Wraith: The Oblivion - System

System

Wraith: The Oblivion uses White Wolf's Storyteller System, a d10-based system in which player characters are rated in various categories (general Attributes, particular Skills, and special Advantages); these ratings are used to calculate a dice pool which the player uses to roll for success or failure against a difficulty rating for the task at hand. The difficulty, and the number of dice that must be rolled above that difficulty, are set by the Storyteller according to certain broad criteria.

As in all Storyteller System games, there are several special rules and systems that support the theme of the game. The most notable are:

Pathos and Corpus
Characters have variable scales to represent their Pathos, the wraith's emotional energy and ability to resist his Shadow, and their Corpus, the wraith's physical integrity or "health". When Corpus falls to zero, a wraith may undergo a Harrowing; Pathos can be spent to restore Corpus or to power various Arcanoi.
The Shadowguide
The game includes several systems for roleplaying a wraith's Shadow. The default arrangement is for each player in the troupe to play another player's Shadow; this creates a very confrontational style of play, as each player pursues a Shadow's goals to the detriment of another character.
Character death
As wraiths, player characters obviously cannot die; thus there is no system to handle character death (ie., a conventional hit points system). Wraiths, however, can be destroyed in several ways: by permanent loss of Pathos, Corpus, or by removing/resolving a wraith's Passions. Most wraiths who face destructive trauma have a last chance to escape Oblivion via a nightmarish psychodrama known as a Harrowing, which takes place in the Tempest and directly pits the wraith against his/her Shadow. Shadows can also initiate lesser Harrowings to damage wraiths' Passions or Fetters, bringing them closer to Oblivion. A few weapons and hazards of the Underworld, notably Stygian steel, inflict "aggravated" damage that can destroy wraiths directly without the possibility of a Harrowing.

Read more about this topic:  Wraith: The Oblivion

Famous quotes containing the word system:

    In nothing was slavery so savage and relentless as in its attempted destruction of the family instincts of the Negro race in America. Individuals, not families; shelters, not homes; herding, not marriages, were the cardinal sins in that system of horrors.
    Fannie Barrier Williams (1855–1944)

    For the universe has three children, born at one time, which reappear, under different names, in every system of thought, whether they be called cause, operation, and effect; or, more poetically, Jove, Pluto, Neptune; or, theologically, the Father, the Spirit, and the Son; but which we will call here, the Knower, the Doer, and the Sayer. These stand respectively for the love of truth, for the love of good, and for the love of beauty.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    If mothers are to be successful in achieving their child-rearing goals, they must have the inner freedom to find their own value system and within that system to find what is acceptable to them and what is not. This means leaving behind the anxiety, but also the security, of simplistic good-bad formulations and deciding for themselves what they want to teach their children.
    Elaine Heffner (20th century)