How will this RPG work?

Cooperative story-telling rather than hand-holding:

  As mentioned in the rules, this is a text/story based game. As a result of that, there are definite differences in how this game will be run. Think of this rpg as an interactive story; with each player writing the part of their character(s) and the plot developing out of their interactions with the characters of other players.

That in mind, there is no Story Teller, as every player IS one; working together to come up with plot events and ideas for their characters. Because of this, getting to know your fellow players is crucial. Look at each character profile and start thinking up ways your character can interact with them. Maybe someone's mortal character is your character's idea of a perfect ghoul, or even progeny. Send that player a message and see what they think about the idea. Maybe another player's character starts the game off as the city's Prince (or is laying claim to that position), and your character wants the job. You could contact the player of another character and see how they feel about working together to move up in the ranks. The possibilities are literally endless, and the general discussion forum is a great place to hash potential plot ideas/character arcs out.


But how does this game actually work?

To begin, once game start is declared, players will begin making what is known as an 'intro post': this is a post in the story forum where you essentially introduce your character to the other players. The intro post sets up where your character is at the start of that night of play, what they're doing, and more importantly provides other players a possible 'tag': an opening to get their own character into the story.

For example, if you post your intro and have your character at a nightclub, another player could reply to your post and have their character walk into the club and notice yours...this opens up a chance for the two characters to interact and begin a scene. If another player writes an intro with their character at the docks, that's another scene and another opportunity for other players to interact with other characters. Note that if you choose to intro your character in another player's thread you don't have to write a separate intro post of your own

Character Connections:

Alternatively, if you don't want your character to be a stranger to everyone else's character from the start, read over the profiles and see if there's someone that could realistically have a connection to yours. This could be anything from starting the game as the ghoul, contact, sire or childe of another character. If this is something you're interested in, send a message (or post in the general forum) to that player and see what they think about the idea. Just don't connect your character to theirs without getting their permission first.

No dice: (mostly)

 Character profiles are exactly that, profiles that lists the appearance, skills, personality, etc, of each character. For the most part we don't use dice rolls in this rpg (other than the hopefully rare cases where one player contests the actions another player has their character perform, in disputed combat, or humanity loss). Disciplines are listed on the character profile with the highest level the character knows (Protean 3, Dominate 4, for example). The exceptions to this are the purely physical disciplines like Fortitude, Celerity, and Potence. Just list those on the form without a rank.

 When it comes to other skills like hacking or different languages known...please list them. If it's not stated on the profile it doesn't exist. So if you make no mention of advanced computer skills or hacking on your character's profile and then have them hack into a bank's computer system, you're going to be called out on it. Likewise it might be a good idea to list swimming as one of their skills before they fall off the bridge into the river. Try to work out in-character fights before posting them and their outcomes to the board (including allowable damage to your characters), and remember that humanity loss is always a possibility that will be taken into account.

All NPCs are NOT created equal:

 Unless your character has another player's mortal character in their sights, feeding is pretty much assumed to happen 'off screen', so to speak. Casually invented 'stock' npcs (like say, the blonde waitress one player makes off-hand mention of in their intro post) are free game for other characters to make use of. So don't get mad if 'Tim the janitor' leaves work in your post and is eaten by another character in their post. If your character cared about Tim the janitor, then his death could certainly prompt them to take action against his killer...which is how plot seeds develop!

Post frequently!

The more often players post, the further and faster the plot will go, and the less we have to worry about a stalled out RPG. Try to shoot for at least 3 posts a week if possible (though more would certainly be ideal!), and stick to your thread's posting order unless the player ahead of you has given permission for their turn to be skipped.

Time jumps:

 Another tool in allowing the story to move forward are time jumps. Rather than take 6 months of real time to cover one night in game time, the RPG will proceed in roughly a 'by day/night' fashion. In other words, the events of one particular night will be role-played out, maybe the next night if there are significant plot things happening, but rather than cover every single mundane night in-game, sometimes we'll take a vote and then do a jump ahead in time so the story has time to develop.

 The length of time jumped will vary, but will usually be between several days up to even a few weeks (I've been in games where months or even a year or more was jumped at once). The threads before the jump are wrapped up, and the players decide what their characters did during the jump (you might make an ooc post summarizing your character's actions...for example "Chrissy applied to college and kept working at her summer job", "Richard continued to build his circle of contacts in preparation for his next move against Angelo", ect), then new threads will be created and the story will pick up.

Combi posting:

 There's a good chance that different players will live in different time-zones or will otherwise be online at different times. That in mind, if your character interacts extensively with someone else's character, and you're both online at the same time, feel free to 'combi post' (that is, write a long post together via e-mail or instant messenger, and then have one of you post it up when you're finished).

 If your two characters are alone for the duration of the scene this can be a good way to get character development done without posting and then having to wait hours or days for responses. If you're in a thread on the board with more than one player's character however, you still need to wait for them to reply (unless the group of you are all online at the same time and do a combi post together).

Timing!:

 Try to keep aware of the time in-game. While you don't have to stamp the current time in your threads, don't do something drastic like jumping ahead to the next night while other characters are still on scenes at the beginning of the previous night. When the time is right I'll post a notice that players should wrap up their current threads so the jump to the next game night can take place. Still, it will help avoid confusion if you post a location and general time in the subject of your thread (Example: The docks at sunset).