ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

Venue Name, Number, City

Venue:

Genre: Vampire the Masquerade: Sabbat

Domain: Twilight Alliance (AUS-02), Brisbane

VC and VST

VC: Christopher Earl 2010090003

VST: Daniel Jenner 2011080002

Game Location, Time and Fees

VENUES

Twilight Alliance Games are played in a number of Venues across Brisbane. Commonly used venues include but are not limited to –

Bedford Hall, 10 Love Street Spring Hill 4000

Metro Arts, 109 Edward Street, Brisbane 4000

Spring Hill Hotel, 100 Leichhardt St Spring Hill QLD 4004

Norman Hotel, 102 Ipswich Rd Woolloongabba QLD 4102

Times

Game - evening of the 2nd Sunday of the Month. Specific sign on, game start and game finish times may vary depending on venue limitations.

Downtime - 2nd Monday after the date of the game.

Fees

Twilight Alliance has no standardised recurring fees. Costs for attending particular games are up to the discretion of the respective Venue Coordinator.

Mailing lists, websites and other online resources used

Domain Resources

Twilight Alliance has no dedicated website although most of our information can be found on this 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/

Venue Resources

Relevant Storyteller Emails are As Follows –

VST: Bris.Sabbat.VST@gmail.com

DST:

GAME INFORMATION

History

The Sabbat have been in Australia only for the last 20 or so years, hoping to find a new free place to settle down, but you realize you are not alone. So as individual packs you all settle separately in different places across South Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Until a call comes out in early 2012. Most of the Packs go there, very closed minded, mainly to see who thinks so well of themselves to put out a call to the Sabbat. When you get there though he is so charismatic, that you are all swept up in the charge for the Camarilla.

The Sabbat have rolled into Brisbane, and they smash themselves up against the Anarchs, not having the knowledge of the Camarilla to know that these aren't them. The battle is won, but at a horrifying price. The war exacted a huge toll on the Sabbat, a full 60% of them were wiped out by the Anarchs, and the kine of the city grew fearful, those that weren't wiped out to try and get blood. The Sabbat roll forward in much smaller numbers and that is when they come up against the defenses of the Camarilla, nd they realize that this war cannot be fought in the same manner of the battle against the Anarchs. They slink into the shadows of the South of the city. To plot, and to scout. They cannot make this mistake again.

Places of Interest

Brisbane in game is (on the surface) is exactly the same as Brisbane in the real world.

The Brisbane River: The river forms a natural barrier that is reinforced and patrolled by the Camarilla. North of it is relatively safe. South of it are the rich but contested hunting grounds of West End, South Brisbane and Woolloongabba.

Cultural District: The Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Museum, State Library and their immediate surrounds have been declared Elysium. Unfortunately they are all in the contested territory. Mincom Building: It is common knowledge that no kindred may enter the Mincom Building without an invitation from the Giovanni. The Mormon Temple: Perched atop the Kangaroo Point cliffs the ostentatious and reputedly impregnable temple is home to Followers of Set. It sits in contested territory.

Individual pack temples/base of operations

Themes and Moods

Suspicion

The Sabbat are not a trusting lot, hence the long time suffering of those not considered true Sabbat. The Sabbat is suspicious of any outsiders, even those who are True Sabbat but not of your pack are not to be trusted entirely. This is more poignant in a setting of espionage. The Sabbat are running a war of espionage, they have just realized they are up against forces beyond the abrupt way they have just fought this war in. So espionage is the way forward, who can you trust in this new way of war? You have to decide.

Freedom vs. Loyalty

The inner battle for every Sabbat member is that of where does freedom end, and loyalty begin, the Code of Milan asks for both of those, but they can be very opposing forces. Are you a person who believes wholly in freedom being of the utmost importance, or do you believe that if you are not loyal, nothing will move forward. Most are a little of each, which is preferred, from a character concept view.

Overt vs. Espionage

You’ve just fought a huge battle and while you didn’t lose, you did take unacceptable losses. This attack started with 8 packs, and now it’s just you, who are left. But you did destroy your opponents, so the question is, are those losses really unacceptable if you won, or should you wait, bide your time, garner information, so that when you do attack you can be all the more effective, and all the more victorious.

Guiding Principles

Show. Don’t Tell.

This principle has many applications and implications for both STs and players. Wherever possible players will participate in scenes rather than receive written descriptions of scenes. Character history and flaws should not be just something on the character sheet but should be viscerally shown in the portrayal of the character.

The Journey

It’s all about your personal story, are you a young cainite, changeable and adaptable, or are you an Elder, never changing, set in your way, or somewhere in between. It’s all about your own personal journey, your jourey as a pack, and your journey as the Sword of Caine.

The Setting is Unfair - the Game does not have to be.

Vampire is a game of political, social and literal backstabbing. And there is always, always, something out there much bigger set to crush you. Those are elements of the setting - they should be expected and will be encouraged.

However all that is IC. OOC interactions are expected to be based on honesty, integrity and trust.

CHARACTER CREATION AND PLAY

Documentation

It is recognized that there is little correlation between the ability to write a background, history or application and the ability to portray a character and add to the game. As such there is no need for extensive paperwork for low approval characters and approvals as long as the basics are covered. Bullet points are fine.

Characters seeking approvals above low should provide at the very least a completed Character Development Document to go with the character history.

Character records for the venue will be managed by the ST in Microsoft Excel. Players may submit characters in Excel, PDF or hardcopy.

Clans

Preference will be given to the core Sabbat Clans being Lasombra, Tcimizce, Brujah antititribu, Malkavian antitribu, Nosferatu antitribu , Toreador antitribu, Ventrue antitribu and Country Gangrel antitribu or City Gangrel are all low approval within this venue, but beyond that the interactions and politics within and between these clan

Members of clans outside the core will be considered but heavily scrutinised. Character concepts that are marginalised from, do not participate the nightly activities of the Sabbat will likely be rejected regardless of clan.

Paths

Paths in the Sabbat are important, but in a younger game, there should be about a 70/30 split of paths to humanity. Some of you have been in the Sabbat even before they came to Australia, but some of you will have been embraced with a mind to attack Brisbane. The younger Sabbat members will mostly not be on paths, but the journey to becoming a more established Sabbat member often involves getting on a path. With this in mind, some of the more established paths will now be at low approval. These paths are:

Path of Caine

Path of Cathari

Path of Death and the Soul

Path of the Feral Heart

Path of Honourable Accord

Path of the Power of the Inner Voice

The rest of the paths will stay at their usual position in the Approval system.

Age

The Sabbat have not been in Australia long, only about 20 years, mostly in separate packs scattered throughout Queensland and Northern New South Wales, and the Sabbat are a violent sect, so great age is a rarity in the Sabbat, while Elders and Ancillae type generation will be considered, they will not be the greater part of the game.

Character Concepts

With the chronicle aiming for a more subtle approach, investigatory characters are important to the game, though this does not mean that there is no place for the brash, brawn over brains type character, just that they will be more unlikely to be in a position of power. With this in mind, I am open to concepts, but cunning, and intelligence is preferred. This can be a Gangrel on path of Feral Heart with a more animalistic, but in no way less useful path forward, or a firebrand Brujah Antitribu, with his heart on his sleeve, but willing to work with others to make for the best end result.

Generation Distribution

In order to maintain an appropriate distribution of generations in the game, players are encouraged to seek pre-approval for purchasing the Generation background before submitting a character. Consideration for approval will be based on character concept and the existing distribution of generations in the game.

With limitations on generation removed players have more freedom to form lineages. This is strongly encouraged. Taking a position in a lineage will add weight to applications for an appropriate Generation.

The preferred distribution of generations will look something like this:

1 Elder (Gen 8-) to 2 Ancillae (Gen 9 & 10) to 7 Neonates (Gen 11+) With each group having its own internal distribution enforced as well (so we don’t end up with six 9th Gens and zero 10th Gens).

The number of Elder characters will be capped at 2 and will have to meet the criteria outlined below.

Players who lose or retire an Elder or Ancillae PC must take a Neonate as their next character. Additionally players who lose or retire an Elder PC will not be able to apply for a new Elder PC until at least twelve months after loss/retirement.

Elders

Elders shape the game as a whole. Therefore any application to play an Elder will be heavily scrutinised.

There will initially be a limit of two Elders. More than three will be hard to justify unless there are a lot of younger PCs (25-30+ regular players).

Players wishing to play an Elder will have to agree to abide by an Elder PC contract. This contract sets out limitations within which the Elder can be played. Failure to abide by the contract may lead to the character being desanctioned.

Elder concepts should meet the following criteria to be considered for approval:

Member of a core clan but that interacts with more than just their own clan.

Know and support the Code of Milan

Can work against the other Elder PCs in "civil opposition"

Interacts with and brings interesting story to neonate/ancilla PCs.

Be in the direct lineage of the Clan’s 6th Gen CPC (managed by the GST)

Out-of-Clan Disciplines

Characters may begin with out-of-clan disciplines, but only if they have a member of their pack with that discipline at a higher level. They may only start play with basic out-of-clan disciplines.

The Packs

Your pack is the most important thing to a True Sabbat. They are your brothers and sisters, and even more because of the Vaulderie. But just like brothers and sisters there is infighting, there is a struggle to the top of the heap, there is ambition and there is suspicion. You know that you think particularly well of certain pack members, but you don’t know how they feel about you entirely. There can even be faking of vinculum ratings to truly bring this to a head. You are a pack, but that doesn’t make the position holders safe from ambition, politics start at home remember. But remember, acting against people you are Vinculum tied to is a big effort. Monamancy is the only act that doesn’t require a willpower test for this.

Factions

Factions in this chronicle will not be political sides, they will be how your character thinks, feels, and goes about your nightly business, so while a status quo and a loyalist may never agree, it will be because they as Cainites disagree on their view point of unlife, it won’t be because they are part of two separate political parties that are in opposing sides.

Secondary PCs

Players are encouraged to make long lasting characters that are involved within the structure drama and action of the game until its death or retirement. “Throw-away” or “Once-off” character will not be considered for approval.

Secondary Characters or Second Primary Characters are strongly discouraged and will only be approved under exceptional circumstances. Wanting to “try something different” or simply wanting a range of occasional characters at your disposal is not an approvable justification.

Instead, players will be able to request a particular style of NPC to fulfil the role of what would be a secondary PC. In these cases STs should be more open to negation in the creation of the NPC. If the player in consistent in their portrayal of the NPC then the character it likely to be considered for Custodial Player Character status or transferral to PC status if the players current PC is retired or destroyed.

This process is to assist the Storytellers in creating a stronger universe of Non Player Characters and to ensure that Player Characters are developed and interesting rather than two dimensional cardboard cut-outs.

Location of Domain history information

Domain History will be available on the Beyond the Sunset Wiki at - http://wiki.beyondthesunset.org.au/Brisbane

VENUE SPECIFIC RULES

Experience

2xp Game attendance 2xp available for ST discretionary award - made to players who have contributed to the game for everybody. The award may be made for role playing, playing NPCs, downtimes.

Players are encouraged in their downtimes to point the ST’s attention to others who may have earned the discretionary award during the month.

Feeding

At the start of each game Players make a simple test.

Win = 6 Blood

Tie = 4 Blood

Loss = 1 Blood

To this is added herd, territories (explained below) and any other relevant bonuses. From it are subtracted any relevant flaws and effects (such as the Ventrue clan weakness).

Territories

Territories are hunting grounds designated by suburb names.

There are three tiers of Territories:

Tier One: The CBD, Fortitude Valley, Southbank

Tier Two: Spring Hill, West End, Bowen Hills, Paddington, Milton, Petrie Terrace, Kelvin Grove, New Farm, Kangaroo Point, Highgate Hill, Woolloongabba, Newstead, St Lucia.

Tier Three: Everywhere else

Tier One Territories provide 5 Bonus Blood

Tier Two Territories provide 3 Bonus Blood

Tier Three Territories provide 1 Bonus Blood

Characters who feed in these territories divide up the Bonus Blood. The state of the city (i.e. being under curfew) may affect the bonuses provided by territories. Player actions may move territories from one tier to another.

The Storyteller is the final arbitrator on where territory boundaries are and who receives what Bonus Blood.

Monomancy

Monomacy is one of the most important rites of the Sabbat, this is how they separate the wheat from the chaff, this is how disputes that cannot be resolved in any other way are resolved, it is to either the death or to first blood, first blood being immediate banishment, with death on sight sort of punishments. Monomacy is for keeps. It should be important, and used, but never taken lightly.

Dispute Resolution outside of Monamancy

Another option for dispute resolution if you can’t roleplay the situation out, outside of Monamacy is a game of instinct, which a pack priest or a Bishop/Archbishop can set up and run a game of instinct at his choice, if both Cainites agree to the game, then the game will be played, with the loser backing down. Status will have the same role in this situation as it does for a monomacy.

Downtime Handling Procedure

Downtime Due Date

Downtimes are due the Second Monday after the game. This gives players a full week, including weekend, to submit downtimes. It encourages players to submit downtimes while the events of the game are still fresh in their mind.

Downtime Actions

Characters have a maximum number of Downtime Actions per month equal to one-half of their Willpower rounded up.

Housekeeping tasks do not require downtime actions. Characters are assumed to maintain their havens, herds, resources, practice learned skills, hunt and do the duties of their station (if they hold one) or their career (if they have one) in their downtime. Indeed this nightly tedium is presumed to take all the character’s free time (limited as it is by the setting and rising of the Sun).

Downtime actions only need to be submitted for significant, unusual actions that have ingame consequences. Where possible downtime actions will be used as the basis of scenes at the upcoming game.

Spending Experience Points does not require downtime actions, with the following exception:

Learning an Out-of-Clan Discipline requires a downtime action from both the student and the teacher. Each can spend one downtime action per month for a number of months equal to the level of the Discipline being learned (basic = one month, intermediate = two, etc). The teacher can teach more than one student per downtime action as long as they are all learning exactly the same Discipline and level. Multiple downtime actions cannot be spent in same month to speed up learning.

Influence

Sabbat characters will not at the time of character creation be allowed influence on their sheet. The only cases where influence will be approved is when it is a clan advantage, of which only 1 point of influence will be approved.

Influence should not be thought of as dots on a sheet or a numbers game. Each level of Influence will be treated as an NPC. Significant interactions with Influences (for example successfully growing a new level) may result in a scene interacting with these NPCs. Influence NPCs may in turn make their own demands on the PCs controlling them.

In submitting Influence actions players should treat them as requests made of independent, capable characters - not detailed, blow by blow instructions.

While the influence actions from Laws of the Night Revised and Dark Epics will be used, players need only use them as a guide as to what is possible with Influences and not get bogged down in mechanics. The Storytellers will interpret Influence submissions and apply appropriate systems in coming up with an outcome.

Circle of Love

There will be Circle of love, but it will not be for xp.

Crossover limitations and expectations

The Brisbane Chronicle is building towards a set of complete, extensive and entwined games. They will feature more cross-genera activity than the previous chronicle has permitted.

There will be no firewall between games and the antagonism inherit between the Vampire genres will not be removed. Instead it will be carefully monitored and controlled through the use of plot and strong in character consequences.

New and Visiting Players

Information for New Players

New Players are encouraged to contact the relevant Storyteller at least three days before game.

For contact information please see Administrative Information above.

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

Information for Players from other Domains

Character Sheets for character outside of Brisbane should be sent through the relevant Storyteller channels at least three days before a game.

Character sheets for character outside Australia should be sent through the relevant Storyteller Channels at least one week before game in case any conversions need to be made.

Brisbane Sabbat VSS