Domain Style Sheet for Domain of Boston
10/25/03
Applies to: C/A, Changeling
I. XP awards
A. Domain Games
Characters receive between 1 and 4 XP per game, at the VST's discretion.
Players that attend the entire game and make an effort to roleplay their character
can
expect 2 XP.
Players which attend less than half of the game or are inconsistent in their
roleplaying will receive only 1 XP. Roleplaying above and beyond the normal,
truly impressive costuming, or participation in especially dramatic or intense
scenes may qualify the player for additional XP.
Players who are disruptive or engage in distracting OOC activities, may have
some or all of their XP award revoked for the game.
Players may play more than one character during a game, but will only receive
an
XP award for one of their characters.
B. Other Games/Conventions
Players are eligible for XP awards from games outside of the domain, but must
notify their VST within one month of the award. A written (e-mail)
confirmation from the ST who adjudicated the game is required for players
claiming awards greater than 2. Players are reminded that their controlling
ST has the right to determine the final amount of XP awarded to the character.
Convention XP will be reviewed by the VST after it has been
publicly posted,
or after the VST has received confirmation from the convention ST staff of
the
award. Players should claim this XP in their log for the month of the
convention, regardless of when final confirmation occurs, but should avoid
spending it until their local VST has confirmed it.
C. Downtime
Submitting a downtime report/summary (as described below) entitles a character
to an award of 1 XP. At the VST's option, a second XP may be awarded for
reports that show an extra effort made to develop the character or “proactive
involvement” for any downtime activity (written, e-mail, IRC, etc) that
directly furthers the local game in some tangible fashion. This award will
be
infrequent but is there to reward players who take the time and effort to
place the Boston story first and foremost, and their own story second. This
award
will not be granted for out-of-character contributions; for those, players
will be recommended for prestige.
D. Write-ups
Players may submit post-game write-ups to the VST especially if they detail
the character's involvement in plots which the ST may not be aware. However,
such
reports will not result in the award of additional XP, unless the reports
are
also considered a downtime report as described in section III.
II. XP spending:
A. Justification
Justification for learning most traits is appreciated but not required. The
VSTs reserve the right to request justification for any expenditure, and the
expenditure may be denied if justification is not deemed sufficient.
Justification is usually required for supernatural abilities requiring a
teacher, backgrounds, influences, willpower, virtues, tempers, merits and
bought off flaws and bought off negative traits.
B. Learning Time
All XP expenditures require one week to learn, from the time the request is
submitted to the VST. At the VST's discretion, particularly difficult traits
may take longer to learn, such as advanced or restricted powers, or Out-of-
Clan disciplines.
C. Monthly Limits
A character may not increase a given trait type by more than one level per
month. This applies to Abilities, Attribute categories, Backgrounds, Willpower,
and other miscellaneous traits, as well as supernatural abilities.
For example, a character could buy a Mental and a Physical trait,
but not two
Mental traits. Or a character could purchase a level of Melee and a level
of
Brawl, but not two levels of Melee.
The only exception to this rule is In-Clan Disciplines for the Cam/Anarch
Vampire Venue. A character may learn as many In-Clan Disciplines and as many
levels of Disciplines as their generation allows and the player can afford.
Characters in this venue may also learn In-clan rituals at a rate of up to
two
per month.
Out-of-clan Disciplines and out of clan rituals remain limited to
one level per month each.
D. Influences
In addition to purchasing 1 Background per month, you may purchase with XP
one
level of one influence per month.
You may not increase any Influence category more than once per month,
regardless of whether you Grow the level or purchase the level with XP. However,
you may
increase multiple Influences at the same time, so you could buy Media x 1,
Grow to Street x 3, and Grow to High Society x 2 all in one month, but you
could
not Grow to Street x 3 and then spend XP to get Street x 4.
The VST reserves the right to restrict the amount of Influence growth a
character can achieve in a month. This is to moderate the rapid rise of
influence levels, and to prevent one character from monopolizing all of the
level 9 and 10 spots available in the Domain. You may use XP to purchase up
to x 5 in an Influence. Past that, you must spend actions to grow.
E. Approvals at DST and above
If you purchase an item that requires an approval, you may not purchase/gain
another level of the item until you have received the first approval. This
may mean new applications for every level you wish to purchase/gain.
III. Downtime Reporting
This section applies to all downtime reports, summaries, actions and requests
that apply to activities taken by the character between sanctioned games.
A. Format
There is no required format for a downtime report, but it may include any
or
all of the following:
1. XP expenditures
2. Influence actions
3. Item procurement
4. Attempts to contact NPCs
5. Plot actions
6. Summary of interactions with other PCs
7. Summary of events at other games
Though XP expenditures and influence actions may be included in a downtime
report, a report must contain at least one of the other items in order to
be
eligible for an XP award.
B. A note on Live Journals
Live Journals can be a wonderful roleplaying tool. They are an excellent way
to manage a character’s chronicles and down time reports, should a player
chose
to do so. That said:
An in character Live Journal post is not sufficient to net XP, and does not
substitute for a downtime report emailed to the VST. The VST reserves the
right to request additional information or explanations from the player before
awarding XP. The VST also reserves the right to request additional
explanations regarding anything that shows up in a Live Journal post. Please
do not get defensive if the ST questions your Live Journal, and remember that
we
are your Storytellers, and must be involved in the story you are telling.
Also, beware of metagaming. If the VSTs can see you posts, not only will they
read them, but they will read all comments. They will also read (skim) the
journals and comments of other NE region players. Some of the OOC information
swapping comes perilously close to metagaming. Don’t fall prey to that.
Sometimes, it’s good to have secrets.
C. Deadlines
All downtime reports must be submitted by the close of a month in order to
be
eligible for XP award for that month. Influence growth actions are required
to be submitted by the close of the previous month. For example, if a character
wishes to use 4 actions to grow his police influence during November, the
request to do so must be submitted to the VST by the end of October. You do
not need to spend actions to get rumors or news. Rumors and news will be
posted at the whims of the VSTs and DST, either at the beginning of a game
or
during downtime.
D. Responses
For downtime reports submitted by the end of the month, the VST will provide
a
response within one week. Most influence actions will be responded to by the
end of the month (though in some cases, the response may be sooner).
E. NPCs
As a reminder, all actions involving any NPC, must be run past the VST. This
includes, but is not limited to: retainers, ghouls, allies, herd, dreamers,
contacts, and relatives and associates from the character's background. These
are ST characters, and are not under the control of the player. Only the ST
can decide what actions NPCs take and only an ST can determine what their
reaction
to a player character is. Also, you can contact NPCs if you have ICly been
given a way to contact them, by e-mailing the ST. If you’re not certain
if
you have the NPC’s contact info, just ask.
F. Regaining Traits
Temporary glamour (Changeling venue) can only be regained between games by
submitting a downtime report. Healing aggravated damage must also be declared
during a downtime report. Willpower is assumed to be regained at a rate of
one per week, and no report is required for this.
Regaining Blood Traits is handled by the Camarilla/Anarch VST, but it is
assumed that your PC feeds during the week without incident unless the VST
contacts
you and informs you differently. “Feeding” challenges or scenes
may be run at the
start of the game and may cover hunting activities for the entire month
prior.
A hunting/feeding “routine” downtime report may be
submitted once to the ST,
to keep on file, so she is informed about your PCs usual hunting habits and
can
create scenes and plots that are suitable to your PC. Players are encouraged
to submit this “routine” report; especially if they do not wish
to run
feeding/hunting challenges on the day of game.
G. Plot lines
No player is required to submit a downtime report in order to participate
in
plot during sanctioned games. Players are however encouraged to submit
downtime reports to augment their involvement in plots during the game, and
follow-up on events that occurred during the game. Certain abilities, most
notably influences, are largely able to be used only during downtime reports.
The response to a player’s downtime report might also contain plot hints
regarding future plots as well, giving them the opportunity to respond to
these plots prior to the next game. Players who do not submit downtime reports
will
not get this information until the beginning of the next game.
IV. Free Lores
A. Free lores at character creation
Primary characters may have up to the player’s MC in free lores at character
creation. Regardless of MC, every character may have at least 3 free lores,
and a maximum of 6 for Camarilla/Anarch characters and 5 for Changeling
characters. These lores must be taken in the following categories: type,
clan/kith/house and sect/court.
Levels up to 3 may be taken in this manner with the exception of greymare
(Changeling venue) which is limited to one free level. Additional lores taken
at character creation must be bought with free points or experience points.
B. Free lores gained during play
This section applies only to free lores. While a character may only learn
one
lore for free in a given month, characters may learn additional lores normally
by spending XP, subject to the restrictions in section II. Each individual
lore (Lore: Kindred, Lore: Kith: Sidhe, Lore: Camarilla, etc.) is a separate
ability. The VST is under no obligation to waive the XP cost for any lore.
However, free lores will only be approved if they meet the following
requirements:
1. One month of study is required per level of lore that is being learned.
For example, learning a level 2 lore requires 2 months of study. Only one
free
lore may be studied at a time.
2. One player character teacher is required for each level of lore being
learned. Each teacher must have a higher level of the lore that is being
taught. For example, to learn a lore at level 2, requires two teachers, each
with level 3 or higher in this lore.
3. Documentation confirming teachers and ability levels is required.
4. The XP cost for lores requiring higher than VST approval, or greymare,
is
at the VST's discretion, and the VST may require additional criteria to be
met.
