The Rules of the Game

After a long period of inactivity, we are finally underway again. As you have seen, besides creating a new plot with its corresponding PCs, yours, we have created this website and the respective forums to make coexistence easier for everyone.

But we all have different ideas about how we should live with our neighbours or deal with the landlord, even when this is only a game. That is why in this section, which we consider recommended reading, you will find how to use the different sections of everything our work includes: the site, the forums, the channel, and so on.

Needless to say, we trust above all in your common sense, your maturity, and the respect you owe not only to yourselves and your friends, but to everyone who takes part in this house, whether you know them or not.

To make this coexistence easier, the moderators are at your disposal. They will resolve your doubts both about the game itself and about the use of each section of the forum, the website, and even the chronicle. Needless to say, moderators, like all of you, are people, and they expect to be treated with the same respect as anyone else. Their position places them above ordinary users in some matters, but it also gives them duties and obligations that they will try to carry out with as much neutrality, judgement, and balanced common sense as possible. Moderators are not here to endure your grief or tantrums. They are free to point out to those who do not follow the rules how they are meant to do so in the first instance. If, after that first warning, the same behaviour continues, they are free to warn again or use the solution they consider appropriate within the scope of their section.

Rules

Respect

Respect for others is fundamental. If, as a player, I lack the basic manners needed to make this a pleasant place to be, then I would do better to go elsewhere, because offensive or insulting behaviour toward other members of the chronicle, whether direct or indirect, will not be tolerated here.

Freedom of interaction

As the saying goes, one person's freedom ends where another's begins. Therefore, if my character, or the way I play them, is trampling on, bothering, or limiting another player, not another PC, I need to realize it and try to solve the problem before someone else does it for me.

The player self and the PC self

One thing is what I know as a player, and quite another is what my PC knows. The fact that I, as a player, know certain things about the city and its inhabitants does not mean my PC knows them too, unless they have researched them through their own investigations or those of other PCs in the game. If anyone ignores that distinction during play, the storytellers will be forced to point it out, whether by cancelling actions or penalizing them for it.

The omnipresence

Players' PCs may interact freely with one another, whether on the forum or in chat, whether in the presence of the storytellers, on their own with prior storyteller permission, or with the help of other users who agree to collaborate by allowing other players into their scenes. If a group of players and their PCs carry out actions outside the city or away from the main plot, they will need to finish those actions there before returning to write again and reconnecting with the main chronicle.

The characters

For good roleplay, it is necessary to know your PC: how they think, how they act, and what motivates them, what gives them the strength to rise each night. If, when creating a PC, I do not have a clear idea of what they are or what they want, it will be much harder for me to portray them properly. On the other hand, the age and generation of PCs should stay within the logic of a game like this. A PC a thousand years old or more, with low generation, is not something one sees every night in the modern era. It is not a playable PC within the plots created, or to be created, in this game, and its actions would be heavily limited because it would stifle the movement and development of younger PCs.

The commitment

When a player joins these games, they also commit themselves to taking part with some regularity. You should therefore write as consistently as you can. If a month passes after your last participation and you show no sign of life, your PC will cease to be part of the chronicle and will be treated in play as "missing." If a player knows they will need to leave the game for a time, because of holidays, exams, personal problems, or anything else, they should notify one of the people in charge of the chronicle beforehand and leave their PC in the care of another player, either by sharing the account or allowing that person to handle the character through their own.

The Combat

When you face another PC or NPC, you must do so interpretively and while respecting turns. You cannot write in a single post that you grab an automatic weapon, load a magazine, aim, fire, and change position all at once. One post to grab the weapon and load it, another to fire, and so on. It is also important to understand when one ought to win and when one ought to lose. In combat, as in the rest of the game, what matters is not who wins or loses but how it is played.

Nobody is immortal or invincible, and that should be absolutely clear. If one PC confronts another and, because of their mistakes or the success of their opponent, must die in the end, then so it will be. If we see problems with a PC accepting defeat or death, to the point of absurdity simply to avoid being beaten, we will take measures. In very close cases, we reserve the right to request the character sheets, make the necessary rolls by private message or MSN, and narrate the result ourselves.

The responsibility

A PC is responsible for their own actions, and may also implicate their companions in them without meaning to. If a PC kills a human and does not bother to hide it or deal with witnesses, a police investigation may be opened that reaches them or even one of their comrades, harming them in that way, whether through the threat of arrest, surveillance, tapped phones, and so on.
If a PC plots a conspiracy alone and is discovered by Cainite authorities, both that PC and the companions they dealt with may be exposed to a series of ordeals in order to earn forgiveness.
These are only two examples. Every action committed by a player's PC will have consequences for the plot, and the storytellers will make sure those consequences are reflected in it.

The assumption

One thing is what my PC does, thinks, or says, and another, very different thing is what someone else's does, thinks, or says. I cannot write or assume the actions of another PC unless that player has given me permission to do so. For example:
a) Andrew, an independent Gangrel, enters the room with a furious look that makes Livia, another PC, tremble. That action would not be valid, because I am assuming what another player's PC does.
b) Andrew, an independent Gangrel, enters the room with an angry, hate-filled stare. His eyes are red with rage and his quick, determined steps carry him straight toward Livia's side.
That action would be valid, because I am describing my own character's actions and leaving the other player to describe theirs.
Note: when the character in question is a human created by the same player or by the storyteller, this rule does not apply.

External interference

High levels of Auspex exist. The back room exists. But there is no vampire intercom chat. It is fine for people to get along well, or badly, with other players outside the game, but no external agreement between characters who do not know each other should ever become action in play. For example, if my friend opens a Messenger window to tell me how good it would be for me to do this or that in the city because his character helps mine, but our characters have never met, then it is impossible for that to be reflected in the game. Let us always stick to the characters our PC knows, not the users we happen to know ourselves.

Admission

Respecting the rules set out here is the first essential step in any venture within the Chronicle. The rest is a matter of respect and maturity.