His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking, best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.
 - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Welcome to the House Rules page for Emerald Chronicles' Vampire game. It's a good idea to get familiar with some of the unique rules that we've got here at EC so there are no surprises. In general we use the V:tM Revised (3rd ed.), but sometimes there are rules that are a bit vague, so we've attempted to clarify them here. Just because the books don't specifically say you can't do something doesn't mean you can. We also talk about some of the important aspects of rounding out your character, such as Feeding, weapons and equipment and spending XP. If you've got any questions about a particular House Rule, feel free to shoot us an email at storyteller@emeraldcitychronicles.com.

Gaining, Spending and Banking Experience:

Experience (XP): 2 XP per night for adding your distinctive character to the ECC: Vampire cast. You must actively RP for at least 2 of the 4 hours of game to qualify.

• 1 Possible Extra XP for Exceptional Role-playing. (Nominated by other players, or STs)
• 1 Possible Extra XP for MVP. (ST nominated. Running IC events, assisting the STs in some way that is above and beyond, Helping new players create characters, or doing anything that the STs deem makes the game a better and more enjoyable environment for all.)

Unspent XP: Unspent XP is automatically banked by the Bookeeper, but banking XP is capped at 50. Any XP accumulated after 50 goes away. (Use it or lose it) NPCs such as ghouls, retainers etc do not gain XP, but you can spend yours on them if you want, and there are plenty of good reasons to do so. Giving your character's NPC ghouls Influence for example, is a great way to keep your character protected from the world of mortals and still wield power over it.

Spending XP: All experience expenditures must be registered with the Storytellers immediately, or your character does not have the powers. For things which require a teacher, the PC or ST NPC teaching your character must verify thier involvement with the Bookkeeping Table.

Experience chart **

*Increasing a Virtue after character creation with experience does not increase traits based on that Virtue (Humanity/path or Willpower rating).

** Please note that thin-bloods and ghouls use a different chart. Check A Time of Thin Blood for experience rules for that and Ghoul: Fatal Addiction for the ghoul XP chart.

Weapon, Equipment and Haven Cards

Stuff is good. Come to the Bookkeeping Table and tell us what stuff you want for your character. Based on your character's contacts, influences and resources etc, we'll tell you if they can have it. Simple things like baseball bats and over-the-counter handguns and drugs are usually no problem. Semi-automatic and automatic weapons require some influence with those that can get a hold of them. If you don't have the dots for it, fear not! Doubtless there are those in game with the hook up. Seek them out and contribute to the boon economy in exchange for the schwag you require. (For more on boons, see the Boon Section)

For more information on the statistics used for weapons and armor, as well as their creation, checkout the Weapons and Armor section.

NOTE: High explosives as weapons are game stoppers. Explosives are generally not allowed as weapons. Explosives may be allowed for non-combat story purposes, but must be approved by an ST. Given a choice of weapons; PCs will not reach for explosives as weapons. This is not realistic. This is a deliberate limitation. If explosives are used, they do simple fire damage, and may induce frenzy as such.

Cards are also for havens, businesses, safe houses, cars and gadgets (like camera enabled cell phones and wireless laptops). If you don't got a card for 'em, you don't got 'em. If you wish to write up a detailed account of the deathtraps and security for your character's Haven, thats fine too!

A vampire without a haven write-up is assumed to live in the world of darkness equivalent of their mom's basement and have one ghoul with a chainsaw in one hand and a soft pack of GPC cigarettes in the other.

This doesn't mean your Ventrue needs a card for every ancient knick-knack in her palatial mansion, just that if you want the sword hanging over the fireplace to be functional, you might want to think about having a card for it. Here's an example of a blank item card you can print (or base your own on):

For a detailed list of all the item cards you will want to consider for your character, click here.

Letter of Introduction:

Finally, the first card you'll want to get is for your Kindred's Letter of Introduction. A letter of introduction looks something like this:

Dear Prince of Seattle;

I, Vincent Ventrue of the City of Bumfuck Egypt, hereby certify that (Your Character's Name) is Acknowledged in the Domain of Bumfuck, and is also considered (Any Starting Status Traits you bought at Character creation).

Cordially Yours - Vincent Ventrue, Important Bloodsucker (Followed by a stamp from the Bookkeeper.)

The purpose of the letter is to give your Kindred an entrance into the domain, and allow you to immediately use any status you've purchased and allow the Storytellers to perhaps start your character out with any available 'news' from that city. For a list of Camarilla, Independent, and even Sabbat cities and their rulers for your letter, see the Cities of the Dead section of the appendices.

Always Have Your Character Sheet Handy

If you do not have a current character sheet, and the Storytellers cannot give you a copy, you must lose to all challenges. If your character sheet is in your car, just go get the thing and come back. If you don't have a character sheet, and have never had one, you are probably new, so go to the Bookkeeping Table and ask for help. Someone will be glad to give you a hand with that.

When you create a new character, you must give the Storytellers a copy of your character sheet, or you will lose all challenges until you do, nor will you be allowed to spend XP, and we will make frowny faces at you. There is a strong possibility of finger waggling as well.

All character sheets must be approved. Receiving a stamp and/or a signature from one of the STs represents this. A dirty wink doesn't count, but it makes us feel all tingly.

All experience expenditures must be registered with the Storytellers immediately, or your character does not have the powers.

Weekly/mid-week Interaction, Game Times and Some General Advice From Your STs

If you remember that your character has an Ability after a challenge has been resolved, that sucks. We've all been there. "Ooh. If I had only..." If you are feeling flustered during a tense situation, please consult your ST, who may look at your character sheet with you and help remind you of your options. Don't be embarrassed. It happens. When we were players, it's what we wished our STs had done for us.

The Vampire Staff agree to run game from 10pm to 2am every Saturday night. What happens before or after those times is known as weekly interaction, when players get together on their own time and role-play small scenes for each other for fun, or to resolve things they didn't have time for. We encourage this, with one caveat: That which happens outside of normal game time is considered 'written in the sand' and may be completely wiped clean if necessary. If you and your buddy role-play all week about how you joined the Sabbat and became President, that doesn't mean it's so come next Saturday. This rule applies to message board posts, status updates, email, semaphore and all other forms of communication as well.

We also know that we aren't perfect either, and may make a lousy or incorrect call now and then. Hey, it happens. That wouldn't make us the first people in history to make a bad decision at 1am. Generally, unless the result is a character death, we're going to stick by what happened though, apologize, try not to make that particular mistake again and move on. Try to give us a break if that happens. We're only human. If someone's character did kick the bucket, we'll look at it with more scrutiny. Generally we're going to want to stick to common sense calls over the 'letter of the law' but that has its place too.

Acrobatics

Every other dot of the Acrobatics secondary skill reduces the amount of damage taken from falling by 10 feet on the falling damage listed on page 227 of the main V:tM Revised book. For example 1 dot reduces by 10, 3 dots reduce by 20 and 5 dots reduce by 30 feet of falling damage. Acrobatics

Blood Banking

Maintaining mortal blood outside of a body (like storing it in blood bags correctly for later use) is an int+medicine roll modified by how much equipment your character has;  Diff 10 for none, diff 4 for full bloodbank-style equipment.  Each success is one week that your character is able to store the blood. 

If you wish to store Kindred vitae please come and see an ST.

Contacts: Bonus Contacts for Court Positions!

Player characters in court positions are granted a multiplier to their Kindred Contacts.  This indicates the increased willingness of other Kindred to talk to those in official positions.  The multipliers are described below.

These "bonus" contacts need to be listed on stamped cards, as defined between the npcs storyteller and yourself.  "Bonus" contacts are automatically lost on losing your position, unless you have spent XP to make them normal on-sheet Contacts (in which case, their continued willingness to talk with you depends on the nature of your losing your position).

The point of the Contacts system is to reflect that fact that Kindred have more than five people they may know and that different friends are of differing values.  The point of the bonuses system is to indicate that while a position can amplify your ability to contact others, if you don't know anyone to start with, you still won't know anybody once the Kindred in the Emerald Domain call you Primogen.

• Primogen: 2x current Contacts points.  These will almost exclusively be other Primogen.
• Whips:  None.  Ask your Primogen to pass along your messages.  If you like, you can request your Primogen to put you in direct contact, allowing you to purchase that Contact for your sheet as a 'real' Contact.
• Greater Harpy: 3x current Contacts points.  Similarly, these will almost exclusively be other Harpies.
• Lesser Harpy:  None.  In Camarilla society, Head Harpies expect to be their cities' representative.  Going outside this power structure isn't supported, so you're on your own.  If you like, you can ask the Head Harpy to put you in direct contact, allowing you to purchase that Contact for your sheet as a 'real' Contact.
• Seneschal:  Ask the Prince and ye shall receive (if official business) contact info for the Seneschals of nearly any city.

Others:

• Don Giovanni: 2x current Contact points: These will almost exclusively be other Dons, and will exclusively be Giovanni.

Ettiquitte

You may declare you are spending a point of Ettiquite for your character once per night for each dot you have on your character sheet to undo or unsay a recent social action. Once you have used all of the points of Ettiquite for the night, your character must suffer the consequences of any additional social missteps normally.

This does not apply to physical actions, Discipline uses or Combat (You can't un-punch someone because it's rude with the ability.)

Finance 

Using Finance to make money: Consult chart A for successes. The difficulty for any roll involving investing depends on the amount of capitol risked, found on chart B.

Chart A: Successes
-1 or worse: ST Discretion depending on $ invested.
0 Successes: Investment is a total loss, but you avoid any legal or tax entanglements.
1 Success: -50% profit margin, you get out before the crap really hits the fan.
2 Successes: You broke even, way to not suck.
3 Successes: 5% profit margin.
4 Successes: 10% profit margin.
5 Successes: 15% profit margin.
6 Successes: 20% profit margin.
7 Successes+: 25% profit margin.

Chart B: Risk and Reward
1-1000: Diff 5
1,001-10,000: Diff 6
10,001-50,000: Diff 7
50,001-100,000: Diff 8
100,001-1,000,000: Diff 9
1,000,001-2,000,000: Diff 10
2,000,001-3,000,000: Diff 11
3,000,001-4,000,000: Diff 12
4,000,001-5,000,000: Diff 13
5,000,001-6,000,000: Diff 14

• Investing: The player supplies the stamped money cards to be invested and makes the throw at the time of the investment. The player rolls Intelligence + Finance modified by any appropriate secondary skill and chart B above. For –1 to 3 successes it takes 3 weeks to become aware of your result and cash in, though a nasty botch may find you before you find it. 4-7+ successes take a number of weeks equal to the number of successes, capping at 7 weeks. A player may not have more than one investment roll in action at a time, a single roll is being used to sum up all of your investments over a span of time. Investments involving millions of dollars can easily draw the attention of mortal and supernatural entities if not properly hidden or disguised.
• Money Laundering: The players can hide an investment attempt at the time of the initial throw with a Wits + Finance roll modified by Chart B and any appropriate secondary skill. While one success may often be enough to hide from mortal mundane affairs more powerful financial entities and competing Kindred may still find the players.

Game-Playing Rules (optional)

Kindred love to play games with each other; games of chance, games of skill and games of strategy. While it's perfectly acceptable for most non-contact games (cards, tic-tac-toe, chess with death) to be role-played out, rules for basing the outcome of the game on your character sheet stats (as opposed to your own abilities) are listed.

Please note that it is not necessary to make a roll every time you and another player's character get together to play Battleship, however if anyone participating in the game requests that the outcome be based on roll, these rolls must be used.

• Games of Chance: Rock Paper Scissors is used for a static test, (possibly multiple times in a row) to achieve a total number of successes to win. Games of chance involve no skill, so not stats are used.
• Games of Skill: Games that involve some physical skill like darts, football, billards, etc. These are generally Dex+Athletics rolls unless there is an obviously more applicable skill. There may be multiple tests made if the game is long or complex. If a game of skill also involves some strategy (like football) both players can make an Intelligence + Athletics roll at the beginning of the game that adds into the total successes for the players.
• Games of Strategy: Purely mental games with no physical component, such as card games, board games, etc. Players start by making an Intelligence + Academics test. Successes gained are added to the starting success of each player. The rest of the game is determined either by Intelligence + Performance rolls, Wits + Performance rolls (for timed games or where speed is of the essence) or possibly both types of rolls alternating back and forth depending on the type of game.

In all of the above types of games the total number of rolls to win is determined by the length and complexity of the game. Appropriate Secondary Skills may modify the difficulties on these rolls. The player with the most successes at the end of the tests wins.

Leadership

A successful Charisma + Leadership roll allows a player to add 1 die for every willing assistant they have that is trained in the skill.

This does not apply to combat or crafts.

Occult Library Background 

The Occult Library Background represents a collection of writings about general occult-related topics in book, scroll, or digital form. The rules for the use of the Occult Library Background are listed on page 89 in Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy book.

In order for a character to use the Occult Library Background at game (not in a midweek action) a player must take 1/2 hour out of game to perform the research. (Obviously at the location of the library unless it is digital and they have a device to read it like a laptop)

Manually copying an Occult library (includes scanning to digital) takes 1 month per dot.

Purchasing the background (whether copying or buying outright) takes regular background cost and learning time.

Occult libraries represent a collection of physical objects and can be destroyed in disasters such as a character's Haven burning down, an overheating computer, etc. As such characters with an Occult Library are required to have a stamped item card with the level of the Occult Library on it and the location of the physical object(s) the item is tied to (Books, disks, scrolls, hard-drives, etc.)

The Staff also recommends that the location of the items tied to the Occult Library (particularly if it is an actual library and not just on a bunch of disks or hard-drives), be noted on the players stamped Haven card.

The unique Occult Library Background is not a substitute for Lore Secondary knowledges. Each level of the background confers a specific bonus. Known Lores (even if written down) is not a substitute for the Occult Library Background. These represent seperate sources of knowledge. Lores represent specific information about a specific topic, the Occult Library backround represents a general resource for matters of the occult that provide specific bonuses toward particular rolls. See the Appendices section for more detail about how lores work.  

Travel Checks - Outside of the Emerald Domain

If the World of Darkness is dangerous and cosmopolitan place, outside of a regularly patrolled Camarilla Domain it can be deadly to unprepared Kindred.

Wilderness Travel: [Wits + Survival] and Urban Travel: [Wits + Streetwise] feat difficulties are determined by several factors; distance, mode of travel, Humanity appearance above or below 7 (See the Feeding section of the House Rules for details) as well as Merits such as Open Road*, additional Kindred and cash spent toward travel arrangements.

• Every increment of cash your character spends (increments are based on monthly spending cash from each level of the Resources background) lowers the diff by one. This can be chartering planes, buying off customs agents or whatever is story appropriate.
• Appropriate Secondary abilities and Disciplines may lower difficulties as per standard rules regarding each of those.
• Characters may pool successes with a Leadership feat.
• Failure means characters encounter a mortal hassle that must be overcome in a scene with a storyteller.
• Botches can indicate deadly attacks by Garou Hillbillies, dismemberment by cheerful Tzimisce interior decorators or kidnapping by liquored up Faerie courts, all of which will likely lead to character death.

* The Open Road merit (2 pt. merit, pg. 76 of the Guide to the Camarilla) allows a character with the merit to automatically succeed at a travel check. Additionally, with a successful Leadership feat, a character with this merit may lower the difficulty of a Travel feat by 2 for any Kindred travelling with the character.

Go to the next Rules section: House Rules: Mad Skills