Brisbane Lost VSS
(Needs cleaning by someone who can wiki)
VENUE STYLE SHEET
Lost VSS
Administrative Information
Venue Details
• Venue Name: The Darkness at the Bottom of the Garden
• Venue Number: CtL-????-???
• Domain Name: Twilight Alliance
• Domain Number: TAC AUD08
Venue Personnel
• VST: Adam Muhling (2015080009)
• VC: Position to be elected. Temp: Daniel Crabb (?)
Game Details
• Game Location: Red Brick Hotel, Woollongabba
• Game Time: The Sunday after Requiem at 6pm.
• Game Fees: Up to the VC, currently an optional donation
Mailing lists, websites and other online resources used
• Twilight Alliance has no dedicated website although most of our information can be found on the wiki at http://wiki.beyondthesunset.org.au/Brisbane.
• Members of Twilight Alliance should subscribe to ooc.brisbane@lists.camarilla.org.au.
• Information about our games can also be found on our facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/twilight.alliance/
• Story Tellers are encouraged to utilise google drive to share game recourses and should contact the DST for more information.
• Storyteller Email – Bris.Lost.VST@gmail.com
Game Information
Genre • Changeling The Lost
Setting
Brisbane for the Lost is a city torn from the pages of not a fairy tale, but a horror story.
Since as long as any of the Lost can remember, Brisbane has been a city that has belonged to The Darkness.
Legend says that at the very formation of Brisbane The Captain tore open the gateway to the hedge and established the Trod that allowed The Others ingress into our world.
Shortly after however, Four Lost slipped out and establish the Freehold around an abandoned aboriginal campsite.
But this is all myth and legend, these days the Free Changeling of Brisbane recognise the oppressive metaphorical darkness of the omnipresent Others.
The Freehold is suffering from paranoid and dissent within the Freehold in the wake of a recent civil war while oppressed on all sides from their known foes, The human paranoia and possible something else even less knowable.
How will the Lost even survive?
Themes
Fear / Oppression - The Lost are not the dominant faction of supernatuals, changeling or fae creatures. Your keepers want you back, your fetches want you dead or gone, The humans would put you in a lab and take you apart if they knew! How much can you trust your "allies" anyway? And finally, there are whispers of other creatures, alien and evil, out in the night that may hunt you for reasons unknown.
Consequences - The Hedge is a volatile landscape, filled with danger and death. The Dread Privateers listen out for every strange story for Lost to find. The world is brutal and as the Lost, you're already on your second chance.
Status Quo - Different is dangerous... Unique is fatal. Snowflakes melt in the roaring heat of Brisbane. The Freehold has existed in it's current states for many years, our rituals keep the Gentry at bay and those who put others at risk are quickly expelled or killed.
Politics - Motleys have agendas, The Court's have agendas. You will make enemies, you will owe favours. This isn't Vampire, Politics isn't a game you play to pass the time, this is changeling where emotions run hot. You're all in it together, since there is safety in numbers and feuds can tear a freehold apart, but the shifting of power is exaclty what keeps the True Fae away, where is the balance?
Personal Themes What's been Lost - You're not human anymore, and this is going to be a present theme in your personal story. Friends and family from your past will show up and it'll break your hearts.
Living Every Day - Bills need to be paid, food needs to be put on the table and these things aren't easy for someone who doesn't actually exist. The Freehold can provide the essentials (An Identity and a Job), but the more you take the more you have to buy back in...
Faustian Temptation - It would be so much easier to simply... pay for your freedom than simply hiding and fighting every day. Maybe you could even cut a deal where you get more than just freedom... Consider as a player the fact that, morality isn't black and white, everyone is out for themselves and a story is much cooler with distrust, secrets and betrayals (But not too many).
Moods
Tension, Stress and Paranoia. The Freehold is breaking at the seams, the Courts can’t trust each other and the pressure is building.
The Lost don’t sleep easy, weariness is building, but The Darkness is coming and soon it won’t matter if their eyes are open or closed.
Preferred Character Types/Restrictions
All characters must be serious, dark and have real needs and issues to conflict over.
Important Locations
• Moreton Bay Trod – Where The Captain opened the First Trod for his Arcadian Masters all those years ago, still firmly Loyalist territory.
• Archerfield Trod – The Second Trod in Brisbane, opened in WWII with the huge numbers of international soldiers being based there. The original location for the modern Freehold Pledge formation. A hugely symbolic location for the Lost.
• Eagle Farm Trod – A Trod opened by the emotion around Camp Ascot in WWII shortly after the Archerfield Trod formed.
• Freehold Commons - TBA
• Spring Retreat – A gated community near the Indooroopilly Golf Course, Invitation Only.
• Summer Stronghold - TBA
Venue Background
See separate Venue History and The Courts of Brisbane
Ratings
Intrigue (politics and negotiation): 3
Action (combat and challenges):
Combat: 2
Challenges: 2
Mystery (enigmas and investigation): 3
Drama (ceremony and characterisation): 4
Darkness (chance of PC death/corruption): 4
External Factors Information
Experience Awards
NEW WORLD OF DARKNESS – CREATION
All primary characters receive their MC x 10 + 30 in experience points as per the universal addenda.
In addition characters may also receive experience points for the following at the discretion of the VST:
- 5XP for completion and submission of the relevant Character Development Document
- Up to 5XP for Character ties (1 point per Character Tie) – Players are required to communicate with VST regarding the nature and suitability.
- 3XP for a Narrative Character Back-story
- 3XP for a wiki page including a picture and a quote from another player
NEW WORLD OF DARKNESS – MONTHLY EXPERIENCE
Each month characters can obtain the following Experience Points at the discretion of the VST:
- 3XP for attending the majority of a game session
- 1xp for telling a story (rumour, narrative lie, truthful tale, history or fairy tale)
- 1XP for a Report detailing major events that occurred during the game or a reflective journal from the character perspective
- 2XP for a Narrative Downtime with significant detail or 1XP for a simple dot point downtime
Custom Rules
GENERAL RULES
No Write-Up? No Power! White-Wolf has published literally hundreds of book each with its own set of powers and unique rules. In lieu of this fact, if a player utilises a rule or power that does not come from a core book, that player must bring a legible copy of rules. If the player does bring copies of an obscure rule and it is brought into question then the power simply will not work or the rule will not apply. Story Tellers are the final arbitrators on what constitutes as an obscure rule.
NEW WORLD OF DARKNESS
Dramatic Successes and Failures Although the rules for dramatic successes and failures as per the write-up in the core World of Darkness material are not sanctioned within Beyond the Sunset’s New World of Darkness chronicle, VSTs within Brisbane will have some narrative flexibility in situations that would normally be considered a dramatic success or failure and may levy minor mechanical bonuses or detriments based on the situation. VSTs will be more generous with penalties and rewards in player versus environment situations as opposed to player versus player situations.
Example (Dramatic Success): Barry character is attempting to track down Don’s character with his heightened senses but Don’s character who is a master of Survival has covered his tracks and rough weather is making visibility near impossible. As a result Barry’s character is reduced to a chance draw and Barry has drawn a one. The Story Teller decides that rather than simply failing in his attempts to find Don’s character, Barry’s character is lead into a cave full of snakes.
Example (Dramatic Failure): Barry’s Character is in a tussle with a cave full of snakes. Fortunately his character is armed with his faithful cutlass and Barry manages to draw two tens in a row. Since the small snakes only have two health levels and are inconsequential antagonists the Story Teller decides that rather than Barrys character only killing one of the snakes he manages to cut through two of them in a single swing.
Blood Feeding/ Glamour Harvesting/ Mana Gathering (Supernatural Resource Obtaining)
Brisbane utilises a simplified method for determining the quantity of magical resources a character starts game with. A Character adds his relevant merits (such as Haven Location, Harvest, ect.) to a randomly drawn card (1-10) and the resulting number is the amount of magical resource that the character starts game with.
Example: Vlad the Vampire has an average sized Herd and a Haven that is located in the middle of the thriving night-club district (2 Herd + 5 Haven Location). He draws a 5 for his card and adds this to his total.
2 + 5 + Card 5 = 12
Vlad starts the game with 12 Blood in his blood pool or the maximum his blood pool will allow if it’s less than 12.
Certain powers give bonuses to feeding and these are applied with the discretion of the VST. VST may also alter the amount of supernatural recourses a Character begins the game with based on Plot and the general state of the city.
3: Downtime Handling Procedure
All downtimes are due on the 15th of the Month
This is a strict deadline and will be enforced unless an exceptional reason for lateness can be provided. “Forgetting to send it in” or “accidentally not attaching a file” are not acceptable reasons. Downtimes sent in after this date WILL NOT BE PROCESSED and characters will receive no XP for the submission of a downtime that month.
XP expenditures, and maintaining skills do not require a set number of downtime actions. XP expenditures will be approved based only on the justifications given by the player and the VSTs professional opinion. Understand that some XP expenditures will required significant character development before being approved.
NEW/INTERSTATE PLAYERS
1: Information for New Folks (new to Cam) New Players are encouraged to contact the relevant Story Teller at least three days before game. For contact information please see Section 4: Administrative information. Information relating to our specific games and White-Wolf’s World of Darkness can be found on the Beyond the Sunset Wiki - http://wiki.beyondthesunset.org.au
2: Information for External Folks (from other Domains)
Character Sheets for character outside of Brisbane should be sent though the relevant Story Teller channels at least three days before a game. Character sheets for character outside Australia should be sent through the relevant Story Teller Channels at least one week before game in case any conversions need to be made.