How does surprise work in Vampire combat?

Question

Making this a separate question from this VTM question which was too broad

One side in a fight has achieved Surprise (p300). Call them Janet & John. The rules say that they make the surprise attack against Difficulty 1.

So is Turn 1 of combat supposed to be a surprise round where Janet & John deal out damage and there is no opposed defence/attack roll by the folk they are attacking? (Dick & Jane)

Basically are Janet & John calculating damage on number of successes rolled minus the 1 success required for Difficulty 1? So Dick & Jane don’t get to react until Turn 2?

Or do Dick & Jane get an action in Turn 1?

Answer 1

Surprise rounds come from things like ambushes. If you're giving Janet and John surprise, then Dick and Jane should have had the chance to perceive that an attack was coming before the combat starts. Insight, Awareness, Streetwise…something that would allow them not to be caught by surprise.

If Dick and Jane each fail to detect the oncoming threat, then, yes; John and Janet make their attack rolls at Difficulty 1 against them. It's a bad day for Dick and Jane.