APRIL 17, 1999

At present, our options for LARPing include the University (campus club rooms, Arts, Kirk hall, Education lounge), the downtown Tramps location, and (now that it's warm enough) Club Lux.  If any of you know of any other possible LARP locations that we can use, let the Storytelling Team know.
Another possibility that was brought up is having outdoor venues during the warmer summer nights.  Of course, there would be a strict props restriction (card props only, NO weapon props) and of course, the usual "don't freak the mundanes" policy.  Would people be interested in outdoor events like this?  Let us know…

SBN MANUAL?

So where the heck is this beast anyway?  Wasn't it supposed to be out in January?  The best laid plans of mice and men… with the forthcoming release of  "The Hunters Tools" by White Wolf, there's another book that needs to be incorporated into the SbN rules system.  It was just released, and will be soon purchased and incorporated into our modified LARP system.  Then you should see the SbN Manual out.  Really.  I'm not just saying that.  In the meantime, if you have any questions about any of the rules changes to date, just contact the Storyteller.  He'll be able to fill you in on the changes.

KINDRED LAW (TAKEN FROM THE LARP GRAND UNIFICATION THEORY WEB SITE)

    Kindred law is based upon one simple idea. Within each Domain, the Prince has final say. End of story. The end. That’s it. Simple isn’t it? You can’t win.
     For the record, Kindred justice is NOT based upon trail by jury, the use of Aura Perception, Truth of the Bone, whatever... none of these are accepted. Station wins. The Camarilla usually does not like investigations to get to the bottom of things. Why investigate? Better to find a scapegoat... sorry, criminal Caitiff and kill them for the crime. If the crime happens again, then the Caitiff was obviously in league with someone (and NO, I am not joking about picking on Caitiff... they DESERVE it and I want players to start doing it thank you). Mind you, if in doubt, blame any Anarch/Autark... they have NO status and as such are guilty of everything!
     No, it depends on the Prince, but most of the time, investigations are not carried out. And for very good reason...
     Example of why Camarilla law is so unfair...

(Picture the scene; The Tremere Primogen has been found in a room with the recently killed corpse of the Ventrue Primogen. He claims he didn’t do it. The Prince summons him and the entire court (this is a bad move, but we’ll come back to that)

Prince: Right, you little Tremere git... did you kill the Ventrue Primogen?
Tremere: My Lord... I cannot tell a lie... nope. I had nothing to do with it.
Near-By Toreador:  A-HA! Your majesty, my learned Tremere Primogen is a lying, two faced murdering git.
Tremere: You have evidence?
Toreador: I don’t have to have any... I just read your aura and me and EVERYONE could see that you were lying your bloody head off...
Tremere: YOUR MAJESTY! What on Earth is going on? You’ve allowed a Toreador Anarch present evidence...
Toreador: WHAT!?
Prince: (Who knows where this is going and what is going to happen) My God, I think you're right!
Toreador: What the hell?
Tremere: My God, a viper in our midst. I wonder, are the entire Toreador so affected...
Toreador: What the hell are you talking about?
Tremere: You, Sir, you and your disregard for the Traditions and laws of the Camarilla. You and your attempt to subvert the Camarilla from within...
Toreador:  I beg your pardon?
Tremere: I had given my word as a Primogen. You say you ‘glanced’ at my aura and contradict me! You glance at my aura... you doubt my word!
Toreador: Well, of course I bloody well do, you're a sneaky git!
Tremere: That’s MR Sneaky Git to you sunshine! Or, rather, Lord PRIMOGEN Sneaky Git. You, Sir, have decided to disregard our sacred traditions, disregard the rules that have kept the Camarilla in place for the past seven hundred years, you have taken the system of status, which unites us and binds us, and defines our place in our society, and you have thrown it out the window. You doubt my word in public... by doing so, you suggest that status is redundant. You wish to destroy it, eh?
Toreador: Er... no, that’s not...
Tremere: No doubt you wish to get rid of Boons and introduce democracy as well...
Toreador: No, now wait a minute...
Tremere: Your majesty, I insist that this criminal be staked immediately...

     And like that, the bad guy gets away with it! Why? BECAUSE, while murder and Diablerie are terrible crimes and while Princes and Justicars want the criminals punished, the whole thing is, THE SOCIETY IS DEADLIER! It is not based upon fairness or justice. The Tremere Primogen DID kill the Ventrue one... but the Toreador broke an even bigger rule... HE DISREGARDED STATION! The Tremere committed murder... the Toreador committed TREASON and sedition. And since his act of Treason was to say he had read the Tremere’s aura... then the very accusation is Treason, and thus the case is dropped and the Toreador gets it! (Of course, you do realize that this could lead to people like the Harpies judging and ruling cases... and that’s almost right!)
     Mind you, the Prince boo-booed. What they should have done is get the Person to ask the Tremere in private, and then used the Aura Reading as evidence when coming up later. The evidence would have been in beforehand, and the statement that the Primogen was lying, more acceptable. What this means is that committing a crime becomes something ANYONE can get away with... if they are smart. And bringing someone to justice is as easy as just saying the right thing at the right time. To the right person. Who cares if they did it? Who cares what their Aura says? It’s about how you appear and what power you have. An Elder can make your life miserable for years... guess what? That’s the whole point of the game... you gotta out nasty the nasty guy. And just think... if that Toreador in the above example had been the Primogen, not only would have the Tremere Primogen got away with the murder of the Ventrue Primogen, but the Prince would have been forced to punish the entire Toreador Clan, because the Primogen speaks for the entire Clan!
     Now, some Princes may insist that they have a proper investigation. Cool. But they had better be careful. Piss off their Primogen and they may find trails dry up ("Well, Lord Sheriff, I can tell you that this Nosferatu had NOTHING to do with it? Are you doubting my word as a Primogen?"- when faced with this, the Sheriff has to back off. If the Prince objects, the Primogen can give their word again, PUBLICLY, and the Prince had better be careful about publicly saying the Primogen’s a liar or else they could be on the receiving end of the Council of Princes again). Go to far that way and they may find that their fellow Princes think they are a bit loopy and get their Domain put into bad standing. Shit happens.
     However, one group take this whole ‘status is right’ thing and throws it out the window. One group don’t give a DAMN how much status you have... the Justicars. They HAVE to be thorough. What this can mean depends on the Archon.  But the whole point to remember is this... the Archons attend when a Prince FAILS. The Prince, the so-called Lord of the Domain has screwed up and the result is that the Archons have to be sent to wet nurse the situation. The more a Prince calls upon the Office the weaker they are seen. A strong (and clever) Prince makes sure that the Justicar and the Archons NEVER turn up... after all, there is nothing to say the Justicar won't start investigating something completely different. Remember, every time an Archon punishes someone in a Prince's Domain it is because the prince has failed in their duty. And remember another thing... if the Justicar ever turns up, it is because the Archons have failed. A BAD thing to see (when the Justicar turns up, please remember the correct thing to do is drop to your knees and HOPE they ignore you). The moment a Justicar attends, we are immediately into the concept of Faction level politics.
     Remember, the Prince of a Domain is the final judge of all things. If the Prince is to be judged, then the Justicar judges, and tradition has dictated that the Justicar and Archons are ‘advised’ by a group of the offender’s peers (Princes)... so if the ‘advisors’ say the prince is innocent, the Justicar lets them go. See, all nice and simple isn’t it?
     Look, the whole point of this system is to create IC rules of behaviour. These are not OOC rules. PC’s can and are expected to break them. PC’s are expected to act how the hell they like and have fun. Good. I don’t care. The rules you see here are the way the ‘game’ is played- the game being the intrigue, fear and sneakiness that generally pervades Kindred behaviour across the world. Now the rules are biased. If the character you play is the type to run around and cause shit, these rules are designed to have your character spend the entire night with everyone ignoring you before you get killed by everyone. It’s just one of those things. This doesn’t mean you can’t get away with running around and causing shit, but it goes like this... you gotta be able to KNOW how to play the game before you can buck the rules.
     These rules are here to make sure balance remains in all things. By applying strict codes of behaviour, we now have the following situation: It don’t matter how strong or weak you character sheet is; it don’t matter what your generation is; it don’t matter what you clan is or ANYTHING.  Got a Prince whose throwing their weight around and making your life hell? Make sure they cross the line and you can bring them down. Got a neonate whose disrupting everything? Now you can get rid of him without looking like the bad guy. In all things, please remember the golden rule... the players who win are those players who think nastier than the others, roleplay harder than the others and generally don’t take part in lame plots and get caught lots. Play it straight and watch what happens. Remember, the whole thing is about how one is presented in PUBLIC.