Blood & Fire uses the standard Mind’s Eye Theatre rules for Backgrounds, with some modifications as noted below. Each background may be purchased up to level 5. It’s not normally possible to buy a background above 5 – but there are some backgrounds (e.g. Alternate Identity or Haven) where you can buy the same background multiple times. If another player attacks our undermines your background, it will take 1 downtime period to recover 1 lost dot of a background.

• Allies – when you define a group of mortals with whom your character is allied, you must also specify which Domain they are based in. We normally expect this to be the same as your character’s home Domain for at least some of your Allies.
• Alternate Identity – You maintain a complete alternate identity including proper documentation: business records, church records, and perhaps legal documents. This may be a ruse to help your character hide among the mortal populace of a particular specified Domain, or it might be a vampire identity designed to infiltrate another Clan, Road, and/or sect (e.g. the Ashirra or the Camarilla) within a specific Domain (you must have at least 4 dots of this background to do so). You may buy this background multiple times, with each instance representing an entirely separate cover identity. Alternate Identity will not fool supernatural powers or direct observation. If you have a vampiric Alternate Identity, you may attend events under that guise, being mindful of the caveats above.
  1. You are new at this identity game. Sometimes you slip and forget your other persona.
  2. You are firmly grounded in your alternate identity. You are convincing enough to play the part of a doctor, priest, noble, diplomat, or other privileged person.
  3. You have a fair reputation as your alternate persona and get name recognition in the Domain where you have infiltrated.
  4. Your alternate identity has respect and trust within the Domain you have infiltrated, including among the Cainites there.
  5. You command respect in the Domain you have infiltrated, and you may even have accumulated a bit of influence. You have the trust (or at least the recognition) of many powerful individuals within your area, including Cainites.
• Contacts – for each individual with whom your character has a close relationship, you must specify which Domain they are based in. You must be in the same Domain as a particular Contact to use this Background. We normally expect this to be the same as your character’s home Domain for at least some of your Contacts.
• Fame – we normally assume that your character’s Fame is centred on their home Domain
• Generation – this operates as in MET, except that neonates have 1 dot of Generation, ancillae may have either 2 (younger ancilla) or 3 (older ancilla), and elders may have either 4 (master elder) or 5 (luminary elder). Please note our changed rules for diablerie!
• Haven – you may buy the Haven background multiple times. Each time you do, you must specify which Domain that Haven is in (your first Haven must be in your home Domain). Unless your Haven has the Size advantage, you cannot safely accommodate other vampires there.
• Herd – you must specify which Domain your Herd is based in (your first Herd should be in your home Domain). You may buy this background multiple times, each one representing a Herd in a different Domain. You may only use this background to assist with feeding during games if you are in the same Domain as your Herd.
• Influences – you may buy this background multiple times. Each time you do, you must specify whether it applies to either the Elite or the Underworld, and which Domain your influence can affect (we normally expect characters to have influence in their home Domain before developing it in other Domains). Please see the Downtime rules for examples of appropriate categories of specialisation.
• Resources – the mechanics of this background as as described in the System Reference Document, but the descriptions of each level of Resources are changed. We normally assume that a character’s Resources are based in their home Domain.
  1. Sufficient. You can maintain a typical residence in the style of the working class with stability, even if spending sprees come seldom. Through careful management of your finances, you may spend up to 2 florins in liquid cash per month.
  2. Moderate. You can display yourself as a member in good standing of the merchant class, with the occasional gift and indulgence seemly for a person of even higher station. You can maintain a servant or hire specific help as necessary. A fraction of your resources are available in coin or gold, readily portable property (like jewelry), and other valuables that let you maintain a standard of living at the one-dot level wherever you happen to be, for up to six months. You can spend up to 5 florins in liquid cash per month.
  3. Comfortable. You are a prominent and established member of your community, with land and an owned dwelling. You likely have more tied up in equity and property than you do in ready coin. You can maintain a one-dot quality of existence wherever you are without difficulty, for as long as you choose. You can spend up to 40 florins in liquid cash per month without much concern.
  4. Wealthy. You rarely touch gold, as most of your assets exist in tangible forms that are themselves more valuable and stable than coin. You hold more wealth than many of your local peers. When earning your Resources doesn’t enjoy your usual degree of attention, you can maintain a three-dot existence for up to a year, and a two-dot existence indefinitely. You can easily spend up to 200 florins in liquid cash per month without attracting the wrong kind of attention.
  5. Extremely Wealthy. You are the model to which others strive to achieve, at least in the popular mind. You have vast and widely distributed assets, perhaps tied to the fates of nations, each with huge staffs and connections to every level of society through a region. You travel with a minimum of three-dot comforts, more with a little effort. You can easily spend up to 500 florins in liquid cash per month without attracting the wrong kind of attention.
• Retainers – by default, any Retainer is based in your character’s home Domain, but we assume they have travelled with you to events and are in the local area and available to be called on (although they will not be able to enter Elysium).
  • Whenever you purchase a Retainer, you can choose for that Retainer to be an animal rather than a human if you wish