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JULY 19, 1997 |
Yes, it was back in July of 1995 when Simon Giles created the first Live Action Vampire game in Saskatoon. Wow. Doesn’t seem like two years, does it? So happy birthday (deathday?) to Saskatoon By Night and here’s hoping for a few more years of twisted amusement.
Due to work committments, Terry and Amy will be taking a break from Storytelling for a couple of months. Terry will be completely unavailable until further notice, so don’t even try to contact him. I (Amy) will be helping the ST team as a “creative consultant”, but I’ll be forwarding all player questions to the active STs, so calling me is basically pointless. In our place, Randy Mosiondz, ex-Regina ST, has very generously agreed to pinch hit. He can do the work of ten, because his heart is pure. The Summer Storytelling Team:
Jill Bell (Influence Storyteller) 934-0631 e-mail jsb118@mail.usask.ca
Brock Knudsen (Werewolf Storyteller) 665-8855 e-mail brk142@mail.usask.ca
Randy Mosiondz (Rules and Character Storyteller) 652-0458 e-mail TBD
Note that we’ve suspended the Clan responsibilities; just call whoever is appropriate to what you’re doing. As always, allowable calling hours are between 12:00 noon and 10:00 PM. Please respect this.
We welcome new players, and we want to spend time with them to make sure they understand LARP and understand the character that they are creating. We can’t do anyone justice at the Elysium Nights, because we’re usually very busy with existing players. So we will not be allowing new characters to be created at the Elysium Nights. If a person shows up wanting to play, and doesn’t have a character, they will be given a generic bodyguard-type ghoul to play for the evening. As soon as possible afterwards, the Storytellers will sit down with the new player and create their “real” character, when everyone has the time to do it properly.
We’re going to get really bitchy about people staying in character while they’re in the in character area. If we see you having extended OOC conversations (rules discussions excepted, within reason) we WILL penalize you experience points. Socializing OOC not only makes your reason for playing kind of pointless, it tends to drag those around you out of character as well. The whole “suspension of disbelief” goal is very hard to maintain if no-one keeps up the roleplaying. Please try and set a good example for everyone else. Similarly, if you are not present IC for a scene, please try and leave OOC also. If you are present OOC, we will get harsh if you disrupt people who are IC.
Most people have probobly heard that Prince Albert has started up a game. They have been running now for 3 months and have applied for Shared Universe status. SU reps went to an event and saw that it fits all the requirements for SU. All but the final application have been finished to get status. PA and Saskatoon storytellers have had a meeting and decided that we can now get the cities to interact. So everybody will be informed as to when the next event is, and everybody is welcome. If there is any questions feel free to call the PA ST's Mark:922-6670 (e-mail giovanni@sk.sympatico.ca) or Mike:922-6284 (e-mail stu.arm@sk.sympatico.ca).
If you are interested in playing any of the following positions, we will be accepting backgrounds and character descriptions until August 15. You will have to give up your existing character. What we are hoping these positions will do is recreate some good old Camarilla stability in the city, so be warned that Anarch/rebel concepts will probably not get very far.
Ventrue Elder
Ventrue Ancilla
Gangrel Elder
Brujah Ancilla
Elders are considered to be 200-300 years old, ancillae are 50 - 200. We reserve the right to not introduce these characters if no suitable backgrounds are submitted.
The Werewolf game will be officially starting on Sunday, July 20. Contact Brock for information. A few words of warning; this game shares continuity with the vampire game. You cannot have characters in both. Also, the type of werewolf character that you can have will be limited, to preserve game balance.
Regina: Elysium Night July 26, Uof R AdHum Building, 7:00
Brandon: Western Meeting August 15, 16, 17
Toronto: Grand Ball, August 29 - Sept. 1 (Labor Day Weekend)
I know, I know, we keep changing the rules. But “Laws of the Wild” (the Werewolf LARP rules) was just released, and in it White Wolf made some changes to all LARP systems. So it’s not just us arbitrarily trying to confuse you!
Iron Will (3 point Merit) Gives you one free retest in any challenge where someone is trying to affect your thoughts or emotions. That’s it.
Ambidextrous (1 Point Merit) Allows you to attack with a weapon in each hand, potentially doing damage with both weapons, if you bid one traits for your “good” hand and two traits for your “off” hand. You do two separate tests, one for each weapon. If you do not have this merit, you must bid two and three traits, respectively.
Combat movement You can take one step and do a combat action at no penalty. You can take two steps and do a combat action, but you have to bid an extra trait to perform the action. If you take three steps, that is your action.
This is not a change, but the issue has come up. If you are trying to, say, Dominate someone to freeze, then use Mesmerism to make them run away when you snap your fingers, then use Forgetful Mind to make them forget all this happened, this requires a separate challenge for each use of each discipline level. You can’t do all this with one Mental challenge; it needs three.
If you have any suggestions about how the game could be made more enjoyable for you, please take the time to write them down and put them in the all-new-lemon-refreshed Suggestion Box. We plan to discuss all the suggestions at the event following the one where we receive them, at the debriefing session after the game. If you don’t want your suggestion brought up in public, please mention that at the end of your suggestion. All suggestions are completely anonymous (well, unless you sign them or something, but you don’t have to). Or, just set up a time to talk with us. Whatever works best for you.
The Saskatoon By Night House Rules and the Shared Universe Manual are available for the asking. Remember that they take precedence over Laws of the Night. The House Rules are free (we can pay for the photocopying with your generous donations) and they now include the Influence rules and the Storyteller Policy Statement. They are long, but they are our effort to make sure we give consistent interpretations. The SU Manual is about 80 pages so we’re asking $6.00 for it. Just ask an ST to order your copy, or you might want to wait until the new SU Manual comes out this winter.
Prestige is not like Status. It is a ranking, not an accumulation of traits. It is how you are regarded by your Clan, so the ways of earning and losing it vary from clan to clan. Sometimes you get Prestige for things that would lose you Status, and vice versa. You can add it to your Social traits in a challenge only with members of your own clan, and in some clans it actually replaces Camarilla Status in challenges. The Prestige scale is as follows:
| 0 | Pariah | Little better than a Caitiff, in some ways even worse. |
| 1 | Disdained | Sneered at. Beneath notice. Cold shoulders (publicly) from the more sympathetic Clan members. |
| 2 | Tolerated | A newly sired Clan Member, a Neonate. |
| 3 | Accepted | Knows her Ps & Qs, knows the Traditions, Clan rules and structure/hierarchy. Pretty much average. |
| 4 | Established | The life of the party. Known locally. Popular locally. |
| 5 | Respected | Known throughout the Clan by the more 'connected' members. |
| 6 | Honoured | Known to follow tradition but wise enough to know when not to. |
| 7 | Impressive | Few amongst the Clan would dispute your wise decisions. Listened to. Your advice is sought after. |
| 8 | Revered | A true role model. Known to all the "movers and shakers" in the Clan. Often invited to visit other cities. |
| 9 | Legendary | Name & reputation known to all within the Clan. |
| 10 | "True Childe" | The embodiment of all the Clan stands for. The perfect Clan member. Your word defines the Clan, as it defines you. |
The other big difference is between Prestige and Status is that Prestige will be assigned by the Storytellers. We’ll be getting around to having OOC clan meetings with all of you within the next month. Most people (especially in a place like Saskatoon) will be around 3. Anything above five is very rare, and you need proof that people in other cities are regularly expressing their respect for you and asking (and following) your advice to justify a rating like 6 or 7. We want to make your Prestige reflect how your character really is regarded by other players. Again, this is unlike Status where your rating determines how you are regarded. If you can’t travel, or you don’t have e-mail, you can still affect other cities by sending messages, representatives, using your Influence, going through Storytellers, etc.. It is harder, but it can be done. So to gain or lose Prestige, or make another character gain or lose Prestige, you have to justify the reason to the Storytellers.
Kim Quentin passed around a survey last month, and he has given us the results. We’d like to discuss these after the game tonight, but one suggestion keeps coming up. This is the issue of Storyteller provided plots versus player plots. A few people have commented that they have “nothing to do” or that they’re “bored;” that they feel the game has no point, and they want the Storytellers to provide common enemies and things to do.
Permit me a tangent. The whole point of LARP, as I see it, is creating a story with a bunch of other people. It’s not about fighting monsters and getting treasure (although if that’s what you want your story to be, then you can do it). Interacting with other characters is, to me, the main attraction. This is why having a well thought out character, complete with a believable personality and motivations, is important both for your enjoyment and everyone’s around you. I don’t know how many of the people who are bored are used to playing tabletop games. If that is what you’re are used to, though, there is a big difference between that and LARP. The sheer size of a LARP makes the logistics different, both playing and Storytelling. There is a greater burden on the Storytellers, because the range of interests, abilities and motivations of the characters (and the players!) is much greater. There is a greater burden on the players to contribute to the game, because the ST/player ratio is much different. The players have to do some of the organizational work themselves, like filling out experience and influence forms, keeping the Storytellers up to date on any changes, and even contributing to the plot!
The other big difference between LARP and tabletop is the time flow. In tabletop, time freezes between games, and you can move the clock forwards or back pretty much at will. In LARP, again mainly because of the number of people involved, game time is real time. Plot coordination on a grand scale becomes much more difficult when you’re trying to arrange sixty people’s schedules. We want everyone to have fun, and we realize that players have different amounts of time that they can contribute to the game. We try not to penalize anyone for not being available 24 hours a day on 15 minutes notice. Letting players arrange their own plots lets them decide their level of involvement.
At the beginning, if you’re new to LARP, it can be overwhelming. This was the main reason for the “ghoul rule;” to make sure that new players have some in-character motivation for sticking around, getting involved and asking questions. We hope that the more experienced players would learn to provide their own motivations, by creating characters that have a reason to stay in the city, a reason to talk to people, and a reason to start plotting. If you are bored, ask yourself why. Do you need external plots to stay active? Do you have any internal motivations? Does your character have any ambitions? Why does your character get up each evening? The Storytellers are not going to provide you with answers to these questions, and if you can’t answer them yourself you probably won’t have much fun at a LARP. It is your responsibility to create a character that will work well in the current LARP setting. Don’t create a violent anti-social character and then complain that no-one wants to interact with you.
The point of all this is that the plots will be primarily be started and continued by the players. We try and give players occasional “hooks” suitable to their characters, but we can’t get around to everyone right away. You have to amuse yourself in the meantime. The Storytellers set you up with a character and basically say “Go!” Past that, we provide reactions that other players can’t provide, and try and act as mediators where plots conflict, and that’s about it. We do have some Storyteller driven plots (if you think there are no plots out there, you aren’t looking very hard), but they are there for you, the players, to take or leave. We won’t hit you over the head with them, or force you to follow them regardless of what you want. You have to find out about them, and you have to decide what to do with them. The comparison that comes to mind (at least to a geek like me) is the difference between computer games like “Myst” and computer games like “Doom.” If you’re expecting a Doom-type game, with monsters popping up for you to shoot, then I warn you now that you’ll be disappointed in this particular LARP. We create situations, or other players create situations, and the reactions are up to you. And that’s all I have to say about that.
If any of your character information (like haven) changes, PLEASE tell us! We assume that the information that we have is current and accurate, but it’s YOUR responsibility to keep it that way. If someone tries to blow you up in your haven as you sleep, and you haven’t told us that you’d actually moved across town six months ago, you might just go boom anyway. Don’t risk it.
For those of you that can access it, we will soon have a spiffy new Web site set up for the game. There will be copies of all the newsletters, accounts of events clear back to when the game started (1995!), house rules, clan rumors, a few pretty pictures, links to other cities, and basically everything I had kicking around my computer. We’d like to include a few sentences about every character in the game. This is information that you’d consider common knowledge, like your appearance and famous deeds. If you pick up a “Web Page Info” form, fill it in, and return it to us, we’ll put it on the Web page. Don’t you want to be famous? Besides, if you don’t do it, we might do it for you... (heh).
On one of the list servers recently, there was a post from Phil Rickaby (Toronto ST) giving some techniques of improvisational theater. If (like me) you’ve never had formal training in improv theater before, you might find this interesting...
“The ‘rule of yes’ is an improvisational theatre convention, and since at its best, LARP is a form of improvisational theatre, I think it applies. The rule of yes works like this: If I am involved in an improv, and my partner says to me, ‘Didn't you used to be a fat transvestite?’ I have two choices. I can say ‘God, no!’ and then any hope of a scene fizzles. But if I say, ‘Why yes, yes I was,’ then the improv can go somewhere. Saying ‘no’ stops the improv before it even has a chance to start.”
This isn’t to say that you have to accept everything everyone suggests to you; because the game is not a one-shot event, you will have to live with the consequences of agreeing to something. But keep an open mind; and try and cooperate to make scenes and situations work. This is supposed to be fun for everyone; we’re not playing against each other, and there isn’t any way to win aside from having a good time.
We STILL think we’re missing background, haven character and/or influence information from the following people. (This might just be me (Amy) being confused, ‘cause Terry’s away and might not have updated his list). So if you think you’ve told us all your information, and still see your name on the list, talk to a Storyteller.
Candice Alaers, Briley Blackburn, Rhea Burger, Trish Casitor, Kyla Crouthers, David Degan, Kris Duperreault, Robert Ford, Bob Friestadt, Mark Grover, Jay Harris, Curtis Kaid, Barbara Maloney, Denis McBain, Dave McDonald, Ken McDonald, RJ Nichols, Mike Pearson, Matt Potter, Trent Rasmussen, Chris Roberts, Lana Thilsen, Ken Walker
