New VSS currently pending approval
From Los Angeles Wiki
Genre: Vampire-Requiem, #USA-SW-LR-0411-39799
Dates of play: First & second Saturday of each month
Note: This VSS for Hollywood by Night will serve as the operative VSS for the Domain game as well as Hollywood by Night. Though many of the mechanics listed below apply solely to Requiem, there will be a core section that will apply to the operation of any other venue within the L.A. Domain.
Ratings:
3 - Action 5 - Character Development 4 - Darkness 4 - Drama 4 - Intrigue 3 - Manners 5 - Mystery 3 - Pace 2 - Ritual
Description of the Venue:
Hollywood: the movie-making capital of the world. Dreams are built here in a day--Nightmares created in a second.
In a city where -nothing- is real and -everyone- wants to be someone else, mortals take on an ever-present gyration of movement, a circus of desire, monetary greed, lust of beauty and need for power. This morning's store clerks are this evening's top story--tonight's number one star is tomorrow's suicide.
For Vampires, Hollywood is the core of one of the most vibrant cities in the world. Dreams can be raised higher here than anywhere else, and nightmares can be twisted darker than any other locale. Mortals surround the Kindred, creating an illusion of a perfect hunting ground that can in reality turn into a constant fear of breaching the Masquerade. Kindred from all over the world eye Los Angeles as a crown jewel for their Clan, their Covenant or even just themselves. For those who reside here, that jewel is there for the taking…but it can often turn out to be nothing more than a costume crown of glass instead of diamonds.
Many things are known about Hollywood, and the dance of Kindred has never been more frantic, more watched or more rumored than here, under the sign that marks the end of reality to billions of human souls…
What does it mean to be a Vampire in the greatest city of illusion on the planet? How does one deal with the constant need for food, for the semblance of life or for the desire of companionship and the ever-present monstrous nature inside each Embraced monster? That is hard enough in any city. How does one do it all in the modern Babylon, where everything is for sale, and nothing is what you paid for?
Will you thirst for power? Desire... Knowledge... Hope... Control… Friendship...
Where does your Requiem take you this night? Will you follow--or will you flee?
This venue is intended to be a game for the Vampire characters of the Los Angeles Domain, centered at its core around the central Los Angeles Valley. While every game of Requiem includes politics over control of aspects of the city, this is not designed to be the 'political' or 'court' game for the entire Domain. This is a game that will use the city of Hollywood as a starting point to explore what it means to be a Vampire in the new World of Darkness. It will be a game where characters will have the chance to explore the city's past as well as their own. It will be a venue where actions have consequences, and where enemies (such as the Shakedown and other antagonists that surround the Kindred’s areas of control) do not forget and grow at the same rate you do. It will be a venue where characters can work together and overcome their opponents...but where their opponents can do the same.
If you have tags in your background, this venue will utilize them. If you have aspects of your background you want explored, this venue will give you that opportunity. And if you are searching for a game with continuing plot and NPC's built to be as developed as your characters...this is that venue.
SPECIAL NOTE: Characters signing up for this venue are welcome to live anywhere in the Domain they wish to live; however, currently there are only some places of LA County that are safe for Kindred PCs. Other locations may get your character killed or force him into fighting to gain control against antagonists with their own plans. Games will be designed to motivate players to come--and to bring them back again next time.
Core Storytelling Mechanics
Proxy Rules: The proxy rules for the L.A. Domain will parallel those provided in the Universal Addendum as of November 13th, 2009 with one addition. The Universal Addendum proxy rules are included here:
1. "Proxy" refers to sending your character sheet to a Storyteller other than your own, to portray a character without your physical presence. 2. 48 hours must be given to the Storyteller supervising the scene, unless they give an exception. A Low Storyteller email approving a proxy to commence is sufficient. 3. To proxy a character the player must provide a character sheet, a brief description of intentions, motivations, personality and reactions to possible situations. 4. When proxying, a player grants the Storyteller all rights to the character for the duration of the proxy. 5. Storytellers may modify proxy rules further in their Venue Style Sheets. 6. Storytellers must keep players informed of proxy progress, providing updates at least on a weekly basis, and must portray proxied characters to the best of their ability and in keeping with the player's proxy instructions. These rules are amended in regards to characters who wish to proxy into L.A. for the purpose of killing another PC (be it a member of the Domain or a visitor to the Domain for a night). These applications will be examined carefully by the STs and will be allowed only if they are deemed as adding to the local story.
Travel Risks: Traveling to and from L.A. is not necessarily safe. The Shakedown, an antagonistic, vampire gang appear to have control over many of the access points into and out of the Domain. Other groups with goals differing from the PCS also lay claim to parts of the county. PCs, whether native to the Domain or visiting, should not be surprised if they sense that they are being watched, or if something should happen to them while traveling within or to and from the city. It should not be assumed that you know the location of any gathering unless it has been publicly posted IC by an ST.
Visiting Character Guidelines: All visiting characters should bring a copy of their character (and retainers/ghouls), a complete experience log, any approvals, and rules for any powers not found in the main Requiem book. If a write-up for a power/approval/item is not provided, the ST possesses complete authority to deny said power/approval/item from being used in that game.
Character Death: Any scene involving character death will immediately lead to a scene freeze at the end of combat for all involved characters until the combat can be reviewed and discussed to ensure all parties feel it was a fair rules outcome. This means, no player involved in the game (regardless of combat participation) may speak of the outcome until the scene freeze is lifted.
Experience Award Guidelines: For participating at a scheduled game, players should expect a blanket 5 exp. Players who are exceptionally out of character, leave early, or in any way distract from the overall immersion or fun of the players at the game can expect experience award penalties.
Downtimes: Characters tied to any L.A. VSS may also submit a written or emailed downtime to their relevant VST or supervising ST. This should explain what the character has been doing for the month, or a scene that the character took part in outside of the regular game session. Suggested length is about one paragraph to one page; this can be worth anywhere from 1-3 bonus exp.
Mental & Social Challenges: L.A. is a social game, and therefore the ST staff has decided to honor all mundane mental and social challenges. Successes on these rolls will add one situational modifier per success (a positive or negative modifier assigned to the defender’s actions depending on the nature of the role). This situational modifier does not affect a PC’s ability to physically defend him/herself. The results of such tests should be role-played. Should an ST be made aware of a failure to comply with the outcome of these tests, the non-compliant character will first be given an official, recorded warning. Should such behavior persist, then the character may no longer be sanctioned for play within the Domain of L.A. per ST discretion.
Willpower: In all venues, Willpower will refresh at the rate described on page 110 of the core MET book. Excluding Willpower regained by pursuing a PC’s virtue and vice, a character will regain one spent Willpower point (not dot) a week. All spent Willpower will refresh at the beginning of each calendar month.
Retainers: When a PC buys a retainer, he/she will be allowed to create the character templates for their retainers according to the “Large-scale Game Mechanics Option” provided on pg. 146 of the MET Core Rulebook. Once created, these retainers will be examined by the STs, who remain in charge of sanctioning them for play and portraying them at the game. STs reserve the right to either refuse an overtly cheesy Retainer template, or to play the dots on their sheet. For example, Kelly has a one-dot Retainer, Johnny, with one-dot of Composure and one-dot of Resolve. The STs might choose to portray such a Retainer as highly unreliable, easily distracted, and extremely excitable. Special retainers, such as Ghouls, must clearly be labeled on the Retainer template. If you want your retainers/ghouls on hand at a game, you must check them in with your at character check-in, and it will use up that retainer’s downtime action for the month.
Requiem-specific Mechanics
Fourth Tradition Elysium: The oldest Elysium in Los Angeles is the campus of USC. It was founded in 1880 with help from the Ordo Dracul, and became an Elysium 10 years later in 1890. Thanks to dedicated efforts from Kindred throughout the last 120 years, this Elysium has recently become a “Fourth Tradition” Elysium, with mechanics as described on pg. 21 of the MET Requiem book. This is a recent development, and the exact limitations of the boundary of this mystical effect are unclear; a safe assumption, however, is that it covers the actual campus grounds as bordered by city streets. Rules for Fourth Tradition Elysiums are found on pages 21 & 22 of the red book. SW regional approval #: USA-SW-LR-0911-117705
City Status:
• Increases and decreases in City Status will only be recorded by the LA Requiem STs if it is publically posted on the LA Cam Yahoo Group e-mail list (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/D_LA_Cam/) by a PC who has the ability to grant or strip City Status. An announcement in-game is optional, but cannot substitute for the e-mail post to the LA Cam list.
• A PC Requiem court officer must cite either an appropriate praiseworthy deed for the city (pg. 290 in the red book) or a sin against the city (pg. 289 in the red book) in their post when raising or lowering a PC’s status.
• All exceptions to the above must be cleared through and approved by the LA DST before a public announcement can be made on the LA Cam list.
Feeding Guidelines:
Starting Blood: Starting blood is determined by the following formula: Humanity + Herd – 1 in order to wake up for the night of the game.
Feeding Grounds: The following penalties will be included in any hunting challenge: 0 if your PC has been specifically and publicly granted a feeding ground by the Prince (such a privilege is included within the grant of a Tenurial Domain by the Prince) and feeds within that feeding ground, -1 if your PC feeds from one of the available Racks, and -2 if the PC feeds anywhere else within the Domain of L.A.
Haven Location: Characters will receive blood up to their dots in this merit once per game which will augment their hunting challenges. The blood granted by this merit can be transferred to another PC at the owner’s discretion; however, this means that the PC owner can not add these dots to his/her hunting challenges for the duration of the loan. Partial loans of Haven Location are allowed but must be made in whole dots. To loan a Shared Haven Location, every partner in the Haven must consent to it while physically present at the game. All Haven Location loans must be marked and signed by an ST on both loaner and borrower’s character sheets before the borrower can benefit from the loan. For example, Kenny the vampire has Haven Location 5. He can choose to avail himself of all five of its blood in his first hunting challenge, or he can spread it across several hunting challenges performed over the course of a game. Whichever option he chooses, he cannot receive more than a total of five blood from this merit during the course of a game. He can also loan all five blood to another PC or even just one of its blood to another PC while retaining the other four for himself.
Herd: The blood provided by this merit cannot be loaned to from one PC to another and is only available to its original owner.
Free Feeding: If the player shows up to game before 8 PM, they get one free feeding challenge that does not require time spent out of game.
Feeding after the Game Starts: If a player wishes to feed after check-in, it’s handled the following way. The player goes to a ST and states they wish to start hunting. Then the player spends 15 minutes out-of-play, they are not participating in scenes, on the phone with people at game, or doing anything that involves other PCs at game. After the fifteen minutes are up, they go back to the ST and make a draw for blood.
Feeding Draws: These challenges will be run as follows: The PC will state how they intend to hunt, and the ST will then provide an appropriate mundane attribute + skill test pool from which to draw. The PC will then draw a card, throw numbers, etc., and as long as he/she obtains one success, they gain a vessel. Characters with BP 1 or 2 will have to declare whether they are hunting humans or animals before the feeding challenge is resolved. Characters whose BP is high enough they must feed from Vampires must feed from a PC who they can have fed from that evening. Vampires being fed from must agree to have been fed from either in person or by email or phone.
Prospective vessels possess blood equal to their Size attribute. The Size for the vast majority of mortals is five. Those PCs seeking an exception to this rule (ex. I specifically hunt giant mortals or elephants.) will have a negative situational modifier added to their feeding challenge at the discretion of the ST in charge of feeding.
If a PC takes five blood from a mortal, that mortal will unequivocally die. Taking four blood will harm the mortal, and he or she will require hospitalization. A maximum of three blood can be taking from a mortal without harming him or her. Humanity draws may need to be made depending on a PC’s choice and current Humanity.
Ghouls: The maintenance cost for ghouls must be spent at the first Requiem game of the month. A character can elect to postpone this cost until the second Requiem game in a particular month; however, the ghoul in question will be unable to perform any downtime action until the maintenance cost is paid. Ghouls that are brought to the game start with one blood in their system. Further blood must be provided from a PC. A character may never feed from a Merit-Based retainer such as a ghoul/retainer as a means of bypassing herd. Doing so will not provide blood, regardless of why/how you are feeding.
Tenurial Domain: If the Prince has granted a PC or a group of PCs territory within the Domain of Los Angeles, then the PC(s) will enjoy +2 situational modifier to any social challenge (this includes social-based powers) within the boundaries of their granted domain.
Coils: PCs with Coil of Blood 1 choose even or odd and roll a dice or draw a card. If the outcome is what they chose (even if they chose even, for instance), they come into game with a full Vitae pool -1 for waking up for the game. If not, they come in with half, rounded up. PCs with Coil of Banes 2 can gain extra downtime actions on a 1-for-1 basis by spending WP to stay up during the day. Rituals: All rituals being cast for the game must be cast at check-in or in-game after starting blood and Willpower have been determined. Persistent or long-term rituals cast outside the Domain must be recorded on a character’s sheet and bear the signature of their presiding ST, or their effects may not be sanctioned or recognized within the Domain of Los Angeles according to the discretion of the VST or DST.
