Calendar » Next and Last Game Ever May 31st, 8pm.
September 16th, 2007
House Rules have been updated, with the changes in blue.
<Please note that updates have been made to the house rules. Updates are in blue. The Staff of Santa Cruz by night would like to thank the staff of Chicago by Night for inspiring some rule alterations based on their house rules.
Because Santa Cruz By Night deals with mature themes, players who are not legal adults (generally over the age of 18 or emancipated minors) are strongly discouraged from playing. Players must be at least high-school age, and may be subject to a probationary period. Such players will be expected to behave with maturity.
All players play with the understanding that the staff nor players of Santa Cruz By Night can not, and does not, guarantee the safety and/or well-being of players or staff.The storytellers in this game reserve the right to take the following corrective actions with players:
Players are in general expected to be honorable, honest, trustworthy, fair, helpful and friendly towards other players and Santa Cruz By Night staff. Players who fail to live up to these expectations may be subject to the above corrective actions, or other actions as the HST deems reasonable. Some possible actions which may require corrective actions by the Santa Cruz By Night ST staff are:
In general, when undertaking an action that you feel may be unethical or may cause you to be subjected to corrective action, ask one of the ST staff. Also, IC deception and cheating or other unethical are perfectly acceptable, though they may be subject to IC consequences. It's always alright to help out new characters however.
Downtimes are actions one takes between sessions, including the expenditure of experience.
The format for the titles e-mail submissions of Downtimes is SCBN-(Character's Name)-(Date)-(Clan)-Downtime Actions. Note, verbal discussions with any ST do not constitute a submission of downtime.So an Example would be "SCBN - John Diamond - Brujah - November - 11,2005 - Downtime"
An individual is allowed four major background actions and a number of minor actions equal to their Path rating. A retainer dedicated to the action provides for one additional Major or Minor Action. Path rating is generally synonymous with Humanity rating. Only one action per downtime may be spent on growing a particular item.
If you wish to use an item card in downtime, you must either give it to me the previous session, or show it to me the session after the action. Equipment that is listed on your sheet does not have this requirement.
Experience Points can be earned in a variety of ways including but not limited to those below. You can earn a max of 8xp per month. Each is worth 1 XP unless otherwise indicated:
Journals
Journals refer to written submissions, seperate from other downtimes, that inform me about your character. They can be in the form of journal entries in a diary, letters to your sire or mentor, notes to yourself, or even short IC stories. Journals should inform me about aspects of the character that may not have been communicated through roleplay, such as their thoughts, perceptions, plans, interactions between PCs I might not have been present for etc. They are not a substitute for downtime actions, and thus anything that would require a downtime action normally shouldn't be submitted through Journal form. You can submit as many journals as you want, but only 2 journals per session (1 per week) will be considered for XP. You can earn 1 XP per Journal, and up to 4XP from Journals a Month, but a Journal are not a guarantee of XP. Generally you will not earn more then 2XP from Journals per Month.
Experience Point Costs
Submitting Experience Point Expenditures
Experience Points can be spent in two ways. The first, and preferable way is to contact me via e-mail before game with your XP spends as part of your downtime. Please tell me what you wish to buy, and if applicable (such as with backgrounds, languages, etc.)how your character is purchasing it.
You may also write down on a piece of paper what you want to buy and give it to me at the end of game. Note that verbal submissions do not constitute an XP spend except at my discretion. Put it on paper or in an e-mail.
Format for Experience Point Expenditures
Influences can be purchased according to the following rules, subject to storyteller approval. Each dot of influence consists of one influence point that can be spent on various actions. These influence points refresh once per Session, but can't be saved up. The actions include the normal actions described under the influence, and also actions describes in Dark Epics, which has expanded rules for influences. Right now, I'm limiting people's actions to either Growth actions, or using the influence as described. Influence points spent on growth are Banked until the growth level is reached. the growth level is three times the current level of influence. See below. I will introduce additional rules in the comming sessions.
Other Backgrounds Generation can never be bought higher then at character creation. It can be increased through diablerie however. Diablerie is highly discouraged in my game. Contacts, Can be bought at at doubling rate. That is, first dot takes one session, second dot, two, third four and so on. This reflects how it becomes increasingly difficult to meet and make contacts with more and more people. Allies and Mentors are both represented as NPCs, and thus require roleplaying to improve, and don't operate on any sort of schedule. Increases can be represented as additional allies and mentors, or as a deepening relationship between you and current allies and mentors. Fame and Resources likewise require roleplaying, but this can be done through downtime and influence actions. Resources can be the result of awards from elders, payment from mortals, savvy business practices, etc. Fame can result from media exposure or word of mouth reputation. Status is an in game mechanic, and not a background. All Camarilla members start with at least Acknowledged. Ask me about any other backgrounds you are interested in.
Crafting items works in the following way. All items are automatically made at your craft's level divided by 2, round down. All performances are automatically at performance equal to your level of performance divided by two rounded up (it's easier to put on a good show then make art last) IE if you have Craft:Sculture x3, you make an item at Crafts x1 automatically and if you have Performance:Dancing x3 your performance is automatically Performance x2.
If you wish perform or craft better, you may spend ability traits for a simple test. Win and the item or performance is at the level of your ability. A tie means you have accomplished all you can, while losing means you so flunk the performance or crafting effort that it's ruined, reducing it to one less then your automatic level. You may make this test as many times as you have dots of the ability to spend, but levels lost from the automatic level are cumlative. The crafts level of the item is used to determine it's quality in an Academics test, and whether Toreador are entranced by it.
At ST Discretion, Crafts x5 objects of appropriate type (sword yes, statue, no) may resist being broken by Pussiance. Each turn that such an item is used with Pussiance they lose one bonus trait. The first bonus trait lost will cause the destruction of all Thaumaturgical (though not Discipline) effects on the weapon.
Repair may be used to replace bonus traits, though it can not restore magical wardings, fetishs, etc.
Number of languages per dot of Linguistics Ability
The Martial Arts Ability is not currently allowed for PCs in Santa Cruz By Night.
The use of Quell the Beast does not prevent an individual from expending Permanent Willpower, as with the Advanced Fortitude Power, Aegis.
Auspex provides a one mental trait bonus for each level known (1 - 5) for ties or overbids, when attempting to pierce Obfuscate, Chimestry, or other similar powers.
A failed Aura Perception test reveals the following default answers, which the Auspex user will believe are correct at the time of the test.
Please note that Assamite clan flaws that effect auras modify these results. Furthermore Auspex tests of the same question against the same individual will return the default failing answers until a month of game time has passed, or the Auspex user purchases an additional mental trait, or level of Auspex.
If you are connected with someone via Telepathy (either the user or the subject), you can lie, mislead etc. The user can ask appropriate surface level questions (Sentence starting "Legitimate secrets" at the bottom of pg. 138), however the subject can resist. Deep Probes can be retested by the subject, but only with Willpower.
Blood may not be burned while psychically projected for any reason.
Mesmerism commands may stay implanted for any length of time, but once activated, or if immediate, they last at most a scene or an hour. Commands that would force an individual to tell the truth cause them to do so for one answer only.
A successful use of Forgetful Mind has a small grace period, to facilitate the Dominate user's erasure or modification of memory, as long as that Dominate user fair escapes or otherwise leaves the scene (Narrator Discretion). IE, If you dominate somebody to forget seeing you, they wouldn't immediately come to as soon as you stop looking at them and see you walking away from them.
Conditioning an individual allows you to implant two mesmerism commands, instead of the normal one, or allows you to implant a forgetful mind that activates after a mesmerism command is completed (IE you can condition a night security guard at a blood bank to call you immediately if there is a break-in, and to forget they called you after they hang up the phone). Using Dominate on a conditioned individual requires you to be in physical proximity of the individual (you can't command them over the phone).
Fortitude can prevent any effects that require damage to be successful if the damage is prevented, such as Quietus:Baal's Caress or Stakes, but not Thanatosis:Withering, or Quietus:Scorpion's Touch. Aegis can prevent staking, but must be used before the simple tests for staking are attempted.
The use of Fortitude is a reflexive action, and can be used when the character is unconcious, staked, or has used a discipline to leave their body.
Obfuscate provides a one mental trait for each level known (1 - 5) for ties or overbids, when those using Auspex, or similar powers, attempt to pierce your Obfuscate.
Items such as a bead curtain in a doorway, a puddle of water, etc. do not automatically break Obfuscate. An Obfuscated individual may make a static stealth challenge based on a difficulty set by the Narrator (9 for beads, 12 for wading through a waist deep pool of water.) Success means that the individual goes unnoticed. Attacks of any sort always break obfuscate.
Remaining still and unmoving as part of this Discipline does not require an individual to remain completely still OOC.
Mask of a Thousand Faces, which will be referred from here on as Mask, allows an individual to expend a mental trait to change the appearance of their clothes, jewelry, eye glasses etc. Blood traits may be expended on a one for one basis for Craft levels, however you can not spend more blood traits for this purpose then your level of stealth (or the appropriate crafts ability, if you possess it. Clothing which is not Crafts x3 or above to begin with does not entrance toreadors if it gains phantom crafts levels of 3 or greater. The concealability of objects is based on the unobfuscated clothing.
Mastering the advanced level of Obfuscate allows characters to expend a Permanent Willpower, while utilizing Cloak of Shadows, to be immune to challenges to pierce their Obfuscate, as long as they follow the restrictions of Cloak of Shadows, for up to one scene or hour.
Obtenebration rules are partially taken from Always Comes Evening House Rules, which are themselves partially taken from White Wolf's Mind's Eye Developer Peter Woodworth from his posts to the Mind's Eye Theatre Forum.
Unless otherwise specified in the individual power description, all uses of Obtenebration require actual shadows of at least somewhat commensurate size in order to generate the desired effect. (Each Arm of the Abyss requires at least a roughly child-sized area of shadow to spring from, just to get the ball rolling.) Oh, and we’re talking real shadows here, not just areas of “less light” — an area must be well and truly dark in order to be a candidate for use/manipulation with this Discipline. While allowances should be made to accommodate certain conceits of Mind’s Eye Theatre — Storytellers shouldn’t remove chances for players to use this Discipline in game just because out of game the play area must be fairly well lit for safety’s sake — this requirement generally rules out such dubious areas of “shadow” such as those that lurk in the folds of common street clothing, under a person’s eyes, in their hair and so on. Note that Shadow Play can be used to “stretch” existing shadows to create necessary volume needed for the desired results, such as taking a small shadow and coaxing it into an area large enough to spawn several Arms of the Abyss — give a Lasombra even a little bit of genuine darkness and it’ll be a dangerous thing…
Thus players should bear in mind that in order to summon a truly impressive number of tentacles or other effects from this Discipline, they may have to first extinguish existing light sources and/or supernaturally shift and stretch local shadows to their liking a bit beforehand — generally more than a fair trade for the power this Discipline offers when it’s finally activated, not to mention atmospheric as all heck as the local shadows twist, writhe and lengthen in the seconds before the Lasombra unleashes the deadly powers of the night itself…
Replace the stated benefits of this Discipline with the following: when used in the appropriate context, Shadow Play grants a character a single retest on a Stealth or Intimidation-related test. As it relies on conditions present at the moment it is employed, a character may only benefit from one use of this Discipline at a time, and cannot “stock up” multiple retests for later use. However, once a given retest has been used up, the character may activate Shadow Play again and receive another retest, provided of course they continue describing how they are manipulating local shadows to their advantage. However, if a character attempts to use Shadow Play for Intimidation purposes and fails, that target is considered immune to such uses of this Discipline for the rest of the session — they have seen through such tricks and are unimpressed. This does not apply to failed attempts at using Shadow Play to augment Stealth, however. Also, the use of Shadow Play to confuse or choke victims is unaffected.
Just for sake of clarity: You cannot “throw” darkness into the eyes of another character with this Discipline, cause the shadows under their eyes to fly into their eyes and blind them, etc. Any blinding attempts fall under the purview of Shroud of Night, and are addressed more specifically below. (NOTE: Not yet. I'm almost but not quite done with Shroud of Night, so it's not here.)
*The mother of all problems with this Discipline. Consider it to be properly revised in this version, which can be considered to replace the existing text:
“From the shadowy corners of a room or the blackness of night itself, you can summon forth tentacle limbs that flail about, ensnaring or attacking as you desire. These black shadow tentacles animate as you direct, even while you take other actions. You can pull many tentacles from a single source of sufficient size, or generate shades from a number of different locations at once, provided enough suitable areas of darkness are available.
You must expend a Blood Trait to create the shadow tentacles; every tentacle created costs a Social Trait. You may never create more tentacles at once than your Occult/Shadow Lore level (tentacles created by Black Metamorphosis are separate and do not count toward this limit). The tentacles are six feet long and possess three Physical Traits and four Health Levels. Each additional Physical Trait spent on a given tentacle adds another six feet of length, or adds another Physical Trait on its total. A single tentacle may not receive more Physical Traits in this manner than the wielder’s permanent Occult/Shadow Lore rating.
You may create additional arms by spending an additional blood point and one temporary willpower per arm as well as the one social trait. I.E.: A Lasombra with Shadow Lore 5 could create 5 arms by spending 1 blood and 5 Social. If he wanted to create 8, he would need to spend an additional blood (1) and then spend three willpower and three social traits for the 3 extra arms.
Once created, your shadowy tentacles remain for the duration of the scene or until they are destroyed, you choose to dispel them or you enter unconsciousness or torpor. Regardless of the circumstances, this Discipline may only be activated once per scene. You can control the actions of the tentacles even while performing other actions; however, any turn where you choose to re-direct one of your tentacles, you suffer a one-Trait penalty due to the concentration required to shift its focus. Thus, if you have four active tentacles and you desire two of them to shift and attack different targets in the same turn, you suffer a two-Trait penalty to all actions that turn. Directing the tentacles does not require gesturing or verbal communication, though you may only issue new directions to the tentacles during your action. In addition, you do not suffer any penalty the initial turn the tentacles are created — they are considered to automatically engage in their first task as part of their creation.
The tentacles can grab, whip, hold items and perform other complex tasks with precision. The tentacles take damage normally from attacks, and they suffer damage from fire and sunlight just like a vampire, though they are considered to have any Fortitude you might possess with regards to resisting damage, though not in terms of adding additional health levels. (You must still pay all corresponding costs for these Disciplines normally.) With the expenditure of a Physical Trait, you can lend your Potence to all of your tentacles for a full turn, though not at the same time as you are adding your Fortitude. You may not combine the effects of Obtenebration with the powers of any other Disciplines.”
You may not employ Arms of the Abyss while using this Discipline — if you want full-on, tentacle-powered fighting power, use Black Metamorphosis. If you have already activated Arms of the Abyss, upon assuming Tenebrous Form any remaining tentacles immediately dissolve into nothingness. Note also that you may not use physical Disciplines while in this form, which not only means Potence, Celerity and Fortitude, but also any other Disciplines which require a physical form, such as Protean, Vicissitude, etc.
Awe can not be used as a retest in any social challenge in which the individuals do not have line of sight on each other.
You only gain the benefits of the Sharp trait in appropriate challenges (IE climbing or slashing with the claws)
Non Gangrel with Protean 4 function as described in Laws of the Night Revised.
Gangrel with Protean 4 may choose forms other then the wolf for a fight form when the power is learned, and the bat for a flight form, as described in the Gangrel Clanbook, Revised. Form traits will be established by the ST. Example forms are:
Form Can move two steps per round. You can not enter a person in mist form, nor can you reform if you are in a container your normal body couldn't physically be in.
These clarifications may effect other forms of blood magic. All rituals must be performed with a Storyteller. All items enchanted, created, or otherwise effected by Blood magic must be presented to the Storyteller prior to any use within the Chronicle. Items should be in the form of a item card signed by a Storyteller, with the date of issue, and a full description of the item.
Personal Items are objects which an individual has possessed for at least two months of game time or backstory, which have a personal emotional, spiritual or symbolic importance to that individual. A family heirloom pocket watch can be a personal item, a fake Casio is probably not. In general, it is an item that the individual values, and would notice missing. A portion of an individual's body, including vitae, hair, fingernail clippings etc. and excluding artificial parts such as a prosthetic leg, are never Personal Items. Artificial parts are not automatically Personal Items.
The use of an item, a blood trait, or other sympathetic object in a ritual, renders that object useless for further Rituals, unless the ritual specifies otherwise or the ritual is listed below.
Communicate with Kindred Sire
In the case of personal items, items that are returned to an individual and which the individual has in his possession for two additional months after the return, and which maintains the personal emotional, spiritual or symbolic importance to that individual may again qualify as personal items.
All Thaumaturgy paths require the Blood Magician to gesture and speak arcane words unless they specify otherwise, and take effect at the end of the turn/round (IE after celerity actions) unless they specify otherwise.
Path of Blood: Blood of Potency
Has only the effects described in Laws of the Night (Lowering your Generation for purposes of Dominate and improving your maximium number of Blood Traits). It does not increase trait caps.
Path of Transmutation: Gaol Solidified air created by this power can not be moved from the location it was created in, and prevents the gestures associated with Thaumaturgy powers.
The following rituals don't function in Santa Cruz By Night:
A Thaumaturge may have in existence a number of each items created by the following rituals or path powers equal to his permanent Willpower.
Blood Allergy Clarifications
This ritual effects only Kindred. This ritual effects the individual whose Blood trait is used. These clarifications add to the restrictions of the ritual, they do not supercede them.
Pavis of the Foul Presence
A person may not have multiple Pavis's cast upon them. Pavis has no effect on the use of Presence:Awe, Majesty or Elder or higher powers. Once it reverses one successful use of presence, it must be recast to have an effect, though the reversal may not be immediately evident to the Thaumaturge. The Blue silk coord must be visible to be effective, and may be represented either with a prop or a worn tag.
Scry
Scry does not work on destroyed or dead individuals, ;ocations which are no longer familiar, or which have moved, (redecorated substantially, or an RV for example) or on individuals or places not on the normal plane of existence such as a wraith. Scrying on a person show's you their own body even if their spirit or mind has left it (such as with Dominate:Possession or Auspex:Psychic Projection).
Ward Clarifications
Ward Rituals take effect the night after they are cast. Wards do not exclude a tangible aura, however an individual attempting to touch them knows they are warded. Wards must touch bare flesh to function on corporeal beings. A Ward can be destroyed by a Static physical challenge based on the material in is inscribed on/in, difficulty set by the ST. If the item is warded against you, you automatically take one lethal damage in destroying the ward, which may be soaked by fortitude normally. This is an exception to the rule that wards must touch bare flesh to function on corporeal beings. Wards vs Kindred effect the Astral form of Kindred using Auspex:Psychic Projection.
In addition to the normal rules regarding the spending of influences, the following influence endeavors can be taken. Actions are as described in Dark Epics, except they are resolved every session, and as described below. Contacts may be used for Watch, Trace, and Follow Actions as described in Dark Epics. Allies can not be used for Influence Endeavors.
An individual may get one retest on a challenge per category. Not all categories will apply to each test. The Categories are: Merit, Discipline or Supernatural Power, Ability Trait, Suprise/Range, Overbid, Willpower.
Retests cause a person to ignore the results of the first test. Thus an individual who lost the original challenge is not down traits and does not suffer wound penalties until the final result of the test is known and there are no more retests.
Any material not present in Laws of the Night Revised, including but not limited to, backgrounds, merits, flaws, and blood magic, which a player wishes to bring into the game or make use of while present, must be available for review by the ST at any time the player wishes to make use of the material.
© 2006-2007, Jacob Siebert. All rights reserved.
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