WoD: Virtues and Vices
Aug. 16th, 2005 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiat_knoxCharacters in the World of Darkness are governed by a Virtue and a Vice. Upholding the Virtues and giving in to Vices permit characters to gain Willpower, as their altruism, or their indulgence, affirms their values.
But what if there was an element of risk involved?
What if, each time a character's Virtue is tested, there is a chance that that Virtue might be misplaced; or a disaster occurs as a result of the character indulging their Vice at precisely the wrong time?
What if a character is attempting an action involving a die roll which could fulfil a Virtue or Vice ... and they throw a 1 on the Chance Die?
Here are a few examples that came to mind where a character could potentially lose Willpower through the refutation of their Virtues, or through being immediately forced to face the direct consequences of their Vices.
Virtues
Charity - "No good deed goes unpunished." The act of charity has the opposite effect of what you'd hoped it would. The recipient laughs, says "I don't need your charity!" and throws it in the donor's face, or the donation proves insufficient to alleviate the recipient's suffering in the slightest. The point of this Virtue is that, by giving, by being generous and selfless and altruistic, one can make a difference to benefit others. What if that isn't the way things work here? What if the best solution to this problem turns out to be graft and corruption - that a quick bribe, or looking the other way, could have led to the same thing being done in half the time, or for less cost, or with fewer hassles? Or, indeed, what if the best course of action turned out to be to do things half-arsed, or even not to do anything at all, because it all could have worked out by itself anyway, without your help? What if, in fact, your efforts to help made things worse?
Faith - "God Is Dead." Something happens that is so bad, it really destroys your faith that things will work out for the best, in the end. Perhaps your efforts to help run the hospice only come to naught when one of the patients sets himself, and the hospice, on fire, trapping everyone inside except yourself. Perhaps you come to church, and discover that vandals have broken in and had sex on the altar, desecrating the one place where you found the most peace, the most meaning, in all the world. Worse; their vandalism wasn't done for a purpose. They were just kids. They were bored. It had been raining, because they'd have otherwise just done it in the cemetery instead, but they wanted to get in out of the rain. Their act, like their lives, had no meaning.
Fortitude - "What A Waste Of Time That Was." All that struggle, surviving all the trials and tribulations, only to receive a gold watch and a handshake for your efforts. Like a long-run marathon where you came in last; or an exam you took after four years of study that got an F grade because of a computer slip-up; or a month's labwork destroyed because a lab assistant dumped the wrong flask down the sink. Or the person you've spoken to on the phone but never seen, the person who's dominated your life and set your heart on fire, the person you've travelled three hundred miles to see in order to propose marriage to her, died an hour before you got there. It might look like a comedy to others, but it feels like a tragedy to you. Irony can be a real bitch, sometimes.
Hope - "Hopes Dashed." When you've given it your all, and watched their little faces glow with hope - only to have it all taken away by one terrible, stupid mistake. An avoidable, even shameful, mistake that you made.
Justice - "TANJ." Not only does an injustice go unpunished: the man you supported, whom you were convinced was innocent, and whose freedom you were instrumental in achieving, turned out to have been the perpetrator after all.
Prudence - "This Could Have Been Yours." You should have risked what you had. Sometimes life is a gamble, and the safe way doesn't always get you to the same place as the risky road in the end. Sometimes, taking the risk really does pay off. It paid off today. But not for you. The man who went in to buy that lottery ticket just in front of you, the man you laughed at for being so foolish as to risk his last few dollars, is now a multi-millionaire. And he's laughing at you, because his book deal just came in, worth millions more.
Temperance - "So Much For The Middle Way." All this time, you were supporting reason, logic and discussion ... and while you were trying to get people to listen to reason and not form a lynch mob to target the community's paedophile, he goes and rapes and murders your own daughter. Aged twelve. And then he laughs at you as the cops take him away, taunts you, tells you she liked it in the end.
Vices
Envy - "Oh, The Grapes Were Sour, Anyway." People not only flock to support the other guy; you discover that the grass is greener on the other side because he's earned it. You were in the wrong all the way.
Gluttony - "He Ate, Not Wisely, But Too Well." Your overindulgence leads to your being sent to the hospital for an overdose, or alcohol or food poisoning. Or you're seen stuffing your face with other people's food, or picking at others' share of the grub, and your usual excuse that "you haven't eaten" doesn't wash, because they all know you ate just an hour ago. Either way, everybody is saying "Serves you right."
Greed - "Scrooge." You could have helped that starving street artist, rather than held on to your money. Now she's dead, malnutrition, and a whole community is mourning her loss ... and remembering how you thought more about the five dollars in your hand than a bright young girl's life.
Lust - "Hell hath no fury ..." She finds out about your indiscretions, and learns from everyone you've seduced that you can't control your one eyed trouser snake. Now you hear she's bought a kitchen knife, and she's aiming for your gonads. Alternatively, you thought it was a one night stand. It turns out she's Glenn Close. Your pet rabbit is no longer safe.
Pride - "Pride comes before a fall." No, your point of view was never right. You were wrong from the start. The other guy's hypothesis turns out to have been the correct one after all, and now you have been left with no choice but to stand before the crowd, in front of him, shake his hand, and heartfully congratulate him on his well-deserved victory, knowing that the crowd are already making you the butt of their jokes.
Sloth - "Typical. Only turns up when the work's been done." You stayed in bed a moment too long today. Your lover went out in the car, pissed off at your attitude. It was raining, and she's never driven on these roads in the wet before. Now she's dead, because the car went straight at that bend in the road which you've taken, rain or shine, thousands of times, easily. If you'd gotten off your arse and driven the car, she'd have been alive today. What's really galling is, the insurance has fallen through. You have no money to buy a new car. From now on, you're going to have to walk to work. You could stand to lose a few pounds, anyway, you fat bastard.
Wrath - "Violence begets violence." The other guy sues. Or the woman you beat up calls the police, and her friend in the local chapter of Women Reclaim The Night. And they sue. Or worse: the assault became sexual, and now it's a rape charge. Or your anger got the better of you, and the police find you standing over the battered corpse of your best friend ...
But what if there was an element of risk involved?
What if, each time a character's Virtue is tested, there is a chance that that Virtue might be misplaced; or a disaster occurs as a result of the character indulging their Vice at precisely the wrong time?
What if a character is attempting an action involving a die roll which could fulfil a Virtue or Vice ... and they throw a 1 on the Chance Die?
Here are a few examples that came to mind where a character could potentially lose Willpower through the refutation of their Virtues, or through being immediately forced to face the direct consequences of their Vices.
Virtues
Charity - "No good deed goes unpunished." The act of charity has the opposite effect of what you'd hoped it would. The recipient laughs, says "I don't need your charity!" and throws it in the donor's face, or the donation proves insufficient to alleviate the recipient's suffering in the slightest. The point of this Virtue is that, by giving, by being generous and selfless and altruistic, one can make a difference to benefit others. What if that isn't the way things work here? What if the best solution to this problem turns out to be graft and corruption - that a quick bribe, or looking the other way, could have led to the same thing being done in half the time, or for less cost, or with fewer hassles? Or, indeed, what if the best course of action turned out to be to do things half-arsed, or even not to do anything at all, because it all could have worked out by itself anyway, without your help? What if, in fact, your efforts to help made things worse?
Faith - "God Is Dead." Something happens that is so bad, it really destroys your faith that things will work out for the best, in the end. Perhaps your efforts to help run the hospice only come to naught when one of the patients sets himself, and the hospice, on fire, trapping everyone inside except yourself. Perhaps you come to church, and discover that vandals have broken in and had sex on the altar, desecrating the one place where you found the most peace, the most meaning, in all the world. Worse; their vandalism wasn't done for a purpose. They were just kids. They were bored. It had been raining, because they'd have otherwise just done it in the cemetery instead, but they wanted to get in out of the rain. Their act, like their lives, had no meaning.
Fortitude - "What A Waste Of Time That Was." All that struggle, surviving all the trials and tribulations, only to receive a gold watch and a handshake for your efforts. Like a long-run marathon where you came in last; or an exam you took after four years of study that got an F grade because of a computer slip-up; or a month's labwork destroyed because a lab assistant dumped the wrong flask down the sink. Or the person you've spoken to on the phone but never seen, the person who's dominated your life and set your heart on fire, the person you've travelled three hundred miles to see in order to propose marriage to her, died an hour before you got there. It might look like a comedy to others, but it feels like a tragedy to you. Irony can be a real bitch, sometimes.
Hope - "Hopes Dashed." When you've given it your all, and watched their little faces glow with hope - only to have it all taken away by one terrible, stupid mistake. An avoidable, even shameful, mistake that you made.
Justice - "TANJ." Not only does an injustice go unpunished: the man you supported, whom you were convinced was innocent, and whose freedom you were instrumental in achieving, turned out to have been the perpetrator after all.
Prudence - "This Could Have Been Yours." You should have risked what you had. Sometimes life is a gamble, and the safe way doesn't always get you to the same place as the risky road in the end. Sometimes, taking the risk really does pay off. It paid off today. But not for you. The man who went in to buy that lottery ticket just in front of you, the man you laughed at for being so foolish as to risk his last few dollars, is now a multi-millionaire. And he's laughing at you, because his book deal just came in, worth millions more.
Temperance - "So Much For The Middle Way." All this time, you were supporting reason, logic and discussion ... and while you were trying to get people to listen to reason and not form a lynch mob to target the community's paedophile, he goes and rapes and murders your own daughter. Aged twelve. And then he laughs at you as the cops take him away, taunts you, tells you she liked it in the end.
Vices
Envy - "Oh, The Grapes Were Sour, Anyway." People not only flock to support the other guy; you discover that the grass is greener on the other side because he's earned it. You were in the wrong all the way.
Gluttony - "He Ate, Not Wisely, But Too Well." Your overindulgence leads to your being sent to the hospital for an overdose, or alcohol or food poisoning. Or you're seen stuffing your face with other people's food, or picking at others' share of the grub, and your usual excuse that "you haven't eaten" doesn't wash, because they all know you ate just an hour ago. Either way, everybody is saying "Serves you right."
Greed - "Scrooge." You could have helped that starving street artist, rather than held on to your money. Now she's dead, malnutrition, and a whole community is mourning her loss ... and remembering how you thought more about the five dollars in your hand than a bright young girl's life.
Lust - "Hell hath no fury ..." She finds out about your indiscretions, and learns from everyone you've seduced that you can't control your one eyed trouser snake. Now you hear she's bought a kitchen knife, and she's aiming for your gonads. Alternatively, you thought it was a one night stand. It turns out she's Glenn Close. Your pet rabbit is no longer safe.
Pride - "Pride comes before a fall." No, your point of view was never right. You were wrong from the start. The other guy's hypothesis turns out to have been the correct one after all, and now you have been left with no choice but to stand before the crowd, in front of him, shake his hand, and heartfully congratulate him on his well-deserved victory, knowing that the crowd are already making you the butt of their jokes.
Sloth - "Typical. Only turns up when the work's been done." You stayed in bed a moment too long today. Your lover went out in the car, pissed off at your attitude. It was raining, and she's never driven on these roads in the wet before. Now she's dead, because the car went straight at that bend in the road which you've taken, rain or shine, thousands of times, easily. If you'd gotten off your arse and driven the car, she'd have been alive today. What's really galling is, the insurance has fallen through. You have no money to buy a new car. From now on, you're going to have to walk to work. You could stand to lose a few pounds, anyway, you fat bastard.
Wrath - "Violence begets violence." The other guy sues. Or the woman you beat up calls the police, and her friend in the local chapter of Women Reclaim The Night. And they sue. Or worse: the assault became sexual, and now it's a rape charge. Or your anger got the better of you, and the police find you standing over the battered corpse of your best friend ...
