Rules

So often, roleplaying games presume young-to-mature adults as the baseline characters. In stories, however, as in life, people range from infancy to decrepitude. And so, when creating World of Darkness characters older or younger than the adult baseline, either as Storyteller characters or as player-character mages, let the following suggestions be your guide. For more details, see The Book of Secrets, pp. 39-41 (the Flaws: Child, Impediment, Aging, and Short), and pp. 115-116 (“Child-Mages”), and the character creation rules in this book’s Chapter Five.

Young Child (2-8 years old)

Physically smaller and weaker than adults, young children also lack much life experience aside from the skills gained from playing and early academic learning. Their mental fac­ ulties, however, can approach an adult’s capacity, and their ability to perceive things their elders miss is surprisingly high — hence, a boosted Perception and Wits, plus the Abilities:

Awareness and Enigmas. Young kids also tend to have even higher Appearance and Manipulation Attributes because most adults are hard-wired to take care of children. Being small and relatively fragile, though, they have fewer health levels than adult humans do. Those strengths and weaknesses make small kids especially vulnerable to adult power, though, and a child cannot reasonably be expected to take care of himself in an adult-oriented world even though some children manage to survive on their own anyway.

In game terms, a character in this age range has a hard limit on most Traits (a six-point maximum in Physical Traits, and no Physical Attribute higher than 2), and no character points to spend during the creation stage except for the six points gained from the Flaws Child (at the 3-point level) and Short, possibly four more from the Flaw Aging in its youthful option, plus any other Flaws allowed at the Storyteller’s discretion.

That character may also have a few Merits and Flaws ap­ propriate to childhood situations: Curiosity, Family Support, Issues, Inner Strength, Naïve, Pitiable, Rival House, Ward, and so on. A child this young won’t be taken seriously by adults, remains a ripe target for exploitation, and faces ob­ stacles ranging from a small, fragile body to a lack of social power and the limitations of what he could possibly have learned during a very short time in this life. That child could, of course, have a much older Avatar, guiding spirits, allied adults, and so forth. That said, a kid’s life in the adult world might look carefree, but it never really is.

Suggested Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 1, Stamina 2, Charisma 1-3, Manipulation 2-5, Appearance 3-5, Perception 2-3, Intelligence 1-3, Wits 3 Suggested Abilities: Alertness 1, Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Enigmas 2 Willpower: 2 Health Levels: OK, ‒1, ‒4, Incapacitated Image: Little kids tend to be adorable by default, though they also create one hell of a mess. Finicky adults might find young children repulsive because such kids get sticky, snotty, and overall kind of gross; other adults find children irresistible and want to take care of them whenever possible. Roleplaying Notes: You’re not a small adult — you’re a child, and this very big, often-scary world seems, for better and for worse, to revolve around you.

Joey McCallister

Little Joey hears music in his head. He envisions scenes of action and adventure. His fingers twitch and his limbs move in imitation of the heroes of on his parents’ TV screen. He sees himself as a human engine of destruction without really knowing what that really means. He yells “KABOOM!” and other explosive sounds. Joey hasn’t learned yet that he should probably keep such things to himself. And because he

rarely speaks in words, or communicates with other kids his age, his parents have begun to wonder if maybe something’s wrong with him.

“Wrong” is relative. A doctor might say Joey’s on the shallow end of the autism spectrum, but he’s just really imag­ inative, that’s all. Nothing much to worry about unless Joey starts acting out more violently. As of now, anyway, he’s not. At daycare, the kids find Joey a little strange if they notice him at all. Joey keeps to himself most of the time, and his interactions with other children are, if anything, more gen­ tle, shy, and temperate than most kids his age. He thrashes around in his sleep at naptime, though, and the sounds he makes sometimes alarm the adults. Whatever Joey sees and hears, however, is a mystery. He’ll share his toys but has not yet decided how or if to share his thoughts.

Not quite five years old, Joey lags a bit behind the devel­ opmental curve for kids his age. Words come slowly to him, and he seems unusually distracted most of the time. His bright blue eyes reveal a vivid, perhaps unnerving, level of perceptive­ ness. It’s not that Joey doesn’t see the world around him — he clearly does. Joey can recount conversations, if pressed to do so, with an accuracy surprising for someone his age. The times his parents have turned him loose on musical instruments, Joey showed prodigious natural ability. Still, he often seems to be somewhere else. That’s not unusual for young children, of course — kids his age are still figuring out what is and is not “real” in the eyes of their elders. Joey’s reality, though, appears somewhat removed from that of his peers. What’s going on in there, and will he ever share the stories in his head? In a world so unpredictable, many answers are possible in the future… some hopeful, many really not.

An adorable blond kid, Joey has slender features, piercing blue eyes, and a largish head in proportion to his body. His clothes seem unusually neat for those of a boy his age, and while he can speak understandably, he rarely does so. Joey seems nervous in social situations, preferring his own company whenever possible. His fingers often weave intricate patterns, designs only he can see, and his preference for long pants, long sleeves, socks, and shoes under almost every circumstance suggests a desire to protect himself from the world outside.

Older Kid (8-13 years old)

Mobile enough to get into lots of trouble, more resilient than smaller children, and experienced enough to become somewhat capable (though still far below the adult baseline), older kids begin to approach their mature abilities while remaining children in most regards, especially in legal ones. By this age, in many societies, kids begin to have chores and responsibilities, perhaps even jobs. Initiation into adulthood generally begins around age 13 or so.

A character in this age range, then, gets 10 freebie points, but is still limited to a six-point maximum in Physical Traits. Although such characters still get the Child Flaw (at the 2 pt. level), and maybe Aging, too (two additional points); the

Short Flaw is no longer required after puberty sets in, even though most kids still have it until their mid-teens if not later. Maturing kids tend to be distractible (hence a lower Perception and Wits than younger kids might have), but are more experienced at life than younger children are. Since most kids this age are attending some form of schooling, their academic understanding, though incomplete, is often fresher than that of many adults. And since roughhousing is a common thing for kids of all genders, a single dot of Brawl and at least one in Athletics is not inappropriate for the average kid this age.

Lesedi Omiata

“I’m a mermaid,” she thinks, even though she knows that isn’t true. Lesedi loves to swim. She’s loved it ever since her family took a vacation at the beach when she was a little kid, though it’s hard for her to swim as often as she likes. The local pool got shut down due to lack of funds, and the school isn’t rich enough to afford its own pool despite talk of a school swim team if they can make the proper arrangements for it to happen. In the meantime, Lesedi soaks a lot in the family bathtub and draws mermaids with dark blue skin and curly greenish-black hair.

For Lesedi, dry land feels wrong beneath her feet. Gravity weighs upon her like social disapproval. Between the not-so-gentle jokes some of her friends make about “washing all your black off” and the crueler remarks from local white kids who say she’ll turn their water dirty, mermaid dreams are never easy for a girl like Lesedi. Still, she loves to swim, to float, to hold her breath like she could forget what it’s like to need to breathe. The mockery just convinces Lesedi that true home lies elsewhere.

She does pretty well at school. Her grasp of facts is obvious, and she catches on fast. She’s been studying outdoorsmanship and knows her way around basic home technology. Still, the halls and streets above the waves seem alien, like a distant planet on which she does not belong. Now, with womanhood

rising toward her like a wave she cannot dodge or surf, the clutch of air feels like drowning. Lesedi dreams of swimming away, diving down, hovering in her weightless space until those alien distractions drift away and all that’s left is the truth of who she really is.

For now, Lesedi gets by with soft obedience. She does what she’s told, as much as any child can. She gets good grades, doesn’t fight too much with her brother and older sisters, and nods her head when her parents tell Lesedi what’s expected of her. Yeah, she scraps occasionally with the girls at school, and even busted Amare Jackson’s nose when he asked her if mermaids smell like fish. Mostly, though, the girl keeps to herself, and dreams of the day… or perhaps the night… when she can grow her tail out secretly and slip away from the human world for good.

A lean-muscled preteen with long limbs, dreadlocks, and a voice vibrant with quiet intensity, Lesedi favors blues and greens in her clothing and the occasional makeup she has begun to wear. Her rugged clothing reflects a lifestyle that’s active even by kid standards, and she’s usually got a well-earned scrape or three. Lesedi tends to go barefoot or wear sandals rather than shoes, and her large eyes go hazy and distant when she considers her retreat to, and eventually under, the sea.

Teenager (14-18 years old)

Older children have essentially reached the baseline for World of Darkness characters. Teenage kids might still have the Child Flaw, and are still considered children in many societies, but have the general capacity of an adult in terms of game Traits.

Historically speaking, the mere idea of “teenagers” is a recent innovation of the 20th-century Western industrialized world. Before then (and, in many cultures, even now), people are considered young adults once they hit puberty, and the traditions of apprenticeship, clerical orders, arranged marriag­ es, and military service were on many levels invented in order to channel the restless, reckless urges of human adolescence toward what societies considered to be practical applications of lust, intensity, and violence.

Regardless of the culture they hail from, adolescent people tend to be impulsive and drastic. By adult standards, they’re literally insane thanks to the chemical and sociological transformations between childhood and adulthood, combined with the social stresses of conformity, obedience, rejection of parental authority, and indecision about who and what they want to be now that they have the chance to grow up. Modern media has a very profitable fixation on this stage of human development: Teens spend money, so lots of industries use media to entice teens (and their parents) to buy as much stuff as they can possibly afford… and quite often more than that. For obvious reasons then, teens tend to distrust adults even when they still crave support and approval from “their elders.” This stage of life is a dance with fire, with part of its appeal being the potential for a truly glorious burn.

Thanks to the physical, mental, and legal transitions of our teenage years, characters in this age range inevitably have various Mental, Social, and possibly Physical Flaws: Impediment can represent literal growing pains, while Family Issues are pretty much a given for any teenage character. Teens are Impulsive by default, and usually Intemperate, too, with Rivalry, True Love, Socially Networked, and New Kid being common Merits and Flaws for adolescent heroes. On the plus side, characters in this age range tend to have a dot or two more in Stamina than their older peers might have, and the older ones can pass for adults even if legally they’re not quite there yet.

Kim Phan (Phan Thi Khiêm)

“Where are you from?” Kim’s from here. Always has been. Sure, her grandparents fled Vietnam in the late 1970s, but that was an eternity ago. Her parents barely speak Vietnamese at all, and Kim’s accent fits the world she grew up in, not the place her ancestors came from. Hell, she’s barely even met her grandfather, and grandma passed on when Kim was still a kid. The Twin Towers fell on New York before Kim was even born, and she’s never known a world without social media, cell phones, and other stuff grandpa’s still trying to understand. His world is not hers. Where she’s from? The here and now, thank you very fucking much.

Kim’s not especially good at math, no matter what people expect from her. She prefers skateboarding, and she’s got a pretty decent collection, including a few she made herself. Her signature rig’s got blue LEDs on the wheels and a deck painted with a punk rock Princess Luna flying against a backdrop of purple lightning — a custom job Kim built and painted herself. She set up a YouTube channel to show off her tricks, and it’s got a few thousand subscribers plus the requisite haters. She and her buds Travis, Shan, and Erika catch some air between classes whenever possible, then hang out anywhere they’re less likely to get busted for skating like fiends.

I guess she’s sort of popular. I mean, maybe? Kim’s got a decent circle of friends, even if most of ‘em are skate-rats and stoners. The mean girls have better things to do than pick on Kim, and Kim gets invites to the better parties even though she doesn’t show for most of them except maybe long enough to see and be seen while downing a beer or two before heading back out to skate. She likes her metal hard and fast and old, preferably with some hip-hop mixed in to keep it from sounding too white for words, and has a crush on Ville Valo that she admits to no one, even though (like his band) he’s really fucking old. Kim keeps her grades up to keep the ‘rents off her back, and she’s got her eye on a job at a skate shop when she hits 16, but she’s got time yet before that happens. As for college, she’s not sure. It seems like a lot of work for nothing in the end, and the career she wants has nothing to do with books and everything do to with skill.

When she’s not out honing her skating chops, Kim’s spending more and more time with her friend Marissa’s teen pagan study group. Yeah, some of the stuff they say is kind of woo, but it makes more sense than Mom’s weird Catholic hang-up thing. Dad says he respects Kim’s spiritual decisions, so she’s begun checking out websites and talking Goddess-stuff with Marissa and her friends. Kim really likes the strange designs she’s found online. Some of them have begun to find their way onto her skateboard-deck designs, and everybody thinks they’re cool, so really it’s no big deal…

Thin and muscular, Khiêm often wears road rash and a daredevil grin. She might own a single pair of jeans that hasn’t been slashed, torn, or otherwise abraded by her as­ phalt hobbies, and her closet’s full of mangled T-shirts from death- and old-school metal bands. Most of Kim’s wardrobe is dark (it’s better at hiding bloodstains), accentuated with hot pinks, slash patterns, and vivid reds. Although she wears her hair long and straight, she usually ties it back, braids it up, or otherwise keeps it out of her face. Typically tricked out in skater shorts, scabbed knees, overlarge tees, scuffed-up Nikes, a backpack, and one of her collection of dark hoodies, Kim carries a board everywhere and never walks if she can skate.

Kim’s parents kept her legal name Vietnamese out of respect to Grandpa. Everyone she knows, however, her folks included, calls her Kim. If Mom calls out Kim’s full name, the girl understands she’s really in trouble now. Unlike most of her friends these days, Kim still gets along with Mom… most of the time, anyway. Still, she prefers the silence of her room or the grind of skate wheels and wood across hard surfaces right before she grabs air and flies again.

Senior (60+ years old)

Mages and other Night-Folk have many ways of bypassing the physical effects of age. Other people have no such talents, and while exercise, luck, genetics, and a healthy lifestyle can reduce the worst ravages of age, those years do pile up on

mortal folk. Eventually, youth passes into maturity and (if allowed to do so) endures to seniority and possibly old age.

Older folks often acquire a reputation for grumpy, can­ tankerous, or grossly inappropriate behavior. Sometimes, this comes about because such people are “products of another time” (see the Mental Flaws Bigot, Impatient, and Inappropriate, and maybe the Supernatural Flaw Anachronism for extreme cases), with values and opinions outside the social mainstream of their age. More often, though, it’s simply the result of being in constant pain. Age reminds you each morning about every stupid thing you’ve ever done, because you feel all of it every time you get out of or into bed. Declining perceptions don’t help either; when you need reading glasses to decipher that thing you could have read just fine a year or two earlier, it tends to make one cranky as hell. Despite these truisms, though, old people aren’t naturally any more obnoxious than anybody else… unless, of course, they’ve slipped into distraction or dementia thanks to Alzheimer’s or some other form of age-inflicted decay. (See the Flaws Absent-Minded and Derangement.)

The game Trait consequences of advancing age can be found in The Book of Secrets, p. 40, under the Flaws Aging and Impediment. The greater effects of age, regardless of a character’s chronological years, come through a progressive (or really, degenerative) series of Trait ceilings and penalties. For most unAwakened human beings, those effects start to kick in between age 50 and 60, with a hard, unhealthy lifestyle aging a person by their mid-30s. Although folks can live vigorous lives into their 70s if they’re fortunate, conscientious, and often wealthy, most people’s bodies begin to break down during the middle years. A senior-age character, then, could range from a healthy person who’s down a dot or two in their Physical characteristics, to a near-invalid who’s ridden by disease and deteriorating physical and mental capacities.

It’s been said that age brings wisdom. It doesn’t… but it does bring perspective. A person who’s survived a few dozen decades in their current incarnation has plenty of experience, and while that experience might not translate into Ability dots, it’s not out of line to give an elder character 20 or 25 freebie points to distribute between Abilities, Merits, and Flaws. Though their Attributes are reduced by one dot for every two points spent in the Aging Flaw, with Physical Traits generally capped around four dots after age 50 and three dots after age 70 (Storyteller’s call, not a hard-and-fast rule), the extra points in Abilities reflect the greater time and work older people have often put into the things they do. Obviously, this suggestion won’t be true for people who have just sort of skated through their lives, not really committing themselves to anything, and an older person’s diminished physical and perhaps mental capacities will, of course, limit the sorts of Abilities at which they can excel. Still, it’s not unusual for an ancient martial artist to exceed his younger students’ capabilities, and many Knowledge disciplines demand decades of study and application before one can reach true excellence in that field.

Scott Walters

Where’d all those years go? Scott had plans, lots of them. He always meant to pick up the guitar again, after putting it aside when his post-college band went nowhere fast. He was going to be a writer, too — still could be, once he gets around to it. I mean, it’s not like Scott is old or anything, right? Sixty years old isn’t really old these days; hell, Brad Pitt’s pushing 60, and Arnie and Sly are still making action movies and pumping themselves up. Heroes don’t age, and Scott knows he’s still the hero of his own personal film. It’s just that he’s always so tired by the time he gets home from work. His back hurts. His knee gives him trouble. That spare tire around his waist isn’t getting any smaller, but he’ll fix that soon… tomorrow, maybe. Just as soon as he gets his second wind. He still wears his hair kind of long for a middle-aged white dude (it’s not really a mullet, is it?), and his former good looks have been softened by flab and worn deep by constant work and pain.

Scott was all about getting stuff done in the 70s and 80s. Jobs. Songs. Women. Set ‘em up and knock ‘em down, baby. Back then, he didn’t ever get tired. Scott burned the candle at every end that would light, and then figured out ways to light the same end more than once. Three marriages and two kids later, he slowed down, but not that much. I mean, he wasn’t like his former classmates at the school reunions, with their big bellies and fading hairlines. He was hot, fit, and still ready to take on the world and win.

He still feels that way now. It couldn’t possibly have been over 40 years since he graduated college, could it? When Scott

stops to think about those last 40 years, they seem to have gone by so fast. Sure, he spent a lot of time at work, too much time, really, not that you could tell from the size of his paychecks. But now retirement age is coming up, and he hasn’t got anything socked away (when did he ever have time and money enough to do that?), and the folks at work have begun treating him like a dead man walking, because everybody knows that old hands just can’t hack it the way the young hires can. Maybe it is time for a change of scenery, a new lifestyle, a chance to do all those things he’s always wanted to do.

Scott’s got a new friend these days: a woman who claims she can freeze the passage of time, maybe even turn it back for certain folks who can meet the price. Poor Scott doesn’t have much to offer and isn’t sure what to believe. This new friend, though, has done some pretty impossible things, so Scott’s inclined to think maybe she’s not as full of shit as she comes across as being. She’s made him an offer, and he’s not sure he can refuse. Where did all that time go, anyway? And is there something, maybe, that Scott’s friend could do in order to get Scott a little more of it?