Regaining lost abilities due to Hunger Stress

[Jabberwocky]

Has anyone worked with this past the "one point = one scene (killing = all points in one scene)" system? Currently I have the following situation on my hands (as a GM, that is): A PC werewolf is having a "twilight-esque" :-) affair with a Red Court Vampire NPC. Don't ask me much more. Some politics is involved and while the RCV managed to addict the werewolf to her venom she, having already been a junkie, developed an addiction to the werewolf blood herself. God knows where this will lead :-) Last session they managed to snatch some cocaine from the local organised crime but they also went in over their heads with a ghoul guarding the inside of the van. The vampire got some serious bashing and currently has all the consequences (except extreme) filled and she also failed her Discipline roll regarding Hunger stress and lost 4 points of her abilities. Now, the werewolf grabbed the drugs and the unconscious vamp and hid in the tunnels under the Petřín hill. For next session I'm planning on letting them get lost in the tunnels, have some Nevernever encounters and witness something very important for future development. As you can see, skipping scenes is not an option. I need to count her feeding in-game, not on the meta level. The ratio "one consequence inflicted = one point of lost abilities regained" came to my head but if anyone had another idea it would be helpful. I suppose that the werewolf will have to feed her his blood (probably after my compelling her and a bit of fighting) if he wants her going and being helpful. Thank you!

[Taran]

I wouldn't worry too much about the RCV because question is: what is the Werewolf going to do?  The story is about the PC werewolf, not the NPC vampire.  What options does he have, how will this complicate his life, how far is he willing to go for her?

- He can let her stay unconscious and will have all the complications associated with trying to protect her/ carry her dead weight etc.

- He can try to find a way to help her:  probably by finding someone she can feed off of.  This may have its own dilemmas.   I wouldn't let her feed off of just anything.  It would have to be a mortal of some kind to be able to use her Blood Drinker/recovery Power.  Is the werewolf willing to kill someone to save her?

- After she's conscious, she's probably still weak (lots of consequences); she'll want to feed to get powers back.  Is he willing to let her feed on him?  will he take consequences so that she can recover?  What will happen once she starts feeding?  Will she be able to stop herself from killing him?  She's already addicted to his blood, after all. How far is he willing to go to save her?

Remember, it's all about the PC.  You can be as hand-wavy as you want with the NPC.  She can become conscious whenever you want or recover depending on how exciting it makes the story.  Maybe he's sleeping and she's unconscious.  In the middle of the night she wakes up, possessed by her Hunger, ready to feed on the closest warm-blooded mortal around.

A wounded, Hungry RC Vampire is a very dangerous thing to keep around and who knows if her Hunger will turn her against him.  It really gives you lots to play with to make an exciting adventure for the Werewolf.

edit:  even a social conflict could happen.

She's being overpowered by her Hunger and she doesn't WANT to feed on him so she begs him to kill her....what will he do?  How can he talk her through it?

[Jabberwocky]

First of all, I must say I really like the complexity of your answers and your approach, Taran. I largely agree that it's the story of the PCs, not of the NPCs (I will address that later in my post again). On the other hand I know the player and I know the character he's playing and I want to prepare myself for at least some of the more probable solutions he might come up with. The story is always leaning towards some direction, formed (at least partly) by the general environment the characters are in. In this case I intend to "make" the PC and the NPC cooperate in a generally hostile environment of unstable portals leading to God knows where. This could lead to some very interesting tension in their dynamically changing love-hate relationship of mutual addiction and dependence. Or at least that's what I'm offering. If the player decides against that the story will go a different way, that's clear.

But if the story goes "my" direction I'll need to manage the vampire's Hunger somehow. In a mostly real-seeming story progress, if you understand me. What I think the werewolf will do is that he will at some point feed her his own blood. His situation in this respect is a little bit easier for him because he possesses the Inhuman Recovery ability. So, he can do it in a not-very-harming way if he somehow manages to make the vampire feed slowly. Which will pose a challenge, of course :-) Btw., what do you think about the "one consequence inflicted = one point of lost abilities regained" ratio? Too boring/simple?

And finally a general note on the role of NPCs. As I said I largely agree with your point that it's the PCs' story. On the other hand, though, a good and important NPC should be radiating some infuence, forming the general background and, partly, even the story itself. That's why I care for the NPCs because they are partners (both in the positive and the negative way) to the PCs in shaping the overall story. I believe that both of us, in fact, share very similar points of view. I just wanted to explain myself a little bit.

[Taran]

I wasn't trying to say that she wasn't important because she's an NPC.  I was just trying to say that her recovery is secondary to the action because it's not like she's a player who's sitting there bored, waiting on the rest of the players to get her character conscious.  Mostly, I was saying that you should turn her weakness/injuries/unconsciousness into a challenge for the PC.  A challenge where success means she recovers and failure means she doesn't - or even worsens.  Failure which still furthers the plot but makes it more challenging.

Btw., what do you think about the "one consequence inflicted = one point of lost abilities regained" ratio? Too boring/simple?

I'm not sure what you mean, though.  She's got all her consequences filled. so she can't take any consequences.  If you are saying that the werewolf should take a consequence for each point of refresh she recovers, then I'd say yes but I'd say it would have to be a single feeding.  I wouldn't allow him to take a mild and immediately recover it.  That is boring.  There should be a draw-back.  So maybe if he takes a mild and recovers it, he can't use his recovery to heal a mild in the next combat since he already used it to help her.  And, maybe, healing the 3 and 4th refresh requires a 4-box consequence, 1 and 2 only need a mild.  5-6 needs a severe (or a mild/moderate combined).  Something to make recovery matter.

Failure Recovery. You can recover your lost abilities
at the rate of up to one point per scene
so long as you opt out of the scene, essentially
because you are spending it feeding. You can
regain all of your lost abilities in one scene
if you feed so forcefully as to kill a victim
outright. In either case, your hunger stress
clears out completely, and any consequences
that resulted from feeding failure vanish
regardless of the usual recovery time.

He just needs to find someone to feed on but, failing that:

If she's unconscious for an entire scene, I'd consider that a 'missed scene'.  During that time, The PC is feeding her his blood.  She's slowly recovering, but unable to be enough help to him.

I see this as a challenge for the PC.  Basically say, 'if you can successfully get from A-B and keep her alive, while providing her with enough blood, she'll fully recover her powers and regain consciousness.'

It could be a several scenes rolled into 1 scene that takes place over 'several days'.  Or a couple of scenes: a sneak by the bad guys scene, a fight bad guys while defending her scene and a Survive her feeding off him scene.  (where he makes 'x' amount of endurance rolls vs her fists rolls or something to that effect.)  basically a montage of scenes.  Everyone loves a montage!  After all that, she's recovered.  But only if it happens while cheesy 80's music is playing.

Or even a Extended Conflict where he has to make several different types of rolls and beat a set difficulty:
-Weapons to beat off enemies
-Endurance to survive the blood loss of her feeding
-Alertness to sneak passed enemies

etc...if he succeeds, she's conscious, if he fails, she's still incapacitated for the next part of the adventure.  If he ties, she's incapacitated but has most of her powers back(because those were considered scenes where she fed).

edit:
IF you go several scenes where she's incapacitated (which is a challenge for the PC in and of itself), you could try:

-each scene, she recovers a refresh, but the werewolf PC has to make an Endurance roll at the beginning of each scene vs her Fists (she gets the +1 for blood drinker).  If he takes any consequences/stress, they persist for the current scene.
-do several scenes like this until she's recovered.  Each scene, as above, focuses on a different type of conflict/goal (sneaking, fighting, negotiating with someone who wants to buy an unconscious RCV - basically, it's a RC venom factory.)
-to make it more difficult, don't let him use recovery on the Feeding.  The reason is because the feeding is on-going, so he never really gets to heal it up, especially with everything else that's going on.

[Jabberwocky]

Again, Taran, this is a very fine answer. Now I see your point of view regarding the NPCs and I wholly agree.

I'm not sure what you mean, though … If you are saying that the werewolf should take a consequence for each point of refresh she recovers, then I'd say yes but I'd say it would have to be a single feeding.  I wouldn't allow him to take a mild and immediately recover it.  That is boring.

That's what I had in my mind. I was looking for some kind of a system of handling the werewolf's stress/consequences dealt by feeding his blood to her. The straight one-one system felt natural but boring, especially with his Inhuman Recovery. Your broadening my scope is very helpful. I felt that the story of her/his/their survival should be challenging and the ways proposed by you seem promising.

But only if it happens while cheesy 80's music is playing.

Heh :-) But again, the richness of ideas is much appreciated here. I probably won't go the way of single rolls or extended conflicts as the player prefers solving the situation in-game rather than on the meta-level of an extended conflict and then narrating the story. But it's still a good reminder that we can sometimes do the things in different ways, too.

All in all, thank you!

[Taran]

My pleasure.  I think the important thing to take away is that, if the Werewolf spends time giving blood, any scenes where the RCV is incapacitated should be counted as a 'missed scene'.