Archived-Canberra Requiem VSS

Venue Style Sheet: Canberra Requiem (Draft)

VSS Approval Number: This is the draft form of the new version, to be put up at the conclusion of the current DST election. It is updated to more properly reference the addenda and track the evolved calls/playstyle of the venue.

Domain: Canberra/Carpe Civitatem

Venue: Canberra Requiem

Venue Storyteller: JAB

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

Monthly, Saturday Nights. 6.00pm to 11.00pm.
Location: Scout Hall, Haig Park, Canberra.
Lead Storyteller: Jahn Barfoed (VST Canberra Requiem)

Temporary Narrators: May be appointed for any game when necessary.

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

Feeding (MET Requiem p.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.

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.

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.

Carthian Law

This section can be altered at Low Approval.

None at this time.

City Status

An “Active” PC is defined as one who was visibly present at the previous game.

Ascendance 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.

Status changes announced during a game apply during the game, but are not permanent unless the VST is made aware as detailed below.

After each game an email will be sent by the VST to all applicable players of IC position holders to determine:

• Who was affected (Player and PC name)
• The degree of change and points spent
• The position being used

Status changes can only be made at game; though a follow up message on the list is encouraged it is not mandatory.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Character Sheets

Management

Character sheets are maintained by the VST. Players are encouraged to keep an updated version of their sheet, and may request a copy of their sheet from the VST at any time.

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.

Ghouls

Ghoul PC’s are discouraged from long term play, such concepts will only be approved if this is taken into account.

Merits

Armory – For the purposes of the Armory merit, Tasers, Chainsaws and any other weapon with a rating of 0 or less are treated as having a +1 bonus.

Damnation City Merits - Will not be used in Canberra.

Fighting Style Filipino – If using the manoeuvres unarmed, Brawl is used in place of Weaponry for the appropriate draws.

Friend - Will not be used in Canberra.

Masquerade/Requiem from Danse Macabre - Will not be used in Canberra.

Murder Status - Will not be used in Canberra.

Shared Haven - Only active PC's count for this merit. In this instance "Active" is defined as any character that attended game, sent a downtime or participated in a proxy.

Bloodlines

The following bloodlines will not be approved for new PC’s. Note that at present a number of them are not sanctioned by the addenda.

• Morotrophian

• Kallisti

• Bohagande

• Dead Wolves

• Mellisidae

Note: Visitors to the city with these bloodlines will not be barred from playing, but will have to reach an understanding with the VST regarding problematic aspects of their bloodline.

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.

Humanity

It is the rare vampire that can hold onto their humanitas 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.

Equipment

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

Approval Form

The preferred approval form can be found here.

Approval Requirements

Those going for Mid or higher approval levels are generally required to owe at lest 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.

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:

• Character attendance: 4/month
• Downtime/Game Report: 2/month
• Feedback: 2/month
• ST Discretion: 2/month

XP claims must be made on a downtime.

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.

Media

An in game Media release will be done prior to each game, detailing the local news available. Characters with appropiate status/allies/retainers can impact the news appropiate to the level of the relevant merit(s).

As a rough indicative guide:

1 - Knowledge of how much of a story is disingenous 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")

Downtime

The minimum requirements for a downtime are:

• Experience claimed and what for
• Any experience spent
• Answer to feedback questions

Though no particular format is required, if one is desired then this form is adjusted for this VSS.

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

Downtime – Spending Experience

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.

Downtime - Feedback

Feedback XP is added to encourage it. Every so often there will be a question sent with the Downtime reminder for the feedback portion of the sheet. This is to help me make the game suit you; it’s more fun for everyone that way.

Late Claims

Experience can be claimed and spent after downtime periods have expired within reason. Such retro-active downtimes will not have pro-active actions approved (For instance, time spent training/researching/and so forth is fine, stalking PC’s is not).

Due Date

Downtimes are due the two weeks prior to the game, downtimes received late will be processed but likely penalised due to time constraints.

A reminder email is sent shortly after game, which will also detail that months feedback question.