Failure often generates what we call Momentum, which is shared by the group of players and can be spent to increase dice pools on future rolls, essentially allowing one failed action to motivate characters to succeed in the future. Momentum can also be used to power special abilities called Skill Tricks that augment how a Skill works by adding bonus dice to the roll, reduce the target number she needs to achieve successes, increase her Scale of action, or allow her to purchase a Stunt.
Failure
Failure occurs when a player doesn’t have enough successes to overcome the Difficulty of a challenge. An especially bad failure, or botch, occurs when the dice pool provides zero successes and at least one die landed on a 1. Failure either prolongs a current problem, such as during a fight, or causes a new problem either immediately, such as an Injury, or eventually, such as an angry enemy. A botch causes an additional consequence beyond just failure, such as losing a valuable piece of equipment, sustaining an Injury, or creating a Complication.
In Storypath, failure always pushes the story forward. Characters may not succeed at an important task, but the story doesn’t end, instead a new (and often more difficult) avenue opens up. Additionally, if the failure wasn’t a botch, players receive Consolation. If the player botched, the only Consolation they can receive is Momentum.
Momentum Gain
| Type | Gain |
|---|
| Failure | 1 |
| Failed Specialty | +1 |
| Failed Botch | +1 |
| Condition Failure | +1 |
| |
| Examples | |
| Failure | 1 |
| Failed Botch | 2 |
| Failed Specialty | 2 |
| Failed Botched Specialty | 3 |
Momentum resets to 1 at the start of each new scene. Vampire the Requiem - Shadow War House Rule
Condition
Sometimes characters in Storypath are struck by long-term problems or lingering benefits, such as a broken arm or a potent blessing. A Condition is a long-term status that lingers on a single character, affecting the challenges they face, and is usually represented as a Complication or Enhancement (or some mixture of the two). If a Condition causes a character to fail or otherwise suffer a significant setback, it provides 1 Momentum.
Consolation
Consolation is a helpful, but minor, side-effect of failure. Consolation can include unexpected, but useful information, a minor Enhancement based on learning something from the failure, a positive impression or similar abstract social benefit, or a twist of fate that doesn’t provide any answers, but does ask new and potentially fruitful questions. These types of Consolation are all in the game; the characters see and experience them. The most common type of Consolation, however, is Momentum.
Momentum
Momentum
exists outside of the game; characters do not know it exists and only experience its effects. It is a
meta-game tool for players and enables them to affect the game’s dramatic pacing. Momentum can activate Skill Tricks, add dice equal to Momentum spent to a dice pool, or enable additional attempts at complex actions (TCC p. 77). Skill Tricks are the cool things characters can do that make other people drop their jaws. Information on how to use these and what they can do starts on (TCC p. 45).
Players share Momentum and start each game with a number of Momentum equal to the number of players at the table. Momentum resets at the beginning of each game. Players may have up to (3 x the number of players) worth of Momentum at a time. When a player wants to spend Momentum, he must share his idea with the table. If everyone thinks the idea sounds good, the player spends the Momentum. A player can choose to spend up to half of the available Momentum at once. Momentum can be spent to add dice
before or after the dice are rolled, though all Momentum must be spent at the same time to add new additional to a roll.
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Momentum House Rule
In a solo game like Vampire the Requiem - Shadow War each player can have a maximum pool of 6 momentum and spend up to 3 momentum at a time. This pool is individual per player and not a group pool. Each scene resets momentum to 1.
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