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JANUARY 17, 1997 |
Welcome to the new chronicle of Saskatoon By Night. The new Storytelling/Narrating staff is as follows:
If you have any questions or want to start anything, please go through your Clan Narrator first. Please do not call anyone after 10:00. We all have answering machines and we all will try and get back to you as soon as we can, but some questions will require consultation with the rest of the team.
We are still Shared Universe, and we plan to go on that way for some time. In the spirit of the Shared Universe, we have gotten together with the Regina Storytellers and come up with a consistant set of house rules that is going to be used in both cities. We are going to be doing some things differently, and we might interpret some rules differently than you are used to. However, our sole aim is to make a better game, and we hope that it is your aim too.
When we took over Storytelling, we saw some problems with the power balance in the game. We had three choices: restart the game completely, continue exactly as it was, or keep the existing characters but scale them all to be in the same power range while still keeping the proportional power differences. We took the hard choice, number 3.
Terry will be talking to each and every one of you about your characters. As a consequence of this evaluation, your character may change.
In addition, we need: 1) A background for the character which must contain:a description (including any distinguishing features) and a list of anything publicly known about them. These two will be publicly posted on the Internet. The background should also include who they were sired by, a description of their embrace, and where they have been and what they have been doing during both their mortal and Kindred lives. 2) A list of all their influences, what they are, how they were obtained and how they are maintained. 3) A haven description including street addresses and any defenses.
It seems like a lot, but we need this to make sure that your plots intersect like they should. If a city block gets levelled in a gun battle with police (God forbid) we need to know if that included anyone’s haven. Until we get this information, you will not be getting experience or be allowed to use influence.
When you sit down with Terry to discuss your character,
1) You get all your experience 2) You get a chance to spend it. (any time and teacher requirements still stand, but you can date the time from December 1.) 3) Your character gets evaluated 4) IF your character needs to be cut down, experience goes first.
After the dust settles with the character review and things are running smoothly, you will want to spend the experience you gain. When you do, write down on a sheet of paper where you are spending experience, the character’s name and clan, and your name. Hand it to a Storyteller or Narrator. Until we get the sheet, you will NOT be able to use any new abilities. This way, we shouldn’t have to ask you for your character sheet again.
Anyone who doesn’t have a character as of January 1, or loses their current character, has to play a ghoul for at least a month. (Note that this is better than the old rule, which stated that you had to sit out of the game for a month). You can take a ghoul from the Ghoul Pool, which is an assortment of players’ existing Ghouls, or you can create a new ghoul with the consent of a Kindred player. Either way, if you play a Ghoul of Note (a powerful Ghoul), then we expect you to spend more than a month playing it.
This whole idea is to encourage the formation of an entire Ghoul sub-game, and to make the Kindred think of their Ghouls as something much more than a line on their character sheets. It has the potential to add a LOT to the game. Ghouls still can be used as a way of introducing new players into the game, but Ghouls are NOT second class characters. Ghouls offer a chance for a type of roleplaying that vampires don’t. If you haven’t read “Liber des Ghoules” we encourage you to do so.
When there is room for a new vampire (OOC and IC) you do not have to play your ghoul embraced. You can start a new Vampire character. Refer to the Character Creation rules for details.
To quote from the official Shared Universe manifesto:
“In a nutshell, The Shared Universe is an organization which ties together the White Wolf games of several cities or areas into a common universe, permitting communication and travel between games. It also permits the actions of one city or group of players to have an impact on a second city or group. The Shared Universe provides a common, tested set of interpretations of White Wolf rules that are adopted by all its participating cities as well as a common over-plot. This lessens the confusion that a player may encounter in playing his character in another city or setting. The Shared Universe's mandate is to facilitate communication and transportation between groups, to offer advice in dealing with other member groups of The Universe, and to enhance and increase the entertainment and enjoyment of the game by both the players and the Storytelling teams.”
Because of our geography, our physical interaction with other cities is generally with Regina and Brandon, Manitoba. However, if you have a computer with Internet access, you can get onto the Shared Universe list servers, which are like computer bulletin boards. There is an in-character one (“in-character”) which is restricted to non-Sabbat vampires only, and an out-of-character one (“rumor-control”) for questions, announcements, posting newspaper headlines, opinion polls, etc. There are also special ones for Nosferatu and Tremere. Talk to Amy for more information.
As stated earlier, we have agreed on identical house rules between Regina and Saskatoon. We hope that this will make rules adjudication consistent between the two cities. Remember, though, that Storytellers and Narrators have absolute authority in their own cities. Just because something is allowed in Saskatoon does not automatically mean that it is allowed in Regina, and vice versa. Always give the host ST a chance to review your character sheet before you play in another city. His or her decision is law. And remember that Final Death in a Shared Universe city is Final Death in the entire Shared Universe.
We’d like to put out a newsletter like this at every major event, and we’d like to have this section in it. This will contain headlines from the mortal media as well as Kindred rumors (this section will also be posted on rumor-control, for those of you with computer access). Feel free to contribute with anything that may appear in the local media (help wanted ads, personals, flyers, etc.)
RCMP, POLICE RAID HOUSE: A house in the City Park district was raided on January 14 by a combined force of RCMP officers and Saskatoon police, acting on an anonymous tip. The firefight left at least one police officer dead, two seriously injured and three missing as a police van ended up in the river. Police are seeking Benito Vuarez and two anonymous men in connection with the event (accompanied by pictures of Benito and Karl Von Beck, and a sketch that looks like William’s normal masked appearance)
POLICE OFFICER FOUND DEAD: Constable John Mactavish was found dead in the window well of a house on Avenue F early in the morning of January 14. He had been beaten to death. Police are asking anyone with information to phone 944-TIPS.
