Territory Actions III

This page deals with PvP-oriented territory actions.

## **Attacking a Territory**

An Attack on a territory comes in many forms. A physical attack may consist of a group of thugs rioting and looting local businesses, lowering the Safety rating. Or it may involve getting the Police to crack down on a Criminal enterprise, increasing the Safety rating. A social attack may involve convincing the homeless and other low income groups to move in to the Territory, causing a decrease in Prestige.

Changing the Traits of a territory without permission from the Regent is considered a PvP action (as opposed to PvE). Instigating players need to cover their tracks if they don’t want to be found out. The roll is the same as changing traits in a normal situation.

Extended. Target = New Trait x 5

Attribute + Skill - Reactive Trait

**Cost**: 1 downtime per roll

**Modifiers**: Consolidation, Sites, Resources, Status/Allies/Retainer, Discipline

Increase or decrease a territory Trait by one. The dice pool used depends on the specific action taken. Each level of increase or decrease needs to be rolled separately. All values are considered absolute for the purposes of determining target for roll.

## **Attacking a Site**

A Site can be directly attacked, by, for example, burning it down with kerosene (Wits + Larceny), or changing zoning laws and forcing city workers to close it down (Manipulation + Politics). A site that is destroyed ceases to provide benefits. The Merits associated with the destroyed site can be relocated or refunded as per Sanctity of Merits. Please note that a “destroyed” Site can still be functioning and in business (i.e. a seedy nightclub is turned into a family-friendly restaurant). It just no longer provides benefits to those involved in Kindred society.

Extended. Target = Site Rating x 5

Attribute + Skill - Reactive Trait vs. Defensive Roll

**Cost**: 1 downtime per roll

**Modifiers**: Consolidation, Sites, Resources, Status/Allies/Retainer, Discipline

## **Defending**

The Defensive action acts as a threshold of success. The attacker must surpass the number of successes achieved on the Defensive roll for their action to be successful.

The Defensive action can be persistent (i.e. assigning security guards to protect a Site), or in response to an attack (i.e. deploying your Bureaucratic retainer to mire a city investigation in red tape). For the first type, 2 downtime must be spent per day protecting the location. For the second type, the attack must first be detected (through patrolling or investigation) and a response made with the appropriate roll. Each roll costs 1 downtime, and a roll is made for each time you defend agains the attack.

## **Unseating the Regent of a Territory**

Unseating the Regent can be done directly or indirectly. The direct method represents convincing the stakeholders of the local community that their current Regent is not looking after their interests. That maybe they’re better off under the protection of someone else. The indirect method is mainly through creating Crises. Crises are events that will erode the control rating of a territory for each week that they are active. An unchecked crisis will cause the locals to lose trust in the Regent and turn to someone else.

### **Directly**

Extended Threshold. Target = Rating x 5

**Cost**: 1 downtime per roll

**Modifiers**: Consolidation, Sites, Resources, Status/Allies/Retainer, Discipline

As territories will inherently resist change, this system of rolling is meant to give the Regent a home advantage.

**Persuasion** is catching flies with honey rather than vinegar. It represents buttering up the locals, kissing babies, and generally projecting a positive and trustworthy image. It is contested by the absolute value of Prestige. The residents of posh areas (high Prestige) are harder to impress, and the downtrodden residents of slums (low Prestige) are less likely to be swayed by charm and charisma.

**Intimidation** involves manipulating the local population using fear. It can be achieved by blackmailing, threatening safety, and instilling a sense of fear for the future or maintaining the existing way of life. It is contested by the absolute value of Safety. People living in a high Safety area are secure in the knowledge that their properties will be protected. People living in a low Safety area have nothing to lose; they are hardened against threats of violence and may be involved in criminal activities themselves.

**Subterfuge** is a shameless smear campaign where any and all accusations are hurled against your rival. In the famous words of LBJ (who called his opponent a ‘pig-fucker’), “Of course it’s not true. But let’s make the son of a bitch deny it.” It is contested by the absolute value of Information. Checking the facts is easier in a territory with high Information. In a territory with low Information, news of the false accusations may not even reach people in the first place.

### **Indirectly**

The indirect way of unseating a Regent is through the creation of Crises. Crisis in a domain is an issue that needs to be solved. Crises have ratings of one to five. For every week that they remain unsolved, they will erode the control rating (Territory rating x 5) of a territory equal to their own rating. Every week, the crisis rolls a number of dice equal to its own rating. On a success, the crisis will increase in rating by one, and on an exceptional success, the crisis will increase in rating by two.

For more on Crises, click Crises.

## **Teamwork**

The number of assisting players for each party is capped by the Territory Rating. Therefore, a Rating 1 Territory can have the main player and one helper making the roll (in each team). A Rating 5 Territory can have the main player and five other helpers making the roll in each team.

If the number of assisting players exceeds the cap allowed by the Territory Rating, the team will take penalties, as follows;

* -1 per extra player for rolls to cover up the activity.

* If the number of your teammates exceeding the cap is 2 or less, players who are active in the territory will automatically get notification about your activities.

* If the number of your teammates exceeding the cap is 4 or less, players who are active in the surrounding territories (those that share a border) will automatically get notification about your activities.

* If the number of your teammates exceeding the cap is 6 or less, players active two territories away will automatically get notification about your activities.

* If the number of your teammates exceeding the cap is 8 or less, every player in the Vampire sphere will automatically get notification about your activities.

Being “active” is defined as owning a Merit associated with the territory (such as Haven, Feeding Grounds, Herd, etc) or taking an off-screen action that requires a roll (patrolling, gaining influence, improving territory, etc, excluding hunting rolls and cover up rolls).