Human
Player's Guide

Humanity has done much with the world since they inherited it. Their innovations make the longer lived creatures of the world dizzy with both their abundance and rapid progress. One never knows what a single human is capable of, let alone when they are united. 

Playing a Human in the World of Darkness is all about choice, for no other Faction gets to choose the style of game they play and the experience they have quite like Humans do. Do you want a game of horror, where you must use all your wits and guile to survive the monsters in the night? Or do you want to rage against the supernatural, hunting as many as possible so that when you die you have company in whatever afterlife you find yourself? Perhaps instead you seek to stand in the middle, to be the nexus and play each group of supernatural creatures off of each other? Or maybe you ignore all those crazy magic wielders, vampires and fairies and just get down to some good old merchanting or politics. The choice, as a Human, is yours.

At Darkwood Nights the Human Faction is broken into two Subfactions. Commoners, who represent the vast majority of humanity and are your everyday human, and Kinfolk, those humans who share blood with the shifting monsters called Garou. 

• Commoners represent the wider humanity and are responsible for most of the inventions and adaptable reputation of humanity. 

  • • Commoners gain an additional skill point at Character Creation.
      
      

• Kinfolk may know what they are, but most don’t. Many who know of their ancestry know because their family still serves the Garou, the werewolves whose blood they share, and act as the go between for them and wider civilization. Other Kinfolk balk at the abuse often done upon them by their Garou masters and instead seek to protect civilization from them. 

  • • Kinfolk remove the Delirium weakness and so are able to act normally when a werewolf shifts into their war form.

Commoners and Kinfolk alike are surprising in their adaptability, guile and cunning. Many a creature of the dark was surprised to find a human to be their equal. Mechanically we represent this diversity through the Merit system, a set of unique powers and mechanics that Humans can purchase after they’ve met the requirements. Merits grant Humans powers as well as unique mechanics unavailable to other factions. 

At this point in history the Inquisition hasn’t taken hold, the church is still growing but hasn’t become the monolith that dominates life throughout Europe in the 1300’s. In the rural places of Europe, such as Wollbach, Christianity and Paganism currently walk hand in hand, coming into conflict and coexisting in equal measure.

For more information you will want to read Dark Ages: Vampire and Liege Lord and Lacky. These can most often be found physically in second hand book stores or purchased online PDFs/Print on Demand through Drive Through RPG. 

Everything at Darkwood Nights starts with Humans. Every single other Faction needs Humans in order  to function. For Mages they are mirrors, showing the horror of what they become as they dive into esoteric secrets for power at the expense of their souls. Vampires need them for food, power, and a reminder of what it is to be alive while Fae need their oaths with them simply to survive the world. Demons require their worship to keep from falling back to hell, despite how much they despise humanity while Garou need to strike a balance between civilization and the wilds. Their stories form the foundation for every other at Darkwood Nights, and Humans are at the forefront of Wollbach. This gives the Human player a lot of options. As stated above, no other Faction gets the level of choice around the type of game they want to play than a Human.

Humans thrive in the social game. They are the most precious commodity to every other Faction and this gives them power. They are also every other Faction’s greatest fear, for every Vampire, Werewolf, Mage and Fae knows deep down, in places they don’t talk about in polite company, that if humanity ever truly rose against them they would be swept away, scoured clean from this earth. This balance between keeping secrets, learning them, and choosing how to use them makes the human game one of influence instead of direct power. That is not to say that a Human character must be weak. Through Skills and Merits you can build a character sheet that is as mechanically interesting as socially.

Finally to help support the story of Wollbach and represent the mass of humans here a player playing a Human character earns 2 additional XP, for a total of 5 per game. This allows for players to have a semi-recurring human to quickly gain XP for other characters or to simply showcase the speed at which humans progress compared to everyone else. Due to the nature of the Thing, the gathering of local villages of the province to the town of Wollbach, there are lots of opportunities for humans who come into game maybe once or twice per year.

Humans have 1 additional Attribute; Merits. Even though this is their faction attribute, Merits are incredibly varied and allow deep customization of your character. Merits are Specialities, and as such each one has Prerequisites that must be met in order to learn. Merits do not require a teacher, and so if your character meets the Prerequisites for a Merit they may purchase it for 4XP. They unlock powers as well as unique mechanics available only to Humans. Merits are broken into the following general groups:

• Profession: Merits that impact Trade and crafting. These may allow a Character to both collect Commodities and craft items, craft items at a faster rate, or even unlock new crafting options.

• Affinity: These Merits allow a human to get a taste of a supernatural Faction’s power, gaining the first dot of their abilities.

• Body: Merits that show the hardiness and resilience of humanity, these impact how a character takes damage, allows for resisting status and can even change the Dying mechanic.

• Hunter: These Merits are for those who have learned what the dark truly holds. Whether to watch, hunt, or simply for the knowledge they open up a wide range of abilities useful in finding and dealing with the supernatural.

• Leadership: Merits to sway the hearts and minds of others. Leadership merits benefit the crime boss and the lord alike and can influence individuals to crowds.

• Rogue: Merits that represent all the sneaky and dirty tricks of the less scrupulous of humanity.

• Supernatural: These Merits represent a terrifying truth, that any Human can, through their divine spark, reach the peaks of magic. They currently represent those touched by Spirits, Necromancers and Exorcists as well as the thralls of Demons and vile Infernalists.

• Warrior: Merits that enhance a human’s ability to fight, take damage and inspire fear on the battlefield.

Strength of Oaths grants the Human +1 Willpower Pool while they have an active Oath with a Fae. This additional Willpower Pool can take their total above 10, however it doesn't count as being on their sheet for the purposes of Merit Prerequisites. 

Quick to Learn represents the speed at which Humans adapt. A player who plays a Human Character earns an additional 2xp per event, for a total of 5xp.

Power of Will If a human has access to a power that has an optional Energy cost (such as see invisible) they may spend Willpower Points to activate that part of the power.

Becoming details how a Human can transition into one of the Supernatural Factions. The only faction where this can happen in game is Vampire with an embrace. The player may also choose to spend Kismet and become a Mage, Changeling, or Vampire (Clan being player’s choice). It is important to note that any Merits purchased are not carried over if a Character becomes another Faction.

• • Effect: If embraced at game or by spending Kismet adjust your character sheet as follows: 

    • Change Faction to new Faction

    • Change Subfaction to new Subfaction

    • Remove any Merits purchased

    • Add Faction’s Statistics as if creating a new character of that Faction.
      
      

  • Special: Vampire 

    • Clan is always the same as the Sire if Embraced In Game, player’s choice otherwise.

    • Generation is always 1 higher than the Sire.

Humans have two weaknesses, The Delirium and The Curse.

The Delirium is a deeply ingrained genetic memory from the time in pre-history when the werewolves kenneled and culled humanity as they saw fit. Such was the terror and brutality inflicted upon humankind that it seeped into their collective consciousness, into their very DNA. Whenever a Human sees a transformed Werewolf at Darkwood Nights (a character wearing a mask with a wolf muzzle) they react based upon their Willpower Pool Rating (not their current Willpower Point total).

• 1-2 Willpower: Freeze in place or crouch down into a ball. 

  • Does not remember the encounter

• 3-6 Willpower: Flee from the Crinos character in a Fear Frenzy. 

  • They remember the encounter but rationalize it as something else.

• 7-9 Willpower: The human must attack the character in a wolf mask with any weapon at its disposal. If they do not have a weapon or fist boffer close at hand try to quickly borrow one (the NPC may have a fist boffer with them for these situations). If none are available roleplay aggressive behavior without making physical contact towards the character in a wolf mask.

  •  They remember the encounter.

• 10 Willpower: Acts normally and remembers the encounter. 

The Curse represents humanity's knack for feeling when someone isn’t quite right. Other Characters have a Weakness called Disturbing Presence that forces them to wear a red flag on their belt. If a Human Character sees this red flag the Character wearing it makes them uncomfortable. They can’t point out why, and they can’t take the red flag as In Game Information, but the presence of that Character gives them the heebeegeebees.

• The red flag itself is an OOG symbol, and only affects human characters.