All human endeavor is predicated on lies. “We are more than animals.” “Monsters aren’t real.” “The dark is nothing to be afraid of.” “You can do anything you put your mind to.” Through their connection to the Primordial Dream, Beasts peel away those layers of platitude and deception, reminding their victims of the cold, ineluctable truth: that they are nothing but prey, huddled naked and afraid against the dark.
Nightmares draw from the same deep well of the Primordial Dream as the Families do. Unlike Atavisms, which are instinctual manifestations of a Beast’s Horror, Nightmares must be learned, whether at the knee of some other monster or by ferreting them out from the deep places of the Primordial Dream. Certain Families are drawn instinctively toward specific Nightmares, but the fears called up by these powers are deep and fundamental enough that any Beast can manifest any Nightmare with equal facility. Familial differences are more apparent in the hallucinations and sense-images the victims suffer: The victim of an Anakim’s “You Cannot Run” might see the Giant’s vast tread easily keeping pace with his most desperate flight, while the victim of a Namtaru’s is rooted to the spot by sheer, revulsive horror.
Moreover, as a Beast builds Kinship with the other monsters of the World of Darkness, she can draw upon their reflections of the Dark Mother to create new Nightmares based on the fears they embody. These “Kinship Nightmares” can vary dramatically depending upon the Beast and the monster in question. By claiming Kinship with a Nosferatu vampire, for example, a Beast can call forth the fears embodied by vampires in general, or by Nosferatu vampires in particular, or by Saul the Nosferatu vampire in very great particular.
Nightmares are expressions of deep-buried fears that go deeper even than the subconscious mind, straight to the collective soul of humanity. They can be debilitating — but in their own way, they can also be exhilarating. Someone in the depths of terror can run faster, fight harder, and react more quickly as his body’s survival instincts kick into overdrive. Canny beasts use this to set their enemies upon each other, or even to give their servants and allies an edge as often as they break their victims’ minds with horror.
While Nightmares are “all in your head” in the sense that only the victim experiences the effects and sees the hallucinations, that’s not the same thing as Nightmares being “illusionary” or somehow “not real.” The effects of Nightmares are very real and are quite capable of inflicting somatic injury or even death. Just because no one else can see the bugs crawling all over you doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
Nightmares function on supernatural creatures just as they do on normal human beings. Even creatures that don’t dream or feel fear can tremble before the power of the Dark Mother. Such beings are, however, better able to resist than human beings.
Systems
Calling forth a Nightmare is a simple endeavor: the Beast simply touches her victim or meets her gaze and speaks a few words to trigger the ancient, buried fear that lurks in his soul. The victim doesn’t have to understand, or even hear the words, and in fact the words are largely irrelevant. Some Beasts say something indicative of the Nightmare they invoke (e.g. “You’re going to die up there,” or “You’re eating maggots, Michael.”) Others speak a word of command, perhaps in an ancient language that resonates with the Horror. As long as the words are somehow tied to the Nightmare being invoked, they can even be worked into an otherwise innocuous-seeming conversation.
Nightmares are a product of the Beast’s Satiety and connection to the physical world; a well-fed Beast is closer to the human world, and thus better able to tap into the more cerebral side of the Primordial Dream. Every Nightmare therefore has three potential effects:
Normal: This effect occurs if the Beast’s Satiety is 6 or less when the Nightmare is invoked.
High Satiety: If the Beast’s Satiety is 7 or higher when the Nightmare is invoked, this effect happens.
Satiety Expenditure: Regardless of the Beast’s Satiety rating, the player may spend 1 Satiety to invoke this effect. For purposes of the availability of the High Satiety effect and the determination of dice pools, spending Satiety happens after the roll is made.
Example: Lilith invokes You Are Not Alone against a security guard and elects to expend Satiety. She has Satiety 7 and Manipulation 3, contested by the guard’s Composure. Even though Satiety Expenditure reduces her Satiety to 6, she can still invoke the High Satiety effect, and her dice pool is 8 (7 + 3 = 10, versus the guard’s dice pool of 2).
Unless otherwise noted, all effects are cumulative if the Beast wants them to be: a Beast with a Satiety of 9 who invokes a Nightmare and elects to spend Satiety gets the benefits of all three effects. A Beast can choose which eligible effects she applies with her Nightmares.
Nightmare effects normally last one scene.
Invoking Nightmares
Dice Pool: Varies, see individual Nightmare descriptions.
Action: Instant and contested, unless otherwise specified.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Nightmare fails to take effect and the Beast loses a dot of Satiety. If the resistance roll is a dramatic failure, the target loses a point of Willpower in addition to any other effects of the Nightmare.
Failure: The Nightmare fails to take effect.
Success: The Nightmare takes effect either immediately or when the victim next sleeps, as the Beast desires. If the victim is subject to multiple “dormant” Nightmares, he suffers one Nightmare each time he sleeps, in order of when the Nightmares were applied.
An individual can only be subject to one active Nightmare at a time. If the Beast invokes a second Nightmare on the same target, the new Nightmare supersedes the old one. If a different Beast does so, the attempt triggers a Clash of Wills (see p. 222).
Exceptional Success: The Nightmare takes effect; the Beast may either regain a Willpower point or invoke the exceptional success clause of the specific Nightmare she invoked. Note, too, that an exceptional success on a Nightmare may allow the Beast to create a new Chamber for her Lair (see p. 94). If the resistance roll is an exceptional success, the target is immune to the character’s Nightmares for the rest of the scene.
Kinship Nightmares
By claiming Kinship with the other monstrous denizens of the World of Darkness, the Children may spin new nightmares with which to terrorize their prey. In order to learn these Nightmares, a Beast must have given the Family Ties Condition to a monster of an appropriate type. The Kinship Nightmares presented here include suggestions of what monsters’ Family Ties might grant them, but if you feel like, say, Your Rage Consumes You relates to your Kinship with a berserker Gangrel vampire rather than a werewolf, feel free to ignore our suggestions.