And General Role Playing Tips...

Only approved characters may earn XP. If your character is not on the approved list, you may not claim weekly XP (no matter how much you play), you may not participate in plots or earn XP from those plots, you cannot earn status traits.

Please do not argue with the Storytellers and Plotrunners. They are here to entertain you, and make sacrifices to do so. They may bend or break, sometimes even shatter the rules for their plots, all in an attempt to keep you entertained. When John Plotrunner runs a plot, what John Plotrunner says, goes. Period. That is the silent agreement you make when you join a plot. Complaining and arguing with a plotrunner slows down the game and frustrates all the players. In the end, no one is in the mood anymore. The ST's and PR's have enough to worry about without you second guessing their decisions. When you're a plotrunner, you can be a rules lawyer. Those who have been given the position of ST and PR have been given said position because they know what they're doing.

Do not be dead set against anything "bad" happening to your character. If Jane Toreador uses Presence 2 (Dread Gaze) on your big badass Mike Brujah, and it was done fairly, then play the effects out fairly. Mike Brujah does not "shrug off the effects." His eyes go wide and he looks scared shitless. Maybe he runs. Your character is embarrassed. So what. Roleplay the effects. It makes the game more interesting and realistic all around. You'll be surprised how fun it can be. On the other hand, if you're doing the manipulating, be considerate. If you have the more powerful character, don't kill or manipulate just because you can. Leave the other player some choices.

Please have the sense to keep IC and OOC separate. Keep in mind that this is just a game and betrayals happen. Just because John's character beats the shit out of Sally's character doesn't mean John hates Sally. That doesn't say a thing about John and Sally's Out of Character relationship. Also, please seperate what your character knows from what you know. Yes, you know all about Vicissitude. Your Gangrel does not. He's heard some shit about Tzimisce who can change the way they look, and maybe he's even heard they can turn into monsters. "Monsters? Yeah right, whatever." Then what happens the first time he sees a Zulo? You heard that so and so is deathly afraid of needles. But your character wouldn't know that unless someone told them in character.

Role playing is so much more fun than Roll playing. Concentrate on the depth and detail of your posts, rather than rolling as many dice as quickly as you can. Dice say nothing about your character. Your character earns respect by actions, true. But it's much more interesting when the other player has a solid and richly detailed idea of exactly what's going on. Speak to the other player before engaging in any action that may require dice rolling. The other player might just go with the flow, and a dice roll may not even be necessary.

MSN Messenger. It is preferred that you have MSN, so we have a faster way of contacting each other, and to make general play easier. It will also be easier to play private scenes and conduct out of character conversations. This is not a requirement for the game, however, sometimes you might feel left out if you don't have it.

Please do not spread rumors. If you have a problem with a particular player, please speak with it to that player only, and do not gripe to other players. If you need a staff member to mediate a conversation, or a scene, that's fine, ask, but please do not create unrest between other players. Also, if you have been entrusted with information about a certain character, plot, or storyline, please keep the information among the parties it was meant for.