Storyteller: John Allison 665-7332 (no calls after 9:30 please)
Email: storyteller@saskatoonbynight.com
Venue: OOC. – Education Lounge IC. – Around the World in 80 Plates
The official website for Darkest Night can be found at www.saskatoonbynight.com/darkestnight/
Next Game Saturday, May 9th, down time submissions due Saturday, April 18th
Deadline for Down time
I had a bit of difficulty wrangling in all the down time actions this past month. As I do not want to have to deal with tracking people down and bugging them to hand in their down times I a am going to use a strict system. The morning after the deadline I will check my email and will send out 1 email to each person who has not submitted their actions. At this point each action will suffer a -3 penalty. The next morning I will once again check my emails and everyone who has not submitted their actions will now have a -6 penalty. The next morning I will check and everyone who has not submitted their actions will have a -9 penalty. The next morning everyone who has not submitted their actions will now be ineligible to do so for the month. Once it hits this point you can not spend any XP that month and you must wait till after the next game to do so.
Please let me know if the 1 week after the game is too early as a deadline. I am willing to move it but it may mean that I am unable to return results prior to the game.
In Character Forum
An In Character forum has been set up by Alex Fornsworth (Ruby’s character) at http://www.slarpa.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=58
Investigations
Several characters were performing investigations into other characters this month. As I do not have everyone’s hand-ins I was unable to provide proper responses. In order to still allow investigations I have come up with a method involving both the initiator and character being investigated. For each success the initiator may ask 1 basic question to the player of the character being investigated. That player must answer truthfully. Basic questions include everything from where do you live, what is your phone number, where do you work, or are you associated with x group or person at all. All basic questions must be something that is fairly easy to discover either by simple investigation or shadowing. The initiator may choose to ask fewer questions than he has successes. For each additional success put into a question you can increase the depth. The base scale is 1 through 10. If you apply 10 successes to a question you can find out if someone murdered another character or is actively planning on murdering someone. Note this only works for facts, it does not work for thoughts. ie. You can not ask someone what they are thinking.
When the initiator asks the question the person answering may feel that he or she is being asked to in depth of a question. Please try to come to an agreement on the question but if you can not then feel free to come talk to me and I will adjudicate.
In addition I may at times provide a bit of prodding about questions to ask or if you have no idea what to ask then you can come ask me and I’ll provide some suggestions.
Downtime System Explained
When you submit your downtime you should place the actions in order of importance for you character. This does not mean that you have to put things that use more actions first. If you really want something to be given priority then it comes first. The reason for doing this is that starting this next month you can only use each skill once in any downtime. For each action (or combined action) I take the highest appropriate skill, the highest associated attribute and add in any points for “powers”. For the next action I will not skill from the previous action will no longer be available to use. The attribute and “power” may still be used. Here is an example down time set:
Possible Skills – Investigation 5, Streetwise 3, Computers 2
Possible Attributes – Intelligence 4, Manipulation 3
Powers – Telepathy 2
- 3 Actions – Investigate Bob using my computer skills to see if I can find out his credit card number.
Pool = Investigation 5 + Intelligence 4 + Telepathy 2
Telepathy was able to be used as you are doing an in person investigation - 5 Actions – Investigate Chreryl to see if she murdered Frank.
Investigation is no longer available to use so
Pool = Streetwise 3 + Intelligence 4 + Telepathy 2
Telepathy was able to be used as you are meeting people on the street in person - 2 Actions – Try to find Rachel. I’m sure she is somewhere downtown.
Investigation and Streetwise are no longer available
Pool = Computers 2 + Intelligence 4
Telepathy was not available to be used as you are no relying on computer hacking to do the investigation
Character Building
A lot of people were doing investigations this month. Very few people put any dots into Investigation. If you are planning on doing something fairly often I would suggest putting at least one dot in to the appropriate skill in order to keep from having negatives.
Experience
I have decided to simplify the XP sustem for now. Currently everyone receives 6 XP per month. There is the possibility of 2 bonus xp but I plan on keeping these pretty rare and they really should be awarded after a good story build up.
Each of these points can only be gained once every three months.
- Plot Leadership – You get this point for being active in the game and giving other players things to do. This doesn’t mean your character has to be extroverted or a drama queen, just that their existence in the game gives other characters things to do. I highly encourage people to include nominations for this in their downtime turns – there is no reason everyone can’t get this point at every game, but unless other people mention it to me I won’t always know.
- Complications – If one of your Complications comes up during the game and significantly hinders or harms your character, you get a point.
Loss of Powers
One aspect of the game I wish to highlight in order to make sure everyone is comfortable is the fact that you will gain and loose powers throughout the game. This can be caused by either your character’s actions or the actions of other characters. Loss of powers will never be random but when you do loose a power you have effectively lost the experience you put into buying that power. If you want the power again you must spend the experience once again.
Character Sheets
I will be maintaining a PDF copy of your character sheet. Once every few months I will print them off for everyone. If you have lost your sheet please email 2 days prior to the game and I will reprint it for you. If you show up at the game without a character sheet I will give you a blank copy of the sheet and get you to fill it out without taking the original.
Game Fee
I am currently asking for a donation of $5 per game with an encouragement of more. If everyone contributes more then the game will run at pay venues more. If you do not have any money you are still welcome to play.
New Players
We are still having a player drive. If you know of anyone who might be interested in LARPing or joining in on the game please have them contact me at storyteller@saskatoonbynight.com or by phone at 665-7332.
