Canberra Requiem Approved VSS

Venue Information

Domain Details

Domain: Carpe Civitatem - Canberra

Domain Staff

Coordinator: Emma Leahy - <membernumber> - dc(at)Canberra.beyondthesunset.org.au
Storyteller: Rene Leahy - <membernumber> - dst(at)Canberra.beyondthesunset.org.au

Venue Details

Genre: Requiem 2.0 Name: Shadow of the Valley of Death - Canberra Requiem CofD
Code: CCSVOD
Approval Number: HIGH – VTR-GST-CAN-18.05.11-01

Venue Staff

Coordinator: Andrew Hunt - <2005100693> – vc.requiem.cofd(at)Canberra.beyondthesunset.org.au
Storyteller: Kristine Hertel - 2013090002- vst.requiem.cofd(at)Canberra.beyondthesunset.org.au

The Golden Rule

LARP is not a “shoot-em- up”. You don’t get notches in your belt for killing another PC. You don’t win by making the game miserable for everyone else. This is a storytelling game, and you win by telling a good story with others.

Venue Style

The following table is a simplified view of what the local game will be like. These ratings are based on discussion between the storyteller and the players of the venue, in efforts to have the game they want to see being run, and is a useful guide for both players and storytellers.

Rated from 1 - 5. 1 being 'Never', 5 being 'Every Game'

Style	Description	Rating
Action	Combat and Challenges	4
Pace	How quickly stories emerge, develop and resolve	4
Character	Personal development, dilemma and choices	5
Darkness	Character death or corruption	2
Mystery	Investigating the new and unknown	3
Drama	Ceremony and Gravitas	4
Office	Social etiquette and peer pressure	3

SETTING

Virtue: Justice Vice: Greed
Justice - The city suffered under the previous Prince’s despotic rule, now is the time to heal and deal out true and equal justice for all.
Greed - Never satisfied in what they have, the Kindred of the city will always find themselves drawn to the greener grass

Mood and Theme

Redemption - Many Kindred did things just to survive, now is the time to make amends and forgive the sins of the Sire, childe, and past. Now is the time for those higher, the Regents and those who have the benefit of the courtly positions to take care of the unwashed masses, the tenants and scum.
Mystery - Rumour and intrigue seem to surround the city of Canberra more than any other, more than normal. It seems as though for every mystery solved, more crop up to fill its place. It surrounds the city, shrouding it undercover as if to protect the city and the denizens who live in it, almost as if trying to steer the wayward citizens inside where they cannot be tempted to leave.

PVE vs PVP

The Canberra Requiem CofD Venue encourages all players to engage in an even spread of PVP (Player Vs Player) and PVE (Player Vs Environment) gameplay elements.
As this is a cooperative storytelling game, all players are expected to respect one another regardless whether engaging in PvP or PvE, and consider that we are all members of the same club, we all want the most out of our hobby.
Individuals or groups that intentionally target others for no apparent story reasoning quickly becomes disruptive to the venue, and this is not encouraged. Disruptive PvP will illicit storyteller intervention.
Bullying of players for any reason is not acceptable, and will not be tolerated in this Venue.

Character Death

Character death does happen, however it is something that needs to be seen as a last resort. A story is about a beginning, middle and end, time to tell the story, but also be a part of that story, sharing and growing it with others. Death brings an end to that story, and no one enjoys getting into a great story, to only find that it taken away.
Refer to “the golden rule”, above.

Storytelling Mechanics

Blood

Characters who would enter game with 2 or fewer blood must check for frenzy before their arrival.
Blood Currency (Feeding)
Please see the DSS subsidiary document Canberra Requiem Blood Currency for the blood currency rules. All kindred merits relating to herd, allies, retainers and similar merits owners are required to pay blood coins to maintain those merits. These costs are expected to be paid each month by the character whom has the relevant merit on their sheet. the list of modified merits, and merits affected by the DSS can be found below.

Blood Bonds – The Vinculum

Characters who consume blood from another kindred enter the vinculum. This is defined by a character consuming a full “Point “of Blood which is 570mls.
A vinculum is only created by consuming this full point of blood. If a character drinks multiple points in the same scene, only one single stage of vinculum is formed.
A taste isn’t enough
A single taste of blood isn’t enough to trigger vinculum, lordly palate, and Cruac rituals do not trigger Vinculum.
Vampires having “Intimate Relations” does not trigger vinculum.

Visitors to the City

Vampire visitors from other cities are assumed to arrive with blood, and can use the standard feeding system used in their home VSS, pending the duration of their stay.

Beaten Down & Surrender

(pg. 175 VTR)
Any character that takes more than his Stamina in bashing damage or any amount of lethal damage is Beaten Down: He’s had the fight knocked out of him. He must spend a point of Willpower every time he wants to take a violent action until the end of the fight. He can still apply Defence against incoming attacks, can Dodge, and can run like hell, but it takes a point of Willpower to swing or shoot back.

However, he can surrender, giving his attacker what she wants according to her declared intent. If you give in, you gain a point of Willpower and take a Beat, but you take no more part in the fight. If the other side wants to attack you, they’ve got to spend a point of Willpower to do so, and probably suffer a breaking point. If everyone on one side has surrendered, the fight’s over and the other side gets what they want.
If one side’s intent involves violence, the other side can’t surrender not without being killed. If that’s the case, their intended victims don’t get Beaten Down, and gain no benefit from surrendering. When someone wants to kill you, the only thing you can do is to try to stop her, whether you run like hell or unload a shotgun at her. These rules only apply to people (or vampires) who would incur a breaking point for committing (or attempting) “murder.”
Creatures that don’t have a problem killing people, in general, can ignore surrender without penalty and don’t have the fight beaten out of them like normal folks.

Down and Dirty Combat

(Pg. 176 VtR)
The Storyteller might decide that your character can get what she wants without focusing on the details of the fight. Maybe she’s picking on people weaker than her. Maybe she’s internalized the mechanics of violence. Or maybe the fight’s not the important thing going on with regards to the character’s intent. If that’s the case, the Storyteller can opt to use a Down and Dirty Combat. This system resolves the entire fight in a single roll. Storyteller characters might deal some damage, but they’re never able to initiate a Down and Dirty Combat.

Merits

The following merits/abilities are not sanctioned in Canberra, as per the DSS:

• Tenants merit (damnation city).
  
• Vassal merit (damnation city).
  
• Feeding Ground (Exception given to Carthian PC’s for the Pre Requisite for Lex Terrae)
  
• All other merits that provides additional human or kindred blood except for the 'Red Ledger Mystery Cult' and the adjusted Herd Merits below.
  

The following merits are modified as per the DSS:

• Merit based Kindred: Any NPC that represents a merit cannot have more than 0.5 city status unless it is a part of an ST plot.
  
• Professional Training: In order to maintain this merit it is expected the player will spend one downtime action a month working on that profession.
  
• Mystery Cult Status: All Mystery Cults are required to be included in the VSS or DSS, and the VST or DST (depending on the approval level) are the final arbiter of Cult Membership. Players are not entitled to be the final decision maker on membership of cults.
  
• Additionally, A Mystery cult will not be approved under this VSS unless it has multiple active Player Characters.
  
• Retainers: Kindred Retainers blood must be provided via their owner (E.g. Pay blood coins). Kindred Retainers cannot have City, Clan, or Covenant status above 0.5.
  
• Ghoul or Kindred retainers may not be used to circumvent the blood currency system.
  
• Human Herd: Does not work in the traditional sense. Instead it increases the minimum amount of blood a character would receive for each additional Blood Coin used. (For example if the player spends two additional coins and has three dots in herd, you would roll 1d5 two times with the minimum of each roll being three).
  
• Kindred Herd: Must be provided blood via their owner (E.g. Pay blood coins). Kindred Herd cannot have city or Covenant status above 0.5.
  
• Allies: Cannot be groups or segments of the unwashed masses.
  
• Oaths: Only an Invictus can be the liege (or equivalent) in an oath. E.g. non Invictus can swear serfdom to an Invictus, but an Invictus can’t swear serfdom to a Crone. Only the Oath merits that require Invictus status are considered Invictus only, all other oaths provide a benefit as long as they have an Invictus liege.
  

Influence based Merits and Skills

In order to maintain consistency across this venue, all influence Merits(Allies, Contacts, Fame, Retainer, and Status) and Skills with the same specialties are categorised as follows: Name Class Value Other

These specialties and groups of influence may be used generally in their broader community with lessened effectiveness.

Rule Interpretations

Abilities and Powers (Including Bloodline abilities) If players are using an ability,discipline, devotion or fighting style that do not exist in the core books (COFD or VTR 2.0) Players will be required to either produce a copy of the rules or be able to provide page numbers and references, either printed or digitally to the storyteller. The storyteller team cannot be expected to know every rule verbatim, A storyteller may hand wave this at their discretion, however every player has the right to understand the rules being used on them on against them.

Condition Cards

Players are required to have condition cards relevant to the powers on their character sheet. If you want to impose a condition onto another player character, you will need to provide them with a condition card, detailing the effect, the end condition, and the beat condition.
A number of condition cards are available at the Venue, however this stockpile will quickly become exhausted if all players rely on it. it is recommended that players source their own. These should be clear, and roughly palm-card sized for convenience. At the end of each game, all condition cards are to be returned to either the player, or to the storyteller.

• Please put your name on your cards.

Status from Afar

Given the isolated nature of requiem, those with status in other cities don’t hold the same resonance in this city. One cannot be considered less than Acknowledged, if in fact they have been, no matter how far from the safety of their home they may find themselves

Canberra in Backstory

Any time spent greater than 1 month, spent in or around the Canberra area in a character past, needs to be approved by the Canberra DST. Players are not able to have a character ‘from Canberra’, unless the Canberra DST knows about it and approves it. Approved Mystery Cults All Mystery Cults are required to be included in the VSS or DSS, and the VST or DST (depending on the approval level) are the final arbiter of Cult Membership. Players are not entitled to be the final decision maker on membership of cults. A Mystery cult will not be approved under this VSS unless it has multiple active Player Characters. The Following Mystery Cults are available in this Venue

• Cult of the Red Ledger DSS- Red Ledger
• -

Character Sheets

The prefered character sheet for use in the Venue can be found here

Management

The VST is the holder of the true copy. Any changes to the character sheet are the responsibility of the VST. If a player finds a fault with a copy, the player is required to inform the VST of the issue via an email to the VST email account. Verbally pointing out something missing at a game, is not sufficient. Equipment Firearms are mid approval. Items not included on a character sheet, are not available for use by a character.

Approval Requirements

All character sheets, backgrounds and other associated documentation must be submitted electronically, on the correct sheet or document to the VST’s email. All approvals must follow the storyteller hierarchy. (Low > Mid > High > Top) All characters submitted for approval must include a background document. In limited cases, a character may be able to enter play, pending approvals or supporting documentation. Players have a maximum of 3 months to submit any required approval requests for those items. Failure to submit an approval may result in characters needing change, and those pending approvals being declined. Use of items that have not been fully approved, is likely to result in a character being de-sanctioned and removed from play.

NEW CHARACTERS

New characters will not be approved on the spot.
The VST reserves a minimum of one week to study the character prior to approval. Characters must be submitted by the Friday one week before the first session you would LIKE to play it at the latest.
The VST may approve character concepts, allowing play without a character sheet. In this case, any challenges in scenes will be narrated and negotiated for outcomes without an approved mechanical sheet.
The VST may deny character concepts or sheets. This is their prerogative. If your character does not suit the venue then it is up to the VST whether you are allowed in.
Players are required to submit characters as an electronic version (Excel format preferred) no less than one week before the game; preferably accompanying the character concept.
Players are expected to submit a brief character history, in dot point form, within a month of the character starting play. This is to allow time for the player to build ties and generate a solid background for the character.
Players creating a Secondary or second Primary character in this game are not permitted have the same Clan or Covenant, or belong to the same coterie, for the character as their primary character.
Players creating another character after their previous is killed are not permitted have the same Covenant, Clan or be in the same Coterie, for their character as the deceased. If this subsequent character is killed or retired before six (6) months following the death of the initial character, the following character cannot have the same Clan, Covenant, or Coterie as the previous characters.

Character Retirement

Excluding character death, a Player Character can be retired in 3 ways.

• Choice - The player sends an email to the VST of that venue, informing them that they wish to retire the character. The VST will confirm, before changing the status.
• Another Character - Bringing another primary character of the same venue into play, will instantly retire your old character.
• Expired membership – 2 months after membership has expired, characters will be made NPC’s. If you would like to keep your character, you need to remain a current member of BTS.
• This will occur without notification. Responsibility sits with the player to communicate with the VST if they have intentions to return and wish their character to remain ‘active’.

Note that for returning a retired character to play, it is High Approval (as per the addenda)

Concepts We Would Rather Not See

• Police Concepts
• Mafia Big Boss /Head of Family/Syndicate Boss - (Mafia involvement is ok, but not THE BOSS)
• Perfection I have no flaws.
• Doomed Mary Sue (Self Destructive as a concept)
• First People’s Spirit Shaman/Witch doctor/
• Antagonistic and aggressive to a particular group, Clan/Covenant, or Character/Coteries.

Experience

Earning Beats

The Current beat award cap for Australia is 13beats/month. Storyteller Beat Awards

• Player attendance at game session (NPC or Player Primary Character) – 5 beats
• ST Discretion– 1 beat/per
• Roleplaying
• Tactics
• Creativity in plot resolution
• Other
• Costuming – 3 beats
• Assisting the VST – 1 beat
• Downtime submitted on time – 1 beat
• Purchasing a new Asset Skill dot if you have Professional Training ●●●● - 1 beat
• VST running game - 5 beats

Shared / Pooled beat awards – 1 beat/per

• Fulfilling an Aspiration
• Resolving a Condition
• Converting to dramatic failure in lieu of a standard failure
• First time taking lethal damage/month
• Backing down in the Beaten Down & Surrender rule

Blood Beats - 1 beat/per

• Dramatic Failures on Discipline rolls
• Exceptional Success on Discipline rolls
• Embracing
• Ghouling
• Creating revenants
• Exsanguinating a victim
• Frenzy or riding the wave
• Spending your last Vitae
• Drinking beyond capacity
• Joining a bloodline
• Gaining a Discipline dot
• Rolling for Detachment

Coordinator/ Volunteer Beat Awards

• [ST AUS - CAP of 2/character/month]
• First Aid Officer. Ratio 1/10 players – 1 beat
• Help with Setup/Packdown – 1 beat

New Players

New players are considered “White Lanyards” for 3 months, and during that time, will earn the full Beat award (up to the monthly cap of 13) for each of those 3 months. Visiting Players Shared beats. Any visiting characters will take part in the shared beats for the game. These beat awards will be forwarded to their home VST within 7 days for adding to the attending player’s character sheets. Spending Experience XP expenditure will be logged with the VST via email, ideally with your downtime submission. In lieu of a downtime, a ‘XP Spends’ email is sufficient, but will be processed according to the downtime window listed below.

• You can only increase one trait from each ‘Category’ on your sheet in any month. The categories are Attributes, Skills, Merits, Specialties, and Supernatural Powers/Disciplines.
• You cannot increase Strength and Presence in a single month (both are attributes), however you could increase Strength and Cruac (an attribute and a discipline).
• Increases of 2 or more in any Attribute, Discipline, Skill or Merit must be explained with downtime actions, or examples of reasonable use to justify the jump in value.
• This does not include those dots that need to be purchased to
• Reflect something earned in game (Global Addenda VIII.A.1)
• Cover a debt from shared merit loss (Global Addenda VIII.A.2)
• Assigning dots as per ‘Sanctity of Merits’

It is preferred for players to spend whole values when purchasing traits that cost multiple XP, it removes book keeping headaches. Downtimes

Downtime Actions

There is one downtime cycle each month. All players have downtime actions equal to their resolve

• Allies and Retainer merits add additional, merit specific, downtime actions.
• Submitting a downtime is worth a +1 beat reward if submitted on time
• A quality downtime may earn an additional +1 beat reward at the discretion of the VST

Feedback

Often, downtime is the only way for your VST to reach out to you with questions. It might be to get clarification, to get additional information about your character or to even fix something on your sheet. If you are asked by the VST to provide feedback, it’s important you send that as an email to the VST. While it is much easier to just tell them at game, with everything else going on, it is unlikely to be actioned. Players should email the VST with any updates, questions, or answers.

Due Date

The due date for downtime actions / experience spends, is to be set, pending game timeslot. Downtime received on or before that day, will be processed in full and returned to the player before the next local game via email.

• If an email cannot be sent, printed copies of the downtime response will be printed and brought to the game.

A downtime submitted after the due date may or may not be processed by the storyteller. A downtime submitted on or by due date will earn 1 beat reward.

History of Canberra

As per the Canberra Canberra Cofd DSS

Proxies to Canberra

By sending your character as a proxy to the Canberra domain, you accept that you are surrendering that character to the local storytellers, and you release control to them, to carry out the intended actions as best they can. This does not mean success will occur.
Character sheet must be sent by the home VST, through both DST’s to the Canberra VST. The adjoining email must also include answers to the following points

• The usual who what, where, when, how questions.
• How does your character arrive, and when?
• What is their intended activity while visiting?
• Where are they going, hiding, retreating, staying, etc.?
• Which other local characters know of the visit, or may recognise the character?
• What is your escape plan?
• Declaration that local decisions are final, including acceptance of possible character death.

Results will be sent back from the Canberra VST, to all relevant ST’s in the chain. It is then up to the local ST to communicate with the player, updating the sheet where necessary. Proxies: All proxy requests are to be submitted to the VST at least one week before the game and must include travel instructions, rest locations and Vitae acquisition. Proxy rules are as per the BTS Addenda. It is highly recommended that any proxy form includes where the character is staying, how they get into the state, what they bring, where they will be feeding. Who they bring with them and where they will be staying and which Kindred is vouching for them. Proxying into Geelong will be difficult and very dangerous, and players are reminded to take great care when preparing proxy requests. All external players must contact both the VST and the VC to confirm their attendance to the game prior to arrival as per the Australian Addenda.