often, don't it?).

Although not seen on the BtVS TV show, a second level of this power allows some control. The possessor gains a “spider-sense” about nearby or imminent danger. It's not specific but it will give some warning. Also, the power provides a +1 to combat rolls or Scores.

REGENERATION

Some critters don't know when to stay down. In fact, they keep popping up at the worst possible times until you really get them good and dead. Regeneration always works in blocks of Life Points equal to the character's Constitution level. It's the time period that really separates the humans from the … inhumans. At first level, Regeneration occurs each hour; at second level, each minute; at third level, each Turn.

SUPERNATURAL SENSES

Some beings are just more aware of the world around them than the average Joe. This may be something as simple as nightvision or it could be Doc's ability to check someone's compatibility for resurrection at the genetic level by glancing at a strand of hair against a lamp.

TELEPORT

Popping around all over the place is not just good fun, it's really useful for avoiding midtown traffic jams. Those with the ability to teleport can instantly move from one location to another. Special effects-like a shimmering outline, a puff of smoke, or a watery dissolve -are just icing on the cake.

This is a super useful and super powerful ability. Feel free to limit it to Adversaries and Guest Stars as you see fit. Perhaps the creature can only beam to a place ten miles times their Willpower from the point they start. Or maybe the power can only be used once per hour without injury-any subsequent use causes Life Point damage equal to the character's Willpower. Or maybe a Willpower (not doubled) roll is required each time the power is used. Finally, you are more than welcome to devise means of keeping a teleporting critter out-say, magic wards, lead-lined chambers, those cool invisible dog fences, etc.

'Course, you could take another approach and expand the ability. It would no doubt be very useful if the character could pull a Leo and teleport others around with a shimmering light effect.

TEMPORAL DISTURBANCE

Most monsters are unusual, but some are downright weird. There are those who create a temporal disturbance just by manifesting in our world. Time becomes nonlinear, repetitive, and very David Lynch. The area of effect radius is the possessor's Constitution times four in yards.

All Perception rolls are made at a -5 when the Temporal Disturbance manifests. Another -1 is added for every Turn that the character remains in a temporal disturbance. For example, if the Hunter has been fighting a group of demons for three Turns when such an effect was present, her Perception rolls would be made at a -7 penalty. Worse, a Perception (doubled) roll must be made every Turn to interact with anything while the temporal disturbance is in effect. Failed rolls result in anything from hitting an ally to kicking a wall to staking the wrong person. Of course the concept of Turn becomes confusing when time gets all nonlinear, but we trust your instincts in this matter. Naturally, those with this Quality are immune to its effects.

Temporal Disturbance comes in two forms. When controlled, the creature can decide when the wackiness manifests. Uncontrolled versions occur randomly or are “on” at all times.

Describing Temporal Disturbances

The main effect of the Temporal Disturbance Power is profound disorientation-characters “under the influence” have trouble getting a handle on exactly what's going on around them. When describing it to the players, focus on how surreal the situation is-the monster appears and disappears at random, things hang for seconds in midair before falling, someone running out of the area of effect just vanishes. You could even make an encounter seem very nonlinear by wounding a character (or having her fall to the ground, etc.) before the critter even touches her. The key to a memorable Temporal Disturbance is creative weirdness.

Optional Temporal Effects

Some of you might want a wider variety of effects for time-distorting demons. Hey, if you're nonlinear, you might as well do something with it. The following are some possibilities-they're strictly optional and probably aren't appropriate for Cast Members who have this power. As these are fairly potent abilities, each one forces the creature to use a Drama Point.

TEMPORAL DODGE: Instead of just ducking out of the way, the creature can blink just a few seconds forward or backward in time to avoid a blow. The demon can either gain a +2 on its next attack or vanish for one Turn (reappearing at a dramatically appropriate place and time).

ALTER TIME: If all isn't going well for the beastie, it can back up time a few seconds and take another stab at things. Damage done within the power's area of effect in the last Turn is automatically healed, broken objects are repaired, crossbows are reloaded, etc. Spent Drama Points (other than the one for using this power) … well, that depends on how nice you are to your players.

SLOW DOWN!: One target within the area of effect must succeed at a Willpower (not doubled) roll vs. the demon's Brains Score or lose all but one action for as long as she remains in the area. This means she can only attack or defend in close combat once each Turn (regardless of multiaction abilities) and most other actions (including quick-casting a spell) take twice as long as normal.

TOXIN/PATHOGEN

Apart from the usual claws, fangs, and halitosis among the demon set, more exotic attacks are possible. Some nasties deal in poison or diseases. The exact affects of the attack vary, as does the delivery system. Using the following guides, nearly any effect can be categorized.

MINOR: Periodic fits of laughter, bad rashes, headaches, damage up to 1 x Strength in Life Points, and other effects that cause at most a -1 to rolls while infected.

SERIOUS: Double vision, high fever, hallucinations, uncontrollable telepathic ability, blinding migraines, damage up to 2 x Strength in Life Points, and other effects that cause up to -5 to rolls while infected.

DEADLY: Coma, incapacitation, death, or any other effect that completely disables the victim. Effect may have lesser impact if a Survival Test is made (see p. 121).

When a demon infects a human in some way, either inadvertently like the Scabby Telepath Demons from 3.18 Earshot or deliberately like the Glark Guhl Kashma'nik from 6.17 Normal, the antidote can often be found in the very same demon. Buffy's telepathy was cured by consuming a liquid made from the heart of the demon who infected her. The hallucinatory poison of the Glark Guhl Kashma'nik was nullified by a medicine made from the stingers of the same demon.

WALL CRAWL

This creature can move along and stop on any surface, horizontal, vertical, slanted, or contra-horizontal (yah, okay that last one isn't really a word, but it sure sounds better than “the ceiling”). At its lower level, the critter must slow considerably when moving any way but horizontally (one third of normal speed). The higher- level version allows someone to move full speed on any surface. For the Spidey-wannabe who has everything.

THE WISH

This is the power to grant … duh … wishes. No strings attached wishing is a recipe for a busted roleplaying game, so there has to be something to reign in the wisher. As with Teleport (see p. 133), feel free to vary the conditions and limitations of the Wish for Adversaries and Guest Stars or only use it as a carefully circumscribed plot device. Wishes should always be used in the service of some specific goal or obsession. Like the calling of a Vengeance Demon, the Wish should be theme-based. It is also best to give the Wish a serious down side. Like it recommends (see p. 176), wishes that come true rarely lead to happiness for anyone.

Lights … camera … action! In the Ciniverse RPG, you Directors also get to produce the show. By now, you should have an idea of how the rules work and the basics of helping the helpless-all the mechanical stuff, the equivalent of FX, fight choreography, and basic acting. None of that is enough to have a full fledged show, of course. You also need the setting-the backdrop for the action-and the framework of the show. To help keep things “in character,” the default structure of an Angel game is broken up into Episodes-self-contained scenarios that can be played out in one to three game sessions. A group of Episodes with a common thread-a major villain or plot becomes a Season, at the end of which the villain should be confronted (and hopefully defeated) and most of the plots resolved (although their resolution might spawn other plots to be dealt with next Season). This chapter provides advice and suggestions for all you budding Directors. Use them, modify them, or ignore them as you see fit.

Let's talk setting here-where does your Series take place? Where and when are as important as who stars in the Series-being a Champion does not matter much if the setting is aboard the Titanic, for example (that would be a pretty short Series, anyway). The ideal setting should provide a number of “hooks” for the Cast. It should have interesting locales-cool hangouts, dangerous neighborhoods, and dark secrets buried in unexpected places. The setting should also have interesting people-friends, acquaintances, and foes.

These are people the Cast Members can fall in love with, fight to the death, or encounter in their everyday life. Finally, if the Cast is going to save the world, the world should be worth saving; the setting should have some redeeming qualities and sympathetic inhabitants.

Los Angeles

The City of Angels is the setting of the TV show, not to mention about a gazillion other shows, movies, novels, comic strips, plays, and limericks. You've got skyscrapers and tenements, rising movie stars and failed dreamers, street gangs and ritzy lawyers … and, in the world of Angel, demons, vampires, and dark forces everywhere you look. As long as you know how to look. Using L.A. as the setting has several advantages. There's plenty of information and support available, both from the show and from the fact that L.A. is perhaps the most well known city in the U.S. So, assuming you want to run the game in Los Angeles, you need to decide what to do with Angel's original cast. If your players are using them as Cast Members, you're all set … obviously. Otherwise, you need to do some thinking. A couple of possibilities come to mind.

Coexistence

Angel Investigations is in L.A., but the Original Cast are treated as supporting characters, off in the background and showing up occasionally, if ever. The trick here is to keep things entertaining for your players and not let Angel and company eclipse their characters. That shouldn't be too much of a problem-the city is certainly big enough for more than two bands of heroes. You never know, the Cast might actually end up saving Angel and his friends once in a while.

Taking the Angel Out of Town

This option removes the Original Cast from the city. They could come in at the end of Season Three, with the Original Cast either missing in action or likely to leave town. Or it could be a “What If” scenario. What if Angel fell in combat at some other point in the show? Enter our new, improved band of heroes. The entire Original Cast might be gone, or maybe a few of them are still around, to be used as Supporting Cast members (which they can do a lot more easily than the tall, dark, brooding One).

The Cast now would have the challenge of following in Angel's footsteps, facing a triumphant Wolfram & Hart and any new enemies that might pop up. The new heroes could also follow up on some of the leftover subplots from the show, or face their own brand of demons (personal and literal).

Alternate L.A.

A more extreme “What If” has the player's Cast replace the Original Cast. Under this scheme, the Fang Gang doesn't exist and the new characters have to deal with Wolfram & Hart and all the other fun denizens of Los Angeles on their own. In this situation, Angel either never came to L.A., died during one of his many prior battles, or (for a really nasty twist) is still the evil Angelus. Cordelia could have become a TV star. Wesley and Gunn could be fighting the good fight on their own, or missing, or dead. Lorne would still be the Host at Caritas. Fred could remain a slave in Pylea, or perhaps never have been sucked through that first portal.

This is an interesting variant, but the surprise and suspense may be spoiled if the players know how Angel and the gang dealt with their enemies. This gives them an unfair advantage. Of course, you can easily deal with this problem by making a few subtle changes in the villains and plots. Players who try to use their knowledge of the show to deal with L.A. threats may find themselves unpleasantly surprised. This game works best if most of the players aren't dedicated fans of the show and thus don't know what's coming, or if they are serious fanatics and can appreciate how you tweak and twist the canon.

Leaving L.A.

Los Angeles is not the only option for a setting, of course. Your heroes can battle evil in many other places. From sunny small towns in southern California to charming large cities in northern California to places no where near California, the forces of darkness can be anywhere, and so can our heroes. Here are some possibilities to inspire you.

Life in the (Other) Big City

If L.A. is a hotbed of supernatural activity, what about New York or Chicago? New Orleans should be easy- throw in voodoo, weird Cajuns, the bayou, and a good dose of Southern charm. Wolfram & Hart has subsidiaries all over the world, so wherever our heroes live, they're likely to run into our favorite soulless lawyers sooner or later. You could even set the game up in your hometown, maybe even get the players to base their Cast Members on themselves, with a few freaky powers thrown in.

An Angel game should have some overarching force of evil to confront. Instead of Wolfram & Hart, you could use Chapter Five: Cabals, Covens, and Agencies to come up with another uber-villainous organization. It could be a government conspiracy to hide the existence of ultra-terrestrials (not that that's even happened before), or an ancient demon cult that recruits the rich and famous, or a multi-media empire run by a vampire rock-and-roll singer. Place the organization's headquarters in the Cast Member's city, and let the games begin. Just as in L.A., our heroes should encounter a wide variety of supernatural threats, confront a myriad of personal issues, engage in romantic pursuits, and generally suffer a lot. This option has the advantage of being full of surprises for fans of the show. On the other hand, players who were looking forward to singing karaoke for the Host will be disappointed (not necessarily a bad thing). Then again, who knows when the Host might decide to launch his first worldwide tour, or relocate his nightclub. The Powers That Be move in mysterious (and often plot- facilitating) ways.

The Wandering Heroes

Another possibility is to have the gang move from place to place, solving mysteries as they go (multicolor van is optional). They could be chasing something or somebody, or something or somebody could be chasing them. Or maybe the Cast is made up of members of a touring band, or carnies in a traveling fair, and gets to travel all over the country, going from job to job, encountering trouble along the way. Every Episode, the Cast gets to see new places, meet new people, and fight new monsters. Wesley did this bit during his brief stint as a “rogue demon hunter”-assuming that wasn't just him blowing smoke to impress his new “friends.” This type of “setting” is interesting, but requires more work. Since the gang is always on the move, you have to create a new “set” every time they reach a new town, with new Supporting Cast, new places of interest, and so on. The Cast rarely gets the chance to bond with anybody other than each other, since they will be riding into the sunset after each Episode. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but you and your players should keep it in mind.

Same Stuff, Different Dimension

No reason why the game needs to based on Earth. As the end of Season Two shows, there's plenty of adventure to be had on the other side of a dimensional portal. Pylea is a good place for an old fashioned “sword and sorcery” romp. And that's far from the only place our heroes could go to fight the good fight.Indeed, it makes a lot of sense taking the fight to the demons, rather than wait for them to come to Earth.

What if the U.S. government discovered a Egyptian looking portal to demon dimensions, and assembled a paramilitary team to launch preemptive strikes into the hellworlds? The heroes could be tough Special Forces troopers and military scientists; every week, the portal would flash blue light and our heroes would plunge into a different world, weapons and wits at the ready.

Another possibility would follow Fred and Cordelia's fate-the Cast Members could be stranded in a strange new world with only the clothes on their back, forced to rely on their wits and kewl kung fu skills to survive (hopefully they'll have wits or kung fu skills, maybe even both).

This option puts more work on your shoulders. You have to flesh a whole new world. Still, everything will be fresh and new for the players, and you can devise a land with it's own physical and societal rules. That can be great fun.

Same Stuff, Different Time

What about different time periods instead? Vampires and demons have been around since before there were humans, so any time can use a champion or three. Our heroes could be campaigning Crusaders fighting real demons rather than engaging in silly religious wars, or intrepid Victorian explorers uncovering dark forces at work in the colonies or on the streets of fog-shrouded London. Or forget the past, the future beckons: our Cast can hunt vampires aboard space stations, or battle the forces of evil in a wrecked post-Apocalyptic world. Or, for a really weird variant, have Angel and company find a time travel machine (maybe one that looks like an old British phone box or a tricked-out DeLorean) and head out into the sea of time. Like the “different dimension” option, this type of game demands more work from you, but it opens up just as many possibilities. Also, with historical era games, a bit of real world research can fill in many areas and maybe even teach your players (and you) a thing or two about our past (gak, educational gaming, where's the world coming to?).

Cast Options

So who's going to star in your Series? Angel is an ensemble show, even though it didn't q uite start out that way. The show was initially centered on Angel, and he is still the star, but everyone in the cast gets a decent share of the spotlight. In a game, centering the Series around one character is not necessarily a good idea, but that's going to depend mostly on the choices of characters and their actions during the game. Let's explore the pros and cons of a few different options.

One Champion, Many Sidekicks

This simulates the situation at the beginning of Angel's first Season. We had a heroic champion and a couple of much weaker characters who were nowhere near his eq ual in combat prowess. Such a game would have one or two Champions and the rest of the Cast would be Investigators (or even watered-down Investigators with a few less skill points). The Champions do most of the stomping, while the Investigators do research, provide moral support and comic relief, and (fortified with some Drama Points) do some secondary stomping. Many, if not most of the subplots of the Season involve the Champion.

This pattern didn't last very long in Angel though. Eventually other heroic types showed up (Gunn), and the Investigators got tougher (Cordelia acquired her visions, Wesley became much more badass during Seasons Two and Three). After Angel fired everyone, they became a team that could hold their own for a time. While Angel is still the star, the rest of the Cast cannot be considered merely sidekicks. The “one Champion” theme may work while the audience is getting used to a TV show (doesn't burden them with too many characters to remember), but it probably isn't the best style for a game either. It tends to elevate one character (and player) over the others. Whether this flies for your group depends mostly on what roles the players want. If half of them want to be Champions and other half Investigators, you shouldn't stop them without very good reasons. Remember that the goal is for everyone to have fun, and arbitrary restrictions are death on fun.

A Gathering of Champions

This type of game uses only Champions or Experienced Champions. Investigator types would be Supporting Cast Members under your control. All the characters are roughly the same power level and nobody should feel upstaged. You could have half-demons running around alongside vampires with a soul and powerful psychics or magicians. Or, rather than go the “kitchen sink” way, you can have the Cast belong to an organization or secret society that provides a common ground.At this power level, random vampires won't be much of a threat to the Cast-finding worthy adversaries might be more difficult. On the other hand, heroes often have fatal flaws. The Champions might end up being their own worst enemies. You might want to take turns having members of the Cast be evil (or antagonistic) or just set them off against themselves from the word go. That's going to take a special group of players though. Don't want in-character conflicts to screw up real life friendships.

Investigators in Action

Or you can go the opposite way and have the entire Cast made up Investigators. Any Champion types are either Supporting Cast Members, or they are nowhere to be found. This is a more down-to-Earth game style, where the Cast has to rely on their wits rather than their brawn to survive. Staking a vampire or killing a single demon is tough and challenging, and fighting a major threat demands some careful tactics and the liberal expenditure of Drama Points.

This type of game tends to be a bit darker than normal. The Cast Members know they are facing powerful forces that often outnumber and outmuscle them. Make one mistake too many, and they are history; nobody is going to ride in and rescue them.

Young Lawyers in Hell

And now … for something completely different. What if all the Cast Members were employees of Wolfram & Hart? This is a much darker and more morally ambiguous game, but one that echoes a lot of the action during Season Two, where Lilah and Lindsey's machinations got almost as much air time as the going- ons at Angel Investigations. Obviously, the characters are no heroes, at least to begin with: they are men and women who have chosen to serve evil for personal gain. There could be exceptions, though. How about someone who wishes to destroy W&H by working on the inside? Such a character would need some way to deflect the magical and telepathic screening the firm uses to filter out trouble employees, but it'd make an interesting character concept. And, of course, just because a character starts out evil doesn't mean he has to stay that way.

What happens when the firm demands services too loathsome for the characters? The Cast Members could face the same moral dilemmas that gnawed at Lindsey McDonald during Seasons One and Two. The entire Cast could be playing a deadly game of deceit, pretending to go along with the firm while secretly undermining their missions. But what if the senior partners know all this, and are trying to get the heroes to damn themselves? The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, after all.

For the darkest version, the Cast would be nothing more than loyal Wolfram & Hart employees, jockeying for power and prestige, their deadliest enemies being other junior members of the firm. This is clearly not going to be a game for many or most players, so it's the kind of thing that should be discussed candidly before starting the game. Again, a Series that starts with the Cast as fully engaged members of Evil Machinations and Intrigue, P.C. could veer wildly in other directions.

The Outsiders

One of the fascinating aspects of Angel is the prevalence and status of non-humans. So how about a nonhuman Cast? In such a game, every character is a demon or half-demon of some sort (they don't have to belong to the same species) trying to survive on a hostile Earth where humankind is ignorant of their existence. They might be trying to fight the good fight, seeking to fit in and pass off as normal people, or perhaps trying to find a way back home. Enemies could include other demons (perhaps the racist kind), human hunters, or government agencies trying to capture and study them. This type of game can explore a lot of themes dealing with racism, intolerance, being different, and fitting in. Being hated for the color of one's skin is just as bad when that skin color is bright orange, after all.

Creating a Series

All right. You've made all the conceptual choices, and are ready to go. To help recreate the feel for the show, Angel games should try to follow the same structure- you have self-contained Episodes, linked together to create a Season. Each Episode should contain healthy doses of combat, comedy, horror, and personal subplots. To help you in this holy quest, we have thoughtfully provided some ideas and guidelines. Ain't we the bomb?

A Year in the Life

When doing a game the Angel Way, you should plan out the major story arcs of the Season. This does not mean that you should know exactly what will happen during that time. After all, the player's decisions and their characters' actions should be major factors in the game. But you should have some idea of what major situations and events will be thrown at the Cast. That sets things up so the characters' reactions and initiatives become pivotal.

First, you need to take care of all the prelim work - building the sets, casting the characters, that kind of stuff. That's been covered in the previous sections. N ext comes conflict. Stories (not just violent stories) depend on conflict, and in the Ciniverse conflict usually comes from adversaries. Besides villains, you need Plots and Subplots-stories that flow from Episode to Episode, leading to a climax somewhere down the line. Finally, you need to populate the Season with a nice Supporting Cast, the characters that challenge, relate with, make fun of, or annoy the Cast along the way. You don't have to outline everything before the game starts; you might not even have a main villain in mind for the first couple Episodes. Still, you should have some idea about what they will be like early in the Season or you'll end up with a collection of disjointed Episodes.

Why do we start with the Season and not the Episodes (see p. 224)? If you think about the Season first, you'll have a better idea of the direction of the game. Again, don't try to be too detailed. Think of the Season as a point in the map, like “North.” All you need to know is that the game is going to head North. You may not know how it gets there, let alone all the stops along the way, but at some point, the game is going to reach El Norte and, one would hope, the arrival will be worth the trip.

The Symbolic Dimension

Angel is in many ways a metaphor of the process of dealing with adulthood, much like its sister show's BtVS was a metaphor for being a teenager. The terrors are more grown-up in scope: seductive monsters are symbols of the dangers and complications of single dating, for example. 3.6 Billy was a disturbing exposition of the dark side of male-female relationships. The fear of failure, becoming too obsessed with work and success, finding love, settling on a direction in life, handling parenthood-all have been echoed in the themes of the show. Angel is more than just symbols and metaphors, but you should keep them in mind when setting up the Series. An adversary should be more than just a big bad monster. If possible, give it a symbolic dimension -the abusive authority figure, the corrupter of innocence, the ultimate egotist who cares for nothing beyond personal gratification.

Ideally, Episodes should be more than just high-kicking action. When you can, try to throw in something with more depth-all choices should not be clear-cut, and there should be consequences for one's actions, often unintended ones. Do keep in mind, however, that the goal of the game is to have fun, not to become a philosophical treatise.

You'll Rue the Day

Wolfram & Hart. Sahjhan. Holtz. Adversaries are a major element of the Season. Angel does not always have a central villain, a “Big Bad” like its sister show Buffy the Vampire Hunter. Still, the show does have memorable opponents who play major roles through several story arcs and Episodes in a Season. Adversaries provide one major source of conflict (but not the only one). They act as a focal point, something for the Cast to concentrate their efforts.

What makes a good Adversary? First, he should be smart or at least resourceful. A big dumb monster rampaging through downtown L.A. is good for an Episode, not a Season. Capital “A” Adversaries rarely do the dirty work themselves; they use minions instead. They also have goals-important goals. While your Joe Schmoe vampire only cares for the occasional human morsel, an Adversary is far more ambitious-world domination, perhaps, or the unleashing of unspeakable horrors on the entire planet, or performing human sacrifice on a global scale.

Adversaries should rarely last an entire Season. A typical Angel Season has two to three major Adversaries, shifting around as their story arcs are resolved. In some cases, there will be some “baton passing” - Sahjhan and Holtz shared the Adversary role for a while, but then Sahjhan exited stage left (in an urn) and Holtz came back, full of piss and vinegar.

Through all three Seasons, of course, Wolfram & Hart has been the ever-present threat, with its apocalyptic plans and its specific targeting of Angel and his friends. In that sense, W&H is the Nemesis, the ultimate foe that cannot be defeated even through several Seasons. Using Wolfram & Hart as the Nemesis is easy enough (the firm is big enough to keep a legion of heroes busy) but you might want to create a different one. A Nemesis needs to be large-not a single individual, ideally, but rather an organization that, like the mythical Hydra, grows a new head every time you chop one off. The tricky part is to make the Nemesis something that provides conflict without bringing about hopelessness. You might decide you're better off sticking with less potent Adversaries instead. The Season's Adversaries and Nemesis are not the only major villains, even without counting the “monsters of the week” that appear on many Episodes. There may also be secondary Adversaries who work for the Big Boss or have plans of their own. Adversaries may not even make an appearance for several Episodes. In fact, it is probably best if the Cast does not even suspect the identity or purposes of the Adversary until they are several Episodes into the Season.

Creating an Adversary is a good start. You don't have to get all his vital statistics down at first (when you turn to that, see Villains, Henchmen, and Innocent Bystanders, p. 221). More important, you want to have a feel for his motives and modus operandi. The villain's plans can be as simple (“I want to unleash Hell on Earth”) or complex (“I will gain the Champion's confidence; then I will turn all of him friends against him, and when he is isolated and full of despair, I will claim his soul and damn him to Hell”). The master plan should play a role over several Episodes.

The actual nature of the villain is also important. You can choose among your basic vampires (getting a little old hat by now, but always good for the nostalgia), demons (good because there is a lot of variety among the infernal legions), human warlocks, psychics, freaks, or that paragon of plotting, Something Completely Different (Holtz qualifies). Figure out any powers the villain has-he should be pretty dangerous. Limitations are also good-Sahjhan was an immaterial ghost most of the time, for example; that kind of thing makes the villain more interesting. If the villain is too powerful to be taken out in a straight fight, there should be an Achilles' heel to make up for it (but it should be hard to discover).

Then decide what resources the Adversary or Nemesis has. Most of them have a small army of cannon fodder minions (vampires are a popular choice, for some reason), and a couple of heavyweight lieutenants, good enough to go mano a mano with our fearless heroes. Others may have money, access to powerful spells, connections in City Hall (Wolfram & Hart seems to pretty much own City Hall), and so on.

Finally, at some point or another, the villain has to make things personal. Destroying the world is all well and good, but it doesn't have the same emotional power as torturing a loved one, shattering the innocence of a dear friend, or terrorizing the characters past the breaking point. If you can get the Cast Members to say (and mean), “This sucker is going DOWN!” you know you're getting the Adversary just right. Besides being dangerous and threatening, the Adversary needs to be infuriating. This could be achieved by making him really good at foiling the heroes (maybe as good as, or better than the heroes are at foiling him), by giving him a really twisted or annoying personality, or by having something about the Evil One's looks, behavior, or appearance that produces that endless-car-alarm-on-a-quiet-night feeling. By the time the Final Showdown happens, the defeat of the Adversary should feel good. Damn good.

Once you have the villains of the piece all figured out, you have something to link several Episodes, and the basic skeleton of the Season is set.

The Tangled Skein

Plots and Subplots are the complications and themes that move from one Episode to the next. Since this is a game, not a script, you do not have full control over Plots and Subplots. The Cast has a big role in making a storyline live over several Episodes, or lie forgotten after one or two. You can think of Plots and Subplots as fishing lures. Dangle them out there-if the characters are interested, they'll bite. Here are some suggestions to make sure the Cast bites (er … are enticed into following Plots).

Plots

These are the big kahunas, the major story arcs of the Season. Darla's rebirth, undeath, and pregnancy were (each in turn) major Plots of Seasons Two and Three. The Season Three Angel-Cordelia relationship Plot runs through several episodes, and is dramatically resolved (avoided?) in the Season Finale. In the same Season, you have Connor's birth, abduction, and return as a teenager. The two plots intertwined and reached a climax in the same final episode.

Typically, a Plot emerges early in the Season and leads to the Season Finale. You should devise at least one Plot. Some possible ideas include:

The Approaching Doom: Some dangerous event is prophesied to take place in the near future. This is usually your basic supernatural event, complete with lots of FX at the end. At some point in the Season, the Cast learn of it and realize they have to prevent it from happening. Over a number of episodes, the Cast acquire more clues about the danger, until reaching the final countdown. Will our heroes stop it in time? This type of Plot is relatively easy to set up. Dire warnings from some unlikely prophet, signs of the upcoming apocalypse, and clues inadvertently left behind by the bad guys can be sprinkled over several Episodes. A little research will do the rest.

Curses! Foiled Again: Your basic “stop the bad guy” theme, this Plot revolves around the plans of the Adversary or Nemesis. Usually the plan involves such charming things as human sacrifice, unspeakable rituals, and scavenger hunts for mystical artifacts. The Plot is a race between the Cast and the villains. While the Nemesis may be foiled temporarily, the plan should plod along until the Final Showdown. Like The Approaching Doom, this type of Plot is not hard to organize. The tricky bits include arranging for the Adversary to avoid the final showdown until the finale, and doing it without railroading the Cast. Even with Drama Points to “pay off” the characters, they are not going to be very happy if the villain always seems to escape from their clutches. To better avoid a direct confrontation with the head honcho, rely on competent and dangerous henchmen. To keep the Cast busy, set up a minion as the apparent Big Boss, and reveal he's but a servant of a greater power just after the Cast defeats him (that's a great point to end the Episode and roll credits, by the way).

Friend or Foe?: A common Plot in Angel is betrayal and loss. Friends and lovers may become deadly enemies -Wesley is a painful case in point, but it's hard to forget that Angel himself turned against his friends during Season Two. The setup for this plot can be tricky. You need to create and assume the role of a Guest Star, get the Cast to come to like and trust the character, and then betray them. For an even more devious turn, you might recruit one of your players to assume the role of the Judas-after all, another player-controlled character is the last one the other players would suspect. After the betrayal, there may be hope of redemption (again the Wesley and Angel example), either in that Season or as a Plot of Subplot in the following Season.

Love Is A Battlefield: Romance blossoms, but the love don't come easy, as the song says. This can be a Plot or Subplot, depending on how important it is to the storyline. As we've noted, the Angel-Cordelia relationship was a major aspect of Season Three, and ended in the Finale with Cordelia being whisked away by the Powers That Be (oh, and there's Kate/Angel, Wesley/Fred/Gunn, Wesley/Lilah, among others). The setup here is hard, and the players need to pitch in. The relationship can be between a Cast Member and a Guest Star, or between two Cast Members. In the first case, you have some control over how the relationship progresses (you are in charge of half of it, after all). In the second, the Plot is largely in the hands of the Cast Members involved. Of course, you can influence it by throwing in obstacles, romantic rivals, and other complications. If you watch a dozen episodes of any soap opera, you'll learn the tricks of the trade but quick.

Subplots

These are lesser plotlines, major enough to last for several Episodes, but usually not covering an entire Season. Examples include the Billy storyline (which covered two Episodes during Season Three), Gunn's and Fred's relationship over Season Three, and Buffy's and Faith's painful visits during Season One. Subplots can be powerful dramatic story arcs, but they don't quite shape an entire Season the way Plots do.

Try to get at least one or two Subplots going at one time. A Subplot should not appear in every Episode, but it should at least be in the background, providing more axes to grind, bones to pick, and cliches to throw. Subplots often develop on their own, and they may occur to you after the Season has started. Sometimes they wither and die without the players ever noticing. If a Subplot is not attracting their attention, it's time to either spice it up a bit, or let it go and replace it with something else. In the TV show, Kate's relationship with Angel was a fairly significant Subplot that just kinda evaporated after a time.

Subplots include “smaller” versions of all the Plots described above. For example, a doomsday event or nefarious plan can be foiled in a couple of Episodes, rather than through an entire Season.

The Plot Thickens

This is where the action is. Series and Seasons are made up by Episodes. Just like in a TV show, Episodes of the Angel RPG should be entertaining, fun, and moving. If at the end of the Episode the players can't wait for the next one, the game has succeeded in its purpose. And you don't even have to break for commercials. To make things easier, we have broken our Episodes into four Acts. This generally follows the formula of the Angel TV series, but may be varied if an Episode or two needs special treatment. The elements of an Episode include the Setup (where we find out what the Episode is about), Complications (usually two of them, when important things happen), Climax (where the conflict reaches a head), and Resolution (where you wrap up some threads, leaving others to fester). Interwoven with all this you'll have the Season's Plots and Subplots. Put it all together, roll opening credits, get those quips ready, and start tossing dice.

Plots and Free Will

Games aren't scripted, and the Cast Members are going to act in ways that you didn't expect- that's inevitable. So what happens when you were planning a nasty ambush the moment our heroes arrive at an abandoned warehouse-and they decide to go home to rest instead? Or the Cast follows the red herring and ignores the clues that lead to real culprit?

You can choose to let the chips fall where they may-the ambush never happens, and half the city burns down while the Cast follows a false lead-or you can adjust things accordingly. For example, if the ambush is a vital part of the storyline, just relocate it to wherever the Cast ends up. Or have the false lead actually contain some clue that points them in the right direction. You cannot do that all the time though, or the players will come to realize that no matter what their characters do, it turns out to be right thing. Sometimes, mistakes should have consequences. Maybe the world doesn't end, but something bad should happen if the Cast screws up-a friend or relative might be hurt or even die, for example. Don't do this just to “punish” the characters for not following the script, though. You want the players to add their own twists to things. Try to be flexible with Plots and Subplots. If you railroad the Cast, the players aren't going to have fun. But don't let the characters get away with totally wrongheaded decisions either.

Sounds hard to do? Yup, and sometimes what you think is a fair decision is not going to sit well with the players. Nobody said being a Director was going to be a walk in the park. The most rewarding stuff never is. It does get better with practice. And the feeling you get when an Episode comes to an end and everybody is caught up in the story is about as good as it gets on the storytelling/creative front.

The Setup

An Episode needs a Setup, where the situation is established. For example, the introduction of 1.2 Lonely Heart was, “A demon is murdering singles in L.A.” The episode dealt with the Original Cast discovering a parasitic demon that jumped from one host body to the next as he wore them out, figuring out how to destroy it, and doing it in the final act.

The Setup can be something new and unexpected or a development of a Plot or Subplot. Typically, the Cast doesn't know what the Setup is until later in the Episode. It's up to them to figure it out, and do whatever needs doing. Some possible Setups include:

A Stranger Arrives: There's a new ghoul in town and the Cast must stop it before it racks up a big body count. This is possibly the simplest Setup there is. The Cast finds a victim or two, investigates, discovers who or what the critter is, and takes care of business. You need to create the new threat and figure out what sort of trail leads to its eventual defeat. If the Cast is not on the ball, the Stranger might manage to escape, and even become a recurrent threat, or even an Adversary.

We Meet Again: A recurring villain (an Adversary or the Nemesis) is the main foe of the Episode. This Setup usually helps advance one of the major Plots of the Season. Typically, the villain unleashes some scourge upon the Cast or the world at large. The gang has to deal with the danger and stop the villain. The old enemy may escape, or might finally get his just desserts.

We Meet At Last: These are important Plot-related Episodes. Our heroes finally discover the identity of some important villain or Adversary. These encounters usually end with a nice fight scene, but the unmasked foe may not be defeated this time. The Setup can start with the discovery of the villain, or might provide the clues needed to the revelation near the end of the Episode.

Now You've Done It: Sometimes, the trouble comes from a Cast Member (or a Guest Star friend or ally) rather from an outside threat. This type of Episode has a complication or danger caused by a screw-up on the part of a “good guy.” Maybe somebody cast the wrong spell, trusted the wrong person, or made some tragic error and must now make amends for it (or had to perform some action that the others in the group cannot understand or condone). In this Episode, monsters or villains play a minor role (although they are likely to be around)-much of the Episode is spent dealing with the consequences of the Cast Member's actions or undoing the damage they caused.

The Dead and the Beautiful: Finally, you have Episodes that deal with dramatic situations-falling in love, trying to lead a normal life in the midst of demon hunting, or the resolution of personal subplots. Combat takes a definite back seat to interpersonal relationships, but usually a vamp or two shows their ugly mugs just in time to get stomped sometime between tearful moments.

Episode Subplots

Angel RPG Episodes are rarely about only one thing. Besides the central Setup, you should try to string along at least one Subplot. This can be something from the characters' personal lives-a date, an audition-or part of one of the Season's Plots or Subplots (developing two character's relationship, for example). These secondary storylines can be pretty important, but they don't get as much “onscreen time” as the main plotline. Common personal Subplots include important celebrations-birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays (what happens when the Cast needs to prepare for that big Thanksgiving Dinner even as they try to end a man-eating demonic bird's reign of terror? Now that's a special holiday Episode). Romantic developments are also important; our heroes may find that a recent breakup from within the ranks is cramping their style. Ideally, you can find your Episode Subplots from the relationships and personal lives of the Cast. There is a small risk that the Subplot will take over the Episode, but if that's what's important to the players, go with it. The rest of the Episode can always be dealt with later (assuming time is not an issue; otherwise, a vision from the Powers warning the heroes the world is about to end may break their mood and get their butts in gear).

Complications

After you have your Setup, you need to get the story moving. The Cast does most of the moving, but you can give them directions to get to the good parts. Complications are dramatic moments that advance the story, or turning points that make things more interesting (and dangerous) for the characters. You should try to space out the Complications. Think of them as the high points on a roller-coaster-you get the thrill as you go down, get a temporary break and build-up as you go up (heading for the next Complication), and go through the thrill all over again. Here are some Complications you can use in your Episodes:

He's Dead, Jim: Finding a corpse is always good way to get a reaction, especially if the cause of death is unusual or gross. This situation can be highly dramatic (in the case of a loved one or friend) or for shock value only. The grisly discovery could be used to reveal some dark force is at work or to provide clues as to the nature of the threat.

We're In It Deep Now: You turn around, and face a roomful of vampires. Or the kindly old man you were interviewing turns out to have the strength of ten men and an appetite for human hearts. Or your girlfriend walks up on you having an intimate moment with an old friend. This Complication reveals an unexpected danger (physical or emotional), the kind of situation that has the audience (and in a game, the players) wondering how the hell the heroes are going to get out with their hides intact. Ambushes and surprise attacks make great Complications. Sometimes, you may have to pay off the players with a Drama Point; otherwise the characters with Situational Awareness and Fast Reaction Time are never going to get knocked out from behind while poking their noses where they didn't belong. And where's the fun in that? Setting up these situations can be difficult if the Cast is careful or paranoid enough, but with some creativity, anyone can get ambushed. If you can arrange it, an attack when the characters think they are totally safe can really shake their confidence.

Out of Left Field: This Complication reveals that the Cast Members' had it all wrong-the apparent victim is actually the villain, their suspect is actually a good guy, and the butler didn't do it-his demonically possessed clone did. To develop this Complication, you need to plant a few red herrings and get the Cast pointed in the wrong direction, until the truth comes crashing down (often leading to a “We're In It Deep Now” moment). The Moment of Truth: A lovesick character confesses her feelings. A secret betrayal is finally uncovered. What was hidden is now revealed. This dramatic Complication can go beyond the Episode and involve the Season's Plot or Subplot (like the discovery of Wesley's betrayal in Season Three). This is a Complication that can be player-driven, especially when it comes to personal revelations.

Climax

Sooner or later, you'll get to the final payoff of the Episode. The Setup is resolved (even if the solution is not completely satisfactory), and the roller-coaster ride comes to its end. Usually, the Climax involves a confrontation with the main threat of the Episode. That could go well, or badly, or could just fizzle out with not much resolved (setting up the next go-round).

Or you could pull a fast one-the encroaching horror that the Cast has been preparing for turns out to be mostly smoke and mirrors. Once they overcome their fear and despair, and actually face up to the Big Nasty, he winds up being something of a push over. He falls and the Cast looks around wondering “what's was that? What else you got?” Then you drop a bombshell on them in the Resolution.

Resolution

Once the big fight is over, the huge revelation is revealed, a major Plot arc transitioned to the next stage, or something completely different, the consequences of the confrontation must be explored. The Cast may be triumphant and unscathed, which is nice, but shouldn't be counted on. Alternatively, the heroes win, but it's not a painless victory; maybe they learn some hard lesson or have to pay some painful cost. The Climax might turn out to be a large-scale Complication instead: maybe the villain is defeated-only to be revealed as the pawn of a much more powerful being. Or perhaps the bad guy is really a possessed friend, and a Now You've Done It Setup flows directly.

Many Episodes should end in an upbeat note-the Cast Members have prevailed, after all. They might be a bit battered, bloody, maybe even frayed around the edges-but you should see the other guy. Most Episodes should give the Cast a sense of accomplishment. If every Episode ends in an ambiguous or bitter way, you'll mire the heroes in a sea of existential angst and that's a lot less fun than it sounds.

Acts

To help organize the various parts of an Act, we've adopted a format for our ready-to-play Episodes. You can mirror this method in your own Episode creations, you can vary things here and there, or you can toss the whole mess in the trash and do your own thing.

In general, each Act includes one or more Scenes, each described in varying degrees of detail. The scenes need a setting, some Supporting Cast Members and their agendas, and a general overview of what's about to happen. You may have to think through several paths. A well-designed scene allows the Cast to take a number of approaches to the central problem or conflict. If so, you must prepare for different actions and their repercussions on the general storyline. Don't get too detailed or narrow though-you can count on your Cast doing stuff you didn't imagine … with regularity. That's when you need to go with the flow, adjust your story, improvise, and gently lead the crew back to the main story path. It can get tricky and ragged at times, but that's the fun of a free-flowing, shared storytelling experience. Don't worry, the outcome is almost always more than you could have hoped for.

We suggest that you organize each Act as follows:

Run-Down: A brief explanation of what happens in this section.

Action: This covers the actual events and encounters in the Act, including rules, and maps.

Troubleshooting: Some tips on how to handle problems when the players improvise or go down an unexpected path.

Stats: Game information for the Supporting Cast involved in the Act.

Others Ways To Do It

The Act/Episode/Season/Series structure is a set of guidelines you can use to make the game play feel like the Angel TV show (yup, we love to belabor the obvious). Still, that may not be the best way to run a game, or to run your game. Maybe you don't want to set up Season-length plots, and prefer to let the interaction of the Cast dictate the way the Series runs. Or you want to follow a more traditional roleplaying style. Here are some ideas for those who want something besides the default structure.

The Quest: The game centers around some elusive goal. There are no actual Seasons or Episodes; game sessions lead the Cast from one scene to the next, each leading them a step closer to the final climax. The game focuses on a single major plot and ends when the quest is fulfilled (although a sequel might follow). This structure is closer to a movie than a TV series.

The Soap Opera: These games have no set structure. They depend on the Cast's interacting with the environment. You populate the setting, and let the Cast loose on it. There are lots of Plots and Subplots, but actual resolution points are less frequent. This is more like a soap opera, where by the time a villain is defeated, two more are already prowling in the background.

The One-Shot: This can be a single-Episode game where what happened before and what happens after are not very important, or a series of Episodes that don't have interlinked Plots or Subplots. One-shots are very useful for conventions or pick-up games where you don't have to worry about players showing up for every game session. The structure of those games is more like a movie-it may or may not have sequels, but the story should be essentially over by the time the closing credits start rolling.

Tonight, On A Very Special Angel

Not all Episodes are created equal. Some are going to be almost “routine”-monster shows up, monster rampages, monster gets staked (or knifed, or clobbered with a giant mallet), Cast scores a few funny lines out of it, The End (and there's nothing wrong with that, as long as the execution of the Episode is fun and entertaining). Others are going to play a pivotal role in the lives of the Cast Members or shape the tone and character of the Season or even the entire Series.

Series Premieres

The first Episode is pretty damn important. There we go with the understatement again. This is where the Cast gets together for the first time (at least “on screen”-the characters may have known each other before on paper, but this is where we see what sort of chemistry exists between them). Everybody gets a first glimpse at the setting, and a lot of the tone of the Season or the Series is going to be defined by this first impression. Still, not everything should be set in stone. Just like in television, a game Series may need some “retooling” after the first few Episodes (whatever you do, though, don't introduce cute little kids unless they are whisked off to another dimension or die horribly after a few Episodes; they are the kiss of death). The Series Premiere is usually an extended Episode- a Pilot, if you will-and involves some important Setups and Complications, including the following:

Introductions: Big Setup here. The stars of the show share the “screen” for the first time. Most of what happens next is up to the players and how they “perform” their roles. You can provide a few nudges here or there. Putting the entire Cast under a little pressure may help them stick together; after the characters have to fight for their lives against a vampire gang, they may feel more respect for each other. Friends don't let friends get drained by vampires; by the same token, people who save each other's lives likely become friends.

Shocking Discoveries: A few things that you should get out of the way during the first Episode include such shockers as “Demons are real,” “Demons are real ugly,” “Demons are real strong,” and “Yikes! There's a lot of them demons in our neighborhood.” Some of the “basic facts” of the setting should be described here, especially if the Cast is not aware of them. If the Series starts with a group of experienced monster hunters, of course, it goes without saying that the really basic facts should go without saying, if you know what we mean.

A Glimpse of Things to Come: You don't have to lay out all the cards, or even most of the cards, on the table, but it'd be nice if the Season Premiere gave out some clues as to what's going to be happening. They can include such tidbits as hints of the dark powers involved, a chance encounter with a Supporting Cast character that may play an important role in the Cast's lives, or a “job description” for some of our heroes.

Season Finales

All good things must come to an end. At the Season Finale, the Plots and any remaining Subplots come to a head, the Final Showdown takes place, and the Cast Members' lives are never the same. Season Finales should always be your proverbial doozies. The Setup should be pretty intense; the consequences if the heroes fail must be extreme. Maybe the world will not end, but the survivors might wish it had if the Nemesis' plans come to fruition. The Complications should be powerful; Moments of Truth galore, and when the characters are In It Deep, it should be deep indeed. The Finales are times for the Cast Members to show how tough, courageous, and determined they are. Sometimes, they end with the heroes standing together, brothers and sisters in arms, closer to each other than to anyone else in the world. Other times, they end in a cliffhanger, getting you eager to start the next Season as soon as possible. You get all of these things, and your gaming group will have recreated the magic of Angel.

Season Finales have some of the following Episode elements:

The Agony and the Ecstasy: Romantic Plots and Subplots should reach a major point in the Season Finale. Characters may finally declare their love for one another, relationships may come to a heartbreaking end, or intended declarations of love may get derailed into heartbreak or vice verse.

This Time It's Personal: By the time of the Final Showdown, the Nemesis or Adversary should have gotten the Cast really, really pissed off. The end of the villain should provide a nice catharsis. Few things feel better than seeing the creature that tormented and terrorized the Cast and their loved ones get the proverbial Can of Whoop-ass unleashed upon it. With a combination of Drama Points and creativity, the bad guys should come to an emotionally satisfying end.

The Price of Victory: Victories are not without costs. Maybe the Cast has to pay a terrible price to finally defeat the villain. They might have to compromise their values. They might suffer losses at the end. Good as the defeat of the Adversary should be, the victory should often be bittersweet, flavored with pain.

And Life Goes On: The Season Finale can also be used to mark milestones in the lives of the characters. At the end of each Season, the Cast is going to be older and hopefully a little wiser. Characters grow up, and hopefully become stronger, better people than they were at the beginning of the Season.

Season Premieres

A Season ends, and, hopefully shortly afterwards, a new one follows. The Season Premiere should pick up any loose ends from the previous Season and turn them into new Plots and Subplots. New Adversaries can be introduced, returning Nemesis weigh in, and story arcs blossom. If any enemies survived the last Season, they may make unexpected comebacks. The consequences of the heroes' actions may come back and bite them in the ass in the new Season. And the Season Premiere is a good place to get the ball rolling.

A new Season can herald a lot of changes. Some Cast Members may leave, to be replaced by newcomers. Minor characters may become important Supporting Cast members, or even new Cast Members. The entire Series may take a new turn, perhaps becoming a little darker (or more tongue in cheek). You get a chance to fix any problems the last Season had, and the players should get a better feel for their roles. The Season can start shortly after the end of the previous one, but sometimes it is better to let a little “down time” pass. That gives the Cast a breather and some leeway to modify their background a bit, and maybe get a few “power ups”-a season learning hidden lore can turn a dabbler in the arts into a skilled magician, for example, and a few months of intensive physical training might transform an Investigator into a pumped-up demon-hunter. The down time allows for new challenges to rise up in the characters' personal lives, and new Adversaries to surface (although they might not make their appearance for the first few Episodes).In Conclusion Producing a fun Series requires a good deal of work from both you and the players. Your gaming group is basically doing the work of a team of screenwriters, actors, directors, and lots of support staff. Instead of big salaries and houses in Beverly Hills, you get to have fun making your own stories. The great part about roleplaying is that you can get both the pleasure of reading a good story (and not knowing how it will end) and the creative joy of writing a good story.

When you combine that with your own characters and setting of the Ciniverse, a grand old time is all but assured.