Canberra Masquerade VSS
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Venue Style Sheet: Canberra Masquerade
VSS Approval Number: MASQ-H-001
Domain: Canberra/Carpe Civitatem
Venue: Canberra Masquerade
Venue Storyteller: Elliot Hickey
The Canberra Masquerade venue hosts a single, monthly core Masquerade game. All other events are considered supporting games, such as clan, covenant and coterie meetings. These games are mostly considered supplementary to the core game, do not require an ST presence and are limited in the effects they can have on the core game.
Description of Venue: Masquerade Canberra – The Court
Timing: Monthly, Saturday Nights. 6.00pm to 11.00pm.
Location: Garran Scout Hall, 123 Kitchener Street, Garran
Lead Storyteller: Liz Hickey (VST Canberra Masquerade)
Temporary Narrators: May be appointed for any game when necessary.
Styles of Play: 1 (Never Present) to 5 (Always Present).
N = Neonate A = Ancillae E = Elder
| Style of Play | Description | Rating (N/A/E) |
|---|---|---|
| Action | Combat and Challenges | 4/3/1 |
| Character | Development, personal dilemmas and choices | 4/3/5 |
| Darkness | PC death or corruption | 3/4/2 |
| Drama | Ceremony and grand story | 2/3/5 |
| Intrigue | Politics and negotiation | 3/4/5 |
| Manners | Social etiquette and peer pressure | 3/4/5 |
| Mystery | Enigmas and investigation | 4/2/2 |
| Pace | How fast do stories emerge, develop and resolve? | 4/3/2 |
Themes and Moods
Clan Unity
Clan unity is certainly a theme that will be promoted in this game. We fight, belittle and argue with our brethren, but should someone outside that bond do so, they’ve crossed the line and family closes ranks. The disciplines of your clan are your families advantage over the other plebs and are not shared lightly.
Out of clan disciplines will require a good reason to be taught and are discouraged to be traded lightly. Low trading of disciplines will also promote the need for clans, however much they dislike each other, to work together on occasion. No character can begin play with an out-of-clan discipline without the express permission of the VST.
A Hive of Activity
Mortals and the other enemies of the kindred rarely sleep. The city is a dark and twisted place where anything can happen and no-one is to be trusted…
For neonates in particular, there will be different story arcs to pursue. Some stories may carry across months, others a single session. This is the PvE arena.
Power is dangerous
Behind every curtain is a hand with a knife for those of high position.
The Ancillae game will primarily revolve around politics, this is the PvP arena.
Guiding Principles
People Roleplay For Different Reasons
The idea of having neonates primarily focused on PvE and Ancillae focused on PvP is that we all roleplay for different reasons. This game will use this as a guiding principle and attempt to deliver to each what they are looking for.
Respect Others Play Styles
Closely linked to the success of the game will be that all players respect what the others want out of the game. This means that Neonate players focused on plot will still adhere to prestation, boons and the traditions of the society and Ancillae players will not attempt to draw neonates into PvP contests.
Everyone Is Useful
Every character has their schtick. We should foster an environment that allows characters to shine at what they do, if only every once in a while. This principle directly guides the rules and guidelines around low trading of disciplines. Clans picked should enhance the concept of the character.
Elder Policy
Elders are not common. The game must have enough non-elders to support them. The ST will be approving public elders (Elders playable at game) on a ratio of approximately 9 non-elders to 1 elder. Elders will be created in consultation with the ST chain.
Elders will be paragons of the Camarilla and uphold the traditions and principles therein.
It is planned that Elders will have plots to disseminate to other PCs and a measure of an Elders influence over the game will be how many of these plots have the other PCs resolved for that Elder. The number of plots completed for each Elder will be known to all Elders in the city, giving them a way to judge each others’ power. This will hopefully create an environment where, if there are a sufficient number of Elders (and thus a large enough game), the Elder scene will be an ever shifting set of alliances to ensure no Elder is so far above the others in their influence as to be untouchable.
Storytelling Mechanics
Rules Interpretations
Any instance of a rule requiring clarification or interpretation will be noted here.
This section can be added to at Low Approval.
Masquerade points
Masquerade points represent a characters visibility and target priority to specialist mortal agencies tasked with the removal of supernatural entities. Masquerade points will be attributed to characters involved in masquerade breaches and guide the mortal worlds reaction to that character. If a character's masquerade points reaches a character's masquerade point limit that character gains the 5 trait enemy flaw: Mortal Authorities/Hunters without gaining any bonus xp.
The ST will assign a character a number of masquerade points depending upon the act that generated the points. The amount generated may be lowered by mitigating actions such as spending influence. Neonates have a greater limit due to their understanding of current society, whereas Ancillae have less and Elders have the least.
Masquerade Points will degrade at a natural rate of 1 per 2 months of no breaches.
Neonate Limit = 10, Ancillae Limit = 8, Elder Limit = 6
| Category | Points |
|---|---|
| Minor Breach: Few witnesses, influence actions used to cover up a moderate breach | 1-2 points |
| Moderate Breach: Moderate number of witnesses, obvious supernatural powers used, influence actions used to cover up a Major Breach | 3-5 points |
| Major Breach: Lots of Witnesses, blatant use of obvious supernatural powers | 6-9 points |
| Catastrophic Breach: anything worse than a major breach (it’ll be obvious when it happens) | 10 points |
Justicar points
Justicar points represent a character's transgressions on the social mores of the Camarilla. The limit represents society's (and the Justicar's) forgiveness for such transgressions. Neonates are given more leeway than elders. The ST will assign a character a number of Justicar points depending upon the act that generated the points. The amount generated may be lowered by mitigating actions such as paying boons to offended parties. In the same way as for masquerade points, if a character reaches their Justicar point limit, they gain the 5 trait enemy flaw without gaining bonus xp, however, the enemy is the Justicar.
The level of scandal will be determined by the ST with input from Harpies, Elders and Ancillae taking into account factors such as social class of offender, social class of person offended (if applicable), number of occurrences of the same infraction and any reparation paid.
Justicar Points will degrade at a natural rate of 1 per 2 months of no breaches.
Neonate Limit = 6, Ancillae Limit = 5, Elder Limit = 4
| Category | Points |
|---|---|
| Minor Scandal | 1 points |
| Moderate Scandal | 2-3 points |
| Major Scandal | 4-5 points |
| Catastrophic Scandal | 6 points |
Character Creation
Clans
Preference will be given to the core Camarilla Clans being Brujah, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, Ventrue and Gangrel. These are all low approval within this venue. Beyond that, the interactions and politics within and between these clans is at the heart of the Camarilla.
Members of clans outside the core seven will be considered but heavily scrutinised. Character concepts that are marginalised from, do not participate the nightly activities of the Camarilla will likely be rejected.
Generation
Neonates are vampire of generation 11+ and will primarily be those players looking to enjoy plot and engage in a more PvE orientated game.
Ancillae are vampire of generation 10 or 9 and will primarily be those players looking to enjoy politics, conflict with others players and engage in a more PvP orientated game. 10th generation kindred can participate both in plot and the political landscape, whereas 9th generation kindred will be focused on the political aspect of the game.
Elders are vampire of generation 6-8 and will be operate under close ST scrutiny with the aim of enhancing the local game, participating in the national game (ie promoting clan unity) and being a notable player in the jyhad.
Background
While it is encourage that players write a good back story for their character, a dot point history is all that is required for low approval characters.
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 (TBA), 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.
Approval Form
The preferred approval form can be found (TBA).
Proxy Rules
Proxy rules are as per the Addenda.
Local Proxies: Follow the same rules. They must be cleared ahead of time by the ST chain. On the spot Proxies will not be approved.
Experience
Experience Awards
Character attendance: 1/month
Downtime/Game Report: 1/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.
VST Character Experience
VST characters will eligible for the flat rate of “game attendance” xp (as mentioned under “Experience” in the VSS) per month for the duration of the ST’s term.
This does not preclude XP gained from MC increases, Overcap awards (such as early conclave registration), or non-capped special XP awards.
Media
An in game Media release will be done prior to each game, detailing the local news available. Characters with appropriate influence can alter these headlines.
Downtime
Downtime form can be found here.
The Minimum Requirements
The minimum information for a a downtime is:
- Experience claimed and what for;
- Any experience spent;
- Hunting method (trait category and ability (and Discipline if appropriate) used is enough to extrapolate your style: EG Physical and Brawl indicates a mugging style of feeding, Physical and Stealth indicates a sandman style, Mental and Intimidation plus Dominate would be dominating people to feed and wiping memories of the event); and
- Haven location.
Downtime Actions
Characters receive 4 downtime actions per month. Whether an action will be resolved in 1 month or will take longer is at ST discretion.
Hunting is a free action that is assumed to happen unless otherwise stated.
Downtime – Spending Experience
Learning out-of-clan disciplines requires a teacher who has that discipline in-clan and at a level 1 higher than that being taught and an action from each of the parties involved as well as justification for the teaching of your clan’s advantage to another clan.
It is ST discretion whether the teaching of the discipline is successful.
Due Date
Downtimes are due two weeks following the game, at times an exception will be made for unexpected circumstances.