TEXT: 1 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  2 
  DUST TO DUST
  © 2011 CCP hf. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is express-
  ly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and one printed copy which may be reproduced for personal 
  use only. White Wolf, Vampire and World of Darkness are registered trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. 
  Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken, Mage the Awakening, Promethean the Created, Changeling 
  the Lost, Hunter the Vigil, Geist the Sin-Eaters, and Storytelling System are trademarks of CCP hf. All rights 
  reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by CCP hf. CCP North America Inc. 
  is a wholly owned subsidiary of CCP hf. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages 
  is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. This book uses the supernatural for settings, char-
  acters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes 
  only. This book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
  Check out White Wolf online at http://www.white-wolf.com
  Creative Director: Rich Thomas
  Developed by Eddy Webb
  Written by Matthew McFarland
  Edited by Genevieve Podleski
  Layout by Ron Thompson
  Art by Samuel Carlos Araya, John Cobb, Jesper 
  Myrfors, Joshua Gabriel Timbrook.
  Special Thanks to Dave Martin for the initial brain-
  storm, and Karen “Oni” Martin for the French assis-
  tance.
  2 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  3 
  DUST TO DUST
  Table of Contents
  Introduction
  Welcome to Gary
  The Hunter 
  Offers
  The Zombie Walk
  From the Dust Returned
  Juggling Lessons
  Toothless Hounds
  The Death Rattle of Gary
  Tomorrow Night
  Aftermath
  Scene Cards
  Character Sheets
  5
  20
  22
  24
  27
  32
  35
  38
  40
  43
  45
  46
  49
  
  4 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  5 
  DUST TO DUST
  Introduction  
  Gary, Indiana is a dying city. Its population has halved 
  itself in 40 years, many of its buildings are burned husks, 
  its citizens are disenfranchised and out of work, and 
  even its predators have fled. Of the many Kindred who 
  once hunted this small Midwestern city, only a hand-
  ful remains. Modius, the Prince of Gary, continues his 
  long rivalry with the Anarch known as Juggler. But their 
  struggles are becoming increasingly irrelevant. If things 
  continue, Gary won’t have enough mortals to sustain 
  even a small number of vampires. 
  The Kindred aren’t willing to let the city crumble just 
  yet, though. Juggler and Modius have hit upon a scheme 
  to revitalize the city’s importance for Kindred, though 
  each wishes to claim the credit (and the rewards) for this 
  renewal. While they snipe and strike at one another like 
  two starving wolves fighting for the last scrap of meat 
  on the carcass, the Giovanni Maria DiMatto seizes her 
  chance. 
  Introduction
  Dust to Dust is a story for Vampire: The Masquer-
  ade – 20th Anniversary Edition in which the char-
  acters have the choice to become embroiled in the 
  political and supernatural goings-on in Gary, Indiana. 
  In some ways, this story is a sequel to Ashes to Ashes, 
  one of the first stories published for Vampire: The 
  Masquerade. Since this product is 20 years old as of 
  this writing, though (and written for the first edition 
  of the game, which differs quite a bit from the current 
  one), no familiarity with Ashes to Ashes is required to 
  play and enjoy Dust to Dust. All the players and the 
  Storyteller need is a copy of Vampire 20th. 
  Note, too, that the characters in this story have the 
  choice to become involved with the events of Dust 
  to Dust. This story is presented as an open, ongoing 
  event, meaning that it differs somewhat from the tra-
  ditional presentation of such a product. More about 
  what this means for you and the players can be found 
  below. 
  Dust to Dust is written under the assumption that 
  the characters are neonates, but that they have some 
  degree of autonomy from their sires and are able to 
  make their own decisions. That isn’t to suggest that 
  they can’t be agents for more powerful vampires, of 
  course. Conflicting loyalties make for great drama and 
  conflict, which is to be encouraged. This story doesn’t 
  require them to take orders from anyone, however. 
  5 
  DUST TO DUST
  Nothing beside remains. Round the decay 
  Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare 
  The lone and level sands stretch far away.
  — Percy Bysshe Shelly, “Ozymanidus”
  
  6 
  DUST TO DUST
  About the  
  Storytelling Adventure System
  If this is your first Storytelling Adventure 
  System (SAS) product, you’ve chosen a fine 
  place to start. To keep this story kit lean and 
  focused, though, we haven’t included a lot of 
  the core premises and Storyteller suggestions 
  that are at the heart of the SAS. Whether 
  you’re a new Storyteller or an old hand, be 
  sure to read the free SAS Guide, found at the 
  SAS website:
  www.white-wolf.com/sas
  Here are some of the features available in 
  Dust to Dust:
  · Interactive links. Clicking on most things 
  in dark red will take you directly to the sec-
  tion referenced, or to an appropriate charac-
  ter sheet or prop. It may also take you to an 
  external website that could be useful.
  · Scenes. Clicking on a scene name in the 
  scene flowchart or the name in the scene 
  card will take you to the full write-up of the 
  scene.
  · Bookmarks. This PDF is fully bookmarked, 
  so you can jump to major sections at any 
  time when the file is open.
  Backstory
  Dust to Dust is a story of politics, but not the long, 
  drawn-out, intrigue-laden politics of favor trading and 
  nuance that the Kindred normally engage in. Gary is 
  dying. It has been hemorrhaging people and resources 
  for decades, and its death seems a foregone conclu-
  sion. Some of the blame for this falls at the feet of 
  Kindred — Lodin, the late Prince of Chicago, used 
  his influence to wreck the industrial concerns of Gary. 
  But the city never rebounded, and much of that has to 
  do with the way the city handles its finances. 
  The economics behind Gary’s downfall aren’t rel-
  evant for the purposes of Dust to Dust. The Kindred 
  response to this downfall, however, is important. 
  Gary was never heavily populated with vampires, but 
  Prince Modius did make it clear that neonates were 
  welcome. This was in response to a long-standing pol-
  icy of Lodin’s that no vampire in Chicago was allowed 
  to create progeny. Kindred in the Windy City who 
  wished to Embrace would often choose their childer, 
  then transport them to Gary, Embrace them, and train 
  them there. Gary served as a “proving ground” for new 
  vampires, and Modius got to thumb his nose at Lodin.
  But then Lodin met Final Death. How exactly this 
  happened is unclear — some vampires say it was un-
  der the claws of werewolves, while others claim that 
  a particularly zealous vampire hunter managed to lay 
  him low. In any case, with his policy no longer in ef-
  fect, Chicago vampires could Embrace without hav-
  ing to leave their homes, and Gary became as irrel-
  evant to the undead as it had become to the living. 
  Modius tried to find a reason to keep his domain or 
  some way to matter, but the eyes of the Kindred world 
  had turned elsewhere. Within a few years no one was 
  coming to Gary to Embrace anymore. Many of the 
  native vampires left as well, leaving only Modius and 
  a small number of vampires who were, if not loyal to 
  him, at least comfortable with their home. 
  One such vampire was Juggler, the Anarch. Juggler 
  initially wished to turn Chicago into a Free State, 
  but never managed to drum up the kind of support 
  he needed. Over the years, he lowered his expecta-
  tions and made some bad concessions to the Cama-
  rilla and the Sabbat, and finally wound up losing most 
  of his followers. Younger Anarchs view him as a sell-
  out, while the established factions see him as a former 
  threat, not a current one. Embarrassed and dejected, 
  Juggler returned to Gary, unsure of what to do next.
  Modius and Juggler had always had a strange, un-
  comfortable relationship. As two of the only vampires 
  left in Gary, they began to interact more. At first their 
  discussions were mutual insults, each pointing out 
  what the other had lost. And then one night, Modius 
  pushed Juggler too far and the Brujah flew into frenzy. 
  The two of them fought, ran, ambushed, and bit 
  each other, but neither managed to strike a killing 
  (or even particularly injuring) blow. As they battled, 
  Modius, who had kept his head, noticed that they 
  hadn’t seen a mortal for blocks. He hid long enough 
  for Juggler to regain his head, and then pointed this 
  out. Gary was becoming a ghost town, and there were 
  too few mortals left to hunt. 
  Juggler disagreed — they were near a highway exit. 
  They could simply wait in a gas station, truck stop, or 
  fast food restaurant, feed from a traveler, and let the 
  6 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  7 
  DUST TO DUST
  poor soul go on his merry way. Alternatively, Juggler 
  noted, Gary had so many abandoned and burned-out 
  houses that stashing a body wouldn’t be hard. The 
  city wasn’t much for nightlife, Juggler admitted, but it 
  wouldn’t be bad for a vampire willing to hunt a little 
  differently. 
  And that was when inspiration struck them both. 
  Gary could be a thriving city again, but not for mortals. 
  Traveling east from Chicago all but required people to 
  go through Gary. They didn’t have to stay; they just 
  had to stop. With that in mind as goal, the urban de-
  cay of the city was arguably a good thing. Gary could 
  become relevant to the Kindred again. All the vam-
  pires had to do was stop thinking of the city in terms 
  of permanent mortal population.
  Despite their consensus, Modius and Juggler have 
  two very different end goals in mind. Juggler still 
  wants to establish a Free State within spitting distance 
  of Chicago, while Modius eventually wants to claim 
  Chicago as his own domain. But now that each has a 
  plan of operation, it has become a race to see which 
  of them would implement it first. Their strategies and 
  styles (and what these mean for the players’ characters 
  in Dust to Dust) are discussed below. 
  Before any strategy could be implemented, though, 
  a new vampire with a very different plan for Gary ar-
  rived. 
  Maria DiMatto
  Maria DiMatto got her start in Los Angeles, and 
  is therefore quite adept at working around warring 
  factions of Kindred. Knowing that she’d never be a 
  mainstream movie producer, she decided to follow an 
  emerging trend — shooting low-budget horror mov-
  ies in poor, rundown cities for a fraction of the cost 
  that they would incur in California. This approach 
  worked well, and it allowed Maria to travel to vari-
  ous cities across the country. She made a great deal 
  of money and built up her reputation among mortals 
  (as a strange but dedicated producer of horror films) 
  and among Kindred (as a good luck charm for impov-
  erished cities — her movies tended to bring revenue, 
  and therefore mortals). One of the cities that came to 
  her attention was Gary. 
  Maria journeyed to Gary and found exactly what she 
  had been looking for — a city on the verge of death. 
  As a Necromancer, Maria was accustomed to dealing 
  with death and dying, but never on such a large scale. 
  With the entire soul of the city fading away, Maria 
  decided that Gary would be the site of her experi-
  ment in “sociological necromancy” — if she allowed 
  the city to die, even symbolically, could she work a 
  large enough death-magic ritual to “raise” it? And if 
  she could, what would that mean? She isn’t sure, but 
  she doesn’t see a downside to trying. In the worst-case 
  scenario, the town stays dead and she moves on. 
  In the meantime, Maria is encouraging traffic from 
  Chicago and other nearby cities. She’s already set up 
  a shooting schedule for a zombie film called Rust, and 
  she’s starting off the process by organizing a zombie 
  walk — a march through downtown Gary with every-
  one in full zombie makeup. She’s planning to use this 
  as an opportunity to get the local Kindred under her 
  thumb a bit, as well as get free extras for the film. She 
  is unaware, however, that her zombie walk proves an 
  irresistible target for another undead creature.
  Lazlo Varga
  Lazlo Varga died years ago in Detroit, but that didn’t 
  stop him. A mortal necromancer of some skill before 
  his death, the bullet in his heart did nothing but force 
  his hand. He activated a ring he had stolen in Kiev 
  some years back — a ring that supposedly belonged 
  to Rasputin himself. According to reports, the ring al-
  lowed its wearer to survive any wound.
  That wasn’t quite the effect it had, though. Varga 
  didn’t survive the wound so much as transcend it. 
  His body died, but his soul refused to flee. He tore his 
  assailant apart with his bare hands and fled the city, 
  aware that without a living body to slow him down, 
  he was capable of death-magic the likes of which he’d 
  never considered. 
  Over the next few years, Varga honed his magical 
  skill and built up a cult of like-minded followers. He 
  was in Gary during the Great Gary Arson (a huge fire 
  that burned dozens of buildings and damaged hun-
  dreds more, all for the sole purpose of destroying a 
  vampire named Jean Lisle). He happened upon the 
  site of Sullivan Dane’s battle with Jean Lisle (see be-
  low), and his magical senses told him that the pile of 
  thick, slightly sticky ash in the center of the room was 
  more than simply debris. He collected the ashes in an 
  urn and left the city with it.
  Since then, Varga has concentrated on building up 
  the membership in his cult. The cult worships death 
  as empowering condition — in death, one can be 
  memorialized, made pure, remembered without fault. 
  And, of course, in death a person feels no pain. Varga 
  himself demonstrates the “insensate nature of walking 
  death” by stabbing himself with blades and burning 
  his flesh with hot metal, and his devotees learn to do 
  the same. 
  
  8 
  DUST TO DUST
  Lisle is something of a rarity among elder Kindred. 
  He doesn’t have any long-term plans, and he doesn’t 
  have his rotting fingers in a thousand bloody pies. 
  He simply wants to feed and kill. He has glimmers 
  of memory occasionally, which cause him to aim the 
  worst of his violence at white people (especially well-
  dressed or obviously wealthy white people), but he’s 
  also intelligent enough to know that such people don’t 
  just disappear. It’s his propensity for bloody violence 
  that attracted the attention of Sullivan Dane. Dane 
  realized that this vampire was an oddity — most old 
  Kindred don’t remain so visible for so long. Though 
  Dane made Lisle his priority, Lisle was used to being 
  hunted.
  The cat-and-mouse game lasted for months, and 
  finally Dane called in help from the Church. The 
  Church sent a team of Inquisitors, and they cornered 
  Lisle in a house in Gary (whose occupants Lisle had 
  already slaughtered). Before Dane could prevent it, 
  one of the hunters set a fire in an attempt to smoke 
  Lisle out. The fire spread across the city, and the other 
  hunters scattered. Dane, however, wanted to make 
  sure that Lisle was truly dead. He looked into the 
  house, and through the smoke and the heat he saw 
  Lisle collapse into dust. Satisfied that the vampire was 
  dead, Dane fled the city. 
  Unfortunately for Dane, Lisle had not met Final 
  Death. Instead, he had called upon his power of Ash-
  es to Ashes (see pp. 471-472 of Vampire 20th). He 
  stayed there, injured but surviving, waiting for the 
  fires to die and night to fall. But Lazlo Varga came 
  along and collected him in an urn before he had the 
  chance.
  Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem: Lisle 
  would simply have burst out of the urn and killed 
  Varga (and anyone else in the area) that night. But 
  by the time the sun set, Varga had already mixed in 
  several necromantic compounds with the ashes and 
  sealed the jar with an ointment of his own design. 
  This combination of magic left Lisle’s mind in a con-
  fused, dreamlike state — not quite torpor, but not 
  awake enough to re-form. Until the urn is shattered 
  and his ashes freed (and hopefully bloodied), Lisle 
  cannot take his true form. 
  Theme
  The themes of Dust to Dust are recovery and progres-
  sion. How much of the past can be salvaged? How 
  much should be salvaged? When is it time to let some-
  thing die? How much effort and energy can or should 
  The Nature of Varga’s Magic
  Varga obviously has access to some form of mystical 
  power, but it isn’t a vampiric Discipline. We’ve repre-
  sented his powers with Disciplines, however, because 
  that is the simplest way to do so. If the characters wish 
  to study his necromancy, they find that it has its roots 
  in Eastern European magical practices. Though it’s 
  different in theory and basis from most forms of Nec-
  romancy that vampires practice, it all works the same 
  from a game perspective.
  Vampires cannot learn Varga’s magic, since it re-
  lies on the death of a living body as an empowering 
  ritual. The Kindred, having already died and given 
  their blood to their sires as part of the Embrace, are 
  ineligible. 
  Sullivan Dane and Jean Lisle
  Sullivan Dane is a vampire hunter, and his name 
  is a whispered curse among ancillae. Dane has been 
  hunting Kindred for at least thirty years, and has been 
  aware of their existence for longer than that. He once 
  hunted them as an agent of the Catholic Church, 
  though he has been working independently for years 
  now. Dane feels that the Church, while it contains 
  many good and righteous soldiers of God, is also too 
  large and too compromised to be trusted. As such, 
  while he can call in help from the Inquisition, he 
  would prefer not to. Dane hunted Gary once before, 
  when the feud between Modius and Lodin was still 
  going on. He stayed long enough to make unlife very 
  difficult for the local Kindred, but he dropped off their 
  radar several months before the Great Gary Arson. 
  That was because he was dealing with a much greater 
  threat to the city than Modius and his ilk: Jean Lisle.
  As a mortal, Jean Lisle was a revolutionary in Haiti. 
  Embraced into the Samedi just after the beginning 
  of the St. Domingue Slave Rebellion, he helped the 
  former slaves win the war and form the independent 
  nation of Haiti. His “help,” however, was mostly in 
  the form of slaughtering French oppressors and slave-
  holders, and this violence took a toll on his mind and 
  soul. By the time he arrived in Louisiana in 1900, Jean 
  Lisle was completely insane. 
  Insanity did not dull his mind or his predatory in-
  stincts, however. Lisle was a vampire of large appe-
  tites, and he was too strong to simply destroy or oust 
  from a city. Though unaffiliated with the Sabbat, he 
  enjoyed their support — Lisle is a walking hurricane 
  of chaos and carnage, and the Sword of Caine doesn’t 
  mind inflicting him on Camarilla-controlled cities. 
  8 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  9 
  DUST TO DUST
  be expended making something usable again? Juggler 
  and Modius have both grudgingly accepted that Gary 
  is never going to be the same as it was, and are looking 
  to change what the city is (to Kindred, anyway). Ma-
  ria DiMatto wants to let the city die and then repur-
  pose it entirely. 
  But all of the Kindred in the story must face the fact 
  that the world has changed since the War for Chicago 
  and the events of Ashes to Ashes. Everyone carries 
  an atlas and an encyclopedia on a phone. Hunting is 
  more difficult for Kindred, partially because vampires 
  are such important parts of the cultural consciousness. 
  Can the Kindred let their legends fade a bit, allowing 
  them to become more effective hunters, or will they 
  plunge the city into blood and ash once again? And 
  if they refuse to bow to progress, are they prepared to 
  accept the consequences? 
  Mood
  The mood of Gary is bleak. The city suffers from 
  crushing poverty and urban decay. People are stream-
  ing out of the area. Any vampire in Gary needs a re-
  liable and defensible source of blood just to survive 
  — there’s barely even a Rack anymore. 
  The Storyteller can help accent this mood by find-
  ing some pictures of the urban decay in Gary. It isn’t 
  difficult; a quick image search online can provide you 
  with plenty of material. It’s important, though, to in-
  terject some humanity into these kinds of images. Al-
  though the population is dropping like a stone, people 
  do still live in Gary. Show the characters some of the 
  people that live here (and are still awake during a 
  vampire’s hours): third shift employees, the homeless, 
  sex workers, drug dealers, disenfranchised youths with 
  nowhere to go. Include a good mix, and give them 
  names and enough detail that the players can relate. 
  And then remind the characters that these are their 
  victims. Do the characters really have the stomach to 
  make things worse for the citizens of Gary? A few lost 
  pints of blood can result in headache, nausea, and fa-
  tigue, and when a person isn’t eating or sleeping right 
  to begin with, that can lead to a lost job or a neglected 
  family. So is it more merciful to kill the victim? It’s not 
  an easy choice for the Kindred, or at least it shouldn’t 
  be.
  A Chapter in Your Chronicle
  If you are already running a Vampire 20th chroni-
  cle, including Dust to Dust is as simple as having the 
  characters come to Gary. Dust to Dust is less a pre-
  scribed series of events and more a standing situation 
  that the characters can insert themselves into. There-
  fore, using this story as a chapter in your chronicle 
  simply requires the Storyteller to decide which parts 
  of Dust to Dust are the most interesting and include 
  them.
  For instance, the Storyteller might want to include 
  the events of the zombie walk (“Offers,” “The Zombie 
  Walk”), but not necessarily have the characters stick 
  around to deal with Modius and Juggler and their 
  feud. That’s simple enough — the characters can sim-
  ply get word from an interested third party that a rich 
  and influential vampire in Gary is looking for outside 
  Kindred to help her with a project she has going. The 
  vampires come into town long enough to do the job, 
  and get caught up in the plotlines involving Lazlo 
  Varga, Jean Lisle, and Sullivan Dane. The larger, city-
  wide issues of the future of Gary don’t need to apply. 
  Of course, if the players decide this setting is interest-
  ing, then the Storyteller already has a framework set 
  up for future stories.
  A Story By Itself
  Because Dust to Dust isn’t arranged the way many 
  pre-written scenarios are (with a triggering event, a 
  call to duty from a more powerful character, a linear 
  plot, and so on), using it as a standalone story might 
  require the Storyteller to set a few narrative require-
  ments. The most important, of course, is for the char-
  acters to have a reason to come to and stay in Gary. 
  That might require the Storyteller to explain what 
  the story is going to be about, and perhaps some of the 
  backstory, in order to give the players enough infor-
  mation to make characters who will become engaged 
  in the setting. If the Storyteller winds up with a group 
  of high-society aesthetes, he may find that such char-
  acters have no driving reason to remain in the decay-
  ing, blue-collar city of Gary. 
  Dust to Dust is well-suited to being a standalone 
  story setting. It could even blossom into a chronicle, 
  particularly if the characters decide that they want to 
  be the ones that oversee Gary’s rebirth (or downfall).
  
  10 
  DUST TO DUST
  How it Played Out in  
  New Orleans
  Dust to Dust was first run as a series of one-
  shot events by The Wrecking Crew at The 
  Grand Masquerade convention in 2011. 
  There was so much material that in order 
  to fit into the five hour slot, The Wrecking 
  Crew cut out some of the material, subplots, 
  and side scenes to focus primarily on the 
  necromancy cult and Maria’s plans. We 
  present the options used during that session 
  partly to help recreate the experience, and 
  partially to showcase how selective removal 
  of elements and subtle emphasis on others 
  can provide a very different experience with 
  the SAS system.
  If you’d like to replicate how it was run dur-
  ing the Grand Masquerade, make the follow-
  ing changes to the story:
  • Reduce or eliminate the rivalry between 
  Modius and Juggler – Modius is primarily 
  a figurehead in Gary at this point, and the 
  party in “Welcome to Gary” is mainly to 
  introduce Maria.
  • Similarly, the presence of Sullivan Dane is 
  drastically reduced or eliminated.
  • The scene “Offers” focuses primarily on 
  Maria’s offer.
  • The following scenes aren’t used: “The 
  Hunter,” “Juggling Lessons,” “Toothless 
  Hounds,” and “Tomorrow Night.”
  Set-Up
  The Storyteller should pay close attention to the 
  events preceding Dust to Dust, because the players 
  will think of avenues of approach not covered by the 
  following scenes. If the Storyteller knows what came 
  before and what the principal characters’ motivations 
  are, he will be much better able to roll with the pro-
  verbial punches. 
  In Ashes to Ashes, a group of neonates, while at-
  tending a New Year’s party in Gary with Prince Mo-
  dius, were summoned to Chicago to present them-
  selves to Prince Lodin. They then found themselves 
  enmeshed in a complicated web of plots, intrigue, 
  lies, blood bonds, and manipulation that ended with 
  Prince Lodin being kidnapped and possibly killed. For 
  purposes of Dust to Dust, the exact events of Ashes 
  to Ashes aren’t relevant — this story is more of a the-
  matic sequel. If you have read or played through Ashes 
  to Ashes, feel free to alter anything in this story to 
  fit with your own troupe’s continuity. If you haven’t 
  read Ashes to Ashes, don’t worry about it. Relevant 
  characters are given all the detail you need to portray 
  them here. The following are assumed to be true for 
  purposes of Dust to Dust:
  • Modius is still Prince of Gary
  • Lodin, former Prince of Chicago, has been de-
  stroyed. Who or what destroyed him isn’t relevant. If 
  your players want to know, though (and there is noth-
  ing in the history of your personal Vampire chronicles 
  to decide the matter), consider seeding rumors of a 
  rotting corpse (Jean Lisle) or a dedicated, implacable 
  hunter (Sullivan Dane) felling the Prince of Chicago. 
  • Lodin’s prohibition on siring new Kindred died 
  with him.
  • Most of the native Kindred of Gary have left, 
  died, or fallen into torpor. The only established vam-
  piric residents of Gary at the beginning of Dust to 
  Dust are Modius, Juggler, Maria DiMatto, Jean Lisle 
  (in dust form), the characters, and any Contacts, Al-
  lies, or Mentors they choose to establish. The total 
  vampire population of the city might therefore be less 
  than a dozen. 
  Plots and Goals
  Modius
  • Modius wants to continue being Prince of Gary, 
  but to have the title mean something. He wants more 
  Kindred in the city, so that he can have parties and 
  plots and praise and hangers-on and all the things he 
  had before, when he was Lodin’s rival. 
  • Modius is willing to kill mortals as necessary to 
  achieve this goal. He is not willing to kill or fatally 
  endanger vampires to get it. 
  • Modius has monetary resources, a superb knowl-
  edge of the city and its history, and a small stable of 
  ghouls on his side. He has used up or lost the favors he 
  accrued from other Kindred over the years, however. 
  10 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  11 
  DUST TO DUST
  Juggler
  • Juggler wants Gary to become a Free State. He 
  doesn’t necessarily want to be the Baron, but he wants 
  the city to become relevant to Kindred again. 
  • While Modius wants Gary to be a Kindred hot-
  spot to validate his own existence, Juggler is willing to 
  leave the city in order to see it succeed. He is also will-
  ing to kill whoever he needs to, vampire or mortal, in 
  order to get the Kindred of Gary fired up, passionate, 
  and thinking about Chicago as the next major Free 
  State.
  • Juggler has very little in the way of temporal re-
  sources and he hasn’t kept in touch with his childer. 
  He knows the city at least as well as Modius, and is 
  a physically formidable opponent. While he doesn’t 
  have a large stable of ghouls at the ready, between his 
  potent blood and his command of Dominate, he could 
  have loyal servants in short order if he needed them.
  Maria DiMatto
  • Maria’s goal is twofold. First, she is working to 
  bring in money, favors, and power to her family and 
  herself. To that end, she is setting up film concerns 
  in low-income cities like Gary (especially such cities 
  without a strong presence from the Camarilla or the 
  Sabbat). Second, she wants to experiment with the 
  concept of “sociological necromancy,” which is the 
  study of what happens to a town when it dies. 
  • Maria is largely amoral, but she doesn’t want 
  to kill people if she can avoid it. She would rather 
  work with existing corpses. That said, her objections 
  to killing have more to do with inconvenience and 
  potential exposure than ethics. She has no problem 
  manipulating or endangering Kindred, but she would 
  rather trade favors, because she views this as a renew-
  able resource (it just doesn’t make sense for vampires 
  to run short cons). She will use, abuse, destroy, and 
  otherwise damage ghosts without a second thought, 
  however. 
  • In addition to her own personal wealth, Maria 
  can draw on the network of connections and resourc-
  es that her profession provides. If she needs backup, 
  the Giovanni can have armed bodyguards at her side 
  in a few hours, to say nothing of her ghostly guardians. 
  Maria herself wouldn’t be hard to destroy, but getting 
  to her would be extremely difficult. 
  Lazlo Varga
  • Varga wants power. More specifically, he wants 
  necromantic power. He wants to be free of pain, wor-
  ry, hunger, and care, to be strong and vigorous, and to 
  live (or, rather, to continue to exist) forever. 
  • Varga is willing to kill, sell out, or use anyone and 
  anything in order to achieve his goal. His most prized 
  resource is the urn, mostly because he is unaware of 
  what it really holds.
  • Lazlo has some money squirreled away, but for the 
  most part he steals what he needs or instructs his cult 
  to procure it. His cult is his most useful resource. Lazlo 
  himself is nearly impossible to kill, but he recognizes 
  the importance of the word “nearly.”
  Jean Lisle
  • Jean Lisle wants nothing but blood. He retains 
  the barest shreds of Humanity, and is driven by base 
  impulses. When he isn’t hungry, he turns his atten-
  tion to killing with intent, out of a long-smoldering 
  need for revenge for his people. 
  • Jean is willing to murder anything in reach to sa-
  tiate his hunger. Jean will not, however, risk his own 
  unlife — his self-preservation instinct is the strongest 
  he possesses.
  • Jean has no resources except his own undead 
  might, which is considerable. While he is only slightly 
  above a mindless killer, he is capable of plotting, re-
  treat, and strategy. He is also aware that most vam-
  pires can’t stand against him in a fight for very long.
  Sullivan Dane
  • Dane wants God’s will to be done. As he sees it, 
  vampires are abominations on the Earth, and he is 
  called to destroy them.
  • While Dane is zealous, even obsessed, he is not 
  willing to commit mortal sins in pursuit of his goal. 
  He doesn’t kill human beings, and will only injure 
  them in self-defense. He is especially unwilling to kill 
  or harm people that he knows to be un-saved, since 
  killing them would damn them to Hell. Dane is will-
  ing to destroy property and to steal in pursuit of God’s 
  will, but always tries to make restitution. He has be-
  come much less keen on the notion of using fire to 
  hunt vampires since the Great Arson.
  • Dane has money, equipment, and experience on 
  his side, but his most important resource is his Faith. 
  God shows Dane where he needs to be, and usually 
  leads him to the resources that he requires. Dane finds 
  that making plans in the long term doesn’t pan out, 
  because God always puts him where He needs him 
  anyway. Dane could, in theory, call on the Inquisi-
  
  12 
  DUST TO DUST
  tion for help, but is leery of doing so. He might recruit 
  other hunters himself, however. 
  Involving the Characters
  The characters need a reason to be in Gary. A few 
  suggestions follow, but the Storyteller is encouraged 
  to have the players come up with their own reasons 
  for the characters to be in the city. 
  • A character might be a childe of Modius or Jug-
  gler, or even Maria (though Maria is extremely un-
  likely to sire a child and then just let it go). 
  • A character might be in the employ of one of the 
  Kindred in the city, perhaps contracted as part of a 
  boon.
  • A character Embraced and given no instructions 
  might wander into the city, as might a nomadic vam-
  pire.
  • Characters (probably more than one) from Chi-
  cago might be in Gary representing the interests of 
  the Camarilla — or one particular elder — there. A 
  vampire looking to extend his power base might send 
  agents into Gary, for instance, as might an old ally or 
  enemy of Modius.
  • Sabbat, Anarch, or independent agents might 
  wish to investigate the city, to see if anything salvage-
  able remains.
  • A character might have once been a Gary native, 
  but previously they moved away. Now she wishes to 
  return home.
  Are the characters an established coterie, or are 
  they individual Kindred who will meet and form a co-
  terie during the course of the story? Both possibilities 
  have benefits for the story. 
  Established Coterie
  If the characters are an established coterie, take 
  some time and have the group decide on their history 
  together (unless you are running Dust to Dust as part 
  of an established chronicle). Figure out their reasons 
  for forming a coterie, their goals, and why they are in 
  Gary. More importantly, make sure they have a reason 
  to stay in Gary. Hopefully the events and the situa-
  tions in Dust to Dust will prove interesting enough 
  to keep them there, but it never hurts to have a bit of 
  personal business to attend to as well. 
  The advantage to having the characters as an es-
  tablished group is that you don’t have to try and find 
  a way to get them together. With no Prince to order 
  them all to solve a common problem and no common 
  sire to ride herd on them all, the characters willingly 
  getting together can be a big time-saver. A disadvan-
  tage, though, is that you might not see as much diver-
  sity in their reasons for being in Gary. 
  A Group of Strangers
  The other possibility is that the characters don’t 
  know each other, and are all in Gary for their own 
  reasons. This will help you flesh out the setting and 
  make it unique to your chronicle, because each player 
  should contribute details about your version of Gary. 
  The problem, of course, is that you then need to de-
  vote in-game time to getting the characters together, 
  and Dust to Dust doesn’t provide much of a frame-
  work for that. 
  In this case, we recommend that the Storyteller ask 
  the players directly what would push their characters 
  to work together or interact. Don’t just guess and 
  hope it happens; you might wind up with five players 
  all doing different things. 
  Your Very Own Gary
  One thing that you can — and should — do no 
  matter what the coterie setup is to incorporate any 
  supporting characters into the setting. For instance, if 
  a character has a Contact, Ally, or Mentor, have the 
  player come up with some supporting details about 
  that character that you can use to broaden Gary out a 
  bit. The number of Kindred in Gary, as written, makes 
  for a sparse group of characters, which is in-theme 
  for Dust to Dust but also doesn’t give the characters 
  many people to interact with. 
  Whether to add more characters is a decision for 
  the Storyteller. If you feel that more Kindred should 
  inhabit Gary, by all means add some, but consider 
  what role you want them to play in the story. Don’t 
  include characters “just because,” and don’t feel the 
  need to put authority figures from any given group or 
  faction. In particular, notice that no Sabbat Kindred 
  are detailed for Gary. This isn’t because it’s important 
  to Dust to Dust that Gary has no Sabbat, but rather 
  because the Sword of Caine isn’t an important factor 
  in the story, and with a limited amount of space, it’s 
  better for us to keep things simple. If, however, you 
  want to add a Sabbat presence (or even to have the 
  players create Sabbat characters and have them try 
  and take the city for the Sabbat), feel free! Gary’s fate 
  is up to you. 
  12 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  13 
  DUST TO DUST
  The Cast
  Sullivan Dane
  Quotes: “God’s will be done.”
  “I have seen nothing from any of you that justifies your 
  existence. Nothing.”
  “I would be happy to tell you what you wish to know. No, I 
  don’t want your money.”
  Background: Sullivan Dane was born in England in 
  1957. Little is known about his early life, except that 
  he felt a calling to do the Lord’s work from a young 
  age. He applied to the Jesuit order in 1980, and in 
  1982 had his first encounter with the Kindred. He 
  destroyed a neonate vampire in Washington, D.C., 
  and something snapped into place for him. Sullivan 
  Dane was meant to hunt vampires. In that moment, 
  he felt knowledge flood his mind, as scenarios, names, 
  faces, and voices came rushing in. He attempted to 
  convince the order of what had happened to him, but 
  their faith apparently did not extend to vampires. He 
  struck out on his own, and eventually the Inquisition 
  found him.
  Sullivan Dane has hunted Kindred across the Unit-
  ed States. He is wanted by the FBI (though they do 
  not know his real name) as well as the police depart-
  ments of Boston, New York, Detroit, Chicago, Los 
  Angeles, Las Vegas, and many others. He prefers to 
  work alone, hunting his prey down and burning the 
  Kindred while they sleep, but he has been known to 
  call in assistance from the Church when he feels he is 
  out of his league. 
  Description: Dane is of above-average height and 
  build, with lean, sharp features. His once-dark hair is 
  greying, and he keeps it short. His eyes are dark green. 
  He bears the scars of severe burns across both of his 
  hands and forearms, though he usually wears gloves 
  to cover them. Dane dresses to avoid standing out. 
  When on the hunt, he wears a long coat with wooden 
  stakes stitched into the lining. Dane is a violinist of 
  almost savant-like skill, and plays to relax himself.
  Storytelling Hints: Dane knows that his hunt will 
  be his death. He has known that for years, but it 
  hasn’t happened yet. More than anything, he wants 
  to see all of the Kindred turn on each other and de-
  stroy themselves, and to that end he is willing to give 
  up any information he knows about one vampire to 
  any vampire that asks. He does not lie, cheat, or steal, 
  and he attends Mass every chance he gets. His faith 
  is so strong that it informs literally every decision he 
  makes, and the only sin he never quite feels absolved 
  of is the feeling that maybe, just maybe, he deserves a 
  day or two without God. That feeling passes when he 
  takes up his stakes again, though.
  Name: Sullivan Dane
  Concept: Devout Hunter
  Nature: Loner
  Demeanor: Eye of the Storm 
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity (Cat-
  Like) 4, Stamina (Determined) 4
  Social Attributes: Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Ap-
  pearance 2
  Mental Attributes: Perception (Curious) 4, Intelli-
  gence (Discerning) 4, Wits (Devilishly Clever) 5
  Talents: Alertness (Supernatural) 4, Athlet-
  ics (Gymnastics) 4, Awareness (Vampires) 4, Brawl 
  (Boxing) 4, Empathy 1, Intimidation 3, Streetwise 
  (Street Culture) 4
  Skills: Crafts 2, Drive 2, Etiquette 1, Firearms (As-
  sassination) 4, Larceny 3, Melee (Staking) 5, Perfor-
  mance (Violin) 5, Stealth (Darkness) 5, Survival 3
  
  14 
  DUST TO DUST
  Knowledges: Academics 3, Computer 1, Investi-
  gation (Investigation) 5, Law 3, Medicine 2, Occult 
  (Vampires) 4
  Backgrounds: Allies 5, Contacts 5, Resources 2
  Virtues: Conscience 4, Self-Control 5, Courage 5
  Willpower: 10
  Humanity: 9
  Notes: True Faith 5; see pp. 372-373 of Vampire 20th 
  Lazlo Varga
  Quotes: “Birth is the truly unfortunate part of the life 
  cycle. Death is underrated.”
  “I am not a killer. I don’t enjoy it. A killer would enjoy it.”
  “I miss eating, but not enough to miss indigestion. Do you 
  see?” 
  Background: Lazlo Varga emigrated from Hungary 
  in his early 20s. He spoke no English, and he was of-
  fended and appalled at how Americans treated him — 
  they saw him as stupid, lazy, and untrustworthy simply 
  because he did not speak their language. He learned 
  quickly how to communicate, but he never really ac-
  cepted his new country. 
  In his homeland, Lazlo was intelligent, erudite, and 
  well-read. Always interested in the occult, he tracked 
  down a secret society of spiritualists and mediums in 
  Detroit. But they, like many Americans, did not even 
  attempt to listen to what he had to say (though they 
  did accept his money for membership). One night, for 
  reasons Lazlo still does not understand, someone fired 
  a gun into the society’s meeting house. He was hit and 
  died en route to the hospital.
  But in the morgue that night, he sat up. One of the 
  rituals he had performed faithfully every morning had 
  worked — he had become a walking corpse. His body 
  heals most wounds in mere minutes, and he found he 
  did not feel pain, fatigue, or hunger. He stole every-
  thing of value from the spiritualists’ headquarters, and 
  founded his own cult — a cult that would accept him, 
  listen to him and, if necessary, die for him. 
  Description: Lazlo is a muscular, solidly built man 
  in his late 40s. He shaves his head and wears a full 
  beard, and he wears an iron pendant around his neck 
  that he makes a great show of polishing and cleaning 
  (this is a decoy, meant to fool attackers). Lazlo usually 
  has charcoal under his fingernails and ink stains on 
  his hands from his daily rituals. He dresses in simple 
  clothing and expensive, sturdy boots. He speaks with 
  a thick Hungarian accent. 
  Storytelling Hints: Lazlo fears weakness and age, 
  but not death. He’s already died once, after all. He 
  is aware on some level that he can still be killed, but 
  since conventional methods have no effect, he grows 
  more power-drunk with each passing night. As he has 
  more contact with vampires, his contempt for them 
  grows. They might play at being undead, but they are 
  all one wooden stick away from oblivion. 
  Name: Lazlo Varga
  Concept: Zombie Cult Leader
  Nature: Rogue
  Demeanor: Autocrat 
  Physical Attributes: Strength (Brawny) 5, Dexterity 
  (Fluid) 4, Stamina (Solid) 5
  Social Attributes: Charisma 3, Manipulation 2, Ap-
  pearance 2
  Mental Attributes: Perception 2, Intelligence 
  (Well-Educated) 4, Wits 3
  Talents: Alertness 2, Athletics 3, Awareness 
  (Ghosts) 4, Brawl (Throws) 4, Intimidation 3, Lead-
  ership 2, Streetwise 1
  Skills: Crafts 1, Etiquette 1, Firearms 2, Larceny 2, 
  Melee 3, Stealth 2
  Knowledges: Academics 3, Investigation 2, Medi-
  cine 2, Occult (Necromancy) 4, Science 2
  Backgrounds: Resources 3, Retainers 5
  Disciplines: Celerity 2, Fortitude 5, Potence 5
  Virtues: Conscience 1, Self-Control 2, Courage 4
  14 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  15 
  DUST TO DUST
  Willpower: 7
  Humanity: 2
  Notes: Lazlo cannot be killed through conventional 
  means. He ignores bashing damage (but is subject to 
  knockdown effects; see pp. 279-280 of Vampire 20th) 
  and may soak lethal damage as though he were a vam-
  pire. Any lethal or aggravated damage he suffers heals 
  within one day. Lazlo spends Willpower, rather than 
  blood, to activate his Disciplines. 
  Jean Lisle
  Quotes: “J’ai faim.”
  “Le mort lent est le seul mort.”
  “I remember you. Holding a whip.” 
  Background: Jean Lisle’s birth name is lost to him 
  now, just like his family, his people, and his mortal 
  life. He remembers being given the name “Jean” as a 
  young man, still a slave in what is now Haiti. He re-
  members his Embrace, a rotting monster grabbing him 
  and forcing its putrid blood down his throat. Every 
  night since has been an exercise in revenge. What he 
  saw and felt during his time as a slave was burned into 
  his brain, immortalized in the moment of his death 
  and rebirth. Thus his bloodlust can never be sated, no 
  matter how many people he kills. 
  Jean came to New Orleans in the mid-19th century, 
  and the Kindred there gave him the nickname “Jean 
  L’Isle” to differentiate him from other “Jeans” among 
  their kind. He didn’t much care, and kept to him-
  self, hunting the red light districts, the wharfs, and 
  other places where mortal authorities rarely trod. The 
  Prince of New Orleans exiled him in 1904, and he 
  began to move northeast, killing the mortals he fed 
  upon but never staying in a city long enough to trig-
  ger a Blood Hunt. He arrived in Indiana in the mid-
  1990s, where his depredations brought him to the at-
  tention of Sullivan Dane. The fire that was meant to 
  destroy him took most of Gary, instead, but it did lead 
  his unfortunate imprisonment in a clay urn. 
  Description: In life, Jean Lisle was a strong, hand-
  some black man in his early 20s. The Embrace, of 
  course, changed that. Like all Samedi, Jean Lisle is 
  ghastly to behold. His nose, ears, and eyelids have 
  long since rotted away. His hair is gone, except for 
  the occasional moldy curl on the back of his head. His 
  lips hang loosely from his face, leaking bloody fluid 
  whenever he moves them. Jean wears tattered, mold-
  ering clothes stolen from various victims. He carries 
  nothing in his pockets, but keeps the handle of a whip 
  tucked away in the folds of his flesh. 
  Storytelling Hints: Jean Lisle is barley cognizant. 
  He retains language and intent, but his Beast is, for 
  the most part, the one in control. Centuries of hate 
  have made him into what he is, and changing that 
  would be a Herculean effort (and require some way to 
  contact the man buried deep in the rotting flesh). All 
  Jean wants is to kill, because killing reminds him of 
  the rage he felt when he was still alive. When he can’t 
  feel that, he feels a pull to sleep, which terrifies him.
  Name: Jean Lisle
  Concept: Former Slave/Monster
  Clan: Samedi
  Generation: Sixth
  Nature: Monster
  Demeanor: Monster 
  Physical Attributes: Strength (Relentless) 6, Dex-
  terity (Savage) 4, Stamina (Unyielding) 5
  Social Attributes: Charisma 2, Manipulation 1, Ap-
  pearance 0
  Mental Attributes: Perception 3, Intelligence 2, 
  Wits (Feral) 4
  Talents: Alertness 2, Athletics 2, Awareness 2, 
  Brawl (Grappling) 4, Intimidation (Monstrous) 5
  Skills: Animal Ken 1, Melee 3, Stealth (Hunting) 
  5, Survival 3
  Knowledges: Academics 1, Occult 2
  
  16 
  DUST TO DUST
  Backgrounds: None
  Disciplines: Auspex 1, Celerity 2, Fortitude 4, Ob-
  fuscate 4, Potence 4, Thanatosis 5
  Virtues: Conscience 0, Self-Control 1, Courage 5
  Willpower: 5
  Humanity: 1
  Notes: Language (French) Merit. 
  Juggler
  Quotes: “This used to be such a nice city. Well, no, I guess 
  that’s an overstatement.”
  “Modius. Did I ever tell you about his stupid parties?”
  “Maybe it’s another fire we need. Got a lighter?” 
  Background: Juggler is extremely tight-lipped about 
  his background, his Embrace, and his sire. He has not, 
  as far as anyone knows, shared these details with any 
  vampire still extant. He tells his own childer only 
  that his life in the Old World is unimportant, and it is 
  his new existence, as Juggler, that now consumes his 
  heart and occupies his mind. About the only clue to 
  his origins is that he lapses into Italian when he is an-
  gry, but he speaks American English with no notable 
  accent the rest of the time. 
  Juggler used to be passionate. Now he is merely in-
  terested. The city crumbles around him, and he could 
  probably destroy Modius and seize control, but he has 
  become so accustomed to the Prince of Gary and their 
  squabbles that the notion of unlife without Modius 
  terrifies him. He wants to beat Modius, to throw down 
  the Camarilla (such as it is, here), but have Modius to 
  be around to witness it. 
  Description: Juggler is of slightly below-average 
  height and lightly built. He has shoulder-length dark 
  blond hair and dark gray eyes with green-flecked 
  irises, and he never blinks. He has average, undistin-
  guished features. Juggler has a habit of steepling his 
  fingers when listening, and throwing his arms wide 
  when making a point. 
  Storytelling Hints: Juggler wants freedom, but his 
  oppressors quit before he could throw them off. He 
  wants people to rally around his cause, but his cause 
  in meaningless. In order to do anything meaningful 
  for the Kindred of the city, he has to improve life for 
  the mortals (or at least get more mortals into the city 
  somehow). Time is passing Juggler by, and only his 
  odd quasi-friendship with Modius gives him any real 
  context for his own existence. When the characters 
  talk to Juggler, they might, at first, be attracted to his 
  enigmatic statements and his knowledge of politics. 
  As things progress, though, they should see him for 
  what he is — a story about rebellion, not a rebel. 
  Name: Juggler
  Clan: Brujah
  Generation: Eighth
  Concept: Would-be Anarch
  Nature: Enigma
  Demeanor: Trickster 
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity (Grace-
  ful) 5, Stamina 3
  Social Attributes: Charisma 3, Manipulation (Cun-
  ning) 4, Appearance 3
  Mental Attributes: Perception (Probing) 4, Intelli-
  gence 2, Wits 3
  Talents: Alertness (Double-Cross) 4, Athletics 2, 
  Awareness 2, Brawl (Grappling) 4, Intimidation 2, 
  Leadership (Fierce) 5, Streetwise (Anarchs) 4, Sub-
  terfuge 2
  Skills: Drive 2, Etiquette (Gangs) 4, Firearms 3, Lar-
  ceny 3, Melee 2, Stealth 3
  Knowledges: Academics 1, Investigation 2, Occult 
  3, Politics 1
  16 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  17 
  DUST TO DUST
  Backgrounds: Contacts 3, Herd 3, Allies 2
  Disciplines: Celerity 3, Dominate 4, Fortitude 1, 
  Obfuscate 2, Potence 2, Presence 2
  Virtues: Conscience 2, Self-Control 4, Courage 4
  Willpower: 8
  Humanity: 5
  Notes: Language (Italian) Merit.
  Maria DiMatto
  Quotes: “Oh, no thanks. I never drink wine!”
  “Sure, send me the script.”
  “Everybody’s heard of a ghost town, right? But ghosts are 
  boring and insubstantial. Now, zombies….”
  Background: Maria DiMatto is a neonate, Embraced 
  in 1980. The daughter of a Giovanni cousin, she was 
  interested in the seedier side of her family from an 
  early age. When she turned 16, she made what she 
  referred to as an “art film” involving two of her friends 
  from high school, a claw-foot tub, and a straight razor. 
  Her family was impressed by her initiative (though 
  her uncle did help her to tone things down a bit), and 
  she decided she might like to go into filmmaking full 
  time. 
  Through a combination of ambition, connections, 
  and natural talent, Maria worked her way up the lad-
  der in Hollywood. When she was selected for the Em-
  brace, she was initially concerned that her new re-
  strictions might bar her from doing what she loved, 
  but she had made enough money and enough contacts 
  that her family didn’t care. They wanted her to come 
  back home and run things from afar — and that’s just 
  not the way Maria DiMatto wanted to do things. 
  Instead of going home, on the night after her Em-
  brace she staked her sire (who was also her cousin) 
  and arranged meetings with new investors. Riding the 
  wave of torture-porn films, she founded a new studio: 
  After Sunset Films. Their mission was simply to pro-
  duce frightening and profitable horror films without 
  pretension and without Hollywood. She had four 
  movies lined up to start production within a month. 
  When she presented this to her uncle, he congratu-
  lated her, and asked her to please remove the stake 
  from his son’s heart and let him go. 
  Description: Maria was Embraced in her early 20s, 
  but she often employs makeup to make herself look 
  more mature and professional. She is pale, with dark 
  eyes and hair, drawn features, and a somewhat stocky 
  build. Maria almost always wears black and white, but 
  for movie premieres she wears red, just for contrast. 
  She never carries weapons, but frequently has a body-
  guard close by.
  Storytelling Hints: Maria loves what she does, but 
  her aptitude for filmmaking does not mean that she 
  doesn’t share her Clan’s preoccupation with death. 
  One of her favorite phrases is that one death is a trag-
  edy, but a million is a statistic. She is trying to find 
  a way to equate the two, to make it possible for the 
  “many death” of a town’s viability and livelihood dy-
  ing to be more similar to the “one death” that can 
  lead to a controllable ghost. Maria’s family doesn’t 
  understand what she is trying to do, but her uncle has 
  learned that telling Maria “no” just means she’ll do it 
  anyway, and he doesn’t want anyone getting staked 
  this time.
  Name: Maria DiMatto
  Clan: Giovanni
  Generation: Eighth
  Concept: Movie Producer
  Nature: Visionary
  Demeanor: Gallant 
  Mental Attributes: Perception 3, Intelligence (Inci-
  sive) 4, Wits 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stam-
  ina 2
  Social Attributes: Charisma (Enthusiastic) 4, Ma-
  nipulation 3, Appearance 2
  
  18 
  DUST TO DUST
  Talents: Alertness 2, Awareness 3, Brawl 1, Intimi-
  dation 2, Leadership 3, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge (Ne-
  gotiation) 4
  Skills: Etiquette 2, Firearms 2, Larceny 3, Melee 2, 
  Performance 3, Stealth 1
  Knowledges: Academics 3, Computer 2, Finance 
  (Laundering Money) 4, Investigation 2, Law 1, Oc-
  cult 3, Politics 3, Technology 2
  Backgrounds: Contacts 5, Fame 2, Herd 3, Influ-
  ence 2, Mentor 2, Resources 4, Retainers 5
  Disciplines: Dominate 3, Necromancy 3, Potence 2
  Necromancy Paths: Sepulchre 3, Ash 2
  Virtues: Conscience 2, Self-Control 5, Courage 3
  Willpower: 6
  Humanity: 4
  Modius
  Quotes: “Get away from me.”
  “No one creates. Everything is dust. The fire did not spread 
  far enough.”
  “No, I won’t leave my home! I will not give up what I have 
  fought to hold!” 
  Background: Modius rarely discusses his early un-
  life, let alone his mortal life. It’s not that he wants to 
  keep it secret; it’s just that there hasn’t been anyone 
  around who cares for years. He claims to have been 
  instrumental in the formation of the Arcanum (Vam-
  pire 20th, pp. 375-376), and to have been the soci-
  ety’s first supernatural patron. He also claims to have 
  known any and all 19th or early 20th century literary or 
  occult figure the characters can name. He might really 
  believe these claims, but it’s hard to know.
  Modius is an elder vampire who has reached the 
  point in his unlife that vampires fear: Time has sim-
  ply passed him by. It was once possible to be a true 
  Prince in this part of the country, with Dominated 
  servants and expensive halls, with blood-bound may-
  ors and councilman and the like, but the world has 
  changed. Scrutiny is higher because information is 
  cheap. Other Princes have adapted (or hired advisors 
  to help them do so), but Modius has lost his power 
  base, his childer, his allies, and even his servants. All 
  he has left is Juggler, and he hates Juggler. But hate is 
  the only passion remaining to him. 
  Modius tries to present himself as the Prince of Gary 
  and have that mean something. He still has money 
  and he still has his mansion, so he dresses like a rich 
  man as he hunts the streets. Unfortunately, that only 
  makes him stand out more, because no one in Gary is 
  rich anymore. 
  Description: Modius was Embraced in his early 40s. 
  He is of slightly less than average height, but of above-
  average girth. He looks a little like Albert Einstein, 
  but his clothing is more expensive (if rather outdated) 
  and he carries himself like a rich gentleman. He is 
  prone to loud outbursts, especially if the subject of his 
  Princeship is raised. 
  Storytelling Hints: Modius wavers between being 
  imperious and standoffish to new Kindred and being 
  unctuous because there is no one else for him to talk 
  to. In truth, Modius is lonely. Left to his own devices 
  he will probably either meet Final Death or sink into 
  torpor within a year or two, unless something changes 
  drastically in his city — and on some level, he knows 
  this. So if the characters need an ally or a mentor, Mo-
  dius will try to sweep in and act in this role. Of course, 
  he is so hopelessly out of touch that he might make a 
  horrible mess of even this.
  Name: Modius
  Clan: Toreador
  Generation: Seventh
  Concept: Outdated Prince
  18 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  19 
  DUST TO DUST
  Nature: Conniver
  Demeanor: Child 
  Mental Attributes: Perception 3, Intelligence (Prac-
  tical) 4, Wits 2
  Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stam-
  ina 3
  Social Attributes: Charisma 2, Manipulation (Flat-
  tery) 4, Appearance 2
  Talents: Alertness (Paranoid) 4, Awareness 2, In-
  timidation 3, Leadership 1, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 2
  Skills: Etiquette (Aristocratic) 4, Firearms 3, Lar-
  ceny 2, Melee 2, Stealth 3
  Knowledges: Academics 2, Investigation 2, Law 
  (International) 4, Occult 2, Politics (Machiavellian) 
  4, Science 1
  Backgrounds: Resources 3, Status 3
  Disciplines: Auspex 3, Celerity 2, Dominate 4, Ob-
  fuscate 4, Presence 1, Thaumaturgy 1
  Thaumaturgy Paths: Blood 1
  Thaumaturgy Rituals: Defense of the Sacred Haven
  Virtues: Conscience 2, Self-Control 2, Courage 1
  Willpower: 5
  Humanity: 4
  Scenes
  Plotting
  The scenes in Dust to Dust, for the most part, do not 
  need to progress in any particular order, and some scenes 
  that might follow from existing scenes aren’t always de-
  tailed. For example, in “Welcome to Gary,” Prince Mo-
  dius might, depending on what the characters say to him, 
  invite them back to his mansion to “present” themselves 
  to him. This scene isn’t detailed, not because it wouldn’t 
  be important to the story but because whether it hap-
  pens at all is conditional on too many factors.
  The point is this: Dust to Dust does not progress 
  neatly from one scene to the next. Rather, it presents 
  a setting, some characters and a general situation, as 
  well as a few events that happen and require the char-
  acters reaction (the term in video game parlance is 
  “sandbox”). This avoids the issue of a scenario that 
  feels too linear and forced, but it also asks for more 
  work and improvisation from the Storyteller. 
  Systems
  In the scenes below, the systems are sometimes bro-
  ken up into “One Success, Three Successes, Five Suc-
  cesses.” This is simply to save space and to provide 
  guidelines for what the differing numbers of successes 
  might indicate. The Storyteller should be able to decide 
  what two or four successes means from these examples. 
  Welcome  
  to Gary 
  The Hunter
  Offers
  The Zombie 
  Walk
  From Dust 
  Returned
  Death Rattle 
  of Gary
  Juggling 
  Lessons
  Toothless 
  Hounds
  Tomorrow 
  Night
  Scene Flowchart
  
  20 
  DUST TO DUST
  Welcome to Gary 
  Overview
  In this scene, the characters are introduced to the 
  vampires of Gary. They learn how sparse feeding is 
  here, as even the “elders” of the city are reduced to 
  hunting down their prey in alleys like neonates. 
  Description
  The Barrens
  The houses burned 10 years ago and were never 
  rebuilt. The streetlights are all out: some shot, some 
  damaged by weather, some just lost to time. The city 
  looks, if not dead, then seriously injured. You’ve been 
  out here for an hour, and you haven’t seen a living soul. 
  Finally, someone’s walking toward you. Based on his gait 
  and the odor, he’s drunk. He might be lost, or he might 
  be homeless. He’s the first person you’ve seen here, and 
  somewhere in the back of your mind, your Beast says, 
  “Kill. You won’t feed again soon.” You don’t have time to 
  make that decision, though, before a hand grabs the man 
  from an alleyway, pulling him into the dark.
  Storyteller Goals
  While the Storyteller needs to pay some attention 
  to why the characters are in Gary in the first place, 
  we recommend that you do this out of game time, in 
  discussion with the players. Then jump straight to 
  the hunt. It’s an iconic Vampire activity, and what 
  happens on a hunt can speak volumes about how the 
  characters’ experience of a city is going to play out.
  With that in mind, the goal here is to present Gary in 
  an unflattering light, from an undead perspective. The 
  city is damaged, broken, and burned. There are clubs and 
  bars, of course, but they are sparsely populated and peo-
  ple in them look askance at strangers, which makes them 
  dangerous hunting grounds. Out on the street, the char-
  acters can employ whatever tricks they want to hunt, but 
  finding food is difficult because of a simple lack of targets.
  In a mechanical sense, the Storyteller can under-
  score the problems with hunting by increasing dif-
  ficulties on hunting-related rolls (see pp. 259-260, 
  Vampire 20th). This should be accompanied by some 
  discussion, though, about what those difficulties 
  mean, especially because the other Kindred in the city 
  are also attempting to solve those problems. 
  While feeding, the characters should run across Juggler, 
  Modius, or Maria. If the characters have split up to hunt 
  (if they don’t, they’re likely to be fighting over scraps), 
  you can run this scene by cutting between one group of 
  characters and another. The reason for having the char-
  acters happen across these vampires is twofold. First, the 
  characters should meet the other Kindred in the city and 
  learn a bit about their machinations (this may also help 
  the characters choose a side, eventually). Second, the 
  characters might, if they are used to larger cities, think 
  that powerful Kindred have networks of people to bring 
  them blood dolls and vessels. Not so in Gary. 
  Three simple vignettes, one for each vampire, are pre-
  sented below. Feel free to change the details as appro-
  priate, depending on where the characters go to feed. 
  Mental ••   Physical ••   Social •••
  20 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  21 
  DUST TO DUST
  Juggler
  Juggler is hunting in a parking lot of a big box store. 
  He waits by a car until a lone shopper returns with 
  a cart full of merchandise, then grabs her and feeds. 
  He doesn’t kill the victim, but does drop her on the 
  ground rather than put her back in her car. 
  If the characters approach Juggler before or after his hunt, 
  he welcomes them to Gary and asks if they have come here 
  to get away from “the Camarilla’s bullshit.” He is not re-
  ceptive to actively loyal Camarilla members, and derides 
  them, asking how long they’ve been “off the leash” and if 
  they remembered their membership cards. Sabbat members 
  don’t get the same derision, but he immediately adopts a 
  defensive stance as if he expects them to attack him. 
  Modius
  The Prince of Gary hunts homeless people in one 
  of the many burnt-out sections of the city. He dresses 
  completely inappropriately for the task, and relies on 
  getting close to a target and Dominating the victim 
  into following him somewhere dark. He then feeds on 
  the victim, alters her memory, and goes on his way. 
  His method of feeding is one of his many rituals, and 
  while it’s responsible, as such things go, it also makes 
  him predictable (and therefore a target for hunters). 
  If the characters meet him before he feeds, he is irritable 
  and volatile. He might even attack, if you feel the char-
  acters would stop at subduing him (if they’re likely to kill 
  him for his blood, best to leave it at posturing, unless you 
  wish this story to turn on their murder of the Prince!). 
  Once he’s fed, he is quite willing to talk, and offers to take 
  them to his mansion for a “true presentation ceremony.” 
  Maria DiMatto
  Maria is scouting locations, looking for a good starting 
  point for her zombie walk. She starts around the Town 
  Hall, taking pictures and chatting on her Bluetooth head-
  set. She knows that this kind of attention brings onlookers 
  fairly quickly, so when people show up she photographs 
  them, asks if anyone there has acting experience or wants 
  to be an extra in a horror movie, and then picks a naïve-
  looking citizen to become her meal for the evening. Unlike 
  Modius and Juggler, though, she can’t rely on the Kiss to 
  cover what she is doing (due to her Clan weakness), so she 
  drugs her prey first. She takes her victim to her RV, slips 
  a narcotic into his drink, and takes the blood she wants.
  If the characters speak with her at any time during 
  this process, Maria greets them warmly and introduces 
  herself. She asks if the characters know “if this place has 
  a Prince or a Baron or a President or what?” She is en-
  thused about her movie project, but says that she can’t 
  say too much about it yet. If they press, she reveals that 
  it’s a zombie film and she’s going to need some extra help 
  to make it work — would the characters be interested? If 
  not, she doesn’t press the issue. She does note, however, 
  that no one ever starved working for After Sunset Films. 
  Character Goals
  Talk with the local Kindred and learn the political 
  lay of the land. 
  Actions
  Making a Good First Impression
  Dice Pool: Charisma + Etiquette (difficulty 6)
  Hindrances: Modius — Characters talk with him be-
  fore he feeds (+1 difficulty); Juggler — Characters lead 
  off with anything pro-Camarilla or pro-Sabbat (+1 
  difficulty); Maria — characters interrupt her phone 
  call or “casting” spiel (+1 difficulty)
  Help: All — Characters do not call attention to 
  themselves or the vampire (-1 difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: Modius — He walks off in a huff, muttering 
  about the deplorable state of Kindred education these 
  nights. Juggler — Check for frenzy. He’ll snap out of it 
  in two turns. Maria — She remains friendly and ef-
  fusive, but quietly asks her bodyguard to keep these 
  people away from her in future.
  Failure: The vampires aren’t thrilled with the characters, 
  but will still speak with them. The next Social roll the play-
  ers make with this particular character is at +2 difficulty.
  One Success: The characters make a good first im-
  pression. The vampire continues talking with the 
  characters, but doesn’t reveal anything too interesting.
  Three Successes: The characters say something that reso-
  nates with the vampire, and the vampire reveals more personal 
  or detailed information about his plans or desires for the city.
  Five Successes: The vampire trusts the characters, 
  just a little, and lets the characters in some deeper 
  motive for his/her actions. 
  Consequences
  This scene mainly sets up the characters’ initial reactions 
  to (and from) the important vampires in Gary. The impres-
  sions they make should color future interactions with these 
  characters, but even a botch shouldn’t be insurmountable. 
  After all, if the only Kindred in the city are these three plus 
  the characters, no one can afford to be choosy. 
  
  22 
  DUST TO DUST
  The Hunter 
  Overview
  The characters spot Sullivan Dane in a place where nei-
  ther can attack. He attempts to convince them to kill them-
  selves. He does know a bit about the voodoo cult, and will 
  tell the characters some information, but makes no bones 
  about being willing to kill them later. He even takes notes. 
  Description
  He sits down next to you and takes off his hat. He’s wear-
  ing black gloves and a long coat, and something about his 
  presence makes you feel unclean. He looks at you and you find 
  that you can’t meet his eyes. He speaks, and his voice — gentle, 
  low, and with a faint English accent — is at once soothing and 
  humbling. “Why haven’t you met the sun yet?”
  Storyteller Goals
  This scene is meant to introduce the characters to 
  Sullivan Dane and make them understand that he is a 
  threat to them, but also a potential source of informa-
  tion, if they don’t mind dealing with someone who 
  would just as happily take their heads. 
  Dane can sense the Kindred on sight, and can even see 
  through Obfuscate and similar Disciplines (in addition to 
  the other abilities that his True Faith grant him – see pp. 
  372-373 of Vampire 20th). He does not, however, approach 
  the characters while they are out hunting or in a similarly 
  dangerous position. This scene happens when the charac-
  ters are in public, perhaps in a restaurant or on a bus. Dane 
  approaches them and begins to speak with them. 
  Dane honestly does want to know why they haven’t 
  greeted the sun, especially if the characters seem oth-
  erwise decent. He can present arguments for why this 
  is a good choice, ranging from the fact that the char-
  acters have to steal blood to survive all the way up to 
  the idea that sooner or later, they will wind up “like 
  Modius.” Dane has been familiar with Gary’s Kindred 
  long enough to know that Modius is losing his grip (he 
  has, in fact, been toying with the notion of making 
  the Prince of Gary his next target), and he is happy 
  to use this as a way to get under the characters’ skin.
  This scene should be a conversation — as hostile or 
  angry as the characters want to make it, but only a con-
  versation. Dane doesn’t rise to baiting and he doesn’t 
  engage in religious debate. He isn’t interested in ex-
  plaining how he knows God’s will, because he doesn’t 
  see it that way. He simply tries to let go of his own fate 
  and will, and let God direct him — and here he is. 
  This would be an easy notion to dismiss, if Dane’s Faith 
  weren’t an almost palpable thing. He repels Kindred by 
  his very presence, and his touch makes their flesh sting. 
  The characters may even have heard of him (see below), 
  and if they display appropriately fearful responses, Dane 
  is quick to capitalize on that. It is right that they should 
  fear God, he says, and they should think about why.
  Once it becomes clear that the characters aren’t go-
  ing to kill themselves to make things right with God, 
  Dane moves the conversation on. He mentions that he 
  isn’t sure why God brought him back into town, but he 
  thinks it might have something to do with a group of 
  Mental ••   Physical •   Social •••
  22 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  23 
  DUST TO DUST
  men he saw several days ago. They weren’t vampires, 
  but the leader — a broader, bearded man with an ac-
  cent — filled Dane with dread. Dane admonishes the 
  characters to watch out for these folks. “They’re from 
  your world,” he says, “and I worry about what they are 
  here to do.” If pressed, Dane says that he dreams of the 
  Gary Arson, but sees the bearded man (Lazlo Varga, 
  though Dane doesn’t know that) in the flames. 
  Character Goals
  Talk with Dane. Learn about the zombie cult. 
  Actions
  Knowing About Sullivan Dane
  Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult or Streetwise (difficulty 7)
  Hindrances: Character is less than 10 years from 
  the Embrace (+1 difficulty); character was deliberate-
  ly sheltered from other vampires (+1 difficulty)
  Help: Character has dealt with hunters (-1 difficulty); char-
  acter is more than 20 years past the Embrace (-1 difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: The character believes that Sullivan Dane 
  is a vampire, perhaps the former Prince of London or 
  something equally ostentatious.
  Failure: The character has no idea who Dane is.
  One Success: The character has heard of a hunter who 
  wears black gloves and works for the Catholic Church.
  Three Successes: As above, and the character re-
  members the name “Dane” and knows that Dane is 
  feared by vampires across the country.
  Five Successes: As above, and the character has heard 
  rumors that Dane can see through Obfuscate and that a 
  single drop of his blood burns Kindred to ash. 
  Consequences
  Dane won’t fight the characters in public; he doesn’t 
  want innocent people to get hurt. If the characters get 
  violent with him, he calls upon his True Faith to re-
  pel them and leaves. Note that Masquerade breaches 
  bring publicity and Kindred involvement from near-
  by Chicago, which can change the tone of the story 
  remarkably. If the characters are calm and polite, he 
  gives them a phone number and tells them to call him 
  if they wish. He will share whatever he learns in the 
  course of his own investigations. In any case, though, 
  he makes it clear that if the characters won’t do the 
  right thing (that is, kill themselves) soon, he will do 
  it for them. 
  
  24 
  DUST TO DUST
  Offers
  Overview
  The characters get offers from the three major players 
  — Maria wants them to work security for the zombie walk 
  (and feed as they like, provided they don’t kill their vessels), 
  Juggler wants them to help him do some leg-breaking, and 
  Modius wants them to scout and take photos of buildings. 
  Description
  Modius
  The Prince of Gary slides a new camera bag toward 
  you. “Top of the line, or so I’m told,” he says. “Of 
  course I spare no expense.” He runs a hand through his 
  hair, and pretends not to notice the fraying seam in his 
  jacket. “Have you any experience taking photographs? 
  Obviously I need them for informative purposes, but I 
  wouldn’t mind an eye toward composition as well.”
  Maria 
  Maria spreads the map out before you. “We start 
  here,” she says. “We walk down the block here, make 
  a right, two more blocks, left, two blocks, and here we 
  are the parking lot. All I need is for you to work crowd 
  control.” She smiles brightly. “You know, make sure 
  the police don’t hassle us, the zombies don’t start eating 
  people. That kind of thing.” She nudges you in the arm, 
  just to make sure you get the joke.
  Juggler
  Juggler laughs quietly. “See, it’s too many balls to juggle,” 
  he says. “I need to go to Chicago to hook up with some 
  friends of mine, but I haven’t quite made my point to these 
  assholes here in Gary. So I want you to make my point 
  for me.” He glances at the door of the bar, tensing, but the 
  patron entering heads straight for the cigarette machine. 
  Storyteller Goals
  This scene is meant to get the characters embroiled 
  in the plots of the city. The three ambitious Kindred 
  of Gary — Modius, Juggler, and Maria — all have 
  things that need doing, but not enough in the way of 
  competent help to get them done. Since Gary doesn’t 
  have a full vampiric court anymore, Modius can’t fob 
  off jobs on a Seneschal or Sheriff. Likewise, Juggler 
  might once have been able to call up a group of An-
  archs, but those nights are past. These vampires there-
  fore look to the characters for help.
  Note that these three jobs aren’t mutually exclusive. 
  Nothing says that the characters can’t do all three 
  of them, or, if the coterie is large enough, that they 
  can’t split their attention and handle all three jobs. 
  While the three Kindred are rivals, they aren’t bitter 
  enemies, so even if Modius learns that the characters 
  did a job for Juggler, it doesn’t sour him on the idea of 
  hiring them (especially since he lacks other options). 
  Mental •••   Physical •••   Social •••
  24 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  25 
  DUST TO DUST
  Modius
  Modius is looking for buildings that are burnt out 
  or otherwise abandoned, but would be serviceable ha-
  vens for visiting Kindred. He wants the characters to 
  venture into the neighborhoods near the highway and 
  take photos of these buildings, inside and out. The 
  work isn’t especially hard, but it is time-consuming. 
  Compensation: Modius initially tries offering the 
  characters boons and favors, and then positions as Pri-
  mogen once the city gets on its feet again, and finally 
  money. He has very little else to offer them. It’s worth 
  noting that although his offer of position and favors 
  are worthless now, if they help him put his court back 
  together then these things might actually appreciate 
  in value. Although, for the same amount of work, the 
  characters could probably claim the domain themselves. 
  Doing the Work: Systems for taking photos can 
  be found below. While on the job, the characters 
  might run into homeless people, drug dealers and us-
  ers, members of Lazlo’s cult, rogue Kindred, Sullivan 
  Dane, ghosts of people who died in the Great Arson, 
  or anything else the Storyteller finds interesting. 
  Juggler
  Juggler had a difference of opinion with some peo-
  ple on the northeast end of Gary. Who exactly he had 
  this altercation with is up to the Storyteller. Some 
  possibilities include: Members of Varga’s cult, scouts 
  from the Camarilla in Chicago, rabble-rousers from 
  the Sabbat in Detroit, or hunters (unaffiliated with 
  Dane — at least so far). In any event, they caught him 
  low on blood and short-tempered, and while some 
  violence was exchanged, neither side came away too 
  badly damaged. Now, unfortunately, they’re in Gary 
  looking for Juggler, and he has bigger fish to fry
  Juggler doesn’t necessarily want them dead, though 
  depending on the characters’ affiliations and who ex-
  actly is involved, deadly force might be appropriate. 
  Juggler tells the characters who they’re looking for 
  and where he found them, meaning that some inves-
  tigation might be necessary for this task.
  Compensation: Juggler isn’t rich and doesn’t have 
  the kind of money that would probably entice the 
  characters, but he is willing to trade favors, informa-
  tion about the Anarch Movement, and instruction in 
  Disciplines.
  Doing the Work: The combat systems found in 
  Vampire 20th should suffice for when the characters 
  find their targets, and traits for antagonists can be 
  found in Chapter Nine of that book.
  Maria
  Maria’s zombie walk is an important enough plot 
  point in Dust to Dust that it gets its own scene, but 
  for purposes of working security, the characters simply 
  need to walk along with the “zombies,” handle any se-
  curity issues that arise, and feed (if they so desire). Sys-
  tems for feeding during the walk are provided below. 
  Compensation: Maria is happy to pay the charac-
  ters for their time. She won’t pay exorbitant rates, but 
  she does pay considerably more than the going rate for 
  security, plus free blood. If the characters want some-
  thing else for their time, Maria is willing to negotiate 
  for boons or instruction. She will not, however, teach 
  Necromancy to non-Giovanni, though if the characters 
  are having ghost trouble she will use it on their behalf.
  Doing the Work: See “The Zombie Walk” for more 
  details.
  Character Goals
  Make some cash, make some friends, learn some 
  new tricks, and figure out their own plans for Gary. 
  Actions
  Photography
  Dice Pool: Wits + Crafts or Hobby Talent/Profes-
  sional Skill: Photography (difficulty 6)
  Hindrances: Character is using Crafts without a 
  specialty or a specific Ability in Photography (+1 dif-
  ficulty), character uses a cheap camera (+1 difficulty)
  Help: Character takes at least an hour to familiar-
  ize herself with the camera that Modius provided (-1 
  difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: The battery is out and none of the pictures are 
  saved, but the character doesn’t realize this until later.
  Failure: The pictures are blurry, out of focus, too 
  dark, or otherwise low-quality. 
  One Success: The pictures are acceptable and show 
  the buildings that Modius wanted.
  Three Successes: The pictures are good quality and 
  tell Modius exactly what he wanted to know.
  Five Successes: The pictures show Modius perfect 
  spots for a haven, as well as some other buildings in 
  areas he hadn’t considered. Modius is extremely grate-
  ful to the character and is willing to pay more than 
  was originally agreed on.
  
  26 
  DUST TO DUST
  Feeding During the Zombie Walk
  Dice Pool: Dexterity + Stealth (difficulty 6)
  Hindrances: Character is not in zombie makeup 
  (+1 difficulty); character attempts to feed within a 
  block of City Hall (+1 difficulty)
  Help: Character attempts to feed within a block of 
  the parking lot (-1 difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: Sullivan Dane, watching the zombie walk, 
  sees the character feeding and intervenes. He doesn’t 
  necessarily try to kill the character, especially not if 
  doing so would endanger mortals, but he definitely at-
  tempts to drive the vampire off.
  Failure: The character notices someone watching 
  before he bites the victim. The character can choose 
  to break off the attack (or turn it into a “zombie at-
  tack,” playing along with the walk), or feed and risk 
  exposure.
  Success: Any number of successes ensures a quick 
  bite. If the character wishes to feed for more turns 
  than the player rolled successes, the Storyteller should 
  roll three dice each turn after that limit is reached. 
  Any successes mean that someone sees the character, 
  though whether they intervene depends on how the 
  character is feeding. 
  Consequences
  Depending on what happens in this scene, the char-
  acters may wind up injured, rich, exposed, with new 
  friends or enemies, etc. The one consequence that 
  definitely should result is the characters becoming 
  more deeply mired in the politics of Gary. 
  26 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  27 
  DUST TO DUST
  The Zombie Walk
  Overview
  Maria’s long-awaited zombie walk happens, with 
  the characters present either as spectators or as secu-
  rity. During the party after the walk, Lazlo Varga tries 
  to open the urn and spread Jean Lisle’s ashes over the 
  crowd, creating a throng of mindless drones. 
  Description
  The Walk
  It looks like Maria outdid herself. There are people here 
  from as far away as Atlanta, dressed in rags and zombie 
  makeup, lurching around in front of Gary City Hall. 
  Modius, watching from the sidelines, sniffs a bit. “Of all 
  the creatures of the night to emulate,” he mutters. “What 
  happened to the nights when they would dress in elegant 
  black and play at being us?”
  The Party
  The walk completed, many of the “zombies” have 
  broken character, swilling beer and drinking some hor-
  rible alcoholic concoction called a “bloody brain.” Maria 
  DiMatto stands near her RV, still in her tasteful but 
  hideously convincing makeup, smiling over the crowd.
  Lazlo’s Gambit
  The man standing near the RV isn’t dressed or made up 
  as a zombie. He’s broad-shouldered and pale, and carry-
  ing a clay urn. He stares out over the crowd with a look 
  of hatred as he works the lid open.
  Storyteller Goals
  During this scene, the characters watch or partici-
  pate in the zombie walk. People drive in from miles 
  around — Maria’s films are popular, and she’s done 
  well in promoting this event. The characters may even 
  have been involved in spreading the word, depending 
  on what kind of relationship they have with Maria. 
  But in any case, the attendance is close to three thou-
  sand, the hotels in the area are booked solid (even if 
  many people stay in Chicago instead), and the local 
  vendors are happy to have some business. 
  The other Kindred in the city are going, though just 
  to observe. Modius stays on the sidelines and laments 
  that people are lurching about and acting like idiots, 
  when they used to wear fangs and pretend to be cul-
  tured, composed creatures of the night. Juggler, true 
  to enigmatic form, comes in full makeup and staggers 
  around moaning for brains, dribbles blood out of the 
  sides of his mouth, and feeds on young “zombies” in 
  dark corners. Maria is at the front of the walk, sur-
  rounded by her employees and photographers (she has 
  specifically instructed photographers to stay towards 
  the front of the mob, in part to let Kindred feed closer 
  to the back). 
  Play through the walk in as much detail as the 
  players find amusing. They might walk alongside the 
  zombies and poke fun, feed on the marchers, or dress 
  up and take part. In either case, many of the locals 
  come out to enjoy the festivities, too, and whether or 
  not the characters are officially working security they 
  Mental •   Physical ••••   Social ••
  27 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  28 
  DUST TO DUST
  might have the opportunity to break up some fights. 
  The real meat of this scene, however, happens at the 
  end of the march.
  The zombie walk starts at City Hall and goes just 
  over a mile to the parking lot of an abandoned big box 
  store. Maria has purchased the land and plans to use it 
  as a shooting location for her zombie film, Rust. When 
  the marchers arrive, she gets on the PA system and 
  announces this to the crowd. She also announces that 
  she’ll be needing extras and asks the people here to 
  agree to be filmed. This, of course, gets applause and 
  screams of approval, and Maria (always one for doing 
  things by the book), has her people snapping pictures 
  and filming the celebrants. 
  Before the party really gets going, though, Victor 
  Lazlo climbs up to the top of the RV and starts open-
  ing the urn. His intent is to fling the ashes out into the 
  crowd, eradicating their free will and turning them 
  into mindless slaves (he actually thinks this will kill 
  their bodies, as well, but he is mistaken — he mis-
  translated part of the spell he is casting). The charac-
  ters should see this happening and have a chance to 
  prevent it. If they get to Lazlo before he opens the urn 
  or scatters the ashes, he runs. He doesn’t fight except 
  to throw an attacker off (and given his strength, he’s 
  probably capable of handling a single vampire), and 
  then runs toward the abandoned store. His followers, 
  seeing this, flee with him.
  If he succeeds in flinging the ashes over the crowd, 
  they don’t come anywhere close to reaching all or 
  even most of the people. However, the ashes fly as 
  though possessed of will and agency, spreading them-
  selves over at least a hundred people. These people 
  immediately drop to the ground and froth, as though 
  in seizure. When they stand up, their hands and faces 
  are stained with ash, and they go lurching off to “in-
  fect” others by smearing them with the stuff. 
  Lazlo can control the zombies, but it is much harder 
  than he thought it would be (in part because he as-
  sumed the ashes would kill the people). Controlling 
  the mob requires his full concentration. Make an ex-
  tended roll for Lazlo: Charisma + Occult, difficulty 7, 
  with one roll per turn and 10 successes required (10s 
  count as two successes, because Lazlo’s Necromancy 
  Specialty applies). If the characters can interrupt him 
  before he assumes control of the mob, they simply 
  mill around “infecting” the rest of the people, which 
  is problematic but not immediately dangerous. If La-
  zlo assumes control, however, he will tell the existing 
  zombies to attack the living people — until it becomes 
  obvious that he is under attack by vampires. At this 
  point, he sets his minions on the characters (and no 
  matter how tough they are, they probably aren’t going 
  to be able to successfully fight off a hundred people 
  who don’t feel fear or pain!). 
  Lazlo and his cultists aren’t interested in fighting a 
  coterie of vampires in full view of thousands of peo-
  ple, so if the characters attack, the cultists fight to es-
  cape. Once they’re out of public view, they are happy 
  to fight to the death — Lazlo is already dead, and his 
  cultists look at death as something desirable. (That 
  doesn’t absolve the characters of Humanity loss for 
  killing, however). 
  This scene ends either when the characters follow 
  Lazlo and his cultists into the abandoned store (at 
  which point you should proceed to “From the Dust 
  Returned”), or when the characters break Lazlo’s hold 
  over the cultists. If they follow Lazlo to the store af-
  ter he has already loosed the ashes, you may need to 
  return to this scene after the fight to resolve that situ-
  ation. 
  Killing Lazlo Varga
  Varga is nearly immortal. He recovers from any con-
  ventional damage the characters can throw at him. 
  One way to kill him permanently is to let Jean Lisle 
  have him: The elder Samedi’s bite is enough to keep 
  him dead (but see “From the Dust Returned”). Three 
  other possibilities are provided below. The best meth-
  od for killing him, however, is the one your players 
  come up with. Let the occult scholar come up with an 
  idea — not a roll of the dice and some parroted infor-
  mation from you — but an interesting, in-theme idea 
  for keeping this thing dead. If it segues nicely into one 
  of the methods below, fine, but otherwise, roll with 
  what your players give you and have their ideas work 
  out. Your players will appreciate it, and they will prob-
  ably come up with something interesting and more 
  appropriate to your chronicle anyway. 
  Maria Can Help!
  Maria is something of an expert in necromancy her-
  self. If the characters go to her and ask for help, she 
  tells them that a physical attack might not work, but 
  a spiritual or magical one would. She can call down 
  angry ghosts to attack Lazlo, but she needs time to 
  work the spell, and that means keeping Lazlo in her 
  line of sight and keeping his cultists away from her. If 
  that’s too easy for your troupe, maybe the more com-
  bat-oriented could handle the cultists and the more 
  research-oriented can help Maria form the ritual (see 
  below for systems).
  28 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  29 
  DUST TO DUST
  If successful: Lazlo convulses as ghosts swarm him, 
  ripping his skin open from the inside and shrieking 
  horribly at him. As he falls, howling in pain, a rent 
  appears in the fabric of the world, leading to a place 
  of roiling blackness and terrifying screams. A skeletal 
  hand reaches out and grabs Lazlo, pulling him into 
  the dark, and the rift closes. 
  Dane Ex Machina
  If the party-goers become zombified, Sullivan Dane 
  might show up to help with damage control. The 
  characters see him touch zombies and cure them, the 
  ash on their bodies burning away. They might con-
  clude, correctly, that he can destroy Lazlo by laying 
  him to rest (if you want to use this idea, you might 
  seed it in conversation with Dane in “The Hunter”). 
  In this instance, the characters need to fight their way 
  toward Dane and ask for his help, and then help him 
  get to Lazlo (see below for systems for clearing the 
  way). They might still have to fight the cultists, as 
  well. Dane, for the record, is immune to infection.
  If successful: Dane touches Lazlo’s chest and whis-
  pers a prayer in Latin. Any character close enough 
  to hear can recognize it as the last rites (Intelligence 
  + Academics, difficulty 8, or 5 if the character un-
  derstands Latin). Lazlo falls over unceremoniously, 
  already dead, blood oozing out of a bullet wound in 
  his chest (the wound that originally killed him). Dane 
  tips his hat and vanishes into the crowd.
  Embrace
  Embracing Lazlo kills him, but raises him as a vam-
  pire. Draining his blood is not enough for the char-
  acters to kill him, as his healing powers kick in im-
  mediately, replacing his blood. In addition, the Kiss 
  has no effect on Lazlo, so he fights through the entire 
  process. Using this method will require subduing or 
  killing his cultists, as well. Once he is Embraced, he 
  is not powerless, but is no more dangerous than any 
  neonate. He retains his Attributes and Abilities, but 
  not his strange mystical powers. He gains three dots 
  in his new Clan Disciplines, distributed as the Story-
  teller sees fit, but probably with a focus on Celerity, 
  Fortitude, and Potence. What the characters do with 
  him is up to them, but setting him on fire and staking 
  him are viable choices. 
  If successful: Lazlo opens his eyes and bares his 
  fangs, and for a moment seems to revel in this new 
  
  30 
  DUST TO DUST
  state of undeath. And then he looks around at the 
  characters and realizes that, as monsters go, he is a 
  small fish in a very big, shark-infested ocean. 
  Freeing the Zombies
  Even if the characters kill Varga, there’s still the 
  question of how to free the people. They are infected 
  by a combination of Jean Lisle’s soul and Lazlo Varga’s 
  magic. Freeing them is as simple as getting rid of the 
  ash, but that requires a great deal of water. The char-
  acters should be able to verify that washing the ashes 
  off breaks the spell, but wiping them with a rag or a 
  hand only smears them. (The ashes have no effect on 
  vampires). 
  The buildings in the area have old fire extinguishers 
  that shoot water, rather than chemicals. The charac-
  ters might also be able to break open a few fire hy-
  drants to douse the zombies or use Thaumaturgy to 
  call up a cleansing rain. 
  If the characters want to pursue a more esoteric so-
  lution to the problem, Maria (or another appropriate-
  ly knowledgeable character) might be able to break 
  the effect using Necromancy. This requires a circle 
  of blood around the infected people, infused with 
  enough will to keep the zombies contained (see below 
  for systems). Once the circle is complete, the necro-
  mancer’s player (or the Storyteller, if Maria is doing 
  this) rolls Charisma + Occult (difficulty 9). Even one 
  success is enough to break the spell. 
  The “circle of blood” ritual only works if Lazlo is 
  dead or has fled the area. Washing the ashes off frees a 
  zombie immediately.
  Character Goals
  Enjoy the zombie walk. Stop Lazlo Varga from en-
  slaving and killing people. 
  Actions
  Helping Maria to Kill Lazlo
  Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 7, ex-
  tended action, 10 successes required)
  Hindrances: Character is hungry (+1 difficulty)
  Help: Character has a least a dot in Necromancy 
  (-1 difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: Character makes a critical mistake in rea-
  soning, but Maria doesn’t catch it. All successes are 
  lost as a howling Spectre appears and screams at the 
  characters before vanishing. 
  Failure: No successes are added to the total.
  Successes: The character adds successes toward the 
  total. Once the total reaches 10, the ritual ends as de-
  scribed above.
  Clearing the Way for Dane
  Dice Pool: Strength + Brawl (difficulty 7)
  Hindrances: Character has no dots in Brawl (+1 
  difficulty); character has no dots in Athletics (+1 dif-
  ficulty)
  Help: Character has Athletics 2 or more (-1 diffi-
  culty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: The character is tackled and pulled down by 
  hordes of “zombies” trying to infect him, and must im-
  mediately check for frenzy (p. 298 of Vampire 20th). 
  Failure: The character does not make any progress 
  in clearing the way for Dane.
  Successes: The characters must collectively accu-
  mulate 10 successes in order for Dane to reach Lazlo, 
  and that isn’t counting subduing his cultists. This ac-
  tion simply measures shoving infected people out of 
  the way. 
  Making the Wall of Blood
  Dice Pool: Stamina + Crafts (difficulty 6)
  Hindrances: No dots in Crafts (+1 difficulty); less 
  than half of full blood pool (+1 difficulty); multiple 
  characters are creating blood-lines are trying to synch 
  them up (+1 difficulty)
  Help: Full blood pool (-1 difficulty); Dexterity 4 or 
  more (-1 difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: The character loses control of his ability to 
  bleed, losing two points of blood and making a puddle 
  rather than a line.
  Failure: The character fails to make a straight line. 
  Instead, he makes a broken, dribbled line of blood. 
  The character loses one point of blood.
  Successes: The character makes an unbroken line of 
  blood. Five successes are required to circle the crowd 
  of “zombies,” meaning that one character could man-
  age it in one action if the player rolls well. In any case, 
  every roll costs the character one point of blood. Mul-
  tiple characters can contribute.
  30 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  31 
  DUST TO DUST
  Consequences
  If Lazlo managed to open the urn and mind-control 
  a lot of people, the characters might be dealing with 
  a massive Masquerade breach. Fortunately, some con-
  text for a “zombie horde” exists — Maria actually was 
  trying to film a zombie film, after all. The characters 
  will probably need to help with the spin, even just by 
  talking to people or spreading the word online. Ma-
  ria would be glad of the help, but the resulting fall-
  out brings curious people to Gary, which means bet-
  ter feeding for a week or so. It also might mean more 
  hunters in town, if you want to give Sullivan Dane 
  some backup.
  Consider, though, what happened to Jean Lisle. If 
  you still want to include him, you might give the play-
  ers a Perception + Alertness roll to notice little drabs 
  of ashes wriggling off and merging. (Strictly speaking, 
  Jean can’t do this, but it’s a nicely creepy image, so 
  you can assume that the magical treatments that Lazlo 
  gave the urn also give Jean some temporary latitude). 
  If you want to get really strange, maybe Jean’s ashes 
  become concentrated in one unfortunate “zombie,” 
  who walks around the area absorbing the ashes until 
  enough of them are concentrated for Jean to reform. If 
  you don’t want to bother with Jean (maybe destroying 
  Jean is the players’ reward for taking care of Lazlo), 
  just assume he’s too scattered to reform and is washed 
  away with the next rain. 
  In any case, you can progress from this scene to “From 
  the Dust Returned” (if Lazlo and his thugs fled to the 
  abandoned store, or if you want to have the fight with 
  Jean Lisle later on), or “Juggling Lessons” (if you have 
  resolved Jean Lisle’s story or wish to do it later on). 
  This is Dave MarTin’s Map froM The DeMo 
  he ran aT GranD MasqueraDe 2011 in new 
  orleans. presenTeD for your enjoyMenT anD 
  eDificaTion.
  
  32 
  DUST TO DUST
  From the Dust 
  Returned
  Overview
  Lazlo runs from the zombie walk into the abandoned 
  store and fights the characters. The resulting blood-
  bath, however, awakens Jean Lisle, the elder Samedi.
  Description
  One of the cultists falls backwards, blood spraying 
  from the wound in his neck. The blood splatters onto the 
  urn that the bearded man holds. It slips from his grasp 
  and shatters, the thick ash inside soaking up the blood on 
  the floor. Slowly, the ashes solidify, and a human figure 
  stands up from the ash, white and gray powder changing 
  to putrescent, stinking flesh and wicked fangs. The vam-
  pire turns and stares at you, its gaze muddy and hungry. 
  Storyteller Goals
  This scene is about bloody combat, pure and simple. 
  The cultists fight to the death because they want to 
  die (since they believe Lazlo will raise them up as im-
  mortal zombies like him). 
  The cultists shouldn’t prove a great threat to the 
  characters. Use the traits for the Criminal Enforcer 
  on p. 377 of Vampire 20th, and assume that they are 
  armed with pistols (if the characters aren’t especially 
  combat proficient) or daggers (if they are). Don’t wor-
  ry too much about making the cultists a challenge; the 
  fight with them shouldn’t go more than about three 
  turns (you might want to consider using the rules for 
  extras on p. 284 of Vampire 20th). The goal for this 
  part of the fight is getting some blood on the ground 
  so that Jean Lisle can appear. That said, don’t forget 
  to have the players make degeneration rolls for killing 
  people, as appropriate to their respective Humanity 
  or Path ratings.
  Once most of the cultists are dead or badly wound-
  ed, Lazlo accidentally drops the urn. If you can time 
  this with a character’s attack on him, or have the urn 
  shattered early in the fight so that the ashes are on the 
  ground already, even better! Jean Lisle rises up from 
  the ground, starving and half crazed. 
  His first act is to kill Lazlo. As mentioned above, 
  normally Lazlo can recover from any physical injury, 
  including massive blood loss. However, touched as 
  he is by Samedi death magic, Jean Lisle cuts right 
  through Lazlo’s enchantments and consumes his life. 
  Lazlo collapses to the ground, desiccated and skeletal, 
  and Lisle turns his attention to the characters. 
  At this point, Jean has 10 blood points (he had to 
  spend the points he absorbed from the cultists to re-
  form and heal his body, so the blood he presently has 
  is all from Lazlo). After so long in prison, however, 
  he is angry and hungry for fresh blood, and attacks. 
  The characters need to flee, beat him, or try to make 
  him lucid again. If they win a physical combat, one of 
  the characters might choose to commit diablerie upon 
  him (see pp. 293-295 of Vampire 20th). Running is the 
  simplest option, but if Jean follows them out into the 
  crowd of “zombies,” he grabs people and starts feeding. 
  Mental •   Physical ••••   Social •••
  32 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  33 
  DUST TO DUST
  The characters might choose to stop him then; see 
  Consequences if they don’t. 
  Jean Lisle fights fiercely. He isolates the most dan-
  gerous combatants and attempts to either fling them 
  out of the building or subdue them by breaking their 
  legs and backs. In the former case, Jean needs to es-
  tablish a clinch (see p. 276 of Vampire 20th), and then 
  roll Strength + Athletics + Potence (difficulty 2 + 
  character’s Stamina + Potence, maximum 10). If the 
  roll succeeds, the character is thrown out of the build-
  ing. She suffers bashing damage equal to the successes 
  rolled, and must spend an action to get back into the 
  fight. In the latter case, Jean establishes a clinch and 
  then attempts to break bones. Roll Jean’s Strength + 
  Brawl + Potence in an opposed roll against the char-
  acter’s Stamina + Strength + Fortitude + Potence. If 
  Jean wins, the targeted bone is broken. The charac-
  ter suffers lethal damage equal to Jean’s net successes, 
  but more importantly, cannot move faster than a slow 
  limp (broken leg) or cannot walk at all (broken spine) 
  until the damage is healed. 
  If Jean doesn’t feel any immediate threat, he grabs a 
  character and attempts to feed. Jean doesn’t acknowl-
  edge bullets as a threat; he is so frenzied he barely feels 
  them (though he still takes damage normally). 
  If Jean suffers more than two levels of lethal dam-
  age, roll his Willpower. If the roll succeeds, he flees. If 
  the characters let him get away, he becomes a running 
  threat to the Kindred and citizens of Gary (see the 
  “Consequences” section of this scene). 
  The characters might be able to talk Lisle down 
  from his frenzy. This is difficult, but not impossible, 
  especially for a socially-oriented coterie. Systems for 
  this can be found below. Those systems assume that 
  the characters don’t attempt to use a power like En-
  trancement (Presence 3), which works normally (al-
  though Lisle is a fairly powerful Generation).
  Character Goals
  Survive, escape, and destroy Jean Lisle.
  Actions
  Talking Jean Down
  Dice Pool: Charisma + Expression (difficulty 9)
  Hindrances: Every gunshot or attack on Jean (+1 
  difficulty); characters have already damaged Jean (+1 
  difficulty); character is white (+1 difficulty)
  
  34 
  DUST TO DUST
  Help: Character uses Presence 1 (-2 difficulty); 
  character speaks French to Jean (-1 difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: Jean’s frenzy only deepens, and he immedi-
  ately attacks the character that spoke. No further at-
  tempt to talk him down is possible.
  Failure: Jean hesitates for a moment and mutters 
  “we will be free again” in French. He then attacks 
  again. The characters can continue their attempts to 
  talk him down.
  One Success: Jean stops attacking and stares at the 
  character. If they do nothing threatening or sudden 
  for three turns, his frenzy ends and he speaks with the 
  characters. However, for the rest of the scene, he is 
  still volatile (which the character can realize with a 
  successful Wits + Empathy roll). Any threatening ac-
  tion will set him off again.
  Three Successes: Jean’s frenzy ends and he becomes 
  lucid enough to speak with the coterie. He is not in-
  terested in sharing personal information or exchang-
  ing favors, but he will listen to reason.
  Five Successes: Jean breaks off the attack and be-
  comes lucid. He doesn’t necessarily like the charac-
  ters, but he remains reasonable about following the 
  Traditions and not endangering the Masquerade, at 
  least for the time being. 
  Consequences
  If the characters lead Jean to the party and don’t 
  stop him from feeding, Maria calls her bodyguards 
  and steps in. Jean kills all of her bodyguards, but she 
  manages to get a stake into his heart from behind and 
  load his stinking body into her RV. She immediately 
  damns the characters as cowards and cuts off all con-
  tact with them. Depending on how many people Jean 
  managed to kill, the other Kindred of the city might 
  follow her lead. In any event, the Storyteller might 
  consider degeneration rolls, depending the characters’ 
  conduct or morality. 
  If Jean flees the scene, he eventually comes out of the 
  frenzy. He sets up a haven in the city’s sewers and emerg-
  es every night to hunt. Unlike other Kindred in the city, 
  he isn’t especially discerning and is happy to kill vam-
  pires as well as mortals. The Storyteller might consider 
  running a scene where the characters run across Sulli-
  van Dane (possibly with Church backup) hunting for 
  Lisle. The two sides might even exchange information, 
  though Dane isn’t interested in teaming up. 
  If the characters managed to talk Lisle down from 
  his frenzy, they might be able to convince him to 
  leave town or at least to keep his predations under 
  control. This is left largely to Storyteller fiat, but re-
  member that Lisle isn’t in good control of his Beast on 
  the best of nights. Any control he manages is short-
  term at best.
  34 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  35 
  DUST TO DUST
  Juggling Lessons
  In either case, when this scene is resolved, proceed 
  on to “Juggling Lessons” or “Toothless Hounds.”
  Overview
  The characters interact with Juggler, who tries to 
  sway them to the Anarch Movement. During his “les-
  son,” the characters run across Prince Modius’ photo-
  graph, and Juggler takes the opportunity for an object 
  lesson.
  Description
  “I don’t mean to climb up on a soap box,” says Juggler. 
  “But I’m just saying — we know what happens to cities 
  with Camarilla Princes. This.” He gestures to the burnt-
  out buildings around you. “And here’s fucking Modius 
  trying to reestablish his bullshit court again. Deck chairs 
  on the Titanic, I sw—“. He stops short, and cocks his 
  head to the side. And then you hear it, too — the rapid-
  fire clicking of a camera’s shutter. 
  Storyteller Goals
  This scene is meant to increase tension among the 
  city’s factions, and possibly within the coterie. Juggler, 
  not the most patient of Kindred on the best of nights, 
  seeks to sway opinion against Modius and the Cama-
  rilla in general. More specifically, he wants to bring 
  the characters around to his way of thinking. 
  If the characters have a standing reason to speak 
  with Juggler, use that to frame this scene. Maybe he 
  owes one or more of them a lesson in a Discipline 
  (see “Offers”). Maybe the characters seek him out to 
  help them deal with Lisle or Varga. If that’s the case, 
  resolve whatever the character came for before actu-
  ally running this scene; if Juggler does a favor for the 
  coterie they should be more inclined to listen to what 
  he has to say. 
  When portraying Juggler, don’t monopolize the 
  conversation. Juggler isn’t interested in hearing him-
  self talk; he honestly wants to know what the char-
  acters think about the Camarilla versus the Anarch 
  Movement. He talks enough to get the conversation 
  going and jumps in when he hears the characters say 
  something he thinks is obviously wrong, but beyond 
  that, he serves as a prod for the conversation. If you 
  find yourself monologuing during this scene, stop and 
  involve one or more of the players. 
  Juggler engages the characters in a discussion about 
  Kindred politics, the efficacy (or lack thereof) of the 
  Camarilla’s policies, and how the Sabbat is arguably 
  worse. He then points out that the Free States out in 
  California seem to run just fine without a Prince, and 
  in fact Kindred in general can conduct their own affairs 
  without interference from more powerful vampires. 
  The characters might agree or disagree, in whole 
  or in part. If they argue with him, though, he has re-
  sponses to many of the more obvious discussion points:
  • “But without the Traditions? What’s to stop vam-
  pires from going on the news?” Juggler points that 
  weird news stories make the rounds every day (and 
  Mental ••   Physical ••   Social •••
  35 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  36 
  DUST TO DUST
  night), and no one really believes them. People ex-
  cel at rationalizing what they can’t accept. Vampires 
  are generally smart enough to understand why they 
  shouldn’t reveal themselves, and those that aren’t 
  need to be culled. The greater vampiric population 
  can handle that without a huge, global organization. 
  • “Won’t that just be anarchy, then?” Juggler con-
  cedes that without any governance, the older and 
  most powerful Kindred would be able to feed and kill 
  almost unchecked. But that just means that younger, 
  less powerful vampires need to band together and find 
  a system that works for them. Juggler isn’t against form-
  ing alliances; he just doesn’t want someone he never 
  acknowledged as a leader telling him what to do. 
  • “What about the Sabbat/Lupines/hunters/other 
  threat?” Same answer applies, according to Juggler. 
  Kindred in general need to learn to leave well enough 
  alone. Besides, Juggler argues, when was the last time 
  a Prince took up arms in defense of his city? Normally, 
  Princes just unleash Hounds or other warriors in their 
  courts to go and handle such threats. Or else, they 
  conscript neonates who don’t know any better (de-
  pending on what kinds of experiences the characters 
  have had, they might relate strongly to this). 
  • “Don’t you just want to be Prince by another 
  name?” Juggler takes mild offense to this insinuation, 
  but he does answer the question. While he wouldn’t 
  shy away from being a leader among Anarchs, that’s 
  not what he’s interested in. He wants to see the exist-
  ing power structure thrown down, because at present 
  it only exists to reinforce the status quo. This isn’t like 
  corporate America, he notes. The CEOs there even-
  tually die. This is an everlasting dictatorship, but it 
  only need last as long as young vampires think there’s 
  no other choice. 
  • “What about educating vampires and the Tradi-
  tions?” Juggler scoffs at the Traditions. It isn’t that he 
  doesn’t agree with them (most of them, at least), but 
  he feels they’re something a smart vampire could fig-
  ure out on her own. Besides, the Camarilla doesn’t 
  educate vampires: It puts that onus on the sire of a 
  new Kindred, and then kills sire and childe if there 
  are any mistakes. They set the rules but assume no 
  responsibility for them. 
  During this conversation, Juggler tries to get the 
  characters out into the streets of Gary. It’s out among 
  the mortals of a city — or the lack thereof — that a 
  vampire can learn the real nature of that city, or so 
  Juggler claims. The only reason Modius ever leaves his 
  mansion anymore is because he doesn’t have slaves to 
  bring him vessels. If the characters express any kind 
  of sympathy for Modius, Juggler points out that back 
  when being Prince of Gary meant something, Modius 
  always had two servants attending him. They were al-
  ways Dominated to the point that they couldn’t think 
  for themselves, and they were always black men. This, 
  Juggler claims, is one of the dangers of letting elder 
  vampires run things. They tend to forget what century 
  it is. 
  Juggler points out the burned buildings and the 
  damaged structures, and explains his plan for the city. 
  He wants to remake Gary as a stopover for traveling 
  Kindred. It’s never been done; traditionally Kindred 
  just didn’t travel much because moving between cities 
  was too risky. Lupines prowled the wilds, and sending 
  word to (and just finding) the vampires of the next 
  domain was difficult to do, especially on short notice. 
  Now, says Juggler, the werewolves are less of a threat 
  (“Where are they going to hunt? The suburbs?”) and 
  sending a message to all of the vampires in a city can 
  be as simple as sending a text message. There is no 
  reason for the insular nature of vampire society ex-
  cept hidebound tradition. In Juggler’s view, tradition 
  is what got the Inquisition sharpening stakes. 
  Juggler makes these points while indicating various 
  buildings, noting which ones might make good ha-
  vens. Feeding, of course, would require getting more 
  people into Gary, but lots of folks travel through Gary. 
  Coming up with a system would necessitate some at-
  tention to mortal traffic patterns and the like, but 
  Kindred have been influencing, if not directing, this 
  kind of thing for decades. It’s just a matter of rethink-
  ing the methods. 
  When it seems like Juggler is getting through to the 
  characters, they hear the clicking sounds of a camera. 
  Nearby, a character is taking pictures for the Prince, 
  as requested in “Offers.” It might be one of the players’ 
  characters, in fact, or it might a Storyteller character. 
  In the latter case, Modius has Dominated the photog-
  rapher to take the pictures and then return to him. 
  The photographer is dazed, but not so completely 
  Dominated that he has lost his free will. Juggler rec-
  ommends that the characters deprive Modius of this 
  resource. He leaves the characters to figure out what 
  he means by that, but the two obvious possibilities 
  are to kill the man or to undo the mental control that 
  Modius put in place. Systems for the latter can be 
  found below. 
  If the characters kill the photographer, assess de-
  generation rolls as necessary. Juggler doesn’t care one 
  36 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  37 
  DUST TO DUST
  way or another, but if the characters do kill the man, 
  he points out that undoing the Dominate might have 
  annoyed Modius more. If the characters mention 
  undoing or changing the man’s instructions through 
  Dominate but lack the ability (as one of them needs 
  at least Dominate 3), Juggler volunteers to do it. He 
  still looks to the characters to choose how exactly he 
  should change the instructions.
  If one of the player characters is taking the photographs, 
  Juggler tries to spur the discussion again, hopefully getting 
  the photographer to renege on the deal with Modius (Jug-
  gler suggests taking pictures of urinals for the Prince). He 
  doesn’t advocate killing the messenger, however. 
  Character Goals
  To decide where their ideology fits in the Camarilla/
  Anarch divide. 
  Actions
  Undoing Dominate
  Dice Pool: Manipulation + Leadership (difficulty 4)
  Hindrances: Character has ever been Dominated by 
  Modius (+1 difficulty); character has tasted Modius’ 
  blood (+1 difficulty)
  Help: Modius has tried to Dominate the character 
  and failed (-1 difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: The man is free from the Dominate and im-
  mediately wonders what he is doing here in the mid-
  dle of the night with a camera. The character takes 
  on the mental commands, which are: “Take pictures 
  of this particular stretch of buildings and bring the 
  pictures back to me.” The character must begin im-
  mediately.
  Failure: The character fails to change the photogra-
  pher’s commands. The character can try again at +1 
  difficulty.
  Successes: The player needs to roll at least three suc-
  cesses to successfully override Modius’ commands on 
  the photographer. At that point, the character can is-
  sue new commands to the photographer, or alter the 
  existing one. The usual rules of Mesmerize (pp. 152-
  153 of Vampire 20th) apply. 
  Consequences
  If the photographer returns to Modius with his com-
  mands altered — or doesn’t return at all — Modius 
  is furious and contacts the characters via messenger 
  (again, Dominated — Modius is nothing if not a 
  creature of habit), demanding that they appear at his 
  mansion. If Juggler is still with them at that point, he 
  laughs maniacally and urges the characters to attend. 
  “There is nothing that old fool can do to you,” he says, 
  “but I would love to watch him flail.” If the charac-
  ters go, with or without Juggler, proceed to “Toothless 
  Hounds.” 
  If the characters leave the messenger alone, Juggler 
  doesn’t interfere further. Modius summons Juggler 
  some time later on unrelated matters, which leads to 
  “Toothless Hounds.” 
  
  38 
  DUST TO DUST
  Toothless
  Hounds
  Overview
  Prince Modius declares a Blood Hunt on Juggler. 
  Juggler laughs it off, and declares a reverse Blood 
  Hunt on the Prince.
  Description
  Modius rises from his seat, fangs bared, one quivering 
  finger pointed at Juggler. “Traitor! Charlatan! Gadfly! 
  I cast you out! I banish you! I call Lextalionis on you! 
  Your blood and soul are forfeit to whosoever wish to have 
  them!” He looks about the room, as if expecting waves of 
  furious Kindred to fall upon Juggler and tear him apart. 
  “Really?” says Juggler. He sits down in a chair and 
  puts his feet up on the table. “You think you command 
  that kind of authority? All right.” He waves a hand at 
  Modius. “Then I declare a Blood Hunt on you.” Juggler 
  glances at you. “No, really. Go ahead and kill him. He’s 
  a dinosaur anyway, so you get to be the meteor.” He 
  smiles as though pleased with the metaphor.
  Storyteller Goals
  This scene brings the tension between Modius and 
  Juggler to a head. As such, it can immediately follow 
  “Juggling Lessons,” or you can run intermediary scenes 
  in which the characters witness the two elders sniping 
  at each other in different ways. In any case, this scene 
  requires both vampires to be present in a place with-
  out mortals around, whether it’s the Prince’s mansion 
  or a declared Elysium. 
  In this scene, Modius loses his temper and declares 
  a Blood Hunt on Juggler. This has happened before, as 
  Modius and Juggler have a long history of antagoniz-
  ing each other. This time, though, Juggler decides to up 
  the ante, and declares a Blood Hunt on Modius. In his 
  view, Modius doesn’t have any real authority in the city 
  anyway, so his own word is just as valid as the Prince’s. 
  This scene can go any number of ways. The charac-
  ters might decide that both of these Kindred are full 
  of shit and ignore them both. They might agree with 
  one or the other, and attack the target of whichever 
  Blood Hunt they wish to honor. They might even 
  decide that neither of these Kindred is an acceptable 
  leader of the city, and try to destroy them both (which 
  probably won’t end well for the characters, but a large 
  coterie might be able to take them both down).
  This scene might end with a protracted battle in the 
  Prince’s mansion, a chase scene throughout the streets of 
  Gary, a tension, barely-contained-frenzy argument, or with 
  the characters leaving the two fools behind to their endless, 
  irrelevant bickering. Much depends on the characters and 
  how they have interacted with the city’s elder Kindred so far. 
  If the characters attack Juggler, he fights back, but knows 
  he probably can’t take on a full coterie. That said, he is a 
  Brujah, and therefore prone to frenzy. Make the appropri-
  ate roll for him to see if he can control himself (it’s ap-
  propriate to spend Willpower for him), and assuming he 
  doesn’t frenzy, he runs. If the characters give chase, Juggler 
  runs at 48 yards/meters per turn (see Movement, p. 258 of 
  Vampire 20th). Juggler also has Celerity 3, meaning that if 
  Mental •••   Physical •••   Social •••
  38 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  39 
  DUST TO DUST
  he moves at a flat-out sprint and puts three points of blood 
  into Celerity, he can run up to 140 yards/meters every turn 
  (35 per action instead of 48, since the dots in Celerity are 
  converted from Dexterity dice to extra actions). This puts 
  him out of the reach of the characters unless they have 
  comparable levels of Celerity and Dexterity. If they do, or if 
  they manage to alter the situation such that they can catch 
  up with Juggler, use the Pursuit rules (pp. 261-262 of Vam-
  pire 20th) to simulate the chase. Note, though, that if one 
  character chases down Juggler, he has no problem stopping 
  long enough to kill the character before running on. 
  If the characters attack Modius, he is outraged and 
  fights to the death. He doesn’t really believe the charac-
  ters can beat him because he’s still subconsciously expect-
  ing his followers or childer to jump in and defend him…
  but no such help is coming. The characters can probably 
  destroy Modius in fairly short order. He’s not incapable 
  of combat, by any means, but he’s no match for a group 
  of vampires working together. If he’s still able to act after 
  taking five levels of lethal damage or three aggravated, he 
  attempts to burn his mansion down. If he’s not fighting in 
  his mansion, he attempts to flee after taking this damage. 
  If the characters attack them both, the elders don’t exactly 
  join forces, but they fight the characters together. It is possible 
  for the characters to goad Juggler into attacking Modius, and 
  then leave them to destroy each other (see below for systems). 
  Finally, if the characters leave, the scene ends. Go 
  to Consequences. 
  Character Goals
  Decide whose side they’re on, once and for all. 
  Actions
  You Want to Fight Him, Not Me
  Dice Pool: Dexterity + Brawl or Athletics (player’s 
  choice; difficulty 6)
  Hindrances: Large, open area (+1 difficulty); fewer 
  than 3 other characters visible (+1 difficulty); charac-
  ter has already harmed Juggler (+1 difficulty)
  Help: Close, tight area (-1 difficulty); at least 4 com-
  batants present other than Modius and Juggler (-1 dif-
  ficulty); Juggler is already in frenzy (-1 difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: Juggler immediately attacks the character 
  and focuses all of his rage on her. 
  Failure: Juggler doesn’t realize what the character is 
  trying to do and acts as the Storyteller feels appropriate.
  One Success: The character directs Juggler’s atten-
  tion to Modius before attacking. Juggler must check 
  for frenzy. If he fails to resist frenzy, he attacks Modius 
  on his next action. 
  Three Successes: As above, but Juggler suffers a +1 
  difficulty to the roll to avoid frenzy.
  Five Successes: As above, but Juggler automatically 
  frenzies. 
  Consequences
  The outcome of this scene might change Gary’s 
  vampiric community forever. The most likely out-
  comes are covered here, but the Storyteller should be 
  prepared to make some judgment calls. 
  If the characters drive Juggler away, he flees the city for 
  Chicago. Gary is too small for him to hide, and he knows 
  that. He starts spreading the word that Prince Modius has 
  a coterie of Dominated flunkies at his side, and that Gary 
  should be the next Anarch target. Of course, this has the 
  effect of getting the Camarilla’s attention, and more Kin-
  dred wind up in Gary the next night. Modius finds his 
  power rising again, and if he promised the characters fa-
  vors or positions, he makes good on those promises. 
  If the characters destroy Juggler, Modius names them 
  the new Primogen of the city. However, without Jug-
  gler to spread the word that Modius is a tyrannical bas-
  tard, that might not mean much. The characters can 
  help Modius realize his (and Juggler’s) vision of making 
  Gary a stopover for Kindred, or they can help Maria 
  with her plans for the city — or perhaps they’d rather 
  take Modius out and take the city for themselves. 
  Should the characters destroy Modius, Juggler de-
  clares Gary a Free State. If one of the characters claims 
  the title of Prince or otherwise asserts Camarilla au-
  thority, Juggler stays in town looking for an opening 
  to destroy the new Prince. If the characters decide on 
  a different style of leadership, one not beholden to 
  Camarilla methods, Juggler approves, and becomes in-
  volved to whatever degree the characters wish him to. 
  If the characters destroy both vampires, the city’s nights 
  are theirs to do with as they please. The other Kindred in 
  the city (Maria and Jean Lisle, provided that he hasn’t 
  been destroyed) have no interest in claiming titles. 
  Finally, if the characters simply leave and refuse to become 
  involved with the squabbles of Modius and Juggler, noth-
  ing changes. Both Kindred are still trying to enact the same 
  plan, but put more effort into making sure the other fails. 
  Whatever the result of this scene, proceed to “Tomor-
  row Night” or “The Death Rattle of Gary” as appropriate. 
  
  40 
  DUST TO DUST
  The Death Rattle
  of Gary
  Overview
  Maria shares her plan for necromantic control of a 
  dead town. The characters can witness, participate, or 
  stop her plan from coming to fruition. 
  Description
  Preparation
  The map of Gary is pinned to the table with shards of 
  sharpened human ribs. A skull rests at the northwest end 
  of town, closest to Chicago. Maria runs a hand across 
  the map and whispers, “The city suffers. You can almost 
  hear it gasping for breath.” She looks at you, eyes bright, 
  lips parted. “I’ve never seen a city die before. Look at 
  me, I’m almost shaking!” She breaks into a grin and 
  reaches for a jar of what looks like iron filings. 
  Sacrifice
  Maria opens a door in the back of the room, and one 
  of her bodyguards leads out an old woman. She wears a 
  flowered, cotton dress and a gag, and she looks at you, 
  terrified, eyes pleading for help. “This,” says Maria, “is 
  Gary, Indiana.”
  Success
  The section of the map inside the border of iron dust 
  blackens and burns. Around you, you feel something 
  change. Colors dim, the air grows stagnant and musty, and 
  the temperature drops ten degrees. “Yes,” whispers Maria. 
  “This city is dead. And that means this city is mine.” Her 
  eyes, you note, have turned a rusty brown color. 
  Storyteller Goals
  This scene brings to a close Maria’s plan for “urban 
  necromancy.” She wants to watch the city die, and then 
  raise its “ghost” as some kind of spiritual servant. The 
  characters might be here to witness it, help her, or stop it. 
  What Maria is trying to do is esoteric and flat-out 
  weird. She is taking the notion that cities have spirits 
  or souls and applying to that the notion that human 
  beings can die and leave behind ghosts. In the World 
  of Darkness, both of these notions are objectively 
  true, but whether her conclusion is true — that a city 
  can die and rise up as a ghost — has yet to be tested. 
  Gary has been dying for years, in the sense that 
  it is losing population and industry. The city makes 
  continual efforts to fight this stagnation and bring in 
  revenue, but in the World of Darkness, the entropy 
  seems inescapable. Maria has been marking murders, 
  car accidents, fights, foreclosures, and other tragedies 
  on her map of the city, waiting for enough of them to 
  justify, by her twisted math, the city’s symbolic death. 
  When that happens, she enacts her ritual. 
  The characters might become involved in a number 
  of ways. If they have Maria’s ear or are allied with her, 
  she might invite them to watch. She has no reason to 
  think this ritual will have any effect at all on vampires, 
  after all, so she considers it a winning proposition all 
  around. She wants an audience for her triumph, so 
  asks the characters to join her. 
  Mental •••   Physical ••   Social ••
  40 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  41 
  DUST TO DUST
  If the characters have been working against Maria, 
  though, they’ll need to hear about it from another 
  source. If they have a method for keeping track of her 
  in place already — a ghoul spy, a bug in her RV, etc. — 
  then let them learn about it through their own agency. 
  If not, Sullivan Dane finds the characters and informs 
  them that he has sense “great spiritual disruption” 
  coming from the RV. If they don’t seem interested in 
  handling the problem, he shrugs, and says that he’ll do 
  it himself. What happens then is up to you (but some 
  suggestions are provided below, under Consequences).
  The ritual consists of Maria creating a “barrier” around 
  the city by tracing its borders on a map with iron dust. 
  She then says a prayer for the dying in Latin, and opens 
  a closet to reveal an elderly woman, bound and gagged. 
  She has lived here for her entire life, Maria explains — 
  nearly 90 years. She has seen the city go from prosper-
  ity to ruin. And she, like the city, is dying, though her 
  cancer is literal, rather that figurative. Maria intends to 
  sacrifice the old woman to power her spell. 
  The characters may not feel comfortable with Ma-
  ria murdering an old woman in front of them. If they 
  wish to stop her, they need to act fast. Maria isn’t in-
  terested in discussion, and if the characters don’t act 
  within one turn of the old lady being revealed, Maria 
  crushes her throat with her bare hand. The woman 
  dies with confused tears streaming down her face. Ma-
  ria drops the body, and then slams her hand down in 
  the center of the map. 
  The section of the map marked off by the iron dust 
  turns black. Have the players roll Perception + Aware-
  ness. If the roll succeeds, the characters feel the change 
  in the atmosphere mentioned above, under Description. 
  If the characters do attempt to stop Maria, they need 
  to get the old woman medical attention within 10 
  minutes. If they try to talk her out of it, Maria points 
  out that this unfortunate woman has less than a few 
  months to live anyway. Her town is dying just as sure-
  ly as she is — why shouldn’t she be used to contribute 
  to Maria’s understanding of death and dying? If Maria 
  is unable to convince the characters, she releases the 
  old woman to the characters’ care, and postpones the 
  ritual (Maria is sure she can find another candidate, 
  and doesn’t want to risk her possessions or her safety 
  in a brawl). That still leaves the characters the issue of 
  whether to stop Maria at a later date, or put her down 
  now before it comes to that. 
  
  42 
  DUST TO DUST
  If she succeeds at the ritual, the town symbolically 
  dies. What exactly this means depends on what you 
  want to do with the chronicle going forward, but 
  some suggestions follow: 
  Go Big or Go Home
  A maelstrom of ghosts and death bursts forth from Ma-
  ria’s map. It doesn’t harm living people, but vampires suf-
  fer five dice of aggravated damage immediately (which 
  probably won’t kill them, but is certainly enough to get 
  their attention). Over the next few hours, the barrier be-
  tween the worlds of the living and dead becomes paper-
  thin. Ghosts materialize to haunt, terrify, or just contact 
  their living anchors and family. Supernatural beings 
  of all kinds flock to the area to investigate, correct the 
  problem, feed on the chaos, or punish those responsible. 
  This kind of event changes the World of Darkness sig-
  nificantly, especially if the effect spreads or is reproducible. 
  But that’s not a bad thing, necessarily. Maybe the govern-
  ment rolls in and cordons off the whole area. Maybe the 
  characters get recruited by the Inconnu to help solve the 
  problem and reverse the damage. Perhaps the characters all 
  develop the Medium Merit (or the Haunted Flaw), which 
  might help in correcting what happened. In any case, Ma-
  ria might be destroyed by the ensuing ghost-storm, or she 
  might rise up as the undead queen of the Underworld. 
  Subtle Changes
  A similar possibility, but one that doesn’t shift the 
  landscape of the World of Darkness quite so much, 
  is to have the life ebb out of Gary over the next few 
  days. People become listless, those who are already 
  seriously ill die, and the city becomes muted and qui-
  escent. Vampires are unaffected. Ghosts immediately 
  become slaves to Maria, who declares Gary her do-
  main. If Modius has survived, she sends her ghostly 
  servants to drag him bodily out into the sun. 
  The characters can become part of her new regime 
  (she’s happy for supporters, and treats them well if 
  they stay — she’ll even call them “Primogen” if they 
  want the title), or they can try to oust her from power. 
  But throwing down Maria won’t necessarily put the 
  city back on track. For that, the characters might 
  have to delve deeply into the secrets of Necromancy, 
  which could be the start of another story for them. 
  Beginning of the End
  A third and even subtler possibility is that the spell starts 
  driving out the rest of Gary’s residents. Businesses close, peo-
  ple move away, social services falter, and within a year or two 
  the city is effectively a ghost town. This brings in sociologists 
  and researchers trying to figure out why people left a perfect-
  ly good (or at least livable) city behind, but mortals aren’t 
  really equipped to understand the truth of what happened. 
  This kind of end is best played out in an epilogue, since 
  it requires the perspective of months or years to be really 
  effective. If you want to play through it, maybe the char-
  acters have a chance to inject life back into Gary. Or, if 
  you want to continue the “Gary as dying person” meta-
  phor that Maria was using, is there a way that the char-
  acters could symbolically Embrace the city? What would 
  a vampiric city, as opposed to a ghost city, be like? Would 
  it feed on the residents, or perhaps just visitors? Would it 
  empower Kindred within the city or treat them especially 
  harshly (since vampires don’t generally get along)? 
  Character Goals
  Witness Maria’s triumph, or prevent her sick ambitions. 
  Actions
  Saving the Old Lady
  Dice Pool: Dexterity + Athletics (contested against 
  Maria’s Strength + Brawl + Potence; difficulty 6 for 
  both)
  Hindrances: Standing close to the door, away from 
  Maria (+1 difficulty)
  Help: N/A 
  Roll Results
  Botch: Maria spins the old lady around so that the 
  character’s hand or weapon strikes her. She dies of 
  heart failure in seconds, and Maria flees the area.
  Failure: Maria kills the woman as described above.
  Successes: If the player exceeds the successes you roll 
  for Maria, he snatches the old woman away before Maria 
  can harm her. As mentioned above, the victim dies in 
  10 minutes if not given medical attention. A player can 
  roll Wits + Medicine for her character to notice this.
  Consequences
  If the characters walk away from the situation and let 
  Sullivan Dane handle it, he destroys Maria and burns 
  her RV. He lets her ghoul bodyguards live, but injures 
  them severely, hoping that an extended hospital stay 
  will give them time to get the vampire blood out of their 
  systems. He also puts the characters next on his hit list. 
  If the characters participate in the ritual, several differ-
  ent outcomes are listed above. You will need to choose on 
  based on your (and your players’) vision for the chronicle. 
  42 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  43 
  DUST TO DUST
  Tomorrow
  Night
  Overview
  The characters speak to Sullivan Dane again, and 
  he repeats his request for them to meet the sun. They 
  reflect over what their time in Gary has brought, and 
  Dane takes his leave of the characters. 
  Description
  Violin music drifts through the night, and you glance 
  across the street. Sullivan Dane stands on the sidewalk, 
  his violin case open in front of him. His eyes are shut 
  and he gently plays Schubert’s “Ave Maria.” People stop 
  around him, some toss coins into his case, but he doesn’t 
  acknowledge them. He stops after a moment, opens his 
  eyes, collects the coins, and pockets them. And then he 
  beckons to you, waving a white handkerchief. 
  Storyteller Goals
  The goal here is to provide some symmetry with the 
  beginning of this story, take stock, and figure out what 
  happens next. This scene won’t work if the characters 
  have killed Sullivan Dane, so if that’s the case, you 
  might consider having Juggler, Maria, or even Modius 
  take his place (minus the admonition to commit sui-
  cide). If the characters have destroyed or driven off all 
  of the other important Storyteller characters, either 
  skip this scene or find a way to frame it that makes 
  sense. 
  Dane approaches the characters and reminds them 
  of what he said to them on this initial meeting. He 
  asks if any of them are willing to do the right thing, 
  and offers absolution from their sins before they do so, 
  if they wish. Once that initial point is out of the way, 
  Dane talks with them about their time in Gary, what 
  has happened in the city, and what they think about 
  it all. Depending on what has happened during the 
  story, this might be very low-key or it could include 
  elder vampires murdering people on the streets and 
  ghosts rising up from their graves. Either way, Dane 
  takes it in stride. 
  The best way to let this scene progress is organically, 
  with the characters adding their thoughts and Dane 
  responding as necessary. Dane is attempting to make 
  up his mind about whether to kill the characters, 
  however. If they have maintained their Humanity and 
  refrained from killing people, or, better, deliberately 
  taken action and risk in pursuit of doing the right 
  thing, Dane decides he can let them survive a while 
  longer. He isn’t unrealistic about the fact that some 
  vampires are worse than others, and he doesn’t want 
  to waste resources killing the ones that aren’t much 
  worse than mortals. If, however, they have killed 
  people for their blood, taken willing part in Maria’s 
  experiments, or are obviously on some inhuman Path, 
  he is much more likely to determine that they deserve 
  nothing more than a sharp stake and a quick splash of 
  lighter fluid. 
  During the conversation, refer back to as many sig-
  nificant events of the chronicle as you can. Try and get 
  the characters talking about and reflecting on what 
  has happened, and whether they feel like they man-
  Mental ••   Physical •   Social •••
  43 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  44 
  DUST TO DUST
  aged to help or hurt the city of Gary. Did they even 
  consider that they could help? Did they only focus on 
  their own goals? And if so, did they achieve them? 
  Even if Juggler, Modius, and Maria are dead by 
  this point, refer to them as well. If the characters de-
  stroyed or had a hand in destroying these Kindred, are 
  they interested in taking on the domain of Gary? Can 
  they make it better for Kindred (or mortals, which ul-
  timately benefits Kindred)? Do they care? If any or all 
  of these Kindred still exist, consider what they are do-
  ing now and whether the players’ characters have any 
  interest in becoming involved. 
  This final scene is meant to be an open question: 
  What happens next? Where will the characters go? 
  Any resolution to the plotlines introduced in Dust to 
  Dust should already have happened by the time your 
  troupe reaches “Tomorrow Night.” If this resolution 
  hasn’t happened, use this scene to find out if the play-
  ers are interested in pursuing it. Use Dane as a way to 
  keep the discussion on track; he’s a good listener. 
  As he questions them, he looks for attributes such as 
  empathy, compassion, faith, and humility. If you wish 
  to let their roleplaying be the guide here, that’s fine, 
  but a system is provided below as well. At the end 
  of the conversation, if Dane believes that the char-
  acters will act more or less human, he tells them that 
  he is leaving the area for a while and that he hopes he 
  won’t see them again. If not, he informs them they are 
  going to meet their Maker soon, one way or another, 
  and he advises they make peace now. And then he 
  packs up his violin and walks off. 
  Character Goals
  Reflect over what has happened. Make plans for 
  the future. Convince Sullivan Dane they aren’t worth 
  killing. 
  Actions
  Displaying Humanity
  Dice Pool: Charisma + Empathy or Humanity, 
  whichever is less (difficulty 9). Vampires on Paths of 
  Enlightenment automatically fail.
  Hindrances: Character has committed murder or 
  fed in front of Dane (+1 difficulty); character has a 
  Nature such as Monster, Rogue, or Creep (+1 diffi-
  culty)
  Help: Character has committed acts of charity or 
  self-sacrifice in front of Dane (-1 difficulty); character 
  has a Nature such as Child, Caregiver, or Penitent (-1 
  difficulty)
  Roll Results
  Botch: Dane is disgusted by the character, and con-
  siders her to be a monster undeserving even of a final 
  confession. He doesn’t lose his temper or attack im-
  mediately, but he will attempt to follow the character 
  back to her haven. 
  Failure: Dane decides that the character deserves 
  his attention. He focuses his questioning on this char-
  acter, and the player may make another roll at +1 dif-
  ficulty (maximum 10). Any failure on this second roll 
  is treated as a botch.
  One Success: Dane makes a note of the character’s 
  name, description, and any identifying details. He 
  won’t pursue the character immediately, unless the 
  Storyteller is interested in running such a story, but 
  might pass along his notes to another cell of hunters. 
  Three Successes: The character impresses Dane with 
  her humility and humanity. Dane is under no illusion 
  as to the character’s goodness (she’s still a vampire, 
  after all), but does decide that there are many greater 
  evils in the word. Dane notes the character’s general 
  description and leaves it at that. 
  Five Successes: Dane is amazed at how humane the 
  character is. He mentions the word “Golconda” to the 
  character quietly, and assures her that it is real and 
  attainable. “This is the only way,” he says. “This or 
  the sun.” If the character asks for more details, Dane 
  blinks and appears not to realize he said anything at 
  all. 
  Consequences
  From here, proceed to “Aftermath.”
  44 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  45 
  DUST TO DUST
  Aftermath
  The characters have undoubtedly changed Gary by 
  their time here, but how much? And it what ways? 
  Where the story goes from here — if anywhere — de-
  pends on the answers to these questions. No matter 
  what happened, the Storyteller should have events and 
  consequences that he can use to build further story arcs 
  if the players wish to continue with these characters.
  Experience
  Dust to Dust can take anywhere from one to three 
  game sessions to complete. Each character should 
  receive experience point awards at the end of each 
  chapter, as detailed in Vampire 20th, pp. 123-124. At 
  the end of the story, you can award additional points 
  based on the outcome of the story. Some examples are:
  Success: If the coterie managed to fulfill their own 
  goals while working with (or in the face of) the Kin-
  dred of Gary, they should each get an extra experience 
  point.
  Danger: Surviving the zombie walk or an attack by 
  the hunters should count as dangerous for an expe-
  rience point award. Depending on the nature of the 
  story, surviving attacks from the other Kindred of 
  Gary may count as well.
  Wisdom: Coming up with a plan to prevent the 
  various factions’ taking advantage of the coterie can 
  lead to an experience point for wisdom. Convincing 
  Sullivan Dane that the coterie is no immediate threat 
  may also qualify.
  45 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  mental  
  physical 
   
  social  
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental  
  physical
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental 
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental
  physical 
  social  
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
   •••
  ••
  •••
  Making a Good First Impression:  
  Modius — Characters talk with him before 
  he feeds (+1 difficulty);  
  Juggler — Characters lead off with any-
  thing pro-Camarilla or pro-Sabbat (+1 
  difficulty);  
  Maria — characters interrupt her phone 
  call or “casting” spiel (+1 difficulty)
  Welcome to Gary
  All — Characters do not call attention to 
  themselves or the vampire (-1 difficulty)
  Introduce important Storyteller characters, present Gary to the characters.
  Talk with the local Kindred, learn the political lay of the land
   •••
  •••
  •••
  Photography: Character is using Crafts 
  without a specialty or a specific Ability 
  in Photography (+1 difficulty), character 
  uses a cheap camera (+1 difficulty).  
  Feeding During the Zombie Walk: Char-
  acter is not in zombie makeup (+1 dif-
  ficulty); character attempts to feed within 
  a block of City Hall (+1 difficulty).
  Offers
  Photography: Character takes at least an 
  hour to familiarize herself with the camera 
  that Modius provided (-1 difficulty). 
  Feeding During the Zombie Walk: Char-
  acter attempts to feed within a block of 
  the parking lot (-1 difficulty).
  Embroil the characters in the plots of the city.
  Make some cash, make some friends, learn some new tricks, figure out their 
  own plans for Gary.Candidate: Prove self-worth and get Embraced.
   ••
  ••••
  ••
  Helping Maria to Kill Lazlo: Character is 
  hungry (+1 difficulty). 
  Clearing the Way for Dane: Character 
  has no dots in Brawl (+1 difficulty); char-
  acter has no dots in Athletics  
  (+1 difficulty). 
  Making the Wall of Blood: No dots in 
  Crafts (+1 difficulty); less than half of full 
  blood pool (+1 difficulty); multiple charac-
  ters are creating blood-lines are trying to 
  synch them up (+1 difficulty).
  The Zombie Walk
  Helping Maria to Kill Lazlo: Character 
  has a least a dot in Necromancy (-1 dif-
  ficulty). 
  Clearing the Way for Dane: Character 
  has Athletics 2 or more (-1 difficulty). 
  Making the Wall of Blood: Full blood 
  pool (-1 difficulty); Dexterity 4 or more (-1 
  difficulty).
  Reveal Lazlo’s plot and Jean Lisle’s presence. Establish a relationship between 
  characters and Maria DiMatto.
  Enjoy the zombie walk. Stop Lazlo Varga from enslaving and killing people.
   ••
  •
  •••
  Knowing About Dane: Character is less 
  than 10 years from the Embrace  
  (+1 difficulty) 
  Character was deliberately sheltered from 
  other vampires (+1 difficulty)
  The Hunter
  Character has dealt with hunters  
  (-1 difficulty) 
  Character is more than 20 years past the 
  Embrace (-1 difficulty)
  Embroil the characters in the plots of the city.
  Make some cash, make some friends, learn some new tricks,  
  figure out their own plans for Gary.
  46 
  
  mental  
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental  
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental  
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental  
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  Talking Jean Down: Every gunshot or at-
  tack on Jean (+1 difficulty) 
  Characters have already damaged Jean 
  (+1 difficulty); 
  Character is white (+1 difficulty).
  From the Dust Returned
  Talking Jean Down: Character uses Pres-
  ence 1 (-2 difficulty) 
  Character speaks French to Jean (-1 dif-
  ficulty)
  Kill Lazlo and his cult, establish Jean Lisle as a threat to the city or destroy him.
  Survive, escape, destroy Jean Lisle.
  Undoing Dominate: Character has ever 
  been Dominated by Modius (+1 difficulty) 
  Character has tasted Modius’ blood  
  (+1 difficulty)
  Juggling Lessons
  Undoing Dominate: Modius has tried to 
  Dominate the character and failed  
  (-1 difficulty)
  Increase tension between the city’s factions, and possibly between the  
  characters of the coterie. 
  To decide where their ideology fits in the Camarilla/Anarch divide.Candidate: 
  Saving the Old Lady: Standing close to 
  the door, away from Maria  
  (+1 difficulty)
  The Death Rattle of Gary
  None
  Resolve Maria’s experiment in “sociological necromancy.”
  Witness Maria’s triumph, or prevent her sick ambitions.
  Let’s You & Him Fight: Large, open area 
  (+1 difficulty) 
  Fewer than 3 other characters visible  
  (+1 difficulty) 
  Character has already harmed Juggler 
  (+1 difficulty)
  Toothless Hounds
  Let’s You & Him Fight: Close, tight area  
  (-1 difficulty); 
  At least 4 combatants present other than 
  Modius and Juggler (-1 difficulty); 
  Juggler is already in frenzy (-1 difficulty)
  Bring the tension between Juggler and Modius to a head.
  Decide who’s side they’re on, once and for all.
   •
  ••••
  •••
   •••
  •••
  ••
   •••
  ••
  ••
   •••
  •••
  •••
  47 
  
  mental  
  physical 
   
  social  
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental  
  physical
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental 
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental
  physical 
  social  
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  Displaying Humanity: Character has com-
  mitted murder or fed in front of Dane  
  (+1 difficulty) 
  Character has a Nature such as Monster, 
  Rogue, or Creep (+1 difficulty). 
  Characters on Paths of Enlightenment 
  automatically fail.
  Tomorrow Night
  Displaying Humanity: Character has com-
  mitted acts of charity or self-sacrifice in 
  front of Dane (-1 difficulty) 
  Character has a Nature such as Child, 
  Caregiver or Penitent
  Bring the chronicle to a close.
  Reflect over what has happened. Make plans for the future. Convince Sullivan 
  Dane they aren’t worth killing. 
   ••
  •
  •••
  48 
  
  mental  
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental  
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental  
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  mental  
  physical 
  social 
  scene:
  pcs
  hinDRances
  help
  sts
  Humanity
  
  50 
  DUST TO DUST
  Humanity
  
  51 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  52 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  53 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  54 
  DUST TO DUST
  
  1 
  DUST TO DUST
  A story for  
  Vampire: The Masquerade 
  20th Anniversary Edition  
  using the  
  MENTAL 
  OOOOO
  PHYSICAL OOOOO
  SOCIAL 
  OOOOO
  STORYTELLING ADVENTURE  SYSTEM
  XP LEVEL
  o-35
  SCENES
  9
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Storyteller [multi]/World of Darkness (WoD) [multi]/Vampire/Vampire (oWoD)/Vampire 20th Anniversary/V20 - Dust to Dust.pdf