How to Play

The Conversation¶

Like many good things, this game begins with a conversation. Probably several, in fact, but the most important one should be focused on what style of game your table wishes to engage in. If the dream includes vampires, spooky magic, and messy interpersonal drama, read on.

In Coterie, as with many other Powered by the Apocalypse games, almost every action is handled primarily by collective and collaborative narration. Passing the spotlight back and forth between Storyteller and players is crucial to the flow of the game. While in-session, the Storyteller guides the narrative and adjudicates the rules, but it is the players who drive the story. They (you!) are the engine, the dice rolls are the fuel, the rules are the wheels, and everyone is just hanging on for dear unlife.

I can't tell you how to play your game, but I can tell you how to play this game. Every table (physical or digital) will be different, just like every Storyteller and player and character are different. What unites them all in the Coterie system is the following gameplay loop:

The Storyteller sets the scene and describes the environment, embodying any non-player characters (NPCs) that may be present. Then, the Storyteller introduces some element of drama, danger, or intrigue and how it relates to the players and asks them "What do you do?"
The players engage with the drama, roleplaying as their characters and narrating their actions. They improvise interactions with one another, with NPCs, and with the environment. If they say their character does something reasonable, it simply happens.
When something is about to occur that has the potential to alter the narrative, dice are rolled, affected by bonuses or penalties. In this case, usually two 6-sided dice (2d6) plus one of your stats, all added together. Succeed or fail, the narrative moves forward. Generally, no rerolls!
After the roll is resolved, the player and/or Storyteller narrates the outcome faithfully and fairly. Even if things don't go your way, something interesting should still occur!
The spotlight is smoothly passed to another player or multiple players, and they engage similarly, rolling if necessary. If NPCs are present, they may be part of the ongoing conversation, and depending on how important their input is, the Storyteller may even roll dice for them.
Repeat from step 1 as-needed until you run out of snacks or daybreak arrives, prompting your Coterie to scuttle home for some slumber.

Fiction First¶

It can be difficult to shift mindsets from more traditional TTRPGs like D&D or Pathfinder, but in Coterie and other PbtA games, "Fiction First" philosophy describes the order of operations for the gameplay loop above. A commonly-used metaphor for the aforementioned systems is "Rules First", AKA "Buttons", which is a different but equally valid (and delightful) game design philosophy.

Coterie uses Fiction First to keep you connected to your character and grounded in the collaborative story you and your fellow players are weaving together. It often helps people stay in-character — we want our metaphorical camera to be pretty close to the action almost all the time, rather than zooming out tactically.

When playing Coterie, there is fictional input (a player describing their character's actions), then if those actions trigger a Move or specific mechanic, that is resolved based on the rules and game logic. Then comes the fictional output, which starts as a number but ends up as just another type of fictional input for somebody else to act upon; either the Storyteller or another player character. And so the cycle repeats on and on until you get messy and meaningful roleplay, memorable moments, and more Debt† than you can shake a stake at.

The metaphor can be explained like this:

Rules First: You look at your character sheet, find a "button" that says "Attack" and push it (rolling dice against a preset number), and then the description of what happens accompanying the action is essentially pure flavor. What matters is whether or not your character is allowed to perform that action based upon the "buttons" their character sheet contains. The mechanic initiates the fiction. This is fun!
Fiction First: The action is described first; you cannot "push the button" until you've established in the fiction that your character is doing the thing that triggers the button. For example, you can't just say "I want to Discern Vibes on this group of people"; you have to explain what you're doing, how you're doing it, and only roll dice about it if the thing you're trying to do warrants a roll. This is Coterie!

To really boil it down, this common phrase nicely encapsulates Coterie's philosophy: "To do it, you have to do it."

† This is foreshadowing. If you prefer to skip all the theatrics, just go read the Debt section and skulk back here when you're finished.

Key Terms Glossary¶

Throughout the game rules, you'll encounter some game terms that may initially confuse you. Hopefully, this small glossary clears things up before you dive into the vampiric stew.

Kindred: Polite word for a fellow vampire; they usually avoid the V-word
Coterie: Small group of vampires who occupy the same Haven and often hunt together
Haven: Safe, dark place a vampire or group of vampires call home (temporary or permanent)
Clan: Archetypal varieties of vampire, each with distinct abilities and societal roles
Stat: Statistic; a number that tells you how good your character is at a category of activities
Move: A rule triggered when you do something specific; each tells you how to resolve it
Discipline: Broad categories of vampiric abilities and magic that any player character can access
Predator Type: The method by which a vampire hunts their prey
Blood Potency: How potentially strong a vampire can be on a scale of 0–5 (higher numbers theoretically exist but are very rare)
Blood Bond: A link between a vampire and a mortal, or between two vampires, that cannot be easily severed (think toxic marriage)
Humanity: How much of your mortal moral compass remains on a scale of 10–0
Hunger: How badly a vampire needs blood (or similar sustenance) on a scale of 0–5
Harm: How badly something hurts, tracked on a sequence of checkboxes
Hold: A generic temporary resource granted by Moves you can spend to gain info or cause effects
Forward/Ongoing: Numeric bonuses or penalties to your next roll (Forward) or all rolls until a condition is met (Ongoing)
Advantage/Disadvantage: When rolling for a Move, roll one extra d6 and ignore the lowest result (Advantage) or highest (Disadvantage)
PC/NPC: Player character (played by the players) & non-player character (played by the Storyteller)
Player: You, probably!
Storyteller: The game master who controls the world, adjudicates the rules, and keeps the whole game moving along