Venue Style Sheet: Canberra Requiem

VSS Approval Number: VTRVSS1407 (29 July 2014)

Domain: Canberra/Carpe Civitatem

Venue Storyteller: Sean West Money

The Canberra Requiem venue hosts a single, monthly core Requiem game. All other events are considered supporting games, such as clan, covenant and coterie meetings. These games are considered supplementary to the core game, do not necessarily require an ST presence and are limited in the effects they can have on the core game.

Description of Venue: Requiem Canberra – The Court

This section can be altered at low approval

Monthly, Saturday Nights. 1800 h for 1900 h start, finishing between 2230 h and 2300 h
Location: Scout Hall, Haig Park, Canberra.
Lead Storyteller: Sean West Money (VST Canberra Requiem)
Temporary Narrators/dicerollers: None (can be announced at game).

Styles of Play. 1 (Never Present) to 5 (Always Present).

Style of Play	Description	Rating
Action	Combat and Challenges	3
Character	Development, personal dilemmas and choices	4
Darkness	PC death or corruption	3
Drama	Ceremony and grand story	2
Intrigue	Politics and negotiation	4
Manners	Social etiquette and peer pressure	3
Mystery	Enigmas and investigation	4
Pace	How fast do stories emerge, develop and resolve?	2-4

Storytelling Mechanics

Mediation

All players are encouraged to mediate challenges were possible. Mediated outcomes must be agreed to all parties. Players are encouraged to mediate with the phrase “I’ll win, but you’ll be awesome”.

Dice Rolling

All dice rolls unless previously and explicitly approved will be conducted by the VST. This is done to encourage the use of mediation where-ever possible.

Steering Vs Meta-Gaming

Steering is the use of IC actions to achieve an OOC outcome, for example the use of white lanyards for new players during their introduction. Effective steering is game building and community strengthening, and will attract ST discretion experience awards when detected.
Meta-gaming is the use of OOC actions to achieve an IC outcome, for example the use of lying or cheating. Meta-gaming where discovered will be subject to immediate disciplinary action which can include XP docking, suspension of the character or de-sanctioning of characters under the VSS.

Feeding (MET Requiem Pg 230)

The ST will make a single die roll for each character. This is the base amount of blood for the particular character. Haven Location is automatically added to this roll. Shared Haven totals will be calculated by taking all characters that have been active for the past three months.
Herd creates an available blood pool equal to the merit rating. This pool can be consumed by any PC, though each such transaction must be brought to the VST. A PC can only benefit once from the herd merit. Low rolls on blood draws may result in the Herd being used before the game at the VST's discretion.
Vampires will always begin with a minimum of 4 blood, as it is assumed no vampire will arrive at court whilst starving. The total is increased to four after the applicable merits have been applied.
Coil of Blood 1 (Blood Seeps Slowly) increases the base amount of blood received by relevant characters to either half or full, dependent on the opening roll (1 - 5 = half, 6 - 10 = Full). Location and Herd are added after the Coil's affect is determined.
Retainers cannot be fed from as a default, "Blood dolls" are covered by the Herd merit. Attempting to feed from a retainer will have consequences.
Visitors to Canberra will follow the same procedures, noting the strong possibility of the lack of use of Haven or Herd merits unless prior notice is given to the ST of IC hosting arrangements.

Hunting Actions

Hunting actions are disallowed at game. This is to ensure the relevancy of the feeding system, as well as the Merits, Powers and Covenant advantages that affect blood totals.

Mundane Skills

The use of mundane skills, particularly social skills, is a reasonable and valid method of roleplaying. Players found to be ignoring social skill levels or results may be considered cheating and dealt with as such.

City Status

An “Active” PC is defined as one who attended the previous game.
Ascendancy and Status levels are tracked by the ST.
Status points refresh at the beginning of the monthly Canberra game, rather than at the beginning of the Calendar month. In the event of a position change, the total pool of status changes available to the relevant positions alters accordingly, penalised by changes already by those positions. Should there be an occurrence of the position now having less points than changes already made, the changes still stand.
All Status changes need to be emailed to the VST the month post change in order to take effect. Status changes announced during a game apply during the game. Changes need to detail the following:

The degree of change and points spent
The position being used
The justification used

The players of the Prince position or equivalent and the Harpies are given viewing access to the status amounts and ascendancy ratings for the court as per the ST maintained Google Drive Spreadsheet.
Visiting characters will have their local city status counted with the appropriate penalty as per the Red Book, provided the storyteller has sufficient notice.
Characters are aware of the city status of other local PC's, which will be indicated by a visible marker each game and / or published before the game.
Usually, characters not present at the game session will not be able to have their Status raised. Some exceptions will be granted, to take into account OOC circumstances and unexpected situations at the VST's discretion.

Covenant / Clan Status

All Status changes need to be emailed to the VST the month post change in order to take effect. Status changes announced during a game apply during the game. Venue Positions able to chain status can change the appropriate status of visitors to the Venue while they are physically present (or proxied into the Venue). Changes need to detail the following:

The degree of change and points spent
The position being used
The justification used

Note than changes made by national positions over email lists need to be forwarded to the VST to be actioned.

Covenant Status - Ordo Dracul

The Head of the Black may set local covenant goals in times of peace at low approval, instead of the Grand Wyrm.

Boons

A spreadsheet keeps track of boons. The ST is responsible for ensuring applicable characters have access to it, the relevant players are responsible for keeping it updated and are expected to after each game.

Character Death

Character death every so often is expected. The World of Darkness is a dangerous place and vampires are parasites on mankind, not a condition that engenders a great deal of mercy or kindness. In the PvP sense, attempts at character death are expected to be reasonable to the roleplay surrounding the events. Kill attempts in downtime are disallowed.

Derangements

All derangement's must have a clear trigger, which will be written on sheets. Triggers must have a possibility of being activated from time to time at game.

Equipment

Basic Firearms are Low approval in Canberra as opposed to Mid (Universal Addenda Section IX.B.1.a)

Headlines

An in game Media release will be done prior to each game, detailing the local news available. Characters with appropriate status/allies/retainers can impact the news appropriate to the level of the relevant merit(s).
As a rough indicative guide:
1 - Knowledge of how much of a story is disingenuous from the reporting point
3 - Put out a major local headline
5 - Stop or completely alter a major headline (i.e. Change "Peaceful Protest Against Inflammtory Local Government Policies" to "Quiet Riot: The Silent but Violent Minority Ruining Our City")

Approval Form

The preferred approval form can be found here(pdf) or here (Word Document).
Those going for Mid or higher approval levels are generally required to owe at least two other PC's boons of at least a minor level. This is to encourage the prestation economy and create ties.
Bloodline holders are expected to make links with other members of the bloodline in the chronicle as far as is reasonably practical, with an understanding they are to be considered a point of contact for those desiring to join the bloodline in game or with incoming characters.

Carthian Law

This section can be altered at low approval
None at this time.

Downtimes

The minimum requirements for a downtime are:
Experience claimed and how it is claimed
Any experience spent

Downtime Actions

Downtimes actions are governed as per the Minds Eye Theatre book. To clarify:
Characters receive a downtime action per dot of resolve, per game period.
Retainers have their own downtime action in an area applicable to their type (i.e. A bodyguard retainer cannot act as a lawyer)
Allies have their own downtime action in their specified area.
Downtime hits are disallowed unless specifically allowed by the ST and all applicable players.
Downtime actions should where possible include the wider intention or end state, in order to assist the ST in interpreting the success or otherwise of downtime actions.

Downtime Feedback Question

At the time of the Downtime reminder a feedback question will usually be provided, answering said question grants the feedback xp award. If there is no feedback question provided then the award will be added to the amount for Downtimes/Game Reports.

Downtime Due Date

Downtimes are due the two weeks prior to the game, downtimes received late may be processed but may be limited in the degree of response due to time constraints.
A reminder email is sent shortly after game, which will also detail that months feedback question.
Late downtimes will only be processed at the discretion of the VST, and it should be expected that actions will not be processed. It is also expected that Downtime XP will not be awarded for a late downtime without prior extension being sought.

Sanctity of Merits

THIS SECTION IS READ INSTEAD OF REQUIEM ADDENDA I.D.2.B
While merits represent things can be removed or destroyed (retainers can be killed, havens destroyed), the XP spent is an out of character resource. With VST approval, a merit that has been lost can be redistributed into other merits. For example, a three dot retainer is killed, and with VST approval the merit is replaced by a three-dot ally representing fellow grievers. Merits that are replaced should follow IC justifications, and abuse of this rule will be subject to disciplinary action.

Rules Interpretations

Any instance of a rule requiring clarification or interpretation will be noted here.
This section can be modified at low approval.

A torpid character can be hidden using Obfuscate 5
A torpid character cannot be hidden with Obfuscate 1
Ghosts, Spirits and Greater Template NPC's (Vampires, Werewolves, etc.) cannot be Allies or Retainers
Animals cannot be bought as Allies
Fire does automatic levels of damage dependent on its size.
Injuries downgraded by Resilience maintain the appearance of the original damage (i.e. Flesh burned by fire, resulting in aggravated damage gets reduced to lethal damage. Mechanically the injury is not as bad, but at an IC level it still looks like an aggravated fire injury).
Guardian Vigil firstly allows automatic success against surprise. If combat occurs and surprise is not a factor than Guardian Vigil can be used to win the initiative roll. Multiple characters with Guardian Vigil will use Dexterity turn order.
For the purposes of the Armoury merit, Tasers, Chainsaws and any other weapon with a rating of 0 or less are treated as having a +1 bonus.
Use of a weapon in a grapple does not add an equipment bonus to initiate or maintain a grapple, but allows a second form of attack whilst a grapple is maintained (ie lethal attack with a size one knife).
On ties between Clans / Covenants in calculating Ascendancy or Eminence, no clan / covenant will gain bonus status.
Vampires using Dominate 5 or Animalism 4 are subject to Majesty 5.

Characters

Character Concept

All characters must have a short, succinct and indicative character concept. Character concepts allow STs to identify broad themes of the character, and assist in portrayal of the character in downtimes / ST scenes.
Players will have one month from the date of approval of this VSS, or two months from the first game of the character (whichever is longer) to complete their character concept. Players that fail to articulate their character’s concept may find their character is de-sanctioned.

Sheet Management

Character sheets are maintained by the VST through Google Drive. Players will have read access to character sheets and should request such access through the VST.
The sheets used are drawn from here, sheet selection will change should a superior or updated sheet be written.
The sheet file being used can be changed at low approval.
Excel 2003 versions are used to allow maximum compatibility.

Character Development Document

Word version of the CDD.

Creation Guidelines

Ghoul PC’s are discouraged from long term play, such concepts will only be approved if this is taken into account.
It is the rare vampire that can hold onto their humanity down the years. A starting characters humanity level will be less depending on their age, decided after discussion between the player and VST as required. Players starting below seven may either opt to fail the resultant derangement roll or draw as appropriate, losing humanity in background does not automatically stop the chance to gain a derangement. As a rough guide:
- New vampire – 6 or 7
- Neonate (up to 50 years) – 5
- Ancilla (Up to 150 years) – 4 or 5
- Elder (150+ years) – 4
Vampires at humanity three (3) or below are considered to be extremely rare at the start of play. Note that this means vampires that wilfully murder humans are not frequent, at least to start with. If the concept is appropriate, individual characters may discuss with the VST to have a different starting level of humanity to the norm.

Sanctioning

This section can be modified at low approval.
The following merits are not sanctioned for characters created under the Canberra VSS:

All merits from Damnation City
Friend from Requiem Chroniclers Guide
Masquerade / Requiem from Danse Macabre
Murder Status from Invite Only

The following bloodlines are not sanctioned for characters created under the Canberra VSS:

Kallisti
Bohagande
Dead Wolves
Mellisidae

Note that visiting players with items on the above lists will still be welcome to attend and play, however cannot expect that any items associated with a non-sanctioned item will function in the Canberra VSS.

The following bloodlines are subject to restricted sanction under the Canberra VSS:

Morotrophian - Limited to 2 active PC characters and the discretion of the VST. Bloodline discipline suffers penalties when used outside of home institution.

Retainers

Retainers are expected to have a completed character sheet, and be completed in accordance with the Universal Addenda. This means that a retainer can have no more than Retainer Dots + 2 in an Attribute, and Retainer Dots + 1 in any skill. Players are encouraged to develop Retainer sheets for submission to the ST and approval.
Retainers without a completed sheet cannot be used in a combat scenario and will likely fail all tests if placed in a combat scenario.

Proxy Rules

Proxy rules are as per the Addenda.
On the spot Proxies will not be approved.

Experience

Experience Awards

Potential XP awards each month are as follows:

Game – 5xp
Other attended games (eg Sydney/Brisbane) – 5xp
- Requires previous notice of intention to the Canberra VST in order to forward sheet to the respective ST.
Downtime – 2xp
- Feedback Question Answer – +1xp
Real Time Roleplaying (RTR) Scene – 2xp
- Must include a full report of attendees and synopsis to the VST
Submission of Plotkit to the ST – 3xp
ST discretion – 2xp

Storyteller Duties

Any players that take part in storytelling duties to the exclusion of playing their own sanctioned character receive full game attendance XP for their applicable character.

Spending Experience

Downtime training actions are not required, the only limit (Outside of approvals or specific learning requirements, such as a teacher) is the amount of available experience.
The only way experience spends will be approved is via email to the VST Canberra address. Experience spends will not be approved at the session unless previously discussed with the VST.

Late XP Claims

Experience can be claimed and spent after downtime periods have expired within reason.

New Players

Those new to the club get full xp for their first six months of games so they are not penalised while they are still learning how the process works.

Archived-Canberra Requiem VSS