Contracts of Music
By: Nightstorm @ Dark Horizon |
Contracts of Music even work on people who are deaf.
Soundtrack (•)
When invoking this clause, the changeling will hear background music that will reflect his current situation.
Cost: 1 Glamour
Dice Pool: Wyrd + Expression
Action: Instant
Catch: The changeling hums the music he is hearing in the background during this clause. If he stops at any time, he must pay the cost.
Results
Dramatic Failure:
The changeling does not hear a soundtrack that changes as his situation does,
but that is constant, loud and distracting, lasting for the rest of the scene.
All rolls are done at -2.
Failure: The contract does not work. Nothing happens.
Success: The changeling hears music (either vocal or instrumental) that reflects what is going on with him at the moment. The music is in the mind of the changeling and is not heard by others and so is not affected by the mask. If he is being chased perhaps the keystone cops chase music will be playing. If his girlfriend is breaking up with him, perhaps Dido is playing. The music does not have to be something that the changeling has heard before. The Wyrd works out what is heard. By listening to his soundtrack the changeling
is more able to determine what to do next, giving him a +1 on all rolls except Clarity or
Derangement rolls. This lasts for the rest of the scene. If more than one changeling is using Soundtrack in each other’s mind at the same time, then the one with the highest Wyrd overrides the other’s.
Exceptional Success: The contract lasts until the next sunrise or sunset, whichever is first. Furthermore,
for each success the changeling can allow one other person to hear his soundtrack,
though that person might not know where it’s coming from.
The Audience's Ear (••)
The changeling uses sounds to convey meaning to another.
Cost: 1 Glamour or 3 see below
Dice Pool: Wits + Wyrd - Subject’s Wits
Action: Instant
Catch: The music is played by the changeling himself and is a piece he created. This catch does not take away the cost to use it with another contract.
Results
Dramatic Failure: The subject gets the wrong message.
If the message was "Meet me at twelve noon," the subject might think he meant twelve midnight.
Failure: Nothing happens. The contract does not work.
Success: The changeling can convey a message through music to the subject. The music itself does not have to have vocals to it. Anything from classical to the Facts of Life theme song can be used. The message can be no longer than a few sentences long and can be anything from “You look lovely” to “The guy next to you has a gun.. The subject does not hear the words, but gets the meaning. Also the subject does not know from where the message is coming from unless the changeling adds that in. Further, the music does not need to reflect what is being said. So one could play Archie’s Yummy Yummy while telling the subject to go and kill his family. Of course, the subject does not have to obey. Even so, the changeling can use other contracts on top of this one to secretly enact a contract that uses the command of his voice.
Exceptional Success: If the changeling wants, the Contract works for everyone present in earshot of the music, though it cannot be used with other Contracts on a number of people.
Siren's Song (•••)
Like the mermaids luring the sailor to the choppy rocks, so too can the changeling lure the target to her.
Cost: 2 Glamour
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd vs. Wits + Wyrd
Action: Contested
Catch: The Changeling sheds at least a single tear while enacting the Siren’s Song.
Results
Dramatic Failure: The Contract fails and the person is immune to the changeling’s Siren’s Song for
The next 24 hours.
Failure:
The Contract does not work. Nothing happens.
Success:
The subject feels a compulsion to travel to the changeling as a haunting melody fills his mind. The subject will travel using the best means to get there and will not stop until there or the contract ends. While any distance is possible for the contract to work, factors that impede the subject's movement must be taken into consideration. Tying the person up or throwing him in jail will stop him but not the desire to go toward the music. While the person wants more than anything to arrive at the source of the music, the subject still has free will and is not compelled to do whatever he must to get there. Siren’s song lasts one hour per success.
Exceptional Success:
Siren’s Song last for a 24 hour period. When the song stops, the subject will not remember how he got to the final destination.
Can't Stop the Music (••••)
The changeling embeds a song into the subject's mind that plays over and over, driving the subject to ultimate frustration.
Cost: 3 Glamour (+1 one willpower dot for an exceptional success)
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Wyrd - Composure
Action: Instant
Catch: The subject already has a derangement or has stolen something that belongs to the changeling.
Results
Dramatic Failure:
The Contract does not work and it is instead the changeling that has the song stuck in his head for the next day. All rolls are at -1.
Failure:
The Contract does not work. Nothing happens.
Success: For each success the changeling rolls, the subject will hear music (either music heard in the background, sang/played by the changeling or even a song the subject was humming at the moment the contract takes place) for one round. During that time, the subject takes a penalty on all rolls equal to ½ of the changeling's Wyrd (min 1/ max 5).
Exceptional Success: Unless the Willpower is spent, nothing else happens. If a Willpower point is spent, then the Contract lasts for 24 hours for every three successes. During this time, the subject cannot sleep due to the constant noise in his head. Only when exhaustion takes over (see the World of Darkness rulebook) can the subject sleep.
The Music Takes Control (•••••)
The Changeling uses music to change the subject’s feelings.
Cost: 3 Glamour (or 4 for Supernaturals) (+One willpower point on an exceptional success.)
Roll Pool: Wits + Wyrd vs. Composure + Wyrd
Action: Instant
Catch: The Changeling and the subject had a conversation about music sometime within the last hour.
Results
Dramatic Failure: The contract fails and the subject becomes angry toward the changeling (though not knowing why).
Failure:
The contract fails.
Success: By having music play (either music he himself is playing or some other source) The changeling can change the mood (good or bad) of the subject. The music does not need to reflect the mood desired. While the Contract changes the mood of the person, it does not indicate what that person will do. So Nightsky plays some Chopin during dinner and targets Helen, one of her guests at the table. Helen's original mood was calm but now after Nightsky finishes with her, she becomes enraged, making certain everyone at the table knows how pissed off she is. After dinner, Helen has no idea what came over her, saying it must have been the way Bob - the guy sitting next to her - was picking his teeth.
Exceptional Success: The subject must act out to the degree that she is capable of doing. So in Helen's case, she might throw a glass of wine at Bob, start shouting obscenities, or even throw a table, but she will not kill anyone because she has never done that sort of thing before. Now if Helen was an ex-con who's already killed three people, then that would be well within her ability, but who she targets is not under the control of the changeling and in fact might be the changeling himself.
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