Editing Storytelling System (section)

=== 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.