SRC nWoD 2.0 DSS
Domain Style Sheet (DSS) – Revised Chronicle Swan River Colony (SRC) Domain
Effective Date: June 2015
Administrative Information Domain: Swan River Colony (SRC) - Perth - AU01
DST: Michael Atwell - AU2003090529 dst@perth.beyondthesunset.org.au
DC: Michael Watts – AU2012040001 dc@perth.beyondthesunset.org.au
Game Information
Venues:
All Venues run using the Revised New World of Darkness (God Machine Chronicle) Rules.
Setting
World of Darkness - Perth Perth of the World of Darkness is a shining beacon sitting atop a foundation of mineral wealth and unrealised opportunity. Imports for All over Australia and all over the World for the Mining boom have rendered Perth as a Multicultural hub, full of people with there own ways of life and attitudes. With it’s 3 Million people Perth has pulled in the greedy, exploitive and the desperate with the promise of a new life, but is it all built on a foundation of glass. Will the resources boom continue, will it collapse, what will happen to all those that depend on it.
Perth CBD, Northbridge and Victoria Park The CBD is dominated by Engineering and Mineral Industries offices or satellite industries that support them. By day the city buzzes with those that talk business over coffee, shop for loved ones and rush about their day on supposed important errands. Victoria Park has caught the cities overflow, those that just can’t afford the city, cant compete with the Major Mining Magnates but can stray too far from them without losing their importance. Yet both the CBD and Victoria Park never really sleep, restaurants, Pubs and clubs, art displays, Office parties, it’s all still going on, just not as intense as Northbridge Northbridge by day is fairly quiet, attracting long lunches, or unique shopping from the city. However by night it’s the place to be, the gyrating youth of Perth flock to the dark clubs, and sticky floored pubs, eat at the finest establishments and overindulge in everything.
Western Suburbs These are the suburbs where the wealthy (both old and new money) and powerful (and pretenders who think they are or want to be seen as such) congregate and live. Gated communities litter the landscape, particularly in the suburbs around the river's northern edge, with stern-faced private security guards and their dogs sitting ever vigilantly in the well-appointed guard-boxes in front of them. Even in the non-gated suburbs, the police presence is still astounding, protecting those city councils with residents wealthy enough to afford it. Manicured parks with well-lit pathways dot the suburbs, and very rarely is a ne'er-do-well spotted, quickly apprehended as they are. The shopping districts are almost universally fresh, ultra-modern, and clean, with top designer names as far as the eye can see, flashing their wares at inflated prices because people here can afford it and must have it, and even the lowliest cafe is decadently appointed, with the inviting scents of imported coffees, liquers, and foods beckoning to the passers-by. Schools in the area are where the best of the best attend, and are littered with the children born with silver spoons set into their mouths from day one, and are afforded the best of educations that money and blood can buy. All of this, however, is a veneer disguising the inherent corruption and destructive decadence that goes hand-in-hand with such wealth and power. Mansions double as bordello houses and finely furnished dens of iniquity, and peddlers of all manner of vice operate out of opulent villas and townhouses rather than dingy unlit cricket-cages on school grounds. Every housewife (and house husband) in these suburbs is on something in order to cope with the pressures of perfection, and every bread-winner is steely-eyed and cold, looking for the next opportunity to step on anyone in order to push themselves an inch closer to the top of the pecking order, many of them not realizing that the glass ceiling is well and truly in place for anyone not fortunate enough to have been given a pass. The children of the western suburbs are almost invariably latch-key, letting themselves in and out of their homes whenever they please because its not as if mum is going to be coming out of her Valium haze any time soon and dad's been "working late" for the last three months.
Northern Suburbs The Northern Suburbs are Perth’s History, it’s growth can be seen it it’s housing designs and Culture. A Band of Greek influence, a band of British, a band of German, a band of Italian. With a mix of Mediterranean palace coupled with large scale industrial spotted with Gardens and parks the northern suburbs are a true mix of Perth. The City of Joondalup is doing is best to ensure that no one needs enter the city providing large scale shopping and services, while Mindarie and Hillarys try to compete with Northbridge and Fremantle, and all these areas seem to be saying, “Why go South, there is nothing there for you”. Add to this the Major Television stations are located here and you’ve got a melting pot of culture, Entertainment and Media. With all of these the Northern suburbs continue to march further north, swallowing small coastal towns in it’s stride.
Eastern Suburbs In the east, a dark mirror of the decadent coastline nestles into the foothills. As the highways stretches from the city’s heart, the suburbs around them begin to show the rot within the community’s fabric – neglect and vandalism mark homes and businesses, with wandering animals and children wearing the same wary scowl. An unseen struggle rages between the Swan Valley and the semi-urban estates surrounding it. Alcoves of wealth are marked by big, loud cars and bigger and louder houses, while quaint vineyards and boutique cottages are obscured behind gated walls and barbed wire fences. Historical buildings only survive through the patronage and protection of old money, while others house squatters and criminals looking to escape the watching eyes of the authorities.
South Western Suburbs and Fremantle The first city of Western Australia, Fremantle has some of the oldest and richest colonial history in the state. Fremantle Harbour is the state’s largest and busiest port, with the Inner Harbour acting as one of the nation’s major bulk cargo ports. On the north bank, the North Fremantle industrial area acts as one of the key transport and logistics points across the state, as well as a direct connection to the state’s primary petrochemical refinery in Kwinana. Billions of dollars of trade, legal and otherwise, takes place here and the stakes are high for those game enough to get involved. Fremantle town represents a chaotic combination of new and old, conservative and progressive, rich and poor, and as such stands out as the social crucible of the city. Fremantle bursts with possibility, and is bursting at its seams as a result. It’s nightlife isn’t a rival of Northbridge, it stands alone as a equal, attracting the rich and poor with it’s Melbourne lifestyle. The Southern Western Suburbs hug the Swan River as a symbol of status and it is the Rich and powerful that gravitate here, followed by those who want to be near or convince others that ‘I’m here because I belong’. It’s tainted by the Jealousy of the Northern old money estates and it’s more flamboyant and garish because of it.
Southern Suburbs The South is Hope, Decadence, with dirty chucks of desperation and the lower economic equation. Armadale, Kwinana, Maddington are just some examples of the areas the poor are pushed into. These areas are havens for Crime and Neglect, but new housing, new suburbs appear in between them. New hospitals, new universities, new estates and new communities are all being turned out in an effort not to go north. Wetlands are filled in, Bush land torn out, isolated Industrial areas now side by side with cookie cutter affordable housing while Fast Food is everywhere.
Rottnest An all year Party, an all year vacation. Rottnest relies solely upon tourism and struggles with its Nature reserve status vs it’s party varnish. The quiet beach cottages for sheltering happy families turn into underage Binge parties, or an idyllic place for family vacations or nature lovers by night has couples franticly ‘rutting’ in the dunes. In spite of this, Wildness teems within the island continues to pulse, and with it the natural wonders of Rottnest. The brine lakes of the interior and reefs of the coastal waters continue to team with life, and bird life continues to return with each season. Perth Loves Rottnest, and it’s usually for all the wrong reasons
Themes
Corruption The City teems with corruption. Buy what you want when you want, if you have what they want. Want 10kg of High Quality Drugs; give me your Secretary, Good functional Firearms; a sex tape involving the Minister. Will you buy into the system, get with the Program or will you stand up and fight the injustice.
The Melting Pot Perth while Isolated has drawn in many many people to cover it’s Mining boom. The Dirty corrupt City built on a mountain of Mining money has pulled all races, religions, orientation, and persuasion into its loving arms and stirred the pot good and hard. You can find anyone here struggling to hold on to their own cultural identity while the Hi Vis army of workers replaces all.
Isolated together While Perth is Isolated, it’s remarkably connected to the rest of the state. Planes go everywhere as the artificial Mining Population journeys back and forward to work, Towns host Tourists on a ‘Weekend off’ and the rich pay visits to check up on investments and holdings. Aircraft are common, populations are the largest they have ever been and they are all connected to Perth.
The Falling Darkness In the World of Darkness, all the damning truths and cynical facts of our own world are ingrained and accepted. Life is hard, surviving is harder. Sometimes you just need to accept that the ends justify the means. When the curtain is drawn back on the lives within the shadows that surround us all, how much harder does that struggle become? Characters will face their own Morality on a regular basis, making choices between keeping true to their principles and giving in to their desires and urges. The game environment will reflect the impact of these choices back to characters and leave them to deal with the person – or creature – they are becoming in the eyes of others. Themes of descent, redemption and despair are all highly likely to be encountered by players.
One World of Darkness Just like any other person, the actions of a character have an impact on the world around them, darkness or no. Choices are made; someone wins, someone loses. Things break, people die. Of course, characters have the unique position of knowing that people are not the only thing walking the streets of this city. All New World of Darkness (nWoD) venues in the domain operate under a single continuity, with “paper walls” between venues. The actions of a character ripple across the whole city and may be felt in other venues. Lasting impacts can be made by characters to landmarks, locales and regions in the domain, positively or negatively, and these changes can be resisted. Characters will rarely get a clear view of other characters across venues, with change being affected via downtime and influence Merits. Active PC-to-PC contact via cross-over remains at the discretion of the DST and is reserved for plot advancement purposes.
Places of Note
The Crossroads Multi-Genre Market/Bar/Auction House The Crossroads is appears as a Bar or Night time Market. It is laid out always as an open plan market with the Surrounding buildings as separate rooms and places of interest. Everything is available here but often the price is unreasonable or purely unfathomable. No Violence may me done within the Crossroads and if any is done the perpetrator is immediately expelled. IF you can find your way into here then all are welcome however be warned for all secrets are available for sale, including yours. To Find the Crossroads you must have either been there before or have Occult 3 and make a Successful Int + Occult (1 Success required). To Enter you must pay something of Value, most often a Vitae / Mana / Tass / Essence / Aether / Glamour / Willpower however many other things are also accepted. The Crossroads is Run by Granny Mae who appears as a Kind and loving soul and has been running the Crossroads for as long as anyone can remember. Granny Mae is one of you, one of your kind of Supernatural, and she is here to help you. Just don’t break the Rules
Parliament House Parliament House, where all the Politicians of the State come to gather and make is Laws. However, within the grounds of Parliament House all things of Mystical power/influence and a supernatural nature are less powerful. All Supernatural Powers, Disciplines, Contracts, Arcana, gifts etc are at -4 Dice wile in the Grounds or Building of Parliament House.
Rules
Approvals
All Mid, or higher, level approval applications for player characters (PCs) require a character background document, minimum ½ page in length, as part of the application.
Beats
Beats for all Venues are to be allocated as per below unless modified in Individual an VSS.
Beats are assigned on an Individual basis and it is the players responsibility to inform the VST or Assistants if one of the below has been triggered in their absence.
Sign in – 3
Fulfilling an Aspiration – 1
Resolving a Condition – 1
Persistent Condition – 1
Dramatic Failure – 1
Taking lethal damage in one of the three last health boxes – 1
Beaten Down & Surrendered – 1
New Asset Skill dot with Professional Training ●●●● – 1
Roleplaying (Circle of Love) – 1
Costuming – 1
Game Report – 2
Portraying an NPC for part of the Game – 1
Portraying an NPC for the Whole Game – 5
Game Set up/Pack up – 1
Providing Written Plot for Other PCs (not your Own) – 2
Providing Props for Game – 1
Providing something useful for Game – 1
New Players (White Lanyards, expires after 3 months of play) - 5
Downtime Cycle
All nWoD venues follow a monthly cycle for downtime actions with the Characters resolve in Actions per Month unless stated otherwise within the individual VSS
Influence
In order to maintain consistency across all nWoD venues, and to facilitate the “paper walls” continuity of a single World of Darkness, all influence-type Merits (Allies, Contacts, Fame, Retainer, and Status) are categorized under the following “spheres”:
Academics
Bureaucracy
Entertainment
Emergency Services
Health
High Society
Industry
Law
Media
Religion
Occult
Police
Politics
Street
Transport
Underworld
Merits that specify into niche areas do so within these categories, and may be used generally in that sphere with lessened effectiveness, in exchange for heightened effectiveness in that niche.
Examples:
- Allies: Vice Squad (Police)
Find out the name of the lead officer on a reported burglary (Lessened); get copies of detailed information and files about the major players in the city’s prostitution circles (Heightened).
- Contacts: Homeless (Street)
Get word of a new gang on the streets (Lessened); get a detailed description and account of a mugging from unseen eyewitnesses (Heightened).
- Status: Night Life (Entertainment)
Have your business card or name recognised when trying to make contact with agents (Lessened); get direct private access to high rollers, VIPs and celebrities when attending nightclubs (Heightened).
Administration
Domain Assembly Domain Assembly, as per the Beyond the Sunset Bylaws and Policies 3.1.4.3 - Domain Assembly, is chaired regularly every four weeks. Once per three cycles, a motion to invite the Domain Coordinator to attend the next Domain Assembly is to be raised by the DST.
Prestige Prestige claims are handled via the Beyond the Sunset website and tools contained therein. Prestige is managed on an approval basis; the onus for prestige awards is on members and officers to submit claims. Prestige Awards are made as detailed in the Beyond the Sunset Bylaws and Policies – Policy 8 (Rewards for Service), and Table 3: Prestige Award Chart. Standard awards that will be approved for VST, AVST and ADST positions are outlined in Appendix 1 of this document. All awards, unless otherwise specified, are to be approved by the DST. Additional awards will be determined on a case-by-case application by the DST. - FIN -