How To Play Whitehaven By Night...

**Baz** · Subject: How To Play Whitehaven By Night... Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:10 pm

How to Play

Time
Time passes at a rate of 1 week of real time to 1 night of game play. The game is played from Monday to Friday in real time equalling a night of game time. In general, all posting should cease come midnight (GMT) on Friday evenings. However, exceptions will be made if you are just posting your character returning to their haven. If you continue with a scene, however, you run the real risk of being caught in daylight. Another thing to note specifically is that the game requires a little suspension of disbelief as you can move between locations with seemingly no time passing. This is not something that can be overcome unfortunately, as the time is pretty fluid on Whitehaven By Night.

Storyteller Characters
Any Storyteller Characters you may interact with have their own accounts set up using the character name. This should aid in allowing avoidance of confusion regarding who you are addressing, and allows me to more easily monitor situations involving them.

Metagaming
Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game, which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. In other words, sometimes using out-of-game information, or resources, to affect one's in-game decisions.

Metagaming in Whitehaven by Night will not be tolerated. In order to reduce this risk, I have control over which forums people can and cannot see.

Multiple Characters
Players are not permitted to play multiple characters. If any player is discovered to be playing multiple characters the Storyteller will delete a number of accounts to reduce the number of characters played to one. The Storyteller may offer you the choice of which character you would like to continue playing.

How to Play
Whitehaven By Night is split into several different districts. Please take your time to familiarise yourself with the districts and the locations they contain, which can be found here.

At the start of each week of real time/evening of game play, none of the districts will be open to you. You need to send a Private Message (PM) to the Storytellers group stating the district that your character wishes to travel to. As mentioned above, this requires a little suspension of disbelief as your character can move from one location to another with no apparent time lag. PM's are normally actioned promptly, so you shouldn't have to wait long.

When the relevant forum is available to you, you should check to see if there is a topic already open that relates to the location you require. If there is, you should post your character 's arrival, and can interact with that topic. For the want of better terminology, a topic can be described as a "scene" for the purposes of disciplines and other effects that last for one scene. If there is no topic/scene for your chosen location, you shoud start one by posting your characetr's arrival, and then interacting with the scene.

Please can you try to date stamp a topic if you start it? This forum uses an archive procedure that relies on game dates. Example: If you character is visiting The Beacon Museum, and a thread hasn't been started, please try to label it something like Beacon Elysium 17th Nov 2004.

Rolling Dice
When you attempt something that can be described as an "Opposed" action, you should roll the relevant dice for the action you are attempting to perform. Please, bear in mind that your character will not necessarily know the outcome just because you can see the dice roll result. All they will know is that they have tried their best. It would be of great assistance to the Storytellers if you could roll your dice. Dice may normally only be rolled when responding to a topic, by clicking this button:

Which allows the following code to be inserted:

You need to insert the number of dice required instead of the text (insert dice here) between the ] [ in the formula.

You will then see, something like this when your post is made:

Guest carried out 4 launched of one d10 (Image not informed.) :

,

As a general note, if you see a zero as an image, it should be considered to be a 10.

If you want to roll dice in a PM, you need to type in the code to do so.

In order to make it easier for many of you, I've pulled this list of dice rolling examples together from the Revised Book. If there's anything you don't understand, please don't hesitate to ask.

Physical Actions
Climbing [Dexterity + Athletics]
Driving [Dexterity/Wits + Drive]
Hunting for Blood [Perception + Herd]
Intrusion [Dexterity/Perception + Security]
Jumping [Strength or Strength + Athletics for a running jump]
Lifting/Breaking [Strength]
Opening/Closing [Strength]
Pursuit [Dexterity + Athletics/Drive]
Shadowing [Dexterity + Stealth/Drive]
Sneaking [Dexterity + Stealth]
Swimming [Stamina + Athletics]
Throwing [Dexterity + Athletics]

Mental Actions
Awakening [Perception, Humanity]
Hacking [Intelligence/Wits + Computer]
Investigation [Perception + Investigation]
Recognising Vampires [Wits + Occult]
Repair [Dexterity/Perception + Crafts]
Research [Intelligence + Academics/Occult/Science]
Tracking [Perception + Survival]

Social Actions
Carousing [Charisma + Empathy]
Credibility [Manipulation/Perception + Subterfuge]
Fast-Talk [Manipulation + Subterfuge]
Interrogation [Manipulation + Empathy/Intimidation]
Violent interrogation [Strength/Manipulation + Intimidation]
Intimidation [Strength/Manipulation + Intimidation]
Oration [Charisma + Leadership]
Performance [Charisma + Performance]
Seduction [variable]

Combat
Close Combat [Use Dexterity + Brawl (unarmed) or Dexterity + Melee (armed)]
Ranged Combat [Use Dexterity + Firearms (guns) or Dexterity + Athletics (thrown weapons)]

Resolution
Damage [Strength/Strength + Modifier/Weapon Damage]
Damage Resistence [Stamina + Fortitude (if applicable)]

Preferred Posting Format
In order to maintain some sembelance of order on the forum, it would be appreacited if you could adopt the following posting format:

Descriptive Actions
When posting things like entering, or leaving a location, or even some gesture that your character is performing, please enclose things in [square brackets] or in plain text. Examples:

[Lucy enters the room. She walks gracefully to her throne, her dress swishing around. You smell the faint hint of jasmine as she walks past]

or,

Lucy enters the room. She walks gracefully to her throne, her dress swishing around. You smell the faint hint of jasmine as she walks past.

Spoken Text
When posting something that your character is speaking, it would be helpful if you could use a font colour, or apply "quotation marks" to the text. Examples:

"I require to know your reasons for entering my domain, and your intended period of remaining."

or,

I require to know your reasons for entering my domain, and your intended period of remaining.

Private Conversations
If your character's are having a private conversation, please feel free to use Private Messages. If you use Private Messages, please copy in the Storyteller at the very end of the conversation with all the relevant things that the character's discussed.

Whispering
If your character is whispering something to another character, please send the whispered message in a Private Message. Please also remember to copy in the Storyteller. If anyone has Auspex 1 - Heightened Senses activated, please PM the Storyteller to see if your character detected the whisper. If they did, the Storyteller will let you know what was said.

Out of Character Comments
When posting an Out of Character comment, please try to surround it in (round brackets) and use the phrase OOC: beforehand. Also, please consider if it is necessary to post an OOC comment before doing so. Asking for a ruling in a scene is a good example. Example:

(OOC: Is it ok to perform that action ST?)

or,

(OOC: ST, what roll do I need to do?)

Please try to keep Out of Character Comments to an absolute minimum as they can be disruptive to the flow of the game if overused.

Combat
1) Add together your character’s Dexterity and Wits attributes to determine your base initiative. Remember, if you’re wounded, that Wound Modifiers need to be taken into account.

2) Use the Dice Roller to add 1d10 to the roll.

3) Declare your action, and use the Dice Roller to roll the appropriate dice (if necessary).

4) The scene will then be "on hold" pending a summary of the combat round from the Storyteller who will inform you when the next round is, and also the order of initiative for the following round.

Please post in order of your initiative for any round after the first.

Celerity
If using Celerity, rather than it granting additional actions, and thus additional confusion, the house rule for Celerity in combat is that it grants you a number of automatic successes on any roll relating to Dexterity, in the same manner as Potence adds to Strength related rolls automatically. As an example, if you had Celerity 3, and activated it, and were attempting to stake someone, you would roll Dexterity+Melee, and would have an automatic 3 successes if you activated your Celerity.

Health Levels
You should all have a health bar visible for your character. When your character suffers injury, a ST will modify the values that make up this bar, just like if it affected your character's Appearance or Court Status. Please bear in mind that the lower your health bar, the less dice you have to roll, except in the case of Damage Resistance (Stamina + Fortitude rolls are unaffected):

Health Bar Reading - - - - - Dice Pool Penalty
[7/7] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (0)
[6/7] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (0)
[5/7] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (-1)
[4/7] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (-1)
[3/7] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (-2)
[2/7] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (-2)
[1/7] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (-5)
[0/7] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No Pool (Incapacitated)

Your character is unaffected by Wound Penalties if they are Frenzied.

Status
Status is quite an important part of kindred society, allowing you to manipulate certain situations that may arise in the court. More on that in a moment, first you need to know how you can get Status.

Status can be gained, or lost, in a number of ways, the most common being:

The Prince may give your character an appointment, or revoke a previously awarded appointment, as a Court Officer (Seneschal, Keeper of the Elysium, Primogen etc.)

The Prince can award, or strip, Status to another Kindred by succeeding at her own Status roll. Any Kindred may contest with their own Status, unless they are on the receiving end of the attempt.

Harpies can award, or strip, Status to another Kindred by succeeding at their own Status roll. Any Kindred may contest with their own Status. This can be done only once a night (in-game) and must be done within a gathering of Kindred.

Kindred may use their Status to combat other Kindred, including the Prince and Harpies, in their social attempts or politiking.

Using Status
The dice pool to reflect the use of Status is Charisma+Status when attempting to award Status or agree with a Status action attempted by another character, or Manipulation+Status when attempting to strip Status or oppose a Status action attempted by another character. The difficulty is always 8.

This may only be done within court, or within a gathering of kindred. The attempt must also have some appropriate comment from the character as to why the roll is happening. Be wary of doing this, as it means that your character is publicly announcing their intentions and may suffer retribution from opposing parties.

Influence
There are two methods that can be applied using Influence. They differ slightly in how they work mechanically. The first use is referred to as Direct, the second is referred to as Indirect, and they work in the following manner:

Direct - Roll = Manipulation+Influence
As it's name suggests, Direct use of Influence involves a character becoming personally involved with the situation by making a telephone call, writing a letter/email, sending a text message, or any other method of communication that originates with the character, except for those mentioned below in Indirect.

Benefits
The character is directly applying their influence, so the difficulty is reduced.

Hindrances
Due to the direct nature, a botch will have a serious negative effect, which could include loss of Influence, or public exposure.

Indirect - Roll = Wits+Influence
Indirect use of Influence involves going through a third party, such as an Ally, Contact, or Retainer. Needless to say, the request still comes from the character, but applying it via one of the avenues mentioned can make it appear more subtle.

Benefits
Tracing the use back to the character is more difficult due to third party involvement.

Hindrances
Because of the "non-personal" nature, the difficulty is increased.

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**Baz** · Subject: Earning and Spending Experience... Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:51 pm

Earning and Spending Experience

Earning
Experience is awarded for each night that passes in game, at a rate of 1 Experience Point per evening. Please note, you can only receive Experience if your character has actively participated in the game evening. If you don't log on and post, you don't earn. Out of Character posts do not count towards Experience Point awards. On occasion, some Experience Points may be awarded for outstanding roleplaying, or reaching a plot milestone.

You can also earn Experience Points for referrals. Referring a friend to the site and getting them to state who referred them will earn you an additional 1 Experience Point.

The Storyteller will update an Experience, Vitae, and Willpower thread, in your character's personal forum, at the beginning of each game week. The previous week's alotment will be visible, as will the updated. This allows you to bring to the attention of a Storyteller any inconsistencies which may exist.

Spending
When you wish to spend Experience Points, you can do so by making a post in your character's personal forum which the Storyteller will look at. If your expenditure is deemed inappropriate, you will be informed by reply, including a reason why the Storyteller deems it inappropriate.

As a general example:
Wrath's player wants Wrath to learn Occult 2, but he has not been in a position to use his Occult skill. This expenditure would be vetoed by the Storyteller as there is no relevant In Game justification for the increase. Wrath's player also wants Wrath to learn Brawl 3. The character has been involved in several fist fights at various points throughout the game, so the Storyteller would rule that this is an acceptable expenditure and would update the character sheet accordingly.

When spending Experience Points, the following table should be addressed, as well as the specific rules for Necromancy and Thaumaturgy Paths and Rituals, detailed later:

Trait	Experience Cost
New Ability	3XP
New Path (Necromancy & Thaumaturgy)	7XP
New Discipline	10XP
Attribute	Current Rating x 4XP
Ability	Current Rating x 2XP
Clan Discipline*	Current Rating x 5XP
Out of Clan Discipline*	Current Rating x 7XP
Secondary Path (Necromancy & Thaumaturgy)	Current Rating x 4XP
Virtue**	Current Rating x 2XP
Humanity	Current Rating x 2XP
Willpower	Current Rating in XP

* Caitiff have no Clan or Out of Clan Disciplines, just as they have no clan. For them, the cost of raising Disciplines is Current Rating x 6XP for all Disciplines. This is both a curse and a blessing of being clanless.

** Increasing a Virtue through Experience does not increase Traits based on that Virtue (Humanity and Willpower)

Paths & Rituals (Necromancy and Thaumaturgy only)
When seeking to learn a new path or ritual, there are two options:

Find someone who knows it already, and persuade them to teach you.
Find a tome and attempt to learn it yourself.

Whichever method is employed, the dice pool is Intelligence+Occult. The difficulty for a New Path is 10-Primary Path with only a single success being required, as well as spending the Experience Points. Once the Experience Points have been spend to learn the Path, it is considered that your character has attuned the path to their blood, and may improve it as normal.

With Rituals, the system is slightly different. The difficulty of the roll is 3+Ritual Level, exactly as if you were casting the ritual. However, this is an extended roll, taking as long as needed, requiring a total of 10 successes. Only 1 attempt per night may be made, though Willpower may be spent on the attempt. The ritual also costs a number of Experience Points equal to its level (i.e. A Level 2 Ritual costs 2XP and requires 10 successes at difficulty 5).

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