Automatic Tasks Versus Dice Rolls
____Most tasks are automatic. If Cynthia says, "My character Maxine walks into the deserted alley," Cynthia does not need to make a roll to do this. It happens automatically. Likewise, for the purposes of drama, routine tasks such as driving to a nightclub or climbing a ladder can be assumed to succeed, even though in real life there is always a chance of having a wreck or falling off the ladder. Rolls need be made only for those events that are particularly dramatic and that have a good chance of failing.
____Sometimes a routine event can become a dramatic, tension-filled scene if performed in haste or under duress. For example, if the character driving to the nightclub is barreling down the road at 100 m.p.h., against the flow of traffic, while being chased by the Sabbat and the city police, Physical dice rolls to avoid wrecking the car might well be called for!

Difficulties
____Difficulties range between 2 and 6. A difficulty of 2 represents the easiest feats; a difficulty of 6, the most challenging. When in doubt, the default difficulty is 4. Difficulties can never be higher than 6 - if a difficulty is calculated to be greater than 6, reduce it to 6.

____2 Easy (walking atop a two-foot-wide wall)
____3 Routine (seducing someone already "in the mood")
____4 Normal (stalking a reasonably alert victim)
____5 Challenging (shooting a target at long range)
____6 Really tough (escaping from handcuffs)

Number of Successes
____Each die whose number equals or exceeds the difficulty number is called a "success." Most of the time, a single success allows the vampire to succeed in her attempted task - barely. Getting more successes indicates a higher level of performance. For example, let's say a Toreador (Social 4) gives a performance in a nightclub. Four dice are rolled; while a single success indicates an acceptable performance (she doesn't get booed off the stage), three or four successes are needed to give a brilliant or virtuoso performance.

____Successes _Quality
____1 ________It'll do
____2 ________Good
____3 ________Great
____4+ _______Masterful

Example of Play
____Cynthia's character, Maxine the Brujah, has been sought out by Devil Jack, the prince's Gangrel enforcer. (Devil Jack is played by the Storyteller.) Devil Jack begins questioning Maxine concerning her whereabouts on last Wednesday night (the night an anarch gang set fire to the

prince's refinery). Cynthia, speaking as Maxine, indignantly denies any knowledge of the deed ("I was at a dance club on the other side of town!"), and the Storyteller tells Cynthia to make a Social roll to convince Devil Jack. Maxine has a Social score of 2, and the Storyteller tells Cynthia that the difficulty is 4 (Devil Jack is loyal to the prince and knows that Maxine occasionally hangs out with anarchs, but he likes Maxine and is inclined to trust her). Cynthia rolls two dice and scores 1 and 5: one success. Devil Jack reluctantly accepts Maxine's alibi (perhaps he is unwilling to question the story too deeply), but sternly warns Maxine that the prince's eyes are everywhere, and that she'd better toe the line for awhile.
____If, in the Storyteller's opinion, Devil Jack had particularly damning evidence against Maxine, or disliked her, the Storyteller might have raised the difficulty of Maxine's roll to 5 or even 6, or might have decreed that Maxine needed two successes to convince Devil Jack of her innocence.

Contests
____Sometimes, a character will be in conflict with another person or vampire, not simply a situation. Such events are known as contests. To resolve a contest, the player rolls against a difficulty number as normal, but the opponent also gets to roll his own Trait against the same difficulty number. The contestant who scores the most successes wins. Ties reroll.
____Almost all contests are considered difficulty 4. First, the attacker rolls. Then the defender rolls in an attempt to take away the attacker's successes.
____Example #1: Baron d'Havilland (Social 4) and Lady Ravenwood (also Social 4) are striving to seduce the same beautiful model. Because the model likes d'Havilland and Lady Ravenwood about equally, both vampires must roll versus difficulty 4. D'Havilland rolls four dice and scores 1, 3, 4, and 6 - two successes. Ravenwood also rolls four dice and scores 2, 5, 6, and 6 - three successes. The model slinks away with the smirking Lady Ravenwood, and d'Havilland must seek blood and companionship elsewhere this night.
____Example #2: Baron d'Havilland (Social 4) is attempting to order a recalcitrant mortal (Psychic 2) out of his way. D'Havilland rolls four dice and scores 1, 3, 5, and 5 - two successes. The mortal rolls two dice and scores 3 and 6 - one success. D'Havilland wins - the mortal grudgingly lets the vampire pass.
____Example #3: Maxine the Brujah (Physical 4) is arm-wrestling a Nosferatu (also Physical 4). Both vampires have Basic Potence, so they are considered of approximately equal strength. The Storyteller decides that the first vampire to