World of Darkness: Balance of Power

[Daven_OOC NPCRM #1]

Hey everyone it's Davenrell. So I am sitting in the den having a nice conversation with Carver and Mala today. When my evil wife puts the idea in my head for a game that sounds interesting and fun. So now it is time to see if others agree.

I would like to propose a new World of Darkness game. It will be set in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. This will be a st ran game which I will ST and carver and mala will assist as moderators and help me run plot.

This game will be following the rules in all the nWOD books however some of the history has been changed for the vampires.

The Circle of the Crone - Although the covenant does exist it is truly just a joining of separate cults that rarely have much to do with each other. The covenant formed when the Lancea Sanctum first decided to wipe of the world of cultist. This war occurred at the fall of the Camirilla when their was no leadership.

The Invictus - This covenant remains as written in the book except their foundation was due to the war between the Lancea and the Circle. The Invictus rose up and quickly claimed power and gained friends in both covenants. After a time they ended the war and for the most part are the leaders of most of the larger cities in the world.

Lancea Sanctum - As written in the book with the modified history detailed above. Today they mostly are considered the reserve army of the Invictus. They are primarily called upon to deal with large numbers of Seven or Belial's Brood when they rise up.

The Carthian Movement - All rules are followed for them within the book except for a couple exceptions. First they are not considered a covenant. The rule change for this is they do not have enough mystical clout for their covenant ascendant bonus to ever apply. The Carthians rose up about a hundred years ago and are slowly growing in power. However with the strong hold the Invictus have on both the Lance and the Circle none of the three covenants have accorded them enough respect for them to yet be recognized as a true covenant. For the most part Carthians are considered anarchs that work against the order of the world. A few are starting to fight the Invictus on their home battle field of politics. But even this process is slow going.

The Ordo of Dracul - The Philadelphian rite never occurred. The Ordo are still a secret covenant. Very few outside know of its existence. (No pc who is not a member is allowed to know little more than rumors of secret sects of vampires with unknown powers.) All mechanics for Ordo in the book will be followed including Ordo ascendancy bonus. Also a new merit is being entered in to the game, Infiltrator. This simple 4 dot merit requires Ordo true covenant status and status 1. The first thing it does is allow you to buy true covenant status in another covenant. You may freely buy status in that covenant and gain all the covenant benefits for being a part in it. Also this merit represents you have learned to cover your true allegiances well. Any attempt by other Ordo members to pull to see if you have covenant status automatically fail.

Also in this game only one faction of the Ordo truly know who all members are, infiltrating or not. The sworn of the Higher Mysteries are aware of all accepted members of the covenant. All mysteries have usually one to three axe who are with them and sworn to protect them and carry out their orders.

History of the area for vampires - For a long time the area expanded and towns sprung up. Each town slowly drew in vampires and separate courts formed. In the mid 1800's fights started to break out between the courts. When a small war broke out between two towns the Invictus gathered together and finally agreed to depart the area as a whole. The Lancea left with them and for the most part the Circle filtered out. Last year the "pipeline" as it is called was built. A dedicated highway that only transport trucks could drive that goes all the way down in to Mexico. Suddenly the commerce of the area boomed as a city that had not been too harshly effected by the recession was suddenly booming again. This drew the attention of many. One Invictus, Ser Gregor Von Gruskov III, decided to move in and claim him self Prince of Kansas City. The vampires that were drawn to the area submitted and soon the new KC court was formed. When Gregor is busy his childer and senaschal Madeline Von Gruskov speaks for the Invictus. Gregor also brought a good friend of his of many centuries Mathew York. York leads the local Lancea and is known in two lights. To the Lancea he is blindly loyal to the faith. He is known for being patient and understanding with Kindred but any breach of the law and he is quick to call on his power and sword to reduce vampires to ashes. It is for this reason that Gregor named him Sheriff and law of KC. At the first court gathering a strange man named Guillermo appeared and named him self the speaker for the Circle. Though a few other cultist have appeared at court it is believed there is a larger number in the city that have possibly been here for some time. Some Carthians have showed up but little is known of their current actions.

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For the werewolves nothing about their history has changed and all rules from the books are being followed.

History of local area for werewolves - Kansas City has always had werewolves in the area. Packs came and went. Power changed hands. Forty years ago the pure came in force. They killed most of the forsaken that were here and drove out the rest. Last year the few packs that were on the outskirts noticed that any sign of the pure has disappeared. Their scent is gone and their is no longer any territory markers. The Forsaken must now decide if they are going to try to figure out what has happened and if they are going to move in and reclaim the KC area. It is greatly believed that by now many locus in the area are most likely running rampant. Also there are signs to suggest there is almost no one policing the spirits of the area.

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For Mage their is no change to the back story. All mechanics from the books are available.

Local history - In truth there really isn't any. Mages have taken little interest in the area. However through out the world for the past three years the Seers of the Throne have been rising up in greater number. For this reason as KC seems to have been ignored by all mages slowly the five orders are gathering in KC in hopes of going undetected until they can build up a defense.

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For Changeling the back story is unchanged and all the rules from the books are available.

Local history - As until recently no other supernaturals have gathered in force in KC the changelings have been drawn to it. The free hold in the city is known as Haven. However now the changelings are starting to notice activity of new natures all over the place and must try to figure out how best to handle the situation.

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These backgrounds are for four venues but possibly not all of them will be used for the game and possibly others will be used instead.

To start out with we will have three venues accessible to PCs. I am throwing it open to everyone to decide which venues they will be. You will have the option to vote on three venues.

Either

Vampire or Mage

Changeling or Geist

Werewolf or Mortals

I will have the poll up until new years at which point we will decide which three venues are open at the beginning. If people want to see other venues open up I have just one requirement, players. Once the game hits 20 players I will open up a fourth venue if at least five players want to have characters in it. For every five players after that I will open up a new venue as long as five players want to play in it. Also at some point I may ask for a volunteer to aid in t he STing of all these venues.

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Cross-Venue

Obviously there is no point in running multiple venues in WOD unless you are going to allow interaction between them. However this does not mean that your mage can go get his best friends the promethian and the werewolf and go have a night on the town. It is the pure nature of each supernatural to in general avoid the others. Each are such a different sort of monster often trying to be together just leads to destruction. Unless plot gives good reason cross venue will only be allowed with direct ST approval. Each thread will be marked to show what venue it is for. If you wish to bring in a character from another venue get the approval of both the people running your venue and the one you wish to enter.

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How many characters? Character Creation.

Each player will be allowed one character per venue +1. So starting out each player may have up to four characters. One in the three first venues chosen and a second in one.

Each player is allowed to make one base character + 100 xp, one base character + 50 xp, and two base characters.

Note: All powers, merits, associations, backgrounds....ok everything is subject to ST approval. There should never be any reason to deny anything available to a base character. Meaning anything that can be obtained with creation dots. Beyond that STs will decide if something is available to PCs at this time.

Bloodlines, Lodges, Legacies, etc.

These are allowed but only at creation to your advanced (100xp) characters. You must meet all requirements for joining including any action requirements well pointed out in backstory. It is also possible to obtain these through out play. Although some may be harder to join then others as it will be up to the character to seek out those to bring them in.

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Ok hopefully people have questions or after reading all of that just want to get the poll over with and start working on their character ideas.

If you wish to submit characters early on please send them to my self, Malachite OOC, and Dawn OOC.

Final note on Ordo. If you wish to submit a Ordo character I am only allowing their to be one ordo PC for every three players in vampire. Before the game starts I will look over submissions and inform those who have been chosen to fill the first slots. As more players join and more slots open up I will extend the offer to more people but only if the character submission has already been made and reviewed.

[Daven_OOC NPCRM #1]

Bringing in characters from other games -

I am not allowing any character currently being played in another game on the forums. Characters from games that are no longer being ran can be submitted for approval.

[Daven_OOC NPCRM #1]

Morality -

If at anytime through game play a character of any types morality hits 2 they will become a npc. If the player wishes to regain control of the character they can work with the ST to have the character regain some essence of morality and get back to 3. Where as some characters live in the lower realms of morality once you drop below 3 your character is not very playable any more. We want stories of personal horror without having a bunch of sociopathic serial killers running around.

[The Story Guide]

Geist - (Since Daven didn't post it up as a venue on the rules section. )

Geist rules will be per the book. In Geist you play a person that has died, made a pact with a powerful ghost/spirit and returned to the world of the living. You are essentially a form of undead, have some nifty powers and various social organizations that have their own opinons about what Geists should be doing with their time, and can visit the Underworld.

Also, please hold off on character submissions until it's decided what venues we'll be offering. While the enthusiasm is appreciated, it's jumping the gun just a bit; we'll start taking character submissions once the polls are closed and the venues are announced.

We'll also be putting up brief descriptions of what the specific venues are going to be like (ala Cam ratings/venue style sheets for those that are familiar with them) shortly.

[Mr Fox]

Sorry guys, if it were oWoD I'd be all over it. Just not an nWoD fan, but I wish you lots of fun play.

[Daven_OOC NPCRM #1]

Real quick guys, if people who have voted could also post something. This is just so we can keep track.

I has voted.

[The Story Guide]

I has voted, too.

[Jaime Lowery]

I have voted earlier.

[Dawn OOC]

Voted

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

Voted.

[jameson (ST)]

I did too!

[GDP_ST]

Voted

[Dave ST]

I voted.

[Rorx]

I voted the other day I think, then got stuck offlie for a while

[Logic1]

I voted.

[Aradia McConnell]

I voted.

[Daven_OOC NPCRM #1]

I think at this point we can say the votes are in. I am going to open up character submissions for vampire, werewolf, and changeling.

For Vampire characters send them to me. For Werewolf my self and Luna. For Changeling send characters to Malachite_OOC and I.

As a reminder you can have up to one character in each venue plus one more character. One character is made with 100 xp to start, one with 50, and the rest just made with starting dots.

If you voted for the other venues I hope you are still willing to come and play as the sooner we get more people the sooner those venues will open up.

[Curtis Shane]

Working on a modified char from my TT game, will send him in soon enough.

[z-Luna]

This is the account where the Werewolves should gather.

Come, my children. Your Mother calls you.

[Jaime Lowery]

Sent the the Vampire for 50 xp. Mel Ganker. In the TT game, his full title was (seriously):

Mel Ganker, Enforcer 2nd Class, N

(IE- Hound)

[Daven_OOC NPCRM #1]

When making your vampire characters remember that for this game City Status is not something you buy. A prince and the city as a whole decides the status your vampire holds within the city and for that reason that status can go up and down as time goes by so for game start if you are already a member of KC you are status 1 unless you talk to me and work out a special circumstance. If you want to start the game with your character entering the city you have no city status until you are recognized by the prince of the city.

Also a quick note on xp. I like to give people a chance to maximize their xp at character creation. One thing that many people do not think about in any WW game is the trading in starting merit dots for power stat raising (Blood Potency, Primal Urge, etc). It cost 16 xp to go from 1 to 2. It cost 6 xp to buy 3 one dot merits. Or it cost 12 xp to buy a three dot merit. So if you want to buy up your power stat to 2 or 3 at character creation you will be saving your self a fair amount of xp buy doing it with merit dots and just buying the merits. Always keep in mind though merits that say they can only be bought at character creation. This means only using starting dots.

[Daven_OOC NPCRM #1]

For Humanity, Harmony, et.

I am allowing starting characters to trade in dots for 5xp per dot. You can do this up to a maximum of 2 dots.

For vampires a quick note on out of clan disciplines. For the most part I am not going to deny people gaining access to out of clan disciplines however for the rare disciplines of other clans, especially for the top two levels, I may require you to find either a PC or NPC teacher and you may have to pay some cost for the teaching. For the none rare disciplines (obfuscate, animalism) more than likely you can easily find a teacher and nothing special will be required of you. Physical disciplines are something any vampire can learn on their own regardless of in clan or out of clan.

[The Story Guide]

Okay, as Changeling has it, I'm going to put up a poll on Court systems. I will allow ONE Court System in the game for PC's, but I'm open to using the Season, Directional, or Day/Night systems. Tell me which one you guys want!

I can't figure out how to put a poll up, so just rank your order of preference. I'll give everyone until 10th to vote.

[Jaime Lowery]

I felt most comfortable with the classic Seasons. I vote

Season

over

Directional

over

Day/Night

[Krul]

Seasons

[jameson (ST)]

abstain

[SalmonMax]

I like the season thing...it seems better fleshed out, for one. And I like how it lends itself to clear metaphorical seasons as well as "actual" seasons.

[Rorx]

Just to let people know that I'm intending to create a Nosfeartu and a Werewolf for this setting - just not sure how quickly I will be able to get them done at the moment

I may do a Changeling as well, but it is further down my list of priorities right now.

[Joani]

I'd like to join with a Daeva - either Lancea Sanctum or Invictus. Is there still room for one?

[The Story Guide]

I don't think Dav's put any clan or covenant caps out there. So far I'm the only Daeva PC that I know of. I know Dav was hoping for more LS members than we've seen so far, but I also don't know how many Invictus have signed up. From the characters thread, we've only got 1 Daeva Circle member and 1 Venture Invictus.

Oh, and a Gangrel with no known affiliation at the moment.

[Joani]

If Lancea Sanctum is so much preferred I can try to fit my concept into that Covenant. I try to submit a sheet asap.

[Mel Grimson]

Let me point out Mel is Invictus too.

[SalmonMax]

Make that 4 Gangrel with no affiliation.

[Clem Broson]

Yay for unaffiliated Gangrel!

[Atomicweasel]

I'm just about ready to submit a character...also, I voted.

[SalmonMax]

Mala, I have a changeling I'm developing for ya...hang in there.

[Sarah Dead-Wolf]

In theory, I'm going to put an honest-to-gods Uratha together for this game.

In practice, it may be a while. I'm backed up to the gills on various projects and the like.

- Jess

[Lavinia Foscari]

Alright - my Daeva just got submitted and pending approval

This is Joani btw.

[Mel Grimson]

Well, unless I'm mistaken, we have or nearly have the 5 required for the Vampire venue. Hurrah!

[Cyril]

I'm playing a Combat Ithaeur/Knife fighter in Werewolf. I just have to get a bg turned in.