Archived-Canberra Requiem VSS

Venue Style Sheet: Leviathan

Domain: Canberra/Carpe Civitatem

Venue: Leviathan

Venue Storyteller: <a title="mailto:VSTCanberra@gmail.com" href="mailto:VSTCanberra@gmail.com">Jahn Barfoed</a>

The Canberra Requiem Venue is based in and around Canberra and the surrounding metro area. See <a title="http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=110201599994184550968.000468c4a298954f77a6c&z=9" href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=110201599994184550968.000468c4a298954f77a6c&z=9">here</a>.

The Leviathan 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 mostly considered supplementary to the other games, do not require an ST presence and are limited in the effects they can have on the core game.

<a name="Description_of_Venue:_Requiem_Canberra_."></a>Description of Venue: Requiem Canberra – The Court

Monthly, Saturday Nights. 7.00pm to 11.00pm.
Location: Scout Hall, Haig Park, Canberra.
Lead Storyteller: Jahn Barfoed (VST LEVIATHAN)
Temporary Narrators: May be appointed for any game when necessary.

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

<tbody> </tbody>

Style of Play	Description	Rating
Action	Combat and Challenges	3
Character	Development, personal dilemmas and choices	3
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?	3

<a name="Storytelling_Mechanics"></a>Storytelling Mechanics

Feeding (MET Requiem p.230)

Blood totals are calculated as dictated in the MET Requiem book.

The ST will do a card draw prior to printing sheets, this is the base amount.

Haven Location is automatically added to this draw.

Herd can be specified prior to game as being "Unspent", as PC's can choose to give blood gained from herd dots to others.

Vampires will always begin with a minimum of 4 blood, as it is assumed no vampire will arrive at court whilst starving.

Hunting Actions

Will be disallowed for the opening portion of the game. This is to enforce the feeding mechanics while still allowing flexibility.

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 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 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 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.

Character Death

Player verse Player character death is discouraged. Players are required to seek multiple alternate solutions to IC problems before resorting to attempting to kill other PC’s.

It is stressed that tracking down and destroying vampires is not an easy task, and characters are assumed to have acted as far as possible within their means to be safe.

Rules Interpretations

Any instance of a rule requiring clarification or interpretation are noted here.

This section can be edited at Low Approval.

<a name="Character_Sheets"></a>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 <a title="http://sheets.camarilla.ca/ResetExcel.php" href="http://sheets.camarilla.ca/ResetExcel.php">http://sheets.camarilla.ca/ResetExcel.php</a>

The 2003 version is to be used to avoid compatibility issues.

See below for details on claiming and spending experience.

Ghouls

Ghoul PC’s are discouraged from long term play.

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.

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

Bloodlines

The following bloodlines will not be approved for new PC’s.

• Morotrophian

• Kallisti

• Bohagande

• Dead Wolves

• Mellisidae

Note: Visitors to the city will not be barred from playing, but will have to reach an understanding with the VST regarding 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.

Proxy Rules

Proxy rules are as per the Addenda.

Barring proxies that involve combat, un-detailed proxies are accepted on the condition they clearly state:

• The character’s that are involved

• The intentions

• Method of travel (Appropriate level allies can be substituted here)

Air Travel: Flights originating from outside Canberra will ordinarily land at the Canberra Airport

Rail Travel: Rail services existing in Canberra can be viewed here. There is one rail line operating between Canberra and the rest of Australia.

Road Travel: Canberra has some of the best and worst roads in the world (mostly the best).

Local Proxies: Follow the same rules. They must be cleared ahead of time by the ST chain.

<a name="Experience_Awards"></a>Experience Awards

Potential XP awards each month are as follows: (Max 8/Month).

• Character attendance: 5/month
• Downtime/Game Report: 2/month
• Feedback: 1/month

XP claims must be made on a downtime.

New Players

Get full xp for their first 6 games so they are not penalised while they are still learning how the process works.

Downtime

The minimum requirements for a downtime are:

• Experience claimed and what for

• Any experience spent

• Answer to feedback questions

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

New items to purchase must be reasonable in regards to the character (For instance, the Humanity 1 feral Gangrel will have a hard time justifying the purchase of allies). Downtime/game actions can be used to alleviate such a problem.

The only way XP spends will be approved is via email to the VST Canberra address. XP 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 DT reminder for the feedback portion of the sheet (For example, the first month’s questions is likely to be “Do you want to be directly involved in non-apocalyptic plots?). 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 week prior to the game.

A reminder email will be sent two weeks prior to the game, which will also detail Ascendancy and Eminency for the month, as well as that month's feedback question.

<a name="Requiem_Reset_Plan"></a>

Requiem Reset Plan

Timetable

Subject to change based on new dates/information

April – Most PC’s meet their end, by one means or another. After this game sheets will start to be approved.

May – City history for the most part. I intend to leave the history somewhat open, and this is the point where any important scenes can be played out so people who were present know how things occurred, or can change it on the spot. Also a time intended for characters to link up (See PC Requirements). Any stragglers from the previous month can also meet their end.

June – First game. This will be run sheetless. The intention is to ease into the new game, so that players can get a good grounding for how the court and its members interact with each other, with all scenes resolved via mediation and unlikely character death.

July – Proper games kick off!

Backhistory

Note: Subject to change dependent on national decisions regarding history.

Summary/Intent: As it took a while for Canberra to obtain a decent population, my basic theory is that for a fair while it was occupied only (vampiricly speaking) by those intending to influence federal government or by refuse/scavengers/reclusives/etc. At some point the city was large enough that a court was finally established, and things developed a bit more normally from there.

Mundane Timeline

1908 - It is decided to build a new capital at Canberra

1911 - Canberra has a population of 1,714

1912 - Architect Walter Burley Griffin wins a competition to design the new city

1913 - The foundations stone of Canberra is laid

1930 - Canberra has a population of 9,000

1945 - Canberra has a population of 13 000

1947 - The Australian National University is established

1947 - Canberra has a population of 15,000

1960 - Canberra has a population of 50 000

1963 - Walter Burley Griffin Lake is created

1965 - The Royal Australian Mint opens. Anzac Walk opens.

1967 - Canberra has a population of more than 100,000

1968 - The National Library of Australia opens

1976 - Canberra has a population of 205 000

1977 - Canberra Stadium is built

1980 - The High Court of Australia opens. The National Museum of Australia is founded. Teslstra Tower opens.

1981 - The Australian Institute of Sport opens

1982 - The National Gallery of Australia opens

1988 - New Parliament House opens

2000 - Canberra has a population of 310 000

2002 - Reconciliation Place opens

2006 - R. G. Menzies Walk opens

Canberra Court Timeline

1912 – First Vampire arrives in Canberra

1968 – Canberra praxis established (Until the present day each Praxis will last no more than a few years)

1971 – Final unaligned dissidents against the Praxis driven out of the city

Notice how there isn’t much yet? Quick! Get ideas!

Player Characters in the History

It’s the start of Chron. This means that unique positions and opportunities open up, here are some accolades player’s can get (After discussing it with the rest of the game of course)

• First vampire in Canberra
• Established the Court (Note by default this will mean you lost your praxis at some point)
• Former Prince (Note: I would like several of these. One of the disconnects I always feel reading in game timelines is that the Praxis changes fairly often, as it should in a backbiting betrayal ridden group of blood suckers. Ergo, Praxis’ in the pre-start timeline will be limited to a few years at most, and having former Princes wandering encourages the idea that you don’t have to die to be removed from the throne, which is something else I would like to encourage).
• Some form of relationship to the NPC’s detailed below.

Note: Nothing is a given until it gets stamped. Don’t automatically assume you will get something until it’s been discussed with the other players. If a consensus cannot be reached it will by my call, though I would prefer it didn’t come to that.

Established NPC’s

• Unaligned – There’s always a few wretches that shun the Covenants and the Court lurking around, every so often they get pumped for information or purged.
• The Draugr – A single old, potent vampire, who has appeared on and off over the decades. (Note: If no PC ends up with it, this is the default for the Court founder...). Particularly open for Childe, especially if there is a bloodline people are having trouble getting an appropriate sire for. Clan to be determined by those factors.
• Avitus – An ancient vampire of potent blood, goals unknown. Appeared when the court was founded.

· The OOC intent is to have a last resort option for PC’s to deal with to awaken those who would otherwise get stuck in torpor.

• The Guardians – Ghoul minions of Avitus, they maintain the default location for the Canberra Court to gather.

· Primarily these exist as established servant NPC’s for newcomers to try out.

Humanity

It is the rare vampire that can hold onto their humanitas down the years. Starting characters humanity will be less depending on their age, decided after discussion with the player. 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 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.

<a name="Beginning_Character_Details"></a>Beginning Character Details

Status

Subject to change, reset rules dependent.

City – Beginning City Status will be determined as per the Redbook, hopefully in May or at the June game if required.

Clan and Covenant – Prisci and Covenant leaders will start at Valued (3) in their respective groups. Covenant factions may cause there to be more than one kindred valued at such. Whips and experienced characters in the respective groups will start at Recognised (2). Younger/inexperienced characters will start at Acknowledged (1). All starting values are subject to negotiation in the appropriate groups.

Boons

Starting characters are to owe a minimum of two (2) boons at the Minor or higher level. This is to represent past dealings, why people have positions, create character ties, etc. Players should seek to have a variety of different connections, preferably to characters that are not allies.

A compiled list will be given to whoever holds the harpy positions.

Positions

Preference for important starting positions (Prince, Harpies, Sheriff) should be to players that have not held a position of that form before.

<a name="VSS"></a>VSS

Liable to be the same/similar to the one in use prior to Reset, addenda/rule changes pending.