GUIDE: Earning Beats
Earning Beats on Eternal Noire
A Beat is a point gained for performing certain actions. Five Beats becomes an Experience, which can then be used to purchase new traits, such as Attributes, Skills, Merits, or supernatural powers.
On Eternal Noire, you submit a request for your beats in your character thread. The player is responsible for submitting this request, and the Storyteller is responsible for reviewing it for approval and adding the XP to the character’s sheet.
You gain Beats when your character fulfills one of the criteria below. The WoD Codex also has a Beat Earning Guide Here, but ours is edited based on what we use on Eternal Noire. On Eternal Noire, Venue-Specific beats (like Arcane, Pack, and Practical/Group Beats) are not in use. Instead, they grant regular beats to those specific supernatural characters.
EN Custom Rules
Each of the following IC activities is worth 1 beat, unless otherwise noted:
- Long-Term Aspiration – Making progress towards a Long-Term aspiration. You may claim this at most once per week.
- Goal Progression – Significant Progress towards PC End Goal(s). You may claim this at most once per week.
- New Friend – The first time you meet a new PC, you can claim a beat.
- Scene Participation – Participating in a ST-ran scene.
- Danger Rating – If a scene is rated as dangerous by the ST, you earn beats for the risk (1-3 beats each instance).
- Miscellaneous Beats – An ST in any scene can award Misc. Beats for any reason. These can range in worth (1-5 beats per instance).
- Examples: Plot Advancement, Plot Sharing, ect.
- Running a Scene as a GueST – Worth 2 Beats per scene.
Each of the following OOC activities is worth 1 beat, unless otherwise noted:
- Excellent Community Member
- Referring a new Player who gets a PC Sanctioned. (2 Beats per New Player)
- Being Helpful to fellow Players and/or Staff. (1 Beat per Instance)
- Being Friendly to new players (1 Beat per Instance)
- Active Forum participation (1 Beat per Instance)
- Contributing to the Setting – 1-5 beats per Instance
- Creating a PC-Owned Location (Must be Staff Approved).
- Making a Wiki Page for your PC Location.
- Suggesting a New Chat Room, Selected for use.
- Suggesting a New Location, Selected for use.
- Excellent RP Award
- Player Recommendation (1 beat each instance)
- ST Recommendation. (1-3 beats each instance)
- Excellent Blue Booking (Same as Excellent RP, ST awarded)
- Posting Scene Logs in Your Thread (1 beat each instance)
CoD
- Aspirations: If your character fulfills an Aspiration, take a Beat. At the end of the game session, replace the Aspiration. On Eternal Noire a session is a day. [CoD 77]
- Resolving Conditions: Each Condition has criteria for resolution. When resolving a Condition, take a Beat. On Eternal Noire, this is only for negative conditions. [CoD 77]
- Some Conditions provide Beats for actions other than resolution.
- “A player can only earn one Beat by resolving Conditions in each scene.” [CtL 181]
- Persistent Conditions: Once per chapter, a player can gain a Beat when a Persistent Condition impacts his character’s life. [CoD 75-76] On Eternal Noire a chapter is a week.
- Voluntary Dramatic Failures: “Any time you fail a roll, you may opt to make it a dramatic failure and take a Beat” [CoD 77], “up to one per scene.” [CtL 176] On Eternal Noire, you may only do this in an ST-Ran scene, with ST approval.
- Damage in Last 3 Health Boxes: If your character takes lethal damage in one of her rightmost Health boxes, take a Beat. Vampires and Werewolves do not gain Beats from bashing damage. On Eternal Noire, you may only do this in an ST-Ran scene, with ST approval. [CoD 77]
- Session Completion: At the end of any game session, take a Beat. On Eternal Noire, this is your scene log beat. [CoD 77]
- Risking a Breaking Point: “Any time your character risks a breaking point (p. 73), take a beat.” [CoD 77]
- Professional Training 4: “Whenever you purchase a new Asset Skill dot, take a Beat.” [CoD 46]
- Go With the Flow in Social Maneuvering: “If the character does as requested, and abides by the intended goal, his player takes a Beat” [CoD 82]
- Surrender: If your character surrenders in a fight, take a Beat. [CoD 87]
BtP
- Gorged (Persistent): At any time, you may choose to automatically fail a roll because of your character’s complacent, sloth-like attitude. This should only be used on rolls where your character is attempting to be proactive and engaged. It should also only be used on rolls with clear consequences. If you do so, take a Beat. You may opt to make this failure into a dramatic failure for an additional Beat. Also, if the character falls victim to a supernatural power that forces her to take some detrimental action take a Beat.
- Ravenous (Persistent): When your character commits an action that would normally fill her Hunger at Satiety potential 1-3, take a Beat (though she wouldn’t regain Satiety then.)
- Sated (Persistent): When your character pursues further Satiety at risk of personal harm, take a Beat. When your character frivolously spends Satiety (meaning to accomplish something she could just as easily accomplish without the expenditure), take a Beat. If a Hero places an Anathema on the character, take a Beat.
- Slumbering (Persistent): Experiencing meaningful failure due to human limitations or weaknesses (at Storyteller discretion) grants a Beat, as does being rejected or left behind by supernatural kin.
- Starving (Persistent): If the Player takes an irrational, clearly dangerous, or deeply risky behavior in pursuit of Satiety, take a Beat. As well, if your character hurts a loved one, broodmate, or a character with the Family Ties Condition in pursuit of Satiety, take a Beat.
CtL
- Clarity: Any time your character takes damage to her Clarity (p. 105), take a Beat. [CtL 2e 95]
- Bedlam: If your character involuntarily unleashes Bedlam (p. 110), take a Beat. [CtL 2e 95]
- Contracts: Some Contracts have situations that may earn beats.
- The Hedge: some situations in the hedge can grant beats.
- Vices: Surrendering to Temptation/Vice presented by the Hedge [CtL 2e 199]
- Hedgespinning: A paradigm shift the Hedge itself enacts grants a Beat to each player whose character suffers adverse effects from it. [CtL 2e 204]
- Pledge Sealing: “If a changeling allows her words to be sealed, she takes a Beat. A changeling can only earn one Beat per chapter this way.” [CtL 2e 210]
- Personal Oaths: “Changelings bound by a personal oath gain a Beat whenever they suffer a setback or inconvenience in the course of living up to the oath, up to once per chapter.” [CtL 2e 213]
- Hostile Oaths: “Hostile oaths don’t carry much in the way of mechanical benefit, except that a character involved in one gains a Beat when his enemy wounds or inconveniences him, up to once per chapter.” [CtL 2e 214]
- Some Tokens: Some Tokens grant beats. [CtL 2e 222-229]
DtR
Coming Soon!
HtV
- Fulfill Aspiration: Your character fulfills an Aspiration, take a Beat. Replace it at the end of the session.
- Session Beat: At the end of a game session, take a Beat.
- Resolve a Condition: Once per scene, when resolving a Condition, take a Beat.
- Some Conditions provide Beats for actions other than resolution.
- Voluntary Dramatic Failures: Any time you fail a roll, you may opt to make it a dramatic failure and take a Beat. This doesn’t apply to rolls on which you risked Willpower (p. XX).
- Surrender: If your character surrenders during a fight, take a Beat. • If you succeed in a roll that risks Willpower (not including Tactics, p. XX), take a Beat.
- Damage in Last 3 Health Boxes: If your character takes damage in one of her three rightmost Health boxes, take a Beat. Any time your character risks a breaking point (p. XX).
- Plot/Story Progression: If your Storyteller deems it appropriate following a major or dramatic event. You can only receive one Beat from each of these criteria per scene.
VtR
Coming Soon