Terminology
Here’s a glossary of words and terms that may be new to you if you have never before experienced Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade.
• aggravated damage: injury dealt by a particularly effective source; aggravated damage is more difficult to heal
• attacker: a character initiating a challenge against another individual or NPC
• attributes: the measure of a character’s natural skill in three categories: Physical, Social, and Mental
• Archetype: a word or brief phrase describing your character’s personality
• backgrounds: the measure of beneficial items, connections, or resources possessed by a character
• Beast traits: the measure of your character’s control over her vampiric nature; each Beast trait indicates a loss of such control
• bloodline: a small lineage, usually an offshoot of a clan, which possesses unique qualities
• Blood point: a unit measuring a small amount of Blood consumed during the activation of powers, or for other abilities
• Blood pool: the total number of Blood points possessed by a character
• clan: One of the great vampire lineages; members of a clan share unique qualities, including weaknesses, access to specific merits, and aptitude with specific disciplines
• challenge (static or opposed): the method by which a player determines if her character succeeds or fails to take an action that is subject to a randomizer; a challenge may include many tests
• damage: standard injury dealt by weapons or other attacks
• defender: a character attempting to resist a challenge initiated by another individual
• discipline: categories of related supernatural powers possessed by vampires
• elder power: a powerful supernatural ability, the height of a given discipline, only possessed by elder vampires
• everyman: the portion of a complex scenario (combat) during which every participant is able to act; the first round in that combat
• experience points: points earned over time by participating at games, and spent to increase a character’s statistics
• flaws: specific liabilities or disadvantages possessed by a character
• Generation: a measure of a character’s position within her lineage; it determines the potency of a vampire’s blood
• health levels: a measure of a character’s current injuries, and how much damage she can take before she is incapacitated, torpored, or killed
• merits: unusual beneficial qualities or advantages possessed by a character
• Morality: a measure of a character’s control over her Beast; Morality usually comprises either a character’s Humanity or Path of Enlightenment
• power: a single supernatural ability; there are typically five distinct powers (dots) within a single discipline chain
• round: a single series of actions within a turn, usually comprised of each character’s standard and simple actions
• skills: a measure of a character’s trained abilities and education
• step: a measure of distance, as per a normal walking step. According to Google, the average step is about 2.5 feet.
• Storyteller: the game administrator responsible for running the game
• techniques: a supernatural ability made possible by the mingling of two or more vampiric disciplines, only possessed by vampires of relatively thin blood
• test: a single instance of rock, paper, scissors used to determine whether or not a total challenge succeeds or fails
• test pool: the numeric statistic used to compare a character’s ability to succeed in a challenge
• turn: One circuit of rounds in a complex scenario, including a single everyman round and each subsequent Celerity round. At the end of one turn, the next turn begins with an everyman round, and proceeds through rounds thereafter until all characters are out of actions, and the end of the turn is reached.
• Willpower point: a unit measuring a character’s inner drive and determination, points of which are used in numerous ways, particularly to retest during challenges
• Willpower pool: the total number of Willpower possessed by a character
