Editing Storytelling System (section)

== Variant systems ==

=== Storyteller System ===

The Storyteller system used Abilities instead of Skills. The Mental attributes included Perception instead of Resolve, while the social Attributes of Charisma and Appearance were replaced on the sheet by Presence and Composure, respectively.  Unlike all other attributes in the Storyteller system–and unlike all attributes in the Storytelling System–Appearance could have zero dots in it, although this was only to reflect particularly hideous or monstrous characters.

Further, the Target Number for rolls (which was a number a player needs to roll at or above on his dice in order to generate a Success) is variable for most games, although defaulting to 6 for most rolls: a 50% success chance for an individual die.

Unlike the Storytelling system's exclusive reliance on Experience points, "Bonus Points" were given out to characters as part of character creation, with more powerful or experienced characters getting additional Bonus Points at character creation.  These points were spent like experience points, but were frequently a flat cost per level of a trait increased, as opposed to the increasing cost of experience points to reflect the difficulty of higher levels of mastery.

The Storyteller System frequently treated Merits as optional and frequently did not include them in the core books of most games; if the Storyteller allowed them, they could be purchased with Bonus Points. Merits had costs ranging from 1 to 7 points. Players could also receive Bonus Points for taking Flaws for their character. Certain traits that would later be codified as Merits still existed, but were instead referred to as Backgrounds; advantages such as Contacts, Resources and Status were universal across gamelines.

Whereas most Storytelling games use Virtues and Vices, these do not exist in most games, and are very different where they do exist:  Vampire: The Masquerade uses them for varying forms of self-control, and Hunter: The Reckoning ties them directly to Hunters' supernatural powers. In the mechanical place of Virtue and Vice, most games had instead "Nature," reflecting a character's innermost personality, and "Demeanor," showing the persona the character displayed to the world at large.

''World of Darkness'' games suggest players to have at least ten d10s available to roll for their character's task resolutions and Attribute tests; other games, such as ''Exalted,'' may use more. 

=== Mind's Eye Theatre ===

The ''[[Mind's Eye Theatre]]'' system, is designed for [[live action role-playing game|LARP]] rather than tabletop roleplaying, and drastically overhauls the core mechanics to adjust for the different playstyle demands, resolving conflicts either through drawing from a deck of cards or by rounds of [[rock paper scissors]].

=== God-Machine Rules ===

In July 2013, White Wolf released a rules update and the first in a series of intended "Chronicle Books" that would give a default focus for games and update their rules to work with the new rules released in ''The God-Machine Chronicle''. The system changes include the addition of Conditions and Tilts, which are usually-temporary traits that can impact characters' abilities; while Conditions apply at all times, Tilts usually directly affect combat.

The Experience Point system also changed greatly: throughout a session, players now accumulate "beats" through coping with or resolving Conditions, dealing with hardships, or accomplishing goals. When the player accumulates five beats, she may redeem these for an Experience.  Improving character traits is now flat, such that buying the first dot of a trait costs the same as purchasing the final dot of the same.

On August 16, 2014, [[Onyx Path Publishing]] revealed that they were publishing a second edition of the Chronicles of Darkness setting, using the God-Machine rules.  They also announced that they would be releasing new editions of their first five games in the setting.  While [[Vampire: The Requiem]] had released its ''The Strix Chronicle'' less than a year previous, Onyx Path conceded that the second edition of ''Requiem'' would be identical enough to ''Strix'' that they would supply a free PDF of the second edition to anyone who had already purchased a PDF copy of that book.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://theonyxpath.com/the-world-of-darkness-second-edition |title=The World of Darkness, Second Edition |author=Bailey, Rose |date=2014-08-16 |work=Onyx Path Publishing}}</ref>

=== Storypath System ===

New games from Onyx Path, such as ''They Came from Beneath the Sea''–as well as new editions of some older games, such as ''[[Scion (role-playing game)|Scion]]'' and the ''[[Trinity (Aeon)|Trinity]]'' line–use a new variant of the same mechanics, the ''Storypath'' system.

As part of the new editions of the Aeon Trinity games and the Scion gameline, a modified game engine was developed with the intent of being able to handle a wide range of character power levels.  While the core mechanics remain the same as the Storytelling system, the Storypath system focuses significantly more on [[Ludonarrative dissonance#Ludonarrative consistency|ludonarrative consistency]]: a major resource is Momentum, which does not represent any tangible or recognizable asset but instead the characters' narrative inclination to succeed in the story as a whole. It is spent by players to enhance or enable their character's abilities, and gained by encountering difficulties—failing at rolls, for instance, grants momentum—so that a character facing significant hardship eventually finds themselves with a surfeit of momentum to help them succeed in the end.

Another addition is Scale: a mechanic employed when one character has a significant advantage over another that may not be ideally rendered by a dice pool.  A relatively weak giant in ''Scion,'' for instance, bears an increased scale in rolls relating to strength and damage, granting them bonus successes on successful rolls, but their lower dice pool would still have a small chance of success in the first place.  The effects of scale differ against Narrative targets (scenery and nameless bystanders) and Dramatic targets (recognizable characters and objects with significance to the story).  While successes are added to Dramatic targets, they are multiplied against narrative ones, allowing for impressive effects that do not automatically overwhelm central characters.

In August 2022, Onyx Path announced they would be releasing a streamlined, more unified version of Storypath,<ref>{{cite web |title=[GenCon Online] Storypath Q&A |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u52K_kfQYOk |publisher=Youtube |access-date=18 August 2022}}</ref> referred to as "Storypath Ultra," which would present some updated terminology (e.g. referring to "successes" on individual dice as "hits" to prevent confusion between a successful action and an individual "success" on a dice) and more thoroughly integrate some of its mechanics.