Closely related to “ritual”-type magic, what we’ll call “extended effects” are those that persist past the scene in which they are actually invoked. Most of the World of Darkness games, Mage and Changeling in particular, have ways in which to make a particular effect last a day, a week, a month, and so forth — whether it’s constantly in effect the whole time, or just lingering around waiting for the right conditions to trigger it.

These effects are problematic in online play for many of the same reasons that ritual casting is — there’s just no practical way to guarantee that the benefit of having additional effects active without needing to take time in-scene is somehow balanced out, whether between the PCs and NPCs or between individual PCs. Realistically, characters with enormously powerful magical effects ongoing should light up like a beacon to opposing factions, and attract disproportionate amounts of hostile attention, but in practice, what happens is that there just isn’t enough staff available to impose appropriate consequences.

Therefore, we have adopted some rules to limit the impact of this sort of effect. We don’t want to create a situation where players must either deal with the accounting and +request traffic needed to create and maintain extremely powerful effects, or else be relegated to ineffectiveness vis-a-vis those who do. That’s not much fun for anyone, and it consumes staff time that we would prefer to reserve for helping our players tell stories. At the same time, we recognize that the ability to create extended effects has a cost (sometimes buying a particular power, sometimes as part of the tradeoffs inherent in the character type), and people who pay that cost deserve to get some utility in exchange. Our goal is to make these sorts of things an advantage, and a useful one — but not an absolutely mandatory or overwhelming one.

• A character may, at any given time, have a number of points in extended effects equal to:
  • Their Occult, if a vampire.
  • Their Esoterica (for mystics) or Technology (for technomancers), if a mage.
  • Their Gremayre, if a changeling.
• These extended effects may be either active (effects that are extended past the scene in which they’re invoked) or triggered (effects that are held in abeyance to be activated at a later time). Both types count against the same limit.
• Active effects are counted in successes — an ongoing effect that provides +2 Strength costs 2 points.
• Triggered effects are counted in dice — a 4-die suspended invisibility effect that activates when the character says “Rumplestiltskin” costs 4 points. When activated, these effects are rolled normally.
• The duration of the effect is not counted against the point limit — if we made daily effects cheaper than weekly or monthly, players would just very sensibly make everything a daily effect. It’s simpler to assume that characters do what they need to on whatever schedule they need to.
• Active Mage effects are built according to Mage rules (ignoring duration), converting successes to points on a one for one basis — that is, adding an additional target costs one additional success, and hence one additional point, per target added. Triggered Mage effects must account for all required successes out of the successes actually rolled. The “Magickal Feats” chart on p.502 of the M20 Core Rulebook is a good guideline for effects that are not primarily focused on adding dice, doing damage, etc.
• Changeling effects using the Time 2 or Time 3 modifier Realms ignore the usual difficulty penalty for those Realms only. Other modifier Realms carry the usual penalty to the roll when the effect is activated. For instance, a Dragon’s Ire effect using Fae 1, Scene 1, and Time 1 (to affect all commoner fae in the room for triple duration) as well as Time 3 (to activate on a specified condition) would have a difficulty modifier of +2 to the roll, rather than +3.
• Changeling effects should take note of the Changeling House Rules regarding Bunks: that is, you may assume Bunks of up to -3 value, but no higher.
• All effects are assumed to be cast in the mundane world, with appropriate effects. Design intent is that these are things you’re renewing regularly, and traveling to the Umbra or the further reaches of the Dreaming is meant to be unusual and special, not something you do daily in order to avoid Paradox or lower difficulty.
• Characters must still have the required abilities needed for their desired effects; you can’t use Fateful Trigger, or the equivalent Entropy/Time effect, unless you have actually purchased those abilities. If your sphere doesn’t have an ability that allows you to use triggered effects, or to extend effects past the current scene, then you can’t create such effects.
• Generally, characters should have a +note detailing effects that fall under these rules that is dated at least 24 hours prior to when the effects are invoked in play. Triggered effects should note what specifically causes them to activate.

A few additional notes:

• These rules apply specifically to positive effects characters apply to themselves or to their allies, and which the targets are generally willing (at least) to accept. Characters who wish to apply a long-term negative effect to another PC or to an NPC should speak to staff, bearing in mind the guidelines for ritual magic.
• Effects that are inherently permanent (for instance, the Garou Gift “Smell of Man”) are not affected by these rules; they function as normal.
• Nothing in these rules should be construed as forbidding Storytellers (whether staff or player) from telling stories where characters have time to prepare additional effects. They’re meant to govern effects that are assumed to be active under ordinary circumstances — if you’re taken by surprise, ambushed by the Technocracy, etc. If, on the other hand, the characters are spending IC time getting ready to raid a Nephandi safe house or assault a Thallain-held castle — that’s not “ordinary circumstances”, and it’s up to the Storyteller to determine what other measures can be prepared, subject to any limitations imposed by the game in question.

We understand that these rules may seem strict. In their current form, they are essentially a draft; we’re trying to find a way to make effects intended with tabletop play in mind work in a 24/7 environment without getting too unbalanced in either direction. As we see how they work out in play, we expect to make some adjustments to them to get closer to that goal — and we’d rather start out a little too strict and then loosen up over time than start out too generous and end up having to take back things that players have grown accustomed to. We hope you’ll be patient while we try to find a happy medium.