House Rules

Mechanics - THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANGES, PLEASE READ

All dice rolls will be run as they are written in the main World of Darkness Book. All mechanics of the Storytelling System utilize a number of 10-sided dice (d10s). Players need not bring their own dice to the LARP, as staff members will make all dice rolls when necessary.

Dice Pools

Depending on what the situation calls for, a character has a number of Dots in Attributes and Skills associated to the task. Each Dot represents a d10 die that is added to a dice pool to roll for task resolution. For example, if a character is scaling a wall, they add the number of Dots in their Strength Attribute and their Athletics Skill together. In this case, if the character has a Strength of 3 Dots, and an Athletics Skill of 4 Dots, they get 7 dice in their Dice Pool.

Storyteller System Difficulty

Each die rolling above the target number is a success. Most tasks require only a single success, but some require more. If the net number of successes is 0 or less, the action is a failure. If no successes were rolled and one or more 1s were also rolled, the action is a botch, resulting in detrimental results to the player.

Another Example:

A player is going to punch the bad guy in the face. The player has a Strength of 4 and a Brawl of 4, for a total of 8 dots. The player then rolls 8 d10s, with 8, 9, and 10 being succeses and 10s re-roll.

Coils of the Dragon
When purchasing Coils of the Dragon, each individual Coil is purchased as it's on separate Out of Clan Discipline, instead of being added together as one long Discipline as written in the Red Book. So, you can purchase three level one Coils for 7 experience points each, or each Coil from 0-3 levels for 7+14+21 or 42 experience points.

Contacts and Allies

The maximum dots that players may currently purchase of the Contacts and Allies Merits is 3. However, understand that a 3 dot Contact is the equivilant of a Mayor of a city or the Chief of Police. Players will not be allowed to have powerful contacts and allies operating at the national or international levels at game start, hence the 3 Dot limitation. Ally and Contact merits function as described in the World of Darkness books, and an exhaustive list of all arenas of society for which the merits may be purchased is provided below.

Allies- Groups or organizations that can be called upon for favors, usually through particular individuals within those groups or organizations. Each dot represents overall power, resources and influence of that Ally. Allies are not minions: a favor for a favor is the basis of this merit. Allies may also be individuals at the GM's discretion.

Contacts- Individuals that can be called upon for information -- at the GM's discretion, this can include groups or organizations,
usually through particular individuals within those groups or organization. Each dot represents a sphere or organization

with which a character can garner information. Contacts are not minions: they may or may not readily supply information

sought. Contacts are strictly channels through which information can be gained and serve no other purpose.

Options- Bureaucracy, Finance, Corporate/Industrial, Church, Occult, Medical, Politics, Law, Police, High Society, Academia, Street, Underworld,

Media, and Transportation

Predator's Taint
Blood calls to blood. Likewise, the Beast within instinctively recognizes another Beast. The overwhelming, primal urge to either assert dominance, frenzy, and/or flee is the resultant initial experience kindred feel upon meeting another of their ilk. This mechanic will operate as written in the V:tR rulebook, so while this text is not necessarily representative of a House Rule, the Taint alters social convention in Kindred society in such a significant way that it is important enough to remind you (the players) of its existence.

Fighting Styles

Characters may not purchase dots in Fighting Styles, and there are no homebrewed replacements for them.

Retainers

The Retainer Merit is run differently than as written in the core book. In addition to the 1-5 dots, the merit has two tiers...

1) Retainers of 1 - 3 dots do not merit (whoops, sorry for the pun) character sheets. Instead, Retainers are noted on the Player's sheet and in our NPC book (all smiles!), under a pretty caption, "Retainers". They have names, a "plug" as to why they are a Retainer, what they have to offer (i.e. in what Skill(s) they have dots), as well as how the PC manages them. Being "good" at something means the Retainer is assumed to have 2 (or more) dots in that Skill. The appropriate Attribute would have 2 (or more) dots.

2) 1dot Retainers have one Skill with a Dice Pool of 4 for most applicable rolls.

3) Dots 2 and 3 add breadth and power to the Retainer. The Retainer gains another "good" Skill and he gains a +1 to his overall Dice Pool. In other words, a 2dot Retainer would have 2 Skills at a Dice Pool of 5, and a 3dot Retainer would have 3 Skills at a Dice Pool of 6. In special cases, we might note any special equipment or plotlines related to Retainers.

4) 4 & 5 dot Retainers have character sheets. They are good enough to have some sort of Status, Influence, and the like, and may be considered full-fledged NPCs than Retainers at this point. These Retainers are special, and require a little more attention in determining their dots. That said, they can follow the same rules as 1 - 3dot Retainers or be developed a little more. A 4dot Retainer might possess 4 "Good" Skills and have a Dice Pool of 7, or he might be a specialist of some sort who has only 3 "Good" Skills but a Dice Pool of 8.

5) A 5dot Retainer may become a Ghoul, in addition to the standard upgrades for dot 5. The Kindred Master must spend Willpower as normal for ghouling their Retainers, in addition to xp spent for the 5th dot.

6) Players who want retainers need to send us an email. The following will be the format:

In the subject line: [Character Name]'s Retainer(s)

-player name
-character name
-clan and covenant
-Retainer (dots) (indicate here if they are a ghoul)
-desired Skills: (you may give a one sentence concept instead if you wish)
-A brief paragraph about how you go about looking for this person and what you are offering for their services.
-whether or not they know you're a vampire (ghouls can skip this step)
-how long you have been associated with said retainer
-please send only one email to neworleanslexlarp[at]gmail.com. Include every retainer you want.

7) Staff members will create a Retainer for you based upon information provided in your email and maintain the sheet alongside all other NPCs. All you need do is spend the relevant XP costs, along with Willpower in the case of ghouls.