World of Darkness: Second Sight

This section details elements created by fans. It is included to enrich your own games, but should not be taken as official reference material.

DISCLAIMER:

These are GUIDELINES, not "Set-in-Stone" House Rules that every Storyteller uses.
What you are about to read are the suggestions, guidelines and restrictions that RichS has
created, modified and used to help the Second Sight subvenue. The purpose of this article is so
others can understand the Second Sight setting on the chat, as well as RichS decisions
regarding character growth, and possibly plan for their characters in an environment where the
games run on Real-Time.

ONCE MORE, THESE ARE NOT OFFICIAL HOUSE RULES OF THE MODERATED CHAT!! Don't be surprised if
other STs (or even RichS himself) bends or breaks these rules for various reasons, and don't
e-mail complaints if someone isn't adhering to these Guidelines.

		Official World of Darkness Chat
		This page contains information created for one of the moderated Official World of Darkness Chat venues. While it is included here as a valid reference for the chat in question, it should not be taken as an official reference outside the chats.

		WARNING!
		The official World of Darkness chat rooms were closed in 2009. Unofficial games can be found on the Links article.

Creating a Second Sight character for the chats includes some additional requirements, and has some special rules and guidelines to consider, above and beyond those found in the books and the Rules for the chat.

Second Sight

The book Second Sight is necessary to play a Second Sight character.

Character Concepts

You should follow the same Rules and Guidelines as any other normal Mortal. While you may have supernatural abilities, you are still a person raised in modern society, and thus limited to reasonable starting concepts appropriate to the chat.

Attributes & Skills

As above, follow the Rules and Guidelines as any other normal Mortal.

Supernatural Template

Second Sight players all use the appropriate Psychic or Thaumaturge "template" found in the book.

Merits

Psychics

When choosing your Merits, please remember to only purchase Psychic Merits that are appropriate to your core concept. This isn't a list of open powers to choose from, like Disciplines, Gifts, etc. Each Psychic's abilities are key to who they are, where they came from, what caused them to manifest, etc., so you should only be taking those Merits necessary to support their Background and Concept.

Thaumaturges

You have more leeway, within your Tradition, to choose various Rituals. However, remember that you are still a normal Mortal in modern society, so you aren't likely to have forgone any sort of mundane Merit in pursuit of nothing but the supernatural.

Final Touches

As above, follow the Rules and Guidelines as any other normal Mortal.

Additional Information, Guidelines and Rules

General

Second Sight isn't a venue like the others. There is no society, there is no tie between the characters, and the only reason for PCs to group together under a single banner is generally Thaumaturges who studied the same Tradition together. Each character should be made as a separate, unique creature within the WoD, unknowing of the others around them, roleplaying as if they're the only Psychic or Thaumaturge of their type in the game.

Please understand that Character Creation is pretty much the /only/ option for Second Sight characters. Psychic Merits blatantly state "Character Creation Only", except with a ST option (which we're not using), and Thaumaturge Rituals require a long list of incidents, logical steps and serious time invested to reach in-game. If you want to play Second Sight, please make one from the start; don't expect to become one in game, because it's the least likely Template to earn.

Psychics

When you create your character's Background, you should list a possible reason why they developed their abilities, and the Merits should match this background and concept. Second Sight isn't an opportunity for a Mortal to pick and choose "cool powers"; instead, there should be a reason they have Telekinesis or Mind Reading or Channelling, and that reason should be key to who the character is. You shouldn't just pick a bunch of Psychic Merits, as these aren't Disciplines or Arcanum. A Psychic's Merits are just as much dependent on their concept and background as their Attributes, Skills or normal Merits.

Psychics should suffer for their abilities. Again, these aren't "cool powers" that you developed and now use willy-nilly to make your life better. Psychic Merits are double-edged swords at best, and curses upon your life at worst. If you're a Telekinetic, explain how your abilities going off have aliented you from their friends and family; if a Telepath, perhaps you find it hard to be around large groups of people due to the "noise" around you. While there may be no negative mechanical effect listed under a power, you should still roleplay the theme of the game, and part of that theme is that Psychic abilities have pushed your character away from normal society and set them apart.

Thaumaturges

Thaumaturges don't just develop their Ritual abilities, nor do they just read a book and discover the truth. It takes a serious drive to open one's eyes to these possibilities, and years of study. Those who learn as part of their culture or religion are some of the most devout people, so a "lapsed" Vodoun doesn't cut it; they /know/ their faith is real, because they can perform things no one else does. Characters that learn from ancient tomes or other studied material have an even harder time: How did they decide this stuff was real? Where did they get the material from that taught them? What pushed them to practice these dark magics, when common sense says it was for naught? How much time and money did they lose from their normal lives in pursuit of learning these things?