Willpower
Willpower
The Willpower mechanic depicts the character’s inner drive, competence, and spiritual strength. We measure Willpower both by its permanent rating and as temporary points. Permanent Willpower is the maximum number of points possessed by the character — her full pool. A player spends 1 of these points (a point of temporary Willpower) for such things as resisting Mental and Social powers. While this expenditure decreases the character’s current Willpower rating, it does not permanently decrease the maximum number of points a character can possess.
When a player spends a point of a character’s Willpower, she should note this expenditure on her character sheet. A character’s temporary Willpower pool will likely fluctuate a great deal during the course of a session.
Spending Willpower
Willpower is one of the most active and important mechanics in Mind’s Eye Theatre. Willpower is extremely versatile, and both players and Storytellers should familiarize themselves with its uses.
Common uses include:
• A Willpower can be spent to retest a static or opposed challenge. Any type of challenge (Physical, Social, or Mental) may be retested with Willpower.
• A Willpower can be spent to use a combat maneuver.
Regaining Willpower
At the start of each game, your character begins with her maximum Willpower as long as she had a complete day’s rest before starting the game. During the course of the game, spent Willpower is regained by roleplaying.
There are two ways to regain spent Willpower through roleplay:
• Players’ Acknowledgement: When another player impresses you with her roleplay via impressive acting in a dramatic scene or symbolic roleplaying with your Archetype, you may award her by refreshing that character’s spent Willpower. A character can only benefit from your refresh once per night. Refreshing Willpower in this manner is done by alerting a Staff member that you would like to reward another Character. The Staff member may ask you to explain the scene and why it was cool. Then that Staff member will reward that character at the next opportunity. The Staff member will reward any number of will to that character, from 1 to complete refresh.
There is no limit to the number of characters whom you can reward for roleplaying, but no single character can regain Willpower from you more than once per night. To regain Willpower more than once per night in this fashion, a player must roleplay with multiple characters.
• Storyteller Acknowledgement: When the Storyteller notices a player roleplaying her character well, she may elect to refresh some or all of the character’s spent Willpower.
By default, the Storyteller refreshes all of the character’s spent Willpower (just like a player would), but the Storyteller is allowed to award fewer Willpower if the situation warrants it. Storytellers may refresh Willpower as often as they like and may refresh the same character’s Willpower more than once per night. Storytellers should not hesitate to use this ability when they witness a player roleplaying in a way that other players do not see or do not acknowledge. However, this refresh should be used carefully, lest players forget to use the system. Players should be allowed and encouraged to reward each other whenever possible.
Willpower cannot be refreshed while in combat. If a player or Storyteller attempts to reward a character for actions taken during combat, the Willpower is refreshed as soon as the combat scene ends.
Example #1: Vincent, angry after a meeting with the Brujah Primogen, storms through the main hall headed for the exit. Recognizing that her Prince is upset, Lorelei leaps to her feet, holds the door open for her liege, and moves to guard his back. As he leaves the room, Vincent’s player finds a staff member to ask to refresh Lorelei's will. At the end of the scene, the Staff member awards a full willpower refresh to Lorelei.
Example #2: At the end of a particularly harrowing combat scene, The Storyteller announces that everyone involved will regain 1 spent Willpower. This allows the Storyteller to reward his players and make sure that no one leaves the fight with all of their Willpower expended (everyone will have at least 1 point), but leaves room for the players to reward each other through roleplay later in the evening. If the Storyteller feels that there won’t be an opportunity to roleplay in the near future, she might decide to refresh more (or all) Willpower spent during the combat.
Chapter 4: Introduction to Core Systems
