Passion System re-dux

Hey all,

For all those who requested, here is the 5 Point Passion system** again:

**The original game system that I borrowed the passion system from is called Mortal Coil. It’s written by Brennan Taylor and the website is at:
www.galileogames.com/mortal-coil/

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Passions define a character’s relationship to people, places and ideas in The setting. They are the specific motivations to action and reaction that Dictate her Behaviour. They are informed by the Virtue and Vice of the Character, adding detail to the broad strokes . Passions should take every Opportunity to relate to the other player characters of to the setting as Laid out. At least one Passion the character has should relate to one of the Other player characters.

You have 5 points to freely assign to any of the 4 types of Passions. Depending upon how many points you’ve rated, a particular Passion could be Strong or Obsessive. You can categorize the particulars of a Passion in whatever manner you see fit.

There are 4 types of Passion:

Duty- Something the character feels obligated to do despite their emotional Commitment. Matters of honour, oaths and group loyalty all fall into this Category. The character can have a sense of duty to another person, an Organization, family or even an abstract ideal (medical ethics)

Fear- The character is compelled to avoid the object of this passion, Whether a person, place or idea. While seemingly negative this can be a Powerful motivator for self improvement as well. Failure to avoid the object Of fear usually leads to bargaining and grovelling.

Hatred- Another negative passion like fear, the character is instead Compelled to destroy the object of this passion rather than avoid it. Targets for hatred have usually wronged the character in some meaningful way And getting even takes up considerable time in the character’s life. Hate Can even be turned on oneself creating the classic case of a self Destructive personality.

Love – This passion creates the same tendency to sacrifice of the self as Duty, but is motivated purely by emotion. The object of Love is something Your character wants to protect and is willing to make sacrifices for. Love Is not always a positive passion and it can turn ugly when it isn’t Reciprocated leading to jealousy.

The rating in the individual Passion determines how much of her life it Takes up and goes from Strong to Obsessive:

1-Strong. This passion is a calling. It motivates the character on many Levels and she will go out of her way to make time for it.

2-Powerful.Your characters feeling has evolved and he makes sure that at Least some of his time every day revolves around this passion.

3-Profound. At this point the passion has become the main focus of her life, And most of her time is directed towards it. There is still time for other Things but they take second priority.

4-Feverish. This passion is constantly in your character’s thoughts. He Engages in very few activities that don’t have something to do with this Passion.

5-Obsessive. Everything the character does is viewed through this passion. They leave no time for anything else and either try to fit any stimulus into Their passion or else ignore it entirely. This level of passion can be Extremely unhealthy.

To use an example

Neuromancer, a junior researcher at a tech corporation on the outskirts of The city, is a Mastigos mage who Awakened about a year and a half ago. Though an accomplished programmer, Neuromancer isn’t a genius but his Awakening was a nightmarish experience that evoked images of hellish demons Controlling the world through fiber optics and satellites. He’s been through A string of real world on-again, off-again relationships that are the polar Opposite of his rich online social life with avatars all around the World. Neuromancer Has used his magic to improve his standing at his company but is almost Frightened at how easy it’s been to manipulate his co-workers. He’s only recently joined the Free Council and taken an interest in the so-called Consilium of the city.

He might have the following Passion system:

2 Points Passion – Love (A.I. Research): Neuromancer has dedicated himself to developing a sentient computer program that exists autonomously online. The name for this A.I. is Wintermute and, though Neuromancer claims he’s developing it to advance the goals of the Free Council, he’s actually acting out of desperate isolation and a desire to leave behind a legacy in an uncaring and dark world.

1 Point Passion – Duty (Free Council): A year ago, Neuromancer was in trouble with a local cabal of Guardians who saw his online tampering as a breach of the Veils. The Free Council called in a favor with the Guardians in exchange for Neuromancer being left alone so they could recruit him. Neuromancer owes them a debt and, besides which, he thinks their philosophies are a lot better than any of the other Orders. In particular, the leader of the Council – a charismatic politico named David – is seen as the guy that truly saved Neuromancer’s ass.

2 Points Passion – Hatred (Guardians of the Veil): Neuromancer was leaned on really heavily by the Guardians after one of his A.I. experiments went awry. They claimed Sleepers in an Internet cafe suffered mental trauma from something he released onto the server and used powerful magic to both shut down his access to every Internet cafe in town and confiscate his research. Neuromancer knows, however, that the Guardians see his research as a means of usurping their influence network. In particular, a son of bitch named Cocteau is constantly giving him dirty looks in Consilium. When he’s not working on his research, Neuromancer is plotting how to make Cocteau’s life that much more difficult.

The real key to the Passion system is orienting it around other cast members. So, if you pick duty to your particular Order (a popular choice) try and tie it in to a particular cast member or cabal just to give it a personal touch.

The other thing to keep in mind is using the Passion system to make your character flawed . So often we’re used to seeing our characters as heroes in the World of Darkness that we forget that all characters have deep flaws that, like it or not, undo them in the end. Though flaws come out mechanically in actual Flaws, Derangments, and Vices this Passion system is a way to more broadly paint your character’s weaknesses so that STs can tell a better story for you.

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Stephen Near

CA200308002
Toronto, Canada
AVST: Awakening (Toronto)
CCFC ANST: Awakening (Canada)

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